With spring break wrapping up and students coming back tan to a snow-covered campus, I am stricken with jealousy. Except the one afternoon I sat on the fire escape of my Vandeventer apartment with two of my buddies, my spring break did not consist of daytime drinking in the hot sunlight. Rather, most days, I was stuck in a cubicle at my job.
All that time in a cube led me to come to many realizations about the sports world. Since I haven’t written a column in a while, I figured that instead of droning on about one issue, I might as well give you my thoughts on many issues, with more brevity. So without further ado .
With all the Barry Bonds publicity going around while students were sunbathing well south of St. Louis, I think the best article was published by faux news source The Onion. The title of the article was “Barry Bonds Took Steroids, Reports Everyone Who Has Ever Watched Baseball.” The point was simple, but the article was much more elaborate. While I find it intriguing that Bonds openly disucussed his steroid intention at dinner with Ken Griffey Jr., is anyone really surprised? Compare photos of the man from his years with the Pirates to now. I haven’t seen such quick, exponential growth since Tom Hanks in Big.
NFL free agency went off with a bang, something like a week late. But the big stories were Terrell Owens to the Cowboys, and the Browns bringing home everyone who played high school football in Cleveland, including Dave Ragone, Drew Haddad, Rodney Bailey, Nate Clements and LeBron James. OK, clearly I exaggerated on those NFL/NBA players, but still. LeCharles Bentley, Dave Zastudil and Joe Jurevicius will bring not only talent but a sense of hometown pride to the ever-struggling Browns.
TO should infuse the Cowboys with big-play ability, but also keep Bill Parcells and Drew Bledsoe on their toes . I am betting on Thanksgiving Day for the first big blowup in Big D. Look for Drew Henson to be at the forefront as well. Do you think if he celebrates a touchdown by slamming the ball in the giant center star the fans would cheer this time? Just a thought.
Going into the World Baseball Classic, the big argument was the United States versus the Domincan Republic. Well, the United States didn’t make the semis, and the DR lost to Cuba . my money was on the Dominican. Thank God upstart Japan knocked off Cuba, or we would have seen Castro happier than he was when Reagan died. But, the WBC was a good experience in its first year, and, if anything, it showed, along with the Olympics and every other international competition, that the United States needs to get its act together, and soon.
People are not going to back away from us anymore. Even Canada beat us, and they haven’t stood up to anyone since the French-and that’s not saying much, since Canada negotiated their country’s freedom from colonialism peacefully. Sure, that’s all well and good, but the process took over 100 years . talk about passive-aggressive.
It’s too easy to take shots at the Knicks, but I really enjoyed reading about the public bickering between “Starbury” and Larry Brown. My over-under was for January and I took the under . I seriously thought this would have blown up sooner. I think I am going to lose my other big “blow-up” bet as well. Ron Artest has been better behaved in Sacramento than a prisoner up for parole in a month. I think Ron might cost me another $100, but if the Kings move to Vegas in the near future, as is the rumor, the insurance premium on Artest’s contract has to skyrocket. Personally, I can’t wait.
In my first draft, Alfonso Soriano was on this list, but he seems to have his act together and realized he is not the second base phenom he envisions when he sleeps. I had money down that Richie Weeks or Chase Utley would have gotten the NL All-Star roster anyways.
Well, those are my idle thoughts I pondered during the plethora of hours staring at a computer screen. At least all that extra money will allow me to subsidize my gambling habit.
