I just don’t get it. I mean, I understand rivalries. I can totally get the feelings and intrigue of national showcases like Yankees-Red Sox and Duke-North Carolina. I get those same feelings closer to home when the UW meets WSU or Oregon on the hardwood or gridiron.

Rivalries are awesome and they can really take a sporting event to the next level. When Big Papi pushed the Red Sox past the Yanks in 2004 to go to the World Series, that was monumental, symbolic and cool as fuck. And conversely, with the Cougars beating the Huskies seven straight times during basketball season, that hurts like you wouldn’t believe.

But Lakers-Celtics… I just don’t get it. I know why I don’t get it. I didn’t know anything about sports in the ’80s. I never experienced Larry Bird and Magic Johnson facing off, and I sure as hell don’t have any kind of frame of reference for Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. When I was growing up and cognizant about sports, the Celtics really weren’t all that good and I grew to hate the Lakers because of Shaq and Kobe. The rivalry didn’t exist.

With the Sox and the Yankees, I remember 1999 and 2003. I grew to hate every player in New York and grew to love the characters that Boston contained. Then I was a big fan of Duke for a while too, enjoying Jason Williams and Shane Battier while hating the crap out of the Tar Heels (plus, powder blue is such a crappy color for a sports team). You learn a rivalry while being exposed to it.

In this case, there is no exposure. The Celtics really haven’t been that good for a long time. When they were good, there certainly wasn’t a rivalry going on with Los Angeles ­– a team, literally, all the way across the country. So, I just don’t get it.

But in this case, I’m not even sure it has to do with exposure. Usually rivalries are something that go on over time. As the teams change, the rivalry changes with it. First it was Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio, then it was Carlton Fisk and Eddie Munson. And so on and so on. There is always a new player for the other team to hate.

In this case, the rivalry hasn’t been so consistent. For the last two decades, there hasn’t been that same bad blood. For half of that time, MJ was ruling the NBA and for the other half, the Celtics have just been bad. Sure, Ray Allen and Kobe Bryant hate each other, but that feud went on long before Allen went over to Boston. It doesn’t quite count.

For everyone who can understand the rivalry, well more power to you. In the meantime, I’ll be waiting for another Yankees-Red Sox showdown in the ALCS.

Coolest trade ever

John Odom, a minor league pitcher with the Calgary Vipers was traded for ten baseball bats. It sounds like they are some pretty good bats too, more than a $650 value for a pitcher that, due to customs, was having trouble making it into Canada anyway. To the Vipers I say bravo! Way to make a gutsy move. Word is they're trying to move their back up catcher for some baseballs and a rosin bag. Just can't iron out the particulars on that one.

The Vipers actually got more back in this trade than Bill Bavasi did when he traded Carlos Guillen, Randy Winn and Jamie Moyer combined. He really needs to take lessons from Vipers president Peter Young. I really like it when teams do things that are outside of the norm. Like this trade or when the Portland Trailblazers buy draft picks on draft day or when the Sonics used their trade exception to help the Suns and their luxury tax problems by gaining Kurt Thomas and a couple picks as part of the deal.

This has to be just about the coolest move ever, though. It is way more interesting than if the team had simply traded him for the cash to buy the bats. Sure, it must be a bit embarrassing for the pitcher involved, but that will be a hell of a story to tell in the future! You know once the sting of the fact that he was traded for ten bats wears off.

Sonics slated for No. 4

I’m going to come clean on something here… I love the NBA draft. It is literally one of my favorite sporting events of the whole year. I actually enjoy it more than the Super Bowl and definitely more than the NHL All-Star game. Finding out where the college stars are going to go to spend the beginning of their pro careers and watching them wear fancy suits for probably the first time – except maybe their high school prom – is just plain awesome.

Unfortunately, the lead up to the draft always seems to be way more exciting and interesting than the draft ever is. And that’s because of one reason: the Sonics. Whether it’s Luke Ridnour or Robert Swift, the Sonics’ pick has ALWAYS been disappointing.

Until last year, obviously, when they got Kevin Durant and Jeff Green at No. 2 and 5. This year, I think I may be more excited than ever. Sure, the Sonics may be gone in a couple years, but as of right now they are still MY team. Until the moving vans have actually crossed the Oklahoma state line and started talking with a crappy accent that will be the case.

I was disappointed at first with the Supes ending up with the No. 4 pick in the lottery yesterday, but then I thought about it for a second. You know who was once upon a time a No. 4 pick? Chris Paul!

So, that gave me some hope. Then I did a little browsing of past drafts. Remember Chris Bosh, Antwan Jamison, Rasheed Wallace, even Stephan Marbury? Those guys were all fourth overall picks. (I am choosing to ignore the fact that Marcus Fizer, Eddy Curry and some guy from Wyoming named Bill Garnett were all in the 4 club as well).

Sure, Derrick Rose would have looked awesome in Green and Gold, but that’s just not going to happen anymore. I’ve turned my attention to one player: Arizona’s Jerryd Bayless. This guys is fantastic… I mean look at his line as a freshman last year: 35.7 mpg, 19.7 ppg, 4.0 apg and 40.7% from 3.

Boy would he make a nice teammate with Durant and Green for the next 10 years. Please Sonics, keep the good drafting going for a second year in a row! I may only have two more drafts left to enjoy with the Sonics playing a major part of my emotions, so plese, let me enjoy them!

Mike Montgomery's return

For whatever reason, maybe it's money or maybe he's just an idiot, Trent Johnson has become the third Pac-10 head coach movement (or non-movement in Tony Bennett's case) so far this off-season that doesn't make any sense. Why you would move from a school like Stanford to one like LSU?

The Cardinal isn't in that top tier of traditional powers by any stretch of the imagination. It can't compete for history with UCLA, Kansas or North Carolina, but Stanford is definitely on that second level – with the likes of Arizona and Michigan State. Teams that have had recent success that doesn't figure to end any time soon.

But I digress, what I really wanted to talk about was the man who dragged the Cardinal to the top of the college basketball mountain top to begin with – Mike Montgomery.

How much do you think Monty is kicking himself for not waiting just one extra week to find a new job? Imagine if he was available right now, do you think he'd be at the top Stanford's list? I can't imagine a scenario where he was available that he wouldn't be! Instead he's stuck at Stanford's cross town rival, Cal.

However, this could be the makings of one of the greatest moments in sports history. Imagine with me, a press conference called for Montgomery to tell the media and fans that he's committed to Cal and he isn't going anywhere anytime soon. But just as he starts to talk, wearing a Cal shirt and accompanied by Cal AD Sandy Barbour, Stanford Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby pops up out of the audience.

This is when things start to get interesting. Barbour demands to have Bowlsby removed from the building. But Monty says "it's OK, leave him be," and goes back to giving his statement, when all of a sudden he stops mid sentence, rips off his Cal T-shirt only to reveal a Stanford one underneath.

Bowlsby then thrusts into the air a contract with Montgomery's name at the bottom while Barbour begins to scream in horror. Meanwhile, Bowlsby is laughing maniacally while Montgomery rips up his contract with Cal and throws the scraps into the air in a blaze of glory.

That would be the greatest press conference moment since John Cheney threatened to kill John Calipari. I'm crossing my fingers!

Venoy Overton and Justin Holiday

Sorry for all of the Husky basketball posts lately, but if you are going to read my blog you have to understand something. When I started going to the UW in the fall of 2002, Cody Pickett and Reggie Williams were my heroes on campus. I loved the field turf of Husky Stadium, and I thought Rick Neuheisel was the best thing since the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

But while I was there, things changed. Instead of looking forward to gridiron action on Saturdays, my attention was instead shifting to Thursdays and Saturdays on the hardwood of Hec Edmundson Pavilion. The football team kept losing, but Brandon Roy, Will Conroy and Nate Robinson were starting a revolution. A basketball revolution. And I was there every step of the way.

Last year, though, things were different. I never quite jumped on the Spencer Hawes bandwagon and the Huskies never quite got it together with the initial core of players graduated or in the NBA.

It always felt like something was missing. The attitude, the swagger and the collective chip on the players' shoulder was gone. A guard-oriented squad had turned into a team based around a deeply-talented frontcourt.

But last night against Utah, I saw something that was missing. The 83-77 win wasn't pretty overall, but two players really stood out to me. Venoy Overton and Justin Holiday are exactly what the Huskies need to get back to their roots.

Overton is a tough-as-nails point guard (emphasis on the point) out of Franklin High School. Even with all of the big-time recruits that Lorenzo Romar has brought in the last few years, Overton – who wasn't a big name and switched from USC to the Dawgs at seemingly the last second last year – might be the biggest difference maker if what he showed last night is any indicator.

His passes were crisp and perfectly on target, and his defense was tenacious and quick. He got into the face of the Utes over and over again, snagging three steals and making it tough on them handling the ball. He would have fit in perfectly with Conroy, Robinson and company.

He's got toughness and heart written all over him. Of course, he'll have growing pains as a freshmen but as long as he is on campus, he'll be leading the Huskies on the fast break and setting a tone on defense.

Joining him on the defensive side of the ball was Holiday. Watching him play, it was like Bobby Jones part 2 out there. He only had two points and three rebounds, but he absolutely shut down Stephen Weigh the last 10 minutes of the second half to help key the Huskies to victory in the wanning moments.

The Huskies might not be so great this year, especially with a loaded Pac-10, but watch out next season and beyond. Overton and Holiday are a sign of good future.

All the letters are in!

It is signing day in college basketball, and Lorenzo Romar has put together another fantastic class. While it may not be as highly thought of as their '05 and '06 classes, this year's group is going to be good for the future of the program.

The Huskies signed four solid players who all have top-100 talent. And the best part of this class? Three of them are guards.

As I talked about Monday, the Huskies found most of their success running out talented guards to power the offense and defense that would fly up and down the court. However, as of late they have gotten in the trend of signing big men to build around such as Spencer Hawes and Jon Brockman.

While Brockman has been a beast and Hawes was unstoppable at times last year, the team just wasn't the same. I miss the run-and-gun style of play. But with Elston Turner, Jr., Isaiah Thomas, Scott Suggs and Tyreese Breshers (who sounds like a perfect power forward for the UW system) all in the fold, the Huskies are going to be fast, tenacious and hopefully unstoppable on the break again.

The class was ranked as the 15th best class in the country. Here are the players and their rankings from Scout.com:

PG Isaiah Thomas (University Place, Wash.): No. 8 (post graduate players)
PF Tyreese Breshers (Los Angeles, Calif.): No. 83/No. 26 PF
SG Scott Suggs (Washington, Miss.): No. 45/No. 10 SG
SG Elston Turner, Jr. (Roseville, Calif.): No. 71/No. 12 SG

National League, it's time to catch up

Edgar Martinez was an awesome hitter. There wasn't a pitch he couldn't hit or an outfield gap he couldn't find. When it came to putting a bat on a baseball, Edgar knew what he was doing.

But when he played the field, well, that's when things got a little bit iffy. At either third base or first base, Edgar looked more mortal than he did standing at home plate. Defense just wasn't his thing.

Thankfully, though, he played in the American League. And as a designated hitter, he had the chance to shine for the Seattle Mariners.

Now I understand that a lot of people don't like the designated hitter, and I fully grasp the ideas of why they don’t. But frankly, the only thing that the National League achieves by not having the DH is producing a worse brand of baseball.

I mean, who really, actually wants to see a pitcher hit? Or even try to lay down a bunt? I certainly don’t.

It’s time for the NL and the AL to get on the same page. The designated hitter is here to stay, and thoughts otherwise are just deluded.

The DH adds a new element to the game and it makes pitchers have to work harder. Rather than facing an (almost) automatic out every nine batters, teams get to add a hitter who often is one of the best on the team.

Watching AL teams up to bat is just a lot more exciting when you replace a batter whose OPS is often under .300 with one that actually knows how to hit a baseball.

The lack of a designated hitter just breeds mediocrity for the pitchers in the NL as well. Look at pitchers who go from the AL to the NL. It’s ridiculous.

Here is one example, using ERA+ as a measure. (For those who don’t know, ERA+ is a way to compare a pitcher’s ERA against the league average that season. 100 is average)

Joel Piniero was traded from the Boston Red Sox to the St. Louis Cardinals at mid-season. With Boston, he posted a below average ERA+ of 94. Meanwhile, with St. Louis he was at 111. Anyone who watched the Mariners in 2006 (when his ERA+ was a pitiful 70) knows that Piniero is not an above average pitcher!

Offenses are just far inferior in the National League.

Besides, isn’t having the DH in one league and not the other just an outdated notion anyway? It would be like if the Eastern Conference in the NBA had the 3-point line while the Western Conference did not. That wouldn’t make any sense.

It’s time for the NL to get with the program.