The No-Trade Clause

This is San Diego Padres pitcher Jake Peavy. He should be Chicago White Sox pitcher Jake Peavy. The two clubs agreed on a trade that would see four prospects go to the Padres for the pitcher who would improve their club. One problem!! Peavy is invoking his no-trade clause so the trade is dead.
The no-trade clause is something that in my mind kills sports. The Padres aren't going anywhere this year and they have a great chance at improving their team by making this deal with a team that feels Peavy can turn them into a pennant contender if not winner. However, Peavy isn't buying that and decides to stay with one of the worst teams in the majors or go to a team that he finds more attractive. Since when did the athlete become more powerful than the organization.
This isn't the first time a no-trade clause has been invoked and it won't be the last. I can't understand how owners can't ask the players association in the various leagues to scrap this clause from contracts thus making everyone fair game.
I'm sure the Blue Jays could have made an offer for Peavy and getting him would give the team that much needed number two starter behind Roy Halladay, but I'm sure the Jakester has no desire to play in Canada. It leaves Toronto behind the 8 ball and that's not fair. A player should not have the right to say where he will and where he won't play. It ties the hands of the organization that is trying to better themselves and I'm sure the relationship is now damaged perhaps beyond repair. Teams should have the right to be able to trade guys or do whatever without something this stupid standing in their way.
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I don't think the last three games are a sign that the great start by the Jays is about to crumble, but Toronto baseball fans have to be shaking their head after seeing their team get owned by the Red Sox. Boston completing the three game sweep of Toronto with a 5-1 win. Toronto is good this year but they have a ways to go and the more experienced Red Sox brought them down to earth a little bit.
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I don't think Chicago can beat Detroit four times in the next five games and I don't think Carolina can beat Pittsburgh four out of five either. Yes, you can say all the Wings and Penguins have done is hold serve by winning at home, but you have to think we are getting a rematch of last year's Cup final. Cam Ward picked a fine time to soil the linen as he played his worst game of these playoffs resulting in a 7-4 Penguins win and a 2-0 series lead. I really thought the Hurricanes could win this series, but now it doesn't look like that will happen. Nothing against Sid, but I'm hoping he's not meeting Gary Bettman at centre ice in a few weeks time if you know what I mean. There is just something about Pittsburgh that I don't like. I can't put my finger on it, but I just can't cheer for these guys. I'm not a Sid hater...I'm not the biggest Malkin fan but I just don't like Pittsburgh as a whole. Maybe it has something to do with the Steelers. I'm just not sure.
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I'm hearing more and more that Curtis Hunt will be the new coach of the Pats. In fact, I've been told something has already been done and the only thing left is to have the newser to make it official. Could that happen today or do we wait until next week or the first week of June??
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I don't think he meant to, but Rod Pedersen started quite the little battle on his blog yesterday. RP was talking about Dan Farthing's release from the football team and said it would be like Eric Tillman giving Andy Fantuz his release today. It started the who's better argument--Farthing or Fantuz. Take nothing away from 83, but at this point in time I would take Farthing. I think Andy is still scratching the surface as to what he can do. His third season as a pro was basically washed out due to injury. He has hopefully many years left in a Rider uniform. As for Farthing, I always wondered what type of accolades he may have been given if it wasn't for the fact he played on many bad teams. Despite having guys like Reggie Slack and Kevin Mason throwing to him, he still managed to haul in close to 400 balls. If he was playing on this team now, he would get a lot more attention than he did. I think if Andy played in Dan's era, he would have gone un-noticed as well because of the record the team was putting up. In the end, I don't think you can have this argument until Fantuz's days are done and even then this argument would end much the same way as a Gene Makowsky vs Roger Aldag argument. There really wouldn't be a winner.
The one comment I did laugh at though was someone saying Fantuz is the premiere Canadian receiver in the CFL today. As someone else told Rod in the comments section, he would put guys like Ben Cahoon and Paris Jackson ahead of Fantuz. I would maybe add Kamau Peterson to that list as well. Andy has a chance at being the best Canadian receiver in the CFL, but he's not the best one now.
By the way if the provincial government can give us numbers on top baby names each year, they should be able to tell us how many people in the province have the last name "anonymous". That anonymous family sure loves making comments.
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The Windsor Spitfires have woke up. After losing their first two games at the Memorial Cup, the Spitfires have gotten their act together and are now in the semi-final after eliminating the host team with a 6-4 win. The Spitfires will meet Drummondville in that semi-final with the winner taking on Kelowna. Personally, I would like to see a Spitfires-Rockets final.
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I'm not a big NBA fan but the first two games of the Denver-Lakers West final and Game 1 of the Orlando-Cleveland East final have been outstanding games.
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I've said it once and I'll say it again. You will not find me on Twitter. At least not yet.
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Have a great Friday!