All-Star Nada

 Baseball  No Responses »
Jul 142009
 

A few years ago, MLB designated that the winning team of the All-Star Game would clinch home-field advantage for its League in the World Series. The move is supposed to liven up the game and get the players to care about the outcome. The allegedly heightened circumstances are also supposed to get the fans to care a little more as well. This year, MLB is using the slogan, “this one counts.”

I fail to understand why World Series home-field advantage would matter to poor unlucky schlobs like Freddy Garcia or Zach Duke of the Pirates or whatever token schlomo got in from the Washington Nationals. Unless they’re expecting to be traded to a contender, perhaps. (In the case of Garcia, the answer is no because the Mets aren’t in contention this year).

In the unbalanced world of Major League Baseball, few teams are in real contention by this point of the season, despite any protestations to the contrary. Why should their few representatives really care about handing home-field advantage to an opposing team. It seems to me that since they are already out of contention, Orioles, Athletics, Pirates, Padres or Diamondbacks players and fans wouldn’t be particularly in favor of handing home-field advantage to potentially the Yankees, Angels, Cardinals or Dodgers.

Oh, I’ve heard that the players are putting forth more of an effort since this scheme was adopted but Bug Selig can’t seriously think that it will bring back the level of competition that resulted in Pete Rose crashing into home plate so many years ago. Way to come up with another gem, Bud.

Pete Rose crashing into Ray Fosse at the 1970 All-Star Game

Acting Like You’ve Been There Before

 Futbol/Soccer, Hockey, The Bigger Picture  No Responses »
Jun 072009
 

… or why I hate being kicked when I’m down

I’m not much for trash talk. I don’t usually like to rise to the bait. Superstition plays a huge part here because I fear what the sports Gods will do when faced with such presumptuousness. Call me paranoid but when your first full season following a sport ends because of a Francisco Cabrera single, you don’t tend towards overconfidence.

I do recognize the role of trash-talk for both fans and the players. But by and large, players make nice after a game. They shake hands in hockey, basketball, football and soccer even at the end of a hard-fought, bitterly contested game. They may not like each other but they at least attempt to act civil. Fans, however, often keep on talking after the games. (And before anyone tries to say that we have the right to speak as we choose, please SHUT UP. Your right to act like a boor is not in question here).

I think it’s all good and well (and perhaps a little fun) to trash-talk before or even during a game. But afterwards, act like you’ve been there. I’m one of those fans who, for better or worse, takes my sports affiliations way too seriously. I take it personally when my team loses. I can’t even watch Sportscenter for a few days after a big loss to say nothing of having to hear some blathering idiot drone on about the superiority of the foe who vanquished my team. I’ll give them their dues but just let me move on.

Teaching sportsmanship

Some people place value on kicking others while they are down. I, however, prefer NOT to be kicked when I’m down for the count. In the former stance, the individual(s) in question is, hopefully, thick-skinned enough to take it when the team loses because this behavior defines turnabout as fair play. In  the latter stance, you have to act like you’ve been there before regardless of the outcome; be gracious in victory or defeat.

While we all get some morbid satisfaction from the misery of others in defeat, I don’t think there’s any reason to rub it directly in their faces. For me, the greater pleasure is celebrate my team’s achievements with my fellow fanbase.

Hockey vs Hiking

 Baseball, The Bigger Picture  No Responses »
Apr 172009
 

I’m here in San Francisco visiting a friend. He’s an northeastern transplant and as such, he’s pretty sports-oriented like many northeasterns. He confirmed a suspicion of mine (and many other eastern people) that sports just isn’t as huge a part of the culture here as it is on the right side of the country.

Now there’s no doubt that there are sports-mad people on the left coast but by and large, it seems as though the sporting-life isn’t as integral. He told me that not once during football season did someone give him a call to ask what he was doing for the games on Sunday. I would get email chains on a weekly basis asking what I was doing for the Steelers game, do folks want to meet at a bar or someone’s place to watch, who’s lucky enough to be going to a game, etc.

AT&T Park in San Francisco

AT&T Park in San Francisco

Some of it has to be climate-affected. During a northeastern winter, what better thing is there to do than escape the cold and watch some sports or go to a movie. But if it’s still nice enough to go for a hike, why not spend Sunday roaming the hills of SF. People go to wine tastings or art galleries or walk around the parks on a nice Saturday or Sunday afternoon. I enjoy those activities in the summer and Oreo loves going to the parks but I’m probably more likely to want to go to a Pirates game at PNC Park on a Sunday afternoon than the average Bay Area citizen is to go to a Giants game.

Please understand that I’m not making a value judgment here. If there’s one thing that annoys me about people who are stridently west coast or east coast, it’s the value judgments they place on their way of life. I don’t give a flying frak if you prefer wine tastings to football or hockey to hiking. I’m just pointing out a difference. Speaking of which, my northeastern friend and I are going to an SF Giants game at AT&T Park today. Go Sports!

Standards of Expectation

 Baseball, Basketball, College Basketball, College Football, Football, Futbol/Soccer, The Bigger Picture  1 Response »
Mar 292009
 

By and large, I consider myself to be a fortunate sports fan. My teams generally do well. Two Superbowl titles, 2 Stanley Cups, 7 Sweet Sixteens, 1 Elite Eight, 1 Champions League, 1 FA Cup, Curtis Martin, Larry Fitzgerald, many others. And someday the Pirates will get to .500 and all of Pittsburgh will go nuts.

I think a reasonable standard of expectation for a fan is for one’s teams to be in the hunt, in any given year. Nothing more, nothing less. All the crazies who expect a title every single season can stay in Lexington or Tuscaloosa or the Bronx.

In any given year, I expect that the Steelers will win 10+ games and have a shot at the Superbowl. I expect the Penguins to make the NHL playoffs and have a shot at the Stanley Cup. I expect that Pitt basketball will make the Field of 65 and have a shot to make a run to the Final Four. I expect Liverpool FC to contend for the Premiership, Champions League, and/or FA Cup titles. Eventually, I would like to expect that Pitt football will win 8-9 games in most years and once every few years when the pieces fall into place, they should contend for a national title.

Pitt vs Villanova

But even with what I believe are reasonable expectations, you inevitably get heart-breaking losses. I don’t have to tell you which loss I’m “mourning” today. I would have to say that Pitt’s loss to Villanova ranks second only to Francisco Cabrera’s single for Atlanta vs the Pirates in the 1992 NLCS. Even the Penguins recovered from David Volek. The Pirates have never recovered from that loss.

Pitt basketball is a strong program and they’ll rebound, rebuild and contend again. I know we had a successful season. I’m proud of how they battled and banged with the big boys. We’ll be back. I expect it.

Capping a Run to Daylight

 Baseball, Basketball, Football, Pro-Basketball, Pro-Football  No Responses »
Mar 262009
 

I want a salary cap and comprehensive revenue sharing in baseball. It’s the only way to ensure a proper competitive balance in the sport. It’s the only hope a small market team, such as my Pirates, have for contending on a regular basis. Every game that the NY Yankees or the Boston Red Sox play make this point even more painfully clear to me.

But the naysayers will point out that other small market teams have contended and even won the World Series. True though that may be, it hides the ugly reality that a well-run small market team (such as the Minnesota Twins or Oakland Athletics, NOT the Pirates) can only compete for a couple years in a given cycle. They will build a team, contend for a time, maybe even reach/win a World Series and then watch as their best and brightest leave for the big money spenders, such as New York, Chicago or Boston. Does anyone remember that Manny Ramirez began his career with the Cleveland Indians? Talk about the model small market franchise. The Indians drafted well, managed their payroll, tried to sign their stars to manageable contracts before their hit arbitration or free agency. They made the World Series and then went kerplunk!

World Series Trophy

A salary cap does NOT guarantee that every team will contend. But it does provide cost certainty such that any team, big market or small, will have a shot to retain its hard-earned, home-grown talent when the big money comes calling (without having to revert to the Reserve Clause).

In the NFL’s infancy, New York Giants owner Wellington Mara decided to give up what could have become a Yankees’ sized advantage in monies in favor of comprehensive revenue sharing. Later, the NFL adopted a salary cap that gives cost certainty to all teams. Today, Ben Roethlisberger is in the midst of a $102 million contract, Troy Polamalu is one of the highest paid players at his position and a team like the Washington Redskins is spending itself into oblivion. Well-run teams like the big market New York Giants or the medium market Pittsburgh Steelers continue to thrive by building rather than poaching.

If MLB did institute a salary cap, perhaps the Pirates would continue to lose; that wouldn’t surprise me one bit. But I think Wellington Mara would be pleased with the idea that well-run, well-built baseball teams would be afforded the opportunity to prosper for many, many years, not just 2-3 years.

Hating the Red Sox More Than the Indians

 Baseball  No Responses »
Oct 232007
 

It’s simple really – bandwagon jumpers and obnoxiousness.

In baseball, you either love or hate the Yankees.  But after the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 and broke their curse (and sadly, Maher did root for the Red Sox to beat the Yankees in the ALCS that year), they’ve almost become the new Yankees.  Suddenly there are scores upon scores of people claiming to have been Red Sox fans all along – so many people in Pittsburgh even began wearing that disgusting red B.  Seriously?

Normally I would ignore the Indians.  But because the Red Sox nation is peopled by a bunch of sanctimonious sh*ts, we root for the Indians.  Doing so in this limited instance does not mean that we approve of the very existence of Cleveland or Ohio, in general.  However, the Indians do not materially affect the Pirates’ fortunes, unlike the Browns.

Keep in mind though that had the Indians won the ALCS, we would have turned and rooted for the Rockies.  Of course, we are not surprised that the Red Sox came back from 3 games to 1 down to win the ALCS.  It is less testament to their excellence than the collective karma of the Mistake by the Lake.  We will continue to root against the Red Sox.

Another reason is Boston’s sports writers/sports personalities – people like Bob Ryan, Jackie MacMullen and Bill Simmons.  Oh to hear them go on and on and on about Boston this and Boston that.  Kill me now!

We all know that any East Conf team stands little or no shot at beating a Western Conf team in the NBA finals.  But now that Celtics have acquired Ray Allen & Kevin Garnett to go along with Paul Pierce, their national exposure will increase exponentially. Even though Allen & Garnett have been two of my favorite players over the course of the past decade or so (and who could forget Allen’s role as Jesus Shuttlesworth in He Got Game), I will be hard presst not to begin to hate the Celtics given the disproportionate amount of hype they are about to receive.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled hatred (of Cleveland).

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