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| Friday, January 18, 2008 |
Mel Kiper takes a look ahead to the needs of the NFC East for the upcoming draft.
Wide receiver is the No. 1 need of the Dallas Cowboys. Terry Glenn and Terrell Owens aren’t getting any younger and Patrick Crayton is not a No. 1 receiver. Their second need is at cornerback because the Cowboys had trouble matching up in coverage late in the season. Terence Newman is a very good cornerback, but Anthony Henry has been up and down and Jacques Reeves has struggled. Another need is an offensive lineman with some versatility since Flozell Adams is a free agent. Dallas drafted tackle James Marten last year, but Jerry Jones could address that position again. Running back is another area where depth would help. Julius Jones is a free agent and the Cowboys like having that backfield tandem. Marion Barber dishes out a lot of hits, but he also takes his fair share.
Certainly, as a Cowboys fan, that’s pretty much my take as well. Obviously, what happens in free agency — including decisions on our own free agents — will factor in heavily. If Dallas can sign a Marcus Trufant or make a deal for a top free agent wideout, then obviously the draft needs change. My druthers, though, would be to draft the best available athletes, focusing on wide receiver and defensive back. I’d also love to grab a good quarterback prospect on Day 2 to groom as the eventual backup.
The Cowboys have two number one picks. Sadly, their gamble of trading last year’s #22 overall to Cleveland in hopes of getting a top five pick this year didn’t pay off; Cleveland picks 22nd this year. (Dallas did get an additional #2 last year and traded back up to the 1st to get Anthony Spencer, whom they’d have taken with the 22nd pick, so they still come out ahead. But still.) My druthers would be to either take the best player on the board twice or trade one of them down to get more picks. Knowing Jerry Jones, though, he’ll likely try to package them and make a splash.
The New York Giants‘ primary need is at outside linebacker. Mathias Kiwanuka — who missed six games with a broken leg — is transitioning from defensive end in college to outside linebacker. Kawika Mitchell could leave in free agency and Reggie Torbor is average. At safety, Gibril Wilson is a free agent and they don’t have a standout at the position. In a league where more teams have tight ends who can stretch the field, teams need that cornerstone safety. Offensive line help on the left side is an area they could address in terms of depth, although it isn’t a huge need. Cornerback Aaron Ross was a very good pick last year and he’s done a very good job, but he’s just one player. Sam Madison is 33 and Corey Webster has been up and down.
The Philadelphia Eagles need to look at taking a cornerback fairly early in draft. Lito Sheppard has been banged up and Sheldon Brown is a solid No. 2 corner, but with more teams putting three and four wide receivers on the field, depth at that position is necessary. Defensive end Trent Cole is good, but he could use some help on the opposite side. The Eagles like to draft defensive and offensive linemen early, so look for them to do both. At wide receiver, the Eagles have two No. 2 wide receivers (Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown) but they don’t have a true No. 1. Offensive tackle Tra Thomas is 33 years old and you have to wonder how much confidence the Eagles have in Winston Justice. Brian Dawkins is a great player, but he’s getting up there in age (34), so they could draft a safety to develop for the future. L.J. Smith has had injury issues and is a free agent, so the tight end position could be addressed, although last year’s fifth-round pick, Brent Celek, has shown some ability.
The Washington Redskins could first use an effective pass-rusher and a No. 1 wide receiver — Brandon Lloyd has been a bust. They like Anthony Mix, who played with QB Jason Campbell at Auburn, but he’s a developmental receiver. In addition to a pass-rusher, Washington could also use a defensive tackle who can collapse the pocket and get penetration. The cornerback position could be an area of need, especially if former first-round pick Carlos Rogers starts the season on the physically unable to perform list. Also look for them to pick up a versatile offensive lineman, someone who could play either center or guard. Safety isn’t a pressing need, but an area they could address. LaRon Landry played free safety but Washington would like to move him back to strong safety, and Reed Doughty held his own late in the season at strong safety.
I know the other teams much less well than the Cowboys but that sounds right. The NFC East is, in my opinion, once again the deepest division in football.
He was a member of the famed Steel curtain in the 1970′ss. While I was a heavy football watcher in those days, what I remember Holmes best from was from a ABC show Superteams.(A spinoff of the show, Superstars) They matched up ten or 12 members of the last Super Bowl teams in various events. The last of which was a tug of war on a beach in Hawaii.
Pittsburgh at first was winning the tug of war, but Dallas then got the momentum and turned things around. Holmes was the Steelers man, in an effort to turn the momentum back Pittsburgh’s way he ran to the front of the line, leaving someone else to be anchor. Dallas won the tug of war and that year’s version of Superteams.
Update- I found mention of Ernie in that Superteams show that used to be aired by ABC. Click here. It was between Pittsburgh and Minnesota not Pittsburgh and Dallas.
Somehow that television moment sticks in my mind 30 years later. RIP Ernie.
DALLAS – Ernie Holmes, who won two Super Bowls as an anchor of Pittsburgh’s famed “Steel Curtain” defense in the 1970s, died in a car crash. He was 59.
Holmes was driving alone Thursday night when his car left the road and rolled several times near Lumberton, about 80 miles from Houston, a Texas Department of Public Safety dispatcher said Friday.
He was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the car, and pronounced dead at the scene, the department said.
Holmes, an ordained minister, lived on a ranch in Wiergate. His death was first reported by Beaumont TV station KFDM.
The two-time All-Pro played for the Steelers from 1972-77 and spent part of the 1978 season with New England before retiring. He played on a defensive line with Steel Curtain teammates “Mean” Joe Greene, L.C. Greenwood and Dwight White.
The group stayed in touch, getting together at least three or four times a year, Holmes said last year in a story on the Steelers’ Web site.
“Ernie was one of the toughest players to ever wear a Steelers uniform,” Steelers chairman Dan Rooney said in a statement. “He was a key member of our famous Steel Curtain defense, and many people who played against him considered Ernie almost impossible to block. At his best, he was an intimidating player who even the toughest of opponents did not want to play against.”
Holmes was part of a front four in the 1975 Super Bowl that helped limit Minnesota to 17 yards rushing and 119 total yards. The Steelers won their first Super Bowl, 16-6. They were back a year later, beating Dallas 21-17 in the title game.
Holmes had a reputation for being “stone crazy,” he told Time magazine in 1975. That came mostly from a case early in his career when he pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon following a bizarre episode in which he fired a pistol at trucks and a police helicopter. He was sentenced to five years’ probation.
Holmes was nicknamed “Fats” for most of his life. He also was nicknamed “Arrowhead Holmes” in 1974 when he shaved his head, leaving only an arrow-shaped pattern of hair on his skull.
Holmes, who was about 6-foot-3 and 260 pounds during his career, also told the magazine he was attracted to the violence of football.
“I don’t mind knocking somebody out,” Holmes said. “If I hear a moan and a groan coming from a player I’ve hit, the adrenaline flows within me. I get more energy and play harder.”
After football, Holmes had minor acting roles. He appeared in an episode of the 1980s TV show “The A-Team” and dabbled in professional wrestling.
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He was a genius on a chess board. No doubt about it. Off the board he was controversial and often wrong. Though some of his claims, like the Soviet players collaborating at the 1962 Candidates Tournament in Curacao, were eventually proved true.
My interest in chess was sparked by the Fischer-Spassky match in 1972.(I met and played Boris at a US Open played in South Florida in the 1980′s and got my clock cleaned in 26 moves.) Joining the US Chess Federation in 1973 and beginning to play correspondence chess the next year. 34 years later I’m still playing competitive corr. chess. You could say Fischer affected my life. As it may have for fellow Wizbang contributor Jim Addison, Jim is an active over the board player today.
Sadly after reaching the pinnacle of the chess world, Fischer basically disappeared from sight. His only return to the chess board being a re-match with Spassky in 1992.(Ironically one of my current CC games is at a position after 19 moves only seen before in one of that year’s match games) Genius at the chess board if often short lived or takes its toll in other ways. Other greats of the game at a young age, Mikhail Tal and Paul Morphy among others, burned out or died young or both. In Fischer’s case, it looks like he burned out. Where do you go once you become the best in the world? RIP Bobby.
REYKJAVIK, Iceland – Bobby Fischer, the reclusive chess genius who became a Cold War icon by dethroning the Soviet world champion in 1972 and later renounced his American citizenship, has died. He was 64.
Fisher died in a Reykjavik hospital on Thursday, his spokesman, Gardar Sverrisson, said Friday. There was no immediate word on cause of death.
Born in Chicago and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Fischer was wanted in the United States for playing a 1992 rematch against Boris Spassky in Yugoslavia in defiance of international sanctions. In 2005, he moved to Iceland, a chess-mad nation and site of his greatest triumph.
Garry Kasparov, the former Russian chess champion, said Fischer’s ascent in the chess world in the 1960s and his promotion of chess worldwide was “a revolutionary breakthrough” for the game. But Fischer’s reputation as a genius of chess was eclipsed, in the eyes of many, by his idiosyncrasies.
“The tragedy is that he left this world too early, and his extravagant life and scandalous statements did not contribute to the popularity of chess,” Kasparov told The Associated Press.
He lost his world title in 1975 after refusing to defend it against Anatoly Karpov. He dropped out of competitive chess and largely out of view, emerging occasionally to make erratic and often anti-Semitic comments, although his mother was Jewish.
Spassky said in a brief phone call from his home in France that he was “very sorry” to hear of the death of his friend and rival.
An American chess champion at 14 and a grand master at 15, Fischer dethroned the Spassky in 1972 in a series of games in Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, to claim America’s first world chess championship in more than a century.
The match, at the height of the Cold War, took on mythic dimensions as a clash between the world’s two superpowers.
Fischer played — and won — an exhibition rematch against Spassky on the resort island of Sveti Stefan, but the game was in violation of U.S. sanctions imposed to punish then-President Slobodan Milosevic.
In July 2004, Fischer was arrested at Japan’s Narita airport for traveling on a revoked U.S. passport and threatened with extradition to the United States. He spent nine months in custody before the dispute was resolved when Iceland granted him citizenship.
In his final years, Fischer railed against the chess establishment, alleging that the outcomes of many top-level chess matches were decided in advance.
Instead, he championed his concept of random chess, in which pieces are shuffled at the beginning of each match in a bid to reinvigorate the game.
“I don’t play the old chess,” he told reporters when he arrived in Iceland in 2005. “But obviously if I did, I would be the best.”
Born in Chicago in March 9, 1943, Robert James Fischer was a child prodigy, playing competitively from the age of 8.
At 13, he became the youngest player to win the United States Junior Championship. At 14, he won the United States Open Championship for the first of eight times.
At 15, he gained the title of international grand master, the youngest person to hold the title.
Tall, charismatic and with striking looks, he was a chess star — but already gaining a reputation for volatile behavior.
He turned up late for tournaments, walked out of matches, refused to play unless the lighting suited him and was intolerant of photographers and cartoonists. He was convinced of his own superiority and called the Soviets “Commie cheats.”
His behavior often unsettled opponents — to Fischer’s advantage.
This was seen most famously in the showdown with Spassky in Reykjavik between July and September 1972. Having agreed to play Spassky in Yugoslavia, Fischer raised one objection after another to the arrangements and they wound up playing in Iceland.
When play got under way, days late, Fischer lost the first game with an elementary blunder after discovering that television cameras he had reluctantly accepted were not unseen and unheard, but right behind the players’ chairs.
He boycotted the second game and the referee awarded the point to Spassky, putting the Russian ahead 2-0.
But then Spassky agreed to Fischer’s demand that the games be played in a back room away from cameras. Fischer went on to beat Spassky, 12.5 points to 8.5 points in 21 games.
Americans, gripped in their millions by the contest, rejoiced in the victory over their Cold War adversary.
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Who thought snafus by the golf media would grab so much attention in 2008?
The editor of Golfweek magazine said he was overwhelmed by negative reaction to the photo of a noose on the cover of this week’s issue, illustrating a story about the suspension of a Golf Channel anchor for using the word “lynch” in an on-air discussion about how to beat Tiger Woods.
“We knew that image would grab attention, but I didn’t anticipate the enormity of it,” Dave Seanor, vice president and editor of the weekly magazine, said from the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla.
“There’s been a huge, negative reaction,” he said. “I’ve gotten so many e-mails. It’s a little overwhelming.”
Among the critics was PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, who said he found the imagery to be “outrageous and irresponsible.”
“It smacks of tabloid journalism,” Finchem said in a statement. “It was a naked attempt to inflame and keep alive an incident that was heading to an appropriate conclusion.”
Golfweek’s cover was inappropriate and in bad taste as were Kelly Tilghman’s comments about Tiger. The media that covers the sport is being put under a microscope right now. To be honest, the people who cover golf, are some of the laziest people in the MSM. I could spend a half hour detailing why I say that. Instead I’ll just point to the latest example provided by Golf World’s Ron Sirak.
As much as I don’t mind the golf media taking some long overdue lumps, I wish the focus right now was on the course.
Update- Golf Week has replaced the editor responsible for the noose cover. Is it ironic Seanor lost his job while Kelly Tilghman was only suspended?
Who thought immigration would become a sports issue. From the Houston Chronicle-
Miguel Tejada’s immigration status could be in peril in light of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s decision to ask the Department of Justice to investigate whether the new Astros shortstop lied to federal investigators in 2005.
Tejada, a native of the Dominican Republic, is a legal U.S. resident with a green card. Yet there are some instances in which he could be denied entry back into the country just by admitting he committed a crime for which he is being investigated.
“Obstruction of justice is considered under immigration law a crime involving moral turpitude,” said attorney Alexandre Afanassiev, who practices immigration litigation. “So the question then becomes, how long did he have his green card? Why? Because the law says that if you had your green card for less than five years and then committed a crime of moral turpitude, you can be subject to deportation. In other words, they can take your green card away because of that crime and (have you) sent home.”
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House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., announced Tuesday that he is asking Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate whether Tejada lied in 2005 to federal agents investigating whether former Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles slugger Rafael Palmeiro perjured himself during the panel’s first set of hearings on steroids in baseball in March 2005. In those hearings, conducted several months before Palmeiro tested positive for steroids, the power-hitting first baseman denied using the banned substance.
Tejada was interviewed after Palmeiro claimed he likely tested positive because Tejada gave him steroid-tainted B-12 vitamins. During that interview, Tejada told investigators he had never used steroids and had no knowledge of other players who did. Yet in former Sen. George Mitchell’s report, Tejada’s former Oakland teammate, Adam Piatt, claimed he provided Tejada with steroids after the shortstop asked him about the substances.
Pro golfer, then a citizen of Trinidad & Tobago and now a duel citizen of Canada, had visa difficutlies at least twice during the 1990′s. Pro athletes working in the US aren’t immune.
I really don’t enough to say if lying to federal investigators is grounds for deportation or loss of residency. Lying to the feds is not a good idea under any circumstances, if Miguel did so, he then takes the blame for any consequences because of it.
It seems us hardcore Yankee fans (notice it’s not YankeeS fans) are looking forward to 2008 more so than any other season in a long time. In 2007, we saw that our top prospects were not over-hyped as Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy lived up to or exceeded expectations. The only dampers were Hughes’ three-month injury that spoiled an important developmental year and Joba’s loss of control for one inning in the playoffs that essentially ended the series. Assuming none are traded, all will be important pieces of the ball club in 2008 and well beyond. With their potential production for the next decade at stake, Yankee management is taking every precaution to ensure the Trio can and will contribute for as long as possible. While this may hamper the 2008 team due to innings limitations, it is a necessary evil to maintain the viability of the Big Three (could the group have a more boring nickname?) and the team as a whole for years to come.
In what way should the Trio be used, in what way will they be used, and what can we reasonably expect from them?
First we have to look at their innings totals in 2007 between the minors and majors, how much those increased from 2006, and how much we can expect from them this year:
Hughes pitched 72.2 with the Yankees, 5.2 in the playoffs and 37.2 in the minors = 116 total innings pitched. That’s exactly 30 fewer innings than 2006 (due to the pulled hamstring and the ensuing ankle sprain). With the knowledge that he pitched 146 innings in 2006, it’s possible he could be stretched to 170 innings.
Joba pitched 24 with the Yanks, 3.2 in the playoffs and 88.1 in the minors = 116 total. That’s 11 fewer than 2006, when he threw 89.1 at Nebraska and 37.2 in the Hawaiian Winter League. He probably won’t be stretched beyond 150, but some put it up to 170.
Kennedy pitched 19 with the Yanks and 146.1 in the minors = 165.1 total innings. He threw almost exactly 30 more innings than he did in 2006 (101.2 at USC, 2.2 in the minors and 30.1 in Hawaii). He’s ahead of the others, so we can reasonably expect 195 innings this year.
We saw how safe management played it last year with the ‘Joba Rules’, even in the midst of a pennant race. Going by the ‘Rule of 30’ (supported by Rick Peterson, Will Carroll and Tom Verducci) none of the Trio will be allowed to reach 200 innings in 2008. If we assume we’ll get 200 each from Wang and Pettitte, who each topped 200 in ’07 (counting the playoffs), it would still require about 550 innings from the remaining starters. The 2007 Yankees compiled just 921 innings by starters, 27 fewer than the AL average of 948 – a reasonable goal for the upcoming season. This is especially true considering starter-friendly Joe Girardi is now manager and the bullpen is currently weak. 948 innings pitched equates to 182.2 innings over three pitchers (not doable with the Trio) or 137 innings over four (very doable). (I always think of George’s secretary when I hear ‘doable’.)
With this in mind, and assuming that any or all of them will outperform Mike Mussina (of the 5.15 2007 ERA), the Big Three should be used to their maximum innings limits. That means no more than 150 innings for Hughes and Joba, and 200 for Kennedy. (Of course, if they should have low pitch counts, their limits could be extended. Wang went from 150 innings in 2005 to 218 in 2006.)If we say the Trio will average six innings per start, that would allow the former duo to start 25 games each and Kennedy to start 33 games. Great, pretty much a full season from Kennedy and over two-thirds from Hughes and Joba. However, it still leaves about 50 starter innings unaccounted for, hence a number of spot starts will be needed from Mussina or the hot hand of the moment – perhaps someone from Scranton like Alan Horne, Steven White, Kei Igawa or Jeff Marquez. That would require a kind of 5 ½-man rotation, going something along the lines of:
1. Wang
2. Pettitte
3. Kennedy (due to higher innings limit)
4. Hughes (assuming his limit is only 150 innings)
5. Joba (an April rotation that is 100% homegrown!)
6. Mussina
Moose will need to fill in for Hughes and Joba (alternately) roughly twice for every four times through the rotation. However, with off days, it would drop to about eight starts throughout the season. This maximizes our best starters, minimizes our worst (sorry Moose), and keeps the Trio within their individual innings limitations.
The problem with tandem starting (i.e., having Joba pitch four innings followed by Hughes going four too every fifth game) is that neither pitcher builds up significant arm strength. We want these guys to head into 2009 able to pitch at least six innings per start. They won’t start as often in my rotation, but when they do it will be treated pretty much as a normal ‘go as long as you can’ start. If Joe, Cash and Co. ever get concerned with the kids over-extending themselves, that’s what Moose and Scranton are for.
I haven’t yet touched on the argument that Joba should be a reliever because it just doesn’t make sense (unless it’s only done to limit innings), but to summarize (as RAB did excellently on Tuesday): 150 vs. 75 innings (and the difficulty that brings when trying to increase Joba’s innings again in 2009 (of course, that’s not a problem if he becomes a full time reliever)), four average to plus-plus pitches, the ability to maintain velocity late into games, the difficulty of finding/acquiring a ‘True #1 Ace’ (™) starter, and the ever-present fail safe option: if Joba does fail at starting, he can always fall back to relieving – pitchers don’t just fall back to starting. Make no mistake, the long-term plan is to make Joba a starter. That said, using Joba as a reliever through the first month or two wouldn’t be terrible, but converting him back to starting (a transition that could take a month by itself) is much harder than going from starting to relieving – that conversion wouldn’t happen until late in the season, and then what would happen in the playoffs? Would the Yanks try to convert him back to starting on the cusp of the playoffs? Or would they force (maybe) their best starter to stay in the pen?
As far as the playoffs go, there probably won’t be any restrictions (just as the ‘Joba Rules’ were lifted last year in October), so no worries there.
The benefit of the 5.5-man rotation is that these questions don’t have to be answered. Moose is part of the team whether we like it or not, but he can be effective as a long reliever and spot starter (and occasional set-up man if Farnsy, LaTroy, etc. need a rest) so as to not waste a roster spot. It also allows Hughes, Joba and Kennedy (all better than Moose) to start throughout the year, gaining valuable experience that can’t be gleaned from relieving, never having to transition between roles, limiting innings to ensure their health, and allowing the team to have one of the best long relievers/spot starters in baseball. This assumes they remain healthy, which is always a crap shoot, but there’s no guarantee that Wang, Pettitte or even Johan Santana will either.
Example of the 5.5-man rotation (assuming no off days):
Week1
Wang
Pettitte
Kennedy
Hughes 1
Joba 1
Wk2
W
P
K
H2
J2
Wk3
W
P
K
H3
Moose 1
Wk4
W
P
K
J3
M2
Then back to Week 1.
These proposals are all well and good, but the Yankees seem to be leaning toward giving a spot straight out to Mussina and letting the Trio fight for the two remaining spots. That is unfortunately what I believe will be the case this year (at least going into the season), with the probability of the odd-man out pitching in Scranton (or out of the pen) to limit his innings then coming up to the Bronx around mid-season to spell Mussina. Management and fans need to have patience – I truly believe the pen will be above average by mid-season: Albaladejo will be solid, Farnsworth out of the windup will cause less heart attacks, Ohlendorf brings his nasty stuff, Edwar will improve his command (call me an optimist), and later in the year the possibilities of Alan Horne, Humberto Sanchez and Mark Melancon stepping into important roles. The problem with Joba in the pen is the fear that he’ll be so good that management (read Hank Steinbrenner) and the average fan will only see the short-term success (as a great set-up man) instead of the long-term possibilities (perennial Cy Young candidate).
Before we cast off Moose completely, we should evaluate whether he will have a worse 2008 than any of the Trio (in other words: what should we expect from the Big Three this year)?
Scores of scouting reports have been written on the Trio, most of them glowing, but it’s their track records that will ensure their short and long-term success. Let’s start with Hughes. The ‘popped’ hammy was an absolute killer – Hughes was going through his usual ‘adjustment game’ that he has at every level (the first game in which he dominates), only to have the fairytale night cut short by a serious injury that sidelined him until August, and he didn’t hit his stride again until September. Based on the following evidence, we can expect 10-15 wins and an ERA around 4.00 in 150 innings.
Exhibit A: consensus top pitching prospect in all MLB heading into 2007 as a 20-year old;
Exhibit B: nearly threw a no-hitter in his second ML game;
Exhibit C: dominant minor league stats through 2.5 seasons – better than Clay Buchholz at a younger age with a better size/frame and mechanics;
Exhibit D: an average AL pitcher (4.46 ERA, 100 ERA+) as the youngest pitcher in all baseball (and counting the playoffs, his ERA drops to 4.14);
Exhibit E: the Yanks best starter in September and October (coinciding with Dave Eiland joining the team?);
Exhibit F: for what it’s worth, ZIPS projects him to a 3.70 ERA in 141 innings.
As for Joba, he’s been a starter his entire college and professional career until July of last year. It was great to see him excel in a relief role (the best ERA+ in history among pitchers with at least 24 innings) but how will he fare in the rotation? The Yanks top prospect as ranked by Baseball America, John Sickels, along with every other prospect publication, we can expect a season similar to Hughes’: ERA around 4.00, 150 innings. He’ll get hit more as he loses velocity and batters see him three and four times a game (compared to 1-2 inning relief stints), but his high strikeout rate will limit the damage.
Kennedy is a very interesting case – he doesn’t have the stuff of Hughes or Joba but at this point is a more ‘polished’ (as Dave Eiland put it) pitcher, possessing command of four pitches with the most college and pro experience. Oh, and he was named 2007 ‘Minor League Pitcher of the Year.’ That said, there’s no way he pulls off another 1.89 ERA season, and while he has the ability to have a better 2008 than either Hughes or Joba (because of the higher innings limit and ‘polish’), I see a year along the lines of 4.40 ERA over 190 innings.
As for Moose, he wasn’t as bad as his ERA would indicate. Outside of three horrendous starts in August, his ERA was under 4.50. But he will be 39, so an ERA between 4.50 and 5.00 over 50+ innings sounds about right.
Sorry for the length of this opus. It was intended to top out at 500 words (the LoHud version) but ballooned to 2000 due to the sheer enthusiasm I experienced writing it. Perhaps by the time you’re done reading, pitchers and catchers will have already reported to Tampa…
sources:
BRef
Baseball Cube
HWL
Moundtalk
NY Times
Newsday
It will be the second year in a row a regular season game was played there. From AP-
The league, which held its first regular season game outside North America in London last October, said Thursday it would come back again in 2008.
The teams, date and venue will be announced during Super Bowl week late this month or in early February.
The New York Giants beat the Miami Dolphins 13-10 in front of 81,176 fans at Wembley Stadium on Oct. 28.
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In 2006, NFL owners agreed to play one or two regular-season games outside the United States for the following five years. The Dolphins and Giants essentially volunteered for the 2007 game and are not expected to be asked to return in the near future.
You mean the Dolphins volunteered for this? If they did, management deserves one of my Knucklehead awards. The team’s fans in Florida deserved the home game, particularly those of us with New York ties. See the New York Giants never played a game at Miami till 1993. In 1970, the NFC and AFC began playing against each other’s teams. Through the quirks of the scheduling process and the 1987 strike, the Dolphins and Giants met only twice between 1970 and 1992(72 and 90) and both games were in New York. Only twice have the Giants played in Miami, 93 and 1996. The next time the teams will be slated to play in Miami is 2012 or 2016!
A year ago they reached the conference finals. From AP-
NEW YORK– The setting was the regular season instead of the postseason, but the stakes seemed nearly as high for the New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres.
Not since the second round of last year’s playoffs had the Rangers faced their Eastern Conference foes. Buffalo moved on to the conference finals then, and now both clubs face a second-half struggle just to get back into the postseason.
Petr Prucha and Brandon Dubinsky each had a goal and an assist to lift the Rangers to a 2-1 victory Wednesday night that stretched the Sabres’ losing streak to 10 games.
Buffalo snapped its run of three straight shootout losses but couldn’t find a way to win. The Sabres haven’t come out on top since a 6-5 shootout victory at Philadelphia on Dec. 22 (0-5-5).
New York jumped from 10th place to eighth in the East with the win, five points in front of No. 11 Buffalo — the team with the NHL’s best record last season.
I really don’t know what’s going on in Buffalo. A year ago I picked them to win the 06-07 Stanley Cup. This year they may be lucky not to avoid the conference cellar.
It isn’t like Buffalo has massive injury problems. That is going on with my Florida Panthers right now, who are slumping only something slightly better than Buffalo. Losing their last 6 home games in a row. At present Florida has four defensemen out with injuries, three of them gone for over a month.
All three South Florida newspapers, The Palm Beach Post, Sun-Sentinel, and Miami Herald are reporting Sparano has been hired. None quotes a Dolphin source, named or unnamed. Still I think the news is true. From the Miami Herald-
The worst-kept secret in South Florida became official today as the Dolphins have completed a deal with Cowboys assistant head coach Tony Sparano today. A news conference has been scheduled for Noon.
Sparano arrived at the team’s facility with general manager Jeff Ireland shortly before 8 a.m. Not long after, team owner Wayne Huizenga showed up in his car for a brief conversation. Huizenga left the building by 9:30 a.m.
Huizenga’s final approval was the only aspect of the negotiations that needed to take place. The owner met for dinner with Sparano and others for 2 ½ hours on Tuesday. After the dinner, Huizenga told The Miami Herald he thought Sparano was ”great” and “terrific.”
I don’t have access to the Herald’s archives, but I seem to recall a similar reaction by Huzienga when Cam Cameron was hired.
So Miami thinks they have the head coach to lead them to victory…..again. Sparano will lead the Dolphins to a better season in 2008(at 1-15 there is almost no where to go but up!) but the team has so many woes at present, I wouldn’t count on a winning season before 2010. Will Dolphin fans and management have the patience to wait that long?
A journeyman pitcher with a career record of 39-38, his career spanned sixteen years, with a 6 year span in the middle where Ridzik pitched 29 innings or less of ML ball or was out of the league entirely. He was a VERY small part of the 1950 pennant winning Philadelphia Phillies known aka The Whiz Kids. Being a fan and player of Strat-O-Matic’s past seasons, I was somewhat familiar with Ridzik’s accomplishments. RIP
BRADENTON — Former professional baseball player Steve Ridzik never forgot the fans who helped him fulfill his dream for more than a decade.
The former pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, the New York Giants and several other teams, who died Jan. 8 of heart disease at 78, helped create a players’ alumni association that raises money for charity.
Ridzik helped organize a Bradenton golf tournament with former baseball players that raised more than $50,000 for Manatee Memorial Hospital in the early 1990s, said his wife, Nancy Ridzik of Bradenton. The ex-ballplayer had undergone open-heart surgery there for a triple bypass a couple of years earlier, she said.
In addition to taking part in several other fundraisers over the years, Ridzik also regularly granted fans’ requests for autographs by signing baseball cards and blank cards that arrived by mail on almost a daily basis, his wife said.
“We’ve even had baseball bats and baseballs sent here” and he obliged, she said.
Born April 29, 1929, in Yonkers, N.Y., Ridzik was signed by the Phillies’ in 1945 at age 16 and pitched his first major league game in 1950, the same year the Phillies went on to win the National League pennant for the first time in 35 years.
Nicknamed “The Whiz Kids” that year because their average age was 26, the Phillies were the youngest team to ever reach the World Series, which they lost to the New York Yankees.
Ridzik subsequently played for the Cincinnati Redlegs, the Giants, the Cleveland Indians and the Washington Senators before retiring from baseball in 1966. He later worked for a food distributor in the Washington, D.C., area before retiring and moving to Bradenton in 1988.
He helped former Senators teammate Chuck Hinton establish the nonprofit Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association in 1982 for former players to serve as goodwill ambassadors of the sport.
Ridzik returned to Philadelphia in 2000 for a 50th anniversary reunion of his pennant-winning team before a crowd of 40,000 in Veterans Stadium.
“He wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” his wife said. “I think there were 13 of the original ‘Whiz Kids’ still around back then, and now there are only about six left.”
In retirement, he enjoyed golfing and watching horse and dog racing.
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