So the House That Ruth Built has become … the House That Jose Molina Closed? That's just not right.
The Yankees have finally played their last game ever in Yankee Stadium. But we'd imagine that when the Steinbrenner/Cashman cabal first assembled their $209 million monstrosity of a ballclub this winter, they had something else in mind. Something like, gee, we dunno, perhaps an October game with a little something at stake. Instead, Molina goes 3-for-4 with a home run to carry the Yanks to a 7-3 win, keeping them six-and-a-half games back from the Red Sox for the wild card with the same number left to play. In other words, the last game left them little more than technically, mathematically and theoretically not dead.
That's just not right. Here are 10 more letdowns from the universe of sports.
10. Chad Javon Johnson/Ocho Cinco/Whatever. Hey, Chad — maybe if you had more than 88 receiving yards this year, or if you'd scored a single touchdown, or if your team had a single win, people would actually care what your last name is. Just a thought.
9. Michael Jordan on the Wizards. Remember that? That was a yawner.
8. Daniel Ruettiger (better known as the inspiration for the 1993 movie "Rudy"). So the annoying little 165-pound weakling spends years slaving away, bringing up his grades, applying to Notre Dame 3,984 times, acting as a peon on the practice squad, sleeping on an uncomfortable little cot, warming the bench for seemingly forever … all just to play … one play? Lame.
7. Barry Zito. One hundred and twenty-six million. That's a very large number.
6. Draft busts. Ryan Leaf. Akili Smith. Darko Milicic. Kwame Brown. Sam Bowie. We need not go on.
5. Tim Henman. Poor Tim. Despite reaching four Wimbledon semifinals across his 14-year career, Britain's favorite son could never make it to the finals on his home soil. With the hope that he would end England's Wimbledon drought (the last British man to win the Championships was Fred Perry in 1936), Henman could never deliver.
4. The 2007 Patriots and 2001 Mariners. Both teams put up historically mind-blowing regular-season records, making postseason glory all but a certainty, only to lose to New York teams that weren't even that good. Whatever.
3. Barry Sanders. At 30, he was second all-time in career rushing yards and a lock to break Walter Payton's record. At 31, he was … retired. Puzzling, isn't it?
2. The Washington Nationals. When the team moved in from Montreal in 2005, hopes were high in the nation's capital. Yet in almost four full seasons, the team has collected an abysmal 283-358 (.441) record. So much for change coming to Washington.
1. The XFL. Inferior players, semi-disgusting cheerleaders, randomly doing away with normal football rules like kickoffs and extra points, stupid announcers, stupider player nicknames … What's not to like? Oh, right. Everything.
