For us sports guys, July’s usually a quiet month. With only MLS soccer, Major League Baseball, and a splash of tennis and golf, there isn’t much on the docket.

July is about a couple things; vacation and player movement in all major leagues.

Well, I’m done my vacation, so what about the player movement? Largely in the North American sports, the movement for the most part is done. It’s all about racing to get signatures right when the trade embargos are lifted or when free agents are allowed to be swooped up. So now, teams are just filling wholes.

In European football, the transfer window opened July 1st. As always, there was a spattering of movement that was pre-arranged prior to July. But for the most part, transfers are drawn out and are tedious teasers for supporters of various football clubs. All fans want to know who they’re teams are getting. The rumour mill is one thing, but people want signatures and finalized transfers.

Some significant movement has gone in Italy and Spain, but very little movement have come from the typical big spenders; the big four in England.

Yearly, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Manchester United all compete for the signatures of the world’s brightest stars. This year, they’ve sold more players than they’ve got in return.

Why has this happened?

I say the issue is two-fold.

As the global market continues to struggle, so do the big spenders in balancing fielding a competitive team and spending with reckless abandon. And the weakened financial situation of the clubs has something to do with it.

Although television revenue is providing clubs with unprecedented wealth, the costs of investing in the product have caught up to Liverpool and Arsenal.

In North London, Arsene Wenger has even conceded Arsenal will be sellers, rather than buyers for the foreseeable future. Chairman Peter Hill-Wood has echoed those sentiments, saying the days of free-spending are behind them. From now on, Arsenal’s going to have to rely on Wenger’s savvy eye for emerging talent and selling high on players to capitalize on their value, much like they did with Thierry Henry last summer.

Striker Emmanuel Adebayor and midfielder Alexander Hleb look to be surely exiting Emirates by the end of the month, further signaling the shift in team-building approach.

It’s not just the global market affecting the clubs. Arsenal’s debts can be attributed to the funding of Emirates Stadium, which will surely be more profitable in the long haul.

Despite the crunch, Arsenal have still brought in up-and-comers Aaron Ramsey and Samir Nasri; another pair of players they hope can contribute and continue to develop under Wenger.

Much like Arsenal, Liverpool’s crying poor as well. A new stadium (surprise, surprise) is on the way in Stanley Park come 2011, and considerable resources will have to be put towards that project. And, who can forget, the dreaded presence of American ownership is always an easy target to blame on the Merseyside.

A drawn out transfer saga with Aston Villa over midfielder Gareth Barry has dominated the headlines. Englishmen striker Peter Crouch and goalkeeper Scott Carson, and defender John Arne Riise are now gone. In their place, a group of little known foreign players Rafa Benitez hopes can contribute. Benitez himself acknowledged that Liverpool has to sell finance any purchases. He says signings are on the way, but one has to wonder.

In the case of Barry, and Irish target, striker Robbie Keane, the Reds haven’t been able to get anything done. This may have something to do with their nationality more than anything else, further signaling foreign players will have an even greater presence as the backbone at the club.

Liverpool, much like Arsenal is finding more value in foreign players. That’s because the price for English, British, and Irish players are inflated; too expensive for what the commodity brings to the table.

And the price of ‘home-grown’ players is just the tip of the iceberg. Enter Manchester United and Chelsea into the equation.

Manchester United has yet to buy anyone, and Chelsea, aside from the signing of Barcelona cast-away midfielder Deco, has been unusually quiet.

Both teams have deep pockets, but are showing restraint not spending aimlessly. Is striker Dimitar Berbatov worth 30 million pounds? Not a chance. But Tottenham will play hardball and demand that kind of money from Manchester United to add him to the squad. How much is emerging Russian playmaker Andrei Arshavin worth? Obviously Chelsea and Arsenal’s estimation’s worth less than what Zenit St. Petersburg deems their asset to be worth.

Is there anything wrong with smaller clubs trying to pinch every penny they can from the big four? Absolutely not – that’s the beauty of the free market. But when the big four collectively make the decision not to loose their minds to bring marginal talent into their side for ridiculous prices, the market will even out. Same thing goes for star players – there comes a point where money is an object.

So in the end, this summer has been frustrated for the supporters of big and small clubs alike. People love player movement, so the standstill benefits nobody. And usually what it takes is for the big hands to show their hands first, putting the big money out their on the table, only for subsequent moves to follow place.

So no longer should supporters of smaller clubs curse and complain about the free-spending ways of the big clubs. They fuel the market. You see, overpaying works for everyone involved.

Being held hostage by smaller clubs is counter-productive. In the end, greed will get them nowhere and cripple them in their own attempts to build their respective squads. Not to paint smaller sides in a bad light, because the big four are culprits of abusing the system too. Player tampering, both directly or indirectly, unsettles players with dreams of the European stage, and makes what could be an amicable transfer process into a long and drawn out saga played through the media.

Bottom-line is, the market sets itself, and no matter what, the bigger clubs are going to over-pay. So there’s no need for Sepp Blatter or any other figure governing football to evoke change to the process through legislative means. The 6 + 5 rule or limiting the age of transferred players does very little to help anyone. Let the free market reign supreme. Let the small clubs capitalize on what the big clubs spend and let the big clubs overpay as much as they like.

The big four will spend, and it’s good for football - it’s how the world goes around.

gw

gareth.wheeler@suntv.canoe.ca

I’m back from a couple weeks of vacation, and I’ve got to tell you, it felt GREAT doing nothing!

So I’m going to stay on vacation, not by doing nothing, but taking a ‘blog’ trip over to the UK.

First off, you can check out my column on why Manchester United should sell Cristiano Ronaldo by clicking the link below.

click here

I can’t actually believe the new soccer season’s right around the corner! But until them, all eyes will be on the British Open this weekend.

Can we expect the magic at British Open to compare with that of Wimbledon a couple weeks back?

Probably not – not many events in the history of sport can compare to what went down between Federer and Nadal.

In saying that, there’s always something magic about the Open Championship. I just love that feeling; waking up early in the morning and watching the world’s best golfers compete against the course, the conditions and the competition. And forget about the fact you-know who’s not playing this year’s Open. The tournament’s the spectacle itself.

So no Tiger this time around, then who should be watching?

With the tournament back at Royal Birkdale, the name Justin Rose has to be the first to come to mind.

After making an extraordinary run as an amateur teenager finishing T-4 at Birkdale 10 years ago, Rose returns with much more lofty expectations. After struggling early in his career, Rose has become among the world’s elite. Currently ranked 9th in the world, wouldn’t it be a great story if I it all came together back where hit all started to give Rose his first Major Championship? Not out of the realm of possibility. In the other Majors this year, Rose came out on fire but failed to maintain as the weekend hit. But back in the UK, expect him to have what it takes to make a serious run at the title.

I’m also a big fan of the other Brits heading into the weekend. Namely the up-and-coming talents who are a Major tournament win away from becoming household names. Guys like Luke Donald, Ian Poulter, and Paul Casey have had varying amounts of success in North America and Europe, but have games that compete with the best on any given week. Of the aforementioned names, Poulter sticks out this week. The man who quasi-said he was ready to been seen as competition to Tiger. The dude’s who’s known for his style above anything else has the skill set to be a legit contender. Although his results this season say otherwise, look for him to build on his T-25 at last week’s Scottish Open to compete this week.

Among the other guys to look out for - Lee Westwood, Geoff Ogilvy, Adam Scott and Aaron Baddeley.

Enjoy the golf.
gw

gareth.wheeler@suntv.canoe.ca

I'm on vacation right now, but it's been a while since I've posted anything so I figured I'd give my two cents on two topics relating to the NHL: the Leafs UFA signings & trade and the Burke vs Lowe feud.

Yesterday, one of my favourite Toronto sports media types, Howard Berger, Wrote a nice blog entitled "Leaf Acquisitions Deserve Time". The thing that caught my attention the most were the paragraphs that he quoted from Larry Brooks and Eric Duhatschek.

Brooks gave his award, an event that I'm sure had all of the NHL's and Hollywood's finest on the red carpet, for "Least Understandable Free Agent Signing of the Year". As I'm sure you've guessed, the Leafs won this prestigious award for their signing of the man, the myth, the legend, Jeff Finger. Now, I'm not in any way trying to say that this was a great signing, but saying it was the worst out of the ones so far is pretty narrow minded, or at least lazy because who doesn't like to pick on the ol' Maple Leafs? I guess he liked Atlanta giving Hainsey $4.5 mil for 5 years. Yes, he put up 34 pts in 2006-07 and 32 pts this past season, but he also was a minus-19 when he put up 34 pts in 2006-07 and was a minus-7 this past season...Hainsey is a defenseman right? You say you're a fan of that one? Well, how about Chicago signing Cristobal Huet for $5.625 mil for 4 years. $12 mil in two goalies, pure brilliance! The Islanders giving up $4.1 mil for 5 years for one-dimensional Mark Streit. Or you can look across the state with the Rangers giving Wade Redden $6.5 mil for 6 years. Lots of money and years to tie up in a 31-year old defenseman who's been on the decline the past two years.

My award, I know you've all be waiting for this, for "Least Understandable Free Agent Signing of the Year" would go to the Tampa Bay Lightning for the contract they gave Ryan Malone. Since when did averaging half a point a game in four NHL seasons warrant a player $4.5 mil for 7 years, that's right SEVEN YEARS! As has been well documented in the past, you don't sign power forwards to long-term deals. Just like RBs in the NFL and catchers in MLB, power forwards ware down quicker than any other player in hockey because of their style of play.


Eric Duhatschek
As for Duhatschek's comments, they seem premature and short-sighted. First off, 9 times out of 10 you overpay for free agents. That's the price you pay for not having to give up any players for that player. Secondly, since when was trading up to draft a premiere shutdown defender, signing two 28-year olds, soon to be three once Frogren gets under contract, and trading for a 24-year old considered "mortgaging the future"? Yes, they don't have a 2nd round pick in the 2009 & 2010 drafts...so far. It's obvious one of McCabe or Kubina will be moved. You don't think a 2nd round pick, maybe a 1st, will be involved in a trade for one of those guys? Plus with Kaberle, McCabe/Kubina, Colaiacovo, Stralman, Finger, Frogren, White, Kronwall and Schenn all scheduled to compete for spots in camp, a player like White, Kronwall or maybe even Colaiacovo will most likely be changing teams either in the summer or during the season which would bring in another pick or prospect.


Kevin Lowe/Brian Burke
Lastly, about the Burke vs Lowe feud. With all due respect to Burke, and I do mean with all due respect, he has to let this thing go. Lowe's job is to make his team better and he did so by signing Penner. It's not Kevin's fault he caught Burke with his pants down. Plus the Ducks ended up with a top 15 pick in a deep draft this past June because of it. If you're a smart GM you get your top players signed before any other team can sign them, plain and simple. Which is what Burke did this year with Perry. GM's kept saying after the lockout how the young players were a lot more important because of the cap, but the GM's still never paid too much attention to them until Lowe finally woke them up.


Take off,
Coco

So with the dog days of sports officially upon us I thought I would spring a different sort of sports list. I like to call it my “feelings” list, don’t worry this has nothing to do with Dr. Phil or opening up your darkest secrets.
I always like to compare different random sports moments to see which one has had a greater impact on me.
What is a better feeling: Winning at a Sports Book in Vegas or winning at John Madden Football?
When your team signs an awful free agent, is that worse than when one of your players has to go see Dr. James Andrews?
So here is my list of 10 great & 10 bad feelings that happen in sports. Please feel free to agree/disagree and send in your own ones.

10 Great Feelings in Sports:

#10 Your team winning on a walkoff home run and you’re at the ball park. Plus this one feels better because you stayed for the whole game and didn’t suck out early to miss the traffic.

#9 First time you enter a stadium that you have always wanted to visit. For me Wrigley Field and Fenway Park will always stick out. Yes it is a bit of cliché to pick these two but there is a reason why it is called a “cliché”. Watching games at Skydome can suck the life out of the most ardent baseball fan. But to sit in a stadium where the crowd is on edge for every 3-1 count is something to behold and makes you appreciate that baseball is not always a boring sport.

# 8 Stumbling across a great playoff game by accident. You weren’t planning on watching some random playoff game but you get sucked in by the drama and you drop all other plans. The type of game where afterwards you feel so lucky to have been part of such a great event. For me it was Lebron James’ Game Five 48 point outburst against the Pistons. Just an unbelievable performance that I may have missed.

#7 Watching ‘Caddy Shack’ tipsy after going six months between viewings. ‘The Big Lebowski’ also works for this one.

#6 Sitting up close at an NBA team and having a player react to your heckling. But it must be noted that none of the heckling can be overly mean spirited and it has to be G rated in regards to language. I once had Isiah Thomas glare at me, needless to say that made the rest of my night.

#5 Mastering the art of flipping between three different 1pm NFL games at the same time. All your friends believe they are the best at avoiding commercials so if you aren’t on your game they will be hurling insults at you while the jingle “Everyone loves Marine Land” is a reminder of your failure. Is their a greater honour with your buddies then everyone agreeing that you should be the one that holds the remote control. Especially if it isn’t even at your own home.

#4 Kicking your friend’s ass in John Madden Football. From the early grainy versions to the current model, always a great feeling. Especially if it is before you are heading out for a night on the town. No matter how the evening goes you at least have that small victory you can hang over your buddy.

#3 Winning your three team parlay at Vegas. I can’t think of a better way to spend three hours in Vegas then sitting at the Bellagio Sports Book with all my bets coming up gold.

#2 Playing catch with your dad …not to get all sentimental but it needs to be on the list. No if you will excise me I have to go watch the special collector’s edition of ‘Field of Dreams’ on Blu Ray.

#1 And finally the best feeling is when your team wins the championship when they weren’t supposed to. Hey I’m sure all Red Wings fan were ecstatic to see their team win but it wasn’t like it was much of a shock. But when your team is a double digit underdog and still finds a way to win … well as a Giants fan, I can assure, it is that much sweeter.

10 Bad Feelings in Sports:

#10 Trying to find any relevant information on cfl.ca. They don’t have every stat, they don’t update quickly enough and they make you work really hard to find simple game information. If the league wants to grow they have to capitalize on fantasy football. The league has little fantasy presence, which is a joke. But until I can find RIGHT AWAY how many yards Jesse Lumsden has during the game there is no way fantasy football can work with the CFL. Sorry to get off on that tangent but as someone who has worked in sports media for a decade there is nothing more infuriating that attempting to do any research on the CFL.

#9 The guy you want your team to draft is taken one spot ahead of you.

#8 A penalty calling back your team’s touchdown.

#7 The Skydome, 8649 fans, 7th inning of a meaningless 8-7 game in August against the Twins. I’ve seen better atmosphere at the dentist waiting office.

#6 This one doesn’t really apply so much in today’s day … but back in the early and mid 90’s their was nothing you could do about the games that would be on TV in the Southern Ontario region. This was before Direct TV. I’ll never forget the first week of the 1992 season where the only two games we got were the Rams/Bills game at 1pm (40-7 win by Buffalo) followed by a classic 21-3 win by the Cincinnati Bengals over the Seahawks. My friends and I spent the whole day praying for updates.

#5 Your team has just overpaid for a guy who had one nice playoff run but beyond that has never done anything for his career except for under achieve and get injured.

#4 Your favourite player having to go see Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham Alabama because of “knee issues”.

#3 The guy you want your team to draft and is available for your team to take and they don’t take him. This one is so far worse than #9. I mean he is right there for the taking!!! Everyone knows you should have taken Player X but the team goes off the board and makes that stupid hero pick where afterwards the GM claims “they couldn’t believe he was still on the board”. By the way the Giants took Ron Dayne over former NFL MVP Shaun Alexander. I remember exactly where I was when that happened and yes I am still bitter.

#2 Anytime your team blows a lead in a playoff game that was considered “insurmountable” and afterwards you are left just shaking your head wondering what went wrong. I would give a list of memorable one’s but I am assuming that everyone reading this has their own personal one.

#1 “Ladies and gentleman I would like to introduce you to our new Coach/General Manager Isiah Thomas.”

Anyone who watches "The Casino Rama Grill Room" with regularity knows that I am an Oilers fan. Of course, that comes from the fact that I worked for the team, first as a freelancer and later as the team's Publications Coordinator (meaning that I edited the team's game magazine, newsletters, etc.) from 1997 until the lockout of 2004. Whenever people ask me about the Oilers, I smile and say that I wish the team the best.

I worked with a lot of great people. And when the lockout came, a lot of us couldn't hold out for the year - and had to find work elsewhere. The staff members weren't like players or owners. We needed regular paycheques. No sportswriters bothered to write about the thousands of us around the NHL whose livelihood was cut off or altered by the lockout. We were the real victims of the power struggle between the union and the players. But, for the most part, we all swallowed it because we believed a new economic model for the NHL was part of a greater good. When the NHL resumed, many of the old staffers, from the people who sold season-ticket packages to sponsorship people to administrators, didn't come back. My department was folded. It didn't survive the lockout.

But, I was enthusiastic about the new NHL. I really believed that change was necessary. And I believed what the brass in the Oilers organization, as well as the other owners, were telling staff and fans.

Man, I was stupid enough to buy the Brooklyn Bridge. Yesterday, when the free-agent frenzy began, and I saw a plethora of teams spending millions upon million on No. 4 defencemen and third liners, it became apparent that the lockout did not solve anything. In fact, the next time an owner cries poor, it's the responsibility of fans and people whose livelihoods depend on the NHL to cry, "B.S.!" This spending spree is all on the owners and GMs, people. They are the ones who create the buyers' market. These were the same people (for the most part), who in 2004 decided to scrub a season because the economics didn't work. Now, journeymen players are worth $3 million a season ... and more.

So, I can no longer deny the resentment that continues to build in me regarding the National Hockey League. And, for once, I'm not willing to smile and talk about my NHL past in cliches. Maybe I was worried about burning bridges. Well, when you have been lied to like my co-workers and I were, well, after a while it's hard to deal with the resentment.

The spending foolery of the owners has only proved that the lockout was unnecessary, and we were all idiots to side with the owners. I won't believe the lies again.