Sports Curmudgeon

As is the annual custom around here, this is the day when I must give a tip of the hat to Broderick Crawford and Highway Patrol.

Allow me to present my season awards for baseball:

AL MVP:

AL Cy Young: For a while, this was a close race between Roy Halladay and Johann Santana but Santana gets it because of his phenomenal performance from the All-Star break on.

AL ROY: I give this to Justin Verlander in Detroit over Papelbon and Liriano on the basis that Verlander played the entire season. However, injuries aside, if you asked me whom I'd like to have on my team signed to a five-year deal, I'd take Liriano.

AL Manager of the Year: This was a shoo-in for Jim Leyland up until mid-September. But the Twins came from dead and buried in the summer to win the AL Central and some of that has show up as a credit on Ron Gardenhire's report card. I'll still give it to Leyland, but it's a very close call.

AL Comeback Player of the Year: This has to go to Frank Thomas.

NL MVP: Ryan Howard gets my vote narrowly over Albert Pujols.

NL Cy Young: There really weren't any great pitching performances in the NL this year. Is the "twenty-game-winner" an endangered species? I'll give this to Roy Oswalt narrowly over Brandon Webb.

NL ROY: Dan Uggla had the lead in this race early on. But in the end, it is a photo finish between Henley Ramirez and Ryan Zimmerman. I flipped a coin and the coin said to give it to Zimmerman.

NL Manager of the Year: This has to be Joe Girardi - - even though he's already been fired in Miami. Anyone who votes for Willie Randolph here is bandwagoning; he didn't have a difficult situation to handle from June 15th on.

NL Comeback Player of the Year: This has to go to Nomar Garciaparra.

In the flurry to fire managers as the baseball season came to a close, the Cubbies also accepted the resignation of Andy MacPhail as the team president/CEO. So, the guy who ran the whole operation and the guy who ran the show on the field are out looking for work while Jim Hendry, the genius who assembled that dysfunctional crew, stays on the job. I don't get that at all. Oh, and who will replace MacPhail to oversee the restructuring of this team? It will be the team's vice president for marketing. Maybe that's why the Cubs never seem to put all the pieces together; they're going to repopulate a baseball operation with a marketing guy in charge. The Cubs need to cue Judy Collins about now:

Changing the subject abruptly, do you realize that 8 of the 12 teams in MLS make the playoffs each year? Doesn't that make you focus on the criticality of all those regular season games? You need not answer either of those questions if you had to think for more than 3 seconds to recall what MLS stands for…

The majority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies has reached an agreement in principle to sell his 70% interest in the team. The consortium that holds the minority 30% of the team will now have 30 days to match the offer he has in hand for his majority interest. Christian Laettner and his former Duke teammate, Brian Davis, lead the group making the offer. According to reports in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, this offer is in the range of $240 - 245M, which would make the Grizzlies worth about $350M in toto. That seems awfully high to me because during the season there were persistent reports that attendance was down and promotional tie-ins with the business community were in trouble. I recall reading that the team could lose between $35M and $45M for last season alone. I'm not sure how that translates into a franchise worth $350M.

If there is fan apathy for the Grizzlies in Memphis despite the fact that the team has significantly improved since they arrived in town, it's not clear how the team will "grow the top line" to offset losses that could be as high as $45M a year. Therefore, it would seem as if "expense reduction" would have to be the team's new operating philosophy. However, that strategy often does not improve the product on the floor; if a contending team in Memphis has trouble generating revenue, what makes anyone think a losing team will generate anything but stomach acid? I have to wonder if the bidders see a loophole in the lease they will inherit for the arena in Memphis, which would allow them to escape to some other venue.

For those who wondered if Morten Andersen could still kick, he's six for seven in field goals since returning to the Falcons at age 46 and he hasn't missed a PAT…

For those who lost focus on just how bad the NFC West is, please look at last week's results. San Francisco was shut out in Kansas City; they might has well have dressed the team out with big red rubber noses and had them play in size 30 shoes. Seattle soiled themselves on national TV against Chicago. Arizona had the snot pounded out of them in Atlanta. And St. Louis needed a late rally to catch and beat Detroit - I repeat a late rally to beat the Detroit Lions. Where's the air freshener?

I was looking over Mythical Picks selections for the season and noticed a lot of visiting teams covering the spread - more than in previous years. Then I looked at game results; and unless I've miscounted, the home team is only 31-29. So much for the value of all those great fans who make all that noise that gives the home team such a huge advantage… The question is now this: Is this a new paradigm for the NFL or is this just an aberration based on a small sample and there will be a large "regression to the mean" in the upcoming weeks?

Finally, the Colorado football team has not been hugely successful this year under new coach, Dan Hawkins. At one of his press conferences, he was asked about errors by officials. This is what Hawkins said he tells the officials about having to live with their bad calls:

"The problem is, you go back to selling real estate on Monday - and you're selling my house because I just got fired."

But don't get me wrong, I love sports...

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		Sports Curmudgeon: 10/4/06

		As is the annual custom around here, this is the day when I must give a tip of the hat to Broderick Crawford and Highway Patrol. Allow me to present my season awards for baseball: AL MVP: Derek Jeter gets this one comfortably. For a moment I considered both Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau in Minnesota and then realized that if I were considering two guys on the same team, then Jeter had to be my pick for the single most valuable player. AL Cy Young: For a while, this was a close race between Roy Halladay and Johann Santana but Santana gets it because of his phenomenal performance from the All-Star break on. AL ROY: I give this to Justin Verlander in Detroit over Papelbon and Liriano on the basis that Verlander played the entire season. However, injuries aside, if you asked me whom I'd like to have on my team signed to a five-year deal, I'd take Liriano. AL Manager of the Year: This was a shoo-in for Jim Leyland up until mid-September. But the Twins came from dead and buried in the summer to win the AL Central and some of that has show up as a credit on Ron Gardenhire's report card. I'll still give it to Leyland, but it's a very close call. AL Comeback Player of the Year: This has to go to Frank Thomas. NL MVP: Ryan Howard gets my vote narrowly over Albert Pujols. NL Cy Young: There really weren't any great pitching performances in the NL this year. Is the "twenty-game-winner" an endangered species? I'll give this to Roy Oswalt narrowly over Brandon Webb. NL ROY: Dan Uggla had the lead in this race early on. But in the end, it is a photo finish between Henley Ramirez and Ryan Zimmerman. I flipped a coin and the coin said to give it to Zimmerman. NL Manager of the Year: This has to be Joe Girardi - - even though he's already been fired in Miami. Anyone who votes for Willie Randolph here is bandwagoning; he didn't have a difficult situation to handle from June 15th on. NL Comeback Player of the Year: This has to go to Nomar Garciaparra. In the flurry to fire managers as the baseball season came to a close, the Cubbies also accepted the resignation of Andy MacPhail as the team president/CEO. So, the guy who ran the whole operation and the guy who ran the show on the field are out looking for work while Jim Hendry, the genius who assembled that dysfunctional crew, stays on the job. I don't get that at all. Oh, and who will replace MacPhail to oversee the restructuring of this team? It will be the team's vice president for marketing. Maybe that's why the Cubs never seem to put all the pieces together; they're going to repopulate a baseball operation with a marketing guy in charge. The Cubs need to cue Judy Collins about now: "But where are the clowns? There ought to be clowns… Well, maybe next year." Changing the subject abruptly, do you realize that 8 of the 12 teams in MLS make the playoffs each year? Doesn't that make you focus on the criticality of all those regular season games? You need not answer either of those questions if you had to think for more than 3 seconds to recall what MLS stands for… The majority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies has reached an agreement in principle to sell his 70% interest in the team. The consortium that holds the minority 30% of the team will now have 30 days to match the offer he has in hand for his majority interest. Christian Laettner and his former Duke teammate, Brian Davis, lead the group making the offer. According to reports in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, this offer is in the range of $240 - 245M, which would make the Grizzlies worth about $350M in toto. That seems awfully high to me because during the season there were persistent reports that attendance was down and promotional tie-ins with the business community were in trouble. I recall reading that the team could lose between $35M and $45M for last season alone. I'm not sure how that translates into a franchise worth $350M. If there is fan apathy for the Grizzlies in Memphis despite the fact that the team has significantly improved since they arrived in town, it's not clear how the team will "grow the top line" to offset losses that could be as high as $45M a year. Therefore, it would seem as if "expense reduction" would have to be the team's new operating philosophy. However, that strategy often does not improve the product on the floor; if a contending team in Memphis has trouble generating revenue, what makes anyone think a losing team will generate anything but stomach acid? I have to wonder if the bidders see a loophole in the lease they will inherit for the arena in Memphis, which would allow them to escape to some other venue. For those who wondered if Morten Andersen could still kick, he's six for seven in field goals since returning to the Falcons at age 46 and he hasn't missed a PAT… For those who lost focus on just how bad the NFC West is, please look at last week's results. San Francisco was shut out in Kansas City; they might has well have dressed the team out with big red rubber noses and had them play in size 30 shoes. Seattle soiled themselves on national TV against Chicago. Arizona had the snot pounded out of them in Atlanta. And St. Louis needed a late rally to catch and beat Detroit - I repeat a late rally to beat the Detroit Lions. Where's the air freshener? I was looking over Mythical Picks selections for the season and noticed a lot of visiting teams covering the spread - more than in previous years. Then I looked at game results; and unless I've miscounted, the home team is only 31-29. So much for the value of all those great fans who make all that noise that gives the home team such a huge advantage… The question is now this: Is this a new paradigm for the NFL or is this just an aberration based on a small sample and there will be a large "regression to the mean" in the upcoming weeks? Finally, the Colorado football team has not been hugely successful this year under new coach, Dan Hawkins. At one of his press conferences, he was asked about errors by officials. This is what Hawkins said he tells the officials about having to live with their bad calls: "The problem is, you go back to selling real estate on Monday - and you're selling my house because I just got fired." But don't get me wrong, I love sports... << Back to the October Archives = Home = Recent = Topical = Wagers = = Archives = Pros = Scores = Contact =