Showing Love for San Antonio

I'm an American sports fan, so I say that I love teams with solid work ethics that make up for a lack of athleticism with smarts, effort and execution.  I'm an American sports fan, so I claim that I love seeing great athletes play their entire careers as a member of one team.  I'm an American sports fan, so I insist that I root for small market franchises and underdogs.  And I'm an American sports fan, so for some reason I don't want to see the San Antonio Spurs win the 2012 NBA Championship.

Like most sports fans I know, I'm unable to reconcile the first three of the above facts with the fourth.  After all, the Spurs are methodical and boring.  They lack the flash and sizzle of the Heat, the celebrated youth of the Thunder and the big city appeal of the Celtics.  Never mind that the Spurs are built on a foundation of everything we as American sports fans say we stand for - hard work, consistency and stability.  We claim to hate the way the NBA has turned into a league based around superstar athletes and slam dunks, yet we're hard pressed to find anyone rooting for San Antonio to take town younger, flashier and sexier Oklahoma City in the Western Conference Finals.

  San Antonio's "Big 3" isn't as heralded as either Miami's or Boston's.

Take a look at the Spurs' playoff roster.  It's a seemingly random mix of aging stars (Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker), undervalued young players who have been with the organization since they were drafted (James Anderson, DuJuan Blair, Kawhi Leonard, Tiago Splitter, Gary Neal) and veteran role players that have been kicked around the league (Matt Bonner, Boris Diaw, Stephen Jackson).  What's not to love about this team?  Other than Duncan, who was heralded since his time at Wake Forest, every guy on the roster was overlooked at some point in his career, some as recently as a year or two ago.  Why aren't we all fawning over these guys?  Why do we all want the Durant- and Westbrook- led Thunder to represent the West in the NBA Finals?

The Spurs are a sports mystery.  They represent everything we as sports fans always say we want in a champion, yet we'll root for pretty much anyone to beat them - this year it's Oklahoma City, but during the past decade it's been Los Angeles, Phoenix, Dallas and even Seattle.  Even as I write this, I have to admit that I want OKC to take Game 2 tonight and march closer to the NBA Finals.  If the San Antonio Spurs do win the 2012 NBA title, though, we'll have no choice but to remember them as one of the league's great dynasties.  The question is: Will we want to?  

Save Orlando from Shaq

For much of my life, I dreamed about being the General Manager of a professional sports team.  As recently as last summer, I had made career decisions based on the hopes of one day making draft choices, free agent signings and trades - this time one year ago I was getting ready to start a summer internship in Major League Baseball's Labor Relations Department and continue to pursue this dream.  As I learned more about the sacrifices required to become a professional sports GM, though, I quickly realized that the life wasn't for me.  In order for a non-former-pro-athlete to get a high ranking front office position, he has to sacrifice virtually every other aspect of his life - family, friends, compensation, etc.  In the end, I decided that I'd go a different route within the world of sports business.

People are constantly asking me why making it as a GM is so difficult.  After all, I'm smart, qualified and extremely knowledgable - aren't I exactly the kind of candidate that teams are looking for?  Shouldn't I be able to show my resume, go through a handful of interviews, walk away with a job as a director of basketball / baseball / football operations and be well on my way to being named General Manager in 10-25 years?  While I'd like to think this could be true, sadly it isn't meant to be.  And a large part of the reason why it isn't nearly that easy is because, despite everything we hear about Moneyball and Sabermetrics, former professional athletes with zero front office experience continue to take all of the good jobs.

This week, sources revealed that the Orlando Magic is considering Shaquille O'Neal for its vacant General Manager position, which became available when it fired Otis Smith earlier this week.  No, that isn't a misprint or an article from the Onion Sports Network - it's actually a "legitimate" news story. ESPN notes that, "if O'Neal were to be hired by the Magic, the organization likely would bring in a more experienced basketball executive to work alongside him."  Thus, hiring Shaq as Magic GM would have two negative effects on young and talented aspiring front office executives.  First, a GM job goes to a guy with zero qualifications.  Second, another senior position goes to an industry veteran, further hurting the growth prospects of talented junior executives in the Orlando organization.  Young executives are willing to take jobs that pay $30K per year in order to earn the right to some day have the opportunity to prove themselves in a decision-making role.  Instead, the Orlando job might go to a multi-millionaire with no business experience while dozens of more qualified candidates wait in the wings.

Get ready for a bunch of Shaq press conferences starting this summer.

I like Shaq.  As a player, he was a great ambassador for the sport of basketball and he continues to entertain fans as a TV personality.  He's funny, charismatic and understands the sport - basically, he's got the perfect job right now as an NBA TV analyst for TNT.  I still can't understand, however, how Orlando could hire him as General Manager, or why he'd even want to job.  All we hear about is how teams need to get smarter, embrace new decision-making processes and move away from the traditional approaches that have become stale.  Savvy GMs like Sam Presti in Oklahoma City and Daryl Morey in Houston have taken the league by storm - doesn't Orlando want to find the next young superstar GM who can turn the Magic into another small market contender?  By considering Shaq, the Magic is telling its fans that it doesn't take winning seriously.  Hopefully, the people will speak up and tell ownership that they want the GM decision based on meritocracy, not popularity.

Farewell, Kid K

Despite a multitude of injuries that transformed him from a starter to a reliever way back in 2007, Kerry Wood has had a solid Major League Baseball career.  While he never lived up to the hype that surrounded him when he broke into the league as a 21 year old rookie in 1998, he did have flashes of brilliance.  His 20 strikeout game as a rookie is his most famous accomplishment (and I would argue is the greatest game every pitched), of course, but there were others: his two wins over Atlanta in the 2003 NLDC that pushed the Cubbies into the League Championship Series and his surprising 34 save season in 2007, to name two.  For his career, Wood is one of only three pitchers (along with Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez) to average better than 10.0 strikeouts per nine innings with a minimum to 1,000 career innings pitched, and has always been a fan favorite in Chicago.  With his career winding down, he has earned his one last moment in the spotlight.

Wood's 20 strikeout game was one of the best anyone has ever pitched.

That's why I think Wood's recent announcement regarding his retirement plans is awesome: in short, "Wood will retire after his next outing, which could come as soon as Friday."  Just as every kid, including the ones that grow up to be Major Leaguers, dreams about hitting a game winning homerun or ending a game with a strikeout, Wood has a dream for what he wants his MLB career to look like.  After 14 seasons, the Cubs reliever wants his final appearance on a baseball mound to be special, and I'm sure he wants to savor every last moment of it - how it feels to grip the baseball, how the crowd reacts to a strikeout, how the grass and the dirt smell.  By announcing that his next appearance will be his last, Wood can ensure that he and the fans make the most out of his final pitching appearance, and he can leave the game without regrets about not having gone out the right way.

The announcement makes a lot of sense for the Cubs in addition to Wood.  With the team scheduled to start a three-game series at home against the crosstown White Sox tonight, the team can ensure that Wood's final MLB appearance will come at Wrigley Field (assuming they want to use him this weekend) and that the hometown fans can give him a proper send off.  After that, the team will embark on a week-long road trip, before which it can call up a replacement pitcher from the minors, begin to realign its bullpen rotation and continue to work on improving its 15-23 record.  While the Cubs fans don't know much about winning, they do know a lot about history and will undoubtedly appreciate the opportunity to see Kerry Wood pitch one more time.  With a notice in advance that his next appearance will be his last, Wood can ensure that his fans, teammates and bosses give him the exit that he deserves.

At the same time, I respect how Wood refrained from forcing the Cubs to do something overly "special" for him.  He didn't ask for one more chance to start.  He didn't even ask for one more chance to close a game.  All he did was give some advance notice that his next relief appearance - whenever it comes - will be his last time on a mound.  The Cubs coaches have the opportunity to use him however they'd like (ideally in a non-critical situation, since he's posting a 8.64 ERA and a 2.28 WHIP this season) and then can move on with their regularly scheduled (and seemingly never-ending) rebuilding process.  As someone who's enjoyed watching Kerry Woody pitch over the last decade and a half, I'm glad that he's giving us all this heads up.  Without it, I might have missed and failed to appreciate the last appearance of one of the most exciting hurlers of our time.  Thanks for the memories, "Kid K."

One Horse Town

Earlier tonight, I watched Chesapeake Energy Arena erupt as the hometown Oklahoma City Thunder erased a late seven point deficit and defeated Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers 77-75.  Despite the low score, it was an exciting game to watch - back-and-forth action with numerous lead changes throughout - and through it all the OKC crowd was fantastic.  Dressed in white and blue matching T-shirts - each section alternated shirt color for a cool effect that I hadn't seen before - the Thunder faithful were desperate for their team to pull out the come-from-behind victory over the hated Lakers.  The Chesapeake Energy Arena atmosphere may be the best in the NBA, and a large part of the reason is that the Thunder are the only team in town.

As a New Yorker and as an NBA fan, I love the Knicks and consider Madison Square Garden among the best places to watch a basketball game.  But while MSG can be raucus and loud, it lacks the intensity and desperation associated with a fan base that lacks a backup plan.  When the Knicks falter and the NBA season ends, New Yorkers have Yankees or Mets baseball to enjoy and can soon start to focus on the Giants and Jets as they battle for a spot in the Super Bowl (or, the Giants do anyway).  In Oklahoma City, NBA basketball is the entire professional sports scene.  There might be Oklahoma Sooners football down the road in Norman, but once the Thunder season is over the state's professional sports scene doesn't pick up again until the NBA season restarts in the fall.

The Thunder faithful love team owner Clay Bennett, and for good reason.

In 2010, Bleacher Report ranked the top places to watch an NBA basketball game, and among the top ten were Oklahoma City, Portland, Sacramento and Salt Lake City.  What do these four metros have in common?  None of them have another professional sports team, so all of the city's rooting interest is poured into pro basketball.  Add in top ranked Indianapolis, a city with only one other professional franchise (the Colts), and you can see the correlation between great fan bases and fewer competing interests.  While it's great to live in New York and have nine local professional sports teams to follow, all of that choice fragments the market and makes each team's success seem less critical.  When you live in Oklahoma City and it's Thunder-or-bust, the fan base becomes much more rabid.  Plus, it's Oklahoma City - not only isn't there competition from other professional sports, there doesn't seem to be competition from anything. 

While I am quick to criticize the NBA for many things, market selection isn't one of them.  The league has realized that you don't need a massive market to have a successful and popular franchise - some of the league's most successful teams, both on and off the court, are located in one-team markets like San Antonio, Oklahoma City and Salt Lake City.  Unlike the NHL, which has taken the opposite approach (put teams in big markets whether they have any interest in hockey or not), the NBA's small market teams have managed to hold their own with the big boys.  When the Thunder finish off the Lakers some time next week, people in Los Angeles probably won't be too upset - after all, there are Dodgers games at Chavez Ravine all summer long.

You Decide: Lakers vs. Clippers

Ohio State or Michigan? Dodgers or Angels? Cowboys or Redskins? "You Decide" is a segment where I take a side in the greatest rivalries in sports. Who has the better stadium? Who has more history and tradition? Who has cooler uniforms? I'll make a choice, but in the end You Decide.

In the last 24 hours, I've watched both Los Angeles-based NBA teams battle for their playoff lives in Game 7's and have started thinking about the L.A. basketball scene.  Having lived in Southern California for almost three years, I've spent some time sizing up the Clippers and the Lakers and have seen both teams play home games at the Staples Center (in addition to attending the 2011 NBA All-Star game, technically a jointly-hosted event).  Unlike the Cubs / White Sox rivalry which I know basically nothing about, I'm mildly qualified to weigh the pros and cons of Lakers / Clippers fandom.

Most of the benefits of being a Lakers fan in L.A. are obvious, starting with the fact that the purple-and-gold are one of the greatest on-court NBA franchises of all time.  The Lakers have won consistently since they moved to Southern California from Minneapolis, and their legacy has been built by some of the game's most recognizable stars - Kareem, Magic and Kobe are just of the few Lakers stars that require only one name.  In addition to their on-court success, the Lakers resonate deeply with the city of Los Angeles; one look at the courtside seats at Staples during a Lakers game reveals dozens of A-List celebrities, and the Lake Show fits perfectly among the glitz and glamour that defines Los Angeles.  At the same time, being a fan of L.A.'s premiere franchise isn't all good - game tickets are prohibitively expensive, the purple-and-gold uniforms - while classic - aren't wear-out-in-public-material, and the 2012 version is aging and headed into rebuilding mode sooner rather than later.

The Clippers, on the other hand, are one of the NBA's hottest and most exciting teams.  Led by superstar tandem Blake Griffin and Chris Paul, the Clips have suddenly taken Southern California by storm and injected a sense of rivalry into the area's basketball scene.  With a solid core of talented young players, the Clippers seem poised to do something they've never done in the history of the franchise - play well consistently.  Additionally, being a Clippers fan allows you to be different - a fan of a blue collar franchise in a clearly white collar city.  As I mentioned in picking the White Sox over the Cubs, I value the underdogs, and in L.A. the Clippers most definitely play second fiddle.  Throw in the fact that, unlike the Lakers, the Clippers have some of the sweetest jerseys in the NBA (I love the red unis with the script writing almost as much as I love these Denver jerseys), and you've got a surprisingly tough call to make.

I'll take the Clippers road red over the Lakers home gold any day of the week.

In the end, though, for me it comes down to the quality of ownership.  Whereas your team can change players, coaches and management, ownership is much more permanent and ultimately controls a team's destiny.  Whereas Lakers ownership has always remained committed to winning, Donald Sterling is notorious for frugality, racism and sexual harrassment.  While the Clippers have the makings of a high growth franchise, chances are that Sterling will do something to destroy the team's future and send the Clippers back towards mediocrity.  While I'm not thrilled about picking the Lakers, as long as Sterling owns the Clippers I feel like I have to pick Kobe and Co.  Now, if only we could get them some slightly less offensive uniforms, preferably with a sharp script font . . .