Yo, Meathead!

Okay, I just have to weigh in on “Big Ben” Roethlisberger’s suspension before I go away next week. I think it’s fine and dandy. The reason I feel compelled to put my two cents in is because of all these righteous idiots out there who think NFL commissioner Roger Goodell overstepped his bounds by suspending the Steelers quarterback when he was not charged with a crime by the law.

What else can I say but, “Duh!”

The NFL is a business, folks. Players sign contracts saying they will follow the rules set down by their team owners and the league. You don’t wanna follow the rules? You don’t have to work for the NFL.

It’s a privilege to work in a job where you can get paid millions of dollars for playing a game, and the NFL has the right to set the standards by which its employees are judged worthy of that privilege. Did Roethlisberger commit a crime? Not by the rules of the law (though public opinion might be a different story). Did he give alcohol to minors? Apparently, there’s no dispute about that. Did he act like an ass and a scumbag? Not much argument about that, either.

Does Goodell have the authority to suspend Roethlisberger for conduct detrimental to the NFL, its brand, and its image? Oh, yeah. If an employee for some big computer company went to a company party in a public place, got smashed, made a fool of himself, and spoke ill of his superiors where some of those superiors could hear, would the CEO have the right to suspend or fire that employee? In such a case, the company has the power to mete out whatever punishment it sees fit. Was a crime committed? Nope. But was the employee committing conduct detrimental to the company? Again, I say, “Duh!”

I saw one columnist actually write that Goodell would be unable to win the PR battle in terms of this situation. I disagree completely. Most people—sports fans and the public, in general—think that Roethlisberger deserves to be suspended. They don’t care whether a crime was technically committed. It seems to be enough to know the facts of the case. And the knowledge that Big Ben continues to do stupid things and put himself in dangerous situations only solidifies his guilt in the court of public opinion.

Whoever thinks Goodell is overreacting has no clue. He’s not working for the U.S. legal system. He’s the commissioner of the NFL!

Good for you, Roger!

Yo, Meathead!

It’s baseball season again! So without further ado, here are my notes from around the leagues.

In the AL East, Toronto is off to a great start, and the Red Sox are slow out of the gate—but where have we seen that before? With Baltimore awful, as always, does anyone really doubt that this division will once again be a two-team race between New York and Boston? The Rays are always worth considering, but I’d be a little surprised if they were there at the end with the other two perennial contenders. Of course, that’s the beauty of it being so early in the season—no one really knows what will happen in a month, let alone by October!

Along with their new stadium, Target Field, the Twins currently rule the Central, with Detroit only half a game behind. Not sure I really have a handle on this division, so I’ll reserve judgment for now. The most pleasant surprise here is that the Royals aren’t mired in last place yet. Even though they are a game under .500, Chicago and Cleveland are playing worse ball so far. Not that this division really means anything to me, but I’d be glad to see a successful Royals team for a change. In the last 20 years, Kansas City has had a winning record just three times, and none of those was good enough for better than a third-place finish. Never mind that the Cubs haven’t won it all since 1908—I’d say Royals fans and Pirates fans are the most long-suffering in baseball. At least the Cubs are competitive sometimes!

I am very excited to see the A’s in first place and the Angels in last place in the West! I don’t know if Oakland can hold this position all season, but the pitching looks solid at the moment. If it continues, expect the A’s to win a lot of games by scores of 3–1 or 4–1 and compete for the division. And though I don’t condone cocaine use by any stretch of the imagination, I like Ron Washington and wish him success with Texas (as long as the Rangers don’t beat the A’s much). I’d be glad to see the Rangers duke it out with the A’s for the top spot all year. I’d also be psyched to see the Angels languish in last—you think Vlad Guerrero’s move to Texas has anything to do with the Rangers’ and Angels’ reversal of fortunes? As for Seattle—I don’t see it. The best thing I can say about the Mariners right now is that they have Eric Byrnes—but hey, this is coming from an A’s fan!

Moving over to the Senior Circuit, I think there are fewer surprises here than in the AL. In the East, having the Phils on top is no shock, and while I can’t say my expectations were very high for my Mets, the reality punctures any fantasy balloon that might have existed even a little.

In the Central, as of today, St. Louis is the only team with a winning record, which may speak volumes about how competitive this division is going to be. Cinci is only 1.5 games back, at .500, but the rest go down from there. Didn’t really know much about this year’s Astros coming in, but to see them at 1–8 and already three games behind Pittsburgh (and Milwaukee and Chicago) means they’ll have to go on some sort of incredible run at some point if they want to be in the mix. Fortunately for them, that might not be so hard with so many games against the rest of the division!

I’m a little bit surprised at the Giants’ fast start in the West, but as long as they no longer employ Barry “Bighead” Bonds, I have nothing against them. Heck, the city of San Fran could use a winner these days! (Do the Sharks count?) I did think the Dodgers would do better, but I think they’ll recover and challenge for the West pennant again.

Questions? Comments? Arguments? Lemme hear what you’ve got to say!

SEASONINGS: I sure will be excited when Elin Nordgren divorces her scumbag cheating husband. (What’s his name again? Oh, yeah—Tiger Woods!) Then we can get this story off of the sports pages and focus on the sports themselves. Do I care about how Tiger’s image is affected? Do I care about how the game of golf is affected? Not in the least. I’m just sick of hearing about him.

Same goes for Ben Roethlisberger. Will the Steelers just suspend this moron already and get on with it? Personally, I think they should cut him and see how well he does on another team like the Rams! (Not that I would wish him on St. Louis coach Steve Spagnuolo or anything!)

Finally, I’ve disliked the Jets for a long time, but now I have no respect for them, either. Jets = Raiders East, and I’m not saying that in admiration! I’d love to see Rex Ryan fall on his face, but I doubt we’ll ever see him on the ground unless someone puts a cake there. Yuck!

Andy Finch is America's Next Great Curler

He's not from Minnesota or Vermont. He's San Francisco's Treat! Andy Finch could be the biggest thing to happen for curling since the legendary Rich Confit!

I located this endearing story by accident. Right here in San Francisco, there’s a third-grader named Andy Finch. People are calling him a curling phenomenon and a future star. He’s won six state and regional tournaments in his age group and he’s already training for the 2018 Winter Olympics. His parents Amy and Alan Finch are very proud of their son and more than happy to help Andy in his pursuit for gold and fame.

"Andy is a curler, plain and simple," Alan Finch said. "We let him try all the sports and it came down to either NASCAR or curling. Since he doesn't have his drivers license, and we didn't want to dumb him down, so NASCAR was dropped. He's embraced curling and it's been a great ride."

I sat down with Andy and his entourage recently. He’s got the star athlete thing down already. Talking about himself in the third person is one of those moves he’s embraced.

“Andy Finch is a great curler,” he said. “Andy will dominate the sport within five years.”

People are calling him the Tiger Woods of the sport.

“Tiger blew it and Andy Finch won’t fall into the same ditch,” he explained. “Besides, Andy Finch is way too young to hook up with night club hostesses, so that’s a good thing.”

The Finches have hired one of the world’s finest curling coaches to work with Andy. He’s a former French champion named Jacque Enyeau.

“He’s amazing, this little Andrew,” Enyeau said. “He grew up with a curling stone in his crib, he teethed on it, he lived with it and his parents diapered it. So he was born to curl.”

A Sad State of Sports

More and more people are tired of living in California. Folks don’t want to live in a broke state full of high prices, foreclosures and layoffs. And sports fans in the formerly Golden State are also a disgruntled bunch, because the teams we’re watching are mostly terrible.

I should say first that the L.A. Lakers, the San Diego Chargers, the Anaheim Ducks, the San Jose Sharks and the S.F. Giants probably don’t belong in this discussion…for now. The Lakers are the reigning NBA Champs and could repeat this year. The team has an incredible track record and the organization has always been a class act. The Chargers are in the playoffs almost every year, although they’ve never won the Super Bowl. The Ducks are former NHL champs and feature a competitive squad each season. The Sharks are consistently at the top of the hockey standings every year. They have some marquee players and play in a great arena. But, they’re starting to establish a reputation for choking in the playoffs. The team has never even made it into the Stanley Finals, so that’s their immediate goal. If the Sharks fold in the first or second round of the playoffs yet again this year, you’ll start to hear more and more boos and see more empty seats. The Giants built an incredible stadium ten years ago (AT&T Park) and the team has gradually gotten better over the last several years. Of course, they’ve never won the World Series and the Barry Bonds steroids affair has tainted his records and the team. But, when compared to the other dysfunctional professional teams in California, this group looks respectable.

After that, the state’s pro sports scene is full of wannabes, once-wasses and never beens. First, both the S.D. Padres and the L.A. Dodgers are being destroyed by the Big “D”—divorce. Both team owners are going through nasty divorces and it’s affected the overall attitude and approach of both franchises. These teams won’t spend any significant cash on much-needed free agents, until their ex-wives and the judges involved figure out how much they’ll have left. It’s a sad situation when team owners can’t keep their marriages together, because in the end, the fans pay too.

The San Francisco 49ers used to be the very best with a plethora of Super Bowl victories featuring some of the finest players in the history of the game. But now, after their former owner getting busted for bribery, the new owners are more like cardboard cut-outs in suits rather than people who truly understand how to build and field a competitive football team. And don’t even mention Monster Park (formerly Candledick)—another ugly, smelly, poorly run facility. The stadium is painted in green and white. Oh wait a minute—that’s not white paint; it’s seagull poo!

The Oakland Raiders are probably the biggest disappointment of the bunch. They play in a sub-standard facility and they have a senile owner who can barely eat his fruit compote without having three Raiders cheerleaders standing by to clean up the 80% that doesn’t make it to his mouth. They are the joke of the NFL and no coach with any ability won’t put up with the idiocy that surrounds this team. This team will not win--until the owner dies.

The Sacramento Kings play in a warehouse and they’ve never done anything significant. They’re a forgettable squad and the only reason anyone who lives out there supports this team is because they aren’t any professional sports anywhere nearby.

And don’t mention the San Jose Earthquakes in the same breath with pro sports. Soccer will never draw in this state on a consistent basis. If you want to find the Earthquakes’ scores in your local newspaper, you’ll have to look way back on the last page, next to the high school and Div. II college sports scores. Name three players on the Earthquakes and then get a life.

Then, we have three other chronically poor teams that are bad for different reasons—the Warriors, the A’s and L.A. Clippers. The Golden State Warriors haven’t won a championship since I was in high school and I’m old. The team has gotten accustomed to living at the bottom of the NBA standings after a series of general managers who have made an unending series of bad decisions. The Clippers are in the same boat. They’re the Lakers annoying little sister. Mediocrity would be a huge jump up for either of these sad story organizations.

The A’s have a crappy stadium and they’re constantly crying that they don’t have enough money to field a decent team. Thanks to a very astute general manager, the team has used a methodology that helps them draft good players to stock their farm system. But, once these players make it to the majors, they realize where they’re playing, and they run for greener pastures as fast as they can; which means that the A’s have to re-stock their team once again. The A’s had a potentially nice deal building a new stadium down the street in Fremont, but they blew that and now they’re stuck in a stadium that would function better as a prison (just put a dome on it). It is surely one of the worst stadiums in any sport!

And one last thing--why isn't there an NFL team in the Los Angeles area? Why does the third or fourth largest TV market in the nation not field a pro football team? It was amusing for a couple years after the Rams fled to St. Louis, but not it's becoming "that thing"

So, that’s the state address of so-called “professional” sports in California right now. In most cases, I’d rather watch college or high school sports than this stuff. It sucks.

This Great Game in Cuba

Well, my baseball Web site (http://www.thisgreatgame.com/) made it to Cuba on a trip by the Society of American Baseball Research (http://www.sabr.org/) to study baseball in this amazing country. The kid on the right is wearing a cap from http://www.thisgreat.com/, the History of Baseball Online. That child will grow into that hat and hopefully one day we'll see him in the major leagues!

Chasing Old Heroes

One of my great joys in life is interviewing retired baseball players. Last week, I added numbers 61 and 62 to my list. I am now locating players via the oldest living players list. Last week, I talked to Mike Sandlock (#11 on the oldest list). He is now 94. Mike played 195 games in his MLB career, with the Boston Braves, Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates. Then, I interviewed 92 year-old Virgil "Fire" Trucks (#26 on the list). Virgil played in 517 games as a pitcher, primarily for the Detroit Tigers, although he also played for the St. Louis Browns, New York Yankees and the Kansas City Athletics. Trucks pitched two no-hitters and a one-hitter in the same season.

Top photo: Virgil "Fire" Trucks today, living in Alabama.

Middle: Trucks with the Tigers after one of his no-hitters

Bottom pic: Mike Sandlock

Lefty O'Doul: A San Francisco Legend!

I sat down at Lefty O’Doul’s restaurant in San Francisco the other day, ordered an O’Doul’s and sat down to interview Tom O’Doul, Lefty’s cousin. Is that triple déjà vu or what?

This week would have been Lefty’s 113th birthday. So, hoist a brew in Lefty’s name, because somewhere up in heaven he’s hitting in the high .300’s and having a great time.

Benefits of a famous cousin: “I didn’t really know who Lefty O’Doul was until I started playing baseball in Little League. Until then, he was just my cousin. When I started playing ball, he started coming around more. One story I love to relate is that Lefty always came to my opening days when I was playing Little League. In 1954, opening day was approaching and my dad told me, “Cousin Frank’s coming to your opener.” And I thought, that’s cool. It was an opportunity for me to walk around and be proud for my cousin, a former major leaguer. So he shows up in a Cadillac with Joe DiMaggio. I’ll never forget the moment, because everyone’s mouth just dropped and stay opened. There was a buzz in the air. But, they were gone five minutes later. I lived off that moment for the next five years, at least.”

Why Lefty loved Japanese baseball so much: “Probably because the way they played the game. I think he liked the purity of it. He appreciated their dedication to the game. They’re very humble people; they’re very polite and I believe he respected that. He was a teacher and a great coach above all, and the Japanese were starved for coaching and knowledge about how to play the game. He actually brought Japanese coaches here to the United States to teach them. And they were extremely pleased to learn from the “Great American”. Lefty was the one who brought Babe Ruth to Japan. They were dying to see Babe and he brought them on his first tour there in 1934. He did three tours to Japan total—in ’31, ’34 and ’49. He’s influenced baseball in Japan in so many ways. In fact, the Tokyo Giants are named the Giants because of their connection with my cousin, who of course played with the NY Giants. In 2002, Lefty was chosen to be in the Japanese Baseball of Fame. He was elected by a special committee. I know Lefty would be so proud and happy to see all of the great Japanese players in the majors right now, like Ichiro and all the others. Lefty envisioned an international game. I hope people remember what Lefty did for that country and its baseball. I believe it ‘s his legacy.”

Lefty’s early days: “He never made it past the 7th grade and he would always push me to finish school, he said. ‘At least graduate from high school,’ he said. He had to drop out of school to go to work as a butcher. His father, his grandfather and his uncles were all butchers. If he hadn’t made it as a baseball player, he would have been a butcher his whole life. People could see right away that Lefty had baseball talent. He had the hand coordination, the great vision and the instincts you need to make it to be a good player. He could play any position he wanted to. In ’37, he was the MVP in the Pacific Coast League as a pitcher. They said he hurt his arm after that year for throwing too hard, but I believe he injured it lifting one too many beers. There was nothing he couldn’t do in the game.”

His relationships with other great players: “O’Doul got along with everyone, including Ty Cobb, which wasn’t easy from what I heard. He loved Babe Ruth and they spent a lot of time together. They both had that great sense of humor, so that’s probably why they got along so well. He was one of those guys who didn’t have a lot of enemies. He wasn’t enamored with most of the umpires and he had no problem telling them if he thought they blew a call. He got threw out of his share of games. But, back then they rode the umps a lot more than they do today.”

The world famous Lefty O’ Doul’s Bloody Mary: “It’s from an original O’Doul family recipe and they’ve served it there since day one. We’re a drinking family and we’ve always been a bunch of drinkers. The O’Doul’s drug of choice is alcohol. Lefty drank bourbon and water and beer. I remember sitting in our yard with my father and my uncle and he was drinking beer. But he liked his bourbon, I remember that. He drank Acme beer in the 1950’s. It was a San Francisco beer and he preferred it. My uncle loved being in bars and talking to people in bars, so opening his own restaurant/bar in his hometown was a logical progression. He loved being a restaurateur and he was very good at it.”