What’s Wrong with Baseball

As we prepare to continue this series here is a review of numbers 7-10 of the list. Click on the titles to read the articles. Number 6 to appear soon.

10: Wimpy Pitchers

9: The Designated Hitter

8: Cheating

7: The Concept of the Closer

Don’t Give the Evidence to Goodell!

Bill Belichick is talking … finally. And, while he’s apologizing, he’s also implying it wasn’t much of a big deal.

But what’s more important is what former Patriot employee Matt Walsh has to say. Walsh says he had evidence that the Patriots taped the St. Louis Rams’ walk-through before the 2002 Super Bowl.

Belichick recently minimized “Spygate,” saying, “I take responsibility for it. Even though I felt there was a gray area in the rule and I misinterpreted the rule….”

Here is the rule he misinterpreted. Tell me how someone who is consistently called a “genius” could misinterpret such a rule.

NFL Constitution & Bylaws Article 9:

Any use by any club at any time, from the start to the finish of any game in which such club is a participant, of any communications or information-gathering equipment, other than Polaroid-type cameras or field telephones, shall be prohibited, including without limitation videotape machines, telephone tapping, or bugging devices, or any other form of electronic devices that might aid a team during the playing of a game.

How on earth could someone who is not even a genius misinterpret that, much less a genius?

Meanwhile, Belichick is denying the Rams incident and Walsh is keeping the evidence until he has stronger assurances from the NFL.

Walsh! Don’t give the evidence to Roger Goodell! Remember what happened to the previous evidence? Heaven know has much incriminating evidence Goodell has already destroyed. Don’t give him any more.

Justice! Giants Take Down Cheatriots in Super Bowl

Cheatriots fall.

Giants destroy evil empire.

Roger Goodell puts up greatest act of his pitiful career, pretending to be happy that the Giants won.

Have been away from the blogosphere for a while. My last blog post (read below) lamented the Giants narrow loss to the Patriots in the regular season. I ended that post by saying this:

One’s only hope is to pray for a miracle … an upset in the playoffs. For that to happen, three things need to take place: Pats have a bad game, opponents have a great game, refs call the game fairly.

Those three things happened … as deep into the playoffs as you can get. After I wrote that post, one comment from a New England fan told me, and I quote, “GET OVER IT.”

I’m over it.

The 1972 Dolphins stand alone. It is justice that this cheating, condescending Patriot team and coach lost. And not surprising that Belichick was not courteous enough to be on the sidelines for the final play.

Now, Senator Arlen Specter and Congress, go after Roger Goodell.

Nothing he has said in defense of destroying evidence makes sense. He was quite simply, protecting the Patriots. Their spy-gate surely goes far beyond what we have heard. We’ll never know what Goodell destroyed. But, if justice is on a roll, other evidence will surface.

Congratulations to the New York Giants. They have saved the sports world … for now.

Dark Day for the NFL

When the New England Patriots came back in the fourth quarter last night to defeat the game New York Giants, it capped a dark day in the history of professional football. Yes, the Pats won, aided by the superstar syndrome—the refs finding things to call against the Pats’ opponents and clearly ignoring more egregious violations on behalf of the league’s pretty boys.
 
One penalty they ignored was a clear leg-whip block by Randy Moss that sprung a big play for Roger Goodell’s favorites. Moss is one of the reasons this is a dark day for the NFL. The egotistical one will play only for a winner, no matter how much he is paid. He did a royal job on the Oakland Raiders by taking their money, then refusing to put out. Moss is worse than T.O. He only plays when he feels like it. And he doesn’t have the courage or stamina of  T.O.
 
The Patriots made Moss a star, not vice versa. Maybe he just is not good enough to put up the stats for a lesser team. True superstars are.
 
Now all the young fans will idolize a bunch of narcissistic cheaters.
 
Too bad.
 
One’s only hope is to pray for a miracle … an upset in the playoffs. For that to happen, three things need to take place: Pats have a bad game, opponents have a great game, refs call the game fairly.

Belichick, Patriots Prepare for Jets

Bill Belichick today, when asked how he would prepare for the next game, replied that it would be just like they have been preparing for their games. Since their next game is a divisional contest with the New York Jets, we have to wonder if that includes the use of illegal videotape, which they needed to use earlier in the season when they played their first game in order to sufficiently embarrass them. Since New England will be at home, it should be easier for them to find an alternate way to cheat.

James J. Braddock Wins Heavyweight Title

Underdog James J. Braddock, dubbed the Cinderella Man for his remarkable fairy-tale comeback, won a unanimous 15-round decision tonight against the overwhelming favorite, Heavyweight Boxing Champion Max Baer, to win the world heavyweight crown.

OK, so it didn’t really happen tonight. I just saw the movie Cinderella Man for the first time. Here was this overwhelming underdog, an honest family man, facing off against the arrogant, womanizing champion. The world wanted him to beat all odds and win. It defied reality but he did it. And this was not fiction; it really happened.

So I’m thinking, there’s a parallel here with the NFL this year. Braddock: All the massive underdog, honest teams. Baer: The dishonest, arrogant, womanizing Patriots. There is hope! If Braddock beat Baer, some decent group of guys could beat the villainous Pats.

Then Hollywood can make it into a movie.

Kill the Sidelines Timeout

Put the game back in the hands of the players. Kill the timeout from the sidelines. Coaches messing with kickers has caused a number of double kicks, which sometimes backfires, and is definitely not fair to kickers. Now, Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan has added a new twist, calling a sidelines timeout moments before Tom Brady was stuffed on a fourth-and-1 sneak, negating the play and robbing the Ravens of a deserved upset against the less-than-perfect Patriots. After two other fourth down reprieves, Brady threw a winning TD.

It was like the 1972 Summer Olympics Gold Medal basketball game, when the three Eastern Bloc judges kept giving the Soviets chance after final chance until they won. Here it was not corrupt judges; it seemed more to be Fate.

And a hare-brained coach. Who called timeout as his valiant players exerted their final majestic effort … successfully, but fruitlessly.

This game will be remembered for a long time. Maybe not as long as the ‘72 Olympics (the silver medals still sit unclaimed in a vault in Lusanne, Switzerland), but still a long time … for Ravens fans … and Patriots haters.

So, please. NFL, put the game back in the hands of the players. Kill the timeout from the sidelines.

Sports Soaps Top 5 of the Week

The U.S. sports scene has been providing a bumper crop of soap operas.

1. Barry Bonds: Finally indicted.
2. A-Rod: Mr. Not-October slinks back to New York.
3. O.J.: Is America ready for another trial?
4. Stephon Marbury: AWOL egoist pays.
5. Ricky Williams: Desperate Dolphins tap sober former-superstar.

Dishonorable Mention:

Joe Glenn/Kyle Whittingham: Coaches prove they can be less mature than the students they coach. [story]
Michael Vick: Continuing saga.
Belichick/Patriots: The coach fans love to hate.

The One Thing the Patriots Don’t Have

October 28 final score: New England Patriots 52 Washington Redskins 7.

Embarrassing? Yes. For both teams.

The ’Skins’ Randall Godfrey, after the close of the game, reportedly confronted Bill Belichick. “You need to show some respect for the game,” he said, referring to the Patriots obvious running up of the score. Here’s what he told NBCSports.com he said:

“I told him, ‘You need to show some respect for the game.’ You just don’t do that. I don’t care how bad it is. You’re up 35 points and you’re still throwing deep? That’s no respect….

“You look at all the great head coaches … I’m just disappointed,” he said. “You gotta show some class, show some respect. Joe Gibbs? We wouldn’t have done that. Bill Walsh? You wouldn’t see those types of guys doing that stuff. I’ve never seen nothing like that. Most teams, you get up like that you sit on the ball and try to run the time out. They’re up 30-some points and they’re throwing deep. That was blatant disrespect. I hope we can see them again, definitely. You don’t see Joe Gibbs doing that. You can’t even imagine that kind of stuff coming from him. Joe Gibbs. Bill Walsh. Bill Parcells. This isn’t like college going for power rankings. This is the pros you show some respect, show some class.”

I have to say Godfrey is out of line on most of this. Spare us your sour grapes when you’ve just been obliterated on the field. Losers don’t get to cross examine their conquerors.

But there was definitely some lack of respect shown by the Pats, like Wes Welker’s in-your-face playground-like spiking after scoring the TD that led to a 45-0 lead; and Matt Cassell celebrating by winding up and spiking for his touchdown in garbage time. (That’s like some NBA scrub doing a dance for getting a meaningless lay-in as time expires.)

Tom Jackson said the Pats were getting “frenzied” as they poured it on the hapless Redskins. “They want to pound people into submission,” said Steve Young (who once did a kneel down on the Niners’ opponents’ 1-yard line at the close of a game).

Even the Pats’ owners appeared uncomfortable with the run-up. They have felt embarrassed by video-gate; now their scrubs are doing dances late in a rout?

There is another reason we could expect Belichick to lay off.

”It’s risk/reward,” said Bill Cowher. “How long do you want your starters to play? You want to be careful. At some point, if this continues, someone is going to take a cheap shot. Is that worth subjecting your players to if it comes to that? The risk [Belichick] is taking is that guys could get hurt in those situations. That’s his decision as a coach, and he has a right to do it.”

Players and coaches should all react with the same class Joe Gibbs did, who took the high road. He said he had nothing against what the Pats did. And you can’t argue. They have every right to run up the score. It’s just that previous dynasties didn’t do it. But that’s up to Belichick. Belichick still looks cowed and sheepish at his press conferences. He gives curt, mumbled answers and gives every appearance of a shame-faced malefactor who can only talk on the field, not eye-to-eye.

The difference between Gibbs and Belichick? One word: class. Gibbs has it; Belichick doesn’t. I doubt he even knows what it is. The great coaches of the past had it; that’s why, though Bill B. will be on the same level as many of the great coaches of the past, he will never be in their class.

So the Patriots do indeed have almost everything. The one thing they don’t have is class.

Sports and Ethics Is Back

Look for new articles beginning Monday. In Spain I came across a surprising current, relevant sports and ethics issue that has some parallels to the Michael Vick dog-fighting issue in the U.S. I will of course have more on the Pats and Bill Belichick.

Thanks to those of you who visited the site while I was on vacation. Blog stats show me that readership remained strong despite no new entries for two weeks.

What’s Wrong With Baseball #8: Cheating

Cheating would come in at No. 1 if I were currently doing a series on What’s Wrong With Football. And there would be something about Belichick and video tape. But baseball is far from being above the cheating fray. And it never has been. While Bill Belichick has taken cheating to a whole new level of sophistication, similar things have been done in baseball for a long time, though not quite in such a refined manner (e.g., binoculars in the scoreboard stealing signs).

The cheating that stands out right now … I mean right now … is steroids, and related substances. I really hope there is a way Paul Byrd can be found innocent. (See “Byrd Revelation Casts Pall Over Indians-Red Sox Game 7.”) Barry Bonds is still on the hook, though nothing has yet been proven. Then we have Giambi.

Perhaps the most disappointing is Mark McGwire, who has disappeared since his sworn testimony evaporated.

Let’s be honest about cheating. It has been part of the national pastime in more ways than can be enumerated from memory.

There was the out-in-the-open dirty play … Ty Cobb sliding into the bag with his spikes high.

Gamblers fixed games … whatever one believes about the Black Sox … perhaps the worst form of cheating.

There was one that was so universally used that they had to create a rule to prevent it … the spitter. Gaylord Perry, where are you now? We even hear about little edges that Hall-of-Fame greats like Whitey Ford used to get … digging a wedding ring into a ball, for example.

My goal is not to list all the types of cheating in baseball. You can stretch the whole ethics issue here. How about a catcher framing a pitch to try to fool the umpire? I remember once playing first base in a pick-up game. One of our infielders tossed me a ground ball, which arrived at about the same time as the runner, but clearly beat him. I had to come into the line to get the wide throw and the runner slammed into me. I went sprawling, tearing a brand-new pair of pants (in the days before rips became desirable).

The runner jumped off the ground. “He didn’t touch the bag,” he yelled repeatedly. Everyone considered him out. I was the only one who knew he was right. But I was ticked about the pants. I didn’t say I did touch the bag, but I didn’t say I didn’t either. So he was out. That was unethical … and now it’s finally off my chest.

My point is … even little forms of cheating, like trying to get an edge with the umps, are cheating.

We would all love it if we could free the game of the big cheats and forms of cheating. But how about we just expect adults who play baseball to be honest. Now, wouldn’t that be refreshing?

I Missed This About Brady and Belichick

In yesterday’s post “Brady’s Six TD Passes: Are You Kidding Me?” I finished with, “It seems like I should say something about Bill Belichick, cheating and video tape here, but … forget it. They just plain dominated.”

Now I learn I was too kind. I did not see the game and wrote the post as a tip of the hat to a team I have been down on since Videogate. I didn’t have the whole story. Here’s a quote from an AP story:

“Tom Brady was flawless at the start and off the bench, too. With his team winning easily, Brady came out of the game early in the fourth quarter Sunday, then re-entered to throw a team-record sixth touchdown pass, capping unbeaten New England’s 49-28 rout of the winless Miami Dolphins.”

He actually played into the fourth quarter before coming out, and when the scrubs couldn’t dominate, Belichick actually put Brady back in to run up the score. I hear he was less than pleased by questions about running up the score. This is something Bill Walsh would never have done with his dominant Niner teams. But then Belichick bears no resemblance to Walsh … at least when it comes to ethics.

Brady’s Six TD Passes: Are You Kidding Me?

Last week he had a personal best with five TD passes. Today he did it again … in the first half! He added a sixth before coming out of the game. Are You Kidding Me?

It was 42-7 over the Dolphins at the half. With second-line players in later in the second half, the Pats finished with a 49-28 win. Give Brady another shot of Mountain Dew.

It seems like I should say something about Bill Belichick, cheating and video tape here, but … forget it. They just plain dominated.

[For an update on this story, see here.]

Give the Devil His Due

(Or is it Dew?)

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots look unbeatable. The Cowboys never really had a chance, though they kept it close. The only real question about the game is … just where is the video camera now?

Game over. Give the Devil his Mountain Dew.

Two Undefeateds Will Remain; Let One Not Be the Cheatriots

With Indy on a bye and the other two undefeateds playing each other, there will be two teams left without losses at the end of the day. That is, of course, except in the unlikely event of a Pats-Dallas tie. Then there would still be three.

Justice would demand a Cowboys victory. The Patriots should have forfeited at least the one game against the Jets. But with an apparently complicitous commissioner, Roger Goodell, who took it easy on the league primadonnas, then destroyed evidence, that didn’t happen.

The Dallas Cowboys are a good, honest team … up against the exposed villains of the league. Every honest football fan not living in Massachusetts should be saying, “Go Cowboys!”

Boston Up 2, Down 1

No this is not the Red Sox-Indians score. The Red Sox breezed to a 10-3 first-game win. This is the city’s score.

Up: Boston Red Sox, back in the running.

Up: The city of Boston. I have walked the Freedom Trail, sampled the clam chowdah, and a lot more. It’s one of the best cities in America.

Down: Patriots, the team that didn’t need to cheat, but did. The team that tries to make NFL fans believe it didn’t matter. The coach that besmirched his team and damaged the league. The coach who is not “the best coach in NFL history.”

It would be easier to enjoy the Red Sox run if the Patriots weren’t still around, bothering sports fans.

(But wait; it’s really Foxborough, isn’t it?)

Coaches Influence Youth

The utter collapse of sportsmanship and ethics seen in the Bill Belichick/Patriots scandal can be discouraging. Our culture today has enough role models who are “bad guys.” Sports figures, whether it’s right or wrong, probably command the most attention among young people. When young people see Patriots condoning the unethical behavior of their coach, it leaves an emotional impression upon them. If the Pats think Bill Belichick is “the best NFL coach ever,” then that’s how to play the game. Belichick and the Patriots have done a lot more damage than simply blackening the name of pro fooball.

There are people out there who are concerned about building character through sports in young lives. Here are a couple of excellent quotes.

Everything a Coach Says or Does Sends a Message About Values. Coaches are often the most influential adults in the lives of youngsters and adolescents. What they say and don’t say, do and don’t do – on and off the field – sends a message about values and reveals something about the coaches’ priorities and character. Thus, coaches must always ask themselves: “What message am I sending?”

—Michael Josephson

We know what message Belichick sent.

Coaches are, first and foremost, teachers; they are among the most influential people in a young athlete’s life. Because coaches are such powerful role models, young athletes learn more from them about character than about athletic performance.

goodcharacter.com

Needed: More coaches with these qualities. If certain pro coaches today had had coaches like this when they were young, perhaps they wouldn’t be cheating today, and besmirching the game.

Belichick on Belichick: “Some of the things I do are pretty dumb”

“Yes, I think it’s pretty amusing. Some of the things I do are pretty dumb. I appreciate the compliments, but I wouldn’t use that adjective.” –On being referred to as a genius

On film study:
“I think I had an appreciation for it early. A lot of times, guys don’t watch film until they get to college. But I was 10 years old and studying it. Film was important to me.” (24 Oct 2004)

We now know it’s very important to him.

being defending champions
“We’re not defending anything.” (30 Jan 2005)

And that goes for today, too. Mum’s the word.

“If preserving the integrity of the game and presenting it in the right way involves getting lower ratings, then that’s what we’re going to have to accept. If that’s what we have to do to, if that’s the deal, then that’s the deal. This can’t become the XFL.” (19 Nov 2004)

I think he forgot he said this.

Why he doesn’t do his own taping:
“I’m kind of a detail-oriented person, and I don’t mind doing the details. But I found through time that I’m better off not getting involved in those things, so I can do a better job of managing the team. What I found out is that a lot of people do those jobs better than I would have done anyway.” (31 Jan 2002)

Selected quotes from http://www.allthingsbillbelichick.com/.

Patriots Can’t Prove They Won Fairly

What Roger Goodell thought he did by destroying the Patriots’ illegal tapes is exactly the opposite of what he actually did. Goodell thought he made it impossible to prove the Pats cheated in their Super Bowls. Instead, he made it impossible for New England to prove they didn’t. Everyone (rightly) assumes Belicheat’s boys profited from ill-gotten info in their three biggest wins. What the fans need is evidence that they didn’t. Until we see proof Bill’s boys are clean, we should assume they’re not. But they had to do it. Knowing they are guilty without the evidence is just a little bit better than knowing they are guilty with the evidence. There was no way to prove their innocence from the tapes … because they’re not innocent.

Roger Goodell has succeeded in something. He has successfully extended this ethics scandal/integrity crisis to the league office. Now, who’s guarding the hen house?

Evidence In (and Gone): Pats Cheated in Super Bowls

In “Pats’ tapes are gone, but questions remain,” Gregg Easterbrook begins:

Reader Abhijit Kumbare of San Jose, Calif., writes, “It is very fishy that the NFL immediately destroyed all the evidence submitted by the Patriots.” Steve Libenson of New York writes, “Consider what the press reaction would have been if David Stern had collected all the evidence about the ref altering games, then immediately destroyed that evidence without saying what it showed, and did so four days after going on national television and promising to get to the bottom of things.”
Fishy, indeed. On Sunday, Sept. 16, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell went on national TV and promised he would get to the bottom of the Patriots’ sign-stealing. Four days later, the NFL announced all videotapes and other spying materials compiled by the Patriots had been obtained by the league and destroyed. Goodell, who until then had been very upfront in addressing the Beli-Cheat scandal, didn’t go back on television to say what the tapes contained; the commissioner has been in radio silence about the Patriots since the files arrived at the NFL’s Park Avenue headquarters. The league acted in a hurry to dispose of damning documents, but has not revealed what was in the tapes and notes, nor said why there was a rush to get rid of them.

The lack of answers leaves several questions hanging out there. Chief among them: Is it possible the Patriots’ tapes showed some evidence of New England cheating in a Super Bowl?

Fishy yes. Maybe even illegal. No doubt whatsoever: The Pats have cheated at the maximum throughout all their championship runs, including the Super Bowls. The evidence was on the tapes. Which is why a pitiful man, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, had them destroyed. The NFL has gone to H in a handbasket on his watch. “Forget the integrity of the game,” Goodell might have said behind closed doors (or in silent prayer), “just save my job.”

So an unscrupulous villain, Bill Belichick, gets a pass and football gets the shaft.

Fire Goodell.

(More here.)