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Conference 7.286::sports_90

Title:	OURGNG::SPORTS - Digital's daily tabloid
Notice:	Please review note 1.83 before writing anything.
Moderator:	VAXWRK::NEEDLE

Created:	Thu Dec 14 1989
Last Modified:	Fri Dec 17 1993
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	438
Total number of notes:	50420

77.0. "Sports Commentary" by ISLNDS::COOK (JoeyintheAM>GhinsuKnife) Tue Dec 19 1989 16:20

    I didn't find any topics related to this, soo...
    
    From time to time in the "Gardner News" editorial commentary is
    published.  I just consider it more food for thought.
    
    		*reprinted from the "Gardner News" without permission*
    
    	Timing Is Everything, Especially In Sports
    
    				By Bob Greene
    
    	Maybe it's simply that I no longer understand baseball.  Iused
    to; when I was a kid, I seemed to know quite a bit about baseball.
    That's the only logical explanation.
    
    	What brought this to mind was a newspaper story reporting that
    one Mark Langston had become the highest-paid player in the history
    of baseball.  Langston, a left-handed pitcher, had signed a five-year
    contract with the California Angels for $16 million.  No other player
    has ever received a total package of $16 million before.
    
    	The story was filled with dollar figures, and there was a nice
    quote from Mark Langston's agent, and then finally - in the
    next-to-last paragraph - was the one piece of information that I
    had been looking for:
    	Langston's record last year was 16-14.
    
    	I thought that might be a typo.  A pitcher has a season in which
    he wins 16 games and loses 14, and he becomes the highest-paid player
    in the history of baseball?
    
    	I did some research.  Mark Langston, the highest-paid player
    in the history of baseball, has never had a season in which he won
    20 games.  The season before last, Langston had a record of 15-11.
    Two years before that he was 12-14.  In '85 he was 7-14.  His career
    record is 86-76.  The highest-paid player in the history of baseball.
    
    	I called a friend whom I consider a true baseball expert.  His
    name is Rob Fleder; he is former articles editor for Sports
    Illustrated, and now is executive editor of The National, the
    soon-to-debut sports daily.  Basically Fleder told me that, yes,
    I was stupid.
    
    	"This is a case where the records lie," Fleder said.  "Mark
    Langston has played most of his career for the Seattle Mariners,
    a terrible baseball team.  You can't judge Langston's skills by
    his won-loss record."
    
    	That seems to make sense - at least a little sense.  Certainly
    if Langston has spent most of his career with a bad team, it figures
    that he might not have won as many games as he might have with a
    good team.  Still, though... a player whose lifetime record is 86-76,
    a player coming off a 16-14 season, getting the biggest contract
    in history?
    
    	"He's really pretty good," Fleder said.  I'm sure he is.  Ted
    Williamswas pretty good, too - many say he was the best hitter who
    ever played baseball.  In 1941, the year that Williams hit .406,
    he was just coming off a contract that paid him $10,000 a year.
    That's not so important, though - $10,000 in 1941 meant something
    different.  What is so important is what happened much later - in
    1959.  Williams, for the first time in baseball career, was having
    a bad year.  For the first time ever, Williams hit below .300. 
    The Boston Red Sox, knowing how valuable he had been to the team
    and the city, offered him a raise for the next year - a salery of
    $125,000, which would have been his highest salery ever.  Williams
    turned it down.  He wanted less.  He said he had not performed well,
    and he demanded a pay cut.  He got it.  The Red Sox paid him $90,000.
    
    	Mark Langston (16-14), the highest-paid player in the history
    of baseball, will make $3.2 million a year.  "The thing you've got
    to remenber," Rob Fleder said, "is that Langston's timing was perfect."
    
    	Fleder was not referring to Langston's timing on the pitchers
    mound.  He was referring to the fact that CBS television has just
    signed a $1.1 billion, four-year deal to broadcast Major League
    baseball.  This TV deal has made baseball's owners incredibly wealthy
    before they sell a single ticket - so wealthy that they can afford
    to make Mark Langston (16-14, 86-76 lifetime) the highest-paid player
    in the history of baseball.
    
    	"then it really comes down to Kim LeMasters, doesn't it?" I
    said.  "In a way it does," Rob Fleder said.
    
    	Kim LeMasters is the CBS entertainment executive who resigned
    recently because he had a bad streak of luck in choosing the shows
    on CBS's prime-time schedule.  Because of Kim LeMasters lossing
    streak, CBS has been finishing last in the ratings.  Because CBS
    has been finishing last, it needed a symbolic programming stroke
    in an attempt to turn the network around.  Because CBS needed the
    symbolic programming stroke, it swallowed hard and paid $1.1 billion
    for the rights to telecast baseball.  Because it paid the $1.1 
    billion, the California Angels could afford to hire Mark Langston.
    
    	Kim LeMasters may be temporarily out of work, but thanks to
    him Mark Langston (16-14, 86-76 lifetime) is the highest-paid player
    in the history of baseball - a sport about which I am stupid.  Was
    Ted Williams stupid too?
    
    
    
    
    Tom

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
77.1		COOKIE::MJOHNSTON	IuseTactHammersButaSledge'sMoFun	`Tue Dec 19 1989 16:31`	3
	I think it'ssps DEEEE-SSSPPSICABLE MIKE JN
77.2		AUSTIN::MACNEAL	Big Mac	`Tue Dec 19 1989 16:40`	3
	I think the author is confusing baseball the sport versus baseball the business. I think some fans also confuse the two at times, much to their detriment.
77.3	Can they be separated?	ISLNDS::COOK	JoeyintheAM>GhinsuKnife	`Wed Dec 20 1989 11:45`	13
	Mac, I'm not convinced that they can be separated (sport vs. business). I heard some commentary on the radio about why should kids aspire scolastically (sp?) when they can earn fantastic money being average in sports! As education suffers in the US, I have to wonder if the sports team owners have some civic responsibility, to not let this get out of hand (saleries). JMO Tom
77.4		AUSTIN::MACNEAL	Big Mac	`Wed Dec 20 1989 12:00`	5
	Tom, it's just that I think that a fan who gets so caught up in the business end of baseball that he loses sight of the game end is really missing something. Worrying about how much players are getting paid has obviously taken the fun out of the sport for some people, but why should it?
77.5		FREE::GOGUEN	tis the season: Luke 1:26-38; 2:1-20	`Wed Dec 20 1989 13:15`	6
	RE: .0 The Gardner News, eh?? Wow, have times changed..... The local men's softball league used to get more ink than major league baseball... -- dg_who_grew_up_in_Gardner
77.6	Good movie, "The Gardner"	AJCVAX::COTE	Al	`Wed Dec 20 1989 13:23`	0
77.7		CAM::WAY	One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer	`Wed Dec 20 1989 13:51`	1
	Actually, I like Gayle Gardner myself....
77.8	(-:	CRBOSS::DERRY	Happy Christmas!	`Wed Dec 20 1989 14:29`	1
	Gardner? I thought it was Granek?
77.9		CAM::WAY	One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer	`Wed Dec 20 1989 14:35`	6
	Shows you how often I watch NBC these days....;^) You know who I meant at any rate... later, 'Saw
77.10		COBRA::DINSMORE	Mcfall=francessa , true sport wizards	`Thu Dec 21 1989 06:33`	5
	hmmm.. gale whatever.. i will take either one :) d0g= dinz_on_gale ha
77.11	I dont want Boggs!!	ASABET::WORRALL		`Thu Dec 21 1989 09:58`	4
	"This guy Boggs is the best hitter the last 50 year" "Oh come on, I dont want Boggs." The Sportswriter
77.12		STAR::YANKOWSKAS	The restroom door said Gentlemen	`Thu Dec 21 1989 10:03`	6
	re .11: Then again, Bentley likes Bill Lambeer... :-) Paul, who likes "The Sportswriters On TV" but can't figure out why...
77.13		CAM::WAY	Philly Eagles to hunt for Noriega	`Thu Dec 21 1989 11:27`	6
	Yes, that spot always makes me laugh. Can anyone tell me (as I've never watched the show) who the writers are? thnks, Chainsaw
77.14	POW! BAM! POP!	MILPND::VLASAK	Road Warrior	`Thu Dec 21 1989 11:37`	6
	RE .12 RE .11 Bentley is the Boxin' guy...that why he likes Lambeer! Bob V.
77.15		STAR::YANKOWSKAS	The restroom door said Gentlemen	`Thu Dec 21 1989 12:16`	9
	re Frank, the usual cast of characters on "The SportsWriters On TV" is: Ben Bentley Rick Telander (Sports Illustrated) Bill Gleason (sportswriter for the South Bend, IN newspaper) Bill Jauss (sportswriter for one of the Chicago papers) py
77.16		SALEM::RIEU	We're Taxachusetts...AGAIN	`Fri Dec 22 1989 07:25`	3
	Yeah I watch those guys every Monday, good lead in to MNF! Gotta git one o' them hats! Denny
77.17	SPORTS Writers this week...	CAM::WAY	Be excellent to each other	`Mon Mar 26 1990 11:21`	9
	Did anyone see the Sportswriters this weekend? It was great. Rick Telander named his all-hair team. I was rollin bigtime. They mentioned several times that he used to play a lot of hoop. Does anyone know where? 'Saw
77.18		7983::RIEU	In search of...Mr Trout!	`Mon Mar 26 1990 11:34`	3
	Telender was a defensive back at Northwestern, don't know about his hoops. Denny
77.19		REFINE::ASHE	Here he comes... there he goes	`Mon Mar 26 1990 11:59`	1
	Was Kurt Nimphius on that list?
77.20		CAM::WAY	Be excellent to each other	`Mon Mar 26 1990 12:07`	9
	Walt -- Is he the one with like 8" of hair going straight up? Or is he the one with the "stairstep" cut...Telander says "yeah, his height is listed as 6'2", 6'5", and 6'9" ".... I was rollward with the show.... 'Saw
77.21		SASE::SZABO	Have you had your fahrvergn�gen today?	`Mon Mar 26 1990 12:58`	5
	DrJ and Pistol Pete, both vintage early '70s, would make my all-hair team. Put Artis Gilmore on that list also, and his point guard teammate from Jacksonville U. (I forget his name). Hawk
77.22		FSHQA1::JHENDRY	John Hendry, DTN 292-2170	`Mon Mar 26 1990 13:24`	3
	Rex "Sexy Rexy" Morgan, former Boston Celtics heartthrob. John
77.23		LUNER::BROOKS	LMU, ya did it w/class !	`Mon Mar 26 1990 14:16`	1
	Sexy Rexy ? Ha, he shoulda made All-Nickname too ...
77.24		REFINE::ASHE	Here he comes... there he goes	`Mon Mar 26 1990 14:50`	4
	I think so... He was with Dallas, the Pistons and I think he's on Philly now... don't know how much spray he used... Slick Watts has to be on that list somewhere..
77.25	Oscar Gamble belongs on any all-Hair team!	HOTSHT::SCHNEIDER	Our chief weapon is fear and surprise.	`Mon Mar 26 1990 16:35`	0
77.26		CAM::WAY	Be excellent to each other	`Tue Mar 27 1990 09:31`	3
	How 'bout Kareem when he still had hair?
77.27	Mel and Jerrycurl ("Hollywood Shuffle" fame) are twins	FRSBEE::BROOKS	LMU, ya did it w/class !	`Tue Mar 27 1990 09:33`	3
	How about Mel (The Jehri Curl) Hall ? I thought his baseball cap was leaking 10W-30 oil .....
77.28	Murray wins Pulitzer	AUNTB::HAAS	same as talking to you	`Fri Apr 13 1990 16:10`	5
	For something completely different... Jim Murray of the LA Times has won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. TTom
77.29		MCIS1::DHAMEL	Is Nothing Sacred?	`Fri Aug 03 1990 09:44`	30
	I didn't see a sports TV topic, so I figured this note was close enough. In Bob Greene's syndicated column yesterday, I read about a new innovation being tried out in Canada called interactive TV baseball. For around $16.00 per month, you get a special converter and remote that allows you to play 'director' in your own living room by switching and choosing the camera angle you want while watching the game. One camera shows the overall playing field, another may be focused on the pitcher, or the batter, or perhaps the looking-in view from center field. Push another button, and a number of stats and graphics appear on whoever happens to be at the plate at the time. It's just like you're the guy sitting outside the stadium in the control truck selecting the pictures provided by the camerapersons in the park. Personally, I don't know if I could handle this without a bank of monitors and some professional training, since at times I am amazed at times how the director can be so quick on the trigger. For example, a batter hits a smash down to third, and a microsecond later they show the third baseman make the diving stab. It might be fun to try though. Could this be the end of couch-potatoism as we know it? Dickster
77.30		SASE::SZABO		`Fri Aug 03 1990 10:11`	7
	I can just see it now.......... I switch to camera panning on cleavage. Wife slaps me upside the haid. I could get hurt with this kind of technology..... :-) Hawk
77.31	It's a double !!!	SHALOT::HUNT	Wyld Stallyns Rules	`Fri Aug 03 1990 10:28`	6
	Yeah, I was going to say the same thing (sick minds think alike) ... I wonder what would happen if Morganna showed up at one of these "interactive" games ??? Bob Hunt

Conference 7.286::sports_90

77.0. "Sports Commentary" by ISLNDS::COOK (JoeyintheAM&gt;GhinsuKnife) Tue Dec 19 1989 16:20

77.0. "Sports Commentary" by ISLNDS::COOK (JoeyintheAM>GhinsuKnife) Tue Dec 19 1989 16:20