Maybe Next Year

You know you had a rough season when the best thing to happen is a pitcher winning a Cy Young award while playing for a losing team. The Giants finished one game better this year than last (72 vs. 71). At this rate they might make the playoffs again in about 20 years. But realistically they aren't very far away. They certainly have more potential than the A's.

The A's won three more games, but considering that they were supposed to contend this year, it's safe to say that they not only under-performed, they quit. The white flag trade was indeed a surrender of epic proportions. Not a great way to draw people to fill seats if you ask me.

The Giants will do better next year, if for no other reason than the fact that the Dodgers won the division with only 84 wins. The pitching is there. The hitting may be there. The defense is solid. As long as they hold pat, they should improve dramatically. But there's already talk of trading the hard-luck Matt Cain for a hitter. I don't like that move. Cain got little run support all season. Take him out of the rotation and that trend might fall on Lincecum or Zito. Bad options either way in my opinion.

The potential is there. You just have to stick with it and good things will happen.

Nation of the Absurb

Things just keep getting better in Raider land. Senior officials are disparaging the media and even threatening physical violence. Kiffen is twisting in the wind because Davis can't find a way to fire him and still seem like he's in control. At this rate, fans will be begging the team to move away.

Football Heaven

It's just a little slice of football heaven around here. The Niners walked all over the Lions (I expect it won't be so easy against the Saints), and the Raiders lost a heartbreaker in the last seconds. Now it looks like Davis will can Kiffen any second and possibly name his foot stool, I mean defensive coordinator as the interim head coach. Even more perfect would be for Kiffen to catch on with another team on the Raiders schedule this season and somehow put the beatdown on his old boss' team.

Chaos in the Raider Nation

I've never been shy about expressing my delight when things go wrong for the Raiders or my disappointment when things go well. So week one was great. Not only did the Raiders lose, they lost to the Broncos whose head coach, Mike Shanahan was unceremoniously dumped by Al Davis. Shanahan only went on to lead the divisional rival Broncos to TWO Super Bowl championships. Something Davis' subsequent coaches have not done with the near exception of Gruden, who came close but was fired the season before Oakland's last SB appearance against Gruden's 'Bucs. There's instant Karma for you.

So despite the fact that the Raiders won this week, there are still things to be cheery about. Davis is unhappy with his current head coach (what a surprise there!!!) and it seems just a matter of time before the fit hits the shan and the axe falls for Kiffen. It looks like the defense will have to rely heavily on the blitz to pressure the quarterback. So as soon as they face a quick-release QB, they are toast. The running game is the strength of the team, but if Kiffen is dismissed the Raiders will revert to form and go for bombs and forget about the running game. In other words chaos reigns in the Raider Nation.

My antipathy toward the Raiders runs so deep because of Al Davis. I think if Davis were out of the picture, I could actually like the team. But Davis has made that impossible. He insists on running the team his way which is his right, but he's often more wrong than right. He let go two very successful head coaches (Shanahan and Gruden) in favor of yes men who bowed to his every whim. He demanded and got a lot of money out of Oakland for moving back and then had the nerve to sue the city for not selling out the stadium as "promised". Nevermind that the Raiders were so bad that you could hardly pay people to go watch them.

Now Davis and company want Oakland to not only build them a new stadium, they want an entire shopping center! How dare they. Before the community gives them another handout, they have to give back to the community. That will never happen as long as Davis is in charge. His main concern is for number one. Everyone else can go to hell for all he cares. Oakland has better things to spend its limited resources on.

So Al, if you want to take your team to LA or wherever else, go right ahead. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

The End of the Alex Smith "Era"

I don't know if you can call three years an era, but it appears that Alex Smith's tenure as a 49er is over. I was never happy about the Niners drafting ANY quarterback with a number one pick since so many QB's drafted at no. 1 flame out. But I don't think Smith got a realistic opportunity to be successful with the Niners.

First, he was thrown in the fire with no quality receivers to throw to, a weak running game and very poor pass protection. It's kind of hard to throw down field while lying on your back. His second season brought on a new offensive coordinator and scheme along with poor receivers and pass blocking. His third season? See season two. This season he was faced with yet ANOTHER offensive coordinator and scheme. On top of that he now had to compete for the starting job. He fared poorly all around and now he's injured and out for the season.

So the Niners basically wasted a number one pick on a quarterback that never had a chance to succeed. This is why the team sucks and will continue to suck. My only solace is that the Raiders may be worse than the Niners this season.

Dumb Move Rescinded by LPGA

The LPGA announced that they are rescinding a proposal that required English proficiency for all players. It seems that protests, explorations of legislation and planned lawsuits citing discrimination caused them to reconsider. What I don't understand is why they even bothered with making this proposal in the first place.

The LPGA is composed of many international players. It's true that many Western players do speak English fluently. But there are some who do not. Why would an organization that is trying to have an international appeal propose a measure that would alienate a significant portion of the world's population? The answer is simple: customer relations.

There have been rumblings from sponsor VIP's that some players (specifically South Korean players) are not as fun to play a round of golf with because they can't communicate. So the LPGA's solution to this problem is to make players speak English or be penalized.

In tennis, half of the top ten men and women come from non-English speaking nations. Yet you don't see their organizations proposing this kind of thing. You certainly don't see it from the PGA. Imagine the chaos and outrage if the IOC insisted that all athletes be fluent in French!

Is schmoozing with sponsor VIP's so important that they are willing to ruin their standing as an international organization? The LPGA has severely sliced this shot out of bounds. They've got a lot work ahead to get back on the fairway and set things right.