Starting pitcher Kyle Lohse won his arbitration hearing against the Twins on Friday, meaning he will make $2.4 million this season. It was the first arbitration case of the year in major league baseball and things couldn't have gotten off to a worse start. Lohse, who made $395,000 last season, doesn't deserve even a quarter of the money he will make this year.
What kind of magical season did Lohse have last year to deserve a pay raise of more than $2 million? He lost four more games than he won, had an inflated E.R.A that was well above 5 and became one of the least reliable pitchers on the staff. And that gets him a $2 million raise?
Even the Twins counter offer to Lohse's $2.4 million request was ridiculous. They were willing to give him $2.15 million. As if that isn't baffling enough, Lohse says no! Then he feels so strongly that his 9-13 season of a year ago should earn him a raise of two million instead of $1.75 million that he becomes just the third Twins player since 1999 to ride things out to an actual hearing.
In my book, a losing record shouldn't get you a $2 million raise, it should get you a pay cut. If you perform, you get a raise, if you do poorly, you don't make as much money. That's just the way of the world. Somehow, Kyle Lohse got around it.
To illustrate how much the arbitrators know, consider this. Last year, Johan Santana had an arbitration hearing against the Twins. He lost and became the A.L. Cy Young winner while making just $1.6 million. In other words, we're going to pay a guy who went 9-13 last year $800,000 more than what the league's best pitcher made last year.
Congrats, Kyle Lohse. You just ripped off your club.
A few years ago, "contraction" became a swear word in Minnesota and surrounding states. When Bud Selig put the Twins on the chopping block, we were outraged. And we should have been. But the NHL is not Major League Baseball and for hockey, contraction is the only option.
From 1990-2000, the NHL expanded from 21 teams to 30. Several of those were in southern states. The NHL misread the possibility down south and is paying for it now. ESPN.com reports that "at least 10 teams stand to lose money when their local revenues (ticket sales and broadcast sales) and their share of meager league-wide national revenues are stacked up against payrolls above $30 million, especially in a lockout-depressed environment." Included in that list of teams are Atlanta, Carolina, Florida, Nashville and Phoenix. Every one of these teams was a southern experiment that didn't pan out. It's time to get rid of them. It's time to realize that hockey is a regional sport. Rather than expanding to the southern United States, it would make sense to expand north, further into Canada where the sport is popular.
Even some teams in the Midwest need to go. The Chicago Blackhawks are the worst franchise in professional sports and Columbus loses money every season. Those two teams, and every franchise to the south, should be contracted or moved north. Michael Leeds, a sports economics professor at Temple University, tells ESPN.com, "...since (the hockey fan) is a casual fan instead of a die-hard fan..." Leeds may be an expert in the economics of sports, but he evidently knows nothing about its fans.
Hockey's fan base is more "die-hard" than any other sport. The problem the NHL is running into is that it's also a regional sport. If kids can't grow up playing it on the outdoor ponds and rinks, it just doesn't catch on. It's like putting a professional surfing team in Minnesota. Hockey fans in the northern U.S. and Canada are die-hard. The NHL just needs to put the teams where the fans are. If they do that, salary-cap issues may still hang around, but they won't cancel an entire season.
As the facts continue to come out, it looks more and more like the University of Iowa athletic department not only didn't jump the gun by kicking Pierre Pierce off the team, they may have actually waited too long.
Yesterday, the Hawkeyes leading scorer was charged with six crimes stemming from an incident at his former girlfriend's apartment on the night of January 27th. According to the Des Moines Register, police say a fight "turned into a night of assault, vandalism, intimidation and sexual threat." If convicted on all accounts, Pierce faces up to 32 years in prison. The most serious crime is first-degree felony burglary.
It's always easy to second guess after something like this takes place, but as time continues to pass, it continues to look like Pierce had no business being on the Hawkeyes team to begin the season. In 2002, he was charged with third-degree sexual abuse. He pled guilty to assault causing injury, served a year of probation and worked 200 hours of community service. He was allowed to stay in school because he received a deferred judgment.
I can see letting him stay in school. The best way to help someone get away from a life of crime is to educate him, to give him opportunity to become something more so he doesn't feel the need to be a criminal. But letting him stay on the basketball team wasn't going to help anything, with the possible exception of the Hawkeye basketball team.
Letting someone with criminal tendencies remain in that kind of an environment--where he is praised by thousands, allowed to get away with things average students couldn't and generally made to feel superior over others--only enhances his predisposition to crime. Although Pierce obviously needs to be held responsible for his actions, the university should feel a certain degree of guilt. They set Pierce up for this latest crime spree by allowing him to remain on the basketball team. No one is guilty but Pierce, but it may not have happened if he had been kicked off two years ago.
I never thought this day would come. Throughout the Timberwolves struggles, throughout their childishness, I never doubted they would pull out of their funk and once again become the team they were a year ago. Now, after falling 108-96 in Memphis last night for their sixth consecutive defeat, I've finally lost hope in my Wolves.
With the season nearing the home stretch, Minnesota has fallen below .500 for the first time since early last season. What's the problem? We have basically the same players, except Troy Hudson and Wally Szczerbiak are healthy. Logically, that should result in an even better team than the one that made it to the Western Conference Finals last season. Unfortunately for the Wolves, things just aren't clicking with the line-up they have out there.
This scenario is a perfect lesson in team dynamics. The United States olympic team learned that lesson in Athens last year as well. The best collection of players don't always win. After all the individual highlights and accomplishments of the group of All-Stars fade away, the best team will come out on top in the end.
As odd as it sounds, we might have too much talent. Too much talent on its own is never a problem. Obviously, everyone in the league would kill for that kind of talent. But when talent is mixed with ego, suddenly there's no room for everyone on the court. Someone's not getting his shots. Someone's not handling the ball enough. Especially in the NBA, it's difficult to appease your team's talent enough to field a winning team. Rarely, a coach can find the right mix of players. A mix that combines talent with a team attitude and an unselfishness that fuels a winning team. The Timberwolves don't have that.
Until they find that mix, prepare yourself for more of the same.
Jose Canseco's book, due out February 14th, is said to implicate multiple All-Stars of steroid use. He names names and isn't shy about it. Mark Mcgwire, Juan Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro. These are big names. Well respected names. These are supposed to be the good guys. These charges by Jose are no small matter.
Baseball is making strides toward cleaning up the game but we will probably never know the truth about whether these players used steroids. That's either good news for them, or good news for Canseco, we'll never know.
This is such a tough situation because the initial reaction most people have is to think "guilty until proven innocent." We think Canseco wouldn't say these things unless they were true or he had some type of grudge against them. It doesn't make sense that he would just make it up. The response from the accused, on the other hand, is obvious. Of course they're going to "categorically deny any steroid use."
We want to believe them. We want to toss Canseco's comments to the side and forget he ever said them. But if none of it is true, why would he say these things? Does he really need money from book sales so badly he would stoop to making false accusations that no one can prove to be false?
I don't know. McGwire and Gonzalez did put on a lot of muscle over their careers. Does that make them guilty? McGwire admittedly used Andro before it was a banned substance and that kind of supplement can make a big difference. Even Creatine can add 20 pounds of muscle over an off-season if used with proper nutrition and a vigorous workout schedule. And in 2000, Gonzalez was one of only two players who volunteered to be tested for steroids. That makes me think Canseco's estimate of 80% of players using steroids might not be that far off. It also makes me think Juan is in the 20%.
Here's what I've decided to do. I'm going to give these guys the benefit of the doubt. I think, until Canseco comes forth with some sort of proof, I'm going to assume the extra muscle on these athletes came from hard work and legal supplements. If they didn't do it, they don't deserve the public scrutiny. If they did, the new, stricter rules should stop them from continuing, and their consciences will have to deal with the past.
Bill Belichick is a great coach, don't get me wrong. But enough already. The guy stands on the sidelines calling plays, which is fine and dandy, but when has he ever made a play? Yes, Belichick puts his players in a position to succeed. But the players are the ones creating the success. So let's stop praising the coach and give credit where credit is due...to the quarterback.
Tom Brady is 27-years old. He's only been a pro for 5 years and spent the first season as a back-up for Drew Bledsoe. And he has three Super Bowl championships. Three! And he's not a small part of the team, like Brad Johnson when the Tampa Bay defense won a Super Bowl or whatever no-name quarterback watched the Baltimore Ravens win a ring. Brady was MVP of the first two Super Bowl wins and was no slob last night. He completed 23 of 33 passes for 236 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He joined Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana and Troy Aikman as the only quarterbacks to win at least three Super Bowls. Look at those names again. Bradshaw, Montana and Aikman. And the media is talking about Belichick?
On one play, late in the second quarter, Brady illustrated what makes him great. If you watched the replay of his first touchdown pass, you saw his eyes start to the left, move from one receiver to another before finally catching a glimpse of David Givens in the right corner of the end zone. His eyes bulged and he threaded the needle, connecting for the touchdown. Granted, he needed protection to check down to his third receiver, but he did it quickly, wasting no time worrying about being hit. Yes, he's smart (ever notice how, according to the announcers, all white guys are "smart" and all black guys are "athletic?"). Yes, he has a great defense. Yes, his receivers make some amazing plays for him. But more than anything else, Tom Brady is simply one of the best quarterbacks around. Winning doesn't follow him, he creates it.
Think of the hype and craze that would follow if Brett Favre accomplished what Brady has. He would be deemed the All-Time Greatest Athlete in the History of History. But it's just little Tom Brady (who, at 6'4, 225 is bigger than most people think). It's time we give Brady some credit. It's time we call him what he is...a future Hall of Famer.
Former RCTC Yellowjacket Rhys Lloyd finished his collegiate career this winter when the Gophers won their bowl game and wrapped up the 2004 season. Lloyd's football career has taken him from England, where he was a "futbol" player, to Eastview High School, to RCTC and then on to the U. There is no doubt where the next step should be: to the NFL and specifically, to the Minnesota Vikings.
Those of us who are Vikings fans are keenly aware of the importance of the kicker in a football game. We remember one of the most hillarious bloopers in the history of football when Bucky Scribner fumbled, then swung his foot and missed the ball completely before being swamped by defenders. We've put up with names like Aaron Elling, Darren Bennett and Jose Cortez, all of whom fall short of Jan Stenerud. Or even guys like Morten Andersen and Gary Anderson who were superstars in their day...if only we could have had them in their day. Now they just take up extra roster spots, forcing us to add players who can kick the ball further. And they create an awkward "What do we do here?" range when the offense stalls at the 30 yard line.
Now that we've seen the impact a bad kicker can have on the game--and that of a kicker without range--it's time to see what a good one can do. The Vikings should sign Ryhs Llyod this year.
I'm not saying he should be our first round draft pick. We have plenty of other problem areas to address. But we need to get a good kicker. We don't need someone different for punting, kicking off, kicking field goals inside 35 yards and kicking field goals outside 35 yards. We need one player who can do all of the above. And Lloyd is the guy.
Minnesota fans are already in love with him. He has range in excess of 60 yards if the conditions are right. He can punt, and his running-punt style opens the door to fake punts as well. He won't be a problem off the field. He has an intensity about him and isn't intimidated. You can't ice him. And as Gopher fans learned against Wisconsin in 2003, he can make the big kick.
There are plenty of reasons to get rid of every kicker currently on the roster and make room for one man. That man is Rhys Lloyd. Let's just hope he looks good in purple.
