Gillette letting Tiger go

The Proctor and Gamble company, makers of the Gillette razor, have elected not to renew their advertising ties with Tiger Woods going forward. Gillette said Thursday it was phasing out "Gillette Champions" marketing campaign, which featured Tiger amongst other athletes. Despite ditching Tiger and the ad campaign, Gillette did elect to retain tennis player Roger Federer, international NHL star Alex Ovechkin and the Yankee captain Derek Jeter, for new local marketing campaigns.

ACC expansion, fantastic?

The Clarion Content has long been a vocal opponent of ACC expansion. We do not believe in diluting one's core brand, in this case outstanding basketball, for the vain hope of improvement in something that has never been a core competency, football. The ACC has been a classic case for our point of view. The new schools (Va Tech excepted) have not made the ACC any better at football. In fact, the ACC has dragged Florida State and Miami, once perennial college football powers, down to its level of mediocrity.

Now the second stage is kicking in, loss of focus has gradually damaged ACC basketball. The last two years of ACC basketball, save at the very top of the conference, have been some of the weakest ACC basketball in its history. More than once, a .500 record in league play has not been good enough to qualify an ACC team for the Big Dance. In the league's heyday, as the nation's premier basketball conference, that never would have happened. This year, the ACC is even worse.

For the first time since the poll's inception, the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll this week has not only just one ranked ACC team, #1 Duke, but beyond that, not a single other ACC team so much as received votes. None. That had never happened before; Duke stands alone. How the mighty have fallen!

Mets a little worried about Phils paper

On paper, it sounds like Cliff Lee could be a problem for the New York Mets N.L. East hopes and dreams.



"You can go to Philly and, probably, on paper they look great. But we don’t know how it’s going to work out. We’re all speculating that it’s going to work out great. If you ask Philly fans, they’ll say it’s going to be great. If you ask me, I say I don’t know."---Carlos Beltran

"They look like a tremendous team on paper. But you play the games for a reason."---David Wright

"I’m a little bit surprised it was the Phillies. We knew there was a third club involved and thought it might be the Phillies. But I’m a little bit surprised he [Lee] ended back there. It’s an excellent signing for them. It makes our division a little tougher on paper."---Sandy Alderson, Mets G.M.

The Clippers are amazing

Has somebody been yelling at these guys? We think so.

That's right, the Los Angeles Clippers are amazing! They have transcended dumpster fire status, dumpster fires don't last twenty-five years. They are moving toward a nuclear waste site designation, which their fans are hoping only has a half-life of a couple of more generations of Sterling children and grandchildren.

Donald Sterling's ownership reign in Clipperland has been anything but Sterling. He recently displaced long-time Raiders owner Al Davis as the single most dysfunctional owner in sports, while simultaneously holding off the challenge of Washington Redskins young gun owner, Daniel Snyder. To continue to hang on to his title, Sterling must constantly raise his game. Creativity and franchise-immolation are his hallmarks, no one can make them go hand and hand like the Sterling man can.

This week saw reports in the Los Angeles Times of a brilliant new stratagem Sterling is employing this season. Sterling has been taunting and heckling his own players from his courtside seat at the Staples Center. Clippers Center Chris Kaman confirmed these rumors and also told the LA Times, "He's an interesting guy...He likes to watch us play. He's very into it...He's frustrated like anybody...He owns the team. What do you want me to say? He's my boss. He signs the check. He owns me."

As one might expect, Kaman sounds highly motivated by this tactic.

Apparently, Sterling has been extra hard on point guard Baron Davis who reported overweight and out-of-shape this year. Sterling has hollered at Davis from courtside reportedly telling him, "You're terrible. You can't shoot threes. Why do you shoot threes?"

Accurate and brilliant. Surely Sterling must know at this point that Davis will do anything to piss him off, the reverse psychology then to convince Davis to sabotage the team good by indiscriminately firing up threes, why it borders on ingenious. Davis is 4 for 27 from three this year. The Clippers are 5 up and 20 down, the worst record in the league. And the beat goes on...

Sampras robbed

Poor Pete Sampras has had his trophy collection stolen according to reports in the LA Times. They said that thieves made off with most of his trophies from his sixty-four tour wins, his two Davis Cups, his Olympic ring and six trophies from his world number one rankings from 1993 to 1998. Ouch.

Luckily, Sampras does not keep all of his hardware in one place. The lost trophies were robbed from a Los Angeles warehouse. The most valuable trophies to him, he had on the mantle at home. He still has thirteen of his fourteen Grand Slam trophies.

Look for this stuff to surface on the blackmarket in the years to come. Here is hoping the thieves get busted.

Can they play the next one in Minnesota?

This guy is going to need help...and maybe a hat

We have, by now, likely all seen the amazing video highlights of the roof's collapse at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. This collapse led the Vikings and the Giants to reschedule their Sunday game for Monday night in Detroit. The NFL did the fans of the beleaguered city a solid and let them attend the game for free. Good job NFL.

NFL execs also pointed out the amazing job done by the Lions franchise in preparing the facility for an unscheduled game only 24 hours after a Lions home game. Vikings officials are facing an equally difficult challenge. Can the roof of the Metrodome be repaired in time to host a Monday game against the Bears this week? The speculation in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune is no.

The quest for a home field would then turn to other sites. The smaller TCF Bank Stadium, home of the University of Minnesota's Golden Gophers, is being considered. It is an outdoor stadium. The Gophers season is over so it has been winterized, shut down. It will need the water turned back on, facilities heated and tested, and all by Monday night. Odds are the Vikings will have to be carpetbaggers again.

Favre streak over

Gehrig
An unfathomable streak of one era, a streak that stood for generations ended here...


Favre
A mind-boggling streak of another era ended here, will it stand for generations?

Peter King, the hall of fame quality NFL columnist for Sports Illustrated, had a fascinating note about Brett Favre's consecutive game streak in his column this morning. It will be no doubt picked up all over the place, since Favre was unable to play tonight with numbness in his hand, bringing to an end his record 297 straight started streak. King pointed out in his "Factoid of the Week That May Interest Only Me,

"One of my best friends in the business, longtime Lions beat guy Mike O'Hara, sent me a great note last night regarding Brett Favre's consecutive-game streak perhaps ending tonight in Detroit. Lou Gehrig's streak of 2,130 consecutive games played ended in the same city seventy-one years ago. "He left old Briggs Stadium, had a cup of coffee at a diner, and walked to the team hotel,'' O'Hara messaged.

I looked it up, and O'Hara was spot on. Gehrig's streak ended on May 3, 1939, when a weakened Iron Horse bowed out of the lineup for the first time in 14 years. Incredibly, the man he replaced 14 years earlier, Wally Pipp, was in the small crowd of 11,000 that day at Briggs Stadium, looking on as Gehrig brought the lineup card to home plate. Gehrig then sat in the dugout for the rest of the game. Gehrig would never play another game. Six weeks later, he was diagnosed with ALS, the disease that now bears his name.

If Favre doesn't play tonight, his streak of 297 straight starts (321 including postseason games) will end at Ford Field, 1.3 miles from where Gehrig sat in the dugout at Briggs (later Tiger) Stadium."

Much ado...

about very little. The media is trying to stoke the perception that the Red Sox have massively closed the gap on the Yankees and that therefore the Yankees must sign Cliff Lee at any cost. To this, the Clarion Content says, "Hah! Pu-leeze."


More valuable to the Yanks than Cliff Lee...

The Red Sox acquisitions of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez certainly help the team, but measured in light of losing Adrian Beltre and Victor Martinez from their line-up, they barely represent a net gain in offense.

Gonzalez .298 AVG, .393 OBP, 31 HRs, 101 RBIs

Beltre .321 AVG, .365 OBP, 28 HRs, 102 RBIs

Victor Martinez .302 AVG, .351 OBP, 20 HRs, 79 RBIs

Carl Crawford .307 AVG, .356 OBP, 19 HRs, 90 RBIs

Remember too, Gonzalez compiled his statistics playing in the AAAA National League, whereas Beltre was playing big boy baseball in the toughest of divisions. Recall too, that Crawford's 19 dingers and 90 RBIs were career highs. Still, Crawford represents a slight step up from Martinez, who was atrocious defensively at catcher. Crawford is a plus defensive outfielder.

The other thing the Red Sox are touting about Crawford is his speed and stolen bases. This is a Trojan Horse. Last year demonstrated the foolishness of trying to play UZR based Moneyball in Fenway Park. Yankees fans can only hope they try it again. The net Moneyball World Series titles won to date, zero. As the old saying goes, "Stats are for losers."

Crawford will turn thirty next year, just about the point where stolen bases start to rapidly decline for most players. A useful analogy might be Carlos Beltran, whom the Mets overpaid almost as badly as the Sox overpaid for Crawford. Beltran had five consecutive thirty plus SB seasons before signing with the Mets. Not counting his injury decimated 2010, Beltran has averaged a meager nineteen SBs a year as a Met. Crawford is unlikely to top that number by much over the duration of his Red Sox contract.

Player-for-player, after signing nearly $300 million in bats this offseason, the Red Sox line-up still does not measure up to the Yankees. Let's go around the horn to underline the veracity of that statement.

1B Mark Teixeira vs. Adrian Gonzalez

At very worst a push, we rate it, slight edge Yankees.

2B Robinson Cano vs. Dustin Pedroia

Edge Yankees.

SS Derek Jeter vs. Marco Scutaro

Edge Yankees.

3B A-Rod vs. Kevin Youkilis

Push.

RF Nick Swisher vs. J.D. Drew

Edge Yankees.

CF Curtis Granderson vs. Jacoby Ellsbury

Edge Yankees.

LF Brett Gardner vs. Carl Crawford

Edge Red Sox.

Catcher Jesus Montero vs. Jarrod Saltalamacchia

Push

DH Jorge Posada vs. David Ortiz

Push

The tote board reads then, five spots advantage Yankees, one spot advantage Red Sox and three pushes. Doesn't exactly sound like much to worry about really. The Yankees bigger threat will likely once again come from the Tampa Bay Rays. The only thing that could make a Cliff Lee signing urgent would be if Andy Pettitte elected to retire. The Yanks would then need another starting pitcher. Otherwise, it is much ado about nothing, manufactured media hype.

The Yankees would actually be worse off by tying their hands with a seven year contract to an aging lefty who was 26 up and 22 down the last two years, a guy who has won more than fifteen games only twice, a guy who is already thirty-two. Cliff Lee reminds our sports editor of the Mike Mussina signing, a good player, but not worth the money.

What's Oregon about?

Curious what Oregon football is about? They will be playing in the National Championship game versus the cheaters from Auburn. Michael Sokolove wrote a fascinating profile in the New York Times Magazine last month.

Oregon's Coach Chip Kelly told Sokolove, "If someone says to me, 'What do you stand for? I should be able to invite them to practice and in five minutes, they’d say: 'I see it. I get it.' They stand for playing hard and playing fast."

Sokolove notes John Wooden, the legendary U.C.L.A. basketball coach, was known for fast-paced practices that reduced the need for aerobic training. Kelly has taken a page from Wooden's playbook. Oregon may ride that vision all the national championship.

Read the whole article here.

Smoking gun

The internet digs some stuff up, and there is no surer check on power than freedom of information. In this case, something we had not seen before surfaced on the internet (via Twitter) and made us feel compelled to admit we may have gotten it wrong.

The Clarion Content has long defended Latrell Spreewell when it came to the choking of Coach P.J. Carlesimo. There were three primary reasons for this, one legitimate, the other two emotional. First the reasonable one; one of our editors spent significant time in Newark while and shortly after P.J. was coaching at Seton Hall. His reputation as a dick was widespread in the community, especially in the local service industry. He was said to be impolite and a poor tipper. Word was he screamed and cursed at his players; and if he was a jerk to the servers, well it was believable.

The second reason is that same editor attended Indiana University during the Bobby Knight era. Our editor has always believed and continues to believe that the Neil Reed, "Coach Knight Choked Me" incident was a bunch of bullshit. All the video evidence suggests Knight hardly touched the kid, who both later transferred and picked the most self-serving moment to make his much delayed complaint.

Third, that same editor was and is a Knicks fan, who delighted in Spreewell's play on the court.

Reason number three is ridiculous. Reason number two is irrelevant.

What surfaced on the internet to change our mind about the incident in general was a photograph of Carlesimo's neck after the incident. Knight barely touched crybaby Neil Reed, but this photo of Carlesimo's neck tells a much different story, about a much different level of violence, a level of violence that is unsupportable in response to verbal abuse.

If the photo is not a fake, there is no justification for the level of violence Spreewell obviously used. We always thought it was nowhere near this malevolent.

The Ashes, a cricket match?

Ashley Kerkes is a twenty-two year-old Massachusetts babysitter. Her nickname and her twitter handle, is "The Ashes." Turns out, much to her surprise, this is also the name of the cricket series played between England and Australia. The 66th Ashes series began on Thursday.

Cricket fans on Twitter looking for the series swamped Ms. Kerkes's site. They bombarded her with messages. After issuing a series of polite, confused denials, Ms. Kerkes finally exploded with this Tweet Thursday, "I AM NOT A FREAKING CRICKET MATCH."

Cheeky cricket fans encouraged others to follow her. Her following exploded from 300 to 8,400. According to the Associated Press, "...her attitude appeared to soften [and] by Sunday, she was inquiring about the rules of the centuries-old game."

Again, according to the A.P., this had cricket fans enthused and they started a microblogging campaign called, "Get the Ashes to the Ashes." The Australian airline Quantas stepped in and offered her free plane tickets to Australia. Vodafone Australia has since offered to pay for her match tickets.

The Ashes (Ms. Kerkes) said, "I most certainly would not object to a free trip to Australia!"

Ah, what an era...

Watch out for that brick wall!

Mama said knock you out! Oops upside the head, said oops upside the head.

Why are these are things that the announcers at the Illinois-Northwestern college football game might say this weekend? To lighten the mood?

Illinois and Northwestern are playing at Wrigley Field.



The famous baseball diamond with its ivy covered brick walls. Said brick walls are, approximately, twelve inches behind the back of the end zone at some points under the rightfield grandstand.

The other end zone along the third base dugout is no peach either. They cribbed the let's host a college football game idea from Yankee Stadium, but Wrigley looks great.

They have added extra padding to the brick outfield walls. With all the concussion discussion that has been in the air in recent months, we here at the Clarion Content, hope they carefully weighed the players well-being and safety against the value of the all-mighty dollar.

Playing at Wrigley Field will most definitely sell some ducats.

Stevie Johnson got it going on

Stevie Johnson is the Buffalo Bills rookie sensation at wide receiver. He has had a monster start to his career, with six TDs and nearly 600 yards on a struggling team, in just the first ten weeks. It turns out, however, Mr. Johnson, aka Steve Styles, is multi-talented.

We heard our man free-styling on Jim Rome today and had to dig a little deeper. Check him out. He has got some skills.

Latin American baseball players

People mock and deride White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. Guillen, a sharp tongued Venezuelan, who does not hew to the diktats of political correctness, has warned for years that young Latin American baseball players are exploited. They are generally from impoverished backgrounds with limited educational opportunities. Sharps, handlers, runners and their ilk take advantage of these young men repeatedly. A few years ago it was Jose Rijo and the Washington Nationals front office that was in the spotlight.

Yesterday a federal court indicted David Wilder, a former White Sox scouting executive, and two former White Sox scouts, Jorge L. Oquendo Rivera and Victor Mateo. Charges include accepting about $400,000 to sign twenty-three prospects in Latin America between 2004 and 2008, accepting kickbacks from signing bonuses and contract buyouts, deliberately targeting players from impoverished parts of Latin America. Not entirely coincidentally Major League Baseball announced yesterday, it has expanded oversight of teenage prospects in Venezuela, a similar system to the one they finally implemented in the Dominican Republic earlier this year.

Thanks to the New York Times for the heads up on these announcements.

LeBron, looking for suggestions

LeBron James is apparently looking for suggestions. LeBron utilizes the methodology of communication between icon and the masses that has become the norm in post-post modern society, the commercial. It transcends the press conference because of the limitless opportunities for staging and setting that a commercial presents. Moreover, it is a one-way channel of communication, no nagging questions from the fourth estate can be heard...

LeBron himself asks the only question, over and over, "What should I do?" and despite all the options the Nike marketing people have offered him, it appears quite clear, LeBron does not quite know what he should do.





Here, in one societal reply to the once and former King James, Eric Cartman asks himself the same question.

Mysterion Rises
Tags: SOUTH
PARKEric Cartman,Mysterion,more...

Brilliant NHL All-Star game revamp

Shanahan was an eight time All-Star himself.

As we tweeted just a few minutes ago, the Toronto Star is reporting that the NHL All-Star game has a brilliant new wrinkle. They have eliminated the standard, old, passionless conference versus conference battle and are going to implement, this year, a radical suggestion from former player, now NHL VP, Brendan Shanahan.

They are going to nominate captains and pick teams like they were playing pick-up. The captains will still be selecting from a pool of players voted on by the fans. Reportedly, the NHL's All-Star weekend will kick off with the captains picking the teams, playground style, on live television.

Should be captivating stuff. Great innovation, NHL, you go!

The NHL All-Star game is North Carolina this season.

56 years!

What does it feel and look like when your team, a franchise that has not won a title in your lifetime, in multiple lifetimes, finally wins? Something like this!!!



All those of us New York Ranger fans, like the Clarion Content's sports editor, who remember the "1940" chants of our youth, the generations of fans who rooted and rooted without a Cup, know the feeling. Mark Messier, we are eternally grateful.

Congratulations, Giants fans!

Cleveland Indians fans, we hope, some day, this is you.

Favre on Favre

"

Brett Favre's comments in the lockerroom after Sunday's Vikings game with the New England Patriots, "I was shocked that I was able to play and move around the way I was. My prayers were answered. I wanted the chance to play. I wanted the chance to play and play at a high-enough level to give us a chance to win. I didn’t want to play just to play. I didn’t want to come in for one play to get a start; I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to come in and help this team win. It was touch-and-go even before the game today."

Wait a minute. Brett? Brett? You guys lost the game, didn't you?

Ahhh, the narcissism. As the Vikings season goes down the drain, Favre is focused on one thing, and one thing only, himself. It is a delight to see him end his wildly overrated career this way. All that is left is for him to throw that pick six, that taint, on his final pass of the season, and it will be a Grimm's fairy tale ending.

Dodgers raising ticket prices

Like Snoop once said, the McCourts got the mind on the money and the money on the mind...

The Los Angeles Dodgers management must not have been reading the Clarion Content lately. Because despite all we have written about sports comeuppance and the arrogance of ticket pricing in this era and especially in the current economic environment, the Dodgers are raising tickets prices. They are jacking their ticket prices after a losing season.

According to the LA Times, the average single-game ticket will go up to $44.68 next year, from $44.28 this year. A team spokesman, Josh Rawitch, estimated that 60% of ticket prices will remain the same and about 35% of single-game tickets and 20% of season tickets will increase in price. But don't worry Dodger fans the price of the rest, the other 5%, will decrease.

Thanks, Mr. & Mrs. McCourt. The LA Times also reports the Dodgers also will charge a premium for the first row tickets of every section. Too bad nobody's running the team while the McCourt's are destroying each other in divorce court.

Rangers rookie opens with a hat trick

The New York Rangers center Derek Stepan scored three goals, a hat trick, in the first game of his career. Stepan, who is twenty, became the fourth player in National Hockey League history to score three goals in his debut. Stepan was captain of the USA gold medal team at the 2010 World Junior Championships, where he led all scorers. The Rangers got a 6-3 win over Buffalo and Vezina Trophy winning goalie Ryan Miller. Read more here in the NY Times sports page.

Baseball playoffs, Round 1

It is the first time in the playoffs for the dominating Doc Halladay...

The Clarion Content was not and is not a fan of the expanded baseball playoffs. It makes no sense to play 162 games and then a five game series. It devalues the regular season, which is baseball's most unique virtue. Why play 162 games to decide the positioning and only give the better squad a one game advantage, in a sport where home field is not nearly as crucial as it is in some of America's other major sports? Why decide the fate of a season that runs from April to October in five days? With 3% worth of the season's games?

Booooooooooo! The expanded playoffs have deflated the pennant races and produced ridiculous, undeserving champions. Yes, 2006 Cardinals, we are talking about you!!!

But enough, ranting, here are our predictions, in brief, for Round 1.

The American League

Texas Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Rays

Despite a near no hitter by Cliff Lee in Game 1, the Rays squeak out a win, as David Price matches him strike for strike. This leaves the pitching poor Rangers so demoralized that the Rays sweep. It is too bad the Rangers star and former Rays draft pick, Josh Hamilton, could not be 100% for this series. The Rays despite the best record in the A.L. do not sell-out any home games for this series, prompting further calls for them to move to Durham.

The Minnesota Twins vs. The New York Yankees

The Yanks have owned the Twinkies in recent years and we see no reason for that not to continue, despite the Bronx Bombers suspect starting pitching. The Twins absolutely must beat C.C. Sabbathia in Game 1. When they come up short, they will be swept out again. The Yanks will shell the goldbricking Carl Pavano and the soft tossing Twins starters. Again, it is too bad the Twins are not 100% healthy, missing MVP first baseman, Justin Morneau. Minnesota has lost nine straight postseason games and hasn't won a playoff series since 2002.

The National League

Atlanta Braves vs. San Francisco Giants

While we both like and respect the Braves future Hall of Fame skipper, Bobby Cox, he has beat the heck out of the Braves bullpen this season. And with the Giants edge in starting pitching, it will be the key difference in a tense low scoring series. The Giants starters are so good, they have an outside shot at winning the whole thing, even with their pop-gun offense. We will delight at watching two terrific rookies, Giants catcher Buster Posey, and the Braves five tool outfielder Jason Heyward.

Cincinnati Reds vs. Philadelphia Phillies

The Phils are prohibitive favorites and for good reason. They have the best starting rotation of any team in the postseason. They have three perennial MVP candidates in their infield; Howard, Utley and Rollins. They have won the last two N.L. Pennants and are looking to be the first N.L. team to make back to back to back World Series since the St. Louis Cardinals during WW II. The underrated and under-appreciated Reds manager Dusty Baker has guided his 3rd N.L. squad to the playoffs. The Reds have a nice infield too, led by this year's MVP Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips, but it says here they take no more than one game from the Phillies juggernaut.


P.S. While this round could conceivably produce four sweeps, the League Championship series should be dynamite.

P.P.S. There is no way King Felix should win the A.L. Cy Young!!! Just because the morons who vote screwed him last year in favor of Zack "who cares if I win, my WHIP is so low" Greinke, does not justify making the same mistake twice in a row. In the immortal words of Coach Herm Edwards, "You play to win the game!" Statistically starstruck writers who never played the game simply don't get it. It is the same folks who deified Billy Beane despite his A's squads' inability to win so much as a pennant, let alone a World Series. We love King Felix, but it would be a joke. And if you haters want to keep the Cy Young out of the hands of a Yankee, fine. Vote for Clay Buchholz who is also more deserving the Hernandez.

Thank you. That is all. See you next round.

Baseball contenders not selling tickets

Yesterday saw a highly publicized flap, Tampa Bay Rays stars David Price and Evan Longoria criticized fans of the team for not showing up to big games. The blowback was intense. Although the team is in first place and near clinching a division title, the Rays turnstiles have seen barely more than a trickle.

Tampa-St. Pete is a terrible baseball market. Transplants to Florida have loyalties to their original teams. The stadium is awful. But the real multiplier effect has been the great economic malaise, which has hit the area with a gut punch. While we hope the Rays move to Durham soon, we recognize that this season, the Rays are not alone.

The New York Times notes several contenders are playing to 4/5ths empty parks; besides the Rays, the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds have been playing in front of far less than packed houses down the stretch. Overall baseball attendance is down for a third straight season. As America stumbles into what may be a lost decade, attendance may never again reach its previous heights.

Among the clubs with the most notable attendance declines the New York Mets, who cannot draw despite billions of dollars poured into a new stadium. Also seeing major sales decreases Chicago and Los Angeles, where the Cubs and the Dodgers have had disappointing seasons. Part of the more permanent structural adjustment can be seen in cities like Baltimore, Cleveland and Toronto, where attendance has been slipping for several years. Once home to new marquis parks, those stadiums are now more than ten years old and baseball's revenue model assures these lower income teams endless second-tier status. Rather than try to revive their moribund clubs, these franchises (and the Rays) may opt to follow the model pioneered by Kansas City and Pittsburgh. The model, as Deadspin revealed last month, is permanently putrid franchises whose owners see more profit in losing than attempting to win through increased payroll expenditure on player salary.

The Clarion Content has been arguing that sports' comeuppance will be one of the biggest effects of the collapse of the American economy. The tremors are starting. The richest owners and teams will not want to continue subdividing their profits with those who do not even make a serious effort to compete. We would predict that baseball contraction will see four to six less Major League franchises by the end of this decade.

Streaming hockey

Our local Carolina Hurricanes are leading the N.H.L. into a new 21st century era and model of sports broadcasting delivery. The New York Times reports that the Canes are live-streaming all of their preseason games on broadband this month; by using their in-house video feed and the play-by-play from their radio broadcasts. The NHL has seen the light, the groundswell of positive response from the fanbase, and plans to follow suit. The Canes home market is the technologically savvy triangle between Durham, Raleigh and Chapel Hill, N.C. The N.H.L.'s chief operating officer, John Collins, says the league is close to an agreement under which many of its 24 U.S. based teams would provide broadband and wireless live-streaming of games in local markets.

Read more here in the Triangle Business Journal.

NFL Ticket follow-up

The Clarion Content, long believers that American sport is in the process of getting its economic comeuppance as part of a larger national economic shudder, saw this note today.

The San Diego Chargers home opener, against the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday, will not be shown on local television after they failed to sell out a home game for the first time since 2004.

Even the NFL is not immune to economic malaise.

The ACC blows, again

Early leader for ACC player of the year? Duke's Sean Renfree

Once again the ACC football programs started the season highly regarded, five teams ranked in the top 25. There is exactly one left, Miami at #17. The Clarion Content has beat this drum for ages, but expansion not only hurt the existing ACC football programs, it dragged perennial national football powerhouses Florida State and Miami down to the ACC's level: craptastic.

This week saw a plethora of losses for the ACC. Miami, formerly known as the "U", lost on the road to #2, Ohio State. Back in the day, this would have been a speed match-up, and Miami would have blown by Ohio State. Recruiting in Miami is not the same since they joined the ACC.

Florida State got spanked at #10 Oklahoma. We guess classlessly running Bobby Bowden out of town did not do them any good.

Georgia Tech helped Kansas break an eight game losing streak. The week previous Kansas and Clarion Content fave, Turner Gill, could not beat North Dakota State, managing only three points. Georgia Tech was the cure they needed.

Virginia Tech coming off a thrilling game, but last minute loss, to BCS pretender Boise State, got beat by Division I-AA James Madison. AT HOME!

League doormat Virginia actually had a good showing, losing a close game to a down USC program. North Carolina State won at Central Florida.

Not very impressive as a league. Why do people keep buying into ACC Football? It is far and away the worst BCS conference.

NFL Preview, 2010, the AFC

The AFC is far superior to the NFC this year...

South
Indy over 11
Tennessee over 8.5 (Wild Card)
Houston under 8
Jacksonville under 7

North
Baltimore over 10
Cincinnati over 7.5 (Wild Card)
Pittsburgh under 9
Cleveland over 5.5

West
San Diego over 11
Denver over 7.5
Oakland over 6
Kansas City under 6.5

East
New England over 9.5
Miami over 8.5
NY Jets under 9.5
Buffalo over 5.5

New England over Tennessee in the AFC Title Game

NFL Preview, 2010, the NFC

See you in the NFC Championship Game...


NFC South
Home of the defending champs.

New Orleans Saints over 10.5 wins

They have only the faintest suggestion of a running game. But Drew Brees is damn good, and he has a whole lot of receivers. His number three guy, Robert Meachum caught nine touchdowns!!! The Saints defense pairs well with Brees because they are at their best when they can pin their ears back and rush the passer.

Atlanta Falcons over 9 wins (Wild Card)

We like Michael Turner coming back off injury. We think that the Falcons will get four relatively easy wins out of the Panthers and Bucs. The Clarion Content is not as high on Matt Ryan as a lot of other folks, but we think he can be a steady, if not spectacular contributor.

Carolina Panthers under 7.5

The Panthers season starts and ends with the quarterback. Matt Moore does not inspire any confidence here in Durham simply because he beat up a few teams after the Panthers seasons was over last year. Losing Julius Peppers was addition by subtraction and the Panthers D-line is better than people realize. They still don't have a number two receiver. We like the one, two punch at running back. They have a good coach in John Fox, but he is a lame duck. Ultimately, it comes back to the QB, and there is no way Matt Moore leads them to a .500 record.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers under 5.5

This team is going nowhere. Head Coach Raheem Morris is in waaaaaay over his head. Starting Quarterback Josh Freeman looks lost and overwhelmed as well. Cadillac Williams coming off of about six knee surgeries does not inspire confidence. This could be a 2 and 14 season. Enjoy the Rays post-season, Tampa, you fair-weather fans, you!


NFC North
Four high profile quarterbacks.

The Green Bay Packers over 9.5

They are prohibitive favorites in this division. Aaron Rodgers is getting very close to entering the top tier of quarterbacks. There defense has shown flashes, it reminds us of the Saints, opportunistic sacks and turnovers when their offense gets them ahead.

The Minnesota Vikings under 9.5

The Sidney Rice injury hurts them badly. Percy Harvin is a knucklehead who is not prepared to be Favre's number one wide receiver. Luckily they have Adrian Peterson, as well as stout offensive and defensive lines. Unfortunately, they also have the horrifyingly bad Brad Childress. Will Favre be back next year?

The Detroit Lions over 5

They have got a tough defensive line, led by Kyle Vanden Bosch and Ndamukong Suh. Matt Stafford should improve at least slightly. They have some weapons for him, Calvin Johnson and Nate Burleson. Javod Best will be decent. They will thrill their fans early and fade toward the end.

The Chicago Bears under 8

Jay Cutler blows and is getting worse. He is approaching the Jeff George depths for least effective big arm quarterback ever. Million dollar arm, ten cent brain, if the cliche fits... Mike Martz, who is a riverboat gambler, is the worst possible offensive coordinator for him, takes lots and lots risks, requires lots and lots of good reads. The Bears cannot count on Matt Forte to dominate. Their defense has aged and gotten very brittle. This is Lovie Smith's last year in Chicago. Could be a 3 and 13 season.


NFC West
Not a good division.

San Francisco 49ers over 8.5

Mike Singletary has worked wonders by the Bay. If they had any kind of quarterback at all, they might be a Super Bowl threat. Unfortunately, Alex Smith could not throw a ball through a plate glass window. Frank Gore is a very solid running back. Patrick Willis is in the conversation for the best defensive player in the league.

Arizona Cardinals over 7.5

They are going to miss Kurt Warner and Carlos Dansby, not mention the toughest wide receiver in the league, Anaquan Boldin. Larry Fitzgerald is much less of a weapon without Warner throwing to him and Boldin helping to draw defenders to the other side of the field. We think Beanie Wells will be much improved, though he starts the year banged up. The bottom of the division is awful, but the Cards won't sneak into the playoffs.

Seattle Seahawks under 7.5

How can the Matt Hasselback era not be over yet? Really? Why trade for Charlie Whitehurst then? No matter, Pete Carrol will likely have growing pains adjusting to the NFL from USC. The offensive line is in disarray. They are bringing back Lions' bust Mike Williams who has been out of football for the last two years. Why? Their defense... we like linebackers Lofa Tatupu and Aaron Curry, but there are nowhere near enough playmakers and ball hawks on this team.

St. Louis Rams under 5

They are definitely in the running for the worst team in the league. Sam Bradford is overrated and has no targets. Seriously, name a Rams wideout. Steven Jackson has got to be getting tired of people beating the heck out of him. The offensive line is a sieve. Defensive end Chris Long is heading towards first round bust status, meaning there is only one above average player on this defense, safety, Oshiomogho Atogwe.


NFC East
Not as a good a division as you might think...Parity doesn't equality quality.

Dallas Cowboys over 9.5

The Cowboys biggest question mark, before the playoffs start, is their offensive line. They have no dominant offensive lineman. This was one of their cornerstones in their Super Bowl era. They do have two solid running backs and an excellent regular season quarterback in Tony Romo. Can they get enough pass rush to cover for their mediocre corners? As a squad, they are just barely better than a declining NFC East. Their coach and QB have a history of early playoff exits.

New York Giants over 8.5 (Wild Card)

They will suffer from the aging of their offensive line and the injury decline of Brandon Jacobs. Ahmad Bradshaw is not strong enough to carry the load. Eli Manning is good and has a passel of talented young receivers. He is much better when he is paired with dominant running game. (Who isn't?) Their defensive line looks great, but their linebackers and corners have some question marks. Everyone is acting like safety Kenny Phillips is 100% back. Will he be? We are waiting to see it on the field. Not a team you want to face in a first round playoff game.

Washington Redskins under 7.5

Hey Philly fans, we still love Donovan McNabb! He is injury prone, but will appreciate playing with Santana Moss. Unfortunately, he has no other wideouts. (Still that's one more than they used to give him in Philly.) How old is Joey Galloway? 40? 50? The Redskins also have a running backs with tons of mileage Clinton Portis and Larry Johnson. The defense is the same story, aging, big name guys. Can they be productive? Does future Hall of Famer London Fletcher have anything left? Can they get anything out of Albert Hanesworth? 7, 8, 9 wins would be a success for start for Shannahan.

Philadelphia Eagles under 8.5

It is all about the quarterback in Philadelphia. Did they make the right call selecting Kevin Kolb over Donovan? We are not sold. The Eagles have had a habit of getting rid of their vets a year or two too early. That said, it was probably time to let Brian Westbrook go after a great career. However, they did not find a replacement that we are impressed with, LeSean McCoy averaged only 4.1 yards a carry while rushing for 650 yards total last season. Blech! Yes, DeSean Jackson has breakaway speed, but the rest of their wideouts are very average. Andy Reid is an awful game manager. The Eagles look vulnerable to a big fall to the Clarion Content. Say about 6 and 10...

We will take the Saints over the Packers in a shootout of an NFC Championship Game.

KD Crushes in the World's Semis

Kevin Durant had a monstrous semifinal game as Coach Mike Krzyzewski's Team USA cruised past Lithuania, 89-74. Durant had 38, while shooting over 50% from the field. They played him one-on-one and zone, didn't matter. Fox Sports Charley Rosen reported, "[His] iso-game was irresistible—combining to score 18 points in 15 one-on-one forays. Even against zones, KD was able to fake, dance, spin and pull to create highly makeable shots. Against man-to-man defenses, Durant was even more of a dreadnaught point-maker."

Sounds pretty good. Real Rosen's whole story here.

Even the NFL

The National Football League has been considered impregnable in recent years. The one goose that would continue laying golden eggs no matter what happened to the world around it. The Clarion Content has been warning of sports comeuppance for sometime now, and in our view, even the NFL will not be immune.

We saw this note in the New York Times today, that lends further credence to this belief.

"The N.F.L.’s season ticket sales have declined for the third year in a row. Depending on final numbers, season ticket sales will be down between 1 percent and 2 percent, said Eric Grubman, the league’s executive vice president for business ventures.

He said overall attendance declined to 16.6 million last year from 17 million in 2008."

Oregon State player tasered; naked

These beavers may not be as innocent as they appear...

That's right sports fans, Oregon State Beaver alumni could not be prouder today. They are trying to move their football team to the same level as the Oregon Ducks, a program that has recently burst on the national scene, both for their on-field ability and for the off-field likelihood of their athletes ending up in the slammer.

The incident: A drunk, naked Oregon State offensive lineman, Tyler Patrick Thomas, broke into the home of a thirty-two year-old woman in Corvallis, Oregon. Illegal and unimpressive, however what happened next is about the wackiest college football arrest since Lawrence Phillips of Nebraska fame broke into his ex-girlfriend's house and "made a tail."

According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the nineteen year-old Thomas, who hails from Kalispell, Montana was ordered by the police to get down on the floor. The bare ass Thomas assumed a three-point football stance and charged in his birthday suit at the cops. They tasered him into submission and took him into custody. He was charged with first-degree criminal trespass, second-degree criminal mischief and resisting arrest, as well as possession of alcohol by a minor.

Ooops.

He has been kicked off of the Oregon State football team.

Incidentally, Lawrence Phillips, who played parts of two seasons with the Rams and was the reason why the team gave away future Hall of Famer, Jerome, "The Bus" Bettis to the Steelers, is now serving thirty-one years in California State Prison for various violent crimes.

Ahhhh, college football season.

Baseball notes

Three quickies:

Straussburg and Kerry Wood
The irony was not lost on the Clarion Content this week when Steven Straussburg was removed from a Washington Nationals game suffering from pains in his forearm on the same day that the last great fireballing phenom Kerry Wood broke Pedro's record for the fastest pitcher to 1,500 strikeouts. Wood, of course, was a huge splash for the Chicago Cubs. He was overused and overthrew very early in his career. Fourteen trips to the disabled list later, he is the test case G.M.'s refer to when they place innings limits on young pitchers. Here is hoping that Straussburg does not travel the same road.

Joe Votto going for the Triple Crown
The Clarion Content has heard much noise about Detroit's Miguel Cabrerra shooting for the first A.L. Triple Crown since 1967. Where is the love for the Cincinnati Reds Joey Votto going for the first N.L. Triple Crown since Joe "Ducky" Medwick in 1937? He is leading the N.L. in hitting by .005 over Placido Polanco and Martin Prado. In homers, he is three behind Albert Pujols and two behind the slumping Adam Dunn. He is also three RBI's behind Pujols. Can he do it? It is a long shot, especially with Scott Rolen and Johnny Gomes hitting behind him.

Finances outed
Finally someone who was sick and tired of the lying and posturing by Major League Baseball has outed several franchises, by leaking to Deadspin their audited financial statements. These financial statements show that, among other teams, the Pittsburgh Pirates have deliberate pursued a strategy of losing. They make more money by spending less on player salaries and accepting revenue sharing from competitive clubs than they would by attempting to win and increase ticket sales. The Pirates have put their fans through eighteen straight losing seasons. They play in PNC Park built with more than $180 million in public funds and a $40 million team contribution. Are they giving any of that money back? Are they providing the city of Pittsburgh with a quality product? No and no. But ownership has made a tidy $29.4 million in the last two audited years available. Their primary concern? Tracking down who leaked the financials that showed their skulduggery. Read more here in the NY Times.

Baseball, the year of the pitcher

When is it just a bit outside, Mr. Uecker?

The year of the pitcher is full swing. Although it must be noted, aside from the number of no-hitters, most of the early season hype was overclaim. The Rockies Ubaldo Jimenez is not going to win 30 or even 25. Nobody is coming anywhere near Bob Gibson's legendary 1.12 ERA. It is nevertheless a pitching centric year. Team ERAs are down across the board, run scoring is at a nearly two decade low. Home runs titles are back to the forty dinger neighborhood.

The question that has reverberated around the game is why. We know steroids and PEDs have been on the run for the last couple of years. So why the quantum leap for pitching this year? The whispered wisdom in the clubhouse is that is the lack of "Greenies," or amphetamines that were so popular in baseball for many years. Baseball's rulers have finally eliminated the use of Greenies. Players, whose schedules include tons of travel and games twenty-nine out of thirty days at times, have long used amphetamines to aid in rapid recovery, especially for a day game after a night game. No more. They miss them.

The other equally significant factor is the extension of the outside corner. Umpires are calling the outside strike this year like they haven't in ages. Students of the game will recall that this was the initial response to PEDs. When the umpires realized that Bud Selig and the powers that be were going to look the other way on performance enhancers, they took matters into their own hands in the early 90's. Gradually, things got so far out of wack that when the Atlanta Braves of the Glavine era took on the Kevin Brown led Florida Marlins in the 1997 NLCS that strikes were being called literally a foot off of the plate. Things are nowhere that ridiculous this year, but there is a determined and consistent effort to expand the outside corner. Even an inch or two off the corners of the plate, if given repeatedly, makes a tremendous difference to the pitcher's benefit. The Clarion Content has watched a ton of baseball this year and most assuredly the umps are giving the pitchers that extra inch or two. Consequently, ERAs are down, run scoring is down, homers are down, slugging is down. In our view, games are more fun, they have more tension and filled with subtleties and nuance.

While it is not 1968 (again baseball mimics and parallels real life; things are topsy-turvy, but it is not 1968) the year of the pitcher is in full effect.

Jim Gray is a heel

Ryder Cup Captain, Corey Pavin

This is not news to those of you who have been following his career for the long haul. Jim Gray has been a tactless, pompous ass for many years, long before he ambushed Pete Rose. His attitude and self-aggrandizing style is part of why he is working for the Golf Channel rather than holding down the NBC network gig that he used to have. Gray, known as butt smoocher, has been legendarily tight with various narcissistic sports jerks, including Barry Bonds.

Gray demonstrated his lack of personal tact and character again yesterday when Ryder Cup Captain Corey Pavin called him out for misquoting him. Gray ran with a story saying Pavin was going to add Tiger to the Ryder Cup team regardless of whether or not he was the automatic qualifier. Pavin vehemently denied it at a press conference. Gray, in his usually snaky style, waited until the rest of the media had cleared the room, and confronted Pavin. He called Pavin a liar, waived a finger in his face, and tried to slap Pavin's wife's i-Phone out of her hand when he realized she was videotaping the incident.

He finished with an impotent threat, warning Pavin, "You are going down." Really Jim Gray?

Aren't you the idiot who convinced LeBron that the hour long free agent made for TV special was going to be good for his career? (Or at least your Q rating...) Gray makes Jerry Springer look like a class act.

Two interesting notes from the Nats

Two interesting notes from last night's Washington Nationals game, a rather mundane 3-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on the road. The first one sports related, Nationals catcher Ivan Rodriguez became only the fifth catcher ever to reach 300 homers with his second dinger of the season. He joined a very short list featuring Johnny Bench, Yogi Berra, Carlton Fisk and probable juicer Mike Piazza. All of them, save for Piazza, are in the Hall of Fame.

The other note from the game was political. A small group of fans in left field caused a delay the first inning by draping a sign addressed to Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick over the outfield wall to protest the new immigration law in Arizona. A law, it should be noted, that the libertarians at the Clarion Content strongly oppose. Government should not have the power of racial profiling. Plate umpire Angel Hernandez halted the game when he saw the large sign that read: "Mr. Kendrick ... Stop the hate. Say no to SB1070." It is unclear why he felt compelled to do so. The Diamondbacks and their owner sent a security guard to pull the sign off of the wall. Ironically, Hernandez, widely considered one of the very worst umpires in baseball, is Cuban.

Tampa Bay baseball

Tampa Bay Rays, Tropicana Field
First of all, it is in St. Pete!!! Secondly, how you gonna call a dome a field!?!

Saw this note in the New York Times today, "It is the first time in franchise history, the Rays said, that they have sold out three consecutive games. " That sort of says it all about Tampa Bay baseball, even as good as the team has been the last few years, they can't sell tickets.

Is it time to start considering moving the franchise to Durham, NC? The 2010 Census will show massive population growth for the Durham area. Much as we love the Durham Bulls, maybe it is time we had our own Major League team.

Hustle plays

The difference between winning and losing frequently simply comes down to hustle. It is one more reason why sports is such an excellent metaphor for real life. More often than not, consistent hard work is a trump card. As Ben Franklin once said, it is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration.

The Kansas City Royals underlined that distinction last night in their game with the New York Yankees. The difference between winning and losing culture is often defined by hustle and effort. It helps to have the talent on your side too, and the Yankees surely do. If you are the Royals, and you do not have the talent edge, lack of hustle all but guarantees losing.

Two critical plays that could have had the Royals in a 6-6 tie last night, rare, oddball plays, both failed to come to fruition because of the Royals lack of hustle. In the first inning with two out as Wilson Betemint tried to stretch a single into a double, Jose Guillen loafed around third base and trotted home at about one quarter speed. Based on where Betemint hit the ball maybe Guillen thought the double was a sure thing. But the Yankees leftfielder Brett Gardener hustled all the way, scooped up the shot down the line, and fired a bullet to second base to just nail Betemint. What is rare about the play is that Guillen failed to score from second, because the out was recorded at second base just before he touched home. It should not have even been close, going at half speed Guillen scores easily. But that is not how things are going for the Royals and it cost them a run.

Witness a repeat of the same kind of mistake in the top of the 7th inning, with the score still 6-4, a struggling C.C. Sabathia was taken out of the game. Dave Robertson, a less than stellar Yankees reliever, got the second out on an infield pop-up with two guys on base. Then he struck out the next batter Willie Bloomquist, however, Jorge Posada displayed some of his usual shaky defense (he had already cost the Yanks a run with an error) and fumbled strike three. Bloomquist half-assed out of the box and lollygagged it down to first assuming he was a dead duck. Posada attempted to throw the ball into rightfield, a superb play by Mark Teixeira saved the ball, and another error for Posada. Only because Bloomquist was not running hard was Teixeira able to recover and beat him to the bag for the third out.

Winners run hard all the time, losers run hard only when they think it matters. And that is why they lose, losing and failure are reenforceable cultural norms, and Royals have a losing culture.

Says it all

The Clarion Content warned that Michael Beasley was a malcontent and that he was going to be a bust before he was even drafted. Last week the Miami Heat traded him to the Minnesota Timberwolves for two second round drafts picks and a bag of peanuts.

This quote from the president of Beasley's new team, the Wolves, says it all, "He has developed a really good support system around him this past season in Miami. He has hired people to help him grow up."

Oh yeah, nothing straightens a messed up young person out like hiring people to help him grow up.

Yeah, maybe if those people are Marines.

LeBron's move

LeBron James defined his legacy with his off-season free agent move to the Miami Heat. He will never enter the discussion of greatest player ever. As numerous commentators have pointed out, Jordan would not have gone to play with a competitor because he couldn't beat them. Bird and Magic didn't scheme to team up, they schemed to beat one another's teams.

NBA veteran Jon Barry pretty well summed it up on ESPN Radio today, paraphrasing, "I'm okay with this type of move when you are a veteran on the downside of your career and still haven't won a title. Then fine, team up with another guy or two, to give it a run, but when your one of the two or three best players in the NBA and you are only twenty-five..."

The Clarion Content loves that quote for the subtext, the understated understood element, "one of the two or three best players in the game..." ?!? LeBron James was considered no less than the second best player in the league, likely the best player, a mere twelve months ago, according the standard accepted order. But since he clearly does not have the killer instinct of Kobe, witness Game 5 versus the Celtics, and since he accepts that he is not even the best player on his own team, deferring to D-Wade, suddenly LeBron is at most the third best player in the league.

And have no doubt, this is common knowledge in the NBA intelligentsia, from Charles Barkley on down. There is a defined pecking order in NBA locker rooms. And when a guy at LeBron's age and career arc accepts that he is not the alpha dog, then clearly, he is not the alpha dog.

¿Quién sabe? Maybe he is the fourth best player in the league? Dwight Howard has been to just as many Finals, and his Magic have dominated LeBron's teams in the playoffs...

John Wall & LeBron have something in common

What do these two guys have in common? ........Zero titles.

Our advice? Don't believe the hype!

Here are the two best from Bill Simmons's huge batch of LeBron related emails:

"My friend Max's reaction to the LeBron special and signing: "This country was founded upon the practice of defying egotistical kings."

"You know how happy Carrie looked at the prom? And when the pig's blood was dumped on her you couldn't help but empathize? And when she went on her rampage you were actually kinda rooting for her? That's how I feel about the city of Cleveland right now."

As for the draft, John Wall can't defend, isn't that big, does not have a great outside shot, can't play the pick and roll game yet, and has been troubled throughout his short career, but he is the next big thing? We think not. The mentalist, DeMarcus Cousins, has an equally good chance to star as the uber-quick, but nothing else, John Wall.

Then again, there is nothing like getting your NBA tutelage from real pros like Gilbert Arenas, so maybe it will go well for Wall.

Interesting Sports links

Two of the Clarion Content's local Durham sports contributors each sent us interesting links this week. The first was from a non-Yankees fan, who was privileged to attend a Yankees victory over his beloved Seattle Mariners last week in New York. It is a fascinating video explanation of how Mariano Rivera's cut fastball works so effectively, check it out here. Excellent graphics.

The other link is reading not video, so their lazier bums amongst you, may have to slog your way through it. It is well worth the read. A local Durhamanian, who unverifiably claims to be at least halfing-English, sent us a Wall Street Journal article about how English Premiership soccer style regulation could be used to solve college football's conference realignment woes. Read it here. It is not a bad suggestion. Do not kid your self into thinking that the recent mini-compromise made this issue go away. It will be rearing its ugly head again soon. The money is too much and too arbitrarily divided.

Dan Gilbert's open letter

This man is angry with LeBron...

If you are following the LeBron James free agency saga then you probably have heard about Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert screed after LeBron left town. It was vitriolic. We have reprinted the full text below. All CAPS are from his original. It should be noted that by making the James deal a sign and trade, the Cavs did not get screwed as badly as they could have been. Instead they got two first-round picks, two second-round picks and a $16 million trade exception. Gilbert also reduced the price of the LeBron James fathead from $99.99 to $17.41 the year legendary traitor Benedict Arnold was born.

Full text of the letter

Dear Cleveland, All Of Northeast Ohio and Cleveland Cavaliers Supporters Wherever You May Be Tonight;

As you now know, our former hero, who grew up in the very region that he deserted this evening, is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier.

This was announced with a several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating with a national TV special of his "decision" unlike anything ever "witnessed" in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment.

Clearly, this is bitterly disappointing to all of us.
Story continues below

The good news is that the ownership team and the rest of the hard-working, loyal, and driven staff over here at your hometown Cavaliers have not betrayed you nor NEVER will betray you.

There is so much more to tell you about the events of the recent past and our more than exciting future. Over the next several days and weeks, we will be communicating much of that to you.

You simply don't deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal.

You have given so much and deserve so much more.

In the meantime, I want to make one statement to you tonight:

"I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER 'KING' WINS ONE"

You can take it to the bank.

If you thought we were motivated before tonight to bring the hardware to Cleveland, I can tell you that this shameful display of selfishness and betrayal by one of our very own has shifted our "motivation" to previously unknown and previously never experienced levels.

Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there.

Sorry, but that's simply not how it works.

This shocking act of disloyalty from our home grown "chosen one" sends the exact opposite lesson of what we would want our children to learn. And "who" we would want them to grow-up to become.

But the good news is that this heartless and callous action can only serve as the antidote to the so-called "curse" on Cleveland, Ohio.

The self-declared former "King" will be taking the "curse" with him down south. And until he does "right" by Cleveland and Ohio, James (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma.

Just watch.

Sleep well, Cleveland.

Tomorrow is a new and much brighter day....

I PROMISE you that our energy, focus, capital, knowledge and experience will be directed at one thing and one thing only:

DELIVERING YOU the championship you have long deserved and is long overdue....

Dan Gilbert
Majority Owner
Cleveland Cavaliers

Look out for the Rays!

Note the empty seats in the background behind Carl Crawford, who busting it for home...

Are you one of the doubters that think the Tampa Bay Rays aren't for real? Well we have news for you, they are and for at least a couple years to come, even if they don't get their stadium issues straight. Check out their Triple-A club, the Durham Bulls. They are the defending champions of the International League, and they are leading the league with the best record again, going into tonight's play.

This even though former Bulls like Longoria, Price and Wade Davis are excelling with the big club. The Bulls are a mix of young stars, like speedster Desmond Jennings and wily vets like Dan Johnson. Throw in an all-time best name candidate like J. J. Furmaniak and they have an ace pitcher to keep your eye on at the next level, Jeremy Hellickson. He is a comin' on, and so are the Bulls and so will the Rays on into the foreseeable future.

It is too bad that they can't draw in St. Pete! Will they forced to move? They would surely like to at least relocate within the area.

Related?

Rumors abound that Rays pitcher David Price is the long last brother of the Geico caveman...



Two for the Price of one?

You be the judge.

The Knicks

An email we received in the office from the Clarion Content's Sports Editor...

Reviewing the LeBron decision and the changing NBA landscape, with a fellow aficionado last night.

We agree on two things, the balance of power hasn't shifted, and LeBron's staying in Cleveland. (I think for a shorter than the max contract~3 years.)

He is a Seattle guy with family in Oklahoma, may be the least pissed off Sonics fan I know. We both liked the way KD handled his business today. I'd lay odds that he wins more titles than LeBron.

Close to the end of our exchange, texted my friend this question: "Knicks; tragedy or farce?"

His reply, "Farce."

My new unavoidable query, "When rooting for a farce, is the joke inherently on you?"

We have yet to reply to him.

Cosas Raras

King Felix Hernandez, who was robbed of the Cy Young last year, became the first pitcher to shutout the Yankees at the new Yankee Stadium last night, leading the Seattle Mariners to a 7-0 win. The Mariners King Felix and Cliff Lee pitched back-to-back complete games against the Yankees.

Talk about cosas raras, rare things, the Yankees haven't had back-to-back complete games thrown against them at home since 1991, when Jim Abbott and Mark Langston of the then California Angels managed the feat.

We haven't seen much of the Mariners this year, but it does not compute. How can they be this bad?

College Football Consolidation

The BCS was always BS...

Talk of the consolidation of college football's major conferences has been all the rage this week. Today it looks as if it is becoming official, with University of Colorado's announcement that it is joining the PAC-10 and the University of Nebraska announcement that it is bolting the Big 12 for the Big 10. This will very quickly make the Big 12 no mas, as most of the remaining teams will seize the opportunity to make the PAC-10 a sixteen team league.

As wily observers know this is all about the haves and have-nots amongst the college football power players. The expansion of PAC-10 to a sixteen team league will be followed in short order by the Big-10 and SEC expanding to sixteen team leagues. The ACC will also be reluctantly forced to do so to ally with the college football superpowers. This will allow these four conferences to sideline the NCAA, as well as the BCS and have their own college football playoff. It is all about the dead presidents and there is no reason for the college football programs with the juice to split the Division I-A college football revenue pie one-hundred and eleven ways when they can reduce that split to sixty-four.

There is an interesting analysis about how this came about by Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports here. However that is looking backward, the Clarion Content is more fascinated by how things will turn out going forward. Our prediction is it will not be long before the Big East is a basketball only league again. Villanova, St. John's and Georgetown will not mind. The question is what happens to the storied and not so storied programs from the current BCS conferences that end up on the outside looking in at the money. Our speculation on the schools that might end up on that list would include Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State and UConn. These schools along with the already jilted: Utah, Utah State, Boise State and Fresno States of the world may be made enough to actually get congressional action this time.

Have the college football commissioners warned the university presidents that their radical schemes for the future might bring about anti-trust lawsuits and Department of Justice maneuvering. President Obama signaled way back in the election campaign that he was pro-college football playoff, but by any means necessary?

The Clarion Content is pro-college football playoff too, but it is easy to feel genuine concern that money has distorted the system so badly that these schools are losing track of their education mission to their student bodies and their duty to the college athlete. And maybe this was already so under the corrupt and co-opted NCAA, but will this consolidation make it any better? Quien sabe?

Durkheimian Ritual

A typical celebratory mob forming

The California Angels have ripped a page straight out of the French social anthropologist Émile Durkheim's proverbial manual on the power of collective ritual. Last week the Angels were celebrating a walk-off home run in what has become the style. They were pounding the home run hitting teammate on the noggin, shoulders, and upper body, in a veritable mosh pit around home plate. Star first baseman Kendry Morales slipped and broke his leg during the collective celebration ritual of an exciting win.

A funny thing happened after that, despite Morales leading the team in home runs, runs batted in and average before getting hurt, the Angels increased their offensive production. They have won seven of eight while scoring an average of 7.25 runs per game. This is well up from their heretofore paltry, for the American League, 4.35 runs per game. They have slugged thirteen homers in those eight contests and are hitting .303 as a team since Morales got hurt.

It says here that, this is a classic case of the power of ritual to collectively raise the abilities of all members who participate. [Belief helps.] The California Angels as a team joined in a celebratory dance in which Morales was severely, if accidentally, injured. The team likely felt a collective guilt for this injury. In the video replays it is quite difficult to assess blame for the injury individually. These players participated in the ritual that created a problem for their teammate and theoretically their team. They could not undo what was done to their teammate, but they could channel their collective psyche and its powerful response (exponentially powerful as Durkheim would tell it by the relative unanimity of emotional experience).

They did so on the field, tearing the cover off the ball, like a team possessed by a spirit. Who would have thunk a French social anthropologist could have told you so?

Perfection

A hero to tell the kiddies about, Armando Galarraga...

At the Clarion Content we ask the Sports Editor not to get too philosophical, but sometimes it is inevitable. Sports are a microcosm of society and they are part of the arena in which we address, debate and come to understand important moral dilemmas for stakes lower than life and death.

Last night was such an example, Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga was one out away from pitching a perfect game. The centerfielder Austin Jackson had just made a dandy defensive play, retiring the leadoff hitter in the ninth with a superb running catch almost at the wall, to preserve the perfect game. One out later a routine groundball to the firstbaseman, who fired to Galarraga covering. Ball game! Perfection! First time ever three perfect games had been thrown in one season, or so we might have thought.

Unfortunately, the first base umpire, Jim Joyce blew the call. He ruled the runner safe, when instant replay clearly showed that Galarraga nipped him at the bag. Perhaps, Joyce was fooled by a slight bobble on the catch muffling the usual thwack into the glove. No matter, the reality is simply that he made a mistake.

And this is where the philosophy comes in, the Clarion Content holds that, as we understand the nature of things, there can be a maximum of one perfection in the Universe. Joyce did nothing wrong. (Morally, accidents are not wrongs.) He showed that he was human like we all are. Publicly, in a society with omnipresent 24/7 media coverage. Galarraga handled the situation so graciously after the game, accepting Joyce's apology with class and dignity. He could not have handled the situation better. He had achieved baseball immortality either way: a perfect game or the most widely footnoted non-perfect game this side of Harvey Haddix's twelve miraculous innings. He said someday he would show his son a tape of the game and be just as proud.

This was what the experts like to call "teachable moment." Nobody is perfect, we all err, and to admit your wrongs (like umpire Joyce did immediately after seeing the replay) and forgive (like Tigers' pitcher Andres a Galarraga) is what makes us the best we can be. The best we can be is human beings as fallible. It is a terminal condition we all share. None of us perfect. None of us as immortal. At our highest heights, and this was certainly the biggest moment of Galarraga's career, the best we can be is humble and gracious.

Sabermetric Karma

The baseball deities have clearly had enough of the sabermetric hoo-haa. (Ask the Boston Red Sox.) They have unleashed the full power of their anger and retribution on the Kansas City Royals pitcher Zack Greinke. Last year Greinke set a new low: the fewest decisions ever won by a Cy Young award winner. Greinke was a mere 16-8, albeit with a lousy Kansas City Royals team. Morons, like ESPN's Keith Law, lauded his performance and defended his Cy Young with ridiculous statements like "Wins don't matter anymore." It is rocket scientists like this who are keeping Jack Morris out of the Hall of Fame.

Grenike fed right into the phenomenon telling reporters his favorite statistic. "That's pretty much how I pitch, to try to keep my FIP (fielding independent pitching) as low as possible."

Hey, genius, we have an idea, how about you try to win the flipping game? Nobody gives a rat's ass what your FIP is when you lose!!!

The baseball gods heard our howls and cries. They are visiting choice retribution on Greinke this season. He has a swell 1 win and 6 losses. But don't worry Royals fans, we bet, his FIP is great. Come see him lose 3-2 when the team is are twenty-five games back in mid-August.

Nice work, Zack. All the baseball writers who voted for Greinke over King Felix for Cy Young last year, fifty lashes with a wet noodle!

One timeout, not called

The Boston Celtics had finished choking the life out of LeBron's Cleveland Cavaliers. They cost Coach Mike Brown his job. They were slicing through the Orlando Magic like a hot knife through butter, heading towards an epic showdown with Lakers in the Finals. In all probability that showdown is still going to happen, but last night Celtics Coach Doc Rivers through a wrench in the works.

The Celtics were leading 3-0, seeking the sweep, in Game 5, having not played their best for the first time in the series, they were rallying. They had come back from seven points down in the last two minutes. They had the ball for the last shot in the game, a chance to put the final dagger in the Magic's season. Doc's old guys had expended a lot of energy. They needed one more bucket to end it. Doc chose not to call timeout, not to give his guys a blow, not to draw up a play. Doc knows how great Paul Pierce is, he knows Pierce can usually get his shot at the end of the game. Doc knows Pierce has ice water in his veins. It is hard to criticize Doc, but... this time, the Celtics (Pierce included) looked a little winded.

One timeout and one bucket and Celtics could have been watching film and resting up for the Lakers. Instead, no timeout, no bucket, and a tired, older team goes on to lose in overtime. Now the Celtics have to travel to Orlando, and if they cannot win another one on the road, (theoretically difficult) they will have to play a Game 6. With an older team, to whom health and rest is so important, that one bad coaching decision could be tremendously magnified. The Lakers and Celtics appear evenly matched, if the Celtics are not fatigued or banged up. Can they take out Orlando on the road in Game 5 and get the rest they so desperately need? It would have been easier just to call timeout, let Pierce, Garnett, et al. get a breather and hit that shot at the end of Game 4. Done and done. As it was without a timeout, they were unable to even get a shot off.

Baseball, an every day game

Baseball is an every day game. One has to see it every day, day after day to admire it at its deepest level. It is a narrative, as each game it tells a story unto itself. A weekend of games is a series. A season full of games tells the story of a Summer and a year. As once upon a time in Brooklyn, and to this day in Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and Queens, the story of a franchise tells part of the story of a place.

But it to appreciate the baseball narrative, the long story, the slowly woven tapestry that it is, one must begin with the day to day and the realization that each and every day at the ballpark offers the opportunity for something entirely new and unseen. And so it was Wednesday in the Major Leagues. Fans at one game saw something that no one had witnessed during an MLB game in fifty-five years. Those at another game saw a scoring oddity that the Clarion Content's sports editor, before that evening, for all of his advanced years and hours whiled away watching baseball, could not ever recall seeing.

First, the event last seen performed in the same game in 1955, done then by one Ted Kazanski of the Philadelphia Phillies: hit an inside the park home run and participate in a triple play defensively. Mr. Kazanski once renown as "the Phillies $100,000 bonus shortstop," has been joined in the annuals by New York Mets centerfielder Angel Pagan. Whom Wednesday night in St. Louis, hit his inside the park home-run in the top of the fourth inning to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. Then in the bottom of the fifth, Pagan participated in a bizarre triple play in which he caught a sinking linedrive in center, and runners on both first and second base were doubled-off thinking that Pagan had trapped the ball. Replays showed that it was indeed a sweet catch. The wild play would have been scored 8-2-6-3, centerfielder to catcher to shortstop to first. Now you don't see that often, let alone by a guy who hit an inside-the-parker in the same game.

The second anecdote from Wednesday night also revolves around a bizarre scoring oddity in a game between the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays. It was first pointed out by ESPN's announcer for the game, the venerable Chris Berman. It was so rare that we had to tweet about it. The Rays had achieved 1st and 3rd with two out, five batters had been to the plate, but nary an official at-bat had been recorded by those scoring the game. Come again? In the top of the Tampa Bay third inning this sequence of plate appearances led to the rare five guys up in a row without recording at at-bat: former Durham Bull, Reid Brignac led off with a walk, Jason Bartlett bunted, sacrificing Brignac to second, Yankees pitcher A.J. Burnett hit Carl Crawford with a pitch, then walked Ben Zobrist to load the bases, the Rays clean-up hitter, all-star third-baseman, Evan Longoria hit a sacrifice fly and bam! Five up, two down, one in and no ABs. Sure hadn't seen that one before...

And so it goes at the old ballpark, where every day holds the promise of something new, something not seen in fifty years. Father's will be telling sons what they saw on the baseball diamond Wednesday into the distant future. Each day's game writes its own story, which is why baseball lives on in the cultural memory of our unfurling American tapestry.

Suns show D'Antoni's flaws

The further that the Phoenix Suns advance in the playoffs the more New York Knicks fans realize they were sold a bill of goods. The Suns are advancing because they got rid of wildly overrated Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni. The Suns are doing just what D'Antoni teams did not do. They are playing a deep rotation and hard-nosed defense.

The stubborn, short-sighted D'Antoni refused to play more than seven or eight guys a game when he coached the Suns to various playoff failures. He did the same thing last year in New York, when he banished the dynamic Nate Robinson to the bench. Robinson sat for fifteen plus games. Rookie Tony Douglas was also stuck on the end of the bench, as D'Antoni continued to force the limited Chris Duhon down Knicks fans gullet.

The Suns are playing tough defense, something they were never able to do under D'Antoni. The consensus used to be that Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire were soft defensive players. Turns out they just needed a better coach. Alvin Gentry has the whole Suns squad hustling on defense. D'Antoni's disdain for the defensive end of the floor was symbolized by the soft as tissue paper Italian jeans model he and Donnie Walsh drafted in the first round. The Knicks, like D'Antoni's Suns, play defense like Loyola Marymount used to, not at all. No matter how fun to watch this run and gun style is, it is a sure recipe for playoff failure.

If the Knicks are unable to get LeBron this off-season, another dark decade looms ahead. D'Antoni's philosophy is bankrupt, great for the regular season, useless in the playoffs. Los Suns terrific run this postseason underlines that reality.