A contract is a legally binding document.

You see, it was the hosts’ viewpoint that professional players–specifically NFL holdout and Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson–should be in training camp because of one simple reason: He signed a contract and should be expected to honor it.

What a wholesome perspective! Actually honoring a contract! Shame on Jackson for wanting to get paid what players of his caliber should get paid!

Jackson will make $565,000 this year, roughly one-third of what fellow wide receiver and 2008 draftee Mario Manningham is being paid by the New York Giants.

Jackson, who was drafted nearly 50 spots ahead of Manningham, has nearly tripled the Giants wideout in both receiving yardage and total touchdowns over their careers. So you’ll forgive Jackson if he feels severely underpaid.

This isn’t a case of a past-his-prime veteran trying to make one last big cash grab before retirement either. After all, if it’s true that NFL teams pay players based on future value rather than past production, the Eagles should be falling over themselves to lock up a 24-year-old play maker with three solid years of experience under his belt.

But that’s not the case. And even if the Eagles were to sign Jackson long-term, they are under no obligation to honor that contract, even though Jackson is vilified when he asks for fair market value in exchange for his services.

It’s an everyday happening in the NFL. Teams sign players to multiple-year contracts with no intention of keeping said player for the duration of the agreement. Once a player is “used up,” he is cut without the money that his team swore in writing to pay him.

So why do teams get a free pass while the players get tossed out with the garbage?

It was these podcast hosts’ assertion that Jackson signed the contract, so he is obligated to honor it.

Yet the teams are free to get rid of the player whenever they choose with no repercussions? That makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?

Professional athletes make a lot of money. A LOT of money. But if they are talented enough to convince teams to pay them, then they certainly have every right to that cash.

It looks like the players have lost a lot of bargaining power with regards to holdouts under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. As an NFL enthusiast, I’m thrilled.

But after seeing the way Jackson has been treated, I sure am glad I’m not an elite football talent.

And after hearing the opinions of two analysts who have the ears of thousands, I’m not sure we’re moving in the right direction.

So by that rationale, let’s all make our lives easier and stop breaking our TiVos trying to find the American foul on the disallowed goal against Slovenia Friday.

Because there wasn’t one. And referee Koman Coulibaly never had any intention of trying to pinpoint one before he blew his whistle.

Go back to the previous play where the Americans won the free kick. Slovenian player Valter Birsa was whistled for a foul on the Yanks’ Steve Cherundolo. Coulibaly could have signaled to play on, but chose to blow the whistle instead.

And I am fairly sure Coulibaly immediately wished he would have swallowed his whistle as soon as he called Birsa for the violation.

Look at the free kick replay. No, go back. All the way. The ball had barely left Landon Donovan’s foot before Coulibaly was shooting his breath through his whistle.

What did he see? The Slovenian defenders suddenly switching from soccer to Greco-Roman wrestling? Team USA’s Michael Bradley getting a stronger hug than his mother ever gave him? American attacker Jozy Altidore undergoing a roughing so violent that it surely would have sent Anderson Varejao into cardiac arrest? Nope. He didn’t see any of those things.

He saw nothing. In fact, he stopped watching the millisecond play started. He knew he wouldn’t have to explain himself as to what his call would be, given FIFA’s stunningly unintelligent rules governingreferees. The problem in Coulibaly’s plan came when Maurice Edu’s boot sent the ball into the back of the net, giving the United States a 3-2 lead.

Had Edu missed that shot, the scrutiny would not be on Coulibaly. And his attempt to fix his first refereeing “error” by committing a much more egregious one would be forgotten.

Let’s hope that the U.S. beats Algeria, so that they can advance to the round of 16. I’d like to think that soccer purists everywhere are secretly pulling for the red, white and blue as well, given that they should have four points in the group stage and not two.

I sincerely hope that when we look back on this refereeing mistake a decade from now, we won’t have to answer the question, “What kept the U.S. from advancing to the next round in the ’10 World Cup?”

Because the answer will unfortunately be, “Nothing.”

Kobe.

Think about it: Bryant’s Lakers are the favorite and have home court advantage. Thus the pressure is on the Lakers to win the championship, making the Celtics the underdog.

Remember what happened the last time the Celtics were the underdog in the Finals? They beat Bryant’s Lakers in six games just two years ago.

And what’s changed? The Lakers have switched Vladimir Radmanovich for Ron Artest (which is obviously an improvement), and Bynum will be able to play this time, too, albeit on one leg since he surely faces knee surgery this offseason to repair a bad injury.

For Boston, the “Big Three” looks like they are still playing at their 2008 levels. The difference of course is Rajon Rondo, who is arguably one of the three best point guards in the NBA right now. Kendrick Perkins is one of the more underrated post defenders as well, and has made great strides in the last two years, too.

Boston isn’t as desperate for a title either. Will it really make a difference to the legacies of Pierce, Garnett or Allen if they win or lose? Sure, it looks good that they beat LA twice, but if the Celts come up short they’re given a free pass.

Boston beat LA at the tail end of their main men’s primes. If they lose now, people will just say they were old, they were the underdog and Bryant’s Lakers were better. So Boston has a bevy of reasons in the holster of why they lost (if they do indeed lose).

Perhaps the biggest thing working against Bryant is the pressure of his legacy. For a guy who has been compared to Jordan since he entered the league, this title would mark his fifth in the NBA, just one shy of Jordan’s number.

But Kobe actually cares about his legacy. He wants to show the world that he was the catalyst in his first three titles, not Shaq. Whether he admits it or not, the Jordan and Shaq aspects drive Kobe as much as his hyper-competitive nature.

So if Kobe is going to get closer to Jordan while distancing himself from Shaq, his Lakers have to win this series.

Otherwise Bryant’s legacy will be that of only winning titles with Shaq or against a woefully less-talented Magic squad. And also that he went 0-2 versus the Pierce/Garnett/Allen/Rondo Celtics team in the Finals.

Good luck, Kobe. The ball’s in your court. Let’s see if you can take it and run with it.

This comes after White’s largely unimpressive pro career began (and seemingly ended) in Tennessee.

His backfield counterpart Reggie Bush still has failed to live up to the hype of being the game-changing playmaker New Orleans envisioned him to be when they selected him with the second overall pick a few years ago.

Don’t forget about quarterback Matt Leinart, who not only couldn’t beat out an aging Kurt Warner year after year, but whose Cardinals team is expected to rely on the running game now that he is at quarterback.

And what of the much-hyped wide receiver Mike Williams that has nearly eaten his way out of the NFL twice, only to wallow in mediocrity?

Offensive tackle Winston Justice has also been slow to come around in adjusting to blocking professional pass rushers after he dominated the line of scrimmage for USC in college.

Remember tight end Dominique Byrd and wide receiver Patrick Turner? They were two highly sought after skill players that Pete Carroll signed to play ball for the Trojans. They are now wallowing on NFL benches.

Sure, guys like Steve Smith and Carson Palmer exceptions to the rule.  And some of the above players are still young and improving. And some of them have already accomplished more than a lot of other drafted players.

But all this hype about players wanting to play in the pro-style offense that USC runs so that they will be better suited for the NFL  is questionable at best.

There have certainly been more misses than hits coming out of the USC offense over the last decade under Carroll, who is now the head man in Seattle who no doubt had a lot of pull in bringing White into camp in April.

He also probably had a lot of input in letting him go Friday as well. Here’s hoping the latest running back from USC–Joe McKnight–has a better NFL career than the Trojans before him.

Here was a guy who has been much maligned throughout his career. He’s a head case. He’s got a temper. His teams don’t win. He beat up a fan in the stands.

Then he gets reborn when the Lakers sign him to replace Trevor Ariza, who eventually signed with the Rockets (Artest’s team last season). Artest became the de facto stopper on the favorite to win the NBA championship, without the added pressure of having to contribute offensively.

Los Angeles, a team in a must-win situation last night, was nursing a three-point lead with the shot clock running down. After a missed shot, Pau Gasol grabbed the offensive board and kicked it out to Artest with just under a minute remaining. Instead of milking the shot clock, Artest fired up an ill-advised shot that missed badly.

Uh, oh.

Now the spotlight was back on Artest. Phil Jackson chewed him out on the sideline. Kobe Bryant was ready to strangle him. Television screens across Los Angeles were shattered by remote controls.

The Lakers could now lose this game, a game in which they held an 18-point lead at one point. Artest blew it. LA might now have to win in Phoenix in Game 6, just to get the series to a Game 7. And they have already struggled mightily there in these Western Conference Finals.

Artest, Ariza’s replacement on the roster in 2009-10, still had to prove he belonged on this team. Ariza had his ring with the Lakers and shown he was a viable part of that team in their championship run. You could sense that Ariza was warming up his phone, ready to fire off an I-told-you-so tweet in his Twitter war with Artest’s brother Daniel.

Then Kobe air-balled a shot and Artest saw his chance. Jason Richardson, who banked home a three to tie the game, went from hero to goat when he failed to box out Artest. Ron Ron grabbed the board and laid in the put back as the buzzer sounded shocking the Suns and giving himself a reprieve on criticism for another game.

Artest won the game for the Lakers. Sure Bryant flirted with a triple double for the third straight game, but he air balled the potential game-winner. Artest cleaned up the mess, and it was because of him the Lakers didn’t have a chance to further fall apart in OT.

So Artest is one game closer to proving to everyone that the Lakers made the right choice in choosing him over Ariza to defend their title. We’ll have to wait and see if they can outlast the Suns now, so they can get to the Finals and finish the job with Artest and without Ariza.

Despite them trying to remain nameless, unbiased and draw as little attention to themselves as possible, we forget that they too are people. It’s possible for them to be subjective, make mistakes and show emotion.

Wednesday night’s Celtics/Magic game featured Kendrick Perkins getting ejected after being tagged for his second T. Eddie Rush, the referee who called the second of the two, could have rescinded the technical, but chose not to. The NBA decided to rescind the technical today.

You see that technical would have been Perkins’ seventh of the playoffs, which would cause him to be suspended for Game 6 of the series. You can watch the video here of what Perkins “did” to get him his technicals.

If you ask me, I side with Doc Rivers. I have no idea why Perkins was called for his first tech, and it seems that Rush had it out for him when he whistled him for his second one. Perhaps emotions got the best of Rush in that situation.

The same could be said of umpire Bob Davidson after his explosive confrontation with Rays manager Joe Maddon in the Red Sox/Rays game Tuesday night. After Carl Crawford and Maddon argued vehemently about balls and strikes with Davidson, it looked like the synapses in Davidson’s brain went bonkers as he looked more like an over-served patron in a bar than a major league umpire.

And then “Cowboy” Joe West made it a trio of officials leaving their mark on games this week. Last night, West tossed both White Sox starting pitcher Mark Buerhle and manager Ozzie Guillen after he called Buerhle for his second balk of the game.

A White Sox pitcher has not been called for two balks in the same game in 17 years, and Buerhle had been tagged with one balk in his last three seasons, according to the Hardball Talk blog. West, who is known as a stickler for the rules and will look for specific violations, is no stranger to having his name dragged through mud by players and coaches either.

So while I am sure that all three of these guys were trying to do their jobs, it’s pretty obvious that their emotions (and maybe pride) got the best of them. Officials aren’t immune to being human, and it’s important to remember that they’re not robots, but people like us.

Honestly with as much pressure as there is on NBA referees and MLB umpires, I’m surprised that we don’t see emotional outbursts like this much more often. Perhaps we don’t because they’re professionals and are among the best officials in the business.

Just in case I’m still going to be sure I never cross Davidson, though.

–Dr. Peter Venkman, “Ghostbusters” (1984)

According to the backlash from many NFL fans everywhere, the Super Bowl coming to the Big Apple will have roughly the same results as Gozer the Destructor‘s famous entrance did 26 years ago.

After three rounds of voting (because the voting apparently didn’t go Goodell’s way), NFL owners approved that the New Meadowlands Stadium will host the 2014 Super Bowl.

So now the Super Bowl could be played in freezing cold weather. A blizzard could befall the big game. Even the Abominable Snow Man could be signed by a tight end-desperate team the day of the game.

It’s hard to believe the NFL would risk this type of catastrophe, given that almost all other Super Bowls have been played in significantly warmer weather locations. But here are the top ten reasons why the NFL was willing to take that risk:

10. Michael Bloomberg has deep pockets and huge pull. I’m not saying the mayor bribed Goodell. What I am saying is that it’s funny that Bloomberg recently renamed Queens “Goodell’s.”

9. New York’s gun laws effectively make the city safer. There will be no Plaxico Burress accidentally shooting anyone or anything that weekend. What with all the extra visitors in town for the Super Bowl, no one has to worry about anyone (illegally) packing any heat. (Of course this reason flies out the window if Tank Johnson’s Bengals make the big game. I laughed out loud when I typed that last sentence.)

8. NFL Network star Matt Millen can host Saturday Night Live the night before. The sketch possibilities are endless. MacGruber and Millen race to see who can blow up a professional football franchise faster. Andy Samberg and Millen can pen a love song about wide receivers for the digital short. Millen’s monologue could actually be him talking about all the moves he made as Lions GM. Sure, he wouldn’t be laughing. But everyone else would be.

7. Rex Ryan wouldn’t put the Jets’ plane at a high crash risk. This goes without saying. Kudos to Ryan for dropping some weight thanks to his surgery, but there are a lot of drops in the ocean, too. Just in case the San-chise and San-ganjio get the Jets to the promised land in four years, this plan has everyone at Jets HQ breathing a big sigh of relief.

6. Spike Lee can film his new movie: “Mariucci: Doin’ Work.” We’ve all been waiting for this flick. Lee’s documentary will take us through a day in the life of Mooch as he battles to cover up his bald spot and tries to get his name on the short list of every single open coaching job in the league without ever actually taking one.

5. Jay-Z and Alicia Keys get another chance to belt out “Empire State of Mind.” The World Series was not enough. The Yankees victory parade was not enough. I love this tune, but thank goodness the Knicks didn’t win anything last season.

4. The Statue of Liberty gets a much-deserved makeover. Eyeblack on her face, a football raised in her right hand while donning a mammoth Aaron Rodgers jersey would be a welcome change, even for a weekend.

3. The Raiders get another chance at the “tuck rule.” Since they play in the same conference, the Patriots won’t be there to take advantage of it this time. Again, this assumes that the Raiders would be in the Super Bowl and it would also be snowing. Given this report, I’d say it’s much more likely to snow on Super Bowl Sunday.

2. The city will be in need of a jump start after LeBron James’ three-peat with the Cavs. While the pairing of Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will be good enough to get the Knicks to the conference finals every year, LBJ’s Cavaliers will keep New York’s cagers from the Larry O’Brien Trophy. At least all the Super Bowl revenue will soften the blow. For a week.

1. George Steinbrenner just purchased the NFL. You probably haven’t heard about this yet because Sabathia, A-Rod and Jeter all still make more money than the NFL. And you probably won’t read a lot more about this because the NFL won’t be anything more than a lefty specialist out of the bullpen for the Yanks.

So now you know why New York was chosen. Some of this stuff makes so much sense that it just had to be true.

Gone like Matthew Clemmens’ dignity.

Clemmens, the 21-year-old New Jersey man who was arrested on April 14 at a Phillies game, pleaded guilty Tuesday to simple assault, disorderly conduct and harassment.

Apparently alcohol is a powerful drug that makes you do some pretty crazy things. In Clemmens’ case, he stuck his fingers down his throat and intentionally vomited on Michael Vangelo (the off-duty cop) and his 11-year-old daughter.

This was all after Clemmens and his friend (who was escorted out of the stadium before the upchucking) had heckled, cursed at and spilled beer on Vangelo and his daughter.

Vangelo and his 15-year-old daughter both complained to security that Clemmens and his friend were spitting on the 11-year-old as well.

To top it all off, after Clemmens vomited on the family, he attacked Vangelo by punching him several times in the head.

I’ve had too much beer before. I’ve never had that much beer.

I can’t imagine how Vangelo put up with security not kicking these two idiots out of the stadium earlier. How he didn’t attack these two with physical violence is beyond me.

I’m sure everyone sitting around those two wouldn’t have stopped Vangelo from pounding those two into the ground. Other fans might have even helped Vangelo, and those two would have left the stadium in an ambulance. (This is Philly we’re talking about.)

Kudos to Vangelo for handling things the right way. I’m not sure other dads with daughters out there would have been able to control themselves.

And while the Vangelos said they are satisfied with the outcome, I can’t say I am.

Clemmens is expected to be penalized for being one of the biggest jerks in the history of public sports spectating only by being put on probation.

An 11-year old being pelted by chunks of vomit? Yeah, that seems about right.

A 17-year-old runs onto the field at the same stadium May 3 and gets tased. That’s a much worse punishment than Clemmens will get.

And in the area of sports, the NBA’s Eastern Conference No. 4 seeded Boston Celtics are that cream that is making its way to the surface.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Celts dismantled the Miami Heat in five games. And this was a team that featured one of the three best players in the league in Dwyane Wade.

And while that series win was expected by most analysts, Boston was not favored to make it past its next opponent, the mighty Cleveland Cavaliers.

After all, the Cavs won 61 games in the regular season, while the Celtics barely hit 50. Cleveland boasts the best basketball player on Earth in LeBron James. Three of Boston’s best players never held that title, even in their prime. And now, that “Big Three” of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen are 32, 34 and 34 years old respectively, not exactly spring chickens anymore.

But Boston throttled the Cavs. In six games, the Cavs’ hopes for an NBA title were dashed. The entire organization was thrown into turmoil. Mike Brown, the NBA’s Coach of the Year just a season ago, was fired. Websites were launched to beg James to come back to the Cavs next season. And all because this band of old (under)dogs defeated them four times in six games.

But the Celtics have not slowed down. They have yet to be challenged by the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals. Kendrick Perkins, Glen Davis and Garnett have kept Superman Dwight Howard as a non-factor in the series. The Magic’s Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis have also been quiet and have not shown the resolve of true champions. Yet Pierce and Rajon Rondo have been a wrecking crew in the back court as Boston will look to sweep the Magic Monday night.

Assuming they do, the experienced Celtics, who are only one year removed from their last NBA title, will face the Phoenix Suns or Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals.

And while many expect the Lakers to defend their title and defeat the Celtics, I’m not betting against the boys from Beantown to all of a sudden falter in the Finals.

It’s simple physics. Cream doesn’t stop just short of the top. It always goes all the way.

But I was wrong.

The 37-year-old former big league pitcher died in his sleep after a “massive” heart attack sometime Sunday morning.

The eccentric thrower, who often referred to his pitching appearances as “Lima Time,” always drew me in with his charisma and passion for his craft.

But what got me to appreciate him even more is when he would go seven strong innings without surrendering a run and striking out eight in the process. I couldn’t click “Add This Player” fast enough on my league’s waiver wire to get him on my team.

And then less then a week later I would always be racing to a computer to drop him off my roster after two consecutive starts where he would give up a dozen runs and not make it out of the third inning, crippling my ERA and WHIP in the process.

Fantasy analysis aside, Lima was one of the great characters on the mound in the line of Mark “The Bird” Fidrych and Roger McDowell. And that’s what I–and baseball people everywhere–will miss most about him.

Lima was the spice of the sport. He’s what made us turn the channel to the ballgame. He’s what made us click the turnstiles. He’s the one that always had us rooting for his cause.

It’s tough for an athlete to be self-promoting and flamboyant and still capture the appreciation of fans everywhere. But Lima excelled at it.

So for a guy who I never thought I’d miss, I find myself wishing he could come back and pitch just a few more games.

After all, baseball can never have enough Lima Time.