COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY!Written by: Mike in DADate Posted: 8/30/ 2010HALL OF FAME VOTERS TO JEFF BAGWELL: CAN WE TRUST YOU THAT YOU WEREN'T A JUICER?Check out the following article, written by Yahoo Sports' Al Remington, entitled “Taking a Closer Look at Jeff Bagwell's Case for the Hall of Fame" (http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Taking-a-closer-look-at-Jeff-Bagwell-s-case-for-?urn=mlb-263170)
The above story tries to take a middle-road approach, as it is neither definitively pro or con for Jeff Bagwell. Bags will be eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011, just around the corner. Voting begins at the end of this year.Last month, I told you my “conspiracy theory" on why Bagwell returned to the Astros as a batting coach. It’s his way to get some exposure throughout NL cities where some of the baseball writers who send players to Cooperstown are found. Their seeing and possibly meeting with a svelte Bags compared to his playing day size is a nice way to get some votes to build up a resume for Hall acceptance in nine or ten years or so.
Whenever I think of Bags and the Hall, I just have to point out to people how Bagwell compares to Fred “Crime Dog” McGriff:
- McGriff has more career HR, RBI, and total bases.- Bagwell won an MVP Award and Rookie of the Year Award, but McGriff won a World Series ring with Atlanta. - Both were in the top 10 in MVP voting six times and both won three Silver Slugger awards at first base.- McGriff had 10 HRs and 37 RBIs in 10 post-season series (50 games) and a post-season BA of .303 with an OPS of .917. Bagwell had 2 HRs and 13 RBIs in 9 post-season series (33 games) and hit just .226 with a .675 OPS.- FYI - Bags made about $110 million during his career; Crime Dog made about $80 million.
Last year was McGriff’s first year of eligibility for the Hall and he garnered 21.5% of the votes. He now has 14 more years to improve that by 53.5% to get the required 75% for Cooperstown.
I have to wonder why you never hear about Fred McGriff's case for the Hall of Fame? You'll be hearing about Bagwell's case for the Hall all over local sports talk at year-end. Compare the two guys stats for yourself.
If you have arguments for or against Jeff for the Hall of Fame, send them to crierscorner@aol.com and HMW will “air” them way before the sports talkers do. The sports talkers will just be repeating our readers' arguments for or against.TO EXPAND OR NOT TO EXPAND: THAT IS THE NFL QUESTION!
Last week, the NFL owners met to discuss going to an 18-game season and dropping two exhibition games, though I can’t see the latter happening. That means the owners will still have ten home games and I don’t buy that because the owners would love the revenues from another home game at regular season ticket and food prices.
Under an 18-game season, I expect that the season will still be starting the week after Labor Day, just like it is now, which means the month of August will still be open for a full card of exhibition games. I can’t see the regular season starting before Labor Day and I see the Super Bowl being moved back two weeks to the third weekend in February, which would coincide with the Presidents’ Day weekend.
Generally, I expect that Joe "The Sheep" Fan would be in favor of more “games that count” and fewer “meaningless games”, so this idea of 18 regular season games has plenty of appeal to Joe. In the process of working out how this will come about, there needs to be consideration given to a few other matters:
1. Since more injuries are expected, the rosters and/or the development squads have to be expanded to account for this. This will increase owners’ expenses, but it will make the union happy because it gets more members who are on team payrolls and paying union dues.
2. The playoff format needs to be examined carefully. With 16 games, there are already a bunch of “meaningless games” in late December and early January where teams know where they are in the playoff seeding and some just do not a need to go all out. Expanded to 18 games, the possibility exists that some teams can “mail games in” for a month. That is not fair to the fans.
3. The owners would love to expand the playoffs and adding a third wild card team to each conference to raise the total number to 14 teams would be perfect. That would give only one team in each conference a "bye" week, which means good teams would still have something to play for in the final weeks of the season, and an extra week would not have to be added to the playoff schedule.
There is opposition to an expanded schedule from the players and its union. If the league thinks that it will increase the length of the regular season and still hold the players to their existing contracts, then the players have a right to oppose an expanded schedule. They signed on to play 16 games a year for the length of their contracts. If the season expands to 18 games - a 12.5% increase - then you might expect salaries and respective bonuses contained in any standing contracts to increase by 12.5% whenever the expanded schedule comes into effect.
Personally, I prefer things to stay as they are. College basketball conference action starts right after New Year’s Day, so I don’t need two more weeks of a full NFL card for wagering action.
Stay tuned!UNUSUAL MESSAGE TO STALKER: WILL YOU MARRY ME?
A caller to the John and Lance Morning Show (1560 KGOW) on Friday morning (8/27) brought up another unusual sequence of events involving an NFL player.
Last year, KC Chiefs’ WR Chris Chambers filed almost a dozen different stalking complaints against a woman with whom he had had an affair. Recently with his marriage ended partly on the basis of his affair, Chambers married the woman, Stacey Bernice Saunders, who allegedly was stalking him.
I’ve seen guys propose marriage on the scoreboard at baseball games or by having an airplane with a “Will You Marry Me” sign trailing behind it. However, I never heard of anyone expressing the thought, “Will you marry me?” by filing a bunch of stalking complaints seeking restraining orders.
For more info on this story: http://www.lipstickalley.com/f15/san-diego-wide-receiver-chris-chambers-some-drama-189771/ or just plain “google” the names.FROM THE MAILBAG!Earlis left a comment in reference to the 8/23 PG (http://sheltonmedia.blogspot.com/2010/08/comments-from-peanut-gallery-mike-in-da_23.html) regarding the section that talked about Josh “The King” Innes:
"Okay Mike, maybe that explains it. I love Barry (Warner), but he is always gushin’ about how Josh is gonna change the face of sportstalk radio. He just bubbles over talking about the bright future of Josh Innes. I don't see it. Maybe Barry worked with Josh's dad. I swear all these young and dumb sportstalk guyz runnin’ around H-Town is enough to make me wanna move to Cleveland!" END.Earlis also left a comment regarding my comments about some flubs made by Barry Warner and Shaun Bijani – SR610’s “Odd Couple”: “You know Mike, I really think the producers are saying to the jocks don't worry about the details. Keep it moving. The jock tells the caller I will check that and give you an answer on the air and most times they never do. On some radio shows someone off mic will google and relay the info quickly to the jock, but those are exceptions and not the rule in general. It drives me friggin’ crazy. I heard the odd couple flubbin’ the Cub history. Actually, I wondered if someone like you was listening. I love Warner from the old days; God bless him, but crap like that for me is unprofessional and ultimate bush league. Hey could you write about those roundball teams at Long Island U. from back in the day? God I was trying to remember the coach's name. Sheese I hate being sixty...arrrh! But as my dad use to say, "Heaven’s my home but I ain't homesick!" END:
My reply to Earlis:
The Long Island University coach you are referring to is Clair Bee (pictured). He coached basketball at LIU until 1951 when the point shaving scandal broke, which also affected my alma-mater-to-be, City College of New York. Bee's teams won 95 percent of their games from 1931 to 1951, including 43 in a row from 1935 to 1937. Bee holds the Division I NCAA record for highest winning percentage, winning 82.6% of the games he was head coach. Bee also coached the football team at LIU until it was disbanded in 1940 and the NBA Baltimore Bullets from 1952 to 1954. He also wrote the Chip Hilton Sports Series for kids that I used to read and sometimes did book reports on in elementary school. Bee was inducted into the Basketball Hall Of Fame in 1968.
For more info on Mr. Bee and the LIU teams of the 30’s and 40’s, just use good old reliable “google”. You may also want to check out his page on the Basketball Hall of Fame website and the following ESPN story by Mike Weinreb about Bee's LIU team boycotting the 1936 Olympic trials (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=weinreb/090414).
END.Jonathan left a comment with regard to the 8/23 PG, "COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY - MIKE IN DA - AU...": (http://sheltonmedia.blogspot.com/2010/08/comments-from-peanut-gallery-mike-in-da_23.html) where I mentioned another one of Barry Warner’s numerous flubs/misremembrances/misinformations or whatever you want to call them:“Hey, thanks for the 'shoutout' Mike. But I was gonna say, how dare you correct Barry Warner! "The legend" knows everything! Luckily for you, you're Mike in DA and he takes your word on things and will let you get your 2 cents in. Otherwise, if you try to call in and correct these guys or disagree with their take (especially Brien and Mike), they'll drop you.” END. Jonathan left another comment. This one is in response to Lamont Mann’s article of 8/26, "MOMA SAID THERE WOULD BE DAYS LIKE THIS (JOSH INNES...": (http://sheltonmedia.blogspot.com/2010/08/moma-said-their-be-days-like-this-josh.html):”Josh (Innes) is embarrassing Houston radio. I asked a couple posts back how did this guy get another gig on the JR (Jim Rome) show. I'll ask again, how did he get to fill in? Put nicely as a I can, he sucks! You mentioned it, he laughs at his own jokes, and they're not cute nor funny. They're old. It's like a broken record on repeat. Always talking about how fat he is and his man-cans as he calls them, or the Matt Bui call, and well this time the Bo the bailer "mixtape". Maybe him and his friend "wolfboy" or "wolfman" whatever they call each other can settle off into the sunset (or a different market, maybe back to Baton Rouge) and get off Houston air. And oh yeah, he should listen to what Rome says: Have a take and don't suck! Unfortunately not so much. Anyhow, keep up the great work here at HMW. Until next time, take care.”
FLUBS CONTINUE TO COME!
On Thursday’s (8/26) Drive-Time Show (SR610) with Rich Lord and Robert Henslee, Rich said he never heard of the Grantland Rice Trophy, which has been around since 1954. Rich has been in the business for about 30 years and should be ashamed of himself. I wonder if he knows who Grantland Rice was and what he was most famous for?
FYI – Grantland Rice (pictured)was an early 20th century American sportswriter known for his elegant writimg who died in 1954. Immediately thereafter, the Grantland Rice Trophy was initiated and has been presented annually since 1954 to the college team judged by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) to be national champion.
The award was mentioned by Rich because last Thursday (8/26), the FWAA announced that USC (University of Southern California for the acronym-challenged) was stripped of its 2004 Grantland Rice Trophy and won't be considered for the 2010 award following the season, because of its recent violations and the sanctions against it and its probation.
HMW reader Earlis even came up with a flub by Rich Lord on last Friday’s (8/27) show when the name of former Dallas Cowboy DE Harvey Martin came up:
"Rich Lord was talking to a Dallas fan today and did not think Harvey Martin was dead. It's like yo Rich find out and clear that up. He asked the question. “Was that guy kiddin' about Martin?”, so I googled just to see how long it would take. Bam wikipedia, what maybe fifteen seconds. I started to email his azz, but I thought hell they got peeps gettin paid to know and or find out. They kill me with dat chit. Just too damn lazy to keep the public informed and I consider it a lack of respect for me as a listener and foremost a lack respect for themselves, as the Staple Singers put in a song: 'Respect Yourself'!” END.Earlis tells us that Harvey Banks Martin died on December 24, 2001. Thanks Earlis.
Martin who played for the Cowboys from 1973-83 died of pancreatic cancer, which also took the life of Johnny Lee Bailey whose football career was a topic in Saturday’s (8/28) Peanut Gallery.CRIER’S CORNER – TEXAS (SR)Then back-up, now starting QB Garrett Gilbert’s decent second half in the BCS Championship Game against Alabama could have been a fake. Bama’s defense really seemed to let up in the third quarter before deciding to play again with inside ten minutes to play in the fourth. Observers feel that Gilbert will take more snaps under center than Colt McCoy did, and that the Longhorns will be more of a running team than they were with McCoy trying for Heisman trophies.
They already had, and should continue to have, one of the strongest defensive units in the nation.
“Did Mack Brown explain who Gilbert will be throwing to, “ observes one program observer, “or is he just praying a receiver will actually step up to the plate and make a play the way Jordan Shipley did?” Good question.
The Horns replace about half the team’s starters. Any Big 12 opponent they played last season, plus Wyoming, have revenge against the Horns. But to forecast a bad year ATS would ignore the fact that last season’s run to the championship game occurred at an average of laying 3 TDs. Given the talent losses, the linemaker will adjust, but given Texas’ penchant for reloading, he may adjust too far downward.
Predicted Straight-Up Regular Season Record: 11-1Predicted ATS Regular Season Record: 6-6Predicted UNDER Regular Season Record: 8-4
2010 Schedule for University of Texas:
Wk Date Opponent Conference
1 4-Sep at Rice C-USA-west2 11-Sep h Wyoming M-West3 18-Sep at Texas Tech Big 12-S4 25-Sep h UCLA Pac 105 2-Oct n Oklahoma* Big 12-S7 16-Oct at Nebraska Big 12-N8 23-Oct h Iowa St. Big 129 30-Oct h Baylor Big 12-S10 6-Nov at Kansas St. Big 12-N11 13-Nov h Oklahoma St. Big 12-S12 20-Nov h Florida Atl S-Belt13 25-Nov h Texas A&M Big 12-S* at Dallas
CRIER’S CORNER – TEXAS A&M (SR)
What does a reigning, three-season member of the Defensive 400 Yards Per Game Club need as it switches to a 3-4 alignment under a new defensive coordinator (from Air Force, the nation’s leading interception team in 2009)?
There are early-season visits from weak, non-conference opposing offenses like Stephen F. Austin, La. Tech, and FIU. Nothing in the Aggies first three weeks will help them get ready for the next three, and only one of those next three is at their precious Kyle Field. Because that particular home date is vs. Missouri, a team with a unique and productive system that Mike Sherman’s staff has yet to face since arriving in College Station, it’s another possible anti-A&M spot on the schedule.
After that, things may click again as the defensive system begins to jell and the Big 12 foes get a little easier. Offensively, A&M would appear to have no excuses, given the experience and prior productivity from QB Jerrod Johnson, who is blessed with top-producing returnees at RB and WR, But the old bugaboo – many new starters on the offensive line – is a legitimate obstacle.
Predicted Straight-Up Regular Season Record: 7-5Predicted ATS Regular Season Record: 5-6
2010 Schedule for Texas A&M University:
Wk Date Opponent Conference
1 4-Sep h Stephen F. Austin nb2 11-Sep h Louisiana Tech WAC3 18-Sep h Florida Int S-Belt5 30-Sep at Oklahoma St. Big 12-S6 9-Oct n Arkansas* SEC-West7 16-Oct h Missouri Big 12-N8 23-Oct at Kansas Big 12-N9 30-Oct h Texas Tech Big 12-S10 6-Nov h Oklahoma Big 12-S11 13-Nov at Baylor Big 12-S12 20-Nov h Nebraska Big 12-N13 25-Nov at Texas Big 12-S* at DallasFOR READING PURPOSES ONLY! Any HMW reader interested in getting a copy of “Sports Reporter” e-mailed to them every Tuesday, please e-mail crierscorner@aol.com with your name and the e-mail address you want it to be sent to. The weekly newsletter will analyze every NCAA and NFL game for the upcoming week.HMWEmail: houstonmediawatch@yahoo.comBlog: http://www.houstonmediawatch.com/.comTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/lesbiancraigFacebook: Hmw Shelton
