Who are these teams?

I had figured that I had better expand my horizons and make the leap of faith from just simply the NFL and MLB, so I have decided to write my first article on the NBA…

The NBA has had quite the laugher of a franchise in the past two seasons in the city of Charlotte.  They have gone 28-120 over the past two seasons and have had very little to look forward to.  However, I have slightly paid attention to them as I loved Kemba Walker as he came out of Uconn.  He went on an absolute tear in the Big East tourney and led them right through the entire Madness that is known as March.  Now I do not by any means follow the NBA on a day-to-day basis, but I do know one thing…you only need to be mediocre to make the playoffs and I think these Bobcats can do just that.  They are getting large contributions from Walker, Al Jefferson, and Gerald Henderson.  With a record of 8-9 going into tonight and taking the defending champs Miami Heat to the ropes, yet actually blowing a large fourth quarter lead, I think they can sneak into the seven or eight seed of the Eastern Conference.  I know that that does not mean much, as they will probably get swiftly eliminated by either the Miami Heat or Indiana Pacers, but it is something that they can be proud of.

The other franchise that I follow somewhat would be the New York Knickerbockers and at this point I am not sure if you can call them a franchise.  They are literally embarrassing to watch and Spike Lee must be crying himself to sleep at night.  I guess that is what you get with bad coaching and a diva as your number one scorer.  You get a lot of frustrating nights, where he simply does not find the bottom of the hoop.  They are 1-6 in the Big Apple and have been the losers of eight straight, they are bottom five in the NBA and that should never happen.  They are seriously struggling with the New Orleans Pelicans at home tonight, where is the team that challenged the top of the Eastern Conference last year?  Iman Shumpert never plays up to his potential and J.R. Smith looks like a shadow of what he was last year.  This team is in trouble, and I do not know if they can even make the playoffs after this horrendous start.

Let the ranting begin

Well, this is going to be about sports.  And if you didn’t know that this was going to be about sports then A) you probably can’t understand a theme and B) you don’t know me.  I guess it is entirely possible that you don’t know me, but my writing will bring insight into that.  I’ll start off by saying that I do have favorite sports teams, as any actual fan of sports does.  They would be (in a relatively important order): the New York Yankees, the Minnesota Vikings, the Buffalo Sabres, the St. Bonaventure Bonnies, the New York Knicks, and the RIT Tigers.  They each have a special place in my heart, and never expect any of them to change.  I will follow that up with the fact that I will try to talk about them as little as possible, and if I do, it will probably be in a bashing fashion.  I have a very wide interest in sports, and it effects just about every waking moment of my life.  I understand that that may seem naïve, or pointless, but hey there is something that gets you out of bed in the morning.

I guess I can begin my first rant at this point.  Being that it is the month of October that means one thing, no not pumpkin spice lattes and the coming of the Uggs, but playoff baseball.  It has been a pretty entertaining post-season so far, witnessing a game 163 and Buctober was cool for a wee bit.  However, my rant will be aimed at the Cleveland Indians and Oakland Athletics.  The Indians were able to become the lead pony in the hectic AL Wild Card scene down the stretch, earning a home game against the Tampa Bay Rays for the wild card game.  The A’s looked awfully good in September and were able to win the AL West, meaning a divisional series against the Detroit Tigers.

Now I realize in both of the games I am about to talk about that the teams scored a combined zero runs, and well you can’t win that way last time I checked.  However, in the Indians game they decided to throw Danny Salazar, a rookie with ten starts in the big leagues.  The Indians went on to lose 4-0, but my question is did starting Salazar really give them the best chance of winning that game?  I know it was his turn in the rotation, but Justin Masterson pitched in relief.  Your ace was pretty well rested from not starting for most of September, so what were you saving him for your hopeful Game 1 of the ALDS?  Toss zeroes with your ace.

Now, please keep in mind that I was actually rooting for these teams in each of these games.  The A’s came down to the winner-take-all Game 5 of the ALDS with the Tigers.  Bob Melvin decided to throw his rookie Sonny Gray, who had made waves after his sparkler in Game 2.  Evidently, he decided that Gray made more sense than the revitalized, ever-so-slim Bartolo Colon.  Going up against Justin Verlander, and knowing that you aren’t an offensive team means you need zeroes!  How can you have faith in a 23 year old that only made twelve appearances all year?  Start the more proven guy.

Maybe I’m wrong, but sometimes I wonder if I could do your job.