Jeff: The Monday Musings

One helluva sports weekend. Let's get to it...

SAY IT AINT SO, JOE
New York Yankeess manager Joe Torre has won 4 World Series, more than any other active manager. He's won 1079 regular season games in his 11 years in the Bronx, that's an AVERAGE of 98 wins a year!!! Just think about that for a minute. He's great with his players and even better with the press, and yet today, Torre probably gets canned. Why? Because he hasn't won a title in 6 seasons. So it goes in New York.

I heard an explanation for why Torre's taking the fall today, and it was actually applied to Ty Willingham at Notre Dame (who, by the way, has my Washington Huskies at 4-2, and ALMOST pulled off the upset against USC). In college football, if you FEEL like a top 10 program (and feel's the key word there), then only a National Title will do. Ty Willingham's a good coach. I'm grinning ear-to-ear that he the Irish fired him, because he's going to do some good things at UDub. But ND felt like Willingham wasn't the best coach out there (Urban Meyer was. Remember that the next time a Golden Domer sings Weis' praises. He wasn't their first choice. Or 2nd. Or 3rd...Luck o' the Irish). Despite a very good record, both in the standings and academically, he wasn't in the title hunt every year, so he got the axe. Frank Solich averaged 9 wins a year at Nebraska and got fired. Ron Zook is the laughing stock of Gainesville. Know how many wins a year he averaged before the Gators pink-slipped him? 8. 90% of the college programs out there would kill for that. Not at Florida.

And the same applies for the Yankees. With the highest payroll in baseball, their goal is a World Series title. Every year. And because Torre hasn't won one in 6 years, they're going to find somebody else. Torre's the best manager in baseball, and Lou Piniella or whoever replaces him won't be as good. So it goes in New York.

THE LESSON HERE IS AS FOLLOWS:
1) Good Pitching Still Beats Good Hitting
The Yankees had the best hitting lineup ever. Ever. And they lost to Detroit. The Tigers pitching was awesome. Kenny Rogers had the game of his life, and maybe the most important game for the Tigers since 1984, with his win in game 2 in the Bronx. The Yankees pitching was suspect all year, and in the end it got them. Talk all you want about the Yankees payroll and that's why they won their 4 Titles. It also helped they had good starters and a lights out bullpen- something the Tigers seem to have now. And so do the A's. Should be a good series.

2) A-Rod will never, EVER win a World Series
I started saying this about 3 years ago, how A-Rod and Peyton Manning could go down as the greatest regular season performers ever in their sports- but they'll never win the Big One. With The Greatest Lineup In History around him, and no other Goliaths in the postseason, I thought A-Rod would prove me wrong this year. Nope. The guy just doesn't have "It". He just doesn't, and the Yankees know it now. Honest to goodness I think he gets moved in the offseason. I have no idea where he goes, but I think he will, for the same reason Torre's gone. He is the best player in baseball, but not in New York, and he hasn't produced AT ALL in the postseason. I know the Yanks are getting a good deal on his contract (Texas is STILL paying for a good chunk of it) but the guy was a huge distraction this year, and it seemed like he's lost the respect of some of this teammates. He proved this year he just can't handle the world's brightest media spotlight, and that he'd be better off being the game's highest paid player somewhere else. Where that somewhere else is, I don't know, but I'd be surprised if he's still in Pinstripes for spring training come March.

AT THE OTHER END OF THE SPECTRUM FROM THE YANKEES IS...
your Minnesota Golden Gophers football team. What an awful, awful loss. Bad enough that the Gophers kicker misses an extra point (the Sports Guy has made this comment, and for good reason: with all the bloody soccer players in the world, and we can't find 119 guys to consistently make extra points and 35 yd field goals in college?!?!?), but what's worse is he should have been off the hook. That pass intereference call on 4th down against Trumaine Banks was just plain lying. THERE WAS NO PASS INTERFERENCE!!! I'm not sure when Jer will be able to rationally talk about this. His hatred for Mason may have just eclipsed mine for Kevin McHale. Since I wasn't born into the Wolves, I have the option of no longer following them to maintain my sanity. Jer? Not so much. Hang in there fella.

WHAT'S UGLIER?
Rosie O'Donnell in a bikini, or the Minnesota Vikings offense? GO GET JERRY PORTER! NOW! The Raiders season is finished and Porter, a big-play WR, can be had for pennies on the dollar. This offense stinks. Any defense can play the run AND the pass by simply bringing your safeties up 5 yards off the line of scrimmage. Why? Because Brad Johnson can't or won't throw it any farther than that. They have no weapons on offense. They've got less than 2 weeks to go get one before the trade deadline, or there'll be no playoffs for the Purple. By the way: that Buffalo team that beat the Vikes last week? Got demolished 40-7 by Chicago yesterday. Just keep that in mind.