Post by dg on Mar 4, 2006 10:16:23 GMT -5
I frequently hear from football only fans how there is no parity in baseball....the Yankees "buy" their titles, etc. Stark has some interesting questions....great column.
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Educating Mike & Mike -- and Mel posted: Thursday, March 2, 2006
CLEARWATER, Fla. -- You know how some of those hardworking authors out there like to knock off a quick book by reprinting a bunch of letters they once exchanged with (pick one): (A) Elvis, (B) Paris Hilton, (C) Madonna or (D) William Shakespeare?
Well, I feel compelled to announce in advance: This is the blog version of that stunt.
Like billions, if not trillions, of otherwise normal Americans, I confess to being addicted to the exercise in programming genius that we know as the "Mike and Mike" radio show/ESPN2 spectacle extraordinaire.
So there I am, on a Wednesday morning, trying my best to go about my theoretically busy life, when I hear my pal Mike Golic say, in reference to the impending NFL salary-cap crisis, that he's just worried that the NFL might "turn into baseball."
Well, a guy like me just can't let remarks like this go flying out there into radios, TVs, satellite dishes and podcasts around the planet without injecting some real, live facts into the discussion.
And especially on this topic, because the idea that football is "the parity sport" and baseball is "the sport where 20 teams go into spring training with no chance to win" just isn't true anymore. But the NFL propaganda machine has somehow convinced people it still is.
So over the next 24 hours, I fired off three e-mails to Golic and Mike Greenberg on this subject. And now, in the cheap blogging ploy I've just admitted to, I'm going to share those e-mails with you (practically in their entirety, too):
WEDNESDAY, 9:45 A.M. EST
Dear Mike and Mike,
You know how much I love you guys, but one thing I'd like to point out is that under this new revenue-sharing system, baseball is not a sport where only five or six teams have a chance to win anymore. How many teams now have no hope? Royals, Mariners, Rockies, Marlins, Reds, Nationals. Who else? That's all I see.
We've had six different teams win the World Series in the last six years. And a year ago, I don't remember anybody picking a White Sox-Astros World Series. I don't remember anybody picking the Marlins in '03.
This system actually works now. It isn't perfect, but I think you guys are portraying a period that no longer exists. Just thought I'd put that out there.
WEDNESDAY, 10:34 A.M. EST
By this point, cult-hero producer Liam Chapman has indicated that, for some reason, they haven't crumpled up the printout of my first e-mail and burned it. So I decided to keep at it, sending along the highlights of a recent Useless Information column:
Dear Mike and Mike,
I wrote this stuff right before the Super Bowl. So in case we need some actual facts here ...
USELESS PARITY INFO
We wouldn't be fulfilling our professional responsibilities if we didn't use Super Bowl week to remind you that you should feel free to laugh out loud any time you hear some football addict blab about how much more parity there is in the NFL than MLB.
In baseball, we've now had a different champion six seasons in a row.
So how many times in history -- recent or ancient -- has the NFL produced a different champ six years in a row? That would be once (1968-73). We bet Paul Tagliabue might forget to mention that in his State of the NFL address.
MORE USELESS PARITY INFO
We don't want to hear any of you skeptics complain that that previous note is just some meaningless statistical fluke, either. For proof, let's go to the final fours in each sport.
How many different franchises have reached baseball's final four (the LCS) over the last five years? How about 13 of 30 (or 43 percent).
OK, so obviously, more football teams have made it to the NFL's final four (the conference championships) over the last five years, right? Oops. That would be dead wrong. It's 12 of 32 (or 37.5 percent).
And there are many other ways to illustrate this point. But I wouldn't want to pile on. That would be 15 yards.
THURSDAY, 8:32 A.M. EST
At this point, I'm well aware I've helped generate an entire morning of programming for my good friends at "Mike and Mike." And I'm sure my inspiration-bonus check is already in the mail.
But I've just heard the great Mel Kiper disagree with my premise vehemently, saying that everybody knows who's going to be in the baseball playoffs every year. So I send another e-mail, respectfully disagreeing with that.
Dear Mike and Mike,
Hey, I love Mel, but he's wrong on this.
He knew the White Sox and Astros were going to the World Series last year? C'mon. If he did, he was the only one.
And if 12 baseball teams made the playoffs, how much more parity would we have?
And I tell people in Kansas City and Pittsburgh all the time that if they're getting $50 million a year from MLB -- before they ever sell a ticket -- and their payroll is 30 mil, that's not the system's fault. That's their owners' faults.
You guys are killing me. I can't get any work done because I have to listen. Help!!!
THE EPILOGUE
So what's my reward for all of this? My idol, Mike Greenberg, actually ended the show by thanking me for kicking off the discussion. Then Golic, as magnanimous as he is large, conceded he even learned a lot about baseball from the barrage of facts I fired off.
Well, I'm all about education, even more than I am all about forgetting to do my other work because I'm listening to these guys all morning. So Mikes, you're welcome.
But the biggest reward of all? Hey, I got a blog out of it just by sending a few e-mails. So today, more than ever, I truly love cyberspace.
*********************************************
Educating Mike & Mike -- and Mel posted: Thursday, March 2, 2006
CLEARWATER, Fla. -- You know how some of those hardworking authors out there like to knock off a quick book by reprinting a bunch of letters they once exchanged with (pick one): (A) Elvis, (B) Paris Hilton, (C) Madonna or (D) William Shakespeare?
Well, I feel compelled to announce in advance: This is the blog version of that stunt.
Like billions, if not trillions, of otherwise normal Americans, I confess to being addicted to the exercise in programming genius that we know as the "Mike and Mike" radio show/ESPN2 spectacle extraordinaire.
So there I am, on a Wednesday morning, trying my best to go about my theoretically busy life, when I hear my pal Mike Golic say, in reference to the impending NFL salary-cap crisis, that he's just worried that the NFL might "turn into baseball."
Well, a guy like me just can't let remarks like this go flying out there into radios, TVs, satellite dishes and podcasts around the planet without injecting some real, live facts into the discussion.
And especially on this topic, because the idea that football is "the parity sport" and baseball is "the sport where 20 teams go into spring training with no chance to win" just isn't true anymore. But the NFL propaganda machine has somehow convinced people it still is.
So over the next 24 hours, I fired off three e-mails to Golic and Mike Greenberg on this subject. And now, in the cheap blogging ploy I've just admitted to, I'm going to share those e-mails with you (practically in their entirety, too):
WEDNESDAY, 9:45 A.M. EST
Dear Mike and Mike,
You know how much I love you guys, but one thing I'd like to point out is that under this new revenue-sharing system, baseball is not a sport where only five or six teams have a chance to win anymore. How many teams now have no hope? Royals, Mariners, Rockies, Marlins, Reds, Nationals. Who else? That's all I see.
We've had six different teams win the World Series in the last six years. And a year ago, I don't remember anybody picking a White Sox-Astros World Series. I don't remember anybody picking the Marlins in '03.
This system actually works now. It isn't perfect, but I think you guys are portraying a period that no longer exists. Just thought I'd put that out there.
WEDNESDAY, 10:34 A.M. EST
By this point, cult-hero producer Liam Chapman has indicated that, for some reason, they haven't crumpled up the printout of my first e-mail and burned it. So I decided to keep at it, sending along the highlights of a recent Useless Information column:
Dear Mike and Mike,
I wrote this stuff right before the Super Bowl. So in case we need some actual facts here ...
USELESS PARITY INFO
We wouldn't be fulfilling our professional responsibilities if we didn't use Super Bowl week to remind you that you should feel free to laugh out loud any time you hear some football addict blab about how much more parity there is in the NFL than MLB.
In baseball, we've now had a different champion six seasons in a row.
So how many times in history -- recent or ancient -- has the NFL produced a different champ six years in a row? That would be once (1968-73). We bet Paul Tagliabue might forget to mention that in his State of the NFL address.
MORE USELESS PARITY INFO
We don't want to hear any of you skeptics complain that that previous note is just some meaningless statistical fluke, either. For proof, let's go to the final fours in each sport.
How many different franchises have reached baseball's final four (the LCS) over the last five years? How about 13 of 30 (or 43 percent).
OK, so obviously, more football teams have made it to the NFL's final four (the conference championships) over the last five years, right? Oops. That would be dead wrong. It's 12 of 32 (or 37.5 percent).
And there are many other ways to illustrate this point. But I wouldn't want to pile on. That would be 15 yards.
THURSDAY, 8:32 A.M. EST
At this point, I'm well aware I've helped generate an entire morning of programming for my good friends at "Mike and Mike." And I'm sure my inspiration-bonus check is already in the mail.
But I've just heard the great Mel Kiper disagree with my premise vehemently, saying that everybody knows who's going to be in the baseball playoffs every year. So I send another e-mail, respectfully disagreeing with that.
Dear Mike and Mike,
Hey, I love Mel, but he's wrong on this.
He knew the White Sox and Astros were going to the World Series last year? C'mon. If he did, he was the only one.
And if 12 baseball teams made the playoffs, how much more parity would we have?
And I tell people in Kansas City and Pittsburgh all the time that if they're getting $50 million a year from MLB -- before they ever sell a ticket -- and their payroll is 30 mil, that's not the system's fault. That's their owners' faults.
You guys are killing me. I can't get any work done because I have to listen. Help!!!
THE EPILOGUE
So what's my reward for all of this? My idol, Mike Greenberg, actually ended the show by thanking me for kicking off the discussion. Then Golic, as magnanimous as he is large, conceded he even learned a lot about baseball from the barrage of facts I fired off.
Well, I'm all about education, even more than I am all about forgetting to do my other work because I'm listening to these guys all morning. So Mikes, you're welcome.
But the biggest reward of all? Hey, I got a blog out of it just by sending a few e-mails. So today, more than ever, I truly love cyberspace.