Greatest Song Evah 6/30/23

Empire State Of Mind

Often a great production can take what was already an outstanding song and raise it up to a whole new level. That’s the case with this week’s selection. The assorted elements of this track combine to create a truly special record.

The cadence in Jay-Z’s verses gradually increase with each line until they lead right into Alicia Keys’ soaring chorus. And the contrast between the verses and chorus stands out as well. In addition to his braggadocio about being the new Sinatra and how he makes a Yankee cap more famous than a Yankee can, Jay-Z raps about several NYC specific topics, both high end and low end. Like any major city, New York contains multitudes, and he covers a lot of that. It all leads into a chorus which comes right out of the streets are paved with gold/if I can make it there I can make it anywhere playbook.

As vital as the contributions of both were, I don’t think the song would work as well as it does if either were isolated. Keys herself recorded her own version on a subsequent album of hers. She once again sings the hell out of it, but it’s not the same without the Jay-Z half of the track.

Let The Rush Begin

NBA free agency officially begins at 6PM today, as at that hour teams can commence negotiating with players. Contracts cannot actually be signed until July 7, but verbal agreements are allowed, and most of the major players usually have their deals in place by the legal signing date. And of course that 6PM embargo is a rigid restriction, no clubs ever use back channel communications to set up deals with players before they are allowed to, wink wink.

Kidding aside, teams have gotten smarter in recent years. There were times when reports on agreements could start peering in within hours. Pretty impressive that front offices were able to put complex contracts together that quickly. There was no tampering whatsoever, no sir, Bob. Nowadays clubs recognize how bad those visuals are and wait a little longer before allowing the news to leak. Deep down the NBA recognizes that there is only so much that they can do. It’s basically up to the teams to not make it so obvious.

Once the whistle blows it almost feels like the Oklahoma Land Rush as teams scramble to get their deals in place. It’s such a stark contrast with MLB free agency in which more than a hundred players become available right after the World Series and then crickets chirp for weeks. That’s due to the fact that one league has a salary cap and the other does not. NBA teams know how much they have to spend, and just as important, how much they’re required to spend with the existence of a salary floor as well. They can’t miss out on the game of musical chairs and find themselves with millions to spend and a dearth of players good enough to spend it on. In baseball, by contrast, both teams and agents can play an extended game of chicken to see who blinks first.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that baseball does not have a salary cap. I just wish they could structure the off-season calendar in a way that makes player movement more active. I’ve heard the idea floated that there could a free agent signing deadline of some type. There would need to be a lot of logistics to work out to make that happen, but it’s an idea worth looking into to see if it’s feasible.

In the meantime, sit back and await the Woj and Shams scoops. There aren’t any game changing names available this year, unless you count Kyrie Irving and his unique ability to sabotage whichever team he plays for.

Perfection

Philosophical question - if one throws a perfect game against this year’s Oakland A’s does he still receive full credit for the feat? On Wednesday Yankees pitcher Domingo German threw what is only the 24th perfect game in history and if such an accomplishment could be considered easy this one came close.

There were multiple factors that made it possible, and Oakland’s weak lineup is only one of them. We’ve all seen the progression of no hitters in the current pitch count era; the camera constantly flashes on the manager with a worried look on his face as the pitch count rises. It’s almost a relief when the no hitter gets broken up as it prevents the manager from needing to make an uncomfortable decision. No such worries here. German had an efficient night, he wrapped it up throwing only 99 pitches. He threw a Maddux!

It also helped that the Yankees won in a blowout. The final score was 11-0, so German didn’t need to sweat it out too much. There wasn’t the additional pressure of pitching in a tight game. He could relax a lot more than pitchers generally need to in these types of situations. But there is also often a drawback to big scoring affairs. An underrated factor in no hitter possibilities is how long the pitcher is sitting in the dugout while his team is at bat. A big scoring inning could mean the pitcher sits for a while and cools down too much. But with the pitch click this year even a huge inning doesn’t take all that long to complete, so German was still warm every time he went back to the mound.

The A’s have come back down to reality following that winning streak they had a few weeks back. They’re back to being only slightly ahead of the pace of the 1962 Mets, but as inept as that Mets team was, at least they got a hit in every game they played that season. Even the 1899 Cleveland Spiders managed at least one hit each time they played. The A’s have a real shot at standing alone when it comes to ineptitude.

All Star Game Complaint Season

The starters for the MLB All-Star Game were announced last night, and the reserves will be revealed on Sunday. As usual, there will be a lot of hell raised towards the managers concerning the omissions, but there are a few things to keep in mind.

First off, just because a deserving player was left off the roster does not mean that he won’t make it to the game. Between now and game day there are certain to be people that will need to withdraw due to injury. Perfect example - Aaron Judge was voted in as a starting outfielder, but he obviously will not be able to play, so that creates an opening. In addition, any starting pitcher who pitches on the Sunday before the ASG will be ineligible to appear in the game and would need to be replaced on the roster. Over the next couple of weeks there will be more names added to the teams.

Also, there is no need to criticize managers for choices; they have little say these days. The math is simple, there are 32 roster spots per league - 12 pitchers & 20 position players. Fans voted for the 9 position player starters. The players’ vote selects the 9 reserves in addition to 8 pitchers. That’s already 26 of the 32. Next, each team requires at least 1 representatives. For argument’s sake let’s say that once the fan & player votes are taken into account that there are still 3 clubs without a rep who will need to be named. That means there are only 3 remaining spots to be filled. It’s virtually impossible for there not to be a glaring omission or two. Be kind to Dusty Baker and Rob Thomson. There’s only so much that they can do. And if you adamantly feel that Player X was screwed out of a spot, go the extra mile. Who should be kicked off the team to make room for Player X?

Yusef Salaam

This past Tuesday was primary day in New York, and it being an off cycle election year, turnout and interest were fairly low. In New York City contests were held for City Council races, the overwhelming majority of which were incumbents running for reelection in safe seats. One of the few open seats was for a district that covers Harlem, and the apparent winner of the Democratic primary for that seat is Yusef Salaam.

Salaam of course is one of the Central Park 5, now known as the Exonerated 5. The brutal rape of a jogger for which he was erroneously convicted was one of the most horrifying crimes in what was already a high crime era. Not only was the crime rate terrible at the time, but racial tensions were high as well. There was a rush to judgement against these 5 young African American & Latino men. A notoriously self-promoting real estate mogul took out full page ads in the newspapers demanding a return of the death penalty, which if memory serves correctly was the first time he took a political stand on an issue that did not directly involve him. With videotaped confessions from the 5 defendants it was a fairly easy conviction. I freely admit that I was as certain of their guilt as many people were.

Expect for the fact that the confessions were coerced and all 5 were innocent. It took years for the actual assailant to admit to the crime, and as a result the 5 spent as long as 11 years in prison. (In case you’re wondering, the real estate mogul never offered any type of mea culpa. If it was up to him, 5 innocent young man would have been executed.) The 5 can never regain those lost years, but they have all put their lives back together to varying degrees. Long a community activist, Salaam is now concentrating on public service. There’s no way to know how effective of a councilman he will prove to be (his district is so blue that the primary race was the de facto election; he should have an easy romp in the general election) but someone with his unique perspective stands a good chance of becoming a strong asset to that legislative body.

Ohtani

As hard as it seems to believe, Shohei Ohtani continues to top himself. He’s blown well past Tungsten Arm O’Doyle references, after every one of his starts Sarah Langs pulls out about 5 new achievements of his that hadn’t been done in decades. There’s something special about seeing an athlete come up with such a tremendous level of hype and more than living up to all of it. We have never seen anything like Ohtani; we likely never will again.

I remember the skepticism when he first came up, so many people understandably dismissed his chances at being able to succeed as a two-way player. Why not feel that way, few men could do both. Even Babe Ruth stopped pitching once he established himself as the greatest power hitter the sport had yet seen. The closest parallel to Ohtani was Negro League great Bullet Rogan, who competed in the 1920s. Yep, it had been a century since we anyone found this level of multilevel success in baseball.

I admit there is that small part of me that wonders what his numbers would look like if he would only focus on one or the other, but it’s much better to enjoy the ride. If he would simply be a great hitter or a great pitcher that’s one thing; Ohtani is the kind of player we’ll tell our grandkids about.

Long Weekend

I hold this truth to be self-evident, you guys are the best. Thanks for reading, and enjoy the beginning of the holiday weekend. See you all on Monday.