The four-point play

ONE - Manny Turns Down $25 Million: Is he out of his mind?

Recently, the Los Angeles Dodgers offered Manny Ramirez a one-year, $25 million contract to return to the team. Despite the fact other teams are only offering one-year deals as well, he and his agent, The Notorious Scott Boras, insist he gets a four-five year deal. Now, Manny’s one of my favorite players in baseball history, but I think he’s out of his damn mind. He’s 36 years old, and his best years are probably behind him, and hell, we’re talking $25 million! But he’s still a great player, his resume is nearly untouchable, and the Dodgers definitely want him back, so he may end up getting a long-term deal after all. Time will tell, but spring training will be here before we know it, so this thing needs to be handled quickly. All we can do is stay tuned.

TWO - Pro Bowl 2009: Does anyone care who wins?


The only highlight I have of the Pro Bowl was when The Late, On-His-Way-To-Being-Great Sean Taylor murked (murked=destroyed/killed/leveled) Brian Moorman on a fake punt attempt. Outside of that, I never have cared about this game. Maybe since it’s played at the end of the season, it simply doesn’t do it for me. Plus, a lot of the stars end up backing out, and this year is no different. Maybe it will be better next year, when it’s played a week before the Super Bowl. If anyone watches this thing, feel free to tell ETSF who wins.


THREE - Kobe Drops 61 in the Garden: Is he the best player in the NBA?

Anyone who knows me knows I hate Kobe Bryant with a severe passion. However, I know greatness when I see it, and even though I gave Dwayne Wade my first-half MVP, the best player in the game remains Kobe Bryant, and will remain that way for quite some time. In another display of his brilliance, he busted the Knicks open for 61 points on Monday night. He made all 20 of his free throw attempts, and shot over 60% from the field. It got to the point where even the Knicks fans started cheering “MVP! MVP!” I don’t see him repeating as MVP, due to the fact that the Chris Paul Show is in high-definition, but don’t sleep on Kobe. Until further notice, he is the best player in the NBA.

(Ed's Note - Since Ken wrote this before LeBron put up 52 with a triple-double last night against those same Knicks. I'm going to go ahead and rebuttal to say LeBron's better. There, I said it.)

AND ONE - I Get High, High, High: What do you think about the recent episode with Michael Phelps?

At first, I didn’t see what the big deal was about this. Okay, Michael Phelps smokes weed (okay, okay, he doesn’t smoke weed; he just took a picture with some paraphernalia). That’s like me wearing an Alpha Phi Alpha shirt, but not being a brother of the fraternity. See the problem with this logic??? Personally, I think he does get high, but even if he does, so what?? I don’t care, because I don’t see smoking weed as a big deal. However, this episode reeks of a double-standard. His sponsors aren’t going to drop him, he says it was immature, but this also goes on his rap sheet with the DUI he got when he was 19. Now lets not get it twisted: I think Michael Phelps is a BEAST, and he put on one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen, during the 2008 Olympics. I consider myself to be a fan of his, but I don’t want this cat to be held to a different standard, just because he’s...a swimmer. (Thought I was gonna say The Other Thing didn’t you???)

Be easy.

-K. Masenda
www.edthesportsfan.com