Kobe, Artest, Odom, Gasol and Bynum

The only weak point might be Bynum, but with more experience and “practice” (a la Allen Iverson), we should be and are the favorite to raise another banner in 2010 in Staples Center.

On top of those good feelings, the Dodgers are experience a momentous revival in the postseason with Joe Torre at the helm.  Up 2-0 on the St. Louis Cardinals, the Blue Crew should be set up to meet in the NLCS.

As if that was not good enough news, the Angels of Anaheim (of also Los Angeles; all I can say is que?) are on off on the right foot in the postseason with a dominating performance against those hated Boston Red Sox.  Hopefully, this trend continues and we shall also be in the next round, the ALCS.

My hope is that the World Series this year will be one known as the Freeway Series.  Let’s make it happen guys! Go Dodgers and Angels!

Its definitely going well in these parts.  I’m rooting for my hometown teams, including the USC Trojans, UCLA Bruins and UCI Anteaters!  Go LA (and the OC)!

Prime example:  Bobby Cox.

He always gets the best out of players and is a model of consistency.

Evidence:  The Braves under his tutelage made the MLB playoffs consecutively 1991-2005 and won the 1995 World Series.

Though he only won one championship, his players loved playing for him.  He was a fixture out in Turner Field.  Well, that is until 2011 as he has  announced that he will be retiring after the 2010 season.  It is with great respect and honor that I announce this on this blog.  He’s a total class act and we need more people like him.  Persistence and good character still count for something in this world.

Unfortunately with how the politics and business of sports today, a Bobby Cox probably will not happen for awhile, just as there is only one Bill Cowher and Tony Dungy (oops did I get into the NFL again, my bad).  I hope he rides into the sunset enjoying those days outside the grind of managing.

Don’t get it mixed up though.  He’s still going to be in Atlanta as a consultant for the Braves making his presence felt.  Just not on the field.

Heck, he’s going to have an everlasting presence felt there!  Good riddance Bobby!

On a different note, congratulations to US soccer for shocking the world and almost winning a international competition.  Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore and Landon Donovan should be a force the rest of the way.

Now to enjoy some tea at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club where Roger Federer can make history by breaking Pete Sampras’s record.  Also, the William sisters never go away which makes them interesting.

Before I go, here’s a little video treat for those long summer nights:

Oh dear A-Rod

What you sought

Were you even thinking

Now you’re caught

——————-

How do you plead

Guilty please

Baseball’s once bright and true savior

That was just a tease

——————-

Now to face the music

The era of steroids

Was true indeed

Minor leagues up to A-Roid

——————-

The image of clean

It was definitely naught

A-fraud you were a fraud

Cooperstown you shall go not

——————-

Young and brash

You claim to be

Jump of the cliff with others

It should never be

——————-

A-Rod

A-Roid

A-Fraud

Caught with more then a steroid.

However as we know now, that pay is “a bit absurd” to say the very least.  As Bud is having a dog-gone good time, baseball’s viewership has plummeted and its image languishes in shambles.  Remember, this is the same Bud Selig that has owned (indirectly) the inept Milwaukee Brewers up until recently.  This is also the same Bud that doesn’t seem to have a clue how to handle the illicit drug use by baseball’s “all-star” players such as Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and now newly discovered Alex Rodriguez.

Your best players are all dopers.

What an image!  What an image indeed.  All-star pill pushers!

Talk about a lost of credibility and sound management.  That reminds me of the Detroit Lions but ten times worse.  It is time for baseball to remove Bud Selig and replace him with someone else.  Though football has some quirks and kinks (a.k.a. referees), they sure run a tight ship in terms of their image, earning ever more money and gaining even more viewership.  Roger Godell doesn’t get paid as much as Bud, yet the NFL thrives.  The NFL is “the” model in sports entertainment that others should emulate.  Maybe babseball can get an executive from the NFL to put baseball back into some “positive” limelight.

It is time for the commissioner to go!  Your image is already in the dirt.  It is nonsense to beat up a dead horse even more.  You must go now to save your sanity.  Oops, maybe that has been lost already.

Since we’re also on the subject of illegal steroid use, it is funny that A-Rod was caught with a positive steroid test.  We all know that he was a headcase and a self-serving drama queen, but now steroids too?  I guess his “roid rage” presented and manifested itself through his drama queen-like state.  I guess all those good stats and the 2003 MVP title were due to positive results and, boy were those results “positive.”

What a sad state of current affairs for baseball.  Positively inept indeed.