OK, so I take back what I said about Edgar Renteria deserving World Series MVP honors. That was pretty clear when he hit the game-winning three-run homer in the top of the seventh, giving the Giants their first World Series title since moving to San Francisco. This is a franchise that's had great, Hall of Fame players like Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Orlando Cepeda, Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent, etc....but doesn't win a World Series until it has a team made up of guys like Pablo Sandoval (who has the best nickname in all of sports, "Kung Fu Panda"), Andres Torres, Freddy Sanchez, 68-year-old Renteria, 59-year-old Juan Uribe and a rookie catcher batting cleanup, star-in-the-making Buster Posey (who once played all nine positions in one game as a senior at Florida State; people seem to have forgotten that). With that phenomenal pitching staff, the Giants will be around for a while, and maybe now Tim Lincecum can afford a haircut and Brian Wilson can afford to shave. Put that World Series bonus to good use boys!
Perhaps the one guy I was happiest for was Aubrey Huff, who didn't have a job until January, but ended up being a key player on a World Championship team. And that sacrifice bunt in Game 5 (the first of his career) was awesome! Something tells me he won't have to wait too long to get a job this season, and I think he'll probably do a little better than a one-year, $600,000 deal this time around. Of course, the only problem with Huff's bunt is that it brought up Pat Burrell, who might be the single most useless person to win two World Series rings in recent memory. Burrell played in the World Series for the champion Phillies in 2008 and the Giants this year. You know how many hits he had in the two series combined? ONE! And this year he struck out 10 times in 12 official World Series at-bats. Yet he has two World Series rings. I wonder if there's any sort of statute that you actually have to contribute something to the team in order to earn a ring.
(In other World Series news, my World Series program arrived in the mail today, just in time for the nonexistent Game 6. And, random factoid: since TBS and FOX started splitting LCS coverage and alternating which network gets which league each season, the World Series winner has come from the league that had its LCS on FOX: 2007 Red Sox, 2008 Phillies, 2009 Yankees, 2010 Giants, which basically means an American League team will win the World Series next year.)
Now baseball moves into its always fun free agent season, where the two biggest prizes are Cliff Lee and Carl Crawford. My beloved New York Yankees will obviously make a run at both, but I wouldn't be surprised if they don't land either one. Honestly, I think Lee should stay in Texas. The Rangers need to keep solid pitching to remain good, and Texas is a good fit for him. Although, something tells me he won't make it six teams in three years. Whoever signs him will keep him all year. The Angels are reportedly interested in Crawford, but I'm not sure where he'd play since they already have four starting outfielders. My gut feeling tells me that Crawford will unfortunately land in Boston. Two significant Yankees are on the market: Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. Hal Steinbrenner has said that the Yankees won't "break the bank" to re-sign Jeter. Yeah, and Brett Favre's not going to play on Sunday either. Neither the Yankees nor Jeter can envision him getting his 3,000th hit in another uniform.
Now it's time to shift our attention (well, mine at least) to the NFL and the start of college basketball season. Defending National Champion Duke is the presason No. 1 in both polls, which I can't say I disagree with. What I do take an issue with, however, is the Preseason All-America team. The First Team consists of Duke's Kyle Singler and Kansas State's Jacob Pullen, both obvious choices, as well as BYU's Jimmer Fredette and Purdue's JaJuan Johnson, equally solid selections. The fifth one, Harrison Barnes of North Carolina, is where I have a problem. Barnes is a freshman. He's played in as many Division I college basketball games as I have. Can you really say that this guy is one of the five best players in college basketball when he hasn't even played a single game yet? Freshmen on the Postseason All-America team, not a problem. Kevin Durant was obviously the best player in the nation during his freshman (and only) year at Texas, just like John Wall clearly deserved his selection last season. But you at least have to do something to earn a postseason selection. Evidently that's not the case to be a Preseason All-American.
On the women's side, UConn's not a unanimous preseason No. 1. Can somebody please explain that to me? I agree with Geno Auriemma that UConn is probably going to lose at some point this season, but this is a team that's coming off back-to-back undefeated National Championship seasons and has won 78 straight games! And Maya Moore's the best women's player in the nation. How can any of these voters have actually put UConn any lower than No. 1 to start the season, whether they think Baylor's a better team or not?
Anyway, that's it for today. I promise to actually get into detail about the NFL at some point soon.
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