NBA Baby!

Well, the NBA 2007-2008 season is here and hopefully it will be more exciting than last year’s blah blah blah season. Yet, fear not basketball fans for there are some key stories that will, not only, reincarnate the excitement we saw in the 2005-2006 season, when the Miami Heat took it all, but also add an additional edge that will make this season the best in the last five years. So, I’ve decided to take it upon myself and pinpoint that which will revitalize the joy for some old’ school basketball:

20: Will Dikembe Mutombo ever retire?

19. How will the Hornets return to the N.O affect their play.

18. How will Isaiah Thomas and the New York Knicks rebound after the debacle in the courtroom during the off-season

17. Can the Cleveland Cavaliers get back to the NBA Finals

16. How terrible will the Minnesota Timberwolves be this season

15. Who will be the surprise team in the West that will come out of nowhere

14. Who besides Kevin Durant will win Rookie of the Year

13. Is Shaquille O’Neal washed up?

12. How will the Dallas Mavericks bounce back from their first-round exit embarrassment

11. Why this season Darko Milicic will finally show why he was selected ^nd overall in 2003

10. Who will have an outstanding first-half of the season and still not make the All-Star team

9. Will Lebron James get any better

8. Who are the real Detroit Pistons

7. Is Dwight Howard the next Wilt Chamberlain

6. Will Tracy McGrady ever get out of the first-round

5. Why the international players will take over the league

4. How will the loss of Greg Oden affect the NBA this season

3. Do the Denver Nuggets have a legitimate shot at going to the NBA Finals

2. Will the San Antonio Spurs finally make it back-to-back championships

1. Why Kobe Bryant won’t be traded

A-Rod: Money Deserved??

Now, just to set the record straight I think it's absolutely crazy to pay any player, in any sport, the type of money professional athletes get paid. Shaquille O'Neal will get paid $20,000,000 this year. Lebron James, $13,041,250. Kobe Bryant, $19,490,625. Alfonso Soriano, $10,000,000 received for this year. And then there's Alex Rodriguez, the former third basemen for the New York Yankees who has it all. The fame, the women, the charm, the good-looks and, of course, the money; yet he’s missing one vital piece of his statistical-mounting career. A championship.

When the Texas Rangers in 2001 offered A-Rod the world-changing 10-year, $252 million contract everything changed. Rodriguez was no longer just Rodriguez, but A-Rod. He no longer could just play great. He had to be great. He had to make his team great. Like Ruth, Mantle, Jeter, Russell, Magic, Jordan.

A-rod opted out of his contract with the prestigious New York Yankees, leaving three years remaining on his contract. His time with the Yankees was anything but “peaches and cream”. Yes, he put up big numbers and won personal accolades, but could never live up to the hype or the money for that matter. A championship banner was never added to the raptures when he wore pinstripes.

So it makes one wonder: is Alex Rodriguez actually worth all that money? Can he lead a team to the World Series and win it all, because that’s the flaw within A-Rod that keeps him from becoming an all-time elite. You look at championship teams throughout sports and you will see that the best player on the team had to step up, not just be clutch, but lead. And that’s where A-Rod fails miserably. 54 home runs, 156 RBI’s, and a .645 slugging percentage is all well and dandy, but ending four straight seasons on a talent-studded team, with a future hall-of-fame manager, in a baseball town, and a payroll that makes every other team in the league look like the minors, is ridiculous. If you are demanding that type of money, fine. But, you better deliver.

The simple truth is Alex Rodriguez hasn’t delivered. He hasn’t earned his money. Therefore, he hasn’t lived up to the 10-year $252 million-dollar contract that he drags with him form team to team. However, there is still time for A-Rod. He will get picked-up by Anaheim or Detroit or some other team willing to roll the dice on the 32-year-old slugger. A-Rod will blast another 50 homers and 120-plus RBI’s. Yet the question remains, will A-Rod ever win a championship? If so, it would come to no shock because he’s that great of a player. If not…then it would only be right for him to return some of that undeserving money.