For the record, I am often pretty good at this stuff, having pegged Texas and Cincinnati to win their divisions last year, and for Boston to not make the post-season. I have also been known to go down in flames, like my choice of Arizona to win the NL West in 2010.
Sometimes ya eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eat you.
AL East
Boston
New York
Baltimore
Tampa Bay
Toronto
No surprises here really, except maybe Baltimore being a 3rd place team in the division? They have certainly improved their hitting quite a bit with the addition of Vlade Guerrero, and the home run potential of Mark Reynolds, and there is some nice young starting pitching that has a bit more experience. The Buck Showalter effect is usually a positive one for a couple of years, then his players will begin to hate him
Tampa will fall back a bit and Toronto is improved, so we could see all 5 teams play at or better than .500 ball.
I am predicting that the Yankees won’t make the post-season unless they win the division, but they should still win about 90 games.
Boston is the favorite, but they are not a lock, and certainly not a 100-win team if Josh Beckett doesn’t make a big comeback, and he’s looked horrible all spring.
AL Central
Chicago
Minnesota (wild card)
Detroit
Kansas City
Cleveland
I pick the White Sox every year, not the least of the reasons why being how much I like Ozzie Guillen. Beyond that they are pretty solid throughout the roster, and there is some decent depth too. The Twins should win the AL Wild Card, primarily benefiting from the fact that the AL East teams will be beating each other up for half of the season, and Detroit is a better than .500 team that could contend with some luck.
I think the Royals have a good chance to come on later in the season, assuming they start to bring some of their outstanding minor league talent up, but they are really a team for 2012, or 2013.
Cleveland is a mess, and maybe the worst team in the entire American League. Too bad for Carlos Santana and Shin Soo Choo, a couple of very talented players that few people will get to see play.
AL West
Los Angeles
Texas
Oakland
Seattle
I think Texas will contend for the division title, but the addition of Dan Haren to the Angels staff and the imminent return of Kendrys Morales to the line up makes them the better team in my mind. Oakland and Seattle are both better, which in Seattle’s case is not saying much.
NL East
Atlanta
Philadelphia
Florida
Washington
New York
I am already on the record picking against the Phillies. They are old, brittle and declining, and all the pitching in the world isn’t worth snot if you can’t score runs. They have been scoring fewer and fewer runs each season for the past 3, and losing Jayson Werth to a trade, and now Chase Utley and Brad Lidge to bad injuries makes things worse.
Atlanta is not a great team, and maybe not even a 90 win team, but they have enough to win a weak division. Florida will do well to play .500, and the Nats are improved. The Mets are a disaster.
NL Central
Milwaukee
Cincinnati (wild card)
Chicago
St. Louis
Pittsburgh
Houston
The Brewers are the "sexy" pick this season, based on two very nice starting pitcher acquisitions in Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum. Even with Greinke breaking a rib, and having an iffy quality to him, and Marcum’s shoulder tightness, they look very good, and are my pick to win the most games (90+) in the league this year.
I think that the Reds are right behind Milwaukee, and the NL wild card winner. Young and improving, even Dusty Baker probably can’t ruin this team.
Even the obvious genius of Tony LaRussa won't be able to overcome the Cardinals the loss of one of the best pitchers in baseball in Adam Wainwright, and the Pujols contract buzz won’t help either, so the Cubs may slip in the race for a brief period. I like Pittsburgh’s young hitters, McCutcheon, Alvarez, Tabata, and Walker, and Houston will finish last because there is little left on that team, except for Wandy Rodriguez, Hunter Pence, an aging Carlos Lee, and perhaps a new fireballer named Bud Norris?
NL West
Colorado
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Arizona
San Diego
I have Colorado winning this division mostly by default, as the Giants last year reminded me of one of those Lego toys you buy your child, that after you take it a part, and mix it up with some other Legos and try to re-assemble it, it kind of works for a while, and looks okay, but over time it turns out to be very flawed. Remember, this is a team that caught the Padres really late in the year, and then got very hot, but there are huge questions all over this team once one gets past Lincecum, Cain, and Buster Posey.
The Rockies look to be pretty solid if not a really good team, but good enough to win a really mediocre division where no team will win more than about 87 or 88 games. The Dodgers are probably a .500 team, and the Diamondbacks will battle it out with a suddenly bad San Diego team that most folks picked to finish last in 2010. The Padres don’t have Adrian Gonzalez anymore, and Mat Latos starts the year on the DL. A bullpen full of studs will only carry a team so far.
I am not going to pick pennant winners right now, but with a gun to my head, I'd take Boston and Atlanta, and another title for the Red Sox.
Next time, Cy Young and MVP sleeper candidates, and the Rookies.
Play ball.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
“Catch a wave…”
About 8 hours before the Connecticut Huskies beat the Arizona Wildcats in the West Regional tonight, I watched the final 30 minutes of Arizona’s win over Duke from Thursday. I wanted to make sure I saw that incredible second half the Wildcats had, before tonight’s game tipped.
It was great, just like that last nice wave on a long day at the beach. It wasn’t the best half of Cat basketball I’ve ever seen, but for a team that wasn’t really supposed to be even playing in that game, it was very nice, just like that last great wave.
It was different from most of the games I’ve watched this tournament, not only the Arizona games, but most games. This game was filled with runs by each team, and I had it 3-3, and Arizona up by one, when the next run fell to Kemba and the Huskies, and the final run by the Wildcats wasn’t quite enough.
So it goes with our teams too often, but with this one it doesn’t feel that bad, because it was a group of kids that really weren’t supposed to be this good, or this lucky.
Before the Wildcats in-bounded the ball for the last possession of the game I said to Susan "One time I would like to be lucky enough to see my team hit a 3 pointer at the buzzer to win."
Then I said, "You know, maybe they’ve already used up all their luck?"
Yeah, weren’t they a little bit lucky in the Memphis State game, when they somehow held on due to a Derrick Williams blocked shot at the end, or how they had already lost the Texas game, when they got that 5-second call?
The game tonight had all these waves of good play by each team. I was thinking it was similar to sitting at a table in Las Vegas, playing "21," and how sometimes it doesn’t matter what your cards are. Sometimes the dealer keeps busting, and sometimes he hits 21 on his sixth card to beat you. The money comes and goes, just like the points in a game of basketball come and go. It’s like catching that last wave and riding for what seems like forever and a split second at the same time, and hoping it doesn’t slam the crap out of you when it breaks.
So, Derrick Williams will declare for the NBA, and Arizona will take on 4 top recruits and reload for 2011-12. The expectations that did not exist for this just past season will be there for the next. I can’t wait.
Surf’s up.
 |
| Out duked |
It was different from most of the games I’ve watched this tournament, not only the Arizona games, but most games. This game was filled with runs by each team, and I had it 3-3, and Arizona up by one, when the next run fell to Kemba and the Huskies, and the final run by the Wildcats wasn’t quite enough.
So it goes with our teams too often, but with this one it doesn’t feel that bad, because it was a group of kids that really weren’t supposed to be this good, or this lucky.
Before the Wildcats in-bounded the ball for the last possession of the game I said to Susan "One time I would like to be lucky enough to see my team hit a 3 pointer at the buzzer to win."
Then I said, "You know, maybe they’ve already used up all their luck?"
Yeah, weren’t they a little bit lucky in the Memphis State game, when they somehow held on due to a Derrick Williams blocked shot at the end, or how they had already lost the Texas game, when they got that 5-second call?
The game tonight had all these waves of good play by each team. I was thinking it was similar to sitting at a table in Las Vegas, playing "21," and how sometimes it doesn’t matter what your cards are. Sometimes the dealer keeps busting, and sometimes he hits 21 on his sixth card to beat you. The money comes and goes, just like the points in a game of basketball come and go. It’s like catching that last wave and riding for what seems like forever and a split second at the same time, and hoping it doesn’t slam the crap out of you when it breaks.
 |
| "and you're sittin' on top of the world" |
Surf’s up.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Arizona and all my other teams never lose
A downside of living on the East Coast and being a (reasonably) responsible 58-year old man hit me hard last night. I couldn’t make it long enough into the evening to watch (my) Arizona Wildcats beat the snot out of the Duke Blue Devils in their sweet sixteen match up.
I do have it recorded, which evoked all kinds of memories, not the least being that I figured out how to deal with watching sporting events on a delay a long, long time ago.
For some time now it’s been nearly impossible to be really in the world and not know what’s going on. In sports and everything else, there is a 24/7 news cycle combining with the Internet and mobile devices that makes trying to watch a game after the fact without knowing the outcome like the working plot of some Sci-fi movie.
Can’t do it, unless of course you live on an island in some far away place.
So, I have the second half of Arizona’s mauling of the defending National Champion Duke Blue Devils cued up and ready to watch at my convenience, and what I now know will be immeasurably enjoyable experience.
That’s my "secret." I know Arizona won, so I can watch and enjoy what I am seeing with zero angst about what will happen. I can savor it, and smile, and relax. It’s what an older dude should do, right?
It’s only been in the last 10-12 years that it’s become a real problem to be able to watch a game that’s already been played, and not know the outcome prior to actually viewing it.
I can remember back to March 21, 1968, and not staying up to watch Lew Alcindor and the UCLA Bruins dismantle Elvin Hayes and the Houston Cougars 101-69 in the NCAA semi-finals. The game started at 11:30 P.M. Eastern Time. Sure, it was on a Friday, but it was going to be on tape delay on Saturday. I was a big Bruin fan at that time, Alcindor being a NYC kid. UCLA had (barely) lost in the Astrodome to Houston earlier in the year when Alcindor had been suffering from an injury, but it had been their only loss.
In an interesting parallel story, my high school team (Hastings High School, NY) lost it’s opening game of their season the following December to a huge rival (Alexander Hamilton High) when most of our team was suffering with the flu. We lost on their court, by 2 points. We won our last 21 in a row, including a win at our house in our Christmas tournament over Hamilton where we waxed them. We pounded them again in the post season tourney in the semi-finals, and won the championship two days later. No lesser publication than the New York Daily News ranked our team as the best in the NYC metro area in 1969.
The NY Jets won the Super Bowl in 1968, and the Miracle Mets won the World Series in 1969. That’s all I was doing, was watching championships being won by my teams.
The following year of 1970 saw my (still) favorite all-time basketball team win the NBA title. The New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Lakers after Captain Willis Reed made those two early jumpers off one leg he was barely able to walk on, and Walt Frazier had the greatest game any New York Knick has ever had when it really counted.
I have been there for the nasty losses too, as any New York fan who hates the Yankees can tell you, and I’ve witnessed Arizona have their share of awful defeats too.
When video recorders first became affordable, almost anyone could tape a game and watch it later without someone telling you what had happened. Fair enough, but soon my question became "why would anyone really want to invest 3+ hours of their time in watching their favorite team get their butt kicked?"’ Especially if it’s a really horrible defeat, like the one Pittsburgh had against Butler last week – why would a Panther fan want to watch that? Given the choice, would any fan want to spend all that time watching what turned out to be a horrible defeat?
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to sit in agony watching my team blow a lead, or do something stupid to lose a game. Maybe I have a bettor’s philosophy which is if I am going to lose, I want to get blown out right away, so I am not bothering to watch? I can always find better things to do with my time, like maybe even get a little?
I think it was my sweet and lovely daughter-in-law Shannon who took exception to this philosophy when she told me I should always watch my team(s) when given the opportunity, through wins and loses, good, bad, and awful.
Nah. I have won too much, and lost too much. I have been at the top and bottom as a fan, and I prefer the top. I am not playing anymore, and I am not coaching anymore, so I will leave the analyses for the games I miss to the folks who get all that money for doing so. If I don’t want to hear about it, that’s what remotes are for, or the words "Shut up," if it’s a person standing in front of you.
"I haven’t got time for the pain." Me and Carly Simon.
Apparently, neither does my son – Shannon’s husband Matt. Shannon emailed me a while ago to let me know my son went for a drive in the second half of the Arizona game last night. He felt a vibe that the Wildcats just might blow the lead, because hell, they’d made a habit of doing just that all year by forgetting how to play defense. Matt and Shannon live in Tucson, and are students at Arizona. They have been to a number of games, and probably watched them all one way or another, yet Matt just had to get away.
After my wife Susan and I got up this morning, a bit before 5:30 A.M., she asked me if I had heard the phone ring last night about midnight?
"Which phone?"
"Your cell."
I knew immediately that my son had called to tell me that our 9.5 point underdog Arizona Wildcats had beaten the crap out of Duke…I just knew. Matt didn’t leave a voice mail, but it was the sweetest call I never got.
So, my question is, if Arizona had lost that game Thursday night, would I watch?
No freakin’ way! Why would I want to see one of "my" teams lose?
Let’s suppose Matt had never called, and I called in sick to work this morning, and kept the TV, radio, and Internet in cold storage while I cued up the second half of the game?
Well, I would have had the time of my life watching what I have heard called the greatest half of basketball that Arizona has ever played. No doubt, but I have watched almost all the big Arizona games, and there have been a lot more bad endings than good.
What if they had lost? What if they had not just lost, but blown a large lead in some truly ugly way to the point where you're almost embarrassed to let anyone know you’ve even thought about going to Arizona, let alone having lived there for about half of your life?
Sure, call me a coward. Doesn’t bother me a bit.
If I had been in Arizona with my son, I would have gone for that car ride with him. I know at some point we’d have to turn on the radio, or maybe argue about turning it on or not. I’d like to think we’d have tuned in and heard them win it. I’d be outside the car having cigarette, and Matt would be talking to Shannon on the phone, trying to explain something buried deep within his own, and his father's DNA, while the play-by-play squeaked out of the car radio.
I think what it gets down to is the pain of losing is too great to bear in the moment, but the joy of winning is transcendent, whether one watches or not.
So, I got 7 hours of much needed sleep for my ownself, and my boy Matt burned some gasoline, and the University of Arizona won a basketball game.
I think this tape delay thing is pretty damn cool, and may all your teams someday be #1.
I do have it recorded, which evoked all kinds of memories, not the least being that I figured out how to deal with watching sporting events on a delay a long, long time ago.
For some time now it’s been nearly impossible to be really in the world and not know what’s going on. In sports and everything else, there is a 24/7 news cycle combining with the Internet and mobile devices that makes trying to watch a game after the fact without knowing the outcome like the working plot of some Sci-fi movie.
Can’t do it, unless of course you live on an island in some far away place.
 |
| Duke puked |
That’s my "secret." I know Arizona won, so I can watch and enjoy what I am seeing with zero angst about what will happen. I can savor it, and smile, and relax. It’s what an older dude should do, right?
It’s only been in the last 10-12 years that it’s become a real problem to be able to watch a game that’s already been played, and not know the outcome prior to actually viewing it.
I can remember back to March 21, 1968, and not staying up to watch Lew Alcindor and the UCLA Bruins dismantle Elvin Hayes and the Houston Cougars 101-69 in the NCAA semi-finals. The game started at 11:30 P.M. Eastern Time. Sure, it was on a Friday, but it was going to be on tape delay on Saturday. I was a big Bruin fan at that time, Alcindor being a NYC kid. UCLA had (barely) lost in the Astrodome to Houston earlier in the year when Alcindor had been suffering from an injury, but it had been their only loss.
 |
| Home of the 21-1, 1969 Yellow Jackets |
The NY Jets won the Super Bowl in 1968, and the Miracle Mets won the World Series in 1969. That’s all I was doing, was watching championships being won by my teams.
 |
| Dick, Clyde, Bill, Dave, and Willis |
I have been there for the nasty losses too, as any New York fan who hates the Yankees can tell you, and I’ve witnessed Arizona have their share of awful defeats too.
When video recorders first became affordable, almost anyone could tape a game and watch it later without someone telling you what had happened. Fair enough, but soon my question became "why would anyone really want to invest 3+ hours of their time in watching their favorite team get their butt kicked?"’ Especially if it’s a really horrible defeat, like the one Pittsburgh had against Butler last week – why would a Panther fan want to watch that? Given the choice, would any fan want to spend all that time watching what turned out to be a horrible defeat?
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to sit in agony watching my team blow a lead, or do something stupid to lose a game. Maybe I have a bettor’s philosophy which is if I am going to lose, I want to get blown out right away, so I am not bothering to watch? I can always find better things to do with my time, like maybe even get a little?
I think it was my sweet and lovely daughter-in-law Shannon who took exception to this philosophy when she told me I should always watch my team(s) when given the opportunity, through wins and loses, good, bad, and awful.
Nah. I have won too much, and lost too much. I have been at the top and bottom as a fan, and I prefer the top. I am not playing anymore, and I am not coaching anymore, so I will leave the analyses for the games I miss to the folks who get all that money for doing so. If I don’t want to hear about it, that’s what remotes are for, or the words "Shut up," if it’s a person standing in front of you.
"I haven’t got time for the pain." Me and Carly Simon.
Apparently, neither does my son – Shannon’s husband Matt. Shannon emailed me a while ago to let me know my son went for a drive in the second half of the Arizona game last night. He felt a vibe that the Wildcats just might blow the lead, because hell, they’d made a habit of doing just that all year by forgetting how to play defense. Matt and Shannon live in Tucson, and are students at Arizona. They have been to a number of games, and probably watched them all one way or another, yet Matt just had to get away.
After my wife Susan and I got up this morning, a bit before 5:30 A.M., she asked me if I had heard the phone ring last night about midnight?
"Which phone?"
"Your cell."
I knew immediately that my son had called to tell me that our 9.5 point underdog Arizona Wildcats had beaten the crap out of Duke…I just knew. Matt didn’t leave a voice mail, but it was the sweetest call I never got.
So, my question is, if Arizona had lost that game Thursday night, would I watch?
No freakin’ way! Why would I want to see one of "my" teams lose?
Let’s suppose Matt had never called, and I called in sick to work this morning, and kept the TV, radio, and Internet in cold storage while I cued up the second half of the game?
 |
| The 485 pound Sony Beta Max!!! |
Well, I would have had the time of my life watching what I have heard called the greatest half of basketball that Arizona has ever played. No doubt, but I have watched almost all the big Arizona games, and there have been a lot more bad endings than good.
What if they had lost? What if they had not just lost, but blown a large lead in some truly ugly way to the point where you're almost embarrassed to let anyone know you’ve even thought about going to Arizona, let alone having lived there for about half of your life?
Sure, call me a coward. Doesn’t bother me a bit.
If I had been in Arizona with my son, I would have gone for that car ride with him. I know at some point we’d have to turn on the radio, or maybe argue about turning it on or not. I’d like to think we’d have tuned in and heard them win it. I’d be outside the car having cigarette, and Matt would be talking to Shannon on the phone, trying to explain something buried deep within his own, and his father's DNA, while the play-by-play squeaked out of the car radio.
I think what it gets down to is the pain of losing is too great to bear in the moment, but the joy of winning is transcendent, whether one watches or not.
 |
| The Captain |
I think this tape delay thing is pretty damn cool, and may all your teams someday be #1.
Friday, March 18, 2011
“One tough group of Cats.”
Lute Olsen, Monday, March 31, 1997
Arizona’s Wildcats proved better than Kentucky’s Wildcats that Monday night almost 14 years ago, when the Arizona men’s basketball team won the NCAA Title, and in one way ended a journey for me that had started when I first arrived in Tucson in January of 1974.
Having grown up just outside of New York City, I wasn’t a stranger to having local professional teams win championships. A New York team was in the World Series for 12 of the first 13 years of my life. In the NFL, the NY Giants were there for 5 of 6 years starting in 1958. As I grew older I watched the NY Jets win a Super Bowl, and the Miracle Mets win in ’69. The Knicks won two NBA titles in 1970 and 1973. My high school basketball team was named the best team in the NYC area by the New York Daily News my Junior year when they went 21-1.
I became a fan of the Arizona "Kiddie Korps" that the late Fred "The Fox" Snowden had put together for the 1973 season. By 1974, Coneil Norman, Eric Money, Al Fleming, and Jim Rappis had helped create a buzz that eventually moved the Wildcats into national recognition. This was hugely aided by the fact that Snowden was the first African-American head coach at a major American university.
I did a little research on some old Arizona teams, and realized that I had a few more connections to players and coaches associated with the program than I had readily recalled.
The closest connections and best stories I have are from my old friends, Donald Mellon and Mark Jung, and an X-rated story my ex-wife told me.
Don Mellon was in one of Snowden’s last good recruiting classes (1978) and was unlucky enough to be around for the Ben Lindsay coached disaster in 1982-83.
Don’s best story was about a local kid from Cholla High School named Harvey Thompson who was a teammate, and the worst trash talker Don said he ever knew, and Don was from Detroit, so he knew some trash talk.
In a game I was at that Ben Lindsay coached about 28 years ago, the Cats were hosting the University of Tulsa. Tulsa had a 6’5" kid named Steve Harris who later played a few years in the NBA, and that night he was on fire, dropping 16-22 foot jumpers over who ever was trying to guard him.
Don got the job of trying to stop Harris, and when he quickly realized he couldn’t, he started sweet talkin’ Harris. Don told him how good he was, how he’d make big money in the NBA, and how seeing as Tulsa was kickin’ the Cats ass that night anyway, he should "go easy on the brutha."
Don said it worked, and Harris eased up, as Tulsa had a big lead anyway. Eventually, Lindsay took Don out for a blow, and put Harvey Thompson in the game. Don tried to tell Harvey to "be nice" to Harris, but
Harvey said "Screw that mutha." And proceeded to diss Harris in any way he could.
Harris got angry, and decided to go on another roll, lighting Harvey up from all over the court. Lindsay saw this and immediately inserted Don back in the game with orders to "shut Harris down!"
Of course Don immediately became the supplicant again, fawning over the magnificence that was Steve Harris, and telling him again how fabulous he was.
Don said Harris drained another 21 footer over him and told Don to go fuck himself.
"My Legend Comes Alive in My Mind," by Harvey Thompson.
Mark Jung was the 7 foot center from Canyon Del Oro High School in Tucson, who played briefly at the U of A before transferring. It was no secret by 1981 that Snowden couldn’t recruit very well anymore because he was deathly afraid of flying, so he tried very hard to get as many local kids as he could to play for the Cats. According to Mark, Fred Snowden would serve up young ladies as a kind of ‘escort service’ for the young men coming for official visits, with one of the ladies being a relative of the Fox.
"Fear of Flying: My Odyssey from Coach to Pimp," by Freddie "The Fox" Snowden.
Brian Jung, Mark’s older brother is also a friend of mine. Brian was another highly recruited 7 footer who ended up in the Big 10 at Northwestern, and was drafted by the Celtics.
Sometime back in the ‘90’s, I played a round of golf with Mark, Brian and their 6’5" nephew. I am a bit over 5’8" tall. Folks with cameras were snapping photos of us as we walked Randolph South Golf Course one day. I told anyone within earshot that we were searching for a 6’1" shooting guard.
Funny, but it was shortly after that when I met Don Mellon, and I later played golf with Harvey Mason who was a shooting guard, albeit a poor one. I also got to know Albert Johnson pretty well, and played golf with him a number of times, and lifted a number of beers after. Albert played for the Cats from 1962-1965, was an All WAC selection 3 times, and played with the Harlem Globetrotters.
The last story will always be my favorite about Arizona men’s basketball players, and it’s a short one about Herm "The Germ" Harris. Herm was a (yet another) 6’5" wing player with an often deadly long jumper, and no reluctance to shoot it.
I had been dating the woman who later became my first wife for some time when she told me a story a co-worker had told her about her roommate and her boyfriend, who was Herm the Germ.
Apparently, this story revolves around onion rings, and the young lady nibbling the onion rings off an appendage of the Germ, with other hormone-driven high jinx naturally ensuing.
When I told that story to a good friend of mine, he swore off onion rings for about 20 years.
"Have it Your Way or Mine: Fun Things to do with Snacks, " by Herm "The Germ" Harris.
How about, "An Appendage of the Germ," a novel by Michael Crichton, with Herman Harris, and forward by Linda Lovelace?
It’s been a long time since those days, and a long time since that 1997 Arizona Wildcat championship season – so long ago that Michael Bibby is now an aging and slow point guard, but the luster of what he, Miles Simon, and those Cats did hasn’t worn off yet. It was a magical ride, beating three number 1 seeds to win that title on a Monday evening in Indianapolis, and when the game ended, CBS’s Billy Packer said it best:
Arizona’s Wildcats proved better than Kentucky’s Wildcats that Monday night almost 14 years ago, when the Arizona men’s basketball team won the NCAA Title, and in one way ended a journey for me that had started when I first arrived in Tucson in January of 1974.
Having grown up just outside of New York City, I wasn’t a stranger to having local professional teams win championships. A New York team was in the World Series for 12 of the first 13 years of my life. In the NFL, the NY Giants were there for 5 of 6 years starting in 1958. As I grew older I watched the NY Jets win a Super Bowl, and the Miracle Mets win in ’69. The Knicks won two NBA titles in 1970 and 1973. My high school basketball team was named the best team in the NYC area by the New York Daily News my Junior year when they went 21-1.
 |
| The Fox electrified the desert in the early '70s |
I did a little research on some old Arizona teams, and realized that I had a few more connections to players and coaches associated with the program than I had readily recalled.
The closest connections and best stories I have are from my old friends, Donald Mellon and Mark Jung, and an X-rated story my ex-wife told me.
Don Mellon was in one of Snowden’s last good recruiting classes (1978) and was unlucky enough to be around for the Ben Lindsay coached disaster in 1982-83.
Don’s best story was about a local kid from Cholla High School named Harvey Thompson who was a teammate, and the worst trash talker Don said he ever knew, and Don was from Detroit, so he knew some trash talk.
 |
| Harris punked Harvey |
Don got the job of trying to stop Harris, and when he quickly realized he couldn’t, he started sweet talkin’ Harris. Don told him how good he was, how he’d make big money in the NBA, and how seeing as Tulsa was kickin’ the Cats ass that night anyway, he should "go easy on the brutha."
Don said it worked, and Harris eased up, as Tulsa had a big lead anyway. Eventually, Lindsay took Don out for a blow, and put Harvey Thompson in the game. Don tried to tell Harvey to "be nice" to Harris, but
Harvey said "Screw that mutha." And proceeded to diss Harris in any way he could.
Harris got angry, and decided to go on another roll, lighting Harvey up from all over the court. Lindsay saw this and immediately inserted Don back in the game with orders to "shut Harris down!"
Of course Don immediately became the supplicant again, fawning over the magnificence that was Steve Harris, and telling him again how fabulous he was.
Don said Harris drained another 21 footer over him and told Don to go fuck himself.
"My Legend Comes Alive in My Mind," by Harvey Thompson.
Mark Jung was the 7 foot center from Canyon Del Oro High School in Tucson, who played briefly at the U of A before transferring. It was no secret by 1981 that Snowden couldn’t recruit very well anymore because he was deathly afraid of flying, so he tried very hard to get as many local kids as he could to play for the Cats. According to Mark, Fred Snowden would serve up young ladies as a kind of ‘escort service’ for the young men coming for official visits, with one of the ladies being a relative of the Fox.
"Fear of Flying: My Odyssey from Coach to Pimp," by Freddie "The Fox" Snowden.
Brian Jung, Mark’s older brother is also a friend of mine. Brian was another highly recruited 7 footer who ended up in the Big 10 at Northwestern, and was drafted by the Celtics.
Sometime back in the ‘90’s, I played a round of golf with Mark, Brian and their 6’5" nephew. I am a bit over 5’8" tall. Folks with cameras were snapping photos of us as we walked Randolph South Golf Course one day. I told anyone within earshot that we were searching for a 6’1" shooting guard.
Funny, but it was shortly after that when I met Don Mellon, and I later played golf with Harvey Mason who was a shooting guard, albeit a poor one. I also got to know Albert Johnson pretty well, and played golf with him a number of times, and lifted a number of beers after. Albert played for the Cats from 1962-1965, was an All WAC selection 3 times, and played with the Harlem Globetrotters.
 |
| Onion rings, anyone? |
I had been dating the woman who later became my first wife for some time when she told me a story a co-worker had told her about her roommate and her boyfriend, who was Herm the Germ.
Apparently, this story revolves around onion rings, and the young lady nibbling the onion rings off an appendage of the Germ, with other hormone-driven high jinx naturally ensuing.
When I told that story to a good friend of mine, he swore off onion rings for about 20 years.
"Have it Your Way or Mine: Fun Things to do with Snacks, " by Herm "The Germ" Harris.
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| Have em Herm's way |
How about, "An Appendage of the Germ," a novel by Michael Crichton, with Herman Harris, and forward by Linda Lovelace?
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| Thanks Miles. |
It’s been a long time since those days, and a long time since that 1997 Arizona Wildcat championship season – so long ago that Michael Bibby is now an aging and slow point guard, but the luster of what he, Miles Simon, and those Cats did hasn’t worn off yet. It was a magical ride, beating three number 1 seeds to win that title on a Monday evening in Indianapolis, and when the game ended, CBS’s Billy Packer said it best:
"Simon says championship!"
Monday, March 14, 2011
Red Sox fans should shut up
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| Go Mookie, go! |
Sure, Boston missed the post-season in 2010, but they still won 89 games. They did that in (by far) the best division in baseball with three of their best players out of action for large portions of the season – Kevin Youkilis missed 60 games, Dustin Pedroia, 87, and Jacoby Ellsbury, 144.
Victor Martinez was out for 35 as well, and Josh Beckett missed at least 10 starts, and was seldom "right" all season. Emerging super sub Jed Lowrie also missed time, as did Mike Cameron, who had been penciled in as the regular center fielder.
Injuries happen to all teams, but they seemed to hit Boston especially hard, yet last years team was still probably good enough to have won any other division in MLB.
The downside for 2011 is obvious for Boston.
1) First, they lost Martinez to free agency, and we have to wonder if former prospect Jarrod Saltalamacchia will ever live up to the hype that had him the biggest part of the trade that brought Mark Teixeira to Atlanta from Texas back in 2007? (As it turned out, a couple of guys named Neftali Feliz and Elvis Andrus were bigger pieces.) Catching does appear to be a weakness, but "Salty" is only 25, and catchers often develop late.
2) Third baseman Adrian Beltre seemingly had an encore performance in a "free agent walk year" similar to the one he had with the Dodgers back in 2004, and received a fabulous contract from Texas for his effort. Reality is that Beltre had been a fairly consistent hitter in Seattle, and aside from a huge spike in batting average, his numbers weren’t that different from what they’d been with the Mariners.
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| Ducky Bucking Fent |
The upside for Boston in 2011 is everything else.
1) Carl Crawford is one of the truly electric stars of the sport, and Adrian Gonzalez’s swing was built for Fenway Park’s right field stands. The rest of the line up is solid, and there are players ready to fill in with little drop off in production in a number of positions if when injuries hit. The defense is excellent, and over all team speed is outstanding.
2) John Lester is up there with Felix Hernandez, CC Sabathia and David Price as the top starting pitchers in the league. John’s Lackey’s numbers in 2010 belie how good he still is, and even though I’m not chugging the Clay Buchholz "Kool Aid," I will take a few sips.
3) The bullpen is a managers dream, with Bobby Jenks, Dan Wheeler, and (budding closer) Daniel Bard backing up Jon Papelbon. If the kid Felix Doubront doesn’t win a starter’s job, he may find a home in the pen too, giving Boston a second lefty, along with Hideki Okajima.
4) The Tampa Bay Rays have lost a number of excellent players in a salary purge, and though may well yet prove to be very good with a lot of kids taking prominent roles, they will not be as good as last season.
5) The New York Yankees seem to have little starting pitching depth behind CC Sabathia and Phil Hughes, and though I do expect AJ Burnett to come back and have a good season, I think they are in trouble here.
All that, and ARod has gotten a bit brittle, and both he and Jeter are trending down. The bullpen looks a bit lean, and Posada is a half time player at best behind the plate.
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| '04 + '07 = 11? |
They are the best team in baseball, so kill the angst Red Sox fan, it’s annoying and tedious.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
“PHILLIES FAIL TO MAKE POST-SEASON!”
Imagine reading that on September 29, 2011?
You can sneer or cheer, believe it or not, but it’s a reasonable prospect right now, even if Philadelphia is right behind Boston as the betting favorite to win the World Series in 2011.
What about the Phillies, anyway?
It’s easy for me to say now that I felt they’d be especially vulnerable to injuries this season with the recent bad news regarding Chase Utley’s his knee, but Jimmy Rollins and Utley have both spent some serious time on the DL the last two seasons. Right now, the average age of their starting line up is 32+.
In the rotation, Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt are 33, and Cliff Lee is 32. Cole Hamels is the kid at 27, and how great is this kid’s life anyway? The forgotten man in this group is Joe Blanton, who quietly put together a lot of nice games at the end of 2010. I think he finally swore off Ring Dings and Twinkies.
How does Brad Lidge (34) end up being older than all those guys, especially Oswalt? I could swear that I’ve been watching Oswalt pitch for about 35 years. How does he end up being younger than Brad Lidge?
Jose Contreras needs to swear off cake too, and he’s somewhere between 39 and 49 years old, isn’t he?
The "youth" on this team, Domonic Brown is 23 who is also hurt right now. I didn’t anticipate that injury, though I did think: "What if he doesn’t make it this season?"
30-year old Shane Victorino in center is a youngster.
What Brown’s injury will mean at least a few weeks into the season is that Ben Francisco (29) has a chance to play, and he might be a nice surprise. He was a RD 5 pick out of UCLA in 2002 by Cleveland, and he has shown a nice speed/power combination when he’s gotten the opportunity to play.
The other guy in the outfield will be 38-year old Raul Ibanez. How long can Ibanez keep it up? I was wrong about him not being able to come back last season, and I am always going to root for a guy that will be 39 before summer even starts, but I’m not going to bet on him staying healthy.
Ryan Howard (31) has been declining over the last two years as has Jimmy Rollins (32). How bad is Utley’s injury? 32-year old guys that start getting injured don’t suddenly become completely healthy again.
Third baseman Placido Polanco is 35. Carlos Ruiz is 32. I love them both as players, but they aren’t kids either.
Age and injuries on baseball teams generally follow similar paths these days in a game without rampant use of PED’s, and the Phillies look to be a vulnerable team. It’s been reasonably shown that a MLB player’s most productive (batting) seasons are those between the age of 27-32. With pitchers, a little older is all right, so the rotation looks rock solid, even if they do have one or two guys miss time.
The argument in picking Philadelphia to win the NL pennant, and in making them the second favorite to win the 2011 World Series is the logical, and easy choice.
I think their hitting will let them down when they inevitably incur another injury or two in the starting line up. I think their bullpen remains shaky and questionable, and their bench is lean. One of these days one or more of those starting pitchers will find himself on the DL.
Will the Phillies win the NL East, or at worst win the NL Wild Card?
I’d be a fool to bet against both, but it would surprise me very much if the faux headline of this story became a reality on September 29.
You can sneer or cheer, believe it or not, but it’s a reasonable prospect right now, even if Philadelphia is right behind Boston as the betting favorite to win the World Series in 2011.
What about the Phillies, anyway?
It’s easy for me to say now that I felt they’d be especially vulnerable to injuries this season with the recent bad news regarding Chase Utley’s his knee, but Jimmy Rollins and Utley have both spent some serious time on the DL the last two seasons. Right now, the average age of their starting line up is 32+.
In the rotation, Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt are 33, and Cliff Lee is 32. Cole Hamels is the kid at 27, and how great is this kid’s life anyway? The forgotten man in this group is Joe Blanton, who quietly put together a lot of nice games at the end of 2010. I think he finally swore off Ring Dings and Twinkies.
 |
| That's a whole lotta Joe |
 |
| Is he 39, or 49? |
Jose Contreras needs to swear off cake too, and he’s somewhere between 39 and 49 years old, isn’t he?
The "youth" on this team, Domonic Brown is 23 who is also hurt right now. I didn’t anticipate that injury, though I did think: "What if he doesn’t make it this season?"
30-year old Shane Victorino in center is a youngster.
What Brown’s injury will mean at least a few weeks into the season is that Ben Francisco (29) has a chance to play, and he might be a nice surprise. He was a RD 5 pick out of UCLA in 2002 by Cleveland, and he has shown a nice speed/power combination when he’s gotten the opportunity to play.
The other guy in the outfield will be 38-year old Raul Ibanez. How long can Ibanez keep it up? I was wrong about him not being able to come back last season, and I am always going to root for a guy that will be 39 before summer even starts, but I’m not going to bet on him staying healthy.
Ryan Howard (31) has been declining over the last two years as has Jimmy Rollins (32). How bad is Utley’s injury? 32-year old guys that start getting injured don’t suddenly become completely healthy again.
Third baseman Placido Polanco is 35. Carlos Ruiz is 32. I love them both as players, but they aren’t kids either.
 |
| Pitching forever? |
The argument in picking Philadelphia to win the NL pennant, and in making them the second favorite to win the 2011 World Series is the logical, and easy choice.
I think their hitting will let them down when they inevitably incur another injury or two in the starting line up. I think their bullpen remains shaky and questionable, and their bench is lean. One of these days one or more of those starting pitchers will find himself on the DL.
Will the Phillies win the NL East, or at worst win the NL Wild Card?
I’d be a fool to bet against both, but it would surprise me very much if the faux headline of this story became a reality on September 29.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Not For Long?
Can I chalk it all up to being a bit depressed?
The first story is that when I glance out the window on my right I can see close to 2.5 feet of freshly fallen snow, and I am not a skier. No, that’s not it, by itself. This is winter #11for me, living in northern Vermont, and I’m past being too upset by normal weather, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bother me.
So, I am bothered a bit by the blizzard, and by four other (not so) disparate stories that have somehow collided in my mind, and left me feeling sad and angry.
The second story is that I borrowed a book from our local library on Saturday titled "Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town," by Nick Reding. It’s a true reporting of what has happened to so many little towns in the heartland of this country – the horrible story of being addicted to methamphetamine, and how it has come to be rural America’s answer to urban America’s heroin/cocaine mixed addiction.
The third story is that a little over two years ago, one of my oldest and closest friends died in a prison hospital from cancer. I don’t know what caused the cancer, but I do know that methamphetamine was the reason he was incarcerated.
My friend had had what most folks would agree had been a pretty successful life for the better part of 50 years. He had many friends that loved him, and made more than enough money to have a nice home, and most of the other material things a person generally wants. I’m not going to try and tell the story of how this all happened, just that it did, and it destroyed him before the cancer ended his life.
The fourth story was aired on "60 Minutes" last night. It was about how children are the largest segment of the American homeless population. Some estimates are that 25% of the children in this country are lucky if they are sleeping in a shelter or crowded with parents and siblings in a weekly-rate motel room. Some "couch-surf" with friends, family, or neighbors – often in what must feel like a never-ending cycle. Some aren’t lucky enough to have any of those places to live.
A large part of my job is managing public housing authority (PHA) family developments, so I work with people on the fringe of homelessness by definition. I probably have over 200 children among my tenants, and untold more whose parents are trying to secure an apartment from my PHA. Most of the kids that are in the safe and affordable housing we provide are often hungry. Some have parents that are drug addicts. If I catch someone using illegal drugs I am required (by HUD) to terminate their lease. The language in a standard approved HUD lease mentions "methamphetamine" specifically a number of times, and makes it very clear that a tenant will be evicted if caught using, selling or manufacturing the drug.
So, maybe this is all my fault, that I am feeling a bit down? I think I picked up the book because I was looking for some answers to why my friend lived out the final years of his live as a speed freak, tweaker, addict, meth dealer, and then a convict.
I had no idea that the story about child homelessness was going to be aired last night, just as it never occurred to me when I checked the book out of the library that the word "crank" is perhaps the most popular nickname for ‘meth.’ "Crank" is also an old term for "fan," or fanatic. It’s funny how things work out sometimes.
The fifth story is that I have wanted to write about the NFL owner’s impending lock out of the players for some time, but haven’t done so because so many people with infinitely more knowledge on the subject have already beaten it to a pulp.
What bothers me about this story is the money that is at stake in this negotiation, and how the owners seem to be greedier than the worst of the Wall Street swindlers in history?
I have tried to tell myself that they really won’t ‘kill’ a season set to generate 9-billion dollars because they want a bigger share, but I am having a hard time convincing myself.
I heard that a writer calculated that between 32 NFL owners and almost 1100 players, they could divvy up that $9,000,000,000 and all end up with 5-million each. I’m not sure what that means, but it’s an interesting number, and 5-million a piece calculates out to about $13,700 per day.
The US government has set the poverty level for a family of 4 at about $22,000 per year.
Adding it all up we have close to three feet of snow, methamphetamine, a friend’s death, child homelessness, and 9 billion dollars.
Maybe all this noise by the NFL owners is just that? Maybe it’s just posturing and positioning to get a better deal, and they won’t cancel games, or give fans another series of games with replacement players? Maybe the owners get their way, and add 2 more games to the schedule, then the league can suspend players for needing to use illegal drugs like meth to ‘survive’ the season?
Maybe this is all just a random confluence of stories that are on my mind right now, and I’ll get over it?
I care about a lot of things, but maybe I really don’t give a crap about pro football anymore regardless of how this situation resolves?
Maybe I do, but not for long.
The first story is that when I glance out the window on my right I can see close to 2.5 feet of freshly fallen snow, and I am not a skier. No, that’s not it, by itself. This is winter #11for me, living in northern Vermont, and I’m past being too upset by normal weather, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bother me.
So, I am bothered a bit by the blizzard, and by four other (not so) disparate stories that have somehow collided in my mind, and left me feeling sad and angry.
The second story is that I borrowed a book from our local library on Saturday titled "Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town," by Nick Reding. It’s a true reporting of what has happened to so many little towns in the heartland of this country – the horrible story of being addicted to methamphetamine, and how it has come to be rural America’s answer to urban America’s heroin/cocaine mixed addiction.
The third story is that a little over two years ago, one of my oldest and closest friends died in a prison hospital from cancer. I don’t know what caused the cancer, but I do know that methamphetamine was the reason he was incarcerated.
My friend had had what most folks would agree had been a pretty successful life for the better part of 50 years. He had many friends that loved him, and made more than enough money to have a nice home, and most of the other material things a person generally wants. I’m not going to try and tell the story of how this all happened, just that it did, and it destroyed him before the cancer ended his life.
The fourth story was aired on "60 Minutes" last night. It was about how children are the largest segment of the American homeless population. Some estimates are that 25% of the children in this country are lucky if they are sleeping in a shelter or crowded with parents and siblings in a weekly-rate motel room. Some "couch-surf" with friends, family, or neighbors – often in what must feel like a never-ending cycle. Some aren’t lucky enough to have any of those places to live.
A large part of my job is managing public housing authority (PHA) family developments, so I work with people on the fringe of homelessness by definition. I probably have over 200 children among my tenants, and untold more whose parents are trying to secure an apartment from my PHA. Most of the kids that are in the safe and affordable housing we provide are often hungry. Some have parents that are drug addicts. If I catch someone using illegal drugs I am required (by HUD) to terminate their lease. The language in a standard approved HUD lease mentions "methamphetamine" specifically a number of times, and makes it very clear that a tenant will be evicted if caught using, selling or manufacturing the drug.
So, maybe this is all my fault, that I am feeling a bit down? I think I picked up the book because I was looking for some answers to why my friend lived out the final years of his live as a speed freak, tweaker, addict, meth dealer, and then a convict.
I had no idea that the story about child homelessness was going to be aired last night, just as it never occurred to me when I checked the book out of the library that the word "crank" is perhaps the most popular nickname for ‘meth.’ "Crank" is also an old term for "fan," or fanatic. It’s funny how things work out sometimes.
The fifth story is that I have wanted to write about the NFL owner’s impending lock out of the players for some time, but haven’t done so because so many people with infinitely more knowledge on the subject have already beaten it to a pulp.
What bothers me about this story is the money that is at stake in this negotiation, and how the owners seem to be greedier than the worst of the Wall Street swindlers in history?
I have tried to tell myself that they really won’t ‘kill’ a season set to generate 9-billion dollars because they want a bigger share, but I am having a hard time convincing myself.
I heard that a writer calculated that between 32 NFL owners and almost 1100 players, they could divvy up that $9,000,000,000 and all end up with 5-million each. I’m not sure what that means, but it’s an interesting number, and 5-million a piece calculates out to about $13,700 per day.
The US government has set the poverty level for a family of 4 at about $22,000 per year.
Adding it all up we have close to three feet of snow, methamphetamine, a friend’s death, child homelessness, and 9 billion dollars.
Maybe all this noise by the NFL owners is just that? Maybe it’s just posturing and positioning to get a better deal, and they won’t cancel games, or give fans another series of games with replacement players? Maybe the owners get their way, and add 2 more games to the schedule, then the league can suspend players for needing to use illegal drugs like meth to ‘survive’ the season?
Maybe this is all just a random confluence of stories that are on my mind right now, and I’ll get over it?
I care about a lot of things, but maybe I really don’t give a crap about pro football anymore regardless of how this situation resolves?
Maybe I do, but not for long.
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