What’s wrong with college basketball (Hint: It’s not the players)

I used to watch college basketball. But it’s been years since I’ve cared — this year was something like the fifth or sixth in a row in which I went out of my way not to watch the final game.

The reasons: Well, players moving on after a year makes the NCAA hard to stay on top of. But I can’t fault kids who come from nothing when the promise of a whole lot of cash is put in front of them.

The real reason is that the coaches play the role of college basketball superstar, making obscene money and signing shoe endorsements and reaping the kudos.

And, as Joe Nocera pointed out yesterday, they also get off far more easily than players who violate rules — proving that the players are the disposable commodities in the NCAA.

Consider this year’s final four: Two of the coaches have been sanctioned — the winning coach, Jim Calhoun, was sanctioned for violations this year while Kentucky coach John Calipari has had controversy follow him throughout his team-hopping career. The players, however, get dumped on and often see their career prospects end.

The NCAA says it is about amateur student athletes; that’s BS. It is, like the professional leagues, greed-driven. But at least the players in the NBA get paid for their services.

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  • Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
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Two parties separated by pennies

There is politics and then there is policy. The Democrats may as yet win politically in the current debate over the budget and a potential shutdown, but the American people already have lost.

The debate has occurred within parameters set by the Republicans, meaning that we are witnessing a massive slashing of spending at a time when the government needs to help prime the economic pump. The two sides already have agreed to $38 billion in spending cuts, according to The New York Times, and are separated by the smallest of margins:

Despite the disagreement over what still divided the two parties, it was clear that the dollar difference had shrunk to only about $1 billion or $2 billion, and that lawmakers would have a difficult time explaining to voters how most of the federal government could come to be closed over such a relatively small sum.

Think about this for a second. For all the talk about the vast divide separating the two parties, the budget debate has come down to essentially a few pennies. All that really separates Democrats and Republicans, despite the rhetoric in Washington and on the chat shows, is the proverbial drop in a bucket.

The debate, of course, should have been about priorities — about what programs are important to Americans, what kinds of things the government can and should be doing to make the livers of Americans better.

But neither party really takes those concerns to heart. Rather, the two ultimately are beholden to the same corporate master.

  • Send me an e-mail.
  • Read poetry at The Subterranean.
  • Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
  • Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Question for Hall of Fame voters

With Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro trapped in Hall limbo with Pete Rose, we are now facing the prospect that the greatest hitters of the last two decades are likely not to make the Hall.

Consider the man who announced his retirement today, Manny Ramirez. There is no doubt that Ramirez is one of the greatest hitters to ever step in a batter’s box — he hit for average, power and was a flat-out RBI machine for the bulk of his career.

The same can be said for Gary Sheffield and, of course, Barry Bonds, who faces all kinds of legal woes.

Here is a list of the Top 20 homerun hitters in baseball history:

1. Barry Bonds  762 L HR Log
2. Hank Aaron+  755 R HR Log
3. Babe Ruth+  714 L HR Log
4. Willie Mays+  660 R HR Log
5. Ken Griffey  630 L HR Log
6. Alex Rodriguez (35) 615 R HR Log
7. Sammy Sosa  609 R HR Log
8. Jim Thome (40) 589 L HR Log
9. Frank Robinson+  586 R HR Log
10. Mark McGwire  583 R HR Log
11. Harmon Killebrew+  573 R HR Log
12. Rafael Palmeiro  569 L HR Log
13. Reggie Jackson+  563 L HR Log
14. Manny Ramirez (39) 555 R HR Log
15. Mike Schmidt+  548 R HR Log
16. Mickey Mantle+  536 B HR Log
17. Jimmie Foxx+  534 R HR Log
18. Willie McCovey+  521 L HR Log
  Frank Thomas  521 R HR Log
  Ted Williams+  521 L HR Log

Seven of them have a steroid asterisk next to their name (or would have were it to exist). Add Sheffield to the list of plus-500 homer guys with an asterisk and then consider this: Only three power hitters of the last 20 years — Ken Griffey Jr., Jim Thome and Frank Thomas — are without asterisks and there are writers who question Thome and Thomas’ credentials. (This doesn’t take into account the pitchers, by the way.)

I am not advocating for voting all of these guys into the Hall, but we have to address this in some way. The reality is that the game was badly tainted by the accusations and its best players, for the most part, were all involved.

So, here is my question: Can we continue to ignore these hitters without ignoring an entire era?

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  • Read poetry at The Subterranean.
  • Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
  • Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

MLB’s opening week will be forgotten in September

Take a look at the standings today in the American League East:

EAST W L PCT GB HOME ROAD RS RA DIFF STRK L10
Baltimore 5 1 .833 – 2-1 3-0 29 16 +13 Won 1 5-1
NY Yankees 4 2 .667 1 4-2 0-0 35 30 +5 Won 1 4-2
Toronto 4 2 .667 1 4-2 0-0 35 19 +16 Lost 1 4-2
Tampa Bay 0 6 .000 5 0-5 0-1 8 27 -19 Lost 6 0-6
Boston 0 6 .000 5 0-0 0-6 16 38 -22 Lost 6 0-6

Now, take a look at how the same division finished a year ago:

*-Tampa Bay 96 66 .593 – 49-32 47-34 802 649 +153 Won 2 5-5
y-NY Yankees 95 67 .586 1 52-29 43-38 859 693 +166 Lost 2 3-7
Boston 89 73 .549 7 46-35 43-38 818 744 +74 Won 2 5-5
Toronto 85 77 .525 11 45-33 40-44 755 728 +27 Won 1 8-2
Baltimore 66 96 .407 30 37-44 29-52 613 785 -172 Lost 1 5-5

What should stand out is that the two teams at the bottom of the heap so far this year are the teams and the top and the bottom of the heap. Boston and Tampa were picked by most baseball folks to battle for the division lead, while the Orioles, the perennial basement dwellers, were picked to finish last once again. After a week, however, the roles are reversed.

The Orioles are the surprise team so far. And yet, it really does not matter. The chances that the Orioles will maintain this level of play all season and contend in what many believe to be the toughest division in baseball are slim. And the chances that two teams that have deep rosters and have been among their division leaders for the last three or four years (longer for the Sox) are even slimmer.

I still expect this to be a three-team race between Tampa Bay, Boston and the Yankees, with the Blue Jays hanging along the periphery and the Orioles’ hot start forgotten by the All-Star break.

  • Send me an e-mail.
  • Read poetry at The Subterranean.
  • Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
  • Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Name-calling is not an argument

You don’t have to like your political opponents. You don’t have to speak well of them. You might even call them names, if you like.

But you should not pretend that doing so advances your argument. Someone should tell the governor that.

  • Send me an e-mail.
  • Read poetry at The Subterranean.
  • Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
  • Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.