What is most upsetting about the Manny Ramirez situation is that the existence of his bloated contract may force the Red Sox to trade Nomar Garciaparra. I'm sure that the Red Sox would much rather have Nomar at around $14 million per year than Alex Rodriguez at $25 million per year. Clearly, A-Rod is a better player than Nomar both offensively and defensively, but given the choice between A-Rod alone or Nomar plus an additional $11 million to spend in other places, the Sox would clearly take the latter. On the other hand, if Texas were to offer Rodriguez straight-up for Manny Ramirez, the Red Sox would be foolish not to accept the deal. Getting rid of Ramirez would be a dream come true for Theo Epstein and getting the best player in the game in return isn't a bad deal even at $25 million per year. It would also allow the Sox to trade Garciaparra and get something very substantial in return. The Angels could offer any number of players that the Sox would love. They could do a straight-up for Garret Anderson who would take Ramirez's place in left field. They might offer Jarrod Washburn and either David Eckstein (who could be moved to second base) or Adam Kennedy. They may even part with closer Troy Percival or one of their great middle relievers plus a prospect or two. The Dodgers might be interested as well and have pitching to give up. The rest of the league might be hesitant to make a trade for Garciaparra for fear that he will bolt when he becomes a free agent after 2004. If he doesn't resign with Boston, just about everyone expects him to be playing for a Southern California team by 2005.

Just when I think I can't be any more disgusted with Manny Ramirez, he raises the bar a little more. Manny claims that he is unhappy in Boston and wants to be traded, yet he is unwilling to restructure his contract to facilitate a trade. The Red Sox offered to tear up Manny's contract and allow him to become a free agent but he refused. If Manny would take a pay cut from his current $20 million per year to $15 million per year, Texas might be willing to bite on an A-Rod for Manny swap, especially if the Sox threw in a decent prospect. I'm sure it isn't worth it for the Rangers to downgrade from A-Rod to Manny to save only $5 million per year, but if they could save $10 million per year, it might be a different story. The numbers would be as follows:

• Ramirez has already been paid $60 million by the Sox and probably earned $30 million during his time in Cleveland, putting his career earnings at $90 million. If he plays for the Red Sox for the next five years, he will earn another $100 million for a total of $190 million by the time he's 36 years old.
• If he agrees to a $5 million per year pay cut, he'll still earn $75 million over the next five for a total of $165 million by age 36.

A major part of the problem is Manny's agent/snake Jeff Moorad. Manny was close to resigning with Cleveland in 1999 for $135 million ($25 million less than Boston offered) but Moorad talked him out of it. I'm sure Moorad is putting his own agenda ahead of his client's interests once again.

The other problem is the Player's Association, which may not let Ramirez reduce the value of his contract even if he wanted to. Talk about greed.

I sincerely hope that the Red Sox are not serious about signing Andy Pettitte. Didn't Theo Epstein learn anything from the Ramiro Mendoza debacle? Andy Pettitte has been a solid major league pitcher for nearly a decade, but I'm sure that he would fall apart the minute that he put on a Red Sox uniform. I'm also trying to figure out why Pettitte is commanding so much money. This is a guy who had a 4.02 ERA last season and has a total ERA of 4.13 over the past five years. Let someone else tie up $55 million dollars. I'd rather have Bartolo Colon or Curt Schilling.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Pedro Martinez this winter. As I've said before, the Red Sox would love to extend Pedro's contract but they cannot afford to give him more than a three year extension because his durability remains such a question mark. It is difficult to determine how much per year Pedro will demand. He seemed rather upset when the Sox excercised his $17.5 million option for 2004, claiming that the team was costing him money. No one seems to know what he meant by this but I can almost guarantee that he won't get that much from Boston or anyone else in 2005. Pedro is still a great pitcher but his value has diminished because he's only good for about 30 starts per year and 100 pitches per game. He can still dominate for six or seven innings but can't finish a game like Bartolo Colon or Kerry Wood. I haven't heard it mentioned yet, but if Pedro is resigned, wouldn't it make sense to move him to a closer's role in a couple of years? These days, a seven inning outing is sufficient for a starter, but at this rate Pedro will be fading out in the fifth or sixth inning within a couple of years. At that point, he will not be a successful starter no matter how dominant he is over the first five innings. As a closer, Pedro could come in and throw fire for an inning or two. His control is exceptional, which is a great asset for a closer. Is this scenario in Theo Epstein's mind? I hope so.

I think the Red Sox should petition the league and request a transfer to the National League East. The Sox have finished second to the Yankees in the American League East in each of the past six seasons. This is infuriating. If New York and Boston had the same payroll, the Sox would have won at least three of those division titles. Truth be told, no one should have to compete for a division title with the Yankees. The Yankees are in a league of their own financially, so why not put them in a league of their own literally? Below is my restructured version of the American and National Leagues, but instead of separating the teams geographically, I have separated them according to financial means. Under this plan the Yankees are a one-team division (they are going to buy a playoff spot anyway, so why not just give it to them up front?). In my new scenario, the American League will have four divisions and no Wild Card. The National League will retain the Wild Card. I have named the Divisions based on automobiles and placed the teams based on how I think they would finish in 2004.

Is it my imagination or are football referees getting very lazy? Lately I've noticed that the officials often fail to bring out the chains even when it looks like the ball may be short of a first down. It seems that anything close to ten yards is called a first down. Referee laziness hit a new low point during last Monday Night's Patriots-Broncos game. In the first quarter, Tom Brady quite clearly pounced on his own fumble before a Bronco could get near the ball, but the officials gave Denver possession without even bothering to check who had recovered.

With so many draft picks next Spring, I think the Patriots can afford to take a punter/kickoff specialist in one of the later rounds. Ken Walter is awful and I'm getting a little tired of Adam Vinatieri's kickoffs landing on the 15-yard-line. Not only has the Patriot defense been stingy when it comes to surrendering points, but they have done it with the opponent being given great starting field position on nearly every drive.

Speaking of comparisons, the AFC North Division reminds me of the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination. All the candidates are pretty lousy but in the end someone has to win.

Graduates of Notre Dame, appropriately enough, are starting to remind me of the French. Both Notre Dame grads and the French government have retained a superiority complex despite the fact that they have absolutely nothing to feel superior about. Both Notre Dame and the French are denial about the fact that they are no longer superpowers and have been mediocre (at best) for a long time. Both love to live in past when questioned about the present. Both are disgusting ingrates (Notre Dame to the Big East who resurrected their basketball program and France to the United States who has saved their cowardly behinds on more than one occasion). Lastly, both are prone to delusions of grandeur. There are differences, however. I've never known a Notre Dame graduate to smell bad and I'm sure no member of the French Army would participate in anything as dangerous as football game.

There has been a lot of talk about college football's overtime rule of late. My feelings on the subject are mixed. On one hand, college football's overtime is extremely exciting. I have seen two of the Arkansas Razorback's seven-overtime classics (one against Ole Miss a couple of years ago, the other against Kentucky this season) and loved every minute. On the other hand, the current overtime system is a ludicrous way to determine the winner of an important game (such as last year's championship). Also, the overtime rule distorts team and player statistics. The Arkansas 71-65 win over Kentucky was 24-24 going into overtime. The overtime rule also allows a quarterback or running back to stock up on touchdowns. For instance, a quarterback could set a school record with six TD passes even though he had just two in regulation. That just isn't right. My solution would be to play a regular overtime period like the NFL does, but require that each team has at least one possession. If the team that receives the overtime kickoff scores on their first possession, they would be forced to kickoff to the opponent. If the second team to get the ball ties the score on that possession then the game becomes a sudden-death overtime. If they don't score, they lose. If they score more points than the first team did, they win. If a team fumbles an overtime kickoff and the kicking team recovers, that would be considered a possession for the receiving team. However, if the kicking team recovers an onside kick, the receiving team would not be charged with a possession. An onside kick would be defined as any kick that does not go at least 25 yards.

How is it possible that Subway is still doing Jared commercials? The American public was sick of this guy three years ago. I wonder if Jared threated to get really fat and go on the talk show circuit if Subway took him off the air.

I have never really cared about the University of Michigan, but tomorrow I will become a huge Wolverines fan for a day. The thought of Ohio State reaching another championship game sickens me. Ohio State football is by far the dirtiest, most classless college athletics program since the late 1980's University of Miami football program. Ohio State leads the world in player arrests over the past three years, lowlighted by the actions of star running back Maurice Clarett who falsified a police report concerning items of his that were supposedly stolen from a car he had borrowed. More recently there have been reports that Clarett may not be eligible to play next season because he is flunking his classes. I think my dog could graduate from Ohio State with honors so how Clarett could be flunking is a mystery. Maybe he is being tutored by Andy Katzenmoyer. What is most disturbing of all is that Ohio State suspended linebacker Robert Reynolds for just one game for violently choking Wisconsin quarterback Jim Sorgi on the field earlier this season. One game is the price you pay for nearly choking a person to death if you play for Jim Tressel. I wonder what kind of suspension Reynolds would have received had he actually killed Sorgi. Two games? The Ohio State football program is a disgrace. Students and alumni should feel ashamed to be Buckeyes. Residents of Ohio should be ashamed by the university's complete lack of morals. Tressel and Ohio State have made it clear winning is all that matters.

Ohio State is also undeserving of their success because they have survived on dumb luck for so long. No team in the history of sports has ever had a run of luck like the Buckeyes have had the past two years. Eleven of OSU's last 17 wins have been by seven points or less, many of those against bad teams. Not only have they won close games, but they have received every break imaginable. Any good team will win some close games, but Ohio State's run has been ludicrous. I can't imagine Michigan winning by less than 20, but if Ohio State somehow survives the game against the inconsistent Wolverines, we may see Oklahoma put up 100 on the Buckeyes in the Sugar Bowl. Then again, with Ohio State's limitless good fortune the entire Oklahoma team may get food poisoning the night before the game.

Is there a new Screen Actor's Guild bylaw that states that all single actresses in their thirties must date talentless punks in their early twenties? Are Demi Moore, Naomi Watts and Cameron Diaz really that desperate to be noticed by the 18-25 demographic? When Tim Robbins got together with Susan Sarandon it was a little creepy. I miss those days.

The Celtics are almost too upsetting to even talk about. Danny Ainge's first major move as Celtics President was to trade his second best player with a two-year contractual obligation for another team's eighth best player with a six-year contract obligation. It looks like Ainge is more than ready to follow in the footsteps of M.L. Carr and Rick Pitino. I was not entirely against trading Antoine Walker, but this move makes no sense especially when you consider that Walker came into this season twenty pounds lighter and his stock could only rise after last year's miserable season. Ainge could have waited until next year to make a deal with Walker, but he let his personal feelings cloud his judgement (at least I hope that's the case). Ainge certainly didn't need to take on Raef LaFrentz for six years and $60 million.

Happy Thanksgiving.