Better to be a Homer or a Bandwagon fan?

Considering the list of teams that I am a fan of I can see how someone can consider me to be a bandwagon fan, but how much worse it to being a bandwagon fan than it is to be a homer. A homer (for those that don't know) is a fan who is a fan of every team from the place that they're from. So for example, a New York homer would be a fan of the Yankees, Mets, Knicks, Nets, Rangers, Giants, Jets, and even the Islanders yes that's a lot of teams, but that's New York for ya. So is it better to be a fan of 8 teams or being a die hard fan of a team that isn't in New York? That's the dilemma that I face on a regular basis. I've got to defend my fandom of all the teams that just so happen don't play in NY. I'd rather be a dedicated fan of one team that so happens to play outside of the city limits than in one night cheering for two different teams whose fans don't even like each other.

A bandwagon fan (to me at least) would be a fan who becomes a fan because said team is constantly winning and the fan would then hop to another team once the initial team starts to lose. If a fan becomes a fan and continues to be a fan even when the team starts to lose then how can that be a bandwagon fan? I've been a proud fan of these teams for 15 years plus, that beats the "bandwagon" label. But a homer is a homer. A homer will defend these local clubs because that's what makes sense to them so if they have to defend the Mets and the Yankees at the same time they will because that's what they feel like they have to do.

The Mess in the West

A while back I made the case for the Golden State Warriors as my title favorites thinking that the addition of Andre Iguodala would catapult them into the title, but then they decided to allow over 100 points per game and turn the ball over like they don't want to play offense. And now with David Lee's nagging injury and Andrew Bogut disappearing from time to time I'm not sure how far the Warriors are going to go. The Oklahoma City Thunder are looking more and more like a football team with two quarterbacks and when you have two quarterbacks in the NFL you really have none. I don't like Russell Westbrook playing along side Kevin Durant, but yet the Thunder need Westbrook if they want to win the title this year and beyond.

Which brings me to the quiet yet most consistent team in the West in the San Antonio Spurs. Coach Popovich has the Spurs going again at one point reeling off 19 wins in a row; something Coach Pop didn't really care much about removing his stars (Tim Duncan and Tony Parker) with three minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter without having them come back into the game when the Spurs could've walked away with their 20th straight win and a win over a competitor who they can see in the playoffs. The goal for the Spurs all year has been to win the title they missed out on last year when Ray Allen made the 3-pointer that started the Spurs' downfall and what that means to Coach Pop is if he has to rest his stars against top notch opponents he will no matter what the commissioner has to say about that.

To Cap or Not to Cap... That is The Question

Miguel Cabrera signed a huge 30 million per year extension with the Detroit Tigers. The same Detroit Tigers offered Max Scherzer 144M over 6 years. The Dodgers have a 200+ million dollar payroll and signed their ace Clayton Kershaw to the richest deal for pitchers. The Yankees shelled out an amazing amount of money for Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann, Masahiro Tanaka  and Jacoby Ellsbury to bounce back after they missed the playoffs for only the second time since 1996. In no other sport can there be such reckless spending on players. In the NBA and NFL teams have to keep an eye on the salary cap because that's the most they can spend in baseball teams laugh at that notion.

It isn't because the owners wouldn't want a salary cap, but it's because the MLB player's union is the strongest union and would never allow for a salary cap to be imposed. And to an extent if the players aren't getting paid then the owners are pocketing all that money and the players would tend to suffer. There will never be a lawsuit against MLB as there was against NFL because players are compensated like no other players in any other sport. I wouldn't want to see a salary cap in MLB even if it means salaries will rise though the roof because it's too late to open Pandora's box.     

Turf Sucks this Isn't a Secret

For years players have complained about how it's terrible playing on turf. About how the ball goes faster on turf than on natural grass, and how turf is the worst on joints. Jose Reyes has become the latest victim of playing on turf. As many injuries as Jose Reyes had when he played in Queens on none turf it seems like he can't play 1 game without limping or grabbing at his joints. Last night on Opening Day against the Tampa Bay Rays Jose Reyes, while playing on Tampa's turf, strained his hamstring causing an early season DL stint for Jose. One of the exciting players in the majors is sitting for 15 games because the evil turf monster.

Toronto and Tampa are the only teams in the majors that use artificial turf and are the only ones that are still enclosed domes. When are these closed dome stadiums are going to find a suitable replacement for turf? You can't tell me there hasn't been any advancement in the field of fake grass which would help athletes stay on the field. So now it's going to take 15 games for one of the most exciting players in the majors to come back, play on turf, and then get hurt again thanks to the turf monster.

Who to Believe...

It came out on Sunday that the Detroit Tigers offered reigning Cy Young award winner Max Scherzer a long term contract (rumored to be in the 144 million dollar range) yet Scherzer or his agent turned down the offer. Yet word from Scherzer's agent, Scott Boras, says that it was Scherzer who made the Tigers an offer and they (the Tigers) turned it down. Who do you believe? Can you imagine a player who's 29, who's going to be a free agent at the end of the year, and is offered a 144M extension and they turn it down? One thing I can see is Scott Boras telling his agent "Don't accept that, you'll get more than that when you're on the market." but if (according to Boras' statement) Scherzer is so happy to play in Detroit and alongside the teammates he has then why not let him sign for the 144?

Personally, I don't think Scherzer is going to have the same kind of season he's had in recent years, and if that's the case passing on the 144 just might've been a mistake. Now whether he wants to accept it or not there's more pressure on Scherzer to perform well because if he (or his agent) thinks that he's worth more than the 144 that was offered then having less than stellar numbers is going to be unacceptable. Scherzer and his representation maybe betting on himself a bit more than the Tigers are, but still 144 Million dollars is nothing to sneeze at.

22 and Counting

The Philadelphia 76ers have lost 22 games in a row. Last night losing to the Bulls 102 - 94 and with the suddenly hot New York Knicks coming to town it's not out of the realm of possibility that the Sixers can set the league record with at least 27 in a row. The current record is 26 which was set by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2010. Can the Sixers really be this bad? The simple answer is yes. The Sixers moved the only real talent to Indiana in a trade of Evan Turner for scraps. When the season started everyone knew that the Sixers were going to be a bad team because tanking has become a strategy for bad teams to building a hopeful contender. With the Sixers losing those 22 games it's a surprise that they don't have the worst record in the league that honor belongs to Milwaukee Bucks who have won a paltry 13 games this season.

Tanking is not a viable way to build a team just ask Dan Gilbert, the big mouth owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who has been tanking for the best shot at the number 1 overall pick in the draft every season since LeBron took his talents to South Beach. The reason I say "best shot" is because unlike other leagues the NBA uses a lottery for it's worse teams to decide who is going to win the number 1 pick. That's what the Sixers are trying to do, trying to get the most ping pong balls with their name on it and hope they get that 1st pick. I feel bad for the fans in Philly considering that the Sixers have had a rich history when it comes to basketball and now they're just counting how many more loses the Sixers can rack up in a row. 22 and counting.

And Imagine if they Had Melo...

The Chicago Bulls beat the Miami Heat on Sunday in overtime with Joakim Noah leading the way with his energetic play and his 20 points 12 rebounds 7assists and 5 blocks helped propel his name into the MVP conversation (even though he doesn't want that kind of attention). If only the Bulls had a legit scorer that wasn't hurt and was able to take and make his own shots and average 30 - 35 points per game. Oh wait, there's a player in New York who's wasting 40 point games on a team that's so desperate for either positive attention or grasping at straws by hiring Phil Jackson to be a part of their front office. Said player is Carmelo Anthony who is averaging 28 points per game and is the type of player that the Bulls can use to become an even more legit contender for the NBA title.

The reason Carmelo would work in Chicago is because the Bulls have a real coach that runs a tight ship. In Chicago, Melo wouldn't have to be the Man because he would just be a cog in the machine and not the whole machine as he is in New York and with a player like Rose who (when healthy) is an offensive force in his own right and with Noah in the paint who plays defense, grabs rebounds, and is just a pain in the back side to opposing players in the paint they can team up and forge a new "big three" to contend for NBA titles for a long time and that's what Melo should be interested in because eventually the seat he's sitting on should get as hot as LeBron James' seat was before he got his titles.