Heat and Ace

While it wasn’t expected that Prince Fielder would stay with the Milwaukee Brewers, the loss of their All-Star first baseman surely must have stung the Wisconsin franchise almost as badly as finding out that their MVP left fielder’s brilliant finish to the 2011 season was a fraud. Such are some of the blues that the Brewers are dealing with right now as they are just a few weeks away from starting up their 2012 campaign – without their greatest hitter since Paul Molitor.

Just Thursday, the Detroit Tigers introduced their most expensive signing in franchise history: Prince Fielder. With Scott Boras at his back, Fielder landed the deal of his dreams: long-term and filled with as Jerry Manuel puts it, “gangster money.” Dually noted, Jerry; $214 million over nine years – the fourth biggest deal in sports history - is insane money for any athlete.

There was hardly any doubt that Fielder would receive a monster contract. Fielder’s seven year career resume includes three All-Star appearances, a Hank Aaron Award, an All-Star MVP trophy, a Home Run Derby trophy, 230 home runs, 656 rbis and 998 games played. That’s pretty good value for the Tigers – especially since Fielder will in all likelihood be out on the field for at least 150 games a season. Now that’s earning $214 million. So, the only real questions about Fielder’s free-agency were: What team will sign him? When will he sign? How big of a contract are we going to see?

Considering Fielder gives a great deal of value to any team he plays on, him averaging of over $23 million a year isn’t that hard to believe. What would have been hard to believe is if he managed to stay with the Brewers. Despite their big moves in last year’s off-season to acquire Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum, the Milwaukee Brewers weren’t expected to be able to afford Fielder. Their 2011 opening day payroll was just over $85 million. More than 1/4^th of their payroll would have gone just to Fielder. While it is nice to imagine that the Brewers love Fielder a lot, they simply weren’t going to shell out that much money for him.

The Brewers are no stranger to disappointments. Arguably their greatest player ever, Paul Molitor, left the Brewers in 1992 to play for a championship contender, the Toronto Blue Jays; The Brewers never have had much postseason success, appearing in postseason play only four times (if you’re counting their 1981 one-game playoff with the New York Yankees as a postseason appearance) and only made it to one World Series; and they just got over a 26 year postseason appearance drought. Arguably their best season ever came about last season as they did manage to boast one of the best bullpens and rotations in the MLB and had a strong lineup too. But once again the Brewers’s postseason hopes were dashed by the St. Louis Cardinals – this time in six games in the NLCS.

Their disappointments of much more recent time, however, probably sting even worse. Not so long ago their NL MVP Ryan Braun was busted for using PEDs – during the playoffs. The Brewers’s biggest award and player performance in years was suddenly mired in shame during one of their best runs in franchise history. Now with the loss of Fielder who was big protection for Braun in the cleanup role, the Brewers’s lineup doesn’t look quite as menacing. Braun has always been formidable with the Brewers and can pack a power punch, but he always breathed easy knowing that Fielder was hitting behind him. However, Braun will almost definitely be gone the first 50 games of the 2012 season, and when he does come back he will have to be the offensive juggernaut of the team – an interesting prospect considering it’s unknown how much of his performance is genuine. The recent disappointments hurt that much more for the Brewers.

But in reality, the Brewers knew this was coming. They made those big moves last off-season because they knew that they wouldn’t be able to afford Fielder’s substantial contract in this 2012 free-agency period. They decided to fortify their rotation with a couple of players rather than spending upwards of $200 million on one single batter, who, at the end of his deal, will probably hit half the home runs he hits now. The Brewers also spent a decent chunk of their free-agency money to sign Aramis Ramirez and keep Francisco Rodriguez. So, even from the beginning of the off-season there wasn’t much doubt about the direction the Brewers were headed. They got their best value out of Fielder while they could still afford him and watched him become one of the game’s best hitters. They picked him in the first round of the 2002 MLB Draft, despite the concerns about his weight. They saw him become one of the greatest Brewers in franchise history, amassing as many as 50 home runs in a season. After all that production that he gave them and all the fans he attracted to Miller Park, the Brewers were willing to part ways with Fielder. It’s the simple business of baseball: Thanks for your time and take care.

The Brewers still have a strong team. Zack Greinke, Yovani Gallardo, Shaun Marcum, John Axford, Francisco Rodriguez, and Randy Wolf are just some of the great pitchers they have. They still have Rickie Weeks, Nyjer Morgan, and yes, even Ryan Braun to pack an offensive punch. Their addition of Aramis Ramirez also makes up a bit for the loss of Fielder. So, despite their recent blues, the Brew Crew still has a great deal of hope for the 2012 season. In the end, losing out on Prince Fielder truly only resulted in them not having to dish out “gangster money.”

This Sunday the 22^nd, Tottenham Hotspur F.C. faces off against the Barclays Premier League leaders, Manchester City F.C., at Etihad Stadium. Amidst all the hype for this action-packed Sunday of football (in America and England), two of the best teams in England face off in what could be a hugely deciding game for the 2011-2012 EPL season. The winner of this game could likely go on to win the EPL – something major for both of these clubs whom both have not won a top-flight English league in over four decades.

Currently the Spurs are in 3^rd place in the EPL with 46 points. They trail both Manchester clubs, as Manchester United has 48 points, and Manchester City leads the league with 51 points. While a five point difference between Tottenham and Man City may seem like enough that the league leaders don’t need to worry too much about the result of their Sunday game, but this surely isn’t the case. If Tottenham beats Man City on Sunday, then Tottenham, Manchester United, and Manchester City will all be in breathing ticks of each other at the top of the league; if Tottenham loses, their chances of winning the EPL for the first time suddenly plummets from, “It could happen!” to, “Yeah…probably not….”

Tottenham’s charge to get to 3^rd place in the EPL certainly has been impressive. Despite finishing in 5^th place in the EPL last year and not winning any silverware in their 2010-2011 campaign, the Spurs have come all the way from a 0-2 start to be in the top three in the EPL – an area of the standings that has seen numerous teams come through, such as Newcastle United, Liverpool, and Chelsea. On the flip side, Manchester City has been lurking with Manchester United from the get-go - right up until their match back on October 23^rd when City beat the Red Devils 6-1. Man City has been in the driver’s seat of the EPL ever since that match.

Despite their charge, however, the Spurs are in for a tough title run. Considering that City has only lost two games during their entire EPL season so far, it would be tough to imagine that they would lose more than one or two games in the remaining few months. If the Spurs obtain three points against the league leaders on Sunday, then they will have to rely on City losing to other teams to slow down. That’s a possibility you don’t want to rely on. City only lost to Chelsea a few weeks ago and lost to Sunderland A.F.C. on New Year’s Day. Other than those two teams and a few draws, City has beaten down almost every other team in the league. Relying on City to suddenly slip up against a bottom half team is a losing bet for the Spurs to try to win the EPL. The only team that likely could hand City a loss is Manchester United – and the Red Devils were killed in their last meeting with their Manchester rivals. Even if United were to face City, it’s a win-lose for the Spurs, as United would likely go into first with a win. So, this game on Sunday means so much for the Spurs if they want to even have a chance of overtaking City in the standings. Relying on City to slow down by the measure of one loss or two draws is much more likely than the two losses or five draws that the Spurs will need if they can’t beat City on Sunday.

The Spurs can easily hold onto their spot as at least 3^rd place in the league, but if they’re looking for a trophy, no year may be better. Chelsea F.C. and Arsenal F.C. – two teams that routinely fight with Manchester United atop the EPL – are both struggling this season. The Spurs have a six point lead over the fourth place Chelsea Blues, so they don’t have to look behind their back in the league table too often. This is the first season in a while that multiple teams have been giving Manchester United a run in the standings too, meaning fewer teams are being blown out in the standings – including Tottenham. So much is in place for the Spurs to have a great season and they can easily finish in the top three of the Premiership for the first time. But it the Spurs want to win their first EPL title, they’ll need to push for more than just the top three. They can’t settle for just qualifying for the UEFA Champions League. They need to win these huge games against the giants atop the EPL. They haven’t beaten Manchester United or Manchester City this season, losing both games 3-0 and 1-5 respectively; They tied a game against Chelsea a few weeks ago that could be critical two points at the end; And they tied against the bottom half Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. last week – a game that if they won, they could have moved into a virtual tie with Manchester City coming into their match up this Sunday.

The time is no better for Manchester City either. They have steadily risen up the English football leagues in recent years, going all the way to win the FA Cup last year. This “other” Manchester team has never been so high in the EPL standings. They’ve always been at the mercy of Manchester United or some other team. This season, however, they have arguably their best squad ever thanks to their transfer spree prior to the season. Sergio Agüero, Samir Nasri, Gaël Clichy, and others joined the City team to start their 2011-2012 campaign. Along with the likes of Mario Balotelli and David Silva, Manchester City looked like a force to be reckoned with to start this season. For a high price that resulted in City losing out in more than $300 million, this Manchester club has their best chance to win their first top-flight English league title since the 1967-1968 season. Such a chance won’t last forever, as they can’t keep all those big stars for too long. Eventually, the deals of Balotelli, Silva, and others will all expire, allowing these players to leave City and move on to higher bidders. As all big spenders have to do, this City team has to capitalize now and win titles, or watch all their high investments turn out to be major busts.

The Spurs are still currently in the running in the EPL and also in the FA Cup. Manchester City is doing well in the EPL at the same time. They both still have a chance for silverware this year – more so for City than Tottenham – but none of those chances are guarantees. Man City has to compete against some of Europe’s better teams in the Europa League, and the Spurs have to compete against both Manchester teams in the EPL. Failures have already come about, as Man City is out of the FA Cup and UEFA Champions League, and Tottenham is already out of it in the Carling Cup and Europa League. Everywhere you look, both these teams have already squandered chances for trophies this season. Neither team is currently in a major draught overall, as both have won the FA Cup recently, but England’s soccer gold has still evaded them for what seems to be eons. For City, a win on Sunday means they likely won’t have to worry about the Spurs catching up with them in the standings for the rest of the season; for Tottenham, a win on Sunday means their chances for their first EPL title has some serious hope. However, both of these teams’s most guaranteed chance for a trophy this season and a chance at their first top-flight English league title in decades, is likely hanging on one game this Sunday when they must face each other. How ironic.

Despite the fact that Chelsea F.C. has only lost one match in their last eight, the pressure is still mounting on their young manager, Luís André de Pina Cabral e Villas-Boas (more commonly known as André Villas-Boas, or AVB). The expectations are for the Blues to not only win constantly, but to be competing directly with the Barclays Premier League leaders, Manchester City and Manchester United. Instead, the Blues are in fourth place in the EPL, eleven points behind their Manchester rivals, and AVB has already expressed doubt about their Premiership season. There are calls for Villas-Boas to step down, and ideas that he will be fired soon, that honestly, are a bit unfair.

While eleven points behind the league leaders is certainly not impossible to come back from, the hope for Chelsea winning their fifth English title is all but naught in the eyes of many fans. Since 2003, Chelsea has finished in the top three of the EPL every season. Just last year they were fighting with Manchester United for the league title and eventually finished in second place. Their last silverware was in the 2009-2010 season when they won the Premiership, the FA Cup, and the Community Shield. So, Chelsea is no stranger to recent success. Most of their English titles have come in the last ten years. But the fans and the front-office seem to expect constant victory and nothing else. The Blues were disappointed when their 2010-2011 campaign ended without a single major trophy, and have subsequently expected success in this current season to end what, to them, seems like a long draught. Many others will argue that Chelsea is still in their winning ways, but the demand for overall success is very high at Stamford Bridge.

As a result, the Chelsea managers have to be on top of their games. A season without silverware is considered sacrilege to club owner, Roman Abramovich. The golden rule has been seen with their last manager, Carlo Ancelotti. Ancelotti had a 61% winning percentage in his two years with Chelsea – one of the highest in the club’s managerial history – and won the 2009 FA Community Shield, and had a league and cup double. But this was all one year. His second and last year with Chelsea was one that resulted in Chelsea not winning a single trophy. Sacrilege was committed, and Ancelotti received the boot.

Already with huge expectations on his shoulders, André Villas-Boas faces an uncertain future. It’s essentially win or get out the door. He signed a three-year contract with Chelsea in June of 2011 for €15 million, the most expensive ever for a manager. Even more peculiar, AVB doesn’t have a great history of success. He essentially only has one season of success, winning Primeria Liga, Taca de Portugal, and the UEFA Europa League in 2011 with F.C. Porto. He also won Supertaca Cândido de Oliveria in 2010 with Porto. These are all celebrated successes, but they all occurred in a very short span of time. AVB didn’t manage Porto for very long, so who knows if he would have even won anything else in his tenure? All his managerial jobs have been brief, never lasting over a year. Yet despite his lack of experience, Roman Abramovich hired AVB for one of the toughest managerial jobs in the world,. So, now AVB is in England and must reign in silverware success immediately or likely face a quick exit. Villas-Boas won the 2011 Barclays Asia Trophy, but that is unlikely to sate the expectations of the Blues. Since José Mourinho left Chelsea in 2007, the club has had six managers in four years. None of them have lasted more than a year, besides Carlo Ancelotti - and he only lasted one more than the others. This is the leash that Villas-Boas is on in Chelsea.

One of the biggest tasks that Villas-Boas is expected to complete with finesse is making his team younger. Chelsea has a number of seasoned veterans, such as Didier Drogba, John Terry, and Frank Lampard. Many of the pieces from their recent champion teams are still there. But it isn’t 2005, 2009, or 2010 anymore. Many of those players have aged and declined, so AVB is expected to make major moves to bring in young stars for the future. AVB has made some of these moves, such as bringing in the former Valencia

Winger, Juan Mata, who is only 23 years old. Chelsea also has the young Centre Back, David Luiz, who they acquired in 2010 from Benfica. But there hasn’t been much else to make Chelsea younger on AVB’s part. Despite talks of acquiring Neymar and Hulk, Villa-Boas never made a move for such stars. Chelsea still has to rely on some of their older players.

One of the biggest criticisms and reasons some want André Villas-Boas out of Chelsea is his inability to revive the Spanish superstar, Fernando Torres. Despite the record-setting transfer last January to bring in Torres from Liverpool and his great success with them (he scored 81 goals in 142 appearances), Torres has done little in his time with the Blues. He’s been with Chelsea for a year now and he’s only scored five goals. While some of his decline has to do with the fact that he lacks the passing opportunities to score with his Chelsea teammates, he doesn’t have many excuses for his lackluster play. A £50 million striker is expected to score goals with or without help. A decline in his goal numbers is reasonable, but not to the degree that Torres has been showing.

Unfortunately, AVB is receiving blame for Torres’s play. Villa-Boas is expected to be able to work on Torres’s play or internal problems to get him to perform better. All coaches on all levels of professional sports are expected to be able to do this. The fact that AVB hasn’t been able to improve Torres at all just creates more fire under his feet. Even though it isn’t truly AVB’s fault, and Torres isn’t scoring goals because of his own issues and because his stats were a bit misleading, André Villas-Boas is facing much of that criticism. Some athletes just can’t be improved with the help of his or her manager.

André Villas-Boas has not done a bad job as Chelsea manager. His Blues are still right in the hunt for an EPL title, despite the pessimism of fans. Manchester City and Manchester United may look invulnerable, but they have shown cracks in their play, such as City losing to Sunderland just a few days ago, and City losing to Chelsea. Chelsea hasn’t dropped many games in the EPL, so they haven’t fallen out, and they are only five points behind Tottenham for third place in the league. Probably the most important nod in favor of Villas-Boas is that Chelsea is still in a good position in the UEFA Champions League. They are the only English team left in the tournament besides Arsenal, having won their group with relative ease. They now face S.S.C. Napoli in February for the first leg of the Round of 16, a team they can match up well against. Without Manchester City and Manchester United in the tournament, Chelsea has a much better shot at advancing and possible winning the Champions League.

Despite the positives that André Villas-Boas has brought as manager, the culture of Chelsea is still such: Win or leave. There is no room for error. Villas-Boas may not deserve an automatic leave from coaching, but these are his critics. He has to win major silverware, or nothing he did will matter. Thus is AVB’s curse and times.

A wonderfully news-worthy week in sports creates a writer’s dilemma: how does one compact it all and make sense of everything? It’s a great problem for the fans (unless you’re in St. Louis), as there is so much to force your eyes open and drool over the pre-holidays gifts. As far as baseball goes, these gifts are laden with bold receipts and price listings that the buyer parents hope will be quietly ignored in all the hoopla.

Unfortunately for those parents (a.k.a. General Managers), these prices are pretty glaring:

- 1 Hall of Fame, Declining, and Monster Product from the Dominican Republic: $254, 000, 000

- 1 Young Product With Performance Defects: $106, 000, 000

- 1 Slightly Expensive Product That Is Confused With Another Product: $77, 500, 000

I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want my bills to show all of that.

In less than a week, three of the top five most sought after free agents were swallowed up by two relatively small teams in the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Miami Marlins. Jose Reyes signed a six year, $106 million contract to play for the Miami Marlins; Albert Pujols signed a massive ten year, $254 million contract to leave the St. Louis Cardinals and take his talents to Anaheim; and C.J. Wilson was snatched up in all the Pujols mayhem by the Angels too, ringing up a pretty five year, $77.5 million deal.

And just like that, all the New York Yankees’s dreams of introducing Wilson to back up their big number one starter, CC Sabathia, vanished like smoke and was replaced by a grinning C.J. in the form of yet another Angels ace that they have to tackle – along with the big man Pujols who will try to get some cracks against the other New York team. And in a move that was not as shocking (but was probably more painful to the fans), the New York Mets’s dreams of keeping their premier shortstop, Jose Reyes, vanished in a cloud of smoke too.

And yet...both these New York teams can let out a sigh of relief because their idleness actually saved them for once. The Mets and Yankees both deciding not to go after the big free agent names of Wilson and Reyes (and I guess Pujols too, even though he was never really an option) was prudent because of one reason: money.

Despite how beneficial Jose Reyes and C.J. Wilson would have been to the Mets and the Yankees prospectively, neither of these players would have been worth shelling out the money they wanted. Jose Reyes was asking for at least $15 million a year, and Wilson was even asking for $20 million a year. They’re both good, but they’re not worth that much. Jose Reyes hasn’t played even 140 games each season in the past three years. He is constantly being sidelined by some hamstring injury. It just keeps on propping back up and even though he ignites any offense on the base pads when he does play, just think about his price. The Mets would have had to pay at least $15 million a year for a guy who at best plays 130 games in the season. That means their cheapest rate for Reyes would have been over $115, 000 a game. Over $ 115, 000 a game for a player who up until last year averaged .270, never had an obp over .358 until 2011, has never hit more than 19 home runs in a season, has averaged only 26 stolen bases over the last three seasons, has never driven in more than 81 runs in a season, and has averaged 129 games played in the last two seasons since coming back from his hamstring injury. That really isn’t worth all the money the Mets would have to shell out for him.

No one is saying Reyes isn’t worth going after. He’s one of the more exciting shortstops in the game in a position that lacks a lot of options. He gets on base well enough and when he scored for the Mets, they won more than half their games. Reyes is a spark for whatever team he is on, but he’s just not worth that much, especially since his value is so uncertain. You don’t know if he will be able to even come close to playing a full season; you don’t know if his hamstring injury will keep on coming up and may sideline his career; you don’t even know if he will come close to hitting over .300 again. He could have gotten very fortunate last season or pumped up his effort to get big money. His last season with the Mets was spectacular, but he’s never done anything like that before, so how can you give him such long-term big money when he could just stink right after? His value is so murky and it isn’t even as if he steals a lot of bases anymore. His departure is going to hurt the Mets’s offensive numbers and chances for a playoff spot (or a winning season for them), but why waste the money on a Reyes type?

C.J. Wilson’s deal was a bit different, however. Unlike Reyes, Wilson is a lot more reliable. For starters, he hasn’t been sidelined by injuries too much (that’s an automatic plus for a Yankees starter). Wilson also is much closer to the value that he was asking than Reyes. Jose Reyes is not worth $15 million a year because of all his question marks. Wilson has been a pretty good pitcher over his last two seasons as a Texas Ranger starter. He went 16-7 with a 2.94 era, a whip of 1.19, and 206 strikeouts in 2011 as the team’s ace. That’s pretty good, he’s been reliable, starting 33 games in 2010 and 34 games this past season, and he is in his prime now. He took over well as the number one starter for Texas after Cliff Lee left, and that was with half his games in Arlington, a hitter’s park. He’s proved that he can outwit and dominate many hitters in such a hitter’s friendly zone, so he’s worth some good money.

However, the Yankees likely made the right move to not pick up him up and pay what he was asking. C.J. Wilson may have gotten $15.5 million a year to play for Anaheim, but there’s a good chance that money is less than what he would have demanded from the Yankees. Wilson truly believes he is worth $20 million a year. He thinks his great numbers as the Texas ace in a hitter’s ballpark in the American League credits him one of the top pitching contracts. I doubt this is true because while he is solid, he still isn’t worth the risk to pay a starter more than $20 million a year. Pitchers wear and tear so easily, so I would only offer that kind of money to the Cliff Lees, Roy Halladays, and etc. You know what kind of veteran and poised experience you’re getting on the mound with them and they will just crush just about any lineup. C.J. Wilson doesn’t do that. He’s not a number one starter on any team; he’s a number two starter on a good team, unlike Halladay and Lee, who are definite number ones on any team. He isn’t more valuable than CC Sabathia, so that much money for Wilson isn’t wise.

Part of the reason why Wilson likely settled for less was all the benefits of Anaheim. The Angels already have a strong starting rotation. They proved last year that they had one of the best three pitcher combinations in the game with Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, and Ervin Santana. Those three guys practically single-handedly took the Angels into playoff contention. Add on the fact that Albert Pujols was Anaheim-bound and Wilson likely saw a golden opportunity. He would be willing to take less money if it meant he could play with all those guys and still have a serious shot at the postseason. He likely would still have that on the Yankees, but a lot more responsibility would fall on him. He would have to be the anchor after Sabathia and carry the team on a number of occasions – and not to mention pitch in an even greater hitter’s ballpark than where he was before, Yankee Stadium.

So, the Yankees likely made the right move and decided to not go after this top free agent. Wilson would have been a good help to them, but the Yankees weren’t willing to pay him number one starter money. The Yankees starting rotation needs depth and a big arm behind Sabathia, but it isn’t as if they don’t have anything. They still have CC, Ivan Nova, and Freddy Garcia. While it remains unseen how Garcia will fair another go around, and Ivan Nova is still young and mostly untested, the Yankees have options. They have one of the best offenses in baseball with Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixera, Robinson Cano, etc. They have one of the best bullpens in the majors with David Robinson and Mariano Rivera too. So, no C.J. Wilson doesn’t strike the Yankees too badly; it just makes things more difficult.

And for the fans who believed that Albert Pujols would be coming to the Bronx…just no. The Yankees already have a power first baseman who is earning too much to be put on the bench. Sure, Pujols could have been the DH, but Alex Rodriguez is being shoved into that spot and the most expensive athlete in America isn’t going to be benched for Albert Pujols. The Yankees have plenty of offense, so Pujols never was anything more than a funny idea. They already have a number of massive contracts on payroll, so they likely didn’t have the room for Pujols. Sure, having him in the same league now will make their pitchers work harder and he will undoubtedly strike them with his bat in at least a few, big occasions each season, but he won’t be doing that for much longer. Pujols is already 31, is starting to show decline, and wanted a long-term contract that would take him to at least 40 years of age and playing baseball. The last five years of any Pujols contract would have been practically worthless because he will almost definitely be out a number of games, and will not be hitting .330 with 30 home runs and 120 rbis. Even the machine that is Albert Pujols can’t last forever, so he is the least monetarily-worth of the free agents. I would pay him over $25 million two to three years ago. Now, however, he isn’t worth that much and he certainly isn’t worth $254 million.

Once all the shopping hype ends and the children stop drooling and realize their toys don’t work as well as they thought, the price will sink in to the parents. $331, 500, 000 for two toys just because they may have sold out – one of which that could have been given a 10% discount because of age – and $106, 000, 000 for one that will spend about 33% percent of its time on the shelf. This economy is weak; parents need to realize the worth of their presents. For once, New York understood that. Let out a deep sigh, Big Apple; you can focus on the season past winter. Have fun with all the extra money.

Less than one month ago, the New York Giants repeated their underdog feat in a comeback victory against the New England Patriots. In a back and forth struggle that focused on defense and a last minute throw to the end zone, the Giants took their season to 6-2 and were considered one of the best teams in all of the NFL. Eli Manning was one of the top rated Quarterbacks in the league, the Giants led the NFC East, and Big Blue were considered a synch for the postseason.

Oh, how a single month can change things in the NFL.

As of Week of 12, however, the Giants are 6-5, a game back of the Dallas Cowboys in the division who have won four straight, a game back for a Wild Card spot, have lost three straight games, and are very much looking at another lost season because of one, big familiar loss. Once upon a night in Philly, the Giants were considered in the postseason; once the night ended in a 17-10 loss, their hopes became next to naught. Once upon a night, the Giants were the best of the best and thought that their season was on the back of their great QB. Once upon a night the Giants considered talking about 2007 again.

This game on November 20 – this Eagles game – is once again the possible bane of the Giants. One struggle of a game and a loss to an Eagles team that the Giants had the confidence to beat (far more so in their match this year when the Eagles had Vince Young at QB instead of Michael Vick) sounds like a familiar story. But unlike the Massacre at the Medowlands that occurred late last year, this game wasn’t that ugly but it certainly won’t change how the Giants and their fans feel. That critical division game may be the loss to kill their season.

There was no way the Giants didn’t understand that if they lost, they would lose the division lead to Dallas and likely go into two straight losses against the New Orleans Saints and the Green Bay Packers. The schedule is almost bold to a professional team – especially in the NFL where there are only sixteen games. Teams say they only focus on the game that week, but in reality the Giants knew what games were coming up. The Giants had to know that even though they were facing an Eagles team that was essentially out of the postseason race, it was still a divisional game that could be the tiebreaker between them and the Cowboys. They had to know that a win would install confidence in them to possibly take on the next two mammoth teams; and they had to know that a loss would mean they would sink and waddle to a likely unimpressive record in a few weeks and result in them having to run out the table just have a chance at the postseason.

Yes, the Giants were still 6-4 after their loss to the Eagles and had the same record as the Cowboys, but they knew what their schedule was going to be like. No offense to Eli Manning, but when he’s facing two of the hottest Quarterbacks in the entire game who both had over 3, 000 passing yards and one had a QB rating over 120, Eli isn’t going to win. You can’t expect that you’ll just waltz in and crush arguably the two best teams in the NFC. When going into those next two games against those mammoth teams in New Orleans and Green Bay, you aren’t planning to be 8-4 with the final quarter of the season left; you’re planning how to progress once you’re 6-6. Thus, that Philadelphia game was a must-win to secure their position in the division. Instead of being 7-3 and a game ahead Dallas, the Giants were 6-4 and behind before facing a tough stretch of games.

No one is saying Dallas has the division won already, as they have only won four straight against fairly bad teams and don’t have a strong offense or defense (they’ve scored 270 points and allowed 225 points up to Week 12). They barely won against the bottom team of the NFC East, the Washington Redskins, taking an overtime victory after the Skins missed a 50+ yard field goal that would have won them the game. Then, they barely won against the Miami Dolphins on Thanksgiving, a team with an even worse record than Washington. These stats don’t ensure future victories in 2011 but their one game lead looks a lot more formidable because they don’t have much opposition. Their last five games are against the Arizona Cardinals, the Giants, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Giants once again.

Did I mention how important one month is in the NFL?

There are only two tough games in that schedule – and the Giants may be under .500 like the rest of the Cowboys’s opponents by that time. Even Dallas can relax against Arizona, Tampa Bay, and Philadelphia. That’s one of the easiest five game stretches to end the season in the NFL this season. Man, how fortunate is Dallas?

At the same stretch of the season, Big Blue faces the Green Bay Packers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Washington Redskins (It’s not an automatic win; New York lost their first meeting), the New York Jets, and Dallas once again. That may not as difficult as the Kansas City Chiefs’s (their schedule to end the season is against teams with a combined record over .600) end of the season schedule, but all those teams can present a challenge and in all likeliness, a loss to the Giants. Both the Cowboys and the Giants may be controlling their destinies in Weeks 14 and 17, but going from a likely 6-6 to four games they could likely be losses bunched at the final push for the playoffs puts New York in jeopardy.

The best scenario maxes the Giants out at 10-6 to try and win the NFC East. Ten wins is generally a guaranteed playoff spot, but we all know that 10-6 isn’t infallible. The Patriots went 10-6 in 2008 and missed the playoffs, so NFL teams known 11-5 is much more secure than 10-6. Too bad the Giants can’t do that anymore.

The Giants are unlikely to win a Wild Card spot because they’re contending with the Detroit Lions, the Chicago Bears, and the Atlanta Falcons who, besides Chicago, are all still in prime position. Even though Detroit and Chicago lost their last games and are only a game ahead of the Giants, two is better than one (in Dallas’s case). Simply put, the Giants can’t put a lot in store that three teams outside their division will lose for them and secure hope for the Giants. The Giants won’t even face any of those three teams, so they can’t take control of their season on the field when three opponents never cross onto theirs.

But the back breaker is Dallas. The Cowboys are almost guaranteed at least ten wins. They’re 7-4 right now and victories against the 4-8 Eagles, the 4-7 Cardinals, and the 4-7 Buccaneers don’t seem very difficult. The Giants don’t have a lot of hope that the Cowboys will be on even grounds with them by the time Week 17 comes around (they could always hope that Philly will be a playoff killer once again, but they can’t count on it).

If the Giants lose just one of their last three division games, their season is almost out the door (their season is completely over if that one division loss is against the Cowboys); if they lose more than one, then the Giants will once again look at how a single game in Philly can waste their entire season.

Despite how horrendous the new Miami Marlins’s logo may look, the team is aiming for a fresh identity in 2012. They’re going to finally be in a ballpark all for themselves, Marlins Ballpark; they’re going to have Ozzie Guillen as their new manager; and they’re even biting straight into the free agency market with a fire that hasn’t been seen from the frugal fish in a long time. They’ve already offered a huge, nine year, $225 million contract to Albert Pujols, and are in serious talks with Jose Reyes and Mark Buehrle. All of a sudden it seems like it’s the Marlins’s time.

This isn’t the first time a major league team has used the publicity and hope of a clean slate to foster season hopes. Just before the 2008 season, for example, the then-Tampa Bay Devil Rays kicked the Devil out and became the Tampa Bay Rays, fully equipped with sunshine logos. However superstitious and pointless the move may have seemed at first, especially for a team that never even had a winning season before, the team was instantly energized. They were young and full of prospects, like Evan Longoria and David Price whom were on the brink of making the Rays a formidable team, filled with hope from a new look.

The Rays may have had their manager, Joe Maddon, already leading the reins, and didn’t rely on free agency as much (they acquired a few notable free agents before the 2008 season, however, such as Troy Percival), but their situation was much like the Marlins’s today: Both are unpopular teams who hadn’t made a splash in their divisions in years (never in Tampa Bay’s case). The idea of a fresh look and beginning seemed to drive the Rays to make their incredible 2008 run to the World Series. They no longer were completely associated with the terrible Devil Rays teams of the past. They were able to move onto a new era of their franchise and used that confidence to push themselves to win, even if everything was mostly the same. If the same will happen to the Miami Marlins is yet to be seen, but they sure seem like they expect history to repeat itself. The Marlins are holding nothing back for the 2012 season.

Sure, the new ballpark is nice and should draw in far more fans than Sun Life Stadium did. Sure, Ozzie Guillen is notorious for making exceptional playoff-contending teams with his passion, and should do the same with the Marlins. But what really is making this Marlins team look so hopeful is their sudden drive to spend money in the market. They’re after three of the biggest names of the 2012 free agency class: Pujols, Reyes, and Buehrle. After 2005, the Marlins were one of the least aggressive teams in the MLB market, preferring to deal away stars for young prospects. This “Market Correction” era was essentially a way for team owners, Jeffrey Loria and David Samson to cope with all of the financial troubles of trying to get a new ballpark, raising low attendance, and more. While this era of passive market tactics have brought in and seasoned some amazing young prospects like, Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, and Josh Johnson, the Marlins still didn’t want to take major financial risks in the free agency wire. How could they be blamed when they have to compete against eleven teams with payrolls in excess of $100 million? Their own payroll for 2011 was barely over $56.5 million.

But it’s a new age and identity for the Marlins. They’re embracing their city and the “Big Heat” image, even if they don’t have Miami Heat kind of money. They truly believe that a new look all around can arouse interest in the fans, and they likely will be successful if they even get one of those big free agent names. Add the likes of Pujols, Reyes, Buehrle to an already talented, young roster of Hanley Ramirez, Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, and the Marlins fans will come to Miami Ballpark in droves, proud to kick Florida out – even if it means supporting such an odd logo.

It appears that the talks in the NBA lockout are over. The time for action has started and the ball is in the players’ court. The players association has to decide on whether or not they will approve the owners’ latest, and likely, final lenient offer. But they have to choose between either taking serious cuts to their overall salaries or losing billions of dollars and possibly the entire 2011-2012 season. The players would be wise to swallow their monetary pride and give in before they lose so much more.

On Thursday, NBA Commissioner David Stern almost made it completely bold: the league is done negotiating; The players association has to decide on the new deal now. This new deal comes just weeks after the players and the owners came at complete odd-ends of each other, leaving the negotiation tables in New York, and resulting in the loss of the first month of the NBA regular season. The new offer the league offers to the players would result in a 72 game regular season that starts on December 15. While this deal may seem like a complete blessing to us fans after we have already lost out in the beginning of the season, and would only result in the NBA playoffs and Finals being pushed back one week, this deal is practically poison to the players. The revenue split in this deal is 50-50, significantly lower than the 57-43 split in the players favor in the old CBA agreement, and even lower than the 53-47 split the players said was the lowest they would go to. But in simple terms the new deal calls for the NBA players to have billions of dollars cut from their salaries over the 10 year length of the contract.

Other points included in the new deal offered is that all teams over the luxury tax could sign-and-trade for the first two years of the deal, and would have the opt-out after six years that the union wanted. The midfield exception for taxpayers would be set at three years at $3 million a year, and another midfield would be built-in for teams under the salary cap.

The main issue that is making everyone so anxious, however, is that the players seem resolute about the revenue split. They don’t want at all to go under their proposed 53-47 split that would be in their favor. One player representative said, “Why do they keep scrambling us to New York for these meetings when they never listen to us? We told them not to go past 53 percent.” And that’s the mind-set so many NBA players have right now. They’ve reached the limit of their negotiating window. It’s 53 percent or no deal.

But the players are being foolish. Yes, the new deal would result in them losing billions over the ten years, but they would lose huge amounts in this one year if the lockout persists and the season is lost. If the regular season were to start on December 15, then the players would stand to lose $250 million. If they reject the proposed deal, the union decertifies, and the lockout continues to kill the 2011-2012 season, then they would lose $350 million for every month they are locked out. And this doesn’t even mention the damage to the game of basketball that will occur when the fans see there is no season. The MLS has already moved past the NBA as the third-most popular sport in the United States in attendance, and the NHL is taking in throngs of fans that want to have a near-every day sport in the winter months while the NBA is gone. The fans will become far more disillusioned and hate the NBA for their players’ ridiculous egos that led to an entire season of basketball being wasted, just because they couldn’t budge a bit on their already huge salaries.

Time is being wasted even as this article is read. It’s rumored that more than 200 players are in the process of signing cards for decertification. If the players association reject the league’s new deal then it is likely a 53-47 revenue split in the favor of the owners and strict luxuries will be included in the next deal offered. It’s next to impossible that the players will agree to a deal like that. It would all but be assured that the players would decertify the union, take an antitrust lawsuit against the league to the courts, and the entire 2011-2012 season would be lost.

The player representatives meet in New York on Monday to decide on the proposed deal. The players will have to choose between two poisons: cutting back on their salaries, or likely losing an entire season and going into ugly legal battles. $250 million now, or $350 million every month. The latter is the worse of the two poisons.

After 33 years of managing, Tony La Russa is retiring from the game of baseball. Forever known for his calm demeanor and incredible success, La Russsa made an impact on the game unlike any manager. He set the standard for baseball managing in this era.

Ever since he took over mid-season for the Chicago White Sox in 1979, La Russa managed at such a high level. He played only 132 big league games and managed less than two years in the minor leagues before he was called up to finish the White Sox’s 1979 season, but La Russa got a 46-60 White Sox team to play .500 ball for the rest of the season. Ever since then, the teams La Russa have managed have made the postseason 14 times, accumulating 2, 701 wins, six pennants – three from each league -, six World Series appearances, three World Series titles, being only the second manager in MLB history to win at least one in each league, managed the most games in American sports history next to Connie Mack at 5, 097, and ranks third all-time in managerial wins at 2, 728, just 35 shy of John McGraw. Ever since La Russa came onto the scene, only Joe Torre has won more World Series titles, four, and those were in the same block years with a financial powerhouse, the New York Yankees.

The numbers are astounding but what La Russa did outside of them was far more incredible. He held an air of wisdom and professionalism in the dugout; La Russa rarely ever lost his cool. He always knew there were more games, more discipline to be learned, and more strategies that he had to calculate. In this era, no manager but him made as many bullpen switches or relied so heavily on his pitcher to hit. He formulated his own style of managing that he believed to be the best way, and made sure his players never quit on him, evident by his 2002 season when he took the St. Louis Cardinals to the NL Championship Series after the deaths of their Hall-of-Fame broadcaster, Jack Buck, and pitcher, Darryl Kile. His players didn’t even quit on La Russa this past season after losing Adam Wainwright to injury and being 10.5 games back in the Wild Card. They couldn’t bring themselves to quit because quitting wouldn’t be honorable to La Russa. The style is, “come to the ballpark, play, and don’t act like a hothead.” In the MLB where hotheads are bred, La Russa made all of his into professionals.

His tenure with the Oakland Athletics made another dynasty in the Southern California team. His first full season there resulted in the Athletics going .500 for the first time in seven years. This was just a precursor of the success that was to come under the great La Russa. The Athletics would go on to win three straight American League pennants with the best records in baseball (104-58 in 1988; 99-63 in 1989; and 103-59 in 1990). La Russa managed and seasoned some of the best talents that were ever to be seen in Oakland history: three straight Rookie of the Years, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, and Walt Weiss; one of the greatest relievers in history, Dennis Eckersley; and the top runner in the history of the MLB, Ricky Henderson, who had his 130 steal season and broke the stolen base record under La Russa. His tenure with Oakland may have ended without much success, as they had three straight losing seasons from 1993 to 1995, but La Russa helped revive Oakland greatness in the MLB.

His 16 years with the St. Louis Cardinals were his best seasons and brought about a new dynasty in St. Louis. The team started off somewhat lackluster, only making the postseason once in La Russa’s first four seasons, but then from 2000 until now the Cardinals became one of the most dominant teams in baseball. Under La Russa, the team only had one losing season since 1999. The Cardinals were in the postseason hunt every year and made the playoffs nine times under La Russa. La Russa’s team crushed the Detroit Tigers in the 2006 World Series to win their first World Series since 1982 during this time as well. You could hardly ever count out La Russa’s team, as they always found a way to stick around in the postseason races and games. La Russa would manage the best hitter in the generation, Albert Pujols, from his rookie season in 2001 until this past season, forming a close relationship and respect with each other. Even the best hitter in the game bowed his head before La Russa in deference, saying that he would like to base his decision on where to play baseball depending on where La Russa was. La Russa stayed in St. Louis until his retirement, so the best hitter stayed. This was how much respect La Russa earned. He wasn’t an outlandish manager or one that believed himself to be at the top. He didn’t storm out onto the mound for every call to spit into the umpire’s face. He didn’t even expect absolute obedience from his players. He just wanted professional players and worked with them to be the best they could be. All of his players considering La Russa in such high esteem when he didn’t even strike fear into their hearts shows how great of a manager he was. He did his job and his players wanted to do their best so they could make him proud.

Everyone has the upmost respect for Tony La Russa, and rightfully so. He simply knew what he was doing. He hardly had any experience coming in and yet he became one of the greatest managers of all time. There were no fancy teams, just Tony La Russa in the dugout. In this era, no manager has been better, and likely no one ever will. The breed of the La Russa manager hasn’t ever been seen again. Baseball truly is worse off without his stern face in the dugout.

December 19, 2010. The Green Bay Packers played on this epic Sunday night against the New England Patriots at Foxborough that resulted in a close 31-27 loss. That was the last game the Packers lost, over ten months ago. Coming off a Super Bowl high and garnering huge expectations for this season, Aaron Rodger’s Packers are 7-0 going into Week 9 of the 2011 season, looking like they could very well go through more than entire calendar year without losing again.

While it may seem very generic to put so much faith in the reigning Super Bowl Champions, the Packers have earned the right to hold their heads high. They have been the best team in the NFL to start the regular season, rarely ever being threatened in their games. The New Orleans Saints probably gave them the best run at a loss this season so far, even if the 42-34 Packers win doesn’t suggest that. New Orleans was just one yard shy in that game of setting up the two-point conversion to tie the game and possibly go on to beat the recent champs. But, New Orleans failed at the end and couldn’t make up all the points that the Packers ran up the board against them, scoring six touchdowns and accumulating 399 yards.

Since that game, the Packers have won all their matches by at least six points and have racked up incredible offensive stats: 5, 335 total offensive yards; 230 points scored in the season; averaging 32.86 points a game, only second in the NFL to New Orleans’s 34.14 points a game. The Packers have arguably played more dominantly than any other team in the league and haven’t even been threatened in any of their games. And we’re not even half way through the regular season yet.

Some might say that it’s too soon to start thinking about 16-0. It seems like every year there’s at least one team who looks like they could go undefeated. It’s the nature of football because there are so few games. It’s very easy to start whispering how good of a shot a team has to go undefeated and start talking about destiny. But being practical, most teams don’t even come close. Generally after a few weeks, every team has at least one less on the year. The only exceptions since the Patriots went undefeated in the regular season in 2007 were the Tennessee Titans starting off 11-0 in 2008; the Indianapolis Colts coming the closest of any team since the Patriots to go undefeated, with a 14-0 start in 2009; and the New Orleans Saints starting off 13-0 in 2009, also. Last year looked weak in comparison to this undefeated trend and hype, as no team was undefeated after Week 5.

So, now that the Green Bay Packers are starting to feel the excitement and pressure of possibly going undefeated, what’s to stop them from cracking like their predecessors? The main reason the Packers have a legitimate shot at an undefeated regular season is their schedule. While their remaining games don’t all seem predetermined, there is no game left in the season where the Packers seem like they could legitimately lose. Every team they face here on out have at least two losses, even the Detroit Lions who they face in Weeks 12 and 17. No opponent will look like a true challenge to a team that hasn’t lost, but the Packers really aren’t facing serious heavyweight teams on the level of New Orleans, New England, Pittsburg, Baltimore, etc. The only division leaders the Packers face for the rest of the season are the San Diego Chargers and New York Giants, and neither of these teams has even won more than four games.

The Packers were given a beauty of a regular season schedule, facing teams that all have lost multiple times this season so far. Their offense has thrived accordingly as a result, making the Packers look truly invincible. While this Packers team may not be playing on the levels of the undefeated Patriots, Colts, and Saints of years past, they certainly have the best chance seen in the NFL since 2009. Armed with one of the game’s best Quarterbacks, an easy schedule, and unstoppable confidence coming off a championship, there are plenty of reasons for the Packers to believe they could go through all the teams and go right back into another hot postseason run. After all, they only need to win their next seven games to go a calendar year undefeated.

After game two of the 2011 World Series on Thursday night, the Texas Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals are tied 1-1. Two teams that statistically are not the best, are the only ones left standing because they have been the hottest teams in the postseason.

So far, the World Series has been even better than advertised. After the AL and NL Championship Series, many fans came to identify both of these teams with a few concurring elements to describe their game of play: lineup and bullpen for Texas; lineup and bullpen for St. Louis. Texas scored 39 runs in the six games against the Detroit Tigers, posting a 1.32 bullpen ERA; St. Louis scored 43 runs in the six games against the Milwaukee Brewers, posting a 1.88 bullpen ERA. So, we all knew coming into the World Series that these teams could hit and close out games, but what really has made the World Series even better than advertised is their starting pitching in the World Series.

Both the Rangers and Cardinals’s starting rotations were horrendous in the League Championships Series. The Rangers’s rotation posted a 6.59 ERA while the Cardinals’s rotation posted a 7. 66 ERA and Chris Carpenter is the only Cardinals starter with a postseason win in 2011 so far. Fortunately for the viewers, the starting pitchers have been stellar so far in the Fall Classic. The two aces, C. J. Wilson and Chris Carpenter, matched up for an entertaining pitcher’s bout in game one. The game was held scoreless into the bottom of the 4th because of the great pitching of Wilson and Carpenter. Both held two of the best playoff offenses to no more than five hits, and while Carpenter would only give up two runs and win the game, Wilson only gave up three and kept his team within a run of the Cardinals. Then in game two these two drowsy rotations pitched even better. Colby Lewis and Jaime Garcia kept the bats from scoring until the bottom of the seventh inning, with Lewis giving up only one run over six and two-thirds innings pitched and Garcia not allowing a single run over seven innings. This was starting pitching that neither team even seemed capable of in the postseason. Their starting pitching got hot at the right time and is making the games way closer than we imagined.

For both these teams it was no fluke that they made it all the way to the World Series. They were the teams that should have made it this far because they were the hottest teams in the postseason.

There are a lot of varying theories about how to make the best championship team in the MLB. Some teams, like the New York Yankees, like to acquire the most talented and experienced (and most expensive) players in all of baseball and stack them onto one team to crush all opposition, while some teams, like the Oakland Athletics, like to play statistics and play the guys who will get on base more and make fewer outs, for cheap. Both theories can help make incredible regular season teams, as Oakland made the postseason five years out of seven from 2000 to 2006, and the Yankees have missed the postseason only once in the last 17 years.

But postseason is very different. Every move in the postseason is a thousand times more important. There are fewer games and chances to gather data or to rely on the powerful and talented players. Luck plays such a huge part in playoffs. You could have ten all stars on your team and still not win a World Series. This could be why the Yankees went nine years without winning a championship until 2009, even with all their talent and expensive players, and could be why the Athletics have only made it past the ALDS once since they championed their current Moneyball method.

The Cardinals and Rangers were not by any measure the best teams during the regular season. The Cardinals and Rangers ranked 12^th and 13^th in the MLB in team ERA, with respective ERAs of 3.74 and 3.79; the Cardinals were 10.5 games out of the wild card on August 24; the Rangers were one less win from being the number three seed in the postseason. Neither team had the best perspective records for the leagues, either. They are not the best teams and they have some major flaws in their play, but they have made it this far because they got hot at the right time. Since September 1^st, the Cardinals have gone 26-13 and the Rangers have gone 27-10 in that same time. No other teams have better records during that time. And that’s why they’re the last two teams standing. Sometimes, the hottest team is the one to win even if they have flaws. You can be the most dominating and successful team in the long, 162 game regular season, like the Philadelphia Phillies, but if you are cold in the postseason, you are going to lose.

Both the Cardinals and Rangers saved their best baseball for the end when it counts the most, when they have the fewest chances to mess up. They may not have the best pitching, defense, or the most stacked lineups, but they know how to forget all their flaws and just find a way to win. That’s their championship theory. And here they are in the World Series.