One dozen doozies
It’s the year of the rat, the Chinese tell us. But enough about Jose Canseco’s new book on steroids.
Here are 12 entries, one for each month, whose fates in 2008 seem particularly intriguing.
January: Roger Clemens. He has turned to Mike Wallace and Magnum P.I. – or whichever private eye he’s hired – trying to poke holes in the steroid accusations. Nothing less than his legacy is at stake, starting Sunday on “60 Minutes.”
February: NBA All-Star time, which brings us to Kobe Bryant. Life in Southern California means the citizens awaken, get backed up on the freeway, enjoy the weather, check for any new brush fires, speculate about Bryant’s future with the Lakers and go to bed. Is he staying or going? Is everyone tired of asking?
March: Bob Knight. As retirement nears with son Pat on deck as heir, his achievements and legacy remain as conspicuous as police flashers in the rearview mirror. But his Texas Tech program has never quite bloomed in the NCAA tournament the way some predicted, and the sudden thought occurs that it has been 21 years since his last national championship, 16 since his last Final Four appearance.
April: Charlie Weis. Wake up, wake up. It’s spring practice time at Notre Dame and 2007 was just a bad dream. At least, he hopes so.
May: Michelle Wie. The golf season will be warming. Are we being too rash to ask what has gone wrong, and might this be a virulent case of a girl who got in too big of a hurry?
June: San Antonio Spurs. The quietest dynasty ever created. Time is running out to truly appreciate them because this won’t last forever. It might last one more NBA Finals, though.
July: Baseball trading deadline leads to free-agent talk, which leads to Scott Boras. Seeing the prince of darkness taken to the verbal woodshed by Alex Rodriguez was like seeing the helmet yanked off Darth Vader. Baseball owners probably gasped in wonderment, “This guy can screw up as badly as we do.” He’ll need to browbeat a few of them into insane contracts to restore his aura.
August: USA basketball. Seemed like the good old Dream Team days again when the Yanks blew through the Tournament of Americas, showing fresh resolve and led by a coach with that all-American name of Krzyzewski. But not until they do that in the Olympics can it be said that order has been restored in the game they once owned.
September: The U.S. Ryder Cup team. Time again for its biannual beating. Or maybe this year will be different. Really, how can the Americans miss with a team captain – Paul Azinger – who beat cancer, and with home-court advantage in Kentucky? Then again, noticed the Kentucky basketball scores in Rupp Arena lately?
October: The Yankees. The autumns have been awful lately – way too many Boston Red Sox victory parades. Now manager Joe Torre works 3,000 miles away. If they don’t refurbish the mystique this season, Yankee Stadium will close with the 2003 Game 6 shutout by Florida’s Josh Beckett as its last World Series moment. What would the Babe say?
November: Another NBA season will be in full swing. Maybe we’ll finally get to see if Greg Oden – a star-in-waiting since early puberty – is up to the buzz.
December: Bobby Bowden. He’s 78, and Florida State no longer makes a home in the top of the rankings, scares the ACC nor attracts the same wave of talent. The Seminoles played their 2007 bowl game with a roster devoured by scandal, left to claim a moral victory for keeping the score close with Kentucky. Bowden deserves one more big season and memorable bowl moment. He is too good of a man to go out like this.