“With clubs, balls, and gloves, the Clovis Municipal Golf Course has everything you need to smack a little whitey,”——Clovis Municipal Golf Course in New Mexico

Big thanks goes out to my buddy Fro, for tipping me off to this off-the-wall quote. Fro is the best photographer in the world…..If you want to see some unbelieveable pictures, go check out his blog.

Last week, I went to DC, and got a chance to see the new Nats Park. Overall, I was impressed with a lot of what I saw. The park is very nice, and has great sightlines. The seats have plenty of legroom, and I have never been to a stadium that has better food options. There is a Five Guys,
inside the park itself, and there is a local bar-b-que joint called Red Hot & Blue that is very popular as well.

The thing is, while I think the Nats did a solid job with the park, there are still a few things that bothered me. First and foremost being all of the empty seats behind home plate. I went to every game of the Cubs-Nats series and the place was pretty full each day…..except for the section behind the plate.

You see, the Nats are charging fans $325 bucks ($335 for premium games, like the ones against the Cubs) for the “Presidential Seats” behind the plate, thus making the place look fairly empty when
watching the game on television. A few of my friends called me over the weekend to ask why it was so empty at the park. I told them that it was actually packed, just that the angle they saw on tv, into home plate, made it seem otherwise.

The other thing that really bugged me was that at several points throughout the weekend, the place was dead. The fans just did not seem to be into it most of the time. Considering half of the park was full of Cubs fans, I couldn’t help but think what it must be like when
the Nats are playing…let’s say, the Marlins.

The most excited I saw the Nats fans during the entire weekend, aside from Wil Nieves’ walk-off home run on Friday night, was during the Presidents’ race each day. They seemed to enjoy the race, and cheering for their Presidents, much more than they did for their own team.

Granted, although the Nats took two of three from the Cubs, the team is just not very good. Washington’s offense is hard to watch, and the team itself doesn’t have any superstars on it, so maybe that’s why fans seem to embrace Teddy, Abe, George, and Thomas the way that they
do.

That’s really the problem though. No fan is going to spend anything close to $325 dollars on a ticket to a baseball game, when the most exciting part of the day comes when four dead Presidents come racing down the first base line.

Until the Nats can find a way to improve the product on the field though, people are not going to continue to come out to the park, after this initial homeymoon period with it ends.

The team can start by finding a way to fill up those seats behind home plate. I propose that each fan entering a Nats game be given a stub with one of the President’s names on it. Whichever fans have that night’s winner on their stub, are then entered into a drawing for the empty seats behind home plate for a future game.

The winners of the drawing would be announced towards the end of each game, and be given a voucher for two “Presidential Seats” for a future game. This way, all fans would get a chance to experience Nats baseball up close and personal, and it also would make the team look better from a PR standpoint, because it would fill those seats up behind the plate, and give fans something else to look forward to each day, besides watching a sub .500 team.

Is this all wishful thinking? Of course. But hey, anything can happen. Plus, Teddy has to win some day right…….

The Blog currently resides in Atlanta, on the job search once again….

A few thoughts to get yourself through the day….

The Magic looked terrible in the second half of game 1 against the Pistons…they don’t look mentally tough enough to win this series, but if they win tonight, they will give themselves a chance.

Tim Hudson dominated the Reds on Friday night, but Edinson Volquez looks like the real deal…

The “Kanye West Glow In the Dark” concert is pretty impressive…the whole spaceship theme is kind of strange, but the show he puts on is pretty cool….

Another day, another questionable Mike Bianchi column. As I’ve already discussed here, I think Bianchi is one of the best in the business when he puts his mind to it. There are just some columns, like the one in today’s Sentinel, and the one from a couple of weeks ago, that leave me scratching my head.

In today’s column, Bianchi argues that Otis Smith deserves a big share of the credit for the Magic’s playoff success. I agree with him, to a point, because Smith put this team together, but what I don’t agree with is the timing of the column, and the reasons Bianchi lists as to why Smith deserves so much praise.

First of all, Bianchi wrote this column after the Magic advanced into the second round of the playoffs, by beating Toronto. My problem is that the Magic were a better team than Toronto, any Magic fan will tell you that the team they have struggled with the most in the last few years is Detroit.

Now, if they can beat the Pistons in the second round of the playoffs, I will be impressed, and I believe that is when Otis Smith should get all the credit he deserves, and then some. He will have identified what the team needed to get past Detroit, a squad that has given the Magic fits, in the last few years.

It is definitely an accomplishment to be playing in the second round, but if the Magic can’t get past Detroit, what have they really accomplished?

My other problem with this column are the reason Bianchi lists as to why Smith should be praised. His words are in quotes, mine will come after those.

*We critics said Smith was crazy for believing in point guard Jameer Nelson and signing him to a lucrative extension during the offseason. Well, in the first round of the playoffs against the Toronto Raptors, Nelson averaged 17.2 points and outplayed perhaps the best point guard tandem in the league.

It’s true that Nelson played very well in the first round, and outplayed Toronto’s point guard tandem of T.J. Ford and Jose Calderon. The problem though, is that Nelson has never struggled against smaller guards like Ford, and slower guards off the dribble like Calderon. He’s struggled against big, physical guards, specifically, Chauncey Billups, whom he will face in Round 2, when the Magic play the Pistons.

For years, Billups has dominated Nelson, continually posting him up in the blocks on offense, and getting into his head on defense. Again, if Nelson and the Magic can get by Billups and the Pistons in the second round, then this column would make a lot more sense. Otherwise, how can you justify that giving Jameer Nelson a 6 year, 36 million dollar contract before the season was a good move?
If they don’t beat the Pistons, then why does Smith deserve any credit?

*His critics said Smith was insane for signing free agent Rashard Lewis to a $118 million contract during the offseason. Lewis (27 points and 13 rebounds) carried the Magic in Game 4 against the Raptors and his steadiness and unselfishness have been key components to the franchise’s breakout season.

Lewis played very well in almost every game of the first-round series, but Smith will probably still be viewed as insane by his peers, if the Magic don’t win a championship. Again though, that’s my problem with this column, the Magic have made it to the second round of the playoffs, if they go and get beat by the Pistons, and they are still on the hook for almost 140 million to Lewis and Nelson over the next six years, then where do they go? For better or worse, this is the team the Magic will be playing with for the next few years, because of their salary cap situation. If they can’t beat the Pistons, then they’ll be right back where they were before, on the outside looking in.

*His critics claimed Smith was asleep at the wheel for standing pat while other teams like Dallas and Phoenix were pulling off high-profile deals ( Jason Kidd and Shaq) at the trade deadline. Guess what? The Magic are still playing while the Mavs and Suns are out of the playoffs and either firing their coaches or on the verge of it.

Out of all of Bianchi’s claims, this one made the least sense to me. This is like comparing apples and oranges. The Magic play in the Eastern Conference, the Mavericks and Suns play in the Western Conference. The Magic didn’t have to make any moves to get out of the first round in the Eastern Conference, they were the better team, they were supposed to win. The Mavs and Suns had to try and make some moves, because they wouldn’t have made it out of the first round with they way they were both constructed.

A good GM is like a good gambler — you have to know when to hold ‘em (standing pat at the trade deadline) and know when to fold ‘em (dumping Francis). Smith doesn’t make moves just to make moves. He doesn’t just look at talent and technique; he looks at chemistry and camaraderie.

Again, how can Bianchi claim, right now, after the first round, that the Magic were smart to stand pat at the trade deadline? How can he claim, as he did in the column, that it is “easy to overlook Smith’s questionable draft picks,” when you make moves like he has. Consider this: How good would this Magic team be if they hadn’t selected Fran Vazquez and J.J. Redick in the NBA Draft? Or if they hadn’t traded away their pick in ‘07 to get Darko Milicic?

The part of the column that stood out the most to me, were the last few paragraphs.

He regularly walks the halls and asks everyone in the organization, “What have you done to make the Orlando Magic champions?”

If we were to ask the same question of Otis Smith, he’d probably answer, “Nothin’ much.”

But we know better.

We know he’s done just about everything.

Done just about everything? Seriously? After the first round of the playoffs? Look, I have no problem praising general managers, but the praise should at least be deserved. If the Magic can find a way to beat the Pistons, and advance in the NBA Playoffs, then people should praise Smith, but not after a first-round win over the Raptors.

“You’re damn right I thought about it,” Piniella snapped back. “You think I’m stupid or something?”—-Lou Piniella when asked whether he thought about replacing Soriano in the ninth.

Man that loss stunk, but it’s ok, the Cubs will win tomorrow

The Magic are headed into the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 1996…

That’s great. But now they are probably going to face off, once again, against the Detroit Pistons.

I’ve been saying it all year, and I’ll say it again here, I don’t think the Magic can beat the Pistons, at least not this year. The difference in my mind will be at the point guard position. Each time the Pistons play the Magic, Chauncey Billups eats Jameer Nelson alive. He posts him up, he blows by him off the dribble, and each time the Pistons advance, and the Magic go home.

Granted, the Magic are much better than they have been in years past. Hedo Turkoglu is playing great, Rashard Lewis has played very well, especially in the last few weeks, Dwight Howard is well….Dwight Howard.

But I think they key to this series might be somebody who is flying under the radar right now, and that’s Maurice Evans. As Brian Schmitz of the Sentinel pointed out, Evans will probably be the one guarding Rip Hamilton. Evans spent some time playing with Hamilton and the Pistons a few years ago, so he will be familiar with all the moves Hamilton will make.

Detroit still has to finish off the Sixers, but even if Philly wins tonight, I still don’t see them beating the Pistons, in Game 7, in Detroit.

The Magic have a chance to win to beat the Pistons, but only if Nelson can figure out a way to keep Billups from going off.

“Let’s hope he comes back nice and hot for us,” Piniella said. “He can carry us for a while.”—-Lou Piniella

Lou talking about Alfonso Soriano, who returns to the lineup tomorrow….

“I’m not quite sure how I should feel about it.”—Kosuke Fukudome, through an interpreter, on what his thoughts are on being the cover boy for this week’s Sports Illustrated.

Yet another reason why it was a good move to sign Fukudome. Do you think he even knows or cares about some Billy Goat Curse, or about being on the cover of some magazine?

Kosuke, don’t even think about it buddy….just keep doing what you’re doing…Americans, specifically Cubs fans, are just crazy about stuff like this.

I just finished watching the Sports Media Special on HBO that was hosted by Bob Costas. I thought the show, as a whole, was extremely well done. My biggest complaint is that there wasn’t more time for each panel to discuss certain issues, but, as a sports fan, and a person who is extremely interested in all of these issues, I’ll take what I can get.

It was refreshing though to hear what some of the titans in each industry had to say, in an open forum. A few quick thoughts, before I go into each specific subject that was discussed in the special.

Bob Costas is the best sportscaster in the business. Period. He knows everything, and has the clout to pull off something like this.

Why in the heck wasn’t there a panel discussion on newspapers? I guess the Internet portion was supposed to cover that, but still, why couldn’t the producers have fit in 10 minutes for a panel discussion on where newspapers, specifically sports pages, are headed.

I liked the idea of a town-hall style forum, but I always thought the point of a town hall style forum was so that people in the audience could say something. Not only did no one in the audience get to say anything, but it seemed pointless to even have an audience, a lot of the stuff they did on the show could have been done in a studio.

Now, a quick thought on each topic…

Sports Radio: I think that sports radio, except in the large markets, is on a serious decline. The money just simply isn’t there. More and more stations are going with national programs all the time. In many cities, there is just the drive time host, and that’s it.

Now, this isn’t to say that sports talk radio can’t be profitable, because I believe it can. The difference is, I think that the Internet will become more and more important to sports-talk radio. A host, especially in a local market, must be able to use the Internet to his or her advantage, and draw listeners, readers to that station or that site in other ways.

Internet: Blogs are here to stay. That’s why I finally started one of my own. I think any writer, young or old, would be stupid in this day and age not to keep a blog. I didn’t always think this way, but in the last few years, I have realized that most people my age, (myself included) get their news from blogs, and websites…not newspapers.

If this portion of the program taught me anything, it was that newspapers, specifically sports pages in those newspapers, are going to be obsolete in lots of markets across the country in the coming years.

Television: I felt like I got some good information out of this part of the program, but all I kept thinking was how pompous and arrogant Joe Buck, Dan Patrick, and to a lesser extent Mike Tirico seemed. All three men are extremely smart, and like Costas, well-versed in a lot of topics, but it felt like they were afraid to say something they were going to regret.

Bottom line here, ESPN is massive, and until someone figures out how to compete with them, which I don’t think will happen for a while, that is not going to change….like Don Ohlmeyer said…”They have all the gold.”

Athletes and the Media: I agreed with a lot of what was said during this segment, specifically when it came to writers being nice to an athlete one second, and then ripping them after they walk away. For that reason, and probably many others, athletes don’t trust the media. But, as Selena Roberts pointed out, athletes now have handlers and a wall between them and the media these days, which makes it harder for writers/reporters to connect to them on a personal level.

I’m not saying I blame the athletes for wanting some protection, in the form of a PR person, or a marketing guru, I’m just saying that there are some journalists who would just like the chance to talk to you as human being, and are not trying to make you look bad all the time.

Race and Sports: I thought Cris Carter said it best when he said that people don’t want to talk about race. I agree with him. You just can’t win when you talk about race right now in America.

“It really hasn’t hit me yet that we’re past the first round….It is just an incredible feeling.”—Dwight Howard

That makes two of us Dwight.

Can you believe they actually made it past the first round?

Let’s hope the Magic can keep this going…..