This is my top 5 things in sports right now that just push my buttons. I hope you enjoy and if you don’t like what I have to say tell me your argument. Maybe we can make an agreement someplace.

1. The Kansas City Royals relief pitching staff. Most people who follow baseball know some if not all the KC Royals starting pitchers. The list starts with some lesser knowns, Luke Hochevar and Kyle Davies. Then it goes into the more known and higher paid, Brian Bannister and KC’s richest arm Gil Meche. Last but not least KC’s most famous player and the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke. Enough about the guys you know, let’s get to the guys you don’t know.

Zack Greinke has made 5 starts this year and has a record of 0-2 with 3 No Decisions. 2 of the ND’s can be contributed to Josh Rupe, KC acquired him from the Texas Rangers during the off-season after 4 disappointing years in Texas. He might not be a good fit for the Royals in KC, but I could see im in Omaha soon.

After that new reliever we get to the 3 Stooges, Roman Colon, Robinson Tejeda, and Juan Cruz. These three knuckleheads have combined to play 15 and 2/3 innings this year. They have given up 18 earned runs in that time. I guess this could be another reason why the starting pitchers have carded 9 ND’s in 20 games. 

This is absurd and needs to stop. KC get a clue, spend a million bucks, buy a reliever that can pitch 2 innings without having an ERA over 10, you’re hurting your team and not helping your division or the league.

2. People who doubt the Defending Champions. This goes for any sport in the world, but in this case I’m talking about the LA Lakers. I will be the first person to tell you that I was hoping that Oklahoma City would have what it takes to beat the Lakers in game 5 in LA, but lets face the facts Kobe will be carrying around a walker and still be able to school 90% on the NBA, he is awesome and his team is good too. The Lakers may not have an answer for Russel Westbrook who had 15 points again last night, but if they feed the middle on offense again in game 6 this is history, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum combined for 46 points and 22 rebounds, both had double doubles, and it is what the Lakers have been needing.

Until you beat the champions don’t ever doubt them, OKC you know I enjoyed watching the series, and you have actually made me enjoy NBA basketball again this year, but even the coach of the year can’t beat Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant and the bodyguards that are under the bucket. good luck next year and look for the Lakers to repeat as champions, unless the Spurs, Jazz, or Suns can do anything about it, but I’m not seeing it.

3. Ryan Howard’s $125,000,000 contract extension. I told myself when the news broke on this story that I would try to stay away from talking about it, but it has been blowing up my TV since it happened. I like the Phillies, they are a good team and I enjoy watching them. They are also in the NL and don’t pose much of a threat to the teams I follow. Let’s break down the numbers for a minute on this contract. Any time that numbers are in play I type out the numbers. I want people to actually see what it is. Here we go, this contract extension is added onto his current contract that he has this year and next year still left. He will get paid $19,000,000 this year and thats not part of the extension, this is $117,000 per game. He makes $100K for playing 1 game. Next year he will make roughly $22,000,000, and then the year that starts the extension will be $25,000,000 for 5 years. which is $157,000 per game.

Here is some background on Howard. Howard was drafted in 2001 by the Phillies which was a few years before he starting playing in the majors. He came into the MLB in 2005 and won the NL’s Rookie of the Year honors, in 2006 he was paid $355,000 that’s it, which is just under $2,200 per game not too bad for 4 hours of work. In 2006 he was also awarded the MVP of the NL. In his first 5 years in MLB he hit 222 home runs which is more than 44 per year on average. He also has averaged 130 RBI’s since coming into the league. It is always nice to be put in the same category as Babe Ruth, and he has shown that he has the potential. Howard is the first player since the Babe to post 45 HR’s and 135 RBI’s  in 4 consecutive seasons, but he has also put up more than 180 strikeouts in each of those seasons.

Without a doubt he is earning the money he is making. I just can’t believe in the world we live in, that this is just customary. This is insane, someone call Goldman Sachs and tell them to bet on Howard to have a slump starting next year.

4. The Miami Dolphins GM asking Dez Bryant if his mother is a prostitute. GM Jeff Ireland found himself in a hot seat while he was doing a pre-draft interview with Bryant where they were discussing in-depth about Bryant’s family and past growing up. 

Yahoo! Sports reported last week that during one of his pre-draft visits, Bryant was asked whether his mother, Angela, was a prostitute.

“No, my mom is not a prostitute,” Bryant told Yahoo! Sports. “I got mad — really mad — but I didn’t show it. I got a lot of questions like that: Does she still do drugs? I sat and answered all of them.”

I understand that GM’s want to know about players they are going to shell out millions of dollars for, but there has got to be a better way than flat-out degrading a players morale while in discussion about the past.

5. The Oakland Raiders ability to constantly be hit by nuclear fallout. The Raiders are about to cut the #1 overall pick in the 2007 draft JaMarcus Russell, Al Davis is constantly getting hammered like this every time he does something it seems like it gets thrown into his face. Maybe its time for a change, Russell is to make $9,450,000 this year with $3,000,000 guaranteed even if he gets the axe. He has been paid $39,000,000 since joining the team and has done nothing to improve the quality of football played by the Raiders.

The addition of Jason Campbell at QB and the defensive group the Raiders took in the draft makes me believe that they want to try to have a winning season for the first time since losing the Super Bowl in 2003 to Tampa Bay.

SAM~

HOPE YOU ENJOY!!!

I know I will… – Sam