Not much time to write these days so I’ll make it quick:
1. The USTA National Tennis Center was renamed in honor of Billie Jean King. I’m one of the few tennis fans left in this country but I think this is a good story. Billie Jean King has done a tremendous amount of good in the world of sports and it’s nice that she gets her well-deserved honors here in New York, at the home of the U.S. Open.
That being said, I’ve never been to the U.S. Open. It’s outrageously priced and has become an event for the elitist scum that populates most of New York’s upper class. $300 tickets, overpriced food and drinks, who needs it? Sports like tennis wonder why it can’t sustain grassroots fan interest. I don’t think it would kill the USTA if it seriously re-thought its pricing in order to allow more New Yorkers access to the only major tennis tournament played in this hemisphere.
2. Proving that you can come home again, even if you poured gasoline all over the place and burned your house down and then stole the insurance money to bet on three-legged horses, the Golden State Warriors have decided to re-hire Don Nelson as their head coach.
Apparently the six years that Nelson spent in Golden State from 1989-1995, a period in which the Warriors only went 9-15 in the playoffs, didn’t dissuade Warriors management from rolling the dice on the fat, drunken fool one more time. In June, 1994, Nelson traded three first-round draft picks for Chris Webber. One season later, he traded Webber to Washington and set the franchise on the doomed path it has been on ever since. I guess the fact that the Warriors haven’t been to the playoffs since Nelson famously destroyed the franchise doesn’t bother anyone in Golden State management.
And no one thinks there’s extreme racism in the hiring practices of professional teams? Can you name a bigger re-tread than Don Nelson?
3. The biggest problem with baseball, in my opinion, is that, unlike the NFL, Bud Selig and the other baseball owners don’t do a good enough job vetting prospective new owners. Case in point: Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria. A New York art dealer and gallery owner, Loria first purchased the Montreal Expos. He proceeded to run them into the ground, starving the major league club to the point that an entire roster of All-Stars* were playing in cities other than Montreal. Further, he was the only owner not to sell television or radio rights to the team in the local market. And yet, he was allowed to purchase the Florida Marlins from Wayne Huizenga.
Now, despite the Marlins playing with a $14M payroll, Loria wants to fire rookie manager Joe Girardi. The Marlins are only two games out of the National League Wild Card race. What sort of owner allows himself to be such a distraction to his team in the middle of such a miracle season? His team is overachieving. He’s probably raking in the dough. He needs to shut the hell up and let Girardi do his job without interference or headaches from his boss.
*Vladimir Guerrero, Cliff Floyd, Moises Alou, Larry Walker, Rondell White, Marquis Grissom, Wil Cordero, Mark Grudzielanek, John Wetteland, Pedro Martinez, and Dennis Martinez all made at least one All-Star team under Loria’s watch.
1. The USTA National Tennis Center was renamed in honor of Billie Jean King. I’m one of the few tennis fans left in this country but I think this is a good story. Billie Jean King has done a tremendous amount of good in the world of sports and it’s nice that she gets her well-deserved honors here in New York, at the home of the U.S. Open.
That being said, I’ve never been to the U.S. Open. It’s outrageously priced and has become an event for the elitist scum that populates most of New York’s upper class. $300 tickets, overpriced food and drinks, who needs it? Sports like tennis wonder why it can’t sustain grassroots fan interest. I don’t think it would kill the USTA if it seriously re-thought its pricing in order to allow more New Yorkers access to the only major tennis tournament played in this hemisphere.
2. Proving that you can come home again, even if you poured gasoline all over the place and burned your house down and then stole the insurance money to bet on three-legged horses, the Golden State Warriors have decided to re-hire Don Nelson as their head coach.
Apparently the six years that Nelson spent in Golden State from 1989-1995, a period in which the Warriors only went 9-15 in the playoffs, didn’t dissuade Warriors management from rolling the dice on the fat, drunken fool one more time. In June, 1994, Nelson traded three first-round draft picks for Chris Webber. One season later, he traded Webber to Washington and set the franchise on the doomed path it has been on ever since. I guess the fact that the Warriors haven’t been to the playoffs since Nelson famously destroyed the franchise doesn’t bother anyone in Golden State management.
And no one thinks there’s extreme racism in the hiring practices of professional teams? Can you name a bigger re-tread than Don Nelson?
3. The biggest problem with baseball, in my opinion, is that, unlike the NFL, Bud Selig and the other baseball owners don’t do a good enough job vetting prospective new owners. Case in point: Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria. A New York art dealer and gallery owner, Loria first purchased the Montreal Expos. He proceeded to run them into the ground, starving the major league club to the point that an entire roster of All-Stars* were playing in cities other than Montreal. Further, he was the only owner not to sell television or radio rights to the team in the local market. And yet, he was allowed to purchase the Florida Marlins from Wayne Huizenga.
Now, despite the Marlins playing with a $14M payroll, Loria wants to fire rookie manager Joe Girardi. The Marlins are only two games out of the National League Wild Card race. What sort of owner allows himself to be such a distraction to his team in the middle of such a miracle season? His team is overachieving. He’s probably raking in the dough. He needs to shut the hell up and let Girardi do his job without interference or headaches from his boss.
*Vladimir Guerrero, Cliff Floyd, Moises Alou, Larry Walker, Rondell White, Marquis Grissom, Wil Cordero, Mark Grudzielanek, John Wetteland, Pedro Martinez, and Dennis Martinez all made at least one All-Star team under Loria’s watch.
No comments:
Post a Comment