Daily Roundup- Monday, February 9th

A weekend later and the newswires are only heating up about the A-Fraud scandal and Tony Mazz of the Boston Globe is weighing in. He says, there is a contingent of the population that is just plain tired of all this.

Agreed Mazz, but compassion is a word that has never been associated with A-Rod. Why compassion? He’s the highest paid player. Are we supposed to feel sorry about him being crucified? To whom much is given, much is expected.


Mike Lupica, like a bee to honey, continues his onslaught on one of his favorite targets A-Rod. Here he says that A-Rod is the new face of the new Yankees.

The comparisons that he draws up are pretty good. It centers around A-Rod’s contract negotiations and how A-Rod was able to walk away from the Yankees and still have them offer the richest contract EVER to a player who had never performed for them when they needed him. "The amazing thing about Alex," an American League manager said Sunday, "isn't that the Yankees traded for him in the first place. It's that they re-signed the guy after he walked away from them the way he did.
"Because that means they drank the Kool-Aid twice." If so, then the
Yankees deserve all the questions they will be asked and all the negative press.


An interesting question that two notable people asked was, what happened to the other 103 players that were listed? Curt Schilling and Reggie Jackson are waiting for THAT list and then let’s start passing out blame to everyone and not just one name on a list that has 103 other people on it, so says Kevin Kernan of the Post.

I know why Reggie Jackson asked the question seeing as how him and A-Rod are good friends, but Schilling? Curt Schilling can be a considerable douche when it comes to certain topics. But from his blog I can surmise that while he has his moments where he stands on that soap box, he can also be a voice of reasoning which makes me believe that everything he writes he believes in so its not all fake which then I can respect. I agree that putting A-Rod on this list is bad. If Selena Roberts saw A-Rod’s name and was able to confirm it, don’t you think that they had their hands on other names? Why didn’t they question them? Oh right, no one cares if Omar Infante is found to be using steroids.


Now, on to more important news stories worthy of our time. After a 30 year run in Hawaii, the Pro Bowl will be played in Miami, the week before the Super Bowl to kind of drum up any kind of momentum for this game and finally get some sort of ratings for the only show that NEVER gets any. Here are some noteworthy news and notes out of the Pro Bowl from Jim Corbett of USA Today that should answer a few questions. The NFC Won by the way 30-21 thanks to Larry Fitzgerald who again made some highlight reel catches.

No question the NFL has long wondered how they could get some sort of ratings out of the Pro Bowl. But putting it the week after the most televised game of the year makes it impossible for anyone to really get excited over this game. Most pro players would rather be playing in the golf tournament anyway. I think it’s a good idea moving it to the week before the Super Bowl, as keeping a continuous flow of football can get everyone pumped for the Super Bowl. I do think however this creates the chance that people can get caught in the vices of pre-Super Bowl mania especially when its being held in Miami next year. Oh boy, I’m paying attention to the police blotter next year.
Interesting news and notes include Ray Ray’s coach, Jim Harbaugh, saying that the owner was willing to pay big bucks to keep him. They need him more than the Jets do. Without him, the Ravens go no where. Also, interesting interview that Tiki Barber did with Julius Peppers in which he was about to say it but never did, that he wanted to go to a place that paid him the most money. He said he wants to go play for a 3-4 after playing in the 4-3 all these years which all the analysts will tell you is ridiculous because there’s more responsibility in the 3-4 but hey to each his own. Albert Haynesworth meanwhile, while big and strong, sounds like a sissy. I mean for a guy his size, that voice just doesn’t fit him. He’s got a lisp and talks like a complete geek. I need some high school photos of this guy. There’s an inner geek in there somewhere.


The big game yesterday, the Cavs versus the Lakers lived up to its billing but not the two stars involved. The Cavs were trying to stay undefeated at home, and the Lakers were riding a pretty hot streak. But it wasn’t Kobe that helped the Lakers win, it was Lamar Odom who, as Bill Plaschke notes, puts others over himself constantly but when called upon can carry a team.

I’ve always felt Lamar Odom was capable of being a poor man’s Scottie Pippen. He’s 6-10 but can pretty much play every position on the court which makes him indispensable. He’s a hybrid forward that assists, rebounds and scores, so having him as your third option on your offense gives you a luxury that most teams just don’t have. With all that he’s gone through and having it be his contract year, its amazing to see this guy ACTUALLY play for his team more than another contract that he’s sure to get.
The Spurs and Celtics game was more exciting than this which certainly made for a good afternoon considering it was the first Sunday that sports fans did not have any NFL games going on.


Finally, we come back to the A-Rod scandal because we can’t walk away without hearing from one of the pre-eminent voices in sports, Mr. William C. Rhoden of the New York Times who writes, perhaps A-Rod just needs a few good role models to get himself back.

A-Rod needs more than just a few good heroes, he needs to understand what he did. Some people are so focused on a goal that they are willing to go the extra illegal mile to achieve it. Is it wrong? Yes. But do we love our athletes that break bones and limbs while achieving this goal? Yes. Do we cheer until we find out that this guy is a cheater? Yes. We need perhaps to change what we idolize in sports and then go from there.