I’ve gotten into several hockey arguments lately around my floor and most end the same way. Someone will say the Red Wings are the best team in the league and they will win it all. I simply say they won’t win. I’m usually then put on the spot with the simple question of “who will win?” My answer; I don’t know who will win the cup this year; I just say I would put a lot of money that the team holding the cup in June will not be the Red Wings. The real answer is I have no idea who will win; I just know the two teams that won’t win the Red Wings and the Rangers. The Rangers simply because they are my team and god forbid my team would ever win a championship. However the question I’m usually asked when I say the Red Wings won’t win is “well why not?” In truth I never really had an answer other then, well they won last year and teams rarely repeat. Until one day after one of these arguments I decided to continue to stall from doing my work by watching Scrubs when this quote which has made several appearances in the series came up, “Helping or hurting Turk? Helping or hurting?”
My roommate is a big Red Wings fan, and likes to end every argument before it even starts by just saying the Red Wings are the best, they got Marion Hossa and didn’t give up anything. In fact if even if were talking about how great the GM of a team of a completely different sports, such as the job Jerry Reese has done with the Giants, he’ll pipe in and with a “you want to talk about a great GM, the Detroit Red Wings, we won the cup and then got Marion Hossa without giving up anything.” (We just won’t mention that Detroit is heading for some serious salary cap issues next summer.) This is why after watching scrubs and seeing this great quote it all made sense to me. Is adding Marion Hossa helping or hurting the Wings? There is nothing more important to a team then chemistry, and no team with bad chemistry will ever win a championship. The Red Wings clearly had great chemistry being able to win the Stanley Cup last season, they will have salary cap issues, so instead of saving the extra cap space and using it to reward the players that won them the cup, they go out and bring in a high profile goal scorer. What kind of message does this send to the rest of the team? The Red Wings are not old; yes they do have Chris Chelios who is somewhere around my fathers age. But with his workout he could still keep up with the young stars of the NHL. Not to mention the core of this team is not old by any means. So when management brings in a noted goal scorer it’s almost as if their saying we don’t think you guys are the best even if you just won.
Ice time in Hockey is not even, and it’s not that you just throw out your best players on your first line and then your next best guys and so on. A hockey team is made up of two scoring lines an energy/defensive line, and a big grit mostly defensive 4th line that doesn’t see much of the ice. Detroit prided themselves on having guys on their second and third line that could start on other teams. Those third line guys are not going to score you goals, their job is to stop the other team from scoring, a job that wins championships. Championships are not won by superstars, their won by the role players. Now yes you do need a superstar to get you there, but it usually comes down to which team has the better role players. Role players need to accept their job and love it in order to do it well. Now if you’re on Detroit’s first line, and along comes Mr. Hossa and you’re the one getting bumped off after you just helped this team win a Cup are you going to be happy? Now if you’re the guy on the second line who now gets dropped down to accommodate the guy who was dropped from the first line. Now you’re dropped from a scoring line to a line used for defense. And what if defense isn’t exactly your strength, then you get dropped all the way to the 4th line, where you will only see the ice for about 6 minutes a game, if you see the ice at all. Dropping players that were integral in winning you a championship is not the way to have a happy locker room.
Now you need to make room for Marion Hossa but hockey is a game built on chemistry. Hossa might clearly be better then the player he replaces on the top line, but does Hossa have the chemistry to play with the other two guys. Individually Hossa might be better then the other guy, but as a unit, that line might be better off without him. Often times when a superstar is placed onto a new line, there is pressure to feed him the puck and make him happy, this could throw off the chemistry of a line altogether since the other two guys on the line might now feel added pressure to feed the puck to Hossa, whether the situation calls for it or not. Last season the Rangers went out and signed the two top free agent centers on the market, Scot Gomez and Chris Drury. Leading up to the season all the talk was about the combination of one of those two guys with superstar Jaromir Jagr. But in the end neither one of those guys panned out. Neither was able to play the style that Jagr liked playing, his style best fit the center that the team let go Michael Nylander, and Jagr’s production dropped without him. In fact it was third line rookie Brandon Dubinsky who was bumped all the way up to the top line to play with Jagr.
There is a whole other side to this story as well, the personal side of Marion Hossa. Yes Hossa took a pay cut to play for the Wings but what makes it worse was the team he left. Hossa left the Penguins to join the Wings, the same Penguins who he had just helped reach the finals, the second best team in the NHL! But Hossa not even 30 years of age yet wasn’t willing to wait for Penguins to mature enough to oust the Wings in the finals, he wanted to win now. More importantly he wanted to be “the guy” on the team without actually being “the guy.” He’s going to a big name player, but he won’t be the franchise player. Haven’t we seen this plenty of times before? After the Yankees won the 2000 World Series, the ace of the Baltimore Orioles Mike Mussina signed with the Yankees so he could be “the guy” without having to be their #1, therefore the pressure of being “the guy” wouldn’t be put on him. He figured he could just ride it out and win. The Next man on the list was Jason Giambi, he also singed with the Yanks to be “the guy” without the pressure of being “the guy,” because after all this was the Yankees and their Derek Jeter’s team. Then came Arod who signed a mega deal with the Rangers to be “the guy” on their team, only they had no money for anyone else and Arod couldn’t take that so he cried his way into a trade with the Yankees where he could also be “the guy” without having to be “the guy.” The same story happened with Randy Moss who cried his way out of Oakland into the superstar Patriots. The most similar story however was that of Karl Malone. The man who came so close so many times to leading the Utah Jazz to a title but could never get it done, so he took his act to Los Angeles. The only problem was LA had just won three strait titles without him, they clearly didn’t need him and he was now taking away playing time from the role players that helped the Lakers win. The underlying theme between all these athletes is that at this moment NONE OF THEM HAVE CHAMPIONSHIP RINGS! Malone’s Lakers lost to the Pistons in the finals, was it because Malone took time from other role players? We can’t answer that question for sure, but we could defiantly say that Malone tampered with the chemistry of the Lakers locker room.
So what kind of message does it send when a team go’s out and wins the Stanley Cup, doesn’t lose any players, and then management brings in a big time goal scorer, pretty much saying you guys aren’t the best. That player is making more money then everyone else on the team with the exception of Captain Nick Listrom, he needs to play, and therefore he needs to take someone’s spot. People now need to be shifted around; the three line combo’s that the team had got messed up. Therefore that’s the answer to the why won’t the Wings repeat question, you can’t mess with chemistry. The situation makes that whole question about adding Marion Hossa all the more relevant. Helping or Hurting, Helping or Hurting?
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Another September swoon? This one could have been seen coming
The whole world knows what happened to the Mets in September last season. 7 game lead with 17 games to play only to finish the season 1 game out of the playoffs. So with 17 games left to play the spotlight is once again on the Mets, and they have not started out well, losing 2 out of the first games. They started with a 3 and half game lead and its now down to 1. Mets fans are again shocked and scared, but the real question is, should they be? These September struggles should have been seen coming. Over the last few years the Mets have been one of the worst September teams in baseball. Obviously we know they won 9 of their first 12 games in September last year only to go 5-12 down the stretch. But what many people forget is what happened the years before.
Yes the 2006 Mets won their division went to the playoffs and came 1 game away from the World Series. But what is forgotten is September was this team’s worst month of the Season. The team entered September with around a 15 game lead in the division; they then proceeded to go 14-15 for the rest of the month. Now they did win their division with 12 games to play so many of their late month losses came with reserves on the field including a game with Julio Franco at third base. But before they won the division, when they were 1 game away from winning the division the team lost 3 strait to the last place Pirates and they had lost 2 of 3 to the dodgers who they would later beat in the playoffs. 2005 was manager Willie Randolph’s first year. The season was not much about playoff talk but more about how many games over .500 the team went and how many games under .500 they were. That changed however in August, when the Mets led by their new call up of AA first basemen Mike Jacobs won 10 of their last 15 games in August to put them a game out of the Wild Card. But them September came and the Mets responded by losing 12 of their first 14 games in September, killing any chance they had of making the playoffs. Their 2004 season (though they were already far out of the playoffs and playing with mostly September call ups, or in other words a minor league team), saw the team go 10-20 through month of September and two games in October.
The Mets have a history of doing awful in September, something that is getting overlooked by virtually everyone in wake of last season. But if you were to look back, last season should have been expected, as well as not winning games this September. All there is to do is hope the Mets could reverse this trend and win enough games to hold off the Phillies and sneak into October.
Yes the 2006 Mets won their division went to the playoffs and came 1 game away from the World Series. But what is forgotten is September was this team’s worst month of the Season. The team entered September with around a 15 game lead in the division; they then proceeded to go 14-15 for the rest of the month. Now they did win their division with 12 games to play so many of their late month losses came with reserves on the field including a game with Julio Franco at third base. But before they won the division, when they were 1 game away from winning the division the team lost 3 strait to the last place Pirates and they had lost 2 of 3 to the dodgers who they would later beat in the playoffs. 2005 was manager Willie Randolph’s first year. The season was not much about playoff talk but more about how many games over .500 the team went and how many games under .500 they were. That changed however in August, when the Mets led by their new call up of AA first basemen Mike Jacobs won 10 of their last 15 games in August to put them a game out of the Wild Card. But them September came and the Mets responded by losing 12 of their first 14 games in September, killing any chance they had of making the playoffs. Their 2004 season (though they were already far out of the playoffs and playing with mostly September call ups, or in other words a minor league team), saw the team go 10-20 through month of September and two games in October.
The Mets have a history of doing awful in September, something that is getting overlooked by virtually everyone in wake of last season. But if you were to look back, last season should have been expected, as well as not winning games this September. All there is to do is hope the Mets could reverse this trend and win enough games to hold off the Phillies and sneak into October.
The Mets best big game pitcher...Santana? pffft Its Perez
The Mets just had a three game series with the Braves, in which they lost 2 of 3 which is about as shocking news as me telling you the sun rose in the east today. The problem here was they had their two best big game pitchers on the mound, and those were the two games they lost. These guys pitched the way they were supposed to, it was the bullpen that lost it for them. Johan Santana went to the mound as the Mets big game pitcher as he had proved the week before against Philadelphia, though he’s lost to the Braves earlier this year he shut them out through 7 innings only to see the bullpen blow it. For the next game the Mets through out John Niese making his second start, he promptly pitched 8 shutout innings for the win. Sunday’s game was absolutely huge, and the Mets put a man who is arguably and in my opinion their BEST big game pitcher, Oliver Perez. I know that one might have raised a few eyebrows, but look back at it, since game 7 of the 2006 NLCS he’s had the confidence, especially in big games. He was labeled the worst game 7 starter in the history of baseball. He took that label to the mound and pitched an unbelievable 6 innings giving up just 1 run (obviously he was saved by the most unbelievable double play made by Endy Chavez). But when you look back at his career with the Mets, the Mets who for as long as I can remember can never ever beat the Braves, therefore, especially during a pennant race, every game with the Braves is a so called “big game”. Before the playoffs Perez had made somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 starts for the team, he was on the roster because he was thrown into a trade and was just there as an extra pitcher during the September call up season. Well he got a start against the Braves and pitched a complete game shutout. Everyone always talks about Ollie Perez being Ollie Perez, and having his control issues, but these games usually come against the likes of the Nationals and Giants. Look back at his stats and whenever he has stepped onto the mound against the Mets two longtime rivals the Braves and the Yankees (the Phillies are more recent) Perez dominates his starts and usually comes out a winner.
So it’s not shocking to me that Perez pitched very well again yesterday, the problem as always is the Mets bullpen. The Mets got three unbelievable starts from their pitchers over the weekend and they lost two games. This bullpen was awful at the end of August and it looked like the competition of September call ups would save them. The problem now is Jerry Maunuel is going back to the same guys again and again causing them to get tired. But the biggest problem now is Jerry’s starting to over manage, he won’t let his bullpen pitch to hitters opposite them, lefties to lefties, righties to righties. This causes guys to come in and pitch to one batter, give up a hit and then leave the game, which leaves fewer guys in the pen. The problem is Pedro Feliciano can’t get anyone out these days. The Mets other lefty Scott Schoeneweis is in an “up” year, all year he’s been getting both lefties and righties out, and he’s had the stamina to go multiple innings. So why now is Jerry only letting him pitch to one lefty? If this bullpen manages to hold up, and that’s a big IF, how will they hold up in the playoffs? Fans could be excited all they want, the starters are there, Santana has been great in big games, Pelfrey with the exception of his last start has been dominant, and Oliver Perez is the teams best big game pitcher, but even if they go 8 innings that 9th inning is still the problem. If Jerry keeps over managing his bullpen, a pen that clearly CAN’T pitch in big games (though they could pitch in the games Oliver Perez can’t pitch in) making the playoffs won’t be the biggest thing as the team won’t be able to hold onto a single lead they have and will make an early exit.
So it’s not shocking to me that Perez pitched very well again yesterday, the problem as always is the Mets bullpen. The Mets got three unbelievable starts from their pitchers over the weekend and they lost two games. This bullpen was awful at the end of August and it looked like the competition of September call ups would save them. The problem now is Jerry Maunuel is going back to the same guys again and again causing them to get tired. But the biggest problem now is Jerry’s starting to over manage, he won’t let his bullpen pitch to hitters opposite them, lefties to lefties, righties to righties. This causes guys to come in and pitch to one batter, give up a hit and then leave the game, which leaves fewer guys in the pen. The problem is Pedro Feliciano can’t get anyone out these days. The Mets other lefty Scott Schoeneweis is in an “up” year, all year he’s been getting both lefties and righties out, and he’s had the stamina to go multiple innings. So why now is Jerry only letting him pitch to one lefty? If this bullpen manages to hold up, and that’s a big IF, how will they hold up in the playoffs? Fans could be excited all they want, the starters are there, Santana has been great in big games, Pelfrey with the exception of his last start has been dominant, and Oliver Perez is the teams best big game pitcher, but even if they go 8 innings that 9th inning is still the problem. If Jerry keeps over managing his bullpen, a pen that clearly CAN’T pitch in big games (though they could pitch in the games Oliver Perez can’t pitch in) making the playoffs won’t be the biggest thing as the team won’t be able to hold onto a single lead they have and will make an early exit.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Evaluating the Willie firing
I must admit, I loved Willie Randolph, loved him. Thought he was a great manager and was being unfairly blamed. It wasn’t until this year that I began to have issues with him. Many people blamed him for last years collapse. But really was that collapse his fault? At the time I would defiantly say no, now…well I’ll get to that in a second. Its September 5th now and though I don’t want to jinx anything I think it’s a fair time to start evaluating the Willie firing as to whether it’s a good move or a bad move.
I spent my last 11 years at summer camp, so most years it’s been I follow the Mets from April till June then go to camp lose track of them and when I get home their terrible and I just concentrate on football. Lately they’ve been good when I get home and that changes things. But this year I was able to follow them much closer thanks to some LEGEND… wait for it…DARY nights. It wasn’t as close as at home but I was still able to follow the team. It’s not as much as I would like, for example when the Mets pull off a 9 game winning streak I may not notice till they’ve hit 7 in a row. Nonetheless I’ve followed them enough and I’ve been home long enough to evaluate this team that I can finally give my opinion on the new manager.
I always liked Willie as a manager, thought it wasn’t his fault that the players weren’t playing but one thing became evident this year, he didn’t let his pitchers pitch. Willie was constantly pulling his pitchers after the 6th inning cuz they put a runner on base and had thrown 96 pitches and if he left them in they’d throw over 100 pitches. Well that causes the bullpen to be tired. We blew a 7 game lead with 17 left to play last year because our bullpen was taxed. That’s what happens when your bullpen has to pitch 3.2 innings every night. Since Jerry Manuel has taken over he’s let his guys pitch, and yes the bullpen is awful right now, but part of that is because they pitched so often during the first half of the year. With the September call ups upon us there are more people to split the work in the bullpen, none of the guys called up are better then the guys already on the team, but the fact that they provide competition and rest for the bullpen is HUGE. Another big issue has been the offense of Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes, as well as the whole offense. This season the offense really struggled, we all knew they had it in them to do better but they weren’t. Since Jerry Manuel has taken over Delgado and Reyes have been on fire, they’ve had it in them they just needed someone to get it out of them. It has become obvious that Willie was unable to get that fire out of these players and Manuel has been able to. As I wrote in my last post about Rick Peterson, maybe it was time for him to go; I wrote that it might not be his fault that Oliver Perez is Oliver Perez. Well the thing is lately Oliver Perez has been dominant again, and yes; Peterson turned John Maine into a great pitcher and he saved Tom Glavine’s career. So no, Maine hasn’t gotten better this year, but someone who never did well under Peterson has been Mike Pelfrey, who has been our #2 pitcher the second half of the year especially since Peterson left.
Since the firing of Willie Randolph and Rick Peterson, someone has been able to wake up Reyes and Delgado, Perez has pitched well again, and Mike Pelfrey has become dominant. I know nothings been won yet but I think now is a fair time to say that the firing of Willie has been the best thing to ever happen to the Mets this season.
I spent my last 11 years at summer camp, so most years it’s been I follow the Mets from April till June then go to camp lose track of them and when I get home their terrible and I just concentrate on football. Lately they’ve been good when I get home and that changes things. But this year I was able to follow them much closer thanks to some LEGEND… wait for it…DARY nights. It wasn’t as close as at home but I was still able to follow the team. It’s not as much as I would like, for example when the Mets pull off a 9 game winning streak I may not notice till they’ve hit 7 in a row. Nonetheless I’ve followed them enough and I’ve been home long enough to evaluate this team that I can finally give my opinion on the new manager.
I always liked Willie as a manager, thought it wasn’t his fault that the players weren’t playing but one thing became evident this year, he didn’t let his pitchers pitch. Willie was constantly pulling his pitchers after the 6th inning cuz they put a runner on base and had thrown 96 pitches and if he left them in they’d throw over 100 pitches. Well that causes the bullpen to be tired. We blew a 7 game lead with 17 left to play last year because our bullpen was taxed. That’s what happens when your bullpen has to pitch 3.2 innings every night. Since Jerry Manuel has taken over he’s let his guys pitch, and yes the bullpen is awful right now, but part of that is because they pitched so often during the first half of the year. With the September call ups upon us there are more people to split the work in the bullpen, none of the guys called up are better then the guys already on the team, but the fact that they provide competition and rest for the bullpen is HUGE. Another big issue has been the offense of Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes, as well as the whole offense. This season the offense really struggled, we all knew they had it in them to do better but they weren’t. Since Jerry Manuel has taken over Delgado and Reyes have been on fire, they’ve had it in them they just needed someone to get it out of them. It has become obvious that Willie was unable to get that fire out of these players and Manuel has been able to. As I wrote in my last post about Rick Peterson, maybe it was time for him to go; I wrote that it might not be his fault that Oliver Perez is Oliver Perez. Well the thing is lately Oliver Perez has been dominant again, and yes; Peterson turned John Maine into a great pitcher and he saved Tom Glavine’s career. So no, Maine hasn’t gotten better this year, but someone who never did well under Peterson has been Mike Pelfrey, who has been our #2 pitcher the second half of the year especially since Peterson left.
Since the firing of Willie Randolph and Rick Peterson, someone has been able to wake up Reyes and Delgado, Perez has pitched well again, and Mike Pelfrey has become dominant. I know nothings been won yet but I think now is a fair time to say that the firing of Willie has been the best thing to ever happen to the Mets this season.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
It was just time for the guru to move on
I was alerted of the news that the Mets fired their manager Willie Randolph when my phone vibrated at 6 am that morning. A friend of mine who will remain nameless (since I still hold that he has no life for texting me at 6 am) texted me to tell me that the Mets fired Willie Randolph Rick Peterson and Tom Nieto. Naturally the first thing that popped into my head was “who the fuck is Tom Nieto?” My next question was why my friend couldn’t wait till 9 or even 10:00 to share the news rather then wake me up at 6. But anyway I’m not here to sit and right a whole long post blasting the Mets for firing Willie Randolph. I’m not really going to write a long thing with my opinion on the matter. I will just say this, I think Willie got fired for the wrong reasons and was having blame unfairly put on him. He did his job the past week and the bullpen blew it for him. However I do think that Willie has clearly lost the ability to inspire this team, and that shows with the team’s abysmal record since June of last season.
I’ve had an argument with a certain bezzy monster who wrote out his long opinion on this move which can be read here http://bezzymonster.blogspot.com/
So the focus of this is to just write out my side of the argument, the argument had nothing to do with Willie Randolph (I happen to agree with everything he said about Willie as well as first base coach Tom Nieto) but rather had to do with pitching coach Rick Peterson. While my friend Mr. Bezerman believes it’s a travesty for Rick Peterson to be let go is it possible he lost his touch? I will not argue that he is a good pitching coach, the Mets have had the 4th best era while he’s been here and that’s been great but isn’t it possible he’s lost his touch. He came over with a very nice pedigree having worked with the “Big 3” in Oakland (Zito, Mulder, and Hudson). But early on in his Mets career he was the backbone to what would become the worst trade in Mets history, ultimately costing the GM his job and making the Mets the butt of all Scott Kazmir jokes for quite some time. Peterson took a look at Devil Rays pitcher Victor Zambrano and said “I could fix him in 10 minutes,” causing the Mets to trade #1 prospect Scott Kazmir to Tampa for Zambrano. Well Zambrano looked like he was making a good improvement in his last two starts with the Mets before getting injured (including his last start with a great line of 1.1 IP 4k’s, then walking off the field) but those last two starts came after a year and a half of constant walks and inconsistency. Meanwhile Kazmir has been growing into a top pitcher in Tampa; in fact writing on the subject is getting me mad that I’m just going to stop. He also was able to work with Tom Glavine and completely change the way Glavine pitched, enabling Glavine to add on about 3 years to his career and it enabled him to win 300 games. However this also enabled Glavine to become our “ace” which led to him being on the mound for that final game against Florida last year…again another sore spot that I’ll just stop. During his tenure with the Mets he has worked wonders with some pitchers, namely Oliver Perez and John Maine, there’s no argument as to what he did with them in the past, but there is one to say that he just doesn’t have it anymore.
Again my argument here is simple, its not that Peterson wasn’t great, but rather it was time for him to go. He worked very closely with John Maine during the 2006 season and worked very closely with Perez once the Mets traded for him. He worked with them well enough that they were trusted with the ball in games 6 and 7 respectively of the NLCS that season, and both pitchers turned in masterful performances. Perez has had a nasty slider his whole career but has been plagued with inconsistency; however Peterson worked very close with Perez last season on keeping his mechanics the same way and Perez responded by winning 15 games, no doubt from Peterson’s help. But here’s the question, what has happened this year? All of a sudden Perez’s inconsistency is back and he randomly decides to improvise on his own, often leading him into trouble. As Mets announcers talk about how that’s something Rick Peterson does NOT want to see I must ask why is Ollie doing this and why can’t Rick get him to stop? Perez’s mechanics and arm angles have been all over the place this year, shouldn’t Peterson have taken him right from spring training and picked up right where they left off last year. When watching Perez pitches this year it’s as if his tremendous year last year never happened.
Maine this season hasn’t regressed as badly this season, as Perez has, but he hasn’t been the John Maine of 2007. Is that Peterson’s fault, I don’t know but he clearly hasn’t been able to help him as much this year. Another alarming stat is newcomer Johan Santana has arrived to the Mets and began his first year with Peterson. The Johan of 2008 however has served up an alarming rate of Home Runs to opposing hitters, again can’t blame it on Peterson, but a pitching coach is supposed to help figure these problems out and get rid of them and that hasn’t seemed to happen. People also like to bring up that he did a great job with reliever Aaron Heilman while with the Mets. I have no evidence that he did anything great with Heilman, all I could say is let’s just look at how the guy who is supposed to be our 7th or 8th inning guy is walking around with a 5.45 era and whenever he comes into a game I could confidently shut the game off knowing he’ll blow the lead. Now yes the Mets starting pitching has had a tremendous era, especially recently where they have been very good, even Mike Pelfrey who might have actually found his game has been lights out. But a pitching coach is not only in charge of the starters but also the relievers, and the Mets bullpen lately has been DREADFUL. It looks almost as if Peterson has never paid any attention to them. The bottom line is, when you get gems out of Mike Pelfrey and Johan Santana on back to back days, Pelfrey pitching into the 9th and then handing the ball off to his closer who blows the save, and then blows another one the next day. The Mets got the ball to their closer with a lead in the 9th inning two days in a row and he didn’t come through. Before that, the bullpen had been horrendous in San Diego and have continued to struggle in Anaheim (or Los Angeles as the Angels like to be called), but getting the ball to the closer in the 9th inning is what a manager is supposed to do. If the bullpen not coming through cost the manager his job, then the pitching coach deserves to be fired also. I’m not saying Peterson isn’t a good coach and I’m not saying that I don’t think the Mets will miss him, but this year it just strikes me as that something just wasn’t there, and it was time for him to move on.
I’ve had an argument with a certain bezzy monster who wrote out his long opinion on this move which can be read here http://bezzymonster.blogspot.com/
So the focus of this is to just write out my side of the argument, the argument had nothing to do with Willie Randolph (I happen to agree with everything he said about Willie as well as first base coach Tom Nieto) but rather had to do with pitching coach Rick Peterson. While my friend Mr. Bezerman believes it’s a travesty for Rick Peterson to be let go is it possible he lost his touch? I will not argue that he is a good pitching coach, the Mets have had the 4th best era while he’s been here and that’s been great but isn’t it possible he’s lost his touch. He came over with a very nice pedigree having worked with the “Big 3” in Oakland (Zito, Mulder, and Hudson). But early on in his Mets career he was the backbone to what would become the worst trade in Mets history, ultimately costing the GM his job and making the Mets the butt of all Scott Kazmir jokes for quite some time. Peterson took a look at Devil Rays pitcher Victor Zambrano and said “I could fix him in 10 minutes,” causing the Mets to trade #1 prospect Scott Kazmir to Tampa for Zambrano. Well Zambrano looked like he was making a good improvement in his last two starts with the Mets before getting injured (including his last start with a great line of 1.1 IP 4k’s, then walking off the field) but those last two starts came after a year and a half of constant walks and inconsistency. Meanwhile Kazmir has been growing into a top pitcher in Tampa; in fact writing on the subject is getting me mad that I’m just going to stop. He also was able to work with Tom Glavine and completely change the way Glavine pitched, enabling Glavine to add on about 3 years to his career and it enabled him to win 300 games. However this also enabled Glavine to become our “ace” which led to him being on the mound for that final game against Florida last year…again another sore spot that I’ll just stop. During his tenure with the Mets he has worked wonders with some pitchers, namely Oliver Perez and John Maine, there’s no argument as to what he did with them in the past, but there is one to say that he just doesn’t have it anymore.
Again my argument here is simple, its not that Peterson wasn’t great, but rather it was time for him to go. He worked very closely with John Maine during the 2006 season and worked very closely with Perez once the Mets traded for him. He worked with them well enough that they were trusted with the ball in games 6 and 7 respectively of the NLCS that season, and both pitchers turned in masterful performances. Perez has had a nasty slider his whole career but has been plagued with inconsistency; however Peterson worked very close with Perez last season on keeping his mechanics the same way and Perez responded by winning 15 games, no doubt from Peterson’s help. But here’s the question, what has happened this year? All of a sudden Perez’s inconsistency is back and he randomly decides to improvise on his own, often leading him into trouble. As Mets announcers talk about how that’s something Rick Peterson does NOT want to see I must ask why is Ollie doing this and why can’t Rick get him to stop? Perez’s mechanics and arm angles have been all over the place this year, shouldn’t Peterson have taken him right from spring training and picked up right where they left off last year. When watching Perez pitches this year it’s as if his tremendous year last year never happened.
Maine this season hasn’t regressed as badly this season, as Perez has, but he hasn’t been the John Maine of 2007. Is that Peterson’s fault, I don’t know but he clearly hasn’t been able to help him as much this year. Another alarming stat is newcomer Johan Santana has arrived to the Mets and began his first year with Peterson. The Johan of 2008 however has served up an alarming rate of Home Runs to opposing hitters, again can’t blame it on Peterson, but a pitching coach is supposed to help figure these problems out and get rid of them and that hasn’t seemed to happen. People also like to bring up that he did a great job with reliever Aaron Heilman while with the Mets. I have no evidence that he did anything great with Heilman, all I could say is let’s just look at how the guy who is supposed to be our 7th or 8th inning guy is walking around with a 5.45 era and whenever he comes into a game I could confidently shut the game off knowing he’ll blow the lead. Now yes the Mets starting pitching has had a tremendous era, especially recently where they have been very good, even Mike Pelfrey who might have actually found his game has been lights out. But a pitching coach is not only in charge of the starters but also the relievers, and the Mets bullpen lately has been DREADFUL. It looks almost as if Peterson has never paid any attention to them. The bottom line is, when you get gems out of Mike Pelfrey and Johan Santana on back to back days, Pelfrey pitching into the 9th and then handing the ball off to his closer who blows the save, and then blows another one the next day. The Mets got the ball to their closer with a lead in the 9th inning two days in a row and he didn’t come through. Before that, the bullpen had been horrendous in San Diego and have continued to struggle in Anaheim (or Los Angeles as the Angels like to be called), but getting the ball to the closer in the 9th inning is what a manager is supposed to do. If the bullpen not coming through cost the manager his job, then the pitching coach deserves to be fired also. I’m not saying Peterson isn’t a good coach and I’m not saying that I don’t think the Mets will miss him, but this year it just strikes me as that something just wasn’t there, and it was time for him to move on.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Kobe Bryant just needs to shut up...and lay low for a while, no rapes
When does it become appropriate to join a team for a championship? As a fan I almost find it hypocritical that at times I’m rooting for the players that left their teams and went to contenders, and at times I strongly hate the players that leave their teams. I thought about this as I was watching the Boston Celtics thrash the Lakers to win their 17th NBA title. As I was rooting for the Celtics to beat Kobe I began wondering, Kevin Garnett left the team that took him out of high school, he was the star of the team, the face of the franchise did he just quit and give up on the wolves and say I can’t do it.
There are plenty of instances where a player is hated for quitting on his team. We’ve blasted A-Rod for signing a record breaking deal with last place Texas, only to say, “I can’t do it all by myself” and forcing a trade to the Red Sox, and when that fell through a trade to the Yankees. The same can be said about a certain Randy Moss who signed a large contract with the Raiders only to say “I can’t do this” and move to the Patriots. The icing on the cake here is to say that to date neither of the two have won championships. In fact both of them were involved in some pretty nice choke jobs. A-Rod and his Yankees blowing a 3-0 lead against the Red Sox, including his famous slapping the ball out of Bronson Arroyo’s hand in game 6. Moss went to join Tom Brady with the patriots and went on a record setting season, only the numbers he’ll see the most next season are 18-1… as the patriots choked and couldn’t win the Super Bowl.
I’m no fan of NBA, I’d much prefer the college game, but the NBA does manage to provide some good examples. This year Jason Kidd provided himself as a distraction to the Nets even skipping a practice because of a “migraine.” I followed the Nets when they would make their deep playoff runs earlier this decade and when I would attend games I enjoyed watching Kidd play. So much to say when Kidd came out and said it was time for him and the Nets to move on the Nets followed through and traded him to Dallas. When a player is the center piece of his team and carries them to a championship or close to it, he earns a place in every fans heart. The best example I could think of is Mets catcher Mike Piazza. We were bad when he came and he was beginning of the turnaround, he brought us to the 2000 world series where we lost to our cross-town rival Yankees (you could read about their training regime in full detail in the Mitchell Report). Even though we didn’t win he was the face of the franchise for 8 years, we loved him, he left because he was old and we simply needed to go in a new direction. However he never left our hearts, when he returned to Shea the game was delayed for a minute and half before his first at-bat as he was given a standing ovation. He was given another one late in the game after a base hit. He was given a third the next day when he hit a home run, against us. In the 70’s when the Rangers traded away fan favorite goaltender Eddy Giacomin his first game with the Red Wings was at the Garden against the Rangers. That game saw the entire Garden rooting for Eddy and the Wings, even booing when the Rangers scored. So yes, Kidd was the face of the franchise for the Nets, he took them to the finals twice, but he left on bad terms, and blasted the team in the process. This woke me, the most casual NBA fan that there is to wake up and immediately hope Kidd would go to Dallas and they would miss the playoffs.
So I think to myself when is it alright to be rooting for the player who left his team. You root against Kidd and hope he doesn’t win after screwing over the Nets, but everyone in Boston, (rather every NHL fan other then stupid and low-life Devils fans) rooted for Ray Bourque to win the cup with Colorado, not the Bruins. So, what made these Celtics different that I could accept that I was rooting for Pierce Garnett and Allen to win the title? Pierce and Allen are easily explained as Pierce is a lifelong Celtic and lived through some bad years and clearly deserved it. Allen was traded to the Celtics, but also had played for a few different teams and didn’t have a signature team. What put everything into perspective was with about a minute left in the game Mike Breen said it simply, Boston’s “Big 3” had put their personal stats aside for the benefit of the team.
I said before I’m not a fan of the NBA, rather the college game is what I will watch. The answer is simple; college basketball is real basketball, 5 on 5, a team playing against another team playing as a team. The NBA is built around superstars who are all for their own stats and play for themselves. They take the most money which doesn’t allow their team to go out and find other good players. But it’s very boring to watch, how often do you want to watch LeBron take 5 steps through the lane with no travel call. The “Big 3” gave up their personal stats to play as a team, and in game 6, they played very exciting team basketball. On the losing side is the exact problem with the NBA, Kobe Bryant. Kobe won three titles with the Lakers with Shaq on his team before arguing that he couldn’t play with Shaq because his stats were suffering. As Kobe is finding out now it is defiantly easier to win with a dominant center. And Shaq has proved he could win without Kobe, but Kobe is starting to find out, he might have the best stats in the NBA, he might be the MVP, he might even be one of the best players ever to play the game, but he can’t win a title on his own.
There are plenty of instances where a player is hated for quitting on his team. We’ve blasted A-Rod for signing a record breaking deal with last place Texas, only to say, “I can’t do it all by myself” and forcing a trade to the Red Sox, and when that fell through a trade to the Yankees. The same can be said about a certain Randy Moss who signed a large contract with the Raiders only to say “I can’t do this” and move to the Patriots. The icing on the cake here is to say that to date neither of the two have won championships. In fact both of them were involved in some pretty nice choke jobs. A-Rod and his Yankees blowing a 3-0 lead against the Red Sox, including his famous slapping the ball out of Bronson Arroyo’s hand in game 6. Moss went to join Tom Brady with the patriots and went on a record setting season, only the numbers he’ll see the most next season are 18-1… as the patriots choked and couldn’t win the Super Bowl.
I’m no fan of NBA, I’d much prefer the college game, but the NBA does manage to provide some good examples. This year Jason Kidd provided himself as a distraction to the Nets even skipping a practice because of a “migraine.” I followed the Nets when they would make their deep playoff runs earlier this decade and when I would attend games I enjoyed watching Kidd play. So much to say when Kidd came out and said it was time for him and the Nets to move on the Nets followed through and traded him to Dallas. When a player is the center piece of his team and carries them to a championship or close to it, he earns a place in every fans heart. The best example I could think of is Mets catcher Mike Piazza. We were bad when he came and he was beginning of the turnaround, he brought us to the 2000 world series where we lost to our cross-town rival Yankees (you could read about their training regime in full detail in the Mitchell Report). Even though we didn’t win he was the face of the franchise for 8 years, we loved him, he left because he was old and we simply needed to go in a new direction. However he never left our hearts, when he returned to Shea the game was delayed for a minute and half before his first at-bat as he was given a standing ovation. He was given another one late in the game after a base hit. He was given a third the next day when he hit a home run, against us. In the 70’s when the Rangers traded away fan favorite goaltender Eddy Giacomin his first game with the Red Wings was at the Garden against the Rangers. That game saw the entire Garden rooting for Eddy and the Wings, even booing when the Rangers scored. So yes, Kidd was the face of the franchise for the Nets, he took them to the finals twice, but he left on bad terms, and blasted the team in the process. This woke me, the most casual NBA fan that there is to wake up and immediately hope Kidd would go to Dallas and they would miss the playoffs.
So I think to myself when is it alright to be rooting for the player who left his team. You root against Kidd and hope he doesn’t win after screwing over the Nets, but everyone in Boston, (rather every NHL fan other then stupid and low-life Devils fans) rooted for Ray Bourque to win the cup with Colorado, not the Bruins. So, what made these Celtics different that I could accept that I was rooting for Pierce Garnett and Allen to win the title? Pierce and Allen are easily explained as Pierce is a lifelong Celtic and lived through some bad years and clearly deserved it. Allen was traded to the Celtics, but also had played for a few different teams and didn’t have a signature team. What put everything into perspective was with about a minute left in the game Mike Breen said it simply, Boston’s “Big 3” had put their personal stats aside for the benefit of the team.
I said before I’m not a fan of the NBA, rather the college game is what I will watch. The answer is simple; college basketball is real basketball, 5 on 5, a team playing against another team playing as a team. The NBA is built around superstars who are all for their own stats and play for themselves. They take the most money which doesn’t allow their team to go out and find other good players. But it’s very boring to watch, how often do you want to watch LeBron take 5 steps through the lane with no travel call. The “Big 3” gave up their personal stats to play as a team, and in game 6, they played very exciting team basketball. On the losing side is the exact problem with the NBA, Kobe Bryant. Kobe won three titles with the Lakers with Shaq on his team before arguing that he couldn’t play with Shaq because his stats were suffering. As Kobe is finding out now it is defiantly easier to win with a dominant center. And Shaq has proved he could win without Kobe, but Kobe is starting to find out, he might have the best stats in the NBA, he might be the MVP, he might even be one of the best players ever to play the game, but he can’t win a title on his own.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Season After Season - Heartbreak: Yet I Can't Wait For More! Part II
If you were to ask anyone who was on Camp Monroe’s Stanley cup hockey team while I was the captain they will all agree on one thing. In fact almost anyone who has ever met me will agree on this. I seem to have an issue of running my mouth to much. Once I get rolling on a subject, it never ends and the words just keep coming right out of my mouth. After looking at the length of my first post as well as the length of part II it is apparent that I have that problem with writing as well.
I spent my first post wondering why I love sports so much when based off the teams that I support every year is filled with heartbreak. Of course I wrote it after the Mets had beaten the Dodgers 6-1 and had won 5 of there last 6 seemingly getting manager Willie Randolph off of the hotseat. Of course the Mets came back the following night and put Oliver Perez on the mound who gave us an astonishing outing, giving up 6 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks in a glorious 1/3 of an inning. This killing of optomism in just the first inning just re-enforces the question of what makes it all worth it? However whats most ironic is that this event that makes one question what makes it all worth was occuring simultaniously as another event that provides the perfect answer to the question. While Oliver Perez was busy giving up hit after hit, run after run to the lowly Giants the Detroit Red Wings were involved in a game 5 battle with the Penguins for the Stanley Cup. What makes it worth it? Trailing the series 3-1 the penguins needed a win to send the series back to to Pittsburgh, after getting off to a 2-0 lead Detroit stormed back to take a 3-2 lead. The final few minutes of the third period coincided with the bottom of the first in the Mets game. While Oliver Perez was losing all the optomism in Mets camp, Pittsburgh was staging a thrilling battle throwing everything they had at the Red Wings and scoring with 35 seconds left to send the game into overtime. Two and half overtimes and one Petr Sykora called shot later Pittsburgh was celebrating on Detroits us as they took game 5 to force a game 6 in Pittsburgh extending their season just that much. When Oliver Perez was making us question why, the Penguins and Red Wings showed us just one example of what its really all about, what keeps us going.
Its about the anticipation, the excitement. Its about not paying attention in class to follow all the action on opening day. Its about walking into the garden before a game. Its about how the Garden shakes and the baloons fly during the national anthem before a playoff game. Its about singing the goal song after every goal, its about POTVIN SUCKS! Its about playoff hockey in general, its about 5 overtime games that don't end till 3 in the morning. Its about how Gus Johnson is at a loss for words after a big 3 in the NCAA tournement, about how Davidson sent their entire student body to the sweet 16 and elite 8 to support their team. Its about how a Latin American country ordered someone to write words for their national anthem so that their athletes would have something to sing along to just like athletes from all the other countries.
Its about how Sports has the power to gather a whole nation together.
After 9/11 seeing football players running onto the field with American flags, but of course nothing better then Mike Piazza’s 2 run homer to beat the rival Braves in the first sporting event to be held in New York after the attacks, this homer not only won the game for the Mets, but it let New Yorkers know that things would be ok. I love the optimism that comes with every pre-season, when on opening day everyone is in first place. After all sports gives us the chance to analyze and over analyze the game over and over again. As many people could attest to, one of my greatest joys in life is over analyzing, whether it is sports or TV, or movies. Sports memories will always remain in our minds more then almost anything else. I will always remember Marek Malik rising from anonymity and coming up with a through the legs shot in the 15th round of a shootout to beat the capitals. I will always remember Endy Chavez’s 6th inning catch of what should have been a Scot Rolen home run in game 7 of the 2006 NLCS. I will always remember attending a remarkable pitchers duel between Pedro Martinez and Brandon Webb, a brilliant 1-0 13 inning win for the Mets, and along with the game I will remember Lastings Milledge’s lazer throw from right field to throw out a runner trying to go from first to third. I will always remember being ready to fall down beaten when John Terry stepped up to the penalty spot in the Champions League final, only to miss and give Manchester United new life, and eventually the win.
I love the power that a great game has over us. When I was studying for a final one night i came across the Jets-Dolphins monday night miracle game. I immediatly dropped the studying so i could watch the Jets play so poorly for 3 quarters only to rally and come back from a 30-7 4th quarter deficit. The rally of course being capped off by a 4th down touchdown catch from offensive lineman Jumbo Elliot.
I loathe how the 1998-2004 New York Rangers provided the blueprint on how to create fan excitement in the pre-season and never win anything by signing aging overrated veterans. But with that, I love how the 2001+ New York Yankees have decided to copy that strategy and forgo winning the World Series year after year.
Though I mentioned before my favorite teams and how they never fail to constantly let me down I purposely left one out for the reason that one of my favorite teams is not a perennial loser but rather the opposite.. I happen to be a huge fan of English Football and though my friend from across the pond will always accuse me of being a front runner for my “choice” of supporting Manchester United. I will just quickly clear up how this was not a choice, I followed the local MLS team, the MetroStars for half a season and at the end of the season their goalie Tim Howard went to United and I followed him over there and was quickly won over by a certain boy Ronaldo and a boy wonder Wayne Rooney. To this day I have not forgotten about Howard as I still follow him at Everton, (because of Howard and my close ties with a certain Andy McLindon). The drama of football provides some of the best sports environments you can have. I will always love waking up at 8:30 on a Sunday morning to watch United play, or skipping out on my bitch of a math teacher Mrs. Staum’s Tuesday math class to go home and watch United in the Champions League.
When rumors broke out that superstar Cristiano Ronaldo was contemplating a summer move to Real Madrid the feeling that football could now join the list of teams that give me heartbreaking endings. This thought became even more real when during the penalty shootout of the Champions League final Ronaldo stepped up to the spot where he had been so consistent all season, and missed. It was in the moments after the Ronaldo penalty miss when I was truly reminded why I love sports so much. Nicholas Anelka of Chelsea would have his shot saved by United goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar. The euphoric celebration began as all the player on Manchester United ran to their goalkeeper and fans to celeberate. All but one player that is, Cristiano Ronaldo never left the midfield circle as he fell and cried, so happy that his teammates had bailed him out. It was what happened next that was truly great. Manchester United captain Gary Neville who had missed all but 20 minutes of the season with a knee injury ran out to midfield and with the new owner of United’s career appearance record, fellow teammate Ryan Giggs together they lifted Ronaldo up from the ground and brought him to his celebrating teammates. To some thats what its about, crying because one is so happy that their not the goat, when everyone expects you to be the one to come through and you don't, that you let your teamates down. But that these same teamates are able to lift you up first by overcoming your mistake to win, and then literally pick you up off the ground to let you know its ok that you missed, we won, lets go celebrate. It was then that I remembered the brotherhood that is shared by teammates and the bonds they form with their fans. The act of picking Ronaldo up of the ground squashed the rumors of him leaving the club to go to Real Madrid. It’s the sense of hope that our teams give us, and the sense of promise that if were there for the lows, our teams will repay us and give us highs.
I love sports for its ways of picking everyone up and uniting them around the world. For the Ivory Coast who in the midst of a civil war could call for a truce so the whole country could be united in supporting their country in the world cup. For giving us reasons to yell and scream and taunt other people. But most importantly, for the bonds that form over friend supporting the same team, the hourly discussions about your team when you should be doing work, and of course the chance that at any moment it will give you another memory that you will never forget.
I spent my first post wondering why I love sports so much when based off the teams that I support every year is filled with heartbreak. Of course I wrote it after the Mets had beaten the Dodgers 6-1 and had won 5 of there last 6 seemingly getting manager Willie Randolph off of the hotseat. Of course the Mets came back the following night and put Oliver Perez on the mound who gave us an astonishing outing, giving up 6 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks in a glorious 1/3 of an inning. This killing of optomism in just the first inning just re-enforces the question of what makes it all worth it? However whats most ironic is that this event that makes one question what makes it all worth was occuring simultaniously as another event that provides the perfect answer to the question. While Oliver Perez was busy giving up hit after hit, run after run to the lowly Giants the Detroit Red Wings were involved in a game 5 battle with the Penguins for the Stanley Cup. What makes it worth it? Trailing the series 3-1 the penguins needed a win to send the series back to to Pittsburgh, after getting off to a 2-0 lead Detroit stormed back to take a 3-2 lead. The final few minutes of the third period coincided with the bottom of the first in the Mets game. While Oliver Perez was losing all the optomism in Mets camp, Pittsburgh was staging a thrilling battle throwing everything they had at the Red Wings and scoring with 35 seconds left to send the game into overtime. Two and half overtimes and one Petr Sykora called shot later Pittsburgh was celebrating on Detroits us as they took game 5 to force a game 6 in Pittsburgh extending their season just that much. When Oliver Perez was making us question why, the Penguins and Red Wings showed us just one example of what its really all about, what keeps us going.
Its about the anticipation, the excitement. Its about not paying attention in class to follow all the action on opening day. Its about walking into the garden before a game. Its about how the Garden shakes and the baloons fly during the national anthem before a playoff game. Its about singing the goal song after every goal, its about POTVIN SUCKS! Its about playoff hockey in general, its about 5 overtime games that don't end till 3 in the morning. Its about how Gus Johnson is at a loss for words after a big 3 in the NCAA tournement, about how Davidson sent their entire student body to the sweet 16 and elite 8 to support their team. Its about how a Latin American country ordered someone to write words for their national anthem so that their athletes would have something to sing along to just like athletes from all the other countries.
Its about how Sports has the power to gather a whole nation together.
After 9/11 seeing football players running onto the field with American flags, but of course nothing better then Mike Piazza’s 2 run homer to beat the rival Braves in the first sporting event to be held in New York after the attacks, this homer not only won the game for the Mets, but it let New Yorkers know that things would be ok. I love the optimism that comes with every pre-season, when on opening day everyone is in first place. After all sports gives us the chance to analyze and over analyze the game over and over again. As many people could attest to, one of my greatest joys in life is over analyzing, whether it is sports or TV, or movies. Sports memories will always remain in our minds more then almost anything else. I will always remember Marek Malik rising from anonymity and coming up with a through the legs shot in the 15th round of a shootout to beat the capitals. I will always remember Endy Chavez’s 6th inning catch of what should have been a Scot Rolen home run in game 7 of the 2006 NLCS. I will always remember attending a remarkable pitchers duel between Pedro Martinez and Brandon Webb, a brilliant 1-0 13 inning win for the Mets, and along with the game I will remember Lastings Milledge’s lazer throw from right field to throw out a runner trying to go from first to third. I will always remember being ready to fall down beaten when John Terry stepped up to the penalty spot in the Champions League final, only to miss and give Manchester United new life, and eventually the win.
I love the power that a great game has over us. When I was studying for a final one night i came across the Jets-Dolphins monday night miracle game. I immediatly dropped the studying so i could watch the Jets play so poorly for 3 quarters only to rally and come back from a 30-7 4th quarter deficit. The rally of course being capped off by a 4th down touchdown catch from offensive lineman Jumbo Elliot.
I loathe how the 1998-2004 New York Rangers provided the blueprint on how to create fan excitement in the pre-season and never win anything by signing aging overrated veterans. But with that, I love how the 2001+ New York Yankees have decided to copy that strategy and forgo winning the World Series year after year.
Though I mentioned before my favorite teams and how they never fail to constantly let me down I purposely left one out for the reason that one of my favorite teams is not a perennial loser but rather the opposite.. I happen to be a huge fan of English Football and though my friend from across the pond will always accuse me of being a front runner for my “choice” of supporting Manchester United. I will just quickly clear up how this was not a choice, I followed the local MLS team, the MetroStars for half a season and at the end of the season their goalie Tim Howard went to United and I followed him over there and was quickly won over by a certain boy Ronaldo and a boy wonder Wayne Rooney. To this day I have not forgotten about Howard as I still follow him at Everton, (because of Howard and my close ties with a certain Andy McLindon). The drama of football provides some of the best sports environments you can have. I will always love waking up at 8:30 on a Sunday morning to watch United play, or skipping out on my bitch of a math teacher Mrs. Staum’s Tuesday math class to go home and watch United in the Champions League.
When rumors broke out that superstar Cristiano Ronaldo was contemplating a summer move to Real Madrid the feeling that football could now join the list of teams that give me heartbreaking endings. This thought became even more real when during the penalty shootout of the Champions League final Ronaldo stepped up to the spot where he had been so consistent all season, and missed. It was in the moments after the Ronaldo penalty miss when I was truly reminded why I love sports so much. Nicholas Anelka of Chelsea would have his shot saved by United goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar. The euphoric celebration began as all the player on Manchester United ran to their goalkeeper and fans to celeberate. All but one player that is, Cristiano Ronaldo never left the midfield circle as he fell and cried, so happy that his teammates had bailed him out. It was what happened next that was truly great. Manchester United captain Gary Neville who had missed all but 20 minutes of the season with a knee injury ran out to midfield and with the new owner of United’s career appearance record, fellow teammate Ryan Giggs together they lifted Ronaldo up from the ground and brought him to his celebrating teammates. To some thats what its about, crying because one is so happy that their not the goat, when everyone expects you to be the one to come through and you don't, that you let your teamates down. But that these same teamates are able to lift you up first by overcoming your mistake to win, and then literally pick you up off the ground to let you know its ok that you missed, we won, lets go celebrate. It was then that I remembered the brotherhood that is shared by teammates and the bonds they form with their fans. The act of picking Ronaldo up of the ground squashed the rumors of him leaving the club to go to Real Madrid. It’s the sense of hope that our teams give us, and the sense of promise that if were there for the lows, our teams will repay us and give us highs.
I love sports for its ways of picking everyone up and uniting them around the world. For the Ivory Coast who in the midst of a civil war could call for a truce so the whole country could be united in supporting their country in the world cup. For giving us reasons to yell and scream and taunt other people. But most importantly, for the bonds that form over friend supporting the same team, the hourly discussions about your team when you should be doing work, and of course the chance that at any moment it will give you another memory that you will never forget.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)