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.
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
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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