Lazy Ellsbury owes Yankee fans a refund

New York Yankee centerfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, earning $21,142,857 this season, should give some of that dough back to Yankee fans who spent their hard earned money to buy tickets to Saturday's game against the Mariners.

Seattle's Ketel Marte was on first base when Robinson Cano hit a routine ground ball single into center field. Ellsbury lazily trotted in to field the ball, allowing Marte to score from first base. He never slowed, meaning that the scouting report on Ellsbury pointed out that he is a lackadaisical outfielder with a weak throwing arm. This meant an opportunity for a fast runner like Marte to score a run against the Yankees - a run that they should not have had, and a run that cost the Yankees the game.

Ellsbury, who has missed a ton of games in his career due to minor injuries, could at least hustle on routine plays. For $21,142,857 a year he owes at least that much to the fans.  I shudder to think what would have happened to Ellsbury if Billy Martin had been the Yankees' manager on Saturday.

NFL offcials contributed to Vikings' loss on Sunday

No doubt that the Minnesota Vikings did not play well enough to win their game against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. And of course the Seahawks are hardly pushovers; they're a pretty good team, better than their record indicates.

Still, the game officials made a number of questionable calls that hurt the Vikings chances for a win.  When a referee calls a defensive holding penalty on a cornerback who was run into by a receiver; when an offensive lineman is penalized for holding when he barely touches a defensive player; and when your defensive end is called for roughing the passer when it clearly was not roughing, like what happened to the Vikings' Brian Robison, well, that's a problem. Are they going to let these guys play football, or not?

The league needs to tell their officials to ease up on calling thse minor penalties. It's making the game boring and maling the NFL look silly.

YES Network, Michael Kay make much ado about nothing in Cano's return to Yankee Stadium

Sometimes news people have to somehow generate stories when things are slow. Last week's return of the Seattle Mariners' Robinson Cano to Yankee Stadium was an example of this.

While Cano was an outstanding player for the Yanks, and would definitely make a list of the top fifty Yankees of all time (on my list he'd be around number 43 or so), the team has many great players through the years who have gone on to play for other clubs.

If I had been in the stands I would not have booed him. Nor would I have cheered.

Yes he left for a bigger paycheck, but Yankee fans need to realize many of their star players through the years (and even this past offseason) have bolted their teams to take more money from the Yankees. So why should Cano be vilified for that? He should not be.

The Yankees management also made the right decision (for a change) by not offering Cano a contract for longer than seven years. Seven years is enough for a player who is already 30 years old.

So no boos or cheers for Robinson. Maybe Seattle will have a contending team within the next few years. Maybe they won't and he’ll finish his contract in a rainy town.

The most absurd aspect surrounding Cano's return was Michael Kay's reaction to the fans jeering of the second baseman. The boos weren't that overwhelming. It just may have sounded that way because Yankee Stadium was two-thirds empty. If the place was at full capacity of 50,000 people, the jeers may not have been as noticeable. If Yankee fans were really that angry about Cano taking the money and running, wouldn't they have put up with the bad weather, bought and a ticket to the game, and boo with everyone else. But that didn't happen. Not enough fans cared enough one way or the other.

Kay made it sound like the fans' reaction was the most horrible thing in the world. Please. This is a non-story. The real story, if any news writers are interested, is how Yankee Stadium is half empty even on days when the weather is nice. Either the ticket brokers or the team is taking a bath on sales. Somebody is losing money. Not many people want to spend $100 to watch two boring teams for three hours. And that's with or without Cano on the roster.

A Super Bowl with the most pressure: Minnesota Vikings vs. Buffalo Bills

The Vikings and the Bills both have 0-4 Super Bowl records. What would happen if they met in the title game?

Losing a championship game - especially your fourth Super Bowl - can be pretty awful, but at least New England Patriots fans can take some solace in the fact their team has also won three Super Bowls. The Denver Broncos have two wins, somewhat making up for their four losses. However, the Bills and the Vikings don't have any victories to go along with their four defeats. Buffalo lost all four of their Super Bowls in consecutive years. Yikes.

So what would be a pressure-packed Super Bowl in 2013? Minnesota versus Buffalo. One would be the first team in NFL history to lose five Super Bowls. What's worse, the loser still would not have any wins in the big game. People would be talking about it for two weeks prior to Super Sunday. Television ratings for the game might go even higher than this past year.

For fans of the Bills and Vikings, the stress of this game would be immense, probably more so than for the players. I would not be surprised if many of the players weren't even aware of their franchise's history, and wouldn't know much about the significance of the game until after it was over.

But fans know. Players and coaches come and go, but fans remain. A fifth Super Bowl loss without a win for the Vikings or Bills might finally send some of us looking for something else to do with our Sundays in the fall.

Will the Denver Broncos be the first team to lose 5 Super Bowls?

The pressure is on the Denver Broncos.

While the franchise has two Super Bowl victories to its credit, it has also lost four - tying the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings for most Super Bowl losses in NFL history.

So Peyton Manning and company are facing the added stress of not becoming the first team to lose five Super Bowls. Certainly fans of the Bills and Vikings will be rooting for the Seahawks on February 2.

The Broncos are up against a Seattle team that has dominated opponents all year, so a win will not come easily. Manning will have to put up a lot of points and the Bronco defense will have to resemble that of its "Orange Crush" heyday to come away with a victory in the Super Bowl.