Getting back to the business at hand...sports...

And specifically, why, for the last 10 years, I have not been a fan of the Oakland Athletics.
All those people that spent $20 on Nick Swisher jersey-shirts must now find a new player to support.
Just when Swisher was becoming a leader and a fan-favorite in Oakland, Billy Beane gets rid of him.
This is absurdity at its highest point.
With Danny Haren and Swisher, you had a chance to compete in the AL West, or at least for the AL Wild Card. But by trading away your two best players, you've conceded the 2008 season and probably the 2009 season.
I've never believed Beane when he has said that his #1 goal is to win. If his top priority was to win games (and ultimately World Series), he would not trade away Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Dan Haren and Nick Swisher at such young ages.
The Haren trade still baffles me. It's not like he was going to be a free agent after the 2008 season. Beane had locked him up for the next 4 seasons! And at a discounted price.
Sure, Beane may get some of baseball's best prospects in return for the established players he deals away. But is the point of baseball to develop players to a certain point, then deal them for as many prospects as you can? Or is the point of baseball to develop players to help you win Championships? I think it's the latter.
Until Beane can develop players and win with them, I wont jump on the bandwagon that says he is the best General Manager in baseball. Sorry, just not going to happen. He hasn't won anything in my eyes. Once he wins something with the owner-imposed salary cap and with his players, don't tell me he's a great GM. Yes, he's good at taking his star players and dealing them for the whole kit-and-kaboddle, but what does he have to show for it? At some point, you have to stop "building for the future" and let "the future" show that they can win. At some point, you have to stop pointing to one year, saying that this is our one chance and if we don't win this year, we'll blow everything up. Show some patience. Show some faith in your players.
A few years from now, after the A's still haven't won anything, he will probably take a Carlos Gonzalez or a Gio Gonzalez and flip them for a couple of up-and-coming prospects. And he will gain more praise. But for what? Being able to haggle three or four unproven players out of another GM.
I've said it for years, and I will continue to say it: Billy Beane is nothing until he wins a World Series.