Will Pawn Just Leave

"I think we have to get the fans back at the stadium. That's a necessity. That's the lifeblood."

So says hopefully soon-to-be-exiled Mets owner Fred Wilpon.

That’s fascinating. We need to get fans back at the stadium. With logic like that, it’s no wonder you and your Tommy Boy-esque son Jeff got taken by Madoff.

That gem by Captain Obvious leads to the question of how do you get fans back without winning? How do you win without putting money into the payroll? How do you win in a stacked division where even the fucking Nats are making moves?

 

According to ESPN’s Adam Rubin, the Mets are looking at the highest drop in salary ever.

No other team has ever cut as much salary from the previous year. Ever.

Let that soak in for a minute.  A baseball team in New York should be able to print money but because of Freddy’s follies, his wanna be Trolley Dodgers are losing money hand over fist, $70M in 2011 alone.

And no, you don’t need to spend $140M to win anything.  Just ask the Rays.  Of course, the Rays drafted well, with Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria, David Price, Jeremy Hellickson, Desmond Jennings, and Matt Moore (to name a few) coming up through their system.

When you’re the Mets, you overhype your prospects only to see them crash and burn. Any money you do spend results in bad luck or just bad players.

You don’t need to spend a lot to win, you just need to spend it well.  Here’s the problem: when your payroll dips to $90M and you have three players making $56M and you can’t draft for shit, that doesn’t leave you a lot of wiggle room to fill in the gaps and put a winning team on the field. 

 

When you replace your All-Star trio of Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and Francisco Rodriguez with Ruben Tejada, Andres Torres, and Frank Francisco, your already bitter and exasperated fanbase isn’t going to head to The Place That Reese Built, even with reduced ticket prices.

The Wilpons are in a tough situation, albeit one they put themselves in. It's an awful spiral - they can't draw fans without winning but they don't have any revenue to invest into the payroll to win some games. They're not just sinking, they have anvils tied to their ankles.

I haven’t seen a father-son duo with so many problems since the Skywalkers. Sell the team, escape with whatever shred of dignity you have left, and enjoy your remaining years with your stained Koufax jersey and Dodger souvenir cup.

Movie Therapy

When I'm not feeling great, these clips always make me smile.  Enjoy.

And the winner is...

No one after today's announcement. I have nothing against this year's crop of Best Picture nominees but I just feel underwhelmed when looking at this list. I still plan on seeing "The Artist" and would like to see "Hugo," but nothing screams BEST PICTURE the way it used to in previous years. I enjoyed "The Help," "War Horse," and "The Descendants," but the sizzle just isn't there this year.

I know every year can't be 1976, 1989, or 1994 (Gump winning over Pulp AND Shawshank is still a fucking joke but that's for another time), but this can't be the best Hollywood has.

Maybe it's because I'm bitter that Scorsese is being given the love this year that he so deserved for this and this. Maybe it's because my favorite all-time comedian bowed out as Oscar host.

Things should pick up next year, with a new Tarantino flick and Spielberg's "Lincoln" on the horizon. Until then, I'll just have sweet sweet Sly to keep me warm.

I'm sorry, Eli

I don’t think I’ve ever done a complete 180 regarding my feelings for a player
on my team the way I have for one Eli Manning. Eli and I got off on the wrong
foot on Draft Day 2004 when he dictated, without ever taking one snap in the
NFL, where he would play. Given the tragedy that occurred near the draft, I never liked
Eli’s sense of entitlement. If his last name was Solomon instead of Manning, no
one would give a shit about him or his college numbers. So the Giants traded
Rivers and two picks (Merriman and Kaeding) for Peyton’s little brother. I
cringed every time Eli took a snap as a Giant. He looked like a deer in the
headlights. His “awww shucks” mentality after one painful loss after another
grew thin with me. It stayed that way until 2007 when playoff wins at Tampa,
Dallas, and Green Bay took the Giants to the Super Bowl. Even the SB win against
the Patriots didn’t make me an Eli fan, especially when it was more of a case of
the Pats losing more than the Giants winning. The Pats were an Asante Samuel
pick or a Randy Moss catch away from winning that game, but whatever.

Something happened this year. Eli went from simply being Peyton’s brother to an
established QB. Let’s look at the numbers: Over 4900 passing yards, 29 TDs, and 6 wins when the Giants were tied or losing in the 4th quarter. He has a postseason record of 7-3 and this year alone he's thrown for over 900 yards in 3 games to go along with 8 TDs and 1 pick.

He wasn’t great during the NFC title game but he held in against a tough 49ers
defense. He was sacked 6 times and was hit 20 times, but never turned
the ball over. A few years ago, he would have caved like a little bitch but not
this year. Eli Manning has matured as a QB and has finally become the player he
was projected to be when he was drafted in 2004. I can’t wait to see where he
goes from here.

So there’s my football post. On a side note, I was going to say something about
Joe Paterno’s passing but I’ve decided to wait about 12 years before speaking
up… just like Joe did.

SUPERFIGHT II

And with this kick, the Giants head back to the Super Bowl to once again meet and defeat the Pats.

I'm too drained to write anything else. Good night, all three of my readers.

Championship Sunday

I never really got the appeal of Super Bowl Sunday.  It's almost like Christmas, in that the true meaning of the day has been commercialized and ruined.

That's why I love Championship Sunday. I don't have to worry about a bunch of yentas watching just for the commercials or the halftime show (Madonna?  Really?).

 Just give me football. I don't need the sizzle and the steak.

Today's predictions:
Patriots 35, Ravens 10
Giants 24, 49ers 7

Happy Birthday, Mom

In honor of my mom's birthday, here is the post that made me create this blog.

It’s always hard to tell a non-sports fan why sports fans are the way we are. It’s a religion, a way of life passed down from generation to generation. For my brother and I, it was passed down by our mom.

She was a huge baseball fan and used to tell us stories about seeing the Mets in 1969. I don’t remember exactly when we first started watching sports but I’ll always remember June 27, 1984. We were still in New Jersey at the time and decided to take a mini vacation to Philadelphia. The Mets were in town and Gooden was on the mound. I was 8 and a half, my brother was 7 and a half and we fell in love with Gooden, Strawberry, & Hernandez in ’84, Carter in ’85, Dykstra in ’86.

Our summers consisted of the Mets and our winters were taken up by the Giants and Devils. We loved football and hockey but we LOVED baseball. I’ll always remember going to Shea, being taught how to keep score, and always waiting for the Apple to show up.

When people talk about the bond of sports, that’s not a cliché. When my mom and I weren’t really speaking to one another, we could always talk about sports. About going to Shea, about going to the Meadowlands.

Those are the memories that never go away. Thank you for everything, Mom. I love you.