Along with the thawing of the New York winter, the return of sunshine and the reblossoming of the trees, a new baseball season emerges from the storm that is the winter off season.
Yes, the American past time has returned once again to provide a sweet distraction for those of us who love to leave the stresses of the world to a place where nothing else matters but the game. It's time to return to the ballparks, the stats, the pennant races, and of course, baseball's premier rivalry.
No, I'm not talking about you, Boston and New York.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the fact that ESPN usually gives little credence to any sports happening west of the Mississippi and Yankee and Red Sox fans think little of the world in general west of the Hudson, the supposed penultimate rivalry in baseball, Yanks versus Sox, always overshadows all. This undoubtedly ignores the true best rivalry in baseball: the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Giants and Dodgers are firstly the longest rivalry in baseball, stretching back to the early days of baseball in New York. The New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers were New York's main two teams, and met in 1889 in baseball's then-World Championship series. The Dodgers moved to the National League the following year - predating the founding of both the Yankees and the Sox by 11 years - and the rivalry was on.
The battle was not just about baseball supremacy, but about regional pride as well. Brooklyn and New York were not officially the same city until 1898, and even today Brooklyn maintains a strong sense of "borough pride." The Giants-Dodger's rivalry was emblematic of the geographical rivalry between Manhattan and Brooklyn, dividing baseball loyalties in baseball's central city. For proof, read historian and Dodger-fan Doris Kearns Goodwin's excellent Memoir, Wait Till Next Year.
The Giants-Dodgers rivalry is not only the longer than Yankees-Red Sox, it's far more even. Through 2006, the series stands 1,054 to 1,035 in the Giant's favor, a window of just 19 games in over 100 years. In addition, each team has won five world championships. By contrast, the Yankees have almost a 200 game advantage over the Red Sox in all-time games played, and of course everyone knows about the Yankee's 26 to 6 advantage in World Series victories.
Sorry East Coast fans, if that's a rivalry, then so is a nail versus a hammer.
Then there's the pennant race drama. Perhaps baseball's most famous moment, the "Shot Heard 'Round the World," was a Giants-Dodgers moment. Even when knocked out of playoff contention, the Giants and Dodgers seem to find ways of ruining things for each other. The Dodgers have played "spoiler" for the Giants playoff hopes in five times since 1932. The Giants have returned the favor three times. Even a 103-win season by the Giants in 1993 wasn't good enough to be stopped by the spoilers from SoCal.
When the Dodgers decided to move West in 1957, the Giants came along too, for the sake of preserving the rivalry. And let's not forget that Jackie Robinson retired rather than be traded to the Giants.
I know it's tough medicine for you to swallow, New York and Boston fans, but your rivalry simply isn't in the top of the class. You're really more like the kid who gets all the attention simply because he yells the loudest and, on occasion, starts a few fights.
No, the top of the class lies West, where the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers simply play hard, tough baseball in the sport's best rivalry. Play ball!
Showing posts with label baseball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baseball. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Three strikes, Bonds is out!
Bonds reportedly failed amphetamine test - Baseball - MSNBC.com:
People on the East Coast have often asked me how I feel about Barry Bonds. I don't know how they know I'm a Giants fan. Could be the Giants calendar that's been in my office since August. Or the bobblehead that sits on my desk. Whatever. Anyway, I've always told them, "conflicted." I thought, I would say, that he was guilty of taking steroids. But then again, I would add, so were a good deal of other players and it was unfair to single Bonds out. Besides, he's on my team. Laker's fans root for Kobe, right? The French still adore Zinedine Zidane, right? Actually they could hate him. I didn't full fact check that one. I digress.
But as for Bonds and I, no more.
Apparently he tested positive for amphetamines. Strike one. Now, amphetamines aren't steroids. They're little pills that pep you up. Take them before a game, give you good energy. Like coffee, but without the peeing and upset stomach. Players have been using them for years. Even Willie Mays was known to have them. That doesn't make them right, but like the first strike, it's not too harsh of a count against a player.
He tested positive for them last season, after they were banned by MLB. Strike two. Bonds showed a flagrant disregard for the rules of baseball on this one. Taking the pills before they were banned is one thing. Taking them after they were banned, especially after one has denied any and all baseball wrongdoing before, is a sign of one who believes he is so great as to be above the rules.
Bonds was in a tough position here. An 0-2 count can be precarious. The public is willing to throw a few outside the zone, but one miss and its back to the dugout.
Bonds then proceeded to blame an innocent team mate, Mark Sweeney, for providing him with the pills. Ladies and gentlemaen, a big, BIG, swinging strike three. Barry could have gained back some of his lost respect by owning up to what he had done and facing the consequences. Maybe his career would have been done, maybe he wouldn't ever get Hank Aaron's all-time home run record, but he would still have a good shot at the Hall of Fame. Nothing counts more against a great player's entry into baseball's shrine than character. Ask Pete Rose.
No, instead of owning up to his mistakes, Bonds said that he stole a bottle out of Sweeney's locker and took what was inside without knowing what they were. You get the idea.
Dante reserves the lowest circle of hell for those who betrayed friends. Judas, Brutus, and the lot. Nothing is lower in sports than trying to turn your own team mate into a scapegoat. Few thought Barry could sink lower in terms of personal character. Barry just lowered the bar for them.
If someone asks me now what I feel about Barry Bonds, I think I have a more clear-cut answer. I want him out of baseball. I want him off my team. The Giants still haven't finalized their $16 million contract with him. If they have any respect for the integrity of the game, they'll end negotations and force Bonds to fruitlessly look elsewhere, effectively forcing him into retirement.
Bonds has had a long career, one full of more successes than most players dream of. He got a lot of cheers from me. But not anymore. He may have over 700 long-balls in his career, but this time he's struck out big time.
"NEW YORK - Barry Bonds failed a test for amphetamines last season and originally blamed it on a teammate, the Daily News reported Thursday.
When first informed of the positive test, Bonds attributed it to a substance he had taken from teammate Mark Sweeney%u2019s locker, the New York City newspaper said, citing several unnamed sources.
"I have no comment on that," Bonds' agent Jeff Borris told the Daily News on Wednesday night."
People on the East Coast have often asked me how I feel about Barry Bonds. I don't know how they know I'm a Giants fan. Could be the Giants calendar that's been in my office since August. Or the bobblehead that sits on my desk. Whatever. Anyway, I've always told them, "conflicted." I thought, I would say, that he was guilty of taking steroids. But then again, I would add, so were a good deal of other players and it was unfair to single Bonds out. Besides, he's on my team. Laker's fans root for Kobe, right? The French still adore Zinedine Zidane, right? Actually they could hate him. I didn't full fact check that one. I digress.
But as for Bonds and I, no more.
Apparently he tested positive for amphetamines. Strike one. Now, amphetamines aren't steroids. They're little pills that pep you up. Take them before a game, give you good energy. Like coffee, but without the peeing and upset stomach. Players have been using them for years. Even Willie Mays was known to have them. That doesn't make them right, but like the first strike, it's not too harsh of a count against a player.
He tested positive for them last season, after they were banned by MLB. Strike two. Bonds showed a flagrant disregard for the rules of baseball on this one. Taking the pills before they were banned is one thing. Taking them after they were banned, especially after one has denied any and all baseball wrongdoing before, is a sign of one who believes he is so great as to be above the rules.
Bonds was in a tough position here. An 0-2 count can be precarious. The public is willing to throw a few outside the zone, but one miss and its back to the dugout.
Bonds then proceeded to blame an innocent team mate, Mark Sweeney, for providing him with the pills. Ladies and gentlemaen, a big, BIG, swinging strike three. Barry could have gained back some of his lost respect by owning up to what he had done and facing the consequences. Maybe his career would have been done, maybe he wouldn't ever get Hank Aaron's all-time home run record, but he would still have a good shot at the Hall of Fame. Nothing counts more against a great player's entry into baseball's shrine than character. Ask Pete Rose.
No, instead of owning up to his mistakes, Bonds said that he stole a bottle out of Sweeney's locker and took what was inside without knowing what they were. You get the idea.
Dante reserves the lowest circle of hell for those who betrayed friends. Judas, Brutus, and the lot. Nothing is lower in sports than trying to turn your own team mate into a scapegoat. Few thought Barry could sink lower in terms of personal character. Barry just lowered the bar for them.
If someone asks me now what I feel about Barry Bonds, I think I have a more clear-cut answer. I want him out of baseball. I want him off my team. The Giants still haven't finalized their $16 million contract with him. If they have any respect for the integrity of the game, they'll end negotations and force Bonds to fruitlessly look elsewhere, effectively forcing him into retirement.
Bonds has had a long career, one full of more successes than most players dream of. He got a lot of cheers from me. But not anymore. He may have over 700 long-balls in his career, but this time he's struck out big time.
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