So it’s come and gone. One of the most highly anticipated rookie debuts in ages. And Daisuke Matsuzaka, “Dice-K”, lived up to the hype.

What makes Matsuzaka so fascinating is that he was a legend before he ever threw his first major league pitch. He has been a legend in Japan since an unbelievable run in the high-school Koshien Tournament in 1998, capped with a no-hitter in the finale. His legacy grew even greater with his MVP performance in the World Baseball Classic, which also served as his introduction to American audiences. That was followed by an epic bidding war between several Major League Baseball franchises just to have the opportunity to negotiate with Matsuzaka, with the subsequent contract negotiations with the Boston Red Sox being no less manic. The clincher? Dice-K may or may not throw a pitch which may or may not exist–and if he does, he may be the only person in the world who can throw that pitch.

That’s the stuff of which legends are made. And what does that make Matsuzaka? Quintessantially baseball.

In a review of the new director’s cut DVD of The Natural that I recently wrote for Collider.com, I discussed how that film “perfectly captures the time-transcendent mythology of baseball” and how “legendary names like Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio still tower over the game years after they all stopped playing”. Baseball is all about history, mythology and legends, and Dice-K’s career to date perfectly falls into that structure.

The only real question that remains is, can he acutally throw the gyroball?

Congratulations to the Indianapolis Colts on winning Super Bowl XLI. As a New England Patriots fan, I was rooting against them, but they played excellently and deserved to win. It was also great to see Tony Dungy finally win the big game.

My question is, why did Peyton Manning win the game MVP award? He wasn’t terrible but he was by no means great. Manning’s numbers were mediocre, even subpar for him, and by no means did he win the game for the Colts. That job was performed by the two running back Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai. The MVP award is not meant to be a popularity contest but a tribute to the game’s best player. So I propose that we start the first annual “Real” MVP award, to be decided by acutal game watchers who haven’t decided whom they’re going to pick before the game even starts. And to kick off the award, this year we have co-MVPs, Rhodes and Addai.

And now for the commercials. As someone who actually cares for the game, I feel that those people who are only watching for the commercials should just stick to the trash tabloid TV that would normally be occupying their little minds. To me the ads are a pleasant diversion in what otherwise might be snack or bathroom break time. That having been said… I believe the era of big-budget ads for the Super Bowl has passed. Overall quality has been declining for several years, and with ad time currently running about $2.5 million per thirty second spot, one gets the feeling that advertisers are skimping on the commercials just to afford the time spot. The SalesGenie spot, for example, had such horrendous acting that the commercial played like a bumper ad for a late-night infomercial, and Coca-Cola, one of the world’s largest advertisers, repurposed their movie theater spots! Sure, there will always be a few stand-outs, but the peak has passed.

The other night I went to the Luc Robitaille jersey retirement game at Staples Center. It was a great evening acknowledging the achievements of a wonderful player, and, more importantly, a complete class act. Number retirement is one of the two highest honors that can be bestowed on a team-sport professional athlete; the other, induction into his sport’s Hall of Fame, surely awaits Robitaille in his first year of eligibility.

Two players who also exhibited excellence both on and off the field were just elected into baseball’s elite Hall of Fame club–Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken, Jr., both in their first year of eligibility. Notably missing from that collection was Mark McGwire, whose Hall of Fame numbers have been tainted by the suspicion of steroids.

Who wants to bet that, other than McGwire, no one is more upset about Big Mac’s exclusion than Barry Bonds? If the suspicion of steroids is enough to exclude McGwire, whose numbers are undoubtedly Hall of Fame caliber and who was well-liked by both fans and the media, what does that say about Barry Bonds’s chances for induction? Bonds, who never met a performance-enhanching drug he didn’t like, is generally despised by both fans and media everywhere except in San Francisco. The guy is the epitome of a non-class act, selling out his teammates (perhaps even falsely) to try to save his own skin.

Bonds likes to play the victim, but McGwire’s exclusion is going to make any whining if Bonds isn’t elected seem even more petty than his usual complaints. It also completely invalidates any attempts by Bonds to cry racism, an old standby in his bag of tricks.

Sure, McGwire may still be elected. It was only his first year of eligibility. But the baseball writers have spoken. Barry Bonds beware. If only something can prevent him from breaking Henry Aaron’s home run record. Hammerin’ Hank was a class act all the way. And he was victimized in ways Bonds can’t even imagine.

The designated hitter has been a controversial subject for baseball since its introduction. It’s all I’ve ever known in my lifetime, but, at the same time, as a baseball purist, I believe pitchers should hit. If nothing else, pitchers batting makes for more interesting strategy.

That having been said, I do believe the DH should be considered for the Most Valuable Player Award, and I disagree with the unwritten policy of disregarding DHs because they don’t play in the field. The Most Valuable Player award, by definition, should go to the person who, by virtue of his play, makes the biggest difference for his team (this same argument can be applied to pitchers, who many think should be ignored for the MVP because they have the separate Cy Young Award).

This is the problem that Boston Red Sox DH David Ortiz faces in the MVP voting this year. Ortiz’s clutch hitting this year has been among the best in baseball hitting. Absolutely unreal, uncanny. He singlehandedly has changed the face of countless Sox games, with game-winning hits in the bottom of the ninth while leading the American League in home runs and RBIs. Let alone the pyschological effect on the opposing pitcher, and the strategy shifts by the opposing team. Ortiz will also do whatever it takes to help his team–few power hitters have ever been as willing as he is to bunt to beat a shift.

No player in baseball does more for his team than Ortiz. Just because he is the DH does not mean he should be ignored for the MVP. This is not a case of an older player extending his career by hitting only. Ortiz is in his prime, and if the AL did not have the DH, Ortiz would be the everyday first baseman. His bat is just too valuable.

What seems to be lost in the controversy surrounding Barry Bonds passing Babe Ruth’s home run mark is that the current record–and the only one that really matters–looks more and more unattainable.

The soon-to-be forty-three-year-old Bonds has hit only 5 homeruns in the 35 games the Giants have played so far this year. At that pace he will only hit 23 over the course of the full 162-game season (only, of course, being a relative term–23 homeruns is not a bad year). That would put him at 731 for his career, 24 short of Hank Aaron’s 755. Now whether the dropoff in Barry’s production is due to age and bad health or now being off steroids, that means the earliest he could expect to challenge Aaron is the end of next season–assuming no further drop off in production and that he does stay healthy. And when you’re 44, as Bonds will be then, those are big ifs.

So maybe, hopefully, Aaron’s mark will stand and there will be no controversy over a possibly steroid-tainted record.