BASEBALL

In baseball, the Colorado Rockies have just signed a different kind of player.  Troy Tulowitzki has just signed a contract that is a throw back to 70s, 80s, and 90s baseball.  The deal is a 10-year contract that will keep him in Colorado until 2020.   Tulowitzki did this because he wanted to be like his idol Cal Ripken.  Ripken played in an Orioles jersey his entire career.  Kids grew up with him and the city loved him.  Troy said he wants that kind of career.  This is an anomaly in the modern sports landscape because players usually want the biggest deal possible and are happy to play anywhere to get it.  Therefore, it’s tough to build relationships with players as they’re always headed out of town.  Tulowitzki wants to be a hometown hero to the state of Colorado, and yesterday he made that dream come true.  Maybe the Rockies can actually become a powerhouse in the National League.

FOOTBALL

In the NFL, Los Angeles has been without an NFL team for over a decade now.  They’re a major sports market, and simply don’t have a franchise.  Every year there is rumors of expansion or a small market team moving to LA (eg. The Jacksonville Jaguars).  Nobody would have guessed which team Los Angeles is hoping to snatch.  It appears that two major buyers are interested in bringing the Minnesota Vikings to LA.  The Vikings are beloved in Minnesota — they’re a historic franchise, so the thought that this might be up for grabs is astounding.  The Vikings have been begging for a new city for years, but continue to play in the aging Metrodome.  Other major Minnesota sports teams have received new stadiums, but the Vikings can’t seem to pull it off.  Clearly, there is an issue between the team and the city (in a business sense), but these conversations are apparently very real.

And in college football, the Miami Hurricane program was the talk of the 80s, 90s, and early part of this decade.  This team was a powerhouse, nabbing some of the best players in Florida and almost always in the hunt for the National Championship. They’ve been slumping for the better part of this decade, and they just fired their coach Randy Shannon.  Now, the Hurricanes are going the Notre Dame route and looking for a big name to fill the vacancy.  Their top choice:  Super Bowl Champion Jon Gruden.  Gruden has been out of coaching in the NFL for a few seasons now, and has been waiting for the right gig to start-up again.  Heading to Miami would give him a chance to rebuild both the Miami program and his own coaching reputation.  After winning the Super Bowl in Tampa Bay, he had a string of sub-par seasons which inevitably led to his dismissal.  Let’s hope he takes the job.