Yogi Berra Has A Message For Baseball

Yogi Berra is famous as a Hall of Fame baseball player and as a person whose verbal malaprops made him a comedic figure.  MLB and the MLBPA should pay attention to one of Berra’s alleged statements:

  • “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

Baseball is at – or very near – a fork in its path as part of the US sports landscape; the owners and the union have to decide the direction they want to take.  Most importantly, they are really must take the same path because there is no baseball without owners and there is no baseball without players.  Let me get that on the record here from the start; neither of these two entities can exist for long without the other.

On December 1st, 2021, – a little over 6 months from now – the extant CBA signed by the owners and the union will expire.  If someone suggests that this is no big deal because a new CBA is not really needed until around February 1st when preparations for Spring Training kick into high gear, consider the environment that exists today.  Other than certainties governed by physical laws – – night follows day, things fall down to the ground and not up into the air, you get the idea – – the owners and the union agree on just about nothing.

In this time frame where both sides should be marshaling and honing their arguments in favor of various sections/clauses in the CBA to be hammered out, it is rather clear that there is a preference to look backward as a way to flick the scab off a prior wound that certainly seemed to have been healing quietly.  Consider:

  • Just last week, the MLBPA filed a grievance against the league asserting that MLB did not bargain in good faith last year to play as many games as possible in the shortened 2020 season.
  • The grievance seeks an award of $500M which approximates what players would have earned had the season been 20 games longer than it was.

Two facts jump out at me from those statements:

  1. Of course, it would have been possible to play more than 60 games last  season; I cannot fathom how one would assert it was impossible.
  2. Unless I am a mind reader – or the panel of arbitrators that will decide tis grievance has one – I do not know how it is possible to know if the bargaining was done in good faith.

I have no interest in going back to look over the “facts” there; as far as this matter is concerned, I want it to be resolved quickly either by some sort of settlement between the parties or by a fast-paced hearing by the arbitration panel who makes its ruling quickly.  Moreover, I do not care even a little bit who might prevail in this matter; just get it over and done with. 

[Aside:  this three-person panel is a mirage.  One person is picked by the union, the other is picked by the owners and the third person is someone both parties agree to accept in the role.  I would say the odds of a unanimous decision either way are prohibitive; the decision of the mutually appointed arbitrator will be the decision that carries the day.]

The reason I take the position that speed is important here is simple.  So long as this $500M matter is pending, it is a Sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of the negotiations that need to happen in order to get a new CBA without a work-stoppage.  And given the state of animus that exists between the union and the league, there will need to be plenty of time available to those negotiators to get to a deal.  With that as an overlay, let me be as clear as I can on this next environmental factor:

  • If the two sides cannot reach an agreement in time to start Spring Training and also the regular season in 2022, both sides are dumber than some jamoke who thinks Mount Rushmore is a rock band.
  • Fans had “other things” on their minds last  year; there was a pandemic and a Presidential election.  The 60-game season seemed concocted, and it was not really until late in the playoffs that fan interest came to life.  In that social environment, the owners and the players waged a PR battle that delayed the start of the season – – and perhaps the length of the season? – – when people in lockdown situations would have liked to be able to see MLB on TV.  Brilliant!
  • This year, fans are showing more interest – – but in many venues, attendance is severely limited.  As more venues open to greater percentages of capacity, some astute marketing should be able to get fans revved up for this year’s playoffs.
  • Notwithstanding merely fans’ cumulative interest in baseball games, there is a general economic overhang here.  Even with various waves of government relief checks, there are lots of people – and families – who are in economic trouble not wholly of their doing.  A spitting contest between the billionaire owners and the millionaire players will not sit well with people living paycheck to paycheck – – if the have paychecks – – or with people dealing with eviction processes.

I have argued here many times involving many sports that owners and unions get crosswise with each other over things that should not be deal-breakers.  The owners and the union are partners in presenting a product that people like enough to do two things:

  1. Come to the ballpark and spend some of their discretionary money on.
  2. Watch it on TV in sufficient numbers that networks pay handsomely for broadcast rights.

That is why billionaire Steve Cohen bought the Mets.  That is also why players are getting guaranteed long-term deals in the $350 – 450M range.  Steve Cohen and his fellow owners will not make money if either of those two conditions above does not obtain; baseball superstars like Bryce Harper and Mike Trout and Francisco Lindor will not make a third of what their contracts are worth if either of those two conditions above does not obtain.

The thing that makes the most sense – meaning it is one of the least likely things to happen early on – is for the owners AND the players to tell the CBA negotiators to put a lid on their personal egos and get a deal done that neither side loves but one that both sides can live with.  The negotiations cannot be a pitched battle over every semi-colon in the CBA; the two sides must walk down the same path in the future – – preferably hand-in-hand but I would settle for them merely being in step with each other.

I am on record here as one who hates the DH.  Do no try to change my mind.  However, putting the DH into the National League is not sufficiently horrid to me that I would let it stand in the way of a CBA.  Players do not want expanded playoffs because the way the owners want it structured will line the pockets of the owners far more than it lines the players’ pockets.  I get that.  I also get that making that a sticking point jeopardizes a lot more money that flows to the players than could be recouped in expanded playoff money for the next 50 years.

There are lots of issues to be ironed out; each one cannot become a hill to die on:

  • Service time manipulation
  • Setting up an international draft
  • Tweaking the arbitration procedures for player salaries
  • Pandemic-induced rules (7-inning doubleheaders and “ghost runners” on second base in extra innings)

Those issues just come off the top of my head; surely there are others; the goal must be to resolve them and not to fight pitched battles over each of them.  After the $500M arbitration grievance is resolved one way or the other, the two sides will need to come together rather quickly and get down to productive negotiating.  That will be much easier for the side that wins the $500M arbitration as compared to the side that loses that arbitration.  But somehow all of that had better come to pass because here is the worst outcome:

  • MLB and the MLBPA come to that fork in the road hellbent to prevail in the next round of CBA negotiations to the point that the desire is to crush “the other guys”.
  • In that circumstance, the two sides take the fork in the road – – but each takes a different path.
  • If you like baseball and if you care about baseball as a major item in the US sports landscape, that is what you do not want to have happen.

Finally, here is a comment from Dwight Perry about one of the issues that faces MLB in addition to all the upcoming CBA negotiations:

“For perspective’s sake, soccer’s ill-fated Super League lasted about 48 hours — or roughly a dozen Yankees-Red Sox games.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Feel Like A Broken Record Today …

As if on cue, Corey Kluber added to the total number of no-hitters in the 2021 MLB season last night beating the Rangers 2-0.  That makes 6 no-hit games for the year just one short of the modern record for a season,  [Aside:  If you want to start an argument, suggest that we have already seen 7 no-hitters this year because of the 7-inning no-hit game thrown by Madison Bumgarner that will not go in the record books as a no-hitter because of the truncated length.]

No-hit games in baseball are fun to watch; they are inherently a good thing for the game.  However, Mark Twain’s adage applies here:

“It is possible to have too much of a good thing.  Too much of anything is bad, but too much champagne is just right.”

The reason no-hit games are fun to watch is because they are – or at least have been – rarities.  There is a fundamental difference between an “event” and an “occurrence”.  So far in 2021, MLB has seen almost one no-hit game per week.  No-hitters are close to losing their status as “events”.

Why is that happening?  There have been 4 no-hitters in the 14 days between May 5th and May 19th; there have been entire MLB seasons without 4 no-hit games.  [Aside:  In fact, there have been 19 seasons in MLB since 1900 without a single no-hit game – – assuming I have counted correctly.]  Let me offer up a few stats; baseball loves stats:

  1. As of this morning, MLB teams average 7.82 hits per game.  Only once in modern baseball history have batters been less successful in getting base hits and that was in 1908.  [Aside:  As of today, the Seattle Mariners as a team are batting .199; the Mariners have been the victims of two of this year’s no-hitters.  Seems like a correlation there …]
  2. As of this morning, batters were striking out 8.92 times per game.
  3. As of this morning batters were hitting a combined .236 for the season.  If that persists, it will be the lowest combined batting average since the dead ball era.

Purists will point to “The Shift” as a contributing factor – and they may be correct.  One other oddity for 2021 is that MLB quietly changed the way the ball itself is manufactured over the winter.  Seemingly, MLB wanted to deaden the ball a tad; maybe they over-achieved?

Changing the subject …  Returning to another story that has been the basis for recent commentary here, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) has suspended Bob Baffert pending the outcome of the investigation in Kentucky regarding Medina Spirit testing over the limit for betamethasone after the Kentucky Derby.  The suspension bars Baffert from running any horse in any race in New York and it applies to any assistant trainers in his employ.  As things stand now, none of the horses in Baffert’s wide-ranging operation is eligible for the Belmont Stakes on June 5th.

In announcing the suspension, the head of the NYRA sought to stake out the moral high ground:

“In order to maintain a successful thoroughbred racing industry in New York, NYRA must protect the integrity of the sport for our fans, the betting public and racing participants.  That responsibility demands the action taken today in the best interests of thoroughbred racing.”

He went on to cite the recent history of Baffert-trained horses failing drug tests in California and Arkansas as part of the reason for this suspension.  It seems clear to me from his statement that he is not going to lift this suspension unless he is forced to do so or unless Baffert is cleared of any wrongdoing in Kentucky.  I am a bit surprised that I have not read that Baffert and his legal team have sought a temporary restraining order against the NYRA to prevent them from enforcing this suspension.  While I totally agree that Baffert needs to be punished for the fact that too many of his horses “accidentally” turn up testing positive all over the country, I wonder how and why it is the purview of the NYRA to do the punishing when the instances cited here have nothing to do with racing in New York.

It would seem to me – – hardly an expert in legal matters – – that Bob Baffert needs to have this suspension defined and resolved rather than having it be a continuing thing.  Even if he cannot run any horses in the Belmont Stakes, that is hardly going to shake the foundation of his racing enterprise.  However, the focus of racing in the Summer and Fall is very much aligned with New York racing:

  • Saratoga’s  summer meeting runs from July 15 through September 6.  If I count correctly, there will be a total of 29 graded stakes races at Saratoga this summer (9 Grade III, 8 Grade II and 12 Grade 1) and there are plenty of races for up and coming 2-year-olds in the meet.  If Baffert cannot run any horses there, that could hurt his racing enterprise.
  • Belmont’s fall meeting runs from September 18 through November 1.  In that meet, there will be 7 more Grade I stakes races plus 7 other races that are qualifiers for the Breeders’ Cup this year.  [Aside:  The qualifying races are set up on a “win and you’re in” basis; these are important events in the racing world.]  If Baffert cannot run any horses there, that will hurt his racing enterprise.

This confrontation involves two of the heavyweights in the horseracing world.  Given the public stances taken by both sides, it will not be easy for either one to appear to “back down” on this matter.  For that reason, I suspect that this matter could wind up being decided by a judge and my guess is that his ruling will have nothing at all to do with picograms per milliliter of betamethasone – or anything else – detected in the bloodstream of Medina Spirit or any other equine creature.

Finally, since I mentioned Mark Twain above, let me close with two of his other observations about life:

“Get your facts first.  Then, you can distort them as you please.”

And …

“The trouble ain’t that there are too many fools, but that the lightning ain’t distributed right.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

2021 – – Year of the Pitcher ???

Spencer Turnbull of the Detroit Tigers threw a no-hitter last night.  That event is noteworthy because:

  • It is the 5th no-hitter of the 2021 season which is only 7 weeks old.
  • The record for no-hitters in a season is 8; that was in 1884.
  • The “modern record” for no-hitters in a season is 7; that has happened 3 times all since 1990.
  • The victims last night – the Mariners – have been on the short end of a no-hitter twice in the last two weeks.  Both of those no-hitters were at home for the Mariners and the last time that happened in MLB was in 1923.

In baseball lore, 1968 was the “Year of the Pitcher”; the rules mavens decided to lower the pitching mound starting in 1969 because of pitching dominance.  It looks as if 2021 might be another “Year of the Pitcher”.  A quick look at box scores from last night in my edition of the Washington Post gives a hint as to why there may be so many no-hitters this year.  Far too many teams had multiple players in their lineups yesterday batting below .200 – – and I am not  including pitchers who usually hit below the Mendoza Line.

  • The Yankees had 5 players hitting below .200 yesterday.
  • The Mariners had 4 players hitting below .200 yesterday.
  • The Cubs, Pirates, Rangers, Twins and White Sox had 3 players hitting below .200 yesterday.
  • The Cardinals, Giants, Mets, Marlins, Orioles, Royals and Tigers had 2 players hitting below .200 yesterday.
  • The total for yesterday was 40 players batting below .200.  No wonder we have had so many no-hitters in 2021…

Speaking of the Tigers, this morning finds them somewhere other than in the position of having the worst record in MLB.  Today, that “honor” today belongs to the Twins who are 1 game behind the Tigers in the AL Central.  But the Tigers are on-track for another bad year; as of today, they project to a record of 62-100 for the season.  Obviously, the Tigers did not lose anywhere near 100 games in 2020 because the season was only 60 games long last year.  However, in the 3-year stretch from 2017 through 2019, the Tigers lost a total of 310 games.

The Tigers have been in a “rebuilding mode” since 2016 and it seems to have taken an awfully long time.  Maybe they should rebrand themselves as the Detroit Romans – – the team has not been rebuilt in a day.  Just a thought…

Moving on …  The NY Post reported last weekend – and it has been confirmed this week – that Marv Albert will retire as the voice of the NBA on TNT at the end of the Eastern Conference Playoffs this season.  Albert is 79 years old; he has been doing play-by-play for a little more than 50 years; he has been an inductee in the basketball Hall of Fame for 25 years.  His voice and his style are instantly recognizable – – in the same mode as other broadcasters such as Vin Scully, Harry Carey, Harry Kalas and Mel Allen.

Most folks associate Marv Albert with basketball and the NY Knicks, but his career has been broader than that.  He has done plenty of hockey and boxing in his career; he was also the radio play-by-play guy for Monday Night Football for a while.  Marv Albert has earned whatever leisure time he will enjoy in his retirement days.

Interestingly, his “partner” at TNT these days – Chris Webber – has also left TNT.  There had been rumors of a contract hassle between Webber and the network but there had not been any reports of the situation becoming rancorous or confrontational.  Nevertheless, Webber and TNT parted company and he was replaced on the final TNT game of the regular season by Reggie Miller as the color guy with Marv Albert.  Chris Webber had been part of the TNT lineup since 2008.

So, TNT has some work to do as it needs to create a new #1 broadcast team for its basketball coverage next season.  I have a suggestion for the folks in the corner offices of TNT in Atlanta:

  • Ian Eagle did March Madness games with Grant Hill and other March Madness games with Jim Spanarkel this year.
  • Both pairings were excellent.
  • Pick one –  – but do not waffle and think about creating a 3-man team here.

There is a strange story out and about this morning.  Former Wake Forest head basketball coach Dino Gaudio has been an assistant at Louisville for the past 3 seasons; reports today say that he has been federally charged with trying to extort the University of Louisville.  According to charging documents, Gaudio is alleged to have threatened to reveal that the university violated NCAA rules regarding recruitment videos for potential basketball players.  According to the charges, Gaudio wanted 17 months salary in a lump sum payment in exchange for his silence.

This alleged extortion took place in March of this year; Gaudio’s contract with the university expired in April; Gaudio’s contract with the university was not renewed.  Hmmm…

Finally, former US Senator, John McCain, explained the difference between bribery and extortion in Washington this way:

“I don’t think it’s bribery; I think it’s extortion.  Bribery, you know, is when the person that’s giving the money does it voluntarily.  What it is in Washington is extortion because they all ask for the money.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Horseracing Catches A Break – – Maybe

I consider the fact that Medina Spirit lost in the Preakness Stakes to be a positive outcome for horseracing as an “industry” and for generic sports fans who may not be into race handicapping.  Had Medina Spirit won the Preakness, we would have been bombarded with 3 weeks of spleen venting in favor of and opposed to recognition of Medina Spirit as a potentially  “worthy Triple Crown winner”.  We have been spared that rhetorical  excess and should be thankful for that.

Let me be clear that I harbor no animus at all for Bob Baffert.  Having said that, I do believe that he has skated on rules transgressions that should have been punished more harshly over the past couple of years for two reasons:

  1. He is easily recognizable and is one of the “faces of racing” in the US.
  2. He can afford top-shelf lawyers who can make life miserable for any set of track stewards or state racing authorities that might seek to punish him the way any other trainer would be punished.

Baffert and “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons are the only trainers ever to win the Triple Crown; each has done it twice; there is no denying Baffert’s skills and accomplishments in his field.  However, he is also a magnet for controversy and potential scandal over the past couple of years; and horseracing does not need any sort of “race-fixing overlay” atop the Triple Crown any more than Dick Vitale needs an excuse to gush over any player who dunks a basketball in a televised game.

There is potentially some continued “negative drama” that will carry forward based on the Kentucky Derby victory by Medina Spirit and the subsequent positive test for a regulated anti-inflammatory in its bloodstream.  I read that four bettors on the Derby have filed suit in Federal Court in California against Baffert personally, his racing company and the owners of Medina Spirit.  In that suit they charge that Baffert et. al. are guilty of racketeering and fraud because:

  • If the doping is confirmed, Medina Spirit would be stripped of the win and its owners would have to return the $1.86 million winner’s purse.
  • However, bettors who bet against Medina Spirit would get no relief; anyone who bet on Medina Spirit would get to keep the money they collected from the track or sportsbook and anyone who bet on the newly declared winner, Mandaloun, would be left out in the cold.

When I first read about this, my thought was along the lines of “Good Luck!”  I wondered if a court would even bother to let this get to a trial stage; it seemed so much like sour grapes that I did not think a judge would want his/her name attached to a proceeding of this type.  However, the word “fraud” in the allegation here gave me pause because it was not long ago when the Department of Justice convinced jurors that colleges were victims of fraud because shoe companies bribed top shelf players to go to that college where they might assist the school in winning basketball games.

I never understood then how that was “fraud”; to this day I do not understand how that was “fraud”; had I been on the jury, there would not have been a unanimous finding of “fraud’ in the cases.  Therefore, I must not understand the nuances of “fraud” as they pertain to lawsuits.  So, I stepped back and wondered how all of this might play out in a court.

I have never spent a day of my life in law school; but I do know that in legal settings there is an important place for precedents.  A former colleague who is an active horseracing fan and bettor – he did not have Medina Spirit  or Mandaloun in the Derby – told me that it was only a couple of years ago where a bettor sued a trainer and owner of a harness horse in the circumstance where the horse was declared the winner only to have been detected as being “doped” after the bets had been paid out.  In that case there was a settlement prior to trial – – but that tells me that the court did not tell the litigants to get out of the courthouse and do not come back with something so trivial as to demean the stature of the court.  So, maybe the case against Baffert and the horse’s owners might grab the attention of a Federal judge.

The essence of the suit – – as I understand it – – against Baffert and the owners of Medina Spirit is:

  • Horseracing is a business enterprise that relies on bettors to survive and flourish.  [No argument there…]
  • Bettors assume that horses in a field of participants are all in compliance with track and state regulations – – such as medications.  [A fair – but probably naïve – assumption.]
  • Given that wagers were paid out on Medina Spirit who tested in opposition to medication limits, bettors on Mandaloun who may be declared the winner of record were defrauded of the winnings they will never receive.  [Color me skeptical here.]

Hey!  It’s a long-shot – – but so was Medina Spirit who won the Derby at odds of 12-1.  If I were betting on the outcome of this suit, I would bet that there is a settlement long before this ever goes to a trial.  But I am not a lawyer; so, what do I know?

Finally, since there will be plenty of attorneys involved in the ultimate resolution of this lawsuit, let me close today with a definition from The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm:

“Lawyer:  A job in which 97 percent of those practicing it somehow manage to give the entire profession a bad name.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

A Mishmash Today

Just as the reader in Houston put me onto a website that keeps track of how much baseball players make while they are on the injured list – not playing baseball – he also provided me with a way to track the same thing in the NBA.  Since the regular season ended yesterday – – were you able to handle all the drama and excitement of the final weekend of games? – – I thought I would present you with some data on that subject.

The website tracks players who were on the injured list, players who have been designated as “rest” meaning they got “approved leave” from the team and players who missed games for “personal” reasons.  The number of injured players and games missed by those injured players dominate here as does the salary earned so I will not do the breakout here; I will provide totals only:

  • Number of games missed by players = 6,319
  • Salary earned while not playing = $906,171,634

The website is listed by player and category.  If you want to see how much your favorite player earned while not playing, follow this link.

With the end of the NBA regular season in hand and the play-in portion of the NBA playoffs about to begin, please consider this comment from Dwight Perry’s column last week in the Seattle Times:

“So, which NBA team will be the first to hoist a ‘2021 Play-In Champion’ banner next season?”

Congratulations to Sam Houston State for beating South Dakota State 23-21 in the NCAA Division 1-AA football final game to earn the national championship.  The game was close all along and it was won on a TD pass in the final minute for a come-from-behind win.  The game suffered from horrible weather in the first half causing a 1-hour delay while the teams cooled their heels as lightening strikes were observed around Frisco, TX where the game was played.

Last week, I said that I had already heard enough about a couple of sports storylines but that they would continue to be beaten to death.  One was the Tim Tebow saga of signing on as a tight end with the Jags.  Well, I was right on that one.  Since I said there was nothing of note to report/comment on, here is what has happened:

  • The Jags continued to negotiate with Tebow, and he had not signed as of yesterday morning.  That lack of a contract was considered newsworthy.
  • Various people have made statements about the “rectitude” of this entire matter.  Please do not ask me why because I wonder why anyone thought it was important to report such commentary.

While trying to avoid this entire matter until something real happened – – like Tebow signed a contract or there was an announcement that this was not going to happen despite all the sturm und drang that had preceded it – –  I ran across a link to an article with this headline:

“Gene Simmons defends Tebow from backlash to potential NFL return”

That headline drew me to the article – – as is the purpose of headlines – – for a couple of reasons:

  1. I wondered who Gene Simmons is and why his perspective mattered.
  2. I wondered what the “backlash” was all about.

After reading the article, I now know who Gene Simmons is, but I still do not have a clear understanding of why his opinion on this matter is any more interesting than Joe Flabeetz’ opinion on this matter which I know to be uninteresting.  As to the backlash, it has to do with Tebow getting a potential shot at a position on the Jags while Colin Kaepernick cannot get a comeback try in the NFL.

The comparison there is pretty thin gruel in my mind.  Yes, both men earned their fame by playing quarterback and yes, both men famously genuflected on the sidelines during football games.  After that, the analogies get more and more tenuous.  As I said last week, I wish that the only report I read about this matter relates to the terms of the contract that Tebow eventually signs  with the Jags.  After that, sports commentators can fall all over themselves dissecting how well he performs in agility drills at the Jags’ minicamp in June.

Albert Pujols has found another job in MLB – – not a lot of controversy on that move yet – – and he will not need to move far if at all.  Pujols was released by the Angels a week ago and over the weekend CBSSports.com reported that he had signed on with the Dodgers.  His contract with the Dodgers is supposedly for the MLB minimum which currently is $570.5K per year.  Pujols was under contract with the Angels for $30M this year and he will collect the balance of that from the Angels with only that minimum salary as an offset.

The Dodgers have suffered injuries to first basemen this year and obviously hope that Pujols can increase his performance at the plate from the .196 batting average he posted in his time with the Angels.  The Dodgers currently sit in 3rd place in the NL West a game-and-a-half behind the Padres and two games behind the Giants.

Finally, here is Dwight Perry again on Albert Pujols’ release by the Angels:

“Albert Pujols, just released by the Angels, grounded into an MLB-record 403 double plays in his career.

“Instead of having a street renamed in his honor, maybe he should be awarded his own 643 area code.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

The NCAA Transfer Portal

The NCAA loosened its transfer rule. Starting next season major college football and basketball players may transfer one time before graduating without being required to sit out a year of competition.  I have read reports that say there are 1500 student-athletes who have either entered the transfer portal or who have made a preliminary application to transfer.  I have no problem with this version of “collegiate free agency” unless – make that until – someone suggests that this need not be limited to a “one-time occurrence”.

I get all the rhetorical arguments about how coaches can pick up and move without having to sit out a year, but players cannot.  That is true; that is also a distinction based on a fundamental difference; players are not coaches and coaches are not players.  Oh, and coaches are not students either.

So, give the players a one-time pass to transfer without penalty; consider that an homage to the adage that “everyone makes mistakes”.  However Mr. or Ms. Student-Athlete, choose wisely in that free transfer because there should not be any others coming your way.  Remember, the people making those “transfer decisions” are adults; they are eligible to vote; if they make a bad life choice, they do not deserve an unending supply of “get out of jail free cards”.

Bob Molinaro had this comment on the subject in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot a couple of weeks ago:

“Fastbreak: Can’t resist touching again on the havoc created by the NCAA’s new, liberal transfer policy. Not when the Syracuse women’s basketball team just lost 12 players to the portal.”

I am confident that Syracuse – and other schools – will figure out ways to navigate these new waters and fill out team rosters.  Here is what I find most interesting:

  • If Joe Flabeetz is a chemistry major and decides to transfer from School A to School B after three semesters, Joe often finds that he cannot transfer all his credits to School B.  Remembering that the NCAA model is the “student-athlete”, I wonder how many transferring student-athletes find that they cannot transfer credits and that lack of standing makes them ineligible not by NCAA rules but by School B’s rules.
  • The answer is obviously zero – – because the student-athlete would not transfer to a school where he/she was academically ineligible.  Some student-athletes may not be anywhere near ready for college education, but they cannot possibly be that stupid.  Right?
  • Nonetheless, isn’t that a convenient circumstance for those reported 1500 “student-athletes”?

Yesterday, I mentioned that one of the NFL games that could have a beaten-to-death storyline was the Niners at the Bears on Halloween.  The Niners made a major trade to move up to the #3 position in the Draft giving them access to the QB they wanted in the Draft once the first two QBs were off the board.  They selected Trey Lance with that pick; obviously, he is the player they wanted; there had been hundreds of speculative articles and comments about who they would take even up until moments before the pick was announced.

One of the prominent alternative names in those speculations was Justin Fields who was taken by the Bears later in the Draft after the Bears made a trade to move up to get him.  It is not a guarantee that Lance and Fields will be the starters in that game; both the Niners and the Bears have QBs on their rosters who could be “placeholder QBs” for some/all of the 2021 season as Messrs. Lance and Fields “learn the trade”.  However, if they do face each other, it might be interesting to note what it cost each team in terms of draft capital to make the selection that they did.

Here is the Niners’ trade:

  • Niners get: The #3 pick in the 2021 Draft which they used to select Lance.
  • Dolphins get:  The #12 pick in the 2021 Draft (later traded to the Eagles) plus the Niners’ first and third round picks in 2022 and the Niners first round pick in 2023.

Here is the Bears’ trade:

  • Bears get:  The # 11 pick in the 2021 Draft which they used to select Fields.
  • Giants get:  The #20 pick in the 2021 Draft plus a fifth-round pick in the 2021 Draft and a fourth-round pick in the 2022 Draft.

Both teams traded up 9 slots in the Draft – – albeit the Niners traded to get a much more advantageous position.  However, the “investment” made by the two teams in terms of “draft capital” to acquire the rookie QB they selected is huge.

Speaking of these two QBs taken in the first round of this year’s Draft, there were 5 QBs taken in the first round including 3 QBs taken in the first three picks and all 5 QBs going in the first 15 selections.  Only the 1983 NFL Draft saw more QBs taken in the first round; and in 1983, there were only 28 teams selecting players in the first round.  To refresh your memory here are the QBs from the “Class of 1983”:

  1. John Elway – taken first overall, won 2 Super Bowls, made the Hall of Fame.
  2. Todd Blackledge – taken #7, played in all or part of 7 seasons without distinction.
  3. Jim Kelly – taken #14, appeared in 4 Super Bowls, made the Hall of Fame.
  4. Tony Eason – taken #15, appeared in a Super Bowl game, played in all or part of 8 seasons.
  5. Ken O’Brien – taken #24, played in all or part of 10 seasons without distinction.
  6. Dan Marino – taken #27, played in 1 Super Bowl, made the Hall of Fame.

Finally, here is an NFL Draft related comment from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times:

“The Falcons signed undrafted Jack Batho IV, a 6-foot-7, 315-pound tackle from South Dakota School of the Mines.

“Hey, if a guy from there can’t open a hole, who can?”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Oakland Goes For The Hat Trick?

In the modern baseball era, the now-Oakland A’s are the most peripatetic team.  They began their existence as the Philadelphia A’s owned and managed by Connie Mack for about 50 years; then they pulled up stakes and moved to Kansas City in the mid-50s and stayed there for about 15 years before moving to Oakland in the late 60s.  According to recent reports, it is possible that the A’s might be on the move once again.

The A’s play their home games in whatever they are calling the Oakland Coliseum these days.  That stadium changes names the way most people change socks, so it is hard to stay on top of it.  The A’s – – and the NFL Raiders when that team used the stadium – – wanted a new place to play and no funding/cooperation was forthcoming from the city.  To be fair, Oakland lavished taxpayer funds on the stadium for the Raiders in the past – – and it never quite paid for itself; once burned means twice shy.  However, the facility is simply a mess, and something must be done.

The current owner has “a plan” where he will build a stadium as part of a massive development effort at a waterfront site in downtown Oakland.  This plan includes housing and retail space and a hotel.  So, if there is this plan in place, what is the problem?

Well, it takes a lot of infrastructure investment on the part of the city of Oakland to accommodate all that development.  For the moment, this is a shipping terminal site that does not have nearly the road access necessary, nor the drainage required.  Some folks have “guesstimated” that the necessary infrastructure investment could go north of $1B.  With that number floating around in the air, the city fathers in Oakland are loath to go full throttle on this project.

Probably motivated to put some pressure on the city fathers, MLB has told the A’s to proceed with their plans for a new stadium because the clock is winding down on MLB’s tolerance of the Oakland Coliseum.  Here is the kicker:

  • MLB told the A’s to start looking for a place to move if they cannot get things moving in Oakland.

The A’s owner, John Fisher, had this to say earlier this week:

“The future success of the A’s depends on a new ballpark.  Oakland is a great baseball town, and we will continue to pursue our waterfront ballpark project. We will also follow MLB’s direction to explore other markets.”

Oakland  used to have an NBA franchise; the Warriors have decamped to play across the Bay in San Francisco.  Oakland used to have an NFL franchise; the Raiders now reside in Las Vegas.  Oakland has shown in recent times that it knows how to lose professional sports teams; the question now is will they “go for the hat trick” so to speak.

I never like the idea of taxpayer money being used to build playpens for billionaires.  I would not like to be part of the city government in Oakland about now.  Instead of trying to figure a way out of the conundrum in Oakland, I prefer to think about where the A’s might move to in the event of a stalemate in Oakland.

Since MLB would have to approve any move by the A’s, I think one major issue is MLB’s willingness to allow the A’s to move out of the geographical western part of the US.  If the A’s would be allowed to move anywhere such that there might need to be some realignment of divisions, these areas come to mind:

  1. Charlotte/Research Triangle in NC:  Plenty of population with disposable income and potential rivalries with the Nats and Braves.
  2. Montreal, Quebec:  Immediate rivalry situation with the Blue Jays.

I suspect that MLB will not want to go through the seismic changes that moving the A’s from the AL West would engender.  Therefore, let me propose three landing spots that would keep the A’s in the AL West:

  1. Las Vegas:  Two barriers here are the fact that the city just spent about $750M on a stadium and improvements for the Raiders and the climate in Las Vegas in the summer.  For baseball, there may need to be a domed stadium there and domes do not come cheap.
  2. Portland:  This is a growing area where there is lots more disposable income than there is in Oakland.  One problem here is that Portland has been in the news over the past year or so in a not-so-positive way.
  3. San Antonio:  If there is a stadium plan there, this is the city I would choose.  It is prosperous and growing AND it would immediately set up a rivalry triangle with the Astros and Rangers in Texas.

Moving on …  The NFL released its 2021 schedule and the sportsbooks immediately released betting lines for all the Week 1 games.  I have not studied the schedule carefully, but a scanning of the schedule points out several games that are going to command storylines that go beyond what might happen on the field.  Consider:

  • Week 4 Bucs vs Pats:  Brady vs Belichick.  Will they shake hands before the game?  After the game?  Let me set the Over/Under for the number of times this will be called a “showdown” at 2,643,320…
  • Week 7 Rams vs Lions:  Matthew Stafford vs Jared Goff.  This will show which team got the better of that trade, right?
  • Week 8 Niners vs Bears:  By then, these teams might be starting their first round QBs from this year’s draft so it could be Trey Lance vs Justin Fields.
  • Week 9 Pats vs Panthers:  Cam Newton returns to Charlotte…
  • Week 11 WTFs vs Panthers:  Ron Rivera returns to Charlotte…
  • Week 16  Jets vs Jags:  By then, both teams would be in the “relegation zone” if the NFL had one – – but this will match the Overall #1 pick (Trevor Lawrence) against the Overall #2 pick (Zach Wilson) in NYC on the day after Christmas.  The wordsmiths’ hearts are already picking up the pace…

Finally, Scott Ostler of the SF Chronicle went to an A’s home game in Oakland earlier this season.  Here is part of his description of the evening:

“At the A’s ballpark, I interviewed one of those cardboard fans, the only one that was not smiling. Said the fan, ‘I wasn’t cut out for this.’”

BaDaBing!  BaDaBoom!!!

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Enough Already

Several times here, I have complained about the length of time it takes to play the final two minutes of a college basketball game.  I have even suggested rule changes that would seek to shorten some of those never-ending foul fests.  Notwithstanding the frustration I might feel watching some of those games, I just ran across a report of something much – MUCH – worse.

  • A girls’ high school softball game took almost 5 hours to play, and the final score was 46-45.

Do I hear someone suggesting that it might have been fun to watch such an offensive explosion and that the game was close so it must have been interesting?  Well, let me add a few other facts to the story here:

  1. The winning team had 46 runs on 15 hits with 8 errors.
  2. The losing team had 45 runs on 5 hits with 6 errors.
  3. There were 65 walks in the game.  [None of the pitchers could find home plate with a radar.]
  4. There were 29 batters hit by pitches in the game.
  5. One player had 8 plate appearances; she drew 5 walks and was hit by a pitch the other three times she came up.

Just thinking about the account of that game makes me question if I ever want to see another softball game in my lifetime…

And while I am thinking about tiresome things related to sports, I want to go on record now and say that I have heard more than enough about two subjects – – and I know that there is a ton more that will be said on those two subjects over the next several weeks/months.  They are:

  1. Aaron Rodgers and his unhappiness with the Green Bay Packers.
  2. Tim Tebow signing with the Jags as a tight end.

Just as I would have wanted to say, “Wake me when it’s over,” had I been watching that girls’ softball game, there are a finite number of ways to say that Aaron Rodgers and the management in Green Bay are not “besties” right now.  That finite number of expressions was attained weeks ago and then the repetition began.  Enough already; save whatever scraps of information anyone may have on this matter for an introduction to a report/explanation of what actually happened as a result of Rodgers’ frustration.  One does not contribute to understanding by beating a dead horse or by assaulting an expired equine or … you get the idea.

Tim Tebow – for reasons I do not pretend to understand – fascinates sportswriters and commentators.  Tebow was an excellent college QB; he won the Heisman Trophy; he got a huge amount of coverage for that success.  He was mediocre at best as an NFL QB; he got a huge amount of coverage for that lack of success.  He was a minor league baseball player for about 5 years with a career minor league batting average of .222; he got a huge amount of coverage for that mediocrity.  Now, at age 33, he is going to try to become a tight end at the NFL level and is getting a huge amount of coverage for signing on to try to do something.  Enough already; if he makes the Jags as a tight end, we can read/hear about that after the fact.

I am not alone in being tired of repetitious reporting on things that simply do not matter.  I offer as evidence this comment by Bob Molinaro in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot last week:

“Asked and answered: Is anyone’s enjoyment of a baseball game enhanced after being told the exit velocity of a batted ball?  Of course not.”

Since I mentioned beating a dead horse above, that reminds me that the Preakness officials have cleared Medina Spirit to run in the Preakness this weekend.  I never really doubted they would bar the horse, but I am surprised at the justification they have offered for making that decision.  According to reports, the Preakness people got trainer Bob Baffert to submit Medina Spirit and two other stablemates slated to run in stakes races this weekend to “enhanced blood-testing and medical monitoring”.

  • The three horses were blood tested when they arrived at Pimlico on Monday and then again on Tuesday.
  • The results are to be available on Friday with the Preakness taking place on Saturday.
  • Preakness folks say this “will ensure us that if there is or was any betamethasone or any other medications … in the horse we would know about them before the race.”

Sounds good – – except…  The test that Medina Spirit failed after winning the Derby took 8 days to come back and the testing for the split sample from Churchill Downs – – to confirm or confuse the results already in – – is expected to take several weeks.  The Pimlico samples will be analyzed and reported in two to three days and that provides “assurance”?

Finally, here is an item from Dwight Perry’s column, Sideline Chatter, in the Seattle Times:

“Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen tossed a seven-inning one-hitter against the Braves in the opener and Madison Bumgarner tossed a no-no in the nightcap.

“In other words, they scheduled an MLB doubleheader and fastpitch softball broke out.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

New Rules For College Basketball

Last week, I wrote here about the college basketball rules mavens considering a long list of rule changes for 2021 and beyond.  Fortunately, they steered clear of some of the worst of those suggestions – – but I am not sure they did much to make the game “better”.  Perhaps that is too high a standard; maybe I should expect less.  So, let me go over what changes are going to be implemented this year and use the Hippocratic Oath as a standard:

  • First, do no harm…

There will be 5 changes – one being used only in the NIT on an experimental basis – next Fall.  Only that “experimental rule” would be a major change; the other four are pretty bland stuff.  The first rule change addresses an ongoing problem in college basketball but does not go nearly far enough.

  • Change #1:  Flopping can result in a technical foul.  Flopping is a problem, and previous attempts to “eradicate it” from the game by issuing points of emphasis have been feckless.  This rule change seeks to “up the ante” here by making it a technical foul when a “fake-being-fouled” situation is “clear and obvious”.  However, do not get the idea that the rules mavens are really serious here because this flavor of technical foul would result in one foul shot by the opposing team plus possession and the player doing the flopping would NOT also accumulate a personal foul from the flop.

My guess is that this rule will fade into obscurity unless officials call it early and often in the upcoming regular season.  However, it does no obvious harm…

  • Change #2:  Coaches can use technology for live stats and video for coaching on the bench.  Even if this were to be implemented as stated here, this is a change that would be transparent to fans.  However, the rules mavens would not go even that far.  This change simply allows conferences to make their own rules on this matter and apply those rules only to conference games.  The rule would not be in effect for interconference games or for the NCAA Tournament.

I suspect that this change will be important for a reason that has exactly nothing to do with the game of college basketball; it has important economic potential.  This will allow each conference to strike a deal with Apple or Microsoft or Samsung to have one of those tech companies be “The Official Bench Technology Partner” for a specific conference.  That can benefit Athletic Departments’ profit and loss statement, but that is about all.  Moreover, it does no obvious harm…

  • Change #3:  Schools can install shot clocks that display tenths of a second.  Be still my fluttering heart…  Schools are not required to do this, but they may do it if they want to.

I certainly hope the rules mavens did not spend more than a few tenths of a second pondering the cosmic significance of such a change – – because there is no significance here.  However, it does no obvious harm…

  • Change #4:  When a team calls a timeout, that interruption of play will also serve as the upcoming TV timeout.  This is a significant rule change in terms of maintaining pace of play.  It does not quite address the “interminable final two minutes” issue, but it is a start.  Here is how it will work.  If a team calls a timeout with 14 minutes to play in the first half, that timeout will serve as the TV timeout that would have happened at 12 minutes.  Instead of stopping the game for a timeout after the first dead ball at 12 minutes, the game would continue until the 8-minute mark for the next TV timeout – – unless of course a team calls yet another team timeout.

This change seeks to keep the games inside a reasonable 2-hour time window for television programming purposes.  It is not perfect, but it is a step in the right direction.  In this case, the rule change is better than “not doing harm”, this one looks like an improvement for the game.

  • Change #5 (Experimental in the NIT only):  Players will be allowed 6 fouls before disqualification unless four of those fouls occur in one half.  Since the rules mavens for college basketball only meet every other year, this rule will likely get two years of exposure in NIT games.  That means there will be 62 games by which the rules mavens can come to some conclusion as to the worthiness of this rule.  That is not much of a sample size considering the number of college basketball contests that will be played under the current “5-fouls-and-you’re-gone” rule.  [Aside:  If you assume there are 350 Division 1 basketball schools and each team plays 30 games in a season, that results in 10,500 games with the “5-foul rule” and 62 games in 2 NIT tournaments with the “6-foul rule” until the next meeting of the rules mavens.]

The rules mavens frame this experimental change as an attempt to “keep the most talented players on the floor for the longest amount of time”.  While that is a noble pursuit, it seems to ignore the fact that one of the talents exhibited by the best players is the ability to avoid committing 5 personal fouls.  Also, please recall that a “6-foul rule” existed in the old Big East Conference in the 1990s, but it did not last more than a couple of years.  It did not make the games significantly better – – but it did make them more physical.  I do not like this rule – experimental or not.  I do not think it makes the game better and I think it does harm to college basketball.  Figuratively speaking, I would prefer for someone to drive a wooden stake through the heart of this experimental rule.

Finally, since today has been all about rules – and proposed rule changes – let me close with an observation from Henry David Thoreau:

“Any fool can make a rule.  And any fool will mind it.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Bouncing Around today …

Last week, I said that Ernie Banks was the best shortstop in baseball history.  That conclusion came after mulling over in my mind all the shortstops I had seen going back to the 1950s.  I should have known better.  The reader in Houston reminded me – ever so gently – about the existence of Honus Wagner who was also a shortstop and who was even better than Ernie Banks.  I stand corrected…

The Angels released Albert Pujols in the final year of his 10-year contract worth $253M.  The fact is that Pujols had been in a serious state of decline for at least the last two seasons; the last time his batting average was over .250 was back in 2016.  That is why I was a bit surprised to read about his release; if the Angels were willing to keep him around for the last two or three years, I would have thought that he might have hung around until his contract expired in October.

Pujols has been in the major leagues for all or part of 21 seasons – 11 with the Cardinals and 10 with the Angels.  Here is one comparison to show how far from “living up to his billing” he has been with the Angels:

  • OPS with Cards for 11 seasons = 1.037.  That is excellent.
  • OPS with Angels for 10 seasons = .758.  That is mediocre.

If you look up Pujols’ career stats you will find one stat where he leads the major leagues for a career – – and it is one I am sure he would prefer not to acknowledge:

  • Albert Pujols grounded into 403 double plays in his career – – more than anyone else in baseball history.

As the NBA regular season is drawing to a close, here are my picks for various season awards around the league:

  • MVP:  My vote goes to Chris Paul.  The Suns have been worse than an also-ran in the NBA West for the last several seasons; they added Paul to the team, and they are going to finish in the top half of the playoff seedings.
  • Rookie of the Year:  I think LaMelo Ball earned this honor.  Yes, he was hurt and missed time in the middle of the year, but he is a major part of the reason that the Hornets are likely to be part of the playoffs in 2021.
  • Most Improved Player:  I think Julius Randle runs away with this award.  He is the leader and leading scorer for the Knicks who are 7 games over .500 this late in the season.  It has been a while since that has been the case in NYC.
  • Coach of the Year:  This is a tough call for me.  Quin Snyder has led the Jazz to the league’s best record at this point; that is quite an item to have on one’s résumé.  Meanwhile, Tom Thibodeau has changed the Knicks from a doormat to a playoff team in the East.  If I had a vote here – which I do not – I would toss a coin here because both coaches deserve this honor.

Next up is a story about shooting oneself in the foot …  The sport of horseracing is moribund; notwithstanding the upbeat story about Medina Spirit completing a rags-to-riches story by going from a foal who was sold at auction for the minimum price of $1000 to winning the Kentucky Derby by going wire-to-wire, the sport of horseracing has found a way to put a downer on that story.  Over the weekend, we learned that Medina Spirit tested positive for excessive amounts of betamethasone in its blood after the race.  As I understand it, betamethasone is a steroid that is administered by injection into joints to alleviate joint inflammation and pain.

According to reports, the concentration of betamethasone was 21 picograms per milliliter which is double the acceptable concentration.  [Aside:  If you are not familiar with “picograms”, 1 million picograms = 1 microgram and 1 million micrograms = 1 gram.]  You might be tempted to dismiss this as much ado about nothing since the amounts here are so small but there are some disturbing elements:

  • Betamethasone is the same substance that was found to be in excessive concentration in the Kentucky Oaks winner last year.  That horse, Gamine, was trained by Bob Baffert who is also the trainer of Medina Spirit.
  • Justify won the Triple Crown in 2018.  He too failed a drug test, and he too was trained by Bob Baffert.  The “investigation” there was dropped when it was suggested that Justify may have eaten some contaminated feed thereby explaining the failed drug test.
  • Last year, the NY Times reported that two of Baffert’s horses tested positive for lidocaine in Arkansas.  Faced with the investigation, Baffert argued that the stewards in Arkansas did not follow their own rules which would have kept the matter completely confidential.

Regarding the positive test for Medina Spirit, Baffert has vowed to “fight the case tooth and nail” because he says he never treated the horse with that substance at all – – let alone to a point where it would appear at twice the legal limit for the drug.  He also indicated that he is beginning to wonder if he – Baffert – is the target of wrongdoing:

”I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I know everybody’s not out to get me, but there’s definitely something wrong. Why is it happening to me? There’s problems in racing, but it’s not Bob Baffert.”

What should have been a positive week for horseracing looking forward to the second leg of the Triple Crown with a storyline that echoed the one surrounding Seabiscuit more than 70 years ago has turned into a week with a sordid mess hanging over the head of horseracing.  And it may not stop there.  Baffert announced that Medina Spirit would be traveling by van to Pimlico for the Preakness Stakes later this week while there are voices out there saying the horse should not be allowed to run anywhere until all of this is cleared up – – which might take months.

Finally, let me close with an item from Bob Molinaro in his column last week in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot related to the Kentucky Derby:

“TV timeout: A reported audience of 14.5 million watched the Kentucky Derby — ‘the most exciting two minutes in sports.’ Meanwhile, 12.6 million watched the first night of the NFL draft — three hours of reading out the names of other people’s children.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………