Changes To Stadium Football Schedule

This homestand marks the first games at Yankee Stadium since the first non-baseball event at the park, the Miguel Cotto - Yuri Foreman fight on June 5th. While the boxing ring is long gone, the Stadium has a few souvenirs from the event, including noticeably worn patches of grass in center field, where the ring was located.

The Stadium will host another in-season, non-baseball event before 2010 is over, as Jay-Z and Eminem will perform the venue's first concert on September 13th. Following that, the next non-baseball event will occur on November 20th, when Army hosts Notre Dame in the first football game at the new Stadium.

Lost amongst all the potential conference realignment news that shook the foundation of college football last week were a couple notes relating to future football games at Yankee Stadium. First, last week Notre Dame quietly canceled their scheduled 2013 game against Army, which was penciled in as being a Yankee Stadium game. That cancellation may or may not be an indicator that the long-independent Fighting Irish were positioning themselves to finally join a conference in the event of a BCS superconference armageddon.

While one of the linked articles above speculates that Syracuse could replace Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium on Army's 2013 schedule, it's also possible that one of the principle movers and shakers in last week's conference realignments could be Army's opponent. Prior to leaving the Big XII to join the Pac-10 last week, Colorado made it clear that they wanted to play Army at Yankee Stadium. The Buffs' non-conference schedule had been booked through 2015, but with their move to the Pac-10 altering future schedules and with Army now having an open date in 2013, they may be able to get their wish sooner rather than later.

After hosting Notre Dame this fall, Army will host Rutgers at the Stadium in 2011, Air Force in 2012, and Boston College in 2014. In addition to the annual Army game, Yankee Stadium will also host the New Era Pinstripe Bowl for at least the next four years. The game will take place between Christmas and New Year's, and will match the third selection from the Big East against the sixth selection from the Big XII. No word yet as to how the Big XII's reduction to ten teams will impact the bowl's future. The inaugural game will take place on December 30th this year, with tickets already on sale.

Unsolicited Opinions On The Yankees' At Bat Music

On Friday, Mark Feinsand of the Daily News talk to scoreboard operator Mike Bonner and wrote a post about the at bat music that each Yankee comes out to. Given how much we use music to enhance and bring life to our coverage of the team, it's only appropriate that we at least touch on it here.

I'm going to reproduce Feinsand's whole list but to add some value, I've linked up each of the songs to a YouTube video and made some snarky comments.

Position Players

Derek Jeter: “Candy” - Cameo

If you only watch one of these videos, make it this one. It looks like a spoof made by Chappelle's Show.

Nick Johnson: “Party in the U.S.A.” - Miley Cyrus

By now, you know that Johnson picked the song because his daughter likes it (and she has shitty taste in music).

Mark Teixeira: “I Wanna Rock” - Twisted Sister

A solid, straight forward classic rock tune. Fits Teixeira to a "T".

Alex Rodriguez: “On to the Next One” - Jay-Z

We used this one for a preview earlier this year mostly because I was stuck for ideas and the video is in black and white. It's alright, but I really don't enjoy what Jay-Z's style has devolved into. It seems like he now ends every line with a forced inflection. He's more about rhyming sounds as opposed to earlier in his career when he had more masterful wordplay and a steady, even-keeled delivery.

Robinson Cano: “Run this Town” - Jay-Z

This one also features Rhianna, Kanye West and some real distorted electric guitar. Better tune than the one A-Rod uses but not something I'm going to put on by choice.

Curtis Granderson: “Lookin’ for the Perfect Beat” - Africa Bambaataa

An old school rap song with a video almost as unintentionally hilarious as the one Jeter uses.

Nick Swisher: “Beat Street” - Grand Master Flash

It's got that typical, choppy, Grandmaster Flash "flow" to it. I would expect Swish to have picked something like Creed or Three Doors Down based on his brotasticness, so he gets bonus points for this choice.

[Update: It has been brought to my attention by Joe from River Ave. Blues that Gardner comes up to Run Like Hell and not On The Run as Feinsand said in his post.]

Brett Gardner: “Run Like Hell” - Pink Floyd

Easily my favorite choice out of all of these. Completely appropriate given Gardner's skill set and coming out to any Pink Floyd song is good by me, even if it is off of The Wall.

Randy Winn: “Just Chill” - Jon Young

Jon Young and J. Cash are apparently the highest selling hip hop act in Central Florida!

Marcus Thames: “You’re a Jerk” - New Boyz

Yeah, Marcus? Well you're a DH.

*Posada and Francisco Cervelli both supplied songs via CD (that are latin-flavored, if I recall correctly) and neither Bonner nor Feinsand were sure what they were called.

Starting Pitchers

CC Sabathia: “Big Poppa” - Notorious B.I.G.

Most obvious choice ever?

A.J. Burnett: “I’m a Man” - Black Strobe

Yes you are, sir. And so is Mike Gundy.

Javier Vazquez: “Until the Whole World Hears” - Casting Crowns

Christian rock. Whatever floats your boat, Javy, just pitch better after it plays.

Andy Pettitte: “La Grange” - ZZ Top

Like Teixeira's choice, this one is a staple of classic rock stations nation wide. Can't really go wrong but it's not exactly original.

Phil Hughes: “King Nothing” - Metallica

Because of Metallica's dickish views on copyright law you have to sit through a 30 second commercial to watch this one. Feel like doing that? I didn't think so.

I've often thought about what my at bat or warm up music would be and the decision becomes infinitely more complicated by the fact that, as Morgan Ensberg pointed out a while back, hitters are limited to 8 seconds. That's nothing. So the question becomes not "What song is going to get you fired up?" but "What 8 second snippet from a song are you not going to get totally sick of by the end of the first homestand?". That really cuts down on the options.

To make it slightly less impossible and pointless, let's assume that you are a pitcher and you get to choose a song or portion of a song to warm up to, but it can't be longer than 5 minutes. Here's a short list of ones that I would have to try extremely hard to decide between and truncate to the appropriate length:

• The version of Soul Serenade the Allman Brothers played in honor of King Curtis back in 1971.

• Derek Trucks' solo during Desdemona at the Beacon in '03.
  
  
• The Fire Inside by Bob Seger because the simple melody in it, and the relentless bass line underneath never fail to stir me up.
  
  
• A Phish song. Punch You in the Eye? Julius?

• This Atmopshere tune because I'm a sucker for hip hop with piano and the outro is awesome.
  
  
• Feel It by Sam Cooke from the famous Live at the Harlem Square Club show.

• Or pretty much any section of this version of Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad that Derek and the Dominoes played at the Filmore East during a two night stand they did there in October of 1970:

Yours in the comments if you so choose.

Game 3: On To The Next One

Appropriately, the winner of the first series between the Yankees and Red Sox this season will be determined by who takes its third and final game. Each team has scored 13 runs so far (with the starting pitchers accounting for 9 of those and the bullpen the other 4), racked up 21 hits (6 going for doubles) and stolen two bases. The Yanks have hit three homers while the Sox have two and a triple. That's about as evenly matched as it gets.

The two teams won't meet again for another month so the victor of tonight's contest will get to hang on to the bragging rights for a pretty substantial amount of time.

The victim of several rainouts during Spring Training, Andy Pettitte won't have any weather-related issues in Fenway tonight. It was over 90 degrees in Boston today and although it will cool down by the time the first pitch is thrown, it will still be unseasonably warm. Pettitte's first appearance of the season

will be

his 35th start as a part of this unique rivalry and when asked about it earlier today had a hard time pretending he was especially excited for it.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, John Lackey will be taking part in the mania that is Yanks vs. Red Sox for the first time. Having pitched half of his games in southern California, the balmy conditions this evening should make Lackey feel right at home. Although he'll be getting eased into the rivalry as far at the weather is concerned, the 6'6" right hander is making his Sox debut against the Yankees and their best line up in front of a Fenway crowd with big expectations for their new highest paid player.

Lackey has faced the Yankees 7 times in the past 5 years between the regular season and the playoffs and has a 3.42 ERA with 40 strikeouts and 17 walks in those games.

For the first time in two years, Lackey will not begin the season on the DL. Despite the delayed debuts in '08 and '09, Lackey was still a valuable starter in those seasons, pitching a total of 340 innings with a 3.79 ERA. Lackey can probably expect his rate stats to take a hit as he settles into the AL East, but the biggest barrier to his success has always been his health and it appears he's off to a good start in that department.

So as Lackey dons a new uniform for the first time and turns the page to a new chapter in his career, the Yanks look to steal the final game of the set before moving on to face the Rays in Tampa. Let's do it.

-Lineups-

Yankees:

Brett Gardner makes his triumphant return to left field, after coming off the bench to go 1 for 2 last night. Curtis Granderson slides back down to 7th and everyone else is in their usual spots.

Jeter SS
Johnson DH
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Posada C
Granderson CF
Swisher RF
Gardner LF

Red Sox:

Ellsbury LF
Pedroia 2B
Martinez C
Youkilis 1B
Ortiz DH
Beltre 3B
Drew RF
Cameron CF
Scutaro SS

Victory Parade Pictures

The parade today was a pain logistically - to be expected when you cram a couple extra million people into Manhattan on a Friday morning - but I managed to get a couple pretty good pictures (culled from a ton of other shots of other people's hands and cameras) and wanted to post them here.

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2009 World Series MVP.

And Paul Blart, Mall Cop.

Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiichael Kay.

Freddy Sez with his frying pan/sign combo. If I hadn't seen this, I would have assumed that they had to shake him awake on a park bench somewhere to get him to come along.

A-Rod, giving the Jay-Z/Rocafella hand gesture and wearing a very goofy-looking hat that he may or may not have bought from Justin Timberlake.

Alfredo Aceves and his wife (I'm guessing), along with Phil Hughes right behind him and Brian Bruney on the far right.

Surprised they didn't make Bruney walk.

Get it? Because he gives up too many walks!!!!1!1one!!exclamationpoint!

Sabathia and Teixeira with the appropriate signage.

Mr. Derek Jeter, but that's not the best part of the picture, in my opinion. It's that pretty much everyone is holding up a camera.

Jeter with his parents behind him, Minka Kelly on the left and a roll of toilet paper in his hands. Unlike A.J. Burnett, who gunned the one that was thrown to him back into the crowd, Jeter politely tossed it aside.

Me taking a pictre of someone taking a picture of Joba who's taking a picture of us.

/universe implodes

Andy Pettitte and his family. Tell your wife to stop texting, dude.

Mariano Rivera waving a Panamanian flag. He "closed" the parade, you could say.


The scene was... interesting. There was very nearly a big fight that broke out because a group of thuggish kids thought someone "was invading their territory". Word for word, I swear. Guys, there are about 3 people per square foot down here, no one has "territory".

We got of at the Rector St. stop on the 1 line and the cops weren't letting people walk up to Broadway. Instead we had to go all the way down to Battery Park and get to Broadway from there. Coming around the Citi Bank building there was a total human gridlock. Some geniuses were yelling for everyone to "just move" as if there were some people blocking the way who just needed to be reminded of that. Others were encouraging people to "keep pushing", which from my experience with dense pedestrian traffic isn't the safest thing to do.

There were a bunch of little fuckers (maybe 15-16 year old kids) that decided it would be a great idea to bodypaint themselves white with pinstripes and the number 27 on their back, apparently not realizing that they'd be brushing up against people all day. The people behind us had noisemakers and kept running into TGI Friday's to take shots during the parade. If the Yankees have the best fans in the world, they weren't at the parade today.

But that's fine. We saw it. It was awesome. There a couple of moments where I got the chills watching players go by and the ticker tape fall down. And that's about all you can ask for, right?

Some Saturday Reading

The Yankee Universe reviews A-Rod's World Series at bats one by one.

Joe P from RAB breaks down how the Yankees might use the double switch while in Philly.

If Hideki Matsui makes a start in the outfield at Citizen's Bank Park, I may lose my mind.

Great story from Bob Klapisch:

"I’m Shawn Carter," said the youngish guy who showed up at my door with a real estate agent. "You don’t know who I am, but you will."

I thought Carter – Jay-Z – was a polite, soft-spoken guy who looked a lot like Dwight Gooden. Indeed, he said he was a Mets fan (back then). Jay-Z was such an easy-going guy he decided to buy my townhouse at full asking price, with no negotiating.

I'm not sure what was less surprising: The fact that Joe Posnanski wrote 2,500 words on Derek Jeter's failed two strike bunt attempt, or the fact that it was immensely enjoyable to read.

Wezen-Ball provides some historical perspective on poor postseason umpiring.

Alex from Bronx Banter does the same for idea that the crowd was quiet during the first two games of the World Series because the fans are too rich.

Is the curveball just an illusion?

Tommy Craggs at Deadspin finally arrived at the palace in the Bronx in the "Why Your Stadium Sucks" series. According those who contributed to the post, the Stadium is a "travesty", "ugly", and "profoundly un-American". If there's a problem with the New Yankee Stadium, in my opinion, it's that it reflects (corporate) America a little too well.

And finally, this isn't reading but here's Bill Simmons' interview with Steven Colbert. Not that I would ever have this choice, but there's no way I would do an interview with Colbert. It's hard enough to not seem like an idiot when promoting something, let alone when you are doing an interview with a fake character whose shtick it to say the opposite of a good interviewer would.

Final Pre-World Series News And Notes

T-Minus five hours and counting, folks.

Predictions for the World Series abound. Keith Law thinks Joe Girardi's moves could make the different and goes with the Yanks in six. Walkoff Walk collected 9 guesses and six went with the Phillies. Here's the data from RAB's poll. The Star-Ledger staff offers some "outlandish" ones.

Joe from River Ave. Blues wonders if Girardi will use David Robertson in high leverage situations.

Matthew Pouliot from Circling the Bases weights in with a full-on preivew. As does David Pinto from Baseball Musings. And Dave Cameron from FanGraphs. And Cliff from Bronx Banter.

Jason and his crew have a position by position breakdown of the two teams.

A graphical comparison of the two offenses using wOBA from Beyond the Boxscore.

Want to know the real reason Jay-Z isn't playing before Game 1 tonight? He was scheduled to perform in Colombus, Ohio.

How can you not enjoy the quality GIF work of LSUFreek?

PeteAbe had some observations on yesterday's media circus.

An Indians fan gives some (angry) Midwestern perspective on the match up between CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee.

Tim Marchman thinks Joe Girardi is too smart for his own good. Moshe Mandel at The Yankee Universe thinks Marchman contradicts himself and laments the fact that picking Joe Girardi has suddenly become the cool thing to do.

Joel Sherman's World Series chat is starting right about... now. Jay Jaffe's at Baseball Prospectus probably just wrapped up.

And finally, Jon Lewin at Subway Squawkers offers some alternative viewing for Mets fans tonight.

Game 155: Guilty Until Proven Innocent

With the magic number for the Yankees to clinch the AL East and the one for the Red Sox to secure a playoff spot both sitting at 3, last night the Yanks took an important step towards preventing the Sox from sullying the visitor's clubhouse with celebratory champagne. With the Rangers' win last night, the Yankees can ensure that the Sox don't pop the bubbly at the New Stadium with two more victories and in the process, wrap up the division for themselves. The Yanks seem to be taking that apporach seriously, as they trot out the "A" line up again, including catching Jorge Posada in a (late) day game after a night game. [UPDATE 2:53 P.M.: According to LoHud, Posada has been scratched with a stiff neck. It's been bothering him since the Jesse Carlson incident nearly two weeks ago]

Unlike last night, the starter climbing the mound for the Red Sox is the one with something to prove. Daisuke Matsuzaka has managed to generate a lot of buzz during the two starts he's made since emerging from his exile in Fort Myers but objective observers still have some questions as to whether he's really "back and better than ever".

His first start was quite excellent but his last one against the Orioles was a lot closer to the old Dice-K: decent results but inefficient with his pitches. He threw 110 of them over 5 1/3 innings, allowing 8 hits and three runs. He walked away with the win, but the myth of the new and improved Matsuzaka took a bit of a hit down in Baltimore.

For whatever reason, Matsuzaka is being discussed as a "weapon" in the postseason, but CC Sabathia is considered more of a liability. CC is 8-0 in his last 10 starts dating back to the beginning of August and the Yankees have won every single one of those games. Over that time he has an ERA of 2.24 and struck out 77 while giving up just 55 hits and walking only 17. You'd think that that people might be making a bigger deal out of this. After all, he just signed a monster contract this offseason and plays for the best team in baseball.

However, just like Zack Greinke's terrible team makes it harder for his great season to be recognized, the fact the the Yankees have already pulled away from the pack means that Sabathia's great stretch gets largely swept under the rug because it doesn't appear to factor into the playoff race either. The problem with this logic is that if CC was pitching poorly, his team would be a whole lot closer to the pack.

Part of the equation is that Sabathia is as pure of a late-season pitcher as there is in the game. His career ERA in September and October regular season games is 2.67 and his next closest month is August at 3.14. His ERA in all other months is 4.01. Maybe writers feel like they've heard the story before. But more likely, it seems that they want to talk about his lack of success in the 5 starts he's made in the postseason. It seems he's a choker until proven clutch; guilty until proven innocent.

Look in my eyes dog, right in my pupils
If I'm your rival, why would I have to do you?
Press try to throw dirt on my name, disturbin' my game,
Seemed happy when they heard he was arraigned.

Not A Bad Place To Be On A Night Off

(Photos via Yahoo)

Man, being a professional athlete sure has it's perks, doesn't it? They may have gotten shut out of the Ritz Carlton last night in favor of a Saudi princess, but several Yanks caught the Cavs vs. Magic game in style. That's Robby Cano and CC checking in with Jay-Z pictured above. Even some of the beat writers got in on the action.

In addition to the Yanks, Jigga and the LoHud of the Rings, "Ben Roethisberger", errr, Brady Quinn (the real Big Ben was there too), Kerry Wood and Carl Pavano all saw the Cavs crawl back to 3-2. Only 4% of NBA teams who get down 3-1 in a playoff series come back to win, but I can't bet against LeBron. I think it's his time. 

Sager: CC, the year you won the Cy Young, your team, the Indians, were up on the Boston Red Sox 3-1 but couldn't close them out. How much do you think a championship would mean to this city?

Sabathia: I'm sorry Craig, could you repeat the question? I couldn't concentrate because I was fighting the urge to strangle you with your ridiculous tie.  

Isn't it amazing how often A-Rod gets a picture taken of him where he looks like a complete and total douche? Would you even want to hang out with him for a night if you could? I'm assuming he'd pick up the tab which would make it significantly more tempting. 
 Mo, on the other hand, looks like he's walking in to "Enter Sandman" no matter where he goes. I would kill with hang with him for a night at his restaurant and talk baseball. 

Which Yankee would you most like to chill with? One night out, on them, your choice of activities. Ladies, it can't be Derek Jeter and "rolling around in bed", okay?

Hurricane A-Rod

Lost in all of the finger pointing yesterday was the fact that the diagnosis of a torn hip labrum is a whole lot worse than a simple cyst. While it would have been bad to lose A-Rod for 10 weeks, a cyst seems more like a temporary anomaly than a long term health problem.

PeteAbe spoke with Dr. Robert Buly, a hip specialist who has worked in concert with Dr. Marc Philippon, who will ultimately be working on A-Rod. The information he got is less than encouraging:

Dr. Buly said it is “not unreasonable” to try rest and rehab. “But at some point you have to bite the bullet and have the surgery. It’s going to get progressively worse and for the patient, it’s pretty miserable,” he said.

A-Rod’s ability to play depends on the size of the tear and how quickly it gets larger. At some point, surgery will be needed. If it is only soft tissue, the recovery time is six to eight weeks. If bone must be repaired, it would take three to four months.

Brian Cashman indicated today that surgery would knock A-Rod out for four months, so it is likely he has some sort of bone deformity. This comes from wear and tear or some sort of anatomical abnormality.

No one wants to hear about wear and tear starting to pile up on a player with nine years left on his contract, much less an "anatomical abnormality". Do people develop anatomical abnormalities at age 32/33? Perhaps those who have taken HGH do.

The Saturday that the Selena Roberts story came out was pretty bad. I would argue the news yesterday was worse.

When the initial reports about A-Rod's condition came out, I assumed it was just another star player using an excuse to get out of the WBC. Not so much. Not too long ago, Yankees fans had every reason to be excited about the upcoming season. The New Stadium, two new front end starters (three if you could Joba beginning the year in the rotation), Mark Teixeira, Jorge Posada's return, Joe Girardi's new approach...

I think most Yankee fans were getting past the PED revelations and the ensuing sloppy mop-up job by A-Rod and his overly calculated PR firm. You knew it was going to add an annoying element to much of the season, but that's something you get used to. All the negative publicity swirling around him probably wasn't going to help him on the field, but you could make the case that since he got that big of a secret off his chest, he may have been poised for a big rebound in '09. That day, the milestone incentives in his contract were rendered worthless, but that's just money.

Yesterday makes this look pretty fucking stupid. You don't have to be a doctor to figure out a hip problem has the potential to be a long term issue. When I hear stuff like "bone deformity" in a joint as large as your hip, I get a little concerned. Neither Chase Utley nor Mike Lowell did particularly well trying to play through the condition. A-Rod could probably DH, but that spot was supposed to be divided between Jorge Posada and the odd man out(fielder). It's not going to be good for Posada to have to sit on the bench on the days he's not catching.

Already, it seems the Yankees have been robbed of a significant portion of the two seasons which were their best bet to get a good value on the contract in. They knew they were going to be paying full salaries for partial seasons, but I don't think they thought it would be this soon. It doesn't look like there's much of a chance he plays enough games this year to reach his usual counting stats. If someone told you he was going to play 125 games, would you take it? That's 13 fewer than last year and his absence was awfully noticeable. It would be the fewest since his age 20 season. I'd still sign up.

Injuries are the worst thing about sports. Whenever I play video games, I turn the injuries off. They are annoying and arbitrary. You never know when they are going to happen and aside from hiring the highest paid training staff, there is nothing you can do to prevent them. They seem unfair. They sabotage seasons. Watching Chein Ming Wang limp off the field and Joba grab his shoulder were two turning points last season. After the first one, I was pretty sure we were fucked, and after the second one, I was positive.

This of course isn't the end of the world. It's still extremely early to be up on the ledge. Joel Sherman exhaustively laid out the Yankees' options at 3rd, including this guy. Those reasons to look forward to the new mentioned above are season are still intact (although Joba topped out at 88mph yesterday). The rotation still looks pretty damn awesome. Teams have won with lesser offenses than the one the Yanks will trot out Opening Day, even if The Human Controversy isn't in the lineup. If Mark Teixeira is your best hitter, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Still, I can't help but think: It was all good just a week ago.

Grammys Screen Grab Recap [Non-Sports]

I hate the Grammys. I hate every award show, actually. The pomp and circumstance is unbearable and the music they are honoring is almost always terrible. That said, since it was on after 60 Minutes and we had an hour of fast forward time saved up on the DVR, we skipped to the performances and roundly mocked them in the typical asshole fashion you have come to expect from Fack Youk.

The Coldplay and Jay-Z combo was actually really sick, but look at the faggy lamp that dude had on his Piano.
(touches finger to earpiece)
What's that?

Oh. I have just been told that it is in fact the reflection of faggy lampshade I picked out at IKEA on our TV. That's embarassing.

Black and White, baby. Kanye is vastly overrated but this was quite a nice touch. Us Fack Youkers approve.

I don't know who either of these lovely ladies are, but that's not important. Here is the question: A chick ripping a guitar solo: Hot or Not?

Sampson says "Not". I'm going to go with "Hot", which is probably because her and I play very similar guitars.

Except mine is a hollowbody, bitch!

I don't know who the chick with Lil' Wayne was either, but she was super-pregs.

Continuing with the theme of me not knowing who any of these people are, I lost a $20 bet (it was almost $100) to Sampson because the girl on the left was actually Miley Cirus. The lady on the right is playing a Taylor with a Koa wood top. Gorgeous.


She's only 16? I'm going to stop right there.

Like The Knicks? Root For The Cavs!

I'm not a huge basketball fan, but my primary affiliation is with the Knicks, just based on who my dad rooted for and the Starter jacket I had in 5th grade. If most of my time living in NYC didn't coincide with the Isaiah Thomas era, I probably would have caught more than one game at MSG. I'd could have been even less of a fan if our gym teacher in high school didn't just roll out six or eight basketballs and do everything but rename our gym class "45 minutes of pick-up games".

I've never followed a full season of Knicks basketball, but if they get LeBron, I'm jumping on the bandwagon before ESPN has the headline up on their homepage.

True Knicks fans (or real fans of any team) would probably take offense to this, and rightfully so. They've suffered through the bad times, and know every bench player's name. They probably know the broadcasters verbal tics and are already intimately familiar with SSOL.

When a team is winning, they become more popular because casual fans become serious ones and also because assholes like me come out of the woodwork. We might not like the sport enough to suffer through a couple bad seasons in a row, but can be enticed into watching or coming to a game if the team is competitive. We might have some real sports loyalties, just not in basketball.

Donnie Walsh and Mike D'Antoni have all but screamed from the rooftops that they are pursuing Mr. James if he is available in the 2010 offseason. They've shed almost every contractual obligation beyond the 2009/10 season except Eddie Curry and Jared Jefferies (along with the possibility of picking up Danilo Galinari's option). They are creating a very tempting void for LeBron and maybe even one other max contract to fill in "The World's Most Famous Arena", home of the league's most valuable franchise.

A void doesn't only exist on the 2010/11 Knicks roster. Despite being founded in 1946, the Knicks have only two championships to their name (1970 & 1973). As a result, they don't really have an all-time "face of the franchise" type of player. Walt Clyde Frasier left in 1977 and Patrick Ewing never won a championship. LeBron is only going to be 26 when he becomes a free agent and if he puts in 6-8 years with the Knicks, I'd give him a 98% chance to be best Knick ever. That's not a bad legacy to leave.

King James has been remarkably diplomatic while being badgered by the questions of what he's planning to do in the summer of '10. He says:

I don't know if it's going to happen. I'm so focused on this season and what we have at task with the Cavs that it's hard for me to even think about that date. But at the same time, you have to stay open-minded if you're a Knicks fan.

But it's going to be a lot of teams that are going to try to strengthen their teams, and there's going to be a lot of free agents out there in 2010, so if you guys want to sleep right now and don't wake up until July 1, 2010, then go ahead, because it's going to be a big day.

LeBron is from Akron, and the Cavs are as close as he can get to a hometown team as far as NBA franchises are concerned. Common knowledge assumes that he could be a brighter star on Broadway or with Jay-Z's Nets if the Atlantic Yards project ever goes through, but how much bigger can LeBron get? He's got a massive Nike sponsorship with incredibly well done commercials (you're gonna want to click that). He's going to make basically the same NBA salary anywhere he goes and he's already in the process of surpassing an aging Kobe as the preeminent star in the league.

I think the single biggest factor in his decision is whether or not he wins a Championship in Cleveland. Just judging by his generosity with the ball (6.6 career APG), and his demeanor in press conferences, I think he's the kind of guy who badly wants to win a title for his city, whose lack of ultimate professional sporting glory stretches back to the Browns' NFL Championship in 1964. There are certainly other factors, but giving the city of Cleveland a Championship would free him of a ton of guilt and allow to to be embraced as a hero instead of jeered as a Quisling on his trips back to town.

Maybe I'm wrong, but wouldn't that at least make it better for everyone involved? It's not like the Knicks are going to win an NBA Title in the next two years...