Sportsmeat

Turkey-Germany, Euro 2008

Not sure if this will make the highlights, but from my perspective, it will be the game's most memorable moment. About two-thirds of the way through the opening half, with the score tied 1-1, a German player and an a Turkish player collided on a header, drawing blood on both sides. The German was cut on the face, so they took him to the sideline and immediately began threading the needle to stitch up his cut. The Turkish player had the benefit of being cut near the back of his head, an area covered by hair, so the Turkish trainer made a quick, efficient fix. He spread the hair, swabbed off some blood, and stapled the midfielder's scalp on worldwide TV. Classic. Who says soccer players aren't tough?

Labels: Euro 2008, head stapling, soccer

Life is good for Boston sports fans. Kevin Garnett proclaimed on Wednesday that he “knocked the bully’s ass out!,” Big Baby bared all at Thursday’s parade, JD Drew whipped the Philly Fanatics among a chorus of boos, Bill Belichik has a new girlfriend, and Big Grill named his second child after our jet-setting quarterback. Not surprisingly, Curt Shilling tried to steal some of the limelight by announcing that he’s having season ending shoulder surgery, likely ending his career.

I’ve never been a big fan of Big Curt’s promotional activity, but I’m of the belief this guy deserves to be a Hall of Famer.

A look at Schilling’s resume:
- In his 20 year career, Schilling had 216 wins and 146 losses (.597 winning percentage) in 436 career starts
- 3.46 career ERA vs. 4.41 ERA for the league (Note: I got this stat off of baseball-reference.com which ‘park-adjusts’ the league ERA. I don’t know the assumptions they made in this calculation)
- Eight 15 win seasons (only three 20 win seasons)
- 3116 strikeouts in 3261 innings – 14th most strikeouts of all time
- 3 seasons with 300+ strikeouts (only matched by Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, and Sandy Koufax)
- 6 time All-Star
- 711 walks in 3261 innings – led the league in K/BB ratio of for six straight years and second all time in this category
- Ranked in the top 10 in ERA and WHIP in 10 different seasons. Led the league in wins twice, in strikeouts three times, in fewest walks per nine innings twice, in complete games five times, and in innings pitched three times. Top five of Cy Young voting on 4 occasions.

Schilling arguably ranks among the top postseason pitchers of all time:
- 3 world series rings
- 11-2 in 19 career postseason starts
- 2.23 ERA in the postseason

On the downside, Schilling never won a Cy Young or MVP, didn’t win 250 games, and only won 20 games on 3 occasions. Many also knock his durability in that he made 30 starts in only 7 seasons (and he's a die hard Republican).

I heard a few people argue that his stats are similar to Orel Hersheiser and Jerry Koosman, two pitchers that failed to gain election by the BBWAA. Koosman only had a .515 win percentage. Orel’s only trump card is the fact he had a better ERA (3.48). Oh, and Big Schill pitched more frequently to Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire after their head’s exploded.

In the last ten years, Nolan Ryan is the only starting pitcher has been elected to the Hall of Fame (I consider Eckersley a closer). With the exception of wins, Schillings stats look comparable to Carlton, Seaver, Ryan and Palmer, names considered the gold standard of the past generation.
Carlton – .574 win percentage, 1.25 WHIP, 0.79 K/IP, ERA better than the league by 0.48 (see note above about the league ERA)
Seaver - .603 win percentage, 1.12 WHIP, 0.76 K/IP, ERA better than the league by 0.78
Ryan - .526 win percentage, 1.25 WHIP, 1.06 K/IP, ERA better than league by 0.37
Palmer – .638 win percentage, 1.18 WHIP, 0.56 K/IP, ERA better than league by 0.73
Schilling - .597 win percentage, 1.14 WHIP, 0.96 K/IP, ERA better than league by 0.95

My standard for the Hall of Fame has always been that a player must be among the top players at his position for 10 years. In my book, Schilling meets this standard. What do you think?

The American Film Institute came out with its Top 10 genre movies today, including sports. Here is their list:

1. Raging Bull; 2. Rocky; 3. Pride of the Yankees; 4. Hoosiers; 5. Bull Durham; 6. The Hustler; 7. Caddyshack; 8. Breaking Away; 9. National Velvet; 10. Jerry Maguire.

I’ve got mull this over a little – and sadly, I’ve never seen Raging Bull, which is a major omission on my part – but I’m still inclined to go with Bull Durham as No. 1. But hey, kudos to AFI for putting Caddyshack on the list. Possible omissions include The Natural, Dodgeball and Gus (a Disney movie about a mule that kicked field goals; I loved that one as a kid).

Your thoughts? Your Top 10?

For me, the Mets have a bigger problem than their inability to sustain momentum or win baseball games. They’re becoming an unlikable club. The players aren’t the major issue here—they are on the field, where Alou and Duque can’t stay healthy, where Delgado has gotten old quickly, where Perez can’t find any consistency and Aaron Heilman is just praying he doesn’t serve up a home run—but not in the likeability factor. By and large, they’re pretty good dudes. I dig Reyes’ energy, Wright’s professionalism and humility, etc. Wagner could use a muzzle sometimes, but at least he entertains.

But the front office is a bona fide mess. They handled the Willie fiasco very poorly—letting him, his coaches and the players twist in the wind for far too long, which is an indication of indecision or disagreement between upper management. On the upside, at least they finally made a decision. On the downside, I think Willie is taking an unfair fall for a flawed team that was exposed at the end of last season and overrated coming into this one.

I already can’t stand the current Jets team—I’d take another bad season to get Mangini and his Gestapo fired. I need to be able to freely root for the Mets. I think that’s why I advocate that they dump all the old salaries after this season (except for maybe Pedro, who’s as sturdy as a straw house in a tornado but still very fun to watch) and get younger in left field, first base, second base (unlikely considering Castillo is signed for a few more years) and the bullpen. The team will still have star power (Santana, Beltran, Reyes, Wright) and it will add energy. Inexperience can be frustrating, but also exciting.

As for the front office, the Wilpons need to make sure they’re not treading on Peter Angelos’ turf and let Minaya run the team. If he stinks—and his early success has been followed by mix results, at best—then can him. But at least let everyone do their job.

An argument against the "dream threesome"

When the USGA announced that Tiger, Phil, and Adam Scott, the world's top three players, would be matched up for the first two rounds of next week's U.S. Open, it might have seemed like a golf fan's dream. But to anyone who has ever been in the gallery of a major championship, it's a nightmare.

Tiger and Phil routinely draw the biggest Thursday and Friday galleries, and they're almost always spaced out by a few hours so that ambitious fans can walk the course with both of them. But some portion of those people make a choice -- walk with Tiger in the morning, camp out under a tree in the afternoon and see Phil for a hole or two; or vice versa. That means that if you're not 6-foot-3 or you don't carry one of those golf periscope things that Phil's dad has, you still have a fighting chance to see some shots. Come Saturday and Sunday, the galleries get a little deeper, and all bets are off. But for the first two days of a major, every paying customer can see a little bit of Tiger, Phil, or both. With this threesome, it's like a Sunday-Tiger-or-Phil-in-the-last-group gallery every day.

OK, so it's not about the 30,000 people seeing the U.S. Open in person. It's about the millions watching from home. And this is the USGA sticking it to the TV folks, right? Well, I don't buy that either. If you watch on TV, you're going to see every shot Tiger and Phil hit, regardless of what groups they're in. And if you have a job, you're not watching Thursday and Friday live anyway. You're going to watch the replay or the highlights, in which case again, there's no Tiger-Phil shortage.

So what is this good for? Building a false sense of tension or drama. The interpersonal thing -- Do they hate each other or do they actually like each other? Didn't they play ping-pong at the President's Cup? Will they talk? Will Tiger smile? Will he get inside Phil's head? Will their caddies joust with putters for the honor of their bosses? If anything, that's for TV, not for the good of the tournament.

I'd love to see Tiger and Phil together on Sunday. Or Saturday. But Thursday and Friday? It just seems like hype that the world's best tournament doesn't need.

I haven’t watched a ton of the NBA playoffs, but lack of knowledge has never stopped me before, so here goes a breakdown of the NBA Playoffs between the Celtics and Lakers, which is ABC’s dream and has prompted every sports news agency to unload old photos of big men in short shorts.

Point Guard: Rajon Rondo, Celtics vs. Derek Fisher, Lakers
Fisher is both an excellent playoff performer and a strong defender. He should give Rondo problems in terms of disrupting set plays but generally lacks the speed to stay in front of Rondo on drives. Look for the Celtics to go to Paul Pierce to bring the ball up the floor in crucial situations.
Advantage: Lakers

Shooting Guard: Ray Allen, Celtics vs. Kobe Bryant, Lakers
This is the major issue for the Celtics. Kobe is a lockdown (if sometimes inconsistent) defender who can completely shut down Allen, while Allen’s defensive prime is behind him (and it wasn’t that prime to begin with). Expect to see some limited Allen and a lot of James Posey in this series.
Advantage: Lakers

Small Forward: Paul Pierce, Celtics vs. Vladimir Radmanovic, Lakers
To be honest, I don’t really know much about Radmonovic. I know he can shoot pretty well but that’s about it. The fact alone favors Pierce, who I still think should be the Celts’ No. 1 option on offense and should be able to control this matchup. I do think, however, the Lakers will go big for much of this series (meaning good minutes for Luke Walton) just so the Celts can’t put Pierce on Kobe and then play Allen on either Radmonovic (despite the height disparity) or Sasha Vujacic.
Advantage: Celtics

Power Forward: Kevin Garnett, Celtics vs. Lamar Odom, Lakers
Odom is a very versatile performer but doesn’t do much defensively that should bother Garnett, while Garnett should be able to dominate the low post. The Lakers were very impressive against the Spurs but Tim Duncan had a big series. And while Garnett is not the offensive performer Duncan is, he’s still pretty good.
Advantage: Celtics

Center: Kedrick Perkins, Celtics vs. Pau Gasol, Lakers
Kendrick is a rebounding, defensive role player; Gasol is a scoring, solid No. 2 option. I expect Gasol to do his best to pull Perkins away from the hoop, hoping to take advantage of Gasol’s versatility and open up the lane for Kobe. The Lakers will be best if Garnett is the only one in the middle to man Kobe’s drives (and thus rack up early fouls).
Advantage: Lakers

Bench: Bunch of Celtics guys vs. Bunch of Lakers guys
The Lakers bench has been the more celebrated but the Celtics isn’t bad and boasts the most alien-looking guy in this series in Sam Cassell. Still, between Walton and Ronny Turiaf, the Lakers ability to go big — and with Vujacic, to bring in a shooter — gives them the edge here.
Advantage: Lakers

I could go into coaches but that ruins what we have going here, which 4 edges for the Lakers and 2 for the Celtics. It fits perfectly into a prediction: Lakers 4, Celtics 2. All that said, I’ll be rooting for the Celts so I hope I’m wrong.

From the "If sports were politics" dept. ...

"While this postseason was long, I am so proud we stayed the course together. Well, all of us except Flip – See ya, Flip.

"And I want you to know, I will be making no decisions tonight. Yes, the Celtics won some games. Four games, in fact. And some of y’all might say that four is all you need to win a best-of-seven series. But we came too far to just give up that easily.

"I am committed to uniting our league. So we move forward, into the Finals. The Lakers. The Celtics. And the Pistons.

"A lot of people are asking ‘What does Sheed want? What does he want?’

"Well, Sheed wants what he’s always fought for in this whole season. I want what I’ve always wanted. I want to be the greatest power forward in history. I want to be able to play three days a month and still get paid. I want somebody to come up with a pill that will get rid of that white spot in the back of my ‘fro. And, more than anything in this world, I want to…

"Dance!"

[Circle forms and Sheed does The Sheed]