Moving Right Along

Michigan State. Thank God. This tournament had nothing. Nothing interrupted every 5 minutes by 2 minutes of commercials. And half the action consisted of foul shots. I kept thinking, “Give me a friggin’ break”! And the network complied. Again and again.

Almost anything could compete with that for my time and attention. Miss Marple, golf, watching grass grow…

But it was nice to see a real live upset. Not that I watched the entire thing, but it was fantastic to see those fellas in green hit shot after shot to absolutely bury the Cardinals. It was sad really, not unlike watching my team, Memphis, get totally overwhelmed by Missouri the other night. Both teams had absolutely not one chance in hell of coming back. The gods of the bounce had abandoned them. And the whistles fell in line nicely.

These running teams are all the same. Well, not really, but it seems that way. All this pressing and scurrying around like madmen, which usually results in a zillion turnovers, thus contributing nicely to their cause. But against a team with guards who can handle all their on-court hijinks, the game reverts to basketball again and they almost invariably lose.

Memphis, Missouri, Minnesota, Louisville, it would seem maybe they should slow down. They might have better luck. It reminds me of our own New Jersey Nets team of yesteryear, a team that pushed the ball all the time very successfully all season long but succumbed in the playoffs to the teams that could play the half-court game.

Of course, the men with the whistles (I didn’t see any female refs) drive me crazy too. (By now you may have guessed that it doesn’t take much to upset my equilibrium). There are always several to many totally inexplicable calls, usually involving the charge vs. the foul but often involving drives to the basket. Sometimes the driver gets totally clobbered with no call and then a touch yields the 3-point play.

I won’t dwell on it but the game itself is flawed. There is too much officiating, but it is by necessity. If not for officials, the Memphises of the world would win every game. So now it’s down to the teams that really play basketball, Connecticut, Villanova, North Carolina and Michigan State. And, if the gentlemen in my bracket know anything at all, North Carolina will win two more games.

It’s somewhat of a mystery to me, too, as to how the Connecticuts and North Carolinas of the world keep accumulating talent year after year. I watched a TV interview with Jim Calhoun, who was asked about his team’s chances (and success) without his star guard, Ty Lawson. He pointed out that they play a little differently but they’re still a very good team, and their replacement guard had more than a little to do with that. Where do they get the bodies?

Now would probably be a good time to point out that U Conn has been accused of some recruiting violation. But that’s not why they recruit as well as they do. It has more to do with the fact that they are who they are. And that is Connecticut. And N. Carolina is who they are. And it’s not much of a step down to Villanova and Pittsburgh, and maybe then the Michigan States of the world.

And what about Duke, one may ask? Well, that’s a real poser, WHAT ABOUT DUKE? Surely Duke should be able to be who they are and get the same athletes these other teams get or even better? Apparently not though. Maybe it’s the academic standards? That’s actually somewhat heartening.

The thought that a university would be that first and foremost and only secondarily be a bastion of hoop-dom makes me think there is justice and integrity in the world, if not necessarily on the basketball courts of America.

If it weren’t for gambling, I have to think the popularity of this tournament would fade a bit. And there would be fewer commercials. But it’s nice to have a diversion in March besides spring skiing, exhibition baseball and even those delightful crocuses.

So it’ll be one more week of hype before the Final Four. I won’t read much of it, of course, but it’ll be nice to read some about Izzo and his Spartans, and hope that they can get by their next game. They surely played some very good basketball Sunday.

Of course some baseball news did manage to find its way to the local sports pages, and most of the news was good for New Yorkers.

The Mets may have all their ducks in a row, but you wouldn’t know it by talking to a lot of their fans. It’ll take some time to get used to the idea of keeping Luis Castillo, not acquiring that big bat, and giving Daniel Murphy a shot. And it’s nice to watch new blood get a shot, this year in the persons of a pitcher named Gee and maybe a utility guy named Malo. I can see the headlines now, “OH GEE”!

And there isn’t much credibility given to Livan Hernandez as the fifth starter. But he’s had success in at least three places before, and he’s looked very good this spring. The relievers have looked pretty good too, and not just K-Rod and Putz…. just about everybody.

The Yankees are way more likeable with Arod off in Vail. It’s been nice to hear from the likes of Jeter and Matsui and Damon rather than some contrivance about Arod. Sometimes stories take a life of their own, and he really has taken a lot of heat when you think about it, not so much for his use of steroids but more for the manner in which he admitted it. And, when you think about it, that’s totally ridiculous.

And, if you can believe reports, there may even be some fannies in those over-priced seats at both new stadiums. So let’s play ball !

hey little sis....

I don't know, probably just frustration...I would've played first base if they asked me..(:

The Agony and the Fantasy

Well, it’s the next to last day before my Fantasy Draft and I’m chompin’ at the bit. I’ve looked over all the fantasy rankings, participated in a couple of mock drafts, and already made my selections in a Yahoo Public League. Unfortunately, none of those drafts quite match the upcoming one.

Saturday morning, I’ll be sitting with the fourth pick. Ordinarily, for most beings of the human variety, that would be just fine. The fourth pick gets you either David Wright or Jose Reyes according to the chalk.

But for a rabid Mets fan, it presents a dilemma. Do I really want to watch Mets games all year and die a little every time Reyes pops up while trying to put one over the fence? Do I want to rage at Wright every time he lets the count go to 0 and 2?

Well, the answer to both those questions is an unequivocal no. I don’t want my first pick to be a Met. If I manage to get Beltran on my second pick though, I’ll be really happy. While Beltran can be at least as infuriating as either Wright or Reyes, at least I shall not have wasted a first pick on him.

The other Mets that could wind up being Crabs (my fantasy team) are Johan Santana and JJ Putz, and maybe even Francisco Rodriguez, but I hate picking players who are coming off a career year. F-Rod won’t match last year’s numbers and, as consistent as Santana has been, there’s got to be a clunker coming up soon, especially having thrown all those innings for all those years.

Besides, pitchers are bigger risks than everyday players, what with all those injuries….elbow, shoulder, wrist, hand, fingers, it’s always sumthin’ with those damned hurlers. So I’ve made rules for myself in selecting pitchers over the years, and I’m pretty sure Santana will land elsewhere.

Putz though has been a Crab several times. This is a guy who performs very well every year and yet nobody ever selects him early. I’m pretty sure it’s his name. Who wants a Putz on his team? It’s like bad luck or something, or maybe a premonition, or possibly it may be prophetic of what your team will be….Putz!

Getting back to that first round, though, I’m pretty sure both Hanley Ramirez and Albert Pujols will be gone. The guys picking at 1 and 2 are too smart or experienced at this to just let those two fellows go floating by. After all, that first pick must be solid. In fact, the first three or four picks should be solid in order to have any chance of winning.

The third guy, my brother, says he’s taking Wright. So he probably will, barring any last-minute brain farts, but he’s more prone to gaseous selections in football. So there’s Jose just sitting there waiting for me, but I won’t take him for those reasons I’ve laid out.

Besides, Jose isn’t getting any younger and, if I may say so, he doesn’t ever seem to be getting any smarter either. And if Manuel should decide he’s the number 3 hitter, only God knows what that will do to Jose’s head. To my mind, Mr. Reyes has a somewhat fragile head, albeit one that always has a smile on it.

Other guys bat close to .300. Other guys steal bases. Hell, I could just pick Willie Taveras in the 15th round or thereabouts. Other guys hit 20 homers, even in our un-juiced era of baseball. And there are even lower-rated guys who’ll score over 100 times. I don’t need no stinking Reyes.

But who’s left? The chalk says Grady Sizemore, Miguel Cabrera, Ryan Braun, Ryan Howard, Josh Hamilton, Mark Teixeira and Jimmy Rollins, God forbid. The only one of those who appeals to me is Ryan Howard. He hits all those homers consistently and drives in all those runs. But a Philly? Do I really want a Philly, especially in this year of all years for my beloved Mets?

Howard has lost 20 pounds though. He could be more dangerous than ever before. And that’s an absolutely scary proposition. Imagine if that big guy didn’t have one of those long droughts he seems to always have! No, I won’t!! Logic won’t make me. Besides, strikeouts is also a fantasy category and, if Howard knows how to do anything besides hitting homers, it’s strike out.

Oh, one more rule, I won’t take any Yankees, unless his name happens to be Giambi, which of course is impossible this year. Interestingly enough, Teixeira takes his place this year, and for many more years to follow. But he’s out, thank God, a man has to have rules.

Miguel Cabrera….hmm. He certainly meets all the qualifications for a number one. Maddeningly consistent for average and power, and on what could be a very potent Marlins team. But he looks like a softball player, one of those guys who guzzles down a beer and then crushes the can with one hand while burping all the way. Nah! Not for me.

My list is getting really short now. Grady Sizemore, Ryan Braun, Josh Hamilton….Golly, this is hard!

Sizemore is a very nice player, does everything a bit, very consistent and this’ll be his fifth entire year. And he plays for Cleveland, a team I’ve always liked, don’t ask me why. Do I remember rooting for Rocky Colavito? Okay, he’s a definite maybe, but geez, his numbers seem Beltran-like, so why is he a number 1 and Beltran just a 2?

Ryan Braun? Hmm, he seems to be a Sizemore type, a little more power and a little less speed, a Brewer, and in what will be just his third full year. He could explode for a career year, he seems primed.

Hamilton? One full year and he died after the All-Star Game. He’s disqualified.

Hmm, Jose is looking better and better, or maybe I should move down the list…Chase Utley? But they’ll laugh!!

The WBC - A New Dimension

I had intended to skip the World Baseball Classic finale. I was too aggravated by the lousy balls and strikes calls in the U.S. loss to Japan to really enjoy the whole extravaganza anymore.

But….there was nothing else to watch on a Monday night, not for me anyway, and this game was really intense. You could tell by just watching. The crowd was electric. The Japanese pitching was great. Both defenses chipped in with beautiful and unlikely double plays. There was a great outfield assist. It was a tight game. All the way……

The Japanese pitchers seem to have better stuff and more stuff in terms of pitch variety. They also attack the hitter very intelligently. They’re good at the technical things, too, such as holding runners on. They have very good control.

The Japanese on offense were like an Angels team on steroids. Lots of contact, lots of hits, lots of peskiness on the bases. But not too much in the way of power. But if you like sacrifices, and moving the runner over, Japan is your team.

If Japan was like the Angels, Korea was like the Yankees, but with a way better defense. The pitching was good but not great. But they had some big guys who could put the ball over the wall. And did.

The game’s recap today by most accounts focused on Ichiro’s hit in the extra inning to drive in two. But that wasn’t the story of the game at all. Not really. There had been a lot of baseball playing on both sides before that.

A few plays come immediately to mind, Ichiro’s perfect bunt laid down the third base line, the Japanese left fielder’s perfect short-hop stop, wheel and throw to second to nail a very surprised Korean. There were some very timely double-plays by the Koreans.

The Japanese presence on the bases all night long was all too evident. But they couldn’t do anything with it. Those Korean defenders were stout and stalwart every time they had to be. Meanwhile, the Koreans couldn’t get anything going early.

But Korea hung tough and finally tied it in the fifth when the monster Choo powered one over the wall. After falling behind again, they came within one when another big fella hit a looong sacrifice fly. And they finally tied it in the ninth on a two-out clutch single through the hole by one of the Lee’s.

If there’s anything that’s hard to really follow about Korea, it’s the number of Lees. I’m pretty sure there were four of them, and most of them did something important in the course of the game. There were also two Kims. I guess it’s no different than our Smiths and Joneses but I can’t recall seeing 4 Joneses and 2 Smiths in a game. I could be wrong.

The disappointing thing is that we’ll all have to read accounts of how we have fallen behind the Asians, and to a lesser extent the Latinos, in our national pastime. And I don’t think that’s true, or at least, not totally true.

We didn’t send our best players but the players we did send could have been better prepared to play if the Classic wasn’t held in March. On the pitching side of things especially, our guys looked raw. Peavy got creamed and so did Oswalt. I don’t think that’d be happening in October.

There was no Matt Holliday or Lance Berkman either. There was no Derrick Lee. I would have loved to have seen Joba out there on a few occasions. There are a heck of a lot of pitchers we could have used, but how many of them would have been any good in March? The timing of this thing is just really inconvenient.

While I think MLB would rather have this thing just go away, I don’t think that’s going to happen. And it shouldn’t happen. We can adjust our schedules every three years to make sure we’re prepared to field a team in March, selecting not only our best players, but also our most prepared players.

After the World Series in 2011, we select the team we plan on fielding in March. We keep them in shape, targeting March as the period of their best conditioning. We work these guys on playing as a team. We make sure they know all about hitting the cutoff man, bunting, hitting to the right side, you know, the things nobody in American baseball cares about anymore.

That doesn’t mean we’d win necessarily, but we’d have a hell of a lot better shot. We were a called third strike away from beating Japan the other night. We had to play a utility guy, DeRosa (who did a hell of a job by the way) at first base because we couldn’t find another. That’s obviously not optimal.

If there’s anything good about it, it makes it rather obvious this Classic didn’t have our full attention. So what have we really lost? But I’m sure our opponents don’t feel that way, nor do their fans. To them, Japan is the best baseball team in the world.

And that’s why we can’t just ignore the Classic anymore. As painful as it may be to change our ways and our timing, we have to treat the Classic as if it were the Championship of the World. The World Series sadly is just an American affair.

Besides, overall, we still have the best baseball in the world. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t have guys like Ichiro playing with the Mariners or Dice K, the MVP of the Classic for the second time, playing for the Red Sox. Beltran, Delgado, Santana, Reyes…..they’d all be playing at their respective homes.

Whatever the truth may be, and the truth is sometimes too elusive to even take a guess at, there can be no doubt whatsoever that this Classic has added a new dimension to baseball, as much as we may dislike the notion. Be happy!
I

A Call for Instant Replay

Is there anything more frustrating in baseball than the terrible calls on balls and strikes? There’s no reason for it either. In this age of rampaging technology, there is no reason we should have to watch a terribly blind or paid-off home plate umpire call a third strike on a pitch that was at least a foot outside.

David Wright couldn’t save last night’s WBC game against Japan. He couldn’t overcome the bad call for strike three. He had to walk meekly to the dugout; he had to be content with whatever few words he managed to squeeze off to the fool or thief behind the plate.

The bad call decided the game. Japan’s pitcher Dice K was on the ropes. There was a man on first and second with just one out. Wright was the U.S.’s best hitter at the plate. Wright hung tough, fouling off pitch after pitch on the outside corner of the plate before taking the pitch that was obviously well outside.

But it was only obvious to everyone at home watching on TV and to everyone in the stands. The thief behind the mask thought it nipped the outside corner. As it was a breaking ball, he saw his opportunity to steal the game and he took it. He knew the next batter, Adam Dunn, wouldn’t have a chance. And he didn’t.

It didn’t really matter that Derek Jeter made it all moot by bungling a routine throw to first base in the next inning, keeping the inning alive so that the Japanese could put the game out of reach. All his error did was to hopefully keep him off the next version of the WBC USA baseball team. The game had already been decided. The umpire killed off the USA’s best chance.

I had been a big proponent of the WBC until last night. Now I’ll join the plethora of print and TV journalists trying to downplay the excitement we’ve been witnessing night after night. Speaking of payoffs, Major League Baseball has been exerting all its muscle apparently to coax the very worst out of these media hypocrites.

I’ve seen articles to the effect that the fans don’t care, that the players don’t care; this despite the evidence of our own eyes. I’ve seen ridiculous statistics pulled right out of their anuses to prove that U.S. baseball participants do worse with their major league club after playing in the Classic. We’ve seen the Yankees complain bitterly about a dogging-it second baseman whining about a sore shoulder.

But now I don’t care. If the games can’t be played fairly, I’m not interested. It’s too easy for the umpires to cheat, too easy for them to be influenced.

Much as the NBA tries to convince us that their referees are clean and fair, MLB and WBC officials will try to convince us that instant replay would never work for balls and strikes.

But a very similar type of situation exists in tennis. A ball or strike call is basically a line call. Tennis players are given three challenges. TV already has the box it throws on the screen. I’d be much more comfortable with that. You can still keep the idiots and thieves behind the plate.

I’ve had it with officials. Given any opportunity to fail, they take it. They would have us believe, in the NBA, that the stars really didn’t take five or six steps on their way to that driving dunk; they would have us believe that rookies commit all the fouls.

And MLB would have us believe that they didn’t know players had been shooting crap into their butts for years and years. They’d have us believe that they had no interest in increasing home run totals after the big strike. And they’d have us believe that it would be impossible to challenge horrible calls on balls and strikes. The same of course goes for the WBC.

Maybe the stakes in this event are too high to expect an honest umpire. After all, it’s not just the U.S. watching. The world is watching. They anxiously wait to see which team is the best in the world.

Japan takes on S. Korea now for the crown. But I won’t be watching. I’ll just spend my time wondering what Wright would have done with the next pitch, a pitch that might have been in the strike zone.

Doing It Wright

After Carlos Beltran of Team Puerto Rico made one of his smoothest yet most spectacular catches ever against Brian McCann earlier in the game, my spirits flagged, but I hadn't given up hope yet on what I knew to be a very talented if not deep U.S. team. They sure waited long enough, but in the end, they showed remarkable toughness at the plate to come back and beat Puerto Rico in the ninth, thus sending the tough Puerto Ricans home and advancing themselves into the semifinal. They'll face Venezuela on Wednesday night to determine seedings.

But what a ninth inning! Against JC Romero, one of the toughest lefty relief pitchers in the game, they began their comeback slowly and continued it inexorably. Bit by bit, single by single by walk by walk, they ate away at the lead and the nerve of that great Puerto Rico team. Half the team participated in the comeback, Victorino and Roberts had consecutives singles and, after Jeter flied out, Jimmy Rollins produced a very tough at-bat for Romero, finally walking on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases and bring Kevin Youkilis to the plate with the bases loaded and just one out.

Puerto Rico replaced Romero with right-hander Fernando Cabrera, who seemed determined not to throw the ball anywhere near the plate. Youkilis meanwhile was all-jaw, finally drawing another walk to drive in a run but the U.S. was still behind. This brought up Wright, the guy who's had some trouble in big spots before. I thought "double play", but then tried to dismiss it from my mind.

After taking three pitches and with the count 2-1, Cabrera let go with a low fastball that I was horrified to see Wright swing at, but he was able to drive it to extreme right to drive in Roberts and Rollins with the game-winning runs.

Never was a Mets fan happier. While acknowledging that Wright had his troubles last year driving in runs in big spots, I wanted to believe he'd do better this year. Well, he surely did better last night. We can only hope as Mets fans that his previous failures were the result of sad coincidence only, and that last night's big hit was only the first of many in our future.

But it was truly a team win, which bodes well for the U.S. going forward. After what could have been a debilitating mercy-rule loss in their round two opener, they came back stronger than ever to defeat the Dutch handily and then eke out this one with a determined ninth-inning comeback.

And maybe now we'll be able to say, "oh good, Wright's up." I know that's what I'll say...

Sunday Blues

I’d like to first extend my apologies to any regular readership, as life’s realities have once again intruded upon my carefully-crafted fantasy existence. Between personal problems and the proposed NJ budget, carefully crafted by the tyrant Corzine to attack the middle class and smokers, it’s really tough to keep my mind on sports.

Kudos though, to the WBC, the Knicks and the Nets. Raspberries to the U.S.A. baseball team and Jake Peavy. I could probably add UConn and Pitt to the raspberries list but my heart’s not really in it. They are just students after all.

The U.S. baseball team surely didn’t show much in their embarrassing ten-run rule loss to Puerto Rico yesterday, but they’re still in the tournament, for now anyway. If this tournament has shown me anything thus far, it’s just to reaffirm the importance of good pitching.

Jake Peavy gave up six runs right off the bat, no pun intended, and that was pretty much the end of things. Meanwhile, the friggin’ Netherlands has shown basically nothing at the plate but are pitching their little hearts out. I’ve heard they practice in wooden shoes, which just makes things that much easier when they get to wear their spikes. It’s only conjecture that they also pitch into windmills for added resistance.

The Mets are showing pretty well. Beltran and Delgado have been smacking the ball all around the parks while K-Rod closed out the Dutch with four outs too. I can’t say it makes me happy though. A 162-game season is hard to preface with a huge tournament.

The timing of this event really couldn’t be worse for the U.S. Our pitchers save themselves for the regular season and aren’t geared up for big performances in March. If the U.S. loses again tonight, maybe we’ll take this event a little more seriously in the future. I don’t think we can afford to ignore it any longer. We’re getting embarrassed on an international stage.

Major League Baseball has to prevent teams from being obstructionists too. And the biggest fly in the ointment thus far seems to be the Yankees, whatta surprise, who whined loudly about a little shoulder problem for Cano. Is there still any doubt that Cano is a deadbeat? I guess so. I know you won’t find him on my fantasy roster.

At the same time as the Yanks try to destroy any baseball talk outside their own team, they are still patiently keeping those seats unaffordable for all but the richest. I anxiously await their demise, not only on the field but also in home attendance. Really! Was there ever a more disgraceful team management in any sport whatsoever?

You have to wonder about the security of these fans as they approach the gates of the new stadium. In this economy, and with the locals not only ticked off about the stadium in general but also about their inability to afford seats, I could definitely see some hostility directed toward their dwindling fan base.

See “Robin Hood.” It’s pretty easy to characterize the new stadium as Nottingham Castle, Hank Steinbrenner as evil Prince John and Cashman as the stumblin’ bumblin’ Sheriff of Nottingham. Picturing the Bronx as Sherwood Forest is a little tougher, of course, but maybe they’ll plant some trees. Oh, that’s right….parking lots…but I digress.

I have to say it’s really nice to see the Knicks and Nets both coming back to contend for that eighth playoff spot. D’Antoni never stops. He’s never missed the playoffs and doesn’t act as if he wants to break his streak. I couldn’t help but notice his pulling the jock Harrington from the lineup down the stretch, definitely a good thing. He also chastised Lee and Robinson for their attitudes toward the officials.

Although I’m not quite ready to shower the same kind of credit on Lawrence Frank, you can’t help but notice his N.J. team is still trying. The thing I always notice about the Nets is their height. Lopez, Yi, these are big guys, and that never hurts in basketball. If the refs ever give Lopez a break (they won’t), the Nets would be great. Both teams have their work cut out for them down the stretch though. They have to face each other twice down the stretch.

The Knicks also have to face LeBron and the Cavs, then shortly thereafter have a home and home against Orlando. Then it’s on the road against Utah and Denver, then at the Bulls, at Orlando again and at Miami. That’s not a schedule I’d advocate for a playoffs team.

The Nets might have it even tougher. A home and home vs Cleveland, the Lakers, Detroit, Boston and Orlando will all make it tougher for the Jerseyans. The most likely outcome for our locals will be a final game steel cage death-match against each other for the final playoffs berth on April 15^th.

The madness begins soon, of course, and the finals seem harder to predict every year. We see the UConn’s and Pitt’s of the world all season but then come to realize that Louisville’s not too bad either. North Carolina, Texas, Kansas, Arizona, they always seem to be contenders. And Syracuse always seems tougher when it really counts.

Actually it’s probably a lot harder to predict the 64 entrants than it is to pick a winner. There’s at least as much acrimony over the participants as there is about the results. And that’s a good thing, I guess, except I keep thinking those last 32 teams should really be in the NIT.

I never should have watched “No Country for Old Men”. I find myself pining for the good ol’ days, day games, 154-game schedule, no DH, double-headers, Mickey, Willie and the Duke.

Sports, governments, the medical establishment, they all share disturbing similarities….too few dollars chasing too many services. Do we really need those extra 8 games in the season? How about the number of police on the streets? How about that EKG for a stomach ache?

The WBC and Not Much Else

Well, a lot sure has happened since last time, notably the “friggin’ Netherlands” upsetting the Dominican Republic after I made some reference to the ten run rule. So apologies are in order. I guess I’ll be “in Dutch” with them for quite a while.

But then it is baseball. Especially if an inferior team can put together some semblance of a pitching staff, the chances are fair to middlin’ that they can eke out a win against a superior opponent, especially if it can take a lead. That’s of course exactly what happened to the stunned Dominicans, who seemed to be pressing for most of the game.

The U.S. team was fortunate to get by the tough Canada team in their opener but then really handed it to the Venezuelans in Game 2. As this Mets fan watched Victor Zambrano head out to the mound in the 5th, I knew the game was just about over. You might recall the Mets trading Scott Kazmir for Victor, an early Omar Minaya particularly gaseous brain fart.

While the entire core of the Mets team frolics in various sites around the world, the Mets fan gets to watch what’s left. It’s not saying a lot. I know I haven’t been able to tune in since the Classic started. What would be the point? I know I’m enjoying this World Championship though, almost as much as the players themselves.

You had to like the U.S. team as players such as Chris Ianetta of the Rockies came through with the big, big triple to clear the bases against Zambrano.

It seemed almost impossible that anybody could knock Arod out of the headlines, but Terrell Owens and the Dallas Cowboys managed it in splendid fashion. Of course, it was only momentary relief as Arod’s back in front again, finally deciding on having the surgery he so obviously needed. That the Yankees took so long to figure that out is way beyond me.

But then I remember it’s Cashman pulling the strings and then it makes perfect sense. The Yanks still have quite a few seats to fill in their new digs and what better way to stay on the front page (or back page actually in New York) than to drag out even obvious decisions? And that’s it for that subject. I promised myself not to dwell on A-Fraud.

On lighter matters, Jim Berman says that “no team circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills.” It had better be true because they’ll have to do a lot of circling next year. Has anyone in the entire history of the NFL needed more apologists than Terrell Owens?

While a lot of folks think T.O. was a great acquisition for the Bills, and my brother not the least among them, I tend to disagree. It’s not as if they’re Super Bowl material up there, and as they’re only getting him for the one year, eight and a half million dollars would seem kind of pricey for a one-time winning record of about 9-7.

The Bills are, after all, the Bills and they’re in a pretty tough division. T.O. won’t be scaring the likes of the Patriots, and the Jets just beefed up their secondary. And nobody knows (and probably dislikes) T.O. better than Bill Parcells, who just happens to run operations down in Miami.

So I figure the Bills will, at best, win two of those six intra-Division games and probably only one. If they even manage 9-7 overall, it’ll be a miracle. Of course, their fans will probably be much happier with that than with what has been trying to pass for a competitive team all these long years.

But it was great to see ESPN’s obnoxious Stephen A. Smith say a lot of foolish things about T.O. before he signed with the Bills. Most memorable for me was that Stephen was absolutely sure that Owens would sign with a team that had a great quarterback. He mentioned Tom Brady and hinted that the Colts would be a good place too.

I guess Trent Edwards qualifies, somehow, as a good QB but it’s really, really hard to figure out why. I won’t bore you with statistics but Edwards has been mostly a disaster unless you’re overly amused by interceptions at the worst possible times. Let’s hope T.O. can have a positive affect on the “team of the Northeast.” I’m quite sure they deserve better times.

And, who knows? Maybe T.O. really was being picked on in Big D. Maybe he’d start getting more separation if he had a better chance of getting the ball thrown to him. There’s nothing quite so pointless as running hard on every play, only to see the ball go underneath to somebody else.

But football is way in the future and, as I can’t get into hockey (although I couldn’t help but notice the attention being paid to Martin Brodeur lately), that leaves just basketball. Thank God for March Madness because we won’t be seeing too much more of the Knicks or Nets.

The Nets are usually entertaining for three quarters, but then you remember that the game has four quarters. What a bad bunch down the stretch this group is! Going through the motions is almost more than you can say about these guys. Sadly, their play is typical of other teams around the league once they’re out of the playoffs.

D’Antoni finally aired some of his frustration with his Knicks team lately, so maybe that’ll have some kind of positive effect on what appears to be just a bunch of chuckers. I’m ashamed now to admit that Al Harrington is from New Jersey. Does the ball ever come back again once it gets into his voracious hands? He truly never had a shot he didn’t like. I just wish he made more of them.

It’s got to be challenging for D’Antoni, who never misses the playoffs, to watch these guys under-perform night after night. And now Curry’s coming back. Heh-heh.

On the WBC And Stuff......

Does this seem backward to anyone else out there? I mean, we’re having a World Series to start the season. The World Baseball Classic starts tomorrow and it looks as if it’ll be a pretty good one. Not that there’s more than 4 or 5 real contenders, but the contenders will probably have some really interesting tussles. Baseball being baseball, there could be some really good first-round games too.

But the way the divisions shape up, it looks as if the good ol’ USA will win their division, not that it’s impossible they could have some trouble along the way. Venezuela could give them some trouble, but I don’t expect much from Canada and Italy isn’t really ready for prime time. They have one hell of a team meal though.

Japan should be good in Pool A. I don’t figure either China to match up with them and who knows about Korea? For Japan, the first few games should play out like exhibitions.

The Pool B division features Cuba, I would suppose, but it seems as if we’ve grabbed off all their best players and those fellas don’t necessarily want to go back. Mexico City might be close enough to inspire a little anxiety. Mexico could probably give them a little trouble. The less said about South Africa and Australia, the better.

Pool D figures to be a dogfight. There’s the Dominican Republic that seems to breed baseball players, Puerto Rico, Panama and the friggin’ Netherlands. No, really….The ten-run rule may be in effect in the first round.

So it shapes up as a 4-team matchup between Japan, the U.S. the Dominican Republic, and then Mexico or Cuba, I guess. All those games should be worth watching at the very least, and some of them might wind up being classics.

The U.S. team is worth rooting for, for sure. I like the infield especially, with Jeter at short, Pedroia at second, Wright at third base and then there’s Youkilis at first. Good players, good team players all, they’ll be tough to beat. The outfield seems a little power-deficient, but it’s speedy with Granderson and Victorino in there, and Ryan Braun should provide some pop.

The pitching staff is weird. There are only four real starters, and a couple of them are kind of questionable, in terms of quality. Peavy and Oswalt are great pitchers, but I don’t know that Ted Lilly and Jeremy Guthrie match up with them. Then there’re a million, it seems, relievers and some pretty good ones in J.J. Putz and J.P. Howell, my favorites, but then almost all these relievers can be tough for an inning or two.

But this USA team could play with and beat a lot of past All-Star teams, and I think they’ll be really good defensively and on the bases. I just wish the pitching staff were a little more solid. You might be seeing a lot of Davey Johnson , depending upon the rules on visiting the mound.

You have to like the Dominican Republic team though, with at least three first-round fantasy players in the infield in Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez and Arod. He’s questionable now, I guess, but then he’s always been questionable. Then they have some really interesting young pitchers, featuring Johnny Cueto and Edison Volquez.

Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado anchor the Puerto Rico team, but they’ve got plenty of good players, and pitchers too. Alex Rios could outdo Delgado for power and match Beltran for speed. They’ve got a really nice catcher in Geovany Soto too, but I’m not crazy about their pitching staff either.

And if none of the above particularly turns you on, you can watch the exhibition season games, not that they’ll be very exciting with all those star players missing. The Mets especially seem really short-handed, what with the likes of Wright, Beltran, Reyes and Delgado all being gone. I think I could live without seeing Putz and crazy Ollie for a few weeks, but I lost my enthusiasm for the rest of Spring Training.

It was really good to see Manny Ramirez finally agree to the Dodgers contract though. If I have this right, I understand Manny has an option for 2010, but not the Dodgers. He’ll get his 45 mill or thereabouts, but he apparently thinks he’s worth more in a better economic climate, or maybe he just doesn’t like LA. You’d think Manny and LA was a match made in heaven but maybe it’s not.

Or maybe he just doesn’t like Spring Training. What am I saying….maybe? It’s nice to see a guy hold up the entire League though. If anybody’s totally aware of his own worth, it’s Manny, and he doesn’t put on any airs. You won’t hear any rah-rah speeches from Manny..

And it’s really great the football Giants care about defense, but some thought, at least, should be given to the wideout position. I guess they figure they can pick a wideout anytime, but you’re not going to find a quality one if you wait. I suppose they’ll draft a few but they haven’t been that smart about those receiver picks in the past.

The Jets look as if they’re making some good moves too, but a quarterback would be a nice addition, unless they really expect a lot out of their reserves. They don’t seem that concerned. I know there’s a plan……somewhere..

The only other thing that intrigued me lately was the duel between Shaq and Superman down in Orlando. They apparently don’t like each other much either, not that anybody could really like Shaq and not that Shaq cares about anybody else. He sure is high on himself though, and especially when the officials let him hang around in the paint for twenty seconds or so.

In any event, though, Howard gave him all he had, and it was apparently more than enough for Shaq. Nothing would make me happier than the disppearance of Shaq from the NBA-protected list (from penalties).

Unless it’s Kurt Warner finally re-signing with the Cardinals.