tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31123056511753632622024-02-02T01:02:45.346-08:00Sporadic Sentinel"All the whatever that's fit to whatever."Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.comBlogger208125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-51137623547906578672022-11-08T12:48:00.010-08:002022-11-08T12:48:58.041-08:00Kansas's Last (and Next?) Bowl Game<p><b> Hello friends, this was originally published on my <a href="https://alexdrude.substack.com/" target="_blank">substack</a>. So since you're here, you should probably sign up for that as well.</b></p><p>I had to wait a few days to make sure it was real. Maybe the Kansas
Jayhawks becoming bowl-eligible was a mirage, something that would be
taken away once everybody realized what they’d done. There’s an Election
Day counting-the-votes-after-the-actual-day joke there if you’d like to
make one up.</p><p>But nope, the 6th win is still a thing, and with it
goes a promise I made in September, which is I am going to this bowl
game no matter where it is. Right now it looks most likely to be in
Memphis or Phoenix. Which would be ironic in the true senses of the
word.</p><p>Because I remember very well the last time Kansas went to a
bowl game. I had recently moved to Coos Bay, Oregon, and the best sports
bar in town was called Walt’s Pourhouse (it still is, I would think,
though I haven’t been there in more than a decade). The KU bowl game was
for some reason on NFL Network, which meant I couldn’t watch it at home
even if I’d wanted to. So I went to Walt’s.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" class="sizing-normal" data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6357b5ed-78ee-40a1-9e79-af70506cdce5_4000x2252.jpeg","fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":2586,"width":1456,"resizeWidth":294,"bytes":3983885,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/jpeg","href":null,"belowTheFold":false,"internalRedirect":null}" height="522.1730769230769" sizes="100vw" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6357b5ed-78ee-40a1-9e79-af70506cdce5_4000x2252.jpeg" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6357b5ed-78ee-40a1-9e79-af70506cdce5_4000x2252.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6357b5ed-78ee-40a1-9e79-af70506cdce5_4000x2252.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6357b5ed-78ee-40a1-9e79-af70506cdce5_4000x2252.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6357b5ed-78ee-40a1-9e79-af70506cdce5_4000x2252.jpeg 1456w" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="294" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I still have my Walt's hoodie!</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="image2-inset"><picture style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><a class="image-link is-viewable-img image2" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6357b5ed-78ee-40a1-9e79-af70506cdce5_4000x2252.jpeg" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank"><source sizes="100vw" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6357b5ed-78ee-40a1-9e79-af70506cdce5_4000x2252.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6357b5ed-78ee-40a1-9e79-af70506cdce5_4000x2252.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6357b5ed-78ee-40a1-9e79-af70506cdce5_4000x2252.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6357b5ed-78ee-40a1-9e79-af70506cdce5_4000x2252.jpeg 1456w" type="image/webp"></source></a></picture></div></figure></div><p>The
main teevee in the place was already on NFL Network when I got there,
because there was a mega-fan from the other team already there and
waiting for his team to play their bowl game. Since the game was in the
middle of the day and there weren’t too many people in the place, I
specifically took a seat at a table and not the bar where the mega-fan
was. I had on some KU gear but I certainly wasn’t going to be as
stupidly loud as this guy.</p><p>This has happened to me several times,
and I would not be surprised it has happened to you. You go to an
establishment where you would like to watch your team, even if it is not
a particularly favored team in the area, and the loudest person in the
ENTIRE BAR is the person rooting for the other team in the matchup. And
every time THEIR TEAM does something good they scream at the top of
their lungs. It is like they knew you were coming, even though they did
not know you from Adam.</p><div class="subscribe-widget is-signed-up is-fully-subscribed"><form action="https://alexdrude.substack.com/api/v1/free?nojs=true" class="form " method="post" novalidate=""><div class="sideBySideWrap"><input name="fake_email" placeholder="email" style="left: -10000px; position: absolute; top: -10000px;" type="email" /><input name="fake_password" placeholder="password" style="left: -10000px; position: absolute; top: -10000px;" type="password" />Every
time this has happened to me, the other people in the bar- not just the
staff- have noticed I am a Kansas fan (and this has only happened for
Kansas games) and at some point have come up to me and apologized for
the stranger who is clearly being a jerk about the whole thing. I have
gotten free drinks because of this, no lie. The most notorious example
was not this game, somehow, but a first-round NCAA Tournament game
sometime in the “before days” when KU was a number-one seed trying to
shake that tournament-choker label. The 16-seed was an eastern team, I
think it may have been Harvard or another Ivy-Leaguer or something in
that non-football-DI class. I don’t want to look it up because that’s
not important.</div></form></div><p>What is important, for this story, is that I was
meeting people at this bar (not Walt’s) and KU was the first game of the
day. Which meant they were showing up later, because the second game
was more interesting for them. Which meant I had to listen to this guy
who was a fan of the other team go absolutely bonkers because the
16-seed led most of the first half, and by 6 or 8 or even 10 at the
break. Which meant I had to listen to him all of halftime. By this point
everybody in the bar had apologized to me for having to deal with this.
I was very zen about the whole thing, in a “let him have his moment,
the truth is coming” kind of way.</p><p>Kansas turned it on in the
second half, of course, and Mr. Bonkers got quieter and quieter as the
tide turned, as I knew it would. By the time my friends started showing
up midway through the second half, Mr. Bonkers was practically in a
turtle shell, back to reading his newspaper (which was now an odd thing
to have at a bar even then, proving he was super old-school) and asking
for his tab. My friends did not believe me that that guy had been
talking crap for two straight hours and had only recently shut the hell
up. The bar staff confirmed he had been a mega-tool and asked if I
wanted another beer on them. My friends believed me at that point. (KU
won by 15 or 18, by the way.)</p><p>Anyway, back to Walt’s. KU was
playing Minnesota in this particular bowl game, and the Minnesota fan
was wearing a Gophers hoodie and a hat, as you would expect. Minnesota
took an early lead, and somehow Mr. Gopher thought it would be a great
idea to show how important he was by turning to the other random patrons
of the bar when Minnesota did something good and pointing to his hat
and yelling “THAT’S RIGHT!” Because how else are they going to know
you’re a key part of the team…. that’s playing thousands of miles away
while you’re sitting in a bar on the Oregon coast. I mean, how else
would they know?</p><p>At some point, probably halftime when Minnesota
led, he went up to nearly everybody else in the bar letting them know
that Minnesota was winning and that was very important and he was a
Minnesota fan and they were dominating and they were going to win this
game- that nearly nobody else in the bar was paying attention to at all-
it was lunchtime and they were here to have lunch and maybe a Bloody
Mary or two.</p><p>Note that I said he went up to “nearly everybody.”
There was one table he took pains to avoid. As in didn’t even look at
me, though I was watching every move he made as he went up to the few
occupied tables in the place.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{"url":"https://www.amazon.com/26-Row-Baseballs-Longest-Winning-ebook/dp/B01LY9HNNJ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2L3GDAQMSWDY9&keywords=26+in+a+row+book&qid=1667249832&sprefix=26+in+a+row+bo%2Caps%2C194&sr=8-1","text":"Get my book on the 1916 NY Giants!","action":null,"class":null}">Kansas
came back to win in the second half, of course, and Mr. Gopher looked a
lot similar to Mr. Bonkers. Though in the true timeline, Mr. Bonkers
looked like Mr. Gopher and not the other way around. The point is, they
quieted down and left with their tails between their legs.</p><p>And
now, many words later, my point: That Bowl game where KU beat Minnesota
in 2008, their last bowl game until this season, was the Bowl game in
Phoenix, then called the Insight Bowl and now called the Guaranteed Rate
Bowl (it was originally the Copper Bowl and played in Tucson, but
that’s a history lesson for another day).</p><p>Which means there’s a non-zero chance that KU’s next bowl game <em>will be that same bowl game</em>, and there’s also a non-zero chance <em>that they will play Minnesota</em>.
So my question is, do I go to the bowl game, or do I go back to Walt’s?
Because that would be funnier. It would be even funnier if Mr. Gopher
was still there. </p>Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-10450921891100697922022-05-26T13:55:00.001-07:002022-05-26T17:01:58.308-07:00California Sports Gambling Ballot Measures Overview: May 2022<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgztF1jTu9leHKhWUxLH7TqzFlgYeoIMRsVaAB9g8uGd5bzb9SiR8C3PYdScBg8rVnsEoKclqdksl5rtFcgQeTta-PFT4kjzw0-cGSxLTSMsomymFH5rOfBg7S_KcDdk-01TMX8X9h7xbCcENT5AV3iV3GJ0UgSJLi0Kj79_DfOLCNvtORVZooTInV1/s810/sports-gambling.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="455" data-original-width="810" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgztF1jTu9leHKhWUxLH7TqzFlgYeoIMRsVaAB9g8uGd5bzb9SiR8C3PYdScBg8rVnsEoKclqdksl5rtFcgQeTta-PFT4kjzw0-cGSxLTSMsomymFH5rOfBg7S_KcDdk-01TMX8X9h7xbCcENT5AV3iV3GJ0UgSJLi0Kj79_DfOLCNvtORVZooTInV1/w400-h225/sports-gambling.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div>Legal sports betting in California is long overdue. The state legislature has never really taken the measure up, though some in Sacramento have tried. So of course multiple measures appear to be headed to the November ballot, because California likes to make things as difficult to do as possible. </div><div>I've tried to figure out what's going on, but the issue I've run into is that there are only two types of people writing about this: people who are experts on ballot measures (and know little to nothing about sports, and betting on sports) and pro sports gambler types (who know even less about ballot measures than experts on ballot measures know about sports).</div><div><br /></div><div>So I'm going to try and be the voice of the sports fan who knows a bit about ballot measures. I know less about ballot measures than I know about sports, but as a former sports and news reporter I'm ahead of the game, having covered several elections in my time.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'd imagine you're a bit like me in this respect: I live in California, I like sports, and I'd like to be able to wager legally on them. That's the perspective I'm coming from here. I have no dog in the fight except that I'd like it to be fricking legal already and nobody has explained the different measures in any way that makes sense to me. I've been doing some research recently, and here's what I've found out so far.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">1) On the November ballot, no matter how many propositions there are, it's not an either/or thing</span></b></div><div><br /></div><div>I want to make this perfectly clear from the jump: There could be four measures on the ballot legalizing sports gambling, there could be 40 (there won't) or there could be two (most likely). A vote for one of them does not mean a vote against the other. You can vote for all of them!</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm making this very clear right now: I'm going to vote yes on all of them. I'm for any form of legal sports gambling in California. I may have certain personal preferences, but overall: I'm for it. If the only measure that passes means I have to drive three hours and can only place a bet on teams with an "L" in their name and their mascot has to be a bird and I have to wear snowshoes to do it, I'm STILL going to vote yes.</div><div><br /></div><div>If all measures pass, then the one getting the most votes would be the winner, unless (somehow) it is ruled that they <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/California-sports-betting-ballot-measures-explain-17147478.php#:~:text=What%20happens%20if%20both%20measures%20are%20passed%20by,the%20other%20proposal%20only%20receives%2070%2C000%20%E2%80%9Cyes%E2%80%9D%20votes." target="_blank">don't conflict with each other</a>. And you'd expect that the loser would take it to court to argue whichever side would let their measure exist.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, simply, my ultimate take is: yes. That said, let's move on... </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">2) There is currently only one measure on the ballot.</span></b></div><div><br /></div><div>There could have been up to four choices to vote on, but as of right now (end of May) there is only one. According to <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/2022_ballot_measures" target="_blank">Ballotpedia</a>, that is the tribal casino measure which would only allow in-person wagering at tribal casinos and certain horse-racing tracks. It would prohibit gambling on high school sports (I mean, duh) and events with a California college team. So it would be fine to bet on any college football playoff games for the forseeable future (see, the joke there is that the Pac-12 is bad, and.... oh, never mind).</div><div><br /></div><div>The key omission from this measure, as far as I'm concerned, is the lack of a gambling app. Every other state that has legalized sports gambling has an app component (and in plenty of cases, no in-person option at all). Remember, I'm just a sports fan who wants to bet on the game. If I have to drive an hour or more to make one bet, I'm probably not going to do that. A map of the current tribal casinos in California shows that there is no "close" tribal casino to the <a href="https://gamboool.com/how-many-casinos-are-there-in-california-full-list-of-indian-casinos-with-map" target="_blank">two biggest metro areas </a>in the state, Los Angeles and San Francisco/San Jose.</div><div><br /></div><div>However, this is where the "certain horse-racing tracks" provision comes in. Those four tracks are Santa Anita and Los Alamitos in the LA area, and Golden Gate Fields in Berkeley, as well as Del Mar in San Diego. That at least brings it to the metro areas, but it's still not going to be an every-day excursion for your average sports fan like me. </div><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">2) The other measure that is likely to make the ballot is app-only</span></b></div><div><br /></div><div>If you have watched a game on teevee recently, you have probably seen the anti-app commercial, sponsored by the tribal casino ballot backers. Of course, now you know that they are arguing against something that's not even on the ballot yet. It will likely be on the ballot by the deadline (June 30th), but right now it's like Detroit Lions fans making Super Bowl plans. You can talk about it all you want, but it might be better to wait until you actually know it's going to happen.</div><div><br /></div><div>Still, unlike the Lions in the Super Bowl, this is going to happen this year. Which is why the opposition has already started the anti-ads, because for your Average Joe gambler like me, an app is far more easier than driving an hour each way, especially if I just want to bet on one thing. It's not that hard to figure out.</div><div><br /></div><div>Since it's not on the ballot yet, I just want to point out two things that seem curious to me so far about it. First, <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/California_Legalize_Sports_Betting_and_Revenue_for_Homelessness_Prevention_Fund_Initiative_(2022)" target="_blank">check this out</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div><span face=""Libre Franklin", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16px;">"Such wagering may be offered only by federally recognized Indian tribes and eligible businesses that contract with them."</span></div><div><br /></div><div>That's right.... it's still run by the tribes! And not only that, it's not just one app for the whole state. It basically allows any tribe to run a sports wagering website or app.</div><div><br /></div><div>Which seems.... rather messy. And since it doesn't specify federal tribes based in California, it does appear to open the new industry to any tribe in America. (Again, this is just what I'm gathering from reading the thing. There could be some legalese in there I'm not picking up).</div><div><br /></div><div>Which seems.... even messier.</div><div><br /></div><div>There's also a provision in this measure that says it *doesn't* conflict with any in-person wagering, which would allow both to co-exist (as mentioned above, I'm sure there will be no lawsuits as a result if both pass, because this doesn't seem the type of thing that would involve zillions of lawsuits at all).</div><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">3) Wait, what about all the other measures?</span></b></div><div><br /></div><div>Well, it appears that there was going to be a measure backed by the tribes that would allow online wagering, but that's not going to happen in November. It appears they are going to <a href="https://calmatters.org/commentary/2022/05/will-california-voters-approve-betting-on-sports/" target="_blank">wait on that until 2024</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>And then the card rooms (which I haven't even gotten to yet) were going to have a measure of their own to allow card room wagering, but that didn't get enough signatures to even have a hope of qualifying.</div><div><br /></div><div>So that's where we are before Memorial Day.... pretty sure there will be more twists and turns before we get to November....</div><div><br /></div><div>I'd bet on it.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCvuCUbZ3VQcizOcxjrqgIKqIpwEhpyax9_b4g44HJTvPAP29YFOooCUxJoaJknxAY5haRVPdLwFbBDpwkaZmDj2I8df4lGWZ-7xudyg1QBs59i-TPqKyiK0Fyy34vhJhPEcX9K3-nvZw3kfvJoMEPoV9C8ux4R9Myz5qOO569_n59ioZ9si5SR6B4/s1024/sports-betting-11-1024x499-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="1024" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCvuCUbZ3VQcizOcxjrqgIKqIpwEhpyax9_b4g44HJTvPAP29YFOooCUxJoaJknxAY5haRVPdLwFbBDpwkaZmDj2I8df4lGWZ-7xudyg1QBs59i-TPqKyiK0Fyy34vhJhPEcX9K3-nvZw3kfvJoMEPoV9C8ux4R9Myz5qOO569_n59ioZ9si5SR6B4/w640-h312/sports-betting-11-1024x499-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-65732224851231161682022-04-12T18:43:00.009-07:002022-04-13T20:53:53.257-07:00Everything In Sports is A Gimmick<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPDmJvgisHmY0DDYOD5HAW9DA9o3B5MH0l9e_IgAjjfKm24dhdbwrs2UGQH4O1aMXp4WKGR3LYojaH2XS4KrCsziPJEuJ_ivYPZeshMhnVn0jDhYgjlPVJ4lMwDxf_Dd5z-71Qd32QVuoe8oxkv5weUOQ8KzDrJhwEg2OAR6YUb93PLsgj5NjjkB2J/s768/Full-Play-In-Tournament-Bracket-16x9-1-768x432-copy.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="768" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPDmJvgisHmY0DDYOD5HAW9DA9o3B5MH0l9e_IgAjjfKm24dhdbwrs2UGQH4O1aMXp4WKGR3LYojaH2XS4KrCsziPJEuJ_ivYPZeshMhnVn0jDhYgjlPVJ4lMwDxf_Dd5z-71Qd32QVuoe8oxkv5weUOQ8KzDrJhwEg2OAR6YUb93PLsgj5NjjkB2J/w400-h225/Full-Play-In-Tournament-Bracket-16x9-1-768x432-copy.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>The NBA playoffs and the MLB season are both underway, which means I have heard complaints about both even before they started. This happens lots for lots of things. How many times have you complained about a vacation before you went on it? I think that's why a lot of people don't go certain places for vacation, because the first thing they think about is how long it will take to get there. Never mind that once they are actually in Australia or Italy they will have a grand time, they don't even go because of travel time and passports and the like. Both of which are things millions of people have dealt with, and yet they still went and had a grand time. Anyway, back to sports.</p><p>The biggest current complaints are that the NBA play-in tournament is "a gimmick" and MLB's apparently permanent "ghost runner" on second base in extra innings is "a gimmick." And I have heard that both things "cheapen the game" and "make it less pure" and variations on those themes. The clear implication is that the play-in tournament and the ghost runner are tricks to get people to pay more attention to sports. And I want to caution people about going too hard down the rabbit hole of "sports gimmicks."</p><p>Because if you really think about it, "major league" sports itself is a gimmick. 100 years ago, people were more interested in playing the sports themselves or watching people they actually knew play sports. Every town in America, and I am really not exaggerating, had their own baseball team made up of local players who played other town teams. In big enough places, neighborhoods had their own teams and leagues or associations to play ball. Or any place with enough teams, and baseball was the craze, so everybody had a team. Kalamazoo, Michigan, for instance, <a href="https://www.kpl.gov/local-history/kalamazoo-history/recreation/baseball-in-kalamazoo-1890-1920/" target="_blank">had a league in the early 1900's</a> and the teams consisted of: the two town newspapers each had a team, a couple of local companies each had a team, cigar clerks and postal clerks each made up a team, and the Knights of Pythias had a team. If they got paid, they created leagues of players who were paid to play. (The pro Kalamazoo teams, for instance, played in the Southern Michigan State League.) </p><p>Basketball and football, which came after baseball, became more popular because of those local teams. You look at any college team's schedule from 1904 or 1924 and they're playing the local YMCA or the naval base or the high school or the lumber mill team or whatever company fielded a team in addition to the other nearby colleges, whether they were considered "major" or not.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHP6ujZR6QBH0pYBIlgq41e770YacTTJYBmo5nRYzciCvkYT8J-D02QwoGaH8Myqg1ZkbvmZ4WtFSrailG_aAm3unNE41akhadOs5hkTUtLMRQD0TaKcmS52lESkvrkQVHW47u5SnhI2xazakSuewKLoPBxwpAYSH6jAyXaSjC_AP4sQ30GsITVE1w/s705/kalamazoo-celery-pickers-1911-2-705.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="705" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHP6ujZR6QBH0pYBIlgq41e770YacTTJYBmo5nRYzciCvkYT8J-D02QwoGaH8Myqg1ZkbvmZ4WtFSrailG_aAm3unNE41akhadOs5hkTUtLMRQD0TaKcmS52lESkvrkQVHW47u5SnhI2xazakSuewKLoPBxwpAYSH6jAyXaSjC_AP4sQ30GsITVE1w/w400-h199/kalamazoo-celery-pickers-1911-2-705.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kalamazoo Celery Pickers, 1910 So. Michigan League Champs</td></tr></tbody></table>And since most "major league" sports were on the east coast, people in the south, the west, and the southwest only sort of cared about the American League and the National League. Plenty of players who could have played in "The Majors" turned it down because they were from Seattle or Kansas City or Atlanta and the pay was really about the same. And that's just baseball. The NFL was a midwestern minor league with a big name and big dreams all through the 1920's and even into the 30's. The NHL was mostly eastern Canada and the northeastern U.S. Pro basketball was hardly considered at the time. Some NFL owners created pro basketball teams to play in hockey arenas on the nights there wasn't hockey. The NBA didn't exist until after World War Two, in the mid-1940's. (The first what we now call NBA game was played in Toronto!) Pro basketball in the 20's and 30's basically consisted of barnstorming teams like the Harlem Globetrotters and hundreds of teams similar to them... and the Globies were the most famous because they were made up of black players, thus their name. Most pro basketball barnstormers in the 20's and 30's were all-white teams. </p><p>The idea of a full-time sports player was generally impossible until salaries began to exponentially increase in the late 60's and early 70's, assuredly not coincidentally around the time free agency first began to occur. Most players had to take second jobs in the off-season. You hear about lots of baseball players going on the vaudeville circuit in the 1920's, and mostly it was to make an extra dollar. (Even Babe Ruth did the vaudeville thing and he was the highest-paid player of them all). Lots of them owned car dealerships or went into restaurants or worked insurance. Now, lots of them didn't work very hard, but they sure weren't in the gym 6 hours a day. The insurance companies used them as publicity men, and their name was the obvious selling point for the restaurant or car dealer. But they still needed a job, because sports was a half-a-year job. It was, for all intents and purposes, not a real job but "a gimmick."</p><p>Okay, now that you've been disillusioned by the idea of a "sports gimmick," let's look at the two specific things mentioned, the NBA play-in tournament and the MLB ghost runner. Well, as long as we're being truthful here: the playoffs are a gimmick and overtime is a gimmick. </p><p>The team with the best record at the end of the season is the actual true champion, which is why they use phrases like "World Series Champion" or "Super Bowl Champion." They didn't actually win the league, they just won that particular tournament. The team with the best record really won the league. So when you add another layer of playoffs, you're just adding to the playoff gimmick. I mean, no one's going to say, honestly, that the Atlanta Braves were really the best team in baseball last year or the LA Rams were the best team in the NFL last year. They just happened to be the best teams for that stretch of time known as the playoffs. The San Francisco Giants were the best team in baseball last year because they won more games in the regular season than anyone else, just like the Green Bay Packers were the best team in the NFL. </p><p>The owners and leaders of leagues came up with the idea of playoffs to get more money from people. The idea of a baseball World Series happened less than a decade after the very first pro league, the National League, formed in the 1870's. By 1884 there were two baseball leagues and they agreed to have their champions play each other to see who was better. (In fact there were actually three so-called "major leagues" in 1884 but the third one was considered to be pretty inferior even then so they weren't even considered for this. But I digress.) That's how the legend of "Old Hoss Radbourn" was born, because he pitched all three "World's Series" games for the Providence Grays of the National League and won them all against the New York Metropolitans of the American Association. When the American Association collapsed in the 1890's, the NL went back to no playoffs but considered that boring and invented the "Temple Cup" between the first and second place teams. But the first place team didn't care about the playoff and lost most of the series against the second place team. That's how little people cared about the postseason.</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW4xZLPDja-_XyEe1729poi1n9QhCo4kXsG-ZM97wyiFIWYmtMRudEBkZkkHbjeIbIIHux8zH61IScmAYOMvhxk5mqYrJVuh0JnrRVNifqJSKPsAjYLAFCiPeggOv2gvvVpY2l9n5VAYU4132PxhGufWS156qqUPa32Ei7cPw20okkcBOfxbIOFKtn/s800/gavin-lux-4-800x575.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="800" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW4xZLPDja-_XyEe1729poi1n9QhCo4kXsG-ZM97wyiFIWYmtMRudEBkZkkHbjeIbIIHux8zH61IScmAYOMvhxk5mqYrJVuh0JnrRVNifqJSKPsAjYLAFCiPeggOv2gvvVpY2l9n5VAYU4132PxhGufWS156qqUPa32Ei7cPw20okkcBOfxbIOFKtn/w400-h288/gavin-lux-4-800x575.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">from the game that invented overtime....</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Overtime is also another invention by owners to get more money from people, so the fact that the rules are different for overtimes in all sports makes perfect sense, because ties are problematic for playoff positioning. (See? It's all connected!) Baseball was actually the first sport to invent overtime with the idea of "extra innings," rather conveniently forgotten when people complain about the ghost runner. In their early years the NHL had a full regular season overtime period and then the game ended in a tie, but they stopped that during World War Two and didn't bring regular season overtime back until the 80's. The original rules of basketball by Dr. James Naismith have the option of a "sudden death overtime" (first basket wins, this was when it was a hard to score- dribbling hadn't been invented). College football games ended in ties for decades, even bowl games. (The reasoning, and I'm not making this up, was that amateurs couldn't handle the extra wear and tear of overtime. And this was when they played 9 or 10 games a year, not 15.) The NFL started overtime in 1940 for divisional playoff games, and for championship games in 1946 after the 1945 title game almost ended in a tie. And since NFL overtime rules have always involved some sort of "first score wins" concept, truly the biggest change ever in NFL overtime history, aside from starting it, is the new playoff rule guaranteeing both teams a possession no matter if a team scores a TD on the first possession. </p><p>So, really, overtime and playoff games are gimmicks, period. Adding more teams to the playoffs or changing overtime rules is not new. In fact, the very first sports gimmick, done solely for the purpose of making money, was adding outfield fences to prevent fans from seeing the game for free. In the beginning when baseball players hit the ball real far, they just kept running around the bases as the fielders tried to get the ball and relay it back in. (This is still true in baseball's ancestor, cricket.) But owners didn't like people watching the games for free. So they built fences and started charging admission and making money that way. (And that meant the putting in seats, which eventually became stadiums, etc. etc.) But then they had to make a new rule about batting the ball over the fence.</p><p>Thus, the home run is actually a gimmick. So yeah, don't go down the "sports gimmick" rabbit hole. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPPUgaSosdZHS_HnBWtIBk6Sa-ZYpEAVfONmjLFfYAo87ol91hMIs8fIqS3BAhSiDWNgiIHf9wJ5DdjkxlDYK7QCAvLF7pkQ_95PB2WtDvlzbc1be6s3uvKultgWh45PLMUZOGBN0CaVw82P_j0dcao3txY32Ns3xub6IVGE2k4BMp6_YXy0mg62pi/s801/ASG-ESPN-SprayChart.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="801" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPPUgaSosdZHS_HnBWtIBk6Sa-ZYpEAVfONmjLFfYAo87ol91hMIs8fIqS3BAhSiDWNgiIHf9wJ5DdjkxlDYK7QCAvLF7pkQ_95PB2WtDvlzbc1be6s3uvKultgWh45PLMUZOGBN0CaVw82P_j0dcao3txY32Ns3xub6IVGE2k4BMp6_YXy0mg62pi/w640-h278/ASG-ESPN-SprayChart.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">oh yeah, TOTAL gimmick</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> images courtesy: <a href="https://www.nba.com/news/2022-nba-play-in-tournament-schedule">nba.com</a>, <a href="https://www.kpl.gov/local-history/kalamazoo-history/recreation/baseball-in-kalamazoo-1890-1920/" target="_blank">kpl.org</a>, <a href="https://dodgerblue.com/mlb-likely-eliminating-seven-inning-doubleheaders-runner-on-second-base-extra-innings-rule/2021/07/15/">dodgerblue.com</a>, <a href="https://www.sportsvideo.org/new/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/ASG-ESPN-SprayChart.png">sportsvideo.org</a> </i></span>Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-13399039209312766832022-04-06T17:47:00.006-07:002022-04-19T18:03:27.235-07:009 MLB Predictions for 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPeG6axLCGf19qyBy3Vy02zHuPAj37G9IsM_P0q3ohSfDJZXJsq3DZBNOlaSNR3aXC4FmS3MfMvXGyTX7G5LA7MYvfZNzCQlAgOlxQa1EByn8nkKGrMNCTJmtmf_GONOUnquQ7IQJkMlVO1GaV0uy9qeL0i7tfRhc1U6qiVbV6tF1OR1Q6Kdxr4bJj/s4032/20210830_194229.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPeG6axLCGf19qyBy3Vy02zHuPAj37G9IsM_P0q3ohSfDJZXJsq3DZBNOlaSNR3aXC4FmS3MfMvXGyTX7G5LA7MYvfZNzCQlAgOlxQa1EByn8nkKGrMNCTJmtmf_GONOUnquQ7IQJkMlVO1GaV0uy9qeL0i7tfRhc1U6qiVbV6tF1OR1Q6Kdxr4bJj/w400-h225/20210830_194229.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Picking the winner of the World Series is boring because everyone does it and... frankly, it's dumb. The regular season is long and predictable, the playoffs are short and can hinge on one or two guys having a great three weeks. So no, I don't do that. I like to make a few predictions... nine, specifically. Baseball symmetry, you know? So we're off... <div><br /><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>1. The Mets Will Make the Playoffs</b></span></p><p>Honestly, went back and forth on this one. But with an extra playoff team in both leagues and the amount of money Steve Cohen has spent, especially on pitching, I think the Mets could completely screw up and still win 87 games, which will be enough to get in. The Mets scenario is really very similar to the White Sox last year. Tony La Russa was a terrible hire (still is) but that team was so talented I knew it would win 90+ games even if La Russa literally pressed every wrong button and looked and sounded like an old man who didn't get it.... which was precisely what happened and they still rolled to a division title (and promptly lost in the playoffs).</p><p>The Mets are the pretty much the same thing except they bought all their players instead of the White Sox home-grown route, right down to Buck Showalter and "old manager" syndrome. What's positive is that we haven't heard any rumblings about Showalter being an "old manager," so they're already off to a better start than La Russa and the Sox. Buck was always yanking pitchers and making odd substitutions in the 90's, so he's actually better off for this job. Add two great clubhouse presences in Chris Bassitt and Mark Canha, both former A's who I have seen for years, and the Mets will succeed. Max Scherzer's always been his own dude and the Jacob DeGrom scenario will get the daily twitter going but Bassitt and Canha, if they perform anything close to what I've seen the last few years, will be the toast of the town by July. Canha's bat-flipping will become a sensation, I promise you that. </p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>2. The Angels Won't</b></span></p><p>It's that time of year when people say this is the year the Angels will make the playoffs, and my response is always where's the pitching? They didn't have it last year and they don't have it this year AGAIN. You can tell me over and over that a healthy Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani and Anthony Rendon and that lineup will score 10 runs a game and I will still say "it doesn't matter if you score 10 and give up 12." It's still the case for this year. They let a finally healthy Alex Cobb walk to the Giants and their replacement is Thor. Look, I think Noah Syndergaard, when healthy, is fantastic. But he threw 2 innings last year! TWO!!! If he makes 20 starts it'll be a tremendous success. </p><p>The Angels rotation is banking on two guys who will never pitch more than once a week in Ohtani and Syndergaard. And they will be extremely careful with both. So you're talking at most 50 starts between them. What about the other 112? Patrick Sandoval threw 87 innings last year and you're saying he's a hoss now? Ohtani, Syndergaard and Sandoval threw a combined 219 innings last year (130, 87 and TWO) and you're gonna make the playoffs with that? No, you are not.</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>3. The Mariners Will... Finally!</b></span></p><p>The Mariners won 90 games last season, missed the playoffs on the final weekend, and got better. They're the AL West team that will break through to the playoffs, not the Angels. Since I harped on the Angels rotation as being why they won't succeed, let's look at the Mariners rotation. They bring back 3 guys who threw 100+ innings last year, Chris Flexen (179 IP), Marco Gonzales (143) and Logan Gilbert (119), and Gonzales is the oldest, at 30. Then they add Robbie Ray, who threw a career-high 193 innings for Toronto. That's four starters, and Gilbert's the only guy on that rotation that threw fewer innings than Shohei Ohtani last year. Add the incredible fleecing of the Reds to add bats in Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez AND they got Adam Frazier from the Padres AND rookie Julio Rodriguez is the real deal with now 2nd-year man Jarred Kelenic (that outfield is going to fly). Plus the solid pieces in Mitch Haniger, Ty France... and if the bullpen is even close to decent, they're in. (The Astros are still winning the division, though. Looks like a fun race, however.)</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>4. Matt Olson Will Hit 60 Home Runs</b></span></p><p>Sometimes you have to juice up your predictions to make people take notice. I don't <i>really</i> think he'll hit 60, but saying "Matt Olson will hit at least a career-high 40 home runs in his first year with the Braves" is boring, kind of like everybody making a World Series prediction. Saying "Matt Olson will make Braves fans forget Freddie Freeman" is too juicy and a big lie.</p><p>But the first time Olson absolutely hammers (Braves pun intended) a home run to right in that bandbox of a ballpark called Truist Field or Suntrust Park or White Flight Stadium or whatever they're calling it nowadays, Braves fans will understand they got an absolute gem of a first baseman who is from Atlanta and is happy to be home. Then he'll make a couple of gold glove caliber plays at first and they'll be on his side for keeps.</p><p>And playing 81 home games in Atlanta and not the Al Davis Memorial Mausoleum in Oakland, as well as visiting the 4 other NL East parks instead of the AL West? 50 is incredibly plausible, and 60 is not out of the question. He absolutely raked at the Rangers new ballpark, and now he gets games in Philly and DC? And did I mention 81 games in Atlanta? He might hit 70! </p><p>And yes, I intentionally batted him cleanup on this list.</p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkf8DQoqh6BZ72ph2P0xKQyxA40OrLuB_m8bml7Ebx697uqjoVnSPD1PqDOR9t6iNkqUVFTiMIaB8-l1h8T5SkrNxsckDoRT7SQMiCn7BPMrnJkB05Seg7OG883oWohiH9GDnPg-ygenBvpFmZr_H6j0-TaGp-D361uao4aI1GnBTqmbT8zqPAQ2Hj/s4000/20220325_200340.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2252" data-original-width="4000" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkf8DQoqh6BZ72ph2P0xKQyxA40OrLuB_m8bml7Ebx697uqjoVnSPD1PqDOR9t6iNkqUVFTiMIaB8-l1h8T5SkrNxsckDoRT7SQMiCn7BPMrnJkB05Seg7OG883oWohiH9GDnPg-ygenBvpFmZr_H6j0-TaGp-D361uao4aI1GnBTqmbT8zqPAQ2Hj/w400-h225/20220325_200340.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>5. 3 NL West Teams Make the Postseason</b></span></p><p>You might have figured out I think the Braves will win the NL East and the Mets will finish second. That's two divisions and two wild card teams to go. Well, I think the Brewers will win the Central and both of the other wild card teams come from the NL West. It is not hard to predict the Dodgers win that division, but the other part is actually simpler than you think.</p><p>There's a great under-the-radar baseball saying that's "every team will win 60 games and every team will lose 60 games, it's what you do in the other 42 that make your season." And the guys in charge of the two other teams in the NL West are really great at getting the best out of those teams in those crucial 42 games.</p><p>As a Bay Area guy, I have watched Bob Melvin work magic on a daily basis managing the Oakland A's for years. I am convinced that no matter how little control he had over the roster construction, they let him alone on gamedays with lineups (although I suspect the front office decreed he had to play certain players, which is why you saw curious substitutions in the 5th inning oftentimes). Now he's in San Diego. With the DH now in the NL full-time, Melvin has to do absolutely nothing with his strategies. And he has a front office that will spend the money to contend. And he doesn't just have two stars in the Matts (Olson and Chapman) and a rotation that might be good if everything works.... he has Tatis and Machado and Trent Grisham and his starters are Joe Musgrove and Blake Snell and Yu Darvish and a rehabbing Mike Clevenger and now a guy he just has seen blossom into an ace, Sean Manaea.</p><p>So yeah, the Padres are making the playoffs.</p><p>Then there's the Giants. Never has a team that has won 107 games been so lightly regarded going into the next season. Yeah, everybody had career years and they were mostly 30+ years old, so how are the Brandons going to follow up, especially with Buster Posey retired and Kris Bryant, your big mid-season acquisition, gone to Colorado? Yeah, all the pitcher reclamation projects worked out. They worked out so well that Kevin Gausman got a huge deal from Toronto and now you're relying on Anthony DeSclafani and Alex Wood to be that good again? And will Logan Webb blossom fully into an ace? </p><p>The thing is, Farhan Zaidi has always seemed to work this magic, wherever he's been. The Dodgers are the Dodgers in large part because of how Zaidi built that roster. Nearly all the everyday players on that juggernaut have been Zaidi finds. In San Francisco he's basically been competing against himself. He's been able to always find guys and there's no reason he's not going to keep doing that. And Gabe Kapler really seems to have found himself after those two troubled years in Philly. He's mellowed, kind of, and it looks like they have built a staff to keep him grounded. So yeah, I see the Giants making the playoffs.</p><p>Besides, there's a real chance nobody else in the National League (besides the Brewers, who are winning the Central handily) finishes significantly over .500. The Cardinals and Cubs can't put it together consistently, the Marlins are frisky but not quite there, and the Reds, Pirates, D-Backs, and Rockies all suck. The Phillies can't play defense and the Nats might be surprisingly brutal (their rotation won't hang). </p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>6. 3 AL East Teams Make the Postseason</b></span></p><p>In the American League, the difference is closer but it does appear the East is the best division. There are four teams capable of making the playoffs and then the Yankees. Ha! Just wanted to make sure you were paying attention (sorry O's fans. You should be better but your record might not show it because these teams will destroy you).</p><p>My thing is I can't figure out which of the 4 teams will miss the playoffs (since picking the Mariners as a wild card means there are only two slots left). Tampa, New York, Toronto or Boston? I am leaning towards Boston as the miss because the rotation is the question. How reliant are they on Chris Sale coming back and making a huge difference? He's out until June at the earliest. I've had Nathan Eovaldi on several fantasy teams and often regretted it. This feels like a Boston team that will absolutely mash (Trevor Story, hello!) but when you're relying on the ageless Rich Hill (42, threw 158 innings last year) as a key piece, I just don't see it. Of course, I didn't see them holding off Toronto last season and they did.</p><p>The difference is that Toronto is better. Not just more experience for the kids- Vlad Guerrero and Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio, but add Matt Chapman at third and Raimel Tapia as an outfielder (he was so fast in Colorado, that's a huge under-the-radar pickup). Rotation-wise, I think Kevin Gausman will be decent but not worth his big contract, ultimately. But if he's good this year, who cares? Their pieces fit well.</p><p>Tampa will win 90 games with a bunch of dudes we've never heard of, so let's pencil them in.</p><p>That leaves the Yankees. The rotation kept them from winning 100 games last year, for sure. A healthy Jamison Taillon will make a huge difference (had him on my fantasy team when he was good with the Pirates, so I've got confidence there) and I think Gerritt Cole pressed too much trying to earn that massive contract in the first year. So they'll both be better. Deivi Garcia hasn't had a lot of innings and will start the season in AAA but he'll be there real soon. Jordan Montgomery looks like he'll be just fine.</p><p>So the Yankees it is (can you believe Giancarlo Stanton is already 32? He's only broken 40 homers once, that 2017 season where he mashed 59. It.... doesn't make any sense.).</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>7. The Rangers Spent A Lot of Money, So Yay For Them I Guess</b></span></p><p>The Rangers are bascially opening their ballpark for the third straight year. It opened in 2020 and there were no fans until they hosted the playoffs and the World Series. The were the first team to go full capacity on Opening Day last year with pandemic restrictions everywhere but Texas and it felt really weird, I expect even in Texas, and they still ended up losing 102 games. So the shine was definitely off that place in a hurry.</p><p>And this year it's as normal as it'll be, and the Rangers spent half a billion dollars to try and contend in the AL. The thing is, they could have a 20-game improvement and still finish under .500 (from 60 wins to 80). And a 20-win improvement is not out of the question, but it won't get them to the playoffs. They'll be in it with the Angels for third place in the West (behind Houston and Seattle, but well ahead of Oakland).</p><p>Marcus Semien and Corey Seager got their bags but everybody else is about the same. You expect to contend with long-time Rockie Jon Gray as your free agent ace? It's the same problem for the Rangers at is quite often: big hitters (anybody else remember Jeff Burroughs?) and maybe one decent pitcher (that Nolan Ryan fellow never made the playoffs while he was with the Rangers).</p><p>They will be better.... but that's still not good enough to contend, not this year. So the AL playoff teams are Houston, Seattle, Tampa, New York, Toronto, and the AL Central champs, the White Sox.</p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>8. The Rockies Are Still Terrible</b></span></p><p>When I see the "experts" pick their dark-horse candidate to contend, a lot of them are picking the Rockies. They should stop.</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>9. The A's Won't Move to Vegas</b></span></p><p>Here's the A's stadium plan, simplified, no matter how much you're hearing VEGAS VEGAS VEGAS.</p><p>The Port of Oakland thinks that 50 acres called Howard Terminal is not very useful to them and wants to sell it to the A's (or lease it long-term, or whatever).</p><p>This 50 acres of land is on a corner of the Port. They have some 1500 total acres at the Port and this particular plot is being used as a parking lot for trucks. It is not a particularly busy section of the Port and the baseball park equivalent is foul ground. And the water around there is pretty shallow, port-wise, which makes it highly unlikely to all of a sudden become really useful in the future as, you know, a port.</p><p>The big decision coming in June is whether to officially re-zone the land from industrial to commercial/residential to allow the A's to do their thing. If they don't re-zone the land, the project is dead and the A's will probably move to Vegas.</p><p>But since the Port is fine with the land being re-zoned so the A's can build it, that should be enough for the decision makers to re-zone the land. </p><p>So, that should be that.</p><p>And that's 9 predictions! Thoughts?</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZsB6-Pc0b8HdSRNotP5kqdvU_riV2qi6x2vGxhfyH3tOeToeuZeuz86iWlr0ZHlIGxf-lZkH_Xc4cFbk6mRehV-BEPhYShxP2yo5z79eNYGE3SZ2P2IV9xdMnE88sgIkpna2l0kz1YaNfalnJ69wve7j12HWr0UGfL4zHMUDMHXWU_oifiwnUBASe/s4000/20220227_193658.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2252" data-original-width="4000" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZsB6-Pc0b8HdSRNotP5kqdvU_riV2qi6x2vGxhfyH3tOeToeuZeuz86iWlr0ZHlIGxf-lZkH_Xc4cFbk6mRehV-BEPhYShxP2yo5z79eNYGE3SZ2P2IV9xdMnE88sgIkpna2l0kz1YaNfalnJ69wve7j12HWr0UGfL4zHMUDMHXWU_oifiwnUBASe/w640-h360/20220227_193658.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and if the A's are lucky, it'll look like this</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">photos by author</span></i><br /><p><br /></p></div>Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-80775262016906977352022-02-03T15:43:00.001-08:002022-02-03T15:43:47.192-08:00Why the 49ers Never Got Tom Brady<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgpTAKpXRicxaqd9clH7ffSu5SFGVvkBPII02Lruh3FBk4bvgDoK6aB_6wJ6wJwjel5dtvYY0iKaDdfhVK2VCwvxH5O00dZcsUNHJ1-QPrakOe4gfjbjWSvhMUGflmuq31Xaszl0Vxo-jrAeelYc2D8K2Du0Une-eGRtb3Fw2Anb9zrveW38X9MTLZB=s770" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="770" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgpTAKpXRicxaqd9clH7ffSu5SFGVvkBPII02Lruh3FBk4bvgDoK6aB_6wJ6wJwjel5dtvYY0iKaDdfhVK2VCwvxH5O00dZcsUNHJ1-QPrakOe4gfjbjWSvhMUGflmuq31Xaszl0Vxo-jrAeelYc2D8K2Du0Une-eGRtb3Fw2Anb9zrveW38X9MTLZB=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">coulda, not shoulda</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Even up until the day he actually retired, there was speculation the San Francisco 49ers would go get Tom Brady, so the pride of San Mateo could finish his career with his boyhood team, the team that made him want to be a quarterback, the team that has the only man who can argue his GOAT status in Joe Montana (a few of you probably thought I'd say Jimmy Garoppolo).</p><p>Of course it had been revealed several months earlier that when Brady left the Patriots for good, San Francisco (rather, Santa Clara) was his preferred destination to finish his career. But while head coach Kyle Shanahan and GM John Lynch were certainly interested in Brady- who wouldn't be- they ultimately decided that getting Brady wasn't worth it, even with a near-Super Bowl roster that they had, and still have.</p><p>At first glance, turning down TB12 seems like a rather silly idea. It's Tom Freaking Brady! Why wouldn't the 49ers say yes? Two years of Tom would've almost guaranteed them one Super Bowl trophy, like what happened in Tampa, the place Brady DID go.</p><p>But the true answers as to why they turned down TB12 are happening now.</p><p>First of all, Tampa is done as a serious Super Bow threat for what, five years? Ten? There's no way Bruce Arians lasts more than a year as head coach. He'll be 70 sometime around week five of this upcoming season (born October 3, 1952- still younger than Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick!) and there's no way he's sticking around for the rebuild- no surprise if he chooses to walk away sometime soon.</p><p>And that's the second part- the rebuild. Nearly much every other offensive skill player on the Bucs you've heard of is not going to be on the team next fall, whether that's retirement (Gronk), waving goodbye while at the Meadowlands (Antonio Brown), some kind of trade (if you think Mike Evans is going run great routes and watch Kyle Trask overthrow him by 15 yards every time, you're nuts), or the old reliable, free agency (Playoff Lenny, Chris Godwin, OJ Howard....). </p><p>As for the draft, the Bucs have the 27th pick in the first round. Ain't no way you're getting a week-one starting quarterback from there. And there was no reason for them to really go after a QB the last two years, not with TB12 at the helm. It was all-or-bust there, too. (No, Kyle Trask is not the answer, nor is Blaine Gabbert. Blaine Gabbert has never been the answer at quarterback, not ever.)</p><p>So, back to the 49ers, and Kyle and John. If you get Brady, you certainly don't have Trey Lance on your roster because you're not drafting that high. You don't even have the perfectly acceptable Jimmy Garoppolo, since Brady would command $35 million-plus and Jimmy G was getting paid $25 million.</p><p>Because the goal of Shanahan and Lynch has never been "win once and sink back down." They are trying to create a Patriots-like run of dominance. Failing that, a Packers-like run of "being in the mix every year" would be fine as long as the QB's ego doesn't explode into a supernova.</p><p>But neither of those scenarios involves blowing up the roster for two years of Brady, which is what Tampa did, and they will sink back to the bottom of the NFC South and become irrelevant (I guess going back to the creamsicle jerseys will be more than appropriate).</p><p>If you've noticed what the 49ers have done, it's been a build to succeed at a high level for a long time to come. It's why they signed Jimmy G to a five-year deal after he played just five games for them in 2017. It's also why they traded for the 3rd pick so they could get Trey Lance (I never believed they would take Mac Jones, and I don't understand why people believed that smoke) and only gave up 3 first round picks, hoping that two of them would be well back in the draft (and that's happened- they gave up the 14th pick last year, this year's pick will be number 29, and at minimum if they make the playoffs next year the 2023 pick will be 17th, and hopefully it'll end up being 32nd).</p><p>And in the first five years of the Shanahan/Lynch era, the 49ers have been to a Super Bowl and made the NFC title game. Lots of franchises would like to have that kind of five-year run. But because Jimmy G couldn't stay healthy, negating at least one playoff berth (though they finished 6-10 in 2020, they really should have been 8-8 even without Jimmy G- at least two 4th quarter meltdowns should have been wins, and probably more). They realized a healthy QB makes the difference. With Brady, that's a maximum of three seasons to make the difference.</p><p>A healthy Trey Lance playing to his potential? That's a decade, or more, of dominance. Maybe he doesn't get to Brady or Montana status. How about challenging Steve Young on the 49ers QB ladder? I'd be very ok with that. And so would the rest of the faithful.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgXDBeLGID9XKf7oeb_J8rRxctm-7hUuRHCXkVlS91wwUg7N-DbmhLHYoDH9l2RCDmrI9U3DR2kSpqhV-rsOSiyDx7BnbHXGkpwQ1CcRdDz2RGxqUTPQbow8sIAus24q3Qt6EAT9yB_br14_IDywp1AUH0jLhI1cKXJvFZNhxz8K4Wmk2ooZcZPUlwP=s770" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="770" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgXDBeLGID9XKf7oeb_J8rRxctm-7hUuRHCXkVlS91wwUg7N-DbmhLHYoDH9l2RCDmrI9U3DR2kSpqhV-rsOSiyDx7BnbHXGkpwQ1CcRdDz2RGxqUTPQbow8sIAus24q3Qt6EAT9yB_br14_IDywp1AUH0jLhI1cKXJvFZNhxz8K4Wmk2ooZcZPUlwP=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I got 5 on it</td></tr></tbody></table><p><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">photos courtesy: <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/each-nfl-teams-most-desired-draft-do-over-49ers-passing-on-tom-brady-among-all-time-draft-whiffs/" target="_blank">cbssports.com</a>, <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/trey-lance-throws-80-yard-touchdown-pass-vs-chiefs-in-his-first-preseason-action-for-49ers/" target="_blank">cbssports.com (again)</a></span></i></p>Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-62050228151267842372021-12-18T10:18:00.001-08:002021-12-18T10:18:00.240-08:00There Should be MORE Bowl Games, Not Fewer<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiabDV9xYPpkAuwY-Vs9UWAuGEJAy5olEUuc_MQ98g1uemPkA6WWngQlQbFsils3WttoPIRFIY80KtLNJvSHh0Dedl36hKsJMg-jPvXk_vTSTgkNKssgHV-V5dMqdxQx8_EQUcybfpXkmfrFR55uXJ2uiKPbl5gOTg9S-2LSYmRToiunqL8Hn2XV51u=s900" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="579" data-original-width="900" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiabDV9xYPpkAuwY-Vs9UWAuGEJAy5olEUuc_MQ98g1uemPkA6WWngQlQbFsils3WttoPIRFIY80KtLNJvSHh0Dedl36hKsJMg-jPvXk_vTSTgkNKssgHV-V5dMqdxQx8_EQUcybfpXkmfrFR55uXJ2uiKPbl5gOTg9S-2LSYmRToiunqL8Hn2XV51u=w400-h258" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keep 'em coming!</td></tr></tbody></table><br />I used to be you. I used to think that there were too many bowls. Heck, I even <a href="http://www.sporadicsentinel.com/2015/12/a-modest-bowl-game-proposal.html" target="_blank">wrote about it right here</a> saying all bowl matchups should be decided by the CFB Playoff Committee and that every bowl game should be required to feature at least one team from the top 30 of the rankings. And heck, I STILL feel that way. But I also have a counter-argument that makes more sense.</p><p>You see, whenever somebody proposes eliminating bowls, you know who gets screwed if it actually happens? The little guy. The school that never goes to bowl games. There will always be bowl games for Alabama and Clemson and Ohio State and Notre Dame and Oklahoma and you know, the big bads of college football.</p><p>We see 42 bowl games on the schedule and think "that's too many." But this isn't like the NFL where it's the same 32 teams playing 16 games every week, or the NBA where the Lakers are on national TV three times a week even though they suck. There are 84 different division one football programs playing a bowl game this year and they each get their stand-alone moment. Boise State gets their moment, UTEP gets their moment, Eastern Michigan gets their moment, Old Dominion gets their moment. Unless they're in the playoff, even the big bads only get one bowl game each.</p><p>This is why I've changed my mind about the bowl situation. For instance, UTEP is playing in the New Mexico Bowl. It is, shall we say, not the greatest bowl game of the 42 on the schedule. But this is just UTEP's 2nd bowl since 2010. They get to <i>play in a bowl game</i>. When you put it like that, it sounds a lot cooler, no matter what the bowl game is. There are plenty of UTEP football players who can't say that. For a lot of these dudes it will be the apex of their college football career, even if the stands are far from full and the result may not be great for them. </p><p>And you want to take that away? You want to take away the bowl experience of one of the directional Michigan schools? Both Eastern and Western are in bowl games this year, they are a combined 2-14 in bowls. Eastern Michigan's only bowl win was the 1987 California Bowl (Anaheim Stadium) where they beat San Jose State. Western Michigan's only bowl win was the 2015 Bahamas Bowl against Middle Tennessee. Man, these guys deserve more chances at bowl games, not fewer.</p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhAowyNZ_LZuH5Bqg3s8IyT5V-41-F4lavizsGLfx3D3AJQDLUv2zoyuM-I65OYVuK3YlLs8zYvXOvvK5YtpzlxV6OXTQN5vg_uBAmE_dptGY79FC_By5QIWuHHN0FMT7Z6XzYhctY4vdJ6ZxMVX1V8QoyA8bvgEsSDKOAkD_MbXUFUE_TqOXFNVCpJ=s400" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="307" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhAowyNZ_LZuH5Bqg3s8IyT5V-41-F4lavizsGLfx3D3AJQDLUv2zoyuM-I65OYVuK3YlLs8zYvXOvvK5YtpzlxV6OXTQN5vg_uBAmE_dptGY79FC_By5QIWuHHN0FMT7Z6XzYhctY4vdJ6ZxMVX1V8QoyA8bvgEsSDKOAkD_MbXUFUE_TqOXFNVCpJ=w308-h400" width="308" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A cheesy classic</td></tr></tbody></table><br />We make fun of bowl games. We make fun of the fact that they had to create a bowl game for this year because more teams finished at .500 than expected and the bowl game they created, that will only happen once, is called the Frisco Football Classic and that is the truth. We make fun of early sponsored games like the Poulan Weed-Eater Independence Bowl (it's now the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl), and we make fun of the Liberty Bowl being in Memphis and I always point out that the Liberty Bowl started in Philadelphia and moved to Memphis and kept the same name and doesn't make that more sense and as long as you're making fun of the Liberty Bowl keeping that name may I point you to the Lakers once again?</p><p>But you know that if you ever met someone who played in the Frisco Football Classic or the Poulan Weed-Eater Independence Bowl or the Liberty Bowl (sponsored by AutoZone, by the way), you'd be like "oh, that's cool, you played in a bowl game!" (I am assuming you do not know any people who played college football, FYI). Now imagine you met an alum from Eastern Michigan football and when you asked them about their college career they said "Well we only went over .500 once and didn't go to a bowl because that was the year they eliminated 10 bowls... and (big bad having a bad year) took our spot so I never played in a bowl game."</p><p>Now, don't you think that Eastern Michigan lineman deserves his bowl game? Doesn't the Ball State punter or the Middle Tennessee safety or the UTEP tight end deserve his bowl game? Of course they do. </p><p>Besides, you know what's better than watching a traditional college football powerhouse win a bowl game? A traditional college football powerhouse stumbling its way through a season and then getting thumped if they are fortunate enough to make a bowl game, even if it's a bad one. Can you imagine the buildup if Texas or USC made a bowl game this year? </p><p>Heck, you don't have to. This year's Florida team is a perfect example. Despite wasting a boatload of talent and firing their coach and looking like they had no business finishing anywhere close to .500, they finished 6-and-6, and so they have stumbled their way to the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa where they will get thumped by UCF. LSU might be a better example, they're so bad they're playing in the bowl that's stupid enough to be played after New Year's Day but isn't a playoff game. But I guarantee you the hype for that game- because it's LSU- will be abnormally large. </p><p>(Side note: if you scroll back far enough here, you'll see I used to do bowl previews for every game with a guest poster called "B.O.A.". We had a special category designation of bowl games that seemed like bigger cash grabs than usual. These were bowls that included teams from very close to the area and the matchup seemed like it should be happening during the regular season, not a bowl game. This year's Gasparilla Bowl most certainly qualifies as one of those cash grab bowls, as it is less than two hours from each team's campus.)</p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDIRZo-9hS_szuLimkqcElgz7I6i9VZLeWl6xZ2FOYfny8Jue1B5HUR0InniJVmPpu8NJ9IppnbFjh0SFXzsjKPGFJnHsX64Apaq3NNHU3i55DA6Ft2UrgP8G1WwF3Ucg6cEeKaKwvKNGHS2mlk2iMoMHDP1S0tN-_4F5jw-wXLlDCST4UUpWSsNuL=s810" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="810" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDIRZo-9hS_szuLimkqcElgz7I6i9VZLeWl6xZ2FOYfny8Jue1B5HUR0InniJVmPpu8NJ9IppnbFjh0SFXzsjKPGFJnHsX64Apaq3NNHU3i55DA6Ft2UrgP8G1WwF3Ucg6cEeKaKwvKNGHS2mlk2iMoMHDP1S0tN-_4F5jw-wXLlDCST4UUpWSsNuL=w400-h266" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's a Fiesta (Bowl Parade)!</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Whether it's a Power Five Team or a mid-major making their first bowl appearance in years, these players get treated like kings at whatever bowl game they go to. We just see the televised portion of the bowl game. I promise you, every host committee makes sure both teams feel like royalty the week they are in town. The teams are paraded around, taken to what are considered awesome local landmarks and sites, and they are given free meals and swag. Is it always tremendous swag? Of course not. But it is swag selected especially for them by people who are glad they are in their city. Which is a lot better treatment than I've received on certain vacations that I have paid for. </p><p>I only participated in one bowl game as a member of my school's marching band. I was in the town where the bowl was played for a week and there was a pep rally every day where the marching band was required to play. By the end of day six, did I recognize half the people at the rallies? Of course. But I noticed the rally crowds growing in anticipation of the game every time. Sure, the stands at the game may have been half empty, but there were at least five thousand alumni from each side in those stands. </p><p>I also live in a large metro area that hosts a bowl game. Now, this bowl game has never been held in a full stadium. And I reckon that most of the locals don't know what day or time the game is. But a bowl game doesn't need all three million people to know what the hell is going on, it needs the fans of the participating teams to show up and do fan things. You get five thousand each, you're going to do just fine. </p><p> And remember when you're watching, you're watching a football player who gets to say they played in a bowl game. They may never play football again. They may never play football for a team this good ever again. But they did this time. Keep the bowls. All of them. Well, maybe not the Frisco Football Classic. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhNOeeuEvIONSSxEg2bVFI4IXTdcLdkjJk8Hk5joWOCN3Cj8wVsOv1PKs7vmiNKWr2slp0Luq5UEYubsyCqtpIF-CgdyYDRUyn6sXRPIHqFkn9KGLB7XxBSGJ1tR-N45o9mJcmxwSXc_BaIC0vPLgZ9Al8PtIllchGnE_1ZVgGFvBfRSsbJoZKa5uQ7=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhNOeeuEvIONSSxEg2bVFI4IXTdcLdkjJk8Hk5joWOCN3Cj8wVsOv1PKs7vmiNKWr2slp0Luq5UEYubsyCqtpIF-CgdyYDRUyn6sXRPIHqFkn9KGLB7XxBSGJ1tR-N45o9mJcmxwSXc_BaIC0vPLgZ9Al8PtIllchGnE_1ZVgGFvBfRSsbJoZKa5uQ7=w640-h320" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">but yes, the Sun Bowl stays!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p>Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-54952625400243434282021-11-19T12:51:00.006-08:002021-11-19T12:56:50.886-08:00Kansas Football: Still In Shock<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgWiD5440_RICavh8oK-Y8XWmlUWpIw0FQ_7dscbps2dcv7aCU7-ds0GIDD32_602VWyxh-dB4PqonPhT8_PlsIut22SEcHU1JmpnUK_l9E5zfJOviq-pqevuQqbwpL2pxIbENxS-S5NI/s1200/jared+casey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgWiD5440_RICavh8oK-Y8XWmlUWpIw0FQ_7dscbps2dcv7aCU7-ds0GIDD32_602VWyxh-dB4PqonPhT8_PlsIut22SEcHU1JmpnUK_l9E5zfJOviq-pqevuQqbwpL2pxIbENxS-S5NI/w400-h209/jared+casey.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The moment IT HAPPENED</td></tr></tbody></table><p>I didn't bother doing a Kansas State review/Texas preview because why bother?</p><p>I mean, KU football couldn't score more than 10 points at home to a Kansas State squad that, let's face it, isn't that good.</p><p>What was going to happen at Darrell K. Royal Stadium in Austin, where KU had never won, ever?</p><p>Certainly not win.</p><p>And if they were to somehow win, it certainly was going to be a low-scoring affair. It certainly wasn't going to be some radical overtime shootout where KU led 35-14 at one point. It certainly wasn't going to be a game where the Jayhawks blew a two-touchdown lead in the final five minutes. It certainly wasn't going to be a game where they went for two in overtime and a walk-on who wasn't even considered a receiver that week during practice would catch the game-winning conversion.</p><p>Certainly not.</p><p>And then, after that, said walk-on certainly wouldn't take advantage of the new NCAA rules allowing players to get paid for endorsements. I mean, that would be <a href="https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/32647650/kansas-jayhawks-fb-jared-casey-lands-nil-deals-following-game-winning-heroics-vs-texas-longhorns" target="_blank">absolutely mind-crushingly crazy</a>. </p><p>And yet, all of that happened. </p><p>I saw the final few minutes of regulation and overtime. I haven't watched the highlights because I still don't believe it's real. I feel like if I do, the bubble will burst, the dam will open, the dream will end and yep, KU really lost to Texas by 40.</p><p>Yet everywhere I go, I see they won. In overtime. For the first time ever at Texas, who has now lost 5 in a row for the first time since 1956.</p><p>Let the dream continue.</p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>photo courtesy: USA Today sports</i></span></p>Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-7524938871271461572021-10-31T12:31:00.040-07:002021-11-01T02:26:57.609-07:00Kansas Football: Like Falling Off A Bicycle<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuvCbM4Y_kksDHz8515JOj81pNbbo6tZIOnOx-If2oJF6TODptQWxAlwCAcIB7Do9lnfSlJ6ojDKMl73aqJmhNMneRSF_gtvErxVfSQOuLEYXdcYncEOKH_ETEy5nJ-bIEZIT5FpmdvTM/s2048/JIppCz2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1528" data-original-width="2048" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuvCbM4Y_kksDHz8515JOj81pNbbo6tZIOnOx-If2oJF6TODptQWxAlwCAcIB7Do9lnfSlJ6ojDKMl73aqJmhNMneRSF_gtvErxVfSQOuLEYXdcYncEOKH_ETEy5nJ-bIEZIT5FpmdvTM/w400-h299/JIppCz2.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watch out for spiky plants</td></tr></tbody></table>So, uh, I did say last time that this might happen.<p></p><p>I did hope that the KU football team would take that near win (close loss, whatever) to Oklahoma and be able to apply it to this week's game at Oklahoma State. But I also knew that the Cowboys had just seen their undefeated season come to an end on a controversial fourth down play, and I knew they would not come into this game complacent whatsoever. My optimistic prediction, you may recall, was that Kansas would cover the 30.5 point spread in Stillwater.</p><p>The final score was, uh, 55-3 Oklahoma State. That 30.5 point spread? Oklahoma State scored their fourth touchdown of the first half with just about 6 minutes to go to make it 31-nothing. Then, after KU went for in on 4th down from their own 34 (because at that point, whatever), the Cowboys scored again to make it 38-nothing. But after KU's 6th punt of the half, they sure stopped the Pokes! Okay, so that's because it was the end of the half, but hey, small victories. Go, clock, go!</p><p>I don't want to say the Hawks were "overconfident" after last week against Oklahoma, but I do assume they acted like people tend to act when they do something successfully after trying and trying and trying to accomplish that very thing. They get too excited that they are doing that thing successfully that they immediately screw up doing that thing.</p><p></p>The obvious cliche is riding a bicycle. After failing countless times to ride a bicycle successfully- sometimes you fall into a spiky plant in the yard, if I am going to, uh, choose an example that definitely didn't happen to me- when you finally get everything going at once and it just works its an "oh man this is so easy and it's fantastic" exhilaration that usually results in three seconds later of coming completely unglued and getting your feet tangled in the pedals and falling in a heap, hopefully not in a spiky plant. Again. But you also know what's going to happen eventually. Eventually, you are going to get that riding a bicycle exhilaration back, and you will be riding a bicycle successfully.<p></p><p>Anyway, last week was KU football's moments of exhilaration of "yeah, this is how football is supposed to go!" And this week was falling off the bicycle, as they have done so many times before. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiDdTgpQIZk_IAQ0SDhbUYMfb4hQQJDVlG0Z98r3JFwn2kVFxkAZ2FR6w25WGFnY5OcJTOud-8ROgKgp0qSlfW0quQl2_liTwE3OVYwiQA254pX2xlVUXm6sSd5DieuXryXCvV4kFCq9o/s1396/617e008fc2a18.image.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="785" data-original-width="1396" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiDdTgpQIZk_IAQ0SDhbUYMfb4hQQJDVlG0Z98r3JFwn2kVFxkAZ2FR6w25WGFnY5OcJTOud-8ROgKgp0qSlfW0quQl2_liTwE3OVYwiQA254pX2xlVUXm6sSd5DieuXryXCvV4kFCq9o/w400-h225/617e008fc2a18.image.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elvis has left the building</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>The question, like it has been so many times before, is what happens now? Now's another chance to get on the bike and ride it successfully again. This week is the Sunflower Showdown at Memorial Stadium. Is Kansas State beatable? Well, as much as I'd like to think that yes, Kansas State is always beatable, they have beaten the Hawks 12 straight times, the longest streak in the series. And they have a guy who for a few hours seemed to have tied an NCAA record with six sacks in one game (that'd be Felix Anudike-Uzomah) only to see two of them taken away because they apparently happened across the line of scrimmage and therefore can't be sacks. </p><p>Well, stopping that guy is clearly a challenge for a good offensive line, never mind one that was struggling to let anybody do anything against Oklahoma State. Since the greatest stats that tell you how an offensive line did are the QB's stats, KU starting QB Jason Bean was 3 of 10 for 10 yards in the first half against the Cowboys. (FYI: NOT GOOD) No first downs until the 3rd quarter. (FYI: SOMEHOW WORSE)</p><p>So is there hope to beat the Wildcats? Well, certainly less than last week, but there is still some because this KU team has shown it can ride the bicycle! Yes, it fell into the spiky plant against Oklahoma State, but now gets another chance to get up and ride again. Get up enough speed and watch out for the spiky plants. Find that exhilarating feeling again and don't get your feet tangled in the pedals.</p><p><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">photos courtesy: reddit, KUAthletics,businessinsider</span></i></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUTMqsZaM_VZoQyvRsRxBf1joN-lAWnZsp3pSWvEWJnSui87uI5euPr_Nz4hCpMfCwS_vIcRnInRtwVdDA-EDVe_9Ir15xv7PW741Ss8wKFqVJAEvA8_KzAEso6iyrYz9mzQteNed0HDo/s1965/57c55985dd089504668b4b62.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1474" data-original-width="1965" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUTMqsZaM_VZoQyvRsRxBf1joN-lAWnZsp3pSWvEWJnSui87uI5euPr_Nz4hCpMfCwS_vIcRnInRtwVdDA-EDVe_9Ir15xv7PW741Ss8wKFqVJAEvA8_KzAEso6iyrYz9mzQteNed0HDo/w400-h300/57c55985dd089504668b4b62.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yep, feels kinda like that</td></tr></tbody></table></p>Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-23766859868938726972021-10-25T02:03:00.005-07:002021-10-29T00:27:40.197-07:00Kansas Football: An Early Clue To The New Direction?<p> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPs41rEc5M0DRHyVJcWE6PqAfed_jtTKMpZgWf6CcsbX07B-_KM67DOHXD4WG4f7BHrV9aojq0X4T57ephwlwOT9_a0mui9pT2JQ0TTt8Vt5I-mQ3xQTmWGzLDGYfXHOwJ9UwaItSyIlY/s280/Image22anewdirection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="169" data-original-width="280" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPs41rEc5M0DRHyVJcWE6PqAfed_jtTKMpZgWf6CcsbX07B-_KM67DOHXD4WG4f7BHrV9aojq0X4T57ephwlwOT9_a0mui9pT2JQ0TTt8Vt5I-mQ3xQTmWGzLDGYfXHOwJ9UwaItSyIlY/w400-h241/Image22anewdirection.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Does she know something about KU football that we don't?</td></tr></tbody></table>The thing is, Kansas has actually won games like this before.</p><p>And usually when Kansas wins games like this, a head coach gets fired. You laugh at this, but the Jayhawks beat Texas in the second-to-last game of the 2016 season and that got Charlie Strong fired. The wikipedia for the 2016 Longhorns season say this, and I swear to you I didn't know it actually said this until I <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Texas_Longhorns_football_team" target="_blank">looked it up just now</a>: </p><p>"After a second-straight 5–7 season that included the Longhorns' first loss to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Kansas_Jayhawks_football_team" title="2016 Kansas Jayhawks football team">Kansas</a> since <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1938_Texas_Longhorns_football_team" title="1938 Texas Longhorns football team">1938</a>, the University of Texas fired Charlie Strong at a morning meeting on November 26, 2016."</p><p>So, there it is. Kansas wins a game like this and career paths change.</p><p>But they didn't win this game. No, Kansas led number 3 Oklahoma 10-nothing at the half, had a chance to win the game with about 3 and a half minutes to go and Sooners QB Caleb Williams grabbed the ball from his own running back and saved Oklahoma's season on 4th and one.</p><p><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G0WUSVYIDtQ" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p>Most bad teams get up for one game a year. Like the Charlie Strong game, Kansas is usually good for one of these close losses/fluke wins every couple of seasons. They're not like Purdue, or Indiana, or Pitt, or Iowa, who are guaranteed to crush somebody like this randomly every year. (The great Shutdown Fullcast/Spencer Hall calls Pitt "the Super Weapon" by the almost insane regularity that they do this to Top 10 teams).</p><p>So ordinarily I'd chalk this up to being "one of those games" and move on. But this feels different. I don't know if it's because the first year of the Lance Leipold experience has been weirdly promising in other areas. Yes, it started really oddly due to the Les Miles firing and all that. But when Leipold was hired, the quotes felt different from other first day head coach press conferences. Usually they say things like "Kansas football is great and I'm going to make it great before you know it." Leipold came in and basically said, "Yep, the team is terrible and I'm fully aware of this. I plan on making this better but this is not going to be easy."</p><p>As opposed to Charlie Weis or Les Miles or even David Beaty, who all promised "Kansas football is a sleeping giant" in one way or another- Weis boldly and completely wrongly, Miles with his "I'm going to prove I'm smarter than anybody else" grin, and Beaty with his "We are going to run through brick walls and make this better" proclamations, which I must admit I absolutely bought into and still think he got a raw deal- Leipold's "promise" to only find ways to be less terrible seems to be working, at least right now. He did not promise to move mountains, he promised to move many small piles of dirt over and over and over and over until, hey, look at that, the mountain is in a different place.</p><p>This is why the Oklahoma game felt different. The Jayhawks did not take the lead against Oklahoma by taking advantage of fluke turnovers and busted punt returns, but methodically holding the ball for more than 35 minutes of a 60 minute game. KU got the opening kickoff and went 80 yards in 10 minutes, running 14 plays and culminating in a one-yard td. Oklahoma ran five plays and punted. KU then went 69 yards in 6 and a half minutes and 12 plays and kicked a field goal. By that point there were four minutes gone in the second quarter, it was 10-nothing KU and Oklahoma had run five plays total.</p><p>Your Charlie Weis' and Les Miles' would've gotten impatient with these KU drives and demanded weird trickery and burned everything to the ground with a triple-reverse-throwback. Leipold's offense stayed true to itself and chugged along.</p><p>Sure, Oklahoma had five second half drives and scored a touchdown on every one of them to end the day with 35 points. But three of those drives were 75 yards each and three of them took under 90 seconds. Not many teams are going to score touchdowns on five consecutive drives when they absolutely have to. </p><p>Those stats alone show progress for Kansas. Oklahoma had to have a perfect second half and a crazy fourth down play to win the game. How many other programs are capable of having a perfect half when they absolutely have to have one? Alabama, probably. This year Georgia and future Big 12 member Cincinnati seem pretty capable. But that's about it. (Huh, maybe those should be the four playoff teams and screw Ohio State? But I digress.) There are plenty of teams in the Big 12 who aren't capable of that.</p><p>There's an argument going around that my hope for KU football is folly because "Oklahoma played their worst game of the year." I'm not disagreeing with you there. But a bad Oklahoma game is generally better than 90% of everybody else's best game. (It does explain why they're undefeated so far.) And you can also agree that KU played a great game against Oklahoma. If KU plays that well against practically anybody else, KU wins that game. Can we agree on that? The question becomes if they can repeat playing at that level. Was this game a fluke, or was it an early clue to the new direction? (by the way, that's my favorite under-the-radar quote from "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QREeweMWTZk" target="_blank">A Hard Day's Night</a>.")</p><p>Is Kansas capable of repeating this performance this year, and therefore winning some conference games to give the diehards some hope of a bowl game next year? Well, this week they're at a very mad Oklahoma State team that just got handed their first loss thanks to an iffy 4th down spot that they didn't get, unlike Caleb Williams and Oklahoma. Now if the Hawks can keep that game close for at least a half, it'll show everybody that hey, these piles of dirt are looking more like a hill. A small hill, but a hill nevertheless. The spread for this weekend is 30.5 points. If KU covers, and covers comfortably, we should consider a small hill built. </p><p>And the week after that? It's a home game against a Kansas State team that has not looked particularly great this season (and still refuses to admit that the Bill Snyder era was the only time they would ever be nationally relevant).</p><p>Now that would be progress. Do you realize KU hasn't beaten K-State since 2008? That's 12 straight times? (That means K-State only needs to beat KU 15 more straight games to EVEN the all-time series record. Yep, KU was 27 games up before the streak started, 64-37. the series record is now 64-49.)</p><p>This seems like it would be a good year to start a new streak. That would be a big time clue to the new direction of KU football.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdxoj-dwBTEZx40L-7ceXWFjxAMcFsDEkDc8suESRwOmq2h2OqLSotzZbsC1C_8Njqxip_NsfYf8zNUT6ntb_SJ5JmHJcqPM-CxOTgcE91mvRYvj_jGoJtXgFugrBj3KSiPeP1cO22PWo/s630/rcjh.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="630" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdxoj-dwBTEZx40L-7ceXWFjxAMcFsDEkDc8suESRwOmq2h2OqLSotzZbsC1C_8Njqxip_NsfYf8zNUT6ntb_SJ5JmHJcqPM-CxOTgcE91mvRYvj_jGoJtXgFugrBj3KSiPeP1cO22PWo/w400-h400/rcjh.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-37144848181564982432021-09-09T17:57:00.004-07:002021-09-09T17:59:07.306-07:00Why Don't You Buy A Ferrari? Or, Sports Hot Takes Are Stupid<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi289IB3p0uNEIdFMHhZE_Q2xHWCjMCZPLjEwtou3VuiYm1VGXWi6mnR3QvSQpZOOiQCnyILVDB_GEKzUrhKCK3kcIZ-k1tVv7yYh2g7WUCB09DAeA2VyOt9LbTuyGnqDsqpklhSbrMlzI/s1020/Cody+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="1020" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi289IB3p0uNEIdFMHhZE_Q2xHWCjMCZPLjEwtou3VuiYm1VGXWi6mnR3QvSQpZOOiQCnyILVDB_GEKzUrhKCK3kcIZ-k1tVv7yYh2g7WUCB09DAeA2VyOt9LbTuyGnqDsqpklhSbrMlzI/w400-h225/Cody+pic.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He knows he sucks. You're not helping.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I don't listen to sports talk radio very often and I figured out another reason why a couple of days ago. I was listening and a caller said he knew how to fix Cody Bellinger's swing. He said the dodgers should hire their old pitching coach from Cincinnati and then and I'm quoting here, "Sit Cody down for a week to figure it out." </span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">This is mind-boggling on several levels. For openers, the first guy who knows that Cody Bellinger has a swing problem is Cody Bellinger. Because he's the guy who sucks! He knows that he is not hitting the ball very well and he is using all the opportunities open to him to try and fix his swing. If you think that he is not going and looking at video of every pitch of every bat as soon as possible you are nuts. He is looking on the flight, he is looking on the team bus, he is looking while he's at dinner, he's looking while in the Uber back from dinner to the hotel, he is looking instead of watching new Ted Lasso episodes. He is staring at his swing for hours and hours a week. He is trying to not swing at that inside pitch that is his kryptonite. But he does anyway. And then he stares at the video and wonders why. He wishes he could not do that.</span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">If you think that fixing a swing takes one week, then you have never tried to fix a swing. If you think it takes a week to overhaul a swing, buddy, I have new NFT's for you and trust me these are gonna be great! It takes months to fix a swing. It takes an entire off season. It takes discipline. It takes breaking old habits and re-establishing new ones. Saying "It'll take a week to fix it" is the equivalent of saying "You should lose 10 pounds by Friday" and I don't care if tomorrow is Friday when you read this. It's impossible. And getting the old hitting coach- Turner Ward, if you're up on former Dodger hitting coaches- is not going to change anything just because Ward was his hitting coach during his MVP year.</span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">This is an example of the problems I have with sports hot takes, which are all along the lines of "team x or player x should do this and it'll fix everything." Teams spend more time than you ever thought possible analyzing their team and the moves they could make to get just a little better. It is their job! How many hours do you spend at your job and how many hours do you spend thinking about how to fix "your" team at every position? Because every position change you make has consequences on the entire rest of the team. And then there is a whole new list of issues you have to deal with. Salary cap, locker room, how others feel about it. Good coaches, executives and players have left teams because of one move. One. </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I guarantee that a team has come up with the idea that you have come up with and have decided not to do it for one reason or another.</span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">There are lots of things that teams do not tell us about decisions that they make. It is basically the equivalent of going to work. If I went to your work and looked at your job for five minutes and said well why don't you do it this way? And why don't you fire that guy, he sucks? And why don't you give her a raise? And why doesn't she get a promotion? Why do you not work for her? </span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">At some level you're going to say yeah, but. And you're going to have so many reasons why none of that has happened. You're either going to say how none of that can happen or you're going to not give me a straight answer on why it can't happen. Because you often can't give me the real answer on why none of that can happen. It's office politics or seniority or people you don't want to tick off or any number of things that you simply don't want me to know about. They exist in every office, and they exist on every sports team. Your answer is the equivalent of Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explaining why they don't you bench Cody Bellinger for a week. </span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The other thing is that any sure fire suggestion to fix any team, whether that's benching Cody Bellinger or starting Trey Lance over Jimmy Garoppolo or trading CJ McCollum for Ben Simmons- is that it's the equivalent of me going to you, assuming you are my friend and I know you reasonably well, and saying...</span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Why don't you buy a Ferrari?</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-O2Aoz2KdSZzmsCrxsDQ4ty1U1LomLG3n-dSv8rSZRZiUQiwCQFVJH5YmSYqkvOHiUcFHaJ76R3kEBFqOsrF1nqxfYtbD0w99LJWd7FEHNLXOYqVj7xg1dCSW57b0EhWSbE3T1Cg8iag/s1140/purple-laferrari-22717-1140x570.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="1140" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-O2Aoz2KdSZzmsCrxsDQ4ty1U1LomLG3n-dSv8rSZRZiUQiwCQFVJH5YmSYqkvOHiUcFHaJ76R3kEBFqOsrF1nqxfYtbD0w99LJWd7FEHNLXOYqVj7xg1dCSW57b0EhWSbE3T1Cg8iag/w400-h200/purple-laferrari-22717-1140x570.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Because the truth is right now you probably could buy a Ferrari. RIGHT NOW. <p></p><p><span>I reckon that if you have any sort of regular income and halfway decent credit you could go get an online loan right now from somewhere and find a Ferrari dealership that is willing to let you put a deposit down on a Ferrari and become a Ferrari owner within the hour.</span></p><p><span>So why don't you?</span></p><p><span>There are a lot of reasons why you don't. They are called "the consequences." The payments are the first big issue. I imagine a Ferrari on a payment plan is about $4k a month. Do you have an extra $4k a month to keep up with the payments for your new eggplant colored Ferrari? You possibly could- if you had no other responsibilities to pay for. If there are no kids or significant other you care for.</span></p><p><span>Let's say the money isn't an issue. $4k a month is no problem. Fine. Where would you park the Ferrari? Where does it sit overnight? Do you have a garage? Are you in an apartment parking lot? Is it outdoors? Or are you parking on the street? How's your neighborhood? Because that's where your Ferrari will be parked.</span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfToRG_Iziv1_eLxrWvmHumf7rHwKKnrEoHGaj6Vo_zoRRYJlTGIB34YF_RXBupyOXXHZBaTdYrOoY48NPrtAvdSZuSuGQewfZEYb_AbFG2KNvrvxVtYfu8KfJNXnKmoulSyJmMW5otyE/s950/ferrari+parked.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="713" data-original-width="950" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfToRG_Iziv1_eLxrWvmHumf7rHwKKnrEoHGaj6Vo_zoRRYJlTGIB34YF_RXBupyOXXHZBaTdYrOoY48NPrtAvdSZuSuGQewfZEYb_AbFG2KNvrvxVtYfu8KfJNXnKmoulSyJmMW5otyE/w400-h300/ferrari+parked.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">no worries parking this here, right?</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><span>Then you have to drive the Ferrari. If it's your only car, you have to drive it everywhere you drive to right now. Where did you go to this week? You drive it to work. You drive it to the grocery store. You drive it to the gym. How big is your family? A Ferrari seats two. Will your significant other be okay taking their car every time you go on a family outing? Will your significant other be ok giving up their space in the garage so you can park your Ferrari there? If your Ferrari is in the garage there's still everything else in the garage. Kids bicycles. Random garage stuff. Washer. Dryer. Skis. What if one of your kids bangs their bicycle into the Ferrari? What happens then?</span></p><p><span>You see, there are a lot of issues when I say "Why don't you buy a Ferrari?" So remember the next time you come up with these great ideas to improve your sports team, like benching Cody Bellinger for a week so he can fix his swing, it's as about as realistic as you buying a Ferrari.</span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvigc9IxlmLktxkotmAOJzwrY7lk0PxPR2RIyWxG0qdnUC6rLC7OOk2k9ww_WxNjm0JZMtpKgdlGU-VaCBntgTURkWScODTjWAfgXgA8xOAliNmWvWdCmF2RHfZIkM3QVd5MKDt1eZ2pE/s1040/ferrari+parking+lot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="585" data-original-width="1040" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvigc9IxlmLktxkotmAOJzwrY7lk0PxPR2RIyWxG0qdnUC6rLC7OOk2k9ww_WxNjm0JZMtpKgdlGU-VaCBntgTURkWScODTjWAfgXgA8xOAliNmWvWdCmF2RHfZIkM3QVd5MKDt1eZ2pE/w640-h360/ferrari+parking+lot.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You still want to buy a Ferrari?</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span><i>photos courtesy: <a href="https://www.ocregister.com/2021/08/30/dodgers-dave-roberts-says-slumping-cody-bellinger-wont-play-vs-lefties/" target="_blank">OCRegister/AP</a>, <a href="https://blog.dupontregistry.com/news/purple-laferrari-belongs-crown-prince-johor/" target="_blank">Blog.Dupontregistry.com</a>, <a href="https://pixy.org/385406/" target="_blank">Pixy.org</a>, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/2871286/watch-driver-backs-into-382000-ferrari-in-parking-lot/" target="_blank">GlobalNews/AP</a></i></span></p>Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-43257324203599593742021-03-10T15:28:00.005-08:002021-05-10T12:26:35.827-07:00The Crowds Will Come Back, Sooner Than You Think<p>"It'll be a long time before I go to an event with a big crowd again."</p><p>First of all, that's a lie. The big crowds will be back, sooner than you think. And you'll be back, sooner than you think. While Alabama is planning on <a href="https://twitter.com/Greg_Byrne/status/1366504558059544577?s=20" target="_blank">full crowds at Bryant-Denny Stadium this fall</a>, The Texas Rangers are going to have no seating restrictions and <a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/31039697/mlb-rangers-line-first-team-back-full-capacity" target="_blank">potentially a full house at their season opener</a> in a matter of weeks.</p><p>The proof of attendance jumping quickly after a pandemic is easy to find, because it's what happened 100 years ago during the last pandemic. I could go back to the plagues in the 1500's that are described almost off-handedly in the book I'm reading about the Renaissance and that the theatre continued most places, but sports attendance is the most relatable.</p><p>More stadiums were built in the five years following the 1918 pandemic then at any other time in American Sports History. There were dozens. Lots of them are still around, and most of them are considered iconic.</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxjj9SfZVMx-MbbIOT5TdArrx36SK_K7QhHscUD-ofnnJaiT5bNyZhIrabpxuq1d_Lc5hbFWMHabo-3ZmEiXPpIGmhWOmmvjFqX3YOudZspLhWLvOTG81Rfc9DtF8BkEMJQImYGiMrjjI/s1024/yankee+stadium+1923.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Yankee Stadium, Opening Day, April 1923" border="0" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="1024" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxjj9SfZVMx-MbbIOT5TdArrx36SK_K7QhHscUD-ofnnJaiT5bNyZhIrabpxuq1d_Lc5hbFWMHabo-3ZmEiXPpIGmhWOmmvjFqX3YOudZspLhWLvOTG81Rfc9DtF8BkEMJQImYGiMrjjI/w400-h272/yankee+stadium+1923.jpg" title="Yankee Stadium, Opening Day, April 1923" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Yankee Stadium, Opening Day, April 18, 1923</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Three of them, just for a start: The Rose Bowl, the original Yankee Stadium, and whichever other college football stadium is your favorite. You may think I'm being flippant in that regard, but <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NCAA_Division_I_FBS_football_stadiums#Current_stadiums" target="_blank">17 college football stadiums built between 1919 and 1924</a> are still in use. </p><p>Among them? Ohio Stadium, LSU's Tiger Stadium, Neyland Stadium, the L.A. Coliseum, Spartan Stadium, Stanford Stadium, and nearly anything named Memorial Stadium (Cal, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, etc.). I didn't even count Solider Field and it was built in 1924.</p><p>14 more great college stadiums still in use were built by 1930. Legion Field, Bryant-Denny, Michigan Stadium, Kinnick, Sanford. The first proper build-out of Kyle Field to make it a stadium happened in 1927 and therefore counts here since I'm making the list. </p><p>A mere 13 total stadiums still in use were built in the entire decade of the 1930's, including Notre Dame Stadium.</p><p>As a track and field fan I would be remiss not to mention Oregon's famed Hayward Field, originally built mostly as a football venue for the Ducks, but gaining more fame in the track world- that opened in 1919, too.</p><p>More great stadiums were built in that 1919-1924 era found the wrecking ball. In addition to the Original Yankee Stadium, there's Kansas City's Mulebach Field/Municipal Stadium, opened in 1923. West Virginia's original Mountaineer Field opened in 1924. The original Memorial Stadium in Baltimore opened in 1922. Minnesota's Memorial Stadium, home to the Golden Gophers during their glory years in the 30's and 40's, opened in 1924. San Francsico's Kezar Stadium, the original home of the 49ers and Raiders, took a year to build and opened in 1925. Pitt Stadium where Tony Dorsett and Dan Marino first garnered national attention, took less than a year to build and opened in 1925.</p><p>When the Yale Bowl opened in the fall of 1914, it was the biggest stadium in America at a 70,000 capacity. Hardly a venue in America even approached 50,000 spectators at that point and the biggest stadiums were all baseball parks. Consider the now-iconic venues built between 1909-1914- Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Comiskey Park, Tiger Stadium, Forbes Field, Ebbets Field. None of them surpassed 40,000. Fenway was one of the biggest at 35,000, a number they are still pretty much at today and the park is considered small. </p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUiT7gzPgaJ5uYj_i4lhGF0dJlMx4_BARq-BFA7givGcpUrpOWlC9Yirl2KIqpfVv2rkB0UX49r0JdAinH-9o_cW3oQusZd_p2O7fHnCnAA4_p4nIB0UeF-MKaAmwiKWDs7uXnCnXdTSw/s640/3b16684r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="443" data-original-width="640" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUiT7gzPgaJ5uYj_i4lhGF0dJlMx4_BARq-BFA7givGcpUrpOWlC9Yirl2KIqpfVv2rkB0UX49r0JdAinH-9o_cW3oQusZd_p2O7fHnCnAA4_p4nIB0UeF-MKaAmwiKWDs7uXnCnXdTSw/w417-h289/3b16684r.jpg" width="417" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1911 World Series at the Polo Grounds</td></tr></tbody></table><p>New York's famed Polo Grounds was considered a huge ballpark at the time, and it was, size-wise, with its unique horseshoe shape resulting in a center field fence varying from 460 to 480 feet from home plate. Burnt almost completely to the ground in early 1911, it was completely rebuilt by that summer (permits? regulations? what are those?) and an "overflow crowd" was considered 38,000. The Yale Bowl blew by every stadium mentioned, in some cases double the capacity (or more than, as Comiskey Park's official capacity was about 30,000) and set the standard. The pandemic freaked people out about distancing, just like right now. Games were still played then, but attendance was smaller. The 1918 World Series didn't have one game with more than 20,000 people watching because of WWI issues and the burgeoning sickness. 25,000 were at the 1919 Rose Bowl but that was the max capacity of Tournament Park, the Rose Bowl's predecessor.</p><p>As soon as people could take off a mask, developers built stadiums, perhaps almost on speculation. Those builders were rewarded handsomely as crowds poured into their new concrete bowls, ushering in an era of massive attendance at spectator sports that still exists today. A crowd of 20,000 was considered really good anywhere in the 1910's. By 1924, five years after that pandemic, it was considered quaint- and still is to this day.</p><p>Stanford Stadium was built in 5 months in 1921 and and opening day capacity was 68,000, just under the Yale Bowl for biggest stadium in America at the time. Soon, 75,000 and even 80,000 was out there. The L.A. Coliseum opened at 75,000 in 1923. Yankee Stadium opened at 58,000 and got to 82,000 max by 1927. Nobody was concerned about social distancing by then. </p><p>Considering how many minor league baseball teams there were in America, it would be reasonable to assume that lots of smaller minor league ballparks were built in the early 1920's. In 1922, according to baseball-reference, there were 31 minor leagues in the USA. At 8 teams a league, that's <i>248 teams</i>. So it's not unreasonable to assume that there were 200 small ballparks in America, and a great deal of them were built during this stadium boom. </p><p>But it's one thing to reason that and another thing to find proof. Wikipedia is not the greatest source for finding proper building dates for anything. And if that ballpark has been turned into something besides a ballpark, it may not be listed properly. Even baseball-reference is sketchy. Sure, they have the roster for the Western Association's 1923 Springfield (Missouri) <a href="https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=d35ebfe6" target="_blank">Midgets</a>, and even the roster and some stats- even if they link to improper biographies. But a stadium? No chance. Checking the Enid (Oklahoma) Harvesters, no stadium listed there but the Wiki says <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enid_Harvesters#The_ballparks" target="_blank">they played at Association Park</a>, built in 1920. But there's no page for Association Park, nor does it make the "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Defunct_baseball_venues_in_the_United_States" target="_blank">defunct baseball venues in the United States</a>" category page. How many of these hidden former parks are there? How many were built between 1919-1924? Uh, I'm going to say a lot.</p><p>Indoor stadiums are much more difficult to find and verify. Any big venue that could hold a basketball floor was used as a basketball stadium. If a big barn was built between 1919-1924, it more than likely hosted a basketball game at some point. And then, if it saw an opportunity, it probably added pipes under the floor and hosted a hockey game. Of course an ice arena was built in Minneapolis at this time (the Minneapolis Arena, opening in 1924 and holding 5,500, and a second came in 1927). One of the oldest indoor arenas still going is Waterloo, Iowa's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McElroy_Auditorium" target="_blank">Hippodrome</a>- opened in 1919. The actual Hobey Baker Arena opened for Princeton hockey in January, 1923.</p><p>More incredibly, one of the most famous golf courses, Pebble Beach Golf Links, opened in February 1919, meaning it was designed and built DURING the pandemic. But not much happened in the racing world.The Indy Motor Speedway, originally built in 1909, had 80,000 people at the first 500 in 1911, but those were spread out amongst a 2-and-a-half mile track, not 100 yards of a football stadium, and that capacity was relatively unchanged until after World War II.</p><p>Conservatively I'd say at least 100 stadiums were built in those five years from 1919-1924. Lots of them don't exist any more, but at least a quarter of them do. Five years after a major pandemic, more people were crowded together watching sports than ever before in America and hardly thought anything about it.</p><p>Simply, you'll be back, really soon. And so will everybody else.</p><p><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">photos courtesy: <a href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/ggbain/item/2014715921/" target="_blank">Library of Congress Bain Collection</a>, <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.ca2274.photos/?sp=140&q=rose+bowl+stadium" target="_blank">LOC Prints and Photo Collection</a><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi67R1MIb5eIM35v1Npjv2elg3RWgPEOYLgr1SLfro8vRRWw_jeUp7zNX4BoNOii1b1f3h0cjNBiii43ZK1-NFkT3OpRc8jCoeWNfx1CIBoVu4ImwcLkSXPblvOlAAiKzVr4XxPUnMAXm8/s1024/service-pnp-habshaer-ca-ca2200-ca2274-photos-183172pv.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="826" data-original-width="1024" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi67R1MIb5eIM35v1Npjv2elg3RWgPEOYLgr1SLfro8vRRWw_jeUp7zNX4BoNOii1b1f3h0cjNBiii43ZK1-NFkT3OpRc8jCoeWNfx1CIBoVu4ImwcLkSXPblvOlAAiKzVr4XxPUnMAXm8/w492-h323/service-pnp-habshaer-ca-ca2200-ca2274-photos-183172pv.jpg" title="1923 Rose Bowl" width="492" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Rose Bowl official opening, Jan. 1, 1923, USC vs Penn State</i></td></tr></tbody></table></span></i></p>Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-45545985992103437202020-12-22T13:35:00.000-08:002020-12-22T13:35:12.943-08:00McCartney III, An Album From An Artist With Nothing to Prove<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9LxN8hMtEi17SNrn7w2lcup1MFHjwsbunhmJ3Lo74XnYnZt4tJJHJfc8anatoOKJ42Z6QoQU7dX5XF7Z9KqcRfJfANIZqNBUJVzN6r9rS0gI8AGrtYPOav5J8GCMtdKp3ZL6E3h62l1k/s600/mccartney+III.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="339" data-original-width="600" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9LxN8hMtEi17SNrn7w2lcup1MFHjwsbunhmJ3Lo74XnYnZt4tJJHJfc8anatoOKJ42Z6QoQU7dX5XF7Z9KqcRfJfANIZqNBUJVzN6r9rS0gI8AGrtYPOav5J8GCMtdKp3ZL6E3h62l1k/w400-h226/mccartney+III.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>Paul McCartney has nothing left to prove.</p><p>He's a musical icon, not just a rock icon, so there's no reason he has to push the edges of music any more. Which is exactly why his latest album, "McCartney III," is solid but not spectacular. I listened to it and I can't find any reason to listen to it again, not because it was bad but because it didn't move me to listen to it again.</p><p>The issue comes from the title, "McCartney III." The only thing it has in common with the first two albums is that he plays all the instruments (the first two with an assist from Linda).</p><p>The most important thing that's missing on the new album is the energy that's on the first two. There's a push, a bit of "I'll show them" that's not there. It's not really a problem, it's just that with nothing to prove there's no edge. The resulting new album is completely decent, but it's missing what made McCartney great, what made The Beatles great, and even made Wings great. There's nothing as weirdly wonderful as "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE-53NCcpDw" target="_blank">Temporary Secretary</a>," there's nothing like the criminally underappreciated "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE-53NCcpDw" target="_blank">Momma Miss America</a>."</p><p>All three albums are connected spiritually because all three came about by accident. The first McCartney came about because he wondered if he could still be a successful musician without the Beatles, and he recorded a bunch of tracks in his house to see if he could. Only late in the process did he, with a big push from wife Linda, re-record some of them in a real studio, give them professional polish and release a album. The second McCartney came about because he was really intrigued by the new electronica and punk sounds of the late 70's and recorded a bunch of tracks in his house to see if he could adapt to the new sounds. Only late in the process, after being arrested in Japan for weed and the resulting dissolution of Wings, did he release an album. The third one? Stuck at home for most of 2020, just like the rest of us.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAd2Du3m7qqyXx_4kAh4X5J6lXA9OQKUTHYRZhPlaWZEfTn2hqPBFuDKBvFumjkKp4STpMjhJ2ekSKKR9UhgxerDhza3RejsAzZQeFGJ1zxR3t45PVpDTDJAZS8jtBbCf-U0Ss77OxXaw/s390/McCarnteyArchive_320x320_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="390" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAd2Du3m7qqyXx_4kAh4X5J6lXA9OQKUTHYRZhPlaWZEfTn2hqPBFuDKBvFumjkKp4STpMjhJ2ekSKKR9UhgxerDhza3RejsAzZQeFGJ1zxR3t45PVpDTDJAZS8jtBbCf-U0Ss77OxXaw/s320/McCarnteyArchive_320x320_2.jpg" /></a></div><p>Take the first track on each album, still an important thing in order to declare the tone of where an artist is going to go musically for the next 40 to 50 minutes. The opening track of "McCartney" is "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ7Ka6elvA0" target="_blank">Lovely Linda</a>," the very first thing he recorded when he bought a portable four-track recorder and began to try and make music by himself. It is like dropping in on a friend noodling with an acoustic guitar trying out chords. Linda opens the squeaky door to the room in the middle of the take and it ends with him getting the giggles. "McCartney II" opens with "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5nzLQ63c9E" target="_blank">Coming Up</a>," a brisk, pop hit that started with Paul noodling around on the drum kit and building up the song bit by bit. He manipulated the hell out of his voice and every piece of instrumentation. It sounds like Paul, yet it doesn't. (John Lennon said this song, with the manipulated Paul voice, made him want to record music again, and he did.) The music video, by the way, is a big declaration that it's a solo work- it's a a band consisting of nine Paul McCartneys and two Lindas, pretty clever video work for the time. (And it starts with a spotlight on the drummer, a nod to how it began.)</p><p>The first track of "McCartney III" is "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF3Q24CX2C4" target="_blank">Long Tailed Winter Bird</a>." It starts with an acoustic guitar playing a riff, and then a second acoustic guitar adds some rhythm to it. This goes on for a while, showing a sparseness. Other guitars come in and out. Then those drop out and an electric guitar does an eight bar riff before Paul comes in, repeating a vocal riff of "do you miss me." Then the drums and bass kick in, and the opening riff returns with some augmentation. It is clearly another kind of build up song for Paul, starting with a riff and a tempo and going on from there. But if you didn't know anything about how the album came about, you'd dismiss it almost immediately, for it's not incredibly memorable. </p><p>The thing is, 50 years ago when he made the first "McCartney" it was weird for someone to make a record all by themselves. In fact, it was still a fairly new technology. Going back and adding guitars or piano or double-tracking vocals had been impossible to do for the first decades of recorded music. Adding a second track had only really been around since the late 1940's, but was not used as a regular thing until the mid-50's and was still looked down upon until The Beatles made it okay for everyone to do all the time. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"- made on an eight-track machine, meaning you could add at least seven different things, ushered in a time when people took it to the next level, and continue to increase those levels today. Heck, because of the ease of computer voice manipulation and the ability to do 256 or more tracks, some songs today, if not most, use a different take <i>for every single word of the lyrics</i>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7mq2RZb5oT9KAXH2GKeeM3jhNBlpxCIv6wkrwKuL0XASoy4nTUktA5h5tJ7EHiDdvJuf3aVE9us8PLHvwbr1-ByCt8KR_EbLq_uKeHE2780iUVH3UDuebp7YP1kSaVfhUn9fIeJf5l04/s390/McCarntey2Archive_320x320.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="390" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7mq2RZb5oT9KAXH2GKeeM3jhNBlpxCIv6wkrwKuL0XASoy4nTUktA5h5tJ7EHiDdvJuf3aVE9us8PLHvwbr1-ByCt8KR_EbLq_uKeHE2780iUVH3UDuebp7YP1kSaVfhUn9fIeJf5l04/s320/McCarntey2Archive_320x320.jpg" /></a></div><p>So while innovative to be completely solo in 1970 and 1980, in 2020 doing things by yourself is not only recommended during the Covid-19 pandemic but encouraged. Basically, if you are on social media you have more resources available to make music <i>right now</i> than Paul McCartney did as a professional musician unintentionally making his debut solo album in late 1969. So "McCartney III," technology-wise, is nothing that any amateur musician can't do by themselves. If you're still in doubt about that, <a href="https://twitter.com/brittlestar/status/1340789800526340096" target="_blank">watch this</a>, which is perhaps the best stay-at-home music video of 2020, which makes it perhaps the best music video of 2020. </p><p>"McCartney" came out of Paul wondering if he could still make music without John, George and Ringo. "McCartney II" came out of Paul experimenting with all the new sounds and showing how weird he could be. "McCartney III" came out of Paul being stuck at home in 2020. He doesn't have anything to prove except he could still make music, and in 2020 that's enough. It's not great, and you would probably have a better time listening to the first two, but it's here and that's enough.</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>McCartney album photos: <a href="http://paulmccartney.com">paulmccartney.com</a></i></span></p>Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-17803654725126765272020-11-06T15:32:00.003-08:002020-11-06T15:32:59.565-08:00Vote By Mail Fraud Is Incredibly Hard To Do<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0w4t6SEE9ldD0dZ6TxIBsb8G0XX01nKYMIPURd_DvqAlq7DsLleCQifQPv6rfQivOa3xW5VgYzN87hQeqgm1ioMl59R_JftQAGwSNjbR7s88hwjOrRREPweWrj8bNZerZonEKKWqA5P4/s989/so+i+can+vote.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="553" data-original-width="989" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0w4t6SEE9ldD0dZ6TxIBsb8G0XX01nKYMIPURd_DvqAlq7DsLleCQifQPv6rfQivOa3xW5VgYzN87hQeqgm1ioMl59R_JftQAGwSNjbR7s88hwjOrRREPweWrj8bNZerZonEKKWqA5P4/w400-h224/so+i+can+vote.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"So I can vote"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div>Like clockwork, every four years there's a big to-do about "mail in voting is ripe for fraud" and every four years, there are no major cases of mail in voting fraud. This time around, with so many people voting by mail for the first time, it's a louder issue at the front, but the same thing at the back: no major cases.</div><div><br /></div><div>In many cases, most vote by mail concerns can be attributed to the fact that the voter has only <i>just now</i> started thinking about the ways any ballot could be stolen or falsified. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm here to tell you that the elections office and everybody who works there has not only already thought about those ways, they thought about a bunch more ways that you haven't thought of yet, <i>and then</i> they had to prove they could prevent that from happening <i>before</i> vote by mail was even allowed to happen.</div><div><br /></div><div>A quick check of your state or your county for vote by mail rules will probably alleviate much of your concerns for vote by mail potential fraud. But since this is America in 2020 and very few people bother to take the time to look things up, let's go through some common vote by mail allegations and solutions.</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>They're adding ghost people to the rolls to vote!</i></b></span></div><div><br /></div><div>Do you know how hard it is to add someone to the voting rolls? Have you ever really considered what it takes? It takes faking an entire person, a social security number, a driver's license with a photo and number and an entire paper trail <i>for just one vote</i>. If I'm going through all that trouble to add a fake person, it's to rent a storage unit to hold all my duffle bags of money for selling fake Baby Yodas on Ebay.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you've ever moved, you have to prove you exist and really live there to receive a ballot. It starts with going somewhere in person- the DMV or the elections office- and proving you are living there by showing mail and turning in your old driver's license. Then they run you through a database to make sure you're not somebody else. Only then do they ask you if you want to register to vote.</div><div><br /></div><div>When I moved out of state, I realized I hadn't registered to vote the day before the election, so I went to the county office and stood in line. I think I didn't have any of the other proof besides my driver's license so I had to go back home and get all the other stuff- mail and the like- and only then did they give me a provisional ballot. But it still took me going there in person, not doing it any other way. And that's how you still have to register to vote everywhere. At some point, you have to actually be in front of a person who will certify that you are also a person. </div><div><br /></div><div>Have you ever tried to fake a social security number? You might be able to fake one to illegally get a credit card or a rental car or maybe a souvenir towel at a baseball game (seems like an oddly specific example, doesn't it? Well, sometimes people need a towel but don't want to sign up for a credit card). But to use a fake social security number in order to register to vote? That.... doesn't make any sense. Neither does going through all the trouble to fake a driver's license to vote. Unless you're in The Breakfast Club.</div><div><br /></div><div><p style="background-color: #f6f6f5; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; padding: 0px;"><span class="character" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000389/?ref_=tt_ch" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #136cb2;">Andrew Clark (Emilo Estevez)</a>: </span>What do you need a fake I.D. for?</p><p style="background-color: #f6f6f5; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; padding: 0px;"><span class="character" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001309/?ref_=tt_ch" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #70579d; text-decoration-line: none;">Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall) </a>: </span>So I can vote.</p></div><div><br /></div><div>The only argument people bring to this one is examples from the Chicago mob days or LBJ in Texas. Even those are pretty much anecdotal (most of the "proof" for LBJ comes <a href="https://www.worldtribune.com/how-landslide-lyndon-stole-the-senate-race-in-1948/" target="_blank">from one article in the 70's</a> after all the major players in the election had died). There's no evidence of it happening now, or enough to swing any election since then. </div><div><br /></div><div><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>My uncle's/cousin's/in-law's/friend's ballot was stolen! They never got it!</b></span></i></div><div><br /></div><div>First of all, if this did happen, that is a terrible thing and whoever did that should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. So, question number one: what did they do about it? (Usually, the claim fades away into nothingness after this question).</div><div><br /></div><div>If a ballot does not show up, the voter absolutely has to contact their county elections office. The office will either issue a second, provisional ballot or tell the voter to go in person on election day and vote at the poll. Behind the scenes, the elections office will then try to find that missing ballot! If the vote was counted, it can be tracked and de-counted (I just made up a word). Then it can be tracked: where did it come from and how did it get counted? But it is highly unlikely that ballot was even counted. If it did, they can continue the tracking back to where it came from and arrest the person perpetrating the fraud.</div><div><br /></div><div>And there we come to another section: The signature. Every mail in ballot requires a signature. That signature is checked against the one the elections office has on file for every voter. It's as simple as scanning that signature and having the computer do the checking. If there is a big enough discrepancy, the computer kicks the signature and the vote out, and it is hand-checked later.</div><div><br /></div><div>So when you hear accusations of employees in rest homes taking all the residents ballots, filling them out and returning them.... well, first of all you need to stop hanging out with people who tell you those stories but can't tell you where that happened and which rest home.</div><div><br /></div><div>First of all, rest homes are under enough scrutiny for killing thousands of residents due to absolute negligence during the Covid-19 pandemic that they sure don't want to be federally prosecuted for voter fraud on top of it. But sure, these stories were around long before the pandemic. Why, I remember hearing them as reasons for not having vote by mail be a thing back when I was a kid.</div><div><br /></div><div>Let's go through the issues: Some resident in that home is going to know they didn't get a ballot, or their kid or granddaughter is going to ask them if they voted, and when they say no, the granddaughter is going to start investigating why. They may very likely call the elections office to check to see if a ballot was even issued. Point is, somebody or some relative is going to start questioning.</div><div><br /></div><div>Second, the signature. Forging a signature is hard. Forging a signature to fool a computer that is comparing it to other signatures is damn near impossible.</div><div><br /></div><div>Third: if it even gets that far, some worker in that rest home is going to blow the whistle on the scam.</div><div><br /></div><div>Four: the elections office is going to be very careful with 400 ballots showing up from the same building on the same day. Hey, I think it's weird when I get two pieces of personal mail on the same day. How is an elections office going to react when an entire building returns its vote by mail ballots on the same day? They're going to flag them.</div><div><br /></div><div>And then there's everything else. A database scan is going to be very cautious allowing votes of people over a certain age- probably 90. So those ballots may be rejected out of the machine immediately and subject to verification in other ways. When you hear about "dead people voting" nowadays, it's quite often that the database still had "John Smith Senior" in the roll and "John Smith Junior" voted his proper ballot and the machine saw "John Smith" and kicked the ballot out.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Vote by mail states have so much fraud! All their elections are fakes!</span></i></b></div><div><br /></div><div>Um, no. I lived in Oregon for 15 years. Oregon has been entirely vote by mail since 2000. Every conceivable way someone could forge a ballot has been thought of and precautions have been put in place. In fact, Oregon is actually better at heading off vote by mail fraud because of it.</div><div><br /></div><div>I remembered hearing about vote by mail fraud in Oregon during the 2016 election so I looked it up. <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2019/04/10-oregon-voters-plea-guilty-to-voter-fraud-in-2016-presidential-election.html" target="_blank">They found ten cases</a>. One was an 18 year old in college who was dumb enough to not realize what she was voting in two states, another was a woman who moved out of state to care for her fatally ill father and was not paying attention to voting twice, and one stupid mom who we'll call "Karen" that filled out a ballot for her daughter who was out of state at college.</div><div><br /></div><div>10! Accidental and they found them all. </div><div><br /></div><div>Any other issues I haven't thought of? Let me know and I'll do an update!</div>Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-1674665554456175962020-06-18T16:59:00.000-07:002020-06-19T17:51:21.620-07:00A Shorter #MLB Season Probably Won't Change the Postseason<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEips3syXPKVQ35xbTogdp44LtR9kI5yLozJRu3VxLzk12D4Ya9a5tSu3JMY41b_tNKIMdqXWGsVZKpg_O49xlZiI12-8cYIkg5aitfmUJHEnOSfsRDPFKJBfpkXsnpm726BjeqaBAtc2_I/s1600/MLB-season-start-date-2020-covid19-delay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="572" data-original-width="1040" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEips3syXPKVQ35xbTogdp44LtR9kI5yLozJRu3VxLzk12D4Ya9a5tSu3JMY41b_tNKIMdqXWGsVZKpg_O49xlZiI12-8cYIkg5aitfmUJHEnOSfsRDPFKJBfpkXsnpm726BjeqaBAtc2_I/s400/MLB-season-start-date-2020-covid19-delay.jpg" width="400" /></a>As MLB and the players continue to argue about money and completely ignore how tone-deaf that sounds in today's world, the potential length of the season continues to decrease.<br />
<br />
A July 4th starting date would not only have been a perfect way for baseball to jump-start its way back into prominence, it would have allowed nearly half the season to be played. 81 games would have felt pretty good but bizarre at the same time, considering until this season the last time nobody played at least 90 games was 1882. Or, in contextual terms, the year before the Giants and Phillies began playing. <br />
<br />
Of course, that would have required negotiations and legitimate compromise on both sides, and since this is professional baseball in America, that is impossible. As a result, we're looking at 70 games as the likeliest possibility, with 60 very plausible and 50 certainly not out of the question.<br />
<br />
So I began looking around for the seemingly inevitable story: How close have the 50, 60, 70, and 80 game marks looked compared to the teams that actually made the playoffs? Somehow, that hasn't been done. So I said the hell with it and looked myself, and here we are.<br />
<br />
I discovered that since 2012, when the second wild-card team was added and the playoffs went to their current configuration, six times has a team *not* in contention at the approximate 50 game mark ended up winning the pennant. Two of them won it all.<br />
<br />
2019 Washington Nationals (won WS)<br />
2018 Los Angeles Dodgers<br />
2016 Cleveland Indians<br />
2014 Kansas City Royals<br />
2012 Detroit Tigers<br />
2012 San Francisco Giants (won WS)<br />
<br />
So of the 16 pennants won, six have come from a non-playoff team at 50 games. Slightly less than half, which does seem a bit troubling. The '19 Nationals and the '12 Tigers are the only two teams who do not appear in a playoff spot at all in the 50/60/70/80 check. The '18 Dodgers and '14 Royals don't show up till the 70 game mark, while the '16 Indians and '12 Giants are in a spot at 60 games.<br />
<br />
But there was no real reason for, say, the 2018 Dodgers to panic on May 25th because they had already won the NL West five straight
years and this was only game 50 out of 162. They knew they had more than 100 games to play, and took advantage accordingly. The 2016 Indians not being in a playoff spot on May 25th is
basically a fluke- on that date they were a half-game out of first in
the AL Central and a half-game out of the 2nd wild-card. They took the
division lead a week later and played nearly .600 ball the rest of the
way. The 2012 Giants were two games over .500 and a game-and-a-half out of the second wild card on May 28th. They were in the 2nd wild-card spot by game 60 and ultimately won the division by eight games en route to the World Series title. <br />
<br />
Obviously these are the big guys. There are plenty of examples of a team being in a playoff spot at some point and not getting to the postseason. In fact, 28 of the 30 current teams make at least one of the spots in one of the chosen years. It can get a little depressing if you're a Seattle Mariners fan- in 2018 they would have made the playoffs easily if the season stopped at any of the 50/60/70/80 game marks- they didn't fall out of a playoff spot until August, some 110 games in. Even the Reds, Pirates, and yes, the Orioles even have made the playoffs since 2012. The Mets and Tigers have both won pennants. Anyway, the only exceptions are the San Diego Padres and the Miami/Florida Marlins, and you probably could have guessed that on your own.<br />
<br />
But how much does it change? How many of the teams in a playoff spot at game 50 play a meaningful game in October? The answer is about half the them, and usually about half of those end up in the same spot.<br />
<br />
2012: 4/10 (2 correct)<br />
2013: 7/10 (5 correct)<br />
2014: 4/10 (1 correct)<br />
2015: 7/10 (2 correct)<br />
2016: 8/10 (5 correct)<br />
2017: 8/10 (3 correct)<br />
2018: 6/10 (6 correct)<br />
2019: 6/10 (4 correct)<br />
<br />
Yes, the playoff picture changes dramatically every year from the 50 game mark to game 162. Teams come in and out. But most of the time, the team that's going to win the pennant is already in a playoff spot at game 50. So while not ideal, it's likely to be accurate.<br />
<br />
Looking for a silver lining, a compressed 50 game (or so) schedule will do nothing but create more urgency on the good teams to be good. The players should respond well, because you know players do not go 100% every game during a 162-game season. They are more likely to play like it's the final month of the season and they're competing for a playoff spot because, well, if the season is two months you'd better tune up pretty quick.<br />
<br />
The good teams are also likely to be better because I guarantee you a third of the teams are not going to try. There is a group of about eight owners <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2896415-report-at-least-6-8-mlb-owners-dont-want-2020-season-to-be-played" target="_blank">who don't want to play at all</a> because they feel it is useless to even try because their team sucks so hard. In theory, any team can get hot for 50 games or so and make a playoff spot in bizarro 2020 land. But four teams lost over 100 games last year, and there's no way you can convince me that the Orioles, who lost an MLB-worst 108 games in 2019, can put together a good 50-game stretch. Hell, they weren't over .500 after April 4th, also known as seven games into the season.<br />
<br />
I also suspect several teams claiming money problems will effectively sell their players to the contenders. Oh sure, it may be labeled a "trade," but the transaction will consist of will be picking up the complete salary those players are owed in exchange for some lower-level minor leaguers making nearly nothing, making the difference between the haves and have-nots even bigger. <br />
<br />
An expanded playoffs may add some of the fringe teams to create interest, but moving to eight playoff teams per league will make things very lopsided unless you do some sort of tournament for the lower teams while the top seeds get byes.<br />
<br />
For instance, the 7th and 8th place teams in the leagues last year were Boston, Texas, Arizona and the Cubs. Texas was the only one of those who finished under .500, but I don't know of anybody who considered the Red Sox a true contender after August. A 16-team playoff will be interesting.<br />
<br />
One other thing- I absolutely predicted a Universal DH would happen this season, as it almost happened for 2019 anyway. I do prefer the pitcher batting, but it doesn't make sense that the NL is the only professional league around that <i>doesn't</i> use the DH. It's also essentially an extra roster spot, so there's no way the players union is giving it up. It was coming soon. It's happening and it's not leaving. <br />
<br />
(I'm not getting into COVID-19 or anything like that because the only thing anybody knows is that nobody knows how the disease will behave. If somebody really did know, we would have a real idea of what to do to prevent it and everybody would be behaving that way. As is, it's a haphazard mess right now.) <br />
<br />
But I'm not going to complain about playoffs because that would mean actual baseball, even if it is after the shortest season since 1882. The game is still the game.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMUXzEEfYVal7XQJtzQ1qHzFnCMjxzpxQvccaCZUW-Q5Z6yjI4VSGt8NRevjKSp05Kgu4_lKShyphenhyphenM3eSHhvPUvkjEyBp4bncxKvr6RUCxRZ-Fdcyd5I2yEbqG0PTeALkLFgcmyf9zn5yLI/s1600/APTOPIX-World-Series-Nationals-Astros-Baseball-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="1140" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMUXzEEfYVal7XQJtzQ1qHzFnCMjxzpxQvccaCZUW-Q5Z6yjI4VSGt8NRevjKSp05Kgu4_lKShyphenhyphenM3eSHhvPUvkjEyBp4bncxKvr6RUCxRZ-Fdcyd5I2yEbqG0PTeALkLFgcmyf9zn5yLI/s400/APTOPIX-World-Series-Nationals-Astros-Baseball-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There hopefully will be a celebration, no matter the season length.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> photos courtesy: <a href="https://actionrush.com/mlb-season-start-date-when-will-baseball-resume-in-2020/">actionrush.com</a>, <a href="https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/pro/2019/10/31/washington-nationals-top-houston-astros-game-7-world-series/stories/20191031100">Toledo Blade/AP</a></i></span><br />
<br />Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-30872177018711209452020-04-24T13:59:00.000-07:002020-04-24T13:59:15.303-07:00MLB Needs To Start With the All-Star Game<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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At
this time we don't know when, or if the 2020 MLB season will start at
all. There is only one professional baseball league playing in all the
world right now, the China League in Taiwan.<br />
<br />
It's a
weird sports reality to consider. Normally by mid-April MLB is well
underway and several of the high minor leagues have begun. There are of
course the Japan and Korean leagues, there are leagues in Europe and
there's the Mexican League.<br />
<br />
Nobody else is playing.<br />
<br />
So
when MLB does come back, people are going to be itching to watch. The
nationally televised "spring training" games will get the highest
ratings they have in years- which means instead of the dashes ("-") that
your usual A's-Reds game at Goodyear Stadium gets when it's on MLB
Network, it might get a one or even a two, which is a lot (for what it's
worth, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2019/10/15/2019-mlb-regional-tv-ratings-in-prime-time-remain-solid/#60f0c3d33f89" target="_blank">the A's averaged a 0.88 rating for regular season games </a>in 2019).<br />
<br />
The
first "official" game, therefore, is going to be highly anticipated. It
may very well be the most-watched regular season MLB game of all time (<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/24/media/nfl-draft-ratings/index.html" target="_blank">if the NFL Draft ratings are any indication</a>).<br />
<br />
If
MLB has any brains at all, to take advantage of this ratings bonanza to
draw in even more viewers every game, the first game should be the
All-Star game, complete with regular fan voting.<br />
<br />
The
voting would be the most logical it could be in the history of the game.
The winners would be the 17 best players at each position (8 for each
league plus the AL DH), and the pitchers would be all healthy and able
to pitch. (How big is the total roster? Who the hell cares? Take 40
dudes if you want.) I would also make a rule saying this year all
pitchers could only throw one inning at most... and we'll get to the
tie-breaker in a minute.<br />
<br />
This way, there's no chance
that Mike Trout or Cody Bellinger doesn't get named a starter because
some other dude is having a fluky-good first half. In fact, this will
help the proper starting pitchers get named in each league (Clayton
Kershaw and Justin Verlander). And it will let the proper
representatives get chosen by managers without a lot of talking heads
saying so-and-so should have gotten in before the other so-and-so
(though that will happen regardless). Buster Posey is a legacy choice?
Well, of course he is! <br />
<br />
In addition, once the
festivities get going it will allow more people to become fans of
players who aren't on the team they normally follow because more people
will be actually watching and paying attention. ("Say, this Josh Bell
guy can hit!") ("Say, this John Means guy might really be the only
Oriole that doesn't suck!" [shoutout to Olathe]) <br />
<br />
Because
everything else is ridiculous about the season already, might as well
institute some new rules for the All-Star game. They're pretty basic
and things I've been wanting to see for years.<br />
<br />
<i><b>1) Once you've used every position player, then all the position players are eligible to return.</b></i><br />
<br />
Let's
say Mike Trout started the game and left in the 3rd inning. Well, once
the AL has gone through everybody, Trout is eligible to return. How'd
you like to see him re-enter the game as a pinch-hitter in the 9th down a
run against NL closer Kirby Yates? I think you'd like that.<br />
<br />
<i><b>2) I said it earlier, "pitchers can throw a maximum of an inning," but it's worth repeating. </b></i><br />
<br />
<i><b> </b></i>It
would ease the roster expansion. Instead of 13 pitchers, bring 18
(that's an average of two an inning). Nobody's gonna complain about
warm-up time this year.<br />
<br />
<i><b>3) The tie-breaker, and a
rule so obvious it needs to be implemented immediately: Instead of
extra innings, it's Home Run Derby. </b></i><br />
<br />
3 batters
per side, 9 swings each. Hit a ball over 430 feet, get an extra swing.
(Vlad jr. would then bat all night). The issue here is how do you
determine the batters? You could just stick with the lineup as is (and
with the new substitution rule that would make things fun) OR do
"managers choice." Either way, everybody on the roster has to bat before
you can start repeating guys, like NHL shootouts. Or after the "15th
inning" the pitchers get their turn. Regardless, this way guys who don't
usually get to be in Home Run Derby get to be in Home Run Derby. Ketel
Marte and Jorge Polanco get their turn! Whit Merrifield and Paul DeJong!<br />
<br />
Frankly,
it would almost be worth adding a second "not the big sluggers Home Run
Derby" just to see it happen. Hell, we watched a second-tier NBA
H-O-R-S-E competition, we can watch light-hitting shortstops take fancy
batting practice.<br />
<br />
Finally, where do we play it? Well,
with no fans it doesn't really matter. If the "Arizona Plan" goes
through, where all teams play the season in Phoenix, it would make sense
to have it at Chase Field.<br />
<br />
OR..... and go with me
here... do it at State Farm Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals
football team and the 2nd-best bowl game, the Fiesta Bowl. It's a dome,
they have natural grass, you can make the dimensions as wonky as you
want to (removable field-level seating will allow that), and it's going
to be an exhibition game without fans anyway.<br />
<br />
It makes too much sense to start with the All-Star game... which is why it'll never happen. Oh well, we can dream.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixIJLDl84jSfZy9DiLOX5NIV5EURMgTuBStIU6nQK40e38Q3B5VfLETMDAByvxFv195pA-OpfrsKAfA_CHOybNBIZbX3X-TsC2ZPH8u4Aq3WtATxEUokEShA0CpKn4u40jbNyK40SsS9A/s1600/mlb-all-star-game-2019jpg.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="668" data-original-width="1200" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixIJLDl84jSfZy9DiLOX5NIV5EURMgTuBStIU6nQK40e38Q3B5VfLETMDAByvxFv195pA-OpfrsKAfA_CHOybNBIZbX3X-TsC2ZPH8u4Aq3WtATxEUokEShA0CpKn4u40jbNyK40SsS9A/s400/mlb-all-star-game-2019jpg.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>photos courtesy: <a href="https://www.mlb.com/all-star/sunday" target="_blank">mlb.com</a>, <a href="https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/06/26/baseball-all-star-game-rosters" target="_blank">si.com </a></i></span>Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-39313738433164111902020-01-08T14:41:00.001-08:002020-01-08T14:48:40.323-08:00Spinout, the ultimate Elvis 60’s movie<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrltLVjohwAbVzbUEsK0-SfjIfRefeyWVwDLTypeXFSrGM3-yPNMlNe7HzfCtJrRwm9IwRdMYAdR4UHFj0XKft7uvBlEwFVtQl0nfBhpErthMS_FQli_sicIjW4tiDfTCz-2aJMSWIB-I/s1600/spinoutposter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="353" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrltLVjohwAbVzbUEsK0-SfjIfRefeyWVwDLTypeXFSrGM3-yPNMlNe7HzfCtJrRwm9IwRdMYAdR4UHFj0XKft7uvBlEwFVtQl0nfBhpErthMS_FQli_sicIjW4tiDfTCz-2aJMSWIB-I/s400/spinoutposter.jpg" width="281" /></a>When I was a kid I watched a lot of Elvis movies. Some stuck with me more than others. When I saw "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A5dAco5sEc&list=PL-wjJjyINwmkvJ9bZK03js2nHNU3mUhyq&index=4" target="_blank">Spinout</a>," I wanted the car he drove (a Cobra 427) and I wanted the life he led- a singing racecar driver who camped out in between races and shows, and, of course, the girls. It was #vanlife and Elvis and miniskirts rolled into one convenient, 93-minute package. I was hooked. <br />
<br />
I realized that I might be the biggest fan of “Spinout” when
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_McCoy_(American_football_coach)" target="_blank">Mike McCoy</a> was named head coach of the San Diego Chargers several years ago and I didn’t hear any
jokes about Elvis’ character in "Spinout," also named Mike McCoy. So I made one
on Twitter, and nobody got it (this is not new regarding my jokes on Twitter).
Then, every time I heard the actual Mike McCoy’s name for the four years he was
head coach of the Chargers, nobody followed it up with a “Spinout” joke. Not
even Chris Berman, who makes references to anything and everything. Chargers
Mike was just “the real McCoy.”</div>
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<br />
"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinout_(film)" target="_blank">Spinout</a>" is the ultimate Elvis 60's movie. It is, unintentionally of course, a combination of the best elements that continually showed up in Elvis' movies without some of the worst elements (there are a few things that are cringey, but for a 60's movie it's not bad) and deserves a better reputation than "one of the many movies Elvis made."</div>
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<br /></div>
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At the time, of course, it was just that. "Spinout" was the third movie for Elvis in 1966,
after “Frankie and Johnny” (a movie based entirely on the plot of a song) and
“Paradise, Hawaiian Style” (an atrocious attempt to re-capture the “Blue
Hawaii” magic). Like all of Elvis’ movies, it made money (he
is the only major film star in history to turn a profit every film), but it was
quickly forgotten about.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because in 1966, Elvis was yesterday’s news. The Beatles
released “Revolver” that summer, and the Beach Boys put out “Pet Sounds” that
same year. “Wild Thing” and “Summer in the City” and “Reach Out, I’ll Be There”
all hit number one. At the box office, Elvis was competing with “Alfie” and
“Farenheit 451” and “Blow-Up.” The same month “Spinout” came out Bobby Seale
and Huey Newton founded The Black Panthers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A comedy about a singing race car driver was not going to
stick. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To be fair, “Spinout” only sticks today because of Elvis.
Anyone else in the main role and there’s no reason to watch it. But Elvis is
good, even when the movie is bad. He’s often the only believable actor in his
movies, because he would have preferred to be a dramatic actor than anything
else. So why is “Spinout” the ultimate 60’s Elvis movie? Let us count the ways.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>He’s a singing race car driver</b></i></span></div>
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<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOYned40JIQpyPTcgQMtnoo3UGGp2toZ1q_SCGCTKouC_R7dhqL5jOETxJD5SvZcMUgIDS38ewDCWPh8FCfdoB7ToNgvW9lFRHmMBpphCkOCGltwGRqmnuipCgyYCFVMyG5GAwV6T3PYg/s1600/bad+screen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="947" data-original-width="1200" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOYned40JIQpyPTcgQMtnoo3UGGp2toZ1q_SCGCTKouC_R7dhqL5jOETxJD5SvZcMUgIDS38ewDCWPh8FCfdoB7ToNgvW9lFRHmMBpphCkOCGltwGRqmnuipCgyYCFVMyG5GAwV6T3PYg/s400/bad+screen.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">rear projection tech has definitely improved</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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It's the stereotypical Elvis movie role, but he only played a singing race car driver three times in the 31 movies he made. However, one of those three times is in "Viva Las Vegas," which is the movie most people think of when they think about Elvis in the movies. That’s because of Ann-Margaret and the catchy title song and the
fact that it’s in Vegas and that he re-gained his reputation as a tremendous live performer playing there and did I mention Ann-Margaret? Nobody considers that Lucky Jackson, Elvis’
character, is actually a con-man singing race car driver. After the money he
needs to buy a new race car engine gets sucked down the pool (an awful, awful,
plot point), Lucky tries everything. He tries to be a singing waiter, he tries
to win a talent contest…. He tries to con people out of money to get enough to
buy a new race car engine and eventually convinces Ann-Margaret’s dad to give
it to him. </div>
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What kind of redeeming character is that?</div>
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His other singing race car driver role is “Speedway”, which
a lot of people get confused with “Spinout.” “Speedway” is the one with Nancy
Sinatra as the IRS agent in charge of making Elvis pay his taxes because his manager,
Bill Bixby, is a degenerate gambler who loses Elvis’ money but they’re still
friends anyway (an oft-used plot point in Elvis movies- also true for “It
Happened At The World’s Fair”). “Speedway” is brutal all the way through. Of
course the teaming of Sinatra and Presley was way hyped, but they have about as
much chemistry as a cardboard box and another cardboard box.</div>
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In “Spinout,” Mike McCoy is a singing racecar driver whose
backup band happens to be his pit crew. There are no degenerate gamblers in the
bunch.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>He’s a gypsy</b></i></span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4xptj143uQOkBbXyzvvWSVoj7m0rSUHRBS3sqEgRtEVAyaLCu_i6guOutrzhTVTFiSAsGiYLzrEI43n4wa_Ri65qgB4ID7gFbDrP11MXj4US3UaF3JiMEY9cuGMhwVGhIF6dtgsZZ2KE/s1600/the+gang.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1333" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4xptj143uQOkBbXyzvvWSVoj7m0rSUHRBS3sqEgRtEVAyaLCu_i6guOutrzhTVTFiSAsGiYLzrEI43n4wa_Ri65qgB4ID7gFbDrP11MXj4US3UaF3JiMEY9cuGMhwVGhIF6dtgsZZ2KE/s400/the+gang.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is that the wire on the tent or a fold in the photo?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In most Elvis movies he doesn’t really appear to have a
home. In “It Happened At The World’s Fair” he and his degenerate gambler buddy
who loses all his money are cropduster pilots who just seem to go from field to
field. In “Roustabout” he is a gypsy and a carnie in one fell swoop.
“Follow That Dream” is an early #vanlife story. “Viva Las Vegas,” race car
driver going from place to place. "Charro" is your standard Western wanderer. Even in "Jailhouse Rock" he has no real reason to stay anywhere.</div>
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“Spinout” takes this idea to the next ridiculous level by
having Elvis and his team go from place to place in a historic 1929 Duesenberg
towing his race car, a Cobra 427. When they get to somewhere they want to camp
they all set up and the only girl in the group, Les, his drummer, also happens
to be a gourmet cook and whips up a fantastic meal while the boys set up camp,
complete with ridiculous individual pop-up tents that actually “pop up” when
you pull a cord (and the stagehand in the studio pulls the guide wire that’s
not seen because of the careful lighting attached to the top of the tent to
raise it up).</div>
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Completely illogical, implausible, and impractical. And course, when I was 12 and first saw this movie, I absolutely loved it and wanted to live exactly like that.</div>
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Obviously the "man without a home" plot point was used countless times in films before Elvis and has continued to be used countless times afterwards. Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp was a wanderer. The idea really took off during The Great Depression when it seemed like half of America became itinerant wanderers- and usually ended up in California. It's why Route 66 is a thing. "It Happened One Night," "Sullivan's Travels," and so on. John Wayne, Randolph Scott and Clint Eastwood made entire Western careers out of being guys traveling without a home. "Shane" is an amazing example.</div>
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The interesting thing about all these movies is that they all came out before the genre-changing "Easy Rider" in 1969. Even Eastwood's tour-de-force "Man With No Name" trilogy was done before Captain America and Billy got on their bikes. But it made such an impact that you can't watch a "road" movie without thinking about it. This is a good and bad thing, because it both colors the earlier movies as "simpler," meaning more nostalgic, and as "unrealistic," because it doesn't show the real problems of being on the road. Of course, Kerouac's "On The Road," which came out in the early 50's in book form only showed that it wasn't easy even when Hollywood would have you think that it was. </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Bad puns, jokes, and sight gags</b></i></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR3wCoCugD1ir7s9idvEw7hK948i3zx1EV0-jjxHjJ7cbvDGMaP3VIjzUsGaazzhMQ0-ZKP03O1TS10_j9_eV6nDuCg9BVpGHyCVQzhlvL2sKSdfJy5AWS9xGngnJvPnIWzY_xsj4OQxM/s1600/binoculars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="853" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR3wCoCugD1ir7s9idvEw7hK948i3zx1EV0-jjxHjJ7cbvDGMaP3VIjzUsGaazzhMQ0-ZKP03O1TS10_j9_eV6nDuCg9BVpGHyCVQzhlvL2sKSdfJy5AWS9xGngnJvPnIWzY_xsj4OQxM/s400/binoculars.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I seem to be bumping your binoculars." (actual line in the movie)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Every Elvis movie has bad puns, jokes, and sight gags. Here, they might be the best because the writers actually did something with their careers. Theodore J. Flicker went on to co-create the great "Barney Miller," and George Kirgo was a prolific sitcom writer who was president of the Writer's Guild union in the late 80's, during a big strike where writers wanted compensation for home video rentals and sales, among other things.<br />
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The names of Elvis' backing band members are Larry, Curly... and Les. Les is a girl, but the other two band members always say things like "you cook great for a guy," which leads to her running gag line of "I'm not a fella, I'm a girl." Curly is the dumb one and is constantly making
mistakes. Today we'd cringe at the character for implying that he's
slow, but back then it was funny for the dumb one to continually repeat
somebody else's lines. In this case, Curly repeats nearly all of Larry's
lines but with a more ridiculous inflection. He also at first refuses
to eat chocolate mousse because he thinks it's made from real moose. <br />
<br />
The police officer is named Tracy Richards (which often flies by people because the comic "Dick Tracy" is not as popular as it was in the 60's... or in the 40's. And yes, even the 90's, because Warren Beatty's version was weird even then). There's a running gag where one of the characters faints whenever he gets excited or nervous or upset. Whenever one of the three love interests tells Mike McCoy that she's going to marry him and they kiss... wedding bells.There's even a callback joke involving cars going into the water. Overall, it's enough wordplay and plotting to show that some thought went into this... not a lot, but some. And "some" means a lot more thought than most of Elvis' other 60's movies. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>A cast of regulars</b></i></span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6cp9fIp82PuhkcP5-1GLRj8aff9uUdrFnLnafzWTm2BPykN2ny__2oCCZ7AdHBJ6bQrMr7VDURPB9IbCFgYUOgNGdAd5Lo_Gp0Xgy1OpLynbY9aylxvk6GlQ_dzxkYq0efToLp8gOHh0/s1600/shelly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="853" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6cp9fIp82PuhkcP5-1GLRj8aff9uUdrFnLnafzWTm2BPykN2ny__2oCCZ7AdHBJ6bQrMr7VDURPB9IbCFgYUOgNGdAd5Lo_Gp0Xgy1OpLynbY9aylxvk6GlQ_dzxkYq0efToLp8gOHh0/s400/shelly.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the three main people in this pic were in at least two Elvis movies</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Elvis was in three movies a year from 1963-1969, and most of them were shot on the Hollywood backlots and surrounding areas one after the other. "Spinout" was shot in February, March and April of '66 and was released in October. For a full 90-minute movie, that's fairly quick to go from nothing to theatres in nine months.</div>
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Casting the parts, therefore, couldn't have taken long either. It's pretty likely that they just looked at who had played similar parts before. So all Elvis' movies, and especially "Spinout," are easy to watch because you've already seen these people playing this part before. Hell, it's true for Elvis' parts, so it makes sense for everyone else.<br />
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"Spinout" required a father and a daughter, three members of his backing band- one smart, one dumb, and one girl who could do physical comedy- a sophisticated love interest, a lawman who never used violence, and a quirky character.<br />
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So they cast people who had played a father and a daughter, one smart backing band member,
one dumb backing band member, and one girl who could do physical comedy, a sophisticated love interest, a lawman who never used violence, and a
quirky character.</div>
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Carl Betz and Shelley Fabares played father and daughter for years on the very successful late 50's-early 60's sitcom "The Donna Reed Show." Jimmy Hawkins played the smart backing band member in "Girl Happy" (where Elvis' love interest is... Shelley Fabares). Jack Mullaney played a dumb guy in "Tickle Me." Deborah Walley had done physical comedy as one of the many Gidgets.<br />
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Will Hutchins played the punnily-named Tracy Richards, the policeman reluctant to use violence or a gun. That's because he had starred in a TV western series called "Sugarfoot"about an Eastern lawyer in the Oklahoma territory reluctant to use violence or a gun. He got cast because after "Sugarfoot" was canceled in '65, he shot a pilot for MGM and although that didn't get picked up, he was already hanging out on the backlot...<br />
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Diane McBain played a sophisticated love interest because she played a sophisticated blonde potential love interest on"Surfside 6," one of the five zillion young-detectives series on teevee in the early 60's ("77 Sunset Strip" and "Hawaiian Eye" the two prominent others) which were all produced by Warner Bros., all shot on the Warners backlot, and all used interchangeable scripts, actors and production staff. She had also guested on "Sugarfoot," but since she had no real interaction with Will Hutchins in "Spinout" it didn't matter. The same year as "Spinout" McBain played Pinky Pinkston in "Batman," which may actually be her most remembered role any more.<br />
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The quirky character was played by Warren Berlinger, who you may know as a "that guy" who appeared in plenty of teevee shows and movies. Maybe you know him as one of the guys who drove the motorcycle in the original "Cannonball Run." Maybe you remember him from "That Thing You Do!" And maybe you just don't realize you've seen him in a thousand things.</div>
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Kind of like everybody in Elvis movies.<br />
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The three love interests were the three different kinds of girls in 60's beach party-type movies- a brunette, a blonde, and a redhead. Like most of those movies and typical for Hollywood then (and now, honestly), "Spinout" is very white. Watching it recently, I can really spot only two non-white people- a couple of black extras in the first nightclub scene. Elvis does stop and sing a verse of a song near them, but no words, no distinctive moves. "Spinout" is obviously not the first movie to not feature any non-white people anywhere in the major cast, and certainly not the last, but it's worth noting anyway. Of course it would have been better for at least one of the girls or one of the band members or anybody not the butler- or all three- to have been a non-white person, but that was the beach party 60's movie. At least there wasn't a "Stepin Fetchit" character. Can't change what was, all we can do know is acknowledge this bad-in-retrospect oversight and make an effort to be better when they remake this someday- and it could be great!!!</div>
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And one final note- "Spinout" was a "Donna Reed Show" reunion without Donna Reed. While Carl Betz and Shelley Fabares had played dad and daughter on that show for the obvious connection, Jimmy Hawkins guested on that show because he had played Donna Reed's son in the movie that Donna is most remembered for today- "It's A Wonderful Life." <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>The cars</b></i></span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFhuDoI6yj8QqXulztBNKd9mX3aah_WWJwY_Qi0O4pAhOg2TQb-LkVsuUmxXM5Hl4njmFvGzhgukamAa5c9YyWOXuy4mx9lOaShoBP_oSPsm90MQZPIwjEZfGIY5MC2VG7aHltnXB6xgY/s1600/cobra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="1280" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFhuDoI6yj8QqXulztBNKd9mX3aah_WWJwY_Qi0O4pAhOg2TQb-LkVsuUmxXM5Hl4njmFvGzhgukamAa5c9YyWOXuy4mx9lOaShoBP_oSPsm90MQZPIwjEZfGIY5MC2VG7aHltnXB6xgY/s400/cobra.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">when is a Cobra not a Cobra?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
These are the best cars in any Elvis movie, and that is an Elvis movie hill I will die on. The opening scene is Elvis and Shelley racing each other- she's driving a Ferrari GT and he's driving a <a href="http://www.cobraautomotive.com/restoration/Cobra427_restoration.html" target="_blank">Cobra 427</a>.<br />
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(When he gets shoved in the water, as seen in the photo, they most certainly did not sink a 427. Instead, that's a bizarre combination of an <a href="https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2010/11/03/spinout-slipup-what-car-stood-in-for-the-wet-cobra/" target="_blank">Austin-Healey with a fiberglass body</a>. And it's <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hollywood_Memorabilia_Exhibit_at_Hollywood_Casino_Tunica_MS_24.jpg" target="_blank">on display</a> with other Elvis/movie stuff at the <a href="https://www.hollywoodcasinotunica.com/about-us" target="_blank">Hollywood Casino in Tunica, Mississippi</a>. Road trip?)<br />
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Now, I was a burgeoning car buff when I first saw "Spinout" as a 12-year-old, and the Cobra fascinated me- and then his regular car is a 1929 Duesenberg? Get outta town. That's three crazy good cars in the first 10 minutes of the picture.<br />
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And then it gets better- Carl Betz is- of course a car manufacturer, and he wants Elvis to drive his new race car in the upcoming race (because how could Elvis be a race car driver if there wasn't a race involved?). So they go to the track to test drive the car, which just happens to be the first McLaren (a top Formula One race team) ever made intended for customers. Not one of the first production models- <a href="https://www.elvis.com.au/presley/news/elvis-drove-the-first-mclaren.shtml" target="_blank">the <i>first one ever</i></a>.<br />
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Then, at the climactic race (which, for some reason, was <a href="https://www.elvis.com.au/presley/spinout-shelley-fabares-elvis-presley.shtml" target="_blank">partially filmed in the Dodger Stadium parking lot</a>- maybe an easier way to get extras?), there are at least a dozen great cars involved in addition to the Ferrari, Cobra, McLaren and the Duesenberg. There are a couple other Cobras (289's), and various Stingray Corvettes- stock and modified- and an orange thing called a <a href="https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/cheetahcars/elvis-presley-cheetah-spinout-t92.html" target="_blank">Cheetah</a>. Of particular note is the blue car that Elvis eventually uses to win the race (not much of a spoiler). It was a one-off by the car racing stunt coordinator for the movie, a fellow named Max Balchowsky (also one of the stunt coordinators for "Bullitt"), and called the "<a href="http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/MaxBalchowsky3.html#Max3" target="_blank">Balchowsky Old Yeller Mark IV</a>" because it was originally yellow (and I would imagine that Max is the actual driver in those scenes). (<a href="http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2013/05/from-movie-spinout-elvis-movie.html" target="_blank">this car guy's blog has screengrabs</a> from every car in the movie.)<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>And the music</b></i></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVzuVCcl3yp_4OjuGG_J72N0lN_WCaSoSVdFT8-5heJDTQsGLO4eRhwxSb-3MKK2iyb0LHLGhH6uBTtHjoEiE1GGVUbyoKZ9O_woHqk8P8k3Jls_X7KFyWdJlK_ka85IrduMaBaxfZhCU/s1600/gig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="853" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVzuVCcl3yp_4OjuGG_J72N0lN_WCaSoSVdFT8-5heJDTQsGLO4eRhwxSb-3MKK2iyb0LHLGhH6uBTtHjoEiE1GGVUbyoKZ9O_woHqk8P8k3Jls_X7KFyWdJlK_ka85IrduMaBaxfZhCU/s400/gig.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b> </b></i></span>You didn't think I'd forget about the music, did you? Elvis soundtracks are nobody's idea of really good rock'n'roll, but the theme songs are usually fair. "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74SzyL4kLkk" target="_blank">Spinout</a>" is actually better than most because it is super catchy (and it's a shame it gets no airplay, or internet spins, or whatever the term is nowadays).<br />
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One of the film songs was not written for the flick but was picked no doubt because it had a bit of a travelling vibe to it, "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYYYQhCdtgY" target="_blank">Stop, Look, and Listen</a>," which was recorded before Elvis by both by (<i>warning</i>: these versions are terrible) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPwyciJsIF8" target="_blank">Ricky Nelson</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BmoP3wavs4" target="_blank">Bill Haley and His Comets</a> during times in their careers that they would not be fond of. </div>
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"<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUORYupl8PQ" target="_blank">Smorgasbord</a>," delivers on two common themes in the movie- food and girls. It is, as you would expect, clever in that winky "girls are to be consumed like food" kind of way which today would be frowned upon. Still, for what it is, it's clever.</div>
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The other notable songs in the film are "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vKUCwXBtZk" target="_blank">I'll Be Back</a>," the finale which no doubt still gets used as exit music at Elvis impersonator concerts, "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60nI03Umrfg" target="_blank">Adam and Evil</a>," an interesting lyrically Bible-tinged/beat poetry combo, (note the black extras are most noticeable starting <a href="https://youtu.be/60nI03Umrfg?t=66" target="_blank">here at the 1:06 mark</a>) and "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIpNWh_0Tw8" target="_blank">All That I Am</a>," considered the ballad of the movie- though it gets my vote for worst song. All the movie tracks were recorded in two-day period just before filming began (and yes, since it was done in LA in 1966, the backing band is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIcJZJlyMUc" target="_blank">The Wrecking Crew</a>).<br />
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It's the three songs that were additions to fill out the soundtrack album that are actually the best ones on the record/CD/8-track/whatever. In a vague, not-serious-at-all attempt to keep up with the "Revolvers" and "Pet Sounds" of the world released that year, they pulled three tracks from Elvis' recording sessions done later that year in Memphis for his gospel album, "How Great Thou Art."<br />
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The first of the bonus tracks is so far away from race cars and gourmet cooks that it stands out even more- it's Elvis covering Bob Dylan's "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dRNZZuuR8I" target="_blank">Tomorrow Is A Long Time</a>," and even Dylan admitted that of all the covers of his songs, that one "impressed me the most." It is damned good at that.<br />
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The second is a great cover of a reasonably obscure Clovers tune (they of the original version of "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTjs7a9l0hM" target="_blank">Love Potion #9</a>") called "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_e9Napr4Fg" target="_blank">Down In the Alley</a>," which shows off Elvis' love of doo-wop and group singing.<br />
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And the third one you know if you've ever watched an Elvis concert film, especially "Aloha From Hawaii"- it's his studio version of Don Ho's "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-pc62kCnO0" target="_blank">I'll Remember You</a>," written by Kui Lee. "Aloha From Hawaii" was conceived as a benefit concert for cancer research because Lee had been diagnosed with cancer shortly before writing the song. Elvis' concert version from 1973 spurred an big interest in the song, but Elvis had clearly been taken with it almost a decade before, thus its inclusion on the soundtrack.<br />
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To show how much better the "throw-in" songs are, when Elvis' estate did the box set "The Essential 60's Masters," those three songs were on it, but none of the movie songs (though "Spinout," "All That I Am," and "I'll Be Back" are on Volume II).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Finally, the finish</b></i></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqQ0k7J7IZiOHlye1NiaxZiUWmiw7KP0MiD-SaygvXfFkA9rhoXbVdc_QT-cY0aW8cN6uZ5yU1uODyacty2UpY6onBC3u_Q34O0HvOjexiXhNhfNQROcVQCD3UeVCS1QG4g56YLBMWek8/s1600/italian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="698" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqQ0k7J7IZiOHlye1NiaxZiUWmiw7KP0MiD-SaygvXfFkA9rhoXbVdc_QT-cY0aW8cN6uZ5yU1uODyacty2UpY6onBC3u_Q34O0HvOjexiXhNhfNQROcVQCD3UeVCS1QG4g56YLBMWek8/s400/italian.jpg" width="278" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the Italian poster got creative</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the end of most Elvis movies, he gets the girl. They either get married or it's implied they're going to get married. (At the end of "Girl Happy," Shelley Fabares is wearing a white dress and Elvis is wearing all black, a wedding implication if there ever was one.)<br />
<br />
At the end of "Spinout," because there are three love interests, Elvis marries.... none of them! Instead he somehow magically becomes a preacher and does the marrying- and goes back on the road with a new girl drummer. It may very well be the only time that Elvis doesn't end up with the girl in any of his movies (and since Mary Tyler Moore is already a nun in 1969's "Change of Habit," he couldn't have ended up with her anyway, which just makes that movie even weirder).</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Since Elvis has insisted throughout the movie he will never get married, this actually makes sense. But has he learned from this experience? Will he be more aware the next time? With a wink and a nod, the answer is.... maybe.<br />
<br />
Mike McCoy, back on the road where he belongs. Maybe he'll head to San Diego and become the next coach of the Chargers when they move back there, where they belong as well.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hcuW0Nr7-8Yq6LjCwX5uVZFveKCxSwkQW3Bh-jkc7rYug9yQsBLXd7IMisdPbJmgFwRqO-5mgTlInjE0ilaZoCEyQStDBXih6Tf-0-T0c2LTiopSTICdGzddiK4cdm1JJZRvYCNPtuY/s1600/beach+shack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="853" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hcuW0Nr7-8Yq6LjCwX5uVZFveKCxSwkQW3Bh-jkc7rYug9yQsBLXd7IMisdPbJmgFwRqO-5mgTlInjE0ilaZoCEyQStDBXih6Tf-0-T0c2LTiopSTICdGzddiK4cdm1JJZRvYCNPtuY/s640/beach+shack.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>all photos from <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061015/mediaindex?ref_=tt_pv_mi_sm" target="_blank">the Spinout page at imdb.com</a></i></span> </div>
Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-88833812285603191892019-11-14T17:07:00.001-08:002019-11-14T17:07:14.908-08:00The Next Manager of Your MLB Team Should Be A Backup Catcher<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4KeBHw9l1wHN6y7GsC3QWYfgDiCoJgkKKF9Vv_blUNHGH8tbVWiWpDMa9r-CL8cSESACDKKuq2_fdwUUg_DUxJHGa9Oxd5Ln9i9CyX0xEVA2xLKo1_i4CsCealt2g4Uv19IRrfdUjKDM/s1600/ross+cubs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4KeBHw9l1wHN6y7GsC3QWYfgDiCoJgkKKF9Vv_blUNHGH8tbVWiWpDMa9r-CL8cSESACDKKuq2_fdwUUg_DUxJHGa9Oxd5Ln9i9CyX0xEVA2xLKo1_i4CsCealt2g4Uv19IRrfdUjKDM/s400/ross+cubs.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Welcome, backup catcher.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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The Cubs hired David Ross to be their next manager, a guy
who has never managed before at any level and has exactly zero coaching
experience and has spent the vast majority of his professional time since
retiring as a player by talking into a microphone about baseball.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sure,
officially he’s worked for the Cubs as a “consultant,” but we all know that
means he’s been paid to hang out at spring training for six weeks and then be
the guest speaker at various Chicago-area Lions and Kiwanis Club dinners.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In other words, David Ross is a perfect choice to manage the Cubs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because David Ross, when he was a player, was a catcher. And
more specifically, a backup catcher. In 15 years at the big-league level, Ross
played in 805 games and started 669 of them. This is an absurdly small number for a 15-season big-league career.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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By comparison, 2019 American League comeback player of the
year Hunter Pence has played 13 big-league seasons, two fewer than Ross’ total.
Pence has played in 1567 games, and started 1547 of them<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">. </span>In fact, in just a two-and-a-half year span, Pence
played in 383 consecutive games… in other words, <i>more than half</i> of Ross’ 15-year
career total.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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So, what does this have to do with Ross’ impending career as
a manager? It means he’s great for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For 15 years, Ross went through all the strategy meetings to face the
opposing lineup, all the meetings to decide how to play each hitter, all the
meetings of when to change pitchers, all the meetings of basically how to
strategize to win the game- because the catcher is the on-field defensive
manager- and then did nothing with that information except sit in the dugout
and watch the game.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But he was no doubt paying attention to all those games. The
starting catcher might get hurt, or pinch-hit for, or something, and then Ross
would have to come in the game. This happened every night for at least 100
games a year (Ross only started over 100 games in a season once, in 2007, when
he was with Cincinnati. His next highest total is 75 starts, the year before.
Most of the time he started 50 games or fewer). So Ross sat in the dugout with
the manager and the coaches- you know, the guys who led those strategy
meetings- and got to see what worked and what didn’t. And he no doubt came up
with his own ideas about those strategy meetings and what was going to work and
what wouldn’t, and got to see if his strategy ideas were more correct than the
ones they actually went with, and adjusted his thinking accordingly.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In other words, Ross is a perfect type of manager for
today’s game, where he truly can just be a “game manager.” There are so many
scouts and GMs and front-office people who make roster decisions that there is
no need for a manager to be an expert on all those things. In contrast to
football quarterbacks, who are derided for being a “game manager” even though
all great quarterbacks are game managers in some form or another- Tom Brady
controls the length of the huddle, he audibles, he checks down, he checks off,
etc., etc.… he absolutely “game manages” just like Joe Montana did, and you’re
damn right Johnny Unitas game managed, and Dan Fouts game managed, and Jim
Plunkett game managed, and Peyton Manning game managed, and Aaron Rodgers game
manages. A successful QB must be a good “game manager.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, if that’s the only thing you have going
for you, you’re not much of a QB, thus the negative connotation when
commentators have nothing else positive to say about a QB, so they continuously
call him a “game manager.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But, I digress. A “game manager” in baseball is a
tremendously positive thing, because it means the manager can only concentrate
on the game at hand and doesn’t have to worry about scouting or roster moves
and the like. Obviously, he would like to have a say in such things because
ultimately he is the one who has to manage the players the scouts and front
office choose… but he doesn’t have to fret about that all the time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A backup catcher is truly the best kind of baseball manager
there is. But don’t take my word for it, take history’s word for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since the Wild Card era began in 1995, 11 of
the 25 teams that have won (through 2019) have been managed by former big
league backup catchers, and most of those
guys are generally considered the best managers in baseball in the Wild Card
era.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It does not hurt that former backup catcher Joe Torre won
four of those series with the Yankees (10 of his 18 playing years as a catcher, averaging 90
starts a season) and the Giants' Bruce Bochy won three (9 seasons, 203 total starts). The
other four backup catchers aren’t exactly slouches themselves in the dugout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s the Astros current guy, A.J. Hinch,
who won in 2017 and had the best team in the regular season in 2019. Hinch
played 7 years with the A’s, Royals and Tigers and had 299 starts (again, Pence
played in 383 straight in two-and-a-half years).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other three are Joe Girardi of the Yankees (5 of his 15
playing seasons he started more than 100 games), Kansas City's Ned Yost (6 years, 173
starts), and the D-Backs lone series winner, Bob Brenly (admittedly a slight stretch because he started over
100 games four straight years, but he only played nine years and his fall was
as quick as his rise- as a player and manager). </div>
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<br /></div>
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The most assuredly non-backup catcher who won a World Series
in this time as a manager is former Angels guy Mike Scioscia, who skippered for 19 years. He was
the starting catcher for the Dodgers throughout the ’80s, playing 13 seasons,
making 1278 starts, and nabbing two titles- ’81 and ’88.</div>
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<br /></div>
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And then there’s the backup catcher who has lost the series,
Mike Matheny (started over 100 games in 6 of 13 seasons). Four of the guys
previously mentioned also lost the series- and three of them lost to another
guy on the list! Bochy (to Torre), Torre (to Brenly), and Yost (to Bochy).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Counting it up, that means of the 25 World Series played
since 1995, a catcher has managed 17 of the 50 teams.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now we get into some iffy ground. Does a guy who never made
the majors but was still a catcher in the minors count as a former catcher? By
saying yes, we also include the man who finally took the Cubs to the promised
land, Joe Maddon, as well as both of the guys who managed the Marlins the years
they won, Jim Leyland and Jack McKeon (who beat Torre). That gets you up to 20
of 50, a darned good percentage.</div>
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<br /></div>
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There is one unfortunate omission on this list, and that is
current A’s manager Bob Melvin, who should have at least gotten one World
Series appearance by this time. Melvin played ten years in the bigs and started
518 games.</div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgmxt03c_zNAmpW1E037yYi3Pq3QwGAB8LSmEVDhHgQFybI4mCciluuNYAdpOzr2ZL5HuEwAhjFlKGWHvRipLDZyrBVnDX6jlegO2GUi8h_Lq-Aw9AV8rS6clTkDsUw-nKbXU2olMtOFQ/s1600/bob+2.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="800" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgmxt03c_zNAmpW1E037yYi3Pq3QwGAB8LSmEVDhHgQFybI4mCciluuNYAdpOzr2ZL5HuEwAhjFlKGWHvRipLDZyrBVnDX6jlegO2GUi8h_Lq-Aw9AV8rS6clTkDsUw-nKbXU2olMtOFQ/s400/bob+2.webp" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">once a catcher, always a catcher. Melvin in thought.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And there you have it. As a player, Melvin did the same
thing Ross did- he was part of all the meetings, prepped like he was going to
play- and then did absolutely nothing except watch the game from the dugout. So
he learned. And succeeded. (And has absolutely no control over the roster. But he succeeds as a manger by knowing what every single guy on the roster can do well, and gives them the opportunity to do so.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I’ve been working on this theory, a number of people have
said “Was Tony La Russa a catcher?” And the answer is no, La Russa never
caught. He was a journeyman middle infielder who knew very early he would never
become a star on the field, so he continued his studies and eventually passed
the Florida bar and could have become a lawyer had managing not worked out. So
La Russa certainly does not qualify.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are a few other non-catchers here worth mentioning,
because they were tutored like they were backup catchers. That’s because they are
sons of major-league players, so they have been raised watching the game from a
different perspective from the jump.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Terry
Francona’s dad Tito played 15 years in the bigs as an outfielder/1<sup>st</sup>
baseman and played most of his career in Cleveland, which explains why Terry’s
in Cleveland.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are two other non-catchers that should be honorary
members of the backup catcher/manager club: Aaron Boone of the Yankees and David
Bell of the Reds. They are not only third-generation MLB players but their
fathers were also managers. Boone has the edge here, for his Dad, Bob, was an
18-year MLB catcher, almost entirely a starter. So everything that’s been
mentioned about sitting on the bench learning the game as a backup catcher
applies here to Boone and Bell. (The Boones and Bells also have a chance to be
the first four-generation MLB player family.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since Boone and Bell are current managers, that brings us to
this: how many catchers- backup, minor-league or everyday- are now managing in
the big leagues? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Heading into the 2020 season there are 10 of 29 (with the Pirates being the
only team yet to hire somebody, which is very Pirates-like). Melvin, Maddon and
Hinch are all in the AL West with Seattle’s Scott Servais, making that the most
backup-catcher heavy division. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Atlanta’s
Brian Snitker was a minor league catcher and the Phillies just hired Joe
Girardi. The Cubs hired David Ross, my excuse to finally write this up.
Baltimore’s Brandon Hyde was a minor league catcher/1<sup>st</sup> baseman
type. Tampa’s Kevin Cash is a classic backup catcher turned manager prototype
(they are succeeding in part because of that). The Royals just hired Mike
Matheny for his second go-round. And the honoraries, Boone and Bell, make it
12. At one point it was even more than that, for the Giants just let Bruce
Bochy walk away and the Angels fired backup catcher Brad Ausmus to hire Maddon.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Five of those managers made the 2019 playoffs (Hinch,
Melvin, Snitker, Cash and Boone). Four more made the playoffs recently (Maddon,
Bochy, Girardi and Matheny). That’s a really good percentage. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But here’s the not so nice part: All 14 of those catchers-turned-managers
are white guys. That’s because there is one black catcher in the bigs: Russell
Martin (and he’s a free agent). As of 2017, there were five black minor-league
catchers. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Total.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why is that? There are black pitchers, outfielders,
infielders, etc. and so on. Why hardly any black catchers? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know why and I know why. White baseball
players have a reputation. And white baseball players who live up to that
reputation will not allow themselves to be instructed by a black man, whether
that’s a catcher telling him what to throw, or a manager telling him where he’s
going to bat in the lineup or if he’s even playing that day. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It starts with white coaches with that reputation not
allowing a black player to even try catching in the first place, or black
catchers being "encouraged" to change positions. For recent
examples, 3B/Panda Pablo Sandoval was a catcher until he got to pro ball, and
so was ace Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen. Sandoval ceased being a full-time catcher in
2005, his first full season in pro ball. In the spring of 2009, Jansen was the
starting catcher for the Netherlands in the WBC, but by the fall of that year
the Dodgers told him “he had no future at catcher” and switched him to pitcher.
Now, both those guys were probably still not totally fluent in English when
they made the switch. But the sign for a fastball is one finger in any
language. And those guys have been All-Stars by any measure. Pablo still loves
to catch in practice or batting practice. Yet he wasn’t good enough to be a
catcher in the pros? I doubt that very much.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoWgCg_olztJQkmgfPZTtEtRrh4GK1Zjz4N6gBJFfecZPcstz9rBaX8GVRNE3JdLZFaMbFf0JfZgp_UXsQkIwOcA3dt7jpyQVNJQWVbSq6FGbivYQ-JpSHw_A0QahLCE-7JM67dPE4kig/s1600/kenley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoWgCg_olztJQkmgfPZTtEtRrh4GK1Zjz4N6gBJFfecZPcstz9rBaX8GVRNE3JdLZFaMbFf0JfZgp_UXsQkIwOcA3dt7jpyQVNJQWVbSq6FGbivYQ-JpSHw_A0QahLCE-7JM67dPE4kig/s400/kenley.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kenley Jansen in the 2009 WBC, virtually unrecognizable</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Seems pretty obvious to me that more black catchers would result
in more black managers just by continuing the path that so many catchers have
been on. And baseball would need to do nothing except letting black catchers
stay black catchers. It is the baseball equivalency of the NFL insisting that
black QB’s in college become wide receivers or defensive backs or…. Anything but
a black QB in the NFL. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But because it is done at the minor-league level, well
before your Lansing Lugnut becomes your Toronto Blue Jay, it is hidden from public
view. Insisting that a guy like Lamar Jackson “wouldn’t succeed” as a black QB when
he’s a Heisman Trophy winner and known to every college football fan is one
thing. He is clearly proving the naysayers wrong, but how many black QB’s had
to say yes to the position change?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tony
Dungy was an outstanding QB at Minnesota but became a defensive back in the NFL
because no one wanted him as a QB in the 70’s. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Eventually Dungy became the first black head
coach to win a Super Bowl, but suppose he was allowed to stay a QB? Might he
have won a Super Bowl years before Doug Williams did so in 1987? The point is,
he was denied the opportunity. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A catcher like Sandoval coming from Venezuela, or Jansen, a
Curacao native, cannot insist on staying a catcher if he is a 19-year-old in a
strange country trying to play baseball for a living. He knows perfectly well
that saying no may mean the end of his career, which has barely begun. The future
Sandovals and Jansens should be allowed that same opportunity as Jackson, and
then perhaps they too can become a manager someday. (And you know Sandoval will never be considered for a manager job, yet he clearly knows the game very well. Even if he expresses interest, he will be dismissed without thought.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is a reasonably easy path from backup catcher to manager
at any level of baseball, as we have seen, and the path became well-known early
on in baseball, solidified by one particular player/manager. This journeyman
backup catcher was responsible for several rule changes in the late 1800’s
because of his knowledge of the game. He was almost always a backup because he
couldn’t hit much- his 11-year career average is .244, with an OBP of only .305
(rather similar to our first man, David Ross, who checks in with .229/.316, and
our position player Hunter Pence provides a .280/.335 comparison). Because he was so smart
he became a player-manager towards the end of his playing career (rather common
in those times), but unlike other player-managers parlayed that into part-ownership
of one team and then another, where he hired himself as manager and stayed- for
50 years.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, that smart backup catcher who became a manager, and
then an owner-manager holds the record for most years managed and most wins in
baseball history- Connie Mack of the Philadelphia A’s. He won an insurmountable
3,731 games as manager (John McGraw is 2<sup>nd</sup>- and nearly a full thousand
wins behind at 2,763), but because the A’s were generally so bad his last 15
years (From 1934-1950 the A’s finished over .500 only twice, and lost more than
100 games five times and no one was gonna fire him because he owned the team),
he also holds the record for most losses by a manager- 3,948!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(McGraw is also 2<sup>nd</sup> there but exactly
2k behind, at 1,948.). So it’s good to be a manager/owner sometimes. (By the
way, nowadays active players are not allowed to own any part of a team.) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Most managers get fired or quit before they hit 20 years,
much less 50. So David Ross’ chances of winning 1,000 games as manager are
reasonably slim- only 64 have done that in the history of baseball. But the
Cubs didn’t hire Ross to win 1,000 games, or even 500. They hired him to win
the most important dozen games in the season- the playoffs. It’s something former
backup catchers have done really well the last 25 years. And it’s why your next
manager should be a backup catcher.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZeK0NkMnIGF-XDbmeuUCFUGOoYdeAvOcZkeBpAfjJL5KH9P41AyogUPsrPWXhZyhTaSAKJF826DhkCmg-eg93PkV6FjbAFLq5Fam9OTscnrPV4CDW1b5Kl01yZmu2xbZ_ZrvTXbqS0RU/s1600/mackc8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="425" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZeK0NkMnIGF-XDbmeuUCFUGOoYdeAvOcZkeBpAfjJL5KH9P41AyogUPsrPWXhZyhTaSAKJF826DhkCmg-eg93PkV6FjbAFLq5Fam9OTscnrPV4CDW1b5Kl01yZmu2xbZ_ZrvTXbqS0RU/s400/mackc8.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Connie Mack still put on the gear sometimes</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
photos: <a href="https://twitter.com/Cubs/status/1187384323265224705" target="_blank">twitter.com/Cubs</a>, <a href="https://www.si.com/mlb/photo/2016/04/07/when-mlb-managers-were-players#24" target="_blank">SI.com</a>, <a href="https://www.mlb.com/cut4/catcher-kenley-jansen-throws-out-ryan-braun-in-2009-world-baseball-classic/c-206376194" target="_blank">MLB.com</a>, <a href="http://bb_catchers.tripod.com/catchers/mackc2.htm" target="_blank">seriously, a tripod.com site still exists</a>,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-9537603583174404532018-12-26T18:13:00.002-08:002019-01-05T16:50:21.278-08:00The History of The Far West Classic, The Forgotten College Hoops Showcase<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXpgw4wHYOk3j6OlvuxSSUdyJu8laOQf2MDHNvTczTYWAwEM9A-4NrPtoU0a2bwA57QnOrgsuPG8jFhFX9AoJTY715d0mBPrTN0-tFf8TVjHWVjo0oIRoUn__eKErg__chFWHkoh4dbc4/s1600/oregondigital-df719n247.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="556" data-original-width="680" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXpgw4wHYOk3j6OlvuxSSUdyJu8laOQf2MDHNvTczTYWAwEM9A-4NrPtoU0a2bwA57QnOrgsuPG8jFhFX9AoJTY715d0mBPrTN0-tFf8TVjHWVjo0oIRoUn__eKErg__chFWHkoh4dbc4/s400/oregondigital-df719n247.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ralph Miller and Oregon State at the 1973 Far West Classic</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Before there was Maui, before there was the Bahamas, before the also-defunct Great Alaska Shootout, there was Portland.<br />
<br />
For almost 40 years the Far West Classic was THE college basketball holiday tournament. While nowadays most of the big college hoop tourneys are around Thanksgiving, the Far West Classic was the week between Christmas and New Year's, and it provided the blueprint for all the current tourneys.<br />
<br />
For kids around Oregon, their best Christmas present wasn't a toy, but a full-tournament ticket. School was out, and basketball was in! <br />
<br />
But the tournament was ahead of its time, and faded away just before college basketball and holiday tournaments became a TV staple. Since I have found no real histories of the Far West Classic, you may as well consider this it, for now.<br />
<br />
First, what the hell am I actually talking about? The Far West Classic was an in-season 8-team men's college basketball tournament held in Portland, Oregon. It helped prove big-time basketball would be supported in the northwest, and probably helped Portland land an NBA expansion team you may have heard of.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Founding and Early Years </b></i><br />
<br />
As a sports media guy in Oregon, I always assumed that the Classic was originated and run by the Oregon Ducks, for Oregon's results in the Classic are still a prominent feature in their yearly media guide, even though it's been more than 20 years since the last Classic was contested.<br />
<br />
But no. Just the tiniest bit of outside research (i.e., "Googling,") let me know that the tourney actually originated with the Oregon State Beavers, and the first few contests were held at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis. For years, OSU media guides listing their year-by-year records merely noted OSU's Classic results as a "game in Portland," with nary a hint of how much the tournament meant to the school. Even now, it's almost a footnote in Beaver media guides while the Ducks still devote several pages to the Classic and its various team and individual records, even ones not held by the Ducks.<br />
<br />
This is very bizarre, for the Oregon State coach that devised the tournament- is the guy Gill Coliseum is named after! <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slats_Gill" target="_blank">Emory "Slats" Gill</a> started it in 1956 as a simple four-team invitational held in Corvallis with Washington, USC, and the University of San Francisco as the other participants.<br />
<br />
The Beavs won the first three tournaments handily. (<a href="https://www.tacomasportsmuseum.com/2007-11-07/" target="_blank">Check out the '57 program</a> for a big slice of Americana- including a full page promoting the "Far West Classic Queen," 1950's pageantry if there ever was one.) Due to a number of circumstances, Gill decided to take the tournament to the next level as a showcase, and invited the Ducks to become co-hosts. Oregon had not participated in the first three tournaments. The reasons are unknown but rather easy to deduce- they already played the Beavs at least three times a year and probably were not interested in playing another game against them on OSU's home floor.<br />
<br />
But in 1959, the Ducks and Beavs found themselves both without a conference for the first time since 1915. The precursor to the Pac-12, the Pacific Coast Conference, had been <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Coast_Conference#The_crisis" target="_blank">rocked by football scandals</a> throughout the 1950's. The scandals, and I'm sure you're going to be shocked about this, involved paying players. The Duck football team had been caught in the early 50's, but later in the decade Washington and UCLA were nabbed within a matter of months. Nearly every single coach and person associated with the Bruins program admitted to paying players, or being paid to play, or something along those lines. Not only did the Bruin staff admit to their own pay-for-play, they pointed out nearly the same setups going on at USC and Cal, meaning half the conference was in trouble.<br />
<br />
When the scandal hit the public eye, the conference came under intense scrutiny and essentially dissolved and re-formed as the incredibly clunkily named "Athletic Association of Western Universities" for the 1959 season. Although Oregon and Oregon State were charter members of the original PCC, and Stanford had actually voted for UCLA's complete expulsion from the conference because of the scandal, the Ducks and Beavs were blocked from re-joining the new, stupidly named AAWU. Cal, Stanford, UCLA, USC and Washington were the new "charter" members. (For the record, Cal, Washington, Oregon and Oregon State were the 1915 original members of the PCC- Washington State and Stanford joined a few years later, with UCLA and USC coming aboard in the 20's).<br />
<br />
So Oregon and Oregon State officially found themselves adrift as independents, along with also-blocked Washington State and Idaho (who had been a PCC member since the 20's but just couldn't keep up by the '50's). Both schools needed something to raise their visibility as viable, trustworthy college programs. Gill's invitation to Oregon head coach <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Belko" target="_blank">Steve Belko</a> was easy to accept. (Although officially independents, the Beavs and Ducks basketball schedules remained
virtually unchanged. They still played all their former PCC rivals in
home-and-home series.)<br />
<br />
For 1959, the Far West Classic began the day after Christmas on Saturday, December 26th. Gill got eight teams to participate by guaranteeing three games for each team, to make the travel worthwhile.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKI-Y1mJ44bxJiAdSrqKW56PDZovaud0EposlWWogFUtmMFdUmFxVk7k-msJsNBUE0zyNFobTiMtpydAHPW-852oOmfN-cQwp44xIGNga1d8xIgkk7-XW5WDiFLGp47lYokRb_R9DfeMA/s1600/oregondigital-df70c227r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="546" data-original-width="680" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKI-Y1mJ44bxJiAdSrqKW56PDZovaud0EposlWWogFUtmMFdUmFxVk7k-msJsNBUE0zyNFobTiMtpydAHPW-852oOmfN-cQwp44xIGNga1d8xIgkk7-XW5WDiFLGp47lYokRb_R9DfeMA/s400/oregondigital-df70c227r.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1959-60 Oregon State team, Slats Gill on left, assistant Paul Valenti on right</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The bracket was exactly <a href="https://mauiinvitational.com/sports/2014/8/6/2014Bracket.aspx" target="_blank">what you see today in Maui</a> and all the rest, and looks like every high school tournament bracket you're ever seen with consolation games. But there was one big difference- though typically the tournament lasted four days, only four teams played on the first day- meaning they got a day off- while the second four teams played three straight days. The fourth day, therefore, was the only quadruple-header, starting with the 7th-place game and ending with the championship. (As the only teams to participate in all 8-team Classics, Oregon and Oregon State were always on opposite sides of the bracket and rotated who got the day off.)<br />
<br />
The first eight-team Far West Classic included the host Beavers, the co-host Ducks, fellow expelled PCC teams Washington State and Idaho, along with New Mexico A&M (now New Mexico State), who had made the NCAA tournament the previous year (and would go again in 1960), Portland, Denver, and, surprisingly, Hawaii.<br />
<br />
In their very first Far West Classic game on Saturday December 26th, the Ducks set a tournament record that would never be broken- they got 70 team rebounds against Denver, who finished 7th and never played the Classic again. The title game was what everybody hoped for, Ducks vs. Beavs, and Slats' team won 60-56. But Oregon got the last laugh that year, making the NCAA tournament and getting to the Elite 8 for the last time until 2002.<br />
<br />
For 1960, the tournament found its permanent home, the brand-new <a href="http://www.coliseumfriends.org/" target="_blank">Memorial Coliseum</a> in Portland's Rose Quarter. In the fast-growing west, even though Corvallis isn't far away from the Rose City, Gill and company were sure playing in the new arena in the big city would mean a brighter spotlight on the Classic. And it happened.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<i><b>Success In Portland</b></i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
That first Memorial Coliseum tourney in December 1960 featured the hosts, three holdovers- the Cougs, Portland and Idaho- along with Seattle University, Wisconsin and Arizona State, then still in the Border Conference. The Oregon side of the bracket was stacked. The Ducks lost to Arizona State, who lost to Seattle in the semis, and the Beavs beat the Redhawks in the title game.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhInM-zzJqs9MNxFKCRlhrVP4ASlMw2cjNfNpesJqnNepsBnAY5ZI0FkWZvyjwAEsIgVWUDL_dnPiO01qEISRodiyEJQENHUJ-mX6LXz3UfXgdnbTU5Y94L1GYMbsl5yTl-PAk87ZRbHYY/s1600/s-l500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="344" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhInM-zzJqs9MNxFKCRlhrVP4ASlMw2cjNfNpesJqnNepsBnAY5ZI0FkWZvyjwAEsIgVWUDL_dnPiO01qEISRodiyEJQENHUJ-mX6LXz3UfXgdnbTU5Y94L1GYMbsl5yTl-PAk87ZRbHYY/s400/s-l500.jpg" width="275" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1960 program cover</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In March 1961, some four months later, Memorial Coliseum hosted the West Regionals of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_NCAA_University_Division_Basketball_Tournament" target="_blank">NCAA tournament</a>. Three of the teams there had been Classic participants- Arizona State, Seattle, and Oregon. ASU beat the Redhawks and then USC- who had taken out the Ducks- to make their first Elite 8 before losing to Utah. <br />
<br />
The tournament grew despite Oregon State's dominance. The Beavs won the first eight Classics under Gill's guidance, and three straight NCAA tournaments- highlighted by a Final Four appearance in 1963, led by Heisman Trophy winner Terry Baker (the only time a Heisman Trophy winner has made the Final Four) and another OSU legend in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Counts" target="_blank">Mel Counts</a>. Both also made the Far West Classic all-tournament team that year with Counts scoring an all-time Classic record 48 points (and an OSU record for decades) in their first-round game against LSU, thanks to an also-tournament-record 23 free throw attempts.<br />
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The Ducks finished 3rd in both '63 and '64, but their all-tournament team members those years fared better at basketball than either Baker or Counts. Steve "Snapper" Jones found more success off the court as a long-time color commentator for NBC, while Jim Barnett was the 8th pick in the 1966 NBA Draft (there were only ten teams then, but still), and while playing for Portland several years later became the inspiration for the Blazers best-known nickname. Barnett took a long-range shot against the Lakers and when it went in, Blazers announcer Bill Schonely yelled "Rip City!!!" and a legend was born. <br />
<br />
After the '63-'64 season, Slats Gill retired from coaching and handed the reigns to long-time assistant Paul Valenti, who had actually played for Gill in the late 30's. Valenti continued OSU's Classic dominance, as they won in '64 and '65 to make it ten straight Far West Classics, ten straight Oregon State Far West Classic Championships.<br />
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By this time the Beavs (and Ducks, and Washington State) were back in the AAWU fold, allowed to rejoin beginning in the fall of 1964. (The 1964 Beavers football team promptly finished tied for first and made the Rose Bowl, the last time they've played in Pasadena in January). The 1965-66 Beavs weren't expected to do very well, but used a sweep in the Classic (OSU's 11th in a row, running their Classic win streak to 27 straight games, a tournament record) to catapult themselves to an NCAA Elite 8 finish. (An <a href="https://www.gazettetimes.com/unknowns-made-beavers-a-surprise-to-many/article_e2c2abf0-fb4b-577d-9751-ce9d29c05a6c.html" target="_blank">otherwise fine retrospective article</a> on the team calls them only the "1966" Beavers, which is confusing considering the '65 Classic was their jumping-off point.)<br />
<br />
In March 1966, just a few weeks after Oregon State lost in the NCAA tournament, the founder of the Far West Tournament, Slats Gill, died rather unexpectedly at the age of 64 after a series of strokes. Gill had been OSU's Athletic Director after retiring from basketball (his best hire was football coach Dee Andros to replace Tommy Prothro, who had bolted for UCLA. One of Andros' assistants was a fellow named Bud Riley, and he had a son named Mike who would win a state title as QB for Corvallis High in 1970 before becoming OSU head coach for more than 15 years and never losing his love for the Valley). But Gill was never far from the arena named after him, and without his guidance in 1966 Valenti and the Beaver cagers were lost. OSU lost all three games at the Far West Classic that year, as Washington beat Washington State in the finals and Oregon lost two of three to finish 5th.<br />
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That was the first real test for the Classic- could it succeed even if the hosts weren't any good? The answer was a resounding yes. Perhaps it was coincidence, perhaps it was because of the '66 stumble by both teams, but the 1967 tournament featured Dean Smith's North Carolina Tarheels, one of the best teams in the country, coming off their first Final Four (of what would be three straight). It also had the Utah Utes, who had also made the Final Four and were near the end of one of the best runs in school history. Sports Illustrated's write-up of the tournament <a href="https://www.si.com/vault/1968/01/08/542927/the-bvd-boys-shoot-down-a-hex" target="_blank">spoke of it like it was an American institution</a>, noting past Classic games like they were Super Bowls. Carolina beat Utah in what was described as an epic semifinal and the Beavers surged back to the finals, although the Tarheels took care of the hosts to win. If you were making a list of the best Classics, '67 would be up there. Tournament MVP was Charlie Scott, Carolina's first-ever black scholarship player, which garnered nary a special (aka patronizing) mention in the article, just the fact that he was the best player on the court at Memorial Coliseum.<br />
<br />
Going into 1968, the year after the AAWU finally got their act together and changed their name to the Pac-8, the Ducks had little hope to do anything at the Classic. Oregon had been brutal the last two years, managing just one conference win in '66-'67 and two in '67-'68. They opened '68-'69 by getting crushed in two games against North Carolina, and entered the Classic after two feel-better wins against Portland and Idaho.<br />
<br />
But the Ducks found themselves in Portland. After an opening-round win against Yale, they survived in overtime against BYU to make just their third Far West Classic final, and there they upset Washington State for their first-ever Classic title. They did this thanks to a sophomore sensation by the name of Stan Love and tournament MVP Billy Gaskins. (The same night Oregon beat the Cougs, a British rock band played just its fourth concert in America at Portland's Civic Auditorium, as the opener for Vanilla Fudge and Iron Butterfly. But by the end of the first month of the tour <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led_Zeppelin_North_American_Tour_1968%E2%80%931969" target="_blank">Led Zeppelin</a> had moved to the top of the bill, where they stayed.) The Ducks repeated in '69, with Love and Gaskins again making all-tournament team (Led Zeppelin's late '69 American tour did not come to Portland). <br />
<br />
The success of the tournament helped show that Portland was more than slightly interested in basketball. The 1965 NCAA Final Four was <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/index.ssf/2015/03/remembering_portlands_1965_nca.html" target="_blank">held at Memorial Coliseum</a> (UCLA won their 2nd straight title under John Wooden, though Princeton's Bill Bradley was named Most Outstanding Player), and Oregon native Harry Glickman had been pushing for an NBA team in the city since the Coliseum was built. In March 1970 he got his wish, and the Blazers began play that fall. (Imagine that, an expansion team being granted and beginning play six months later.)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx1kJQ8L48SjyQFpJ6XHzn7W80NZL2KsiBjthqXLHHIPLhFp5TSMGotv1cRjhBV-KFTO7kYJxst-6is8xaJfTDG6jLjLufy2ZFyi9hMbCv2rdPa3-8LapchdcyiCfwqt43u5Qy5S6qG-g/s1600/s-l1600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1207" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx1kJQ8L48SjyQFpJ6XHzn7W80NZL2KsiBjthqXLHHIPLhFp5TSMGotv1cRjhBV-KFTO7kYJxst-6is8xaJfTDG6jLjLufy2ZFyi9hMbCv2rdPa3-8LapchdcyiCfwqt43u5Qy5S6qG-g/s400/s-l1600.jpg" width="301" /></a></div>
<br />
Far from causing less interest in the Classic, it only accelerated Portland's growing basketball frenzy. It certainly didn't hurt that the Ducks and Beavs met in the title game for the first time since the Classic went to eight teams in 1959. Oregon's Stan Love and Oregon State's Freddie Boyd, each on the cover on the left, were on the all-tournament team, with Boyd taking MVP honors as the Beavs won their first Classic since 1965.<br />
<br />
The Beavs also had a new coach that year. In December 1958, just a few weeks before the final four-team Classic, Wichita State came to Corvallis as part of a west coast tour. At halftime, Wichita State's athletic trainer had a stroke and died in an Oregon hospital just a few days later. OSU went all-out to help, flying out the athletic trainer's wife on their dime and taking care of Wichita State as best they could.<br />
<br />
The Wichita State coach never forgot that, even after he moved to Iowa and made the Hawkeyes national contenders. When conflicts between the coach and Iowa administration flared up in the spring of 1970, the former Wichita State coach was interested in finding a new job. Iowa was playing in the Maryland NCAA regional, and he heard that Paul Valenti had just resigned at OSU. As it turned out, Valenti and OSU's Athletic Director were at the regional. He met with them, and after a few more twists and turns, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Miller" target="_blank">Ralph Miller</a> became Oregon State's new head coach. <br />
<br />
The Beavs lost the '72 title game to Minnesota (coming off a Big 10 title and Sweet 16 appearance). The most notable player wasn't tournament MVP <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Behagen" target="_blank">Ron Behagen</a> of the winning Gophers but his teammate, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Winfield#Youth_and_amateur_career" target="_blank">Dave Winfield,</a> who was eventually drafted in three sports by four different teams- the NBA, ABA, MLB and NFL (though he never played college football)- and eventually chose baseball, which proved to be the right choice.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjFMLYdXVtQRW9z5DEfuShc0HOnr4SxKi59gGqmy51QimMTVXsV6Y3oKV5Fn21VgqyUSnKLnKRphIYiGdmvX1jnp3H6gN45h-TPZ_VjuD358C-5RSI4gyeV6ldTd_E1OuVeGD8rLWzvww/s1600/oregondigital-df668m481.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="479" data-original-width="680" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjFMLYdXVtQRW9z5DEfuShc0HOnr4SxKi59gGqmy51QimMTVXsV6Y3oKV5Fn21VgqyUSnKLnKRphIYiGdmvX1jnp3H6gN45h-TPZ_VjuD358C-5RSI4gyeV6ldTd_E1OuVeGD8rLWzvww/s400/oregondigital-df668m481.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1974 title game, Oregon's Greg Ballard with ball, Ron Lee on right</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In the '73 title game the Beavs lost to Washington (who featured no two-sport stars). In '74, Oregon stormed to their third title in their peak "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamikaze_Kids" target="_blank">Kamikaze Kids</a>" year, with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Lee" target="_blank">Ron Lee</a> taking MVP honors, but a brutal six-game conference losing streak in February doomed the Ducks from making the newly-expanded NCAA tournament, which went to 32 teams and finally allowed at-large bids. Oregon State, who beat Miller's former Iowa team in the first round but lost to Washington State in the Classic semis, finished second in the Pac-8 (behind eventual national champ UCLA, of course), and made the NCAA's, winning one game. <br />
<br />
With the NCAA's expanding, out-of-conference games became more important, and thus the Far West Classic became an even more important showcase. There was a significant uptick in competition for the next several years. North Carolina returned in '76 and again didn't lose a game, beating Weber State in the finals and taking three of the five all-tournament team spots with Phil Ford, Walter Davis and Tommy Lagarde. But MVP honors went to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Roberts_(basketball)" target="_blank">Anthony Roberts</a> of Oral Roberts, who scored a tournament-tying record 48 points in their 2nd game against Bowling Green en route to a 5th-place finish (they lost to Carolina in the opening round and then beat Bowling Green and the Beavs).<br />
<br />
Roberts made history in March against the Ducks in the first round of the NIT, scoring a tournament record 65 points.... but Oregon won the game by a single point, 90-89! In the NCAA's, Carolina came up agonizingly short in the title game, losing to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976%E2%80%9377_Marquette_Warriors_men%27s_basketball_team" target="_blank">Al McGuire's legendary Marquette squad</a>.<br />
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In the '77 Classic the only eventual NCAA-bound team was beaten by Oregon State in the semis by a point in overtime and finished 5th, but everybody was pretty sure Villanova <a href="https://www.si.com/vault/1978/01/09/106772405/the-week" target="_blank">would do all right</a> and that they did, making the Elite 8.<br />
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As long as we're nominating best Far West Classic years, 1978 is definitely on that list. The title game was NCAA Final Four worthy, with Michigan State beating Indiana 74-57. And yes, Magic Johnson was tournament MVP. The Spartans rolled through the competition and got their first number-one ranking as a result. Things only got interesting when they tried to get home, as <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=gcZ-jrme3dAC&pg=PA141&lpg=PA141&dq=1978+far+west+classic+michigan+state&source=bl&ots=UsGAJvnNAJ&sig=XzNJ_Ode7CKha5jAaX8xplswSIM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiEof7elrffAhVk44MKHV08BBUQ6AEwDXoECAwQAQ#v=onepage&q=1978%20far%20west%20classic%20michigan%20state&f=false" target="_blank">it took three days because of a snowstorm</a>. (Of course, Magic and the Spartans won the '79 NCAA title over Larry Bird and Indiana State). Oregon State and Oregon lost in the Far West Classic semis to those two teams and the Beavs won the third-place game.<br />
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The '79 Classic featured Eugene native Danny Ainge, who despite heavy recruitment from the Ducks and Beavs went to BYU. The Beavs beat Ainge in the semis and took out a very good Clemson team in the finals for their first Classic win since Ralph Miller's first year in 1970. Clemson's team included two future NBA players in Larry Nance and
Mitchell Wiggins, but it was John Campbell who made the Far West Classic
all-tournament team and OSU's Steve Johnson was the MVP. The Beavs rolled to their first conference title since that '65-66 team but was upset by Lamar in the 2nd round of the NCAA's. Clemson made the Elite 8 by beating Ainge and BYU. <br />
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<i><b>The 80's and The End </b></i><br />
<br />
The Beavs started the 1980-'81 season ranked seventh in the country, and did nothing to make anyone feel different. They rolled through the Classic like a buzzsaw, beating the Ducks by ten in the final. But that season ended in heartbreak for OSU. They won 26 in a row, a modern-era OSU record, notching their 2nd-straight Pac-10 title before losing the season finale to 5th-ranked Arizona State. The Beavs then made history in the wrong kind of way, losing at the buzzer in their first NCAA tournament game to Kansas State, one of the finishes that day <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_NCAA_Division_I_Basketball_Tournament#The_March_14_upsets" target="_blank">that helped define "March Madness."</a> Oregon State had won more than 50 games in two years, remarkable in a 27-game season, but hadn't made a dent in March.<br />
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In the semifinals of the '81 Classic, Oregon State had a big early-season test against Idaho, who were also coming off an NCAA tournament year. Idaho rolled OSU 71-49 and then thumped Oregon 81-62 in the Classic finals. The Beavs shook off their lumps and won 17 of their last 19 to take their 3rd-straight Pac-10 title and though they were ranked 4th in the nation, were only awarded a two-seed in the NCAA tournament. The Beavs then won their first game over Pepperdine, setting up a rematch against Idaho and won by eighteen to make the Elite Eight. There, OSU lost to Georgetown, who would end up losing the NCAA final to North Carolina on a shot by a kid named Jordan.<br />
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Idaho repeated as '82 Classic champs by beating Oregon by three in the semis and Oregon State in the finals in double-overtime, 42-41 (the shot-clock wasn't introduced in college until '85). Again Oregon State met Idaho in March, but this time it was in the NIT, and again the Beavs prevailed (they would lose to eventual champ Fresno State). The Ducks, who had not finished over .500 in 5 years under <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Haney" target="_blank">Jim Haney</a>, then did something smart and hired away Idaho's coach, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Monson" target="_blank">Don Monson</a>.<br />
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The 1982 Classic was nearly the last one. The NCAA made a rule around that time saying that regular-season tournaments held in the continental United States counted against a team's 26-game maximum schedule, but tournaments held outside didn't count. That immediately gave more prestige to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Alaska_Shootout" target="_blank">Great Alaska Shootout</a>, which had begun in 1978, and tournaments in Hawaii (the <a href="https://www.alohacondos.com/travel/oahu/rainbow-basketball-classic/" target="_blank">Rainbow Classic</a> at this time, soon to be superseded by the Maui Invitational).<br />
<br />
So the Classic was in serious danger. Organizers were fortunate Idaho was good, local, and needed the exposure. Aside from the Ducks and Beavs, the other participants were either small northwest teams (like Portland and Montana State), or small teams, period (Lamar, Drake and Tennessee State made up the rest of the '82 field).<br />
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Seeing this, in 1983 Portland-based Fred Meyer Stores came aboard as a <a href="https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/12/19/Far-West-Classic-faces-changes/7835630046800/" target="_blank">much-needed title sponsor</a>, signing on for three years to guarantee continuation. Washington State returned for the first time since 1978, but again the tournament was fortunate to include a smaller northwest team with a future basketball hall of famer, John Stockton and the Gonzaga Bulldogs. The Zags lost to Oregon in the semis, who lost to Oregon State in the finals by four points. Stockton was obviously the best player on the floor and was an easy choice for tournament MVP. The Beavs won the Pac-10 regular season title (their 4th in 5 years) but lost in the first round of the NCAA's to West Virginia.<br />
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The Classic settled into a pattern, with only one or two bigger schools aside from the hosts and several smaller schools making up the field. The Beavs beat Cal in the '84 final, with Portland native <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._C._Green" target="_blank">A.C. Green</a> making his third straight all-tournament team and finally getting named MVP. The Beavs made the NCAA tournament again but lost in the first round.<br />
<br />
Fred Meyer renewed their three-year deal to keep the tournament going at least through 1989, but the level of teams continued to diminish. Louisiana Tech swept their way to the '86 title, beating Oregon in the final and the Beavs in the semis, but OSU's future superstar made the all-tournament team as a freshman, a fellow by the name of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Payton#High_school_and_college_career" target="_blank">Gary Payton</a>.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8X-fAV16PjVBbHSaVWBJNPS_cUW0SwgWGWcWhozs1_5E8ZH1V9l_aCjh0T8EPgrTY-f_Z0HO9CCeFOEg5RvM4xgETBDGK43DCvHDaLxvRF7f235Lnb_6spLpOMIw7FD-fYkiH4kfhv94/s1600/oregondigital-df668n045.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="467" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8X-fAV16PjVBbHSaVWBJNPS_cUW0SwgWGWcWhozs1_5E8ZH1V9l_aCjh0T8EPgrTY-f_Z0HO9CCeFOEg5RvM4xgETBDGK43DCvHDaLxvRF7f235Lnb_6spLpOMIw7FD-fYkiH4kfhv94/s400/oregondigital-df668n045.jpg" width="273" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'87, Richard Lucas guarded by John Starks (32)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
With Payton coming into his own and the competition dwindling, the '87 title was a formality, but the tournament's future wasn't. <a href="https://newsok.com/article/2210136/favorite-hard-to-find-for-far-west-classic" target="_blank">A tournament preview got one of those right</a>, with Miller and Monson all but admitting the writing was on the wall. In the semis Oregon beat the alleged favorite, an Oklahoma State team
that couldn't figure out that they had a future NBA star in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Starks_(basketball)" target="_blank">John Starks</a>,
an Oklahoma native who at the time was better at getting into trouble
than he was at basketball, and he was really good at basketball. In the final, the Beavs faced the Ducks, and Payton earned MVP honors in the 11-point win. In March the Beavs made the NCAA's and lost to Louisville in the first round.<br />
<br />
Oregon State won again in '88 and you can figure out who was named MVP. But the crowds were shrinking. Sure, games involving the Ducks and Beavers drew well, but without them <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/?spot=9558009&fcfToken=4f4167716a5574346f2b56424a6a6f393256577a776c6c4a706f74575039386458344f6a546e4a47734c7667456d69697a47755833737a4d492b696b36595150414b6c7058787a787932303d" target="_blank">there was zero interest</a>. The 8th-place '88 game between Middle Tennessee State and Colorado officially had about 2,500 fans, and while the total attendance goal was 40,000, it wasn't getting there any more. By this point, thanks to the non-exemption NCAA rule the Far West Classic was the only regular-season tournament held in the continental U.S. Soon after the '88 tournament was over, Fred Meyer <a href="https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/12/26/Last-8-team-Far-West-Classic-set-for-tipoff/5521630651600/" target="_blank">declined their option</a> to continue sponsoring the Classic, so that meant '89 was it.<br />
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Ralph Miller retired as Oregon State head coach after that '88-'89 season, as the Beavs once again lost in the first round of the NCAA's. Although Miller's departure had been planned a few years earlier, it ended up guaranteeing that long-time assistant <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Anderson_(basketball)" target="_blank">Jim Anderson</a> would have a stacked team for '89-'90, led by Payton as a senior.<br />
<br />
The quality of the rest of the field all but guaranteed an Oregon State - Oregon final in the last eight-team Classic that December, and neither team disappointed- but it was close. The Ducks, with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrell_Brandon" target="_blank">Terrell Brandon</a>, squeaked by Northeastern and Illinois State, and Payton and company rolled Boston U. before holding on for a two-point win Louisiana Tech. The final was a spirited contest, with the Beavs nearly blowing a 15-point lead in the final minutes, but Payton sank two free throws in the final seconds to clinch the title and his third straight tournament MVP, which was <a href="https://oregondigital.org/catalog/oregondigital:fx71c506r#page/23/mode/1up/search/far+west+classic" target="_blank">the only time that ever happened</a>.<br />
<br />
Jim Anderson started off with a Pac-10 championship and and NCAA tournament first-round loss. Payton was drafted in the first round by the Seattle SuperSonics and of course ended up in the Hall of Fame.<br />
<br />
Without the Far West Classic, Oregon and Oregon State scheduled a game for Memorial Coliseum in late December, 1990, and Oregon won. It's the last time the Ducks and Beavs have intentionally added an extra meeting after doing away with an annual third, officially non-conference game in the mid-70's (though they have met for a third time in the conference tournament).<br />
<br />
<i><b>A Limited Revival</b></i><br />
<br />
In 1991 organizers brought back the Classic as a two-day, four-team tournament. The Ducks and Beavs won the revived tournament twice, and there were some notable players on both sides in its six-year run- Oregon State had <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brent_Barry" target="_blank">Brent Barry</a> ('93 MVP) and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corey_Benjamin" target="_blank">Corey Benjamin</a>, while the Ducks had Kenya Wilkins ('96 MVP) and Antoine Stoudamire ('92 MVP).<br />
<br />
But it wasn't the same. Both teams played in the other tournaments in Alaska and Hawaii, and both teams struggled in the standings. The Ducks had changed coaches after the '92-'93 season, hiring Jerry Green, and they flukily made the NCAA tournament in 1995. After that year, the Beavs fired Jim Anderson and <a href="https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JtggAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FmsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1156,3693703" target="_blank">brought in Eddie Payne</a>, who had been a good head coach at a smaller school. I firmly believe that should have gone the other way and made a big splash, for basketball was OSU's bread-and-butter for years. But they didn't, and haven't really recovered since.<br />
<br />
In the final Far West Classic game, December 28th, 1996, Oregon beat Oregon State by two points. They didn't play it at the Memorial Coliseum, but across the way at the brand-new Rose Garden. Over 13-thousand showed up. As it turned out, the largest crowd to ever watch a Far West Classic game... saw the last one. <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i><b>Afterward: The Legacy</b></i></span><br />
<br />
One thing I can't figure out is if any game of the Far West Classic was televised. Of course now you can watch any game on your phone, but there was a time when televised college basketball games were hard to come by. In my early days in media, I worked on the crew for several TV games at Oregon's famed McArthur Court. We had to wire and unwire the place after every game. Every. Game. Because it was built in 1927 there was no space for the large wires to be run under the floor, so they had to go where everybody walked. As a result, we had to remove them when we were done because we couldn't just leave them there overnight. And this was in 2002. So I can't imagine Memorial Coliseum being any better, even though it was built in the early TV era. The Classic ended just as ESPN was really coming into its own, and I imagine it might have been revitalized had it been able to hang on just a few more years as an eight-team tournament. <br />
<br />
Without TV, and without a similar tournament in Portland now, The Far West Classic is ignored pretty much everywhere. Basketball-reference.com has a number of problems with their listings of arenas for games in the early years of basketball (listing early Washington Huskies home games at "Bank of America Arena" and not "Hec Edmunson Pavillion," it's proper name since it's opening in 1927- and not having a complete team schedule until the <a href="https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/washington/1950-schedule.html" target="_blank">1949-50 season</a>). The 1966 tournament, for instance, is listed on every team's schedule as taking place in Texas, at the Dallas Convention Center. (<a href="https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/indiana/1967-schedule.html" target="_blank">Indiana's schedule</a> is the most obvious example.) When the University of Portland is involved, the games are listed as being at their home arena, and several of Oregon State's games are listed as taking place in Corvallis. For several teams, like North Carolina's, the arena is listed as "blank." <br />
<br />
I mentioned at the top how the Classic goes virtually unmentioned in Oregon State media guides. It makes very little sense. Except for a brief run by former Oregon head coach Steve Belko as tournament director, it seems like Oregon State was in charge. For many years the Classic took up several pages in the Beaver media guide, listing results for all teams, individual records and so on.<br />
<br />
No doubt when the Classic finally dissolved for good in 1996 there was an element of frustration that it went away. Probably, those involved in making the Classic happen on the Oregon State side decided to not mention it at all- out of sight, out of mind. After the '<a href="https://oregondigital.org/catalog/oregondigital:fx71bh64j#page/109/mode/1up/search/far+west+classic" target="_blank">96-'97 media guide</a>, the last year of the abbreviated Classic, it's all gone for at least a decade. (Take a gander at the <a href="https://oregondigital.org/catalog/oregondigital:fx71cf86b#page/134/mode/1up" target="_blank">year-by-year results in the '03-'04 media guide</a> if you doubt this. That link is for the page showing the mid-'60's into the 70's, the Classic's glory years. Not a word.) <br />
<br />
By 2010, the "Portland" designation had been dropped for "Far West Classic" in the year-by-year results, but that's as far as they've gone. When Wayne Tinkle became OSU head coach, Oregon State <a href="https://www.buildingthedam.com/2015/4/10/8382571/far-west-classic-returns-sort-of" target="_blank">tried to bring it back the Classic in 2015</a> as a four-team tournament and the old guys hoped for a <a href="http://www.golocalpdx.com/sports/the-far-west-classic-returns-to-portland-in-december" target="_blank">return to the Glory Days</a>. (I had hoped to discover that Tinkle actually played in the Classic, but Montana, his alma mater, never participated.) Without the Ducks, OSU brought in <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2015/12/what_is_the_future_of_the_far.html" target="_blank">Portland as co-hosts</a> and they renamed it the "Dam City Classic" for 2016. For 2017, they eliminated the tournament idea and the "Dam City Classic" became just a single game, and the 2018 edition drew <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018%E2%80%9319_Oregon_State_Beavers_men's_basketball_team#Schedule_and_results" target="_blank">just over 5,000</a> to the nearly 20-thousand seat Moda Center/Rose Garden. Not exactly a sellout.<br />
<br />
The closest revival to the Far West Classic was a one-off in 2017 for Oregon graduate and Nike co-founder Phil Knight's 80th birthday, a 16-team shindig split into two eight-team brackets called the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Knight_Invitational" target="_blank">Phil Knight Invitational</a>. All the teams involved were Nike-sponsored, of course. But that was it. You only turn 80 once.<br />
<br />
There is a big between Christmas-and-New-Years tournament in Portland, but it's not a college showcase- it's high school. The <a href="http://lesschwabinvitational.com/about.htm" target="_blank">Les Schwab Invitational</a> runs two brackets, a 16-team national and an 8-team local, but it takes place at Liberty High School in neighboring Hillsboro, not either of the main Portland arenas. Kevin Durant played in it as a high schooler and so did Carmelo Anthony, among others. That seems to be the holiday tournament for Portland nowadays. <br />
<br />
Which is a bummer, so there doesn't seem to be a way for something like the Far West Classic to return. The Beavs and Ducks both try to play in Portland whenever possible, but they won't add a game against each other, and they won't give up a home game to move a Civil War matchup to Portland- why lose home court advantage? (And when they do play there, drawing one-quarter capacity of the Rose Garden doesn't help matters.)<br />
<br />
So it feels like the Far West Classic is just a part of basketball history. I would like to see the Beavs include more about the Classic in their media guides, or anywhere... anywhere that is slightly more official than what this is. Should it have taken me to write up the history of the thing? Probably not. I'm not complaining, I just did it because I'm surprised it's never happened before. <br />
<br />
The biggest drawback for the Far West Classic ever happening again... would you rather go to a winter basketball tournament in Hawaii or Portland? That's what I thought.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLLx31tW1J6u5eEaROgaQLxx9LqKFseon7XlPeZwhjaP0wrLsmBnmtkwyMa2ULdyuVhAC8yI4DdjJLEuhw92ab4Pbj2DQEVL1rWDjI_Sxcd-n6t-RK9wTKgMFmjL8RM14wuW3geyQvYNk/s1600/oregondigital-df668m499.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="680" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLLx31tW1J6u5eEaROgaQLxx9LqKFseon7XlPeZwhjaP0wrLsmBnmtkwyMa2ULdyuVhAC8yI4DdjJLEuhw92ab4Pbj2DQEVL1rWDjI_Sxcd-n6t-RK9wTKgMFmjL8RM14wuW3geyQvYNk/s400/oregondigital-df668m499.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ron Lee in the '74 title game</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>photos courtesy:</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Ralph Miller, 1973: <a href="https://oregondigital.org/catalog/oregondigital:df719n247" target="_blank">Oregon Digital Archive</a>, 1959-60 team: <a href="https://oregondigital.org/catalog/oregondigital:df70c227r" target="_blank">Oregon Digital Archive</a>, 1960 program <a href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/1960-Far-West-Basketball-Program-Seattle-Oregon-Oregon-St-Washington-St-RARE/251644936092?hash=item3a9734ff9c:g:d0cAAOSw-jhUFICS:sc:USPSPriorityFlatRateEnvelope!94941!US!-1" target="_blank">ebay</a>, 1970 program <a href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/1970-FAR-WEST-BASKETBALL-CLASSIC-MEMORIAL-COLISEUM-PORTLAND-OREGON-PROGRAM/151025822400?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D20160323102634%26meid%3D4fbeedf5646f4d7987d9d6932164b243%26pid%3D100623%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D2%26sd%3D141839990622%26itm%3D151025822400&_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1" target="_blank">ebay</a>, 1974 title game: <a href="https://oregondigital.org/catalog/oregondigital:df668m481" target="_blank">Oregon Digital Archive</a>, 1987 John Starks: <a href="https://oregondigital.org/catalog/oregondigital:df668n045" target="_blank">Oregon Digital Archive</a>, Ron Lee: <a href="https://oregondigital.org/catalog/oregondigital:df668m499" target="_blank">Oregon Digital Archive</a></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>sources not otherwise linked:</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><a href="https://static.goducks.com/pages/2010-11/mediaguide/2010-11_oregon_mbb_media_guide.pdf" target="_blank">Oregon Ducks 2010-11 media guide PDF</a>, Ralph Miller's autobiography, Spanning The Game,<a href="http://osubeavers.nmnathletics.com/pdf5/21240.pdf" target="_blank"> Oregon State Beavers 2015-16 media guide PDF,</a> <a href="https://oregondigital.org/catalog/oregondigital:fx71bh64j#page/100/mode/1up" target="_blank">Oregon State Beavers 1996-1997 media guide pdf</a>,</i></span>Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-54213524919384071052018-12-04T16:41:00.002-08:002018-12-04T16:41:56.882-08:00When the Rare Becomes Commonplace<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4SIaH0k25b3OLXk6LPEfKmENnFkF23ASej9LE-YvxTYecrocQG6vV2jcgkkOWdNbF0RoNUAQjGSlu6NgtbMJgV_FbvWAx0zqKzFCK2VSLsvBN6vcTHE3Nn8w9ZLAPkV6g_4u6EJttFjI/s1600/20181204_120827.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4SIaH0k25b3OLXk6LPEfKmENnFkF23ASej9LE-YvxTYecrocQG6vV2jcgkkOWdNbF0RoNUAQjGSlu6NgtbMJgV_FbvWAx0zqKzFCK2VSLsvBN6vcTHE3Nn8w9ZLAPkV6g_4u6EJttFjI/s400/20181204_120827.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Never seen before together in one place</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I like beer. Chances are you do too. Actually, there's more than a chance, there's probably a pretty good certainty considering the popularity of local breweries nowadays.<br />
<br />
Of course, some local breweries are more popular than others. One of those local breweries that has drawn national- nay, international attention- for their beer has been <a href="https://russianriverbrewing.com/" target="_blank">Russian River Brewing Company</a>, based in Santa Rosa, CA, about 40 miles north of San Francisco (which used to be a 40 minute drive, and now it's an hour-plus. But I digress).<br />
<br />
If you like beer, you have heard of them. You probably know about them because of their limited release <a href="https://russianriverbrewing.com/pliny-the-younger/" target="_blank">Pliny the Younger</a>, a Triple IPA that has won a zillion awards and every year causes beer fans to line up for hours around the block to consume it (and then it's randomly available at restaurants that don't advertise they have it so you can just slide in and get some- trust me because it's happened).<br />
<br />
Now, their notable year-round release is <a href="https://russianriverbrewing.com/pliny-the-elder/" target="_blank">Pliny the Elder</a>, a Double IPA that hard to find outside of Northern California, with the occasional jaunt into Southern Oregon. It is even difficult to find outside of their home base of Santa Rosa. I do not live far from Santa Rosa, and yet for a long time one needed to know the weekly shipping day of Russian River Brewing in order to get bottles of Pliny the Elder at the store nearest to me. And there is an enforced two-bottle limit per person. Yes, two bottles per person. It feels like rationing because it is. At least Pliny the Elder has been available in bottles, even with that limit. Other RR brews, such as <a href="https://russianriverbrewing.com/blind-pig-ipa/" target="_blank">Blind Pig</a>, a mere "regular" IPA, were simply impossible to find in bottles anywhere. (Although the bar attached to the home of the San Francisco Giants, Public House, nearly always has Blind Pig on draft and available on game days).<br />
<br />
In many ways it's been more fun to have Russian River beers challenging to find. Because they insist on freshness and constant refrigeration for their brews, their distribution area has been limited. As a result, when I find one I am more than likely to get it as opposed to something else, because it makes the product more desirable. I am certainly not alone in this thinking, and have named and written about the phenomena "<a href="http://www.sporadicsentinel.com/2014/09/hamburgers-boutique-chains-and-enforced.html" target="_blank">Enforced Scarcity</a>."<br />
<br />
This phenomena is not limited to beer that you can't get in a lot of places, although it is certainly one of the easiest ways to explain it. The surge in popularity of "In-N-Out Burger" over recent years is another example. Simply, people want what they don't have easy access to. You can get a Big Mac everywhere, you can only get a Double Double some places. Thus, Double Doubles are more attractive than Big Macs, even though they really are the same thing. <br />
<br />
The most pop-culture explanation of Enforced Scarcity, and I am not kidding, is the plot of "Smokey and the Bandit." From <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smokey_and_the_Bandit" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"Wealthy Texan Big Enos Burdette and his son Little Enos seek a trucker willing to bootleg Coors beer to Georgia
for their refreshment... They
find local legend Bo "Bandit" Darville... and offer him $80,000 to pick up 400 cases of Coors from Texarkana (the closest place it could be legally sold at that time), and bring it back to Atlanta in 28 hours."</i></div>
<br />
Yes, Virginia, there was a time when Coors beer was a desirable product because it was hard to find outside of major shipping lines. It was a story similar to RR, where the folks in Golden, Colorado <a href="https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=118404" target="_blank">insisted it be shipped refrigerated all the time</a>, which limited their distribution path. I remember, and I swear to you this is true, my uncle from the great Pacific Northwest wanting to drink nothing but Coors when he came to California on vacation because Coors beer was unavailable north of the California border. This is true.<br />
<br />
The question, then, is what happens to the popularity of something rare when it becomes commonplace? Will it lessen the appeal of the product, or will that make it more popular? In many cases there is an initial surge and then a drop-off, although a steady climb back to surge levels and beyond it is certainly possible. You pass Coors in the store wherever you are nowadays and don't give it a second thought because it will always be there. There was a time not so long ago when it wasn't, but you don't go around coveting that yellow can, do you?<br />
<br />
So when Russian River announced an expansion, I was curious to see the reaction. They built a new <a href="https://russianriverbrewing.com/windsor-location/" target="_blank">brewery and brewpub in Windsor</a>, a few miles north of their base location in Santa Rosa. The brewery, naturally, is to increase the production line and make those bottle of beer more prevalent. I know for certain I am not the only Bay Area beer drinker surprised just how damn hard it is to find their beer in a bottle outside of their weekly shipping day. (I occasionally, when I know I have needed Pliny the Elder for a special occasion, have gone to the store quite close to opening time on shipping day to get my two-bottle limit because I have been there on shipping day in the afternoon and it's all been gone.)<br />
<br />
I have never actually been inside their original downtown Santa Rosa brewpub for every time I am in Santa Rosa there seems to be something going on that would cause it to be overflowingly full. I am not interested in peak capacity crowds, I am interested in being able to stretch out for a bit.<br />
<br />
Russian River opened their Windsor brewpub in August, with moderate first-day expectations. The place seats about 200, there's a dedicated parking lot, and they figured that would take care of everybody who wanted in.<br />
<br />
They were wrong. In a couple of hours the parking lot was completely full and <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/insidescoop/article/Russian-River-Brewing-opens-new-50-million-13312335.php" target="_blank">close to 1,500 people who like beer wanted inside</a>. <br />
<br />
That takes care of the surge. Having not attempted to visit the new place I can't tell you what the line looks like now, but I expect it is a bit smaller.<br />
<br />
And today I saw proof that the production line is up and running and Enforced Scarcity is no longer going to be an issue for RR in the Bay Area- it's that picture at the top of the column. Both of their standard year-rounders in bottles (Pliny, of course, but also the 1st time I've seen Blind Pig in a bottle in a store) and some of their even rarer brews that may now become commonplace- <a href="https://russianriverbrewing.com/consecration/" target="_blank">Consecration</a>, <a href="https://russianriverbrewing.com/sanctification/" target="_blank">Sanctification</a>, and <a href="https://russianriverbrewing.com/supplication/" target="_blank">Supplication</a>, and <a href="https://russianriverbrewing.com/sts-pils/" target="_blank">STS Pils</a> (which I don't believe I've ever had before). <br />
<br />
Which leads to the question- will more RR beer becoming available be a bad thing? Coming from a place of scarcity, that seems like a very silly question. Of course not, is the first response. But if it becomes readily available, and consistently, will you want Pliny or will you want something else?<br />
<br />
You're right, it is a silly question. More Pliny will never be a bad thing.<br />
<br />
But still, remember the story of Coors...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-NL96noWo4ogvAlkZG-KMqiSvFRFOjVb0Ll8BkXz8RhcQIkCsfqs2fdlE7u5zYfDEbwq6M3t3sQFhF2x2sBBWn325wcBxLQXL4TGY_kycHmGaA2ClL_Fb1C4YsWG0Mv-rL8S3aZmI9JU/s1600/MV5BYzQ3OWJkNmUtM2Q3MC00YjhhLThmZTgtOGIzM2RhZjE2MzlhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjAwODA4Mw%2540%2540._V1_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="720" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-NL96noWo4ogvAlkZG-KMqiSvFRFOjVb0Ll8BkXz8RhcQIkCsfqs2fdlE7u5zYfDEbwq6M3t3sQFhF2x2sBBWn325wcBxLQXL4TGY_kycHmGaA2ClL_Fb1C4YsWG0Mv-rL8S3aZmI9JU/s400/MV5BYzQ3OWJkNmUtM2Q3MC00YjhhLThmZTgtOGIzM2RhZjE2MzlhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjAwODA4Mw%2540%2540._V1_.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>photo of beer by author, the Bandit courtesy <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076729/mediaviewer/rm1631680768" target="_blank">IMDB</a></i></span><br />
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<br />Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-50189046857581918002018-12-02T18:07:00.002-08:002018-12-02T18:07:58.785-08:00CFP Rankings Review: Have We Learned Anything? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheIOq5dRn770BLsZy2UY9MGX0S1sPkZGId9fpMcJkpLcnU78DNFGIFDSx6mgmvXklm729QhYR4ANYkkd_wX7bnc0vmO2NdpZKj9rYOkw87O2caqAhhQ3jkSwwPBvGgg5zlikQixP_4XEM/s1600/cfb+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheIOq5dRn770BLsZy2UY9MGX0S1sPkZGId9fpMcJkpLcnU78DNFGIFDSx6mgmvXklm729QhYR4ANYkkd_wX7bnc0vmO2NdpZKj9rYOkw87O2caqAhhQ3jkSwwPBvGgg5zlikQixP_4XEM/s400/cfb+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Before the first college football playoff rankings of the season in October, I wrote a <a href="http://www.sporadicsentinel.com/2018/10/a-cfp-rankings-primer.html" target="_blank">college football playoff primer</a> about what you needed to know about the committee and their thinking (this merely based on watching the committee operate). I included a few rules for the Final Rankings that determine the playoff, so let's revisit the rules and see how the committee stuck to them.<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span><b>A. Any undefeated Power 5 team will get in</b></span></span><br />
<br />
Well, this one seems pretty obvious but bears repeating. And yes, I included Notre Dame as part of the "Power 5" for these purposes. To not include an undefeated team from the big conferences would say that they played a terrible schedule, and since the Power 5 conferences created the playoff, that would look very, very bad for them.<br />
<br />
So even though Notre Dame's best win was over Michigan in week one before the Wolverines knew what they were doing, and almost lost to a Pitt team that got stormed over by Clemson in the ACC Title game in the rain (thus the "storm" pun), and looked very sketchy against USC in their last game of the regular season, they won all their games so they're in.<br />
<br />
You could also make a fair case that Clemson's schedule was pretty darned soft- their closest wins were against Texas A&M and Syracuse- but considering out of the 120 or so teams that could be considered for the playoff only four of them finished undefeated and three of them play in Power 5 conferences (sorry, UCF), they are going to the playoff, end of story.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span><b>B. A conference that doesn't get into the Playoff will most likely get two teams into the "New Year's Six" Bowls.</b></span></span> <br />
<br />
Okay, so this one was the sketchiest of my three rules because it hasn't happened every time- and it didn't happen this year, as Washington State got passed over for a New Year's Six Bowl and the SEC got THREE teams in (I have no idea how 9-3 Florida got a big bowl over 10-2 Wazzu that was in contention for the playoff until two weeks ago, when they lost to Washington).<br />
<br />
Florida lost to Kentucky, Georgia, and Missouri. Washington State lost to USC (on a non-targeting-call that was revealed to have been <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf/2018/11/larry_scott_pac-12_officiating.html" target="_blank">overturned by a Pac-12 executive who is still part of the review process</a>) and Washington. The Cougs were shut out of a prominent bowl in favor of a team that lost to Mizzou? The Cougs are ranked lower than a team that was not even heard from outside of Gainesville after the last week of October? Maybe they're just trying to really let the Pac-12 know that they're a joke (not that they need any outside help in that regard).<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span><b>C. A two-loss team will never get in over a one-loss team</b></span></span><br />
<br />
Ah, here's the one that I knew for certain. There seems to be a lot of people out there who still don't understand that this is a rule that will never, ever be broken. Even though the committee- no matter who's been on on it- has adhered to since the first year.<br />
<br />
Look, there was no chance Georgia was getting in the playoff. None. Zero. A two-loss team will never get in as long as there's a one-loss team. It's what happened in 2016 when Penn State, a two-loss conference champion, didn't get in over one-loss Ohio State, whose <i>only loss was to Penn State</i>. <br />
<br />
Losses. Are. A. Big. Deal. For. The. Committee.<br />
<br />
Is Georgia better than Oklahoma or Ohio State? Probably. But if two-loss Georgia gets in, then what the hell is the point of going undefeated? Take a "scheduled loss" like teams do in the NBA and don't worry about it. No, that's not how it works.<br />
<br />
A one-loss team looks better than a two-loss team. <br />
<br />
And as for one-loss conference champion Oklahoma getting in over one-loss conference champion Ohio State? Well, maybe Ohio State's one loss shouldn't have been by 29 points to Purdue. Considering Oklahoma's only loss was on a neutral field to Texas <i>who they then beat</i> in the Big 12 Title game. That's as near as I can figure how that worked out, which is probably how it went down.<br />
<br />
Which leads me to the final rule which I thought would never have to be written down.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>D. No Team That Loses To Purdue By 29 Will Ever Made The Playoff. </b></span><br />
<br />
Yet, it's still true.<br />
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<br />Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-38082018493900512162018-11-27T16:42:00.001-08:002018-11-27T16:47:26.073-08:00Kansas Football: Is Les Miles More or Fewer?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEdBhtoldQVcsoTvtHa6v0znULXekIkFCdNtjAj8UQQKDh5V97C8WAr_y0CiXW9qA4Aqj5bCCTKi48A75iCReMrQP1opVhJcC5ftilJab-kzf5tyWVqz-HC3_OKgQC1kTN7PTQ-Rp8yP8/s1600/DsUkWtdVYAAkObX.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="1152" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEdBhtoldQVcsoTvtHa6v0znULXekIkFCdNtjAj8UQQKDh5V97C8WAr_y0CiXW9qA4Aqj5bCCTKi48A75iCReMrQP1opVhJcC5ftilJab-kzf5tyWVqz-HC3_OKgQC1kTN7PTQ-Rp8yP8/s400/DsUkWtdVYAAkObX.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Will Les mean more?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A long time ago, when my non-sports fan family discovered the name of the then-LSU head coach, they were appalled. Being English majors and VERY knowledgeable about the use of plurals, they are more than happy to tell you when you use plurals wrong. Especially the difference between "fewer" and "less." It's incorrect English to say you have "less things." If it ends with "s" you (most of the time) use "fewer." It means you have "fewer things" and you have "less stuff."<br />
<br />
So when they discovered the LSU football coach was named "Les Miles," like I said, they were appalled. They didn't understand how his parents could have intentionally done that and made that big of an English grammatical error.<br />
<br />
So we jokingly called him "Fewer Miles."<br />
<br />
Every place I have worked, and Les Miles has come up in conversation, I have told that story.<br />
<br />
Little did I know then, years ago when "Fewer Miles" was named, that he would become Kansas Football's head coach. My alma mater's head coach. Who cycles through head coaches like I do jobs.<br />
<br />
I will continue to tell anyone who will listen that David Beaty got a raw deal as KU head coach. There have been a lot of KU coaches who brought their dismissal upon themselves. A lot.<br />
<br />
Beaty was put in a place where he needed at least seven years to become successful, because his first year KU had 38 scholarship players (<a href="http://www.sporadicsentinel.com/2018/09/the-case-for-david-beaty-2018-edition.html" target="_blank">I wrote about this</a>) and when Penn State lost a bunch of scholarships because of their scandal they were reduced to 65 scholarship players, or the amount of players Beaty finally had on scholarship THIS Year, in his 4th year. He was not put in a very good place to succeed.<br />
<br />
As a result, when we all found out that new Athletic Director Jeff Long was friends with Les Miles and had been for at least 20 years, Beaty and all of us knew his days were numbered if he didn't take KU to a bowl game this year.<br />
<br />
No coach can win six football games in a season with 65 scholarship players, unless his name is Saban.<br />
<br />
Thus, Beaty is out and Miles is in.<br />
<br />
Which, if you've been following KU football for several years, is exactly what got Beaty hired, and Charlie Weis hired, and so on and so on and so on.<br />
<br />
The pattern is this: Athletic director hires new football coach, whom he knew previously. Football coach does poorly. The athletic director leaves his position, voluntarily or otherwise. Football coach continues to do poorly, and leaves his position, voluntarily or otherwise. Athletic director hires new football coach, whom he knew previously.<br />
<br />
There is another, ominous pattern here: The previous experience of KU head football coaches.<br />
<br />
Let's go back to the hiring of Glen Mason, way back in the glory years of two Aloha Bowl wins in three years, and go through the results. (If you haven't been drinking up until now, let me warn you that this will only make you want to start, and start heavily.)<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><b>Coach Ever Head Coach before? KU record why did he leave?</b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Glen Mason yes 47-54-1 (2 bowl wins) he thought Minnesota was a better job</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Terry Allen yes 21-35 fired</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mark Mangino no 50-48 (3 bowl wins) ate the buffet</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Turner Gill yes 5-19 fired </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Charlie Weis yes 6-22 ate the replacement buffet</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
David Beaty no 6-42 had his eye on the replacement replacement buffet</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Les Miles yes ?? ??</div>
<br />
<br />
Anything jump out at you? For me, it's after Glen, everybody who'd been a head coach before was terrible. As for the guys who hadn't been, well, you know how I think Beaty got screwed, and Mangino won as many bowl games as KU had COMBINED in the previous 100-whatever years of the program (of course only 20 schools went to a bowl game a year until ESPN realized it was a teevee cash cow and now 70 schools go to a bowl game a year).<br />
<br />
The next big strike against Fewer Miles is his age. He's 64, easily the oldest guy on this list whether you count age of first game or age of last game. When I was there in the Glen Mason era I thought he was easily in his 50's, maybe 60- and he left for the Minnesota job when he was 47.<br />
<br />
Weis was hired when he was 55. Mangino is the same age as Weis, meaning he was hired when he was 46, or one year younger than Mason when he left. Beaty was 44.<br />
<br />
A 64-year-old is gonna turn this thing around? A 64-year-old who was fired at LSU partially because he refused to change his offense?<br />
<br />
Is it too soon to fire Fewer Miles for Kliff Kingsbury?<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>photos: <a href="http://twitter.com/KU_Football" target="_blank">twitter/KUFootball </a></i></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJZcBj1UFmLjWrDolVDmb0Ptb5ifpbgIebgERdjrtXLC9ZiQNoWcI488eUvL4IwTR_sjzYWjFog0sO9jznQTkv0OGvFZgqJrPbATG2hgDoAQKzArC_9Dw8MPDlA6UgICqz1uFs3PI_XfE/s1600/DsTMxegU8AA4vcd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJZcBj1UFmLjWrDolVDmb0Ptb5ifpbgIebgERdjrtXLC9ZiQNoWcI488eUvL4IwTR_sjzYWjFog0sO9jznQTkv0OGvFZgqJrPbATG2hgDoAQKzArC_9Dw8MPDlA6UgICqz1uFs3PI_XfE/s400/DsTMxegU8AA4vcd.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">more or fewer?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
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<br />
Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-58920002395753827762018-10-29T16:55:00.002-07:002018-10-29T16:55:36.068-07:00A CFP Rankings Primer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVuxZnPaqYSfkLk0uX0zi9ejPZ_VCT6iqs_X3KJm3ukdl4NDnxg9NAVoPUtemFH60oCmHjM4P09Iiddz1_nyN9VxmU0ZgZLbb-KxuzPaWWF3lAS_vjrwBCKRs-2_6qOXhD-VC9DHofce8/s1600/10958726_858312794212357_3431047592938462046_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="700" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVuxZnPaqYSfkLk0uX0zi9ejPZ_VCT6iqs_X3KJm3ukdl4NDnxg9NAVoPUtemFH60oCmHjM4P09Iiddz1_nyN9VxmU0ZgZLbb-KxuzPaWWF3lAS_vjrwBCKRs-2_6qOXhD-VC9DHofce8/s400/10958726_858312794212357_3431047592938462046_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
We're just about to see the first week of the College Football Playoff Rankings, which means people are about to go insane complaining about nothing.<br />
<br />
Which is fine, kind of, because it gives people something to talk about, and god knows there's ten thousand hours of radio and podcast time to fill up nowadays. Seriously, who listens to all these? It's really easy to talk for an hour, it's much harder to listen for an hour. I subscribe to more than a few podcasts that are done by people whose opinions I like because they seem well informed when they write stuff, and their 'casts are about ten minutes of good content and 90 minutes of nothing. I learn more reading their stuff for five minutes than I do listening to them talk. My general rule is that if your podcast is more than 45 minutes, you've gone too far and need to do some serious editing and thinking about what kind of gunk you are spewing, because as a good writer you would never allow that stuff to be published.<br />
<br />
But that's not why we're here. We're here to remind ourselves the crucial unwritten rules of the CFP committee and what they're trying to accomplish. The committee will never say this out loud, but you need to remind yourself of this when the rankings come out every week.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>1. The first rankings mean nothing</b></span><br />
<br />
The first top 4 of the year could very well be undefeated Alabama, undefeated Clemson, and two of the three one-loss teams: LSU, Michigan, or Ohio State, with undefeated Notre Dame on the outside looking in. <br />
<br />
This would naturally cause Lou Holtz, wherever he is, (and that is <a href="https://awfulannouncing.com/online-outlets/lou-holtz-and-mark-may-new-show-no-viewers.html" target="_blank">currently on YouTube doing a show with Mark May that's averaging fewer than 100 views a go</a>) to blow a gasket. A lot of purportedly neutral CFB analysts who went to Notre Dame would also argue that ND should be in the top 4.<br />
<br />
And you need to remember that should this happen.... it doesn't matter.<br />
<br />
Because Alabama is at LSU the very next week (November 3rd) and Michigan plays Ohio State the final week of the regular season, there's no way two of those teams will stay in the top 4 over Notre Dame (provided, obviously, the Irish stay undefeated... a one-loss Notre Dame team is probably out, but we'll get into that as the weeks unfold.)<br />
<br />
Here's a true thing: since the 2014 season, when the CFB Playoff, the first rankings and the eventual playoff teams have NEVER been the same four teams. (<a href="https://collegefootballplayoff.com/sports/2017/10/20/past-rankings.aspx" target="_blank">Check them all here</a>)<br />
<br />
The closest they got was last year, when Georgia, Alabama and Clemson were all in the first rankings and made the playoff. The 4th team that didn't make it? Notre Dame, replaced by Oklahoma. (After being ranked 3rd in the initial rankings at 7-1, Notre Dame lost two weeks later to Miami and never contended seriously again.)<br />
<br />
The committee can claim the first rankings are to "give you an idea what the committee is thinking." That is poppycock, because....<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>2. The in-season rankings are designed to make money </b></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu3woRfeOVC0tY6i-hqEw_ybVAXBC9Djg8HQQqn9iylKE3quuRxloW8a02YgIXA2ZSKmII6KrJXYk-GTIuP5bOaTUmymfb5SrmCopAcBaxaB_UwAscy3OnswPSk96Far0CHzoPcnhViZI/s1600/20180922_194603.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="868" data-original-width="1600" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu3woRfeOVC0tY6i-hqEw_ybVAXBC9Djg8HQQqn9iylKE3quuRxloW8a02YgIXA2ZSKmII6KrJXYk-GTIuP5bOaTUmymfb5SrmCopAcBaxaB_UwAscy3OnswPSk96Far0CHzoPcnhViZI/s400/20180922_194603.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Panorama photos make movement look weird (Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
CFP Director Bill Hancock has said many times when asked about expanding the playoff that the regular season is the most important regular season of all and they have no plans to change that.<br />
<br />
This is executive code-speak for "the job of the CFP committee is to make the schools money, and adding more playoff teams will lessen that."<br />
<br />
Take the above example, with LSU/Bama and Michigan/Ohio State in the top four and still having to play each other in the regular season. Those games will absolutely draw more interest because there's only a four-team playoff. In an eight-team playoff, the loser of those regular-season games is still virtually assured of making the playoff as the 7 or 8 seed. In the current setup the loser is out, which means those games are much more important.<br />
<br />
Thus, more eyeballs on those regular season games, thus, bigger ratings of those regular season games, thus more ad dollars spent on those regular season games.<br />
<br />
You argue, what's the real difference? As a college football fan you're probably going to watch those games anyway. Yes, <i>you</i> are, but the casual fan in a non-college football town will be more likely to watch the game if it "means something" as opposed to hearing that it doesn't make a real difference.<br />
<br />
You counter-argue that an 8-team playoff makes more money. Well, maybe it does overall for the conference, but an important regular season game in Ann Arbor or Eugene or Austin means more revenue for the host school that they don't have to share with anybody. An extra playoff game, even if it involves the Wolverines or the Ducks or the Longhorns, wouldn't be played on their turf, thus an overall loss of revenue. <i>That</i> is what they mean by "the regular season matters."<br />
<br />
So, now that one and two are clear, three becomes more of a corollary than an actual point, but it's still worth putting out there in bold type: <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>3. The in-season CFP rankings are a complete smokescreen designed to make the schools more money</b></span><br />
<br />
Why, how convenient it is that LSU and Alabama are ranked in the top four and have yet to play each other.<br />
<br />
Why, how convenient it is that if Michigan and Ohio State win out until The Game that they will both be ranked in the top four, or close to it.<br />
<br />
It's almost like the committee is intentionally tweaking the rankings to make those games more important so those schools can make more money.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrAf-O_L-08" target="_blank">How conveeeeeeeeeennnnient</a>.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpH1I8CyHfOy3yec6clW9KkIG53xFzWjA5rMiuv0rhA3TWjQZ7qHegEoAPLAx-CTxIVryYSnIfjnEBIWNFsaFgafE-Oe0-Ybshh2pamZD967lv3Cs67M3fDHSp4SShBwIU_LIhCufjwF0/s1600/20130914_123835.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpH1I8CyHfOy3yec6clW9KkIG53xFzWjA5rMiuv0rhA3TWjQZ7qHegEoAPLAx-CTxIVryYSnIfjnEBIWNFsaFgafE-Oe0-Ybshh2pamZD967lv3Cs67M3fDHSp4SShBwIU_LIhCufjwF0/s400/20130914_123835.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Autzen Stadium, home of the Oregon Ducks</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>4. The final rankings are the only rankings that really count</b></span><br />
<br />
As you have seen, the in-season rankings matter absolutely zilch. They could rank 3-5 Kansas over 8-0 Clemson in November and it would make exactly zero difference in the final rankings.<br />
<br />
This is why in 2015 Iowa, who remained undefeated until the Big 10 title game against Michigan State, remained ranked over Michigan State (who ended up making the playoff) until the very final week. It just didn't matter.<br />
<br />
Rank LSU over Alabama right now if you want. Hell, put one-loss Kentucky and one-loss Washington State in now and leave Michigan and Ohio State out. There are seven 7-1 teams right now in the Power 5 Conferences. And then there's 7-0 UCF (again, a discussion for future weeks) and three more "Group of 5" 7-1 teams- Houston, Utah State and Fresno State. Put one of them in and leave LSU out just to rankle people. Doesn't make a difference in any ranking until the final one.<br />
<br />
The best example here is from the first year of the playoff, 2014. Ohio State was 16th the first week and sixth the final week of the regular season. They won the Big 10 title game, moved up two spots and made the playoff. And then they won the whole thing. So yeah, a one-loss Big 10 champion is going to the playoff every year, bank on that action.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
And now, rules to remember about the final rankings:<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>A. Any undefeated Power 5 team will get in</b></span><br />
<br />
If Iowa had won that game and remained undefeated, they would have been in regardless of the fact their strength of schedule was atrocious.<br />
<br />
And it should really be called "Power 5 Plus Notre Dame," because if Notre Dame finishes undefeated, they are in. Their schedule this year is pretty doggone bad except for the 1st-game win over Michigan, and that was when the Wolverines really had no idea what they were doing. <br />
<br />
Remember: the CFP and the resulting committee was created <i>by</i> the Power 5 <i>for</i> the Power 5. To not include an undefeated Power 5 team would undermine the entire thing. <br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>B. A conference that doesn't get into the Playoff will most likely get two teams into the "New Year's Six" Bowls.</b></span><br />
<br />
It is not a coincidence that last year when the Pac-12 <i>and</i> Big 10 got left out of the Playoff that both USC and Washington made "New Year's Six" games and that the Big 10 got three teams in (Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Penn State).<br />
<br />
Obviously, this is not a given. Two years ago, the 10-team Big 12 didn't make the playoff and only had Oklahoma in a big 6 bowl because Western Michigan (<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2016/11/19/a-brief-history-of-p-j-flecks-row-the-boat-phenomenon-at-western-michigan/?noredirect=on" target="_blank">ROW THAT BOAT</a>) "qualified" as a "group of five" team- aka forcing their way into the big boys party in lieu of a lawsuit that would bring the NCAA to its knees as a monopoly. But that's not important right now (even though <i>it is</i>). <br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>C. A two-loss team will never get in over a one-loss team</b></span><br />
<br />
Never. Gonna. Happen.<br />
<br />
Look at last year, the best chance for it to happen: Two-loss Ohio State (who didn't win their division) or Penn State (who did win the Big 10 title game) over one-loss Oklahoma, the Big 12 Champ? Over one-loss Alabama (who didn't win their division, either), whose only loss in the regular season was to the team that was number one?<br />
<br />
Zero. Chance.<br />
<br />
If there are four one-loss Power 5 teams, they will be your final four, no matter what the two-loss teams have as credentials. You see, losses make the committee look bad in the eyes of the Power 5 schools, who, as we have mentioned, control the committee. It is the committee's interest to keep the Power 5 schools happy. <br />
<br />
Now, go do your podcast and let the rankings commence.....<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK-86KhRV2aztknDoWnlDqvWA-G2fWHdgXOANKyzvNrJ7rlNT1imhX4eDnT49t1GLBJ7M2esRQuYUOCrGUVzW1Yc4V65dF57MGe4ppuADmuZH3QCFOmF_LZu6MJ0_uzUy1zJebGvvi5n4/s1600/10501906_10204289375210493_1932168022426744957_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="316" data-original-width="960" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK-86KhRV2aztknDoWnlDqvWA-G2fWHdgXOANKyzvNrJ7rlNT1imhX4eDnT49t1GLBJ7M2esRQuYUOCrGUVzW1Yc4V65dF57MGe4ppuADmuZH3QCFOmF_LZu6MJ0_uzUy1zJebGvvi5n4/s640/10501906_10204289375210493_1932168022426744957_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Levi's Stadium, home of the 2019 Championship</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-14421976489539290492018-09-27T15:12:00.000-07:002018-09-27T15:12:01.683-07:00The Best Worst Last Series of the MLB Season<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkMqbQrCWsi5Fkl0IgYdKdKbK3REaQlijqyQmbVrF3LlIFV0Ni9f0VZ5pVdAzLZKITN1ArsksOA2G3LN_plhEryvlq2ZYY6hQOmNiLvFCTH3btjGrsprK9eYTKbPsmmgtbGe_h4FWPAKU/s1600/marlins-park-empty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="724" data-original-width="1300" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkMqbQrCWsi5Fkl0IgYdKdKbK3REaQlijqyQmbVrF3LlIFV0Ni9f0VZ5pVdAzLZKITN1ArsksOA2G3LN_plhEryvlq2ZYY6hQOmNiLvFCTH3btjGrsprK9eYTKbPsmmgtbGe_h4FWPAKU/s400/marlins-park-empty.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">do you really need a caption to tell you it's a Marlins game?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Everyone wants to go to the best games, the best matchups,
the most important tilts. Nobody wants to go to the worst. Well, except me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Consider all the MLB playoff spots that will come down to
this final weekend. The Dodgers, Cubs, Brewers, Rockies, Cardinals A’s and
Yankees all have something at stake.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But I don’t want to be at any of those series, because those
are the obvious things to pay attention to. I have always thought it would be
great- as a baseball fan that doesn’t need to have playoffs on the line- to go
to the worst last series of the year.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This really galvanized in 2012, when the Astros and Cubs,
when they were both in the NL Central, were both 100+ game losers and played
each other to end the season. It was the first time two teams with 100+ losses
had played each other in <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/2012/10/2/3443718/cubs-astros-100-losses-history-wrigley-field" target="_blank">more than 50 years</a>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I thought that would have been a great series to attend
merely to see who the hell else went to that series voluntarily. It was at
Wrigley, so obviously it was well attended just because it was a
Cubs game, but what the hell would that have been like in Houston, or anywhere
else for that matter? I would like to go and talk to who's there. Is it parents of the 40th man on the roster waiting for his MLB debut? Is it all die-hards? Is it people making their ballpark tour and needed this one to finish the season? Who is there, exactly, and why? I think it would make a great documentary.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So now, every year, I check to see which would be the worst
last series to attend. In truth, the worst last weekday series would be the “best”
to attend because on weekends there’s generally some sort of crowd regardless. For
the final Monday-Thursday series there’s usually not much of a crowd for teams
well out of a playoff spot (for instance, the Padres-Giants series featured
more seagulls than people).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have rather simple rules to determine the best worst final
series of the year. Obviously, it should not involve any playoff teams. It
should also not involve any teams over 500. Thus, the 112-loss Orioles, who
should be in the mix, are not an option because they are hosting the AL West
champion Astros. Similarly, the 102-loss Royals are hosting the AL Central
champion Indians. You understand how this works, there needs to be zero things
at stake for either team. The White Sox have 96 losses and are hosting the 84-loss
Twins, so there’s our first real option. The 94-loss Tigers are at the Brewers,
who are fighting for the NL Central, so they’re out.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Side note, the AL Central has been abysmal this year. The
Tigers have 94 losses and they’re likely going to finish 3<sup>rd</sup>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the NL side, the Reds have 93 losses but the Pirates are potentially
going to finish 500, so forget it. The Padres have 95 losses and are taking on
the D-Backs, who despite a horrendous collapse could still finish 500.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ll spare you going through the rest of the teams to say
that this year’s “winner” is Marlins at Mets. Yes, they have the same exact
records as the White Sox-Tigers series, so if you preferred that you could be
there. There are actually standings in play, as the Tigers are two games ahead
of the White Sox for 3<sup>rd</sup>, so there’s kind of something for both
teams to play for, which goes against the entire idea of this.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So I pick New Shea because it’s a last place team (Marlins)
versus a 4<sup>th</sup> place team (Mets).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For those of you who might argue that it’s a series with
something to it because the about-to-retire David Wright will make an
appearance, I say this:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Your argument for this series being relevant is that a guy
who hasn’t played in three years is going to basically pull a Minnie Minoso and
play like an inning just to say he did? Maybe you should re-think your thought
process, because you just successfully pointed out why this series is useless. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>photo: <a href="https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/06/01/miami-marlins-marlins-park-attendance-no-fans" target="_blank">si.com </a></i></span></div>
Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-21642137615618247962018-09-05T16:41:00.001-07:002018-09-05T16:48:26.058-07:00The Case For David Beaty, 2018 Edition<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrvFK8VaiWwusGPpesYuiLrBAG7FAjZ71BGX0ijRNxAIQVAIf5sg7AUqKVfQyKE8xg3e1a2vPef_2QfQ91RGEQnCsQvei-O06bAvTDt0K3tm3cFpczA40UlFb3FtzPVtx9F_l5IqJHm50/s1600/460x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="372" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrvFK8VaiWwusGPpesYuiLrBAG7FAjZ71BGX0ijRNxAIQVAIf5sg7AUqKVfQyKE8xg3e1a2vPef_2QfQ91RGEQnCsQvei-O06bAvTDt0K3tm3cFpczA40UlFb3FtzPVtx9F_l5IqJHm50/s400/460x.jpg" width="290" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wanted: For Killing Kansas Football</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
You remember when the Penn State football team lost 20 scholarships for several years when that whole Paterno/Sandusky incredible example of power and corruption and disgustingness went down. You remember when most people said Penn State would be hard-pressed to recover anytime soon because they were limited to just 65 players on scholarship, out of a total of 85. You remember that people thought Penn State was <i>done</i> because they only had 65 scholarships to award to football players.<br />
<br />
You also thought you were going to read about Kansas Football.<br />
<br />
What does Penn State's scholarship reduction have to do with saving David Beaty's job?<br />
<br />
In his first year as Kansas head coach, in 2015, David Beaty had <i>38</i> players on scholarship.<br />
<br />
Thirty.<br />
<br />
Eight.<br />
<br />
It is only now, in his fourth year, that they are even close to surpassing 65 scholarshipped players. In other words, Penn State's lowest, NCAA-sanctioned level was still higher than anything David Beaty had to work with for his first three years at Kansas. <br />
<br />
That, my friends, is why Charlie Weis is still killing Kansas football. And it's why David Beaty has had no chance to succeed. And that is why the #FireBeaty hashtag is completely unwarranted. It should really be #FireCharlieWeisAgainAndAgainAndAgainAndAgain.<br />
<br />
So when I hear that new KU Athletic Director Jeff Long says that the football program <a href="https://247sports.com/college/kansas/Article/KU-athletic-director-Jeff-Long-gives-statement-on-David-Beaty--121451997/" target="_blank">is constantly being evaluated,</a> I can only hope it means that they are considering replacing it with an Ultimate Frisbee team and not considering firing David Beaty.<br />
<br />
I imagine that not many of you have heard why David Beaty only had 38 players on scholarship his first year, or still is well below the maximum limit of 85, because if you are not in Lawrence proper or are not <a href="https://theathletic.com/438107/2018/07/20/kansas-jayhawks-football-coach-david-beaty-scholarships-debt/" target="_blank">a subscriber to The Athletic</a>, you may have not heard this story. Thus, when Kansas lost to Nicholls, the #FireBeaty hashtag sprang up around the country from various KU Alumni, including many who are my friends. Thus, this column.<br />
<br />
My first argument when people use #FireBeaty is to say "and replace him with whom, exactly?" Yes, somebody will take the job. But nobody wants the job as bad as Beaty, or his defensive coordinator, Clint Bowen. Anybody else would have quit by now because the circumstances are so stupid. Beaty hasn't. Neither has Bowen.<br />
<br />
Which brings me back around to why the circumstances are so stupid for Beaty and Bowen and Long and Kansas football, and it is because Charlie Weis was the worst hire in Kansas football history. It might be hyperbole, but not by much. <br />
<br />
When Charlie Weis was hired as Kansas football coach, he believed the way to make the program kind of competitive quickly was via transfers. It makes sense. Get some guys sitting on a bench somewhere prominent, or some juco guys who slipped through somehow, and use those guys to get a foundation going. (I didn't need a subscription to The Athletic to tell me that. What I learned in the story was the next part.)<br />
<br />
So they brought in about 30 guys like that. By the time Weis was fired, he had given away 56 scholarships, and 12 of those players were still on the roster.<br />
<br />
That is unheard of.<br />
<br />
That, friends, is how you get to 38 players on scholarship.<br />
<br />
Who could win with 38 scholarship players? Maybe Nick Saban, because he could get anybody. But no other football coach could win with those restrictions. And certainly not a football program that has been spiraling down like a man without a parachute for a decade. <br />
<br />
According to NCAA rules, you can only give away 25 scholarships a year. So even if Beaty had maxed out his numbers, it still would have taken two years to get to 85, even if all of those 38 guys had stayed on the roster. Of course, with graduation and expiring eligibility and so on, that's impossible.<br />
<br />
Which is why, maybe, they're at 70. In year four. And, honest to Pete, Beaty is <i>thrilled</i> they are even approaching 70.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://herosports.com/college-football/david-beaty-kansas-football-scholarships-ahah" target="_blank">This is the quote</a>:<br />
<br />
"I'm excited about being 15 short. That's unbelievable. I'm so fired up
about being 15 short which tells you where we came from. I would say
it'll take a few more years. I'd say at least three, maybe more, to get
to 85, because the attrition that happens naturally from medicals is
what keeps you from being able to continue to make up those numbers."<br />
<br />
What. The. Hell.<br />
<br />
Penn State got <i>cut</i> to 65. Beaty might <i>be</i> at 65 this year. <br />
<br />
You can't win with 38 players on scholarship.<br />
<br />
You can't fire David Beaty.<br />
<br />
Charlie Weis killed Kansas Football.<br />
<br />
His horrid mistakes are <i>still</i> killing Kansas Football, four years after he was fired. <br />
<br />
And now you know.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgirFerv-J1JIeOOHBkKI9D9FpiEBEFWcZfCwcnWebwr8AVKJg6rChC9fWmx4otLJqKuzC3ItPOyS_WrX1q1vSphcw_kh-jZPrNPKBVweHKQdcs12P6RIs4CvPgRnRd4HtrbkUrW4E369Q/s1600/beatycrop_t650.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="289" data-original-width="650" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgirFerv-J1JIeOOHBkKI9D9FpiEBEFWcZfCwcnWebwr8AVKJg6rChC9fWmx4otLJqKuzC3ItPOyS_WrX1q1vSphcw_kh-jZPrNPKBVweHKQdcs12P6RIs4CvPgRnRd4HtrbkUrW4E369Q/s400/beatycrop_t650.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I'm STILL HERE and I'm STILL TRYING"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112305651175363262.post-40536425145299428942018-07-24T18:57:00.001-07:002018-07-24T18:57:59.140-07:00Summer MLB Weekday Day Games 2018 <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitXtijU769ejnecLYYwbNw8F5QeFR5jGdWuS3hvFP29J-ivOgJRWB0GFgKUZiFep1giStdz6GN_bztXSsMXA2LoQWJXpRN3ZPgAx7lwACgaajQXb-6BbuCoh7oXyo-W0SwWxQZBOpYRIg/s1600/20180620_153528.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitXtijU769ejnecLYYwbNw8F5QeFR5jGdWuS3hvFP29J-ivOgJRWB0GFgKUZiFep1giStdz6GN_bztXSsMXA2LoQWJXpRN3ZPgAx7lwACgaajQXb-6BbuCoh7oXyo-W0SwWxQZBOpYRIg/s400/20180620_153528.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Where would you rather be?</td></tr>
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It's post-All-Star Break, which means it's time to enjoy summer to the fullest. And one of the best ways to do that is by skipping work completely and going to weekday day game baseball. Frankly, this is also a good idea in April. But when the weather is good and the games can be a lot more meaningful, it's an even better idea.<br />
<br />
There are more teams doing weekday day games this year because of a new rule in the Collective Bargaining Agreement requiring "getaway day" games to actually be day games <a href="http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/18292221/mlb-new-labor-deal-requires-earlier-start-s-getaway-days" target="_blank">if a team has to travel more than three hours</a>. For instance, last year the Braves scheduled a Thursday night series-ender against the Giants. That game was delayed due to rain and did not start until 9 pm Eastern. It ended after midnight, so the Giants didn't get out of Atlanta till close to 3 am and had a game at home the next night. They got shellacked, as you might expect. Now, you know if the <i>Braves</i> had been the ones heading west after that game they damn well would have scheduled a day game. Because it was the visitors the Braves didn't give a damn. Similar situations helped get the rule changed. This year, that game would be a day game. <br />
<br />
The biggest issue regarding a day game is, what is a cutoff time for a day game? For me, it's a 2 pm start. Anything after 2, it's an afternoon game, which is different than a day game. 4 pm games are right out.<br />
<br />
The Dodgers and the Orioles are notorious in my book for refusing to schedule any summertime weekday day games. I'll give it away
right now, it's impossible to go to Dodger Stadium or Camden Yards for a
weekday day game the rest of this season, unless they do a make-up game
sometime.<br />
<br />
The Angels, Red Sox, Rangers, Pirates, Braves, Padres and Marlins rarely do summer day games. A few of those team you can understand why because of the summer heat, but the others... will we be able to get to them on this travel itinerary? Oh, the suspense!!!!<br />
<br />
I used to have a rule saying "games on holidays don't count," but I allow for the Blue Jays to be home on Canada Day and the Nationals to be home on the 4th of July, because they're always day games. It would be a great trip, and it was again possible this year. So that's where we start this journey... <br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
<b>Sunday, 7/1: Tigers at Blue Jays</b><br />
<br />
Our lone Sunday day game qualifier, because it's Canada Day. (and also I really want one of <a href="https://twitter.com/bluejays/status/879710073102241792" target="_blank">these giveaway hats</a>. Yes, I could <a href="http://www.jaysshop.ca/iSynApp/productDisplay.action?sid=1101081&productId=1102996" target="_blank">buy one very similar</a> and have it shipped to me, but that ruins the "I got it at the Canada Day game" idea).<b> </b><br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>Wednesday, 7/4: Red Sox at Nationals</b><br />
<br />
I hit upon this idea of the "Independence Day Double" a few years ago and I think it would be amazing to compare how its done in both places. Last year probably would have been great, considering it was Canada's 150th birthday, and I wrote it up <a href="http://www.sporadicsentinel.com/2017/06/a-canadian-and-american-patriotic.html" target="_blank">here</a>. But really, it would be great any year. (Note that why the Blue Jays give away hats, the Nats give away zilch.)<br />
<br />
Naturally, the team with the most day games is the Cubs. The number has been dwindling, but generally they have from 25-30 home day games, which is less than half of their total home games. But that's still twice as many as most other teams. The ballpark at 1260 West Addison also is the only place to have any Friday home day games, which means that it'll be easy to get to Wrigley.<br />
<br />
I'll note all the Cubs home day games along the way, starting with<br />
<br />
<b>Friday, 7/6: Reds at Cubs.</b> <br />
<br />
Most weekday day games are Wednesdays. And so we'll kick off our journey in earnest on... <br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday, 7/11: Nats at Pirates</b><br />
<strike><br /></strike>
I did not expect to cross PNC off the list this early, if at all. The Pirates, despite having a beautiful ballpark on the river, rarely have weekday day games. They attribute this to the tendency for summer afternoon thunderstorms, and they do have delays, but I'd rather be at the ballpark in the summer rain than a lot of places.<br />
<strike></strike><br />
(other optional games on this day: Royals at Twins, Cubs at Giants, Tigers at Rays)<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday, 7/12: A's at Astros</b><br />
<br />
A back-to-back to get started, because if you're gonna go for it, you gotta go for it. About a three-hour flight, but the reverse time change makes it two hours and totally do-able in the morning. As World Series champions, the Astros have kicked up their slate of weekday day games, possibly because of the new CBA, but also perhaps because people are more likely to go see the champs no matter when they play. They could schedule a game for 6 am or midnight and people would go.... this year. <br />
<br />
(other game today: Dbacks at Rockies)<br />
<b><br /></b>
Friday, 7/20: Cards at Cubs<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Tuesday, 7/24: Braves at Marlins</b><br />
<br />
Tuesday day games are weird, and two-game series against teams in the same division are weird, and Marlins day games are weird because they have attendance problems completely opposite the Astros. So this game should be weird. <b><br /></b><br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday, 7/25: Padres at Mets</b><br />
<br />
Now the day game that makes sense today, given that we're already in Florida, is Yankees at Rays. But because the Mets next and last home weekday day game doesn't fit, we're headed to Flushing for our first back-to-back.<br />
<br />
(the multitude of other day games today: Dodgers at Phillies, Cardinals at Reds, Pirates at Indians, Nats at Brewers, Tigers at Royals, Dbacks at Cubs, Giants at Mariners)<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday, 7/26: White Sox at Angels</b><br />
<br />
And make it back-to-back-to-back with our first cross-country flight in order to get the Angels on the list. Going from NYC to LA with the reverse time shift should make it a little easier.<br />
<br />
(also today: Dbacks at Cubs)<br />
<br />
<b>Tuesday, 7/31: Giants at Padres</b><br />
<br />
Another Tuesday day game, another two-game series between division rivals, and despite being in a great place to be in the daytime during the summer the Padres rarely have weekday day games. Or maybe that's why they rarely do. That's the only thing I can figure out.<br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday, 8/1: Astros at Mariners</b><br />
<br />
I originally had Reds at Tigers here, but I like to avoid flying cross-country as much as possible, which would happen if I kept them here. As is, the San Diego to Seattle flight is 1,000 miles, so about three hours, but perfectly reasonable.<b><br /></b><br />
<br />
(also: Mets at Nats, Orioles at Yankees, Indians at Twins, Blue Jays at A's, )<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday, 8/2: Rockies at Cardinals</b><br />
<br />
Back-to-back-to-back, part II. Seattle to St. Louis is closer to a four-hour trip with the time change, but you gotta do what you gotta do. For allegedly being a great baseball town, St. Louis rarely has summer day games. Of course, it's slightly humid there in the summer. But Stan Musial and Dizzy Dean played their entire careers in wool during the day in St. Louis, so what the hell?<br />
<br />
(also: Royals at White Sox, Angels at Rays)<br />
<br />
Friday, 8/3: Padres at Cubs<br />
<br />
<b>Tuesday 8/7: Astros at Giants</b><br />
<br />
a Tuesday day game finishing a two-game series against a non-division rival- interleague, no less- makes sense. Any excuse to go to AT&T is a good one. <b><br /></b><br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday, 8/8: <strike></strike>Phillies at Dbacks</b><br />
<br />
an easy flight and we can be glad for domes in the desert in August.<br />
<br />
(also: Reds at Mets, Mariners at Rangers, Pirates at Rockies, Tigers at Angels)<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday, 8/9: Padres at Brewers</b><br />
<br />
back-to-back-to-back, part III. three hour flight, not bad at all from PHX to MKE (Milwaukee's airport code is MKE because Milan is MIL. Although Italy would be a good vacation, that's not keeping with our plan).<br />
<br />
(also: Braves at Nats, Twins at Indians)<br />
<br />
<b>Friday, 8/10: Nats at Cubs</b><br />
<br />
And our first back-to-back-to-back-to-back! (Yes, there will be another.) In my early planning into seeing day games <a href="http://www.sporadicsentinel.com/2016/06/all-mlb-weekday-day-games-ultimate.html" target="_blank">a few years ago</a> I realized that because Milwaukee and Chicago are so close it would be very easy to do a back-to-back with them. I even have the travel figured out: stay in Milwaukee after their day game and then take the morning commuter train to Chicago with the rest of the working stiffs, making them jealous.<b><br /></b><br />
<br />
Tuesday, 8/14: Brewers at Cubs<br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday, 8/15: White Sox at Tigers</b><br />
<br />
I originally had Mariners at A's for today, but because tomorrow is going to be travel-heavy, I switched it to Minnesota hosting the Pirates, and then to Detroit because we'll get to the Twins. It seems like they have a lot more day games in Detroit this year, at
least that's how I see it. Maybe that downtown revitalization thing is
really working? <b><b><br /></b> </b><br />
(also: Brewers at Cubs)<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday, 8/16: Rays at Yankees AND Mets at Phillies (4pm DH)</b><br />
<br />
And here it is. The plan as it stands now: fly from Detroit to NYC, either early morning or late after the game (2-and-a-half hours flight time), find a good deli and hit Yankee Stadium for the early game, then train it to Philly for game 2 of the DH, which shouldn't start until 8 or so. This allows for a special night game exemption. And late-night cheesesteaks. Pat's <i>and</i> Geno's, let's do both because we've earned it. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday, 8/22: Twins at White Sox</b><br />
<br />
Checking off New Comiskey. It'll be us and 50 other die-hards.<br />
<br />
(also: Orioles at Blue Jays, Reds at Brewers, Rangers at A's, Astros at Mariners)<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday, 8/23: Indians at Red Sox</b><br />
<br />
What a change that will be, going from empty Comiskey to full Fenway. should be a pretty good game as well.<br />
<br />
(also: Phillies at Nationals, Padres at Rockies, Giants at Mets,- this is that Mets game I mentioned we couldn't get to earlier- and White Sox at Tigers, a rare case of two consecutive day games for a team and not involving the Cubs at all. That's because Tigers are <i>starting</i> a series with the White Sox in the daytime under the guise of "Grandparents Day," apparently to ensure you can make the game and the early bird special at whichever chain restaurant you like the best.)<br />
<br />
Friday, 8/24: Reds at Cubs<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday, 8/25: Yanks at Orioles, split DH</b><br />
<br />
our only possible Saturday exception to get in Camden Yards, a split doubleheader with a 1:05 first pitch. The Orioles never have weekday day games after Memorial Day, which I really can't figure out. It's such a nice park. <br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday, 8/29: Tigers at Royals</b><br />
<br />
the Kaufman/Arrowhead Stadium complex is out in the country but it's really well done. One of the best examples of 70's ballpark architecture. Actually, it is the best because it still exists. Very glad they had the land to build two parks and didn't do a Vet/3 Rivers/Riverfront type thing, since all four were built around the same time. <b><br /></b><br />
<br />
(also: Mets at Cubs, A's at Astros, Mariners at Padres)<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday, 8/30: Twins at Indians</b><br />
<br />
and staying at least an extra day to visit the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame. Too bad the Browns aren't home.<br />
<br />
(also: Brewers at Reds)<br />
<br />
<b>Monday, 9/3, Labor Day: </b><br />
<br />
this is the day to get to Dodger Stadium, even though it's a 5pm start hosting the Mets. I have to check it off if at all possible, and here it is possible. They have a Sunday day game, so maybe either. or both.<br />
<br />
(day games: Cards at Nats, Phils at Marlins, Red Sox at Braves, Reds at Pirates, Cubs at Brewers, Tigers at White Sox, Twins at Astros, Giants at Rockies, Yankees at A's)<br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday, 9/5: Red Sox at Braves</b><br />
<br />
Few fans realize that the Red Sox and Braves have a long history together, for they were both in Boston for more than 50 years. And for a lot of that time, both of them were terrible. Ted Williams is largely responsible for swinging loyalties to the A.L. team. Over the '52 off-season Braves were keen to move to Milwaukee, where the Brewers were their top farm team. Just weeks before the '53 season started, as soon as permission was granted to move to Milwaukee, they just flat left. Braves Field was supposed to host the All-Star game that year! (They hurridly gave it to Cincinnati.)<br />
<br />
(After the Braves moved to Atlanta, Milwaukee also got the one-time Seattle Pilots in spring training, but even later- a week before Opening Day! The big rig hauling their equipment stopped in Provo, Utah, and waited to see what interstate he would take. The move happened so late that the new Brewers played in Pilots uniforms with the logo ripped off.) <br />
<br />
(also: Royals at Indians)<br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday, 9/12: Dodgers at Reds</b><br />
<br />
Cincy off the list!<br />
<br />
(also: Indians at Rays, Astros at Tigers, Pirates at Cardinals, Braves at Giants)<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday, 9/13: Dbacks at Rockies</b><br />
<br />
The Rockies tend to have a lot of weekday day games, so in making the schedule I always end up getting to them late. In a way it's their fault for having so many, but it's a nice problem to have. <b><br /></b><br />
<br />
Friday, 9/14: Reds at Cubs<br />
<br />
Tuesday, 9/18: <b>Red Sox at Yankees</b><br />
<br />
You think we're not going to a Red Sox-Yankees day game with playoff berths on the line? Are you crazy?<b> </b><br />
<br />
<b>Wednesday, 9/19: Rays at Rangers </b><br />
<br />
Frankly, I don't blame the Rangers for not scheduling a lot of weekday day games in Dallas in the summer. <br />
<br />
(also: Cardinals at Braves, Twins at Tigers)<br />
<br />
<b>Thursday, 9/20: Angels at A's</b><br />
<br />
I don't like cramming in the Coliseum like this. But it almost makes sense because the light-rail to the Oakland Airport starts at the Coliseum Station. So easy in and easy out. <b><br /></b><br />
<br />
<b>Friday, 9/21: Cubs at White Sox</b><br />
<br />
because we are absolutely going to a Cubs/White Sox game at Comiskey. I don't care that we've already been to Comiskey, we're doing this.<b><br /></b><br />
<br />
Thursday, 9/27: <b>Yankees at Rays</b><br />
<br />
in the final week of the season, we're crossing Tampa off the list, even though we were really close when we saw the Marlins in July. Blame the Mets for not having more day games. Just another thing the Mets suck at. <br />
<br />
(also: Phillies at Rockies)<br />
<br />
<b>Friday, 9/28: White sox at Twins (noon split dh)</b><br />
<br />
Now, would it make sense to end this day game adventure at Wrigley, Cards and Cubs? Of course it would. But that would mean we'd have to re-engineer the schedule to get the Twins in there, and they have already scheduled a makeup of a rainout against the White Sox to be part of a split doubleheader on the final weekday of the season. So we're going to a doubleheader to finish this out.<br />
<br />
So how many ballparks? How did we do?<br />
<br />
For the first time since I've been making this proposed journey, we've hit EVERY PARK!!!!!<br />
<br />
And we'll be seeing weekday day games in 28 of the 30 parks, the only exceptions being, as I told you at the top, Baltimore and Dodger Stadium. We'll be in Toronto on Sunday, but that's a special exemption for Canada Day.<br />
<br />
We'll be at Wrigley Field twice (with plenty of optional stops), Comiskey Park twice, and Yankee Stadium twice.<br />
<br />
The cost? Money is.... uh, not an object here. Weekday day game baseball is, and that's what we've accomplished. Let's do it again next year!<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>all photos by the author (while watching the Giants)</i></span><br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRkr7JsW0NOIVfIoiYJXcRzqyClHUpNJ7U3fWD5c7zd2zVrXucFWL5-Tx-8xRSHjThyphenhyphenl_DNYGUJ1g5aIAloxUNpw4rQ-S1Vsiuq-Gm6y6A7Z196pHXIWAkeKUpEHkrmMFnNoelmipb3mo/s1600/20180620_131032.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRkr7JsW0NOIVfIoiYJXcRzqyClHUpNJ7U3fWD5c7zd2zVrXucFWL5-Tx-8xRSHjThyphenhyphenl_DNYGUJ1g5aIAloxUNpw4rQ-S1Vsiuq-Gm6y6A7Z196pHXIWAkeKUpEHkrmMFnNoelmipb3mo/s400/20180620_131032.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm here, where are you?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />Alex Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00016520287544656913noreply@blogger.com0