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Random Notes - April 10, 2002

The latest in a seemingly endless string of stupid and classless acts by sports fans occurred last Thursday when fans at Yankee Stadium booed new acquisition Jason Giambi and chanted "Tino, Tino" after the slugger went 0-for-4 in his fourth game as a Yankee. What's worse, the Yankees were ahead 4-0 at the time. As the season moves along and Giambi begins ripping the ball over fences with reckless abandon, Yankee fans will begin to love him. At this point in time, Yankee fans obviously don't realize Giambi's value. First, the Yankee offense without Giambi would be anemic at best. They needed a legitimate power hitter in the middle of their lineup and Giambi fits the profile better than anyone. Equally important from the Yankee perspective is the impact of Giambi's removal from the Oakland lineup. The Yankees nearly lost to the A's in the first round of the American League playoffs in each of the past two seasons despite a payroll three to four times higher. Had Giambi remained in Oakland this season, it is unlikely that New York would have had a chance to get past the A's in the 2002 playoffs. By taking the best player from one of your top competitors, you improve your chances exponentially. It is understandable that Yankee fans love players like Scott Brosius, Paul O'Neill and Tino Martinez, but keeping them around would mark the certain end to the Yankee mini dynasty. By opening up the checkbook and landing all-stars like Giambi, Robin Ventura, David Wells and Rondell White, the Yankees have put themselves in position to beat superior though less financially well-off organizations like Oakland and Seattle. Yankee fans are slow to realize this, but they may be very appreciative when October rolls around.

I was watching the fourth quarter of the Celtics-Heat game on TNT the other night when, with about a minute left in the game, the lower left corner of my television screen flashed an advertisment reading "Brendan Fraser ... The Mummy ... Sunday Night on TNT." This advertisement occurred not during a timeout, but in the middle of the Celtics half-court offense. Kenny Anderson nearly dribbled the ball through the Mummy logo. I was horrified, hoping that someone new was working in the TNT production truck and had simply made a rookie mistake and jumped the gun on the promo. In my heart I knew that it was likely no accident. When television networks began placing the score and time of game in a small capsule on screen during live play, it was a welcomed change. Most viewers appreciated being able to quickly flip to a game and check the score and period. Unfortunately, that positive enhancement opened the door for networks, even the cable stations, to feel obliged to put anything they want on the screen during live play. It's bad enough that the TV screen looks like a Nintendo game, but now we are being forced to view advertising for the Sunday Night Movie plastered over a moving basketball during the last minute of a game that impacts the playoff race. Is TNT in such dire straights financially that they can't wait until play stops to tell us about their non-sports programming? Unfortunately, this obnoxious display is probably just the beginning. Before long, networks will be superimposing their logos on the basketballs, teams will be named after corporations and we'll all have to buy the Superbowl on Pay-Per-View.

On Opening Day, aces Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens and Kevin Brown combined to pitch 11 1/3 innings while giving up 25 hits, 8 walks and 22 earned runs. Their combined ERA was 17.47.

How ridiculous is the NHL's overtime loss point system? Last week the Bruins lost a game but gained ground on the teams chasing them in the standings. It's bad enough that the NHL standings look like an international phone book, but do we really need a system that rewards teams for losing?

Is there a worse organization in sports than the New York Rangers? They spend more money than just about everyone in the league except Detroit, but miss the playoffs every year. This season, they acquired Pavel Bure to make a run at the playoffs and still fell flat on their faces. The rumors are that they will spend even more money next season. Absolutely Pathetic.

What a welcomed addition Johnny Damon and Rey Sanchez are to the Red Sox lineup. They have they significantly strengthened the Sox defensively up the middle and added some much-needed speed to the mix. The two combined for a double-steal the other day. I haven't looked it up, but I'm guessing that it was the first Red Sox double-steal since the FDR administration.

This week's "Are You Freakin' Kidding Me" Award goes to the Buffalo Bills for thinking that the Patriots will trade three-time Pro Bowl Quarterback Drew Bledsoe to the Bills without receiving at least a first-round draft pick in return. These are the same Buffalo Bills who surrendered a first and fourth round draft pick to get the utterly terrible Rob Johnson four years ago.

This season, Major League Baseball wants to cut down on so-called "body armor," the padding that batters wear on their elbows to protect themselves if they are hit by an inside pitch. Craig Biggio and Mo Vaughn come immediately to mind. With the heavy padding, players are less afraid to crowd the plate, a tactic that gives batters a significant advantage over a pitcher trying to work the outside corner. It is believed that batters will be a little more fearful about moving closer to the plate if they don't have the padding to protect themselves. I think this is a good rule, but only if the league also cracks down on umpires that consistently give an extra six inches (a foot in case of Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux) on the outside corner of the plate. When these pitches are called for strikes, batters have no choice but to move closer to the plate.

Question: How do you know if your broadcasting career is going nowhere? Answer: If you are the host of Robot Wars. I wonder if the guy who hosts Robot Wars tells his parents that he is a bathroom attendant so they will be less ashamed of him.

Random Notes - April 3, 2002

I was thoroughly disgusted with the fans at the FleetCenter who booed Antoine Walker on Sunday afternoon following one of Walker's many misses from three point range. Booing the home team when they aren't playing well is a time-honored tradition that can often provide a wake up call for an underperforming home team. The problem with Sunday's booing of Walker is that it came with the Celtics ahead by about 30 points in what was probably their best game of the year. It was equally ludicrous that the fans ire was directed at an NBA All-Star. There is no doubt that Walker had a terrible day shooting the ball, but he rebounded well, played solid defense (including 4 steals) and dished out 9 assists, helping to set up Paul Pierce who scored 32. Walker has often been accused of making bad decisions when it comes to shot selection. Much of this is warranted, but most of Walker's shots on Sunday were open looks at the basket. He simply missed them. Somehow, the despicable trolls who booed Walker failed to realize this fact. Antoine is having a great season and the Celtics would not be in playoff contention, much less #3 in the conference, if not for his contributions. Walker continues to be haunted by his inconsistency in his first few seasons under Rick Pitino. Back then, Walker made one bad decision after another and seemed more concerned with the "Walker Wiggle" than his game.

Times have changed though. Walker, under Jim O'Brien, has matured and is much more of a complete player. He is currently 11th in the NBA in scoring average, 17th in rebounding, 29th in assists (4th among non-guards) and 24th in steals (3rd among power forwards). He has also shown great unselfishness by his understanding that Paul Pierce is the "go-to guy" in the fourth quarter. Walker does not seem to have a problem playing second fiddle to the younger Pierce. Antoine has also toned down his antics on the court.

One of the problems with the fans at the FleetCenter is that most of them are not true Celtics fans. Many of the FleetCenter seats are owned by corporations and the people that sit in those high-priced seats tend to be much more interested in making business deals and talking on their cell phones than watching a basketball game. The typical over/under on how much actual basketball these people watch is about five minutes. Much of the rest of the crowd is comprised of Boston's new generation of bandwagon fans. These are some of the same people who couldn't name more than five Patriot players on January 1st but were the first in line to buy NFL Champion t-shirts after the Superbowl. In much the same way, these people have ignored the Celtics for the better part of five years, but are now showing up in full force now that the team is winning. They don't even realize the strides that Antoine has made over the past two seasons because they haven't been watching. The third group are, as sports radio calls them, the fellowship of the miserable. These people simply cannot be pleased. The Celtics have been losing about 50 games per year for nearly a decade, but somehow this group of whiners can find a reason to complain about a 42-32 team. Don't get me wrong, there are also plenty of die-hards at the FleetCenter who were applauding the great effort on Sunday, but unfortunately, it was probably the contemptible booing and not the cheers that the national television audience noticed. It was a shocking display of classlessness usually reserved for Philadelphia and bandwagon fandom more reminiscent of Los Angeles. Boston is often regarded as one of the best sports towns in America, but on Sunday it the worst.

For those morons who booed Antoine on Sunday, do us all a favor and stay away from the FleetCenter. The knowledgable fans who follow the team on a regular basis do not want you around, the team certainly does not want you around and the City of Boston, basketball fans or not, does not want you making the city look bad on national television. If, in your limitless stupidity, you feel the need to boo the Celtics in the midst of a 30-point victory, please do it from your own home.

On Monday, New Englanders celebrated one of the most important holidays on the calendar. No, I'm not referring to April Fool's Day. I'm talking about Opening Day for the Boston Red Sox. For the past 73 years, however, Red Sox seasons may just as well have all started on April Fool's Day, because Red Sox fans have been fooled into believing that their beloved Olde Towne Team could actually win the World Series. Despite the repeated failures, the baseball season in Boston usually arrives with great anticipation. The Red Sox always seem to have either an abundance of talent but no team chemistry (which describes most of the teams of the past 25 years) or good team chemistry but not quite enough talent to get over the top (1967, 1995, 1999). Consequently, the Spring optimism eventually transforms into Fall discontent. Then winter comes and goes and the frustrations of the previous season are washed away and the cycle begins again. The 2002 Boston Red Sox should probably change the logo on their caps from the traditional "B" to a giant question mark. To be honest, the Red Sox could win anywhere from 75 to 100 games in 2002, depending on the answers to a long list of questions and what-ifs. The most of which are:

Will Pedro, Nomar, Jason Varitek and Tony Clark be healthy? More to the point is how healthy will each of these players be in 2002. If Spring Training is any indication, Jason Varitek and Nomar Garciaparra will be fine. Varitek seems to have recovered from last year's season-ending elbow injury and Nomar has been drilling the baseball all over the State of Florida. Hopefully, Nomar has now realized that he is a shortstop, not a bodybuilder. Pedro, on the other hand, has not looked like the Pedro of old during his starts in Spring Traning. However, the medical staff has proclaimed him healthy and he will start against Toronto on Opening Day. Pedro at 80% is still better than anyone else on this staff, but the Sox may need more than that to compete for a playoff spot. A healthy and productive Clark, whose numbers have declined precipitously over the past two years, batting behind Garciaparra and Ramirez should drive in 120 or more runs this season.

Will Carl Everett's departure help team chemistry? The answer to this question should be an emphatic Yes. By all accounts, Everett's influence on the Red Sox clubhouse was nothing short of disastrous. In each of the past two seasons, the Red Sox have played reasonably well through August and put themselves in position for a Wild Card Playoff spot, only to have the eruptions of Mount Everett ruin the team's focus and send them reeling out of contention.

Will Manny Ramirez find happiness in the Red Sox clubhouse in 2002? Like many Sox fans, I had great concerns about the ability of Manny Ramirez to deal with the pressure of playing in Boston. Manny was well-known for laziness on the field in Cleveland, something that Red Sox fans and the Boston media simply do not tolerate. Last season, Manny first complained about playing left field, then he whined because he felt that the Red Sox clubhouse was too small. I think most of us would work in telephone booth for $20 million per year but for Manny an issue that small is somehow a big deal. Hopefully, a more settled Red Sox clubhouse will allow Manny to focus more on what happens on the field, rather than off the field.

How will Derek Lowe adapt to his rew role as a starter? There is no question that Derek Lowe has the skills to become a 20-game winner as a starting pitcher. The experiment that made Lowe a closer was wildly successful in 2000 as he converted 42 saves in 47 save opportunites, but 2001 was a different story. Lowe often looked shaky in the closer's role and was eventually replaced when the Red Sox traded for fireballer Ugueth Urbina. I think Lowe is much better suited for the starter's role and seems to have the type of the arm that should be able to give the Red Sox 200-plus innings at some point, though not necessarily this season.

With the addition of Johnny Damon and Rickey Henderson, Will the Red Sox finally learn how to steal some bases? It's doubtful that the 43-year-old Henderson will be able to contribute too much to the Red Sox on a regular basis, but he will certainly be an upgrade in the pinch-runner department. Johnny Damon comes with some question marks as well. The 28-year-old centerfielder improved steadily as a Kansas City Royal, averaging .304 with 77 RBI's between 1998 and 2000. Last year, however, Damon got off to a terrible start and ended up batting just .256 with 49 RBIs and 27 stolen bases for the Oakland A's. The Red Sox obviously see his 2001 as an aberration and expect Damon to steal bases, play great defense and give the Red Sox their first legitimate leadoff hitter since Wade Boggs.

Will Dan Duquette's departure make for a happier clubhouse? Only time will tell what the departure of Dan Duquette will mean to the Red Sox. The Duke obviously scored big points with his acquisition of Pedro Martinez from the Expos and his outright thievery of Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek from the Mariners (for the immortal Heathcliff Slocumb). He also drafted Nomar Garciaparra. However, most of the rest of his moves were questionable at best. He lost Clemens and Vaughn for nothing, made one bad financial investment after another (Offerman, Lansing, Saberhagen) and completely depleted a farm system that he was supposed to rebuild. Dan Duquette created a caustic relationship between Red Sox players and management and allowed the word to leak out that the Red Sox are not a player-friendly organization. The new ownership would be well-advised to help change that perception around the league.

Will Skinny El Guapo be as good as ... ummmm Not-so-Skinny El Guapo? I ask this question largely in jest. Rich Garces has become one of the most dependable set-up men in the game and his newfound physique can only help his development.

If the answers to many of these questions are positive then the Red Sox should be in contention for at least the Wild Card. If not, we could be in for a long season. Spring Training bought us mixed news. Nomar, Jason Varitek and Tony Clark appear to be healthy, but John Burkett is ailing. Johnny Damon looks like he will easily shake off his subpar 2001 season and return to the his 1998-2000 form. I have few concerns about Derek Lowe's abilities to adapt to his new role. Garces is solid but Urbina scares me, both on the mound and injury-wise. The talented Carey Fossum will continue to improve and could end up in the Red Sox starting rotation by the end of the year. That leaves the $15 million question. Will Pedro Martinez ever be the same? Rotator cuff injuries, even small ones, can ruin a pitcher's career. With Pedro at 100%, he is capable of being 20 games over .500 by himself. This, coupled with a not-so-lofty goal of 10 games over .500 for the rest of the staff combined, would give the Sox 96 wins and in all likelihood a spot in the 2002 American League Playoffs. The good news is that 2002 could not possibly be any worse than 2001.