At my peak, I was the most prolific columnist on this site. In my advancing age, however, I find that my diminishing brain cells spend most of their time excited by baseball and losing interest in other sports. That’s not to say I am not a die-hard fan of the Knicks and Giants, or disengaging from the polygamist lifestyle of rooting for both Notre Dame and Ohio State, but baseball’s just what floats my boat. As I learn more and more about baseball each day, I find myself awed by just how much more there is to discover about the sport, despite how much I think I already know.
Anyway, that’s just a long-winded way of saying that I’m sorry if I’ve been neglecting my duties around here. I’ll try to be better than a once-a-week poster. Fortunately, baseball’s Hot Stove season will be kicking off in a few days.
Without further ado, my utterly random sports-related thoughts of the past few days:
On Football:
1. Maybe my definition of parity is different than Len Pasquarelli’s, but when I watch the NFL this year, I don’t see what he’s seeing. Yes, he and I agree that there is more bad than good this season. But I’d argue that it’s a function of the parity experiment gone horribly awry. I guess in that sense he’s right – it’s not parity since there are little puddles of crap forming at the bottom of every division save the AFC West (which logically means that there are top-feeders feasting on the carrion of other teams) – but it’s certainly not the golden age of football either. I don’t know what you call this phenomenon, but one thing I wouldn’t call it is good.
And for the record, what on earth were former NFL Commissioners Rozelle and Tagliabue thinking if they thought their league would be best served by a bunch of 8-8 teams. I find this quote (below) vexing. I would like to see the data that shows that the NFL would be better served, on the whole, by having a league full of teams with .500 records. Hell, if people are going to scream and complain about the Cardinals winning the World Series with a record only two wins better than .500, imagine what people would’ve said about Super Bowl champs who could’ve theoretically made it into the playoffs with records as poor as 6-10 or 7-9. No thanks, at least not for me.
“The systematic unleavening of the NFL created by Commissioner Pete Rozelle and nurtured by Paul Tagliabue, a master plan seemingly aimed at having every league franchise...finishing with 8-8 records...”
2. I don’t mean to whine, but man is it dispiriting to be a fan of a football team that starts getting crushed by the injury bug. Every team goes through it and it’s just a part of life in the NFL, but I was legitimately enjoying the Giants’ turnaround from their 1-2 start. I have no idea how far they’ll fall without all their star players but I assume that the rest of the season won’t go that well and Tiki won’t get to ride off into the sunset on the shoulders of his teammates.
3. Switching over to college football for a moment, I really hate articles like this. It’s just like ESPN to create a story where there isn’t one. How could the upcoming OSU-UM game be viewed as hollow hype? Has the author, Bruce Hooley, who lives and works in Columbus, Ohio, not been watching the games this year? I really hate how ESPN refuses to let any subject simply be. They’re always poking around, trying to create something that isn’t there. At this point, ESPN manages to make everything boring and unenjoyable.
On Baseball:
1. Most readers of this site don’t know who Johnny Sain is, except perhaps the famous bit of baseball poetry that says “Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.” For those that don’t know, Sain was a right-handed pitcher for the Boston Braves and New York Yankees during the late 1940’s and early 1950’s who, in his absolute prime, won 20 games four times in five seasons and finished in the top-5 in the MVP voting two of those years.
After his playing career ended, Sain went on to become a top pitching coach and was credited with helping future All-Stars and Hall of Famers such as Whitey Ford, Jim Kaat, Jim Perry, Denny McLain, and Mickey Lolich with their breaking pitches and mechanics.
Sain passed away on Tuesday, at the age of 89. For baseball buffs, it’s a sad loss.
2. Baseball’s award season is only a few days away. Starting with the 2006 AL/NL Rookie of the Year Award (announced 11/13), the rest of the prizes are the AL/NL Cy Young Award (11/14 for NL, 11/16 for AL), AL/NL Manager of the Year Award (11/15), and AL/NL MVP Award (11/20 for NL, 11/21 for AL).
I will give my breakdown and opinion of the choices after each winner is announced. In the meantime, I will simply give my quickie picks on who I’m rooting for to win, along with my predicted winner:
AL RoY –
Hope: Justin Verlander, RHP (Tigers) / Reality: Justin Verlander
NL ROY –
Hope: Hanley Ramirez, SS (Marlins) / Reality: Ryan Zimmerman, 3B (Nationals)
AL Cy Young –
Hope: Chien Ming Wang, RHP (Yankees) / Reality: Johan Santana, LHP (Twins)
NY Cy Young –
Hope: Brandon Webb, RHP (Diamondbacks) / Reality: Trevor Hoffman, RHP (Padres)
AL Manager –
Hope: Jim Leyland (Tigers) / Reality: Jim Leyland
NL Manager –
Hope: Willie Randolph (Mets) / Reality: Willie Randolph
AL MVP –
Hope: Derek Jeter, SS (Yankees) / Reality: Derek Jeter
NL MVP –
Hope: Ryan Howard, 1B (Phillies) / Reality: Albert Pujols, 1B (Cardinals)
Anyway, that’s just a long-winded way of saying that I’m sorry if I’ve been neglecting my duties around here. I’ll try to be better than a once-a-week poster. Fortunately, baseball’s Hot Stove season will be kicking off in a few days.
Without further ado, my utterly random sports-related thoughts of the past few days:
On Football:
1. Maybe my definition of parity is different than Len Pasquarelli’s, but when I watch the NFL this year, I don’t see what he’s seeing. Yes, he and I agree that there is more bad than good this season. But I’d argue that it’s a function of the parity experiment gone horribly awry. I guess in that sense he’s right – it’s not parity since there are little puddles of crap forming at the bottom of every division save the AFC West (which logically means that there are top-feeders feasting on the carrion of other teams) – but it’s certainly not the golden age of football either. I don’t know what you call this phenomenon, but one thing I wouldn’t call it is good.
And for the record, what on earth were former NFL Commissioners Rozelle and Tagliabue thinking if they thought their league would be best served by a bunch of 8-8 teams. I find this quote (below) vexing. I would like to see the data that shows that the NFL would be better served, on the whole, by having a league full of teams with .500 records. Hell, if people are going to scream and complain about the Cardinals winning the World Series with a record only two wins better than .500, imagine what people would’ve said about Super Bowl champs who could’ve theoretically made it into the playoffs with records as poor as 6-10 or 7-9. No thanks, at least not for me.
“The systematic unleavening of the NFL created by Commissioner Pete Rozelle and nurtured by Paul Tagliabue, a master plan seemingly aimed at having every league franchise...finishing with 8-8 records...”
2. I don’t mean to whine, but man is it dispiriting to be a fan of a football team that starts getting crushed by the injury bug. Every team goes through it and it’s just a part of life in the NFL, but I was legitimately enjoying the Giants’ turnaround from their 1-2 start. I have no idea how far they’ll fall without all their star players but I assume that the rest of the season won’t go that well and Tiki won’t get to ride off into the sunset on the shoulders of his teammates.
3. Switching over to college football for a moment, I really hate articles like this. It’s just like ESPN to create a story where there isn’t one. How could the upcoming OSU-UM game be viewed as hollow hype? Has the author, Bruce Hooley, who lives and works in Columbus, Ohio, not been watching the games this year? I really hate how ESPN refuses to let any subject simply be. They’re always poking around, trying to create something that isn’t there. At this point, ESPN manages to make everything boring and unenjoyable.
On Baseball:
1. Most readers of this site don’t know who Johnny Sain is, except perhaps the famous bit of baseball poetry that says “Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.” For those that don’t know, Sain was a right-handed pitcher for the Boston Braves and New York Yankees during the late 1940’s and early 1950’s who, in his absolute prime, won 20 games four times in five seasons and finished in the top-5 in the MVP voting two of those years.
After his playing career ended, Sain went on to become a top pitching coach and was credited with helping future All-Stars and Hall of Famers such as Whitey Ford, Jim Kaat, Jim Perry, Denny McLain, and Mickey Lolich with their breaking pitches and mechanics.
Sain passed away on Tuesday, at the age of 89. For baseball buffs, it’s a sad loss.
2. Baseball’s award season is only a few days away. Starting with the 2006 AL/NL Rookie of the Year Award (announced 11/13), the rest of the prizes are the AL/NL Cy Young Award (11/14 for NL, 11/16 for AL), AL/NL Manager of the Year Award (11/15), and AL/NL MVP Award (11/20 for NL, 11/21 for AL).
I will give my breakdown and opinion of the choices after each winner is announced. In the meantime, I will simply give my quickie picks on who I’m rooting for to win, along with my predicted winner:
AL RoY –
Hope: Justin Verlander, RHP (Tigers) / Reality: Justin Verlander
NL ROY –
Hope: Hanley Ramirez, SS (Marlins) / Reality: Ryan Zimmerman, 3B (Nationals)
AL Cy Young –
Hope: Chien Ming Wang, RHP (Yankees) / Reality: Johan Santana, LHP (Twins)
NY Cy Young –
Hope: Brandon Webb, RHP (Diamondbacks) / Reality: Trevor Hoffman, RHP (Padres)
AL Manager –
Hope: Jim Leyland (Tigers) / Reality: Jim Leyland
NL Manager –
Hope: Willie Randolph (Mets) / Reality: Willie Randolph
AL MVP –
Hope: Derek Jeter, SS (Yankees) / Reality: Derek Jeter
NL MVP –
Hope: Ryan Howard, 1B (Phillies) / Reality: Albert Pujols, 1B (Cardinals)
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