The Sports Monitor

Here it is deadline day and the Pittsburgh Pirates have been mentioned in some possible deals to bolster their team. Yeah, it's nice to hear the Pirates as being buyers instead of sellers at this stage of the summer. It's a much-needed change. But, really, do you truly expect the Pirates to make a blockbuster deal to go all-in and try to win a title this year? I don't. Here's what I expect to come out of Pirates GM Neal Huntington after the deadline passes: "We wanted to add to our club, but the price was too high. We did not want to sacrifice our minor league system at the expense of a short-term gain." That's all nice, but the team is just a couple of games out of the lead in the division. Are all those minor league prospects going to pan out? They rarely do. And maybe it's also about the money too. Never underestimate the cheapness of the Nutting regime. The Pirates already missed out on John Lackey and Jon Lester. Now we're wait...

Cleveland is at the center of the sports universe. Can it really be? When you're talking Johnny Manziel and LeBron James, two of the biggest things going in sports, and they're both with Cleveland teams, then, yes, it is really happening. LeBron is the face of the NBA, and his Decision II, which Cleveland into a state of joy, is worthy of all the hype surrounding him. Say what you want about his leadership traits or the ability to win championships, he's the best player in the NBA. So when the best player in the league leaves the team he helped win two titles, it's big news. When it's LeBron, it's the story of the year -- at least if ESPN is concerned. LeBron makes the Cavs a legitimate title contender again, just like when he played for them. The genius of James' move is he rebuilds his image and still gets a shot to win a title. The NBA's Eastern Conference is a joke, so it's a lot easier for LeBron to make it back to the Finals than if...