Month: May 2016

The Garbage Time report

On Wednesday May 4, Garbage Time with Katie Nolan premiered for its third season on Fox Sports 1. Shortly after the first episode, the show won an Emmy for Outstanding Social TV experience.

Clips from the May 4 episode had over half a million views less than a full week after airing, and have been viewed on social media platforms, the ones most of us know about, FOXSports.com and the FOX Sports GO app.

Before the premiere of season 3, Fox Sports had this promo of what others were saying about this priceless show.

The Guardian says that “Katie Nolan is challenging the way we think about women covering sports.” Her show which airs at midnight eastern time. “I’ve always talked, not followed the rules, and been the one to poke the bear,” said Nolan, 29. “It’s less a skill than a lack of skill.”

She grew up in the Boston suburb of Framingham and what I like about her the most is that she is a ball buster, but is also is very hysterical and it is very common to hear her producers laughing behind the scenes. Just a couple of years ago, she was filming videos in her New York apartment and I feel that this was biggest reason why she got a show on Fox Sports 1.

Even though the show does talk about topics that aren’t sports related, it is largely a sports comedy show. However, after Greg Hardy gave his first interview to reporters after his suspension after serving a four-game suspension for domestic assault, Nolan knew it was incumbent on her to speak up because who would? She referred to Hardy as a “garbage human.”

“If there are only a couple of women in sports who say it, and plenty who work in sports who wish they could, I have the responsibility to say it,” Nolan said. “I’m in a position that’s kind of unique, and to not say, ‘Domestic violence is bad and let’s keep athletes from thinking it’s acceptable,’ is a cop-out.”

Nolan has more than 220k followers on Twitter but the vitriol directed at her doesn’t stop her from voicing her displeasure with the ‘good old boys club’ and is often sprinkled with swear words. A few years ago, I never thought that a combination of sports and comedy could mix into a show on TV but I am glad this is happening because bringing a comedic look into the world of sports can make one think about hot button issues from a different non-traditional perspective.

One aspect that is not talked about as much is that from time to time, she makes fun of herself. For example, when she was talking to NWHL commissioner Dani Rylan at the New York Riveters practice facility back in October, Rylan told Nolan that women peak athletically at age 27, then she was joking about how she peeked athletically at age 12. Being able to occasionally make fun of yourself can make you more likable as a T.V. personality.

As expected, there have been moments that make me want to watch top highlights of shows over and over again, including this one.

Even with the Emmy, don’t think that she is 100% satisfied because what fans of this witty show with a hysterical host have seen is only a scratching of the surface. I believe that the top success objective for her show is to change the way how women cover sports and to add humor on the side in which she has done marvelously. She knows as much about sports as some of the self-acclaimed experts do if not more.

It’s bucco time

This day took a while and after anticipation for some time, I am taking some time to reflect on my experience at an MLB ballpark that I have wanted to see for sometime the most, that being PNC Park.

I have now been to 12 out of the 30 MLB ballparks to date and I feel that even if you are not a Pirates fan, PNC Park is a must see baseball attraction. The view of the Pittsburgh city skyline is nothing short of spectacular and even visiting teams broadcasters have said such including Cubs broadcaster Len Kasper.

Quite a few ballparks set off fireworks when the home team hits a home run and wins a game. To me what sets PNC Park apart from the rest of the crowd is seeing the fireworks right beyond the batters eye in center field looking at the city skyline especially at night-time is nothing short of spectacular even as a fan of one of their divisional rivals.

I am glad that the Pirates are relevant today considering their history because for this franchise to go 20 years without a playoff appearance was simply a shame. Furthermore, when smaller market teams can compete in any sport, that makes the sport better, not just from markets such as New York.

Of the 12 current MLB ballparks that I have visited, I rank PNC Park #2 and I took a tour of the park during my stay in the ketchup city. Some of the parts of the park I got to see included the press box, dugout, clubhouse and the club suites from each of the team’s 5 world series championships. It is believed that the bat from Babe Ruth’s last hit is stored in that ballpark and there are bats stored on a wall of famous professional baseball players including Honus Wagner. In the clubhouse, there is a batting cage that has part of the turf from the Steelers final game at old Three Rivers Stadium from December 2000.

I went to two games and in the first game, I was standing by one of the concession stands in left field and all the sudden, Sean ‘Gatorade puncher’ Rodriguez hit a home run that landed a few feet from where I was standing. I have watched many games where the Cubs have played there and while I knew the ballpark played big, the outfield plays bigger than what I have seen on TV for many years.

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The ballpark has a couple of statues located outside the venue, Willie Stargell in left-field and a Roberto Clemente statue. During the second game, there were many kids in attendance and I pray that this continues to happen at other ballparks because one of the most important priorities of the commissioner is to engage the youth in this sport for numerous reasons.

One of my favorite ways to summarize events, places or people is by using the one word to describe something strategy. However, it is very difficult to use one word to describe PNC Park because depending on where fans are sitting in a game, one gets a unique perspective when sitting just below the press box and sitting and a different one in the outfield bleachers. I was anticipating a great experience and I got that and some extra Heinz ketchup condiments to supplement the great fan experience (not that I like ketchup), but you get the idea.

It’s time to play brawl

Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals

For the life of me, I don’t understand why people think that what happened between the Blue Jays and Rangers was good for the game. I will acknowledge that there are arguments to be made that this is good for the game. The New York Post’s Joel Sherman likes what the fight means for the game.

In his piece in The New York Post, he says in part, “Baseball is a very popular local sport now: You care about your team, but not much about those in other cities. But if the Rangers and Blue Jays were playing again tonight, would you watch?”

As you might expect, folks in Canada are not as warm to this idea. Furthermore, The Globe and Mail’s Dave Bidini unsurprisingly brought up hockey. “In Canada, we impulsively reached for hockey analogies quicker than your uncle for his pack of smokes. But if hockey still harbors the occasional fight or face wash or shivving or slew foot without it being perceived as a blight, the same cannot be said for baseball — a sport where men can throw 100-mile-an-hour fastballs and not be threatened by angry batters,” Bidini wrote.

While I feel that brawls like this take attention away from the more exciting parts of the game, the league can only do so much to manage players behavior.

I and many baseball fans find it suspicious that the Rangers waited until the end to send a purpose pitch to Jose Bautista. It would have been more acceptable had this happened earlier in the season matchup between those two clubs.

Even the commissioner Rob Manfred brought this up recently. “Let me put it this way,’’ Manfred said, “Do I want to see 25 of those bat flips in every series? No. Do I understand how the bat flip happened in that particular inning, and in that particular game, I do understand it.

“And I think it probably is a good thing for the game.”

Bautista said recently that he did not expect the Rangers to react in the way they did. “I didn’t really think it would cross their mind to do something like that,’’ Bautista said with a straight face, “but I guess it shows a little bit of their colors. It shows at least the lack of leadership they have over there when it comes to playing baseball the right way.’’

The only conceivable way to ensure that this either doesn’t happen at all or rarely is to send the message that Rougned Odor got and that was more than a weeks games of getting suspended.

Some are questioning whether the “unwritten rules” of baseball should be scrapped. Former professional pitcher-turned author and broadcaster Dirk Hayhurst wrote for Deadspin that most players and fans have no clue where these rules came from or originated. “Baseball’s unwritten rules justify hypocrisy, stupidity, and injury,” he wrote.

John Lott, who is a sports writer contributing to Blue Jays Nation and Vice Sports Canada, wrote in a recent blog post that “Retaliation sets a rotten example. It is easy and crude,” and adds that teams must not succumb to the “impulse to lower themselves to the level of an opponent who’s behaving like a petulant child.”

When the Rangers reacted the way they did, their image is somewhat tarnished and I don’t feel that the “bat flip” was as egregious as some believed. For the Rangers to try to get revenge, it was a lose-lose situation. They would have been better off not letting this bother them at all. I feel that incidents like this can be a distraction for longer than anticipated and the team still has to talk about this instead of how good they could be doing now and looking ahead to the dog days of summer.

McSkeptical

This week NBA star Stephen Curry accomplished something that had never been accomplished before, but there are still people who are not fans of the announcement. Former NBA All-Star Tracy McGrady said on ESPN’s The Jump that the reason why Curry won the MVP award unanimously is because of “how watered down our league is.”

McGrady followed up his “watered down” comments by saying Curry’s MVP is “well deserved” and that he had “a hell of a season,” but with a caveat. He said that the league is not as deep as it was when Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal was in the league but not winning MVP awards unanimously.

The talent that Curry has to deal with on a consistent basis, i.e. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James and Chris Paul is stiffer today than it was back in McGrady’s hay day. To put some more context into this historic season, according to Des Beiler of The Washington Post and Basketball Reference, he notched the eighth-best player efficiency rate, “a mark of 31.46 topped by only three players in history: Wilt Chamberlain (three times), Jordan and James (both twice).”

I think part of the reason behind these comments had to do partly with trying to regain notoriety and the fact that McGrady has lost quite a bit in recent years. Gordon Monson of The Salt Lake Tribune said the same thing this week that criticism from McGrady and some other previous NBA stars such as Charles Barkley, “Is flat off-target, and the way Curry is playing, he’s making them look more and more foolish. To what their comments are traceable is speculative, but the temptation is to attribute them to some kind of desperate clinging to days gone by, to a time back when basketball was played by real men the real way against real competition.”

Yes the NBA has changed compared to when some of his skeptics were in the NBA, but with the talent he has, there is no doubt that he could play in any era. Will Curry ever be as good or even better than Michael Jordan was? I don’t think so but some of his accomplishments from this season were thought to never be within reach decades ago. Examples include Curry breaking his own record for three-point field goals in which he had over 100 more compared to last season.

I agree with Smith that the league is ‘watered down’ but not the talent largely because of the way how the game is officiated. It is not just Curry but stars including James, Westbrook and Durant could average 25 plus points per game. To me, the larger point behind these comments partly has to do with the fact that Curry has changed the game precipitously. His greatness has somewhat diminished McGrady’s success.

I completely agree with Skip Bayless that Curry has ‘revolutionized’ the NBA and has turned the game upside down. The fact that Curry not being a big man is taking over the game is something that I did not expect to happen, but should be celebrated. Even with the way how the game is officiated today, if Curry played in the days when McGrady, O’Neal and Barkley played, he would still have excelled largely because of his attitude toward the game. To me, there are not many limitations to those who have the attitude he has, no matter the era or rules. Yes the game is largely physical, but there is that mental aspect that I feel is not discussed as much.

Stras-Burning

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While “china doll” Stephen Strasburg will be a richer man, the 7-year $175 million deal he and the Nationals agreed to will most certainly hurt the team in the long run. In the contract extension, he is set to make $25 million a season. However, since his debut in 2010, he has had quite a few stints on the disabled list including Tommy John surgery, and that concerns me the most. Yes, he is off to a solid start in 2016, but his history of not staying healthy gives me concern that 2016 would mirror what has happened in his early career.

As with pitchers in the past, there have been too many instances where teams rush high-talent prospects to the big leagues way too soon and over use them when they are not quite ready. From 2012-2015, his innings pitched accelerated considerably after a shortened second season. The better thing the team could have done was to possibly start him in the bullpen and not pitch as many innings, thus that could have been a smoother transition to the rotation. Then evaluate whether he is ready to pitch close to 200 innings in the future.

Going into the season, he said that he was not sure how to handle this considering it was a contract year. “I really don’t know,” Strasburg said in spring training. “It’s not like I’ve been in a contract year before. I know what I know, and I know that I go out there, and I bust my butt every single day. If I give it everything have to help this team win some games, all that other stuff is going to take care of itself. I guess the best I can do is just focus on the now and what I got going on today, and then when I go to bed, what do I have going on the next day. I’m going to stay in there and try to function in the same time zone.”

While his innings accelerated from 2012-2015, he has only made 30 starts twice and has thrown 200 or more innings just one time. This stat leads to a thought by  Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports: “The Nationals are betting as much on future performance as past—a tricky wager seeing as they’re the franchise that has publicly said they fear the health of Tommy John pitchers after their seventh year post-op. Strasburg’s seventh year is next season.”

Even with some believing that his history is in the past, according to a model developed by Bradley Woodrum, Tim Dierkes and the rest of the MLB Trade Rumors staff, Strasburg began the year with well above average risk for another Tommy John operation. Another problematic factor could be his fast ball velocity. His average fastball velocity is very good, near 95 MPH, but down from his peak of over 97 MPH in his first partial year in the majors.

One of the sub-debates under the main debate involving pitcher injuries is the overuse of a slider. While many pitchers past and present have a slider in their arsenal, throwing a slider is extremely painful on the elbow and arm and is not natural. I feel that many pitchers with sliders in their arsenal are not taught the right way to throw that kind of pitch.

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Despite getting off to a solid start in 2016, I do not believe that Strasburg has proven himself enough to warrant such a lucrative deal. I’m not sure if Strasburg will ever be able to remain healthy while being dependent on to throw well over 100 innings. If he can surpass 200 innings in 2016 without any major setbacks, then I may concede that this deal is worth every dollar. Until that becomes a possibility, I don’t see this working out well for the Nationals in part because of what has happened with big name-big contracts of the past such as Albert Pujols. This is not just with Strasburg, but the expectations attached with a $100+million deal can and often overwhelm athletes to do more than they are capable of doing.

Are you officially kidding me?

After the crazy game between the Thunder and Spurs, the NBA admitted that there were five incorrect non-calls in a 13 second time frame, including a play where the Spurs Manu Ginobili was clearly fouled as he was defending an inbound pass. One of my issues with NBA officials is that they are not properly trained to handle unusual circumstances like this one, especially during this time of the season.

“Waiters foul on Ginobili was the worst missed call in playoff history,” Hall of Famer Magic Johnson said on Twitter after the game. The NBA rulebook states that the inbounder is not allowed to “leave the playing surface to gain advantage on a throw-in.” At the same time, the rule never specifies what is meant by “playing surface.”

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said after Monday’s wild ending that his team’s reaction would have been stronger. At the same time, this comes as no surprise as Cuban has warned NBA officials throughout his time in Dallas. I think the way the Spurs handled this situation was perfectly acceptable, there is a way to hold NBA referees accountable without the stunts we have seen Cuban try to pull off in the past.

Stu Jackson, former NBA executive vice president for basketball operations, said that Waiters shove was unprecedented and almost impossible to call. If he was still in his position today, Jackson said, “I probably wouldn’t have slept last night trying to sort out what had happened.”

Despite the obvious miss call, if you look closely at the play, Ginobili stepped on the line, which Jackson said is not allowed and if it happens in the final two minutes of a game or overtime, that would result in a technical foul, he said. Even in his three decades in the sport, Jackson said that he has never seen that call made. Rule 8, Section III says, “until the passed ball has crossed the plane of the boundary, no player shall have any part of his person over the boundary line.”

Some of todays NBA elites believe that the two-minute report serves no one’s best interest. “A play in the first quarter is just as important as a play in the last four seconds. That’s how playoff basketball is played, that’s how the game of basketball should be played,” LeBron James said. “And I think for the youth, the kids that love the game so much, I don’t think they should hear that, ‘Oh, it’s OK to talk about the last two minutes (whether) calls (were) missed.’

Why does the league just focus on the final two minutes of regulation or overtime instead of writing reports that chronicle bad calls in the first half, especially in a playoff game? The NBA can only answer that question. The NBA has room for improvement when it comes down to evaluating officials who are worthy of being on the court for playoff games in part due to the fact that a curve ball could be thrown when unexpected.

Unfortunately, there is no real solution in solving the issues surrounding NBA officiating. I give the commissioner credit for doing everything to be transparent rather than hide from it and act in a state of denial. The human impact will always play a role and even the best officials make wrong calls and we as fans have to live with that.

I understand what Jackson is saying, but unless bad calls are to the point where they are egregious, I feel that it would be wrong to adopt a ‘system of fines, suspensions, being fired’ for bad calls. The game goes back and forth often for a few minutes without a whistle and I think one of the more difficult parts of officiating in the NBA is keeping up with the pace of the game, the run and gun offense. The league should fix the controllable parts of officiating and the one I mentioned earlier is the biggest issue facing the league and the officials.

Using your body to get ahead

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Despite having one of the toughest drug-testing program’s in professional sports, some players are frustrated that there are flaws and some believe that even more stringent penalties are needed. I do not believe that the testing process has been as effective as it could have been, but with a caveat attached.

“Every time a guy gets popped who didn’t test positive, it’s kind of like, ‘Why are we even going through this?'” Justin Verlander said in an interview with FOX Sports. “If you want to cheat, there is a window to do it. Guys are finding ways around the system. It’s pretty evident, pretty well-known that the people who are making these illegal substances are ahead of the testers.”

However, Blue Jays right fielder believes that the program is working saying that it is impossible to catch every instance. “It’s going to be impossible to find a 100 percent level playing field. But it seems like we’re at 98-99 percent,” Bautista said. “That seems to be good enough. And the guys who are willing to risk it . . . there are always going to be a few rotten apples, no matter where you are.”

At the same time, others want stricter testing, harsher penalties or both including pitchers Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw. At least, the discussion has changed compared to the 1990’s where few were willing to address this issue during the days where the league saw McGwire and Sosa battle for home run supremacy.

Besides increasing the frequency of tests, what else can MLB do? “There is not much more you can do from a drug-testing perspective, which is why we have a whole department of investigations, a whole program designed to catch players who are violating the program and don’t test positive,” baseball’s chief legal officer, Dan Halem said. “Biogenesis obviously was the best example of that. You need both to have an effective drug program.”

Verlander is currently the representative for the Tigers with the MLB players association says the quality of the testing is not the problem but adds, “The problem is the quality of the stuff the guys are taking is better than our tests. They’re always a step ahead.”

To me, it will be almost impossible to stay ahead of the players when it comes to getting past the tests. The evolving world of pharmaceuticals will almost always give baseball players an avenue around the system and that is the biggest weakness with the drug-testing program and this is not necessarily MLB’s fault.

What is amazing to me is that almost every time someone gets busted that there is an excuse, I didn’t “knowingly” take PED’s. Do MLB players who have been busted live in an alternative universe making this excuse? I honestly don’t know that answer but it could be that when the suspended player comes back, the money is still awaiting. Could that be a deterrent? I think Stephen A. Smith is on to something where MLB may have to force a re-negotiation of a contract in Gordon’s case and others in similar situations. The incentive is there to continue to manipulate the rules but cancelling the contract could eliminate this issue completely.

I think there are ways to increase one’s weight without using PED’s, but 30 lbs. is a red flag in my mind, if it were 10-15, that may not seem as suspicious. Going forward, it is imperative that we look at this factor more often because I would not be surprised if this is a common theme that I believe has been at least somewhat taken for granted.