Offseason

Summertime, aside from baseball, lacks a lot of in game action. You catch the tail end of the extremely drawn out NBA and NHL finals, that should have been finished weeks ago.

The one thing that is always intriguing about the summer, aside from baseball, is free agency, drafts, blockbuster trades, and teams starting to rebuild for the hopes of a better season.

This offseason has been no different. Though the NBA draft was extremely lacking, free agency has just started up, and it's already been booming. The rich are getting richer;Artest to the Lakers and Sheed to the Celtics. Teams are taking risks on players who they hope weren't just playing for their contract last season;Trevor Ariza and Hedo Turkoglu. Teams like the Knicks are unloading caproom and accepting the enrtry into the 2010 draft lottery in hopes of getting their hand in the cookie jar that is the ridiculously rich 2010 free agent class.

European soccer has also given us a breathtaking display of "making it rain" so to speak. You have a team like Real Madrid which is already talent rich both with veterans(Raúl) and prospects(Ramos and Higúan) spending absurd amounts of money to try and turn their "embarrassing" year into a competitive one with Barcelona. They have already signed two top five midfielders, a top 10 striker, and a solid underrated center back for around €180 million. They're garnering a lot of criticism for their moves because of the inflation they're causing in this year's transfer market. It's hard to blame them completely because of the youth and talent level of the four players they've signed, along with the return transfer fees they can get for existing commodities;Arjen Robben, Rafael Van der Vaart.

It'll be interesting to see what other great players will be swept up this offseason, because they are in for a hell of a pay day.(Sorry Gareth Barry)

I find myself licking my chops because this summer is so far one of the best I've seen in years as far as trades and signings go, and we're only at the beginning of July.