[Sometimes its better to devote an entire post to a subject. Other times a line or two is all it takes. In those cases, its time for the cross legged mutant]

Reinforcing things I don’t like about Colorado (the Rockies, the Buffaloes, and Woody Paige), I might as well tack the entire Denver Post and Mike Kils for writing this garbage. In his column, he condemns the NFL for not playing the national anthem during Monday night’s game in Pittsburgh as well as bloggers for not jumping on that like “Mary Poppins” and starting a firestorm. At the very same time he admits that the playing of the national anthem has become so routine that he himself, and his colleagues, almost see it as a joke at times. I don’t know, but just maybe if we saved the national anthem for special occasions instead of little Timmy’s tee ball game it would be a special moment again. I give a tip of the hat to the NFL for nixing the song which is better saved for moments celebrating a nation, not a muddy game featuring a former pothead.

When I woke up this morning, Les Miles was the head coach at Michigan. Now he has signed a contract extension at LSU? Honestly, if reporting news at ESPN is tantamount to making shit up then I really do have to argue that I deserve a desk job there. I know it is considered to be crucial to “break” a story, but when the cost of trying to break a story is that you put one false one out there and you look like an assclown. Really, I think this comes down to a misunderstanding about modern-day media and sports reporting. If I want to read a sports story, then I will go to my favorite sports website… I really could care less who broke the story. Let’s stick to getting things right instead of getting them first.

So as we all sit and wait for the big trade of Johan Santana, a decent sized one went on with little fanfare when Minnesota sent Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett to Tampa Bay for Delmon Young. Delmon is probably one of the top 25 players under the age 25 and will have an impact in fantasy land because he moves from the ever so deep right field to the weaker pool of left fielders. In the real world though, I think this makes the Devil Rays a contender for the AL wildcard in 2009ish… maybe 2008. I said something of this nature back in June, and I’m sticking to it. The Rays biggest problem was a lack of starting pitching and quality arms in the bullpen. Now they have Matt Garza, Jason Hammel, James Houser, J.P. Howell, Edwin Jackson, Scott Kazmir, Calvin Medlock, Jeff Niemann, David Price, Jae Kuk Ryu, Andy Sonnanstine, Mitch Talbot and might be able to trade Elijah Dukes for yet another young arm. I’m not a math major or anyhing (oh, wait, yes I am), but that makes 12 or 13 young pitchers - born in 1982 or later - to fill 5 rotation slots and their bullpen. Not only that, they just signed Troy Percival to finish off their games. Look, its not a guarantee, but the Rays should be a team to watch in 2008.

The other trade that went down was the Mets prospect Lastings Milledge for Washington’s Ryan Church and Brian Schneider. My take on this one is that the Mets got plenty of time to figure out MIlledge and probably figured it was best to trade him before he became the next Elijah Dukes. Ryan Church is incredibly talented, and incredibly inconsistent. If they can find a way to keep him on track they get a very good deal here. The main impact this trade has is that it has been no secret that Billy Beane and the A’s have been infatuated with Milledge and this takes a bargaining chip off the table for the Mets to get Dan Haren or Joe Blanton. To me, and this is total speculation, I would have to assume that this means that a trade between the two teams is highly unlikely.