This is not without some residual insanity from other recent deals, perpetrated by overly aggressive sports agents. Case in point is Manny Ramirez and his recent rejection of a one year $25 million offer to stay with the Dodgers. At 36 years of age this could very well be Manny’s final contract. This money is going to have to last him and his family (and apparently his agent) for the next few decades. $25 million is not enough (on top of the many tens of millions he’s already pulled in). Have these people heard the news or picked up a newspaper lately? There’s no question he’s one of the best right handed hitters in the history of baseball and still an impact player, but his attitude doesn’t help his cause and his age is working against him. He might have two seasons left as an everyday player or three to four seasons left as a designated hitter. If he thinks he’s an everyday player, the most he’s going to get is $50 million for two years. If he’s being shopped as a DH, he can expect no more than four years and $70 million, and there’s probably one team from NY that can give it to him. And it certainly isn’t the Mets.

They’ve got their own problems since their large corporate sponsor happens to be the recipient of billions in Federal bailout money. Taxpayers, and especially the politicians they elect, have no tolerance for the excessive spending that took place before last autumn’s market meltdown. While both sides are insisting that they’re going to honor their legal obligations, things can have a way of unwinding, especially where it concerns taxpayers and the politicians they elect. Faced with a potential loss of hundreds of millions of dollars, the economic advantage of running a baseball team backed by deep-pocketed sponsors inevitably change when the money dries up. And the corporate financial markets are like the Mojave Desert. Take out their one high profile signing (Francisco Rodriguez and his three year $37 million deal) and the Mets are spending like a small market club. And other teams who’ve spent freely over last few years are sitting on their wallets. This doesn’t bode well for other players on the free agent last (Oliver Perez, Ben Sheets, Orlando Hudson, Adam Dunn, etc.). Only the Yankees (with their own personal ATM called the YES Network) are spending.

As the economy takes a reality check, perhaps major league baseball will also take a reality check. Teams like the Rays & the Marlins have proven that it’s not necessary to spend their way to the World Series (although the Steinbrenners are still trying).

What particularly hurts for the Clips and their fans this year is that coming into the season, hopes and expectations were unusually high.

The Clippers have been decimated by injuries this year. And when I say decimated, I mean decimated. Yes, almost every team has to deal with injured players at some point each season, but in a sport where the gain or loss of just one player can have a major effect, the Clips have frequently had three, even four, starters out at the same time (yes, LA did have a horrible beginning to the season even with a healthy starting squad, but the injuries have precluded any chance of recovering from the weak start).

I don’t care how deep a bench may be. No team in any sport can succeed with 60% – 80% of their starting line-up among the wounded.

But, you know what? This may actually be a blessing in suprise.

Not for this season, of course. This year is already a total wash, with just under half the season to go. But the playing time that the Clipper bench is receiving filling in could pay huge dividends next year when the starting line-up is (hopefully) healthy. All this unplanned for experience could very well translate what might otherwise be a mediocre or, at best, unproven bench into viable, reliable subs next season–the type of depth any team needs to succeed.

It would not be the first time that a terrible record one season translated into valuable training for the next.

Take a look at the turnarounds that the Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Rays both had in 2008. Neither team may have had the injury problems in 2007 experienced by the Clippers this year, but both teams did have terrible seasons. Essentially out of the post-season running before their seasons were under way, their young players received plenty of opportunity to learn on the playing field instead of in practice or in limited playing-time at the end of games. More playing time = accelerated player development.

If nothing else, that should give woeful Clippers fans some hope.

We’ve been awfully quiet for the last two weeks, and I apologize. It was not my intention to slag, but I went to visit my family over the holidays only to discover that they had a miserable internet connection that made it impossible for me to do just about anything. Then I became one of the countless victims of weather-cancelled travel on my return flight to Los Angeles, delaying my return to normality. I am now home safe and sound in LA, ready to tackle 2009!

I wanted to finish 2008 with my “Best Of” sporting highlights of the finished year; instead, I will say my final farewell from the new year. To be slightly different, I’ll only countdown my Top 5, all in brief except for the all important #1.

Nate’s Top 5 Sporting Moments of 2008

5. Rivalry Renewed! The Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers once again meet in the NBA Finals with the Celts completing their return to excellence in a dominating dismantling of the Lake Show.

4. The New York Giants upset the then 18-0 New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII as Eli Manning emerges from his big brother’s shadow in one truly brilliant play,

3. Perennial American League East doormat Tampa Bay executes one of the most remarkable worst-to-first turnarounds in sports history as the Rays not only win their division but advance to the World Series.

2. Usain Bolt shatters the 100-meter world record with a time of 9.69 seconds at the Beijing Olympics. And it looked like he pulled up at the end!

My #1 sports moment of the year actually has two parts: the greater, more encompassing accomplishment and one specific moment in particular.

1b. 2008 was a terrible year for most people, as the global economy plummeted and war continues to rage in Iraq and Afghanistan. But for two weeks in August, the world’s attention was focused on happier affairs as all eyes turned towards the Beijing Olympics, and, in that first glorious week, on one man: Michael Phelps. The world needed Michael Phelps, and he delivered.

Phelps’s pursuit of eight gold medals in one Olympic Games was captivating and inspiring, quite simply everything that both sports in general and the Olympics in particular aspire to be. One could not help but root for him, and with each successive victory, whether massive or by the narrowest of margins, one’s awe grew. That he did so in record form almost every race was the icing on the cake.

1a. As amazing as Phelps’s eight gold medals were, one race in particular stands out: the 4 x 100-meter Freestyle Relay. It wasn’t his closest race (that honor belongs to the 100-meter Butterfly); ironically, the miracle and greatest excitement didn’t even belong to Phelps, but to his teammate Jason Lezak. Lezak, so close so many times before, swam the race of his life, making up more than a half-body length on Frenchman Alain Bernard in world-record split time. That Bernard’s trash-talking was stuffed down his throat made the victory even sweeter.

I remember every second of Lezak’s swim in perfect clarity, leaping to my feet as I realized he was gaining ground even before the commentators announced he was doing so. Watching that race still gives me goosebumps, so I believe the perfect way to end 2008 is to revisit it one more time here:

Despite these surprising stats, NFL payrolls are by no means inversely proportional to on-field success. The woeful Kansas City Chiefs have the lowest combined payroll of any NFL team; the excellent Pittsburgh Steeler squad is #6. In fact, there seems to be a relatively even distribution of salaries across the NFL success vector.

Compare those numbers to the success of Major League Baseball’s highest paid teams. Although spending a lot never guarantees having a championship-caliber team in any sport–the ultra-expensive New York Yankees didn’t make the playoffs while the dirt-cheap Tampa Bay Rays won the American League pennant–overall the higher-salaried baseball teams tend to have better won-loss records than their lower-paying counterparts (five of the eight highest-paid teams were in the playoffs this year). But in the NFL, no such payroll to on-field success comparison can be made.

So, what then do these numbers mean?  Only that strong management trumps high payrolls in reaching the Super Bowl every time… and that really strong management can even bring home the Lombardi Trophy on a budget.

What probably hurt Youkilis is his own versatility, since he spent 32 games filling in for Mike Lowell at third base.  But Youkilis is primarily a first baseman, and his strength as such was rightfully noted this year when he was voted the American League’s starter at that position for this year’s All-Star Game.  Does he really deserve to be penalized for replacing an injured teammate elsewhere on the diamond?  I could buy the snub on those grounds if he hadn’t set that record, but 238 consecutive errorless games is very, very impressive.

Last night, as we all know by now, the Philadelphia Phillies won only their second World Series in 126 seasons.  Their victory occurred only one year after the Red Sox won their second Fall Classic in a four-year span, the first of which broke an 86-year drought.  And, inbetween the BoSox’s two championships, their Chicago American League counterparts, won their first title after 88 years.

Even the post-season losers have been defying history.  The Cubs this year made back-to-back post-season appearances for the first time since they won it all in 1907 and 1908.  And 2008′s runner-ups, the Tampa Bay Rays made the greatest one-year turn-around in the annals of baseball after an entire franchise history of sub-.500 ball.

None of this, of course, is news to followers of the game.  The big question is why all at once?  Is it just coincidence?  Or cosmic intervention?  After all, who else thought we might be facing armageddon when it looked possible that the Red Sox and Cubs might both make the World Series in 2003, the last year that the baseball status quo held true?  Or something else?

The answer is the one thing these teams have in common with all the great teams of the past: great leadership atop a deep, robust organization that does a incredible job scouting and developing from within while making the right moves at the right times.

Take a look at the Red Sox, the team widely considered baseball’s current model organization.  True, the Red Sox have one of the highest payrolls in baseball.  But it’s not their financial wealth that is making the difference, it’s their personnel wealth.  Theo Epstein is a brilliant general manager who makes great deals and knows when to pull the trigger on them–can anyone say Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell?  None of that would mean anything without the proper support, which he has in owner John Henry and team president Larry Lucchino.  But more importantly than big trades and free-agent signings, the Red Sox have developed an amazing farm system that is continually churning out players who immediately contribute to the major league club, forming the perfect mixture of veteran leadership and young talent.  In just the last few years, the Red Sox have successfully brought up a Rookie of the Year in Dustin Pedroia as well as Kevin Youkilis, Jonathan Papelbon, John Lester, Manny Delcarmen, Jed Lowrie, Jacoby Ellsbury and Justin Masterson.  Not to mention Clay Buchholz who, although he struggled this year, is young enough and has good enough “stuff” that he may still be a great pitcher–remember that no-hitter in his second career start?  With that many great young players, Boston has the core of a contending team for many years to come.  

The flip side is the Yankees, once baseball’s pinnacle of efficiency, development and decision-making brilliance.  The last few years have been marred by bloated payrolls for aging players unable to perform at the level they once did or who fizzle in the post-season.  With the exception of Joba Chamberlain, their prospects have largely flamed out, and there simply haven’t been that many of them to begin with, as they systematically are traded away for veterans during the stretch drive run.  And last year they even fired Joe Torre, who had been masterful at juggling all the big egos and personalities of his players simultaneously with the pressures of playing in New York.  Front office mismanagement at its core.

One thing is sure–new blood at the top is good for the game overall, generating more interest and excitement in pockets across the country even if some of the teams in question don’t general national interest.  It will be interesting to see what next season brings.  The Phillies, of course, want to repeat.  The Yankees have some payroll coming off–could the old-guard return?  And then there is Tampa Bay.  The Rays have made a strong statement that they are here to stay, and with the overall youth of their team, there is no reason to believe they won’t compete again.

Not to mention what the other 27 teams might have to say about things.