I just wanted to reiterate my insistence that they're going to go 19-0. Anyone who thought otherwise is just...well...I can't think of a kind word, so I won't use one.
19-0. My guarantee will come more true than that Smith guy's from Pittsburgh.
09 December 2007
05 December 2007
The Old LeftHander
A few thoughts on Joe Nuxhall, who today was named as one of ten finalists for the Ford C. Frick Award, baseball's highest honor for a broadcaster.
Nuxhall passed away in November after battling cancer and other ailments for a number of years. Even last year, though, he could still be heard on WLW alongside Marty Brennaman, calling the occasional Reds home game. Anyone who grew up in the 1970s to 1990s in the Midwest and cared anything about baseball knows Joe Nuxhall. According to everyone who knew him, he was a pleasure to be with, a total class act, both on and off the air.
But Nuxhall as a Frick finalist? I'm sorry, but Joe Nuxhall simply does not belong in this conversation. I recognize that he was nominated in an emotional outpouring of support following his passing, but he simply is not in the class of the past Frick winners, including his longtime broadcast partner. While Brennaman has always been the more honest and willing to criticize of the pair, Nuxhall was the down home, drink a beer and fill the air with complete silence for long moments type. There was a joke in Cincinnati that if you turned on WLW and heard total silence for twelve seconds or more, you knew it was Joe's inning to do the play by play.
Joe caused a lot of laughter, and he certainly is associated by so many with the Big Red Machine and Reds baseball in general. But, now that the old left hander has rounded third and headed for home for the last time, let's not let our emotions run amok. Nuxhall was a great family man, tremendous with charity and the community, and a wonderful part of the baseball world for many, many years. But a Hall of Famer he is not.
Nuxhall passed away in November after battling cancer and other ailments for a number of years. Even last year, though, he could still be heard on WLW alongside Marty Brennaman, calling the occasional Reds home game. Anyone who grew up in the 1970s to 1990s in the Midwest and cared anything about baseball knows Joe Nuxhall. According to everyone who knew him, he was a pleasure to be with, a total class act, both on and off the air.
But Nuxhall as a Frick finalist? I'm sorry, but Joe Nuxhall simply does not belong in this conversation. I recognize that he was nominated in an emotional outpouring of support following his passing, but he simply is not in the class of the past Frick winners, including his longtime broadcast partner. While Brennaman has always been the more honest and willing to criticize of the pair, Nuxhall was the down home, drink a beer and fill the air with complete silence for long moments type. There was a joke in Cincinnati that if you turned on WLW and heard total silence for twelve seconds or more, you knew it was Joe's inning to do the play by play.
Joe caused a lot of laughter, and he certainly is associated by so many with the Big Red Machine and Reds baseball in general. But, now that the old left hander has rounded third and headed for home for the last time, let's not let our emotions run amok. Nuxhall was a great family man, tremendous with charity and the community, and a wonderful part of the baseball world for many, many years. But a Hall of Famer he is not.
Hot Stove Heats Up
Well, the Marlins and Tigers pulled off the deal of the winter meetings, at least until Johan gets traded. This is a pretty huge deal that's gone down.
Miguel Cabrera is a masher. The guy is just a tremendous hitter, and the Tigers have really improved their lineup, which was already dangerous, by adding him. Granderson, Polanco, Sheffield, Ordonez, Cabrera, Renteria, Pudge, Guillen...I mean, that's a serious offensive force.
Defensively, though, Cabrera is a liability at third. Even before he gained all the weight, he really didn't offer much there with the glove. Now that Sean Casey is gone, Detroit would serve itself well to move Cabrera to first and move Carols Guillen, Casey's replacement at first, over to third. Move Inge to left, and here's what the Tigers lineup (if I was the one writing it out) would look like next year:
Granderson CF
Polanco 2B
Cabrera 1B
Ordonez RF
Sheffield DH
Renteria SS
Guillen 3B
Rodriguez C
Inge LF
Wow. That looks even better than I thought it would. It's Yankee-esque. I really like Cleveland, but this move puts Detroit slightly ahead of the Tribe in the AL Central.
Dontrelle Willis is another story altogether. I simply do not understand the fascination with this guy. Sure, he has a great personality and his youthful exuberance is nice, but he's a pretty lousy pitcher. When you're setting your friend up on a blind date, and you say, "She has a nice personality," what are you saying? She's ugly! And Willis' numbers are just that...UGLY. Even Mike and Mike were saying that he'd be fine as a third or fourth starter in the AL. I don't understand this. He wasn't good enough to be a third or fourth starter in the NL last year, really, and the AL is so offensively superior to the NL it's not even funny. I predict Willis will have an atrocious year and will basically become, within the next three years, a left-handed relief specialist (and not a very good one of those either).
The Marlins are a joke. Their payroll next year will be in the neighborhood of $8MM. A-Rod will be paid more in 50 games than the entire Marlins team will be paid for the whole season. And somehow they were supposed to be players in the chase for A-Rod? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Forget a salary cap...maybe it's time for a salary floor. Or, more accurately, maybe it's time to bid adieu to the sorry baseball franchise and their ridiculous mismanagement down in South Florida.
On a happier note, the Cardinals, who for some strange reason were interested in Dontrelle, will be saved from themselves, thankfully.
Miguel Cabrera is a masher. The guy is just a tremendous hitter, and the Tigers have really improved their lineup, which was already dangerous, by adding him. Granderson, Polanco, Sheffield, Ordonez, Cabrera, Renteria, Pudge, Guillen...I mean, that's a serious offensive force.
Defensively, though, Cabrera is a liability at third. Even before he gained all the weight, he really didn't offer much there with the glove. Now that Sean Casey is gone, Detroit would serve itself well to move Cabrera to first and move Carols Guillen, Casey's replacement at first, over to third. Move Inge to left, and here's what the Tigers lineup (if I was the one writing it out) would look like next year:
Granderson CF
Polanco 2B
Cabrera 1B
Ordonez RF
Sheffield DH
Renteria SS
Guillen 3B
Rodriguez C
Inge LF
Wow. That looks even better than I thought it would. It's Yankee-esque. I really like Cleveland, but this move puts Detroit slightly ahead of the Tribe in the AL Central.
Dontrelle Willis is another story altogether. I simply do not understand the fascination with this guy. Sure, he has a great personality and his youthful exuberance is nice, but he's a pretty lousy pitcher. When you're setting your friend up on a blind date, and you say, "She has a nice personality," what are you saying? She's ugly! And Willis' numbers are just that...UGLY. Even Mike and Mike were saying that he'd be fine as a third or fourth starter in the AL. I don't understand this. He wasn't good enough to be a third or fourth starter in the NL last year, really, and the AL is so offensively superior to the NL it's not even funny. I predict Willis will have an atrocious year and will basically become, within the next three years, a left-handed relief specialist (and not a very good one of those either).
The Marlins are a joke. Their payroll next year will be in the neighborhood of $8MM. A-Rod will be paid more in 50 games than the entire Marlins team will be paid for the whole season. And somehow they were supposed to be players in the chase for A-Rod? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Forget a salary cap...maybe it's time for a salary floor. Or, more accurately, maybe it's time to bid adieu to the sorry baseball franchise and their ridiculous mismanagement down in South Florida.
On a happier note, the Cardinals, who for some strange reason were interested in Dontrelle, will be saved from themselves, thankfully.
04 December 2007
Tuesday Thoughts
A few thoughts from the last few days in sports:
BcS
The system which we use to determine who plays for college football's national championship is an absolute crock. I'll spare all my thoughts about how no one should be able to sit at home and watch everyone else put their seasons on the line and then end up in the championship game. I will say this: Two things are desperately needed for fairness in college football--1) Every conference's championship being decided in the same way (with a game or without one, but choose the way and make everyone follow it); and 2) a playoff of some kind. I'm not a big fan of people offering solutions without real suggestions, so, sometime between now and January 7, I'll detail what I think a playoff should look like.
NFL
There was a lot of interesting action in the NFL this weekend. Here are some thoughts on that action:
The John Santana Derby is officially underway, and I think it's a one-horse race, although I'd really like to see the Angels put something together starting with Jered Weaver and Brandon Wood. If all the Twins are waiting on is for the Red Sox to include both Lester and Ellsbury, I don't know what the Sox are waiting on. To be able to add Santana and basically not take anyone away from a team that won it all this year is an easy decision. I do think there are some concerns, and legitimate ones, about Santana's recent workload and health. But he's still Johan, and several years of him at 60-75% is really, really good.
BcS
The system which we use to determine who plays for college football's national championship is an absolute crock. I'll spare all my thoughts about how no one should be able to sit at home and watch everyone else put their seasons on the line and then end up in the championship game. I will say this: Two things are desperately needed for fairness in college football--1) Every conference's championship being decided in the same way (with a game or without one, but choose the way and make everyone follow it); and 2) a playoff of some kind. I'm not a big fan of people offering solutions without real suggestions, so, sometime between now and January 7, I'll detail what I think a playoff should look like.
NFL
There was a lot of interesting action in the NFL this weekend. Here are some thoughts on that action:
- As if there wasn't enough evidence, I believe Marvin Lewis has completely lost control of his team, and I'm also beginning to question whether he's a very good coach. He didn't challenge what to me looked like an obvious touchdown that was called incomplete. In fairness to him, I don't know whether he had any challenges left. The Bengals are, again, a laughable franchise.
- There is no huge conspiracy theory, but the NFL is dying for the Patriots to go undefeated. No way holding should have been called. And no way Jabar Gaffney caught that ball with both feet in bounds. Oh, and Rodney Harrison is a jackass. On the other side of the field, the Ravens are just a mess. Can someone get Bart Scott some anger management counseling for Christmas? And Brian Billick kissing at Harrison? Come on, coach. Grow up.
- The Browns really got hosed. I don't remember a more clear case of a guy getting forced out of bounds in the NFL, and the poor official just missed it. After the long review, the referee went and talked to the official who missed the call before announcing that the pass was indeed incomplete. I think he said, "Dude, you're going to get fined, and you probably need to enter the witness protection program, because you're going to have some fired up Browns' fans coming after you for that one."
The John Santana Derby is officially underway, and I think it's a one-horse race, although I'd really like to see the Angels put something together starting with Jered Weaver and Brandon Wood. If all the Twins are waiting on is for the Red Sox to include both Lester and Ellsbury, I don't know what the Sox are waiting on. To be able to add Santana and basically not take anyone away from a team that won it all this year is an easy decision. I do think there are some concerns, and legitimate ones, about Santana's recent workload and health. But he's still Johan, and several years of him at 60-75% is really, really good.
Welcome to "That's a Winner!"
I was thinking today how much I enjoy talking and thinking about sports, and I thought, "I would really love to write about sports. How fun that would be!" (Or at least I thought something like that.) So, why not start a sports blog? And that's what I'm doing.
This is not an attempt at fair and balanced journalism. I hope I'll just end up being a much more reasonable and palatable Stephen A. Smith (albeit not nearly as famous), simply sharing opinions. I will make no qualms about loving the Cardinals, Colts and Volunteers and despising the Cubs, Patriots and Wildcats (the ones from Lexington, KY).
I love sports and I love to write, and this seems like a logical marriage between the two.
Happy reading!
This is not an attempt at fair and balanced journalism. I hope I'll just end up being a much more reasonable and palatable Stephen A. Smith (albeit not nearly as famous), simply sharing opinions. I will make no qualms about loving the Cardinals, Colts and Volunteers and despising the Cubs, Patriots and Wildcats (the ones from Lexington, KY).
I love sports and I love to write, and this seems like a logical marriage between the two.
Happy reading!
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