Kinds Of Sports

The Chicago Cubs coasted to 97 wins, put a great deal of separation between them and the rest of the NL Central, and convincingly rolled to the best record in the National League. Fans, experts, anyone with a voice began chanting, “This is the year. This is when the stars will allign, hell will freeze over, and the Cubs will finally win a championship.”

O Chicago, if it was only so easy.

Wait till next year? Sounds about right, after the Los Angeles Dodgers stunningly pushed the Cubbies to the brink of elimination, obliterating the North Siders in a pair at Wrigley to take a commanding 2-0 lead in this best of five series.

Maybe it’s really not shocking. Maybe we’re just naive buying into the notion that the law of physics says after a century of futility and frustration a team has to be due. These Cubs don’t look elite. And right now, they don’t look like they’re going to fulfill the destiny that their loyal faithful thought they would.

Instead, the last game (probably) played at Wrigley this year was a classic dud. A 10-3 spanking to LA, a team that has just come out of nowhere to not only win the NL West, but to look like a prime contender to win the National League. The baby bears looked liked they didn’t belong as they committed three (count ‘em) THREE errors in the second inning.

Not only did the Cubs drop two to the Dodgers, they dropped two at home, in the friendly (although the spattering of boos didn’t sound so friendly today) confines of Wrigley Field.

The Cubs made four errors on the night but the Dodgers earned this one. They scored on a bunt, they got it done on gapers, and once again Manny Ramirez came through with another long home run. Man, has he been the perfect pickup for a Dodgers team now one win away from their first playoff series win in 20 years! You can say all you want to about C.C. Sabathia, but we might look back when it’s all said and done, and crown Manny as the greatest mid-season pickup of this year. The guy has been brilliant, and the Dodgers have been great since they landed him.

As for the Cubs? Well, they’re once again displaying why regular season success means nothing. There’s a reason so many teams win the World Series as a wild card, or road team. Seeds mean virtually nothing in baseball. When you break it down the four teams are so closely matched for the most part that a Dodgers series victory wouldn’t be monumental.

Devastating to Cubbies fans, yes. But world-breaking, mind blowing, no, not really.

We saw this with Seattle in 2001 when they won 116 games and didn’t even make the World Series. So if the Cubs get knocked out, no one should be amazed. It’s a shame for Chicago if it happens. And it makes you wonder if it will ever happen, but outside of the Windy City it’s just baseball being baseball.

In a five game series anything can happen. Great pitching, timely hitting, good defense, and a relief staff that gets hot at just the right time is what it takes. The Dodgers have it.

Fred Taylor has been the face of the Jaguars for much of his 11 year career. The former Florida Gator, who had amassed 11,271 rushing yards during an injury prone career, wanted to be that rare breed who finished a brilliant career with the same team he started with. But yesterday, despite reports that Taylor was willing to take a pay cut to remain a Jaguar, the team cut the greatest running back it’s ever had.

Such is life for a running back in the NFL. Great one minute. Completely disposable the next. It’s a tough fall for Taylor, who has spent his entire football life in the Sunshine State, but not one that is entirely that shocking. The question for NFL veterans in the salary cap era is not, “what have you done for me lately,” but “what haven’t you done for me lately.” It’s a cruel, painless demise that most former elite running backs face nowadays, with their position being labeled one of the most replacable and shortest lasting in the game.

Taylor is just one of many players who have been kicked to the curb despite consistent brilliance, because the ‘ol body didn’t have in it’s 30’s what it once had in it’s 20’s. Because of that, the days of the Emmitt Smiths seem long gone.

Larry Johnson was a machine from 2005 to 2006, scoring 37 touchdowns on the ground, and logging 752 carries. The heart and soul of the Chiefs, LJ was indispensable, one of the few untouchables on KC, and a dynamo in fantasy leagues everywhere. He was the engine that made their offense run. Now, no one wants him. Including, Kansas City. That’s what 1,243 carries in six seasons will do for you. His run ins with the law haven’t exactly helped his case either.

LaDanian Tomlinson was the greatest football player on the planet just a few years ago. In 2006 he lit up the league for an astonishing 31 touchdowns, while bolting to 1,815 yards on the ground. LT was an elite player, a fabulous athlete who could not only run the ball like the wind, but he could even throw the pigskin around a little too. Picked 5th in the now infamous Michael Vick draft, after the Chargers traded their first overall pick for essentially him and Drew Brees, he helped turn around the helpless Lightning Bolts into an AFC contender. But he’s on the wrong side of 29 now, and the full tank of gas is dropping steadily. Tomlinson had his worst season as a pro last year, and still had 1,110 yards and 11 touchdowns, but the crickets starting coming out of the woodworks that not only were his best days behind him, but that he also might be expendable.

I guess that’s what 2,657 career rushing carries will do for a player. And even though LT has scored 126 career rushing touchdowns, he’s not the same guy he once was. Sure-fire Hall of Famer? The eight year vet sure seems like a lock. But it’d be a major stretch to say he’ll retire as a Charger. He’s old news and the Chargers are looking for someone with younger fresher legs.