All is right in the world, or is it?

When the pablum of politics gets me down, I usually go and hit golf balls or watch the Yankees play. This always makes me fell better.

Except, neither are something that I can easily do in the winter. I need a winter vice.

That said, after exactly one day of the new MLB season, the Yankees are undefeated, Alex Rodriguez made a ridiculous error, I have hit golf balls at the range and Alex Rodriguez hit a home run to win the game.

The machine that is the New York Yankees is not perfect. A team with as much storied history is very quick to forget it, and to that end, they opted not to guarantee Bernie Williams a spot on the NYY roster this spring. There were some less than kind words exchanged in the media, but yesterday, Bernie rose above it all and called his teammates to wish them well on their fist game in 16 years without him. Even when he wasn't on the team, he is inspiring them with his heart.

I am not going to defend either the decision to effectively cut him, nor will I defend Bernie's decision not to go to camp to earn a spot on the roster. Both decisions have been made. There is no reason why the Yanks couldn't offer him a league minimum contract for him to play the fifth man spot in the field or pinch hit. In this exact role last year he won a dozen games for the Yanks. You can't teach heart.

As a result, unceremoniously, Bernie is forced into retirement - without the fanfare of Paul O'neil - or the chance to tip his hat one last time. Its a shame really. I hope they change their minds.

That said, what future does Bernie have? He currently holds every single post-season hitting record in baseball. If that doesn't guarantee you a spot in Cooperstown, I don't know what does. Unfortunately, the baseball writers of America don't look at the postseason the same way they look at the very important life-time regular season stats. The rationale for this is to ensure that in order to be Hall worthy, you have to be comparable to everyone else in the Hall.

That is retarded. Kirk Gibson did NOTHING in the regular season and yet he hit the most inspirational home run of all time in the World Series. Ricky Henderson stole a bazillion bases in games that didn't matter. You can't put a stat on heart.