Tired of hearing about all of the problems regarding Brett Farve wanting to return to the Pack? I have a solution that will work for the Pack, their fans, Brett, Aaron, and everyone.

The San Francisco 49ers trade Alex Smith to the Green Bay Packers for Aaron Rodgers. Smith gets his much needed back-up experience. Rodgers gets to start. Brett becomes king of Green Bay.

What happens when Farve retires again? Don't worry, he'll change his mind. After that? QB battle between Smith w/mentoring and Brian Brohm who might be ready for a shot by then.

Two sources within the organization have confirmed that the Fremont ballpark plan has been put to bed. The A's no longer consider Cisco Field a viable location.

In November, Wolff formally pitched a 105-page proposal to the city of Fremont to create a "Ballpark Village"

on nearly 230 acres of land next to the Pacific Commons Shopping Center, west of the Auto Mall Parkway off Interstate 880. The plan calls for building a high-tech stadium as the centerpiece of a Santana Row-style housing and retail development.

Lew Wolff side stepped the question but you can tell he isn't optimistic.

"I don't know. I honestly don't," Wolff said. "But say it doesn't. We're still under a lot of pressure to get a park that is our own. That isn't going to go away. So my hope is that we'll find a way to make it happen. It has not been as easy as I thought it would be."

My sources say that he is just posturing until a new plan can be presented. Sorry A's Nation, no new ball park is on the horizon, but at least they aren't going to Fremont!

Heading into the largest international sports competition being played out in China, the rumor mills are churning with gossip that LBJ will sign outside the NBA come free agency. Why not? The latest player to jump the sinking NBA ship is Orlando guard Carlos Arroyo. Arroyo signed with an Israeli team for an undisclosed amount of money today. What's next for the NBA? How will they keep the premier players as the dollar weakens and the salary cap inhibits? International teams can throw everything at these guys and make them into international superstars.... LBJ is taking the first flight out of Cleveland, but at this point, we aren't sure if he will land on North American soil or not!

This just in (from Fox Sports):

Manny Ramirez has been traded to the Dodgers in a three-team blockbuster, pending the approval of the commissioner's office, according to a source with knowledge of the deal.

Pirates outfielder Jason Bay is headed to the Red Sox. The Pirates will receive third baseman Andy LaRoche and Class-A right-hander Bryan Morris from the Dodgers and outfielder Brandon Moss and reliever Craig Hansen from the Red Sox.

The Red Sox will pay all of the approximately $7 million remaining on Ramirez's contract.

Ramirez should provide a major boost to the Dodgers' offense, but his arrival will add to the crowd in the Dodgers' outfield, which already includes Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, Juan Pierre and Andruw Jones.

Moss, Hansen and LaRoche all have played in the majors. Morris, 21, was the Dodgers' first-round pick in 2006.

The deal could significantly tilt the balance of power toward the Dodgers in the hotly contested NL West race. The Dodgers began the day one game behind the Diamondbacks, whose only pre-deadline addition was reliever Jon Rauch.

For the Red Sox, meanwhile, the addition of Bay amounts to a coup, considering their need to replace Ramirez's offense. Bay, who turns 30 on Sept. 20, is six years younger than Ramirez, and his .894 on-base/slugging percentage is nearly as high as Ramirez's .927 mark this season.

The Red Sox also will retain Bay through next season at an affordable salary of $7.5 million. After that, Bay becomes eligible for free agency.

Ramirez will be a free agent at the end of this season. He waived his no-trade clause in exchange for the elimination of the two $20 million club options in his contract.

Let me be the first to congratulate the Anaheim Angels (no, you are not from LA) on winning the AL West. You have made the right trades, weathered the injury storms and cultivated great pitching and depth from your farm system. The Angels have no issues spending the necessary money to bring in the right pieces, but keep their payroll respectable at the same time. For all of these reasons, the Angels are headed to the playoffs again this year and rightfully deserve it.

Next year might be different though. The A's are young and could contend (but likely won't until 2010) given the right circumstances. However, baseball fans unfortunately live in the now and the A's have no shot to catch the surging Angels with their current line-up. The trade-deadline has passed and with the in-action coming from the Mac, the A's have raised the white flag and tossed in the towel.

To the Angels and their fans, good luck in the play-offs.

YAO: "Hopefully [Artest isn't] fighting anymore and going after a guy in the stands."

ARTEST: "I understand what Yao said, but I'm still ghetto. If you go back to the brawl, that's a culture issue right there. Somebody was disrespecting me, so he's got to understand where I'm coming from. People that know me know that Ron Artest never changed."

So this brings us to a grand style, Rocky vs. Russia type, UFC dream match-up of Yao vs. Artest.

I would take Yao in a fight any day. I mean, let's be real, Yao brings the backing of billions of people, while Artest can''t even get his teammates on his side. Artest is no better than HGH users in baseball. No better then ghetto punks like "Pacman". He's bad for the game and shouldn't be let in the arenas.

Do black people really want Ron Artest to be their spokesman? Like OJ to Isotoner... Artest is your voice, so sad!

This is East Coast bias at its best. If Brad Ziegler was on the Yankee's roster his name and picture would be splattered all over every sports site on the web. The man broke a record that has stood since 1907 and did not even get a mention on Sports Center. What a waste of TV space! Anyway, here is the blurb taken from Fox Sports:

"OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Athletics reliever Brad Ziegler recorded six outs Sunday to set a major league record with 27 scoreless innings to begin his career.

The 22-year-old right-hander, who began the season in the minors before being promoted to Oakland on May 30, gave up two singles in two innings against Texas but was otherwise flawless. He struck out three and started an inning-ending 1-6-3 double play in the eighth before giving way to closer Huston Street.

Ziegler broke the previous mark of 25 innings set by Philadelphia Phillies right-hander George McQuillan in 1907. Ziegler's scoreless streak also is the third-longest by an Oakland reliever."

Congrats Brad... great start to a career, great story, good man. Check out his blog on www.athleticsnation.com

Last night's homerun derby left me feeling a bit disappointed. This season's feel good story, Josh Hamilton, hit a season's worth of long balls and absolutely crushed the competitors in total number of bombs pelted over the walls of Yankee stadium. However, because of the rules of the competition, he ended up losing to Justin "yeah, I'm Canadian" Morneau. Everyone knew the massive amount of long balls hit by Hamilton was impressive and the reality is that even Morneau knew who the real winner was, but it didn't matter, rules are rules and Hamilton lost.

This all got me thinking about the other problems that baseball has and how they should be changed. The first half has seen a great number of blown homerun calls and increasingly poor plate calling. I was at the Angel's/A's game at the Mac on Sunday and the officiating was apalling. I am not arguing the fact that the Angel's won. I do believe they are the better team and won the game fairly. However, the plate calling both ways was terrible. The lack of a decent umpire/decision maker was evident. I have been to a great number of ball games in my life and this year is easily the worst officiated year in my baseball history.

Maybe it is the NBA changing my views on officiating, but there is definitely a problem when a fan can see the umpire change the outcome of a game. Is there an MLB conspiracy on the horizon? What kind of monetary outcome would a Red Sox vs. Cubs Fall Classic bring? Advertisors would clamor for spots. Tourism would jump and greenbacks would flood the MLB market. Why wouldn't MLB try to arrange such a match-up?

Some folks are saying that the initiation of instant replay into baseball next month is a way for MLB to show that they want the calls to be made correctly. MLB wants the game to be officiated fairly. Really? They are going to use instant replay on two calls; the long ball and the foul line. That's it! With all of the technology and a surplus of cash on hand, this is the decision. What happened to monitoring umpire strike zones using computerized systems to grade their accuracy? Why not use instant replay for those close calls at the plate, at first, second or third too. Why not use instant replay when an outfielder traps a ball instead of catching it? So many options, but no.

MLB wants the fans to think they want good officiating, but they don't really care. All MLB wants is more money in the coffers. Can't blame them; nope not at all.

Outside of that the game has been great. The shadow of steroids is opening to a sunny and new side of baseball. I do wish they would ban the maple bats before someone gets hurt, but I am sure it will take MLB at least five more seasons to do something as ground breaking as that.

The Oakland A's faithful will be the first to tell you that Harden being traded was an expectation coming into this season. We had already parted ways with Danny Haren and Nick Swisher, so it was assumed that if Harden could make nine or ten healthy starts in a row that Billy would find someone to take him off of his hands. I wish Harden well. There are no hard feelings. I think he is the best pitcher in baseball WHEN he is healthy. That just didn't happen very often. I hope he goes on to great things, but I applaude the A's for not being duped into believing that he was finally the player we all knew he could be. I'm glad he has done well this year, but I am glad the health concerns are now someone else's problem.

No, I did not mind a certifiable ace being sent away for the second time in less then a year. What bothered me was the loss, and yes it was a loss, of Chad, the red bearded, Gaudin. Chad is not only a young and reliable pitcher but a pretty great guy. I really feel he will go on and do great things in a league that lacks potent bats. Cad should be a starter in Chicago, but will probably be relagated to bullpen duty for the begining of his tenure. We'll miss you at the Mac, Chad. Good luck in Chicago.

Seriously though, I feel bad for Baron Davis. He was duped! He thought he was heading south to create a contender, but now he will just become a part of some silly, basketball themed D-movie that no one will watch and will fade into the shelves of Blockbuster to be rented by lonely men working the night shift as a "security guard" for a car lot. That huge, slow moving, bad hair, white guy is the only other basketball player on the Clipper's roster. It's just sad.

Brand, agreement or not, seems like he is also getting in on the hollywood scene, but as the main character in another episode of Punked. Damn that Asston Kutcher.

I am not sure Maggette will be a great fit for the Dubs, but if we can figure out the PG situation, look at the starting five we will sport come hoops season.

PG... anyone with handles

SG... Monta Ellis (aka, the Future)

SF... Corey Maggette

PF or SSF (second small forward)... Captain Jack

Center... Andris Biedrins (aka... Orange Glow)

Bomb dizzle, you haven't signed anything yet. We would welcome you back, but you'd probablyhave to take a pay cut. At least if you were a part of the Warriors squad you'd be playing in the NBA, unlike the WNBA Clippers.

Come on Barkers... What do you think?

Was B-dizzle bamboozled?

Another day is moving along and I am sitting at home watching the A's play the Angels in some city south on I5. I wanted to say a quick thank you to all of my readers. I have really gotten a lot of emails and comments from you guys in the short amount of time I have been blogging here in the yard. I write a bunch of other stuff too, but none of it is sports related so I don't bother linking it here.

I have had a few emails asking why there haven't been many posts from me lately. The A's won a few ball games and lost a few ball games. They had a home series at the Mac over the weekend but ended up on the short side to the across the bay gigantes. All great stuff to write about and wonderful ideas and concepts worth putting thought too. The mind could have conjured serendipidus headline material when the Duke pitched a two hitter and lost, or perhaps hours later when the Angels combined for a No-no, and, yes, lost. I had nothing at the time though. Nothing to say, nothing to write. I had nothing to share with the blogosphere on the subjects.

Truth be told, I lost my job last week. I had known for weeks that it was coming but I was in disbelief either way. I couldn't figure out what had happened. I thought for sure that I was the model employee for a company that broke new ground in an industry that needed the fresh ideas. I had my mind circled around the idea that I had too much to offer to be let go. I was wrong.

I work in marketing (in case anyone knows of a job) which works out well with my desire to write. Marketing is all about making others believe in a company. They need to believe in that company so much that they want it to be their friend. They need this friend and want to buy things the friend makes. That is marketing ladies and gentleman. Advertising, marketing, PR... any spin you want, it is about making people believe in a company, a product, a service, or anything at all. People believed in my company so much that they are actually worth something now and are being sold to the highest bidder. No hard feelings Justin; thanks and have a good life (door makes that awful sweeping sound as it closes).

So what does this have to do with Sports? Everything. Ladies and Gentleman, this is sports! This is exactly why we love sports. This is what gets us to the game. This is what makes us wear the patented color schemes and buy the eleven dollar beers. This is what the games are all about. I just pulled a Patriots. I had been winning all year long. I had been favored to take it all, but in the end I am left with nothing. Well, almost nothing. I have been left with experience. Experience you can't buy. Experience you must live through. I know what Duke feels like to have done so well and see that it means nothing. A win is a win and a loss is a loss, but not this time. Just as I am sure the Angels fans can attest too, sometimes the best team does not win the game. It is true, happens all the time. These are the losses that teams and people must learn from. They must take something away from it. The players must let it go and get back out on the field with the new experiences they have. A new game means another opportunity to shine. In sports, there is always the hope that tomorrow will bring something special. There is hope that a new season will rid your team of its troubled past. The entire world of being a fan revolves around hope; and so must the rest of our lives.

I will get a new job soon. I will take my experiences from the past and learn from them. I will use the support system around me and become a better person for it. I will always love sports because no matter what happens, after a bad loss, an injury, a national disaster, the players take the field again and renew promise. Tomorrow is a new day, and, fortunately, hope abounds.

Father's day weekend came and went with the Oakland Athletics playing a series across the bay in the beautiful confines of AT&T Park. Gone are the home-run trackers of Barry Bonds and the shadows that followed him through the league. What you will find in that park now is a completely different sort of Giants baseball. Even being an A's fan, I have to tell you, I like these Giants.

The Giants are a scrappy collection of young and untested talents mixed with aging but solid veteran leadership kind of guys. Rowand looks like he is the best of the center field trio that was available over the off-season. Bengie certainly is the best of the catching Molina circus. The pitching staff is sharp outside of Barry Zito (who I will admit is a mistake money wise, but doesn't look like that awful of a pitcher). These Giants are just plain fun to watch.

The A's came into the series as the better team and played like the better team. Winning all three games with a combination of good pitching, key hitting, fundamental defense and, yes, again, good pitching. The A's hit the fly balls they needed with RISP and less than two outs. They got a few key hits to spark multiple run innings. They played defense and caught the balls they were supposed to catch. They didn't allow big innings for the Giants. Starters and 'pen guys pitched well. The outcome of each game was expected, but the games provided more energy and heart than this series had in years past.

The fans have certainly changed. Gone are the homerun counting business suits that prefer to be seen at the game, than to actually watch it. In are actual Giants fans. In are fans who watch the development of young players. In are fans who appreciate just how good Tim Lincecum really is. In are fans who cheer on a team that most prognosticators had looming in the 100 loss arena.

Maybe 2000 A's fans showed up to the park across the bay and through out the afternoon could be heard chanting "Let's Go Oakland!", but they were immediately overshadowed but the orange and black fans for the first time in years. I had to appreciate the change. No don't need to hear "What's the matter with..." and I didn't. The focus was on the positive. The focus on what can be. Maybe this Giants team will learn a bit from their rivals across the bay? Maybe they will truly become a baseball team again as opposed to a homerun exhibition and the other guys? Maybe, just maybe, purist baseball is back. We can hope, but until then, the A's will continue to show the Giants which side of the bay is better.

Special Notes: Omar, thank you for a great highlight. Harden, still looking healthy and completely nasty.

Great weather, great weekend, great baseball!

Based on a third of the season, here is what I've got:

AL East: Boston Red Sox

The Sox have a good line-up hitting wise even if Ortiz is out longer than anticipated. Beckett anchors a strong rotation and the bullpen, while not completely dominant is a usable factor. Papelbon is the best closer in baseball. This will be a close race with the Rays, but I give it to Boston as they will be the team to make that one solid trade just before the deadline in order to push them ahead.

AL Central: Chicago White Sox

I don't like any of the teams coming out of the Central this year. Detroit won the World Series on paper, but has yet to show up on the field. The Twins will be good in the next couple years, but probably will not have enough to keep up this year. Indian's ace Sabathia looks to be regaining form, but their offense has come to a screeching halt. If Shrek doesn't snap out of his funk, I may think his deal was worse than Barry Zito's. Is KC fielding a pro team this year? That leaves us with Chicago. Good pitching and an offense that should improve as the season wears on. Regardless of who makes it out of the Central, it will be a short ALDS for them.

AL West: The Oakland Athletics

The AL West is weak this year too. The only difference with the AL West as opposed to the Central is that there are two teams with quality rotations that could provide spark in a playoff series. It will come down to the final week of the season and be between the Halos and the A's. This will be the closest of all of the playoff races this year as neither team will reach the mid nineties in the win column. The Halos will burn out after using their bullpen too often and for too long. There are not enough quality options in their system to bring in for the dog days of summer baseball. The baseball season is just too long for the Halos to get it done. Their RD suggests they are a mediocre team, but this should raise a bit with real bats at the plate. It just isn't going to be enough. The A's have their flaws too. They have an inconsistent offense and a dozen unknown quanties playing well right now. The A's will get healthy and the division will be theirs.

NL East: The Phillidelphia Phillies

This division is packed with a)young talents like half the roster of the Florida Marlins and B)under performing teams like the Mets and the Braves. If you are underperforming in the begining of the season, there is always a chance to get back in the hunt. Except of course, when you lose your best pitcher (Braves) or if you can't trust your manager (Mets). The Marlins will keep this close, but I think the Phillies are just too good a squad to keep up with. Philidelphia should be taking a very hard look at available starters who have not quite gotten it going that they could get for a stretch run ( Joe Blanton, Jeff Francis, any Tiger starter), but they should have enough to get to the playoffs without a major move. Bonus Prediction: Not that anyone doubts this, but Chase Utley will make the trifecta and win the NL MVP.

NL Central: The St. Louis Cardinals

Tough call here. This division is just going to be a two horse race unless the Brew Crew make an early trade to solidify pitching needs in their starting rotation. There are two big "ifs" for the Cubs and the Cardinals. The Cardinals will take it IF their rotation holds up and Pujols comes back relatively healthy. The Cubs will take it IF their rotation holds up and Soriano comes back relatively healthy. See the theme here? Funny thing is that my bet is one Pujols coming back ok and the Cubbies rotation being better over the course of the season. However, no Soriano and only a marginally better rotation = no NL Central Crown.

NL West: The Arizona Diamondbacks

Just like the AL Central, this is sort of one of those, it doesn't really matter divisions. The NLDS series here will be short. That said the division just last year thought to be the best in baseball has taken a huge nose-dive. How do we know this? The Giants are in spitting distance of competing and their is only one team with a winning record. The season will end this way too, one team with a winning record and it will be the Diamondbacks if only because of quality pitching and being able to feast on a poor division down the stretch.

Wild Card Entries:

AL: The Tampa Bay Rays

They won't take the East but they won't lose it by more than four games and this should give them plenty of wins to take the Wild Card. Quality starters, great young ballplayers and a dash of veteran leadership is a good recipe for future sucess.

NL: The Chicago Cubs

I'll put this as another toss-up. The Marlins could very well be in the mix here at the end, but I think it is a year or two early for them. The Cubs have a legit Ace, a legit line-up, a legit maganager and get to play in the friendly confines of Wrigley. Correct me if I am wrong but I think Fukudome is batting .800 with 65 HRs at home this year? The Cubbies are in the playoffs.

With the Yankees in town over the last few days, I have kept my regular seat at the Mac. Unfortunately for my A's, the Yankees won the series. Game three was pivotal as the series was 1-1 at this point. The sixth inning came around with the A's up 1 nil. Then the balls were called. A hit, a walk, another walk? Too many "close" pitches. Nothing was close about Godzilla's smash, but the poor plate calling prior to the long ball had the Mac buzzing with Donaghy type speculation.

Donaghy, regardless of the massive amount of character flaws circling him like buzzards over the Sahara, has brought up a very good point. How easily could these games be fixed? It is obvious that the NBA would like a series to run seven games. Especially if that series is hotly contested between the leagues "real" top two teams that season; even more so if the two teams hate each other. Even more so if the series is getting ridiculous ratings. It makes sense. Can I believe the man for his word? No, but I can believe my own eyes. 27 foul shots in the fourth quarter? Really? I thought it was fixed then, why wouldn't I now?

I am not ready to write off the NBA as a "fixed" league. It is not quite the WWE, yet. Yet is the key word here. I want proof. This is not the naive Barry Bonds type fan, waiting on proof before believing his hero is a cheat. Hell, I grew up a fan of Big Mac! I am not that guy. I am an NBA fan wanting to know for certain that the game is not fixed. I hate thinking that it might be, but I am not going to take Stern's word on it.

Even if the NBA isn't fixed, could MLB be? Maybe not every game, but important ones down the stretch of the season could be manipulated. Could MLB make sure the Yankees visit the post season? Could they make it a certainty that the Cubbies get there and not win it all? Could they work it out to get teams in the playoffs that need a bump in attendance (the Rockies) in order to gt a better TV deal?

In this day and age, why not? Give me one conclusive reason why not! How many blown home run calls are we going to believe? How long before a computer monitors the plate calling? The technology is there to make sure it is legit, but MLB refuses it. Could the game be rigged?

Just another dog barking in the yard.

With the Yankees in town over the last few days, I have kept my regular seat at the Mac. Unfortunately for my A's, the Yankees won the series. Game three was pivotal as the series was 1-1 at this point. The sixth inning came around with the A's up 1 nil. Then the balls were called. A hit, a walk, another walk? Too many "close" pitches. Nothing was close about Godzilla's smash, but the poor plate calling prior to the long ball had the Mac buzzing with Donaghy type speculation.

Donaghy, regardless of the massive amount of character flaws circling him like buzzards over the Sahara, has brought up a very good point. How easily could these games be fixed? It is obvious that the NBA would like a series to run seven games. Especially if that series is hotly contested between the leagues "real" top two teams that season; even more so if the two teams hate each other. Even more so if the series is getting ridiculous ratings. It makes sense. Can I believe the man for his word? No, but I can believe my own eyes. 27 foul shots in the fourth quarter? Really? I thought it was fixed then, why wouldn't I now?

I am not ready to write off the NBA as a "fixed" league. It is not quite the WWE, yet. Yet is the key word here. I want proof. This is not the naive Barry Bonds type fan, waiting on proof before believing his hero is a cheat. Hell, I grew up a fan of Big Mac! I am not that guy. I am an NBA fan wanting to know for certain that the game is not fixed. I hate thinking that it might be, but I am not going to take Stern's word on it.

Even if the NBA isn't fixed, could MLB be? Maybe not every game, but important ones down the stretch of the season could be manipulated. Could MLB make sure the Yankees visit the post season? Could they make it a certainty that the Cubbies get there and not win it all? Could they work it out to get teams in the playoffs that need a bump in attendance (the Rockies) in order to gt a better TV deal?

In this day and age, why not? Give me one conclusive reason why not! How many blown home run calls are we going to believe? How long before a computer monitors the plate calling? The technology is there to make sure it is legit, but MLB refuses it. Could the game be rigged? Just another dog barking in the yard.