Greatest Song Evah 11/17/23
Looks like we won’t have our favorite punchline George Santos to kick around for much longer. Counterpoint - do we actually believe he’s telling the truth when he says he won’t seek reelection?
If We Were Vampires
It’s not a word I use lightly, but this week’s selection is a near masterpiece. Jason Isbell matches an achingly beautiful melody with lyrics that are both heartbreaking and life affirming.
It posits a simple idea - the fact that life is finite is what gives it meaning. Because the narrator knows that this can’t go on forever, every day with his beloved is precious and should be treasured. If he and his lover were vampires, then their time could easily be taken for granted. Instead, he makes it clear that tomorrow is never guaranteed.
Maybe we’ll get forty years together
But one day I’ll be gone
Or one day you’ll be gone
The sentiment is beautiful, the musical accompaniment is the cherry on top of the sundae. The sparseness of the arrangement is perfect, as is the timbre in Isbell’s voice.
There’s a running joke in media circles that every boomer baseball writer is a huge Bruce Springsteen fan; it’s practically a requirement before one can receive their BBWAA card. The joke has expanded a bit; now it seems that every millennial baseball writer is just as big of a Jason Isbell fan. A song like this is a big reason why.
Is Harden Worth The Trouble?
The LA Clippers have lost 6 games in a row and are winless since James Harden has joined the team. Harden is one of the great players of this generation, but he isn’t exactly blessed with a great deal of self awareness. He recently chalked up the struggles of both himself and the team to the fact that he’s still getting into game shape and that’s because he didn’t have a training camp this year. Hmmm…. wonder why?
The problem is that the Western Conference is a deep one; even with the play-in tournament there are more teams with legitimate playoff chances than there are slots available. Once you get past the Nuggets there are as many as a dozen teams that could reasonably fall in that 45-55 win range, so a losing streak of any length could be devastating. Last season there was a massive scramble among several teams in the race to qualify for the playoffs and avoid the play-in, and this season should be no different. The need to avoid a prolonged slump is even more dramatic when the losing stretch is due to a self-imposed factor. A guy pullIng a hamstring or spraining an ankle is one thing. But the Grizzlies may have already dug themselves too deep of a hole to climb out of once Ja Morant returns from his suspension. And Draymond Green’s suspension could not have come at a worse time. The Warriors are in the midst of a tough stretch in their schedule, and Stephen Curry is out with an injury. Losing Green for 5 games on top of that is a tough blow.
As for Harden, the Clippers need to go on a major hot streak ASAP or his reputation will take a major hit. He’s only in Los Angeles in the first place because he forced his way out of his previous team yet again, and he continued his pattern of doing so in a very passive-aggressive manner. He left Houston, Brooklyn, and now Philadelphia by acting disinterested and creating a toxic atmosphere. It’s still early, and he could very easily reach his normal level of production once he is fully in game shape, but the Western Conference race is unforgiving. Come April, the team could very well rue the way they have been playing in this opening portion of the season.
And The Winners Are…
The last of the BBWAA an award winners were announced last night, and there were no surprises. The eventual recipients for each trophy were pretty clear by season’s end, and in fact 5 of the 6 won unanimously. (I separate Manager Of the Year from the others. Those awards are highly subjective, but the pattern held there as well, since most people assumed that Brandon Hyde and Skip Schumaker would win, and they did.)
Just in case anyone slept through the announcements, the Rookies Of the Year are Gunnar Henderson and Corbin Carroll, Gerrit Cole and Blake Snell won their respective league’s Cy Young Awards, and your MVP’s are Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuna Jr. As mentioned, all were unanimous except for Snell, and he got 28 out of 30 first place votes.
Snell’s award really stood out. I always get a kick out of lists that contain one huge outlier, and that was the case here. Blake Snell has become only the 7th man to win at least one Cy Young in each league. Those 7 consist of 4 Hall Of Famers, (Roy Halladay, Randy Johnson, Gaylord Perry, Pedro Martinez) one future member of the Hall, (Max Scherzer) one who would have easily made if not for other issues (Roger Clemens) and Snell. Not to say that Snell can’t ever reach the heights of those predecessors, but the odds are long. After all, in his career there have only been 2 seasons in which he’s accumulated enough innings pitched to qualify for the ERA title, and those are his 2 Cy Young winning seasons. That’s why his free agency case is so fascinating. His ceiling is high, but his floor is low. That is some serious risk/reward variance there.
RIP, Oakland Baseball
It was inevitable, but it’s still a gut punch for the fans in Oakland. MLB owners unanimously voted their approval of the Athletics’ move to Las Vegas. There is still a minuscule chance that it falls through. There is a PAC led by teachers in Vegas attempting to block public funding of the new stadium, which of course isn’t a reality until the first shovel hits dirt. I suppose if it comes to that John Fisher could always dip into his own pockets and pay for a larger share of the stadium himself. (That’s sarcasm by the way.) But it looks increasingly likely that 2024 will be the final season for the Oakland A’s.
There is no shortage of terrible owners in sports, but even among that bunch Fisher really stands out. As the heir to The Gap fortune, he is the perfect example of a guy who was born on third base. He has allowed his franchise to degenerate into irrelevancy, investing the bare minimum into the team. As a result, his teams have consistently run one of the lowest payrolls in the sport, despite being in one of the largest media markets. And the stadium is barely functional, with tales of busted sewage pipes and possums squatting in the press box.
I have little confidence that the team can thrive in Las Vegas. It’s a city with a transitory population, many of whom work nights. Can they possibly establish a large enough fanbase to fill the stadium? And as big of a tourist attraction as Vegas is, I can’t see many visitors spending an evening at the stadium when there are so many other entertainment options. This is important as well. The lease in Oakland expires after next season, yet the proposed new ballpark won’t be completed until 2028. Where will the team play in the interim?
It’s just a sad state of affairs for a franchise with such a rich history. The 1970’s dynasty were THE team at the moment when I became a huge fan, so even though they defeated my Mets in 1973, I have so many fond memories of that franchise. From those beautiful green & gold uniforms to that collection of long-haired mustachioed rowdies. From some of the worst teams imaginable in the late 1970’s to the Billy Ball led resurgence. From the Bash Brothers to Moneyball. And yes, Shooty Babbit.
This comes in the same week that San Diego Padres owner Peter Seidler passed away. Here was a guy who gave a s***. He proved that small market owners’ whining about high salaries was misplaced. He spent, and spent big, in an attempt to finally bring a winner to his city. It hasn’t happened yet, and the 2023 team was a spectacular disappointment, but it’s also notable that the Padres have had a huge increase in attendance. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s almost as if you show people that you are committed to improving your product, the fans will come. If only Fisher had made a similar investment in his club then perhaps baseball in Oakland could have been saved.
Cash Steps In It
Brian Cashman drew a lot of attention to his profanity laden defense of the Yankees process at last week’s general managers meetings. Claiming that the Yankees have a small analytics department is not the winning argument that he thinks it was. As a general rule of thumb, there is a strong correlation between analytics-heavy organizations and consistent success. I’m sure he scored some points with the old timers who are still making the same “get out of your mom’s basement, you nerds” jokes, so at least he’s got that. It was another comment Cashman made that proves the Yankees are acting like it’s still 2002.
He made a snarky comment about Giancarlo Stanton’s frequent injuries. It’s possible he thinks he’s playing 3-D chess; let me piss him enough that he’ll agree to drop his no-trade clause. After all, it’s tough to imagine that they could make a legitimate run at Shohei Ohtani with Stanton on the roster. The more time that Stanton plays in the outfield instead of DH, the more chances there are for him to suffer an injury. Stanton and Ohtani on the same team just won’t work. However, based on the response from Joel Wolfe, Stanton’s agent, Cashman’s brutal honesty could very well backfire.
After holding his tongue for a few days, Wolfe finally said that free agents, both foreign and domestic, might need to reconsider playing in New York. The use of the word “foreign” was significant because Wolfe also represents Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who is one of the largest prizes in this year’s free agency market.
The reason it’s such an unforced error is the fact that the Yankees don’t seem to realize that the days in which they were the only club playing in the deep end of the pool are long gone. Several other teams spend freely, the Yankees can’t simply wave a checkbook and fill up their shopping cart. That’s why I also fixate so much on their outdated grooming policy. It’s one thing if they want to prohibit players going with the Brandon Marsh look, but I can’t believe that in 2023 they still think it’s reasonable to tell a grown-ass man that he needs to shave if he wants to play for the team.
They used to be able to get away with that policy. They could tell a player, “you want to wear a beard? Good for you. You’ll be sitting at home in October watching us win another championship, you hepcat.” If we’ve learned nothing else from the World Baseball Classic and the “let the kids play” mentality it’s that the game is much more enjoyable when you let players be themselves. I can never forget that Jason Giambi used to be the long-haired, fun-loving face of the game until he became a Yankee. Suddenly he looked like he was assimilated into the Borg, and he was completely drained of personality.
Whether a guy is allowed to grow his hair out or not is far from the most important issue in the game, and it’s certainly not the main reason why the Yankees haven’t won a World Series since 2009. But it’s reasonable to believe that it’s a factor when potential free agents put together their pro/con lists when deciding where they would like to sign. Hell, even Jeter wears a beard these days.
And There’s A Fight!
Longtime NASCAR broadcaster Ken Squier died earlier this week at the age of 88. He was the man behind the mic for what was arguably the most important race in the sport’s history and became as indelibly identified with his sport as Vin Scully was to baseball or Mike Emrick to hockey.
Before 1979 stock car racing was largely seen as a regional sport. ABC would show an occasional race on Wide World Of Sports, but those were either heavily edited on tape delay or would be limited to showing the last few laps. Not even the Daytona 500 would be broadcast in its entirety, they would provide updates on the race while airing The Superstars or The American Sportsman before broadcasting the final 100 or so miles live.
That changed once CBS obtained the broadcast rights. It was Squier’s suggestion that the network air the race flag to flag nationwide. There was much skepticism that it would work, but all parties eventually agreed and it proved to be a serendipitous decision. First, on the day of the race much of the northeast was buried under a blizzard so a captive audience was stuck in their homes; and this was in the days of the three channel universe, so it’s not as if there were a lot of viewing options. Second, it was an exciting race with a spectacular ending. While battling for the victory leaders Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison were involved in a last lap crash, knocking them both out and allowing Richard Petty to grab the win. Then, while they were having a heated discussion in the infield Allison’s brother Bobby joined in, igniting a full scale brawl. The finish and aftermath led every TV news sports report that day, which ignited interest in NASCAR and helped its popularity explode. Legend has it that NASCAR chairman Bill France fined the drivers but never collected the money, recognizing that they had inadvertently created a cash cow.
Take a close listen to Squier’s call. The broadcast didn’t have near as many cameras as we’re used to these days, so there wasn’t full coverage of the track. Squier was almost directing the cameramen from the booth, making sure they focus on the action. And his “there’s a fight!” line became iconic. He had been in semi-retirement ever since CBS lost the broadcast rights early in the century, but he would occasionally make guest appearances in booths. It was always obvious that his fellow broadcasters held him in the highest esteem.
Elon, POS
I’m trying my best to avoid being THAT GUY when it comes to commenting on each offensive maneuver Elon Musk displays on his platform, but this week he made his worst display of antisemitism yet. For those looking to leave Twitter, I do have another Bluesky invite code to share. Let me know if you want it; Bluesky still has quite a ways to go before it’s a fully adequate replacement for Twitter, but there is a refreshing lack of Nazis there.
SNL Preview
Jason Momoa hosts this year’s Thanksgiving episode. This is his second time; he had previously hosted one of the Christmas season shows. For all of his imposing physicality, he clearly loves to have a good time, so he makes for a likable presence on the show. And now that the strikes are over and the shackles are off, there are no promotional restrictions on material. The show still hasn’t found its footing this season. Fingers crossed for this one.
Closing Laughs
Ran long today, so I’ll wrap things up quickly. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend everyone.