Category: Sports

Rays’ spending

On this, the opening day of baseball season (for the Rays anyway), talk of hope, expectation, and payroll makes the rounds. Once again, many are questioning the spending habits of Rays’ ownership – particularly in light of the revenue sharing money ($35 million?) coming in, and the Rays’ payroll ($25-26 million?).

Here’s the thing (that occured to me only just now): when the good folks running the Rays talk of spending wisely for the future, I believe them. When you consider how much mediocre/old pitching goes for nowadays, how much do you suppose it’s going to cost to keep the services of a promising young south-paw in a couple of years? (Kazmir’s a left-hander, right? Some fan I am.) If the current trends hold, that could be the annual revenue sharing money right there – all by itself.

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Jorge Cantu

There was a time, not so long ago, when I thought Jorge was going to be a part of the glory Rays. Now it looks like he’s destined to play for someone else. I’m forced to face the fact that he wasn’t going to be the guy at second base for the Rays. When BJ Upton beats you out because his defense is BETTER, you know you’ve got a problem.

I understand it came down to a choice between Cantu – an infielder by trade, and Johnny Gomes – yet another outfielder. Neither one of them is tearing up the world in the field, and the Rays need another outfielder like they need more seats at the Trop. However, I was talking with someone last Friday who summed it up perfectly… who’s bat would you rather have in the DH spot? Cantu struggled all year last year, but he was just a year removed from being the Rays RBI machine. Gomes has the ability to change a game with a swing of the bat. Sure, it’s more likely that swing will result in a third strike than an RBI, but he may turn out to be the kind of power hitter most AL teams have in their line-up. Who do you see as an AL DH? A solid line drive hitter, or a guy with more pop than a Coca-Cola bottler? I just don’t see Cantu as a DH, and it’s a shame because I was really pulling for him.

Knowing the Rays, they’ll turn the DH duties over to Greg Norton… a guy that may be less suited to the DH than either Cantu or Gomes.

Lord help us.

The Rays had to pick someone, and I can’t fault them for picking Gomes. Well, not now anyway. I’ll reserve the right to change my mind in August.

Football

There are a lot of reasons why I wouldn’t be a Peyton Manning fan. He played for the University of Tennessee, Florida’s biggest rival in the SEC in the 1990s. He plays for the Indianapolis Colts, arguably the Patriots’ biggest rival in the AFC over the last ten years. He doesn’t have a Hollywood, rags to riches story. You could argue that he’s never been the underdog in his life.

And yet, I have a hard time holding a grudge against the guy. He always seems to say the right things in public, and he’s far and away the funniest player/commercial pitchman in the NFL.

Sure, you could say he’s a product of the guys that write for him… but there are dozens of guys in the NFL who undoubtedly have the benefit of the same writing… and still perpetuate the stereotype of the dumb football player.

Then there’s Tony Dungy. In many ways it pains me to see how big a mistake the Bucs made these last five years or so. (Would you take five years of losing for a SuperBowl an a snarling coach who’s harder to like than Nick Saban? In hind sight, I’m not sure I would.)

It looks like the good guys won. There’s something to be said for that.

Upon further review

I’ve read a lot about OSU’s mistakes… particularly the characterization that those early personal fouls put them behind the eight ball. However, that first personal foul by the OSU kicker on UF’s Brandon James (on the kick-off return) was not a bad foul. The kicker is usually the last man to beat on a kick-off return. If the OSU kicker doesn’t bring James down by his face mask on that play… Brandon James is GONE… as in, he scores. James has had great returns all year, running with speed and strength… deceptively hard to bring down for his size. That kicker was not going to tackle Brandon James (a backup running back) without pulling on his facemask.

Giving the Gators the ball on your own 45 is better than giving up a touchdown. The Gators went on to score anyway… but if you ask me that particular personal foul was a non-factor.

The word according to Fox

Facts that will get air play later today (if Fox can be believed):

OSU: Less than 90 yards total offense for the game.
Troy Smith, the Heisman Trophy winner: The lowest passer rating in BCS history (O.K. … so it’s not a very long history).
Jim Tressel: Worst loss in his career as a head coach (in points differential).

All year the Gators were know for their great defense… but I didn’t think they were THAT good.

Sure, OSU lost their best wide receiver early in the game. But was he THAT good… that he could turn around the WHOLE team by himself? Ninety yards of offense is not a lot of offense. If OSU had 190 without their best wide-out, you could make an argument that his absence was the difference. But OSU was totally dismantled. That kind of thumpin’ does not a single player overcome.

All is forgiven

I have no choice but to admit I was a Chris Leak doubter.

But this is not a night for remembering the past. Tonight, Chris Leak proved to everyone that his numbers are not a fluke. He proved to everyone that he’s got as much mental toughness as any player on the UF football team. On the first play of the game, OSU got away with a holding penalty… and got on the board first. It was a play that easily could have stunned the Gators. It took OSU about 12 minutes (game time) to go from stunning to stunned. Quarterbacks have thrown for more yards, but Leak drove the Gators to a nearly perfect half of football on their way to the national title yesterday. (Yes folks, it’s tomorrow.)

Despite holding several records at the University of Florida, Chris Leak played like he had something to prove… and it didn’t distract him one bit. Kudos to Chris.

It’s always great to be a Florida Gator, but this is something else entirely.

—

Quote of the night:

“I don’t want to call it lack of respect… but it was…. This team had 30 days to get motivated, with all the quotes in the world to do it.”
Urban Meyer, Head Football Coach, University of Florida (referring to the pre-game media coverage)

All right, so maybe I didn’t get the quote exactly right… but it’s close enough – and faithful to the original meaning.

Yelling at the tube

For the second time this NFL season I cheered out loud in response to a Bucs performance. In a play right out of the Gators’ national championship game, Ike Hilliard broke free for a long catch-and-run touchdown to complete the Bucs improbable comeback… and the walls erected around my cynicism fell down.

It lasted about thirty minutes.

About ten minutes into the overtime period, the Bears completed what initially looked like a controversial play… a long pass putting them in field goal range (and that much closer to the Bucs losing a game in sudden-death overtime). Immediately after the play, Tampa Twin Ronde jumped up wildly gesturing that the ball hit the ground, thus voiding the play. The officials on the field didn’t agree. The one replay shown by Fox at least gave the impression that it deserved another look, from another (TV) angle. It appeared that the Bucs only hope was that the NFL’s instant replay rule would come to the rescue. However, the crafty Bears ran up to the line to run the next play, giving the replay officials less time to look at the play and call time out (by rule, a play can not be stopped for a replay review once the ball is snapped on the ensuing play). As the Bears ran up to the line I was yelling at my TV (again)… “JON, CALL THE TIME OUT!!! YOU’VE GOT ONE LEFT!!! WHAT ARE YOU SAVING IT FOR!!! PLEASE GOD… CALL THE TIME OUT!!! GIVE THE REFS MORE TIME!!! IT’S OUR ONLY HOPE!!!”

As you can well imagine, he didn’t hear me. He didn’t call time out. The replay officials didn’t stop the game for a review. The Bears scored, the game ended, and the Bucs lost… again. I have no idea whether the replay officials would have taken another look if Gruden called time out… but it has happened. I think it might have happened in a Bucs game earlier this year (initiated by the other coach, of course).

Oh well, it looks like we may be two games away from clinching (at least) the number three pick in the next entry draft. There’s always next year. Maybe they’ll draft more bait for the backfield…
–ig sEXTENDED BODY:

A new day in Tampa Bay?

This entry isn’t terribly timely. It’s another entry I’ve been kicking around for awhile, in my spare moments.

There’s a persistent rumor floating around that we have a professional sports franchise in this area that plays football. Alas, this rumor is wholly unsubstantiated.

But I didn’t start this entry to talk football. I wanted to talk off-season baseball… during this time when hope for our other professional franchise springs eternal (if not exclusively). What is the reason for hope this year? It springs partially out of a sense of “due-ness.” Even the Cubs have occasional years over .500. Even if every Rays baseball decision was made with a coin flip, they’d be bound to luck their way into a winner once every ten years or so, wouldn’t they? Sadly, for a few years every decision was made with a pinch rather than a flip, but I won’t go there now; except to say that they Rays may be showing some signs of a renewed willingness to spend (if only a little). The new owners said they wouldn’t (and couldn’t) spend with the big market teams, but they did promise to spend (some) money wisely. Under the previous owner this was code for bottom line spending… as in, “what would my wallet do?” This year we’ve been greeted with the news that the Rays won a bid to retain the services of a promising Japanese player. Under the previous owner, news of the Rays winning a bidding competition with other MLB franchises would have caused a spike in the price of shares in Philips Electronics. Now, the Rays have won the rights to sign decent Japanese players in two consecutive years. This isn’t the kind of news that makes national headlines, but it gives me a little hope.

In other news, the Rays placed a few minor leaguers on their 40 man roster. Among them was their mercurial prospect… le enfant terrible… Elijah Dukes. In case you are unaware, this is a guy who many say would have been in the majors two years ago… possibly on his way to stardom… if he didn’t have a “can’t miss” temper to go along with his “sure-thing” talent. Fairly or not, this is the guy who has been accused of being the catalyst for the miss-stepsof a couple other Rays’ prospects’: namely B.J. Upton and Delmon Young (of bat throwing fame). Let’s hope he can keep the temper in check. The last thing a perennial loser needs is a cancer in the clubhouse. That’s assuming he makes the team out of spring training, or gets a call-up. My guess is he’s got too much talent not to get a crack at the team.

No particular pity for Coach Carr

Lloyd Carr, the head coach of the men’s football team at the University of Michigan, seemed to have a gripe against Coach Urban at UF. He seems to think that some of the things Mr Meyer had to say while he was “politicing” for his team the last couple of weeks were “inappropriate.”

Let’s break down what Urban Meyer has said. Here’s an excerpt from an interview with media a couple of weeks ago…

“I think that would be unfair to Ohio State, and I think it would be unfair to the country,” Meyer said of a possible rematch with Michigan. “I just don’t believe that’s the right thing to do. You’ve got to tell Ohio State to go beat the same team twice, which is extremely difficult . . .

“I think (the Wolverines) had their chance; someone else gets it (next). Ohio State is No. 1. Someone else has a chance to go get No. 1.”

Alright, those are some pretty strong words. But inappropriate? If you’re a Michigan fan, they’re pretty close to fighting words… but if you are a Michigan fan, and Lloyd Carr said something similar about the Gators, would you still think they were inappropriate? What about these circumstances make Meyer’s statements improper? If it is inappropriate, why? Is it wrong for a coach to give voice to his opinion that his team deserves a shot at a title game – perhaps more so than another team? If we didn’t have this crazy system of crowning a champion based largely on opinion, Meyer probably wouldn’t be talking at all – beyond saying he’s doing his best to prepare for the next game.

In fact, given that we have a championship by election, I think it’s inappropriate for Mr Carr NOT to voice his opinion… to campaign for his team. In my view, by not speaking up sooner he’s let his team down.

Then again, given his record against Ohio State (1-5 the last six years that Jim Tressel has coached OSU, and 6-6 over all), it’s not the first time he’s let Michigan down.

**Author’s note: in Mr Carr’s defense, Spurrier was a good coach at UF too, but he had a big problem beating coaches with the last name Bowden.

**Author’s second note: despite conventional wisdom, this year’s controversy will not bring about a playoff, or bring one any closer. If my suspicions are correct, Fox got some big fat ratings out of this year’s BCS show… meaning they probably got some premium ad-coin, and will be paying out correspondingly big bucks to college football for the rights. Instead of making a playoff more likely, I think it’s made it LESS likely.

Yeah, just like I said…

The Gators are on their way to the national title game. One thing I’m confident you won’t hear many Gators’ fans saying in the next month… the Gators are lucky there’s no playoff system this year. As good as UF and the SEC are, UF is probably not a great team. I have a sneaking suspicion they’re not as good as OSU. That said, their best shot at a national title is a one game playoff. If they put together a good game, without the third quarter meltdowns of the last couple of weeks, they’ve got as good a shot as any to beat OSU (assuming any other team was playing).

On the other hand, if they play like they did against FSU or Vanderbilt, it could be a little ugly.