I'm sitting here on my couch in my family room eating Russel Stover chocolates from a heart shaped box. I'm all warm and fuzzy inside, not only because my wife showed me how much she loved me with a card and chocolates at lunch, but because it's "Pitchers and Catchers Day".
Somehow in the midst of all the snow and ice in the Northeast you can "feel" it, you can "sense" it... spring is right around the corner!
Maybe it's because my Dad and I would have a catch in the backyard as soon as the snow had melted. Maybe it's because, even though it's not a really eventful day in Florida, we see the pitchers and catchers tossing the ball to each other in uniforms. This my friends, is the start.. the beginning... the excitement is building.
Now that we have all the sentimental kid stuff out of the way, let's review the big news items of the day in sports. Namely: Albert Pujols, C.C. Sabathia, NFL and NFLPA, and Tiger's loogie in Dubai.
Albert Pujols is in deep talks with his team, the St. Louis Cardinals. Actually it's more like his agent is in deep talks. All they have an agreed upon so far is a self-imposed deadline of this Wednesday at noon. This is a non story and a bunch of baloney! He's a franchise player, probably the best player in baseball and he's not going anywhere. He IS the St. Louis Cardinals.The powers that be in PR on both sides are playing it up so that more people will watch him this year... not that he needs the hype. His numbers speak for themselves.
On a side note, Tony LaRussa's comments about not letting this become a distraction was very smart! I haven't seen a manager who is so focused on prep in spring training since Sparky Anderson.
Now, on to C.C. (stands for Carsten Charles by the way). All of Yankeeland is up in arms about a comment he made in an interview. When asked by reporters about his contract, Sabathia said, "who knows what is possible, but I am not thinking about anything beyond Opening Day." "Anything is possible in a contract," he added. Many in Yankee Universe take that as "non-committal" or "leaving the door open to opt-out" of his contract.
This is a not a smart move on C.C.'s part IF he cares what the general public thinks. I don't think he thought about how his answer would affect the Pinstripe faithful. I think he answered honestly and accurately. Based on the comment you could be led to believe that he doesn't care about the fans. I think this is a reach too. I think he just answered honestly without thinking about the consequences of what he said. This can be an EXTREMELY sensitive issue in the NY area... I doubt anything will come of this but you really need to be careful C.C.! Just by being a sports figure in NY you walk on thin ice, it's not fair, it's not right, it just IS. There's nothing anybody can do about it!
Now, on to the NFL labor talks - Today the NFL filed a complaint against the NFLPA on the basis of "not bargaining in good faith". C'mon MAN! You have cancelled more meetings than you have had! Now you're going to file complaints against each other? Stop! Just Stop! It's like you ran inside to cry to Mommy because we're not playing nice in the sandbox! This is ridiculous! The March deadline is dumb! The season starts in mid-September! The ONLY way I see this affecting next years season if it affects workouts or pre-season games. So, again... STOP! Get the deal done! This is the biggest fan base in sports that you are VERY close to alienating! Be careful guys!
OK, I saved the best for last. Tiger Woods was fined by the Euro-Tour because he hawked a loogie on the 12th green in the Dubai Desert classic last week. Disgusting? Yes. Repulsive? Absolutley! Fine worthy? Well, if you base it on the code of conduct rules for golf in general, yes. Even Tiger agrees. In his apology on twitter he posted "The Euro Tour is right – it was inconsiderate to spit like that and I know better. Just wasn’t thinking and want to say I’m sorry."
The fact that he was fined is not the story for me. The thing that stands out to me is that Tiger apologized ON TWITTER! I guess in the scheme of things and the press conferences that Tiger has had in the last couple of years this rates only high enough for him to apologize about it on the most common, most widely used micro-blogging, social website that there is. There was no news conference, no newspaper articles, no letter to the Euro-Tour. Just a "tweet"...
I saw a video of the phlegm launch on ESPN's evening edition of Sportscenter. It looked like just a common clearing of the throat. He didn't spit in anger because he missed the par put and was now putting for Bogey. He wasn't mad at a photographer because of the camera noise... he just needed to clear his throat.
I have seen some things on golf courses that are much more egregious. I'm too much of a gentleman to even hint about what those things are. I would fine those guys in a heartbeat if I could. Maybe the code of conduct should be enforced on every golfer. That would keep the riff raff off the links!
Anyway, those are my thoughts for today. May all of my readers have a lovely evening and may all of your teams be winners! (except if it's Ohio State! Go Blue!)
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