Finding fountain of youth

Another notable example -- the Phillies' Cliff Lee -- was starting to turn his season around when he was with the Indians, then came over to the NL and all of a sudden looked like the Cliff Lee of last year, when he won the Cy Young award.

But let's go back to Penny and Smoltz, big right-handers who labored just to get outs in the AL. In Smoltz's last start as a member of the Red Sox, he was tagged for eight earned runs and nine hits in 3 1/3 innings. One day later, Boston put Smoltz on waivers, and many felt the future Hall of Famer's career was done.

Even esteemed Daily Journal Sports Editor Nathan Mollat, after watching highlights of Smoltz's horrific outing, said Smoltz was finished. Well, he was -- in the AL. But look what happened when Smoltz came over to the Cardinals.

Talk about turning back the clock. Entering Thursday Smoltz made three starts, allowing five earned runs over 17 innings. In his first start with St. Louis, Smoltz struck out nine in just five innings, looking very much like the Smoltz of five years ago. In the same way Smoltz has found the fountain of youth, Penny has been reincarnated.

The newly acquired Giants starter was 7-8 this year with Boston, having allowed 160 hits, a whopping 17 home runs and compiling a bloated 5.61 ERA in 131 2/3 innings. In Penny's last start -- which, coincidentally enough, came against the powerful Yankees -- Penny was blasted for eight earned runs and 10 hits in four innings.

Shortly thereafter, the Giants were able to work out a deal for Penny after he was placed on waivers. In Penny's first start with San Francisco Wednesday against the defending World Series champion Phillies, he pitched eight innings of shutout ball, throwing 95 mph in the eighth and looking very much like the pitcher who led the NL in wins in 2006, with 16.

Lee, Penny and Smoltz's flip of a switch success certainly doesn't reflect well of the NL, but then again, it shouldn't be a surprise. Sure, when placed in a one-on-one situation, an NL team can win a World Series. But time and again the AL -- which hasn't lost an All-Star game since 1996 -- shows its superiority.

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Are you geeked up for the college and NFL football seasons?

Count me in on the former and not so much on the latter. Why the NFL garners the highest sports ratings -- and it's not even close -- in the U.S. baffles me to no end. What is it? The gambling? Fantasy football? It can't be the atmosphere, because for pregame festivities and excitement, there's only three locales among NFL teams -- Green Bay, Kansas City and Seattle -- that can come close to matching the noise and hyper festivities of a game in Ann Arbor, Columbus, Knoxville, Happy Valley, and any stadium in the SEC for that matter. Tradition? Virtually non-existent in the NFL. College football oozes with tradition and pageantry.

Why is the NFL so popular? It can't be about the quality of play. There's no variety, because everyone runs basically the same stuff offensively and defensively. Everyone has guys who can run the 40 in 4.3 seconds, everyone has 350-pound behemoths on the line and everyone has a playmaker or two who rises above the rest of the pack.

In theory, that's great, but the NFL is the exception. What the NFL has become is a sole battle of attrition, where the team lucky enough to avoid key injuries will come out on top. Players continually get bigger, stronger and faster -- no doubt aided by the fact that

the NFL's performance-enhancing drug policy is a joke compared to what Olympic athletes and pro cyclists go through -- creating a Gladiator-type arena where train wrecks occur on every play.

At the end of every year NFL teams resemble more of a ward unit than an acutal sports squad. While injuries are part of the college game, they don't have nearly the effect as in the pro game. The best college teams can overcome a key loss or two, but not even a powerhouse organization like the Patriots can overcome a devastating loss -- they didn't even make the playoffs last year without all-time great Tom Brady.

People complain about the fact that there is no playoff system in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Here's why having no playoff system is a good thing: It gives every week of the regular season postseason-type ramifications. Plug in a playoff system and this year's opening games like Boise State-Oregon, Alabama-Virginia Tech and BYU-Oklahoma have less meaning.

Last year in the first week Alabama whipped Clemson -- which was getting a lot of preseason hype and thought to be a top contender -- spring-boarding the Crimson Tide to a national title run and plummeting the Tigers into a disappointing season. In the FBS, every game counts -- and you can't say that about the NFL or any other sport with a postseason tournament.

In reality, the FBS has the best playoff system of them all -- and it plays out weekly throughout the season.

Emanuel Lee can be reached: emanuel@smdailyjournal.com and (650) 344 5200, ext. 109.