THE WATERCOOLER

QUESTION: Do you think the money the Yankees spend on payroll in any way diminishes their World Series championship? It seems many fans cry “foul” about the Yankees payroll. But don’t most fans want their favorite teams’ owners to spend as much as possible to field a winner?

JEFF GORDON
The high payroll absolutely diminishes the title. A team that outspends rivals by such an enormous margin should play in every World Series. Period. The Yankees can buy elite talent AND replace ineffective players on the fly AND buy quality replacements for injured guys. They can outspend their front-office mistakes and outspend any injury misfortune. They can keep spending all the way to the end of the season. The variables most franchises wrestle with from year to year don’t apply to the Yankees. The players still have to play, of course, but the Yankees should enter every postseason with the best team.

DERRICK GOOLD
Absolutely not. The money the Yankees threw at their lineup in no way diminishes their World Series title. It only gave them better access to October to win their 27th World Series. The notion that a championship can be bought in baseball is cliché and fiction. Big-budget payrolls only help a team like the Yankees avoid the cycle of competion we’ve seen from Florida, Tampa Bay, Cleveland, et al. The Yankees, Red Sox and, in some ways, the Cardinals defy the law of averages by spending enough to assure a place in the postseason. What they do when they get there has everything to do with how they spent their money, not how much they spent. All fans should want their teams to spend more, sure, but it’s much better to spend it more wisely.

RICK HUMMEL
Baseball had its best television ratings in years. People want to watch the Yankees — many to see them lose — but they are the best entertainment in the sport. The Yankees’ payroll was about the same as it was the previous season — of course, it was over $200 million.

DAN O’NEILL
I don’t think the Yankees’ payroll necessarily diminishes the World Series win. The Yankees have been baseball’s biggest spenders for many years, yet this is their first World Series win since 2000.

I think the picture is bigger. I think a lot of people feel anything the Yankees do is diminished because of their payroll budget. It certainly helps them be in position to contend on a regular basis. But if anything, in the big picture, the Yankees are living proof you cannot just go out and buy a championship. There’s more to it than that.

KEVIN WHEELER (Host of “Sports Open Line” on KMOX)
It doesn’t diminish what the Yankees players have done but it certainly illustrates how much easier it is for Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenners than it is for just about everyone else. They were unhappy with their team so they sign spent $340 million on Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia in their effort to win another championship. Must be nice.

Interestingly enough, the Yankees payroll was actually down $8 million compared to 2008. Also, under the luxury tax system in MLB, the more you spend the more you wind up handing off to other teams. The Yankees are going to pay $27 million in luxury tax for 2009 on top of their $201,449,189 payroll and by the time that check clears they will have paid $175 million in luxury taxes over the last 7 years.

What’s ironic to me is that so many Americans cry foul about “sharing the wealth” when those words are uttered within the political spectrum, yet that’s exactly the kind of system they want for their sports leagues. Interesting dichotomy, no? I like the “free market with limits” rules that Major League Baseball has compared to the strict spread-the-wealth-evenly systems in the NBA, NHL and NFL, but fans seem to gravitate toward those systems. I like the idea that owners in baseball can do whatever they want — as long as they’re willing to pay the price of doing business like the Yankees do.

THE WATERCOOLER:
QUESTION: Pittsburgh is at Detroit in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals tonight. Who do you like in the game and which is better: a Game 7 in the NHL, NBA or MLB?

BERNIE MIKLASZ:
Pittsburgh-Detroit: I’d like to make a case for a Pittsburgh upset in Game 7, but Bill Mazeroski doesn’t play hockey. The visiting team hasn’t won Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final since Montreal went into Chicago Stadium to put away the Blackhawks in 1971, and it won’t happen this time. The only possible way I’d see this happening is if Chris Osgood fell apart in goal for Detroit, but in the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs he’s 11-1 at home with a .948 save percentage. And Pittsburgh’s Marc Andre-Fleury has had his worst moments of the postseason at Joe Louis Arena; in the first three games there his save percentage is a terrible .857. I just can’t see Detroit’s goaltender or team having the kind of breakdown that would set up a Penguins victory. Pittsburgh’s big stars haven’t showed up so far on the road in this series; Crosby and Malkin have combined for one goal and are a combined minus 6 at The Joe.
Game 7s: As for which sport has the best Game 7 - well, they are all great and lead to intense anticipation, so it comes down to a personal preference. And I’ll take baseball only because of the personal memories that live with me still. And no sport has a richer tradition than baseball.

JEREMY RUTHERFORD:
Pittsburgh-Detroit: I picked Pittsburgh to win the series, and I think a Penguins’ win tonight would be great for the NHL. The league has been bragging about Crosby, Malkin, Staal and Fleury for a couple years, and watching them skate around with the Cup would finally mark a changing of the guard. Having said that, I can’t see Detroit losing Game 7 at Joe Louis Arena. Throughout history, home teams are 12-2 in championship games. I am going to stick with Pittsburgh and be pleasantly surprised if they pull it off.
Game 7s: I don’t think there’s a better spectacle than a Game 7 in the NHL. But I have to be honest: I grew up playing baseball in the sandlots. We set up every situation like it was the seventh game of the World Series. Bruce Sutter …. here’s the pitch …. I’ll go with baseball.

JEFF GORDON:
Pittsburgh-Detroit: The Penguins can only hope to create such a game in Motown and take their chances at the end. But the Red Wings will throw four lines of skill at the pedestrian Penguins defense and try to bust this game open. I don’t see this Pens team holding up under that sort of pressure. Only a miraculous game by goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury can save them.
Game 7s: The NHL Game 7 is better because one bounce of the puck can decide the championship. If two teams are tied late in the decisive game, every shift — every second of every shift — can be agonizingly tense. The puck can hope over a stick and create the decisive break.

TOM TIMMERMANN:
Pittsburgh-Detroit: When this series began, I said Penguins in 6 after they won one of the first two in Detroit. Well, that didn’t happen, but if they can win Game 7, I’m only off by one game. The odds are certainly against them — home-ice seems to make a difference in this one — but I’m going to stick with the Pens for consistency sake.
Game 7s: I’ve long maintained there is nothing in sports to compare to an NHL postseason overtime. The intensity is constant. An NHL Game 7 is like a 60-minute overtime. Every shift is important. Baseball Game 7’s come one day after Game 6, so there’s less of a buildup, And the pace of NBA games subtracts from the intensity. I’ll take an NHL Game 7.

DERRICK GOOLD:
Pittsburgh-Detroit: Would love to see former St. Louis Blues p.r. man Frank Buonomo and his Pittsburgh Penguins hoist the Cup tonight, but alas it will Chris Osgood and the Detroit Red Things that skate with Stanley tonight. (And thus usher Osgood into the Hall of Fame, perchance?)
Game 7s: I’ve had the fortune to cover Game 7s in baseball and Game 7s in hockey, including several Game 7s in the Stanley Cup Finals. And while I’ll never forget being knocked in the head by the Stanley Cup as they handed it to Ray Bourque for a sip in the dressing room after Game 7 in 2001, the best Game 7s I’ve ever covered and ever attended have been baseball Game 7s. Give me Game 7, bases loaded, rookie closer on the mound, Shea Stadium over Game 7, Detroit undressing Patrick Roy, Joe Louis Arena any day. So naturally when it comes to choosing the best kind of Game 7, I have to side with … well, venue over sport. A Game 7 at old Busch is going to trump a Game 7 at Pepsi Center (sorry, Denver), but something tells me a Game 7 in Montreal would rival a Game 7 at, say, Chase Field. Why no basketball? Because for me even a Game 7 in the NBA cannot hope to rival the intensity of hockey’s velocity or baseball’s tension in a Game 7. Basketball’s got no shot.

RICK HUMMEL:
Pittsburgh-Detroit: Home team has won every game in the NHL series and Pittsburgh hasn’t even come close in Detroit. It will be closer tonight but Detroit wins.
Game 7s: Game Seven in baseball is the best because the crowd isn’t as much of a factor and potential influence on officiating as it can be in hockey and basketball.

DAN O’NEILL:
Pittsburgh-Detroit: I like Pittsburgh tonight. Crosby is due to break out. The Penguins have to avoid a quick start by the Red Wings.
Game 7s: Game 7 in any sport is fabulous theater. I think I would rank Game 7 in an NBA Finals last, unless the St. Louis Hawks are playing the Boston Celtics.