Quick Thoughts

Some quick hits on a few stories of note:

*Baseball needs to set a concrete trade deadline. What's the point in making a big deal about trades in July, when teams can still wheel and deal in early September? And I don't want to hear anymore bitching from small market teams that they aren't getting a fair shake because big market teams have more coin to pass around. If you're worried about financial juggernauts building super teams and ruining the competitive balance in baseball, then stop selling off all your expensive parts to them.

That being said, when I see guys like Jim Thome and Scott Kazmir getting dealt to contenders with a month left in the season, it's hard not to wonder what the fuck? When a team trades arguably its best pitcher in division like the D-Backs did when they dealt Jon Garland to the Dodgers, it makes you worry that baseball will inevitably become a league of five or six super powers and that teams like the Rays and D-Backs, while good stories when they put it all together and compete, will eventually come back down to Earth and continue on with their role as feeder teams for the big boys. The money gained from moves like this will eventually be evened out by the sales revenue lost by a betrayed fan base suddenly unwilling to spend its hard earned dollars on a team that is so quick to blow up the team when things get drastic. The Rays were in the World Series last year and, while Kazmir wasn't exactly the dominant force this year that he was last year, what do you risk by holding onto him next year and trying to make another run? Especially with teams like Boston and New York loaded with aging talent. Now, there's even more pressure on former top pick David Price to be the ace everyone thought he would be after his dominant ALCS last year and even more pessimism from a dwindling fan base that experienced a rejuvenation with last year's run.

* I hate being on the fence, but I really don't know where I stand on this LaGarrette Blount sucker-punch incident at the end of last night's Oregon-Boise St. game. On the one hand, I agree with the critics. It was classless. It was unnecessary. It was bone-headed. However, when you taunt a guy on the opposing team as he's walking by you after an emotional loss, what type of reaction were you expecting? Did you think Blount was going to turn around and say "You're right. We suck."? Prior to the punch, Byron Hout was going to be reprimanded by his coach because of HIS unsportsmanlike conduct, and perhaps Hout would be the story here had Blount let cooler heads prevail and kept walking. So I understand why Blount acted the way he did. The heat of the moment, the emotion of the loss, the added insult to injury, I can't say I wouldn't consider acting the same way. In a lot of ways, Hout got what he had coming. When you go out of your way to instigate trouble, these are the things that could happen. The fact that Hout is going unpunished while Blount is going to sit out the season, to me, is a bit ridiculous. As much of a black eye(no pun intended) as Blount's sucker-punch has left on college football's opening week, it could have been avoided had Hout shown a little more class himself.

* Now that we have closure on the Michael Vick soap opera after commissioner Goodell laid down his two-game suspension, it's time to move on to the next drama. Remember two years ago, when Vick went to prison, the uncertainty of just what the state of the game would look like when he got out? That question now goes to former Giants receiver Plaxico Burress. Burress is set to serve two years in prison for bringing a gun into a nightclub and shooting himself accidentally in the leg. A sentence that we can bicker for weeks over the degree of extremity. However, one has to wonder what's in store for Plax in two years when he becomes a free man.

His situation is much different from Vick's. Unlike Vick, Plax will leave jail far past his prime years at age 34. He won't suffer the same public relations fiasco as his crime, while idiotic and somewhat hilarious, doesn't tug at the heart strings like Vick's murder of dogs. However, because of how boneheaded Plax's infraction was, it makes you wonder whether his support for reinstatement in two years from fellow players and media figures will mirror Vick's. While Vick will never totally win over the hearts of Americans, he was released from jail with a newfound sense of sympathy from a good chunk of society after paying his debts.

Burress, on the other hand, might be re-entering a different game entirely. For one, there's the possibility of a work stoppage and the death of the salary cap following the upcoming strife over a labor agreement between the owners and the union. With owners essentially coming out of their pocket more than ever, it makes you wonder if they'll throw money at a guy who was already raising red flags with his questionable behavior prior to going Cheddar Bob on himself(especially given Plax's advanced age). Remember, it took Vick weeks before he landed with Philly and every day teams came out of the woodwork to throw ice water on any hot Vick-to-(insert team here) rumors. As an perennially dangerous red-zone target at 6'5, 230 lbs, it's hard to imagine Burress not garnering some interest in a couple years, especially with teams already pushing to add Plax over the past few weeks eventhough it was a near-certainty that he was going to jail. However, it's a question that will continue to linger until an answer becomes more imminent two years from now.