The Javier Vazquez for Nick Johnson trade proved beyond a doubt that Major League Baseball will do whatever it can to help the Yankees win another championship (three Nick Johnson’s aren’t worth one Javier Vazquez). More Yankee aid could be looming on the horizon as Expos second baseman Jose Vidro enters the last year of his contract. The only position on the field where the Yankees do not have an All-Star is second base and there is no doubt that this will bother George Steinbrenner. By midseason, the Expos will be hopelessly out of the race (they could be hopelessly out of the race by May) and New York will be ready to make a move for Vidro (if it doesn’t happen sooner). This is bad news for the Red Sox, not only because the addition of Jose Vidro would make the Yankees even stronger but because the Sox themselves might be interested in Vidro if Pokey Reese doesn’t work out. From a Red Sox perspective, the danger is not so much what the Yankees are now, but what they will be after the trading deadline in July. The 1999 Red Sox were in position to win the AL East and until Steinbrenner went on a midseason shopping spree.

I would think that the other 29 clubs in Major League Baseball would be reluctant to help Steinbrenner build his empire, but this has clearly not been the case. Major League Baseball (ie. the Expos), the Dodgers and the Rangers were all happy to hand the Yankees MVP and Cy Young candidates for 30 cents on the dollar (five cents on the dollar in the case of the Dodgers). The Rangers even agreed to pay 35% of A-Rod’s salary for the next seven years. I didn’t realize that the Yankee minor league affiliates were Texas (A), Montreal (AA) and Los Angeles (AAA). Some mindless Yankee boosters will claim that all is fair in the world because the Red Sox picked up Curt Schilling. This comment is moronic even for Yankee fans. First, New York traded Afonso Soriano and peanuts for two Cy Young caliber pitchers and one of the greatest players in baseball history. Second, the Red Sox gave up far more talent in Casey Fossum, Brandon Lyon and Jorge De La Rosa to get Schilling than the Yankees gave up to get Brown or Vazquez. In fact, the Yankees are better simply because Weaver is not on their roster.

What a job Boston College Men’s Basketball Coach Al Skinner has done this year. The Eagles won their 21st game this week and will be heading to the NCAA Tournament. Not only did Skinner have to adjust to life without the greatest basketball player in BC history (Troy Bell) but just before the season started, he lost two other veteran starters (Ryan Sidney and Andrew Bryant). BC’s prized recruit (Dan Coleman) decided at the last minute that he wanted to play college basketball in his home state of Minnesota. Skinner’s only superstar (Craig Smith) has been banged up all season and his only other legitimate star coming into the season (Uka Agbai) missed nearly all of last season with a serious neck injury. Starting Guard Louis Hinnant missed time with injury and has been far from 100% when he has played. Add to this the fact that Skinner had to deal with anti-BC officiating in the Big East on several occasions. As we have seen on the football field, the Big East is determined to punish BC for fleeing to the ACC. The top of Skinner’s regular rotation this season included three low profile freshmen, the Sophomore Hinnant, a rusty Agbai, and Smith yet the Eagles have won 21 games despite playing one of the 40 toughest schedules in America. Al Skinner’s Eagles have now won 87 games (and counting) over the past four years. The Eagles are 41-23 in Big East play over that time. They will be heading to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four years (it should be four years in a row). Not bad for a program that was an unmitigated disaster seven years ago when Skinner took over.

Thanks to hands-free cell phone technology, I’m seeing more and more people walking around in public seemingly talking to themselves. It’s getting tougher to tell the crazy people from the obnoxious ones.

Sports Illustrated “Enemy of the State” update: George Steinbrenner wins in Florida and Alaska bringing the number of states he has “won” to five. The amazing thing is that these Sports Illustrated polls took place before the A-Rod trade. Rumor has it that some Floridians may have inadvertently voted for Pat Buchanan. Steve Spurrier will challenge the results. To check out the SI state profiles, please click HERE (note, not all states have been featured in the magazine as of this week).

This week’s sign of political correctness gone mad. From The Week magazine:

Schools in Nashville have stopped posting honor rolls so as not to hurt the feelings of underachieving students. After several parents complained that the honor rolls were embarrassing, lawyers warned that the school district could be sued under a law that bars schools from releasing academic information without permission.

I guess I missed the memo declaring that competition is a bad thing. Maybe newspapers in Tennessee shouldn’t be publishing the NBA scoring leaders. By their thinking, isn’t that hurting the feelings of the guys not among the leading scorers?

Speaking of political correctness gone mad, I’m predicting that within two years professional athletes will be getting fined for mentioning God or Jesus in postgame interviews. There exists a collection of wackos whose hostility against people of religious faith is growing by the minute and one of them will soon figure out a way to sue the NFL or NBA when one of its players uses the “G-word.” This would be unfortunate, not only because it would be another victory for the legion of pathetic losers that are offended by everything from the word “God” to the American flag, but it would end high comedy interviews like the one Trot Nixon gave to ESPN after his game-winning homer against the A’s in Game 3 of the ALDS. According to Trot it was Jesus, not Nixon himself that hit the dramatic homerun. If that’s true, I hope that Jesus hits better against lefthanded pitchers this season.

In the latest example of deplorable anti-Americanism, Mexican fans at a recent USA-Mexico soccer game in Guadalajara repeatedly chanted “Osama” to taunt the American players, who lost the game 4-0. Is it time to put Mexicans on the growing list of foreign ingrates? America employs close to eight million Mexicans who have illegally crossed the border into the US. We could deport these people but instead we give them jobs and ignore the fact that they are breaking our laws by living in this country. What thanks do we get? They make light of the tragic deaths of 3,000 Americans. Absolutely sickening. I am hopeful that the scumbags who chanted Osama bin Laden’s name are not representative of the majority of Mexican citizens.

Speaking of Osama, many people are wondering when we will capture him. Is it possible that he has already been captured? If the Republicans have him, he will be brought into custody the week before November’s Presidential Election. If the Democrats have him, he will be brought in the week after the November Election.