The Noise Factor

If you are a big fan of the Olympics and you can’t wait to watch the events that unfold over the next 2 weeks I commend you.  It seems every time the Olympics come around I become less interested.  It takes a bunch of millionaire basketball players to make me pay attention to basketball.  Meanwhile, athletes who’ve had to sacrifice themselves over years of training for this very day, who don’t have luxury cars or houses or jacuzzi’s, don’t draw as much interest.  That seems unfair but that is reality.

Let’s walk around the leagues…

- FINALLY!  Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers have parted ways.  Here are a few thoughts about that whole situation:

*The Green Bay Packers may have moved on, promised Aaron Rodgers a starting role and felt like they had to eliminate what could have been a cancer on the team, but if they were a QB choke-job away from winning the Super Bowl and Favre is the better quarterback why get rid of him for very little in return?  How badly did they want him out of Green Bay?

*By the time Rodgers is ready to lead, IF he’s ever ready to leave, will the rest of the team still play at the level they were at last year?  Doubt it.  They will lose defensive players , guys will get hurt, running backs will break down and every team is a big injury or two away from a disastrous season.  Green Bay needed to take their shot this season.

*There is more that meets the eye with that situation.  What it is we may never know.  I just don’t see teams giving up a 4000 yard passer with a 2-1 TD to INT ratio very much.  We know Favre is selfish and will put himself above the team whenever he can, but was he also taking too much control over the offense?  Did McCarthy only want Favre to throw 30 times instead of 40 per game and that ticked Favre off?  We won’t know, but it had to be bigger than just a couple of mind changes and a little jerking around in order for the Packers to get rid of their beloved quarterback.

- Did Kobe Bryant really say he’d play in Italy for $50 million dollars?  Before I go there, did Kobe grow up wanting to be an NBA superstar and win championships?  We assumed so.  I just wouldn’t expect the one player that people talk about as a cold-blooded assassin who should have the ball with 5 seconds left on the clock.  All this tells me is Kobe will play for the money.  And all this does is validate the argument I have made for nearly 3 years that Bryant isn’t MJ, isn’t as clutch as you think and now I have a brand new one: a money-over-winning player.  I’m sorry, making 50 million in Italy does nothing for the guy or this "legacy" that he’s built.  If he had a shread of killer-instinct that people say he has he would have said "Hell no.  I play to win NBA championships".  Sorry Kobe fans, your boy isn’t what you thought he was - then again we could have told you that 5 years ago when he was in Colorado.

- 3 reasons why Tampa Bay could hold off Boston and New York in the American League East: Carl Crawford, BJ Upton and Carlos Pena.  None of the 3 keys to their offense has had a good year.  Crawford hovers around .300 every year and is barely over .270.  They NEED him to heat up because when he is hitting and running the bases well he’s one of the most lethal weapons around.  Upton, who’s power numbers have dropped, is hitting just above .260 and is slumping.  He’s a guy who should be hitting .280 and they need him to carry the team for a week or so with a power surge.  Pena is a .260 guy at best.  He’s under .240 and they need him to also have a power surge and somehow lift that average.  The Rays have not hit all that well this year and if their pitchers hit the wall in September, which could happen, they will need the hitting to step up. 

- The Florida Marlins may have wanted to send rookie sensation Mike Stanton to Boston for Manny Ramirez.  He is proving that he can carry teams offensively AND the NL East is as vulnerable as ever.

- Someone should tell Prince Fielder to chill out.  He can’t take his anger out on teammatesespecially since we aren’t sure if he’s upset with them, himself, his dad or the fact that he hasn’t seen his pecker since high school.

- The waves must be too great in San Diego for him to refuse a deal to Boston.  Either that or Boston just want as many outfielders as they possibly can and Giles would rather start than have a shot at a ring.  It’s probably a tougher decision than we think; start for a bad team, ride the bench for a serious contender.  I’d probably take the ring.

- The PGA Championship is this weekend? 

- 20 years ago today: Wayne Gretzkey was traded to the Los Angeles Kings.  Has it been THAT long since the biggest trade in hockey history took place?

That will do for this morning…

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