Bob Bradley Out, Juergen Klinsmann In As U.S. Soccer Coach

The firing of Bob Bradley was unexpected and a bit unfair if you ask me. From what reports indicate, he had lost the respect of some of the top players on the team, including the two regarded as the best on the team, Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey. Bradley had a 43-25-12 record as coach of the United States from 2006 - 2011. Bradley's tenure included a thrilling run in the 2010 South Africa World Cup and an upset of world No. 1 Spain in the 2009 Confederations Cup to stop Spain's 35-game unbeaten streak. Since that game more than two years ago, the Spanish national team has lost just three times. 

Juergen Klinsmann takes over U.S. soccer.

But the recent developments at the Gold Cup, and Mexico's recent domination of the United States led to Bradley's dismissal. I think it's unfair because to put it simply, Mexico's team is stocked with more talent at this point than the U.S. side. For one thing, Mexico has some of its brightest and youngest players playing in some of the best soccer clubs in the world, including Javier Hernandez (23) for Manchester United, Carlos Vela (22) for Arsenal, Jonathan dos Santos (21) for Barcelona, and Giovanni dos Santos (22) for Tottenham Hotspur. 

Where are the U.S. players plying their trade? The majority are playing in Major League Soccer, where the MLS All-Star team that included David Beckham and Thierry Henry were dominated by Manchester United 4-0. The top players that do play for top overseas clubs are aging stars like Dempsey (28), Carlos Bocanegra (32), Tim Howard (32), and Steve Cherundolo (32). Donovan is 29 years old and plays for the LA Galaxy. There are young guys like Jozy Altidore, Juan Agudelo, Freddy Adu, Maurice Edu, and Eric Lichaj that are coming down the pipeline, but they're a largely unproven group. In essence, for the past year Bradley was coaching an aging team without a core of young talent coming up behind the veterans. By all accounts, U.S. soccer is getting better with the MLS leading the way in youth development that wasn't there a mere 10 years ago, but the national team now finds itself at a crossroad.

Enter Juergen Klinsmann, by all accounts a different kind of coach from Bradley, which means that Klinsmann is more inclined to an attacking style as opposed to Bradley's more conservative approach. Klinsmann is widely regarded for leading a beat-up Germany squad to the semifinals of the 2006 World Cup, but flamed out as coach of Bayern Munich of the German Bundesliga. That's fine, since many successful national team coaches don't quite do as well being club coaches. 

U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati has twice previously tried to hire Klinsmann but the German-born coach twice turned down his offer. Gulati is widely respected and he must believe, maybe even stake his job on it, that Klinsmann will be able to somehow reshape the U.S. soccer system from the youth level on up, and take the national team beyond the Round of 16 in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. It's also expected that under new leadership the United States will take over Mexico for regional dominance, but for that to happen the U.S. needs to somehow get younger and better.

Bradley made the U.S. soccer brand more respectable around the world, building on what predecessor Bruce Arena had done in taking the U.S. soccer team to the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea. By all accounts Bradley left the U.S. soccer team in better shape than when he found it, and now it's up to Klinsmann to bring in his coaching expertise. Klinsmann also becomes the first foreign-born coach to head the U.S. soccer team since Bora Milutinovic (1991-1995), who led the U.S. into the Round of 16 in the 1994 World Cup in the United States.

Just wishful thinking here, but imagine if Klinsmann doesn't work out, or if he decides he's done a fair job of elevating U.S. soccer, would Jose Mourinho be a candidate for the U.S. team three or four years from now? Mourinho has expressed interest in coaching the U.S. in the future, and is widely regarded as the greatest coach on the planet. His nickname is "The Special One." If the U.S. somehow managed to get him, that would be a coup. But I'm hoping Klinsmann is successful and that he can create something special of his own for the U.S.

Butch Davis Out; High Profile Coaches Reeling

Nobody is fresh as Marvin Austin.

Obviously the timing of the decision to fire Butch Davis was questionable at best, but not many people are surprised that Davis did end up getting fired. Most people thought that if a decision was made to let go of Davis, that it would have come at the end of the season, not eight days before North Carolina was set to open its summer camp. The decision to fire Davis was a judgment call. Although there is absolutely no proof that he knew of any wrongdoing, Davis must take the fall because he was the man in charge. He should have done a better job of monitoring his program. At the end of the day, all of the transgressions proved to be too much for Davis to keep his job.

In another surprising move, UNC athletics director Dick Baddour resigned. Talk about a scandal reaching the heights of an athletic department.

All this goes to show to that as much as winning football games, and recruiting the best players, coaching at the biggest stage of the NCAA now requires a strong ability to self-monitor one's own program and to surround yourself with people you can trust. Davis is now the third really big name to go down because of scandals involving agents and boosters. Pete Carroll saw the writing on the wall and ditched USC before he could suffer the consequences brought about by Reggie Bush and former assistant coach Todd McNair. The scandal also cost former athletics director Mike Garrett his job.

Tressel, who deserved to be fired more than either Carroll or Davis based on circumstantial evidence, placed his bets on Terrelle Pryor, Dan Herron, Mike Adams, Devier Posey, and Solomon Thomas. He ended up on the wrong side of the bet. While Pryor was a tremendous talent for the Buckeyes and continued Ohio State's domination of the Big Ten, would Tressel recruit him again knowing what he knows now?

Then there's the Davis scandal. He was done in by a rogue assistant coach he trusted in John Blake, a guy making $240,000 per year and yet acted as a runner for an agent so that he could turn over a few more bucks. Then there are all the players Davis recruited who seemed to be entitled and selfish. It was found that Greg Little had accumulated 91 parking tickets while a student-athlete at North Carolina, and even then there were people trying to pay those off for him. You had a guy like Marvin Austin tweeting things like, "Jus got to DC an I'm feelin a shopn spee....nobody gon be fresh as ME!!!!" I hope Austin purposely misspelled what he wrote, and how stupid do you have to be to post something like that?

Coaches always talk about recruiting high-character guys and not just four- and five-star guys that act like prima donnas. Coaches also need to make sure that they get good, honest people on their staffs. I doubt that either Carroll, Tressel, or Davis thought they were signing their letters of resignation when they were signing guys like Pryor, Austin, and Bush. If coaches like them can go down, it should serve as a warning to all college football coaches that it can happen to them, starting with the kids they bring in on signing day. In truth, it'll be only about another season before we find out who's next to go.

National Champion Won't Come from the SEC

Landry Jones has all the makings of a national champion.

There's nothing I can write to justify this. It's not to say that the best football played won't be in the SEC, but it is highly unlikely that for the sixth straight year the national champion will come out of the same conference. The top two teams in the SEC will again be Alabama and Florida. Nick Saban, aka "Evil Genius," will have his team prepared to devastate just about everyone that comes across its path because of its  defense. As much flack as Alabam took last year for its inconsistent defense, the Crimson Tide still finished ranked fifth in the nation in total defense. What the Crimson Tide are underestimating is the loss of first-rounders Mark Ingram and Julio Jones. You simply don't replace those guys, no matter how good you think the replacements are going to be. As you will see, you also can't just replace an upperclassman quarterback like Greg McElroy either.  

The Gators are a bit of an enigma. Many people are assuming that this will be a transition year, so the expectations have been lowered in Gainesville. I believe the transition year took place last year, where quarterback John Brantley struggled mightily through a spread offense that just wasn't working and was destroying any success its defense had. Charlie Weis should immediately improve the Gator offense, and the recruits from UF's monster 2010 recruiting class will bear fruit this year. While the Gators don't quite seem to be title contenders this year, I'll explain later why I'd pick them over the Crimson Tide to get to the national title game.

As good as Alabama is going to be, and as good as UF has the potential to be, the national champion is going to come out of either the Pac-10 or the Big 12 this year. That's because the teams to beat this year are Oregon, Oklahoma, and Stanford. The biggest reason? Their quarterbacks. Going back to 1998, the year the first BCS Championship Game was played, can we find a common denominator between all the winning teams? Yes. All the winning quarterbacks were either juniors or seniors.  Let's list them (because I like lists), along with the quarterbacks from the losing team:

1998 Tennesse (Tee Martin, junior) vs. Florida State (Marcus Outzen, redshirt sophomore)
1999 Florida State (Chris Weinke, junior) vs. Virginia Tech (Michael Vick, redshirt freshman)
2000 Oklahoma (Josh Heupel, senior) vs. Florida State (Chris Weinke, senior)
2001 Miami (Ken Dorsey, junior) vs. Nebraska (Eric Crouch, senior)
2002 Ohio St. (Craig Krenzel, junior) vs. Miami (Ken Dorsey, senior)
2003 LSU (Matt Mauck, junior) vs. Oklahoma (Jason White, senior)
2004 USC (Matt Leinart, junior) vs. Oklahoma (Jason White, senior, 6th year)
2005 Texas (Vince Young, senior) vs. USC (Matt Leinart, senior)
2006 Florida (Chris Leak, senior) vs. Ohio St. (Troy Smith, senior)
2007 LSU (Matt Flynn, senior) vs. Ohio St. (Todd Boeckman, senior, 5th year)
2008 Florida (Tim Tebow, junior) vs. Oklahoma (Sam Bradford, sophomore)
2009 Alabama (Greg McElroy, junior) vs. Texas (Colt McCoy, senior)
2010 Auburn (Cam Newton, junior) vs. Oregon (Darron Thomas, redshirt sophomore)

What can we take out of this list? Out of the last 26 teams to have played for the BCS National Championship, 24 out 26 teams had quarterbacks with at least three years of experience (including redshirt years) with the lone exceptions being No. 1 overall picks Sam Bradford and Michael Vick, and 22 out of 26 teams had either a junior or senior starting quarterback. Interestingly, nine out of the 13 winning quarterbacks were juniors, with five times a junior beating a senior, and no instances of a senior beating a junior. This year Oregon enters the season with Darron Thomas as a redshirt junior, Oklahoma with Landry Jones as a redshirt junior, and Stanford with Andrew Luck as a, you guessed it, redshirt junior.

It's not to say that teams are winning championships because their quarterbacks are either junior or seniors, but I think it says that teams need -- with exceptions -- a quarterback with experience to guide them through a national championship season. Once teams reach the BCS title game all bets are off.

So let's go back to the SEC. If I had to pick the SEC Champion right now, I'd probably pick Alabama, but if I had to pick a team more likely to reach the national championship game, then I'd have to say Florida. Alabama is still trying to decide whether to start redshirt freshman Phillip Sims or redshirt sophomore A.J. McCarron. Florida in the meantime will be fighting its way with Brantley, a fifth-year senior. I'm aware teams need more than just a quarterback to win national championships. They also need great defenses, solid offensive lines, experience across the entire team, superior talent, and a little bit of luck. It's just that you can't cut corners at the quarterback position.

Along with Oregon, Stanford, and Oklahoma to appear in the national title game here are a few darkhorses and some other favorites to get into the national title game:

Boise State (If they can go undefeated with victories against Georgia, TCU, and San Diego St., then I'm all for letting Boise State play in the BCS National Championship Game. Senior quarterback Kellen Moore will be leading the way).
Florida (Urban Meyer's last two recruiting classes were epic and those players are ready to show what they're made of. Brantley has a great deal of talent and should flourish under Charlie Weis)
Florida St. (Redshirt junior EJ Manuel is very good and the Seminoles are on the way up with a lot of talent. Second-year coaches have a knack for having great success at their schools, i.e. Jim Tressel, Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Bob Stoops, etc.)
Miami (a team loaded with talent and experience, and only if Jacory Harris wins quarterback competition)
Notre Dame (Brian Kelly is entering his second season as head coach with a talented nucleus of players and senior quarterback Dayne Crist leading the way)
Wisconsin (Transfer Russell Wilson, a redshirt senior, is a talent and with Ohio St. on the way down, Wisconsin has a chance to capitalize on an undefeated season)

Butch Davis Could Have Been Pete Carroll

Will this be Butch Davis' last year at UNC?

As we head into another season of college football, I can't help but write about one of my favorite coaches - Butch Davis. Now at North Carolina, Davis has made North Carolina football relevant. Last year I was convinced he was going to take the Tar Heels to a BCS Bowl Game with the ridiculous talent assembled on the defensive side of the ball. But a scandal involving sports agents and impermissible benefits caused 13 North Carolina players to either be suspended for part of the season or to be ruled permanently ineligible. Three players that were supposed to contribute did not play a down of football because of the scandal, including first-round pick Robert Quinn, and second-rounders Greg Little and Marvin Austin. Star cornerback Kendric Burney was suspended for six games and fellow star safety Deunta Williams was suspended for four games.

In the 2011 NFL Draft, the Tar Heels had nine players drafted, the most out of the ACC. The Tar Heels had four defensive players taken in the first four rounds, and then another player, linebacker Quan Sturdivant taken in the sixth round. They were built for a title run in 2010, but that dream dismantled before it could even take shape. Butch was just making the program a national contender until the scandal broke out. It was bad for college football, the ACC, North Carolina, but most of all for Davis.

Davis is credited, as he should be, for building a Miami powerhouse that from 2000-2002 went 35-2, including a national championship that he did not get to celebrate in because he was no longer the Miami coach. I believe his biggest mistake came in leaving a Miami program after a successful 2000 season because he had so painstakingly built up Miami from some very serious probationary sanctions. Very few people could recruit and find talent like Davis, and the evidence is in what he did while at Miami where he was responsible for recruiting a stable of first-round picks.

For a man so well respected in his profession, the truth is that Davis, now entering his 11th season as a college head coach, has just one outright Big East title and one BCS Bowl victory under his belt. Had he not left Miami after 2000, he surely would have been the Pete Carroll of the east. He would have won the title in place of Larry Coker in 2001, and I am convinced that a Davis-coached Hurricane team would have defeated Ohio State in the 2003 BCS Championship Game. Then there's no telling where the Hurricanes would have gone with where Davis put the program. Let me put it this way, Davis was such a good recruiter and coach that even Larry Coker was able to win a national title, appear in another national title game, and win the Orange Bowl in succession in his first three years. In Coker's last three years, the Hurricanes went 9-3, 9-3, and 7-6. No knock against Coker, who I think was a very good offensive coordinator. He was the man he was supposed to be in his first three years, but when Davis' players were gone, you could see that Coker was not the recruiter or talent evaluator that Davis was.

Plus, where was Coker's next coaching job? At a totally new program in the FCS, or I-AA for those of you more familiar with that classification, for the University of Texas at San Antonio Roadrunners whose inaugural season will be this year. I think Coker is more suited for this kind of job at this point in his career. But all of the "what-ifs" are irrelevant.

The fact is that Davis left Miami to become head coach of the Cleveland Browns (seriously?) where he never won more than nine games in a season and made one playoff appearance in a little more than 3 1/2 seasons. By the time he resigned midseason in 2004, he had gone a dismal 24-35, including a loss in the playoffs. He resurfaced in the college ranks in 2007 with North Carolina, and after an understandable 4-8 rebuilding year in his first season, Davis has managed to make the Tar Heel football brand respectable once again. But in his last three seasons the Tar Heels have remained stagnant, going 8-5 each year. Last year seemed like the breakout year, but the scandal left his team in pieces and Davis' job on the line.

Davis is one of my favorite coaches because he can recruit and evaluate talent unlike any other coach. He's shown he is capable of taking a program from the depths of probation to the very top of college football like he did with Miami, and that he can even take a school like North Carolina and stock it with NFL talent. But many times careers are built on the right timing. Just look at Coker and Davis. Coker can wear a national title ring, and Davis can wear a Big East conference title ring. In some instances Davis is to blame for possibly making the wrong career choice, and at other times he's been blindsided by scandal. Now Davis may end up out of a job if he is found to have been negligent in the sports-agent scandal, and pull North Carolina into its own dark probationary period. He may never realize the full potential of what he has built at North Carolina, and it wouldn't surprise me if he thinks, as Yogi Berra once said, "It's deja vu all over again."

Women's World Cup Ends; Japan is a Deserving Champion

There's no doubt the U.S. played the better game, but in the end it came down to the fact that while the U.S. was more dominant, Japan was more poised. When you can beat Germany, Sweden, and the United States, you are absolutely a deserving world champion. Homare Sawa put in a ridiculous goal with just a few minutes remaining in the match to show why she is one of the greatest players in the history of the women's game.

Homare Sawa, the Japanese captain, stunned the United States.

I'm not one to dog any one player or team. Both teams handled themselves with absolute class when the match was over. The U.S. was a gracious loser, and Japan was exceptional in thanking the world and acknowledging the brilliant match they had just finished with the U.S. But, I knew as did the Japanese goalkeeper, that Shannon Boxx was going to her right on the penalty kick. I kept saying, "Go left, go left!" Instead, she went to her right, and I'm sure the Japanese keeper knew that based on Boxx's two penalty shots earlier in the tournament against Brazil. Boxx set the tone for the penalties for the U.S. and they could not recover from that shock.

A few more points that I need to get out of my system: I carried that loss with me for a while, just as a casual fan, I was still thinking about the loss as I went to bed. This women's team was proud to represent the United States and you can tell they weren't doing it just for themselves. They were playing for country pride, much in the same way the U.S. men's basketball team did at the 2008 Olympics. It hurt to see them lose, I mean, it really hurt. I can't describe what it was, but the pain of knowing that these women will forever be haunted, in one way or another, by this loss made me hurt for them.

Another thing: For all those people out there saying, "it's a bunch of girls kicking a ball around," or "watching women's sports is watching a substandard version of the sport" are just plain stupid. Those people need to shut up and come with a better, more creative argument. It's not cool any more to make fun of women's sports, that was never cool actually, but you might have received a few laughs about 10 years ago. If you're a sports fan and you like watching athletic competitions with athletes that have trained their entire lives to win on their sport's biggest stage, then you couldn't have asked for a better competition than the Women's World Cup. While the men's game can be a beautiful and impressive game, the women's version was much more entertaining and well-played (for one thing, there weren't anywhere near as many flops as in the men's game). This final was absolutely epic and was a completely better played and executed game than the Spain-Netherlands final in last year's men's final. After this tournament I'm an even bigger fan.

Let's hope Abby Wambach comes back for the 2015 World Cup in Canada (if anyone wants to make plans to go to those matches, let me know, I'm game). There isn't a more dominant or imposing player in the world. She was an absolute beast down the stretch for the U.S. through this tournament. I'm hoping her body holds up. Her game isn't predicated on speed, but on sheer physical dominance, so hopefully she can stay healthy and lead the U.S. once again four years from now.

Where does women's soccer go from here? For the United States, they ironically played their most technical and dominant game of the entire tournament in the final, but just could not find ways to put the ball in the net. This team is still one of the best in the world, and they should be the favorites for the 2012 London Olympics. A gold medal in London would be huge for U.S. soccer to redeem itself from its disappointment in the World Cup final. For the rest of women's soccer, hopefully the Women's Professional Soccer league (WPS) can capitalize on this year's World Cup, where a number of the best international players play. WPS needs to be able to capture a specific market interested in women's soccer, specifically young girls. Hopefully this World Cup legitimized the women's game to men who can take their daughters and sons to these sporting events.

Women's World Cup is Set; Japan vs. United States

I've been wanting to write about other sports, but I can't get this Women's World Cup out of my head. I haven't been this into a sporting event in a while, probably not since following Michael Phelps during the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Will Megan Rapinoe start alongside Abby Wambach in Sunday's final?

Real quick assessment of what I saw: Japan is the real deal. Think about what they've done in beating Germany, the two-time defending champion, and then beating an undefeated Sweden that won group play against the United States. Japan is highly technical and skilled, and they play great defense, contesting every single ball. They're also very opportunistic. Japan looked so much better against Sweden than against Germany, which makes sense because Germany is an overall much better squad than Sweden, but the victory against Sweden solidified Japan's status as an elite soccer-playing nation. What I haven't seen from Japan is how their goalie responds to pressure. In the two games against Germany and Sweden the Japanese goalie was barely tested, so it remains to be seen how she will react to the U.S offense, especially on set pieces.

U.S. vs. France: Between the 10th minute and the 70th minute of the match, France absolutely dominated. It looked like the U.S was hanging on like a boxer hoping not to be knocked out so they can find an opening to deliver a knockout punch of their own. The U.S. delivered the knockout punch with yet another Abby Wambach header. France produced a number of shots, but they didn't have a close-range game, mostly threatening from the outside with laser beam kicks that either barely missed or were swallowed up by goalkeeper Hope Solo. The lack of an inside closer cost the French the victory. And speaking of closers, it's safe to say that Wambach is the greatest aerial striker in women's soccer history. That's no exaggeration either as she's already cemented herself as the leader of the U.S. women's team and the greatest American player of her generation.

No doubt that the Americans looked completely different when Megan Rapinoe entered the game. She brought in energy to a dull American squad that still seemed hungover from the huge win against Brazil. Alex Morgan was also a key substitute, and you can tell she is skilled at finding seams to get open and take shots. Does Rapinoe start in the final? I'm not sure. My head says she should start, but my gut tells me that as talented as she is, she best serves the team off the bench.

Gotta say one more thing about the broadcasting. The best broadcaster has by far been Brandi Chastain. She's absolutely on the money with everything she's said. Mia Hamm was next to Chastain to give her reaction of the U.S.-France match, and you can see how much more comfortable and precise Chastain was in comparison to Hamm. Not to take anything from Hamm, but it seems to me like Chastain is capable of covering just about any sporting event, and I'd definitely prefer to hear her commentary when it comes to the Men's World Cup as opposed to some other guys that ESPN has thrown out there in the past (i.e. Eric Wynalda) 

Prediction: Japan has one of the greatest players in the world in Homare Sawa and has pretty much the entire world rooting behind it following the devastating tsunami the country endured just a few months ago. The United States is in the finals for the third time in the six Women's World Cup events. The United States has Abby Wambach and she will be lethal on set plays. The U.S. also has an edge at goalkeeper where Hope Solo is second to none. Experience will also play a factor. The U.S. has finished third in the past two World Cups and this time they won't settle for anything less than first. U.S over Japan 2-1.  

Women's World Cup, Germany goes Down, US Stays Alive

For anyone that hasn't been watching this stuff, they don't know what they're missing. First you see the tiny but quick Japanese team beat a much more physically dominant German squad.  You could tell that the Japanese players were giving their absolute all to just stay in the game and just as they were headed to penalty kicks, they got the break they finally needed with a goal in the second overtime period.

Abby Wambach, a former Florida Gator, heads in the game-tying goal.

And how about that U.S. win? Once again, women's soccer provides one of the greatest sports moments in American history. I jumped up and screamed as I was standing in front of my television watching Megan Rapinoe center the ball for an Abby Wambach header. I can honestly say that I haven't reacted that way for many sporting events, but beating Brazil and especially winning the way they did, made the U.S. victory one for the ages. You have to love all the hyperbole after the game, especially that of former national coach Tony DiCicco who said the game was a "celebration of the American human spirit." A bit of an exaggeration, sure. But you know what, it sounds kind of cool and made you feel happy to be on the American side.

Let's thank ABC and ESPN for promoting this sport in the States. I don't know where women's soccer was in 1995, but by 1999 it had at least gained a small foothold in the consciousness of sports fans. Now, women's soccer has gained at least as much foothold as women's gymnastics. Both sports get a ton of attention every four years when their sport's respective premier event takes place (the World Cup and the Summer Olympics), and in between there's the occasional coverage. Women's soccer has the additional advantage of being a big event in the Summer Olympics as well. I don't know how successful another women's soccer league will be, with the men's Major League Soccer struggling to capture a larger market, but as long as the powers that be continue to showcase the Women's World Cup, it's certain that the sport will continue to grow.

Today I was walking on my college campus where they're holding soccer camps for young kids. A group of 7 and 8 year old girls were engaged in a friendly competition when one group suddenly started to chant "USA! USA!" I smiled thinking about how the game was still in these girls' minds the next day.

Predictions: USA defeats France and Sweden defeats Japan in the two semifinal games, setting up a rematch from group play between the USA and Sweden.

One Year After "The Decision"

Did LeBron James make the right decision by going to the Miami Heat? Admittedly, I watched The Decision last year and was in shock that he decided to go to the Miami Heat. I thought he would stay in Cleveland and try to bring that franchise its first ever championship, and Cleveland's first championship in a major sport since the Cleveland Browns won the 1964 NFL Championship. I actually gained respect for James after he made the announcement he'd be leaving Cleveland, because while Cleveland would've built monuments for him, he shunned that to play at a place where he could get one thing he wants more badly than anything else -- championships. 

But back to the original question. Did he make the right decision? In some ways he did, and many other ways he did not.

How did he make the right decision? With Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh playing alongside James, the Heat immediately have an advantage over almost the entire league. Just this past year, they've shown that they're the class of the Eastern Conference. Plus, this was just their first year playing together, so next year the expectation is nothing short of a championship. This year was more of an experiment, and it proved to be a pretty successful experiment up until the end. Wade, Bosh, and James still have many years ahead of them and if they can pull it out next year, there's no reason to believe that they can't win 2 or 3 more championships together. 

Plus, I don't think the trio was thinking about this, but with the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement, it's going to be much more difficult for teams to stock up on superstars. It may very well be that the Big Three will remain a unique situation in the NBA. To the Big Three's defense, and more specifically to James, I don't see why they were dragged through the mud for not being competitors and winning championships the hard way. Very similar things happened when the Lakers teamed up Kobe, Shaq, Karl Malone, and Gary Payton. And didn't the Celtics unite Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett for a run at a championship? 

BUT, maybe it's just me, I'm of the opinion that James winning just one championship in Cleveland would've been so much sweeter than if he ends up winning 3 or 4 in Miami with Bosh and Wade. Look, I know every great player needs another great player, or at least a couple of good players, to win a championship (Jordan and Pippen, Kobe and Shaq, Kobe and Gasol and Odom, the Celtics triumvirate, Nowitzki and Kidd and Terry, Duncan and Ginobili and Parker, Hamilton and Billups and Prince and Wallace, and even Wade and a still very good Shaq), and there's no reason why James couldn't have demanded another great player join him in Cleveland. How about if Billups and Carmelo Anthony had joined him this year had he stayed in Cleveland? Or what if Deron Williams had joined him in Cleveland? He could have done this and been the MAN in Cleveland. Now, he's just second string to D-Wade. 

And there's another team he could've gone to where I believe he would have won a championship this year. The Chicago Bulls. If James had gone to Chicago, he would've instantly become the man, and become the second coming of Michael Jordan. People were saying that he would've forever been in Jordan's shadow. Seriously? Is Kobe Bryant in Jerry West's and Magic Johnson's shadow? Was Shaquille O'Neal in Kareem Abdul Jabbar's shadow? NO. So don't give me that lame excuse. With Derrick Rose running the floor, he and James would've created an unstoppable force. Throw in Luol Deng as a relief man for James and two very good centers / power forwards in Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah, and I don't see anyone competing with them. The Bulls were all set with Rose, Boozer, Noah, and Deng, and they were recruiting James to join them. The Bulls had the best regular-season record in the NBA without James, imagine what they could've done with him. And talk about a roster built for the future. All those guys are younger than 30.

In the end James' decision to go to Miami will be measured by the number of championships he wins. It would've been slightly different had he gone to Chicago, where the hype the Big Three generated this season for the Heat would not have been a factor in Chicago. Had he stayed in Cleveland, he would not have been measured by the number of championships he won, but by his sheer effort, even if it seemed unreachable, to take his team and its city to heights it has not seen in nearly 50 years. How many championships can quantify how much he meant to one city? It's hard to say, but I don't think James could ever win enough championships compared to what he could have meant to Cleveland. 

I'm A Married Man and So Are Athletes

I got married this weekend. It was one of the best days of my life being around friends and family. I'll admit, I even cried. But enough of the sappy stuff. In honor of my wedding this Fourth of July weekend, I've ranked athlete marriages based on how they turned out. Using basketball terminology, you should have a pretty good idea of how the marriage has played out, and which sportsman I most want my marriage to be like. The rankings are from least desirable to most desirable outcome:

Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren (basketball equivalent of playing for the Los Angeles Clippers your entire career, and in the last play of your career you dunk in the wrong basket to give the Lakers a last-second win only to break your leg while coming down) Bad things man. This had all the makings of a fairy-tale wedding. Tiger married a beautiful Swedish woman who gave him beautiful kids and was there for some of his biggest victories. But while Tiger was conquering the courses, he was also conquering and re-conquering a countless number of women. Then one Thanksgiving Day....Elin with a golf club....shatters the back of an SUV.....which crashed into a tree.....cops come and find Tiger half-dazed in the driver's seat......what happened?.....cheating....pornstars...text messages......the cover of every single gossip magazine.....divorce.....huge alimony....and Tiger's career has not been the same since.

Brandon Marshall and Michi Nogami-Marshall (basketball equivalent of playing for the Los Angeles Clippers your entire career except for your last year when you join a title contender and reach the Finals. You get fouled attempting a three-point shot in Game 7 with 0.01 seconds left and your team down by 1. You miss all three free-throw shots and lose the championship to the Los Angeles Clippers and their new coach Phil Jackson.) Michi stabbed Brandon Marshall in the abdomen. She stabbed her husband! Maybe this is worse than the whole Tiger ordeal, because this could have been murder, but Marshall survived and the whole world won't find out exactly what drove this woman to a raging fit. Maybe Michi was acting in self-defense, who knows.......I'm getting nauseous just writing about this..........

Dwyane Wade and the former Siohvaughn Wade (basketball equivalent of being the tallest guy on the court and you get picked first during the pick-up games with the expectation that you're good because you're a tall guy on a basketball court, only then you actually begin to play and everyone finds out you're really not that good, in fact, you're the worst player on the team. Then you get self-conscious and you start thinking how you were the first pick and you really shouldn't have been and some guy six inches shorter than you who thinks he's Michael Jordan is always stealing the ball from you and then your teammates begin to get mad and you can tell because they're shaking their heads in your direction. You lose the game when the other team scores on a fast break when your attempted dunk bounces off the back of the rim to midcourt where the MJ wannabe jumps for the ball and passes to his 5'6" friend for the winning layup.) Such is the case with Dwyane Wade and his high school sweetheart. It seemed like a dream marriage. You know, NBA Superstar marries his high school love and now they've made it this far and they're famous and rich and have the whole world in front of them. Except that Dwyane Wade is now rich and famous. He can get any girl he wants, including one Gabrielle Union. Siovaughn alleges he gave her an STD. He says she smashed his MVP trophy with a baseball bat. She says he hasn't seen his kids in months. He says she was trying to put curses on him. She says he gave Gabrielle Union more and bigger gifts than he gave to his own kids. He says she cheated on him first with some dude. She says he hosted elaborate sex and marijuana parties. The moral of the story? I'm not sure, but I want to take a shower now.

David and Victoria Beckham (basketball equivalent of being Patrick Ewing. You're one of the greatest players ever. You won a national championship at Georgetown, two gold medals in the Olympics, and were voted one of the greatest 50 players in NBA history. You are the first pick in the NBA Draft to the New York Knicks waiting to capitalize on your basketball talents and to market your brand to the biggest market in the world. You win Rookie of the Year in 1986 and are named an All-Star 11 times. You are one of the most dominant and complete centers of your era. But you came around in Michael Jordan's era. You can't beat the Bulls to reach the Finals even when you have them down 2-0 in 1993. Finally you reach the Finals in 1994, Jordan is retired, and your Knicks are up 3-2 in the Finals against the Houston Rockets. You lose two very close games in Games 6 and 7 and another of your contemporaries, Hakeem Olajuwon, is seen as your superior because you couldn't win that elusive championship. All in all though, you're one of the greatest, but you came up just short). I love the Beckhams. They have their issues, sure. But what couple doesn't? She's a bit controlling and possessive, she needs to approve what he wears, she spends a fortune on clothes and things like that, but you know what? So do you. You're also always receiving kidnapping threats and even attempts on your life that briefly forced you to move to Los Angeles. And you David allegedly had an affair that made for huge tabloid headlines and embarrassed your wife. You denied all allegations, but if such was the case then all seems forgiven. They are English royalty without having to be formal stiffs. They were invited to Will and Kate's wedding, are jointly one of the 20 richest people in Britain, and continue to do some amazing charitable work. When they speak, just about everyone listens. They even named a pretty cool movie in David's name.

Phil and Amy Mickelson (basketball equivalent of being Michael Jordan. You're the greatest ever. You want to score the winning jump shot in the 1982 national championship against Patrick Ewing's Georgetown squad? OK. You want to win six championships and five MVP's? OK. You want to massively dunk on Ewing? OK. You want to win the dunk contest against Dominique Wilkins? OK. You want to make sure that Ewing, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, John Stockton, and Reggie Miller never win any championships? OK. You want to personally keep Isiah Thomas off the 1992 Dream Team because you hate him so much? OK. You want to be the biggest, baddest, mothalova on the court? OK. You want to brand the most popular sneaker the world has ever seen? OK. You want people to laugh when they compare LeBron James to you? OK. You want to give the worst Hall of Fame induction speech ever and still be respected and admired? OK. You want to own your own basketball team? OK. You want to be known as one of the greatest owners and general managers ever? Um....I think I'm getting ahead of myself) Here's a man who loves his wife so much and a woman who loves her husband so much. Before Amy Mickelson had cancer, she was a devoted wife to Phil sticking with him even as he was dogged as a talented but underachieving golfing talent. She was always with him on the tour as were his kids. He never once strayed from her side when he could've easily done the Tiger and hopped from bed to bed. Then Amy was diagnosed with cancer and what does Mickelson do? He stops playing golf to be with her. Then he wins the 2010 Master's, his fourth career major championship, less than one year after his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. What does he do? With tears in his eyes he walks up to her and gives her one big embrace. It's the greatest moment you can hope ever hope to see.....until........

Eddie and Doris Robinson (basketball equivalent of being Jason McElwain. You're diagnosed with autism, you're a team manager and you've never played a single minute of a single game for your high school basketball team. Your coach let's you play in the final minutes of the final game of the regular season because your team is up by 20. You're basically the 13th guy on the bench, and there are only 12 spots. You're not Michael Jordan, but you play like him for 4 magical minutes. You score 20 points in 4 minutes and finish as the game's high scorer. It's great to be Michael Jordan, but it's even better to play like him when you're told that it's impossible. You inspire thousands not because you're a basketball player, but because you're just a kid defying all the odds stacked against you). Coach Eddie Robinson of Grambling State would walk hand-in-hand with his wife, Doris, before every football practice so his players could see how a man should love a woman. Even in the midst of football season, he made it a point to eat lunch and dinner with his wife every day. He loved her more than anything and they stayed married for more than 65 years until Coach's passing in 2007. With a woman like that to love, it is no wonder Robinson is the all-time winningest football coach in Division I-AA history with 408 wins. That's what I want my marriage to look like.