Current State of Sport
The stories that have baffled me in the past weeks.
NBA
The Spurs were recently fined $250,000 dollars for sitting out their stars during a televised game. Fined. For resting their players. This to me is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard. When did the overlord NBA get to decide what individual teams do? This is just added evidence for conspiracy theorists that the NBA is indeed fixed. I mean if you can fine a team for dictating their own team affairs publicly, who is to say what the NBA tells its officials behind closed doors.
MLB
Sports pundits were going crazy (and still are) when the Marlins unloaded all of their huge contracts to the Blue Jays. But you know what? The freaking Marlins have two World Series championships doing this sort of thing. Two! That puts them tied with the Chicago Cubs (founded in 1876), our beloved Philadelphia Phillies (founded in 1883), Cleveland Indians (1894), New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays. It also puts them ahead of the three teams with just one World Series ring, and the eight teams with a goose egg. Know when the Marlins were founded? Nineteen freaking ninety-three.
Personally I think more teams should get wise to their scheme. Why? Because guys with fat cat contracts do not have to play hard anymore. Sure some do – and some genuinely want that championship ring so bad they can taste it. But you know who really plays hard? Young guys and minor league journey men who need to make an impression so bad that they give you their heart and soul every day.
Jose Reyes is a great player. Do I think he really truly cares if his teams wins though? No, not at all. For that matter do I really think Jimmy Rollins cares anymore? That is certainly up for debate. There is a fine line between what a player says, and his actions on the field.
Either way, you’re all killing me smalls.
2 Comments
Haha – Who might you be referring to in the second part of that comment?
Couldn’t agree more about the Spurs being fined. David Stern has repeatedly shown a conflict of interest that he doesn’t get called out on enough.
When a team signs a superstar and then sells a bunch of tickets under false pretenses, only to have him sidelined for an entire year, does that not fall under the same obstruction of entertainment Stern is complaining about?