I'm Just Sayin......

A few stories of note hit the news at once recently....here are my quick takes on some of them:


* I know this is going to get me in some trouble in the Detroit community, but I'm glad Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga got robbed of his perfect game by umpire Jim Joyce. Wait a second, hear me out. Prior to this season, 18 pitchers in MLB history have pitched a perfect game. If Galarraga gets the right call for the final out, he would have pitched the 3rd perfect game of the season......and we're only in early June. Where have all the great hitters gone? Has Major League Baseball become a organization of free-swingers? Three perfect games in two months...when there's been 18 in the game's history!? That's a depressing state of affairs for the game's offensive greats. Has steroid testing really taken the air out of the tires THAT much?

There's another benefit to Galarraga getting jobbed. With the public eye now on Joyce's blown call, the pressure is now being put on commissioner Bud Selig to amplify the resolutions on his Coke-bottle glasses and take a real look at instant replay. If this latest screw-up puts the state of instant replay on its ear and changes the game of baseball as we know it, wouldn't that be more worthwhile than a measly perfect game nobody will talk about again a week from now?(Seriously, when is the last time you heard the name Dennis Martinez? Exactly.) Wouldn't you rather be known as the guy who helped stop (or at least, severely cripple) the epidemic of poor umpiring that has plagued baseball for years? Look, Armando, you caught a raw deal, but if your misfortune turns out to benefit your fellow peers as well as generations of ball players to come, believe me, it will be much more beneficial to your legacy than the time you almost shut down a 19-32 Cleveland Indians team.

* The New Orleans Hornets are making a stupid decision. By putting a deadline on Boston Celtics defensive guru Tom Thibodeau to accept his their coaching offer immediately rather than wait it out, they are screwing up the chance at reeling in the next great assistant-turned-coach. Thibodeau, much to the surprise of no one, has offers from other places besides the Hornets. The Bulls are reportedly interested. So are the Nets, and unlike New Orleans, those two teams have the type of cap space to bring in enough marquee guys to combine with Thibodeau's teachings and become a contender. The Hornets, however, have a ready-made star and one of the five best players in the league in the NBA's best point guard Chris Paul (Yeah, I said it. I don't care what Deron Williams and Rajon Rondo are doing. When CP3 is right, there's nobody better.). Paul is reportedly pulling for Blazers assistant Monty Williams, who learned under arguably the best coach in the NBA, the Spurs' Gregg Poppovich. I'm not saying Monty Williams would be a bad choice but the fact of the matter is that the Celtics have been to the Finals twice in three years and have won a ring and that's largely because of Thibodeau's ability to orchestrate a defense. Not only is Paul a feisty defender, but the Hornets have shot blocker Emeka Okafor at center and once-formidable perimeter defender James Posey as well(And Posey knows Thibodeau from their time together in Boston in 2008.)

There's really no reason for the Hornets to rush. The Hornets, and I know as a Hornets fan there's the risk of overrating my guys, are on the verge of being very good. Maybe not championship caliber yet, but a solid contender. Two years ago, they were the 2nd seed in the West. Then, the team tuned out coach Byron Scott and everything fell apart. With Thibodeau and a healthy Chris Paul, the Hornets can be back in the swing of things again. I think that potential is worth waiting for.

*Ken Griffey Jr. called it a career yesterday like he's done all of his notable achievements over the years: quietly. Griffey's dominance during the 90's was overshadowed by the steroid-addled achievements of other big stars in baseball and the inevitable black cloud of rampant steroid use that followed. There's no denying Griffey's resume. 10 Gold Gloves. 13 All-Star appearances. 7 Silver Slugger awards. 1997 AL MVP. 5th all-time with 630 home runs. 14th all-time in RBIs. The most breathtaking swing in recent memory. Griffey's career was shrouded by two things: His trade from Seattle to Cincinatti in 2000 and the myriad of injuries that cost him a shot at Hank Aaron's 755 during that span. With so many big names being caught with performance-enhancing drugs, Griffey played the game clean.

As much as his lack of durability was criticized over the years, he's still the best baseball player since Hank Aaron almost by default. Barry Bonds Plaxico'd his career by going to the steroid well. So did Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Same for Jose Canseco. Drugs derailed Daryl Strawberry. Griffey, instead, put up the only legit back-to-back 50+ home run seasons during the Steroids Era (56 home runs in both '97 and '98). He hit 630 home runs, all while only playing more than 140 games twice in the last decade of his career. He's baseball biggest "What if?". He's the prototype for the term "five-tool player". In a sports world where sons get dwarfed in the shadow of their legendary fathers, Ken Griffey Jr joined the likes of Peyton Manning and Cal Ripken Jr. as famous sons who surpassed the accolades of their equally famous fathers. He may have never won a World Series ring or, for that matter, appeared in a World Series. He may have fell off the face of the Earth the last 10 years but as more stars find themselves on the list of cheaters, the legacy of "The Kid" will become more and more impressive.