Some might think of basketball as the great outlet for the nomadic sports fan. However, as far as college goes, there is March Madness, and then, well, there isn’t much else. The NBA can be exciting, especially when you are a Lakers fan such as yours truly. But, considering games of import aren’t really even played until April, there just is not that much appeal.

This leaves us with baseball. America’s pastime. Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, Major League and all those other great movies. Casey at the Bat was my favorite poem for the longest time. Okay, so perhaps it still is.

Baseball is a marvelously relaxing cerebral sport in so many ways. Yet, the game in its essence is easy to pick up. Explainging baseball to somebody from England is much easier to do than explaining American football.

But lets be even more honest about the situation. There is no better way to tell the civic pride a city has than by how it feels about its baseball team. So it is with this spirit in mind that I slouch my way through the next few weeks, waiting for pitchers and catchers to report, and The Boys of Summer to take the field.

I am not a crazed fan who believes that the Jets have belonged in this final four category since the first day of the season. No, I am the humble fan, the one who realizes that Mark Sanchez is the first quarterback to make the playoffs while throwing twenty interceptions in a season.

It is rare to be in the New York area and be the underdog. Generally speaking New Yorkers think they are the best. (Sometimes rightfully so.) This feeling of superiority is multiplied a few times when you reside in North Jersey as we here have a chip on our shoulder. That in a nutshell is the Jets, one big huge chip on the shoulder. Not so much a blue collar team, not a Steelers or Bears type of team. No, these Jets have swagger and a bit of gloss.

That is until the Detroit Tigers decided to cut Gary Sheffield. Omar Minaya just could not pass up the opportunity to sign a slugger one home run shy of the mythic 500 mark for the league minimum. Although many are criticizing the Mets GM for bringing the potentially toxic Sheffield into the Mets clubhouse, I say bring it on.

The Mets desperately need a right handed bat. Even if Sheffield is a bit washed up, he still strikes fear into opposing pitchers. It is hard to imagine any hurler would prefer to face Dwight Gooden’s nephew instead of Ryan Church. (Now I want to be clear, I like Ryan Church, I even have him on my fantasy team.)

The question here is how long can Jerry Manuel make sure that all of his players sing together in harmony. Manuel has already shown he can handle the stubborn players. The best example of this is his handling of the always moody Jose Reyes, especially when Reyes refused to come out of a game last season. If Manuel can make sure Shef stays in line and also the players who will lose at bats to Shef stay happy, then the Mets haven’t taken much of a risk.

Ultimately, I like this signing because the baseball season is a marathon not a sprint. (Sometimes a cliche says it best.) Church is an injury concern and with the youth of Murphy, it is better at this time of year for Minaya to be safe. If Luis Castillo begins to falter, there is a chance that Tatis can find a home in the infield as the partner for Jose Reyes in the Mets infield doubleplay combo. Only time will tell, but for now, the Sheffield signing is looking like a deal.