It's never too early to talk football

With training camps officially underway and most contract disputes finally worked out, we are now officially allowed to at least begin to think about football. It's like at the end of the Thanksgiving Day parade. We celebrate Thanksgiving, but at the very end, Santa Claus rides in and Christmas, Part 1, finally begins. The open of training camp is just like that. We are far enough away from Week 1 that football is not on the mind of everyone like it will be in September, but the football shopping season is actually here.

The great equalizer in football is always the ever-looming threat of injury. During the preseason, we will see at least a few big names go down that will have a significant impact on the season. Last year it was Jordy Nelson. The previous year it was Sean Lee. There are always season-ending injuries that occur months before the season during training camps. It stinks, but it is simply the reality of the NFL world. It has been a while since I have made any preseason predictions, but with football on my mind, I want to do that today. However, since injuries inevitably do always happen, I do want to mention that these predictions will be based upon rosters as they stand now. Suspensions and contracts are all pretty much ironed out, but the injuries will be coming. So with that asterisk, here are my 2016 NFL predictions. I will start in the AFC.

AFC East
For most of the past decade, this division has belonged to the New England Patriots. Tom Brady finally gave up his fight against a four-game suspension though, and Jimmy Garoppolo will be at the helm for New England during the first four games of this season while Brady will not be allowed to be in contact with the team. It does theoretically give extra hope to the rest of the division, but we are talking about the Patriots here, so fans of the Bills, Jets, and Dolphins should not get their hopes up too high.

New England Patriots - As I just mentioned, Brady will be out for the first four games. New England opens the season with a very tough game in Arizona, and they also play Buffalo and Miami, so that will be a big chance for both of those teams to jump out to an early lead in the division as they will get a Brady-less Patriots team.

However, like I said, we are talking about the Patriots here, and they always find a way to make things work, even when the deck is stacked against them. If New England can make it through those first four games at 2-2, I think they will still be in good shape.

Obviously, the offense will be very good, but New England's defense was above-average last season. Losing Chandler Jones will surely be tough, but they added some pieces on the defensive side of the ball as well. The Patriots have won 12 games in each of the past four seasons, and I think we should expect double digit wins again, despite Brady missing the first four games.

Ceiling: As has always been the case with New England over the past decade, the ceiling is winning the Super Bowl.

Floor: If Garoppolo struggles early on and New England drops to something like 1-3, there might be some cause for concern, but even if that happens, I still think Brady and Co. will be able to overcome a slow start.

Reality: As usual, we should be watching the Patriots playing into January. Maybe they won't win the Super Bowl, but it is definitely what they have their sights set on.

New York Jets: Now that Ryan Fitzpatrick has finally re-signed with the team, I think Jets fans should be going into this season feeling pretty optimistic. A team that has never really been synonymous with a great offense has the potential to be pretty good on that side of the ball. They replaced the now retired D'Brickashaw Ferguson with Ryan Clady and added Matt Forte to replace Chris Ivory. Losing Ferguson and Ivory hurts, but I think they still do have enough on the offensive side of the ball to be good enough.

I hear a ton of people saying that the Jets have a Super Bowl caliber defense, and while it is definitely the strength of the team, I do not think it is up to that level. They did draft Darron Lee in the first round, but they also lost a few good pieces as well. Ryan Fitzpatrick is coming off of a career season (Week 17 aside), and I think with the weapons he has in place and a defense that is definitely in the top-third of the league, the preseason optimism of Jets fans is warranted.

Ceiling: While I do not think that the Jets will finish ahead of New England, I do think that they have a roster that can at least be playoff-caliber. They were 10-6 last year but missed the playoffs. I do think they might be able to make the playoffs, but at best, I see this team winning one playoff game and then going out in the divisional round.

Floor: The Jets have an extremely tough schedule in 2016. They have to go to Pittsburgh, Arizona, and Kansas City, and they also have games with Cincinnati, Seattle, Baltimore, and Indianapolis, as well as their two annual games with the Patriots. I find it tough to believe that they will finish last in the division, but with a schedule like that, I think 6-10 could be possible.

Reality: The schedule cannot be ignored here. Not only are the games outside the division tough, but they are also the only team in the division that will not face New England during the first four weeks, so that means they will get to see Tom Brady twice. It will be difficult for them to win 10 games again this season, so I think something like 9-7 or 8-8 is what we are looking at here.

Buffalo Bills: Buffalo has the potential to be a pretty good team, but with that man named Rex Ryan on the sideline, we all know by now that his bark is far larger than his bite. The Bills did lose some on defense, but between the draft and free agency, I think their already stout defense will be improved. They have some explosive weapons on offense, but they will need to stay healthy, and that begins with Sammy Watkins. Tyrod Taylor really surprised me last season with how well he played, and their offensive line is good. If they are able to stay healthy, this team could have a pretty good offense and a very good defense.

Ceiling: On paper, the Bills look like a team that could potentially sneak up on some people and be pretty good. Adding Shaq Lawson and Reggie Ragland to the defense via the draft definitely helps there, and Sammy Watkins and LeSean McCoy elite offensive playmakers as long as they can stay on the field. If all goes well, I think Buffalo can make the playoffs, but I don't think they can win a game once they get there.

Floor: If the injury bug hits and Tyrod Taylor takes a step backwards, it will be another disappointing year for the Bills. They went 9-7 in 2014 and 8-8 in 2015, and the Bills always seem to be involved in at least one crazy and unexpected game each season. However, that does not mean those kind of games will end in their favor. If things go awry, I think Buffalo might be looking at a 6-10 season, and maybe worse if things spiral far out of control.

Reality: I do actually like the way that this roster looks on paper, but they have injury concerns and/or inexperience in a lot of key spots. I think they have what could be a very good defense (remember the name Preston Brown), but I really find it tough to believe that any team led by Tyrod Taylor can make any noise into January. Maybe if everything breaks in their favor Buffalo sneaks into the playoffs, but I find it almost impossible to believe that they would win a playoff game if they even get there.

Miami Dolphins: The Dolphins made the most news this offseason thanks to the Laremy Tunsil draft fiasco, and in my opinion, that is the closest they will get to the back page of the newspapers in all of 2016. Optimists can look at Ryan Tannehill and say that he has the potential to be pretty good, and he is still young enough for me to believe that he does have room to develop and grow, but until I see him lead Miami to anything better than an 8-8 season, I can prove his supporters wrong. They were in the middle of the pack (at best) in most categories both offensively and defensively in 2015, and they did add a few familiar names in the offseason, but I just don't think it is enough.

Ceiling: If guys like Ndamukong Suh, Mario Williams, Byron Maxwell, and Kiko Alonso can play at their peaks, then the defense has the potential to be pretty good. However, despite all of their names being familiar to most football fans, there is a reason that all of them have bounced around to and from multiple teams. Miami lacks talent in key spots on offense, and I just don't think Tannehill is good enough to offset all of those deficiencies by himself. I think 8-8 is as good as it gets here.

Floor: As is the case with the entire division here, since they all get the NFC West and the AFC North, the schedule will be very tough. Miami opens on the road against Seattle and New England, and then they go to Cincinnati for Week 4. Their schedule in December is at Baltimore, home for Arizona, at the Jets, at Buffalo, and home for New England. Any momentum they might have going into those final five games probably will be squashed. The floor is last place in the division and possibly a 5-11 or 4-12 season.

Reality: The Dolphins won 8 games in 2014 and 6 in 2015, and I would not be surprised if that total dropped once again in 2016. In my mind, Miami will be fighting to stay out of last place in the division.

That is all for the first day of my NFL previews. Next up will be the AFC North.

Daily Giants Update: As I said, training camps are underway. Victor Cruz has pledged that he will be back and better than ever in 2016, but I will believe it when I see it. Preseason games are still a while away, so at this point all we are looking for is a rapport to be formed with the veterans and newcomers.

Daily Diamondbacks Update: One of the reasons I am already looking forward to football is because of the struggles of the Diamondbacks. At 42-60, it is tough to see any drastic improvement in the second half, and right now it seems like the only hope will be to stay out of last place in the division. We begin a set in Los Angeles tonight.

A historic day that I had no problem missing out on

Whether we as sports fans would like to admit it or not, the popularity of professional sports in the United States is based around star power. When we think of individual sports at their peaks, we think of the greatest players of all-time and the eras in which they played. Right now, without question, the two biggest professional sports in this country are football and basketball. Names like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James, as well as many others, are the biggest reasons for this. If we look back over the past century, superstar power equals nationwide popularity.

Because baseball has a history that far outdates any of our other sports, at the turn of the century, baseball had no rival. It is why, despite what many feel is an outdated claim, baseball fanatics will always refer to baseball as the "national pastime." During the first half of the 20th century, baseball ruled the sports world. Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb were the star athletes. Even after them, names like Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams still ruled the sports world. The NBA, NHL, and NFL had nothing on baseball. The "second" sport in the eyes of many was actually boxing, and that was thanks to a very historically overlooked man named Joe Louis. Boxing never actually overtook baseball in popularity, but during Louis' prime, it was surely in second place.

Golf was also somewhat popular as well thanks to names like Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, and Ben Hogan, who were all in their prime during the 1940's and 1950's. Collegiate football was actually bigger than most of our professional sports as well. Before anyone ever heard of the NFL, college football was at the top of the ladder.

When the 1960's came around, thanks to a wide array of shifts in American culture, other sports became more popular. Baseball was still very popular, but when icons like Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, Vince Lombardi, Red Auerbach, and Jim Brown came around, they elevated their respective sports.

While it had been popular before, Ali brought the sport of boxing to heights it had never seen before. The Celtics may have been winning championships on almost a yearly basis, but Russell, Auerbach, as well as Wilt Chamberlain were bringing basketball into the eyes of the nation. Jim Brown, significant both on and off the field, Vince Lombardi, and the dawn of the Super Bowl era were ushering in the NFL that we know today as the most popular sport in our country. Throughout this all, baseball was still littered with stars like Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, and Hank Aaron, but it was no longer the only sport that remained in the spotlight. Superstar and iconic names were reaching their peaks in other sports as well, and baseball was no longer the only sport that was followed on a regular basis throughout the country.

So then what happened next? Russell and Chamberlain retired, and the NBA was bereft of superstar talent and iconic names. Ali retired and while he was always the dominant force in boxing during his time, guys like Joe Frazier and George Foreman began to be overlooked before they eventually retired as well. Baseball was even in somewhat of a downswing during that era. There were certainly Hall of Fame players at the top of their games, but most fans would have a tough time naming anyone on the roster of the 1973 Oakland Athletics or the 1984 Detroit Tigers. The NHL could possibly claim that it was closer to the peak of American sports culture during that time, as the New York Islanders and Montreal Canadiens dominated the 1970's and into the 1980's.

Nate Thurmond, a Hall of Fame NBA player who died only a few days ago, was at his peak in the 1970's, and if you asked the casual sports fan about him, I would guess that most would not even be able to name the team that he played for, let alone the fact that he was one of the few players in the league to ever record a quadruple-double in a game. He just was not a superstar name and he did not play for a superstar team.

I think that a big part of the popularity of the NFL today is due to what happened in the sports world in the 1970's. Ali, Russell, and Brown were gone. There were no dynasties in Major League Baseball. The NFL had its chance to strike, and thanks to the Steel Curtain defense of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the 1972 Miami Dolphins, and the beginning of the Dallas Cowboys dynasty, the NFL was able to take center stage.

As we entered the 1980's, icons like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird took center stage. The NFL was still building its multi-billion dollar enterprise that we know today, but it was once again time for the NBA. Baseball was still in somewhat of a lull, the NHL was waiting on a legend, and boxing was in the midst of a lull as well, as only the most ardent of fans could name more than a few iconic boxers of the early 80's. The Celtics had been the legendary franchise two decades earlier, and they were about to be legendary once again.

Larry Bird and Magic Johnson was the biggest rivalry in the 1980's, and at the end of the decade they would pass the torch to the greatest player to ever play the game. The NHL was about to undergo a similar transformation, as its greatest player ever broke on to the scene in the 80's. Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky were as iconic as it gets, and they led their respective leagues to national prominence.

Once the 1990's rolled around, with Gretzky and Jordan both still at the top of their games, baseball and boxing were afterthoughts. Mike Tyson had a meteoric rise and fall to give boxing a temporary shot in the arm, but in many ways, the sport was never the same after Tyson was knocked out by Buster Douglas. The early 1990's gave us some great baseball games, including what I believe is the greatest game ever played, the 1991 World Series pitching masterpiece that pitted John Smoltz against Jack Morris, but ask anyone you know who had the walkoff hit to end that series and I guarantee you that 999 out of 1,000 will not know the answer. Joe Carter had an iconic moment in 1993, but his name or the name of the Toronto Blue Jays was not one that will be passed on from generation to generation.

In the prime of his career, Michael Jordan ruled the 1990's. The Dallas Cowboys had their second run as champions, but they were still not on the level of Jordan and the Bulls. The New York Yankees had their dynasty late in the decade, but they are still third place. The NHL had been fading from the conscience of the American public, and boxing was at most an afterthought.

That brought us to the second half of the 1990's and a man named Tiger Woods. Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer are two of the greatest to ever play the game of golf, but their names are not as transcendent as Woods. There is Wilt, there is Kobe, there is LeBron, there is Shaq, there is a few select others, and there is Tiger. One word is all you need to know the sport and the man. The impact that Woods had on the game of golf is arguably greater than the impact on any athlete in any sport. I understand that all of the Michael Jordan fanatics out there all believe that Jordan is the greatest person in the history of human civilization, but he did not have the impact on the game of basketball like Tiger Woods impacted the game of golf.

Golf was a game for old, rich white men. It cost too much to be a member at a club and play the game, it was too long, and there was not enough action. When Tiger Woods came along, all of that changed. Woods brought in a young audience (black and white) that had never cared one bit for the game prior to his rise to prominence. His peak was entirely parallel to the peak of professional golf. If a tournament was on television, there was only one question worth asking. Is Tiger playing? If he is, then the ratings are through the roof. If he is not, then no one cares to watch. And that is where I want to try to circle this back to my original point. Golf does not have a superstar right now, and because of that, I really am not entirely concerned with watching it. And I am not the only one that feels that way.

Byron Nelson and Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods were names that were bigger than the sport. We weren't watching golf. We were watching legends. However, if those guys are not playing, we are watching some boring sport and wondering why we ever cared about golf in the first place. Right now golf is in a place where the casual fan is wondering why we ever cared about the sport in the first place. As is the case with any sport, the most ardent of fans will always care. It is why soccer fans and tennis fans and golf fans will defend their sport to the death. But to the casual fan, we need something more than that. Talk about Jordan Spieth or Jason Day or Rory McIlroy all you want, but they are not names that make me want to tune in to the final day of the British Open. Henrik Stenson won the event, and if I walked past Henrik Stenson on the street tomorrow, I would not know who he was.

The bottom line is, the American public, no matter what they say, wants to see superstars when they watch sports. They might want to root against them or they might want to root for them, but in reality, they just want to see them. It might be too much to ask for another legend like Tiger Woods to come along, but in order for golf to capture the focus of the nation again, we need someone near his level to get out there on the course. As of right now, I do not see that out there and because of that, I will not stay up at night wishing I saw the final round of the British Open.

Daily Diamondbacks Update: The team followed up an exciting extra inning walkoff win with another victory over the Dodgers last night, and after a day off today, the Blue Jays come to Arizona for a quick two game series. That is followed by seven games against the struggling Reds and Brewers, so maybe a nice little winning streak can come about over the next week.

Daily NFL Update: Franchise deals are being signed, as Von Miller is back with the defending champion Broncos, but they still have huge issues at quarterback, and the Jets are in the same position with the still unsigned Ryan Fitzpatrick. Tom Brady also finally dropped his appeal and will serve his suspension of four games to start this season, which I was somewhat surprised by.

Daily NBA Update: The free agent chips have mostly fallen now, and it seems that Golden State is surely the favorite going into next season, with Cleveland probably being the favorite again in the Eastern Conference. I'm not sure how long it has been since the same teams have met in the NBA Finals in three consecutive years, but as of right now, that definitely seems like a distinct possibility if everything goes as planned. However, everything very rarely goes as planned...

The gross misunderstanding of the concept of the "highest paid athlete"

While the initial salary boom of the NBA offseason has now passed us by, there are still major dollars out there to be made. With all of these dollars, as is the case with money in all walks of life, comes expectations. You are paid for performance, and when athletes sign contracts for millions of dollars, the public demands that they live up to what we expect of them. I have no problem with the opinion of some people that athletes are overpaid in some cases. While I fervently disagree with anyone who takes that stance, they are entitled to believe it. Any person, in any profession, is worth whatever somebody is willing to pay them. We can dispute just how much professional athletes might deserve to be paid in comparison to other people, but let anyone trade shoes with Tyler Johnson or Allen Crabbe and see if they turn down the contracts that those two men just signed. I guarantee they would sign the deals as fast as they could write their name on a piece of paper.

There are many things that casual sports fans likely do not understand about the business of sports, and I will admit that while I am as ardent a fan of sports that you will meet, there are plenty of things that I do not understand about the business of sports as well. What is even worse is the fact that there are also countless numbers of professional athletes that have no clue about the business side of sports as well. It is why athletes have agents, but it is also why (sometimes, for better or worse, because of those agents) so many athletes retire and soon find themselves with no money. ESPN did a great 30 for 30 documentary about professional athletes going broke. It involved different reasons and different circumstances in each individual case, but the main idea of the piece was to show the world that the money that athletes make does not last forever. Get it while you can, because this is probably your only chance to do so.

Like I said, I do not pretend to know the ins and outs of the business of sports. There is one thing that I can speak on with at least some sort of knowledge though, and it is the concept that so many people seem incapable of understanding, and that is the concept of why the highest paid athletes in each sport make the amount of money that they do.

Right now, the highest paid athletes in our four major professional sports are Giancarlo Stanton, Andrew Luck, Alexander Ovechkin, and Mike Conley. When you think of our sports, those are not likely to be the names that come to mind when it comes to the top of their respective professions. Aside from Ovechkin, who I think many would argue is the best player in the NHL, those other three names are not the faces of their respective leagues.

Is Giancarlo Stanton a great baseball player? Yes, he is (although certainly try to overlook his subpar numbers in 2016). Is Conley a great basketball player and is Luck a great football player? Yes, they are. However, I highly doubt that any sports fan, casual or hardcore, would name those three as the best in their respective businesses. So why then, are they the ones making the most money? Well, the answer, in the simplest of terms, is this: timing.

It is well documented that the NBA salary cap just exploded, and the contracts we have seen being signed over the past month have been unprecedented. Kevin Durant was obviously the biggest name on the market, but he signed a deal worth $54 million, while Mike Conley signed a deal worth $153 million. How is that possible? It is possible because of the timing of the deals. Kevin Durant just signed a two-year deal with an opt-out clause after the first year. That means he will play this season in his new hometown of Oakland, opt out of his deal next year, and if all goes according to the Warriors' plan, he will re-sign a long-term deal next summer. I will bypass all of the math and the details, but because of the way the salary cap will increase exponentially again next summer, and because Durant will once again be a free agent since he can opt out of his deal, one year from now, we could be talking about Durant signing a deal worth over $200 million. $153 million for Mike Conley? That will be nothing compared to what Durant can make next summer. Durant will make more money because the time at which he signs his deal.

So Durant has already broken the bank this summer, and he will shatter it next summer. What will be even more fun next summer is to see what happens when his new teammate, Stephen Curry, becomes a free agent as well. Curry will experience his first unrestricted free agency period next summer, and if Durant will be due to shatter the bank, then Curry will probably help Durant shatter it and then burn the remains down to the ground after that. This is probably already getting repetitive, but I am trying to make this a point. Curry will be able to sign such a big deal because of the timing in which he signs it.

Before I continue this unbelievably amateurish look at the business of sports, I want to just throw in a history lesson as well. Decades ago, before anyone knew who Kevin Durant or Mike Conley or Stephen Curry or Giancarlo Stanton even were, athletes were tied to the teams that drafted them due to something known as a reserve clause. In the most basic of terms, what the reserve clause did was tie every player to his own team on a year to year basis. Free agency did not exist. Every player was offered a one-year contract prior to every season, and his only options were to sign the deal or to hold out in hopes of either being offered more money by his team, or for his team to trade him. There was no such thing as offering his services to the highest bidder.

You signed your deal or you did not play. Those were the only options. The NFL has had the franchise tag and the transition tag in place for many years now, and while it is not exactly the same as the reserve clause, it is something of a distant cousin. It is also why the NFL is able to control the money it pays to its players more than any other league allows. Just like decades ago, NFL players can in many ways be "held hostage" by their own teams, with their only recourse being the ability to hold out. It is why we hear about holdouts in the NFL much more so than in any other sport, and it is why the defending Super Bowl champions have still been unable to come to terms with Von Miller thus far, with training camp now less than a month away.

Casual sports fans have most likely never heard of the name Curt Flood, and it is likely that many ardent sports fans might only know his name but not really understand how influential he was to the business of professional sports that we know today. Flood was an All-Star caliber player, but his decision to challenge Major League Baseball and take his case all the way to the Supreme Court laid the groundwork for guys like Kevin Durant and Mike Conley to make as much money as they will now. Again, I will spare you the details, but thanks to Flood, free agency became commonplace in all professional sports, and it allowed our athletes to truly join the business world where your worth is truly open to the highest bidder.

So, with all of these history lessons aside, let's focus once again on the multi-million dollar contracts we see being signed today. I already explained why Durant, and then probably Curry as well, will soon become the highest paid NBA players. Next up is the NFL. With Andrew Luck recently becoming the highest paid player in the league, I think we can at least see a bit more justification than in the NBA. Luck plays the most important position in all of sports, he is young and just entering the prime of his career, and expectations in Indianapolis will be sky high as long as he is their quarterback.

Prior to Luck signing his deal, I remember nothing but outrage at the fact that Joe Flacco had signed an enormous contract with the Baltimore Ravens. There was no way he was the best at his position in the league, so why was he the highest paid then? Once again, it was because of timing. His contract happened to expire the year after he led the Ravens to a Super Bowl championship, and therefore the team had no choice but to pay him in order to keep him.

Cam Newton is making over $118 million, and I think many would say that he has the potential to be the future face of the league once guys like Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers retire. However, he is not the highest paid player in the NFL because he signed his current deal prior to last season, a year in which his team went 15-1, he won MVP, and he went to the Super Bowl. Imagine what he would sign for if his contract were up this offseason instead of last offseason. Surely, he would now be the highest paid player in the league. Now don't get me wrong, I am sure that Newton is not complaining about that $118 million, but the timing of his deal just happened to be a year late, and because of that, he is not making as much money as Andrew Luck.

Basically, the best way to describe the highest paid player in the NFL is by looking at who the "next man up" is. And the next man up in terms of contract status is Matthew Stafford. Barring a spectacular season from Stafford and the Detroit Lions, I doubt Stafford will make as much money as Luck. However, do not be surprised when Stafford signs a deal worth more than most other quarterbacks in the league. And he can thank the timing of his deal for that.

Finally, if you thought Kevin Durant and Andrew Luck were making a lot of money, then make sure you are sitting down when you hear what Bryce Harper signs for following the 2018 MLB season. With one MVP under his belt already (and the definite possibility of another before 2018), Harper will become a free agent when he is 26 years old. As of today, Harper has hit 116 home runs in his career. He has hit 19 this season, with 52 RBI and 73 games left to play. So, let's shoot low and say he finishes the season with 35 home runs and 90 RBI. In actuality, barring injury, he will probably surpass at least one, if not both, of those numbers.

That means, after 2016, at the age of 24, Harper will have 132 home runs and 338 RBI. Barry Bonds, the all-time leader in career home runs had 84 after his age 24 season. No matter what you think about Bonds, how about we compare Harper to Babe Ruth? After his age 24 season, he had hit 76 home runs. 76 for Ruth. 84 for Bonds. 132 for Harper. And don't forget, I am shooting low here. It is surely possible that Harper ends up with more than 132 after 2018. Add that on to his overall ability, and once again, the timing of when his deal will be signed, and we are going to get a contract unlike anything we have ever seen in the history of sports.

With Giancarlo Stanton standing right now as the standard bearer for all of our sports at $325 million, I think the low estimate for Harper has to be $400 million when he signs in 2018. It might seem crazy, but I think Harper might be the first $500 million man we have ever seen, and once again, since I need to drive this point home, it is all because of timing.

Is Giancarlo Stanton the best baseball player in our game? No. But was he the last superstar we saw able to sign a big deal? Yes. Is Bryce Harper the best player in the game today? Arguably, yes. Is his time up for a new deal? No, but it is coming soon. That is exactly the same case in all of our other sports. Andrew Luck and Mike Conley are not the best in their respective leagues, but their ability and their timing matched up perfectly.

In many cases, the timing of these deals are pure luck, but sometimes it is better to be lucky than good. However, if you can match lucky and good together, then you can have a future just like Bryce Harper's. He may not be the highest paid player today, but being the highest paid player today does not mean you will remain at that peak forever. You could have sold your mansion right before our economy collapsed in 2009, or you could have sold it for a lesser value in 2011. The business of sports sometimes is just like the stock market. Bryce Harper is not trying to sell his house after the baseball economy collapsed. He is going to sell it when it is likely going to be thriving in 2018.

Buy low and sell high. Bear market and bull market. Economics and sports are more connected than most people realize, and when you are Mike Conley, Andrew Luck, and Bryce Harper, you are striking while the iron is hot. You may not be the best in your field, but your timing is impeccable, and in this thing we call life, timing is everything.

Daily Diamondbacks Update: Arizona will look to avoid a sweep in San Francisco tonight in a very rare occurrence for the Diamondbacks, a nationally televised game on ESPN. Brad Ziegler was traded to Boston, and the team already seems to be in a seller mode even though we have yet to reach the All-Star break. America's first baseman has looked a lot better lately, and Jake Lamb is in the midst of a breakout year, but there have just been to many holes to fill. With Ziegler now out the door, it will be even tougher to lock down games in the late innings, but then again if the team keeps losing, I guess there really won't be too many late innings that need to be locked down anyway.

Daily Giants Update: Training camp is just getting closer minute by minute...

Daily NBA Update: Nothing new here to report, as it seems most of the chess pieces have been moved and we can being to slowly focus on the beginning of the 2017 season.

The Kevin Durant saga

We are not even a month removed from a thrilling seven game NBA Finals series, and it already seems like the distant past thanks to free agency and the draft. Former MVP Derrick Rose is on the move from Chicago to New York, Ben Simmons is on the way to Philadelphia, and Dwyane Wade, who seemed destined to stay in Miami forever, is the newest member of the Chicago Bulls. However, what was clearly the biggest move of the offseason was the decision of Kevin Durant to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder and sign with the Golden State Warriors.

Before I delve into this more deeply, let me give you some background on how I feel about superstar NBA players moving from team to team. Durant was a free agent. Emphasis on the word FREE. If you look up the term "free agent" on dictionary.com, it specifically references sports. It defines the term as "a professional athlete who is not under contract and is free to auction off his or her services." Free to auction off his or her services. Nowhere in the definition does it mention where the athlete grew up. Nowhere does it mention the team he was drafted by. Nowhere does it mention what the outside world deems right or wrong. He is free to auction off his services. So, as is the case with pretty much every NBA discussion in 2016, let's relate this to LeBron James.

When James left Cleveland in 2010 as a free agent and decided to sign with the Miami Heat, the outside world was highly critical of him doing so. And by outside world, I mean fans of all the teams that he did not sign with who would have loved him if he signed with their favorite team. In retrospect, I do believe that he made a mistake in broadcasting his announcement live on television, but in no other way do I find any fault in his choice to join the Heat. We were all watching the telecast, and if James decided to sign with a team other than Miami, the people in his new city would love him and never criticize him at all. We were all watching, and if you hold it against him that he did not sign with your team, then you are lying to yourself. I cannot prove that, but I stand 100% behind my belief that it is true.

So with that said, let's look at Kevin Durant's decision to sign (as a free agent, don't forget) with the Golden State Warriors. When it was first mentioned earlier in the year that Durant might even be considering signing with Golden State, I think most of us thought it was crazy and that it would never happen. The Warriors were coming off a championship season, and then proceeded to win an NBA record 73 games and reach the Finals again. Was it somehow possible that this team, seemingly at the peak of its power, actually bring on one of the best players in the game? I doubted it, but like many others, I was surprisingly wrong. Golden State has had two magical seasons in a row, and despite losing to the Cavaliers in the Finals a month ago, they just added Kevin Durant. It seems too crazy to actually be true. However, in this day and age, it is clearly a reality.

This is a video game move. It can't be true, can it? One of the all-time great teams has just somehow added one of the greatest players in the game, at the expense of one of its biggest rivals. This is not LeBron leaving Cleveland to join Miami. This is bigger than that. This is not Karl Malone and Gary Payton joining the Lakers to try to get a ring at the end of their careers. It is bigger than that. When the Boston Celtics put together their "big three" of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen, it was due to trades and not free agency. Shaquille O'Neal is one of the most dominant and beloved players to ever play the game and he played for seemingly half of the teams in the NBA. This is not any of that. Kevin Durant joining the Golden State Warriors is unprecedented. No matter what your age is and no matter what your opinion of him now is, one thing we can all agree on is that we have never before seen anything like this.

When LeBron James left Cleveland and joined the Miami Heat, he did not do what Kevin Durant did. James' last series with the Cavaliers was a loss to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. That image of James walking off the court and taking off his jersey after losing to Boston will never be forgotten. It seemed like the perfect indication of what was to come. However you viewed it at the time, his decision to sign with the Heat after that season only enhanced the belief of many that he had in a way given up on the Cavaliers. The Miami Heat were a rival in the conference, but they had not just eliminated the Cavaliers. The Celtics had eliminated them, and that is why Durant's decision needs to be seen as more of a stunner than James' decision.

In the Western Conference Finals, the Oklahoma City Thunder held a three games to one advantage over the Golden State Warriors. It seemed as if Durant and James were on the way to another collision course in the NBA Finals. However, a funny thing happened along the way, and the Thunder lost three consecutive games. The Warriors had eliminated them. Not only was the collapse worse than what happened with James against Boston, but what Durant did was, in my eyes, even more so.

Like I said before, as a free agent, Durant is free to play wherever he wants. Some people may believe that he owes it to the fans in Oklahoma City to stay there, but in all honestly, he does not. Plenty of NBA players would love to play their entire career with one team, but that does not always happen. Remember Hakeem Olajuwon playing for the Raptors? Remember Michael Jordan playing for the Wizards? I mentioned Karl Malone and Gary Payton before, and the same goes for them.

The difference between those guys and Durant is the point in their careers that they decided to change teams. Olajuwon, Malone, Jordan, and Payton all joined their second teams when they were past the prime of their careers. Durant is still in the prime of his career. In fact, Durant is not even 30 years old, and he probably has a whole lot left in the tank to remain a top player in the league. That is why this is unprecedented. Compare his move to James' all you want, but Durant left his original team to join the one team in the Western Conference that was better than his. The Thunder had a firm grasp on their series against Golden State, but they let it slip away. For that reason, and that reason alone, Durant has entered a category entirely of his own.

Many current and former players have criticized Durant for what he decided to do, and I cannot argue with anyone that feels what he did was in some ways "cheap" or "weak." I totally see their point of view. However, while I see where they are coming from, I am not totally on their side. Durant was free to do whatever he wanted, and what he wanted was to join the Warriors. The majority of fans around the league may not like it, but they will just have to deal with it. We will see once the games start next season how they react to him and the Warriors. If he gets booed every time he touches the ball it would not surprise me.

It was his choice to make, and he made it. He made the bed and now he has to lie in it. None of us know what will happen next season. The Cavaliers still seem fully able to repeat as champions, but Durant joining the Warriors has made Golden State the clear cut favorites to win it all. Durant may have been eliminated by the team he just joined, and he will have to face the public backlash that comes along with it. Obviously, he is willing to do just that.

While I cannot say for sure who will be on top of the NBA world a year from now, what I can say for sure is that the expectations of Kevin Durant have just arguably become higher than any expectations of any superstar in the history of the sport. 73 wins may be a reach, but we saw a few weeks ago that 73 wins means nothing if it is not punctuated by an NBA title. An NBA title is the only way that Durant can prove this move was worth it. Quite honestly, for his decision to be worth it, he will probably have to win multiple titles, but let's first focus on winning just one.

Was it "cheap" for Durant to join the Warriors? Possibly, yes it was. If you argued that it was definitely so, I would not have a problem with it. Even so, as a free agent, he was entitled to join any team he wanted to, and he chose Golden State. Burn his jersey in Oklahoma if you want, but you are doing nothing other than trying to get on TV via YouTube or Twitter. Think less of him if you want, but I am sure that your opinion does not matter to him.

At the end of the day, in the NBA as we currently know it, nothing matters more than championship rings. Bill Russell and his teammates set the standard with the Celtics years and years ago, and that is still the ultimate judge of any and all players. Jordan has six. Kobe has five. LeBron has three. Durant has zero. In the year 2046, long after Durant has retired, the scoring titles and All Star appearances will be nice, but he will not want to be mentioned with Karl Malone and Charles Barkley and Allen Iverson. All of those guys were spectacular in their day, but none of them reached the pinnacle of the sport.

After Harrison Barnes and Matthew Dellavedova and Steven Adams are forgotten names, Kevin Durant will be judged by how many titles he wins. Our children will not care what team he played for when he won those titles. They will not care who was hurt or suspended in any particular game of any particular series. When they type Kevin Durant into the search bar on Google, the first thing they will see is how many titles he won, and I think Durant has realized that.

Call him and his choice to join the Warriors whatever you want to call it. You are entitled to your opinion. My opinion is that he can play anywhere he chooses. However, my opinion is also that, as of today, he has chosen to take on more pressure than any superstar, in any sport, has ever known.

Anything less than an NBA championship in 2017 for Kevin Durant is a failure. Don't give me injuries. Don't give me bad calls. Don't give me tough defense or anything else. Give me a title, or you have not done what you should do. The Spurs and Clippers and Cavaliers will stand strong, but there are no more excuses for Kevin Durant. It is championship or bust.

Daily NBA Update: As I mentioned before, Dwyane Wade surprised the basketball world and signed with the Chicago Bulls yesterday. It is tough to picture Wade ever playing for a team other than the Miami Heat, but just as this piece has emphasized, the bottom line is winning. If Wade thinks his best chance to win is in Chicago, then more power to him.

Daily Diamondbacks Update: A tough loss last night has made it now nine losses in the last 11 games. Zack Greinke is headed to the disabled list and Shelby Miller is now 2-9. On the bright side, Paul Goldschmidt is once again headed to the All Star game, but if that is the only positive sign of the first half, then it is a problem. The team ends the first half with a three game set in San Francisco.

Daily Giants Update: We are now just over two months away from Week 1 in Dallas, and with the way the Diamondbacks have been playing thus far, 4:25 PM on September 11th cannot come fast enough.

An international disaster

Right now we are in the midst of a bit of a lull in the American sports calendar. The NBA and NHL seasons are over, NFL training camps have yet to begin, and Major League Baseball is still pre-All Star break, so baseball games are not yet in the national spotlight. So right now, the national spotlight is really on soccer and tennis, and that is very unusual in the United States. The Copa America tournament ended last night in wild fashion, the European soccer tournament just reached the knockout stage, and Wimbledon is now officially underway. It is a time that is just begging for something in the sports world to grab our attention, and if we look a little closer, then we can find just that, but we need to pay attention to it for all the wrong reasons.

The Olympics used to be an event that united the world, even if it were only for one month every couple years. I will always believe that the World Cup is the sporting event that unifies worldwide attention more than any other, but the Olympics should be second. Whether it is the summer or winter games, I have never been an Olympic fanatic, but it is always a nice break from the sports we normally enjoy in this country.

Everyone knows about the "Dream Team" in the early 1990's and the impact it had on basketball throughout the world. An all-star team of American basketball players demolishing international foes may not have seemed especially significant at the time, but since then we have seen the game of basketball grow exponentially on a worldwide scale and in the long run, the Dream Team has been something that benefitted the game of basketball. No longer is the game just full of Americans, but the NBA is now full of players from throughout the world. Hockey has always been at the forefront in the Olympics as well, as the NHL has become infused with talent from all over the world that we can watch compete for national pride at the Olympics once every four years.

It is great to watch basketball and hockey in the Olympics but, at least in my opinion, the best thing about the Olympics is being able to watch sports that we never see on a daily basis. The winter games are known for the bobsled, the luge, ski jumping, speed skating, and what I really enjoyed watching two years ago, the biathlon, which combines skiing and, of all things, rifle shooting. The competitors cross-country ski with rifles on their backs, then get down on their stomachs and try to hit targets with those rifles, and continue to alternate between the two over the length of the course. I was enthralled by it because of how unique it was. While I was always cheering for the American contestants, I just enjoyed watching the event because it was something we never get to see at any time other than during the Olympics.

Those were the Winter Olympics. The summer games should be the same way. Michael Phelps came to fame for his swimming prowess during international events, and it is only because of the summer games that I know about things like the breaststroke or the butterfly, and I think that most Americans feel the same way. Sure, it might be nice to watch our basketball team destroy its opponents, but I would venture to guess that at least 99% of NBA fans would rather see their favorite team win an NBA title than see the American basketball team win a gold medal. When it comes to NBA players, I think they feel the same way. LeBron James did not break down into tears when he won a gold medal like he did when he led the Cavaliers to an NBA title. Other Olympic sports that include professional players are the same way. I am sure that most any tennis player would prefer a win at Wimbledon more than an Olympic gold medal. A professional golfer would trade a gold medal for a green jacket in a minute. I don't tune in to the Olympics to see LeBron James or Rory McIlroy or Andy Murray compete. I tune in to watch those athletes in the biathlon or the speed skaters or the bobsled teams filled with names I do not know. That is the reason why the Olympics that are just over a month away have the potential to be an international disaster.

When the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chooses the sites for its games, there are many factors that they need to take into account. Do the sites have the means to host a worldwide event? That means a stable infrastructure, a workforce that can handle any construction needs, an ability to handle the accommodation of all of the athletes, media, and fans that come along with the event, and many other things.

Rio de Janeiro was selected by the IOC as the site for the 2016 games after a vote in 2009. Despite what, at the time, seemed like some small questions about the capability of the city to host a worldwide event, it was still years down the road. Brazil is a country more than capable of taking on a worldwide audience (it hosted the 2014 World Cup), so at the time of the vote, it seemed like Rio would be a worthy city to host the games. However, along the way, a few things happened, and now with just over a month to go until the opening ceremonies, Rio is in the news for all the wrong reasons.

As I said before, when I get alerts on my phone that LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, and Stephen Curry have decided not to play in the Olympics, it does not bother me at all. If the best NBA players decide to pass on the Olympics right after they finish a long and grueling NBA season, it does nothing to dissuade me from watching the games. The American "B squad" could easily win a gold medal, and with guys like Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, and Kyrie Irving still deciding to play, we will not even be sending a "B squad" to the games. It will be more like an "A- squad." The Olympics are not for the professional basketball players. They are for the athletes in other events in which the peak of their career is an Olympic gold medal. That means the American fencing teams, the American rowing teams, the American water polo teams. The athletes on those teams are the ones to which the Olympics mean the most. The athletes on those teams are the ones that work their entire lives to play in Rio on the world's biggest stages.

So with all of that said, this is where it is time to focus on Rio and its preparation, or lack thereof, as the 2016 Olympic host. The controversies that have already begun before the games have even begun are many, and I will give the city the benefit of the doubt in some of those cases. The Zika virus is what is probably the most known problem when it comes to the upcoming games. This disease, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, is usually never fatal, but it has been, and will continue to be, a major factor in the decision of athletes, fans, and members of the media to attend these games.

The fact that anyone attending these games needs to worry about such a disease is bad enough, but when you look a bit deeper into the details of the virus, it only gets worse. The virus usually will cause something similar to the effect of food poisoning in those who contract it. Unpleasant? Yes. Something warranting consideration by potential Olympic medalists? Absolutely not.

Even worse is the long term effects of the Zika virus, which include damage to an unborn fetus. Olympic athletes are usually within the age range of those planning on having children in the somewhat near future, and this is why the Zika virus really comes to the forefront. The next summer games will not come around until 2020. By then, it is likely that many of these athletes will, for one reason or another, be either unwilling or unable to compete. Maybe it will be due to age. Maybe it will be due to familial responsibilities. Maybe it will be due to any other type of limitation. This may sound like a very pessimistic point of view, but for many of these athletes, 2016 will be their only chance to reach the peak of their athletic careers. The fact that both women and men (who can transmit the disease sexually) even have to take this risk into consideration is not something we need to be worried about one month before these games begin.

However, unlike what I may be using as a pessimistic platform, I am still willing to give the city of Rio the benefit of the doubt. Obviously, no country or city can anticipate the onset of a disease transmitted by insects, but the fact that it did happen is still a massive concern. If the virus were the only cause for concern, then in my mind, despite my better judgement, Rio still gets a pass. Nevertheless, the Zika virus is only the beginning.

Another log that has already been thrown on to the fire occurred earlier this year when the governor of Rio was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This, even more so than the recession and the onset of the virus, can be explained as another unforeseen scenario. Following this, 81 year old Francisco Dornelles was appointed as the acting governor and was thrust into a role that I am sure he had no expectation of assuming. Again, I will do my best to give the city of Rio, and the country of Brazil, the benefit of the doubt. However, that is where my sympathy ends.

In recent days, Dornelles spoke to the press about what he thought could be major problems for the upcoming games, and described the situation as potentially calamitous. As I said before, Rio has known that it will be hosting these games for seven years now. For that reason, I feel that some of the problems they still have not addressed are inexplicable and unforgiveable. The first of those problems is the lack of public transportation to and from the sites of the games. Dornelles admitted that money that was supposed to be used to expand the metro lines was never found, and that people might have difficulties reaching some of the sites. He also admitted that, partly due to this, the security at the games will most likely not be sufficient in some places. To put it into his own words, "...without the security and without the Metro lines there will be difficulties." Really? I never would have guessed that with a lack of sufficient transportation to and from the Olympic sites that security forces would have a hard time doing their jobs!

Finally, what prompted me to write this piece and what really caught my attention when it came to this topic was the water conditions in and around Rio. As I stated earlier, events like rowing and sailing and the pentathlon are in large part unique to the summer Olympics. When is the last time you watched rowing on television or even wondered at all about rowing in general? Most likely, the answer is never. That is what the Olympics are for. Every four years, these men and women who devote years and years of their lives to these sports have their one moment to shine in front of the world, and right now, we are about a month away from that moment. The city of Rio should be proud to provide such a stage. However, the city is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. It is absolutely embarrassing itself.

As a city prepares to showcase itself on the world stage, it owes not only itself, but its inhabitants and its government, the benefit of the doubt that it will shine as brightly as possible while the world watches. All you have to do is look up the conditions of the water in and around Rio, and you will see first hand that the city has utterly failed in its responsibility to do that.

The water conditions are absolutely atrocious. Schools of fish are washing up dead on the shores. Garbage, that literally includes baby dolls and living room couches, are floating in the water. Scientists are saying that while the conditions may not actually be deadly for humans, they are certainly riddled with viruses. The disorder that surrounds the water conditions are beyond awful. They are utterly dreadful, and to think that athletes from around the world will actually have to compete under such conditions is disgraceful.

Athletes involved in water sports are talking about taking "simple" precautions. Those precautions involve wearing specialized suits and goggles to avoid any and all contact with the contaminated water. They involve encapsulating water bottles in order to avoid them coming into contact with any water outside their boats or kayaks or canoes. How can the city of Rio think this is acceptable?

These rowers and swimmers and sailors have spent their entire lives training for this moment. They have no business having to consider such deplorable conditions on top of the pressure they already will have to face.

I give many of these athletes credit for attempting to take these conditions in stride, but at the same time, I want to question their judgement. It is because of conditions like this that I find absolutely no fault at all with professional golfers or basketball players when they choose to bypass this shot at winning an Olympic gold medal. However, it is also tough to hold any grudge with other athletes that see this as their only chance at glory.

The chances of myself and anyone that agrees with me actually affecting the IOC executives is miniscule at best. In all honesty, I will probably watch many of the upcoming Olympic events, even if it is just to see how bad the conditions will be for some of the competitors. The fact that these people will have to deal with attention like this for all the wrong reasons is completely unfair to them though.

I will be keeping an eye on the medal count this coming August, but I will also harbor a resentment for the IOC when I watch these games. It may not make a scintilla of a difference on the selection of future hosts of the Olympic games, but I just hope that getting the word out about the reprehensible conditions in Rio can enlighten someone out there.

Daily Diamondbacks Update: Former Diamondback Mark Reynolds hit a bomb of a walk off homerun yesterday to beat us in Colorado. Hopefully tonight will be better as a struggling Phillies team visits the desert. Right now the focus needs to be on winning individual series', and I think that can happen against Philadelphia.

Daily Giants Update: Most prognostications I have come across have crowned a healthy Dallas team as the upcoming NFC East champions, but with the nature of the NFL, we all know that health is the greatest of equalizers. We are still a few weeks from training camp though, so all is positive in 32 NFL cities, and that includes the team in blue at Met Life Stadium.

Daily NBA/NHL Update: Drafts have just been completed, and we are about as far away from the opening of the season as we will ever get. Any offseason news has the possibility to be significant, but there is nothing to report on that front right now in either league.

A different type of rookie initiation

When we think of young players transitioning from amateur athlete to professional athlete, we focus on their abilities. Can they hit a curveball? Can they dunk a basketball? Can they catch a football? There is no doubt that these are important questions to ask, since these amateurs are about to attempt to make a living playing a professional sport. However, we never think of the lives of these guys off the field. While we see them in the spotlight, the reality is that many of them are not always in the spotlight. These are young kids becoming adults just like all of us fans have become. That is why when I heard of a new program being instituted by the Indianapolis Colts, I was both surprised and pleased.

The NFL used to have a rookie symposium that was held for all drafted players. This was basically a crash course in life off the field for an NFL player. However, the league did away with this course and while it may have seemed like a bad idea at the time, I think in the long run it will actually end up being a good thing.

The first flaw with the symposium was that it was only for rookies that were drafted. NFL teams have 53 players on their active rosters each week, as well as players on injured lists and practice squads. After seven rounds of the draft (including compensatory picks), we had 253 players drafted in 2016. Divide 253 by the number of teams in the league (32), and you get an average of just under eight drafted players per team. So if the league held the rookie symposium for all of those players, then about eight rookies on each team would get the league's lesson on life as a professional.
That is great, right? Not so fast. The rookie program that the Colts just held was for 30 rookie players. That means that they were bringing in 22 players as rookies that would not have been invited to the league symposium.

Again, let's take a look at the math. To make it even, I will say that each team will bring in an average of 20 undrafted rookies this year. 20 multiplied by 32 is 640. Once again, to make it even, let's round down to 600. That means that there will be 600 young men who have spent their entire lives working at just a shot in the NFL entering the league in 2016.

I know this is a lot of numbers, and I am by no means a mathematics major, but I want to use the numbers to drive my point home. 600 is a very, very big number in this case. While the majority of these guys completed at least some college credits, it is likely that, for better or worse, they were much more focused on football than they were on going to class. Football had most likely been their main focus since they were in middle school.

From what I can find, about 20% of the players in the NFL were not drafted. That means that prior to this season, 20% of the league did not have to attend this rookie symposium. That is why the fact that the symposium no longer takes place, and rookie initiation into the league is left up to each individual team is something that I think benefits everyone in the long run. Those 600 undrafted players now have a chance to at least get some sort of education about what it is like to be a professional athlete.

The fact that the Colts just held a course on dining etiquette is easy to laugh at. Why do these big football players need to know about which fork is used to eat a salad or which side of the plate your water glass is on at a restaurant? And in reality, most of them probably do not need to know that. But the Colts' course was more than just dinner table etiquette. It was about how to handle bringing in paychecks the size of which they have likely never seen before. It was about how to deal with family and friends after you made this money. It was about the positives and negatives of media outlets like Facebook and Twitter. It may seem meaningless, but it really has a lot of meaning. When we think back to the night of the draft and the Laremy Tunsil fiasco, young men should realize that these are lessons are invaluable, no matter how petty they seem.

Another reason I like the fact that each team now is able to conduct its own rookie introduction course is that each individual team can tailor its course to the market they are in. Since I already mentioned Tunsil, I will use his as an example. He is a first round draft pick who will be coming into millions of dollars and thrown into a life in Miami. Imagine all of the temptations that come along with that. 99.9% of young men in their early 20's would blow that money faster than they would ever think possible. However, since Tunsil now has the responsibility of representing a multi-million dollar franchise and a multi-billion dollar enterprise, he needs to learn how to handle himself in a respectable manner. These team-tailored programs can educate him and all of Miami's other rookies about these responsibilities in a detailed and structured manner.

Now, let's look at the possible life of a rookie joining a franchise at the other end of the lifestyle spectrum. Shaq Lawson was drafted 19th overall by the Buffalo Bills. Like Tunsil, he will still have the pressure of being a first round pick weighing on his soldiers. However, playing your home games in Buffalo is much different than playing your home games in Miami. Therefore, the fact that the Bills can develop their own rookie program not only helps him and Buffalo's other rookie players, but it helps the Bills organization as well.

Teams can teach these young players about whatever they feel is necessary based upon the life of becoming a professional athlete. Sure, dinner table manners are nice, but for a guy like Shaq Lawson who went to college in South Carolina, he should be able to learn more about life in Buffalo. Obviously, it snows a ton there. Maybe there are routes and roads to take during bad weather that will get Lawson to practice faster. Maybe there are areas of the city to live where he can be surrounded by a larger percentage of younger people. I don't know, and he most likely does not know either. The Buffalo Bills organization does know though. That is why they need to educate these rookies about things like that. It may seem insignificant to me or you, but for these kids who will now be making a living in completely foreign territory, it is extremely significant.

I do not want to sound like someone that thinks each and every rookie that enters the NFL is completely clueless about life off the field. I am sure that plenty of them will have no problem adjusting to life as a professional. However, I like that teams can now provide much more useful guidance for them than what a generic rookie symposium did. As is the case with any sort of class or program, there will be many people who learn from them and there will be many people who find them completely meaningless. How these young men decide to handle these programs is only up to them.

It is easy to view the NFL as a monopoly that treats its players as nothing more than disposable income that can be endlessly mixed and matched in whatever way the league deems fit. In many ways, I could not argue that fact. In this case though, I am glad to see that the league is providing some guidance to its youngest players. The players may be nothing more than commodities, but any sort of real-life education they can provide them with helps everyone in the long run. Maybe the league has one less off-field issue to deal with, and maybe some kid who never makes a roster has a better understanding of life off the football field. In this case, I give the league, as well as each franchise that takes advantage of this opportunity, credit for doing what is best for all parties involved.

Daily Diamondbacks Update: After sweeping the Phillies in four games, Arizona won again last night in Toronto, and the five-game winning streak is the longest of the season. Robbie Ray faces off against J.A. Happ this afternoon as the Diamondbacks look to make it six in a row in a very rare visit above the border. And as a side note, if you have never seen Kevin Pillar play center field, then you are cheating yourself. The guy is a human highlight reel, and he made another spectacular grab yesterday.

Daily Giants Update: We still have over a month until training camp opens, so right now it is just preseason prognostication mode. If you are even a casual Giants fan, you know that predicting how the team plays makes winning the lottery seem easy. Hope for the best, and expect the unexpected. That is the life of a Giants fan in 2016.

Daily NBA Update: Unlike the NFL, the NBA wastes no time in getting the offseason underway following the completion of the season, as the draft is already tomorrow night. The 76ers have the first overall pick and have reportedly already informed LSU forward Ben Simmons that they will choose him, and that means it is likely that Brandon Ingram will go second overall to the Lakers. The Celtics pick third overall, and it seems like that is where the drama will really begin. Big names have been mentioned as possible draft day trade targets, and with free agency opening right after the draft, we could see a whole lot of big names on the move. It should be an exciting offseason for the NBA.

The LeBron James debate

Now that the 2016 NBA Finals are officially over, we can let the results sink in and immediately jump to thousands of conclusions prematurely. The seven game series was at times a dud, thanks to multiple blowouts, but in the end, we got a great seventh game, and that is all that really matters. There is the question about Stephen Curry's uneven performances, there is the question about Draymond Green's suspension and the impact it had on the series, and many other interesting talking points. However, obviously the biggest point of contention after the series is what it did for the ever-changing and evolving legacy of LeBron James.

I will save you the time and not go into detail about the expectations of LeBron coming into the league straight out of high school and his background. If you are reading this, then you already know all of that. What I do need to say though, is that I am a LeBron James fan, and I always have been. I am not one of those people that hated him out of the blue after he decided to leave Cleveland and go play in Miami. At the time he made that move he was a free agent. The emphasis there is on FREE. That means that he can go play wherever he chooses, no matter what other people think. He went to Miami, and all of a sudden millions of people hated him. Then when he returned to Cleveland, millions of people liked him "again." If you are one of those people, then get out of here. I have no time for your cynicism or jealousy of him. I will stop my rant about that there, even though I could go on forever about it. Right now, I just want to focus on LeBron James as of today.

Stephen Curry has been the league MVP for the past two seasons, and he has deserved the award both times. After blossoming into a superstar last season and winning a title, he did what was hard to imagine and got even better this season. He shattered shooting records and was clearly the best player during the regular season. All of these accolades never took anything away from James though. LeBron has been the MVP of the league four times, and he has now won three championships. No one ever was suggesting that Curry had overtaken James in terms of all around ability, but with the way that Curry was playing, the topic had been raised, and somewhat legitimately, that LeBron might now be number two in the pecking order of NBA superstars.

When LeBron's Cavaliers met Curry's Warriors last year in the NBA Finals, it was clear that Cleveland was at a distinct disadvantage. Kevin Love had been hurt early in the playoffs, and Kyrie Irving was injured in the first game of the Finals, and he missed the remainder of the series. LeBron was without the second and third best players on his team, and role players were now thrust into starting positions, while bench riders became significant factors coming off the bench.

While James clearly was playing with a team that was not near 100%, I do think that many people gave him too much of a pass. It was as if he was playing one against five in the eyes of many. While Cleveland was not the team it was during the regular season and into the postseason, this was still the team that came out of the Eastern Conference. It wasn't as if it was LeBron and a bunch of guys they picked up at the park on the way to Game Two. LeBron played very well throughout the series, but Cleveland was unable to overcome a great Golden State team, and the Warriors won the series in six games. Does LeBron get a pass for that? Somewhat, yes. Totally though? No. So after last season, LeBron had reached the Finals six times (once with Cleveland, four times with Miami, and then again with Cleveland), and had two rings to show for it. 99.9% of the players in the NBA would love two championship rings, but for James, the bar had been set much higher.

In 2007 when James led the Cavaliers to the Finals against the San Antonio Spurs, Cleveland was simply not the better team, and San Antonio swept Cleveland. Then, in 2011, LeBron and the Miami Heat lost in six games to the Dallas Mavericks in what is the biggest stain on James' resume. The Heat took a 2-1 series lead into the fourth game of the series and LeBron then had what many consider to be his worst game ever, scoring only eight points on 27% shooting in 45 minutes. Miami lost that game, and the next two as well, and LeBron was criticized without end for his collapse in the final three games of the series that Dallas eventually won in six games.

In 2012, things got much better as the Heat beat the Oklahoma City Thunder and James finally captured his first title. Miami then won again the following year, and James was the best player on the floor in the deciding seventh game after what was (in my opinion) the most thrilling basketball game ever thanks to Ray Allen's miracle shot in Game Six. However, the next year the Heat were blown off the floor by the Spurs in five games, and LeBron was now 2-3 in the Finals. His teams had been completely overwhelmed by the Spurs twice, and he had shriveled once against the Mavericks. Despite winning two titles, he had three losses that stuck out in the minds of many. When LeBron returned to Cleveland and went to the Finals last season, while his team was clearly not close to full strength, they still did lose, and his record in NBA Finals stood at 2-4. Fine by the standards of most since he did have the two rings, but not acceptable for someone who was destined to be the greatest player that the game had ever seen.

Then came the 2016 Finals. With a Cavaliers team that was now fully healthy getting a chance at revenge against the Warriors, LeBron had no excuses. Nothing other than a title would be acceptable. Golden State blew Cleveland off the floor in the first two games, but Cleveland responded by beating the Warriors by 30 in the third game. With Game Four in Cleveland, and the Cavs down two games to one, LeBron and his team were facing what could possibly be dire circumstances. A loss in the fourth game would mean that the series would shift back to Golden State with them having a chance to win the title at home in Game Five. And what happened? LeBron (along with Kyrie Irving) were terrible in the fourth quarter, and the Warriors took a 3-1 series lead and it seemed as if Cleveland was dead in the water. Most people (myself included) thought LeBron was looking at a fifth NBA Finals loss, with another dud performance in the games that mattered most. What we did not see though, was what LeBron James saw. This was going to be different. There would be no 2011 disappearing act. There would be no record points differential loss in five games like what he suffered against the Spurs in 2014 in Miami. Something changed in LeBron's mind, and as someone who has been a fan of his since he came into the league, I must say that it was a joy, and in many ways a relief, to witness.

Game five in Golden State. The Warriors had a chance to clinch a second consecutive championship on their home court. All the odds were against Cleveland. The only problem was, someone forgot to tell that to LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. They teamed up for a legendary performance in the fifth game, as they both scored 41 points, and despite still being down three games to two, they had Game Six back at home. They had to follow it up, and LeBron did just that. After scoring 41 points in the fifth game, he decided to match that, and he scored 41 points again in the sixth game.

After being down three games to one, Cleveland had won two straight, and as in the case in any sport, when it comes to Game Seven, all bets are off. Where the game is played does not matter. How you got there does not matter. It is one game for all the marbles, and in this case, it was for the NBA title. LeBron would either answer the bell and bring the city of Cleveland its first professional sports title in over 50 years, or he would suffer another NBA Finals defeat. He had two options to choose from, and right from the start, it was clear that he was going to answer the bell. He put up a triple-double, led the Cavaliers to their first ever title, and on the way blocked an Andre Iguodala layup that will surely go down as one of the best plays of his career. When the series ended, LeBron led both teams in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. It was clear he was the MVP of the series. Not only had he ended Cleveland's championship drought, but he had left his impact in the biggest of ways on the biggest of stages in the biggest of games. For LeBron, the fifth, six, and seventh games of the series were emphatic stamps on the positive side of his ever-critiqued legacy.

So after he led the Cavaliers back from a 3-1 deficit, the first time in NBA Finals history that any team has overcome such an obstacle, the biggest question was where it put him in the pantheon of greatest players of all time. I have heard all sorts of opinions from all sorts of people on this topic, and I have to say that the majority of them have been afflicted by the "prisoner of the moment" disease. Is LeBron an all-time great? Absolutely. If he retired tomorrow would he walk into the Hall of Fame? Yes. However, is he the greatest to ever play the game? No, and I don't think he ever will be able to claim that title.

Based upon overall talent and skill level, LeBron is in the conversation for the best to ever play the game. His ability to do everything on the court is legendary, and what he did this season only solidified that statement even more. There is a difference between overall ability and greatest to ever play the game though.

In my opinion, and I would guess the opinion of most basketball fans throughout the world, the greatest player ever is Michael Jordan. Jordan was an unbelievably great all around player, and his six championship rings validate that. Along the way with those six rings, he also won the MVP of the Finals six times, and never lost in the Finals once. Six for six, with six MVP's. It is impossible to overlook that. If he had not left the game for two years to for some reason I will never understand, try to become a professional baseball player, a legitimate argument could be made that he would have had a chance to win eight consecutive championships. He won three, left for two years, and then won three again. Add his scoring prowess, his defensive ability, and his overall impact on the sport, and I do not see anyone passing him in the foreseeable future.

In recent days, I have heard LeBron's name mentioned as the second best player to ever play the game, and I wholly disagree with those who think that as well. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has scored the most points ever in the NBA. He won six championships and six MVP awards. He also was probably the best college basketball player ever, winning three NCAA titles at UCLA. I know those three are not at the NBA level, but I think with nine overall titles, you could argue that Abdul-Jabbar is the greatest to ever play the game of basketball.

Next, let's look at the two transcendent centers from decades ago. Bill Russell won an unprecedented eleven titles with the Boston Celtics, and if you are asking about the "greatest winner" to ever play the game of basketball, then there is only one answer to that question, and Russell is it. However, the game was much different back decades ago when he played, and as it has evolved, the center position has become much less emphasized. The same can be said about Wilt Chamberlain. Wilt played in and era where someone of his size was such an aberration that his numbers can easily be skewed. So while Russell, Chamberlain, and Abdul-Jabbar all put up extraordinary numbers, I still do not think they are at the level of Jordan.

Now, since I am mostly focused on LeBron, I want to mention Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson. Those are the first two names that should come to mind when you think of the top tier of overall talent. Robertson played long enough ago that most fans today do not remember him, but he was the only player in the game to ever average a triple-double for an entire season. Ask any NBA fan how hard that is, and they will tell you it is nearly impossible. The only reason it is not impossible is the fact that Robertson actually did it. However, Robertson only won one title, and (somehow) only won one MVP award.

Magic Johnson is next. Magic won five titles, was the MVP in three of those series, and also was the league MVP three times. Until LeBron James came along, he was known as the greatest all-around player to ever play the game. By that I mean the greatest combination of size, scoring, passing, rebounding, and defensive ability. Jordan, Abdul-Jabbar, Chamberlain, and Russell can trump him in one of those categories individually, but in my opinion, Magic Johnson was the greatest ever to combine all of those attributes into one.

And before I delve into where LeBron fits in on this list, I want to recognize some of the other greats so they do not get overlooked. Hakeem Olajuwon, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Larry Bird, Elgin Baylor, Julius Erving, John Havlicek, Isiah Thomas. Those are just a few of the names that also need to be mentioned. However, now that LeBron James has won another title, I think it is time to start mentioning him as one of the greatest to ever play the game. Best ever? No, and I don't think he can ever reach that level. Top five? Maybe, but not yet. I need to see more championships from him before I can say that. Right now though, I do believe that LeBron is in the top ten of the all-time greatest players in the history of basketball. The only thing that will prevent him from ever reaching the top is the fact that he has failed on the biggest stage multiple times.

I have always considered it better to have won multiple titles and never lost to be better than winning multiple titles as well as losing some, but I am beginning to come to realize that winning many and losing some as well might in fact be even more of an achievement. Michael Jordan won six titles and never lost once. Is that great? Absolutely. But if he won six times and made eight Finals series would that be even better? I think it may be.

The same goes for quarterbacks in the NFL. Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana both have four Super Bowl rings in four Super Bowl appearances. All time great? For sure. Tom Brady has four Super Bowl rings in six Super Bowl appearances. He has the same amount of rings as Bradshaw and Montana, but he has played in more Super Bowls than both of them. Is that actually a greater accomplishment? If you wanted to argue that it is, then you could convince me that it is.

So while LeBron James now has three championship rings, he is surely not the greatest player of all time, and I do not think he can ever have a legitimate claim to that spot. However, he has already reached the Finals more times than Michael Jordan did, and LeBron is still only 31 years old. That means he has many more years ahead of him to add to his resume. If he wins multiple titles before the end of his career, I think he can claim a spot in my top five players of all time. Right now he is 3-4 in the Finals. Even if he were able to win two more rings (which I think is definitely possible), he has to have a legitimate claim to one of the greatest ever. He is already climbing up the lists of career points, rebounds, assists, and all other kinds of statistical categories, so who knows where he will stand on those dockets by the time his career eventually ends.

What really amuses me though is the fact that we are already talking about where LeBron may end up at the end of his career. He still has many more years ahead of him to play, and I think the sky is still the limit. Can he pass Michael Jordan as the greatest player ever? It would take a ton of rings for him to do that. Can he pass Russell as the winningest player ever? Probably impossible. Can he pass Chamberlain as the most dominant player ever? The chances are very, very, very slim. Might he pass Abdul-Jabbar as the top scorer in the history of the sport? Most likely, no. Could he pass Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson as the greatest all-around talent ever? Yes, I think he can, but he still has a lot of work to do in that chase.

Right now, I think I view the guys I have mentioned multiple times as the greatest to ever play the game. Jordan, Russell, Abdul-Jabbar, Chamberlain, Johnson, and Robertson. Rank them as you wish. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and can use their own set of standards to do that. LeBron James is not at that level quite yet, but like I said before, I think he is already one of the ten best players to ever play the game, and he has the potential to crack the top five.

Recent superstars like Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, and Tim Duncan I think still have done more in their careers than James, but if LeBron can win at least one more ring, I think he surpasses all of them, and many would argue that he has already surpassed all of those guys. So while it seems like hours since I first started writing this piece, my bottom line is that James is right now a top ten talent, with the potential to be top five, but no chance to be number one unless some miracle happens and he somehow blows past Jordan's six rings.

No matter my opinion though, I think right now we just need to appreciate how good James actually is and stop trying to critique each and every miniscule fact about him. He is a once in a generation talent. While he may not have lived up to the initial expectations, I think it is easy to say that the initial expectations were unrealistic. This guy is an all-time great, and will walk into the Hall of Fame whenever it is that he decides to retire. Until then, I will just hope to see more and more of the greatness that he displayed in Games five, six, and seven this year. He ended the 54 year drought of professional sports failures in Cleveland, and I expect that this past Sunday will not be the last time he will be known as an NBA champion.

Daily NBA Update: Obviously, I do not need to go into detail about how the season ended, as I just spent quite a while giving a synopsis of the fallout from the Finals. I do have to say though that despite the numerous blowouts, Game Seven made up for that all. It was thrilling down to the final buzzer, and LeBron's block as well as Kyrie Irving's clutch three pointer will go down in Cavaliers history as two of the biggest plays ever in the history of the franchise. Congratulations to LeBron and the Cavaliers.

Daily NHL Update: Rangers. Ugh. Next year. Maybe.

Daily Diamondbacks Update: Arizona completed a four game sweep of the Phillies and are in Toronto tonight for the first time in I don't even know how long. It has been years in years since the Diamondbacks played in Toronto, but that is why I like more interleague play. Arizona is still six games under .500, but there have been some positive signs, and winning four straight, no matter how bad the Phillies might be, is always nice.

Daily Giants Update: Obviously, at minicamps the news is always good since teams are playing in shorts and t-shirts. Quarterbacks and wide receivers do nothing but excel, even though they play with no defense on the other side of the field. There is still quite a while until we even get close to the games mattering, so until then, all we need is no one getting injured. And on that front, so far, so good.