Category: Sports

It’s been a tough off season for Yankees fans in the pitching arena. Yes, we resigned the greatest closer ever and signed a top notch closer to be the 8th inning guy.

But we didn’t get Cliff Lee and now Andy Pettitte has decided to retire. The former is a bigger loss for the future, but seeing Andy retire is a bit sad for me.

Not that I have any problems with his decision. He’s had a great career, has kids, presumably plenty of money, and four World Series rings. And as a fan he’s been everything you want in a player.

Is a Hall of Famer? Probably not. In my mind he falls into the “close, but not quite” category. He wasn’t a #1 starter, often #2 or #3. But in the playoffs every Yankee fan will tell you that Andy often would pitch the key win after a loss. We always felt confident when Pettitte was pitching. Always.

And he was a good guy. No media issues. Straight shooter. My wife loved him (not solely because of his pitching), generally referring to him as “my boyfriend”. Yes, he did HGH to get over injuries. These days I view that mainly as an “everyone was doing it” issue only to be judged on how they respond when caught. And Pettitte did what you should do. He fessed up, explained why and said sorry. You’d think it would be obvious, but why don’t most people do that? (it was B-12, honest).

Anyway, a great pitcher and a great Yankee.

Postseason series clinching wins:

• 1996 ALCS
• 1998 World Series
• 2000 World Series
• 2009 ALDS
• 2009 ALCS

And of course, the classic memory of Pettitte will always be the look to the plate. Cap brim pulled low, glove up high, only his eyes visible, focused on the target.

Thanks for the memories, Andy.

Say what you want about Brett Favre, but consider this.

The Vikings have no chance at the postseason.

They are going to be playing in total crap conditions.

Against a Bears defense that will punish the quarterback.

With their star running back out.

He has nothing to prove, so why play?

Because he loves to. It’s what he does. He plays football. Like him or not, all the drama around him revolves around that basic fact. He loves to play football.

He has zero reason to play tonight. He will get beat up in crap-ass conditions and almost certainly lose. But he’s playing.

Mariano Rivera turned 41 yesterday. And reports seem to indicate that the Yankees negotiations are moving much more smoothly than with Derek Jeter.

So today’s blog will be filled with quotes about my favorite Yankee:

"We don’t want to face him any more. He’s too good. He belongs in a higher league. He should be banned from baseball."
– Tom Kelly (former Twins manager)

"He’s the most mentally tough person I’ve ever played with."
– Derek Jeter

"If my life depended on it – if my daughter’s life depended on it – I’d want Mariano Rivera closing. Wouldn’t you?"
– Alex Rodriguez

"I’m sure you can learn it, but it won’t cut like his."
– Mike Mussina, talking about Mo’s cutter

"That stuff of his is unbelievable. That stuff is unfair."
– Joe Mauer

"The best ever, no doubt."
– Dennis Eckersley

"I get the ball, I throw the ball and then I take a shower."
– Mariano Rivera

As they say, keep it simple…

I’m fairly amused by the Jeter negotiations because both sides are saying ridiculous things.

But there’s one negotiation that I’m more worried about. That’s Mariano Rivera (for the record, my favorite Yankee). Mo wants two years. The Yankees are offering one. Unlike Jeter, Mo was excellent last year. Yes, he’s 40, but have you seen him pitch? Effortless. He’s not going to break down next year. He could throw that splitter at 45 and no one hits it.

As a Yankee fan, I haven’t worried about the ninth inning for 13 years. Think about that. Since 1997.

I can handle a new shortstop. Not sure I can handle a new closer.

You’d think after not winning this for 16 years, the fact that the USA Basketball team rolled to the gold medal (as we should) would be a bigger deal.

Kevin Durant stat of the tournament (courtesy of Bill Simmons)

Kevin Durant, last three USA games: 100 points, 35-for-59 shooting (59 percent), 15 3-pointers.

Everyone else on Team USA, last three games: 159 points, 57-for-146 shooting (39 percent), 14 3-pointers.

I can only say wow…

Recently, a judge ruled that cheerleading is not a sport. Of course the first question is why a judge would be ruling on this at all, but reading the article you see that a college was trying to cut one women’s sport and wanted to use cheerleading to compensate in an attempt to show that it was not violating Title IX (Title IX could be a topic for an entirely different blog). The women who participated in the sport that was cut sued so a judge had to rule.

Now the judge said that cheerleading might someday establish itself as a sport but that today it is too underdeveloped and disorganized to be considered a true sport.

That might be fine from a legal perspective, but it brought to mind one of my favorite arguments. How do you define a sport? I’ve blogged on this before, but not in detail. I start with my basic Olympic rules (which eliminate several "sports"):

1. If the costume matters, or makeup is applied, it’s not a sport
2. If you can’t tell who won without a judge (all the time, not once in a while) it’s not a sport
3. If the name has the word “synchronized” in it, it’s not sport

Really, rules 1&3 are just there for humor. It’s rule 2 that matters. And this rule will offend a lot of people, because we aren’t just talking about synchronized swimming here. This rule eliminates a ton of high profile sports. Yet I stand by it.

A sport is decided "on the field". A competition is judged.

I defy you to come up with a definition of sport that includes diving but excludes cheerleading. They are both clearly athletic. They both have defined moves with established degrees of difficulty. And there are elements of artistry. But here’s the problem. You can extend the argument to things that no one would seriously argue is a sport.

I was a trumpet player. Trumpet is a very physical, athletic instrument. You have to be in shape. There is serious muscle recovery time. Ask any trumpet player who ever worked for the circus (the most grueling gig on the planet) and they will tell you about putting ice on their face after a gig.

There are plenty of trumpet competitions. Degree of difficulty of pieces has been clearly established.

Physical, athletic activity. Well established degree of difficulty. Some artistry. Final score entirely defined by judges. What did I just describe? Diving? Cheerleading? Trumpet competition?

Choice D, all of the above.

You can replace trumpet with dance, or many other similar things. Unless you restrict sport to mean something "decided on the field" the slope is way too slippery.

If 100% of the time it comes down to a judges score, it’s a competition but not a sport. Doesn’t make a competition any less interesting or fun to watch. It’s just not a sport.

Here’s another definition. If a bunch of kids can’t get together and play and compete and clearly know who won, it’s not a sport.

That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

My NCAA pool is back on. The url is

http://fish2006.mayhem.cbssports.com/e

The group password is fish. The rules and payments are the same as always. Enjoy.

Peyton Manning’s legacy took a bit of a hit in the Super Bowl. He’s back to being a great quarterback who isn’t always great in the big game. As I was thinking about how quarterbacks rank, I saw many similarities between Manning and Favre.

They are completely different quarterbacks of course. Manning, the cerebral one. Favre, the gunslinger. But both will have amazing careers setting all kinds of records. Both are clear Hall of Famers.

And so far, both are in the “only one Super Bowl” category of great quarterbacks. Hell, they both threw critical interceptions late in the game to the same guy in the playoffs this year.

I’m big fans of both of them. But unless Peyton comes back and wins another Super Bowl, he’s not in the Montana category, no matter how many records he breaks.