For the first time in a long while, the expectations for the Washington Redskins, at least by their own fans, aren't overzealously through the roof. This season the Skins come into the year without an imported Hall of Fame head coach a la Schottenheimer, Spurrior or Gibbs. They have invested in no outrageous off-season spending on large names aside from the need based trade for Jason Taylor, and for the first time in recent memory they used the early rounds of the draft to attend to the teams needs.

Yup a€¦they're starting to look like a functional football team. No longer do they seem to the outsiders in the league like the primo Danna spoiled brats who get what they think they want and not what they need. No longer does it seem like they are trying to bypass the hard work that goes into building a winning franchise. Now it looks as if they are finally pulling up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty. That's right, the Skins have a new face; the underdog.

Perhaps it is the aura of the personality of the new head coach. After the much adored Joe Gibbs surprisingly retired after the 2007 season, it looked as if the Redskins would continue their trend of finding the best coach money could buy. There were rumors of drawing Bill Cowher out of retirement, pulling Pete Carrol out of Southern California, and even an attempt to steal the man that won the Giants a Superbowl, Steve Spagnuolo. It's not clear whether the Redskins restrained, or just couldn't pull off a deal, but no matter the reason the result was the same, a relative nobody in Jim Zorn had become the head coach of the richest franchise in all of sports.

Unlike the recent coaches of Redskins past, Zorn comes in with no previous track record. He had won no National Championships in college or Superbowls in the NFL. Zorn in fact has never held a job above quarterbacks coach and there are no expectations for his success. Other teams will try to take advantage of his inexperience, sports pundits will continuously count out his team, and every mistake he makes will reflect on Dan Snyder's reputation for hiring him, not his own.

This gives Zorn a swagger the team desperately needs. For the first time since the original Gibbs era, the Skins have a coach with nothing to lose. After Gibbs lost his first five games in 1981, it was owner Jack Kent Cooke's blind faith in him to make the right decisions that allowed him to go 8-3 the rest of the season. Maybe Dan Snyder has learned that if he infuses confidence in a coaching regime instead of buying it, the team can grow around those coaches. Zorn has absolutely nothing to lose, hopefully he'll coach like it, and his team will play like it.

So while this season plugs along, it will be a different experience for the Redskin fan, and with it the Redskins players. Perhaps the fear of losing won't get in the way of the guts it takes to win. Instead of conservative slot routes and nickel coverage perhaps the team will have the guts to air out the football and send in the blitzes. Now with the pressure of matching expectations formed from a legendary Hall of Fame coach, the skins can grow into a team that may form a new one.

There's something special about the player who was considered the best in the world when you first become a fan of the game. Forever when you think of baseball you associate in some part your feelings towards the game with that player. He's an icon of what the game was when you came to understand it, and the personification of the beauty of the game and the greatness that can be achieved in it.

For me, that was Ken Griffey Jr, and what a player to have that forever relationship with. Griffey was a true five tool player, who despite his slender physique was one of the most feared power hitters of all time. His grace running through the outfield and robbing home runs seemed almost as effortless as his unmatchable swing. He hit balls harder and further then anyone could expect, and he did it all with fashion and respect for the game.

As a child watching, "The Kid," you couldn't help but dream to become a major leaguer some day. He looked as if he enjoyed the game more then anyone on the field, as he often flashed that million dollar smile. He often seemed to amaze himself with his growing abilities, much like a player first learning the game, which reminded kids my age of ourselves and our fathers of their own childhood.

But even Griffey's famous charisma was overshadowed by his own greatness. Not since Willie Mays or Micky Mantle had the majors seen a player with such raw power and such smooth mechanics. From the minute he came into the league he started setting home run records, and was often chasing the elusive 61 home run mark set by Roger Maris. By the time he was 29 people were already expecting him to break Hank Aarons home run mark, as he was the youngest player to 200, 300, and 400 home runs at the time.

However before his 30th birthday he decided he wanted to play in his home state, and was shipped to Cincinnati to embark on the second half of his career. Things didn't go so well. Griffey became subject to injury after injury and could never repeat the success he had in Seattle. It was a sad sight to see greatness derailed by nagging injuries, his smile faded and so did our memory of The Kid.

It's not fair that one of the greatest power hitters of all time got overshadowed by players who took drugs to extend their careers. Griffey just couldn't recover from injuries, while power hitters all around him were mysteriously rejuvenated; putting up power numbers no one had seen before. The player who stood for everything good about the game was eclipsed in his prime by things that represented everything awful in baseball; greed, cheating, and dishonesty.

It is sad that even today, after steroids have been persecuted and rejected from our game, Griffey's accomplishments are still being ignored due to them. He is currently at 598 home runs, fast approaching the major milestone of 600. It seems however that fans just cant get on board with Griffey's chase. Perhaps fans are tired of home runs, perhaps we feel they symbolize the steroid scandal that almost tore this game apart. Regardless of the reason, it seems everyone wants to just push this accomplishment under the rug.

I won't. We owe a salute to one of the greatest players to ever play the game, and his outstanding accomplishment. Griffey is one of the true legends we can take from our generation, and he should be cherished, not swept to the back of our mind.

Congratulations Griffey on 600 homers, whenever it comes. You're one of the greatest of all time.

In the past four days there have been three blown home run calls across the majors. As usual this random sorting of blown calls has sparked the media into a frenzy. ESPN panelists, radio talk shows, they all want a piece of the action, a good rant against the establishment of Major League Baseball. It seems that this time the MLB is listening, as they have proposed instituting instant replay on home run calls in the Arizona Fall League this season, and possibly the World Baseball Classic next year.

How this supposed system would work isn't yet clear. Either a field umpire will look at a monitor in one of the dugouts, or like in the NFL there may be an official in the press box who reviews the call from up in the sky. The bottom line is no matter the schematics, instant replay will be more accurate. A frame by frame view of the ball, zoomed in, will make the judgment on fair or foul, in or out, much easier then the naked eye. While I'll be the first to admit some of those replays are non conclusive, the logical decision in terms of making sure the calls on the field are the most accurate, is to institute the system.

The question isn't however if it will make it more accurate, many baseball purists think it will ruin the game. A lot of sports fans scoff at this, they take a look at what it has done for their football, hockey, and even basketball and they look at baseball fans like their stubborn grandparents. It's the wave of the future, and many believe baseball is holding themselves out on what could be great. I think however that many of those crying for the change forget what made baseball great, and what keeps it great today.

Baseball more then any sport is symbolic of life. There are 162 games, and with it half a year of ups and downs, and successes and failures. Almost every team will win at least 60 games and lose at least 60 games, all that matters is the 40 in between. The baseball season, like life, is an in and out struggle that is never perfect. This is why we love baseball, why through the struggles of the 20's and 30's America was drawn to this game, and why it still holds our attention a century since its inception. Like life baseball will screw fans over sometimes; there will be strikes, bad decisions, let downs, and yes a bad call. But like life we learn to roll with the punches, we learn that our time will come and that even if it takes years, decades, and for the Cubs, centuries, everybody will have their day in the sun.

I was an Orioles fan in 1996, I was 9 years old. They were in the ALCS facing the mighty New York Yankees, but many thought the Orioles had what it took to make it to the World Series. In the eighth inning of game one with the O's up 4-3, Derek Jeter hit what should have been a fly ball out to right field. Instead 13 year old Jeffery Maier reached out and grabbed the ball away from over the fence from Tony Torasco. The call was blown, it was a home run, and the rest was history. I was crushed, the replay clearly showed it was fan interference. The Orioles should have won.

Looking back 12 years later however, I wouldn't have changed a thing. Did the call kick my ass? Yes it did. But it taught me an invaluable lesson about fairness in life and baseball. Now its history, baseball lore, ingrained in the tradition of the sport I love. Failure and heartbreak is part of this game, as much as the glory of victory.

In football, one mistake is so much more devastating. There are only 16 games, only 4 downs, every inch and every call counts so much more. In the NBA and the NHL the only reviewable plays are on buzzer beaters and pucks past the goal line. In both instances the human senses are just too poor to accurately make a call.

So it is my hope as a baseball fan that instant replay is not introduced into our game. I don't think it will slow the game down, I don't think it will hurt the umpires integrity either. But I also don't think that it is necessary enough to take away an integral part of the experience of baseball. We love our famous stories of heroics in baseball, but what tradition would we have without the infamy?

When I was nine years old my dad took me to my first game at Camden Yards. What a beautiful park it was back when eutaw street was packed with fans, when the smoke from Boog's Bar B Que floated up to the lights, and when any night could result in an Orioles win. That was before innocence was lost, before Angelos took the fans hostage, and before baseball came home, to Washington.

My dad and I were sitting in his company's box seats below the mezzanine, a perfect location for a young baseball fan to be amongst the crowd but not to far away to lose interest. I saw many games there with historic Eddie Murray homers, game winning hits by Cal Ripken, and robbed bombs by Brady Anderson. I spent so much time in those seats...but thankfully not the whole time.

My dad was a baseball purist and he taught me young the true intricacies of watching a baseball game. I learned how to keep score and I learned who to boo. Most importantly however I learned that the ultimate jackpot for any baseball fan would be landing seats behind home plate. Back there we were truly part of the game, he taught me. You could rightfully argue balls and strikes, you could see what the players saw, and you were watching it the way it was supposed to be watched; before games cost more then 10 dollars for a seat and 4 for a hot dog.

We devised a plan and utilized it well. I have no doubt that my dad concocted it when he was a teenager watching the Mets in the stands of a new Shea Stadium, waiting for the day he would have a son to finally utilize it. It was a scary mission, but the reward was worth the risk.

After the last out of the 5th inning, when all the fans that were going to arrive late would already be there, I made my move. I ran out of my seat, past the oft distracted usher, and down to the 5th row behind home plate to a vacant seat. What did the usher care? I was just some dumb kid who probably belonged down there and had ran way from my parents. Then my dad made his move, explaining to the over the hill usher that his son had ran away from him into a section where he didn't have tickets...the usher would let him go "fetch" me, only to never see either of us again. We had made it, three to four solid innings behind home plate in a beautiful ball park, it was heaven.

When I stepped foot into Nationals Park for the first time I was blown away by the color, the atmosphere and the scenic view of a majestic new stadium. My eye immediately caught an eye sore though. Not a small one either. Nothing like a slide in centerfield in Milwaukee or a swimming pool in Arizona, no this is much worse. The new Nats Park has taken the seats behind home plate hostage. They are divided into a whole other seating bowl within itself, and the price to get a sniff of this high class living will cost you $330 a seat. A price that few can afford and few have chosen to, leaves the prime seats in a beautiful park bare and with it the soul of the ball park empty. However the sight of the unfolded blue seats is less painful then what it symbolizes.

I can't help to think what a young 9 year old fan thinks when he sees a section separated by not one but two railings and a completely different entrance way that he isn't good enough to sit in. What is a parent supposed to tell their kids when they ask why they can't go to all those empty seats by the dugout, when the truth is that they can't come close to affording it? How is a dad supposed to teach his son the intricacies of baseball, that sitting behind home is the aspiration of every true fan, only to explain that they will never be able to do it in their home park? It's a capitalistic crime against baseball in our nation's capital.

What has made baseball great throughout time was the way that it connected poor, rich, white, black, old and young. It was baseball that helped so many get through the great depression and baseball that carried the moral of the home front through the World Wars. It was baseball that broke the color barrier, and baseball the helped build this nation back up after 9/11. When you're at the ball park you become part of something that transcends yourself, or your wallet. Every fan unites for the cause of supporting the nine men on the field, and every one equally shares in the ups and the downs in the ultimate cause of victory for the home team. I can't even plea for a change at this point, all I can say is it's a damn shame.

Some love Kobe Bryant and some hate him. He has accomplished things on the court few have done, and he has done things off the court few want to. He's made us laugh, smile, scream in anger and shout in aw. His on the court antics are often described as brilliant, but his character is often described as two-faced. We have seen him grow up before our eyes, and have seen both his faces, but perhaps as we see him lead his team back to prominence, we are seeing a third face of Kobe Bryant.

Kobe came up as the NBA's golden boy. He had a great smile and endorsed just about everything. Kobe dazzled in the all-star game as the youngest all-star ever, and he won the dunk contest. Bryant was Shaq's little buddy, helping him win three championships. He even helped those kids on the playground win their game in the Mcdonalds commercial; we were 'lovin it.'

In one night everything changed. In the summer of 2003 Kobe was charged with rape. Before even reaching trial, Kobe had lost all his endorsements and many fans. He denied knowing the accuser, and then admitted to sleeping with her shortly after. Bryant bought his wife her own championship ring and publicly apologized to her and his fans. After what some considered dirty tactics by his attorneys, the case was dropped and Kobe settled out of court. Bryant was exonerated, but the public had seen his second face.

Suddenly what seemed like Shaq's little buddy was starting to look more like his jealous little brother. Kobe used his influence to chase future hall of famers Karl Malone and Gary Payton out of town. He complained some more until NBA legends Shaquille O'neal and Phil Jackson were booted out too. It was finally his team, and it allowed us to see the selfish face of Kobe Bryant. Not just the kind of selfish it takes to put up 35 points per game or score 81 in one night, but the kind of selfish that took hostage one of the greatest franchises in sports.

Kobe's dream of being like Jordan was slipping away. He changed everything, perhaps to change our opinion of him. He switched his number from 8 to 24, perhaps to try and one up his airness. He began to lead the league in technical fouls, and started drawing suspensions when he would "accidentally," hit people in the face when his shot was contested. He claimed it was a natural hitch but I don't think even his biggest critics would say his shot that ugly.

It all came to a breaking point this summer when Kobe demanded a trade. He was tired of L.A and let everybody know it. He was videotaped in a parking lot swearing about the Lakers front office, and a month later he went on national television and expressed the same sentiments, albeit a bit more politely. It seemed like the Kobe Bryant era in L.A was over.

The NBA season started however and Kobe was still with his team, and they were winning. Something changed, Kobe shut up and played basketball, and it was working. Kobe started shooting less and passing more, he was finally realizing that his best talent was not his ability to score but his ability to make those around him better. He led his team to the first seed in the Western Conference and is now a favorite for the MVP and for his team to win an NBA championship. What we're seeing now is a more patient, less arrogant Kobe, his third face.

Kobe Bryant now understands he will never win back all those fans he once lost. But the way he will win back the true NBA fans now is by respecting the game. Kobe understands now it's not his league, and it never will be. Luckily for Kobe, legacies in this game are built on the whole. We don't remember Jordan's gambling problem, Barkley's weight problem, or Bill Walton's inability to stay healthy. We remember what they accomplished, how they made us feel, and how they rose to the occasion. Kobe still has the opportunity to do just that.

Dmitri Young has had to battle his demons.

In 2006 while playing for the Tigers he disappeared; evading police on assault charges. No one knew where Dmitri was; not the Tigers, the police, or even most of his family.

Dmitri was in rehab, at the Betty Ford clinic. Whether or not he was there by his choice is up in the air. What is known is that when he found himself with his hands around his wife's throat, Young had hit rock bottom. After his stint in rehab the Tigers released him. Dmitri had lost his family, his dignity, and now baseball. Some don't make the choice to collect everything and rebuild after hitting the low of lows, But Dmitri did.

In 2007, with clean blood and a clean head, Young signed a minimum contract with the only team that would take him, the Washington Nationals. While physically he wasn't his old self, mentally he was stronger then ever before.

As Yogi Berra once said, "90 percent of this game is half mental."

Young exploded after earning a starting spot with the Nationals. He led the National League in batting for much of the first half and earned an all star spot in San Francisco. It was the perfect situation fro the Nationals. They signed a player as a gamble for next to nothing only to have his value sky rocket. Young could now be traded to a team he could actually help get to the playoffs and in return the Nationals could get something they could actually use, prospects.

As with Soriano the year before, the trade deadline came and went and found Jim Bowden sitting at his desk, deal-less. Once again a brilliant, or perhaps lucky, move on Bowden's part turned useless as he was unable to pull the trigger on a deal to further the future of his young franchise.

Young of course stayed on the Nationals, completed an excellent season and won the National League Comeback Player of the Year award. In the off-season he resigned with Washington, and will likely finish out his career there.

While Dmitri will likely never help the Nationals make a playoff push, his value can now be measure in a new way. Stan Caston has asked Dmitri to show two other troubled young ball players through the darkness of troubled times, Elijah Dukes and Lastings Milledge.

So far it appears his wisdom has paid off as neither player has yet to cause any distractions. Milledge has been the best all around player for the Nationals and Dukes hopes to provide a spark when he comes back from his strained hamstring. While Young has yet to play this season, as he is in a tough battle with diabetes, his impact on this franchise may be greater then anyone could ever have thought. The Big Teddy bear may end up being the godfather for the next generation of Nationals baseball.

Less then a month ago me and my father sat behind home plate at spring training watching the young Mets get ready for what promised to be another exciting season. Wright and Reyes, two young stars in their own right, looked only to get better. Johan Santana was finally in orange and blue, and Fernando Martinez was getting a taste of what it was like to be on the big league club.

During batting practice we watched a healthy Beltran drive the ball to all fields, saw Peter Gammons rubbing elbows with Willie Randolph, and saw Jose Reyes flash that million dollar smile showing that his love of the game remained after a late season slump. The sun was shining, the negative vibe from September was gone; it was a good time to be in Mets Nation.

Then Carlos Delgado came out of the dugout…

He grabbed his bat, tarred it up, put on his helmet and stepped into the cage. Gammons and Willie parted ways, Reyes disappeared into the dugout, and everyone seemed to avert their attention from the field. It got quiet…real quiet. The kind of quiet it would get when your dad tried to fix the kitchen appliance you and your whole family knew he couldn't…the awkward…why is he doing this to himself silence…

Pitch after pitch and swing after swing just resulted in frustration for Delgado. He couldn't square around the ball, every swing resulted in a dinky dribbler or a Texas -Leaguer to the opposite field. It had been a tough season the year before for Delgado, and it looked to have carried to the spring.

It didn't get much better in the game. In two at bats Delgado struck out without even getting as much as a foul ball. My dad turned to me, "Delgado is done," he said.

The rest of the spring didn't get any better for Carlos. In a freak accident a splinter of a broken bat impaled his leg while he was playing first base. Delgado needed four stitches and a confidence check. He finished the spring batting only .222 with 14 strikeouts.

Something has changed since the season started. Don't ask me what exactly it was, I can't tell you. I can only tell you the results are promising. In this young season Delgado has flashed his old self to the tune of an over .300 batting average and a close to .400 on base percentage.

In the game I'm watching this afternoon he has already drove in a run in the first inning and made a web gem of a pick on a bad David Wright throw. So far this season he has looked like the Delgado of 2006, not 2007, and that is something the Mets desperately need.

Yes I know it's a small sample size, and yes I know there are many more games to be played. I know Delgado had good stretches last year and I know it's harder for an older player as the season goes on.

Will this rejuvenation for Delgado continue? Maybe not, in fact, probably not. He will probably never be the same player he once was, but what he has now is much more important; a positive outlook. So as the Mets try and get their barring on this young season, they have a Delgado they can rally around. For now at least, for the first time in a while, Delgado Del-got-it.

A year ago this month as Josh Hamilton arrived in Florida for spring training to a feeling he hadn't experienced since he was 17; he was wanted. Now 26, Hamilton had seen nothing but confused and disappointed stares for nearly the last decade, and even now at the glance of his 26 tattoo's he still gets this look from many a fan. He had learned over time to look passed the judgmental stares and that the only eyes he had to be able to look into now are his own at the mirror. Hamilton knew where he had come from, where he had been, and what he had the power to do.

Five years earlier Hamilton had woken up in the back of a Box Car. He had hoped he wouldn't. He had been tripping on drugs for the last week and thought he had gone to sleep for the last time. He pulled himself off the steel floor and looked into his reflection in a broken mirror on the other side of the car. What he saw what was a once chiseled frame worn down into skin and bones. He saw one of the top baseball prospects in history turned into an anonymous drifter. He saw tattoos he couldn't remember getting. He couldn't look into his own eyes in the mirror, he couldn't even see himself.

Now in Florida he had inexplicably made it back from the darkness. He hadn't played in a real baseball game since being suspended by the sport years before for drug abuse. He was making up for missed time now. 26 is old for any position player, much less one who hasn't played Double or Triple A, and even older for a player who hadn't swung a bat in five years. He was in Florida as more of an experiment then anything else. Even Garth Brooks has gotten an at bat or two in spring training.

The comeback started after the last person in Hamilton's world had given up on him. Long after he had gone through several failed rehab stints, long after his fortune was squandered, long after his wife had left him; his grandmother took her grandson that she didn't recognize in. After a couple of weeks of convincing his grandmother he was clean when he wasn't, he saw the familiar disappointed look in her eyes. She knew he was using, she was crushed.

Hamilton decided that the only way for him to get better was to get back to what he loved, baseball. He didn't do it to make a comeback professionally, but to get his life back together. He began working at a baseball camp, not as a counselor, but as a janitor. He cleaned the bathrooms and the cafeteria and after his work was done was allowed to work out with the camps equipment. He found God, he found reason, love and baseball.

With only limited preparation and years away from the game, no one could believe that after the third week of spring training he was leading the Reds in batting with an average well over .500. People started to believe that maybe what seemed like an experiment in giving the infamous Josh Hamilton a shot would turn into one of the biggest surprises in years. Could Josh Hamilton make the majors?

He did, and one year later he is now on the Texas Rangers and battling for a starting position. His rookie year may have been marked with injuries, but when he was healthy he did nothing but live up to his once coveted potential. His smile is back, and with it his game. While spring is a universal symbol of rebirth, for Josh Hamilton, spring training represents the ultimate second chance story in baseball.

Here's a fun game. Below are the scouting reports of players going into the NBA draft, read them and try and guess who they are. Some are pretty surprising. Answers are on the other side of the link.

Rules:

-Read the scouting report…make a guess… don't just go on your first instinct.

-All of the players have been drafted in this decade 2000-2008

-All the scouting reports were compiled before the player ever played a game in the NBA

-No Peeking, answers are in the link below

Player #1

Strengths: "The Messiah" as he was dubbed in High School. Ultra-dynamic scorer. Has less quickness than Iverson, but more strength and size. Has good explosiveness, and gets great extension on his jumpshots. Scores virtually at will, has been very effective at the college level making the transition seem effortless. Amazing handles and one on one skills. Can break down opponents off the dribble and score in a variety of ways. Has superstar potential. Has super intangibles and court awareness. Never seems to get rattled.

Weaknesses: Defensively he needs a lot of improvement. Still seems to be perfecting the matador defense, but with more desire and intensity can become an excellent defender. Has gotten a lot better about getting teammates involved and knowing when to take shots but still gets labeled a ballhog at times. Undersized, a combo guard. Could play the point, but like Iverson his strengths will be best utilized at the 2 position. Listed at 6-3, but he's closer to 6-1. Some question if he has the quickness to be as successful as Iverson, despite his lack of supreme quickness.

Hints: First big name player to go to his college, No Longer in the NBA

Player #2

NBA Comparison: Joe Dumars

Strengths: A clutch player with great athleticism and quickness..... Has a great three point stroke and creates well off the dribble...... Very crafty getting his shots off.... Leads by example. Very good competitor.

Weaknesses: At 6-3 doesn't have ideal height... Height hurts him especially defensively where opposing guards can post up and pass/shoot over him.

Hints: Went to a major university, drafted in the second roud

Player # 3

NBA Comparison: Larry Bird

Strengths: Uncanny basketball smarts. Plays the game with great passion. One of the best shooters in college. Has a chance to be a special player on the NBA level because of his intelligence, desire, and abilities. Was a point guard in high school before growing from a 6-5 senior to his current 6-9 height. Still has superb ball handling and passing abilities. Kind of lulls you to sleep with his nonchalant demeanor but then rips your heart out when you least expect it in big situations.

Weaknesses: Not a freak. He's not going to blow anyone off the dribble or overwhelm them with his athleticism, but can get off the floor well and has good body control. He's pretty slow by NBA standards. But so were some of the game's great ones Larry Bird and Chris Mullin and they had Hall of Fame careers. Must get stronger, continue to develop.

Hints: Lottery pick, won a national championship

Player # 4

NBA Comparison: Kevin Garnett

Strengths: Like Garnett, hehas freakish athleticism. Already bulkier than Garnett and could turn into more of a Webber type post player. Very graceful running the floor. Tremendous leaping aility. Passes and handles extraordinarily well for a 6-11 player. May still be growing. Touch on shots is excellent, and should only improve. Post game is solid. Very good shot blocker.

Hints: Traded twice I his career

Player # 5

NBA Comparison: Tracy McGrady

Strengths: (Based on hearsay) Possibly the most talented prospect in the entire NBA Draft if he declares. Has skills that are unteachable. Part of the new breed of NBA players, of the Tracy McGrady, multi-skilled, ultra athletic types. A do it all player. One NBA insider I spoke to said he will be a top 3 pick and may end up the best player in the entire draft class.Comparing him to McGrady, he probably isn't the run jump athlete but his handle and shot are better. More importantly, "He's a good kid. I've met him and talked with his family, and he may not have taken the usual course to the NBA, but he's a good kid." Very versatile, extremely skilled wing player, with great size and quickness. Can handle the basketball extremely well at 6-9, scores with a variety of moves to the basket, and has a nice shooting stroke. Explosive player with very good scoring ability.

Hints: Not in the NBA anymore

Player # 6

Strengths: Built like one of the characters out of a Charles Dickens novel. He belongs in Fagan's band of thieves. He is tall, lean and has the long arms to be an effective thief whether on the streets of London. Lets just say he will rob even the top point guards in the nation blind when he's playing the type of D he is capable of. Is quite frankly not ever beat on defense. Very quick player on offense and defense. Will beat almost anyone off the dribble. Fast as lightning in transition. Will throw nifty full-court passes with accuracy and generally excels in an uptempo setting. Can get his shot off on anyone due to his quickness and ball-handling ability. Is an expert in schoolyard techniques, such as blowing by his man with gusto and throwing a sick alley-oop to one of his big men. Plays with confidence and is simply fearless in key situations. A four-year starter at one of the top Division 1 programs in the nations. Simply put a tremendous competitor.

Now go to the link to see if your right

As a Maryland fan, my sworn enemy throughout the first part of this decade was the Duke Blue Devils. They tormented me many evenings with names like Brand, Williams, Donleavy and Duhon. I would wake up in night sweats after dreams of Redick and Battier burying me alive with three pointer after three pointer.

Duke has not only beaten us but at times embarrassed us. They knocked us out of the final four after a 20 point halftime lead, and the Miracle Minute taught me to never talk trash until the buzzer. Lost bets found me wearing a J.J Redick Jersey to school, beating Duke became an obsession, even a curse.

Of course we had moments of our own. Gilchrist single handedly won the ACC tournament in 2002, beating Duke at home to finish an impossible stretch that took them from an unranked team to putting them in the top 15 in one week. And what Maryland fan will forget beating Duke on Battier's senior night?

However through all of the hate, the ups and the downs, and all the torment that Duke has caused me, they have earned one thing: My respect. While all those heart breaking shots have done a number on my soul, and while they caused me many sleepless nights, Duke kept it interesting. No matter how good the Terps got I knew that there would be that challenge down in Durham. It gave me something to look forward to, and to dread, but that's the beauty of college basketball.

Duke has been able to do one thing neither UNC nor Maryland has for the last 20 years, constantly stay on top of the NCAA as a potential final four team. As much as I want to beat Coach K every time I see him, I know he is the best coach in the country. In this recent era of one and done basketball players, he has made his team successful by recruiting players who may not be stars at the next level…but fit just perfectly into his system if they stay four years. For Dukes longevity and consistency they again earn my respect.

This season Roy Williams yet again had UNC at the top of the rankings going into the year. The team was everyone's preseason pick to go all the way. They started off with an impressive 18-0 start before they lost to…well you know who. However in this college basketball season filled with early pre-conference blockbuster match ups, I found UNC wasn't part of any big time game. In fact it wasn't until UNC's 15th game that they would play a ranked team(Clemson) and that was a mandatory in conference match up. Was Roy Williams protecting his team? Is there something he knows that the rest of us should be clued into?

Regardless of the reasons for UNC's puppy dog schedule, the lack of ambition, competitive nature, and drive to try and take on the best of the best when you are supposed to be the best of the best loses my respect. Duke, even when in a "rebuilding year," would take on the hardest of schedules. Coach K knew that it would only build the character of his team that would pay off down the road. There's honor in Coach K's approach, and Coach Williams approach will just lead to losses to teams like Maryland.



So as shocking as it is for me to say it, as betraying to the Terp cause as it may sound, I a Maryland fan herby endorse the Duke Blue Devils tonight in what has become the greatest rivalry nation wide in American sports.

With Johan Santana now sporting the blue and orange, he will soon step right up and meet the Mets. The most important Met he will meet when the teams come to camp in 16 days however, will be Pedro Martinez. The two pitchers have had eerily similar pitching styles throughout their careers, and now with Santana's move to New York…they've had eerily similar career paths too.

After six years in Canada and LA, at the age of 26, Pedro Martinez finally got his wish and went to a contender. It had seemed like an eternity that the incredibly talented Martinez had put up ferociously good statistics year in and year out for a cellar-dweller. However finally in 1998 Pedro was sent to the Boston Red Sox, where his career blossomed into legendary one we know today.

Pedro was put in a rotation with a Knuckleballer, Tim Wakefield, journeymen Steve Avery and Pete Schourek, but most importantly former star pitcher Brett Saberhagen. Saberhagen himself knew what it was like to be an ace at a young age. Through the mid to late 80's he would show flashes of greatness that made him one of the best pitchers in the game. While there is no memorable friendship between Pedro and Brett, it is safe to say that the young ace learned a lot from the former all-star in the craft of pitching.

10 years later Johan Santana, at the age of 27, comes to New York after seven years in Minnesota. The Twins had patched together some winning seasons around Santana, but it seemed a consensus to much of baseball that Johan's incredible talent was being wasted in the twin cities. The gifted Santana now moved to the Mets in a trade that immediately made the team the favorite to win the NL Pennant. Unlike Martinez, Santana joins a rotation with two young talented starters, John Maine and Oliver Perez. However most importantly he now teams up with an aged and experienced Pedro Martinez.

There is no way to quantify the impact Pedro can have on Johan over the next several years. Everywhere Johan can go, and everywhere he can take his new team, Pedro has been. Saberhagen for Pedro was a mentor in two senses. He led Pedro by example how to carry himself as the team's ace and leader. However he also served to him as a cautionary tale. Saberhagen is a prime example of when unlimited talent doesn't pan out into a hall of fame career. No matter what those road bumps he hit were, the bottom line was he never reached his full potential. Pedro in this effect succeeded where Saberhagen failed.

So now Santana has a mentor of his own. Pedro can show Johan how to finish out an already brilliantly begun career. With the hurlers similar pitching styles, Pedro can show Johan every little trick in the book he learned on the way of his dazzling career. If you look at how smart Pedro is now with his far diminished physical skills, could you imagine if someone had bestowed upon him the knowledge he has today when he was 28?

The most important lesson Pedro learned in Boston that he can give to Johan, is how to become a warrior on the mound. Pedro's presence in games gave a sense of invincibility to the Red Sox. It was a time when the Red Sox-Yankee rivalry had reached its pinnacle. Pedro's presence gave something new to Boston it hadn't had before. His emergence coincided with the eventual rise of the Red Sox over the Yankees, a final push to where we stand today when Boston said, "we aren't going to take this anymore." While Pedro wasn't himself in 2004, and no longer around in 2007, Boston owes much of the credit for their two titles to him. He led the charge.

So this is what Pedro can give Johan. Power. Courage. The strength to overcome the lingering effects of the biggest collapse in baseball history. The leadership needed to stop asking, "What happened?" Johan, as Pedro did in the late 90's, can help the Mets take a stand. The Mets are disgusted about always being second best to the Yankees. They are fed up about always coming up just a bit short and they're not going to take it anymore.

Excuse me Mr. Snyder, but I'm a bit confused. As Joe Gibbs said himself during his surprise farewell press conference, a man like yourself is truly remarkable. You're a self made billionaire before the age of 40. You run, buy, and sell businesses. You are the pinnacle of success and possibilities in American life. You even have Tom Cruise eating out of your hand.

So why then Mr. Snyder, is your football franchise so ungodly disorganized? Aren't businesses built on the development and advancement of quality personnel? Doesn't a business, in order to succeed, need an overall vision, a guiding a light, a 'game plan' for the future?

Mr. Snyder surely on your way to great fortune you studied the business greats that came before you. Surely Mr. Snyder you fallowed the international trends of business and accurately identified the keys to success and failure in the marketplace around you. Then why Mr. Snyder can't you realize that the great owners of football franchises in today's NFL basically stay out of the way of football operations? Mr. Snyder, surely you can appreciate a man like Mr. Kraft, who has had amazing success with his football franchise by allowing it to be run by people who know what they are doing. Surely you must agree that he gets as much enjoyment from afar as any other owner in the league possibly could up close and personal.

Mr. Snyder I applaud you for fulfilling your childhood dream sir. Making billions and then buying the team you loved to watch growing up is far more then I will ever accomplish. However, Mr. Snyder, I ask that you run you're childhood dream as the C.E.O who made billions as an adult, and not as the child who originally concocted the idea of controlling the Burgundy and Gold.

Mr. Snyder, you're in the business of making amusement parks. Surely you don't insist on building the roller coasters that go in those parks. That is done by qualified engineers and physicists who have the proper training to do so. If you were to design a roller coaster Mr. Snyder, it would without a doubt run off the tracks. So Mr. Snyder, I ask that as you do with your amusement parks, please don't design anything you're not qualified to do. Like Mr. Kraft…just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Tom Brady was a two sport athlete at Junipero Serra High School in California. In one sport he rode the bench for a winless team, never getting a taste of solid playing time, and never impressing anyone as to his future in the sport. In the second sport, Brady excelled as the star of the team. He had professional scouts at all his games and at the age of 18, people were already discussing his draft status.

That second sport surprisingly, was baseball.

The 6-4 Brady was a power hitting catcher in his glory days. He was the star of the baseball team for a school that was known for its baseball. Junipero Serra has a reputation for producing Division I talent, and is the high school that the infamous Barry Bonds once roamed the halls of. At the end of Brady's senior year he was taken in the 18th round of the 1995 draft. To many, it seemed his future was set.

However Brady knew what he wanted and knew what his passion was. Brady decided to turn down the sure money in baseball to try and make a Division I college football team. He loved football, and while he had eventually earned a spot in the starting line up for his high school team, he impressed relatively few. He arrived at the University of Michigan as a non-scholarship player and the 7th string quarterback. With un-matched hard work and drive, Brady moved up the depth chart in an unprecedented manor. By his senior year he was the starter for one of the best teams in the country.

We all know the rest of the story. Three superbowls, an MVP and several supermodels later Brady is a week away from competing for his fourth championship and the opportunity to finish the never before done 19-0 season. Brady's most improbable success should make him an inspiration to everybody. Yet I can't help but notice the unfounded animosity towards the leader of the best team in football.

Throughout the sports nation, I hear words town around like, "arrogant," "Self entitled," and "spoiled," when describing Brady. It's amazing how quickly we forget rooting for the unknown back up that carried his franchise when the star quarterback got hurt. Has Brady really changed since he first entered the scene in 2000? Or is it just the way we perceive him after his rise to greatness?

Tom Brady was never given anything. Unlike so many of us he refused to take the easy way out when he was offered a career in baseball. He didn't give up on his initial dream, and even though nobody told him he could ever make it, he is now being compared to the greatest football players in history. And with all his success he has never settled for anything. Brady despite working harder then most to get to the top, continues to work to reach levels of excellence we've never before seen. In a sports world filled with selfish pay-check first athletes, Brady's attitude is more then refreshing.

So this Superbowl Sunday, before you sit down and decide that you are going to root for Eli Manning and the Giants as the underdogs. Remember the ultimate underdog story, and that with each accolade of success Brady racks up, it proves that much more that we are capable of achieving whatever we set our mind to, and that it is never to late to go after the unreasonable dream.

During the congressional meetings Tuesday, I was struck by an interesting point raised by democrat John Tierney. He rose, to my attention at least, that the prescription of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) drugs among Major League Baseball players skyrocketed from 28 in 2006 to 103 in 2007. Considering the amount of players in Major League Baseball, that is an alarming increase, especially when you consider that these types of drugs or mostly prescribed to children.

As a college student I am well aware of the effects of drugs like Adderall. I see it every day when good kids succumb to the pressure of their parents or the pressure to keep their scholarships, buy ADD drugs from kids who have a prescription. It's not pretty, young people will stay up for days to ingest all the information before a final or to finish that term paper. It certainly is performance enhancing in the academic world, and like in sports there is pressure to take the drugs just to compete with the curve. For better effect students often will grind the pills down and snort it like cocaine. "Diet-Coke," I've heard it called before.

In the 1980's cocaine was widespread in the baseball world. You don't have to look any further then the Mets of the late 80's to see a correlation between cocaine and success. While there is some debate whether the drug could actually boost your performance in the long run, many believe that if the drug was taken within hours of a game it could significantly help your performance. Just as caffeine can, drugs like cocaine can improve your energy and reaction time, the second of which is very important in a game like baseball.

So is this rise of use of ADD drugs in baseball the answer by the players for the banning of amphetamines? It seems to me that just like before a big exam, taking these types of drugs could help you get amped and ready before a big game. Seeing how it keeps my classmates up for hours it could certainly help players who need a boost for a day night double-header.

The rise from 28 to 103 prescriptions is significant. Basically the amount of prescriptions has quadrupled in one season. This could bring a whole new scandal to Major League Baseball when it needs it least. While diagnosing ADD has always been a controversial decision, it seems to me impossible that Major League Baseball players are suffering from the disease at that much of a higher rate of the rest of the American public. Are these doctors just crooked? Can you really question a doctor's diagnosis on a behavioral issue?

Will this be brought to the forefront by baseball and the players association? Or will it be tucked away and allowed to stir and grow like steroids in the 90's? To me, while the effect on the body are far less severe…Adderal is much more dangerous to American sports. While we do not want the high school and college athletes to use steroids in an attempt to make it athletically, steroids are harder to attain in general. Adderal however is incredibly easy for any young person to get. I could get some right now by walking across the hall in fact. What worries me even more is that a prescription for such drugs is not hard for a high-schooler to get either. Players could then legally, maliciously, use performance enhancing drugs starting in even middle school!

This issue needs to be tackled immediately by professional sports and schools everywhere. Not only athletically but academically as well. If we ignore this problem for long, it may become too big to handle.

The first wave of steroid accusations came in the form of Jose Conseco's book, "Juiced." Congress held a hearing; Sammy Sosa forgot English, Conseco forgot what his own book was about, and Mark Mcgwier went from hero to shriveled man in a day. The only person who came out of the steroid hearings looking good was Raphael Palmeiro, period.

Palmeiro simply deigned any use. He even verbalized his punctuation, he was that clear. "Let me start by telling you this: I have never used steroids, period. I don't know how to say it anymore clearly than that"

Straightforward enough, I believed him, and a lot of other people with their willful ignorance did too. So it appeared, at the time, that the way to dodge the steroid accusation bullet was to firmly deny deny deny. Then Palmeiro tested positive for steroids the very next season…oops.

Since then the prescription for tackling the steroid pointing fingers has been a mixed bag. Bond's just yelled at anybody who pointed out the fact that there were briefcase loads of evidence pointing that he juiced up. Some, like Mcgwier and then Palmeiro have gone into hiding, their names only to resurface when a hall of fame ballot comes up. And Sosa still doesn't remember English.

The new wave of accusations that have come out this winter however are backed by major league baseball…and several stars have been indicated. Most notably Roger Clemens, Andy Pettite, Brian Roberts, and the retired David Justice. This has left these players in a tricky situation, knowing that with Palmeiro's test results the firm flat out denial no longer works.

Roger Clemens has come out on the offensive. Letting anybody and everybody know that his accuser, Brian McNamee, was a troubled soul who would lie to get himself out of trouble. Yes, Clemens wanted us to feel bad for him. He covertly taped conversations, filed lawsuits, held two press conferences and even went on 60 minutes. So how does Clemens come off looking so bad? Isn't this what fans wanted? Hadn't we always told Bonds, 'well if they're lying…sue?'

Maybe it's the effect of Bonds that has made the Andy Pettite's and the Brian Roberts come off looking the best in this whole ordeal. Oddly enough it seems that those who have admitted using steroids are looking better then those that deny it! Could it be that fans are just sick of being lied too? Are fans just sick of having their intelligence insulted by people like bonds who question our ability to say…read?

It makes sense to me that it would turn out that way. The whole thought process behind using steroids in the first place is that, 'I'm above the law,' or, 'I'm more entitled then anyone else.' To me that's the part of the steroid era that bothers me the most.

But if the key to looking good coming out of the steroid era is to own up to it…what if in the off chance…Clemens didn't do steroids? What is he to do then? Let his legacy be tarnished? Or fight back in what looks like a non-genuine attempt to find what he wants us to believe is the truth?

It appears then, that the lasting legacy of the steroid era, will not be that players cheated. It will not be the false hope given to young fans of the 90's like myself. It will be the loss of trust of the fans to even their favorite players. It's a catch-22, and unfortunately for some, it may be the best thing for baseball if we all just move on…