Dick's Won't Sell Vick Jerseys

Anyone want to comment?

My view is that he's paid his debt to society, that he's an NFL player, and that the chain should treat him the way they'd treat any other NFL player. The management team at Dick's differs because of what Vick did.

But that's a slippery slope, isn't it? Because Dick's sells all sorts of stuff, including guns and ammo, jerseys of all sorts of players, some of whom are better behaved than others, and supports a support that if played for along time, could cause significant to fatal neurological problems for its participants. I don't know whether it's a wise stand that Dick's is taking or not, and I'm sure that the management team is patting its back for taking a stand that is sure to lose it money and create big opportunities for Sports Authority and Modell's (the place to get all Phillies' championship wear, among other things).

Let's hope that if you're a shareholder of Dick's that they do full background checks on all applicants and don't begin to hire anyone with a criminal record (which, by the way, is illegal to do -- refrain from hiring someone with a criminal record -- in certain states in certain circumstances, to the best of my understanding). Otherwise, what's the difference between Michael Vick and Mandy in sneakers who once got busted for a DUI, possession of marijuana or something else?

Aha, the fellows at Dick's would say, Vick sponsored the brutal killing of dogs, while Mandy committed more socially acceptable crimes. But they probably wouldn't have to say that because they don't hire the Mandys either.

What do you think?

Calling All Cynics

Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays hit his 50th home run last night.

Steroids are gone, banished, tested for, kaput.

So what explains Bautista's sudden surge?

Could he be baseball's version of the unique "bolt out of the blue" that can strike someone down on a sunny day fifty miles away from a storm?

When We Anoint Our Gods Too Early

Five years ago, this was written about the next LeBron.

I just read an article in Sports Illustrated about the hoopla surrounding the same kid.

And he's already transferred -- because he didn't measure up at a Pac-10 school.

All this compels the question: did SI's hype when the kid was 14 set the kid up for failure -- by creating ridiculously high expectations for him and by perhaps swelling his head and the heads of those around him?

Philadelphia Area Sports Wrap

Ate a good wrap for lunch, so I figured to roll with it.

1. Can Temple Beat Penn State This Weekend? It would be the first time that the Owls have done so since 1941 -- were it to happen. And that would be huge news for Coach Al Golden and the Owls. Sure, the Eagles and Phillies grab all the headlines, but this would be a (much) bigger accomplishment/story. The Owls have at least a puncher's chance in this one. They're solid, and it's not as though the words "national champion" and "Penn State" have been found in the same paragraph this year.

2. What to Make of Andy Reid's Decision to Go With Michael Vick at QB? Reid's decision falls smack within two tautologies -- the one that says that you have to play the best players, and the other that says that a player doesn't lose his job because of an injury. Look, Kevin Kolb didn't look great in the pre-season, and he didn't have a good first game. That said, his offensive line was battered in the pre-season and bad in his first game, and the play calling was worse. Still, Vick looked like the sleek Vick of old, a QB who went to the Pro Bowl three times and who led his team to an NFC title game. Kolb doesn't have those credentials. It's a short-term gamble, because a) Vick is unsigned for next year and b) you've probably blown your relationship with Kolb, who will get a chance elsewhere. Also, it's a gamble because you might have blown -- to some degree -- credibility with some players by not adhering to the adage that a player doesn't lose his job because of an injury. Few figured the Eagles for the playoffs this year, and most of those who did had them losing in the first round as a wild card. I'm not sure that the decision to anoint Vick makes them more than a 9-7 team anyway. Besides, the Eagles still cannot steal the headlines from the Phillies.

3. Are the Phillies the favorites to win the World Series? Peter Gammons about said as much on Sporting News Radio over the weekend, and with a rotation of Halladay, Hamels and Oswalt they look very formidable, and might look even more so if Jimmy Rollins can come back from a nagging hamstring injury. This team has the feel of 2008, and the Yankees don't look as good as they did in 2009. Yes, I'll say they're the favorites because right now they're the hottest team around, and because no one else seems to command that label. That said, they still have to make the playoffs, and they haven't done that yet. They look confident, and their home joint jumps. Contrast that to views of Atlanta last week, where there were many empty seats. Charlie Manuel should be named manager of the year for what he's achieved, especially because of all the injuries the team suffered this season. Also, oft-maligned GM Ruben Amaro made a great move getting Roy Oswalt from the Astros this summer. Having three #1 starters in the rotation who could (and did) go seven innings took a lot of pressure off the Phillies' bullpen, and now Brad Lidge looks (pretty much) like the Brad Lidge of old.

4. Will the 76ers be better this season? They should be. The Sporting News labeled second-year guard Jrue Holliday as the player most likely to emerge as the next star this year (or something to that effect). Pair him with top draft pick Evan Turner and swingman Andre Iguodala, and that's a pretty potent threesome. The big questions are at the 4 and 5, and if the 76ers don't figure those out well they'll miss the playoffs again. Still, the Holliday-Turner backcourt should be fun to watch.

Baseball Nostradamus

Where would you have picked this team to finish?

1. Its closer had an ERA over 7 last year and had a few stints on the disabled list.
2. Its set-up man kicked a chair and missed two months.
3. The #3-#5 starters (at least, the guys who filled these roles at the beginning of the season) have been inconsistent at best, and one of them went on the disabled list for the year before the halfway point of the season.
4. It doesn't really have an effective lefty reliever.
5. Everyone in the starting lineup spent a significant amount of time on the disabled list save one player, with one All-Star missing 2 months, another missing about a month, and two of the starting position players spending two stints on the disabled list.
6. Its leading pinch-hitter for years went something like 4-40 as a pinch-hitter before being designated for assignment.
7. A career journeyman, AAAA player started about 74 games as an infielder (he hadn't started as many games in his entire career before this season, let alone in a single season).
8. Its leadoff hitters combined on-base percentages are about .325.
9. One of the free agents it signed to firm up the bullpen proved to be more of pyromaniac than a fireman.
10. At one point in June, on a road trip the team got shut out in 3 straight games. and went scoreless for about 30 straight innings.

Give up?

It's the Philadelphia Phillies, who have 86 wins now, the most in the National League.

I know it could be romantic to name Dusty Baker manager of the year because the Reds are way ahead in the NL Central or Bobby Cox because it's his last year, but Charlie Manuel should be the National League manager of the year (barring a collapse by his squad). Put simply, he continued to patch together lineups with guys named Ransom, Sardinha, Hoover, Dobbs, Castro, Gload, Schneider, Francisco, and he put the team in a position to charge ahead once the injured stars returned. He's an excellent manager, and the results this year are showing.

If you told the average Phillies' fan that all of the above would happen and that the team would be 3 up with 15 games to go, they would have signed up for it. The last 2+ weeks ought to be interesting, and the Phillies, if past history under Manuel is any indication, should enjoy a fine run to the finish. Peter Gammons of Sporting News Radio has suggested that with a rotation of Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels, the Phillies might be the team to beat in the post-season.

We'll see.

Where France is #24, the U.S. #18, and Egypt #9

Any guesses?

It's FIFA's World Cup rankings.

The top 10?

Spain
Netherlands
Germany
Brazil
Argentina
England
Uruguay
Portugal
Egypt
Chile.

Italy is #13.

Chris Stewart of Notre Dame -- Starting Guard, Law Student

Sometimes I've written that you just cannot make this stuff up.

Usually, it means that the story is so bizarre, weird or bad that if you wrote it in a novel people wouldn't think that it could really happen in real life.

Well, I'm happy to report that this story is pretty amazing, it's true, and it's probably rare. Chris Stewart, a starting guard on Notre Dame's football team, is a law student (he graduated from the undergraduate program by the time he became a starter as a junior).

Contrast Mr. Stewart with former Heisman winner Matt Leinart, who remained at USC for an extra year to enjoy college life and play football, all the while taking one course in the fall of his final year -- ballroom dancing. In this particular Notre Dame-USC rivalry, Notre Dame wins.

On summary judgment.

Is the End of Big-Time Football Upon Us?

This story, of former Eagles' fullback, Kevin Turner, is chilling.

As is this one, about the former Penn football star, Owen Thomas, who took his own life earlier this year.

As was the video of Eagles' middle linebacker Stewart Bradley, who stumbled around Lincoln Financial Field like a drunken sailor after a hit.

As are the many stories about former NFL players with all sorts of orthopedic and neurological problems.

Teddy Roosevelt almost banned football at the turn of the twentieth century because of the violence of the game (then, players were getting killed). Rules changed, and did equipment. The NFL had better get atop of, and ahead of, this issue fast. The statistics don't seem to be getting any better, and before there is too large a landscape scattered with the bodies and souls of guys who gave their all for others' enjoyment, only not to be functional in their thirties, forties and fifties, changes -- in terms of equipment, rules for players coming back from injuries, and rules within the game -- need to be made.

Because as we know with a fickle electorate, public opinion can turn on anyone and anything, including this favorite sport, quickly and decisively.

The Philadelphia Phillies, Cultural Promotions and Sensitivity

The Phillies are hold their German Heritage Night this Saturday, September 18.

That's the same day as Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement (and the most sacred religious holiday).

Now, Yom Kippur does end after sundown that night (it begins on Friday night, September 17), and World War Two (and the Holocaust) ended 65 years ago.

But wouldn't it stand to figure that the Phillies' brass might have been a little more sensitive on the point?

Would You Want Your Team to Sign This Free Agent?

He's in the prime of his career (say 30-31 years old).

He's a 5-tool player. Good defender, throws well, runs well, hits for average and hits for power. Atop that, he's got a good on-base percentage. This year, he's hitting close to .300 and his OBP is close to .400.

He bats fifth in the lineup for a very good team.

He has a World Series ring, too.

One more detail: he's 1 for his last 43 with runners in scoring position.

His name: Jayson Werth.

My guess is that the Phillies would like him back -- at the right price. After the past two seasons, you could have argued that he was worth "Jason Bay"-like money, say 5 or 6 years at say $17 million per year. But here's the thing -- is he really a #1 or #2 player in your lineup, is he a leader, can he help carry your team? Or, is he an outstanding complement to a core group, each member of which you could afford to lose less than you could Werth?

The core on the Phillies right now is comprised of the following players: Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley among position players, and Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels among the pitchers. Yes, Carlos Ruiz has been terrific, as has reliever Ryan Madson. And, by the way, Werth has been terrific in many spots. But the thing of it is that the Phillies cannot afford him, especially in light of what they're paying everyone else. Truth be told, they need to get a little younger, and with uber-prospect Domonic Brown waiting in the wings, Werth probably will end up elsewhere. Lots of teams need good hitting in the middle of the lineup, and they'll get that with Werth.

But they need to make sure that it's at the right price. Teams that are hungry for talent are likely to overpay in terms of dollars and years (see Aaron Rowand's and Barry Zito's contracts with the Giants). Werth's play merits a very good multi-year deal, probably in the low 8 figures a year, but you're talking 3 or 4 years in this economy at say $12-$13 million per. That's great compared to the rest of us mere mortals, but it's telling, perhaps, as to the finite differences between the top elite players and the very good ones.

Why There Could Be a QB Controversy in Philadelphia

Because the 2010 Michael Vick looked like the Pro-Bowl version of Michael Vick during his best years with the Falcons, and not the overweight, a few-steps-too-slow lumbering back-up that he portrayed last year during his redemptive NFL season. He played like a guy who remembered that he once was outstanding, he played like a guy playing for a contract, and he played like a guy with something to prove. If the Eagles do have the Pro Bowl Vick on their roster, they should seriously consider giving him more playing time.

Brutal Sports Talk on WIP Radio in Philadelphia Today

I actually (kinda) felt sorry for local loudmouth Howard Eskin.

First, left guard Todd Herremans is conversationally challenged.

Second, play-by-play man Merrill Reese, whose puffed up voice can sound like a caricature (think a less nuanced version of Marv Albert, and probably less intelligent, too), was off today. He couldn't remember where Herremans went to college, he espoused a self-important point of view (once evinced by an erstwhile color commentor, former Eagles' tackle Stan Walters) that a team shouldn't take an offensive lineman on the first round, he dissed the Raiders' Robert Gallery (okay, so while Gallery hasn't been a star, he's played for about 5 offensive coordinators during his career and had the unique distinction of trying to block for one of the all-time most clueless QBs in JaMarcus Russsell), and he said that future Hall of Fame tackle (and former Raven) Jonathan Ogden went to Southern Cal (bite your tongue, Merrill, he went to UCLA).

Third, believe it or not, the Mouth that Roared (Eskin) couldn't get a word in edgewise. Apparently, he knows to leave well enough alone and not try to one up or correct a local favorite in Reese, but I am sure it was painful for Eskin. Reese was plum awful and should stick to doing his play-by-play work. The portion of the show with Herremans was pure torture. Herremans sounded like he was in the midst of dental work (without anesthesia), and Eskin was like the guy on "Jeopardy" who knows all the answers but can't press the button fast enough to get called on.

Figures, a brutal game followed by brutal talk radio. We did learn, however, the injured Eagles' fullback Leonard Weaver likes to sing and sang at the Eagles' complex today, despite his season-ending injury. That was nice to learn.

Tough football weekend all around.

The NFL and Rung Bells

Hurt players won't admit it.

The NFL doesn't seem clear on players who get knocked silly.

So, how about a simple rule: the league and union pay for independent local doctors (who have experience with traumatic brain injuries) to staff each stadium. If a player is suspected of having his bell rung, that player gets evaluated. If that player comes out of a game, he automatically misses the next one (at a minimum). If that player is diagnosed with a concussion, he's out a minimum of the next four. Gets his bell rung again? Out for the year.

The NFL and players' union should not continue to put these players at risk -- where the size/speed differential is great enough to cause serious, long-term damage. In addition, if the NFL is serious about increasing the schedule from 16 to 18 games, it should consider the following:

1) increasing rosters from 53 to 65 players.
2) increasing the practice squad to 10 players, and having the teams be able to keep the players on their practice squad.
3) enabling teams to activate 55 players per game.

Yes, the owners might make less money because they'll have to pay more guys. But, hopefully, with some tighter rules on injuries, the NFL will prolong careers and help its players avoid devastating long-term effects of the collisions that the average player faces over the course of a career that could go all the way back to elementary school.

All of this is meant to spur a lengthier debate regarding concussions. It's hard to read stories about so many long-since-retired players suffering from brain injuries. The NFL and NFLPA should act in concert to save players from the league, each other and themselves before someone -- Congress -- does it for them.

Another U.S. Export: Allen Iverson to China?

Only in America.

So, once of France's heroes turned goofball, Thierry Henry, comes to the U.S. for the latter part of his soccer career. Then it's probably fair if after Stephon Marbury, the U.S. sends Allen Iverson to China. AI will probably test every temptation the People's Republic's government will have to inflict human rights abuses on a visitor.

In the People's Republic of China, the party is the thing.

In Allen Iverson's world, a party can be the thing.

Here's to hoping that AI learned enough at Georgetown, which has an all-world school of foreign service, to distinguish between the party and a party. After which, he should be sure to respect the party and take care not to have a party every night. I can see where this party thing could get kind of tricky.

The Chinese have done enough for America, haven't they, by purchasing billions if not trillions of our public debt. And now, here they come again, possibly taking away one of the hoops world's problem children from the U.S. It could well be that the People's Republic of China is about to change it's name to "1-800-Got-Junk?", but time will tell.

Let the Seniors Tour for Hoops begin.

In China.

Philadelphia Eagles: Talk About a Bad Start That No One Would Have Believed If It Were Scripted

Lose your starting QB to a concussion.


Lose your starting MLB to a concussion.


Lose your starting fullback (for whom you have no back-up), a Pro Bowler, for the year (torn ACL on a gruesome play).


Lose your starting center, who just returned from a knee injury after 8 months of being out, for the year (torn bicep).


All four are team leaders on a very young team that needs leaders.


Oh, and, by the way, your back-up QB plays so well that now you have a QB controversy. Why? Because that back-up once was a Pro Bowl player who looked fat and out of shape last year and looked like his former self on Sunday.


With all the problems -- plus horrid playcalling on offense in the first half -- you still rallied to within 27-20 and had a chance deep in your opponent's territory with under 5 minutes to go to tie the game.


But, still, the carnage. . . 2 concussions, 2 season-ending injuries. . . Yikes!


And, it used to be a cure when you could say, "well, at least we can get better by playing Detroit next weekend." Except, these aren't Matt Millen's Detroit Lions. These Lions can get after it.


Tough day for the Eagles, who, with their youth, are on a re-building mission, whether they'd like to admit it or not.

Pop Warner Football

The team gathered for its first time in the humid heat of early August, doing padless drills for two and a half hours a day, Monday through Thursday. For the next three weeks, they drilled --in pads -- the same amount of time. 19 kids, although some of them missed weeks for family vacations. 5 dad coaches, the head coach being the guy with the long hair in the pony tail, tattooes, backwards baseball cap, and a good mixture of enthusiasm, organization and firmness. The offensive coordinator put in the offense, going to far as to use a ruler to show the offensive linemen the proper distance between one another on the line. One of the dads worked with the linemen while the coordinator worked with the skill position players, the large enough quarterback (big enough to withstand a hit) running the wishbone with three speedy backs behind him. They ran laps, they caught balls, they ran formations, they switched positions, all with a view to getting ready for the home opener tomorrow afternoon.

The coaches planned, the head coach sometimes fretting because kids missed practices without their parents e-mailing to let him know, or kids got their late, disrupting the discipline he was trying to instill. The kids started to bond during scrimmages against other teams, chest bumping, high-fiving, or showing each other small courtesies such as helping others with their chin strips or by putting shoulder pads that popped out back under practice jerseys. Then they ran some more, or they worked on line play, leveraging themselves and trying to push their opponents around. My son is a 70-pound left tackle, one of the oldest kids on the team but one of the lightest (the heaviest kids must play interior line). He doesn't stop blocking until the whistle blows, and he takes great pride in getting leverage on his opponent and moving him around. Most of the time he does fine, but there are times when his man blows by. Such is the life of a first-time tackle football player protecting his quarterback's blind side and helping lead counter plays. He enjoys the teamwork, the structure, the activity.

Last night was the last practice before their first game. The kids had worked hard together for a month, and it was fun to see them receive the game jerseys with their names on it. Many shed their practice jerseys -- old, monochromatic mesh jerseys -- to don their game jerseys. They had worked hard for this small moment, and they cherished it.

Saturday afternoon marks the first game, and my son cannot wait for it to begin. It should be fun to watch.

Why the Mainstream Media Just Doesn't Get It

This story is an outrage. (And it should get a lot more play than it has). As are many stories that Time and Newsweek don't cover because they are lazy or cowards, or both.

It's easy for the ever-so-thin national news magazines, journalism's version of soon-to-be-extinct dinosaurs to cover all sorts of issues related to Israel because a) Israel is small, b) Israel has few defenders, c) Israel is a popular fulcrum for international frustration by nations who use it to deflect attention away from the much more significant horrors they wreak on their own people and d) Israel is a democracy and provides easy access to its people. Compare and contrast Israel, say, to any Arab nation, China, Venezuela, Russia and almost any African nation and you'll find a society that's open about its issues. So, the hypotethical, average journalist with international responsibility elects to cover it and pick on it because access is both easy and safe.

Criticize China and your access is gone. Go to Iran and try to probe, and your access will vanish, as might you. Ditto for Libya, Syria, Oman, Yemen and many other countries on this earth. Go to Cuba and Venezuela and take on Castro and Chavez and you might not come home. Yet, the biased coverage persists, and responsible journalists should be ashamed of themselves, because they're missing stories left and right to cover the easy and familiar and, yes, safe.

This is a sports blog and it will continue to be so. That said, let's analogize this story to the issue of steroids in baseball. The entire national media acted like a bunch of glorified fans -- they had access to the clubhouse, access to the players and the best seats in the house. So, they covered the easy and safe story -- all of the home runs and power hitting. Why? Because to cover the fact that many players were using artificial means to accomplish those feats would have cost them access and perhaps subjected them to physical harm. As for the former, the players would have shut them out and not talked to them. As to the latter, a juiced player whose living becamse in jeopardy because of accusations from a 5'6", 140-pound reporter wouldn't have taken too kindly to the tough talk. Lose the access, lose the effectiveness, lose the job. Lose the physical battle, and, well, no one wants to get punched in the face or worse. So, the supposedly "tough" sports media acted like a bunch of fawning toadies during the McGwire-Sosa inflated stats years, and then they ducked responsibility by saying "what were we supposed to do" or "everyone else was covering it the same way" or "everyone was pretty much doing the stuff, so what was the story?" and other pieces of contrived wisdom belied their intelligence.

What were they supposed to do? They were supposed to do their (bleeping) jobs.

The same is the case with journalists charged with covering international politics and diplomacy. Horrors go on everywhere in the world, including many places that aren't democracies and don't offer access to the media or to the citizenry. Yet, those nations get votes in the United Nations and condemn the one democracy in the crucible in order to take away attention from themselves. Where is the national media on those stories?

At home, on their couches, where it's safe, because they, lest they want to admit it or not, like to do what's easy and convenient, but not what's necessary and important. And, until they do, they'll miss story after story, they'll perpetuate anti-Semitism, among other things, and they'll continue to condone awful stuff because either no one cares about places like Sudan or Venezuela or because it's just too hard to get there and find out the real story. I'll take one other issue head on, my use of the term "anti-Semitism." The way the international media covers Israel perpetuates the term and the plague, because the media coverage of countries and their own internal rights issues is grossly uneven. Because it's uneven, Israel gets a totally unfair shake when compared to the Chinas, Venezuelas, Sudans and Arab nations. That unbalanced coverage, lock, stock and barrel, feeds into anti-Semitism. Because they make it seem like Israel is an empire, an evil empire, the worst empire, especially in comparison.

It's the Jewish New Year, and I'd like to wish my Jewish friends a happy and healthy New Year. And I'd like to take the gloves off regarding the titled coverate of "Newsweek" (which should be called "Opinion Week") and "Time," whose cover story in a recent issue helps define "asinine." Both should be demanded and expected to do better.

So what should the international media be doing about all countries not named Israel that have significant problems, particularly in the human rights arena?

They should do their (bleeping) jobs and, when they do, they'll find out that some places they romanticize are hellholes and that Israel, in comparison, isn't so bad, and by the way, does a pretty good job of things given the threats from neighbors who deny the country's right to exist and from terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

That's what they should do.

Who is the Real Coward?

Surely there are better ways to protest, aren't there?

After they get a taste of it, what will Reverend Jones and his flock burn next?

The Phillies Are in First Place!

The Pirates have taken 2 of 3 from the Braves, who have lost 5 of their last 6. The Phillies were 7 out near the end of July, and they're now in first. All despite having their bullpen (sans Ryan Madson, who did well) look about as sturdy as the buddies from "Hangover" the morning after, all despite having Jayson Werth and Chase Utley make boneheaded throws and the normally reliable (as the "bank", except, well, since 2008 that analogy probably isn't what it once was) Carlos Ruiz suffer a passed ball that caused the game to be tied at 7. But, Ryan Howard, Raul Ibanez and Shane Victorino all hit well, and a timely hit from Placido Polanco but the Phillies up 8-7 in the bottom of the eighth. Ryan Madson once again pitched great in relief, and the Phillies are now up 1/2 game on the Braves.

A pretty amazing comeback given all the injuries that the team suffered during the season. Much baseball remains to be played, but the Phillies are the first team in the NL to have reached 80 wins. They will savor the victory at McFadden's, at Chickie's & Pete's, Bennie the Bum's and every tappy and gin joint from Oregon Avenue all the way up to Aramingo and beyond.

Now if only, somehow, some way, I could unload my tickets on StubHub for Wednesday night. Why they haven't moved -- at a reasonable price -- is a mystery.

Philadelphia Eagles: National Reports, Local Reality

I've followed the Eagles' summer pretty closely through my local newspapers. I'm more interested in the personnel moves than watching (meaningless) exhibition games, so pardon me if I didn't hit the remote to watch the Birds' and some anonymous third stringers do battle when the roster-challenged Phillies were hanging in there in the National League pennant chase. The papers gave me a picture that differs from those of national publications who don't live in Southeastern Pennsylvania or who are happy to run computer simulations as to how the Eagles will fare this season. What they say (to a degree) and what I've seen differ. Somewhat markedly.

ESPN the Magazine has the Eagles with one of the four or five best records in the NFC and making the playoffs. Many publications have the team winning 9 games. Give them a game somewhere, and that spells playoffs. Which wouldn't be too bad for a team that only has two players with over 10 years' experience in the league (one of them is the kicker, David Akers, and for those who really are interested, the other is defensive end Juqua Parker) and has 22 new players on its 53-player roster. Which also wouldn't be too bad for a team with a questionable offensive line (especially between the tackles) and an untested quarterback, not to mention a rebuilt defense.

Of course, this is the NFL, so anything can happen. The team can gel quickly (and, remember, what one writer said about the talent-laden Redskins -- they might find out down there that a roster full of 2006 Pro Bowlers might not be able to win today), get hot and have the high-octane offense that it's new group of skill position players suggests that it might have. On the other hand, it doesn't have an abundance of leaders, still has some weaknesses, and just doesn't have enough depth of experience together as a team to go more than 6-10.

Look, I'm an Eagles' fan, but I don't think that this team can make the playoffs, and I think it will be a good season if they can go more than 8-8. The reasons are rather simple, even in a league where you can't count on teams with groups of experienced veterans who've played together for a while (such as the Giants' offensive line) to guarantee that this isn't the year where they're closer to being ready for hip replacements than they are to auditioning for Superman. The Eagles have good runnnig backs, good receivers and an excellent tight end. The biggest question will be whether the offensive line can surge enough to spring Leonard Weaver and more importantly, tailback LaSean McCoy, for big yards, and whether they can provide Kevin Kolb (who should be more accurate than Donovan McNabb) with enough time to get the balll to tight end Brent Celek and wide receivers DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin and Jason Avant. If the line comes through, the Eagles should put points on the board. . . and a lot of them. If the line fails, then Kolb gets hurt, Michael Vick will have to run for his life and the defense will be on the field for a long time. As for the defense, it's hard to say whether, for the most part, a year older, it's improved. Rookie Brandon Graham will have to show up big time for that to happen. Much of the hope for the defense is based on the return of middle linebacker Stewart Bradley, who missed all of last season. He's the leader, he's good when he's healthy, and he should fill the big hole that was left last year after he got hurt. The outside linebackers seem to be a mixed bag of journeymen and guys with something to prove, and the secondary should be a strong point.

So why so pessimistic? Well, for starters, I've always thought that a team wins in the trenches by showing how well it can push the other team around. I'm not sure that the Eagles' lines are good enough to do just that, and it's preferable to do just that than to run all sorts of packages that are designed to confuse the other team. NFL teams put so much effort into film study that eventually gimmicks get unmasked for what they are. So, it's better to have some 335-pound run stuffing defensive tackle with enough of a mean streak to sack the quarterback a half a dozen times in the season than to runnning exotic schemes. Sure, teams run those schemes from time to time, but old-fashioned line play seems to win out.

The offensive line is more of a concern, because Jamal Jackson is about an average center, and he just (and I mean just) came back from a knee injury. Left guard Todd Herremans is good when healthy, but that tag line also suggests that as his career advances so does his susceptibility to injury. Right guard Nick Cole is big and supposedly better at guard than center, but that's not necessarily a ringing endorsement. Left tackle Jason Peters doesn't play with the sense of urgency or authority that his huge contract warrants. When he's on, there's none better; when he's off, he has more snap count violations than any other lineman in Eagles' history, and some of us remember that mid-to-late 1960's through the late 1970's, so that's saying something. Right tackle Winston Justice has found a home, but he's not usually mentioned when the conversation turns to the league's best tackles. And make no mistake, it's hard to find yourself in the elite ranks when none of your linemen on either side of the ball makes those conversations.

10-6? 9-7? 8-8? The beauty of the NFL is that no one really knows. The local buzz, as I've read it, seems to suggest that the team really is rebuilding and won't make the playoffs. At least not this year.

Line play on both sides, improved play from the linebackers, and the emergence of Kevin Kolb. If all three of those things happen, there's no telling how far this team can go. But if none of those things happen, there's no justification for a playoff berth.

Definition of a (Costly) Stalemate

This morning's Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Philadelphia cannot get union conventions because two of the major hotels near the Convention Center are nonunion.

What the Inquirer also has reported over time -- and something which I know to be true from personal experience -- is that the Convention Center loses even more business precisely because the union climate within the Convention Center is so restrictive and difficult to deal with that almost all exhibitors would rather go to another city (although there are times, I'm told, where the unions can be very difficult in Boston and New York). Ask anyone who's in charge of setting up an exhibit for his/her company at the Philadelphia Convention Center and they'll tell you endless tales of woe about getting different unions to cooperate, getting people to work on time and not drag out work into time and a half and doubletime situations, and a bunch of rules that seemingly -- to them -- are as much designed to frustrate the exhibitors as they are to guarantee more work for the unions (which, my guess is, that certain exhibitors would tolerate if the work were done well, on time, and without incident or attitude).

So, return to this morning's story. Unions won't come because of nonunion hotels, and conventioneers who aren't unions might not want to come because of the unions. All of which, really, is too bad, because Philadelphia has a lot to offer (including, among other things, the delicious eats that the Reading Terminal Market offers right across the street from the Convention Center, as a well as, of course, about a 10-minute walk to Independence Mall, where the democracy that gave rise to the rights that the unions, the exhibitors and this blogger all are free to exercise all began).

Who Are These Guys? (Hint: They're All Professional Athletes and They Play in a Major Sports League)

You might not have heard of Tanner Purdum, Garrison Sanborn, John Donney, Jake Ingram, Morgan Cox, Clark Harris, Ryan Pontbriand, Greg Warren, Jon Weeks, Justin Snow, Jeremy Cain, Ken Amato, Lonie Paxton, Thomas Gafford, Jon Condo, David Binn, L.P. Ladouceur, Jon Dorenbos, Nick Sundberg, Patrick Mannelly, Don Muhlbach, Brett Goode, Cullen Loeffler, Joe Zelenka, J.J. Jansen, Jayson Kyle, Mike Leach, Chris Massey, Brian Jennings and Clint Gresham.

Chances are that you might never hear of them. They're long snappers in the National Football League. The guys who snap the ball with a spiral between their legs back to punters and to holders on place kicks. You'll only hear about them if they goof up, and typically that would be not if they're team is leading by three touchdowns, but if their failure of execution in a key moment proves to cost their team the game. The most prepared teams seem to be the Steelers and Texans, who go three deep in long snappers on their depth charters. The longest tenured -- the Chargers' David Binns, who's been in the league for 17 years. The most interestingly educated? Probably the Cowboys' L.P. Ladouceur, who majored in earth and planetary science at Berkeley. The one with the most interesting hobby? The Eagles' Jon Dorenbos, who is a professional magician. Some were long snappers in college -- they weren't offensive linemen even there. One -- the Bears' Patrick Mannelly -- has the second-longest tenure with his team of any player in the NFL, about 12 years.

If you read these players' bios, they're scant, they're relatively anonymous, they've moved around a lot, they get touted for helping snap for Pro Bowl punters and kickers or helping them improve their accuracy. Or, making tackles on special teams. I didn't go through the bios carefully, but I'd venture to say that a large majority of them, if not all of them, are white.

You typically read about head coaches, about quarterbacks, skill-position players, "shutdown" corners and hard-hitting linebackers. You don't read about long snappers, and I'd bet that if you met one in an airport (assuming he had no gear), you'd assume he might have played somewhere, sells lumber or steel, and is, well, just a little larger than the average guy. You don't see these types in the other sports' leagues, but the NFL has become so specialized that there's a place for the hard-working guy who, well, for lack of a better explanation, couldn't play any other position in the league.

But before you dismiss this position as frivolous and not worthy of respect, you should read Jeffrey Marx' book The Long Snapper, and then you can decide for yourself just how easy this job really is. They toil with an abject fear of being found out, of their name's becoming a household word in their media market for something they did -- wrong, naturally. They don't get rewarded for success, at least, not the way skill-position players do. But, if they play mistake-free football for a while, they're future is set, and they could have a much longer tenure in the NFL than the average player.

Sometimes It Just Takes a While

Both for the rest of a league to figure you out, and for your opponents to wake up.

In this case, there's a perfect storm brewing for the San Diego Padres, who just lost their ninth in a row and are barely hanging onto their lead in the NL West.

My cousin and I tend to text each other during Phillies' games. Sometimes the back-and-forth is fact-based, others it is fraught with exasperation about a) the Phillies' bullpen, b) Brad Lidge in particular, c) the injuries the team suffered, d) Jayson Werth's difficulties with hitting with runners in scoring position, e) the inconsistency of Raul Ibanez and f) why Shane Victorino's on-base percentage is low and why it looks like he's trying to hit home runs at almost every opportunity. During these sometimes humorous and always enlightening and stimulating exchanges, I wasn't so much defending the hometown nine as showing disrespect for the Padres, who, say, 6 weeks ago, had the best record in the National League and were something like an obscene 27 games over .500.

I don't recall the precise retort, but my cousin didn't think that the Padres would fade and thought that they would finish with the best record in the NL. He's a knowledgeable fan with a major "inside baseball" connection, but I just wasn't buying it. I reasoned that while the team had great pitching thus far and Adrian Gonzalez, it had many automatic outs in the lineup and a pitching staff that hadn't dealt with the pressures of being a front-runner the way the staffs of the most recently perennial contenders had (Yankees, Phillies, Dodgers, Red Sox, Rays). I just didn't see that if anyone were to make a run how the Padres would continue at their then-amazing pace. (I acknowledge that I look terrific in saying this right now, but I felt so then, despite the Padres' having two Princeton alumni on their roster -- in injured Chris Young and the outfielder, Will Venable, and that the 11th commandment on this blog is "Thou Shalt Not Speak Ill of Another Princetonian.").

Lest I digress. . .

It seems that the Padres' chariot is turning into a pumpkin (a reversible phenomenon if skipper Bud Black and the team's leaders -- Gonzalez, David Eckstein -- have anything to do with it) and that the Giants and Rockies (while not exactly the Yankees and the Rays) will try to make it interesting in the last month of the season. Still, losing 9 games in a row while the Braves are in high gear, the Phillies have shown great resilience and the Reds also in high gear doesn't bode well for the Padres. They've enjoyed a very surprising and great season, but they need to close hard and fast to honor all the good work they did up until 9 games ago.

And, they shouldn't get too bummed out. They're still in first.

But, are they like the excellent mid-major college basketball team that can stay with Kentucky for 32 minutes and be up by eight only to lose by 10 or more because the top-10 teams wear them down and show their superiority in the last 8-10 minutes? Or are they a Butler, who showed that it was a top-10 team and not just a mid-major having a good year?

The Padres have four weeks to show the baseball world that they are a playoff team.

Cards Cut Matt Leinart

I saw the trend here, first, in 2005.

The kid had nothing to prove in college, returned for his senior year, took one -- yes, one -- class -- ballroom dancing to remain eligible, and, why? Because he liked the college life.

Look, college life is fun, very much fun, especially when your the big man on campus, only have to take one course and have a lot of people either telling you how wonderful you are or kissing up to you. But what struck me was that Leinart didn't stick around because he was finishing up his pre-med requirements, ancient Greek poetry, or anything academic for which he had a passion. he stuck around, well, for the fun.

Sure, USC football was atop the world then, but, remember, if he was going to choose football as his vocation, he had nothing to prove. Nothing. So what should that have told the average NFL scout? That he was a serious competitor ready for the next level? That he wanted another year at AAA because, well, it beat going against the best competition?

This one wasn't too hard to figure. I wish Leinart well; he's just a kid. But it's probably the case that he has to grow up a bit and figure out -- very quickly -- that time's a-wasting and that somehow the hypothetical, average NFL scout or head coach now has it figured out that a former stockboy at a grocer store who went to a college only folks in his home state had heard of but with the hunger of the entire clientele of that store might be a better risk and project to have a better future than the gold-plated Maserati of a quarterback from an elite program.

Why?

Because no one ever swelled the head of the stock boy, who went out there and fought hard to earn it every day.

It's something that every elite recruit at a big-time program should remember. There's always someone who was overlooked who will knock your block off if you give them the chance.

Is the Phillies' Freight Train Getting Into Its Highest Gear of the Season?

Some numbers:

29-12, the team's record since July 21, the best in baseball.

23-14, the team's record in one-run games, the best in baseball.

18, the number of innings where the team has scored 5 or more runs, tied for the best in baseball.

2 #1 starters in the rotation and a third, their #1 starter 2 years ago, who's pitching like one despite a massive lack of run support.

A fully healthy starting lineup for the first time in a long time.

1 game out of first. The Braves have been in first since May.

The team also has a cumulative best record in September over the past 5 years.

In 2008, the team didn't hit well in the summer and had a 4-game series against the Brewers in Philadelphia in mid-September. The Brewers at the time were 4 games up in the wild card on the Phillies, and the Phillies swept them. They went 24-6 at the season's end to win the World Series (this record included post-season games), getting hot at the right time and combining good and timely hitting (although they did hit rather poorly with runners in scoring position against the Rays in the Series) to win the World Series.

Sure, I'm a fan, and yes, I'm looking forward to going to CBP tonight, because it's great to be part of an electric atmosphere, but they are 6-1 in their last 7, had a very good road trip (sweeping the Padres, taking 2 of 3 from the Dodgers and then winning a make-up game in Colorado coming from 7-3 down to go up 12-7 and then to hold on to win 12-11) and just won another 1-0 game. It's been an up-and-down season, to be sure, but it seems that the team is primed for a good part of an "up" swing to finish the season.

Phillies to Send Post-Season Invoices to Season Ticket Customers

So says the e-mail I just received from the club.

Optimistic?

Yes.

Hubris?

Perhaps.

Chutzpah?

You bet.

This team has won 14 of 17 on the power of positive thinking and the hot bats of guys named Ibanez, Werth and Ruiz. Shane Victorino could be back in a week, Ryan Howard in two, and Chase Utley by month's end. According to Baseball Prospectus, the future -- this year -- is bright.

Zing? Oomph? Pluck? They have 'em by the bushels. Lots of ifs, but if you told anyone that they'd suffer the injuries they have and be 1 1/2 games out of first in their division on August 10 and 1/2 out of the wild card, the fans all would have signed up for that.

Stay tuned.

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Check out this "Spiderman" catch.

Miracle Season? If the Phillies Pull This Off. . .

Ryan Howard was placed on the disabled list today because of the ankle he sprained Sunday against the Nationals. He's the 15th Phillie -- that is no misprint -- to spend time on the DL this year.

So now, here's the Phillies lineup:

C -- Carlos Ruiz
1B -- Cody Ransom or Ross Gload
2B -- Wilson Valdez
3B -- Placido Polanco
SS -- Jimmy Rollins
LF -- Raul Ibanez
CF -- Jayson Werth
RF -- Ben Francisco (tonight, at least).

Howard joins 2B Chase Utley (out until the end of the month) and CF Shane Victorino (out for a few more weeks) on the disabled list.

Yikes!

Double yikes!

Drat!

As I write this, the Phillies were en route to beating the Marlins behind Roy Halladay while the Mets and Braves were tied late in the game. The Phillies desperately are trying to hold serve, so to speak, in August. Stay within striking distance of the Braves in the NL East and the Wild Card, and September is ours, or so they reason. Recently, over the past five years, that's been the case.

But what a tall task it is? Who loses the likes of any of their position players (save Werth, who has been healthy all year) and doesn't plummet in the standings? How can you expect the likes of Brian Schneider, Dane Sardinha, Paul Hoover, Valdez, Juan Castro, Greg Dobbs, Gload, Domonic Brown, Ben Francisco, Cody Ransom and John Mayberry, Jr. (just called up to replace Howard) to continue to produce enough to keep the team close in the standings (Castro has since been released). It's a raggedy platoon of troops who keeps scrapping, keeps fighting, and a pitching staff that's been short on quality starters until last week (with the addition of Roy Oswalt) and that's still short on quality relievers (if you gave Philadelphia area residents who suffer from cardiac ailments or high blood pressure and monitored them, those who are Phillies' fans would see their palpitation rate rise, their agina worse, and their blood pressure spike when Brad Lidge enters a contest.

Yet, still, they persist. They have at it, and, yes, like most teams they don't have the deepest bench or a plethora of subs at AA and AAA who can be summoned and excel. Then again, even the Yankees don't have that. But that's why in the off-season your team scrambles to fill up its AAA roster with 27 to 34 year-olds with some Major League experience, some moments of glory, some grit, just to fill in, on an occasional basis. They big clubs are looking for renters, not people to move in, but the Phillies have needed more than an occasional fill-in. They need professional hitters, big league hitters, not AAA players who will get exposed after going around the league for two weeks.

So far, so good. It helps that spiritual leader Jimmy Rollins has returned and that Ibanez and Werth have started hitting again. But make no mistake -- this lineup doesn't scare a whole lot of teams, and the Phillies will have to play ever so much better in order to tread water, let alone move forward.

It's intriguing to watch, and you have to feel for the team, the injured players and skipper Charlie Manuel. The next several weeks should tell us whether this team has enough in the tank to stay close or whether the injuries will be just too much to bear.

A Baseball Life Goes Full Circle -- Tom Trebelhorn

Okay, it's a rainy Sunday morning, but rest assured that I have plenty to do. I'm not going to tell you who Tom Trebelhorn is, but Thomas Kaplan's article in the New York Times is worth a read.

Where They Are Now: Mo Vaughn

Great article in today's New York Times about former Red Sox', Angels' and Mets' first baseman Mo Vaughn, who has found life after baseball in rehabbing lower-income housing in the New York City area. Vaughn's an interesting and smart guy, interesting because of his new vocation, interesting because he wore #42 in tribute to Jackie Robinson before Major League Baseball retired it for all teams (save the Yankees, where Mariano Rivera will be able to wear the number until he retires) and smart because, if you read the article closely, you'll see that Vaughn splits his time between New York City and Florida (read in between the lines: Florida has no personal income tax). At any rate, it's a long feature, and worthy of a read.

Phreakonomics: Or, How the Phillies Might Have a Problem for 2011

Good article in today's Philadelphia Inquirer about the Phillies' payroll for 2011 (which will include $23 million for Raul Ibanez and Brad Lidge and $2.75 million for Danys Baez).

I have thought for a while that the team needs to get either a capital infusion for 2011 or somehow not blow up during the season, because they cannot contend by failing to evolve, by failing to be a meritocracy, and, yes, by failing to jettison both Ibanez and Lidge, both of whom have little left in the tank. They won't be able to sign Jayson Werth, who hasn't necessarily turned into Jason Bay during his walk year. They'll have some solid starting pitchers, but still wear bear the albatross of two years remaining on Joe Blanton's contract and overpaying for Ryan Howard. Read the whole thing, but if the owners are determined to hold fast at about $150-155 million for 2011, the team's clunkiness will continue for another season.

Read the whole thing and draw your own conclusions. What you'll see is that they'll still need starting pitching and that their bullpen will need a partial reconstruction. The question is how much will the Phillies spend to re-build the 'pen.

Why the Phillies Won't Make the Playoffs

I try to see the glass as half full, honestly, I do. But one of the main reasons why the Phillies won the World Series in 2008 is plainly absent with the 2010 version -- a shutdown bullpen. Last night's game once again proved that you cannot get to the playoffs -- let alone win the World Series -- with a closer who cannot locate his pitches and who blows a hard-earned 5-4 lead (achieved in the top of the ninth) with a groved fastball to a heart-of-the-order player in Ryan Zimmerman. The Phillies had a golden opportunity to pull within 2 1/2 games of the division-leading Braves, only to have Brad Lidge either get lit up or have his lights put out (you can make the analogy of your choice) again.

I recall in 1993 the Phillies' closer, Mitch Williams, struggled. The Philadelphia press pressed then-manager Jim Fregosi on why he kept on trotting out a closer nicknamed "Wild Thing." To which Fregosi replied, "Mitch pitches the ninth." And we all recall what happened -- the team miraculously got to Game 6 of the World Series before Williams yielded only one of two Series-ending home runs of all time, a shot by Joe Carter. In 2008, when the Phillies beat the Rays to win the Series, banners sprouted all over Citizens Bank Park proclaiming, "Mitch: We Forgive You."

I had failed to realize that many Phillies' fans harbored resentment against Williams, whom I had forgiven right at the time he yielded the home run, for many reasons. First, he didn't try to give up the home run. Second, relievers do give up home runs, even at the worst times. Third, Mitch was the best, perhaps, among many not-so-good options in the 1993 bullpen. Put differently, it wasn't solely Mitch's fault that the Phillies didn't win that World Series. You have to remember that the Blue Jays' teams of the early 1990's were outstanding ball clubs (with Robin Yount, Paul Molitor and Roberto Alomar, among many others).

I made these observations to my (normally) mild-mannered wife, who reflexively responded, "Oh, I never forgave him."

Say what? Yes, Mitch was flamboyant, and, to me, the 1993 team (save role players and Curt Schillling) wasn't the easiest to like, let alone adore, but huh? Shows how much I knew. The fans were miffed (Mitch, by the way, has turned into a very good analyst for MLB Network).

So, fast forward to the 2009 and now 2010 versions of a Brad Lidge (who was a hero in 2008) and who is under contract for an additional $11.5 million for 2011. He's flailing out there, and while I understand that perhaps the Phillies didn't have the mojo to add, say, Matt Capps (great move by the Twins, by the way), they cannot continue to throw Lidge out there in these situations. Now, I don't necessarily have an alternative, but try Ryan Madson (again), J.C. Romero (I know, he walks too many guys) or even Scott Mathieson, the AAA closer, but try something.

Because you cannot get to the playoffs by blowing saves against the lowly (if feisty) Nationals as the season comes to a climax.

NFL Rookies and Their Money

This article in USA Today talks about how the NFL is trying to teach its rookies how to be careful with their money. The simple truth is that these are young men with a lot of money, and, as such, become targets of people who want it for all sorts of reasons -- many of them bad, even if well-intentioned. I had read somewhere (perhaps it was in the Sports Illustrated article last year) that someone -- and it might have been Torii Hunter, the centerfielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim -- invested about $80,000 in a company that was designing a floating sofa for people who lived in or near flood zones. Just because these players have come into a lot of money at a young age doesn't mean that they know what to do with it or, alternatively, that they are destined to do stupid things with it.

What's the answer? To those "elders" who try to give advice to a young player not to take his entourage to the local Louis Vuitton outlet and blow $60,000 on stuff that the consumers won't appreciate 10 minutes after buying it, my guess is that the player might answer, "well, it's a free country, and I owe these guys, they've had my back since first grade." What do you say to that? How can you make putting 80% of the signing bonus into a variety of no-load mutual funds at The Vanguard Group, to buy only one car (and not spend $100,000 on it), to rent, and to live modestly.

As the article says, "NFL" means "not for long", as most careers are very short. Most players will not make enough money to retire on, let alone to live for a year or two after their careers are over without a job.

Read the whole thing. It's instructive about how easy it is to throw away money and how many people there are out there who will help you do just that.

Let the players beware.

And, remember, if you're a player or someone close to one, this -- the word "no" is the biggest stress reliever.

Finding a Travel Softball Team for One's Daughter

Just wanted to see if anyone out there has had experience with this.

My daughter had a good year last year in her first year of travel ball. Local associations, though, tend to change from year to year, in terms of how many teams they'll sponsor at different age groups, who will coach them, who the association deems will be on them, who gets elevated because they played on a younger age group's team (whether they've improved or not) and what level the team will play at. I'm dealing with this now, am somewhat clueless as to the politics and how hard to make connections (as opposed to have my daughter simply show up at tryouts), and sincerely can say I have a coachable, earnest, even-keeled, competitive kid who knows what she needs to do to improve, has shown to be good at making contact, good defensively with a strong arm. Atop that, she has two low-maintenance parents, who accept that all competitive sports leagues are less than perfect, who support their daughter's efforts because their daughter truly loves the game, and who hope to have their daughter play in a situation where the kids are supportive, friendly and love the game.

Thoughts?

The Phillies, Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt

Before this season, the Phillies traded Cliff Lee to the Mariners for three prospects. At the time, GM Ruben Amaro, Jr. talked about the need for the team to adhere to a strict ceiling for payroll and to replenish its farm system given that it gave up prospects not only to get Lee for a half-season rental, but also to get Roy Halladay.

Before this season's trading deadline, the Phillies traded J.A. Happ (runner up for the N.L. Rookie of the Year award last year) and two low-A prospects to the Houston Astros for their #1 starter, Roy Oswalt, and $11 million dollars (to pay for half of what remains on Oswalt's contract). Naturally, this could be a concession from the budget-conscious at best and cheap at worst front office that the Lee trade to the Mariners was a mistake, they should have kept him all along. Now, what they're saying is, you should match up a) the prospects we got for Lee and b) the prospects we traded for Oswalt to determine how we did and whether, ostensibly, a half-season for Lee versus at least one and a half seasons for Oswalt trade was worth it (with a miserable half-season gap in between of enduring the disappointing Joe Blanton and the quadruple A Kyle Kendrick)?

Am I parsing that right, or am I making a mess of it? Right now, the prospects the Phillies got for Lee compare negatively to the ones traded for Oswalt. Happ could have a decent career as a middle-of-the-rotation starter, and nice words have been written about the upside of the prospects the team traded to Houston. That said, nice things frequently get written about prospects.

Time, as usual, will tell. Jayson Stark wrote on ESPN.com today that at least one scout still favors the Braves in the NL East because the Braves' bullpen is better than the Phillies. That may be so. But I still think it's the case that the Phillies have the best record in baseball in September over the last 5 years. Then again, they still have to play August's schedule, they miss Chase Utley, and Oswalt of 2010 might not be the Oswalt of several seasons ago. Then again (again), a pitcher for a perennial losing team might just get rejuvenated playing before packed houses on a contender.

While Phillies' fans should be happy today with Oswalt, most of them are wondering why the team couldn't have made it easier on itself and just kept Cliff Lee.

Stupid Pie Tricks

Sounds like a riddle from Carnac the Great:

Chris Coghlan, shaving-cream pie, disabled list.

Read the story for yourself.

The Phillies lost Chase Utley for a long time because of a thumb injury he incurred while sliding head first into second base. They lost Placido Polanco for a time because he got hit by a pitch on his elbow, and catcher Carlos Ruiz made his way to the disabled list with a concussion that resulted from getting hit by a bat.

But the Marlins, who were red hot, lose a key cog because of, well, a fun post-game prank. Or, a post-game prank that was supposed to be fun.

No one is laughing now.

Rebuilding France

Actually, the French national team.

New mentor Laurent Blanc wasted no time in trying to put his stamp on the national soccer team. He suspended all 23 members of the World Cup squad for the team's next international match versus Norway. This, of course, after the French team struck for a day during the World Cup and then woefully underperformed during the tournament, failing to make it out of the first round.

Let's see, though, how Blanc can restore order. You have the issue of entitled stars, a predecessor coach who clashed with players and religious and ethnic differences. It will be interesting to see if a) there are enough other players to challenge for berths to not compel Blanc to recruit those in disfavor back to the team and b) whether there is sufficient feeling among the stars for the country itself. It also isn't clear what the meaning of the suspension is. Is it a suspension or an expulsion, or will Blanc review each player's status on a case by case basis?

And then, of course, there's the LeBron factor. If Blanc views each player's status on a case-by-case basis, what's to stop some of the stars from banding together and saying, "Hey, listen, you can do what you want, but if you don't take all five of us in a package, none of us are coming?" That's where matters could get interesting, even if the court of public opinion in France tilts toward the country and Blanc on the particular issue of rebuilding the national team.

What a mess a once proud French team has become. Blanc seems to be taking the necessary steps to restore order, but only time will tell.

The Phillies Fire Hitting Coach Milt Thompson

Does the Phillies' front office really think that the fans will buy that the team has failed miserably because of Thompson's coaching? Isn't this the same Milt Thompson who was the hitting coach when the team won the World Series in 2008 and returned there in 2009? Could he and his approach have changed that dramatically over the past season as to be the principal blame for the team's woes? And, if not, why did the Phillies do the obvious and can a good employee because some people in the front office thought this would be a genius move to draw attention away from the fact that the team has had its share of injuries and the front office itself has had a bad year.

This was a dumb move.

A transparently dumb move.

First, the Phillies have had a ton of injuries. The pitching staff has been riddled with them. Jimmy Rollins, Placido Polanco and Carlos Ruiz missed a ton of time with injuries. Chase Utley has been out for a while and might be out for the year. Hard to win when, at one time, the last four hitters in your lineup were Juan Castro, Wilson Valdez, Dane Sardinha and the pitcher. Heck, with that lineup, it would have been hard to win at AAA Lehigh Valley.

Second, is it Thompson's fault that Jayson Werth, in playing for a contract, stopped hitting well after the first six weeks of the season? Is it Thompson's fault that Shane Victorino has almost turned into Pedro Feliz, at least from the standpoint of on-base percentage, and seems to be swinging up and for the fences too much (when his size dictates that he should not be doing this)? Is it Thompson's fault that Raul Ibanez has turned into a lemon since after the first half of last season or that Utley hadn't hit as well before he got hurt than he had in years past? Or, that the Phillies' bench didn't scare anyone? Is all that Thompson's fault?

Third, is it Thompson's fault that the Phillies went into the season having let Cliff Lee to the Mariners for prospects who were designed to replenish the farm system but who might turn out to be placeholders and not much more? Is it Thompson's fault that the team signed Denys Baez to play a key role in the bullpen, when, instead, the veteran reliever right now is the pitching equivalent to bringing gasoline to the fire? Is it Thompson's fault that the three-year deals given Brad Lidge and Raul Ibanez might well rival the deal given Adam Eaton four years ago in terms of futility, and that the three-year deal given Joe Blanton looks like it could well be on the same road? Is it Thompson's fault that the top end of the farm system is relatively bare, or tha the rotation had to rely upon the aging Jamie Moyer and the frustrating Kyle Kendrick? Is it Thompson's fault that J.A. Happ got hurt and hasn't been able to contribute much this year after almost winning the Rookie of the Year award last year?

The Phillies' front office tried to pull a parlor trick on its fans with its hitting coach as the foil this week. That's a pretty pathetic move from a front office that knows better and could have done better in this instance.

Time for Phillies to Say Goodbye to Kyle Kendrick as a Starter for Good

Enough already. Stop teasing the fans, the team and Kyle Kendrick with his AAAA status (that's no typo) as a starting pitcher. He has 1 1/2 pitches, can win at Yankee Stadium (as he did a month ago) when he keeps the ball down against teams that don't see him that often, but boils over like an unwatched pot at unopportune times, like he did last night in the fifth inning in St. Louis.

The Phillies sent Kyle Kendrick to AAA Lehigh Valley today. He should not return to this organization -- again -- as a starting pitcher. Ever.

Because it's a sad tale. The Phillies have two choices with Kendrick outside releasing him. One is to convert him into a reliever, a role to which he's more suited because a) his lack of pitches and b) his inability to get through a lineup multiple times. The other is to trade him to someone who might see something in him and try to rehabilitate him. But under no circumstances can the Phillies let him fail for a third time. That would be a sign of nuttiness.

In 2008, Kendrick got off to a good start, won 11 or 12 games (I can't remember) and then faltered so badly in the second half that he was left off the post-season roster. Put differently, he morphed into the team's worst pitcher who was not named Adam Eaton. He started 2009 in the minors and pitched most of the year down on the farm. To his credit, when called up and upon late in the season, he pitched pretty well, including a three-inning relief effort down the stretch that helped seal a victory (this after he was called up mid-season, bombed in one game, and immediately was sent down). This season, he broke camp in the rotation because of injuries to both J.A. Happ and Joe Blanton. He remained in the rotation because Happ was hurt, and at times he pitched very well.

But he's also one of those guys that every time you think he turned the corner, he combusts. And that's okay, occasionally, for a young pitcher on an also-ran, but not for a starter on a World Series contender. Not if that team wants to be a World Series contender.

We've seen plenty of Kyle Kendrick. It's not that he's a bad guy or that he doesn't work hard. It's just that after multiple opportunities, the team should know what it has and should move on. Jamie Moyer is iffy because of his slow stuff and age (if he doesn't have pinpoint location he gets hit), and Joe Blanton has been downright awful. Add Kendrick to the mix, and the team does not have a good starting rotation. Not that the guy whom they called up to replace Kendrick -- Drew Carpenter -- comes with an advanced billing that borderlines on terrific. He's been here and done that -- as in "that's not so good" -- and might be the Phillies' best option absent a trade.

Regardless of how the team fares this year, next year they need to move on from Kendrick if they want to remain contenders.

Jayson Werth Can Do Better Than This

This year, we have had umpires admit that they made mistakes, including one that cost a pitcher a perfect case. A few days ago, we had Phillies' rightfielder Jayson Werth sprint toward foul territory trying to catch a fly ball. He ran into a dad, who was also trying to catch the ball and who was trying to protect his ten year-old son. That happens a lot, I would think, and you don't read about it.

Except this time, Werth reacted and told the father to stay the bleep out of his way. Werth told the press that he feels bad about it, but he didn't apologize, basically chalking it up to "these things happen in the heat of the game." You can read Bob Brookover's article about the incident, the reaction, and Werth's take in the Philadelphia Inquirer here.

In essence, Werth feels badly about what happened but he didn't apologize. Look, the Phillies are playing relatively poorly compared to the past three seasons, Werth has had his struggles, he's playing for his big contract (he'll be a free agent after this season), and there have been trade rumors that would send him to a contender. Taken together, that can be unsettling for anyone, let alone someone who plies his trade before 45,000 nightly and has to read about his shortcomings (and successes) the next day in the papers. That's a lot of pressure.

But even so, does it justify Werth's cursing out a fan? Of course it doesn't.

Does it warrant an apology? Yes, Jayson, it does. You said it in the heat of the moment, you didn't mean it, similarly situated, you would have gone for the ball whether or not you were trying to protect your son, the fans help your popularity and, amidst a recession, are given your team great attendance, the fans crate the market and the demand for you, and all sorts of reasons. You owe it to the fan and his son to apologize, and it would do well for your image and career to do so too, because it says that you're human, you value the fans, you made a mistake, and you're big enough to admit it with a real apology.

And not an "I'm sorry if what I said upset you," but a real "I know what I did was wrong. I reacted and took my frustration out on you, when I should have been focusing more on the Braves or Reds or whomever. Those who know me know that this is out of character for me. I love the interactions that I have with the fans, and the fans have been very supportive of our team and me. I'm a competitive guy, I want to get every last ball, and, well, in the heat of the moment my emotions got the better of me. I want to make sure that every fan has a good experience at the ball park." Or something along those lines, and perhaps he could meet with the fan and his son before a game, give him an autographed ball and bat and perhaps a few other goodies and end it on a high note.

Because then, in addition, to contributing mightily to a World Champion in 2008, Jayson Werth once again would be acting like a champion.

By the way, many people react to situations the way Jayson Werth did, daily, in the workplace, in extracurricular activities, whatever. And many apologize. Jayson Werth is a human who happens to be a very good baseball player. Behavior like this happens from time to time, especially for people under great pressure and great scrutiny. The power of an apology -- a sincere apology -- helps distinguish the champions from the also rans. I hope that Jayson Werth recognizes this and does the best thing he can do here.

LeBron's "Welcome" Bash in Miami

It certainly wasn't for diabetics or those with a bad gag reflex, that's for sure.

Just when you thought that LeBron James couldn't have topped the ridiculousness charts after his "interview" with Jim Gray and his announcement of his decision to join the Miami Heat at a Boys & Girls Club in Greenwich, Connecticut of all places (the irony is that it's one of the wealthiest zip codes in the United States), he appeared as a wing man to Dwayne Wade at the Miami Heat's "welcome" party last night. I don't have a link to the video, but you have to try to find one, because he topped what he did two nights ago and gave his critics and haters even more ammunition which what could best be described as a self-indulgent, "aren't I and we great" love fest that was too gross to be believed. LeBron also joined Chris Bosh in playing wingman to Dwayne Wade, making him and Bosh "Pips" to Wade's Gladys Knight, or putting him as just another guy on the back line of the Temptations (to borrow a phrase from Simon Cowell). I'm sure at some point some Heat guy will thrust LeBron front and center in honor of the late Patrick Swayze's famous line in the big dance scene at the end of "Dirty Dancing", when he takes Jennifer Grey's character from her seat and says, "No one puts Baby in the corner." No one will put LeBron in the back line for long, either, and that will make all fans wonder who should be front and center -- Wade or James. And that's when things could get interesting.

In any event, it was another "over the top" affair, worse than the announcement itself, and just more cannon fodder for opponents in other cities who will make sure that they are up for the Heat every time they play them. Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo, Derrick Rose, Carlos Boozer, Joachim Noah and, of course, Kobe Bryant, who will be gunning for the Heat the way challenger Clubber Lang went after Rocky in Rocky III, with one exception.

Kobe is smart enough and determined enough not to suffer Clubber's fate after he dethroned Rocky. And besides, Kobe has more rings than the 3 Kings, as they're calling themselves, have combined.

The Heat are loaded beyond belief.

And that will make it all the more fun for their challengers to yell, "Timber."

Taxation Affects Behavior Department: LeBron James

The Wall Street Journal opined on its editorial page that while it wasn't there to bury or praise LeBron, it had to note that Florida has no state income tax, while Ohio has a 7% state income tax for earners like LeBron and that New York's and New Jersey's are even higher (you'll recall that those states are home to two of LeBron's suitors, the Knicks and the Nets). So, if LeBron makes say $40 million a year with salary and endorsements, he'll save a considerable amount over his five-year deal with the Heat by establishing Florida as his residence. Believe it or not, I'm sure that this figured into LeBron's decision, especially because he'll be getting less salary from the Heat than he could have in Cleveland. (Of course, this calls the question as to LeBron's endorsement value given the two spectacles that occured, the one in Connecticut where he announced his decision and the "welcome" party that was held in Miami last night). So, even if the endorsements don't make the fellow a world icon (and a host on WFAN in New York this morning said that he'll now play Scottie Pippen to Dwayne Wade's Michael Jordan in Miami), he'll still have over $10 million in tax savings by joining the Heat.

Memo to all professional sports teams seeking free agents -- it's best to be in a low- or no-tax state.

And LeBron is very financially savvy, too.

The Sad Case of Mathew Saad Muhammad

The teenaged boy was approaching the second green of the 9-hole public golf course he played with his dad, usually on hot, summer weekend afternoons. The boy and his dad liked it that way, when the course was less crowded, even if the heat and humidity compelled most people to head indoors and drink a cold one, usually those bottles of Coca Cola that had the steam coming out of them when opened.

His dad was in the right rough, near the hedgerow that separated the golf course from the parking lot of the neighboring apartment complex and was situated near a department store and a combination shopping mall and office building. A well-built African-American man was jogging on the fringe rough, pushing himself hard. I remember that he looked determined, cut, that he was working hard.

The dad was looking for his ball, waved to the jogger, said "Hi, Champ." The jogger nodded in recognition of the greeting, mumbled hello, and kept on jogging. He would repeat a loop around the course, up and down its terrain, which included a big hill or two, for a while, perhaps an hour.

When they got to the green, the son was curious. His father was a friendly guy, the type who said hello to everyone, but he normally said only hello. He wasn't one of those guys who called everyone "champ" or "buddy" or "chief" or anything like that.

"Who was that?" the son asked. "Do you know him."

"Don't know him, but know of him. That guy," the father said, "is Matthew Saad Muhammad. He's the light heavyweight champion of the world."

The son looked at the jogger, still running hard, in the distance. It was pretty cool, seeing the light heavyweight champion of the world doing his running on this small, friendly golf course. Apparently, he lived nearby, and his was quite a story.

That teenaged boy was me, the dad my father, and the place was a small course in the Philadelphia suburbs that once had been a private country club. The champion once was named Matthew Franklin, was abandoned as a young boy, took up boxing after he got into trouble, and was one tough fighter, a "Rocky" type who could fall behind in a fight and battle his way out of it. Many of his fights were brutal, and he won many more than he lost.

He was young, he was tough, but he didn't know how to manage his money, and he paid for everyone and everything. He tried working different jobs, but, well, time and a lack of post-boxing skills has taken its tolls. Matthew Saad Muhammad, at 56, walked into a homeless shelter in Philadelphia the other day. Out of money, out of luck, out of places to go.

You can read his story here.

And a tough one it is. But the one thing that you cannot escape is that despite his reputation for being a fearsome fighter, at the core he's a nice man.

A nice man in need of a few breaks.

Someone who entertained and thrilled many, someone who gave his profession his all.

Here's to hoping that he can renew himself and combine his fearsomeness and fierceness as a fighter to rebuild his life and emerge from his current set of problems.

Deep down, he's still the champ, and no one can take that away from him.

Here's to hoping that he still has many, many rounds to go.

The LeBron James Show

What should have happened last night on ESPN was that LeBron James took the microphone, thanked every team for cooperating completely with him during his process, announced that he wanted to have fun playing with friends and winning titles and that Miami happened to be the place where Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh are, and then thanked Cleveland profusely for all of the opportunities and all of the support, as graciously and humbly as possible given the fact that he was bound to disappoint his hometown. I didn't agree with LeBron's process or his (now total) self-absorption, but I would have done the same thing that he did -- go to Miami with great players and try to bring home titles.

Instead, he created a spectacle that was almost as bad as what Rocky put on during training for his first fight with Clubber Lang in Rocky III. All that was missing were celebrity spectators, long mink coats, cigars, a ring announcer and dancing girls. What was about as bad was the fawning that ESPN did, and the back-drop of the Boys & Girls' Club of Greenwich, where I hope that the kids there learned some positive message about character as opposed to a mixed one about stardom and spectacle.

A few other points:

1. New York, generally, are being sore losers about LeBron. I saw one headline (perhaps the Post that called him "LeBum," and another lead article saying that the best city in the world didn't really need him. The Knicks were classy, but the Knicks' organization has been a joke for over ten years, especially during the Isiah Thomas' reign, so the city and its fans should be careful about dissing LeBron when the prized franchise has run itself so poorly for a long time. I'm sure that the prospect of playing alongside Eddy Curry was really enticing. The Knicks did make a good run, and I'm sure that the ability to hobknob with monied people who could help enhance his brand would have excited LeBron. But, in the end, playing with Amare Stoudemire just wasn't enough, especially when you can play with Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade.

2. The Bulls still will be a good team, now that they just added Carlos Boozer to a strong rebounding team. Boozer. Rose. Noah. Not too bad.

3. What intrigued me all night was what Kobe Bryant must be thinking. I told my wife that he was probably storming around his house like an angry bull, not angry with Coach Phil or with any of his teammates, but angry that somehow LeBron and Wade were referred to as the two best players in the game and he wasn't mentioned. I'm sure he's thinking, I've won many more championships than those guys, and boy am I and my teammates going to show everyone next year that we'll repeat and repeat again, because I am the best player in the game. Kobe will use this as a motivator to stick it into the teeth of any team that tries to get in the Lakers' way. Don't count the Lakers out, not by a long shot.

So there you have it, the headline-stealing NBA in the middle of a steamy summer. The Heat now have the bullseye on their backs, not only in terms of what game every opponent will get up for, but for all of the free agents with limited skills who'll want to populate the roster and try to get a ring. They still will need a 1 and a 5, and they'll still need LeBron and D-Wade to demonstrate that they can play together. Remember, the analogies to the Celtics "Big Three" are not totally on point, because Messrs. Allen, Pierce and Garnett did prove that they could complement each other. It remains to be seen whether a regulation-size NBA court can accommodate both Dwayne Wade and LeBron James.

But it will be a lot of fun watching -- the show on the court, that is.

Time to Replace Brad Lidge

Last night, the Phillies were up 3-2 over the Reds in the top of the ninth. The Reds tied in on a two-out double by Miguel Cairo, a journeyman whom the Phillies picked up last year off the scrap heap and who is now a utility infielder for the Reds. The Phillies pitcher? Brad Lidge.

It looked like a no brainer in the middle of the 2008 season, after the Phillies acquired Lidge and Eric Bruntlett from Ed Wade's Astros for Michael Bourn and Geoff Geary. Lidge was so good that, by the middle of the magical 2008 season, the Phillies inked him to a three-year deal (for about $12 million per). Bruntlett fared well in '08 as a utility player, but he fizzled badly last year and has ventured to parts unknown. Geary, always a solid middle reliever, is hurt, and Bourn transformed himself from a fast player with OBP issues into an All-Star this year (take that, Shane Victorino!). Look, it was a good trade for the Phillies, as Lidge's excellence at the back end of the 'pen in 2008 assured a World Series victory.

Fast forward two years, and Lidge is in the second year of that three-year deal, and the deal is proving to be about as bad as Pat Gillick's biggest free-agent signing during his tenure with the Phillies -- yes, I'm invoking the name of Adam Eaton. Eaton was so bad that the Phillies released him with one year and $9 million left on his deal before last season (the last year on his contract). Lidge has proven to be just as bad -- if not worse -- and he has a year and a half left on his deal. During the contract, he has been plum awful. The only reason he continues to close is because either the Phillies are convinced they have no one else or, more likely, because they've invested so much in him that they will give him time to pitch out of his funk.

But at what cost?

Wins?

Fans?

The Phillies are vulnerable now. It's hard to win consistently when the last four hitters in your lineup are named Dobbs, Schneider, Valdez and your pitcher, especially when the first three are replacing guys named Polanco, Ruiz and Utley. It's also hard to win when your bullpen is iffy (compounding what now looks to be the Lidge blunder is the bad signing of Denys Baez, about whom Baseball Prospectus warned everyone). And lest anyone think that I'm piling on either Gillick or GM Ruben Amaro, remember that they offered Lidge the lucrative deal after 1 partial season in Philadelphia, which followed a roller coaster's worth of seasons in Houston. Put differently, it was a risky signing.

And it's risky putting him in there. On some nights, even the best closers don't have their best stuff. Their breaking balls don't bite, their fast ball is a foot short. But when you watch Lidge, you get amazed by how poor his command is -- he'll bounce balls in the dirt, throw them way too high, way too outside or way too over the plate. He groved one to Cairo, which just goes to show you that even a below-average Major League hitter can smoke on when a pitcher does everything other than put the ball on a tee for him.

If the Phillies are to contend, they need to put Lidge in a set-up role or a middle relief role, and turn the closer's role over to someone else. Scott Mathieson fared well in the closer's role at AAA Lehigh Valley, and now might be the time to give him a chance.

Before an over-reliance on "Lights Out" Lidge turns the lights out on the Phillies' season.

The Cliff Lee Sweepstakes Are On!

So say reports from ESPN.com.

This is not unexpected. After all, the front office of the Mariners built the team on pitching and defense, and forgot that there aren't penalty shootouts, corner kicks and other set pieces in baseball. Translated, the Mariners just cannot hit, and they're sellers. Again.

So Cliff Lee didn't make the post-season roster for the Indians in 2007, was traded to the Phillies in the middle of 2009 for four prospects, was traded to the Mariners after the 2009 season for three prospects, and will be traded again before July 31 because his contract will expire after this season. In his early 30's, Lee will get a great deal as a free agent because he pitches great. Atop that, he's fun to watch, he works quickly, and he looks like the most relaxed pitcher in the history of Major League Baseball.

The Twins and Rangers appear to be the front runners, and wherever he goes, he'll make his team a serious contender to make the playoffs and to go far in them. He was money last year for the Phillies, and he'll be money again for a contender. The Rays also are in the hunt, and they have the type of prospects that the Mariners would want/command (they had about 11 of Baseball Prospectus's top 101 at the outset of the season, a statistically significant number).

If you're a fan of a team that is on the cusp, holler loud and clear for Cliff Lee.

You won't be sorry.

Live from Greenwich, Connecticut: It's LeBron James

So LeBron will go live from the Boys & Girls' club in one of the richest zip codes in the United States (by the way, there are people there who have greater annual incomes than he does and who have a higher net worth -- many, in fact). What does this tell us?

Perhaps nothing.

But, Greenwich is a suburb of New York City, which could mean that he could join defensively challenged Amare Stoudemire as a New York Knick.

Why?

Because LeBron wants himself to be an international brand perhaps the way no one -- not even Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali or Pele -- has been before. Sure, it's an ambitious dream, and one he'd start to accomplish by winning a championship or two. The Knicks have a putrid recent history and are looking for a savior, their glory days of the late 1960's and early 1970's so far behind them that few remember anymore (heck, many don't know of the significance of Jackie Robinson). New York remains the center of the world's finances, and, yes, in many ways it's a magical city.

Why not?

And whither the Bulls?

It looks as though the Bulls might be the odd team out here. They had a bunch of big-name college players over the past five years and couldn't get them to play together, so they cleared out cap space in order to sign two big-ticket free agents. But perhaps the legacy of Michael Jordan looms so large that those big names don't want the comparison. The legacy also is so recent that perhaps even one championship won't matter as much to Bulls' fans as it will, say, to Knick fans (imagine what it would mean, though, to Cavs' fans, but I digress). So Chicago might be left with a bunch of cap space, Luol Deng and Derrick Rose.

And, of course, whither Miami?

The gateway to Latin America and the Spanish-speaking world, a hip city, but a city that won a title recently and that is D-Wade's town. After all, he's played great there, and for now he's the man. I just can't imagine LeBron journeying to Miami and saying "it's Dwayne's team" the way free agent Moses Malone went to Philadelphia and swore to all who would listen that it was "Doc's team" even though Dr. J was at the end of his career and the team wouldn't have made a dent in the Celtics or Lakers without the tough big man. That's, perhaps, the rub, and perhaps why despite Tweets from both Wade and Chris Bosh that they'd love to play with James that he might not go there.

I liked the idea that Chris Ballard of Sports Illustrated put forth a while back, that James makes so much money his NBA salary shouldn't matter as much, that he should go to L.A., take $1 million a year, play alongside Kobe, and string together a bunch of titles. So great would this accomplishment be, so the logic goes, that LeBron would earn huge bucks from endorsements, add to his legend and thus his brand, and achieve everything he wants.

There are two problems with this theory, though. One, star players do measure themselves by the coin that they bring home, and they are so competitive that the thought that Luke Walton might make more in salary than the best player in the game (or one of the top two, alongside Kobe) would gall any self-respecting superstar. Two, Kobe is there, and he can make a great argument that he's the premier player, the best in the league, and he has the rings to prove it. So LeBron would have injected himself into a situation where he would be playing young Kobe to Kobe's older Shaq, and he has a good enough sense of history to know that a) that doesn't work and b) people have no clue who played the #2 fiddle behind Charlie Daniels.

So that leaves us where?

The Nets?

The Clippers?

The Mavs (assuming that after paying his fines Mark Cuban has enough left over to pay the luxury tax)?

Nope, it's probably a three-horse race among the Knicks, Cavaliers and Heat.

The bet here is that LeBron James wants the Big Apple and all of the access that being there will get him.

Access, yes.

A title?

Perhaps not.

Restaurant Recommendation for St. Michael's, Maryland

Normally, I write about sports, but I also like good teamwork, so. . .

We just got back from a vacation to St. Michael's, Maryland, a small town on Maryland's eastern shore that is on the Chesapeake Bay. And we ate at one restaurant in particular that I thought was worthy of recommending (others also were good).

The restaurant in question, Bistro St. Michael's, draws props because of the teamwork that the people in the restaurant displayed. We enjoyed ourselves so much the first time we went there that we made a recommendation for the next night (by the way, I would recommend making reservations, as the place does fill up). The principal reason was our server the first night, who got me to try something I had always wanted to try -- softshell crabs (yes, you eat the shell, too, but it's soft). She was well-trained, believed in her chef and what she was selling, and offered an entree not on the menu -- instead of two softshell crabs, I could get one softshell and one crab cake. Sold! I wasn't disappointed; each was terrific. The kids who bused the tables also knew how to talk to patrons, the food was excellent and well presented, and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

But what my wife and I kept on coming back to was the preparation, training and teamwork. The owner trained his staff well -- they knew when to show up (and at what intervals), knew how to talk to customers, and knew the menu well. That didn't happen by accident. The staff seemed to enjoy working in this type of atmosphere, and they ended up with two delighted customers. In addition to what I had, my wife had a roasted chicken dish the first night and a New York strip steak the second, both of which were excellent (the steak was one of the best I had ever tasted). The steamed mussels appetizer was also terrific.

As you can see, I need to polish up my work on recommending restaurants. I can't explain subleties, the variety of the wine list, types of cooking and seasoning very well, but to quote the character Red in the movie The Natural (Red was the coach played by the legendary Richard Farnsworth, and in the particular scene to which I'm referring he took Roy Hobbs, played by Robert Redford, to dinner in a nice restaurant after Hobbs was called up to the big leagues), "You can't spell it, but it sure does eat good."

Amen.

And great teamwork, too.