A New Twist to an Old Argument

Perhaps the most perplexing part of the ‘should college athletes get paid’ argument is the notion that pundits forget that the word college precedes the word athlete.

The reality of the issue is that colleges make A LOT of money off of the kid’s name because of the amateur status of college players. That is irrefutable; yet the national conversation seems to be missing the practical implications of shifting student focus from academics to what they do on the field.

When a college athlete leaves school early without having the skills in (insert whatever major here) they are setting themselves up for failure; and just paying them for on the field prowess will not alleviate that.

Out of the 9,000 or so college athletes who play college football, roughly 300 of them are invited to the NFL combine and only 215 actually go on to become pro. That is 2.4 percent for those keeping score at home.

The percentage of NBA players who come out of college is even lower; less than one percent to be a bit more accurate.

The NFL Player’s Association website even says in plain English, “As you can see, most people who want to become NFL players will not. Therefore it is very important to come up with alternative plans for the future.”

The place for young adults to establish their alternative future plans is in college.

In today’s national conversation, both the institutions that make money off of them and the champions of college athletes forget that the chief reason they go to the University of wherever is to get a degree.

However, the young athletes are free to forgo their degree and declare for the NFL or NBA draft after one or three years respectively.

Considering that the average NFL career is three years and that the average NBA career is roughly six years, these kids will inevitably be thrown out into the world after making six figures a year with no idea how to do anything else.

To be clear, that doesn’t mean that the University of Notre Dame should continue to make almost 69 million dollars in football revenue alone without having to pay their student athletes a dime of it.

It is just that paying amateur athletes, in all sports, will not solve the greater problem of college athletes who wash out of the NBA or NFL not having any practical skills to acquire a new job.

If for whatever reason college athletes are allowed to get paid by their respective universities, there has to be a contractual agreement stating they cannot turn pro until they get a degree in the major of their choice.

With this prevision, college athletes have to go to class and graduate with the same 128 credits most universities require to get a diploma. Then if they want, they can peruse their dreams of becoming the next Peyton Manning or Michael Jordan.

Making college students graduate before they take the chance on themselves to turn pro is not, and cannot be viewed by society as, a punishment for going to college.

If the young adult wants to be a pro, and get paid for playing at the university of wherever, that badly then they’ll hit the books and get the degree to do it.

The most treacherous thing for student athletes is ending up in the abyss of those who failed to go pro and can’t do anything else.

Paying college athletes alone doesn’t help them escape that vortex, making them graduate before letting them try to go pro does.

Sports is why you Never Leave Early

We are all mortal, yet there is a process that injects life into the zombified husks sitting in their seats.

It happens when a pass falls perfectly into the hands of a rookie wide receiver in the waning seconds.  It occurs when a postseason savior hits a pitch into the bullpen. It may even happen in the last period of a doomed hockey game.

Because the fantastic comeback win can happen at any time, it is truly baffling to think that fans in the stands would willingly rob themselves of this experience by leaving early.

Thom Brennaman duly noted that there were members of the Foxboro faithful departing the stands in the final quarter against the New Orleans Saints. The home team was down by one point. The Patriots would go on to get three more cracks at stealing a game they had no business being in.

And yet a select few thought they could get a beat on the artery clogging traffic that would undoubtedly clog Route 1.

A similar mindset of beating the rush to Kenmore station had to occur to Red Sox fans on Sunday. Max Scherzer pitched seven incredible innings and fanned 13. The team had struck out 25 times through two games and looked overmatched completely to that point.

On May 13 there were most likely those who contemplated shutting off game seven between the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was a three goal deficit with half of the third period gone and the home team appeared to be skating through quick sand on defense.

It seems logical for the fair-weather to avoid the turbulence of their team faltering. They avoid the hardest part about being a fan because they can’t bear the pain of loss.

Yet for those who are willing to risk facing the hardest part of sports, there exists the reward of being faithful.

For example those who elect to stay at Gillette Stadium witnessed the opposition’s play calling head to hell in a hand basket. The Saints inexplicably forgot that they could run the ball against the Patriots; as a result they gave a man with 31 forth quarter comeback wins a shot at his 32^nd one.

The result of this was Tom Brady finding Kenbrell Tomkins in the back corner of the end zone with five seconds to go.  The muskets fired once more and the New England Patriots beat the New Orleans Saints by a score of 30-27.

Those who stayed for the eighth inning at Fenway Park saw Jim Leyland of the Detroit Tigers over manage his team as he called for four different  pitchers in one inning.

None of Leyland’s pitchers recorded an out until after David Ortiz hit a grand slam. All four runs came across the plate and  the homer gave light to a fantastic sports picture.

One inning later Jarrod Saltalamacchia drove in Boston’s bearded basher Jonny Gomes to give the Red Sox a 6-5 victory.

Yet the most improbable was that May 13^th day at TD Bank Garden. The Bruins faithful saw Milan Lucic, Nathan Horton, and Patrice Bergeron netted three goals to keep the Bruins season alive.

And in overtime the Bruins kept calm and Bergeroned as Boston’s favorite Canadian found the back of the net to complete the reversal.

While there are countless other cities where improbable comebacks occur, there will always be those who try to beat the traffic.

If these three improbable turnarounds taught us anything it is this: Never leave the stadium early because remarkable could happen today.

Baseball's Triad of Chaos: Bring it on

While last year’s addition of the second wild card spot revamped the pennant race, this year we could see an improbable three team round robin that should scramble the equilibrium.

With the Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, and Cleveland Indians all separated in the wild card standings by a game, it makes sense that there are three teams fighting for two spots.

But if they all finish with the same regular season record, one team could opt to be team C as opposed to team A in the tiebreaker.

Confused yet? Don’t worry that’s normal. Here is how the three way tie would be unknotted.

Hypothetically if the Rangers, Indians and Rays all finish with the same record the team with the best record against the other potential wild card opponents will host the team with the second best record out of the three.

In laments terms this means the Cleveland Indians would host the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday. These are teams A and B.

This is because Cleveland went a combined 7-5 against the Rays and Rangers this year. Tampa Bay went a combined 7-6 against the Rangers and Indians this year, so they are team B.

Let’s say for all intents and purposes that the Rays go on the road, get a strong performance from David Price at the Jake and take the win from a jilted Cleveland Indians team.

This means that Tampa Bay gets to fly home to Saint Petersburg and host either the Indians or Rangers on Wednesday.

By (hypothetically) beating Cleveland, the Rays secure their claim to the first of two wild card slots and get to be the home team for the Rangers/ Indians showdown.

But before getting to Wednesday we have to hop back in the Delorean and travel back to Tuesday where the Texas Rangers would host the Cleveland Indians for the right to be the second wild card team.

The Rangers have the advantage of home field, yet Cleveland cancels that out by getting two shots to clinch the final wildcard slot as opposed to Texas’ one.

Regardless of the winner of Texas and Cleveland, the winner of the Tuesday night game will be the second wild card team. The second wild card team will have to fly out to Tampa and play the Rays because they became the first wild card team by winning.

Then everything goes back to the regular one game play in that did so well last year.

In hindsight the process is not especially confusing and this added wrinkle of three-teams-fight-for-two-spots-to-turn-around-and-fight-for-one-spot makes things far more interesting.

Imagine the spectacle of the oft underrated Rays team that could beat Cleveland on Monday and host a play in game that Wednesday.

Imagine being the Texas Rangers stumbling into a home game playoff atmosphere with a chance to end someone’s season in Arlington.

Or you could be the Cleveland Indians. By beating Tampa Bay and sending your good vibes over to help Texas win, you could knock out Tampa Bay and avoid playoff baseball in that dungeon that the Rays call a ballpark.

We could see three teams fighting for two spots to fight for one spot; let the chaos reign. 

Good on the Field, Bad in the Booth.

Whether Al Michaels is welcoming us to this broadcast of the NFL, Marv Albert coming to us live from Madison Square Garden, or Mike Emrick describing the “shoooootttt” of a hockey player, fans of all sports gather around their media outlet of choice to hear or see the action.

Obviously not every game is going to be the Miracle on Ice. And yes Jack Buck is probably going to believe what he just saw on 94 percent of the plays in a baseball game.

Regardless, sporting events have the potential to be positive experiences for everyone watching, or listening, to them. For this reason, it is so disheartening to see color commentators who hinder the viewing experience by butchering its content.

Take former Red Sox pitcher Derrick Lowe for example. Lowe had career moments that dropped about as much as his average sinker. From 1997-1999 Lowe had a 5-15 record as he was bounced back and forth from starter to reliever.

Ultimately Lowe turned around his career and turned out to be a perfectly average pitcher. Yet the clichéd transition from former pro to color guy hasn’t worked well for him.

He seems out of place in the booth and all too eager to belittle himself in an unproductive manor. He takes away from the game that is happening while trying to fixate on a point that lost its validity three batters ago.

While there is nothing wrong with a professional athlete who is willing to poke fun of himself repeatedly (because the Peyton Manning cut that meat commercial was, and still is, the funniest sports commercial of all time) the broadcast booth isn’t always the place to do it.

Still, pro athletes take up the booth in order to bring the game to their eyes. Though this route isn’t for everyone, even the best players stink with a microphone.

John Miller of ESPN spent years throwing his back out on live air to drag Joe Morgan through insufferable Sunday Night Baseball games. And Dennis Eckersley single handedly brought homer-ism from the Red Sox booth to a level most people didn’t know existed.

The booth isn’t meant for everyone, and yet countless athletes try to make it their saving grace after leaving the game they love.

If that is the case, then there is no reason why athletes who take the responsibility of the booth shouldn’t try to be great at it.

There is no shame in a former athlete turned commentator spending time in the film room reviewing their own diction and deliverance. Since watching film has been engrained in most athletes anyway, there is no reason to think they can’t at least improve by watching for their mistakes.

Perfect example of this would be ESPN’s Aaron Boone. When he first joined the Baseball Tonight crew in 2010 Boone was not able to string together thoughts in an intelligent way.

Three years and countless broadcasts later, Boone has gone from a seemingly non talent to quality talent. His thoughts flow from his mouth like a waterfall in a Poland Springs commercial today.

While he may not have attended the Connecticut School of Broadcasting in order to correct his prior errors, there has been a significant improvement in Boone’s booth game.

If an athlete is going to be a color guy or analyst after their playing career is over, they have to know their takes shape the viewing experiences of fans everywhere.

Or else they’ll sound like Derrick Lowe, Joe Morgan, and Dennis Eckersley: good on the field, but morons behind the mike.

Calling it Now

With summer winding down and the public’s interest in baseball vanishing faster than this Hunter Pence’s home run ball leaving the yard, its time to announce the year’s award winners.

American League Most Valuable Player: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers

This may go down as the easiest MVP choice in the history of baseball; and if it’s not someone’s voting privileges need to be revoked.

                                                  

Cabrera is hitting .357 this season. The next closest person to him in the major leagues, Yadier Molina, trails him by 24 points.

The Tiger’s slugger has 130 runs batted in this year and we aren’t even in September yet. The next closest player is 12 RBI behind him.

Cabrera is also second in the majors in runs scored and leads the American league in hits.

Literally if you go to MLB.com’s “American Leaders” page, Cabrera is first in everything offense except for home runs; where he is just three back of Chris Davis.

Also, as if he needed to further his own argument, Cabrera’s been battling a lower abdomen strain for a month. And he could be the first person ever to win back to back triple crowns.

Even if he doesn’t, AL MVP is a lock for sure.

National League MVP: Allen Craig, Saint Louis Cardinals

While picking Cabrera to win MVP again is very easy, the national league equivalent has been much harder to determine.

The Atlanta Braves have the best record in baseball, yet they been doing it without one guy carrying the offensive load; well, that and great pitching.

Paul Goldschmidt has a good batting average (.300), is second in the NL in home runs (31),leads the NL in RBI’s (104), has the second best OPS in the national league (.952), and is confidently the best player on the Diamondbacks.

Yet the D-backs are going to miss the playoffs. And it goes against every fiber in my being to vote for an MVP guy knowing that his team isn’t going to be playing October baseball.

So we’re left with a guy who is second in the NL in RBI’s (96), sixth in the league in batting average, (.316), is forth in the NL in hits (153), and is hitting .452 with runners in scoring position.

That’s not a misprint; Allen Craig has a .452 average with runners in scoring positing.

Ladies and Gentlemen your 2013 NL MVP, Allen Craig!

NL CY Young: Clayton Kershaw, LA Dodgers

This one is also an easy choice. Kershaw has the lowest ERA in the majors at 1.72, leads the major leagues in strikeouts with 197, and opponents are hitting .186 against him.

While 13 wins doesn’t help Kershaw factor in how atrocious the Dodgers were in the beginning of the year and the fact that pitchers wins don’t seem to matter anymore and Kershaw is the runaway choice.

AL CY Young: Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers

This race is pretty much between two players: Yu Darvish and Max Scherzer. Here are their splits.

Darvish: 12-5, 2.68 ERA, 25 starts, 116 hits allowed, 20 homers allowed, 225 strikeouts, opponents bat .191 against him.

Scherzer: 19-1, 2.73 ERA, 26 starts, 120 hits allowed, 14 homers allowed, 196 strikeouts, opponents bat .190 against him.

The formula for picking Scherzer is simple. Similar ERA to Darvish + six fewer homers allowed + better batting average against + he doesn’t loose= AL CY Young.

Though if Darvish wins the award, that shouldn’t be an issue.

AL Manager of the Year: John Farrell, Boston Red Sox

Honorable mentions to Bob Melvin (name 10 players on the Oakland Athletics without the internet’s help), Joe Girardi (Injury devastated Yankees are in the race still) and Terry Francona (Cleveland stunk last year now they’re in the race).

Yet none of the honorable mentions had to deal with the disaster that was the Red Sox clubhouse last year. The chicken and beer boys have been replaced by the effort and beard boys. Farrell gets credit for the Sox having the best record in the AL and altering the clubhouse for the better.

NL Manager of the Year: Clint Hurdle, Pittsburgh Pirates

While Mike Matheny and Fredi Gonzalez are good managers of good teams, they were expected to be division leaders.

The only other manager who could dethrone Hurdle is Don Mattingly of the Dodgers. Considering the team was left for dead in 2013 BP, before Puig, Mattingly has greatly helped in having LA go 45-10 in 55 games.

Still, the NL West is the worst division in baseball and the stupidly high number that is the Dodgers payroll hinder Mattingly’s argument a bit.

Meanwhile Hurdle team has one fewer win than the Dodgers in the toughest division in baseball. 

Combine that with the notion that no Pirate offensive player is having a fantastic season and you get a team that relies heavily on pitching and management to win.

Hurdle has been one of the best this season in that department.

No Really, USA Today Covered This Story.

Earlier this week an online company called 800Razors.com offered one million dollars for Brian Wilson of the Los Angeles Dodgers to vanquish the Bigfoot of sports beards.

800Razors.com President Philip Masiello told RadarOnline.com “His (Wilson’s) management feels we need to match his present salary of $1 million at a minimum, the discussions commenced Friday and are continuing.”

Apparently James Harden was not available for this offer, seeing as how Wilson is being paid the arbitration figure this year (that’s one million dollars for one year for those who don’t speak baseball finances) and hasn’t been the impact closer that warranted his own facial hair getting a twitter account.

                               

Still, Wilson has been much better with the hill of hair on his face.

Wilson’s beard began to mount on a few occasions during the 2010 season. In 70 games that year Wilson recorded a career high 48 saves, had a career low 1.81 earned run average, and finished seventh in the CY Young voting.

Oh, and the Giants won their first World Series title since 1954.

Flash forward two years and two injury plagued seasons and Wilson is now finishing games for the Dodgers. He picked up his first action as a Dodger against the Marlins yesterday by striking out two of three batters.

While Wilson could have a positive impact for LA at a low price, the question can be asked if Wilson’s facial hair could make a difference in someone else’s life.

One school of thought is that that Wilson should shave for the betterment of others. Perhaps Wilson could tell 800Razors.com to up their offer to three million dollars and that the money gets donated to the charity of his choice.

Even though he’s making the arbitration figure this year Brian Wilson doesn’t need the gift million dollars. He made 4,440,000 dollars in 2010, 6.5 million in 2011, and 8.5 million last season.

That move would be fantastic public relations on the Dodgers part and could help someone far less fortunate than Wilson and his luscious locks of facial hair. No pressure or anything here.

On the other side of the fence is all of the stigma that Wilson’s beard holds a huge portion of his identity as a player. Wilson shaving off the beard would be like Chris Andersen getting rid of all his tattoos, Prince Fielder getting rid of his fat, or Tim Tebow losing his ability to miss receivers by a country mile.

Though all beard fans don’t have to worry about the big bad razors anymore, the Dodger pitcher will have no part of it.

Wilson’s reps told Yahoo sports.com earlier today that the former all-star will not so much as trim his famous trademark. Apparently Wilson’s beard is “going with him to the grave.”

While one shudders to think of Wilson’s wake with a silky white beard that goes down past his sternum, there is something positive to be said about a unique characteristic defining an athlete.

For Wilson it is his beard, and it appears it’s here to stay.