*Damn: The Flyers are putting on an impressive beat-down.
*Calm down: The Heat beating the Knicks isn't quite the Heat beating the Bulls.
*However: The Lakers have to figure out if it's Bynum's team or Kobe's team.
*Sports x Pop Culture: "Mad Men" incorporating the 1966 World Cup.
*Today in Tebow Hysteria: Tebow at a Yankees game! (In a Yankees hat!)
*Two words: Matt. Kemp.
*Great read: John Branch's series in the NYT about the girls' hoops team administrated by the local correctional system.
*By the way: Tebow's new Nike jersey sold out on its first day of availability.
More later.
-- D.S.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
Saying Goodbye to Gram
My Gram passed away yesterday. She was 93. She was my roommate.
She spent the last 14 years without my Pop. He died in 1998 after a year of living with a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. That’s what brought me to their house in the Midwood section of Brooklyn in 1997 as a sort of valet for them as he battled, and that’s how she and I ended up as roommates after he passed away.
It wasn’t quite the Brooklyn-hipster lifestyle. She lived pretty far out in the borough. No cable. No dishwasher. No dryer. She didn’t drive. She didn’t eat red meat. We ate simply; the highlight was Friday night Shabbat dinners, usually featuring a potato kugel from the “good” kugel store on Avenue M and, hopefully, a black and white cookie.
Usually, we would break out the mini-TV and put it on the kitchen table as we ate, watching the local NBC news broadcast at 5, then the PBS NewsHour at 6. She liked politics. As the wife of a 40-year New York Timesman, she was a devoted reader of the paper.
(Even after she left New York and moved into the assisted-living facility in Maryland, she kept the subscription -- in her room yesterday, I found a copy of my piece from the Sunday Times a few weeks ago on a table. I have the voicemail she left me on the day it came out; it’s nice to know that at age 39, I can still make my Gram as proud of me as she was on that call.)
I tried to be as helpful as possible, but -- after all -- we were roommates. Given that I was 25 and she was 79, there would be squabbles, of course. But we got along pretty well. Gram knew I had her back, and I knew she had mine. She only called me “Daniel,” a holdover from when I was a little boy. When I was feeling particularly cheeky (or exasperated), I’d call her by her first name, “Lil.”
The months after my Pop died were hard for her, but we didn’t talk about it very much. I know she appreciated my help but I also know she needed to figure out how to live by herself. We finally decided I should move out -- she needed to find her footing on her own, without her husband of 50-plus years; it was time for me to find a non-octogenarian lifestyle in New York.
Besides, I would still be in New York to ferry her around if she needed it -- to doctor’s appointments and family events that she would never miss. She had a lot of friends and stayed active (that was something the folks at the assisted-living facility kept telling us -- Gram was always participating in whatever they had scheduled for the residents).
A few years later, I was in between years of business school and back in New York for the summer -- I think it was a foregone conclusion for me that I would be living with her. I think it messed with her system to have me around again, but I think she liked having me rattle around the house again. And at least this time she knew there was an end-point.
My favorite moment with Gram was that summer. You can imagine living in Midwood with an 82-year-old wasn’t exactly conducive to dating, although that was a lot more about me suggesting 5:30 dinner reservations than anything Gram did. I had gone out on a date -- my first in a long time -- and I had stayed out all night, which was not anticipated.
I called Gram the next day from Manhattan -- sort of a “Talk of Shame.” I let her know I was OK... and that, uh...well...actually, I would be staying in Manhattan for the rest of the day and another night with this girl from the date. (Obviously, it was a pretty good first date, although not exactly the kind you would want to talk about with your grandma-roommate.)
I could hear Gram chuckle through the phone. She had a lot of strong opinions, but she could be very “live and let live.” She knew I was happy. A few weeks later, as I was getting ready to move out of her house, presumably for the last time, I confided in her that I already knew this girl was going to be it. Gram and my wife had an amazing relationship over the past 10 years.
Gram was no-nonsense and wasn’t big on sentimentality. I know she missed my grandfather dearly, but she did not burden the rest of us with that grief. But she loved her two daughters and her five grandkids and she was particularly proud of her nine great-grandkids. I am so glad she got to meet her ninth great-grandkid, Lucy, who was born 6 weeks ago. I am so glad that, by moving to DC, we spent the last 8 months being a 10-minute ride from where she lived. (Obligatory plea that always seem to happen in moments like this: “You don’t call your grandparents enough, if you’re lucky enough to still have any. Call them to say hi and tell them a story about what you’re up to.”)
There is a special feeling I have for my Gram, unlike anything I felt for my other grandparents or my own parents and siblings or even my wife and kids.
Think about your favorite roommate ever -- the kind of loyalty and familiarity you develop. It’s not about the signature moments (although those stand out) as much as the pleasant hum of the every day. Gram and I had a unique and odd set-up, one that I don’t think either of us asked for or saw coming 20 years ago when it was your standard “proud grandma” / “loving grandson” dynamic -- senior and kid.
But for the last day, it has made things so much happier for me, to remember that “sit-com”-ish premise of our living situation -- hopefully, I made her life easier (maybe even happy). Living with her certainly made my life happier. But so much sadder right now.
-- D.S.
She spent the last 14 years without my Pop. He died in 1998 after a year of living with a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. That’s what brought me to their house in the Midwood section of Brooklyn in 1997 as a sort of valet for them as he battled, and that’s how she and I ended up as roommates after he passed away.
It wasn’t quite the Brooklyn-hipster lifestyle. She lived pretty far out in the borough. No cable. No dishwasher. No dryer. She didn’t drive. She didn’t eat red meat. We ate simply; the highlight was Friday night Shabbat dinners, usually featuring a potato kugel from the “good” kugel store on Avenue M and, hopefully, a black and white cookie.
Usually, we would break out the mini-TV and put it on the kitchen table as we ate, watching the local NBC news broadcast at 5, then the PBS NewsHour at 6. She liked politics. As the wife of a 40-year New York Timesman, she was a devoted reader of the paper.
(Even after she left New York and moved into the assisted-living facility in Maryland, she kept the subscription -- in her room yesterday, I found a copy of my piece from the Sunday Times a few weeks ago on a table. I have the voicemail she left me on the day it came out; it’s nice to know that at age 39, I can still make my Gram as proud of me as she was on that call.)
I tried to be as helpful as possible, but -- after all -- we were roommates. Given that I was 25 and she was 79, there would be squabbles, of course. But we got along pretty well. Gram knew I had her back, and I knew she had mine. She only called me “Daniel,” a holdover from when I was a little boy. When I was feeling particularly cheeky (or exasperated), I’d call her by her first name, “Lil.”
The months after my Pop died were hard for her, but we didn’t talk about it very much. I know she appreciated my help but I also know she needed to figure out how to live by herself. We finally decided I should move out -- she needed to find her footing on her own, without her husband of 50-plus years; it was time for me to find a non-octogenarian lifestyle in New York.
Besides, I would still be in New York to ferry her around if she needed it -- to doctor’s appointments and family events that she would never miss. She had a lot of friends and stayed active (that was something the folks at the assisted-living facility kept telling us -- Gram was always participating in whatever they had scheduled for the residents).
A few years later, I was in between years of business school and back in New York for the summer -- I think it was a foregone conclusion for me that I would be living with her. I think it messed with her system to have me around again, but I think she liked having me rattle around the house again. And at least this time she knew there was an end-point.
My favorite moment with Gram was that summer. You can imagine living in Midwood with an 82-year-old wasn’t exactly conducive to dating, although that was a lot more about me suggesting 5:30 dinner reservations than anything Gram did. I had gone out on a date -- my first in a long time -- and I had stayed out all night, which was not anticipated.
I called Gram the next day from Manhattan -- sort of a “Talk of Shame.” I let her know I was OK... and that, uh...well...actually, I would be staying in Manhattan for the rest of the day and another night with this girl from the date. (Obviously, it was a pretty good first date, although not exactly the kind you would want to talk about with your grandma-roommate.)
I could hear Gram chuckle through the phone. She had a lot of strong opinions, but she could be very “live and let live.” She knew I was happy. A few weeks later, as I was getting ready to move out of her house, presumably for the last time, I confided in her that I already knew this girl was going to be it. Gram and my wife had an amazing relationship over the past 10 years.
Gram was no-nonsense and wasn’t big on sentimentality. I know she missed my grandfather dearly, but she did not burden the rest of us with that grief. But she loved her two daughters and her five grandkids and she was particularly proud of her nine great-grandkids. I am so glad she got to meet her ninth great-grandkid, Lucy, who was born 6 weeks ago. I am so glad that, by moving to DC, we spent the last 8 months being a 10-minute ride from where she lived. (Obligatory plea that always seem to happen in moments like this: “You don’t call your grandparents enough, if you’re lucky enough to still have any. Call them to say hi and tell them a story about what you’re up to.”)
There is a special feeling I have for my Gram, unlike anything I felt for my other grandparents or my own parents and siblings or even my wife and kids.
Think about your favorite roommate ever -- the kind of loyalty and familiarity you develop. It’s not about the signature moments (although those stand out) as much as the pleasant hum of the every day. Gram and I had a unique and odd set-up, one that I don’t think either of us asked for or saw coming 20 years ago when it was your standard “proud grandma” / “loving grandson” dynamic -- senior and kid.
But for the last day, it has made things so much happier for me, to remember that “sit-com”-ish premise of our living situation -- hopefully, I made her life easier (maybe even happy). Living with her certainly made my life happier. But so much sadder right now.
-- D.S.
4/13 (Page 2) Quickie
When Page 2 launched in the fall of 2000, I immediately emailed my former colleague on the ESPNet.SportsZone edit desk, Kevin Jackson -- now in charge of the project with a universally esteemed magazine lifer named Jay Lovinger -- and asked how I could be a part.
It started with a gimmicky "What's Hot, What's Not" list on New Year's Day of 2001, then continued over the next 18 months or so with regular contributions, including a weekly "What's Hot/What's Not" column. It was a lot of fun, and it was a nice change of pace from my work in business school.
In the spring and summer of 2002, as I was finishing up my MBA, I was thinking about how online news consumption was changing and came up with an idea I thought would work as a daily conceit -- not to mention a way for me to claim my dream job as a daily national sports columnist.
I pitched the idea for what would become the Daily Quickie to Jackson and Lovinger over the summer. They helped me hone the concept (I just found some of the early emails, and they are awesome) and the column launched in January of 2003.
Gratifyingly, people liked it and I got to keep doing it every day, batting lead-off for a lineup that included heavy hitters like Wiley, Simmons, HST and Halberstam. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I never took for granted.
When I left Page 2, I wished them nothing but the best -- I maintain the sentimentalism of an alum -- and I have been thrilled to see Jackson ascend to become a key leader within ESPN.com, to see Schoenfield become one of the most essential baseball writers in the country, to see Lovinger spearhead the incredible E-Ticket initiative and to see the rest of my Page 2 colleagues find great success, both on and off ESPN.com.
With no disrespect to the folks who managed Page 2 over the past five years, those first five years -- pre-sportsblogs, pre-Facebook, pre-Twitter -- were something very unique and special, with the kind of willingness to experiment and innovate that was rare in mainstream sports media and, hopefully, inspiring (or at least entertaining) to folks who saw it.
Page 2 ends today. There will be new ideas starting next week, and hopefully they will let their imagination go -- the landscape couldn't be more different (or competitive) than it was 12 years ago. The legacy of Page 2, at least for me, is that it's OK to try -- that's a kernel worth keeping.
It was a good run -- a fun run -- and I'm proud to know I played a small part.
-- D.S.
It started with a gimmicky "What's Hot, What's Not" list on New Year's Day of 2001, then continued over the next 18 months or so with regular contributions, including a weekly "What's Hot/What's Not" column. It was a lot of fun, and it was a nice change of pace from my work in business school.
In the spring and summer of 2002, as I was finishing up my MBA, I was thinking about how online news consumption was changing and came up with an idea I thought would work as a daily conceit -- not to mention a way for me to claim my dream job as a daily national sports columnist.
I pitched the idea for what would become the Daily Quickie to Jackson and Lovinger over the summer. They helped me hone the concept (I just found some of the early emails, and they are awesome) and the column launched in January of 2003.
Gratifyingly, people liked it and I got to keep doing it every day, batting lead-off for a lineup that included heavy hitters like Wiley, Simmons, HST and Halberstam. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I never took for granted.
When I left Page 2, I wished them nothing but the best -- I maintain the sentimentalism of an alum -- and I have been thrilled to see Jackson ascend to become a key leader within ESPN.com, to see Schoenfield become one of the most essential baseball writers in the country, to see Lovinger spearhead the incredible E-Ticket initiative and to see the rest of my Page 2 colleagues find great success, both on and off ESPN.com.
With no disrespect to the folks who managed Page 2 over the past five years, those first five years -- pre-sportsblogs, pre-Facebook, pre-Twitter -- were something very unique and special, with the kind of willingness to experiment and innovate that was rare in mainstream sports media and, hopefully, inspiring (or at least entertaining) to folks who saw it.
Page 2 ends today. There will be new ideas starting next week, and hopefully they will let their imagination go -- the landscape couldn't be more different (or competitive) than it was 12 years ago. The legacy of Page 2, at least for me, is that it's OK to try -- that's a kernel worth keeping.
It was a good run -- a fun run -- and I'm proud to know I played a small part.
-- D.S.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
04/11 (Petrino) Quickie
Let's not give Arkansas AD Jeff Long too much credit: Bobby Petrino HAD to be fired. This wasn't a moral issue; it was an employment-law issue. It's not that Petrino isn't bigger than the Arkansas football program -- it's that he isn't bigger than the legal bill the school would have racked up had they kept him around after he hired his mistress. That said: Long gets credit for letting his outrage show on TV last night, which -- in a climate of "college sports are so corrupt!" -- gets points for being refreshing. But let's make it clear: This wasn't "Profiles in Courage" as much as "CYA."
Now, did Ozzie Guillen HAVE to be suspended by the Marlins? Yes, and as Joe Sheehan and some others have pointed out, it was entirely about the money -- the damage done to the Marlins' business by Guillen popping off about Castro in a way that seemed even remotely sympathetic, in a town where Castro is Public Enemy No. 1. The team had to worry about its relationship with fans in the area, both in the short- and long-term. I'm all for folks in sports saying whatever they want about politics or society, but that doesn't mean they don't need to be careful about what they say and consider the audience. As has been pointed out elsewhere, if Guillen said the same thing about Castro while managing the White Sox in Chicago, it's much less of a big deal. But in Miami? Ozzie should be suspended for the lack of judgment alone.
More:
*I don't hate the Celtics in twilight nearly as much as I did when they were title contenders -- I will certainly root against them, but I hope last night's Boston win over the Heat is an indicator that they are ready to make their share of the playoffs interesting. If they can push the Bulls to 6 or 7 games in the Eastern Conference semis, that's as much as you can ask of them. (They would be much better off if they were matched up with the Heat in the semis than the Bulls, who are less likely to fold if bullied.)
*Where will the top two prep hoops prospects -- Nerlens Noel and Shabazz Muhammad -- say they are going to spend next year in college, when they announce tonight? I'm holding out a smidgen of hope that Noel picks Georgetown, but I think both will pick Kentucky -- as they should. (If Noel does spurn UK, it'll be for Syracuse, not G'town.)
*Bill Parcells isn't going to coach the Saints: That's too bad, because that would have been a lot of fun.
More later -- pop by Quickish all day for great takes on the big stories.
-- D.S.
Now, did Ozzie Guillen HAVE to be suspended by the Marlins? Yes, and as Joe Sheehan and some others have pointed out, it was entirely about the money -- the damage done to the Marlins' business by Guillen popping off about Castro in a way that seemed even remotely sympathetic, in a town where Castro is Public Enemy No. 1. The team had to worry about its relationship with fans in the area, both in the short- and long-term. I'm all for folks in sports saying whatever they want about politics or society, but that doesn't mean they don't need to be careful about what they say and consider the audience. As has been pointed out elsewhere, if Guillen said the same thing about Castro while managing the White Sox in Chicago, it's much less of a big deal. But in Miami? Ozzie should be suspended for the lack of judgment alone.
More:
*I don't hate the Celtics in twilight nearly as much as I did when they were title contenders -- I will certainly root against them, but I hope last night's Boston win over the Heat is an indicator that they are ready to make their share of the playoffs interesting. If they can push the Bulls to 6 or 7 games in the Eastern Conference semis, that's as much as you can ask of them. (They would be much better off if they were matched up with the Heat in the semis than the Bulls, who are less likely to fold if bullied.)
*Where will the top two prep hoops prospects -- Nerlens Noel and Shabazz Muhammad -- say they are going to spend next year in college, when they announce tonight? I'm holding out a smidgen of hope that Noel picks Georgetown, but I think both will pick Kentucky -- as they should. (If Noel does spurn UK, it'll be for Syracuse, not G'town.)
*Bill Parcells isn't going to coach the Saints: That's too bad, because that would have been a lot of fun.
More later -- pop by Quickish all day for great takes on the big stories.
-- D.S.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
04/10 (Instagram) Quickie
I'm a big fan of Instagram, a big fan of entrepreneurship, a big fan of great user-experience -- I'm very happy for the founders of Instagram on their billion-dollar sale to Facebook.
I think Instagram has a big place with sports fans -- you've seen it here and there -- and there is a lot more to do with it. More than that, it is a triumph of the mash-up of the social and the visual, both of which are core to the sports-fan experience. If you are a fan of this stuff, it is worth your time to read some of the backstories to Instagram's start and growth that are floating around -- not to mention the analysis of why this was a smart move for Facebook.
FWIW: Want some everyday relevance of Instagram in sports? How about this photo posted on Instagram by Shabazz Muhammad, the top-ranked high school hoops player (and guaranteed Top 3 pick of the '13 NBA Draft), who will make his college choice today.
More:
*Ozzie Guillen: Needs to apologize, even if he doesn't believe it. Gotta know your audience.
*OK, so Yu Darvish struggled in his debut, but the Rangers' barrage of run support was a good reminder of why he was lucky to end up with Texas.
*The Mets are 4-0. Amazing.
*Derrick Rose ankle: Needless to say, if he's not full strength, the Bulls are still good enough to get to the Eastern conference finals, but not good enough to topple the Heat.
*Baylor vs. NCAA: Were the coaches given bad advice by the school's NCAA compliance officer? Better hope so, because if not, that's some serious phone-call violatin'.
Pop by Quickish all day for the best takes on the biggest stories.
-- D.S.
I think Instagram has a big place with sports fans -- you've seen it here and there -- and there is a lot more to do with it. More than that, it is a triumph of the mash-up of the social and the visual, both of which are core to the sports-fan experience. If you are a fan of this stuff, it is worth your time to read some of the backstories to Instagram's start and growth that are floating around -- not to mention the analysis of why this was a smart move for Facebook.
FWIW: Want some everyday relevance of Instagram in sports? How about this photo posted on Instagram by Shabazz Muhammad, the top-ranked high school hoops player (and guaranteed Top 3 pick of the '13 NBA Draft), who will make his college choice today.
More:
*Ozzie Guillen: Needs to apologize, even if he doesn't believe it. Gotta know your audience.
*OK, so Yu Darvish struggled in his debut, but the Rangers' barrage of run support was a good reminder of why he was lucky to end up with Texas.
*The Mets are 4-0. Amazing.
*Derrick Rose ankle: Needless to say, if he's not full strength, the Bulls are still good enough to get to the Eastern conference finals, but not good enough to topple the Heat.
*Baylor vs. NCAA: Were the coaches given bad advice by the school's NCAA compliance officer? Better hope so, because if not, that's some serious phone-call violatin'.
Pop by Quickish all day for the best takes on the biggest stories.
-- D.S.
Monday, April 09, 2012
04/09 (Bubba) Quickie
I'm torn by Bubba Watson's Masters win.
On the one hand, it's a victory for non-conformity -- as Bubba's mythology goes, he has never taken a proper lesson. That unconventional shot on the second playoff hole -- one of the most memorable in Masters history -- was a perfect symbol of "Bubba golf."
On the other hand, we like to talk about "process over outcome" -- we like to think that if we get professional help, our performance will improve. Maybe that's a myth, but more likely, it'll get you to a 90% or 95% outcome but potentially not let you be an outlier, with an accompanying outlier result. (On the other other hand, maybe he debunks the notion of gurus, which isn't a bad thing.)
In other words, Bubba isn't a model -- he's an exception. And we should appreciate and enjoy that exception for all the same reasons we appreciate and enjoy lots of exceptions out there. I just wouldn't look at it as a model.
(Check that: I wouldn't look at it as a model of how to win a Masters -- I would absolutely look at it as an example of someone who seems to have his priorities in order: He is open with his emotions, he is a devoted new father and husband, he spends his money on pop-culture kitsch, he seems hyper-competitive but not to the point of losing his humanity.... we could all learn something from that kind of "Bubba" lifestyle.)
-- D.S.
On the one hand, it's a victory for non-conformity -- as Bubba's mythology goes, he has never taken a proper lesson. That unconventional shot on the second playoff hole -- one of the most memorable in Masters history -- was a perfect symbol of "Bubba golf."
On the other hand, we like to talk about "process over outcome" -- we like to think that if we get professional help, our performance will improve. Maybe that's a myth, but more likely, it'll get you to a 90% or 95% outcome but potentially not let you be an outlier, with an accompanying outlier result. (On the other other hand, maybe he debunks the notion of gurus, which isn't a bad thing.)
In other words, Bubba isn't a model -- he's an exception. And we should appreciate and enjoy that exception for all the same reasons we appreciate and enjoy lots of exceptions out there. I just wouldn't look at it as a model.
(Check that: I wouldn't look at it as a model of how to win a Masters -- I would absolutely look at it as an example of someone who seems to have his priorities in order: He is open with his emotions, he is a devoted new father and husband, he spends his money on pop-culture kitsch, he seems hyper-competitive but not to the point of losing his humanity.... we could all learn something from that kind of "Bubba" lifestyle.)
-- D.S.
Friday, April 06, 2012
04/06 (Another Opening Day) Quickie
*Nats win! (See yesterday's thing.)
*Same old, same old for the Red Sox. Same old, same old for Verlander.
*Toronto's 16-inning win feels like an omen we'll look back in in September.
*Powerful: The "Rangers Fans" statue of Shannon and Cooper Stone.
*Henrik Stenson's 8 on 18 was far more compelling than anything Tiger did.
*D12 vs. SVG: Why hasn't the Magic let SVG go yet? Yikes.
*Petrino: The wins and the skeeviness are all of a piece. Arkansas knows it.
*Gregg Williams' NFL career is over. But SHOULD it be over? I say yes.
*The Caps have eked into the NHL playoffs. Can't end up worse than cruising in.
*Yesterday's best thing: That Cubs-vs-Sox New Era ad. Brilliant.
*To those celebrating, a good Easter and/or good Passover to you.
*My favorite Passover treat: Chocolate-covered marshmallow bars, frozen.
-- D.S.
*Same old, same old for the Red Sox. Same old, same old for Verlander.
*Toronto's 16-inning win feels like an omen we'll look back in in September.
*Powerful: The "Rangers Fans" statue of Shannon and Cooper Stone.
*Henrik Stenson's 8 on 18 was far more compelling than anything Tiger did.
*D12 vs. SVG: Why hasn't the Magic let SVG go yet? Yikes.
*Petrino: The wins and the skeeviness are all of a piece. Arkansas knows it.
*Gregg Williams' NFL career is over. But SHOULD it be over? I say yes.
*The Caps have eked into the NHL playoffs. Can't end up worse than cruising in.
*Yesterday's best thing: That Cubs-vs-Sox New Era ad. Brilliant.
*To those celebrating, a good Easter and/or good Passover to you.
*My favorite Passover treat: Chocolate-covered marshmallow bars, frozen.
-- D.S.
Thursday, April 05, 2012
Cub Fan, Nats Man
The Nats-Cubs season-opener feels awkward for me.
When I was a kid growing up in the DC suburbs, I loved the Cubs. Loved. Loved loved loved. Die-hard. I was 11 for 1984's "Next Year Is Here."
I called my local cable company -- which hadn't been around very long, mind you -- to lobby them to add WGN SuperStation.
I had a Cubs hat that I wore around so much that it wore out. I took a Sharpie and wrote "8/8/88" on my baseball glove, commemorating the night the lights went on at Wrigley.
In my freshman facebook entry for college, among my interests, I listed "Chicago Cubs."
20 years ago, the idea of going to college in Chicago and being able to drop by Wrigley as often as I wanted -- which I did -- seemed like a dream.
When I graduated college, I moved into an apartment in Wrigleyville, about three blocks from the field -- close enough we could sit on our stoop and trade cans of beer for free tickets.
Somewhere along the line, I went from die-hard to not being a fan at all. There's no question that part of it came from me losing some of my passion for baseball. Some of it, ironically, came from the proximity -- being a displaced Cubs fan felt special; being in the middle of it was, weirdly, less appealing. But, looking back, a lot had to do with my interest in baseball fading -- a strange thing for a one-time Strat-o-Matic addict.
Fast-forward to 2012. I have moved back to the DC area. Baseball-wise, the biggest difference between the early-90s and now is the presence of the Nationals. Not just the presence, but the buzz -- Strasburg. Harper. Zimmerman. That rotation! That bullpen! Davey Johnson! Mike Rizzo! Thomas Boswell!
A few years ago, the Nats piqued my interest -- I had grown up going to Orioles games (for years, my dad had the "Sunday home game" ticket package), but I never had the connection to them, aside from an abiding regional love for Cal Ripken, which every kid had regardless of who they grew up rooting for.
That the Nats went from a sorry team to one of the most promising in baseball was compelling. They have a must-see ace and a must-see hitter-in-waiting. I began to follow the team, but once I actually moved down here, I started following them much more closely.
I really like baseball -- particularly the "national" stories and the intellectual approach that has taken hold of the game and its complementary analysis. (I don't mind saying that subscribing to Joe Sheehan's baseball newsletter helped my enjoyment of the game substantially.)
But now I find myself gravitating towards rooting for a team again. I'm still very sympathetic for the Cubs -- I cannot possibly turn against my 13-year-old self -- but I consider myself a burgeoning Nats fan, even a bandwagon Nats fan (then again, every DC area fan who adopted the Nationals simply out of proximity or regional allegiance is a bandwagon fan).
More importantly, once again, I consider myself a real (or "real") fan (or "fan") of a specific team, nonetheless.
Ironically, the first MLB game that I took my oldest kid to was a Cubs game, two summers ago. He loved it. The video I have of him singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" remains one of my favorite moments of being a parent.
Even more ironically, he has no interest in the Nationals -- like any kid born and raised in New York, he is... much to my regret... a Yankees fan. My impulse is to try to break him of that, but who am I to manipulate his fandom like that? That's his thing.
Now, if the Nationals get good and he grows up from age 6 to age 16 watching Strasburg mow down hitters and Harper jack homers and the team win division titles (or even a World Series or two), he may change his mind.
That would certainly be taking after his dad.
-- D.S.
When I was a kid growing up in the DC suburbs, I loved the Cubs. Loved. Loved loved loved. Die-hard. I was 11 for 1984's "Next Year Is Here."
I called my local cable company -- which hadn't been around very long, mind you -- to lobby them to add WGN SuperStation.
I had a Cubs hat that I wore around so much that it wore out. I took a Sharpie and wrote "8/8/88" on my baseball glove, commemorating the night the lights went on at Wrigley.
In my freshman facebook entry for college, among my interests, I listed "Chicago Cubs."
20 years ago, the idea of going to college in Chicago and being able to drop by Wrigley as often as I wanted -- which I did -- seemed like a dream.
When I graduated college, I moved into an apartment in Wrigleyville, about three blocks from the field -- close enough we could sit on our stoop and trade cans of beer for free tickets.
Somewhere along the line, I went from die-hard to not being a fan at all. There's no question that part of it came from me losing some of my passion for baseball. Some of it, ironically, came from the proximity -- being a displaced Cubs fan felt special; being in the middle of it was, weirdly, less appealing. But, looking back, a lot had to do with my interest in baseball fading -- a strange thing for a one-time Strat-o-Matic addict.
Fast-forward to 2012. I have moved back to the DC area. Baseball-wise, the biggest difference between the early-90s and now is the presence of the Nationals. Not just the presence, but the buzz -- Strasburg. Harper. Zimmerman. That rotation! That bullpen! Davey Johnson! Mike Rizzo! Thomas Boswell!
A few years ago, the Nats piqued my interest -- I had grown up going to Orioles games (for years, my dad had the "Sunday home game" ticket package), but I never had the connection to them, aside from an abiding regional love for Cal Ripken, which every kid had regardless of who they grew up rooting for.
That the Nats went from a sorry team to one of the most promising in baseball was compelling. They have a must-see ace and a must-see hitter-in-waiting. I began to follow the team, but once I actually moved down here, I started following them much more closely.
I really like baseball -- particularly the "national" stories and the intellectual approach that has taken hold of the game and its complementary analysis. (I don't mind saying that subscribing to Joe Sheehan's baseball newsletter helped my enjoyment of the game substantially.)
But now I find myself gravitating towards rooting for a team again. I'm still very sympathetic for the Cubs -- I cannot possibly turn against my 13-year-old self -- but I consider myself a burgeoning Nats fan, even a bandwagon Nats fan (then again, every DC area fan who adopted the Nationals simply out of proximity or regional allegiance is a bandwagon fan).
More importantly, once again, I consider myself a real (or "real") fan (or "fan") of a specific team, nonetheless.
Ironically, the first MLB game that I took my oldest kid to was a Cubs game, two summers ago. He loved it. The video I have of him singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" remains one of my favorite moments of being a parent.
Even more ironically, he has no interest in the Nationals -- like any kid born and raised in New York, he is... much to my regret... a Yankees fan. My impulse is to try to break him of that, but who am I to manipulate his fandom like that? That's his thing.
Now, if the Nationals get good and he grows up from age 6 to age 16 watching Strasburg mow down hitters and Harper jack homers and the team win division titles (or even a World Series or two), he may change his mind.
That would certainly be taking after his dad.
-- D.S.
04/05 (Opening Day-ish) Quickie
Is it baseball's Opening Day yet? (What does it say that I have to ask for clarification?)
*The top storyline is whether Albert Pujols can get the Angels to the playoffs.
*My most must-see player of the season is 49-year-old Jamie Moyer.
*There is no chance that the sport can match last season's "Game 162" finale.
*That said, the new playoff format will keep things interesting all the way.
*If you read one thing: Schoenfield's "100 Reasons to be Excited"
*Saints/Gregg Williams: The "Go lay that mother-f---er out!" audio -- listen here -- is the most damning evidence that could be produced. I stand by my initial take: Gregg Williams is finished in the NFL. "Indefinitely" isn't "back next year" -- the league will make him a radioactive hire.
*Masters: Tiger is the main event. Rory is must-see, but Tiger is who everyone will be tracking between now and Sunday. (The best Masters read I found was this one by ESPN.com's inimitable Wright Thompson.)
*Should Augusta National admit women? Yes. As a private club, it's their prerogative not to, but I perennially find it interesting that the sports-media world creates the cognitive dissonance to know the exclusion is wrong yet still slather over the club. Let's not give the club too much power; if everyone stopped covering it -- and if the PGA stopped supporting it (which will never happen) -- they would admit as many women as someone tells them to.
*Heat tip Thunder: I think 99% of NBA fans -- sorry, Bulls fans -- would be thrilled with a Heat-Thunder Finals. That game had a playoff intensity -- only weeks away. (Want a great read on LeBron? Kevin Van Valkenburg -- a writer I really like -- makes his ESPN Mag debut with a good piece on LeBron's place in the NBA world.)
*Must-see video clip from last night: Blake Griffin posterizes Pau Gasol...twice.
*MLB Opening-ish Night: The Marlins park is really nice. The team may take a few more weeks (months?) to get it together. Impressive to see the Cards start so fast in the post-Pujols Era.
*MLB Opening-ish Day: Aces all over the place, including Verlander, Halladay and Kershaw. But my must-see today is Stephen Strasburg when the Nats open the season at Wrigley against the Cubs at 2:20 ET.
*NBA Draft: Jared Sullinger is in, as expected. His NBA potential, however, is much more murky. Like Harrison Barnes, he's a Top 10 pick, but not close to the Top 5 (Top 3?) pick he would have been a year ago. He is not the next Kevin Love. If he's lucky, he's the next DeJuan Blair. But I actually think Blair was the better college rebounder. The comp I always come back to is Danny Fortson, who had a nice little NBA career, but was hardly a star.
*Calipari says he's staying in college: I believe him -- he is at the pinnacle of the sport, with a system that ensures he is a championship contender every year. Why leave that? Want to see Calipari think twice about staying in college? Eliminate the one-and-done rule, which is Cal's arbitrage.
Enjoy Opening Day -- or whatever it is.
-- D.S.
*The top storyline is whether Albert Pujols can get the Angels to the playoffs.
*My most must-see player of the season is 49-year-old Jamie Moyer.
*There is no chance that the sport can match last season's "Game 162" finale.
*That said, the new playoff format will keep things interesting all the way.
*If you read one thing: Schoenfield's "100 Reasons to be Excited"
*Saints/Gregg Williams: The "Go lay that mother-f---er out!" audio -- listen here -- is the most damning evidence that could be produced. I stand by my initial take: Gregg Williams is finished in the NFL. "Indefinitely" isn't "back next year" -- the league will make him a radioactive hire.
*Masters: Tiger is the main event. Rory is must-see, but Tiger is who everyone will be tracking between now and Sunday. (The best Masters read I found was this one by ESPN.com's inimitable Wright Thompson.)
*Should Augusta National admit women? Yes. As a private club, it's their prerogative not to, but I perennially find it interesting that the sports-media world creates the cognitive dissonance to know the exclusion is wrong yet still slather over the club. Let's not give the club too much power; if everyone stopped covering it -- and if the PGA stopped supporting it (which will never happen) -- they would admit as many women as someone tells them to.
*Heat tip Thunder: I think 99% of NBA fans -- sorry, Bulls fans -- would be thrilled with a Heat-Thunder Finals. That game had a playoff intensity -- only weeks away. (Want a great read on LeBron? Kevin Van Valkenburg -- a writer I really like -- makes his ESPN Mag debut with a good piece on LeBron's place in the NBA world.)
*Must-see video clip from last night: Blake Griffin posterizes Pau Gasol...twice.
*MLB Opening-ish Night: The Marlins park is really nice. The team may take a few more weeks (months?) to get it together. Impressive to see the Cards start so fast in the post-Pujols Era.
*MLB Opening-ish Day: Aces all over the place, including Verlander, Halladay and Kershaw. But my must-see today is Stephen Strasburg when the Nats open the season at Wrigley against the Cubs at 2:20 ET.
*NBA Draft: Jared Sullinger is in, as expected. His NBA potential, however, is much more murky. Like Harrison Barnes, he's a Top 10 pick, but not close to the Top 5 (Top 3?) pick he would have been a year ago. He is not the next Kevin Love. If he's lucky, he's the next DeJuan Blair. But I actually think Blair was the better college rebounder. The comp I always come back to is Danny Fortson, who had a nice little NBA career, but was hardly a star.
*Calipari says he's staying in college: I believe him -- he is at the pinnacle of the sport, with a system that ensures he is a championship contender every year. Why leave that? Want to see Calipari think twice about staying in college? Eliminate the one-and-done rule, which is Cal's arbitrage.
Enjoy Opening Day -- or whatever it is.
-- D.S.
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
04/04 (Opening Day-Ish) Quickie
It's the week of both men's and women's college hoops title games, MLB Opening Day(s) and The Masters, and yet yesterday's biggest story -- by far -- was the reveal of Nike's new NFL uniforms.
Curious about the mania, I was up in NYC yesterday for the event -- more on that later -- but even though I was sure it would be a big story, even I underestimated (foolishly) just how big.
(Quick verdict: I like the Seahawks turning themselves into the Oregon of the NFL... I am legitimately curious whether the tighter-fitting jerseys will make holding -- or tackling -- more difficult... $100 for the replica jersey seems high, but people will pay. On the way out of town, I dropped $30 at Modell's for a Tebow-Jets T-shirt. Because I am an idiot.)
More:
*MLB Opening Day-ish: Wow, is MLB screwing up Opening Day or what? In an era of the NFL turning "Kickoff Weekend" into multi-day event, MLB is doing a Bizarro version -- a mish-mash of opening days (no capital-O/capital-D), simultaneously missing a window of extreme fan interest (and nothing going on on the schedule) on Monday, yesterday and today. In a week, we'll be in full swing and we'll have forgotten, but this feels like a swing and a miss. Check that: It feels like standing there watching strike three go by with the bat on your shoulder.
*Baylor goes 40-0: It's unprecedented -- not the unbeaten season, but racking up 40 wins while going unbeaten. Brittany Griner cements her legacy as the most dominating player in the history of women's basketball -- and she sounds committed to returning to Baylor next year, which would make them the wildly prohibitive favorite to repeat (and, perhaps, repeat 40-0).
*Heat clinch a playoff spot: Biggest "meh" news of the day. Like Kentucky, the Heat are "Championship or Fail." Period. Let's talk again in early June.
*Joe Flacco says "I think I'm the best" QB in the NFL: It would be weirder if he said "I think I'm not in the Top 5, but definitely in the Top 10... probably."
*Masters goofy story of the day: The guy who claims his dog ate his Masters tickets. Instead of paying attention to that, read Spencer Hall's eulogy to his beloved dog, Isis.
*David Stern wants to expand the NBA Draft age-limit to two years: No. No, no, no, no, no. Terrible idea. (To be very open: I think there should be no age limit for the NBA Draft, and instead of artificially and arbitrarily limiting the professional opportunities for the kids, the NBA should make a bigger effort to get their GMs not to screw up the picks, either the selection or the subsequent development... not that taking prep-to-pro prospects is a bad idea. In fact, it's typically a way better idea than taking a college kid.)
Curious about the mania, I was up in NYC yesterday for the event -- more on that later -- but even though I was sure it would be a big story, even I underestimated (foolishly) just how big.
(Quick verdict: I like the Seahawks turning themselves into the Oregon of the NFL... I am legitimately curious whether the tighter-fitting jerseys will make holding -- or tackling -- more difficult... $100 for the replica jersey seems high, but people will pay. On the way out of town, I dropped $30 at Modell's for a Tebow-Jets T-shirt. Because I am an idiot.)
More:
*MLB Opening Day-ish: Wow, is MLB screwing up Opening Day or what? In an era of the NFL turning "Kickoff Weekend" into multi-day event, MLB is doing a Bizarro version -- a mish-mash of opening days (no capital-O/capital-D), simultaneously missing a window of extreme fan interest (and nothing going on on the schedule) on Monday, yesterday and today. In a week, we'll be in full swing and we'll have forgotten, but this feels like a swing and a miss. Check that: It feels like standing there watching strike three go by with the bat on your shoulder.
*Baylor goes 40-0: It's unprecedented -- not the unbeaten season, but racking up 40 wins while going unbeaten. Brittany Griner cements her legacy as the most dominating player in the history of women's basketball -- and she sounds committed to returning to Baylor next year, which would make them the wildly prohibitive favorite to repeat (and, perhaps, repeat 40-0).
*Heat clinch a playoff spot: Biggest "meh" news of the day. Like Kentucky, the Heat are "Championship or Fail." Period. Let's talk again in early June.
*Joe Flacco says "I think I'm the best" QB in the NFL: It would be weirder if he said "I think I'm not in the Top 5, but definitely in the Top 10... probably."
*Masters goofy story of the day: The guy who claims his dog ate his Masters tickets. Instead of paying attention to that, read Spencer Hall's eulogy to his beloved dog, Isis.
*David Stern wants to expand the NBA Draft age-limit to two years: No. No, no, no, no, no. Terrible idea. (To be very open: I think there should be no age limit for the NBA Draft, and instead of artificially and arbitrarily limiting the professional opportunities for the kids, the NBA should make a bigger effort to get their GMs not to screw up the picks, either the selection or the subsequent development... not that taking prep-to-pro prospects is a bad idea. In fact, it's typically a way better idea than taking a college kid.)
Tuesday, April 03, 2012
Congrats, Quickish Readers Bracket Winners
Huge congratulations to the three folks who tied for the championship of the "Quickish Readers" group of ESPN.com's Tournament Challenge: "Giggs," "DResvilla" and "TeeMabry22."
I can't help but post with pride that my 5-year-old Gabe picked his own bracket this year, entirely by himself (handwritten and all) and finished in the 92nd percentile nationally. Not bad.
If you used the "National Bracket," you'd have finished in the 87th percentile.
If you simply picked all higher seeds, you'd have finished in the 82nd percentile.
If you used Barack Obama's picks, you would have finished in the 64th percentile.
I got off a multi-year schneid by finishing in the 70th percentile.
And if you used SI.com's "Survival Analysis" from Harvard Sports Analysis Collective's John Ezekowitz, you would have finished in the 97th percentile. Keep that in mind for next year.
I can't help but post with pride that my 5-year-old Gabe picked his own bracket this year, entirely by himself (handwritten and all) and finished in the 92nd percentile nationally. Not bad.
If you used the "National Bracket," you'd have finished in the 87th percentile.
If you simply picked all higher seeds, you'd have finished in the 82nd percentile.
If you used Barack Obama's picks, you would have finished in the 64th percentile.
I got off a multi-year schneid by finishing in the 70th percentile.
And if you used SI.com's "Survival Analysis" from Harvard Sports Analysis Collective's John Ezekowitz, you would have finished in the 97th percentile. Keep that in mind for next year.
04/03 (Kentucky) Quickie
And so Kentucky did one of the hardest and most compelling things in sports -- certainly college sports: Win it all when they were expected to win it all. In the harsh dichotomy of "Championship or Fail," they won.
But there is another reason this Kentucky team is so compelling, and it has been covered by some of the great college writers out there: It is a validation of John Calipari's "one-and-done" system that takes maximum advantage -- arbitrage, really -- of the inane and arbitrary rules about NBA eligibility set out by the NBA and exploited by the NCAA. It shouldn't be studied by other coaches -- it should be studied at Harvard Business School.
Now, here's the caveat: It might be replicable -- oh, sure, Calipari will bring in another No. 1 recruiting class or batch of one-and-done freshmen, whose next stop is the NBA Lottery -- but it's not sustainable, at least if you define "sustained" as "winning championship after championship."
*It won't include Anthony Davis, who is nothing less than the most game-changing defensive talent (freshman or otherwise) in modern college hoops history.
*It won't include Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the ultimate "glue guy" -- who also happens to be the consensus No. 2 pick in the NBA Draft behind Davis.
*It won't include that smidgen of upperclass experience -- Terrence Jones and Darius Miller and Doron Lamb (no slouches, themselves) -- that remains a prerequisite for March success.
It will, however, include John Calipari, who is as much arbitrageur as coach (although I entirely believe the sincerity of his "players-first" commitment) and who might lose Davis and MKG, but who will replace them with the best available freshmen talent.
And he now has a championship template to point them to: Defensive intensity. Offensive brilliance. But, more than anything, sublimating their "one-and-done" NBA dreams for the good of the program and for the chance to make that one year a championship year: "Title or bust."
Calipari has seen the fulfillment of a system -- a template -- he created a few years ago. It might not always result in national titles, but it puts him in the best position to win them and it puts his players in the best position to maximize their college and pre-NBA potential. That's all you can ask for.
Don't miss the Quickish coverage of Kentucky and Calipari's ultimate triumph.
-- D.S.
But there is another reason this Kentucky team is so compelling, and it has been covered by some of the great college writers out there: It is a validation of John Calipari's "one-and-done" system that takes maximum advantage -- arbitrage, really -- of the inane and arbitrary rules about NBA eligibility set out by the NBA and exploited by the NCAA. It shouldn't be studied by other coaches -- it should be studied at Harvard Business School.
Now, here's the caveat: It might be replicable -- oh, sure, Calipari will bring in another No. 1 recruiting class or batch of one-and-done freshmen, whose next stop is the NBA Lottery -- but it's not sustainable, at least if you define "sustained" as "winning championship after championship."
*It won't include Anthony Davis, who is nothing less than the most game-changing defensive talent (freshman or otherwise) in modern college hoops history.
*It won't include Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the ultimate "glue guy" -- who also happens to be the consensus No. 2 pick in the NBA Draft behind Davis.
*It won't include that smidgen of upperclass experience -- Terrence Jones and Darius Miller and Doron Lamb (no slouches, themselves) -- that remains a prerequisite for March success.
It will, however, include John Calipari, who is as much arbitrageur as coach (although I entirely believe the sincerity of his "players-first" commitment) and who might lose Davis and MKG, but who will replace them with the best available freshmen talent.
And he now has a championship template to point them to: Defensive intensity. Offensive brilliance. But, more than anything, sublimating their "one-and-done" NBA dreams for the good of the program and for the chance to make that one year a championship year: "Title or bust."
Calipari has seen the fulfillment of a system -- a template -- he created a few years ago. It might not always result in national titles, but it puts him in the best position to win them and it puts his players in the best position to maximize their college and pre-NBA potential. That's all you can ask for.
Don't miss the Quickish coverage of Kentucky and Calipari's ultimate triumph.
-- D.S.
Sunday, April 01, 2012
04/01 (Very) Quickie
Kentucky -- Anthony Davis, specifically -- was as good as advertised. Louisville made a game of it, and though moral victories don't amount for much (especially within the boundaries of the state of Kentucky), in this case Louisville can say they played one of the great teams of the past 10 years about as closely as they could. (About those 16 missed dunks/layups....)
Kansas-Ohio State was a bit ugly, but KU earned it with that gritty comeback. Withey dominated -- folks who think Jared Sullinger is a great NBA prospect need to take that as a reality check... Sullinger might be a decent rotation player, but he's the next DeJuan Blair, not the next Kevin Love. (Not even close.) Thomas Robinson didn't have a great game, either.
I'm not sure how many fans think the title game will be close -- it'll be closer to a coronation for one of the great teams of the past decade, for Calipari's first national title team and for the validation of his system of embracing one-and-done talents.
Of the 15 NCAA champs since Kentucky's dominating '96 team, I'd slot this Kentucky team inside the Top 5 -- not quite at the level of '07 Florida, '05 UNC or '01 Duke, but better than '06 Florida, '09 UNC or '03 Syracuse (which, up until Anthony Davis, had the most talented and dominating freshman in NCAA Tournament history).
FWIW: I think '06 Florida would give '12 Kentucky a game, if only because the Gators could throw Joakim Noah and Adrian Moss and Chris Richard at Anthony Davis, but Kentucky would have no answer for Al Horford -- Terrence Jones would have been throttled. Corey Brewer vs. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist would have been a jaw-dropping wash.
Of course, that's only if Kentucky fulfills its massive expectations and closes this out. It is hard to imagine that they won't. At that point, we have to be talking about Anthony Davis not as the best freshman of all time (displacing Carmelo and, to a lesser extent, Kevin Durant), but as the best college basketball player of the past 20 years.
-- D.S.
-- D.S.
Kansas-Ohio State was a bit ugly, but KU earned it with that gritty comeback. Withey dominated -- folks who think Jared Sullinger is a great NBA prospect need to take that as a reality check... Sullinger might be a decent rotation player, but he's the next DeJuan Blair, not the next Kevin Love. (Not even close.) Thomas Robinson didn't have a great game, either.
I'm not sure how many fans think the title game will be close -- it'll be closer to a coronation for one of the great teams of the past decade, for Calipari's first national title team and for the validation of his system of embracing one-and-done talents.
Of the 15 NCAA champs since Kentucky's dominating '96 team, I'd slot this Kentucky team inside the Top 5 -- not quite at the level of '07 Florida, '05 UNC or '01 Duke, but better than '06 Florida, '09 UNC or '03 Syracuse (which, up until Anthony Davis, had the most talented and dominating freshman in NCAA Tournament history).
FWIW: I think '06 Florida would give '12 Kentucky a game, if only because the Gators could throw Joakim Noah and Adrian Moss and Chris Richard at Anthony Davis, but Kentucky would have no answer for Al Horford -- Terrence Jones would have been throttled. Corey Brewer vs. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist would have been a jaw-dropping wash.
Of course, that's only if Kentucky fulfills its massive expectations and closes this out. It is hard to imagine that they won't. At that point, we have to be talking about Anthony Davis not as the best freshman of all time (displacing Carmelo and, to a lesser extent, Kevin Durant), but as the best college basketball player of the past 20 years.
-- D.S.
-- D.S.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
03/31 (Final Four, For Real) Quickie
If there's a team that won't have any fear of Kentucky, it's Louisville. Sometimes, fearlessness just ain't enough -- especially when Anthony Davis is anchoring the back line, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is out in transition, and those two and the rest of UK is focused entirely on winning. (Ohio State-Kansas should be less dramatic, but also more of a toss-up.)
Meanwhile, 49-year-old Jamie Moyer made the Colorado Rockies' starting rotation and will step on the mound next week with the chance to become the oldest player ever to win an MLB game. There isn't a more fascinating story in baseball this season, and if the Rockies are coming to your town and Moyer is scheduled to pitch, I highly recommend you go -- it's possible seeing a 49-year-old pitch (let alone start) will be a once-in-a-lifetime sight.
Some fun stuff on Quickish between this morning and yesterday a.m., so give it a look.
-- D.S.
Meanwhile, 49-year-old Jamie Moyer made the Colorado Rockies' starting rotation and will step on the mound next week with the chance to become the oldest player ever to win an MLB game. There isn't a more fascinating story in baseball this season, and if the Rockies are coming to your town and Moyer is scheduled to pitch, I highly recommend you go -- it's possible seeing a 49-year-old pitch (let alone start) will be a once-in-a-lifetime sight.
Some fun stuff on Quickish between this morning and yesterday a.m., so give it a look.
-- D.S.
Friday, March 30, 2012
03/30 (Final Four) Quickie
For all the enthusiasm around the Final Four, this year's version feels like a coronation -- Kentucky claiming its spot as one of the great teams of the post-KG era in college basketball and John Calipari finally getting that first championship.
Klosterman made a good point on Grantland yesterday: It would be an affirmation of Cal's singular "pre-NBA" recruiting approach, although it's not to be discounted that this particular group at Kentucky is unique:
Anthony Davis is the best college interior defensive player since Patrick Ewing. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is not only talented enough to be the No. 2 NBA prospect in the country, but he is a phenomenal teammate. The two of them -- despite being the team's top NBA prospects -- are 4th and 5th on the team in shots taken.
The reality is that it has taken Cal a few years to refine his system to the point where his insanely talented NBA-ready players subordinate themselves to the ideal of spending a few months focused entirely on winning six straight games in late March.
It is unclear whether next year's one-and-done crop will take the same attitude (and they certainly won't be as talented as Davis and MKG) -- all the more reason to appreciate this team and its potential dominance.
As for game picks:
I have really appreciated the crazy rivalry between Kentucky and Louisville (sorry, Cards fans: between Louisville and Kentucky), but UK is going to win by double-digits.
Meanwhile, I'll take Ohio State over Kansas, if only because my 5-year-old picked Ohio State to the title game and if that happens, he'll finish in the 98th percentile nationally on a bracket he picked entirely himself.
More:
*MLB preview and picks -- absurdly shallow, as always -- coming Monday.
*Stanford wins NIT: Uh...woo?
*Thunder win over Lakers: Just another indicator it's OKC's world now in the West.
*And the Heat over the Mavs is just another indicator the teams are going in opposite directions this year (although "rings bling forever," and that's where the Mavs have it over the Heat forever.)
*Steve Nash to the Heat this summer? That would just be unfair.
*NFL Draft: Trent Richardson is going to be the best pro RB since Peterson.
*NBA Draft: Barnes/Henson/Marshall all going pro early. Barnes is basically Calbert Cheaney. Henson is too skinny (remember Brandon Wright?) Marshall made UNC go, but is not quick enough to play defense in the NBA. McAdoo a better prospect than all of them.
A few notes coming this weekend. But definitely pop by Quickish today (there's been some great Final Four tips to recommend) and all weekend.
-- D.S.
Klosterman made a good point on Grantland yesterday: It would be an affirmation of Cal's singular "pre-NBA" recruiting approach, although it's not to be discounted that this particular group at Kentucky is unique:
Anthony Davis is the best college interior defensive player since Patrick Ewing. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is not only talented enough to be the No. 2 NBA prospect in the country, but he is a phenomenal teammate. The two of them -- despite being the team's top NBA prospects -- are 4th and 5th on the team in shots taken.
The reality is that it has taken Cal a few years to refine his system to the point where his insanely talented NBA-ready players subordinate themselves to the ideal of spending a few months focused entirely on winning six straight games in late March.
It is unclear whether next year's one-and-done crop will take the same attitude (and they certainly won't be as talented as Davis and MKG) -- all the more reason to appreciate this team and its potential dominance.
As for game picks:
I have really appreciated the crazy rivalry between Kentucky and Louisville (sorry, Cards fans: between Louisville and Kentucky), but UK is going to win by double-digits.
Meanwhile, I'll take Ohio State over Kansas, if only because my 5-year-old picked Ohio State to the title game and if that happens, he'll finish in the 98th percentile nationally on a bracket he picked entirely himself.
More:
*MLB preview and picks -- absurdly shallow, as always -- coming Monday.
*Stanford wins NIT: Uh...woo?
*Thunder win over Lakers: Just another indicator it's OKC's world now in the West.
*And the Heat over the Mavs is just another indicator the teams are going in opposite directions this year (although "rings bling forever," and that's where the Mavs have it over the Heat forever.)
*Steve Nash to the Heat this summer? That would just be unfair.
*NFL Draft: Trent Richardson is going to be the best pro RB since Peterson.
*NBA Draft: Barnes/Henson/Marshall all going pro early. Barnes is basically Calbert Cheaney. Henson is too skinny (remember Brandon Wright?) Marshall made UNC go, but is not quick enough to play defense in the NBA. McAdoo a better prospect than all of them.
A few notes coming this weekend. But definitely pop by Quickish today (there's been some great Final Four tips to recommend) and all weekend.
-- D.S.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
03/29 (Early Baseball) Quickie
*My one-month-old daughter wouldn't sleep at 5 a.m., so thank you, MLB, for having the Mariners and A's on live from Japan. Opening Day-ish-ish! (Cespedes!)
*Apparently, I missed my window to buy Reebok Tebow Jets gear. Well played, Nike.
*I am absolutely loving all this coverage of the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry, which I knew existed but didn't nearly appreciate enough.
*Mike Brown has pulled off the trick of alienating both Kobe and Bynum in the same week.
*The Knicks are apparently just fine without Jeremy Lin. This is going to be a fun nothing-to-lose team to watch in the playoffs.
*OK, so he's not Shaka Smart, but Ohio's John Groce is a great hire for Illinois. He is high-energy, he recruits like a maniac and his system wins tournament games in March.
*If I was Bill Parcells, I would totally step in and coach the Saints next year. Why not?
*Have you seen Ray Lewis' locker room speech to Stanford men's hoops?
-- D.S.
*Apparently, I missed my window to buy Reebok Tebow Jets gear. Well played, Nike.
*I am absolutely loving all this coverage of the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry, which I knew existed but didn't nearly appreciate enough.
*Mike Brown has pulled off the trick of alienating both Kobe and Bynum in the same week.
*The Knicks are apparently just fine without Jeremy Lin. This is going to be a fun nothing-to-lose team to watch in the playoffs.
*OK, so he's not Shaka Smart, but Ohio's John Groce is a great hire for Illinois. He is high-energy, he recruits like a maniac and his system wins tournament games in March.
*If I was Bill Parcells, I would totally step in and coach the Saints next year. Why not?
*Have you seen Ray Lewis' locker room speech to Stanford men's hoops?
-- D.S.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
03/27 (Tebow vs. NYC) Quickie
*Let's be clear: Tim Tebow's Jets press conference yesterday was entirely unremarkable -- which apparently is remarkable to New York media. Had they never seen him do interviews before? He is more expert at it than any athlete in sports. The vaunted NYC media was overmatched.
*Baylor superstar Brittney Griner simply can't jump off the bench and onto the court to get involved in a teammate's on-court yapping match, even to support the team.
*Thoughts are with Pat Summitt as she moves on to the next stage of her life -- hopefully, the memories she gave to the rest of us serve as a sort of distributed storage network of her "best of all time" career.
*The Parcells-to-Saints rumor is fun, but absurd. (But wow would that be fun. And even though Parcells won't do it, you have to imagine that he at least considered it.)
*US Soccer: You can argue that the Olympics are fairly low on the list of great world soccer events, but this team needs all the seasoning it can get -- missing the Olympics (and on a dumb stoppage-time goal, no less) is a problem for this program.
*College football/BCS: It seems pretty clear we are in "when" not "if" for a season-ending college football playoff. I'm guessing that we end up with the top 4 teams playing it out, with the semifinals held on college campuses (although the smarter play would be to put the games up for bid from any city willing to pay for it).
I like a college football playoff, but the unintended consequence is the inevitable dispute over inclusion -- most years, it's fairly easy to pick two teams to play for the title, with perhaps a single third team having a gripe. There will be a half-dozen teams (if not more) that will have a legitimate claim to the 3rd and 4th playoff spots. If you don't think this will be just as much of an issue as excluding teams from the 1-2 match-up, you're kidding yourself.
Pop by Quickish today to catch up on all the best takes on the biggest storylines.
-- D.S.
*Baylor superstar Brittney Griner simply can't jump off the bench and onto the court to get involved in a teammate's on-court yapping match, even to support the team.
*Thoughts are with Pat Summitt as she moves on to the next stage of her life -- hopefully, the memories she gave to the rest of us serve as a sort of distributed storage network of her "best of all time" career.
*The Parcells-to-Saints rumor is fun, but absurd. (But wow would that be fun. And even though Parcells won't do it, you have to imagine that he at least considered it.)
*US Soccer: You can argue that the Olympics are fairly low on the list of great world soccer events, but this team needs all the seasoning it can get -- missing the Olympics (and on a dumb stoppage-time goal, no less) is a problem for this program.
*College football/BCS: It seems pretty clear we are in "when" not "if" for a season-ending college football playoff. I'm guessing that we end up with the top 4 teams playing it out, with the semifinals held on college campuses (although the smarter play would be to put the games up for bid from any city willing to pay for it).
I like a college football playoff, but the unintended consequence is the inevitable dispute over inclusion -- most years, it's fairly easy to pick two teams to play for the title, with perhaps a single third team having a gripe. There will be a half-dozen teams (if not more) that will have a legitimate claim to the 3rd and 4th playoff spots. If you don't think this will be just as much of an issue as excluding teams from the 1-2 match-up, you're kidding yourself.
Pop by Quickish today to catch up on all the best takes on the biggest storylines.
-- D.S.
Monday, March 26, 2012
03/26 (Big Monday) Quickie
*If you weren't around this weekend, don't miss my piece in yesterday's New York Times about Tebow fandom and Jets fandom (and rooting for the name on the back of the jersey, not the front).
*How's your bracket? Anyone have Kentucky-Louisville-Ohio State-Kansas as their Final Four? A few thoughts:
- Wow, is Kentucky a buzzsaw. Haven't seen "Win or Fail" expectations like this since 2007 Florida. And they justify it.
- Louisville will have no fear of Kentucky, and that is probably the No. 1 factor in any chance the Cards have to pull a monumental upset.
- Kansas made everyone forget about their lackluster tournament through the Elite Eight by pulling off the best win of the tournament so far. Triangle and two? Love it.
- Ohio State feels very overlooked -- I actually like them to upend KU in the Final Four.
*Tiger wins (finally): It's been a long, long time, and suddenly the Masters is a lot more than "Will Tiger finally win one?" It's "Wow, can Tiger win the Masters again?" which would be one of the great comeback stories in sports of the past generation.
*If it's Heat-Thunder in the NBA Finals, I think everyone could get behind that. I still think the Bulls can/will beat the Heat in the East Finals.
*Tim Tebow introductory NY Jets press conference at noon. That won't be a big deal or anything.
*The sports world has been so insane the past week, it's crazy to think that the baseball season starts this week.
-- D.S.
*How's your bracket? Anyone have Kentucky-Louisville-Ohio State-Kansas as their Final Four? A few thoughts:
- Wow, is Kentucky a buzzsaw. Haven't seen "Win or Fail" expectations like this since 2007 Florida. And they justify it.
- Louisville will have no fear of Kentucky, and that is probably the No. 1 factor in any chance the Cards have to pull a monumental upset.
- Kansas made everyone forget about their lackluster tournament through the Elite Eight by pulling off the best win of the tournament so far. Triangle and two? Love it.
- Ohio State feels very overlooked -- I actually like them to upend KU in the Final Four.
*Tiger wins (finally): It's been a long, long time, and suddenly the Masters is a lot more than "Will Tiger finally win one?" It's "Wow, can Tiger win the Masters again?" which would be one of the great comeback stories in sports of the past generation.
*If it's Heat-Thunder in the NBA Finals, I think everyone could get behind that. I still think the Bulls can/will beat the Heat in the East Finals.
*Tim Tebow introductory NY Jets press conference at noon. That won't be a big deal or anything.
*The sports world has been so insane the past week, it's crazy to think that the baseball season starts this week.
-- D.S.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
03/25 (Tebow In New York) Quickie
Hell of a rally by Louisville. Gritty win by Ohio State. Worth Final Four teams, both.
Meanwhile, I have an essay in today's New York Times about Tebow fans who suddenly find themselves Jets fans -- but it's about a lot more than that. Give it a read here (and feel free to share it with your friends via Facebook, Twitter, email, whatever -- the more the better.)
-- D.S.
Meanwhile, I have an essay in today's New York Times about Tebow fans who suddenly find themselves Jets fans -- but it's about a lot more than that. Give it a read here (and feel free to share it with your friends via Facebook, Twitter, email, whatever -- the more the better.)
-- D.S.
Friday, March 23, 2012
03/23 (Elite Eight) Quickie
You'll have to excuse me -- I'm busy reveling in Florida's largely unexpected run to the Elite Eight.
I knew the Gators had the potential to do it. Marquette seemed like the kind of team that would give Florida fits -- and, despite being forced into quite a few misses, Florida handled them easily.
Now regional 1-seed Michigan State has been dispatched and it's Billy Donovan vs. his mentor Rick Pitino for a spot in the Final Four -- 25 years after they paired up for Providence's Final Four run that put both of them on the map nationally. Should be a fun one.
(A quick aside about fabulous Florida freshman Bradley Beal: I have been watching Florida closely as a die-hard fan for more than 10 years -- and was certainly very familiar with the program before that -- and it is pretty clear that Beal is the best player to ever suit up for the program. Now that his 3s are dropping reliably, he is the most complete player in college hoops -- he can shoot, his defense is tremendous, he rebounds better than any guard in the country, he is supremely athletic and, best of all, he has as high of a basketball IQ as anyone I've seen. And he is not even 19 yet. Don't be surprised when Beal emerges as the clear No. 2 talent of the 2012 NBA Draft behind Anthony Davis. Questions about Beal's size -- he is probably somewhere between 6-3 and 6-4, on the small side for an NBA 2-guard -- should be mitigated by how big he plays. If you watch him on the court, you would swear he is 6-6 or 6-7.)
Meanwhile, kudos to Louisville for KO'ing a Michigan State team everyone assumed would be advancing. Louisville's defense was phenomenal.
On the other side of the bracket, it's chalky in the East: Syracuse vs. Ohio State, a match-up of two very good defenses and two OK offenses. It is a testament to how good Syracuse is that even without Fab Melo, they should be considered the favorites to beat the Buckeyes tomorrow night. (Although they will never miss him as much as they will when trying to stop Jared Sullinger inside.)
Tonight in the Sweet 16: Kentucky has four games left to claim what should be theirs, and the easiest step of all of them will be wreaking vengeance on an Indiana team that gave Kentucky its only loss of the regular season... In the other South regional semi, if Baylor can shoot like it did last weekend, Xavier won't have a chance to pull another upset. Kentucky-Baylor on Sunday would be a fun one, with a half-dozen (or more) NBA first-round picks on the floor.
In the Midwest: No Kendall Marshall for UNC, which would be a problem against any other team in the Sweet 16 except Ohio.... Based on the close call against Purdue, Kansas could absolutely lose to NC State (particularly if they are looking ahead to playing UNC without or with a very limited Marshall); KU muscles through, setting up the regional final we all wanted to see (and predicted we'd see).
How's your bracket? I'm still hovering around the 50th percentile. The bracket I filled out for my 3-week-old daughter is in the 97th percentile. The bracket my five-year-old filled out himself is in the 87th percentile. He gets to write the Wall Street Journal column next year.
More:
*Tim Tebow takes New York, cont'd: The trade was delayed (again), but this is still happening. The major media meme is that this is going to be bad for the Jets. I'll just go back to the idea that every time the media has proclaimed something limiting about Tebow or the Tebow phenomenon, it has been wrong, often diametrically. So I'll say it's going to be great for the Jets. Whatever the most absurd scenario is (short of winning the Super Bowl), I'll take that.
*Pat Robertson thinks God will strike down Peyton Manning because the Broncos screwed around with Tebow: Are we really paying attention to this? Ironically, if Robertson had simply said "Why is everyone making an assumption that Manning's neck will hold up to being battered by defensive ends intent on hurting him?" he would have been fine.
*Andrew Luck's Pro Day: Throwing to his receivers on his home field in a choreographed pattern he had been practicing for weeks, he looked... amazing! Well, naturally. The fact is Luck remains the No. 1 talent of the draft and the most can't-miss QB prospect in a generation (as is Robert Griffin III, which is its own fascinating sub-plot). Colts fans will be thrilled.
*Chipper Jones will retire at the end of the season: He's a Hall of Famer, sure, but it strikes me as a bit disingenuous that HOF voters would come out so strongly for Jones but keep Jeff Bagwell at arm's length. They have the same level of confirmed PED usage -- which is to say: Zilch.
Great weekend of hoops ahead. Hope your brackets stay solid.
-- D.S.
I knew the Gators had the potential to do it. Marquette seemed like the kind of team that would give Florida fits -- and, despite being forced into quite a few misses, Florida handled them easily.
Now regional 1-seed Michigan State has been dispatched and it's Billy Donovan vs. his mentor Rick Pitino for a spot in the Final Four -- 25 years after they paired up for Providence's Final Four run that put both of them on the map nationally. Should be a fun one.
(A quick aside about fabulous Florida freshman Bradley Beal: I have been watching Florida closely as a die-hard fan for more than 10 years -- and was certainly very familiar with the program before that -- and it is pretty clear that Beal is the best player to ever suit up for the program. Now that his 3s are dropping reliably, he is the most complete player in college hoops -- he can shoot, his defense is tremendous, he rebounds better than any guard in the country, he is supremely athletic and, best of all, he has as high of a basketball IQ as anyone I've seen. And he is not even 19 yet. Don't be surprised when Beal emerges as the clear No. 2 talent of the 2012 NBA Draft behind Anthony Davis. Questions about Beal's size -- he is probably somewhere between 6-3 and 6-4, on the small side for an NBA 2-guard -- should be mitigated by how big he plays. If you watch him on the court, you would swear he is 6-6 or 6-7.)
Meanwhile, kudos to Louisville for KO'ing a Michigan State team everyone assumed would be advancing. Louisville's defense was phenomenal.
On the other side of the bracket, it's chalky in the East: Syracuse vs. Ohio State, a match-up of two very good defenses and two OK offenses. It is a testament to how good Syracuse is that even without Fab Melo, they should be considered the favorites to beat the Buckeyes tomorrow night. (Although they will never miss him as much as they will when trying to stop Jared Sullinger inside.)
Tonight in the Sweet 16: Kentucky has four games left to claim what should be theirs, and the easiest step of all of them will be wreaking vengeance on an Indiana team that gave Kentucky its only loss of the regular season... In the other South regional semi, if Baylor can shoot like it did last weekend, Xavier won't have a chance to pull another upset. Kentucky-Baylor on Sunday would be a fun one, with a half-dozen (or more) NBA first-round picks on the floor.
In the Midwest: No Kendall Marshall for UNC, which would be a problem against any other team in the Sweet 16 except Ohio.... Based on the close call against Purdue, Kansas could absolutely lose to NC State (particularly if they are looking ahead to playing UNC without or with a very limited Marshall); KU muscles through, setting up the regional final we all wanted to see (and predicted we'd see).
How's your bracket? I'm still hovering around the 50th percentile. The bracket I filled out for my 3-week-old daughter is in the 97th percentile. The bracket my five-year-old filled out himself is in the 87th percentile. He gets to write the Wall Street Journal column next year.
More:
*Tim Tebow takes New York, cont'd: The trade was delayed (again), but this is still happening. The major media meme is that this is going to be bad for the Jets. I'll just go back to the idea that every time the media has proclaimed something limiting about Tebow or the Tebow phenomenon, it has been wrong, often diametrically. So I'll say it's going to be great for the Jets. Whatever the most absurd scenario is (short of winning the Super Bowl), I'll take that.
*Pat Robertson thinks God will strike down Peyton Manning because the Broncos screwed around with Tebow: Are we really paying attention to this? Ironically, if Robertson had simply said "Why is everyone making an assumption that Manning's neck will hold up to being battered by defensive ends intent on hurting him?" he would have been fine.
*Andrew Luck's Pro Day: Throwing to his receivers on his home field in a choreographed pattern he had been practicing for weeks, he looked... amazing! Well, naturally. The fact is Luck remains the No. 1 talent of the draft and the most can't-miss QB prospect in a generation (as is Robert Griffin III, which is its own fascinating sub-plot). Colts fans will be thrilled.
*Chipper Jones will retire at the end of the season: He's a Hall of Famer, sure, but it strikes me as a bit disingenuous that HOF voters would come out so strongly for Jones but keep Jeff Bagwell at arm's length. They have the same level of confirmed PED usage -- which is to say: Zilch.
Great weekend of hoops ahead. Hope your brackets stay solid.
-- D.S.
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