If  you follow me on Twitter (@ttlsportsblog), you will notice that I am very passionate about the New York Mets.  Almost everyday I engage in some kind of Twitter chatter that revolves around the upcoming season.  With pitchers and catchers reporting in a few days, it’s time to deploy Operation: Everybody Cool Out.

Before last week, all anyone wanted to do was cry about how the Mets are going bankrupt and have no money to spend on players.  While I completely agree that money is a problem, and probably will be for the short-term, maybe it’s not a bad thing?  Fiscal responsibility is a HUGE part or running a professional franchise that many fans don’t seem to understand, or want to understand.  The only way to sustain a successful business is to make money.  Plain and simple:  If you spend more than you are making, your business fails.  With hundreds of millions of dollars in loans due soon, coupled with dropping attendance and a bloated payroll, this business model just can’t work.

Sandy Alderson was brought into this organization to clean up someone else’s mess.  Yes, he was a major part of the “Moneyball” Oakland Athletics, but as he said on WFAN today, he’s not here to run the team like that.  There have been many articles written in the past few weeks about how the Mets have trimmed $52 million off last year’s payroll.  But what people are failing to understand is that the $52 million has come in the form of Ollie Perez, Louis Castillo, Frankie Rodriguez, Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes.  Ollie Perez and Louis Castillo played exactly zero games for the Mets last year.  That’s $18 million right there.  Frankie Rodriguez, who no one wanted around either, was another $12 million.  Carlos Beltran was $20 million, who Alderson spun into Zach Wheeler when he robbed the San Francisco Giants with a ski mask and a gun.  And finally, there’s Jose Reyes.  In the final year of his contract, he was making $11 million.  This one has come under much scrutiny.  But the more and more I think about it, 6 years and $100 million + for a guy who’s legs are a constant problem, just isn’t the right business move. Read the rest of this entry »

While looking around on Twitter Wednesday, one of my Mets Twitter compadres, (@metsfanmurph) had posted his 5 worst sports losses as a fan.  I knew I had read a column somewhere like this before, and then I saw he made a Bill Simmons reference.  Light bulb goes on.

In my adult life, lets say since 1999, I have experienced exactly one championship and countless heart breaking, knife in the stomach, kick in the balls losses.  Thank you 2003 Syracuse Orangemen for helping a brother out.  That’s 1 for my last 68. Read the rest of this entry »

By @ttlsportsblog and @HookTSB

2011 was a great year for sports (aren’t they all?).  So with the new year just around the corner, here are TSB’s New Year’s Resolutions for some of the biggest people/organizations in the world of sports.  If you have any suggestions, please comment in the box at the end of the article and we’ll make sure to add them.

Carlos Beltran/Drew Brees – To get the growths/birthmarks removed from their faces, ears, or wherever they may be.

Metta World Peace – To get his name tattooed across his back like Vince Young.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Chris Panetta

10. Dennis Rodman

Leading off our list is recent Hall of Fame inductee “The Worm”.  No doubt Rodman is one scary dude.  Ridiculous amount of tats before everyone in the league got inked up? Check.  Multiple body piercings? Check.  Dresses up like a woman on a regular basis?  You get the idea.  He may be a different kind of scary, but be rest assured the guy didn’t average 13.1 rebounds on his athleticism alone.

9. Bill Romanowski (NFL)

Romanowski ingested steroids by the fist full and had a healthy serving of HGH for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Notice how I didn’t say allegedly?  One of the dirtiest players in the history of the NFL admitted said PED use during the BALCO scandal.  Between breaking Kerry Collins jaw and shattering the orbital socket OF HIS OWN TEAMMATE, this is one guy you do not want to mess with. Read the rest of this entry »

Will you “Fear The Beard”?

By Michael Cruz

If you have not heard of it, The Franchise is a documentary type of show about the 2010 World Series champions, the San Francisco Giants. They talk about new players, players getting cut, what they worked on during off-season, and so forth.  It’s basically a “Hard Knocks” for baseball.

The Franchise premiered July 13th on SHOWTIME SPORTS. I just got done watching it, I would rate it 5 stars, no doubt.

One scene that really interested me was when Brandon Belt is in Bruce Bochy’s office and Bochy announces to him that he made the team. It was a very emotional time for Belt, as well for me! Doing it big in baseball is a huge dream for me, so maybe I don’t know how Belt felt at the moment, but I may know a similar feeling.

New episodes are  every Wednesday night, and I strongly recommend you sports fans to check it out. Either order SHOWTIME or find it online, or something. It’s an hour that would not be wasted.

By Michael Cruz

To start off, I’d like to introduce myself. My name’s Michael Cruz, a 16 year old from Central California, born and raised Mets fan.

For the second year in a row, the National League has made a statement that they CAN compete with American League. The way I see it, is: The NL plays smart, small ball with great pitching; the AL…. smash, smash, smash the ball and go yard. But this year was different. Fielder, who was named 2011 All-Star Game’s MVP, went yard with a 3-run homer in the bottom of the fourth inning for the National League. In the top of the inning, Jose Bautista tried to score from 2nd on a line drive into left field, but was gunned down at the plate by Hunter Pence to end the inning.

Lots of people only know Bautista for his homers, but he’s also a great outfielder. Bautista played RF last night and made a great, sliding catch in foul territory.

An odd highlight of the game, which I thought was very fun to watch, was Heath Bell’s hustling entrance. He always runs to the mound, but last night he added a little spark to it with a pop-up slide at the mound. The crowd loved it.

RBI’s from Prince Fielder, Andre Ethier, and Pablo Sandoval were what made up the 5 runs for the NL.

The American League was not as exciting as I thought they would be. NL’s bullpen really held them down. 2011 Home Run Derby runner up Adrian Gonzalez hit a solo shot in the top of the fourth for the AL’s only run of  game.

What really got the crowd going were the 4 Yankees that did not show up – Jeter, Rodriguez, Rivera, and Sabathia. The only player on the Yankees that I thought had a good enough excuse not to show up was A-Rod.  He recently had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee. Other than that, thinking of not showing up is just arrogant. Jeter just hit his 3,000th hit in straight class with a homerun. I am definitely not a Yankee fan, but I still had respect for the man. It would have been great if he showed up, that way his celebration could have been a nationwide thing instead of just in New York. Sorry guys, Jeter has emotional problems  and supposedly needs a rest. The others are just as arrogant as well.