Ten Things in Sports That Boggle My Mind

1. 42% of people who answered ESPN SportsNation's poll question said they would vote Barry Bonds into the Hall of Fame. 49% for Roger Clemens, and 42% for Sammy Sosa. Are we a country of no morals? Do that many people honestly thing cheating should be rewarded?

2. The attention the Jets still receive despite being an awful football team is comical. But their demise is somewhat amusing.

3. The Los Angeles Lakers are ranked eighth in ESPN's weekly power rankings, despite being a measly 7-7. On paper they may be worthy of that ranking, but on the basketball court they shouldn't be in the top fifteen.

4. If Ndamukong Suh did in fact kick Matt Schaub in the cajones on purpose in front of everyone on national TV after what he did last year...

5. That Pittsburgh-Cleveland game yesterday.

6. I'll be one of five people watching the Eagles-Panthers Monday Night Football Game tonight. I still can't wrap my mind around what happened to my Birds. (I never did write Part 2 of my State of the Eagles post. It hurt too much.)

7. The fact that Florida isn't receiving any consideration to play for the BCS National Championship confuses me. They have a better case than both Alabama and Georgia, and if Notre Dame didn't get that lucky call against Pittsburgh, them, too.

8. The suits at the BCS actually think a four-team playoff is going to make matters better. Nope, the same controversy we have every year on who is going to play for the BCS National Championship is going to surround teams four, five, and six. Eight is clearly the way to go; that way no truly elite team will be removed from a shot at the championship.

9. How is this physically possible?

10. I can't believe Penn State coach Bill O'Brien dropped an F bomb on national TV after Saturday's game, as his program is trying to restore its image. Slip of the tongue for sure, but why did it have to be him?

Cities' Most Hated Hometown Sports Figures

*Most of these are fairly recent, so don't get offended.

Seattle - Howard Schultz

Schultz is the man who sold the SuperSonics to Clay Bennett in Oklahoma City, where you know they became the Thunder. Seattle fans can only imagine what could have been. After purchasing the Sonics in 2001, Schultz had the beloved Gary Payton traded away after a feud. He got into a negotiating battle with Rashard Lewis (who was actually good back then), and soon after requested public funding for a new arena. When the city wouldn't give public funding, he became irate and threatened to sell or move the team, and sell the team he did. Clay Bennett is also one of Seattle's most hated figures, as in 2006 he said he wanted to keep the franchise in Seattle. Now head of the NBA's relocation committee, he could help make amends one day if he helps land a new team.


San Diego - Ryan Leaf

Being arguably the biggest bust in NFL history will do that do a guy.  On draft day, he proclaimed, "I'm looking forward to a 15-year career, a couple of trips to the Super Bowl and a parade through downtown San Diego." Not so fast big guy. The player who went before him, Peyton Manning, would live that dream, with the parade of course being through Indy instead. San Diego still hasn't gotten theirs.


Cleveland - LeBron James

Although they'd take him back in a heartbeat.


Chicago - Steve Bartman

Poor guy. I'm sure you know the story. I still find it ridiculous how Chicago continues to blame one foul ball for their entire 103-year World Series drought. When the incident happened, the Cubs were up 3-0 in the game. The eight runs allowed in that inning were not Bartman's doing. Nonetheless, Bartman eclipses the likes of a fallen Sammy Sosa, Carlos Zambrano, David Terrell, and others.


Boston - Bobby Valentine

Boston is in love with their Red Sox. And even though he whined a bit at the end, they are in love with Kevin Youkilis. They didn't appreciate how Bobby V threw him under the bus, or half of his other players so far as well. Boston is impatient with the Red Sox as a whole right now, but Valentine was never around for any of the success that made many of the players so beloved. He is a symbol of failure in the city.


New York - Alex Rodriguez

I'm sure we could go back in time and find someone more hated than A-Rod in New York, but the bottom line is people simply don't like the guy. Ask any Yankees fan: they love Jeter, love Mo, love Cano and Swisher and the rest of the bunch, but can't stand A-Rod. The contract and admitted steroid use don't help his case. Or the fact that he's only had one halfway decent postseason, 2009. And as the next six years go by and he continues to put up mediocre seasons like this one while eating up 30 million a year, it's not going to get any prettier.


Philadelphia - Terrell Owens

Being a diehard Eagles fan, I don't want to say anything about this. We really don't like J.D. Drew or Scott Rolen, either - Drew because he was drafted number one overall by the Phillies in 1997 and refused to sign and re-entered the draft the next year, and Rolen because he demanded to be traded away.


Miami - No one because they have like two legitimate sports fans.


St. Louis - Albert Pujols

Many still love him, but most can't forgive him. Illinois' most beloved athlete for a decade chose to leave a better fan base and just as good of a chance to win another World Series because the Cardinals couldn't offer him as much money as the Angels could. I'm sure the Cardinals' faithful delighted in his April swoon, and are happy his 10-year contract isn't crippling their franchise.


Washington - Albert Haynesworth

Probably the worst free agent signing in NFL history. An All-Pro in 2007 and 2008, Haynesworth was highly coveted heading into free agency. The Redskins, notorious for overpaying players, made their worst move yet, snatching Haynesworth for seven years, $100 million. All downhill from there. Haynesworth had an endless list of fighting teammates, a stomping incident, and exhibited all-around poor play. His ineffectiveness can be partially attributed to the fact that he didn't feel like getting into anything close to playing shape for the '09 season. 


Pittsburgh - Barry Bonds

Terry Bradhaw's backup Cliff Stoudt is also despised in the Burgh, but Barry Bonds is the undisputed number one. First of all, everyone outside of San Francisco hates Bonds. Who likes a cheater? But it's personal in Pittsburgh, because after failing to advance the Bucs to the World Series in his seven years there, he left for more money in San Francisco (which is the only city in the U.S. where he'd be welcomed today).

"Angel" in the Infield

Money was at the forefront of Albert Pujols' mind when he signed his mega-deal to play for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim this morning. Who can blame him? He's provided St. Louis with over a decade full of memories and has two World Series titles to show for it. But still....

Pujols' shiny new $254 million dollar deal pays him approximately $0.79 a second, $47 a minute, and $2851 an hour for the next decade. Only Alex Rodriguez' current $275 million dollar payday with the Yanks rolled in more cash than this agreement.

You have to questions Pujols' motives on signing this deal. Apparently the Cardinals offered him $210 million for the ten years, which was probably more than they could afford. In the end, though, the slugger chose to put money ahead of a stronger St. Louis fan base and his legacy.

Saying he wanted to remain a Cardinal for life as recently as this past season, Pujols exhibited having a short memory, not to mention being unable to resist an additional hefty wad of cash. To open up negotiations prior to last season with the Cardinals, he and agent Dan Lozano put A-Rod's deal as a baseline, saying he'd test free agency if the Cards didn't match that number. The bottom line in this whole thing is this: all Albert Pujols cared about was money.

He cared about money so much that he was willing to play for the Marlins, Cubs, Angels, or anyone else that could beat the Cardinals $210 million. What he didn't seem to care about is the city of St. Louis, one of the finest sports cities in the country with some of the greatest fans out there. He would have been willing to play in front of seven Marlins fans a night over a packed Busch Stadium chanting his name every at-bat. The fans in St. Louis thought he had at least a bit of compassion for them, but his eyes were only focused on the green.

And honestly, though, when you are making somewhere around that asinine amount of money, is there even a noticeable difference between $210 and $275? In my mind both would just seem unlimited.

Pujols didn't seem to do his homework regarding the money either. This article from CBS shows that Pujols would actually have a larger net worth in St. Louis, because of LA's living costs, etc. It also goes on to mention how in LA, Albert will be second-rate to not only the Lakers, but the Dodgers as well. Who else does St. Louis have to cheer for, the 2-55 Rams?

Through it all, though, the Cardinals probably ended up better off in the long run anyway. There's no way the Angels will get the bang for their buck they intended eight years from now on a 41-year-old Pujols. Watching Big Al's pursuit of Hank Aaron's home run record (I'm not counting Bonds' of course) will be a special, but if he does in fact go on to pass Bonds, the event will seem like it should have taken place under the Arch.

There is the other side to this: that Pujols owed nothing to St. Lou because of what he had already given them and that whole deal. It's just rather difficult to side with the greedy athlete over the diehard, respectable fans of St. Louis.

Manny Calls it Quits

It is really quite a shame. "Manny being Manny" is now a thing of the past. Caught for the second time taking performance-enhancing drugs, Ramirez chose to retire rather than fight the 100-game suspension he would have received as a result of being a second-time offender. Not only does this discovery further taint his legacy, but it also puts his future Hall of Fame status up in the air.

Us fans all know Manny as the guy who took a cell phone call in the Green Monster during a game at Fenway, or the jokester who ran on the field with an American flag when he became an American citizen. He dreads became iconic in the baseball world, as did his indifferent defensive approach and happy-go-lucky attitude. And boy, could he tear the cover off of a baseball.

One of the greatest right-handed hitters the game has ever seen, Manny's stats rival baseball's all-time greats. Registering 2,574 hits, 555 homers, a .585 career slugging percentage, and a .996 OPS, Manny would have been regarded as a legend, had it not been for the PEDs. After all, the above stat line was only also accomplished by the one and only Babe Ruth, and the also tainted Barry Bonds. Sure, Manny's stats are real, they happened, but they will be forever marked with an asterisk in the eyes of the fans and Hall of Fame voters. Just like, courtesy of Marc Ecko, Barry Bonds' 756th home run ball has one branded into it.

All of Manny's escapades always seem to have a bitter end: the fallout in Boston, the one-pitch ejection in his final game as a Dodger, and now this. Manny will be missed in baseball by many for sure, and rightfully so. One can only wonder, however, if Manny would have been such a stat machine if not for the PEDs.

Barry Bonds Uses the Cam Newton Defense

No one gets that much bigger, except for a juicer.

"I didn't know" is the new approach Barry Bonds is taking at his perjury trial regarding his once alleged steroid use. He's changed his story from "I didn't take steroids" to "I've taken steroids but didn't know." According to the defense, Bonds' trainer misled him by saying the roids were flaxseed oil and arthritis cream. This is utterly ridiculous.

Bonds' position begs a few questions. How did he go from so surely denying that he took steroids to suddenly finding out his trainer gave them to him? He must have found out before this trial. Wouldn't he have noticed when his head started getting bigger (one of the effects of steroids)? All this claim does is make it blatantly obvious that Bonds lied to a grand jury back in 2003. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Parrella called the defenses' claims "ridiculous and unbelievable," which is what they are.

Maybe if Bonds had told the grand jury this in 2003, it might have sounded at least a tiny bit believable. But the fact that he changed his story just shows that he really did lie. I know he never said he didn't take steroids, just that he knowingly didn't. So, again, if he thought the steroids were flaxseed and arthritis, how did he not know in 2003, but know now? It's simple: this is all a made-up story to try to escape this dilemma without jail time. His baseball legacy is already tainted (or destroyed, for that matter), now he just wants to avoid time behind bars.

The thing is though, Bonds' strategy might just work. Look what happened only a few months ago with Heisman winner Cam Newton.Yes, his dad did illegally accept money, Newton claimed, but he didn't know. And the investigation closed, Newton wasn't even suspended, and went on to win the Heisman Trophy with no punishment at all. Everyone knows that this is bull, just as Bonds' position, but it worked. Which is just what Bonds is hoping for.