The View From Wisconsin
Just a random set of rants from a Sports Fan from Wisconsin.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Back To The Grind
Tomorrow evening, my vacation officially ends. So, to get me back into a complaining mode, here's a few rants for a late night:
- Is it just me, or does it seem like no one out there has a dominant closer anymore? Maybe it's just because the Mike Adams experiment doesn't seem to have worked; maybe it was just the painful way that Chad Cordero got his butt handed to him today against the Braves; maybe it's how Mariano Rivera got vivisected early this season against Boston. Regardless, the closer is looking like an endangered species.
- NBC's back in the NFL fold - even if it is Sunday Night football. My only question: will they get Don Meredith to come on for the last MNF game on ABC and sing, "Turn Out The Lights"?
- Since September 15th of last year, Gary Bettman has been kow-towing to the minority of owners who were demanding a ridiculously low salary cap in negotiations. Now, all of a sudden, when it's the issue of using replacement players, he's found himself forced to kow-tow to the other minority of owners who don't want to use "scabs" on their teams. There is something to be said about simple majority voting over "super-majorities" in sports business...
- I saw it on a TV screen at the sportsbook of the casino we stayed at, and I still can't believe that the ball just "fell in" to the hole. What happened? Did Bill Murray start chasing a gopher down the front nine of Augusta, and the vibes knocked Tiger's ball in? Sheesh.
- The good thing about the new ownership group of the Admirals is that with all the kids running around, we're guaranteed to have a solid season ticket base for the time being.
- I think I speak for most sports fans when I say that the only thing we really want from referees, umpires and other officials is that they call a game evenly. What's a strike in the first inning is a strike in the ninth; a foul in the first period is a foul in the last two minutes; a flag (or card) is the same in the first and last minute; and a penalty called in the first is the same as in the third. Of course, because you're dealing with human beings, you're never going to get that sort of consistency.
- Is it bad luck to re-claim your hat after you've tossed it onto the ice for a hat trick, after the game? Just wondering.
Copyright © 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, Joseph Houk. All rights reserved.
