April 25, 2008
Olympic Soccer 2008
The drawings for Olympic soccer competition this summer happened a few days ago and some say that the United States team drew into an advantageous group with regard to being able to advance to the second round. Here are the Groups:
Group A: Argentina, Australia, Ivory Coast, Serbia
Group B: Japan, Netherlands, Nigeria, USA
Group C: Belgium, Brazil, China, New Zealand
Group D: Cameroon, Honduras, Italy, S. Korea
The top two teams from each round of “group play” will advance to the second round from which the medals will be determined. I am not going to pretend to be able to “break down” these pairings because I do not know nearly enough to do so. Having said that, I am shocked by the teams that are absent from the competition. Note the absence of England, France, Spain, Portugal and Germany. In World Cup play, all five of those country teams “make noise”. I realize that in the Olympics they have a shorter field and that they apportion slots geographically, but it is a bit surprising to me to see Europe “represented” by Belgium, Italy, Netherlands and Serbia.
Sometimes I wonder if the New York Yankees – as individuals and as an organization – are addicted to publicity. George Steinbrenner surely never eschewed the spotlight or the back page of the NYC tabloids. As soon as George started to quiet down, his son emerged from total obscurity to become “Yammering Hank” – the sound bite that keeps on giving. Not to miss out on the action, new manager Joe Girardi seems to have decided that in addition to his managerial duties he needs to perform paternal duties with regard to the players on the roster. Girardi has banned candy from the Yankees’ clubhouse and has asked the other teams in the league to keep it out of the visiting locker room when the Yankees are in town.
The idea here is that good nutrition is essential to sustained athletic performance and Girardi prefers to have the team nibble on dried fruit or granola than on gummy bears. While nutritionists and people who are mesmerized by the importance of the food pyramid will surely agree with him, you have to recognize that the Yankees’ roster is made up of adults who ought to be able to make their own dietary decisions when it comes to snacks.
By the way, if the food pyramid is so damned important and so carefully researched to optimize the nutrients for human health, can you explain to me why it gets changed every five years or so? What happens to the health of the people who were religiously following the last version of the food pyramid? Sounds like a class action lawsuit could be brewing there…
When teams play poorly and managers are fired, you often hear that you cannot fire the players so you have to fire the manager. Well, in Cincinnati, they have already gone through a bunch of managers recently and over the winter put Dusty Baker in charge there. The Reds are off to a miserable start; as of this morning, only the Washington Nationals have a worse record in the National League. So, the team can’t fire the players and they really can’t fire Dusty Baker yet – despite the fact that I have never been all that impressed by Baker’s managerial acumen – so the Reds took “Door Number Three”. They fired the GM and replaced him with Walt Jocketty who had been the GM in St. Louis for the last decade or so until the Cards replaced him at the end of last year. The Reds’ owner, Bob Castellini, said:
“We’ve just come to a point where we’re not going to lose anymore.”
Whom does that sound like? Cue Popeye the Sailor Man:
“I’ve had all I can stands; I can stands no more…”
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Barry Zito’s huge contract with the Giants might be a stinking albatross around the team’s neck. He is not pitching well in SF and he has five years and more than $110M to go on that deal. Since arriving in SF, his record is 11-17. However, there are other “albatross contracts” out there in MLB; maybe they are not as big or as long as Zito’s is now, but consider these:
Jason Schmidt signed with the Dodgers for 3 years and $47M. He started six games last year and had a 1-4 record. Then, he had shoulder surgery.
Esteban Loaiza signed with Oakland for 3 years and $22M on 2006. By last August, the A’s had had enough and put Loaiza on waivers and Christmas came in August. The Dodgers claimed Loaiza and thereby became responsible for the final part of last year’s salary and the continuation of his deal at about $7M per year. His ERA with the Dodgers so far is 6.30.
Juan Pierre signed with the Dodgers - - are you picking up a trend here - - for 5 years and $44M. Pierre is now a part-time player for the Dodgers who are upset with the fact that he is an aggressive hitter who rarely walks and who is not a great defensive outfielder. Excuse me, but that was Juan Pierre before he signed on in LA; why are the Dodgers upset that he is exactly the player they signed?
Andruw Jones signed a 2-year contract for $36M with – you guessed it – the Dodgers last winter. Jones is listed on the Dodgers’ roster as weighing 210 lbs. Take a look at him during any televised game and play “Over/Under” 250 lbs; if it’s after lunch and before game time, take OVER. Jones has one full season where he hit .300 or better in his entire career; that’s worth $18M per?
Carl Pavano - proving that the Dodgers do not have a corner on the bad contracts in MLB - signed a 4 year contract with the Yankees for $52M three years ago. It has one year left to go and so far, the Yankees have gotten 111 innings out of him producing a losing record and a 4.77 ERA. Pavano had a career losing record and a history of injury problems at the time the Yankees made their offer.
AJ Burnett signed a 5-year $55M deal with the Blue Jays in 2006. In the first two years of that deal, he won 10 games each season. If that does not seem worth $11M per year to you, consider that Burnett had a career losing record when the Jays signed him and that he has never won more than 12 games in a season in his career.
Finally, whenever you feel tempted to curse the fates for some minor tribulation in your life, think about going through life with the name Ugly Johnny Dickshot. No, he was not a reject from a Playgirl centerfold photo shoot; he was a baseball player in the 1940s. Google is your friend…
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…
