2006: Sports Review

So, we are almost a month past 2006, and I've had some time to reflect on the happenings of the Sports World. Here are just a few observations:

1. The Regular Season did not matter in 2006. Fox Sports Radio reports that NBA champs Miami Heat were 2-14 against Division winners during the regular season. But they beat the Dallas Mavericks in six games in the NBA Finals (thanks refs!). The World Series camps, my St. Louis Cardinals won only 83 games during the regular season, but swept the Padres in the first round (chosen by most experts to BE swept!), beat the Mets in a great NLCS, and beat the Detroit Tigers in 5 games in the World Series. And, in the NFL, we will have the Colts, who gave up 173 rushing yards a game in the regular season, and only are giving up 73.3 rushing yards per game in the playoffs so far, playing the Bears. These are the same Bears who couldn't get consistent offense all regular season, then went and scored 39 points in the NFC championship game! And last year's Super Bowl winner, the Pittsburg Steelers, barely squeaked into the playoffs. Craziness!

1(b). Speaking of my Cardinals...I'm still really ticked off at ESPN. The Cardinals won the World Series on a Friday night, so naturally I expected all my favorite ESPN shows to talk about it on Monday. Of course, I didn't get what I expected. Jim Rome said it was the worst World Series winner ever because they only won 83 regular season games. PTI barely even mentioned it on their show, saying "oh, in case you didn't know, the Cardinals won the World Series" as the show was in it's final minute! Usually, ESPN goes nuts over Cinderella stories. But they virtually ignored the Cardinals win. Maybe they were embarrassed they every one of their "experts" picked the Tigers in 4 or 5 games. Maybe they based it totally on viewer ratings (which weren't very high). But the Cardinals have a much larger fan-base than the Colts of the NFL, which was most evident when the Cardinals played the Rangers in Texas two years ago and there were as many Cardinals caps as there were Rangers. And what's the difference between the Cardinals and last year's Steelers (other than sport)?? Not much, other than the Cardinals won THEIR division. Oh, and while I'm on the Cards, when manager Tony La Russa filled out his lineup card for their first game of the playoffs against the Padres, it was the first time the Cardinals had all their starters playing at the same time since before the All-Star break.

2. Terrell Owens is annoying. Great player, but just doesn't help a team in the long run. (He just ripped Bill Parcells, who was on his way out of town, yesterday. Didn't have the guts to do it while he was still there I guess.)

3. Paying lots of money doesn't mean wins. Just ask the Yankees, Red Sox, Toronto, Mets, and Knicks. How interesting that includes 3 New York teams....hmmm. Maybe the Cubs should pay something other than money, like attention to that!

3(b). Having at least SOME money is helpful. Ask the Kansas City Royals and New England Patriots (who had tons of cap room but got no dependable receivers).

4. One thing that the Sports World is definitely losing is class. Examples: the aformentioned Terrell Owens and the New England Patriots (after their win against the Chargers when they jumped around on the Chargers logo).

I'm sure there are some other observations I may add at a later date, but I'm drawing a blank (rare for me, I know).

Also, a good website I'll add as a link:
MLBtraderumors.com: they scour the web and summarize all the info or quote their own sources.