Week In Review Ending July 31: Vick and Favre, MLB Trade Deadline, Manny and Big Papi
1. Vick released.
Michael Vick is a free man. Commissioner Goodell has conditionally re-instated the former Falcons QB and he’s free to sign with any team that is brave enough to sign him. There is clear historical precedent of players being suspended from the NFL and returning to play again. Think Alex Karras and more recently Tank Johnson. What’s more important here is that a game changing quarterback is available.
This man is in his prime. I’m going on record as saying he should sign with a very good team (Pittsburgh? New England? San Diego?) and sit out this year. Hone his craft, study the QB position. Vick version 1 was an electric play maker. His speed, mobility and ability to improvise were unprecedented. With the time off let’s say Vick has slowed to a 4.5 forty. I’m pretty sure that still makes him the fastest QB in the league, easily. Combine the necessary QB progression with the God given ability that is surely still there and you have a most formidable weapon at the most important position on the field. Who wouldn’t want that?
There are three other reasons that I think Vick should sit this year out. Mike Holmgren, Mike Shanahan and Bill Cowher. Holmgren and Shanahan in particular have had incredible success molding quarterbacks into stars. Cowher would build the type of defense that could compliment Vick as an offensive juggernaut. How surreal would it be for one of those head coaches to assume the reigns of a team with Michael Vick as starting QB? I’m just saying.
2. Trade Deadline Passes.
Big names joined big teams as power players gear up for the stretch run. I have to admit, I’m
not really a baseball fan until after the trade deadline passes. Players are tested in that they have to prove their real value from August to October. Managers are tested in that they have to control incoming players, assign roles, and deal with the pressure of creating a finished product from varied parts.
In the American League the Boston Red Sox (C/1B/DH V. Martinez), Chicago White Sox (P Jake Peavy), Detroit Tigers (P Jarrod Washburn) and Minnesota Twins (SS Orlando Cabrera) all made moves intended to make their rosters as formidable as possible. In my opinion the teams that made moves for starting pitchers did the most to improve themselves. If you can’t get quality innings from your top 3 starters this time of year then you’re in big trouble.
In the National League the Philadelphia Phillies (P Cliff Lee) and Los Angeles Dodgers (RP George Sherrill) made the most noteworthy moves in what could only be considered the rich getting richer. Both teams have to be the class of the NL are probably made the aforementioned moves with each other in mind. Advantage Phillies. Hamels and Lee form a duo that could be indomitable.
3. Manny and Ortiz tested positive in ’03.
Okay, and? Look steroids are a tired story. Alot of guys used. Right now it seems as if the powers that be only care to out the “stars.” To me what’s truly damaging to the game has to be the prevalence of drug use in the sport itself. From the utility infielders to the relief pitchers everyone was looking for an edge.
Baseball doesn’t seem to have lost it’s luster. It’s still popular and the game remains beautiful to purists. If the holier than thou baseball people hope to clear baseball’s tarnished reputation then it’ll take more than big names. It will take an honest portrayal of the drug culture that infiltrated America’s pastime. Everyone that was at fault will have to be made accountable. Let’s see what happens.
4. Favre stays retired.
The courting of Brett Favre by the Minnesota Vikings died this week. I’m not shocked that the
Vikings attempted to improve their team. I am however shocked and appalled that they felt the answer was a 39 year old QB and not a complement to Jared Allen at the opposite defensive end position. Or maybe a game changer at linebacker to match the star power in the division. Wait, how about a big play wide receiver to complement the running game?
In short Favre wasn’t the answer anyway. I’m glad the fiasco is over.
More sports stories will drop next week and I’ll have more first class analysis. Tune in again, same time, same station.
Let me speak on this Manny-Big Papi situation. To me it seems Afro-Caribbean players have been the new target of the mainstream sports media the last few years. ESPN and the Bush Justice Department gave it their best shot and smeared the reputations of quite a few players of color and this is by design. Mark McGwire may get mixed into the conversation and Roger Clemens may be the not-so ‘innocent-by stander’ whose name eventually popped up, but LET IT BE CLEAR, its not about Roger or Mark, it’s about undermining and limiting the impact of baseball players who are NOT WHITE. Now I don’t believe it was suppose to get this far, but the targeted prosecution of Barry Bonds and Bonds’ defiant attitude of defending himself caused a stir in the mainstream sports media.
Baseball ‘purists’ such as Bob Ryan, Bob Costas, Mitch Albom, Woody Paige, Skip Bayless ,Bill Plaskhe and others wanted Bonds to ‘tap out’ in much the same way Michael Vick did when exposed to the federal government’s wrath. I felt one saving grace for Bonds is that the Giants’ organization stuck behind Barry Bonds and the fans generally supported Barry. Plus, Bud Selig didn’t pull a Goodell power play and take Bonds off the field. Maybe Selig thought Bonds would crack like an egg in his pursuit to Hank Aaron’s record, but it seemed to make Barry stronger. Selig was hoping for Barry to tap out from the pressure which started in 2003 (less than two years after George Bush came into office and stated in a State of Union speech he wanted to go after players who use steroids). Of all the stuff going on after 9-11, why in the hell is Bush talking about steroids? Bush wanted to use Bonds as a distraction and the baseball purists wanted to reaffirm that Babe Ruth and Dimaggio were ‘real baseball players who did it the (white) way– excuse me the right way.
Let me take a quick sidebar into the DECLINE of black players in baseball… Keep in mind in the 1980′s the percentage of African-Americans peaked at around 25%… so how did these numbers drop so dramatically over a period of twenty years and how does this tie into the steroid era…
Look at how the game was in the 1980′s, the National League was more predicated on the all-around game in which speed was something that never went into a slump. The stolen base was treated with more value twenty years ago and African-American players utilized that aspect of the game and were successful at it. Remember Vince Coleman? Coleman and the St. Louis Cardinals were perennial contenders for the World Series and they had the big power bat Jack Clark in the lineup along with Ozzie Smith, Pendleton, McGee and others… however Vince Coleman for a short period of time had the same affect that Michael Vick had in terms of changing the game…Coleman stole 100 bases a few times in a career and I felt something happened among baseball general managers that preceded the 1994 strike that we can’t let this game EVOLVE like basketball or the NFL so I believe this is when the style of game changed and the 1994 strike was a smokescreen to change it. Plus, black players became more and more of the focal point in regards to receiving the richest contracts…Remember Rickey Henderson? He was the first THREE MILLION DOLLAR PLAYER in the late 1980′s ..’arrogant’ Ricky ( who alledgely disrespects the game touted by out school sportswriters)… More and more GMs started to steer away from drafting African-American players out of high school and started looking at other alternatives in having a more ‘harmonious’ or white-washed dugout and then we started seeing more and more Afro-Caribbean players given more opportunities and these players were being used to push out the more perceived arrogant African-American players. It was cost-cutting or economic measure, but it paid off. Ask Gary Sheffield…
However, it didn’t stop there, this is where the so-called steroid era was silently endorsed by the owners and it really began in an effort to bridge the perceived gap between impact white players and impact players of color. IT WAS ALRIGHT WHEN popular white stars were BENEFITING THE MOST plus the style of the game changed. Guys who stole bases a lot of bases were judged like they were a dual-threat QB in the NFL. Remember that commercial with Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine when they said ‘chicks love the long ball’…that was by design! (The three-run homerun was back..with the Commisioner’s silent blessing..)
Fewer and fewer black players were having an impact–or BEING ALLOWED TO HAVE AN IMPACT. My Atlanta Braves practiced this philosophy through the mid and late 1990′s under John Schuerholz perfected to whitewashing of his roster. And this philosophy spreaded. Players such as Albert Belle, David Justice, Darryl Strawberry, Tim Raines, Kenny Lofton who started the careers in the mid to late 1980′s were declining, and we saw an emergence of new young Hispanic, Caribbean stars (i.e. Pujols, Tejada, Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, Palmiero, Carlos Lee, Andruw Jones, Manny, Ortiz…etc..) The sports media and people of the ‘purist’ movement in the media and the Bush Justice Department had to do something about it. It became evident that Mark McGwire was NOT going to break Hank Aaron’s record and there were no rising white superstar(s) or even Pete Rose type player was going to come close. More and more of the players who were likely to break those cherished and pure records were players of color. One year ago, the media was going crazy over Josh Hamilton who had trouble staying on the field due to drug addiction, but the mainstream sports writers are desperate for the next Mike Schmidt or Pete Rose or Mickey Mantle-type player.
And the purist movement inside the mainstream media was determined to discredit primarily ALL PLAYERS OF COLOR who dared to challenge these records. It’s no surprise that Manny, Ortiz, Alex names were leaked deliberately. it was by design…Miguel Tejada was threatened with deportation an/or jail time in the Bush Department’s zeal to entrap him…and ESPN smeared his name in their hit job on E:60
It’s not surprising to see the mainstream media with help of the U.S. government go after players of color–regardless of the sport or era. Look at Jack Johnson or Jackie Robinson when he was threatened with courtmartial or Paul Roberson being accused of being a communist or Muhammed Ali refusing to go to war.
I am a Vick fan, but it seems the actions of Goodell will likely steer Vick to the UFL..I hope I am wrong, but the NFL is scared of Vick and the impact he may have on future dual-threat QBs.
Arthur Blank may have released Vick, but he probably told Goodell to make it hard for him to come back… Blank’s biggest fear is that Vick comes back and leads a team to the playoffs and that Golden Boy Matt Ryan will fall on his face…
Vick being used a sacrificial lamb by Goodell is a message sent to younger guys such as Terrell Pryor or Robert Griffin and other dual-threat QBs that you’re kind aint welcome….be prepared to do what Hines Ward and Randle-El are currently doing and ‘get with the program’..
Look at Vince Young and the way he was taken off the field abruptly or the way Minnesota management disrespected Tarvaris Jackson the past two years despite leading the Vikings to a divisional championship and a playoff berth.
“Cowher would build the type of defense that could compliment Vick as an offensive juggernaut.”
Cowher coaching the Panthers with Vick throwing to Steve Smith would be like Xmas twice a damn year in Atlanta.
I am glad Football Season is back, can’t wait to go to some High School games in Tampa and I am not a fan of modern baseball for the most part.