Thursday, November 19, 2020

THE SILLY SEASON AND MORE

 **Congratulations to the two winners of the MVP title, Jose Abreu of the Chicago White Sox and Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves. I am passionate about words and to me, MVP means Most Valuable Player. Not the best hitter or the pitcher with the most wins (even that title has lost some meaning), but the player without whom the team would not have won. Therefore, by definition, your team HAS to win for you to be valuable. A General Manager on a last place team back in the 50's, while in negotiations with his star player, told him, "You're not getting a raise. We lost with you and we can lose without you."  So, both winners had very good years and while neither MVP winner played on a team that won the World Series, they played on teams that made it to the playoffs and that's good enough for me. 

**Analysts continue to amaze me. They can't seem to speak English. Here's the latest one from that wordsmith, Chris Collingsworth. He has come up with a new, long-form term for receivers: “Catchers of the football.” Pretty soon we'll have "Inhibitors of defenders" for blockers. How about "Hasten the hurler" instead of rushing the passer. Gee, I hope Collingsworth doesn't procure these. Baseball has them, too. The Yankee hasn't had a starter all season, but, according to David Cone,  they have had "Garrit Cole on the bump."

**As always, sports writers are the biggest contributors to "The Silly Season." They don't care if their predictions make any sense, they just make them as outrageous as possible and as many as possible. So far this year, Yankee Beat Writers have had Gary Sanchez, Traded to the Mets, spent extra time with a hitting coach, released outright, sent back to the minors and be relegated to back up status. I'm surprised they haven't put him in charge of the post-game refreshments. Maybe they have; he doesn't look like he's passed on too many hot dogs.

On the other hand,sometimes these pretend words come in handy. With the possibility of Trevor Bauer joining the Yanks to form a 1-2 punch with Garrit Cole, they didn't want to start a possible feud by fostering the bad relationship the two of them had in college, so they now call them "Frenemies."

**Theo Epstein, once GM of the Boston Red Sox, has stepped down as General Manager of the Cubs. 10 years ago , He and Brian Cashman of the Yankees were hailed as the two brightest (and youngest) GMs in baseball. Epstein says he'll be back but not this year.

Sadly, Dodgers icon and Hall of Famer, Tommy Lasorda, has been hospitalized with heart complications. He 93 and we wish him well.  

**More sad news. Robinson Cano, current Met and former Yankee has tested positive for using PEDs for the second time. He's been suspended for the 2021 season and has blown his $24 million salary for that year. The Mets are still on the mark for his last two years at $24 million. Some writers have said that he's probably blown his chances at the Hall of Fame too, but that's a while off. With so much at stake - the money and more importantly, his legacy - why would a player do something so crazy? 

**This is the strangest Silly Season I've ever seen. Because of the pandemic, no crowds were allowed to attend the regular season games and every team, who still had to pay the players, front office personnel and stadium crews, lost money. With no guarantee that the COVID-19 situation will be resolved by next season, sports writers are talking more about who WON'T be offered big money contracts and what players who will be released outright, than who will be traded and and what teams will spend money. This is no fun.  How am I going to argue with my friends over what big trade or signing my team is going to do? Come on sports writers, start with some juicy rumors.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY. 

 ***THEY SAID IT***

"Raiders now have 11 players on the reserve/COVID-19 list as they prepare to host Kansas City Chiefs Sunday. So what happens in Vegas stays off the field in Vegas?"  -- Janice Hough

"Tommy Tuberville — the former Auburn football coach and newly elected senator from Alabama — rattled off the three branches of the federal government as “the House, the Senate and executive.” At least he didn’t say offense, defense and special teams."  -- Dwight Perry

"The NYC Marathon has considered erasing Lance Armstrong's result from the 2006 race. Armstrong finished 868th. Can you imagine the excitement for the runner who finished 869th?"  -- RJ Currie

"ESPN reporting that LSU ignored sexual assault complaints against several football players. Gosh, you mean the school prioritized football over protecting women? I am shocked, shocked…"  -- Janice Hough

"NBCneeds to replace the retiring Doc Emrick on it's hockey broadcasts, which is like trying to replace Frank Sinatra as a lead singer."  -- Steve Simmons

 "After Notre Dame upset Clemson in South Bend, thousands of Irish fans stormed and covered the field. The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta called this Notre Dame’s Spread Offence."  -- Bill Littlejohn

"Social-distancing went out the window when giddy Notre Dame football fans stormed the field after their team’s double-OT win over No. 1 Clemson.There went any plans for the school’s “Notre Dame Fighting Virus” public-service ad campaign."  -- Dwight Perry

Chad Picasner

 


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