Bud Selig’s last season on the job will begin as has every season since 1992, when he was handed the keys and told by his empowering team owners that the “steal sign” is always on. It will begin with full adherence to drooling, sell-ya-down-the-river greed.
April’s Sunday night games on ESPN — 8:05 starts — again will demonstrate MLB’s anything-for-a-TV-buck outrageous disregard for fans: Red Sox at Yankees, Orioles at Red Sox, Angels at Yankees.
Freeze, you fools, freeze! Then see if you can last nine innings and still get home by 2 a.m.
Yet again, Selig & Co., in exchange for ESPN money, will allow games that logically should be played at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoons in April to begin after 8 p.m., thus end near midnight — provided there are no delays that carry a game into Monday morning.
To hell, yet again, with everyone — tickets holders and Eastern Time Zone viewers of all ages, especially those with work or school Monday morning.
We’re left to presume Selig feels that starting Sunday baseball games after 8 p.m. in the Northeast in April meets his definition of logical. Sure. Envision him and his family heading out to take in a baseball game on a cold Sunday night.
And, as always, the baseball media and, as a whole, the sports media — once the watchdogs who went to bat on behalf of an otherwise bat-less public — offer no resistance, assign no shame. The media nod, bow, obey. They focus on nothing more worrisome than on-base percentages.
And thus Selig remains as he claims: a man of the people! Just not you people.
Francesa won’t listen to reason on A-Rod
Did anyone expect that serial B.S. (bogus story) artist Mike Francesa, having fully backed Alex Rodriguez based another of his bad guesses posed as superior expertise and deep knowledge of the legal system, would admit he was wrong? Even a little bit?
Last week, the only thing left for him was to spin his wheels deeper into his own B.S. while winning arguments by disallowing callers to finish a sentence, shouting over them, hanging up on them. It’s “Let’s Be Honest” Mike’s standard path of open and honest debate.
For years his self-anointed genius on everything lies in speaking as if he actually knows what he’s talking about, when he so clearly does not, thus he only can fool the foolish.
And, as the sustaining star of “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” he doesn’t realize he is a comedic figure.
He recently lectured on potential Super Bowl sites as per population centers. This expert on the subject declared
Peyton Manning would reject Houston as “a small market” (it’s our fourth largest city), and that he would reject Denver because of its weather (Manning signed with Denver, 23rd largest US city).
Doesn’t matter if ex-Colts and new Lions coach is Jim Caldwell, if Francesa says its “Cardwell,” then it’s Cardwell! Just don’t mispronounce names Francesa can correctly pronounce or he’ll scream at you, call you an idiot, cut you off the line. Sure, he’s a heel, but he’s our heel!
Great moments in channel surfing: Thursday, SNY aired a September 1986 Cubs-Mets game (Mets won, imagine that!). When call-up rookie Rafael Palmeiro batted for Chicago, Rusty Staub, doing color, said the scouting report was that Palmeiro is a “Dave Magadan-type hitter,” i.e., singles and doubles.
Four years later, Palmeiro suddenly “blossomed” into a slugger. He would hit 569 home runs, and later lie to Congress about his steroid use. For those scoring at home, Jose Canseco, not Bud Selig, blew the whistle on Palmeiro.
Writers Cherish Readers: Brad Ford, Hartford, Conn., asks if there are two NFLs, the one that says the public should shun Super Bowl ticket scalpers, and the NFL whose ticket website is selling Super Bowl tickets at huge mark-ups? The NFL says a lotta things, Brad.
Tony Juan, Highland, NY, was impressed with CBS’s up-to-the-moment stat work Sunday, when it noted the Broncos had two sacks to the Chargers’ zero sacks. Did it matter that the Chargers had not yet played a down on defense? Nah.
Until TV football analysts this season taught us differently, Kevin McCauley and I thought that the “second level” was the mezzanine.
CBS, Brando split
Tim Brando, 18 years a CBS college game and studio regular, and a fellow who knew his stuff — although he often avoided the ugly stuff — has departed CBS and CBS Sports Net. His daily show remains on SiriusXM. Apparently, Brando erroneously expected increased inclusion on game telecasts. He’s too good to disappear.
Why was Jimmy Dolan seen seated front-and-center at the Golden Globes? The entertainment industry had voted Dolan its P.T. Barnum Award in recognition of his invention of the Facility Fee — money one must pay to enter an event after purchasing a ticket to it.
Mike Breen, during the Knicks’ 28-point loss Thursday at Indiana on MSG, nailed it: The Pacers play the NBA’s “hungriest” ball. Pity, though, that Brooklyn’s Lance Stephenson, Indy’s ascending star with a full-court game that speaks for itself, makes himself tough to root for: Needless, worthless, childish showboating.
Gene Steratore, ref in tonight’s NFC Championship, Thursday refereed the Siena-Manhattan basketball game (credit reader James Baxter for the heads-up!).
Old dog, new tricks: At 64, Butch Goring can add concise, astute and highly valued analyst on MSG’s Islanders telecasts to his distinguished NHL resume. It doesn’t hurt that he’s with Howie Rose, whose underrated gifts include the ability to bring out the conversational best in partners.
What will the NHL and Yankee Stadium folks tell us after Rangers-Islanders and Rangers-Devils don’t come close to selling out because ticket prices — plus tack-ons — are obscene? It was a weather thing? Or that everyone was watching on the big TVs in the VIP restaurants?
Here’s why you never rush to send graduation, engagement, wedding and retirement gifts: Tim McCarver, who retired from his distinguished baseball career with the close of FOX’s World Series last season, is returning to his first baseball home, St. Louis — as a TV analyst on roughly 30 Cardinals telecasts on FOX’s regional network.
With Colorado legalizing marijuana, our suggestion that the Rockies sell their own — “Buds Selig” — brings to mind the greatest pot name in baseball history: Herb Score.