Friday, August 20, 2010

Net Gains


I think we can all agree that this years NBA free agency period has been a complete circus. For the last few years July 1st, 2010 was built up to be the day when some of the NBA’s biggest names could be on the move. The hype was enormous and even lesser known free agents benefited greatly from it. Whether a solid player like Rudy Gay or Joe Johnson, or lowly draft busts i.e. Darko Milicic, they all made out like bandits. In any other year when the free agent crop was less top heavy these lower tier players would have never gotten anywhere near what they received in 2010. However when you only have three players worth “max money” the rest of the teams are left scrambling to lockup the “others.”

Being an avid Nets fan since the early 90’s, this offseason was one filled with hope and promise, two words that Nets fans rarely had the chance to utter. The new flashy Russian owner, a winning coach, finally leaving the Meadowlands, and Jay-Z were all reasons to be optimistic. The Nets cleared cap space, had draft picks and appeared ready to make a splash in the free agent market. Wide eyed optimism got the best of me, I must have forgotten what team I was thinking about…THE NETS! From Yinka Dare to Ed O’Bannon we usually do not have luck on our side.

I should have known things were going to go downhill after we got screwed with the third pick in the 2010 draft. In most professional sports, the team with the worst regular season record usually is awarded the first pick in draft, not in the NBA. David Stern and Co. decided that it made more sense to rely on ping pong balls to decide the fate of some organizations. In this years draft there were two “can’t miss prospects,” John Wall and Evan Turner. Of course, the Nets would get neither of these and have to make the tough call between Wesley Johnson, Demarcus Cousins, or Derrick Favors. When it came time for the Nets to make their selection I watched the clock wind down, with David Stern standing at the podium. I was totally prepared, and somewhat expecting the Nets to not hand in their selection on time and have to forfit the third pick. That would have been fitting.

After getting shafted at the draft lottery it was time to move on and turn my attention to the impending free agency bonanza. I heard new owner Proky on WFAN, guaranteeing fans a great product and to build a “dynasty.” I’ll admit I had visions of grandeur, Dwayne Wade throwing a full court pass to Brooke Lopez who then tossed the ball off the backboard allowing Lebron to slam it home……a guy can dream right? We had our pick of free agents from Lebron to Carlos Boozer, I was expecting at least one or two to come our way.

Fast forward a week or so, Wade, Lebron and Bosh go to Miami, Boozer heads to Chicago, Amare goes to NY, and David Lee (the player I thought was most likely going to sign with NJ), is shipped off to Golden State in a sign and trade. Terrific, the Nets get robbed in the draft and shutout in free agency, I guess there is a reason they are the worst team in the league. At this point Proky starts to backtrack on his earlier statements regarding winning a title in the next few years and building a “dynasty.” Instead of being on the fast track to a championship we are now hearing “winning takes time,” and talks of being back in the lottery again next season.

According to Nets brass they didn’t want to overspend on free agents. Unfortunately you have to pay players what the market dictates. The Nets should have known that when you have Wade and Lebron filing for free agency in the same year the rest of the free agents would be getting inflated contracts as well. So instead of paying one, really solid player such as David Lee or Carlos Boozer a large sum of money, they decide to dump $35 million on Travis Outlaw. That is complete lunacy so typical. Instead of getting a difference maker, the Nets go for the lower quality but still expensive option. No Nets fan wants to see management dipping into valuable cap space for a mediocre player. With that being said, I don’t mind the lesser signings of Jordan Farmar or Anthony Morrow (a prolific outside shooter, something we have needed for years).

I could bitch and moan for hours about the Nets, we’ve had a love/hate relationship since 1993 and I don’t expect it to change. I’ll try and put my team in perspective as with the following anecdote. As many of you know I love cars, and I compare the Nets to Hyundai’s flagship automobile, the Genesis. The car is luxurious, flashy, and has many innovative electronic upgrades; completely moving away from the negative perception many of us have about the Hyundai brand. The Genesis was received so well that it became Motor Trends “Car Of The Year.” The Nets are similar, they have made many positive changes within the organization, they are upgrading to a brand new and exciting arena in Brooklyn, they have new management, and a terrific core of young players. Unfortunately no matter what they do they are still seen as the same bottom of the barrel team, or to stick with the Hyundai theme, a 1991 Accent. These small moves will not do, they need to make a big signing or trade and get the Chris Paul or Carmelo Anthony type of player. Hyundai took a big leap and introduced a $40,000+ car that helped get them out of the doldrums, the Nets need to do the same and grab the big name player who will take them from worst to first.

I'm Taking My Talents To This Blog


In the last post regarding my beloved Nets I did not address the Lebron fiasco. This idiot deserves a rant reserved just for him. Let me start by saying that I can’t fault Bron Bron for not wanting to come to the Nets. A superstar player, even a self proclaimed “king” would not enjoy playing in Newark for two seasons before going to Brooklyn. Fine, I understand that and I don’t hold anything against him. With that being said, I was hopeful that the new billionaire owner and good friend/partial Nets owner, Jay-Z, might persuade Lebron to come play here. Well, as we all know James “took his talents to South Beach,” (or as Josh pointed out, to Miami, not actually South Beach). It would have been comical to hear what he would say if he had chosen to come to NJ, “I am taking my talents to Manasquan.” I digress, there is some Lebron bashing that has to be attended to.

To be a self proclaimed anything is never good. To be the self proclaimed “king” is quite the title, and also totally unwarranted in Lebron’s case. Last time I checked he has never won a ring, and looked completely lost during critical games of last years conference finals. A true “king” would have led his team to victory and let nothing hold him back, (see Kobe Bryant or MJ). A “king” should be the undisputed team leader who has the “killer instinct,” (see Kobe Bryant or MJ). In the pivotal game six against the Celtics, Lebron went 8 for 21 and resorted to “chucking” three pointers from about 15 feet behind the three point line. He was in panic mode, tell me, when have you seen MJ or Kobe in panic mode? The answer is never. Nobody will be MJ and the closest we have seen is Kobe Bryant, these men are basketball “kings.” Proven winners of multiple championships, who have taken over the game when needed and done whatever it takes to win. I would have argued that Lebron is still young and will have many more opportunities to lead the Cavs to a championship, however that will not be the case. The “king” has abandoned his court.

As the name states, it is free agency, and players are free to sign wherever they would like. Lebron is no exception, however he chose the “ready made” option, it’s the perfect turnkey operation, and is viewed as a “cop out.” The pieces are in place for him to win, all they needed was for Lebron to sign on the dotted line and climb aboard. I can’t blame the guy for wanting to win, but I can blame him for not having the fortitude and gumption for wanting to build his own winning team. He should have wanted to be THE man and have a team built around him. It is very “un-kinglike” to agree to play the second fiddle to Dwayne Wade and have Bosh taking some of the spotlight as well.

Some people argue Lebron is taking a pay cut to play in Miami. If his new mega contract is taking a pay cut, sign me up. Let’s not forget he will be making an insane amount of money from endorsements in Miami, a little bit more of a hotspot than Cleveland. In all good conscience I can’t use the term pay cut when referring to any professional athlete, it’s just tasteless.

Lebron has a management team compiled of guys his own age, who are basically “hangers on” from high school. They are a bunch of “yes men” who would never dare to disagree with their very famous and very rich boss. This might be the reason he handled this entire process so poorly. As everyone knows, every action has a reaction. Lebron’s actions resulted in Cavs owner, Dan Gilbert, writing a seething letter ripping his former star player.

I can completely understand where he is coming from, imagine your franchise player who basically quit on your team in the conference finals, and decides not to return your calls or texts. He is not communicating with anyone from the organization and keeping you in the dark. This culminates with him having a one hour dog and pony show where he announces he is leaving your team. You do receive a call though, five minutes before the “The Decision” aired on ESPN, Lebron had one of his friends call Cavs management to alert them he was going to Miami. This seems par for the course, abandons his team and then doesn’t have the balls to call and tell them he is leaving, a king? more like a jester.

Can we really be shocked that Dan Gilbert would write this kind of letter after his star player basically gives the Cavs and the people of Cleveland the middle finger on national TV? This could have been avoided if Lebron had done one of two things (or both); not done the insane and horribly produced “Decision” show on ESPN, and/or kept in contact with the Cavs and informed Dan Gilbert on where he planning on going. I guarantee that if he had taken these steps Gilbert would have never written that letter. The people in Cleveland would still have been crushed, but there would not have been such a public backlash.

By deciding to “take his talents to South Beach,” Lebron’s legacy will be tainted. He is now hated in his home state. Many people believe, (myself included), that he cannot and didn’t want to try to win, being the number one player on a team. He is still a great player, but is now seen on Scottie Pippen’s level , rather than Jordan, (let’s not forget that Scottie has six more rings than Lebron). It is still a compliment to be compared to Scottie, but we have to acknowledge that Lebron as a player and as a brand has been taken down a notch.

I want nothing but failure for the Heat. I’m sure within a week of the start of the season Pat Riley will be the coach and Erik Spoelstra is demoted to bellboy. In a perfect world the Heat will not win the championship and hopefully there will be a clashing of ego’s creating a huge mess. In a perfect world the Nets would have gotten the first pick in the draft, and in a perfect world I wouldn’t have taken Grady Sizemore two years in a row in fantasy baseball. Well, it’s not a perfect world and the Nets still signed Travis Outlaw to a $35 million contract.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Sports talk radio


Ever since I was a kid I have found sports talk radio to be very relaxing and entertaining. Whenever I would go in the car with my dad he would have WFAN on the radio. Mike and The Mad Dog, Steve Somers, and Joe Benigno were the voices I have come to know extremely well over the past twenty five years. My friends and I have a tradition of going to White Castle once or twice a year. The journey is not complete until we have sports talk radio (usually WFAN), providing us with background chatter. There is nothing like a few White Castle sliders while being serenaded by a 2 a.m. Jerome from Manhattan rant about where Brett Gardner is going to bat in The Yankees order.
I purchased the Iphone 3G a few years ago and one of the first applications I downloaded was the AOL radio app. This provides me with access to many of the major radio markets all over the country. At work I sometimes like to put on my headphones and listen to some midday sports talk. My go-to station is still WFAN in New York however I have a few issues that I would like to talk about.
The major problem I have with WFAN is the insane amount of commercials they have. I understand that radio is a dying business and stations need to have commercials in order to make money, but this is crazy! During the first hour of the Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts midday show I would estimate there are about twenty minutes of sports talk with the rest being commercials and the horrible "20/20 flash" updates which are brutal, (I will get to them in a moment). WFAN needs to cut down on these commercials drastically as they totally disrupt the flow of the shows, (the "1-800 cars for kids" spot is the worst commercial of all time and it will make you want to rip out your fingernails).
As I mentioned in the previous paragraph I am not a major proponent of the "20/20 flash" updates. If you are not familiar with what this is I will explain. Basically the "flash" is an update that is provided every twenty minutes. The reporter repeats any relevant sports information and scores. I think this should be done once an hour, three times is far too often to be repeating the exact same information. Nobody needs to hear that the Mets have decided to retain Alex Cora for his clubhouse leadership more than once in an hour.
Having the AOL Radio Iphone app gives me access to stations from all over the country. I have added all of the major sports stations to my favorites list allowing me to toggle back and forth with ease. I especially love to listen to the sports talk in cities where their team has just lost to the Yankees, Jets, or Giants. This was extremely sweet when the Yanks beat the Phillies in the World Series last season, hearing those Philly fans bitch and moan was terrific, but I digress. After listening to sports talk in Dallas, Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Houston, and Tampa Bay I have found that New York, with its mighty WFAN, has some stiff competition from these other smaller markets.
Besides having far less commercials than WFAN other sports stations from around the country have much more interesting callers who actually add something to the particular show they are calling. I also enjoy how other non New York sports talk shows mix it up. Most of these shows touch on topical subjects that are relevant in the news, whether it be sports, politics, or even pop culture. This is refreshing to hear, there is only a certain amount of times I can listen to Ira from Brooklyn call WFAN and ask Mike Francesa "do you think the Giants can win Sunday?" I have never understood why someone would stay on hold for forty five minutes just to ask a radio host whether a team can beat another, how the hell does the host know!
WFAN has three main shows. Benigno and Evan Roberts, Steve Somers, and Francesa. I thoroughly enjoy Benigno/Roberts, along with Somers...Mike Francesa is pretty rough to listen to. Francesa's show is usually five hours of callers asking the same question while Mike plays god. People put way too much stock in what this guy thinks. People call the show and treat Mike as if he were Jesus Christ. I particularly find it comical when these people call and kiss his ass. This includes saying one or all of the following, referring to him as "Michael" or "Sir" and proceed to offer condolences for his mothers passing in 1997 or comment on his children as if they are close personal friends. To listen to grown men graveling like little peons while they are on the phone with this guy is sickening. Keep in mind this does not happen with Benigno or Steve Somers, just on Mike Francesa's program.
It feels good to get this off my chest. After many years of listening to WFAN I have a lot of issues with the station as I am sure you can tell. However as I have done for the last twenty five years I will keep listening to sports talk radio. Whether it be New York or Houston I love to hear fellow sports fans discuss the games that I love. All I ask is that Jerome from Manhattan gets his own show!