Opinion

Billy Bob Thornton. Bob Knight. Nelly. Bill Clinton.

Recently another big name has been added to the above list. Apparently, Roy Oswalt is a Cardinals fan.

The Astros' ace has stated on numerous occasions that he'd favor a trade to the St. Louis Cardinals, and because Oswalt has a full no-trade clause, he holds all the cards.

So now it's up to St. Louis to make a move. With a farm system that has been depleted by several trades over the past few years, the Cardinals cannot afford to make a mistake here.

About a week ago, it may not have seemed as though the Florida Marlins had much life left in them. They were four games under .500 and seven out of the Wild Card lead with a losing series away from becoming instant sellers at the trade deadline.
Flash forward a week later, surprise! The Marlins have reached their first goal of getting to .500 now comes the Wild Card.

"I could ask the Phillies to keep me on to add to my statistics, but my love for the game won't let me do that." —Mike Schmidt

It’s always refreshing for a Hall-of-Famer like Mike Schmidt to know when the time’s right to hang up the spikes.

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is one shy of hitting the 600 home run mark.

He can hit 800 by the end of his career, but he won't hit Cooperstown with the rest of baseball's legends...ever.

This situation best relates with Mark McGwire, but even he wasn't close to the required number of votes to get in the Hall of Fame.

He got 25 percent of votes, but players need 75 percent to get in. McGwire was maybe the most exciting hitter to see when he was in his prime, just like how A-Rod was in Texas, or when he's chasing history.

People have complained about the lack of parity in basketball. Sure, with all the teams getting "big three" sets, the parity there seems to be low. But those teams have a terrible supporting cast (with the exception of Boston). The Lakers have a great one, but they don't have three megastars eating up the salary cap. 

In baseball, it is much worse.

Before inter-league play, the New York Yankees played the New York Mets in an annual exhibition game for the Mayor's Trophy. The proceeds went to charity, usually sandlot baseball.

Players on both teams didn't care much about winning the game. It was, after all, merely an exhibition game, but for the fans, it was much more, especially for one Yankees' fan.

George M. Steinbrenner became the principle owner of what had become New York's "other" team in 1973. His primary goal was to change that, which meant the Yankees had to be better than the Mets.

Despite General Manager Brian Cashman's continued claim that the Yankees do not need another starting pitcher, the team continues to pursue the top names.

New York is reportedly actively pursuing Arizona Diamondbacks' starter Dan Haren. The two teams have gone as far as naming names and proposing deals. An agreement has not been made as of yet.

Within the last 20 years, hundreds of articles have been written about Pete Rose's ban from baseball, so I will spare you what has all ready been said. Instead, I'd like to touch more on the effects of his punishment as opposed to the actions that warranted it.

The court of public opinion maintains that the time has come to reinstate him—and I agree, as far as the Hall of Fame goes.

Banning Rose from baseball not only penalizes the man himself, it hurts the sport and denies fans the opportunity to see one of the game's greatest heroes.

Silver linings are hard to find in the Arizona desert this summer.

First-year Diamondback Kelly Johnson provided an obvious one Friday night, when he hit for the fourth cycle in Arizona history.

Unfortunately, like most nights at Chase Field this season, his headlining efforts weren't enough for a Diamondbacks win.

So, in an effort to help alleviate the pain this team has caused in 2010, why not relive the other three Snakes' cycles?

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If the New York Yankees were to land Arizona's Dan Haren, they would be getting a top pitcher to add to their already impressive group of starters.

The Diamondbacks' hurler is currently having a difficult 2010 posting a 7-8 record with an ERA 4.60.  Haren though is only a year removed from a fantastic season where he went 14-10 with an ERA of 3.14, and 223 strikeouts.