Thank God. Now maybe we can all move on with our lives, the Eagles can turn their attention back to their lost season, and TO can watch it all from his couch.
Author: Jamey Codding (Page 14 of 25)
Anyone who thinks David Ortiz deserved the AL MVP award over Alex Rodriguez is either insane, a Red Sox fan, or an insane Red Sox fan. Ortiz had a phenomenal season at the plate, no question, but he’s a DH. Some of you are rolling your eyes right now, saying that argument doesn’t hold any water, but you’re mistaken.
First, let’s look at the numbers:
Rodriguez – .321, 48 HR, 130 RBI, 124 runs, 21 steals, .421 OBP, .610 slug
Ortiz – .300, 47 HR, 148 RBI, 119 runs, 1 steal, .397 OBP, .604 slug
A-Rod beat Big Papi in every single category except for RBI (and doubles, 40-29). Had Ortiz topped Rodriguez in any of the other categories, perhaps a stronger case could’ve been made for the Boston slugger, but the numbers, while extremely close, favor A-Rod.
Of course, numbers don’t always tell the whole story, and nobody in baseball drove in more clutch runs for his team in 2005 than Ortiz. I’m not going to deny that. It seemed like every other night on SportsCenter, I watched Papi knock a two-run homer out of the yard in the ninth, or lace a run-scoring double into the gap in the eighth to lead the Sox to a key victory. For that reason alone, Ortiz certainly deserved consideration for the award, but it’s impossible to ignore that he essentially was a part-time player for Boston, picking up a bat every few innings and riding the pine for the rest of the game.
Did he rob anybody of a double down the line with a runner on second? Was he out there starting pivotal double plays for his pitcher, or barehanding a slow roller and gunning to first for the out? Ortiz was great for his team when he had a bat in his hand, but that’s it, which means he could only affect the outcome of a game three or four times a night, generally speaking. A-Rod, meanwhile, hit for a higher average, hit more homers, scored more runs, got on base at a higher percentage and also carried a better slugging percentage than Ortiz, plus he played 1,391 Gold Glove-caliber innings in the field. Ortiz, meanwhile, logged 78 innings at first…and committed two errors.
Ortiz is a stud, no doubt, and he may have gotten my vote for Most Valuable Hitter. But A-Rod clearly was the league’s MVP, and now he’s got the hardware to prove it.
Oooh, how painful was that for TO? Standing in front of all those cameras and stooping down to kiss the feet of men he’d been spitting on for months hurt like hell.
It hurt like hell to watch it too.
What was his thinking? “Hey, if I do what they wanted me to do now, maybe they’ll take me back. Lesson learned.” Sounds reasonable, but throughout this entire soap opera, TO neglected one thing.
Consequences.
I have a two and a half-year-old daughter, and I spend the better part of my time with her trying to teach her that her actions have consequences. Touch the oven, burn your finger. Touch daddy’s iPod, lose a limb. She’s still young, I know, but I’m pretty sure she gets the whole cause-effect thing better than TO.
As fellow TSR blogger Tim Russo pointed out earlier today, guys like Terrell Owens just don’t get it. Yeah, they’ve got to put up with a lot of bullshit behind the scenes that we don’t see, and it sure sucks to be underpaid, but give me a break. Hey, TO — you live a charmed life. You’ll continue living a charmed life because you’re still going to get paid this year, and next season some team desperate for a dominant #1 receiver will throw a low-risk contract your way.
Of course, maybe we’ll see a new Terrell Owens next year. Stop rolling your eyes and calling me naive. Nobody’s ever taken it this far with TO. Nobody. And now that he knows he can have the game he loves so much taken away from him and he can’t do squat about it, maybe he’ll keep his gaping mouth shut. One thing’s for sure: He’ll be a man possessed next year and he’ll put up monster numbers for whichever team takes the plunge. And his mouth will stay shut. For the first few weeks of the season, anyway.
And where is Drew Rosenhaus in all of this? I know, he was standing next to TO at the press conference, offering his support as all the best multi-millionaire super agents would do for their top clients in this situation, but why isn’t he taking more heat? He’s supposed to be giving TO advice on how to better his career, not tear it down. Owens is the one who took the risk by calling Philly’s bluff, but Rosenhaus talked him into it, or at the very least enthusiastically supported TO’s decision. My first bit of advice to Owens would be to find new representation, someone who won’t stand by your side and watch you commit career suicide.
Witnessing a man get humbled so thoroughly and so publicly is almost unpleasant. I mean, there’s that part of me that takes sublime pleasure in all of this because, as we all would agree, TO had this coming. And I applaud the Eagles for making a move that so dramatically helps team morale but so severely hurts team talent. Still, watching him in front of all those cameras, reading words that he most likely didn’t write, I felt sorry for Owens too. How can someone have such an inflated sense of worth? How can someone alienate so many people and then think they’ll forgive him so easily? I mean, did he really believe the Eagles wouldn’t take it this far? Talk about naive.
ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio reported that Philly won’t even attempt to recoup a portion of TO’s signing bonus that his contract entitles them to claim, adding that one team official said, “We just want to get rid of him.” Ouch.
That’s about as rocky as rock bottom gets.
Man, the Cavaliers SUCK.
Eric Snow may be the most irrelevant starting point guard in the NBA. Damon Jones looks like nothing more than a three-happy gunner. Larry Hughes has apparently never met a jumper he didn’t like. And even with an improved roster, LeBron James tries to do way too much by himself. Worst of all, after watching Tony Parker shred the Cavs’ defense one trip down the floor after another, it’s clear Mike Brown hasn’t taught this team squat about playing D.
…
Okay, so now I’m overreacting to a 102-76 loss tonight after overreacting to a 109-87 win Wednesday night. Tonight’s game (on national TV, ugh) proved that Cleveland still has a long way to go, but the good news for Cavs fans is the season just started.
So was I hyping the Cavaliers too much Thursday night by saying they’ll overtake Indiana for the third seed in the East? I may very well have been. But I knew that Thursday night, and just like the win over the Hornets didn’t dramatically sway my opinion (I believed they had a chance at the #3 seed before the season started), tonight’s loss (on the road…against the defending champs) also has little effect on my outlook for this team. I still say they’ll be the East’s third seed.
But they’ve got a lot of work ahead of them.
I’m stumped.
For the past few weeks, I’ve been watching and listening to a bunch of NBA know-it-alls contend that the Cleveland Cavaliers would have a very good year but would still finish fourth in the East, behind Miami, Detroit and Indiana. In the weeks leading up to start of the season, I really started wondering if I was missing something. Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Eric Snow, Damon Jones, Drew Gooden, Donyell Marshall, Larry Hughes.
Alone, that starting five could contend for the final playoff spot in either league. But then you add a 20-year-old kid who looks a hell of a lot like the best all-round player on the planet? I’m sorry, but that team can play with anybody.
Admittedly, I’m a Cavs fan, but did you see them tonight? I won’t bother laying it all out here — check out the boxscore (Cavs won 109-87) — but the Cavaliers came out firing tonight, and I’m not sure when they’ll stop. They can score in the post, on the move, from mid-range and, this year, even from downtown, draining 12 threes tonight. On 21 attempts. That’s 62%.
And, of course, there’s #23.
So, someone please tell me why this team can’t at least be as good as Indiana. I’ve heard that it’ll take them a while to develop some team chemistry. I almost had some high school Bunsen Burner flashbacks watching these guys play together tonight. And name one player on the Pacers, or even the Pistons, that can take over a game the way LeBron can.
Ron Artest? He’s a beast, and a bit insane, but he can’t make as many things happen on the offensive side of the court to make him the dominant end-game player that LeBron can be. The reason: When James has the ball in his hands, he can beat you off the dribble, passing it, or shooting it. Artest usually needs someone to get him the ball to make something happen. That’s a big difference, I don’t care what kind of defensive freak you are.
Richard Hamilton? Not nearly physical enough and doesn’t do much else but score.
Chauncey Billups? He’s definitely the closest of this trio, with his ability to score, pass and shoot, but he doesn’t quite stack up to LBJ because he’s not a big rebounder.
The Heat, of course, have Shaq and Wade, and while I’d rather have LeBron than anyone else in the league right now (considering factors like age and health), Miami is deservedly the favorite in the East.
The Cavaliers, meanwhile, appear to have everything, including a deep roster. It may be too much to overcome the Pistons this year, but the Cavs will finish the season ahead of the Pacers . I know, it’s only one game. Trust me, I’m not calling for a Finals run just yet. But it could happen soon. Real soon. As for this year? I’m thinking 55-plus wins, a couple All Stars, miles of highlight-reel footage, and maybe even an MVP award.
Oh, and the #3 seed in the East.
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