You asked, we answered. And as always feel free to add your responses below. From the "Al Davis Studios," here we go...
Hey 5@10,
FILE - In this Sept. 15, 2011 file photo, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, left, and NBA Commissioner David Stern talk during a break at the NBA basketball owners meeting, in Dallas. The NBA says Cuban proposed a new salary cap exception, not the elimination of the salary cap, during a players-owners meeting last week. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)I'd like to talk to you this week about the NBA lockout. I realize that discussing the NBA is probably at the bottom of your list of things to talk about right now but this lockout is starting to get serious. This week, the NBA canceled two more weeks of the regular season bringing a total loss of 4 weeks. I've studied this thing and I just don't know who to side with. I understand the owners wanting a more even playing field and I understand the players not wanting a cut in their salary. Last year was so exciting and TV ratings were the highest they had been in years. It is such a shame that all the goodwill the league has built up with fans is being ruined as we speak. So 5@10, who's more to blame for this and how long do you see the lockout lasting?
- CelticVol,
That's the beauty of the mailbag, you ask we answer, no big whoop.
The first thing we'll address is your uncertainty about who to side with. There's only one side to pull for in this mess - the fans. Pull for you, for all the NBA watchers, even pull for JordanRules, because those are the folks that are being punished in this. And you make a great point that last year was so much fun that even casual fans were starting to pay attention to the NBA again.
As for the blame, while there is more than enough to go around, more times than not the blame in situations like these lies with the owners.This is about fiscal responsibility from the beginning, something the owners refuse to practice. There are basically two types of bad owners/franchises: The bad-decision makers who start with reaching and unsound draft picks and then compensate by over-spending for mediocre free agents, bankrupting their payrolls and leaving them with little or no chance to compete with the elite teams. Then there's the franchises that care more about making money than winning, and yes, we all know this is a business, but the business has to be about winning. Then the money will come. And that's our view of every industry. If you craft and construct a better product than your competitor, you will make money. Period. Whether you are making an NBA team, a newspaper, a family-oriented-InterWeb-based sports column, a flux capacitor or widgets.
So more times than not labor unrest in sports is the by-product of bad owners looking for even playing fields or looking for ways to save them from themselves. It's the Xbox reset button for billionaires, even if it doesn't change the franchise's history or future projections.
So as everyone is blaming the system and demanding equality. Well, you know what, all teams and franchises are not created equal. The Clippers are the Clippers for a reason and it has nothing to do with hard salary caps and luxury taxes.
As for how long it lasts, well, like all of these situations, it will last as long as the players' war chests and faith in the system and the ability to stay afloat with seven- and eight-figure paychecks coming in. (Which, we think is about five more days. A week tops, because the league can't, Can't, CAN'T afford to cancel the Christmas doubleheader.)
* * * * *
Fiver,
Mark A. Emmert, president of the University of Washington, speaks during a news conference after being announced as the president elect of the NCAA in Indianapolis, Tuesday, April 27, 2010.Nice analogy on fixing the house. I was going to say if you pay college players, then college turns into minor league football, and what do you have? A nice little team waiting to be promoted to the bigs, and a small diversion for the family, much like minor league baseball teams. I love Lookouts games and a cold adult beverage in the summertime, but College football (especially in the South) is much more. How do you compare winning the MVP in the Southern League to winning a Heisman Trophy? The system does need some tweaking, or go back to the old way & let everyone enjoy arguing about who really is number 1. I won't even touch the college basketball "one and done" philosophy some schools have now.... Hopping off the soapbox before my nose bleeds...
- McPell
Excellent question. Simply excellent.
Here is our column in today's TFP on the subject. Well, the cat is out of the bag now and there's no putting the toothpaste back into the tube.
For those of you that think college athletes should be paid, which is better, the false front of amateurism that was college athletics or the immediate future of slave wages that will be the $2,000 stage of college athletics?
And how hollow was the NCAA saying conferences could approve this if they desire? Well all it takes is one conference, then everyone will follow along. You think if the ACC adopts the $2,000 stipend, the SEC wants to recruit against that? Puh-lease.
And make no mistake, this is just a stage and it will likely be a brief one, because there is no place that "Keeping up with the Jones" is more overpowering than the realm of big-time college sports. How long before some athlete figures out that he/she spent 800 hours last year working on their sport and calculated out, that 2-grand is about $2.50 an hour? Where will it stop? How high will it go?
And it may not even take an athlete asking for more. The conferences may raise the stakes to gain advantages. Coaches' salaries, facilities, pregame rituals, etc., every program is looking for the slightest edge in recruiting and style and flash and substance. So which conference will be the first to petition for an extra $1,000 per athlete, for the "good of the student-athlete?"
It's a sad day college sports fans. A sad day indeed.
And please stop with the Norman Rockwell stories about how Jimmy Point Guard doesn't have money to get a pizza with his girlfriend. Or how this will help curtail the NCAA-prohibited selling of college athletes' memorabilia. Just stop that. You're smarter than that. Jimmy Point Guard wants new sneakers and rims for his ride, and the guys at THE Ohio State that were busted for dealing memorabilia weren't involved in the activities for credit at a flower shop for their girlfriends. It was for cash and tats.
The 5-at-10's head hurts. Where's the Gentleman Jack?
* * * * *
Missouri quarterback James Franklin, center, is congratulated by teammates Michael Egnew, top, Wes Kemp, left, and Justin Britt, right, as Miami Ohio's Evan Harris, far right looks on after Franklin scored a touchdown during the first half of aneir NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 3, 2011 in Columbia, Mo. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)Not that this is a surprise but on the SEC website tonight they posted an article announcing Mizzou into the SEC per Slives announcment "Monday". I read the article while it was up but it has since been taken down (here's a screencap). CBS sports article talking about the leaked article. What do you make of this?
- P-Davi,
Great detective work there youngster. Have you discovered the Loch Ness monster or nailed down the location of Big Foot?
Seriously, the news on those announcement pages is hardly shocking - everyone has expected Missouri to join the SEC for the better part of the last 10 days.
No, the shocking part is that the SEC - a league that is normally very smooth and buttoned-up and polished - would make a potentially deal-breaking mistake like posting those pages.
At the very least, it could open the SEC up to possible tampering charges and likely makes Missouri's negotiations to get out of the Big 12 much more difficult. Think of it this way, let's say you are negotiating a break-up with your current girlfriend. You're dividing up movies and stuff and deciding who gets to keep which CDs and who gets the foul ball you caught and gave to her at Turner Field and who gets to keep your awesome 1997 SEC championship T-shirt that she currently has. Then on your Face-Space page, she notices your status as "Dating Suzie because she's hot and has a lot of money." Not good. Not good at all.
So now you have to give her all the CDs, even the power ballads of the 1980s even though she doesn't want it and you do, the foul ball, even if she's going to throw it in the Tennessee river on her way to the North Shore, and your 1997 SEC championship T-Shirt, even if she's going to clean her bathroom with it for the next six weeks.
* * * * *
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady looks towards teammates during a football practice Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011, in Foxborough, Mass. The Patriots are scheduled to play the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, Oct. 30, 2011, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)Jay: I was all set to ask you if you think the Steelers can beat Tom Brady this weekend (wait, don't answer that.) I WILL call to your attention the fact that the hated Patriots haven't won a Super Bowl since they (allegedly) stopped their systematic cheating. Which brings me to my real question, Jay. Any chance we could arrange for Dalton and Signal Mountain to play a post-season football game at Finley Stadium, since they don't appear to be going to the play-offs? I'll bet it would draw 10,000 fans. We could call it the "Cheater, Cheater Pumpkin Eater Classic."
- SteelerFan,
Wow. Feel free to win the "Zinger question of the week award," brought to you by Golden Flake potato chips and Osmose pressure treated lumber.
Let's take the second part first. There's no question that game could draw a huge crowd to Finley Stadium, and somewhere in the Scenic City, Finley Stadium director Merrill Eckstein is working the phones to see if this is a possibility. (Side note: We have heard from very reliable sources that Signal was asked to play in a "bowl" game and decided against it.)
As far as the "Cheater, Cheater Pumpkin Eater Classic," well, here's saying that there will be a lot more schools in the coming years facing eligibility questions as more and more teams become active in turning in other teams. Heck, we have two games tonight that were already rivalry showdowns that have added security in preparation for high emotions and tensions because of alleged reports that one team turned in the other.
As for the Steelers-Pats, you bet we think the Steelers can win this game. Something about how quietly and low-flying Pittsburgh is moving right now is quite impressive. We like the cut of their jib to be honest about it. Plus, there is no denying that the Patriots are Super Bowl-less since SpyGate. Who says cheaters never win? (Kidding, kidding.)
Let's just move along.
* * * * *
Mr. 5@10,
I just took a quiz of teams in major sports and hockey that have never won a championship. Of the 48 non-winners, I named 30 (hint this was made before the Thrashers moved). How many did you guess? Not to give anything away, but there seem to be clusters of non-winners around certain nearby cities and states. Why is that?
- AJ,
Great link. Simply outstanding. (And be prepared to spend some serious time on this site, and yes, the 5-at-10 took the "Saved By the Bell" quiz, and yes, we got them all.)
As for the non-winners, we got 38 in the eight minutes allotted. Of the ones we missed, we're embarrassed to report that the Rockies and the Pacers were on that list. Most of the rest were hockey teams. As for the cluster aspect, it's hard to know whether there's a real explanation, but a lot of the title-less teams have been added in our lifetime. (We're a MAN! We're 41!) And those teams were added to cities that emerged in the last half century, places like Atlanta, Denver, and even the Dallas-area.
Which also leads us to a topic that must be covered this morning. The Texas Rangers, who are on the list of non-winners, were one strike away from a World Series title last night and could not finish the deal. It was drama and baseball at its best. It was simply great theater and it may have been the best baseball game we can recall. It included a river of comebacks, dramatic two-out hits, go-ahead homers and a walk-off home run by David Freese, the St. Louis-area native who lifted the Cards to a 10-9 win in 11 innings as the stadium rocked and the city of St. Louis celebrated and the city of Arlington, Texas, wept.
In fact, in honor of the list website AJ mentioned, here are our five most memorable baseball games (yes, it will be a top 5-in-10 words or less by the 5-at-10 - enjoy):
1) Game 6, 2011 World Series: Drama and rallies. It was magical.
2) Game 1, 1988 World Series: Kirk Gibson's homer lifted the Dodgers
3) Game 6, 1986 World Series: The Bill Buckner game was 25 years ago Tuesday
4) Game 7, 1992 NLCS: Braves score 3 in ninth capped by Sid's Slide
5) Game 6, 1995 World Series: 16 years ago today was the Braves only title
Side note: As for crazy games, the Braves-Mets, July 4, 1985 is the winner hands down. It had rain delays, ejections and went 19 innings, thanks in large part to relief pitcher Rick Camp's only career homer in extra innings that kept it going. The Mets won 16-13 when Ron Darling fanned Camp with two runners on at five minutes before 4. The fireworks went off at 4:01 a.m. and several Atlanta residents thought the city was under attack.
Enjoy the weekend.