Sports Then and Now

When we sat in front of our TV’s back in April to watch the first games of the 2010 season, October seemed eons away.  Yet here we are, the 162-game season has concluded and Fall Baseball is upon us.  All the matchups are set for what could be one of the more entertaining post-seasons in some time.

Texas was the first team to be clear additions to the post-season. Perhaps it’s ironic, then, that they could be the one of the first teams to be eliminated.  Forget all the information you’ll hear about how they have never won a post season series – that was then, this is now.  What “now” specifically means is that Texas is going to go to Tampa with the worst record any playoff team and a pitching rotation that is just slightly above average (3.93 compared to 4.14).  They have the slight edge over Tampa Bay where regular season offense is concerned, but will be fielding a wounded Josh Hamilton (ribs) which will affect his plate performance.

One advantage that Texas does have will be the home town crowd.  Tampa has the home field advantage on paper, but given the fact that their fan-base is mostly imaginary, if the Rangers can split at the Trop, they will have a lot more faithful in attendance when they go back to Arlington.

In the end, though, it will not be enough.

Prediction:  Tampa in 4. Read the rest of this entry →

Last night, for the first time since my baby sister was born, the National League won the Major League Baseball All-Star game. For those of you who missed my running timeline of things that happened the last time the NL won an All-Star Game because you don’t follow me on Twitter (shameless plug: www.twitter.com/HubSportsLive), here’s the complete version:

• Last time the NL won an All-Star game, they didn’t play hockey in AZ and baseball’s most cherished records were held by guys named Maris and Aaron.

One of 1996's greatest highlights was also the scene of one of its greatest tragedies

• Last time the NL won an All-Star game, Bret Michaels was a musician, Tom Cruise wasn’t a theologist and Tiger Woods was a golfer.
• Last time the NL won an All-Star game, MTV played music videos, AOL was the preferred ISP and @UmpJoeWest didn’t have his own twitter handle
• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game, Kirby Puckett was loved by everyone and Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones weren’t yet household names.
• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game, “Macarena” was on top of the Billboard charts. Who Let The Dogs Out was, sadly, still four years out.
• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game, Betty White was a ripe, young 74 and Joe Torre was in his 1st year with the Yankees
• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game, the Yankees hadn’t won a World Series in 18 years and we thought we were done with Bush as President
• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game, neither Kobe Bryant, Peyton Manning nor Alex Rodriguez were world champions. There’s a happy thought.
• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game, Conan O’Brien wasn’t the name of the gum on Jay Leno’s shoe and Seinfeld was still filming new episodes
• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game,  “The Rachel” was a popular hairstyle, leggings and cords were trendy and Blink 182 wasn’t yet famous
• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game, the Cowboys were America’s team, Nintendo 64 was released and a sheep named Dolly was a celebrity
• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game, Robert Dole was a presidential candidate and not a Pepsi spokesperson

This look familiar? You must have been born after the NL won its last all-star game, then.

• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game, OJ was a free man, Clinton wasn’t impersonating Kennedy and Tupac was still alive
• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game, Britney wasn’t a MILF, Miley was in diapers and nobody knew about Megan Fox.

Sad but true. Sad, but true.

It’s been a strange year for sport. A team of Geriatrics made the NBA Finals, taking the defending champs to 7 games. Two teams who had never won a World Cup played for the championship. A team (avert your eyes, Bostonians) with a 3-games-to-zero playoff series lead melted and lost in Game 7 on home ice. At baseball’s all-star break, 3 teams who didn’t finish last year with a winning record lead their divisions. The once-unflappable Tiger Woods flapped and, ultimately, folded. A tennis match lasted over 11 hours, spanning 3 days. The Miami Heat built a basketball franchise that promises to be hated by all.

But when the year is over and Time Magazine writes its Person of the Year issue, these instances will all be asterisks, if that. Sport in 2010 will be marked neither by tragedy nor travesty, but rather by life running its course. Not 40 days after John Wooden – The Coach – passed away, so, too, did The Boss.

George Steinbrenner was, no doubt, a polarizing figure, but nowhere more than in the Bronx. What he represented drew the ire of eyes in Boston, Queens, Atlanta and Los Angeles, to be sure, but it wasn’t until twenty years into his ownership of the Yankees that his own fans warmed to him – and then, only after a three-year, league-imposed hiatus from the game.

Steinbrenner, Guliani and the World Series trophy in 2001 during an Esquire Magazine photo shoot.

But this is not a history lesson. No, this writer prefers to leave history to those more historically inclined. Steinbrenner’s passing happened at a fitting time; it was, after all, the one day of the year in which there is no sports news for ESPN or any other outlet to break. And, let it be known – even in the opinion of one who often criticizes ESPN for capitalizing on narcissistic moments in sport – that ESPN covered the passing of The Boss admirably, devoting an entire morning and early afternoon of coverage to Steinbrenner, his friends, once and former co-workers and the rest.

I am a Boston fan. I grew up in Upstate New York, with the exception some instances during my childhood in which I was transplanted in Massachusetts’ South Shore. That was enough to sell me on the Red Sox and Bruins and Celtics and Patriots, despite the fact that for most of the year I was surrounded by a majority of Yankees, Rangers, Knicks and Bills fans.

That does not make me immune to feeling the same chills that so many others probably felt this morning when Bob Knight, during a phone interview on SportsCenter, broke down crying not once, but twice while talking about Steinbrenner. Or when Dave Winfield got choked up on camera. I’m almost afraid to watch Derek Jeter’s interview, when it comes.

Baseball is the one sport whose season takes place without much competition. Sure, there is the occasional major golf or tennis tournament and every other summer, the World Cup or Olympics take center stage for a few weeks. But really, baseball goes from April to September without rival – it is only its postseason that is really challenged by other, regular sports. So to say that Steinbrenner was almost single-handedly responsible for making baseball what it is today might seem like an overstatement.

It’s not. Read the rest of this entry →

Umpiring is just one (well...two) of the things that need changed in MLB.

Most fans don’t care about ratings or polls. When you sit down at the ball park with your son, the last thing you’re thinking about is whether the NFL or MLB has the bigger fan base. When you clear your evenings in October to watch the playoffs, thoughts of revenue sharing and rookie signing bonus ceilings are not on the menu for conversation. Aside from the geeks (of which I am one) who listen to sports talk radio all day long, these topics are marginal issues at best. Instead, what the real fans car about – game-wise, that is – has to do more with the legacy of the game and its heroes than of the television ratings. Kids want to see their favorite player in the All-Star Game and everyone looks to watch baseball (as opposed to posturing and argument) between the first and last pitch.

With those desires (and those who desire such) in mind, the following is a list of five things that Major League Baseball could change to make their fans much, much happier. Read the rest of this entry →

Here’s a name you should not know but probably do: Joe West

Aside from his aspiring (or is it perspiring) country music career, Joe West is the best known umpire currently in the major leagues.  But pay attention to that sentence because best known is very different from being the best, or even generally good at his job.  Most talking heads agree, Joe West is an average to below average official.  More importantly, he refuses to fade in to the background of the games he calls as a good umpire should.  Instead, West enjoys his stage and, on occasions like Wednesday’s White Sox game, he demands center stage.

West called Chicago’s Mark Buehrle for two balks in the first three innings of their game against the Indians.  Buehrle, known for an exceptional move to first, didn’t like the first one, and his manager, Ozzie Guillen, came out of the dugout, argued with West, and got himself tossed.  Now, Ozzie getting tossed is not even really news worthy, although most observers seem to agree that what Buehrle did in the second inning was not a balk.  In the third inning, West called Buehrle for another balk that was not a balk.  This time, when Buehrle dropped his glove on the ground in disgust, West tossed him.  It did not appear that Buehrle yelled anything at West prior to his ejection, and it was clear that West was waiting for any excuse.

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Now, balks are a dubious thing at best – most fans I know can’t even explain clearly what constitutes one.  The real issue here isn’t balks, however, it’s roles. Life is much nicer when you and the folks around you know what roles they are in and play them.  Joe West’s role is supposed to be, to steal a line from Full Metal jacket, “In the rear with the gear.”  The is most assuredly not where Joe West wants to be.

Read the rest of this entry →

New York, New York. Twins face the Yankees in stern 3-game test.

Remember last October when the Yankees swept the Twins in the American League Playoffs? This was after the Twins had clawed their way back to win the Central Division crown while the league-leading Tigers swooned. Impossible to forget.

Remember the final moments of Twins baseball inside the Metrodome? With its artificial landscape contained by a shabby, baseball-colored roof that held and intensified noise to exhausting, bone-jarring levels—the Dome rocked and rolled. On that final Sunday there were 54,735 fans packed inside, all screaming for a win until the last pitch.

Remember being down 4-1 in the bottom of the the ninth as Twins third baseman Brendan Harris stood in the batters box with Michael Cuddyer safe on second base? Within that deafening roar as the count stood 2-0, Harris swung hard, hitting a ground ball to the shortstop who threw him out at first.

Read the rest of this entry →