Odd Thoughts

Do We Have a Smart Owner on Our Hands?

I recently read a feature article about the new Angels owner, Aurturo Moreno. I knew when he came in that he intended to lower beer prices and spend some money on free agents, and he's done both of those. It's too soon to tell whether his spending on free agents will work out, but his price reductions on ticket prices and concessions really paid off.

He now sells outfield tickets to people 18 and under for $5. He has family packages for $5 a head. He sells the outfield for $3 a ticket on Tuesday nights. What was the result? 750,000 more fans came to see the third place 2003 Angels than can to see the world champion 2002 Angels. The 2003 attendance figures topped 3 million for the first time in team history. He also reduced prices on concessions across the board and certain souvenirs, and produced more eye-popping results. At the concession stand, the Angels a profit increase of $2.5 million over 2002 and the souvenirs made an extra $1.25 million.

I guess it turns out that teams don't have to sell hot dogs for $5 to make a profit or help cover the payroll.

As for Sophie

Well she's been out as long as she was in. Saturday she was nine months old. She does a little walking, though she's not quite independant. She likes to eat a lot of different foods, though she doesn't have any teeth. She's mastered the word "Uh-oh" and can also say "mama" but only when she whines. She's even growing some hair. She's a lot of fun and we love her.

In Defense of the Yankees

If you're a regular reader of this page or you have ever talked baseball with me, you know that I have no love for the Yankees. I can't claim to have the same ire for them that a die-hard Boston fan would have, but it's pretty close. Largely because I believe that hating a team is just as important in following sports as loving a team. However, we shouldn't blame the Yankees for the A-Rod deal or the already stacked team they had before they got him. We shouldn't blame Steinbrenner, we shouldn't blame the Rangers, and we shouldn't blame A-Rod. The problem is the system.

Free agency and the way baseball has operated for the last thirty years is really the problem. The way it ran before was a problem too, and the players knew that, but it was as though they all got together in 1973 and said, "Hey we could get out of this ditch and go get in that one over there." Steinbrenner and company are simply operating within the system they've been given. It could have just as easily happened in some other town with some other team and some other owner. There's absolutely nothing keeping David Glass from spending the kind of money Steinbrenner does. (What? you haven't heard of Glass? He's the owner of the Kansas City Royals. He's also the CEO of a little group called Wal-Mart.) On three occasions today I heard radio people make an argument that other owners don't have the luxury of spending like George because their teams don't operate in the black. But that's just a pack of lies in itself.

First of all, I really would be interested to see how much baseball teams make or loose in the real world when all of the accountants are being honest with each other. I seriously doubt that only the Yankees and Mariners have turned profits in the last three years, or that 80% percent of all teams have operated in the red for the last 25 years. How could that actually be the case?

Second of all, I strongly suspect that the Yankees, even in the Steinbrenner era, have always turned a profit - at least by MLB accounting standards. Let's not forget that from 1982 through 1993 the Yankees failed to win their division even once, in fact, they were fourth or lower in six of those 11 seasons. But, the Yankees spent the money and got lucky and then kept pumping money in the system to keep the team afloat and stayed lucky. From this line of argument two other arguments flow: 1) Spending money on high-priced players does not guarantee success, and 2) Perhaps spending more money will put more people in the stands.

Pertaining to the first argument, consider how many teams have spent a ton of money with little or no success at all in the last ten years. In 1999 and 2000 the Mets were good, then they added Roberto Alomar and Mo Vaughn and fell apart. They thought they'd do better by throwing more money at the situation by signing Tom Glavine the next year, and they were still bad. The Orioles in the mid to late 90's spent a ton of money to build a veteran team and made two post-season appearances in '96 and '97 and have been below .500 ever since, but they still had a high payroll (part of which they couldn't control). The Dodgers and Rangers have boasted the highest paid player in the league and neither of them even have a post-season appearance to show for it. Some teams do it with money and some do it with luck, but it takes both to build a team that stays great.

Pertaining to the second argument, look at the Astros. The Astros might make the playoffs this year, they might even make the World Series, but even if they fail to do both, I imagine it will be hard to get Astro tickets all year. All they did was maintain a decent team with an average payroll and then juice it up a little bit. And the Astros are not alone. There are several other teams that not in the biggest markets that have a team to sell this year, and all of them but the A's did it by spending money. People in San Diego will have a reason to go to the ballpark. People in Philadelphia have a reason to go to the ballpark. But the only reason to go see a Pirate game or a Brewer game is that the Cubs, Astros, and Cardinals will each play in those cities ten times this year. If these "small market" clubs would spend a little money and show their citizens they're at least interested in building a winner, maybe they would care. By the way, I find it interesting how the Mariners and Braves, two teams that were considered small markets in the 80's, are now considered to be the biggest markets outside of New York/LA/Chicago.

All that is to say, the Yankees just take advantage of the system. You can still hate them, but you can't say they cheat, and you can't say it's not fair. Every other team in the game has the same opportunities as the Yankees.

That being said, we can't ignore the fact that there is a problem, but the problem is with the system, and the system will not be changed in the least until after the 2006 season. This is what the players wanted. They like it like this. They believe that it is within the best interest of baseball for things to go this way. I know that possible solutions are difficult to find, but you can't tell me that this is the best situation for Ben Sheets and Jason Kendall.

So A-Rod's a Yankee, It's not the End of the World

Before I start, I just want to point out that A-Rod became a Yankee on the same day that 3/4 of an inch of snow stuck on the ground in Calhoun. . . draw your own conclusions.

Anyway, when I heard the news my heart sank, feeling that we might as well give the Yankees the title and play the season for second place, but it's really not as bad as all that. We can go ahead and concede one of the eight playoff spots to them. That is, we can be certain that they will be playing games in October. However, I know one particular Yankee fan that has argued that A-Rod is cursed, plus the Yankees still have areas of concern, and the Red Sox are still a great team. There's the New York factor itself and potential injuries, and finally, there will be seven other teams in the playoffs.

From the Yanks v. Red Sox side, I argue that the A-Rod + Sheffield addition is not nearly as significant as the Schilling + Foulke addition in Boston. Pitchers dominate the post-season in a way that hitters do not. Rarely is one position player able to carry a team through a short series, whereas pitchers almost always carry teams to the title. I'm sure the Yankees remember the last time they faced Curt Schilling in October. In that situation the Yankees would have lost to the AAPC softball team if Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling could have pitched four of the seven games. The Yankees are definitely better with A-Rod, but still not unbeatable.

The Yankees have four new starting pitchers, a whole new middle relief group, and three regular players that are new to the team. Even the most devout Yankee fan can tell you that some players just don't seem able to preform as Yankees - I can tell you right now that Gary Sheffield will be one of them.

Finally, when October roles around the Yankees will have to go through three other teams in three short series to win it all, and that's a tall order. Furthermore, the best team from the regular season rarely goes on to take the trophy and we need look no further than the Yankees in the last three years to see that. The team that catches fire in October will end up winning the World Series and the Yankees only have a 1 in 8 shot of it being them.

They've really put themselves in a tough spot. If they win, the Anti-Yankee nation will point out that they bought the World Series (which I do not believe is a fair assessment; it's just the way people will spin it), and if they do anything less than win the World Series it will be a colassal failure. What would George do then?

I Know A Place

This post is by Amy.

Tonight I got a hankering to listen to Into Your Arms by the Lemonheads. And so taking a trip down good old memory lane I conjured up sweet remembrances of my teenage years. I can just see me now cruising down the street with the windows rolled down, sipping on a peach icee, wanting to be grown up, thinking at times that I was. I remember thinking how great it would be to actually find someone whose arms I would want to be in. So now as I sit here and listen to it, I smile to know that I have found that. I have someone whose arms are always open for me - “So if I should fall”.

The Key to the Democratic Nomination

I figured out why Senator John Kerry is running away from the pack in the Democratic primaries: he has the fluffiest hair. That’s probably why President Clinton got the nomination as well. That’s also why Dick Gephardt never stood a chance, his hair is just not fluffy enough.

I also heard that Kerry might have trouble selling Americans on his image of being just a regular guy. FOX News reported that Kerry is notorious about butting in line. I wonder if he just jumps in front of people or if he’s more of the phase-in sort of butter.

Front Page

I recently got my hands on Microsoft's Front Page. It allows me to do fancy things with various web related things, like blog posts. I really don't know how to do all that it can do, but it's already a lot of fun to play with. I just design the page how I want it, and it converts the design into HTML, which I in turn cut and paste into chattablogs.  Before, I never knew how to wrap the text around an image.  Now I still don't know, but this program lets me do it anyway.  In purchasing it, I found that you can but it for about 40% less at the Louisiana Tech book store, rather than purchasing it at Wal-Mart.  As for the picture itself, this is how I found Amy one day when I came home from work.  I asked her what was wrong and I could hardly get it out of her.  Finally she confessed that while the off-season was over half way through, she just could bear another nine weeks until baseball starts again.  I told her that I understand more than anybody, but that during this very week, pitchers and catchers would report to spring training and there would be new action in Delta Fantasy Baseball.  That cheered her up a little bit.  But she can still use your help.  She really needs to talk baseball, so call her up and chit chat with her about your 2004 predictions.  Her favorite player is Derek Jeter.

The Radio

You know the radio situation is bad when you leave it on Creed because it's the best thing on.

Seriously folks, my parents gave me XM radio last weekend, and I've really enjoyed it so far. My only problem now is that there's too much stuff on the radio. I rarely hear a whole song. The system allows you to see what is playing on other stations while you're tuned in to one. So I get excited when I see Dave Matthews, so I click on that, but then I see that Ben Folds is on another station, so I click on that, only to find a live version of Achy, Breaky Heart, and who can pass that up? I'm sure I'll settle down with it soon, but so far I do more station hopping with XM than I did before.

I do miss getting Jim Rome. Hopefully he'll sign up soon.

I also wonder who listens to some of this stuff. There's an African music station. I'm not talking about music performed by African Americans, I'm talking about Ngoma: African Tribal Music. I also listened to CNN in Spanish: all heard was blah, blah-blah, blah-blah Janet Jackson blah, blah-blah, blah-blah Justin Timberlake.

The Cat: Today's Dog

I know this is one of those "Creamy or Crunchy" sorts of issues, but I am a decidedly dog person. I have respect for cats - I really do - I just feel that they fail to meet the standards of loyalty and affection to the degree that many dogs do. I don't know for a fact that any of my regular readers are cat people, that is to say, the following admonition is not directed at anyone in particular. Part of the reason I dislike cats is that I'm allergic to them. May dad and my wife are even more allergic to them. Cat people, when they become aware of the unfortunate circumstance say, "I'll put the cat out." I'm now here to inform you, should you be such a cat person, that does not work. A cat contaminates a room in a way that even fire cannot purify. Maybe that's overstating the matter, but I can assure you that removing the cat and running a vacuum will not do the trick. Even with such precautions, at least for Dad and Amy, you might as well take the cat and rub it on their faces. As I thought about this matter again, I was reminded of a P.J. O'Rourke quote on the matter titled "The Cat: Today's Dog:"

Cats are to dogs what modern people are to the people we used to have. Cats are slimmer, cleaner, more attractive, disloyal, and lazy. It's easy to understand why the cat has eclipsed the dog as modern America's favorite pet. People like pets to possess the same qualities they do. Cats are irresponsible and recognize no authority, yet are completely dependent on others for their material needs. Cats cannot be made to do anything useful. Cats are mean for the fun of it. In fact, cats possess so many of the same qualities as some people that it's often hard to tell the people and the cats apart. From Modern Manners: An Etiquette Book for Rude People

A Long Overdue Confession

For some strange reason, when I was seven or eight, I was a real stickler about bedtime and not letting anything interfere with it. So much so, that when 9:00 roled around - even on weekends, even if I had a guest - I went to bed. I avoided all caffeine, including chocolate, so that I'd be able to go to sleep. That's the back ground; here's the confession. I went in the hospital to have various tests run, and for one of them, I had to stay up late so I'd be sleepy in the morning during the test. I had to make it to midnight. I recognized that I had to do it. In order to help me make it that far, my parents gave me a white chocolate Hershey bar, thinking they had pulled the wool over my eyes on the caffeine. "It's white chocolate. He won't know it has caffeine." So here's the confession: I knew there was caffeine in that candy bar. In no way was the wool even near my face. I made a conscientous decision to amend by seven-year-old scruples as a means to an end. Unfortunately, the gave it to me at something like 4:00 in the afternoon. So by 11:30 that night I was fighting to stay awake while Hawaii Five-0 was on the TV. I do remember that the show opened with someone getting stabbed with a screwdriver.