Hope Springs Eternal

Hope Springs Eternal....most people are unclear of where the famous line came from.  But I am pretty sure the words speak of baseball, the start of Spring training, and the hope that this will be the year that your team will win it all.
Forget the groundhog.  Baseball has begun, so Spring must be coming soon.  Every year it seems that the tickets get more expensive, the games last too long, and the players under perform despite the million dollar contracts.  But every Spring, baseball and my team are forgiven.
When the season begins, I'm a kid again.  I flashback to my first game many years ago.  While visiting my grandparents in Chicago over the Summer, my grandmother asked her one employee if he would take me to the Cubs game that day.  I remember taking the train with him to Wrigley Field, seeing the ivy covered walls, the smell of hot dogs and stale beer.  We were quite a pair.  Bill was a 70 year old African American with thick glasses and wrinkled skin, and I was a pasty eight year old with a giant fro and a bag full of popcorn. 
Every year brings back baseball memories.  Catch with your dad in the backyard, pitching against the concrete stairs in front of your house, or your first little league home run (I think it was my only).
The Giants beat the Cubs in 14 innings that afternoon (all games were afternoon as Wrigley was the last team to add lights) as an old man named Willie McCovey hit a double off the left field ivy to win it.  My team lost, as the Cubs often did, but that is one thing that makes baseball perfect.  A team can lose 70 times during the season and still have a chance to win it all.
My memories as a young kid were special.  I was the kid, like many, who took my allowance money directly to the drugstore to buy baseball cards.  I was the kid who played baseball in my friend's backyards with whiffle balls, tennis balls, nerf balls, and a Fat Albert bat.  I was the kid who dreamed to one day play in the majors.
As a teenager, I was lucky enough to have a step father who was a sports writer and editor.  My memories include watching batting practice on the field of a major league game.  Meeting a few professional ball players in a locker room, with Reggie Jackson standing in the background.  And watching Rod Carew win a game with a single up the middle, then meeting him afterword as he gave me one of his baseball bats as a souvenir. 
If there was ever a fire in my home, I would save my family first, hope the dog is smart enough to follow, and then go back in for that bat.
I mean come on, it's baseball.  Dodger dogs, Kirk Gibson's homer, Kirby Puckett, the homer hanky, Bartman, Fenway, and the Yankees.  Baseball is a history of names including Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, and Cool Papa Bell.  Baseball is family picnics, mustard stains, and pennant races.
Every year a memory is born.  In the past, some kid was sitting in the stands watching Babe Ruth.  In the past, some kid was throwing against the stairs like Bob Gibson.  And in the past, some kid remembers the time that he just missed catching a foul ball hit by a Derek Jeter, or a Troy Tulowitski.
Spring is coming.  Kids will be attending their first games.  Your team will go months before becoming mathematically eliminated.  And memories will be made.
After a long Winter, the groundhog claimed that Spring will come sooner this year.  Maybe he was in Punxsutawney looking for his shadow.  Or just maybe, the groundhog was in Glendale, Arizona watching the Rockies play the Diamondbacks, loaded up with sunblock, and drinking a beer in the right field stands.  Either way, Spring is coming.

Letting Tiger win one

Did anyone see D. A. Points win the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am last week?  No?  Well you must have watched Alvaro Quiros win the Dubai Desert Classic?  You missed it?  But you're a golf fan?  I'm sure you recall that Martin Kaymer won the PGA last year, and that Louis Oosthuizen won the British Open?  Can't recall that either?
Did you at least see Tiger Woods get fined for spitting on the green while finishing tied for 20th in Dubai after being in contention for the first two rounds?  Yeah, that's what I saw too.
I have no sympathy for Tiger Woods.  He has won countless majors, made millions of dollars, had a young Swedish nanny for a wife, and no one feels sorry for him.  Unfortunately, golf needs him.
As Tiger Woods continues to become irrelevant on the golf course, golf is becoming irrelevant along with him.  Tiger's best finish this year is 44th at the Farmers Insurance Open.  He is currently 145th in the FedEx standings.
The leader of the FedEx standings is Mark Williams.  I mean Mark Wilson.  Actually, I'm not sure.  Like the rest of the world, I only watch golf if Tiger is playing late on Sunday.
Look, sports needs successful villains.  We, as a Nation, hate the Yankees, Duke basketball, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and the New England Patriots.  We hate them because they are arrogant, and they win. 
But we watch them in hopes that they will be beaten while playing their best.
Sports needs the villain in the finals.  We want to see the Lakers, Celtics, or Heat lose at the buzzer.  We want to see the Red Sox or Yankees overpay, then lose the World Series in seven.  We want to see Butler hit a final shot to crush the spirits of the highly favored Duke Blue Devils.
What if the 1980 Olympic hockey team had beaten Austria instead of the Soviets?  What if Buster Douglas would have knocked out Mike White instead of Mike Tyson?
I'm suggesting that the PGA should do all it can to get Tiger back on top and relevant again.  Let him win four or five nothing tournaments in a row.  Announce to the world that the old Tiger is back and have him leading at the Masters with one hole to go.  Put him at the 18th tee with a six iron and water all around him, one good tee shot to win it.  Millions yelling "noonan" and hoping for a splash.  Millions hoping their guy is back for good.
Or there is the alternative.  Tiger shoots a 76 on day two, Jason Dufner wins the Masters, and I spend my Sunday mowing the yard.

Trading Carmelo

After Carmelo Anthony refused to sign the Denver Nugget's contract extension for millions of dollars, it became quite clear that the young small forward no longer wished to play in the mile high city.  Sure, Carmelo could have been suggesting that the Nuggets pick up some more star talent to help him achieve a ring, but more likely, he simply wants to live in New York. 
I don't really blame him.  Denver is a great town, but if I was in my twenties, a multi-millionaire, and could live anywhere, I would probably pick Los Angeles, Miami, or New York.  That being said, Anthony is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, which means that if Denver does not trade him, they get nothing in return if he walks away.
While I do have time to write a meaningless sports blog in the middle of the week, I don't have time to go through every team and contract to find the best fit for all.  But I have a few ideas that might make everyone happy.
Trade Carmelo to the Lakers.  The Nuggets would get Andrew Bynum, the 7 foot center, and Ron Artest.  Ironically, ESPN leaked this story a few days ago, and while I wrote this blog in mid January, never finished my thought.  The Nuggets would end up cutting Artest, and rebuilding with a big man to help Nene, and have some money to spend.  The Lakers would trump Miami by puting Kobe, Carmelo, Gasol, and Odom together.  Win another championship.  Then lose Carmelo to New York, while getting rid of a 7 footer who is always injured, and an expensive and aging Artest.
Trade Carmelo and JR Smith to the Clippers for Gordon and two first round picks.  First, Ha Ha Melo.  You got traded to the Clippers.  But for the Nuggets, Gordon is a rising star, and two Clipper picks means two lottery picks.  The Clippers would have Melo and Blake, star power and playoff potential.
How about Carmelo to Cleveland, Milwaukee, Detroit, Toronto, New Jersey, or that Turkish team that Allen Iverson played for.  How you like Denver now?
Or how about to Minnesota for Darko...straight up.
Trade him to the Miami Heat for Erick Dampier, then let them try to figure out the salary cap issues.
Trade him to the Utah Jazz, then ask him his favorite night spot. 
In all seriousness, you can't trade Carmelo to a good playoff team because they won't want to give up good players, and their draft picks are too far down in the first round.  Like him or not, the guy scores 30 a night, sells jerseys, and is starting in the all-star game.  So Melo needs to be traded to either a lousy team with lottery picks, or average teams with two guys worth taking.  How about to Houston for Scola and Kevin Martin?  Milwaukee for Bogat and Jennings?  Golden State for David Lee and Monte Ellis?  Or New Orleans for West and Ariza?
To be honest, Carmelo is off to New York after the season is over.  He's not coming back to Denver no matter what the rumor is.  It's time for Denver to rebuild any way.  Billups is aging.  Kenyon Martin, Chris Anderson, and Nene are never healthy.  JR Smith is a poor man's JR Rider.  And not only can they not beat the Lakers, they can't beat San Antonio, Utah, or Dallas either. 
Time to dump salary, get some draft picks and roll players....then do a Miami and buy the best available.