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The Rosin Bag: Emerging From The Madness

Wednesday, August 05th, 2009 | Author: Ottawa Sports Guy
Gut tells me Roy starts next season as a Jay

Gut tells me Roy starts next season as a Jay

Wondering why I’ve been quiet?

To be honest, I lost a whole lot of respect for the sports media, both mainstream and blogger-based, over the past month. The whole Halladay Fiasco turned some of the reporters and commentators I respected most into TMZ-style Twitter-twits, one long stream of consciousness with little intelligent opinion or fact-based reporting.  As usual, though, Stephen Brunt was above this rabble, injecting sanity at key moments.

And so I decided to take a break. It’s not like I have a huge readership, or that my “voice” actually matters, but refraining from adding to the madness allowed me to be at peace with my opinions, which I had shared right when Ken Rosenthal “broke” his “story”. To wit: Roy Halladay was going nowhere, JP was bound by his job description to listen to offers, which is all he said (at first). How that little comment turned into a full-blown media shit-hurricane can be attributed to bored columnists and our society’s transient needs.

The whole episode can be recapped thusly: GM says he’ll listen to offers because that’s what GM’s do; GM would need to be blown away by an offer; such an offer was not forthcoming; Halladay is still a Blue Jay. If you were out of the country for the past month, that’s all you need to know. You’re welcome.

Almost lost in all of this is the fact that Scott Rolen is no longer with the team. According to some reports he wanted out to be close to the Mid-West. Despite the loss of one of my favourite Jays players (Fossil Fries please!), the Jays apparently did very well in the trade, getting a 3rd baseman in Edwin Encarnacion who with a little bit of defensive tweaking might grow into an everyday player, plus two pitching prospects with live arms.

But here’s what I’m looking at as objectively as I can: Supposing Halladay sticks around through the winter, the Jays (who are definitely out of it this year) are looking at an opening day rotation of Doc, Shaun Marcum, Ricky Romero, Brett Cecil and a fifth pitcher who could be any one of Scott Richmond, Jesse Litsch, Brad Mills, Mark Rzepcynski, Brian Tallet, Rob Ray, David Purcey or maybe (MAYBE) Dustin McGowan. Talk about depth in starting pitching.

Cecil and Romero, both rookies, are rounding into fantastic starters. Cecil is 5-1 with a 4.36 ERA and Romero is 10-4 with a 3.53 ERA. If you need any kind of incentive to tune into Jays games for the rest of the season, these two kids are good candidates.

Then take a look at Travis Snider, who just won the PCL’s Player of the Week award, and you can take a deep breath. Ok, Snider is finding his swing again. Maybe he can take over for Lind in left and in turn Lind can assume his natural DH spot (talk about a backhanded compliment!).

Maybe in a perfect world the Jays trade Alex Rios in the offseason and turn the page on this disaster. Vernon Wells is staying, kids, so might as well accept it and move on. One question I do have though: with lots of columnists musing that teams who were interested in Alex Rios would have moved him to his natural position of centre field, and considering how terrible Wells has been (one SABR-estimate a few weeks ago had him costing the Jays 28 runs with his defence up to that point in the season), why not switch them up? Put Rios in centre, and Wells in right! All you’re hurting is Wells’ ego and maybe in doing so Rios gets a psychological boost?

Anyway, the point is, it’s easy to get real down about how this season has turned out, especially considering the circus the media just concocted for us. Take a step back, breathe, and you’ll see that things ARE lining up for a run in 2010.

Sure there are question marks (3rd base, Scutaro leaving after the season), but name me a team that doesn’t have any of those?

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Frozen Vulcan: Gary Bettman’s Waterloo

Wednesday, May 06th, 2009 | Author: Ottawa Sports Guy
Even Napoleon could have seen the writing on this wall

Even Napoleon could have seen the writing on this wall

Gary Bettman has won some impressive battles in the past. Most notable among his victories was his destruction of the NHLPA in the last round of collective bargaining. He’s successfully implemented the owners’ desire for more American teams (in a fruitless pursuit of a lucrative national American television contract – the NHL’s Holy Grail). He’s brought in national sponsors and navigated some tricky ownership issues. To think of it, whether you’ve agreed with him or not, he really hasn’t lost any battles. He’s produced on everything the owners have asked of him.

All that is coming to a fiery end. Like the hero from Dale in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, Jim Balsillie has finally found the soft spot in Smaug‘s armour. By using the Phoenix Coyotes’ precarious financial position to perform an end-around to avoid the NHL ownership approval process (which has been twisted and turned in the past to block him from owning the Penguins and then the Predators), Balsillie will surely secure control of the NHL team. As Stephen Brunt puts it, Bettman is now in “check”.

Once that happens and Balsillie announces his plans to move the franchise North, brace yourself for a hardcore cage match between him and the league – might as well prep the metal chairs, broken glass and barbed wire immediately. Bettman will stake his future on this battle. And he will lose. With the NHLPA poised to get behind this plan, there is just too much going for Balsillie.

And really, why the resistance? A multi-billionaire hockey nut wants to purchase a failed franchise and move it into a sure-fire, can’t miss hockey market. What are the NHL governors so afraid of? The whole point of expanding (and moving) into the States was to get that big TV contract. It hasn’t materialized and it won’t. The game has receded so badly south of the border that ESPN will have nothing to do with it and the league had to accept NBC’s offer of carrying games for the hefty sum of zero dollars. That’s right: NBC pays the NHL nothing for the rights to broadcast the games.

With that in mind, isn’t in the owners’ best interest to allow a team into Southern Ontario, where it will be prosperous and is sure to make the Canadian television rights fees explode? Won’t MLSE (if they take the long view) grow to be stronger if they have a next-door rival whose first act will be to hand over hundreds of millions of dollars in territorial rights fees? Doesn’t everybody win?

Everyone but Bettman. It will be the death knoll of American expansionism, a signal to everyone that Bettman has failed in the venture on which he staked his career. If you’re one of the many Canadians who revile this man, then you are cheering on Jim Balsillie.

I’m interested in knowing your thoughts on why the NHL has so steadfastly opposed his intention to move a team to Canada. Head to the comments section and let’s get them!

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Chanelling Houston

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 | Author: Ottawa Sports Guy

 

William Houston: Great insight into the TV racket

William Houston: Great insight into the TV racket

No, not the city. “Channeling Houston” is a feature I hope to turn into an OSG regular in tribute to a dearly missed member of the sports-writing community, former Globe and Mail journalist William Houston. Mr. Houston was the G&M’s resident sports media critic/reporter, and he was awesome. He’s still awesome, he just doesn’t work for the paper anymore. A sudden, understated farewell ended his last column:

THE FINISH LINE

After more than 5,000 bylines in The Globe and Mail over 29 years, this is my last. I’m moving on to new pursuits. I leave with fond memories and good friendships. Thanks for reading.

His departure has left a void on the Globe’s sports page. I think anyone who watches a lot of sports develops an interest in how the business of bringing it to our homes works, and that was Mr. Houston’s specialty. I am not a journalist, and so I won’t be able to fill the void left by his departure, but I will try and comment on what I see when I’m watching sporting events on the television. Commercials, play-by-play announcers, colour commentators, anchors, reporters: I am committing to offering my views on their performance on a regular basis, from a fan’s perspective. Long ago, in what seems like another life by now, I studied television production at a college here in Ottawa. I never finished my degree but it did give me a particularly keen insight on how difficult producing a television program actually is: what looks slick and almost zen-like is actually sometimes controlled chaos behind the camera. My real job is also closely connected to the business of broadcasting. What I’m trying to say is that I’ll try to be as fair as possible through my (limited) knowledge of the industry. Having said that, I won’t hold back because to be truthful the screen can sometimes seem filled by a bunch of bozos.

Sportsnet: Much Improved

Sportsnet: Much Improved

To kick things off I will offer praise where before I have been critical: the production values at Rogers Sportsnet. I’ve even gone so far as to liken the quality of their sportscasts to community TV. Since that post things have changed dramatically. The newscast looks fantastic, especially in HD, and the non-hockey on-air talent has really shone. Brad Fay, Martine Gaillard and Evanka Osmak are about as good as you’re gonna get in this country out of a sports anchor. They are professional, entertaining and provide a degree of gravitas. Sportsnet seems to have figured out that its audience isn’t just comprised of drunken frat boys and macho Razon Ramon wannabes: that must be why Jim Lang and Mike Toth have been relegated to the website. Another good example of quality at the network is Jason Portuondo: he certainly takes a more light-hearted approach, but also delivers the goods in terms of facts and on-screen presence.

Not only has the talent improved, but the presentation quality is now slick and pleasing to the eye. The on-air graphics look modern, the scrawler isn’t overbearing (although I’m still on the fence about the hockey-themed scrawl during the dinner-time news show – I think I like it), and the in-game informational tools are sufficient and understated (as they should be). Most of the commercials touting Sportsnet products look fantastic, especially the MLB stuff (I’m thinking the Derek Jeter frozen in mid-air stuff here). They’ve replaced Rob Faulds as the default voice-over man and the improvement of his nameless replacement is notable.

As I predicted a few years ago, their lineup of sports properties now leaves a lot to be desired. What they do have, however, they do well. The baseball broadcast is the leader in this country, and I’d put it up against most American broadcasts as well. Hockey on Sportsnet is middle of the pack: the quality seems to depend on which Canadian team is being featured. Soccercentral lives on despite the dramatic scaling back of its footy coverage: it’s a quality show offering Craig Forrest’s welcome observations (The Score’s Footy Show has surpassed it in relevance, mind you). Basketball, which I don’t really watch, seems passable (but I believe it’s the same crew that does it on The Score and TSN – feel free to correct me and fill out my blind spot). 

The Bear: Teetering between love and hate

The Bear: Teetering between love and hate

Sportsnet’s weakness is its filler. Poker, extreme sports, bottom-tier MMA, bottom-tier curling, darts and more poker are not very inspiring. The Best Damn Sports Show Period can be entertaining, but really: how many lists can you come up with? Bob McCown is a love or hate proposition (love from this quarter when Stephen Brunt is the sidekick). Admittedly, I barely ever land on Sportsnet save for when one of their premium properties is being featured. 

Then there is the hockey coverage – hours and hours and hours of hockey coverage; Hockeycentral radio over lunchtime, Hockeycentral TV over dinnertime, more hockey coverage during the main news shows over dinnertime and nightly wrap-up. There is so much hockey coverage that the topic merits its own future post (which will come).

All in all, this is but a brief overview of the network. I plan on examining their (and other sports networks) shows and personalities in more depth in the future. For now, however, I’ll consider this an adequate first entry in honour of Mr. Houston.

What about you? What would you like to see discussed in this space? Do you agree with my general assessment of Sportsnet?

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The Rosin Bag: We Care, Already!

Thursday, October 26th, 2006 | Author: Ottawa Sports Guy

Alright, it’s time for me to get on my box (taking my box out of the closet, blowing the dust off, placing it in the middle of the room and climbing up).

Fans care about players cheating. Pure and simple. We do. That’s a message for you in the media that don’t think we care (led by Stephen Brunt in Canada, who loves to go on Bob McCown’s show and tell everyone this. Note: I love Stephen Brunt and think he’s one of the better sportswriters: he just happens to be on the wrong side of this issue). Every fan I’ve ever spoken to wants athletes to be clean of illegal substances. We care about stats and their integrity. We care about athletes and their health. We care about the rule book and following it.


It’s time to turn the tide of propaganda from the school of thought that teaches that fans don’t care as long as they don’t know. The consequences of this reversal is that reporters would have to work harder to uncover the facts. They would have to display initiative beyond asking questions like: “What do you think was the turning point of the game?” or “How do you feel after such a big win?”. It means journalists will have to develop more cojones when confronting athletes, instead of deferring to them with such reverence.

I’ve never been in a major sports locker room so I don’t know what kind of questions are asked, and if athletes really are so good at spin that it’s so difficult to get insightful answers. The only time an athlete will answer tough questions seems to be when a pack mentality forms with members of the press, as if strength in numbers will assure them that they can’t all get their press passes revoked. Maybe this is true, but it would appear to me that it’s simply a matter of group courage and individual cowardice.

For example, will Tom Verducci run into trouble in the Tigers locker room after writing such an accusatory column about the Kenny Rogers pine tar incident? Something tells me he might get a frostier welcome, but that he’ll get just as much access. Does a reporter have to wait until he pays his dues and acquires a pedigree like Verducci has until he can work up the courage to really go in depth with less than rosy issues? Maybe, but if that’s the case we’re in trouble. If I were a Tigers fan, I’d be embarrassed that one of my players was caught cheating. If it was a Senators player, I’d want him suspended. Am I so unique? Yeah, right.

Sports long ago stopped being a fairy-tale land to which people travelled in order to admire the giants and myth-like figures. That veil was lifted decades ago. What we want is as even a playing field as possible, where athletic ability comes from hard work, talent and genetics, not a syringe or a bottle with green pills. We want regulation sticks and goalie equipment in hockey, balls that haven’t been tampered with in baseball and the letter of the law enforced as it is written.

In short, we want fairness and a world to which we can point and say to our kids: “See that? He cheated and got punished. Don’t cheat.” (getting off my box and placing it neatly back in the closet)

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