I am in one of those moods where I just want to ramble on and on and on so please excuse me if I lose you along the way. Please feel free to discontinue reading or just start in the middle. Perhaps you see a name that gets your attention and you only want to read what I have to say about that person ... I just feel like griping. Here goes.

Money. Money is the root of all evil, right? Let's start with THE evil empire then, the New York Yankees. Their payroll is more than the net worth of most countries. Hell, C.C. Sabathia's salary alone is enough to feed most third world countries. Think about it ... is ANYONE worth that much. Not even Farrah Fawcett in her heyday was worth that. Sabathia is PLAYING A GAME. He is not even working. He pitches every fifth day (another subject that irks me) and then gets pulled after 5 or 6 innings because he has thrown 100 pitches (yet another of my pet peeves). For what he gets paid, have him pitch every inning of all 162 games for the Yankees ... Wilbur Wood would have done that, and for a hell of a lot less.

While I am on the subject of money ... why do players like Kobe Bryant (who makes more than 35% of the teams total payroll bitch that the Lakers do not surround him with other superstars? Let's see ... if you have three "superstars" then you have zero payroll to fill out the other roster spots. Kobe -- take less and let them sign other superstars. OH YEAH, you NEED that money to buy your wife more diamonds when you rape other women ...(another subject)

How about those freaking rookies that come into the league (NFL) never having played a single down and get a $20,000,000 signing bonus. I am waiting for someone to come along and sign, take the bonus, and then retire -- without ever playing. The salary is not guaranteed but the signing bonus is. Didn't Stephon Marbury collect $23,000,000 in salary from the New York Knicks to not play this year?

Criminals. I am so tired of these athletes getting treated special by the law. Look at the recent incident in Miami with the wide receiver who was legally drunk and killed a citizen. The only thing people seem to be worried about is whether or not he will be available for the upcoming season. HUH? What about the dead man's family? Why isn't he going to spend 10-15 years in jail? Does anyone remember that Ray Lewis was involved with a murder? What do you want to bet that Michael Vick is an NFL player again?

I remember many years ago, Mo Vaughn, then a member of the Boston Red Sox, was arrested for drunk driving. He had a blood alcohol level of 3.2, I believe. He got a jury trial in Boston where he was found "not guilty." Guess the Red Sox couldn't have fared without him ... at least the fans on the jury felt that way.

How about if an athlete is convicted of a felony they are banned for life? Oops, then we would have no NFL teams. This entire Barry Bonds situation really frosts me. He is letting his supposed "friend" Greg Anderson, rot in jail rather than tell the truth about Barroid. Why hasn't anyone ever mentioned that Barry started shaving off all his hair right when he started taking steroids? No hair, no way to test him. Barry is 100% quilty -- no doubt. He is just too obnoxious and stubborn to come clean. Doesn't he realize that his fans are forgiving and we would admire him more if he told the truth? The same way we admire Jason Giambi for coming clean.

Personally, I would like to commissioner of baseball to tell players that they have one chance to come clean -- if they do, they will be forgiven. Then wait a week, and release all tests. Let us know all 103 who tested positive. Oh yeah, and another thing. Let's have testing for athletes like they do in real life ... DIRTY AND GONE! Any test for anything on the list and they are banned from all sports for life. Why not? We have testing like that for truck drivers ... and police officers ... and other REAL PEOPLE!!!

Names. Here is one of those jumps. I can not stand all the nicknames and different pronunciations. What happened to the good old days? Remember when the SF Giants big three were Mays, Marichal, and McCovey? Last names are good enough. The two I HATE most are T.O. and Ocho Cinco (or whatever the hell he calls himself). It's Owens and Johnson as far as I am concerned. I would call them by their last names to their faces. Every athlete should be referred to by their last name -- just like it used to say on the back of their uniforms. Wear it with pride. Also, please stop coming up with these asinine names!!! That forward for the Lakers named Pau -- buy a friggin consonant!!! How about Paul? What is a Plexico anyway? Would Michael Jordan have been affended if we called him Jordan? HELL NO!!! Grow up.

Get back to basics, please. Especially baseball. I can not even watch it anymore. What happened to the complete game? Who the HELL came up with the "pitch count?" I guarndamntee that Nolan Ryan would have punched out his manager (the way he did Robin Ventura) if he would have came out in the seventh inning to pull Ryan after 100 pitches. Ryan used to throw 150 plus pitches regularly and still reach 99mph in the ninth inning. Did it hurt his career? I think I remember Ryan pitching until he was 45 and still getting all those punk hitters out. Ryan went every fourth day -- and three when needed -- and never complained. What happened to the days when your "ace" threw 300 plus innings? I don't have a baseball Atlas in front of me but when I watched baseball in the 1970s and 1980s and enjoyed it -- starting pitchers completed 20 games regularly. I think Roy Halliday may have led the league last year with 4? What a workhorse. Perect example occurred yesterday. Lincecum is throwing a gem for the Giants. He has given up 5 hits with 13 strikeouts over eight innings. His pitch count is 98 -- and they pull him. Guess what happens? GIANTS LOSE. The "closer" blows the game. This always happens. Here are the pitch counts for the starters from yesterday: 98, 101, 104, 103, 100, 102, 103, 102, 94, 94, 111, 93, 105, 93, 104, 94, 903, 105, 114, 111, 111, 98, and 101. SICK.

While still griping about baseball- these specialized relievers are killing me. A "save" is the single most overrated stat in all of sports. Relievers that I respected were: Rollie Fingers, Rich Gossage, and remember him, Mike Marshall, with the Dodgers. Marshall threw 200 plus innings in relief. Now, your "closer" will only come in the game with a lead and with a "save opportunity" and RARELY will even attempt to get four outs. Oh yeah, and then they need some ridiculous rock song blaring from the rafters as they ride in on their white horse -- like Charlie Sheen in “Major League” to Wild Thing. What if they did not cue up Hells Bells for Trevor Hoffman or Enter Sandman for Mariano Rivera? Would they refuse to enter the game?

Announcers. Sorry, I am sticking to baseball for a moment. Most annoying announcers? RON SANTO doing the Cubs games. If the Cubbies lose, Santo sounds like he is ready to kill himself. Try to listen. Santo says things like: "No ... no ... oh my God, that was a terrible call, the umps are trying to make us lose!" I can not listen to Yankee games either because of John Sterling. He has to have a different home run call for every single Yankee. "It’s an A-Bomb, from A-Rod" or "The Milk Man delivers" for Melky Cabrerra (another asinine name). Then he has that blackboard-nail scratching "The Yannnnnnnnnnnkeeeeeeeeeeees win, the Yankees win"

UGH. Enough. The announcers want to be the whole show. Give me Vin Scully anytime. I want an honest account of the game without the announcer trying to be Michael Buffer reborn. Damn him and his "Let's get ready to rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrumble".

Give me the old days -- please. I am not that old either ... let's see ... I was born in 1962 ... so that makes me ... ok, I'm old. I grew up on the sports of the 70s and 80s ... basketball scores in the 140 to 120 range. Not this 86-69 final score crap. Don't pretend it is better defense today -- the players can not shoot to save their lives. The NBA is unwatchable now. Oh yeah -- here I go again. What happened to the dominant centers? I get so angry when I used to hear them say how Shaquille O'Neal was dominant. Wilt Chamberlain would have ate him for lunch. Wilt was just as tall -- if not taller -- probably 7 foot 2 to O'Neal's 7 foot 1. Wilt was in MUCH better shape. I personally think Wilt was stronger. I remember once seeing a tape of Wilt picking up Willis Reed and carrying him off the court like a rag doll. No one ever messed with Wilt. No one. Wilt once averaged 50.4 points per game for a whole season ... how many times has O'Neal ever even sniffed fifty in a game?

Wilt average more than 24 rebounds a game for his carreer. Now, if someone grabs 24 in a game -- even once -- it makes the front page. Also, Wilt played against the likes of Russell, Jabbar(aka Alcindor, another peeve), Thurmond, and other greats. O'Neal tosses around glamorized forwards who weigh 150 pounds less than him. O'Neal also travels on EVERY play. Call the fouls and O'Neal is gone before the end of the first quarter. Oh yeah -- Chamberlain NEVER fouled out of a game. He also played EVERY single minute one year, including overtime games. There will NEVER be another Chamberlain Never. Do NOT give me the BS about Jordan being the best ... Chamberlain was a 7 foot 2 inch Jordan with HEART!!!

I am really rambling on but this one gets me. The announcers that start talking about athletes that belong in the hall of fame. Crap. They started saying how Jeff Kent and Curt Schilling are shoe-ins. What the HELL are they smoking? Kent and Schilling were never, ever, ever, even the best at their positions for one season. OK, take this test. Think of the years that they played ... who would you want at their positions? Let's just do one. Pitcher. Schilling or Clemens? Schilling or Johnson? Schilling or Martinez? Schilling or Maddux? Get my point? It is not the Hall of Pretty Good! Kent is even more of a laugh. He was never even the best player on his own team. The year he won the MVP it was only because the writers, like me, HATE Barry Bonds. They want anyone other than Bonds. I think that it is a discrace when aplayer like Bonds gets into a shrine with the likes of Ted Williams. Here is my prayer that Bonds never gets in. If you haven’t gotten it by now -- I hate Bonds. I have a right to. I have met him. I played little league with him and he was an ass when he was 11 also. But, his Dad, Bobby, deserves some credit here. He played catch with me. He treated me like a person. By the way, Bobby Bonds was the first black (I hate saying African-American) to own a home in San Carlos, CA. Oh yeah, Barry and I also share the same birthday ... so I try to give him some wiggle room for being a Leo like me.

Basically, here is what I have to say. Athletes need to realize that they are very, very, lucky to have been born with the gift (or height) to play sports. They need to stop fooling themselves in believing that they worked hard to get where they are. They never worked. They skated. They were coddled. They have had their asses kissed all their lives and they take it for granted. GROW UP!!! You have made millions of dollars doing absolutely nothing. Try getting a real job. Try working 60 hours a week at minimum wage to feed your family (oh yeah, another article for later, about the dozen of illegitimate kids). Try adhering to rules. Try being nice to people (BARRY). Try being a member of the human race for only a minute. Try to realize that you are LUCKY to have what you have and that you should thank the LORD and your FANS ... oh why waste my words. They will never learn ... but we are to blame as well. Stop forking over your hard earned money to support these idiots. Stop idolizing these losers. Make them accountable for what they do. Again, why do I waste my words? I'm done. I'm through. Even when I am given free tickets, I don't attend anymore. I won't. But I am alone ... unless of course one of you reads this and agrees with me. I won't hold my breath.