Archive
Fernando F&%^$*?!!! Tatis
Fernando Tatis is trying to get his place back in the majors:
For the second straight night, the Mets trotted out their bizarre good-luck charm in the person of public relations guru Jay Horwitz, who was once again clad in a loud orange jacket that even TBS’ Craig Sager would have left on the rack.
It worked, though, as Fernando Tatis’ one-out, two-run double in the 12th inning gave the Mets a 7-6 win over the Marlins last night at Shea Stadium. The Mets had tied it on Endy Chavez’s pinch home run in the ninth.
So you know, I was following the game online and while D was watching Top Chef, I shouted “holy s**t! Fernando f****** Tatis just drove home the winning runs!” It’s a start, a come from behind homer by Endy Chavez of all people in the ninth to tie, then a run given up by Met pitcher Duaner Sanchez in the top of the 12th, and then 2 runs (Wright and Beltran were on base) in the bottom of the twelfth to beat the Marlins.
Memorial Day + Emmanuelle Chriqui
It’s quiet in the sport world besides:
– the Willie Randolph Death Watch,
– players still transferring,
– pictures of your possible #1 and #2 picks,
– wondering how the Knicks can upgrade their point guard situation from Marbury,
– a review of this winter’s baseball trades,
– a Dana O’Neil article on how next year’s list of one-and-done college players should be much shorter, and tendency to have players rated and signed before/ early in high school (O’Neil is becoming my new favorite female sports writer now that Lisa Olson’s been chopped up by Lupica and has not yet resurfaced)…
But then I came across this photo gallery of Emmanuelle Chriqui and I realized the following. Memorial Day is a day made to celebrate and memorialize military sacrifice, to think about what a good life we lead because of those who came before us, and it is a day to shirk work and surf the internet more than usual. Which, I suppose, is a lot.
So enjoy! Limited posting over the weekend, time for a wedding and a barbecue.
Devil Rays, wtf.
What is going on in baseball that has the Devil Rays near first place??
Hat tip to the Big Lead and A Large Regular, because I sure don’t check on Sports Illustrated’s covers.
MLB Teams Select Surviving Negro Leaguers at 2008 Draft
Hat tip to Doc Manhattan for cluing me in to this announcement from the MLB by way of AOL Sports Blogs:
As part of its 2008 First-Year Player Draft next month, Major League Baseball will hold a ceremonial selection of players from the Negro Leagues. Participation in the draft is voluntary, but most of the 30 clubs are expected to take part as baseball continues its efforts to keep alive the history of the Negro Leagues.
The ceremonial event will be streamed live by BaseballChannel.TV at 1 p.m. ET, directly preceding the start of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft at 2 p.m. ET. Both events will take place at The Milk House at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Fla. Fans are encouraged to attend and admission is free, with seating available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Each team will compensate the player it selects with a stipend, Solomon said. Major League Baseball will pick up the travel expenses for each player (and a companion) to the Draft headquarters in Orlando.
OHHkay. Issues:
– it’s nice to honor the Negro Leaguers, but dang, this is a publicity stunt. Why not just give them a stipend from MLB itself? Is this stipend for the rest of their lives?
– a ceremonial selection? why allocate these players, well past their time and not in line for contracts, to teams? So the team has a show pony for an African American history day? I guess there is little backbreaking labor, but still… doesn’t this whole plan sound silly? Or kind of like a slave auction? MLB gets the players and brings them to market… the teams give them a little money… I kid. Somewhat. No, not that much. Any player draft has a level of servitude, but the conditions are light years better.
– what is BaseballChannel.tv? That’s not on cable it’s… online. So this is a poor publicity stunt to boot.
I wouldn’t even have gone through all of this; I would have MLB set up a fund and hook these guys up with a stipend. And then I’d look to send some of the remaining (and able-bodied and able-minded) folks into the broadcast booth during local weekend games and a few national games to chat for a few innings about their experience. I would also have bobblehead days (or some other giveaway) conceived around the play of some the great African-American ballplayers – such as Satchel Paige and Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson and Larry Doby. Educate the kids, MLB!
Bryant Bulldogs: Jumping to D-I
I’ve never heard of Bryant University in Rhode Island. I don’t even know where Smithfield, RI is. But the Bryant University Bulldogs are going to move up from Division II to Division I. Their basketball team will play in the Northeast Conference (NEC) and will play at U Conn (of course), Iowa, Rutgers, Maryland, against Providence College and Brown University, and in tournaments at Columbia and Ohio University. They’ll play only 9 of their 29 games at home.
They’ll be the new NJIT! If you are out there and have a list of other teams that are joining Division I let me know. I know the money is good up in D-I, but some teams really have to think about dropping back to the lower levels, or going Division III. I don’t see many more fans at a low level NEC D-I game than I did during a good game at the old WUniversity. And funding D-I sports has got to be a huge money-suck. Does playing in a low-level D-I conference bring a school that much notoriety?
Open Letter to Mets Manager Willie Randolph
Dear Willie:
Oh no, no, no. Don’t get all fiery in an interview and bring up the “r” word. I mean “race,” not, “Reyes.” Aren’t you from New York? Don’t you know that the vocal fans and the news media love to jump on a flashpoint topic, and race is one of the biggest that we have? Don’t you know NYC is a city of loudmouths and people who feel that they’ve been wronged, people who feel that they are done dirty when they perceive another group of people receiving some kind of slight compensatory advantage, people who take it out wherever they can? 
Don’t set those people off with talk about race, man!
I understand your need to defend your managerial style; certainly, you keep things more behind closed doors than some other guys. And I know the media and cameras love to see a demonstrative Larry Bowa-type coach. Well, I think those guys are loudmouths and may not be introspective enough, and that’s not the best way to lead. I agree with that.
But, from the Jersey Record:
“I’m as animated and as demonstrative and as involved and as intense as any manager in baseball.”
Randolph excluded Ozzie Guillen from the conversation, but wanted to know why the traits often admired in the calm, cool and collected likes of Joe Torre are portrayed as flaws in Torre’s former third base coach.
“Is it racial?” Randolph asked. “Huh? It smells a little bit.”
Asked directly if he believes black managers are held to different standards than their white counterparts, Randolph said: “I don’t know how to put my finger on it, but I think there’s something there. Herman Edwards did pretty well here and he won a couple of playoff [games], and they were pretty hard on Herm. Isiah [Thomas] didn’t do a great job, but they beat up Isiah pretty good. … I don’t know if people are used to a certain figurehead. There’s something weird about it.
Means that you used the “r” word, and the cat just won’t go back into the bag unless you win and win a lot. You can insult women in this day and age, you can use gay slurs, but do not reference your being black by calling something racial.
The loud voices in the media might listen to you for a hot second, but the fans – mostly white and very sensitive to anything that sounds like whining, and averse to being forced to feel guilty (or, you know, think about their actions and perceptions) – hate to hear a black person (especially) talk of race. It flies in the face of the legislation that removes legally sanctioned racism. It reminds them of years of being made to feel bad about inequality when they’re just trying to live their lives on equal economic + opportunity footing. It reminds them of “race hustlers,” whatever those are; and it makes them say things like “Willie’s using the race card” (Which isn’t a trump card at all). Or it will make those fans call you a racist, for the use of the single word. They’ll reference Al Sharpton and they’ll say they’re not racist but their anger at the “controversy” hints otherwise.
– See?
– See?
– Well this one isn’t so – nope, see?
– Hey, these are relatively intelligent comments! Read the article.
– See?
It’s too powerful a “weapon,” this word, “racism.” It no longer makes people think, it makes folks react and attack. And if your comments, like any other comments or defenses of your record, were meant to inform, illuminate, and get mofos off of your back, that just undid any effect they would have. Deaf ears greet any illuminations you might give to the media.
There’s a whole swath of black folks who know that commenting on race is going to obscure their message. And the important things is to be successful around those issues, especially when put in a position to do something favorable, something positive. The more success black people enjoy, the more normal it will be to have black managers (which isn’t abnormal), black top executives (somewhat irregular), or black presidents (absolutely abnormal).
And it’s not that Obama, for example, is ignoring race issues, or has solved the problem of how to talk about race. I bet Barack and Michelle talk about racism at dinner or on the phone, the subtle kinds that always sets the nation’s punditry into a tizzy and the reactionaries into a lather. It’s out there.
But talking about it is like making resolutions to sue OPEC to release more oil; it’s not gonna do a hot damned thing. Let others talk about race; be subtle in how you address indignity. Talking about it obscures what you’re trying to say and while I’d love for people to calmly talk about racial issues and understand the premises of why some people see racial bias and others don’t… it’s not happening this month.
The national dialogue is in a funny place about race, where if the topic/ referred situation is not overt, the word alone brings the nuts out of their corners to brawl; so many people think we’re really over racism, or “post–racial.”
As for the comments themselves… dude. Really? You’re complaining about how SNY portrays you on Mets’ broadcasts? Really? If you’re concerned, then make a little more show. Even Art Howe sometimes acted like he knew how to get angry. You have to play the game. And the current results, Willie, are not very good. You have to bunker down and try to make moves. And when you deflect, don’t use the “they don’t show me showing emotion” excuse.
Dude. Come on. That was weak and admittedly, actually paranoid. You can’t be worried about who likes you. You’ve got to lead your club. Tell the media the things you’re doing, but don’t talk about your “feelings,” man, that only opens you up to get hurt. And likening yourself to Herm Edwards, whose last teams were inconsistent, and then to Isiah Thomas who was a complete nightmare with respect to winning ballgames?
Let’s review your takeaways from this letter: don’t talk about your feelings.
More on Willie’s tenure here.
Manny Being Awesome
Hat tip to the Starting Five: From 2 days ago during a game in Baltimore – video of Manny Ramirez’s catch, HIGH FIVE TO A SOX FAN, and throw back in to double up a runner at first:
Sports Links, 5.16.08
+Gary Parrish on the new style of recruiting: pounce on verbally committed recruits when there’s a coaching change through the AAU and high school coaches, aka the back channels.
+Allegations that Kansas’ Darrell Arthur shouldn’t have been eligible due to changed grades in high school, which could mean Kansas would be in danger of losing basketball title… in the most silly of worlds. Yeah, I’m sure no other school has players who’d had their high school grades changed. I know it’s hard to tell on a blog post, but that’s sarcasm.
+Dear athletes: how many times do I have to say this? Wear a $%^#@!!! CONDOM.
+Billy Wagner sure likes to talk. And in New York, talk is taken seriously. Will the other players stick around for the tough questions after being called out (again) by the team’s closer?
+The New York Times is going to love the quotable D’Antoni. He’s intelligent, political, contemplative, contrary, argumentative, and competitive; he’s a great news story.
+More on Kevin Parrom: Adam Zagoria indicates the incident was a fight about the team in general. Here’s hoping he goes to a prep or Catholic school with a decent relationship with St. John’s.
+A South African double-amputee, Oscar Pistorius (“the fastest man on no legs“), can compete to qualify for this summer’s Olympic games with his carbon fiber legs (below the knee). I bet he’ll be stripped of any medals if he gets to the games and wins. Especially if the bionic man sound can be heard on the track.
Video of Pistorius:
Sports Links 5.14.08
+ Mets make moves, designating Nelson Figueroa and Jorge Sosa for assignment (Figueroa plans to go to the minors if he clears waivers, Sosa might declare free agency instead), and sending Angel Pagan to the DL. Coming up (or already up): reliever Matt Wise, starting pitcher Claudio Vargas (what’s with the ex-Brewers?), and Fernando Tatis. We don’t have anyone better than Fernando Tatis in the minors?
+ Hank Steinbrenner thinks his team’s not playing hard enough.
+ D’Antoni wants to trade Marbury as part of a package for Leandro Barbosa and Boris “I don’t date American women, I have them” Diaw. Great trade, if the Suns are at gunpoint.
+ Soon-to-be senior high school basketball star (and St. John’s target) Kevin Parrom is arrested after an altercation with his coach. There’s more here than meets the eye, if only for the fact that this didn’t need to get into the paper, and the player didn’t have to get arrested if the coach didn’t want that to happen.
+ You can’t advertise your Larry Bird’s former home as the “Legend of French Lick Resort” and get away with it… Larry Bird hopes.
+ Arizona State eliminates wrestling, swimming, and tennis. It was too hot for the last two anyway. Article includes complaining about Title IX, roll eyes and move on.
+ Any post about the old WUniversity, even if it’s about track and field, is welcome in my blog.
+ A WHOA, BACK UP post on OJ Mayo asking some questions and stepping back from calling Mayo some kind of criminal deviant. The angle is interesting as the major news outlets are busy looking for culprits, as Rush the Court calls out the media. Whatever happened to investigative reporting? Whatever the outcome of the Mayo case, this kind of influence peddling will continue. Why would it stop if the only way to get at the info is a jilted snitch?
+ Joe Montana’s eldest son Nate Montana is going to walk on at Notre Dame this fall. He didn’t play much in high school, adopting the game late, but he’s still Son of Montana. You’d think he’d choose a more competitive school, though. John Elway’s son Jack will be suiting up for Arizona State, by the way. Does Jim Kelly have a kid? Joe Theismann? Warren Moon?
+ Gene Doping? Yikes. hat tip to The Sports Economist.
+ AND, What do you associate with various brands? The Wall Street Journal talks about the Brand Tags site.
the east coast bias 