Mariano Rivera

In what we hope is now the post steroid era in MLB we were reminded tonight that no one is bigger than the game itself.
Mariano Rivera gave merely a grin as he was congratulated by Mark Teixeira after recording the final out on his 500th save. Teixeira actually fell down retreating to cover first before recovering to make the putout. Rivera however, always the professional, had sprinted to first to back up his teammate and was right there when the out was recorded.
In a time when players celebrate every little thing they do it was refreshing to see Rivera act like he’s been there before. 499 times before. There is no pointing to the sky, pounding his chest,triple sow cow fist pump, or hollering some post war battle cry. His performance alone speaks volumes.
From 1 to 500 Rivera has been a model of consistency. He has been described as mechanical, a machine, effortless. Yet he goes out every time with the same demeanor and approach: Here it is, hit it.
More times than not he ends up victorious. However, even in defeat he is gracious, professional and even consistent. Remember that wry smile as he walked off the mound in Arizona after losing game 7 of the World Series?
There is no telling how much he has left in the tank or if he will ever get the chance to close out another series clinching victory. However, if you are not enjoying it now for what it is then you are just not a fan of the game. For a guy who has been accused of having ice in his veins at least we know it’s only water.

Congratulations MO!

4,257: Can Derek Jeter Save Baseball?

So far Derek Jeter has everything Alex Rodriguez ever wanted. So why not take what MLB wanted, needed and hoped for him to do; save baseball. Jeter currently sits at 2,535. 1,721 hits shy of the all time hit leader Pete Rose. Jeter would have to sustain his average of 195 hits per season for nine more seasons to pass Rose. That would make him 44 years old and put him in his 22nd season as a Major Leaguer. It is highly unlikely that Jeter, a SS, would even last that long let alone continue to rack up close to 200 hits per year for nine more seasons. It would certainly be a great feat and surely would help baseball rise up out from the doldrums of the sports world.

In the wake of the Mitchell Report having been released, Jeter admitted he had put on too much weight in his decade long effort to bulk up in hopes to add more power to his swing. Yet his power numbers remained low last season as the rest of his offensive numbers dropped significantly. Perhaps last season was an indicator of things to come. As well, we all know that Jeter is no longer the premier position player he once was. He has certainly lost as step and judging by his perfomance in the WBC, though be it “pre season” he is far from where he was as an All-Star and World Series MVP.

Even passing Ty Cobb would be almost as improbable. At this point, baseball has not much to look forward to in wake of the recent economic collapse. As well, the current Administration having already backed off unrealistic promises and yet to overcome its love affair with itself is yet to even return from the campaign trail. Futher pushing an already long overdue economic recovery back until the Honeymoon is over. Which may not be until 2016 given its Carpenter like status.

So perhpas we will just have to wait until the next Babe Ruth comes along. Funny how what saved baseball the first time around is what ultimately killed it in the end. I just hope the next Babe Ruth is a sober, non-smoking, drug and disease free, athiest celibite with the heart of Secreteriat the charisma of Shaquille O’Neal, and my overwhelmingly charming yet devestaingly hadsome good looks. Who is born smack dab in the middle of the 39th and 40th parallels. West of the Mississippi and East of the Rocky Mountains under an Earth sign on a snow day in Spring.

Goodbye Shea, and Goodbye baseball. Come see some videos of the Demo of Shea Stadium!

It has been a nice ride Shea. I remember going to into your ugly gates, with excitement as I would run to my seats. I remember sneaking down to field level, on the chair that was at the loge’s 16 front row. Man so many memories I have. I have watched the game of baseball change over the last 10 years and I have realized several things. It was never the building that made the game fun to be at. The important thing was never the level of “Seats” I had. That was the kind of stuff in the end that never made any real difference to a me, because some of my most memorable moments happened while I was sitting in the Upper Decks, where it is said that, “no one who is anyone would ever be caught dead at”.

Something in the Stadium had changed over those final ten years, as I stated before. The more games I went to, the more I realized that the real fans were being pushed out. The game inside Shea had stopped being played for the fans and the community that they created. Shea stopped being great place where fathers and sons, and husband and wives could build a lifetime of memories. That whole idea had began to deteriorate, right in front of my eyes. The community as well as the the building, beam by beam began to rust. This was problem to which there could be no repair. Baseball had sold itself out in New York searching for the Big $ Corporate accounts. I soon realized that if I was sitting on field level, I would always the loudest person cheering. It seemed like these new “Fans” did not even care what was going on or how the game is played. It really upset me knowing that so many kids are not learning the game, they way we all once did. Fathers, now, can’t afford to pay the $1,300 price tag to get seats to bring the kids out to the game, so they can see baseball heroes, in the flesh.

When I think about it, kids seem to be less interested in playing ball after school. It’s really comical, now a days, they are even trying to bribe children into going outside with T.V. ads. Why have PSA’s changed so much? Since the 80’s they went from attempting to keep kids off of crack, to the new agenda of trying to motivate kids to get off their butts. I am pretty sure there is a connection here. Yep, baseball is no longer in the hearts of kids. It is without a doubt a dying sport, and its all because they sold out the heroes of yesterday. Also, before you comment on this article, I ask you to please not give me the steroids users or jerks aren’t good role models nonsense. I only say this because I grew up on Strawberry and Lawrence Taylor, and whether or not they were good people I idolized them, and strived to be like them. I not only learned what it felt like to fail attempting to be like them, I also learned how to win with grace and lose with humility because of them. These are just some of the lessons Major League Baseball and the “New PC America” is stripping from our youth.

My Father always told me stories about the way things were. My father grew up in Brooklyn and he was one of those neighbor kids who loved baseball. They used to play it all the time, in the public ballparks without adult supervision, something that today must be organized. There used to be a bunch of kids that he would go with and try to get tickets to dodger games sometimes after school. My dad would catch up with them every now and again, when he didn’t feel like going to the park. Back then he could get in using only change. A couple of nickels, some dimes, it didn’t really matter to him. As long as he could see the game. T.V. wasn’t in the picture back then, he would always tell me.

He used to speak about how beautiful the front gate was to that stadium, and how, back then, they had real fans in every seat! They even had a live band for music instead of some big clunky loud speaker. Man, my dad could make it seem like it was so much better they way it used to be. People had to interact, there was no other options.  My Pop lived and breathed the Brooklyn Dodgers. At the age of 73 before he passed, he could still remember the times his father brought him to the infamous stadium after school and watch the dodgers in Ebbets Field for 45 cents a seat. This Park that symbolized so much to my father.  My pop grew up on the Brooklyn Dodgers. There was a community, and a Identity around that team. They created and cultivated a true community around the team from Brooklyn and It was the atmosphere, the excitement that kept him coming back, he said. That atmosphere has been long dead in Major League Baseball.

I mean if you really think about how different things were back then it’s amazing. Ebbets Field was thought of as one of the best ball parks in the world, in it’s early days. The Polo grounds were a very dark and dreary place that was rented to the highest bidder. It wasn’t like Ebbets field. It wasn’t a fan’s ballpark. At least that what my dad would have said. It’s somewhat true, it didnt the have the identity that Ebbets had with it’s fans. Ebbets was the Dodgers home, and that includes their community of fans.

Let’s just take a couple of seconds to think about this. Ebbet was constructed and opened in 1913. Its original capacity was 23,000 seats. It was made with Brick, glass and Iron by hard working Brooklyn construction workers, who without a doubt felt connected to the game of Baseball. It costed around $750,000 at the time. I hope that everyone realizes what costed $750,000 in 1913 would cost $15,549,366.33 in 2007, if you adjust for inflation. Now this is where most citizens think, “ok yeah thats why tickets cost so much now.”

But lets look at what it costed to go to a game back then. Well in 1938 to catch a night game at Ebbets it was $1.65 including tax, to sit in the lower stand in section 6, 3rd row. This is without a doubt a Infield seat. with a rather high price tag at the time. Ok, so if you do the math, you’ll realize that these same seats in 2009 would cost you 31.20 if you adjusted for only inflation. Ok, lets check out comparable seats in Citi-field. The Delta club section 18 is an infield seat in around the same location of the Ebbets field seat only in the New great ballpark of Citi-field. As I am sure you all know the new stadiums are most club/box seating, obviously for the fans and not for big Companies (Sarcasim). Anyway, those tickets for the Mets vs. Padres game on April 15th are going for $218.00 each. Please note that this isn’t opening day.  The adjusted  $31.20 dollars ticket is a little far off the mark from what they are charging now, isn’t it? My big question is where is all that extra money going? The team owners all have a simple answer to that, which is complete bs. “Its going to the players salaries!”. That is total nonsense. It is just a deflector answer to hopeful make the public less aware of the amount of money that these club owners are trying to squeeze out of you, the fan. Today they have much more money channels that are bigger and more profitable that they didn’t have back in the day. T.V. Deals, merchandising, advertising on website etc. They don’t care about the environment anymore of today’s baseball parks. All they care about is how much money they can produce for the owner.

My oh my, how have things changed from back in the day at 55 Sullivan Place, along Montgomery St and Bedford Ave. They are trying to confuse us with the a lour of yesterdays ballparks, when the baseball that was played back in the days of Ruth and Robinson is long dead.

Shea Stadium Demo Videos:

Drug Pushers

I have a “bone” to pick. MLB, ESPN, and WFAN call all kiss my ass! I am sorry that it took me this long to realize it and I apologize to our readers for not addressing this sooner. It has been 15 months since the release of the Mitchell Report. In that time we have seen the games biggest stars fall from grace. They have either been caught or accused of abusing illegal drugs in hope of enhancing their performance on the field. They have been disgraced as well as their families, teams, fans and countries. We have shamed them for it. We have listened to beat writers, talk show hosts and “analysts” talk about their influence on children and the negative effects they have on children.

Why is it then that all three of these major sports media outlets allow Pfizer to advertise Viagra during baseball games? Viagra is a performance enhancing drug is it not? Who is responsible for this? This is an outrage. How do I explain what erectile dysfunction is to my five year old daughter during the 5th inning of USA vs Canada? Which by the way was not a prime time telecast. Even tonight in the wake of The Netherlands upset over La Republica Domincana, ESPN is still firing away at Roger Clemens and the fabricated evidence against him in an attempt to tear him down yet after the story aired the next block of commercials included an add for Viagra. Give me a break!

Advertising during prime time when the kids should be in bed is one thing. Yet, Baseball is sacred. Is it not? I do not care what time it is, drugs should not be pushed on us during sporting events. It sends a terrible message. The wrong message. How can you take your kids to a baseball game when there are signs up all over the place with old ugly pediphiles on them trying to keep an erection?

You would think they would have pulled the adds considering the poster child for abusing performance enhancing drugs and lying about it was also peddling Viagra. Has anyone seen Rafael Palmeiro lately?

Bud Selig Is A Crime Boss

Gambino… Genovese… Selig? What? I was shocked too. How could a complete dolt, a simpleton, a coward, find himself amidst the names of some of the most notorious figures of all time? Alas, it is true. Perhaps you have not heard or just had not paid much attention to the story. As well the mainstream media surely gave Allen Huber Selig Jr. a pass on this one. In fact they gave him a pass on more than just one occasion, but I assure you Mr. Selig is a criminal avoiding justice. As the old saying goes money talks…!

In 2002 the minority owners of the then Montreal Expos filed RICO charges against Mr. Selig and Jeffrey Loria. MLB could have been found liable for up to $300 million. Mysteriously, the case was sent to arbitration and eventually settled for an undisclosed amount. This is what happens when rich white men take large sums of money from one another. Lawyers get involved and as long as everyone gets their money all parties agree no one has to serve any jail time. This in itself is a crime as far as I am concerned. Especially when all this is going on behind closed doors at the expense of the hard working people who inexplicably sit idly by and continue to support this man and his sport.

Mr. Selig has also been part of a very hush hush collusion scandal that has been going on in recent years. On at least four seperate occasions since 2002 Bud Selig and the Owners of MLB have been have been cited for collusion ranging from money owed from revenue sharing to contracts including players such as Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez.

The latest scandal is that of banned trainer Angel Presinal. Who somehow avoided notoriety in 2001 after being banned from baseball for having been caught with steroids and syringes. Obviously his ties to baseball were strong and still are the even after having been caught Bud Selig never exposed him nor made it evident to any player to refrain from contact with this man. Presinal was also allowed to work with players in the 2006 World Baseball Classic; a Selig creation.

You be the judge but clearly Selig’s hands are dirty and it is only a matter of time before a young hot shot Federal investigator gets wise and takes him down. Elliot Ness where are you now?

Bud Selig

Is there a more worthless coward in professional sports than Bud Selig? No! There is not. This man is nothing more than a puppet on a string for MLB ownership of which he used to be a part. He was a terrible owner of a terrible franchise and now is the Commissioner of the most laughable and terrible product in sports history. Bud Selig is a big cry baby and a spoiled brat. He inherited the family business. As the old saying goes “you can always tell who built the empire and who inherited it.” He has watered down baseball with bad talent in bad markets with expansion. He was also a major player in the collusion scandal in baseball which thanks to his relationship with the media has gone relatively unnoticed in recent years yet still exists. 2012 cannot come soon enough. A year in which Selig plans to retire. THANK GOD! Many expect this to be the end of the world according to ancient Mayan calendars. Well I can tell you the village idiot is surely running the show in MLB.

He has created two teams in baseball in markets where the fan base would not know what a baseball was if you hit them in their aging elderly brains with one. He has initiated the worst rule in sports deciding home field advantage for the league championship be determined by it’s most meaningless game. His drug testing policy came 16 years after George Bush made steroids illegal in the U.S. A test that is now completely obsolete because they still have no test for HGH. Earth to Bud: you do not need a test for it. It is illegal. Therefore any player caught using should be banned for life. Much like Pete Rose was banned for his illegal gambling. Even David Stern, who allows the use of marijuana in his league, is laughing at you.

YOU ARE A JOKE BUD SELIG! And everyone knows it. The sooner you retire the better off we will all be. You are a disgrace to the game and this country. You are a nobody in the Hall of Shame of sports. You are a terrible human being, a worthless commissioner and common pimp among businessmen everywhere. YOU SUCK!

The Truth In Earnest

In 1986 weather you wanted to believe it or not, the baseball world was introduced to steroids. Then, an 11 year old kid, I was at the height of collecting baseball cards. I still have them and what fun it was to spend most or all of what little money I had buying up as many as I could. By the ripe old age of 12 thanks to Jose Canseco I could identify a “muscle head” or “juice head” from a mile away. By the 7th grade I was already wondering if I would ever even make it as a high school athlete because I thought that everyone who played football was on steroids. In the 8th grade I learned everyone was not on steroids, steroids were bad for you, and if you wanted some I could get them for you. That was 1989. Baseballs were “juiced” not players. The Cold War was ending and the Steroid Era in baseball was well underway. A year later The Anabolic Steroids Control Act of 1990 became law on November 29, 1990, when President Bush signed the Omnibus Crime Control Bill.

Why then since that day does MLB or any other professional sports organization continue to be held at bay by a players union that somehow does not think that the law applys to its members? How can any player who belongs to the union that plays under the same collective bargaining agreement expect anyone to believe they they are “clean” when their own union affords them the right to be “dirty”? Why would any fan, including reporters/beat writers/media etc. of MLB be upset or shocked to find out that Alex Rodriguez or any player for that matter used steroids? Why then would these same people call for everything short of a beheading of said players when they knew all along these “sacred” and “holy” records were already compromised?

As much as I detest Barry Bonds. As much as I hate the Yankees for having signed Jose Canseco, Jason Giambi and Kevin Brown and for resigning Andy Pettitte the lying, cheating, rat. And as much as I hate A-Rod for further disgracing the pinstripes I have to say according to the rules of baseball at that time, they crossed no lines nor broke any rules. (other than the law) But since that does not count in baseball, never has, never will – let the records stand. Everyone including Ownership, MLB Executives, MLBPA and its members, the media and us the fans should all accept our responsibility and just put it to bed and move on.

If MLB, MLBPA, U.S. Congress, or parents/teachers/coaches of children in the United States think that only now steroids is a problem at the high school level, they are sadly mistaken and grossly ignorant.

I Need A New Sport

My father used to say that Rodeo was the only sport. That no one was tougher than a Cowboy. He himself used to “bulldog” back in his day. Though those days were short lived after having seen a man have his head stomped in and spend the rest of his days talking to himself. Dear old Dad wore cowboy boots, snap button shirts and had a license plate that read RODEO: Everything Else Is Just A Game!

I have to say that with all that is going on in the seemingly unwatchable professional sports world that I must agree. Parity in football sucks. The last ten Superbowl champs just do not measure up to those before them. Baseball is a mockery now. The commissioner is coward. The players union is run by a s group of arrogant jackasses empowered by lazy good for nothing drug addict ball players. Even the government is standing on ceremony now in their day late and dollar short effort to rectify the situation. NBA basketball is a disgrace. Between what they allow on and off the court coupled with the FACT that they have a gambling problem how could anyone take it seriously? Hockey lost me when the Sabres lost to the Stars on a goal that should not have counted in a game that decided the Stanley Cup Champ. I would still rather be playing NHL Hockey on Sega. And don’t bother with any other sport. You are lucky I felt generous enough to include Hockey in the conversation. Next you will want to whine about soccer and tell me it is “so popular”. Yeah well not here in the real world United Stated where its biggest star bailed to go back over seas and play for less money. Soccer is a baby sitting service for terrible parents who do not love their kids and are afraid they might get hurt playing a real sport.

Which brings me to Rodeo. Beer drinking, tobacco chewing, jeans and denim shirt wearing men atop 1200lbs of raw power! Even the advertisements at these events are manly. You will not see advertisements (at least not yet) for weenie girlie men and their “E.D.” or hair loss. You see ads for trucks, guns, hunting, beer, sponsor tags for tobacco and even some good old fashioned down home Americana:  www.borderpatrol.gov. It is amazing. I love it. I can not get enough. I am sure one day ESPN and the advertising industry will ruin it like they have ruined every other sport worth watching. For now it really is the only thing worth watching.

The last three weeks, at work behind the bar, I have turned off both college and pro basketball, ESPN’s Sportscenter, MLB network and all three New York area hockey teams in favor of VS coverage of bull riding. At first I get “what the hell are doing?” or “Whoa, what the..” “Hey put that back”. Yet every time I put on the rodeo after the first bull comes out from the chute it gets very quiet as the entire bar is focused on the one tv that is showing the bull riding. The only noise you hear from the crowd is when a cowboy gets “throwed” from his horse. Absolutely no one is watching the other 5 tv’s that are all showing basketball, hockey etc.  And when I turn it off the whole place erupts with an emphatic “WHOAAAA, PUT IT BACK!”

Rodeo: Everything Else IS just a game.

Shame Shame Shame

Alex Rodriguez has tested positive for steroids. Shocked? I mean really now. Does anyone even care? I never thought that MLB would be the biggest joke in professional sports. Certainly now if it was not already MLB has no credibility. There is only one way to fix our national sport. First MLB needs a new commissioner, one with a backbone and no allegiance to either players or owners. I suggest me. Second the MLBPA needs to be busted. Clearly, the union, like any other union is to provide a safe working environment for its members as well as insuring fair practice. They have failed. Third the owners must all be forced to sell. An arbitrator should hold bids for each franchise and settle fair market value for all. Lastly all players and coaches at the major league level should be sent packing. They can all receive full contract value from revenue collected when the teams are sold. Baseball could continue with the stars of tomorrow: today! In less than five years no one will remember or care about A-Rod, Albert Pujols, Derek Jeter, Manny Ramirez or any other aging cheating superstars.

Manny To The Yankees

New York Yankees Then And Now

While it was true that the Yankees had spent money fill voids at second and third base the money well spent was on their bench. While most teams owners were unable or unwilling to keep up with the George Steinbrenner branch of the Bank Of New York, even the teams that could and would were no match for the money the Yankees could spend on filling their bench.

In 1998 the Yankees spent roughly $9,000,000 on players like Tim Raines, Chili Davis, Louis Sojo, and Joe Girardi. Lest we not forget the important contributions of players such as Ricky Ledee, Shane Spencer and Homer Bush. However, as it stands now those ever so important role players pale in comparison to the stars of yester-year. While they may be serviceable players such as Nick Swisher, Jose Molina, and Cody Ransom even home grown “talent” such as Melky Cabrera, Juan Miranda and Brett Gardner fall short of the standard set by the 1998 Yankees.

The log jam the Yankees have created for themselves in the outfield is the now the albatross they had for the past 3 seasons with Giambi. Although they have ”cut” payroll so far this season the Yankees must still find a way to solidify their outfield while also shoring up their bench. A perfect example is the 2009 version of Jason Giambi. Ten years ago it would have been a foregone conclusion that Giambi would have ended up in pinstripes this Winter. And at $4,000,000 for the year for Oakland that is a steal.

Off the bench Nick Swisher is a good start for the Yankees and a step in the right direction towards winning a 27th World Series Championship. However, I feel they still fall short of being complete just yet until they are able to round out the bench to compliment their high priced arsenal.

What will we See in ALCS Game Six?

The Redsox are back to their old tricks again; coming back from huge playoff deficits. First the comeback to the Yankees after being down 0-3, and last year’s 1-3 deficit against Cleveland in the ALCS. Well, now they have brought back a 1-3 deficit to a 2-3 deficit.

The only difference from last year’s comeback is that Boston was at home for games six and seven. This year they’ll be on the road in T.B.

This is what the Rays earned all year. They played tough, enthusiastic baseball and earned home field advantage in the ALCS. However, if they want to avoid a game six, their pitching down the stretch is going to have to improve. Thursday night’s game was the second game of the series to feature both clubs scoring runs in bunches; game two ended 9-8 with Tampa Bay on top, and Friday’s game began 7-0 and ended 8-7.

This game is going to be a close one. It’s going to come down to the pitching staff of both teams. But what will we see? A high scoring affair like in games two and five, or defensive dominance like we saw in game 1 (BOS won 2-0), game 2 (TB won 9-1), and game four (TB wins 13-4).

Slugfest Down in Tampa Bay in ALCS Game 2

Last night’s game two between the Boston Redsox and Tampa Bay Rays was a shootout. Both teams kept trading momentum, and they did so until the end of the 9^th inning, where the two teams hit a stalemate that lasted until the bottom of the eleventh inning.

With the next two games being in Boston, the Rays better take what they used to attain a winning record against the Redsox in their regular season series, and try to at least come out 2-2 heading back to Tampa.

This is where the Rays really have to prove their not just a feel good story, but a team that was in it to win it from the beginning of the season. But they still face an uphill battle going into Boston. The Redsox are not the team searching for a title anymore. They’re the team that now knows how to win one.

The loaded rosters of both the Redsox and the Rays were shooting them out of the park like it was the Derby, and they provided a lot of entertainment last night. However, is this a sign of things to come? If so and the Rays have to match firepower, I would say that doesn’t bode well for them traveling to Boston for the next two games in the series and tied 1-1.

Say it Ain’t Joe!? A Farewell to Yankee Stadium?

The Boinger

So they said farewell last night to Yankee Stadium. Some people could care less others in my opinion care a little too much. I could go on about feeling sentimental for concrete and steel but that is not what I am here for today. Yesterday was a farewell to “The Stadium” and all that came to pass there. A chance to look back and reflect on all the wonderful moments in its history and a chance for fans to not only show their appreciation but for the Yankees organization to thank its fans as well as stick out their chest a big and blow some hot air.

I just have one question:

Where was Joe Torre? I know he is in L.A. taking the Dodgers to the post season but where was Joe Torre? There was no Joe Torre in the video montage. No one even mentioned his name. How do you say goodbye to Yankee Stadium, recognize everyone that came from start to finish including all of Joe Torre’s players who won those 4 World Championships and all the celebrated managers that came before him and NOT MENTION HIM?

That is just terrible. I mean they dragged out a bunch of stiffs to represent every dead Yankee legend as well as spouses and children of deceased players. They had some of the oldest living Yankees in attendance and no Torre? Even Mattingly was missed if you blinked. That is a disgrace to me, one of Joe Torre’s biggest and toughest critics. The man gave the team everything he had. Opened his entire personal life up to the team and its fans. Ate slept and breathed NEW YORK for 12 seasons and that is how you say goodbye?

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