Look Who Just Released Their Inner Rockstar

Of course they get the black guy to sing. The top athletes gotta relax too I guess.

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Do or Die Dodgers

Did you see Cole Hamels at the press conference last night? With his hair all nicely combed and styled? I'm not gonna lie to you, that is one good looking boy. The Dodgers have no chance.

First of all, I'd like to congratulate the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. You guys managed to win 100 regular season games and even took a game off the defending champion Red Sox in the ALDS. You did all this with two good (at best) pitchers, and three average pitchers manning your rotation. But then again, in a season where Dustin Pedroia almost outslugs David Ortiz, I guess anything is possible.

WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT ANGELS PITCHING? But don't let my biased dislike for the Angels give you the wrong idea. The Halos easily deserved to be in the playoffs. All I'm saying is that they had no business winning 100 games, nor did they have any realistic shot at the World Series this year. In any case, the Angels are out, so let's focus our attention on a team that still matters. Now about them Dodgers...

In my relentless efforts to prove how doomed the Angels were in the postseason, I forgot to mention one thing: the Dodgers were more doomed. Easily one of the two weakest teams in the postseason, I'm not sure if the Dodgers belonged here this year. Dodger fans love making the case that the acquisition of Manny Ramirez and Casey Blake completely transformed this team. They say that Manny's presence alone has improved those around him. But let's look at this statistically. What changed, really? Matt Kemp and James Loney? They've been just as productive since Manny's arrival, no more, no less. Jeff Kent? Just as much of a non-factor since Manny's arrival as he was before. Andruw Jones? HAHAHA Andruw Jones. So fine. Andre Ethier temporarily lost his mind and slugged nine home runs during a three-week stretch, but he has since returned to normal, and hasn't hit a home run in nearly five weeks. Was Ethier simply maturing and coming into his own as a young, talented hitter? Was he inflicted with a temporary bit of amnesia and suddenly think he was Shawn Green? Whatever the reason, it probably doesn't have much to do with Manny.

So the Dodgers are sending out Chad Billingsley to face off against Cole Hamels tonight in their own do or die game. In fact, they're doing so at this very moment. Billingsley has been the Dodgers most dominant pitcher since the All-Star Break, and will try to rebound from his miserable performance in Game 2. Cole Hamels has been dominant all season, and has continued this dominance in the postseason. And when you have an offense as awesome as the Phillies offense, there really isn't much you can do but sit down on the floor and cry.

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Do or Die Angels (Died)

Boy, it's got to be frustrating if you're an Angel fan. Your ace gives you a quality start in Game 1 and you're only able to muster a single run. Your offense manages to wake up in Game 2, but your second started gets lit up. You finally muscle out a huge do-or-die Game 3 win in 12 innings in what you're hoping to the series-changer. Your ace tosses you yet another quality start in Game 4, and once again your offense isn't able to give him a decision. But your team hangs tough, and the game is tied heading into the 9th.

Your offense has been struggling all game, With GA, Vladi and Teixera all hitless. This inning doesn't look too promising either, with the bottom of the order due up. Miraculously, pinch-hitter Kendry Morales smokes a lead-off double off the green monster. You're in business. Howie Kendrick then executes a perfect sacrifice bunt, sending the pinch-runner Reggie Willits to third. Man on third with one out. Any ball put in play will likely score the go-ahead run. Then you'll be able to send out the most prolific single-season closer in MLB history to dig yourself out of what was once a 0-2 hole, suddenly making this a one-game series to be played at Angel Stadium...

Eric Aybar is at the plate. All he has to do is not strike out, put the ball in play. But Scioscia was desperate, and made a move he hoped the Red Sox were not expecting. He tried to squeeze Willits home. Unfortunately, Aybar's bunt attempt whiffed, and by the time Varitek plucked the ball out of his glove, Willits was stuck halfway between third and home. With two eyes on the back of his head, Willits did his best to scurry back to third, but Varitek chased him down and tagged him out. Suddenly, there were two outs, and the bases were empty. Aybar grounded out to end the top half of the 9th, Shields proceeded to blow the game in the bottom half, and that's the end of that story.

You can chew Scioscia out all you want for putting the entire season on one risky play. But the truth is, this was a great call. If the play had worked, the Angels may have escaped the game, the series, and we'd all be hailing Skip as a genius. So Scioscia rolled the dice. He gambled that Aybar would be able to lay the bunt down, or at least get his damn bat on the ball. If the bunt had sprayed foul, they could have easily reverted back to the original plan, getting Willits home on a sacrifice fly or ground out. Who would've guessed that a major league ball player would have whiffed on a bunt? Not you, not me, and not Mike Scioscia. There's a reason why Scioscia is a World Series champion, and the rest of us aren't. He makes the calls that the rest of us don't have the cajones to make.

Unfortunately, the dice isn't always kind. I guess you crapped out this time, Skip.

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Francisco Rodriguez on pace to crush the saves record.

Yesterday with against the Minnesota Twins, Francisco Rodriguez notched his 50th save of the season, and it's still August!

He reached the magic 50 with the Angels having only complete 129 games. That's the fastest ever. Secondplace, Eric Gagne reached 50 after the Dodgers completed 143 games.

He is now on pace to crush the single season saves record held by Bobby Thigpin (57 saves). K-rod is on pace to have 62.7 saves, to be exact. Yet, K-rod is far from being one of the greatest closers of all time.

This season K-rod's whip has been a worst ever 1.27 and far from the closer ideal of sub-1.0. He is also only averaging 1.12 strikeouts/inning, his worst since his rookie season 1.10. K-rod is also on pace to give up the most walks of his short career...

By comparison, in 2003 when Eric Gagne saved his NL record 55 games, Gagne had a whip of 0.69, and averaged 1.66 strikeouts/inning.

So if K-rod is having one of his worst pitching seasons of his career, why is he about the stand alone atop the single-season-save rankings?

The Angels are rollin', and the its starting pitchers routinely set up the game perfectly for K-rod.

Lost in the mix is the fact that already K-rod has entered 61 games. He is on pace to enter 76.6 games, again the most of his career.

Still, with all of this, K-rod has been able to save 82% of the games he has entered. Gagne by comparison saved only 71.4% in that historic 2003 season.

Gagne, however had ZERO blown saves in 03, while K-rod already has 5. That equates to a 10% failure rate. He better clean that up by the playoffs, otherwise it'll be a nerve-racking 9th inning for Angel's fans.

Side note: don't you love how Baseball articles almost always turn into stat fest??? I sure do!

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Deviation in Dodger Direction

For the first time in 8 years, the Dodgers seem to be making the right moves. Since dismembering a respectable team built around Gary Sheffield and Shawn Green, the Dodgers were stuck in a cycle of questionable and disappointing signings. They brought in the ever-underachieving Jeromy Burnitz. They took a chance on two talented but injury-prone players, Milton Bradley and J.D. Drew. They wheelchaired in two has-beens clearly on the decline, Jeff Kent and Nomar Garciaparra. They grossly overpaid Rafael Furcal and Juan Pierre. They took a swing at a no-longer-on-steroids-and-thus-no-longer-effective Luis Gonzalez. And who can forget the most recent blunder, Andruw Jones. Andruw Jones...what more needs to be said? These mind-numbing acquisitions would result in almost a decade of the Blue Crew struggling just to make the post-season.

For some reason, this year is different. With a handful of young talent keeping the Dodgers neck and neck with the Diamondbacks for the NL West lead, Ned Colletti seems to have realized that a few safe additions might just push the Dodgers over the edge.

With youngster Blake DeWitt slightly lagging in big-league development, Colletti took a gamble on Casey Blake (not really a gamble, Blake is a solid bet for 20 home runs and 80 RBI every year). Then came the surprise acquisition of Manny Ramirez, who's slugging .746 in 17 games thus far with the Dodgers LOL (LOL = laughing out loud), really a no-risk no-brainer for Colletti when you consider that Manny is in the last year of his contract, and that Boston, not LA, will be responsible for the majority of Manny's remaining salary this year. Even with the Arizona acquisition of Adam Dunn, the Dodgers seemed poised to take over the NL West.

But Colletti still wasn't satisfied. In fact, he was determined to make the Dodgers 4 sizes better ('sizes,' in this sense, is spelled Cy's). Deviating away from the time-tested (time-tested for failure) strategy of gambling on injury-prone stars, Colletti decided to invest in a tank. I use the word tank reluctantly, because even tanks experience more technical and mechanical problems than Greg Maddux. In his 23-year career (let me write that out for those of you who may have misread that: TWENTY-THREE YEARS) and 22 years as a full-time starter, Maddux has notched less than 30 starts just twice, and has not ONCE notched less than 20 starts.

Even at age 43, Greg Maddux gets the job done. In his last 5 starts before coming back to the Dodgers, Maddux is 3-1 with 4 quality starts, and a 17:1 K:BB ratio. In his prime, Maddux was the greatest. At age 43, Maddux is still better than most. If only for this year, the Dodgers are destined for glory.

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A Deadline Dandy

Just hours before the trade deadline last week, the Dodgers gave up a handful of prospects in exchange for future hall-of-fame outfielder Manny Ramirez. The Pirates inherited these prospects, while sending arguably their most talented player, Jason Bay, to the Red Sox.

At first glance, one can't help but salivate at the addition of Manny's numbers to the Dodger offense. Upon Manny's arrival, the Dodgers boasted a mediocre offense, a mediocre pitching staff, and had a record (54-54) that displayed exactly that: mediocrity. When he left Boston, Manny had a .299 average (ranks #1 among active Dodger starters), 20 home runs (ranks #1 with the Dodgers), 68 RBIs (ranks #1 with the Dodgers), an OBP of .389 (ranks #1 with the Dodgers), and slugged .529 (ranks #1 with the Dodgers). Adding these types of numbers to any offense would help immensely, right? Right, but in more ways than you think.

With Manny Ramirez now the focal point of the Dodger lineup, a great deal of pressure is now lifted off the shoulders of Dodgers, both young and old, currently struggling to the carry the offense. In other words, expect to see gradual increases Matt Kemp's, Andre Ethier's, James Loney's, and Jeff Kent's numbers. More importantly, as desperate Dodger fans now divert their expectations to Manny to be their offensive savior, don't be surprised to see a sudden revival in Andruw Jones.

Now, if you're anything like my boss, Brian P, you might be desperately trying to understand my logic here. You might be asking, "But Brian Chen, if reducing expectations and pressure to perform results in improved production, then what about Manny? With all eyes on Manny now, won't all this pressure be too much for Manny to handle? Won't we see a decline in his numbers, as we saw with poor Andruw?" Relax, my loyal reader. Manny is different from most other players. He seeks out the spotlight. He craves the pressure, the expectations. And he's enjoyed these expectations his entire career. That is, until the last few years.

Hence, I believe this to be the explanation for the sudden drop in his production the last few years in Boston. The experts will tell you that he's had health issues. Give me a break, Manny has always had health issues. He's never once notched 600 at-bats in a season. Here's the real reason: Manny's feelings were hurt. With the emergence of David Ortiz in 2004, the Red Sox nation embraced Big Papi as their new leader, and discarded Manny to being only 'second best.' As good as Manny is, he is a baby (a big, buff-ass baby, but a baby nonetheless). And, in simple terms, this baby got pissed, and stopped producing.

Now, Manny's in LA. Now, the person who comes closest to displaying the same dominance at the plate as Manny is Jeff Kent (in other words, nobody even comes close). Now, there's not even a question of who the best hitter on the team is. Manny, if you're reading this, you got what you wanted. For at least half a season, this is your team. Dazzle us with your greatness.

By the way, Manny Ramirez, if you're actually reading this, you're invited to After the Anthem's undie launch party. Please come.

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In LA, no one cares about your past

Its a beautiful sight, to see someone who has had such a troubled past-- filled with bickering with the boss, loneliness at the workplace, built up frustration letting itself be realized in a shoving match--be welcomed in his new home. It's great to see people able to let go of who they were, and develop in a loving environment who they will become.

If this is any preview of what is to come, then Manny Ramirez will love L.A. It already loves him, that's for sure.

In his latest outing as the Dodgers beat the division leading Arizona Diamondbacks 9-3, Manny went 4-5 with 3 RBIs and a solo HR. Since the trade, Manny has hit 8-13 with 5 RBIs. Outrageous numbers.

Put those numbers together with the fact that the Dodgers only have to pay the $1 million trade bonus, and you've got yourself the luckiest team this side of the Mississippi. (Don't ask me what the luckiest team east of the Mississippi is, I just wanted to use that phrase for once.)

More love for Dodger's fans. Brad Penny is rehabbing and has been throwing 96mph fastballs.

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BREAKING NEWS IN BASEBALL, Manny Heads to La-La Land

• THE LOS ANGELES DODGERS HAVE ACQUIRED FUTURE HALL-OF-FAME SLUGGER MANNY RAMIREZ IN A 3-WAY DEAL WITH THE RED SOX AND PIRATES. HERE'S THE BREAKDOWN:

1. Dodgers get: Manny Ramirez
2. Red Sox get: Jason Bay
3. Pirates get: Andy LaRoche, Bryan Morris (prospect), Brandon Moss (prospect), Craig Hansen (prospect)
   

• THE CHICAGO WHITE SOX HAVE ACQUIRED FUTURE HALL-OF-FAME SLUGGER KEN GRIFFEY JR. FROM THE CINCINNATI REDS. HERE'S THE BREAKDOWN:

1. White Sox get: Ken Griffey Jr.
2. Reds get: Nick Masset, Danny Richar (prospect)

Analysis to follow soon.

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Hindsight on the Blockbuster

Two weeks after the two blockbuster trades that sent CC Sabathia to the Brewers and Rich Harden to the Cubs, we seem to be in the same position: the Cubs holding on to a slim lead over the Brewers and Cardinals in the NL Central. Since the trades, the Cubs and Brewers are an identical 11-8, and the Cardinals are 10-9.

This leaves the NL Central standings roughly unchanged in two weeks time, with the Brewers edging ever so slightly passed the Cardinals. So what exactly do the acquisitions of Rich Harden and CC Sabathia mean for the top two teams in the NL Central?

CC and the Brewers

Sabathia joins a Milwaukee pitching rotation that now features quite possibly the most dominant pitching duo in the major leagues: himself and Ben Sheets. Since joining the Brewers, Sabathia has definitely lived up to expectations, if not surpassed them. In 5 starts (each of them quality), Sabathia has racked up 4 wins (3 complete games, 1 shutout), 34 K's in 39.2 innings pitched, a 1.82 ERA, and a 0.98 WHIP. He's also held the opposition to a .209 batting average. With staff ace Sheets mired in a recent slump of mediocrity (1-3, 4.75 ERA in last 6 starts), Sabathia's recent surge of dominance could not have come at a better time.

Actually, "recent surge" of dominance would be an incorrect choice of words. Instead, I'll just say dominant. One word, dominant. Don't be mistaken, Sabathia's brilliance since joining the Brewers is not a recent development; he has been this dominant all season long. In fact, Sabathia's 3.33 ERA this seasons (although solid), is quite deceptive to the type of season he's actually having. Discounting Sabathia's puzzling first four starts of the season, we'd be looking at a 2.06 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. In other words, we'd be looking at a repeat winner of the Cy Young award, and just the fourth pitcher in history (Gaylord Perry, Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens) to win it in both the National League and American League.

With run production stemming from offensive giants Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, if CC and Benny can continue blowing batters out of the box, the Brewers have a decent shot at holding off the Cardinals (who are currently treading water, praying for the return of Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright) and even overtaking the Cubs.


Rich and the Cubs

Long considered to be one of the most talented young pitchers in the major leagues, Rich Harden has been unable to stay healthy for a full season to display his true brilliance. Brushing off the painful memories of a certain Mark Prior, the Cubs took a gamble on yet another injury-prone superstar talent in Harden. Just 24 hours after the Sabathia trade was announced, Oakland sent Harden to the Cubs, dispensing of the last piece of what was supposed to be the dynamic Athletic trio of Mark Mulder (on a deathbed somewhere in St. Louis), Tim Hudson (thriving in Atlanta), and Rich Harden (to be determined).

Harden joins a Cubs pitching staff that is much stronger than the rotation that greeted Sabathia in Milwaukee. Carlos Zambrano, learning from his mistake last year and wisely not guaranteeing a Cy Young award this year, is quietly taking care of business. In fact, he actually stands a chance at winning one this year! In 21 starts, Zambrano is 12-4 (on pace for easily another 16-18 win season), has a 2.80 ERA (godly), and a 1.22 WHIP (not usually his forte).

But most of the Cubs' surprise success is due to the resurgence (out of NOWHERE) of Ryan Dempster as a starter. Moved to the closer position from '05 to '07 due to a lack of consistency and command, Ol' Lou decided to give Dempster another shot as a starter this year. And somehow, Dempster has rediscovered the magic dust he had back in 2000 that actually made him a serviceable starter.

Harden will join Zambrano, Dempster, and an offense that features 4 guys striving to hit 30 home runs (Aramis Ramirez, Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano, Geovany Soto), in trying to hold off the Brewers and the Cardinals. Though winless since his arrival, Harden has been nothing short of dazzling for the Cubs. Believe it or not, he's been even better than Sabathia. In three starts, Harden's stats are mind-boggling. He is 0-1 (blame a slumping Cubs offense and a bullpen that couldn't hold a 7-0 lead in the 7th inning), has a 1.04 ERA (2 runs over 17.1 innings), a 0.92 WHIP, and has struck out 30 in just 17.1 innings. Take a moment to mull over that last statistic. 30 strikeouts, in 17.1 innings. That is an average of 15.6 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched. That is absurd.

CC vs Rich

In my opinion, the Cubs are the winners of these two deals, only because they started out as a better team than the Brewers. To this point, they haven't needed a talented new pitcher to come in, hoist them on his back, and carry them into the playoffs (such a maneuver would almost certainly land Harden on the DL again anyway). They already have an all-star pitcher (Zambrano), another pitcher having an all-star year (Dempster), and three others (Lilly, Marquis, and Gallagher) decent enough to keep the Cubs in ball games so that Ramirez, Soriano, Lee, and Soto can drive in more runs than the opposition (which this year they've done, more often than not). So even if the trade fails (i.e. Rich Harden sprains his knee, Rich Harden sprains his ankle, Rich Harden tears a ligament in his shoulder, Rich Harden suffers a season ending paper cut, etc.), left standing would still be the first place Cubs, confident and healthy. However, the upside to Rich Harden is enormous. And the Cubs are willing to gamble on Harden because if Dempster continues his inexplicable season and if Harden can stay healthy, the Cubs are one of the clear favorites to win the World Series this year.

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Headlining: Baseball

• ATTENTION ANGEL FAN (Brian Pham): As already posted by my boss, the Angels have acquired perennial power hitter Mark Teixeira in exchange for the mildly disappointing Casey Kotchman and a minor league pitching prospect. Kotchman, always patient and disciplined at the plate, should receive some blame for an often subdued Angel offense. The aggressive bat of Teixeira should remedy this problem in a jiffy.

• On the day of Teixeira's acquisition, John Lackey takes a no-hitter and near perfect game (1 walk, 1 hit batter) into the 9th inning vs the Red Sox. It was broken up with 1 out by a Pedroia single to left, followed by a 2-run home run by Youkilis. Poor Lackey, potentially his career's best pitched game, degenerated into just a quality start.

• In his 15th attempt, the Mad Dog Greg Maddux finally wins his career 351st game. In a completely unspectacular performance, Maddux gave up 9 hits and 4 runs in 5 innings, barely even qualifying for the decision. But considering his TEN previous quality starts that the Padres failed to win for him, I think he deserves this one.

• After initially deciding to postpone shoulder surgery and to instead rehab his shoulder to possibly return for the playoffs, Jorge Posada changes his mind and decides to end his 2008 season by having surgery on his right shoulder. If the Yankees do end up making the playoffs, the recent acquisition of Xavier Nady should lighten the devastation of losing Posada.

• San Diego Padres pitcher Chris Young made his first appearance on the mound since having his face crushed (literally) by an Albert Pujols (seriously, of all people to get hit by, Pujols?!) line drive.
  

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What links all sports together? Illegitimate children.

Great article out of the Sports Illustrated Vault.
Paternity Ward

"I'd say that there might be more kids out of wedlock than there are players in the NBA ," estimates one of the league's top agents, who says he spends more time dealing with paternity claims than he does negotiating contracts.

The article is a bit dated (hence, from the "vault") but it is probably still very relevant. This whole "vault" idea is awesome. It's really interesting to look back and read how we were interpreting things.

Anyone know any present day sports stars who are hiding their children? List em please!

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Random Sports Ramblings

There are a lot of things going on in sports right now, so I'd just like to clear the pileup caused by my train of thought:

• Where are all these old guys coming from at the British Open? Seriously Greg Norman? I thought he was in a care home drinking Arnold Palmers. Tiger leaves, and everyone just decides to awaken? Either that or now people aren't scared and hiding anymore.
  
• It was already written about here, but I really have to say, Brett Favre needs to stop with his on-again-off-again mid-life crisis. He's double the age of most other NFL quarterbacks, and even if he is useful, what exactly does he want to prove? He's already outdone Michael Jordan on the fake retirement ridiculousness and has most likely broken the record for most cortisone shots taken in one season. America loves you Brett, don't tarnish it.
• C.C. Sabathia is gigantic. He's been stellar with two straight gems, but how many more complete games can that guy healthily chug out? I'm sure the stress isn't good for him.
• Sometimes you've gotta feel sorry for Lamar Odom. Every offseason without fail, he's been in multiple trade rumors. Yearly stories are posted about how close he is to being traded (for Shawn Marion, for Richard Jefferson, for Kevin Garnett, etc.), with the latest incarnation, actually reincarnation, as a trade to the Sacramento Kings for Ron Artest. From the Lakers standpoint, if Artest can keep his head on straight and play Dennis Rodman Jr. for at least 3 years, this could be great. If the Ron-Ron of Auburn Hills comes out, then you can only hope that Jack Nicholson doesn't have a courtside heart attack. Honestly however, Odom is a great player who just either got outplayed by a better player (KG) or bullied by a buffer troll-looking man (Perkins) in the Finals. If Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol stay alive, having Odom as the willing fourth option behind the both of them and Kobe Bryant could work out much better than having Ron Artest actively forcing himself into the first mate role.
• As a casual boxing fan, I must admit that seeing a Manny Pacquiao vs. Oscar De La Hoya matchup would make my year. The newly heralded pound-for-pound king facing off against the aging Golden Boy could be the most entertainingly brutal passing of the guard ever seen. Well if Oscar has any gas left in his tank, because otherwise Pac-man will demolish him.
• After watching the Josh Hamilton Derby, it got me to reminiscing. MTV and its Rock N' Jock basketball, baseball, and football were the sh*t. Tim Hardaway draining 50 point shots, Nelly nabbing passes from Dan Marino while he was chilling in a Laz-e-boy, Ken Griffey Jr. hitting bombs into gigantic metal gloves... why did this all stop? They were so entertaining. By the way, the home run and the half-court-buzzer-beating shot are two of the most overhyped things in sports. Home runs are ludicrously common nowadays, while those last second heaves make way too many top 10 countdowns over actually legitimately better plays. Maybe add in one per month, because of another one pushes out a clip of Kobe posterizing someone, I will flip out.

See you all next week for more random ramblings.

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Teams and Their Names

San Diego Chargers. Memphis Grizzlies. Minnesota Wild. Houston Texans. What the hell is a charger and in how does it relate to SD? Are there really many grizzlies in Memphis? Wild... come on, with a bunch of millionaires sitting around, a better name couldn't come up? Like Wolverines or something ferocious or at least something related to hockey like Slapshots, Brawlers, or Broken Teeth or some bullcrap. What the hell is a Wild? Why name your team after an adjective? And Texans have seriously got to be joking. Of all the crap that comes out of Texas, you couldn't do something with Bandits and Outlaws and Sherrifs or Horses and Mustangs or oil or any of those old western refrences?

When fans see teams, they want to be able to be proud of something, they want to be able to associate. To be able to keep a random (and often times ridiculous) team name, you must at least be successful and thus recognizable by the name more than the city. So the Lakers(YEA WESTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPS) and Canadiens can stay, but a lot of teams really need to rethink some things.

I know many teams move around, and have thus kept the names they started with, but in all reality, what's the point of that? From what I know LA doesn't have too many clippers and isn't known really as a sailing town , so why name a team after something that really doesn't exist in the proximity? If the moving team was actually good, like if the Celtics moved to Detroit or like how the Lakers came to LA, then by all means keep strong with past success. But Utah Jazz and New Orleans Hornets? Please switch, or at least give New Orleans its name back. Neither of you have won anything big, so come on, stop confusing little kids and convincing them that Utah is much more upbeat than it really is. Have a name that makes more sense.

New Jersey Nets and Washington Capitals? Seriously, you couldn't think of ANYTHING else? And the Reds and Browns... Cincinnati and Cleveland have nothing more to offer than a freaking color? What the hell. I understand names of fictional beings or animals, though it seems out of laziness more than anything. Just because of the alliteration of Washington Wizards and Seattle Seahawks rolls off your tongue, it doesn't mean its cool.

And what exactly is a Phillie? Thats kinda cheap... like Having the Minnesota Minnies or Cincinnati Cincis.

So to all the franchises and any new possible ones to come please give more thought to a name, because to fans its so much more than just a word. As any diehard knows, a team can become a way of life. Give the fans something they can be proud of.

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