Manny Arrives On Time!

Things are already looking good for the defending champion Boston Red Sox as star slugger shows up on time. If any other player shows up on time it is no big deal ,but this the aura of Manny and after a sub par year Manny clearly is motivated to have a much better individual performance and is going to be needed because I highly doubt Mike Lowell will a repeat of last year. Although I expect a good year from Lowell in my opinion Manny remains the offensive key for the 2008 Red Sox. He is getting older and this is his final year in his contract. A big year out of Manny will help everyone involved as he is either going to receive big offers from other teams or convince the Red Sox that he still has it.

As the season grows closer so does the anticipation of watching the Red Sox attempt to defend their championship. Spring training is now under way with all the big questions swirling around such as; who will play Center field? Will the young pitchers live up to potential? Or will Ortiz be healthy the entire season? To me those are all important issues, but the AL has gotten much better over the off-season and the Red Sox lineup is full of questions. One of the questions is a new one and that is Will Manny start to show his age? Last year was a down year for his standards and like most players his age that trend will continue. If he were to continue to decline I think the Red Sox offense could take a huge hit and be forced to rely on guys like Dustin Pedroia who looked great last year, but is still young, Ellsbury who has yet to prove he can play everyday and J.D. Drew who has serious issues last year. I don't think the offense will become a problem, but with age Manny's health also remains an issue and that is why Manny is the most crucial part of the 2008 Red Sox. Many of the Red Sox followers will say that Beckett is the key, but I believe he will come out strong again this year and prove he is one of the elite pitchers in the game.

Despite all the issues surrounding Manny I think he has started off spring training in the right manner, which is, "Business as usual". In a year where his focus has to be completely on baseball and not on other issues he has shown already that this will be a big year for Manny.

NBA 1st Half Recap

So far the 2007-2008 NBA season has been full of drama, trades and re-emergences. This season has followed the trend of the last few years, which is domination of the Western Conference over the East. However this year there is a new contender out of the East and that is the Celtics. The addition of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett has proved to be a smart move. What keeps things interesting in the East is the continued success of the Celtics old rival, the Pistons. It seems this team is ready to go back to the NBA Finals, something they haven't been able to do without Ben Wallace and this might be the year where they get back to the promise land. The Pistons and Celtics have split their season series with both road teams winning. In the first match-up the Celtics were in command most of the game until the Pistons turned the tables in the fourth and showed their team can still win the huge games with the leadership of Chauncey Billups. The second meeting was highlighted by the emergence of Glen "Big Baby" Davis as the Pistons's defense was good enough to contain the Big 3, which lead to many opportunities for Davis. The rest of the Eastern Conference doesn't present a huge threat with the exception of the Cavs who are lead by Lebron James. Last year James proved he could take his team to the finals with a pretty similar team to this years, but they have proven that they aren't as good. The second half of the year is going to be crucial for the Cavs as they have yet to establish themselves as a consistent threat. The last contender is the Orland Magic who are young, talented and well coached. They may not be ready yet, but still present a threat.

The Western Conference has been as competitive a conference as you will find in sports. There are currently ten teams with winning records heading into the All-Star break. This year has been full of winning streaks and blockbuster deals that have made the Western Conference as fun to watch as ever. Once the Jazz traded for Kyle Korver it set off a domino effect which ended up with the Suns acquiring Shaq, the Warriors signing Chris Webber, Pau Gasol traded to the Lakers and now the Mavs are in the process of trading for Jason Kidd. All of this is going to make for a great playoff run and playoffs. The one true surprise has been the New Orleans Hornets. They have built their team perfectly over the past few years, drafting All-Stars Chris Paul and David West. They also acquired Peja Stojakovic and Tyson Chandler who both have played big roles for the Hornets. The rest of the top half of the West is rounded out with the Mavs and Suns who both have NBA Finals or bust on their mind. Then there is the Jazz who have quietly kept the lead in the Northwest Division. The next two teams in the standings are in somewhat unexpected spots, first off the Lakers who were considered a tough team, but when Bynum went down they appeared to fall out of contention until they acquired Gasol, which some people consider one of the best trades in NBA history. Following them are the Spurs who have been ravaged by injuries all year long, but should be getting healthy at the right time and the Spurs are surely no team to overlook. The next three teams are Houston, Denver and Golden State, all teams that would just love a chance to get into the dance because once they're in there is no telling what kind of run they could go on similar to last year's Jazz and Warriors. The last playoff contender is the surprising and young Trail Blazers. They emerged into the pack with an excellent December run, but it appears they are starting to fade, which was expected. However they have a very bright future with Greg Oden next year.

Those are your contenders for the NBA, but we shouldn't forget about the bottom of the pack, which is highlighted (or low lighted) with the disaster that is the Miami Heat. They proved that they were building a team for one run and didn't consider the future as they got old fast. To make things worse Dwyane Wade has been hurt and unable to carry the team.

The Spectacle That Is Arlen Specter

With all the attention on the Superbowl and it's big stage, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania used this as a forum to air his complaints of how the NFL handled the Spygate incident. This to me is odd because there are many more important problems in the NFL as well as the country. As a senior senator I'd expect Specter to find a way to be a little more productive because I don't know what he expects to gain in this witch hunt. All this got me thinking about what his true motivation is and it sure does seem like Specter has a hidden agenda. He has made it known publicly many times in the past including last week that he is a faithful fan of the Philadelphia Eagles. He even questioned the authenticity of the Patriots victory over the Eagles in Superbowl 39. So that clearly appears as a conflict of interest, is he fighting the NFL because of their dictatorship meantality or is it because he is a sour Eagles fan. Well this isn't the first time with Specter and NFL. Back in 2004 when there was a dispute between the Eagles and Terrell Owens he stepped in and tried to make things right, but was unsuccessful and critized in Washington for this. This goes even deeper with Specter, the two biggest financial contributors to his campaign are Comcast and the law firm which represents Comcast. This is significant because the NFL and Comcast have had many issues since the birth of the NFL Network and how the NFL is regulating it. It was Comcast who got the raw end of the deal when the NFL decided to simulcast the final regular season game between the Patriots and Giants. Many times has Specter come to Comcast's defense in issues in Washington. This brings me to my point, what is Specter's true motivation. It seems that there are several conflicts of interest involved in the ongoing dispute between the NFL and Specter, and if it is true that commissioner Roger Goodell didn't respond to two letters sent to the NFL from Specter, now we know why.