That’s how you arrive to spring training.

College Football’s Aging Attendee Crisis

College football is very popular, there is no dispute about that. But other than the elite programs, a vast majority of college football programs are staring down a real crisis to which there is no easy solution: The paying fanbase is getting older and, relatedly, smaller.

Those guys are UNLV fans, while the article focuses on Fresno State, where 49% of season ticket holders are 56 years or older, and only 9% are 35 and younger. As a result, ticket sales are dropping, and revenues are way down. But it’s not just at Fresno: ticket sales nationally have dropped for six consecutive years.  The reason is pretty simple: In the past, very few games were televised. If you wanted to see your team play, you went to the game.

But unlike decades past, every single major college football game is now available on TV. Every week, fans are faced with a decision: (1) travel some distance, fight traffic, pay a lot for parking, pay for the ticket, buy overpriced and mediocre stadium food, (in most cases) be unable to buy a beer, and sit in an uncomfortable seat or bench for, these days, nearly five hours per game including seemingly endless TV timeouts, then fight the crowds to get out and fight traffic to get home; or (2) sit on your couch with a 70-inch TV screen, drinking your beverage of choice and eating anything you’d like, with the ability to pause the game at any time and later fast forward through commercials, and when the game ends, either get on with your day or go to bed.

More and more fans are opting to stay home, and that’s a real problem for college football programs. As Richard Southall, director of the College Sport Research Institute, puts it:

“By and large you have a whole generation of fans, and not just young fans, who have grown up with college sports and all sports being consumed primarily on television,” Southall said. “And as season ticket costs have increased and the need to donate to get better seats, etc., etc., the fact of the matter is for the affordable tickets, the sight lines are not comparable to what you get on television. So, do I want to go to a stadium where I’m up in the nosebleed seats or do I want to have that view on my nice flat-screen TV? And think of what’s going to happen with virtual reality … if I plop my goggles on and I’m going to watch this thing in virtual reality, that’s going to be even more of a challenge because then the experience is immersive.”

Winning, of course, helps a lot. But college football will not survive without a strong middle class, and those programs are hurting. It doesn’t help that the tactics touted in the article are not the solution:

“It has to be an entertainment experience that hits all of the buttons,” said Whitney Wagoner, director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon, citing the vastness of competitive options. “It has to be interactive. There has to be a real, modern contemporary sense of what it is. The in-stadium entertainment has to stack up with all of the other entertainment options that they could potentially choose from. Music is part of that. Food is part of that. Engagement between timeouts is part of that. They could go to a club or they could go to a comedy show instead of going to a game, so the stadium experience has to deliver on all of those entertainment must-haves.

“Is it a fun place to be? Is the environment great? Is it connective? Can you share experiences? Is it a hyped-up, really great environment? If it is, then they’ll show up. But if it’s run-of-the-mill and kind of looks like it did when they were 10 years old and they went with their mom and dad, that’s not going to be enough.”

No. No, no, no, no. No. As a Cal football season ticket holder I can tell you this crap mentality is how Cal games got inundated with crap like “Simba Cam” and “Muscle Cam” and an endless parade of annoying games during breaks. It’s stupid. Not one person enjoys it. It’s loud and it’s distracting and it sucks. Just shut up and let the band play.

So what is the solution? How do you make attending games fun, while also attracting a likewise lucrative TV audience? The NFL, of course, had a local TV blackout policy for decades: if the game didn’t sell out, the local fans could not watch. This incentivized fans to go to the game. This policy should be on the table for NCAA football.

More than that, though, they need to improve the gameday experience. Games should not be 4 and 5 hours long. Get it back to 3 ½ hours. To do so, TV timeouts need to be shortened, and occur less often. The means of doing so is simple – constant TV ad banners, as in soccer, instead of actual commercial breaks. Soccer does it worldwide, football can do it, too. This will cut the length of games way down, and prevent those long in-game breaks that make attending a game boring and “inspire” people like zWhitney Wagoner, above, to think college football fans are looking to be blitzed with “interactive” crap like the BART race game at Cal games.

This should improve things, considerably. And there we go. I just solved college football’s third biggest problem. -TOB

Source: “Fresno State’s Red Wave Turns Into Gray Wave as Bulldogs Struggle to Attract Young Fans”, Robert Kuwada, Fresno Bee (02/11/2017)

PAL: I, for one, love the “Muscle Cam”, and I will not – I cannot – stand idly by while you and your “in the good ol days” mentality besmirch its name. 

The oversaturation of games on TV is the killer. And while the schools get a paycheck from the conference from TV deals, there appears to be a cost in terms of butts in seats.

The TV timeouts are insufferable. While a baseball game can be a 4+ hour experience, that’s due to how the game plays out. With football, it’s the TV timeouts seemingly every 5 minutes. There’s zero flow. The in-person experience for a non-marquee game is worse than the TV experience. No doubt in my mind.

5-Star Nepotism?

Michael Johnson Jr. is a top 2019 high school football prospect. Jim Harbaugh hired his dad to be an Offensive Analyst for Michigan. Smells fishy, right? I agree. I dug a little deeper (and by “dug” I mean googled his name).  The dude is qualified for the position:

• Offensive Coordinator, San Francisco 49ers
• Quarterbacks Coach, San Diego Chargers
• Offensive Coordinator, UCLA
• Interim Head Coach, UCLA

However, this isn’t the first time Harbaugh has hired parents of a recruit:

“In 2015, Harbaugh hired the mother of Stanford transfer Wayne Lyons to be a director of player development. Last January, he hired the high school football coach from Paramus Catholic, and then signed the country’s top recruit, Rashan Gary from—you guessed it—Paramus Catholic. Last February, after Devin Bush Jr. signed with the Wolverines, Harbaugh added Devin Bush Sr. to the coaching staff.”

Harbaugh is playing the game within the rules of the NCAA, and I have zero doubt other coaches across multiple sports are doing the same thing. It’s just slimy and lame. I’m beginning to wonder if that’s my big take-away from sports in the past couple years: They provide me with some fantastic, awestruck  moments, and there’s a lot of slime underneath those moments. It’s getting harder and harder to compartmentalize. – PAL

Source: “Jim Harbaugh Hired The Parent Of A Top Recruit Again,” Laura Wagner, Deadspin (4/14/17)

TOB: This has been going on forever. And as Phil points out, this guy is qualified. But Harbaugh makes headlines, so here we are.

PAL: It’s still lame. I sense a little sensitivity in TOB’s Harbaugh fanboy response.

Don’t Stick to Sports

Obviously, we’ve posted our fair share of stories that land in the intersection of sports and politics in the recent past. TOB and I talk pretty much every day, and the conversation almost always touches on both topics. Wherever you are on the political spectrum, we’ve all been consumed by the the presidency since well before January 20th.

What is the value of athletes’ political beliefs? Should we care what Tom Brady thinks about the president? Is Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling during the national anthem an attention-seeking stunt, or a peaceful protest worth discussing? These are tough questions during a time where all sides seem to be on edge. It’s palpable.

Please read Jay Caspian King’s article on the topic. More than anything I’ve read recently, King adds some much needed perspective to the “stick to sports” debate.

He makes many thought-provoking points, but none more insightful than the following:

“The settled politics of the past, where details can be kept few and the tone nostalgic, are fine. We know, for example, that Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color line, stole home and wore 42 on his back. Muhammad Ali championed equality and said some funny stuff to Howard Cosell. Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs. Their lionization reassures us that the stands they took were good — and can now be consigned to bygone eras.”

“The settled politics of the past…” – That’s what we lack right now, and it’s easy to forget, especially for younger folks, not everyone thought of Robinson, Ali, and King as heroic pioneers in the moment. It’s foolish to ignore that athletes speaking up helped settle the politics of the past.  

None of the debates and social issues of today are settled. Not even close. But believe this: Athletes will shape the national attitude towards many social and political issues. Don’t worry. The smart ones, the courageous ones – those are the voices that will resonate.

So I say keep talking, athletes. I may not agree with all of them, and I’ll likely criticize some of them, or – in Tom Brady’s case – make fun of them, but keep talking. – PAL

Source: “Should Athletes Stick to Sports?”, Jay Caspian King, The New York Times Magazine (2/14/17)

TOB: I’ve written about this a few times over the last few months, and could not agree more. I don’t understand fans who put athletes on a pedestal and then ask them to shut up and play. My beef with Tom Brady was not that he supported the other guy. but because he showed his support and then wanted to pretend like that support didn’t mean something. Have the courage of your convictions and stand up for what you believe. I might not agree, but I’ll respect it. It’s a heck of a lot better than the “Republicans buy sneakers, too,” philosophy of Michael Jordan and other athletes of my youth.

The Invention of a Sport

The history of most sports, minor and major, are largely disputed. The only major sport with no real dispute as to its origins is basketball, invented by Dr. James Naismith at a YMCA in 1891. But who invented baseball? Soccer? Football? Rugby? Golf? All unclear, and hotly debated, as they all evolved over time. What about leisure sports like croquet? Horseshoes? The same. Even a relatively young and popular game like cornhole doesn’t have a definitive origin story. And so it was with great interest I read this story about Fowling. Invented by accident at an Indy 500 tailgate in 2001 by friends from Detroit. 16 years later, Fowling is taking off in Detroit, as inventor Chris Hutt has opened a massive Fowling warehouse.

The rules of Fowling (football + bowling) are simple. Ten bowling pins are set up. And two teams of two try to knock down all ten pins by taking turns throwing a football at them.

It’s silly and stupid and easy to play – I know I’d love it. What do you say, Phil? Let’s get some pins and go fowl. -TOB

Source: “Fowling: A Detroit Original”, Frank Sorise, TBD Mag (November 2016)

PAL: Get some pins and go fowl? Nah. Let’s go to Detroit and do this for real. What a dumb, fun, entertaining story. The guy as the perfect chin goatee – of course he invented a new beer game.

Video of the Week: 

PAL Song of the Week: Sinkane – “Runnin'”

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The force was strong.

Bettman’s Bust

C.T.E. sure seems real. Of the 96 N.F.L. players who’ve donated their brains to C.T.E. research, 92 have been found to have been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy. For the N.H.L. players, it’s an ominous 5 for 5. Between the two sports, 97 of 101, or 96%. If you want more qualitative data, check out the story we posted a couple weeks ago about Zac Easter, or check out the HBO Real Sports segment on Kevin Turner. Every early indication tells us the dam on C.T.E. has already broken, and we’re just waiting for the flood.

With that known, I’m flabbergasted by the N.H.L. right now. After watching a far bigger entity in the N.F.L. settle and get the hell out of the way, the N.H.L. is taking a wait and see approach to C.T.E.

In the fall of 2016, N.H.L. Commissioner Gary Bettman planted his flag on the following hill:

“The science regarding C.T.E., including on the asserted ‘link’ to concussions…remains nascent, particularly with respect to what causes C.T.E. and whether it can be diagnosed by specific clinical symptoms. The relationship between concussions and the asserted clinical symptoms of C.T.E. remains unknown.”

Furthermore, the N.H.L. has “demanded troves of information from research done by neurology experts at Boston University who have examined the brains of more than 200 athletes for C.T.E. and have done groundbreaking work on the subject.”

Bull. For one thing, The N.H.L. is not an impartial party. Also, the B.U. research – some published and some unpublished – is based on donations provided under the condition of anonymity and are protected by medical privacy laws. And for good measure, most of the people who donated their brains never played hockey.

What is the N.H.L. thinking? The N.F.L., which pulls in 3x-4x more in revenue per year ($4B for N.H.L. vs somewhere near $13B for the N.F.L.), wanted no part of a class action lawsuit and settled more or less right away with former player. It makes sense. From a league standpoint, there is no victory here. You can even set aside the science, and – you know – loss of life. There is no dollar amount you can place on the P.R. nightmare.

If you’re not so sure – again – I encourage you to read Zac Easter’s story or watch the Kevin Turner segment on HBO.

This article does a great job showing the N.H.L’s response within an even scarier context: Big Tobacco back in the 50s. Research came out connecting smoking to lung cancer. Their response: Let our folks take a look at the research.

How does the saying go? Something about history and being doomed to repeat itself? Get your head out of the sand, Bettman. No league is too big to fail, especially not yours. – PAL

Source: “The N.H.L.’s Problem With Science”, Juliet Macur, The New York Times (2/8/17)

Back in the Day When I Was Young I’m Not a Kid Anymore…

Alex Mack (Go Bears!) is the best center in the NFL. Maybe the best offensive lineman. The dude just played the entire Super Bowl with a broken leg, and played well. Alex provided, to me, the most interesting story of the Super Bowl. In the week before the game, he was asked who was the best high school football player he ever saw. Alex thought about it and dropped the name Duncan Krier, a childhood friend and high school teammate. The reporters had never heard of Duncan Krier, and the L.A. Times’ Bill Plaschke did some digging. He eventually found a Duncan Krier working as a ticket salesman for a minor league hockey team in Portland. Sure enough, it was Alex’s old buddy.

It reminds me of the story we featured on go-kart racer Terry Fullerton, who the great Ayrton Senna said was the best driver he ever faced. Was Alex being serious about Krier?  Krier seems to think so, lamenting the knee injury that ruined his football career before he even left high school: “That’s wild. That’s insane. Holy hell. Alex really said that about me? The crazy thing about it is, I think he’s probably right. And I still think about that almost every day.” I’m not so sure. I think Alex was looking back on the road that led him to the pinnacle of his profession, and taking a moment to remember someone he cared about and lost touch with along the way. Krier said he hadn’t spoken to Alex in 12 years. Maybe this was Alex’s way of reaching out to his old friend. I hope the two can reconnect. -TOB

Source: “Not Forgotten: For Every Super Bowl Star, There’s an Equally Talented Player Who Didn’t Make It”, Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times (02/03/2017)

PAL: Plaschke nails the supposed fine line –

“For every Alex Mack, there is a Duncan Krier. For every star, it seems there is an equally bright light who grew up alongside him and yet somehow faded. Maybe it was injury. Maybe it was fate. Whatever it was, it illustrates the fine line between a man playing in the Super Bowl and a former teammate watching on TV.

“It is a line so thin that their career paths may have diverged with one play. Yet it is a barrier so thick that when one of those fallen stars is mentioned in a Super Bowl news conference, a reporter must resort to Google to determine whether he even exists.”

Later in the article, Krier says he was dealt a bad hand. Come on, man. Simplifying the difference between he and Mack down to a fluke play in high school undercuts Mack’s accomplishments. Their destinies were not etched in stone in some high school game. Mack is a pro because of so much than what he was in high school, and Krier is who he is – good and bad – because of so much more than a high school injury.

Sports Suck

Sometimes we feature stories that make me think, “Man, this is why I love sports.” This is not one of those stories. While sports can bring out the best in humanity, it can also bring out the worst, and that’s the case here. In an excellently reported piece, Matt Stanmyre and Steve Politi of NJ.com uncover a brewing scandal. Paterson Eastside High School in Paterson, New Jersey’s boy’s basketball coach, Juan Griles, has been finding kids from across the globe and moving them into his two-bedroom apartment and becoming their legal guardian, all so they can play basketball.

That’s a little shady, but it gets worse. As you might imagine, Griles is not doing this out of the kindness of his own heart. At present, approximately six players are living in his apartment. The players complain of lack of food. One player said they were fed spaghetti for dinner was spaghetti for “a whole two weeks” or worse, “just a loaf of bread to last two people for like two weeks.” And, of course, if the players don’t produce, they are exiled. One players, having been kicked out of the house, “was found alone and hungry by a district teacher after spending a night alone in a local Dunkin’ Donuts.” Christ. The coach denies wrongdoing, but a child protection investigation is underway. This story is crazy. It’s HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL. There’s not even a lot of money at stake. It’s just ego. I’m disgusted. -TOB

Source: “Hoops Power Packs Roster from Overseas; State Questions Safety of Teens Living With Coach”, Matt Stanmyre and Steve Politi, NJ.com (02/06/2017)

PAL: What more is there to add? Sports can bring out the best – especially in kids – and it brings out the worst in adults.

Adult Autograph Seekers: Re-examine Your Life

I don’t get autographs. I don’t get pictures with celebrities. What do they actually mean, and what story do they tell? You happened upon someone by dumb luck. We know this person. They signed this thing, and that’s proof that you met them. The end. Cool story, bro.

Golfer Jordan Spieth recently ranted about adult autograph seekers. There’s no real story here, other than to agree with Spieth. While I don’t love the goodie goodie “they swore in front of kids” argument from the golfer (spoiler alert: Welcome to the big bad world – people swear in public, especially at sporting events), Spieth is right. Who are these guys, and – honestly – how much does a Jordan Spieth autograph go for on Ebay (between $100 – $1000). What a fun way to make a living.

Hey, younger, successful person. Sign your name so I can put it online and profit off of your success.

Get a life. Honest to god – can someone explain autographs to me? Here’s a autographed golf ball from Spieth, going for $750 on ebay. Signatures and dimples do not mix.

My dad has a pretty solid collection of signed baseballs (Willie Mays, Bob Feller, and a J.D. Drew ball signed while he played for the St. Paul Saints during his holdout with the Phillies…cherry) – maybe he can explain it to us. I must note that my dad didn’t hound players for their autograph. He paid a premium to buy them in a store with a nice plastic case like any self-respecting adult would. – PAL

Source: “Jordan Spieth Has Had It With Professional Autograph Seekers”, Tom Ley, Deadspin (2/8/17)

Video of the Week: 

PAL Song of the Week: Justin Townes Earle – “Harlem River Blues”

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“So, you see, the puppy was like industry. In that, they were both lost in the woods. And nobody, especially the little boy – ‘society’ – knew where to find ’em. Except that the puppy was a dog. But the industry, my friends, that was a revolution…Knibb High Football rules!”

-B. Masdison

The Surest Path to the Super Bowl Starts at a D-III School

John Carroll University has about 3,700 students. The university competes in the Ohio Athletic Conference, and it currently has 7 former football players getting ready for Super Bowl LI. They won’t be playing, but the little Jesuit school in University Heights, OH has become a N.F.L. pipeline for coordinators, coaches, and general managers.

“New England has seven full-time football staffers who played football for the Blue Streaks and graduated: offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels (Class of ’99); director of player personnel Nick Caserio (‘99); assistant quarterbacks coach Jerry Schuplinski (‘99); director of pro personnel Dave Ziegler (‘00); coaching assistant Nick Caley (‘06); pro scout Frank Ross (‘10); and scouting assistant D.J. Debick (‘12).”

The path was created long before the Patriots. Don Shula graduated from John Carroll. Former N.F.L. executive Bill Polian’s two sons went J.C.U. went there, too, and it sounds like they found their tribe while playing for the Blue Streak (what a terrible team name): straight-laced football geeks who knew their playing days would end when their college eligibility ran out.

As it goes in so many fields, a recommendation gets an interview, but the person gets the job, and he/she busts ass to rise the ranks. They then hire people they trust. And so it goes.

Nepotism doesn’t get a potential hire very far in this scenario. As McDaniels puts it, “[the Carroll connection will] get you a conversation. But if you cannot deliver value to our organization, we’re going to have no use for you. Being from John Carroll distinguishes you from a pile of strangers. But don’t think that just because you know somebody here, that we’re going to take you on because we went to the same school.”

An interesting read during the week before a the Super Bowl that’s usually filled with the fluffiest of fluff. – PAL

Source: “How Division III school John Carroll became a Patriots pipeline”, Lorenzo Reyes, USA Today (2/1/17)

More Chicken than G.O.A.T.

I’m struggling, folks. I realize for the last eight years I had my guy in the White House. It was much easier to defend your guy when he’s in charge than it is to acknowledge folks have a very different set of beliefs when their guy’s in charge. The dangerous/foolish admission is I have a really hard time believing the majority of Americans are down with some of the recent moves from the Trump White House.

Look, this isn’t a political blog, and I have no interest in making it one. But I’m struggling. I don’t want to be alarmist, but Trump’s first couple weeks have me legitimately alarmed:

• The travel order
• Trump’s insertion of Steve Bannon – a political advisor with a downright scary, nationalist track record – on the principles committee of the National Security Council
• Trump’s “go nuclear” (bypass supermajority) order in the event the dems halt Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch after republicans filibustered Obama’s nominee for a year.
• And the ever-present fear: Mike Pence is next in line.

Here’s the deal: Donald Trump won the election, and I live in a hyper-progressive bubble. I am not the majority. I really, really want to ground myself in that truth – honest to god I do – but I just don’t respect Trump. Not at all. Perhaps this is how many felt when liberals have sat behind the desk in the Oval Office.

What the hell does this have to do with sports? Not a lot, but a little. Once example is Football-obsessed Tom Brady. Touchdown Tommy is a Trump supporter, and initially showed his support by way of staging a “Make America Great Again” hat in his locker way back in September of 2015. He’s dodged every question about it since with his “I’m just here to win football games” response.

I shouldn’t care. Goddamn, I shouldn’t care about a bimbo quarterback’s political views. Hell, maybe he’s simply friends with Trump and put the hat up there when the notion of him winning the election seemed so far-fetched. It’s absurd!

Yet, I really care that Brady answer some basic questions. I care because of the travel order that predominantly targets a religion, which is historically un-American. I care because we have in Bannon a political advisor with a main seat in matters of war, and I care because Supreme Court seats have a much longer impact than presidencies. And if you’re going to put the hat up there, then grow a pair and answer some questions.

1-2-3 Favorite Barry Petchesky puts it this way:

Let’s be clear: Under ordinary circumstances, athletes’ politics are their own, and they shouldn’t be expected to have to explain them more than anyone else. But that goes two ways. These are extraordinary circumstances—unprecedented, history-altering circumstances—and the country feels like it’s coming apart. Right now, it’s not enough for the Trump supporter around the corner to explain his support with a shrug, and it’s not okay for a famous one to grin and smirk because Durr, Donald’s my friend.

Own it, Touchdown Tommy. If you’re going to put the hat right in the camera frame of your locker, then give us some rationale.

No one cares about your TB12 brand (or whatever the crap it is), or your Stetson endorsement, your Uggs endorsement, or whatever the hell else you lend your name to these days. Don’t hide behind the Super Bowl, or your wife’s mandate you stop talking politics. Whether you know it or not, pretty boy, you made a political statement with the hat, then you shriveled when actually asked about it.

Go Falcons (but, really, I’m picking the Falcons). – PAL

Source: “I’m Fed Up With Tom Brady”, Barry Petchesky, Deadspin (1/31/17)

TOB: I’m feelin’ it, Phil! Frankly I had a hard time writing about sports this week. My mind is consumed by what the hell is happening in our country, and the world. The scariest, to me, is the fact President Bannon seems hellbent on going to war with China. Which, swell. It’s not hyperbole to say that’s a potential world-ender. But all of it’s bad. Take some solace in the fact you’re not in the minority: not only did Trump lose the popular vote, which would have him lose the election in a “democracy”, but his approval rating is around 42% (which is still insanely high).

Anyways, Brady is a bimbo and Petchesky’s story is really good. Read it. I laugh every time I think of the line, “it’s not okay for a famous one to grin and smirk because Durr, Donald’s my friend.”

When Will College Athletes Wake Up?

This story was making the rounds on Twitter early in the week, and I was excited to read an “illustrated guide to a recruiting visit at Nick Saban’s house.”

ESPN generally sucks these days, and that includes its sportswriting. So I should not have been surprised this story was so disappointing. I thought it would be an inside look at the side of recruiting we normally don’t get to see. Instead…this might as well have been a paid advertisement for Alabama. This thing is short, maybe 800 words, and all I learned is Saban has a big house, nice cars, and lives by a lake. Which…yeah, obviously. What a waste of two minutes. But my beef with this story is more than that. Something about it sat very poorly with me. I understand 18-year old kids are 18-year old kids, and they can be impressionable. But these kids are impressed by Saban’s big house and his fancy cars. If they did some critical thinking, they might wonder why Nick Saban lives in this insane house, and has fast cars “designed” by his son, while they get a fourth-rate education and no pay. Think, fellas. Expect more. Demand more. -TOB

Source: “An Illustrated Guide to Recruiting Visits at Nick Saban’s House”, Jeremy Willis, ESPN (01/30/2017)

Video of the Week: 

Lane Kiffin, everybody. Feel the energy. And an excellent parody here by SI’s Andy Staples.

PAL Song of the Week: Darrell Scott – “I Still Miss Someone” (Johnny Cash)

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Baller President.

Rock Raines in the Hall of Fame, or Why We Care About Sports

Tim “Rock” Raines was a guy who I juuuuuust missed. He had a short peak, from 1983-1987, in part because of his struggles with cocaine. He did have one last great year in 1992 with the White Sox, and I do remember that. But I’m not sure I thought of him as a Hall of Famer. However, Jonah Keri is one of my favorite writers, and over the last two years, Jonah has undertaken a public campaign to get Rock inducted into the Hall of Fame, and I quickly bought in to Raines as a Hall of Famer. This year was his last chance, and he got in with 86% of the vote (75% is the requirement for election). He was hovering around 50% before Keri began his campaign, which is impressive and speaks to how respected Jonah is in the baseball writing community. Jonah’s campaign was mainly centered around raising awareness/reminding people of Raines’ greatness, and of what Raines meant to Jonah. Raines is to Jonah as Puckett is to Phil. Here, the day Raines’ election to the Hall of Fame was announced, Jonah explains what Raines, and Jonah’s beloved and defunct Expos, meant to him. More broadly, Jonah uses his love of Raines and the Expos to explain why we love sports. 

Why should we care about any of this? Why are we driving ourselves nuts over a museum in a tiny little village in upstate New York? Why give a damn about a baseball player who retired a decade and a half ago, whose best years came with a team that ceased to exist at nearly the same time? Why care about sports at all, when there are so many seemingly far more important questions to ponder in the universe?

You can conjure a bunch of reasons for why we do care.

For one, we love to argue. We debate, rank, and scrutinize everything from breakfast cereals to pop singers to presidents. Switch to sports and we get electrifying plays, reams of numbers, and clear, binary results. Either your guy won, or he lost.

We also welcome the distraction that sports bring. Life can be damn hard. We get sick. We have our hearts broken. We watch dear friends and family members die. Sports have a way of lifting us up, away from personal tragedies or even the mundane frustrations that get us all down.

For me, sports are a proxy for the people I love, and loved.

…

But those old memories never fade. More than the Expos or even Raines himself, being a fan was about sitting beside my Papas, watching those first games when I wasn’t yet old enough to fully understand what I was seeing.

That’s why, when Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson called Raines’ name today, I, a 42-year-old man of relatively sane mind, jumped around and yelled like a damn lunatic. It’s why I thumbed through so many old albums, and cried like a damn baby whenever I thought about those very first baseball games.

Preach. -TOB

Source: “Why Tim Raines Making the Hall of Fame Means So Much to a Kid From Montreal“, Jonah Keri, CBS Sports (01/19/2017)

PAL: Didn’t see the turn at the end coming. Keri is great – passionate, fresh perspective in baseball writing in a time when it was needed – but his writing and podcasts are hit and miss with me. This article was a hit, and, I’ll be damned if I didn’t get a little choked up there at the end of this article.

Marketing Unicorns in the New N.B.A.

He dunks this…

Perhaps more than any other American sport – basketball’s popularity is driven by its individual players, and our proximity to them is mattering less and less.

I know who Giannis Antetokounmpo is, even if I can hardly pronounce his name. I know because any of his highlights are immediately delivered to my phone, and I know because I don’t think I’ve seen anything like him. He’s a 7-foot point guard for the Milwaukee Bucks, and he’s what many people consider a unicorn – a “singular talent without antecedent.” Here’s the proof:

This is a really interesting story about a collection of young NBA unicorns, and how to market them when the old equation no longer works (big market, relatable, no lumbering big men):

‘And while the franchises and shoe companies that make up the N.B.A. economy haven’t completely caught up with the online buzz generated by the league’s most dedicated fans, they have begun to prepare for what feels like inevitable change. Antetokounmpo and fellow young “unicorns” like Kristaps Porzingis of the Knicks and Joel Embiid of the Sixers…will go a long way toward determining whether the pro-basketball industrial complex can make as much money appealing to liberated fans as to their hidebound, local-market counterparts.’

No American-based athletes are more recognizable than NBA players. No helmet. No hat. Small playing surface. 10 competitors on the court at a time. With this in mind, it makes sense that “shoe-company nation-states” invest a hell of a lot more in NBA players than MLB, NFL, NHL, or Nascar.

TOB and I went to the Warriors – Thunder game this past Wednesday. As we were walking in, we realized we were about to see 5 of the best 20 players in the NBA in one regular season game: Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a sporting event featuring that many of the game’s best. Who of those players would you define as a unicorn? I’d say Durant, Curry, and Westbrook. Needless to say, it was incredibly fun to watch. – PAL

Source: “Hunting for Unicorns in the N.B.A”, Jay Caspian Kang, New York Magazine (01/18/2017)

Basketball’s Impact on Barack

As we swear in a new president, I found this article about the impact basketball has had on Barack Obama the day before his inauguration. Although a bit long-winded, it puts together a very clear pattern of how basketball has helped shaped Obama at many phases of his life. Obama’s passion for the game in rooted in what he calls an “improvisation within a discipline that I find very powerful.”

A few weeks ago at work, we went around the room and talked about what we learned in the past year. For me it was clear: All of the lessons I learned in youth sports absolutely apply to my daily life today, and I’ve finally re-embraced them. I scoffed them off for 15 years, but they still remain the best guidelines on how to go about my job. The qualities that makes a good teammate or leader at 12 are the exact same qualities that make a good co-worker or manager.

Here are a few of my favorite bits from this story. If you need a little escapism today, this is a good article to jump into over lunch.

• Obama on early lessons from the court: “A handful of black men, mostly gym rats and has-beens, would teach me an attitude that didn’t just have to do with the sport. That respect came from what you did and not who your daddy was. That you could talk stuff to rattle an opponent, but that you should shut the hell up if you couldn’t back it up. That you didn’t let anyone sneak up behind you to see emotions—like hurt or fear—you didn’t want them to see.”
• Obama on being a benchwarmer on his high school team: It’s about “being part of something and finishing it up. And I learned a lot about discipline, about handling disappointments, about being more team-oriented and realizing that not everything is about you.”
• Brother-in-law Craig Robinson (former Oregon St. coach) on pickup basketball and Obama: “There’s an ethical undertone in pickup that people miss. The game has to be played fairly or it breaks down. You practice an honor code, making your own calls and giving them up. If Barack travels, he’ll give it up, not sneak it by you. You play with hundreds of guys who’d never do that. It all gets back to how you can tell a guy’s character on the court.”

Pickup became Obama’s game after high school, and he used it at every phase of his life.

• “After graduation he took a job on Chicago’s South Side, where he brought together white priests, black pastors and civic leaders to solve common problems. It was frustrating work marked by intermittent victories. For example, he used basketball as a means to get through to an on-the-edge adolescent who was scaling back his expectations for life.
• “Several years later, at Harvard Law, Obama joined a group of law students who played against inmates at a nearby prison, where the cons lining the court made sure their visitors knew how many packs of cigarettes rode on the outcome.”
• “Before matters between Barack and Michelle could advance too far, she had a test to administer. Having grown up listening to her father and her brother, a two-time Ivy League Player of the Year at Princeton, insist that a man’s character gets laid bare on the court, she hatched a plan. Craig Robinson rounded up a quorum of friends of varied abilities…Obama found that sweet spot between not shooting every time and not always passing to Craig.”

While the now grey Obama is more likely to play golf than a rough pickup game, I hope he sets aside plenty of time to at least kick a little ass at the local gym. – PAL

Source: “The Audacity of Hoops”, Alexander Wolf, Sports Illustrated (01/19/17)

TOB: Maaaaaaaaan, am I gonna miss that guy. I’ve never made a bucket list, but playing pickup with Obama would be on it. I heard he’s headed to Palm Springs this weekend…just sayin. Also, the title of that SI story is amazing.

Video of the Week: 

PAL Song of the Week: Tom Waits – “Frank’s Song”

Like what you’ve read? Let us know by following this blog (on the right side, up near the top), or:

Email: 123sportslist@gmail.com

All kidding aside, we all know about your credentials, and your breadth of experience. For example, on a recent episode of Celebrity Apprentice, at the steakhouse, the men’s cooking team did not impress the judges from Omaha Steaks. And there was a lot of blame to go around, but you, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. And so ultimately, you didn’t blame Lil Jon or Meatloaf, you fired Gary Busey.

These are the kinds of decisions that would keep me up at night. Well handled, sir! Well handled.

-B. Obama, #44

These are the funniest stories from 2016. Scroll down to find our favorite media from 2016. Some real gems here, folks.

FUNNIEST Stories of 2016:

Vin Scully Takedown

Vin Scully is GREAT. He started broadcasting Dodgers games in 1950. In Brooklyn. He was the broadcaster for the World Series at the age of 25. People of Los Angeles have spent their entire lives with him. As babies, as teenagers, as college dopes driving home for summer. On the way back from the hospital with their first kid, driving away from funerals of parents. Setting out on a roadtrip to the to meet their first grandchild. There has been one constant in a Dodger’s fan’s life: Vin Scully. He has been in the homes and cars of L.A. for 67 years. That’s not a career, that’s a lifetime, and not just his.

Even that – even all of that – does not excuse what I’m about to show you:

00:14 – That mime hug. What a sweet, sincere, grandpa move. Oh, Mr. Scully. Picture of grace and humility. This is too perfect. The Dodger clinch the division on a walk-off home run. Sending out Scully in style.

01:00 – Scully thanking the fans: “Believe me when I tell you I’ve needed you far more than you’ve needed me.” Again, grace and humility. Class act beyond reproach.

01:18 – “Anyway, I wanted to try to express my appreciation to all the players, God bless them, and to all you folks here in the ballpark. It’s a very, very modest thing. I sang this for my wife…” Huh, Vin Scully is going to go out singing a song. That’s pretty cool!

01:40 – “You know the song. ‘The Wind Beneath My Wings’.” WHAT? Oh no, Mr. Scully.

01:53 – “I know it’s modest. I know it’s an amatuer. Do you mind listening?” He’s really going to sing Bette Midler. Don’t do it, man. Don’t sing for 50,000 fans. Not that song. Do ‘Take Me Out To The Ballgame’ or something like that. Come on!

02:01 – Look at all those young bucks down on the field for the Dodgers. They absolutely want to pay their respects. They understand how big of a deal Scully is. They also know there’s about 1,000 beers and champagne just waiting for them. They’re itching to RAGE CAGE. Just waiting for gramps to say his piece.

02:06 – Pre-recorded instrumentation kicks in. So…Scully is going to sing along with Bette Midler, or is this a karaoke situation?

02:20 – Whaaaa? So he wasn’t kidding when he asked the fans if they minded listening…to a recording of Scully singing this song as a much younger man. Seriously, this recording is no doubt from the 80s at the very latest. Also, I cannot believe what is transpiring.

02:24 – Hey, here are fans giving the ol Sign of the Horns while listening to a pre-recorded tape of Vin Scully singing ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’:

02:45 – Just a warm embrace between manager and player, while a pre-recorded tape of Vin Scully singing ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ by Bette Midler plays after they clinched the division. No big deal. WHAT IS GOING ON?!?

02:57 – Scully is tearing up with his arm around his wife, and I feel like an absolute asshole. 67 years of work. The man can do whatever he wants.

03:25 – This guy, giving a misty-eyed salute to Vin Scully while a pre-recorded Vin Scully sings ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ in Dodger Stadium…after the team just won the division. Is this dude attempting to hold his left hand over his heart? God, the Dodgers really are the worst.

05:09 – This song is still going on! A stadium is going to listen to a pre-recorded Vin Scully sing the entire song. Players getting restless. It’s time to rage, dammit. I ask again, WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON?

05:41 – The song is wrapping up. Everyone applauds on a perfect, sunny afternoon in Los Angeles. Of course they are applauding Scully, but 10% of every fan is applauding that the collective awkwardness is over.

05:57 – Scully wave and wipes a tear. I am an asshole.

05:59 – The song is not over, but the champagne party has erupted on the field. This image is taking place while a pre-recorded Vin Scully singing ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ by Bette Midler fades out in a stadium of 50,000 fans.

Wow. Just…wow. – PAL

TOB: Vin Scully is great, and by all accounts is a great person, as this story by ESPN’s Jayson Stark shows. And he’s an old, old man who gets to do whatever the hell he wants…but this was just sooooo awkward. My favorite part was the players on the field, who just wanted to party, man, waiting out this 5-minute song and then going bonkers before the track ends. I love that Vin isn’t really singing along.

It’s Back: Hockey Hair 2016.

Yessssssss. You know it, you love it. Enjoy the 2016 edition of the Minnesota State High School All-Hockey Hair Team. Though it’s a video, it deserves its own post. -TOB

Black Man Discovers Hockey; Mad That White People Have Been Hiding It

This is one of the funnier articles I’ve read in a while. Thank you to loyal reader Ryan West for alerting me to it. Twitter user @soloucity aka Tony X. was attempting to watch the St. Louis Cardinals game the other night. But when he tuned in to Fox Sports Midwest, he found the St. Louis Blues, in a Game 7 against the Chicago Blackhawks. Tony X is black, and had apparently never seen hockey before. But he loooooooved it, and live tweeted his experience:

I especially love when he accuses white people hiding it all these years:

Or when he found out there are black professional hockey players:

Source: “Man Discovers Hockey, Loves It”, Samer Kalaf, Deadspin (04/26/2016)

PAL: Good find, TOB. His reaction to the goalie being pulled is my favorite. And – hey – anything’s better than watching the Cardinals.

Jed York: Poor Little Rich Boy

I loathe Jed York, so I love this story. Tim Kawakami is a longtime writer for the San Jose Mercury-News. A few years back, before Jed ripped the 49ers from San Francisco and moved them to strip-mall-haven Santa Clara, Kawakami tweeted that, if the 49ers finished Levi’s Stadium in time to open the 2014 football season there, he would buy Jed York lunch. It was likely a throw-away joke. Writers say stuff like that often. But the 49ers did open 2014 at Levi’s, and Jed cashed in the bet, even though it wasn’t really a bet because Jed did not have anything on the line to Kawakami. And where does Jed have Kawakami take him for a meal? Chipotle? Subway? Quizno’s? Some other perfectly Santa Clara lunch spot? No. Oh, no. Not Jed. In fact, he doesn’t make it lunch at all. They go to friggin French Laundry in Yountville, at $700 per person. Is Jed magnanimous? Nope. In fact, he sticks Kawakami, a sportswriter, with the bill. And he also makes Kawakami pay for Jed’s wife, for a total bill of $2,100. Kawakami told the story this week on a podcast and said:

“If I thought Jed was sticking it to me, I’d almost be okay with it. I don’t even think he knew. I don’t think he knew what $2,100 means to a sportswriter who didn’t inherit a billion-dollar team.”

My first thought was, “Well, there must be another side to this story. Surely, there must.” But then Jed York released the following statement:

“The bet took place two years ago and Tim has never shared his concerns about the dinner with me,” York said. “I am happy to speak with Tim one-on-one so we can all move forward.”

Nope. ifThis rich a-hole just decided to make Kawakami pay $2,100 because that is what rich a-holes do. Note that Kawakami also made the bet to Matt Barrows, another writer who covers the 49ers. Barrows was also present at that dinner. Barrows paid for himself.  Jed, you are the worst. -TOB

Source: “Jed York Made Tim Kawkami Buy Dinner for York and His Wife at the French Laundry in 2014”, Grant Cohn, Press-Democrat (05/17/2016)

LAX-iest Bros of All the LAX Bros Attend University of Albany

Chaunce. Couger. Blaze. These are not what the cool kids are calling weed these days; rather, these are some of the names on the University of Albany Lacrosse team. Barstool Sports caught this one flush by simply posting the roster of the team, their bios, and adding just a touch of commentary. For a solid laugh, please go check out the entire roster. Here are some of my favorites, followed by the Barstool commentary:

Feel like I’m really missing out by not having a dude named Cougar in my immediate friend group. I’m friends with guys named “Scott” and “Mike” and it’s just all super white and super boring. If we brought Cougar into the mix, I’m sure that would spice things up a bit.

Looks like if Spicoli and some frat star at Georgia or some shit like that had a love child. “Intending to major in business” is sneaky hilarious. Just a great euphemism to say that he doesn’t go to class ever, just chills in his room, smokes weed until lax practice, rinse, repeat.

In comes younger brother Sean who has a bit of a cleaner look to him but you can tell that there’s some bad boy just itching to come out. He’s only a freshman so we’ll check back in a few years to check in on his progress by senior year.

Big shoutout to Meagan Hutcheon, a proud University of Albany alumna, who brought this gem to my attention. – PAL

Source: “I Wouldn’t Bring Your Girl Near The UAlbany Lacrosse Team If I Were You”, Jordie, Barstool Sports (4/2/16)

TOB: Look, you can’t hate a kid for having a dumb name (you hate their parents instead). But you can hate a kid for having those stupid haircuts. In unrelated news, did you see I made the newspaper this week? I’m famous:

That’s how you get back on the horse, Day Day

Draymond Green made some news last weekend, if you didn’t hear. Let’s just say he took a page out of the Anthony Weiner playbook. One might think, after a big mistake like that, a public personality like Draymond Green might take a break from social media. Nope! And I’m glad he didn’t, because he gifted the public his review for some of the USA Basketball team players hair. As the kids say, he kept it 100:

Now THIS is what social media is for, Draymond. Good work. – PAL

Source: “Draymond Green roasted all his Team USA teammates’ hair, and then his own”, Tim Cato, SB Nation (08/04/2016)

TOB: I’m still on Team Draymond. There are things he could do to make me leave Team Draymond, certainly, but they are up there at the Baylor/Penn State/Greg Hardy/O.J. levels

No, Seriously: You’re a Weirdo, Jim Nantz. Cut it Out.

You just gotta watch this video. Jim Nantz talks about how every year after the college basketball title game he removes his tie and presents it to a senior on the winning team.

He looks so creepy and sounds so self-important while saying it. And, by the way, he didn’t even end the title game with a dumb pun this year! I was super mad at you for not giving me the ammo I needed to make fun of you. And then you gave me this. Bellisima!

Source: “Jim Nantz, a Tremendous Weirdo, Gave His Tie to Ryan Arcidiacano” Tom Ley, Deadspin (04/05/2016)

PAL: Language warning…This is so fucking weird.

BEST MEDIA OF 2016:

Thanks for reading, everybody!

-PAL and TOB

The very best of 123, 2016 edition.

On May 4, 2014 TOB and I started 1-2-3 Sports! for a few simple reasons:

1. We found ourselves sending a bunch of emails, texts, and chats with links to stories we’d read throughout the week. Many of you were probably on those chains, too.
2. There’s a surplus of outlets for sports news, highlights, and stories, all of which are one tweet away. We didn’t need more sports stories; rather, we thought a bit of curation would be helpful.
3. Perspective oftentimes helps. By posting once a week rather than multiple times a day, we could sift through a bunch of stories throughout the week, find some gems that are worth your time, and provide you with some explanation and banter.

We love doing this, and we hope you enjoy it. Quite frankly, the vast majority of our readers are close friends and family, and it’s really cool to hear you enjoy the blog. If you do love it, please add one small New Years resolution to your list: Share 1-2-3 Sports! with your friends and family! We’d really appreciate it.

Email: 123sportslist@gmail.com

Twitter: @123sportsdigest

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Thank you for reading, and now please enjoy our favorite post of the year! And be on the lookout for the funniest stories, videos, and media from 2016 tomorrow.

Cheers,

Phil and Tommy

The Tragedy of Jennifer Frey

Jennifer Frey was, by all accounts, a prodigious sportswriter. Multiple people in the newspaper industry went as far as to characterize her as a genius.

Jennifer Frey was also an addict. On March 26, 2016 Frey died of multiple organ failure. She was 47. 

You likely haven’t heard of her. I hadn’t until Thursday. But to many involved in college and professional sports in the 90s, Frey was known as the most talented of writers and a joyful force of nature. She was the rising star. 

You might be asking yourself why Dave McKenna’s exceptionally written profile/remembrance was posted on October 27 when she died back in March. I think you’ll find your answer if you read this story (I urge you to do so). McKenna retracks Frey’s career – from her first high school internship at the Olean Times, to the New York Times (at age 24), to the Washington Post in its heyday of sportswriting (Kornheiser, Wilbon, John Feinstein), and ultimately to her unremarkable last byline. He speaks with several writers, editors, and friends from every chapter of her life.

The story is heartbreaking because McKenna takes his time capturing just how incandescent Frey was before alcoholism pinned her down. And while she was the ‘life of the party’, she was also revered as a gracious friend and co-worker, as someone crisscrossing the globe not only for the next great story but also for a spontaneous trip when she learned her friend had been to every state but Alaska. Yes, she was passionate about her job, but McKenna finds the real point that matters: Frey was passionate about life!

This snapshot, which serves as a sort of bookend to the story, captured her success, ambition, and appreciation (remember, Frey’s 24 at the time, working for The New York Times): 

Mike Wise says Frey, new as she was to New York, acted like she owned the city. He recalls sitting with Frey in her apartment in Brooklyn Heights after she’d thrown a party, and just being really happy. “We’re looking out the window at the Statue of Liberty, just this amazing view,” says Wise. “And Jennifer said, ‘It’s a pretty good life isn’t it?’ It was.”

Frey’s downfall is terrible – in all the ways you would expect, and in some ways that you might not. The star fades. She mistreats people she loved. The people who loved her run out of stamina. They reconnect when hope is gone but she’s still there. The blame and anger so insignificant in the wake of a sorrow that trails the rarest of people whose greatness was enthusiastic. 

You gotta read this story. -PAL

Source: “The Writer Who Was Too Strong To Live”, Dave McKenna, Deadspin (10/27/16)

TOB: Phil did a really nice job capturing what made this story so great. As with Phil, I had never heard of Jennifer Frey, but damn if it doesn’t now feel like I did. Great writing by McKenna. And if you think you might need help, ask, before it’s too late.

The House That Thacker Built 

This story is one of those that I read and think, “This is why we carve hours out of every week to put this blog together for a relatively small amount of readers.” It has it all. Augusta National Golf Course, which hosts the Masters, is rich as hell. There used to be a neighborhood across the street. But Augusta National bought the entire neighborhood, for over $40 million, all told. And bulldozed them all for a god damn parking lot. Every single house! Except for one – the house owned by Herman and Elizabeth Thacker.

The Thackers built the house nearly 60 years ago. They raised their kids there. Their children, and their grandchildren, and now their great-grandchildren come back for the holidays. They recently celebrated their 60th anniversary there. And ya know what? They like the house, seven-figure payout by the rich pricks at August, be damned. “We really don’t want to go,” Elizabeth Thacker said. And so they haven’t. “Money ain’t everything,” Herman Thacker said, sitting on his deck, surrounded by people returning to their parked cars after a Masters practice round, sipping on some bourbon (ok, I imagined the bourbon). And in the middle of this stupid parking lot, the Thackers remain. Bless you, Herman and Elizabeth Thacker. -TOB

Source: “The House That Augusta National’s Millions Can’t Buy” Steve Politi, NJ.com (04/06/2016)

PAL (1/6/17): I love this story for the obvious reason – money will get rich people most everything, but not everything – but it’s more nuanced than that, too. For instance, the family is well aware that Augusta will wait them out and eventually own the house, because “the men in green jackets will always be here, and they will always have the money.” Truth.

This couple of 60 years who, as TOB mentions, have been surrounded by people returning to their parking lot during the tournament likely sat on their porch and watched the lyrics to a Joni Mitchell’s ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ play out before them. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.

It is worth noting the Thackers did sell another lot they owned in the neighborhood.

One last fun tidbit: The Thackers’ grandson is on the PGA Tour trying to qualify for the Masters one day. I hope it happens, so we can post the follow-up to this story.

The Best There Ever Was?

I like this story because it reminds me of the story Phil shared here a while back about the only kid to ever strike Joe Mauer out during high school. Ayrton Senna is known as one of the greatest F-1 drivers of all-time. A well-regarded documentary about his life was made, Senna, which you can watch on Netflix. Senna died on the track in 1994. Before he was winning F-1 championships, though, he was a teenage go-kart racer. He was very good – but he was not the best. The best was a British guy named Terry Fullerton. A few years older than Senna, Fullerton beat everybody. He never lost to Senna. This fact drove young Senna so mad that he once walked by Fullerton and shoved him into a pool. Senna would move on to bigger and better things. But he never forgot Terry Fullerton. Just before Senna died, he said that Fullerton was the best driver Senna ever raced against:

So why have most race fans never heard of Terry Fullerton? Because Fullerton, now 63, never advanced beyond go-karts. He chose this path because when Terry was 11-years old, his older brother died in a motorbike race. Fullerton did not want to put his parents through that again, having to bury their remaining child. So he continued to race go-karts. He even now coaches go-karts, and barely scratches out a living. When asked if he regrets it, he says he sometimes does – but when Fullerton saw the Senna documentary, and heard Senna say that Fullerton was the best driver Senna ever faced, Fullerton realized he made the right decision. After all, Senna is dead, and Fullerton is enjoying his life. -TOB

Source: “Meet the Man Ayrton Senna Could Never Beat”, Alex Lloyd, Jalopnik (09/19/2016)

PAL (1/6/17): Fullerton is simultaneously relatable and extraordinary. You’ve never heard of him, and yet he dominated racing legends. A lot of times trying to measure the gap between “athletic” greatness (sorry, I have to use the quotes for racing) and ourselves is like trying to gauge walking distance in Vegas. You know the difference is very great, and yet I bet we still underestimate it. Stories like this make it even harder to gauge, and that’s fun.

To be the best in the world – at anything, really – is so fascinating, and this story about Terry Fullerton nails that sentiment.

The Man Who Shook Up The World

As we all know, Muhammad Ali passed away last Friday, at age 74. Phil and I happened to be hanging out, watching Eddie Murphy’s “Raw” on Netflix, when I glanced at my phone and read the sad news. We immediately turned on ESPN and watched the retrospectives pour in. ESPN continued the coverage late into the night. Jeremy Schaap, who knew Muhammad Ali better than most because of Ali’s relationship with Jeremy’s dad, the great Dick Schaap, lead the way with some great anecdotes. We laughed at the clips of Ali’s best trash talk:

We also shook our heads at how early he was obviously showing signs of Parkinson’s, and wondered aloud why he was permitted to fight as long as he did. I considered suggesting a special edition 1-2-3 Sports edition on Saturday morning, but we decided against it: one of our guiding philosophies for this blog is not to bring sports news, but to bring you the best sportswriting we find, and to throw our own take in for good measure. This approach also allows some perspective. Over the last week, I read a lot of words written about Muhammad Ali – almost all of them interesting. Like this old article by Roger Ebert, about watching Rocky II with Ali back in 1979, with some very funny anecdotes, observations, and insights from the Greatest. I also really enjoyed this retrospective. It touches on what made Ali great in the ring, and so beloved out of it; but it addresses his shortcomings, both in the ring and out, as well.

And that’s an important part of the Muhammad Ali story. The man was not a saint, and that’s ok. He can still be loved, even if he wasn’t perfect, and even if he was not really the greatest heavyweight boxer, let alone in any weight class, of all-time. Ali was so beloved because of who he was and what he did: he was generous and kind and made our world a much better place. Ali was funny. He was a great fighter. He was a man of principle. But he could be kind of a jerk, too. Truth be told, I’ve always been a Joe Frazier guy. Joe was tough and he was great, and he was the underdog. I was born 7 years after their last fight, but I watched plenty about it as a kid, and I could not escape the thought that Muhammad Ali was a jerk to his former friend Joe. But the world is not that black and white, either. And so I thoroughly enjoyed this old Sports Illustrated article, written about Ali and Frazier and their final fight – The Thrilla in Manila, their respective mornings after that fight, and the respect that two vicious enemies earned from each other.

“In his suite the next morning he talked quietly. “I heard somethin’ once,” (Ali) said. “When somebody asked a marathon runner what goes through his mind in the last mile or two, he said that you ask yourself why am I doin’ this. You get so tired. It takes so much out of you mentally. It changes you. It makes you go a little insane. I was thinkin’ that at the end. Why am I doin’ this? What am I doin’ here in against this beast of a man? It’s so painful. I must be crazy. I always bring out the best in the men I fight, but Joe Frazier, I’ll tell the world right now, brings out the best in me. I’m gonna tell ya, that’s one helluva man, and God bless him.”

I hope you read the whole thing. It is poetic and enlightening, and artfully demonstrates the reason I do enjoy boxing, as brutal and corrupt as it may be.

Source: “Lawdy, Lawdy, He’s Great”, Mark Kram, Sports Illustrated (10/13/1975)

PAL: Like TOB said, you just gotta read this story. My favorite bit of writing:

“Once, so long ago, he (Ali) had been a splendidly plumed bird who wrote on the wind a singular kind of poetry of the body, but now he was down to earth, brought down by the changing shape of his body, by a sense of his own vulnerability, and by the years of excess. Dancing was for a ballroom; the ugly hunt was on. Head up and unprotected, Frazier stayed in the mouth of the cannon, and the big gun roared again and again.”

A Story That Actually Made Me Feel Bad For Tiger Woods

Long ago, on this very blog, I declared that Tiger Woods no longer deserved the nickname Tiger, and I encouraged our many readers to begin referring to him by his given name: Eldrick. But I’m using Tiger here because Wright Thompson wrote such a great piece on Tiger that I actually feel bad for him.

The nuts and bolts are simple: Tiger Woods was very close to his dad, Earl. Earl was Tiger’s only real friend – both as a kid and as an adult. He was the only person Tiger could really open up to. And then, in 2006, Earl died. To fill the void, Tiger sought comfort by emulating his father, a former Navy SEAL. Tiger began diving deep into advanced military training. It began to consume him. It destroyed his body. And now Tiger, at 40 years old, can barely walk. His golf career is essentially over, and has been for years.

But…this article is somehow so much more than that. It’s incredibly well researched. It is insightful, at times poetic. It’s not perfect – more than a couple times I rolled my eyes when it was a little too poetic. But it strikes deep at the universal relationship between a father and a son. And it paints the picture of Tiger Woods, deeply introverted and wildly awkward, as an incredibly talented golfer who never wanted the immense fame he achieved. Or, at least, had severe buyer’s remorse when he got it. Some of the best passages, shockingly, are direct quotes from Tiger’s friend Michael Jordan, who seems to be reaching out to his troubled friend through this story. MJ sees himself in Tiger, making the connection between Jordan’s retirement to play baseball following his father’s death, and Tiger’s military fascination following his. “It could be his way of playing baseball. Soothing his father’s interest.”

Michael sees the end for Tiger, even if Tiger doesn’t quite see it himself. “I don’t know if he’s happy about that or sad about that. I think he’s tired. I think he really wishes he could retire, but he doesn’t know how to do it yet, and I don’t think he wants to leave it where it is right now. If he could win a major and walk away, he would, I think.” Jordan goes on to say that, like many of us, Tiger looks back at the events of his life since a major turning point and wishes he could go back in time and do it over again. Do it differently. For Tiger, that turning point was his father’s death. He’d be a better husband, for one. But, of course, he cannot. And so MJ hopes his friend, who has named his boats Privacy and Solitude, finds true companionship. Happiness. Tiger continues to be, by all accounts, a loving and caring father to his two children. And that is why I feel bad for Tiger Woods. He has made mistakes, but he is human. He’s a son who misses his father. He’s a father who loves his children. And he’s a man who wants to be happy. -TOB

Source: “The Secret History of Tiger Woods”, Wright Thompson, ESPN.com (04/21/2016)

PAL: We have two depressing stories about sports legends this week: Woods’ focuses on his search for something real in the wake of his father’s death, and Kobe Bryant’s story outlines his decades-long deconstruction of reality in his pursuit of greatness. Both of these dudes are beginning a part of their lives for which they are woefully unprepared. Tiger seems at least to want to find out how to exist in the now; whereas Kobe seems like he just wants to apply his single-minded approach to building a new fantasy world for himself and only himself.

Life Goals.

Shortly after starting this blog, Phil and I decided one of our goals would be to get a press pass to a Giants game. So far, it has not happened – in small part because we have not tried. It was, then, with much self-interest that I read this story of a guy, back in the early-aughts, who fabricated an entire newspaper for the purpose of getting press passes to Atlanta Braves games. This story is the first time Phil Braun told his story, and it’s pretty great. After his photographer buddy sneaks him into a game with an old press pass, Phil decides he really enjoyed himself and wonders how he can get a press pass. He makes up a fake newspaper (“The Duluth Neighbor”) and inquires with the Braves. As it turned out, all he had to do was fax in a request, on the “paper’s” letterhead, signed by his “editor”. It was so easy it’s almost stupid, and Phil got his press pass.

Phil spent many games that season watching from the dugout, or the photographer’s well, snacking on free food in the press box, etc. Taking photos like this, of Chipper Jones going yard.

What a goddamn dream. Then, 9/11 happened and Phil assumed security would be tightened and he’d no longer be allowed to get a press pass so easily. Technically it wasn’t so easy – Phil had to e-mail a headshot. Come on! What the hell. Phil, let’s get some press passes! We’ll start small – San Jose Sabercats or something. By 2018, we’ll be in the clubhouse as the champagne starts flowing another Giants’ even-year World Series title. Amen. -TOB

Source: “I Covered the Braves for a Newspaper That Didn’t Exist”, Phil Braun, Deadspin (10/05/2016)

PAL (1/6/17): So…you’re telling me another Phil used essentially the same technique that I used to fudge a bad report card in high school, only he used it to watch MLB baseball games from the dugout? Man, was I thinking too small or what? Forget the Sabercats, TOB; let’s shoot for the moon and see if we can nab a press pass to a Giants game.

Video of the Year:

Songs of the Year: For the hardcore loyalists who scroll towards the bottom of our weekly posts. You’ll see we post a “Song of the Week”. These are not necessarily new songs (rarely are they, in fact), but just what hit me in the right way that particular day. TOB’s jumping on the tune train today. First, let’s turn to JOB to set the mood:

Here are our favorite Songs of the Week from 2016:

TOB: Every Friday I am excited to hear Phil’s new song of the week pick. There are some classics on there that I have loved for years, but the following are songs (or versions, in the case of “Galway Girl”) that I had not heard before Phil introduced them to me here. As you can see above, the whole family enjoys Phil’s playlist regularly. My top five:

• Crooked Fingers – “Went To The City”
• Mason Jennings – “The Field”
• Steve Earle – “Galway Girl”
• Oh Pep! – “Doctor Doctor”
• Billy Bragg & Wilco – “California Stars” (lyrics by Woody Guthrie)

PAL:

• Alabama Shakes – “Over My Head”
• Smokey Robinson & The Miracles – “The Tracks of My Tears”
• The O’Jays – “Emotionally Yours” (Bob Dylan)
• Willie Nelson – “Buddy”
• Girls – “Vomit”

Complete 1-2-3 Sports! Playlist:

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Special “Best of 2016” post is just one more day away!

Just What IS In the Waters of Lake Minnetonka Lately?

A few weeks ago we chronicled the craziness with the Minnesota football team. An alleged gang rape had led the school to suspend ten players, with many recommended for expulsion. In response, the entire team announced it was boycotting the Holiday Bowl against Washington State. In response, the school released the full report of the alleged gang rape. It was…unpleasant. Perhaps as a result, perhaps not, the players ended the boycott shortly thereafter. They went to San Diego, shut down the potent Washington State offense, and won the Holiday Bowl.

Earlier this week, Minnesota fired head coach Tracy Claeys. His crime? Tweeting support of the players’ boycott. Former coach Jerry Kill, who retired two seasons ago for health reasons and was furious (Claeys was Kill’s former assistant). Kill vowed to never again set foot on campus. Hoo boy. What a mess!

AND THEN this morning it has been confirmed Minnesota had hired Western Michigan coach PJ Fleck, a young, successful coach who just led lowly Western Michigan to a 13-1 season, ending in its only loss, a tight game against Big-10 power Wisconsin. He was easily the hottest name on the market. And Minnesota just got him. What a rollercoaster.

And the cherry to that sundae? The video of the w went viral this week, outtakes from a commercial suit for White Bear Mitsubishi involving the Gopher mascot, Goldy, and a Bear who just could not stay up on the ice. Poor bear. I think he broke his face on that last one. What a wild week for “The U”! *snicker* – TOB

Video of the Week:

Bonus Video of the Week

I’ve watched this 20 times. The dunk is amazing, but watch #32, on the court in the foreground. He dead.

Tweet of the Week

PAL Song of the Week: Dwight Yoakam – “I Want You To Want Me” (Cheap Trick)

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I think he really bleached his goatee for this, too. 

#TeamCuz

Have a week, DeMarcus Cousins! Earlier this month, Sacramento Bee columnist Andy Furillo wrote a column about a lawsuit filed against Cousins and teammate Matt Barnes, over an alleged incident at a night club in November. In the column, Furillo wrote about Cousins’ brother (there’s a joke about Kentucky, where Cousins went to school, in there somewhere, but I digress) was tased inside of a night club. Furillo follows in the footsteps of the Sac Bee’s Aileen Voisin, easily the worst, most trollish columnist I’ve ever read. The Furillo column set off this incredible series of events:

• The next time Cousins saw Furillo in the locker room, he berated him and stood over him.
• That incident was caught on video, and the Sacramento Bee took the liberty of creating the following video (it won’t embed, but you should watch) of other incidents from over the years they describe as Cousins “bullying” Sacramento media, along with a letter from the Bee’s executive editor about Cousins. The Bee, clearly, was declaring war.
• Cousins was fined $50,000 and then issued an apology, mentioning a number of people and organizations – but not Furillo or the Bee.
• On Tuesday, Cousins torched the Portland Trailblazers for 55 points. With the score tied and 35 seconds left in the game, Cousins scored go-ahead bucket and was fouled. Cousins reacted by stomping over to the Blazers bench. At that point his mouthpiece came flying out and landed at the feet of the Blazers players. Whether he spit it out or it came out because he was yelling things that would make even the hippest grandmother blush, is unclear. See for yourself:

• The referee saw the result, believed Cousins threw his mouthpiece, and gave him a technical foul. It was Cousins’ second of the game, and he was thus ejected. Cousins went to the locker room, saying later he was looking for something to destroy. In the meantime, the referees conferred, determining Cousins did not throw the mouthpiece (an automatic technical), and thus rescinded the technical foul. The announcement was made, the crowd went nuts, Cousins came storming back onto the court, hit the free throw for his 55th point and the 3-point lead, and the Kings won. Incredible!
• Moments later, in his post-game on-court interview, Cousins went in on what he believes is unfair treatment from referees (a little odd considering the unprecedented step of un-ejecting an ejected player, but generally speaking I’m with him) and moreso on Blazers’ whiny punk Meyers Leonard. Here’s the interview:

• Meyers has been pumping himself as a defensive stopper, and Cousins was understandably emotional about the un-ejection and dropping a double-nickle on Leonards’ head. After the game, Meyers whined about Cousins’ behavior, not realizing this is sports and we want to be entertained. Meyers obviously had some overprotective parents. He looks like he’s going to cry.

• Finally, on Wednesday, Cousins greeted the media with a hearty, “Hey, friends! I missed you guys.”

Let’s quickly dispense of the Meyers Leonard thing. He’s a whiner, upset Cousins dunked all over his head all night, and needs his mommy and daddy to come support him. Go pound sand, Meyers.

The Sac Bee issue is a bit thornier, and causes me to jump through some hoops to support Cousins. Admittedly, the way he yelled at Furillo was bad. But I get why he’s angry – Cousins’ brother is not a public figure (despite the Bee’s weak insistence that he is) and his past incident is not relevant to Cousins’ recent night club incident. Cousins is not his brother’s keeper; the sins of the father, etc. Worse, was the smarmy, patronizing way Furillo wrote that column – ending it by encouraging Cousins to find better places to hang out. The Bee’s response, in putting together a package of 5-6 times Cousins has been rude was out of line, especially because those events are given no context. It’s also hard to know what the goal was – to get local public opinion to turn on DMC? That’s not gonna work when he’s dropping 55 the next night. Trying to get the team to trade Cousins? The team is well aware of all those incidents, and many more, I’m sure. Trying to embarrass Cousins? I guess if you want to make the lives of your writers even more difficult, I’m sure that has been accomplished. It also distracts from some of the great things Cousins does in the community.

In the end, I think both sides have some fault, but I’m siding with the guy whose anger was justified, if expressed poorly. As I said at the top I am #TeamCuz.

Phil Ivey Just Got Boned

It is difficult to win a case on appeal. But at least from the facts in this article, a federal judge in New Jersey is about to get overturned. Professional poker player Phil Ivey (no relation to 123’s Phil) was ordered this week to repay an Atlantic City casino for breach of contract. What did he do? Phil noticed a certain brand of playing card (purple Gemaco Borgata) has an inconsistency that gives away high-value cards. Phil and his buddy contacted the Borgata Casino and asked them to set up a high stakes Baccarat game, using a single deck of the purple Gemaco cards, and an automatic shuffler. The casino obliged, and Phil took them down for about $10 million. DAAAANG.

The Court, according to this article, found Ivey had breached his contract with the casino by violating the New Jersey Casino Control Act, which prohibits players from marking cards.

This is INSANE. Ivey didn’t mark anything. He just noticed an inconsistency with the cards, asked the casino to use those cards, and when they agreed he took advantage. Perhaps there is more to this case, legally speaking, than the article suggests. But on its face, this is some bull. -TOB

Source: “Poker Pro Phil Ivey Ordered to Repay $10M to Atlantic City Casino”, Rebecca Everett, NJ.com (12/19/2016)

Annoying But True: Curt Schilling Belongs in the HOF

Deadspin’s Tim Marchman tackles a tough subject – the Hall of Fame candidacy of Curt Schilling. By the numbers, Schilling is a sure-fire Hall of Famer. One of my tests of a Hall of Famer is when his team is in town do I say to myself, “I’d like to go see him play, so I can say I did so.” In the prime of his career, still with the Diamondbacks, Schilling was pitching a rehab start against the AAA-Sacramento River Cats. A whole group of of us went to watch…and found out when we got there he had pitched the night before. The point remains – Curt Schilling was a great pitcher. But Curt Schilling is also a racist pig. Marchman does a great job listing the awful things Schilling has said and done – claiming to be a fiscal conservative while accepting and flushing million of taxpayer dollars down the toilet in a failed video game venture, bizarrely defending his right to ogle pre-teen friends of his children, and sharing a hoard of racist and idiotic memes on Facebook among them.

Most recently, Schilling approvingly shared a picture with a man wearing a shirt encouraging people to lynch the media. It was abhorrent. In response, a number of baseball writers, who vote on the Hall of Fame, have invoked the so-called “character clause” of the hall of fame ballot instructions and publicly vowed to never vote for Schilling – including some who had voted for him in past years. Marchman makes an excellent argument that despite Schilling being a disgusting buffoon, that has nothing to do with whether he should be in the pro baseball Hall of Fame:

“Your typical clubhouse is filled with funny, thoughtful people who are excellent at doing extremely specialized and impressive things with baseballs; it’s also filled with rednecks, spoiled rich kids, self-obsessed assholes, degenerates, drunks, and Bible-thumpers who have opinions that very few people who read the New York Times could agree to disagree on. John Smoltz—as a pitcher essentially a lesser Curt Schilling and, incidentally, rightly regarded as an uncommonly insightful and intelligent analyst, good enough to call the World Series—was elected to the Hall on the first ballot two years ago. He also compared gay marriage to bestiality not long ago. Baseball is tolerant of its contradictions, and in all better for it.

Curt Schilling has repeatedly crossed every line he can cross; it’s perfectly fair that he works for Breitbart and not ESPN; he richly deserves the scorn he generally enjoys; and if there were any player whose opinions were so bad that they should be read back onto his playing career, it would probably be him.

For writers to do so, though—to mark a line that says that playing excellence is only worthy of recognition when the player spends his retirement meeting the arbitrary and arbitrarily-enforced standards of sportswriters—is essentially to say that baseball itself is about something other than baseball.”

This isn’t even PED use; while I believe steroid users should be in the Hall of Fame, I can also acknowledge steroid use affected the field of play. We are talking about an idiot being an idiot. He wouldn’t be the first idiot in the Hall of Fame, and he won’t be the last. I cringe at the thought of his induction speech. But, god damnit, he should get one. -TOB

Source: “Curt Schilling Should be in the Hall of Fame”, Tim Marchman, Deadspin (12/16/2016)

All I Want for Christmas is Jugs

Talk about a headline that writes itself, eh? Here’s a story that falls into the unsung hero category. Few products reach a level of success in which the product is referred to by one brand. Kleenex, Q-tips, Jell-O. The Jugs machine fits into that category as well.

Jugs are pitching machines and football throwing machines, and they’ve exponentially increased the number of reps players – hitters in baseball and receivers in football – can take. Many baseball players will likely tell you they prefer live pitching to a machine, but football receivers swear by the Jugs. Every NFL and College team has them, many high school teams have them, and the trend is expanding: More than 100 of the light blue (paint color patented, too) have been shipped to Australia for Aussie Rules Football.

Because we can’t embed the video, make sure to check out this link to see some of the NFL’s best make insane catches using the Jugs: http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=18303318

Why is this one machine so indispensable? Ravens receiver Mike Wallace sums it up with the following: “You might go through a whole practice and get two to three passes. And to me that’s not enough to get better that day. But if you’re catching 100 before practice and 100 after practice, you’ve caught 203 balls that day instead of catching three.”

Where did the idea come from? A parent trying to help his little leaguer out, of course.

John Paulson played semi-pro baseball in the 1920s, and when his son Butch was coming up in Little League, he designed a machine in 1971 that would throw consistent pitches. The Jugs Curveball Pitching Machine was the company’s first product, with the name derived from an old-time baseball expression about a “jug-handle curve,” which the original machine could be adjusted to throw. In 1974, John started working on a football-throwing machine, eventually securing a patent. Soon after, he started showing it to NFL teams.

This is a fun, light read on the invention and impact of a practice tool. – PAL

Source: “Jugs Effect: The machine that changed football“, Greg Garber, ESPN (12/22/16)

Video of the Week: 

Bonus Video of the Week

Enjoy your trips home, everybody!

PAL Song of the Week: Hugo – “99 Problems”

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RIP, John Glenn. Rocking the Chuck’s while expanding frontiers. Not a bad legacy. HOF Badass.

What the hell is the Rule 5 Draft?

Here’s a great article about one of baseball’s many traditions that – even as an avid baseball fan – I never understood: The Rule 5 draft.

First, for an explanation of what it is, let’s look to MLB.com:

“[T]eams with open 40-man roster spots can select players with four to five years of pro experience from other organizations if said player hasn’t been protected on the 40-man roster…Each selection costs $100K, but it’s not mandatory for teams to make picks. Clubs must carry chosen players on their active rosters (or the major league disabled list) throughout the entire 2016 season. Doing otherwise would expose them to waivers, and they’d then be offered back to their original club.”

In other words, it prevents teams from stockpiling draft picks without advancing them through the minor league system and onto the big league club. For the players, the sh*t or get off the pot rule gives them an opportunity to make a move with a new team if there’s no chance of a MLB future with the team that holds their rights. Notable players picked up in the rule 5 draft include Roberto Clemente (HOF), Johan Santana (2-time Cy Young winner), and 2010 AL MVP Josh Hamilton. While these success stories are the tiny exception, their names are worth highlighting considering the circumstances in which they were given a next chance.

The Rule 5 Draft is the last agenda item for the MLB’s winter meetings, and while nearly every baseball executive is in the room, the entire draft takes less than 30 minutes. “The room is set up with a podium at its front, and 30 tables with four or five representatives from each team,” writes David Waldstein. “Behind that setup is seating for scouts, major league officials, agents and reporters. But since the event is so brief, many stand at the perimeter, close to the doors, some with their suitcases at the ready.”

I love how this event about minor league cast-offs and no-names caps the multi-day winter meetings, during which the headlines are dominated by huge trades and free agent acquisitions (See: Aroldis Chapman going to the Yankees – 5yr/$86M  and the Giants landing Nats closer Mark Melancon – 4yr/$62M, both contracts are staggering for a relief pitcher). – PAL

Source: “Baseball Executives’ Idea of Gambling: The Rule 5 Draft”, David Waldstein, The New York Times (12/8/16)

TOB: I gotta be honest – I did have a pretty good idea of what the Rule 5 Draft was. I think last year, when the Giants lost Adam Duvall, who then turned into an All-Star and Home Run Derby participant with the Reds, I decided to figure out what the hell the Rule 5 Draft is. But then I read the MLB.com explanation and I was lost. So I read the article and think this makes it much more clear:

In existence since 1903, the Rule 5 draft allows teams to select players from the farm systems of other clubs who are not on those teams’ 40-man rosters. The players must have been in the minor leagues for four or five years, depending on how old they were when they signed, without any major league service time.

The minimum 4-5 years minor league service time, not mentioned in the MLB.com summary, is pretty key (PAL note: I removed that portion of the explanation from the MLB description because the age qualifier was a bit of a looping explanation). And the phrase “…if said player hasn’t been protected on the 40-man roster” suggests to me that there’s some maximum number of player you can protect on the 40-man roster, while leaving some unprotected. But the article makes clear – a player on the 40-man roster is protected. Anyone not on the 40-man roster, with 4-5 years minor league service time, is not protected. But then, the NYT article goes too far – it’s certainly not true that a player is eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft only if he doesn’t have any major league service time. This thing is so confusing that no one can seem to get it right.

Men Ride Sidesaddle

Remember Bryson DeChambeau? He was the eccentric, physics-major amatuer at the Masters who was in it for a minute and ended up finishing 21st. He’s a heady guy who’s looking at a game that he’s really good at (individual NCAA champ, US Amateur champ) with no time for conventional wisdom. The most known example of this was front and center during the Masters, when commentators whispered into the microphone about how all of his irons are the same length (typically, the lower the iron, e.g., a 3-iron, the longer the club).

DeChambeau’s newest experiment: Sidesaddle putting:

This makes perfect sense to me! If the key to putting is a straight, consistent arc of the swing path (and power isn’t needed), it seems grounding that in the arm’s more natural movement – back and forth, like how you swing your arm when you walk – would be more likely to produce a more consistent result. Conceptually, I’m down with DeChambeau (and I just like saying that name). The only thing left to do is test the hypothesis and see how long (if ever) it takes for a better approach to overcome other professionals’ repetition and near perfection of the standard approach.

For a sport I barely watch (Sundays of US Open & Masters), this is the kind of guy that will keep me minorly interested. Makes a somewhat boring sport a bit more interesting. – PAL

Source: “The eccentric Bryson DeChambeau is now putting side saddle“, Brendan Porath, SB Nation (12/8/16)

TOB: I saw him putting on TV this week, while walking by a bar, so there was no sound. It was the damndest thing. “Man, how funny. I wonder if it works.” He sank the putt, and I chuckled. And then I thought of the Skip Baylesses of the world shouting in faux-anger about what an abomination to the game this is. Oy. I’m so glad I stopped watching ESPN, except to watch actual games.

Surprise, surprise: Rio’s Broke

This continues to infuriate me. Really, it’s not about the green pools we remember on TV, or whether or not the Olympic Village was ready to go at the start of the Games. What infuriates me is the promise on which the Olympics are sold to local communities, and the ruin left in the wake of recent games.

The Olympics, the symbol of all that’s supposedly good, pure, and wholesome about sports is, at its core, a scheme for crooks on the take. After the athletes and the tourists and the cameras leave, Rio continues to unravel.

Today, state-run hospitals are in “total chaos”. Robberies and homicides are way up. Throw in stagnant oil prices and a governor bribery scandal to boot, and you have a state of Rio that’s broke and failing at providing basic government – hell, human – services. And guess who didn’t have to pay their share?

“The Olympics were never meant to be an economic panacea for Rio, but there was certainly hope that the games would boost the local economy. Instead, officials are now trying to figure out if tax cuts awarded to corporations involved with the Olympics actually worsened Rio state’s financial situation.”

The long-term impact of hosting the Olympics can be catastrophic. Political scientist and professor Mauricio Santoro, himself a state employee, says the government’s policies have clearly failed residents of Rio de Janeiro.

“What we can say is that it was a bad decision from a financial point of view, and that giving these tax cuts did not result in jobs or economic growth to Rio,” Santoro says. “And now the state is broken, and it has to cut salaries and pensions, so hundreds of thousands of people are going to suffer very negative impacts because of these decisions.”

So what’s the solution? Can we just ID locations that have existing infrastructure to actually host the Olympics? LA, Vancouver, London, somewhere in Switzerland or Norway, Nagano, Sydney…where else am I missing? This doesn’t need to be set in stone forever, but this open bidding and the lie of jumpstarting the local economy has to stop. – PAL

Source: “Three months after the Olympics, Rio de Janeiro is broke”, Will Carless, PRI (12/1/16)

Order Restored to the Universe: Knicks Gettin’ Clowned On

The Knicks had been quietly playing pretty well, winning 7 of their last 10. New Yorkers were predictably puffing out their chests and thinking big things, as the NBA’s defending champion Cavs came to town this week. And then…the Cavs went HAM. Things were so bad that, late in the 4th, up 31 points, the Cavs stars were on the bench doing the water bottle challenge. To wit:

That’s the god damn funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time.

The Reverse Phil

Last year, Phil and I went to a Cal football night game. It was Phil, a Minnesota native, along with three lifelong Californians. Somehow, we were all fine and Phil whined endlessly about how cold it was. I finally checked the temperature and it was only in the 50s. The 50s! I revoked his Minnesota Card right then and there. I tell this story, in part so I can laugh about it with Phil’s brother when I meet him this weekend, and as a nifty little seque to this story, of Packers wide receiver Trevor Davis, a rookie out of Cal and a Bay Area native (his college football career started at Hawaii, too), as his first winter in Green Bay begins.

Somehow, it’s December, and Trevor didn’t have a winter jacket. So his teammates took him to buy one, and MMQB tagged along. There are some real gems in here from Trevor:

“I knew I should get a jacket. North Face seems to be a popular brand. I’ve heard of parkas, or something like that. I don’t really know what a parka is. I think that’s the thing with furs on the hood? Is that what makes a parka a parka?”

• Trevor thinks it’s “hella” cold. He’s told it’s only 36 degrees, and can’t believe the temperature will drop another 50 degrees at some point this winter.
• Trevor puts his 18-month old twins to bed at 9:30 p.m., and seems to think that’s early. TREVOR. WE MUST CHAT. You have much to learn.
• Trevor considers a $330 North Face jacket, one that he thinks makes him look “like a burnt marshmallow” and notes it’d be the most expensive thing he’s purchased since making the NFL.
• Trevor wondering aloud if will make him “seem really lame” to buy his own neck-gaiter, because the team offers them for use but they have to return them after games.
• Trevor asking if snow is “like goblets of things coming down”.
• Trevor looking dejected upon asking if a snowstorm from the previous week was big, being told it was only 2-3 inches, and that last year a snowstorm was 13 inches. I have a feeling Trevor will not be in Green Bay in Winter portion of the offseason.
• Trevor throwing in a Nerf basketball with his jacket purchase.

Trevor is now ready to roll.

But the question is: Are you ready, Phil? Are you ready for another bitterly cold Bay Area Winter? – TOB

Source: “You Need a Jacket in the Land of the Frozen Tundra”, Emily Kaplan, The MMQB (12/7/16)

PAL: Low blow, O’Brien. Low blow. If only Cal football went for the jugular like you do, then maybe they’d compete with Standford in the next decade or two.

A complete exaggeration of a story. I mentioned leaving once.  While my brother might agree with you, TOB (god, that would really suck), there’s always open invitation for to come on back to the land of Dylan, Prince, Herb Brooks, and Kirby Puckett to have a competition to see who can better handle the cold. I challenge you to the Polar Plunge:

TOB: Hey, if Cal implemented a systematic and institutionalized steroid program like Stanford, I’m sure we could win a Rose Bowl or two, as well. But then, how would I sleep at night?

As for the cold: nope. I have witnesses. It was repeated complaining for at least an hour. And I accept your challenge. You’re talking to a guy who grew up in Lake Tahoe and wore shorts and t-shirt to middle school in the middle of winter.

Video of the Week: 

Song of the Week: Steve Earle – ‘Feel Alright’

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‘Light’ week here, folks, but we wanted to give you something to mull over as you prep those leftover turkey sandwiches balances precariously in that dinner roll.

Infamous Pitches

To paraphrase Victor Mather, Hitters remembered for one swing are remembered as heros; pitchers remembered for one pitch are goats. It doesn’t matter whether the mistake is one low point in an otherwise stalwart career, or if that pitch pales in comparison to otherwise terrible acts, that pitch will be referenced in the obituary.

Ralph Branca died this past week. He was the pitcher who gave up Bobby Thompson’s famed ‘Shot Hear Round the World’. In addition to providing a more in-depth look of his life after the 1954 loss to the New York Giants, Mather runs down a list of other pitchers remembered for a losing moment. – PAL

Source: “Ralph Branca Wasn’t the Only One Branded by a Single Pitch”, Victor Mather, The New York Times (11/23/16)

Video of the Week: 

Song of the Week: Smokey Robinson & The Miracles – “The Tracks Of My Tears”

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