Sports Ramblings

 

 

The football season is almost over. My interest in gridiron football is less than I have for moving to Swaziland to research dust mite, so on to other observations.

 

Baseball:

 

I’m angry about the obscene contract the Dodgers handed to Shohei Ohtani. He’s a wonderful player, but the terms of his $700 million contract are immoral. Ohtani was allowed to defer most of the money, meaning he can stiff California out of paying his fair share of taxes. What? He couldn’t cough up the change to pay taxes on $700 million! In essence, he could retire, move back to Japan, buy the island of Hokkaido, and pay next to nothing in state or federal taxes.

 

By contrast, California workers are expected to pay their taxes, but a multimillionaire pays chicken feed. Have you noticed that every time billionaire sports franchise owners wants a new stadium or arena, they extort the cities for public funding. This is ball pork for the rich paid for by workers who struggle to buy pork chops. I like Ohtani, but I hope the Dodgers crash worse than the 2023 Mets.

 

 

On a more serious note, if Major League Baseball doesn’t ban Wander Franco for life, its sexual abuse policy is a joke. Franco is undoubtedly talented, but he’s also a sexual predator. If you’ve not been following this, the 23-year-old Franco is accused of repeatedly raping a 14-year-old girl. Dominican courts have dismissed charges that could have sent him to prison for decades, but get this; the justification for doing so is that Franco paid the girl’s mother to have sex with her daughter. Oh well, that makes it alright, yes? After all, he’s only guilty of soliciting a minor for sex.

 

Professional baseball is a sport that is self-righteous about steroid use. That will get you banned­, after the third time! Thus far, the only player to be severely penalized for sexual abuse is pitcher Trevor Bauer, but even he was basically exiled after serving a 16-month suspension for spousal abuse. Franco’s actions are a step further. He should never again be allowed to wear an MLB uniform. If MLB banned Pete Rose for life for betting on games, what penalty is appropriate for Wander Franco?

 

Hockey: 

The Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets are riding high in the National Hockey League standings. It would be a major boon for Canada if one of them won the Stanley Cup. I have a sneaking suspicion that the NHL would love to get rid of franchises in Canada everywhere except (perhaps) Montreal and Toronto. The Canadian dollar is weak, TV markets are smaller, and border crossings are seen as onerous. (Heaven forbid you’d have to show a passport or pay Canadian taxes!)

 

It’s the worst kept secret in sports that the NHL would love to move teams in Calgary, Ottawa, and Winnipeg to somewhere like Houston, San Diego, and Kansas City. Others on the waiting list include such traditional hotbeds of hockey (not!) like Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, and Atlanta, the last of which has already flopped twice.

 

 

 

The NHL already has 32 teams, which is at least four too many. If commissioner Gary Bettman wants to move franchises, several immediately spring to mind. Why the NHL keeps propping up Phoenix is anyone’s guess. The Coyotes hope to move into what will be their 3rd big arena next year. Why? Right now, they play on the campus of Arizona State University whose Mullett Center holds just over 5,000 fans, and don’t fill it!  By way of comparison, the AHL Hershey Bears average 8,700 per game in a town of less than 15,000 people. Note to Bettman: Nobody gives a puck about hockey in Arizona.

 

 

Another that could go is Columbus. The very idea of Columbus as a major league sports town is risible. I’m also tempted to say Quebec City would pump more money into payroll than the perpetually beleaguered Buffalo Sabers, but at least their fans care.

 

Basketball:

The National Basketball Association has become globally popular, but it has issues to address. Draymond Green needs to go if he commits another act of violence on the court. Officiating plays a role in exacerbating emotional outbursts. They call ticky-tacky violations but look away when shooters are practically undressed by defenders. You could watch an entire season and never see a traveling or three-second violation. 

 

 

 

More problematic is that the NBA has become more about the show than the quality of play. I’ll bet Red Auerbach spins in his grave every time a team goes into the 4th quarter with a 15- to 20-point lead and manages to pull defeat from the jaws of victory. If winning is really the goal, take the proverbial air out of the ball. By that I mean you slow the piece of the game. The quarters are only 12 minutes long and you have 24 seconds to shoot. The fundamentally sound strategy is to use most of the clock on each possession. Pass the ball, work the clock, and take high percentage two-point shots. There is no reason to rush the ball up the court and launch three-point attempts. That’s posterizing and highlight reel behavior, but it’s individualism in what’s supposed to a team sport.

 

Not impressed by men’s college basketball this year. The women’s game is far more exciting.

 

Rob Weir