They say you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.  In the case of recently retired MLB slugger Frank Thomas, I say that statement couldn’t be any more appropriate.

Aptly, nicknamed “The Big Hurt”, Thomas was a physical specimen the likes of which baseball had never seen before.  If you aren’t familiar with his line of work, it’s as simple as this:  Frank Thomas was to the 1990’s as Albert Pujols is to this current decade.  His first 9 years of professional ball saw the type of hitting productivity that can only be rivaled by the aforementioned Pujols, and the legendary Ted Williams.  He hit for average, hit for power, walked tons of times, and drove in runs at a pace that was unheard of for a man of his stature (6’5”, 260 lbs).

While all of the stats he put up were impressive, notwithstanding the string of injury-plagued seasons towards the latter part of his career, there’s one thing about Big Frank that stood out more than any of the numbers tied to his name, or achievements he earned along the way – he did it all “the right way.”  In other words, he was NOT a cheater.

Frank Thomas leaves a legacy too be proud of

In an era exposed as a time where major league athletes were turning to steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs to boost their level of play on the field, Frank Thomas was one of the few who abstained from cheating.  Even more noteworthy is the fact that Thomas was the ONLY player to come forward and talk to George Mitchell during his investigation into PEDs in baseball.  In terms of baseball’s unspoken ‘code of silence’ (e.g. Players won’t snitch on other players) this was huge.  And although Thomas wasn’t out there giving up names (he stated he wasn’t aware of steroid use going on around him) the fact that he continuously stepped forward to plead his case against PEDs puts him in a class of his own.

Without getting too personal, Big Frank is the reason why I have been a White Sox fan since age 10.  But it’s all the good things I hear about him now that reaffirms what drew me to him as a kid in awe of his statuesque batting stance, his trademark smile, and his all-around good nature as a person.  The main question now is not if The Big Hurt will be in the Hall-of-Fame, but whether or not he’ll make it in his first attempt.  His poor defense and slow base-running aside, I see no reason why one of the best right-handed hitters of all-time shouldn’t be a first-ballot inductee.  Let’s put it this way:  you’re going on a first date and want to make a good impression, but you only have one clean shirt and a hamper full of dirty ones.  What are you going to wear that day?

NBA All-Star Weekend

The only thing I can liken this past weekend’s NBA All-Star festivities to is when you’re watching the opening American Idol auditions, and there’s that one contestant who the judges have already said no to … but instead of accepting the fact that they have no future as a singer, they keep trying to sing, and the judges are sitting there with perplexed looks on their faces, motioning for security to get the person out of there.  Yeah, that’s what it reminded me of.

Now I can’t honestly say that I sat and watched every event from Friday to Sunday, but I’m willing to bet Saturday night’s events were a microcosm of what went down the whole weekend.  There wasn’t very much fluidity going on from competition to competition, which caused a lot of boring transitions while waiting for the next contestant to perform, and it all culminated in what was no doubt the worst slam dunk contest in the history of the NBA.  Matter of fact, it was probably the worst dunk contest in the history of the world.  I mean, I seriously remember having better dunk competitions in my old driveway when I was in junior high.

The most epic failure, though, would have to be the Let Shannon Dunk campaign that became a Twitter phenomenon leading up to the slam dunk event.  Lakers guard Shannon Brown, who developed a cult following with his array of amazing in-game dunks during the season, became the #1 trending topic on Twitter, and rewarded his newfound popularity by proceeding to not only attempt some extremely basic and uninspiring dunks, but by missing several  of those attempts as well.  It was like buying an illegal pack of Bottle Rockets for the 4^th of July, inviting all your friends over in anticipation, then lighting them that night and finding out they were duds.

Operation: Failure

I can only recall two dunks that had the crowd register above a whisper.  Other than that, the place was so quiet you couldn’t tell if it was a piss-poor attempt at a dunk contest going on, or if they were showing a replay of the Vikings/Cowboys playoff matchup from this past January.  In other news, Paul Pierce won the 3-point shootout, and no one seemed to care.

But the weekend wasn’t a complete disaster.  I didn’t see the actual All-Star Game for myself, but from what I heard, it delivered in terms of entertainment.  I just think it’s time to do away with the slam dunk contest once again until either bigger stars decide to step up and participate (LeBron, we’re all looking at you) or the parties involved take it a little more seriously than they did this time around.  Let’s face it, when “Nasty” Nate Robinson is the only 3-time Slam Dunk Contest winner over the likes of Dominique Wilkins, Michael Jordan, and Larry Nance, well, exactly how much credibility does that show this thing has?

Winter Olympics kick-off

I only have one question … who cares about this?  And if anyone out there does, can you explain to me why I should?

Danica’s NASCAR debut

I’m not the biggest NASCAR enthusiast, but when a pretty woman steps into an occupational field dominated by men, people will take notice.  So I felt the need to address Danica Patrick’s debut in NASCAR’s Daytona 500 that promptly resulted in a 12-car accident.  No news yet on what caused the accident, but I just want to stress that texting or applying make-up while driving is not safe on public roads, let alone race tracks.

I’m kidding.  Kind of.

UFC 110 – Nogueira vs Velasquez

February 20^th marks one of the more meaningful UFC cards in awhile, headlined by a heavyweight clash between undefeated rising-star Cain Velasquez going heads up with the always-game legend, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.  There are instant title ramifications for the winner of this bout, as the only other contenders for the Heavyweight Championship, Frank Mir and Shane Carwin, are also set to do battle somewhere down the road.  So the Mir/Carwin winner will likely face Brock Lesnar, and the winner of that bout will face the winner of Velasquez/Big Nog … unless the Mir/Carwin winner is too hurt to compete, at which point the Velasquez/Big Nog winner will face Lesnar first, then that winner will defend against the Mir/Carwin winner.  Confusing?  Sure.  But this is one of the few instances when confusion is a good thing.

More challengers waiting in line means more competition, and more competition means there’s always something for fans to look forward to.  As opposed to boxing, where the heavyweight division is monopolized by the Brothers Klitschko, who will likely never fight each other, the UFC heavyweight division has many options on where it can go from here.

Also on the card is a middleweight debut for 2 fighters who are moving down from the light heavyweight division, as Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva will face Michael “The Count” Bisping.  The territorial lines are being drawn between Brazil and England as we speak.  I’ll do a quick rundown of these fights and the others on the main card, as I attempt to predict the outcomes:

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cain Velasquez – Great matchup, and should be a solid fight.  I think Nogueira showed he’s still in his prime when healthy after his win over Randy Couture.  This should be as closely contested, but I see Big Nog winning a decision, while Cain gains some valuable experience.

Wanderlei Silva vs. Michael Bisping – Bisping, to me, has always been overrated.  He’s a good striker that won’t engage in a slugfest, which is what Silva lives for.  I smell Bisping wants to work a stick-and-move gameplan, but at some point he’ll get cocky, and Silva will capitalize with a right hand or knee that spells doom for “The Count.” Silva by KO in the 2^nd round.

Joe Stevenson vs. George Sotiropoulos – While Sotiropoulos has shown improved skills since his stint on The Ultimate Fighter Season 6, his home-field advantage will hardly do him much good against a fighter of Joe Stevenson’s caliber.  Joe Daddy has only lost to top-level competition, and the Australian is definitely not that.  Look for Joe to sink in a rear-naked choke or guillotine in the latter rounds.

Ryan Bader vs. Keith Jardine – Bader has been nothing but stellar in his short UFC career, while Jardine has juggled success with failure through his duration with the company.  I’m expecting more of the same, as Jardine is unable to avoid his 3^rd consecutive loss at the hands of the Arizonan wrestler.  Bader by decision.

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Ben Rothwell – Cro Cop has suffered a steady decline in not only his skills, but his confidence since joining the UFC fold.  His success in PRIDE is enough to keep UFC brass wanting to bring him back, as there are few names as recognizable in the MMA world, but whether Cro Cop can find that fire again remains to be seen.  Big Ben, on the other hand, has a bit to prove after his UFC debut against Cain Velasquez went sour, and I think that may make the difference.  I see Rothwell being the aggressor, and catching the tentative Cro Cop on his heels with a KO blow that finally spells the end of a once dominant career.

“Who Let The Dogs Out?”

It’s that time again to pass out weekly awards.

The Best Of Week (BOW) award goes to the San Francisco Giants for sidestepping the arbitration process with their staff ace, “Tiny” Tim Lincecum, and signing him to a 2-year, $23million contract.  Even more impressive is that they signed Timmy to less than what he and his agent were asking, which was about $13million per year.

The Worst Of Week (WOW) award goes to the NBA as a whole.  Not only was the All-Star Weekend a debacle of massive proportions, but David Stern also went on record to project $400 million in losses for the season.  Openly talking about taking an “L” of that magnitude is not a good look.

Next week, I’ll actually cover the topic I expected to tackle this week:  Kobe’s injuries vs. LeBron’s comeuppance.  Is this the Cavalier’s year?  Tune in next week to find out.  This has been another Moment of Truth …