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July 30, 2011

Hideki Irabu, RIP: The Troubled Dream

Did Hideki Irabu's various crashes and prolonged burn finally cost him what mattered most, in turn costing him his life at 42? Once an overhyped Japanese import in a Yankee uniform, Irabu was living mostly quietly in a well-to-do southern California suburb when, two months before his suicide Thursday, his wife, Kyonsu, left him and took their two little daughters with her. A neighbor told reporters the former pitcher seemed very down, not his usual "perky" self, since those departures.

"Perky" isn't an adjective usually associated with Irabu and never had been since his arrival in the United States under a combined weight of smothering hype and smothering criticism. The same neighbor turned out to be the one to whom other friends of Irabu's came running Thursday, from his modest home (by the standards of the wealthy Los Angeles suburb of Rancho Paolos), to ask her to call police. Apparently, Irabu forged himself friendlier environs there than he was able to do in baseball clubhouses.

Whether in his native Japan or in the American Show, Irabu never seemed the most comfortable of players. It isn't easy launching a new career phase when it begins as did his in 1997. He'd already been touted as Japan's Nolan Ryan, after he threw fastballs reading 98 mph on the guns, unheard-of in Japan at that time. Then, the San Diego Padres bought his contract from the Chiba Lotte Marines and Irabu made his first mistake. Half-American, though he never knew his American sire and was raised entirely in Japan when his mother married a Japanese man, Irabu made it known his "dream" in American baseball was to play for the New York Yankees.

In most places where American baseball is revered around the world, this might have seemed only natural considering the Yankees' identification as champions and American icons. In Japan, however, that kind of proclamation was considered disrespectful. And it didn't sit well with the Japanese press or with his Japanese league mates. The Padres accommodated Irabu by trading him (with Homer Bush) to the Yankees (for Ruben Rivera, Rafael Medina, and $3 million).

Maybe all Irabu wanted was to pitch for the Yankees, but what he got at the moment he arrived in New York was hyperdrive hype. It only began with no less than Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, unapologetic Yankee fan, presenting the chunky, reserved Irabu a Tiffany apple and proclaiming his arrival symbolic of not just the American immigrant experience but of the immigrant experience that so often commenced in New York itself. Lay that upon the Japanese Nolan Ryan and anything short of a perfect game to open would have been considered a let down, if not the second coming of Pearl Harbour.

To find an opposite parallel, you have to reach two years before Irabu's arrival, ironically enough to the city in whose suburb Irabu's life would end around his own neck. Similarly introverted, though not similarly insular, Hideo Nomo was allowed to break in a lot more gently with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Nobody jumped to proclaim him The Symbol of America's immigrant experience, which may have been particularly telling considering southern California's Oriental presence. Nobody jumped to hang a halo around Nomo's head, at least not until he'd pitched a few games in the Dodger system before making the parent club in May 1995 and pitching precisely like the National League's Rookie of the Year he was eventually named.

Nobody hung the high-stretching, corkscrew-turning right-hander with any tag comparing him to any off-the-chart American pitching legend before he began. But Nomo did shatter Sandy Koufax's club record for strikeouts per nine, eclipsing Koufax's 10.5 with his own 11.1. The Japanese media may have followed Nomo in throngs once he'd made it to the Dodgers, and Nomomania may have snowballed to the point where his starts were broadcast live back to Japan, even though Japan was just getting out of bed when Nomo threw his first pitches, but at least one and all let Nomo break in gently and show his stuff before letting the hype machine holler.

Irabu opened by striking out nine Tigers in six and two thirds before finishing 1997 with a less-than-stellar 5-4/7.09 ERA/1.67 WHIP. But in 1998, it looked at first as though he wasn't just going to live up to the hype, he was going to explode it. He went 13-9/4.06/1.30, all phenomenal improvements over his premiere American season, and he'd opened the season with a 6-1 record and an ERA under two. The bad news was that Irabu's apparently indifferent work habits and insularity may have helped cost him a chance to pitch in the postseason that climaxed the 1998 Yankees' stupefying run.

Irabu already had befuddled teammates and overlords alike, who noticed he seemed completely lost and often in another dimension when he wasn't on the mound. Stories abounded about the contradictory carriage of a young man who swore by wearing magnets over his body as a circulation booster yet chain smoked cigarettes by his locker. Unlike a later Yankee import from Japan named Hideki Matsui, Irabu wasn't the outgoing type even allowing the language barrier. The pitcher who'd proclaimed publicly his dream of pitching for the Yankees didn't act one iota like a man living the dream when he got his wish.

That may have been the backstory behind the spring training 1999 incident that probably did the most to seal Irabu's baseball fate. Failing to cover first base in an early exhibition game, and with George Steinbrenner watching the game, Irabu became the next great target of the next infamous Steinbrenner rant — the "fat pus-sy toad" rant that, when seen on paper only (and without the eventual hyphen), looked like something else entirely and hung Irabu with a no-guts tag he didn't necessarily earn.

Anyone watching Irabu's only postseason appearance, in the 1999 American League Championship Series, should have thrown the no-guts tag right off his back. Can you think of any conscionable reason why manager Joe Torre would have left Irabu in to take an 8-run, 13-hit beating for four and two thirds innings, in Fenway Park, which is exactly what happened when Irabu relieved Roger Clemens, already in the hole 4-0, in the top of the third, after Mike Stanley led off with a base hit? Unless, sensing the Red Sox were on and the Yankees weren't likely to do much against Pedro Martinez, who didn't know the meaning of the word quit against them most of the time, Torre figured Irabu as a sacrificial lamb allowing his nucleus to regroup and finish what they started after opening the set with a pair of one-run wins?

Actually, once he'd opened by surrendering a two-run homer to Brian Daubach, Irabu worked respectably for the next two innings for which he's credited. It wasn't necessarily his fault the Yankees couldn't hit Martinez with a hangar door while the Red Sox' batsmen were feeling especially frisky even against Clemens. Irabu followed the Daubach bomb by sandwiching a pair of groundouts around Trot Nixon's double and then getting John Valentin to fly out for the side. And he squirmed out of a first-and-third, one-out threat by luring Stanley into dialing area code 6-4-3 in the fourth. But in the Boston fifth, alas, Irabu was touched for back-to-back doubles (Daubach, Darren Lewis) to open. Then, he struck out Nixon and Jose Offerman back-to-back. Valentin singled, making it second and third on an infield error, before Irabu struck Jason Varitek out for the side, but the Yankees were in the hole 8-0.

I remember being surprised to have seen Irabu left in the game that far, but — incomprehensibly — there he was coming out to pitch the sixth. He surrendered a leadoff single to Nomar Garciaparra but he got Troy O'Leary to force Garciaparra at second and Stanley to fly out to left. Then Daubach lofted a fly to left that was mishandled by Ricky Ledee, allowing O'Leary to score while Daubach took second, before Irabu got Lewis to fly out to Bernie Williams for the side. And it wasn't over yet. Unbelievably, Irabu was sent out to pitch the seventh, while Torre pulled Paul O'Neill out of the game, moved Ledee to replace him in right field, and sending Chad Curtis out to play left field. Nixon opened with a base hit, taking second on Offerman's infield out. But then Valentin singled Nixon home, and Garciaparra followed Varitek's infield pop-out with a two-run homer, after which O'Leary doubled off the Monster and Stanley singled him home.

Only then did Torre finally get Irabu the hell out of there in favor of Mike Stanton, who got pinch-hitter Butch Huskey on a groundout for the side but still finished the inning with the Yankees in the hole 13-0. They'd save themselves a humiliating shutout when Scott Brosius led off the top of the eighth with a solo bomb, but that's where the score finished. It was the only Red Sox win in the set.

Maybe the Yankees combined frustration with taking a little pity on their wounded import, trading him to the Montreal Expos (for Jake Westbrook and Ted Lilly) after the season. But maybe beneath the seeming indifference Irabu's pride had been shattered irrevocably. Two years and modest performance after that trade, Irabu was on rehab with the Expos' Ottawa farm when he got drunk and had to be scratched from a scheduled start, earning a suspension in the bargain. The Expos released him after that season. The Texas Rangers signed him as a free agent on a single-season deal worth less than half his former annual Yankee salary and converted him to relief pitching, in which role he pitched debatably enough — he did compile sixteen saves, but he finished the season with a 5.74 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP.

Irabu never appeared in the American majors again. He may have had enough after that lone Texas season; he returned to Japan and pitched for the Hanshin Tigers for two seasons before retiring. Along the way, he was involved in a briefly infamous altercation in a Japanese bar, pounding down twenty beers and fuming when his credit card was rejected, decking a bartender in the process. But American baseball proved to keep alluring him; he signed with the independent Golden State League's Long Beach Armada for 2009, but after a short spell there he returned to Japan and pitched until last year.

He seems to have experienced kinship enough in southern California to make it his home, owning the aforesaid modest, two-story ranch with a rectangular pool framing one side. But alcohol and Irabu remained a troublesome mix. He was arrested for driving drunk in May 2010.

Who knows whether the broken promise of his major league life took a greater toll upon Irabu's psyche than he was willing to admit? When he first reached to American baseball, his Marines manager said he "just [had] a feeling" it wasn't going to go anywhere near as well for Irabu as it had for Nomo. Who knows whether the demons that drove his wife and daughters to leave him finally drove him beyond any point where he might have finished the reassembly he hadn't necessarily gotten halfway toward making?

Hideki Irabu. A benign introvert who only thought he had it made, once.

Posted by Jeff Kallman at 1:15 PM | Comments (1)

July 29, 2011

Foul Territory: Compromising Positions

* Union of the Snake, or Shotgun Wedding — Ben Roethlisberger wed Ashley Harlan on Saturday in Ohio Township, Pennsylvania in a private ceremony marked by tight police security. Harlan said the magic words "I do," which stands in stark contrast to the words uttered by most of Roethlisberger's previous girlfriends, "I did?"

*Hey, Hey, Hey! It's Pat Albert!, Or Fat Chance, Or Baggage Claim—The Redskins traded Albert Haynesworth to the Patriots for a fifth-round pick in 2013, giving the disgruntled lineman a fresh start after two unhappy years in D.C. Amazingly, Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill unanimously agreed on the deal.

*Finally, Ochocinco Got His Wish, To Be Compared To Randy Moss--New England continued its free agent frenzy, signing former Bengal and social media icon Chad Ochocinco. The effervescent Ochocinco heralded the deal by mounting a horse and galloping through the streets of Foxboro, shouting "The Twittish are coming! The Twittish are coming!"

* He Tested Positive For Victory, Schleck Mate, or Cadel Yeah! — Cadel Evans won the Tour De France on Sunday, beating Luxembourg's Andy Schleck by 1 minute, 34 seconds, becoming the first Australian to capture the title. Evans celebrated by drinking champagne from the winner's cup, while simultaneously peeing in another. Evans said he looked forward to keeping the title "down under," and anticipated that to do so, he'd have to keep his testosterone measurements "down under" as well, of accepted levels.

* He's Baaaack (Tracking) — Allegedly, the Philadelphia Eagles are interested in making Brett Favre their backup quarterback should they trade Kevin Kolb as expected. Favre's agent, Bus Cook, said the talk was just "speculation," while former New York Jets employee Jenn Sterger said she was glad to see Favre flirting with retirement, and not her.

* He Crossed the Yellow Line, or Piss-Poor Judgment, or U.S.C.U.P. — University Of South Carolina quarterbacks coach G.A. Mangus was arrested early Tuesday and charged with nuisance conduct after police observed him urinating in a Greenville, SC street. Mangus was suspended indefinitely, and ordered to seek counseling, as well as leak counseling.

* You May Have Missed it, But She Didn't — Indiana Fever guard Katie Douglas hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 56.7 seconds left to power the East to a 118-113 win over the West in the WNBA All-Star Game on Saturday. In a related story, a tree fell in a forest and no one heard it.

* It is Long Enough, It is Good!, or Labor Party, or Compro-misers — The NFL lockout ended on Monday when the NFL Players Association voted unanimously on the terms of a new 10-year labor deal that appeased both sides. In this age of scandalous behavior exhibited by players and owners, it's certainly not the last time we will see them placed in compromising positions.

* He Can't "Walk" Just Yet, or Perju-ry-Play — Legal experts predict that Roger Clemens will likely face trial a second time on perjury charges. Clemens first trial was declared a mistrial on July 14th because the prosecution showed inadmissible evidence to the jury, evidence, the defense argued, that would be hard to misremember once seen.

* First, He Had His "Front" Out, Now it's His "Bottom" Out" — Tiger Woods' tumble down the world golf rankings continued, as he slipped to 21st in the latest rankings released Monday. If Woods' recent rankings history could be put to a Tom Petty song, it would likely be "Free Fallin'." That, of course, pales in comparison to the Tom Petty songs that Woods' ex-wife, Elin Nordegren, could apply to her situation. Those include, "Don't Do Me Like That," "Breakdown," "Don't Come Around Here No More," "Change of Heart," "Runnin' Down a Dream," "Learning to Fly," "Into the Great Wide Open," and "You Don't Know How it Feels," to name a few.

* It Was One Heck of a "Blow" Out — Dennis Rodman celebrated his 50th birthday in Las Vegas last Tuesday, visiting numerous strip clubs and handing out cigars to herald the launch of his WB Brand Cigar line. It was a party to remember, and possibly the first to boast the intersection of Prince Albert, the tobacco, and Prince Albert, the piercing.

* This is No Time to Have a "Cavallari" Attitude, or She's Out of His League — Jay Cutler suddenly called off his engagement to The Hills beauty Kristin Cavallari, who had planned to move to Chicago during the upcoming NFL season. Millions of Bears fans speculated on the reason, with most hoping and praying it was because Cutler thought he could "do better."

Posted by Jeffrey Boswell at 11:23 AM | Comments (0)

July 28, 2011

Realigning the NFL

I'm a tinkerer. I like to tweak things. If it's not broken, I will still fix it.

While these traits would probably serve me well if I had any small motor skills or interest in machinery, tools, etc., I don't. So I'm left with tinkering with the NFL.

It used to be that there was almost zero relationship between the NFL division names and the actual locations of the teams in those divisions. From 1970-2001, Atlanta and New Orleans were in the NFC West. Dallas has been a member of the NFC East since 1968. Neither of these designations make any sort of geographic sense.

The NFL corrected most of these issues with realignment in 2001. However, as a result of their earlier nonsensical division groupings, there were certain rivalries that developed and the league (correctly) felt the need to maintain these rivalries. This is why the Cowboys remain in the NFC East and why Miami is in the AFC East instead of the AFC South.

What if we realigned them again to make the most geographic sense, rivalries be damned? Well first, I don't actually advocate doing that. What follows is an exercise in fun, so don't get your knickers in a twist.

Using only geography as a criterion, I would realign the divisions like this.

AFC MARITIME DIVISION

New England (14-2 in 2010)
New York Jets (10-6)
New York Giants (10-6)
Philadelphia (10-6)

First, the AFC would roughly become the "Eastern Conference" and the NFC would become the nominal "Western Conference." This means there would be massive conference switches. I would also, as you see, aim for more imaginative names for the divisions, which I think would help foster public acceptance as well as to speed along new rivalries.

The Maritime Division would perhaps be the most respected and followed in the country, especially in contemporary times, where each team is strong.

AFC COLONIAL DIVISION

Pittsburgh (12-4 in 2010)
Baltimore (12-4)
Washington (6-10)
Carolina (2-14)

I considered calling this the Chesapeake Division and the Mid-Atlantic Division, as well. Washington and Baltimore make an obvious rivalry choice, and Pittsburgh is less than 300 miles from both.

AFC SUNSHINE DIVISION

Atlanta (13-3 in 2010)
Tampa Bay (10-6)
Jacksonville (8-8)
Miami (7-9)

I like the idea of all the Florida teams in the same division. As a Buccaneers fan, I've always felt the most rivalry-based hostility to the Dolphins, but they only play once every four years.

AFC GREAT LAKES EAST DIVISION

Detroit (6-10 in 2010)
Cleveland (5-11)
Buffalo (4-12)
Cincinnati (4-12)

Ay chihuahua, would this division be turrible, perhaps even worse than last year's real NFC West. Perhaps Cleveland and Buffalo could evolve into rivals if they could revive some of their magic of the 80's and 90's. For whatever reason, Cincinnati and Detroit square off in preseason every single year.

NFC GREAT LAKES WEST DIVISION

Chicago (11-5 in 2010)
Green Bay (10-6)
Indianapolis (10-6)
Minnesota (6-10)

This division is the one that stays the closest to its current iteration, and fans of the Bears, Packers, and Vikings can thank me for offloading Detroit and giving them Indianapolis, thereby creating the toughest division in the NFC.

NFC ELAION DIVISION

New Orleans (11-5 in 2010)
Dallas (6-10)
Houston (6-10)
Tennessee (6-10).

Did I get too cute with this one? Elaion is the old Greek word for oil and ultimately where we get our word for oil. I've long felt that Dallas and New Orleans would be great, natural rivals, and there is already a ramped-up froth between these two teams: they have played the last two seasons, and both games were decided by a field goal with the road team winning. When it was Dallas winning in New Orleans in 2009, it ended the Saints' quest for an undefeated run at 13-0.

NFC NEAR WEST DIVISION

Kansas City (10-6 in 2010)
St. Louis (7-9)
Arizona (5-11)
Denver (4-12)

The NFC's hapless answer to the AFC's Great Lakes East Division. I would expect if history holds, Denver would dominate this division most years.

NFC FAR WEST DIVISION

San Diego (9-7 in 2010)
Oakland (8-8)
Seattle (7-9)
San Francisco (6-10)

Well, that was easy, putting the only four NFL teams in a state that border the Pacific Ocean, and by playing twice every year, 49ers/Raiders would become one of the most intense, celebrated rivalries in the NFL. This one, the NFL ought to really do.

Posted by Kevin Beane at 6:24 PM | Comments (4)

Mason is Key to Blue Jackets' Fortunes

There's hope again in Columbus, as the Blue Jackets have addressed a problem that's plagued the franchise since its inception. By acquiring Jeff Carter and Vaclav Prospal up front and James Wisniewski to be a blueline power play specialist, the Blue Jackets will certainly score more goals than previous campaigns. In fact, the addition of Carter and Prospal, alongside Rick Nash, R.J. Umberger, Derick Brassard, and the injured Kristian Huselius, the Blue Jackets have a strong top-six forward group.

Assuming the forwards gel and the power play lifts out of its basement-dwelling doldrums, is all well and good for Blue Jackets fans?

Unfortunately, it's not that easy. Goals have consistently been a big problem for Columbus, but preventing goals was a much bigger problem over the past two years. And that lands squarely on one man — the man who almost single-handedly lifted the team into the playoffs in 2009: Steve Mason.

Consider these stats:

2010-11 218 GF, 258 GA
2009-10 216 GF, 259 GA
2008-09 226 GF, 230 GA

There's not much difference in the goals-for from the two non-playoff seasons and the playoff year of 08-09. However, the goals-against is markedly different. 2008-09 was Steve Mason's rookie year, a season that saw him put up an astonishing 10 shutouts with a .916 save percentage and 2.29 GAA. The past two years have had nearly identical — and not good — stats: .901 save percentage with a 3.05 GAA ('09-'10) and a 3.03 GAA ('08-'09).

In many instances, numbers like save percentage and GAA aren't accurate because it really depends on the system the team plays, including the number of shots-against the team gave up. For example, when Roberto Luongo was on the Florida Panthers, his GAA numbers were never fantastic, but his save percentages were out of this world because he was under constant barrage.

Is that the case with Mason? The numbers say otherwise. Last year, Columbus finished averaging 29.8 shots against per game — 11th best overall, ahead of the Vancouver Canucks, Nashville Predators, and Detroit Red Wings. If we project some numbers out using Mason's rookie save percentage of .916, then his goals-against would be 2.50 — or about half a goal less per game.

There's no doubt that Mason is talented. Even during his last two rough campaigns, he had stretches where he performed brilliantly and carried the Blue Jackets. Not surprisingly, when he did that, Columbus surged in the standings, often temporarily holding or contending for a playoff spot. It's when Mason fell apart that Columbus plummeted.

A stronger forward group will mean that Mason will have greater goal support, and that will certainly turn the tide in a number of situations. But without a steady, consistent Mason, Columbus' big moves might all be for naught.

The good news is that Mason's talent is obviously there and he's still young. With greater goal support, there's a little more margin for error; perhaps with a less pressure to be perfect every night, Mason will re-discover his groove from his rookie campaign.

In any case, GM Scott Howson might consider adding one more free agent to the staff before the season starts: a sports psychologist for Mason.

Posted by Mike Chen at 3:39 PM | Comments (1)

July 27, 2011

Secrets of the 2011 NFL Season (Pt. 2)

Also see: Secrets of the 2011 NFL Season (Pt. 1)

* Shockingly, Nnamdi Asomugha signs with the Washington Redskins in early August for an 8-year, $110 million deal, as free-spending owner Daniel Snyder looks to erase the memory of Albert Haynesworth's 7-year, $100 million contract disaster of 2009. Asomugha becomes the NFL's highest-paid cornerback, but, like Haynesworth, becomes just another name that people in Washington can't bring themselves to pronounce.

* The New York Jets win Super Bowl XLVI, beating the Atlanta Falcons 27-24. Quarterback Mark Sanchez passes for 259 yards and 3 touchdowns, and is named the game's MVP. Sanchez is gracious in his acceptance speech, and uses the platform to confirm rumors that he is dating soon-to-be 18-years-old actress Dakota Fanning. Sanchez thus completes his two major goals for the 2011 year: to win the Super Bowl, and to date older women.

* The Seattle Seahawks, last year's NFC West champions, stumble out of the gate, losing their first four games on their way to a 4-12 record. Head coach Pete Carroll laments that he can't remember ever losing 12 games in a season, although he does recall "losing" 12 games in one NCAA ruling.

* Free agent wide receiver Santonio Holmes is a hot commodity on the open market, and is pursued by several teams looking to land an impact receiving threat. After weeks without a deal, Holmes fires his agent, and soon after brokers a lucrative contract to resign with the Jets, proving that his skills at negotiating deals, honed as a youth in Belle Glade, Florida, have not diminished.

Holmes puts his powers of argument on display again in January when he represents himself in court on charges of possession of marijuana charges stemming from a wild night out at a Phish concert with Miami's Ricky Williams.

* Kansas City defensive end Tamba Hali records four sacks in the Chiefs season opener against the Bills, tying an NFL record by sacking four different Buffalo quarterbacks. Hali easily wins the AFC Defensive Player of the Week award, but feels slighted by the attention given the NFC Defensive Player of the Week, Chicago's Israel Idonije, who merely posts 1 sack and a forced fumble. In protest, Hali converts to Islam for a day, deeming himself "Muhammad Hali" and declaring himself "The Greatest."

Hali leads the AFC with 15 sacks, and the Chiefs finish 8-8, tied for first with three other teams in the AFC West.

* Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid successfully coaxes Brett Favre out of retirement, and the Eagles sign the 41-year-old legend to a one-year contract as Michael Vick's backup. Impressed with Reid's powers of persuasion, Comedy Central offers Reid $1 million to lure Dave Chappell out of retirement. However, Reid fails to bring Chappell back to television, but does convince the comedy genius to host a private screening of Half Baked for the Eagles during their Week 7 bye week.

The Eagles win the NFC East with a 10-6 record, but fall to the Packers in the playoffs when Favre throws a game-clinching interception to Trammond Williams at the Packers' 7-yard-line with 30 seconds remaining.

* The Detroit Lions Ndamukong Suh wins the NFC Defensive Player of the Year award, beating out San Francisco's Patrick Willis for the honor. Suh registers 13 sacks and 2 interceptions, helping the Lions boast the NFL's eighth-best defense. Suh shows his versatility by scoring two touchdowns on offense, kicking an extra point, and accompanying Nathan Lane to the 2012 Tony Awards.

* Arizona Cardinals bad boy Darnell Dockett partners with Pet dairy products, Ice-T, and Glock to introduce a line of frozen treats called "I Hate Copsicles." Sales are brisk, while Dockett remains brusque to any policemen who dare stop him for a traffic violation.

Dockett enjoys a fine season, validating his status as one of the league's best defensive tackles with 8 sacks and 6 forced fumbles. However, Dockett runs afoul with Roger Goodell after Dockett tosses a Targer security guard through a window in Phoenix, an act Dockett claims was "all in good fun." Dockett is later summoned to meet with Goodell personally, where Dockett, much to the commissioner's chagrin, delights his thousands of Twitter followers with a minute-by-minute account of the meeting.

* In Week 3's Green Bay at Chicago showdown, Jay Cutler is leveled by Clay Matthews early in the second quarter, sending the Bears signal-caller to the sideline with an injured left knee. Cutler receives treatment, and despite his ability to do cartwheels on the sideline, he chooses not to return to the game. Twitter is abuzz with Cutler-bashing after the game, and in an unofficial Twitter poll, he is voted the NFL's "greatest quarterback at limping off the field," gathering 4,312,056 votes, 500,000 of those from Maurice Jones-Drew. In a subsequent Twitter poll, Cutler is voted the NFL's "worst quarterback in the league at limping on the field."

* The trash talk preceding the Pittsburgh/Baltimore season-opener on September 11th is incendiary, with Ravens insulting Steelers, Steelers insulting Ravens, and James Harrison insulting everyone. Hines Ward and Ed Reed jaw-jack at midfield before the game, and Reed becomes irate when Ward threatens to "take him for a ride."

The Ravens silence the Steelers, but only temporarily, with a hard-hitting 20-19 win.

* Newly-married Ben Roethlisberger enjoys an injury-free year, throwing for 4,238 yards and 28 touchdowns. Roethlisberger attributes the domestic tranquility of marriage for his health, citing a "steady peace." He credits his wife, Ashley, for adapting to the life of an NFL superstar without complaint, saying that "he's never met a woman so willing to share a bathroom."

* In the October 9th game at Denver, San Diego's Philip Rivers and the Broncos Tim Tebow engage in a pre-game shouting match, instigating the NFL's newest quarterback rivalry. The invective includes no profanity, and instead involves Rivers and Tebow each hurling their favorite lines of scripture back and forth in a battle of biblical proportions.

Denver wins the game, but the Chargers exact revenge in San Diego on November 27th, winning 27-26 when Rivers throws up a prayer as time expires that is corralled by Vincent Jackson in the end zone.

* Randy Moss signs with the Buccaneers for the bargain price of $500,000, and in Tampa's Week 2 game at Minnesota, Moss scores on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Josh Freeman. As a final insult to the city of Minnesota, Moss drops his pants, underwear and all, saluting a stunned Mall of America crowd with a celebration he later calls "The Dark Side of the Moon." Moss is ejected, and before the league can administer punishment, he retires. With no hint of irony in his voice, Moss says he's calling in "quits" for good.

* Journeyman free agent quarterback Matt Leinart ends up in San Francisco, after waking up next to a chicken and Mike Tyson's pet tiger after a two-day bender in a tiny Haight-Asbury hotel.

Leinart later signs with the Cowboys to serve as third-string quarterback and whirlpool water temperature checker.

* Arian Foster repeats as NFL rushing champ, piling up 1,589 yards to edge Chris Johnson by 91 yards. Foster creates a firestorm of controversy in November when his charity 10K run to raise awareness for tolerance, unwisely called "The Master Race," is canceled after numerous complaints.

Posted by Jeffrey Boswell at 6:12 PM | Comments (0)

New-Look Conferences: Basketball Edition

We all know the seismic shifts that have happened in college football with the latest conference realignments. Basketball is usually left out of the conversation, mostly because the shifts were completely football-related. It still has to bug Kansas just a little that, despite being the hoops program of the Big 12, they weren't even considered to join what's now the new Pac-12.

So, how do the new look conferences change the basketball scene in 2011-12?

Let's start with Nebraska in the Big 10. The change? Not much. Doc Sadler will not have the luxury that Husker baseball coach Darin Erstad will have. As baseball is not huge in the Big 10, Erstad will walk into the new conference as the clear choice to win the league. Hoops reign supreme in the Big 10 though, so Sadler is entering into a much bigger spotlight. The Huskers went 19-13 last year, but finished in the bottom half of the Big 12 and were blown out of the gym by Wichita State in the NIT. While NU is a young team this year, and Jorge Brian Diaz could develop into a really good player, I don't see the Huskers making a threat to win the conference and likely will finish in the bottom half.

The Pac-12 brings in Colorado and Utah. I do think CU will make some noise in their new conference ... just not this year. Tad Boyle's team started slow last year but finished strong, playing solid basketball en route to the NIT semifinals. Without question, Boyle is a solid coach that will get results in Boulder. However, it's hard to bet on the Buffs this year when their top four scorers are done. CU returns just 27 percent of their scoring from last year, so while I think they'll do well in time, I don't think they'll rise to the occasion this year.

As for Utah, the answer is almost identical. The Utes returning nucleus brings a lot of points and rebounds to the table. However, the returning nucleus consists of four players. With 11 newcomers joining a tradition-rich program, I see Utah being tough to beat in a couple of years, but they might face a few bumps in the new Pac-12.

The West Coast Conference couldn't have asked for a better deal than BYU. Sure, the Jimmer Fredette show isn't coming to the league, but Dave Rose still brings back a load of talent that should make an immediate impact on the WCC. The difference? You won't see a Jimmer out on the court, but BYU will spread the ball around more and should have an easier time wearing down opponents defensively. Noah Hartsock's not too bad a player to have coming back, as well. Gonzaga and St. Mary's now have some added fierce competition, not to mention a brutal 22,000 seat hostile environment that BYU calls the Marriott Center (and the conference calls their dream setting for the league tournament). BYU won't have to wait to make an instant impact and should compete immediately.

Finally, we'll take a look at Boise State. The Broncos enter the new look Mountain West after finishing second in the WAC, but losing a slew of players, including leading scorers La'Shard Anderson and Robert Arnold. The Broncos should no way be in the cellar of the MWC as TCU has that spot down. However, getting past San Diego State should be a major challenge for Boise to win in their inaugural season. Boise will do good enough to make the top half of their new league, but they should pull off a surprise or two along the way.

In 2012, more changes are to come. But for now, the college basketball world seems to be much more stable than it's larger football counterpart.

Posted by Jean Neuberger at 11:51 AM | Comments (0)

July 26, 2011

Barry Bonds, on the Edge of Cooperstown

Barry Bonds turned 47 over the weekend, actually on the same day that Roberto Alomar, Bert Blyleven, and Pat Gillick were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Next year, Bonds himself will be eligible, for the first time, for election to the Hall.

He won't get in, of course. Not on the first try. Maybe he'll be elected eventually. I hope so, though I don't like Barry Bonds, and I do believe he cheated to get an unfair advantage. But I also believe he's the best player in many decades, at least since Henry Aaron, maybe the best since Babe Ruth. A Hall of Fame that doesn't recognize Bonds isn't serving its mission. I feel the same way about Joe Jackson and Pete Rose, but that's a separate issue.

Bonds' legacy, even apart from his place in the game's steroid lore, is unique. He is the all-time record-holder in walks, intentional walks, and home runs. He holds single-season records in all the same categories, as well as on-base percentage and slugging percentage. He won 8 Gold Gloves, 12 Silver Sluggers, and 7 National League MVP Awards. He led the NL at various times in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, runs, RBI, home runs, total bases, walks, and intentional walks. He scored and drove in 100 runs 12 times each, hit .300 11 times, hit 40 HR eight times, stole 20 bases 12 times, walked 100 times in 14 seasons, and had an OPS over 1.000 every year from 1992-2005.

Even before his incredible cream-and-clear-fueled run in the 2000s — when Bonds was so dominant as to make a mockery of the game, drawing record numbers of intentional walks — Barry was by far the greatest player of the 1990s. He didn't achieve the same peaks of stardom as Ken Griffey, Jr., or Mark McGwire, and jealousy reportedly played a role in his later decision to use performance-enhancing drugs. Yet Bonds was a far greater player than either Griffey or McGwire. In the case of Big Mac, who really did nothing remarkable except hit home runs, this is perhaps obvious, but some fans still believe Griffey was a better player than Bonds, and it simply is not true. This isn't even a matter of opinion. It's a fact. If we're going to deny that Bonds was objectively better than Junior, then it's a valid opinion that Bob Uecker was the greatest catcher of all time.

From 1990-99, Bonds and Griffey both hit .302. Bonds hit 361 homers, Griffey 382. Basically the same, right? No. Griffey had 500 more at-bats, because Bonds had 450 more walks. Bonds' OBP during the decade was .434, compared to .384 for Griffey. Barry actually hit more home runs per AB (one every 13.6 AB) than Junior did (every 14.1). Bonds slugged .602 in the '90s, Griffey .581. From 1990-99 — before the PEDs and 73 home runs — Bonds had an OPS of 1.036, about 70 points better than Griffey's .965.

In 1997, when he was named AL MVP, Griffey led the league in slugging percentage. Barry, just during the '90s, led the NL in slugging three times, in OBP four times, and in OPS five times. That still doesn't cover their offensive differences. During the '90s, Bonds stole more than twice as many bases as Griffey, 343 to 151, with a better success rate (78.5% to 74.0%). He also struck out a lot less (747 to Griffey's 901). That's 50 points of OBP, 20 points of SLG, 200 SB, and 150 SO. Did I miss where this is a close call?

That's still not it, though, because Bonds played most of the '90s in San Francisco's Candlestick Park, which was one of the worst hitter's parks in baseball. Bonds had an OPS+ of 179 during the '90s, meaning he was 79% better than an average hitter, adjusting for park effects. Griffey had an OPS+ of 152 during the same years. That's great, but it's nowhere near Bonds. Maybe we could get past all this if Bonds were a defensive liability. But he was an eight-time Gold Glove winner, and modern statistical analysis shows him as a superb outfielder. In fact, sabermetric fielding stats show Bonds as a far better defensive player than Griffey. But even if Griffey were ahead, how much better would he have to be to make up for Barry's advantage on offense?

Setting aside my Uecker joke, comparing Bonds to Griffey is very much like comparing Griffey to Juan Gonzalez. From 1990-99, Juan Gone batted .296 with 332 HR and 1,068 RBI. That matches up pretty closely with Griffey's .302, 381 HR, and 1,091 RBI. What this misses is that Griffey was better at everything else. Gonzalez never walked (.345 OBP) and couldn't run (21 SB, 58.3%). So he didn't score much (785 runs), and he grounded into a bunch of double plays (125) because he couldn't beat the throw to first. Gonzalez also played in a hitter's park, which makes him look better, statistically, than he really was. And Gonzalez couldn't field (-54 UZR).

Juan Gone won two MVP Awards because the voters didn't recognize park effects, and they tend to ignore stats like BB and GIDP. Gonzalez had good Triple Crown numbers, and that was enough. It's not that Gonzalez was a bad player; he was a very good player. And Griffey was a great player. But Bonds was otherworldly.

Compared to Junior, Bonds had more MVPs (3-1), and more years when he was a serious candidate (7 top-five finishes, to Griffey's 5). And remember, the sportswriters, who vote on this award, loved Griffey and hated Bonds. In 1995, when Bonds finished 12th in the MVP voting, he led the NL in OPS, and (despite a strike-shortened season) scored 100 runs and 100 RBI, with 30 doubles, 30 HR, and 30 stolen bases. He was almost certainly the most valuable position player in the majors that year.

Bonds could have retired any time in the late '90s with a first-ballot ticket to Cooperstown. But then came the 2000s, when Bonds became the most dominant player since Babe Ruth. The 2000 season, by his later standards, was blah: .306/ .440 / .688, 129 R, 106 RBI, 49 HR, 117 BB, 2nd in MVP voting to his frenemy Jeff Kent. In '01, Bonds set single-season records for homers (73), walks (177), and slugging (.863), also becoming the first player in 44 years with an OBP over .500. It was around this time that managers stopped pitching to him.

In '02, Bonds drew 68 intentional walks, breaking his own BB record (198), batting .370, and setting a new single-season mark for OBP (.582), destroying the previous record held by Ted Williams (.553). He also broke Ruth's 82-year-old record for OPS, reaching 1.381. In '03, .341 / .529 / .749, and a record-extending sixth MVP.

By 2004, Bonds was simply too dangerous to pitch to. He walked 232 times that season, including 120 IBB. His OBP was .609, breaking his own record. During Bonds' career, the highest OBP by a player other than Barry was Frank Thomas' .487 in the strike-shortened '94 season. Despite all those walks, Barry hit 45 HR, slugging .812 and driving in 100 runs. His 1.422 OPS is a record that I suspect will never be broken.

We know Barry was probably cheating during that sensational run. But we also know that a lot of other players were cheating, too. None of them did what Barry did. None of them came close. None of them were even close to being close. Bonds was so far ahead of everyone else in the league it was ridiculous: the guy walked in something like a third of his plate appearances, simply because managers and pitchers were so terrified of what he'd do if they gave him anything to hit. No player in history — not Williams, not Ruth, not anybody — has commanded that kind of fear and respect from opponents.

As we look back on Barry Bonds next year, there's a simple way to view him: as a cheater on the field and a jerk off it. But the more nuanced view is of a man who might be the greatest player in the history of organized baseball, who did things — both before and after BALCO — that no one else could do. Ruth and Williams were subpar fielders; Barry combined that kind of record-setting, world-skewing offense with probably the best defense in left field the game has ever seen. Barry Bonds turned 47 over the weekend. I understand why baseball fans are mad at Bonds, but if you can't get past the PEDs, you miss one of the truly brilliant and remarkable careers the game has seen. We should celebrate Barry for what he did so well, not wallow in our own bitterness (and his) about the mistakes he made.

Most fans believe Jackson and Rose deserve a place in Cooperstown. Bonds was better than Rose and Shoeless Joe combined. It's wrong to keep them out, but it would be worse, far worse, to keep out Bonds. Jackson and Rose aren't enshrined because they are ineligible; the voters have no choice. If Bonds isn't voted in, it will be because the voters chose to leave out the greatest player in half a century. I don't like Barry Bonds, either, but he's as crucial a part of baseball history as Cap Anson, Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Gaylord Perry, Reggie Jackson, and almost any other player you could name. We don't have to like him to recognize that.

Posted by Brad Oremland at 12:32 PM | Comments (2)

A Gentlemen's Game?

Golf is one of the few sports that was not only founded as, but also continues to be known as, a gentlemen's game. In the minds of golf purists, a perfect golfer would be one handles both victory and defeat with grace and dignity.

Most casual fans of golf view the sport as one — and perhaps the only one — that still requires more of a man or woman than simply talent alone. The sport appears to be, by all accounts, a more civilized and controlled game than perhaps any other.

This is why so many find the sport so appealing and comforting — and it's also why the majority of sports fans only watch the highlights the next morning rather than a good chunk of the live coverage.

For better or worse, the reputation of golf as a calm and peaceful game has led to the disinterest of the majority of sports fans. The most popular sports, like football and soccer, involve copious amounts of running and occasionally violent collisions.

Today's average sports fan revels in grown men pummeling each other, and would rather see some blood, sweat, and tears in their sport than just about anything else.

This leads to the conclusion that golf has lost out on the ability to gain the attention of the modern sports fan, mostly because it's a game for gentlemen. But is it really?

No one in the history of golf has been nearly as popular as Tiger Woods, and he was — and perhaps still is — far from a gentlemen. You may think to yourself, "But that's just one guy, and he's not even in the top 20 in the world anymore," and you'd be correct.

But it would also be asinine to think for even a single second that none of the most popular golfers in the world — both in the present and in the past — have been guilty of similar indiscretions. As a matter of fact, it's probably terribly naïve to believe that there aren't quite a few such golfers.

Sure, they carry themselves with a sense of proper decorum while in the public eye, but then again, so do most of those in public office. Now raise your hand if you think there aren't any Senators with something to hide.

If you're currently holding your hand in the air, I can safely assume that you've either been living under a rock your entire life or that you're no older than 10 — perhaps both.

We know golf as a gentlemen's game, but maybe this is nothing more than a misconception. Maybe the self-absorbed, money-crazed, partiers don't all play in the NFL or NBA.

This isn't to say that we should assume that any one specific person in golf is guilty of such things, just that it's outrageous to believe that no one in golf is. The point is that the percentage of players of the sport who choose to act in almost unfathomably selfish and stupid ways is probably a lot closer to the percentage of such players in other sports than most people realize.

Golf may seem like a gentlemen's game, and it may in fact be one for the most part. But if you choose to skip over television broadcasts of golf because you think it's a sport for a bunch of squeaky-clean, boring old guys, you may just need to sit in the gallery at major and listen to the reactions from some famous golfers. Because the network censors should get paid overtime for that job.

It's hard to determine if golf really is a gentlemen's game, and quite frankly at times I agree with both people who think it is and people who think it isn't. Golf may not be a wild, lawless sports arena where anything goes, but it's also far from the boring sport it's gained a reputation for being.

Posted by Paul Foeller at 11:42 AM | Comments (0)

July 25, 2011

Under the Radar

Division races are tightening and there are only a few clubs that are truly out of it. The separation between pretenders and contenders will start to widen as the weeks pass. Three teams to watch as the division races heat up are the Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels, and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Detroit Tigers

The Tigers are in contention in the AL Central because of two players. Their two-man team consists of Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera. Verlander has been one of baseball's best in 2011 and is a Cy Young contender. He has been able to stop Detroit's losing streaks and may be on the verge of his first 20-win season.

Cabrera is having his usual dominant season and he has been able to carry the load for the team at the plate. The rest of the Tigers team has been scary average and the constant shift in lineups and different position players is not helping them maintain any kind of consistency.

Victor Martinez has been good, but not great, and that sums up the starting pitching of the Tigers, as well. Beyond Verlander, there has been a dearth of dominant outings, but enough glimmers of solid outings to keep the team in first or near first place for a long stretch of the season. The general manager and manager are both in the final years of their contracts, which should help spur the team to a playoff run.

The AL Central is, depending on your perspective, either one of the most balanced divisions or weakest in baseball. It would mostly seem to be the later and not the former. The Cleveland Indians have been good for too long to be considered a fluke, but it is hard to imagine them being able to close out the division. The Chicago White Sox have too many hitters and decent pitching to not make a run. The Minnesota Twins are the division's most dangerous team and are lurking and poised to make one of their annual runs. Each of those three teams appears to have enough to win the division, but have yet to take charge of the division.

The Tigers though appear to have an edge in the race with Verlander and Cabrera, as no other team has a 1-2 punch that potent. Detroit may take the division if the rest of the team can keep looking average and do just enough to stay in first or force a one-game playoff where Verlander could clinch the division. What could stop them is their somewhat annual second-half swoon that has marred the team the past few years.

Los Angeles Angels

Ron Washington has the pennant-winning Texas Rangers playing great baseball. They have solid pitching, despite losing a superstar to free agency and the lineup has plenty of power. They have been on lengthy win streaks and know how to win. They have been the toast of baseball and are everyone's pick to win the AL West. Yet the Angels are within a few games of first and they are second in the wild card race to the Yankees and are playing better baseball every day.

Why isn't anyone noticing or talking about the Angels? They have a manager who has won the World Series, a dominant pitcher, and they too know how to win. They are putting together a very quiet and solid season that could take them to the playoffs through the division or wild card route.

Do the Angels have a shot at the wild card or the division? Logic would dictate their only chance is to win the division because the Yankees are the favorite to win the wild card. The Yankees haven't exactly blown anyone away and the Boston Red Sox have already overcome the Yankees for first place in the AL East. The Tampa Bay Rays are allegedly the next team in the pecking order of the wild card, but they have been streaky at best in 2011.

The Angels have stuck with the Rangers and as the season grinds forward, the Angels are the team with the dominant pitcher and not the Rangers this year. The Angels don't have the dominant hitter or the potent lineup the Rangers have, but it is tough to count out a team that is a few games out of the division and wild card race. It is also tough to guarantee the Yankees and Rays will end up as the wild card team. Both teams have yet to have a dominant stretch of games where they are the best team in baseball without question.

Arizona Diamondbacks

The Diamondbacks are a team that appears to be winning with smoke and mirrors. Kirk Gibson has the team contending in what many consider a one-team division. The NL West looks a lot like the AL West. The San Francisco Giants beat the Rangers in the World Series with dominant pitching and the pitching again looks like it could carry them to a title this year.

The Diamondbacks like the Angels, however, are hanging around and Justin Upton is hitting the ball everywhere. The Diamondbacks pitching isn't as good as San Francisco's, but with the weak lineup the Giants field, there may be an opportunity for Arizona to make a run at the division or the wild card.

Similar to the Angels, the Diamondbacks are being overshadowed by a team that went deep in the playoffs and they are hanging around for what may be a tighter division race than most think.

The Tigers, Diamondbacks, and Angels could be three teams that as the baseball season winds down could make a serious playoff run. The Tigers have the best hitter and pitcher in their weak division, which might be enough to win it. The Diamondbacks and Angels find themselves chasing 2011's World Series teams, which could prove to be too much in the long haul. Funny though, right now all the talk in the AL and NL West is about Texas and San Francisco, but if those teams look in the rearview mirror, they will see that Arizona and Los Angeles are closer than they appear.

Posted by Vito Curcuru at 11:04 AM | Comments (0)

July 22, 2011

Never Enough

If as Jim Morrison predicted no one gets out of here alive, it is with only slight exaggeration that no one approaches the sunset of their career without attacks from those quick to criticize and slower to reason.

Selectively perceiving reality, "what have you done for me today" faultfinders devalue past accomplishments, exaggerate current shortcomings, and claim even the undeniably great are not as good as fill-in-the-blank others. This is as much an injustice for presidents, entertainers, and the man on the street, as it recently has been for the shortstop of the New York Yankees.

If Derek Jeter has been the poster boy for all that is good in baseball, his recent decline has made him poster boy for proving that even 17 seasons of integrity and achievement buys no immunity from unfair attack. No one is above reproach. For glass-half-empty talking heads, whatever one accomplishes is never enough.

Yet in focusing on Jeter's real, exaggerated, and imagined flaws and indiscretions, detractors prove less about the reality of their perceptions than about the certainty of their ignorance. Not realizing that virtually anything is provable if the focus is narrow enough, critics highlight petty imperfections and ignore the big picture of a career historically memorable and a life well-lived.

After all, didn't "Captain Clutch" hit only .270 last year? Hasn't his range at shortstop always been questionable? If he's so great, why hasn't he ever won an MVP? And how could a man just coming off the disabled list opt out of the All-Star Game self-indulgently claiming according to media reports mental and physical exhaustion? Doesn't Jeter "owe it" to the fans to at least attend the "Midsummer Classic?"

What Derek Jeter "owes" the fans is what any professional athlete owes the people who ultimately pay their salaries. And that is to play hard, to play fair, and Charles Barkley's comments notwithstanding, to be exemplary role models for children lacking such examples at home. And by any standard, "Mr. November" has done that and more.

Looking back at Derek Jeter's career, it is hard to fathom how his recent critics have been so blind. No, he is not the second coming of Babe Ruth and no he doesn't live on Mount Olympus. But he hardly has feet of clay either.

Since entering the league, he's been an all-star twelve times, won five Gold Gloves, and has won the Silver Slugger award as the outstanding offensive player at his position four times. He was named Rookie of the Year in 1996, the ESPY Best MLB player in 2007, and the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in 2009. He holds the record for postseason hits, has the most hits of any active major leaguer, and is the all-time hits leader among those spending their careers fielding balls between second and third.

The man so roundly criticized for not tipping his cap at this year's All-Star Game has averaged 152 games for 17 seasons, holds the franchise record for stolen bases, has five championship rings, and is the only player to be named World Series and all-star MVP in the same season.

Derek Jeter, who at age 6 said that he would one day play shortstop for the New York Yankees, has undeniably become one the top four players at that position in the history of Major League baseball. As Bill Parcells said of another man in another sport, he will go to the Hall of Fame on roller skates. And all of these achievements have been earned without so much as a hint of impropriety.

Ironically, in seeking never enough perfection for himself, Derek Jeter has unfairly been judged by that same unattainable standard. Yet even so, in claiming that his "number one priority is to be a good person," he has continually conducted himself with grace, class, and charity. In the age of scandal and steroids, of wife beating and kids leaving, "The Natural" seems decidedly unnatural. And even though that doesn't seem to be enough for those critical of his reserved nature, his age-diminished skills, and his lack of attendance at an exhibition game, it seems to have been enough elsewhere.

For in karmic recognition of all he has been, on the day he became only the 28th player to reach 3,000 hits, the universe seemed to have acknowledged this and smiled.

Posted by Neil Bright at 5:10 PM | Comments (7)

July 21, 2011

NBA Lockout: The Double-Edged Sword

The heat across the Upper Midwest these last couple of days couldn't be any more different than the mood in the world of the NBA. The ice cold shoulders shown by both sides of the Association's stalemate couldn't be melted by 110-plus heat indices, and it's leaving most fans frosty. While the NFL seems inches from ending their lockout, many believe that the basketball work stoppage could last all the way into next summer.

Thing is, you wouldn't think the league understood all this when they released their 2011-2012 schedule on Monday. I know that the Association's management needs to plan for business as usual. I know that the NFL did the same thing when their 2011 schedule was released back in April. And I know that everybody knows about the likelihood that this will mean nothing at all.

Me ... I'm not a big speculation guy when it comes to labor negotiations. My ears may perk up when I hear of a new development, but I'm not hanging on every word that comes from either David Stern or Billy Hunter. There's a long way to go, both sides are miles apart from an agreement, and I know the world will move on. And while I'll probably take a peek or two at the schedule because, well, I like looking at sports schedules, this whole process is bringing up a more interesting topic.

It's now common knowledge that New Jersey point guard Deron Williams is looking to play in Turkey for as long as the lockout swipes away NBA playing time. Most folks that follow basketball have heard Dwight Howard's comments on playing in China. And with these two stars showing a willingness to put their money where their passports are, it brings up an intriguing question.

Has the NBA cut off its own nose to spite its ... uh ... logo?

It seems like ever since the Dream Team swept up the hearts (and medals) of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, one of Commissioner Stern's goals was to "globalize" the game of basketball. Sure, the U.S. had lost in previous Olympiads. Plus, there were a smattering of foreign players in the game by that point. But it was in the early '90s that the foothold seemed to take shape.

With an influx of Europeans being selected over the next decade, the leagues across the pond basically became the NBA's second feeder system (right behind college basketball). Owners sort of found a way back to the roots of the old NBA, where teams drafted the rights to players out of high school, but allowed them to play college ball. Now, it could be done again with European leagues and prospects taking the place of the NCAA.

This appears to have, in turn, given a little more of a bump to the Euro Leagues. Which would be the better marketing ploy ... promoting journeyman American talents that couldn't stay (or start) in the NBA, or saying that your team includes a couple young studs that have an arc to play in America within a couple of years?

In 2010, the arc has spread to areas of South America (particularly Argentina) and the Far East (can anyone say China?). More than anytime in basketball's 120 years of existence and 65 years of professional play, the game has reached all parts of the planet.

But could that grasp at the Brass Ring (or Euro, or Yen, or Peso) end up leaving the American game high and dry for the next 12-plus months? The Association's top man wouldn't have to go far to find a similar path.

It was only seven years ago that former Stern confidant and underling Gary Bettman, whether fair or unfair, was the face of the NHL dumping its 2004-2005 campaign. Hockey might not have been at an all-time high in enthusiasm, but I remember it still being solidly placed in the protection of the big four pro sports.

Then, it all went south when the league decided it needed a drastic overhaul. The owners were content with a season fading in the wind. And the player pool, consisting of many Europeans, seemed content in letting that be the case, as well. Several foreign-born players had an opportunity to go back home to play in their native country. It was a bit of a win for some skaters, but it ended up being a loss in regards to the fanbase once hockey came back in 2005. Even though the emergence of Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin have helped restore some of the league's luster, I still believe they're taking a hit from six years ago.

And that's the kind of fate that could be served to Stern and his league. After the 1994 strike, it's speculated that it took baseball another three years to recover. For many, the Home Run Chase of 1998 (despite being tainted by steroids) was the catalyst that sparked baseball's return. Stern has gone through his own labor battles as recently as 1999. That season lost more than 30 games and its entire 1998 portion.

But the options weren't around before the turn of the millennium. Now, it will be interesting to find out how this possible player leverage will impact the length of the lockout.

Who will benefit the most? Can the teams in Turkey, or Germany, or France lure big-name stars with possibilities of living in Europe? Could Chinese offers open the door to a billion advertising customers? Can the D-League, which can't use 2011 NBA talent, or ABA, which looks more like an adult AAU league, fill some kind of void stateside?

Whatever the case may be, it appears that we won't see a pro bounce a basketball in any of the 30 NBA venues during the long, cold winter (for most of us, anyway). And without a CBA, any heat fired back and forth between Stern's crew and Hunter's posse won't be enough to thaw the freeze on the best pro basketball in the world.

Posted by Jonathan Lowe at 3:02 PM | Comments (1)

July 20, 2011

Less is More

Well, the Rocket has flown. Shocker.

So the G-Men are 0-for-2 when facing the juggernaut that is professional baseball. Both Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens have shown federal lawyers to be rather, shall we say, prone to the breaking ball. Lord knows they and their gaggle of highly-paid councilors threw plenty of curveballs at the federals, turning what the prosecutors thought was a foolproof approach into, quite frankly, merely proof of a fool. Certainly, fools they seemed, and fools they will continue to be, as long as they insist on pursuing their attack to its ultimately ridiculous and pointless conclusion.

With all the talk about steroids, human growth hormone, and other performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, what is missing has little to do with drugs. Or so it would seem, on the surface.

Now then, let's get to the point of this whole exercise. It's not drugs, and it's not cheating. It is, in fact, the game itself. Rather, I should say, it is the length of the season of said game which is the point.

162 games. 162 games in 183 days. That leaves 21 days off in just over six months. That means less than four days off per month. Now, what exactly does that mean?

Well, let's say you're a pro ballplayer. If you're a starting position player, you can expect to play around eight or nine days in a row before you get a day off. Throw in a cross-country flight, late arrivals, sleeping in hotels instead of your home, room service (a real crap shoot, in some hotels), day games after night games, the stresses of plying your trade in front of 35 or 40 thousand screaming, rabid, often venomous fans, facing three or four different pitchers per game, studying game film, scouting reports, and (of course) your Web Gems and/or "agony of defeat" moments on cable, satellite, Internet ... and repeat the whole process almost every single day for half a year. This is assuming that you don't make the playoffs.

So what is it that keeps you going? Just how many miles can you run, how many bench presses, leg presses, squat thrusts, jumping jacks, what have you, can you do to keep your body in prime condition? What does it take to weather the physical and psychological toll that such a long, grueling season would inevitably take on even the strongest and most well-conditioned athlete?

That, dear reader, is the ultimate question. That's where drugs come in, at least for some.

You see, the obvious point have been covered ad nauseum when it comes to performance-enhancing drugs: players use them to push their stats ever higher, driving towards the nine-digit contract, the obscene amounts of cash normally reserved only for the elite, players like Clemens and Bonds. It could easily be argued, and indeed has already been, a thousand times over, that this was a case of greatness being less than adequate for some too vain and shortsighted to understand the true consequences of their actions. But what about this? Players use them simply to survive the rigors of the expansive MLB schedule.

That's right. Players are using steroids, HGH, amphetamines, even cocaine and opiates, simply to make it to the end of the year without breaking down.

I'm certainly not the first to suggest that this could be the case, and I won't be the last. Football seasons are far shorter, hockey is half as long, and in both sports there are longer periods between games than there is in baseball. Surely an athlete is more likely to suffer a career-ending injury in either of those sports than they are in a comparatively softer game such as baseball? But that's not the point. We're talking about continuous erosion, not hammering and chiseling, and a very long period of erosion, at that. The average starting baseball player has virtually no time whatsoever to recover from ordinary wear and tear before he heads back out on the field to do it all over again. And any pro athlete would tell you that their body, their physical prowess and skill is their greatest asset. How does a baseball player protect that asset?

Sure, every professional sports team has their own private army of physical therapists, orthopedic surgeons, trainers, strength and conditioning coaches, even psychiatrists, but breakdowns will still occur, and frequently. Simply put, the MLB season is just too long. Expansion is partly to blame, of course; more teams, more games. But if you want to know what the real reason is, it's money, which is of course why expansion came about in the first place. You're smart enough that I don't have to tell you that, I know. Nevertheless, it bears saying.

Money drives the sports machine, always has, always will. The players are only doing what they can, what they feel they must, in order to adapt. Does that make it right? Of course not. Wrong is wrong, regardless of the circumstances. Or is it?

The shame of it is, if the powers-that-be would simply consider shortening the regular season, perhaps going back to the old 154-game schedule, it could lead to less player-games lost, which could mean that the stars are on the field more often, which means more tickets would be sold ... you see where this is going, yes?

Now, I know there will be some dissenting points of view when it comes to this way of seeing the drug problem in baseball, and that's as it should be. The court of public opinion is the birthplace of policy, regulation, and ultimately, law. Who knows? Maybe someday the cocoon in which professional baseball resides in relative security and safety will be penetrated, and maybe then we'll see some real change in the grand old game.

Until then, public opinion is the only court in which players like Clemens and Bonds will receive true justice. But perhaps, just perhaps, we should be more careful to consider the crime before we pass judgment.

Posted by Clinton Riddle at 12:34 PM | Comments (2)

July 19, 2011

Rants and Predictions

Rant #1: There will be sports.

With both the NFL and the NBA experiencing lockouts this summer, sports fans across the country can be assured of two things: there will be a college football and a college basketball season. Despite all the complaining we do about the BCS and its crap, despite all the complaining we do about how many teams are in the NCAA basketball tournament in March, despite great programs cheating left and right removing themselves from national title contention, there will be college football and college basketball. So before I rant some more, keep that in mind.

Rant #2: I hate inconsistency in sports.

In 2010, of the six power conferences in NCAA football, three had conference championship games, three did not. Last summer, there was so much conference flip-flopping that I really thought we were headed for more consistency in college football. Nebraska joining the Big Ten, bringing its numbers from 11 to 12, means this season we will see a Big Ten conference championship game. Alas, Colorado also left the Big 12, meaning the Big 12 now has 10 teams and will not have divisions, nor a championship game.

The Pac-10, now Pac-12, will also institute a championship game, bringing us to four with a conference championship and two without. Why? Just why?

Rant #3: Bigger punishments for cheaters, please.

I feel like 2003-2012 will go down as the cheating era of college football, similar to the steroid area in baseball from say 1985 until 2004. I am very tired of hearing about teams vacating wins and championships from five years ago. If a team is cheating, they should be caught in the year they're cheating and be forced for forfeit the games for that season, not for five seasons ago. The damage of not having USC or Ohio State in a record book is nothing compared to the damage of making them cancel a season. Sure, they're ineligible for bowl games and all that nonsense, but they still get to sell-out their stadiums six times a year.

To me, there might not be a punishment that is too big for cheating in college sports. Sports have become something less than pure. Every morning when I check ESPN for sports news, I see another athlete has been arrested for DWI, possession of drugs, assault, or something. College programs, especially in football and basketball, where minor league systems are lacking, need to focus more are developing their kids into solid people, not just solid athletes.

And if cheating is put up with in any way shape or form, then college programs are not only feeding the problem, they're planting the problem, giving it water and forcing it to grow. I have a very hard time respecting athletes who choose to go to programs after they've been caught in a cheating scandal.

Rant #4: The Big Ten's division names are idiotic.

Seriously, Legends and Leaders? That's awful. What's perhaps worse is Ohio State are in the Leaders group when they are arguably the most legendary team in Big Ten lore (I'd say Nebraska is more legendary, just not in Big Ten lore), but they are cheaters! Who names a group of cheaters leaders?

That being said, the balance of the divisions is pretty solid. I might have swapped Illinois with Minnesota, but not bad.

Prediction #1: Andrew Luck will win the Heisman and the national championship.

Neither of this is really going out on a limb. I know that. Here's a fun statistic about Andrew Luck: he threw 1 interception at home last season. One. Stanford's schedule is very heavy toward the end of the season as their last five games of the regular season go at USC, at Oregon State, Oregon at home, Cal at home, Notre Dame at home. Stanford's only loss last season was at Oregon. I think the Cardinal and Luck have a really solid chance to have a perfect season.

Prediction #2: Nebraska vs. Wisconsin.

On October 1, Nebraska comes to Camp Randall. I think Wisconsin will prevail in the best football game we will see in the regular season, outscoring the Cornhuskers 38-34. But Nebraska will have a chance for revenge in the Big Ten conference championship game on December 3, taking down the Badgers, 24-20, and advancing to the National Championship Game against Stanford, where they will ultimately lose.

Prediction #3: Boise State will not go undefeated.

Boise State put together a lovely schedule for themselves this year. At Georgia will be a good first test. At home vs. Nevada, Air Force, and TCU are all winnable games, but they are all also losable games.

Prediction #4: TCU will go undefeated again, but not have a shot at the title.

TCU's defense was other worldly in 2010, allowing only 12 points per game and defeating a very good Wisconsin team to win the Rose Bowl. Expect the exact same story for the Horned Frogs in 2011 — undefeated, so close to the National Championship Game, not given a chance, beating Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.

Prediction #5: College quarterbacks becoming pros.

Tim Tebow will show improvement with the Broncos, but never be an All-Pro nor win a Super Bowl. Cam Newton will be the John Daly of the NFL ... awesome at times, terrible at others, always inconsistent. He'll never win a playoff game. Andrew Luck will be drafted by the Bengals after they hit rock-bottom in 2011. He will turn them around, helping them advance to the AFC Championship Game in 2015, but no sooner.

Posted by Andrew Jones at 11:32 AM | Comments (5)

Pirates, Indians Are Best Stories of 2011

When fans usually think of Pittsburgh and Cleveland, they instantly think of the heated NFL rivalry between the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers.

One would never imagine the Rust Belt turnpike football rival towns and their baseball teams to be the surprises in MLB after the All-Star Break, let alone both of their teams in first place.

For the Cleveland Indians, many baseball insiders picked the Tribe to finish no lower than fourth in the AL Central, a division that has three top-heavy playoff veteran clubs in the Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, and Minnesota Twins.

Cleveland, which just came off a 69-93 fourth-place finish under then-new manager Manny Acta in the AL Central in 2010, were led in all hitting categories by right-fielder Shin-Soo Choo. Choo would lead the Indians with a .300 batting average, HRs with 22, RBIs with 90, and hits with 165. Choo would also lead Cleveland with a on-base percentage of .401.

Cleveland's pitching was, for the lack of a better word, awful in 2010, as they would finish with the seventh-worst ERA in baseball with 4.30.

Guess which team had the worst ERA in 2010? Pittsburgh at 5.00.

The ace of the 2010 Indians pitching staff was Fausto Carmona, who led Cleveland in wins with 13 and ERA at 3.77. Justin Masterson would lead the Indians in strikeouts with 140 and closer Chris Perez led the Tribe in saves at 23.

Fast forward to 2011 and the Indians sit .1 of a percentage point ahead of the Detroit Tigers in a virtual tie at 49-44 in first place.

One of the main reasons for the Indians' turnaround in 2011 is their starting pitching, which has seen their team ERA drop from 4.30 to 4.00. Cleveland's ace in 2011 is right-hander Josh Tomlin, who leads the team in wins at 11. Masterson leads the Tribe in both ERA at 2.80 and team strikeouts with 95.

Closer Perez has already saved 22 games for the Tribe and has the second-most behind legendary New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera. Perez was named to the 2011 all-star as a result.

On the offensive side of the ball, Cleveland is led by flashy slick-fielding shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, who is making fans think he is the second coming of Omar Vizquel. Cabrera leads Cleveland in batting average at .290, HRs with 16, RBIs at 55, and hits with 109. And as a result of making Vizquel-like "web gems" plays on the field — an almost nightly appearance on ESPN — Cabrera was named starting shortstop for the 2011 American League all-star team.

For the second half of the season, Cleveland will face nine teams with a combined record of 425-428 and a winning percentage of .498.

Among the teams that Cleveland will face in the season half are division co-leader Detroit, AL-leading Boston at Fenway, defending AL champion Texas in Arlington, and annual nemesis Los Angeles.

Cleveland will also conclude their season with a pivotal three-game series against the Tigers. If the Indians hope to win their first division title since 2007, they will need to pick up another bat — preferably right-handed — to boost their injury-plagued lineup down the stretch.

While the Indians have had a run of recent success, success — or the lack of — in the Steel City has been ongoing for almost two decades. Founded in 1882 and boasting colorful and charismatic names such as Roberto Clemente, Chuck Tanner, and Willie Stargell, today's generation of the Pittsburgh Pirates and their fans have not had or seen a winning record since 1992.

For many, the most recent memory of Pirates success was when they lost to the Atlanta Braves in an epic NL Championship Series, highlighted by Sid Bream — a former Pirate — scoring the game-winning, and pennant-clinching run against the Bucs.

At that time, the Bucs had a formidable trio of Barry Bonds, Andy Van Slyke, and Bobby Bonilla. After that fateful game, the Bucs and their fortunes would — pardon the pun — sink.

The Pirates under then-owner Kevin McClatchy were rumored to be moving to Sacramento, but Pittsburgh voters narrowly passed a new stadium initiative, Plan "B," enabling the construction of PNC Park.

The Bucs would go on to field and develop many future all-stars, such as Jason Bay, Freddy Sanchez, and Aramis Ramirez. Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, those players would be developed for other teams.

The most recent ex-Pirate who has found success elsewhere is home run leader Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays, who played for the Pirates from 2004-2008.

In 2010, the Bucs would finish in last place in the NL Central with a record of 57-105, which would set a new record for futility in sports by having the most consecutive losing seasons ever at 18.

The lone bright spot — if there was any — for the Pirates was center-fielder Andrew McCutchen, who led the Pirates in batting average at .286, hits at 163, and an on-base percentage of .365.

As stated above, Pittsburgh had the worst ERA in 2010 at 5.00, but the one bright spot on the pitching staff was left-hander Paul Maholm, who led the Pirates with 9 wins, an ERA of 5.10, and strikeouts with 102.

Fast-forward to 2011 and Pittsburgh is above .500 in mid-July for the first time since 1997, largely in part to the breakout year of Andrew McCutchen. He's batting .279 with 14 HRs, 57 RBIs, and 54 runs. For those accomplishments, McCutchen was chosen to his first-ever All-Star Game in Phoenix.

Another reason for the revival of Pittsburgh is pitching, as demonstrated by starting pitchers Jeff Karstens, who is currently second in the NL with a ERA of 2.34 and Kevin Correia, who is fourth in the NL in wins at 11. Pittsburgh relief pitching has also been key, as Bucs closer Joel Hanrahan is third in the NL in saves at 26. Pittsburgh's ERA is the main reason why the Bucs have really turned the corner, as it has dropped from a ML-worst 5.00 to an impressive 3.42, eighth-best in the majors.

Much like their AL counterparts in Cleveland, Pittsburgh has a formidable road in the second half; the Bucs face a dozen teams with a combined winning percentage of .473. While not as daunting on paper, the Bucs must face NL contenders Atlanta, cross-state rival Philadelphia, and defending World Series champion San Francisco on the road. Pittsburgh also has to face NL wild card contenders Florida and Arizona, along with NL Central rivals Milwaukee, and the always-potent St. Louis Cardinals down the stretch.

The surprising success of small-markets such as Cleveland and Pittsburgh further demonstrates the new-found parity in baseball, considering that both teams have a combined payroll of $94.2 million, $2.2 million more than that of the entire payroll of the World Series runner-up Texas Rangers, who currently have a payroll of $92.2 million.

With the second half of baseball officially in gear, both Cleveland and Pittsburgh have given their football-starved fans something to hold their attention until Browns and Steelers training camps resume.

Posted by Robert Cobb at 10:39 AM | Comments (1)

July 18, 2011

Alex Morgan and Missed Opportunities

It looked like Alex Morgan's night.

With the United States women playing in the final of the World Cup, Morgan twice appeared poised to emerge as a hero. First, she raced ahead of three defenders to receive a pass and scored on a riveting shot into the corner of the net. But in the 81st minute, Rachel Buehler and Ali Krieger combined to give the Japanese team an equalizer that sent the match into overtime. I haven't played soccer competitively since high school, but I'm pretty sure you don't try to clear a ball by crossing it in front of your own net, and I'm equally confident that you don't knock down your own teammate's clearing kick. Especially in front of the net.

Anyway, it was 1-1 now, and maybe that was fair, since Japan had a breakaway nullified by a very close off-sides call in the 64th minute. But in overtime, Morgan sped a half-step in front of the defender and fired a perfect pass to Abby Wambach. It was never even a question — you knew before Wambach even hit the ball it was going in. Wambach made the big play, but once again, Morgan's speed was critical. She's only 22, she's pretty, and here she's scored and assisted on the U.S. goals in the World Cup Final. We could be witnessing the birth of a star here, right?

In the 117th minute, with about five minutes left before a U.S. victory, Japan scored on a corner kick to tie. And somehow, everyone knew that the U.S. was now in big trouble. I can't explain it, but in my decades as a sports fan, I've seen it too many times — with too few exceptions — to believe it's coincidence: when a dominant team lets the other hang around too long, it loses. Almost always. It's not enough just to play well; you have to put points on the board. The U.S. team dominated the first half against Japan, really controlled the action to a stunning degree. But it didn't score. Following Morgan's goal, Japan tied the game on a fluke.

The other three goals — Morgan's, Wambach's, and Homare Sawa's — illustrated why soccer is called "The Beautiful Game." But Aya Miyama's tying shot in the 81st minute, while a good, opportunistic play by Miyama, wasn't in the same category. This was the linebacker making an arm-tackle, the fielder forgetting which out it was, the soccer defender blocking a teammate's clearing kick (that last one especially). This was a chess master losing his queen simply because she was unprotected, not through some brilliant strategy by the opponent. Yes, Japan put the ball in front of the net, and Miyama made the play when it was there. But this wasn't play-making like Morgan's.

That was the difference in the game. The Japanese made the most of their opportunities, and the U.S. team didn't. When you dominate an athletic contest, you have to make it count, have to put your opponent away. The basketball team gives away a late lead because it can't sink its free throws and the opponent hits a couple of threes. The boxer or mixed martial artist dominates round after round but gets knocked out just before the final bell rings. The dominant football team settles for field goals all game and loses on a pair of late touchdowns. And so on. But in no sport does this happen more than soccer.

I know that for some fans, this is part of the appeal: upsets are easy in soccer. When many games are settled 1-0, or 2-1, or on shootouts, all it takes is one lucky play or fluke for David to beat Goliath. Let's be clear: the Japanese team wasn't David, and the U.S. wasn't Goliath, and the U.S. didn't deserve to win. Was the U.S. visibly the better team? Yes, especially in the first half. If this were a seven-game series, would the U.S. win? Probably. Did the Japanese win fair and square? Absolutely. Their conservative, defense-oriented strategy, combined with opportunistic offense and superb goal-tending, especially in the shootout, won the day.

Looking at the scoring summary — Morgan 69', Miyama 81' — my uncle who watched the game with me quipped, "Morgan got robbed out of three minutes," referring to everybody's 15 minutes of fame. It was a clever remark, and I laughed, but Morgan probably isn't going anywhere. She's not an established star who has proven herself time after time; she didn't even start Sunday's game. But this weekend, she played brilliantly at the highest level, and she did it front of a huge audience. She's talented and good-looking and young and marketable, and she could easily be a star for the next 15 years.

It's players like Wambach, who will be 35 the next time the World Cup is held, and team captain Christie Rampone, who's already 36, that may have watched the window close on Sunday. The United States hasn't won a World Cup since 1999, when Brandi Chastain hit her famous penalty shot and Mia Hamm inspired a new generation of young players. The team has won two Olympic Gold Medals since then, but the World Cup is its own creature.

Players like Amy Rodriguez, who has owned the Japanese team in previous competitions, and who didn't play on Sunday after starting the rest of the tournament, have to be awfully upset today. So does Morgan, who went from hero to afterthought. Everyone connected with U.S. soccer does. But the two who stood out for me were Wambach and goalkeeper Hope Solo. Wambach, who created several scoring chances, was the professional on Sunday. Always in the right place, yet always an inch away, she was the one American to make a penalty kick in the shootout, and for Wambach, it was just business as usual, but it wasn't enough. Solo fought through an injury to stay in the game, and in the coming days she may take heat for that, but her competitive drive can't be doubted, and for most of the tournament she was great.

The announcers at one point said that the U.S. did everything right except score. Unfortunately, that meant they did everything right except the one that actually counted. "You don’t explain this," head coach Pia Sundhage said after the game. "You can’t. We could have put it away and we didn’t. We created a lot of chances and we could not put them away. It is a final and there are small differences between winning and losing so you can’t afford that."

Posted by Brad Oremland at 11:52 PM | Comments (0)

Pirates Face Uphill Battle in NL Central

The sports landscape right now is a weird mix of news. On the positive side, we have Derek Jeter getting 3,000 hits, the ultra-dramatic women's World Cup, the rejuvenation of a post-Tiger PGA, and the looming end of the NFL lockout (to be followed by the most insanely compact and interesting free agency period in the history of modern sports).

On the downside, we get to relive the steroid era thanks to the Roger Clemens trial/mistrial/eventual re-trial, an NBA lockout that threatens to make the NFL lockout look like a company picnic, and ESPN's cowardly silencing of Bruce Feldman for — gasp — daring to work on a book that just might make one if its college football talking heads look like a meddling jerk dad who unethically pulled strings to get his underachieving son's football coach fired. (#freebruce)

But there is one developing sports story that you just can't miss and, if things stay on their current path, it threatens to knock everything else off radar:

The Pittsburgh Pirates are relevant.

The Pittsburgh freaking Pirates!

Just in case you're not up to date on your perennial NL Central doormats, here's some context on just how long it's been since the Pirates mattered during late summer: the last time the Pirates made the playoffs, the NL Central didn't even exist. It was 1992, and we were still a season away from realignment and two seasons away from the strike that cancelled the 1994 World Series. We were all gleefully unaware of the burgeoning steroids scandal, and Miley Cyrus wasn't even born yet.

Not only has the franchise not made the playoffs since 1992, they haven't even finished .500 since then. That's 18 straight losing seasons with a combined total record of 1,223-1,623 (a .430 winning percentage), bottoming out last year at 57-105, their worst record since 1952.

To really appreciate the magnitude of what could be developing on the Alleghany, consider this quote from Pirates all-star closer Joel Hanrahan (from Albert Chen's "Inside Baseball" column on CNNSI.com): "People were showing up to the ballpark, and they weren't wearing Steelers gear, or Penguins gear, or paper bags over their heads. ... They were actually wearing Pirates gear. It was kind of strange."

You know things haven't gone well when it's strange to see fans wearing the home team's gear in their home ballpark.

Now the Pirates are in a tie for second place in the NL Central, just a half game back of Milwaukee. They're drawing bigger crowds who are wearing the right gear. The TV ratings are up, and fans from St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Milwaukee actually have to start paying attention to what the Pirates score is every day.

The Pirates have been winning thanks to a pitching staff that has the fifth-best team ERA in the NL. Starters Jeff Karstens and Paul Maholm are pretty far down the list of guys you'd take in a fantasy draft, and they don't strike guys out (combined 138 in 234.1 innings pitched), but Karstens is top five in baseball in ERA (2.34) and top 10 in WHIP (1.03). Maholm isn't too far behind at 3.06 and 1.21. Compare that to the best two guys on the other three contenders:

Pittsburgh: Karstens (2.34 ERA / 1.03 WHIP) and Maholm (3.06 / 1.21)

St. Louis: Jaime Garcia (3.11 / 1.23) and Chris Carpenter (3.69 / 1.32)

Cincinnati: Johnny Cueto (2.01 / 1.00) and Mike Leake (4.28 / 1.20)

Milwaukee: Shaun Marcum (3.39 / 1.14) and Randy Wolf (3.65 / 1.34)

Adding to the effectiveness of Pittsburgh's starting pitching has been the best closer in the league in Joel Hanrahan, who has converted on 26 of his 27 save chances and carries a Mariano Rivera-esque 1.30 ERA and 0.91 WHIP.

Unfortunately, Pittsburgh's pitching has had to be that good because their offense has been mediocre at best. Pittsburgh is hitting just .247 as a team and averaging just 3.97 runs per game. Andrew McCutchen is a legitimate star in the making, and Neil Walker is an underrated run producer as a second-baseman, but the lineup is still several pieces short of being able to contend with the big bats of St. Louis (Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, and Lance Berkman), Cincinnati (Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips, Jay Bruce), and Milwaukee (Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Rickie Weeks).

Adding to the Pirates' degree of difficulty is that they have the toughest schedule of the four contenders on the way to October, with a .490 aggregated strength of schedule (St. Louis' is .485, Cincinnati's .482, and Milwaukee's .479).

Pittsburgh will take the Reds and Cardinals next up at home before heading to Atlanta for four and Philadelphia for three. If they finish up that Phillies series within reach of the Central lead, they should be able to hang in the thick of it through the stretch run. But with virtually no pennant race experience, they will have to rely heavily on manager Clint Hurdle's leadership to navigate some choppy waters.

Can they do it? Sure. The Cards and Reds have terrible bullpens, and the Brewers have half a starting rotation. But with an anemic offense and tough stretch run, the Pirates' journey to the playoffs will not be an easy one.

The journey to respectability, though, is one they are well on their way to finally achieving.

Posted by Joshua Duffy at 1:42 PM | Comments (0)

July 16, 2011

Foul Territory: Hit Kings, Drama Queens

* Abby Road, or Header? I Hardly Knew 'Er — The United States women advanced to the World Cup final with a 3-1 win over France on Wednesday. An Abby Wambach header was again pivotal, as her goal off a Lauren Cheney corner kick in the 79th minute was the game-winner. Wambach's heroics underscore the "Jose Canseco Rule" in sports: that balls bouncing off heads are awesome.

* Hard-Hitting Analysis, or Name-Dropper, or Adding Insult to Injury — In an interview with Men's Journal magazine, James Harrison referred to Roger Goodell as a "devil," called out Ben Roethlisberger, and called Rashard Mendenhall a "fumble machine." Supposedly, Harrison is still recovering from offseason surgery to remove an internal editor.

* I'm Getting' Too Old For This Hit — Derek Jeter went 5-5 on Saturday and collected his 3,000th hit with a home run in the Yankees 5-4 win over the Rays. Jeter, citing "emotional and physical exhaustion" from his pursuit of 3,000, decided to skip the All-Star Game after being selected by fans to start. Some were put off by Jeter's decision to eschew all-star festivities, but he insisted, after a 5-5 performance, that he deserved an intentional "walk."

* Roger That? — A judge declared a mistrial in the Roger Clemens perjury case, citing inadmissible evidence shown to jurors. It was a great day for Clemens supporters, and they celebrated in typical fashion, rolling the pitching great's yard with gauze, and crowning a beauty queen to mark the occasion, dubbing her "Miss Remember." When asked to comment on the ruling, Clemens first asked "Am I under oath?" then replied "I can't lie. I'm thrilled."

* Super Freak — Randy Moss' agent, Joel Segal, said the enigmatic receiver is in "freakish," shape, and that whatever team winds up getting Moss will be getting the "old Randy Moss." It sounds more like Segal carnival-barking his client's marketability, because, as Segal well knows, if Moss gets overpaid for his services, so does he.

* Sent Wolf Packing, Or Ram-Bis-missed — Kurt Rambis was fired as head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday after compiling a 32-132 record in his two years as head coach. President of Basketball Operations David Kahn took three months deciding whether Rambis should remain as coach, and one second deciding he shouldn't.

* If You're Adding Up Brushes With the Law, Then Pacman is a Painter, or He May Be a Bengal, But Cincinnati "Red" Him His Rights — Bengals cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones was arrested Sunday in Cincinnati on charges of disorderly conduct while intoxicated and resisting arrest. Jones claimed he was just out celebrating his wife's birthday, and was not drunk and was not resisting police. Police declined to let the incarcerated Jones sing "Happy Birthday" to his wife, although they did let him hum a few bars.

* Quack-a-Shaq — Shaquille O'Neal signed with Turner Broadcasting, and will likely join TNT's "Inside the NBA" studio show. O'Neal will likely match wits, and buffoonery, with TNT staple Charles Barkley. With O'Neal's addition, TNT plans to add a fresh new feature to its broadcasts: subtitles.

* Ward of the State, Or Ben Roethlisberger Calls it "Passing" a Sobriety Test — Hines Ward was charged with drunken driving after being pulled in Atlanta early Saturday morning. The former Super Bowl MVP and reigning "Dancing With the Stars" champ failed field sobriety tests and was generally disoriented. It appears Ward has gone from "light" on his feet to "lit" on his feet.

* Father Throws Best — Robinson Cano won the Home Run Derby on Monday night, outgunning Adrian Gonzalez 12 to 11 in the final round. Cano's father, Jose, a former pitcher for the Houston Astros, pitched to him in all three rounds. It was a dream come true for Robinson, as well a the elder Cano, whose career came full circle as he can now say he's been rocked by the National and American Leagues.

* Left Hanging — A fan at Monday's Home Run Derby, Keith Carmickle, was saved from a 20 foot tumble onto concrete as he reached for a home run ball smacked by Prince Fielder. Carmickle's brother and a friend grabbed him, preventing a tumble after he reached for a ball while standing atop a small table. It was the first ever save recorded in Home Run Derby history. Carmickle thanked his brother and friend, presenting them with a pair of "I'm With Stupid" t-shirts.

Posted by Jeffrey Boswell at 2:57 PM | Comments (0)

Well Worth the Wait

From all indications, the NFL lockout is inching closer to resolution. Last week, U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan ordered both parties back for another mediation session set for July 19, and ESPN reported on Tuesday that the season could begin as early as July 28. Even in football-desolate pockets of the country like Buffalo and Carolina and Denver, everyone is giddy over the prospect of games being played this autumn, and as of right now, there's still fleeting hope that the preseason will start as scheduled with the Hall of Fame Game on August 7.

Whether we realize it or not, resolution of the lockout is good for America. For instance, the crime rate will stabilize, at least while games are being played. We'll be spared sports flashes that update us with MLS scores and NASCAR's Chase For the Sprint Cup standings every 20 minutes. And who can't get enough Tuesday morning radio shows that count how many times Jon Gruden worked "these guys" or "those guys" into his broadcast the night before?

But the news is even better for Echo Boomers who've been living in a Pollyanna world where Megan Fox never heard of Botox, 'Seven' is the new Mary, and going out for a joy ride means pedaling a bicycle down to the local vegan mart to buy a dozen Pay-As-You-Throw bags. This is the generation that gets aroused by old Star Wars movies and gives the biggest-spending team in Major League Baseball their ball back for nothing. Labor unrest in professional sports is virtually unknown to Gen Y — there have been only two seasons in the last 15 years to be affected by work stoppage — and most weren't even born the last time it happened in the NFL.

Think of what a postponed season would do to the guys and gals about to take custody of our society even if, to many of them, an NFL team is composed of only seven offensive players and that all-engaging position named "Defense" who can score points by recovering fumbles or intercepting passes. Gen Y is a sucker for a man in uniform but, unlike Mila Kunis, it doesn't matter which one so long as the colors are in and the player was activated on the fantasy roster before kickoff. It's doubtful some of them could last a weekend without NFL Sunday Ticket and streaming statistical updates coming in on vibrating iPhones, and it's looking like they won't have to.

They will, however, miss out on a golden sports opportunity that comes along once or twice a generation.

As a Baby Boomer, I've witnessed a total of nine sports seasons shortened or canceled by strike or lockout. Sure, there were bad memories. Like 1972, when MLB players went on strike for the first 13 days and, rather than pay them for a full season, owners canceled the missed games. My hometown Red Sox wound up losing the division simply because they played one fewer game than the Tigers.

More often than not in those nine cases, the pain of lost games was more than offset by the amusement once they resumed. In MLB's infamous split season of 1981, four teams clinched playoff berths on June 12, while neither of the two best teams — the Reds and Cardinals — made the postseason. Kansas City got in with a losing record and a composite fourth-place finish. The Yankees also placed a composite fourth, yet made it all the way to the World Series.

The baseball gods would later take their revenge on the Bronx, wiping out their 6.5-game lead along with the rest of the 1994 baseball season and World Series. That lockout would carry all the way into 1995 to become the first multi-season stoppage ever.

Baby Boomer and Generations X and Y alike experienced the only completely canceled season when the NHL shut down in 2004-05. Ten years before, it played a refreshingly reduced 48-game schedule that didn't start until after Martin Luther King Day when all the ponds had frozen and hockey was finally in the air. Had the Devils not swept the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals, we may have seen hockey in July while we swam in those ponds.

The NBA's 50-game season in 1998-99 was similar, but with a twist. It featured several back-to-back-to-back games on every team's schedule as the league tried to jam in as many games as it could from February 5 on. After watching some of today's teams like the Boston Celtics mail it in on the second of back-to-back games this past season, I'd love to see how they would have come out on the third night.

The NFL has had only two shortened seasons in league history — in 1982 and 1987. Those were days when men were men and we woke up Thursday mornings not sure if the home team would even be televised come Sunday, and if some big-shot local company didn't buy out the last few thousand seats that afternoon we'd suck it up and go on that romantic get-away weekend with our significant others and no electronic devices of any kind, which was usually more than our significant others could say. We could deal with no football, but we were always the more grateful when we got it.

Like the 9 games played in 1982. That season is best remembered around my home in New England for the "Snowplow Game," when a work-release inmate cleared the Schaeffer Stadium turf for John Smith to kick the winning field goal in a game against the Dolphins that was instrumental in putting the Patriots in their first playoff game since Chuck Fairbanks walked away before the 1978 postseason. So, if you ever ask a New Englander about Snowgate, you will have to be more specific.

We got almost a full slate in the 15-game 1987 season, but that included the first three played by replacement players, aka scabs. Nevertheless, in the final Monday Night Football game before the regulars returned, New York Giants replacement receiver Lewis Bennett caught a 46-yard touchdown pass that I've never forgotten and remains — purely from a skills perspective — the best catch I've ever seen. During one replacement game, a Cowboys receiver reached into the stands for his clean laundry and took it back to the bench with him. That was a full 20 years before another Cowboys receiver tried the same trick with popcorn.

The 1987 strike gave New England the opportunity to bring back one of its iconic figures when it traded for former BC great Doug Flutie, who had earlier agreed to cross picket lines. This was Flutie I, not to be schmeared with his drop-kicking Flutie II days. The strike also gave the NFL a chance to witness the greatest receiving performance of all time when Jerry Rice caught 22 TD passes in the 12 games he played.

Granted, it hasn't exactly been dull over the intervening 23 years, but the memories of those two zany NFL seasons in 1982 and 1987 will last us Baby Boomers a lifetime. Echo Boomers may fear a shortened season full of quiet weekends and long romantic walks on Sunday afternoons, and that remains a possibility. But even if that should happen, get ready. History tells us the best is soon to follow.

Posted by Bob Ekstrom at 1:42 PM | Comments (0)

July 15, 2011

Sports Q&A: Ward's Twitter Wars

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward was arrested for drunken driving, a charge he is disputing. His arrest prompted a testy Twitter exchange between the Ravens' Ray Rice and Ward's teammate, Ryan Clark. First of all, is Ward guilty? And second, should Twitter be the forum of choice in the war of words inherent to NFL football?

Often, in cases involving NFL stars accused of crimes, the question isn't about guilt, but the lengths that a player will go to contest that guilt. That became evident when Ward's lawyer, Andrew Ree, with his hand nowhere near a bible, issued a statement saying Ward was not impaired and cooperated fully with police. However, police say Ward failed field sobriety tests and became agitated during the tests. Somebody's lying. Or looking for a plea deal. Reports indicate that Ward was glassy-eyed, wobbly on his feet, and reeked of alcohol. That's a pretty clear indication that he's drunk, or eligible to date Ben Roethlisberger.

Ward told the arresting officer that he had two bottles of Corona three hours earlier at a restaurant. Unless Corona's introduced their new gallon bottle, then Ward's claim seems dubious. The officer said he had a "low tolerance" for liars, then administered a series of sobriety tests, all of which Ward failed.

During those tests, which are quickly becoming administered more often to NFL players than the Wonderlic, Ward had trouble keeping his balance and mixed up and omitted letters in the alphabet, behavior expected of someone impaired by alcohol, or possibly someone left incapacitated by a James Harrison helmet-to-helmet hit. Ree will surely argue in court that Ward couldn't reasonably assume that police were asking for recitation of the English alphabet. In this age of abbreviated text messages and email, should anyone be expected to recite any language's full alphabet?

Yes, Ree will argue, except an NFL player fatigued from a 2:30 AM drive, the mental anguish resulting from an extended player lockout, and the exhaustion that comes with a reign as "Dancing With the Stars" championship glory. In legal-speak, it's called "B.S." and in courtrooms frequented by NFL players flaunting high-powered lawyers, it often "flies."

If that doesn't explain Ward's odd behavior, then Ree will likely break out the heavy artillery — Ward's mother is Korean, so it's clearly a case of genetics that he would be "half-Orient-ed." It's hard to argue with DNA evidence, and Ree knows this.

Two beers would not explain Ward's behavior, yet his attitude suggested he felt he was being wronged. Was it all a big misunderstanding? If so, what would this situation be called? The "Immaculate Misconception," of course.

Anyway, the evidence appears lopsided in the law's favor, so it's likely Ward and Ree will experience some type of attorney-client synergy when they both "come to their senses." The result: a guilty plea to a lesser charge.

After news of Ward's arrest broke, Ray Rice of the Ravens took to Twitter, posting that Ward's DWI was "not a good look." Them's not quite fighting words, but Pittsburgh cornerback Ryan Clark took it as such, and tweeted "I'll find you" in response to Rice. Notice that Ward has not even involved himself in the feud, but that's not because the handcuffs make it difficult to key on a tiny keyboard. It's because Ward will lay a Raven out on September 11th when Pittsburgh visits Baltimore. And the victim won't see it coming via Twitter.

Members of the Steelers and Ravens organizations should be ashamed that their players have resorted to social media for trash talk, and even more disturbingly, had the decency to use clean language in the process. There's no room for etiquette in a rivalry as steeped in hatred as the Ravens/Steelers.

The Steelers Rashard Mendenhall once famously texted that he was going to have a big game against the Ravens defense in a 2008 matchup. Ray Lewis didn't respond via social media; he answered with a tackle that broke Mendenhall's arm. That's as close to "unfriending" as Lewis will get.

As Lewis, and many others know, the words "Twitter" and tweet" won't strike fear into anyone. Twitter and other social media platforms are great for breaking news, important personal announcements, sharing recipes, reporting play-by-play during a traffic stop, and publishing obscene photos, among other things. But not for trash talk. What self-respecting NFL player can with good conscience say the words, "I Tweeted some trash talk?" Apparently, some Steelers and Ravens can. Some things are better left "said."

Trash talk was meant to be spoken, not merely thought and transcribed via the fingertips to a social media outlet. When trash talk is said, it's often spontaneous, natural, and free of bad punctuation. When it's Tweeted, it's often much too premeditated, and any emotion is lost. Not only is it not intimidating, it's downright cowardly. Of all people, Ravens and Steelers, principals in what is currently to NFL's most-heated rivalry, should realize this.

It's called "smack talk," not sm@ck talk.

Posted by Jeffrey Boswell at 12:29 PM | Comments (4)

All in the Game

With ever-increasing demand for reality television, candidates for originating the genre are as common as scantily clad Survivor contestants, tone deaf American Idol wannabes, or Casey Anthony fabrications. Trailblazing contenders include Candid Camera in 1948, a myriad of game shows in the 1950s, the PBS documentary An American Family in 1973, and MTV's Real World in 1992. However, such shows are but descendants of the reality archetype. Rarely recognized as such, non-professional actors in unscripted broadcasts first smiled for candid cameras in 1939 during a televised baseball game between the Columbia Lions and the Princeton Tigers.

As with reality programming in general, "we're better than that" critics regard interest in televised sports as interest in the irrelevant. Armed with a monopoly of truth on how to recreate, sanctimonious faultfinders view each minute devoted to televised sports as one less for "doing something useful." Yet in stereotyping fervent fans as slothful, beer-bellied, has-been and never-was arm-chaired athletes, detractors prove the widest of generalizations are often made by the narrowest of minds.

Not surprisingly, those devaluing interest in gridirons, diamonds, and hardwood courts, are often guilty of almost identical behaviors as the "fanatics" they deride. Watching soap operas, "serious" dramas, or "who done it" mysteries, critics fail to realize such pastimes are not unlike watching Tom Brady throw a pass or Derek Jeter reach 3,000 hits. Whether told by a writer or authored by an athlete, viewers become concerned with the welfare of protagonists and the outcome of stories seemingly having no direct impact on their lives.

Is it so different caring whether Tony Soprano loses his life or Mariano Rivera his fastball? Is it so different investing emotion whether Carrie Underwood wins or Peyton Manning loses? And is it any different where LeBron James parks his sneakers or Carrie Bradshaw her Manolos? In the end, all provide temporary escape from increasingly complex "stop the world I want to get off" lives.

Reading a book, watching a movie, following a reality series, or attending a ballgame, one becomes engrossed with their characters. Each page, each scene, and each pitch furthers the drama. Condoning one activity while devaluing the other is inconsistent and absurd. This is no less so for sports fans critical of soap operas as it is for high brow Shakespeare aficionados belittling interest in Super Bowls.

Preoccupation with spectator sports emotionally stimulates what other recreations rarely elicit. As jaded adults, it becomes increasingly difficult to affect unapologetically childlike anticipation, excitement, or joy. For many, televised sports is one of a handful of activities rekindling our emotional pasts. In doing so, spectator sports contribute to one's life what children contribute to a home. And that is a mixture of joy, frustration, and wonder.

However, as with any generally positive behavior or emotion, regression can lead to immature and counterproductive extremes. Well chronicled are examples of fans running amok after championship games. Equally so are examples of fans brutalizing those "guilty" of worshiping another team. And on a much less violent but no less juvenile level, fans overly identifying with their team adopt a "sky is falling" mindset when losing or a sense of personal accomplishment and hubris when not.

Yet in claiming the intellectual high ground in criticizing rabid sports fans, critics miss the point. Any recreation goes too far if single-focused at the expense of family, job, and emotional or physical health. But is that the fault of the pastime in particular or of human nature in general? Blaming spectator sports for excesses of behavior is like blaming cars for accidents or supermarkets for obesity. In the end, there is free will. And sports fandom taken to negative extremes is not the first or last time otherwise positive activities were corrupted by the foibles of who we are.

Criticism to the contrary, love of spectator sports in and of itself is neither inauthentic nor passive. Few things in life are more real than the emotions generated by spectator interest in athletics. It is an activity as old as man himself. And with the football season fast approaching, it would be wise for critics to understand that spectator sports is not a pale substitute for life. It is life.

Posted by Neil Bright at 11:48 AM | Comments (11)

July 14, 2011

Essentially, K-Rod Was Traded For Reyes

While Prince Fielder was hitting a mammoth 3-run homer off C.J. Wilson in the bottom of the fourth, half an inning after Adrian Gonzalez hit one out solo off Cliff Lee, putting the All-Star Game squarely into the National League's pocket (they won, 5-1), Fielder's team was doing a little business with the New York Mets, basically fortifying their bullpen by letting the Mets make their own world safer for re-signing Jose Reyes.

Francisco Rodriguez's too-much-discussed $17 million 2012 option, payable upon the closer's finishing 55 games in 2011, would have made it difficult if not impossible for the Mets to keep their co-franchise face, stud shortstop, and 2011 MVP candidate, never mind that Reyes hit the disabled list before the All-Star Break. A fortnight before the non-waiver trade deadline, general manager Sandy Alderson found a trading partner in need of bullpen fortification and sent Rodriguez to the Milwaukee Brewers for two players to be named later.

Don't get too excited about those players yet: the Brewers emptied the farm, more or less, when dealing in the offseason for Shawn Marcum and Zack Greinke. This deal was a salary dump for the Mets, plain and simple. This deal was really about getting that much closer to keeping Reyes. And it probably wasn't what Rodriguez had in mind when switching agents to Scott Boras a day or so before the deal, but right now Alderson resembles a genius. Especially bringing the deal off without either the shrewd Boras or his new client suspecting it was coming.

Never mind that the Brewers weren't on K-Rod's no-trade list. Boras may have pronounced his new man a closer evermore, but the Brewers — tied for first in the National League Central — are no shrinking violets. They're not going to demote a youthful incumbent closer, John Axford, with his 1.99 ERA, 23 of 24 save chances consummated since blowing an Opening Day save opportunity, for an established but faltering closer with a 6.38 ERA since 27 May, a 7.17 ERA for the entire month of June, and little enough of the dominance he showed in all those good seasons with the Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels.

The Brewers probably don't want that $17 million kicking in any more than the Mets did. That's why their likeliest scenario, so it seemed at first, was to hand Rodriguez — whose struggles with left-handed hitters mirror those of the Brewer bullpen this season — the setup role he hasn't had since he apprenticed for Troy Percival in southern California. But the Brewers decided to use Axford and Rodriguez as co-closers, smartly giving them alternatives not dissimilar to those the Mets once enjoyed with Jesse Orosco and Roger McDowell, while shrewdly enabling themselves not to let the option kick in.

The Mets, who have six months to pick the two other players, and who are now on the periphery of the postseason chase, probably plan to hand the save opportunities to Bobby Parnell (a 1.34 WHIP but a 3-1 strikeout to walk ratio, 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings, and a 2.92 ERA on the season thus far), Jason Isringhausen (293 lifetime saves, 11 postseason saves, 2.25 ERA this season), or Pedro Beato (3.38 ERA but a 1.00 WHIP this year thus far), and in that order. Isringhausen has had a pleasant season in the setup role, and Beato looks to be at least the setup man of the future. At maximum, there could be a competition to see whether Parnell or Beato shakes out as the inexpensive closing option to come.

If the Mets ended up on the hook for Rodriguez's 2012 option, Reyes would likely have ended up finding a new home for 2012 and beyond. Injuries or no injuries, Reyes is coveted. But the Mets are still trying to resolve finance issues in the wake of the Bernie Madoff scandal, in which owner Fred Wilpon took a bath himself but now faces the tenacious tentacles of the team trying to get restitution for other Madoff victims, that team charging that Wilpon either knew or should have known what Madoff was really up to. They may have a new co-owner soon enough, but it may not have been soon enough to keep Reyes while letting K-Rod play out his contract in Queens.

Rodriguez's Met service was pockmarked by a few inconsistencies and a few controversies. In 2010, he complained loudly about not being brought into eight-inning save opportunities, getting into arguments with pitching coach Dan Warthen and a concurrent shoving match with Randy Niemann, a bullpen coach thought to be among the most mild-mannered of the breed. Most particularly, and it may have helped punch his ticket out of New York when all was said and done, Rodriguez got himself into very hot water toward 2010′s finish, when he tore a thumb ligament punching out the father of his estranged girl friend, during a clubhouse family room argument, following a Met loss in which Rodriguez hadn't even pitched. (Only later did it transpire that the older man may have set Rodriguez off in earnest by telling the pitcher's mother, standing up for her son, to shut up and butt out.)

The Mets first sought to have his contract converted to non-guaranteed; the bottom line was that Rodriguez's days as a Met were numbered, period, even though he underwent anger management therapy in the offseason and had no known incidents or outbursts this season. But his Met days may really have been numbered when then-general manager Omar Minaya agreed to the 2012 vesting option in the first place, when signing him as a free agent after the 2008 season.

At the time he scrummed with the grandfather of his children, Rodriguez had rolled up a 2010 ERA of 2.20 and a walks-and-hits per inning pitched (WHIP) rate of 1.15, with 67 strikeouts in 57 1/3 innings and a .213 batting average against him. He hasn't been quite the same pitcher this season — a 3.16 ERA, true, but also a 1.41 WHIP, a .265 batting average against him, and 46 strikeouts in 42 2/3 innings through the All-Star Break, not to mention falling fastball velocity and increasing dependence on a sometimes-inconsistent changeup. Last season, before the fight and the injury, he'd put up his best statistical season since 2006 with the Angels. This season, he was actually at his most vulnerable.

But he was useful and effective enough, with two fewer saves at the All-Star break than he had all 2010, even if the best of his best remained in Anaheim, where he first made a splash as the 2002 late-season rookie call-up who went lights out during the Angels' striking run to their first (and, thus far, only) World Series triumph. Still, he had the Mets in a bind: if he finished those 55 games after all (he had 34 finishes at the break), his option would have vested and replaced $18 million coming off the Mets' books with Carlos Beltran's contract expiring. Leaving them little if any room to retain Reyes.

This deal could be just the beginning. Beltran's comeback season, an All-Star one at that, has been pleasant enough to allow the Mets to entertain thoughts of a non-waiver deadline deal. They could keep Beltran for that outside shot at the National League wild card (at this writing, they're in fourth in the wild card standing, seven behind the Atlanta Braves) and then part company amiable at season's end; or, they could still flip him at the non-waiver deadline for fresher stretch-and-beyond help. Beltran's suitors now include the Detroit Tigers, the San Francisco Giants (whose own closing ace, Brian Wilson, has been vocal about liking Beltran joining the Giants), the Boston Red Sox, or the New York Yankees.

The watch begins. Some think the K-Rod deal means the Mets pulling the plug 2011, Beltran or no Beltran, considering they plan to cut payroll for 2012 even with David Einhorn likely to be approved as their new minority owner. Manager Terry Collins isn't one of those people.

"Part of my job," Collins told ESPN's Adam Rubin, "is to make sure they maintain focus. If someone is moved from this club who is a high-profile guy, my job is to make sure they understand that there's a business side of this game that you've got to be able to play through. As we didn't let some earlier distractions early in the year get in our way, we cannot let this distraction get in our way. Here's an opportunity for somebody else to step up. And I truly believe as a player all you can do is grasp the opportunities. No matter who it might be, it's going to be an opportunity for some young player to step up and say, ‘Hey, look, here's my chance to show I belong here'."

It's also going to be an opportunity for Boras and his new client, even though they look to have been out-maneuvered at first. If Rodriguez doesn't get to finish his 55 games total this season, he becomes a free agent. He may not command an annual salary equal to the vesting option, but all he has to be is a good soldier in a Milwaukee clubhouse players are known to love — not to mention with a manager, Ron Roenicke, who knows him from their days with the Angels, where Roenicke was a coach for K-Rod's entire career there — and he'll get a valuable enough pay day. Things could be far worse for Francisco Rodriguez now. And he probably knows it. Once, he wanted to make history. He should probably be grateful now that he'll still make a baseball living.

Posted by Jeff Kallman at 3:26 PM | Comments (0)

NFL Odds and Ends

As a (sort of) sports journalist, what I crave, more than anything, is candor. Candor is such a rare quality in any athlete, coach, or even announcer. Everyone toes the company line and says absolutely nothing interesting or insightful. The best you can hope for is someone who manages to be slightly humorous when they give their nonetheless canned statement.

James Harrison, in his recent interview with Men's Journal, was candid. Oh my God, was he candid. I guess I better be careful what I wish for.

Harrison called NFL commissioner Roger Goodell a devil and a dictator, among other things. But the real money quote was this:

"My (reputation) is James Harrison, mean son of a bitch who loves hitting the hell out of people. But up until last year, there was no word of me being dirty — till Roger Goodell, who’s a crook and a puppet, said I was the dirtiest player in the league. If that man was on fire and I had to piss to put him out, I wouldn’t do it. I hate him and will never respect him."

Well! I can't recall the last time I had such mixed feelings on a soundbite.

It starts with my mixed feelings about James Harrison, the man. He's from my hometown of Akron so ... yay! But he attended loathsome Kent (proud Akron Zip here) and now plays for the loathsome Steelers.

Anytime someone sticks it to the man, the mindless hippie prole in me gives a shout. I too have no love for Roger Goodell, and wish his legion of owners would open their books if they claim to be losing money hand over fist.

But ... well, for starters I do not hate him, and by golly, I would drain the dragon on him if he was enflamed before me and there was no convenient water supply.

Also, I want there to be football in the fall. Football on time. Right when it seemed like we were closing in on settling the lockout, we seemed to have arrived at a new impasse. This is not the time to be stoking bad blood between the players and the owners. As I understand it, the players were the most recent group to put forth an offer. If Roger Goodell (and the owners by proxy) are bent out of shape over Harrison's seething comments, then they may not shake that feeling off when considering a deal.

Secondly, Harrison has a long, decorated career. He was Defensive MVP of the league just three seasons ago and, well, he can afford to say these kinds of things. He can get away with it. His services will still be sought.

If a practice squad member of the St. Louis Rams or somebody said that, he'd be drummed out of the league. So how nice for James Harrison that he can say terrible things that others cannot.

But then (again with the mixed feelings), I seem to recall a fake Onion op-ed piece a few years ago taking a stance against war protesters. The headline and gist of the spoof editorial was, "These men and women died so you could have freedom of speech! How dare you use it?" Who am I to begrudge James Harrison for having more leeway to speak his mind than others? Would I rather he shut up since other players do not have that leeway? I'm not comfortable answering that question with an unequivocal "yes."

So will all that ambiguity, let me move onto an unambiguously positive story from the NFL. Michael Irvin, who has seen plenty of legal troubles in his past and is a founding member of an (perceived as) unsavory posse of Miami Hurricane football alumni, is an unlikely champion for social justice on an issue where he is at odds with most of his peers. And yet he is.

It takes only a small amount of guts for a retired athlete to come out against homophobia. It takes a HUUUUUUGE amount of guts for an athlete to pose shirtless for a gay magazine cover. It means he has the courage of his convictions, and he is as comfortable as we all should be with the concept of homosexuality.

He has lots of interesting things to say about his gay brother, and the 180 he has done in terms of accepting him. I guess before I didn't really have much of an opinion of Irvin either way. Now I really like him.

For what it's worth, I think the first active athlete in a major team sport (there have been plenty of retired guys to come out) is going to come out very soon, within the next few years. And after that, the proverbial floodgates will be open. As people from Jackie Robinson to Shannon Faulkner have shown us, once someone goes first, everybody becomes very willing to follow.

I'm sort of surprised it hasn't happened already. I do understand that that professional sports is generally quite hostile to gays. Whomever does go first is going to have to go through a tremendous ordeal of stress, trauma, and non-acceptance.

But still, this is 2011. Whichever gay athlete "goes first" is not going to have it as bad as the civil rights champions of the past. I don't think (could definitely be wrong here) he will be physically assaulted, so he just has to be mentally tough enough to handle the attendant adversity.

Two things professional athletes tend to be is mentally strong, and glory hounds. The first openly gay athlete in a major sport is going to become a hero of all-time. He will probably be in high school history books before he dies and stay there for a couple centuries. He must realize this. Isn't one athlete out there narcissistic enough to want this? I never thought we would need more narcissistic athletes.

Posted by Kevin Beane at 12:38 PM | Comments (1)

July 13, 2011

Derek Jeter's All-Star Blessing

A lot of the folk are hemming and hawing over Derek Jeter's withdrawal from the All-Star Game. But nobody seems to catch onto his withdrawal as an inadvertent blessing upon it.

Plausibly enough, Jeter has claimed mental as well as physical exhaustion from the hunt for that 3,000th hit, in terms of both the pursuit of the milestone and the scrutiny under which the hunt fell, given his striking performance decline since the opening of the 2010 season.

What we ought to examine regarding his all-star withdrawal is what Jeter hasn't said and is probably too proud to say. Except to himself, perhaps.

Jeter had no business making this season's American League all-star team in the first place. He was elected to his sixth straight all-star starting lineup (it would have been his twelfth all-star selection lifetime), and if your opinion is that the All-Star Game is the place for the season's best and brightest, the absolute best players in baseball this season, then Jeter clearly didn't belong.

Everyone in baseball, not just Yankee fans and observers, has been more sympathetic than scorning of Jeter's plight. There's probably no more respected player in the game, there's probably been no more respected such player for the length of his career. But even on the threshold of a career milestone — his struggles since last season to one side, there wasn’t a soul in or near baseball who suggested he wouldn't reach it — it was just a little difficult to accept that the man earned an all-star berth at all, never mind in the starting lineup.

As of the Fourth of July, Jeter was 6 hits from becoming the only man to reach 3,000 hits at all, never mind getting every last one of them, in a Yankee uniform. But before he went to the disabled list with a strained right calf, like it or not, Jeter had become a pronounced liability to his team who could barely hit and who couldn't hold his own in the field with his former authority. You can only imagine how that weighed on a scandal-free man who performed so long, so brilliantly, in baseball's most festering pressure cooker.

As of the Fourth, the Yankees in Jeter's absence went 14-4 without him. Stories even abounded that the Yankee clubhouse was a little "looser" without him, without the weight of his decline to trouble it. Wasn't that once the unthinkable?

With one or two exceptions otherwise, the talk was whether Jeter was finished at long enough last, and how the Yankees — who’d spent last offseason in difficult if not contentious contract negotiations with their franchise face — would go about shepherding Jeter off the field, even slowly, considering the two and a half years remaining on the contract, not to mention young Eduardo Nunez’s performance stepping into the injury breach, and assuming the Yankees actually had the real stomach for it.

And now Jeter was an all-star starter?

Well, a lot of people like to think of the All-Star Game as a partial lifetime achievement award, of course. Jeter wasn't the first man going to the starting lineup as a legacy candidate, and he won't be the last, but usually it happens when a longtime star is known to be on the threshold of retirement. (Sometimes it happens when a longtime star has retired. See Mike Schmidt, 1989.)

Jeter got his votes because of who he was for so long, not who he is now. So what if he's been a shadow of his formerly formidable self? his voters seemed to be saying. He's Derek Freaking Jeter! He's been the Yankees all these years! He's going to get that three freaking thousandth freaking hit! Maybe within a week or so. By Gawd that makes him...

A Hall of Famer in waiting. Not a valid 2011 all-star starter.

Then the Yankees opened a set with the Tampa Bay Rays to close out the season's first half, on the same day Jeter announced his withdrawal from the All-Star Game. Two days later, Jeter needed two hits for the milestone, and David Price — one of the American League's best pitchers, who won't be going to the Game, either — awaited him.

As if according to some surrealistic script, written from the fifth dimension of Yankee imagination, Jeter in the leadoff slot opened his and the Yankees' afternoon with a full-count bounder into left for a single. Two innings later, again with a full count, he measured a Price hook and, somehow, hooked it into the second tier of the left field bleachers.

Every fan in Yankee Stadium, and no few fans around the country who normally think of the Yankees the way they think of irritable bowel syndrome, though they may (and often do) respect individual Yankees, saw Jeter's entire career dance before their eyes as he broke out of the batter's box.

This was the sweep down the infield and the back flipped ball to bag Jeremy Giambi at the plate. This was Mr. November taking Byung-Hyun Kim over the fence to win Game Four in 2001. This was catching the foul against the Red Sox, and not flinching as his running momentum took him over the rail, over the photographers' box, and three rows into the stands and onto his face just after he caught the ball.

Every arm in the Yankee dugout jerked toward the heavens, clenched fists exclaiming, as Jeter trotted around the bases. The ball landed as he rounded first. He crossed the plate into a bear hug from Jorge Posada, another distinguished Yankee veteran worn down by time, as the dugout and the bullpen poured out to congratulate him, and the Rays applauded him.

The best part was that the one-out bomb tied the game. Curtis Granderson followed with a full-count walk, Mark Teixiera singled him to second, and — after Robinson Cano swished on 2-2 Russell Martin singled home Granderson, giving the Yankees a 2-1 lead before Posada looked at strike three for the side.

Jeter wasn’t even close to being finished, though. With the Rays up 3-2, thanks to B.J. Upton’s two-run bomb in the fourth, Jeter led off the Yankee fifth with a first-pitch double to left and scored promptly enough on Granderson’s single. Teixiera singled Granderson to third and Cano scored him on a sacrifice fly to left. Jeter did his best to produce something in the Yankee sixth, too, his two-out single to right moving Brett Gardner (walk) to second, then joining Gardner for a double steal to set up second and third for Granderson, who struck out off Tampa Bay reliever Brandon Gomes for the side.

The frisky Rays got a little friskier tying it up at four in the eighth, when erstwhile Yankee (and Red Sox) Johnny Damon led off with a triple to the back of the yard and scored on Ben Zobrist’s followup single. And Jeter, the aging captain, saw and raised in the bottom of the inning, against another Rays reliever, Joel Peralta, singling home his heir apparent Nunez (leadoff double), with one out and a 1-2 count. The only spoiler was Jeter himself getting arrested for attempted grand theft second base for the side on a strike 'em out-throw 'em out double play.

Naturally, the 5-4 Yankee lead signaled The Mariano for the ninth. Just like the old days, he fed the frenzy in the manner to which Yankee fans and opponents alike have been only too long accustomed, more or less. He may be just a little more human of late; he may have his moments of vulnerability enough; but he is still The Mariano, and he is still not a man to be taken with a grain of ninth inning salt. Not when he opens with a pounding swishout of Sean Rodriguez. Not when he recovers from falling 2-1 on Kelly Shoppach to get the Rays late-game pinch-hitter and catcher to fly out to center. Not when he lures Justin Ruggiano to ground out to third for the game.

Who else comes into a game staring a milestone in the face, in the middle of a second season in the private hell of baseball aging before his public’s very eyes, and then reaches history on his second hit of an afternoon on which he’s going 5-for-5? And now, because he pulled out a couple of days before that surreal Saturday, you want to make Jeter, who didn't really belong there in the first place, the face of everything that's wrong with the All-Star Game?

You want to blame Jeter for all the other big pullouts? For The Mariano and Alex Rodriguez being hurt? For half the pitchers who might have made it having pitched Sunday? For the like of Albert Pujols, Joe Mauer, and Ichiro Suzuki not making the all-star team at all? For Andrew McCutchen's unconscionable snub in the fan voting? (He had to make the team as a substitute for another pullout/injury.) For the Game having been contorted into a Little League-like all-in, while being made concurrently to "count" for home-field advantage in the postseason, meaning the postseason's home field advantage, in theory, could have turned on some heretofore undistinguished Kansas City Royal or Houston Astro driving in or stopping the potential winning runs?

(Relax. Not only did the National League win the game, 5-1, but the home-field advantage was provided not by some barely-beyond-non-entity but by Prince Fielder sending a C.J. Wilson service over the left center field fence in the fourth, with Carlos Beltran and Matt Kemp aboard, overthrowing a 1-0 American League lead — on an Adrian Gonzalez bomb off Cliff Lee — for keeps.)

Paul Konerko, the Chicago White Sox first baseman, elected as the final man in a fan vote (as was Philadelphia outfielder Shane Victorino), would agree that Jeter has enough on his plate without being spanked for that:

"Look at the man’s record as far as respecting the game. He’s been there for the All-Star Game, for the game of baseball at all times. He’s played in that city, played that position, and been that guy and he’s never dropped the ball. And I’m not saying he dropped the ball this time. He’s been getting after 3,000 hits, which no one could imagine other than the 27 other guys who have 3,000 hits. And they didn’t do it in that city. The way I look at it is, cut him some slack. If there’s ever been a guy who’s bought a rain check for one of these, he’s the one. Let’s just move on and not make such a big deal out of it."

Unless you want to decide that one transdimensional afternoon that summoned up the best of his past — on which he became the first Yankee to make 3,000 hits and went 5-for-5 with two scored and two driven in in the bargain, equals all-star worthiness — Jeter really had no legitimate place in the picture this year. We should quit making him the scapegoat for what's wrong with the All-Star Game and make him, instead, the guy who struck an inadvertent but profound blow for what's left of its integrity.

Posted by Jeff Kallman at 2:46 PM | Comments (2)

NASCAR Top 10 Power Rankings: Week 18

Note: the quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Kyle Busch — Busch led 125 of 267 laps, winning the Quaker State 400 to take the first Sprint Cup race ever at Kentucky Speedway. Busch's third win of the year vaulted him past Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick to the top of the point standings, where he leads Edwards by four.

"If you told Edwards and Harvick that I 'jumped' them both in one night," Busch said, "then they would have told you they had their backs turned, or were asleep. And speaking of 'asleep,' how about Saturday's race? Some fans claimed they were 'put to sleep;' others said they'd like to be.

"That's 99 wins for me in NASCAR's three top series. One more, and I become the sole member of an exclusive club, that being 'drivers with 100 wins and nothing to show for it.'"

2. Carl Edwards — Edwards finished fifth at Kentucky, scoring his series-best 13th top-10 result of the season. He remained in second place in the Sprint Cup point standings, and now trails Kyle Busch for four.

"If you liked racing," Edwards said, "then you found precious little to like at Kentucky. If Elvis Presley were alive today, I'm sure you'd hear him croon the words to 'Kentucky Plain.' However, it was good to see the stands full at Kentucky Motor Speedway. The fans came out in bunches, although most of them didn't even get to park. By the looks of traffic on Interstate 71, you could say they came out in droves.

"As for the point standings, there's no shame in second. Kyle Busch is on top now, so for me and the other drivers who trail, we'll just have to be content in doing what we did at Kentucky, and that's play follow the leader."

3. Kevin Harvick — Harvick began the night at Kentucky atop the Sprint Cup point standings, but fell to third after finishing 16th in the Quaker State 400. Handling issues plagued the No. 29 Budweiser team for much of the race, but Harvick rebounding to salvage a respectable result.

"We're not thrilled with our finish," Harvick said, "nor with falling out of the points lead. We couldn't get out of here fast enough. But who wasn't saying that after Saturday's race?"

4. Jimmie Johnson — Johnson lost the battle for first with Kyle Busch in the closing laps at Kentucky, and gave up second to David Reutimann's Toyota on the final lap. Johnson's third was his sixth top-5 result of the year, and he remains fifth in the point standings, 19 out of first.

"I couldn't do something that Red Bull could," Johnson said. "And that's hold off two Toyotas. I hear there was not a one pass for the lead in the entire race. That's something NASCAR fans should be used to, because there hasn't been a pass for the lead in the last five years."

5. Kurt Busch — Busch led 41 laps at Kentucky, dueling early with younger brother Kyle, and finished ninth, picking up his tenth top-10 result of the year. He remained fourth in the Sprint Cup point standings, 18 out of first.

"As NASCAR's resident foul-mouth," Busch said, "I feel compelled to comment on the traffic fiasco at KMS. Organization in and around the track in Sparta was anything but 'spartan.' In fact, it made nearly everyone, especially those stuck in traffic, want to 'Sparta-cuss.'

"Qualifying was washed out by rain on Friday, so the starting order was set by practice times. In light of the traffic problems on Saturday, I found it amusing that there was "gridlock" on Friday and Saturday."

6. Matt Kenseth — Kenseth posted his tenth top-10 finish of the year, and seventh in the last nine races, with a sixth in the Quaker State 400. He is now sixth in the point standings, 22 behind Kyle Busch.

"There wasn't a single on-track pass for the lead all night," Kenseth said. "It seems the 'race' off pit road was the only race of the night. I'm not sure who was louder with their 'boring' chants, the fans in the stands or those on Interstate 71.

"I've got two wins and I'm sixth in the point standings, which puts me in great position. Once the Chase For the Cup starts, I plan to be right in the middle of things. Which means I'll probably finish sixth or seventh."

7. Jeff Gordon — Gordon managed early handling issues and benefitted from a timely late caution to come home 10th in the inaugural race at Kentucky Motor Speedway. It was Gordon's fifth top-10 in the last six races, and he is up to seventh in the point standings, 71 out of first.

"Will the Kentucky date remain on the NASCAR schedule for years to come?" Gordon asked. "Don't ask me about a 'return trip.' Ask the 15-20,000 fans who never made it to the race about their 'return trip.'

"Anyway, that's what happens when auto racing encroaches on territory thoroughly dominated by horse racing. Ironically, Kentucky Motor Speedway officials told thousands of fans get out of their cars and 'hoof' it."

8. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. — Earnhardt blew a tire with two laps remaining, and finished 30th, his fourth-straight finish of 19th or worse after a run of four consecutive results of seventh or better. He fell one spot to eighth in the point standings, and is now 76 out of first.

"I've now gone 111 races without a win," Earnhardt said. "Now you can now add 'momentum' to the list of things I've lost."

9. Denny Hamlin — Hamlin finished 11th at Kentucky in a race dominated by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch. Hamlin improved one spot to 10th in the Sprint Cup point standings, and trails Busch by 95.

"You may have heard," Hamlin said, "that I almost missed driver introductions because of traffic at the track. I think the best course of action in the future for Kentucky is to move the race to Sunday and continue to urge people to leave early on Saturday to get there.

"Those fans that missed the race due to traffic deserve a refund. And even those that witnessed the race could make a pretty strong case for the same."

10. Ryan Newman — Newman came home fourth at Kentucky, recovering from falling a lap down to post his fifth top-five finish of the year. He improved one spot in the point standings to ninth, and is now 86 out of first.

"The No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet gave me trouble early," Newman said, "but we made the right adjustments, and we caught a few breaks. Then, I went from seventh to fourth in two laps. In short, I'm pleased. Overall, I think coming to Kentucky was a good idea. It's leaving that was the problem."

Posted by Jeffrey Boswell at 9:27 AM | Comments (0)

July 12, 2011

Division Races Will Come Down to Wire

Baseball's half-way point has been reached, and the pennant races are shaping up to be tight in just about all the divisions down the stretch. The standings at this juncture of the season show the leaders being chased by second-place teams no more than 3.5 games behind. That's not very much ground to make up with more than 80 games remaining.

Last season, the races were similarly close at the All-Star Break, with 4.5 games being the farthest behind of any second-place team. Three teams within that range ended up making the playoffs, each of them winning their division. So, what could the rest of this season have in store for us?

First, let's compare this season's mid-schedule standings with last year's. There are a couple of major surprises this year, with Milwaukee leading the NL Central (tied with St. Louis), Pittsburgh at only a game behind the Brewers and Cardinals, and Cleveland being just a half-game behind Detroit for the AL Central lead. At this time last season, the Brewers were pretty much out of the race at 8.5 games behind Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh and Minnesota were languishing in the basement of their divisions at 18 and 15.5 games out, respectively. None of these teams looked like they would do much this season, as all continued to fall farther behind through the end of the season.

Meanwhile, none of last year's playoff teams that aren't winning their divisions are too far out to make a run for it again this year. Minnesota is the farthest behind at 6.5 games back, followed by Tampa Bay at 6 games out and Cincinnati behind by 4 games. Atlanta is the wild card leader in the NL, 3.5 games behind the Phillies in the East. Minnesota was 3.5 games back in the AL Central at the break, San Francisco was 4 games out in the NL West, and Philadelphia was 4.5 games behind in the NL East. Each of them rode hot streaks through the summer to take their respective divisions. That could happen again this year.

Two teams that led their divisions at the break last year ended up missing the postseason — the White Sox and Padres. Chicago still has an outside chance at winning the AL Central this season at 5 games behind, while San Diego holds down the bottom spot in the NL West, 12 games out of first place.

All that being said, this year's races are shaping up to be quite exciting and entertaining. Look for Texas and Los Angeles to come down to the wire in the AL West, with the same between Detroit and Cleveland in the AL Central. Cincinnati is slumping at the moment, but don't count them out of the race for the NL Central just yet.

The Brewers have blown two midseason leads in the past five years, and the last time the Pirates were this close, Bill Clinton was president.

St. Louis could conceivably end up the sole winner of that division, as the wild card race appears to belong to the NL East. Also, the Braves are one of the hottest teams in baseball right now and could easily catch the Phillies for that division's crown.

The Red Sox appear to be pulling away from the Yankees in the AL East, but one can never count out the Pinstripes at the half-way mark. They, too, could end up the wild card winner in the AL. Cleveland is heading in the opposite direction of the Tigers in the AL Central, and the Giants look to be pulling away from the D-Backs in the NL West. Those races are clearly not over, but it appears momentum may be on the side of the leaders right now.

But, as any follower of baseball knows, it's difficult to speculate who will emerge as the postseason participants when the races are this close. And if you're not an avid follower of the game, now is as good a time as any to become one. This season could end up being one of the most exciting, down-to-the-wire season's we've seen in some time.

Posted by Adam Russell at 3:00 PM | Comments (0)

The Best Shortstops in Baseball History

All stats in this column are through Saturday, July 9, 2011.

Most of the great Yankees have been outfielders. Babe Ruth. Mickey Mantle. DiMaggio. Reggie. Bernie Williams. Earle Combs. Even Yogi Berra logged a couple thousand innings in the outfield. I know: Lou Gehrig, Bill Dickey, Phil Rizzuto, the pitchers ... the Yankee tradition has always been first and foremost about the outfield. Until Derek Jeter. The Captain, who collected his 3,000th hit over the weekend, has been the face of the Yankees for a decade, through 11 division titles, 7 World Series appearances, and 5 championships.

Jeter reached his milestone with a 5-hit game, his first since June 2005 and only the third time this season he's hit more than twice in a game. Obviously, Jeter can still play, but just as obviously, he's not the player he once was. With a new milestone on his résumé and a career that appears to be gradually winding down, where does the pinstriped wizard now rate among the greatest shortstops ever?

Below, you'll find my list of the finest shortstops in major league history. Notably, I didn't include Negro Leaguers in my evaluation. I'm certain that Pop Lloyd would rate very high on the list, and a couple other Negro Leaguers (such as Willie Wells) might as well, but I just don't have the appropriate background to rank those players with confidence. Were Wells and Lloyd great players? Obviously. Were they better than Robin Yount, Joe Cronin, Pee Wee Reese? I simply don't know.

Please note that I'm ranking complete players here. Shortstop is perhaps the most important fielding position in baseball, so defense counts for a great deal, but a lesser defensive player can still help his team with a big bat — and a defensive genius who can't hit is more a liability than an asset.

1. Honus Wagner
.327 / .391 / .466
3415 H, 101 HR, 1732 RBI, 1736 R

He has to be number one. Barring some extreme prejudice regarding the improvement of quality over time, there's nowhere else to go. Who has ever been more dominant than Wagner? Babe Ruth, maybe Barry Bonds. Maybe Ty Cobb or Ted Williams or Mickey Mantle. I think that's it. Wagner led the NL in a major offensive category 56 times. In 1908, he led the majors — not just the National League — in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, hits, doubles, RBI, total bases, stolen bases, and OPS. Wagner actually led the NL in all three rate stats (BA, OBP, SLG) four times (1904, 1907, 1908, 1909). He batted .300 fifteen times and led the league in batting average eight times. This from a guy who was a tremendous baserunner (723 steals, led NL five times; 252 triples, led NL three times) and the greatest defensive shortstop of his era.

The knock on Wagner, for people who desperately want one, is power. But Wagner played from 1897-1917. No one hit home runs then. Frank Baker, who played around the same time, retired with 93 dingers and a season-high of 12. He was nicknamed "Home Run" Baker. Wagner led the NL in slugging six times; he was a terrific power hitter. But before the lively ball, in stadiums with huge outfields, and managerial strategies that focused on moving the runner up, Wagner was never going to hit 500 home runs. No one was. When Wagner retired, the career HR record was 138, by Roger Connor. I think 101 is pretty good in that context, especially for a middle infielder who hit .327 with 700 stolen bases.

If you dropped Wagner into the 1990s or early 2000s, how many dingers would he hit? I haven't the faintest idea, except that it would be a lot more than 101. I think an easier question to answer is, if you asked modern sluggers like Alex Rodriguez to hit in Exposition Park in 1908, how many times would they go yard in a season? I suspect the answer is about 12. Certainly it's not 40 or 50. Put A-Rod in 1912, and he'd have 12 homers, but he might hit .350 and he'd probably steal 30 bases. It's a different context.

What separates Wagner from every other player in baseball history is that he was simultaneously the best offensive player and the best defensive player. Wagner was universally regarded as the finest defensive shortstop of his era, and he was also the best batter until Cobb.

2. Alex Rodriguez
.302 / .386 / .569
2762 H, 626 HR, 1883 RBI, 1810 R

We're getting to the point that I wonder if he should still be ranked as a shortstop. A-Rod has played 1,272 games at shortstop and 1,065 at third base. The innings difference is under 2,000. If Rodriguez plays long enough to challenge Bonds and Aaron, I think future generations will remember him more as a third-bagger than a shortstop. Even when he did play short, A-Rod was a good fielder, not a great one. He won two Gold Gloves, but he wasn't a defensive wizard like Ozzie Smith or Rizzuto or Wagner. There's no shame in that. Shortstop is an incredibly demanding defensive position, and many great shortstops finished their careers at other positions.

But it's also why Rodriguez isn't comparable to Wagner. It's true that Wagner played other positions before settling in at shortstop, but when he did he was the greatest defensive shortstop in the majors. A-Rod was a good shortstop, but not on Wagner's level, and he's not anything special as a defensive third baseman.

Rodriguez, over 2,383 games, has produced 3,067 runs. If you add his runs and RBI, then subtract HR, you get the total number of runs produced for his teams; we subtract homers because otherwise they count in both categories. Wagner, playing 2,792 games, produced 3,367. That's 1.29 per game for A-Rod, 1.21 for Wagner. Advantage, Rodriguez. But A-Rod plays in the steroid era, and Wagner played during the deadball era. In 1908, the average NL team scored 3.33 runs per game. In 2000, the average AL team scored 5.30 runs per game. Baseball-Reference.com estimates that if Rodriguez had played his whole career in the context of the 1908 Pirates, he'd have 1,274 RBI and 1,223 R. That's how stark this difference is. And remember, Wagner was a better defensive player, too.

This tool — what would stats look like in the context of a different year, league, or ballpark — is probably my favorite of the many awesome toys at Baseball-Reference, so let's look at a couple more items. First, Rodriguez's stats in 2000, projected to the 1908 Pirates, along with Wagner's actual stats for the '08 Pirates:

A-Rod: .270 / .368 / .519, 133 H, 31 HR, 88 RBI, 89 R
Honus: .354 / .415 / .542, 201 H, 10 HR, 109 RBI, 100 R

Now let's look at both seasons in the context of the 2000 Seattle Mariners:

A-Rod: .316 / .420 / .606, 175 H, 41 HR, 132 RBI, 134 R
Honus: .417 / .480 / .637, 272 H, 13 HR, 172 RBI, 157 R

Look, we have to take these numbers with a grain of salt. Would Wagner really have batted .417 in 2000? No. But I bet he would have hit 30 homers, and the 172 RBI I don't think is entirely out of the question if he was hitting between Edgar Martinez and Ken Griffey, Jr. Would Rodriguez have crushed 31 home runs in 1908, blowing away the previous record? No, I'm sure he wouldn't have. But I suspect he would have hit well over .300, with a bunch of doubles and triples giving him a slugging average right around that .519 the site estimated, which was phenomenal in 1908.

It's extremely difficult to compare players a century apart, but I think Wagner's degree of dominance makes it fairly easy in this case. The Dutchman ranks at the top, and it isn't close.

3. Cal Ripken, Jr.
.276 / .340 / .447
3184 H, 431 HR, 1695 RBI, 1647 R

I wrote a full article this Spring looking back on Ripken's career and explaining why I rank him here. I don't want to just reprint the thing, so I'll keep this short. Ripken is one of only eight players with both 3,000 hits and 400 home runs. The others are all outfielders or first basemen. Here you have this terrific defensive shortstop, and he hits like a corner outfielder.

4. Derek Jeter
.313 / .383 / .450
3003 H, 237 HR, 1159 RBI, 1727 R

How do you objectively evaluate such a polarizing player? As the biggest star for the New York Yankees, during a time when the team has been wildly successful (5 World Series titles), he is celebrated by fans of the team and reviled by the many people who loathe the Yankees as a symbol of much that is wrong with baseball. His smoothness and calm leadership inspire roughly equal amounts of hatred and admiration. His defensive play inspires soliloquys from the managers who have voted him five Gold Gloves, and disdain from the statheads whose numbers show Jeter as one of the worst defensive shortstops in the history of baseball. No one feels neutral about this guy.

Now that Jeter is at 3,000, has he passed Ripken? Not that I can see. Ripken still has more hits, and almost 1,000 more total bases, even though Jeter has played his whole career in the big-hitting Selig Era, and Ripken was years past his prime when the home run era came in. Plus, Ripken was a much better fielder.

Of course, falling short of Cal Ripken is nothing to be ashamed of. Jeter has seven 200-hit seasons. He's scored 100 runs 13 times. He's a 12-time All-Star, 1996 AL Rookie of the Year, top-10 in MVP voting seven times. He's been the leader in the clubhouse and on the field for multiple world champions, and has the most postseason at-bats of any player in history. He's a career .300 hitter at a demanding defensive position, and now he has 3,000 hits. Jeter actually is the only career shortstop in the 3,000-hit club. Wagner played several other positions before he settled in at short, Ripken ended his career at third, and Robin Yount spent almost half his career in the outfield.

5. Arky Vaughan
.318 / .406 / .453
2103 H, 96 HR, 926 RBI, 1173 R

In the 2003 New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, James named Vaughan the second-best shortstop in history (behind Wagner). He had Ripken third, Rodriguez and Jeter effectively unrated because they were still so early in their careers. James placed enormous emphasis on peak performance, and while that's certainly appropriate to a point, I think in Vaughan's case it went too far, almost arguing what might have been rather than what was.

Vaughan's career was quite short, 1,817 games, and everybody listed above him has played at least 500 more. I don't want to reward hang-around value any more than James did, but Vaughan left the game at age 31. Think about what Wagner and Rodriguez and Ripken and Jeter accomplished after turning 32. That's not hang-around value. Wagner at 32 was the best player in baseball. So was A-Rod. Ripken was AL MVP at 31, had over 1,000 hits after his 32nd birthday. Jeter has three 200-hit seasons since turning 32. That's not hang-around value. You don't judge a player by his five best seasons if he was a difference-maker in his sixth- and seventh-best.

James' argument for Vaughan centered largely on the excellence of Vaughan's 1935 season, when Vaughan led the majors in batting average (.385), on-base percentage (.491), OPS (1.098), and OPS+ (190). He led the AL in walks (97) and slugging (.607), scoring 108 runs and driving in 99. That's an incredible season. Was it better than Lou Boudreau in '48 or Yount in '82? Better than Ripken's MVP seasons? Maybe, I guess. I don't see that Vaughan's season stands out.

Boudreau in 1948 batted .355 with 106 RBI and 116 runs, and posted one of the most impressive BB:SO ratios in history, walking 98 times with just 9 strikeouts. Yount in 1982 hit .331 with 114 RBI and 129 runs. He led the majors in hits, doubles, total bases, slugging, and OPS. He won a Gold Glove at short. Ripken in '83 led the AL in hits, runs, and doubles, with 102 RBI for the eventual World Series champions. In '91, he batted .323 with 85 extra-base hits, led the majors in total bases (368), and was the best fielder in the league. Maybe Vaughan's season was a little better than those, maybe it wasn't. I wouldn't want 1935 to be the basis of my argument for ranking Vaughan ahead of Ripken or Jeter, though.

6. Robin Yount
.285 / .342 / .430
3142 H, 251 HR, 1406 RBI, 1632 R

A terrific hitter, but as a shortstop ... well, he was a better outfielder. Yount actually was quite a good center fielder, but (despite a Gold Glove in '82) he was not a particularly good defensive shortstop. His fielding percentage at short was just .964, and he was DH-ing regularly by the time he was 28. Like A-Rod, it's borderline whether he should even be listed as a shortstop, since Yount changed positions before his 30th birthday.

Rated as a shortstop, of course, his offense makes him one of the best players in history at the position. Yount is one of four shortstops with at least 3,000 hits (Wagner, Ripken, Jeter), plus he had some power (250 HR, 1400 RBI), he would take a walk (966 BB), and he was an aggressive baserunner (126 3B, 271 SB).

7. Barry Larkin
.295 / .371 / .444
2340 H, 198 HR, 960 RBI, 1329 R

Other than Wagner, probably the most well-rounded player on the list. Larkin hit for average (batted .300 eight times), had some power (double-digit HR nine times, high of 33), ran exceptionally well (379 SB, 83.1 SB%), and was a good fielder (three Gold Gloves). His weakest point is the power, but Larkin's slugging percentage is basically the same as those of Ripken (.447), Jeter (.450), Vaughan (.453), and Yount (.430).

He's likely to be elected next year, but Larkin's snubbing by the Hall of Fame voters is totally mysterious to me. He's a 12-time All-Star, won 9 Silver Sluggers and 3 Gold Gloves, 1995 NL MVP, with no scandals, no steroids, and no real weaknesses in his game. Dave Cameron at FanGraphs wrote an interesting piece following Roberto Alomar's election to Cooperstown comparing Alomar and Larkin. On paper, there's not much difference between them, and you almost wonder if the notoriety Alomar got from spitting on John Hirschbeck helped him get selected a year earlier than Larkin. No such thing as bad publicity.

8. Ernie Banks
.274 / .330 / .500
2583 H, 512 HR, 1636 RBI, 1305 R

A lot of people have started listing him as a first baseman instead of a shortstop. Banks did play more games and more innings at first, but his prime years were at short — that's where people remember him. Of course, the reason Banks played half his career at first is because he was a defensive liability at short, and that's an important aspect of his evaluation.

Banks was the first modern shortstop to hit with any power. Honus Wagner was the greatest slugger of his era, but that was before people hit home runs. Banks hit 40 HR five times, at a time when you were happy with your shortstop if you could hide him sixth or seventh in the lineup, maybe second if he could run a little. Banks couldn't run at all (50 SB, 53 CS), but he could hit the long ball.

9. Luke Appling
.310 / .399 / .398
2749 H, 45 HR, 1116 RBI, 1319 R

If Wagner and Larkin were the most well-rounded of the great shortstops, Appling and Banks fall on the other end of the spectrum. Banks was a great power hitter who couldn't do anything else. Appling hit .300 and walked 90 times a year and he could field, but he had no power and he wasn't a great baserunner.

Appling received MVP votes in 11 seasons, finishing second in 1936 and 1943. In '36, Appling hit .388 with 128 RBI. He walked 85 times and struck out just 25, scored 111 runs, and set career highs in almost every major batting category. The 1943 numbers came against wartime competition, but Appling led the AL in batting average (.328) and on-base percentage (.419). He walked three times as often as he struck out, stole 27 bases, and hit 33 doubles.

Appling's fielding acumen and ability to draw walks made him an effective player long after most shortstops have retired or moved across the infield. He hit .300 13 times, including five seasons after he turned 35. He was top-10 in MVP voting at 40, and at age 42 posted a .439 OBP, the second-highest of his career, in a full season (619 PA).

10. George Davis
.295 / .362 / .405
2665 H, 73 HR, 1440 RBI, 1545 R

Davis is a Hall of Famer, but I recognize that this is an unorthodox ranking. Davis played in the 1890s and the early 1900s. He wasn't on television, and he was long retired when baseball reached its zenith of popularity. You can get away with that if you're Honus Wagner and you're the most dominant player this side of Ruth. Davis was a great player, but he wasn't Wagner.

Davis' best year was 1897. He hit .353 with power (31 doubles, 10 triples, 10 HR), walked twice as often as he struck out, stole 65 bases, scored 112 runs, and led the majors in RBI (136). I don't know what his second-best season was. Maybe 1893, when he hit .355 with 27 triples and 119 RBI. It might have been 1905, when he was top-10 in the AL in BA, OBP, R, 2B, BB, and SB, and rates as probably the best fielder in baseball. It could have been 1904, or '06, or 1894, or several other years. Davis was a regular from age 19 to 37. He was a well-rounded offensive player who hit for average (.350 three times), walked more than he struck out, ran the bases well (163 3B, 619 SB), and played good defense. He's sort of been lost in the shuffle of time, and that's understandable, but I think a strong argument could be made that Davis should rank even higher than this.

11. Pee Wee Reese
.269 / .366 / .377
2170 H, 126 HR, 885 RBI, 1338 R

Pee Wee Reese never won an MVP award. But he finished in the top 10 in MVP voting eight times. That's more than Ripken (3), Jeter (7), Vaughan (2), Yount (2), Larkin (2), Banks (5), or Appling (3). Reese received MVP votes in 13 seasons, and he was a 10-time All-Star. He was a manager's wet dream of fundamentals: a great defensive player who walked a ton (1,210 BB), scored 90 runs eight times (NL-leading 132 in 1949), and in various years led the league in steals and sacrifice hits. Modern "smallball" managers would love Reese (as long as they recognized the value of a walk). He lost three seasons of his prime to World War II.

12. Alan Trammell
.285 / .352 / .415
2365 H, 185 HR, 1003 RBI, 1231 R

Worshipped by stat geeks, scorned by Cooperstown. Trammell was a four-time Gold Glove at shortstop, and he could hit. He batted .300 seven times and had some power, won three Silver Sluggers and would have had more except for Ripken. How is that not a Hall of Famer? A celebrated defensive player at the game's most important fielding position, and he can actually hit? Trammell's career is not terribly long, so he doesn't have the counting stats. He didn't get anywhere near 3,000 hits, and the '80s were not especially hitter-friendly, so he was below .300 for his career.

Trammell in 1987 hit .343 with 100 runs, 100 RBI, 30 doubles, 28 homers, stole 21 bases and was caught stealing just twice.

Outside the Top 12

Joe Cronin
.301 / .390 / .468
2285 H, 170 HR, 1424 RBI, 1233 R

An exceptional player, obviously, but like many stars of the big-hitting '30s, he's overrated. Cronin was a career .300 hitter, but he never ranked higher than 10th in batting average.

Lou Boudreau
.303 / .384 / .497
2176 H, 284 HR, 1205 RBI, 1186 R

Like Reese, he was top-10 in MVP balloting eight times. Unlike Reese, he did win, in 1948. Boudreau hit exactly 45 doubles three times, leading the majors each year. He also led the league in caught stealing and grounding into double plays once each.

Ozzie Smith
.262 / .337 / .328
2460 H, 28 HR, 580 RBI, 1257 R

I'm a Cardinals fan. Ozzie is a hero in St. Louis, probably more than anyone this side of Stan Musial. He was perhaps the greatest fielder in history, truly deserving of his "Wizard" nickname. But he couldn't hit. Ripken hit as many home runs as a rookie (28) as Smith did in his whole career. Ozzie saved a lot of runs with his glove, but give me Trammell's bat instead and I'll take it.

Dave Concepción
.267 / .322 / .357
2326 H, 101 HR, 950 RBI, 993 R

My colleague Davan S. Mani asked where Concepción might rate among shortstops. I don't have an exact number in mind, but certainly not in the top 20. He was a good fielder, but his fame was mostly a result of playing for the Big Red Machine, being in the right place at the right time. Subtract Bench and Morgan and Rose, and Concepción was Ozzie Lite. Both were good baserunners, but it didn't matter because they were never on base. They didn't hit for average, they didn't hit for power, and they didn't walk. Ripken was the best player in the American League two or three times. Concepción was never even the best player on his own team.

Tino Martinez won four World Series. Does that make him a great teammate whose extraordinary talents weren't obvious to fans, or does it just mean that he held down a job on the same team as guys like Jeter and Bernie Williams and Mariano Rivera? Concepción could have been Neifi Perez and the Reds were still going to win.

16-20

Cronin, Boudreau, and Smith fill out my top 15, probably in that order. The rest of the top 20:

16. Bill Dahlen
17. Nomar Garciaparra
18. Jim Fregosi
19. Phil Rizzuto
20. Miguel Tejada

Posted by Brad Oremland at 11:27 AM | Comments (6)

July 11, 2011

Locked Out Twice?

What if there were no sports?

Back in the 1990s, the folks at Nike posed this question to us in a memorable black and white commercial that had either Jackie Joyner-Kersey or Charles Barkley or Michael Jordan narrating. The question was hard to fathom, which was what made the ad so compelling.

No sports? What do you mean no sports? How could there not be any sports?

The answer, boys and girls, is labor disputes.

And so here we stand, for the first time ever in the history of American sports, where perhaps the two most prominent leagues, with the biggest most recognizable players, are in a lockout that threatens to cancel the 2011-12 season two times over. No Super Bowl, no NBA Finals. No Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Ray Lewis, Adrian Peterson, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Paul Pierce, Dirk Nowitzki, or Kevin Durant. Okay, so maybe its not "no sports," but it essentially cuts our sports world in half.

They are the sports of the greatest amounts of pure athleticism. Breathtaking as guards take to the air with a slight angle for a reverse lay-up and running backs juke and spin away from tacklers. Baseball and hockey, by contrast, are sports dictated more by skill. The practices of skating, stick handling, or swinging a bat all involve intense commitment and repetitive practice in order to be great. In the world of the NBA and NFL, the natural physical gifts jump out at you and seem to explode off the screen, capturing the imagination. How can we fly like that or run or move like that? That's why that list of names in the paragraph above is so impressive. The star power in the names alone trump those of baseball and hockey, at least in this current era.

Ironically, these are the two sports in which we have never lost a full season due to a labor dispute. The NHL had to cancel its season in 2005, a year in which the Stanley Cup was never lifted. Some wondered what would come of the struggling league that had just lost its deal with ESPN and was doomed to some obscure channel called the Outdoor Life Network. The sport recovered and is stronger and more popular now than it was before the lockout.

The 1994 baseball strike cancelled the final third of a potential record-breaking season along with the playoffs. Baseball fans in Montreal still lose sleep over this. Overall, baseball had a difficult transition recovering from the strike as angry fans turned their back on the sport for the first few years. It took a steroid-driven home run barrage to win back much of the jaded, yet still naïve fans in 1998.

The NBA has only had one labor dispute, which cut short its 1999 season to 50 games, while the NFL played strike-shortened seasons in 1982 and '87, still the playoffs and championships were carried out like normal. No harm, no foul.

So what would things look like for the average fan if we subtracted these two seasons from the calendar? Imagine a November where the only pro sport we have to follow is hockey. In December, there would be no final frantic meaningful football games as teams battle for playoff spots. No Boomer and T.J. highlights on The Blitz Sunday night.

NFL and NBA fans would have to migrate towards their college counterparts to get their fix. The NCAA seasons still begin roughly around the same time as their respective pro seasons would have started. NCAA hoops and football ratings would enjoy a comfortable spike, especially as college football's regular season winds down and teams battle for a spot in the BCS title game. There would be one pro alternative — the fledgeling United Football League starts its first season this August. No, it is not backed by Vince McMahon, if that matters at all. Any takers? Didn't think so.

How will we cope through the long winter months of January and February with no playoff football, only hockey and college hoops, none of which mean anything yet? The first Sunday in February will be nothing more than another cold day in the dead of winter.

What about the three month stretch of April, May, and June when all there is to watch is early season baseball and playoff hockey? Some of you will adapt and get yourself glued to that action-packed sheet of ice featuring 12 angry anonymous Canadians. If ratings are any indication, most of you will simply go through withdrawals instead. No NBA Finals on the days between Stanley Cup Finals games. All of you who complained the NBA playoffs were too long will sorely miss all of it.

Luckily, the NFL labor dispute is on the edge of being resolved, as we are at least being told there may be a deal struck by the end of this week. If the season does start on time, there does not seem to be anything in place for the 18-game schedule the gluttonous owners so desperately wanted. Crisis averted there. Perhaps this is the one labor dispute where we cannot chastise greedy athletes for not being satisfied with big paychecks because the inherent greed to the point of stupidity by the owners is so apparent.

The NBA lockout has just started and thus, they are nowhere near an agreement. David Stern is a notoriously brutal negotiator, and thus there is a much higher percentage chance we will be left only without an NBA season, even after the thrilling NBA Finals that made such a liar out of me in my last column in this space. LeBron may not win a title next year, either, and this time, it may not even be his fault.

But, as of now, no deal has been done in either sport, and until there is one, I leave you all with one simple question. How much do you love hockey?

Posted by Bill Hazell at 2:49 PM | Comments (0)

An All-Star's Break

Predictably, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter — the two most famous players on world's most famous baseball team — were voted into starting roles in Tuesday's All-Star Game. But to the surprise of some, the duo chose to skip the festivities in favor of three days of rest.

To those shocked by their choice, I have a message: this isn't your father's All-Star Game.

Jeter, days off a DL-stint for a calf injury, and Rodriguez, with an apparent minor meniscus tear, made a choice that might be galling to some, but we should have seen coming.

There was a time when All-Star Games were unique. Ted Williams would get five at-bats in a game. Pete Rose would hustle on the base paths. Pitchers would go through the opposing batting order more than once. Even as recently as the mid-'90s, John Kruk stood in against his left-handed counterpart, Randy Johnson, only to have his first look at the Big Unit's fastball sail above his head and set his heart racing. But as of 2011, two main things have changed, making the All-Star Game a painfully antiquated relic.

1. Interleague Play

The merits of Bug Selig's AL-NL experiment have been weighed often in other quarters. But one clear downside is that cross-league matchups of teams and individuals are far less rare. The cool thing about Kruk standing in against Randy Johnson was that you understood Kruk had only second-hand knowledge of this towering beast of the other league. It was like he was a baseball tourist sampling a dish he knew would never be replicated back home.

But now the uniqueness is gone. Players change teams and leagues far more frequently than they did a generation ago, and, moreover, Interleague Play cyclically exhausts new pitcher-batter combinations. The All-Star Game just does not have that market cornered anymore.

2. The Great Tie of 2002

With the 2002 All-Star Game tied at seven in the 11th inning, both squads had their last pitcher in the game. After meeting with both managers, Selig decided that if the 11th ended without lead, the game would end as a tie.

Selig frequently gets a raw deal for this. Presented with two bad options, he made a pragmatic choice and more or less stood behind it. I often wonder if reaction would have been different had the game gone 15 or 16 innings. Even in 2002, the game was clearly an exhibition, so why force everyone to go through the motions?

However, right or wrong, Selig's Draw made two realities about the All-Star Game perfectly clear. First, it resembled a regular season baseball game as much as the WWE resembles Olympic wrestling (Kurt Angle aside). The prevailing philosophy about the game had been that while the first half or two-thirds of the game was light-hearted and irreverent, both sides "got serious" when the outcome was in question in the final innings. The 2002 game seriously altered that framework.

Baseball, as defined by its own rules and common sense, cannot end in a tie. The 2002 game ended in a tie. Thus, the 2002 All-Star Game was not really baseball, and because this scenario could happen any year, none of them were.

Secondly, the outcome of this near-baseball exhibition is a lower priority than all of its participants leaving in the same condition they arrived: proud to have been there and completely healthy. Freddy Garcia and Vicente Padilla, the two pitchers when the 2002 game ended, were both starters. They each only pitched two innings and could certainly have thrown more. But with health as such a focus, the tie sent a clear message: we would rather change the rules of the game than start to risk a player's pristine condition.

These two evolutions of the All-Star Game — dilution of the AL-NL matchup scarcity and the admission of the game's priorities — make Jeter and Rodriguez's decision to stay away not only understandable but even deserving of praise. If either player had gone to Arizona, he certainly would have told AL manager Ron Washington that there were several limitations on what he could do, if he could do anything at all. Instead, by not attending, both players relieve Washington of having to balance the line between risking injury aggravation and embarrassing the player as well as open a roster spot for a willing participant.

Jeter, especially, has taken heat for not playing considering he has been off the DL for a week and just earned his 3,000th career hit. But in an era where every star athlete's motives and attitudes are reviewed by a blood-thirsty public, finding fault in the Yankee shortstop's decision is difficult. Jeter is not only coming off his first DL trip in nearly a decade, but he is in the last throes of his physical stardom. If he thinks three days of not playing baseball will best prepare him for the rest of this season, his priorities and actions seem to be aligned.

Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez did not make the All-Star Game irrelevant. Their absence is just a symptom of the game's chronic maladies.

Posted by Corrie Trouw at 8:52 AM | Comments (0)

July 8, 2011

Foul Territory: Homer Crunchers and Carpet Munchers

* Carpet Muncher, or Serb and Turf, or Djoko Oh No. 1 — Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon final on Sunday and assumed the ATP's No. 1 ranking on Monday. Djokovic dispatched Nadal 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, then knelt at Centre Court and shoved a handful of grass in his mouth. Tournament referees were amused by Djokovic's celebration, glad to see something foul going in to a tennis player's moth as opposed to coming out of it.

* Juuust a Bit Obvious, or One Would Think Someone With Adonis DNA Wouldn't Need Steroids — Charlie Sheen admitted he took steroids during the filming of the 1989 movie Major League for his role as hard-throwing rebel Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn. Sheen also claims he was injected by Jose Canseco in No Man's Land, an assertion Canseco vehemently disputed.

* Man of Devour, or Oriental Noogie — Joey Chestnut ate 62 hot dogs on July 4th to win the Nathan's International Hot Dog Eating Contest for the fifth straight year. Chestnut's main rival, Takeru Kobayashi, ineligible for the competition due to a contract dispute, ate simultaneously in a midtown Brooklyn bar while the competition aired on ESPN. Kobayashi claimed to have scarfed down 69 weiners, a mark that, if recognized, would break Chestnut's record of 68. Chestnut was skeptical of the Japanese's alleged accomplishment, saying there are likely millions of people who have done 69 in a Brooklyn bar.

* Canadian Beacon— Toronto Blue Jays outfield Jose Bautista was the top vote-getter for July 12th's All-Star Game in Phoenix, getting 7.4 million votes. Bautista, who leads the league in home runs in 2010, leads baseball with 28 dingers this year, and recently homered off Phillies aces Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee. Bautista has remained humble, as his head, and not even his feet, have enlarged. Thankfully, he's a home run hero who's not on steroids, although as his gaudy numbers would suggest, he's tested positive for "crank."

* Hoop Dreams — The NBA lockout went into effect at midnight last Thursday when the league's collective bargaining agreement expired. Players and owners remained far apart on nearly every major issue, with neither side showing any indication of budging from their positions. It's the most "defense" seen in the NBA in years.

* Haye, Goodbye, or Wlad the Assailer, or the Judges Scored it 10-9 (in Unbroken Toes) For Klitschko — Russia's Wladimir Klitschko beat Englishman David Haye by unanimous decision in Hamburg, Germany, adding the WBA belt to his IBF heavyweight title. Afterwards, Haye claimed a broken toe suffered three weeks before the fight contributed to his loss. To prove his point, Haye showed his toe to reporters in a press conference, most of whom discounted his revelation, adding to the list of people in Haye's life not impressed with his swollen member.

* Dive Turkey, or Levet-athan, or Open Wound, or Shin Splint — French Golfer Thomas Levet, celebrating his win in the French Open, jumped into a lake at Le Golf National and suffered a small fracture to his shin. The injury forced him to withdraw from the British Open, ending his chances of becoming the first golfer to win the Open with one handicap.

* 14 and Counting, Very Slowly — Tiger Woods will skip the British Open as he continues to heal from knee and Achilles injuries that have already caused him to miss the U.S. Open. Doctors have advised Woods to stay off his feet, words the former world No. 1 was happy to hear, because everyone knows Woods loves a good "lay."

* Advantage ESPN, or Bristol Method — ESPN will televise Wimbledon next year, ending NBC's 43-year broadcasting run of the Grand Slam tournament. ESPN announcer Chris Berman has already started nicknaming tennis stars, such as Caroline "Woz Not" Wozniacki, Roger "K" Federer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga "'N Dance," Rafael "Guys" Nadal(s), Andy "Spare The" Roddick, Robin "Say It Ain't" Soderling, Vera "Warren" Zvonareva, Andrea "Teacher's" Petkovic, and Li "Sha Na" Na.

* Surely, This Defense Won't Win a Gold Glove, or Misremembrance of Things Past — Roger Clemens' defense team plans to argue that his personal trainer Brian McNamee blackmailed Clemens with manufactured evidence, with the intent to get McNamee a job. Clemens' defense team plans to assert "a lot of gauze" in their case, while the prosecution will counter with "a lot of gall" in their argument.

* Girls, Interrupted — The U.S. women's soccer team lost to Sweden 2-1 on Wednesday, their first loss ever in group play at the World Cup. The Americans finished second in Group C and advanced to face Brazil, led by Erika, Marta, and Christiane, in the quarterfinals. The U.S. beat Brazil in the last two Olympic finals, so they are quite familiar with their South American foes, almost as if they're on a first-name basis.

* She's Gotta Have it, or Mail Order Bridezilla — Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Roy Williams is suing former beauty queen Brooke Daniels for the return of a $76,000 engagement ring used in a marriage proposal through the mail. Daniels says she lost the ring, but an insurance investigation determined her father had the diamond. Michael Daniels said he plans to return the ring. That's good news for Williams, in that at least one member of the Daniels family plans to give it up.

Posted by Jeffrey Boswell at 1:51 PM | Comments (0)

To High Tides From Green Grass

Just like the old Outlaws song, the tennis world is off to "high tides" from the "green grass."

Wimbledon is over. The nets have been taken down on many of the grass courts, and the process of renewing the surface has already begun. The sun is still shining on SW19, but the crowds have left, sending life back to its normal pace.

Unless, of course, you live in Serbia. Novak Djokovic, the 2011 men's champion, returned to Serbia and was greeted with a party the likes of only Goran Ivanisevic has ever seen. It is reported that conservatively 100,000 Serbians piled into the streets of Belgrade to welcome home their new tennis hero. That is essentially the size of the crowds when U2 plays Wembley Stadium, or the crowd at the Super Bowl. Its also almost 2% of the entire population of the Balkan country. That is one heck of a party.

Djokovic's dominant win over Rafael Nadal clearly signaled that 2011 is the year of Djoko. As of today, he stands at 48-1 in matchplay this year, winning all his tournaments but one, and that was his semifinal loss to Roger Federer at the French Open just a month ago. Along the way, he has defeated Nadal a handful of times, Federer twice, Andy Murray, and pretty much every top-five player right now. He has been stellar on every surface. Entering the U.S. summer hard-court season it is hard to see any way that he is not the odds on favorite to win his third major tournament this year, the U.S. Open, in September. If Djoko does, it will be one of the most dominant seasons of a champ on the men's tour in decades.

Djokovic's win cements Serbia as the new tennis power. On the women's side, Jelena Jankovic has held the number one ranking, and she has made the semis of the French Open twice, the Aussie and U.S. Open once, and the U.S. Open final once. Ana Ivanovic has already won the French Open and has been in the finals of the French and Australian and the semis at Wimbledon. Fellow countryman Janko Tipsarevic has been a consistent threat on the ATP World Tour for the past several years and remains above 30 in the rankings.

Just a couple of years ago, this would not be the case. Switzerland, with Federer, and Belgium, with Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin, held the enviable position. Now the dominance has shifted east. It is interesting that tennis dominance in the past decade or so has come from the small countries. The shift began with the Swedes in the 1980s, moved to Germany for a couple of years, Switzerland, and now Serbia. The social dynamics of this are almost as interesting and compelling as the champions that come from those places.

Na Li put China on the map for the first time with her great victory at Roland Garros this year, and it is true that China has only been playing on the world stage for about a decade. It is hard to understand, though, the fact that with a population as large as China's that it has not and does not dominate tennis, and that with the very limited resources most of these smaller states have they now do.

Tennis champions from the former Soviet Republics are not new. Going back to Jaroslav Drobny, a Czech-born, Eqyptian-naturalized Wimbledon and French champion of the 1950s, through Jan Kodes, Ilie Nastase, and of course Martina Navratilova, these small nations had strong tennis roots and programs. The fact that communist governments during the 1950s through the 1980s rarely let their athletes compete outside of the communist block is probably a great reason why more champions did not come from Eastern Europe. After the Wall fell and Russia went from a huge socialist republic to a small nation-state, Russia became a tennis hotbed of talent, lead of course by Anna Kournikova and Marat Safin.

Even the Wimbledon women's final was dominated by Eastern Europe. Petra Kvitova became the fourth Czech to win on the lawns of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet club, convincingly matching Russian-born Maria Sharapova shot for shot in a final full of power and grace. Kvitova's game showed more power and more aggressive play than is normally found from the tennis academy molded women's tour, and signaled that she may be the next to live up to her potential. Kvitova had one of the more difficult draws in the tournament, and her victory over former Wimbledon champ Sharapova was unexpected.

Lost among what was clearly a wonderful tournament is the now clear relegation of the U.S. to a lesser tennis power. Serena and Venus Williams played well, especially given their time away from the game, but it is clear that their dominance is over. Bethanie Mattek-Sands may be the U.S. woman's number one, but that shows just where the game is right now. The usual suspects on the men's side, led now by Mardy Fish and then Andy Roddick, have shown that they don't have the drive or muscle to win the biggest of tournaments. When the lone bright spot are Bob and Mike Bryan, the Bryan Brothers, who again captured another Wimbledon doubles title and continue their rule over the men's doubles world.

In just 45 days, we will get to see who will rise to the top of the U.S. Open championships. Will it be Roddick? The Williams? My money is on someone from a country smaller than the population of New York City.

Posted by Tom Kosinski at 10:47 AM | Comments (4)

July 7, 2011

Spotlights and Hot Seats: Predictions

As we get nearer towards the 2011 season, I figure it's time to take a look at some teams whose coaches are under the gun to win this season, as well as some teams who are entering new eras as they say goodbye to their former conferences.

The spotlight is bright on these coaches and teams. So how should they fare in 2011?

Let's start with the teams with the most pressure to win.

Georgia

Mark Richt has done, for the most part, an admirable job in guiding the Bulldog program. Richt broke the Florida/Tennessee dominance of early division times, won SEC titles, and led UGA to one of its more successful eras. However, there was no question the Bulldogs struggled in 2010. Loaded with young talent, Georgia never seemed to get it completely together, and after a shockingly ugly loss to UCF in the Liberty Bowl, the fans are restless.

But there is hope still in Athens. Aaron Murray returns for his sophomore season after throwing for over 3,000 yards as a freshman. The defense, adjusting to Todd Grantham's 3-4 scheme, could be one of the best in the SEC. The season though could boil down to the first two games of the year: Boise State in Atlanta and South Carolina in Athens. Should UGA win both, it could be Richt's saving grace. If they go 0-2, the heat under Richt will be scorching.

Prediction — Georgia goes 1-1, but ends on a hot streak, going 9-3 and keeping Richt for one more year in Athens.

New Mexico

Did anyone remember the 70-plus point pasting Oregon dropped on the Lobos last year? Mike Locksley's first two years have been about as disastrous as possible. I don't expect this one to be any different. Arkansas, TCU and Boise all could hang big numbers on New Mexico this season.

Prediction — The Lobos will win two games and Locksley will land on his feet, taking a vacant assistant coach's position.

UTEP

Mike Price has to be longing for the days of Pullman. The Miners, while throwing somewhat of a lackluster offensive punch, have still yet to achieve the success of Price's old teams. UTEP fans are growing more restless every season, especially watching TCU's Rose Bowl win and SMU's quick rise under June Jones. While the offense lost a lot from last year's squad, notably QB Trevor Vittatoe, the schedule is favorable for UTEP this year and a winning season will be the expectation in El Paso.

Prediction — UTEP goes 7-5 in the regular season, keeping Price around one more year, but not taking any heat off of his seat.

Washington State

Speaking of Pullman, they are missing Mike Price just as much as he is the folks in Cougar Country. Paul Wulff's squad was a little better last year than years past ... and the win over Oregon State was nice, but still not nearly good enough to compete in the old Pac-10, now Pac-12. Now, the line is drawn. It's win or go home for Wulff as the Cougars try to step it up in the new look conference. If they are to do that, the Cougars must have a running game to take some of the pressure off of Jeff Tuel.

Prediction — I only see one sure win for Wazzu. I'll pick them 3-9 this year, sending Wulff out the door. Don't be surprised if the Cougars look at Auburn OC Gus Malzahn, but I'm not thinking right now he'd take the job.

Now, for some of the teams who took off for newer, and possibly greener pastures.

Nebraska

The Huskers would get a lot more hype had Ohio State not been enveloped under scandal. While Wisconsin might be an early favorite with the addition of Russell Wilson, Nebraska will come into the Big Ten with a loaded football team. The blackshirts should have no trouble adjusting to Big Ten football, and I think the rest of the conference could be in for a rude awakening, courtesy of the folks from Lincoln.

Prediction — Nebraska holds off Michigan State, wins the (gag) "Legends" division, and promptly beats Wisconsin in the inaugural Big Ten title game, earning a trip to Pasadena.

Colorado

A new coach, a new conference, a new beginning in Boulder. I might in the minority here, but I like Jon Embree's chances to succeed at CU. A brutal schedule and adjusting team will provide chances to take plenty of lumps this year, but keep an eye down the road on the Buffs.

Prediction — Playing 13 games, CU will pull a couple of upsets, but finish 4-9.

Utah

A pretty decent football team to begin with, the Utes now are on a mission to prove their legitimacy amongst the BCS boys. Norm Chow will add instant spark to the Ute offense. When Utah was bad last season, they were really bad. They can't afford the same clunkers as last year, but one intangible to think about is that Utah won every close game they played last year. Kyle Wittingham knows exactly what he's doing in Salt Lake City.

Prediction — They won't win 10 games this year, but 7-5 and a bowl game seems reasonable. Give Utah a couple of years before they make serious noise in the Pac-12.

BYU

While I don't think BYU will carry the ratings day like most conferences do, much less Notre Dame, the Cougars will have one intriguing season to begin their independent era. If BYU opens 0-2, losing to Ole Miss and Texas, there will be a lot of griping from the folks in Provo, hoping this move out of the Mountain West will pay off. However, watch Jake Heaps and the Cougar offense ... they will make things interesting every week.

Prediction — BYU goes 9-3 and waltzes into a bowl game, pleasing the faithful who sigh in relief. They will fall to Utah though in the Holy War.

Posted by Jean Neuberger at 12:44 PM | Comments (0)

July 6, 2011

The New Dominant Duo in Men's Tennis

If you've been following men's tennis throughout 2011, the fact that Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic met in the finals of Wimbledon was no great surprise. In fact, it was almost to be expected, despite the fact that six-time champion Roger Federer came in as second favorite after beating Djokovic at Roland Garros. Djokovic and Nadal had met in four finals in 2011 before Sunday, Djokovic taking them all. Still, the Serb was considered the underdog, despite the French Open loss to Federer being his only defeat during an incredible 2011 season.

It's time to forget about Djokovic being an underdog to anybody for the foreseeable future.

The men's game for several years has been defined by the Federer/Nadal duopoly. And why not? Until this year's Australian Open, the two players won 21 of 23 grand slam events dating back to 2005.

With Nadal and Djokovic now holding the last six slam titles, it's likely that the current top two will occupy a similar position of dominance.

Where does that leave Federer in the upper tier of the sport's best? Some have included the all-time Grand Slam champion as part of a big three with Rafa and Nole. On recent form, especially in the slams, it's tough to see how such a distinction is all but recognition of a superlative past decade.

Don't get me wrong; Federer is still producing the kind of results that everyone but the top two and maybe Andy Murray would kill for. While his astonishing streak of 23 straight grand slam semifinals ended over a year ago, he has still made it to 29 straight slam quarters. His best is good enough to beat the (now) No. 1 player in the world, as shown in Paris. However, he's a step slower than his graceful best. His return game in the biggest of matches and points now leaves a little bit to be desired. Once he starts being outplayed in a match (see the Wimbledon quarters loss against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as a case in point), he doesn't seem to have the extra gear he once possessed. At his best, only Nadal was able to beat him consistently. In 2011, players around the top 10 and above can beat him if they play a great match.

Of course, writing off Federer completely is a cautionary proposition. The last time so many seemed to doubt him, he won three of the next four slams and got to the fifth set in the final of the other. A likely outcome for the remainder of Federer's career would be to win Masters Series events at a semi-regular clip and possibly win another Slam towards the end of his career like Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi did.

However, the onset of a Djokovic/Nadal order in tennis is far more about Djokovic's rise than Federer's decline.

After several years of being a mainstay in the top five, but never seriously challenging for the No. 1 ranking, Djokovic made some significant changes to his game and his diet. His serve in the past could at best be called nervous and at worst a train wreck. His serve today won't be confused with Ivo Karlovic or Andy Roddick, but it's a now a significant weapon instead of a liability. Djokovic has always been one of the best returners of serve in the game, and that has continued to be the case. His groundstrokes have always been solid, but even those have improved during his 49-1 2011 season, especially his forehand.

Djokovic's movement and court coverage, never poor before 2011, have improved as well. Sometime late last year, Djokovic's nutritionist, Igor Cetojevic, discovered that the Serb had an allergy to gluten. It's unclear to me if Djokovic had celiac disease, but he cut out all foods with gluten anyway. The weight Djokovic lost along with a less starch-filled diet have seen him be able to get to just about any ball and have plenty left over in the tank afterwards.

When Djokovic and Nadal play now, Rafa looks to be the more tired one as the match clicks over into the later sets. This is an incredible development from a player who once was panned by nearly everyone in the tennis world for having poor conditioning, forcing him to retire from best-of-five set matches. A common joke before this year was that Djokovic only needed to retire from the US Open to achieve the Career Grand Slam in retirements.

An interesting footnote to Djokovic's gluten-free lifestyle is that the breakout star of the women's draw at Wimbledon, Sabine Lisicki, recently went to a gluten-verboten regiment after suffering from severe cramps at Roland Garros. Lisicki was found to have a similar allergy to Djokovic. After changing her diet, she won a Wimbledon tune-up event on grass in Birmingham, England and then made the semifinals at SW19. It's intuitively preposterous to suggest, but one wonders if cutting out the substance could help improve the fortunes of players on both tours.

For Rafa, Djokovic's emergence must worry the Spaniard on a significant level. In Djokovic, there is now a player who can match Rafa shot-for-shot, cover as much ground and looks to be conditioned nearly as well. Before 2011, Nadal could have forced Djokovic into chasing his brilliant groundstrokes and been successful (much as he did in last year's US Open final). In Sunday's match, Djokovic played the longer points better than Nadal, forcing the 10-time slam winner into many crucial errors. The success on longer points has been a common thread for Djokovic in the two players' five 2011 meetings.

On Monday, it was revealed that Nadal suffered a hairline fracture in his left foot during his fourth round match with Juan Martin Del Potro. He is scheduled to miss about six weeks, putting his return date a couple weeks before the U.S. Open. For the most ardent Rafa supporters, the injury will serve evidence that no one has a chance to beat Nadal when he is fully fit. However, such a claim ignores the fact that injuries, given Rafa's hard-charging, all-out style and previous are going to happen. If Rafa were to somehow dial back his game, he would be changing what made him such a great champion to begin with. Even if he comes back in August and is less than 100%, he will still be one of the favorites to win at Flushing Meadows.

Last year, when Rafa was winning three consecutive slams, Federer's form was beginning to drop and Djokovic not at the level he is now, the Era of Rafa looked to be underway. As much as dominance in sport is to be heralded, dominance by two people in the prime of their careers who can push each other to new heights is something to be appreciated at another level.

Djokovic's superhuman 2011 record won't continue forever, as Rafa has insinuated in interviews. Not even Federer at his 2004-2007 peak was putting together 49-1 stretches regularly. Nadal is too good not to find tactics that will work against Djokovic as they play more. When he does, tennis will be at an even better place than it currently is.

Posted by Ross Lancaster at 1:53 PM | Comments (0)

NASCAR Top 10 Power Rankings: Week 17

Note: the quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Kevin Harvick — Harvick led 16 laps and finished seventh in the Coke Zero 400, posting his 10th top-10 result of the year. He overtook Carl Edwards, who struggled in finishing 37th, atop the Sprint Cup point standings, and now leads Edwards by five.

"The car says 'King of Beers,'" Harvick said. "But the point standings say 'King of Peers.' If this is what a handshake with Kyle Busch gets me, I can only begin to imagine the possibilities, but I'll try not to for the sake of my manhood. But, the points lead in July is much like an insincere handshake — meaningless."

2. Carl Edwards — Edwards No. 99 Ford, paired up with teammate Greg Biffle, got loose in the draft on lap 23, and Edwards spun into the inside retaining wall. The damage to the car's rear required lengthy repairs, and Edwards finished 37th, 26 laps down. He dropped from first to second in the point standings, and is now five behind Kevin Harvick.

"The damage to the No. 99 Subway caused exhaust fumes to enter the car," Edwards said. "That was simply more than I could handle. No, not the temperature, but the jokes about whether or not I wanted it 'toasted.'

"But my trouble with the 'back end' allowed Kevin Harvick to 'back in' to the points lead. That's fine with me. Now, without the pressure of the points lead, I can concentrate on contract talks. I may have been 'un-seated'; now, I can proceed in earnest with getting 're-seated.'"

3. Kyle Busch — Busch fell back from the front after contact from Jeff Gordon damaged the No. 18 JGR Toyota with three laps to go at Daytona. Busch restarted 18th after pitting for repairs, and he picked his way through late-race carnage to deliver a fifth-place finish. Busch improved two spots in the point standings to third, and trails Kevin Harvick by 10.

"Surprisingly," Busch said, "I drafted well with Joey Logano. Our cars ran extremely well nose to tail. What do you get when you pair the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota and the No. 18 Interstate Battery car together? 'Domestic Battery.'

"And speaking of other 'unlikely pairs,' how about the right hands of Kevin Harvick and I? Other unlikely pairs? My brother Kurt and a happy wife. Red Bull crew members and political correctness. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and victory. Richard Childress and a 2011 without probation."

4. Jimmie Johnson — As he had in April's win at Talladega, Johnson hooked up with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the draft at Daytona, and the duo look poised to challenge up front as the laps wound down in the Coke Zero 400. But after Johnson pitted during a caution with two laps to go, and Earnhardt didn't, the tandem was separated. Instead, Johnson hooked up with Jeff Gordon's No. 24, but the No. 48 was collected in a last lap crash that dropped him to a finish of 20th.

"I hear that Earnhardt fans are livid at me for leaving Dale hanging," Johnson said. "It seems that Junior Nation was unhappy with the state of the 'union,' and they let me hear about it. But I fired back on my Twitter account, where I essentially gave Junior Nation the finger. Call it the 'Tweet-y bird.'

"But let's be serious. How is Jimmie Johnson pushing Junior advantageous to me? I'm pushing Junior. That means I'm behind him. That in itself means I have no chance of winning."

5. Kurt Busch — Busch's No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge suffered damage on a lap 163 restart, and after repairs, he was 26th in the second green-white-checkered restart on lap 168. On the final turn, a wild crash ensued as the field roared to the checkered. Busch, with the help of his spotter, avoided damage this time, and came home 14th. He remained fourth in the point standings, and is 16 out of first.

"At Daytona," Busch said, "as in relationships, it's all about finding the right partner. And, in both cases, it's easy to get out of line, which is what happens when you lose a draft partner, for example, or kiss another woman in Victory Lane. Often, it all boils down to timing. Squeezing through a multi-car crash: good timing. Announcing your marriage is ending after publicly kissing another woman: bad timing."

6. Matt Kenseth — Kenseth pushed Roush Fenway Racing teammate David Ragan to the win at Daytona, and Kenseth claimed the runner-up spot, his ninth top-five finish of the year. Ragan and Kenseth were a formidable tandem all night, combining to lead 29 laps. Kenseth moved up one spot to fifth in the point standings, and is 22 out of first.

"With apologies to NASCAR's drug policy," Kenseth said, "and even more apologies to the great Curtis Mayfield, I'm proud to say to David Ragan, 'I'm your pusher, man.' Ragan was driving the UPS car, but I delivered the package.

"There was a lot of talk at Daytona about drivers leaving their draft partners, but with Crown Royal's sponsorship leaving the No. 17 car, it appears I'm the one that really was hung out to 'dry.'"

7. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. — Earnhardt lost drafting partner Jimmie Johnson when Johnson pitted during a caution with three laps to go in regulation at Daytona. On the restart, Earnhardt resumed without Johnson's push, and, after getting collected in a final-turn crash, Earnhardt finished 19th. He remained seventh in the Sprint Cup point standings, and now trails Kevin Harvick by 52.

"I was enjoying the push from the No. 48," Earnhardt said. "Then, with little warning, he was gone, causing a great deal of confusion and leaving my race in disarray. It was a case of 'helper skelter.'

"As you know, I'm not a big fan of the type of racing prevalent at Daytona now. It's a lot like a restrictor plate — it sucks."

8. Jeff Gordon — Gordon survived a spin with three laps to go at Daytona, miraculously keeping his car off the wall, then hooked up in the draft with Kyle Busch for a charge that netted Gordon a sixth. It was Gordon's seventh top-10 finish of the year, and he advanced one place to eighth in the point standings.

"The two Red Bull cars checked up," Gordon said, "leaving me, much like Red Bull drivers themselves, nowhere to go."

9. Denny Hamlin — Hamlin spent most of Saturday's Coke Zero 400 paired up with Ryan Newman's No. 39, and the duo was in the mix near the end. But Newman got loose on the final lap, upsetting their two-car draft, and Hamlin fell back before being collected in a multi-car wreck. He finished 13th, and is now 11th in the point standings, 91 out of first.

"Congratulations to David Ragan for a job well done," Hamlin said. "That was an unexpected win for the No. 6 car. As the driver of the FedEx car, I'm contractually obligated not to mention Ragan's primary sponsor. So I'll just say his victory was a huge 'UPS-et.'"

10. Tony Stewart — Stewart rebounded from a late-race accident to finish 11th at Daytona, leading one lap for a valuable bonus point. He remained 12th in the Sprint Cup point standings, and is now 92 out of first.

"I've vowed to police NASCAR tracks and take care of anyone who gets out of line," Stewart said. "In other words, I plan to be judge, jury, and executioner, but not necessarily in that order."

Posted by Jeffrey Boswell at 10:12 AM | Comments (0)

July 5, 2011

National Pastime's Future Remains on Shaky Ground

As we celebrate America's birthday this week, it is perhaps a good time to revisit how America's "national pastime" is doing.

While the term "national pastime" will always historically be associated with baseball, it has arguably lost a lot of its luster in terms of youth participation, general fan interest, and attendance at baseball's Major League Baseball stadiums.

For argument's sake — let us say during the reign of MLB's current commissioner, Bud Selig, going back to 1992 when he initially took over as "interim commissioner" — MLB has become a multi-billion entity. Yet that hardly captures the whole story, as many big business entities, essentially in the 1990s, harbored billions of dollars, only to come tumbling down either before or during 2008, the start of our current and now historic recession.

The health of an organization is only as good as the prospects for its future. In that regard, MLB is looking at a steep decline in maintaining a dominant spot in professional sports, as it continually fails in its ability to sell its product to America's youth. And without that quotient, a lot of those billions of dollars will go by the wayside and into the annals of MLB, along with its once storied past.

Were it not for the advent of digital technology and various online platforms, through most notably Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM), that includes MLB TV, its mobile apps, and fantasy leagues, amongst others, MLB would not have been able to build up its mammoth nest egg.

And it is reliant upon computer technology rather than a permanent fan base for sources of supplemental revenue.

MLB will only remain a force in the professional sports marketplace if it can continue to generate potential talent. And it is from our youth entering that talent pool upon which MLB is dependent. That which was once a participatory sport for entire communities has now become a recreational vehicle for a few.

A "national pastime" can hardly succeed with a part-time fan base and solely from a reservoir of Central and South American foreign nationals. Not so far afield from the tennis club or golf country club set, which limits participation from the at-large populace, baseball has seemingly morphed into the haves and the have-nots, too. It now largely requires well-heeled parents who pay for their boys' participation in traveling leagues, along with private lessons and their traveling costs in order for them to play youth baseball.

Baseball's little leagues are certainly not accessible or available as they once were in both suburban and urban settings. And most importantly, baseball is certainly not necessarily the sport of choice for many of our youngsters throughout the U.S. Due to such circumstances, African-American boys are for the most part eliminated from participation and their interests have landed elsewhere.

And as much as MLB likes to brag about facilitating and funding the Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities (RBI) program in urban centers throughout the U.S., its chapters are run largely through labors of love of dedicated parents and volunteers in select American cities.

RBI's objective is youth outreach, especially for at-risk children. But it is far more of a social program for the well-being of children rather than a well of potential future talent for professional baseball. And when we do occasionally hear about a MLB prospect who participated in RBI, we have individual communities to thank for that, not MLB.

The primary argument amongst the powers-that-be is that interest in the National Football League has infringed upon interest of potential MLB fans. That too easily lets MLB off the hook; with a built-in excuse for Selig & Co's lack of interest in its own future. Such remains shortsighted and woefully out of touch, with the economy and realized fiscal restraints of municipalities and fans, during the worst recession since the 1930s.

For MLB to remain status quo, while attendance is down at MLB stadiums again for the second year in a row, is just representative of a symptom. The real problems while multi-faceted are fairly basic: give MLB back to the fans by setting aside a scale of affordability for the poor and middle class and get fans involved again. For it was the beauty of Americans from all economic strata to become engaged in baseball that allowed it to become our "national pastime."

MLB is an ongoing process; an organism which needs to be fed and nurtured for its ultimate sustenance. There remain specific issues which have driven away young parents of children from baseball over the past couple of decades and from generation to generation so it goes. The new normal does not necessarily include baseball, while the old normal absolutely did.

At the heart of the problem, not unlike Wall Street financial institutions, big oil, telecommunications companies, and yes, our own government, MLB tries to operate in the same way as those very entities. But MLB does not fit within the same parameters as the aforementioned, with the exception of its desire to line its pockets without accountability and to find the richest men in the land in order to do so. We see, by example, how well that has worked out for the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

MLB cannot exist in a vacuum. And as its eventual failure as a dominant professional sports league has been coming on for the past couple of decades, without new leadership and a step back to examine its fate, it may very well continue to get nearer to the edge of the cliff.

One would think — that with the NFL lockout, ongoing for several months now, and with the current NBA lockout to last at least as long as the NFL's, if not longer — that MLB would have made up some ground in harnessing new and once lost fans. But it has not. Therefore, it proves that the lack of interest in MLB is not the fault of the NFL or even the NBA.

And today's youth has reacted over the past 15 years or so to the arrogance of MLB suits such as:

* The late starting times of playoff and World Series games, including almost all night games locally during the season when school is still in session.

* The length of the games due to longer and longer TV and radio breaks between innings.

* Multiple pitching changes during the course of an average game, where a quality start for a pitcher is considered now a mere 6 innings. It could be the inaccessibility of local team broadcasts, long ago relegated to regional sports networks, requiring any TV consumer to spend up to $100 per month to see any games at all via cable or satellite TV subscriptions.

* The blackouts by MLB in various markets for even those who families who bothered to invest in MLB.TV online or in cable and satellite TV's Extra Innings packages, only to be blocked from seeing their own local games.

And it ultimately now is the cost of going to a MLB game. Even in those markets or cities where tickets remain affordable for a family, MLB teams still generate vast amounts of revenue from parking fees, concessions, and memorabilia. Add to that travel and gas costs and it no longer becomes so affordable for a family of four.

As MLB's Collective Bargaining Agreement with the MLBPA expires in December 2011, pundits have suggested that instead of installing a salary cap in MLB, which will never fly anyway, to instead implement a salary floor that could help to save small market teams.

It would force those teams who have benefited from revenue sharing and the luxury tax imposed on such high budget teams, like the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, to actually spend such revenues for salary costs on player rosters, by setting a specific minimum on salaries.

The affordability of MLB is an important quotient for sustaining interest by youth as such interest is what piques the desire to play the sport. If the priority for Bud Selig — who has declared that he will retire when his contract expires after the 20212 season — is to primarily make a bundle of cash, then he will have ultimately destroyed the sport for its future. Baseball would continue to exist, but would largely remain offshore and turn into an afterthought by the U.S. consumer.

There are those of us who express that Bud Selig cannot retire fast enough, along with his $25 million annual salary. But absent forward-thinking, which MLB should subscribe to, America's "national pastime" may turn into just that ... an institution past its time.

Happy birthday, America!

Posted by Diane M. Grassi at 11:47 AM | Comments (0)

The Best and Worst MMA Announcers

Five Quick Hits

* Kudos to the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission for overturning the result of Charles Oliveira vs. Nik Lentz, due to an illegal knee missed by referee Chip Snider. It's a pleasant surprise when an athletic commission actually does the right thing in this sort of situation.

* Boos for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission for allowing tools like Snider and Mark Matheny to referee mixed martial arts. Charlie Brenneman was probably going to beat Rick Story at UFC Live 4 anyway, but Matheny stood up the fight while Story was working on a Kimura. I've written before about the need for more stand-ups in MMA, but not in the middle of a submission attempt.

* When we first heard Nate Marquardt's side of his release from the UFC — both the UFC and PSAC knew that he was undergoing testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) — I felt like he'd gotten kind of a raw deal. The more I learn about the background, the more I understand the UFC's position.

* It will be interesting to see whether Nate the Great ends up in Bellator (where he'd still have to deal with the athletic commissions) or Japan. I don't think the UFC is going to take him back.

* Sweet heaven, Tito Ortiz has a gigantic head. Dude, Bigfoot Silva thinks your dome is enormous.

***

UFC 132 was a great card, top to bottom, with a few surprises and (as always) some really questionable judging. Most fans, myself included, felt that Dominick Cruz deserved his victory in the headline fight, but Sal D'Amato scored it 50-45. That's probably not quite as bad as Douglas Crosby's infamous 50-45 in Edgar/Penn I, but it's pretty bad. Come on Sal, even Cecil Peoples thinks that's a crappy job of judging. It was an awfully close fight.

Earlier in the evening, Dennis Siver won a very controversial decision over Matt Wiman, and some jackass scored the first round of Andre Winner vs. Anthony Njokuani as only a 10-9 for Njokuani. Does this person realize they're allowed to score rounds 10-8? I thought Winner's corner was going to throw in the towel, the way their guy was eating knees and power punches. The Siver/Wiman contest highlighted, for about the millionth time, that the 10-point must system doesn't fit MMA. Siver may have edged the first and third rounds, but Wiman dominated the second. Overall, Wiman had the better, more dominant performance. Round-by-round scoring gave the fight to Siver. That's not bad judging so much as a bad system.

Fortunately, this card was filled with exciting finishes that spared us from the stupefying incompetence of the state of Nevada judges. Rafael dos Anjos, Melvin Guillard, and Carlos Condit won consecutive fights by knockout. Condit's, technically a TKO, featured a sensational flying knee, maybe the cleanest connection I've seen since Jose Aldo ruined Cub Swanson at WEC 41. Chris Leben also won by knockout, breaking the hearts of Wanderlei Silva fans in just :27, and Tito Ortiz won by submission for the first time since his 2000 victory over Yuki Kondo at UFC 33. That's right, a gap of 100 UFC events between subs for the Huntington Beach Bad Boy.

Cruz's next title defense probably should come against Brian Bowles, who improved to 10-1 with a unanimous decision over Takeya Mizugaki. For Faber, let's see that fight against Miguel Torres we've all waited so long for. Condit, who won Knockout of the Night for that wicked flying knee, has earned his title shot, and should face the winner of Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz.

There are several options for Leben, including Mark Muñoz, Vitor Belfort, and recently-unsuspended Chael Sonnen. As for his opponent ... the reliably entertaining Ben Fowlkes has convinced me: Wanderlei Silva should stop fighting. We all love the guy, and there's nothing quite like seeing an arena go dark and hearing "Sandstorm" play as he walks in. As with Chuck Liddell, the issue is a pattern of knockout losses. Wandy can still throw, but at best, his chin has become a liability, and at worst, he's putting his health in serious jeopardy.

Grading MMA Announcers

We love them, we hate them. How do they rank? Looking at the regular announcing teams for the UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator, and HDNet (which airs English commentary for most major Japanese events), here's how I grade them, starting with the play-by-play guys:

Michael Schiavello: A-

I know some people won't like this. A lot of people can't stand The Voice. I think he's funny, often intentionally and occasionally otherwise. His bombastic delivery, overwrought puns, and weird chemistry with Frank Trigg all work for me. Plus, he knows the sport and the fighters he's commenting on. Schiavello is often ridiculous, but almost never stupid and rarely outright wrong.

Sean Wheelock: B+

Like Schiavello, he understands the sport and enhances the commentary offered by his partner in the booth. Wheelock isn't going to blow anyone away, but he's professional and gets the job done. He doesn't have Schiavello's enthusiasm and showmanship, but I'm glad he isn't trying to be something he's not.

Mike Goldberg: B-

The strongest point in his favor is his chemistry with announcing partner Joe Rogan. Goldie occasionally says things that don't make any sense, and he sometimes tells stories when he should really be describing the action in the cage. His identification of techniques is limited to the really obvious stuff like Kimuras and superman punches, but he at least appreciates the sport, and he's not annoying the way some announcers can be.

Mauro Ranallo: D+

I don't get Showtime, so I watch Strikeforce events with a friend who does. He can't stand Mauro. I tolerate him, but I understand why my buddy doesn't. The man is visibly trying too hard. If he would tone down the bombast, go easy on his attempts to make everything epic, and be a little less bold with his pronouncements, he might be okay. Right now, he's not much fun to listen to.

Gus Johnson: F

In football, Johnson is merely a bad announcer, maybe a C-, maybe even a little higher given that I'm biased against him for being such a turd in MMA. He is an abomination as a mixed martial arts announcer, and it is unforgivable that Viacom/Showtime still have him working MMA events. He has absolutely no idea what he's talking about, and his commentaries on Seth Petruzelli vs. Kimbo Slice and the Strikeforce Nashville Brawl will live in infamy. Plus, he has got to stop wearing so much make-up. He looks like a grotesque combination of a mannequin, a clown, Rashad Evans, Michael Jackson in the late '90s, and Christy Turlington.

On to the analysts and color men...

Joe Rogan: A-

I suppose I've made my feelings on Rogan pretty clear at this point. I think his personal attacks and slurs against colleagues are unacceptable, and I think he's the best announcer in MMA. Rogan's strongest assets are his encyclopedic knowledge of grappling and genuine enthusiasm for the sport, both of which make him great to listen to. His willingness to speak his mind on referee errors (most recently, Matheny's stand-up of Story and Brenneman) and atrocious judging (most memorably, his rant against Keith Kizer and the Nevada State Athletic Commission following the atrocious judging in Leonard Garcia vs. Nam Phan) also rightly endear him to fans.

Rogan always seems to be wrong when he declares that a submission is "locked up" or "looks tight," but that's not really a big deal. He brings more to the table than anyone other announcer in the sport.

Frank Trigg: B

For reasons I can't entirely explain, Trigg has grown on me. Maybe it's just because he's such a fighter. He can't break down grappling the way Rogan can, he's not the most articulate guy in the world, and his insights into gameplans tend to be pretty limited, but he's fun to listen to. Schiavello and Trigg are probably my favorite announcing team right now.

Jimmy Smith: B

The Bellator announcing team is just kind of ... there. They're never terrible, never terrific. The announcing is solid. They know the fighters, and Smith is a decent analyst. I wish he would go easy on hyping the fighters, though. When he talks about Bellator's comeptitors being the best in the world, he has to know it's not true. I'm not asking the man to bash his own product, but it's easy enough to keep your mouth shut, or describe them as "great" instead of the "the best."

My other beef with Smith is his "unofficial scorecard" at the end of each round. Smith, who legitimately knows about MMA, tailors his scores far too much to how he expects clueless judges to score the fight, and too little to how it ought to be scored. He also grows increasingly sure of his scores as the fight goes on. At the end of the first round, he'll admit that the scoring could go either way, and by the end of the fight he's shocked if anyone scored it differently than he did.

Frank Shamrock: C

In comparison to his broadcast partners, Johnson and Ranallo, Shamrock is the pro. He makes fewer ridiculous comments about fighters (and especially past opponents) now that he's retired, and sometimes he has genuinely interesting comments on the action or the fighters. It's tough to tell what he'd be like on a professional broadcast.

I know I didn't grade Bas Rutten or Pat Miletich. Deal with it. Neither one regularly announces major events. And yes, they're both pretty good. We all love Bas.

July 2011 UFC Rankings

The rankings below are exclusively for the UFC, so you won't see names like Eddie Alvarez or Dan Henderson on these lists.

Heavyweight (206-265 lbs)

1. Cain Velasquez
2. Junior Dos Santos
3. Brock Lesnar
4. Shane Carwin
5. Frank Mir
6. Brendan Schaub
7. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
8. Roy Nelson
9. Matt Mitrione
10. Mike Russow

Make It Happen: Lesnar vs. winner of Schaub/Nogueira

Lesnar's health permitting, of course. Otherwise, I guess Carwin or Mir could fill the gap. I also think Mitrione vs. Cheick Kongo is a no-brainer at this point, unless the UFC thinks Mitrione is ready for someone like Carwin or Mir. He might be.

Thank You, UFC, For: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos

The heavyweight title fight that needs to happen. No date has been set, and their first matchup fell through, but this should happen as soon as Cain is healthy.

Light Heavyweight (186-205)

1. Jon Jones
2. Maurício "Shogun" Rua
3. Lyoto Machida
4. Rashad Evans
5. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson
6. Forrest Griffin
7. Phil Davis
8. Vladimir Matyushenko
9. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
10. Matt Hamill

Make It Happen: Tito Ortiz vs. winner of Nogueira/Rich Franklin

A matchup of legends making one last run at a title. I still think Tito is done, but he's earned another shot against a relevant name in the division. He has not earned a rubber match with Forrest.

Thank You, UFC, For: Griffin vs. Rua

This is a rematch that makes sense. The winner will probably face Evans, Davis, or Machida with a title shot on the line.

Middleweight (171-185)

1. Anderson Silva
2. Yushin Okami
3. Brian Stann
4. Michael Bisping
5. Mark Muñoz
6. Demian Maia
7. Vitor Belfort
8. Jason "Mayhem" Miller
9. Chris Leben
10. Jorge Santiago

Chael Sonnen and Alan Belcher will return to this list when they get fights on their calendars. Sonnen recently became a felon, but the California State Athletic Commission has finally reinstated him following a suspension unrelated to his criminal activities. Belcher hasn't fought in a year, though he's expected to face Jason MacDonald in September.

Make It Happen: Maia vs. winner of Belfort/Sexyama

Maia, coming off a very close loss to Muñoz, is still a contender at 185. The winner of the bout between Belfort and Yoshihiro Akiyama remains relevant in the middleweight division, while the other either retires or starts fighting the C.B. Dollaways of the world.

Thank You, UFC, For: Silva vs. Okami

Okami has been waiting a long time for his chance at the title. The last man to defeat the Spider finally gets his shot at UFC 134 in Brazil.

Welterweight (156-170)

1. Georges St-Pierre
2. Nick Diaz
3. Jon Fitch
4. Jake Shields
5. B.J. Penn
6. Carlos Condit
7. Josh Koscheck
8. Martin Kampmann
9. Diego Sanchez
10. Rick Story

Make It Happen: Fitch vs. Penn II

I'm normally not crazy about rematches, but these guys are both contenders, and neither one can really move on with that draw hanging over them. Besides, the first fight was a barnburner.

Thank You, UFC, For: St-Pierre vs. Diaz

This was the only fight left for GSP at 170. Condit may be ready, and Jon Fitch is pretty close to earning a second shot at the champ, but as soon as Zuffa acquired Strikeforce, this simply had to happen.

Lightweight (146-155)

1. Frankie Edgar
2. Gray Maynard
3. Jim Miller
4. Sean Sherk
5. Ben Henderson
6. Melvin Guillard
7. Clay Guida
8. Anthony Pettis
9. Donald Cerrone
10. Dennis Siver

Make It Happen: Guillard vs. Guida

I know, they both train with Greg Jackson, and his guys are a bunch of a-holes about fighting each other. Do you kids want a title shot or not? As long as Sherk continues to have better things to do than compete, this is the only fight available to move these guys up the ladder. Otherwise, I guess you give Siver a rematch with Guillard, and have Guida fight Sam Stout or Joe Lauzon or somebody.

Thank You, UFC, For: Miller vs. Henderson

Please, please give Miller a title shot if he wins. Unless you give it to Gilbert Melendez. That's okay, too. By the way, Melendez fighting Jorge Masvidal for the Strikeforce belt? Laughable. Masvidal is best known for getting choked out by Toby Imada, and his most impressive win was over K.J. Noons, who isn't exactly Miller or Henderson. Outside of the heavyweight division, Strikeforce is getting really hard to take seriously. I'd rather see Melendez rematch Shinya Aoki, or take a fight at 170 or something. Masvidal looked great against Noons, but one good fight shouldn't earn him a shot at the champ.

Featherweight (136-145)

1. Jose Aldo
2. Mark Hominick
3. Kenny Florian
4. Chad Mendes
5. Dustin Poirier
6. Diego Nunes
7. Erik Koch
8. Tyson Griffin
9. Manny Gamburyan
10. Rani Yahya

Make It Happen: Poirier vs. Griffin

Poirier is a rising star; Griffin is an established veteran in the UFC. This is win-win for the UFC. Either Poirier makes a name off someone everybody knows, or Griffin rises up the ranks at 145 by beating the fast-rising youngster.

Thank You, UFC, For: Aldo vs. Florian

I don't understand why some people would rather see Aldo fight Mendes than KenFlo. Florian has proven he's a competitive fighter at any weight class. Mendes has proven he's a pretty good wrestler.

Bantamweight (126-135)

1. Dominick Cruz
2. Urijah Faber
3. Joseph Benavidez
4. Brian Bowles
5. Miguel Torres
6. Demetrious Johnson
7. Eddie Wineland
8. Scott Jorgensen
9. Brad Pickett
10. Takeya Mizugaki

Make It Happen: Cruz vs. Bowles

Their first fight ended prematurely when Bowles broke his hand and couldn't continue. That remains the only defeat for Bowles, who has victories over Damacio Page, Takeya Mizugaki, and Miguel Torres.

Thank You, UFC, For: Kid Yamamoto vs. Damacio Page

A pair of former top-10 bantamweights trying to rebound from losses. This bout is not official yet, but it's expected to take place at UFC 135 in Denver. The matchup should create fireworks, and the winner is back in the mix at 135.

UFC 133 and Strikeforce: Fëdor vs. Henderson

In almost exactly a month, Rashad Evans, who has fought only once in the last 18 months, faces Phil Davis at UFC 133. Evans, twice scheduled for title shots, had to wait while the champs rehabbed injuries, and now he has a tough fight just to stay in the title picture. Both fighters come from a wrestling background, but Davis probably will be the stronger wrestler inside the cage, so Evans may want to keep the fight standing and try to show off the power that led to knockouts of Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin. He could also try to use striking to set up the takedown and see what Davis can do off his back. I think Rashad's experience will take the day, but Davis is no pushover, and it could easily go the other way.

The other big fights, one of which appears on the televised portion of the undercard, are Franklin vs. Nogueira, Belfort vs. Akiyama, and Mendes vs. Yahya. The first four are legends coming off losses. Realistically, I doubt any of them will contend for a UFC title again, but they're popular, talented fighters who won't fail to put on a show. Mendes has been hailed as the next big thing at 145 pounds, and Yahya is actually a really interesting test for him. On paper, Mendes is the far superior competitor, but Mendes' strength — wrestling — plays into Yahya's: submissions. Will Mendes use his wrestling to keep the fight standing and show off improved striking (no), or will he go for takedowns anyway and hug Yahya into positions where he can't be attacked, for an agonizing 15 minutes (yes)?

None of these matches are easy to pick. I'm pretty confident that Mendes will win, but the oddsmakers are, too, so there's no profit in that one. The odds I've seen list Mendes somewhere between -550 and -625. That's not even worth the risk of adding it to your parlay. Remember how you thought Ryan Bader was an easy way to make that UFC 132 parlay a little richer? Stay away from this one.

In a strictly non-monetary way, I like Evans, Little Nog, Belfort, and Mendes. If you're really interested in betting action on a card with no obvious bargains at this point, consider that Akiyama is about +230 against a guy with only one win in the last 2½ years. Oddsmakers are saying there's not even a 1-in-3 chance that the judoka can pull this off. That's a pretty nice payday if Belfort isn't 100% or can't keep the fight off the mat.

Equally interesting from a gambling perspective is the July 30th Strikeforce card in Chicago. Fëdor Emelianenko (-240) is heavily favored to beat Dan Henderson (+200). Maybe I'm dismissing Fëdor too quickly after a fluke submission loss to Fabricio Werdum and a doctor's stoppage against a man who outweighted him by 50 pounds, but he's lost two in a row, and at +200 or so (depending on the site), Hendo looks pretty interesting to me.

That card also features women's 135-pound champion Marloes Coenen defending her title against Miesha Tate, plus a big middleweight bout between Tim Kennedy and Robbie Lawler, and a welterweight contest between Paul Daley and undefeated prospect Tyron Woodley, which hopefully should help clarify the title picture for the vacant Strikeforce welterweight belt. I'll go with Coenen, Kennedy, and Woodley.

Bellator Summer Series

Is the UFC's featherweight division stronger than Bellator's? Yes, of course it is. But not by much.

All four favorites advanced in the first round of the 145-pound tournament. Marlon Sandro, a former King of Pancrase and Sengoku champion, would be an immediate contender in the UFC. International prospects Ronnie Mann and Nazareno Malegarie lived up to the hype with a pair of impressive stoppage victories, and former lightweight contender Pat Curran beat Peruvian Luis Palomino with, of all moves, a Peruvian necktie. Any of those guys could fight in the UFC, as could current champ Joe Warren and top contender Patricio Freire.

The next round of the tournament airs on MTV2 on July 23. Sandro will take on Malegarie, Curran faces Mann, and Warren will defend his title against Freire. If you're a mixed martial arts fan, that's two hours of must-see TV right there, and it won't cost $50.

Posted by Brad Oremland at 10:15 AM | Comments (0)

July 4, 2011

History in the Making

When Rory McIlroy won (and actually ran away with) the 2011 U.S. Open, he didn't just redefine the path of his own career — he redefined the Tiger-less landscape of golf. His record-shattering performance may have been the beautiful beginning to a brilliant career, and taken the bulk of the attention off of injured head case Tiger Woods. That's why the 22-year-old McIlroy didn't just win a victory for himself (and his father) — he won one for all of golf.

When a 22-year-old kid beats — nay, slaughters — the best golfers in the world, it's hard not to take notice. When it's the same guy that blew a lead in the final round of the Masters only two months prior, yet exhibited grace and sportsmanship beyond that of his older and supposedly more mature peers, it's impossible not to stand and applaud.

That's why I'm sitting here, still two weeks before the British Open, focusing almost none of my attention on either Tiger or the field that's competing in the AT&T National. Instead, I'm eagerly waiting to see what Rory McIlroy will do in the British Open. For the first time in a long time, somebody without the last name Woods has single-handedly made golf exciting again — and made it worth talking about before Sundays.

A game that is often called a gentlemen's game finally has a leading athlete that actually exhibits the class and demeanor of an at least loosely defined gentlemen. I'm not talking about a suit and tie, shaken-not-stirred gentlemen — I'm just saying the guy doesn't beat the crap out of his driver after a bad tee-shot, or single-handedly give overtime pay to network censors.

So let's not pretend, like some naysayers, that McIlroy can't be as important to the sport as Tiger was because he's not good enough. Even if he wasn't good enough to eventually be that dominant (and he is by the way) that's not the only reason he matters to golf. It's a combination of that skill and his aforementioned composure both on and off the course that make it plainly obvious just how big a deal Rory McIlroy can be when all is said and done.

It's the fact that there now exists the possibility that in a few years, a father introducing his son to a game he loves can point at the TV and not only say "that's what a good swing looks like," but also say "that's' how you lose with grace," and be talking about the same person in both instances. Even though there exist other golfers of whom both statements could be said at times, none have the same ability as McIlroy to reach a younger generation — none have the same ability to make golf matter again to the potential golfers of the future.

So next Thursday, don't just tune in to see one of four majors, to see an update on Tiger, or even just to remind yourself of great times in the history of golf. Tune in to see the future of golf, and history in the making — tune in to see Rory McIlroy.

Posted by Paul Foeller at 7:41 PM | Comments (1)

How to Improve the MLB All-Star Game

Every year, baseball fans are taken down memory lane to when MLB's All-Star Game "meant something." Players cared, fans cared, and Pete Rose slid headfirst and injured Ray Fossee in an All-Star Game play for the ages. It was a matter of national honor and pride to win the All-Star Game and everyone cared because it really "meant something."

Somewhere all of that was lost and it culminated in the infamous tie at the 2002 All-Star Game and MLB did something about it. Every game thereafter has been proclaimed to "count" because home-field advantage for the World Series is awarded to the winning league. The good news is baseball tried. The bad news is the grand experiment has failed. It doesn't matter how many times fans are told "this one counts" and the fate of the World Series is at hand-the game is still boring.

The simple way to fix the All-Star Game is to eliminate the All-Star Game. Baseball truly had the game fans cared about and players wanted to win, but that game doesn't exist any more. However, due to the money involved, the tradition, and because summer is slow for sports, MLB's All-Star Game should be saved and improved.

Make the Game Truly Count

Awarding World Series home-field advantage to the winner was a knee-jerk reaction to Bud Selig's stupidity and the manager's of the 2002 All-Star Game's inability to actually manage their roster and a game.

Home-field advantage belongs to the team with the best record. The team with the best record has home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and this should continue through to the World Series. It is bad enough the two leagues play by different rules with the designated hitter (DH) rule in the American League and pitcher's hitting in the National League, but home-field advantage being determined in the summer makes the situation worse. The team with the best record should have the advantage in the World Series when it comes to the rules the World Series is played under for a majority of the games.

To make the All-Star Game truly count, the DH rule for interleague play should be at stake for the season. The All-Star Game would need to be moved to the second week of June and interleague series would need to start after the All-Star Game. An alternative is to start interleague play after the All-Star Game.

Currently, interleague play has the home team determining the style of baseball played. American League teams get to use the DH and National League teams don't, so fans don't get to see the other league's style of baseball. The point in interleague play was for fans to see the other league's teams and the different styles of play.

If the DH rule is at stake in the All-Star Game, then fans have a new stake in the game. Some fans will root for their league so their teams have the advantage and some may root against their league so they can see a different style of play.

Players will care because their team will have an advantage in interleague play. American League pitchers will want to win so they don't have to hit and National League pitchers won't want to face the DH. Managers will want to play their "brand of baseball" and designated hitters will care because they will want to play in the interleague games.

Finally, if the DH rule is at stake, then it is likely that the best team in baseball will come from the league that had the advantage in interleague play. Ultimately, the game could determine home-field advantage for the World Series.

Choose a Team's Entire Staff to Coach the Teams

A manager shouldn't have to feel obligated to take other managers and random staff members to the game. Let the best team in the league take its staff to manage the game. This will ensure the team with the best record is well represented in the game and there is continuity to managing the game. It doesn't make any sense that several managers go to the game and one of the managers is in charge.

The game should be managed like any other game. The team would have a manager, a bench coach, a first base coach, a third base coach and the rest of the staff fulfilling their normal roles. Then there is clear leadership in the clubhouse, everyone is pulling in the same direction, and the manager has a chance to win the game with his style of play. His usual style of managing will prevail as opposed to a hodge-podge of managerial styles in each clubhouse.

How to Choose the Rest of the Team

The coaching staff and front of office of the best team should be the group determining the players not elected by the fans. Each team should still be represented, but the front office of the best team in the league should work with the coaches of the best team to choose the team they believe will win the game. Allow baseball's best to assemble an actual team they want to play with during the game. This will most likely increase the number of middle relievers chosen. The team will be built to win a game and won't be a laundry list of players with the most wins or hits and who might not actually be able to play in the game.

As it stands, a lot of starting pitchers are chosen because they have all-star-caliber numbers, but they will most likely not be able to pitch in the actual All-Star Game.

As an example, Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers pitches very close to the All-Star Game, which will probably prohibit him from pitching in the actual game. He is worthy of being considered an all-star and fans want to see baseball's best in the game, but what is the point in naming him as an all-star if he can't actually play? Relievers are used to pitching in back to back games and many have all-star-type seasons without the recognition.

If players feel like they are being snubbed because they have put up the best numbers and weren't chosen, then have honorary designations at the All-Star Game to honor league leaders in certain statistics. It shouldn't be necessary to do this, however, and will hurt the game in the long run.

This is how the NFL's Pro Bowl has become one of the worst all-star games in sports. The seventh best quarterback in each conference ends up in the game because the first six are too busy, don't want to play, are injured, and don't show up. Baseball is quickly following suit because many pitchers are having all-star-caliber seasons, but won't actually get to play in the game. What is the point? If players want to be honored as all-stars, then have midseason awards given to the statistical leaders.

There can be statistical all-stars and the actual all-stars playing in the game. Then, like a little league team, everyone will get an award and everyone will get to play. It sounds dumb because it is dumb. Players should be striving for the awards given at the end of the season and wins for their team. The Cy Young, the triple crown, and MVP should not be equated with all-star recognition. Being an all-star means you have had a pretty good first half and if being named an all-star is important then, players should be reminded there are two halves to a season.

With interleague rules at stake, one team's entire coaching at the game, and the best team's coaching staff and front office in charge of the roster of the All-Star Game, the game would once again mean something to players, fans, and would "really count."

Posted by Vito Curcuru at 1:10 PM | Comments (0)

July 1, 2011

NFL Lockout: Crazy Days, Crazy Players

* Braylon Edwards wrecked his sports car in Belle Isle, Michigan early last Friday morning, losing control of his Audi and driving into a pylon. Surprisingly Edwards, who faces trial on a DWI charge stemming from a police stop last September, did not get a ticket. Apparently, the officer must have thrown it at him. Edwards can't catch a pass, but he can catch a break.

* Arizona Cardinals defensive lineman Darnell Dockett was stopped by police for speeding on Monday, and Dockett took to Twitter to report the incident as it unfolded. "I don't know why the police are always messing w/me," he tweeted, then demanded the cops get a warrant if they wanted to search his vehicle, followed later by an update saying he was let go. In total, three officers responded to the call, which resulted in neither a search nor a ticket for Dockett. It wasn't Dockett's first brush with incompetent buffoons — he's had a number of run-ins with the Cardinals defensive staff. Chalk it up to a victory for civil rights, and a loss for policemen who think they can mess with Darnell Dockett, who now will be known as the "140-Character Assassin."

* Chad Ochocinco said he will wrestle alligators, his latest stunt in an adventurous offseason that's seen him ride a bull and practice with a professional soccer team. Ochocinco acknowledged the danger of the stunt, saying he could lose and arm or a leg, which is entirely possible, because although alligators don't follow him on Twitter, the carnivorous reptiles will follow him in the wild.

* Miami Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder, on the debut of his weekly radio talk show in Miami, hinted that he sold some of his jerseys while at the University of Florida, only to backtrack on ESPN on Tuesday, when he said he didn't sell any jerseys. Asked to explain his dubious statements, Crowder said his words should never have even been reported, since he was speaking on the condition of "ambiguity."

* Agent Drew Rosenhaus confirmed that Terrell Owens did indeed have surgery to repair a torn ACL in April, and said that Owens has no intention to retire and will be ready to play in August. It has been rumored Owens hurt the knee while taping a segment for his VH1 reality show. Rosenhaus said that was not true, although it would have been perfectly understandable had Owens been injured mugging for the camera.

* Tennessee Titans wide receiver Kenny Britt surrendered to police in Tennessee on two warrants alleging he gave inaccurate information on two separate drivers license applications. Britt is not the only Titans receiver to be accused of making false statements — Randy Moss told Jeff Fisher in November that he would be a productive addition to the team.

* Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith met in Minneapolis on Tuesday for the first of four days of labor talks. Forty years ago, if a black man and a white man sat across from each other on equal terms at a table, it was considered "progress." Let's hope the same applies today.

NFL players and other sports personalities react to the ongoing lockout:

Santonio Holmes: "I really hope they can hash this out."

Rex Ryan: "I'm ready for some foot, and football."

James Harrison: "The owners are guilty of unnecessary 'guff-ness.'"

Antonio Cromartie: "Players and owners have been talking for months now. They've 'gone into labor' more than my baby mommas."

Brett Favre: "Frankly, I'm sick of this back and forth."

Carson Palmer: "I'm prepared to take a year off."

Reggie Bush: "I've already had one 'season' taken away from me. What's another?"

Matt Hasselbeck: "If an agreement can't be reached, I say we take it to a coin toss."

Darrelle Revis: "If a labor agreement isn't reached, I won't be the only 'shutdown' corner in the league."

Ray Lewis: "Find rapport," quoth the Raven. "Find rapport."

Albert Haynesworth: "You mean I won't get paid for doing nothing?"

Peyton Manning: "Cut that deal! Cut that deal!"

Eli Manning: "Omaha!"

Jim Mora, Sr.: "Playoffs?! Playoffs?! There might not even be a football season and you're asking me about playoffs? Playoffs?!

LeBron James: "It's time for a decision that matters."

Lawrence Taylor: "Negotiations are a lot like an addiction to cocaine — you're never doing enough."

Ben Roethlisberger: "I'm sure if Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith held a meeting in a locked bathroom, at least one would get what he wants."

Al Davis: "A cancelled NFL season would be devastating for owners. But I'm not worried. I may be the only owner who knows what it's like to come back from the dead."

Tim Tebow: "A mutually beneficial compromise is in my prayers, as are jersey and underwear sales."

Larry Fitzgerald: "On the plus side, a year without football would give the Cardinals that much longer to find a quarterback."

Randy Moss: "As a player fond of taking plays off, taking an entire season off seems like overkill."

James Laurinaitis: "It's about time for the two sides to reach a resolution. Even my father, Road Warrior Animal, had better finishing maneuvers than Goodell and Smith."

Bill Belichick: "Take it from me. Labor negotiators are much too well-dressed to accomplish anything noteworthy."

Posted by Jeffrey Boswell at 11:50 AM | Comments (0)