© the other press © Sports Piers ars SOME MINS vor Certain... Flash Gordon Sports Editor As an observer of professional sports, I find it necessary to make note of things that bother me or generally seem to be wrong. Eg: The amount of air-time that Don Cherry gets. This rant addresses some of issues that are not necessarily grievous faults in the world but instead something like player's salaries that strikes a nerve just about everywhere. There are some things for certain in the sports world while other things are less dependable. For instance: money does not pave the way to a champi- onship. The New York Yankees have bought themselves the biggest and brightest stars of major league baseball, consequently they captured champi- onships in 1999, 2000, and 2002. The Montreal Expos and Toronto Blue Jays have some of the smallest payrolls in major league baseball but the Jays at least have their back-to-back champi- onships to brag about. There is some- thing about a certain year, a certain team that makes all of the money obso- lete. It’s not something easily defined, otherwise every team would know what to look for in players. The Yankees may not have won the World Series last year but Anaheim has deep enough pockets to field a winner. Not quite content to have just a base- ball team full of players, coaches and managers, the Angels even have the “Rally Monkey” on the roster. What an amusing marketing ploy that was. Looking back at the City of New York, you have to laugh a little or a lot at the plight of the dismal Rangers. Each year their payroll grows with every new “superstar” in the organiza- tion but every dollar spent seems to send them in the wrong direction. The most intelligent move the team made to get rid of troublemaker, Theoren Fleury. In his stead they have Eric Lindros with his soft skull; Pavel Bure on a bad wheel; and Alexei Kovalev, a man who has played in Mario Lemieux’s shadow for most of his career. Not one of them has lived up to the hype surrounding their careers. Sure they have earned the title of “dan- gerous players” on the ice, but none of them can lay claim to leading a team to a championship. So the Rangers mix the group of has-beens with the up- and-comers to see what they get—a team of misfits, who can’t make the play-offs. You can look at the Ottawa Senators—a team with no money and yet still no championship. However, the Senators did have chemistry to win the President’s trophy and that low- paid chemistry just might evolve into a Stanley Cup in years to come. Anaheim could steal Disney's second profession- al championship in two years if they defeat the New Jersey Devils. First they have to be all about cartoons—now was Page 30 e http://otherpress.douglas.bc.ca professional sports. What's next? The world. Changing focus to a whole other sport, I look to the NBA finals where the LA Lakers certainly will not be making a return to the big dance. Thank you! Someone had to be listen- ing to my prayers. Please refrain from announcing the Shaq and Kobe dynasty has fallen. No one make a big deal about it at all. They are quite a duo but other teams do deserve a chance to win the-what’s the name of the NBA championship trophy anyway? A Dirkless Dallas Mavericks will not beat anyone because he is a piece of that starting lineup that makes every- thing work. Of the teams that are left, I believe San Antonio to be the favourite. Tim Duncan and David Robinson are a little more than seven- foot-six Shawn Bradley can handle. Really all I wanted to say was that final- ly someone else will win the champi- onship other than the Lakers. The only major thing I see wrong with the NBA is what’s wrong with a lot of sports-the athletes make too much money. While the NHL could be seriously looking to the exhorbitant salaries in the off-sea- son, we can hope that the rest of the major leagues will follow suit. The next item on my list of rantables is the Annika Sorenstam debate fueleld by Vijay Singh’s comment saying she doesn’t belong. It’s certain, she will not June 2003 be on the PGA tour this year. Good thing or bad thing? Just a thing. Was it worth all the hype? She did miss the cut for the tour but only by four shots. Another day when she isn’t surrounded by a media circus and the world isn’t resting heavily on her shoulders she could place higher in the Colonial. Sports are not men’s clubs. While there are relatively few women who can/or do play at the professional level with men, they are there and should get every chance to play. I would like to point out, Annika Sorenstam is one of the few golfers out there resembling an athlete. Vijay Singh could take some pointers on maintaining his figure. With all the pressure surrounding the Colonial, no wonder Sorenstam’s most noteable crit- ic pulled out. Golf is hardly a sport of brutish power otherwise everyone would just go around talking about who has the biggest wood. It’s skill and technique—plus a little help from a titanium driver—that puts all of us on an even keel. Either you have talent for golf or you don't. The intelligent reader will call me on my rant here and say that I am guilty of creating space filler. It’s for certain that great articles are not written at the last minute. Some may take issue with my views but that’s just fine. It’s not like I am worried about-oh look there goes my credibility as a sports journalist!