All(Not Old) Timers(1 of 3)

       

    As everyone knows, we are in the middle of a great World Series, football season has started, and basketball season is about to start. As I was thinking of all this, something fun popped into my mind. How would I construct an All Time Team for baseball, football, and basketball? I would do hockey, but to be honest with you I never really got into hockey well enough to know the greatest of the great. By far, baseball was the hardest for me to choose just because of it's rich history. None of them were easy teams to choose. What I did was go by era and who was the best at each position and narrowed it down from there. Are you ready to see my All Time Teams for those 3 sports? Lets Go!!!

   First up is baseball. As we all know, baseball is so rich in history dating back over 120 years so this was the toughest for me. The hardest two positions to pick from were OF(more specifically CF) and catcher. Here we go:
             C   Johnny Bench
             1B Lou Gerhig
             2B Jackie Robinson
             3B Mike Schmidt
             SS Honus Wagner
             LF Babe Ruth
             CF Willie Mays
             RF  Ted Williams
   This is just my lineup. I also came up with a starting rotation and a closer. The rotation was also hard to choose from because of the abundance of great pitchers in this game. Here's my starting rotation:
         SP Sandy Koufax
         SP Bob Gibson
         SP Christy Matthewson
         SP Pedro Martinez
         SP Randy Johnson
         CL Mariano Rivera
     Manager: Tony La Russa
   I know that people have the right to disagree with me, but this is my All Time baseball team. If I ran this team out on the field(obviously everyone in their prime), I believe that they would give me the best chance to win. This is part 1 of 3. The other 2 parts will be coming shortly!
 

Face of the Yankees

  

      As we all know, Derek Jeter has officially retired from the baseball. In my opinion, he should be a unanimous vote into the Hall Fame. Last night, on my way home from work, I was thinking of my favorite Yankees moments. Of course one of them included Derek Jeter(Game 4 walk off HR in 2001 World Series). As I was thinking of that moment, 2 questions came to my mind. First, who’s going to be the new face of baseball?  I figured that was the easier of the 2 questions. There’s Mike Trout, Clayton Kershaw, and Bryce Harper that can take over that role.  My second, and more difficult, question was who will be the face of New York Yankees?

    The Yankees are one of the most prestige teams in all of sports. If you think about it, there really isn’t a period in their rich history without a “face” of the team.  You can start with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. They passed it onto Joe DiMaggio. After DiMaggio retired in 1951, you had Mickey Mantle(even Yogi Berra) all the way through the late 60’s. Thurman Munson took over after Mantle. Even though Munson’s career was cut short, you still Reggie Jackson there until Don Mattingly was passed the torch. After Mattingly retired, we had Derek Jeter for 20 amazing seasons. Where do we go from here?

   Alex Rodriguez is coming back from a year long suspension, but is really he new face of the Yankees? Everyone knows him as the face of Biogenisis. We know it’s going to be like a circus in Spring Training. At this point in time, most Yankee fans just want to see him healthy and productive. If he’s not productive, what good is he to the team? He’s certainly does not have 61 million reasons to be the face of the team.

   The one player who would have filled “The Face Of The Yankees” perfectly is Robinson Cano.  Everyone knows that he bolted to Seattle for an extra 3 years and 65 million more dollars. Fare to say, I believe the Yankees were right not to go more on their offer than they did. Had Cano stayed in New York, he would have filled that void left by Jeter. He plays in at least 159 games a season, seems to grow through the seasons, and learned how to be a leader through Jeter. Unfortunately, he is over 3,000 miles and only found in Safeco Field.

      Don’t get me wrong, the Yankees have a nice compliment of players in Brett Gardner,  Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann, and David Robertson(if he re-signs), but none of them will fill that void for the long term. Gardner and Robertson can do it, but only temporarily. Someone will eventually come up through the Yankees system that will shine the way other players have in the past.

   Derek Jeter will be very hard to replace, even on the field.  His presence over the past 20 years was so strong,  people thought they can see him play forever. He is my all-time favorite player and I was really sad to see him retire. I hope that the Yankees can not only find someone to do a good job replacing him on the field, but somehow find a new “Face of the Yankees”. Not only does the team need that, but so do the fans. If we know who the new leader is, we will feel more comfortable with how things are conducted.

Bullying to Get to the Top

    As we all know, basketball season is upon us. There are more questions then answers, as there is when any sports season starts. Do the Spurs have enough to repeat? Does Phil Jackson really know what he's doing as an executive? Will the outstanding trio in Cleveland stick? These are just some of the questions going into the season. The one I am posing is simple. Who will be the Beast in the East?

   With Paul George out for the season, Indiana has clearly dropped to at least number three in the conference. As good as Indiana is, he is the glue that makes the team stick. The Knicks, who are my favorite team, have first time head coach Derek Fisher and executive Phil Jackson. The question in New York is if Carmelo Anthony has it in him to adapt to the Triangle Offense. Miami has lost Lebron, but still has Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, and has signed Lual Dang to name a few. It really comes down to the Tale of Two Cities.

   First we have the Cleveland Cavaliers. There is great trio of players on the team. They have the Michael Jordan of this generation in Lebron James. Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love are the other part of the trio. Unlike Bosh and Wade, Kyrie and Love are score first, pass last players. Over the years, I have very much come to respect Lebron James abilities and talent. Clearly the Cavs are better than the past few years, how much better will they be if Kyrie and Love don't change their style of play? Will Lebron have an affect on the way they play? We know that the Cavaliers also have a rookie NBA coach David Blatt(even though he's coached successfully throughout the world). How will that affect their play? We could say Lebron is like a player-coach without having the coach status.

   As great as Cleveland is, we also have the Chicago Bulls. The very first question is how healthy is Derrick Rose going to be? It looked like at the FIBA World Championships, he seemed completely healthy. If he is back at his MVP type level, that makes the whole team better. They also have defensive player of year, Joakim Noah. Noah is just as much the heart and sole of that team as Rose has been. If Noah can anchor that defense the way he has, they can be better than Indiana in that regard. Signing Paul Gasol is also a nice compliment to the team as a whole. Even though he is 34, he can still be effective as a player. Tom Thibodeau is a huge factor. He's been around for almost 5 years and his players seem to respond to him.

  At the end of the day, if all goes as planned, I believe Chicago will win the Eastern Conference. No disrespect to the Cavs, who I think have dramatacilly improved. Cleveland and Chicago will be battling it out all season for the top seed in the East. Chicagos experience, heart and sole and top notch coaching will help them be the Beast. Let's just hope they don't give any false hope.