Lucard reviewed the new Dungeons and Dragons Online game. He gave it a 6.0. He’s insane. Even based on the stringent rules of the games department, I think it gets at least a 7. Find me on Thelanis.
I’m also waiting with bated breath for Tuesday so I can find out Eric’s thoughts on the new Kirk/Spock prequel. I’m sure he will have some choice words for it. As to being the only white guy on Chicago’s red line in the middle of the night… I haven’t done that but I have been the only white guy on the 2-train through Harlem and SoBro (South Bronx, for all you out of towners), regretting my decision to bring my iPod; probably an equally harrowing experience.
Matthew Michaels dropped this column in my lap on about Wednesday when he told me he was convinced of Bud Selig’s determination to bring a Major League baseball team to Latin America. I told him he was an idiot and this column was born. The first week, today, will be discussing the idea of Baseball contracting two teams at the end of this season, as they have the right to do. The second part, next week, will discuss which teams are likely to move, and where they will be moving to.
Movers and Shakers, Part 1
At the end of the 2006 season, Major League Baseball will have the right to contract two teams without the consent of the players’ association. One of these choices is obvious, as Major League baseball itself owns the newly relocated Washington Nationals. Baseball bought the team from expert team-wrecker Jeff Loria (current owner of the Marlins) in February 2004. Currently, there isn’t a definite buyer and, and should the team still be owned by Major League Baseball at the end of 2006, the rest of the owners would be silly not to vote for the team to be contracted. The decision would be between taking the quick financial injection of the sale, should a buyer be found, or the long-term financial benefit of an increased supply of baseball labor, which would artificially reduce salaries long-term. It would also give some much needed talent injections to some flagging teams.
If the Nationals are the first to go, who would be the second?
Bandied about during the 2001 contraction talks, other than the then-Expos, were the Minnesota Twins, the Oakland Athletics, the Florida Marlins, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Some of those teams have righted themselves since the dark days of 2001, others haven’t, still others never seem to attempt to right themselves. Some of them are discussed here.
The Twins: In 1998 and 1999, the Twins averaged 14,000 fans per game. In 2000, at the height of their contraction talk, they were averaging 12,000 fans per game. The 2001 season saw the Twins almost double attendance to 22,000 fans per game. In 2004, they averaged almost 24,000 fans per game. Since the contraction talks, the Twins won the AL Central three season from 2002 – 2004. Last year they finished above .500. With increasing attendance and a pretty decent history over the last few seasons, the Twins are likely off the contraction radar.
The Devil Rays: On one hand, the Devil Rays have never been good. On the other hand, the team is less than ten years old. People forget that the when the Diamondbacks and the Marlins succeeded early in their franchise history, they were the exception, not the rule. They also seem to forget that the Devil Rays had the unfortunate situation of being dropped into the AL East. The Devil Rays have been in existence for eight years. Six of those eight years, the American League representative from the World Series has been from their division, four of those eight years, the World Series champion was from their division. Three of those years the team to beat was the ridiculously awesome Yankees three-peat team. I’m not big on excuses, but the Devil Rays were put in an awful situation and no expansion team should have been dropped into a division with the quarter-billion dollar rivalry (I wanted to use half-billion dollar rivalry, but that would have been a bit too much exaggeration, even for me). The Marlins got the benefit of going into the more reasonable NL East, and they have had success.
The Devil Rays, in recent years, have started to find some success against the Yankees and no one else. Against the Yankees last year, the Rays went 11-8. So far this year, they’ve gotten off to an almost .500 start. Before everyone knew the Devil Rays were going to be awful, they managed about 30,000 fans per game. Their attendance has steadily declined since their first year, however because of their division, and the national appeal of the Yankees and Red Sox when they visit Tampa, they manage to score decent attendance, even if it’s for the wrong reason.
The Marlins: Another Loria team, another team ripe for contraction. As much as Loria ran the Expos into the ground, I can’t blame him for the problems he’s having with the city of Miami. Loria told the city of Miami that he wanted a new stadium. Exactly the same process Wayne Huizenga followed in 1998 following the miracle in 97 when the upstart Marlins won the World Series. The city of Miami then, and apparently now, has no interest in building a stadium for their never-in-their-history-lost-a-playoff-series world championship team, and the owner took his payroll and cut it practically into nothing because it seems the city is making it very difficult for Loria to turn a profit on the team. Now, he’s actively looking for another city to host his ballclub. If he can’t find one, he’s already proved he’ll take a sum from the league to hand a team over. In this situation, though, he isn’t wrong. Loria took a dismantled Marlins team and made world champions in less than five years. After the championship, Loria increased the payroll and saw no increase in attendance. Loria committed $212 million to the $400 million dollar project and couldn’t get a dime for the Florida Legislature. For his efforts, his team still shares their stadium with the Dolphins. Fans in south Florida still don’t go out to see their team, even when they’re good. Should he stick around or leave? What would you do?
The fact is, the Marlins (and Loria) will not be in Florida after their lease expires in 2008 unless the city of Miami and the fans show some sort of interest in a ball-team this year (unlikely considering all they have is Willis, Cabrera, and AAA guys). In fact, I would not be surprised to see the payroll cut even further by the trade of Dontrelle Willis near the deadline or in the offseason. Whether or not baseball could pull some sort of contraction/new team shenanigans to get them around their lease is really the only question remaining. Now, with a soon-to-be-empty football stadium sitting over in New Jersey (granted, one without the blessed retractable roof that Loria desires), an enormous media market, feelers being sent down south, and a huge construction project set to build a new stadium for the Giants or Jets, it seems almost like forces are aligning to bring another baseball team to the New York market. More on this next week.
The Athletics: Of all the teams bandied about when these contraction and relocation talks come up, none surprise me more than the Oakland Athletics. The team hasn’t had a sub-.500 season since 1998. They have a history dating back to 1901. They’ve won a championship as recently as 1989. They’re consistently on the cusp of a World Series victory. This year, the As closed the third deck of their stadium. Even Opening Day couldn’t get enough fans out to the ballpark.
I make fun of California fans from time to time. No harm is intended; I just think the stereotypical LA fan is funny. They go to a sporting event to be seen, not to enjoy the game. I have just applied this to other California sports in my head. As a tried and true member of the New York fanbase; a rabid, insane group of people who consider themselves more knowledgeable than the players and coaches, whose livelihood revolves around these teams, and who can still share teary-eyed stories about teams who haven’t been here in fifty years (old-time Broolynites are notorious for this), it’s just very different than what we’re used to over here.
In the end, of all the California teams, the Athletics seem like the most likely to be moved, but it seems silly to contract a team that draws the number of fans the Athletics do, but it also looks like the team is destined to be moved.
There are other teams that never come up in contraction talks that should. The Royals have let a veritable All-star team pass through their ranks without a peep. The Pirates are an ongoing exercise in futility. Both teams have a deep, rich history and both teams seem tied to their respective cities with deep roots, but at what point do you force a change. The Royals and the Pirates are the best argument at forcing a salary floor than any team I’ve ever seen.
Next Monday, we’ll take at the Marlins and the Athletics and where they’re going to be playing by 2010.
Quick Hits
- Wladimir “The Steel Hammer” Klitchko defeated Chris Byrd to become the IBF Heavyweight Champion. The Hammer has no won his last three fights without taking a punch. Color me unimpressed, for now. Klitchko was “the next big thing” until it was discovered that one solid shot to the jaw sent him to the canvas. He defeated a champion that’s known for sticking and moving rather than punching. Call me when he fights someone who hits him back
- The Los Angeles Clippers won a playoff game. I don’t even know what to say
- The Los Angeles Lakers lost their first game to the Suns. The Lakers are a fashionable pick by some to win the playoffs this year. Those people are idiots. Kobe Bryant s not beating a Steve Nash led team 4/7 games. 3/5 maybe, 4/7 no effing way.
- Kaz Matsui (KazMat in this space from here forward) opened his season with a home run for the third season in a row. For the third season in a row, he should be hurt by Memorial Day and out for the season by time it starts getting hot in the northeast
Stuff That Happens In Manhattan
I needed to go to the Post Office last week for stamps. Yes, for some of my bills I actually haven’t moved into the whole “pay online” thing. The post office is 3 blocks from my office. If you’ve ever been to the Las Vegas strip, you know the flyer guys. The guys who hang out on the street corner and rub flyers together (usually for strip clubs) and try to get you to take one. If you do take one, the rest of them suddenly descend on you to take one of their flyers. Before you know it, you have eight pounds of flyers that you feel guilty for dumping on the street because, you know, someone went out of their way to give it to you.
New York has these guys, too, but it isn’t always for strip clubs. Sometimes the flyers are for suit sales or shady electronics sales.
After a while you tend to tune these people out. After a further while, you stop even looking at them, because even a passing bit of eye contact makes them think you want to throw a flyer away for them.
As I was walking to post office, there’s a guy on a street corner. I didn’t notice him until I was walking across the street. The guy is standing on the street corner dressed as a banana. The guy, who was certainly homeless, is dressed in his giant fruit outfit dancing to music only he could hear. If it could get any stranger, Bananaman was handing out flyers. I never take flyers from these people but, I mean, who wouldn’t want to see what the guy was promoting.
Suits.
I got a flyer, for a suit sale, from a guy in a banana outfit, dancing on the corner of Park Avenue.
Bless this city.
Thanks for reading.
Daniels
