Comparing the Yankee-4 with the Tiger-5

Have you seen the newest Sport's Illustrated cover? It's a picture of the four "core Yankees" of the past 15 years (Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettitte). Personally, I feel it's a bit, errr, "feminine"? Looking at it makes me uncomfortable.

But it does make me think about what the Tigers of the late 80s and early 90s could have been if Tiger management would have been willing to:

• Shell out the cash to keep players around (which the Yanks have done)
  
• Shell out the cash to surround their core with big name role players (the list for NY is long!)

Consider this. In the late 70s, the Tigers had not 4, but 5 cornerstone-type players break into the bigs (Lou Whitaker, Alan Trammell, Jack Morris, Kirk Gibson, and Lance Parrish). While I recognize that sadly none of these will be in the Hall of Fame (and probably 2 of the 4 Yankees will), I think these five, as a group, compare quite nicely with the Yankee 4.




Whitaker was a rookie of the year. Trammell was a league MVP runner-up (really should have won it). They manned the middle of the infield together longer than any other combination, and both of them put up career numbers that are in the top 5 for their position in their era. Lance Parrish was an all-star EIGHT times and hit over 300 HR in his career.

Gibson probably underachieved most of his career (partly due to injury), but after he left the Tigers, he did win an NL MVP one season and hit what is arguably the greatest home run in the history of baseball.

Jack Morris was the greatest of the bunch. He won more games than ANY other pitcher in the 1980s. He was a five time all-star. He won FOUR world-series rings, and he had one of the all-time greatest world series pitching performances in 1991, throwing 10 INNINGS of shut-out ball to clinch game 7 and the World Series MVP award.

So here's how I score the comparison:

Jeter > Trammell (not sure how the numbers compare, but I think most people would agree)
Pettitte < Morris (for those who never saw Jack pitch, this might be tough to believe, but it's right)
Posada < Parrish (Check the numbers, it's really not even close!)
Rivera vs. Whitaker/Gibson (kind of a wash... hard to compare different players, although Rivera's greatness is undeniable)

Here's the conclusion. These four Yankees have been great, but clearly the Tiger core of the 80s was at worst comparable, and at best better... If only the Dominoes guy had been as willing to spend money as the Little Ceasar's guy, we might have seen 3-5 World Series in TigerTown...

Tom Izzo Isn't God, But He's Closer Than Jim Leyland

Watching Michigan State run through the NCAA tournament was a lot of fun this year. It was good to see a team that wasn't expected to get out of the second round (they were a "5" seed) make it all the way to the final four. The team's success in the national tournament probably erased from most people's memory their utter failure in the Big Ten tournament. But I remember, for a good reason.

As I watched the Spartans falter against Minnesota in overtime, I was overwhelmed with questions. "Why is Kebler playing so much?" "Why did Izzo have to bench Chris Allen?" "Where is Durrell Summers?" "Why isn't Delvon Roe in the game?" When the final buzzer sounded, I was disappointed, but not without hope. Over the next few days, I heard Tom Izzo get lambasted on local radio shows, but I remained quiet (except for my occasional statements of "They're going to be fine."). I never doubted that Coach Izzo would have them ready to go (check my ESPN bracket, I picked them all the way to the final four). I certainly didn't understand his coaching decisions in the Minnesota game, but I had great confidence that he knew what he was doing, and he was getting them ready for the BIG DANCE. I trusted him.

I don't trust Jim Leyland. I haven't since September of 2006. I just don't think he's a good manager. During the unbearable collapse last season, and in the middle of that horrific "play-in" game with the Twins I found myself growing angrier and angrier with every Leyland misstep. He rewarded my mistrust by completely mismanaging the bullpen and costing the Tigers the division title. I don't know enough about the minutia of baseball to reasonably critique Leyland's in-game management, but what is clear to me is that is can't handle a bullpen, he over-uses young arms, he gives slumping veterans way too many chances, and he throws away too many mid-season games with his hokey "Sunday-off" lineups. Just one more win at some point in the season would have put last year's Tiger's in the playoffs. I do not trust him.

I know. It doesn't really matter whether or not I trust Tom Izzo and Jim Leyland. But there's a more important principle at stake here.

When we trust someone, we are more likely to do what they ask even if we disagree. When we don't trust someone, we typically won't do what they ask, unless it's obvious to us that they are right. When it comes to decisions that don't make sense to me, I give Tom Izzo a lot more latitude and a lot more grace than I give Jim Leyland.

But let me put this into the context where it is most important. Do you trust God? Your obedience to Him tells the story.

It's easy to say, "I trust God" and do the things you know He has commanded when they are easy. But what about those times when being obedient to God is going to be costly? It may cost you financially, socially, or relationally. Obedience to God might take away your comfort, your peace of mind, or your self-sufficiency. Most people (including myself at times) I've observed are willing to be obedient to God up to a point. But then they stop, because the cost is too great.

What are we really saying when we choose not to follow God because of the cost? We're saying to Him, "Here's where we disagree, and frankly, I trust myself more than I trust you."

Hebrews 11 says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." In other words, faith is trusting God that He will provide for us the things we cannot provide for ourselves, mainly the things we don't even see that we need. Obeying God when it's easy is not a faith test. Obeying God when we can't see how it will possibly work out is true faith.

When I don't understand what Jim Leyland is doing, I criticize him because I don't trust him.
When I don't understand what Tom Izzo is doing, I wait patiently because I trust him.

What do you do when you don't understand what God is doing?

On Tiger Woods and the Great Cover-Up

Full Disclosure: I am not now, and have never been a fan of Eldrick Woods. Since the early days of his professional golf career I have perceived him to be unnecessarily arrogant. I find the behavior of his caddy (and himself) to be indicative of their own sense that they are entitled to different treatment than anyone else. His outbursts and temper tantrums on the course make it clear that he has little to no respect for the game which has given him so much. That said, what follows is most certainly written from a fair and unbiased perspective.

Money moves the world. Few people in the world have more money than Tiger Woods, and few people in the world have the ability to make money for others like Tiger Woods. This is why he used to have so many companies clamoring for his endorsements. This is also why many of those companies have inexplicably stood by him even as he was revealed to be devoid of any character or moral fiber. Money moves the world.

Tiger's money moves the news. This is why so few details of his "accident" and the following events have ever come to light. Certainly if any other "celebrity" had been involved in a similar incident we would have every detail down to and including what kind of crumbs were in the back seat of the car, and how long they had been there. The news media had more access to Princess Diana's death than to Tiger Wood's fender-bender. Tiger's money moves the news.

Did you know that way back in 2007 the National Enquirer had photos proving that Tiger Woods was cheating on his wife? Why would they not break what they had to know was one of the HUGEST stories of the decade? Because Tiger made a deal. He agreed to uncharacteristically do an in-depth interview and story for Men's Fitness Magazine which just happens to be under the same ownership as the National Enquirer. But don't take my word for it, read what the Wall Street Journal says (http://tinyurl.com/ya9s8n3).

Why does this matter? Two reasons:
1) Tiger Woods has the ability to control how and when stories about him are released.
2) He knew in 2007 that eventually this story would come to light. He just needed to decide how and when.

So why now?

On September 14th of last year a medical assistant was questioned at the U.S/Canada border because she was transporting human growth hormone (HGH) and other illegal (performance enhancing) drugs for Dr. Anthony Galea. On October 15th, Dr. Galea was arrested in Toronto. He has regularly admitted to using HGH (a banned substance for all professional sports) himself, and giving it to several of his patients; although he denies giving it to athletes. Both Alex Rodriguez (an admitted user of performance enhancing drugs) and Dara Torres (remember her incredible transformation for the summer olympics two years ago) are patients of Dr. Galea.

Records show that Dr. Galea went to Orlando four times last winter to administer "platlet therapy" to Tiger Woods. For a few days, this story was all over the news, then suddenly in the middle of December, it was gone; eclipsed by the far more salacious stories of Tiger's multiple mistresses and the sordid details of his affairs and text messages. (if you want to check any of this out, just google "Dr. Anthony Galea")

What happened? How is it that the REALLY big story (Tiger Woods Uses Performance Enhancing Drugs) just went away in favor of a nastier, but ultimately less harmful to his career and legacy story? Where are the hard-nosed journalists who stalked Barry Bonds and Mark McGuire for half a decade? Did Tiger temporarily sacrifice his image and family so that his golf-playing legacy could endure?

I'm just sayin'.

You be the judge on this one.