SI.com: SI Writers

Tom Verducci: Mauer a worthy MVP, but deserved even more

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:26:59 EST

No catcher ever has won the Most Valuable Player Award unanimously, an honor Joe Mauer of Minnesota somehow was deprived of in the 2009 voting announced Monday by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Only one vote stood between Mauer and his rightful claim to history: a first-place vote for Miguel Cabrera, a powerful hitter, but a guy who played first base for a second-place Detroit team that coughed up a division title by finishing 1-4 while Cabrera went 3-for-20 and, on the last weekend of the season, was drunk and involved in a domestic violence episode. The vote was cast by Keizo Konishi of Kyodo News and the Seattle chapter of the BBWAA.

Ted Keith: Just how valuable is Joe Mauer? We'll likely find out next year

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:26:32 EST

Joe Mauer didn't need to win the American League Most Valuable Player award on Monday to justify his historic season, just as he doesn't need that particular piece of hardware to reaffirm his status as the best catcher in baseball. But this latest honor is especially appropriate because it serves as a reminder that no player in baseball is more valuable to his town, his team or his franchise than the 26-year-old hometown hero with the perfectly manicured sideburns and the perfectly pleasant personality.

Jonah Freedman: Real Salt Lake's MLS title a testament to the underdog

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:02:22 EST

SEATTLE -- Bring up all the clich�s you want: David over Goliath. Substance over style. Team over individual. They all fit Real Salt Lake, which outlasted the heavily favored Los Angeles Galaxy on penalty kicks Sunday night after a 1-1 draw and 120 minutes of last-man-standing soccer (RECAP).

Jerome Bettis: Stafford will make Lions worth watching; bench Jay Cutler, more

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:57:25 EST

• Every Thanksgiving I end up going back and forth between my family in Detroit and my family in Atlanta, so there's not always time for football on my Thursday afternoon, believe it or not. But this day always makes me think of Detroit -- because I'm from there, and because of the coin-flip incident in 1998, which everyone wants to talk about around this time of year.

Greg Lalas: Passion at MLS Cup proves U.S. finally embracing soccer

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:12:14 EST

SEATTLE -- On Sunday, as Qwest Field swirled with glitter and noise at the end of the MLS Cup final, I couldn't help but think of Paul Caligiuri.

Tim Marchman: The Pirates are one team that can get better, on a budget, this winter

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:00:47 EST

The Pittsburgh Pirates have some things going for them. They may be one of the two least valuable teams in baseball, they may play in the sport's fifth-smallest market, and they may endure all the woes that come with holding the record for most consecutive losing seasons in a major American sport, but they don't spend a lot, and like all other low-end ball clubs they have the help of rich cousins.

Peter King: Stafford's gutsy comeback, Chiefs win over Steelers highlight Week 11

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:48:40 EST

NEW YORK -- Talking with commissioner Roger Goodell, while he was getting his makeup wiped off in our NBC Football Night in America studio Sunday night after his Eagles-Bears halftime appearance ...

Gene Menez: Boise QB Moore makes move in tailback-heavy Watch

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:36:13 EST

Here are three things, in no particular order, for which The Watch is thankful this year: his relatively good health, separated right shoulder (Sam Bradford style, only worse) notwithstanding; his I-couldn't-live-without-you "nurse," to whom he doesn't express his appreciation nearly enough; and Week 12 of the college football season, which begins the annual Watch paring down from 10 candidates to eight, to five, and finally to three.

Don Banks: Steelers, Ravens stumble to set up must-win game, more Snap Judgments

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:19:35 EST

DENVER -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight from the Mile High City as we run down the curious doings of Week 11 in the NFL ...

Stewart Mandel: Projecting all 34 bowl matchups

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:21:59 EST

Notre Dame may have its own provision in the BCS selection process and an attractive fallback in the Gator Bowl, but the independent Irish don't have a whole lot of other bowl options when they fall short of those games.