People who come to a blog hoping to read an unbiased opinion are asking for a lot. So with that out of the way I feel free to show my "unbiased" opinion on a few recent occurrences in the sports world.
The Yankees have not yet signed their groundskeeper to a 100 million dollar contract yet. The reason obviously is that he is a Scott Boras client and likes to play hard ball seeing that he is going to have to tread and maintain a whole new field in the New Yankee Stadium. No but seriously on someone that maybe is worth at least a 100 million bucks to the Yankees is Andy Pettitte. Pettitte was virtually the leader and the ace of an injury depleted staff during the past season. No one will doubt that this is not the same pettitte of the pennant winning teams but he nevertheless provided a sense of stability to a much needed team. Sure his era ballooned and the wins went down but his experience and clubhouse standing were indispensable for a team that lost Mike Mussina and is in the process of firming youngsters Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes in to the rotation. It seems Pettitte rejected a 10 million dollar offer while he was looking for something closer to his last year salary of 16 million. Now I don't think either side is right in the negotiations and they must arbitrate and come to a compromise in the middle because pettitte does not deserve to be treated the way bernie williams was when he was on his way out.
But the reality is Yankees GM Brian Cashman is fully invested in his youth movement and believes that Phil Hughes will come to fruition and that he and Joba will live up to their potential at the expense of a valuable part of the Yankees last dynasty.
All in all it is simply out with the old ( Pettitte) and in with the new(Hughes and new Yankee stadium)
Lets consider a similar change in the NBA. For the past couple of weeks more and more "experts" are saying that Lebron James is the best player in the NBA and has surpassed Kobe Bryant in this category. Well since everyone today is considered an expert on anything and everything, this certain expert disagrees with the rest of his peers. James shows uncanny ability to penetrate and complete almost every drive he attempts at the basket with the ref usually signalling an and 1. His free throw percentage has gone up to 78 %, an improvement from his career average of 73, and his FG% is at an excellent 51%. The majority of his shots are layups therefore leading to such a high shooting percentage but most good teams will have the strategy to block of the lanes and force James to settle for jump shots. James has struggled tremendously in this area. He has a horrible three point shooter at about 29% which is an excellent way to change momentum as well as clinch a game. Just today in the Cavaliers loss to the Bulls in OT, James missed somewhere in the neighborhood of his last 12-14 shots. That is just unforgivable for the so called Chosen One. He hasn't proved to me yet that he can take over a game when his team is struggling and knock down shots when they need it. Today he missed a game winning two just inside the 3 point line as the clock expired showing once again he just isn't a pristine jump shooter like the other greats such as Jordan, Bird and Bryant. Kobe shows the amazing ability to drive his team and puts up numbers to back them and comes through when his team needs him. He revs up his team after a win and scolds them after the loss seizing the role of the leader. Even though Kobe passed up a shot to win the game last night against the spurs, it was ultimately the right call as he was being double teamed and had to give it up instead of just heaving up a long range three. To give the lakers the lead before Roger "Rocket" Mason's incredible three point play, he knocked down a huge 3 in the face of mason with time winding down. Just as a spectator I was scared to my bones, even though I won't publicly admit it, that whenever Bryant touches the ball I feel like he can go for 50 any given night if he really wanted to.
Oh and how awesome is it that the day after Martin Luther King day, the first black president will be sworn in to office. Karma sure is something alright.
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