Some sporting thoughts for a Sunday night

I was watching the sports earlier this evening and saw that the Phillies renewed star lefthander Cole Hamels' contract for $500,000. Now, that is their right, but it certainly does not mean that it was smart, because Hamels is no fool, and A) He knows that he is by far the best pitcher on the team, and one of the best young starters in the majors, and B) he is grossly underpaid by today's standards, and as a result, he is already bitter. So, Hamels will be a free agent in three or four years--I'm not sure exactly how long he has--and I would be willing to bet just about anything that he will be gone from the team as soon as he possibly can. Good move, Phillies....................As loathe as I am to admit it, I think that right now the Los Angeles Lakers are the best team in the NBA. Yes, I know that the Celtics still have the league's best record, and the Rockets have won 15 in a row, but after the Lakers fleeced the Grizzlies in acquiring Pau Gasol, they now have the complimentary player for Kobe Bryant that the team has needed ever since Shaquille O'Neal became a resident of South Florida. Don't be surprised if the season doesn't end with yet another title in Tinseltown................................This came as a shock to me, as a Montreal Canadiens fan. Last night, when the Habs beat the Devils 2-1 to move into first place overall in the Eastern Conference, it marked the latest the the team has been in first place in the conference since the 1992-1993 season. Now, I am holding no illusions about Montreal winning the Cup this year, as it did 15 years ago, but for the first time since that year, there are some glimmers of optimism in the form of a young, fast group of forwards and a rookie goalie whose style of play reminds a lot of people of all-world goalie Roberto Luongo. The Canadiens will not make it out of the Eastern Conference playoffs, and may very well go out in the first round, but the building blocks are there for the team to be a consistent playoff contender for a while................................It's just Manny being Manny. Manny Ramirez of the Boston Red Sox has hired the Darth Vader of the sports agent world, Scott Boras. Before Red Sox fans go searching for a cliff off of which they can throw themselves, however, it should be noted that Boras actually has a pretty good relationship with Sawx management, one of the few teams about which that can be said. So, it's not a given that ManRam will be history once his contract runs out...........................Several countries' Olympic committees are barring their athletes from doing or saying anything political while they are in China for this year's Summer Olympics. The idea is that "sports and politics aren't supposed to mix". Well, if there is anything that the 1968 (John Carlos, et al.), 1972 (Black September), 1980 (Afghanistan) and 1984 (Soviets get their revenge) Olympics taught us, it's that the Olympics are ALL about politics. Those athletes who wish to speak their minds should be allowed to do so, and if the Chinese don't like it, too bad for them.................................My Miami Hurricanes scored one of the top recruiting classes in the country in terms of young football talent. These players do not always turn out to be studs in college, but the fact that Miami finally locked down a top-level recruiting class shows that if nothing else, Coach Randy Shannon has acquired former Head Coach Butch Davis' ability to keep home a good chunk of the rich talent base in Southeast Florida. Let's just hope that Shannon can also prove that he is a good coach.................................A friend privately accused me of playing favourites by not trashing Roger Clemens the same way that I went after Barry Bonds. Frankly, at this point I am "steroided" out, but I'll say this. Clemens (in my view) is just as much of a cheater and a liar as Bonds, and his "records" are just as suspect. Neither one belongs in the Hall of Fame.