Lucky 7′s Season 2: Week 7
Welcome to the 7th edition of Lucky 7’s for the 2011 Season. After a rough week five, where I went 2-5, I bounced back with Week Six (which I posted on Twitter), in which I went 5-2 and winning the Best Bet. Thankfully I finished .500 on the dot the past two weeks (7-7, 1-1 Best Bet) however I’m still four games under .500 for the season. Starting next week the format is going to change. I will be posting my picks on Twitter Wednesday night with the column coming through on Friday.
Before I get to my picks, there’s one pressing issue that needs to be addressed. As a Philadelphia Sports Fan, last weekend was tough. Between the Phillies getting unceremoniously eliminated from the playoffs and the Eagles losing to the Buffalo Bills. However the one thing that irritated me the most was Andy Reid continuously defending inept Defensive Coordinator Juan Castillo. Players and other coaches respect Reid for biting the bullet in these situations.
There’s no dodging this bullet: The Eagles should let go of Andy Reid after this season.
Now, I wrote a similar column around three years ago, which you can find here. In that instance, it was about the lack of playmakers. This time he has the playmakers and a great team (I refuse to ever use the term “Dream Team”), however they have started off 1-4 this season.
The main reason they are 1-4 is because of their defense. If their defense could tackle, or if they had better Linebackers, they’d easily have a winning record. The onus of their success is the defensive coordinator. With a strong, solid, or competent defensive coordinator, these problems wouldn’t exist.
Andy Reid had a chance this off-season to hire a competent Defensive Coordinator. Rob Ryan, son of legendary Eagles Head Coach Buddy Ryan, was on the market. There were rumors Buddy had told Rob to not even consider the Cowboys because of Buddy’s continued hatred towards them. He would have brought the energy and defensive knowledge needed to take this D to the next level.
Andy Reid declined.
There were also rumors of New York Jets Defensive Coordinator Mike Pettine being on the market. Mike Pettine is from the Philadelphia area originally (we both graduated from the same high school) and worked his way up the coaching ranks with Rex Ryan, eventually becoming Defensive Coordinator of the New York Jets. It’s pretty enticing to coach that close to where you grew up.
Andy Reid declined.
Instead, Andy Reid made the worst decision he’s made in his career Head Coaching career. He promoted Juan Castillo, the Eagles Offensive Line Coach for 12 seasons, to Defensive Coordinator. Keep in mind Juan Castillo had not been a Defensive Coordinator since 1989, and even then, it was for a High School football team.
Thus far, the Eagles Defense has played exactly how it should if someone who was unqualified was coaching them. Juan Castillo can put in as many 20 hour days as he can, however if your players are undisciplined and making the same mistakes over and over, it won’t make a difference. There are still 11 games to be played this season, so there’s still time to right the ship. And by righting the ship I’m referring to Andy Reid demoting Juan Castillo and finding a Defensive Coordinator who knows a thing about coaching defense on the professional level.
Andy Reid won’t do that though. He’s shown over the years how stubborn he’s been with personnel decisions, and this would be no exception. The difference between the past and now is the amount of talent on this team. Andy Reid’s early success gave him a grace period in the region; that period has long since passed. This Philadelphia Eagles team is one of, if not the most talented Eagles team in recent memory and there’s no excuse for their slow start. The Philadelphia sports media has stated this has the aura of Andy Reid’s final season, and I couldn’t agree more.
The lines come courtesy of Bodog.com as of 5:30 pm on 10/14. And now, my picks for Week Seven of the 2nd Season of Lucky 7’s:
- Hawaii -6
- Michigan +2
- Baylor +8.5
- South Carolina -3 (**Best Bet**)
- Georgia Tech -7.5
- Clemson -9
- Fresno State +3
Weeks 5 and 6: 7-7 (1-1 Best Bet)
2011 Season: 19-23 (2-4 Best Bet)
Lucky 7′s Season 2: Week Five
Welcome to the 5th edition of Lucky 7’s. Yes, your eyes aren’t deceiving you; Week Four wasn’t posted. I was in Las Vegas last week on business. I had plans on placing some money on some games while I was out there however I was involved in a heater at a craps table. Someone else got on a roll and wound up winning me a good amount of money. Karma wound up catching to me though; as soon as I landed back in Boston, I find out the company had gotten complimentary table/bottle service at a club on the Vegas Strip.
Anyways, I made my picks from last week on Twitter (which you could look at here). In the past two weeks, I’ve continued struggling. In weeks 3 and 4 I went a combined 6-8, splitting the best bets. Still pretty pathetic for this season compared to last, however there’s still time to turn things around.
Before I get to the picks for this week, I have to give credit to MLB for the regular season going out with a bang last night. Three games with playoff implications went down to the wire, delivering action until the end. My problem though is the insistence on MLB to add playoff games.
The plan is at for some point to add an addition wild card and have a playoff to determine who goes on to play one of the division winners (this would be the plan if there isn’t massive realignment in the cards). They feel it’s going to make the playoffs even more exciting.
Adding a Wild Card for a one-game playoff is about as pointless as the NCAA expanding March Madness. Technically, yes, you’re a playoff team, but does anyone really remember it after they’d lose the one game playoff. Off the top of your head, can you name any team that was in the first NCAA tournament game the past couple years? Neither can I. If something works, don’t fix it.
The lines come courtesy of Bodog.com as of 10:00 pm on 9/29. And now, my picks for Week Five of the 2nd Season of Lucky 7’s:
- Arkansas +3
- Temple -8
- Eastern Michigan -9
- Connecticut -3
- Northern Illinois -9
- Colorado State -4 (**Best Bet**)
- New Mexico State -1.5
Weeks 3 and 4: 6-8 (1-1 Best Bet)
2011 Season: 12-16 (1-3 Best Bet)
Lucky 7′s Season 2: Week Three
Welcome to the third installment of Lucky 7’s 2011. Last week I duplicated my week one performance, again going 3-4 and losing my best bet. I’m hoping my luck improves because I’m going to need it. I dropped a hint in Week One about a “Special Edition” of Lucky 7’s.
Well, that’s going to be next week. It turns out I’m going to be in Las Vegas for a couple days for work. So next week, I’m going to be putting my money where my mouth is and am going to be betting on the picks. I was in Vegas back in June, however that was under different circumstances. I was excited to see Ron Artest and have him referred to as CRA (Crazy Ron Artest) among the group. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed when he dropped Metta World Peace on the world.
That trip was for a weekend-long Bachelor Party in which little detail can be mentioned publicly. I will say that I did check out a couple of the sports books while we were out there. The three I checked out were The Venetian, The Bellagio, and Caesar’s Palace. Of the three, my favorite was probably The Bellagio. Between the comfortable seating and waitresses bringing drinks (something missing from the other two Sports books), it made it enjoyable to watch a game. I haven’t decided this time around where I’ll be placing my bets. I’m eager to check out The Cosmopolitan and Aria, two of the newer casino’s on The Strip.
Sorry for the brief round-up for this edition of Lucky 7’s. With this business trip on the horizon my focus has been there. After that, the site will be back to where it was (and should be). In the meantime, the lines come courtesy of Bodog.com as of 7:00 pm on 9/16. And now, my picks for Week Three of the 2nd Season of Lucky 7’s:
- West Virginia +1
- Penn State -7
- Texas -4
- Northwestern -5
- Virginia Tech -24
- Kent State +17.5
- Houston -7 (**Best Bet**)
Week Two: 3-4 (0-1 Best Bet)
2011 Season: 6-8 (0-2) Best Bet
Lucky 7′s Season 2: Week Two
Welcome to Week Two of Lucky 7’s. I started off on the wrong foot last week, going 3-4 and losing my Best Bet. Last year I had a great start and slowed up, hopefully this rough start means I can pick things up this week. In next week’s edition I’m going to reveal the surprise I have in store for Week Four of Lucky 7’s.
Before I get to my picks, I’m going to kick off Quick Hits. As you may remember, Quick Hits is going to be done twice a week: Tuesdays (changed it from Monday) and Friday. In these, I’m going to touch on a couple of different topics going on in the sports work. Today there are three that need addressing:
Maryland’s Uniforms: I saw the game against Miami last week. Whose brilliant idea was that? Those were possibly the ugliest things I’ve ever seen. I understand that schools have contracts with athletic apparel companies and sometimes are at their mercy in regards to experimental jersey designs or fabrics, but the atrocity that America witnessed on Monday was over the top. I get that Maryland and ACC football have become less relevant over the years, but there are other ways of gaining attention. Such as winning, or maybe in other ways…
Miami/Yahoo:…such as a rogue Booster crippling a storied pr
ogram. You can say what you want about Nevin Shapiro and how he’s a scam artist, wannabe Luther Campbell, Rat/Snitch, etc. But what you can’t deny, and what Yahoo showed, was his influence over the Miami Football program. If you haven’t read Charles Robinson’s expose on the Miami football program and Shapiro’s involvement, you need to set some time aside to do so. This is probably one of the best pieces of sports reporting and journalism published in recent memory. Ironically this is the kind of sports journalist that a self-proclaimed worldwide leader ignored for a day or so because one of their reporters didn’t break the story. It’s sad though that certain entities have hated on those, such as legit journalists who are upset they didn’t have the scoop (*cough* Jason Whitlock *cough*) or websites that are upset because they didn’t have enough naked athlete pictures to plaster on their website *cough* Deadspin *cough*).
Tiki Barber not having a Job: Supposedly Tiki Barber is upset that no NFL team signed him to a contract this offseason. Tiki, there’s two reasons why you’re not employed. Number one, compared to other players at your position, you’re a dinosaur. 36 year old Running Backs that have been out of the league for 4+ years are not a hot commodity nor have ever been a hot commodity. Number two, Karma’s a bitch. You expect to cheat on your 9 month pregnant wife with a 23-year old NBC intern and not have any potential ramifications? Smarten up Tiki.
The lines come courtesy of Bodog.com as of 6:45 pm on 9/09. And now, my picks for Week Two of the 2nd Season of Lucky 7’s:
- Iowa -7
- Ohio State -18
- Auburn +6
- Cincinnati +4.5
- Rice +1.5
- Temple -15
- Boston College +7.5 (**Best Bet**)
Week One: 3-4 (0-1 Best Bet)
2011 Season: 3-4 (0-1 Best Bet)
Lucky 7′s Season 2: Week One
Welcome to the second season of Lucky 7’s. To refresh your memories about what Lucky 7’s is about, I pick seven college football games at random to bet on (for those who gamble on sports). Now, there’s no extreme in-depth study of team dynamics against each other. I take a look at the lines on the game and look at a preview or two, and give the seven best games to bet on.
You might be asking yourself, does this really work? Well, I went 71-61-2 last year against the spread for the season, with my Best Bets going 10-9. More than likely, if you followed my advice, you would have made a few bucks. Plus this year, I will have a special edition of Lucky 7’s, where I will put my money where my mouth is (or finger tips).
I also dissect an issue in the world of sports. As you may have noticed, the site has been lacking updates lately. I apologize again; I have had added responsibilities to my day job which has taken away from updating the site as much as I’d like. There will be one change to the site. I will be getting rid of “Random Ramblings” and “Keeping It 100”. In its place will be a section called “Out of Bounds”, where I will be posting thoughts on non-sports related issues.
The good news is that I’m going to try bringing back Quick Hits to a twice a week format. I’m thinking Monday’s and Friday’s right now, with Lucky 7’s being posted Wednesday nights. We’ll see how it goes. I’m hoping to get the site back up off its feet.
Before I get into my picks for the first week of the college football issue, there’s one topic I’ve been itching to talk about.
Twitter has been a great way for fans to interact with their favorite athletes. It’s also been a great way for athletes to stick their feet in their mouth. The most common excuse given is their account was hacked. But you never see a high-ranking team executive, especially one in the Communication/Public Relations department lose control of their emotions and have a hissy fit on Twitter.
Well three weeks ago, Pat Hanlon, Senior Vice President of Communications for the New York Giants, decided to drop down to the level of the drunken, arm-chair QB and respond back to critics of the New York Giants. In tweets directed to regular Joes, he refers to them as knuckleheads and acts as if someone stole his Junior High Prom date.
The ironic thing is if this were Brandon Jacobs or Mario Manningham talking trash with football fans, it would be Hanlon and his team cleaning up the mess. Normally it’s the communication department’s job to clean up these messes and spin stories; they aren’t supposed to be THE story.
I worked for a pro basketball team several years back and was able to see the differences between their PR/Communication department and one from another sport in the same town. From the sounds of it, Hanlon’s pedigree doesn’t fall too far from that tree. By criticizing people who don’t have a say in operations, Hanlon came off as a petty, arrogant jackass who was clearly still adjusting to their being a football season.
Fans should have a say, especially if the team isn’t living up to expectations. I learned from the PR Department of the team I worked for the right way of addressing these concerns. Hanlon obviously fell asleep during that part of the job training and let his emotions get the best of him. Here’s my advice for Pat Hanlon: going to Twitter and snapping back at fans doesn’t make you or your staff look professional. How about just ignoring them and focus on doing your job. I’m sure you’d be punishing an intern or a member of your staff if they got into a Twitter war. Practice what you preach.
The lines come courtesy of Betus.com (I normally use Bodog however it doesn’t have as many options as Betus for this week) as of 8:00 pm on 8/31. And now, my picks for Week One of the 2nd Season of Lucky 7’s:
- Florida International -14
- TCU -4.5
- Illinois -20.5 (**Best Bet**)
- New Mexico +6
- Ohio University -7
- Southern Miss -12.5
- SMU +15.5
2010 College Football Season: 71-61-2 (10-9 Best Bet)
2011 NBA Draft Lottery Winners & Losers
It’s been a little while since I’ve posted. I apologize; business has picked up for me and unfortunately I haven’t been able to post as much as I’d like. However, with the NBA Draft coming tomorrow, I could not let the Draft Lottery slide by without my annual Winners and Losers column. I will be tweeting live during the NBA draft, so make sure to get at me starting at 7:30 to discuss everything that’s going down. If you don’t follow me on there, for the love of God catch up and do so (@cscoordinator).
In the meantime, here are the Winners and Losers of the NBA Draft Lottery:
Winners
1) Cleveland Cavaliers
It’s been a tough year for Cavs fans. Between LeBron James bolting for Miami, their owner ranting and raving on Twitter, and Mo Williams weeping on Twitter while getting drunk of Merlot and listening to Toni Braxton, their fans have been put through a lot. However, it has paid off in the form of two Top 5 picks, including the #1 overall pick. In a draft that many consider one of the weakest in recent memory in terms of star power, being able to scoop up two players this high will help expedite the rebuilding process. They also have some maneuverability in the form of Antawn Jamison’s expiring contract. Dan Gilbert isn’t afraid to throw money around and pull the trigger on deals; Cleveland has the potential to move past LeBron in due time if they play their cards right this off-season.
2) Utah Jazz
Because of the Deron Williams trade, they received the New Jersey Nets’ 1st Round pick, which in turn wound up being third overall. As of right now, they had been leaning towards a Guard to attempt replacing Williams. With $23 million coming off the books before next season, they have some money to play around with, but how much exactly will depend on what the new Collective Bargaining Agreement dictates.
3) Minnesota Timberwolves (In Theory)
In theory, they have the #2 pick in a thin draft. In theory, they sold their PG of the future on the notion of spending his winters in Minnesota instead of Spain. In theory, given the assets they have (young players, cap room, the #2 pick), they can pull off a trade to bring in a veteran that will help the team win sooner. In theory, they’ll bring in either a SG or Center than can mesh well with Rubio and Kevin Love.
Losers
1) Los Angeles Clippers
Who would have thought when they traded for Mo Williams they’d give up Baron Davis AND Kyrie Irving. Had they held onto the pick, Blake Griffin and Kyrie Irving would be testing out every Alley-Oop angle that physics and the law of gravity could allow. Instead, they have Mo Williams sulking on Twitter. With an $8.5 million player option for 2012-13.
2) Tie: David Kahn & Minnesota Timberwolves
I really try not trashing the guy. Seriously, at some point it just gets too easy, and that point was almost immediately after he took control of Basketball Operations. But I couldn’t let him slide after making these comments right after the draft lottery:
“This league has a habit, and I am just going to say habit, of producing some pretty incredible story lines,” Kahn said. “Last year it was Abe Pollin’s widow and this year it was a 14-year-old boy and the only thing we have in common is we have both been bar mitzvahed. We were done.”
Well, David, your team has a habit, and I’m just going to say habit, of underachieving and being one of the worst teams in the league every year. The point of having a team is to win, and to win you need a competent Front Office Executive running your organization. If you’re in the Draft Lottery every year, you might want to take a look in the mirror and realize that the reason you’re standing next to a widow and a 14-year old is because every decision you made has backfired. The only one that hasn’t is because he’s been in Spain.
It’s this reason why nobody wants to go to your organization. You’ve offered the #2 pick to practically every team in the league and have rumored to be targeting players such as Steve Nash, Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol, and Tony Parker. No veteran All-Star or free agent in their right mind wants to play for your organization. On top of that, the organization has done a disservice to their Head Coach, Kurt Rambis. How? They haven’t even guaranteed he’s coming back next season. They’re doing all this while stringing Rambis along. Keep in mind, he left the Los Angeles Lakers to take this spot and this is the thanks he’s getting. He’s saddled with an underachieving roster and a GM who doesn’t know what he’s doing. I feel bad for fans of the team who have to put up with this on a daily basis.
3) NBA Fans
The reasons the fans lost is because this draft will probably be the last thing they hear relating to the NBA for a while. Unlike the NFL “Lockout” (I’ll get more into why Lockout is in quotations in an upcoming column), the NBA Lockout is going to have some serious consequences. Both sides are far apart on several issues and have a week to bridge the gap before the CBA expires. After that, who knows how long the lockout will last. The NBA lockout has the potential to damage the sport in the same way the NHL one did in 2004-05.
Hope everyone enjoys the draft, because most likely it’s going to be a longer than normal NBA off-season.
Hi Hater
For Major League Baseball, spring training isn’t necessarily the best time for intriguing stories to break. For the most part, many of the pieces written during spring training are a) about players moving to different teams b) battles for starting sports or c) players showing up in shape/out of shape.
In last Sunday’s Washington Post, there was an article that caught my eye. It discusses the Washington Nationals and the addition (or overpaying depending on who you talk to) of Jayson Werth. During one point, GM Mike Rizzo and Jayson Werth have this exchange:
Rizzo: I hate the [expletive] Phillies.
Werth: I hate the Phillies, too.
In any other situation, I’d have paid very little attention to this. Division rivals play each other 18 times in a season. I’m pretty sure that while the Atlanta Braves were winning Division Championships hand over fist, the rest of the National League East were saying the same thing. Now that the Phillies are at the top of the hill, I’d expect the other NL East teams to hate on them. I can even understand Mike Rizzo’s hatred of the Phillies. Since he took over in 2009, the Phillies are 27-9 against the Nationals.
But Jayson Werth saying he hated the Phillies? I have four words for him:
Are you [expletive] serious?
Jayson, let’s keep it real for a minute. The Philadelphia Phillies made your career. You hadn’t amounted to anything with the Toronto Blue Jays or the Los Angeles Dodgers. Prior to joining the Phillies, you had a career batting average of .245 and had wrist issues with the Dodgers.
Werth then signed a one year contract with the Phillies, which was more than what he had made the previous two seasons combined. Originally he was slated to platoon with Geoff Jenkins in Right Field, who they had signed to a two-year, $13 million contract. During the season Werth outperformed Jenkins, and locked down a starting job.
The following year, Werth signed a two-year deal with the Phillies worth $10 million. Werth continued to produce for the Phillies and even made the All-Star team in 2009. His best major league season came (surprisingly) in the last year of that contract. More importantly though, Werth proved his durability by playing in 312 of a possible 324 games.
We all know what happened after the season. The Washington Nationals outbid themselves to give Werth a $126 million contract. To this day, Werth still feels resentment that the Phillies could not come up with a similar offer, especially after they shocked the baseball world and signed Cliff Lee.
I don’t blame the Phillies for not offering a $126 million contract to Jayson Werth. Hell, I commend them on not being stupid enough to give him that money. Yes, he’s been a solid contributor to the best era of Phillies baseball. Take a second look at his statistics. In the big picture, does that kind of career deserve that big of a contract? He’s never had over 100 RBI’s in a season, only one 30+ HR season, one All-Star appearance, and never hit over .300.
Jayson Werth is a third generation ball player. He should understand by now that much like the rest of the country, Major League Baseball is a business. He can cry, pout, and talk about hating the Phillies all he wants, but without the Phillies taking a chance on him, he would NEVER have suckered a $126 million contract out of Washington. Next time Jayson Werth decides to speak on the Phillies with a reporter around, he might want to reconsider his choice of words.
Lost Kings: Sacramento on the move
Lost in the NBA All-Star hoopla from last weekend was a little piece of news about a team with no All-Stars and only one participant in the festivities, DeMarcus Cousins, who competed Friday night in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge.
According to Marc Stein of ESPN, there are rumblings in California about the Sacramento Kings potentially relocating to Anaheim next season. They have been desperately trying to get a new arena in order to stay in that area. Given California’s budget woes, a publicly financed, state of the art arena is not high on the state’s agenda. Personally, with the Maloof Family owning the highly popular Palms Casino in Las Vegas among other business ventures, they can afford to privately finance a new arena.
Regardless, the Maloofs are reportedly investigating a move to Anaheim, CA starting next year to play at the Honda Center. Henry Samueli, owner of the Anaheim Ducks, has supposedly offered a $100 million loan to cover any debts and relocation costs the Kings Front Office might have in order to start playing there next season.
A move to Anaheim would be the wrong one. Given the proximity of both the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers 30 miles away, a third team in that area would dilute the fan base further. Though 15 million people reside in the Los Angeles area, most of them would identify themselves as Lakers fans. The Los Angeles area already has one perennial loser in the Clippers; the Kings haven’t finished higher than 4th in their division since the 2004-2005 season. Supposedly, the NBA agrees with them, giving the organization an extension for their relocation application.
Anaheim isn’t the only place that can house an NBA team. Hell, there are a few other locations that would be far more suited for the Kings if they move after the season. Where should they move to? Here are my suggestions on the situation, along with the Pros and Cons of each potential destination. Keep in mind there are other franchises rumored to be looking at relocation, most notably the New Orleans Hornets. If the Sacramento Kings follow through with this Anaheim relocation mistake, there’s a higher probability that whichever team relocates next would be to one of these places.
Las Vegas, Nevada
Pros: The owners of the Kings would feel right at home in Vegas. Given they already do business in the town, that end of the ownership spectrum (ticket sales, marketing, advertising, sponsorship, etc.) would be the easiest among the potential relocation spots. Also, given how Las Vegas does not have a professional sports team and Mayor of Las Vegas Oscar Goodman has been craving a professional sports franchise, they probably would not be afraid to pull all the stops and provide the money for a state-of-the-art arena. Las Vegas is also the largest market without any professional sports franchise.
Cons: Right now, there’s no “NBA Ready” (David Sterns’ words) arena in Vegas. I’m not sure off hand about the ability of the Thomas and Mack Center to sell alcohol, but throughout the majority of NCAA facilities, alcohol sales are banned or limited to Club/Suite areas. They would probably have to play a couple lame-duck seasons in Sacramento before moving to Sin City.
The elephant in the room though would be the issue of sports betting. The 2007 NBA All-Star game was held in Las Vegas under the condition that wagers could not be placed on the game. Given it was an exhibition game, Vegas books obliged, however if a team resides in Vegas full-time, it would be more difficult for the casinos to take them off the board. This would be an issue the league and the city would have to work out, unique only to Las Vegas.
Pittsburgh, PA
Pros: The city of Pittsburgh has a brand new arena, the Consol Energy Center, which they could share with the primary residents, the Pittsburgh Penguins. For basketball, it’d be able to seat a little over 19,000 spectators. Pittsburgh also has a fan base that will support their local teams if they have a legit ownership group that cares about winning (sorry Pittsburgh Pirates). They also have a little bit of professional basketball history, dating back to the ABA with the Pittsburgh Pipers/Condors.
Cons: A move to Pittsburgh would also mean realignment. The Oklahoma City Thunder moved to Oklahoma and still reside in the Northwest Division, even though they are over 2,000 miles away from their previous home. If the Kings were to move to Pittsburgh, it’d be hard to justify a team in Pittsburgh being in the Pacific Division AND being further east than other Eastern Conference teams. Also, having a team relocating that far would further isolate the Portland Trail Blazers. They voted against the Oklahoma City move because it made West Coast trips more expensive; trips to Seattle and Sacramento are a lot cheaper than trips to Oklahoma City and Pittsburgh. If the Kings were to move out of the Pacific Time zone, the closest franchise to Portland would be the Golden State Warriors, which reside over 10 hours away.
Kansas City or St. Louis, MO
Pros: Both have rich basketball traditions. Ironically, the Kings moved from Kansas City to Sacramento. With St. Louis, the Hawks resided there for 13 years. The only Conference Championships and NBA Finals championship came while they were in St. Louis. Kansas City has the Sprint Center, which opened in 2007 and St. Louis has the Scottrade Center, which is a few years older however can hold more people for basketball. Both cities have proven they can house and support professional franchises.
Cons: Much like a move to Pittsburgh, a team moving to either Kansas City or St. Louis would require some realignment. Additionally, both cities have had NBA franchises that packed up and left town in the past, so bringing in the NBA a second time around could draw skepticism from some fans.
Seattle, Washington
Pros: I finally watched the documentary “Sonicsgate” a couple weeks back, and it’s disturbing how the current owners of the Oklahoma City Thunder played the city of Seattle and stole the team. Between Howard Schultz and Clay Bennett, the team was plagued by bad or corrupt ownership decisions. Seattle has a rich basketball history; the Sonics were the most successful professional sports team in Seattle, with more championships and playoff appearances than the Mariners and Seahawks. Having a team back in the Pacific Northwest would also decrease travel costs for teams heading out to Portland. If Seattle were awarded a team with an ownership group that cared about winning, the fans would be there to support them.
Cons: The other thing I got from “Sonicsgate” was the hypocrisy of the Washington State government. Publicly financed stadiums were given to the Mariners and Seahawks even though a) their previous stadium (The Kingdome) was 14 years younger than Key Arena and b) haven’t had anywhere near the success the Sonics had. The Sonics were deserving of a new facility more than the Seahawks and Mariners. The fact the public voted against a new arena for the city’s most successful sports franchise was a slap in the face to the Sonics organization. Though I feel billionaire owners should be able to spot a chunk of the money if not privately finance the building of a new stadium/arena, in this case, with less successful teams getting financing, I don’t blame the owners of the Sonics for asking the state to build them a stadium.
If a team moves to Seattle, a new arena MUST be built. The Key Arena was opened in 1962. Do you know how many arenas/stadiums which house professional teams have been open longer than Key Arena? The answer is 5: Candlestick Park (San Francisco), Lambeau Field (Green Bay), Soldier Field (Chicago), Fenway Park (Boston), and Wrigley Field (Chicago). All five are open aired stadiums; Key Arena would be a downgrade from Arco Arena, where the Kings currently play. If Sacramento were to move to Seattle, they would have to wait until a new arena is ready to go before they can move.
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Pros: The current ownership group of the Vancouver Canucks, Canucks Sports and Entertainment, has expressed interest in an NBA team. They were sniffing around the Indiana Pacers arena situation a couple years back, and the current owner of the Canucks, Francesco Aquilini, has wanted to bring an NBA franchise back. David Stern is on-record saying he has regrets about the Sonics and Grizzlies relocating. They have an arena ready to go and have the third largest Metro area in all of Canada, which is higher than several current NBA markets. As with Seattle, a team in Vancouver would cut down on travel costs for teams traveling west. Additionally, like Seattle and Las Vegas, there would be no major realignment necessary.
Cons: The NBA failed once already in Vancouver. If they return and do not succeed, it would make both the city and NBA look bad. The downfall of basketball in Vancouver coincided with the 1998-1999 NBA lockout. While this ownership group has experience trying to win back fans after the NHL work stoppage, it’s a risky move to bring a team to a new city at the same time of a potential NBA lockout. Also, hockey is by far the most popular sport in the country; it’s an uphill battle to bring a fan base back to support a basketball team after said fan base was spurned a decade earlier.
Rise of the Machines: Computer Generated Journalism
A lot has been written over the past couple of years about the decline of newspaper journalism. The majority of people in this country have access to news on their computers or cell phones. Many Americans can get up to the minute news during the day which would not be possible with the delivery of a morning newspaper. With that said, people still have to write those online articles; they aren’t just going to appear in the internet on their own, right?
Wrong.
In the sports world, a website was founded a couple years back which could shift the landscape of sports journalism. StatSheet was founded in 2007 with the goal of creating unique, individualized stories for all 345 Division I basketball teams. They have College Football articles on their site, however these are written by actual humans. The College Basketball articles are computer generated. According to their website, they claim to publish over 10,000 articles a month and have a database of over 500 million statistics to pull from when creating said articles.
In theory, there are a couple positives. For one, if you’re looking for in-depth statistical analysis of a team, it has everything you need. Additionally, it features season previews, game recaps and game notes for every D-I program. Since it’s computer-generated content, there is no worrying about writers meeting any deadlines. StatSheet only employs a couple of “writers”, whose main job is to enter phrases into a database; the computer draws these phrases from there to put into the stories.
Robert Allen, the founder of StatSheet, recently told the Durham Herald-Sun that while he doesn’t want to replace sports writers, he wants to eliminate the “middle man” and add writers only if need be.
There’s two problems with this. The first issue is the content in the article of StatSheet. There’s keeping things basic, and then there’s the game recaps on the site. Let’s take Savannah State for example. They are a Division I Independent that would never get any coverage nationally unless something extremely out of the ordinary happened. Here’s a recap from StatSheet for the Valentine’s Day game against Citadel. Now, compare it to the recap from ESPN through the Associated Press, which was written by a human being.
The StatSheet comes with the basics however doesn’t get into specifics about the game. Overall, the recap lacks the personality that the AP recap provides. Another problem, which even surprised me as I wrote this article, was StatSheet’s recap taking longer to be up on the site. Savannah State’s next game was played on February 17th against Trinity Baptist. I have been unable to find out the length of the the game, but by 9:30pm, the Associated Press published a game recap which went to all of their clients. It wasn’t until an hour later that the computer generated recap was posted.
The other issue I have is the middleman comment by Allen. While his recaps are about numbers more than personalities, as he mentioned to the Herald-Sun, read those Associated Press recaps on Savannah State. I’m not sure about you, but to me there wasn’t any hint of personality in them, plus they are more informative than the computer-generated recaps.
Robert Allen might feel the middleman isn’t necessary, but to many aspiring sportswriters, writing those game previews/recaps are their way into professional sports writing. Those writers could be holding down opinion columns on major websites in the future. To group the writers of game previews/recaps with opinionated columnists is unfair. Opinionated columnists don’t just appear out of thin air; they had to work their way up the ladder, starting with covering games.
It’s actually pretty funny how he contradicts himself in that Herald-Sun piece with the quote at the very end:
“We’re going to provide more ample coverage than what any sports journalist will do,” he said, and quickly added: “We’re not meaning to replace sports journalists.”
The blandest of human-written game recaps are not only written better, but feature more relevant statistics that tell the story of the game. The computer generated StatSheet material actually achieves the opposite of what Allen hoped to accomplish: the material is impersonal and provides less than ample information to the target audience. If you’re a Savannah State basketball fan, I’m more likely to turn to websites that provide AP recaps for information or to local newspaper sites than to StatSheet. Allen can hire writers “as needed”, but the truth is if you’re site publishes over 10,000 articles a month, you’re going to need a hell of a lot of proofreaders to help humanizing the articles to make them sound less choppy.
Given that Jeopardy just wrapped up a week which featured a computer taking on human competition, it might not be far fetched for companies to go for computerized web content to replaced paid workers. However, by going the computerized road which Robert Allen has paved, these game recaps are going to be sorely lacking the one thing that can connect a fan personally with their favorite team.
The human touch.
Rewarding Failure
On February 9th, Ross Ohlendorf won his salary arbitration hearing against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He will be making a little over $2 million; the Pirates wanted to pay him $1.4 million. The basis of his argument was Edinson Volquez, pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, had a higher ERA last season (4.31 compared to Ohlendorf’s ERA of 4.07) but he is being paid $1.6 million.
Normally, this wouldn’t be big news. What struck a nerve with me is the rest of Ohlendorf’s stats from the 2010 season.
21 Starts. 108.1 Innings Pitched. 79 Strikeouts. 1-11 record. Yes, you read that right. Ross Ohlendorf GOT A RAISE of over $1.5 million after going 1-11.
Normally, arbitration is for those who feel they deserve a raise. Who in the hell is Ross Ohlendorf to demand a raise after a season like that? If I was the GM of the Pirates, he’d be on the chopping block after the season. You definitely shouldn’t be rewarded for a 1-11 season and if you were to come to me asking for a raise after that performance, I’d literally laugh you out of the damn building.
Back to the ruling itself. If you’re the arbitrators in this case, you deserve to be fired. Comparing Ohlendorf to Volquez was a foolish comparison to begin with. In 2010, Edinson Volquez pitched 40 less innings and 9 less games, but he also missed the majority of the season between a 50-game steroid suspension and recovering from elbow surgery. Even with that, he quadrupled the amount of wins Ohlendorf had last season and nearly managed the same amount of strikeouts in less work.
Granted, there were many pitchers that lost 11 or more games last season, and the Pirates were as God-awful as always. However, Ohlendorf’s overall SEASON should be compared with someone with similar stats, not just a random pitcher who’s ERA happened to be higher. A more reasonable comparison would be with Houston’s Ryan Rowland-Smith, who played for Seattle last season. As you can see with Rowland-Smith’s stats, it’s a more fair comparison, especially when you take into consideration they were making about the same amount of money. If the arbitrator was comparing both those players, I could see them potentially rewarding Ohlendorf with a little more money.
Thanks to the arbitrators in this case, Steven Wolf, Fredric Horowitz and Robert Herzog, Ross Ohlendorf will be rewarded for having a bad season. Ohlendorf’s strategy of A) getting them belligerently drunk before the hearing or B) hiring a private detective to dig up dirt and blackmail them into siding with him worked. Kudo’s to Wolf, Horowitz, and Herzog for being incompetent and feeding another athlete’s ego with your ruling.
