Cardinal Sin? Yes, Really.

Really? REALLY????? RE-HE-HE-HE-HE-HE-HEALLY?????? Yes.....really. If you know me, you know that I am tired of people that give you that inquisitorial/sarcastic, “really?” all the time. I hate that. Someone needs to put a stop to that, save for situations that actually demand it. This Albert Pujols situation demands it.

Albert Pujols' contract ends following the 2011 baseball season. He will become a free agent unless the St. Louis Cardinals renegotiate his contract with him. Now given the absurdity of major league contracts these days and the lack of a salary cap, there are some contracts out there that are skewing everything up at a crazy rate. Albert Pujols is the best player in the game and with lesser players like Alex Rodriguez and Jayson Werth making more than him, the correct move is to give Albert a contract that exceeds the 27.5 million that A-Rod makes a year. And given what Pujols has done, is doing and could potentially do, he very much deserves to get paid in this broken system.

Contract talks broke down this week and reportedly Albert does not want to discuss his contract during the season which begins in a month. Which means that with no contract agreed upon, Pujols will become a free agent at season's end. Contract talks broke down because Pujols did not like the salary number per year. St. Louis I will put it to you like this, if you do not want to pay Albert Pujols 30 million a year, someone else will. No question.

St. Louis, how would you let this happen? This is a once an era player. Albert Pujols is by a wide margin the best player in the MLB. If you googled “Hank Aaron's daddy”, pictures of Albert Pujols would come up. And in 7 or 8 years from now, Albert is going to be approaching Henry Aaron and Barry Bonds' all-time home run record. He currently sits at 408 home runs and the revenue alone of the world following him chase the record would be worth the 300 million for which Pujols is asking. So St. Louis, given the state of baseball and how you have one of the elite teams in the league and the potential your team has I gotta ask,

Really?

How the Worst Team in the NBA Will Decide the MVP

Recently there has been an NBA fan base that has been very quiet after being the most loud and obnoxious over the summer. I speak of course about the Cleveland Cavaliers and their fans in particular. When LeBron James signed with the Miami Heat, Cleveland fans went crazy like James was supposed to resign with Cleveland like he owed them something. And now it is kind of funny to see how Cleveland's attitude has changed over the season. Currently the Cavs are in the midst of a 25 game losing streak, the longest ever in the NBA. It is like the 5 stages of grief with Cleveland and now they are somewhere in between bargaining and depression. As it stands right now through 52 regular season games, the Cleveland Cavaliers are 8-44. Last year through 52 games the Cavs had the best record in the league at 41-11. And this is largely with the same team they had last year minus LeBron James of course. The Cavs are also down Delonte West and Shaq from last year but their effect would be negligible even if they were still on the team.

Now do not get me wrong, I am not wishing this fate upon the Cavs players. I would never wish that on anyone. I know how losing like that feels bowling for Texas A&M University. I realize most of you people cannot relate to bowling collegiately but just let me tell you, we were the Cleveland Cavaliers of collegiate bowling. But, this situation in Cleveland is interesting to me because I think that team has a major effect on the NBA's MVP voting. With no one really running away with the MVP, most voters will look to how the reigning MVP is doing and if he is doing anything to lose that MVP status. Last year James averaged 29 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds per game when he won the MVP. Through 50 games this year he is averaging 26 points, 7 assists and 7 rebounds, numbers comparable to his 2009-2010 MVP season. I realize that Derrick Rose is having a great year, Kevin Love is a double-double waiting to happen and some idiots are even saying that Blake Griffin might make a run at MVP, but none of those guys are doing anything to supplant King James from the top of the MVP standings. And when the voting is close at the end of the year like it is going to be, I think the ineptitude of LeBron's former team is going to put him over the top. The Cavaliers went from being the best team in the league to being one of the historically bad teams in NBA history and the one different thing is LeBron James. I cannot remember when there was such a disparity in a team when a single player was there and then left.

I always tell people that I wish that I paid more attention to the NBA when Michael Jordan was in the league because it is hard for me to imagine someone being better than Kobe Bryant. And now LeBron James is here and he is doing what he is doing and he still has several years left in his prime. All I am saying is pay attention now because guys like him do not come around often. Michael Jordan might have been the best player ever, but I think LeBron James is might the most valuable player ever.......thanks to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Out.

Bet Your Haus Winners: Super Bowl Edition

Well we are 15-20 on our picks this year. I guess that is what you get for taking both underdogs in the championship games. Ahh me. Anyway now is not the time to get down. You try betting ATS and we will see what happens. Stop yelling at me!!!!! Whatever. The Super Bowl is this week and in my opinion, picking this game right will put me back at .500. I was hoping the line would move from 2½ and force my pick, but alas it has not. And if you anything about lines, 2½ is really bunk.  I know I said that I hate the Super Bowl because it means football is over but it is the biggest game of the year and I really believe that this year the best two teams in the NFL are playing in the game. Confidence is low but here it is.

Green Bay (-2½) over Pittsburgh. Like I said I was hoping the line would move. Anything over three and I would have taken the Steelers but it is stuck at 2½. And given how the last 10 Super Bowls have gone, I am not surprised. I expect a very close game with more offense than you might think. I do want want to get all football geek on you...oh wait...yes I do. Everyone is looking at what happened the last time the Packers and Steelers played which was a 37-36 shootout that the Steelers won in the final play. In that game, Aaron Rodgers threw the ball almost the whole game. (48-12 passing attempts to rushing attempts) The Steelers run defense is so stout that the Packers decided to not even try it. And it worked. The Pack effectively took Troy Polamalu out of the game by spreading the field with several wide receivers forcing him into coverage as opposed to doing whatever he wants and causing havoc all over the field. And I believe this same thing is going to happen again in this game. The difference is going to be the Packers defense. The way I see it going is like this: the Steelers are going to get the ball back down late and the Packers defense is going to win this game, just like they have all throughout the playoffs with late picks against the Eagles and the Bears and a defensive score against the Falcons. I respect Big Ben greatly, but this is Aaron Rodgers' coming out party.

Take the Packers and lay the points, Green Bay 29-26. Count it. Bet it. Out.