sports

Hope for Baseball Next Year and Disgust for a Disloyal General Manager

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I’m a die-hard Texas Rangers fan. I attend as many games as my schedule allows both home and away. Tonight at the ballpark, I watched a much different Texas Rangers team than I saw this Summer with new leadership and new talent. However, I also saw it was different from the excellent team I saw on Opening Day. As injuries heal, a lot of reconciliation needs to take place as to what the 2015 Rangers look like. All I can say to Jonathan Daniels and the rest of the Rangers front office: Choose wisely – start with the Manager. Tim Bogar has done a great job. Don’t pick Mike Maddux because of some seniority issue! He can barely control a bullpen let alone an entire team.

Don’t be in a hurry to unload big contracts or get involved in one-sided transactions where the Rangers are on the losing end. Choo,

Fielder, and Profar need a chance to prove themselves. Use the new rookies to build back the utility players that have been lost due to bad trades and

horrible offers.

As far as pitchers go:

Let Yu pitch. Let Yu play. He does not belong on extended DL’s for tiny scratches to his thumb.

Assess the rest of the starters. For some, it’s now been years for many. These will be hard choices – yet they have to be made. If Harrison is not healthy, unload him. If Holland is not healthy, unload him. If Lewis is not healthy, unload him. Do not be afraid to put trust in rookies like Bonilla.

Oh, and no, we do not need to sign any aging DH’ers looking to eek out one more season of cash (a.k.a. NO BERKMAN’S!!!!)

Finally, this message is to you Jon Daniels – our General Manager and President:

I know you are from Queens, NY – and being from Queens, NY – you feel, like many of your brethren, that the universe revolves around New

York City. It is NOT the center of the universe. Tonight at the ball park, you proved that no matter how much you purport to love your Texas Rangers, your allegiance lies with the New York Yankees. The gross promotion of Derek Jeter during the Yankees series in Arlington was bad enough – but tonight – you took it to a new extreme. You interrupted a 1-1 tight 8th inning match between the Rangers and Oakland – a team trying to get a wildcard seat while the Rangers are trying to play spoilers. Now what warranted this interruption of a tightly contested game? We had to view on our large stadium screen, the final “Home” at-bat of Derek Jeter. It’s not even his final plate appearance. It was only his final plate appearance in Yankee Stadium.

It was disgusting and confusing. But we were soon uplifted as after we saw a 40-year-old infielder with over 3400 Hits, 1,300 RBI’s, and

260 home runs take his bow – a 35-year-old infielder with over 2600 hits and 1380 RBI’s hit HIS 395th home run to win in a bottom-of-the-ninth walk-off win.

I only hope you take note of this as you look to exercise options for 2015 and 2016 and keep Adrian Beltre a Ranger. He has been consistent throughout this entire troubled year for the team. And should he retire a Ranger, I certainly hope you afford him the same level of respect you afforded a player in our stadium WHO NEVER PLAYED FOR OUR TEAM. We reserve those moments for exceptional people like Jackie Robinson.

YOU HAVE MEDDLED WITH THE FORCES OF NATURE, MR. SIMMONS . . . and . . . YOU! MUST! ATONE!!!

Well here we go again. Another ESPN opinion columnist, touted for being on the edge, has been called to the carpet in the style of that famous scene from the 1976 movie “Network” featuring Ned Beatty. The notion that Bill Simmons was suspended (with pay *gah* I should be so lucky) for explicatives said on a PODCAST is ridiculous. He got the hammer because of what he said about Roger Goodell. Thou shalt not defame Roger Goodell. Even if what was said was true. He *IS* a liar. I have been saying that for years. I said that during BountyGate. I also said that during the New England Patriot’s cheating scandal. Of course when Bill Simmons’s beloved Patriots were under the gun, he wasn’t as vocal – but that is another conversation.
So let me ask you a question, ESPN. You sell slow-motion replays of thugs bashing into each other while at the same time, selling alcohol during the commercials yet you espouse this as an issue of integrity, ESPN? Is that really what is going on? No – you are just afraid of losing Monday Night Football. That one little sliver of NFL game coverage you have left. The NFL is smart because they get to control ABC and ESPN all at once with #MNF. It is no coincidence that the NFL (WHICH IS TAX EXEMPT BTW!) has media contracts with all of the major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox.)
Roger Goodell has proven time and time again he is the master of legalese and plausible deniability. Remember what he said about New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton – “Ignorance is not a defense.” Many say these skills will allow him to survive. Oh really? No – it is the screwed up structure of the tax-exempt NFL that allows for him to stay in his massively over-paid position. Commissioner? Der Kommisar? More like a fascist “Il Duce.”

Suspending Bill Simmons for one week longer than Stephen A. Smith or Ray Rice also proves to be interesting. The one good thing about this is the suspension is making news as to what was said content-wise – which is the truth. We now have mainstream reporters coming out and stating the obvious without fear. What is next for ESPN? Can we expect more censoring of Outside the Lines?
What is not being talked about and is something I really do not understand is Bill Simmon’s toxic-co-dependent relationship with ESPN. They have been constantly butting heads over the years. Is he that Boston-ingrained that he cannot seek freedom from a competitor? It is extremely obvious that the two really do not like each other but in spite of the NFL’s influence, ESPN realizes that for true Boston home-town credibility, it needs Bill Simmons as much as he needs their paycheck (suspended *WITH* Pay? That is a free vacation!)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/24/bill-simmons-suspended-espn_n_5878604.html

http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-espn-bill-simmons-suspended-20140924-story.html

https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/espn-suspends-bill-simmons-for-podcast-calling-roger-goodell-a–liar-234203170.html

http://deadspin.com/espn-suspends-bill-simmons-from-twitter-after-em-first-453717304

http://money.cnn.com/2014/09/24/media/espn-suspends-bill-simmons/index.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/espn-suspends-bill-simmons-weeks-calls-nfl-commissioner-roger-goodell-liar-article-1.1951872

Here come the Student Athletic Unions!!!

As Northwestern Players Pursue Unionization, a Voice in the Wilderness Gains a Chorus

As the sanctions continue to oppress programs, punishing mostly poor and minority students – the NCAA and many academics yielded no quarter to the plight of the student athlete juxtaposed with the booming big business of college sports. Yes, Shane Battier asking for NBA-style salaries was ridiculous over a decade ago. But Shane Battier was one guy. What most of these athletes need, they cannot get because it will cost them their careers and colleges their programs.

Is it too much to ask to provide student athletes with the following:

  • Full Room and Board
  • 1000 a month stipend
  • Scholarship insurance
  • Transportation back and forth home
  • Health/Medical Care fully covered while playing
  • Graduation Financial Bonus

Why do Universities take sponsorship’s, merchandise deals, and TV deals allowing coaching staff to make millions. The Officers of the NCAA make millions as well – yet they will not even allow the above for the students.

The NCAA should have seen this coming. As the Internet says, “You should have expected us!”