Today - the National League Central!
Athlon – St. Louis Cardinals
USA Today – St. Louis Cardinals
My prediction – St. Louis Cardinals
Really, with this division, choosing anybody else to win would be foolish. The Cards not only have the best 1-2 pitching combo in baseball right now with Chris Carpenter (2.83 ERA, 21 wins, 213 SO, 1.06 WHIP) and Mark “Agent” Mulder (3.64 ERA, 111 SO, 1.38 WHIP) as well as one of the best hitting combos with Albert Pujols (.340 batting, 47 HR, 117 RBI, 1.039 OPS) and Jim Edmonds (.263 batting, 89 RBI, .918 OPS). And while the Cardinals have taken some key losses in free agency (Matt Morris, Mark Grudzielanek, Reggie Saunders) and retirement (Larry Walker), Tony La Russa has made a few key deals to fill those holes – if Junior Spivey doesn’t rebound, then Aaron Miles will have second base all wrapped up; Braden Looper should prove to be a key setup man for closer Jason Isringhausen (39 for 41 in saves last year). The Cards should repeat just as the Yankees do – they’ll win their division outright, but winning in the postseason might be just beyond their reach – we’ll have to wait and see.
The Milwaukee Brewers are a team that might surprise this year – they posted a .500 (81-81) season last year and are looking to improve on that. To do so, they’ve added Corey Koskie (who is looking to rebound from a season marred by a thumb injury) which should add some quality to their batting – Koskie underachieved last year with the Jays, posting a .249 Average, with just 36 RBI and a .735 OPS, the lowest of his career, but should be able to rebound from that injury. He should complement a good Brewers batting lineup that includes rookie Prince Fielder, good leadoff man Brady Clark (.306 batting, .798 OPS, 94 runs scored) and Carlos Lee (.265 batting, 114 RBI, 41 doubles, .811 OPS). And with a good rotation that features Ben Sheets (despite injuries last season, he still won 10 games, had a 3.33 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP and seems posed to have a breakout season), Doug Davis (11 wins, 3.84 ERA, 208 SO, 1.30 WHIP ) and Chris Capuano (18 wins, 3.99 ERA, 1.38 WHIP) and a decent bullpen featuring Derrick Turnbow (who converted 39 of 43 save opportunities and posted a 1.74 ERA) the Brewers are on the cusp of breaking out in the NL west.
The Houston Astros, who were swept last year in the World Series, will need more then luck if they wish to repeat last year’s successes – Roger Clemens, whose status with the team remains questionable, is getting old, which (finally) should factor in his potential success, while Jeff Bagwell should not be allowed back to play – he’s not only too old to play at the required level, he’s too old to successfully bounce back from his surgery last year – and the Astros, as you may remember, tried to claim that he can never play in the field again. However, they do have some talent on their rotation: Both Andy Pettitte (17-9, 2.39 ERA and 1.03 WHIP) and Roy Oswalt (20-12, 2.94 ERA, 1.20 WHIP) are playing great while they also have two more young prospects to watch: Ezequiel Astcio (who posted a 5.67 ERA, 1.54 WHIP as a rookie in 81 innings) and Wandy Rodriguez (5.53 ERA, 1.46 WHIP and a 10-10 record in his rookie season) that also have the potential to crack the rotation. They also have added some depth to their bats with Preston Wilson who posted a .261 batting average and 47 RBI in just 68 games for the Washington Nationals – but for a team that was unable to score when it mattered most (they lost the last two games of the World Series when they kept leaving base runners stranded in scoring position) this will not be enough.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are in for a big year – as long as they can keep producing like they did last year. Both Jason Bay and Chris Duffy posted great seasons in 2005, with Bay putting up some amazing numbers (he was the first Pirate to bat .300, hit at least 30 HR, 40 Doubles, 20 Stolen Bases, 100 runs and 100 RBI in the same season) while Duffy showed some great promise as a rookie last year, hitting .341 and scoring 22 times in just 39 games. After those two players, though, their offence starts to become questionable – only Jeromy Burnitz (playing as a Chicago Cub) hit more then 69 RBI last year. As for their pitching, the rotation has some young talent – including Zach Duke, who after posting an 8-2 record last year (with a 1.81 ERA and 1.20 WHIP) and Paul Maholm (2.18 ERA, 1.16 WHIP) - but still needs to recover from their horrendous team ERA of 4.42. If their number one pitcher, Oliver Perez, can improve from last season (despite an ERA of 5.85 and 1.67 WHIP he still posted 97 SO and a 7-5 record) the Pirates might have a fighting chance at the #3 spot.
The Chicago Cubs are heading in for another tough year – their hopes lie with their all-righty rotation and especially with Kerry Wood and Mark Prior getting back into their previous form. Kerry spent most of the last season injured, and only pitched 66 innings, going 3-4 (with 4.23 ERA and 1.18 WHIP) whereas Prior went 11-7 (with a 3.67 ERA in 166.2 innings with 1.21). Still, Carlos Zambrano looks to be their premier pitcher, after his fabulous (14 wins, 3.26 ERA, 202 SO, a team leading 1.15 WHIP) 2005 season, while #4 starter Greg Maddux might still have a few wins left in the tank – he leads all of the projected starters in innings pitched last year (225) and was second in SO (136), but also leads them in ERA (4.24) and posted double digit losses (13-15). Their bullpen, though, has one proven closer in Ryan Dempster (who posted a 3.13 ERA, 1.43 WHIP and 33 saves) and should be anchored with setup men Scott Eyre (2.63 ERA, 65 SO) and Bob Howry (2.47 ERA, 48 SO). But pitching wasn’t their problem last year – and it still won’t be. They had two players last year that posted more then 90 RBI (Armis Ramirez and Derrek Lee) but had four players that posted better .300+ batting averages (Ramirez, Lee, Ronny Cedeno, Todd Walker and Matt Murton) – but, as a team, they had a .764 OPS and scored just over 700 runs – ranking 20th in the league. That is a problem that they have not fixed – and it’ll end up costing them the top spot in the division.
This year will not be kind to the Cincinnati Reds – just like the last few years. They did not change their rotation (all four of their starters had losing seasons last year, as well as ERA’s above 3.83) and were unable to settle on a closer – the closest they have is David Weathers (7-4, 3.94 ERA, 15 saves, 77.2 innings pitched, 29:61 SO/BB ratio) who is both unproven and aging (they only have one player in the bullpen younger then 35). In a year in which teams were looking for big bats, the Reds were surprisingly quiet, since they both led the league in home runs but also allowed more (A trade with the Blue Jays, for example, would have been beneficial to them). And despite having more then enough depth offensively (they had seven players on their roster that batted in more then 50 RBI, and both Adam Dunn [134 hits, 40 HR, 101 RBI, .927 OPS] and Ken Griffey Jr. [.301 batting, 148 hits, 92 RBI, .945 OPS] had great seasons) they will not be able to score enough to cover for their pitching woes.
My predictions:
St. Louis
Milwaukee
Houston
Pittsburgh
Chicago
Cincinnati
Monday, February 27, 2006
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Spring Predictions, Day one
As I sit here, two fine sporting magazines are sitting in front of me (USA Today Sports Weekly – a magazine that I buy more often then not – and the Athlon Sports MLB Preview – which I had never heard of, nor read, ever before). Both of them are loaded with predictions, both on players and the teams. Indeed, both of them have their American League and National League predictions within – right down to the World Series and Wild Card winners.
And throughout the course of this week, I’m going to tell you where they’re wrong.
National League
Day one – National League West:
Athlon Sports #1 – San Francisco Giants
USA Today #1 – San Diego Padres
My pick: Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers are heading into this season with an overhauled roster of new players then in their disastrous 2005 season – only two players (JD Drew and Jeff Kent) are still on the team from their opening day in 2005. They’ve added several key players: one of the biggest question-marks in baseball, Nomar Garciaparra, the on-base threat of Rafael Furcal – who stole almost as many bases last year as the Dodgers did as a team - (For those of you counting, that’s two former rookie of the year players), Kenny Lofton, who batted over .300 and had a .420 slugging percentage last year and Bill Mueller, who won the 2003 AL batting title – and with the return of Eric Gagne as closer, the Dodgers could (and especially in the weak NL West division) be the team to beat – if Nomar returns to his Boston form, if Gagne can rebound from injury, if Furcal and Kenny Lofton stay to form.
The San Diego Padres, who won the divison last year, will be hard pressed to repeat their success – but they will do about as good (.500 or so) once more, thanks to the addition of prospect Adrian Gonzalez (who, in just 121 at bats, posted a .250 average and 70 RBI) the good leadoff bat of Vinny Castilla (despite a .253 batting average, he posted 66 RBI and a .403 slugging %) and Mike Piazza. Their only question is a suspect pitching staff: Once you get past their first two starters (Jake Peavy and Chris Young), the rotation is surprisingly shallow (Shawn Estes, their #3 starter, posted a 4.80 ERA in just over 120 innings last season), as is their bullpen (one injury to Trevor Hamilton and they can kiss their season goodbye).
The San Francisco Giants, who are relying on Barry Bonds to help out their batting, will struggle when Bonds spends most of the year on the IR, as the rest of their aging team will be unable to cover for his absence (they ranked next-to-last in runs scored last year and only had thee batters who posted more then 50 RBI). Their rotation will also struggle – only Noah Lowery posted an ERA of less then 4.00 last season, with 3.78. The other two are Jason Schmidt (4.40 ERA) and Matt Morris (4.11 ERA, 117 SO and 22 HR allowed – the highest on the team). Their lone bright spot will be Randy Winn, picked up last year from Seattle, who posted great number for the latter part of 2005 (.359 Batting, 1.071 OPS) – but unless Barry Bonds puts up some great stats, they’ll still rank toward the bottom of the league.
The Colorado Rockies, like last year, will once again be among the worst of the division – their rotation is weak (only two of the seven players projected to make their rotation posted a winning season last year and only one of those, Aaron Cook, didn’t also post double-digit losses), as is their scoring (Only two players posted more then 50 RBIs last year). However, they do have some young talent – they have a good two-reliever bullpen (both of whom posted more then 27 saves last year) and two good hitters in Matt Holliday (.505 slugging %, .307 batting, 87 RBI) and Todd Helton (.979 OPS, .320 average, 79 RBI) – and in a few years should prove to be a force for the NL Wild Card.
Lastly here is the Arizona Diamondbacks, who thanks to an off-season trade with Toronto have added some depth to both their rotation (former closer – and blown save leader – Miguel Batista) and to their defence (Orlando Hudson). But last year they posted a team ERA of 4.84 (third worst in the NL) and had a bullpen ERA of 5.40 – worst in the majors, plus ranking in the bottom half of runs scored in the NL. That is a problem that they haven’t tried to fix, unlike their pitching woes: In the Toronto trade, they let go of power-hitter Troy Glaus and will now have to rely on either Chad Tracy (.308 Batting, 72 RBI, .912 OPS last year) or Shawn Green (.286 batting, 73 RBI, .832 OPS) to fill his void. Their pitching woes have the potential to get worse, however, thanks to their acquisition of Orlando Hernandez (who posted a .500 season with a 5.12 ERA on the White Sox last year) and Batista (who posted a 4.10 ERA and posted 31 [out of 39] saves as the Blue Jays primary closer last year). Only Brandon Webb posted a winning season last year, going 14 and 12 (.538) with a 3.54 ERA and 172 Strikeouts. Look for either Batista or Hernandez to become trade bait, as the team looks to gain a power hitter (Manny?) at around the All-star break.
My prediction for the NL West:
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
Colorado Rockies
Arizona Diamondbacks
And throughout the course of this week, I’m going to tell you where they’re wrong.
National League
Day one – National League West:
Athlon Sports #1 – San Francisco Giants
USA Today #1 – San Diego Padres
My pick: Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers are heading into this season with an overhauled roster of new players then in their disastrous 2005 season – only two players (JD Drew and Jeff Kent) are still on the team from their opening day in 2005. They’ve added several key players: one of the biggest question-marks in baseball, Nomar Garciaparra, the on-base threat of Rafael Furcal – who stole almost as many bases last year as the Dodgers did as a team - (For those of you counting, that’s two former rookie of the year players), Kenny Lofton, who batted over .300 and had a .420 slugging percentage last year and Bill Mueller, who won the 2003 AL batting title – and with the return of Eric Gagne as closer, the Dodgers could (and especially in the weak NL West division) be the team to beat – if Nomar returns to his Boston form, if Gagne can rebound from injury, if Furcal and Kenny Lofton stay to form.
The San Diego Padres, who won the divison last year, will be hard pressed to repeat their success – but they will do about as good (.500 or so) once more, thanks to the addition of prospect Adrian Gonzalez (who, in just 121 at bats, posted a .250 average and 70 RBI) the good leadoff bat of Vinny Castilla (despite a .253 batting average, he posted 66 RBI and a .403 slugging %) and Mike Piazza. Their only question is a suspect pitching staff: Once you get past their first two starters (Jake Peavy and Chris Young), the rotation is surprisingly shallow (Shawn Estes, their #3 starter, posted a 4.80 ERA in just over 120 innings last season), as is their bullpen (one injury to Trevor Hamilton and they can kiss their season goodbye).
The San Francisco Giants, who are relying on Barry Bonds to help out their batting, will struggle when Bonds spends most of the year on the IR, as the rest of their aging team will be unable to cover for his absence (they ranked next-to-last in runs scored last year and only had thee batters who posted more then 50 RBI). Their rotation will also struggle – only Noah Lowery posted an ERA of less then 4.00 last season, with 3.78. The other two are Jason Schmidt (4.40 ERA) and Matt Morris (4.11 ERA, 117 SO and 22 HR allowed – the highest on the team). Their lone bright spot will be Randy Winn, picked up last year from Seattle, who posted great number for the latter part of 2005 (.359 Batting, 1.071 OPS) – but unless Barry Bonds puts up some great stats, they’ll still rank toward the bottom of the league.
The Colorado Rockies, like last year, will once again be among the worst of the division – their rotation is weak (only two of the seven players projected to make their rotation posted a winning season last year and only one of those, Aaron Cook, didn’t also post double-digit losses), as is their scoring (Only two players posted more then 50 RBIs last year). However, they do have some young talent – they have a good two-reliever bullpen (both of whom posted more then 27 saves last year) and two good hitters in Matt Holliday (.505 slugging %, .307 batting, 87 RBI) and Todd Helton (.979 OPS, .320 average, 79 RBI) – and in a few years should prove to be a force for the NL Wild Card.
Lastly here is the Arizona Diamondbacks, who thanks to an off-season trade with Toronto have added some depth to both their rotation (former closer – and blown save leader – Miguel Batista) and to their defence (Orlando Hudson). But last year they posted a team ERA of 4.84 (third worst in the NL) and had a bullpen ERA of 5.40 – worst in the majors, plus ranking in the bottom half of runs scored in the NL. That is a problem that they haven’t tried to fix, unlike their pitching woes: In the Toronto trade, they let go of power-hitter Troy Glaus and will now have to rely on either Chad Tracy (.308 Batting, 72 RBI, .912 OPS last year) or Shawn Green (.286 batting, 73 RBI, .832 OPS) to fill his void. Their pitching woes have the potential to get worse, however, thanks to their acquisition of Orlando Hernandez (who posted a .500 season with a 5.12 ERA on the White Sox last year) and Batista (who posted a 4.10 ERA and posted 31 [out of 39] saves as the Blue Jays primary closer last year). Only Brandon Webb posted a winning season last year, going 14 and 12 (.538) with a 3.54 ERA and 172 Strikeouts. Look for either Batista or Hernandez to become trade bait, as the team looks to gain a power hitter (Manny?) at around the All-star break.
My prediction for the NL West:
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
Colorado Rockies
Arizona Diamondbacks
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Springtime in the Cellar
It wasn't too long after the National Women's hockey team coasted to a 4-1 victory in Torino - it may have been just mere hours, actually - but it came.
Springtime.
Granted, it's still February and the Jays are still in the sunny pastures of Florida and the World Baseball Classic is still on the horizon and there's still 14 feet of snow covering something like another 2 feet of solid ice outside - but there's baseball brewing.
The Jays of the last few years can be seen as a metaphor for all that is wrong with Canadian sports - all too often the Toronto teams have relied on talent that either didn't work with the system in place (Mats Sundin, Vince Carter, T-Mac, Roger Clemens)or on players well past their prime that were cheap/fan favorites (Wendell Clark, Doug Gilmour, Eric Lindros, Jose Canseco) - and it was always a short term success. The Jays finished a few games below .500, the Raptors made the playoffs for a few years and Toronto made the Eastern Conference finals a few years back.
But these plans all failed in the long run: The Maple Leafs, like the Boston Red Sox of old, were relying on old talent while getting rid of hot young players and were usually the worst team to make the playoffs. The Raptors, who were once full of young talent, collapsed as their management drove their best players out of town on an all-to-often basis. The Blue Jays signed - and then lost - players that were big names but never had the talent to back them up.
It was the Argonauts, our local CFL team, that was doing it right: They had the solid vets (Damon Allen, Pinball Clemens) that could win games with the right mix of young talent to back them up - and they went to the Eastern Finals for three years in a row, winning the Grey Cup in 2004.
Now the Blue Jays, always near the bottom of Toronto's popularity, are making the right steps: They have the solid role-playing vets (Doc Halliday, AJ Burnett, Vernon Wells), young talent (Gustavo Chacin, Gregg Zaun, McGowan) and - most importantly - solid management in JP Riccardi.
This could be a new dawn - a springtime - in the cellar of sports in Toronto. Since the Jays went out and filled their holes in the Rotation (January) the Raptors have traded away Jalen Rose (opening up some cap room) and fired Rob "Saddam" Babcock - and have become a legitimate threat to finish in the top twenty. Will the Leafs follow suit and dump Pat "Can't win Quinn" and trade away Mats Sundin for some good youngsters?
(And yes, you know you're talking to a Toronto Sports Fan when they talk about sub .500 seasons in a positive light - after all, we've haven't had two of the three major teams finish above .500 since 2003... One final thought, too: The rookie crop in Toronto has been great this year. First Gustavo Chacin rattled off one of the best rookie seasons in the League, then both Alex Steen, Kyle Wellwood and Charlie-V posted nearly as great rookie seasons. Yet another reason why Toronto has, potentially, a bright future on the horizon...)
Springtime.
Granted, it's still February and the Jays are still in the sunny pastures of Florida and the World Baseball Classic is still on the horizon and there's still 14 feet of snow covering something like another 2 feet of solid ice outside - but there's baseball brewing.
The Jays of the last few years can be seen as a metaphor for all that is wrong with Canadian sports - all too often the Toronto teams have relied on talent that either didn't work with the system in place (Mats Sundin, Vince Carter, T-Mac, Roger Clemens)or on players well past their prime that were cheap/fan favorites (Wendell Clark, Doug Gilmour, Eric Lindros, Jose Canseco) - and it was always a short term success. The Jays finished a few games below .500, the Raptors made the playoffs for a few years and Toronto made the Eastern Conference finals a few years back.
But these plans all failed in the long run: The Maple Leafs, like the Boston Red Sox of old, were relying on old talent while getting rid of hot young players and were usually the worst team to make the playoffs. The Raptors, who were once full of young talent, collapsed as their management drove their best players out of town on an all-to-often basis. The Blue Jays signed - and then lost - players that were big names but never had the talent to back them up.
It was the Argonauts, our local CFL team, that was doing it right: They had the solid vets (Damon Allen, Pinball Clemens) that could win games with the right mix of young talent to back them up - and they went to the Eastern Finals for three years in a row, winning the Grey Cup in 2004.
Now the Blue Jays, always near the bottom of Toronto's popularity, are making the right steps: They have the solid role-playing vets (Doc Halliday, AJ Burnett, Vernon Wells), young talent (Gustavo Chacin, Gregg Zaun, McGowan) and - most importantly - solid management in JP Riccardi.
This could be a new dawn - a springtime - in the cellar of sports in Toronto. Since the Jays went out and filled their holes in the Rotation (January) the Raptors have traded away Jalen Rose (opening up some cap room) and fired Rob "Saddam" Babcock - and have become a legitimate threat to finish in the top twenty. Will the Leafs follow suit and dump Pat "Can't win Quinn" and trade away Mats Sundin for some good youngsters?
(And yes, you know you're talking to a Toronto Sports Fan when they talk about sub .500 seasons in a positive light - after all, we've haven't had two of the three major teams finish above .500 since 2003... One final thought, too: The rookie crop in Toronto has been great this year. First Gustavo Chacin rattled off one of the best rookie seasons in the League, then both Alex Steen, Kyle Wellwood and Charlie-V posted nearly as great rookie seasons. Yet another reason why Toronto has, potentially, a bright future on the horizon...)
Friday, February 10, 2006
The means and the motive - Part two
"Three may keep a secret if two are dead" - Ben Franklin
What leads an athlete to gamble? Is it greed, a mad desire for money? Is it for power - the same kind they once had on their field of play? Or is it something else, something to fill an empty void in their lives?
Pete Rose, like Wayne Gretzky, was not just an athlete - he was an artist, a virtuoso at third base. He was better then anyone before him and he remains better then anyone still. He started in professional baseball in 1960 as a minor leaguer and played his first major league game in 1963 - and won the award for Best Rookie in the National League. He played professional baseball until 1986, when he dropped himself (he was by then also the manager for the Reds) off the 40-man roster.
By 1989 he was banned from baseball.
With Wayne it was a similar story: he started for the Indianapolis Racers of the now-defunct World Hockey Association in 1978 at the age of 17 and retired 21 years later at the age of 38 in 1999 - he had spent the majority of his life, like Pete Rose, playing and perfecting the sport that he loved.
When a person, such as a watchmaker, retires after many years of working, they often find that they are restless - in Japan, this has a name: Retired Husband Syndrome. In this, the husband, is unable to cope with life at home with the kids and the wife - he's so used to working that he is unable to handle all the free time - and the wife ends up suffering.
Maybe this could explain Janet's involvement in the gambling ring - maybe not.
But what about Wayne? Like that fellow artist, Pete Rose, Wayne had spent the majority if his life playing a game he loved - and a game that had now passed him by. Like Rose, Gretzky went to work for hockey - first for the Canadian National Team, and later as a coach for the Phoenix Coyotes. But the competitive streak in him was left empty...
It can be assumed that this could have been what led Pete Rose to gamble - as he got older, he was no longer able to compete at the level he once was... By the time he was a manager, he was unable to compete in the same way that he has before. And, so my reasoning goes, he turned to gambling - it allowed him to compete as he once did, thus filling his void - but the stakes were higher then he realized (he perhaps he did - and it raised the competition higher and higher for him) and the same thing happened to him that happens to anyone who gambles with large sums of money for an extended time: the house won. And, to boot, he was kicked out the game he loved so much; the game that he had been a part of for over 25 years.
Perhaps that is why allegedly Wayne could have started to gamble. With his hockey career over, he still felt a need to compete. And, unlike other athletes who return to their sport because of that urge (Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson, Mario Lemieux) he knew that he was unable to play as he once did - and perhaps gambling offered him the same thrill that he craved. Perhaps it was small, a minor bet on a football game on ProLine - or a major sum invested in a March Madness pool. It doesn't matter; it's all moot. What matters is that once somebody starts, they're not going to stop until the fire within them is extinguished (either by debt, fulfillment or by being caught).
But somebody close to him did start -they played with fire and it burned them - badly. And now one question remains: Did he gamble?
Nobody knows for sure, other Wayne himself, but almost anyone can make an uneducated guess...
(Continued...)
What leads an athlete to gamble? Is it greed, a mad desire for money? Is it for power - the same kind they once had on their field of play? Or is it something else, something to fill an empty void in their lives?
Pete Rose, like Wayne Gretzky, was not just an athlete - he was an artist, a virtuoso at third base. He was better then anyone before him and he remains better then anyone still. He started in professional baseball in 1960 as a minor leaguer and played his first major league game in 1963 - and won the award for Best Rookie in the National League. He played professional baseball until 1986, when he dropped himself (he was by then also the manager for the Reds) off the 40-man roster.
By 1989 he was banned from baseball.
With Wayne it was a similar story: he started for the Indianapolis Racers of the now-defunct World Hockey Association in 1978 at the age of 17 and retired 21 years later at the age of 38 in 1999 - he had spent the majority of his life, like Pete Rose, playing and perfecting the sport that he loved.
When a person, such as a watchmaker, retires after many years of working, they often find that they are restless - in Japan, this has a name: Retired Husband Syndrome. In this, the husband, is unable to cope with life at home with the kids and the wife - he's so used to working that he is unable to handle all the free time - and the wife ends up suffering.
Maybe this could explain Janet's involvement in the gambling ring - maybe not.
But what about Wayne? Like that fellow artist, Pete Rose, Wayne had spent the majority if his life playing a game he loved - and a game that had now passed him by. Like Rose, Gretzky went to work for hockey - first for the Canadian National Team, and later as a coach for the Phoenix Coyotes. But the competitive streak in him was left empty...
It can be assumed that this could have been what led Pete Rose to gamble - as he got older, he was no longer able to compete at the level he once was... By the time he was a manager, he was unable to compete in the same way that he has before. And, so my reasoning goes, he turned to gambling - it allowed him to compete as he once did, thus filling his void - but the stakes were higher then he realized (he perhaps he did - and it raised the competition higher and higher for him) and the same thing happened to him that happens to anyone who gambles with large sums of money for an extended time: the house won. And, to boot, he was kicked out the game he loved so much; the game that he had been a part of for over 25 years.
Perhaps that is why allegedly Wayne could have started to gamble. With his hockey career over, he still felt a need to compete. And, unlike other athletes who return to their sport because of that urge (Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson, Mario Lemieux) he knew that he was unable to play as he once did - and perhaps gambling offered him the same thrill that he craved. Perhaps it was small, a minor bet on a football game on ProLine - or a major sum invested in a March Madness pool. It doesn't matter; it's all moot. What matters is that once somebody starts, they're not going to stop until the fire within them is extinguished (either by debt, fulfillment or by being caught).
But somebody close to him did start -they played with fire and it burned them - badly. And now one question remains: Did he gamble?
Nobody knows for sure, other Wayne himself, but almost anyone can make an uneducated guess...
(Continued...)
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Welcome to the new NHL - welcome to jail (part one)
Note: I had a post about Super Bowl XL all ready - a story about hotel room gambling, heavy snowstorms knocking out all outside communications and the headless-chicken-dance that Matt Hasselbeck pulled at the end of the game, when everyone that ever played any sort of football knew that you had to kick a quick FG and go for an onside kick, but then "Operation Slap Shot" came across like a bolt of lighting... Thusly, the Super Bowl Article will be delayed, as we all try and make sense of this saga...
Every sport has its heroes - baseball, basketball, soccer, hockey, football, cricket - whatever. They all have people that anyone and everyone looks down at as a true master of the game; Nolan Ryan, Wilt Chamberlain, Pele, Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky. Almost anyone who knows anything about any of these men knows that they all excelled in their own sport - arguably moreso then anyone else.
And every sport has it's scandals. Basketball has had point-shaving allegations as far back as the 1950's. Baseball had the 1919 World Series thrown by the 'Black Sox'. And now hockey has it's own: Operation Slap Shot.
Wayne Gretzky has stated, for the record, that he "had no knowledge of the gambling ring". Yet his wife has been named as a major player, as was one of his personal friends - and fellow coach - Rick Tocchet. And now it's being reported that there are wiretaps that prove that "Wayne Gretzky knew about a gambling ring involving his wife and assistant coach Rick Tocchet". (Link)
This is Canada's Pete Rose story - and true to Canadian fashion, it's neither as big nor as scandalous as it's American counterpart.
Where Pete Rose bet on his team - always to win, as he has stated many times - Wayne Gretzky either just knew about the betting and never reported it or had his wife bet on sports (football and basketball, mostly) on his behalf.
In an age where the NHL is just starting to make headway in the United States, this is one of the worst blows it could have gotten - save Gretzky actually throwing games. Baseball took years to recover from the scars of the 1994 lockout, but it already had a large base of loyal fans in the US. Hockey has no such thing in the United States - it was dropped by ESPN and ABC and remains ranked fourth, arguably even fifth, in the professional sports leagues (Behind the NFL, MLB, NBA and Nascar). And with the allegations that it's been corrupted by gamblers, the NHL could have a hard time recovering from this blow.
And so will Gretzky's team: the Phoenix Coyotes. Since moving to Arizona in 1996, the average attendance has dropped almost every season until 2002-03 - except for a minor gain in the 1999-2000 season. The team has never been past the first round of the playoffs (although the Jets only did that once, in 1985 in a best of five series against the Flames) and has finished out of the playoffs 3 times in the last four seasons. This is a team in a non-established area with dwindling attendance that now has potential corruption charges against them (Perhaps this is why Brett Hull retired?). This could be the last blow that sinks the ship.
When this all clears up - which it won't do any time soon - the NHL should survive, as will Gretzky's reputation. But the Coyotes might not. And the game could take damage that will take years to undo...
to be continued...
Every sport has its heroes - baseball, basketball, soccer, hockey, football, cricket - whatever. They all have people that anyone and everyone looks down at as a true master of the game; Nolan Ryan, Wilt Chamberlain, Pele, Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky. Almost anyone who knows anything about any of these men knows that they all excelled in their own sport - arguably moreso then anyone else.
And every sport has it's scandals. Basketball has had point-shaving allegations as far back as the 1950's. Baseball had the 1919 World Series thrown by the 'Black Sox'. And now hockey has it's own: Operation Slap Shot.
Wayne Gretzky has stated, for the record, that he "had no knowledge of the gambling ring". Yet his wife has been named as a major player, as was one of his personal friends - and fellow coach - Rick Tocchet. And now it's being reported that there are wiretaps that prove that "Wayne Gretzky knew about a gambling ring involving his wife and assistant coach Rick Tocchet". (Link)
This is Canada's Pete Rose story - and true to Canadian fashion, it's neither as big nor as scandalous as it's American counterpart.
Where Pete Rose bet on his team - always to win, as he has stated many times - Wayne Gretzky either just knew about the betting and never reported it or had his wife bet on sports (football and basketball, mostly) on his behalf.
In an age where the NHL is just starting to make headway in the United States, this is one of the worst blows it could have gotten - save Gretzky actually throwing games. Baseball took years to recover from the scars of the 1994 lockout, but it already had a large base of loyal fans in the US. Hockey has no such thing in the United States - it was dropped by ESPN and ABC and remains ranked fourth, arguably even fifth, in the professional sports leagues (Behind the NFL, MLB, NBA and Nascar). And with the allegations that it's been corrupted by gamblers, the NHL could have a hard time recovering from this blow.
And so will Gretzky's team: the Phoenix Coyotes. Since moving to Arizona in 1996, the average attendance has dropped almost every season until 2002-03 - except for a minor gain in the 1999-2000 season. The team has never been past the first round of the playoffs (although the Jets only did that once, in 1985 in a best of five series against the Flames) and has finished out of the playoffs 3 times in the last four seasons. This is a team in a non-established area with dwindling attendance that now has potential corruption charges against them (Perhaps this is why Brett Hull retired?). This could be the last blow that sinks the ship.
When this all clears up - which it won't do any time soon - the NHL should survive, as will Gretzky's reputation. But the Coyotes might not. And the game could take damage that will take years to undo...
to be continued...
Friday, February 03, 2006
The January Swoon/Super Bowl XL
It was the worst streak for the Maple Leafs of Toronto for this millennium – they dropped eight games in a row (they’ve since won one out of two games, making it a 1-9 record for their last ten games) – it was almost a vicious flashback to the recent dark ages for the Leafs, when they played in a decrepit arena called “The Gardens” and were captained by a man named Vaive…
When a team loses big games once or twice, the general idea is that the team has just hit a “skid”. If the team continues to lose a few more games, then it’s a losing streak. But if the team still continues to lose, like the Maple Leafs in question, it puts them in a special category – the same one that Columbus is in this year or that Ottawa was in back in the mid 90’s – The Swoon.
It comes on slowly and almost unknowingly – indeed, you never know that it’s here until it’s too late – but once it arrives, you’ll know it, baby. Children will be openly weeping in the stands, fans will be burning jerseys in the parking lot and the radio airwaves will be filled with angry, screaming callers, all demanding a pound of flesh from the management, the captain, the goalie – it doesn’t matter who, really, just so long as somebody pays in blood. Don’t believe me? Just ask any fan of the Philadelphia Eagles – they hung out Terrell Owens, Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid to dry this year as soon as the team hit the Swoon.
Yes, as soon as a team – especially one like the fan base that the Leafs have – hits the swoon, fans immediately have two reactions:
- They begin to refer to the team as “They” (as in “They lost on us again”), as opposed to when the team is winning, which is when the team is referred to as “we” (As in “We won again, eh?)
- They begin to froth at the mouth, screaming, swearing and shaking uncontrollably while in the midst of a rage against the team they loved to much, just weeks before, blaming each and every member of the team (including employees of the team – such as the popcorn maker, the guy who operates the skate-sharpening machine and the guy who changes light bulbs on the overhead scoreboard)
This is why the team has been so quiet recently, whereas that other winter Toronto team (The Raptors of the NBA) has been so loud – the Leaf fans might want Pat Quinn, Ed Belfour or Mats Sundin out of the team (indeed, maybe even out of the country), but they could never face a reality of the Leafs doing so: It would be akin to suicide at this point in the year, with a potential playoff spot (the #8 seed) up for grabs – and besides, what if they blame the wrong person?
The Raptors know that they can get away with their changes – their former GM, Rob Babcock, publicly denounced the team during the pre-season (Saying that the team was going to be worse then their 33 and 49 record), made the basketball equivalent of the Munich Pact with the New Jersey Nets/Miami Heat (when the Raptors essentially traded away Vince Carter for two nobodies and had to pay $30 million on top for the privilege of doing so) and drafted Rafael Araujo – who has proven, despite occasional flashes of greatness (mostly in the preseason, unfortunately) to be one of the biggest flops in the NBA – he almost certainly is one of, if not the, reason that the Raptors have not made the postseason in his tenure.
But with the Leafs it’s not that easy to blame someone – after all, this swoon is not the cause of any one single player: Mats Sundin, Tie Domi and Jeff O’Neill are under-performing. Ed Belfour’s goaltending is shaky at best. The Leafs defence is stretched dangerously thin – relying almost completely on Bryan McCabe. Their GM, John Ferguson Jr., let Brian Leetch go on the off season and passed on signing Curtis Joseph – they’re now having career years – and didn’t buy out contracts of underachievers as Ed Belfour or Nik Andropov. The Leafs failure is not the result of one single person – it’s the result of many different failures. None of them were major – but all the small mistakes are adding up quickly.
From their reliance on getting veteran players in Free Agency and from trades, to a steady flow of talent away from Toronto’s blue line to all their major players either underachieving (Mats Sundin, Ed Belfour, Jason Allison) or being sidelined with injury (Eric Lindros, Bryan McCabe, Darcy Tucker) – the Leafs, as a whole, are to blame for this Mid-Season Swoon.
Even so, the Leafs have a steady core of rookie and prospective players: Both Kyle Wellwood and Alex Steen are enjoying great seasons, while players like Justin Pogge will provide a bright future for the Leafs in a few years – right now, this is the major distinction from the other Leaf teams in years past – all too often, Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment was only too keen to trade away young players for already proven – and aged – talent. This is how Toronto ended up with Doug Gilmour, Brian Leetch or Wendel Clark in recent years – and look where they’ve taken the team.
Besides, it’s not even halfway through the season – at least wait until the Olympics are over before we worry about the Playoffs.
Super Bowl Sunday predictions:
Seattle Seahawks vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (Vegas Line: Steelers –4)
My pick: Pittsburgh
Not only does Big Ben look more and more like one of the greatest quarterbacks in the league, the Steelers are looking stellar: they’ve upset three teams in the playoffs so far, all games that they were supposed to have no chance in, to get here… and with a week off, the team should be rested enough to play at their fullest.
Seattle, on the other hand, has Shaun Alexander; the most explosive running back in the league – but is playing a defence that has only allowed one 100yd runner in this postseason, is ranked 3rd overall against the run and will utilize a 3-4 defence (Seattle lost their last game against a team that used a similar defencive scheme [13-10 vs. Dallas]) – which should diminish the chances that Alexander will get. If nothing else, this game will show Alexander for what he is – either a MVP level back that can carry his team to victory or a running back that has succeeded in a easy division…
We can’t forget the intangibles either: Jerome Bettis is from Detroit and many Steeler fans are making the trip up to Detroit for the game (whereas many Seattle fans will be sitting at home, watching the ABC-TV feed) – this will make this game almost a home-field advantage for the Steelers. On the other hand, though, the Steelers have had a week off and are the favorites: The adrenaline from their 3-0 run through the postseason could have worn off by now and they’re used to playing against the crowd, against the Vegas Casinos and against, seemingly, all odds; but now that they have all the advantages in their favor, will they be able to work up the same drive and stamina that they needed against the favorites? If they can, the game is all but theirs. If not, then the game’s victor suddenly becomes uncertain and the desperate gamblers in Vegas will be hoping that the Steelers at least cover the spread.
One thing is for sure – this will continue the trend of great Super Bowls that we’ve had since 2000. Look for this game to show up in the wee hours on Classic Sports in a few years, okay?
When a team loses big games once or twice, the general idea is that the team has just hit a “skid”. If the team continues to lose a few more games, then it’s a losing streak. But if the team still continues to lose, like the Maple Leafs in question, it puts them in a special category – the same one that Columbus is in this year or that Ottawa was in back in the mid 90’s – The Swoon.
It comes on slowly and almost unknowingly – indeed, you never know that it’s here until it’s too late – but once it arrives, you’ll know it, baby. Children will be openly weeping in the stands, fans will be burning jerseys in the parking lot and the radio airwaves will be filled with angry, screaming callers, all demanding a pound of flesh from the management, the captain, the goalie – it doesn’t matter who, really, just so long as somebody pays in blood. Don’t believe me? Just ask any fan of the Philadelphia Eagles – they hung out Terrell Owens, Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid to dry this year as soon as the team hit the Swoon.
Yes, as soon as a team – especially one like the fan base that the Leafs have – hits the swoon, fans immediately have two reactions:
- They begin to refer to the team as “They” (as in “They lost on us again”), as opposed to when the team is winning, which is when the team is referred to as “we” (As in “We won again, eh?)
- They begin to froth at the mouth, screaming, swearing and shaking uncontrollably while in the midst of a rage against the team they loved to much, just weeks before, blaming each and every member of the team (including employees of the team – such as the popcorn maker, the guy who operates the skate-sharpening machine and the guy who changes light bulbs on the overhead scoreboard)
This is why the team has been so quiet recently, whereas that other winter Toronto team (The Raptors of the NBA) has been so loud – the Leaf fans might want Pat Quinn, Ed Belfour or Mats Sundin out of the team (indeed, maybe even out of the country), but they could never face a reality of the Leafs doing so: It would be akin to suicide at this point in the year, with a potential playoff spot (the #8 seed) up for grabs – and besides, what if they blame the wrong person?
The Raptors know that they can get away with their changes – their former GM, Rob Babcock, publicly denounced the team during the pre-season (Saying that the team was going to be worse then their 33 and 49 record), made the basketball equivalent of the Munich Pact with the New Jersey Nets/Miami Heat (when the Raptors essentially traded away Vince Carter for two nobodies and had to pay $30 million on top for the privilege of doing so) and drafted Rafael Araujo – who has proven, despite occasional flashes of greatness (mostly in the preseason, unfortunately) to be one of the biggest flops in the NBA – he almost certainly is one of, if not the, reason that the Raptors have not made the postseason in his tenure.
But with the Leafs it’s not that easy to blame someone – after all, this swoon is not the cause of any one single player: Mats Sundin, Tie Domi and Jeff O’Neill are under-performing. Ed Belfour’s goaltending is shaky at best. The Leafs defence is stretched dangerously thin – relying almost completely on Bryan McCabe. Their GM, John Ferguson Jr., let Brian Leetch go on the off season and passed on signing Curtis Joseph – they’re now having career years – and didn’t buy out contracts of underachievers as Ed Belfour or Nik Andropov. The Leafs failure is not the result of one single person – it’s the result of many different failures. None of them were major – but all the small mistakes are adding up quickly.
From their reliance on getting veteran players in Free Agency and from trades, to a steady flow of talent away from Toronto’s blue line to all their major players either underachieving (Mats Sundin, Ed Belfour, Jason Allison) or being sidelined with injury (Eric Lindros, Bryan McCabe, Darcy Tucker) – the Leafs, as a whole, are to blame for this Mid-Season Swoon.
Even so, the Leafs have a steady core of rookie and prospective players: Both Kyle Wellwood and Alex Steen are enjoying great seasons, while players like Justin Pogge will provide a bright future for the Leafs in a few years – right now, this is the major distinction from the other Leaf teams in years past – all too often, Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment was only too keen to trade away young players for already proven – and aged – talent. This is how Toronto ended up with Doug Gilmour, Brian Leetch or Wendel Clark in recent years – and look where they’ve taken the team.
Besides, it’s not even halfway through the season – at least wait until the Olympics are over before we worry about the Playoffs.
Super Bowl Sunday predictions:
Seattle Seahawks vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (Vegas Line: Steelers –4)
My pick: Pittsburgh
Not only does Big Ben look more and more like one of the greatest quarterbacks in the league, the Steelers are looking stellar: they’ve upset three teams in the playoffs so far, all games that they were supposed to have no chance in, to get here… and with a week off, the team should be rested enough to play at their fullest.
Seattle, on the other hand, has Shaun Alexander; the most explosive running back in the league – but is playing a defence that has only allowed one 100yd runner in this postseason, is ranked 3rd overall against the run and will utilize a 3-4 defence (Seattle lost their last game against a team that used a similar defencive scheme [13-10 vs. Dallas]) – which should diminish the chances that Alexander will get. If nothing else, this game will show Alexander for what he is – either a MVP level back that can carry his team to victory or a running back that has succeeded in a easy division…
We can’t forget the intangibles either: Jerome Bettis is from Detroit and many Steeler fans are making the trip up to Detroit for the game (whereas many Seattle fans will be sitting at home, watching the ABC-TV feed) – this will make this game almost a home-field advantage for the Steelers. On the other hand, though, the Steelers have had a week off and are the favorites: The adrenaline from their 3-0 run through the postseason could have worn off by now and they’re used to playing against the crowd, against the Vegas Casinos and against, seemingly, all odds; but now that they have all the advantages in their favor, will they be able to work up the same drive and stamina that they needed against the favorites? If they can, the game is all but theirs. If not, then the game’s victor suddenly becomes uncertain and the desperate gamblers in Vegas will be hoping that the Steelers at least cover the spread.
One thing is for sure – this will continue the trend of great Super Bowls that we’ve had since 2000. Look for this game to show up in the wee hours on Classic Sports in a few years, okay?
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