Vick Cashes In

Boy, does it help to be a gifted football player. Just a few years removed from prison, dog killer Michael Vick was signed earlier today for six years and 100 million dollars, roughly 40 guaranteed, by the Philadelphia Eagles. This comes after a season in which Vick posted a 100.2 passer rating and was awarded the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year Award.

The average person with a criminal record struggles to find any work at all, but football can take someone a long way. Formerly bankrupt, Vick will have the cash to build a mansion similar to the one in Surry County, Virginia, the site of his dog-fighting ring, Bad Newz Kennels.

By signing Vick to such a lucrative deal, the Eagles have made the decision, or statement that Michael Vick is now their franchise. The struggling offensive line will have even more of a responsibility to protect him, as he is now 100 million dollar property.

His top receiver, DeSean Jackson, now has more reason to gripe. A top ten NFL receiver, he had all the right to hold out during training camp, as he is due just $650,000 this coming season. It is a possibility the Eagles tried to free up more cap space for Jackson by signing Vick to such a long-term deal, but it didn't do much, as the Eagles are only four million under it. This is not enough to give DeSean the money he wants. There is always the consideration that if the Eagles see enough in Steve Smith they might be willing to part with Jackson altogether and have Smith and Jeremy Maclin as the primary receivers, but that is an issue for next year.

Vick's reckless style of play makes such a large investment extremely risky; whether he will last past this season is yet to be seen. He throws his body around the way Philly fans love in the nature Allen Iverson did playing basketball, but the front office will surely frown upon it. And the way the offensive line has guarded him throughout the preseason has not been encouraging, as Vick has taken numerous hits.

Vick's quality of play in the future is up in the air as well. Toward the end of last season opposing defenses seemed to pick up on his tendencies, and he finished up the year a lot sloppier than he began it. He's made reckless decisions so far this preseason as well.

All of this aside, the Eagles see enough in Michael Vick to give him a hundred mil. They see enough in him to entrust him with the task of accomplishing the one thing his predecessor, Donovan McNabb, could not: bring the Lombardi Trophy to Philly.

Bankruptball: Has Billy Beane Lost His Touch?

Nine years ago, the Oakland Athletics were on top of the world. Orchestrated by general manager Billy Beane, the 2002 A's amassed an impressive 103 wins, the same as the defending American League Champion New York Yankees. And at what price? About one-third of the Yankees payroll. Beane's methods became the stuff of legend when author Michael Lewis chronicled the 2002 A's season in his best-selling book Moneyball.

Starring Hollywood heartthrob Brad Pitt as Beane, the movie Moneyball - based on Lewis' book - will hit theaters in a mere month. Meanwhile, many pundits wonder if legendary Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane had lost his edge.

On Wednesday August 24, the New York Times ran an article suggesting the very same thing. Even Beane is not entirely optimistic.

“There are a lot of smart guys running teams now, and a lot of the guys who are smart also have a lot of money,” Beane said. “That’s a pretty tough combination to go against. We’ve all started valuing the same things. - The New York Times.

Since the release of Lewis' best-seller, teams have utilized Bean's methods. They have placed more emphasis on on-base percentage and slugging percentage than ever before, both key statistics in Beane's methods to evaluate players. Players like Brett Gardner and Carlos Ruiz have been discovered and are revered for their ability to grind out at bats and tire pitchers. A .240 hitter is a sought-after commodity because his OBP is a stellar .385.

Teams have turned around. Theo Epstein, using Bill James's wisdoms and Bean's tactics reversed the curse in Boston, winning a World Series in 2004 and 2007.

But unlike Beane's Atheltics, other teams have money. And with money and genius, as Beane pointed out, other teams are tough competition for Oakland.

The Oakland A's have not made the playoffs since they captured the 2006 American League West flag, only to fall to the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS. In fact, they have not finished above .500 since their last playoff berth.

Though the A's may not be what they were a decade ago, Beane's work will never go unforgotten.

The 2001 A's won 102 games, seven more than the Yankees. In fact, the A's and the Yankees met in the American League Division Series that year. Oakland took the first two games of the series, putting the Yankees one game away from elimination. Alas, the Yankees mounted a tremendous series comeback, winning the next three games to stun the White Elephants and advance to the American League Championship Series and eventually the World Series. Regardless of Oakland's shortcomings, they were still just one win away from ousting baseball's richest team from the playoffs.

In 2002, Oakland won 20 consecutive games. In the draft, Beane took future Major League outfielder Nick Swisher, now with the Yankees, and the workhorse right-hander Joe Blanton, currently on the Philadelphia Phillies. Shortstop Miguel Tejada won the AL MVP Award, Barry Zito won the AL Cy Young Award, and closer Bill Koch won the AL Relief Man Award. The pitching was perhaps the best in the league as three hurlers dealt over 200 innings - Zito, Mark Mulder, and Tim Hudson. Mark Mulder had the highest ERA of the three - 3.47 - and won 19 games. Not too shabby. Again, the A's fell short of World Series glory as they bowed to the Minnesota Twins in 5 games in the ALDS.

The impact Beane had on the game at the turn of the century is astounding. Never before had a general manager tried to change the game so radically as Beane. Beane's shrewdness, perseverance, and the team's success in spite of a payroll ranking around the 3rd or 4th lowest in the league immortalized both Beane and the A's in the annals of baseball history.

Beane touched off a revolution in evaluating baseball players nearly a decade ago. He's busted conventional wisdoms, changed the way scouts and baseball officials think, and proved that it does not take a Yankee-sized payroll to contend. But thanks to Lewis, Beane's secrets are out and his edge is gone. Even so, Beane remains one the most respected general managers in the game.

2011: A September to Remember?

Take a glance at the MLB standings. There is currently just one, yes, one, race for the postseason going on right now with just over a week until the final month of the MLB season. It's not the Yankees and Red Sox; they are currently just half a game apart, but the runner-up is almost sure to win the wild card. Only the NL West has two teams vying for one spot at the moment, as the Diamondbacks are trying to stave off the defending champs, the Giants.

With the exception of those four teams, all of the other division's top two games are at least four games apart. Unless the Angels or Indians have one last run in them, the division races aren't going to be much of anything. The Indians don't seem like they have anything left to catch the Tigers. They just do not have the offensive firepower needed to put together a September run. The Angels are trailing defending AL pennant winner Texas, who is 7-3 in their last ten games. I don't see the Rangers collapsing, either. And in the NL, St. Louis has almost no shot to catch the surging Brewers, who have quickly built up a massive nine game cushion.

This is the first season I can remember with essentially no wild card races. It is basically set in stone that the Braves will get the final NL spot, and the Yankees/Red Sox will in the AL. The Braves are too far away to challenge the Phillies and too far ahead of the pack in the NL (eight games) to be challenged themselves.

For teams that find themselves up with a few weeks to go (the Phillies), September can be used to rest starters and give the call-ups a shot in the bigs. The same can be said for all of baseball's bottom dwellers. This season, there is an awful lot of them.

As a baseball fan, I hope the Indians and Angels can make the home stretch a contest like the Tigers and Twins did just a few years ago. Remember Game 163 that was played? It's what makes September the month full of nail-biting action that it is known to be. For the fun to happen this year, a few teams need to step it up.

Travels: The Culture of Minor League Baseball

It's been said before - there is nothing minor about Minor League Baseball.

For decades, MiLB triggered images of ratty old ballparks, long road trips, small paychecks, and large phone bills built up by long distance phone calls. And for what? Well, the grass is greener in Majors (perhaps literally too).

Though MiLB may not be as rustic as it once was, it still is not The Show. And yet, it manages to attract millions of fans each year. Where is the minor in that?

But what is the appeal of MiLB? Why do fans line up to get autographs of nobodies and has beens when they could be at a MLB game? Yes, it seems absurd. But MiLB has a certain charm that even the MLB just cannot seem to match.

Many MLB logos can be characterized by letters (sometimes interlocking) in cursive fonts; not the most exciting designs. But MiLB logos are an entirely different breed. Many are examples of superior creativity and means of representing and celebrating local culture.

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Manchester, NH) logo celebrates the fisher cat, a forest-dwelling weasel native to the state of New Hampshire. The logo features a gray fisher cat with red eyes ablaze peeking over the words "Fisher Cats" in script font.

However, a number of Manchester locals still long for when the Fisher Cats were the New Hampshire Primaries, a tribute to the first primary of the presidential election season. When the team moved from New Haven, CT to Manchester, it was first dubbed the Primaries, sparking a local furor and a desire to change the name to, well, just about anything else. The Primaries logo featured an elephant and a donkey standing back-to-back clad in Uncle Sam top hats with baseball bats resting on their shoulders with a red, white, and blue color palette.

Among other eye-popping logos is that of the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (Allentown, PA). The Iron Pigs salute the Lehigh Valley's legacy as a major steel manufacturing region with its fierce iron-plated pig head logo.

Up for a little southern cooking? A biscuit topped with butter is a major part of the southern cuisine, and the Montgomery Biscuits (Montgomery, AL) certainly recognize that with their logo featuring a crispy biscuit with a butter tongue peeking out from behind a yellow "M."

And some MiLb teams pay homage to their MLB parent clubs by taking their nickname and fundamental concepts of their logo. Examples include the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (Moosic, PA), the Pawtucket Red Sox (Pawtucket, RI), the Tuscon Padres (Tuscon, AZ), and the Iowa Cubs (Des Moines, IA). In fact, all but one of the Atlanta Braves' MiLB affiliates - the exception being the Lynchburg Hillcats (Lynchburg, VA) - are nicknamed "Braves."

The names and logos are worth checking out. Besides, MiLB teams have some of the best cap designs. Not to brag, but I am starting to put together a pretty nice collection of some MiLB hats.

Perhaps the best part of MiLB is how it connects with fans. MiLB atmospheres resemble carnivals - fun and carefree. Not to put down MLB atmospheres, but business comes first and it is obvious. Promotions and post-game fireworks are numerous across MiLB.

Recently, the Portland Sea Dogs (Portland, ME) celebrated L.L. Bean night. The team honored the Maine-based clothing company by rewarding fans who wore their pair of L.L. Bean's trademark product, Bean Boots, with a free ice cream sandwich.

The Charleston River Dogs (Charleston, SC) are notorious for coming up with fun and sometimes absurd promotional days. Among the most recent was Lewbowski Night. It was a "Salute to The Dude" - the film character portrayed by Jeff Bridges. Silent Night was an innovative albeit strange and possibly financially irresponsible promotion of Charleston's. It forbid fans from entering the ballpark for the first few innings of the game. Nothing but the sounds of baseball - and crickets.

MiLB also has a neat way of really bringing fans closer the game, and not just physically. Players are friendly, yet serious. They are eager and determined to make it to the majors, but certainly take time for autographs. But why would anyone want an autograph from a Minor Leaguer? Because when the players make it big, fans can say they saw them as nobodies.

But let's face it, we as fans want to be physically closer to the game as well. Stadiums are small and seats are close to the action. My personal favorite? The New Hampshire Fisher Cats' digging grounds, Northeast Delta Dental Stadium, features a Hilton Garden Inn hotel built into left-center field. I have many times enjoyed a meal on the hotel patio while overlooking the baseball field. I always try to book a room overlooking the baseball field, even if there is no game being played during my stay. But that's not all, players frequently park balls during batting practice, on the patio, making it easy to snag a souvenir or two.

With all the fun one can have at a Minor League Baseball game, there is truly nothing minor about it.

Friendship Games Anything But

Ugliness prevailed yesterday when the Georgetown Hoyas visited China's Bayi Rockets. The exhibition game never finished due to the brawl shown in the above video, which happened with nine and a half minutes remaining.

Not to sound biased, but this is likely the Chinese team's fault. Yes, the Hoyas ignored the diplomacy meetings they attended before the visit, but this probably was not mostly on them. There was an instance in the game during a timeout when a Chinese player yelled from a foot away at Georgetown coach John Thompson III as he was addressing his team. It also must be noted that this same group of Chinese players has been fined tens of thousands of dollars for previous unruly behavior during games.

The intentions of the U.S. State Department for this trip that Georgetown, Duke, and Hawaii universities are making to China is to strengthen the ties between the two countries through sports diplomacy. While this has been an overall positive trip, this was not an instance of diplomacy in any way.

The basketball game had been rough from the start. The refereeing had been unfair and the men in stripes had lost all control of the game early. They awarded 57 free throws to the Rockets and just 15 to Georgetown. Perhaps they were afraid of the wrath of the wild crowd. Nonetheless, the game ended in quite the unexpected fashion.

Cavs Not Sold on Irving

While Kyrie Irving is expected to be the first pick in the NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers, it is not a done deal. Derrick Williams, who led his Arizona squad past Irving's Duke Blue Devils in the NCAA tourney, is still in contention for the spot.

The Cavs have not informed Irving that he will be picked, and have given no indication of which of the two players they are leaning toward. Most people connected with the league believe Cleveland will, in fact, go with Irving.

A possible scenario is that the Cavs pick Irving first overall and then use the fourth pick on center Enes Kanter, who played in Turkey before entering the draft. Kanter was a student at Kentucky last season, but was ruled ineligible to play by the NCAA.

Cleveland could also take Williams and Kanter, which would leave Baron Davis as the likely starting point guard. As he is aging, this would put pressure on them to sign another field general.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have said they will take either Irving or Williams, depending on the Cavs pick. Irving would join impending arrival Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn as point guards in Minnesota, and Flynn would likely be placed on the trading block.

The Utah Jazz have the third pick, and with Irving and Williams gone, will decide between Kentucky guard Brandon Knight and Kanter.

Ridirkulous Mavs Seal the Deal

Let's take the spotlight off of the Heat for a second. Instead, it should be placed on the veteran Dallas Mavericks, the true definition of a complete team. A team that needed all of its aging legs last night to close the deal, and return home happy.

Leading the charge for the Mavs was none other than Dirk Nowitzki, who took home the Finals MVP award. Averaging 26 and 10 on the series, he brought himself into the discussion of NBA all-time greats. He shot a dreadful 1-12 in the first half last night, but was picked up by teammates such as Jason Terry, whom the Mavs would not have won the series without.

Terry, or Jet as he's called, was on the 2006 Mavericks team along with Dirk that fell to Dwyane Wade's Heat in the Finals. He remembers going up 2-0, then losing four straight in a bitter series loss. Priding himself in clutch 4th quarter play, Terry made sure his team did not have the same fate this year. The Mavs' sixth man led all scorers with 27 points last night.

Sixteen years into his career Jason Kidd finally earned what he has dreamed for. Now primarily a facilitator and much less a scorer, J-Kidd was the engine that made the Mavs go. He stuck with LeBron James on D and kept the Mavs offense controlled while making minimal mistakes. Never being able to win a ring with New Jersey after taking them to the finals, Jason Kidd, the future Hall of Famer, can now call himself an NBA champion.

Hats off also to Shawn Marion, DeShawn Stevenson, Jose Juan Barea, Tyson Chandler and the rest of the Mavs for achieving the unexpected and going all the way. Every one of them earned their ring, and most of the basketball world is grateful that they did.

For LeBron, D-Wade and the ego-checked Heat, 2011 was not their year. "Not five, not six, not seven," rings in the heads of many rooting for their failure, who can remain happy for another year. LeBron's play was far from his best, and the Heat did play far worse with him on the court last night (-24 +/- rating), but everyone knows far too well he will be back sometime soon.

The Heat criticism will go on for days, but it should by no means take away from what the Mavs have accomplished. An old-school bunch, the Mavs relied on defense, fluid ball movement, and all-around team play. And they got a shiny gold trophy as a reward.

Phillies Report

There has never been so much concern over a first-place team. The Phillies don't just own first place in the NL East, but they have the best record in baseball as well, at 37-25. But the offense has people worrying.

The Phillies have the second-best team ERA in the league at 3.17; only division rival Atlanta's is better. Roy Halladay has been his usual self and Cole Hamels has been spectacular. Roy Oswalt hasn't been dominant but solid enough, and Cliff Lee has been inconsistent even though he leads baseball with 100 strikeouts. All four have ERAs under four, with Lee's being the highest at 3.63.

The bullpen, particularly the back end, has been stellar. Ryan Madson is 14/14 on save opportunities and looks like he has the tools to be the closer for the years to come. Jose Contreras has picked up where he left off last season, and while he's been injured a good part of the year, his ERA is at a sparkling 0.77. 25-year-old Antonio Bastardo has really come into his own this year, and has allowed just three runs and eleven hits in 23 innings on the year. Charlie Manuel has shown faith in the young southpaw, inserting him in late-game pressure situations, and Bastardo has come through for him repeatedly.

But the pitching isn't the problem. Not at all. The offense is 17th in baseball in runs scored. The Houston Astros have put up more runs so far than the once potent Phillies offense. Fans and manager alike are becoming antsy over the lack of run production.

I attended last night's game against the Dodgers when the Phillies offense was bailed out by Cole Hamels in a 2-0 win. The stud lefty threw eight scoreless. That has been Phils baseball this season. It is not nearly as flashy as the high scoring games of a few years ago, but I see no problem with it. If the Fightins remain atop the standings winning 3-2 games, what does it matter? It is still possible to win a World Series that way.

The injuries have plagued the offense to a large extent. It seems like every one of the starters has had a DL stint already. Jimmy Rollins was gone awhile, Chase Utley just came back, and Dom Brown as well.

Injuries are by no means an excuse, however. The guys in the lineup simply are not hitting like they should be. Yes, opposing teams have finally discovered throwing more breaking balls against the Phils is the correct approach, but a team average of .247 is just not acceptable for a team of this caliber. Placido Polanco has been the only consistent bat throughout the season. Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez have been hovering in the .240 range. While Howard is third in the NL with 48 RBIs already, he is on pace to strike out over 200 times for the first time in his career (though he has struck out 199 times twice).

While the offensive stats do not look pretty on paper, the worry seems a bit exaggerated. When everyone comes back to protect each other in the order is when this offense should start to be evaluated. In the meantime, I am perfectly happy with letting the pitching carry the Phillies.

Plax Out of Jail

 

Donning a throwback Phillies cap, Plaxico Burress came out of jail for the first time in two years, and exclaimed "It's a beautiful day."

The 34-year-old receiver was sentenced for illegal gun possession after accidentally shooting himself in the thigh with a concealed weapon in a New York City nightclub. He had reached stardom in the NFL and was in the prime of his career. Unlike Michael Vick, he was charged on a pretty forgivable crime, that didn't cause harm to anyone but himself. It was just a boneheaded decision.

He will be immediately forgiven by fans around the country, and especially by whatever city's team signs him. The Phillies cap may prove significant, as the Eagles are a rumored team of interest. Agent Drew Rosenhaus, who is also DeSean Jackson's agent, has not ruled out any team, including Plax's former team, the New York Giants. Brandon Jacobs, Burress' best friend on the team, did say however he thought he would want a fresh start somewhere else.

Age is a factor for Burress' return to the NFL. Michael Vick was 29 when released. Burress is 34, relatively old for an NFL wide receiver. He stayed in the best shape he could while in prison, though, and didn't face the wear and tear of an NFL season.

The lockout is certainly a pro for Burress in terms of a personal standpoint; he gets time with his family whom he hasn't seen for two years. But where he should be soon is at a training camp, and learning an NFL offense. He is set to begin working out with other NFL players very soon, but it isn't the same setting.

When the free agent market is allowed by the NFL, many teams are expected to show interest. Rosenhaus thinks Burress will make an immediate impact on the NFL, and play at almost the same level that made him a household name.