CLEMENS!!

Ok, so now that the final exams are over and summer has officially began, I can give you my take (Which means zilch) on the Clemens contract.

Mike and Mike and Mike and Mike made a great point that the only people who should have any say regarding the Nolan Ryan esque "leave of absence" between starts are Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. Those two guys are the Yankees, and if they have no issue with Clemens coming and going as he did last season, then it should not matter what the other 23 guys in the clubhouse think. That being said, and since it is my blog, let me be the first to tell you that regardless of whether or not David Wells was drunk or taking a shit when he made his Clemens comment, he was totaly on the ball, for once. If you are part of a TEAM, what kind of message are you sending when you tell your "family" during the season that I miss my family and I need to leave you guys for them. Do I understand Clemens' predicament of wanting to both pitch and"retire", absolutely, but if you want to pitch and and want to be with your family then head back to the Houston Astros, take the hometown deal and you can be right near your family's home and your son coming up in the minor leagues. As a fan of the baseball team who has one of the best clubhouses in baseball, (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/sports/baseball/09mets.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=login)
having 25 guys who are friendly with each other makes a hell of a differece, especially when you take a team like the Yankees who had all that locker room trouble last year with A-Rod and players being thrown under the bus. Do I think this will be an issue in the near future. No, but if the Yankees begin to struggle, you better believe the New York media will begin asking players if they think the fact that Clemens is not around is the catalyst for the current struggle. What is not being talked about though is the excess stress Clemens will put on the already overused bullpen, as Clemens will rarely go more then six innings a start. Forget the Yankee mantra that they will not succumb to agents like Boars, the Hendricks Brothers just wiped Brian Cashman,GW alum Randy Levene and George clean and proved that, yes, despearate times call for despearate measures and if your client needs to be a Yankee, demand much more money than originally thought. Picture this, The Hendricks brothers have admitted that last year when they contacted the Yankees, they mentioned his vacation clause and the Yankees balked because they were currently 18-11 and in 1st place of the AL East. The Brothers Hendrick said, fine then he will not become a Yankee and moved along, but what a shock. Now they were 12-15 before their weekend series against Texas and in last place of the AL East, and realized things were looking awful because the Red Sox pitching staff is the elite 1-5 in baseball and that lineup, with Ramirez back on track, is in a groove. The Yankees should never succumb to a player's needs and furthermore for almost 26 million dollars, when considering the pro rated money and 40% luxury tax, shouldn't Clemens be around to help the development of young pitchers like Phillip Hughes, ("TOUTED AS THE NEXT CLEMENS") Matt Desalvo, Jeff Karstens and Darrell Rasner. If I am one of those guys and Roger Clemens is sitting in the dugout, I would bee-line straight towards him to do anything I can to learn from one of the five greatest pitchers of all time. Clemens should stay with the team, progress the youth and help fix a clubhouse that's public image has been awful in the past months.


NBA- My Bulls pick to the finals looks downright awful right now. We all underestimated the impact of a reinvigorated Chris Webber, and with a team as veteraned as they are, I think most people just overlooked them, called them old, and did not think Flip Saunders had the coaching ability to put them in position run through the Eastern COnference the way they are. Kudos to that whole team, and Joe Dumars, for steamrolling the pathetic Eastern Conference. Chicago, meanwhile, is not an interior team and when you rely on your 3 big guns Hinrich, Gordon and Deng to make shots, they cannot go a combined 8-29 from the field, which is what happened in game two. The Pistons took the second game by 21, and Rasheed Wallace played 18 minutes before fouling out. That gives you an idea of how much better the Pistons are playign than the Bulls. In the other series, Lebron is quietly becoming a playoff star as he is two games away from a conference final showdown against the Pistons and if he finds a way to beat them team who currently has not lost a playoff game, you better believe the MJ comparisons will begin. The Warriors WILL WIN TONIGHT, THAT IS A JULIAN STEFAN GOMPERTZ GURANTEE!!! and the Suns will win this series. I find it funny that multiple writers have lauded the effort of MIke D'Antoni for placing Kurt Thomas on Tim Duncan, and while I did not watch the game it would seem to me that he did nothing that Boris Diaw did not do, as Duncan ran off 29 points and 11 rebounds in a losing efffort. My new gameplan for D'antoni....DO NOT PULL AN AVERY JOHNSON AND MESS WITH A GOOD THING. Go with what won you the series against the Lakers meaning throw out Nash, Bell, Marion, Diaw and Stoudemire and do not think twice about it. Let Duncan put up his 30 and 10, but make sure Parker, Finley and Ginoboli all score under 15 points a game and the series is over. Easier said and done but that is the only way to beat a defensive minded, veteraned Spurs team, and while on the subject...I have never personaly admitted this, but Tim Duncan is extremely underrated. They beat an exposive Nuggets team in round one, and besides Duncan, this team has no legitimate number two scorer. Parker is a solid point guard who is efficient in the lane, but he is far from a good shooter and Ginoboli and Finley have been inconsistent as well. Duncan continualy carries this team to the playoffs year after year and quietly was one of five players to average 20 and 10.

NHL- Anaheim and Buffalo lost in the Conference Finals last season and expect both of them to get to the Stanley Cup this year, with Anaheim as my pick to win it all. As for the Rangers things look good right off the bat as it appears Brandan Shannahan will return for one more season.

NFL- After hearing about Brady Quinn's lame ducks in his first mini-camp as a Brown, you have to wonder if Quinn really was closer ranking wise on most teams' boards to the second round QBS (Stanton, Edwards, Kolb, Beck) than to Jamarcus Russell. The argument he is a winner would work except he really did not beat a stellar opponent other than Penn State when they were a top 20 team, but even the Nittany Lions fell off taking away some of the lsuter from that thrashing in South Bend.

more on the way in the coming days...