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LeBron James has until tomorrow night to figure out where he’s going to play next year. LeBron announced yesterday that he plans to announce where he will sign on an ESPN special Thursday night at 9 Eastern Time. The way I see it, he has 4 options at this point.

Cleveland

Pros: It’s home. They’ve won a bunch of games over the last few years and he did make a finals appearance there. Maybe all he needs is luck and you have to think that the ultimate goal for LeBron is to finish what he started in his hometown. The only question is, whether or not he believes he can do it there.

Cons: 7 years in Cleveland has got him nothing in the way of a championship. With Bosh signing in Miami today, Cleveland’s options (via sign and trade) of getting LeBron any help look pretty thin, unless they can pull off a sign and trade with New York for David Lee, but David Lee is hardly the superstar LeBron wants to play with. If he does resign in Cleveland, expect his contract to have an opt out clause after 2013, in case 10 years has got him nothing.

Likelihood: 35%

Chicago:

Pros: They have a better supporting cast than Cleveland now that they've added Carlos Boozer and they will continue to have a better supporting cast than the Cavs, even if the Cavs can make a move for David Lee. What better place than Chicago for LeBron to build his legacy. After all, it’s where the man he’s often compared to, Michael Jordan, built his.

Cons: Chicago doesn’t really jump off the page as a destination. They aren’t the best location (New York). They aren’t home (Cleveland). They don’t offer the most money (all 4 options could pay the same) and they don’t give him the best shot to win a title (Miami). They’re a solid location, but nothing is going to amaze LeBron and draw him in now that Chris Bosh is off the market.

Likelihood: 15%

New York

Pros: LeBron loves it there and it’s a huge market. With the signing of Amare Stoudamire, their supporting cast is no longer horrible and with Eddy Curry’s expiring contract, they have a good chance of getting Carmelo Anthony (who has said he wants to play there) either this offseason in a trade, or next offseason as a free agent. They also have David Lee who they could sign and trade to pick up a point guard like Tony Parker or Monta Ellis. Throw in Danilo Gallinari and/or Wilson Chandler (assuming they both don’t get sent to Denver in a Carmelo deal) and that’s a pretty solid supporting cast.

Cons: Well, right now they don’t have most of that supporting cast. They have Amare and could get either Carmelo or Parker/Ellis, but a Carmelo trade is far from a given and Lee might choose to sign elsewhere without a sign and trade, though he’d get more money in one.

Likelihood: 30%

Miami:

Pros: Bosh. Wade. LeBron. All in one place. Plain and simple, they give LeBron the best chance to win. Throw in legendary coach Pat Riley and you’ve got a very, very strong team.

Cons: If LeBron goes to Miami and wins, he’ll forever be remembered as the guy who couldn’t win until he went in Dwyane Wade’s city and teamed up with him. I could also see major power struggles on this team, especially in the last 2 minutes. This is Wade’s city, but LeBron is the better player. LeBron is going to want to be the #1 guy on this team, as will Wade, since he’s been there longest. As I’ve shown, he’s got decent shots to win elsewhere, New York with potentially Amare, Carmelo, and Tony Parker/Monta Ellis, Chicago with Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer, and maybe even the place he wants to win most, Cleveland, with Maurice Williams, Antawn Jamison, and possibly Lee.

Likelihood: 25%

Bold=starter

AL

C John Buck- Toronto

C Victor Martinez- Boston

C Joe Mauer- Minnesota

1B Miguel Cabrera- Detroit

1B Justin Morneau- Minnesota

1B Kevin Youkilis- Boston

1B Paul Konerko- Chicago

2B Robinson Cano- New York

2B Ty Wigginton- Baltimore

SS Derek Jeter- New York

SS Alex Gonzalez- Toronto

3B Adrian Beltre- Boston

3B Evan Longoria- Tampa Bay

3B Michael Young- Texas

OF Josh Hamilton- Texas

OF Brennan Boesch- Detroit

OF Vernon Wells- Toronto

OF Alex Rios- Chicago

OF Shin-Soo Choo- Cleveland

OF Jose Bautista- Toronto

DH Vlad Guerrero- Texas

SP Cliff Lee- Seattle

SP Clay Buchholz- Boston

SP Jon Lester- Boston

SP David Price- Tampa Bay

SP Jered Weaver- Los Angeles

SP Andy Pettitte- New York

SP Jeff Niemann- Tampa B ay

SP Ricky Romero- Toronto

RP Joakim Soria- Kansas City

RP Andrew Bailey- Oakland

RP Neftali Feliz- Texas

RP Rafael Soriano- Tampa Bay

RP Mariano Rivera- New York

NL

C Miguel Olivo- Colorado

C Brian McCann- Atlanta

C Geovany Soto- Chicago

1B Albert Pujols- St. Louis

1B Adrian Gonzalez- San Diego

1B Adam Dunn- Washington

2B Kelly Johnson- Arizona

2B Chase Utley- Philadelphia

2B Brandon Phillips- Cincinnati

SS Hanley Ramirez- Florida

SS Juan Uribe- San Francisco

3B Scott Rolen- Cincinnati

3B David Wright- New York

3B Ryan Zimmerman- Washington

OF Andre Either- Los Angeles

OF Jayson Werth- Philadelphia

OF Colby Ramsus- St. Louis

OF Corey Hart- Milwaukee

OF Andrew McCutchen- Pittsburgh

OF Josh Willingham- Washington

DH Joey Votto- Cincinnati

SP Ubaldo Jimenez- Colorado

SP Josh Johnson- Florida

SP Roy Halladay- Philadelphia

SP Tim Hudson- Atlanta

SP Adam Wainwright- St. Louis

SP Yovani Gallardo- Milwaukee

SP Mat Latos- San Diego

SP Tim Lincecum- San Francisco

SP Chris Carpenter- St. Louis

RP Carlos Marmol- Chicago

RP Matt Lindstrom- Houston

RP Brian Wilson- San Francisco

RP Heath Bell- San Diego

LeBron James- Chicago

Chicago seems like the popular pick right now, and for good reasons, and I will be no different. Chicago has the best combination of salary cap space, supporting cast, and big market. They have the cap space to bring in one other superstar with him now that they dumped Kirk Hinrich’s salary on Washington. They have the supporting cast, with Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, and Luol Deng, assuming the deal where he goes to Orlando in a salary dump doesn’t pan out. They also have one of the biggest markets in the country and you can’t deny that LeBron would want to build his legacy in the city that Michael built his.

Dwyane Wade- Miami

Wade is either going to Chicago or staying in Miami. I really doubt he’ll go to Chicago if LeBron goes there. He won’t leave Miami, where he’s king and where he can make more money, to go play second fiddle to LeBron in a new city, for slightly less money, just for a better chance to win another championship. He’s already won one. I think, if LeBron goes to Chicago, he’ll stay in South Beach and pray they can sign him some help. And if LeBron wants to go to Chicago, which I already said he likely would, Chicago will sign him even if it means they can’t sign Wade, the hometown kid.

Chris Bosh- Chicago

Bosh will probably wait to see where Wade and James go before he makes up his mind. I don’t think Bosh will absolutely have to go somewhere where he’s the main guy. He was the main guy in Toronto and that didn’t work at all so I think he’ll be very willing, and actually prefer, to go hitch his wagon to either Wade or James. His choices here are between Chicago and Miami. Both should have the salary cap to pay him and as much as he’d like to go to Miami to play with his good friend D-Wade, I think he’ll feel that Chicago is a better market and that Chicago will give him the best chance to win with Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, and of course LeBron.

Amare Stoudemire- New York

His choices here appear Miami with Wade, New York and New Jersey. I think the chance to play with Mike D’Antoni in New York again will be what does it for him. Also the chance to play with former teammate Joe Johnson (more on that later) helps. New York may also be able to pay him more.

Dirk Nowitzki- Dallas

As cool as the rumors about him going to Phoenix in a sign and trade to play with Nash are, Dirk’s not going anywhere. Plenty of people around the league view Nowitzki resigning as just a formality. He opted out for more money and a longterm deal from Dallas and for no other reason. I’m not going to say they’re wrong.

Joe Johnson- New York

New York is going to be able to him the most. They have the most cap space, mostly because they don’t have any supporting cast, but they have the coach that Johnson loves, his former coach Mike D’Antoni and his former teammate Stoudemire. I think he and Stoudemire will go together to New York with D’Antoni.

Carlos Boozer- Miami

Wade gets his wish as Miami gets him some help. Miami is probably going to give Boozer the best chance to win with guys like Wade and Michael Beasley and Miami already indicated a ton of interestin in Boozer at the trade deadline.

David Lee- Washington

Miami is also a possibility for him, but only if Boozer signs elsewhere (New Jersey). If that happens, the only teams that are going to be able to pay him what he wants are Washington and New Jersey. Washington looks like a more hopeful franchise right now with John Wall.

Paul Pierce- Boston

I don't think he's going anywhere. He did opt out, but it's likely he just wants to force the Celtics to give him the longterm deal he wants. He has said on numerous occasions that he wants to retire with the same team that drafted him and that would be his current team, the Boston Celtics.

Ray Allen- Boston

Also someone who I think is staying. I don't see any contender other than Boston being able to pay more than a mid level exception to this guy once everything is said and done with the bigger names. 

Shaquille O'Neal- Oklahoma City

A bit of a surprise pick here, Shaq goes to Oklahoma City, an exciting young team with cap space and a need for a center. They drafted Cole Aldrich, but I don't think they'd mind adding Shaq for a year or two before Shaq decides to hang his ginormous shoes up.

1. Too many ties

If two teams play for 2 hours, and no one scores, did it really happen? I don’t watch soccer, but I know if I did, and I watched a game that ended in a 0-0 tie, I would be pissed. I would be even more pissed if I were a player. What did I just bust my ass running for 2 hours for? A tie?! Rule of thumb, sporting events should not end with the same score they started with. Even 1-1 ties bug me, or 2-2. Why not have every game have a winner and a loser? Isn’t that what sports is about? You play to win the game! Have a shootout like hockey in decide every tie, or have them play extra time like football or basketball. The NFL has ties some times, but only 1 since 2003. I can live with that. And even that pissed me off when it happened.

2. Not enough scoring

Why watch soccer when you can watch a 30 second condensed highlight of all the scoring, or a slightly longer condensed highlight of all the shots taken on goal? That’s interesting to watch, takes only a minute or so, and you don’t really lose out on much of the game. Unless you love that beehive sound.

3. The clock counts up

What’s up with that? You’re making me do math to figure out much how longer is left in the game? Why not just tell me? And then when it’s over, it’s not over, there’s still a certain amount of time left to play and no one really knows how long until regulation ends and stoppage time beginning. How can you strategize if you don’t truly no how much is longer in the game?

4. We lost to Ghana

Seriously? This may be just as a spoiled American speaking, but what other sport would we lose to Ghana in? Nothing against Ghana as a nation, but there country is roughly the size of Utah, a state we sometimes even forget exists.

5. Crazy fans

I’m not talking about vuvuzuelas. I actually love those. I think the point of being a sports fan is to be as loud and obnoxious as you can and make tons of noise. That’s why it’s called home field advantage. I’m talking about fans who kill people over the game. How often do you hear someone getting killed in a celebration over a baseball game or a basketball game? I mean Kendry Morales breaks his leg in a celebration and some Laker fans tip over a few cars and we freak out. In other countries with soccer, people actually die.

6. No flow

In football, there’s the snap, the drop back, the checks, the throw, the catch (or not), the tackles, and the down, and sometimes the hand off, the run, the jukes, the tackles, the down, and then we do it again. It has order. People can get into it and know what they’re looking at. Soccer is a bunch of people running around after a ball and occasionally, about once every 5 minutes, taking a shot on a goal and most likely not making it. It’s cool to watch if you’re drunk, but if you like sports with flow, it’s not for you at all. 

By now you’ve probably heard all about the Albert Haynesworth debacle in Washington, but for those of you who have not, here’s the short version. Haynesworth was the most dominant defensive tackle in the league in 2008. He got paid like it by the Washington Redskins, who gave him a front loaded 100 million dollar contract, by far the highest ever for a defensive tackle in league history. Haynesworth’s 2009 performance wasn’t even half as good as his 2008 performance and his Redskins went 4-12. Haynesworth, on several occasions, questioned team leadership.

This year, the team brought in new leadership, head coach Mike Shanahan and defensive coordinator Jim Haslett. The issue, the new leadership wants to put in a 3-4 defensive scheme, a change from the 4-3 of 2009, and the 4-3 that Haynesworth played in as a Titan before coming to Tennessee. Haynesworth apparently doesn’t like change and refused to play in the new scheme. Mike Shanahan had a sit down with him in February and issued him an ultimatum. He would release him, and he would be free to go to any team in the NFL, but Haynesworth would not be paid the 21 million dollar roster bonus he was set to earn, as part of his monster contract.

Haynesworth took the money and shut up, that was until now. Haynesworth skipped all of voluntary OTAs and now is sitting out mandatory minicamps and has requested a trade. He has refused to play in Washington’s 3-4 and is putting Washington in a very awkward position with less than 3 months to go before the season. It will be pretty much impossible for them to get anywhere near sufficient value for Haynesworth. Many teams are probably very put off by his selfishness. Half of the teams in the league use 3-4s and none of those teams are going to trade for him. Teams also know that Washington has to make a move. Also, keep in mind, the Redskins have already paid Haynesworth 31 million dollars, for one year, a year that, frankly, he played at about 65-70% of his potential.

I would not want this guy on my team. At all. Period. I would not give up a 7th rounder for this guy, I would not sign him as a free agent, unless he took a major pay cut and proved to me that he was ready to put “we” before “me”. Haynesworth’s display is the most low class display I have seen by a football player in a long time. If you’re getting 100 million dollars to play the game you love, you shut up and play, no matter where they ask you to play. You play defensive tackle, you play nose tackle, you play 3-4 defensive end, you play safety, you play quarterback, you play punter, you do what the coach tells you.

How does he know the 3-4 scheme won’t fit his skill set well? Has he even tried playing in it? No he hasn’t. Plenty of linemen have put up big sacks totals in a 3-4. Darnell Dockett had 7 sacks last year as a 3-4 end. Jay Ratliff has 13.5 sacks in the last 2 years as a 3-4 nose tackle. How selfish can you be? A team cannot win a Super Bowl with a guy like this on it? It’s all about him, his money, his stats. This is the same guy who stepped on Andre Gurode’s head in a celebration a few years back and didn’t live up to his full potential as a player until 2008, which happened to be his contract year.

Plenty of Redskin players agree with me. The list is long, but it includes guy such as London Fletcher, the veteran middle linebacker leader on this team. They hate that they’re in there busting their asses trying to win a Super Bowl, while Fat Albert is at home, counting his money and bitching about a scheme he hasn’t even played in yet.

I expect the Redskins to do two things here. I expect them to first try to trade him. What they would get from a team is not what Haynesworth is worth in terms of his upside, but at least it gets rid of him, his bitching, and his contract. Teams like the New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, and possibly his old team the Tennessee Titans would give up a mid round pick for him. The Titans seem like the best fit for him because he knows the organization, the scheme, the coaches, the players, etc, and they’ve been able to deal with him before. But considering the Titans’ offers for extensions for Haynesworth while he was a Titan did go much higher than 4 years 36 million, I doubt the Titans would want to pay the 70 or so million left on this guy’s deal, especially after this display. Then of course the Eagles and Giants are division rivals. I don’t really see a trade getting done.

I don’t think they’ll release him, unless they get a guarantee that they’ll be able to get the 21 million back from him (which they are trying to do) and a guarantee that they won’t have to pay any of the remaining guaranteed money. If you release him, you risk having to pay him a ton of money up front, and then see him possibly go to a division rival like New York or Philadelphia and come back and burn you later in the season.

I think what they’ll do is just sit and wait. You don’t want to play in our scheme. Fine, don’t play, don’t show up to practice until you’re ready to apologize to the guys who have been there busting their asses already and then, if he chooses to show up, have him have to earn his starting job back. Worst case scenario, Haynesworth doesn’t play this season. For anyone. I don’t think it’ll get to that point, but if it does, the Redskins can survive. Haynesworth is a defensive tackle. He’s not a quarterback, he’s not a left tackle, a right end, a cornerback, a wide receiver, a running back, he’s a defensive tackle. If he’s in there playing 60-70% like he was last year, the rewards do not outweigh the cost, the cost of having swallow your pride and switch your scheme, just so you can have some player who was bitching about the scheme be happy and play. That would be the ultimate example of putting one player above the team as a coach and you can’t do that and I would be very, very surprised if a veteran head coach like Mike Shanahan did that.

I think they’ll try to trade him, most likely fail, and then they’ll just play a waiting game and move on without him. And that’s exactly what I would do. 

For those of you who do not know the Armando Galarraga situation, you’re probably living under a rock. If that somehow is the case, I advise you to read what I wrote on the situation yesterday. This article is basically a continuation of my thoughts on the situation, taking into account today’s developments. Basically what has happened today is nothing. Selig has said he will review the play, but will not reverse the call, whatever that means. Seems kind of pointless to review the play if you play on taking no situation.

Then on the situation Selig had this to say. "The dignity and class of the entire Detroit Tigers organization under such circumstances were truly admirable and embodied good sportsmanship of the highest order. [Galarraga] and Detroit manager Jim Leyland are to be commended for their handling of a very difficult situation." I think the old phrase, actions speak louder than words comes to mind here. Selig can say all that stuff and it’s good and nice, but until he puts the kid in the history book as having thrown a perfect game, it doesn’t matter that he said that. I could say that. Anyone could say that. Selig is the only one who could take those words into action and make the situation right. 

Jim Joyce wants the call reversed. He made a mistake. He knows it. He admitted it. I’m sure Galarraga wants it reversed. I’m sure he’d rather have a perfect game be acknowledged and put in the history books than just to have a bunch of people believe he deserved to have a perfect game. History books last forever. The current belief that he was perfect will only last as long as it takes people to forget about it, or for the people who believe it to die. According to an ESPN poll, 75% of all people want the call reversed. Selig is the jerk here for not reversing it, not, as popularly believed, Jim Joyce. Joyce may have made a stupid call, but he didn’t do it on purpose. He didn’t purposely cheat a kid out of a perfect game. Selig did.

Armando Galarraga was perfect going into the 9th against the Cleveland Indians, a story big enough to upstage the retirement of a man sure to be a first ballot Hall of Famer in 5 years, The Griff, Ken Griffey Jr. Mark Grudzielanek flew out on the first pitch to center and Mike Redmond grounded out innocently to short. Up stepped the 27th batter of the night, the final cog in the perfect machine that had been Armando Galarraga’s night, Jason Donald. Galarraga had been cruising, barely taking 80 pitches to get to this point. He seemed poised to get the fourth no hitter of the year (Ubaldo Jimenez, Dallas Braden, Roy Halladay) and the third perfect game of the last month (Braden, Halladay) and only the 21st perfect game in baseball history.

Donald hit a ground ball into the infield and the ball was thrown to 1st base for an out. Except it wasn’t an out. Longtime veteran umpire Jim Joyce called him safe. The crowd booed, and roars were sent throughout the internet world, twitter, facebook, email, whatever. Galarraga set down the next guy getting his 28th “out” of the game and completing the “one hit shutout.” After the game, freeze frame photos and instant replay confirmed what we all saw with our naked eye, Donald was out, and not just out, pretty clearly out. Even ESPN.com called it a mistake and ESPN is notorious for not wanting to say things that might rub people the wrong way so when they say someone made a mistake, that person made a mistake.

I was angered. I’m not a Tigers fan or anything, but I can understand when a kid’s been cheated out of a good thing he deserved. I couldn’t understand the decision by Joyce. Even if I had thought the call was close, I would have given it to Galarraga. You don’t want to chance it. You don’t want to risk looking like a complete fool and you don’t want to risk cheating a kid out of a good thing just to give a last place team the slight chance they possibly deserved to come back from a 3 run lead against a pitcher who had been absolutely destroying them all night. I went on facebook and, in a move not appreciated at all by my friends, I joined about 80 of the hundreds of groups that had been created in response to the missed call in the mere 10 minutes since it had happened, filling my friend’s feeds with my anger (thanks to a friend of mine, a Tigers fan, who joined all the groups before me, allowing me easy access at them all).

Then something happened. Jim Joyce admitted his mistake. He said many things about the call, all them apologetic, but the one that really stood out to me was this one "I just cost that kid a perfect game.” That doesn’t sound like a bad guy to me. That doesn’t sound like an Indians fan who didn’t want to see his team have a perfect game thrown against them. That doesn’t sound like a guy with a grudge against Galarraga, or the Tigers, or perfection. That doesn’t sound like a guy who is any of the negative things I assumed immediately after watching the replay. That sounds like a human, who makes mistakes, and wishes to take his mistakes back.

I know Joyce wants the call reversed. I know Galarraga wants the call reversed. As much as he won’t admit it, he would prefer to have the official title of a perfect game placed on that masterpiece, though I do love Galarraga’s response to the whole situation thus far when he says “I got a perfect game. Maybe it's not in the book, but I'm going to show my son the CD." The fans want the call reversed. Everyone wants the call reversed. The only people who can do that are the folks in the front office of major league baseball. The pressure is on them to reverse the call now, to avoid (at least in my eyes) looking like all the negative things I thought Joyce was. The question is, will they and that I’m not so sure about. Bud Selig hasn’t seemed to do a lot of anything lately.

For Tigers fans (or regular baseball fans) looking for some hope, look towards CC Sabathia. When Sabathia was a member of the Brew Crew, he threw a one hitter, which the Brewers contested saying that one hit was actually an error. The Brewers sent an appeal to the front office, who eventually denied it, but at least this shows that, if the team wants, they can appeal and I think, in this case, there’s a good chance it gets overturned. This case is not, what’s an error and what’s not, a very shades of gray type of thing, it’s what’s safe and what’s not, a black and white thing, and it’s very clear, based on replays, that he was black and white out. Even the man who originally made the call agrees. And even if the front office drops the ball on this one and doesn’t do what everyone wants and what’s right, Armando Galarraga was still perfect tonight, at least in my eyes and in the eyes of many, many baseball fans worldwide. 

Caution: Spoiler Alert

Some of the more astute of my readers will notice, hey, Lost isn’t football. It’s not even sports. To those people I say, yes, you are correct. Now that that has been established, I will continue. Lost has been my favorite television show that I’ve ever watched. The show would get into extremely deep stuff ranging from destiny to physics to free will to time travel to random polar bears on tropical islands, and then it would always leave you with some cliff hanger at the end of the episode, leaving its viewers with many questions, that it would answer, in 3, 4, 5, or however many episodes, in the process, bringing up more questions than it answered. It was like a drug that never left you fully satisfied, leaving you addicted, and wanting more. And last night, the drug stopped, and its viewers were again left pretty disappointed asking for more, mostly because they never answered some of the central questions of the show.

All this being said, I was still entertained by last night’s episodes, even though the only main question they answered was one they brought up this season, what’s up with that alternate timeline. In last night’s episode we learned that this alternate timeline was not really an alternate timeline. It was more of a “limbo” type place, where all the losties went after they died (whether they died on the island, during the show, or off the island, after the show) and they had to try to remember their lives and remember all of the other losties, as well as their own time on the island, in order to go into some magical church and walk off “into the light.” Now, this leaves some more questions, namely, why did they have to go through this? What triggered this? What was with the subtle differences between their lives in limbo and their lives in reality (Sawyer a cop instead of a con, Jack having a son, Desmond being on flight 815 and working for Mr. Widmore, Daniel being a pianist instead of a cool time traveling physicist)? Where do they go after they go, into “the light?” However, I did find the alternate timeline entertaining, as something that could stand on its own, even though a good portion of the time the show spends there in the finale is taken up by showing old clips of major moments from seasons past that our main characters remember, while in the background plays very poignant, but quickly annoying background music.

Back to the island, this is where I was most disappointed, because, we still don’t know what it is. I mean yes, we know some stuff, it has a magical cork in the ground in a magnetic cave that you can only see if you’re special, and if you uncork it, bad stuff happens, and magical Mr. Smokey loses his powers and becomes mortal. But we don’t know why it is that way. We don’t know who the crazy “mother” who killed Claudia and made Jacob “special” is and where she came from and why she is special. We don’t know where the others came from and what their relationship to Jacob is and what their agenda is. The most mysterious man on the entire island, Jacob, wasn’t even in this episode. We also don’t know what happens to the island after the show, is the Island fine and healthy even though some of it dropped into the ocean. Does Smokey come back to life, only without a body? If he doesn’t, is that a bad thing? Does Hurley ever lose any weight now that he has to spend the rest of his life on the island with Ben? Is Ben trustworthy or does he double cross Hurley and take over the island for himself?

The only possible good I can see coming out of all of these lingering question is another show possibly. Lost did a great job of giving us closure with all of our characters and did a fairly good job entertaining us. Maybe they purposely didn’t explain the island in order to start a spinoff show, with different characters, on the same island. They could call it, “We’re Lost Too.” If a show like that with that name goes on air, I’m suing. In all seriousness, I want something like that to happen. I wouldn’t sue them for all of their money. I’d just take a small cut. They’d still make a fortune. With 24 ending tomorrow, I’m not going to have anything to watch next year, with the exception of a few NBC comedies. 24 is ending tonight and, for the past few episodes at least, that hasn’t been must else other than a bunch of random badass stuff (nuclear bombs, Russians, conspiracies, double crossers, killing rampages, etc) squished together without much of an interesting plot. It’s like I mean it’s kind of cool, but seriously is this the best you have? House is getting boring. There’s only so many times I can watch a bunch of mildly interesting doctors try to solve a bizarre case, fail 5-7 times, almost kill the guy, and then save him somewhere around 8:53 after House gets a bizarre idea after talking to Wilson and comes in with some long named medical diagnosis. Scrubs is ending and that show sucked so much this year that I actually stopped watching. That just leaves Chuck, 30 Rock, and The Office, and Community if I start watching as I am being urged to.

To DH or not to DH? Since the instatement of the designated hitter into the American League in 1973, that has been the question. It has seemed almost an oddity that the two leagues of the same major league would have completely different rules. In American League ballparks, you are allowed to have a 10th player who serves kind of as a permanent pinch hitter for the weak hitting pitcher and in National League ballparks, you are not allowed and the pitcher must hit. I have no strong feelings for or against the designated hitter, but one thing is clear, as a result of allowing the designated hitter in one league and not the other, there is a growing disparity in the two leagues in terms of both talent and revenue and something needs to be done about this. 

The designated hitter creates this disparity in two ways. One, it attracts players to the American League. Most pitchers don't want to hit and a lot of hitters, especially ones getting up there in age, don't want to play in the field. Because of this, more of the better players go to the American league, American league teams generate more revenue and this also attracts players in the American League in what is a growing cycle. 

Two, American League teams carry a 9th starting caliber hitter while a National League team only carries eight because simply, National League owners and general managers aren't willing to shell out the kind of money that it would take to lure some of these players away from the American League if there are really only going to use them as DHs in a few interleague games and the World Series, if they make it. It makes a lot more sense for an American League team to spend 3 million dollars on a 9th hitter than it does for a National League team to spend the same 3 million dollars on a 9th hitter who will DH a few games a year, maybe more, and also get some pinch hit attempts. So they don't do it and when American League teams play National League teams, NL teams are using their top pinch hitter as a DH, while the AL is using an everyday caliber batter. 

The NL has not won an All-Star game against the AL since 1996. That's not a coincedence. Since the start of interleague play in 1996, the AL has won 1674 games to the NL's 1534 wins. The last time the NL has won more interleague games was 2003 and they've only done so in 4 years since '96. Some of them haven't even been close for the NL, and the last 5, demonstrating a growing disparity, have been 136-116, 154-98, 137-115, 149-103, and 138-114. The World Series has not been as bad, with the AL winning 20 of the 35 since 1973, but when you look at which league is winning the most individual World Series game, the AL has won 35 of the 55 games since 1998. Percentage wise that is 64% wins for the AL. 

Let’s look at team payrolls. Payrolls are a pretty good indicator of how much money teams make. 7 of the top 9 payrolls are AL teams, despite the fact that the AL actually has 2 fewer teams. AL teams have more money to spend because baseball fans want to see better baseball and more exciting baseball which the AL has, as a result of the DH. This is only going to lead to higher AL payrolls, which will lead to a larger disparity in talent level between the leagues. The cycle will only continue to increase the disparity.

This problem is not going to fix itself on its own. The more good players will continue to go to the league where pitchers don't have to hit, and hitters don't always have to play in the field. The AL will continue its dominance over the NL both on the field and financially, attracting more top free agents, widening the disparity. The AL will continue to spend money on a 9th everyday hitter, while the NL sees it unnecessary. Something needs to be done, either go DH in both league or in neither, I really don't care.

I wouldn’t mind both leagues having no DH. However, I really don’t see that as plausible. With the success that the AL is having with a DH, why would they want to get rid of that? The NL is going to need to be the one to make the change. Change in baseball in not neccesarily bad. When baseball was first invented, you needed 9 balls to be walked. Imagine if one league was playing with those rules. Until the NL adds a DH, there will be a sizable disparity in talent between the league and that gap will continue to grow. Some people like no DH because it’s real baseball and protects the dignity of the game, but I’d rather have equally matched leagues than no DH in the NL. If anything it ruining the dignity of the game, it’s the unmatched leagues.

Americans

Solomon Alabi, Florida State, Sophomore

Cole Aldrich, Kansas, Junior
Lavoy Allen, Temple, Junior
Al-Farouq Aminu, Wake Forest, Sophomore
James Anderson, Oklahoma State, Junior
Kevin Anderson, Richmond, Junior
Luke Babbitt, Nevada, Sophomore
Armon Bassett, Ohio, Junior
Talor Battle, Penn State, Junior
Keith Benson, Oakland, Junior
Eric Bledsoe, Kentucky, Freshman
Anatoly Bose, Nicholls State, Junior
Dee Bost, Mississippi State, Sophomore
Craig Brackins, Iowa State, Junior
Avery Bradley, Texas, Freshman
Carlon Brown, Utah, Junior
Derrick Caracter, UTEP, Junior
DeMarcus Cousins, Kentucky, Freshman
Jordan Crawford, Xavier, Sophomore
Ed Davis, North Carolina, Sophomore
Mike Davis, Illinois, Junior
Paul Davis, Winston-Salem State, Junior
Malcolm Delaney, Virginia Tech, Junior
Devin Ebanks, West Virginia, Sophomore
Kenneth Faried, Morehead State, Junior
Derrick Favors, Georgia Tech, Freshman
Courtney Fortson, Arkansas, Sophomore
Jimmer Fredette, BYU, Junior
Keith “Tiny” Gallon, Oklahoma, Freshman
Charles Garcia, Seattle, Junior
Paul George, Fresno State, Sophomore
Anthony Gurley, Massachusetts, Junior
Manny Harris, Michigan, Junior
Gordon Hayward, Butler, Sophomore
Jeremy Hazell, Seton Hall, Junior
Xavier Henry, Kansas, Freshman
Darington Hobson, New Mexico, Junior
Adnan Hodzic, Lipscomb, Junior
Armon Johnson, Nevada, Junior
JaJuan Johnson, Purdue, Junior
Ravern Johnson, Mississippi State, Junior
Wesley Johnson, Syracuse, Junior
Cameron Jones, Northern Arizona, Junior
Dominique Jones, South Florida, Junior
Mac Koshwal, DePaul, Junior
Sylven Landesberg, Virginia, Sophomore
Gani Lawal, Georgia Tech, Junior
Kenny Lawson, Creighton, Junior
Tommy Mason-Griffin, Oklahoma, Freshman
Demetri McCamey, Illinois, Junior
Elijah Millsap, Alabama-Birmingham, Junior
Greg Monroe, Georgetown, Sophomore
E’Twaun Moore, Purdue, Junior
Arnett Moultrie, UTEP, Sophomore
A.J. Ogilvy, Vanderbilt, Junior
Daniel Orton, Kentucky, Freshman
Patrick Patterson, Kentucky, Junior
Rico Pickett, Manhattan, Junior
Eniel Polynice, Mississippi, Junior
Herb Pope, Seton Hall, Sophomore
Jeff Robinson, Seton Hall, Junior
Samardo Samuels, Louisville, Sophomore
Larry Sanders, Virginia Commonwealth, Junior
John Sloan, Huntingdon (AL), Junior
Tracy Smith, North Carolina State, Junior
Lance Stephenson, Cincinnati, Freshman
Lazar Trifunovic, Radford, Junior
Evan Turner, Ohio State, Junior
Alex Tyus, Florida, Junior
Ekpe Udoh, Baylor, Junior
John Wall, Kentucky, Freshman
Willie Warren, Oklahoma, Sophomore
Quinton Watkins, San Diego State, Freshman
C.J. Webster, San Jose State, Junior
Terrico White, Mississippi, Sophomore
Hassan Whiteside, Marshall, Freshman
Elliot Williams, Memphis, Sophomore
Stevy Worah-Ozimo, Slippery Rock, Junior
Chris Wright, Dayton, Junior
Jahmar Young, New Mexico State, Junior

Internationals

Pablo Aguilar, Granada (Spain), 1989 DOB
Andrew Albicy, Paris-Levallois (France), 1990 DOB
Robin Benzing, Ratiopharm Ulm (Germany), 1989 DOB
Stefan Bircevic, Metalac (Serbia), 1989 DOB
Bojan Bogdanovic, Cibona (Croatia), 1989 DOB
Sarra Camara, Le Havre (France), 1989 DOB
Antoine Diot, Le Mans (France), 1989 DOB
Bangaly Fofana, ASVEL (France), 1989 DOB
Miralem Halilovic, Sloboda Dita (Bosnia), 1991 DOB
Thomas Heurtel, Strasbourg (France), 1989 DOB
Edwin Jackson, Rouen (France), 1989 DOB
Dusan Korac, Centar (Montenegro), 1991 DOB
Mindaugas Kuzminskas, Siauliai (Lithuania), 1989 DOB
Luc Louves, Maurienne (France) 1989 DOB
Uros Lukovic, Radnicki Basket (Serbia), 1989 DOB
Donatas Motiejunas, Benetton Treviso (Italy), 1990 DOB
Tomasz Nowakowski, Luka Koper (Slovenia), 1990 DOB
Tibor Pleiss, Brose Baskets (Germany), 1989 DOB
Xavier Rabaseda, FC Barcelona (Spain), 1989 DOB
Fernando Raposo, Pau Orthez (France), 1989 DOB
Ryan Richards, Gran Canaria (Spain), 1991 DOB
Kevin Sèraphin, Cholet (France), 1989 DOB
Semen Shashkov, Ural Ekaterinburg (Russia), 1989 DOB