Archive for June, 2003

« Older Entries
June 30th, 2003

D.C. Baseball Update

Last week thousands of locals cheered as D.C. City Councilman Jack Evans essentially told Major League Baseball to "put up or shut up," when it came to moving the Expos here.

Looks like Washington's only competition for the team, Portland, Oregon, thinks our new attitude gives them a decided advantage:

More than 2,700 miles west of Washington, however, the folks in Portland, Ore., reacted to it with emotions ranged from bemusement to unabashed glee. Looking for an advantage against the larger and richer Washington area, Portland baseball backers think they found it with the District's newly stated demand for a conditional award of the MLB-owned Montreal Expos. Oregon's contribution toward a $350 million stadium, due for a critical vote by the state senate sometime in July, includes key provisions that would not release the money without a team in hand. But that legislative safety net still does not match the vitriol seen hereabouts. "Oregon, the backward state with [supposedly] no chance, has better brains and better process than the folks out east at this stage," said Maury Brown, spokesman for the Oregon Stadium Campaign [OSC], on an Internet site devoted to Portland's MLB bid. "Let's remember that only when things went bad in terms of the [financing] numbers did Evans go, 'That's it.' Don't place the blame squarely on MLB's shoulders. If [Washington] and Mayor Williams had their act together on the funding proposal they wouldn't be in this position."

As far as I'm concerned, let Portland have the Expos.

Posted in Baseball, Business, Politics by Eric McErlain | No Comments »

 
June 30th, 2003

The Whitest Team In Baseball, Or The Most Moronic Paper In Canada?

Up in Toronto, where it seems as if SARS has become a fact of life, Geoff Baker of the Toronto Star kicked up some dust on Saturday with a front page story focussing on the racial and ethnic makeup of the city's major league baseball team, the Blue Jays.

The result has been an embarassing episode of political correctness masquerading as cutting social observation, mixed with a deep misunderstanding of some of the trends that are changing the way baseball teams are put together and the way the game is played.

Here's the central thesis of Baker's article:

Venturing into the Blue Jays clubhouse less than two years ago meant having your ears filled with the buzz of Spanish dialects from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and South America.

A glance around the room would take in not only the Latin American players chatting among themselves, but also a good number of blacks from the United States dressing alongside their white counterparts. Such a scene was nothing new. A Jays team once led by Joe Carter, Robbie Alomar, George Bell, Tony Fernandez and Devon White was for years known to be as diverse as the city it represents. That is no longer the case.

A study by the Star has found that this year's edition of the Blue Jays had the fewest number of visible minorities on the opening-day roster of any of the 30 major-league teams. A Toronto club that boasted of its diversity in recent radio ads actually had the visible-minority players on its 25-man roster drop from 11 on opening day a year ago to only six this season.

The implication here is pretty easy to see -- that the Blue Jays have rebuilt their team in a way that has had a "disparate impact," on the numbers of minorities playing in Toronto. So while Baker never directly accuses the team of racism, he tars them with that brush just the same. Prominently quoted in the story was Peter Donnelly, director of the Centre for Sports Policy Studies at the University of Toronto:

"You're talking about the most multicultural city in the world," Donnelly said. "In many ways, Toronto is more multicultural than New York. So, there's a responsibility there and it probably makes marketing sense to reflect your community.

"You go to a Jays game when Seattle's in town and look at the number of Japanese fans in the stands," he said in reference to the Mariners' Ichiro Suzuki. . .

But Donnelly said having a team more in line with baseball norms regarding minorities should be important to a team struggling to sell tickets.

"I would say that it's crucial in Toronto," he said. "They can't be happy that they're only playing in front of crowds of 18,000 to 20,000. Winning is important, but there may be more than one way to skin a cat in the world's most multicultural city. And short of winning a World Series, they're not getting the attention other teams in the city get."

Later, another member of the Jays' front office pointed out that the Montreal Expos have a surfeit of Latin players on their roster, yet still struggle to draw better than 10,000 fans a game to their home games in Montreal.

Reaction up in Toronto has been running strongly against the newspaper, with both players and the front office attacking Baker and the Star's editorial judgement.

Reader reaction has also been almost universally negative as well.

(more...)

Posted in Baseball, Culture, Media by Eric McErlain | 4 Comments »

 
June 30th, 2003

Morning Roundup

In Milwaukee, Bucks owner Herb Kohl (also known here in D.C. as U.S. Senator Herb Kohl), has decided not to sell his team to Michael Jordan:

"On balance, I simply decided that I am not yet prepared to sell the team at this time," the senator said in a statement released by the team. Kohl, D-Wis. said he would continue to own the team, "improve them, and commit them to remaining in Wisconsin." Previously, Kohl had said he was willing to sell the team he bought for $18 million in 1985, with the stipulation that any new owner must agree to keep the team in Milwaukee.

Kohl's statement tells me two things: first, Jordan didn't come up with enough money to satisfy Kohl; and Jordan didn't guarantee he wouldn't move the Bucks out of Milwaukee -- something a politician like Kohl can't afford. Click here for the story from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, though it doesn't really add anything you can't find in the wire story. In other Bucks news, General Manager Ernie Grundfeld was released from his contract with the team, presumably in order to pursue the same job with the Washington Wizards.

In Paris, France defeated Cameroon 1-0, but celebrations were subdued in the aftermath of the death of Cameroon Midfielder Marc Viven-Foe, who died following last Thursday's semifinal match against Turkey. Initial results of an autopsy were inconclusive, though toxicology tests should take a few more days. For what it's worth, Pele has attacked FIFA publicly for the tournament's crowded schedule, something which gave players little time to rest and recover between matches.

Oh, and our ANZAC buddies aren't too happy with the FIFA bureacrats either.

In Waco, nobody has heard from Baylor University basketball player Patrick Dennehy in about two weeks, though a car he owns appeared abandoned in a parking lot in Virginia Beach, Va. Police suspect the student, who transferred to Waco from New Mexico, was murdered. For all of the coverage from the Waco Tribune-Herald, click here.

At the ShopRite LPGA Classic in Galloway, N.J., 13-year old Michelle Wie finished 14 shots off the pace for the tournament, but one shot ahead of former tour winner Laura Davies.

Then again, it isn't just every weekend that a 13-year old girl makes the cut at an LPGA event. Angela Stanford won the tournament, her first LPGA Tour victory.

Posted in Misc. Sports by Eric McErlain | No Comments »

 
June 30th, 2003

Inside The Mind Of Donna Shalala

Sometime on Monday, the president of the University of Miami, Donna Shalala, will announce the school's decision on whether or not to accept an offer to join the Atlantic Coast Conference. Over in Newport News, Va., columnist David Teel has some advice Shalala ought to take into consideration before making a decision:

In theory, Miami's decision is simple. The ACC offers athletic, financial and geographic assets the Big East cannot match.

But as Monday's deadline approaches, Miami must look beyond theory. It must look at those running the ACC. Are they competent? Can they be trusted?

As Jefferson himself wrote centuries ago: "Experience declares that man is the only animal which devours its own kind."

Believe it or not, right now, Shalala and Miami hold all of the cards. Without Miami, the ACC expansion attempt is a loser. In that case, all the ACC would have managed was add another member with which it will have to split revenue. And with all due respect to the fans of Virginia Tech, its addition to the conference does nothing to increase the revenue base of the ACC.

Virginia Tech needs the ACC more than the ACC needs Virginia Tech, and nothing is ever going to change that.

On the other hand, despite the fact that her confederates in the Big East consider her to be a liar and a backstabber, Shalala knows the conference would slay a fatted calf in celebration if she would only stay. Then again, promising to stay today, doesn't mean you have to promise to stay tomorrow. Who knows how much more money Shalala could leverage from the ACC just a year or two from now?

Stay tuned. Look for an update on Miami's decision in this space as soon as it happens.

UPDATE: The AP reports Miami is going to the ACC. The formal announcement is later today.

Posted in Football by Eric McErlain | 1 Comment »

 
June 30th, 2003

What’s Up With NHL Free Agency?

July 1 marks open season on NHL free agents, but some folks are wondering out loud whether we're looking at a buyer's or a seller's market. Over at the Critical I, Costa Tsiokos thinks all the big name free agents are going to get the money they deserve, and we should stop buying management's line about being poverty stricken:

Let me end the mystery: When July 1 hits, the big-name players will indeed get the big money. Derrian Hatcher, Brian Leetch, Sergei Fedorov and Teemu Selanne, among others, will get deals pretty close to what they wanted. The next tier of free agents will get something, and will probably end up with substantial salary increases thanks to the bidding process. Just like any other year, essentially. And the idiot fans and pundits will, as usual, take the salary numbers as an affront to their sensibilities.

With all of the talk so far this offseason, I was beginning to think the NHL was looking a lot like Major League Baseball circa 1988 -- and the word to describe it was called collusion. On top of that, there are plenty of people who believe that any labor settlement reached once the CBA with the Players Association runs out after the 2003-04 season will have to include some sort of salary cap.

In any case, we won't have long to wait.

UPDATE: ESPN's Mike Heika weighs in.

Posted in Hockey by Eric McErlain | 3 Comments »

 
June 30th, 2003

Same Old Valentine At ESPN

Newsday's Steve Zipay scored a nice interview with ex-Mets Manager Bobby Valentine during a trip to ESPN's studios in Bristol, Ct. Though Valentine doesn't talk much about the Mets owing to the fact that he's still on their payroll, he did let go with one interesting assertion: that Michael Lewis' Moneyball is "80 percent fiction."

Be sure to read it all.

Posted in Baseball by Eric McErlain | No Comments »

 
June 29th, 2003

Headline Of The Year

Just click the link, and let the juvenille hilarity ensue.

Posted in Soccer by Eric McErlain | 1 Comment »

 
June 27th, 2003

The Lowdown On Lisa G.

Both Phil Mushnick at the New York Post, and Richard Sandomir at the New York Times are raising the alarm now that Fox Sports personality/pin up girl, Lisa Guerrero has been hired to work as a sideline reporter for ABC's Monday Night Football.

Sandomir even went out of his way to grab a doomsaying quote from serial malcontent Keith Olberman, a broadcaster known best for burning bridges with whatever employer he leaves behind:

Keith Olbermann, whose time at FSN overlapped with Guerrero's, suggested that the "Monday Night" announcers Al Michaels and John Madden "resign in protest" and that Guerrero "can pose in Maxim but can't come back into the credibility pool."

An executive at ABC called Olberman's comments the "opinion of a troubled man," and I'm happy to agree (besides, Olberman works for NBC now, so he's hardly an unbiased source). And the rest of the world needs to grow up a little bit, and realize that we're talking sports here, not nuclear arms control. And as ESPN's Pam Ward reminded us once, there's not a whole lot of jounralism going on at the sidelines of a typical NFL game anyway.

Posted in Business, Football by Eric McErlain | 1 Comment »

 
June 27th, 2003

Duke, UNC On The Hot Seat

While Miami university president Donna Shalala considers a counter-proposal to remain in the Big East, the New York Times has unearthed an interesting tidbit concerning internal ACC politics:

Meanwhile, a person within the A.C.C. said there was growing anger among some in the conference directed at James Moeser, the North Carolina chancellor, and Nannerl O. Keohane, the Duke president, because of their steadfast refusal to vote in favor of the original expansion plan, which included Miami, Syracuse and Boston College.

The decision to invite Virginia Tech and Miami was a compromise among the remaining seven university leaders, with Moeser and Keohane also voting against the final proposal, which passed, 7-2.

Beyond that, the A.C.C.'s handling of the expansion issue, which has drawn national criticism, could place Commissioner John Swofford's job in jeopardy, the person within the conference said.

I'm sure many Big East fans relish the thought of Swofford getting the boot as the result of his now botched attempt to expand to 12 teams. Now the ACC will get bigger, but without 12 teams, won't have the numbers to qualify for a conference playoff and the extra revenue it would deliver.

But what is even more interesting is the rage and anger directed at North Carolina and Duke. Both, with the exception of brief periods of success in football, are essentially basketball schools. The prospect of adding Miami, Boston College and Syracuse simply made it more likely that Duke and North Carolina would be humiliated on television by schools who have made much larger investments in football. The prospect of adding just Miami and Virginia Tech is only slightly less uncomfortable.

In essence, to remain competitive in the conference in football, both schools would have to invest significant resources in their programs in order to keep up -- investments that would likely eat up whatever extra revenue either school could expect from a conference championship game.

The other choice: both schools would run a real risk of becoming a 21st century version of the 1980s edition of Northwestern's football program -- the butt of national jokes as losses kept on coming. In the end, Duke and North Carolina simply voted the way the rest of the conference did -- in their own best interests. And most folks would have an awfully tough time having trouble with that.

Posted in Football by Eric McErlain | 5 Comments »

 
June 27th, 2003

D.C. Baseball Update

The Washington Post's Tom Boswell talks tough to Major League Baseball over the prospect of moving the Montreal Expos to Washington D.C.:

Baseball needs to make up its mind about the Washington area -- and do so pretty quickly. The sport should consider this a friendly warning: If the game is serious about relocating the Expos to the District or Northern Virginia, then it better get on the stick, because the ground is shifting here.

From the public to politicians, Washington and Northern Virginia finally agree on one thing: We've gone as far as we're willing to go. We've made our case for decades. We've done demographic studies, Orioles impact polls, stadium design drawings, ballpark cost proposals and financing plans. We've amassed potential ownership groups and political supporters.

In short, this area has made its best offers -- on both sides of the river. We're not upping the ante any more. In fact, quite the opposite. If baseball procrastinates in its decision to relocate the Expos, it's almost certain that neither the District nor Northern Virginia will be able to make as good an offer -- or in D.C.'s case, perhaps any serious offer at all -- a year from now. There's nothing more to be said. Except "yes" or "no." That's up to baseball.

Over the past 18 months, I've written continually on the topic of the Expos possible moving to Washington, D.C. And over that time period, I've catalogued a number of obstacles that stood in the way of them getting here:

the opposition of Orioles owner Peter Angelos;
community opposition in both D.C. and Northern Virginia;
the lack of a big name ownership group with the dollars available to purchase the team, pay off Angelos, and provide significant private financing for a stadium;
possible traffic disruption around proposed stadium sites;
the absence of the combination of approved public financing and a designated stadium site in either jurisdiction;
and market conditions that have driven the possible sale price of the Expos below the point where the owners inside MLB can expect to get a reasonable return on their investment in the team.

If you read Boswell's column, you'd get the decided impression that all of these hurdles had been surmounted. But here we are, 18 months later, and none of these issues has been answered to the satisfaction of MLB. And if MLB isn't satisfied now, it's hard to see how they'll ever be satisfied.

Not that we should care. While I would love to see baseball return to the area, I don't think it should come at the expense of creating all sorts of new taxes (including a raft of new taxes targetted at individuals who come to do business in the area from out of town, something that makes Metropolitan Washington less attractive as a convention destination).

Metropolitan Washington has been a great place to live for a while now, and getting a Major League Baseball team, while a nice addition, won't improve the quality of life here in any appreciable way. In fact, I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who wouldn't say that life here has gotten a lot better since September 30, 1971 -- the day the second edition of the Washington Senators played their last game in RFK Stadium.

And life here will keep getting better, with or without Major League Baseball.

Posted in Baseball by Eric McErlain | No Comments »

 
June 26th, 2003

The Soviet Hockey Monster Returns

No matter how you look at it, this is bad news:

Viktor Tikhonov, who coached three Olympic gold medal-winning teams and eight world championship clubs, is returning to coach the Russian national team, it was reported Thursday.

The executive committee of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation voted unanimously to make the 73-year-old Tikhonov head coach, the ITAR-Tass news agency said.

Tikhonov led the Soviet, and later the Russian, team from 1978 to 1994, winning the gold medal in the 1984, 1988 and 1992 Olympics. He was inducted to the International Ice Hockey Hall of Fame in 1998.

Tikhonov is a member of the Ice Hockey Hall of Fame, but he's also a symbol of everything that was evil about the Soviet athletic machine during the Cold War. While he may have won multiple Olympic medals and World Championships, he did it using players who were essentially captives of the Soviet system.

Later, as the Soviet Union began to break down, and it looked as if many of the stars that played for Tikhonov might finally have a shot at the NHL, he did all he could to keep them trapped inside his program. Players like Slava Fetisov, Igor Larionov and Vladislav Tretiak were all prevented from going to the West until Tikhonov thought they were well past their prime.

Though Fetisov and Larionov did eventually make it to the West, and did win two Stanley Cups in Detroit, they were mere shadows of their former selves. Meanwhile Tretiak, perhaps most creuelly of all, never got to play in that Montreal Canadiens sweater he yearned for so much.

Perhaps no incident sums up Tikhonov better than when he last coached a team to an Olympic Gold medal in 1992. It was that year that Tikhonov coached the Unified Team -- the replacement for the rapidly collapsing Soviet Union.

That year, Nikolai Khabibulin was the team's third goalie, and though he never got on the ice, he was entitled to a gold medal -- a medal Tikhonov promptly intercepted and kept for himself. The brave folks at the International Olympic Committee didn't get around to giving Khabibulin a replacement for his medal until he played in the Salt Lake City games with Russia in 2002.

In a way, Tikhonov is the perfect face of Russian hockey, a former Communist who has settled in quite nicely as Russia tragically devolves into gangsterism.

Posted in Hockey by Eric McErlain | 1 Comment »

 
June 26th, 2003

Morning Roundup

Steve Ovadia says the Jaromir Jagr to the New York Rangers trade is a lot of hooey.

Vitaly Klitschko just had 60 stitches removed from his face after suffering that horrific cut at the hands of Lenox Lewis last weekend, but his doctor says he'll be ready to fight again in about three months.

Comic book impresario Todd McFarlane grabbed Barry Bonds' 73rd home run ball at auction last night for $450,000. That's a considerable discount from the $3.2 million he paid at auction for Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball. And something tells me I should have learned how to be a comic book artist.

Up in New York, the Jets have enlisted Joe Namath in their efforts to convince Manhattanites that the team should be allowed to move into a new stadium on the West side of Manhattan. The move would mark a number of returns for the Jets, who left Shea Stadium after the 1983 NFL season. The Jets were originally founded as the New York Titans, and played their home games at the Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan.

There are reports everywhere that Virginia Tech is ready to accept an invitation to join the ACC, but I couldn't help but notice this discordant note struck by a professor from the University of North Carolina:

Also upset were several members of the North Carolina faculty, according to UNC faculty council executive committee chair Sue Estroff.

"Our faculty are very concerned about the reputation of Virginia Tech's players and Virginia Tech's team," said Estroff, referring to past off-the-field problems for Virginia Tech's football team, which in 1995 and 1996 included 18 players arrested on charges ranging from rape and involuntary manslaughter to drunken driving. "We are not accustomed to that kind of behavior. You have to remember, [North Carolina Chancellor James] Moeser tried to hire their coach and one of the arguments against him was the record of his players. . . .

"Part of our concern all along has been the way that sports and athletes fit into the university. There is very little tolerance on our campus for misdeeds and misbehavior by athletes. I'm not saying we're any better, but I do know what happens around here when somebody gets into trouble."

Here's a nightmare scenario: Miami declines the ACC invitation, while Virginia Tech accepts.

Posted in Misc. Sports by Eric McErlain | 1 Comment »

 
June 26th, 2003

Vescey’s Blind Spot On Serena

In the semifinals of the French Open, American tennis star Serena Williams was faced with another opponent beside the one across the net -- French-speaking Belgian Justin Henin-Hardenne. She also had to contend with one of the most hostile crowds seen at a major tennis tournament in recent memory.

Williams was jeered lustily throughout the match, and was reduced to tears after dropping the match to Henin-Hardenne.

Over at Wimbledon, New York Times columnist George Vescey caught up with Williams' mother, Oracene Price, to ask her what she thought spurred the crowd to act like they did:

"They wanted a blonde and a ponytail," Price said today.

Four weeks have gone by since many fans whistled against Serena Williams in a semifinal match of the French Open. The family is not making an issue of it, would rather see it dropped, but when a columnist, who had not been in Paris, asked Price to go back over her feelings, she did not back off.

"We, as black people, live with this all the time," Price said. "It's all about control."

There are many other explanations for why some people were so vociferously against Serena as she lost her semifinal match: Justine Henin-Hardenne, the winner, is a French-speaking Belgian; there were many Belgians in the crowd; Williams had made a modest complaint about a ruling; there were political tensions between France and the United States last spring; and Serena Williams had won four straight Grand Slam tournaments.

Her parents, now divorced and existing on parallel planes during this tournament, see the outburst in Paris, however, as mainly a manifestation of race.

In a nation that elevated Jean Marie Le Pen to the verge of the presidency, it's easy to believe that race played a factor in the hostility of the crowd on that day. Yet, the same court that Williams played on that day had also hosted numerous matches involving Yannick Noah, a black Frenchman who would play before wildly enthusiastic crowds at Roland Garros, and captained France's Davis Cup winning team in 1991.

Though Vescey suggested to Price that tensions between the U.S. and France might have been to blame for the catcalls and abuse her daughter endured at Roland Garros (among other factors), he completely neglected to mention this comment Serena made at a tournament press conference a few months ago:

In March, when asked about the anti-French sentiment in the USA because of France's opposition to the impending war in Iraq, Williams snickered and said in a facetious French accent, "Well, we don't want to play in the war. We want to make clothes. We don't want the war."

French reporters called her comments "maladroit."

I saw the highlights of the match, and the behavior of the crowd that day was dreadful. And while Williams above comments were obviously light hearted, it's easy to see why a French crowd might greet her a little less enthusiastically. I have to wonder why Vescey neglected to mention it.

Posted in Tennis by Eric McErlain | 1 Comment »

 
June 25th, 2003

Wings Target Hatcher

Here's a story from the Ottawa Citizen that deals mainly with Dominick Hasek's possible return to Detroit (now, almost a fait accompli), but also talks about the attitude inside the Red Wings organization going into the 2003-04 season:

Beyond changing goalies, the Wings are once again planning to shake the NHL by its foundation. On the free agent market, they intend to keep centre Sergei Fedorov on the payroll and will doggedly pursue Dallas captain Derian Hatcher to strengthen their defence.

With so many veteran players and labour Armageddon around the corner when the league's collective bargaining agreement expires Sept. 15, 2004, Wings owner Mike Ilitch intends to load up and go for it one more time.

This sort of report obviates my post from yesterday, when I said Hatcher might have a tough time finding a team willing to load up on another big salary right before a possible labor stoppage that might result in a hard salary cap. Credit goes to Off Wing reader Laura in Chicago for pointing out this possibility beforehand.

Posted in Hockey by Eric McErlain | No Comments »

 
June 25th, 2003

ACC Surprise On Expansion

ESPN is reporting, in a surprise decision, to expand by two schools -- offering spots to current Big East members Miami and Virginia Tech. A reporter on the scene says the only thing that's still waiting to be done is for the two schools to accept the invitations.

More thoughts later, as I'm going to need a little time to digest this.

UPDATE: Here's the link to the latest from the Washington Post, a Josh Barr piece that does little to illuminate anything involved in the decision making.

Some thoughts: first, by inviting Virginia Tech and Miami instead of Boston College and Syracuse, the ACC expansion keeps all the charter members of the Big East intact -- something that looks akin to a peace offering to Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese.

Next, by inviting Virginia Tech, the ACC bought UVA's vote. Chalk this up as a victory for both Virginia Governor Mark Warner and State Attorney General Jerry Kilgore -- men who will be running for the U.S. Senate and the State House, respectively, once their current terms in office are up. UVA could simply not afford to anger a pair of men who are planning to stick around state politics for a while, and made the only decision available to it.

Finally, we have to ask whether or not Virginia Tech is going to take this invitation. At this point, the Big East will probably retain its automatic BCS bowl spot now that Syracuse and BC are staying. The loss of that automatic bid, and the destruction of the Big East has essentially been headed off. If anything, Virginia Tech might be better off staying in the Big East now that Miami is gone.

Bottom line: Virginia Tech's long-term interests have been secured either way. Now the only decision they have to make is whether or not to bolt along with Miami, or stick it out with the Big East. I'm sure Hokies fans would say bolting to the ACC would be the best course of action, but I'm sure that would simply expand the litigation that promises to delay Miami's departure.

And as for that litigation, even if Virginia Tech decides to stay with the Big East, who's to say whether or not the parties to it (Pitt, Rutgers, West Virginia, UConn) won't continue with it in order to stick it to Miami, and in particular, University President, Donna Shalala.

My favorite authority on sports and anti-trust, Skip Oliva, says that the one piece of law that rang true in the Big East's suit concerned Shalala and her actions in her capacity as Big East rep to the BCS.

And then, what the heck do you do if you're Boston College or Syracuse? Kiss and make up with the rest of the Big East? Talk about being left at the altar, but those two schools have gotten more or less completely hosed in this deal.

More updates later, as the story develops during the day. I'm sure somebody inside the ACC will break the silence, as well as some disgruntled folks at Syracuse and Boston College.

UPDATE: Connecticut Attorney General, and presumptive future candidate for Governor, Richard Blumenthal has said the suit against Miami and the ACC is going ahead intact.

Hokies fan Josh Crockett is happy, and says that the litigation might be less of a threat with Virginia Tech bolting, as it would now have to be heard in Federal Court.

ANOTHER UPDATE: In order to keep its BCS bid, the Big East needs at least eight teams playing Division I-A football. If both Miami and Virginia Tech leave, the league would need to add two schools in order to keep their bid.

If only Miami leaves, look for Louisville to be added from Conference USA. If Tech leaves too, expect Central Florida or South Florida (a school that didn't have a football program at all until just a few years ago) to be added too.

USA Today rightly gives credit to Virginia Governor Warner for helping to force this odd deal.

ANOTHER UPDATE: ESPN's Andy Katz walks through all the scenarios.

ANOTHER LATE UPDATE: Looks like Virginia Tech wants into the ACC:

On Wednesday, Virginia Tech's governing board unanimously authorized president Charles Steger to negotiate a deal with the ACC.

Voting at a hastily called meeting in Roanoke, Va., the Board of Visitors gave Steger the authority to talk to ACC leaders about joining the league and to make the decision himself on whether to make the move.

Steger said afterward that the ACC still has not formally invited Virginia Tech to join, but that if an offer came, ''we would be inclined to accept it.''

I'm wondering just how much the absence of Syracuse and Boston College from the expansion deal is weighing on Miami now. With a big alumni base in the Northeast, losing road games at those schools might really hurt them.

Posted in Football by Eric McErlain | 4 Comments »

 
June 24th, 2003

The Tiger Woods Reality Distortion Field*

Remember earlier this year when perennial PGA Tour runner-up Phil Mickelson took a light-hearted shot at the Nike driver that Tiger Woods uses?

"He (Woods) hates that I can fly it past him now. He has a faster swing speed than I do, but he has inferior equipment. Tiger is the only player good enough to overcome the equipment he's stuck with."

Sensing that the bottom might begin to drop out of the market for Nike golf equipment, Woods and the folks from Nike swung the PR machine into high gear and put Mickelson on the defensive. Eventually, Mickelson apologized in what must have been one of the more ridiculous public statements in recent memory.

Imagine, someone being forced to apologize, not for insulting an individual, but for giving an honest assesment about a piece of equipment. Amazing. And in its own way, deplorable. But back to that later.

Today, Woods and Nike are finishing the job, and essentially turning the whole issue inside out by holding a news conference accusing other players on the tour of cheating and using drivers that give them an unfair advantage:

"First hole, here's my driver," Woods said last week at the Buick Classic. "Make sure it's legal. Green light, red light. That kind of thing."

As his driving distance slips farther down the rankings -- at 292.2 yards, a career-low 29th on tour -- Woods has become increasingly suspicious that some players are using drivers with a little too much pop.

Asked if there were illegal clubs on tour, Woods replied, "You could say that."

Either that, or Mickelson was telling the truth, and Woods really is using an inferior driver.

One the one hand, you have to credit Woods and Nike for their marketing savvy. Mickelson's comments have created some serious word of mouth that the Nike driver isn't any good, and they need to combat that perception in the marketplace to protect their business. By calling for testing of equipment, Woods is setting up himself, and Nike, as the guardians of tradition in the sport, while by extension other club makers like Titlest, Calloway, etc. are underwriting fraud on the PGA Tour:

"Look at all of the young kids now: every one of them, they are cut, they are ripped, hit the ball a long ways, and the game has changed that way," he said last week. "You don't see too many young players coming up playing the way Corey Pavin used play. You don't see that type of game any more. Now it's just bombs away and we'll figure it out from there."

Funny, but if Mickleson was forced to apologize for saying the Nike driver was inferior, then isn't Woods setting himself up to have to apologize to all the other golfers and the makers of their clubs for insinuating that they're cheating?

I'm not holding my breath. And lets hope that the folks who cover the PGA Tour deal with Woods a little more roughly, and with more of a jaundiced eye, than they did when this controversy started back in February.

In the end, I don't know, and don't pretend to understand, the physics behind how and why a golf club's shape and size affect the flight of the ball. But I do know that Woods claims are easily disputable, and reporters who tackle this story ought to do so with the sort of scepticism rarely seen in the past when they've been dealing with Woods.

POSTSCRIPT: Welcome to readers who have arrived via Steve Czaban. I've got a few updates on Tiger's crusade against "illegal" drivers, which you can find in the list below:

Tiger's Jedi Mind Trick

Taking A Pot Shot At Tiger

On Tiger's Campaign

_________________________
*A term borrowed from the PC business, where most folks are well acquainted with the "Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field."

Posted in Business, Golf by Eric McErlain | 1 Comment »

 
June 24th, 2003

New Role For Riggo

Ex-Washington Redskin and Pro Football Hall of Famer John Riggins is in a new line of work -- soap opera actor:

Now Riggins, who started taking acting classes in 1994 and starred in an off-Broadway play last year, has taken on a new role. He is Mitch Hendon, a character in the soap opera "Guiding Light," which at 50 is the longest-running show in the history of television and only a few years younger than Riggins, 53. Hendon is a tough ex-Marine, a wealthy owner of several auto dealerships and not a very nice person. He is shrouded in mystery. Riggins himself knows little about Hendon, but thinks he might be a CIA operative.

Congrats to Washington Times reporter Bob Cohn, for writing a hilarious little feature on the man who will always be D.C.'s favorite runningback.

Posted in Football by Eric McErlain | No Comments »

 
June 24th, 2003

Like White On Rice

For those of you looking for a roundup of College World Series coverage, stop by Off The Kuff for all your information needs on the 2003 National Champion Rice University Owls.

Just one thought here: I can't help but notice how late in the academic year the College World Series falls on the calendar. So while the Rice Owls are flying home today as National Champions, there probably won't be too many folks waiting back on campus to celebrate a triumphant return, as graduation took place back on May 10th (their opponents in the final, Stanford, had their commencement last weekend).

Imagine how bittersweet an experience this must be. Sure, last night the team was busy doing the championship flesh pile, but when they get back to campus in Houston, nothing. How about if you're a Senior? You've already graduated, so I guess for them the CWS must have seemed to be a stay of execution on your college years.

But once the immediate celebration is over, you take off the uniform, and welcome to the first day of the rest of your life. At least if you win the NCAA Basketball, Football, or even Hockey title, you get to travel back to a campus filled with excited fans, and maybe get a chance to bask in the afterglow for a little while.

It reminds me a lot about a story I've heard many times regarding the 1980 U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team. Back then, the team was put together over a greuling 18 months prior to the Lake Placid Games. Once the team had won the Gold on a Sunday morning, they were whisked to Washington to meet with President Carter for lunch at the White House and a public ceremony on Monday.

Before anyone knew it, the team was packed into a bus bound for National Airport, where each player would head back home. And it was at that point that the entire team was overcome with an incredible sadness. Because, as much as they had accomplished, the task was over, and it was time to move on.

I hope the Owls enjoyed that flesh pile last night.

UPDATE: Thanks to Charles, who in the comments section mentioned that the University has planned a celebration for tonight at the Owls' home field.

Posted in Baseball by Eric McErlain | 2 Comments »

 
June 24th, 2003

D.C. Baseball Update

Jack Evans, chairman of the D.C. Council Finance Committee, is refusing to move the bill concerning financing a new baseball stadium out of his committee until Major League Baseball gives the city a firm commitment that the Expos are going to move to the city:

"I'm not moving anything relative to this out of my committee without a commitment from baseball," Evans said. "There is no purpose moving this ahead, raising taxes and so forth, and then have baseball say, 'Never mind.' And why does baseball care about the [financing] structure, anyway? If they come, we're going to build a stadium. We've done the convention center. We've done the MCI Center. The structure shouldn't matter to them. "This thing doesn't move unless I say so, and I need something from them."

And if MLB waits another year before moving the Expos, things get even more complex locally, as 2004 is an election year in the District.

There are 21 days until the July 15 deadline MLB's relocation committee set to announce the fate of the Expos for next season. But as one source told the Washington Times' Eric Fisher, "The sort of things that begin to happen when you're getting close to a deal just aren't happening."

As I've said over and over again, Washington is not getting the Expos this year, and perhaps never.

Posted in Baseball by Eric McErlain | 1 Comment »

 
June 24th, 2003

“Angelost”

Washington Post columnist Tom Boswell reminds people how good the Orioles had it when Pat Gillick was the General Manager and Davey Johnson was in the dugout:

How does ex-Orioles general manager Pat Gillick keep pulling off these Seattle magic tricks? As soon as the Mariners lose someone who was supposedly irreplaceable, he replaces them. Gillick brought in laidback ex-Orioles catcher Bob Melvin to manage the Mariners after popular Lou Piniella took his high-anxiety style to the atrocious Devil Rays. Lou said he was "burned out" in Seattle. So, Gillick turned necessity into opportunity. Think how "burned" Lou feels every day when he looks at the standings.

Of course, Melvin feels right at home in the Mariners' clubhouse. His top winner is ex-Oriole Jamie Moyer (10-4) while ex-Oriole Arthur Rhodes has his usual 1.87 ERA and ex-Oriole Mark McLemore still plays regularly. Isn't there any way to make Peter Angelos an ex-Oriole, too?

Not until one of the Washington baseball ownership groups buys him out.

Posted in Baseball by Eric McErlain | No Comments »

 
June 24th, 2003

Picture Of The Day

matsui.jpg

Though his play for the New York Yankees has been less than stellar, the popularity of Hideki Matsui is still so high back home in Japan that the national carrier, Japan Airlines, has emblazoned his image on one of their Boeing 747s.

Late word out of New York says Mets closer Armando Benitez has reached a similar sponsorship deal with Union Pacific Railroad.

Posted in Baseball by Eric McErlain | No Comments »

 
June 24th, 2003

Subway Series, Artificial Tension?

Last year, when Roger Clemens pitched at Shea Stadium for the first time since beaning Mike Piazza back during the 2000 season, I was jacked up enough that I blogged many of the game's events in real time. Now, courtesy of Baseball Musings, I find this article from the Newark Star-Ledger that says the whole thing might have been a big joke.

Posted in Baseball by Eric McErlain | No Comments »

 
June 24th, 2003

The Dominator Back To Detroit, Or Just The NHL?

Dominik Hasek, better known these days for assaulting opponents at roller hockey tournaments, has contacted the Red Wings about returning to the team for one more season. Of course, there's the small problem of current Red Wings goalie Curtis Joseph, who still has two years and $16 million remaining on his current contract.

The Wings have an $8 million option on Hasek for next season, but if they don't exercise it, he would become an unrestrcited free agent and could sign wtih any team he likes.

This is quite a pickle for Wings GM Ken Holland. Bringing back Hasek, even for one season, would force Holland to move Joseph. But with the the collective bargaining agreement set to expire just before the 2004-05 season, and the possibility of a salary cap looming over everybody, few teams, if any, are going to want to take on a salary like Joseph's.

Then again, Holland isn't exactly sentimental when it comes to building a winning hockey club. Right before the 2001-02 season, Holland didn't hesitate to waive Wings goalie Chris Osgood to make way for Hasek, even if it meant eating some of his salary. Even worse for Joseph, Osgood actual helped the Wings to a title in 1998 -- something that couldn't save him when it became possible for the Wings to acquire Hasek.

Of course, Joseph is coming off a four game sweep of the Wings by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim -- not the best optically for CuJo. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: On the other side of the ledger, it looks like the Dallas Stars won't be exercising their option on defenseman and team captain, Derian Hatcher.

Steve Ovadia thinks it's a big mistake:

Hatcher is a sure thing. Whoever picks him up won't have a question mark in their line-up. They will have Derian Hatcher: Killer Defenseman. He's worth the money and the time commitment. Dallas is trying to save money and to prepare for the upcoming Collective Bargaining Agreement, but they really shot themselves in the foot. Especially when another Western team picks him up.

I would have signed him just to not have to play him.

I'm not so sure. Something tells me the Stars are taking a calculated risk here. Essentially, they're gambling that Hatcher won't be able to command anywhere near the amount of money he was asking for from Dallas. And when he finds that out, he may come back to the Stars with more reasonable demands. And that's not an unreasonable assumption, given that many of the deals dangled on draft weekend were scuttled on the basis of contract size, not player value.

Posted in Hockey by Eric McErlain | 1 Comment »

 
June 24th, 2003

‘Maximum’ Scavone

StickandMove's Jason Scavone addresses the court on Jose Canseco's latest run-in with the law:

Your honor,

I'm a simple sports fan. I don't personally know Jose Canseco. I've never met him. I have no emotional investment in this case, but please, PLEASE, lock him up. Melt down the key and throw away the slag.

He's not a menace. He's not a danger. He's just an idiot, and I'm tired of reading about him on the sports pages.

And besides, if you leave him free, he's just going to go and do something stupid and get himself killed, whether he overdoses and drowns in his own pool or decideds to try to do a wheelie at 110 mph on his motorcycle, Jose is destined to die at the hands of his own stupidity.

So for his sake, and for ours, throw him in the hoosegow.

Amen, brother.

Posted in Baseball by Eric McErlain | No Comments »

 
June 24th, 2003

What’s Really Happening In The Dominican?

More bad news from the steroids front -- this time from the front page of the Washington Post:

The afternoon before his tryout with the Philadelphia Phillies, 19-year-old Lino Ortiz walked over to his friend Jose Manuel Avila's house with a 3-peso needle and a small brown bottle containing a substance normally injected into horses or fighting cocks.

Ortiz, a strapping 6-foot-2 catcher, was a devout Christian, but after two failed major league tryouts he was looking for more than faith to give him strength. He borrowed a liquid vitamin from Avila, his friend recalls, mixed it with the veterinary substance and injected a 2-milliliter dose into his left shoulder.

The substance was either Diamino, an animal dietary supplement, or Caballin, a bootleg horse steroid. Even now it's unclear. What is clear is that Ortiz blew his tryout. Then his arm swelled up and he began to vomit. Within three days he had slipped into shock and was dead.

Looks like the kids back in San Pedro de Macoris are learning how the big leaguers do it. The next time you hear from the Major League Baseball Players Association that we don't need mandatory and permanent testing, think about the kids in the Dominican -- where one scout estimates that virtually every baseball prospect is using some kind of anabolic steroid.

Posted in Baseball by Eric McErlain | No Comments »

 
June 24th, 2003

And You Thought Steinbrenner Was Rough

Just 24 hours ago, things were looking good for Vincente Del Bosque, head coach of Real Madrid. His team had just won its second title in La Liga in the last three seasons, and he was looking forward to starting the team's next campaign by adding England international David Beckham.

But that's all in the past now. Because Del Bosque, who also led Real to Champions League titles in 2000 and 2002, has been fired. A club official said that the team needed to be "renewed."

As if Beckham's job didn't get 1000 times harder today. Del Bosque was popular with his players, and his firing, coming so soon after public celebrations honoring the team for its 29th domestic title, won't exactly earn him a positive reception in Real's locker room.

UPDATE: Some words of warning for Beckham from Frank Dell'Appa of the Boston Globe:

The addition of Beckham could bring similar problems. There is speculation Real Madrid will incorporate Beckham in the midfield along with Flavio Conceicao and Claude Makelele, behind Figo, Raul, and Zinedine Zidane, with Ronaldo as the lone striker in a 3-3-3-1 formation. But either Beckham or Figo are bound to become redundant in this scheme. Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, who has spent 250 million euros in four years on four players, seems more interested in collecting players than building a team.

Posted in Soccer by Eric McErlain | No Comments »

 
June 24th, 2003

R.I.P. Roger Neilson

Over the weekend, I was remiss not to mention the death of longtime NHL coach Roger Neilson. The former coach of the Rangers and Flyers, among eight other teams, was 69, and died after a very public three-year battle with Cancer. Known by the sobriquet, "Captain Video", Neilson was a trailblazer in using videotape in analyzing his players' performance. Though Neilson had seemingly won a battle with Bone Cancer, he was diagnosed with Skin Cancer about a year ago. Neilson never married, and had no living relatives.

Posted in Hockey by Eric McErlain | 1 Comment »

 
June 24th, 2003

New Member Of The All-Time Sports Name Club

The U.S. managed one point in the Confederations Cup before heading home from France (and yes, French fans booed the Star Spangled Banner again) by tying Cameroon, 0-0. Better yet, by reading the recap of the game, I came across one of the best names in the history of world sport.

Now, taking his rightful place beside World B. Free and Milton Bradley, is Cameroon striker Joseph-Desire Job. A striker for Middlesborough in England, Job just missed putting a goal past U.S. keeper Tim Howard in the first half of Monday's match.

Posted in Soccer by Eric McErlain | 1 Comment »

 
June 23rd, 2003

2:59

Two hours and 59 minutes. That's how long the Sitemeter application here at Off Wing has been malfunctioning for today. Mind you, the outage didn't come all at once, just intermittently in four different periods today during the time when my traffic is traditionally the heaviest.

If anyone has another suggestion for an application that's a little more reliable, please let me know.

Posted in Media by Eric McErlain | No Comments »

 
June 23rd, 2003

D.C. Baseball Update

Washington Baseball Club, the ownership group led by Republican political operative Fred Malek, has just hired Goldman Sachs for advice and financial services in their pursuit of the Montreal Expos.

Malek's group, which includes Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines, is determined to bring a team back to the District -- first at RFK Stadium, and then at a new ballpark that should be ready by 2007.

Major League Baseball has set a deadline of July 15 to announce whether or not the Expos will be relocated in time for the 2004 baseball season. 22 days remain before that deadline.

Posted in Baseball by Eric McErlain | No Comments »

 
« Older Entries