This post has been brewing for several days now so, without further ado, my sports-related thoughts on a Friday morning:
1. Perhaps someone should tell Arizona Diamondbacks managing general partner Ken Kendrick that throwing his players under the proverbial bus isn’t a great way to run a club. By publicly questioning Luis Gonzalez, even in a roundabout way, makes Kendrick look like an amateur. Even if LuGo was on performance-enhancing drugs (I’d bet a couple of paychecks on it, personally), Kendrick gains nothing by casting doubt on the most beloved player in his team’s history. It’s called “circle the wagons” Ken. No one likes an owner that acts holier-than-thou after an employee gets busted breaking the law, especially in light of the fact that owners endorsed the use of PED’s to fatten their bottom line.
2. I’m extremely confused with how baseball goes about policing hit-by-pitch incidents. On the one hand Yankees starter Randy Johnson gets slapped with a five-game ban for going high and tight on Cleveland Indians hitter Eduardo Perez. On the other hand, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen can rant not once, not twice, but three times about the HBP incidents with the Texas Rangers and the league office says nothing. If Johnson gets ejected for throwing inside after both teams were warned and if Torre, as manager, gets tossed as well, how does the same fate not befall Guillen? After all, a warning to both the White Sox and Rangers was in place after Rangers starter Vincente Padilla hit catcher AJ Pierzynski for the second time in the game. If the warning was handed down, if Sox rookie pitcher Sean Tracey throws inside and if Guillen is seen throwing two tantrums in the dugout, then follows it up with a press conference to declare that his team will retaliate for all hit batsmen going forward…well, where are Bud Selig and Bob Watson to dole out equal justice to the White Sox?
I’m not saying the Yankees were treated unfairly here, I’m merely pointing out that the White Sox are getting away with something that I don’t think most other teams could get away with.
3. For a guy worth several billion dollars, Mark Cuban sure comes off as bitter. In response to the news that Michael Jordan was buying into the Charlotte Bobcats and would oversee all basketball operations for the team, Cuban was asked if MJ’s return would be good for the league. His reply? “Not unless he’s going to make a comeback.” Uh, yeah, sure Mark, whatever you say. Having the biggest star in the history of the NBA as a part-owner and executive in one of the most basketball-crazy states isn’t good for the game? I need only point to the excitement MJ generated for the Washington Wizards at the beginning of this decade. They might not have gotten better while he was there but they certainly sold more tickets and got more national attention.
I wonder if Cuban’s not at least a little bit jealous that someone is stealing headlines from him during the NBA Finals. While I’m at it, I should mention that it’s fairly disgraceful for an owner to try and overshadow his team while they’re in the midst of their first championship run. Cuban, sit your flabby white ass down and shut up. No one wants to hear that you ate tuna for lunch or that you have gastric distress while watching the games.
4. Finally, finally, finally someone blew the cover off the smoke the Kansas City Royals have been blowing up our asses. It was revealed a few days ago that the Royals revoked the media credentials of two journalists who covered the team and who asked tough questions of ownership and management at a press conference to announce the hiring of new GM Dayton Moore. This was presumably on orders from team owner David Glass who has spent the past several years convincing his fan base and any other moron who would listen that the Royals could not compete against the east coast teams and their vast financial resources, despite receiving an annual revenue-sharing stipend of $30M from the big bad Yankees. Cover’s blown, David. You ran your team into the ground, pocketed the welfare check from Uncle Steinbrenner, and breached public trust in the process. Now you’re acting like a certain resident of the White House with your revocation of media credentials.
This is where Bud Selig comes in. Why is he silent on this matter? Why does Selig feel so compelled to remain silent when one of the flagship franchises of the American League from the 1970’s and 80’s is being stripped away of any value. Where is the value in Selig’s laissez-faire strategy as he watches a once-vibrant baseball market lose interest and focus on other sports with greater passion?
5. And finally, since I’m already hammering away at Selig’s incompetence, how’s this for ridiculous – MLB and the players union have 25 days to come to an agreement on whether or not to extend the “This Time It Counts” theme of the All-Star Game. Yes, you read that correctly. The people that run baseball have waited until the last minute to decide if the result of the All-Star game will count towards homefield advantage in the World Series. Besides the fact that I find the whole concept preposterous, I can’t understand why this little detail couldn’t have been hammered out in the off-season. Selig operates without the requisite sense of urgency that good chief executives should have. That’s why crises both big and small seem to constantly pop up around baseball. The guy simply doesn’t know the meaning of the word proactive.
1. Perhaps someone should tell Arizona Diamondbacks managing general partner Ken Kendrick that throwing his players under the proverbial bus isn’t a great way to run a club. By publicly questioning Luis Gonzalez, even in a roundabout way, makes Kendrick look like an amateur. Even if LuGo was on performance-enhancing drugs (I’d bet a couple of paychecks on it, personally), Kendrick gains nothing by casting doubt on the most beloved player in his team’s history. It’s called “circle the wagons” Ken. No one likes an owner that acts holier-than-thou after an employee gets busted breaking the law, especially in light of the fact that owners endorsed the use of PED’s to fatten their bottom line.
2. I’m extremely confused with how baseball goes about policing hit-by-pitch incidents. On the one hand Yankees starter Randy Johnson gets slapped with a five-game ban for going high and tight on Cleveland Indians hitter Eduardo Perez. On the other hand, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen can rant not once, not twice, but three times about the HBP incidents with the Texas Rangers and the league office says nothing. If Johnson gets ejected for throwing inside after both teams were warned and if Torre, as manager, gets tossed as well, how does the same fate not befall Guillen? After all, a warning to both the White Sox and Rangers was in place after Rangers starter Vincente Padilla hit catcher AJ Pierzynski for the second time in the game. If the warning was handed down, if Sox rookie pitcher Sean Tracey throws inside and if Guillen is seen throwing two tantrums in the dugout, then follows it up with a press conference to declare that his team will retaliate for all hit batsmen going forward…well, where are Bud Selig and Bob Watson to dole out equal justice to the White Sox?
I’m not saying the Yankees were treated unfairly here, I’m merely pointing out that the White Sox are getting away with something that I don’t think most other teams could get away with.
3. For a guy worth several billion dollars, Mark Cuban sure comes off as bitter. In response to the news that Michael Jordan was buying into the Charlotte Bobcats and would oversee all basketball operations for the team, Cuban was asked if MJ’s return would be good for the league. His reply? “Not unless he’s going to make a comeback.” Uh, yeah, sure Mark, whatever you say. Having the biggest star in the history of the NBA as a part-owner and executive in one of the most basketball-crazy states isn’t good for the game? I need only point to the excitement MJ generated for the Washington Wizards at the beginning of this decade. They might not have gotten better while he was there but they certainly sold more tickets and got more national attention.
I wonder if Cuban’s not at least a little bit jealous that someone is stealing headlines from him during the NBA Finals. While I’m at it, I should mention that it’s fairly disgraceful for an owner to try and overshadow his team while they’re in the midst of their first championship run. Cuban, sit your flabby white ass down and shut up. No one wants to hear that you ate tuna for lunch or that you have gastric distress while watching the games.
4. Finally, finally, finally someone blew the cover off the smoke the Kansas City Royals have been blowing up our asses. It was revealed a few days ago that the Royals revoked the media credentials of two journalists who covered the team and who asked tough questions of ownership and management at a press conference to announce the hiring of new GM Dayton Moore. This was presumably on orders from team owner David Glass who has spent the past several years convincing his fan base and any other moron who would listen that the Royals could not compete against the east coast teams and their vast financial resources, despite receiving an annual revenue-sharing stipend of $30M from the big bad Yankees. Cover’s blown, David. You ran your team into the ground, pocketed the welfare check from Uncle Steinbrenner, and breached public trust in the process. Now you’re acting like a certain resident of the White House with your revocation of media credentials.
This is where Bud Selig comes in. Why is he silent on this matter? Why does Selig feel so compelled to remain silent when one of the flagship franchises of the American League from the 1970’s and 80’s is being stripped away of any value. Where is the value in Selig’s laissez-faire strategy as he watches a once-vibrant baseball market lose interest and focus on other sports with greater passion?
5. And finally, since I’m already hammering away at Selig’s incompetence, how’s this for ridiculous – MLB and the players union have 25 days to come to an agreement on whether or not to extend the “This Time It Counts” theme of the All-Star Game. Yes, you read that correctly. The people that run baseball have waited until the last minute to decide if the result of the All-Star game will count towards homefield advantage in the World Series. Besides the fact that I find the whole concept preposterous, I can’t understand why this little detail couldn’t have been hammered out in the off-season. Selig operates without the requisite sense of urgency that good chief executives should have. That’s why crises both big and small seem to constantly pop up around baseball. The guy simply doesn’t know the meaning of the word proactive.
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