Kershaw Has The Most Value!

 

  Now that the baseball regular season is over, the postseason is slated to start tonight. We have an exciting 1 game playoff game between the A's and the Royals. There is one big debate going on in the baseball world and it does not involve the postseason. Will Clayton Kershaw, the clear cut NL Cy Young winner, win the MVP award too? He lead all of baseball with a 1.77 ERA, 21 wins, and was in top 3 in strikeouts in the NL with 239. We saw a few years ago Justin Verlander win both the Cy Young award and MVP, so anything is possible. The main debate is that the Cy Young award is the equivalent of MVP award for pitchers. Does that really matter? Pitchers are considered players too.

    The first thing I will say is that Clayton Kershaw absolutely deserves to win both awards. If it was not for him, the Dodgers may not have won their division, let alone made it to the playoffs. There are not many instances where a pitcher has won the MVP. Before Justin Verlander, the last pitcher to win a MVP was Dennis Eckersley. The likes of Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax, Roger Clemens, and Rollie Fingers have all won MVP awards, respectively Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax, and Clemens each lead their teams to the World Series the year they won their MVP's. That shows how VALUABLE they were to their respective teams. Clayton Kershaw is probably the closest thing we've seen to Koufax in quite some time.

  

  Kershaw was 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA and 239 strikeouts in just under 200 innings. Let us not forget that he missed about a month of the season. Had he not been injured, he could have had at least 25 wins and more innings pitched.  Kershaw had the lowest ERA in the NL since Bob Gibson. When a pticher gives you chance to win games in everyone of his starts, even if he doesn't get a decision, is that not considered valuable. Doesn't the MVP award go to someone who's valuable to his team? Even if he's valuable to his team, not everything is in the stat sheets.

   There is no doubt that Gincarlo Stanton had an unbelievable season. He deserves all the consideration in the world but is not as valuable to the Marlins as Kershaw is to the Dodgers this season. He did not make that lineup better overall. Kershaw did help take off the pressure off the rest of Dodgers pitching staff. Zack Grienke doesn't need to think he has as much pressure as Kershaw. People need to consider a players overall value to their team. Kershaw has the most value to his team.

Boxing: A Lost Art(Sport)?

  

    Last night as I was watching TV I noticed the movie “Ali” was on. First of all, I believe that movie is one of Will Smith’s finest movies. More importantly, I feel that it depicted a lot of went on with Muhammad Ali very well. The more I watched the movie, the more I realized that boxing is really like a lost sport, or as some like to put it a “Lost Art.” Everyone knows how big boxing was from the  mid 1930’s all the way through the mid to late 1990’s. We had Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Mike Tyson just to name some of the best boxers of all time. Every time I hear of a big boxing match going on, I always want to watch it, but honestly never get around to it.

    My number one question is why boxing was a top sport and then just feel almost all the way to bottom? It’s not lacking as far as superstar boxers are concerned. There is Floyd Mayweather and Manny Paquio just to name a few.  Every sport has their superstar(s), but is that enough to drive the sport to where it was? I believe part of it is marketing your superstar player.  We see how the NFL markets Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers or the NBA does with Lebron James. Should boxing do the same with its marquee boxers?

   Sometimes the MSG network has showing of boxing classics. In between rounds, they have some professionals who analyze the match that’s showing. While watching it, I like to enjoy it and at the same time like to see what may be different. First and foremost, I see why the likes of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier are considered two of the best boxers alive. They tend show off their strengths while showing very little of their weaknesses. Today, it  more money driven(even a little bit more than the major sports).

   Everyone knows that Howard Cosell was the voice of ABC sports for decades. He covered a lot of boxing, especially Ali. Decades ago, we see that the premiere boxing matches were shown on local television. Now we see that it is shown on either Pay-Per-View or HBO, in which case not everyone has in their household. If they had something like Monday Night Football or Sunday Night Baseball, it may prove to be something different.

    Boxing is very similar to baseball. What do I mean? We see that it relies heavily on its history.  In my opinion, boxing is the second national pastime behind baseball. Its deep with history.  The difference I see is how baseball tries to tie in its past and make its future better with it. I don’t see that boxing has that so much. Boxing needs to be relevant again. It needs to make sure it relies on its past to see how it can make its future better. We don’t need someone biting an ear off (see Tyson vs. Holyfield), but we need another Thrilla in Manilla or Rumble in the Jungle. If boxing can get there, so many people will follow and want to watch.

Goodell doing Good for NFL?

 



     A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how an athlete is made. One thing I neglected to mention is that an athlete makes a himself a bad name by doing something like what Ray Rice did. As we all know, there's been so much going on with domestic violence and the NFL.  For someone who is a football fan, I am more importantly against striking women or children. Many other things have gone wrong including the way the NFL and Roger Goodell have been investigating the Ray Rice incident. Violence in football is one thing, but domestic violence, especially when it happens to someone in your own family.

    Over the summer, we heard that Ray Rice was caught on video dragging his unconscious fiancee Janay Palmer. After meeting with Rice and Palmer, Roger Goodell suspended him for 2 games. What did not make sense to many of us at the time, including myself, is how can he suspend Ray Rice for 2 games, but Josh Gordon got suspended a year(now only 10 games)? After getting so much heat from the media and public outcry, Goodell made a new domestic violence policy in the NFL. Here's an even better question that many have, how come Greg Hardy, who was found guilty in court, was not suspended for even a game by the NFL? Roger Goodell really seems to be standing on thin ice with everything going on.
 
    Earlier this week, TMZ released a video of what really happened in that video. How is it that TMZ was able to obtain the video, but the NFL was not able to? According to at least 4 sources, as well as the Baltimore Ravens, Ray Rice told both Ravens staff and Goodell exactly what happened in the video. Not only that, the video was in NFL offices for quite a while. Roger Goodell is acting like a good lawyer(and liar) and is covering up his tracks real well. For his sake, lets hope this independent investigation goes in his favor.

     Depending on your sport, it seems that your sport can have a positive or negative effect on your personal life. If you want my opinion, I believe the hard hitting and violence on the football can and has taken a negative effect in some players personal life. Am I one to say it is the reason why Ray Rice punched his wife, Greg Hardy is guilty, or AP is currently being investigated? By all means I am not, but I am saying that it can certainly contribute. The NFL needs to learn how to help its players for so many reasons.

    The NFL is a multi-billion product. They can not afford to lose sponsors, which is why the Ravens terminated Ray Rice's contract and the NFL indefinitely suspended him. What is worse for the NFL is that one of its poster boys, Adrian Peterson, is by indicted by a grand jury for reckless or negligent injury to a child. The Vikings have deactivated him for this weeks game, which for now is the right move. Why couldn't the Ravens do that? I understand Ray Rice is not AP, but it could have saved some face for them. They knew he was telling the truth, so that's why they should work with him.

     Roger Goodell, and the NFL, should learn how to deal with situations like this better. Unfortunately, the timing of everything else couldn't have been worse. From Josh Gordon to most importantly Adrian Peterson, the NFL looks more like a train wreck than it does a car driving off in the sunset. It needs to clean up its image and needs to do it quickly. Yes the games are great, the product is great, but all this domestic violence is holding it back. Someone do the right thing and do it quickly.

NFL '14: What Will Happen to Who?

      

 

    Football season has started!!!!!!! There is definitely that feel in the air. I went to a party tonight and at least half the people I ran into were talking about Sunday football. It's a great feeling. We had 2 overtime games and 4 more games decided by a touchdown or less! That is good football. Currently, we have a game between the Colts and Broncos(never count out Luck) and 2 more games tomorrow night! Football means more ratings, more tailgating, or enjoying games with friends(even  checking occasional scores at work!)

   You know, like any sports, football is a continuous story. That's why its so interesting. Many questions we have going into this season include if Seattle will repeat, how will Peyton do, who is the Jets quarterback, or how will Andrew Luck continue progress. All teams have their own stories, as well as the league. If you want the top story lines, in my opinion, here they are:

  Will Seattle have enough to repeat? We have not had a back to back champion since the Patriots 10 years ago. The only team to win more than once in the past 7 years are the Giants. Even though the 'Hawks lost a couple of key defenders, they still have a top flight defense. They showed it against ARod(Aaron Rodgers) and the Packers on Thursday night. Even though Russell Wilson is no Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, or Tom Brady, he does have enough to carry a team. Only time will really tell if the Seahawks have enough to repeat.

  Who will be this years Kansas City? Last year, Kansas City had a nice turn around year with Andy Reid and Alex Smith. The year before Houston and Washington also played well. Every year we have the expected teams like the Patriots, Packers, and Peyton's teams(Indy or Denver). When Houston played well 2 years ago, they had a great defense. Kansas City had a pretty solid defense. Even the 9-7 Super Bowl champion Giants, had a good defense. I am sure that this years surprise team will have a good defense. They will not necessarily need a good quaterback, but just good quarterback play(Look at Matt Schuab).

   Will the Giants rebound with a completely new offense(kind of)? The personnel is a mix of keepers and newbees, but the offensive schemes will be completely different. Eli Manning had 1 offensive coordinator his whole career, now there's Ben McAdoo. With McAdoo, there will be a West Coast Offense. I believe Eli will adjust. Even though he was a QB coach in Green Bay, Aaron Rodgers succeeded with his help. What Eli really needs is protection from his offensive line. The defense will be top flight defense, let's see what happens with the offense.

  Do Tom Brady and Bill Belichick have one more run left in them? Tom Brady isn't getting any younger. Belichick doesn't have his tight end rotation he's used to having. Will we see the Belichick teams of old with a really good defense or an 18-1 team of a great offense. I respect Tom Brady's ability completely, but I believe he inherited Drew Bledsoe's team when he really won those Super Bowl. That first Super Bowl was very much like in 1990 when Phil Simms went down and Jeff Hostetler took over, but Hostetler never became the quarterback Tom Brady has become. Let's see if Belichick has enough in him to devise something other than SpyGate.

  These are only some of the headlines going into the 2014 NFL season. There will never be a dull moment in the NFL, at least not for a while. Let's see how some of these story lines turn out. Who knows, maybe we will be surprised by a few of them. All I have to say is that some of Roger Goodell's decisions should be smart, whether its about domestic violence or drug abuse. Roger look at making the right decisions immediately. In the mean time, the NFL is doing a great job with all the positive feedback.

Athletes The Right Way

   This weekend, my wife and I did an overnight in Philadelphia. I can honestly say that after taking more of our time in the city that Philadelphia is a great city!! One of the stops we made was to the Franklin Institute, which is near Drexel University. In one part of the museum, there happened to be a sports section so I told my wife that we must go see it, which we did. As we got there, there was one bulletin that said "Athletes Are Made" and gave a whole run down about what an athletes regimen really contains. The funny thing is that it DID NOT  contain taking PED's, HGH, or any other kind of drugs.
 
   As we all know, in most of the major American sports, that most players are taking or have taken some form of drugs. The main problem has been in baseball. Starting from the mid 1980's to the mid 2000's, that was known as the "Steroid Era." We saw a rise in a a lot of numbers including attendance and profit, but the most alarming rise was in individual player statistics(as well as their physique). The height of the "Steroid Era" was from 1998 to 2003. In 1998, we had the most interesting and famous home run race since the M&M boys in 1961. It was neck and neck between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. They ended both breaking it, but McGwire did it first. After that season, Sosa had 2 more 60 home run seasons. Only 3 seasons later, in 2001, Barry Bonds broke that record with 73. When Bonds was with the Pirates, he was strong yet brawny, then when he went the Giants and he blew up.  McGwire has since admitted to being on PED's, Bonds has been indited, and Sosa in denial.

   We see in baseball now that it is more of a "pitchers" game because the hitters numbers are "down." Honestly, I think it has become more balanced. We see tremendous athletes like Mike Trout or Clayton Kershaw. Mike Trout is the Derek Jeter of this generation. He seems to have done everything the correct way. He is a 5 tool athlete.  Being built naturally is the right way to go about your game, not through performance enhancing drugs.
 
    In the NFL, even though its not as big, PED's, primarily human growth hormones have been the subject of its drug taking. For the NFL, they don't care as much because to them its about the product on the field. They don't seem to care about the well being of their players in that regard. I am sure that most people, including myself, feel that a majority(even if its a smaller majority) of football players take some kind of drugs that help their body.

   I always felt that most athletes did things the "natural way." Whether its eating the right way, to the correct exercise, or the right training regiment. Motivation and hard work should be also be factors in the way athletes are made and trained. Unfortunately, we've seen in the past how teenagers have taken PED's just to get them to the next level. It shouldn't happen that way. We all know that PED's, HGH, and any other drugs don't make an athlete who they are, but its their hard work and motivation that get them there. In my experience, once you get to where you are you should be motivated and hard work. Let's get our children, even our adults, that want to become athletes to do it the right way!!

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