Bleacher Report - Articles by Jared Zeidman

Kiki Vandeweghe: This Is Your Mess

Jared Zeidman — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:48:59 -0500

The New Jersey Nets announced their new head coach yesterday, and apparently, the only person who appears to be concerned about it is their new head coach.

Firing your head coach and putting in the GM is basketball’s equivalent to starting a record label, firing your a-list talent, and asking your producer to start singing into the mic. It is a totally different task.

Nets General Manager Kiki Vandeweghe was introduced as the Nets’ head coach yesterday after getting President Rod Thorn’s vote of confidence. Kiki unfortunately, didn’t echo the same confidence. Citing coaching inexperience, Vandeweghe encouraged the Nets to grab former head coach Del Harris to help smooth the transition. Harris is now on board as an assistant, and Vandeweghe will lead the charge with Harris’ guidance (although when you are 0-18, it’s less of a charge and more of a limp).

Vandeweghe’s reluctance to coach the Nets surprised some. Vandeweghe after all was the man who helped turn around the Denver Nuggets, and was brought to the Nets to help transform another young team. This is his team. It’s his mess. Why would he not want to clean it up?

Oh, that’s right. HE’S NOT A COACH.

Even in the sport of baseball where there is a “Manager,” who coaches the players and makes in game decisions, there is still a “General Manager,” who makes trades and acquisitions, and is far more responsible for scouting and building. They are two separately defined roles. And we have seen, time and time again, in every sport: Great GMs can be awful coaches. And great coaches (and former players at that) are some of the worst GMs you will ever see.

Despite the fact the “clean up your own mess” technique seems ridiculous, it has become the way that a good chunk of NBA teams handle a regime change, especially with mid-season firings.

Vandeweghe wasn’t even the first GM told to clean up his mess this season. The New Orleans Hornets fired Byron Scott, replacing him with GM Jeff Bower. Last season, the 76ers replaced Maurice Cheeks with GM Tony DiLeo. Last season also saw the demise of the McHale era in Minnesota; but not before he replaced the fired Randy Whittman on an interim basis.

And of course, your and my favorite GM coaching blunder…Isiah Thomas was named the head coach of the Knicks after the bizarre Larry Brown experiment left New York directionless.

The next thing you may be wondering is “how have these teams performed with a GM as coach?” Well if their job status is any indication, the answer is: “poorly.” In fact it’s unanimous. Every GM to take over head coaching duties since 2006 has been fired. And it’s mostly because they aren’t coaches.

There is only one exception to this rule, if you can even call it that. Pat Riley added to his overwhelming workload in 2006 (which consisted of financially ruining the Miami Heat and spiritually ruining Stan Van Gundy) by becoming the head coach of the Miami Heat after Stan Van Gundy “mysteriously retired.” As you may know, the Heat won the championship that year. But after two dismal years following the big win and one of the worst salary cap debacles ever, Pat Riley decided that coaching was no longer his thing, and hired Erik Spoelstra.

So when it’s the All-Star break, and the Nets have less than 10 wins, and you are ready to call Kiki Vandeweghe a bad coach; remember this: Kiki Vandeweghe is not a coach. Kiki Vandeweghe did not want to be a coach. In fact, I’d be willing to guarantee you that if Kiki Vandeweghe’s contract said “you may have to become the head coach,” he would have turned down the deal to join the Nets.

The move to make a GM a team’s head coach has always been and will always be a fluff move that allows ownership to have their cake and eat it too. Fans will roar in approval that they are trying to bring new blood into the organization, while ownership really just waits another season to clean house and counts your dollars in the process.

And of course with that said, go Nets.

The Good, the Bad, and the Knicks

Jared Zeidman — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:46:59 -0500

I don’t think a lot of people will admit this, but I’d guess that everyone who has ever played a game of pickup basketball has been picked last at least once in their life. Maybe it’s because no one has ever seen you play before. Maybe it’s because basketball isn’t your thing. Maybe it was just some friendly ribbing. But that doesn’t change the fact that you are picked after the little kid, after the guy whom you are certain has never played the game before, and after Lenny, the guy with terrible asthma, wearing his inhaler as a necklace.

Initially, you have something to prove. Even if you know you aren’t anything special, the chip on your shoulder may be enough to give you a little extra spring in your step. But everyone, at some point in their life, gets tired of being picked last; it certainly isn’t exclusive to sports. Everyone has their breaking point.

After getting picked last so many times, any human will just throw their hands up and say “this sucks.” It’s simple psychology, and it explains the most glaring issue with the New York Knicks.

On paper alone, the Knicks have given fans plenty of reasons to tune out. They boast a point differential of -10: third worst in the NBA. They have trailed by more than 20 points in the first half of five of their seven games thus far this season. They are atrocious in terms of general offensive consistency. They literally don’t play defense. And finally, LeBron James’ ritual powder toss got a louder ovation than any member of the Knicks during player introductions.

The poor productivity of the Knicks is making the city groan. But it’s their demeanor while doing it that is adding the salt to the wound. That is where the psychology lesson comes in.

Donnie Walsh and Mike D’Antoni took over the Knicks franchise two seasons ago and made their mission public: They would wait until the 2010 off-season to make their move.

This past off-season every competitor (and even a few bad teams) made alterations to their rosters in an attempt to get better. Walsh and D’Antoni took on expiring contracts to get rich for 2010. In a “win now” town, Walsh boldly stated that if the Knicks wanted to be good, they would have to wait.

And wait they did. After having one of the more atrocious seasons in recent memory last year, the Knicks are off to one of the worst starts in franchise history; all while looking completely disinterested. So much so that Mike D'Antoni publicly insinuated that this team didn't look like they want to win.

But that begs the question: what is D'Antoni expecting? The two most popular members of the team were signed to one year deals just to keep the fans interested in this season. His most productive scorer has been reduced to a bench role, and his top 10 draft pick has not even been put in yet during a close game situation. Worse yet, the point guard that he desperately needed this draft, Brandon Jennings, is panning out better than any rookie in the league so far. Not only have Walsh and D'Antoni refused to take big chances, they've refused to take the little ones too.

Last Thursday Coach D'Antoni held a team meeting to discuss team morale. Judging by the fact that their next two games were blowout losses to the Cavs and Bucks respectively, I suspect the pep talk at the meeting went something like this:

“Alright guys, here’s the deal. I’ve made it publicly clear that I don’t want to coach any of you, and I have made sure that none of you are under contract through next season. Now, go out and play like champions."

In a situation like this, we as sports fans need to put down the foam fingers and use our brains. If your office is bought out and the new manager holds a meeting to tell you that he’s bringing in a fleet of new employees next year, but he wants current productivity to remain the same; you can bet your bottom dollar that office morale is going down. The fact that Knicks management is getting a clean pass here is not just unfair; it is unacceptable.

If the Knicks get cosmetic surgery this off-season, they will certainly look better. But cosmetic surgery has never cured depression and it certainly won’t start curing it now.

How Not To Start Your Career As A College Coach

Jared Zeidman — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:32:12 -0400

I have never played a college sport, but I feel that my years in youth athletics, combined with my moderate grasp of the human psyche, give me the ability to talk about this...

I was 12 years old when I hit my first and only little league home run. Right before the at bat, Coach Cosolito actually pulled me aside and said, “Jared, you can hit this guy, take your shot.”

I am 100% certain that if Coach Cosolito approached me and said “Jared you swing like hot garbage and I hate you” I would have struck out.

Now I’m not trying to cling to my glory days here, but I don’t brush that off as me being a gullible 11 year old. I could just as easily tell you about how I was thrown out while trying to be a hero, stealing a base without the signal which cost my team a berth in the championship game of a national Little League tournament in Cooperstown. Yes, I was indeed that guy.

Ask any athlete in any sport and they will tell you that sports is all about confidence. No one gets in a groove by constantly being told that they are terrible at what they do. In the same token, no coach has ever been successful by pulling a team into a huddle and saying, “Who’s ready to lose tonight guys?!?!”

But somehow before even hitting the court for his first official practice at Florida International University, Isiah Thomas has managed to suck all of the confidence out of his team.

If you haven’t heard the story yet, here is your background.

FIU was invited to participate in the Coaches Versus Cancer Tip-off Classic. They were told that they would be playing either Ohio State or UNC.

A game at Ohio State became part of the schedule until yesterday, when Gazelle Group (the company that coordinates nearly all of these tournaments, sans the NIT and big dance) announced that there was a scheduling change, and FIU would be playing their other possible opponent, UNC.

FIU was not happy about this.

In fact, they have now publicly stated that they will boycott the event if Gazelle Group doesn’t change back the schedule. Instead of citing travel expenses or a million other possible excuses, Isiah Thomas did what is single handedly considered the biggest mistake in all of coaching.

“Maybe in 2010, 2011 we can play North Carolina, but not this year.”

Conceding to a better team before you even know your final roster? Sounds confident. But what had me doing the double take was what Thomas had to say when he talked about playing Ohio State, before FIU’s opponent was changed.

“If at some point and time you're going to be able to compete with the big boys, you might as well jump right into the fire and get started.”

So either Ohio State is secretly Isiah Thomas’s favorite basketball program, or what he really meant by that quote was…

“If at some point you find a big name opponent who lost all of their key players in the last two seasons to the NBA Draft, you might as well jump right into the fire and get started.”

What’s funny to me is that you are hearing a lot of big wigs at the FIU athletic department talk right now. But you aren’t hearing from the student athletes on the basketball team. If you were, you’d probably hear something along the lines of:

“I don’t know why coach would say that we can’t beat someone.”

I guess it makes you wonder if this was what all of his Knicks pep talks sounded like.

College Football At A Glance: SEC

Jared Zeidman — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:35:02 -0400

Disclaimer: These are abridged outlooks for the common fan. If you don’t like what I have to say because I panned or didn’t mention your team, that’s fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

College Football has usually seen a few new teams jump into the top 10 each year. This is the first year I can remember where nearly every big name player from every big name team chose to remain in school. With that in mind, it shouldn’t really surprise anyone that I expect there to be far less parity in College Football this season…

Case in point: The Gators.

Last year, Florida wasn’t supposed to be as good because their defense was too young and inexperienced. As it turned out, their high powered offense actually took a backseat to Urban Meyer’s show-stealing defense. I can’t recall a defense with this much speed in my lifetime, and Tim Tebow anchors an offense that still has a ton of firepower.

While I am not thrilled about Urban Meyer’s god-complex, he is without question the best coach in the game right now, and his well experienced roster makes it very hard to not pick the Gators here.

While Florida does have a pretty rough schedule, it is not nearly as difficult as we have seen in past years, especially when you consider Georgia’s key losses in the backfield.

The Gators do match up with LSU this year, and a Death Valley match-up is always scary. But if Florida can get through it with one loss, I would have to consider them a lock to make it to the national championship game (unless of course, USC and Texas can just go undefeated and cut the one-loss garbage).

My best friend and former TOTG writer, Brandon Schwartz is moving to Knoxville Tennessee, which means I should probably say something nice about Tennessee’s program. Here it is:

Rocky Top is an awesome fight song.

I think Lane Kiffin is the most unlikable coach in any level of football. Every time he speaks, I die a little on the inside. But he happens to be very lucky, because his father is one of the greatest defensive football minds ever.

And if Tennessee can actually pull off a pro-form defensive look, the Vols will be the most improved team in the SEC. I can’t help but think this team will be football’s version of the Bush administration. The son has no idea what is happening around him, and the father’s volition pulls the strings.

The bad news is that no matter how successful Tennessee is this season, it will forever be shadowed by the fact that Florida is going to beat them by 85 points in the third week of the season.

In The SEC west, I expect Alabama to make it to a BCS bowl, but not the big one, because I still don’t think they can beat Florida. The Tide also runs into a very dangerous patch of games in the middle of the season where the facing South Carolina, Tennessee and LSU in three straight weeks.

Even though all three games are at home, I would be absolutely stunned to see them escape that rough patch without a loss. Also don’t forget that they end the season facing off against Auburn, who especially on the defensive end, should be much improved.

Bottom Line: Florida beats Alabama to get the bid (barring catastrophe, they are in the BCS Championship game). Alabama gets into the Sugar bowl. Tennessee, LSU and Georgia have good but not great years.

College Football at a Glance: Big 12

Jared Zeidman — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 17:48:07 -0400

Disclaimer: These are abridged outlooks for the common fan. If you don’t like what I have to say because I panned or didn’t mention your team, that’s fine. But save your breath.

I inhaled through my nose this morning, and it smelled like college football season. A plethora of previews are on the way, including the grand finale, which will reveal my BCS Championship match-up and victor.

But there are plenty of other things to talk about, including BCS bids, busts, and contenders. So, let’s dive in with last year’s most controversial conference, the Big 12. And, I’ll start by saying; it’s still going to be complicated.

Oklahoma stuck with Florida for half of last year’s National Championship game, and then Florida’s defense absolutely stole the show.

While I’m not sure that any team in the Big 12 can match Florida’s defensive speed, Oklahoma has a much bigger problem to worry about.

As the defenses of nearly every Big 12 South team returns more experienced, Oklahoma brings back almost no experience on the offensive line.

The good news is that if Oklahoma drops a game early, the BCS usually disregards an earlier season loss.

The bad news is that if Oklahoma finishes with the same record as Texas, Oklahoma will under no circumstances get the better bid (even if they beat Texas. Hooray for last season).

We have learned that the BCS hands out a ton of IOUs, and Texas has to be No. 1 on the list (with USC right behind them, but that’s a different conference). In addition to that, Texas is bringing back nearly very impact player (sans standout WR Quan Cosby) from last season’s big run.

I do think that Sam Bradford is the better Quarterback long term, but the multi-dimensional game that McCoy brings to the table has been enough to take out Oklahoma in the past.

My one concern about Texas is their lack of a serious running threat (as McCoy led the team in rushing yards). But it wasn’t that someone stopped their running game. It’s more that Mack Brown for whatever reason, passed significantly more last season.

If you are looking for some honorable mentions outside of the big two, I’ll say the following: Don’t sleep on Texas Tech. Yes they don’t have Harrell or Crabtree anymore. But under Mike Leach, Texas Tech’s passing offenses have been absolutely incredible.

Also, I love Mark Mangino. And in a rebuilding year for Mizzou, I would expect Kansas to come out of the North and play for the Big 12 championship. Maybe even the rapidly improving Cornhuskers can make a cameo. I do enjoy corn.

Bottom Line: Texas beats Kansas in the Big 12 Championship game. Texas gets the automatic BCS bid. Oklahoma gets an at-large. Texas Tech, Kansas and Nebraska make it into respectable bowls.

HurRoy for Portland!: Blazers Ink All-Star Brandon Roy to Five-Year Extension

Jared Zeidman — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:53:27 -0400

So it’s been a good minute since the Portland Trail Blazers were competing for an NBA championship, but it appears that this team likes its chances right now. And after yesterday, I can’t blame them.

Yesterday, Portland gave superstar Brandon Roy a five-year, max-money contract extension. Roy is now signed through the 2016 season, which (barring catastrophic injury) will guarantee the Blazers a top 10 player in the NBA for the next seven years.

Locking up a star is important, but this trade also gives the Blazers a ton of financial flexibility. Now you may be wondering how that is possible if they just gave a player a maximum deal. Let me explain.

Portland quickly addressed their point guard issue by signing arguably the most underrated player in the game, Andre Miller. You also have to assume that Greg Oden will be starting this season. LaMarcus Aldridge is on the verge of becoming a perennial All-Star in his own right. And Martell Webster, who was supposed to be the breakout swing man last year, has finally gotten a clean bill of health.

Despite those four players looking good for the Blazers in terms of talent, there is something else they have in common. Every single member of the Blazers’ starting five is signed for at least the next two seasons. And Portland has enough money to go out and buy another big name if they see fit (the Millsap near-deal was proof).

Portland has a legitimate superstar, a great supporting cast, and above all else, roughly $25 million to burn. This puts them in a position where, if they like what they see in the next two seasons, they can add to it and make it flourish. Or if they don’t like it, they can put a battering ram to most of the project and still have two All-Stars to work around.

Oh yeah, I should also probably mention that they have one of the best benches in the game.

Basically, Portland is in one of the best financial situations league-wide. They aren’t like the Pistons, who spent entirely too much for talent and will now be a victim of the first major salary cap cut since its inception. But they also aren’t like the Knicks, who refuse to sign anyone under the pretense that it may affect their ability to bring in free agents at this time next year.

They are, to quote the little bear, “Just right.”

A Hornet and a Bobcat Walk into a Bar

Jared Zeidman — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:07:51 -0400

Okay so I made the beginning of that joke up and there is no punch-line. But there was a pretty big trade. And I guess when I say big, I am referring almost exclusively to the expectations.

The former Charlotte Hornets and the current Charlotte Bobcats swapped starting centers yesterday. Emeka Okafor will now be running in New Orleans while Tyson Chandler will play the five for an all of a sudden, super-athletic Charlotte team. But no matter how hard I try to justify it as a great trade for New Orleans, or Charlotte, or both; I keep finding myself at the same conclusion.

It’s going to be an experiment.

While both of these men have shown tons of promise and potential, neither of them has truly turned the proverbial corner in their careers. Now they are both in their mid 20’s and at a point in their career where if it doesn’t happen, a team is going to give up on them.

Especially with Chris Paul running the ship, the Hornets have relied on swift shooting, and incredible speed and athleticism near the bucket; which is why I shook my head repeatedly after hearing that Emeka Okafor was the apparent center of choice.

Okafor is certainly a better defender than Chandler, but the Hornets relied on Chandler’s athleticism near the basket to produce 10+ points per game. Chandler and Paul were arguably the best lob and dunk tandem in the game (which is one of the reasons why I was stunned to see the Hornets try to trade Chandler last season as well).

The other angle to the Hornets’ side of this is that you don’t even need to think about contract talk. Okafor is locked down for five years (and a potential team option), so New Orleans is obviously planning to utilize him for the long run. I guess the question is: how?

The Hornets were absolutely maimed on the defensive end during their first round postseason matchup. So Okafor is certainly an indication of where they want to go with this team (the free agent signing of another high-potential big man in Ike Diagou would also point to this).

But more than anything, this really frees up more ball for Chris Paul and David West to run even more of an inside out game when the team is not in transition. And when you think about that, I urge you to keep this in mind...

Byron Scott’s three most successful seasons as a coach came with an all-league point guard, a great scoring power forward, and a center that never scored but could play defense on anyone. This roster looks like a faster and more athletic 2002 New Jersey Nets team.

On the subject of being faster and more athletic, we now segue into the Bobcats’ side of this deal...

In drafting Augustin last year and Gerald Henderson this year, Charlotte has made it clear that they want to play up-tempo basketball. They kept Gerald Wallace, who can attack the basket, and traded for Raja Bell and Boris Diaw, who will be responsible for the perimeter shooting and post facilitating respectively.

But what this team has never had is a vicious, power scoring threat in the post. Chandler may not be the most consistent offensive player in the league but he has proven this much…If you put the ball in the air near the cylinder, he will catch it and then dunk it unmercifully. And in a potential system where two point guards with great vision can be on the floor at any time, this new wrinkle could prove to be a ton of fun to watch in Charlotte.

The even better news is that if this doesn’t work itself out, the Bobcats have the ability to waive Chandler after the 2011 season, making their side of the deal far less binding than the Hornets.

So what basically ended up happening is that two teams, with two totally opposite philosophies decided to see how a different player would fit in their system.

The only question now is, will it work?

THe UFL's Biggest Barrier to Entry

Jared Zeidman — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:26:40 -0400

The NFL won’t admit this, but they are a monopoly.

I base this on the leading characteristic of a monopoly, as taught to me by the greatest economics professor of all time, Vincent D’Andrea. A monopoly is characterized by its formidable barriers to entry, and maintenance of limited to zero competition.

In Layman’s terms: not only can you not compete with the NFL, you can’t even feasibly think about it.

The NFL is the most watched sport in this country, and their marketing people are well aware of that. Despite being a multi-billion dollar business; the element of broadcasting the NFL still somehow appears to be a privilege.

In 2001, the NFL completely cut ties with NBC, after NBC agreed to be the flagship network of the XFL. It took NBC more than five years to get NFL programming back on their network.

In 2004 the NFL demanded that ESPN cancel their highest rated, and most critically acclaimed original show to this date, “Playmakers.” The NFL insisted that it was due to the harsh light which football players were projected, but also threatened to pull Sunday Night Football from ESPN if they didn’t follow along.

Especially in a recession, high ratings for football games have been one of the only sure things in the television industry—which is one of the reasons why television networks like Fox are willing to do anything the NFL tells them to, even after paying an annual check of $550 million (in case you were unsure, $550 million for a year of television programming is a lot of money).

While I’m sure that someone with a much more expensive degree than mine could find something genuinely illegal about this, I am looking at this story in a different manner. Because for the first time since the folding of the USFL, there is another football league that has an honest to god great shot at taking off.

The United Football League (UFL) is making continuous splashes by acquiring great second-string NFL talent, and their business model certainly shows that they have learned from the mistakes of the leagues before them.

It starts with the entire league’s mission statement, which openly admits that the UFL is not an alternative to the NFL, but rather a supplemental league. The league’s founders even declare that “the UFL will field teams comprised of the best players in the world and tomorrow's rising stars.”

So here we have a league that admits it’s not competitively the same as the NFL, but rather a sophisticated and technically sound second league. And if their current actions are any indication, they are ready to back it up.

Their business plan is going to appeal to some big markets, but more importantly, every small market that the NFL has passed over. The first year will only feature four teams, but each team will play several games on a neutral site.

And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that seats will be cheaper than they are in the NFL (hello Personal Seating Licenses).

Now I can hear the groans, “this is going to be bad football.” Well, it certainly won’t be NFL football. But I’m not sure that they are trying to be NFL football, and I think that is what has done in nearly every upstart league in the past.

And I’m not the only person buying into the hype. The four teams (Las Vegas, New York, San Francisco and Orlando) will be coached by three playoff experienced NFL head coaches and one renowned defensive coordinator.

Jim Fassel, Jim Haslett, Dennis Green, and Ted Cottrell are the four flagship coaches, and all four of them would without a doubt be coordinating the offense or defense of an NFL team right now, if it wasn’t for this.

Beyond that, the UFL also will run side by side with the NFL. Instead of trying to carry a usually exhausted fan base into March, the UFL will play its games on Tuesdays and Fridays in October and November.

So you’ve now heard about all of the UFL’s potential, but you’ve also heard about the NFL’s zero tolerance policy regarding competition. And this leads to what has the potential to be one of the biggest sports dramas of the decade.

The UFL can have all of the potential in the world, but if the games can’t make it to national television, this project is over before it even begins. And the fact that the NFL works with every major network station (and the biggest cable station) certainly doesn’t make things easier.

But that’s not to say the UFL won’t work. Especially with their mission statement in mind, the UFL may not just be a cheap alternative for the fans. But it may be a cheap alternative to some networks too. If a network like Spike or TNT (that already has a fleet of sports broadcasters under contract) could get their paws on the UFL, then this has a real shot.

There is a difference between great potential and great execution. And especially in this regard, history does not bode well for the UFL. But if you look simply at their business plan, their coaching staffs and their game play model, you can tell that the UFL has some really smart people pulling the strings here.

Realistically the ball is once again in the NFL’s court.

Can You Love The Game Too Much?

Jared Zeidman — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:28:50 -0400

The world can be a very interesting place when it comes to embracing death. In our Western culture, every death appears to be someone’s fault. There are negligence suits, malpractice suits, anything you can imagine.

But all of this begs the question: What happens when there really was nothing anyone could do?

Late last year the million dollar question entered the sporting world. Cuttino Mobley was sent to the Knicks last November, in a trade for Zach Randolph. The Knicks were trading for his contract, so he was going to have his minutes limited.

But within three days of the trade, the Knicks learned that Cuttino Mobley had a heart condition. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy has been known to cause sudden death in athletes.

After discovering this, the Knicks refused to play Mobley, who retired from basketball less than a month later.

That story would presumably strike you as sad—an athlete has his career shortened by a rare heart disease. But a few months ago, Mobley sat down with ESPN for an interview that shot this story into a totally different stratosphere.

Regardless of all the tragedy and heartbreak involved, this story, more than anything, is the story of two people at age 19 who decided that what they wanted to do was worth dying for. Not only do I applaud that passion, I envy it.

Mobley said that he had known about this illness for more than a decade, and initially hid it from the Houston Rockets. When the Rockets eventually discovered it through a physical, they forced Mobley to essentially sign away his life, so that the Rockets could in no way be responsible for a potential catastrophe.

In mere seconds, the story went from heartbreak to the awe-inspiring tale of the man who played more than 13 years of professional basketball, while knowing full well that he could have died any second.

Obviously, there are several stances one could take on this situation. Had Mobley died on the court, it could have been a financial and team disaster—and what he did was certainly reckless. But regardless of all the potential Westernized problems, there was a spiritual element to me that was absolutely fascinating.

Here is a man who apparently had nothing to live for except for the game of basketball, and apparently based all of his decisions on how the game treated him. And he was able to make it out OK.

But recently, there was an athlete who didn’t.

Alexei Cherepanov was the 2007 first round pick of the New York Rangers. Cherepanov was playing for the Siberian hockey team Avangard Omsk. Last October, he collapsed on his team’s bench after a shift change and could not be revived. It turned out that Cherepanov had the rare heart condition myocarditis, and it had the potential to cause sudden death in athletes.

Cherepanov was only 19 years old.

The backlash of his death was unprecedented in the Westernized sporting world. If you were at all associated with the team on a management level, you were suspended indefinitely. Believe it or not, even the president of the opposing team was suspended, due to allegations that the medical support on his home ice was not strong enough.

Cherepanov’s death will certainly make you think twice about athletes like Cuttino Mobley who made it out alive. But the reason why it is news today gives the two athletes even more common ground.

Today marked the end of a lengthy federal investigation of Alexei Cherepanov’s death. And as it turns out, Cherepanov knew about his condition and never revealed it to the Rangers organization or Avangard Omsk. Investigators, after speaking with his former teammates, went on to say that Cherepanov feared that he would lose playing time if he revealed his condition.

Further evidence also indicates that Cherepanov, much like Mobley, used a private physician to try to address his illness. His autopsy discovered hearty amounts of a circulation and breathing drug in his system.

And now the floodgates open again. How can an organization be blamed for something like this? How can a 19-year-old make this kind of decision? How is this legal? And if you have read this far, I am sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t have any of those answers.

I do have this to say, though.

I am 23 years old, and I constantly beat myself up over the fact that I have yet to find anything in my life so meaningful that I would die for it. My Web site is nice, I love the drums, and my ex-girlfriend probably could have been the one, but nothing has ever hit me in the head and stuck.

And while I raise a glass and toast to an athlete who died too young, I also stop to remind myself why sports are so powerful in the world. In the end, sport is just another thing someone can fall in love with, and sacrifice his life for.

Is there anything more bittersweet than that?

Power to the Players: NBA Free Agency Like You've Never Seen it Before

Jared Zeidman — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:22:09 -0400

I understand that free agency in any sport means that players can go wherever they want, usually to the highest bidder. But with the NBA’s maximum contract rule, things are a little different.

Yes it’s still about the money, but this time around, it's not the players who are worried about it.

There are four or five players that will most definitely make a maximum money deal in 2010: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Amare Stoudamire and Chris Bosh are locks to make max money. And if Joe Johnson keeps up the scoring, he’ll be there too.

Now we’ve already seen a series of teams try to structure their salaries now so that next year they can sign anyone they please. But I can’t remember a time, ever, where the element of getting a big player has had this much control over the entire league. In fact, we are even witnessing all of the big names’ current teams in a massive panic.

Most recently in Miami, Pat Riley made a preliminary offer to Wade but said publicly that the Heat couldn’t continue to add more pieces until they had a commitment from Wade. Wade replied more or less by saying, “Well bud, that doesn’t work for me. So get me a competitive team or I’m bailing."

Toronto just made their biggest free agent signing in franchise history in signing Hedo Turkgolu. And you have to think that Bosh was on the back of Colangelo’s mind when that move was made.

Stoudamire has frequently expressed his desire to be the main player, and Suns have just completely dismantled their team in order to get the ball to him more.

Johnson just watched the Hawks re-sign Mike Bibby and Zaza Pachulia, meaning that they are serious about winning now, too.

And of course there is the Cleveland Cavaliers organization, which had given its team a radical face lift for the second consecutive offseason; obviously looking to keep LeBron James happy.

Despite the radical changes happening throughout the league, I urge you to think about all of these signings and trades a little differently than you normally would. Yes it’s still about the money, but this time around, it's not the players who are worried about it.

You can’t really call any of these players greedy because the bottom line is they are all going to make the exact same amount of money from whatever teams sign them. All of these players want to win a championship, and all of their potential suitors are trying to honor that.

That is where the money kicks in.

The NBA is suffering badly from this recession and a lot of teams know that if they don’t make a serious push soon, they are going to be in serious financial trouble. As we already learned this year, 35 percent of the league’s franchises are already hemorrhaging money as it is.

So the financial riddle in the NBA goes as follows:

1) Every team has the exact same amount of money to spend

2) You can’t pay one specific player more than a certain amount of money

3) With the exception of about four big markets, the financial well being of your team is at stake if your team isn’t successful

4) There are five players who next summer have the potential to revitalize your entire city.

I defy you to find any period in basketball history where the start had this much power. And the blessing is that it has nothing to do with money. For those of you non-believers out there, competitive basketball in America is back.

Jared Zeidman's Fehrwell Address

Jared Zeidman — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:43:23 -0400

Big news broke in baseball yesterday. Donald Fehr, who had been the head of the Major League Baseball Players’ Association for the last quarter-century, will be stepping down. It is usually at a time like this where I pause to recognize the accomplishments of person who will certainly be in the sports history books. So here goes...

Donald Fehr is one of two people responsible for the death of integrity of professional baseball. And more so, if baseball were to ever officially rescue itself, Donald Fehr will be remembered for nearly piloting professional baseball into oblivion.

Now it’s usually the time where I go over career accomplishments, so here goes...

Donald Fehr has absolutely no history in the game of baseball. He had an opportunity to legally represent the MLBPA in the 1970’s and was one of the people responsible for introducing free agency into sports; his victory in the case is what got him involved with baseball. While free agency is important, because it allows players to be people and not sporting robots, it was his handling of said free agents that made him such an evil genius.

Donald Fehr quickly realized that since he won free agency, he could essentially make every baseball player ever untouchable. Every time that a new collective bargaining agreement came around, Fehr basically played the role of a six-year-old girl at a tea party. If you didn’t fill up his fake cup with fake tea exactly the way he wanted it, he was going to go home with his entire set in hand.

Fehr understood the element of star power in baseball, which is why the “we will strike if we don’t get what we want” mantra was never more prevalent than in 1994 when he tried to break in interim commissioner Bud Selig. The majority of baseball owners were begging for a salary cap. And Fehr said that if they got said cap, the entire player’s union would strike. What ensued was the first strike ever to cancel an American sport’s postseason.

In addition to that, Fehr created a set of rules that gave a lifetime ban from the players’ union to any player who considered jumping the picket fence during the strike. The end result was the MLBPA’s refusal to represent hundreds of young players who desperately wanted their shot to play pro baseball.

However, it wasn’t just the fact that Fehr was willing to backhand slap all young American baseball players and fans in order to protect 900 guys who get paid too much to hit a ball with a stick that made him a horrible person. Because all of what I have previously mentioned pails in comparison to Donald Fehr’s magic word…

STEROIDS.

Every time the baseball tried to toughen up testing, Fehr refused to budge. Finally he agreed to test under the pretense that no one getting caught doing something illegal could get in trouble, and the tests had to be anonymous.

In the years since, nearly every power hitter during Fehr’s reign has tested positive for steroids, and it has become painfully obvious that Fehr knew about it all along. It’s probably also worth noting that the 3 biggest steroid busts in the history of the sport have all taken place within 3 months of Fehr’s “impromptu” retirement.

So Donald Fehr. I would like to take this time to sincerely thank you.

For nothing.

Baseball is Still a Game of Fundamentals

Jared Zeidman — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:29:47 -0400

Disclaimer: Jared is well aware that the moment that the overwhelming majority of this article pertains to took place three days ago. He hasn’t been available to do a post, so we are going to play make believe. Just deal with it.

I could talk about how Johan Santana got shelled in the worst outing of his life Sunday afternoon. I could talk about how two guys from the 1997 Florida Marlins are keeping the Mets in contention. But instead I will talk about the Luis Castillo Debacle Of 2009.

Rather than harp on the obvious “Hey Luis, please use two hands,” I would like to point out a few other things.

The first person I want to point out is Derek Jeter. Now you may be saying “what does Derek Jeter have to do with any of this?”

The answer is everything.

Everyone that has played for the Yankees in the last 12 years has been held by both fans and the New York media to Jeter’s standard of hustle. If you don’t hustle, you don’t play for the Yankees.

Despite the most incredible botched catch of all time, and Luis Castillo’s incredible impersonation of a ballerina on his way down, the key to that entire play was the Yankees’ hustle. And I don’t think nearly enough people are talking about that element.

In a game against the cross-town Mets (who average one player a week not running out a grounder and have already blown a handful of games due to absolutely incomprehensible fielding errors), the Yankees hustled and stuck to the fundamentals when it counted.

By abiding to the fabled cry “Two Outs: Run On Anything,” Mark Teixeira was able to score from first base on a pop up that barely left the infield and win for the Yankees.

And that element makes it far and away the most poetic loss for the New York Mets all season. The Mets are a team that lacks hustle, discipline and most importantly, leadership. This has obviously put Jerry Manuel on the hot seat.

But think about thi: Friday night’s game marked the third game this season where Jerry Manuel made a managing decision that ended up being brilliant, only to be ruined by an atrocious fielding error.

Manuel changed a pitching match up against the Marlins earlier this year, which forced a routine pop up which was dropped by Daniel Murphy.

Manuel then brought in a fifth infielder anticipating a grounder and a force at the plate against the Dodgers. The grounder happened, and after a clean fielding job by Jeremy Reed the ball was thrown about 13 feet wide of home plate.

That brings us to Friday night, where Manuel intentionally walked Mark Teixeira to get to A-Rod, who hit a high pop that should have been easily fielded...except it wasn’t.

The catch that wasn’t will surely go down as a blunder for the history books. But what should be remembered (especially for the young baseball fans) is that the team that regularly hustled won the game and the team that couldn’t execute lost the game.

Now, someone get me a scotch.

Why the NFL's Rooney Rule Is Meaningless

Jared Zeidman — Thu, 21 May 2009 22:00:06 -0400

Fact: There needs to be an immediate increase in non-white coaching figures in every level of football, both amateur and professional.

If the NFL really wanted to do something more than a shrewd public relations campaign, they would force every NFL coaching staff to have a certain percentage of minority figures.

Fiction: The Rooney Rule helps this happen.

For those who do not know, The Rooney Rule (named after Steelers’ owner Dan Rooney) is a policy enforced by the NFL that forces teams to interview at least one minority candidate for any coaching vacancy.

The rule is in the news again since Commissioner Roger Goodell announced his plans to expand the rule to the upper-management level; forcing teams to interview at least one minority candidate.

On paper, this is a great idea that promotes diversity in the sport that needs it the most. But here is why in practicum, this rule absolutely doesn’t work. And more than anything, it should just be an example of the NFL’s coaching paradigm.

Despite the overwhelming majority of NFL players being black, the low level of minority head coaches on both the pro and collegiate level is absolutely depressing. And the Rooney Rule plays to the paradigm.

Here is what I mean...If you are an NFL organization looking to hire a new coach (or general manager for that matter) you are hiring based on experience. Unfortunately for the NFL, nearly all of the available experience has the face of an old white guy.

The reason why guys like Turner, Schottenheimer, Gibbs, and Parcells keep getting second chances is because of their previous track records. Nine out of 10 times, teams will go with someone who has a previous track record of success (perhaps, with that in mind, I should eliminate Norv Turner from this category).

The issue with this psyche is that nearly every successful coaching career in the NFL is owned by a white guy because of how locked in coaching used to be.

While the Rooney Rule will absolutely help deserving minority candidates get their foot in the door, the bottom line is this: An interview for a professional football job means nothing.

If a coach X is available, and team Y wants that coach; it doesn’t matter if they have to interview five minority candidates. They are still going to go after coach Y. That is how professional sports has always worked, and I fear that it will be how it continues to work in the future.

Now before I go any further, I will say that there certainly have been examples of minority coaches picked that aren’t experienced. But it is almost universally not attributed to the Rooney Rule. This includes Tampa Bay’s new coach, Raheem Morris, who is Tampa’s second African American head coach.

For the better part of the new millennium, Raheem Morris has been running at least a portion of Tampa Bay’s defense (which any football fan will tell you, is one of the best in the NFL). The fact that he is so familiar with Tampa’s brand of football made him a comfort choice for the team.

But to put it in perspective, Morris has been coaching on the professional level for more than nine years. Lane Kiffin (who as you know may have been the worst NFL coach ever, and is also incredibly white) never coached or coordinated a professional team before he was given the keys to the Oakland Raiders.

That isn’t the first example of the "achieved comfort" status either.

Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith had 30 years of coaching experience between them before they were given a head coaching gig. Jack Del Rio and Eric Mangini had less than 16 between them before they became head coaches.

Getting your foot in the door and having that interview are two things that can absolutely be chalked up as great experience. But if the NFL really wanted to do something more than a shrewd public relations campaign, they would force every NFL coaching staff to have a certain percentage of minority figures.

That way, minority coaches could be hired out of comfort more regularly; which is the way nearly every coach has been hired since the 1970s. The solution in place right now may help things 20 years down the road; but the Rooney Rule is more or less asking owners to re-write NFL history.

Wearing Your Team's Colors: Why Mark Cuban Is Bad for Basketball

Jared Zeidman — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:50:59 -0400

A few days ago, I said in an audio post that I haven’t really decided whether or not I like Mark Cuban. But I also said that Mark Cuban needed to be more of a positive example because a team is a reflection of their owner.

No matter how big of a fan Mark Cuban is, it is his total disregard for the professional line that makes him an issue.

I have had a few days to really think about this, and I have made my final decision…

I don’t like Mark Cuban.

And here come the trumpet-blaring superfans: “But he’s such a passionate fan, and he’s so accessible, and he makes games more exciting!”

Well here’s a newsflash for you. He’s not accessible, he’s not making the games more exciting, and he is the wrong kind of passionate fan. And if you don’t believe me, allow me to break it down for you in three simple steps that work together to make Mark Cuban horrible for the game of basketball.

Step One: Wearing Your Team’s Colors

In any job, anywhere, you are told is that you are a representative of your employer. You have to act a certain way and, especially in this digital age, conduct yourself in a certain way so that your business doesn’t look like crap.

Well that goes both ways. If you work in a black tie banquet hall and your owner shows up shirtless in Birkenstocks and cargo shorts, you know damn well that you aren’t coming into work in a tux next time. Employees are a direct reflection of their ownership; most owners understand that. And I’m not saying you have to be a jerk, but you need to understand where the proverbial professional line is.

And no matter how big of a fan Mark Cuban is, it is his total disregard for the professional line that makes him an issue.

Step Two: The Wrong Kind Of Passionate Fan

So despite my genuine belief that Antoine Wright didn’t foul Carmelo Anthony in game 3, the general consensus is that there was a missed call. What ensued at the end of the game however was absolutely deplorable…

As an owner, Mark Cuban should be the person fining his team for all being within a foot of an official after the final whistle; yelling, cursing, and literally shoving their way closer to him. Instead, Mark Cuban was right next to them, shoving cameramen and cursing at people. If that is what you think a passionate fan is, stop watching sports immediately.

And this is where the professional line comes back into play. What other teams have you seen do anything like that this season? If a team knows that there will be absolutely zero repercussions for their on-court actions, of course they are going to do whatever they want. And in a league that is having a monstrous image problem, I wouldn’t exactly say this is good for the sport.

Step Three: Mark Cuban’s “accessibility”

Oh yeah, he also told an opposing player’s mom that her son was a thug. Now, that’s pretty out of line, but what got me even worse was the apology.

People think Cuban is accessible because he keeps a blog. That doesn’t make you accessible. What makes you accessible is if you go out for drinks with the people who read your blog, and I guarantee you Mark Cuban doesn’t do that.

So Mark Cuban, in all his accessible goodness, apologized to Kenyon Martin and his mom on his blog.

Now, I own and run a blog. But the difference here is that I don’t have a private jet, a billion dollars, and the ability to get in touch with the mainstream media anytime I wanted to. Cuban apologizing over a blog is not only a cop out, but furthermore another poor example from a man who is supposed to be in a position of influence. Because much like being taught how to intentionally foul someone at age eight, I was also taught at a young age how to apologize...face to face.

And while I don’t think Mark Cuban is a racist, it doesn’t shock me that racial slurs were spoken in the direction of Carmelo Anthony’s girlfriend, which actually started an altercation in the stands and led to her early departure during Game Four.

What any team needs is an owner who knows when to say “you can’t do this.” And you can call Cuban a dreamer, a super fan, and hell even the most accessible owner in sports. But until he has more of a grasp of reality, he will continue to be horrible for the sport of basketball.

A-Rod or Roger Clemens: Who to Hate?

Jared Zeidman — Wed, 13 May 2009 00:23:08 -0400

Roger Clemens broke his “media silence” Tuesday morning in an interview with Mike and Mike on ESPN Radio. The timing of the event was certainly expected; as a book was released yesterday that for the first time in four months, made steroid allegations about someone not named Alex Rodriguez.

“American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s Pastime,” is the newest in the genre of steroid slam-dances, this time written by a fleet of New York Daily News reporters.

I feel as if a number of people tuned into this interview hoping, maybe even praying that finally Roger Clemens would say “alright, I used, whatever.” But Clemens’ response to every question was just as stale as the subject itself.

“He (Brian MacNamee) has never injected me with HGH or steroids.”

As I sat and listened to Clemens deny the obvious again, I really began to think a lot about Alex Rodriguez. And for the first time in my life, I couldn’t help but sympathize.

Despite being the Marilyn Monroe of sports, Alex Rodriguez has spent the majority of his career trying relentlessly to stay out of the media limelight. Yes, he has done some seemingly bizarre advertising campaigns, and yes he did admit to cheating. But to me that just shows how incredibly image conscious he is.

I mean, this was a guy who was willing to give his ex-wife more money as long as some of the defaming statements about him were removed from the legal papers. This is a guy who takes criticism harsher than any star athlete I can ever remember. He may have cheated but at least he has a conscious.

It wouldn't surprise me if a lot of these characteristics have contributed to the fact that A-Rod is far and away the most documented athlete on the planet. Despite being everywhere, he still has an incredible element of mystery to him. His teammates, coaches, and family have never been able to read him; which makes all of this information about him even more “juicy.”

And when you think about all of that, you need to stop and ask yourself, is A-Rod really the bad guy here?

Yes, he cheated. And there is no way of getting around that. But I want you to think about something…

If A-Rod wanted to, he could be doing exactly what Clemens is doing: denying everything. The players’ union is strong enough to have backed him (since the tests were supposed to be anonymous), Baseball obviously would now have caught him since (since they haven't), and Selena Roberts could be beating the horse dead.

But A-Rod chose to admit his steroid use. Even if it was to avoid prison time, I urge you to remember that he was not forced to admit this. And if you don’t believe me, think about the fact that there is an FBI probe on a guy named Clemens and a guy named Bonds, but not a guy named Rodriguez.

There is a reason why when you hear A-Rod’s name, you get angry; but when you hear Roger Clemens’ name, you just slap your forehead in disbelief. And now I ask you, which is worse? To me, the fear of the unknown was always greater than the fear of disappointment.

It appears that in all the hype and criticism of a guy who admitted his wrongdoings, we have forgotten who the real “bad guys” are: the people who deny their wrongdoings.

So who is really image conscious here? Is it the guy who admitted his faults and was willing to move on; or is it the guy who is so obsessed with his name in the record books that he is hanging on for dear life?

Think about that the next time you boo A-Rod.

Are You A Jets Fan Worried About Mark Sanchez?

Jared Zeidman — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:18:34 -0400

Well, you shouldn’t be.

There are four reasons why the move to get Sanchez and the subsequent experiment were the right ones, and here they are.

1. The Jets Lost Nothing:

-I have no idea how Woody and Rex pulled this off, but this trade was thoroughly loss free. Abram Elam and Kenyon Coleman did indeed make solid contributions to the Jets; especially Elam who forced a series of incredible fumbles last season. But the bottom line is that Ryan’s game plan didn’t cater to either of them, and one of them was getting replaced anyway.

Jim Leonhard didn’t follow Rex Ryan to New York to be Abram Elam’s backup. So Elam was looking at a limited role as it was. Mangini ended up getting two talented players and a potentially good quarterback, but all three of them happened to be totally expendable.

2. Rex Ryan’s Style Supports New Quarterbacks:

-Remember that time the Ravens went a half a season without scoring a touchdown and won the Super Bowl that year? Well; that’s the school of thought that Rex Ryan is coming from. Ryan was pulling the strings on the Ravens’ defense from the first day that they were scary. This included playoff appearances with six different starting quarterbacks.

The reality is that Rex Ryan composes dominating defenses regardless of the offensive situation. This should ease your minds regarding potential offensive woes that could be chalked up to youth.

3. This Is A New Jets Team:

-So remember like three sentences ago when I said that Rex Ryan is capable of composing dominating defenses regardless of the offensive situation? Well, before training camp opens, Ryan has already filled every hole.

The Jets couldn’t stop the pass last season, mostly due to poor cornerback coverage on the weak side. Well, now the Jets don’t have a weak side. In fact, they don’t have a weakness in their whole secondary. Beyond that; the acquisitions of Leonhard, Sheppard and Scott transform the Jets defense into a squad that boasts eight pro-bowlers. Let us also not forget that Leon Washington, Thomas Jones and Jericho Cotchery are all coming off stellar seasons, thanks in large part to a new look offensive line.

I guess what I’m trying to say is this: Even if the next two seasons are transition years, the Jets are on paper more talented than the AFC’s other wildcard hopefuls.

4. Mark Sanchez Has “It”:

-I’ve gone an entire page in a Microsoft Word document talking about why the Mark Sanchez deal was so good; and I haven’t even talked about Mark Sanchez yet. I honestly don’t even need to. The Sanchez deal was such a risk free deal that even if he is the bust of the millennium, it won’t really even matter.

But there is something you should really take to heart when you see Sanchez…And that is his swagger.

Now, I’m well aware that this isn’t a Lil Wayne video. But the last QB that I have seen with this much confidence was Broadway Joe. And I wasn’t even alive for that, I just heard about it.

But so far, we’ve got scouts from half the league saying that they’ve had private workouts and that he’s already making pro reads. They’re also saying that Sanchez is mobile, with a cannon. What makes him (according to me) better than Stafford however, is his confidence and swagger.

Now we’ve seen a confident QB in a Jets uniform before. Chad Pennington was a great ambassador and a confident leader. But if you are a chick, Chad Pennington strikes me as the guy that is absolutely going to dazzle mom and dad.

Mark Sanchez is the guy that’s going to go to the club, target the married girl, make out with her, take a picture of it, and then autograph it and mail it to the girl’s husband. That’s the kind of confidence Mark Sanchez has.

Stafford may have aced the Wonderlich; but Sanchez has the confidence that already makes me think he could lead the Jets to a comeback victory. And Jets’ fans; does that remind you of anyone?

No, not The Fonz.

Washington Is Fighting the Wrong Battles

Jared Zeidman — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:31:26 -0400

So the funny thing is, everyone just read that title and thought I was going to talk about politics...PSYCHE!

Actually the Washington that I’m referring to is Washington D.C.’s baseball “franchise,” the Washington Nationals.

You see, when the Montreal Expos needed a new home, Washington was once again given a baseball franchise. But the biggest mistake that people make is rubbing them off as an expansion team. They aren’t. In fact, they’ve been around for a long, long time. The problem is that they are horrible.

We are barely 1/16th of the way through the grueling baseball season, and the Nationals have already found themselves nine games out of first place in the NL East. Beyond that, this team, especially since their move to DC, has been characterized for their seemingly endless off field spending with little on field results.

This of course begins with the fact that the Nationals just built a new stadium that cost D.C. tax payers more that it cost New York taxpayers to erect the new Met and Yankee ballparks. So if you are going to have a publicly funded new stadium, you might pay a little money to get a couple of studs in there and give the fans something to watch, right?

Wrong.

The Nationals have the fourth lowest payroll in all of baseball, with more than 15 percent of their money going exclusively to Adam Dunn and his notorious strikeout to home run ratio. And other than that, they have let nearly every good player in the franchise seek higher grounds.

So it’s kind of poetic justice that now those Nationals have one of the lowest attendance rates in baseball, after fleeing Montreal due to poor attendance. You can’t blame the fans anymore. The fans know when you are putting out a bad product. But more importantly, the fans know when you don’t have your priorities straight.

Let’s take Elijah Dukes for example. The former diamond in the rough Tampa Bay prospect has had legal issues and constant injuries totally decimate his career. But especially with the demotion of Lastings Milledge, Washington needed a bat and some speed in the outfield.

Enter Elijah Dukes, who has had an incredible start to the season (and also due to his contract makes $10,000 more than the absolute league minimum). So Elijah, who has had a lot of trouble in the past, finally gets his act together.

Right before Saturday’s home game against the Marlins, Dukes elected to go mentor a Little League group in the DC area. Dukes showed up late to the clubhouse before game time, and manager Manny Acta benched him, and fined him $500.

In addition to the locker-room humiliation, Acta and Nationals GM Mike Rizzo publicly declared that if he were ever late again, they would demote him to the minors. Acta supported his stance by saying something that sounded more like a Joe Girardi reaction to A-Rod taking steroids.

“We are going to change the culture here, regardless of how well a guy is playing,” said Acta, who apparently caught Dukes with a needle in his left butt cheek.

Now, I know what you are thinking here. If you are late, you should get punished. And to an extent, I agree. But I urge you to take the next fact into account...

This past Saturday, the same day that Elijah Dukes was benched, the Washington Nationals took the field WITH THEIR TEAM’S NAME SPELLED WRONG ON THEIR JERSEYS.

That’s correct, ladies and gentlemen. At the exact same time that the Nationals tried to pass themselves off as a serious franchise that doesn’t cater to any of their players (by benching Dukes), they misspelled the word “NATIONALS” on their players’ jerseys. Several players, including their star, Adam Dunn, were forced to wear a jersey that said “NATINALS.”

And you wonder why this team has no fans? They drove all the fans away. When you bring a team into a big market, you are expected to make the right moves to take this team to the next level. Not only have the Nationals failed to make those moves, they have also embarrassed themselves along the way.

It’s a vicious cycle. A team can only go out and pay as much as they think they will make. But the only way to break that cycle is by taking that financial risk, and giving this city a team that they can be proud of.

A Review Of Citi Field

Jared Zeidman — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:16:21 -0400

Last week, with the help of “Captain Clutch Robert Curci” (look it up, that’s actually his full name), I had a chance to check out the New York Mets’ new digs for the first time. And boy, was it not Shea Stadium.

There were a lot of different elements that played into my review of the park, so I broke the review down into down into several different categories. Each element has a one to ten score, with ten being the highest. We will average these out and get the final grade for Citi Field.

1. The Stadium and Aesthetics: 10 points

It is going to take a lot of getting used to, but the Mets finally play in a place where it is not okay to urinate on the walls. I actually had some initial concern that this stadium was going to be too nice, especially with the hype of the Jackie Robinson Rotunda.

You see, baseball is one of those unique events where you kind of want there to be a little dirt in the stadium. There should be beer spills and peanut shells flying everywhere. So I really wanted to make sure that the guy sitting in front of me was not wearing a full suit with a Bluetooth device in his ear and a tile floor under his new loafers. Luckily, the new digs did not disappoint.

There are two normal entrances to the stadium that are very nice and brand new, but more importantly, just look like a regular stadium’s entrances. Then there is the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, which is half entranceway and half shrine. It is far and away the coolest and most inspirational thing I have ever seen in a stadium; and when you consider that half of the Mets’ color scheme was derived from the Brooklyn Dodgers, it is very fitting.

But once you make it into the stadium, you are really treated to something awesome. There are only three decks in this park, as opposed to Shea where you could literally sit in the upper deck and hi-five the air traffic coming from LaGuardia. So every seat is closer to the action, and the seats are also drastically more spaced out, including two decks of seating lining every part of the outfield except for straight-away center.

Everything is nice and new, from the seats to the bathrooms (the urinals are literally ovals that pop out from the wall. You feel like you are William Shattner every time you pee). Perfect score in this element.

2. Pricing and Concessions: 7.5 points

Especially since Citi Field had significantly more private funding than Yankee Stadium, I was expecting an incredible hike in every concession price. Not only did most of the prices stay the same, some of them went down, including the most important price for a ballpark: Beer.

That’s correct, ladies and gentlemen. After last year’s $7.25 beer price to close out Shea Stadium, beer at Citi Field is $6.50, which is really only 75 cents more than it would be at your local bar. Good work, Wilpons.

There were some higher prices, but most of the prices were for a totally different menu that included sushi, lobster rolls, barbecue ribs and sandwiches, and all sorts of grilled seafood.

More importantly, the food was really good, which is a monster step up from Shea Stadium, where the food was really bad.

The price of a fitted hat in the stadium went up $6, but you usually wear hats for a long time, so I consider it an investment. The only real ball buster is a Mets hoodie, which is priced at $70 (or three upper deck tickets).

There was really only one serious issue that I took exception to, and it cost the stadium a lot of its luster…the ticket prices.

Now, the good news is, cheap seats are still available. Most of the upper deck is $20 or under. And that is especially good when you consider the fact that this stadium’s upper deck is equivalent to Shea’s mezzanine.

The problem lies the second you want to get out of the upper deck, when all of a sudden the prices skyrocket up to $700. And I don’t care what anyone says. A $700 ticket to see one of a team’s 81 home games is absolutely absurd.

Keep your eye on the television broadcasts at this stadium to see what I mean. When I went last week, the stadium was 90 percent full, with literally the only empty seats being the club seats behind home plate, which I would say were only half-filled. Usually the best seats are the first to go; but not when they cost $700 each. For god’s sake: $700.

3. The Field Itself: 9 points

Shea Stadium, in terms of design, was about as conventional as they come.

Citi Field is Shea’s prettier younger brother who happens to have severe Attention Deficit Disorder. While nearly every infield in baseball is exactly the same, it is the outfield of Citi Field that creates what can only be described as “an experience.”

For starters, there is literally less than two feet of foul territory as soon as you pass the base on either the first or third baseline. So every hit is either a fair ball or a wild foul. Obviously, the outfielders are going to have a ton of ground to cover. But the home run fence is really what puts it over the top.

Right-handed hitters pulling a ball to left will remind fans of the old Shea days, but from there it gets a lot less conventional.

The home run fence goes nearly perpendicular to the third base line all the way to center, where it forms the top half of a trapezoid, connecting to center and left. In addition to center field being in a different time zone, the homerun fence in dead center also inexplicably grows about five feet in height.

I am totally serious when I say that center field is in a different borough. You won’t see more than five centerfield homeruns this entire season.

But then it gets really crazy. In apparent homage to the old Ebbets field, the right field fence gives Citi Field a Fenway-style short porch. Lefties are going to have a feast in this ballpark.

Now, some of this may indeed be a baseball purist’s worst nightmare, but baseball is a sport where there really is such a thing as home field advantage. And for the first time in franchise history, the Mets have it. There is no outfield trio in baseball that will be able to play Citi field the way the Mets can, and that creates an incredible advantage.

The five or six hard angle cuts in the home run wall also give routine doubles the potential to turn into inside-the-park home runs.

I give it a nine for the sake of adventure.

4. It’s Not Shea Stadium: 10 points.

You have to have gone to Shea Stadium a lot to really appreciate this. It’s like every prisoner in America was just given a 52 inch flat screen and free cable.

5. Overall Score: 9 points.

A solid “A” for Citi Field. I can add a plus sign when the team stops disappointing me.

If You Think Blake Griffin Won't Be A Great Pro...

Jared Zeidman — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:17:06 -0400

...You are stupid.

With the NCAA men’s season officially over, we will now be treated to a solid two months of NBA draft speculation.

In mere days, we will be introduced to a foreign player who is allegedly leaps and bounds better than anyone we have in the states. A few players will miraculously ascend the draft board while an undersized forward or two (or seven) will plummet.

But this year is the most sure I have been about the #1 since 2003 and LeBron James. His name is Blake Griffin and he is going to dominate the pro game.

I know there are some doubters out there; but there really shouldn’t be. Blake Griffin is the kind of raw talent that can be polished; because the primary tools that he already has will make for a quick progression to the pro game.

If you don’t believe me, I have created a checklist to confirm that Blake Griffin will be not only the lock at #1, but an immediate contributor on the pro level.

1. Is he the appropriate size for his position?

-At 6’10”, with a very athletic build, Griffin is a prototype NBA power forward in terms of size and strength.

2. Does he have the appropriate abilities for his position?

-Griffin has been the best rebounder in college ball for the last two years. His flashes of a mid-range game makes a good fit for any NBA team that uses a screen and roll as their primary option (about 90% of the league). But most important is the fact that Griffin does most of his damage in the paint, where he can get to the rim under any and all circumstances.

3. Is there anything that makes him unique at his position?

-Blake Griffin has a surprisingly decent handle, and has shown the ability to create his own shot. On a pro level, when the focus will be nearly exclusively on building his jumper, Griffin’s handle will prove to be one of his most important assets. Rebounding and scoring are more or less expected from any NBA power forward, but Griffin’s sheer athleticism is what immediately makes him elite. It’s also noteworthy that Blake Griffin has posterized more people on the collegiate level than anyone I can remember.

4. Does he jump so high that he accidentally hits his head on backboards?

-Yes.

5. Do his pros overwhelmingly outweigh his cons?

-I have managed to find two weaknesses in Griffin’s game. His poor free throw shooting is obviously one, and his second one is a little more nit-picky. When Griffin sees an open lane, he essentially gets tunnel vision. While his eagerness to dunk so hard that it hurts you is both fascinating and scary, it also will draw him a number of offensive fouls on the pros. Savvy veterans will happily flop every time a young Griffin gets the ball.

Here is the thing about that though. If I am a coach, and you tell me a player’s biggest weakness is that he is too intense with the basketball, I’m not too concerned. No one knows what his jumper will be like on the pro level, but as a friend of mine said, it’s basically equivalent to criticizing LeBron James for not shooting threes well in high school…because he was too busy dunking on the universe.

Every single one of Griffin’s weakness can be easily polished away on the pro level. And anyone who says otherwise just wants you to read their article.

Blake Griffin will not only be good on a professional level, but he will be a perennial all-star.

Any questions?

Why the New York Knicks Upset Me So Much

Jared Zeidman — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:20:54 -0400

People often wonder why I complain so much about the Knicks. Honestly, I really don’t think that the public could understand what I am dealing with.

But if I were to try to explain, I would use Wednesday night’s Clippers game in my "thesis." After all, the loss made me so angry that I nearly threw myself through my television set.

Last night, New York (who is nearly mathematically eliminated from the Playoffs after apparently running out of gas in their first year in the D’Antoni system) was hosting the Los Angeles Clippers (one of the worst teams in basketball). Since the Knicks were playing a bad team, it was a given that they would play down to their competition and make it a close game.

So it didn’t come as a surprise that the Knicks clung to a one-point lead with less than a minute to play. But the next thing that happened did come as a surprise.

Al Harrington had an isolation play run for him in the post and executed a perfect-form spin move, leading to an easy slam dunk along the baseline. The Knicks were now up three, but Harrington had to let the world know what he just accomplished.

After dunking, Harrington lifted himself as though doing a chin-up on the rim and raised one of his hands to slap the backboard. In a last-second epiphany, he opted to refrain from smacking the glass in fear of drawing a technical.

Unfortunately, the referee had seen enough just with the chin-up and whistled Al for a technical foul. This, of course, meant that the Clippers would get a free throw (which they made) and the ball back (a possession with which they scored another two points).

And then, in overtime, the Knicks decided that they would forget how to play basketball. The victory went to the Clippers.

Now, if you are a fan of any basketball team, the Harrington's mishap would have really aggravated you. But maybe it would aggravate you a little bit more if you knew that he'd already done the exact same thing once this season, with the same result.

A little more than a month ago, the Knicks played the Clippers in Los Angeles, and with under a minute left, were winning by a point. Al Harrington got to the basket for a dunk and did his little act. The Clippers once again tied it up and won it in overtime.

If the Knicks won those two games, they would still have only a slight shot at the postseason, but at least it would be mildly more realistic.

But what really sealed the deal for me was Al’s postgame press conference quote. When asked about the "rim job," he said:

"Same team, same thing...It's crazy."

The way he nonchalantly brushed it off reminded me why I really do hate this team right now. This is a group brought together by two men who had little to no interest in whether or not the men they were signing had respect for the game or for themselves. Heck, even former coach Pat Riley, the emperor of scum, wouldn’t stand for this garbage.

Then again, I don’t know what more I can expect from this team. After all, it was merely three days ago when the Knicks honored every legend to ever dawn the orange and blue and not a single member of the current Knicks came out of the locker room to watch it.

On the other side of the court, Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic stood and applauded his coach Patrick Ewing as well as countless other N.Y. legends as they were honored.

You heard me right, the only active NBA player who watched Hall of Fame members of the Knicks get recognized was a member of the opposing team.

It took me all season to say it, but now I don’t need any more proof. The Knicks just look like 12 guys who don’t care what happens as long as their paychecks are on time. They stand for everything I hate.

And their best player, Al Harrington (who D’Antoni said was a “great fit for the system,” mostly because it would have been politically incorrect to call him a "great way to save money for LeBron James"), is the ringleader of this circus.

Pride, Business, and the State of American Athletes

Jared Zeidman — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:15:56 -0400

Monday night’s World Baseball Classic finale was intense. There was a packed stadium, filled with Korean and Japanese fans.

There was an incredible big-game atmosphere. There was even a World Series-esque celebration that included Japan’s manager getting tossed around like he was at a Motley Crue concert.

But with the exception of the media coverage, there were no Americans as the USA squad was stomped out by the Japanese in this year’s semifinals.

However it isn’t the fact they lost that upset me. It was the team’s makeup. In an event that reminded me all too well of Olympic basketball from several years back, team USA looked like a team that was uninspired, but more importantly poorly put together.

Much like the first USA basketball teams to field professional players and lose, this USA baseball team had some stars, but not enough of the A-list. And a lot of the reasoning for this coincides with basketball as well.

The major American sporting leagues are bar none the most successful and the most sought after on the planet. They pay the most money and (with the exception of international soccer) they draw the most revenue.

This fact is made even more evident by the incredible international population of every major American sport sans NFL football, which is only played in America.

But it’s interesting that I mention the international population (mostly because I needed a good segue) because every international team, in every sport, has somehow managed to get all of their megastars to play in international competition. America is the only nation that hasn't.

Essentially, every country has an incredible sense of nationalistic pride when it comes to sports. And unlike our case in the US, the pride doesn’t have to be manufactured.

Perhaps it is because American athletes are like no others in the world. They are the center of tabloids, protected jewels of organizations. They are idols in the legitimate sense of the word, dealing with the most ridiculous media on the planet

But from day one we are supposed to be fighting on the field, the pitch, the ice, or the court for our pride. And when I watch the US compete in an event like the WBC, I genuinely wonder where our pride has gone.

I do believe that we sometimes take for granted how good our professional leagues are. The outcome of the WBC doesn’t convince me that the MLB championship shouldn’t be called the World Series because all of the world’s best play in the states.

The same goes for the NBA and NHL. But when the business elements kick in, I can’t help but scratch my head and wonder where all the pride has gone.

And if you don’t think it’s about pride, I strongly urge you to consider the fact that in 2008, US basketball players for the first time in nearly a decade, decided to take international play seriously. That pride was manufactured after a catastrophe.

If sport really is a microcosm of society, then we need look no further than the rest of the world. We live on a planet where a country called for a cease-fire during a civil war, so that civilians could watch their team play in the World Cup in peace.

The pride of victory is unparalleled. And that element of pride begs a seemingly unanswerable question…

Why have we Americans become so complacent?

Dwayne Wade Puts the "Value" in MVP

Jared Zeidman — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:34:59 -0400

This entire year, everyone has been talking about how Kobe, LeBron and CP3 would be battling for the MVP trophy. But down in Florida, another superstar has quietly been making his case.

Well at least it was quiet, until Monday night’s single-handed beat-down of the Chicago Bulls…

Dwyane Wade most likely will not win the MVP award. Not in a year where Kobe and LeBron both will most likely finish at the top of their conferences. But the degree to which he is carrying the Miami Heat is like nothing I have ever seen before.

Let’s dive in…

Dwyane Wade is the top points and assists man on his team. Now all you Cavs, Lakers, and Hornets fans may be saying “well our guy is the top points and assists man too!” And as a matter of fact you would be right. But I would like to introduce a margin of victory clause.

LeBron James and Kobe Bryant have both actually seen their numbers slightly decrease since last season. That is due to their very strong supporting casts. The Lakers have a slew of scorers, and the Cavs have an all-star in Mo Williams to back up LeBron, along with a number of great defenders. In New Orleans, David West is averaging only a point less per game than Chris Paul, who is known significantly better for his totally unrivaled ball movement.

But in a year where MVP candidates have seen their team blossom around them, Dwyane Wade has literally been carrying peat-moss on his back for 63 games, all the while, wrecking the entire league.

Dwyane Wade leads the NBA in scoring; which is nice. What is scary is the fact that on his own team, Dwayne Wade is the Heat's highest scorer by more than 16 points per contest.

Well at least someone is dishing him the ball right? Well, not exactly. Wade leads the team in assists, averaging nearly eight per game. Despite the strong rookie campaign of Mario Chalmers, Wade is averaging more than three dishes per game than the rookie. Dwyane wade is not just the center of the offensive scoring, but the center of the Heat’s offensive production in every element.

Oh yeah, he also is a significantly better defender than every guard in the league sans Chris Paul. In fact, Wade is the only player in the NBA to be in the top 10 in scoring, assists and steals.

You can make the argument that if Kobe or LeBron went missing, their teams would miss their playoffs. But if Wade went missing, the Heat wouldn’t win a game. And that point is made in arguably the most compelling number in Dwyane Wade’s season: his minutes.

Some will argue that Wade’s numbers are inflated by the amount of court time he sees every game. I disagree, and here’s why. LeBron is 20th in the league in MPG and Kobe is 40th. Perhaps, just perhaps; it is because they are not needed on the floor as badly as Wade, who has yet to miss a game this season and still plays more than 38 minutes a game. Essentially, all of Miami has declared that without Wade, they are totally useless; and that he must be a part of every contest.

And every single element of that was on display, when Wade notched 48 points, 12 assists and a steal turned buzzer-beater in double overtime Monday night against the Chicago Bulls. Meanwhile, no other member of the Heat broke 20 points and was held to single digits in every other major statistical category.

I urge you to also factor in the Heat’s poor attendance. I am willing to guarantee you that Miami is one of the teams that needed a financial bailout; which means that in addition to carrying the team on the court, Dwyane Wade may actually be fiscally keeping this team afloat.

If that doesn’t sell you on the word VALUE in MVP, I don’t know what will.

The Fate of Buffalo's Storied Franchise Rests in the Hands of Terrell Owens?

Jared Zeidman — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 23:56:52 -0400

The 90 year old Ralph Wilson will go down as one of the most storied owners in sports history. His story began at the turn of the 1960s when he brought an AFL franchise to the city of Buffalo.

It continued when he single-handedly funded opposing AFL franchises to keep the league afloat. It flourished when the leagues merged and the Bills transformed into one of the league’s most revered franchises. Hell, he must have done something right to have the stadium named after him and not be dead.

Bills fans are right up there with Packers fans in terms of loyalty. Bills fans are absolutely incredible; especially when you consider that the team has never won a Super Bowl. But the last few years have been quite interesting for both the city and the franchise.

As the industrial climate changed, Buffalo took an economic downturn; and keep in mind that this was a handful of years before the rest of America made economic downturns fashionable. It was literally the first time in half a century that the Bills were not selling out games.

Wilson’s response was unique to say the least. In an effort broaden the Bills fan base (in conjunction with possibly trying to “globalize”), Ralph Wilson had the Bills play a regular season game last year in Toronto’s Sky Dome, and scheduled another game there for the 2010 season.

The game was not a sellout and didn’t garner even a hundredth of the media attention of the London game.

Thus, in addition to not seeing major fanfare in Toronto, Ralph Wilson really pissed off a fan base that already had plenty of reasons to be frustrated.

There are plenty of small markets in every sport that see regular sellouts. And that is due in large part to the success of the team. The Buffalo Bills have not been successful in a long time.

I’m actually beginning to think that the Bills are going to try to patent the 7-9 record…A team just bad enough to infuriate you, but a team just good enough to give you a semblance of hope for next year.

Bills fans were really beginning to lose their patience, and Ralph Wilson was beginning to lose in faith in the city Buffalo. There was obviously only one solution.

Terrell Owens??

So, Terrell Owens is now a member of the Buffalo Bills. And I know this sounds ridiculous, but in a desperate time, this may have been one of the most clutch moves Ralph Wilson has ever made. I base this on two reasons: 1. The Bills’ Players Want Him (and) 2. The Media Needs Him.

1. The Bills’ Players Want Him

Say what you will about Terrell Owens the person (like the fact that he and his sidekick Drew Rosenhaus are the Batman and Robin of Scum-baggery). But the bottom line is this: Terrell Owens is Terrell Owens.

Terrell Owens may not be well received by the fans, and he certainly knows how to tear apart a locker-room; but he also knows how to catch footballs, better than nearly everyone else, ever. For every year of QB blaming and coach bashing, Owens had a 1,000+ yard 10+ touchdown campaign.

And I know people are going to want to say “Owens is overrated, he has bad hands now.” He’s actually always had bad hands. The only thing is that he is freakishly athletic, and incredibly fast.

Even at age 35, Owens had moments of brilliance last season. And for less than seven million, it is okay for the Bills to take that risk. And the locker room seems to be absolutely thrilled. Team captain Lee Evans (who isn’t too shabby of a receiver himself) could barely contain his jubilation in a radio interview.

Trent Edwards has already expressed how happy he is to now have dual homerun threats. Several defensive players have also expressed their happiness to the press. Bringing in a guy like T.O. takes all of the pressure off of everyone.

Especially coming after a year where the Bills didn’t beat a single team that was better than .500, Owens brings you the Brett Favre hope, with significantly less nostalgia.

2. The Media Needs Him

I don’t care what anyone says…The sports media absolutely cannot survive without Terrell Owens. Terrell Owens is the Anna Nicole Smith of the sports world, except he is alive. People simply can’t stop talking about him and he has brought ratings to every team he has played for.

So if you are a team like Buffalo (who had prior to this been criticized heavily for making no free agent splashes this side of Drew Bledsoe), Terrell Owens is giving you something you haven’t had in a decade: national attention. The addition of Terrell Owens will certainly give this team some primetime games.

After all, Terrell Owens is Mr. Monday Night.

So if you are a smaller market team like Buffalo, and you are struggling to get revenue as it is; Terrell Owens is the best thing to happen to you, ever.

There is a great chance that the Buffalo Bills may not be a game better this season. Thus far, Owens is their only serious acquisition. And even though he is a big one, he goes completely against Buffalo’s style of play.

Dick Jauron hates “Randy Ratio” style schemes and has always been a run heavy head coach. When you combine that mentality with inexperienced QB Trent Edwards (who gets insanely rattled after mistakes and checks off on his routes a lot more than he should…chalk it up to youth); you have all the makings of another T.O. “get me the ball more” soap opera.

But it is that potential, for better or worse, that makes this pickup so important for not only the Bills, but the city of Buffalo. A serious element of surprise has just sent a gust into a city literally clinging onto its last ounce of football hope. And win or lose, it will be this adventure that rescues Buffalo football.

Coincidentally, four days prior to this trade, I began planning on moving to Buffalo for two years. I’m sure excited to tune into this adventure.

How To Solve The NBA's Financial Woes: My Dumbest Idea Ever…

Jared Zeidman — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:40:35 -0500

I hate the direction that basketball is going in. It is on the verge of being financially doomed. This is what I propose to solve this issue.

Next year, when the owners and players’ union renegotiate the collective bargaining agreement, the owners should propose that the players get paid entirely in percentages.

Here is what I mean (totally hypothetical with the numbers here): Instead of offering LeBron a max deal of $25 million a season; offer LeBron a max deal of six percent of the franchise’s annual income.

You might be wondering what this would accomplish. Well, the correct answer is, a lot.

For starters, significantly more power would rest in the hands of the player. Solid play by the player often results in solid play by the team, which is directly proportional to fan attendance. So in the sense of game play it would work both ways.

Owners wouldn’t have to worry about players playing lazy, because for the first time ever, their play would directly interfere with their cash flow.

From the players’ point of view however, it is even better. In essence, you control your own destiny.

The better you play, the more people want to see you, the more jersey’s they buy, the more you make.

The flexibility of percentage pay sees its greatest advantage in a team’s bottom line. In a year where more than 50 percent of the league is losing money and still owes its players hundreds of millions of dollars; percentage pay would make it so that salaries would flex with team income.

Basically this would transform the NBA from a selfish terrible organization run by cheaters and greed; and transform it into a recession-proof sporting monster.

Now, all players would not be on board with the gamble of a percentage pay idea. This is how you fix it.

There would still be a cap to how much you can give out. For example; let’s say each team has a cap of 20 percent of the team’s earnings (I think in reality, the number would be significantly lower than that, but this is just hypothetical), and the max you can offer an individual is six percent.

You would be able to roughly translate that six percent, based on the team’s previous economic performance, to about 21 million dollars.

The item that would reassure the player that he would not run the risk of either making $30 million or making $8 million; would be the basement rule (patented by takeoverthegame.com).

This is where every team would have to continue to take calculated risks, thus making every team much more competitive. Based on each team’s unique revenue statistics, they would have to make a basement offer to each player.

For example, if you made the assumption that six percent would equal $21 million that year, you are obligated to pay the player no less than $17 million.

While it is an immense risk, a successful player on a successful team could easily hit the 40 million mark; and I think that prospect would be enough to sway a lot of the league’s players.

Plus, it puts the NBA in a much better position than its two biggest competitors. It would be fairer to the players than the NFL, where contracts aren’t guaranteed and players could potentially get nothing.

It would also be fairer to the MLB owners who deal with the most out-of-control union on the planet.

I never liked math, but for whatever reason, I think it has potential. What do you think, America?

A Humbled Star(bury)

Jared Zeidman — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:04:01 -0500

You call Stephon Marbury a head case. I call him a case study…

If you asked me if Stephon Marbury could ball, I would reply with a resounding yes. If I had pick No. 7 or 8 of any NBA point guard, I would legitimately consider Marbury. Based on his ability alone, he has been great. Marbury has a career average of nearly 20 and 8, which is all the more fascinating when you consider his woeful 07-08 campaign.

This year marked the the first time in Marbury's entire life that he was not the chosen one. Mike D’Antoni and Donnie Walsh entered MSG and in literally minutes, deemed Marbury completely worthless to this team.

But the problem is that we aren’t talking about Stephon Marbury, we are talking about Starbury; the man who is equal parts enigma and malignant team cancer. Starbury; You know, the man who can’t seem to lead a team or himself out of the doghouse.

But what if I told you that everything that happened to Marbury in New York was exactly what he needed to turn his entire career around?

That’s correct, ladies and gentlemen. At age 32, Stephon Marbury might be the key to a team winning a championship, and if it weren’t for the situation with the Knicks, it would not be that way. If you don’t believe me, let me ask you this question:

What does every great basketball player have in common?

They have all been humbled.

It happens to everyone, in every profession. It just happens at a different time per person. You don’t work your hardest until someone knocks you off your high horse.

LeBron was nearly rendered unconscious at least 10 times in last year's postseason as veteran players tried to send him a message. Kobe had to publicly reclaim his greatness before playing his best ball. Michael Jordan didn’t even make his high school team. Hell, Shaq even had to make Kazaam before he got good career advice.

But the interesting thing is that all of these players (and the 100 others I didn’t mention) were humbled in their mid 20s or earlier. They all had enough time to rebound and change their games. They all had time to develop the chip that they would forever wear on their shoulder.

Marbury never did, until now.

The Coney Island kid was surrounded by “yes men” his whole life. He was essentially the chosen one of the New York playgrounds, and he carried that attitude wherever he went.

But more importantly than that, Marbury was told by every NBA team he has ever been on, and every GM that picked him up, that he would be the key talent that brought home a championship. First the Nets traded exclusively for him. Then the Suns traded exclusively for him. Then the Knicks traded exclusively for him. And somehow we didn’t expect Marbury to have an ego so big that it had its own gravitational pull?

This year marked the the first time in Marbury's entire life that he was not the chosen one. Mike D’Antoni and Donnie Walsh entered MSG and in literally minutes deemed Marbury completely worthless to this team.

For the First time in more than 15 years, Starbury was once again Stephon Marbury. And if you are a human being who has ever felt basic emotions, you know what it feels like to be humbled.

I don’t feel bad for anything that has happened to Marbury this season. The man brought it on himself. But usually the rebound after something like this is an incredible one. You get an individual who will work harder, act smarter and more importantly want to prove the entire world wrong.

And that man is about to find his way onto the Celtics; a team that is one great bench player away from being a repeat NBA champion.

You do the math.

At age 32, Stephon Marbury has the outlook on the NBA that he should have had a decade ago. We are about to find out what he can really do.

The Heat-Raptors Trade: Everybody Wins!

Jared Zeidman — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 12:19:18 -0500

It’s a rarity in the NBA that you see a trade really work out for both teams, but after more than 72 hours of "lengthy analysis," I still think that Moon and O’Neal for Marion is a win-win for both the Raptors and the Heat.

We will begin by looking at it from Toronto’s side.

I urge you to remember that Brian Colangelo, one of the architects of the Phoenix run-and-gun, is pulling the trigger on these deals. You may be wondering what this has to do with anything. Well, bear with me folks.

Jermaine O’Neal was the only member of the Raptors that even came close to representing a true center. His departure is going to allow this offense to become a much quicker run-and-gun team.

You could tell that this was Colangelo’s idea from the start. They signed Jose Calderon long-term to play the Steve Nash role, and Bargnani is going to be the center capable of handling and shooting that is absolutely treasured in this type of offense. Because of this, getting rid of Moon simply opened up space in the offense to insert more capable players.

Enter Shawn Marion, the king swing-man of this system.

A frontcourt of Marion, Bosh, and Bargnani is going to be incredibly dynamic, but most importantly insanely fast and capable of nearly everything offensively. This move should also see increased minutes for Jason Kapono, who, in an offense like this, creates an immediate three-point threat off of the penetrate and kick.

Despite being more than 10 games under .500, all it takes in the Eastern Conference is a nice 7-10 game swing, and the Raptors can find themselves right in the thick of things. But even if it’s not this year, they have left themselves in a good position to try to convince Marion and Bosh that Toronto could be their brightest future.

Miami’s side of the trade is a little different.

Despite solid play from Shawn Marion this has been Team Wade, and historically Wade performs better with a competent big man. Even Lamar Odom playing big brought out the best in Wade.

O’Neal is the first serious post player to be in Miami since Shaq’s departure. Yes, we must see how his knee holds up before we can make our final judgment, but it seems as if the Heat have two backup plans in case this goes wrong.

For starters, Moon can play. And while he may not be as athletic as Marion, he should be a nice complement to Wade. But the big winner in this trade is Michael Beasley, who is going to see increased touches. This will without question be Beasley’s test period. And backup plan No. 2 supports this notion.

Call Pat Riley whatever you want (seriously, I hate the man), but he has put his team in the most financially unique position I have ever seen. Jermaine O’Neal’s $20 million comes off the books in the coveted 2010 free agent year. And every other player besides Wade is signed through 2010 on a team option.

In layman’s terms, the Miami Heat can literally do whatever they want in the summer of 2010. They have now eclipsed the Knicks in terms of 2010 buying power, and as a matter of fact it’s not even close. I don’t think this will happen, but potentially (and for argument’s sake), the 2010 Miami Heat may not have a single current Heat player on the roster.

As far as management goes, this is absolutely brilliant. Miami is currently a playoff team, with a solid rookie and a standout franchise player. They now have the ability to add to this exponentially, or if they see fit, flip the detonator switch and blow the whole project to smithereens in 2010. If you talk about a driver's seat, I don’t think there is any one better than this.

So for a series of different reasons, the trade works perfectly for both teams. The Miami Heat and the Toronto Raptors: building for a better tomorrow.

Oy vey, did I just say that?

Bud Selig Should Be In Jail

Jared Zeidman — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 20:54:41 -0500

This will go down as one of the worst weeks in baseball history. But, for all the wrong reasons…

In less than three days’ time, baseball’s two most prominent figures both go down to failed steroids tests.

Reports of several failed drug tests take out both the man who broke the home run record, and the man slated to be next in line to break the new one. Rodriguez and Bonds, the two league’s two biggest players, both caught cheating.

For serious baseball fans, it appears that there is yet another reason to hate A-Rod and another reason to asterisk the career of Barry Bonds. But as I continue to watch coverage of the steroids scandal, I sit in genuine disbelief when I see that the media has totally missed the image of the most prominent man in the picture: Bud Selig.

Every year, it appears that a new big name takes the fall over a failed steroids test. Deservedly so, they get the blame. They are cheating after all, so they deserve to be exposed as such.

But the man who deserves to be exposed for profiting off of all of this, and more or less promoting the continuation of steroid abuse, has gotten away with little damage to his reputation. In fact, most media networks paint some sort of picture implying that this is a problem that Bud Selig simply can’t control.

Oh contraire. In fact, it is Bud Selig’s fault this is happening.

The first piece of information that needs to be worked out here is where these tests are coming from. Every baseball fan needs to understand that when someone says “Bonds failed a drug test,” or “A-Rod failed a drug test,” that they are referring to the MLB drug tests. It’s not like A-Rod walked into Costco and was offered the opportunity to take a complimentary piss in a cup; followed by some hotshot journalist breaking into the Costco files years later.

These are the tests that Bud Selig’s administration has been administering. Once that is understood, there is only one question you should be asking. Why did it take five years to find out that these guys failed a drug test? And that, ladies and gentlemen, leads us to the biggest travesty in all of sports. Bud Selig and his henchmen have buried all of these test results.

But it isn’t the fact that he buries all of the results that pains me. Rather, it is the time that these results “miraculously surface.” It genuinely appears that Bud Selig will milk his alleged drug abusers for every penny right before he lays them up for a public chastising.

If Bonds is supposed to be the biggest culprit here, it should only be fitting that Bonds made Selig the most money. Despite rumors of steroid abuse stemming as far back as Bonds’ 70-plus home run campaign, Selig kept the results totally at bay. This of course allowed Bonds to smash every single home run record available to him, while Selig counted the dollars.

Let us also not forget Sir Rafael Palmeiro, whose quest for 3,000 hits came second in media coverage only to his steroid related downfall that transpired only weeks later.

It appears now that A-Rod was ridden as long as he could be as well. Perhaps he had statistically peaked. Perhaps he really had finally grown out of favor with the league. But something has to be going on when I hear the news that he failed a drug test and all I can think to myself is “well it must have been his time.”

It is easy to blame the collective bargaining agreement and the players themselves. After all, it is the CBA that has kept Selig and company from devising a much more strict testing policy. But the timing of all of the drug tests should be the first indication that Selig is absolutely petrified of what he would see if he adopted an NFL style testing-policy. By now, Selig would simply see his league in flames.

The NFL may be worth mentioning again, because it is their process of drug testing that also puts Selig in the wrong. Despite a lengthy appeal process that is far from perfect, every NFL test result is publicized. One of the incredible successes of the NFL has been the fact that this league, for as long as I have been alive, has been a league that presented itself with nothing to hide. Right now, you are hearing about a MLB drug test that was just plucked from the bottom on an ocean.

Meanwhile back on Planet Earth, I am expected to sympathize with Bud Selig because his league is tainted and he has no control over his players? Bud Selig was the reason it got this way. Home runs and big-hitters saved his league after a strike nearly destroyed it. And in turn, steroids became to MLB what weed became to the NBA. You can use if you want to, just don’t let the cops find out.

The Artful Dodgers: Manny Ramirez and Scott Boras

Jared Zeidman — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:16:17 -0500

A few weeks ago I did an audio post defending Manny Ramirez. In principle, I still do. He has boldly stated what his abilities are and that he is willing to take those abilities to the highest paying employer.

Traditionally what follows is the groan of the American sports fan, who says “these athletes are only in it for the money.” My response to 95 percent of this population would be “well, aren’t you too?”

Basically, Manny has become enemy of the state simply by attempting to follow the model of American capitalism that everyone in the audience, not watching him perform on their stage, is also trying to follow. But who’s counting…

So when I found out that Manny Ramirez rejected a one-year, $25 million offer, I wasn’t mad at Manny for wanting more money. I was just disappointed in Manny for thinking there was more money.

Week after week, people keep throwing around the word recession, with some sort inkling that any day it would bounce back. In the last week or so, we have officially entered “holy god, we are not bouncing back” mode.

Everyone is pulling out of everything, and the domino effect is pretty astonishing. This even includes athletes who settled for less money in their contracts due to endorsement deals that are no longer on the table.

Right now, no one has money to give Manny Ramirez what he wants. And quite frankly, I’m not even sure what he wants anymore. This is a man that was willing to take less than $25 million per year over the course of three years, but in the worst economic time EVER, a team was offering him $25 million, which would have made him the highest paid player in baseball this year, and he turned it down.

What I’m beginning to wonder is, is this Manny being Manny? Or is it something far worse…Boras being Boras?

Scott Boras is far and away the most hated agent in all of sports, but this might be the most insane thing that he has orchestrated since publicly declaring that a professional athlete should make $300 million.

Yesterday, Boras publicly belittled the Dodgers’ organization, insisting that they were “playing chicken games” with his client. Boras is a man I have accused of being crazy before, so I won’t put anything past him.

But it takes a man with incredible balls to call out an organization after they just offered to make your client the highest paid player in baseball…in the midst of what has statistically become the worst economic downfall this country has ever seen.

Manny being Manny is something we have gotten used to. But Boras being Boras is putting Manny in a ton of jeopardy right now. The two of them should consider themselves genuinely lucky that the Dodgers are still willing to negotiate.

But more importantly, they need to be very worried about their next move. For, if they keep screwing around in the midst of an economic crisis, it could be their last.

Gary Williams May Be on the Way Out: Fear the Firing

Jared Zeidman — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:25:40 -0500

Gary Williams is one of the classiest coaches in basketball. And it is going to get him fired.

I frequently speak about the business elements of collegiate sports. Because of the wildly different rules and play of college basketball, people tend to forget that college basketball is still a business. If you think otherwise, you have just been caught in the guise of “amateurism” as well.

Coaches are paid to win; lesson done.

Williams should be in a position marked “un-fire-able,” but instead he sits on a monster hot seat, despite achieving national success. Why? Because it's all about business. And that business involves the biggest cog in the machine: recruiting.

Maryland is the only team that I can remember since the late 1990s that has won a national championship and not seen a boost in recruiting. And I refuse to blame that solely on recruits looking in another direction.

Yes, there are teams like UNC and Duke who have had their names established for years, and will never stop getting recruits. But those aren’t the teams I am alluding to.

Arizona wins the big one in 1997. It is Lute Olson’s first rock. But that championship ignited recruiting. The departures of Mike Bibby and Miles Simon paved the way for Richard Jefferson and Gilbert Arenas.

Michigan State takes the crown in the year 2000 and finds themselves back in the Final Four two more times over the next five years.

UConn’s rise in recruiting is also quite compelling. El-Amin and Hamilton beget Caron Butler, who gets them to the Elite Eight and in turn begets Okafor and Gordon and another national championship.

In the last six seasons, the University of Maryland has failed to put a team on the court that was even remotely close to the caliber of the 2002 national champions.

And even though Gary Williams has forever been touted as a man who cares about the education of his players, and a coach who frequently looks past the high school all-Americans to find talent, something has to give here. Maryland is literally the only team since Arkansas in 1993 to win it all and still see no serious success since.

And this is where the business side kicks in.

When Gary Williams has had a shot at top-tier high school recruits (especially recently) they have all bailed. And I attribute a lot of that to the fact that Williams is not interested in one-and-done cases.

In an age where teams like Memphis and Ohio State don’t appear to care about a player’s commitment to the school—as long as they can dominate a game—Williams is losing the battle by keeping it traditional. Due to the David Stern one-year rule, it is now the players, not the coaches that have the power. Williams has refused to accept that.

And if top-tier recruits continue to “fear the turtle,” Coach Williams might find himself looking for a new shell.

All Sugar...No Steroids

Jared Zeidman — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 23:18:00 -0500

One of my favorite scenes from the movie Space Jam (I promise I’m going somewhere with this) was the locker room scene at halftime. We find our protagonists, The Toon Sqaud, getting totally embarrassed by the Monstars.

As a way to hype up the team, Bugs Bunny fills up a bottle with water, but writes in huge letters, “MJ’s Special Stuff.” The Toons are convinced they are drinking the same liquid that made Jordan the greatest of all time, and come out in the third quarter on a rampage. As we all know, the Toon Squad ends up defeating the Monstars. And because of that, Mugsy Bogues gets his game back.

Now, the cartoons obviously did not take anything to enhance their performance. They merely thought they did. But, it really makes me wonder how much of a psychological impact, steroids have. Because in reality, there is no actual barometer of what steroids do.

Yes we know that steroids can be harmful when abused, and yes it is obvious that some athletes and bodybuilders are on something in order to make their legs bigger than my house. But the bottom line is (and argue all you want, but you know I’m right), no one actually knows the difference between hitting a fastball on steroids, and hitting one not on steroids. Yes it’s obvious that Bonds and McGuire were taking steroids. But no one on the planet knows what their numbers would have been like if they stopped. For example: guys like Giambi have recovered from post steroid depression and put together all star caliber seasons when they had to be clean.

With all of this said, I am adamantly against the use of steroids or any other illegal performance enhancing drug. But, I am also drinking a diet coke as I write this article, which is illegal if I am an Olympic athlete. With so many ridiculous drugs out there, and so many absurd regulations trying to control them, it is more than possible that some of these athletes really don’t know what is going in them.

And I know people are going to want to say, “everyone should be responsible enough to know what they are putting in their bodies.” To those people, I ask the following:

Without looking at the box, right now, tell me all of the ingredients in a Sudafed tablet. Not just the drug itself, the substances that hold it in pill form, the shiny coating…

Sorry you’re out of time.

With no genuine way to establish the game play effect of performance enhancing drugs, I can’t help but think that some people are just looking for the placebo effect. They are now taking the special stuff.

And this past weekend in sports had an incredible example. Ladies and gentlemen: Sugar Shane Mosely.

Sugar Shane was one of my favorite boxers growing up. He was a phenomenal lightweight with great quickness and serious knockout power. And of all of the athletes tied to the Balco investigations, hearing his name probably made me the most upset.

When you think about it, if there was one sport where steroid abuse could play a wildly dangerous role for all parties, it would be boxing. If you have the ability to punch harder and swing faster, you have essentially been scientifically granted the ability to kill a man in that ring with your fists.

But this past weekend, against Antonio Margarito (a man who was supposed to destroy him), Sugar Shane Mosley had another fun trick up his sleeve.

A DRUG FREE, 38 year-old Sugar Shane Mosely went to town on the face of his opponent. A man who had been publicly written off, and a man who had been privately fighting for his life as well as his children, came in and more importantly came in clean, and won big time. Shane Mosely, a former notorious steroid user, is once again clean and once again the World Welterweight Champion.

And here’s the funny part. With all of the ridiculous accusations and name calling going in Mosley’s direction for the last decade; it was Margarito who will more than likely have a tarnished reputation after this fight. Margarito was forced to change gloves right before the start of the fight after the referee discovered that the insides of his gloves were lined with plaster. To be honest, if I were told that I was going to have to choose between getting hit in the face by a guy on roids or a guy wearing a plaster cast; I would choose roid guy 100% of the time.

This ladies and gentlemen, is the gift and the curse of the sports world. The bad guys aren’t always bad. The good guys aren’t always good. And sometimes that “special stuff” isn’t all that special at all.

But what will always save sports at the end of the day is the one man or woman, with one chip on his or her shoulder and warrior’s heart to carry his or her burden.

Much like Space Jam, Sugar Shane had the special stuff in him all along. And on Saturday night, he got the most important win in his career.

Thank you Mr. Mosley.