Daily UpDate, Wednesday, March 25th

Living up to my website name is pretty simple; just don’t do a damn thing for a few days. That’s exactly what I did. I’m going to blame it on my brand new electronic toy that I’ve been playing with non stop since I got it; the blackberry.
I would’ve said that now with my unlimited access to the internet, it means more updates and all that, but yeah, let’s not get crazy here, it isn’t called the lazyeyeofsports for nothing.

Now back to the real world. Ralph Vacchiano says that the prospect of Plaxico Burress missing the next nearly four years is a frightening possibility for his teammates.

While everyone was taking their pot shots at the Plastic man, Giants teammates and more noticeably Brandon Jacobs, was there for his teammate and defended him constantly even saying that the Giants needed him back in order to win.
Will that sway Mayor Bloomberg from his tough stance that he took initially? Maybe not. But it is worth noting that despite all his legal situations, Plaxico remains good friends with plenty of his teammates to warrant a second chance. The Giants put up with a lot of his antics that they did not have to and more questionably did so after he received the big contract he played hard to get.
Does that mean that he owes the Giants any more than he’s given them? That’s for him to decide and no one else. Its kind of a moral decision. But its good to see that his teammates have his back in a situation that clearly affects his life more than anything that could on the football field for the Giants.

With the WBC concluding on Monday with Japan’s victory, questions remain on several issues over the impact the games have, not just on major league baseball but also the impact it has on world competition. One thing it taught us is that the U.S.’ inability to win came thanks to handcuffs placed on several players by their major league teams. Kevin Kernan had his final take on the WBC.

First off, the WBC is an exciting sporting event and the idea to hold it is a good idea. So let’s throw out this ludicrous idea that the WBC is a flat out failure. It’s a failure in its current format. Exactly when do you play this WBC is the question that is on most people’s minds. Do you play before the season like the current format says or do you play midseason and have a break like hockey does for the Olympics? or do you just say to heck with it, and let’s play after the season in November.
The only problem with that is, some of the players will be coming off of lengthy October playing time and will be exhausted having just completed an extensive 6 month schedule during the regular season and a few days and maybe an extra month for those playing all the way through the World Series. Its tough to ask them to come back and play at full strength then.
That’s why you have two routes in my opinion. Hold the WBC in January. You’ve given the players about 3 months to heal and rest up before the tournament. That way you can return those players back to their teams by mid February and since most of these players are stars, can give them a few extra days to rest and then get them back on schedule by March. Injury is a concern either way so you take that risk going in but managers can allow the players to play a bit harder than Davey Johnson was allowed to let them play. You also give fans an extra month of good baseball action. It won’t affect spring training because baseball fans will still emigrate in big numbers to camps to see future stars and current stars and it will increase participation and fan attendance in a lot of stadiums unlike what we saw this year.
The other option is to hold it at the same time but have amateurs and minor leaguers play. That way the risk is minimized for David Wright to get injured. However, the only stumbling block to this is what is the chance that the Braves send Tommy Hanson or the Nationals send Stephen Strassburg or the Marlins send, well, anyone on their team? They might send out the poo poo platter because more so than already proven assets is the importance of that talented young player who plays at a very cheap rate for all the teams not named the Yankees, Mets or Red Sox. The chances of actual grade-A talent being sent to the WBC, an already testy event for many major league GM’s to stomach due to the risk involved, is very small.
So my vote goes for January. Give the fans an extra month of baseball action and it minimizes the risk of something bad happening. Shouldn’t the WBC champ play the world series champ at the end of the year to see who’s the actual champion of the WORLD?


Folks, there’s hope for A-Rod after all. In an interview aired yesterday on the YES Network, he sat down with Michael Kay and talked with him and for the first time, I heard something real out of this guy’s mouth. Neil Best has the report.

When I read the headline and the first few paragraphs I felt like Darth Sidious watching Anakin Skywalker turn to the darkside, I started throwing my snuggie over my head and began lowering my head and letting out a sinister cackle that reverberated throughout my room sending a deep chill down anyone’s spine had they been in the room.
Finally he’s realized what Kobe came to realize. No more smiling like your shooting a McDonald’s commercial. No more being chummy with everyone thinking that they like you. No. A-Rod needs to accept that people will hate him and move on.
When Curt Schilling announced his retirement, they re-aired the bloody sock game from the 2004 ALCS and of course the other important play of that game was A-Rod’s tomahawk chop while Bronson Arroyo was trying to apply a tag. I mean, that just reinforced every idea of how un-loosey-goosey he was. He was as tight as a size small t-shirt on Rush Limbaugh. He’s a villain. He was meant to play a villain and be one in the public eye because public perception has always swayed that way. Here’s a guy who began his career as someone who wanted to be liked and win championships yet abandoned that and went to Texas for the big money. He then orchestrated a trade out of there to the team he knew could offer him the big contract. He’s had such a run of shady behavior that borders on douchebaggery that its very hard to actually like him. Even his love sessions with his family are orchestrated. So it makes sense that this guy, is finally embracing his public persona and giving a big F-U to the public.
This is like Hulk Hogan becoming Hollywood Hogan. Sick and tired of preaching vitamins and minerals to a wrestling fan who had grown sick and tired of it. He’s finally becoming who he was meant to be and like a proud parent I stand and applaud you A-Rod. Had you not played for the Yankees I would buy your jersey proudly and wear it. Unfortunately you are and I can’t ever be caught in that jail house uniform.


Of course his Yankees will have stiff competition coming in the form of the Tampa Bay Rays who are out to prove that last year was no magical Cinderella story.

Sorry to say this Yankee fans, but this division is not going to be easy. They were a real good team last year and not just because everything went right for them. Not just because David Ortiz was injured and the Red Sox were going through their Manny drama. Not just because the Yankees collapsed and just couldn’t sustain any kind of momentum. They have real talent coming out of the wood work in Tampa and that’s from years of accumulating number one picks and drafting high. Their GM, Andrew Friedman deserves a ton of the credit but Joe Maddon has built this team’s image. He’s pulled all the right strings and remains one of the brightest minds in all of baseball which means that as long as he wants a spot on the bench he has one. His concept of 9=8 ended up being a rallying cry all the way to the World Series. This year, should they continue on that path, the Rays should be a great team because of the incredible pitching depth that they have. Shields, Kazmir, Garza form a top 3 that can rival any in baseball and they are young and they come cheap which are all formulas that Tampa has to emphasize given their payroll isn’t even in the ball park of either of the two perennial behemoths in boston and New York, heck its barely out of A-Rod’s salary this year alone. But with their experience in player development, things are going right for a team that has seen more down than anything. I just hope that the Nationals aren’t taking notice.


In the very interesting storyline department for the NCAA Tournament, here’s a question that should raise some eyebrows: who coaches 12th seeded Arizona? Well, Pete Thamel has a pretty good idea but that’s not what it says on the program.

It takes a lot of stones to turn down a major program like Arizona and for Mike Dunlap to do it shows that he’s more than just a man looking for a paycheck. He has a certain set of principles with which he lives by and he stuck to them. I hate the term of interim coach placed on anybody. Its just an insulting term saying, we don’t want you. If you told a girl you were dating that you wanted to call her your interim girlfriend, you see how long that conversation lasts. Its just demeaning to a guy who probably worked his butt off and stayed the course while waiting for jobs to open up. In college these jobs are like legacies and when people like Lute Olson have built a reputation and a program up its tough to sit there and just wait for your chance. Dunlap took the job and yet was told when Lute Olson resigned due to health problems that he was going to be given the interim title. He of course seeing it for what it was declined and decided to stay on the coaching staff anyway showing how much of a team player he was. By staying on, he showed he wasn’t about getting this big contract like the media loves to portray these guys as, but a guy who isn’t willing to play second banana when he knows that he can be the big kahuna. He’s smart and I’m sure that however far Arizona goes, Mike Dunlap is assured of that top job that he initially wanted from Arizona, elsewhere.

I leave you with some sad news, the Rocky Mountain News is leaving. Saying goodbye to their loyal customers. In the sports section you can see a number of stirring memories that live on through each edition of the newspaper. Yes ladies and gentleman, yet another long standing neighborhood newspaper is leaving. While it may not matter much to those of you who sit at home and enjoy the news on CNN or ESPN or SI, you will when you realize that’s all you have to depend on for your sports news and the power in which to wield perception on any event.