Head on a swivel minors
No this is not a call for attention for your teenagers who may be sneaking a Matilda Bay from the fridge on Super Bowl Sunday.
This is the latest wrinkle in the labor negotiations for Major League Baseball and its players.
You may have heard, there's a baseball work stoppage. And the longer it drags, the more likely it will cost us regular-season games.
The lines have been drawn, and other than the universal DH, little common ground can be found.
Now, in an effort to curb costs, the owners have floated this idea.
The details are rather nebulous but the meaning should not be muddied.
The proposal is for MLB - which has taken almost complete control of minor league baseball - to be allowed to trim its Domestic Reserve List - the names of players in a big-league club's minor league system - from 180 to 150.
And just to be completely duplicitous, the owners' proposal says the league could adjust the list "up or down" according to ESPN's Jeff Passan, who does excellent work and an excellent Elmo impression.
First, owners know that they will never be able to stop giving star players nine-figure deals.
Second, to curb costs, they want to trim the names from the bottom.
Third, how many clubs would actually 'increase' the number of farmhands on the payroll?
Fourth, after MLB already contracted several minor league franchises, if each team cut roughly 30 players from its system, long term, wouldn't that mean another round of contraction across the minor leagues?
As Passan points out, after the purge of late 2020 across the minor leagues - a purge that had our beloved Lookouts hanging in the balance - when the dust settled, MLB signed 10-year deals with the 120 remaining minor league clubs. Last year was year one of that 10-year deal, so nothing will be on the horizon in the immediate future, but a decade from now, who knows?
(Side question: If our city and county are going to pony up tens of millions for a new Lookouts Stadium, well, it better be in play for more than the next nine years, right?)
Racer calls racism
Last summer Sha'Carri Richardson, one of the fastest female sprinters on the planet, was barred from running in the Olympics because she tested positive for marijuana before last summer's Tokyo Olympics.
Late last year, star figure skater Kamila Valieva failed a drug test and was told she could not compete in these Beijing Games. Valieva appealed and Monday the Court of Arbitration for Sport reversed the IOC's original decision, allowing the 15-year-old Russian to skate in tonight's singles event.
Richardson, who is Black, posted on social media that, "The only difference I see is I'm a Black young lady." And also posted, "Can we get a solid answer on the difference of her situation and mines?"
Fair over-arching sentiments, and in truth the inequities of the Olympic realm cover about every -ism out there and could only be more corrupt and stupid if Fredo Corleone was its president.
But the details are critical here. Richardson was banned by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for going all Cheech and Chong after learning of her mother's passing; Valieva was suspended by the International Olympic Committee and reinstated by its arbitration process.
From that perspective, the biggest difference here to me is Richardson is American and Valieva is Russian, because good Lord we know the Russians are not self-imposing anything these days.
In my mind, both broke the rules and neither should be competing, but there you go.
Super Bowl Hall pass
So, the comps and circumstances force us to discuss quarterbacks more times than not. Hey, nature of the beast and the business of beasts.
We'll start with this caveat: Richard Sherman is a wicked smart dude. A Stanford grad in three years in communications, Sherman will be a coveted TV voice when his playing days are done.
He's also dead wrong on his stance that there is "No measuring stick" by which Matthew Stafford is a Hall of Famer.
After Sunday's three-TD performance in a Super Bowl win - and let's face it, Stafford's the MVP if a tipped ball off a fourth-team WR who was in the game because Odell Beckham got hurt does not become his second INT - is there a measuring stick in which Stafford is not a Hall of Famer.
With Sunday's title - especially in his first year with the Rams - Stafford gets to wipe away the dozen years of struggles and less-than-mediocre results with a beach towel emblazoned with the Detroit logo.
I'm not sure wins should be a QB stat, but playoff performance and delivering on the biggest stage when presented with the chance should be. And Stafford checked both those boxes over the last month.
Now consider this: Stafford is 12th all-time in passing yards, and if he plays four more years - he turned 34 last week - and stays close to that 4,000 passing yards average he has maintained for most of his career when healthy, he could finish top five in yards, (Likely top six since Matt Ryan will continue to climb the charts too.)
He could do the same ascent in TD passes as well as he's currently 12th and if he remains true to his career average, he will move close to the fringe of what will be the top six.
(Side note: This conversation really helps Matt Ryan too, because Ryan's career numbers in every category by Super Bowl wins are better than Stafford's.In fact, depending on how much longer Ryan plays and Aaron Rodgers plays, Matt Ryan is going to move into some pretty prestigious top-five categories.)
But that's a Matt for a different door.
Today is about Stafford, and sorry Sherman. You're dead wrong on this one. (Side note, part II: The best career move in terms of legacy Stafford can make right now is go to the Rams, renegotiate your deal down to help pick up some of the slack for the other Rams superstars and try to run this thing back. Just in team contracts - he has signed three NFL deals - Stafford has made more than a quarter of a billion playing football. Normally I think players should grab all they can while they can, but if Stafford and the Rams work together and keep this bunch together - with ODJ and a healthy Robert Woods - look out. And an MVP next year would look pretty sharp on that resumé too.)
This and that
- We mentioned Monday that the Super Bowl needs to be on a Saturday. Well, here's some hard financial numbers on what it costs. According to Fortune magazine, U.S. companies were projected to lose $6.5 billion - yes with a b - in productivity from employees on Monday after the big game.
- You know the rules. If you want up-to-the-minute high school sports news in our area, well, Stephen Hargis is your guy. Here the TFP sports editor has the latest coaching cleat to drop as Boyd-Buchanan's coach steps down.
- You know the rules, when TFP blessing to college basketball Mark Wiedmer writes about hoops, we read and link Weeds on college hoops. Here is his view on the UK-UT showdown tonight. Side note: My bankroll will be hoping for green from Big Blue friends.
- Speaking of the TFP, home run Free Press column from Clint Cooper this morning. You can find it here.
- Steph Curry is one of those dudes who is just really fun to watch play his sport, you know? Last night he was Ivory soap pure, and man, that release is so perfect, Dan Marino just watched a highlight, nodded and said, "Yep, that's as good as it gets."
Today's questions
True or false, it's Tuesday.
True or false, you were less productive at work on Monday. (Spy, don't answer that. The bar is already too low, sir.)
True or false, you woke up this morning and realized we'll be without football for almost seven months and that made you sad.
True or false, labor strife will cost us - the fans - regular-season baseball this season.
True or false, racism played a part in the different rulings of drug testing for the U.S. sprinter and the Russian skater.
True or false you want to see the Russian skater fall tonight.
True or false, UT beats Kentucky tonight.
As for today, Feb. 15, let's review.
YouTube launched on this day in 2005.
The Teddy Bear was introduced on this day in 1903.
Chris Farley would have been 58 today.
OK, Christopher McDonald is 67 today.
Rushmore of complete jerks in sports movies, because McDonald's great turn as Shooter McGavin is a bona fide contender.