Happy Thanskgiving eve! I remember writing a whole column on CBSSports.com back when I used to write over there...about Thanksgiving dinner and the pros and cons and what my go to is, I'm a dessert guy. I perfected my holiday plate strategy when I was 12 which was the first year my mom allowed me to serve myself. A little turkey, ham, mac and cheese, yams, etc with half of the plate reserved for desserts. I got busted when my uncle says 'whatcha got there lots of goodies I see'...thanks unc yeah thanks for nothing.
Fast forward many years and now that I have my own family I've come to understand what the true meaning of Thanksgiving is. Namely being grateful for our family's health, well-being, etc. I'm grateful and blessed to have a beautiful wife who loves me. I'm grateful for my beautiful children who are growing up way too fast. Of course all the kids talk about is Christmas and I try to get them to slow down and be thankful and tell me what they're thankful for.
NY Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner also has a lot to be thankful for. Of course he does, dude inherited the Yankees and a fat checkbook. That being said, I'm willing to guess dude is tired of scratching a $300 million dollar check for the past 16 years just so the Yankees can continue to fall short of winning the World Series. Now I understand that you can't buy a World Series unless your the back to back champs the LA Dodgers who spent $415 million this season to win it all, but it's a gamble...the Toronto Blue Jays almost pulled off the upset before choking errrr I mean dropping the last two games at home.
Steinbrenner was on a video call with reporters when asked about the payroll situation. "Would it be ideal if I went down [with payroll]? Of course. But does that mean its going to happen? Of course not. We want to field a team we know could win a championship - or we believe can win a championship."
What stood out to me the most in the press conference was Steinbrenner's stance on a salary cap in baseball saying he'd consider supporting it only if it's accompanied by a floor.
"Look, there are groups of fans out there in different areas, including my hometown here in Tampa, that - and I've addressed this before - come to spring training games thinking their team has little chance of winning a championship. Or at least a little chance of making the playoffs. And those fans would argue that's not good for baseball as a whole. And, you know, it's a valid argument. Whether it's true or not, it's a valid argument."
I think this goes on in all professional leagues. You have half the teams that are true contenders for a championship and the other half that are just collecting checks errrr I mean playing the game but have no shot in hell of sniffing a championship. I like what Steinbrenner is saying about a floor...an amount each owner must spend that shows they give a damn about competing because a lot of owners are just content on going through the motions and I don't want to put a spotlight on any one team Colorado Rockies...my God, how do you lose 119 games as a professional club? And I don't want to hear about how homerun friendly Coors Field is because they're the home team...if anyone should have an advantage it should be the Rockies.
Don't get me started on the NBA where you have teams who just got their second win of the season. I would like to occasionally get through an entire game without having to turn it off because there's such a blowout happening. I'm starting to believe the Wizards players collect their paychecks wearing ski masks...it would make perfect sense because they're robbing their fans for charging money to witness that garbage. Well, I'll be having some warm apple pie with a side of ice cream tomorrow, so I'm at least thankful for that.