The Tebow Train Wreck
By: David Rabinowe
I like Tim Tebow. Rooted for him in college. But for the Jets this makes no Football sense. Here is why:
1. In professional Football, If you have 2 quarterbacks, you don't have any.
2. Tebow is a better leader then Mark Sanchez, but not a better quarterback. You can't lead from the bench. Thats a rescipe for disaster.
3. Sanchez lost the locker room last year, without Tebow and his minions breathing down his neck
4. If you guarantee the backup quarterback reps in a game, you have to give him reps in practice, that takes away from developing your young starter. If you don't play Tebow more then a couple of gadget plays a game, then the cost (a 4th round pick, swap of a 6th and 7th and 2.5 million dollars), for a player who will only see the field a handful of times each week is prohibitive.
5. The Jets gave 50 million dollars to a disgruntled wide receiver, and now want to go to an offense that features ground and pound and the wildcat. Not a smart mix.
6. Would you like driving past billboards touting your backup on your way to work every day? The Jets are going to sell Tebow. That kills any confidence Sanchez has.
7. Tebow wants to be the starter. He believes he can win the job. He won't settle for the backup role, nor should he.
8. The Jets have no real plan. They signed a backup a week before Tebow became available. Traded him a week later to the Colts. Without a plan in the NFL you can't win.
9. The games new rules cater to the passing game. The Jets are going to try to run two offenses, one for Sanchez and one for Tebow, neither of which take into account the direction of the league.
10. This move is not about winning football games, its about selling tickets. In NY Without the Winning the tickets don't sell. Want proof? Ask the Mets.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Link Recommendation: Take a look at George Vecsey's new Website after you read our interview with the newly retired NY Times columnist, it's a great read!
http://www.georgevecsey.com/
http://www.georgevecsey.com/
Sunday, March 11, 2012
The Luxury Box Cheap Seats:
Example: Who would you rather be Peyton Manning, an all time great at his position, who has defined consistent excellence in the regular season, but has only won one championship and has a pedestrian 9-10 career post season record, or his brother Eli Manning, a very good, but not immortal quarterback who has played his best in the most pressure packed moments – Winning two championships and posting a career 8-3 post season record.
It’s a great sports-talk-radio debate. But as College Basketball’s March Madness takes over the country, the debate becomes moot. College basketball is defined by the tournament, the bracket, and by “One Shining Moment.”
Because of that fact, in college basketball I’ll take Kemba Walker carrying Connecticut to a championship last year, Carmelo Anthony’s historic freshman run for Syracuse, Bryce Drew putting Valparaiso on the map, Tyus Edney taking UCLA coast to coast against Missouri, Keith Smart’s shot that lifted Indiana, and even Chris Weber’s ill-timed timeout. Give me NC State and Lorenzo Charles’s dunk over Houston, Magic vs. Bird in 1979, and Grant Hill’s pass to Christian Laetner. I’ll take the Princeton offense, Syracuse’s 2-3 zone, UNLV’s old Ameba Defense, Arkansas’s old 40 minutes of Hell, UNC’s fast break, and the precision of Duke. And of course I’ll take my alma mater, URI making the elite eight before falling to Stanford the year after I graduated.
The majesty of baseball and its spring like aura of renewal begins its 2012 season March 28 in Tokyo, Japan. The Seattle Mariners and their young new catcher, Jesus Montero, play the Oakland’s Athletics who stole the thunder from the Florida Marlins by signing the latest Cuban phenom defector, outfielder Yoenis Cespedes.
Taxpayers are funding 75 percent of the construction which will total $2.4 billion after 40 years of interest payments to repay bonds taken out by the City of Miami. Specifically, the SEC is looking into $500 million in bond sales, campaign contributions to local and state politicians by Marlins officials, and a parking garage arrangement where Miami has to pay Dade County $2 million in property taxes. In 2005 the Florida Legislature voted not to give the Marlins $45 million for stadium construction after owner Jeffrey Loria appeared at a hearing in Tallahassee and grossly undervalued the team. The survival of major league baseball in South Florida is at stake. The clock is running for the Spanish Cuban aristocracy who dominates the social and political life of Latin Miami and they must deliver bodies through the turnstiles of the new facility or risk losing the team to Las Vegas or some other western outpost.
Florida’s other major league team, the Tampa Bay Rays, are not in great financial shakes either. Like Olympic Stadium in Montreal, which was located in the French section and thus persona non grata to the English business class, the Rays’ digs at Tropicana Field, built over a chemical dump, is persona non grata to most residents of the Tampa Bay area because of a difficult drive, a kind of reverse loop, into the St. Petersburg section where the facility is located. St. Petersburg’s mayor is holding the Rays hostage to a long term lease that guarantees that the franchise will hemorrhage money for years to come. It is time for Commissioner Bud Selig to cut a deal over the lease so that the Rays can either built a new stadium in downtown Tampa or move to Orlando, where there is a lot of land to build a new home for a team that then could be called the Orlando Oranges or the Orlando Sun Rays.
Bobby Valentine, who managed for many years in Japan and the 2000 New York Mets World Series team, has landed in Boston, where he was hired to meet the high expectations of New England fans, who believe in most years that the cosmos has conspired to prevent the Red Sox from winning the World Series, if not late season games against the New York Yankees. Valentine’s plan for winning it all this year is apparently to ban beer from the clubhouse.
Baseball signed a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the player’s union in December. One of the new wrinkles is that teams will be allowed to carry 26 players on their roster, instead of 25, for double headers, such as they exist anymore. The Major League minimum salary was $414,000 last year and is $480,000 for 2012. It will rise to $490,000 in 2013 and top out at $500,000 in 2014.
Major changes were made in compensation for lost free agents, to increase the competitiveness of small market teams, and blood testing, instead of just urine sampling, will begin in order to detect human growth hormone (HGH).
Teams will now receive compensation for losing players to free agency only if they offer a guaranteed 1-yearcontract equal the average salary of the league’s 125 highest-paid players. If they do so, they will be awarded 1 draft pick at the end of the 1rst round.
Small market teams and low-revenue teams will be able to obtain additional supplemental-round draft picks through an annual competitive balance lottery. In addition, the 15teams in the largest markets will be disqualified from revenue sharing in 2016. The $178 million threshold for the luxury tax on payroll spending will extend to 2013 but increase to $189 million in 2014 and run to 2016. The tax rate on violators will decrease to 17.5 percent for first time offenders but increase unfairly to 50 percent for the New York Yankees and any other club that should exceed the cap for the 4th time.
This year Major League Baseball begins blood testing for HGH and shockingly it is actually following the normal legal principle of reasonable cause, that is if there is some evidence to suggest the player is taking HGH, then the player can be tested at any time. Beginning in the off season however, later in the year, Major League Baseball will return to its usual position above the law and all players will be blood tested during spring training in 2013 and subject to police state type random tests thereafter.
On February 29, MLB adopted a 10 team playoff format for this year. The end result will probably be three teams from the American League East.
At a time in which NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is considering ending the league’s post season all star game, known as the Pro Bowl, as a dangerous nuisance, Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, hell bent on replicating pro football’s success as an international marketing goldmine, has ordered that all players selected to the sport’s mid season exhibition game Must Absolutely attend the game unless injured. In truth, the exhibition has lost much of its luster since it started as a marketing gimmick to drum up interest in the game during the Great Depression. Teams play 162 games now instead of 155 as they did then. Furthermore, the expanded playoff system has increased from the maximum of 7 games in a World Series in the Depression to a maximum of 19 possible games in a three-tiered playoff format. Therefore, a player who is both an All Star and on a World Series contender, is playing as many as 26 more games a year than in the first third of the 20th century. He is tired at midseason, wants mainly a rest and, if possible, more time with his wife and kids. The rationale pushed out for the game is that the sport “owes” this and that to the fans, but what exactly is owed to the fans after more than 200 games going back to spring training is not made clear. Selig has already forced on baseball the dubious consequence of awarding home field advantage to the team from the winning league in his exhibition. It’s a crackpot idea when you think about it. Imagine determining the site of the BCS National Football Championship based on a no pads, spring walkthrough between Alabama and Southern Mississippi. Or determining the site of the Final Four based on an East-West matchup in the McDonald’s High School All American Basketball Classic.
Unfortunately, the 77-year old Selig’s $18.4 million salary was extended for another two years by his old boy club owners this winter. Last year he made nearly twice as much as NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, whose $10.9 million salary was indeed modest in comparison. In order to discover money not yet in Major League Baseball’s bank account, additional wild card teams will be added in 2013 and the Houston Astros, very much against their will, are being moved to the American League West in order to instigate a rivalry with their instate neighbors to the north, the Texas Rangers, whether they like it or not.
Baseball’s longevity, nevertheless, is not due to rich old men, but rather to young boys and girls who go to a game with their parents and become hooked on this game of grace and beauty, ballet on grass with a small white ball, for life. Imagine the Japanese children who will see the Mariners play the Athletics. They are the joy of spring and the joy of baseball.
The Luxury Box: George, you suggested in a podcast last December that Albert Pujols looked rather portly to you when you covered him at the World Series in St. Louis last fall. Are you hinting that you believe his body will break down before he plays out his huge 10-year contract in Anaheim?
George Vecsey: He looked heavy and not very mobile. Players are usually worn down at the end of 180 games, and they gain weight during the season (Sabathia, etc.) And Pujols is a great athlete who can probably hit for a long time. But do athletes wear down at 32? A lot do.
The Luxury Box: In your most recent book, Stan Musial, an American Life, you do compare Pujols to the Cardinals’ icon Stan Musial. Pujols was the one true star on a team that somehow competed for and won championships with reclamation projects and the genius of manager Tony La Russa and his pitching coach Dave Duncan. Now that two of these men are gone and Duncan, on leave, may be gone too, is this the end of an era for the St. Louis Cardinals, a sort of 1970s drought when their late 60s dynasty ended and White Herzog’s “rabbits” of the 1980s had not arrived?
George Vecsey: There’s no doubt it’s a different game without input from LaRussa, but they have the same GM and ownership and probably same philosophy of thinking like a middle market. But the loss of Pujols and LaRussa could surely change the franchise for the short run.
The Luxury Box: Is Dave Duncan the greatest pitching coach ever and should he be voted into the Hall of Fame?
George Vecsey: With all due respect to Duncan (and my friend Bob Welch thrived under him in Oakland), it’s hard to make a case for a pitching coach.
The Luxury Box: Using 1869 as the yardstick, major league baseball will begin its 143rd year in two weeks. Despite the smallest ball in professional sports, baseball umpires, in my view, do a much better job of umpiring their sport than certainly football and basketball in the United States. You have written about all three sports for decades. What is your view?
George Vecsey: Replay has disclosed a lot of mistakes in recent years, and I see more replay on the horizon, but I do think the fixed bases and lack of flow of players – everything starts from a pitch – makes it “easier” to concentrate and be in position. Basketball is quite subjective; football is nearly impossible for players like pass interference, or holding on the line.
The Luxury Box: Baseball writers historically favored management over players, indeed in the early days some reporters were even on the payroll of owners, and that bias still seems to infect stories on player salaries, labor issues; specifically there never seems to be an acknowledgment by reporters of the countervailing benefits that owners and teams receive such as the tax benefits of salaries. After all, historically, many corporate barons bought baseball teams because the sport afforded a wonderful tax write off. Since you are an exception coming from a union background, can you discuss why that bias remains among other baseball writers?
George Vecsey: Thanks for noting that my parents helped organize the Newspaper Guild at the Long Island Press in 1938. I’m very proud of their courage, and I am a union person. But in response to your question, I think the good reporters in NY and elsewhere are aware that the owners have their tax reasons and time frames for owning a team. It may not get written into every story, but writers know owners do things for bigger reasons. It’s sort of understood. But it’s also fair to say that if players and agents get depicted as greedy or aggressive, then owners should be accurately noted as having bigger tax pictures. How often can you footnote that?
The Luxury Box: You have spent practically your whole adult life watching baseball from inside the press box. Now that you have more free time in the summer, will you be watching a lot of games from the regular seats in stadiums instead? Which vantage point is more fun? Will you be attending games alone or with friends and family?
George Vecsey: Good question. I look forward to slipping into ball parks here and there – Queens, near my home, with our son and his daughters, or maybe in Seattle where one daughter lives, Boston, which I love, or just random road trips. I might even go to a game in Yankee Stadium. I look forward to sitting in the stands. The Mets’ park has a nice area behind RF where you can buy a decent sandwich and stand and kibbitz. But all the ball parks are too noisy, just unpleasant to be in.
The Luxury Box: Among existing baseball parks, what is your favorite?
George Vecsey: I have a nice memory of Pittsburgh from a few years ago, walk in from downtown, great plazas where you can stand, munch, watch. Fenway is always crowded. I’ve never sat in the stands. I haven’t been to the DC stadium yet. I haven’t been to the new one in Cincinnati, either, but I love that part of the country, and would love to visit. Oh, and the Minnesota stadium in decent weather…great food stands near the river, walk in….
The Luxury Box: Bud Selig, at age 77, just received a two year extension on his gaudy contract of almost $20 million a year. Would baseball have been better off bringing in some younger blood to run its show?
George Vecsey: Selig is a young 77, or whatever he is. Like him or not, he is doing what the owners want. His life has gotten easier with Michael Weiner running the Players Association because Weiner is not confrontational and is reasonable about things like testing, but surely no pushover. If Selig were not serving the owners, they would have him out. It’s their business. I have no romantic view of the People’s Commissioner any time soon.
The Luxury Box: Now that Selig remains Commissioner, should he not try to convince Fred Wilpon to sell the Mets to an owner in better financial circumstances? After all, he managed to force the sale of the Dodgers in the middle of the messy McCourt divorce.
George Vecsey: Not sure he isn’t trying to do that now. I suspect the events of the past year have not made Selig happy. He likes stability but cannot be happy at the decline (and wretched public image) of a prominent franchise.
The Luxury Box: In February, the rigid Yankees turned away the entreaties of Vladimir Guerrero on the grounds that he was a free swinging, undisciplined hitter, never mind that he had a higher batting average last year, .290, of all but two Yankees, Robinson Cano and Derek Jeter. The Yankees furthermore have this rigid grooming policy requiring short hair on the head and no facial hair. In your career as a sports reporter and writer, is there any reason to believe that hairlessness improves the performance of baseball players?
George Vecsey: I hardly think hair has anything to do with it. Players who come to the NYY cannot wait to clip off their facial adornments. Guerrero has been a static player for years. They can pick and choose.
The Luxury Box: There were two big free agent signings this winter, Jose Reyes by the newly named Miami Marlins and Prince Fielder by the Detroit Tigers, which involved “duplicate positioning,” that is they already had a player at the free agent’s position, short stop Hanley Ramirez for the Marlins and first baseman Miguel Cabrera for the Tigers. Did those deals make sense at all from a defensive standpoint?
George Vecsey: I can’t speak about Ramirez and his attitude. But I was surprised to be around the Tigers last Oct. and discover how highly Leyland thinks of Cabrera and his baseball aptitude. I know Cabrera has his issues, but he is a smart and polite person up close, and I also think he has soft hands to play 3B or some position, or else he can DH. I don’t know their plans, but he is more of a solid citizen than I understood. Ramirez? Don’t know.
The Luxury Box: New Cubs General Manager Theo Epstein wasted no time over the winter in making over his team, signing Anthony Rizzo from the San Diego Padres as the heir apparent at first base, signing free agent right fielder David Jesus from the Oakland A’s, bringing in pitchers Paul Maholm from the Pirates and Travis Wood from Pirates, placing Ian Stewart at third base until prospect Josh Vitters is ready. Furthermore, Chicago’s new Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, has promised resources and money to improve that jewel of baseball architecture, Wrigley Field. Is it fair to compare Epstein to one of the great General Managers you have written a good deal about, Branch Rickey?
George Vecsey: Way too soon to put Epstein in that category; in Boston he worked with some very smart people – Henry, Werner, Lucchino, Francona. Let’s see him do it again.
The Luxury Box: In looking at the Boston Red Sox individual statistics from last season, you would never guess they had a late season collapse. The top of their order, Ellsbury, Pedroia, Gonzalez, and Ortiz, all hit over .300 and a fifth batter, short stop Marco Scutaro, hit .299. The E.R.A.’s of their top three starters look like numbers out of the 1960s: Josh Beckett 2.89, John Lester 3.47, and Clay Buckholtz 3.48. And their projected fourth starter, Daniel Bard, had an E.R.A. of 3.33 to go along with 34 holds as a setup man. They traded for Andrew Bailey to replace Jonathan Papelbon as the closer. Their new manager, Bobby Valentine, is a brilliant tactician. Are the Red Sox the best team in baseball starting the season?
George Vecsey: They are in the top five. I think the change in managers will put pressure on the players to do a better job this time around.
The Luxury Box: Can Valentine survive in the fish bowl that is the eternal fate of the manager of the Boston Red Sox?
George Vecsey: Bobby V could put his foot in his mouth early on. Or the Boston media could make it look that way. But he is a smart guy, a teacher, and did a great job with the Mets for many years. He is a smart guy, always in ferment. It will be fun to be around him.
The Luxury Box: George, feel free to bring up any aspects of the coming season that we have not discussed or any general issue in baseball that you would like to say a few words about.
George Vecsey: I am always aware of baseball’s ability to surprise. New players come along, teams have nice runs for a year, managers go nuts; some city has a new baseball fever experience. Texas the last two years has been very pleasant. St. Louis came together late.
CONGRATULATIONS TO OMAR ANDERSON, WINNER OF OUR INSANELY DIFFICULT COACHING CHANGE CONTEST
Omar Anderson, a New York City attorney who immigrated to the United States at age 16 from Jamaica, and immediately became a sensation with a Springfield, Illinois teen band, is the winner of our coaching change contest. Anderson roots for the Ohio State Buckeyes and Indianapolis Colts.
In summary, the new agreement provided proportionally less money for the players, including a rookie salary cap, but included more safety and retirement protections. The salary cap on rookie wages was expected to save the NFL nearly a $1 billion over 10 years and the league promised to use the savings for old and retired players and other benefits “deemed appropriate” by the NFLPA. For the first time NFL teams will make the first contribution to the Player’s Pension Fund and contracts are guaranteed against injury for up to three years.
Devastating articles published by The New York Times on player concussions clearly impacted this agreement. Two a day practices in training camp were eliminated and the second session must be limited to non-helmet walkthroughs. Field play per day in training camp cannot exceed 4.5 hours. During a season, contracts are guaranteed against injury for up to 9 weeks, and a coach who puts a player back into practice before he is physically able to perform will be fined $100,000 for the first violation and $250,000 for the second violation. This is clearly why the Cleveland Browns became nervous when playing Quarterback Colt McCoy after a concussion in 2011. For the first time contracts were guaranteed against injury for up to 3 years. In the past no NFL contracts were guaranteed against injury and a player who signed for a 5 or six year contract was screwed after year 1 if injured. The only players who got to keep their money were high draft picks who received guaranteed bonus money up front. During a bye week players must have 5 consecutive days off.
Off season conditioning was shortened to 9 weeks in order to encourage players to return to their colleges to complete their degrees.
Under the agreement the minimum rookie salary increased $55,000 a year from $375, 450 to $450, 465 in 2011, reaching $630,000 as the minimum player salary in 2014. An alteration was made to the rookie mandatory contract length, contracting for 4 years plus a 5th year club option for players selected in the first round. Rookie player contracts for 2nd to 7th round picks would have no club option for year 5, encouraging players not so highly regarded in the beginning to earn a quicker free agent contract after proving themselves. Of course, the top players drafted make a lot more. Yet even the first round players will now make less with the salary of picks 1 to 10 determined not by what some agent could negotiate in the free market, but rather by the average of the top players at a position. A tackle picked number 2, for example, could make considerably less money than a quarterback picked number 10. For picks 11 through 32 in the first round, the salary is determined by the average of the top 3 through 25 players at his position. Nevertheless, there was a bone thrown at the top player contracts: there is no limit on the amount of guaranteed, upfront money a player can contract for as long as there is no skip in the guaranteed years.
Having to fork out less money to first round rookies has prompted the prediction that there will be numerous trades, up and down this year. If nothing else, the cap will surely undermine the artificial lexicon of draft guru Mel Kiper because without many differences in salaries the importance of such terms as “value pick,” “best available athlete,” will be devalued. Without salary concerns, what difference does it make if you draft a guy 1 or 31 if he can start or make a major contribution? Thus far everyone seems convinced that the St. Louis Rams and their first year coach Jeff Fischer will auction off the second pick in the entire draft to the highest bidder. The Washington Redskins, who are said to desperately want Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III, are most often discussed as the team to trade up, particularly because the Cleveland Browns, who draft fourth, are said to covet Griffin as well. And the Browns draft one pick ahead of the Redskins who as of now have the fifth selection. The fact that the Rams would only drop down three picks to the 5th slot is very much in Washington’s favor. Since the Rams are in a total rebuilding mode under Fischer they want to accumulate as many early round picks as possible. Most draft experts believe this trade is a done deal and have moved on to the Cleveland Browns at No. 4.
For the third straight year the Browns seem open for business to trade down for more players. Which teams are most likely to trade up with the Browns? Last year it was the Atlanta Falcons who believed the fable that Cleveland would take Alabama receiver Julio Jones. This year the Browns may be considering the highest rated pass rusher in the draft, Quinton Coples of North Carolina, the highest rating running back, Trent Richardson of Alabama, the highest rated receiver Justin Blackmon of Oklahoma State, the second highest receiver Kendall Wright of Baylor, Baylor teammate Robert Griffin, North Carolina linebacker Zach Brown, Illinois defensive end Whitney Mercilus, Arizona State linebacker Vontae Burfict, LSU tackle Michael Brockers, Alabama linebacker Courtney Upshaw, Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly, South Carolina defensive end Melvin Ingram, South Carolina wide receiver Alshon Jeffery, or USC defensive end Nick Perry. These are the best defensive linemen, linebackers, and receivers in the draft and almost all of them can be had in the middle to late first round, making it eminently sensible for the Browns to trade down for more picks. In desperate need to rebuild their front seven, the Browns are surely in a position to get either Kuechly or Burfict (conceivably both) the best linebackers in the entire draft and at least one of the elite pass rushers as well. Elite pass rushers and defensive linemen are not usually found in later rounds. The Browns could still pursue receivers and another quarterback after round 1.
The Browns are said to be as infatuated as everybody else with Baylor’s Robert Griffin III who is 6-2 220. Griffin has both the arm and feet to succeed in the NFL. Specifically, he can extend plays with his quickness and speed. But the ferocious defenses of this “black and blue division” are equally capable of extending quarterback hospital stays. Unfortunately, the highlight of the Browns 2011 season was the vicious concussion suffered by quarterback Colt McCoy on a helmet to helmet hit by James Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers. There is a reason that most of the AFC North quarterbacks are mammoth. Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens is 6-6, 245. Ben Roethisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers stands 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighs in at least 241. His backups include Byron Leftwich at 6-5, 250 and Jerrod Johnson at 6-5, 251. Bengals field general Andy Dalton is on the smallish side for this division, 6-2, 220, the same as Griffin. Given this division, the Browns may be better off taking a look at Arizona State’s Brock Osweiler, a raw talent with a huge upside that stands 6-7 and weighs at least 240. Or maybe Nick Foles, the 6-5, 244 pound Arizona quarterback, who played at the same high school, Austin West Lake, as Saint’s quarterback Drew Brews, major league baseball players Huston Street, Kelly Gruber, and Calvin Schiraldi, and NBA center Chris Mihm, the first basketball All American at the University of Texas in 60 years going back to Jack Gray in the 1930s. All this is not to suggest that “RG111,” as he is called, will not succeed in the NFL. Far from it. Griffin would succeed in Cleveland or anywhere he plays. Cleveland may just not be his best fit.
Brown’s General Manager Tom Heckert is conducting his fifth draft in a row, the first three were for the Philadelphia Eagles, and has drafted 75 percent defense in the first round and 60 percent offense in the second round. His MO is trading down for more picks. He has made a trade in every draft he has conducted. During the NFL Combine at the end of February, Heckert underwent what was mysteriously coined “major surgery” by the Browns who insisted it was a private health matter and therefore the public was not entitled to the details of an employee who worked for a company housed in a stadium owned by the city of Cleveland which had been financed 75 percent by tax payers’ money. The Browns pay a paltry $250,000 a year to rent to the city. Indeed the city was forced recently to refinance the facility with $132 million raised from a bond issuance. In the middle of the Combine the Browns finally admitted he underwent open heart surgery.
Exactly which teams are likely to be amenable to a deal, drafting up, with the Browns? Although talk has shifted away from the Browns wanting Coples in favor of the Jaguars and Dolphins, the Browns do desperately need another pass rusher and Coples has the most upside in this draft. Coples is a high risk, high reward gamble, and exactly the kind of defensive playmaker that New York Jets Coach Rex Ryan and GM Mike Tannenbaum adore. In fact, the Jets may be the best fit for Coples where the ebullient Ryan would be both patient teacher and whip cracker. The problem is the Jets have so many holes to fill that giving up draft picks for Coples when at least one elite pass rusher will fall into their arms at 16 probably does not make enough sense to pull the trigger.
The home state Carolina Panthers could surely target Coples by trading up from the 8th spot. The Seattle Seahawks have the 11th pick and Coach Pete Carroll loves playmakers on both sides of the ball. In addition, the Seahawks desperately need a pass rusher. The Tampa Bay Bucs, 1 pick under the Browns, are said to covet running back Trent Richardson, the Alabama running back that is listed at 5’11 but looks closer to 5’8. Richardson was recovering from a knee injury at the Combine in Indianapolis thereby avoiding an official measurement. The Kansas City Chiefs, with the 11th pick, unsure of Jamal Charles’s condition if he returns this season from knee surgery, are said to covet both Richardson and Coples. And then there are the Jaguars, sitting at No. 7, and a chronic over payer for picks, who may trade up should Justin Blackmon fall, as it appears most likely if the Rams trade out of the second pick. If the Rams traded with Washington at 6, then the Jags would have to trade up to at least 5 and then 4 to take Blackmon away from St. Louis. Number 4 is the Browns spot. Therefore the Browns could trade down slightly to 7, offering Blackmon---for a price of course---at least a 1 and a second round pick—and then take Coples plus the additional picks. There are risks for Cleveland trading down too far. If they want the best linebacker, Luke Kuechly, they are not going to be able to trade down lower than Dallas at 14 because the Philadelphia Eagles at 15 clearly have Kuechly in their sights. At 22 the Browns will still be able to get an elite rusher or defensive tackle or Arizona State linebacker Vontae Burfict.
At a time in which the arrest of college football players for criminal assault, rape, theft, DWI, and marijuana use, at least 90 in 2011, has become a chronic problem, Jacksonville Jaguars General Manager Gene Smith has never drafted a player with “character issues.” This April Smith suffers a moral dilemma. Almost all of the players he is said to be considering for the 7th overall pick have off the field issues. Notre Dame wide receiver Michael Floyd, Alabama defensive end Courtney Upshaw, and Iowa tackle Riley Reiff were arrested for assault. Alabama cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick was arrested for possession of marijuana, a drug that has made a furious comeback, particularly in the South, and particularly among football players, who apparently use it to relax or to deaden chronic pain from getting hit so often while playing football. North Carolina defensive end Quinton Coples, the only really good edge rusher in the draft, was investigated but cleared in the Chapel Hill benefits scandal, and suffers from a reputation for laziness.
Throughout the winter and spring, Smith has prepared his Jaguars fan base for drafting a player with “character issues” by declaring like a diplomat or politician that he had never said he would never sign a player with off the field problems but rather considered each player on a “case by case” basis. Alas, Smith had drafted exactly 0 players with off the field problems so his “case by case” insistence was meaningless rhetoric. Smith also implied that it was the former owner, Wayne Weaver, who was the rigid person who would not give a youthful offender a second chance, not he. That too was meaningless nonsense since Smith has talked openly for years (he was the Jaguars head of scouting for more than a decade before rising to general manager) of his rules for drafting, including favoring players who have been graduated, which he created to weed out players who would require heavy maintenance in favor of good citizenship.
The drafting process began, as it does every year, with the so-called “Combine,” held each year at the Colts’ stadium in Indianapolis, and for 6 days the 32 teams engage in a series of standardized tests that are probably as useless as most standardized tests, measuring the players from head to toe, timing them in the 40 yard dash, considered the most accurate gauge of required fastness on a football field, refereeing contests in weight lifting, running around a rubber cone, and other physical education evaluations the players have endured since grade school. Bill Bilichick seems to ignore these standardized tests, but what does he know about drafting players?
Actually, if I were a general manager, I would find out who the Patriots were considering and just draft those guys. We’re talking about an organization, after all, that came within a Hail Mary pass of winning the Super Bowl even though they had hardly any running game, no pass rush, no deep threat receivers, a poor secondary, and their most productive receiver could hardly walk.
Given the time and expense involved in bidding for rookie free agents AFTER the regular 7- round draft is completed, the NFL might consider to going back to the days when it had many more rounds; in 1971 for example, the draft consisted of 17 rounds. One of the popular guessing games in the draft period is not only which team will draft what player, but the so-called “Big Board” which lists players in order of ability, no matter when they are actually selected. My Big board, of course, differs from the experts, since I did not attend the Combine with a stopwatch or even look at hundreds of hours of YouTube tape as I did a year ago. I base my Big Board only on what I saw on the field, or more accurately, on television, and during brief study of the prospects. I did not take off any points for players who played for teams who are traditional rivals of Texas.
HANSEN’S CONTROVERSIAL BIG BOARD
THE NEW YORK GIANTS
Leave it to the NFL to upstage its own free agency season and draft with one of the biggest scandals in the sport’s history, the revelation the first week in March that New Orleans Saints’ defensive coordinator Gregg Williams paid players on the Saints and on the Buffalo Bills and Washington Redskins, when he was defensive coordinator for those teams, to injure opposing players badly enough to at least put them out of the game and maybe for good. The bounty payments in New Orleans are apparently well documented, less so in the case of the Bills and Redskins. The scandal comes 42 years after Dave Meggysey’s book Out of Their League, published in 1970, revealed that college and NFL coaches instructed players to purposely injure players on other teams, apparently without a payoff. In addition to possible criminal charges and civil suits against Williams, his players who carried out the “bounties, and Saints’ head coach Sean Payton, the actions violated a basic principle of NFL contracts, unlike baseball contracts, for example, that they may not contain incentive bonuses for individual plays on the field. The NFL is already facing more than 650 lawsuits, many of them from last year’s concussion scandal.
Yet leave it to Peyton Manning, who upstaged the Super Bowl in February where his brother Eli was the MVP, with the 24 hour coverage of his impending departure from the Colts, to upstage the bounty scandal on March7 when owner Robert Irsay and Manning held a joint press conference to announce what everyone knew was coming, the end of Manning’s career in Indianapolis and his free agency status, setting off endless contemplation and debate about where he would end up.
Issue 5 March 2012
* March Madness, What You Missed Before the Calendar Turned to March
* George Vecsey Talks Baseball: The Interview
* Is the NFL Draft Legal?
* Hansen's Big Board
* Marc Ettrick Predicts The World Champion Giants Draft
March Madness:
By: David Rabinowe, Esq., Senior Writer
One of the more interesting debates in sports today is this: What is more impressive – the brilliant consistent career, or a good player rising to the occasion at the most pressure packed moment. Example: Who would you rather be Peyton Manning, an all time great at his position, who has defined consistent excellence in the regular season, but has only won one championship and has a pedestrian 9-10 career post season record, or his brother Eli Manning, a very good, but not immortal quarterback who has played his best in the most pressure packed moments – Winning two championships and posting a career 8-3 post season record.
It’s a great sports-talk-radio debate. But as College Basketball’s March Madness takes over the country, the debate becomes moot. College basketball is defined by the tournament, the bracket, and by “One Shining Moment.”
Funny thing is all of this drama comes at a price. Consistent excellence is not rewarded in the sport of college basketball -- probably because the players careers are too short -- so Peyton Manning would be considered a failure, Eli would be cherished.
So on this Selection Sunday, as the college basketball’s (post) season begins, here is a look at the 5 most important moments you may have missed, not because they were not "shining", but because they happened before the calendar turned to March.
#1. Opening Day: UNC v. Michigan State (Nov. 11)
Opening Days for most sports are special, but that is not the case for college basketball. College basketball’s opening day is usually a glorified dunk-a-thon known as Midnight Madness held on campuses around the country. After that, powerhouse teams put a few cupcake wins on the schedule to get their feet wet and pad their records before the holiday tournaments and conference play. But this year we got Michigan State v. UNC – outside -- on an aircraft carrier – in front of the President of the United States. UNC won the game, but the pageantry and passion were a welcome early season treat between two teams who earned #1 seeds and will be very tough outs when the tournament begins.
Baseball, the bar has been set…when your opening day comes around, you will have to go a long way to top what College Basketball brought to the table.
#2. The Best Rivalry in the Sport: Duke at North Carolina (Feb. 8):
Duke is not as talented as UNC. It showed all game. Yet somehow the Blue Devils rallied from a 10-point deficit with just over two minutes left to win on the road against their arch rival. When freshman star Austin Rivers (son of Boston Celtics Head Coach Doc Rivers) made his game-winning 3-pointer as time expired it gave Duke an 85-84 victory. Fun fact from this game: Duke never led in the second half --- not even for one second, and yet they won the game. (the winning shot went through the hoop after the clock read 0:00). Lesson from this game….don’t bet against a Mike Krzyzewski coached team, no matter how much talent his players have.
#3 Perfection Denied 1: Kentucky at Indiana (Dec. 10): Kentucky has the most talent in the country. They play an unmatched defense. Anthony Davis might be the most dominant shot blocker in a generation. They are the prohibitive favorites to win it all. But they are very young. Imagine the pressure if they were undefeated right now? So when Indiana handed them their only regular season loss by one on Watford's game-winning shot, it might have been the biggest gift they received all year. The pressure has been off as they locked up a #1 seed weeks ago, and their only other real test came in a one point win against UNC at home, early in the year, so the question is, with the pressure back on – will the young talent ultimately cut down the nets, and if they do, will they have Indiana to thank them for ruining perfection?
#4 Perfection Denied 2: Syracuse v. Notre Dame (Jan. 21)
Syracuse is a powerhouse team this year. Their only regular season loss came on the road, while one of their best player was out, against a hot shooting Notre Dame team. Their zone is big, long and talented. They are dominant, but they have lapses and can let teams back into games that they should put away. Against Notre Dame they had no answers and lost 67-58. But the biggest threat to Syracuse reaching the final four might be how Jim Boeheim manages yet another scandal. This team has had to deal with former assistant coach Bernie Fine’s issues all year, and now there are reports of failed drug tests by players covered up by the program. When the lights get bright in March will they be able to play through the distractions? You have to win six in a row to cut down the nets, will they maintain their consistency? Can the team survive the national spotlight? Can the program? Can their Head Coach?
#5. Home Court Advantage: Missouri at Kansas (Feb. 25):
Kansas trailed by 19 points in the second half before rallying for a 87-86 overtime victory against the Tigers at Allen Fieldhouse. Unfortunately their rivalry ends this year as Missouri heads to the SEC, but the lesson from this game is simple: home court advantage exists. According to some reports, the noise level at Allen Fieldhouse reached 127 decibels -- the loudest it had ever been. So take into account where the committee seeds people. Figure out who the crowd will be rooting for – usually the underdog or local team. It matters, even come tournament time. Oh, and coming back from 19 down in the second half…impressive no matter where it happens. This team is resiliaint.
And Now that is March....Some Help and Predictions About Your Bracket:
Advance all four 1 and 2 seeds to the second round. Here is why: No 1 Seed has ever lost to a 16. Plus, If there is an upset at this level, relax, everyone will have the loss.
A 12 seed will beat a 5 seed. It happens every year. Like Clockwork.
There are really only two powerhouse teams this year: Syracuse and Kentucky. But UNC, Missouri and Michigan St. are playing very well at the right time.
Parity is a reality. The regular season taught us that when Belmont almost beat Duke at Cameron Indoor to start the season. (lost 77-76) Need I say more? So, don’t be afraid to pick some “upsets”. After the first round, there is no such thing.
Don’t look at the seeds, look at the spreads. Even if you don’t gamble, you will notice that there will be a 12 seed that is only a 1 or 2 point underdog to a 5 seed…heck, you may even see a higher seed favored...take the hint. There is a reason Las Vegas Casino’s stay in business, they know something. That doesn’t mean always take the favorite, it means read between the lines.
Teams that will be tough outs: (Not 1 or 2 seeds) Connecticut, VCU, Temple, Vanderbilt, Florida St., Harvard, Belmont, Saint Mary’s.
Paper Tigers: Wisconsin, Florida, Saint Louis, South Florida, Purdue.
Final Four Prediction: UNC (1) Vandy (5) Kentucky (1) Missouri (2)
BASEBALLS’S NEW SPRING
By Hansen Alexander, Esq. Editor
The majesty of baseball and its spring like aura of renewal begins its 2012 season March 28 in Tokyo, Japan. The Seattle Mariners and their young new catcher, Jesus Montero, play the Oakland’s Athletics who stole the thunder from the Florida Marlins by signing the latest Cuban phenom defector, outfielder Yoenis Cespedes.
The Florida Marlins have taken up residence in a brand new stadium on the site of the old Orange Bowl in Little Havana, and changed their name to the Miami Marlins, in hopes that locals will not realize that the team is the same one that they have refused to watch in person for two decades. Over the winter the team purchased the services of several veteran stars, including exciting short stop Jose Reyes, last year’s batting champion with the New York Mets. Flamboyant manager Ozzie Guillen, canned by the Chicago White Sox, has taken over the management of the team and to make sure it stays in the headlines. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating the financing of the stadium, Marlins Park, a $634 million dollar facility with a retractable roof and 37,000 seats.
Taxpayers are funding 75 percent of the construction which will total $2.4 billion after 40 years of interest payments to repay bonds taken out by the City of Miami. Specifically, the SEC is looking into $500 million in bond sales, campaign contributions to local and state politicians by Marlins officials, and a parking garage arrangement where Miami has to pay Dade County $2 million in property taxes. In 2005 the Florida Legislature voted not to give the Marlins $45 million for stadium construction after owner Jeffrey Loria appeared at a hearing in Tallahassee and grossly undervalued the team. The survival of major league baseball in South Florida is at stake. The clock is running for the Spanish Cuban aristocracy who dominates the social and political life of Latin Miami and they must deliver bodies through the turnstiles of the new facility or risk losing the team to Las Vegas or some other western outpost.
Florida’s other major league team, the Tampa Bay Rays, are not in great financial shakes either. Like Olympic Stadium in Montreal, which was located in the French section and thus persona non grata to the English business class, the Rays’ digs at Tropicana Field, built over a chemical dump, is persona non grata to most residents of the Tampa Bay area because of a difficult drive, a kind of reverse loop, into the St. Petersburg section where the facility is located. St. Petersburg’s mayor is holding the Rays hostage to a long term lease that guarantees that the franchise will hemorrhage money for years to come. It is time for Commissioner Bud Selig to cut a deal over the lease so that the Rays can either built a new stadium in downtown Tampa or move to Orlando, where there is a lot of land to build a new home for a team that then could be called the Orlando Oranges or the Orlando Sun Rays.
Bobby Valentine, who managed for many years in Japan and the 2000 New York Mets World Series team, has landed in Boston, where he was hired to meet the high expectations of New England fans, who believe in most years that the cosmos has conspired to prevent the Red Sox from winning the World Series, if not late season games against the New York Yankees. Valentine’s plan for winning it all this year is apparently to ban beer from the clubhouse.
Baseball signed a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the player’s union in December. One of the new wrinkles is that teams will be allowed to carry 26 players on their roster, instead of 25, for double headers, such as they exist anymore. The Major League minimum salary was $414,000 last year and is $480,000 for 2012. It will rise to $490,000 in 2013 and top out at $500,000 in 2014.
Major changes were made in compensation for lost free agents, to increase the competitiveness of small market teams, and blood testing, instead of just urine sampling, will begin in order to detect human growth hormone (HGH).
Teams will now receive compensation for losing players to free agency only if they offer a guaranteed 1-yearcontract equal the average salary of the league’s 125 highest-paid players. If they do so, they will be awarded 1 draft pick at the end of the 1rst round.
Small market teams and low-revenue teams will be able to obtain additional supplemental-round draft picks through an annual competitive balance lottery. In addition, the 15teams in the largest markets will be disqualified from revenue sharing in 2016. The $178 million threshold for the luxury tax on payroll spending will extend to 2013 but increase to $189 million in 2014 and run to 2016. The tax rate on violators will decrease to 17.5 percent for first time offenders but increase unfairly to 50 percent for the New York Yankees and any other club that should exceed the cap for the 4th time.
This year Major League Baseball begins blood testing for HGH and shockingly it is actually following the normal legal principle of reasonable cause, that is if there is some evidence to suggest the player is taking HGH, then the player can be tested at any time. Beginning in the off season however, later in the year, Major League Baseball will return to its usual position above the law and all players will be blood tested during spring training in 2013 and subject to police state type random tests thereafter.
On February 29, MLB adopted a 10 team playoff format for this year. The end result will probably be three teams from the American League East.
At a time in which NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is considering ending the league’s post season all star game, known as the Pro Bowl, as a dangerous nuisance, Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, hell bent on replicating pro football’s success as an international marketing goldmine, has ordered that all players selected to the sport’s mid season exhibition game Must Absolutely attend the game unless injured. In truth, the exhibition has lost much of its luster since it started as a marketing gimmick to drum up interest in the game during the Great Depression. Teams play 162 games now instead of 155 as they did then. Furthermore, the expanded playoff system has increased from the maximum of 7 games in a World Series in the Depression to a maximum of 19 possible games in a three-tiered playoff format. Therefore, a player who is both an All Star and on a World Series contender, is playing as many as 26 more games a year than in the first third of the 20th century. He is tired at midseason, wants mainly a rest and, if possible, more time with his wife and kids. The rationale pushed out for the game is that the sport “owes” this and that to the fans, but what exactly is owed to the fans after more than 200 games going back to spring training is not made clear. Selig has already forced on baseball the dubious consequence of awarding home field advantage to the team from the winning league in his exhibition. It’s a crackpot idea when you think about it. Imagine determining the site of the BCS National Football Championship based on a no pads, spring walkthrough between Alabama and Southern Mississippi. Or determining the site of the Final Four based on an East-West matchup in the McDonald’s High School All American Basketball Classic.
Unfortunately, the 77-year old Selig’s $18.4 million salary was extended for another two years by his old boy club owners this winter. Last year he made nearly twice as much as NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, whose $10.9 million salary was indeed modest in comparison. In order to discover money not yet in Major League Baseball’s bank account, additional wild card teams will be added in 2013 and the Houston Astros, very much against their will, are being moved to the American League West in order to instigate a rivalry with their instate neighbors to the north, the Texas Rangers, whether they like it or not.
Baseball’s longevity, nevertheless, is not due to rich old men, but rather to young boys and girls who go to a game with their parents and become hooked on this game of grace and beauty, ballet on grass with a small white ball, for life. Imagine the Japanese children who will see the Mariners play the Athletics. They are the joy of spring and the joy of baseball.
The George Vecsey Interview;
To share some of this joy of baseball, we are honored to interview the great sportswriter George Vecsey. Vecsey is now more or less in retirement, occasionally writing a column for The New York Times. He writes frequently on his website, www.georgevecsey.com, which he started only recently. In addition, George Vecsey has written several books on baseball, most recently Stan Musial, an American Life.
The Luxury Box: George, you suggested in a podcast last December that Albert Pujols looked rather portly to you when you covered him at the World Series in St. Louis last fall. Are you hinting that you believe his body will break down before he plays out his huge 10-year contract in Anaheim?
George Vecsey: He looked heavy and not very mobile. Players are usually worn down at the end of 180 games, and they gain weight during the season (Sabathia, etc.) And Pujols is a great athlete who can probably hit for a long time. But do athletes wear down at 32? A lot do.
The Luxury Box: In your most recent book, Stan Musial, an American Life, you do compare Pujols to the Cardinals’ icon Stan Musial. Pujols was the one true star on a team that somehow competed for and won championships with reclamation projects and the genius of manager Tony La Russa and his pitching coach Dave Duncan. Now that two of these men are gone and Duncan, on leave, may be gone too, is this the end of an era for the St. Louis Cardinals, a sort of 1970s drought when their late 60s dynasty ended and White Herzog’s “rabbits” of the 1980s had not arrived?
George Vecsey: There’s no doubt it’s a different game without input from LaRussa, but they have the same GM and ownership and probably same philosophy of thinking like a middle market. But the loss of Pujols and LaRussa could surely change the franchise for the short run.
The Luxury Box: Is Dave Duncan the greatest pitching coach ever and should he be voted into the Hall of Fame?
George Vecsey: With all due respect to Duncan (and my friend Bob Welch thrived under him in Oakland), it’s hard to make a case for a pitching coach.
The Luxury Box: Using 1869 as the yardstick, major league baseball will begin its 143rd year in two weeks. Despite the smallest ball in professional sports, baseball umpires, in my view, do a much better job of umpiring their sport than certainly football and basketball in the United States. You have written about all three sports for decades. What is your view?
George Vecsey: Replay has disclosed a lot of mistakes in recent years, and I see more replay on the horizon, but I do think the fixed bases and lack of flow of players – everything starts from a pitch – makes it “easier” to concentrate and be in position. Basketball is quite subjective; football is nearly impossible for players like pass interference, or holding on the line.
The Luxury Box: Baseball writers historically favored management over players, indeed in the early days some reporters were even on the payroll of owners, and that bias still seems to infect stories on player salaries, labor issues; specifically there never seems to be an acknowledgment by reporters of the countervailing benefits that owners and teams receive such as the tax benefits of salaries. After all, historically, many corporate barons bought baseball teams because the sport afforded a wonderful tax write off. Since you are an exception coming from a union background, can you discuss why that bias remains among other baseball writers?
George Vecsey: Thanks for noting that my parents helped organize the Newspaper Guild at the Long Island Press in 1938. I’m very proud of their courage, and I am a union person. But in response to your question, I think the good reporters in NY and elsewhere are aware that the owners have their tax reasons and time frames for owning a team. It may not get written into every story, but writers know owners do things for bigger reasons. It’s sort of understood. But it’s also fair to say that if players and agents get depicted as greedy or aggressive, then owners should be accurately noted as having bigger tax pictures. How often can you footnote that?
The Luxury Box: You have spent practically your whole adult life watching baseball from inside the press box. Now that you have more free time in the summer, will you be watching a lot of games from the regular seats in stadiums instead? Which vantage point is more fun? Will you be attending games alone or with friends and family?
George Vecsey: Good question. I look forward to slipping into ball parks here and there – Queens, near my home, with our son and his daughters, or maybe in Seattle where one daughter lives, Boston, which I love, or just random road trips. I might even go to a game in Yankee Stadium. I look forward to sitting in the stands. The Mets’ park has a nice area behind RF where you can buy a decent sandwich and stand and kibbitz. But all the ball parks are too noisy, just unpleasant to be in.
The Luxury Box: Among existing baseball parks, what is your favorite?
George Vecsey: I have a nice memory of Pittsburgh from a few years ago, walk in from downtown, great plazas where you can stand, munch, watch. Fenway is always crowded. I’ve never sat in the stands. I haven’t been to the DC stadium yet. I haven’t been to the new one in Cincinnati, either, but I love that part of the country, and would love to visit. Oh, and the Minnesota stadium in decent weather…great food stands near the river, walk in….
The Luxury Box: Bud Selig, at age 77, just received a two year extension on his gaudy contract of almost $20 million a year. Would baseball have been better off bringing in some younger blood to run its show?
George Vecsey: Selig is a young 77, or whatever he is. Like him or not, he is doing what the owners want. His life has gotten easier with Michael Weiner running the Players Association because Weiner is not confrontational and is reasonable about things like testing, but surely no pushover. If Selig were not serving the owners, they would have him out. It’s their business. I have no romantic view of the People’s Commissioner any time soon.
The Luxury Box: Now that Selig remains Commissioner, should he not try to convince Fred Wilpon to sell the Mets to an owner in better financial circumstances? After all, he managed to force the sale of the Dodgers in the middle of the messy McCourt divorce.
George Vecsey: Not sure he isn’t trying to do that now. I suspect the events of the past year have not made Selig happy. He likes stability but cannot be happy at the decline (and wretched public image) of a prominent franchise.
The Luxury Box: In February, the rigid Yankees turned away the entreaties of Vladimir Guerrero on the grounds that he was a free swinging, undisciplined hitter, never mind that he had a higher batting average last year, .290, of all but two Yankees, Robinson Cano and Derek Jeter. The Yankees furthermore have this rigid grooming policy requiring short hair on the head and no facial hair. In your career as a sports reporter and writer, is there any reason to believe that hairlessness improves the performance of baseball players?
George Vecsey: I hardly think hair has anything to do with it. Players who come to the NYY cannot wait to clip off their facial adornments. Guerrero has been a static player for years. They can pick and choose.
The Luxury Box: There were two big free agent signings this winter, Jose Reyes by the newly named Miami Marlins and Prince Fielder by the Detroit Tigers, which involved “duplicate positioning,” that is they already had a player at the free agent’s position, short stop Hanley Ramirez for the Marlins and first baseman Miguel Cabrera for the Tigers. Did those deals make sense at all from a defensive standpoint?
George Vecsey: I can’t speak about Ramirez and his attitude. But I was surprised to be around the Tigers last Oct. and discover how highly Leyland thinks of Cabrera and his baseball aptitude. I know Cabrera has his issues, but he is a smart and polite person up close, and I also think he has soft hands to play 3B or some position, or else he can DH. I don’t know their plans, but he is more of a solid citizen than I understood. Ramirez? Don’t know.
The Luxury Box: New Cubs General Manager Theo Epstein wasted no time over the winter in making over his team, signing Anthony Rizzo from the San Diego Padres as the heir apparent at first base, signing free agent right fielder David Jesus from the Oakland A’s, bringing in pitchers Paul Maholm from the Pirates and Travis Wood from Pirates, placing Ian Stewart at third base until prospect Josh Vitters is ready. Furthermore, Chicago’s new Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, has promised resources and money to improve that jewel of baseball architecture, Wrigley Field. Is it fair to compare Epstein to one of the great General Managers you have written a good deal about, Branch Rickey?
George Vecsey: Way too soon to put Epstein in that category; in Boston he worked with some very smart people – Henry, Werner, Lucchino, Francona. Let’s see him do it again.
The Luxury Box: In looking at the Boston Red Sox individual statistics from last season, you would never guess they had a late season collapse. The top of their order, Ellsbury, Pedroia, Gonzalez, and Ortiz, all hit over .300 and a fifth batter, short stop Marco Scutaro, hit .299. The E.R.A.’s of their top three starters look like numbers out of the 1960s: Josh Beckett 2.89, John Lester 3.47, and Clay Buckholtz 3.48. And their projected fourth starter, Daniel Bard, had an E.R.A. of 3.33 to go along with 34 holds as a setup man. They traded for Andrew Bailey to replace Jonathan Papelbon as the closer. Their new manager, Bobby Valentine, is a brilliant tactician. Are the Red Sox the best team in baseball starting the season?
George Vecsey: They are in the top five. I think the change in managers will put pressure on the players to do a better job this time around.
The Luxury Box: Can Valentine survive in the fish bowl that is the eternal fate of the manager of the Boston Red Sox?
George Vecsey: Bobby V could put his foot in his mouth early on. Or the Boston media could make it look that way. But he is a smart guy, a teacher, and did a great job with the Mets for many years. He is a smart guy, always in ferment. It will be fun to be around him.
The Luxury Box: George, feel free to bring up any aspects of the coming season that we have not discussed or any general issue in baseball that you would like to say a few words about.
George Vecsey: I am always aware of baseball’s ability to surprise. New players come along, teams have nice runs for a year, managers go nuts; some city has a new baseball fever experience. Texas the last two years has been very pleasant. St. Louis came together late.
Once again, to read more of George’s thoughts on baseball and anything else he finds “fit to print” go to: www.georgevecsey.com
CONGRATULATIONS TO OMAR ANDERSON, WINNER OF OUR INSANELY DIFFICULT COACHING CHANGE CONTEST
Omar Anderson, a New York City attorney who immigrated to the United States at age 16 from Jamaica, and immediately became a sensation with a Springfield, Illinois teen band, is the winner of our coaching change contest. Anderson roots for the Ohio State Buckeyes and Indianapolis Colts.
IS THE NFL DRAFT LEGAL?
By: Hansen Alexander
When the National Football League holds its first draft under the new collective bargaining agreement on April 24-26 none of the college players drafted will have any say where they will be employed over the next four years. How could that possibly be a legitimate, bargained for contract? In addition, how could the rookie salary cap that is a major part of the new agreement possibly be legal? Surely that is the kind of collusion to keep player salaries down that we saw in baseball back in 1987 when Boston Red Sox General Manager Lou Gorman conspired with Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth to renege on a million dollar offer to pitcher Roger Clemens. On their face, these two issues, the NFL draft and a salary cap, ARE illegal under contract law. However, as San Francisco attorney Steve Baker, who negotiated Philadelphia Eagles’ cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha’s 5-year, $60 million contract last summer, $25 million of it guaranteed, has observed, an exemption can be made under the law if a union negotiates or waives the rights of the players to insist on the full letter of contract law. Hence, the NFL absolutely MUST have a player’s union to negotiate with which is why the decertification of the Union by the players during last year’s lockout was such a concern to the owners and a bargaining chip for the players.
In summary, the new agreement provided proportionally less money for the players, including a rookie salary cap, but included more safety and retirement protections. The salary cap on rookie wages was expected to save the NFL nearly a $1 billion over 10 years and the league promised to use the savings for old and retired players and other benefits “deemed appropriate” by the NFLPA. For the first time NFL teams will make the first contribution to the Player’s Pension Fund and contracts are guaranteed against injury for up to three years.
Devastating articles published by The New York Times on player concussions clearly impacted this agreement. Two a day practices in training camp were eliminated and the second session must be limited to non-helmet walkthroughs. Field play per day in training camp cannot exceed 4.5 hours. During a season, contracts are guaranteed against injury for up to 9 weeks, and a coach who puts a player back into practice before he is physically able to perform will be fined $100,000 for the first violation and $250,000 for the second violation. This is clearly why the Cleveland Browns became nervous when playing Quarterback Colt McCoy after a concussion in 2011. For the first time contracts were guaranteed against injury for up to 3 years. In the past no NFL contracts were guaranteed against injury and a player who signed for a 5 or six year contract was screwed after year 1 if injured. The only players who got to keep their money were high draft picks who received guaranteed bonus money up front. During a bye week players must have 5 consecutive days off.
Off season conditioning was shortened to 9 weeks in order to encourage players to return to their colleges to complete their degrees.
Under the agreement the minimum rookie salary increased $55,000 a year from $375, 450 to $450, 465 in 2011, reaching $630,000 as the minimum player salary in 2014. An alteration was made to the rookie mandatory contract length, contracting for 4 years plus a 5th year club option for players selected in the first round. Rookie player contracts for 2nd to 7th round picks would have no club option for year 5, encouraging players not so highly regarded in the beginning to earn a quicker free agent contract after proving themselves. Of course, the top players drafted make a lot more. Yet even the first round players will now make less with the salary of picks 1 to 10 determined not by what some agent could negotiate in the free market, but rather by the average of the top players at a position. A tackle picked number 2, for example, could make considerably less money than a quarterback picked number 10. For picks 11 through 32 in the first round, the salary is determined by the average of the top 3 through 25 players at his position. Nevertheless, there was a bone thrown at the top player contracts: there is no limit on the amount of guaranteed, upfront money a player can contract for as long as there is no skip in the guaranteed years.
Having to fork out less money to first round rookies has prompted the prediction that there will be numerous trades, up and down this year. If nothing else, the cap will surely undermine the artificial lexicon of draft guru Mel Kiper because without many differences in salaries the importance of such terms as “value pick,” “best available athlete,” will be devalued. Without salary concerns, what difference does it make if you draft a guy 1 or 31 if he can start or make a major contribution? Thus far everyone seems convinced that the St. Louis Rams and their first year coach Jeff Fischer will auction off the second pick in the entire draft to the highest bidder. The Washington Redskins, who are said to desperately want Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III, are most often discussed as the team to trade up, particularly because the Cleveland Browns, who draft fourth, are said to covet Griffin as well. And the Browns draft one pick ahead of the Redskins who as of now have the fifth selection. The fact that the Rams would only drop down three picks to the 5th slot is very much in Washington’s favor. Since the Rams are in a total rebuilding mode under Fischer they want to accumulate as many early round picks as possible. Most draft experts believe this trade is a done deal and have moved on to the Cleveland Browns at No. 4.
For the third straight year the Browns seem open for business to trade down for more players. Which teams are most likely to trade up with the Browns? Last year it was the Atlanta Falcons who believed the fable that Cleveland would take Alabama receiver Julio Jones. This year the Browns may be considering the highest rated pass rusher in the draft, Quinton Coples of North Carolina, the highest rating running back, Trent Richardson of Alabama, the highest rated receiver Justin Blackmon of Oklahoma State, the second highest receiver Kendall Wright of Baylor, Baylor teammate Robert Griffin, North Carolina linebacker Zach Brown, Illinois defensive end Whitney Mercilus, Arizona State linebacker Vontae Burfict, LSU tackle Michael Brockers, Alabama linebacker Courtney Upshaw, Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly, South Carolina defensive end Melvin Ingram, South Carolina wide receiver Alshon Jeffery, or USC defensive end Nick Perry. These are the best defensive linemen, linebackers, and receivers in the draft and almost all of them can be had in the middle to late first round, making it eminently sensible for the Browns to trade down for more picks. In desperate need to rebuild their front seven, the Browns are surely in a position to get either Kuechly or Burfict (conceivably both) the best linebackers in the entire draft and at least one of the elite pass rushers as well. Elite pass rushers and defensive linemen are not usually found in later rounds. The Browns could still pursue receivers and another quarterback after round 1.
The Browns are said to be as infatuated as everybody else with Baylor’s Robert Griffin III who is 6-2 220. Griffin has both the arm and feet to succeed in the NFL. Specifically, he can extend plays with his quickness and speed. But the ferocious defenses of this “black and blue division” are equally capable of extending quarterback hospital stays. Unfortunately, the highlight of the Browns 2011 season was the vicious concussion suffered by quarterback Colt McCoy on a helmet to helmet hit by James Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers. There is a reason that most of the AFC North quarterbacks are mammoth. Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens is 6-6, 245. Ben Roethisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers stands 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighs in at least 241. His backups include Byron Leftwich at 6-5, 250 and Jerrod Johnson at 6-5, 251. Bengals field general Andy Dalton is on the smallish side for this division, 6-2, 220, the same as Griffin. Given this division, the Browns may be better off taking a look at Arizona State’s Brock Osweiler, a raw talent with a huge upside that stands 6-7 and weighs at least 240. Or maybe Nick Foles, the 6-5, 244 pound Arizona quarterback, who played at the same high school, Austin West Lake, as Saint’s quarterback Drew Brews, major league baseball players Huston Street, Kelly Gruber, and Calvin Schiraldi, and NBA center Chris Mihm, the first basketball All American at the University of Texas in 60 years going back to Jack Gray in the 1930s. All this is not to suggest that “RG111,” as he is called, will not succeed in the NFL. Far from it. Griffin would succeed in Cleveland or anywhere he plays. Cleveland may just not be his best fit.
Brown’s General Manager Tom Heckert is conducting his fifth draft in a row, the first three were for the Philadelphia Eagles, and has drafted 75 percent defense in the first round and 60 percent offense in the second round. His MO is trading down for more picks. He has made a trade in every draft he has conducted. During the NFL Combine at the end of February, Heckert underwent what was mysteriously coined “major surgery” by the Browns who insisted it was a private health matter and therefore the public was not entitled to the details of an employee who worked for a company housed in a stadium owned by the city of Cleveland which had been financed 75 percent by tax payers’ money. The Browns pay a paltry $250,000 a year to rent to the city. Indeed the city was forced recently to refinance the facility with $132 million raised from a bond issuance. In the middle of the Combine the Browns finally admitted he underwent open heart surgery.
Exactly which teams are likely to be amenable to a deal, drafting up, with the Browns? Although talk has shifted away from the Browns wanting Coples in favor of the Jaguars and Dolphins, the Browns do desperately need another pass rusher and Coples has the most upside in this draft. Coples is a high risk, high reward gamble, and exactly the kind of defensive playmaker that New York Jets Coach Rex Ryan and GM Mike Tannenbaum adore. In fact, the Jets may be the best fit for Coples where the ebullient Ryan would be both patient teacher and whip cracker. The problem is the Jets have so many holes to fill that giving up draft picks for Coples when at least one elite pass rusher will fall into their arms at 16 probably does not make enough sense to pull the trigger.
The home state Carolina Panthers could surely target Coples by trading up from the 8th spot. The Seattle Seahawks have the 11th pick and Coach Pete Carroll loves playmakers on both sides of the ball. In addition, the Seahawks desperately need a pass rusher. The Tampa Bay Bucs, 1 pick under the Browns, are said to covet running back Trent Richardson, the Alabama running back that is listed at 5’11 but looks closer to 5’8. Richardson was recovering from a knee injury at the Combine in Indianapolis thereby avoiding an official measurement. The Kansas City Chiefs, with the 11th pick, unsure of Jamal Charles’s condition if he returns this season from knee surgery, are said to covet both Richardson and Coples. And then there are the Jaguars, sitting at No. 7, and a chronic over payer for picks, who may trade up should Justin Blackmon fall, as it appears most likely if the Rams trade out of the second pick. If the Rams traded with Washington at 6, then the Jags would have to trade up to at least 5 and then 4 to take Blackmon away from St. Louis. Number 4 is the Browns spot. Therefore the Browns could trade down slightly to 7, offering Blackmon---for a price of course---at least a 1 and a second round pick—and then take Coples plus the additional picks. There are risks for Cleveland trading down too far. If they want the best linebacker, Luke Kuechly, they are not going to be able to trade down lower than Dallas at 14 because the Philadelphia Eagles at 15 clearly have Kuechly in their sights. At 22 the Browns will still be able to get an elite rusher or defensive tackle or Arizona State linebacker Vontae Burfict.
At a time in which the arrest of college football players for criminal assault, rape, theft, DWI, and marijuana use, at least 90 in 2011, has become a chronic problem, Jacksonville Jaguars General Manager Gene Smith has never drafted a player with “character issues.” This April Smith suffers a moral dilemma. Almost all of the players he is said to be considering for the 7th overall pick have off the field issues. Notre Dame wide receiver Michael Floyd, Alabama defensive end Courtney Upshaw, and Iowa tackle Riley Reiff were arrested for assault. Alabama cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick was arrested for possession of marijuana, a drug that has made a furious comeback, particularly in the South, and particularly among football players, who apparently use it to relax or to deaden chronic pain from getting hit so often while playing football. North Carolina defensive end Quinton Coples, the only really good edge rusher in the draft, was investigated but cleared in the Chapel Hill benefits scandal, and suffers from a reputation for laziness.
Throughout the winter and spring, Smith has prepared his Jaguars fan base for drafting a player with “character issues” by declaring like a diplomat or politician that he had never said he would never sign a player with off the field problems but rather considered each player on a “case by case” basis. Alas, Smith had drafted exactly 0 players with off the field problems so his “case by case” insistence was meaningless rhetoric. Smith also implied that it was the former owner, Wayne Weaver, who was the rigid person who would not give a youthful offender a second chance, not he. That too was meaningless nonsense since Smith has talked openly for years (he was the Jaguars head of scouting for more than a decade before rising to general manager) of his rules for drafting, including favoring players who have been graduated, which he created to weed out players who would require heavy maintenance in favor of good citizenship.
The drafting process began, as it does every year, with the so-called “Combine,” held each year at the Colts’ stadium in Indianapolis, and for 6 days the 32 teams engage in a series of standardized tests that are probably as useless as most standardized tests, measuring the players from head to toe, timing them in the 40 yard dash, considered the most accurate gauge of required fastness on a football field, refereeing contests in weight lifting, running around a rubber cone, and other physical education evaluations the players have endured since grade school. Bill Bilichick seems to ignore these standardized tests, but what does he know about drafting players?
Actually, if I were a general manager, I would find out who the Patriots were considering and just draft those guys. We’re talking about an organization, after all, that came within a Hail Mary pass of winning the Super Bowl even though they had hardly any running game, no pass rush, no deep threat receivers, a poor secondary, and their most productive receiver could hardly walk.
Given the time and expense involved in bidding for rookie free agents AFTER the regular 7- round draft is completed, the NFL might consider to going back to the days when it had many more rounds; in 1971 for example, the draft consisted of 17 rounds. One of the popular guessing games in the draft period is not only which team will draft what player, but the so-called “Big Board” which lists players in order of ability, no matter when they are actually selected. My Big board, of course, differs from the experts, since I did not attend the Combine with a stopwatch or even look at hundreds of hours of YouTube tape as I did a year ago. I base my Big Board only on what I saw on the field, or more accurately, on television, and during brief study of the prospects. I did not take off any points for players who played for teams who are traditional rivals of Texas.
HANSEN’S CONTROVERSIAL BIG BOARD
1. Morris Claiborne, CB, LSU
2. Matt Kalil, OT, USC
3. Michael Floyd, WR, Notre Dame
4. Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford
5. Melvin Ingram, OLB, South Carolina
6. David De Castro, OG, Stanford
7. Dontari Poe, DT, Memphis
8. Riley Reiff, OT, OG, Iowa
9. Courtney Upshaw, DE, OLB, DT, Alabama
10. Luke Kuechly, MLB, Boston College
11. Robert Griffin III, QB, Baylor
12. Fletcher Cox, DT, Mississippi State
13. Dre Kirkpatrick, CB, Alabama
14. Devon Still, DT, Penn State
15. Quinton Coples, DE, North Carolina
16. Trent Richardson, RB, Alabama
17. TY Hilton, WR/KR, Florida International
18. Matt Reynolds, OT, BYU
19. Brandon Thompson, DT, Clemson
20. Whitney Marcilus, DE, Illinois
21. Trumaine Johnson, CB, Montana
22. Mark Barron, SS, Alabama
23. Michael Brockers, DT, LSU
24. Janoris Jenkins, CB, North Alabama
25. Andre Branch, DE, Clemson
26. Kendall Lewis, WR, Baylor
27. Michael Egnew, TE, Mizzou
28. Asa Jackson, CB, Cal Poly
29. Vontae Burfict, MLB, Arizona State
30. Alfonso Dennard, CB, Nebraska
31. Justin Blackmon, WR, Oklahoma State
32. Stefon Gilmore, CB, South Carolina
For your entertainment we will mock three NFL teams for the upcoming draft. The teams are the New York Giants, New York Jets, and Jacksonville Jaguars. Apparently it is merely coincidental that they are the favorite teams of the editor. Our choices were made before teams were able to begin signing free agents earlier this week and our picks therefore do not reflect those signings. Former NFL agent and Court TV legal analyst Marc Ettrick will begin our coverage by mocking the World Champion New York Giants. Ettrick was a starting outside linebacker for the Kansas Jayhawks as an undergraduate.
THE NEW YORK GIANTS
1. Stephon Gilmore, CB, South Carolina
2. Orson Charles, TE, Georgia
3. Amini Silatolu, OG, Midwestern State
4. Bernard Pierce, RB, Temple
5. Brandon Weeden, QB, Oklahoma State
6. Janzen Jackson, FS, McNeese State
7. LaMichael James, RB, Oregon
NEW YORK JETS
1. Fletcher Cox, DT, Mississippi State
2. Vinny Curry, DE, Marshall
3. Nigel Bradham, OLB, Florida State
4. Ryan Miller, G, T, Colorado
5. Mychal Kendricks, SILB, Cal
6. Tysyn Hartman, FS, Kansas State
7. Derek Moye, WR, Penn State
Most likely NFL free agent signing for the Jets are Cedric Benson, RB, Bengals,
Chad Henne, QB, Dolphins, Braylon Edwards, WR, 49ers
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
1. Michael Floyd, WR, Notre Dame
2. Trumaine Johnson, CB/ KR, Montana
3. Cam Johnson, DE, Virginia
4. Michael Egnew, WR, Mizzou
5. Matt Reynolds, T, BYU
6. Terrance Ganaway, FB, RB, Baylor
7. Trevor Guyton, DT, DE, Cal
Most likely NFL free agents are Harry Douglas, WR, Falcons, Martellus Bennent, TE, Cowboys, Jason Campbell, QB, Raiders, Or Peyton Manning, QB, Colts
Leave it to the NFL to upstage its own free agency season and draft with one of the biggest scandals in the sport’s history, the revelation the first week in March that New Orleans Saints’ defensive coordinator Gregg Williams paid players on the Saints and on the Buffalo Bills and Washington Redskins, when he was defensive coordinator for those teams, to injure opposing players badly enough to at least put them out of the game and maybe for good. The bounty payments in New Orleans are apparently well documented, less so in the case of the Bills and Redskins. The scandal comes 42 years after Dave Meggysey’s book Out of Their League, published in 1970, revealed that college and NFL coaches instructed players to purposely injure players on other teams, apparently without a payoff. In addition to possible criminal charges and civil suits against Williams, his players who carried out the “bounties, and Saints’ head coach Sean Payton, the actions violated a basic principle of NFL contracts, unlike baseball contracts, for example, that they may not contain incentive bonuses for individual plays on the field. The NFL is already facing more than 650 lawsuits, many of them from last year’s concussion scandal.
Yet leave it to Peyton Manning, who upstaged the Super Bowl in February where his brother Eli was the MVP, with the 24 hour coverage of his impending departure from the Colts, to upstage the bounty scandal on March7 when owner Robert Irsay and Manning held a joint press conference to announce what everyone knew was coming, the end of Manning’s career in Indianapolis and his free agency status, setting off endless contemplation and debate about where he would end up.
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