Say It Isn't Sosa!

Today's shocking news that Sammy Sosa tested positive for steroids in 2003 will surely set baseball back 10 years in its efforts to regain credibility. How can this be? Not Sammy Sosa, the congenial Cubbie who forgot how to speak english when he testified for congress about steroids in 2005. No!!!!

This is like finding out that Adam Lambert is gay! Oh, wait.

Sosa may have been the last highly suspected roider who hadn't been linked to any factual evidence until now. But everyone knew Sosa was as hooked on roids as Lamar Odom is on candy.

Pay-Fraud, Manny and Clemens all came as a surprise. But Sosa? C'mon.

And unlike the aforementioned trio, plus Barry Bonds, you can't even make the argument that Sosa would be a Hall of Famer without the steroids.

Sosa went a torrid home run binge between 1998 and 2001. Over that stretch, he accumulated 243 home runs, including three separate 60 home run season. Before that, he never hit more than 40 in a season.

Finding out for certain that Sosa tested positive for steroids is nothing more than a diversion from ESPN's love affair with Brett Favre's most recent comeback (Sample ESPN Bottom Line story - BREAKING NEWS: Chris Mortensen reports Brett Favre likes the color purple).

What would have been surprising is if Sosa had not tested positive.

And that reason alone makes this entire saga rather depressing.

Say It Ain't Sosa!

Finals Afterthoughts

Superman might be more powerful than a locomotive and can jump buildings in a single bound, but he can't defeat a rapist.

In what proved to be a mildly entertaining NBA Finals, the Los Angeles Lakers dispatched the Orlando Magic in my prophetic prediction of five games.

If Orlando could make a few more free throws (and not jinx themselves by trotting out Nick Anderson during Game 4), this series would still be going. But the truth is the Magic aren't a great team. Stan Van Gundy might be the NBA equivalent to Michael Scott. Rashard Lewis embodies why max contracts are ruining the league. And for all his physical gifts, Dwight Howard is a goofball who is an incredibly limited offensive player.

Even this current Lakers team can't be considered great. Yet. They have the best coach and the best player. They have some nice pieces in place. But I never felt like they really got it going the way they did towards the end of last season, leading up to the 2k8 Finals.

No doubt they will be a force in the league for years to come. They are too young and too well coached not to be. It will be interesting to see how they go about free agents to be, Lamar Odom and the ever improving Trevor Ariza.

For Kobe and Phil, this title is about their legacies.

In six years, Kobe went from being the world's most famous rapist to a return champion. Kobe has more titles than Jordan did at his age, a gold medal, two All-Star Game MVP's, a regular season MVP and now a Finals MVP. Sure, there's plenty to not like about him ("Kobe Doin Work"). But you simply can't deny his place as one of the all-time greats to play this game.

Phil is cemented as the benchmark for coaching excellence in professional sports. Say what you want about Phil always having the best players. But how many titles did MJ win before Phil? Shaq? Kobe? Phil is the difference maker.

And while we're on it, what's the deal with all the Lakers haters? They aren't the Yankees who buy their wins with overpriced players. They aren't the Red Sox with the biggest d-bag fan base on earth (solely directed at Sox fans post 2004). And they aren't the Cowboys with the biggest d-bag owner on earth.

No. The Lakers are simply the best run sports franchise in the country. Jerry Buss might be the best owner ever. Over his 30 years as boss, Buss' teams have given Los Angeles nine championships. No other current owner is even close.

The Lakers have a tradition rich with some of the NBA's best players ever. Jerry West is the NBA's logo! Magic Johnson is arguably the best point guard ever. Kareem put the ball through the hoop more times than anyone in NBA history.

They also have some of the best uniforms in professional sports.

Can't we just be happy that Adam Morrison finally got his title?

Consider This

The Seattle Mariners season is a winning streak away from being legitimate contenders in the AL West, or a losing streak away from trading away players like Kate Hudson trades boyfriends.

If the latter happens, count on Erik Bedard's name as the most mentioned in regards to most valuable trade pieces.

Bedard is a top-of-the rotation starter who could be the final piece to a team's playoff hopes down the stretch.

One would assume a Bedard trade could net a few good prospects. Considering the M's dealt an All-Star relief pitcher and two major prospects to acquire Bedard (mentioning names will only make me want to take a leap off my balcony), it would make sense to try to salvage that botched deal while there's still time.

But 2009 Bedard is not the bitchy 2008 Bedard who pulled himself from games after 100 pitches and entered this season as a more hated figure than Double Stuff Silva.

Bedard has been the Mariners most valauble arm. Amongst AL pitchers, he ranks top ten in strike outs, WHIP and top five in ERA.

Since Bedard will be a free agent at season's end, the Mariners realistically won't be able to net more than one premium prospect for him. And his lackluster 2008 campaign has almost guranteed him Type B free agent status if the Mariners decide to keep him for draft picks if he bolts elsewhere after the season.

Trading Bedard isn't the answer. Trading Felix Hernandez is.

King Felix is under the Mariners control through the 2011 season. At 23, he is infinitely more valuable on the trade market than the 30-year-old Bedard. The Mariners could make an absolute killing by dealing Felix for a top young arm and a future slugger.

Now I realize I might be coming off as a bigger d-bag than Steve Kelley when he wrote this idiotic article in 1992. (As if his frosted tips weren't bad enough, Kelly should have been fired for writing this). But the logic makes sense.

When Felix hits the free agent market, he'll undoubtedly command something close to $200 million over seven plus years. Under the current economic climate, it would be hard to imagine Bedard getting much more than $10 million a year when he signs his new contract.

Given all his hype, Felix has failed to live up to his potential thus far. Save for his stellar 12 starts to begin his career in 2005, King Felix simply is not in the same discussion as pitchers like Johan Santana, Tim Lincecum and Roy Halladay.

Felix has yet to put together a season where he's considered one of baseball's best pitchers. Bedard did it in 2007.

At this point, Felix is towards the top of second-tier big league arms.

Felix supporters cite his age as reason to believe he'll continue to improve. But what if this is as good as it gets? What if he blows out his arm in a year or two and has absolutely no value? Minnesota is currently experiencing that with Francisco Liriano, who in 2006, absolutely dominated AL hitters. Now they're talking about moving him to the bullpen.

Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik has already shown a propensity for wheeling and dealing. His J.J. Putz trade in December netted the M's four solid contributors (Endy Chavez, Franklin Gutierrez, Jason Vargas, Garrett Olson) for the ridiculously overvalued Putz.

Imagine what Trader Jack could haul in for Felix.

Felix is like Tara Reid circa 1999. She was smoking hot at the time, but you knew she'd burn out in a few years. It was fun watching her not act on screen, and easy to call it a day after Van Wilder.

If the Mariners want to improve as quickly as possible, they will lock up Bedard and ship off Felix before he gives us a "My Boss's Daughter".

The Unit

For a season that seemed destined to be highlighted by a draft pick who will have no impact on the franchise in 2009, it's nice for Washington Nationals fans to see history on the field. The Nats are the worst team in baseball, and arguably the worst run team as well. (I'm still anxiously anticipating Elijah Dukes and Lastings Milledge rioting in the D.C. streets.)

But Thursday, they witnessed something that's only happened 23 times before in Major League history.

Randy Johnson's 300th career win was not classic Big Unit domination. The strike outs were few (2). The pitch count was low (78). And Johnson lasted just six innings.

It's clear Johnson doesn't have much left in the tank. But considering the Mariners wrote him off 11 years ago, citing his back wouldn't hold up, Johnson has undoubtedly left his mark as quite possibly the greatest left-handed pitcher ever.

Johnson's career numbers are staggering. His five Cy Young awards ranks him second all-time. But consider this, Johnson's numbers in 1993, 1994, 1997 and 2004 very well could have given him a career total of nine Cy Young's.

Johnson lost out on the award to a roided out hillbilly named Roger Clemens in 1997 and 2004. In 93, despite having a better winning percentage, almost twice as many strike outs and a .203 BAA (63 points lower than the winner), Johnson finished second to Black Jack McDowell. And his 1994 campaign was marginally better than David Cone's.

RJ may not have been the best teammate ever. He may have been a prick to the media too. But when a game needed to be won, Johnson could always be counted on to match his grit and determination with unprecedented talent on the mound.

It's funny how every pitcher over 6-8 gets compared to Johnson. The Mariners even tried to replicate their sucess with Johnson by drafting a slack-jawed high school goon named Ryan Anderson, who mirrored Johnson in height and pitching style, only to fall short in smarts and skill.

The truth is there is no comparable pitcher to Johnson. While he just joined 23 other all-time greats in the record books, Johnson is clearly in a class by himself.

Finaslly!

In 1992, Reebok focused their Barcelona Olympics marketing campaign on two U.S. decathletes, Dan O'Brien and Dave Johnson. Reebok spent months and millions building up the hype for an epic decathlon battle.

One problem. Dan failed to make the Olympic team.

Jump ahead to 2009 and both Nike and Vitamin Water made the same mistake. Each company paired LeBron James against Kobe Bryant in ad campaigns, assuming both would lead their respective teams to the NBA Finals.

One problem. LeBron didn't make it.

We spent two months anticipating something that won't happen. At least last year, the Lakers-Celtics hype came to fruition. This just exposes the NBA Playoffs as the drawn out, anti-climactic bore fest they usually are.

Regarding LeBron, for all the sports media sycophants who think he's the greatest thing since Lady Gaga, keep this in mind - MJ would never let his team go out like LeBron let the Cavs go out in the Eastern Conference Finals. They were completely overmatched.

Save for Stan Van Gundy forgetting to coach for the final second in Game 2, Cleveland should have been swept.

At this point in his career, LeBron is good for filling up a box score.

Truth be told, a Kobe/LeBron Finals would have been great to watch, and great for the game.

Now NBA fans will be subjected to an Orlando team, that aside from Dwight Howard, is about as intriguing as Jon & Kate Plus 8. Their roster features an assortment of slightly above average NBA players - almost all acquired via free agency or trade.

The Lakers enter The Finals as a team that still has yet to truly hit its stride. For whatever reason, they don't have that unbeatable aura around them that they carried until last year's Finals.

And it really doesn't matter if they "click" during The Finals either. Because the Magic stand no chance.

This one is over in 5.