Don't Worry A.J., We'll Take That Door Down

Just when the Yankees thought they had gotten lucky, receiving news that A.J. Burnett's injured hand would not keep him from missing a start, more bad news came their way; Andy Pettitte is now on the DL for at least a month with a groin injury. The Yankees look like the best team in baseball right now, but Pettitte's injury has to make the organization at least a little uneasy. After the Cliff Lee deal slipped through the cracks a few weeks ago, the Yankees are in need of another pitcher in order to feel very confident in the second half of the season. With Sergio Mitre (Sergio who?) being the man who will supposedly take Pettitte's place while he is on the DL, the Yankees need to find a pitcher before the trade deadline. In my opinion, they should aggressively pursue Houston's Roy Oswalt. Oswalt has made it publicly known that he wants to play for a winning team, and that just isn't going to happen any time soon in Houston. Also, the Yankees have the prospects available to make a deal with the Astros, who are in dire need of rebuilding tools, possible. If the Yankees were to land Oswalt, they would be getting a starter who is arguably just as good as Cliff Lee, and much better than Mr. Mitre (with all due respect to Sergio, of course). If it were to happen, talks of an "unbeatable" Yankees pitching core would likely resurface. I'm not saying I want to see it happen; I'm just saying that if I were the Yankees, it'd definitely be something I'd be thinking about doing.

Maybe the Heat organization should tell their superstar trio to stay as far away as possible from all media personnel. Ever since Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, and Chris Bosh hooked up in South Beach, everything they say is being examined under a microscope. Take for instance what Dwayne Wade said on Sunday. In explaining how the media will blow every losing streak the Heat have next season out of proportion, Wade made the mistake of claiming that "you all are going to make it seem like the World Trade has just went down again". Uh oh. Now, I am aware that Wade should not have worded his response differently, but the fact of the matter is he is right. He hit on an extremely sensitive topic, which wasn't necessary, but the media will do exactly what he said. You can't tell me that when the Heat drop a few consecutive road games that ESPN won't be speculating as to whether or not there are locker room issues, and that the Cleveland sports media will be screaming "Karma!". My advice to Dwayne Wade is, next time you have a legitimate point, don't try to use fancy wording.

This isn't all the surprising, but the Reggie Bush case opened the floodgates to the NCAA investigating student athletes receiving illegal benefits. The NCAA is now investigating the University of Florida after an allegation that former offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey took money from a sports agent sometime between last year's SEC Championship game and the Sugar Bowl. If the allegation is found to be true, then the Gators may have to vacate their Sugar Bowl win over Cincinnati. If the NCAA thinks that they are curbing this kind of behavior by imposing that kind of punishment, they are mistaken. How exactly will Maurkice Pouncey be affected? Will he have to give back his Sugar Bowl ring or any of the other goodies that he received from the Sugar Bowl? No. Will he have to give back the money he received? Not if the NCAA imposes punishments that they have dished out in similar cases in the past. The point is, it's all well and good that the NCAA is trying to curtail this kind of activity, but they aren't really punishing the right people. The University of Florida shouldn't have to shoulder the blame; Pouncey should. The fact is, these kinds of things are happening at the big-time football university near you, and very few people know it's happening until those involved are long gone. Until those who actually committed the infraction are punished, this type of thing will continue to occur.



- K. Becks

R.I.P Boss

Today, the sporting world lost arguably the greatest owner in all of sports. George Steinbrenner was eighty years old, celebrating his birthday just over a week ago on the Fourth of July. Not everyone liked Steinbrenner; there is no denying that he was a loud, no-nonsense guy at times, who exhibited very little patience with his managers and players. However, people who knew him well were exposed to his softer, more compassionate side that made him a very likable man. Regardless of which side you saw, you can agree that the man was always about winning. These days, it seems like owners that are only about turning a profit, even at the expense of their team's performance, are dime-a-dozen. However, Steinbrenner would readily dish out an obscene amount of money to pick up a player he felt he needed in order to win. The saying goes "you have to spend money to make money", and make money he did. When he bought the Yankees in 1973, Steinbrenner spent about 8.7 million dollars. Now, the Yankees are worth about 1.6 billion dollars. Some people called his tactics bad for the game, but the fact of the matter is, you knew every year when The Boss pulled out his checkbook that his chief motive was to try to put the best possible baseball team on the field. You can't really fault a guy for that, and that is why Steinbrenner will be missed tremendously in the entire baseball community. R.I.P., George.

Even more bad news has hit the city of Cleveland, and no, it's not that owner Dan Gilbert has to pay a 100,000 dollar fine for his remarks about Lebron James. No, it's that center Zydrunas Ilgauskas will leave Cleveland and sign with none other than the Miami Heat. Not only does this mean that Cleveland has no one worth mentioning on their roster, but now it almost assures that the Miami Heat will be the preseason favorites to win the NBA Championship in 2011. The reason that I heard being thrown around that the Heat may have trouble winning with only the Big Three was that they didn't have enough to deal with the tandem of Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, and Andrew Bynum in Los Angeles. However, with Ilgauskas now in Miami, the tables have been turned. How is Los Angeles going to deal with those two monsters (Ilgauskas and Bosh) down low?

The Tour de France hasn't been getting too much attention on this blog, and here's why it probably won't be getting much more after this; Lance Armstrong, the only reason Americans have really had any interest in the Tour for the last eleven years, has announced that his chance of winning the Tour is pretty much gone. The sad part is that it wasn't really his fault, either. In Stage 8, he got caught up in three crashes, losing valuable time to the leaders during a stage in which he put time on the rest of the pack in previous Tours. Lance is still better than ninety percent of the riders in the race, but I think that this will be his last Tour de France. The great ones never accept defeat when they know they still have enough left in the tank, and Armstrong has accepted defeat.

The All-Star game is currently being played, with the AL holding onto a slim 1-0 lead over the NL in the bottom of the 6th. If they can hold on for the win, it will be their fourteenth consecutive win over the NL in the All-Star game, which is quite a streak. However, is the streak really that great since it is technically still an exhibition game? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section, or email me at aroundthecornsportsblog@gmail.com. Thanks everyone.



- K. Becks

Wow, Really?

The title is directed at both Dan Gilbert and the Miami Heat organization. For Gilbert, did you really have to make a fool of yourself by writing a letter to the fans, bashing Lebron James in the process? I always say that when you're too passionate about something, you lose your reason, and that is exactly what Gilbert did in the letter. Guaranteeing an NBA championship for Cleveland before Lebron and Company get theirs is preposterous, not only because Cleveland has nowhere near the talent to do such a thing, but because that sort of promise is something you'd hear from someone who is around the age of twelve. As for the Heat organization, was it really necessary to squirt lemon juice into the eyes of Cleveland fans the day after they had just been sucker-punched below the belt? No one but fans of the Heat really cared about the introduction celebration, so why was it necessary to broadcast it on ESPN2? Lebron did not look happy to be there, and if you were him, would you be either? The last thing he wanted to do was pour salt into the city of Cleveland's wound that, by the way, he created. Once again, I'm not saying that he should have stayed; I'm just saying that his departure created the somber mood felt in his hometown.

Now that "The Decision" is over, at least we can get back to focusing on sports that are actually in season. Today one of the bigger trade deals took place in baseball, with Seattle pitcher Cliff Lee being traded to the Texas Rangers. Early in the day, it looked as if Lee was going to be traded to the Yankees, which would have made it almost worthless to watch the MLB come September with the pitching that they would have had. However, this trade makes the American League much more intriguing. With Lee in Texas, the Rangers have a very decent shot at making the playoffs for the first time since 1999, while the Yankees cannot assume the role as overwhelming favorites to win the World Series. Had Lee gone to New York, it would have been extremely hard to contend with the pitching combination of Lee, C.C. Sabathia, Phil Hughes, and Mariano Rivera. Granted, they are probably still the team to beat, but with Lee they could have been runaway favorites. No matter how much New York fans disagree, that would not have been good for baseball.

On Sunday, the World Cup will culminate in Johannesburg when either Spain or the Netherlands will hoist the famed goblet for the first time ever. Unlike Spain, the Netherlands have been to the Finals twice before but have not yet broken through to win the Cup. I predicted that Spain would win it from the beginning, but I think that either way it should be a tremendous game. Both of these teams are well deserving of being called World Cup champions, and it should be an absolute party for whichever country comes away with the win. Something that is worth noting is that the top goal scorers in the tournament (Netherland's Wesley Sneijder and Spain's David Villa) will be playing, and the Golden Boot award winner could very well be the man who wins the World Cup for his respective nation. As long as the game doesn't come down to penalty kicks, because quite frankly it's a tossup at that point, then it should be a wonderful game to watch.

I'm thinking about making shirts to promote the blog, but mostly because I want to wear one myself. I'll be posting some more information about it on the Around The Corn Sports Blog Facebook fan page, so check that out in the next few weeks if you're interested in getting one. Also, if you have any questions or comments about anything sports, always feel free to email me at aroundthecornsportsblog@gmail.com. Thanks everyone.



- K. Becks