Stealing the Thunder...

Its an age old question: If a tree falls in a forest and nobody hears it, does it still make a sound? Here's a better question: If the World Series ends in Colorado, does anybody notice?

The Boston Red Sox completed a four-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies to win the World Series last night. A person might imagine that this would be the top story in sports today. That person would be wrong.

The top story in sports today in not the Red Sox. Instead, all the talk is about their arch-nemisis, the New York Yankees. Just as the season officially ends, the action starts to heat up in New York.

Within the next 24 hours, the Yankees are expected to officially announce that Joe Girardi is thier new manager. This has sparked a lot of debate among the many fans and experts who were anticipating that the job be given to Don Mattingly. The move comes as no suprise to me... I even predicted it back on the LMF Radio show last year.

Why am I convinced that Girardi is a better fit for the team than Mattingly? Its simple: Mattingly is 'old school'... more conservative, more cautious, more traditional. Girardi is younger, more in touch with the mentality of the players, more aggressive with his decision making. Joe Girardi will bring an 'edge' back to the Yankees.

This news has completely knocked the Boston success out of the headlines. Even in the Boston area, where I am currently located at this moment, the World Series championship is not even in the top 3 sports headlines. In addition to the the Girardi announcment, there are two other sports storys that are getting priority coverage.

A second Yankees situation is stealing the thunder from the Boston victory. Its been reported that Alex Rodriguez has opted out of his contract with the Yankees, and will seek to re-negotiate his contract as a free agent. Numerous reports indicate that the Yankees have chosen NOT to negotiate with A-Rod, which means he will now seek offers from other teams. The Boston Red Sox are not expected to be involved in any discussions for Rodriguez.

It seems that even in victory, the Red Sox are still standing in the shadow of the Yankees.

But its not just the Yankees who are stealing the spotlight today. The New England Patriots are getting a lot of attention in the media today as well. The team is undefeated heading into the much anticipated matchup with the undefeated Indianappolis Colts next Sunday. The Patriots are ranked first in every offensive statistical category, and the Colts are ranked third in every category. The hype for this game has already been going on for weeks, and hit full stride yesterday after both teams won their respective games. Talk of this matchup has buried any discussion about last night's World Series finally.

And just to bury the Red Sox story a bit deeper, there is a bit of controversy regarding the Patriots 52-7 thrashing of the Washington Redskins. Many observers feel that the Patriots showed a lack of class while running up the score late in the game. The offense was still trying to score additional points in the final minutes of the game, even though victory had been well established. Some feel Tom Brady was just trying to pad his records and was simply playing for stats. Others feel that the team was trying to send a message to the Colts. And a few people believe that the Redskins simply need a better defense and the Patriots did nothing wrong.

So what does all this tell us? Baseball is supposed to be our National Pasttime, yet nobody really seems to care who won the World Series. Perhaps this is because the outcome was a foregone conclusion.... it was a fluke that the Rockies even made it that far, and they stood no chance. But perhaps the New York Yankees are simply bigger than the game of Baseball itself. And perhaps the NFL might have reached a level of popularity where a midseason matchup captivates the attention of the public far more than the outcome of the World Series.

Or perhaps there is a simpler answer. Maybe people are just sick of hearing about the Red Sox.

A Plea to the Lakers

I was going to post a nice long rant about the Lakers/Kobe Bryant situation, but it seems Ryan Parker has put toegether a new video and just saved me a lot of trouble.



The Bottom line is this: Kobe Bryant scores points. Period. The rest of the Lakers team is simply not capable of making up for losing a player of that caliber. Kobe has repeatedly asked for quality teammates to help him out, and the ownership responds by calling him a selfish player who does not share the ball or contribute to the success of his teammates.

Kobe Bryant does might not be the nicest guy in the world. He might not be the greatest teammate in the world. But he is certainly one of the greatest players in the world. Any other team in the NBA would love to have him, and the Lakers would be doomed without him.