Shoes

Simple shoe with a simple colour scheme. Nike Air Max 90's is a pair I would love to add to my closet. Would be nice to see a littler more yellow on the shoe. Maybe the swoosh?

Chocolate Lacoste shoes. Not a huge fan of high-tops or mids but this shoe seems to grab my attention.

Stat of The Day

5 for 5 from beyond the arc!

Chris Bosh is known for his inside presence but it seems he has found a new weapon. He has drained all five of his 3-point attempts this year.

On The Rise

Wings visiting the Leafs

After a terrible start to the season in October, the Leafs have made a 180. After walking in and taking a win from Paul Maurice and the Hurricanes, the Leafs came back home to a tough Red Wing team. Who cares, we have Kessel and Gustavsson. The Leafs were in control for the entire night leaving the ACC with a 5-1 victory. What impressed me the most was the balance in scoring with 12 guys registering a point in the game, that to me is a sign of good things to come.

November brings 13 games and if the Leafs can leave the ACC on Nov. 30 with 7 to 9 wins, you'll see me with a pretty big smile. You won't see me planning a parade down Yonge or Bay (not too sure where they would hold it) but with the Leafs winning and rising up through the standings, it gives me hope that the Leafs have started their path to the ultimate goal, raising the Stanley Cup.

Nippon Series & World Series

The Yankees of Japan, the Yomiuri Giants, have reached the top of Japanese Baseball. The Giants beat the Nippon Ham Fighters in game 6 of the Japan Series.

I watched a few games of this series and didn't think much of it until the Yankees won the World Series. The world seems to always surprise me with weird coincidences. Both the Yankees and the Giants are big time spenders in their respective leagues and countries and both teams were in a little drought. The Yankees haven't won since 2000 and the Giants haven't won since 2002.

Just a little information for my readers.

For more info, head over to the Japan Series Wiki or the official Yomiuri Giants webpage (warning, it is all in Japanese).

Worth Every Penny

Browsing through the sports pages and I come across the above headline. No shit he's going to stay with the Dodgers after having a season like he just had in 2009. He would never come close to that on the open market especially when Jason Bay and Matt Holliday are available, plus add in the current economic situation.

What a difference a year makes. At this time last year, super agent Boras was trying to land a 3-5 year guaranteed deal worth $25mil or so a year for his precious client Manny Ramirez. We all know the Dodgers took a hard stance and didn't cave into the aging slugger's outrageous demands...kind of. Instead, the Dodgers and Manny agreed to their current deal, 2-years worth $40mil.

After suffering through a female fertility drug suspension and a 104AB, .290avg, 19HRs, and 63RBIs, the Dodgers are now kind of stuck.

Looking back the Dodgers didn't have a choice last year. They were stuck with Manny because they had no one else to throw their money at. In my eyes, this aging slugger still has some power left in him. If Manny came out and batted .310 with 30+HRs and batted in 100+, it wouldn't surprise me one bit. He is that great of a pure hitter that producing at the age of 37-38 wouldn't shock/surprise any true baseball fan. On the other hand, he could produce numbers comparable to Vernon Wells in 2009 (minus the 17SBs) and that wouldn't surprise me either. What ever happens, the Dodgers are stuck with their dreadlocks slugger.

This is what $20mil buys you these days in the big leagues. A 37 going on 38 year old slugger who is might be clean now, jogging and shagging balls in left field (during games). Where did the days go when giving a player $20mil gave guaranteed you .320avg, 40HRs, and 130RBIs?

Guess money doesn't buy happiness. It's LA, the land of outrageous everything. Maybe 2010 will bring some happiness to Manny Land.

#2

Win number two! Clawing our way back into the playoffs. One win at a time.

I never would have thought that the Leafs would get their second win of the season in November. I hope the return of Kessel to the ice will add some needed offence.

Out of Luck

Coming off a 17 win season, the Kings hoped for an improvement but I guess they are out of luck. Kevin Martin, their leading scorer and in many respects their only scorer, is out for the next 6-8 weeks with a fracture to his left wrist. This isn't what I have a little beef with.

The Kings are a terrible organization. Take a look at their depth chart and you'll see a team that has absolutely nothing more than a D-League lineup. I'm not knocking the D-League but when an NBA team has a roster that can be easily beaten by a D-League team, there is something wrong. How did the Kings get to this point? I still remember the day when the Kings were a team that was mentioned in the same breath as the Lakers and the Mavs.

How quickly teams can fall.

It is always sad to see teams completely fall apart over a short period of 2-3 years. Seeing teams finish dead last and 20 odd games out of a playoff spot is pathetic and a black eye on the league. Letting a team fall that far out of contention should only happen if all the stars are aligned against you with key injuries and bad bounces.

Hopefully the Kings, and every dead last team in sports, find a way to compete and finish the season with a respectable record even if they are dead last in the league.

Worth $1,751,732?

2009 opening day payrolls according to USA Today.
Yankees - $201,449,189
Blue Jays - $80,538,300

Number of regular season victories.
Yankees - 103
Blue Jays - 75

Money spent per victory.
Yankees - $1,955,817
Yankees - $1,751,732 (World Series)
Blue Jays - $1,073,710

Difference per victory.
$678,022

A difference of $678,022 per win. Oh yeah, that includes a World Series championship. The old business mentality, "To make money, you need to spend money" holds true yet again. The Yankees go out and spend like crazy on talent and guess what happens, they bring home a championship. Not only are they bringing home a championship but they are giving themselves different revenue streams. Adding playoff games increases ticket revenue, all the merchandise from AL East champs, ALDS/ALDS champs, and of course the big one World Series champions gives the Yankees an opportunity to spend big time money on free agents and on their high salaries.

That is life and for all those fans who cheer for a losing team that spend almost nothing on salaries, you should be complaining to the owners instead of bitching about all the money the Yanks are spending.

If I was a rich S.O.B, I'd spend the extra $678,022 per game to win a championship, I'd do it in a heart beat. With the extra $678,022 spent on salaries, I'd recoup that in a second with TV rights, merchandise, and tickets sold. Actually, I would be making it all back and more.

Back on Top

The 2009 Yankees are officially the World Series champions.

For fans in New York this is a day that they have been waiting for since 2000, nine long years of not bringing home the championship. I'm still not 100% if I enjoy watching the Yanks taking home another title.

On one hand, I think it shows that with the proper owner with the proper attitude, any team can win the World Series. George Steinbrenner has deep pockets and is not afraid to show it by signing the best talent available on the open market. We all know owners from around the league have the money and resources available to them to sign the big time free agents but have chosen to penny pinch and make a respectable profit, not caring if the product on the field adds to the win column. Steinbrenner is great for baseball because he proves that the passion for winning will find it's path to the World Series trophy.

On the other side, how can baseball survive if only a few teams get all the big time free agents. The casual fan from the smaller markets, these are the ones that matter most, will stop attending games and basically take away the revenue source that is so badly needed by the owners. These teams will continually make a loss which may lead to a bankrupt team or one less baseball team for the Yanks to compete against.

I've thrown some thoughts out there but I still have plenty to say on this topic because it seems this topic goes on forever. It could go into salary caps, revenue sharing, aren't all teams "buying" championships, and the real reason for all this hatred towards the Yanks.

This team from day one was built to bring home a championship and they did. Now, the offseason will bring some changes to the pinstripes. Will they bring Matsui and his bad knees back? I doubt it. What about Damon? Maybe. They went with 3 starters for the playoffs. Can they do that again and succeed? I personally think they won't. Who are they going to sign to help AJ and Sabathia. Tons of questions to answer but we all know the Yanks won't have any problems finding money to sign them.

Funny and Dumb

I have never ever seen anything like this before in my life. Tackling your own player in the open field?!?! What the hell was the guy thinking.