Category Archives: sports

The Emptiest Day of the Baseball Season

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It happens every year. The World Series ends, forcing me to endure a year of hearing these guys, or those guys, or, worst of all, that team again referred to as World Champions. I put that aside and start the countdown. There are some distractions of course. Football and hockey and off-season moves and debates about whether Fearsome Hitter or Guy That Just Knew How To Win belong in the Hall of Fame (they don’t). But really the only thing that matters is this: how many days until Opening Day?

Football ends, and then we get serious. Pitchers and catchers report. Optimism abounds. Pitcher has been working on New Pitch over the off-season. Player shows up to camp In The Best Shape Of His Life. Games featuring minor league guy are played. Slowly, the regulars play deeper and deeper into games. You know it’s right around the corner when there’s speculation that Journeyman Relief Pitcher might play a key role in the bullpen because he’s given up one run in five innings of Grapefruit League ball. A couple of real games are played in the middle of the night. Teams stop playing each other and start playing younger versions of themselves. The first game in New Stadium gets the attention for one day, and then it’s here.

Opening Day.

The bunting is up. Aces are warming up in the pen. The starters line up along the baselines. Play ball.

Happy New Year.

Ace is back from injury, and pitches a solid five. Remaining Star drives in New Guy to take the lead. Revamped Bullpen brings locks down the victory. Taking care of business. Undefeated. First place. Tied at least. Everything is right in the world. Except . . . Except . . .

THEY DON’T PLAY TOMORROW! After all the waiting, after all the build up, after all the predicting, it’s all a tease. They play on Opening Day and then they have a scheduled day off. And just like that, it’s winter again.

2011 Major League Baseball Postseason Cheering Guide

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When none of my teams make the playoffs, part of me dies inside. Nonetheless, there’s still baseball to be played, and some outcomes are better than others. Here are the eight MLB playoff teams in descending order of how terrible it will be if they win the World Series.

8) New York Yankees – The thought of millions of Yankees fans being happy about anything makes me ill. It’s bad enough that they think that Derek Jeter is better than Alex Rodriguez.
8a) Philadelphia Phillies – The thought of Jimmy Rollins being happy about anything makes me ill. It’s bad enough that he thinks he’s anywhere near as good as Jose Reyes.
6) Texas Rangers – Owning the Rangers and using this power to swindle a new stadium from the citizens started George W. Bush’s ascent to the presidency. Never forget.
5) St. Louis Cardinals – They did knock the Braves out of the playoff picture, which moves them up a notch, but they’ve already won a championship with a bad team once in my lifetime. Manager Tony LaRussa is annoying, a drunk driver, and a Tea Partier.
4) Arizona Diamondbacks – The most nondescript team in the playoffs puts them in the middle of the pack. They have one good player (Justin Upton) and a couple of good pitchers, but nobody really knows how they won games. The NL West is just that bad.
3) Tampa Bay Rays – Tampa’s improbable playoff run coupled with the Red Sox meltdown was a beautiful gift. The Rays are the model of how to run a low payroll team. Finally, their small fanbase 3000 miles away will be nearly silent to my ears.
2) Milwaukee Brewers – I’ll root for any non-Favre containing team from Wisconsin against any team that I don’t care about.
1) Detroit Tigers – This is my team-in-law, which pushes them above Milwaukee, but they’d be a strong contender regardless. Beautiful uniforms. The great Justin Verlander. And when in doubt, always root for the declining midwestern town.

Life resumes today

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To do list:

  • Clean off the scoreboard, sweep home plate, and knock the dirt out of your cleats.
  • Break out your #49 Anderson and #5 Wright. Buy peanuts and crackerjack. Sharpen your pencils and pack up your scorecards.
  • Tune in to Korach and Ray and Vince. Log in for Gary, Keith, and Ron. Be sure to catch a few called by Vin and Ueck.
  • Curse Evil Empires I & II. Remind yourself that the champs’ reign will be short.
  • Trust the grown ups in charge in New York. Awe at the master of the East Bay. And hope for the best in the North.
  • Pray for Johan and Justin. Wrap Sideburns and Bailey in bubblewrap. Enjoy the absence of Ollie and Francoeur.
  • Get ready to see old friends in unusual colors.
  • Appreciate the professional, the dynamic, and the graceful. They may be wearing new laundry soon too.

Repeat daily through October.

This Weekend’s Number One Timely Inter-Sport Metaphor

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I was listening to Westwood One’s radio coverage of the Super Bowl with Boomer Esiason doing the color analysis. Nick Collins intercepted a pass from Ben Roethlisberger and returned it for a touchdown, which prompted Boomer to describe Collins’s role on the play as “playing a deep center field . . . like Bernie Williams.”

Like Bernie Williams? The former Yankees outfielder who retired in 2006?

Not Curtis Granderson or Brett Gardner who would play center for the current Yankees. Or Milwaukee Brewers center fielders Carlos Gomez or Mike Cameron or Marquis Grissom or Scott Podsednik or Hall of Famer Robin Yount or Gorman Thomas. Or Andrew McCutchen or Andy Van Slyke or a Pirates outfielder past or present. Or even Josh Hamilton or another outfielder from the Texas Rangers who play in the same city that the Super Bowl was played in.

Nope, Boomer went for the timely, relevant Bernie Williams.

One more thing, on a more serious note… I’ve often heard a safety playing deep in the middle of the field described by commentators as playing “center field.” Is there no football term to describe this? Football has a complete language around it, but for a deep safety they go to a baseball term?

Redemption

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In 2007, Duval Kamara was recruited to play football at Notre Dame. Coming out of Hoboken, New Jersey, he was rated a four-star wide receiver. As a freshman he caught 32 passes, the second most on the team, scoring 4 touchdowns. Between his reputation coming out of high school and and promising freshman year, expectations for the rest of his career were high. Unfortunately, due to a combination of not being utilized correctly, the emergence of other options at wide receiver, and general ineffectiveness, Kamara’s career at Notre Dame was often seen as a disappointment.

In 2007, Robert Hughes was recruited to play football at Notre Dame. Coming out of Chicago, Illinois, he was rated a four-star running back. As a freshman he rushed 53 times for 305 yards for a 5.5 average, best on the team, scoring 4 touchdowns. Between his reputation coming out of high school and and promising freshman year, expectations for the rest of his career were high. Unfortunately, due to a combination of not being utilized correctly, the emergence of other options at running back, and general ineffectiveness, Hughes’s career at Notre Dame was often seen as a disappointment.

On November 1, 2010, the Notre Dame football team had a record of 4-5 following back-to-back losses to Navy and Tulsa. With games against top-25 opponents Utah and USC sandwiched around Army, who runs the same offense that Navy used to blow out the Irish, Notre Dame was staring at a second straight bowl-less season.

Hosting Utah on Senior Day at Notre Dame Stadium, the Irish dominated the Utes, with Duval Kamara catching two touchdown passes to put the game out of reach.

Playing Army at Yankee Stadium, the Irish dominated the Black Knights, with Robert Hughes running nine times for 39 yards, including the go ahead touchdown.

And last night, visiting the Los Angeles Coliseum, with 10 seconds left in the first half Notre Dame stood at USC’s 1-yard line. The pass went to Duval Kamara, who reached the ball across the goal line before being pushed out of bounds. With 6:18 left, Notre Dame received a USC kickoff down 16-13. On the ensuing drive, Robert Hughes ran four times, for 6-, 12-, 12-, and 5-yards, the final carry driving into the end zone, putting the Irish ahead for good.

Make no mistake, a 7-5 record is not good enough. But that doesn’t make a 3-0 November, ending the USC streak, and the redemption of the 2007 recruiting class any less sweet.

Who to root for in the 2010 World Series

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I’ve been asked to weigh in on who to root for in the 2010 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers. Let’s handle this scientifically:

Pro-Rangers: They beat the Yankees. Their manager is Ron Washington, the former infield coach for the Oakland A’s, who is credited by Eric Chavez for turning him into a multiple Gold Glove winning third baseman.

Pro-Giants: They beat the Phillies.

Anti-Rangers: They were previously owned by George W. Bush, who used his father’s political influence to acquire the land and public financing to build the Ballpark in Arlington, artificially inflating the value of the franchise before sale to Tom Hicks. He parlayed this into successful runs for statewide and national office. The Texas roster also includes the likes of Jeff Francoeur, whose horrible play captivated the New York media during his time with the Mets over 2009-2010.

Anti-Giants: Their fans are among the biggest bandwagoneers I have ever observed. During Game Six of the NLCS against the Phillies, I was at Trader Joe’s. More than half of the other shoppers were wearing Giants gear, displaying the dedication to their team that could only be interrupted by the need to buy Mandarin Orange Chicken and Pesto and Sundried Tomato Torta. They are too drunk on Two Buck Chuck to notice that their precious Pablo “Panda” Sandoval has added hitting to baserunning and fielding as things that he’s not good at on a baseball field.

Conclusion: There’s only one winner during this year’s World Series, the New York Mets and their fans. The hiring of Sandy Alderson as new GM signals a commitment to reform the organization from the the front office, through the major league roster, and down to the farm system, where the championships of the future are won and lost. So Giants and Rangers, enjoy your time on the stage while it lasts, because flukes like you come and go, but the impending dominance of the New York National League Club is coming.