When Opportunity Knocks, will Carmelo Answer?

Winning a championship in sports is an extremely difficult task in any level of competition. Winning a D1 college championship in basketball is extraordinarily difficult in the one-game playoff system that is March Madness. Winning an Olympic gold medal poses an even greater difficulty in the fact that you have to first be good enough to be selected to the team of the greatest in the world and still go out and defeat the best players from every other country. Winning an NBA championship may be the greatest difficulty because of the length of the season, postseason, the opponents and the wear and tear on the body. Only eight basketball players have ever accomplished the feat of winning all three and there is another that has an opportunity to do so.

LeBron James and Kevin Durant are arguably the two best players in the NBA today. While both have won an Olympic gold medal, neither will have a chance to win an NCAA title as LeBron never attended college and Durant played only one season, losing in the tournament. Their legacies will ultimately be defined solely by their careers in the NBA. Carmelo Anthony, on the other hand, has a chance to succeed anything those two men and almost every other NBA basketball player in history has ever done: win an NCAA title, an Olympic Gold medal and an NBA Championship.

While that in itself would be historic he already has two Olympic Gold medals and only one other man has ever won two gold medals as well as a college title and professional title. You may have heard of that man, his name is Michael Jordan. Carmelo has an opportunity to join Michael Jordan as the only people to ever win in all the biggest stages and twice for their country. But Carmelo doesn’t need to stop there. In two years, he will probably play in the Olympics again and go for a third gold medal which would put him in even more exclusive territory, his own.

Before we think about Anthony winning a third gold medal his current resume still lacks the NBA title and let’s face it, he’s not going to win in New York. Back in January Melo scored a career-high 63 points in a game, and no one batted an eyelash. LeBron scored 62 points last week, one fewer than Melo, and the story the next day was about how it was one of the all-time great performances. What does that tell you? No one cares about basketball in New York; no one cares about the Knicks. Carmelo needs a championship ring to be considered an all-time great player. His legacy will always be in doubt until he gets one, if he gets one.

At the end of this season he has a chance to leave New York and go elsewhere to win a title. But there is one thing that could truly hold that up, money. If Melo leaves New York he will be leaving a lot of money on the table. The question that he needs to ask himself is How much is it worth to win a ring? Carmelo has a ton of money and it’s still not like he will be playing for free no matter where he goes. As the incumbent team, the Knicks can offer him an extra year and $33million more than any other team. Leaving the Knicks would mean leaving that money and extra year on the table. Not only that but there aren’t many places he can go that give him a great chance at winning.

If he decides to leave the Knicks in search for a title and another big market, his choices will be extremely limited. In fact there may only be one choice, Chicago. The Bulls have put together a roster that plays hard every day. They’ve played the better part of two consecutive seasons without their best player, Derrick Rose—a former MVP—and have surpassed every expectation. They currently sit in fourth place in the Eastern Conference and last year they made it to the second round of the playoffs with a third string starting point guard. According to many news outlets the Bulls will go hard after Carmelo this offseason and it will be in both their best interests to join forces.

The Bulls went to New York last week and laid a beating on the Knicks; they jumped off to a 16 to one lead and never looked back and won 109-90. Anthony witnessed firsthand how good the Bulls can be without him and Rose. Imagine what they could be with him and Rose. The Bulls need Melo to get past LeBron’s Heat. Melo needs the Bulls to become a champion. They would make a perfect match.

Michael Jordan is the greatest player ever to wear a basketball uniform but one ring for Carmelo puts him in the same territory as Jordan. One ring and one more gold medal put him in his own exclusive territory. Carmelo has a choice coming up, he can continue losing in New York or he can win that elusive ring. To do so, though, he’ll have to wear the same uniform as the greatest ever.

If the Knicks left New York, would anyone notice...or even care?

New York and sports go hand-in-hand. There have been a long line of great sports franchises that have come from the New York region. The rich history of winning sports franchises in New York has made the destination a must-see in all sports. Yankee Stadium and Madison Square Garden are two of the most well-known sports complexes in the world. While sports in New York have such a strong link in most sports, basketball in New York hasn’t been so affable.

Many people thought LeBron James would sign with the New York Knicks following his reign in Cleveland. People thought the biggest star needed to play on the biggest stage. In baseball, yes, New York is the biggest stage. In football New York is, arguably, the biggest stage. But New York being the biggest stage in basketball is laughable.

In New York alone the Knicks are, at best, the fifth most liked franchise behind both baseball teams and both football teams. Even the New York Rangers in hockey might be more well-liked than the Knicks. The Knicks have won two championships since their inception in 1946 and those were in the early 1970’s. The team was able to bring in one of the best offensive players in Carmelo Anthony and they still can’t win.

When it comes to the NBA fans don’t think of the Knicks first. The history of the league is based around two franchises, the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. Following them would be the Chicago Bulls because of Jordan’s legacy and then there are a handful of teams that would come before the Knicks. In the NBA, New York is not an ideal location for anyone. The Knicks franchise has weak ownership, front office and coaching. There is no discipline on the players and they do one thing consistently well, lose.

Ask a New York sports fan the last time the Mets won a championship. They will know it was 1986; they’ll probably be able to tell you the defining moment of the World Series was when Bill Buckner let the ball roll through his legs. Ask that fan when the last time the Jets won a Super Bowl was. While they might not know the season, 1968-69, they should be able to tell you Joe Namath guaranteed victory over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts. The point is the Mets and Jets usually play second fiddle to the Yankees and Giants and fans can still tell you about their greatest successes.

Besides playing in New York in “the most famous arena in the world,” there isn’t much pull to the Knicks. The Knicks haven’t been truly relevant since the 90’s when Patrick Ewing would go head-to-head with Jordan every year. Now they’re boring. They bring in stars and still lose. They’re not even good enough for opposing team’s fans to hate them because they have no substance. They’re not interesting anymore.

It will take a lot for the Knicks to be truly relevant and fun to watch again. They aren’t going to be able to bring great players so they will have to build a winning franchise with great drafts, smart trades and good personnel decisions. If they keep the status quo they will be in danger of playing second fiddle to the Brooklyn Nets, if they aren’t already.

Brett Gardner and the Yankees are a Perfect Fit

Hustle has been an on-going theme for me since the beginning of the off-season. I’ve centered much of my discussion around Robinson Cano and his lack of hustle and why the Yankees needed to go another direction. The off-season brought a lot of new faces to the Yankees organization and most of those players epitomize the word hustle but none more than the man whose contract they’ve recently extended; Brett Gardner.

Gardner will never be the most talented baseball player, he will never be the biggest baseball player and he will probably never be the best player on his team. But you will never see anyone give more effort than Gardner. Yankees fans have nicknamed his “GGBG” or Gritty, Gutsy Brett Gardner for the amount of effort he displays.

Gardner will never hit 20 homeruns in a season or drive in 80 runs but the Yankees will never ask him to do that. What they need from Gardner is exactly what he gives them: Greasy, fast speed. They need him to steal bases, beat out infield grounders to first and track down baseballs in the outfield. They need him to bunt for hits, move runners over and score runs. They’re not interested in balls flying over the right field fence.

Gardner was given a 5’10” body and 185 pounds to work with, hardly a baseball player’s physique. The average height and weight of a MLB player is between 6’1” and 6’2” between 205 and 210 pounds. What he wasn’t gifted with in size though, he makes up for in speed. The guy can flat out run fast. In 2011 he led the league in stolen bases with 49 and the year before that he had 47. Those numbers have dipped the last couple of years which include an injury-plagued 2012 season where he swiped only two bags and 2013 he “only” had 24 stolen bases. While 2013 was a down year in stolen bases he led the league in triples with 10. And that says a lot for a guy who plays his home games in Yankee Stadium, a notoriously small ballpark.

Gardner embodies everything the Yankees used to be known for. When they won four championships in five years between 1996 and 2000 they were all a bunch of hard-nosed ballplayers that put it on the line on a daily basis. It’s been a long time since the Yankees have had a team built around guys in their prime like that. This year is a return to that for the Yanks. They’ve added a tough-guy catcher Brian McCann, an outfielder who never takes a play off in Jacoby Ellsbury, a young pitcher who is known to crave big-game situations in Japanese sensation Masahiro Tanaka and now re-upping Gardner for another four years. It shows you something when they are willing to let their best player go in return for a group of high-character, hard-working guys.

Maybe the Yankees are saying they’re sick of the “white-collar professional” stigma that has plagued them over the past decade and they're realizing winning takes more than just professionalism. The Yankees are looking for guys that will fit both mindsets. Guys who give you everything they have while still carrying themselves “the Yankee way.” And Brett Gardner is the guy that embodies both those beliefs.

Besides Jeter, Gardner is the only home-grown everyday player. With Jeter’s impending retirement the Yankees are in need of a new leader. While Gardner will probably never be captain he can certainly be that leader. He needs to do it the same way Jeter did and it comes from one word: hustle. He needs to lead by example and show every guy on the team there is no reason to not give it your all.

The Yankees are only one year away from a complete changing of the guards as the last piece of the 90’s dynasty will be gone. But the Yankees are giving Gardner a chance to be the face of the new guard and maybe a new dynasty.

Mariners McClendon Prepares for Defeat

“…he just wouldn’t make that choice to run hard all the time. The reasons aren’t going to make sense. He might say his legs didn’t feel good, or he was playing every day and needed to save his energy. To me there was no acceptable answer.”
-Kevin Long

"I understand I get it. I was a major league player. There are times when you hit balls and you're frustrated as hell and you don't give it 100 percent. As long as you don't dog it down the line, what's the difference between 65 and 85 percent? Just run down the line. Sometimes that stuff is blown out of proportion.”
-Lloyd McClendon

Kevin Long, Yankees hitting coach, opened his mouth about Robinson Cano’s lack of hustle during his tenure with the Yankees. Cano’s new manager Lloyd McClendon of the Mariners fired back regarding Long’s comments. While the media is more focused on the argument between these two coaches, there is an underlying story that Mariners fans and Little League coaches across the nation should fear.

When a person starts playing baseball one of the first lessons they learn is hustle. That no matter the situation; whether you ground the ball to second base or hit a double in the gap, you need to run as hard as you can. Now I’ve never played a single MLB game in my life, not to mention 162 games in one season so I can’t attest to how tired a player might be on game 150. But as Long said, I don’t think there is an acceptable answer to not hustling.

McClendon on the other hand has now admitted that a lack of hustle is OK in his book, as long as the player is “frustrated as hell.” Mariners fans should heed warning right now because of that one comment. This man is leading the Seattle Mariners franchise and his first real public comments say that he is OK with players not hustling. But then he goes on to say, “What’s the difference between 65 and 85 percent?” The real answer to that question is that you should never know. No player should ever try at 65% or 85%.

I’m a Yankees fan so I am biased but I truly believe Yankees, Red Sox and Cardinals fans are the most intelligent fan-bases in baseball. Yankees fans have noticed that Cano doesn’t give it his all and while the initial sting of losing our second baseman hurt; we’ve realized in the long-run it’s better for the team. The Yankees lost a great ballplayer in Cano but they picked up a lot of guys who are known to play hard and hustle on every play. 

McClendon also mentions that he played baseball so he understands the frustrations. But take into account that he batted .244, with 294 career hits. And now he admits to not hustling on some of those at-bats. Maybe if he tried harder he could have been a better player. Maybe if he hustled in his career 100% of the time people would remember him in a positive light. David Eckstein wasn’t a great baseball player but I remember him for one thing—giving the game everything he had. In his career Eckstein batted .280 with 1,414 hits. He gave baseball everything and in 2006 baseball gave back to him when he won the World Series MVP.

McClendon might believe that not hustling to first base is blown out of proportion but the truth is that fans notice these things. He needs to realize that, at the end of the day, when a player of his doesn’t hustle it’s the fans, who pay to watch that player, who will be “frustrated as hell” when their team loses.

What Derek Jeter Means to me

There’s a famous saying that goes, “All good things must come to an end.” I don’t know who said and frankly it’s not very important. Although I’d grown up a Yankees fan I don’t remember anything before the 1995 season. My memories of that year was going to my first Yankees game and the Yankees losing to the Mariners in the ALDS. The following year the Yankees won their first World Series of my lifetime anchored by rookie shortstop Derek Jeter.

Although Jeter was never my favorite Yankee I now realize he means more to me than any Yankee I’ve ever rooted for. Today Jeter announced he was going to retire at the end of the season and I got very emotional. I wasn’t just emotional that I’d be losing Jeter but I realized I was losing a part of my childhood. I think I always felt that as long as Jeter played a part of the 10-year-old boy that watched him as a rookie still existed.

Jeter symbolizes the beginning of what I remember as a Yankees fan. Along with Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams and Andy Pettitte, Jeter represented a core of home grown Yankees that I cheered for day-in and day-out for six to seven months each year. From 1996 to 2000 I was one of the luckiest baseball fans in the world. I saw my team win four championships in five years. It was a magical time that I hoped would never end. I grew up knowing nothing except championships and I expected it every year.

Slowly those five players started to leave the Yankees. Pettitte was first, followed by Bernie then Posada. I was lucky enough to see Pettitte return to the Yankees twice, once from the Astros and once from retirement. But as the number of these core Yankees dwindled a part of me was always OK with it because we at least still had Jeter. No matter what Jeter wasn’t going anywhere. After Posada’s retirement Pettitte, Rivera and Jeter were the only remaining stalwarts of a dynasty that had long ago diminished.

Yankees fans knew Rivera’s and Pettitte’s days were numbered and in 2013 both players retired for good. Although Pettitte was my favorite Yankee at the time I was OK with it, I believed it was their time, and once again we still had Jeter. Everything was going to be OK because we still had Jeter. I believed Jeter’s competitive nature would drive him to play another three or four years, at minimum. And I was happy with that.

Then today I received a notification on my phone saying Jeter would be retiring at the end of the season. I likened the sentiment to something my dad said to me and my mom the day our family dog had died, “We all knew this day was coming but it doesn’t make it any easier when it does.” It’s true, we did know this day had to come at some point. But no one knew it would be today. No one knew it would be this soon.

In reality though, it’s not too soon. Just because Jeter plays as hard as he did when he was 21, he’s not. He’s 39, soon to be 40. It makes me realize that part of my childhood is coming to an end. It’s an era that went by too quickly. As long as I had Jeter, I could hold onto that 10-year-old Yankee fan inside me that knew nothing about loss, who cheered his heart out for the Yankees.

Derek Jeter is retiring from baseball and the New York Yankees. It’s a sad day for me. I’ll miss Jeter and the Yankees that I grew up loving. But baseball will continue. The Yankees will field a team in 2015 without Jeter helming shortstop. Derek Jeter was a good thing for the Yankees and for me. It will be tough to see him go but all good things must come to an end.

Winning your Fantasy Baseball League

I’m not an expert on winning Fantasy Baseball. This article should probably be called “Coming in 3^rd Place in your Fantasy Baseball league” since two of the last three years I’ve finished as the second runner-up (And that’s not including 4 out of 5 years in 3^rd place in Fantasy Football also). But last year I finally prevailed as the baseball league champ and now I feel that I’m at least semi-qualified to write an article on winning in fantasy baseball.

In almost every fantasy sport you have to nail your first round pick, in baseball it isn’t as important as you think. Last year I selected Matt Kemp as my first pick (third overall pick of the draft). It wasn’t a terrible pick; he was only 1 year removed from a second place MVP season. But then he missed more than half my season. He sat on my DL for more games than he played. His contributions while on the field were very good, though. That being said, you can make up from a bad first-round draft pick.

I drafted a very strong pitching staff that included Kris Medlen, Gio Gonzalez, Max Scherzer, CJ Wilson and James Shields. I expected Wilson to be my ace but before the season started I knew I was weak at first base and needed to add another bat so I traded Wilson for Edwin Encarnacion. His 36 homeruns and 104 RBI made up for losing Wilson’s 17 wins and 188 k’s. The trade worked out well for both sides. As the season started moving I made a trade that centered on Clay Buccholz and Gonzalez. I thought it was a steal for me but after one start Buccholz ended up on the DL for almost the rest of the season. I thought losing Buccholz would be a killer but Scherzer’s monster year negated that loss. Also an early season pick-up of Ervin Santana kept my pitching staff strong.

Besides Scherzer, my rotation consisted mostly of number-2 type starting pitchers. But in fantasy baseball that’s all that you need. Keep it simple with your rotation; it isn’t necessary to have all number-1 guys. Everyone will be going after those guys, start with the solid number-2 pitchers and collect as many as possible before anyone else has a chance to grab them.

Then there’s your bullpen. Last year my league included holds which was almost a free category for me because I grabbed a bunch of great middle relievers. But at the same time my hand was forced into doing so because I drafted closers too late. For the majority of the season those two categories were a wash for me. I was fortunate that some of my middle relievers slid and excelled in closer roles (I’m looking at you Kenley Jansen). Combining my now middle relief and closer columns my saves and holds soared giving me a 2-0 lead almost every week before anyone ever took the field. If you’re fortunate to have holds as a category make sure you grab top-notch middle relief pitchers. Not only will you get holds but at some point during the year those guys will be called on to close games too.

Offense requires several things: good timing, watching trends and a great deal of luck. My offense the last month of the season was completely abysmal. In the championship week I led 7-6 on Thursday. After Sunday rolled around I still led 7-6 on the same exact categories. Why? Because I couldn’t hit, luckily for me neither could my opponent’s team. If he had hit one homerun from Thursday to Sunday, I would have lost. I rolled a hot team from April through August but my bats went quiet in September. I had a first round playoff bye and then played two teams whose offense went dry the same time mine did. That’s the luck I’m talking about.

Good timing involves keeping an eye on available players. Last year a manager couldn’t hold Hanley Ramirez because he needed the extra DL spot so he dropped him. It paid off for me because I grabbed him immediately. Always watch who becomes available. It’s a lot of work but good timing comes from constantly being aware. If you’re up early be the first person in your league to monitor the free agent board. It only takes minutes and if someone drops a player you know is bound to turn around a bad start or come back strong from injury then pick him up. The risk is almost always worth the reward.

Trend watching is also a huge key for offense. Yahoo has a great option that helps you see players that are being picked up and dropped. And a “who’s hot” list for each position in the field. These options let you see where your players are ranked. If you find a mediocre player like Vernon Wells is lighting it up grab him! He’ll stay hot for a week or two and then then will taper off but you will have grabbed a huge boost from him for two weeks. Baseball players are very streaky; when someone is hot you better get his bat in your lineup.

The one category that you can’t afford to miss out on is offensive sleepers. Last year I drafted two sleeper picks that paid dividends for me, Matt Carpenter and Kyle Seager, and later picked up Josh Donaldson during the season. Seager drifted off the last month of the year but he helped carry me the entire season. Carpenter led the league in runs, hits and doubles. Above everyone, I’d say he was my MVP. Because of him I was always able to keep pace in average, runs and extra-base hits. It’s difficult to find good sleepers but if you think you got one or two give them a chance to come through for you, don’t drop them too quickly.

There are many theories to winning fantasy sports championships. Everyone you talk to will give different keys and strategies. I’ve found that these strategies helped me a great deal last year and maybe they’ll give you a chance at bringing home a championship trophy. But then again there’s a good chance they’ll get you a third-place finish too.

Exit Sandman, Enter Houdini

Arguably, the best set-up man in baseball the last few seasons has been the Yankees David Robertson who has been as close to automatic as it gets for three outs in the eighth inning during that span. This year, for the first time, he won’t be the Yankees set-up man due to the retirement of Mariano Rivera. Many skeptics feel Robertson won’t be able to handle the job but they’re all wrong.

In 1996 the Yankees won the World Series and all season were anchored by two players in their bullpen, Rivera and John Wetteland. Rivera pitched the seventh and eighth innings and Wetteland finished the games off in the ninth. After Wetteland signed with the Texas Rangers that offseason, the Yankees pegged Rivera to close games which he did for the next 17 years. There will never be another Rivera, he defined the position for all future closers but the Yankees don’t need another Rivera, all they need is a Robertson.

Robertson’s nickname is “Houdini.” The night he earned that nickname explains everything you need to know about the guy. In the 11^th inning of game 2 of the ALDS in 2009 he was summoned to pitch with no outs and two runners on base. After a single that loaded the bases Robertson promptly retired the next three hitters to end the frame. He pitched in five games in that postseason and didn’t allow a single run helping the Yankees win the title. He hasn’t looked back since.

The following year Robertson struck-out 71 batters in only 61-1/3 innings and finished the year with a 3.82 ERA. While those numbers were very good, they were only a glimpse of what was to come. In 2011 Robertson had a season for the ages. In only 66-2/3 innings he struck out 100 batters, good enough for a 13.5 K/9 average. While that in and of itself is tremendous Robertson also had a 1.08 ERA, giving up only eight runs all year. He was selected to the all-star team and finished 11^th in Cy Young voting and 22^nd in MVP voting.

While the next two seasons weren’t as good as the 2011 season Robertson still threw up filthy numbers posting a 2.67 ERA and a 2.04 ERA in 2012 and 2013, respectively. He’s averaged 10+K/9 every year of his career. While baseball is a numbers game and Robertson has put up some truly incredible numbers that’s not why he will succeed as a closer. Robertson's success comes from his attitude and something that no other closer in baseball can say, he learned from the best ever.

Since 2008 Robertson has had the opportunity to learn from Rivera and pick his brain. Besides learning pitching, though, Robertson had the chance to learn attitude. Rivera has been “cool as a cucumber” since stepping into the closer role. Robertson has earned the nickname “Houdini” for the same reason. He has the proverbial “ice water in his veins.” The pressure doesn’t get to him. You see it in his mannerisms, all he wants to do is what Rivera did, pitch. And he knows how to pitch.

Robertson said when asked about closing, “It’s the same deal—throwing the eighth or the ninth inning—you still have to get three outs.” He’s not putting any pressure on himself, he’s just going to go out and do what he always does, get outs.

Rivera jokingly asked Robertson, “You scared?” He told him no because he’s not scared. Houdini doesn’t get scared, Houdini gets outs.