America’s Owner

It may be just a coincidence that the birthday of the most important and transcendent figure of America’s pastime, coincides with that of the entire magnificent nation, on the Fourth of July; but it’s telling in a way. George Steinbrenner III took a franchise which had been an after-thought for years, and turned them into the most relevant, winningest and certainly most important organization in all of sports.

It’s no wonder that after dying of a heart attack this morning, people are not mourning The Boss. They are truly celebrating his life chocked full of accomplishments. And rightly so.

Just Another Cheat Code

I remember playing Contra on the NES in the third grade. My friend Tim and I would play it for hours. My preferred weapon of choice was the spray gun. The moment I got the game, I quickly punched in the, “30 lives” cheat. (Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, B, A, select, start. Like you needed me to even say it.) Within a few hours, I was celebrating my victory. Tim, however, refused to use the cheat. He stuck with the three lives allotted by Konami. He failed. And failed. And failed. Days went by. Weeks. Months. And then on that fateful Friday night, he finally beat the game. He was a winner. I celebrated with him. And deep down, I was jealous.

Maybe I could have beaten the game with three lives. Maybe I had it in me. I’ve always been primarily a sports game guy, so it was rare that I’d put a lot of time into a game like Contra. After beating the game with 30 lives, I had little motivation to put in the necessary work to beat it again with only three. But I often wonder if I really could have done it.

I was the LeBron James of Nintendo.

Got Mail?

(Photo used courtesy of foxsports.com)

I know that by now I should probably be burnt out on NBA free agency. But I’m not. I’m just as enticed as ever, with no hint of the rumors and signings losing any luster. And I’m betting many of you feel the same way. Part of it of course, is that I have a dog in the hunt (Clippers), but my interest is also due to the insanity of some of these deals.

Darko, Gay and Amir Johnson all signing for huge contracts? PINCH ME! Please NBA GMs, PLEASE continue the madness. It’s intoxicating.

Sounds to me like it’s time to open the inbox and answer some reader mail…

Two Touch: Random World Cup Musings

And then there were eight.

Five of the eight teams left in the World Cup, have clearly positioned themselves within the top tier of international soccer (see power rankings below), and even sadly, the United States does not find themselves within the group, even when presented with the proverbial ‘golden opportunity.’

The Honesty Zone: The Summit

If this is your first experience with The Honesty Zone, you’ve picked a great one to take away your innocence. This is my version of the, “trust tree.” A safe place where everything is right with the world. No lies, no faint recollections, no prognostications; just good old fashioned, 100-proof, ice-cold truth.

And wouldn’t you know it, the universe just so happens to have something confidential that it wishes to share with us. This past week, some of the summer’s most mesmerizing NBA free agents met in the secrecy of South Beach. Or so they thought. Lucky for you, The Honesty Zone was there to document the excitement for you.

LeBron Headed to Chicago

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a few billion times; if you’re a fan of an NBA team with cap room this summer, you can’t get enough LeBron in your life right now.

But if you aren’t one of those fans, you’re likely just shy of homicidal right about now. To those folks I say, put down your weapons of choice and slowly step away from this column. You aren’t wanted here. We’re about to do a triple backflip off the high-dive, canon-balling into a LBJ free agent theory. Hopefully smooching Wendy Peffercorn in the process.

We all want to know where the NBA’s most exciting player is going to play next year. The thing is, he may have already told us.

NBA Free Agency 101

With the start of NBA free agency just days away, I decided to kick-start The Summer of LeBron with a monster e-mail swap with ESPN Radio’s Corey Costelloe. What grew from the idea was a potpourri of free agent madness. We started out with LeBron, moved onto theories, then predictions and ended with the predictable breaking of my little Clippers’ heart.

Enjoy.