Bernie Madoff biographer Erin Arvedlund is already on record as claiming Fred Wilpon will be forced to sell the Mets after suffering losses to the tune of $700 million in the Mother Of All Ponzi Schemes. Mets VP David Howard, truly a credible person if you believe obstructed view seats are worth $55 apiece, addressed Ms. Avredlund’s claims earlier today on the Fox Business Channel. According to Howard, the Amazins are absolutely, positively not for sale, calling the club “a family jewel” (seriously). So that means we’re still on track for John Franco’s #31 being retired sometime in 2011. (video link culled from Seven Train Into Shea)
(Moore : doing the best he can — under no pressure whatsoever)
“Ask yourself: if you, in your own profession, made a mistake equivalent to trading for Yuniesky Betancourt, would you expect to be fired, or given five years of lucrative job security?” I think even Isiah Thomas and J.P. Ricciardi would answer “be fired” to a question posed by The Hardball Times’ Craig Calcaterra, reacting to today’s news that Kansas City will extend General Manager Dayton Moore’s contract for another 4 years. Royals Review’s KCDC1 — presumably used to living with low expecations, prefers not to protest David Glass’ vote of confidence, confessing, “I’m okay rooting for .500 seasons.”
I like his focus on building the farm system, and while this strategy has yet to bear fruit, it’s still early, and I think over time, the focus will inevitably pay dividends. His acquisitions at the Major League level have left something to be desired, obviously. All in all, there are better GM’s, and there are worse GM’s. It’d be nice if Kansas City would have one of the best, but I’m a fan, and I try not to let myself get too frustrated with the whole process.
[Veeck ... first to knock, first admitted; sometimes an innocent knock, sometimes a not so innocent.]
I always liked White Sox owner Bill Veeck, Jr. He started his career planting the ivy in Wrigley Field and ended it on the South Side burning down his own infield on Disco Demolition night. He only owned losers and personified Chicago’s love of its own low-rent self-esteem. Another reason to like Bill Jr. is his literary career, which includes his autobiography, Veeck — as in Wreck, Thirty Tons a Day, and The Hustler’s Handbook– all written for him by, excuse me, “with,” Ed Linn. The Hustler’s Handbook just got reissued, and reviewed (favorably), in TheLA Timesby George Ducker,but I think the best sales pitch for this book is Veeck’s own wisdom:
“The great portion of any ball game consists of the pitcher holding the ball or throwing it to the catcher … Anything that can somehow turn that frozen tableau into a scene fraught with drama and excitement has solved about 75 percent of your problems.”
Not only that, he understands the relationship of a team to its fans. Here he is on the paradox of early 1960s Mets supporters: “No other city is so confident of its own preeminence that it could afford to take such an open delight in its own bad taste.” Chicago Cubs fans of the present day, take note.
“Yogi is a completely manufactured product. He is a case study of this country’s unlimited ability to gull itself and be gulled…. It pleased the public to think that this odd-looking little man with the great natural ability had a knack for mouthing humorous truth with the sort of primitive peasant wisdom we rather expect from our sports heroes.”
On Leo Durocher and racism: “Leo himself is without any racial consciousness – or even unconsciousness. Leo looks on each human being with the purest of motives; i.e., what can this guy do to make Leo Durocher’s passage through life easier, more fun and more profitable?”
OK, while the Santa incident is urban myth, you can file the above Craigslist personals ad under “looking for love in all the wrong places” “too good to be true”. (jpg taken from Philebrity)
Rodriguez opened his regular game-week news conference Monday by addressing the allegations first presented in a Detroit Free Press article Sunday. Several former players, who spoke anonymously, said the Wolverines routinely violated the NCAA-mandated 20-hour practice rule.
Rodriguez defended strength and conditioning coach Mike Barwis in his early remarks Monday.
“He has always complied with the rules, as has our entire staff,” Rodriguez said. “We know the rules and comply with the rules.”
Rodriguez became visibly emotional, grabbed both sides of the lectern, and looked down before speaking again.
“The thing that bothers me the most is the perception that we didn’t care for the student’s’ welfare,” Rodriguez said. “That is disheartening. To say that is misleading. … We complied by the rules.”
Newsday’s Campus Confidential blog quotes Rodriguez as saying of his accusers, “it was misleading. Treatments, study hall, other aspects don’t count…the players don’t] know the rules. They don’t know what counts and what doesn’t,” and indeed, it is difficult to keep track of arcane NCAA edicts while also maintaining a shrine to Lloyd Carr in one’s dorm room. But as Jon Heyman already put it so well, “if Rich Rodriguez cheated to go 3-9 , I nominate him for worst coach in college football history.”
St. Louis manager Tony Walnuts on Dave Duncan: ”It’s not personal. It’s business. Now get the fuck outta here.”
Joe Strauss of the Stl-Post Dispatch reports today some news that can only be seen as a silver lining, should it happen, to the North Side of Chicago. Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan missed the Astros opener last Tuesday for “personal business,” and may move on from St. Louis. Duncan has been with Cards mgr Tony La Russa since Tony Walnuts’ 1983 White Sox. While the two have succeeded where ever they’ve gone, Duncan has not been happy with Card GM John Mozeliak’s keeping the Cards minor league pitchers outside the loop of Duncan and his staff up top. There’s also the issue of Chris Duncan’s treatment by the STL media and fans over his work last year, which was brutal. Although Chris D had a great 2006 (the Cards last postseason year), 2007-2008 saw a drop in production that Cardinals fans and management did not forgive. It only came out post-season that Chris Duncan played 2007 with a double-hernia, and currently, other ailments.
Well, certainly Chris Duncan found that out. La Russa has a reputation (around here anyway) for pushing injured players into playing when they shouldn’t. Indeed, Cardinal casualty Scott Rolen currently warms the Reds bench due to post-concussion syndrome. Tony Walnuts’ comments below on Chris Duncan appear as willfully ignorant as his comments after Jose Canseco outted Mark McGwire’s steroid use (basically, HUH!?!? On my team?!?!?). That said, the Cardinals bad news is good for the Cubs. Hopefully Dave Duncan is eyeing an AL team. Who knows, maybe Duncan spent his first missed game in decades in Chicago to discuss the team’s new ownership and future. Joe Strauss reports the following:
After blasting 22 home runs in 280 at-bats in 2006, Duncan’s breakout start to 2007 was sabotaged by a double hernia that neither player nor team confirmed until the younger Duncan submitted to surgery that September.
The conspiracy of silence repeated itself last season when a herniated cervical disc left Duncan with excruciating pain in his neck and numbness in his right arm and hand. He required surgery to replace the defective disc with a prosthetic, a first-of-a-kind procedure on an American professional athlete.
When Duncan’s performance began to erode again this season, the club never acknowledged a physical issue.
However, Duncan was scheduled to leave the club in Houston to be examined by his St. Louis surgeon, Dr. Dan Riew, the day after learning of the trade. (Dave Duncan had pushed for the exam.) Fearing what an examination might reveal, the younger Duncan refused to attend the appointment.
Dave Duncan reacted harshly upon learning of the trade the night of July 21. While reporters were shooed from the Minute Maid Park visiting clubhouse, Duncan lashed out at the team’s training staff in front of players for its handling of his son.
Reminded that Chris consistently denied his injuries when queried by reporters, Duncan insisted, “At some point the club should protect those who don’t protect themselves. Chris didn’t protect himself. And no one else protected him either.”
La Russa says his understanding of Chris’ hernia and cervical condition was less than total.
“Until the end I didn’t know the pain he was in,” La Russa said. “I would have never played him if I thought the hernia would become a double hernia or if he was having trouble sleeping at night. (Chris) shares that (responsibility). But by doing that, my respect is magnified for him. He thought, ‘If I could walk, I’m going to go out there.’”
If you owned a Minneapolis sports bar, there’s all sorts of local sports memorabilia you’d be keen to display ; Fran Tarkenton’s tax returns. Restraining orders taken out against Kirby Puckett. The incriminating photographs of Kevin McHale that are currently in Danny Ainge’s safe. In lieu of those collectables, however, one enterprising Mankato tavern proprietor struck gold this week, winning a $750 auction to gain possession of Onterrio Smith’s Whizzinator. From the Star-Tribune’s Michael Rand :
Buster’s owner Matt Little couldn’t be in attendance for the auction, but he sent an agent to make the purchase for him. He said he wouldn’t have bought it “if the price had been 10 grand,” but overall his motivation was fairly simple.
“We’re a sports bar, and I’m a sports collector,” Little said. “I’d love to have the Original Whizzinator on display. … I’m going to use it.”
Use it right now? Little laughed.
“It’s out in the truck,” he said. “I’d feel a little weird if I had it in my hand right now.”
But soon, the Whizzinator will be out in the open at Buster’s and will be featured prominently in some of the bar’s rather risque promotions. One would imagine it will attract curiosity seekers — particularly next summer during Vikings training camp in Mankato.
“We’re going to try to get Onterrio down here,” Little said. “There might be some sentimental value. He might want to come down to see it.”
Manager Art Howe, contrary to his laissez-faire style, was forced to address the issue. He spoke first on Tejada’s behalf, trying to quell the outrage. Then Jason Giambi, the unequivocal leader and biggest star on the team, laid out the players’ concerns.
“It really shocked me to the point of disbelief,” said Tim Hudson, then a young pitching star for the Athletics. “But I figured, if that’s an issue where we need to clear the air a bit, then we need to clear the air a little bit.”
“I think Ron Gant calmed it down before it snowballed into anything big,” said Frank Menechino, an A’s infielder at the time, and now the hitting instructor for the Class AA Trenton Thunder. “Like: ‘Hey, man, we can’t worry about what the other teams are doing in this league. But we can’t pull the Dominican guys out of our team and suspect them of anything until we catch them.’ He basically calmed everything down. Everything was fine after that. I seriously can’t prove, say, yes or no, that guys were doing it. But who knows?”
Hudson called Tejada, a six-time All-Star, “a great teammate” and said he still found it impossible to believe that he would help the opposition.
What first raised suspicion among the 2001 A’s was an early May series in Toronto. Tejada and Blue Jays third baseman Tony Batista, friends from the Dominican Republic, each put up terrific numbers. In the three-game series, Batista went 6 for 13 with a home run and 5 runs batted in, and Tejada was 4 for 10 with 9 R.B.I., including a home run in each game.
More significant in the eyes of some of the players was an incident in the second game of the series. Tejada did not get to an easy ground ball Batista hit off reliever Mark Guthrie with the Athletics leading, 8-2. When the inning was over, A’s players fumed on the bench.
Tejada, now 35, said his teammates were skeptical because Batista dropped a foul pop-up he hit in the previous game.
“I would never do that,” Tejada said. “I want to win. If my brother was on the other team, I would never help him.”
Tejada, taking the day off with Houston visiting Arizona this afternoon, is obviously innocent until proven guilty. If you’re keeping score, however, this is the 3rd major ethical lapse Miggy’s been charged with, which should at the very least, give Milo Hamilton pause the next time he exhorts Astros fans to root for “the good guys”.
…and he’s not named Joe Buck. “”If millionaires and billionaires can’t figure out a way to split their pie,” mused surrogate Joe The Plumber / steamfitter Joseph Barzelli to the Post’s Mike Vaccaro, “then they aren’t worth my time.” To wit, Mr. Barzelli, a lifelong NY (baseball) Giants and Mets fan, bailed on the Grand Old Game following the 1994 lockout.
On Sept. 1, 1994 — 15 years ago this Tuesday — he said goodbye. To all of it. For good. Forever. And has kept his word. He hasn’t followed an inning since.
“Do I miss it?” he asks. “I miss the game I remember. But I don’t think that game has existed for a long time.”
Fans still seethed, swore they would stay away. In 1995, they did, in droves. They trickled back in ‘96, and a little more in ‘97, and by the summer of 1998 players were knocking down buildings with baseballs, and the Yankees were winning 125 games, and attendance actually shattered pre-strike records. Fifteen years pass in the blink of an eye, and a whole generation of fans has grown up knowing nothing but labor peace in baseball. Maybe everyone learned a lesson. Maybe it’s simply an aberration. Maybe the apocalypse is still out there. There are things nobody knows.
We know this: An awful lot of the people who swore off baseball 15 years ago eventually swore off their swear-off. They came back for more. They come back for more. Joseph Barzelli knows he probably isn’t the only one who held fast to his convictions, though he doesn’t run into many fellow protesters. He lives in Arizona now. In a world of constant news cycles, he knows about baseball what he hears by osmosis. It’s like breathing second-hand smoke. You can’t avoid all of it.
“I don’t think what I did was noble,” he said. “I wasn’t trying to be. But I said if they broke my heart again, I’d break theirs right back. I’d like to think baseball misses me. But I know better than that.”
I recall hearing proclamations similar to Barzelli’s at the time and with all due respect to a guy who probably didn’t ask Vacarro to plaster his name all over the sports section, this is booshit. If you believe the last 15 years of Major League Baseball to be tainted and/or without merit, you’re certainly entitled to your screwy opinion. But there’s much more to the game than The Used Car Salesman’s Unprecedented Era Of Drug Abuse Prosperity ; that 25 inning classic between Texas and Boston College this past June was hardly a battle between billionaires and millionaires. Has Barzelli’s boycott of baseball extended to other professional sports that have experienced lengthy work stoppages? It might’ve been a worthwhile question, but I can’t for the life of me understand why Vacarro thought this was an interesting way to commemorate the anniversary of one of MLB’s biggest black eyes. Presumably Felipe Alou and Don Mattingly were too busy to return his phone calls.
White Sox skipper Ozzie Guillen watched his club collect a solitary base hit during Saturday afternoon’s 10-0 drubbing at the Nu Stadium, a scenario that the unflinchingly self-critical manager declaring afterwards, “I’m the one who will take the blame, 100 percent, there’s no doubt.” Which is a hell of a way to let Jose Contreras (3.1 IP, 9 hits, 6 earned runs) off the hook. From the Chicago Tribune’s Mark Gonzalez :
“I’m embarrassed,” Guillen said. “And everybody in that room should be embarrassed. If they’re not embarrassed, they got the wrong job or they’re stealing money from baseball. I feel like I’m stealing the money from (chairman) Jerry (Reinsdorf). And that’s a shame. When you got more errors than hits, you better look yourself in the mirror and start second-guessing yourself. But I’m second-guessing myself right now, making the wrong lineup every day. I second-guess myself bringing in the wrong guys to pitch. Second-guess myself like we work so hard to put this team together, all the way from spring training and when I look on the field … ”
Guillen was just warming up.
“I was looking at the Little League game this morning, and they were playing better than we did. It was more fun. It gets to the point where you are a veteran player and I have a lot of respect for them, and you appreciate what they do for you in the past, but this is not major league baseball, sorry.
I’m not a loser or a negative guy, but I’m really realistic. That’s my problem in the past when I’m so realistic and people get mad at me and they don’t like the way I do stuff or the way I talk. Well, if you don’t want me to talk that way, (bleeping) play better.
“And I’m getting paid a lot of money to manage this club and I truly believe this – I’m stealing money from Jerry Reinsdorf right now. I come here, make the lineup, go to sleep and watch (bleeping) Little League games.”
I did not realize this occurred. Even if I had witnessed Sellers (above) drop the flag, I would not have made that a big deal about it because I have spoken with the man repeatedly, which is my job as a beat reporter, and am familiar with his background. Sellers’s father was a career military man, and I just don’t get the sense he would intentionally do something to degrade the flag.
“It’s been brought to my attention, carrying the flag out yesterday, that I didn’t put it in the proper spot after carrying it out. I meant no disrespect,” Sellers said. “My father retired [from the military] 30 some years almost, I grew up as an Army brat, I know the conduct when it comes to the flag and I made a mistake by setting it down the way I did and I’d like to apologize if I offended anybody out there.
“I was asked to bring it out last minute, didn’t know who to give it to, got hyped up, and put the flag down. Like I said, if I offended anyone, I apologize. That’s not me. I grew up in a military background. I know what it is to respect the flag, and I apologize. It was in the heat of the moment.”
It all seems like a big misunderstanding, but it doesn’t help matters that Bill Belichick can’t give a straight answer about whether or not the flag will be good to go in Week One.
On an afternoon in which the Amazingly Disableds squandered a genuinely fine effort from starter Pat Misch, the Angels took on more than $20 million in salary in the form of ex-Met / Al Leiter nemesis Scott Kazmir (above) — exactly the sort of late season move we once came to expect when New York’s 2nd richest baseball club was, well, rich. According to author Erin Arvedlund, whose forthcoming Bernie Maddoff tome, “Too Good To Be True” will presumably not be offered for sale at the Mets Team Store, Fred Wilpon was fleeced to the tune of $700 million, making his eventual sale of the Mets a foregone conclusion. From Reuters’ Ben Klayman :
Arvedlund said she does not know the terms of the Wilpons’ bank loans but said the losses are steep enough that a sale of the baseball team is certain.
“It’s qualified by when,” she said. “It’s possible they would have to sell by next year.” Fred Wilpon was among thousands of investors defrauded by Madoff, himself a Mets fan.
Madoff pleaded guilty in March to running the biggest investment fraud in Wall Street’s history, which investigators said bilked investors out of $13 billion to $21 billion.
Madoff is serving 150 years in a federal prison in North Carolina.
The team said Arvedlund has no knowledge of the baseball team or its finances and repeated previous statements that the Mets are not for sale. “Her speculation that the Mets — or any part of the team — is for sale is completely false and is irresponsible,” the team said.
A team spokesman told MarketWatch that Arvedlund’s loss projection is inaccurate.
Let’s hope said spokesperson isn’t merely playing damage control. As much as I’ve criticized Fred and Jeff Wilpon this season, all you have to do is look at the state of midtown Manhattan’s basketball teams — men’s and women’s —- to realize things could actually be much worse if the frontman of the Straight Shot added the Mets to his toychest.
Sunday, in the fifth inning of the Yankees-Red Sox radiocast, Waldman had indignantly wondered why Posada was even being “brought into the equation.” Then she hammered Burnett.
“(Burnett) stunk up the joint (Saturday, giving up nine runs in Boston’s 14-1 win),” Waldman said. “He should just stand up and take it like Andy Pettitte (would have).”
Thursday, before Burnett (with Jose Molina catching) took the mound against Texas, someone asked Waldman if her Tuesday conversation with Burnett had anything to do with what she had said about him on the radio.
“Yes it did,” Waldman answered. “We had a lovely conversation. … A lot of times players don’t realize how their actions look on the field. I just think he was emotional about his failures. I don’t think A.J. meant to show anybody up.”
“If it’s something that I’ve said that gets a player upset, then I will tell him why I said it. But I can’t do my job thinking that if I say something someone is going to get upset with me. I can’t do that,” Waldman said. “Everybody’s got opinions. I know what a lot of people think, but I’m really not a (Yankees) cheerleader.”
“Everybody likes telling these guys bad news. Somebody’s wife hears it. Or somebody’s cousin reads it. Most of the time it comes back (to the player) incorrectly,” Waldman said. “Usually, it’s not what you said. That happens all the time.”
Thanks to Jason Cohen for fwd’ing Maury Brown’s analysis of the recent Federal ruling forcing the government to return illegally confiscated test results of Major League Baseball players. Unlike most of us, Brown read the whole thing. Thanks to him, we know it contains some news regarding CSTB’s favorite cub reporter, Michael Schmidt of The New York Times. Brown writes:
As Chief Judge Alex Kozinski wrote for the majority in yesterday’s ruling, the leaking of names from documents that were under court seal, has done harm to baseball’s drug testing policy.
“The risk to the players associated with disclosure, and with that the ability of the Players Association to obtain voluntary compliance with drug testing from its members in the future, is very high. Indeed, some players appear to have already suffered this very harm as a result of the government’s seizure.”
The ruling then points a direct finger at The New York Times, citing examples:
See, e.g., Michael S. Schmidt, Ortiz and Ramirez Said to Be on 2003 Doping List, N.Y. Times, July 31, 2009, at A1; Michael S. Schmidt, Sosa Is Said to Have Tested Positive in 2003, N.Y. Times, June 17, 2009, at B11; Michael S. Schmidt, Rodriguez Said to Test Positive in 2003, N.Y. Times, February 8, 2009…
At the heart of Schmidt and Roberts’ stories are one or more individuals (Schmidt cited unnamed lawyers) that had access to the “list” created by a federal investigator believed to be Novitzky (the list was created from an illegally seized spreadsheet in a mountain of other documents in what has been labeled the “Tracey” directory). Those individuals will now become the focus, as opposed to the players. As Donald Fehr and Michael Weiner said in a joint statement after the Ninth’s ruling, “Anyone who leaks information purporting to contain those 2003 test results is committing a crime.”
Me, I don’t disagree that Schmidt might be on the receiving end of some legal ballistics, not that I want reporters to go through that. Confidential sourcing is vital to whistle blowing stories that make very positive differences in people’s lives. That said, Schmidt’s stories appear to be nothing more than a mix of amoral ambition (his) and an embittered, failed prosecution (the Novitzky team, facing an Obama future). If they go after Schmidt, he’ll be elevated to a status of 1st Amendment freedom fighter, obscuring something else: The New York Times can’t back up anything he has said regarding Sosa or Ramirez. That is, a reporters rights story will overshadow his incompetence. The players union disputes Schmidt’s 104 list at the heart of his stories. Schmidt himself stated he has never seen any testing or evidence. Players Association lawyer Elliot Peters now states that the 104 list is nothing but a spread-sheet concocted by Federal investigator Jeff Novitzky himself. If Novitzky created it, it’s hard to see how the players union, informants at the testing labs, or any “lawyers” (as per Schmidt), could have leaked “the list,” except the people who created it. As stated here several times, Schmidt looks to have been played by his sources and their agenda. I will also ask again: why were the 2009 names – Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, David Ortiz, and Manny Ramirez – all Latino? Why did each leak happen after notable, and typically arrogant (or shall we say, “uppity”) behavior by Rodriguez, Sosa, and Ramirez? Right now, it looks like someone with some real issues was out to get these guys.
Jason and I were e-mailing about the Scooter Libby/Judith Miller parallelto this (in how the gov’t fed Miller stories to their own advantage to appear in The Times) as well as the Howell Raines/Jayson Blair factor of a young reporter pushed up the ladder too fast. While I don’t think Schmidt in any waysought to deceive like Blair, it’s just too familiar a scenario coming from the NY Times. Schmidt’s done real damage to people’s careers here. Hopefully any civil suits coming will be paid by the Times, as I doubt he has the resources to pay off Sosa, Ortiz, and Ramirez. Still, once Judith Miller did her jail stretch, theTimes went through her stories and bounced her. After Schmidt based so much of his reporting on Novitzky’s 104 “dirty names” spread sheet, I hope he gets the same thorough review.
Btw, my offer to The New York Times still stands: Out any member of the 2005 “world champion” White Sox as a steroid user, and all is forgiven.
It’s sometimes hard to figure out where the blurry lines between public service, celebrity and commerce can and cannot cross, so please, consider this a tutorial. Florida QB / reigning Heisman winner Tim Tebow can enhance his reputation (and future earning power) with acts of missionary goodness ; if a Florida State League ballclub wishes to sell an extra few dozen tickets while giggling at the Christ-like signal caller, that’s a big no-no. From The Palm Beach Post’s Tim Volin :
The Fort Myers Miracle of the Florida State League tried to hold a “What would Tim Tebow do?” promotion at the ballpark last night against the St. Lucie Mets, poking a little fun at the whole Tebow phenomenon. Fans were going to be given promise rings, the first pitch was supposed to be a jump pass and a local man named Tim Tebo was going to walk on water, among other gags.
Except the Gators quickly jumped in and nixed the idea. According to the Fort Myers News-Press, Florida compliance director Jamie McCloskey sent the Miracle a cease and desist letter yesterday morning demanding that the Miracle remove any and all references to Tebow from their promotion.
Instead, the promotion was changed to “What would T.T. do?” and fans that showed up in Gator gear were still entered into a drawing to win four tickets to the Florida-Arkansas game in October. Sadly, Tebo never showed up to perform his miracle.
On the contrary, Mr. Volin, simply by remaining a virgin on the campus of a large public university, I’d argue Tebow is performing a miracle every single day.
(above : page one of Ray Ramirez’ operations manual)
WIth a 4-1 lead over Florida in the top of the 4th at a very quiet Landshark Stadium, the Mets hope to snap a 5-game losing streak behind a star-studded lineup featuring Wilson Valdez, Anderson Hernandez, Corey Sullivan and Tim Redding. The club’s current medical and financial woes are best summed up by Metstradamus, who suggests “in a cost cutting move, Oliver Perez and Johan Santana will perform their respective surgeries on each other.” As for what brought us to this point, in stark contrast to Maury Brown’s implications the Mets are a bunch of malingerers, Newsday’s David Lennon alleges “while there has always been a clubhouse code – one that outlines the difference between ‘hurt’ and ‘injured’ – the Mets pushed that envelope with a dizzying number of cortisone injections and delayed trips to the disabled list.”
Carlos Delgado was basically a ticking bomb with the torn labrum inside his right hip. As soon as it went for good, he was done. But when that happened, others pushed to stay on their feet to fill that void.
Multiple sources said Jose Reyes had been playing with a slight tear of his right hamstring tendon, not simply tendinitis behind his right knee. So with the reliance on his legs, the Mets were kidding themselves trying to get him back without a prolonged period of rest.
When the tendon ultimately ripped for good June 3, weeks after he was placed on the DL, not even cortisone shots could keep him on his rehab schedule. Now he is likely headed for what the team believes is “minor” surgery to fix the problem when the season is over.
It was a similar scenario with Carlos Beltran, who tried to play through a bone bruise just below his right knee, again with the help of cortisone shots. Two sources said Beltran was unhappy with how the injury was handled, but when asked about agreeing to the shots, Beltran said it was he who accepted the risk.
So did J.J. Putz, who knew a shot was the only way he could try to pitch with a bone spur in his right elbow that the Mariners’ medical staff discovered at the end of last season. Oddly, the Seattle doctor told Putz there was no need for surgery, then he was traded to the Mets roughly two months later.
John Maine, in rehab limbo in Port St. Lucie, had three cortisone shots in the back of the shoulder before the Mets chose simply to rest him.
“While that cortisone was in there, I was great,” Putz said. “But cortisone is nothing but a Band-Aid anyway. It masks the problem. That’s all it really is…if you’re getting cortisone to cover up a torn ligament, or a slightly torn ligament, then yeah, it can get worse, because you don’t feel the stress.”
It probably won’t make Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino feel any better this morning to contemplate how much life would suck if he were Billy Gillispie, but after an angry press conference to address videotaped allegations made by accused extortionist Karen Sypher, at least one local columnist is urging Pitino to take a fistful of calm-the-fuck-down pills. “The next time that news airs about the Pitino-Karen Sypher encounter, Pitino and his family members should change the channel quicker than the coach changes point guards. If he finds his blood pressure escalating when he begins reading stories in the paper similar to this column, flip to a story about his beloved New York Yankees,” declares the Louisville Courier-Journal’s Rick Bozich, gently reminding Pitino that while this sex scandal might not be as crucial as “the economy”, living under scrutiny is part of the job description.
Don’t even consider trolling for stories or message boards on the Internet. It’s not pretty out there. Sexual affairs, especially ones involving extortion, abortion and intercourse in a restaurant, draw the public’s interest. It’s not the most admirable characteristic of the news culture, but it’s reality.
Pitino’s name sells tickets, books and seats at motivational seminars. He is one of the highest-paid coaches in college basketball. He should not be surprised that his name sells scandal, too, especially after he behaved so recklessly by having sex with Sypher at Porcini restaurant.
Pitino should be as upset with himself as he is at the coverage. Fame comes with responsibilities as well as rewards. It also comes with a public backlash to irresponsible behavior. The backlash is only beginning. Pitino’s unhappiness with the coverage of this story, even if some of it is justified, will not change that.
What Pitino accomplished Wednesday was to recycle the story into another news cycle. He got everybody talking about something that he doesn’t want anybody talking about. Air ball. The story was subsiding nationally. Fresh Pitino sound bites gave it energy.
If Pitino’s intent was to overshadow the midday airing of police interrogation tapes of Sypher, he miscalculated. He created more uncertainty about his ability to survive the ordeal.
While I don’t think Pitino’s presser qualifies as a public meltdown, I also doubt it was necessary for the coach to note the passing of Sen. Ted Kennedy. Are we meant to believe news coverage of Sypher’s charges was somehow disrespectful to Kennedy’s memory? If, by chance, the Cardinals make it to the Final Four this season, will Pitino be quick to turn down an interview with “60 Minutes” or ESPN’s “Sunday Conversation” because, y’know, there are more important things in the world?
[Bush's steroid investigator, Jeff Novitzky: the man who can't prove Barry Bonds used steroids.]
[Thanks to David Williams for the link.] While it’s nowhere near as serious as torture investigations, Katrina, or invading countries on false pretenses, it’s nice to see one aspect of Bush Era overreach undone. In this case, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered the Federal Gov’t to return test results confiscated illegally from the players union. The tests, once thought to name 104 players for banned steroid use, were confiscated by the government before they could be destroyed in 2003, as players were promised they would be. Since falling into gov’t hands, the list has been the basis of steroid stories naming ballplayers who agreed to be tested anonymously. That same list is now strongly disputed by the union itself for two reasons, 1) the players union says substantially fewer than 104 players tested positive, and 2) that the results can even be called “positive,” since at least 13 players tested “inconclusive,” as David Ortiz did. 8 others tested positive for then-legal supplements, and the rest – who knows? Still, the myth of 104 positive tests is what the NY TIMES Michael Schmidt based his now unsupportable accusations on against David Ortiz, Sammy Sosa, and Manny Ramirez as confirmed users of banned substances in 2003. The NY TIMES can’t confirm what they tested for – but “outted” the players using information from credibility challenged prosecutors anyway. The Silicon Valley Mercury News’ Howard Mintz reports the following on yesterday’s decision:
Meanwhile, Wednesday’s ruling marked the latest legal twist in a long-running court fight over baseball’s drug-testing program. The 9th Circuit slammed Justice Department officials for being overzealous, noting that they seized records that went well beyond 10 major league players linked to BALCO, including testing data from hundreds of baseball players and athletes from 13 other sports.
“This was an obvious case of deliberate overreaching by the government in an effort to seize data as to which it lacked probable cause,” Chief Judge Alex Kozinski wrote in a 9-2 decision by a special 11-judge 9th Circuit panel.
Jack Gillund, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Francisco, said prosecutors are reviewing the ruling and evaluating their options, which now appear limited to appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court or dropping the issue.
Attorneys for the players praised the ruling but expressed concern that the damage has already been done to some players whose names have been publicly linked to the list.
“The unfortunate thing is that people illegally leaked information that was unconstitutionally seized,” said San Francisco attorney Elliot Peters, who represents the Major League Baseball Players Association. “People’s reputations have been damaged because of that.”
The 9th Circuit ruling came in a government appeal of three lower-court rulings that also barred the use of the testing results, which involved the league’s 2003 anonymous testing program to determine the extent of steroid use in baseball. Federal investigators seized the drug-testing records in 2004 in connection with the probe into the Burlingame-based BALCO lab.
Having already run afoul of Washington’s coaching staff during his brief tenure as Nats color commentator, MASN’s Rob Dibble (above) is apparently a boor in multiple mediums. Nationals blogger Miss Chatter describes herself as “a bit taken aback at Dibble’s liberal use of the ‘block’ feature” on Twitter.
WHAT?! Ok, so this is weird. I consider myself a pretty amicable person who gets along with everyone and has a decent pulse on the Nats fanbase. I also get along with most media members and broadcasters (both radio and television). One television broadcaster has mentioned me during game broadcasts a handful of times this season and we’ve emailed back and forth about me teaching him how to effectively use Twitter (someday). His partner has mentioned his Twitter name (@rdibs49) during broadcasts and encouraged followers. I’ve been following him for a while (since before he started mentioning it during games) and kind of thought he should totally be following me to learn about the Nats fanbase. However, I discovered this afternoon that he apparently blocked me and I have no idea why. Talk about awkward!
For someone representing the ballclub who is supposed to help fans understand the game and remain faithful to the club, this is surprising to me and something I would consider a clueless act when it comes to social media. You don’t publicly pick fights with fans of the club you represent for one (which he has done, but then deleted later). Well, maybe “pick fights” isn’t the correct phrase — retaliate is more appropriate. I wasn’t going to mention that before… And you don’t ostracize one of the longer-tenured, vocal and influential fans. I’ve seen broadcasters come and go and will probably still be around long after someone else is in the Nats Park booth. So I’m trying not to take it personally, but am still puzzled.
For no good reason at all, I offer this 1985 WGN profile of Dick the Bruiser hosted by Jack Brickhouse and Steve Stone. I especially like the Bruiser’s dismissal of his wife for daring to speak during the interview (even tho they obviously get their hair bleached at the same place), the Bruiser’s skills on his pool’s diving board, vintage 80s shorts, and that impressive car collection.
Following ugly scenes during last night’s Carling Cup tie between West Ham and Milwall, Lions supporter Lance Bellers acknowledges to readers of When Saturday Comes Daily, “the wheeling out of Millwall’s stock list of misdemeanours has taken on comic proportions”, while asking those Millwall fans who aren’t looking for a fight, “it’s all so predictable and depressing that you really have to start asking yourself at exactly what point would you decide you’ve had enough and call it a day?”
This season has included the usual amount of those incidents that start to make you really wonder. For example: the eternal racism (”We’re glad we sold the nigger,” sung by a few and aimed at Chris Armstrong); the father leading his seven-year-old boy by the hand after the Youth Cup final at Arsenal and singing at the top of his voice, “North London is full of shit, shit and more shit”; and two stories from a friend, who told of having to run for his life after visiting the New Den and also of someone he knew suffering a double headbutt after the Forest game, even though he actually supports Ipswich.
So what exactly would it take to kick the football habit? Millwall’s severe lack of form at the beginning of this season certainly had me thinking hard. After all, without a half-decent side to follow, what else did I have to entice me there? Of course, the real answer is that I probably will never give up going altogether. Football still supplies sufficient excitement, uncertainty and comradeship to prevent me from really ending it all. Am I alone in this? I suspect not.
Novitzky led a raid on the California Date Testing center in April of 2004 as part of his investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative. He entered CDT with a search warrant for 10 players connected to BALCO, but seized a computer directory that contained the names of all 104 players who failed the tests. The directory also had confidential drug tests of players from the NFL, NHL and three private businesses.
The Ninth Circuit ruled that the government only had access to the 10 players connected to BALCO.
“I know that he violated my rights and I believe he has done so with many others as well.” said Victor Conte, who owned BALCO and has been a consistent critic of Novitzky.
For the second time in as many Augusts, the spectacle of RHP Jose Contreras visiting the first base area has failed to inspire. Last season, it was a race to the bag (helped not a bit by the feckless, motionless Nick Swisher at 1B) that caused Contreras’ achilles to snap, ending his season and keeping the Twins very much in contention into the post-season.
Monday, Contreras’s chug down the line landed him not on a stretcher, but the bullpen. After loading the bases in the 3rd by beaning Youklis with 2 outs, Contreras got Big Papi to issue a weak grounder down the line. Normally cause for celebration, Jose instead bobbled it, allowing Alex Gonzales to score, kicking off a 6 unearned run inning. Chisox blown opportunities to answer were marked by Carlos Quentin and Alex Rios popups. By evening’s end, Contreras would be demoted to the pen and the White Sox would lead the AL in unearned runs with 63. The Tigers victory in Anaheim put the Pale Hose 3.5 games back, making Tuesday’s tilt if not a must-win, something close to it.
Yesterday came the hammer blow. More blown scoring opportunities laced Sweaty Freddy Garcia’s decent 6 1/3 inning effort before it was handed to the resolutely terrible Scott Linebrink (7.73 since ASB), causing anguished foreheads to meet beer-moistened bar tops from Greektown to Joliet. Ass long as he’s durr, I how to bring him out, explained Ozzie after it was too late. Linebrink gave up a Jason Bay monster-clearing bomb and RBI hits to Ellsbury and Martinez to put the game and probably the division out of reach for good.
The division because Detroit’s mediocrity took a Southern California holiday in their Jarrod Washburn-led 5-3 win, putting the Pale Hose back 4.5 games and making Sox fans wonder why Detroit’s west coast import arm wasn’t languishing in AAA like ours was. Did Jake Peavy answer this question by stopping a line drive with his throwing elbow in his third rehab start in Charlotte? Will we have all winter to think about Clayton Richard, for whom the troubled Cy Young winner was traded – and his record of 4-0 since that deal?
Tensions began to escalate because, Torrealba said, Miller (above) insulted him, saying that he was out of line by showing up Campos during the game with his body language on questionable calls against Rockies pitchers. A witness to the incident said that Miller referred to his own experience as an umpire in explaining why he had the right to criticize Torrealba’s actions, though he wasn’t working the plate.
As Miller and Torrealba argued, Street yelled at first-base umpire Jim Joyce, telling him that Miller needed to stop badgering Torrealba. Joyce came over to the rail of the Rockies’ dugout and exchanged words with Street and pitching coach Bob Apodaca.
“I was defending my catcher, that’s all. It was an emotional night on both sides,” said Street, who apologized to the umpires after the game.
Following Ryan Spilborghs’ walk-off grand slam, the Rockies celebrated at home plate. As the players dispersed, Torrealba yelled at Miller. Torrealba said he is not worried about a potential suspension.
“I didn’t do anything wrong. You offend me and I will offend you back. You show me respect and I’ll show you respect,” Torrealba said.
Renck reports Colorado’s Troy Tulowitzki was chastised for making contact with teammate Spilborghs before the latter crossed home plate, which might be the most petty complaint this side of Great White saying their rider wasn’t contractually fulfilled.
[A shirtless photo of Zambrano could not be found at press time, so a CSTB staffer was asked to pose (thank you Rob Warmowski!)]
‘”I’m going to show her my guns so that she can call me lazy again,” Zambrano recently huffed at the Sun-Times‘ Chris De Luca, in a quite sensible response to Carol Slezak’s recent complaints about Z. Indeed, the Cubs went on an all-out PR campaign this week to refute the outrageous charge that Zambrano is lazy made by, well, Zambrano himself. Cub GM Jim Hendry confidently announced this afternoon that he isn’t at all worried about Zambrano’s paper mache back or recent admission that he’s “lazy.” That said, Big La-Z-Boy got blown out 15-6 tonight by the apparently fearsome last place Washington Nationals. The good news – the Cubs actually hit 6 runs in ONE game, one of them a Zambrano solo shot. Zambrano’s lazy days of summer interview has been fuel for the fire of the What Happened To The ‘09 Cubs Blame Game. While I’ve been remiss in covering Big Z’s casual work ethic, one thing’s for sure – he’s but one problem of many. The Carol Slezak column that got Z to the gym gives a nice cataloging of Cub faults, and while she gives props to the ladies bathrooms at Wrigley, that offers this fan little in the way of practical good news. Worse, she presents the Cubs a sterling role model – the South Side. Chris De Luca of The Sun-Times gives a sympathetic ear to Zambrano here:
He was particularly upset by a Carol Slezak column in the Sun-Times this week that included this message: ”If I were running the Cubs, I’d be looking for a way to make this lazy pitcher somebody else’s problem.”
Zambrano’s response: ”That lady that says I was lazy, I want to see her on Tuesday. I want to be with no shirt so that she can see my body, and she can see what type of body I have. If I’m lazy, lazy people don’t have this body, so I’m going to show her my guns so that she can call me lazy again.
”I’m sorry, people get hurt. We are human, and we get hurt. … We are not machines.”
The same Chicago press corps worshipped Kerry Wood. Many adoringly called him ”Woody,” prompting manager Lou Piniella to ask during his first season, ”Who?” You would never hear the Chicago critics blasting Wood. My gosh, he once struck out 20 Houston Astros.
Zambrano? Run him out of town.
One writer proudly announced in June — after Zambrano lost to the White Sox — that the Cubs should just release him and eat the rest of his $91.5 million contract. The bankrupt Chicago Tribune, which still owns the Cubs, promoted this idea as pure genius.
Florida International’s first game under the stewardship of Isiah Thomas (above) is listed as a Nov. 9 tipoff against defending national champs North Carolina. Trouble is, FIU’s athletic director claims he’d only agreed to play Ohio State. From the Miami Herald :
FIU A.D. Pete Garcia said he felt the Golden Panthers were “bullied” by organizers of the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament and that he expected Thomas’ debut to be at Ohio State instead.
“Would they do what they’re doing to us to Duke, or to North Carolina? No,” Garcia said. “But they’ll do it to FIU and any other school out there like FIU.”
The Princeton, N.J.-based Gazelle Group, which operates the tournament, said Garcia signed a contract in November 2008 stipulating the Golden Panthers would play Ohio State or North Carolina sometime between Nov. 9-13. Garcia acknowledged signing that deal.
He said “it’s a matter of principle and a matter of the contract” why FIU won’t agree to playing North Carolina instead.
“We’re being bullied into that game,” Garcia said. “I’ve told them today, we’ll play Ohio State, we don’t want to play North Carolina.”
FIU hired Thomas, the former New York Knicks coach and president, on April 15 and gave him a five-year contract. Garcia said many of the nation’s biggest programs have called about scheduling FIU since Thomas got hired.
“Everyone wants to play us now,” Garcia said.
If nothing else, this oughta be terrific bulletin board material for Thad Matta. What better motivation for the Buckeyes than being reminded, repeatedly, that unranked F.I.U. would prefer to play Ohio State?
Sunday evening I took a little time out from panhandling and attended my first ballgame in a few weeks, as I witnessed Memphis defeat Round Rock, 6-1. Though rehab appearances by St. Louis’ Troy Glaus and Houston’s Aaron Boone piqued my curiosity, the real draw for your humble editor was the Pacific Coast League debut of former Mets closer Armando Benitez, who’d previously been toiling for the indie Atlantic League’s Newark Bears. Signed by Houston on Friday and assigned to Round Rock, Benitez never made it into Sunday’s contest, but as the following item from the Express’ website details, his appearance on Monday night was nothing short of…well, just what Mets fans might’ve expected had the former Amazins reliever been pitching in Flushing.
Armando Benitez made Express history with two down in the top of the eighth inning of Round Rock’s 12-7 loss to Memphis (69-60) on Monday, becoming just the third player in Pacific Coast League history to allow four consecutive home runs in a single inning.
Benitez, who joined Round Rock (55-75) earlier in the day after making 34 appearances for Independent Newark, joined Joe Nathan and Kevin Meier as one of three PCL pitchers to allow four homers in a single frame.
The only difference? All of the shots Benitez allowed were consecutive, good for a PCL record for pitchers.
The “planned” scuffles, which involved more than 100 fans, appeared to have been caused by fans without tickets to the game, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said.
Reports suggested that some of the fans had been throwing missiles and bricks at one another and the violence between the two sets of fans was described as “serious” by BBC News.
It is thought some fans were ambushed by rival supporters outside the nearby Upton Park underground station via side roads. Officers have made at least two arrests, one for disorder and the second for breach of a banning order.
Police said the stabbing of a man, aged 44, in Priory Road close to the stadium, is connected to the fighting.
Sorry, would Shannon Hoon have been more topical? “Shawn Andrews (above, left) is an enigma wrapped inside a right tackle wrapped around a Pro Bowl guard,” muses the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Phil Sheridan, who acknowledges’ Andrews’ history with depression while dropping the following training camp tidbit ;
Two years ago, Andrews missed the entire preseason with an ankle injury. He told reporters he’d gotten bad news from the doctor – a “tearjerker,” he called it – but then started the season opener. Last year, he missed the preseason with his depression issues.
“I would be pretty [ticked] off if I felt a guy was cheating himself or cheating the team,” Andrews said.
No one is wondering whether Peters or Stacy Andrews or Herremans really wants to come back. It is his unique history that has people asking such questions about Shawn Andrews. It doesn’t help that his answers are accompanied by cryptic asides.
“I feel like I’ve done everything but die,” Andrews said of his battle with depression.
He said he sent Reid a text message before camp: “I’m ready to sell out like a Michael Jackson concert” – an odd choice of words given the pop star’s death on June 25.
“I’m at the zenith of my happiness,” Andrews said at one point.
If this continues, someone will be maimed or killed, despite the presence of helmets. The time has come for Major League Baseball to ban the bean ball. The only way to do this is for baseball to adopt a zero tolerance policy and to impose draconian sanctions not only on pitchers who throw at the heads of batters but, more importantly, on the managers who instruct them to do so. A manager cannot order a pitcher to accidentally hit a batter. Anytime a manager instructs a pitcher to throw at the head of a batter, he has committed the serious crime of reckless endangerment or assault with a lethal weapon. Baseball cannot tolerate such criminality.
The minimum penalty for a manager must be suspension for an entire season, perhaps even for life. For the pitcher, suspension for the season should be mitigated only if the pitcher turned in the manager. There should also be penalties for any baseball player who hears the manager or coach order the beaning of a player without reporting it.
There will be problems of proof in some cases but once Major League Baseball has determined that the decision was a deliberate one, the punishment must fit the crime. It did not do so in the Youkilis-Porcello situation.
If you saw a flyer as well designed as this, exactly how many world-class ballers do you think would emerge from the woodwork looking for an ABA tryout? I’m gonna guess the numbers were rather low (did Mark Aguire call?) but hopefully former NBA vet / Slam Dunk champ Isaiah “J.R.” Rider was eligible for the $100 discounted rate rather than the $120 fee. The North Texas Fresh of the American Basketball Association claim they’re on the brink of signing Rider, though agent Joe Lee warns, “he can’t do the in – between the legs anymore but he can do everything else.”
Nothing has been set in stone yet, but conversation between both parties, ceo/Owner Jay Bowdy and Lee, look to be something greatly appreciative for both ends; and of course the North Texas Fresh fans. “We are making moves necessary to better our franchise. Rider is someone who I feel I can trust to bring in and make a positive impact for these players and the organization with his experience, knowledge, and understanding of the Professional level of basketball,” stated Jay Bowdy. “Hopefully we can come to a mutual agreement on things and add something great to our phenomenal training camp roster that we have already.”
“They’re clearly a presence on the Web, which is clearly a presence in our lives,” said Kasten, who pays close attention to things written and said about his team. “They are out there doing things. I think we’re all better served when they have as much good information as they can have.
“I don’t know if we’ve gone too far or we haven’t gone far enough,” Kasten said. “All of us in sports are learning, feeling our way through these developments. A year ago we didn’t do things like this. A year from now we’ll probably have a better fix on what’s appropriate or what’s not appropriate. We’re trying to figure it out.”
Almost all of the 16 bloggers who showed up Sunday brought notebooks and used them. One of the deeper-thinkers and a big numbers guy, Steven Biel of FJB (Fire Jim Bowden – a shout-out to the departed Nationals general manager) toted a laptop. Many had recording devices and cameras. Blogging has become a sophisticated mixed-media enterprise that runs counter to the popular stereotype. Although that didn’t stop Brian Oliver, another brainy guy, from cracking that “all the mothers’ basements in the area are empty right now.”
No sooner did Michael Beasley post a new backplate snapshot to his Twitter account — with what appeared to be a bag of weed nearby — than the 2nd year Heat forward’s Twitter account under the nom de plume “GorilliaBeas” disappeared. The South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Ira Winderman reports Beasley has since checked into a Houston rehabilitation center run by John Lucas.
“He’s compliant out in Houston, just trying to do everything that is asked of him at this particular moment,”Beasley’s personal manager Bruce Shingler said. “He’s OK right now.”
Inspection of the photo showed two baggies in the background, which some have assumed to be marijuana.
“I don’t know who took that picture. Obviously, it wasn’t Mike taking it,” Shingler said. “I really have no clue about that.”
Before Beasley’s Twitter account was closed and erased, these three posts were offered:
– “Y do I feel like the whole world is against me!!!!!!! Back on my FTW!!!!! I can’t win for losin!!!!!!!!!!”
– “Feelin like it’s not worth livin!!!!!!! I’m done”
– “not feelin this at all!!!!!”
“I truly think they were taken out of context,” Shingler said of those posts. “One thing about the Twitter thing, it can mislead and be misread at times.”
On the topic of being mislead and misread, I apparently owe Stephen A. Smith a big apology. It would seem South Beach IS addictive.
This is the saddest of possible word
Bruntlett to Bruntlett to Bruntlett
Killer of rally in season absurd
Bruntlett to Bruntlett to Bruntlett
Vicious line drive that seemed destined to drop
Giving the Mets chance to come out on top
This year’s indignities simply won’t stop
Bruntlett to Bruntlett to Bruntlett
The Mets already have a victory of sorts against the Phillies on this Monday afternoon – Cliff Lee has allowed two runs (albeit, one unearned) for the first time as a National League pitcher, though the Phillies Ryan Howard hit a three-run homer off of Bobby Parnell in the first. Eric Bruntlett (filling in at SS today after playing second yesterday) is 0-1.
“Woody Allen once wrote that showing up was 95 per cent of life,” recalls former New York Post scribe Maury Allen (above). “I had that part of my persona down pat. Not even a broken finger suffered in a sled accident or a concussion suffered in a stickball accident when I was 12 kept me from school.” What a shame then, that the 79 year old sportswriter, now toiling for The Columnists.com, hasn’t volunteered to patrol left field for Jerry Manuel (link swiped from Repoz and Baseball Think Factory)
What does all of this have to do with the 2009 version of the New York Mets?
In the past two seasons they blew pennant leads in the last could of weeks and were maligned for choking. This year they can be attacked for not showing up.
The injuries, maybe unavoidable, have happened to their best, middle and worst players, including first baseman Carlos Delgado, All Star outfielder Carlos Beltran, team table setter Jose Reyes, free agent pitcher J.J. Putz, veteran Tim Redding and reliever Billy Wagner, a carryover cripple from last year.
This is not to say the Mets are the wimpiest of teams. That’s just the way baseball and all sports seem to go these days. Get injured and take time off. Rehab in Florida. Play against minor league teams.
It just seems to be showing up more around the Mets than around any other team because of the blown pennants in recent years with nobody to blame. This year they can blame the injuries to their stars and soak the fans for those expensive seats again at Citi Field next year.
In another time players played through injuries because they had one year contracts, the competition for jobs was brutal and macho mania was part of the scene.
The Yankees of 1949 won the American league pennant under rookie manager Casey Stengel despite something like 79 major injuries during the year, especially the heel injury to Joe DiMaggio. He sat out the season until a June series against the Red Sox, destroyed them in four games and led the Yankees to a title. Of course, he had to play the last two games of the year with walking pneumonia.
The Mets last won a World Series 23 years ago. It is hard to imagine them winning another with their new history of chokiness and wimpiness.
Allen has apparently forgotten how quickly Carlos Beltran returned to the lineup in ‘05 after re-arranging his good looks in an outfield collision with Mike Cameron. While Maury took care to mention David Wright is “resting comfortably” after taking “a pitch on the cocoanut” (alleged) kid gloves treatment of the Mets’ star third baseman is an obvious move in light of how the club handled Ryan Church’s multiple concussions a year earlier. But it’s a curious take, either way. Rather than pillory the Mets’ training/medical staff or hold the General Manager accountable for a farm system devoid of prospects or competent journeymen, Allen prefers to insist the Mets are, well, a big bunch of pansies.
Because MLB Advanced Media will no doubt have the above clip disabled any minute now, I’ve already got a back up plan in place. If Eric Bruntlett’s game-ending, unassisted triple play from the Phillies’ 9-7 victory over the Mets doesn’t strike you as particularly historic (despite being just the 15th such triple play in big league history, and only the 2nd time a game concluded with such an incident), consider the weirdness of Philadelphia’s Pedro Martinez defending former teammate Oliver Perez. From the Newark Star-Ledger’s Brian Costa :
The fact that Perez struggled, lasting just two-thirds of an inning in the Mets’ 9-7 loss, was the least surprising element. But Martinez was nonetheless critical of Manuel for not allowing Perez to finish the at-bat.
“I’ve never seen something like that,” Martinez said. “I know [Perez] didn’t do his job. He probably didn’t feel quite as comfortable. But on a 3-0 count, you come to take him out?”
Manuel had good reason to pull Perez, who gave up six runs and needed 47 pitches to last as long as he did. He had already given up two three-run homers when Martinez came to the plate, one by Jayson Werth and another by Carlos Ruiz. If Perez couldn’t throw strike one to Martinez after three pitches, Manuel had little reason to think he could do it on the fourth attempt.
“If I was pitching, I don’t know what I’d think,” Martinez said. “I would probably wait until he walked the guy and then take him out. I don’t know if that’s disrespect. I don’t know if that’s anything else. I don’t know how Ollie feels, but definitely, it was really weird.”
Is Mets owner Fred Wilpon a) overly impressed with the emergence of Omir Santos, b) fully aware a rash of injuries and the effects of the Bernie Madoff swindle cannot be blamed on his General Manager or c) just happy someone else takes the heat? Or perhaps some combination of all of the above? In any event, the region’s no. 1 Brooklyn Dodgers fan told the New York Post’s Mike Puma, “Am I going to bring Omar back next year?…Absolutely. That’s a fact.”
Wilpon, who had agreed to answer only one question, then disappeared through a corridor near the Mets clubhouse at Citi Field.
The Post later approached Minaya and repeated Wilpon’s comment, but the GM played it coy when he was asked if the same message had been conveyed to him by Wilpon.
Nevertheless, Minaya made it clear that if he’s returning, so is manager Jerry Manuel.
“Jerry is my guy,” Minaya said. “We work well together.”
“I will continue to work hard every day,” Minaya said. “That’s the only way I know how to work.”
This qualifies as a minor scoop for Puma, so I’m loathe to criticize the Post scribe’s decision to ask the elder Wilpon about Minaya’s status with his one question. Had I been in that position, however, I’d have opted for “true or false? – you have less money in your checking account than Lenny Dykstra.”
[Ecstatic Cub Fan Tom Ricketts Just Got an Awesome Summer Job.]
Word reached the CSTB Cub desk Friday evening that a sale has been finalized between the Ricketts family, who founded Ameritrade, and the Tribune Corporation, in selling the North Side franchise. The sale means $845 million goes to Tribco, which will retain a 5% stake in the team. In return, Americketts gets the team, Wrigley Field, and Tribco’s 25% stake in Comcast cable which broadcasts Cubs games.
Apparently, Sam Zell’s attempts to jack up the price during the banking and credit collapse over the last year dragged the process out for 30 months for his pre-crash dream of getting $1 billion for the 1908 champs. Considering the 5% stake he retains, it looks like Zell came in about 10-15% under the total $1B asking price (if my English major’s math is right). In today’s economy, not bad. Zell’s troubles have been tastefully documented by CSTB, and I’ll miss the little guy. But, that’s the past, and Trib retirees and nervous pensioners will now have to fend without me. Republican rule in the nation’s capitol ended this January. Now its last stranglehold stronghold, Wrigley Field, goes, too. With the founders of Ameritrade running the show, I don’t expect to see Mayor Daley on the field anytime soon, but who knows? At least ol’ Joe Ricketts probably didn’t lobby as hard as the Tribune to keep us out of WW II. I like Dick Tracy comics as much as the next guy, but the Trib has been short on good ideas since its 1931 debut. On hearing the Ricketts news, some of the locals noted:
“Hopefully the Rickettses will spend money on the team” for good players and rehabbing Wrigley Field, said Devon Vowman, 21, who works at a sports shop across from the stadium.
“It’ll be nice for a family to own the Cubs that cares about more than the bottom line,” said his co-worker, Alex Sheehan, 20.
Yeah, I dunno if I’d look to the Ameritrade family to look past the bottom line much Alex. Devon, all I can say is, how much money does it take? The Cubs have a sizable payroll. Is that what’s holding them back? Unfortunately, the feel good story coming out of Wrigley 2009 remains the relative good health of Ryan Dempster’s big toe. From Opening Day, it’s been a birther-friendly press blitz on Bradley, Zambrano’s temper tantrums, Aramis Ramirez and Geo Soto benched all year – and the inability of the Cubs to hit for anything. The Town Hall tea-baggers in the press box flipped out the day Milton Bradley was signed. They’re not to blame for the mediocre-to-terrible play this year, of MB or the team, but it sure left a bitter taste to go along with the acrid smells around Wrigley in 2009. No matter how it ends up, this season has been a bummer to watch. That’s not a money problem.
I can’t stand the Trib Co., but I can’t blame it in the last few years for not trying. Getting a solid closer, a non-psyched out line-up, ok – but they obviously wanted to pump up the value of the team and make it an NL Central powerhouse to increase the sale price. But this summer, it’s the Cards picking up Holliday and Smoltz for October and managing to go the whole season without a concussion. We can’t even get Aramis Ramirez off the bench for a few weeks straight. At the end of the day, the White Sox had more use for Jake Peavy than the 2009 Cubs. Where did the Sox get $60 mil in Cubmoney to get Peavy, btw? You know, I see a Sox fan in a Benz, I think, “drug dealer.” Anyway, could the Cubs close an 8 game gap with the Cards in 2009? I dunno, why couldn’t they score 3 runs against the Dodgers last night? What’s the point of a pricey arm holding down the opposition to 2 runs when you can’t score 1?
As for baseball’s love of putting a friendly face on team owners, preferring family ownership to corporations,well, whatever. I’m not sure what difference that makes yet with Americketts. I mean, I sure don’t prefer family run businesses like the Wrigleys (Phillip K’s reign, for sure) or Marge Schott’s or the Yawkeys or the Seligs, to the $$$ Tribco put into the Hendry/Piniella Cubs. The Trib had a reason to pay for a winner in recent years. When winning is a profit motive, winning happens.
Please note, the Cubs always turn a profit, win or lose, due to fans of Wrigely Field more than baseball – some would pay $845 million just for the park. Will the Americketts have the same incentive as Zell post-sale? Or will the need to pay down their extended credit line on the Cubs in a lousy market and cut payroll? I’m sure Cub fans love the idea of a bleacher bum, who lived in Wrigleyville, and met his wife in the stands, buying the team. Do I really want a true blue Cub fan owning the Cubs? Someone in love with the Wrigley mistake mystique of goat curses, day games, who’ll fight any changes to Wrigley that might ruin his Harry Caray nostalgia? If Americketts reasons that paying for a winner means paying off their loan, I’m sure winning will happen.
“It’s too warm to touch / A simulated rush / but how can you tell / When it’s fake blood?” asked Mission Of Burma’s Peter Prescott in 2006, blissfuly unaware that just a few years later, officials at England’s RFU would be asking the same question. Harlequins’ Tom Williams, coach Dean Richard and team physio Steven Brenner received bans of 4 months, 3 years and 2 years respectively for their role in a bogus-facial-injury scandal being that’s been dubbed “Bloodgate”. Careful not to openly gloat, the Guardian’s Paul Wilson opined, “as if rugby union commentators and their ilk have never, ever, in any way used Premier League football as convenient shorthand for Sodom and Gomorrah rolled into one and anything else that might be wrong with the world.”
Not even when Dean Richards admitted he knew the game was up when he saw Tom Williams (above) walking towards him with fake blood frothing from his mouth and “legs like Bruce Grobbelaar“ did it occur for a moment that rugby union’s raid on the make-up cupboard had anything to do with football. Grobbelaar did not actually cheat in the 1984 European Cup final, after all. He showed uncommon and unpremeditated inventiveness in taking gamesmanship (and showmanship) as far as it would go, and rather than assuming that Richards was implying footballers were also guilty of skulduggery on occasions it seemed far more likely he was expressing admiration for a sportsman who managed to gain a crucial advantage without breaking any rules.
Imperfect as footballers may be, they can at least con referees without resorting to smuggling extraneous substances on to the pitch. Please do not write in, that was a joke. Less amusing is watching the old double standard come into play, as rugby attempts to retreat into a boys will be boys and rules will be bent mentality. Footballers who dive or feign injury are never characterised as pranksters or chancers. They are notorious cheats. Conmen. Overpaid impostors who insult their audiences and their glorious heritage.
After all that heavy campaigning for the Hall of Fame, you’d think Jim Ed Rice would need no tutorial on the power of the media to spread a message. But the former Red Sox slugger is feigning surprise just the same over the way his recent remarks to a bunch of Little Leaguers have been spread throughout the baseball world. “The tabloids had a field day. The chat rooms were abuzz with inflammatory comment” gushes Yahoo’s Gordon Edes, who surely must realize Rice deserves a ton of credit for keeping baseball relevant during the height of the NFL preseason.
For his part, Rice is flabbergasted at the outcry, saying he was unaware of the fuss he’d caused until reached by Yahoo! Sports while waiting for a flight in Philadelphia on Friday night. His words could not have been more miscast, he said. The rivalry was to blame.
“What do you expect?” he said. “Who are the Red Sox playing? The Yankees. What else do you expect but some controversy involving the Red Sox and Yankees? I was misquoted.”
“You see a Manny Ramirez(notes), you see an A-Rod, you see [Derek] Jeter … Guys that I played against and with, these guys you’re talking about cannot compare,” said Rice during his speech, who coincidentally or not mentioned the three highest paid players in the game today.
If that wasn’t enough, Rice also said, “We didn’t have the baggy uniforms. We didn’t have the dreadlocks. It was a clean game, and now they’re setting a bad example for the young guys.”
whom he has frequently knocked for his seeming indifference.
Later, Rice protested, “Anybody who reads that story knows I wasn’t talking about Jeter or Rodriguez,” he said. “Look at them. Do you see any baggy pants? Do you see any dreadlocks?
“When you think of the Yankees, who do you think of? Him [Jeter] and Rodriguez. Anyone who knows the game, anyone with any common sense knows which players give you leadership. And think about the way they play every day. Can you see either A-Rod or Jeter going into the manager’s office and saying, ‘Skip, I don’t feel like playing today.’ ”?
Rice insisted he did not single out Jeter and Rodriguez as examples of me-first players. “I said, ‘The guys who play right, you know who they are, and they know in the clubhouse, too. You can’t fool your teammates.’ I mentioned ‘guys,’ not those guys.”
” I could not be happier that the scumbag is not coming back here.” So opined “Jason”, a reader of Scott Lauber’s Philled In blog for the News-Journal, which earlier today considered just what have prevented Mets reliever Billy Wagner – a day removed from a scoreless inning versus Atlanta in his big league return from ligament surgery — from rejoining the Phillies (ie. neither club nor player is interested)
Ruben Amaro Jr. just confirmed what we already sort of suspected: The Phillies were not the team that placed a claim. Amaro said they don’t have unlimited financial flexibility and can’t afford to pay the $3.7 million remaining on the four-year, $43 million contract that Wagner signed with the Mets before the 2006 season. And that’s a good thing because Wagner said earlier today that he never would waive his full no-trade clause to return to the Phillies. Not for the final month of the season. Not for anything.
“No,” Wagner said. “That [crap] was hard enough for two years. I can’t imagine a month, coming off Tommy John. At 38, Tommy John, no. They expect way too much.”
Thanks to Jason Cohen (no relation…I think) for the link. Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports Wagner’s been claimed on waivers by the Red Sox, which is terrific news for a recovering veteran who’s had his fill of intolerant fans, high expectations, etc. The first time Wags issues four walks in an inning or throws a meatball than ends up on Landsdowne Street, I am confident WEEI’s broadcasters and listeners will be quick to credit his courageous comeback efforts.
Big Fan being the upcoming movie in which Patton Oswalt plays a lumpy, quietly pathological obsessive Giants fan who fucks his life up through that obsession. I haven’t seen it, and so don’t necessarily know what it’s totally about, other than misplaced priorities and working-class sadness, and I imagine that it probably doesn’t have an elaborate viral marketing game-plan behind it. But if such a plan existed, the quietly depressing website for Fantasy Sports Insurance would probably fit in pretty well.
Scrolling pictures illustrate bad things that can happen to athletes — a slumped-over Tom Brady, Shaun Livingston’s nightmarish knee, some soccer player with an ankle so destroyed that it looks photoshopped — while caps-intensive text below gives you THE FACTS. Which is to say a quote from Darren Rovell suggesting that Tom Brady’s injury last season may have shifted $150 million in fantasy winnings. Did it shift some away from you? That is a rhetorical question. But so are these, from the site’s FAQ page:
Question: What are the benefits of purchasing this coverage?
Answer:
NFL, MLB, NHL and MBA team owners purchase disability coverage on their KEY PLAYERS. Why shouldn�t you. FSI will not only increase your competitiveness, but also gives you piece of mind knowing that your investment of both TIME and MONEY in building your team is secure. FSI will increase the level of involvement and interest in your fantasy league.
If a devastating loss occurs�all is not lost!
Question: What are my options for coverage?
Answer:
FSI will offer three coverage options:
1)One key player misses 10 out of the first 15 NFL regular season games – due to injury
2)One key player misses 8 out of the first 12 NFL regular season games – due to injury
3)Three key players miss a combined total 18 out of the fist 15 NFL regular season games � due to injury
I’m sorry the color-contrasted text didn’t make the cut, but the typos and question-mark diamonds did, which is good. Anyone know where I could purchase some priority insurance? Or get a time-to-grow-the-fuck-up-little-boys policy? I’m not suggesting fantasy sports are a bad thing, or that I’m above it or whatever — I have a draft tonight, and happily made my first eight picks in last year’s CSTB fantasy draft from an internet-enabled Bolt Bus. But even if we really need new financial products (we don’t), I’m not sure we need this one.
The New York Yankees appear to be cruising towards an AL East pennant(and a playoff loss to the Angels), an altogether familiar circumstance that has author/journalist Jeff Pearlman declaring, “if I’m a Yankee fan, I’m bored and unamused.” While I doubt more than a few (actual) Yankee fans will concur, I don’t mind what he’s got to say on the matter, either.
This offseason, the Yankees purchased the two best pitchers on the market (C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett), then went out and bought Mark Texiera, the in-his-prime, top-of-the-league first baseman superdooper stud. In other words, how can anyone with a human head actually attend, say, a Yankees-Royals or Yankees-Orioles or Yankees-Rays or Yankees-A’s or Yankees-Mariners or Yankees-Rangers or Yankees-Twins or Yankees-Anybody Except The Red Sox or Mets game and truly, strongly, lovingly, audibly root for the Yankees to win?
Really, it makes no emotional sense. I go to the movies to see The Empire Strikes Back. Darth Vader is absolutely loaded: The Emperor is supplying power and vital support. A new Death Star is in the works. He’s got a whole fleet of ships. So how in the world does anyone root against Luke? Actually, better example: You go to pick up your kid at school. There’s a fight in the playground. The bully lives next door to you. You like his parents, have attended BBQs at their house, remember when he was just a baby. However, now he’s a snarling 6-foot monster. His opponent is Richie Cunningham, the early high school years. Do you root for the thug, just because he’s familiar? Just because, once upon a time, he was likable?
Hells no.
In the event you find Pearlman’s disdain for the Bullying Bombers a tad screwy, perhaps an item from the Journal News’ Peter Abraham will convince you the ‘09 Yanks cannot possibly deserve the support of any right-thinking individual. More than a 5th of the active Yankee roster attending a Creed concert (with Johnny Damon renting a bus for the occasion) isn’t quite up there with Eric Show and Dave Dravecky’s John Birch Society membership, but it’s still impossible to condone.
Well, there’s bad news and there’s worse news. For starters, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Alexis Stevens reports the corpse of a 22-year old man was found yesterday on the premises of Chipper Jones’ family ranch in Carrizo Springs, TX. And it’s pretty frustrating there appears to be no way in which Chipper can be found liable.
“He was in a part of the ranch we don’t go to on a daily basis,” Jones’ father, Larry Jones Sr. said Thursday evening from Double Dime Ranch.
Jones Sr. said the man, a Mexican national, had entered the country illegally. The extreme heat and the drought would have made it difficult for anyone to survive without food or water, he said.
The game ranch is home to 750 heads of steer, as well as various wildlife. Guides tours are offered at the “hunters’ paradise,” according to Web site for the ranch. There’s a rifle range, stocked lakes for fishing, and a hunting lodge.
Chipper Jones visits the ranch several times a year during the offseason and for Thanksgiving, his father said. The Double Dime ranch got it’s name because the 1999 National League MVP wears the No. 10 jersey, and his father did, too, during his own playing days.
I agree with Traber in a sense that Simmons has gone over the top about this Seattle/OKC crap, but this is just going to end badly, even if some random act of God it picks up any steam. All that will happen is that Oklahoma City sports chatter will get humiliated once again on the national stage and Traber will have to field calls for another week about it. One thing that makes me want to headbutt my coffee table though is that Traber is acting like people like Simmons and myself aren’t any different than anonymous Internet commenters, except that we use our real names. THEN HOW ARE INTERNET COMMENTERS ANY DIFFERENT THAN YOU, JIM? Your platform is the radio. Bill Simmons’ is a podcast and a column for ESPN.com. What’s the difference? I truly think Traber’s mind exists in a parallel universe where he cannot see such logical things.
Then, to cap it off, he ripped Simmons for not allowing comments on his columns and then rips me for allowing them on mine. Face palm. And he seems to forget that he has a website with a message board with anonymous commenters and also works for a radio station with a message board with anonymous commenters.
Omar Minaya has been the target of considerable criticism in this space throughout the Mets’ injury-plagued 2009 season, but for once, he’s deserving of some small credit. Asked by OF Gary Sheffield for a contract extension yesterday before the Mets’ 3-2 loss to Atlanta, Minaya replied with the only answer a sane person might give (ie. NFW). I’m not sure how much drama you can really coax out of a punchless Amazins roster who are about to endure another 5 weeks of garbage time, but yesterday’s misinformation campaign will have to suffice. From the New York Daily News’ Peter Botte and Bill Madden :
Claimed on waivers earlier this month and pulled back by the Mets, Gary Sheffield – who was on the original lineup posted yesterday afternoon – is unhappy that he “essentially is being held hostage” from moving on to a contender for the remainder of this season, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke last night on the condition of anonymity.
Once Sheffield’s nameplate was removed, a series of contradictory quotes from the veteran and manager Jerry Manuel suggested something was brewing concerning the outfielder’s status with the team. Word circulating among players in the clubhouse before the game was that Sheffield was on the verge of being given his outright release.
Upon arriving at the clubhouse around 4 p.m., Sheffield coyly told reporters he is “100% healthy.” He also indicated it wasn’t his decision to be scratched from the lineup.
“Why’d I get pulled out? It’s just the best thing for this (game)….It’s just the best thing to let somebody else play today,” Sheffield said.
About an hour later, Manuel agreed that Sheffield is “OK” physically, but contended that the slugger “asked for a day off to clear some thoughts and things.”
“He’s done what we asked him to do and he’s played very well and just needed a break,” Manuel said.
Asked if Sheffield asked out of the lineup as a protest about his situation, Manuel replied, “Has he come to me and said that? No.”
In Sheff’s defense, if you never ask for something, you might never receive it. And with that in mind, there’s no harm in Wally Backman applying for the GM position, Fran Healy lobbying for Gary Cohen’s job or yours truly sending A.J. Daulerio a form letter about link exchanges.
…is really just a cheap excuse to employ the rarely used CSTB topic (and Barbarians homage) “Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl”? From the Guardian’s David Smith :
Caster Semenya, 18, is undergoing a gender test to prove she is female after beating her rivals by a huge margin to win the gold medal in the world championship 800 metres in Berlin.
Family, friends and teachers at her home in South Africa recalled how Semenya played football with boys, wore trousers instead of skirts and endured teasing by her peers. But all asserted that she is definitely a woman.
Jacob Semenya, her father, told the Sowetan newspaper: “She is my little girl. I raised her and I have never doubted her gender. She is a woman and I can repeat that a million times.”
He attacked his daughter’s critics, saying: “For the first time South Africans have someone to be proud of and detractors are already shouting wolf. It is unfair. I wish they would leave my daughter alone.”
That Jeremy Shockey hasn’t always been held in high regard by some teammates is well established ; suffice to say the ‘07-08 Giants found his season-ending injury so demoralizing, they simply went on to win the Super Bowl. But whatever sparked this morning’s brawl during a scrimmage with the Houston Texans, could Shockey’s comrades have been any slower in coming to his aid?
With all due respect to Society System Decontrol, that’s the question posed by Orange Frazier Press, publishers of a forthcoming autobiography from former Ohio State QB / gambling addict / con artist Art Schlichter. The Dayton Daily News’ Carlos “Big C” Holmes acquainted himself with the book’s dust jacket (almost as well as I’ve acquainted myself with his report) :
“Busted, the Rise and Fall of Art Schlichter”, tells the compelling story of how someone with fame, fortune and matinee idol looks was driven by the demons of a gripping addiction to steal from family and friends to support his gambling habit.
An All-America collegiate player and top 10 Heisman trophy contender, Schlichter reveals his father’s burning desire to mold him into an idolized athlete who would win championships and make millions. Schlichter describes how a fateful interception led to Woody Hayes resignation and his frustration and anger with Earle Bruce’s conservative offense.
Drafted by the Baltimore Colts in 1982, Schlichter also reveals the causes behind his complete failure as an NFL quarterback and his suspension from the league in 1983. Schlichter also details how he used gambling to numb his self-inflicted pain until he contemplated suicide, and how he gambled away more than $120,000 in two days.
Finally, there’s an institution specially designed for the Howie Spiras of the future. The Bergen Record’s Steven Marcus reports the town of Lutz, FL will open the new public high school, Steinbrenner High, a $600 monument to lower learning, named in honor of the New York Yankees’ owner. This is delicious timing, as I’ve been working a new version of “To Sir, WIth Love” with Michael Kay in the Mark Thackery role (Waldman can sing the theme, naturally) and I think I already know where we’ll start filming!
“Over the years, Mr. Steinbrenner has been deeply involved in the community, particularly with the schools and the school system,” said Steven Ayers, director of community relations for Hillsborough County public schools. “He’s been very involved and very philanthropic. He’s probably donated in tens of millions over the length of time.”
Steinbrenner High will have the usual subjects of English, math and science, but will kick it up a notch with offerings for students preparing for a career in sports. Sports marketing, sports medicine and the business of sports (BOSS), including George’s specialty of entrepreneurship, will be available in Grades 9-12. But Steinbrenner, 79, will be the only senior associated this year with the school, which begins with Grades 9-11.
The athletic teams, called the Warriors (Yankees was considered) will wear navy and gold uniforms (no names, of course) and, perhaps owing to the marketing sense of its namesake, school T-shirts are in pre-order for $10.
I kind of like those NCAA commercials that get shown during basketball and football games, the ones where the basketball player morphs into an airplane pilot and the woman hurdler becomes a successful small businessperson or whatever and then the voice-over say “most of our athletes don’t go pro in sports.” (Or something to that effect) They’re not exactly un-hoary, but I’m all for trying to inject some humanity into sports, and also — maybe mostly — it’s a necessary bit of brand-burnishing for the NCAA. Because without those commercials, the NCAA would mean, to me, nothing but irrational punishments.
I’m not going to make the radical (?) argument that Memphis didn’t deserve to have 38 wins and its 2007-08 Final Four berth stripped by the NCAA because Derrick Rose might not have taken his SATs and John Calipari (above) flew Rose’s brother Reggie around to Memphis games. I mean, I think that probably actually reflects how I feel, but mostly it’s just not an argument I’m terribly interested in making. The alleged violations that the Memphis Commercial Appeal’s Dan Wolken details here are, kind of objectively, pretty scummy. If you’re into the idea that the NCAA or Memphis itself really cares or should care about who took the SATs for a guy who obviously was going to be enrolled at a school for one-and-a-half semesters, then obviously the above stuff needs to be punished.
But if we accept that these are indeed crimes and demand punitive action, what I don’t get is this — the program will apparently face no punishment going forward. This means that Josh Pastner — John Calipari’s former lead recruiter and the guy who got Rose to commit — will have a clean slate as he attempts to rebuild the program. Again, fine, but unless Memphis has to give back the revenues earned during that live-on-TV run to the Final Four it doesn’t seem like much of a punishment. Retroactive memory-wipeout technology is far less advanced than Michel Gondry and Tom Wilkinson made it seem, I’ve read. Read it in a science journal.
What I would’ve wanted to see — what might’ve made a difference, but would’ve been much harder for the NCAA to do — was an attempt to get at the root of why this sort of shit just keeps happening. If the NCAA is really interested in improving the status quo, then it should figure out a way to stem the invisible tidal force of sneaker dudes and street agents and street branding teams and AAU hustlers and Worldwide Wes types that moves players illicitly from one dirty-ish program to another. But this sort of punishment — retroactive time-jail and banner erasure — doesn’t disincentivize anything. And it doesn’t clean up something that is obviously dirty and also isn’t really serving the student-athletes the NCAA is supposed to be protecting and representing. Those kids are the only ones without the wherewithal to avoid exploitation in this whole deal, and while it would obviously be good if they all took their SATs, that might not be as much of a problem if the process through which they were recruited made a bit more sense.
And of course Calipari will be fine. This is the second Final Four he’s had to vacate, and while the Commercial Appeal’s Geoff Calkins is of course angry about the whole thing — to be fair, he does deliver some decent-enough zingerz, which really seems the point — the NCAA isn’t about to punish Cal for all this stuff. After all, neither he nor Pastner can be proven to know anything about it — the funniest part of the NCAA indictment is the charge that Memphis “didn’t properly monitor its charter jet,” like it was just being constantly taken out by whoever had the keys. (Because a jet is like the fucking stair-truck from Arrested Development) So Cal has moved on, gotten paid, and is making chummy speeches to Kentucky’s mayors and political big-shots, as the Lexington Herald-Leader’s Ryan Alessi reports:
John Calipari urged mayors and county officials from across the state to “have fun” with this year’s team, although he warned those who sit courtside to prepare for errant basketballs early in the season…
Calipari captivated the crowd of nearly 1,000 officials attending the Governor’s Local Issues Conference at Louisville’s Galt House, most of whom were clearly UK basketball fans.
But he had them hooked from the beginning as they greeted him with a standing ovation.
“I urge you to have fun with this team” — John Calipari.
There are many times when I wish I had a real full-time sportswriting job, that is true. I’m 31 and getting married in like 10 days and am pretty broke and blah blah bleugh. But the idea of being a real sports columnist and having to try to pretend to take this whole goofy shadow-carnival seriously several times per week is just really, really unappealing. There are some big problems with college hoops, and I obviously (check how long this is) do care about that, but getting mad at the dirty individuals du jour just strikes me as silly. The issue is that the incentives, for players and coaches and boosters and even the NCAA, all seem to run exactly the wrong way — against change, that is, given that the current system makes tons of money for everyone with enough pull to be able to change it. Even worse, no one involved, at any level, seems serious enough to take on changing anything.
Thanks to Brendan Flynn, as usual, for the Herald-Leader link.
As he has done so often this year, center fielder Willy Taveras broke poorly on the ball, running laterally to his left before realizing the ball was over his head. It fell for a double.
Taveras doesn’t get on base. When he does he doesn’t steal when it is needed. He was brought in to be a leadoff hitter and couldn’t do it and is now batting second. And he is below average in the field. What can Taveras do? He has a nice stereo set in the clubhouse that plays loud, headache-inducing salsa music.
And holy cahooties. Taveras just hit a ground ball to the mound and trotted toward first base. Didn’t run. Jogged. Stopped before he got to the bag. Manager Dusty Baker immediately yanked him from the lineup, replacing him with Laynce Nix.
As far as I’m concerned, and many other fans are concerned, Taveras can rot on the bench the rest of the season. I’ve seen nothing to merit the millions the Reds have flushed down the toilet when they brought this guy in.
Though the above question isn’t exactly the one posed by Sports On My Mind’s DK Wilson, dwil is quick to remind us that in the cases of Ben Roethlisberger, Rick Ankiel and Josh Hamilton, “each of these White men have been the subject holistic treatments by a group of people who look like, or identify with them.”
You don’t hear or read about people calling Ben Roethlisberger a liar, do you? Though he said he still would ride his motorcycle without a helmet, he swore he would be more careful and more aware of his surroundings. Would you call the sexual assault charges against him the result of Roethilsberger being more careful?
You don’t hear Rick Ankiel’s name being brought up when there is talk of PEDs in baseball, do you? As soon as it was known that Ankiel was on the HGH train, apologists for the Cardinals’ outfielder rushed to the fore and told the public that Ankiel was the feel good story of the summer and placed his HGH use in the context of his want to make an almost impossible transition from pitcher to everyday player.
If Josh Hamilton was a black football player, Roger Goodell would have suspended him for at least four games, and probably more for “staining the shield” and everyone under the shield. But Hamilton was instead shielded by sports columnists who made certain we knew Hamilton actually acted responsibly by immediately informing the MLB league office, his wife, his team and anyone else after his falling off the wagon; they also constantly reminded us that the incident occurred in January, not during the season, so Hamilton’s act harmed no one outside of himself and his immediate family.
And in each case, even now with Roethlisberger, we barely equate the athletes with their transgressions (with Roethlisberger, we are told repeatedly that the charges against him only serve to create a tighter Pittsburgh Steelers locker room and that if anyone can put aside the charges and continue to perform at a high level, it is the Super Bowl Champion quarterback).
Of the Royals optioning 3B Alex Gordon to Omaha before tonight’s game against Chicago, KC manager Trey Hillman said “we decided to give him an opportunity to put some joy back in the game, take a little pressure off himself.” That’s an interesting way of rationalizing what Circling The Bases’ Matthew Poullit is calling “one of the most shameful service-time manipulations in baseball history.” Gordon, promoted to the parent club in ‘07, would’ve had 3 years of service time at the end of 2009 if the Royals left him on the major league roster. Unless he’s recalled in the next 20 days, Tuesday’s manuever delays Gordon’s free agency until 2013.
Gordon has hit .198/.300/.313 in his 29 games this season, so we won’t see a grievance here. If it were May, it’d be a perfectly legitimate move. But it’s August 18. There are three weeks left in the minor league season. The Royals aren’t playing for anything at all, and they should want Gordon to get every major league at-bat his surgically repaired hip can handle. Instead, they’re going to have him work with inferior coaches and get pitched around by Triple-A pitchers. When Gordon was on his rehab assignment before returning last month, he batted .350/.491/.650 with three homers in 40 at-bats. Hitting minor league pitching isn’t an issue.
If the Royals follow through with this and cost Gordon a year of service time, then they’ll still control him in 2013, when he’ll likely be a much better player than he is now. But that’s something they should have thought about in 2007. To pull this stunt in Aug. 2009 would seem to make it significantly less likely that he’ll still be playing in Kansas City in 2014. Gordon has little reason to forget and forgive.
From Amazin’ Avenue:
