IT'S GETTING PRETTY COLD IN THE SUMMER

I thought it was March that comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb?

Maybe it is July. The Yankees started July off on a tear and then after the All-Star break they have come back down to earth. They finished the month of July with a .500 record. They are an older club with older bench players and these long humid summers in the Big Apple has caught up to them.

Right now you have a disabled list that is a who's who for the Yankees. Let's start with the pitching. Pineda has been down all year, Rivera has possibly shagged his last fly ball, Robertson is still feeling the effects of the strained oblique. Petitte is not expected back until September and Joba has just been reactivated. When you lose that many quality pitchers, you can only hope you can stay afloat. The Yankees have been floating with the likes of CC, Kuroda, Hughes, Nova and Garcia. Nova has been basically rotten over the last eight games and the bullpen has been giving up way too many leads.

If you look at the position players, Gardner has been gone for the season, Swisher's hip is balky, ARod has a broken hand and not expected back until September and now Tex has an injury. This team has been counting on Ibanez, Jones, Nix and Chavez. This is not a line-up that is going to win any championships. The addition of Ichiro is great but he is playing for the Mariners of the East with all these players out.

I am glad to see that the Yankees did not get nuts with any crazy trade. I look at it like this, injuries are part of the game and the Yankees have had their share this year. They need to go out and play one game at a time. There is still a lot of baseball left and by the time everyone comes back they hopefully will be still in a position to make it interesting.

OLYMPIC ROWING

The Olympic rowing competition seems to be one of those events that the US does not do that great. It surprises me with all of the great crew teams in our colleges.

On Wednesday there are three medal rounds, Men's Eight, Women's Pair and Women's Quadruple Scull. The United States has only one scull in these three medal rounds. It is in the Women's Quadruple Scull.

The Men's Lightweight Four has advanced to the semi-finals that is taking place today. This scull has Anthony Fahden in the bow from Dartmouth College, William Newell in seat 2 from Harvard, Nicholas la Cava in seat 3 from Columbia University and Robin Prendes in the stroke from Princeton. Good luck guys.

The Men's Pair semifinals will be on Wednesday and the U.S. has one scull in the hunt. This scull has Thomas Pezak from University of Michigan and Silas Stafford from Stanford/Cambridge.

WHERE THE SURF MEETS THE TURF

Over the weekend we made a trip to Del Mar and it is as beautiful as I remembered it to be. You see, it has been possibly 15 years since I went to Del Mar.

If you have never been to Del Mar, you are missing a very cool experience. It is not as big as Santa Anita but it has been kept looking like a track from a time gone by. Where else can you sit in a pleasant 70 degrees with a wind coming off the Pacific and playing the horses in the summertime. When you sit in the stands you can see the Pacific Ocean to your left and the hills of Solano Beach right in front of you. Say what you want but the two best places for scenery are Santa Anita and Del Mar, hands down.

In years past Del Mar has been a difficult track to handicap. The track tendencies change at a moments notice. It was difficult to determine if early speed would hold up or if the front end was dead when the track was dirt. Now with a poly track, that determination is even harder. Since I have my new system, we were going to see if it would work here at Del Mar.

Since Del Mar is a summer meet, the majority of the crowd are not exactly horse players. They have come to have a few drinks, have a laugh and bet on a horse that sounds good. They aren't exactly your standard handicappers. This is good for your serious horse players because the odds will be so askew, you will get a price. Remember, Del Mar starts later in the day so the track will take little money from other parts of the country.

For example, the Cougar II Handicap, which is a Grade III race, had some good entries. The favorite in that race was Richard's Kid and the opening odds were 1-9. The fans at Del Mar were betting this horse like he already won. When the gate opened, Richard's Kid was 2-5 and the second choice, Fly Lexis Fly was 5-1. The other four entries were 15-1 through 22-1. Granted Richard's Kid won with a thundering close in the stretch but a small 2 dollar bet on any of the long shots would of scored you some cash. Worth Repeating and Balladry placed and showed and they were some high priced horses.

I will tell you a funny anecdote that sums up the crowd at Del Mar. There was a table right next to us and they were playing the races like everyone else but you can tell that they were just having a good time and not serious handicappers. The Cougar II Handicap went off and these bettors had money on the number 6 horse, Fly Lexis Fly. I know this because they were screaming for him the minute the gate opened. A bit of info on this race, it is a mile and a half race that starts on the back end of the track and basically goes around twice. So, the race starts and the 6 horse has taken the lead and it is coming down the stretch, for the first pass. This table is on it's feet screaming. They think that it is the end of the race and they don't realize that they have to go one more lap. When the 6 horse crosses in front of us, they are all hugging each other, high fiving each other and really whooping it up like they won. They then realized that the race was not over and they got real quiet. I found it amusing but hey, it's Del Mar. Sad thing is that the 6 didn't even show.

My system came up with only two races at Del Mar. In the second race, the system chose the number 1 horse, Huntington Harbor and he came in third. The second race that it came up with was in the 5th race. The horse was the number 5, Format, and he won. If you just played these two races with an outlay of 20 dollars per race, you would of made 98 dollars with a profit of 58 dollars. The system also hit on the last race from Woodbine. I played my horse and boxed it in an exacta. My total outlay for that race was 24 dollars. I hit with my horse and also hit the exacta. My profit for that race was 53 dollars.

The system has it's ups and downs but even though it was a spot play at Del Mar over the weekend, it still paid dividends.

LIN STAR STATE TO ICH YOUR HEART OUT

I am wondering if I can trade my New York Knicks Jeremy Lin gear for Ichiro's New York Yankee gear?

And in other news, Sherman Helmsley (George Jefferson) has passed away. Hopefully he is still moving on up!!!

NASH A RANGER, ICHIRO A YANKEE

The Rangers acquired Rick Nash from the Blue Jackets for Brandon Dubinsky, Artemis Anisimov, Tim Erixon and a draft pick. This was a deal that had to be done with Gaborik disabled until possibly December. The upside to this trade is that they didn't give up any nucleus players. Dubinsky is a good player but he is so streaky. He would have stretches where he was basically just a body on the ice. During those stretches I would call him Brandon DoNothing. Tim Erixon is a defenseman that has the potential but never has shown anything with the Rangers. Anisimov was the player that the Rangers are going to miss, he's young and he can score. The acquisition of Nash is going to give the Rangers that scoring punch that they seemed to have been missing all last season. Ichiro was sent to the Yankees for two minor leaguers. I really like the move due to the Yankees being thin at the corner outfield positions due to injuries. Ichiro might not be having the best of years but a player of his caliber might just turn it around being thrown into a pennant race. The Yankees didn't mortgage the farm for a possible summer rental. The Yankees needed outfield help and went and got it. I am hoping that they also look at starting pitching for the second half run.

THE JEREMY LIN WE USED TO KNOW

I saw this on You Tube and I had to post it.

LINSANITY HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

The Knicks will not match the 25 million dollar offer sheet that Jeremy Lin signed with the Houston Rockets. The James Dolan owned Knicks have decided that they will start to become financially responsible and they are going to start with Jeremy Lin.

Dolan decided that Lin was not worth the money especially with the third year balloon payment. This was a balloon payment that Lin restructured with the Houston Rockets. Lin signed an offer sheet with the Houston Rockets that would pay him 9.8 million dollars in the third year. Woodson stated publicly that the Knicks would match that offer sheet and the next thing you know Lin goes and restructures his deal with the Rockets. The new deal will now pay Lin 14.9 million dollars in the third year. Dolan refused to pay that.

So, Dolan decided that after all his years of being completely financially irresponsible with useless, over the hill players, he was going to turn over a new leaf with Lin. He refuses to pay a young, exciting and fan favorite a king's ransom to stay in New York. Dolan did not see that Jeremy Lin was a bright spot last year, he didn't see that Lin put asses in seats and he sure didn't see that he made the Garden electric. I know that Lin has not established himself as a genuine star but he was the one guy that Knicks fans were happy about.

James Dolan never understood Linsanity and now the head nitwit has allowed Linsanity to leave the building.

WHO'S TUGGING AT THE CARPET

Just like I said the other day, it doesn't take a Harvard MBA to realize that Jeremy Lin was going to agree to a handshake deal with the Rockets. He is being offered a four year deal. The first two years will be at 5 and 5.2 million respectively. The third year will be backloaded at 9.3 million. The fourth year will be a team option year. Since he is a restricted free agent, the Knicks can match the deal.

The Knicks have 3 days to match the deal and sources are saying that they will do whatever they can to make things work out. The Rockets also will do whatever they can to make the Lin thing happen. They are in desperate need for a point guard and are willing to wheel and deal. We will wait and see on that one. The Knicks have disappointed all of their fans so often we basically have battered wives syndrome.

In the surprise news of the day, Jason Kidd, who all but committed to Dallas, has changed his mind and wants to play in New York. Jason Kidd is a Hall of Fame basketball player but he is 39 years old and how much longer does he have. The Knicks need to concentrate on Lin and not a 39 year old. Don't get me wrong but the addition of Kidd would be huge for this team, but not if you don't have the youngsters to develop. The Knicks are notorious for these older player signings. Aren't the Knicks still paying Larry Johnson and Allen Houston?

The lose of Landry Fields will hurt but the lose of Landry Fields and Jeremy Lin will doubly hurt. And to add to the Knicks' tale of woes to continue, watch Jason Kidd decide to go back to Dallas.

Who can feel that carpet being tugged?

KNICKS, YOU ARE ON THE CLOCK

           In one day, the Knicks young future can be going in two different directions. One going north of the border to Toronto while the second might be going to Houston, Texas.

            Landry Fields, the third year swingman from Stanford has signed an offer sheet with the Toronto Raptors. The offer sheet is for a three-year deal worth about 20 million. The Knicks can resign him after next Wednesday but monetarily the Knicks will be over the cap in the third year of that contract. Fields has been promised 5 million the first year and 5.2 the second year. The third year will be a balloon payment that the Knicks cannot afford with Anthony, Tyson and Stoudemire’s contracts. It doesn’t take a Stanford grad to know which way Fields is going to go.

            Jeremy Lin, the journeyman point guard from Harvard that brought an excitement back to the Garden, will meet with the Rockets today in order to sign an offer sheet. Sources are saying that this offer sheet might be for a three or four year deal.

            Due to the new collective bargaining agreement, no team can sign Lin for the average of 5.3 million in the first two years. Houston is looking at offering Lin a 40 million dollar deal. That would mean that in Lin’s third year, he could be owed close to 15 million dollars. Once again Knicks finances will be unable to pay that third year bill. It doesn’t take a Harvard business degree to see where this is going to end up financially.

            All Knicks fans have grown accustomed to having the carpet pulled out from under them. Let’s recap a few. John Starks shooting miserably in the 1994 Finals, allowing the Houston Rockets to win the championship and how about watching Charles Smith attempting to make a bazillion lay-ups only to fail. All I can say is hang on to your wigs and keys because I see that carpet coming loose again.