Only in Canada

The Canadian Football League has stepped it up in terms of ridiculous rulings in a desperate attempt to keep up with their Canadian brethren — the NHL. But this could be a landmark in stupidity we're looking at. What happened prior the CFL draft is even worse than the NHL changing a rule MID-PLAYOFFS. It's that bad.

Now, following in the NFL's and NBA's footsteps of stripping teams of first round picks for cheating (See: SpyGate), when the league found out that the Montreal Alouettes had violated salary cap rules by going over, the looked to punish them. Here's where the problem and stupidity comes in.

Montreal had traded away their pick to Hamilton before the draft.

Now common sense would tell you that Hamilton is not the team that the league was trying to punish for breaking a rule, therefore they could keep the pick since they traded for it before it was stripped. No. Hamilton lost the pick.

I could go on an angry rambling about how dumb this league is but, the way I see it, why complain about a minor league football organization. It's not like any of the guys could compete in the NFL.

The end is near

It's the beginning of the end for a few things in the NFL. SpyGate may finally be resolved now that Matt Walsh is going to come forward and talk to the league and possibly produce the tape of the Rams' final walkthrough. This had better be worth the wait but after hearing what his demands were to talk — assurance that the Patriots will not sue him and a free flight to New York — it has to be something big and juicy. Why else would he want immunity if there was nothing that could get him in legal trouble?

Commissioner Goodell has also stated that if Walsh can produce evidence of the Patriots further cheating, New England is going to be hit by more fines and levies. If their first penalty was any indication of how serious this "crime" is, the Patriots should get ready for a huge blow.

And, what we, as sports fans, are all looking forward to ending is the millions of mock drafts that flood the internet this time of the year. How many different opinions of what *might* happen do we need? One per publication is about as much I need.

Then, even when it's all over, we'll be mowed down by NBA draft mocks.

A Yankees-Red Sox filled weekend

With the two teams duking it out in the series rubber-match last night at Fenway, there was a more interesting story developing in New York, rather underneath the new Yankee Stadium. It turns out that a construction worker — and member of Red Sox Nation — tried to curse the new field by planting a David Ortiz jersey in the cement foundation. After hearing reports of this and getting tips on its whereabouts, workers promptly jack hammered it out to remove any potential curse. They even turned this lame publicity stunt around and donated the tattered (from the jackhammers) jersey to a charity for a possible auction. Who would've thought the "Evil Empire" would have a heart?

As for the construction worker, he may be staring down the barrel of a lawsuit from the Yankees’ empire for such negligence. This guy had better not show his face around the Bronx any time soon or he may not walk out looking so pretty.

In the game, I have no idea how these two teams can prolong a nine-inning game like they do. While it is understandable that games with higher scores tend to go longer than pitching duels, four hours for a game is a reason why casual fans get turned off of baseball. The Red Sox were able to hold on and win despite an attempt at a comeback by the Yanks after Phil Hughes looked unspectacular again.

And hey, what's wrong with Big Papi? He is certainly not himself so far this season despite having off-season surgery to correct his ailing knee. In fact, he was scratched from the starting lineup last night to get some work in with the Sox hitting coach, Dave Magadan. Ortiz has a very un-Big Papi like .070 batting average – going three-for-43 this season, even if one of those three was a home run. It's so bad that J.D. Drew is a more viable option for the three-hole in the lineup and that Alex Cora, a usual target of offence-related jokes, has as many hits as Ortiz, but in only three at bats. Now, being a Red Sox Nation hater, I couldn't be more pleased by this development, but then again, being a human being and a baseball fan, it's kind of sad seeing a big name in the game struggle mightily.

Remember folks, you have to care to hate.

Everybody hates Chris

Poor Chris Henry. After getting in trouble with the law several times over the past few years and even getting suspended by the NFL for the first half of last season, the Cincinnati Bengals have finally had enough of the mercurial receiver. Henry was released by the Bengals yesterday after being charging with punching an 18-year-old in the face and then breaking his windshield with a beer bottle.

Bravo Chris, Bravo. Stay close to your phone, the Raiders and Cowboys are probably looking up their scouting reports on you right now. Too bad you're not more talented, Cincy might've been able to get a late-round pick back in a trade.

So, when you combine everything that he's done off the field, is there a way he could possibly get away with NOT being suspended for the entire coming season? This may not be as bad as what Pacman Jones did, but the repeated offences combined with the prior bad behaviour banishment should be the tipping point.

More Hot-Lanta controversy

We may be headed for a second replay of the season if the NBA sees what everyone else who caught the end of the Raptors-Hawks tilt last night saw. Because of some wackiness perpetrated by the Atlanta timekeeper, the Raptors' final attempt to win the game was waved off because time had apparently expired and the game was to head to overtime — where the Hawks eventually won. But not so fast.

Upon further review, which the refs didn't look into, the timekeeper had started the clock before T.J. Ford had touched the ball to lay it in. It was almost .2 whole seconds fast, which doesn't sound like a long time, but would have been enough time to give the Raptors the win.

This could be the second time this season that the Hawks may be forced to play a replay. The only difference between the Hawks-Heat replay and a potential Raptors-Hawks replay (which should happen, this was an ugly error) is that there is playoff ramifications now. Had the Raptors won the game, they would have clinched a playoff spot in the weak East. Since the Hawks are also in the playoff running – and not that far behind Toronto – seeding is front and centre here. If (more like when) the Raptors file a complaint and are awarded a replay of those final .5 or more seconds, a lot will be at stake.

Oh, and apparently the timekeeper also kept the clock running a few fractions too long after Atlanta had scored the game-tying bucket, leaving just .5 seconds on the clock. And aside, Ford's defence on Bibby's tying shot was horrendous.

Season openers abroad

It's getting a bit ridiculous and cheap ploy for publicity when almost every North American sports league opens their regular seasons overseas. The NHL did it in London for the beginning of their 07-08 campaign and are doubling efforts next season with openers in Prague and Sweden. The NFL played a game in England last season and even had a minor league running in Europe that was forced to close down. The NBA is looking at European expansion as their future and are marketing heavily in China. Even the English Premier League was looking into having regular season games on the other side of the pond.

But here's the nuttiest one of them all: Major League Baseball – who has been opening in Japan for several seasons now — staged games in Tokyo featuring the Red Sox and A's while the preseason was still being played out stateside. Even better, the A's and Red Sox will come back and play more preseason games after they've already opened their seasons. How does this make any sense at all?

Even when the Braves and Nationals open the regular season in the states on Sunday night, there will still have been three Spring Training games that took place during the afternoon. I would expect this kind of lunacy from a shifty league like the NHL but not from MLB.

The players who are forced to travel and play at what amounts to six a.m. on the body clocks only hurts their performance and can throw a monkey into the beginning of the teams' seasons. Maybe they're lucky that they can have a tune up before playing more real ball, but I don't see how this benefits anybody.

The simple solution would be to make the Japan games exhibitions, but then you may not draw a big crowd and teams would likely bring over more scrubs than stars. Would you be a Tokyo-er if you couldn't watch Manny or Big Papi?

So can we try to straighten this out sometime soon? Having a fantasy baseball draft a week earlier than usual to try to get in two games is quite absurd.

One step closer

One step closer With the Brett Favre retirement/cry-fest in the rearview mirror, the next big thing on the tips of everyone's tongues should be Spygate, again.

Apparently Matt Walsh, the guy who was the cameraman for the Patriots and was supposedly ordered to help them cheat, has been hammering out a deal with the NFL to talk. The hold up in this process is that he wants immunity of something of the sort and his lawyers should have no problem getting that. But really, immunity from what? He's a semi-por golfer in Hawaii now or something; it's not like he's still around the league in any capacity.

When Walsh does eventually talk — it's not an if any more — we can finally get to the bottom of how much cheating that Belichick has been doing and for how long. I've said it once and I'll say it again: If he has been cheating by taping opponents signals or practices, he should be banned from the NFL. It would be a travesty to the game.

Another, somewhat harsh, response could even be reverse the outcomes of all the games the Patriots had cheated in. Including their Super Bowl wins if the evidence is there. I don't think an asterisk is good enough at this point.

Save the Sonics!

Over at ESPN.com, Bill Simmons has been campaigning to keep the SuperSonics in Seattle for a few weeks now. It's an admirable cause and seriously should be on the tips of more peoples' tongues. The fact that they could be leaving town after a 41-year stay makes no sense. And basically, it's all because their owner doesn't think the arena there is good enough. Also, he wants to move the team to his hometown of Oklahoma City.

Granted, I see nothing wrong with moving a team to, or maybe even expanding to, Oklahoma City. They proved they can support a team when they had the Hornets following hurricane Katrina. But stealing a team from a city with loyal fans is border-line despicable. Why not move a team that's struggling for support in their market? How about taking the Grizzlies or Bobcats or even the Hornets away from their cities that are giving them fledgling support at best? It makes more sense than stripping Seattle of the team that gave the city its' only championship.

The fact that David Stern is sitting on his hands, doing nothing at all, makes this whole situation worse. What makes it exceedingly worse is the fact that he's stated

There was some good news yesterday though: A group of local investors have upped their bid to buy the team as well as refurbish KeyArena in order to keep the team in town. Of course, it probably won't happen, sadly, because the NBA seems more concerned about screwing over Seattle and its' fans than saving them.

Poor Yao

It's a tough spot that both Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets are in right now. Quite a unique one as well. Yao, who is the most recognizable Chinese person in the world (come on, he's 7'6") has a stress fracture in the foot and will be out for the rest of the NBA season. That part is not in doubt; here's the tricky side of it: Yao is the centrepiece of not only China's national basketball team but is a key cog in relations between the NBA (maybe even America) and his native country.

Don't forget, the Olympics games are being held this summer in China, and they'll want to show the world exactly what they can do in every sport. It is very possible that they could "persuade" Yao to come back a bit earlier than he probably should to play in the games.

Have you ever heard a story of a player coming back earlier than he should with a positive ending? More often than not, the injury is aggravated and the player's career (and sometimes even life) are adversely affected by rushing themselves into action.

The Rockets did know what they were getting into when they drafted the Chinese big man a few years back, now his and the team's future could be quite clouded due to this horrid politics.

Clemens cooking

After a few hours worth of testimony to the grand jury along with accuser/former trainer Brian McNamee, Roger Clemens' public image is not looking very hot. He's cooking, but not in the good way. One could even say his pants are literally on fire. It would explain why he came off as nervous when being grilled about his accused use of Human Growth Hormone and steroids.

And his death-stares and McNamee were so chilling one could have thought that somebody's — either Clemens or McNamee — head would explode from the sheer force being exerted in that look.

But the all-time word of the hearing had to "misremember." It could be used in a sentence like: "Andy Pettitte misremembers some things." Hilarious. It might even be construed as smack-talking since Clemens may be updating his Christmas card list when you consider that Pettitte's under-oath claims that Clemens admitted to him that he used HGH are VERY damning.

There isn't much known for 100% truth in the situation still but if there's one thing that we do now know, it's that somebody may be going to prison. All of these depositions were under-oath in a court and, as we know from the Barry Bonds indictment on perjury, you cannot tell a lie to the government without them getting their retribution. The U.S. government do not like looking like fools, despite who their leader is.

Spygate II

So what happens if it turns out to be true that the Patriots cheated in a Super Bowl, specifically their first win against the Rams, you know the one that's drawing comparisons to the one the lost on Sunday to the Giants. Taping a team's final walkthrough, which the Patriots reportedly did, would be the equivalent of looking at another player's hand poker. If there's a worse type of cheating — other than taking a dive — I don't know what it is.

You may also ask what business U.S. Congress has investigating a matter like cheating in the NFL. You can also wonder why they became involved in the MLB-steroids mess of the past while as well. Let's just remember where these leagues play their games: in stadiums that were built in large parts thanks to tax dollars. These tax dollars were alloted by whom now? That's right the government. Basically, when you're playing in somebody else's house, you better abide by house rules and try not to put your feet up on the furniture.

The real question I have about Spygate II is what exactly are they going to investigate? The NFL already requested tapes and notes from New England, said they'd reveal what was on them (and didn't until pressed about it last week) and then destroyed the tapes for no one to ever see again. Why? It makes no sense. It was reveal that the Pats did cheat in at least six games during the 2006 season though, and why has there been nothing done about that?

Also, what did the NFL ask the Pats for? Was it just last year's tapes? If so, then New England can say they complied with the league's orders and commissioner Roger Goodell seriously dropped the ball. The NFL has to disclose what the Patriots had, how they did it, how far they went and when they cheated. It's the only way to not make themselves look like fools and come out looking alright.

As for consequences, If the allegations of cheating that go back to the victory over the Rams (and maybe even before) is true, then Bill Belichick should be suspended from the league for life and SEVERE fines should be laid on the team. It's the only way to go. All of the Patriots records should be tarnished, sullied with asterisks everywhere they belong.

Goodell has gone above and beyond what any previous commissioner has in terms of disciplinary measures to uphold the integrity of the league. If he drops the ball on Spygate II in the same fashion he did with the original, more than a few people will be calling for his ousting. I'll be one.

Giants win!

There are so many different headlines that could’ve worked here. I could’ve gone with “18-1*” -note the asterisk is still present because of Spygate (which is heating up to white hot levels). I could’ve used “Cheaters never prevail,” because quite frankly, they don’t. Or even an open-handed “Eat it Tom Brady,” which I think he kind of deserves for his smack-talking during press week. But “Giants win!” is more suitable and just a great way of showing the surprise behind what happened.

So Thomas, what did you say about getting credit for being a great offence when Plaxico predicted a 23-17 win and you claimed that you would score more than that? If anything, you threw a jinx down on your team and your own play. And the way you choked at the end of the game, with everything on the line? It was certainly Peyton Manning-esque, which is especially fitting after the comparisons between the two QBs’ record breaking seasons.

Was there even a single omen or jinx going against the Giants? It seemed like the deck was stacked in their favour on that front. Well, except for Eli’s Peyton jinx. So, in no particular order:

Gisele was in the stands to jinx Brady.
The league’s leading passer has never won the Super Bowl.
Strong defence will beat a strong offence.
There’s no roman numeral for zero so the Patriots could not go XIX and zero.
The report that the Patriots cheated in their first Super Bowl win was broken days before the game.
The 2008 Giants were eerily similar to those Pats who beat the heavily-favoured Rams.
Plaxico Burris guaranteed a win. Wasn’t that famous guarantee made in Super Bowl III predicted by a New York player on an underdog team? Broadway Plaxico doesn’t really roll off your tongue though.
And, just for Bill Simmons:
The Ewing Theory potential of Tiki Barber’s retirement was off the chart.

And if Elisha Manning can continue playing like he did throughout the playoffs, he might actually have been worth the first overall pick that San Diego used on him. Is it weird that I still don’t believe he’s a good quarterback even though he just won Super Bowl MVP? What a great story that is too. Peyton and Eli winning back-to-back MVPs is certainly something I never would have thought would happen.

In the end, even though I thought the Patriots would mop the floor with the Giants of New York, I’m glad I was wrong. Now, let’s see some heavy Spygate fallout, congress-stlye. Ban Belichick for life.

Final picks roundup.
The playoffs: 3-5-1
The season: 111-117-10

Tejada's troubles

Life may be getting a ton more complicated for Miguel Tejada and the Houston Astros. While he's currently being investigated regarding his 2005 testimony and whether he lied or not the feds regarding the steroid scandal, he may lose his green card or even worse spend 15-20 months in jail.

The trouble stems from a 2005 interview when Tejada had told government officials that he had never used steroids, know nothing about them and didn't know anyone who had used before.

Tejada's situation is actually quite similar — oddly — to what happened Martha Stewart. Both lied when they were originally questioned and now that the truth has come to light, consequences must be paid. So how bad would it be if the Astros, who just traded a bunch of players and prospects to acquire Miggy, couldn't pencil him into the lineup for a long while. Adam Everett must be liking his chance of getting on the field this season.

Finally, what terrific foresight on behalf of the Baltimore Orioles for getting rid of Tejada before the Mitchell report pointed a finger at the former AL MVP. Whoever thought that the Orioles would make a legitimately smart move?

Are you serious?

Just when I thought Pacman Jones might be back on the right track, he goes out and does something incredibly stupid again. A Tennessee woman is seeking an arrest warrant on Jones, alleging that he punched her at a strip club. Why is Pacman back at strip club? The last notably time he was there, he made it rain money and then someone was shot outside the club. Now he's (allegedly) punching people? And a woman no less? If this story comes out to be true, who do you think will be back in the NFL first? Pacman Jones or Michael Vick? If he shows up in New Orleans for NBA all-star weekend, it may very well be Vick who's back first.

It's also funny how my headline didn't have to change even though i wrote it when it applied to a story about the possibility of Tom Brady retiring after a 19-0 season and fourth Super Bowl win to spend time with his kid and girlfriend (who live on opposite coasts).

Happy Anniversary

Today marks the one-year anniversary of Running The Point — formerly known as Dan's Ramblings. It's been a great experience to write (almost) everyday here and voice my opinions no matter how smart, dumb, funny or irrational they have been. The start up of this site even helped get me a job at an award-winning daily newspaper's sports section. At least I like to think that about this pet-project.

Since the beginning of this humble site there has been literal tons of subjects to write about. From scandals to amazing performances and even scandals within amazing performances (looking your way Patriots), a lot has piqued my interest daily.

If I had to narrow down my favourite stories since this site's inception, they'd probably be broken down something like this:

3. The Beckham-to-LA saga.
I know that it didn't play out like the MLS probably wanted since he didn't make the biggest impact that he probably could've, but reading stories everyday about the English midfielder and icon was always fun. It may not be have been as big or newsy as some of the other happenings this past year (see honourable mentions below) but this is my list.

2. The undefeated, cheating Patriots.
I knew going into the season that New England was going to be good. But this good? Undefeated good? No way. But more interesting to me than their undefeated season was Spygate and what followed it. If the Patriots — especially Belichick and Brady — not acted like complete assholes by running up the score of games in F U fashion, they might not be as hated as they are now. I still, to this moment, have no idea why such a good team would be reduced to cheating like that.

1. The rise (and brief fall) of Tony Romo.
Sure, it's a biased choice since I'm a huge Cowboys fan but how many people laughed in the pre-season of 2006 when Romo was outplaying Drew Bledsoe and the Cowboys' season looked doomed? Romo has came all the way from being an undrafted free agent signee out of East Illinois to a two-time pro bowler leading arguably the best team in the NFC. If not for his botched snap gaffe in Seattle last playoffs, who knows what could've happened.

Honourable mentions: Michael Vick's dogfighting scandal, Barry Bonds vs. everyone, the NHL's slide into obscurity, baseball vs. steroids, LeBron continually stepping it up and ruling the NBA.

As for the upcoming year, this site will continue to grow and expand in several ways. A redesign is coming soon to make RTP more appealing to the eyes than this bland blogspot template. Getting some more out of the extremely lazy intern would also be nice and yes, he still does want to write apparently. Also, some more all-around improvements will come over time; perhaps even my writing will get better. There is still a lot to come here and sports never stop so neither will my writing.

And, of course, I'd be remiss to not give a big thank you to all of RTP's readers and fans for their support.

The Clemens mess

Despite everything that's been written — in and out of the Mitchell report — I believe Roger Clemens. After all, are we not supposed to believe that people are innocent until proven guilty? This stance has nothing to do with a personal bias either. While I do like Clemens and consider him the best pitcher to ever toe the slab, I'd like to see some proof before hanging him.

Now that he's filed a defamation lawsuit against the man who pointed the finger at him, Brian McNamee, we will actually get to see this whole scenario play out in a court of law. If Clemens is indeed innocent, he will be vindicated. If he loses the lawsuit and lies on the stand about his use of banned substances, then he could be facing a perjury indictment a la Barry Bonds.

And why couldn't Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes ask the best question that a lot of people want to know: "Roger, why would your supposed friend try to frame you for this?" That's the one thing that could get me to turn against Clemens. There's no 'why'. Where is the motive? We will hopefully find out soon and get this out of the way before it takes press away from the upcoming season. A long dragging case will only hurt the game of baseball further.

But out of all of this one thing is certain: This situation, as a whole, was very poorly handled.

One the odder stories...

In late 2007, a boxer from South Korea successfully defended his WBO intercontinental flyweight championship against a Thai foe. Now, Choi Yo-sam is dead. Almost immediately after being awarded the win on points, Choi collapsed and went into a coma. Yesterday he was declared brain-dead and his organs were donated for transplants.

After seeing the photos on the wire and needing something off-beat to run for that day's paper, with our tongues in our cheeks we ran a picture of Choi being attended to in the ring without knowing the severity of his condition. A regrettable move.

But really, how sensational of a story is it that he died having won his fight and his title? At you least, you'd have to think his last memory was a very pleasant one, hoisting his championship belt in the air for his fans to see.

A situation like this should also warrant a boxing-is-dangerous column, but we all should know the health risks of being punched in the head and we all know that boxers have to go through physicals before any fight to be certified. Deaths like Choi's are rare, but a harsh reminder that anything can happen.

The Mitchell Report

It's been analyzed everywhere by everyone who could possibly write about it. I, for one, am not really up for reading 40-plus pages of stuff when I could get the summary everywhere I looked yesterday. People are damning every player, trainer, official etc. that was named in report. That's fair. But should everyone be THIS up at arms over the Mitchell report? I don't think so. I wasn't too shocked about any single name on the list.

The only name close to shocking me is Roger Clemens, a personal hero in fact. But the speculation had already been thrown around before. The old conspiracy theory that Clemens started his ritualistic taking-a-few-months-off thing was actually a secret suspension from the league — trying to cover the ass of one of their greatest players ever. This will tarnish his legacy a la Barry Bonds but Clemens isn't an ass to the public like Bonds is most of the time. How this will play out, we'll see...

One thing I do know for certain is that for a guy on some sort of juice, Gregg Zaun should have a lot better numbers.

I've got the feeling that, while this will hurt the game, some of its' best players and the record books, this is not as bad as people think it is. Even in the last few years, every major North American sport (except the impeccable NFL) has suffered a far worse blow. The NHL lockout, the NBA referee scandal and even WWE's Chris Benoit tragedy are far more crippling than this. The thing is that everyone already suspected a lot of the players named. The confirmation isn't nearly as jarring as the initial accusations to me.

And who would've ever thought that Jose Canseco would come out of all this looking like a good guy? He arguably started this whole snowball effect and could, in a way, be credited with cleaning up the sport now. How delicious is that irony?

Courtroom dramas

Mike Vick gets sentenced. 23 months seems like a lot to me. While I have taken turns arguing for and against Vick in various conversations, I still feel a bit bad for how fast and hard he's fallen from grace.

Pundits are no saying that had Vick accepted more responsibility for his actions and kept his indiscretions to a minimum, his sentence could've been far less and in the range of 12-to-18 months. Now that I would've agreed with.

It's a shame such a gifted athlete and revolutionary quarterback will probably never get the opportunity to play again... Expect in his prison's league that is.

Barry Bonds waits a year for trial? There is some reports speculating that Bonds, after entering a plea of not guilty of his charges, could only be going in front of a judge after the 2008 baseball season.

Now he could potentially sign a one-year deal somewhere and play, but who would want the media circus that will follow him now? And what will be buzzing around in his rather large head? It's never been riskier to take a chance on the home run king and I can't see a single team tendering him an offer.

A huge day in the MLB

When the least intriguing new of the day is that a pitcher won the NL Cy Young unanimously, you know it was a heavy news day. So, to begin, let's congratulate Jake Peavy for his earning his first Cy Young, probably of many. Now...

Barry Bonds was indicted yesterday! Bonds dared them to indict him all last year, even while chasing and then breaking Hank Aaron's home run record and now it finally happened. Bonds has been indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice sprouting from his testimony, to investigators and in front of the grand jury, that he has never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs.

Wow, so where does this put his record now? He is innocent until proven guilty but it's not like many people in the media and especially the fans are going to look at it that way. The U.S. government has been building their case for years now and you would have to expect that it's strong enough to put away Bonds. Oh, and the extreme part of this whole thing is that Barry faces a 30-year prison sentence. That's right, he would get out of jail after he's turned 73.

How much of a shame is it for baseball and all its' supporters that this has happened. Yet another black eye for a sport that's just really started coming back around again.

On the much lighter side of the big news moves in the baseball world, Alex Rodriguez will be a Yankee next year after all. After screwing the team out of several millions of dollars spouting from the deal that sent him to the Bronx from Texas, he's now agreed to stay in town for the next ten years, if he doesn't negotiate any more opt-out clauses into his new deal that is.

The outline of the deal is reportedly worth $275-million US over ten years and also features a bonus if A-Rod breaks the career home run record while wearing the Yankees' pinstripes.

Also, do you really think that A-Rod can last another 10 seasons in New York? He's been ridden by the fans, the media and sometimes even teammates over the course of his stay so far, does he think that will change now that he's pulled off this flip-flop? Only time will tell and it will be interesting to see what kind of clauses are written into this deal and if Scott Boras will even be around to cash in on it after A-Rod walked into the Yank's office without him.