Carmelo Anthony is the Knicks GM according to Johnette Howard

Apparently you don’t even need to follow a basketball team to write about them consistently. This is what ESPN New York’s Johnette Howard proves basically with every article she writes. I’ve been wanting to tear apart some of her older stuff but this article, “Memo to Melo: You better win,” takes the cake for being the worst. Here we go.

For an NBA superstar in love with playing Hero Ball, Carmelo Anthony has a funny acquaintance with blame. Doesn't want it. Doesn't like it. He couldn't play nice with the Denver Nuggets and coach George Karl, and in New York his pattern's been the same with Mike D'Antoni, Amare Stoudemire and now with Jeremy Lin and that "ridiculous contract" -- Melo's words -- that the Houston Rockets used to lure Lin away from New York.

Right from the start we’re talking about media hubris and not actually what happened with the Knicks last year. What does she mean he couldn’t play nice with George Karl? When did Anthony ever bash George Karl or not “play nice” with him? What the hell are you talking about?

Also, did you not notice the entire team gave up on Mike D’Antoni last year? You know why? Because he’s a terrible freaking coach who’s mustache is too stubborn to change his coaching style to cater to the players in his system. He had Tyson Chandler doing pick and rolls, Amare Stoudemire standing on the wing, and Carmelo Anthony sitting in the corner or playing point guard. Does that sound like any of those veteran players strengths? He completely condoned a 23-year-old point guard to take the most shots on the floor. Part of being a coach is connecting with the players you have on your roster and that roster gave up on him.

Honestly, you really think Carmelo Anthony wanted Jeremy Lin gone because of one quote taken completely out of context? What is wrong with you? If you or anyone thinks, “Carmelo got what he wanted,” you’re insane.

Throw in the raft of players the Knicks traded away to get Anthony, and how shooting guard Landry Fields melted in his presence before drifting off to Toronto, and that's a lot of tombstones for Anthony to have on his resume.

The raft of players the Knicks traded for Anthony? You mean Raymond Felton (back on the roster), Timofey Mozcov (useless), Wilson Chandler (free agent anyway), and Danillo Gallinari? So honestly it was Gallinari and Mozcov for Carmelo Anthony in the end. You wouldn’t make that trade again? Why is it Anthony’s fault that Landry Fields suddenly couldn’t hit open jump shots? Are you going to tell me he got less of them with Anthony on the team?

What tombstones does Anthony have on his resume? What in the world does that even mean? Did he kill them too? 

The Knicks have never looked more like Anthony's team than they do right now. And now he better damn well make them winners.

Otherwise all the Knicks have done is say goodbye to Linsanity and hello to -- what? -- more Melo-ocrity?

Anthony better damn well win, all right.

Did you really need to space three times to say that? What do any of these words accomplish outside of being disrespectful to Carmelo Anthony? Anthony better win now that Lin’s gone? There wasn’t any pressure on him to win if Lin stayed?

He now has his coach of choice, Mike Woodson. And he now has an offense built entirely around him. He's capable of playing a more devastating and consistent all-around game. And that will always make the charge that he still doesn't get what it takes to be a winner fair until he proves otherwise.

I forgot that Carmelo Anthony is actually the GM of the Knicks. He actually anointed Woodson coach during his Jeremy Lin jersey burning ceremony last spring. He fired D’Antoni and hired Woodson apparently. Wow, just wow.

Oh, and what the hell does that last sentence even mean? I mean I’m not trying to say I don’t make mistakes when I write, but I’m sitting in bed with my shirt off eating an Italian Panini, you write for ESPN and have editors.

So somebody should tell Anthony to spare us the revisionist talk about how much he wanted Lin back, or his depiction of how lovely it was to be reunited a couple weeks ago with D'Antoni, now an assistant for the U.S. Olympic team. Anthony's description of that reunion sounded like a cheesy chick-movie trailer: "We talked. We laughed. We joked ... "

Okeydoke.

You just hate this guy don’t you? Do you actually research articles before you write them? Where were you when Anthony suggested Lin play in the first place or the countless other times he supported him throughout the offseason, including how he said he wanted him back before he called his ballooning contract ridiculous? Maybe Anthony and D’Antoni don’t completely hate each other as people but just couldn’t work together. Please stop acting like speculation is fact, you’re a journalist!

There were reasonable arguments on both sides for why the Knicks should or shouldn't have kept Lin. The most curious, yet believeable one? Numerous news outlets reported that Knicks owner Jim Dolan drew the line at throwing more money into the furnace now -- now? -- in large part because Dolan's hair-trigger temper was tripped when Lin went back to the Rockets and squeezed more money and a restructured contract out of them, making it harder for the Knicks to match.

Lin quit the Knicks as much as the Knicks quit him.

Oh so you actually did read the real story of why Lin isn’t back with New York? Then why the hell are you blaming it on Carmelo Anthony? James Dolan being an idiot has nothing to do with Carmelo Anthony.

But make no mistake, Anthony showed Lin the door, too, in much the same way he shoved D'Antoni out by blatantly quitting on him on a mid-March Sunday against Philadelphia, and D'Antoni resigned two days later. Since when does a team's superstar -- knowing management and his head coach are on record saying they planned to match their starting point guard's contract offer -- go public and call it "ridiculous," as Anthony did when everything was still in play?

Sigh…this is just ridiculous. Maybe he shouldn’t have been honest saying that it’s a crazy contract. He’s not the brightest guy in the world, that’s why he plays basketball for a living. The media made this a big deal and if you honestly think Jeremy Lin’s offended by these statements, (I’m sure he wasn’t) or that the Knicks management held any weight to them at all, you’re a crazy person.  He didn’t fire D’Antoni and he didn’t not choose to match Lin’s offer, you know why? He doesn’t run the team!

It's a good question, all right. So is this: Since when does a superstar who claims he's all about winning admit he didn't put out as much effort as he could've for D'Antoni, and then show up for Olympic team workouts talking about how he lost nearly 20 pounds after the NBA season ended? Think that might've helped him in his primary job for the Knicks? Even Woodson has said as much.

Is that how the deserved cornerstone of a wannabe title team acts?

This is fair criticism. If you made this the thesis of your article it’d actually be worth reading instead of implying that Carmelo Anthony runs the Knicks. There are questions surrounding Carmelo Anthony being a team leader and being driven enough for an NBA title, but why did you have to make me read all that other junk before you got there?

Anthony backtracked the day after he saw his remark about Lin's four-year, $25.1 million offer sheet caused a stir.

No, he clarified what he said because people aren’t smart enough to react properly. Guess it didn’t help at all.

He usually does.

Name one other time. Seriously, do it.

But he can't moonwalk away from this now: He better damn well make the Knicks win.

I don’t think he’s moonwalking anywhere. Again, is he going to try to make them lose? What are you accomplishing by saying this?

Anthony is the only one being ridiculous if he really believes -- as he's argued -- that he shouldn't share some blame for D'Antonis' and Lin's decisions to walk. He's insisted he's not a coach-killer, and the day after disparaging Lin's offer sheet while he was with Team USA in Washington, Anthony had the temerity to speak for both himself and Dolan. He said both of them wanted Lin back, though Dolan still hasn't spoken publicly on the matter.

Anthony also sent a text to Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports saying: "I'm tired of people trying to blame me for the fact that the Knicks might not match. I want everybody to get paid if they have the opportunity."

Who sounds more ridiculous, the journalist trying to insult Carmelo Anthony or Carmelo Anthony saying he doesn’t make the GM decisions? I bet that he is getting tired of people trying to blame stuff on him that he doesn’t control. I would be too.

Anthony went on to add this lukewarm personal scouting report on Lin: "He's a good young player that has a lot of potential and upside with time and experience."

What an asshole that Anthony is. How dare he moonwalk away, he should’ve cut the number 17 in half and then placed the 1 on his chest because that’s 1 person he cares about in the entire world. Screw Amare Stoudemire, this is Carmelo Anthony's team!

AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
Carmelo Anthony standing next to the only person he cares about in the world, himself. 

Now the 23-year-old Lin is gone. The Knicks' major offseason additions have been 39-year-old Jason Kidd, who just caught a DWI charge in the Hamptons, and three players they gave away before: 39-year-old Kurt Thomas, 38-year-old Marcus Camby and 28-year-old Raymond Felton, the heir to Lin's starting point guard position. Lin won't have to worry anymore about J.R. Smith's contention that his contract might've caused resentment among the other Knicks.

That's the supporting cast Melo now has. When it comes to his style of Hero Ball, the Knicks are all in.

So Anthony better get a little less squeamish about shouldering blame. And fast. Because he's out of options and excuses, and he can't moonwalk away from this: The Knicks are his team more than ever now. And he better damn well win.

So your thesis is that Carmelo Anthony drove Jeremy Lin out the door so he should try to win basketball games? What inspired you to write this article outside of your hatred and disrespect for Anthony? I completely understand this is a classless ripping apart of your work but smear pieces like this deserve to be disrespected, not the best player on the New York Knicks. This is sensationalized and biased media at its best people.

For more on stupid opinions people have surrounding athletes like Carmelo Anthony, I encourage you to read my post from earlier today. Here's the link if you're way too lazy to scroll down. 

5 Athletes you have the Completely Wrong Opinion about

We’re well into the age of Twitter and sensationalized media and it’s caused people to have absolutely horribly misinformed opinions about everything. It’s frustrating for myself because I end up having arguments with impassioned sports fans that just read a headline or a 160 character Tweet and have developed an extreme opinion. Here are five professional athletes who most sports fans have wrongly formulated opinions about.

1. Tim Tebow is a great quarterback – I never wanted to write anything about Tim Tebow because people are just totally insane about this guy. I recently watched Skip Bayless (who I’m pretty sure ESPN just pays to say inane things) say that he would rather have Tim Tebow for 1 game than reigning NFL MVP and former Super Bowl Champion Aaron Rodgers. This is just example of the total craziness that is surrounding this guy.

Apparently nobody actually watched the games Tim Tebow started this year and I’m pretty sure they didn’t considering Denver isn’t a major media market. What I saw was at times, the worst quarterback play I’ve ever seen. He didn’t complete half the passes he threw this year. That’s not just bad, it’s completely atrocious. Of the 13 games he started his team failed to score over 20 points 9 times while having one of the better running games in the NFL.

He had a 72.9 QB Rating, threw for 1,729 yards and for 12 touchdowns. Outside of the ridiculous luck he had towards the end of football games, he wasn’t even average. There’s a reason John Elway didn’t want this guy to be his quarterback and I’m pretty sure John Elway knows more about football than Skip Bayless.

I'm sorry Tim, Jesus' plan for you is not to be a great quarterback.

I know the Tebow crazies, and that’s what they are crazy, will say, “But he just wins football games!” They will point to his college success and will point to him throwing for 316 yards against the Steelers in the playoffs. He still didn’t complete 50% of his passes in that game and most people would agree if they played that game 5 times, the Steelers probably win 4 of them. He threw a slant for 80 yards and a hit a couple of big plays but didn’t do anything impressive as a quarterback. Yes, he was great in college but that means absolutely nothing in the NFL.

The biggest problem Tebow has right now is he can’t throw a football and he can’t read defenses. This all a quarterback does! The fact that he had to have a college offense installed for him is testament to the fact that he can’t play quarterback in this league. I understand that no matter how rational this argument is Tebow supporters will call me a hater and say he’s the “clutchest” human being on the planet. Until he leads two fourth quarter Super Bowl come backs and sets the NFL record for 4th quarter comebacks in a season, I’m sorry, that title belongs to Eli Manning.

2. Alex Rodriguez isn’t clutch – This is one of the most misinformed media stories in all of sports. A-Rod struggled in a couple of postseasons so he’s a choker. It’s just absolutely ridiculous because it’s a narrative that’s just completely untrue. I don’t know if anyone remembers 2009 (it was so long ago) but A-Rod absolutely demolished the baseball while leading the Yankees to a World Series Championship. He hit a bomb against Joe Nathan for the Twins to put the Yankees ahead in the Divisional Series, hit another clutch home run against the Angels closer Brian Feuentes, and had a huge double off Brad Lidge in the World Series. All these hits directly led the Yankee’s winning huge playoff games. To say this guy folds under pressure is just one of most ridiculous arguments you can make. In his career he’s had 9 walk-off hits, 8 of them were home runs.

A-Rod's as healthy as a horse in the clutch.

This is a totally media driven narrative. Look at his career numbers with runners in scoring position
- 297 AVG - .399 OBP - .537 SLG - .936 OPS. – This is not a guy who’s ever struggled to drive in runs. This can also be evidenced by the fact that he’s routinely had over 100 RBIs just about every year of his career. He also has the most grand slams in baseball history and is probably the best bases loaded hitter of all time period.

So again, how is a guy who led his team to a World Series with clutch hit after clutch hit, has numerous walk off hits, and is the best bases loaded hitter of all time, not clutch? People generally dislike A-Rod so his failures are more emphasized than his successes. How else could anyone ever call a guy with this resume not clutch?

3. Carmelo Anthony is a bad teammate – Despite Carmelo Anthony being a starter for Team USA and never having problems with any of his teammates, the media has written this narrative that Carmelo Anthony is a bad teammate. Yes, he shoots a lot but he’s also a supremely talented offensive player. Remember the same narrative happened surrounding Kobe Bryant and now it’s happening surrounding Carmelo Anthony. It has never stopped anyone from wanting to be his teammate and I doubt Team USA would want a guy who can’t get along with his teammates to compete for a gold medal.

The story we have currently regarding Carmelo Anthony is that he for some reason hates Jeremy Lin. It was widely reported that Anthony was an initial Lin supporter and encouraged D’Antoni to play Lin in the first place, but that story is widely ignored. The current story is that Carmelo Anthony said that the offer the Rockets made for Jeremy Lin is “ridiculous.”

This of course because of Twitter’s character limits and the need to grab headlines. After saying that he would love to have Jeremy Lin back he said, "It's up to the organization to say they want to match that ridiculous contract that's out there,'' This of course, was in reference to the fact that it goes from 5 million to 14.8 million in the final year, however this apparently meant that Anthony hates Jeremy Lin. Just look at the reaction on Twitter.

Now let’s look at the ESPN interview with Anthony and Tyson Chandler after the same game. (Video for the “ridiculous” quote can’t be found) Anthony pretty much says it’s not in his control and that’s what free agency means. Tyson Chandler after the same game called Lin’s contract “surprising.” Can’t interpret Chandlers comments in same way Carmelo’s comments were received say that, “Tyson Chandler is “surprised” Jeremy Lin received such an offer so he clearly doesn’t respect him.” This whole ridiculous thing with Carmelo Anthony is just that, ridiculous.

When you’re in the business of taking quotes out of context this kind of stuff happens. Anthony has done nothing but be supportive of his teammates his entire career and of Jeremy Lin, yet public perception is that he clearly hates him and is a bad teammate.

I’ve watched a ton of Carmelo Anthony’s career, from his college career at Syracuse, through his days in Denver, and now with the Knicks. He’s not the most intelligent or articulate guy, which is well known. Despite this though, he’s never been an outcast or a guy who doesn’t get along with his teammates. He’s never been on a losing team in his entire career and won a National Championship in college when he was 18. These stories are complete media hubris and it’s sad how many people who don’t watch the games fall for it.

4. Lebron James is a bad person for “The Decision” – Yes, it wasn’t the best “decision” to make in the world but Lebron James in no way deserved the criticism he took from deciding to play in Miami. I’ve never seen this country united behind something so uniformly like they’ve been against James, probably since 9/11. It’s been that bad. You would’ve thought he personally took a dump on the doorstep of every person living in Cleveland.

The problem with this perspective that Lebron James is the devil is that by all accounts he’s an extremely likable guy. Hell, I always liked Lebron and I had no reason to cheer for him at all outside of his tremendous talent. We’re really going to blame a guy in his mid-20s for wanting to go live in Miami instead of Cleveland? New Yorkers seem to think Lebron too stabbed them in the back, even though I have no idea who thinks playing for James Dolan is a good idea.

Too often we blame players for things and forget that they have agents and people who manage their careers. I highly doubt Lebron said to his friends, “Hey guys, let’s throw a huge party on national television and shit all over Cleveland’s hopes and dreams.” This was a problem with Lebron’s management for letting this kind of thing go on and telling him this wasn’t going to create a huge backlash. Yeah, Lebron could’ve had better foresight but he’s probably had someone managing his career since he was 14 years old.

The worst part about this situation is that Lebron clearly feels terrible about it. Early last year the criticism clearly affected him on the court and he just didn’t look like the same fun loving basketball player we saw in Cleveland. He’s even tried to show up to Ohio State games and has publicly said how much love he has for the Cleveland and Akron area. I know some people will never forgive him but coming from a cold town with nothing to do as well, I understand Lebron leaving.

Sports do something to people and make them take situations like this too personally. My mom even is disgusted with Lebron saying, “I could never cheer for him or forgive him for what he’s done,” but she seems to have no problem with me leaving my hometown and moving to New York City. Sports fans are just that, fanatics, and our perception of Lebron James proves this more than anything. You don’t know Lebron James, so try to empathize with him a little bit before you assert he’s an awful human being.

5. Dwight Howard has held the Orlando Magic hostage – Now this one is definitely subject to some controversy because much like Lebron, we’ve declared Dwight Howard as a malignant being. Again, much like Lebron this whole situation with Howard comes straight down to the people managing him. Who in the world let Dwight Howard sign that option to keep him in Orlando another year?

All Dwight Howard is guilty of is not wanting to play for the Magic organization anymore and being wishy-washy with this decision. It wasn’t an easy decision, he clearly likes Orlando, the weather is nice, the taxes are low, and this is the organization that drafted him. Howard’s problem is probably that he is too nice of a guy and didn’t stomp on everyone’s throats saying he wanted to leave like Carmelo Anthony did. He kind of backed off this decision and tried to be a good teammate and it has only brought him negative press.

Who can blame him for wanting to leave this organization though? Yes, they made the NBA Finals and lost to the Lakers one year but they were never going to beat that Lakers team. In my opinion, they were extremely fortunate to beat Cleveland that year. The best player he’s ever had on his team alongside him is debatably Hedo Turkalou, that one year that Hedo suddenly became awesome. This is a franchise that traded for Gilbert Arenas only to amnesty his stupidly huge contract and traded Brandon Bass for Glen “Big Baby” Davis. Why should Howard want to stay with this organization that just made stupid move after stupid move while building around the best center in basketball?

I know who's really to blame Dwight, don't worry.

I really think it’s more like the Orlando Magic held Dwight Howard hostage. They put themselves in this situation and to say anything less is simply ridiculous. You think if they could’ve brought in better players than Jameer Nelson, Jason Richardson, and Rashard Lewis he would’ve wanted to leave? I don’t think so. Now the Magic are clearly a team that would have to rebuild around Howard, again. Do you really think the best center in the NBA wants to be part of another rebuilding effort?

I understand Howard hasn’t made the best decisions throughout this whole process but he is absolutely not holding this franchise hostage. The Magic have the best center in basketball and have had a year to trade him and haven’t sealed the deal. I get that they wanted to keep him but that ship probably passed the minute they traded for Gilbert Arenas. How hard is it to trade the best center in basketball, obtain some assets, and move on? The Orlando Magic are the ones who’ve dropped and are still dropping the ball here no matter how much the media wants to blame Dwight Howard.

*Pictures provided via Google Images.

We can't pitch so let's trade away our best pitchers!

This article by Tony Massarotti titled “Time for Red Sox to put Josh Beckett and Jon Lester on the trading block,” just makes my head hurt. It’s so ridiculous I have to break it down paragraph by paragraph.

The New York Yankees were without their ace, C.C. Sabathia, and so now we can say it definitively and without any hesitation: the Red Sox simply do not have an answer. Not for Sabathia and, apparently, not for anyone else.

The Red Sox lost 3 of 4 games to the hottest team in baseball with half their team on the DL. They’re still 43-43 and 2 ½ games out of the wild card. The season series between the Red Sox and Yankees seem to even out every year, but let’s panic!

Aren't we being a bit dramatic saying they don't have an answer for anyone else? The Red Sox have had an answer for seemingly most pitchers they've faced this year considering they have the 2nd most runs in all of baseball. 

What the Red Sox can do about this should be the focus of all internal discussions approaching the annual July 31 trading deadline.

Possessors of a 40-35 record roughly 10 days ago, the Red Sox limped into the All-Star break late Sunday night on the heels of a 7-3 defeat to the Yankees at Fenway Park. With loss, the Sox dropped to a perfectly mediocre 43-43. But before we make this too much of a big-picture issue, let's focus on the two men who absolutely needed to step up in the weekend series against New York and who jointly fell on their faces.

Josh Beckett and Jon Lester.

Can we stop acting like this was a huge series for either team? It’s early July for the love of god. Yes, the Yankees are 9.5 games up but it’s not like we’ve never seen a team collapse from being that far ahead, right Sox fans?

I know Josh Beckett and Jon Lester struggled over the weekend but Fenway is a hitter’s park and the Yankees have one of the better offenses in baseball. It happens, sometimes your best guys just struggle with a team. Neither Lester nor Beckett have looked too good against the Yankees this year but its baseball, it’ll probably even out.

Here's the most meaningful statistic of this Red Sox season to date, folks: the Red Sox are 12-20 in games started by the men who should be their two best starting pitchers. Were the Sox even, say, 16-16 in those games, they would be in possession of that suddenly coveted fifth-best record in the American League. And if they were, say, something more like the 20-12 they should be, they would be 51-35, nipping at the heels of the Yankees for the far more desirable lead in the AL East.

That is not a meaningful statistic because measuring a pitchers success based on whether their team wins and loses is illogical. It’s obviously illogical because the pitcher does not control how his team hits. Beckett and Lester haven’t been great this year but it's unfair to say if they were 20-12 when they pitched the Sox would be right in the hunt. Here’s where Tony really goes off the deep end though.

Please, no whining about run support, of which Beckett (27th among 41 qualifying AL starters) and Lester (28th) have had relatively little. Front-end starters, particularly those in big markets, are paid to win the lower-scoring games. Beckett and Lester also rank 28th and 30th among the same 41 pitchers in ERA, making it all the more curious that the Sox would allow chicken-fried running mate John Lackey to be joining the team on road trips despite the fact that he will not pitch for at least the majority of this season.

Know who ranks last in the American League in run support? Detroit Tigers righthander Justin Verlander, who is nonetheless 9-5. The Tigers are 11-7 in his starts. Verlander is 29, just three years younger than Beckett, one year older than Lester.

What are you fucking high? What do you mean no whining about run support? You honestly don’t think that had anything to do with the Red Sox being 12-20 in their starts? Come on, clearly it’s not just them but a combination of them pitching below their high standards and the rest of the team not hitting when they pitch. It's really more of a by product of abysmal luck the Red Sox have had this year and not because Beckett and Lester are "not clutch" and incapable of being ace caliber pitchers. You win as a team, not because you have two good pitchers.

And who gives a shit about what Justin Verlander has done this year? What does he have to do with this? Beckett and Lester are not Justin Verlander and if you thought they were going into the season I want some of whatever this drug is that you’re clearly high on.

I’m also confused as to what John Lackey hanging around has anything to do with this. His presence alone causes chaos and losing baseball apparently. Beckett and Lester just can’t help but crack open beers and eat bad food when Lackey’s around. Give me a break. What are the Red Sox supposed to do with him, pretend he’s not on the team anymore?

Massarotti goes on to quote Cody Ross for 3 paragraphs for some reason, so I’ll skip ahead. (Maybe Cody Ross being an essential piece of your team is part of the reason you’re 500, just a suggestion though. Let’s get back to tar and feathering Beckett and Lester)

Weak. Weak, weak, weak. If Ben Cherington and the Red Sox are smart - and assuming they are not doing so already - they should be exploring any and all deals for either Beckett or Lester (but not both) as we approach the trading deadline set for the end of this month. Lester is obviously the more desirable to keep, but he would probably fetch more in return.

Why? Why? Why? Why? What would this accomplish? Why would you trade them at their lowest possible trade value? This is why you’re not general manager, because you would trade away your best pitchers on a team that’s struggling with its pitching. Guess what? They’ll probably pitch better in the second half then you can trade them when their value is actually not in the cellar. That’s if you think they’re the big problem with the Red Sox still.

Entering the weekend's series against the Yankees, the importance for the Red Sox was clear. The Sox trailed the Yankees by 7 1/2 games in the division. They were coming off a bad road trip. They had Beckett and Lester lined up to pitch the series opener and finale, and New York was without both Sabathia and Andy Pettitte, who have been arguably the team's two best starters. Add in the relative desperation with which the Sox were (allegedly) playing, and the factors were in place for a productive Red Sox weekend.

Instead, the opposite happened, neither Beckett nor Lester (nor anyone else for that matter) were capable of enduring even the first inning without digging the Red Sox a hole.

I get it, this was the most important series ever for the Red Sox and since Beckett and Lester both had poor outings one of them needs to go. You still haven’t explained how this would make the Red Sox a better team or why exactly you’d trade away either of those guys. You also lost 3 of 4 to the Yankees, not the Royals or the Twins, so let’s keep our pants from combusting here.

Nearly four years ago, following the 2008 season, Sabathia was a free agent. The Red Sox expressed little or no real interest at the time, partly because their pitching was in good shape, partly because they had concerns over Sabathia's knees. The Yankees subsequently signed Sabathia and then re-signed him three years later, all because the Yankees recognized they needed a truc ace at the front of their rotation.

In 2009, Sabathia's first season in New York, the Yankees went 22-12 in Sabathia's 34 starts, then won the World Series. In the next two seasons, they went 23-11 and 22-11. This year, they are 11-4. Add it all up and the Yankees are 78-38 in Sabathia's 116 career starts with the team, the kind of winning percentage a team should have anytime a true, front-end starter takes the mound.

I dont understand what your point is. Do you think getting rid of those guys will allow the Red Sox to get an ace pitcher? I don’t think anyone has been questioning the value of CC Sabathia or doubting that he's better than Jon Lester and Josh Beckett. What exactly are you trying to say? Those pitchers are not CC Sabathia so the Red Sox need to get rid of them? CC is one of the best pitchers of this generation and pretty much a lock to be in the Hall of Fame, so let’s not be unfair to your guys here.

Again, with Beckett or Lester starting, the Red Sox this season are 12-20.

Again, how does trading them make the Red Sox better or help the team? Do you want Franklin Morales to be your ace instead?

Sooner or later, somehow, the Red Sox really need to do something about that.

So your thesis is that since the Red Sox are 12-20 in games pitched by Lester and Beckett this year and since they had bad starts against the team with the best record in baseball, that one of these guys needs to be traded. You fail to explain how this would make the Red Sox better in the slightest way or whom they could even get for these guys.

You compare them stupidly to CC Sabathia and Justin Verlander and want to trade them because they are not as good as those guys. It’s just completely unreasonable to think the Red Sox really need to do something about that. Do what? Get an ace? Do you not think every team in baseball would kill to have CC Sabathia or Justin Verlander? I think most teams would be pretty happy having Jon Lester or Josh Beckett in their rotation as well for that matter.

You know what would be really stupid? Trading one of your two best pitchers when you are in the bottom half of the league in ERA. Even stupider? Thinking the year is over because you’re 43-43 with 76 games to go. This is some ridiculous hysterical writing that can’t possibly be considered sports journalism. It's articles like this that explain why people make fun of the Boston media and Boston sports fans, just thought you should know.

We Must Trash A-Rod to Sell Sports News!

It’s a slow time for writing stories about sports. Baseball is the only sport going on, football hasn’t started yet, and there’s not much you can say about the NBA when it’s likely there’s not going to be a season. There’s not exactly a lot to draw the casual fans interest so in come these respective articles from ESPN New York writers Wallace Matthews and Ian O’Connor regarding Alex Rodriguez allegedly attending a celebrity “illegal” underground poker game. Clearly the thing to do that requires the most journalistic integrity in this situation is to cut this story from Star Magazine and then use anonymous sources to bash Alex Rodriguez. Brilliant, let’s look at these articles that I would say border on slander.

The story was initially published by Wallace Matthews who apparently has a personal vendetta against A-Rod and a deep hatred for the Yankees despite covering the team for ESPN New York. (Seriously, go through his archive then the stuff Fire Joe Morgan made fun of him for. It’s ridiculous he’s still in this business) He was one of the brilliant media types who were leading the charge saying the Yankees were better off without A-Rod despite his multiple MVP efforts.

So the title of Matthew’s article is “A-Rod Ban for Poker?” as to suggest that A-Rod is actually facing some kind of ban from baseball like Pete Rose. In reality, it would probably be a small suspension if these allegations from nameless people from a trashy tabloid are true. I mean let’s look at the evidence Matthews provides.

The allegations, first reported by Star Magazine, are that the New York Yankees third baseman played in at least two of the games, one of which took place at a record executive's Beverly Hills mansion, where "cocaine was openly used" and a fight nearly broke out when one of the players refused to pay after losing "more than a half-million dollars."

According to the story, details of which were reportedly provided by another player at the games, Rodriguez "tried to distance himself from the game," once the violence broke out.

So this is the top story on ESPN right now and to summarize it for you it’s basically MLB investigating whether A-Rod was at this poker game and the only evidence they have is hearsay about him being there. This “other player” or “whistleblower” as he’s called later in the article is really the only source given of this information. It’s also not even mentioned that this probably happened a few years ago as all the stories I’ve read regarding these poker games all point back to 2007-2008 but those are also from trashy tabloids. Alright, that’s the story so the responsible thing to do at this point would be to bring up a bunch of unrelated incidents to convince you A-Rod is an awful human being.

MLB is also concerned that Rodriguez's name will resurface in the ongoing federal investigation of Dr. Anthony Galea, the Toronto physician charged with smuggling human growth hormone and other illegal substances into the United States. Galea has treated numerous professional athletes, including Rodriguez and Tiger Woods.

Another story completely based on hearsay regarding A-Rod? Perfect. He wasn’t charged, his name wasn’t brought up, and he wasn’t convicted of anything but you’re right this is pretty relevant. How else can we slander his name Mr. Matthews?

"It's like there's something new with (Rodriguez) every day and it's impossible to keep up with it," a baseball insider said.

What exactly is a baseball insider? Does he work for MLB, an MLB team, or maybe cover baseball? If we were even slightly less vague with this would it really compromise this person’s identity? This is garbage journalism.

According to the baseball executive, MLB has yet to positively determine that Rodriguez took part in the games, which reportedly included actors Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. The man did not know if baseball's investigators had yet spoken to Rodriguez about the allegations, but he confirmed MLB has at least two investigators working on the case

The “baseball executive” doesn’t know that A-Rod was there and has yet to speak to him about it. MLB has someone working on it though! God A-Rod you’re just so lame with your celebrity high stakes poker games. Nobody wants to do shit like that. I hate you! I wish there was more stuff we could bring up unrelated to this situation that could make me hate you more!

Recently, it was revealed that Rodriguez still employs his cousin, Yuri Sucart, after fingering him as the "mule" who transported his performance-enhancing drugs in 2003 after his steroid usage was revealed in a 2009 Sports Illustrated story, despite being told by the Yankees that Sucart would no longer be allowed in the clubhouse and encouraged to keep his distance from him.

Nice, this is exactly what this article needed, another hearsay story about A-Rod doing nothing illegal just seeing his cousin at a hotel while the Yankees were in town. Seriously, it’s not possible A-Rod would see his cousin without being injected with all kinds of steroids or doing something else equally as sinister.

"You get the feeling that Alex says what he thinks he needs to say to get by, and then goes out and does what he wants," the MLB executive said.

Even though we don’t know when this happened? Even though all the stories we just brought up are hearsay and involve him doing nothing illegal? How dare someone do what they want to do? What a selfish piece of shit. Fantastic piece though Wallace Matthews, you’ve managed to write an article based on anonymous sources and connect it to a bunch of other unrelated stories. How do you write for ESPN? How do you call yourself a journalist? Do we really believe there’s not a systematic effort to sell stories on Alex Rodriguez when a story lacking merit like this one is a top story?

A few hours later fellow ESPN New York writer Ian O’Connor published a piece that is right next to Matthews on the top of ESPN headlines asking whether A-Rod is worth the headache. I can assure you this piece is about of the same quality of Wallace Matthews. Let’s plow through this piece of shit.

"This is classic Alex Rodriguez," one high-ranking baseball official said Wednesday night.

Apparently NOBODY wants to give their name to these journalists. They only work for ESPN.

"In a lot of ways Alex is no different than Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears. He's a thrill seeker, and he does everything he can to be overt. He's a classic example of where we are in society, the age of celebrity, where everyone loves triumphs and tragedies."

No No No. A-Rod is talented. He’s one of the best baseball players ever. Just because we report everything he does like those people doesn’t actually make him similar to those people. If an actual MLB executive thinks that A-Rod is like Lindsay Lohan, maybe he shouldn’t work for MLB.

"It's always something with Alex," said a second baseball official. "The amount of energy everyone has to devote to him is unbelievable.”

The amount of energy you guys spend trying to convince us all A-Rod is the anti-christ is what’s really unbelievable. He is a legendary baseball player, bangs hot celebrities, and attends poker games with Matt Damon. I’m sure nobody would do the same thing is his shoes. God, what a horrible human being. Also, all the cheap shots at A-Rod are from anonymous officials and insiders, as always.

Following his steroid admissions and his hip surgery in the spring of '09, Rodriguez was ambushed in a Tampa diner by longtime friend Gui Socarras and Yanks PR man Jason Zillo. They shouted at A-Rod over breakfast, told him he had to change his self-absorbed ways.

On the eve of the World Series, Rodriguez credited that intervention for sending his inner diva to the bench. "They showed me tough love," A-Rod said, "and I thought from that breakfast on I've stayed with the plan and it's been a good plan."

But in A-Rod's world, good plans can only be followed for so long. No, a poker game among ultra-famous friends doesn't amount to the crime of the century, not when poker tournaments are all the televised rage.

Okay, we’re actually reporting this story as if A-Rod JUST did this although ESPN never reported when this took place. All other sources say it took place years ago and that would make it in fact before everything you just said happened. Talk about spinning a story to make it more relevant. Also, poker tournaments are not “all the televised rage” and really never were. Where do they get these guys?

For the sake of my sanity I can’t quote anymore from these articles as I’ve rambled on long enough. I mean, is this journalism? We have two completely negative pieces written about A-Rod without one legitimate source. They all reference other incidents also without sources to basically prove that A-Rod is some kind of villain. It’s just terrible the things they will write and say to get people to visit their website and watch their network. There’s not a shred of integrity in either of these articles and it’s disgraceful. That’s all I can say. This is a total disgrace.