Deadline Cool

For weeks and weeks, enough was said and written about baseball’s July 31 trade deadline to fill a Barnes & Nobles.

It was a daily soap opera, non-stop chatter, overhyped theatre.

Was Roy Halladay going to the Yankees, the Dodgers, the Phillies or Mars?

Who was going to get Cliff Lee? What about Matt Holliday?

On and on it went.

Well, when the dust finally settled, Halladay stayed in Toronto, Lee moved on to Philadelphia, the Cardinals got Holliday and the Dodgers acquired a late-inning reliever from Baltimore.

OK, great. Let’s play ball. Your best against their best, let’s see who wins the race to October.

Now, fast forward to this week, a month before the season ends. The wheeling and dealing, which really should end with the “non-waiver” July 31 deadline, heated up as much as it did a month earlier.

With teams given until Aug. 31 to make last-minute additions for potential playoff rosters, the Dodgers traded for Jim Thome and Jon Garland, the Giants acquired Brad Penny and the Rockies dealt for Jose Contreras and signed Jason Giambi.

Intriguing? Yes. Do I like it? No.

Sure, the moves were great for the team I’ve always followed -- the Dodgers. But it’s way too late in the year for hired guns. I’m perfectly OK with promoting a player within an organization. I remember the Dodgers bringing up Fernando Valenzuela late in the 1980 season and watching him nearly lead them to the NLCS. And just today, the Giants reportedly promoted all-everything catcher Buster Posey. Good for them.

My beef is with bringing in someone else’s players, or players off the street, with only a month left before the playoffs.

If baseball is going to continue to keep its waiver trade deadline at the end of August, why have a deadline? One month? Two weeks? One week? What’s the difference? Just let teams trade until the final days of the season.

Need some pop in the lineup? Deal for Arizona’s Mark Reynolds or Washington’s Adam Dunn. They’ll have some free time in October.

That’s how ridiculous the deals this week seem.

Maybe I’ll change my mind if Jim Thome hits the winning home run in the seventh game of the World Series at Yankee Stadium.

Until then, I’d prefer that the Dodgers and everyone else stick with the players who got them into contention in the first place.

Anyone who knows me will tell you I have a deep passion for sports. Always have. I love the drama on game day. I love the story lines. I love to occasionally let my guard down, if you will, and show the fan in me. That’s not necessarily a smart idea as a journalist, so let’s just say my two favorite teams reside a few hundred miles south of San Francisco. One wears blue caps and used to call Brooklyn home; the other dresses in purple and gold, won a world championship this year and played its home games at the Fabulous Forum during my childhood.

OK, the cat’s out of the bag.

I must say my passion for sports has its limits. While I follow games and personalities closely -- is Tom Brady’s shoulder still in one piece? -- I have little interest in memorizing stats. So if you’re looking for tips to strengthen your fantasy football team, this probably isn’t the stop for you.

What I aim to do here is provide insight beyond the box scores. With nearly 20 years of experience as a sports writer, I’m confident I can provide content that you won’t find from someone who hasn’t spent countless hours working in clubhouses, locker rooms and press boxes across the country.

When Stanford pulled off one of the greatest upsets in college football history, stunning USC at the Coliseum two years ago, I was standing near the goal line with my pen and notebook as Mark Bradford leaped into the sky to catch the winning touchdown pass.

When Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter made one of his great defensive plays of all-time, running beyond the first-base line in the 2001 playoffs to haul in an off-target relay throw and then tossing a no-look strike to nail a non-sliding Jeremy Giambi at home plate, I had the privilege to write about it as the Mercury News’ A’s beat writer.

When Stanford prolonged its contract negotiations with men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson two years ago, then watched him shockingly leave for LSU, I was in the trenches -- interviewing players, administrators, boosters and recruits to help deliver an awarding-winning breaking news story for the Mercury News.

Given my background, I’m sure we can have fun here, following the ins-and-outs of a rarely-dull, often quirky sports world.

I promise not to discriminate. I’m a fan of pretty much anything that keeps a score. In addition to the mainstream sports, I especially enjoy tennis -- a game I’ve been hooked on since I sat in my room as a kid watching the legendary Wimbledon tiebreaker between Johnny Mac and Bjorn Borg on a little black-and-white set.

With the baseball pennant races in full bloom and the college and pro football seasons about to begin -- not to mention the U.S. Open -- there is plenty to write and read about.

Yes, this is a cool time.