Alex Kreitman - Stealing signs

We’ve reached the halfway mark in Major League Baseball and the league’s top sluggers will duke it out at Yankee Stadium tonight in the Home Run Derby.

The Derby might be the most popular of all the all-star events in sports and I always look forward to it. Unfortunately this season the lineup is a little lame. Every year the pool of “true sluggers” dwindles.

Reigning champ Vladimir Guerrero isn’t even in the competition which is the biggest cop out. You’re the defending champion; you should be in the event. That’s just piss poor Vlad. I’ve lost a lot of respect.

One participant I am excited to see is Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers. Hamilton is having a remarkable season and resurgence of his life and career after battling drug addiction. Sports Illustrated had a great article on him last month that is a must read. I think I might be pulling for the Raleigh native tonight. This is a chance for him to really shine on the big stage which might culminate a complete 180 in his life.

Hamilton leads the bigs in RBI and has 21 homers

Tonight’s winner will have to paint the corners, meaning they’ll have to pull the ball. Yankee Stadium is deep in center, but has two short porches in left and center field down the lines. A short fly ball can easily turn into a home run down the lines.

I’m going to pick Hamilton as my winner. I think he needs to stay calm though in order to win. Players that get too anxious and jumpy tend to exit early in this competition. He’ll need t take a lot of pitches and pull the ball.

It won’t be easy with the following competitors stepping up to the plate in opposition.

Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies

Grady Sizemore, Cleveland Indians

Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers

Dan Uggla, Florida Marlins

Lance Berkman, Houston Astros

Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays

Justin Morneau, Minnesota Twins

But the lack of traditional sluggers is missing. I’d like to see Ryan Howard, Manny Ramirez or Ken Griffey Jr. in the contest. I think Griffey would’ve been an excellent fit. I guess these guys just don’t want to be in it anymore. David Ortiz was going to compete, but had to withdraw from the derby and the game because he’s on the DL.

There’s also no Yankees in lineup which shocks me, but I’m glad. I know the league invited A-Rod and Jeter and maybe Bobby Abreu, but I guess they declined. That has to hurt for Yankees fans. Hopefully the current lineup will provide us with some fireworks in the Bronx tonight.

So for the last few months I’ve been playing softball for the Burlington Rec Department. I’ve been playing on the West End Station team, the bar over at Elon I once basically called a second home.

It took me awhile to get my timing down at the plate since it’d been awhile since I’d last played softball or baseball competitively. It seemed the same was true for our team as a whole. We lost a lot of games in a row and it took awhile for us to pick up our first W.

We had a new lineup every game and the same guys weren’t always there. I played third base the first game, then center field for a few, then left center, then right center, then right, then shortstop, then third base again then second base and finally finished the season at first base.

I played everywhere except on the mound and behind home plate. I’m a much better infielder than I am an outfielder which my teammates quickly found out as I misplayed a few balls in the outfield. I can catch a fly ball, but tracking a line drive gives me a little bit of trouble. But I think I held my own in the infield.

When we won our first game we were all pretty pumped. It seemed we’d turned the corner towards the end of the season and we all started to click. Everyone got familiar with each other and we had a main core of guys at every game. We had high hopes for the playoffs.

Unfortunately, those hopes didn’t become reality.

Our first playoff game was against a team of jerks. They talked trash all game and were really pissing us off. I found out first hand how dirty this team was near the end of the game.

I was playing first base and playing really deep, almost at the infield grass for a left-handed batter. The ball was hit to the second baseman and I ran to cover first. I got there a little later than I would’ve like, but I turned and caught the ball as my foot found the bag.

As I caught the ball with my back turned to the runner I got popped. Out of nowhere, completely blindsiding me, I got tossed into the air and knocked to the ground by the base runner. It was a huge cheap shot.

The pitcher for my team came over right away and got my back because I was slow to get up. The runner was called out either because he was out of the base running path (which he was because there are two bases, one for the runner and one for the infielder) or because I held onto the ball long enough. I caught the ball but as I hit the ground, my arm crashed against the dirt and the ball came loose. I was real slow to get up.

Unfortunately we lost the game too and I was sore as hell the next day.

Our second game was the next night so I had to tough it out and get my game face on. It rained like crazy before the game and during the first inning. We were a better team than the other guys, but got off to a slow start. They got a lot of ground ball hits and didn’t really hit anything hard, but they stretched singles into doubles and got ahead early, but we weren’t done yet.

Then one of our players got hit in the head with the ball while running the bases and the following inning fell to the ground in the outfield, probably with a concussion. He left the game and we had to play a man down.

Unfortunately, we had to take an out every time his spot came in the lineup. And that happened three times I think during our rally. We eventually tied the game up in the top of the last inning, but the other team had ne last shot.

We got a quick out and then their cleanup hitter stepped up to the plate. He hadn’t done anything all game, but I knew he was due for a big hit. And just like that he smashed a home run to left field and the game was over. Our season had ended on one pitch and one swing,

But it was a good effort, a good season and we improved a lot. I also had a blast playing and hopefully we’ll play again next season or in the fall. I think we’ll be better with a season under our belts.

Retired Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre is making headlines again. Not for his athletic ability, gun-slinging arm or grit and guts on the field. He’s in the headlines because he might want to come out of retirement.

I am so sick and tired of players in all sports retiring and then coming back. It seems like it started with Michael Jordan, but I’m sure it went on long before him. Make up your mind.

If you’re a banker, an accountant, a lawyer or a doctor, you don’t retire and then a few months say, you know what, “I miss this job; I think I’m going to come out of retirement.” That’s absurd.

My advice to Favre is to take your millions of dollars and go enjoy your life. He should be spending time with his family, seeing the world, relaxing, doing normal things he didn’t get to do during his long and successful NFL career. The man is a first-ballot Hall of Famer and has had a heck of a run. He even surprised the nation last season by bring the Packer to within a game of the Super Bowl with a team full of no names, or maybe not no names, but guys who weren’t super stars.

In recent weeks, Favre has been talking about how he misses the NFL and might want to come back. He’s told that to former teammates and current Packers players who have then of course shared it with the media. Then there came the report that Favre had text message Green Bay’s GM to which he responded with “I’m on vacation, we’ll talk when I get back.”

So does he want to come back? Who knows? Today, Green Bay’s front office is saying that they believe he’ll stay retired, but don’t take that as the Gospel truth.

The thing of it is, Favre could come back and the Packers might not even take him back. At some point they need to move on and develop their quarterback of the future. Favre has see-sawed every season for probably the last five about coming back or retiring and he finally retired. Don’t flip-flop again, just stick with your decision and let someone else hog the headlines. Go enjoy being retired. Us middle-class folk would love to switch places.

There was a day when Lance Armstrong dominated summer headlines as the sport of cycling stole the sports stage in July.

That day is no more.

After steroids and cheating consumed a once popular sport, the Tour de France is just a memory for most. That once famous and anticipated race began over the weekend but you wouldn’t have known. The national attention and coverage has been nonexistent as it should be.

American Floyd Landis won the Tour de France in 2006 only to have his title stripped after testing positive for synthetic testosterone. He was a cheater and wasn’t man enough to admit it. Instead he appealed and appealed and appealed and appealed. But time and time again the drug test and ruling was upheld.

The betrayal of a champion who had let down his fans and the game was just too much for the sport and now it hangs on at every breath.

Can you name a single cyclist in this year’s Tour de France? I can’t and I don’t want to.

The picture I have painted in my mind is of Landis cycling into Paris with a glass of champagne, celebrating as he finished the final stage in 2006. It was such a wonderful image. Landis picked up the torch of American cycling success started by Armstrong, but then he let us down. He was a fraud.

I care not to watch or pay attention to that once great race any longer. It used to be nice just to see the highlights on Sportscenter and see who would wear the famed “yellow jersey.” But now it all seems pointless.

The sport was so consumed with steroids that much of the world and probably of the U.S. lost respect for it and will no longer support cycling.

A dark cloud swarmed the sport for the last few years because of the juiced-up image it portrayed, but now that cloud has gone because no one even cares any more.

In one of the greatest Wimbledon matches of all time, Rafael Nadal held off the feisty Roger Federer to win his first tournament on grass. But did I watch the epic event? No.

It wasn’t by choice that I didn’t see a single serve or volley it was because I didn’t have cable until this morning.

You see, I moved into a new apartment over a week ago and couldn’t get Time Warner Cable out to my place until today. It was torture. But now I’m good to go.

I can’t talk much about the tennis match since I wasn’t able to watch nor have I had much time to read about today so I’ll defer to the gobs of other sporting news and notes I want to discuss.

First, the MLB All-Star rosters. The rosters for the July 15 event have been released and they are of course headlines by members of my favorite team, the Boston Red Sox. Hooray. I also haven’t had time to analyze the rosters yet, so I’ll get to my list of snubs later in the week.

One thing I will touch on or rant about is the Home Run Derby. Josh Hamilton, Dan Uggla, Chase Utley, Lance Berkman and Grady Sizemore have already signed on to compete. Defending champ Vladimir Guerrero has also said he’ll participate which leaves two more spots.

Unfortunately, going by tradition, because the derby and game will be held at Yankee Stadium, a member of the Bronx Bombers will probably be chosen. Here’s my argument there.

The main candidates from the Yankees are as follows: Alex Rodriguez because he’s one of the best players in the game, Jason Giambi because he’s the team’s “slugger” and Derek Jeter because he’s the face of the franchise.

Here is why none of them should be asked to participate.

No one likes A-Rod. He’s in the news every week and it’s never for anything positive. He’s overpaid and has never even been to the World Series. Some might even argue that he has cursed the game’s most successful franchise.

The man cheats on his wife, to which she’s filed for divorce, and has been recently paired with Madonna. Madonna? Are you kidding me? Isn’t she like 50 and not hot any more? What happened to the Vegas stripper that made the front page of the New York Daily News? Although dirty, she at least looked attractive.

Giambi shouldn’t be rewarded with a chance to participate because he openly admitted to steroid use. He is and should always be linked to cheating. He is a disgrace to the game and that stupid mustache he’s sporting lately only reminds me of that. Why should someone who openly admitted to disgracing the game be allowed to compete?

Lastly, Jeter shouldn’t be allowed to participate because he’s not a home run hitter. I’m tired of guys without power being allowed into the Derby. Jeter will be the guy to hit zero bombs. Actually, I take it back, let him play, let him zero and let him get booed off the field by his own fans. Down with the Evil Empire!

Not that the Tampa Bay Rays or Burlington Royals teams read my blog, but I find it a little ironic that the last two teams I’ve ripped have countered with wins.

I wrote earlier this week that the Rays needed to prove they can beat good teams in their division to be taken as serious contender. Enter the Boston Red Sox. Boston fell victim to a three-game sweep at the hands of Tampa Bay answering my demands for beating top teams.

I wish I could take it back.

Wednesday I ripped on the Burlington Royals after attending Monday night’s game. I said they wern’t trying hard enough and look lazy out there. Well what did the Royals go ahead and do? They won on the road against the Danville Braves.

Granted the Royals are still just 2-13, but I took note that my comments are being answered. It’s probably just coincidental, but it’s something to think about.

Everyone have a happy Fourth of July.

I made my first trip out to Burlington Athletic Stadium this summer on Monday and I was quite disappointed.

Not with stadium because the organization made some improvements during the offseason and it looks as good as ever, which wasn’t great to begin with, but it’s better. The field itself is in great shape, but the team stinks.

I went over to shoot some video and stayed for about five innings. What I witnessed should have been embarrassing for the Burlington Royals players.

The Elizabethton Twins were in town and they pounded the Royals all over the field. Burlington’s starter got shelled and he had no help from his defense. Burlington’s outfielders showed no effort whatsoever. I remember one play really well. It was a soft fly ball to short center field and the outfielder came in lazily and just let it drop in front of him and a run scored. He made no effort to hustle after it, to dive or to slide. He didn’t even try.

The left fielder wasn’t much better. He came in slow for a base hit and booted it for an error, allowing another run in. It was sad.

If possible, the offense might have been worse. The Royals couldn’t buy a hit. It was sad. They were facing a tough lefty who had good stuff, but they went out swinging at the first or second pitch every time up. No patience.

I know this is a young team, but so are all the teams in the Appalachian League. I just hope the Royals improve so it’s fun to go watch them play. The crowd out there, granted it was just after 5 p.m. because it was a doubleheader, was really weak. I hope more people come out to watch because maybe with some support they’ll get better. Maybe.

It seems like just yesterday that I witnessed Erik Cole return from a fractured vertebra in the Stanley Cup Finals, an injury that was supposed to keep him out for the season.

Now Cole is leaving Raleigh.

I remember chatting with Cole from time to time during the 2005-06 season in the RBC Center press area. Our brief chats usually came while grabbing a hot dog or a soda or a bag of popcorn, standard snack items in Raleigh. Cole was always a friendly guy, growing out a thick beard while watching his teammates win the Southeast Division and run through the playoffs.

Cole was a nonfactor for most of the playoffs, actually just about all of them, but while watching Game 6 of the finals in Edmonton against the Oilers, I was stunned to see Cole skating on the ice during warmups. Doctors had cleared him to play, determining that he couldn’t do any more damage to his vertebra and that it would never really heal any more than it already had. And seeing him watch from upstairs all those games, Cole jumped at the chance to get his name on the Stanley Cup.

The Canes lost that game 4-0 and Cole took just two shots in 18 minutes on the ice, but his presence seemed huge at the time and became a story within the story. Because with the Game 6 loss, Carolina was headed back to Raleigh for Game 7.

Cole played even less in Game 7, just 12 minutes, and took only one shot, but the Canes won 3-1 and Cole joined his teammates in hoisting the Cup and skating around the RBC Center in victory. That night was by far the coolest day on the job I’ve ever had.

But now, more than two years after that day, the Canes have traded Cole, sending him to Stanley Cup rival Oilers for defenseman Joni Pitkanen.

The Canes were in need of defenseman, but it’s still a sad day. It’s probably more sad for me because I miss covering sports and getting to go to big games like I did back then. Sports are my passion and I often find myself missing those times.

Monday I wrote about the Tampa Bay Rays needing to step things up if they wanted to stay in first place. For anyone that read the paper today or checked online knows that the Rays beat the Red Sox 5-4. I kind of wish I didn’t light a fire under Tampa Bay’s ass. Oh well, it’s a long season.

We’re approaching the halfway point in the 2008 Major League Baseball season and who would’ve guessed or predicted that the Tampa Bay Rays would be in first place in the always competitive American League East.

Not me and not anyone.

I don’t know if it was dropping the word “Devil” from the Mascot name or what, but these Tampa Bay guys are really lighting it up against the toughest competition. But if the Rays are to be a serious contender come September then they must learn to beat their division rivals, the Red Sox.

The Rays swept the Sox during their first meeting which seemed like ages ago, but have been swept in the last two series giving Boston a 3-6 edge on the season. Tampa Bay is 5-5 against the third-place New York Yankees.

Money has been the name of the game in the A.L. East for awhile now, with Boston’s payroll at just over $133 million and New York’s at a little over $209 million. Toronto comes up shy of $100 million and Baltimore’s is around $67 million, but the Rays come in at just under $44 million, way lower than their competition.

So what gives?

The Rays own the best record in the entire league and have 49 wins, second to only the Sox. A few other clubs also have 49. But Tampa Bay is having success with its youngsters. It has been developing a tremendous farm system through its tough times at the Major League level. While the Rays have been sucking, the Durham Bulls and other minor league squads have had success.

Another big test though comes tonight when the Rays play host to the second-place Red Sox. Tampa Bay needs to win the series here to make a statement heading into the All-Star break. Look for tensions to be high since last time out is when Coco Crisp got into it with pitcher James Shields. The benches cleared and a major brawl ensued. Look for some fireworks in response to that. I wouldn’t be surprised if Crisp got beaned once or twice in the series.

Shields pitches tonight in the comfort of Tropicana Field. But I don’t know if he’ll be too comfortable there since most road venues are havens for visiting Sox fans. We Bostonians travel well to support our guys. Look for a lot of boos tonight.

You can watch Wednesday night’s game on ESPN. I wish I could watch, but I just moved and won’t have cable.

The NBA has had image problems for awhile now and the brawl between the Kings and Pacers a few years back only heightened the issue.

I can’t help but wonder if part of the negative image comes because the NBA is just too immature. I watched most of the NBA Draft last night and wasn’t surprised with the top three picks since they had been plastered all over ESPN as easy predictions for weeks.

But when you stop and think about those first three picks, Derrick Rose (Memphis), Michael Beasley (Kansas State) and O.J. Mayo (Southern Cal) you note that they’re all freshman. These young men are only about 19 years old. They’re not even of legal age to drink, but now they are entering into the real world as professional athletes.

I understand it’s all about the money when it comes to joining pro otherwise everyone would stay in college four years because the NCAA March Madness Tournament is much more exciting than the NBA playoffs. But that being said, this year’s draft had a record number of freshman picks in the lottery and first round overall.

By my count there were 10 freshmen selected, four of the first five picks were diaper dandies, and four other players were international players under 20 years of age. This immaturity could be a reason for the NBA’s negative image.

I do think the image got better this year, not counting the scandals with NBA officiating, but the off the court violence and crime activity. Still, one would wonder if requiring players to stay in college up to a certain point would help solve this problem.

But I’ll disprove my point. The NFL does this and look at its problems with Pacman Jones and others. I think when it comes down to it with all the big bucks flying around greed might be the reason for all the negative occurrences. Money causes problems whether you have it or you don’t.