Tuesday, April 03, 2012

WE HAVE A LOT OF GROUND TO COVER

## The Yankees open in Tampa on Friday for three games and then t0 Baltimore for three more before opening at home on Friday the 13th for a seven game homestand. Girardi has finally announced his rotation: Sabathia, Kuroda, Hughes, Nova and Garcia. With Pineda on the DL and Pettitte about a month away from being ready, there will be some semblance of order till May, and then the fun will start. Seven doesn't go into five without some hard feelings.

## Question: Which team has the highest average ticket price? Easy answer, right? Don't bet the house on it, baby. It's not the Yanks. Boston leads the majors with an average ticket price of $151. Then the Yanks? Nope, it's the Cubs @ $109 and then the Phillies @ $101. The Yankees come in at 4th place - $90. You have to wonder if Hal Steinbrenner knows about this. Baseball is still running with the "Premium Game Pricing," a procedure used to screw the fan even more. Basically, the teams say that certain games are more in demand and therefore DEMAND higher pricing. For example, if you want to see the April 20th game in Boston against the Yanks, the average ticket price is...are you sitting down?...$509. That's the AVERAGE price. The Pirates, Brewers and Royals are at the bottom @ $48 average. Maybe the teams aren't as good, but at least you can go to one of the games without getting a second mortgage on your home. And, it's possible in those three places, to park your car without having to turn over your ownership of the car to the attendant.
Let us not forget that if you CAN get to the game, Texas has a $26 hot dog for sale, in case you've managed to hide some of the money.

## Curt Schilling has decided to attack someone other than the Yankees. He's taking on Booby Valentine. I've mentioned before that Valentine has a huge ego and likes to micromanage. Schilling describes it perfectly: "Valentine is interested in making sure you understand how much he knows about the game." He says that he was successful in Japan because there is a cultural respect for authority built right into the players that doesn't exist over here. Bottom line is that Valentine won't be successful because of the Boston media and the tenor of the clubhouse. I can't say I'll be unhappy.

## Juan Oviedo and Roberto Hernandez are about to be suspended for six weeks. Never heard of them? How about Leo Nunez and Fausto Carmona? Those are the names they been using while playing baseball in the U.S. Not only did they use fake names, but they also shaved a couple of years off their ages, too. Right now, they are both trying to arrange Visas out of the Dominican Republic, since the government is not too happy with this deception, either. It appears that ballplayers can't seem to find enough ways to cheat.

## Sad news to report. One of my favorite whipping boys, Bob "Wrong-Way" Matthews is retiring as sports columnist for the Rochester D. & C. His opinions and incorrect predictions have always been a wonderful source of joy to me and fodder for this blog. And just when he seemed to turn a corner, too. In his column on Sunday, he came up with some suggestions for professional sports that make a lot of sense.
Baseball:
* Make the NL adopt the DH
*Make hitters stay in the batter's box with no runners on
*Pitchers have to throw the ball within 12 seconds
*Eliminate having the winner of the All-Star game determine the home field advantage in the World Series (I would add, make the overall record of Inter-League play have the advantage)
* Limit the All-Star rosters to 28 and not require that everyone plays
*Sunday double headers (9 innings & 7 innings) to end the season earlier.
NFL:
No more kicking of extra points. Run or throw for conversions.

Now, I'm really unhappy that he's leaving. Enjoy your retirement, Bob. Maybe we'll be allowed some 'guest' columns in the future.

***THEY SAID IT***
"Tuesday morning, after the NCAA Tournament loss to Kentucky on Monday night, a Kansas player wadded up a newspaper and tried to throw it away. The newspaper was blocked by Kentucky's Anthony Davis." -- Brad Dickson
AND
"Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim called Charles Barkley an idiot. It's hard to believe that a man with this much wisdom and insight was unable to lead his team to the Final Four." -- Brad Dickson
"Amare Stoudemire is out of the Knicks lineup with a bulging disc. Meanwhile, Carmelo Anthony is listed as day-to-day with an inflamed sense of self-importance." -- RJ Currie
"What’s wrong with college basketball? For starters, a team of mostly freshmen won the National Championship for Kentucky. And they won’t even be enrolled at the school long enough to watch them hang the banner." -- Janice Hough
"A group led by Magic Johnson purchased the Los Angeles Dodgers: Unconfirmed reports out of Indiana say Larry Bird is putting together a group to buy the San Francisco Giants." -- Bill Littlejohn

My partner in crime, Vod Knockers, has been suffering with a knee problem that has required crutches. An orthopedist has solved his problem by threatening to make him listen to Red Sox games if he didn't straighten up and start walking. And you thought there were no miracles anymore.

CP-

No comments: