For the Mets It's Cuban or Bust

Over the past few days, reports have begun to surface that the Wilpon Family, the majority owners of the New York Mets are looking to sell upwards of 25 percent of the team. The Mets are probably one of the few teams that is almost entirely owned by one family or person. To my best guess, I would say it is safe to assume that the Wilpons own somewhere in the neighborhood of 99 percent of the team. So even if the Wilpons sell 25 percent, they will still be by far and away the majority owner. To Mets fans like myself, this should come as a big surprise. The Wilpons for years have been adamant that they would not sell any portion of the team. Now a few years later with a rumored one billion dollar lawsuit being levied against them due to the Madoff ponzi scheme, the Wilpons need to raise money by selling off some of the Mets. The Wilpons are persistent in saying that they will remain the majority owners, but Matt Cerrone of Metsblog.com raises an interesting question, "What happens if one person or a large group decide to blow the Wilpons out of the water with an offer they can't refuse, especially in this economy and knowing the family is being sued? Then What?"(Metsblog.com) In my opinion, this is where Mark Cuban enters the room. Cuban who is a wild and crazy sports fans owns the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA, but has wanted a baseball team for a long time. When the Cubs were up for sale in 2008 Cuban put in a very strong bid for the team, and again last year when the Texas Rangers were on the market, Cuban put together a 355 million dollar cash bid for the team that was ultimately rejected. A year or so later Cuban has a glorious opportunity to make the big splash he seems to desire. If Cuban can somehow become the majority owner of the Mets, he would control one of the most popular teams in all of sport, and more importantly he would own them in the largest media market in the world. As a Met fan I would be ecstatic if Cuban buys the team. Cuban has a ton of money and is not afraid to spend it, that and his desire to win, win now and win often would make many Mets fans extremely happy. If Mark Cuban becomes the new owner of the team could we see the "New Boss" but this time with the Mets?

This Day in Sports History

1947 - NFL owners voted to allow a sudden-death overtime in playoff games. The rule wasn't used until 1958.

1962 - Jackie Robinson became the first black player to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was also the first black player in major league history.

1964 - CBS-TV acquired the rights to televise the National Football League’s 1964-1965 regular season. The move cost CBS $14.1 million a year. The NFL stayed on CBS for 30 years.

1982 - The San Francisco 49ers won their first Super Bowl. Joe Montana won the first of his three MVP awards.

1995 - The prosecution gave its opening statement at the O.J. Simpson murder trial.

2006 - Mario Lemieux retired from playing in the NHL for the last time. He had previously retired and came back from cancer, a heart problem, agonizing back pain, a rare bone infection, a self-imposed one-season layoff and, five years earlier, from the boredom of retirement.

This information was taken from: http://www.on-this-day.com/cgi-bin/otd/sportsotd/sportsotd.pl

With High Expectations Comes Disappointment

As the final seconds ticked off the clock of yesterday's AFC championship game, I was filled with emotion. As a Jet fan, I was tired of hearing the phrase "same old Jets" and I thought the Jets were finally going to shed that "MO". Apparently I was wrong. Jets fans around the country finally bought into Rex Ryan and his swagger, bravado, and cockiness. Even before the season started, Rex pulled a Mark Messier and guaranteed that the Jets would win the Super Bowl this year. When the playoffs started it looked like Rex had molded this team into a well oiled machine who had one goal: Super Bowl or bust. Was it too much to ask of this team to beat Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Ben Roethlisberger on the road on en route to Dallas? Sure. After the devastating loss last night Rex looked like a man who was on the verge of tears. Now nearly 12 hours after the abrupt end to the season I sit reflecting on what just happened, which led me to think about the phrase, "there's always next year." However, they said that after the Devils playoff exit in 2004, the Mets heartbreaking loss to the Cardinals in the 2006 NLCS, and once again after the Jets loss last night, however, I've been waiting for that "next year" since 2003.

11 Bold Predictions for 2011

Sorry for the hiatus I took over the holidays, so without further or do here are my 11 bold predictions for 2011

11-The New York Mets will shock the baseball world and go 90-72 and make the playoffs as a wild card

10. The next NHL winter classic will take place in Philadelphia between the Flyers and the Rangers

9. Both the NFL and NBA will go on strike and in terms of days the NFL strike will end first

8. The Philadelphia Phillies and their 4 aces will not make the playoffs

7. The Vancouver Canucks will win the Stanley Cup and break the streak of a 17 year championship drought for Canadian teams

6. Bud Selig will step down as commissioner as Major League Baseball

5. The New York Jets will win the Super Bowl

4. Joe Paterno will finally retire after the 2011 college football season

3. ESPN and the NHL will agree to a television contract

2. TCU will win the national championship in college football

1. The Glazer family will sell Manchester United