Jeter, Papi, Clemens, and Other Sports Topics to Discuss
There are so many things I want to write about my fingers are trembling. Every time I look up there is another story that just begs me to dissect it. Instead of writing 5 or 6 articles I figured I would just touch on each and give my 2 cents….
***According to this and this, Derek Jeter is branching out into the Men’s Grooming product business with the release this fall of his signature scent, Driven. He spoke of the help his mother and sister gave him during development of the product, including the mixture of scents and design of the bottle and logo. Let’s think about this for a minute. We all know Jeter IS Mr. Yankee. My thought is this takes in a little too far. If A-Rod had come out with his own scent he’d be getting killed in the press. Not to mention Jeter is releasing his scent through AVON, a company that claims right on their web-site to be “the company for women”. Athlete fragrances haven’t done well in the past(i.e. Michael Jordan) and this one will probably do no better. I can’t imagine being asked by the Gurette, “ohhhh, what cologne are you wearing?” and me responding, “I’m wearing Derek Jeter”. Creepy.
***I am going to offer my services for free to every American League Manager out there. Usually I would charge for this type of expert consultation, but I am feeling generous today. In fact, let’s make it a “Man Law”. Do not pitch to David Ortiz after the 1st inning, under any circumstances. How many walk-off hits and home runs does this guy have to hit before teams realize that he might be pretty good. The latest example of this was last night when new Indians closer Fausto Carmona decided to “challenge” Papi with a 2-0 fastball in a 2 run game. Oops. Papi proceeds to hit it about 450 feet, winning the game. How is it that Barry Bonds is hitting about .200 and teams still walk him twice a game yet Papi is leading the Majors in virtually every clutch stat possible. I know it’s Manny Ramirez hitting behind Ortiz, but it doesn’t matter. Ramirez might beat you, Papi WILL beat you.
***ESPN’s Jayson Stark wrote a brilliant piece dealing with Roger Clemens and the Trade Deadline that passed at 4:00 PM yesterday. Clemens made a tough decision in May when he chose his home-town team over the team that drafted him. I really thought there was a strong possibility of Rocket heading back to Boston to finish his career. Roger is nostalgic, and ending his career by helping the Red Sox win another World Series would be the stuff of legend. Was it close to happening? As Stark puts it, the Astros and Red Sox travelled down that road, going so far as to talk names. The conversation stopped when Astros Owner Drayton McLane ended the talk. If what Stark says is true it proves just how selfish McLane is. Roger deserved to go out his way. Sure, he chose to come back to the Astros, but that’s Roger. He feels loyalty to his hometown and to McLane. Roger would never had demanded a trade. Similar to Greg Maddux, Clemens would do what was better for the team and keep his mouth shut. The Astros could have gotten 2 or 3 prospects to inject into a system void of any significant talent. And Clemens could have finished where it started. It would have been magical, but the greed of a billionaire got in the way.
***Speaking of the Deadline. Can someone tell me why the Indians didn’t trade Aaron Boone to ANYONE for a bag of peanuts and tall draft? If there is anyone wasting a spot on a roster more than Boone I haven’t found him. Boone was a nice player in his day, but the knee injury efectively ended his career. He has essentially been cashing paychecks and booting ground balls for the last 2 1/2 years and the Indians should have ended it. Let’s hope that they’ll do the right thing and simply grant Boone his release and move on.
***Color me stupid for wanting to believe Floyd Landis. According to this, it appears that a portion of the Testosterone found in his system is synthetic. In layman’s terms, Landis was doping. I defended Landis in this blog last week saying I believed him because he was “acting innocent”. It is starting to appear that I was fooled. Not again. I am officially boycotting writing about cycling on this Blog. I talk about sports, and cycling is a farce filled with cheats and liars. Foll me once, shame on me, fool me twice, I kick you off my Blog.
***An interesting story here. Jason Taylor, former Akron Zip and current Miami Dolphin is married to teammate Zach Thomas’ sister Katina. Well it seems Katina has filed for divorce and the big topic around Dolphins camp is how it will affect the locker room. All the major players are saying the right things(though I haven’t seen anything from Thomas), but you’d have to think it won’t be that easy. Without knowing the reason that Mrs. Taylor is requestion the split, it is hard to imagine that Taylor and Thomas will have the same type of relationship they have shared in the past. The last thing a team on the fringe of becoming a contender is for family strife. This will be one to keep out “eyes” on.
