StillSecure, After All These Years

Why the Florida Marlins are a bush league organization and always will be

Its no secret the Florida Marlins baseball team has one of the worst attendance records in major league baseball.  There are a lot of reasons for this, among them:

1. They have one of the lowest payrolls in baseball, but are among the most profitable.  They don’t take in a lot of money, but spend even less of it.

2. They play in Dolphin (now LandShark) Stadium and don’t share in any of the revenue so can’t spend any more money.

3. South Florida with all of its lifestyle recreation options is a tough place to sell baseball tickets, especially to a stadium designed for football where with a little BBQ sauce you can roast in the sun pretty good.

4. The stadium is too far away from the Miami based Hispanic community who would be the core of support for the Marlins.

All of these may be valid to some degree or another, but even if most of these were fixed the Marlins would still suffer. The problem is the organization (not the players) is a bush league operation. A perfect example is last night.  The Yankees are in town and the Marlins rather than the usual 2500 or 3500 fans they usually draw had a crowd of over 46,000 people! Yes most of them were Yankee fans, but what a great opportunity to turn the local kids on to the Marlins. They had a special promo for fans entering the game (besides the jacked up ticket prices), they were giving out orange cow bells to ring.  But you could not have any Yankee or other team clothing on. If you did, you did not get a cow bell. Great way to convert fans guys!

Maybe the intent was to “teach the kids a lesson” to support the Marlins. Instead though my kids took it as “look how mean and cheap the Marlins are, they wouldn’t even give us a cow bell”. Instead of using the Yankee series to make more game attending fans, they turned people off. It is that kind of attitude that will forever doom the Marlins to a bush league status no matter how good the players are on the field.

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Ain’t that America

These days our home life pretty much revolves around baseball.  My youngest son Braclley plays coach pitch in the West Boca Raton Baseball League where I coach him.  My oldest son Landon plays travel baseball for the West Boca Panthers and for recreation ball joined the Boca Raton Little League.  This is the first year for the Boca Raton Little League.  Though there are 4 or 5 different leagues in Boca, there has not been an official Little League here in over 10 years.

I heard some good things about what they were trying to do with the Little League so registered Landon in it.  Some of the games are played at the FAU stadium which is pretty cool. The kids also got major league style uniforms with their names on them.  All nice touches. 

Tonight was the opening night for the Little League. It was small town America at its greatest, Boca style. It was at FAU stadium.  Each team paraded around the field led by the official Little League mascot Dugout, while their names were announced over the loud speakers.  In Boca style the announcers were two local residents who volunteered to help.  You may have heard of them, Dick Stockton and Lesley Visser.  That’s right that Dick and Lesley.  It was very cool!  The mayor threw out the first ball. A trophy was presented for display in city hall with the names of all the players in this inaugural season and Dick and Leslie hung around and did the play by play and color commentary for the 1st game of t he year!

Put aside the Dick Stockton- Leslie Visser thing though and it was America at its best.  Kids parading, parents clapping, hot dogs and peanuts.  I love football, but baseball is still America’s game!

In honor of the Little League here is a John Cougar Melloncamp song: Pink House, set to some patriotic images.

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Baseball, steroids and history

I am going to go way off the beaten path of my blog here, this is not about security and if you like you don’t have to read beyond this.  The latest bombshell in the steroid scandal on baseball has been dropped.  None other than Alex Rodriquez it seems tested positive in 2003 for steroid use.  Never mind that it was 6 years ago and that since then a rigorous testing plan is in place that would ensure that players today are no longer juicing.  It does not stop the papers running headlines about A-Roid, as if the positive results were from recent tests. But the media have every right to react this way.  After all didn’t A-Rod hold himself out, time and time again, as “the clean one”, “the natural” who didn’t resort to better living through chemistry.  At the end of the day A-Rod has turned out to be no better then Bonds, Clemons, McGwire and all the rest.

Jeff Passan in his Yahoo Sports column asks the right question.  What drives some of these superstars to juice? Does anyone doubt that A-Rod would be a great player without steroids?  What about Roger the Rocket?  Perhaps the greatest pitcher of his time, did he need to juice up for a few more years and some better numbers?  Barry Bonds was a multi-year All Star.  Why did he feel the need? What drives an athletic superstar to reach beyond the bounds of his god given talent and seek the edge of modern chemistry.  Its simple, it is the burning desire to be the best.  Even more than the marginal player who is seeking whatever edge they can get to make it to the big leagues, the elite players are driven by being the best. In a cold war like arms race, if the other guy is juicing, they juice to keep up.  They want no one to have more hits, more Ks, more home runs then they do. Elite competitive players take steroids for the same reason dogs lick themselves, because they can. They are going to do whatever they can to be the best and gain an edge.  That kind of drive is what makes these players the best.

So we understand what drives these players to seek an edge.  They live in a highly competitive world.  The fact that they have succeeded in that world and share in the spoils that go with it, makes them even more likely to seek advantages.  But why the cover up?  That is the part I don’t understand.

Many of these players used steroids before there was a policy in place against their use. I am not saying that makes it right, just that they didn’t break any rules at the time.  If they would just fess up to using whatever means was available to them to gain an edge and move on, it would be better.  The denials and lies are what screws the pooch. 

By now we all realize that the late 90’s and early 2000’s will go down as the steroid era in baseball. I assume that most, if not all the players of that time took some sort of performance enhancing drugs or supplements. Baseball was not alone in this either. I think every sport also had the same issue.  It is only because of the denials in baseball that it has risen to this level of controversy though.  It is only because of lying to congress and grand juries that Bonds and Clemons find themselves facing criminal investigations.

Baseball has had other eras.  There was the “dead ball” era when the way the baseball was manufactured made it harder to hit home runs.  There was the jack-rabbit era where the ball was flying off bats.  The technology of baseball has also changed over the years, as has off-season training and a million other things.  It is impossible to compare players from one era to another era. So it should be with steroid era players. Judge them by their peers. They are children of their times in every meaning of the words.

So my advice to A-Rod is come clean. Admit you did what every other player was doing at the time.  Taking every advantage you could because you are driven to do so. That is the dark side of the force that makes you an elite athlete.

Forget the idea of an asterisk next to their names.  These players are players of their times and their records and accomplishments should be judged as such.  Now if they can just come up with a drug that makes you hit in the playoffs and in clutch situations!

Shimel's luck

There are sometimes when I feel like the “luckiest man on the face of the earth”, but there are a lot of other times when I feel like a black cloud hangs over me like “bad luck Schleprock” from an old Flinstones cartoon. I don’t know I guess that is maybe normal?  Don’t we all feel sometimes like why me? Nevertheless, I just can’t shake it.

A case in point is my quest for the perfect super bowl T-shirt.  On Tuesday I bought both of my sons the official Super Bowl 43 Steeler championship shirts.  Hey that is great for kids and I know if I keep plying them with Steeler gear, Peyton Manning can’t last forever and they will come to their senses and be Steeler fans once and for all! 

For me though I wanted something more.  I wanted the perfect Steeler insider power shirt. One that would clearly show that I was a true die hard and was tuned in to the Steeler scene.  I saw it when I read an article about CommonWealth Press’s Sixburgh shirts.  The owner of CommonWealth had been the one to do the Obama'-esque picture of Mike Tomlin with a “yes we can” saying.  Right after the Super Bowl he came out with one saying “Yes we did”.  He also came out with another one on the Sixburgh theme that showed the Lombardi Trophy, 6 titles and player silhouettes showing great Steelers of the ages.  It was only 15 dollars and a few bucks for shipping. I ordered on line and hot dog, I had the perfect Steeler power fan shirt!

I have my paid receipt and was wondering when my shirt would arrive.  Then today I read this article, “Sixburgh Shutdown”.  Seems using the likeness of the Lombardi Trophy runs afoul of NFL rules.  A cease and desist order was issued and the shirt is no long available.  I don’t know if my shirt was mailed out or not, but I am going to guess it wasn’t. I have not been able to contact the seller to find out if it was shipped and if not, will I get my money back.  It would be great to get the shirt.  Now with the controversy around it, it would be a real collectors item.  But Schleprock doesn’t get those breaks. I will probably have to notify my credit card company and dispute the charge. Oh well back to the hum-drum.

Sixburgh, never a doubt!

Image via Wikipedia

Yeah right.  My heart was in my mouth, but my Steelers came up big to win the Vince Lombardi trophy for the 6th time (the most in history).  In a game that was supposed to be all about Pittsburgh’s defense against Arizona’s offense, it was Pittsburgh’s offense beating Arizona’s defense that won the game in the end.

In what might have been the best Super Bowl ever, here are my 6 observations in honor of the Steelers 6 Super Bowl championships:

1. The torch has been passed from Hines Ward to Santonio Holmes as the main weapon in the Steelers passing game.

2. While Willie Parker is a very fast running back, the Steelers need Rashard Mendenhall to come back next year and show why he was such a highly touted number 1 pick.

3. LaMarr Woodley is for real and force to be reckoned with.  Lawrence Timmons the LB taken ahead of Woodley is also going to be a force for years to come.

4. James Harrison is the meanest, baddest and best defensive player in the game. His “immaculate interception” may be the greatest play in Super Bowl history.

5. Ben Roethlisberger is in the elite class of QBs in the league. Mike Tomlin is in the elite class of coaches. We need help on the O line though.

6. Larry Fitzgerald is everything they say he is.

 

Been there, done that and have the T-shirt

Image via Wikipedia

Last night I had to find my older Steeler jersey for Bonnie to wear to a Super Bowl party today. I have my Jerome Bettis Super Bowl XL jersey that I am wearing, but I have an old number 89 Steeler jersey that I used to wear when I played football.  To find this old jersey I had to go through the built-in in my closed where I have all of the different shirts I have accumulated over the years. 

Going through those shirts, a flood of memories came back.  How true is the adage of been there, done that and have the T-shirt to prove it. Shirts from places I have been, events I have witnessed.  Shirts from partnerships and deals I have done, companies I have helped build, companies that are no longer here.  Shirts from teams I have coached and on and on and on.

So here is my top 10 list of my favorite old shirts:

1.I am Landon’s Daddy – I made this shirt when my son Landon was born 9 years ago

2a. I survived the road to Hana – My honeymoon with Bonnie from Feb 1990

2b. Dive Black Rock – Kaanapalli – same

2c Longhi’s Lahina WTF shirt – same and a great meal!

3. StillSecure “I like you, I just don’t trust you”

4. Sage Networks founding team (predecessor to Interliant)

5. Interliant – we are init together from our IPO

6. Network Solutions-Interliant partnership (they invested 10 million, ah those where the days!)

7. Cobalt Networks IPO – (Oh, those were the days for sure and thank God for friends and family stock!)

8. Old Navy Turn of the Century shirt (and every year since)

9. Steelers flag football coach – out of the dozen or so coaches shirts I have.

10. US Tennis Open shirts from 1993 to 2003 (including 2001, which I discovered looking at the shirt last night was just 2 weeks before 9/11)

Anyway, so much for my trip down memory lane.  Bonnie has a jersey to wear to match me and the boys.  We have terrible towels and are ready to cheer the Steelers on. Go Steelers!

No Big Ben is not Jewish

I have written about this before. It amazes me who many people take the time to search if Ben Roethlisberger, QB of the Steelers is Jewish.  Now with the Super Bowl coming up Sunday, the is Big Ben Jewish thing is bigger than ever.  Here is a picture of the top 20 search terms for my blog yesterday.  12 of the top 20 deal with Ben’s religion!

Its almost Steeler Super Bowl time

I have just been too busy to blog on how happy I am about the Steelers.  But one of my fellow Steeler fan friends showed me this video done by a bunch of 11 and 12 years olds from a music school near Pittsburgh.  Pretty cool. Go Steelers!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, life is good for Yankee fans

Image via Wikipedia

OK the rest of you, eat your hearts out. I know it is obscene, but the Yankees continue to flex their financial muscle.  Now comes word that they are signing Mark Teixeira, the premier offensive player in this years free agent market for 180 million dollars over 8 years.  Of course this comes on top of them signing CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett to big free agent contracts this off season as well.  Added to the existing stable of high-priced talent, the Yankees are reloaded and ready to compete for the championship again.

I know most other fans have to look at what the Yankees are doing and wonder how they can do this in these tough economic times. They must feel it is unfair.  Maybe it is, but as a Yankee fan, I have to say it is like every day is Christmas!  What do you think the chances of them signing Manny are?

A Father-Son movie moment

I still remember the first time I saw the movie Brian's Song on TV. I was 10 years old. I had never heard of Brian Piccolo, knew who Gayle Sayers was, but wasn't a big fan and was crazy for football.  For those not familiar, it is the true story of two football players who become more than friends and urge each other on to be all they can be.  Brian Piccolo develops cancer and tragically dies at age 26.  I cried my eyes out. Anyone who has ever watched the movie has cried their eyes out.  It stars Billie Dee Williams as Gayle Sayers and James Caan as PIc.  There was a remake about 10 years later and though it was good, the original has stayed with me my whole life. The haunting melody of the theme song is enough to move me to tears.

My oldest son Landon loves football movies. He mentioned Gayle Sayers to me a couple of times from some old clips he saw. I told him about Brian's Song and we talked about renting it one night at Blockbuster.  Today on the way out of the grocery store in the discount DVD bin we came across the movie. It was the only copy left and looked a bit beat up, but I thought it must be meant for us to come across. So I paid the 10 bucks and we went home to watch it.

My wife is away this weekend so it was just me and the kids.  My younger son was watching Wall-e in his room and wasn't interested in Brian's Song. Just as well, it is over his head.  Watching it with Landon was a special moment for me as a Dad.  Like me he was totally enthralled with the game clips interspersed in the movie.  But in between clips you could not but admire the friendship these two players had and what they meant to each other.  I relived with him watching for the first time the shock of someone getting sick and the doctors can't make them better.  How could someone so healthy be so sick?  Why would God do such a thing.  Landon sat through the movie and at the end when Sayers makes his impassioned speech on accepting the most courageous player award, we both sat there crying while I held him.  We both cried through the end of the movie,and then after a while, we spoke about what great players they both were and what great friends they were.

After this I dug into my junk draw to look for something I have had since shortly after I saw that movie all those years ago - a Brian Piccolo football card. I had held on to it all these years. I guess maybe some part of me wanted to share that with my son someday. When the time came, I couldn't find it!  I will tear the house apart tomorrow looking for it. But it wasn't the card that mattered.  It was sharing this experience with Landon. I know we will both never forget Brian's Song now.  Whenever he hears that song, I hope he will remember that he saw that movie for the first time, with his Dad holding him, both of us crying for the tragedy of a courageous life cut too short.  Special moments of being a Dad.