It's not about the money

We hear it all the time in professional sports and roughly every single time we hear an athlete say it's not about the money, well, it's about the money. I don't even care that it's about the money, just don't act like I'm a fool and try to bullshit me. If Lebron James came out and just said "Look, I love Cleveland, it's my home and all, but I want to get paid" I'd respect that. What I do not respect is when Lebron comes out on national television, to announce "The Decision" and says he is leaving Cleveland for Miami because he wants to be part of something "special." Lebron is not alone. I hate the guy, I do, but he's not unique. In major league baseball it's a different beast all together. In 2004, the Oakland Athletics, one of the franchises in major league baseball hell bent on running a business on the cheap, attempted to do the right thing. They finally spend big cash to sign one of their home grown talents. Eric Chavez was signed to a 6 year deal worth $66 million. Chavez appeared in 422 games from 2004 through 2006 (125 in 2004, 160 in 2005 and 137 in 2006) but then he got hurt and would never produced the way Oakland needed him to. In the remaining 3 years of the contract he appeared in all of 121 games (90 in 2007 23 in 2008 and 8 in 2009) and with MLB's guaranteed contracts, he cashed in on $11 million despite missing 365 games in 3 seasons. Not once did he call Billy Beane and say "Hey buddy. I didn't earn $33 million, why don't you take some of it back and go sign some players who can help the club." Nor does any sane sports fan expect him to have done so. MLB has guaranteed contracts and if you get hurt on the job, tough sledding, you get paid. Where am I going with this you ask?

This past week the highest paid player on the Kansas City Royals and a guy you may not recognize if he walks down the street, Gil Meche, retired from major league baseball. He had one year left on his contract and was set to make $12 million regardless of whether he pitched 300 innings or didn't lace up his spikes all year. He walked into the GM's office and said that he couldn't live up to the contract he signed because his shoulder was not 100% and he refused to have surgery. They offered him a job as a relief pitcher and he turned it down saying “When I signed my contract, my main goal was to earn it.” Once I started to realize I wasn’t earning my money, I felt bad. I was making a crazy amount of money for not even pitching. Honestly, I didn’t feel like I deserved it. I didn’t want to have those feelings again.” Meche told his young daughter that he wouldn't be playing baseball anymore because his shoulder was in too much pain and she said "Ok daddy" and went back to playing in the yard.

There have been a few other examples of this including Cubs great and hall of famer Ryne Sandberg turning down $16 million in 1994 saying he could no longer perform at peak level (he later returned to play two more seasons) and most honorably the late Pat Tillman turned down $3.6 million from the Arizona Cardinals after 9/11 to join the Army and fight for his country.

I don't want to deliver a speech on morals and tell rich a-holes what they should do because odds are I'd exhibit more Eric Chavez than Gil Meche. I do want to give credit where it's due and express my respect for the integrity and character of a guy like Gil Meche. If you see me rockin' the #55 Royals jersey, now you know why.

Brian Sabean sits on his hands... Again!!!

The San Francisco Giants are world champs. You can't take that away from them, no matter how hard you try. This team has been called out on the carpet by fans and media types for not doing enough to bag the big whale in free agency. They definitely were not as desperate as the Boston Red Sox who signed the biggest free agent on the market, Carl Crawford, despite the need for an everyday center or left fielder who is a difference maker in the San Francisco lineup. They didn't trade for Adrian Gonzalez to improve the lack of power in the order and they definitely didn't go out of their way to spend money to make the 2011 team better than the 2010 team. Of course, you can raise the argument that the 2010 team won a world series ring, so why go and fix what isn't broken? For the better part of the last 15 years, I have watched the way the Yankees do business. They go out and win a world series ring then try to improve the team the following year, in a similar way as the Sox did this year, knowing that it's almost impossible to win another ring with the exact same team.

When you have the best pitching staff in major league baseball, you are allowed a certain margin of error as a GM that many teams aren't. Sabean has never been the type of GM to run out and sign a guy like Jason Werth to a $140 million deal for 7 years. He doesn't chase the big fish, he chases tadpoles. Not because they don't have the money but because they choose not to spend big money. They are content with signing an old Miguel Tejada to a short term deal and hoping/praying that he can add some pop to an already impotent line up. They are content to re-sign guys like Andres Torres, Aubrey Huff and Pat Burrel on the cheap and hope for the best. I guess that many fans are still just happy to be here. Happy to be walking around with their 2010 world series champs sweatshirts on, expecting the team to do it again in 2011. I'm not that guy. I feel strongly that this team has not done enough to make a serious run at another ring and unfortunately we live in the bay area, where sports fans are more likely to toe the company line and keep quiet than they are to rip the team to shreds and demand more.

The Giants have a lot of things going for them entering the 2011 season. They play in the worst division in baseball, the level of competition has steadily declined with the Dodgers ownership group preparing for a reality show on Divorce Court, San Diego trading away their biggest talent and the Diamondbacks are, well, the Diamondbacks. Colorado is the only team that can challenge San Francisco for the division and we all know how great that organization has been in recent years. That being said, I feel like 2011 is going to be a let down year here in the Bay. I hope it's not because the energy at the ballpark last season was like nothing I've experienced in my life. This team has a lot more to prove going into 2011 than they did at the start of the 2010 season and I just don't think Sabean has done enough to make it happen again and that has a lot to do with the happy to be here mentality I spoke of earlier. When your franchise breaks a 53 years stretch without a world series ring, do you want them to chase another with all they've got or are you satisfied with the 2010 ring and not really concerned about when you get the next one?

Tweet Tweet

Whether you have a twitter account or not, love it, hate it or don't really care about it, you were given a heavy dose of it's power over the weekend. I have a twitter account and I follow a bunch of pro athletes. When Jay Cutler came out of the NFC championship game with an apparent grade two MCL strain, which we didn't learn about until Monday, I was screaming at the TV "get back in the damn game you freakin' pussy!" Clearly I was not alone b/c the twitter universe was on high alert. Countless former and current NFL'ers were calling Cutler out and questioning his toughness 140 characters at a time. Usually, we hear these athletes flapping gums after the game, once the coaches have discussed the reasoning for Cutler's removal from the game, after we get an injury update from the docs and after the player has a chance to defend himself. With twitter, pro athletes are given the chance to rip players to shreds within the moment of an injury, benching or right after a great play. It's the first time in the history of the NFL that pro athletes have been given the freedom to interact with fans during the game. On some level it's like watching the game with your favorite players and it gives us an opportunity to hear and see what these guys are thinking while watching games. Here is where I have a problem. When you give pro athletes a medium like twitter you create a situation that is highly controversial. This goes both ways. Some people probably love the idea of Derrick Brooks or Deion Turf Toe Sanders chiming in during a game and other people probably feel like these guys need to shut their freakin' pie holes.

I'm all for pro athletes rocking the twitter universe, but let's be honest. Questioning a man's toughness is practically saying that he has no balls and that's where I have an issue. Criticize Cutler for his reads, his lack of accuracy and his inability to make plays in big games. Criticize an athletes performance on the field all day long and I can handle that, but questioning the toughness of another athlete just isn't cool in my book. I'm not a Cutler guy, I think he's mediocre at best, but the guy played in the SEC and was sacked more than any other QB in the league this year and all he did was keep scraping himself off the grass to get back under center. He probably had every right to call his offensive line out in the media, but he didn't. He kept his mouth shut, he kept playing and tried to lead his team to victory. If he wasn't tough, would his teammates have his back? I'll let you decide that for yourself.

The count down to Chavez Ravine begins!

As we all know by now, the Giants are the defending 2010 World Series Champs!  Now that football season is almost over, it almost time to break out that mitt and start to oil it up again.  For some odd reason, the Giants have to start their title defense in the worst place in the world, Chavez Ravine.  Major League Baseball would not allow a one game switch so that the Giants could open at home to have the proper ceremonies and what not.  Oh well, what better way to defend the title on the first day of the season by facing and beating our bitter rivals of the west, the Los Angeles Dodgers.  I got an email this morning from a friend that sparked my need to post this.  It involves a ton of Giants supporters and a banner to fly over Chavez Ravine for the opening game of the four game series starting on March 31, 2011 and the two weekend match ups.  Click here to help make this banner fly high by donating for this great event.

It's a mere 66 days away so move fast!  Vamanos Los Gigantes!

-Mr. A

Remember the name Jimmer!

Out here in the world of West Coast basketball, BYU is one of those schools from the middle of the country that falls into the “western” divisions.  Well I am glad to call them part of the Left Coast family, because they have one of the biggest stars in college basketball today.  His name is Jimmer Fredette.  He’s a 6’2” senior from New York who plays for BYU and can ball with the best of them.  As you can see in this article, he leads the nation’s college teams in points per game. Kemba Walker, of the Connecticut Huskies, is hot on his tail, coming in with the second highest points per game. 

Tonight Jimmer steps back on the court for the first time since dropping 47 points on the Cougar’s in-state rival, Utah.  This Cougar team seems to be one that is going to be in the spotlight come March when the going gets rough.  Watch out because they are capable of beating anyone with the man they call Jimmer. 

To see Jimmer and company against some good competition in the coming weeks, check out the Coug’s host, a really good #6 - San Diego State University, on January 26^th. Also not to be missed is their visit to “The Pit” in New Mexico on January 29^th.  If the Cougs can make some noise against these two opponents, look for them to make a move up in the national rankings.  At the moment four of the top 25 teams are West Coast teams, can BYU climb any higher?


-Mr.A

Harbs begins to build his army!

We all know by now that the Niners front office finally stepped it up for the first time in a while with the signing of Jim Harbaugh.  Since then, Harbaugh has begun to lure his assistants to the Niners that made his Stanford team so good over the past couple of years.  Check out the link here for some background on the new offensive coordinator Greg Roman, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, and offensive line coach Tim Drevno of the Niners.  Cheers!

-Mr. A

The play that never was! I wonder what would have happened?

First off, what a game Monday night!... BUT, as a Duck fan it was about the hardest way to go down.  We fought and fought the entire game and with two minutes left, we tied it on two great plays.  The first thing I thought was that there was too much time on the clock for $cam and the Auburn offense.  Then a horrible thing happened with about a minute left.  Auburn's Dyer got the ball and was almost immediately tackled.....  with the refs not watching the play to the very end like they should have done, Dyer popped up and saw his sideline yelling at him to run.  To me that triggered the refs to not blow the whistle and let the play go on.  They would have made a signal for something if they were watching or just took the chance to let this be the play that would help them break even at the very least (I'll get to this in a bit).  Right when this happened, it made me thing of  a play that happened in this years Sugar bowl between Ohio State and Arkansas.  After checking back on the rules of when a runner is down or not, I confirmed that the wrist is part of the body that counts a player to be down.  Follow the link to a video at the bottom that my friend Ben (Happy Birthday man!) turned me to that shows the two plays with the two different outcomes.  When the refs reviewed if Dyer was down or not, what were they thinking when they saw Dyer's ankle/calf a millimeter from the ground which to the naked eye looks like it its on the ground?  If they didn't see that, they how do you explain Dyer's wrist not counting for him being down?  The Arkansas player's wrist was down and it was called down in one game, so in the National Championship why wasn't Dyer's wrist called down?

This just screams that the refs were pissed once Oregon tied it and they then knew that they were only going to break even with a three point spread because you were almost certain a FG was going to win it at that point.  Therefore, when you put the outcome of the game and millions of dollars in the hands of the refs on the field, you give them a chance to fuck things up!  If that's an Oregon RB, he was down.  The guy was down, watch the replay, the same fucking replay the refs watched with the game in their hands.

In closing, this goes to show you that the current system of putting the game in the hands of the refs on the field is not the way to go.  If you are a college football fan you know this was not the only game the messed up (KSU/CUSE game at Yankee Stadium and TENN/UNC game in Nashville just to name two).  In the NHL, they have a centralized team located in one room that controls all the close calls the refs seem to miss on the ice during any game in the NHL in a particular night.  This puts the pressure on the league to control these individuals to make the correct and honest decision based on the rules of the league.  Since they have had this committee, I have never seen a blown call on whether the play was a goal or not.  I wish I had the right connection to get these thoughts out to the right people so something could be done.  Since I don't, I have you reading it! HA!

Thanks for reading and come back soon!  Go DUCKS!


-Mr. A

p.s. Is it time for the World Series Champion Giants to defend their title yet?  GO GIANTS!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqkAEWVNj6I&feature=player_embedded

The afterthought that will be the X factor: "DT are ya with me"?!?!?!

Being the hardcore Oregon football fan that I am, I know all about this guy.  He is the one who makes all the decisions on the field play, after play, after play.  He seems to not get the credit he deserves even though he has had hand in almost 50% of the offensive TD's the Ducks have scored.  His name is Darron Thomas.  He comes from a Houston high school team that ran the spread offense which is why he looks so polished at the position as a sophomore.  This guy has done everything for the Ducks this year and to Oregon fans he has made us say, Jemimah who?
I want to thank one person that made all of this happen...... Thank you Les Miles!  If you would have committed to Darron being a QB, I don't know where Oregon would be today (probably at least 3 losses on the record with the old balls Costa running the ship)?
So when you are watching the Natty on Monday night, keep a close eye on the other QB in the game, because he might just creep up on ya and outplay his match on the other side.

In Chip We Trust!

Cheers,

Mr. A

Back to School

Of course when I hear those three lovely words, I think of Thornton Melon and the triple lindy, but that's not where I'm going with this. I just need to comment on the topic du jour, Andrew Luck and Jim Harbaugh returning to Stanford.

As a 49er fan I obviously have some feelings about Harbaugh singing in San Francisco. I want him! Not only b/c I think he has the balls to change the losing mentality down in Santa Clara and because he is a football guru who makes Jon Gruden look like a slacker when it comes to football film study, but because I like him. The fact that he met with Jed for five hours the other day without falling asleep is quite impressive. I find it fascinating that sports talk Todd's across the country are up in arms with the idea that a guy would return to coach the college game instead of bolt for the national football league and all it's perks. Is it that shocking? That a guy would return to a first class institution to finish what he started? Is it that ridiculous to think that he went on a few dates with two terrible franchises and didn't get sex on the first date? I don't think it's ridiculous. I think people are not giving Stanford enough credit. Let's get real. Stanford has billions of dollars and plenty of smart people running the show that know when to hold em and when to fold em. It feels like a breath of fresh air to see a guy return to a college program, where he took over a group that really sucked in football and turned them around in a very short period of time. He took over when they were 1-10 and just capped off their best season in school history with an absolute beat down of a very good Virginia Tech program. I like the move and give him a ton of credit for taking that path less traveled.

When I heard that Andrew Luck was returning to Stanford I wasn't shocked, I wasn't butt hurt and I wasn't thinking that he just took a match to his mega millions winning lottery ticket. For those of you who think he's an idiot for passing up $60 million, allow me to break it down in a way that you won't hear on Jim Rome, Collin Cowherd and JT the Dick.

Andrew Luck didn't apply to Middle Tennessee St he didn't apply to Auburn and he didn't apply to Chico St. He applied to Stanford University. He was accepted at Stanford University not simply b/c he can throw a football but b/c he is a very smart kid. Now, he has an opportunity to continue being a student, play football with his buds and graduate from one of the top institutions on the planet and then go get paid. He also took a good look at the reality of playing for the Carolina Panthers and a franchise that is circling the drain faster than even my 49ers are. Then there is this little issue called a pending work stoppage in the NFL which can create tons of problems for anyone who enters the draft in 2011. Yeah, he is leaving a ton of cash on the table to head back to school and that's clearly not as important to Andrew Luck as it is to Cam Newton and his family of misfits. Andrew Luck's family is clearly in a different financial situation than Cam Newton b/c the last I checked, Oliver Luck, Andrew's father, wasn't shopping his kid around to the highest bidder before they decided which college to attend.

I say good for you kid. You can play pro football next season or the season after, but you can't relive your college years. How many of us would pay good money right now to head back to school and focus our energy on what party to attend tonight instead of staring at spreadsheets or doing manual labor? I sure would and I would definitely love every moment of it, as Andrew Luck is about to in 2011.