We compiled a short list of what we feel are the top 10 sports moments. No offense if you don’t agree, you can go read someone elses top 10.

10. Goodbye Gherig (7/4/3). In perhaps one of the most touching sports moments, a dying man stood before over 60,000 people and the world to impart the genuine feeling that he was “the luckiest man in the world” for having the opportunity to endeavor through the love of his craft. Lou Gehrig, the Iron Horse, who had not missed a game his entire 13-plus year career (spanning a mind-bending 2,130 consecutive games) lowered his head and became the symbol of what sports, and maybe all of life is about; accepting your destiny, giving it your all, and enjoying every moment, good or ill.

9.  Go Get ‘Em Tiger (4/13/97)! In what turned out to be a phenomenon, Tiger Woods was both launched and cemented during a record 18-under Masters victory by 12 strokes over an awed field. At the tender age of 21, and only his fifteenth appearance as a pro, with the eyes of the world watching his every move, the highly touted Woods became the youngest player to win the Masters in the 61-year history of the tournament, winning an event that didn’t even invite a black player until the year he was born at a club that didn’t invite a black member to join until 1990.

8.  Namath Saves The Day (1/12/69) In a great moment in football history, brash Broadway Joe Namath, the richest of athletes at the time, uttered the unthinkable and broke the code of centuries of competition, he guaranteed victory. Standing at a podium in downtown Miami, Florida, where he was to be given the upstart pro league, AFL Most Valuable Player, Namath vehemently predicted his team’s easy victory in a game two previous representative from his league had been embarrassed in and whose own team was an unprecedented 18 plus point dog in a championship contest. The New York Jets and Namath did convincingly defeat the 13-1 Baltimore Colts and the NFL’s best defense, 16-7 and helped merge both leagues into what is now the premiere professional sports franchise in America.

7.  Roger Bannister Breaks Four Minute Mile (5/6/54) A 25-year-old British medical student becomes the first man to achieve the unthinkable; run a mile in less than four minutes. One afternoon on the Iffley Road track in Oxford, England, his miraculously close time of 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds was achieved during a 15mph crosswind with gusts of up to 25mph. Ironically, this nearly caused Bannister to call off the triumphant event witnessed by about 3,000 spectators.

6. Long Jump World Record, Long Gone (10/18/68) In what is widely considered the greatest individual physical feat in human competition, 24 year-old, New Yorker Bob Beamon obliterated an Olympic/World Record in the long jump by a mind-bending two feet. Fellow American, Ralph Boston established the record years before at 27 feet, 43/4 inches, and it was Boston who coached Beamon through his record leap. As the Mexico City crowd watched in stunned awe, Beamon tossed his 6-foot-3, 160-pound 8.90 meters — 29 feet, 21/2 inches for the most lopsided destruction of a world record ever.

5. Owens Debunks Aryan Myth (8/9/36) Son of a sharecropper from Oakville Alabama, world class, black American athlete, Jesse Owens marched into Adolph Hitler’s great Berlin arena and spit in the face of the Third Reich’s claims of Aryan superiority by setting three world records and one Olympic record, earning four track and field gold medals in the same Summer Olympiad, a performance that would remain unmatched for 48 years. In front of the visibly infuriated German dictator and a stunned international audience, Owens won the 100 meters in an Olympic-record 10.3 seconds, the long jump, setting an Olympic record of 26-53/8 and the 200 meters in an Olympic-record 20.7 seconds. Owens won his fourth gold medal, leading off the 4×100-meter relay that would set a world record at 39.8 seconds.

4. Bye Bye Babe (1/3/20) The greatest player in the history of the game is sold from the powerful Boston Red Sox to the burgeoning New York Yankees for $100,000 to finance a Broadway play produced by Boston owner Harry Frazee. At the time of the deal, the Red Sox had won five world championships and was the toast of American League baseball. The Yankees had only been around for 17 uneventful years and didn’t even have a ballpark to call their own. Since, the Red Sox have not won a title. The Yankees built a ballpark in Babe’s honor and on his financial back and have won 26 titles. 

3. Robinson Breaks Racial Barriers (10 /30/45) Breaking the color barrier and paving the way for modern American sport, Jackie Roosevelt Robinson becomes the first African American to garner a Major League Baseball paycheck. Thanks to the efforts of Brooklyn president Branch Rickey, and the indomitable spirit of Robinson, in less than two years the newest Dodger, after enduring trials and tribulations beyond comprehension, failed player boycotts and insidious fan outrage to become Rookie of the Year, while leading his team to the World Series.

2. Ali Wins The Title (2/25/64) In one of the most amazing upsets in boxing, the young, 22-year old stood against the seemingly indestructible heavyweight champ, Sonny Liston. The event was more than a mere world championship bout due to Clay’s taunting and media manipulation.  In one night in Miami Florida, the Louisville Lip, Cassius Clay told the world he was the greatest, won in six rounds, despite the alleged cheating of Liston (the champ’s corner was said to have put a foreign substance on his gloves, effectively blinding Clay for the entire fifth round) and became Muhammad Ali, the greatest, and invented the American icon of latter 20th century sport.

1. USA Dream Team.  Rag tag assembly of mostly teenaged amateurs, barely together a few months and playing a sport invented and perfected elsewhere, take on the most polished, professional and seemingly unbeatable team in the history of international hockey and win; producing the greatest upset in all of sports. What makes the ultimate upset even more unbelievable is the fact that the same two teams played only a week earlier in an exhibition match and the Soviet Union cruised to a 10-1 victory, setting the stage for the expected American embarrassment that never came.

According to a source, CC Sabathia is very close to becoming a New York Yankee.  An in-person meeting between general manager Brian Cashman and Sabathia in California just recently took place. Although the deal is not officially closed this source said there were “zero roadblocks” in the way of the 28 year old left hander becoming a Yankee.

How much is this mans left arm worth? About $23 million a year (Or if your used to hourly rates, thats roughly about $2,625 an hour), by far the biggest contract for any picther in history. ESPN reported to get the deal completed, the Yankees added a seventh year to their original six-year, $140 million offer, bringing the total package to seven years and $161 million.

Sabathia also had offers from Milwaukee Brewers, the San Francisco Giants and the Boston Red Sox. Sabathia had apparently expressed interest in playing in California because he had already lived there. But for $23 million a year, I would make the move.

The New York Yankees reportedly have a deal on the table that would make CC Sabathia the highest paid pitcher in all of baseball. The deal, which is reportedly for six years and a total of $140 million, would surpass the contract the New York Mets gave Johan Santana last season.

While Sabathia is a good pitcher who can oftentimes be great, signing Sabathia to a mega contract would be a colossal mistake for the Yankees. It’d go down alongside the signing of Barry Zito by the San Francisco Giants as the biggest wastes of money in baseball history.

The first problem is that Sabathia doesn’t pitch well under pressure. Examples can be found in many places. To start off the 2008 campaign, Sabathia struggled mightily due to the pressure of his pending free agency. In his career, he has also been horrid in the postseason.

Not being able to handle pressure will not go over well in New York. Everything he does will be under the microscope and each and every game will feel like a playoff game. Sabathia might have good stretches but he’ll get worn down by the pressure and eventually crack.

Secondly, Sabathia obviously doesn’t take the best care of his body. The 28-year-old 300 pounder will balloon up even more once he reaches his 30’s. His metabolism will slow and he will suddenly begin to tilt the scales at 350 instead of 300.

Last but not least is the fact that Sabathia has a ton of mileage on his arm already. In his eight years in the majors, he has pitched more than 1,650 innings. In the last two years ago, Sabathia has pitched more than 500 innings.

If the Yankees were smart, they’d be bargain hunting this winter. However, it appears that instead the Yankees will once again waste millions of dollars.

Baseball season is approaching faster than you think. With less than a month until opening day, it’s time to starting focusing in on the 2008 campaign.

Everyone knows the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox will be in the thick of things because those two teams have more money than God. However, what other teams will make noise in 2008?

In the National League, I like the Houston Astros. Yeah, there are plenty of holes on this team but I think their offensive firepower will mask a lot of weaknesses. With bats such as Miguel Tejada, Carlos Lee, Lance Berkman and Hunter Pence, the Astros should have no trouble scoring runs.

Pitching on a whole will likely be a weakness for the Astros – at least early in the season. Their only dependable starter is Roy Oswalt. The good news is that Oswalt might be the best pitcher in all of baseball. Outside of Oswalt, the second best pitcher on the team is likely closer Jose Valverde. Valverde led the major leagues in saves last season with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

To be successful, the Astros will need a couple of their young starters to emerge as quality pitchers. They also can’t afford Tejada to get deported back to the Dominican Republic for lying about steroid use. That would certainly put a damper on things, to say the least.

The Los Angeles Angels in the American League have a chance to be really good. No team in baseball has four outfielders that can compare with the foursome the Angels boast in Vladimir Guerrero, Garret Anderson, Torii Hunter and Gary Matthews.

Outside of their outfielders, the Angels have a lot of youth on the rest of their team. That youth combined by the power of their outfield should make for a good combination. Their pitching rotation is solid and their bullpen has a number of good arms. It’ll be tough for the Angels to get by the Yankees and Red Sox but they are talented enough to beat anyone.

An Astros versus Angels World Series? You heard it here first on Steamy Sports.

Lost in all the Barry Bonds hoopla is the fact that Bonds is without a team for the 2008 campaign. After spending the last 15 years with the San Francisco Giants, the team decided to let him go and move on. Now the 43-year-old slugger is looking for a new home.

Last season was one of the most historic seasons of all-time in the game of baseball. The game’s most prized record of the most career homeruns was broken by Bonds. Bonds, who now has 762 homeruns in his 22-year career, overtook Hank Aaron to become baseball’s homerun king.

Heading into the 2008 baseball season, no one seems to want to touch Bonds. Not only is he surrounded in the steroids controversy, he’s also not a clubhouse favorite among prospective teammates. On top of that, his production on the field is a far cry from what it used to be just a few seasons ago.

That said, there’s one team that should look into signing Bonds – and that’s the New York Yankees. The Yankees and their giant payroll will try once again to get back on the winning track this season. I believe that Bonds can help the team reach their goals.

First of all, Bonds is still a damn good baseball player. Put him at designated hitter and he could probably go for 30 homers and more than 100 RBIs. He walks a lot and does a good job of making pitchers work.

Secondly, Bonds can absorb a lot of controversy. Alex Rodriquez is the best hitter on the Yankees but he doesn’t do well when all the media is focusing on him. If the Yankees were to sign Bonds, Rodriguez could move to the background while Bonds became the most scrutinized player on the team.

Third of all, Bonds is desperate to win a World Series title. The Yankees are all about championships. This is a match made in heaven. Bonds has accomplished everything statistically he could ever want to accomplish. It’s now all about winning for him.

Finally, the Yankees owe it to the fans of the game. The team everyone loves to hate should be forced to sign the player that everyone loves to hate. The Yankees could become the ultimate villain and could make the forthcoming season one of the most exciting in recent history.