July 3, 1999

Baseball
What I Think - TheSlacksDotCom weekly editorial! by JC Fink
   
How Major League Baseball Will Screw This One Up ... Baseball is a very important part of the Fink household. Of all the sports I watch, baseball is the one thing that is a family bringing tube event. Deborah, the kids, and myself, don't miss a single Red Sox game, the entire year, and this year we are getting the "great" show.
    As a Red Sox fan, I have to say, that it is an honor to see Pedro Martinez (The Dominican Dominator) pitch every 5 days, as it was at one time to see Roger (The Rocket) Clemens. Pedro is different though. I am not going to bash Roger Clemens (Ok maybe one 900 no-decisions joke) but Pedro has taken Fenway park to a place usually reserved for Foxboro Stadium, in that a Red Sox game is now like a "Rock Concert". Thousands of fans going totally mental, and looking good on TV for it, does my heart good as a Sox fan.
    Alright, here's my point ... at the end of the year, there is a very good possibility (even though the dung-head reporters in Boston will cry about this) that Pedro will be a 30 win pitcher. He will be a 30 win pitcher with perhaps 4 losses and not a one, in the no-decision column. That's Pedro Martinez baseball. This of course is not Major League Baseball. Major League  Baseball, involves  a juiced ball, a lower pitchers mound, lighter bats, and players having a hard time keeping it in the park. Pitching has been relegated to something that everyone s now calling bad. "Oh God! There's too much expansion!" is a statement that makes me want to puke, because it is an ignorant statement.
    Why? You may ask. Pitchers today, even the ones that you may call "bad" are far superior to the pitchers from "the good old days". I am being fair. I said this last year during the home run race, "Babe Ruth, never faced a 95 mph Cutter in the 8th inning!" in defense of Slammin' Sammy and The Big Mac, which is true. Like it or lump it. The Babe, Hank Aaron, and even Ted Williams (oh God, I am going to Hell for using the great one, but I have to tell the truth) never faced the relievers (or the pitches) that exist today. Well now I have to change my point of view a little bit. I personally believe that every year the people in charge of baseball are making it harder and harder to be a good pitcher, with all the ways they are making it easier and easier to be a hitter. Home runs mean ratings, and ratings mean money. I understand this, but I actually think that pitchers like Pedro are starting to piss them off. It's starting to look like unless they come up with the new blindfolded pitcher rule. He will be superior to the batters he faces. Period.
    So where's the mistake that MLB will make this year? Picture this ... Pedro goes 31 and 4 the second best is around 22 and 8, lets say. How can anyone justify Pedro not winning league MVP as well as Cy Young? He proves, he's the best at something that is being deemed the worst, and with all the stats he is blowing apart and the records he will probably break, and above all else being the final factor in why a mediocre team like the Red Sox will make the playoffs again, who better? The guy with a .380 batting average on a team full of .340 batting averages? The guy who gets a .380 batting average while everyone complains about bad pitching? The kind of complaints that make it look like anyone can get .300 at least?
    Hey don't get me wrong! If David Cone were this dominant, I would be saying the same about him, and I like David Cone as a pitcher even if his team is the enemy. Here's the rub, and think about this ... If Cone gave up 5 runs a game, his ERA would be higher but he'd still win by way of superior offensive team. Pedro would be 19 and 17 at the end of the year with that ERA on the Sox.
    I still think the higher ups hope that that Pedro goes flop, so they don't have to explain why Mr. .380 or Mr. 98 Home Runs is the MVP, because those two support Mr. 31 and 4 better than 31 and 4 would have  30 years ago.
    That's what I think, and sometimes I'm right! JC

Basketball
What I Think - TheSlacksDotCom Weekly Editorial! by JC Fink
   
ESPN ... Pick Up The Damn Ball! ... I must admit, I am not a big basketball fan, but I like to keep up on sports of any genre and/or any generation. I know a few facts about basketball, that are totally un-arguable.

  1. Michael Jordan is the greatest ever.
  2. The Celtics have a very long time to go before they worry about anybody taking their legacy from them.
  3. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson are the reason basketball lasted long enough to bring us Michael Jordan!

    When I heard the announcement that Larry (Legend) Bird was the number 30 athlete of all time, in the ESPN top 50 of all time, I simply figured "Ok, no need to watch next week, when Magic wins 29". I was a little surprised to see Arnold Palmer set in at 29. I said to myself "Ok, Magic at 28", and almost lost it when Red Grange was 28. 
    I understand that Palmer is indeed a great Golf player. Red Grange? Ok, Ok, Ok! He is the reason football actually got watched (If you think he wasn't much for Da' Bears, look to what he did at Indiana) but if you don't know where I am going with this, then read on.
    Do not even think to argue this one ..... Basketball was one heartbeat from dead when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were fighting it out for the NCAA Basketball Championship. The mere thought of these two bringing their level of loathing and one-upmanship to the NBA starting breathing life into the NBA, that nobody with half a brain can argue. "Whatever you can do, I can do better" was what ran through everyone's mind anytime either of these two hit the floor. Larry - Magic, Magic - Larry .... For over a decade, these two competed against an entire NBA, but most of all against each other, and if either of them had decided to go off toward any career other than Basketball it wouldn't have been the same.
    I can even accept the feeling that naming Larry and Magic as the number 8 of all time (as Sports Illustrated did) as being sort of a cop out. I must say though that Sports Illustrated's approach of not placing either/or above the other, and claiming them as an inseparable entity was not brilliant, it was FACT! It also shows that Sports Illustrated knows their stuff (in my view) as it pertains to sports history. ESPN once again, has dropped the ball, while trying to be (in it's own mind) an innovator. I, myself would rather be a factual and/or cerebral imitator, then a totally mindless innovator. S.I. - 100

Football
What I Think - TheSlacksDotCom Weekly Editorial! by JC Fink
   
Thank God Football is Back ... "What the heck is he talking about?" I hear you, I know that is what is on your mind. Football didn't actually exist for a few years there, and none of you seemed to notice it. This year the NFL (No Fun League) decided that they would bring football back, and I am thrilled to be able to watch my beloved New England Patriots, hopefully win a Super bowl, if the defending champions (The Dallas Cowboys) aren't as dominant as they were last year.
    Ok, Ok, Ok, fun and games is over. Here's how a real football fan would see things. In 1996 Ted Marchibroda (Darth Greedybastard) decided to move the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore, thus deciding to end Professional Football forever. Fortunately for real football fans, such as myself, the NFL decided to take a few years off from Football, and then start up again with a new NFL that would have a San Franscisco like Cleveland Browns. During the brief recess they decided to have computer generated "what if" games in which an AFC team would win a couple of Super Bowls. After picking the two most hopeless AFC Super Bowl chumps (The Buffalo Bills and he Denver Broncos) they in turn flipped a coin to see who would be the fantasy league winner for the two years. That explains that. They also decided to show hypothetical situations, amongst coaching staffs. Bill Parcels with the Jets, Mike Ditka with the Saints, Jim Moira with the Colts, and the funniest of all Dick Vermiel with the Rams. Ha Ha Ha, that was classic.
    Cleveland is one of those cities that should always have an NFL team. Their fans are so loyal, that you can sometimes see stands full of snow mounds, with eye holes poked into them, to see a 1 and 15 Browns lose. Has Cleveland ever not had a sell out? This isn't Houston, we're talking about here! You know 3000 people in the seats to see a team that was just in the AFC championship game. This is the BROWNS! These fans are more loyal than post men in a blizzard! As a Patriots fan, I know the back of a band wagon. They don't have room on theirs after a 1 and 15!
    Did you notice the free agent list that Cleveland wrung up? Good players that are willing to go to a brand new team, that probably will only beat The Baltimore Ravens (You know poetic justice) , just so they can be unconditionally loved by the greatest fans in football history!
    Oh well. I am off to buy a new TV so that I can enjoy the return of the NFL this fall in style.
    That's what I think, and sometimes I'm right! JC

NASCAR
What I Think - TheSlacksDotCom Weekly Editorial! by JC Fink
   
Hating is Easy ... I have been watching NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing for a few years now. It started when I realized that I needed things to talk to the guys at work about, and I wasn't about to start hunting. As I usually do with most things I pay attention to, I started overanalyzing the sport. I have noticed one thing about racing that sticks out allot. Hate! Don't get me wrong, being human, I have screamed at that Ernie Irvan, accident waiting to happen, quite a bit myself, but he's about it for me. It gets rather complex for others.
    Have you ever noticed that most race fans like car brands over drivers usually? Ford people, hate Chevy's

  1. He's classy, cool, and confident. Nobody dares speak bad about him, or dive him into a wall because of it.
  2. He's got longevity and persistence. I threw a party during his Iron Man race, even though Bobby Labonte, and his mother still call him The Ice Man.
  3. You gotta love a guy who will drive around week in and week out with a big chicken on his hood!

This of course makes me hate Irvan because, chances are when the Iron Man streak ends, it will be because Swirvin' Irvan hit him the week before. 
    Others that you never hear hate about are Bill Eliot, Ken Shrader, or Ted Musgrave, but then again, they have kind of became the Pontiac of drivers. 
    That's what I think, and sometimes I'm right! JC

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Copyright © 1999 [J.C. Fink & Szarahco]. All rights reserved.
Revised: August 04, 1999 .

 
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