Category: Sports pieces

Joe Buck stands up for St. Louis in calling Kroenke out

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If you had any reservation about Joe Buck’s feelings towards his hometown before today, they surely are gone now.

With the St. Louis Rams relocation/new stadium/multi-faceted storm of uncertainty circling the team on a daily basis, fans need a pick me up from a national face. Today, they got just that in the form of local boy Joe Buck taking to Twitter to slam Rams majority owner Stan Kroenke and his plan to relocate the football team to Los Angeles. Check out Buck’s twitter profile for the stream of comments, but it pretty read like this.

What Stan Kroenke is doing to St. Louis Rams fans with this ordeal is a joke and an “insult”.

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After all, Stan pulled the team away from potential owner Shahid Khan years ago in a colossal shift in direction. Without publicly telling fans right away that the Rams would be in St. Louis for a long time, Stan just took the team back towards his corner of the room. He pulled his card and declared other potential owners useless, a little nugget he had built into the alliance with Georgia Frontiere.

When that happened, I had a sick feeling what Stan was up to. He didn’t care about the football fans in St. Louis. He cared about future dollars and cents. He always wanted to move these Rams west. It was never in question. He drove up ticket prices. He stayed in hiding while the Edward Jones Dome struggled to remain up to code. He checked out and bought land in Los Angeles to build a stadium. This was all part of the plan. At the end of the day, Stan was a shrewd decrepit businessman who played St. Louis for a fool. His intentions were clear from the get go. Now everybody is playing catch up.

All Buck did today was voice an opinion that many know and feel but don’t have the national weight to swing.  He called out Kroenke for being playing dirty, lying to the people of St. Louis and throwing a heavy hook towards the body of the Midwest when it comes to its football prospects.

Save me your talk about Stan Kroenke just doing what businessmen do and trying to make money. It doesn’t add up. You don’t see Bill DeWitt III trying to swindle St. Louis Cardinals fans while putting a crap show on the field for years. Tom Stillman has put his heart and soul into the Blues and making them competitive.

What Kroenke did here was lay the foundation for a move years ago. Threatening to move in order to get a new stadium deal financed. Having the dome(which has only been standing since the mid 1990’s) go on a year to year lease with the Rams and the NFL. Slowly but surely, Kroenke has worked all these moves into a plan to leave.

Kudos to Buck for unleashing the truth. Do me a favor and don’t focus too hard on the specifics of what Buck said and concentrate on the meat of the statement. What Kroenke is doing is 100% cutthroat, heartless and it has the potential to damage St. Louis for a long time. When it comes to stadiums/domes in the downtown area of a city, it’s not just about football. It’s about community growth, jobs and building something that can spark life downtown. Ballpark Village, Busch Stadium and Scottrade Center can’t do all the heavy lifting themselves. St. Louis needs the economic punch of a football stadium. It’s fuel for a city. With a new stadium, the Ed Dome could be left to schedule a number of events and dates and the Northern Riverfront could become a booming section of the city with the NFL’s full support behind it.

Stan was never on board with a new stadium here. Not for a second. He always wanted California. He’s holding the Rams over the Pacific ocean while Dave Peacock and Bob Blitz coordinate with the city of St. Louis, Governor Jay Nixon and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to keep the team in St. Louis in a frantic last ditch effort. While signs aren’t dismal for the underdogs, Kroenke is making it a tough fight. Instead of speaking with his words and keeping one foot inside a city, Stan is letting an empty suit jacket and checkbook speak for him. What a joke indeed!

Once again, Stan’s whole ordeal smells like garbage. He pried the team away from Khan with this plan in mind. He always wanted the team out west, where they came from. He’s a scoundrel for insulting a fan base who has shown up to see a pathetic team for years. Buck just called him out. He didn’t use a cryptic arrangement of 140 characters to zing Kroenke either. He threw a series of hooks, jabs and straight right hands to the temple of Stan’s phony initiative. Sometimes, integrity stands taller than dollar bills. Buck’s words won’t fix stadium issues. Just nice to see a big stick take a big swing.

Thanks for speaking up for a city of voices, Joe Buck. Thanks for stepping up for a city you grew up in and are attached to forever. A place you keep sacred roots. Buck didn’t have to say anything. He could have stayed quiet, walked the status quo, and hid behind the mighty Fox kingdom. Instead, he took to the most powerful modern outspoken device to prove his point and that’s social media. He wanted the fans to hear him.

We heard you, Joe. Loud and clear. Thank you for being the voice of the people.

David Ortiz: A true hitting machine

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boston_red_sox_david_ortiz_criticizes_pace_of_play_rulesAs he nears the age of 40, David Ortiz just keeps hitting for the Boston Red Sox. As play opens today across the Major Leagues, the savvy charismatic basher from the left side sits at 491 home runs in his career; not bad for a man who was released by the Minnesota Twins back in 2002 and picked up by the Red Sox after his friend Pedro Martinez put a call in. What has he done since?

A little bit. Some work perhaps. Ortiz has helped the Red Sox win three World Series titles, make more than a few All Star games, and become the face of Boston. If Tom Brady has any challenge for supremacy in Boston, it’s Big Papi. Ask anyone in Boston, baseball fan or not, and they know who he is. After all, it was right after the Boston Marathon bombing that he took the microphone in the middle of Fenway Park and proclaimed, “This is our fucking city”. Take the bat out this man’s hands and he has the power of a rock star mixed with a President.

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49ers’ Aldon Smith: A terrible waste of talent

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“There’s nothing more sad in life than a waste of talent.”-A Bronx Tale

San Francisco 49ers linebacker and University of Missouri, Columbia alum Aldon Smith is in trouble again and the storm is substantial this time. Smith was arrested in Santa Clara, California on charges involving a hit and run, DUI and vandalism. I call it the trifecta of off the field athlete stupidity. A waste of talent indeed.

Smith is one of the best defensive players in the NFL yet he continues to damage his career by getting into serious trouble with the law. Aldon, you can break tackles but you can’t break the law son.

His rap sheet of charges is nearly as long as his lateral reach. In 2011, he had three felony gun charges knocked down to misdemeanors. In 2013, he was arrested on charges of drunken driving and sentenced to 11 days of work release. Last season, he was suspended for the first nine games of the season due to personal conduct issues. His arrest today marks the third time he has been taken in for drunk driving. I don’t even want to know how many times he has driven under the influence and gotten away with it.

All this comes after a week where the 49ers expressed interest in resigning the troubled young man. After all, Smith is only 25 years old and entering his 5th season of action. Smith recorded 19.5 sacks in 2012 and has 44 sacks for his career in 50 games. Where his career goes from here is undecided but I can promise another suspension will be handed down and it may be worse than the last.

How much longer can San Francisco go along with this? Will the NFL intervene and hit Smith where it counts? All of this could have been avoided if the man asked for a driver. How many times will athletes get in trouble for not requesting a driver? How many lives would be saved if people didn’t drink and drive? If you want to have fun, do it but get it done in a safe manner. There are no excuses for Smith’s behavior. He deserves to be punished. He seems to have no regard for his career, well being or the well being of others.

You teach him by taking things away. It’s time for the NFL to take more things away from Aldon Smith. Send a message. Make an example. People will tie this to Mizzou and that’s inaccurate. This is a separate case that got started after Smith left MU. The tremble may have been noticeable on that campus from time to time, but clearly Smith has lost his way.

Time for the 49ers and NFL to help him find it. Smith was released by the 49ers after the incident. What a terrible waste of talent.

Is Mark Buehrle Hall of Fame worthy?

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(In case you missed it at KSDK) At the ripe age of 36 years old, Toronto Blue Jays lefthander Mark Buehrle is having a career season. The St. Charles, Missouri native is 13-5 with a 3.31 ERA in one of the toughest divisions when it comes to power bats and high scoring in the Major Leagues. The stat that has marked the time for Buehrle in this league over his 15 year career is durability. Since his first full season as a starter in 2001, he has won at least 10 games every season since and 11 seasons of 13 or more wins. Buehrle has also pitched 200 innings or more in every full season as a starter. All of this considered begs the question. Is Buehrle a future Hall of Famer?

He won a World Series with the Chicago White Sox in 2005. He threw a perfect game on July 23rd, 2009 against the Tampa Bay Rays, which holds a lot more weight than a no hitter these days with the lack of frequency. Buehrle also has 212 wins and counting with 3-4 years left on his career. If he averages 12-13 wins the rest of his career, he’ll end up with around 245-250 wins. His career earned run average is 3.79 with a decent overall WHIP of 1.28. Once again, with the exception of 2012 with the Miami Marlins, Buehrle has amassed these numbers in the tough American League Central and East divisions.

He’s also done it without a power arm. In 155 innings this year, he only has 73 strikeouts. For his career, 3,239.2 innings pitched, Buehrle has 1,852 strikeouts. His strikeouts to walks ratio is around 2.5/1, which is solid and consistent. He has 33 complete games for his career. He doesn’t strike out a lot of guys or allow many walks. He pitches to contact, which may hurt him with the voters who love them some K’s. Efficiency shouldn’t be graded on a curve that supports pitching mound fascism though, right? Over 15 years, Buehrle has gotten the job done. But is it HOF worthy?

Let’s compare it to the latest Hall of Fame inductee, John Smoltz. Some were baffled Smoltz got in but let’s take a look. Over 21 years, Smoltz amassed 215 wins and an earned run average of 3.13 with a WHIP of 1.18 and 3,084 strikeouts in 3,473 innings. Smoltz put together 53 complete games. However, in 6 of those seasons, Smoltz wasn’t a full time starter. He saved 55, 45, 44 games from 2002-04 for the Braves. In the other three, Smoltz only started a combined 25 games. A wrinkle, if a successful interesting one, to a very long career that included a World Series appearance against The Minnesota Twins in 1991 that included a Game 7 duel with Tigers ace Jack Morris. Smoltz flirted with a no-hitter in 2007 but lost it in the 9th inning. Smoltz also won a Cy Young award in 1996.

While Smoltz has the dual sided career as a starter and great yet brief closer with the strikeouts to back it up, Buehrle has been a durable arm with the big career highlights(including four Gold Gloves and five All Star appearances to boot) that has stretched over multiple teams in a tough hitter’s league over 14 seasons. Smoltz was part of the outstanding 1990’s Atlanta dynamo with Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine(also inducted this year), and Steve Avery. Buehrle has anchored many pitching staffs himself.

When Buehrle reached his end, he will have a lot more wins and maybe another World Series title. While he isn’t a lock to be inducted today, if he keeps up this work, Mark Buehrle will demand a fair look at the end. The argument is there.

One more thing. Over his 16 seasons, Buehrle’s WAR(wins above replacement) is 60.8, which comes out to an average of 4.05 per season, an above average mark for a pitcher. Smoltz’s WAR over his 21 seasons is 66.5(an average of 3.16). If you just take Smoltz’s 15 full starter seasons, his average is up to 3.9. If you go old school or new school sabermetric, the numbers don’t put Smoltz too far in front of Buehrle, and it must be pointed out once again. The southpaw isn’t finished yet.

Is Mark Buehrle a Hall of Fame Candidate? Yes he is, especially if he remains consistent. Is he a lock? No.

What do you think?

Pete Carroll’s Horrible Super Bowl 49 Call Will Never Die

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Remember Super Bowl 49? I can’t get it out of my head. Months later. It’s still a painful memory. First off, let me state that I don’t care for the Seattle Seahawks or New England Patriots at all. If there was a way for both of them to lose the Super Bowl, I’d have voted for it. However, in the end, the bigger evil was The Pats, a team I love to see struggle and fall short. Picture having to choose between two villains and picking the one to live that made sense in everybody’s world. What exactly happened? Let’s roll back to that fateful moment in time.

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Giancarlo Stanton: Missing in Action yet not forgotten

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Giancarlo Stanton has 27 home runs and 67 RBI. Oh, by the way he hasn’t played baseball this season since June 26th. Stanton is sex, guns, and rock n’ roll all rolled into one magnificent baseball specimen. His recovery from hand surgery is going slower than expected and while he is missing in action, his bat is still revered around baseball.

He is the one of the few baseball players in the world who can grab onto and sustain anyone’s attention, baseball fan or not. He’s not a throwback stallion, but he’s definitely a breed of hit the baseball as hard as you can and worry about my ISO later. The only reason someone would not know about the man is due to the decrepit team he earns a living playing for, The Miami Marlins. This is a team that can not fill its massive new stadium for its own life. One would think that when Lebron James left Miami, the city and state would belong to Stanton. He’s got the body of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, swings a baseball bat like Marvel’s Thor and has the magnetic smile and charisma of Derek Jeter. His appeal can be explained in “Alexander Ovechkin terms”. He’s an action star rolled into a rock n’ roll concert on a diamond.

At the heart of this game is a simple appeal. The allure of the home run and how far a human being can hit it. (more…)

Is Peyton Manning overrated?

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Is Peyton Manning overrated?

Now I am sure AFC conference rivals of the Denver Broncos can pick a clear side here. I really wanted to dig into this question being a Manning fan and someone who truly believes the man is great but missing a Super Bowl or two from his legacy? Is he overrated? What makes a player overrated? Let’s dive in while the kettle is fresh and hot.

Peyton Manning has one Super Bowl championship to his name and a ton of regular season awards. When it comes to regular season passing records, Manning is either on top or coming up alongside #1 or #2. He is there so there is no need to establish all his glossy stats but let’s provide a quick check. (more…)

Ronda Rousey “Tyson’s” Bethe Correia in 34 seconds

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ROUSEYShe came, she entered the ring, and she conquered! How would it be for someone to walk into your house and kick your butt in 34 seconds? That’s what Ronda Rousey did to Bethe Correia in Brazil earlier this morning. Rousey defended her UFC Bantamweight title and moved to 12-0 on a fight that didn’t start until after midnight here in Little Rock, Arkansas.

As I wrote for KSDK on Saturday afternoon, Rousey takes cares of her opponents like Mike Tyson used to knock out his opponents. Quickly and without mercy. It’s almost as if she has three arm, four legs, or a sixth sense in the ring because Correia seemed to have zero chance to breathe once Round 1 started. When the announcer said five rounds, I laughed at the notion of Rousey needing more than a minute to beat this latest opponent up.

Correia gave you reason to hate her, mocking Rousey’s relationship with her late father and telling people she would send the champ into depression with her first loss. Someone needs to tell that girl that dreams are best kept for video games and the real world, the stinky bloody Octagon, is where those dreams go to die. The Brazilian champ, padding her record by picking up the trash of Rousey’s past opponents, had no chance.  (more…)

Jim Valvano’s ESPY’s speech resonates 22 years later

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Jimmy V“I don’t know how much time I have left. I have some things I want to say. Hopefully by the end, I’ll have some things that will be important to other people too.”-Jim Valvano

When the name Jimmy V comes up in sports circles, one things comes to mind. The speech. The acceptance pledge that the late Jimmy Valvano made on stage at the ESPY’s to a crowd of athletes, sports minds, analysts, coaches, and colleagues over 22 years ago. Those words echoed around the world and still resonate today as the video shows. Emotions stir through you, and tears build up and fire brews in your stomach. Jimmy V’s words did that.

Valvano had tumors all over his body at the time and was fighting off cancer like the disease was Joe Frazier in his prime stalking him around the ring. Before he left us, Valvano took the stage where he received the Arthur Ashe Courage award. Those 10 minutes will go down as the best in sports history. I can remember the words like I heard them when I was 11 and watching the TV.

“You got to do three things in life. Laugh. Think. Cry.”  (more…)

Lloyd’s “fastest” hat trick seals World Cup for USA

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(In case you missed it on KSDK)…

Jul 5, 2015; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; United States midfielder Carli Lloyd (10) reacts after scoring a goal against Japan in the first half of the final of the FIFA 2015 Women's World Cup at BC Place Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports

If you didn’t know who Carli Lloyd was before Sunday evening, there’s a good chance you will know her name Monday morning. Yesterday, I had no idea who Lloyd was and then I turned the television on and saw her devastate Japan in the FIFA World Cup final. Suddenly, everyone will know Lloyd’s name. She set a World Cup record for fastest hat trick(netting #3 right past the 15 minute mark), and I am sure it will not be broken for a long time. It’s one thing for a team to score 4 quick goals in the World Cup game, but quite a historical event to see it done by one player.

When she isn’t doing amazing things on an international stage, the midfielder, a native of Delran Township, New Jesery, has played soccer for nine different teams, the latest being the Houston Dash. This isn’t the first time she has achieved national glory, as she was named, along with Tim Howard, The U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year in 2008. Lloyd scored her first World Cup goal in 2011 against Columbia and netted an assist and a successful penalty kick against Brazil yet missed a pivotal penalty kick against Japan that ended up giving the USA team the silver medal. One can say this beatdown of Japan brings a little retribution not only to the team but to Lloyd herself.

Lloyd is also an Olympic hero as well, putting on a show in the 2012 Summer Olympics. She scored four goals in the tournament, including both USA goals against Japan in the Gold Medal game. Two of the four goals were game winning goals. Clutch goals is what Lloyd does on a regular basis. (more…)