Dave Lefchak's opinion on the world of sports
March 5, 2002

Now that I can actually take a few minutes and step back from my hectic life, I would like to make a couple new ramblings in my column. I've negelcted you people for way too long, so here we go...

Did anybody hear about this 12-year-old girl who is playing in the LPGA tour? This girl is a behemoth - she's 5-foot-10 and in 7th grade. I am STILL not even as tall as her. And forget about me ever playing golf like her... she is constantly shooting in the high 70s and outdrives most MEN! News like this always depresses me to no end. Why couldn't I be blessed with a great golf swing or at least a decent handicap?

March is definitely one of my favorite months of the sports year. Baseball is FINALLY starting up again down in the tropics of Florida and Arizona. The NHL season is entering the stretch drive which always provides a lot of bloody hockey fights. Most importantly, March Madness takes over the middle of the month. Let's see if I can win more than half the games in my tournament pool this year. Yeah right... there's a better chance of tuition going down at Ithaca College.

Speaking of baseball.... anybody else think that there is way too much hype surrounding the Yankees again? I mean, Jason Giambi homers twice in a SPRING TRAINING GAME and it's front page news (well, okay, it's the back page) of the NY Daily News. This is SPRING TRAINING people!!! It means nothing... let's keep it that way.

I read the list of Top 10 Worst Teams to Root For on espn.com the other day, and was very pleased to notice that none of the Philadelphia teams were on that list. Of course, I know that Red Sox fans are gonna be pissed that they didn't make the list. But how can you not put the Cubs at #1? It's been 10 years LONGER since the Cubs have won the Series than the Red Sox. Boston fans tend to forget that fact and expect the pity of the nation to fall on their shoulders.

As a side note, I'm just waiting for all the suddenly over-spoiled Boston sports fans to start declaring that the Sox are a "team of destiny" this year.

So, baseball slugger Rafael Palmeiro is going to be endorsing everyone's favorite drug, Viagra. The only problem with this is that he doesn't use the product he will be endorsing. Obviously, this isn't a problem for Palmeiro's sex life, but it raises an ethical issue. Should athletes be allowed to endorse products they don't actually use? True, Joe Namath endorsed pantyhose, but still... oh, and all the "let's see if more news pops up on this one" jokes have been made already, so I will refrain from doing so.

And finally, here's what seems to be a minority opinion among the television profession, but a majority opinion among my friends and colleagues here in Ithaca. I will never watch another Monday Night Football game again... at least not with John "Captain Obvious" Madden in the booth. Doesn't it piss anyone else off that the man who knows nothing is going to get to announce ANOTHER Super Bowl next year? Forgive me if I don't rejoice at Dennis Miller's departure either... they've gone from not-so-good to simply awful. Madden may be a legend because he has been around so long... but listen to him sometime. You'll definitely end up cringing in pain.

That's my two cents gang... enjoy the game, folks.