From madness to letdown

 I just figured now was the time for the Northern Iowa logo. When else would I use it?

Come March, I have this tradition.

It consists solely of embarrassing myself with my NCAA Tournament bracket.

With the first weekend of the NCAA Touranment down, I’m still in the 95th percentile, which sounds like I’ve got this all figured out. And you know, I probably should. For a few years, I was paid to be a sportswriter. That should help.

But it always ends up like it did two years ago, when I filled out a bracket on facebook, which was stupid, because then anyone could see my bracket futility. Mine was so bad that year, I received the following message on facebook from another sportswriter friend of mine:

“I just wanted to let you know that you are the only friend I have on facebook whose bracket is worse than mine.”

Neat.

This year, my first weekend went great, but, since I had Kansas and Georgetown meeting up in the Final Four, I’m very aware that it’s not going to turn out well.

Actually, that’s how I feel about this tournament from this point on.

The first weekend was incredible, with upsets and buzzer beaters all over the place. It even involved Northern Iowa beating Kansas, which is a sentence I never thought I’d ever need to put together in my lifetime. I haven’t enjoyed a tournament this much in years.

What makes for a phenomenal first weekend however, can lead to a lackluster second weekend.

At least, that’s my fear this year.

Upsets are what make the first weekend so much fun. No one expects to see Ohio dismantle Georgetown (at least, I didn’t, which is why I put the Hoyas in my Final Four). No one even considers St. Mary’s having a chance over Villanova.

So we cheer the underdog and get excited when they improbably win.

But the next weekend, we have matchups where it’s even less likely underdog teams will win. Or at least, this round of top-seed teams won’t underestimate the underdogs because now the top teams know if they don’t take these teams seriously, they’ll get burned.

Here are the seed matchups this time for the Sweet 16:

No. 1 vs. No. 12
No. 2 vs. No. 11
No. 3 vs. No. 10
No. 2 vs. No. 6
No. 5 vs. No. 9
No. 1 vs. No. 5
No. 1 vs. No. 4
No. 2 vs. No. 6

I’m not saying these lower seed teams can’t win. Obviously, these teams can, or we would not be talking about them. But now, it’s the Sweet 16. There aren’t any teams that are sleep walking through these games. At this point, the Final Four looms just one week away. The elite teams aren’t messing around anymore.

In the first weekend, Cinderella teams get through on a little talent, a lot of heart and determination, and capitalizing on the fact that the top seeds thought they could take it easy and still win.

Now, it’s more about talent and coaching. And that’s when the big boys start to win out.

I just hope I’m wrong.

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The death of a streak

It truly was a remarkable streak.

As a 26-year-old, I have never lived in a world where the University of Arizona Wildcats stayed home during the NCAA Tournament.

Until this week.

I don’t want to wax poetic too much about my alma mater (obviously I sort of am, but I'll try not to get to poetic or waxy) but staying consistently good enough  to be in the premier post season tournament for your sport 25 years in a row is pretty impressive.

In college, I had the opportunity to cover the Arizona basketball team for the 2004-05 season for the Daily Wildcat (best newspaper job I ever had and it’s not even close). It was the last year the Wildcats made any sort of deep run in the tourney. It was the last season, before things started to fall apart for the program and Lute Olson.

It was the opportunity of a lifetime for me. I was fortunate enough to travel with the team all the way through to the Elite 8 in Chicago, and save for a ridiculous performance by Deron Williams and Illinois in the final minutes of regulation and overtime I would have gone to the Final Four (oh yeah, and save for an EPIC implosion by Arizona. Click here for my take on it. Please be nice. I was still in college). The team had Channing Frye and Hassan Adams, both eventually drafted by the NBA. 

In covering the team for a season, I couldn’t help but think it was a good time for Lute to walk away (everyone in Tucson simply calls him Lute, so I will too). The rigors of coaching are tough on someone in their 40s, let alone their 70s.

If he had retired that season, it probably would have turned out differently. But you know what they say about hindsight. The next season he was dealing with marital problems, and then later, health problems that forced him to retire. There was even some NCAA violations reported this year that occurred under Lute.

What’s sad is, the program he single-handedly put on the map, he also was responsible for bringing about its demise.

In past seasons, I thought watching the team was frustrating, because it had a wealth of talent but was inconsistent with its effort. I never felt that way about this season or even embarrassed that the Wildcats were left out of not only the NCAA Tournament but the NIT too. I felt like they were the doing the best with the situation they were given, which makes for a much more enjoyable, likeable team.

The program will be fine, and I think Sean Miller is building something good in Tucson (thank goodness the program avoided that Tim Floyd mess).

So, here is my bracket. My Arizona-less bracket:

Tournament Challenge

But don’t worry. The Wildcats will be back. Very soon.

Happy March Madness everyone!

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Sexual misconduct and sports

It’s something I don’t understand.

When a female accuses someone of sexual misconduct — especially when a female accuses a famous person or professional athlete on such charges — it seems like people immediately want to think, “She’s just a gold digger.”

I don’t have any personal experience in the matter, fortunately (both in getting raped or wanting to hook up with professional athletes. Once you've covered them on a daily basis, believe me, you wouldn't want to either). But, as a woman, I feel compelled to say something in light of this most recent Ben Roethlisberger situation.

Now of course, I don’t know what happened last week between Roethlisberger and the woman who is making the claims against him. So it’s possible the Pittsburgh Steelers' quarterback will be found not guilty on all charges if this goes to trial. I’m not just talking about his situation specifically.

But, just look at the language in the media when a sexual misconduct situation arises. Maybe it started earlier than this, but the first time I remembering hearing it was the Kobe Bryant rape case, and that’s the phrase “Kobe’s accuser.” Or, Ben Roethlisberger’s accuser. It’s such a negative word. The phrase seems to completely separate Bryant or Roethlisberger from any involvement in the situation. Accuser makes it sound like some crazy person in the Salem witch trials getting up and screaming, “She’s a witch!” at some random person they don't even know.

In my mind, when I hear “possible victim” vs. “accuser”? it makes quite a difference in how I am going to view the person.

What if it was flipped? What if stories would say, “Possible rapist Kobe Bryant”? Or, “possible rapist Ben Roethlisberger”? Well, that’s not saying they committed the crime, so the media outlets are covered from any libel problems. But it puts Bryant or Roethlisberger in a negative light before all the facts are out. I think it’s important to be fair to both sides while the situation is being sorted out and the language used often doesn't do that.

It also frustrates me when people say (again, not just in these two situations specifically) “well, she put herself in that situation. It’s her fault.”Well yes, maybe some of these women were out at nightclubs, and maybe, they were hoping for attention from star athletes. Maybe, they were even hoping to hook up. But, if these women got in that situation, and at any point voiced that they were uncomfortable with what was happening, the other person needs to listen and stop.

It doesn’t matter who the person is, or what their profession is, or even how many people they’ve slept with. Everyone should have the chance to say, “hey, this makes me uncomfortable and I want to stop.” Sleeping around or wanting to hook up with athletes doesn’t make you are immune from getting raped.

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Is inexperience to blame for Kumaritashvili’s death?

Certainly, it was a one-in-a-million chain of events.

Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili’s hit that final turn in just the wrong way. He had so much momentum going that it carried him off the track where the Georgian then struck a steel pole.

No one imagined something like that could happen. The death of Kumaritashvili was shocking.

In the wake of his terrible death, two aspects of the story have left me particularly stunned.

Olympic officials and even some of the people in the luge community blame the 21-year-old’s inexperience. In essence, those people believe if Kumaritashvili handled the turn better, we wouldn’t be talking about the dangers of the Whistler track this week.

I don’t know much about luge and I am certainly not a mathematician or physics expert, but it seems obvious to me that lugers going 90 miles per hour down a track with only a helmet to protect them spells danger even for a minute mistake. What would people be blaming this on if a more experienced luger died? If those sleds go that fast, momentum could fling any of them up and over the track, no matter how many luge competitions a person has under their belt.

If inexperience did cause the death of Kumaritashvili, why did the officials move the men’s start down to where the women start? Olympic officials said they did it to ease concerns of the athletes, but it seems many of the lugers did not agree with the changing the track.

And, it’s not as if this particular track hadn’t raised concerns among some of the athletes beforehand. Tragically, one of those lugers was Kumaritashvili himself, who voiced his concerns to his father days before he died. In my mind, inexperience might have been a factor, but cannot be completely to blame. If he’s an Olympian, whether for a powerhouse country or not, I would think he has enough experience to handle turns. His error did not seem out of the ordinary; it looked like something that could happen to any luger at any minute.

The second aspect that upset me was the decision by NBC to show Kumaritashvili’s death over and over. I kept looking at the ground every time the video would start; I couldn’t watch.

One thing I am at least somewhat knowledgeable on in this situation is journalism ethics. I have a degree in journalism and have been a newspaper writer for the last seven years.

When decisions arise such as these — to air or not air a video or a photo — it is tough to know what the right answer is. My local NBC Los Angeles affiliate aired the video to the point where Kumaritashvili lost control of the sled and then cut it off; I felt like that was the appropriate line.

You aren’t dealing with one of those spills we’ll see on a highlight reel one day that we can laugh about. Someone died. Would they show a video of a pedestrian getting hit by a car? Or someone getting shot and killed?

Whether people in the general public want to see the video or not, we just don’t need to see someone lose their life like that. I look at it as a matter of respect for the person who dies. You can’t think of ratings in this instance.

You have to think of respect.

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Super Bowl Analysis

I said it myself, but I didn't listen.


People would ask who my pick was for the Super Bowl. My answer was always the Colts, but then I'd qualify that with something similar to what I said on twitter: "Everyone is so sure the Colts are going to win the Super Bowl. If I were Indy, that would terrify me."


Think of what little chance any "expert" gave the Saints. The build up to the big game gets pretty out of hand (and by "out of hand" I mean if some catastrophic event happened this week, we never would have heard about it) so I limit my TV time, but any person I saw predicting the outcome picked the Colts (including me in this post).


New Orleans needed three things to align to get its 31-17 Super Bowl win. Here's why they pulled it off:


1. The Saints kept Peyton Manning from getting into a rhythm. The time of possession was nearly equal, Saints 30:11 to Indy's 29:49, but the game had a feel that Manning was not on the field enough to get the offensive motor going. Remember after the AFC Championship game, what New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan said?


"With Peyton Manning, if you can't disrupt his rhythm he's going to kill you," Ryan said, "and we couldn't disrupt it enough."  


The Saints simply didn't let Manning kill them. At the end of the game, Manning started rifling 150 MPH-passes at people. Uh, that would be the definition of forcing it, my friends. They flustered Manning, and that turned out to be all the Saints really needed to do to neutralize the entire Colts team. 


2. Drew Brees played nearly perfect. It hardly seems realistic for Brees or anyone else to even dream of performing the way he did in the Super Bowl: 32-39, 288 yards, 2 touchdowns, no interceptions. He never got flustered (the Colts defensive line can blame themselves for that) and he just methodically moved his team down the field almost every series they had. His team backed him up and didn't cough up the ball 150 times like they did in the NFC Championship game against the Vikings. 


3. The Saints got their huge momentum moment. This is a team that is used to feeding off a frenzied fan base. Maybe more than any team in the NFL, they feed off of emotion. New Orleans needed a moment where they felt like, "hey, we can win this." It came at the start of the second half. 


In what could be one of the gutsiest calls in Super Bowl history, the Saints did an onside kick to start the second half. It's one of those, "if we pull this off, we're geniuses, but if not, we're idiots" moves, and it caught Indy completely off guard. It changed everything. 


If the Colts get the ball there at the start of the half, they probably score at least a field goal, and New Orleans starts to worry that they just won't be able to stop the Colts and Manning. Instead, the momentum goes crashing onto the Saints' side and it never leaves. 


My friend James, an avid Saints fan, brought up an interesting point after that onside kick. The cameras showed Dwight Freeney getting his bum ankle re-taped on the sideline. 


James said, "Do you think they went for that onside kick knowing Freeney would be getting his ankle re-taped at halftime?"  


I think that's a total possibility; they knew he wouldn't be ready right at the start of the third quarter. Either way, a brilliant move by the Saints. 


When it was all over, the Saints had their win and my friend James was sitting on the floor, crying tears of joy. When they first showed Bourbon Street, it didn't look all that crazy. But I pictured many of those people sitting together after the game was over, crying tears of joy like James was, and saying what he said:


"I never thought I would see this happen in my lifetime."

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Some Kobe Love

Kobe Bryant elicits some pretty emotional reactions from people.

Good or bad. Love or hate. He’s not a bring-both-sides-of-the-aisle-together kind of guy.

Born and raised in the Los Angeles-area, I'm a Lakers fan who leaned more toward the dislike side for awhile. Over the last two seasons though, that outlook has changed significantly.

When the rape allegations came out against Bryant in 2003, I felt like I couldn’t really get behind him after that point. Even when the trial didn’t go on, he did admit to cheating on his wife, so that was still a problem for me (he's certainly no different than most pro athletes in doing that, I might add, but that's a discussion for another day). It made it difficult to watch the Lakers play; I wanted the purple and gold to win but didn’t want it to happen due to Bryant scoring baskets. But of course, over the last 13 years or so, you can rarely have one without the other.

Then, he had that off season in 2007 where he wanted to be traded, then he didn’t, then he wanted to be a Laker forever. That was annoying.

Over the last two seasons though, he’s made it almost impossible for me not to appreciate him.

From just a basketball standpoint, the amount of clutch shots he hits is incredible. Is there anyone else in the NBA where we are more surprised when he misses a shot at the buzzer than when he makes it? It is all the more impressive to me because every person playing in the game and watching it knows he’s going to get the ball with the game on the line, and he still manages to sink shots.

Yesterday, he even did it to the defensive-minded Boston Celtics (I do LOVE game-winning shots against the Celtics). It’s probably the best defensive team in the league and they knew Bryant was going to take that shot. But that never matters.

Bryant also isn’t an over-celebrator when he does something good (I’m looking at you, NFL players. Good heavens, you’re scoring touchdowns or making tackles. It’s what you get paid for). I get the impression he doesn’t celebrate excessively because for him, he’s simply doing what he’s supposed to do: score points. That shouldn't warrant an inordinate amount of beating your chest.

Last, and maybe the largest influence on my new found appreciation for Bryant is his toughness. He’s had a finger injury, back spasms, knee and ankle problems this season. He could just sit out a few games and heal up and no one would blame him (in fact, I sort of wish he would, so he doesn’t make any of those injuries worse as the season goes on).  But if he can walk, he plays. I like knowing that if I watch the Lakers, I can always count on him playing hard. Some superstars show up in games only when they feel like it (I love knowing that everyone who reads that sentence will immediately think of Vince Carter, like me).

In a week where Bryant will almost certainly move to the top of the Lakers all-time scoring list, I realized that if this happened four years ago, it would have made me cringe. Now, I just appreciate watching someone's who unbelievable amount of hard work is paying off.

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Lessons from Haiti

I have been so moved by this country’s incredible generosity in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake.

For all the complaining people do about America (inside and out of it) I feel like few other countries rise to the occasion like we do. OK, I’ll admit that’s biased. But I think as Americans, we realize that no matter what we have or don’t have, we possess so much more than people around the world.

Still, it’s hasn’t been a fun stretch here for Americans. Many have lost jobs or been forced to move out of their homes. There’s little extra money lying around to spend even on ourselves or our families, but still, we did our best and gave what we had to help people in Haiti. People donating just $10 via texting have raised millions for the Red Cross to bring aid to the devastated country.

It’s strange how the worst of times seem to bring out the best in people. I certainly don’t want bad, catastrophic events happening all over the place, but I wish the world could maintain this approach at all times, good and bad. When something bad happens that we don’t expect, we all seem to look around and say, “Hey, nothing else matters right now except for the fact that we need to help each other get through this.”

Really, it’s how we should always behave. We all come from different places. Not all of us agree on healthcare or gay marriage or religion or politics. But under that all, we are all humans. There can be no better reason as to why we should treat each other with respect.

So while I wish this horrible earthquake never happened, I do hope we learn something from it. I hope we remember that if former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and current President Barack Obama can unite for common cause, anyone can.  I hope we remember to help people in need, not just when something catastrophic happens. I hope we remember that even when we feel like we can’t do any more, we usually can.

For anyone who has courageously flown down to Haiti to help in the relief efforts, anyone who has donated money or supplies, or to anyone who has simply offered up a prayer, thank you.

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Pete Carroll leaving = bad for college football

I have to admit, I’m sad to see Pete Carroll go.

As an Arizona alum who grew up in Los Angeles as a UCLA fan, I’m usually all for USC getting knocked down a peg or two.

But Carroll was just so good for college football. No, he was great for college football.

His leaving such a great gig for the NFL makes me worry about the future of college football. I’m starting to wonder if being a college coach isn’t all it is cracked up to be.

I thought he did one of the best jobs I’d ever seen of balancing what college football should be about. He recruited incredible talent. They became a program everyone wanted to beat. But they had an incredibly good time doing it. He had an incredibly good time doing it. College football shouldn’t be such a serious affair (check your thesaurus for synonyms of humorless, and Nick Saban is undoubtedly on that list).

Yes, USC got a little brash. Obnoxious, even.  I’m not here to dispute that.

Carroll won national titles. Groomed Heisman Trophy winners. He earned plenty of money and lived in one of the best cities in the country (if you asked me, it’s THE best city in the country, but I’m biased). Now, he’s leaving to run the Seattle Seahawks as the president and head coach, a huge risk and an even higher pressure situation.

Why?

Well, I won’t even discuss here the possibility of sanctions that could be coming and he’s running away. Let’s just say that isn’t the case.

Have we set up college football coaches to fail? They have these incredibly crazy rules they have to follow and a one-loss season mostly likely eliminates any shot at a national title.

I love college football, but that’s crazy.

Take Ohio State this season. They lose to USC at home on the final drive of the game after a hideous offensive performance on both sides. The Buckeyes are essentially done for the year. Sure, they still have the Rose Bowl to play for. But their hopes for a special season are immediately ruined, no matter what they do the rest of the year. It doesn’t make sense.

Is that something that’s going to force more quality coaches out of college and into the NFL?

College football needs Pete Carrolls. They remind us of what college sports should be about. I hope the current set up of college football doesn’t make it simply a pit stop en route to the NFL.

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 I hate when I hate both teams in a championship game.

OK, hate is a little dramatic. But today, Alabama and Texas will face off in the BCS national title game, and I don’t really want either of them to have the glory that comes with winning this game.

It happened to me in the World Series this year too. The Phillies embarrassed my Dodgers (I’m still not ready to talk about it) in the NLCS, and as a life rule, voting for the Yankees is unacceptable. But the pain the Phillies caused me won out (in one game I actually blurted out, “come on A-Rod, get a hit here.” It gave me my answer of who I was voting for, but I was horrified that just came out of me. I think my boyfriend nearly broke up with me).

Ahem, but we’re talking about college football. My baseball issues are for another time. I’m still working out those issues.

It’s not that I have a huge distaste for the Crimson Tide. Sure, their fans are a little crazy obsessive passionate, but my main issue is simply that I’m tired of the Southeastern Conference. There’s no doubt it’s the best conference in the country. However, it makes me crazy that they play no one of consequence in their pre-conference games and take almost no risks. I understand why they do it, but how fun is it for football fans when Tim Tebow faces Charleston Southern?

The last non-SEC team to win the national title was USC in 2004. It’s time for some other teams to step up here. I’d even take Ohio State at this point (just kidding, I wouldn’t. But some other Big 10 team might be nice). Having a non-USC Pac 10 team would be nice too. But after the conference’s horrid bowl performance this year, I can’t even bring myself to entertain the thought.

So I’m very lukewarm about Alabama. Texas on the other hand, I just plain get annoyed by.

Now, I should mention that I like Mack Brown a lot, and think he does a great job. As a former sportswriter, I like the way he handles himself with the media. But the burnt orange. The HIDEOUS cheerleading outfits. I can’t bring myself to root for them, even though nothing would make my dad happier. Except of course, if I decided to become a Dallas Cowboys fan, but that would never happen in this reality. Ever.

I guess I’m rooting for Alabama and hoping for a better college football season next year. One where I actually want someone to win the title.

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The defense rests in the Pac 10 (or really, just doesn't tackle or generally make stops)

Over the last week or so, I’ve been plagued with several questions.

Questions like, why is the airport gate for my flight ALWAYS the very last one at the end of the row and thus I must schlep my bag much longer than I want to? Or, is fudge an acceptable breakfast option? These are things I think about.

But, the question that has crossed my mind most is:

What in the name of Pete Carroll happened to the Pac 10 in bowl games?!

I suppose I’m writing this to therapeutically work through that horrifying 33-0 loss my Arizona Wildcats suffered to Nebraska on Dec. 30. I spent my undergrad time at Arizona watching some pretty bad football. However, I don’t think I EVER watched a game where they mustered less than 50 yards of total offense (you can’t see me right now, but I’m cringing). That was bad, even for Arizona football. I may need to seek professional help.

But seriously, what happened to the conference as a whole? It wasn’t just Arizona that tanked (they just found an epically bad way of doing it). Oregon State and Cal lost to Mountain West teams, for crying out loud. Oregon’s ridiculous offense forgot how to score in a loss to Ohio State.

The answer may simply be in the lack of defense in the Pac 10.

The Pac 10 pretty innovative offensively (see: Oregon) but it’s no secret the conference isn’t defensive minded. It’s more fun to watch that way and gave us some ridiculous shootouts this season in conference play. Unfortunately, that doesn’t translate to bowl success.

Quick, what Pac 10 team do you think was the best in total defense? Did you guess Arizona State? They are 12th nationally. The next closest Pac 10 team is Arizona at 21st. Oregon (the conference champion) at 33rd nationally. This, to put it mildly, is not a good sign.

In fact, through Dec. 26th, in 14 statistical categories for defense on the NCAA Web site, only three have a Pac 10 team in the top 10.

So, it’s two-fold. The Pac 10 teams weren’t used to facing good defenses, and thus scored wildly. When they come up against legit defenses (see: Nebraska) they couldn’t score. And, their defenses couldn’t stop the other team from scoring.

Now, I'm not a football strategist or a mathematician (in all honesty, the former would be more likely), but here's my mathematical breakdown of why the Pac 10 was so horrendous in bowl games this year.

Not scoring + not stopping the other team from scoring = Pac 10 looks awful.

That's all.

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2009 and the Fall From Grace

You know how lots of Chinese restaurants have place mats with the Chinese Zodiac, where each year corresponds with a certain animal?

I happen to be born in the Year of the Pig, but we’re not here to talk about me. If there was a Sports Chinese Zodiac, the year of 2009 would be The Year of the Fall From Grace.

The image of TYOTFFG would not be an animal…well, it does involve a Tiger, but not an animal.

Tiger Woods is certainly not alone in having a rough 2009. The placemat would also have to have images of Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez. We should probably put Rick Pitino on there too. It would also show the late Steve McNair, unfortunately.

It’s not just that the year has taken its toll on some professional athletes or coaches; these men are legendary in their respective sports.

If we were living 50 years from now, these are still men we would talk about in sports history as some of the best that have played or coached the game (McNair is arguable, but he’s certainly legendary in Tennessee and in his home state of Mississippi).

Anyone who ever coaches men’s basketball at University of Louisville will be measured in comparison to Pitino. People around the game of baseball say Rodriguez could eventually go down as the best player to put on a baseball uniform. Experts will tell you there are few in history that have the ability to hit a baseball like Ramirez can. It’s not a matter of if Woods will pass the great Jack Nicklus in major tournament titles, but when.

Sports fans want to believe these athletes can be great at their sport and great people that make the right choices at all time. Well, that’s not possible for any of us, so we shouldn't expect these guys to either.

After covering Major League Baseball for a year, I got a tiny, tiny glimpse into the life of a pro athlete. I realized that pro athletes behave they way they do because basically, these guys haven’t been told no since they were in elementary school. Most of these guys have known from an early age they were gifted athletically. They were most likely always in the cool crowd. They have few limits financially. Girls have probably been throwing themselves at these guys for most of their lives. It leads you to live in a warped reality.

It’s a reality that can cause you to think you are untouchable. As we have seen from the TYOTFFG, no one is untouchable. Woods’ nightmare seems to grow exponentially by the day. Pitino has to face recruits’ parents and try to explain away his poor decisions. A-Rod and Ramirez’s careers will always have a cloud over them: were they that good, or were they only good because they had help? McNair’s choices, or at least one very bad choice, left him dead.

Luckily for these guys (except for McNair, who tragically won’t get a second chance) winning seems to heal all wounds for the sports fans. A-Rod is a prime example of that. In a year where he admitted to using performance enhancing drugs in 2003 (by having his cousin shoot him in the butt to do so, which if that’s true, is another awful choice altogether). A strong showing in the playoffs en route to a World Series title, and that story seems to drifted away.

Hopefully, these guys learn from their mistakes. And maybe, we’ll look back on 2010 as the Year of Redemption.

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