Pujols Deadline Passes With No Contract

   The Wednesday at noon negotiation deadline which Albert Pujols imposed on the St. Louis Cardinals has passed and agreements between Pujols and the Cardinals cease to exist.  Albert Pujols is entering the final year of his contract at age 3, but is still widely regarded as the best player in the MLB today.  It is widely speculated that Pujols is wanting a contract that is 10 years worth an assumed 300 million dollars.  That would be the biggest baseball contract of all time.  If any one baseball player deserves a contract that big, it would be the best player in the game today and over the past decade.
  
   Albert Pujols is someone that deserves to be paid.  He has been loyal to St Louis, he is a great ambassador for the game of baseball, and he is the best player of the past ten seasons.  Pujols is an all time great guy, he is what is known as a generational guy.  Meaning a player like him comes around about once in a generation.  I mean, the guy has never had a season where he did not have 30 plus home runs with over 100 runs batted in.  Oh yeah, and hit over .300!

   I honestly though the Cardinals front office would wake up and realize that keeping Pujols in St Louis is a must.  The Cardinals have one of the best fan bases in baseball and they would not be happy to lose their beloved Albert.  It would be a shame to do that to the city and the team.  The Cardinals would not suffer as bad as the Cleveland Cavaliers did when they lost Lebron James, but they would definitely suffer.  I do think fans would be more heart broken than the NBA fans in Cleveland.  St. Louis is a baseball town.  They love their man, Albert and they want him to stay a Cardinal.

   The only disadvantage Albert has by asking for such a lucrative contract is that if the Cardinals do not comply with him and his goes to a team who will pay him what he wants, how good his that teams future?  A team that could possibly afford him would not be able to put the players around him to win consistently and win a championship.  He would have to be surrounded by minimum wage players.

   Albert Pujols will be a first ballot hall of famer.  He is having a career that is being compared with Babe Ruth.  He has three MVP awards, two gold gloves, and a World Series ring.  I do not see why the Cardinals front office is waiting for, or what they are debating.  To me, when you have a player like Pujols, you keep him at all cost.  When I think about the Cardinals not paying him and possibly letting him go somewhere else, I think about Babe Ruth.  Would you pay Babe Ruth what he wanted? Do you think if the Boston Red Sox could go back in time, they would have disposed of Babe Ruth?  I do not think the Cardinals will let that happen to them.

Celtics Prove They Are the Best

The Boston Celtics might be aging, but they are the best team in the NBA.  The Celtics proved that today by going to the Staples center and beat the Lakers by 13.  The Celtics dominated the Lakers in the second half to win the game.  The main factors in the victory were assists and rebounding. Which is ironic, becasue rebounding is how the Lakers beat Boston in last year's NBA finals.  Rajon Rondo finished with 16 assists, 15 in the second half.  The Lakers whole team only had 10.  The Celtics did a great job of spreading the wealth around, unlike LA who had Kobe score 41 with 0 assists and a couple more players with a little above 10 points, Boston had 6 players in double figures.  Boston had three players score over 15 points and Rondo and Kevin Garnett both cashed in double-doubles.

  I know it is only the end of January and I know the Lakers beat the Celtics in the last NBA finals.  The Celtics will be able to get there revenge during this years NBA finals when they play the Lakers again.  It is going to be fun to watch the Lakers and Celtics fight it out for the third time in four years.  It is one of the best professional rivalries in sports and I am lucky to have the rivalry continued in my generation.

   Let me preface my argument by saying, a healthy Celtics team is the best team in the NBA. Although I think that is an obvious factor.  The Celtics are better than any team in the Eastern Conference.  The Heat are not consistent enough to be better than the Celtics.  They are not nearly as physical as Boston and do not have the bodies down low with as much size and talent as the Celtics.  The Chicago Bulls are definitely improved from a year ago, but I think they rely on Derrick Rose too much to be considered better the Boston.  The Orlando Magic have Stan Van Gundy as a coach, who is the most annoying coach in the NBA, and Dwight Howard, who is becoming the most annoying player in the NBA.  Orlando is a good team, but I think the Celtics are experienced enough and are slightly better overall.

   The Western Conference used to have a plethora of solid teams to choose from, but the balance of power has slighty shifted towards the East after this mega free agent season.  The Los Angeles Lakers are having a "down" regular season. (Sort of like when Albert Pujols has a "down" season when he hits .312 with 42 home runs and 118 runs batted in, and doesnt win the MVP.  I would LOVE to have a "down" year.)  The Lakers will be the Lakers and will be good when they need to be.  Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant are to great not win the Western Conference.  This being Phil's last year, so he says, it is too hard to bet against the Lakers in the West.  The Oklahoma City Thunder are the second best team in the West.  They challenged the Lakers in the playoffs last year in the first round and have improved greatly since last season.  Even though they added no one big in the off-season, they grew a year in experience which has proven to be all that they needed.  I think they are going to be a real contender in the playoffs this season, but are still not ready to take down the Lakers.  The Spurs and Mavericks fall under the same category to me.  They are good teams every year, but are always too old and just not quite good enough to do anything.  The Spurs do have the most wins in the NBA, but all of their losses this year, except for one, have come against teams that are going to be in the playoffs.  I know that should make them look good. But, to me, it makes me unsure if they are really good enough to beat the teams that are the best.

   When it comes down to it, The Celtics have proven they are the best team in the NBA, when healthy.  They only are going to get better as Kendrick Perkins slowly makes his way back into the swing of things.  They have the recipe to be the best team in the NBA and win another NBA title.  Rajon Rondo is the best assisting point guard in the league, averaging 12.5 assists a game.  The Big Three are a fantastic core that offer experience, leadership, scoring, and defense.  They have the kind of bench that will win them some big games down the stretch with players like, Shaq, Big Baby, Marquis Daniels, and Nate Robinson.  To me, the most over looked component Boston has is Doc Rivers.  He is a fantastic coach and motivator.  He preaches hard work, defense, and togetherness.  Doc is what keeps everything together for Boston and He is on of the biggest reasons why the Celtics are the best team in the NBA and on the road towards another possible raised banner.




  

Super Bowl XLV

   Super Bowl XLV is a classic matchup.  It features the team with the most NFL titles, the Green Bay Packers, against the team with the most Super Bowls, the Pittsburgh Steelers.  This is the kind of matchup that is exciting even for fans who hate both teams.  We saw this sort of matchup in the 2009 BCS National Championship game between Alabama and Texas.  For basketball fans, this would be like Kentucky vs. North Carolina for the title.  It's a little different to have a Word Series matchup that is equivalent because the Yankees are so far ahead of all the other team in terms of overall greatness.  I think you understand that this is a classic matchup between two all time professional football heavyweights.

   Despite my hatred for the Green Bay Packers, I have to acknowledge that what they have done in the playoffs is excellent.  They have played their best football the past three weeks and that is what sets championship teams apart from the other teams.

   After a regular season that did not quite live up to the expectations set before them, the Packers had an historical playoff run that easily put them at the top of the NFC.  They are the first NFC team to make it to the Super Bowl as a six seed.  Going to Philadelphia and beating the Eagles is never easy, even if the Eagles were banged up and fading. The next week they flexed their muscles by smashing the Atlanta Falcons by twenty-seven points.  The reason that is impressive is because since Matt Ryan has been the starter in Atlanta, he has lost one home game...the Packers made it two.  Finishing off their run with a tough victory at Soldier Field was sweet for Packers fans.  Being a Celtics fan and watching them win the 2008 NBA title in LA was awesome, so I know how Packers feel about that.  

  I do need to point out that I am now an Aaron Rodgers believer.  Since he took over as the starter in Green Bay, I have known he was going to be good, but unlike the rest of the sports world, I was not ready to crown him.  I was still waiting for him to show me something more than just putting up good numbers.  After this season, regardless of a Super Bowl victory, he has proven that he is clearly the best NFC quarterback, and in my mind, the fourth best quarterback in the NFL.  I put him at four behind the obvious three of Brady, Manning, Roethlisberger. In that order.  Sorry Tavaris Jackson, you almost made it.

   Oh, please don't make me give credit to the Steelers and talk about how consistently good the are, and how Roethlisberger ALWAYS finds a way to win, and how Polomalu and his hair are always flying around making plays that few players in the NFL have the instinct to make.  I guess I will.

 

   This is just the same old song and dance for the Steelers under Big Ben's reign.  Make the playoffs as a top two seed, beat the Ravens somewhere in the playoffs, Roethlisberger connect with a receiver in some extremely odd fashion (3rd and 20 bomb caught by some guy named Brown against his helmet), then play a game in the five degree weather at Heinz Field to go to the Super Bowl.  As much as I like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed and watching the Ravens defense play, the Steelers showed one thing...THEY OWN YOU. Especially in post-season play.  The Steelers made a great comeback to beat the Ravens and defensive co-ordinator, Dick LeBeau and his boys totally exposed the Ravens sub-par offense and quarterback Joe Flacco.  I will say, Ravens-Steelers is fun to watch, I don't care who you are. Well, unless you're a Ravens fan, cause you usually don't win.  

   After making such a great comeback against Baltimore, Pittsburgh was almost the victim of one against the Jets, after what looked like was going to be a blowout turned in to a five point Steeler victory after Big Ben made another clutch throw to seal the game.  Rex Ryan can now shut up! (Angels singing from Heaven!)

   So, the big game is in two weeks, and I do not know who to root for.  I hate the Packers because I am a Vikings fan.  I hate the Steelers too, because they are the Steelers.  I do think the Steelers will win the game, though.  It is the destiny of the Pittsburgh Steelers to win their seventh Super Bowl at the stadium of the Dallas Cowboys.  Not only at the Cowboys stadium, but the brand new Jerry World. What a sweet victory it will be for Steelers fans.

Steelers-30 Packers-24