If there was a team in all of sports that commanded such passion, such heartache, such glory, and stirs every kind of emotion it would be the Boston Red Sox.

Looking from the outside, the Red Sox are just another sports team. They’ve won, they’ve lost, they’ve won, they’ve…

What’s so special about the Red Sox?

The Chicago Cubs have a longer dry spell than the Red Sox did to win the World Series. (Currently at 104 years). The Chicago Whites Sox took 88 years until they won it in 2005. The Red Sox only had an 86 year dry spell.

What makes the Red Sox special is how they overcame their dry spell. When the White Sox won, they did not do it in spectacular fashion. Their curse did not benefit another team as did the Curse of the Bambino did for the Red Sox and the New York Yankees.

The 2004 Red Sox first traded their franchise player, Nomar Garciaparra, midway through the season. Then they swept the Anaheim Angels in the ALDS to setup a rematch of the 2003 ALCS with the Yankees.

The Red Sox and the Yankees have the greatest rivalry in sports and it all came together first in 2003. The ALCS went all the way to Game 7, and it ended with Aaron Boone’s walk-off home run to send the Yankees back to the World Series.

The 2004 ALCS created a lot of drama. Even if you aren’t a Red Sox fan, you felt it in your bones that 2004 was going to be special.

It all began in 1918, the Red Sox came off their fifth World Series championship and to save money, Harry Frazee, then owner of the Red Sox, sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees for a reported $100,000. It instantly made the Yankees a World Series juggernaut. Between 1918 to 2004, the Red Sox did not win a single World Series. During that same time span, the Yankees won 26 World Series. This was known as the Curse of the Bambino.

The 2004 ALCS had so much hype that the first three games of the series were easy New York victories. The hype had gotten to the Red Sox and they were on the verge of spending another winter without a World Series championship.

However, games 4, 5, 6, and 7 were different. They won games 4 and 5 in extra innings, game 6 in a Pedro Martinez gem, and game 7 in a blowout. The Red Sox made history. They became the first and only MLB team to come back from an 0-3 hole to win a series. The curse wasn’t broken, but they got rid of the New York demon that haunted them for nearly a century.

The 2004 Red Sox would sweep the St. Louis Cardinals and claim their sixth World Series championship.

There were many books, songs, parades, and a movie made about the 2004 Boston Red Sox. The White Sox had a longer dry spell, but we did not remember many books, any songs, numerous parades, or any movie made for them.

The Red Sox continue to captivate the hearts and minds of all of sports. The Red Sox are the only team to have an official “Nation”. They have the largest fan base in all of North American sports. I see fans wearing Red Sox jerseys to games where the Red Sox are not even playing! There are Red Sox fans during basketball, hockey, soccer, and football games.

Fenway Park is the only stadium in all of sports that has 40 year wait list for tickets. The park packs over 110% of its seats. Fans have to literally fight for seats they have already bought. It is also a fact that fans at Fenway Park have the highest average IQ then any team in history! (maybe because it is in a city with Harvard and MIT, and very close to Yale and Brown) It is also the oldest park in the Western Hemisphere.

More men have proposed during a Red Sox game then any sporting event aside from soccer. The Red Sox are the single greatest heart breaker! Many times have the Red Sox been to the World Series before 2004 and each time it ended in failure. From Pesky to Buckner, all of Red Sox Nation held their breath for 86 years. To quote the title Bill Simmon’s book, “Now I can die in peace.”

Even during a bad season like this year, Red Sox fans are still as loyal as ever. They are the most beloved team in all of sports.

The Boston Red Sox

Reported by ESPN and numerous other sources, the 2014 NBA off-season could be another big year for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Kobe Bryant will be retiring (as he said he would) in two years and that will free up a lot of cap space as Pau Gasol and other Laker salaries come off the book at the end of the 2013-2014 NBA season. The only player of any significance to still be under contract will be Steve Nash.

Assuming that Dwight Howard does re-sign with the Lakers after this up-coming season, the Lakers will still have enough to sign a player to a max contract.

LeBron James does not become a free agent until after the 2015-2016 NBA season, but like him and his teammates Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, he can exercise his option to opt out of his current contract as early as the 2014 off-season.

The Lakers have a history of immediate rebuilding and retooling their franchise. No franchise in history has reloaded so quickly as the Los Angeles Lakers.

After their 2003 exit from the playoffs after coming off three straight NBA titles in 2000, 2001, and 2002, the Shaq and Kobe squad took a quick year off and then added Karl Malone and Gary Payton within one year. The Chicago Bulls took 8 years to get back to the playoffs after Michael Jordan left!

After the implosion of 2004, the Lakers took a different path and four years to get back to the NBA Finals. That’s still very fast. Two years after LeBron left Cleveland, the Cavaliers are not even close to playoff contention! And after back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010, the Lakers spent two years as contenders but did not come close to a Finals berth.

This past off-season, they again retooled their squad and added Dwight Howard and Steve Nash to create another title contender.

Who’s to say the Lakers won’t retool very quickly after Kobe leaves the Lakers? It is a possibility that LeBron James could come to Hollywood and wear the Purple and Gold.

Let’s assume Vegas odd makers are never wrong and they always correctly pick the favorites to be in the NBA Finals. That will mean the 2013 NBA Finals will pit Kobe Bryant and his Los Angeles Lakers against LeBron James and his Miami Heat.

If this happens, no NBA Finals will ever match such hype, excitement, and star power. You’d have to go back to the 1980s when Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers played Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics.

A 2013 NBA Finals will have a combined 60+ all-star appearances, four Finals MVPs, six season MVPs, and six future hall-of-famers if the Lakers meet the Heat.

Let’s go through the matchups position by position.

Steve Nash (LAL) vs. Mario Chalmers (MIA)

This may look like an easy choice, but remember that Nash is getting old and he is a liability on defense. Chalmers has the foot speed, but he doesn’t dictate the offense and doesn’t have the basketball IQ that Nash has. Nash is a better offensive player and I do not believe that Chalmers has the skills to push Nash to the limit. We give this matchup to Nash (10-8)

Kobe Bryant (LAL) vs. Dwyane Wade (MIA)

This is a tough one and this matchup could easily determine the outcome of the NBA Finals. Kobe is the better perimeter shooter and still a very good defender, but Wade does get to the rim at a much greater rate. Wade’s defense is still good. Both players are very clutch and look for them to see the ball in the 4^th quarter. The only reason why I’m giving this matchup to Kobe is because Wade gets hurt too much. Kobe (10-9)

Metta World Peace (LAL) vs. LeBron James (MIA)

This matchup looks incredibly lopsided because it is. Metta’s defense is still good, but I don’t think he can stop a beast like LeBron. Metta’s offense is very limited and he will not see that many shots as the fifth option. LeBron will be the first option on offense most times and I don’t see anyone stopping him. Also, I don’t see LeBron playing any defense this whole series if Metta doesn’t even get a shot. This is an easy LeBron victory. LeBron (10-6)

Pau Gasol (LAL) vs. Chris Bosh (MIA)

Another tough matchup similar to Kobe vs Wade. Both are perimeter big men and both are decent post defenders. Bosh will have more touches, but I think the basketball IQ of Gasol will do more for the Lakers then the offensive skills of Bosh will do for the Heat. I’m going to give this matchup to Gasol, but by a slim margin. Gasol (10-9)

Dwight Howard (LAL) vs. Joel Anthony (MIA)

Let me makes this real short, Anthony can block shots, but Dwight can do that and everything else. The best center in the league will have no trouble against the Heat’s center. This is an easy victory for Dwight. Dwight (10-6)

Lakers Bench vs. Heat Bench

The heart of the Lakers’ bench will be Antwan Jamison and the heart of the Heat Bench will be Ray Allen. Both players will not matchup against each other, but they will share a lot of floor time together. Overall, the Lakers bench is deeper then before and the Heat still do have great shooters. With the addition of Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, and the numerous shooters around them, I’m going to give Miami’s bench a small edge against the Lakers. Heat Bench (10-8)

Los Angeles Lakers vs. Miami Heat

With a point total of 54 to 52, the Los Angeles Lakers are the better team and the favorites to win the 2013 NBA Finals. It will be very close and most experts will be expecting a seven game series. Hope this happens because it will bring the game of basketball to new heights.

I know I’m going to get a lot of hate for this, but hear me out. LeBron James will be better than Michael Jordan by the time he’s finished in the NBA.

Let’s just get some facts straight. LeBron is bigger, faster, and stronger than Michael. He impacts the game more then any other player in the league. He handles the ball way more than Michael ever did and he can play every position. Michael can’t do that!

Try to take your biases out of the picture. I’m not a big LeBron fan, but I can see when someone great comes along. LeBron’s a beast and there is no doubt about it.

Well Jordan didn’t have anybody on his team when he won six championships.

Are you kidding me? He had an array of all-stars and hall-of-famers on his team. He needed a hall-of-famer in Scottie Pippen and the greatest coach of all-time in Phil Jackson to get past the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals and finally win a title.

LeBron made it to the NBA Finals with Mo Williams and coach Mike Brown in 2007. He had nobody! He carried an entire franchise, an entire city, and an entire way-of-life in Cleveland. He made ABC want to broadcast Cavalier games! He made Miami the hottest city in town when he joined up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

LeBron already has three Most Valuable Player awards. He’ll probably get another one this up coming season, and the Heat are one of the favorite to win it all.

Again, I’m not hating on Michael, I think he is one of the greatest. His legacy will never be touched. If you were the best doctor in town, you’d be given the moniker of the Michael Jordan of doctors. I concede that LeBron will never match the popularity of Michael, but I assure you that LeBron is and will be the greatest of them all.

What I’m talking about is the birth of the modern NBA super team. If you can remember back that far, the Lakers had future hall-of-famers Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. They then added hall-of-famers Karl Malone and Gary Payton to round out arguably the greatest starting four in NBA history. Even though they lost to the team-orientated Detroit Pistons in the 2004 NBA Finals, they opened up a decade-long race to super team-dom.

Four years would pass until the Boston Celtics pulled off super trades in the summer of 2007 to form another super team. The team with all-star Paul Pierce and future all-star Rajon Rondo added two future hall-of-famers in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. The difference with this team and the 2004 Lakers was that Garnett and Allen were still in their primes while Malone and Payton were at the tail end of their careers. The 2008 Celtics would go on to beat the (guess who?) the Lakers in six games.

2008 also saw the Lakers come back to prominence when they formed their own style of super team when they acquired all-star Pau Gasol in one of the most lopsided trades in history to play along side future hall-of-famer Kobe Bryant and future all-star Andrew Bynum. This team came together the same year the Pierce-Garnett-Allen-Rondo Celtics came in, but they enjoyed more success. The Lakers made three straight trips to the NBA Finals, losing in 2008 and winning in 2009 and 2010.

In the summer of 2010, the Miami formed a super team that will compete for many years. Everyone remembers “The Decision” where Lebron James proclaimed to the world that he will be joining his best friend Dwyane Wade in Miami. Chris Bosh also made his way to Miami and the Big Three was born. All three players were all-stars and at the prime of their careers. They reached the NBA Finals in the first two years of their existence – losing in 2011 and winning it all this past June in 2012. In the summer of 2012, they added future hall-of-famer Ray Allen to solidify their bench.

Now, there is another super team to rival the Big Three + Allen. The Los Angeles Lakers were coming off two straight championships in 2009 and 2010 with second-round finishes in 2011 and 2012. They added, perhaps a team for the ages. They traded four future draft picks to Phoenix for future hall-of-famer Steve Nash to create the most intelligent back court in history with Kobe Bryant. The Lakers kept all-star Pau Gasol and added former all-star Antwan Jamison to solidify their bench. The biggest move they made was trading all-star Andrew Bynum to Philadelphia for Dwight Howard from Orlando in a multi-team trade. The monster in Los Angeles of Kobe-Nash-Howard-Gasol is favored to win the 2013 NBA Finals.

We’ll see how this turns out and if it’s ultimately good for the NBA.

RB Virginia Tech

Height: 5’10’’

Weight: 206

40 Yard Dash:  4.49

Analysis: Wilson has tremendous athletic ability. He was named ACC Player of the Year for the Hokies as a junior. In 2011, he earned All-American honors as a triple jumper in track. He has great hands out of the backfield and can play as a slot receiver.  He recorded a 41-inch vertical at the combine, 3 inches higher than the nearest competitor.

Projection:  2^nd round

Ron Brooks

CB LSU

Height: 5’10’’

Weight: 190

40 Yard Dash: 4.37

Analysis: Brooks  is a great coverage corner, but a tad undersized. A very good zone blitzer, but not the best open field tackler. He got very little playing time at LSU during his career because he played behind 3 All-Americans. His 38-inch vertical is promising. Brooks will be a project, but has the potential to be a  solid corner 2-3 years down the road.

Projection: 6^th round

DeMario Davis

OLB Arkansas State

Height: 6’2’’

Weight: 235

40 Yard Dash: 4.61

Analysis:  DeMario Davis has great speed and size, which will suite him well at the NFL level. He is a great tackler, and could potentially be a great fit for a 4-3 defense. Davis has a 124-inch broad jump and a 38.5-inch vertical leap. He is a below average coverage linebacker and could potentially have trouble reading plays at the NFL level.

Projection: 5^th round

Dale Moss

WR South Dakota State

Height: 6’4’’

Weight: 215

40 Yard Dash: 4.4

Analysis: Two sport athlete, played only 1 year of football at South Dakota . In that one year, Moss recorded 61 catches, 949 yards, and 6 TDs. Registered a 41.5 inch vertical leap at his Pro Day. His uncle won the Heisman Trophy in 1972.

Projection: 3rd round pick

Chris Sales will finish Top 5 in Cy Young Voting

The 23^rd year old south paw quietly had a superb year for the White Sox. The Florida native pitched out of the bullpen last summer, but will move to a starting role in 2012. Over the last two year, Sales has tossed a 2.58 ERA in 94 1/3 innings; while striking out 111 batters. With an opponent’s batting average of .199 and a WHIP of 1.10, it’s hard to argue his talent. If healthy, I fully expect Sales to win 15 games and strikeout 200 batters.

Zack Greinke will finish Top 3 in Cy Young Voting

The former AL Cy Young winner is poised to become the 6^th player ever to win the Cy Young in both the American and National League. His first season as a Brewer ended in a high note after a rough start. In 2011, Greinke posted a dreadful 5.48 ERA pre All-Star break. Greinke then proceeded to turn on the burners, and went 9-3 with a 2.59 ERA after the summer classic.

Miguel Cabrera will have a .500 OBP

The annual MVP candidate has increased his walk total from 56 to 108 over the last 4 years. His batting average has also gone from .292 to .344 over that span. For the first time in his career, Cabrera is playing alongside a MVP candidate. This means he either is going to get more pitches to hit, or he is going to get walked more often.

Matt Forte, courtesy GraphicsHunt

The Matt Forte and Chicago Bears drama has moved to the next act.

Forte accepted being in the last year of a below-market deal last season, knowing an injury could seriously hurt his pay in the offseason. When it happened, the Bears would have been foolish not to franchise him—he was perfect for his role in that offense, but they did not know if he would be the same back.

But the signing of wannabe starter Michael Bush to a four-year, $14 million contract (iffy starter’s money) left Forte feeling “disrespected” according to his Twitter account.  CEO Ted Phillips had this to say:

“Matt Forte is our No. 1 running back,” Phillips said. “He’s been told that, and he knows that. We all know that. He’s going to be a Bear for 2012, at least. He knows he has a long-term offer on the table, and we hope, at some point and time, he chooses to accept that.”

The reality is Forte will make over $7 million this season. That is probably more than he is worth to any other team.

Forte is very similar to Brian Westbrook—among the best on pass plays but good enough running the ball they have to be in there more than just one third down. He is not going to be a feature back on a rushing attack, and those are usually the backs to get $7 million per year.

Adding Bush probably means Forte sees fewer plays and runs the ball less. It uses him more sparingly when it works best, while putting a runner of at least equal running skill on the field. Since both are good in the other phase of the game, too, they keep the defense honest.

That will not get him his payday, but it is best for the team at this point.

This is not on the official website of the league that constantly talks about “protecting the shield” unless there is interest from both parties. It should get done quickly because it makes sense.

It is not out of question that several players will be suspended, nor that many of them face more than one game. The Saints can sign someone to replace Jonathan Vilma because he is probably gone for the year. But even staggering others’ punishments, they might have to carry more than one suspended player for multiple games.

The players will believe Parcells can lead them through the rough waters that come with losing your coach and playing with a shorthanded roster. Parcells is good at covering holes in his team by getting more out of role-players. Payton was a protege so there will be continuity in approach and system.

Parcells can make a boatload of money and feed his ego for one year without having to worry about whether he could handle the burden. He will not wear down in one year with that structure.

The Saints get a coach who is an upgrade over any choice from within their current staff and whose accomplishments command respect. While his old-fashioned approach had not been in sync with the modern athlete, the team will know he has the backing of their long-term coach.

A perfect match for all parties.

Prior to the decision being handed down by the NFL, Sean Payton approached legendary coach Bill Parcells taking over the Saints for the season.

The move is a win-win for everyone should Parcells opts to take it. New Orleans has a solid team; one that can compete for the right to play in the Super Bowl. Losing Payton hurts that, but with Parcells at the helm the team could not be in better hands.

When Parcells walked away the last time he talked about being burnt out and said he had no desire to return to the sideline. In this case it would be for a team that is a Super Bowl caliber squad and just for a single season. He could coach for one more year, have a chance to do what no team has done (play in a Super Bowl hosted by his team), and then walk away.

Not a bad deal Bill.