Make A List Monday
Posted: May 29, 2007 @ 11:17 am
I’m not as manic as High Fidelity’s Rob Gordon when it comes to lists, but I love making them and rating others lists, be they about music, football or anything I know fairly well.
I was therefore intrigued by this list of the “Five Worst Things in Sports.”
Mostly, I find myself agreeing with points two, about the media’s piling on Barry Bonds and point one, about the cost of games.
Let’s stick with two for the moment, because it led to an interesting point in the comments thread, which I recommend you read. Jimmy Traina chastises the sports press for their three year — yes, three year — stalking of Bonds and the question of whether he did or did not use steroids.
If I may run on a tangent for a second, let me say I don’t care. Yes, this is a legitimate story, and to me its clear that Bonds used. But baseball and the press lose the plot by focusing exclusively on Bonds.
I used to be an Astros fan and when I followed the game, I followed it just as hard as I do football. I wasn’t a card-carrying member of SABR, but I was into Moneyball stats before they became cool. And one of the heuristics back in the day (meaning the mid ’90s) was that players peaked somewhere around age 28.
This was used as a shorthand to slam teams that lavished big money contracts on players in their 30s. it’s wasn’t good business. Good players declined more slowly than average ones but history showed that they nevertheless declined once their 20s were over.
But something changed in baseball in the year 1996. 33 year old Ken Caminiti, a talented but troubled 3rd baseman who had never hit more than 26 homers in a season, banged out 40 and won the MVP. Later, after drugs and alcohol wiped out his career, he admitted he used steroids to boost his performance.
That same year, his 31 year old teammate Steve Finley rapped 30 dingers. He had never hit more than 11 in a season. Also that year, 32 year old CF Brady Anderson whacked 50 homers, 29 more than his career best, set four years before.
Is it just coincidence that so many 30 somethings were confounding performance arcs by doubling their HR totals? We likely were seeing the first year of the steroids era; in ‘95 only four players had 40 or more homers. In ‘96 that number jumped to 17. In ‘98 we had the crazy Sammy Sosa/Mark McGwire HR race “that saved baseball.”
Yet where in the hours of bloviating and acres of column inches is this covered? Nowhere that I’ve seen. I recall questions about juiced baseballs, but nothing about juiced players.
Today we have feuding between Bonds and Commish Bud Selig over the proper response to Bonds breaking Hank Aaron’s record.
Cover all the steroid abuse and baseball’s complicity in it, or don’t cover it at all. Don’t single out one player, however detestable he may be and blame him for all of baseball’s sins. By doing so, you accomplish the amazing feat, to me anyway, of making Bonds somewhat sympathetic. Oh, and you make it infinitely easier for me to give up the sport altogether. Nice work.
Which brings me back to the thread. Do you notice how many people cite ESPN as one of sports biggest problems? I guess people don’t really care for Chris Berman’s or Stephen A. Smith’s presentations of the games. They just want sports.
Which brings me to my last list of the day. Pundits are already tossing around timetables and numbers of games for a possible Michael Vick suspension. John Clayton predicted Vick would not be suspended this year, this on the heels of his network’s interview with a dog trainer who fingered Vick as a “major figure” in the sport. Matt Mosely quotes Falcons officials as “bracing for a six game suspension.”
Folks, there is a long-standing precedent for gambling and its far more than six games. In 1963 Commissioner Pete Rozelle suspended Packers HB Paul Hornung and Lions DT Alex Karras a full season for betting on games and associating with gamblers.
Betting on NFL games is pretty serious business. Gambling is illegal and betting by players on games compromises the integrity of the league’s product. (Neither player was found to have bet against his team, which may explain why they were reinstated for 1964.)
Dog fighting is a felony. I don’t know the legal penalty for betting on fights, but it’s probably not trivial.
IF — and let me stress that no chargers have yet been leveled against Vick, only an ESPN gotcha interview — the quarterback is proved to have participated in gambling, which itself is illegal, and gambling on illegal acts, I think Rozelle’s ruling will become a reference point. Whether Roger Goodell follows it to the letter or not remains unclear, since he’s far from having to consult it at this point.
Where do these incidents rate with you?
Comments
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With each passing day the evdence against Vick grows and if charges are laid against him, sponsers and the Atlanta Falcons will surely distance themselves and a long suspension will follow. Goodell is making his mark on the NFL and that he’s going to clean it up, this has to be the worst offseason for the NFL, and its image is taking a major beating, if it doesn’t come to an end, the league is going to suffer greatly financially .
Even if Vick isn’t charged, I expect him to still be suspended for atleast 6 games for clearly having knowledge surrounding the events of the property he owned
Vick should be thrown in jail. Forget about suspensions. This is a criminal activity and he should be prosecuted to the highest level of the law.
The Falcons should be concerned about animal rights activists protesting all season long at their games. Also sponsors are going to drop like flies if Vick is convicted. Forget about pet supply/food companies paying for ad time on Falcons radio/tv programming.
Also I hate ESPN and Sportcenter. The entire channel is like Entertainment Tonight or Access Hollywood for sports. How many ex-athletes do they need to break down a game? Why do we need to hear from Salsbury, Hoge, Golic, “Stink”, and 5 other former players, when they only talk about 1 thing. I stopped watching ESPN last year and I won’t watch it until they start covering sports and not celebrity or opinion.
While I feel that Dogfighting is a horrible act upon an animal, and shoulod be punished, I also recognize that Mr. Vick is innocent untill proven guilty. He is like the old T-shirt of the pidgeons watching the bald-man with a target on his head. He (and others) are a money making target of the sports media. Everything these guys do is placed in the spotlight and scrutinized until the tape is worn out.
It has been said that had stars from the past such as Bart Star and Ted Williams been in the public eye as much as todays athletes, they too would be found guilty of many moral sins.
Quit making Idols of athletes and cover the damned game!
VA Dallas,
I’ve seen some fans on the national sites lash out against Goodell for allegedly grandstanding against Vick, Pacman Jones and other players, but they miss the point you raise — these guys are bad for business. They damage the NFL mark, which brings in $3.735 BILLION a year in TV revenue, not to mention advertising streams.
That’s just too much to risk from a business standpoint, never mind from an ethical one.
I have never been the type to blindly put faith in the market system, but I just don’t really understand the argument that ticket prices are too high.
I’m from Philadelphia and I remember a time not long ago when you could get a Phillies ticket package for $10 (A ticket, a hot dog and drink and 2 subway tokens)…still, games had open seats. (this was before the new stadium and when the Phillies were REALLY bad)
Eagles tickets, on the other hand started in the 60s and were much higher for the playoffs…the tickets generally sold out pretty quickly.
Now, if the Eagles game tickets were $10, the tickets would be just as unattainable to the masses; they would sell out within a minute of going on sale.
In the end, you could expect a lot more scalping and even maybe a legal form a ticket brokerage would develop, whereby a company could buy a certain number of tickets and sell them at market value…this would be a wash for consumers.
If you want to see a game (for me it’s the cowboys-eagles game in philly each year), you just have to pay the big bucks; I’d be far more dissapointed if I couldn’t get a ticket because I was 30 seconds too slow to push send on my phone than if I couldn’t come up with 60 bucks…
Any word on Maryland OT, Jared Gaither, entering the supplemental draft?
from Wikipedia
“Ultimately, he decided to stick around for his junior year and there are few 2008 mock drafts predicting Gaither falling any later than the middle of the first round.”
Dallas wont be wasting a draft pick next year on any of these supplemental players. Predicting these players for next year in these stupid Mocks this time of year is a big waste of time.
This kid is 6′9″ 350 lbs and holds the school record for O line vertical jump. His freshman year, h e didn’t give up a sack playing left OT. He was a basketball player coming out of high school. Seems he could be a Leonard Davis type player that can play left OT.
I agree, birdness
I think he would be a very good pickup and is a real answer to our LT problems. By getting him this year, he’s more likely to be ready to step in for Flozell Adams in ‘08.
I wouldn’t ive up the Browns’ pick for him, but given that we’ll have two first rounders o=next year anyway, we might as well use one to solidify the O-Line. I think that Gaither will be the top OT next year and if we could get him for what will likely be a pick in the late 20s (hopefully 32), why not?
i think when it comes to vick, if the commiss wants to make a big splash on behavior issues, Vick, being as big as he is by name of course, would be a solid example. One of the biggest names, jersey sales and contracts.
Derrick,
Gaither is a lock for the 1st round next year. The only reason I don’t advise taking him in Supp draft is that there will be hella OT’s coming out next year - 5 or 6 at the Levi Brown level or better.
We might get a top level OT in the second round…
Gunner,
You’re right that fans shouldn’t make these players into idols, but even with “idolatry” avoided, kids will look up to pro athletes, so they are role models, like it or not. And they do represent the company(NFL)as high profile figures.
All the more reason to avoid felony-activity when you play for the league. I like the current phrase “It’s a privilege to play in the NFL.” It’s not a right. Focus on the game, but the game IS the players, on or off the field. Without the players there is no game (see strike years).
I don’t think there’s room in the NFL for felons — but there might be some in Huntsville.
For those of you complaining about ESPN, I know this might be difficult to imagine, but it honestly could be worse. Try living in Canada–it’s called TSN up here (same company and some of the same programming), and it makes me long for the constant over-celebritizing and opinionating of ESPN. All you need to know: the network features the WWE twice a week.
And TSN’s “Sportscentre” usually goes like this: NHL scores and highlights, minor league hockey scores and highlights, NHL analysis (if you think Salisbury, Golic, and Hodge are boring, try hockey analysis–”they should have put the puck on goal more and punched out the other team’s best guy more”–by hockey has-beens you’ve never heard of), Blue Jays highlights, CFL training camp coverage, more hockey analysis, and finally as the credits start to roll…”and the American football league held its Super Bowl today…”
Damn right I’m bitter. I’ve gotten to see exactly 1 game of the NBA playoffs this year. Meanwhile, I’ve been treated to hours and hours of debate over whether true Canadians should cheer for Ottawa (which is in Canada) or Anaheim (which has more Canadian players) in the Stanley Cup finals. This blog is about the only thing keeping me sane…
Great white,
Yes there is way too much hockey coverage in Canada.
At the same time when Toronto got the Jays, and later on the Raptors, there was a huge increase n the amount that the respective leagues were covered since there was a home team involved.
Now, WHEN Toronto gets its’ NFL team, the coverage will increase exponentially.
And through the internet, you can be as well informed as just about anyone else - through great sites like this one…
On the topic of ESPN– the network was a genuinely sports resource as recently as 2 or 3 years ago. Sean Salisbury, Michael Irvin, and others of their type have never been good, because they refuse to do research and are allowed to simply “analyze” topics using their off-the-top-of-their-head opinions. But Baseball Tonight was a great program 2 years back when Gammons and Harold Reynolds were two of the mainstays, and even NFL Live was better back in 2003 and 2004, when Clayton and Pasquarelli got more airtime, Salisbury (”YOU THINK BRETT FAVRE ISN’T A HECK OF A FOOTBALL PLAYER?”) and Schlereth (”I like Grant Wistrom because he’s a football player. He does all the things a football player is supposed to do. He’s savvy, and he just puts hats on hats out there.”) were limited, and Jaws had not been relegated to the 2 AM episodes of NFL Match-Up with Merrill Hodge, who has taken a few too many hits to the head, despite being a Cowboy booster.
Today, the network just seems to have abandoned any sense of journalistic responsibility. None of the analysts are accountable for the accuracy of their statements, and their pundits are forced into “Bold Predictions” at the expense of sanity. PTI and Outside the Line are the only worthwhile things still on any of their channels.
I don’t want Bonds to get the home run record because he can be a jerk and he seems to want us to feel sorry for him because he has the hard job of being a baseball superstar. What I wouldn’t give to have his talent. He was a phenomenal player before the roids increase his hat size. So, for whatever reason, the steroid issue doesn’t bother me too much. All that being said, I agree with Raf that the press and baseball have conducted a witch hunt with him. It seems he is the only reason the questions are being asked. Unlike Vick and Pacman Jones, I don’t believe he is bad for business. If nothing else, you might go to the game to root against him.
What I don’t get is why ESPN analysts, and sportswriters in general, continue to say– “Maybe Barry took steroids, maybe he didn’t. We just don’t know without proof,” and then continue to report on him 24 hours a day.
He took steroids! There’s been proof for years! From the San Francisco Chronicle, 2004:
“Barry Bonds told a federal grand jury that he used a clear substance and a cream supplied by the Burlingame laboratory now enmeshed in a sports doping scandal, but he said he never thought they were steroids, The Chronicle has learned.
Bonds testified that he had received and used the clear and cream steroid substances from his personal strength trainer, Greg Anderson, during the 2003 baseball season but was told they were the nutritional supplement flaxseed oil and a rubbing balm for arthritis, according to a transcript of his testimony reviewed by The Chronicle.
Federal prosecutors confronted Bonds during his testimony on Dec. 4, 2003, with documents indicating he had used steroids and human growth hormone during a three-year assault on baseball’s home run record, but the Giants star denied the allegations.
During the three-hour proceeding, two prosecutors presented Bonds with documents that allegedly detailed his use of a long list of drugs: human growth hormone, Depo-Testosterone, undetectable steroids known as “the cream” and “the clear,” insulin and Clomid, a drug for female infertility sometimes used to enhance the effect of testosterone.
The documents, many with Bonds’ name on them, are dated from 2001 through 2003. They include a laboratory test result that could reflect steroid use and what appeared to be schedules of drug use with billing information, prosecutors told the grand jury.
In a September 2003 raid on Anderson’s Burlingame home, federal investigators seized documents they said showed Bonds was using banned drugs, according to court records. Anderson was indicted in February on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to distribute steroids in the BALCO case.”
Sorry to clog up the board with non-football topics, but this stuff just drives me nuts. We know he took steroids, so please report accordingly. I’m not saying he should be banned for it, but making it seem like it’s still up in the air or open to individual analysts’ feelings on the matter is ridiculous.
Hear hear on taking shots at ESPN.
One problem with ESPN is that there sources often turn out to be agents.
Now why would an agent steer the good people ESPN wrong, draw attention to one story or player and detract attention from another player or story?
Tim,
Excellent synopsis on Bonds. ESPN has become a big joke. The only guy I respect as far as the NFL goes is Micheal Smith. He is not biased. What a journalistic concept!
Smith made recent positive remarks concerning Phillips, the defense, Romo, and Owens. He likes the Cowboys chances this fall. He thinks Phillips will get more out of the defense and Owens. Come to think of it, I have not seen much of him since he said that stuff. I bet they cut his time on air, because he took a positive view of the Cowboys. Seriously, wouldn’t be a big leap.
Smith stated that he thought the defense would benefit from getting a chance to play in a scheme more aggressive than Parcells’ version of the 3-4. Finally, he thought Parcells’ coaching style wore thin on the players and that Phillips could get more out of T.O., because he wouldn’t be so combative towards him. However, I feel if he didn’t like Dallas, he wouldn’t be such a jerk like everyone else in Bristol.
Rafael:
To your “when I was an Astros fan” comment — I know this goes back a ways, but my Astro Buddy was Doug Radar.
You probably already know this, but baseball’s problems can be traced straight back to good ole
Allan H. “Bud” Selig. Here is his legacy:
1. Steriods *(Roided up players)
2. Tiny strike zone (inconsistent)
3. Juiced Baseballs
4. Tiny Ball Parks (phone booths)
5. Inter-League Play
6. Unbalanced Schedule *
7. All-Star Game decides HFA in WS
8. Small Market Owners will not put
money back into their teams (K.C.)
9. No Salary Cap to offset #8
10.Put two teams in Florida
Selig’s leadership has been pathetic. He acts cowardly and indecisive; moreover, he was shredded by Congress. He looked like the weak light-weight that he is.
The wild card is good, but it isn’t fair if you play an unbalanced schedule. If the Braves are chasing the Cardinals or Astros for the wild card, it is kind of hard to make up ground when you only play them 6 times each. Meanwhile, you might play the Padres 9 times.
Oh yeah, I forgot the 1994 SRIKE. That streak will be tough to repeat.
The decline of African-American players in baseball can fall at his feet too. What has he done to address it?
I don’t trust Roger Goodell. When you talk about moving the Super Bowl to Mexico City and Toronto, that should be a huge red flag. The world has soccer and hockey. Why does this guy want to dwarf David Stern’s globalization policy?
Taking the Super Bowl out of the United States so the other countries can boo our national anthem is like asking Jessica Alba to go to Iran and wear a Burca. The country deserves the right to see the SB played here, and the fans in K.C. should get their 8 homes games every year.
Just wait until Dallas loses a home game and has to play the Bengals in London or Germany.
If I’m going to build a 1 billion dollar stadium, I better get all 8 home games until infinity.
Fight it Jerry!!!!!!!!!
NICKL,
You just summed it up perfectly with these words:
“I’d be far more disapointed if I couldn’t get a ticket because I was 30 seconds too slow to push send on my phone than if I couldn’t come up with 60 bucks…”
Like you said, keep the prices low with price controls on a limited item, and watch the “real world” prices skyrocket. Price controls only promote hoarding and then you and I end up paying the same high prices anyway.
I don’t like Barry. Don’t like the fact that he’s going to break Hank’s record. But Raf’s right about how he’s the only one really targeted by the media. Even Sosa gets beat up on less in the media.
My biggest problem with all this media coverage of it is that they’re just as culpable as anyone else. You can’t tell me they didn’t know anything was going on and yet we heard NOTHING. They owner overlooked it. The players that weren’t doing it overlooked it. And the media ignored it. Shame on them.
The mock outrage that reporters show at steroid use is absurd. I remember when I was 12 or 13 and first saw Canseco. I knew what steroids were then and figured he was a user. It only became a big deal in the media when they decided to make it one. All of it’s rediculous.
Bonds is the only one being targeted because he’s the only one with any relevancy left.
None of the steroid era studs, whom warrant suspicion, will make it into Cooperstown.
Meanwhile,
The ‘Boys Blog will be in San Antonio.
Who cares what Ed Werder or anybody else says on ESPN.
You’ll get ten times more info here.