Round One

1. Cleveland Cavaliers – Kyrie Irving, Guard, Duke University

Wikipedia facts: Irving was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia where his father, Drederick Irving, played professional basketball for the Bulleen Boomers. Irving subsequently lived in Australia before relocating to the United States at the age of 2. He has dual citizenship in the United States and Australia and has recently expressed interest in representing the Australian National Team.

2. Minnesota Timberwolves – Derrick Williams, Forward, University of Arizona

Wikipedia fact: Derrick Williams originally committed to play at the University of Southern California but asked for a release from his letter of intent when head coach Tim Floyd resigned amid allegations of NCAA rules violations.

3. Utah Jazz – Brandon Knight, Guard, University of Kentucky

Wikipedia fact: On April 14, 2010, Knight signed an aid agreement with the University of Kentucky, not a letter of intent. Amid rumors that Kentucky coach John Calipari would jump to coach in the NBA, Knight’s parents advised him to sign an aid agreement. An aid agreement is different from a letter of intent in that the aid agreement is only a one way commitment, with Kentucky committed to give him one scholarship year while he can transfer without any repercussions from the NCAA, while a Letter of Intent means the deal is a two-way commitment between the school and the athlete. By signing an aid agreement, the Wildcats were committed to Knight, but he was not committed to them.

4. Cleveland Cavaliers – Enes Kanter, Center, University of Kentucky/Turkey

Wikipedia fact: During the 2008-09 season, Kanter was a seldom-used reserve for Fenerbahçe Ülker, a Turkish professional basketball team. He played in at least nine games with the team – four in the Euroleague and five in the Turkish Basketball League.

5. Toronto Raptors – Kawhi Leonard, Forward, San Diego State University

Wikipedia fact: In 2009 as a senior at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, he was named Mr. Basketball California.

6. Washington Wizards – Jan Vesely, Forward, Serbia

Wikipedia fact: Due to his speed and court movement, Veselý has been compared to Dirk Nowitzki and Andrei Kirilenko.

7. Sacramento Kings – Jimmer Fredette, Guard, Brigham Young University

Wikipedia fact: From his early childhood, he showed unusual dedication to athletics, his older brother TJ recalling, “He was the most determined, competitive four-year-old I had ever seen.” TJ, an aspiring rapper, helped train him for his basketball career since before kindergarten.

8. Detroit Pistons – Kemba Walker, Guard, University of Connecticut

Wikipedia facts: Walker grew up in the Sack-Wern Houses in Soundview, Bronx, and is the youngest of three siblings. His mother is Crucian and his father is Antiguan. Walker is also a dancer. He performed three times at the Apollo Theater for the TV show Showtime at the Apollo.

9. Charlotte Bobcats – Bismack Biyombo, Forward/Center, Congo

Wikipedia fact: Biyombo was discovered by the former Jordanian and Angolan national team head coach, Mario Palma, at the age of 16 at a youth tournament in Yemen.

10. Milwaukee Bucks – Marcus Morris, Forward, Kansas University

Wikipedia facts: He was named the 2010-11 Big 12 Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Year. He was also named a second team All-American for his play in the 2010–11 basketball season by both the Associated Press and by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and a third team All-America by Fox Sports.

11. Golden State Warriors – Klay Thompson, Guard/Forward, Washington State University

Wikipedia facts: Thompson is the son of former Los Angeles Laker great Mychal Thompson. His older brother Mychel played basketball for Pepperdine University and his younger brother, Trayce, was drafted in the 2009 MLB Draft by the Chicago White Sox. Klay faced controversy when he was suspended for his final regular season game at WSU after being issued a misdemeanor criminal citation for marijuana possession.

12. Utah Jazz  - Chris Singleton, Forward, Florida State University

Wikipedia facts: In 2010 he was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year. Singleton is from Canton, Georgia and played high school basketball at Dunwoody High.

13. Phoenix Suns – Tristan Thompson, Forward, University of Texas

Wikipedia fact: Thompson was born in Brampton, Ontario, and is the oldest of four brothers of Trevor and Andrea Thompson. He is also the cousin of fellow NCAA athlete and former Virginia State University Trojan football standout Jemal Thompson.

14. Houston Rockets – Jonas Valanciunas, Center, Lithuania

Wikipedia facts: Valančiūnas started playing professionally for Perlas in 2008 and played there until December 2009. During the 2008-09 season the team played in the Lithuanian National Basketball League (NKL), Lithuania’s second strongest league, but moved up to the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) the following season.

15. Indiana Pacers – Markieff Morris, Forward, University of Kansas

Wikipedia facts: Morris and his brother have signed with a sports agent from Los Angeles and they have announced that they are going to be entering the 2011 NBA draft. He was picked to the Fifth Team All-America by Fox Sports after his junior season.

16. Philadelphia 76ers – Nikola Vucevic, Forward/Center, University of Southern California

Wikipedia fact: NO ENTRY

17. New York Knicks – Kenneth Faried, Forward/Center, Morehead State

Wikipedia facts: Faried broke Tim Duncan‘s modern-era (post-1973) Division I career rebounding mark with 12 rebounds in the Eagles’ 71–65 victory over Indiana State on February 19, 2011. The NCAA’s modern era began after 1973 when freshmen were permitted to play along with the split into the three divisions in use today. Duncan’s previous record of 1,570 rebounds had stood since 1997.

18. Washington Wizards – Marshon Brooks, Guard, Providence College

Wikipedia fact: Brooks left Providence College with two months left in his senior year to focus on preparing for the 2011 NBA Draft. Brooks left school two classes short of obtaining his degree.

19. Charlotte Bobcats – Alec Burks, Guard, University of Colorado

Wikipedia facts: He attended Grandview High School, where in 2009 he was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Missouri. His senior year he averaged 23.0 points per game, in addition to 6.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. He was also named the Kansas City Star and Metro Sports Player of the Year during his senior year.

20. Minnesota Timberwolves – Iman Shumpert, Guard, Georgia Institute of Technology

Wikipedia facts: Iman Shumpert’s father Odis Shumpert is an insurance broker and his mother L’Tanya Shumpert is an adjunct professor of art and design at Columbia College in Chicago.

21. Portland Trail Blazers – Jordan Hamilton, Forward, University of Texas

Wikipedia facts: As a sophomore he was a second team All-American by the USBWA. He was picked to the Fourth Team All-America by Fox Sports.

22. Denver Nuggets – Tobias Harris, Forward, University of Tennessee

Wikipedia facts:  Harris attended Half Hollow Hills High School West in Dix Hills, NY for his senior year.  He was named a 2010 McDonald’s All-American.

23. Houston Rockets – Dontas Motiejunas, Forward, Lithuania

Wikipedia facts: Motiejūnas was a part of the Lithuanian Under-16, Under-18, and Under-20 junior national teams. With Lithuania’s junior national teams, he played at the: 2006 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship, both the 2007 and 2008 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championships, the 2009 FIBA Under-19 World Championship, and the 2009 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship.

24. Oklahoma City Thunder – Tyler Honeycutt, Guard/Forward, University of California – Los Angeles

Wikipedia fact: Coming out of Sylmar High School, Tyler was very highly regarded, being rated as a top 10 small forward in the country by all of the major recruiting circuits.

25. Boston Celtics – Reggie Jackson, Guard, Boston College

Wikipedia fact: As a senior at Palmer High School in Colorado, Jackson won the 2007-08 Gatorade Colorado Boys Basketball Player of the Year.

26. Dallas Mavericks – JaJuan Johnson, Forward, Purdue University

Wikipedia facts: JaJuan finished his career at Purdue as the seventh highest scorer in school history (1,919), averaging 13.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2 blocks, .7 assists, and .7 steals. He shares school records with games in a season (37), total games (140), and games won (107). He finished 2nd in school history in career blocks with 263, as well as tallying 854 rebounds.

27. New Jersey Nets – Kyle Singler, Forward, Duke University

Wikipedia facts: Singler’s parents were both athletes at Oregon State University: his father, Ed Singler, was quarterback of the football team, and his mother, Kris Brosterhous, was on the basketball team. Four of Singler’s uncles played Division I football, baseball or basketball. His younger brother, E.J. Singler, plays basketball for the University of Oregon.

28. Chicago Bulls – Jimmy Butler, Forward, Marquette University

Wikipedia fact: Butler was not heavily recruited coming out of high school and chose to attend Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas.

29. San Antonio Spurs – Nikola Mirotic, Forward, Serbia

Wikipedia facts: Mirotić began his professional career with the Spanish ACB League club Real Madrid. During the Euroleague 2010-11 season, he emerged as one of his team’s most valuable cogs to win the Euroleague Rising Star award. In 2011, he signed a 5 year contract extension with Real Madrid.

30. Chicago Bulls – Shelvin Mack, Guard, Butler University

Wikipedia facts: In 2011, Mack help lead the Bulldogs to the 2011 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship game. He declared for the 2011 NBA Draft, to be held June 23, following his junior year.

Round Two

31. Miami Heat – Josh Selby, Guard, Kansas University

32. Cleveland Cavaliers – Malcolm Lee, Guard, University of California – Los Angeles

33. Detroit Pistons – Justin Harper, Forward, University of Richmond

34. Washington Wizards – Jordan Williams, Forward, University of Maryland

35. Sacramento Kings – Chandler Parsons, Guard/Forward, University of Florida

36. New Jersey Nets – Charles Jenkins, Guard, Hofstra University

37. Los Angeles Clippers – Nolan Smith, Guard, Duke University

38. Houston Rockets – Jeremy Tyler, Forward/Center, Tokyo Apache

39. Charlotte Bobcats – Travis Leslie, Guard, Georgia

40. Milwaukee Bucks – Jon Leuer, Forward, University of Wisconsin

41. Los Angeles Lakers – Darius Morris, Guard, University of Michigan

42. Indiana Pacers – E’Twuan Moore, Guard, Purdue University

43. Chicago Bulls – Norris Cole, Guard, Cleveland State

44. Golden State Warriors – Trey Thompkins, Forward, Georgia

45. New Orleans Hornets – Rick Jackson, Center, Syracuse University

46. Los Angeles Lakers – Bojan Bogdanovic, Forward, Serbia

47. Los Angeles Clippers – Scotty Hopson, Guard, University of Tennessee

48. Atlanta Hawks – Malcolm Thomas, Forward, San Diego State University

49. Memphis Grizzlies – DeAndre Liggins, Guard, University of Kentucky

50. Philadelphia 76ers – Willie Reed, Forward, St. Louis University

51. Portland Trail Blazers – Demetri McCamey, Guard, Illinois

52. Detroit Pistons – Isiah Thomas, Guard, University of Washington

53. Orlando Magic – Cory Joseph, Guard, University of Texas

54. Cleveland Cavaliers – David Lighty, Guard, The Ohio State University

55. Boston Celtics – Keith Benson, Center, Oakland University

56. Los Angeles Lakers – Jereme Richmond, Forward, University of Illinois

57. Dallas Mavericks – Greg Smith, Center, Fresno State University

58. Los Angles Lakers – Andrew Goudelock, Guard, College of Charleston

59. San Antonio Spurs – Davis Bertans, Forward, Latvia

60. Sacramento Kings – Ben Hansbrough, Guard, University of Notre Dame

Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times wrote today that the hiring was “the wrong move” and that the lack of consultation with superstar Kobe Bryant was an even bigger mistake.  Bryant had made it clear that the only man he wanted to be his head coach was Brian Shaw, someone who has been an assistant under Phil Jackson but has zero head coaching experience.  Plaschke then goes on and assumes that if Bryant had been consulted, he would have listed Shaw, Rick Adelman and Jeff Van Gundy to his list of potential coaches.

When asked about the hiring of Brown, Bryant responded with a “no comment,” which has been translated to “I hate Mike Brown and this was the last guy I would have ever wanted.”  Quite a jump, I know, but that is what people have been assuming Bryant meant when he said nothing at all.

Bryant liked the idea of Shaw as head coach because he would run the same system that his predecessor, Phil Jackson, did and Kobe would likely be able to walk all over him and do whatever he wanted.  Hiring Adelman seems even crazier to me, as he was moderately successful in Houston, but missed the playoffs two years in a row, eventually leading to his firing.  Why would the Lakers want to hire someone that was just fired by the Houston Rockets?  The answer: they wouldn’t.

The Lakers hired the most successful coach on the market.  Jeff Van Gundy’s name has been thrown out multiple times and yet Van Gundy has given absolutely zero indication that he is interested in being a head coach right now.  But that has done nothing from keeping people from using his name as a potential possibility in Los Angeles.

But back to Brown.  The two major faults against him are that he got outcoached in the 2007 NBA Finals against Gregg Popovich and then he couldn’t get his team back to the NBA Finals despite back-to-back 60-win seasons.  One could also add that the team fired him because LeBron James didn’t like him very much.  And how do we get to that conclusion?  Because the team fired Brown to appease James and have him re-sign in Cleveland.  And what happened after the Cavaliers did what they thought James wanted?  James signed with the Miami Heat.  So getting rid of Mike Brown did absolutely nothing to entice James to stay in Cleveland.  And yet we continue to read that James wanted Brown out of Cleveland and he was fired because of James.

Getting swept in the 2007 NBA Finals against Gregg Popovich is hardly something to be proud of.  But is it really that awful?  Brown led his team, with a very young James, to within four wins of an NBA title, something no other coach did that year (other than Popovich, of course).  But because he got swept, it’s treated like they went 21-61.

60 wins in the NBA is a very good accomplishment.  Brown did it in back-to-back seasons with James and a cast of pine riders.  James left for Miami to play with two other stars and failed to win 60 games this season.  But because Brown didn’t to get his team to the NBA Finals, those years are considered failures.  For those counting at home, Rick Adelman has two NBA Finals appearances: 1990 and 1992.  He won three games in those two years combined.  And that was almost two decades ago.  Jeff Van Gundy has one NBA Finals appearance during the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season; they lost four games to one against the San Antonio Spurs led by, that’s right, Gregg Popovich.  As for Brian Shaw: he’s never coached an NBA game.

Mike Brown may not be the perfect coach for the Los Angeles Lakers at this particular time.  But he was the best available option and the Lakers jumped on it.

The reaction has been pretty consistent: “really?”

With names like Rick Adelman, Mike Dunleavy, and Brian Shaw also mentioned for the open position, the news that Mike Brown is now the leading candidate has surprised many this morning despite a track-record that should speak for itself.  After Brown was fired by the Cavaliers last year, I wrote that he will likely be hired again by another team because teams can’t just go out and find championship coaches like they are third-string point guards.

With Phil Jackson’s retirement, there are now TWO active head coaches who have won championships: Gregg Popovich and Doc Rivers.  That’s it.  The coaches that the Lakers are rumored to be discussing have a combined zero championships.

But this is more about Mike Brown than it is about the other options for the Lakers.  Brown has two 60-win seasons under his belt, he’s appeared in the NBA Finals and he has experience coaching one of the biggest superstars in the game today.  This isn’t someone who should move to Los Angeles to take over a team that strives for 60 wins every season and also has one of the biggest superstars in the NBA?

Brown’s final two seasons in Cleveland featured records of 66-16 and 61-21, respectively.  He did this with LeBron James and a supporting cast that was so bad that it forced James to take his talents to South Beach and join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.  And how did James do in his first season without Brown?  He went 58-24 and has (so far) reached the Eastern Conference Finals.  Let’s be clear here: LeBron James hasn’t accomplished anything this year that he hasn’t already surpassed.

Yes, the Heat is on the verge of the NBA Finals where they will likely meet the Dallas Mavericks.  But James has already been to the Finals; and so has Mike Brown.

I always find it strange that people will complain about the head coach of their favorite basketball team when they have no definitive choice of who should replace them.  ”I’d take anyone else” is often heard, which is ridiculous because they clearly have no idea who would be better.

If you can find a more accomplished coach than Mike Brown for the Lakers job, so be it.  But I don’t see one that’s available.

American League East:
1. Boston Red Socks
2. New York Yankees (Wild card)
3. Tampa Bay Rays
4. Baltimore Orioles
5. Toronto Blue Jays

American League Central
1. Minnesota Twins
2. Detroit Tigers
3. Kansas City Royals
4. Chicago White Sox
5. Cleveland Indians

American League West
1. Texas Rangers
2. Oakland Athletics
3. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
4. Seattle Mariners

National League East
1. Atlanta Braves
2. Philadelphia Phillies
3. Florida Marlins
4. New York Mets
5. Washington Nationals

National League Central
1. Milwaukee Brewers
2. Cincinnati Reds (Wild Card)
3. St. Louis Cardinals
4. Chicago Cubs
5. Pittsburgh Pirates
6. Houston Astros

National League West
1. Colorado Rockies
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
3. San Francisco Giants
4. Arizona Diamondbacks
5. San Diego Padres

American League MVP: Alex Rodriguez
National League MVP: Troy Tulowitzki

American League Cy Young: Jon Lester
National League Cy Young: Josh Johnson

AL Divisional Series: Yankees over Twins, Red Socks over Rangers
NL Divisional Series: Braves over Reds, Brewers over Rockies

AL League Championship Series: Yankees over Red Socks
NL League Championship Series: Brewers over Braves

World Series: Yankees over Brewers

While the NFLPA’s ad leaves much to be desired, it brings up an important question: why is the NFLPA creating ads aimed at the NFL to let their players play?  It’s not like Roger Goodell is going to see the ad and suddenly change his tone during the negotiation sessions.  What the ad is really trying to do is get fans on the side of the Players’ Association.

My question to this is simple: why?

Why does it benefit the NFLPA to have the fans on their side?  Even if the fans did take the lead and start demanding that the owners capitulate on their demands, do we really think that this group of millionaires and billionaires is going to roll over because we asked them to?  This entire negotiation is about money and which side will get more of it; neither side is going to give up some of that simply because the fans chose a side.

We all want football.  Despite having the shortest season in terms of games and calendar days, the NFL dominates the sports spectrum in the United States.  A lockout of any kind, but certainly one that would cancel games, would cripple the sport.  Again: we all want football.  But does choosing a side help us get any closer to an agreement that would avoid a lockout?

I’d love to know how it could help, but at this point I don’t see how it would.

With an increasing number of opinions scattered throughout radio and television airwaves (does that still apply for TVs?), as well as the Internet, it seems that calls for greatness in all things sports come much faster than they should.  I have previously written about which current Major League Baseball players will likely be Hall of Famers and despite the huge attention paid to players like Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and Cliff Lee, none of them would be Hall of Famers if their careers ended today.  In the end, I counted eleven players within the hundreds that play at the Major League level who would make it to Cooperstown.

But with more reactions and commentary from more and more people (bloggers, of which I am obviously one), we tend to be over-the-top with declarations like “he’s the best,” “he’s a definite MVP,” or “we’ll see him in Canton one day, no doubt.”

But let’s bring this back to coaching.  I have also written about former Cleveland Cavaliers’ head coach Mike Brown, who was fired because the team thought that LeBron James didn’t like him.  Well, they didn’t say that for sure; it was because Brown couldn’t win enough in the playoffs, despite an NBA Finals appearance, something that many coaches throughout the history of the Association have been unable to do.

With that being said, I decided to check out our current pool of NFL coaches to see if the same can be said: that there are plenty of coaches who have won a lot of games, but who haven’t done enough in the post-season.  Of the 32 active head coaches, only five have won Super Bowls, which means that 27 have not.  Those five are Bill Belichick, who has won three, Mike Shanahan, who has two, and Mike Tomlin, Tom Coughlin and Sean Payton, who each have one.

And that’s it.  No other active coach has won a Super Bowl.  To bring the statistic even more into the current tense, only four of those five above have won since 2000, as Shanahan won his two Super Bowls in 1998 and 1999 with the Denver Broncos, a team he no longer coaches.

But winning a Super Bowl shouldn’t be the only standard.  Clearly getting to the Super Bowl is a remarkable achievement.  So how many active coaches have made a Super Bowl but lost?  How about six: Ken Whisenhunt, Lovie Smith, Jim Caldwell, Andy Reid, Jeff Fisher and John Fox.  All of these men are still with their teams, except for Fox, who was let go by the Carolina Panthers this season and is now the head coach in Denver.  So there you have it.  Ten coaches out of 32 who have made a Super Bowl.

I will add that there are currently four coaches who have yet to coach an NFL game: Ron Rivera, the newly hired coach in Carolina; Pat Shurmer in Cleveland; Jim Harbaugh in San Francisco; and Hue Jackson in Oakland.  In addition, Leslie Frazier and Jason Garrett were both interim head coaches this season, but have been named full time coaches.  So there aren’t really 22 head coaches who have not been good enough to lead their teams to the Super Bowl…yet.

Of the four teams remaining in the NFL playoffs, only the Pittsburgh Steelers have a coach who has won a Super Bowl.  If the New York Jets knock off the Steelers in the AFC Championship Game, we will be guaranteed a first-time Super Bowl winner.

Another interesting fact that I picked up is that all four remaining head coaches (Ryan, Tomlin, Mike McCarthy and Lovie Smith) are all still on their first jobs.  While this also happened last year, it is something that doesn’t occur often, as NFL owners love hiring head coaches with previous head coaching experience.  Maybe that trend should change, as only two of the 12 head coaches who brought their teams to the playoffs have had jobs before their current ones (Belichick, who previously coached the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets for a day, and Pete Carroll, who coached the Patriots and the Jets before landing in Seattle).

While we get ready for a big weekend of football, just remember that if you consider Bill Belichick the best coach in the NFL, he won’t be on a sideline this weekend.

Dear Red Socks Nation,

Today is a big day for you.  The news hit late last night that you signed “perhaps the best example of how baseball teams need to built [sic] in the post-steroid era, with versatility, athleticism, speed and defense.”  A seven year contract that will pay Carl Crawford $142 million to snag balls off the Green Monster and steal bases like Dave Roberts.  What incredible news after agreeing to a contract extension with slugger Adrian Gonzalez for $154 million, also for seven years.  Remember all that talk about never going over six years?  Well, those days are clearly over.

$296 million for two players.  ”But it’s not as much as the Yankees spent two years ago” is what I’m sure you’re thinking.  ”We’re still not as bad as the Yankees.”

According to Sports Illustrated’s John Heyman, NESN and Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal are reporting that the Red Socks also offered Cliff Lee a seven-year contract. Who knows if that offer is still on the table now that Crawford has agreed to play for seven years in Boston himself.  If it is, you’re officially worse than the Yankees…at least in the all important perception standings (then again, the Yankees will probably go to seven years for Lee now for that Crawford, Gonzalez and Werth got that many).

What a turnaround this has been.  Nevermind the fact that pitching was ultimately the problem last year and the Red Socks have done nothing to address it other than potentially offering Cliff Lee a seven-year contract.

I’ll admit that I’m a bit bitter.  I had accepted that the Red Socks were going to get Adrian Gonzalez as soon as Jed Hoyer went to San Diego.  The Socks pulled the ultimate old-Yankee move of giving up their top two prospects for the slugger, then gave him a contract extension (I know Gonzalez hasn’t signed it yet, but he will).

But Crawford is a bit different.  It’s not that I wanted the Yankees to get him; I actually didn’t.  I felt he wasn’t worth $140 million and wondered how he’d react in a rich media market (I have the same thought about Gonzalez).  I was more comfortable with the idea of Crawford going to Los Angeles of Anaheim to play with his buddy Torii Hunter.  All the rumors made it seem like it was a done deal that Crawford would sign with the Angels, but the Red Socks eventually offered him almost $35 million more than the next highest bidder.  Sound familiar?  Grossly overpaying a player to play for you even though he wanted to play somewhere else…I know it does because you used to make fun of the Yankees for doing just this sort of thing.

With the offensive additions, the Red Socks will throw out Josh Beckett, John Lackey, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz and… Daisuke Matsuzaka?  It’s a pretty formidable rotation other than the fact that Beckett has been a mess since he signed his four year, $68 million contract and Lackey’s five year, $82.5 million deal looks a tad high for his production.  But paying two pitchers $150 million is nothing when you can pay Crawford $142 million or Gonzalez $154 million.

Crawford’s deal is the second highest amount ever given to an outfielder.  The highest?  Manny Ramirez’s eight year, $160 million with the Red Socks.  Wait, what?  The Red Socks have given out the two largest outfield contracts in history?  Huh, how about that?

But enough about the on-field stuff.  I am here to warn you about how your pocket will be lighter because of this deal.  Whenever the Yankees made a splash by overpaying for a superstar, the fan response was always “who cares? it isn’t my money.”  Over time, it’s clear that it is.

Do you think Fenway Park is expensive now?  Tickets themselves are absurdly priced because of the small park, but everything else is pretty pricey.  Well, this is nothing.  It’s only a matter of time before that Sam Adams you enjoy at the game is $11 or $12.  Ever see a $6 hot dog?  You soon will.  How do you think the owners make the money to pay these players?  Yup, from you.  At $18.99 a pop, you’d need to sell almost seven and a half million pink hats to pay for Crawford.

The days of cheering on a hard working, blue collar team are over.  You are a team of elite mercenaries that were brought to Boston (or bought by them) to compete with the Yankees, the team you are emulating now more than ever.  Sure, you have some of the homegrown talent like Pedroia, Youkilis, Lester and Buchholz.  Maybe we can give them a cool nickname like the “Core Four” or something.  Oh wait, that’s already taken.  Well, maybe those celebrity fans of yours can start thinking of something better.

What I am simply saying here is, welcome to the new era of Red Socks Nation.  No more complaining about the Yankees.  With a single outfielder that will cost more than the entire Yankees outfield next season, you’ve lost all ability to say you aren’t just like the Yankees.  You are.

Except for the World Series rings.

Stories of “I remember where I was” and “I know exactly who I was with” are rampant today about when people first found out that Lennon was dead.  Even ESPN is marking the anniversary because so many people were told about the assassination by Howard Cosell during Monday Night Football.

I must admit, I am a fan of The Beatles.  I listened to them a bit growing up because my mother was a fan, but I didn’t really begin to truly enjoy their work until a few years ago when I read Bob Spitz’s biography of the group, appropriately titled The Beatles.  The nearly one thousand pages allowed me to learn about this group over the course of several months; it was almost like taking a class about these geniuses who literally changed music.

My musical life changed after reading that book and I fell in love with The Beatles.  I don’t hesitate in referring to them as my favorite band.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not someone who has gone deep into these records trying to dissect every word and note within each song.  I simply really enjoy listening to them.  Six of the top ten most played songs on my iPod are by The Beatles or Lennon himself.

Throughout Spitz’s book I listened to The Beatles.  Non-stop.  For three months the only thing I read about was The Beatles and the only thing I listened to on my iPod was The Beatles.  And it was then that I began to appreciate how incredible of an artist John Lennon was.  He was a gifted musician who worked with three other geniuses to create some of the greatest music we’ll ever hear.

But again, today is about remembering Lennon’s death, a tragic event that shook the world (or maybe even momentarily stopped it).  Lennon was shot outside of his apartment building in New York City, the city he decided to call home despite being able to live anywhere in the world.  New York City is also where I called home, having been born and raised there.

But our paths never physically crossed.  Lennon was assassinated 290 days before I was born, which leaves me in an interesting position today.  I am someone who loves The Beatles, loves John Lennon, and yet I do not have a memory of where I was or who I was with when I heard that Lennon had died.  To me, Lennon was never alive.  I’ve seen pictures of him, obviously listened to his voice a countless number of times, but never once have John Lennon and I taken breaths at the same time.  We’ve never almost crossed paths on the streets of New York and we’ve never watched the same television show at the same time.

Lennon is as much a physical part of my life as Abraham Lincoln, Christopher Columbus or Julius Caesar.  He is figure of history, someone I can only read about, listen to or watch.  And yet, despite these limitations, he’s clearly had a profound effect on my life.  But because I cannot go somewhere to see him, and because I was never able to do so during my own life, today should be no different than any other day.  There are no memories churned up today about when I found out that John Lennon was dead.

So instead, I can spend another day appreciating his life and his wonderful music.

Click the picture for a better view.

But the part of the story that almost totally sold me was this:

In addition to Hulu content, the Orb TV will play video available on YouTube, ESPN3, Comedy Central and Netflix.

ESPN3 on your television.  There may be other devices out there that do this, but I am very intrigued by the Orb Caster’s ability to put sports that usually stream on my computer onto my TV (and by “usually stream on my computer” I mean “do not stream on my computer because Cablevision does not allow its customers to access EPSN3″).  This could be huge.  I realize there are a plethora of cords that allow me to use my television as a computer monitor, but my MacBook Pro does not have an HDMI output and therefore I find the picture very grainy when I do connect it.

I am thinking of cutting my cable cord one day.  This may help.