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Saturday, July 12, 2008

Loss of an Idol

We all remember specific moments which serve as a lifetime of memories that form the connections to our favorite sports and the teams we love. The first time you saw how green the grass was at Fill in the Blank Stadium. The first time you heard the crack of the bat which wasn't broadcast enhanced by some engineer in the sound truck. Even though the moments happen time and time again afterwards, the memories are just one. You've probably seen the green grass or heard the crack of the bat thousands of time since, you'll never forget the first time.

R.I.P Bobby
What connects us, for life, to our favorite sport or team is our favorite player. And for most of us, that player isn't a superstar, heck, he may not even been all that good. But for some reason, we identified and connected to him for a long forgotten reason. He became such a part of us, we almost became him. Copied his batting stance. Bounced the ball lefthanded three times before shooting a righthanded free throw. Wore the same uniform number. After he was long retired, and after we had long grown up, you might see him around, maybe he's the team broadcaster, or you drive 40 miles to see him at an autograph show. When watching on TV, you don't see him as someone approaching Social Security age, you see the same young face he had as a player, no way can we accept him growing old.

Then one day, you hear on the radio, or read on Armchair, that this player has passed away. And you feel like a part of you just did too. You unashamedly shed more than a few tears, as if you had lost a close relative or friend. And your lifetime connection to the sport or team you grew up loving, because of him, has been forever broken.

That moment happened for me today. Bobby Murcer was, and always will be, my all-time favorite Yankee. I wore #1 on my junior high school team because that was Murcer's number. In high school, #1 was taken by an upper classman, so I wore #11. A natural righthander, I taught myself to hit lefthanded because Bobby Murcer swung from the south side. I played third base and centerfield because Bobby Murcer did. I refused to watch or listen to Yankee games for awhile because they traded Bobby Murcer. I think deep down one of the reasons I bought the MLB TV package is because I could listen to Murcer broadcast on the YES network, even knowing I'd have to listen to John Sterling's voice, too.

At some point in the next few days, I'll go into my memorabilia box and fish out my 1967 Yankees yearbook. For the past 42 years, every time I pick that book up, it takes me back to being ten years old, back to seeing Yankee Stadium for the first time, of seeing Mickey Mantle whack one off the right field wall, and of a twenty-one year old expected to become the next Mickey. I'll see the sections on Mel Stottlemyre and Bobby Cox, then turn on SportsCenter knowing I might catch a glimpse of one of them, still in uniform and contributing to our greatest game. Towards the end of the book, when I come to Murcer's page, I fear those feelings and memories I've experienced every time I've seen it won't be the same, and I'm scared. Scared baseball won't have the same meaning anymore. Scared the memories will start to fade away now that the connection which held them all together has broken.

I was fortunate enough to have met Bobby Murcer a handful of times during my time working with the Yankees, in 1979. He had just returned from his exile to the National League and was excited beyond words to be back "home". I told him my little story, the same one I've shared with you, he seemed genuinely interested, which I appreciated. He was a real nice guy, more importantly, he was my first idol. To me, he always will be the ultimate Yankee.
On October 22, 1974, Bobby Murcer was sent to the Giants, I shed a couple tears, but I recovered. On July 12, 2008, Bobby Murcer was sent to eternal life, I've shed more than a few tears, and I'm not sure if I will recover. My lifeline to baseball is gone.

God Bless, Bobby, I'll miss you.
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Better Late than Never - Daily "Linkin' Logs" (7/12/08)


Ok ok, so I was a little late today, deal with in. Today will be abbreviated as well...I need beer!
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AFL Conference Championship Preview

Today it's Arena Bowl or Bust for four Arena Football teams. The conference championship games kickoff at 1 PM ET with the Cleveland Gladiators looking to upset the Philadelphia Soul, and then at 3:30 PM ET with the Grand Rapids clashing with the San Jose Sabercats.

American Conference
The defending champion Sabercats will be upset, it's as simple as that. The 6-10 Grand Rapids Rampage, led by QB James MacPherson, are on a scoring Rampage. Grand Rapids will be going to their first Arena Bowl since they won it all in '01. Who says a team with a losing record can't win the Conference Championship?! Grand Rapids 52, San Jose 48

National Conference
Matt D'Orazio leads a powerful Soul offense, and I really think he's taking this team all the way. The 9-7 Cleveland Gladiators barely survived in their two playoff victories. I just don't think Raymond Philyaw has what it takes to lead the Glads over this Soul offense. That's all I have to say about this one, Soul wins 58-44.

Enjoy the games!
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Friday, July 11, 2008

Eggs, Potatoes and "Linkin' Logs" (7/11/08)



Sometimes its a slow day...and sometimes its a reeeeaaallllyyyy slow day. And on those days, the daily Linkin' Logs have two options; "forget" to post and/or "be too busy" or simply skip the Links in the hopes that no one would notice. On some days, I will absolutely be too lazy...but not today:

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Thursday, July 10, 2008

The Last True All-Star Game

In honor of baseball's Centennial Celebration, the 1969 All-Star game was held in the Nation's Capital, Washington, D.C. Hosted by the Washington Senators, who were led by their new manager in Ted Williams and slugger Frank "The Capital Punisher" Howard, the game is now remembered as the last true All-Star game.

For in 1970, voting for the players was turned over to the fans, once and for all. Baseball had experimented once before with fan voting, (1946-1957), an idea which ended in controversy when fans of the Cincinnati Reds voted seven of the their eight starters to start the game, with only St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Stan Musial being the only non-Red to win the vote. Commissioner Ford Frick overturned the vote for two players, outfielders Wally Post and Gus Bell, replacing them with Willie Mays and Hank Aaron. Voting was returned to the players, where it would remain until 1970.

The 1969 game also has the distinction of being the only All-Star game to be rained out. Originally scheduled for Tuesday, July 21st, the game was played on Wednesday, the 22nd. With players now having to scramble with travel arrangements, ensuring they would arrive on time for the resumption of the season, MLB decided the game would be played during the day, making it the last All-Star game not played under the lights. This decision had an immediate impact on the game, and not for a good reason.

While 45,259 fans had no problem with the change in game time, American League starting pitcher Denny McLain did. Apparently forgetting the switch, McLain, the ace of the Detroit Tigers staff and coming off his 31 win season of 1968, arrived at RFK Stadium in the third inning. Tigers teammate Mickey Lolich was none too happy with McLain's seeming indifference to the situation, the two of them got into it and had to be separated, all this before McLain got dressed.

AL manager Mayo Smith went with the Yankees Mel Stottlemyre to start in McLain's absence. The NL scored an unearned right off the bat in the top of the first inning, Pittsburgh's Matty Alou singled, and after a groundout and wild pitch, Hank Aaron hit a fly ball to left field which was dropped by Frank Howard, scoring Alou. An infield single by the Mets' Cleon Jones preceeded a tape measure homer off the facing of football broadcast booth in left field by Johnny Bench.

St. Louis Cardinals lefthander Steve Carlton started for the National League, and after retiring the first four AL hitters, touched off a lengthy celebration in the second inning, allowing a solo homer to hometown hero Frank Howard.

Oakland Athletics righthander Blue Moon Odom replaced Stottlemyre in the third inning and immediately allowed the Nationals five runs, making the score 8-1. Highlights of the inning were a two-run bomb to the upper deck in right field by San Francisco's Willie McCovey, and a run scoring double by Carlton himself.


A solo homer by the Tigers Bill Freehan in the third inning ended Carlton's afternoon. McLain replaced Odom in the fourth inning, and after striking out Aaron, allowed McCovey's second homer of the game, to almost the same spot as his first one, a blast which also ended the NL scoring for the day.

The American League's third and final run came in the fourth on singles by Howard, Oakland's Sal Bando, and Freehan.

The 9-3 win stretched the NL's All-Star winning streak to seven games. McCovey was named MVP, with Carlton and Stottlemyre receiving the win and loss, respectively.


The Starting Lineups:

National League


American League

When the players elected the participants, the All-Star game had more meaning. Being shown respect by your peers is the ultimate competetive sign of respect, guys didn't jake it when they got there. The appearance of not taking the honor seriously was dealt with accordingly, as shown by Lolich confronting his Tigers teammate McLain over being late and missing his start. Guys played hard, too, the American League was pissed off at losing six games in a row, (the streak would reach eight before the AL won the 1971 game in Detroit). With the score 9-3 in the sixth inning, Carl Yastrzemski climbed the leftfield wall to make a remarkable catch, robbing Johnny Bench of his second homer of the game. Today, guys don't climb walls losing 9-3 in a regular season game.

The adding of the homerun derby, and having the World Series home team determined by the winner has further turned the All-Star Game into the exhibition that it is. Free agency and inter-league play has cheapened the game as well, players no longer cross paths with their rivals only during Spring Training and the All-Star game.
If baseball wants the fans to vote, that's fine. The players vote on the reserves, essentially fixing the fans screw-ups. But giving home field advantage in a World Championship series to the winner of an exhibition game is ridiculous. Put it back where it rightfully had been for a gazillion years, alternating years. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
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Keep on Truckin' Daily "Linkin' Logs" (7/10/08)


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Wednesday, July 9, 2008

A Journey Through The NFL With Some Burning Questions - Part 2

Continued from Part 1..


Miami Dolphins

Question: Can Ronnie Brown recover from his injury and repeat the flashes of greatness he showed last year?

Answer: Ronnie Brown was on pace for well over 1,500 yards and 10 TD’s before his season was ended by an ACL tear last year. While all reports of his recovery have been good (are they ever bad?) the one thing Brown needs is time. Having suffered the injury in Week 7 last year, Brown is lucky to have gotten a significant amount of time to heal his injury and begin rehabbing back to full strength. The major concern, besides having Ronnie become good friends with Ricky Williams, is that he’ll aggravate the injury, so he’ll likely get more and more carries as the season progresses.


Minnesota Vikings

Question: Will Tarvaris Jackson expose himself as the weakest link on the team this year?

Answer: Many people have given up on Jackson and called for the Vikings to put in a QB who can take better advantage of a Peterson/Taylor backfield. But with arguably the best running back duo in the game, Jackson will benefit from a lot of defenses failing to pay him much attention and he will have plenty of opportunities to make some big plays. If Jackson can find a balance between playing conservatively but also taking some risks and learning on the job, he may be a perfect fit for the Vikings offense.


New England Patriots

Question: With one of the easiest schedules in the league, how long will it take until the Patriots lose their first game and end all of the undefeated talk?

Answer: While the realist in me is saying the Patriots may lose a shocker early in the year, I would likely be beaten in my parking lot, labeled a traitor and left in a dumpster if I formally admitted it. And since I don’t like dumpsters and I’m an unabashed Patriots fan, I say the absolute earliest they will lose will probably be in Week 6 against the Chargers or Week 7 against the Broncos. If the Chargers can march out a healthy offense, they can go score for score with the Patriots whose weak points this year will all be on the defensive front. As for the Broncos, Mike Shanahan has had Bill Belichick’s number these past couple years and they have the combination of a strong running game and a talented defense that gives the Patriots fits.


New Orleans Saints

Question: Have we already witnessed the ceiling of Reggie Bush?

Answer: It’s only been two years and crazier things have happened, but it’s obvious that Reggie’s slash and dash style that was so successful in college isn’t quite as flattering in the pros. While he’s best paired with a Deuce McAllister type bruiser back, don’t be surprised if he builds on his power game as time passes and ends up finally transforming into a legitimate starting running back a la Brian Westbrook.


New York Giants

Question: Will Eli Manning’s Super Bowl win help him improve upon a mediocre regular season performance or will he fuel speculation that he just managed to get lucky at the right time?

Answer: It is more of a credit to the entire Giants team than Manning himself that he managed to win a Super Bowl. Although he’s a solid QB, and his on-the-money pass to David Tyree definitely wasn’t ‘lucky’, Eli will have to improve a bit overall if he wants another shot at the Lombardi trophy (See: The NFC East). Or at least not nearly match his large touchdown total to an equally large interception total. Regardless of the statistics, though, a Super Bowl win definitely counts for something and may have completely smashed the shell that Eli had been slowly emerging.


New York Jets

Question: Will Alan Faneca’s arrival provide the spark that Thomas Jones needs or will we learn this year that the Jones’ brothers just might not be starter material?

Answer: Although at first glance, Jones’ 1,119 rushing yards in 2007 may look impressive, it gets slightly less so when you factor in his 310 carries. Add in a mere 1 rushing TD and what you’ve got is a mediocre season. And with that, comes more excuses than an Odell Thurman court appearance. While quarterback play, the defense and the Jets team in general have been used to explain TJ’s sub-par season, the one that makes the most sense and was the biggest factor was the offensive line. They sucked and they sucked bad. Free agent acquisitions Alan Faneca and Damien Woody look to change that and will assure 2008 as the year that Thomas Jones can finally prove his doubters wrong… or right.


Oakland Raiders

Question: Can Jamarcus Russell learn quickly enough to help the Raiders compete, or will 2008 just turn out to be an NFL 101 learning experience for Darren McFadden?

Answer: Since he only played in four games last year, Russell will likely continue to struggle this season, working out the kinks and learning through in-game experience. With McFadden on the field, the Raiders will essentially have a rookie QB and rookie RB on the same field for much of the season. So 2008 should be NFL 101 for both Russell and Run DMC, with McFadden getting the worst of it due to all of the eight-plus-in-the-box defenses they’ll be facing.


Philadelphia Eagles

Question: Will the cornerback-by-committee experiment work out for the Eagles or will the receiving corps’ performance have them wishing they had gone and traded Lito Shephard for a wide out?

Answer: Lito Shephard was one of the biggest names this past off-season who was rumored to be changing teams. However the Eagles decided upon keeping him, leaving them with three top-tier cornerbacks and some major question marks at receiver. While having three Pro Bowl caliber cornerbacks could never be a bad thing, it’s going to come down to whether or not the benefits of improving the defense with the CBBC will outweigh the effectiveness of the wide receivers. If Kevin Curtis can step up on a more consistent basis, Jason Avant can continue to improve and Desean Jackson can make a splash than the Eagles refusal to deal Shephard may turn out to be the exact opposite and be the smartest move of the off-season.


Pittsburgh Steelers

Question: If everyone plays up to potential can the Steelers offense be on par with the mighty Patriots?

Answer: Santonio Holmes, Willie Parker, Heath Miller, Hines Ward, Ben Roethlisberger and the potentially potent duo of rookies Rashard Mendenhall and Limas Sweed? Uh, I’m going to go on a limb and give an enthusiastic yes to this question.


San Diego Chargers

Question: Whose health do the Chargers need most after two dangerous injuries: Philip Rivers or Antonio Gates?

Answer: On one hand, you can say that the most important player on any given team is the quarterback. But when you have a tight end like Gates, who could not be equaled even if you somehow combined both of the Chargers backup tight ends into one person, you absolutely need him healthy. Don’t get me wrong, Rivers is a great quarterback and very important to the team, but Billy Volek proved in leading a playoff win against the Colts last year that he is at least a serviceable replacement. He may not put up gaudy numbers and the ones he does put up may not be perfect, but he will get the job done. Gates is infinitely more important to the Chargers offensive attack than Rivers.


St. Louis Rams

Question: Will the offensive line be able to remain relatively intact this year so that Marc Bulger can worry about winning instead of fracturing his ribs?

Answer: The malaria-esque outbreak of injuries that the Rams offensive line suffered last year almost seemed to bad to be true. With a ragtag group attempting (and failing miserably, mind you) to protect him, Marc Bulger had a lot more to worry about than completing passes and looking to his check down receiver. Like whether or not he’d have to go to the hospital that night, for instance. With a healthy starting offensive line returning, a rejuvenated Stephen Jackson and the fact that what happened last year had one in a thousand type odds, Bulger should be able to focus on actual quarterbacking this year. Unless of course he now has a phobia of staying in the pocket thanks to last year.


San Francisco 49ers

Question: Will Mike Martz’s arrival put Alex Smith and the 49ers offense on the map?

Answer: Martz is known for the quarterbacks that have blossomed under his watchful eye. Although the gigantic and complicated offensive attack that he brings with him may be just what Alex Smith needs to translate his skills into actual NFL success. Since one of the major reasons the 49ers offense has been so bad these past few years is poor QB play, how Smith (or Hill) adjusts and understands the system will directly impact how much the offense will flourish. Weird how that works..


Seattle Seahawks

Question: Will Julius Jones/Maurice Morris + T.J. Duckett = Vintage Shaun Alexander?

Answer: With Branch’s health a major concern, the Seahawks receiving corps won’t be the best Matt Hasselbeck has ever had to work with. Although Shaun Alexander’s decline was evident to all who watched it last year, the Seahawks may not know what they had until it’s gone. While Jones could do well with a change in scenery, the Seahawks would do well to committee Julius Jones and Maurice Morris for all situations except the goal line and short yardage downs. Those honors would be then given to power back T.J. Duckett. Overly complicated for Holmgren? Maybe. Does it make sense? Yes.


Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Question: How many Buccaneer quarterbacks could start for another NFL team?

Answer: Of the six currently on the roster, definitely three but maybe four could go and start for other teams. Jeff Garcia (obviously), Bruce Gradkowski and Chris Simms being the obvious ones where Brian Griese could start, but only in an emergency type situation. With only three final QB spots available and the Bucs likely to keep the rookie QB they drafted, Josh Johnson, don’t be surprised if you see some of the Buccaneer castoffs land themselves on another NFL island. And yes, I realize that statement was very corny.


Tennessee Titans

Question: Will the Titans failure to acquire any wide receivers to help Vince Young come back and bite them in the ass?

Answer: The only possible reason the Titans have forgone getting some legitimate receiving help for Vince Young is that they believe the receiving crop they currently have has the potential to mature into a reputable, quality unit. While he hasn’t put up spectacular numbers, Young has proven he can win with sub-par talent. With Young having built a rapport with Justin Gage and Roydell Williams last year, the front office will either get their wish and see the receiving corps take a step forward or they will make themselves look like fools and piss off Vince Young for not giving him anyone good to throw to.


Washington Redskins

Question: Will the arrival of youngster Colt Brennan cause Jason Campbell to ‘make the leap’?

Answer: Although it’s not fair to place such expectations on Campbell since he’ll have to learn yet another new system this year, such is life in the NFL. If Todd Collins wasn’t 5,000 years old than we could have had a legitimate QB battle on our hands. Luckily for Campbell, he is the prospect the organization has spent a lot of time, money and hopes on -- so he should have a much longer leash than say, Derek Anderson.

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(Less Than)Daily Linkin' Logs (7/9/08)


Perhaps Daily Links was a bit too ambitious...none the less, I apologize for missing yesterday. In my attempts to post, I realized I had a job and that was more important, so y'all missed some fairly good links. Such is life. But today's links will more than make up for that...we have fantastic news:

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