Lotta Green, Not A Lot of Ring

You can't buy happiness. You can't buy love. You can buy diamonds, but not the kind the New York Yankees desire.

For some time now, the Yankees have had the highest payroll in Major League Baseball by acquiring big name free agents in the offseason. This year was no exception with A.J. Burnett, C.C Sabathia, and Mark Teixeira all getting multimillion dollar deals. To top it off, the Yankees built a brand new stadium that has ticket prices soaring despite the economic turmoil.

However, they are again off the a slow start with their starting pitching getting rocked. Yesterday, the Cleveland Indians put up 22 runs on the Yankees, 14 of which were scored in the second inning. Chien Ming Wang has a 34.50 ERA through three starts while number one pitcher C.C. Sabathia is winless. A-Rod is on the DL after steroids have finally caught up with his body which will be slowly deteriorating for the next 10 years.

Diamonds are a girls best friend and for MLB teams, the ultimate individual trophy for a championship season. However, the Steinbrenner's green bills still leave the Yankees with no frills. Until next time...

Branden E. Jones

Homecooking Punches Ticket

21 seasons and eight different teams. Gary Sheffield, an American born professional baseball player, hit the magic mark of 500 home runs last night. Prior to the steroid era of the late 80's and entire 90's, 500 long balls were the benchmark for power hitters for the Hall of Fame. However, every player that hits that mark and played during this era has been put under a microscope.

The nomadic Sheffield should be the exception to this and be a first ballot Hall of Famer when he decides to hang up the bat and glove. Despite an injury ridden career, Sheffield has batted at a .292 clip with all the power numbers that rival the games great. We will never know what those numbers would have been had he remained healthy in his prime and completed just one full season.

He passes the number test, but will now face the scrutiny of the media when it comes to the eye test. If you look at pictures of Sheffield from his rookie season, his body has matured at a normal progression with no ups and downs or over the top muscular growth spurts. In comparison, the home run king Barry Bonds went from a slim Pittsburgh Pirate to a watermelon sized head San Francisco Giant, along with the change of voice and jawline accompanied with steroid use.

Not many kids say I want to be like Gary Sheffield, instead we hear A-Rod, Manny Ramirez, Big Pappy, and other stars. The kids of America need to idolize a home grown, do it the right way star like Sheffield. Until next time...

Branden E. Jones

A Turn for the Worst

After my workout this morning, my fiance called and told me the horrible news that 22-year-old Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed in a hit and run accident at 12:30 am this morning. When it comes to sports figures, we often hear the negatives such as Plaxico Burress shooting himself, Michael Vick fighting/killing dogs, numerous baseball players using steroids, and so on and so forth. However, we now have a young man, who pitched six innings coupled with no earned runs and five strikeouts last night before being murdered by a cowardly driver shortly after his first game of the 2009 season.

When sports stars commit such crimes or make mistakes, we give them a lot of face time in the media while poking and prodding every facet of their life and trial until we are blue in the face. This is an unfortunate tragedy in which the sports star is on the other side of the fence. That being the case, I want the coward that ran the red light and took the life of three men and left another critically injured to be put in the spotlight along with his family and friends like the media does to athletes when they have lapses in good judgment. His entire life should be unfolded for the nation to see and have a regular Joe get the negative facetime that athletes get when they mess up.

We give murderers, rapists, arsonists, burglars, and other menaces to society the first news story or the biggest articles in papers, but lets focus on the positive for once. Let us not forget Nick Adenhart and the other two men whose lives were taken unjustly on an Orange County road Thursday morning. Until next time...

Branden E. Jones