First step is for Alex Rodriguez to call a press conference. He then comes out and says that he will resign immediately with the Yankees on two conditions:

1) He extends his new contract to a reasonable dollar amount for both parties keeping the money received from Texas in the new contract.

2) Joe Torre gets a 3 year deal as manager.

New York would come out and love him. Not only is he willing to stay on reasonable terms, but he is protecting Joe Torre who the fans love and don’t want to go. A-Rod wants to be loved by the fans. This certainly would do it.

The most interesting one however was how they attacked Arod for saying he hasn’t thought about opting out. David Justice said there is absolutely no way he hasn’t given it any thought. He kept going saying if he wanted to stay, all it takes is a call saying lets sign a contract and not opting out.

I agree with his assessment. Arod may be in it for the money and he has every right to be. However, he shouldn’t say he hasn’t thought about it and that its not about the money. Teams will drop a player at a minutes notice if they don’t preform so its completely understandable for a player to be in it for the money. Just don’t say it isn’t.

As was covered today on WFAN on Mike and the Mad Dog, the SNY broadcast team on CW did a great job. They covered the game extremely well, giving both sides and not straying from what the team’s problems were or making excuses. After the game, there was absolutely no postgame on SNY. How does the TV home of the Mets, a channel owned by the team, not cover a postgame for the last game of the season? If the Mets would have won, they would have gotten reaction for all that is happening and discuss the one game playoff they would have played. With the loss, it would have gotten a huge rating showing the reaction of the players and Willie Randolph. I completely agree with Mike and the Mad Dog that whoever made the decision to not air a postgame yesterday should be fired. In the all the years of YES they have never not aired a postgame following a big game, even if its a monumental postseason loss.

Now that the postseason is here we will be doing some live blogs of some games. More on which later in the week.

So why cheat? Thats the question on everyone’s minds.  It must have given him some advantage and even though tiny, Belichick might be paranoid and want every edge. I think this might be comparable to Watergate where even with a lead, cheat to ensure victory. To add to my belief on his paranoia, he did it again the Jets where Mangini knew he did things like this. Definitely acting paranoid to cheat knowing the other team knows your cheating.

So do we blame Pete Kendall? Well yea, he signed a deal and should have just honored and not been unhappy. Then again he was underpaid compared to others at his position and the Jets just refused to pony up.  Either way, he was not going to sit out and they just traded him away leaving a huge hole on the line.

As for cheering when Pennington came out, I don’t understand it. Pennington has played hurt for this organization, given it his all, and carried this team out of the Testaverde era. No way he should be booed for coming out hurt.

The main issue in New York is with the new Citi Field set to replace Shea Stadium. Shea has an apple that pops up whenever a Met homerun is hit at shea. There is a petition to get the apple moved to the new Citi field. (SaveTheApple.com) At the new Yankee Stadium, monument park will be fully moved to it.

Monument park is a well maintained and nicely looking area that will translate as if it were new to a new stadium. The apple is an old and cheaply looking device. Should it matter? I don’t think so. Each stadium should link the past to the present. What better way then to preserve the apple. Throw some nice paint on it and it will make a nice story that people can tell their children twenty years from now. That cheap apple once was at a ballpark called Shea and let the memories flow.

If he is a great success, it will be a new era for the MLS. Top players from other countries will come and improve the overal quality of the league.  This in turn will have young Americans playing soccer even more then they already are. Interest will no longer go away as kids get older. This in turn produces better American soccer players and improves the national team.

Now lets say he flops.  I don’t think thats the worst thing in the world being that he is on the LA Galaxy. We know that they are one of the MLS teams making money and he will definately bring in more. If he flops, they should at least still break even and have learned many lessons on what can and can not work.

Either way, it is all about perception. If quality improves but it remains perceived as poor, it won’t matter. Just as said above, it all begins with the kids. If kids grow up fans of an MLS team, they will grow up with the perecption that their team can compete and will be loyal fans. It is just like any other expansion team in any other sport. It takes a generation till the fan base is large enough to stick.

Why would I say such a thing? It is because I have no faith in the Red Sox to maintain the way they are playing. On the flipside, I think the Yankees will play much better and get closer. The rotation of Wang, Pettitte, Clemens, and Hughes (soon) is as good if not better then any other team. The big question mark, just like every other teams questions marks, is the bullpen. I’m going to say the bullpen will improve because the starting pitching is better now then it was opening day leading to a more rested bullpen.

As for old timers day, it is a great event. O’Neil and Brosius look like they are in such great shape that they could still play. I think this is a game that should get nationally televised. The regular Yanks Angels game after the old timers game was on Fox. Why did Fox not want to add the old timers game? I said the same thing about the NHL game that was played outside a few years ago. These special games I think would be able to hold a national rating and possibly increase the rating of the normal game around it. Not to mention Fox has nothing else on at 2PM on a Sat.

After winning the Gold Cup with ease, the US went to Copa America with a young roster missing many key players. Why would they do that? Their excuse is going to be they can’t keep the players away from their clubs all summer since the MLS is a summer season. That is a huge problem. The MLS needs to switch to a different schedule. Perhaps a split season schedule giving from mid June to mid Aug off.

I suppose what bothers me the most is that in the Gold Cup final the US beat Mexico. Mexico then turns around, goes to Copa America, and beats Brazil. At the same time, the US goes to Copa America and doesn’t even easrn a point. It leaves me with several what ifs as a fan. What if the same team that played Mexico had played Argentina? Would the Copa America experience perhaps have helped the veterans just as much as it would help these young guys when it comes to top notch international competition?

As a fan you want your team to always have the best team it can possibly have out on the field. That didn’t happen for the US in the Copa America and if a sport is to grow in the US, then the US national team certainely has to to try to do that every time out.

I will be attending Yankees old timers day tomorrow so that will be the topic of the next blog.

Dolan said he wanted to see “progress” before extending Isiah’s contract. While I understand why he would want to give Isiah another year to be with the team, a multiyear extension is a bit much. Looking at the 2007-08 Knicks, the moves made should make them a playoff team. Now if the Knicks don’t make the playoffs, Isiah should be fired. If the Knicks do make the playoffs, then Isiah did his job and is showing progress. This should be the tell all year and the watch should have continued to this year. The rookies are no longer rookies and the sophomores are no longer sophomores. The development of Eddie Curry was enough for him too keep his job, but now he should really be in the spotlight with the players he has now.

Dolan needs to make the statement: Playoffs or Bust.