Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

As a season ticket holder and life long fan of the Cleveland Indians I once again feel like I have been kicked in the scrotum.

Should I hate the Yankees and their overpaid players or should I blame the fact that the best team money can buy won the World Series on Major League Baseball?

Is it George Steinbrenner’s fault that the MLB allows the Yanks to have such an enormous payroll?

Steinbrenner bought the entire team for $10 million back in 1973. Alex Rodriguez cost him more than 3 times that in 2009! A-Rod’s ridiculous salary in 2009……$33 million!

Do you think Kate Hudson loves him for his pearly whites?

Maybe she does?

I don’t love him for his smile.…well maybe I would for his money? LMAO

But, I do respect him and Mr. Steinbrenner for striving to win.

Doesn’t matter who you root for, you have to take your hats off to the persistence of the whole organization on bringing number 27 home.

The Yankees had not even knocked on the door since 2003 despite acquiring almost every big named free agent in the last several years.

But Steinbrenner never gave up and when Mark Teixeira squeezed the final out in his glove on Wednesday night, his teammates rushed the field like a bunch of Little Leaguers who just won the City Championship!

It was the perfect ending to the perfect beginning of a new era in a brand new Yankee Stadium.

“This is what the Steinbrenner family has strived for, year after year — to deliver to the city of New York,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “To be able to deliver this to the Boss, the stadium that he created and the atmosphere around here, it’s very gratifying to all of us.”

Difficult to swallow for a diehard Tribe fan, but much easier to take for a fan of  Major League Baseball.

I guess it’s time to reach down and re-adjust myself.

And whoever said money can’t buy everything is full of the brown stuff that lines the ring around the little white bowl!

It brought the organization another World Championship and four Yankee players: Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada a ring for the thumb!

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What constitutes Hall of Fame status in Major League Baseball?

In the past players have been selected mainly because of the statistics they put up during their extended playing career.

Voting is based upon record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and other contributions. There are no automatic elections for a player based on one performance such as batting .400 for a season or any other amazing performance.

Players must go through a screening committee and any player that receives at least 75% of the votes will be elected into the Hall of Fame.

If one examines the criteria, it is clear that player’s who violate the rules for being inducted into this elite group, should be excluded.

Sorry, Manny Ramirez, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds and the rest of the lying morons that decided to partake in the forbidden fruit of steroids. YOU’RE OUT!

How can the world ever know what these players would have done statistically if they had to play by the rules like Larry Doby, Jim Palmer, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle and the rest of the heroes we have honored with great respect?

Sorry Pete Rose. Even though every fan enjoyed watching you slide in head first anytime you got the chance and hit a gazillion baseballs into the outfield, we have no room for anyone who violates Major League policy and bets on the game. You gambled and you lost!

Is what Rose did as bad as shooting juice into your behind?

Does it really matter?

At some point someone has to say rules are made to be followed not broken!

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig has held his ground to this point and should stay the course.

When people commit crimes they get punished not honored. If they lie on the stand they get further punishment not placed into a Hall of Fame.

Inductee George Brett can relate to these outlaws as he dealt with an ongoing medical condition in the latter part of his career.

The problem Brett had was hemorrhoids, defined as swelling or inflammation of veins in the rectum or anus.

One would have to say the above mentioned violators could be defined the same way.

Use steroids and you become a hemorrhoid!

photo: AP

Should Manny Ramirez be allowed to play in the MLB All-Star game? His manager Joe Torre says the recently suspended outfielder should not play in the event.

“No, I think if you asked Manny, he’d give you the same answer,” offered Torre before the Los Angeles Dodgers played the Chicago Cubs on Friday.

At this point, Ramirez has not been voted in the starting line-up, but he is only a little over thirty thousand votes behind the New York Mets Carlos Beltran for the starting nod.

Though not set to return until early July to the Dodgers, fans are still permitted to cast their ballots for the drug abusing Dodger.

Ramirez used HCG, one of several banned substances by Major League Baseball. He then lied and said he was using it for medical reasons.

Whether or not he receives enough votes from the fans to be an All-Star is yet to be determined. The pressure of his manager telling the media he should not play in the game is an indication that at least one person in the loop is trying to protect the integrity of the game!

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contributing source: ESPN

photo: AP

5. He thought it helped players grab themselves less during games.

4. It was supposed to help him learn how to run the bases better.

3. His testes were a little high due to the LA smog.

2. He was preparing for the Tour de France or is it the Tour de Lance?

1. He wanted to feel more like Manly Ramirez.

photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Times

photo by Dan Chandler

1. Grady signed a letter of intent to play quarterback at the University of Washington Huskies before being drafted by the Montreal Expos.

2. Though Grady looks like he is Caucasian, he is biracial. Grady’s father is African American and his mother Caucasian.

3. Grady loves movies including King Kong.

4. Grady was a groomsman in Boston Red Sox player Jason Bay’s wedding.

5. Grady’s pet is a pit bull named “Carmela”

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source: ESPN The Magazine