Undermining Baseball

The fifth batter in pinstripes steps up to the plate and is met with jeering. Boos rain down on his second at-bat, his third, and any time he makes a play from third base. Alex Rodriguez, otherwise known as A-Rod or A-Roid, has been associated with the acronym PEDs just as much as Lance Armstrong has. He has taken the summer's spotlight, and even though that's normally an impressive accomplishment, Rodriguez should show more guilt then he is now.

This year marks Mariano Rivera's final season of a long, successful career. Yasiel Puig made the best major league debut since Joe DiMaggio. However, none of these accomplishments have got as much light as Rodriguez's saga. Rodriguez proclaims his innocence and refuses to give in even though everyone else facing repercussions for the Biogenesis scandal has. A-Rod strikes me as arrogant, and egocentric. Doping isn't what was immoral about his actions, it's the dishonesty to himself and to the game. It's not fair that someone like Mariano Rivera, who literally started from the bottom, has been denied the respect and attention he deserves just because Alex Rodriguez is fighting allegations that everyone in the baseball world already knows are true.

Now, with A-Rod's appeal, there has to be a fair, but punishing, way of dealing with his disgrace to baseball. The solution is to implement a double-or-nothing process in which Rodriguez will have to question whether or not he wants to confirm his appeal. If the initial ruling is overturned, meaning that Alex wins, he will walk away without consequences. Of course, the only way to do so is to prove that he never did dope or participate with the Biogenesis Clinic. If the ruling is upheld, which won't be a surprise in the eyes of the majority in baseball, he will receive his two season suspension as was prescribed before the appeal, but he should also be barred from the Hall of Fame. If he has the nerve to dope and then lie about it. There's no way he should be allowed in the inner circle of baseball's finest.

Rodriguez has glorified himself and his heinous actions this summer. Many players have made impressive accomplishments but won't be recognized because A-Rod's stolen the spotlight and corroded the 2013 season as the year of A-Rod. Thus, there's no way he should be a Hall of Famer, especially not for someone who's undermined baseball.

Putting Lebron into Context

Guy 1: "Lebron will never be as good as Jordan."

Guy 2: "Well, he has the potential to be better."

Guy 3: "He does a lot of stuff better than Jordan though."

The debate is relentless. Is Lebron James better than Michael Jordan? Can he be become better? Will he become better? Obviously, only time will tell, but I think there is a way to put Lebron James into context. They say history repeats itself, but sometimes, in repeats itself in different ways.

There's a fierce debate north of the border (i.e. Canada) concerning who the best hockey players in in all the land is. Like the basketball's counterpart debate, the face-off has been narrowed down to two. Gordie Howe played in the forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, and even season in the nineties with an IHL (International Hockey League), a now defunct minor league. Howe was tough and skilled. Few players on the ice could shoot, skate, nor score as well as he could. He is probably the best Detroit Red Wings ever, given that players such as Steve Yzerman and Nicklas Lidstrom are also Red Wings Alumnus, that is saying a lot.

The name everyone is more familiar with is Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky was a lot like Howe. Except, he was small and not very physical. Gordie Howe was known to not let anyone push him around. However, Wayne Gretzky only got into one fight in his over twenty season career. He didn't do that great. However, there were few players as skilled as Gretzky. He was a fluent skater, a dazzling stick handler, and most of all, a dominating scorer.

Gretzky scored more NHL goals than Howe. However, if you add the goals that Gretzky and Howe scored when not playing in the NHL, Howe has the upper hand. Numbers don't provide a very concise comparison. For example, some argue that that the NHL in the 1950's was much more competitive than it was in the seventies. However, Gordie Howe scored a large number of goals in the seventies, when he played in the WHA. A minor league, and not nearly as competitive as it was in the seventies. There's so many different variables that these arguments are normally settled the same way. Each player had his own special attributes.

So how does this apply to basketball. The simple truth is that Jordan and Lebron played in different eras and with different styles. There is no better of the two; it's a child's argument. Lebron has many years left in his prime and will develop into a legendary caliber. At the end of the day, the predicament in hockey, can be adequately applied to basketball.

Source(s):
- Gordie Howe - Stats - NHL.com - Players
- Wayne Gretzky - Stats - NHL.com - Players

Wimbledon Review

Big names fell, and the hometown hero won the Wimbledon this year. The women's side lost it's star power quickly. Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams both failed to progress to nor past the semifinals. While big names such as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal lost in the early rounds of the Wimbeldon, competitive stars such as Novak Djockovic and Andy Murray. In the end, Britishman Andy Murray won in an heart warming, exhilarating finale.

Nadal fell first, foreshadowing the rise of the rest at the Wimbeldon. Federer was next, defeated in four sets. In the Women's tournament, Sharapova lost in the second round. Serena Williams made a sizable run, but lost out in the fourth round to finalist Sabina Lisicki. Many big names fell, but two were left stars were left to battle in the finals.

Andy Murray, the boy from Dunblane, Scotland, the site of a school shooting in 1996 faced Novak Djockovic, ranked number one in the world. It took three sets for Andy Murray to win his first Grand Slam. Andy Murray was the first Britishman to win the Men's Wimbeldon in 77 years. He also won the Olympic gold medal last year at Wimbeldon. ESPN's Outside the Lines did a very well thought out feature on Andy Murray's journey.

The third Grand Slam of the year is through with, there's one more to go. Will the US Open feature more upsets, or will the stars shine in New York? Only time will tell how the world of tennis will continue to reveal itself.

Stanley Cup Classic

This year's Stanley Cup was a classic. It was truly one of the most memorable Cup Finals most people have witnessed. Three games of the six game series went to overtime. The first game went into triple overtime, however it was only the fifth longest Stanley Cup finals game ever. Nonetheless, the Finals went down as some of the best hockey ever played.

This series was really one for the ages because of the suspense. The twists and turns occurred every minute. Perhaps the most memorable game in the series was the last. Two goals in less than a minute with seconds left in the game explain fully why the Blackhawks are Stanley Cup champions. With a team filled with great players such as Jonathon Toews, Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Patrick Kane, the Hawks were destined to win. Perhaps the best part of the Finals was what happened after. The Hawks taking a full page ad in the Boston Globe to express gratitude to the people of Boston. Now that's hockey.

Hockey comes and goes with the season. Now, we'll have the normal season, with the winter classic, the Olympics and everything in between. But as long as there's heat, there's no hockey.

Surprise on Ice

The NHL playoffs have been satisfyingly entertaining so far. There's been plenty of suspense, adversity, and good hockey. Super powers aligned in the conference finals; the four remaining teams have each won a cup in the last four years. The two match ups were fast. The Bruins surprised the Penguins with a sweep, and the Blackhawks beat the defending champions in five games. Despite the dominance of the two teams there was plenty to talk about both about this point in hockey as well as the future of hockey.

Tactically, it was apparent that fourth lines come in handy. The Blackhawks' fourth line was what set them apart. Also, being big wasn't the only deciding factor in the series. As exhibited by the final goal of the Chicago-LA series, you had to be fast to be competitive. But the biggest tactical observation I made is that your individual attributes have to be adequately diverse. In other words, you can't have good stick skills but not hit. It's hit or be hit in the NHL. Hitting is a sign of mental dominance more than physical dominance. If all you're doing is being hit, there's no way to score. That being said, you have to be able to skate and take advantage of break-aways. It's the ability to have a balance of assets that set players apart.

The shorter season has made hockey a lot more popular, as far as this year goes. However, throughout much of the playoffs, the NHL has failed to have its game aired on a major network (i.e. NBC). Instead, more games than not have been aired on the NBC Sports Network, a more minor channel. A lot of this is because hockey isn't considered an American sport. The games are expensive. Also, while every town, large or small, has a football field, only the larger cities and the northern small towns have hockey rinks. It's hard to be into a sport that you haven't grown up with. However, this seems to be changing quickly. Artificial ice substitutes are making ice more accessible. As ice and hockey in general becomes more widely accessible, hockey equipment, such as pads, skates and sticks, will come down in price. The future of hockey seems bright...for now.

The Stanley Cup is tight, and it will make hockey all the more popular. Meanwhile, innovation is making hockey cheaper, and more accessible. Greater accessibility will lead to more popularity. That's good news for hockey, and even better news for the NHL.