I’ll roll with White Goodman in this competition.

The Athlete Stock Market is a Real Thing

One of the advantages of being snowed in this weekend was that I had nothing to do but watch the NFC and AFC Championships in Tahoe while eating smoked tri-tip. Outside of the college national championship game between Clemson and Alabama, I don’t think I watched a full football game on TV this year. I’ll admit it: I was eager to hunker down, and while the games were duds, I was impressed with a couple of dudes I’ve never heard of before. Chris Hogan of the Patriots exposed the Steelers, and Mohamed Sanu was part of the Falcons receiving core that flat out overmatched the Packers secondary. So when I was scrolling headlines, Sanu’s name stood out. The story his name is connected to is unbelievable at first glance, but the logical next step of fandom once you think about it for a moment.

Did you know there is a stock market for athletes? This is real. As the NY Times’ Ken Belson explains:

“Sanu is one of a handful of N.F.L. players who were paid a hefty upfront fee by a company called Fantex Holdings in return for a share of his future earnings.

“The company formed a trading exchange several years ago on which investors could buy and sell shares of a tracking stock tied to an athlete’s financial performance and which rises or falls based on the athlete’s perceived value. The idea was to create a chance for investors and fans to cash in on a player’s rising fortunes, whether it be a new contract, a sponsorship deal or other sources of income related to his football career.”

First there were sports cards. Then came fantasy sports. Daily fantasy (gambling fantasy). And now this: Player investment for regular folks. The concept makes perfect sense for the level of players linked to Fantex.

Arian Foster was the first, and he was paid handsomely for it: $10M for 20% of all future earnings related to his football career (player salary, sponsorship, or “other sources of income related to hit football career”). It’s worth noting the company pulled Foster’s “IPO” after he tore his Achilles in 2015. Foster struck a deal with Fantex in 2013. He retired midway through the 2016 season. Back of the napkin math tells me he took the upfront $10M, knowing that he’d come out ahead unless he made more than $50M due to football.

Here are other players who’ve struck a deal with Fantex, their upfront payments, and the percentage of earnings they cut to Fantext*:

• Alshon Jeffery (WR, Chicago) – $7.9M (13%)
• Vernon Davis (TE, Washington) – $4M (10%)
• EJ Manuel (QB, Buffalo) – $4.9M (10%)
• Ryan Shazier (LB, Pittsburgh) – $3.1M (10%)

Does it make sense for Tom Brady, Aaron Rogers, or Julio Jones? Not likely. One would think they’ve made enough money already to negate the kind of insurance policy Fantex offers players. But remember – most N.F.L. contracts are not guaranteed. The idea makes a lot of sense for players with uncertain futures (pretty much all players in the N.F.L), and I get it from Fantex’s perspective, too. While I understand the logic from a fan/investor perspective, who the hell wants to bet on the outcome of a professional athlete’s career? Oh wait – people will bet on anything.

I’m not a gambler, but it isn’t the rush connected to betting on sports in the immediacy of it? You make a bet, you watch the game. You win or you lose, and in some ridiculous way, you feel like you partook in the sporting event. Also, doesn’t this feel like a setup ripe for insider trading? What incentive did Arian Foster have to be forthright with Fantex when he signs that deal? I guess Fantex would be worth a nickel if it didn’t factor in that possibility as well.

I don’t know – this idea of trading in human commodities feels gross. – PAL

Source: “Want a Piece of Mohamed Sanu? Go Out and Buy Some Shares”, Ken Belson, The New York Times (01/23/17)

*numbers pulled from Fortune article in 2015. 

TOB: Phil, you precious little snowflake, you’re looking at it wrong. In a way it’s a paid up-front insurance policy. You get a big chunk of cash, and it may end up costing you more in the longterm, but that’s the gamble you make. Makes sense to me. Foster made out like a bandit. He was paid $10M by Fantex in 2013. From 2013-2016, he made less than $20M, 0f which they got $4M. Although it does sound to me like Fantex might also get a cut of earnings outside of football, such as endorsements.

By the way, who would have been your best ground floor player? Mine would have been Aaron Rodgers, who I knew was going to be great the first time I saw him throw a pass in a college game, and who I still thought would be great even when he was backing up Brett Favre for the first three years of his career. I also would have liked to buy low on Marshawn Lynch when he left Buffalo. I still believed, damnit.

The Two Buck Chuck of Golf Balls

This might be one of the stupidest and most amusing stories I’ve read since we started this blog: Costco started selling golf balls under its Kirkland brand for $29/2 dozen, about half the cost of many name brands. Costco, as it turns out, got them from the same Korean manufacturer who creates golf balls for TaylorMade. As with Two Buck Chuck and Trader Joes, the manufacturer had a surplus and sold them cheap to Costco.

Word got out, thanks to the internet, that these Kirkland golf balls were actually really good, and they began to sell like hotcakes. They sold out quickly, and thus created a secondary market for these Kirkland golf balls, where they are selling on eBay for twice their retail price which *bangs head on the wall* is the SAME PRICE YOU CAN GET THE TAYLORMADE GOLF BALLS FOR. I felt like I was taking crazy pills reading the golfers in this article, talking about the lengths they go and the prices they pay to get these Kirkland golf balls…while the exact same ball is available for the same price at your local Dick’s Sporting Goods. Somebody pinch me. This is too stupid. I must be dreaming. -TOB

Source: “The Most Coveted Ball in Golf is From Costco”, Brian Costa, Wall Street Journal (01/19/2017)

A Comeback for the Ages

The Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, will face off in the Australian Open finals this weekend. It is the first finals appearance in a major for Venus since 2009. Serena has the chance to break her tie with Steffi Graf by winning her 23rd major, which would be the most in the Open era. It’s pretty cool, but I was struck by the story of the woman Serena beat in the semifinals – Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. Mirjana is 34, still younger than both Serena and Venus, and ranked only 79th in the world. Mirjana’s appearance in the semifinals is her first in a major since Wimbledon in 1999, when she beat Monica Seles in the quarters only to lose to Steffi Graf in the next round. 1999 feels like a lifetime ago to me, and must feel like more to her. She was 17 then, and big things were expected of her. She dropped off the tour for years after publicly accusing her father of mental and physical abuse as he groomed her for tennis stardom. She then ran into financial problems, and dropped off the tour again in the mid-2000s, not returning until 2010. Knowing that backstory certainly gives some context to her on-court interview after making the semifinals:

I saw this before she lost to Serena in the semifinals. I am a big fan of Serena, but it was hard not to root for Mirjana. What a great story. -TOB

Source: “The Incredible Comeback Story of Australian Open Semifinalist Mirjana Lucic-Baroni“, Jamie Lisanti, Sports Illustrated (01/25/2017)

Video of the Week

This should surprise exactly no one.

PAL Song of the Week: Donny Hathaway – “Jealous Guy” (John Lennon)

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

Clemson over Alabama in an instant classic.

A First-Hand Account of the Tragic Effects of CTE

Zac Easter loved football. His family still does. His dad was once a football coach at a small college, later coached his three boys in high school, and instilled his love for football in his sons. As a father, how then does Myles Easter, Sr. deal with the fact football, the sport he loves and introduced his children to, ended up killing his son, Zac? It’s a question I kept asking myself as I read this tragic yet masterful story. Sadly, he drinks. It’s hard to blame him, though.

Zac was your stereotypical wildman linebacker. As his brother said, “He was there to do some damage.” He was aggressive, and tough. He hit hard, and loved it. He started to get concussions, but did his best to hide the symptoms from coaches and medical personnel in order to stay on the field. In the end, Zac developed CTE, and he knew it years before he died and doctors were able to confirm it. He never played football beyond high school, but by the time he was in college he experienced depression, extreme mood swings, and crippling short-term memory loss. He often had trouble with remembering why he entered a room.

In the end, Zac Easter decided to take his own life. He couldn’t deal with the pain any longer. It’s a story we’ve read before, but the fact Zac documented his descent in a diary, and the way he did so, makes this story so compelling. It also makes this story so hard to read.

The writer, Reid Forgrave, weaves the diary and text messages to and from Zac’s girlfriend, into the story, creating a feeling that you are reading Zac’s downfall in real-time. It’s certainly enough to erase any lingering question in my mind whether I’d let my sons play football. After reading this, how could I?

Source: “The Concussion Diaries: One High School Football Player’s Struggle With CTE“, Reid Forgrave, GQ (01/10/2017)

PAL: The last few years have been full of CTE stories, but this story is remarkable because the tragic figure, Zac Easter, is boy when the problems begin and a very young man when they end. He’s not a retired N.F.L. player. What’s more, there’s very little distance between the reader and Easter.  His  journal and texts don’t let us step back from the merciless process of losing one’s self. In writing this story, Forgrave’s greatest achievement is staying out of the story whenever possible, moving us along from Zac Easter’s journal and texts.

There are passages in this story where the tension and stakes are so high that you feel like you’re running alongside the people in Zac’s life. It’s difficult to read, but it’s too powerful to put down.

Bracing for Blame

I hardly even noticed it anymore until I read this story. Every lineman in football seems to wear knee braces. Some are the result of past injury, but as this story highlights, many college teams mandate…wait for it…”prophylactic bracing”. Call me a 12 year-old; I don’t care. That’s hilarious.

Here’s the thing: Multiple studies have shown that braces might not prevent knee injury. In 2008  “a systematic review of all studies on whether knee braces prevent injury…concluded that the issue was not so clear-cut. The methodology of the [previous] studies was flawed in many cases, the review found, and several studies even indicated that wearing braces might increase — not decrease — the risk of knee injury.”

Brian Pietrosimone, an exercise science expert who’s done a bunch of research on prophylactic bracing (hehehe), says “In some ways, it has become like taping ankles.  Just about everyone wraps tape on players’ ankles prophylactically, and there is, in reality, very little evidence to support doing that.”

So why do colleges mandate something that isn’t certain to work, especially when many players loathe wearing the braces? My hunch: C.Y.A. Cover your ass. Who cares if it works, it works in that it shows coaches and team medical staffs did the best they could. The problem is that they aren’t doing the best they can. They aren’t listening to their players, and they aren’t paying attention to research that’s taken place in the last 20 years.

There’s hope for those Big Uglies that are good enough to play on Sundays after college. The CBA makes it more difficult for “blanket equipment mandates”. – PAL

Source: “Colleges Swear by Football Knee Braces. Not All Players and Experts Do.”, Sam Borden, The New York Times (01/08/2017)

The New Robber Barons

This week, Chargers owner Dean Spanos announced he is officially moving the team to Los Angeles, beginning next season, ending the team’s 50-year stay in San Diego. Yes, that logo up there is real. After it was lambasted on Twitter, the team claimed it is just a placeholder.

Spanos had until this week to determine whether he’d exercise the option to move to L.A. He did so, and it cost him about a billion dollars – he must pay the other owners a $650M relocation fee, and he turned down a reported offer of $350 million from the NFL toward construction of a new stadium. San Diego voters declined to build him a $1.8 billion stadium in November’s election.

The team does not move under the best of circumstances – having seen the Rams play in front of thousands of empty seats at the L.A. Coliseum this season, the Chargers will play two years at the 27,000-seat StubHub Center, home of the MLS’ L.A. Galaxy. No, that was not a typo. The stadium holds 27,000 seats. After two years, the Chargers will share the $2.6 billion Los Angeles Stadium and Entertainment District at Hollywood Park (or LASEDHP, for short)…except the Chargers will merely be a tenant.

Sports Illustrated’s Jack Dickey uses this context to survey the current state of NFL ownership and makes this excellent point:

“An observer from outside the sports world could reasonably conclude that the NFL is in actuality a trade group for land barons, and that the game of football is a front. Most owners seem to aspire to little more than keeping up with the Joneses—Jerry and Stephen, in this case. Each new stadium and each renovation pushes existing stadiums toward supposed obsolescence….”

Spanos moved because he felt the team was worth more as a tenant in L.A. than it was in San Diego. Owners don’t care about fans. Or even ticket sales, which is a short-term salve. They care about the resale value of the team. Good for San Diego voters in recognizing that fact, and telling Spanos if he wanted to walk, then he should walk. If all cities would make the same decision, the charade NFL owners are playing would be up. -TOB

Source: “San Diego Faces Reality of NFL Stadium Frenzy with Chargers Move”, Jack Dickey, Sports Illustrated (01/12/2017)

PAL: It’s morbidly fascinating that we are financing new football cathedrals while C.T.E. seems to becoming an all too common story. Who will fill the stadiums in 20 years? I don’t know, but rest assured the current owners will be out of the game with another couple billion (what does that even do for a person?) long before the downfall.

And – yes – good for the people of San Diego. I’d rather build a sandcastle on the beach than build an stadium for an owner.

Pudge > Bench

I was a huge Pudge fan, and he gave me one of the most impressive moments in sports fandom. I was at a Twins game while he was still young with the Rangers. Either we had good seats behind home, or the Dome was so empty that I roamed over there. He threw down to second in between innings – really let one go. I swear to you the ball was never more than 3 or 4 feet off the ground. At the end of the throw – hand to god – the baseball rose right at the end. I swear, runners we’re scared to get hit by the ball:

Maybe the rise-ball is an optical illusion, but Pudge’s throwing runners out was the most impressive thing I’ve seen live at a baseball game aside from Bonds turning on a pitch and sending it into McCovey Cove from super close seats. Pudge is the best defensive catcher (13 Gold Gloves), an excellent hitter (2,800 hits, 311 HR, 572 2B), and he inspired me to wear a fake pair of Oakleys under my mask in youth league (terrible or bold – I still don’t know).

While my dad might have a case for his favorite, Johnny Bench (Dad – give me a call and I’ll show you how to leave a comment), Pudge is the best I’ve ever seen behind the dish, and I can’t imagine anyone better. – PAL

Source: “Is Ivan Rodriguez the greatest catcher ever?”, David Schoenfield, ESPN (01/09/2017)

TOB: Let me throw a name out there. Gerald Dempsey Posey. Don’t scoff. Like Pudge, he has an MVP. Unlike Pudge, he has a batting title. He plays in a pitcher’s park, not that bandbox in Arlington. He has caught three World Series titles. And through his first 7 seasons in the majors, his WAR of 33.5 is well above Pudge’s 24.8 through his first 7 seasons. Yes, Pudge had a better arm (Pudge’s 46% career caught stealing percentage is quite a bit better than Buster’s 33%). But Buster is also the best pitch-framer in the game, and puts his pitchers first. As this article details, Pudge put his own caught stealing stats above what was best for his pitchers, and his pitchers often groused about it both his framing abilities and his pitch calling, as he sacrificed both in order to put himself in the best position to throw out a runner. You can have Pudge. I’ll take Buster.

Video of the Week

This is why you should teach your kids to throw a football.

PAL Song of the Week: Booker T. Jones – “Everything Is Everything”

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

My god. I want to read everything in that magazine.

The Best Thing I Read All Year

I hate to jump the gun on our annual Best of edition, but this New York Times article on Warriors coach Steve Kerr is fantastic. I really think it might win the Pulitzer. We have covered Kerr here before, and mentioned his father’s assassination during his freshman year at Arizona. John Branch weaves a masterful story about how Kerr’s upbringing, heavily tied to the Middle East, culminating with his father’s assassination, has shaped the man he is now. Kerr opens up about his father’s death in a way I’d not seen, and Branch supplements with information from his mother and siblings.

For the first time I know of, Kerr opens up about his father’s death, including the harrowing story of the summer before his freshman year at Arizona, when he went to visit his father in Beirut, and nearly failed to get out.

“There was some question about whether flights would be going out because of everything that was happening,” Kerr said. “We were in the terminal, and all of a sudden there was a blast. It wasn’t in the terminal but on the runways. The whole place just froze. Everybody just froze. People started gathering, saying, ‘We’ve got to get the hell out of here.’ My mom grabbed me, and I remember running out of the terminal and through the parking lot. It was really scary. I remember thinking, ‘This is real.’”

Kerr’s dad eventually hired a driver to take him over the mountains and into the relative safety of Jordan. Months later, Kerr’s father was killed. Four years later, Arizona State students despicably taunted Kerr with chants of “P.L.O., P.L.O.,” “Your father’s history,” and “Why don’t you join the Marines and go back to Beirut?” Kerr was understandably devastated:

“When I heard it, I just dropped the ball and started shaking,” Kerr said at the time. “I sat down for a minute. I’ll admit they got to me. I had tears in my eyes. For one thing, it brought back memories of my dad. But, for another thing, it was just sad that people would do something like that.”

Kerr loved his father, and his parenting methods have colored Kerr’s coaching style:

“When I was 8, 9, 10 years old, I had a horrible temper,” Kerr said. “I couldn’t control it. Everything I did, if I missed a shot, if I made an out, I got so angry. It was embarrassing. It really was. Baseball was the worst. If I was pitching and I walked somebody, I would throw my glove on the ground. I was such a brat. He and my mom would be in the stands watching, and he never really said anything until we got home. He had the sense that I needed to learn on my own, and anything he would say would mean more after I calmed down.”

His father, Kerr said, was what every Little League parent should be. The talks would come later, casual and nonchalant, conversations instead of lectures.

“He was an observer,” he said. “And he let me learn and experience. I try to give our guys a lot of space and speak at the right time. Looking back on it, I think my dad was a huge influence on me, on my coaching.”

Kerr has been outspoken in recent months about politics and America’s place in the world. This rather surprises Kerr’s mother, who says, “I would say Steve’s intellectual interests really blossomed in the last 10 years. But I don’t think of Steve being like Malcolm.” But Branch notes the striking influence of Kerr’s father in his recent evolution:

In many ways, he has grown into an echo of his father.

“The truly civilized man is marked by empathy,” Malcolm Kerr wrote in a foreword to a collection of essays called “The Arab-Israeli Confrontation of June 1967: An Arab Perspective.” “By his recognition that the thought and understanding of men of other cultures may differ sharply from his own, that what seems natural to him may appear grotesque to others.”

In a rare and sometimes emotional interview this fall, Kerr spoke about the death of his father and his family’s deep roots in Lebanon and the Middle East. Some of the words sounded familiar.

“Put yourself in someone else’s shoes and look at it from a bigger perspective,” he said. “We live in this complex world of gray areas. Life is so much easier if it could be black and white, good and evil.”

Steve Kerr may not be as intellectually profound as his father was, but I hope there is a time Steve gives up basketball and follows in his father’s footsteps. Our country could use leaders like Steve right now. -TOB

Source: “Tragedy Made Steve Kerr See the World Beyond the Court“, John Branch, New York Times (12/22/2016)

Lane Kiffin: Idiot Savant or Embodiment of the Peter Principle? 

Lane Kiffin seems to be a hell of an offensive coordinator. He co-coordinated those great USC offenses in the mid-2000s, and over the last three years Alabama’s offense has been a juggernaut. But if you look a little deeper, it all starts to crumble. Those USC offenses were absolutely loaded with talent, and even then it’s unclear if Kiffin or Sarkisian deserved the credit (or Norm Chow before them). More interestingly, is the perception he’s turned Alabama’s offense into a real threat. In his three seasons in Tuscaloosa, the Tide have averaged 15th in the country in offensive efficiency. That’s very good. But in the three years before that? Alabama averaged 6th in the country in offensive efficiency.

From the first moment I saw Kiffin’s press conference introducing him as the head coach at Tennessee, I thought something was off about the guy.

I could never quite put my finger on it. He seems both sincere and insincere at the same time, somehow. He looks horribly rehearsed and extremely nervous. He seems unsure of himself and what he’s just gotten himself into. Kiffin’s career since that day has been tumultuous. But after bailing on Tennessee after one year, failing miserably at USC, and kinda-sorta doing well at Alabama, Kiffin has been hired as the head coach at Florida Atlantic University.

Sports Illustrated’s Pete Thamel tags along with Kiffin as he searches for his new home in Boca Raton. And, finally, I think I have pinpointed Kiffin’s issue. Like Tom Brady, Lane Kiffin is an airhead. A complete and total dope. For example:

He pauses for a minute. He’s been trying to be boring, reimagined and remastered. He thinks out loud. “Should I tell my joke?”

He can’t help himself, a classic Kiffin trait, and proceeds: “I used to say there’s a constantly daily battle between who can take more of my money between Layla and Obama.”

He continues with a bit of fuzzy math: “I figured it out. I really don’t make any money. I pay around 52% in taxes. Layla gets 34.5% in the divorce, and [agent Jimmy Sexton] gets 3%. I make [about] 9% and I’m living in Tuscaloosa.”

What is it about Kiffin that makes people hire him? He seems so obviously stupid. I would never want to hire someone like that. I’ve always thought his private self must be very different than his public persona. I don’t think Nick Saban, probably the greatest college football coach of all-time, would hire Kiffin as offensive coordinator, and then retain him, unless he saw great value in doing so. So is Kiffin an idiot savant? Will he turn FAU into a nationally relevant program? Or is he the embodiment of the Peter Principle, with a healthy dose of nepotism thrown in, destined to fail miserably? I guess we’ll find out. -TOB

Source: “Reimagined, Remastered, Unleashed: Is New Lane Kiffin Ready to Succeed as Head Coach?“, Pete Thamel, Sports Illustrated (12/29/2016)

Jim Harbaugh: Weird, Funny

Jim Harbaugh is such a weird dude, but I enjoy it immensely. At a press conference this week in advance of the Orange Bowl today, Harbaugh was asked about oranges. It’s one of those dumb questions non-sports reporters like to ask in advance of big games these days. But Harbaugh turned it funny:

I love his goofy face turning serious. Never change, Jim. -TOB

Video of the Week

Ohhhhhh, Kemba.

Bonus Video of the Week

https://twitter.com/mdphunk/status/814689713722376192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Breaking: white person digs Phish jam sesh.

Second (!!) Bonus Video of the Week

UCLA frosh Lonzo Ball’s little brother LaMelo is not lacking in confidence.

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

Be careful when you’re shopping for presents this weekend, folks. Might get sketchy out there.

See My Loafers? Golden Gophers.

This story came out of nowhere today, but it’s fascinating. The Minnesota Golden Gophers football team was pretty darn good this year. They went 8-4, and were a few plays away from playing for the Big Ten title. Their season earned them a trip to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, which sounds mighty nice during the dead of a Minnesota winter (or so I imagine). But trouble has been quietly brewing in the Twin Cities, and it boiled over today.

Back in September, a woman accused a number of Gopher football players of gang rape. Many of the players were suspended, but ultimately prosecutors declined to press charges, and there’s mention in the story of a video that reportedly shows the woman “lucid…and fully conscious”. Despite no charges being filed, the woman asked for and received a restraining order against six of the players, and the order required them to stay away from Minnesota’s football stadium – as a result, those six players missed a number of home games, but did play away games.

Further, a number of the players were suspended pending the criminal investigation. Following the criminal investigation, the players were allowed to play, but this week the university’s office for Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action concluded its own investigation and recommended penalties for ten players – ranging from probation to a one-year school suspension to expulsion. My guess, based on the grant of the restraining order and these severe punishments is there was some harassment after the woman went to the police.

As a result, the school decided to suspend all ten players from the Holiday Bowl, set to take place, in eleven days, on December 27. In response, the players threw down the gauntlet. The entire team is boycotting all football activities until the suspended players are reinstated, including the game. As far as I know, no college football team has boycotted any game, let alone a bowl game, ever.

Consider the money at stake. The two teams and its fans have bought flights and hotels, and purchased game tickets. Each team is supposed to receive around $3 million. Commercial slots during the game have been sold. I could go on and on. This is kind of an amazing story, and I for one, will be getting my popcorn ready.

I have advocated in this space in the past for college football players to boycott games until they are paid. This was not exactly what I had in mind, especially if the players did harass the woman, as I suspect. Still, I am very interested to see how it plays out, and perhaps it will inspire players across the country to utilize a boycott for other reasons. For example, the fact their coaches get paid millions (Oregon reportedly just hired away Colorado’s DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR FOR 1.5 MILLION DOLLARS), while they scrap to pay the full cost of attending school.

On a side note, if Minnesota doesn’t play, I believe Cal is first or second in line to be placed in a bowl game and…wait, we already played Washington State and they handed us our ass. Hard pass. -TOB

Source: “Minnesota Football Players Say They’ll Boycott Bowl Game in Protest of Mass Suspensions”, Patrick Redford, Deadspin (12/15/2016)

PAL: Definitely an interesting development, and – unlike the following college football “scandal” story, this one is very serious at its core. TOB – can you expand a bit on how you’re connecting boycotting a game over payment for athletes and boycotting a game until due process is followed? I assume you’re speaking to utilizing a boycott as a way to protest unfair treatment of any kind, but I’m interested in hearing a bit more from your perspective, and it seems like your write-up ends on the paying college football players.

TOB: Right. I’m saying college football players don’t seem to understand the power they have if they act en masse, until now. They are the workers upon which a billion dollar machine is built. If they stop working, that billion dollar machine comes to a screeching halt. In this instance, a woman may or may not have been raped – the fact charges were not pressed is not a determination the players were innocent, it is determination there is not enough evidence to prosecute. They may well be innocent; they may well be guilty. We just don’t know. However, as I said, the fact a judge granted a restraining order and the school has recommended punishment up to and including expulsion suggests to me they are at least guilty of something – and based on history, my guess is the players harassed the woman following her report to the police.

PAL: I sincerely, sincerely hope that these players know with 100% certainty all of the fact and undersatnd what they are doing in boycotting under these circumstances. This is obviously a very serious matter, and one that has lifelong impact for all involved – the accuser, the players, the athletic director, the coach (who tweeted out that he’s “Never been more proud of our kids”). At best, those showing public support of the players are standing up for young men who took part in a consensual gang bang and then possibly harassed the accuser after she filed charges.

Bieber > Cake Eater

Justin Bieber is from Canada. Justin Bieber plays in a L.A. men’s league. Justin Bieber wears the jersey of L.A. Kings captain Dustin Brown during his men’s league game. Oofta.

Based on the 5 seconds of actual in-game action on this video, I can tell you this men’s league is not very good. I can also tell you there are some real cake eaters out there on the ice (some of which might be “Belieber” cake eaters…we just don’t know). You know how I feel about cake eaters, Belieber cake eaters or otherwise.

A closer examination:

It’s hard to see from the image, but the “backchecker” that ends up snapping Bieber’s stick brings his stick over his head and comes down in a chopping motion:

After considering the evidence, the environment, Bieber is right to be pissed off here. The defender could’ve just as easily tipped away the pass, but he wanted to be the tough guy. While the defender has a decent bar story for the rest of his life, it’s still a cake eater move, man. And while Bieber is a cake eater, too, he’s not the biggest cake eater on the ice for this pathetic men’s league game. – PAL

Source: “Justin Bieber Has Hockey Stick Broken, Tries To Start Shit”, Giri Nathan, Deadspin (12/13/16)

TOB: Whoa whoa whoa WHOA. Justin Bieber, at his core, is the ULTIMATE cake-eater. If they re-cast the Mighty Ducks, Justin Bieber would be on the Hawks, and he’d be cackling after he jabbed his stick at your b-hole. You can’t out cake-eat that guy. You get on the ice with the ultimate cake-eater, you take your shot! I applaud this guy.

Craig Sager: Dead at 65

Craig Sager fought cancer with everything he had. On Thursday he died at the age of 65. Here is a portion of a write-up we did and a link to Barry Petchesky’s beautifully written piece on Sager in what would become his final months. Sager was an inspiration, and Petchesky captures Sager’s courage, that is to say his humor, persistence, and optimism.  Petchesky doesn’t shy away from the truth either, and writes without sentimentality about the absolute gut punch it is to see someone fight so hard long after the battle was decided. – PAL

Originally posted on September 2, 2016:

Be More Like Craig Sager

You’ve likely been brought up to speed that veteran NBA sideline reporter Craig Sager (yes, the one who wears the wacky suits) has been in a hellacious cancer battle since 2014. This week he underwent a rare third bone marrow transplant. Add to that countless rounds of chemo, and, well, it the odds are not in his favor. In his words, “I like to bet on horses, I like to bet on dogs. I’ve bet on a lot of things with a lot higher odds than this.”

But, damn, this guy continues to battle, round after round. He’s trying everything, and he’s sums up why in a way that’s downright inspiring. “Man, life is too beautiful, too wonderful, there’s just too many things.”

There’s another reason why I shared this story. Barry Petchesky has become one of my favorite sports writers since we started this blog. Two of our three stories this week – one TOB highlighted above and this one – are his work. He writes with a direct honesty. Never sentimental, but not afraid to write about emotion. Here’s a perfect example from the Sager piece:

“This is all very sad, because: Craig Sager is probably going to die. You’re not supposed to say or write things like that, because no one likes to be made to think about it. I hate that line of thought, because it’d be better for everyone if we could discuss cancer and illness and dying from a mature and candid perspective. It’s not something to dance around. It’s serious shit, and we should say what we mean.

“The way to talk about this stuff without being disingenuous is to remember why it makes you sad: to recall how much you’ve enjoyed Sager’s work over the years, to see the impact he’s had on those who know him by seeing the love he’s getting from family, friends, colleagues, and the general public, and to see if you can’t take some inspiration from Sager’s own stated motivation for seeing his treatment through…”

Make a habit out of reading Barry Petchesky’s work, and think good thoughts for Sager and his family. – PAL

Source: “Craig Sager Remains The Best”, Barry Petchesky, Deadspin (8/31/16)

TOB: Craig Sager was great. I really enjoyed the tribute TNT did last night:

How to Handle ‘Scandal’

Tommy Elrod played football at Wake Forest, then coached there for 11 years. When the new head coach took over, Elrod was not asked back as a coach (in many cases a new head coach = an entirely new coaching staff). Elrod was then hired as a radio analyst for the team.

Apparently Elrod wasn’t so stoked about being removed from the coaching staff, and it appears he “provided or attempted to provide confidential and proprietary game preparations to opponents on multiple occasions, starting in 2014.”

The disgruntled worker angle is interesting, but – aside from an as of yet unreported gambling angle here – what’s more interesting to me is watching the teams who received the info try to explain themselves. As of Thursday night, Louisville and Virginia Tech have admitted to receiving information from Elrod. After digging through Elrod’s email and texts, West Point was also contacted. All three schools have or had members of their respective coaching staffs that were on the coaching staff at Wake Forest with Elrod.

The smart way to respond: West Point AD Boo Coorigan

“We were contacted by Wake Forest. We’re looking into it.”

Gather info and plot next steps while the story plays out a bit more in the press.

However, of the schools named in this story (so far), West Point seems to have the most to lose here – not in terms of wins and losses, but in terms of the Honor Code so central to the culture. “A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.”

The fact that West Point was contacted seems to indicate that Wake Forest has some information leading them to believe that Elrod provided game plan information (rather than attempted to provide), in which case there might be an Army football coach not getting much sleep tonight.

The right way to respond: Virginia Tech AD Whit Babcock

“We hold ourselves to a higher standard at Virginia Tech. We are disappointed and embarrassed that this type of information was distributed to, and apparently received by one of our former assistant coaches. The distribution of this type of information among peers or rivals is wrong and not in the vein of sportsmanship and integrity that we demand and expect, and for this I personally apologize to the coaches, student-athletes, administration, alumni, students and fans of Wake Forest University.

“I am also aware of former head coach Frank Beamer’s and current defensive coordinator Bud Foster’s public remarks yesterday as to having no knowledge of the situation and I believe both of them whole heartedly,” Babcock said in his statement. “It should also be noted that there is no known connection of any kind to our current coaching staff, who were hired in late 2015.”

In other words: Some jagweed former assistant received the information, and we have no idea what became of it. Besides, that coaching staff is gone anyway, so let’s move on.

The wrong way to respond: Louisville Head Coach Bobby Petrino and AD Tom Jurich

Step 1: Deny knowledge (Bobby Petrino)

“I have no knowledge of the situation. We take a lot of pride in the way we operate our program. As I’ve stated already this season, my coaching philosophy has always been to play the game with sportsmanship.”

Step 2: Deny it happened (Bobby Petrino)

“I can tell you that we didn’t. I like our team, and I’m down here (in Houston) preparing for this game, so I don’t really understand what they’re talking about. I heard about it right before we got on the plane to leave (for Houston on Nov. 16). But I can assure you that we prepare each week the way that you’re supposed to prepare, and I like the fact that our team knows how to do that.”

Step 3: Acknowledge it happened, but that it didn’t matter (via AD Jurich)

“Our offensive coordinator Lonnie Galloway and Tommy Elrod have known each other since 2007,’’ Jurich posted. “Lonnie received a call from Elrod during the week of the Wake Forest game, and some information was shared with him that week.

“Among the communication were a few plays that were sent and then shared with our defensive staff. None of the special plays were run during the course of the game. Our defense regularly prepares for similar formations every week in their normal game plan.

“Any other information that may have been discussed was nothing that our staff had not already seen while studying Wake Forest in their preparations for the game and the material was not given any further attention. I’m disappointed that this issue has brought undue attention to our football staff as we prepare for our upcoming bowl game.’’

OK, so you’re telling me the O.C. of your team was given an upcoming opponent’s plays, didn’t tell anyone else, like…oh, I don’t know, the head coach who’s not exactly the College Football’s patron saint of character. Keep digging that hole, Louisville.

By the way, I heard columnist Dan Wetzel (I think it was Wetzel) on the Dan Patrick Show on Thursday describe this story perfectly. I’m paraphrasing here, but he said this is the most entertaining kind of scandal. It’s not violent, and it doesn’t involve players behaving poorly, but it has teeth because it deals with the level playing field. – PAL

Source: “An about-face: Louisville admits it received information from Elrod”, Dan Collins, Winston-Salem Journal (12/14/16)

TOB: I don’t know what it is, but I disagree with Wetzel. I couldn’t get into this story. Is it because it’s Wake Forest and so…who cares? Maybe.

Video of the Week

PAL Song of the Week: Irvin Mayfield (featuring Ellis Marsalis) – “Mo’ Better Blues”

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

)

Fidel’s Athletic Propaganda

Fidel Castro died on November 25. For an incredible (and incredibly long) obit, I highly suggest this, but we’re going to focus on his impact on sport in Cuba during his nearly 50-year dictatorship of Cuba (he officially handed over the reigns to his brother in 2008).

While Castro seemed to legitimately like sports, its primary purpose was propaganda used to both  “infuse Cuban citizens with a sense of national pride” and, through Cuba’s success in boxing and especially baseball (‘America’s pastime’), allow “Mr. Castro to taunt and defy the United States.”

Here are a couple more noteworthy highlights:

• The lore that Castro was a MLB prospect with a 90s fastball is completely false. In fact, the 6-foot-3 tyrannical ruler was more of basketball player through his own admission, telling one biographer, “The anticipation, speed and dexterity required for basketball most approximated the skills needed for revolution.” (TOB Note: That made me laugh loudly).
• “Javier Sotomayor, the only man to clear eight feet in the high jump, soared to his records in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Cubans for a time marked the height of his jumps in their doorways.”
• There have been 62 Cuban baseball players to defect and make their MLB debut, including 10 eventual All-Stars (how many can you name?)

If nothing else, Castro’s impact on sport is yet another example of how a despot of a small island country shaped the world far beyond Cuba’s shores. – PAL

Source: “Under Fidel Castro, Sport Symbolized Cuba’s Strength and Vulnerability” Jeré Longman, The New York Times (11/27/16)

TOB: As news of Castro’s death spread, I read many people online celebrating the end of a brutal and murderous dictator, and it occurred to me: are things really going to change in Cuba? As Phil noted, Fidel turned over power to his brother in 2008. And then I read this excellent rundown by Deadspin of ESPN’s Dan LeBatard (himself a Cuban American, the son of immigrants who escaped Castro’s tyranny) talking about Castro’s death on his radio show, and how his parents took “no joy” in Castro’s death:

That death doesn’t mean anything. He is a symbol who already took their youth, their freedom, their land, their childhood. They can’t get any of that back, and the people there that he has empowered are still in power. So celebrating the dying of our Hitler doesn’t mean very much when Nazi Germany is still in charge.

At first, I was taken aback by the comparison. But then I thought: Should we really be concerned with ranking murderous despots? Shouldn’t they all just be lumped into one category? As LeBatard continued, in relation to Colin Kaepernick having worn a shirt earlier this year with Castro and Malcolm X on it:

Colin Kaepernick is not unlike much of America in not understanding what is happening in Cuba. What inflicts Miami Cubans more than anything right now is loneliness, feeling not understood as the prime minister of Canada and a bunch of other people are sitting here on the eulogy of Fidel Castro, and they’re feeling the need to celebrate his life and his passing just because he died.

Agreed. The Trudeau remarks were especially bewildering. I’m not an anti-P.C. person, but good lord – let’s not pretend Castro wasn’t who he was just because he’s dead.

The Importance of College Football Coaches:

Want the most sure-fire way for your college football team to return to relevance? Pony up the cash. Perhaps more than any other major sport, College football success is dictated by head coaches, who are to their teams what the “owner, the head coach and the general manager, combined, are to an N.F.L. team.”

This story sets up the influence of a head coach in college football perfectly. Name the team in the scenario put forth below:

The eminent college football program puttered along for a decade. There were a couple of 10-win seasons, but mostly inferior ones. Over 10 seasons, the team had four interim and permanent head coaches and, not accounting for N.C.A.A. sanctions, went 67-82. The punishment did not help, but neither did a general feeling of malaise and inconsistency — in short, the effects of suboptimal coaching.

Then the team hired a new head coach. In the ensuing decade, that team, [team name removed], has put together a 117-18 record, with four national titles (again, leaving the N.C.A.A. sanctions out of the equation).

Nothing but the coach had changed.

Love him or hate him, Nick Saban’s impact on Alabama has been that stark. Michigan’s hoping for the same in Jim Harbaugh, and Phil Knight has indicated that he’ll back up the Brinks truck for the coaching vacancy at Oregon.

TOB and I were talking about what would be needed for Cal to turn its program around. Considering (among other factors that TOB can speak to far more insightfully than I can) the financial challenges at a state school in California, the uncompromising academic standards for athletes (don’t compromise, Cal), and the tepid support of athletics on campus, one solution we came up with was finding the hot coaching prospect before anyone else does, e.g.,  finding Tom Herman (former Houston coach who just took the Texas job) before he becomes the flavor of the month.  

Or, and this option makes me a little queasy, you can make a deal with the devil and hire an objectively successful coach with an ugly past (see: Art Briles, formerly of Baylor, or a Bobby Petrino of Louisville). As a fan, there are few things better than the ride of a great season, but in college football the driver is very expensive, hard to find, or tough to accept. – PAL

Source: “In College Football, Getting the Right Coach Is the Top Priority”, Marc Tracy, The New York Times (11/27/16)

TOB: As I told Phil on Sunday, Cal has a nice but very mediocre coach.  The Cal defense has been consistently awful in Dykes’ tenure (Out of 129 teams, 117th worst this year; 79th in 2015; 114th in 2014; 113th in 2013); and his defenses at Louisiana Tech were similarly awful (106th in 2012; 87th in 2010; with one outlier of 15th in 2011). 

It’s not as though Dykes doesn’t care about defense. I’m sure he knows his job depends on it. I think a bad defense is simply a feature of his offense. His offenses put up a lot of points, but they also work to increase plays/possessions. So the offense is really only above average in efficiency. Meanwhile, the offense’s efforts to maximize possessions and quick strike ability necessarily hurt the defense – as the defense is also forced to defend more possessions and more plays.

As I said on Sunday: Cal fans are largely hoping one of these schools (Baylor, Houston) come calling for Dykes, arrogantly thinking they won’t have the same defensive issues Dykes has had his entire head coaching career. And sure enough, the College Football Coach Hot Stove got red hot this week, with rumors Baylor is focusing on Dykes. This has been me all week:

Cal football has sadly gotten stale. It’s like a video game, with both teams’ offenses being unstoppable, and the defenses looking like they’re running in quicksand. At the very least, a coaching hire would be exciting.

One final thing to address is Phil’s hope that Cal doesn’t compromise academics. I used to feel strongly about this. Cal’s APR (a measure of yearly academic progress by student-athletes) when Dykes arrived was embarrassingly low and Cal was in danger of receiving a bowl ban. Dykes, along with the players and academic support staff did a remarkable turnaround, and Cal now has one of the best APRs in the country. Dykes deserves some credit for that. But my stance has softened. I spent a lot of time and money on Cal football, and I want to be entertained. Winning is entertaining. I hope we can find a coach who cares about his players and ensures their “free” education is meaningful, but I also want to watch good football again. Please.

Santa Clara 49ers: So Full of Shhh…

I came across this on Twitter, and I had to laugh.

Yes, the Santa Clara 49ers are reporting attendance over 100% capacity. Let’s see some recent games…

The 49ers reported attendance for that game was 70,178. The stadium’s capacity is 68,500. OH, TOTALLY. This franchise is a complete joke that can’t do anything right, including report attendance accurately.

Source: “Here’s the Attendance Rank for All 32  NFL Teams This Season”, NFL Memes, Daily Snark (12/01/2016)

Video of the Week

God damn, that’s the best.

PAL Song of the Week: Girls – “Vomit”

Special note: The last two minutes of this song are damn near perfect. Great to turn way, way up in the car when driving solo.

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

Beat Stanford.

Inactivism: Kaepernick didn’t vote

Colin Kaepernick has been protesting oppression of minorities by choosing to first sit, then later kneel during the National Anthem before NFL games. In case you’ve been on a spaceship for the past few months, this has been a big deal. Kaepernick, who in my opinion has been thoughtful throughout, offered this explanation:  

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

Whether or not you agree with Kaepernick’s point of view, his ongoing protest is in response in part to a string of highly publicized tragedies involving police killings of black people. There have also been highly publicized tragedies involving police officers being targeted and killed. All this came to a head while our first black president was in office, and it continues as we await the inauguration of Donald Trump, whose past and campaign are littered with examples of racism, xenophobia, and misogyny.  

Either racial and discriminatory tension has resurfaced with a violent fervor, or the recent tragedies won’t let us ignore it any longer. All of this is to say that I understand why Colin Kaepernick is protesting, and I support him in doing so.

Then I read he didn’t vote. His reason:

“You know, I think it would be hypocritical of me to vote. I said from the beginning I was against oppression, I was against the system of oppression. I’m not going to show support for that system. And to me, the oppressor isn’t going to allow you to vote your way out of your oppression.”

Again, I would classify this as a thoughtful response, i.e., he had a reason and constructed a logic around that reason, but I strongly agree with Kevin Blackistone’s  critique of Kaepernick:

“To be sure, the very issue that drove Kaepernick to silently protest the national anthem was likely affected, and drastically, by Tuesday’s result. Black boys and men should expect to be at greater peril under the administration of Trump, who long has been dismissive of police brutality claims and ran on a law-and-order platform aligned with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Both are advocates of stop-and-frisk policing, which studies showed didn’t impact crime and, more disturbingly, targeted black males. The later finding landed New York City in court, where the policy was found to be discriminatory and unconstitutional.”

Let’s put the presidential election aside for a moment. While I don’t know where Kaepernick lives, I would assume he lives in California and he does support local causes in Oakland. There were several local and state propositions and measures that impact the communities he feels are oppressed. And while he can vote or not vote if he wants, a protest is a show of support – an action to bring about change. He took no action on 11/8, and he missed an opportunity to help the very people he feels are in need. Here are just a few propositions and measures that he could’ve taken action on through voting:

Prop 57 (passed): Increase parole opportunities for felons convicted of nonviolent crimes and juvenile trials

Prop 62 (did not pass): Death penalty repeal

Prop 63 (passed): Background checks for ammunition purchases and large capacity magazine ban

Prop 54: (passed): Conditions under which legislative bills can be passed

Measure HH (Alameda, passed): To provide affordable local housing and prevent displacement of vulnerable populations

Measure LL (City of Oakland, passed): Shall Oakland’s City Charter be amended to establish: (1) a Police Commission of civilian commissioners to oversee the Police Department by reviewing and proposing changes to Department policies and procedures, requiring the Mayor to appoint any new Chief of Police from a list of candidates provided by the Commission, and having the authority to terminate the Chief of Police for cause; and (2) a Community Police Review Agency to investigate complaints of police misconduct and recommend discipline?

Measure KK (City of Oakland, passed): To improve public safety and invest in neighborhoods throughout

Oakland Measure C1 (Alameda-Contra Costa): To preserve essential local public transportation services, including those for youth, commuters, seniors, and people with disabilities, while keeping fares reasonable

Does one need to vote in order to bring about change? Not absolutely…but – damn, dude – back up your words at the polling place. – PAL

Source: “Quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to vote undermines his message”, Kevin Blackistone, The Washington Post (11/12/16)

TOB: I don’t agree with Kaepernick that it’d be hypocritical of him to vote. As you note, there’s so much more to vote for than the President, even if it’s difficult to know whether the President affects the issue Kaepernick is kneeling for (police violence against people of color). I note Kaep is wearing a Malcolm X hat up top – I don’t have an encyclopedic knowledge of Malcolm X’s voting philosophy, but I have read “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech, and I imagine Kaepernick has, too. Particularly, this passage:

“When you take your case to Washington, D.C., you’re taking it to the criminal who’s responsible; it’s like running from the wolf to the fox. They’re all in cahoots together. They all work political chicanery and make you look like a chump before the eyes of the world.”

But Malcolm also strongly advocates for voting, especially at the local level, so that Black people can control the politics in their own communities. You don’t just vote for President. You vote for the heads of your local law enforcement, the district attorney, and judges. These people directly affect Kaepernick’s issue. And that is why he should have voted.

The NCAA Hypocrisy, Summed Up Neatly by a Whining Multi-Millionaire

This week, Oklahoma’s star defensive tackle Charles Walker announced he was leaving the team to prepare for the NFL Draft. Yes, the Sooners are ranked in the Top 10, and facing #14 West Virginia this weekend, and they have 2-3 more games to play after that. So why is Walker leaving? Walker suffered a concussion on October 1st, and it was severe enough to keep him from playing since. It’s also at least the third of his career. So, he should obviously be very concerned about his long term health and thus earning power. Even moreso because he’s a father:

By leaving the team, he can get financial help – get an agent, seek the best medical care, and the best training for the combine. Good for him, I say. But what does his coach say…

“Quitting on your teammates is hard to take, as a coach,” Mike Stoops said. “That’s everything we stand for — our commitment to one another and, for whatever reason, that wasn’t there for him. He thought this was a better avenue so you would have to ask him for those [answers].”

Let’s be clear about a couple things: Mike Stoops, the former head coach for Arizona, makes $900,000 per year as the Oklahoma defensive coordinator. When he was the coach at Arizona, he made $1.5 million per year. His brother makes $5.55 million this year. I don’t see Bob and Mike loudly supporting their players’ right to make a fair wage. Do you? I don’t see Bob Stoops publicly offering to give up half his salary for his players. Or more – how much money do you need living in Norman, Oklahoma anyways? But you’re so committed to your players, Mike. And this guy who has worked his butt off for your massive salaries is the disloyal guy quitting on his teammates? Go pop another vein out of your head. -TOB

Herb Brooks’s Local Legacy  

Herb Brooks became a legend to all of the U.S. when he coached the 1980 US Olympic Hockey team to victory over the USSR in what many consider the greatest upset in sports history (the team went on to win gold over Sweden). Brooks, born in St. Paul, is as close to a deity the hockey-crazed state of Minnesota has, so I was surprised to learn a new chapter to his career.

After winning 3 National titles with the University of Minnesota, which, at the time was one of only two Division-I hockey programs in the state, he went on to coach the legendary 1980 Olympic Team, then on to Switzerland before coaching the NY Rangers from 1981-1985. In 1987 he was back in the NHL, where he would coach and scout until his death (car accident) in 2003.

But in 1986 – that year in between his stints with the Rangers and the North Stars – that year might be when Brooks made his biggest impact on hockey in the state of Minnesota. In 1986 the legendary coach went from the New York Rangers to D-III St. Cloud State. He made $23,000, or 1/9 his salary as coach for the Rangers. Prodigal son returns – sure – but why St. Cloud State? It’s not like he grew up in St. Cloud.

“Brooks stayed for only the 1986-87 season, leading the Huskies to their first N.C.A.A. Division III tournament berth (and a third-place national finish) and then returning to the N.H.L. with the Minnesota North Stars. Before leaving, though, Brooks and university officials successfully lobbied the State Legislature to fund a campus hockey arena. St. Cloud State jumped to Division I ahead of schedule in 1987. That encouraged Minnesota State, then known as Mankato State, to make the move in 1996, and Bemidji State in 1999.”

For generations, there was one dream shared by everyone who played hockey: Play for “the U” (yes, that’s what we refer to University of Minnesota – it’s hilarious to anyone who didn’t grow up there, as I suppose it ought to be). In fact, there was a large chunk of Gopher history where coaches recruited exclusively within the state. While that remains a dream, the “U” version of it is less ubiquitous. There are more choices, more Minnesota dreams fulfilled, and – more importantly – those choices are really good programs.

“This season, for the first time, all five have appeared in the USCHO.com national poll. Duluth is No. 2 this week, with Minnesota at No. 7, St. Cloud State No. 12, Bemidji State No. 13 and Minnesota State No. 15.” Note: There are 60 D I hockey program in the country.

At some point, it seems likely these schools would’ve eventually made the transition, but it’s unlikely anyone but Brooks could’ve made such an impact in such a short amount of time. By taking on the coaching gig at St. Cloud State and lending his hero’s momentum, he helped lead the way for the other schools.

As current Gophers coach Don Lucia puts it, “The stronger hockey is in our state, the better it is, not just for the collegiate programs but all the way down to youth hockey. They have something to look forward to.”

What’s more, I think Brooks coaching at St. Cloud State could be a key data point in tracking when hockey went from a state passion to an institution. Witnessing my nieces and nephews as each set out on his or her birthright hockey odyssey of county arenas and summer skating camps and club teams and select teams and local association teams and tryouts and tournaments and parental politics, and on and on. The absurdity of it all is it’s not a dream anymore; it’s a step-by-step plan.

And while the best of the best now either play Juniors in Canada during their high school years and/or treat the University of Minnesota like the Kentucky/Duke for basketball (one and done) – the dream of playing D I hockey began to spread when the great Herb Brooks took a coaching job for a D III school in St. Cloud, Minnesota. – PAL

Source: “Herb Brooks’s Miracle in Minnesota: Spreading Division I Hockey” Pat Borzi, The New York Times (11/16/16)

Video of the Week

Bonus Video of the Week

DOUBLE Bonus Video of the Week

PAL Song of the Week: Neil Young – “Walk On”

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

STICK TO SPORTS!

Like many people in this country, we’re a little stunned here this week. On Tuesday night, as it was becoming clear that Trump was going to win, I put my sleeping 2-year old to bed and became a little overwhelmed…

Oh, god. Deep breaths. 

One interesting thing has been to follow the reaction of the sports world. As we’ve covered here over the last few months, athletes are finally speaking out and taking a stand on social issues. Deadspin did a good job of rounding up many NBA players’ reactions to the election results. A lot of intelligent and well-reasoned thoughts in that link. Quite refreshing.

One aspect I took interest in, though, is the verrrrry different reactions of NBA coaches and NFL coaches. Warning, there will be some generalizations here. One the one hand, we have Bill Belichick sending a handwritten love letter to Donald Trump on the eve of the election:

“Congratulations on a tremendous campaign. You have to help with an unbelievable slanted and negative media and have come out beautifully. You have proven to be the ultimate competitor fighter. Your leadership is amazing. I have always had tremendous respect for you for the toughness and perseverance you have displayed over the past year is remarkable. Hopefully tomorrow’s election, the results will give the opportunity to make America great again.

Best wishes for great results tomorrow,

Bill Belichick”

And Belichick is supposed to be one of the smartest NFL coaches. Trump was also supported by other NFL coaches, like Rex Ryan. Many of Ryan’s players were reportedly not happy with his ringing Trump endorsement. Many of the unhappy players were black. As one of Rex’s players says in that article:

“Rex is such an open-minded guy, a really good person,” said the player, who asked not to be identified, fearing repercussions from the Bills. “But the fact he could back someone as closed-minded as Trump genuinely shocked me.”

He’s right. For an NFL coach, Rex Ryan is seen as intelligent and open-minded, though that’s an incredibly low bar to clear. On the other hand, we have NBA coaches. Many NBA coaches in the last decade have shown themselves to be smart, thoughtful, progressive, and conscientious. Take Spurs coach Greg Popovich, reacting here to the news Trump had won the New Hampshire primary back in February:

This week, at least two coaches were very outspoken in their disappointment with the election results. First, Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy came with the hot fire in his pre-game press conference Wednesday:

http://on.freep.com/2fgU1Gs

“We just elected an openly, brazen misogynist leader and we should keep our mouths shut and realize that we need to be learning maybe from the rest of the world, because we don’t got anything to teach anybody.

“It’s embarrassing. I have been ashamed of a lot of things that have happened in this country, but I can’t say I’ve ever been ashamed of our country until today. Until today. We all have to find our way to move forward, but that was — and I’m not even trying to make a political statement. To me, that’s beyond politics.

“You don’t get to come out and talk about people like that, and then lead our country and have millions of Americans embrace you. I’m having a hard time being with people. I’m going to walk into this arena tonight and realize that — especially in this state — most of these people voted for the guy. Like, (expletive), I don’t have any respect for that. I don’t.”

Warriors’ coach Steve Kerr followed Stan Van’s lead:

https://twitter.com/erikmal/status/796534987528933376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Why is it that the coaches of one sport seem like such incredibly well-rounded and decent people, and the coaches of another sport seem like such singular-focused assholes? I think part of it is simply the nature of the sport they’ve dedicated their lives to. Basketball has been described as jazz. And it’s true. It’s free flowing and creative, while football is barbaric and punishing.

But I think there’s something rather symbolic here, too. NBA coaches, for the most part, have lived their entire lives playing with and then coaching players from all different races, in small, tight-knit teams. Players and coaches look each other in the eye, day in and day out, and really get to know each other. They are forced to get to know people from very different walks of life. There’s nowhere to hide. Some cliques form, but for the most part you get to know your teammates. And when you do that you start to realize that we are not all that different. Sure, there are some differences – but for the most part we are just human beings trying to survive and thrive. The fear of “different” falls away.

In contrast, football teams are huge. College football teams have 100+ players. NFL teams have 53 on the active roster, and another couple dozen on the practice squad. Each NFL team has around twenty coaches. As in life, it is very easy on an NFL team to find a clique of like-minded individuals and hunker down with them – in the locker room and out. Players form smaller groups: the white guys from the south with the white guys from the south. The black guys from the west with the black guys from the west. And on and on. And the coaches don’t have time to get to know the players on any meaningful level.

This is true in life, too. When I see the electoral maps showing, county by county, how the country voted in this Presidential election, it is astonishing to me how the cities overwhelmingly vote Democrat, and everything outside the cities vote Republican.

I was in a bar the night before the election, awaiting my bus home. And I heard a Trump supporter loudly say some abhorrent things. For example, he defended Trump’s proposal to keep all Muslims from entering the U.S. because, and I quote, “Fourteen people got on a plane on September Eleventh, Two Thousand and One!” It was disgusting.

But this week, when I thought about this difference between NBA coaches and NFL coaches and who they supported in this election, I realized that guy from the bar is just scared. He probably doesn’t know too many Muslims. And the ones he’s seen in the media are bad. They did 9/11! He also mentioned the attacks in Boston and San Bernardino.

If we keep ourselves in a bubble, and don’t get to know each other, it’s hard to understand that while people may have differences, we are all human beings, and we will remain fearful of the unknown. I am trying to be hopeful about the next four years. Perhaps Trump’ ugliness will shine a mirror in front of those who voted for him. Or maybe the gravity of the situation will cause him to rise above anything he’s ever been. Short of nuclear holocaust, the country will survive. And now, back to sports. -TOB

Edit: We don’t normally do this, but Friday, after publish, Greg Popovich finally had the opportunity to speak on the election. He’s just the best. Please listen.

https://soundcloud.com/user-761163816/gregg-popovich-uncensored-discusses-donald-trumps-victory?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=wtshare&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_content=https%3A//soundcloud.com/user-761163816/gregg-popovich-uncensored-discusses-donald-trumps-victory

PAL: Dammit, TOB. I’m still stuck in denial, and there you go making a well-constructed observation with a legit sports angle. The map above paints the picture pretty clearly at this moment. It’s hard to negotiate with myself that the red doesn’t mean people who voted for Trump believe everything he’s said and done while knowing that each one of those votes condones what he’s said and done. That’s a tough pill to get down. 

I’m sure there are NFL coaches who feel the same as Stan Van Gundy, and I’m sure there’s NBA coaches who feel the same as Rex Ryan. I hope so, at least. 

Finally, do you think it’s hit Trump that he actually has to do this now? The reality show (the campaign) is over, and I wonder how petrified he is right at this moment.

Small Victory: San Diego Calls Bullshit on Publicly Financed Stadium

We’ve written about publicly financed stadiums – and the absolute insanity of billionaires giving some teenage ultimatum of running away unless they get free money to build stadiums. It’s a petulant, economically flawed, dickhead move. Since I need a win this week, I applaud San Diego voters for not flinching. – PAL

Source: “San Diego Voters Reject Funding of New Chargers Stadium”, Ken Belson, The New York Times (11/9/2016)

TOB: Bravo, San Diego!

Dear God: Arlington Votes to Give Petulant Rangers Owner 500M in Bonds to Build a New Stadium

The current stadium for the Texas Rangers is beautiful and built in 1994. The thing was opened less than 25 years ago! Out of date. Too old. At least that what over 60% of voters said. And while proponents of the new stadium will tell you that Hotel and Car rental taxes will cover the cost (you know, visitors), keep this in mind: A portion of the $ will come from sales tax extension that is currently paying off the Cowboys’ stadium.

This is the stadium that’s just not doing it for them anymore. Clearly, it needs to be replaced:

By the way, the co-owner and CEO of the Rangers has an estimated net work of $2.4B. Another co-owner is worth $1.9B. – PAL

Source: “Arlington Voters Approve Hundreds Of Millions In Public Money For New Rangers Ballpark”, Barry Petchesky, Deadspin (11/9/2016)

TOB: Another point: If the hotel/car rental taxes fall short of projections, then the city has to come up with the money some other way. And this, too: yes, it’s a new tax, mainly on visitors. But if they imposed that tax on visitors, it could still go elsewhere! It’s still foregoing publicly available money.

An Open Letter to Professional Sports Owners…

So these two stories have led me to pen a special edition letter:

Dear Sports Owners,

You and your sports teams aren’t as important as you think. A city is not defined by having a sports team in it. That is not critical to the vibrancy of a place. Sure, it helps – no doubt – but it does not come remotely close to defining a community. This is coming from someone as passionate about sports as you can ever hope to be rooting for your team.

In fact, a city and its people are what make a sports team matter. The people give the team meaning much more than the team gives people meaning. Without them you just have a bunch of adults in funny costumes.

You only care about the business of sport. Fans do not care about the business of sport. Entities care about the business – networks, advertisers, and ownership of other professional sports teams. It is neither the wellspring of pride nor local economic boon you like to claim when you have your manicured, supple paws out panhandling.

If all of you ceased to exist tomorrow – sure, I’d be bummed – and, yet, “when the morning light comes streaming in, I’ll get up and do it again. Amen.”

So, if you want to keeping crying wolf, then I say this: Stop talking about it and be about it. Go to Las Vegas, Seattle, Vancouver, San Antonio. It has little to no material effect on anyone but you. You have neither pride nor shame.

Sincerely,

PAL

Video of the Week: 

PAL Song of the Week: Jackson Browne – “The Pretender”

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

Just…please. Don’t let the Dodgers be next.

There Was No Curse – Just Crappy Management

In the middle of Game 7 of the World Series, with the Cubs up a few runs, my wife asked me why I am rooting for Cleveland. The reasons are two-fold: (1) to avoid a repeat of the obnoxious Red Sox fans that emerged after 2004 (you can already see it with all the crisply new Cubs hats and shirts all over SF the last month) and (2) to keep with my long standing policy to minimize happiness of a fan base other than my own. Here, Cleveland fans are fewer than Cubs fans, and many of them just got a title in the NBA, so their increased happiness would have been considerably less than Chicago’s increased happiness if the Cubs win.

She thought both reasons are ridiculous and said, “So you don’t like rooting for the underdog.” NO! NO NO NO! The Cubs are NOT the underdog and slap anyone who thinks they are (except my wife, don’t you dare lay a finger on her precious head!). First, they won 103 games this year. That’s a very good team who was absolutely the favorite to win the World Series when the playoffs began. But more importantly, as Albert Burneko delightfully points out, the Cubs are The Death Star, they’ve just really, really, really sucked at it. They are a big market team in a huge, great city. They have a massive fanbase, probably second only to the Yankees.

“The reason the Cubs are not the Yankees of the National League is not that they can’t be or have been too honorable or sweet-natured for it; it’s that they’ve sucked at trying. They’re the Yankees, minus competence. If their myriad squanderings of all that comes with being one of America’s most profitable and popular sports franchises make them the scrappy little guy, then Billy friggin’ Bush, who likewise has done nothing much with vast undeserved advantages, is a scrappy little guy. Rooting for the Cubs to win the World Series isn’t—has never been—rooting for Charlie Brown to finally kick the football; it’s rooting for the Death Star to finally blow up the Rebel base. Congratulations! The Rebellion is in ashes now. You did it! The sun has not shined on a dog’s ass. The sun has shined on an extremely rich ballclub that spent a century pretending to be a dog’s ass to excuse the smell.”

YES. Exactly. The Cubs sucked because their management sucked. They had a huge fanbase and made more money than Scrooge McDuck, and they squandered it (or, quite possibly, didn’t give a crap if they won if winning meant spending more money).

Also, nothing has driven me more crazy over the past days and weeks than people saying Cubs fans have been waiting since 1908. Let’s be clear, there are NO Cubs fans who have been waiting since 1908. That would make that person 113 years old, if you assume they can remember 1908 if they were five at the time. Second, the majority of Cubs fans they show celebrating are in their 20s-40s. Those people have waited 15-35 years, not 108. Plenty of teams’ fanbases wait that long, and longer. The Indians, for example, who have been waiting since 1948. No one seems to care about the Indians fans, who just suffered a gut wrenching loss – blowing a 3-1 series lead, with the final two games AT HOME, even after staging an amazing comeback late in Game 7. I feel you, Cleveland, I feel you. As for the Cubs fans – those of you who cheered for Cubs fans, remember that when they are obnoxious after winning  a second or third title and become the new Yankees/Red Sox fans. It’s not your fault, but you should feel bad. -TOB

Source: “The Cubs Don’t Have to Pretend to be Loveable Losers Anymore”, Albert Burneko, Deadspin (11/03/2016)

PAL: I like the heat, TOB. Burneko nails it: “Losing does not automatically bestow charm; underachievement does not make an underdog.”

You know who else nails it? The Dude:

While losing might not bestow charm, and while underachievement doesn’t make an underdog, I think those 108 are felt by a true fan that’s 30. In fact, this very sentiment seems to be at the heart of what makes another featured story this week so touching. “Sports is about family, about passing something down to the next generation.” If sports is about passing something down to the next generation, I think that includes the good, the bad, and the ugly. We inherit a team and its lore.

Now, I can’t be certain, but I bet TOB will have a response to my response, so let’s delay that response with a little story.

I ate dinner next to Clint Eastwood Wednesday night on Piedmont Ave. At first there was literally an empty chair between us. Then a friend joined his group, sitting right next to me. The friend overheard me talking about Game 7, and he said, “Don’t tell me!” I thought it was my in to talk baseball with Eastwood’s friend, then Eastwood would join in, compliment my beard and baseball acumen, and give me a firm handshake. I’d squeeze his hand harder, asserting my youthful dominance.

TOB: For Big Lebowski quotes, I’ve always preferred:

The Cubs spent 108 years getting eaten. It’s about time they grew up and ate back.

The Good Stuff That Comes with Winning

These are the kind of heartwarming stories that emerge when a team and its fans have gone lifetimes without winning anything.

Outside of Wrigley, a makeshift memorial has taken shape. Fans are writing the names of lost loved ones in chalk on a brick wall.

“I don’t exactly know what the point is,” one fan said (in the original story Deadspin references). “But it feels good to come here today, make them a part of it.”

Sports fandom, at its best, is a worn path walked between friends and family covering distances of lifetimes. As Barry Petchesky articulates – “Sports is about family, about passing something down to the next generation. In the case of Cubs fans, that something was necessarily hope.”

Drink it in, Cubs fans. Word of advice: Watch out for the newcomers. They’re usually wearing either pink hats or crisp “retro” jerseys. We all know the real fans rock the faded t-shirt jerseys. – PAL

Source: “This One’s For All The Cubs Fans Who Didn’t Live Long Enough To See It”, Barry Petchesky, Deadspin (11/03/2016)

TOB: This is, indeed, a very cool thing. And I do mean that. It gave me goosebumps. But I must ask again: why are Cubs fans special? In the article, Petchesky says, “This experience, very specific to Cubs fans, has universal lessons.” NO. Why is this “very specific to Cubs fans”? After a certain amount of time, say, two generations, it’s a long ass time to root for a team and not win a title. The Indians fans have been waiting since 1948. So many Indians fans lived and died without seeing their team win a title. And unlike Cubs fans, the entire city of Cleveland went without a title, in three sports, from 1964 until 2016 – a span of 147 team seasons. That’s incredible. In that time, Chicago sports fans celebrated multiple titles for the Bulls, Bears, and Blackhawks (and, even, the White Sox). What has gotten on my nerves over the last few weeks is this specific thought: that Cubs fans are somehow special; that they somehow deserve it more. As Phil’s recent dinner companion said in Unforgiven: “Deserve’s got nothin to do with it.”

But if we’re going to go soft, I prefer this Deadspin compilation of old people celebrating the Cubs finally winning the World Series. My three favorites, this sweet old guy, who is shaking he’s so excited:

And this guy drinking this Coors Banquet beer he’d kept since 1984, when the Cubs blew a 2-0 lead in the then best-of-5 NLCS to the Padres. It’s so old, the damn thing has a pull tab!

https://twitter.com/GraceJohnso/status/794042007501045760

And finally, the real MVP:

Alright, fine. I’m happy for THOSE Cubs fans, and all the non-bandwagoners who sat through lousy season after lousy season. I know the feeling. And with that, can the god damn Bears win a god damn Rose Bowl before I die, so that Joe Kapp can drink some god damn tequila?

Ted Williams’ Greatest Contribution to Baseball

Last player to hit .400. .482 on base percentage…for his career (19 years). .344 career batting average. 521 home runs. Throw in WWII and Korean War fighter pilot, and Ted Williams left one hell of a legacy.  

(Read the next part in the 30 for 30 voice) But what if I told you Williams most far-reaching legacy is not what he did on the field of play or battle?

In 1971 Williams’ book, The Science of Hitting, was released, and his philosophies have influenced generations of greats, including Carl Yastrzemski, Tony Gwynn, Jason Giambi, and likely 2016 NL MVP, Kris Bryant. The book, considered a second bible in Massachusetts, is considered well ahead of its time.

“The first thing you looked at with the book was that in all its simplicity, with everything hand drawn, it was incredibly complex,” Mike Bryant said (Kris Bryant’s dad, a hitting instructor in Las Vegas). “My first impression is, this is not just see it, hit it — monkey see, monkey do. It was very hard for me to understand because it was geometry and trigonometry and angles and all that stuff, and the way I was taught was very different.”

Big League hitting instructors, players, and GMs all remember drawings and charts of the book fondly, but recent technology has proven Williams’ theories correct, so this isn’t just hero worship. There’s no room for that when the difference between an All-Star, multi-million dollar player and a career minor leaguer is 5 percentage points over the course of 500 at-bats. – PAL

Source: “Kris Bryant Takes Lessons From Ted Williams’s Batting Bible”, Billy Witz, New York Times (10/30/2016)

TOB: Godddd, I have been ripping the Cubs to shreds, and so this feels like piling on but I could NOT help but point out this line from pretty-faced, dumb-as-rocks, Kris-with-a-K Bryant. When asked about the book, that we just read paragraph after paragraph about how Kris-with-a-K’s dad introduced him to in order to teach him his swing, Kris-with-a-K says:

“I don’t really like to read. My dad’s the one that does the reading for me and presents the research (Ed. Note: “research” hahaha) to me when I need it. It wasn’t a book that I read; it was more of a teaching tool that my dad used. Obviously, he’s read it a jillion times.”

Oh, to be young, dumb, rich, and handsome. What a life he leads. Also, if you don’t think I didn’t just order that book on Amazon, then YOU DON’T KNOW ME, HOMEY.

Video of the Week

Song of the Week: Traveling Wilburys – “End Of The Line”

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

Of course this guy commented on porn on Reddit. His name is Ken Bone, for chrissakes.

Still Ballin After All These Years

I have a regular, Sunday morning pickup basketball game I play in. It’s just up the street. The age range varies, but I’m on the younger end. Some of the guys have been playing there together on Sunday mornings for 30+ years, which is incredible. They still bust each other’s balls, and reminisce about the guys who used to play there, or how good this guy or that guy was when he was younger, or how they used to destroy one of the younger guys there when he started playing in the game at age 12. This article, a wistful ode to the weekly basketball game, is a few years old. I shared it on Facebook pre-1-2-3 Sports!, and it popped up in my “Memories” this week. It’s as good now as it was then. Even better, actually. I am getting older and feeling the effects of playing basketball 3-4 times a week for 2 hours each throughout my 20s: I don’t move laterally as well as I used to, my first step is a half step slower, and my game is played much closer to the ground than it used to be – all of which has made me a fairly mediocre defender. But I can still shoot – heck, I am much better now than I used to be – and I can still pass, and that’s all you really need to contribute for years. I hope I’m still playing there 30 years from now, telling some young buck about the guys I used to play with – right before I drill an 18-footer in his face to close out the day. -TOB

Source: “The Game Never Stops Calling, Even When Your Body Won’t Answer”, Mike Sager, Deadspin (10/10/2013)

PAL: I think it’s time for a little field trip, followers of 1-2-3. With the Giants season over, and the Niners season…well…over, we can tailgate at one of TOB’s Sunday games. Seriously. I’ll provide the grub and the brews. Toss the ball around, then head into the gym and heckle the players.

TOB: I ask you to come play all the time! Come this Sunday. And make sure your peoples is there to see it. You might get embarrassed.

PAL: I can’t shoot, I’m short, and I foul often. Sounds like a great time.

The Silver Lining of ‘Locker Room Talk’

By now we’ve all recoiled after listening to Donald Trump on a hot mic with little Billy Bush talking about non-consensual contact with a women. Political leanings aside (I’m still not ruling out 10 point Clinton landslide, as the Trump train feels like – maybe, perhaps, could be – finally be coming off the tracks), we can all agree that he’s a grade A moron, right? Right. This isn’t about Trump being, as Colin Powell put it, “[A] national disgrace and an international pariah.” For this humble sports blog, the angle here is about athletes speaking up.

Before I continue, and to state the obvious, Trump’s explanation was bullshit. His history seems to confirm that.

We all talked about it. I was on a plane during the debate, and it was quite a scene to watch unfold as everyone onboard turned on their phones and responded to the debate (not much for screens and Wifi on the el cheapo flights). Athletes spoke up, too. Here are a handful from Bill Pennington’s NYTimes article on 10/10:

“Have I been in every locker room?” Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Chris Conley wrote on his Twitter account. “No. But the guys I know and respect don’t talk like that. They talk about girls but not like that. Period.”

Oakland A’s pitcher Sean Doolittle said on Twitter, “As an athlete, I’ve been in locker rooms my entire adult life and uh, that’s not locker-room talk.”

But Atlanta Falcons tight end Jacob Tamme may have had the last word, and spoke for many.

Having just left the locker room after his team’s victory over the Broncos in Denver on Sunday night, Tamme wrote: “I showered after our game but I feel like I need another one after watching the debate.”

He added: “The attempt to normalize it as any type of ‘talk’ is wrong. I refuse to let my son think that this is ‘just how men speak.’”

TOB has pointed this out in recent weeks in relation to the Colin Kaepernick story, and it’s worth resurfacing: I can’t remember a time in my life when athletes were this outspoken on political and social issues, and each previous, recent instance of an athlete making a statement emboldens the next. This is good. Whether you agree with the athletes’ opinions or not, I assure you this is a good thing. Granted, a response opposing Trump’s lunacy is a layup, but the point is the athletes confirmed that the BS hack’s statements were just that. More than being pitchmen of shoes made by kids in a third world country, don’t you want to know these folks have an actual conscience? I do. – PAL

Source: “What Exactly Is ‘Locker Room Talk’? Let An Expert Explain”, Bill Pennington, The New York Times (10/10/16)

Non-Story: Giants Bullpen Buries Giants

No story link here, just an aside. Rowe, TOB, JOB, and I were at the Giants’ collapse on Tuesday night. Beautiful night, and for 8 innings Moore, a mid-season acquisition, was dealing. I foolishly made a comment along the lines of, Can you imagine how tight all of Chicago will be for game 5? And then the bullpen crapped itself.

Up 5-2 going into the 9th, lost 6-5.

I texted Rowe after the game: “That’s (insert expletive) tough to swallow.”

Rowe: “I want to be pissed off, but anyone who watched this team all year knew it would be the bullpen to break out hearts.”

No response required.

But there’s this to brighten everyone’s day:

Pro tip for the Giants: There’s no more blowing into the bullpen cartridge. Time for a new game. – PAL

TOB: As I said to you guys at the game – it was the perfect microcosm of the season. A great and promising start, followed by a complete collapse because the bullpen can’t get anyone out. I read this article yesterday by Grant Brisbee about what the Giants bullpen will to look like next year. It’s…promising? They need to go after two end of game arms – a true closer (Melancon?) and a very good lefty specialist. Then they let Romo, Lopez, and Casilla walk as free agents. Then you’ve got Free Agent 1, Free Agent 2 (lefty), Law, Smith, Strickland, Okert/Osich, and maybe Kontos or Gearrin (who I still like). That’s…not bad. Strickland is not bad as the 5th best guy in the pen. I think we could also use another starter. The other good news is that the Giants let third base coach Roberto Kelly (and first base coach Bill Hayes) go yesterday. Hallelujah! The base running was awful. Kelly, especially, had some crazy misfires over the last two seasons, though admittedly nothing as bad as this from last night:

Look where the third base coach is; look where the ball is; look where Werth is…needless to say Werth was hosed by about 40 feet.

Video of the Week:

Song of the Week: Elvis Costello – “Miracle Man”

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

Yes, that guy on the right is a professional athlete. No, I’m not kidding.

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 team. 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)

Joe Still Buckin’ It Up

A while back we went in on Joe Buck, and so I feel a little bad doing so again so soon. But it’s really god damn funny. You see, when you are handed everything because your dad was great and everyone liked him, and he gets you to the top of his profession without making you pay your dues and earn it, there is a tendency to have self-doubt. Do I really deserve this? Did I get this because my daddy called in some favors? Am I a fraud? Joe Buck has that in spades (For Buck, it’s been compounded because he has a punchable face and an odd sense of humor – a sense of humor many do not understand. I don’t think Joe is particularly funny, but I do think he’s a little misunderstood).

I imagine Joe staring into the mirror every morning and asking, “Why do people hate me? Why do I hate myself? Where is my hair line going…?” And because he couldn’t answer the first two questions, or at least had no solution, Joe Buck controlled the one thing he could control – his hairline…by getting hair plugs. And more hair plugs. And more. Joe Buck says now, in fact, that he was addicted to hair plugs. As men with gloriously full heads of hair, Phil and I do not understand this. Are hair plugs not permanent? Why did he keep needing to get them? I digress. Joe’s addiction to hair plugs almost cost him career. He says that one hair plug surgery caused his vocal cords to become paralyzed, somehow. Buck was out of commission for a number of months. Imagine, the one thing Joe Buck has going for him, other than who his daddy was, is his voice, which is quite good for broadcasting. And he almost lost it for frigging hair plugs. And the best part? He hasn’ ruled out hair plugs in the future. Oof. At that point, you deserve it. -TOB

Source: “Joe Buck Reveals That Hair-Plug Addiction Nearly Cost Him His Career“, Richard Deitsch, Sports Illustrated (10/06/2016)

Fastball In.

Look. You’re going to have to accept the fact that we will spill a lot of e-ink this month about the baseball playoffs (looking at you, Morganstern). The San Francisco Giants are in the playoffs, officially, having beaten Thor and the New York Mets, on the road, in one hell of a Wild Card Game. Bumgarner Bumgarner’d, which is about all you can say at this point. Syndegaard was great, but the Conor Freakin Gillaspie crushed a 3-run home off Familia in the 9th to propel the Giants to victory.

We, the writers/editors of 1-2-3 Sports! love baseball, and so you, the loyal readers, will be reading a lot. The first October baseball story is about how the Giants’ Will Clark changed the way teams conduct mound meetings. Nowadays, pitchers cover their mouths when they talk to their catcher or their coaches so ensure the hitter, or anyone else, can’t see what they are saying. But that wasn’t always the case, and it all changed because of Will Clark.

It was Game 1 of the 1989 NLCS and Clark was up with the bases loaded against a young Greg Maddux. Cubs manager Don Zimmer went to talk to Maddux, as Clark was already having a very good game. Clark looked out and saw Maddux, not covering his mouth, say, “Fastball in.” Clark couldn’t believe it, but trusted it, and sure enough saw a fastball in on the next pitch. Clark crushed it for a Grand Slam.

Clark’s telling of this story is great, and it’s well worth a read. -TOB

Source: “Giants-Cubs playoff series conjures thrilling memories for Will Clark, the hero of ’89“, Daniel Brown, San Jose Mercury News (10/06/2016)

Video of the Week

https://twitter.com/2ManySoles/status/784110132372180992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

PAL Song of the Week: The Velvet Underground – “I’m Waiting For The Man”

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