Interesting, but not surprising. The New York Times on Saturday noted that a source claims Bud Selig, commissioner of baseball, “has not been informed of the size or nature” of that potentially scandalous and even ruinous Madoff-based lawsuit against Mets owner Fred Wilpon and associates.
But is there a difference between Selig not knowing and Selig not wanting to know?
I ask because it’s clear by now that the terms of Selig’s appointment and annual $15 million enrichment by team owners is in large part predicated on not knowing plenty — the really big stuff — or at least pretending to not know.
After all, why would the solvency and business methods of the owners of the New York Mets be any of Selig’s business? He’s only the commissioner. Why would he even care to know, let alone ask?
Selig long ago made it clear his stewardship is based on not knowing, on ignoring and not examining, on blissful neglect, thus everyone, players and owners, should get out there and grab everything they can.
It’s not much different in the NFL. With the Packers in Sunday’s Super Bowl, I’m reminded of the team’s disgusting inside trading before it played in the 1997 Super Bowl in New Orleans.
Thousands of tickets allocated by the NFL to the Packers for sale to their season subscribers were instead handed directly to a Texas travel agency, which used the tickets as ransom in a travel package.
Unless we’re naive enough to believe these tickets were sold at face value by the Packers to that Texas agency — if so, why? — the Packers scalped their own tickets, with those on the inside likely pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars for their quick, dishonest work.
What would you have done about this if you were NFL commissioner?
Paul Tagliabue, commissioner of the NFL at that time, did nothing. Only after this column pestered the league about it, did an NFL attorney send a letter to all the teams asking that in the future they keep a better eye on the Super Bowl tickets issued to them. There. Satisfied?
But what team owners found most attractive about Tagliabue when they hired him was that he’d primarily serve as a debt service manager. Whether he was a conscientious sportsman and steward of football was irrelevant, if not a deterrent.
So what a shock it must still be to Selig that all those guys who suddenly began to hit 50, 60, 70 home runs were on drugs.
But what’s up with the Wilpons and the Mets? Hey, one thing at a time.
QB ratings: Just another meaningless stat
Perhaps the only football fans who don’t yet recognize the absurdity of quarterback-passer ratings represent national TV — NBC and Al Michaels
, FOX and Joe Buck
. One more try, fellas.
Reader John DeMarchi
reminds them of last week’s Jets-Steelers AFC Championship. Mark Sanchez
‘s QB rating was 102.8; Ben Roethlisberger
‘s was 35.5.
“So,” wrote DeMarchi, “I’m all fired up for that Jets-Packers Super Bowl.”
*
If no one tunes out when Tiger Woods
plays, why not use some
of that time to show other players in order to cultivate near-future rooting interests rather than show Woods walking down the fairway and having us watch his year-by-year swing in super-duper slo-mo-tronic Technodef ActionVue ShutterSonic?
These same TV networks suffer mightily when Woods is not playing, so why not allow Woods’ presence to help create expansion rather than constriction?
How can Woods “grow the game” — we’re told that all the time — when newer viewers are encouraged to drop golf when he’s not playing?
Yesterday’s CBS coverage of a close event seemed to begin covering that event the moment Woods, who was out of it, finished his round.
*
It’s a bottomless pit. Saturday, in just 10 minutes of watching Temple-St. Joseph’s on ESPNU:
St. Joseph’s Ronald Roberts
was fouled while scoring, nothing dirty. Roberts immediately made a move toward the fouler, Michael Eric
, puffing up and giving Eric his hardest, most daring glare — the kind that ignite gym brawls and street shootings.
That Eric didn’t spontaneously slug Roberts was worthy of Player of the Week. Yet, ESPN analyst Dickie Simpkins
was delighted by it all — he gave Roberts four stars, even during the replay.
Moments later, ESPNU drummed its coverage of National Signing Day — when high school footballers commit to colleges. ESPNU listed a bunch of names and the times they’ve been assigned to make their announcements on and for ESPN.
Then it was back to the game. Temple, school colors cherry and white, wore its all-black uniforms for ESPN and potential color-conscious recruits.
Kellogg’s Duke call was late
At 45-25, St. John’s over Duke, CBS’ Clark Kellogg
yesterday told us Mike Krzyzewski
knew he’d face a revved-up St. John’s team. Too easy. Tell us that at 0-0. And who doesn’t get revved to play Duke?
The Duke Blue Devils wore their black uniforms for CBS and against St. John’s yesterday, thus the St. John’s Red Storm did not wear their
black uniforms. Got that?
*
ESPN’s baseball shot-callers are showing more signs of, at last, getting it. Sean McDonough
will become the Monday night play-by-player, teamed with Aaron Boone
and Rick Sutcliffe
. Ex-Mets play-by-player Dave O’Brien
and Nomar Garciaparra
become the Wednesday night team.
In addition to having ESPN baseball and basketball in common, McDonough and O’Brien have been Red Sox broadcasters and attended Syracuse.
*
Why, last week — or any week — were we supposed to care about anything
said by Charles Barkley
or Antonio Cromartie
?
*
CBS’ Ian Baker-Finch
pulled a rock Saturday. With another ball a few feet past the cup, Woods left his greenside bunker shot tight. Baker-Finch: “I’m surprised he didn’t have that [other] ball marked.” Huh? Why would he? Gary McCord
reminded him the other ball could have been used to stop Woods’.
Correction: Contrary to what I wrote here yesterday, Robert Brennan
, Seton Hall basketball booster and “pump and dump” stock swindler, is no longer incarcerated. He was released on Jan. 7.
The NCAA has granted UCLA tackle Sean Sheller
a sixth year of eligibility. Reader Mike Caputo
, Ridgefield, Conn., asks, “Does that make him a true senior . . . citizen?”
*
Imagine, Wilpon threw in with Bernie Madoff
when investment wiz Lenny Dykstra
was right there for him!