 10. Tim Lincecum – Baseball
Lincecum won last year’s National League Cy Young Award at age 24. Lincecum had 265 strikeouts in 227 innings to go with a 2.62 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. That’s all very impressive, but perhaps Lincecum’s best statistic from last season was his 18-5 record for a San Francisco Giants team that finished with a 72-90 record for the year. Lincecum is currently the best pitcher in baseball and may continue to be for the next ten years.
9. Jimmie Johnson - NASCAR
Winning three consecutive NASCAR series titles from 2006-2008 and currently sitting second in the points standings for 2009 gets him on this list. Being a NASCAR driver who doesn’t necessarily win a lot of individual races and sitting in a car (meaning that saying he is an athlete is somewhat questionable) make him stay this low on the list.
8. Tom Brady – Football
So he hasn’t been in the news a whole lot lately other than for his marriage to Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen. Doesn’t matter. Brady was injured almost all of last season, but had 50 touchdown passes and averaged over 300 yards per game in 2007. He’s only this low on the list because he missed almost the whole season last year. If his numbers are even close to what they were in 2007 he could easily be in the top five on this list.
7. Dwayne Wade – Basketball
Except for two guys who appear ahead of him on this list and both are known better by their first names, Kobe and LeBron, he would easily be the best player in the NBA. Wade has lead a team of nobodies and rookies to a 42-38 record as of Sunday – good for fifth in the Eastern Conference. Wade dropped 55 on the Knicks in a recent game and led the league averaging 30.2 points per game this season.
6. Rafael Nadal – Tennis
Nadal is the first male tennis player ever to hold Grand Slam titles on three different surfaces at the same time and is only the fourth player ever to even win titles on three different surfaces in his career. He has been the number one male tennis player in the world for the last eight months. Nadal was number two in the world to Roger Federer for 160 weeks in a row before taking over as number one.
5. Roger Federer – Tennis
Federer has fallen off slightly of late, but 13 Grand Slam titles and a streak of 19 consecutive semi-finals appearances and counting help him to this spot on the list above Nadal who is currently the top ranked player in the world. Federer has also won over 50 tournaments and holds the record for the most win on both grass and hard courts. Federer held the number one world ranking for 237 weeks before falling to second behind Nadal in August 2008.
 4. Michael Phelps – Swimming
So he smoked pot. Whoop-de-doo and fa-la-la. How many other 23-year-olds smoke pot? (For those who don’t know – the answer is a lot.) And no other 23-year-old won eight, eight,gold medals in one Olympics. He won every event he entered, while dominating many of them. His rigorous schedule makes the feat even more impressive. Phelps’ 14 gold medals are the most by any Olympian ever. I hope he dominates every event he enters in the 2012 Olympics in London and shuts up the haters.
3. Kobe Bryant – Basketball
Many will argue that he should be higher than LeBron because he has won more. Go back in the archives and read my article about Kobe vs. LeBron to see why Kobe ranks behind LeBron even though he has won championships and LeBron thus far has not.
2. LeBron James – Basketball
If you read my blog regularly you already know that I think this guy is pretty good. I think he has a very good chance to win his first NBA Championship this year and that in the long run he may turn out to be even better than Michael Jordan.
1. Tiger Woods – Golf
He didn’t win the Masters last weekend and many were surprised. This one isn’t even a question. When people place bets on one guy versus the whole field to win a tournament you know that player is has transcended dominance and has nearly reached superhero status.
-Andrew Sagarin
 Main campus is buzzing with news of room picks, and off-campus is quickly populating with parties now that the weather is nice. Now is the perfect time to remind yourself what being a good neighbor is all about. It isn’t hard and it doesn’t take much effort at all – it’s just about being considerate.
Be Friendly
Okay, so you don’t have to be best friends. But at some point, you probably want to introduce yourself to the people living closest to you, especially if you’re in two apartments in the same house. If you’re at least acquaintances, they’ll be more likely to give you a break if you’re loud once in a while or if you need to borrow cooking supplies. Plus, if you do become friends, you can invite them to your social events and guarantee that they’re not the ones complaining in the early hours of the morning. If it turns out that you’d rather not be the best of friends with your neighbors, that’s ok too. Just be nice and say hi when you pass each other on the street or the hall. Acting like a snob will not win you brownie points on the weekend.
Mind Your Volume
As neighborly behavior tends to revolve around social events, it makes sense that volume should be an issue. Before the party starts, stand outside your house and see how loud your sound system really is. Then think about people chatting on your porch, and assess your volume. A roaring party might be fine until midnight in the student-dominated areas off campus, but even some students like to sleep at 3 am. End parties at a reasonable hour, and try to keep your guests from being too loud on the way out.
Take Responsibility for Guests
The damage is done before you know it – a rowdy party guest pulled up some flowers, broke a window, or used the side of your neighbor’s house as a porta-potty while the line inside was long. Irresponsible behavior from guests isn’t even limited to a party atmosphere, sometimes people just so dumb things. But in any case, as the person responsible for bringing them into your neighborhood, be prepared to take responsibility if your neighbors come looking for an explanation. Keep in mind, your neighbor doesn’t know your guest or where they live, but they do know where you live. If they felt the need to call the cops, they would come knocking on your door first. But this is just the worst case scenario; hopefully the most responsibility you have to take is cleaning up a few beer cans scattered in the lawn.
These points don’t just apply to off-campus students. Even when you’re living in the residence halls, a little common courtesy goes a long way. Say hello when you pass someone in the hall, keep your music and guest volume down, and clean up after yourself in the bathroom. Your hallmates will be thankful that your neighbor skills rank near Mr. Rogers.
-Leland Strott
 On September 12, 1980, the phenomenon that is Yao Ming, a genetic wonder, born with his life already laid out ahead of him, entered the world. It was known throughout China, the world’s most populous country, that this child would bring the nation recognition, pride, and glory as a basketball player. At 11 lbs. 2 oz., the already enormous child of two retired basketball players would always huge for his age, eventually reaching the 7’5’’ and 310 lbs. he is today.
But let’s leave the man who now towers over NBA players and billboards all over the world and investigate his beginnings. In 1965 Fang Fengdi entered the elite sports training facility. The tall, lanky, awkward fifteen year old did want to be there, but coming from a poor peasant family she was assured of always having food and a livelihood, the opportunity was her so called “iron rice bowl.”
She had been recruited not because she had any basketball talent, but solely because of her height (she eventually grew to 6’ 3”). Many other girls and young women had also been channeled to the facility, where the ten hour practices bordered on torture; players were routinely whipped for performing poorly, and no one gave any thought to giving a sick or injured player time off. One woman played for months with a severe kidney infection and never once complained for fear of what would happen to her if she did.
Not only were the players abused physically, they were also forced to study and abide strictly by ruler Mao Zedong’s teachings. It was said that the head of the Shanghai sports facility, Zhu Yong, knew Mao’s Little Red Book better than he knew the basketball rulebook. Da Fang or “Big Fang” lived under these miserable conditions for years, being molded by the Communist party and the basketball coaches.
Da Fang became more and more steadfastly patriotic, just as her country wished her generation, the first under Mao, to be. When the Red Guards began demolishing everything remotely western, Da Fang joined in. She became a leader in the basketball division as young revolutionaries imprisoned the coaches and officials. They harassed the officials mercilessly and treated them in ways similar to the wrongs that had been done to them, forcing recitations and confessions.
Mao didn’t need the Red Guards for long; soon he called in the army to take control. Many of the basketball players were sent out to the country to do heavy labor and were never heard from again. Basketball, however, was restored and Da Fang, now more comfortable with her body and with many of the veterans gone, became a star. She was named team captain year after year. The conditions of her life took their toll on Da Fang and a number of injuries forced her to retire at the age of twenty-eight.
When Chinese athletes’ playing careers ended, they were not released from the sports system. Up until recently the sports system took all retired players and made them coaches, and, if they were especially tall or accomplished, they, like thoroughbred horses, were expected to breed champions. When Da Fang retired she was encouraged to do so, but she had no clue whom to marry. With her entire life up to that point focused on the revolution and basketball, the twenty-eight year old had never kissed a man before. The officials in the system found her a partner, the tallest man on the men’s team, 6’ 7” Yao Zhiyuan. Though their marriage was not arranged or forced, it was strongly encouraged.
Four years later the anticipated child was born to the celebrity couple. Yao Ming had been bred to play basketball. He was sent at age eight by his parents to the Xuhui Sports School, where the young boys practiced until they nearly collapsed, giving up his dream of becoming an explorer or an archaeologist.
Ming did not like basketball at all, but did not complain out of reverence for his parents. His turning point came when his mother managed to get her hands on a pair of Harlem Globetrotters tickets. When Ming saw basketball played so joyously it was a monumental event for him. He began to enjoy basketball, emulating the players he had seen.
As he grew and practiced Yao Ming began to receive even more recognition. Nike discovered him in 1996, and the company influenced many of Da Fang’s decisions about her son’s career. Nike at first supplied Ming with clothing and with shoes big enough to fit his enormous feet, while getting close to his family. Nike told the Yaos that for Ming to reach his full potential he would need to compete elsewhere than China, where basketball was not a great market. They took him on tours in the U.S.
This was the beginning of two different worlds, corporate America and the Chinese government, tugging at Yao Ming’s extremely long arms.
After a scandal in 1999 was resolved in which a greedy, conniving agent had weaseled Ming into signing a contract promising him one third of all his future earnings (in a court case Ming’s lawyers claimed that the contract was extortion, as the maximum percentage allowed by the NBA was four percent), Ming faced only one more hurdle before realizing his dream of playing in the NBA: the government that had essentially made him to use for their purposes.
The Chinese realized the exposure that playing in the NBA would bring to Chinese basketball and the glory that, if their giant was successful, his success would bring to the nation. But their deep-seated patriotism made them nervous that Ming would abandon them, as Wang Zhizhi had done in 2001 when he refused to play for the national team.
Once they were given the greatest assurances that Ming would play for the national team in every World Championship and Olympics as long as he is an active player, they consented to let him go to the NBA. In 2002 he was drafted by the Houston Rockets with the first overall selection in that year’s NBA Draft.
“I’m just one of 3 billion Chinese,” Ming stated humbly. “I understand basketball is not my entire life. It’s only a part of my life. And there are a lot of other things that interest me a great deal.”
“I only want to play basketball, and play it well, and be happy about it. But I realize that with being famous comes a lot of demands,” Ming said. “All of the Chinese people, the Asian people say, ‘Oh Yao Ming, you are all the Chinese, all of Asia's hopes.’ That's a lot of pressure. I'm just a basketball player.”
Through his experiences Ming has become wise, saying, “We’re all basketball players, and we’re all out there on the court, but we all live together on this earth.”
Though Joe Sportsfan may see the hulking Yao Ming as somewhat of a disappointment so far in his career - he has played well and been an All-Star, but hasn’t won anything significant and seems to be injured often - knowing the obstacles he has overcome, he is a hero. One generation removed from Communist China, he is helping re-establish the world’s most populous country, providing hope and pride. In a sense he is doing what the Dr. Frankensteins who created him wanted him to do, but in a new, more hopeful era.
-Andrew Sagarin
Warehouse Architecture Theatre (WhAT) presents SubUrbia. WhAT is a student run theatre group for non drama majors that is known for its quirky, off-beat sense of humor that puts on alternative and experimental shows each semester (though they've had their hand at more serious works as well), in addition to cabarets and fundraisers.
SubUrbia, by Eric Bogosian, is a show about young adults living in the suburbs who have strange night when an old friend who has now become a hit rockstar returns.
Tickets $5 for students and $10 for non-students
Performances will be at the Westcott theater Saturday at 3pm and 7pm.
Show Website: http://www.thewestcotttheater.com/
Group Website: http://soa.syr.edu/index.php?p=WHAT
The Diary of Anne Frank at the Syracuse Stage
Arielle Lever, a junior acting major, plays the role of this hopeful young girl who writes about her life living in an annex during the Holocaust in her diary. This is a story about love, friendship, and life.
Watch the trailer: http://syracusestage.org/media/news.aspx?page_id=71
Performances this weekend:
Saturday, April 10 - 8:00pm
Sunday, April 11 - 3:00pm
Sunday, April 11 - 8:00pm
Andaaz 2009: A cultural remix
Saturday, April 11 - 10:00pm Goldstein Auditorium
Join the South Asian Student Association for a night of comedy, dance, and music geared towards celebrating diversity. Hindu comedian Rajiv Satyal, Christian comedian Paul Varghese, and Jewish comedian Samson Koletkar will be featured in this free show. Although there is no charge, tickets are available in the Schine box office. Any donations (cash or school supplies) will go towards the International Young Scholars organization.
--Amelia Bienstock
 With baseball season starting up this week, it’s as good a time as ever to review good sports fan behavior. Of course, these are guidelines that can be applied to any sport.
Know the Game
Generally, if you’re a fan of a game, you have some knowledge of what’s going on. But in case you’re invited to an outing of a sport you’re unfamiliar with, take the time to learn the basic concepts of the game. The Internet is a beautiful thing – Wikipedia the sport, learn the rules, positions, and maybe even a few players on the team. You can always ask the guy next to you for clarification, but you don’t want to be a clueless pest when it comes to the game.
Crank the Volume
With the exception of quiet sports like tennis or golf, louder is better. The noise meter shouldn’t have to tell you to crank the volume to 11 – bring your best heckles and prepare to lose your voice. But when it comes to heckling, remember that it’s not that serious. Everyone likes a good insult, but if you are unoriginal and obscene, you’re probably just offending everyone around you. Another rule of thumb – never cheer when someone is hurt, even if they’re your least favorite player. It’s good sportsmanship to stand up and clap when they get up.
Standing Room Only
In student sections especially, everyone should be on their feet while the clock is ticking. Standing up gets your blood pumping and makes it easier to cheer. Plus, if everyone around you is standing, it’ll probably be challenging to see the game if you’re in your seat. If people around you are all sitting, there is nothing wrong with being the lone warrior on your feet to show support for your beloved team. And especially if someone in front of you is blocking your view by standing, consider it a challenge to your fanhood. Stand up, cheer louder, and refuse to be the first to sit down.
Fan Relations
While you clearly want to be louder than the guy who’s rooting against your team a few rows away, it’s important to maintain some level of decency. He’s allowed to root for whatever team he wants, even if you think he made the worst decision ever, and even if he’s being the bigger jerk about it. If he’s really that offensive, stadium control will take care of him. If you take matters into your own hands, you’ll be the one asked to leave instead.
Team Loyalty
This should go without saying, but loyalty is key in the world of sports. You should support your team through good seasons and bad, and you should always defend your team’s ability to do well during the season, no matter how mad their record actually is. No one likes a bandwagon fan, and you will get no respect for switching teams every other year. To some, picking a team is a stronger commitment than marriage, whether you’re born into that team’s territory or you made the decision when you came of age. Don’t take the decision lightly. Also, once you pick a team, if you wear another team’s apparel for any reason, prepare for the worst. Die hard sports fans hate traitors. The only exception to this rule is losing a bet involving your team, but the solution is making sure you don’t lose to begin with.
For all you sports fans out there – what else do you think makes a good fan?
-Leland Strott
 A few years ago I remember a family friend talking to my mother about seasonal affective disorder. The friend replied to my mother’s question about it by saying, “Of course people get a little bit depressed at the end of winter. Football season is over and baseball season hasn’t started yet.”
Except now it has.
Last night Brett Myers gave up four runs in the first two innings and Derek Lowe was dominant, allowing only two hits in eight innings as the Braves beat the Phillies 4-1.
I now sit here, seemingly appropriately having been let out of class early, watching Johan Santana do his job in Cincinnati.
Later this afternoon will C.C. Sabathia will take the mound in the Yankees first game of 2009. And then 161 more games will follow for every major league baseball team.
More than any sport baseball provides fans with a true champion. Though they only work for three or four hours a day that most people know about, baseball players endure 162 games playing six or seven days a week, nagging injuries like strains and bruises, bickering teammates, and sometimes day games after nights of heavy drinking. From Spring Training in February until the playoffs are over in October players go all out (*cough* right Manny being Manny? *cough, cough) to play America’s pastime at its highest level. From players who can’t drink legally to 46-year-old Jamie Moyer, who is entering his 23rd season in Major League Baseball, men take to perfectly manicured fields inside 50,000 seat stadiums to play our country’s game. (Yes, I know Japan has won the World Baseball Classic both times that it has been played and other countries have baseball ingrained in their cultures, but baseball is American first.)
Many young boys grow up hoping they can be professional baseball players. They imagine the scenarios – up to bat with two outs, bottom of the ninth, bases loaded – but most of us end up feeding our families by some other form of employment. We are construction workers, real estate agents, bankers, janitors, mechanics, waiters, and washed-up athletes whose sports careers ended in high school and now report sports news just to stay close to the atmosphere of baseball.
Us fanatics and addicts wish for baseball all year. We know every statistic, player, and rumor. We know that the same day the Yankees signed Mark Teixeira they also signed backup catcher Kevin Cash, who is now in AAA. We know that Cody Ransom and David Freese should fill in decently for Alex Rodriguez and Troy Glaus. We know who David Aardsma, Travis Ishikawa, Elvis Andrus, Denard Span, Matt Tuiasosopo, and Josh Johnson are and what their prospects are for the year.
We know all this and wish we could be out there cracking line-drives, diving for grounders in the hole, striking out Albert Pujols, wearing rally caps, charging the mound after a high and tight fastball, and flirting with hot girls in the stands.
Now baseball season is finally here. We are content. No, we are ecstatic!
-Andrew Sagarin
So I'm out with these Chileans. They have this strategy (quite effective, actually) of telling gringas that they'd reeeeally love to practice their English with a native (female) speaker, so maybe if we got together for some drinks, you bring some friends, and we all improve our speaking capacity, complemented by some Latin libations and Reggaeton atmosphere. Yeah, I know, pretty smooth. And we all fall for it.
So, like I said, I'm out with these Chileans. And yes, I brought some friends. But just imagine: you show up in a new country, the Chilenas sure as hell want nothing to do with us, our Spanish is slipping... so why not? They pay for a few Pisco Sours, they throw us some Spanish lingo, and everyones ulterior motives are fulfilled. Except the one about us going home with them.
Right. So we're out with these Chileans, and I've got a question on my mind: what the hell is so fascinating about us gringas? Am I missing some exotic, sexy quality about our ability to butcher the native language, the loveliness of our shockingly pale skin, or is it just that we fall for the "I need to practice English" line? At first, the "preciosa"s and "mi reina"s were flattering, but when I started noticing the blatantly gorgeous Chilena across the street, allowed to walk in peace without the incessant joteando of Chilean men, I grew suspicious. If not the aesthetic quality of a woman, what else could it be?
"It's the stereotype of Americans. We know that you're not all like that, but Chileans watch American movies, or see gringas at the bars, and I guess they make their own conclusions. Also, gringas will say anything. Chilean girls are more conservative, or won't talk about certain topics with guys, even if they're close friends. But gringas will talk about anything."
I guess I couldn't really refute this after having just downed two Irish Car Bombs and finished a conversation about the smelliness of farts.
"And I have this theory. I think flites (the Chilean equivalent of white trash... dark trash, maybe?) hit on gringas because they think gringas can't tell the difference. They just see all Chileans as sexy and foreign, but can't tell a good Chilean from a bad Chilean. So flites actually have a better chance with gringas than with chilenas"
Actually makes sense. But according to our host Rodrigo, we made the right choice in our Chilean selection. You see, Rodrigo has dinero. Just ask him. Or wait, because he'll tell you. Whereas the Chilean I met in Barrio Bellavista the week before probably is flite, says Rodrigo, without money or manners. Better to just stick with me, he says.
Well. By the end of the night, he had made passes at all of us, got us purposefully lost on the drive home only to say "well, I know where my house is...", and successfully managed to get NONE of us stuck with him. Compared to my date with the so-called "flite" last night, who took me to watch the Chile-Uruguay game, to a gay club to dance techno, and left me with a perfectly acceptable and tantalizing kiss on the cheek, Hot Rod got nothing on him. Seems like gringas will be forever guessing.
Last week we covered hosting, but what happens when you’re the one looking for a couch to crash on. Here are some tips for how to be the best guest ever and always get invited back. It all boils down to being respectful of your host.
Contain Yourself
When you first arrive, your suitcase will probably be tucked to the side of the room while you grab dinner, relax, and catch up with your host. But as soon as you start digging through your belongings for your pajama pants or toothbrush, chances are your stuff will sprawl. So especially if you’re camping in regular living space, make an attempt to fit your belongings back in your bags and keep your bags out of the way. Your host will appreciate the lack of laundry explosion in the middle of their living room.
Be Flexible
While you as the guest may be on vacation, your host probably has a daily routine they stick to. Try to wake up when your host does, eat when they do, and don’t stay up too late with the television on if they work early mornings. The more you adapt to their routine for a few days, the more time you’ll get to spend together too, and isn’t that why you came to visit anyway?
Come With a Plan
Don’t rely entirely on your host to shuttle you around the town and be your personal tour guide. While they may offer and have the time to take you to everywhere, if you don’t have any ideas for what you want to see, you might be out of luck if they have to leave for work one day. Have a backup plan for sights you can see on your own. Even if you don’t need it, it’s better than a backup plan of Judge Judy marathons while your host and tour guide is at work.
Don’t Overstay
Benjamin Franklin once said that fish and visitors start to smell after three days. But while your stay might be longer than that, it’s important to stick to whatever schedule you established with your host before you showed up. If you say you’re going to stay until Thursday but then decide to stay until Saturday, you might be interfering with plans your host made thinking you’d be gone already. So unless your host is really, honestly insisting you stay an extra night or four, leave when you said you would.
Other Tips:
Clean up after yourself and always leave things the way you found them. It doesn’t hurt to offer to help with chores either!
When taking a shower, remember that someone else pays for the hot water. Take care of the basics as quick as possible so you don’t run up the bill.
Bringing a gift (flowers, food, toilet paper, wine, etc.) is a nice gesture of appreciation. Even if you can’t afford something fancy, just offering to make dinner one night is a nice way to say thanks.
Never forget to send a thank you card!
Baseball season is almost here. Every season is full of ups and downs for all fanatic baseball lovers. There are unexpected twists and along the way questions are answered. Here are one guy’s top 10 questions for the season.
10. Can Chris Carpenter return to form?
Carpenter has been injured for most of the last two seasons, but has been a dominant pitcher in the past. Carpenter won a Cy Young award in 2005, but has been under the radar since then. All signs from spring training point to Carpenter being ready to go. Carpenter finished spring training with a 1.52 ERA in six starts, struck out 17 against six walks and did not allow a home run in 23 2/3 innings.
9. Is Justin Upton as good as rumored and will it show in 2009?
The younger Upton (his brother B.J. Upton plays for the Tampa Bay Rays) has been touted by scouts as the best pure hitter to come into baseball in the last few years and has been compared to Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez. Last season at age 20 Upton hit .250 with 15 home runs and 42 RBI in 365 at bats. Consensus seems to be that Upton will be a superstar. The question is whether or not it will be this year.
8. Will the San Francisco Giants have the best starting rotation in baseball?
It’s easy to say that the Yankees have the best rotation in baseball with C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, and Joba Chamberlain. But this reporter likes a dark horse. Tim Lincecum is arguably the best pitcher in baseball. Randy Johnson claims to be healthier than he has been in years and was once one of the greatest pitchers ever to play the game. Matt Cain is probably the most underrated pitcher in all of baseball. Jonathan Sanchez is a very solid prospect who had 157 strikeouts in 158 innings last year. Barry Zito has won a Cy Young and if he can return to his Oakland form is a very solid pitcher. The Giants offense is awful. But their starting pitching has the potential to be the best in baseball.
7. When will David Price be called up to the majors and what will his impact be?
Price was sent to the minors after losing the competition to be the Rays fifth starter. But being perhaps the best prospect in baseball he won’t be there long. Will Price be dominant or just serviceable or somewhere in the middle?
6. Will the Rays contend for a playoff spot again?
Last year the Rays shocked many by making it to the World Series. The Yankees reacted by spending over $400 million to ensure that they will be better this year. The Red Sox also quietly made moves to improve. The Rays pretty much have stayed with the guys they had last year. Carl Crawford will be healthy for a full year and Tampa Bay has a core of young superstars. But can they compete with the Yankees and Red Sox again?
5. How will the Yankees investments in C.C. Sabathia and Mark Teixeira pay off this year?
The Yankees are paying Teixeira less this year than they paid Jason Giambi last year and Teixeira should be a big improvement. He should be solid with around 35 home runs and 120 RBI if he stays healthy all year. The question is whether he will play well under pressure or choke like A-Fraud. Sabathia was dominant over the second half of last season, posting statistics that are almost unheard of these days. He likely will not continue that type of production, but should still easily be one of the top five pitchers in all of baseball. Will these things happens or will the bright lights of New York melt these stars?
4. How will Alex Rodriguez fare this year?
Steroids. A-Fraud. Madonna. A stripper. A madam. An injury. What next?
3. Which teams will be surprise contenders?
I’m going with the Cincinnati Reds as my dark horse team. The Rays are proven. If they are successful again it will not be surprising. I also think the Giants could be a nice long-shot to win the National League West.
2. Who will win the American League East?
The Rays, Yankees, and Red Sox may all be among the best five teams in baseball. All will be slugging it out for the AL East title. I’m picking the Yankees, but I’m biased. This will be fun to watch.
1. Who will win the World Series?
I’m going with the Yankees again here, but if they don’t win the AL East then insert the division winner as my pick. In the NL I’m going with the Cubs, but they’ll lose to the AL team. Check back in October so you can make fun of me when the White Sox beat the Mets in the World Series.
IF YOU DO ONE THING THIS WEEKEND:
Relay for life!
Saturday 6pm - Sunday 6am, Carrier Dome
Join hundreds of students in this incredible all night fundraiser for The American Cancer Society.
You spend the entire night hanging out on the turf and doing activities to raise money to fight the disease,
If you're not already on a team, you can still sign up! Just show up at the dome on Saturday at 6pm and give a $20 donation.
Throughout the night there will be tons of activities and performances. Bring extra cash to spend fundraisers from various teams.when walking around the dome. There will also be a memorial lap and a luminaria lighting ceremony to remember those lost to cancer and to celebrate the lives of survivors. This is a night you do not want to miss.
After staying up all night at the relay, you should sleep on Sunday!
-Amelia Bienstock
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