Stop and smell the potpourri

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So a month long hiatus should be making all my readers salivate at the thought of another column. Because i have been MIA for a while id like to recap the several top stories over the last month as well as my take on them.

But first, a special surprise for everyone. Podcast number 2 is now available regarding recent and not so recent rule changes in major league baseball that i think have had a negative impact on the game. So head on over to http://snd.sc/HvjPIc to download and listen to this 30 minute masterpiece. It is part 1 of a 3 part mega baseball podcast that will be released as the real start of the season takes place this week.

So as a nice segue into the potpourri, I was very disappointed with how major league baseball handled its "official" start of the season (even though ESPN is calling its April 4th Cardinals/Marlins broadcast opening night). In case you were sleeping, and most of us on the west coast were, Major League Baseball played its first official game of the 2012 season at 3am PST in Japan. I made a big deal about this at the time and it wasn't taken well, mostly responses of "who cares?" and "its not that big of deal". Well with baseball as my favorite sport I would love to see the same fanfare about the first official games as we see in football and basketball. I understand that baseball ratings are dominated by football and marquee basketball matchups, but that is really my point. Baseball needs to find a way to spark interest again, and the best way to do that is with a grand opening every season. I don't mind teams playing games overseas and trying to grow an already international sport further, but when you are likely number 3 in your own country the focus needs to start there.

That was what made me so upset in the first place. I couldn't enjoy the first game of the season because major league baseball was pandering to a foreign market. Not only did they ignore its own domestic market, but they scheduled it in such a way as to make Dr. Seuss with all his craziness scratch his head. So, Oakland and Seattle play 2 official games a full week before anyone else. That's ok, I guess, ruins any momentum you may have built up but the travel back from Japan makes sense. But wait, Seattle and Oakland after starting their regular season goes back into spring training mode and play multiple exhibition games again. In fact they played exhibitions 2 days after their second official game, meaning these games didn't need to start a full week ahead of everyone else.

But, who cares? Even if they did schedule the start to the season in such a way that any semblance of logic to it, it's the Mariners and A's, two bottom feeding smaller market baseball teams that haven't been relevant for years and only sport 2 or 3 recognizable players. This is true, this was the final straw in Bud Selig's idiotic start to 2012. Baseball could a take a lesson from basketball, especially basketball's Christmas day extravaganza this year. Basketball needed an instant boost following an ugly lockout that created a fraudulent season, so they packaged up 5 games that was a ratings bonanza to spark interest. One of the few smart things basketball did this year. Here's how baseball could have done this right:

March Madness ends today, the Masters starts Thursday, and basketball and hockey are still just far enough from their stretch runs that there isn't an end of season buzz building yet. So you take Tuesday and Wednesday and make it your opening day(s) bonanza with at least 5 buzz worthy games: A NYY/BOS game or BOS/TB to capitalize on the collapse, a TEX/LAA game to showcase Pujols as an Angel and kick start one of the most interesting division races of the year, a PHI/STL game for an NLCS rematch, a SF/LAD to capitalize on the west coast rivalry and showcase Lincecum and Kershaw two of the top 5 pitchers in the game and if you go with BOS/TB a NYY/DET ALDS rematch, also with Sabathia and Verlander showing down in Yankee stadium with the added bonus of Prince Fielder's first game as a Tiger. All of the sudden you have just involved the New York, Boston, Philadelphia, LA (x2), Dallas, San Francisco, Detroit, St. Louis markets, which comprise 9 of probably the 10 biggest baseball markets (Chicago left out) on opening day with any number of compelling players and storylines on screen. That is how you spark enthusiasm for a new season and generate some momentum. Don't worry Bud, you can take the idea. I give it to you free of charge, just please use it.

Speaking of March Madness, it was a usual mix of the rich staying rich, and some neat upsets. It is hard to enjoy it though. With the exception of Kentucky most teams underperformed big time, and even Kentucky isn't as fun to watch as they should be. For as dominant of a team as Kentucky has been in the 80s and 90s this team would have grown for 3 years and been regarded as one of the most dominating teams of all time. Now they are just a super athletic bunch of kids who happen to be better than everyone else because the talent pool isn't as great. A great example was the Kansas/Ohio State final four game. Those two teams are awful compared to a decade ago, and it created one of the ugliest and boring close final four games ever. While I really enjoyed back to back 15 seed victories over Missouri and Duke, this tournament has been kind of a bust for me. Commentators have been taking about it for a few years and even coaches like Jim Boeheim agree, that the talent level is just far worse than 10 years ago and i think for the first season i really agree. Too bad because March Madness is one of my top 5 favorite sporting events.For the record, Kentucky can't lose this game. Even if Kansas' D steps up like they have against UNC and Ohio State, Kentucky has the D to match it, especially against a pathetic offense like Kansas'. No chance for Rock Chalk Jayhawk.

So shifting gears to the NFL, the big news involves a Peyton and a Payton. Peyton Manning was released as expected by the Colts and went on a fun little recruiting trip around the country, visiting and working out for the Cardinals, Broncos, Dolphins, and 49ers and ultimately making what is likely the best choice of those four teams: the Broncos. My dream team for him was Houston. Dome, he knows the division like the back of his hand, it's the AFC, and despite losses in the defense Houston has a lot of talent in a weaker AFC. They have Schaub but both he and Peyton are questionable in terms of health at this point, and if I am rolling with a damaged QB its Peyton over Schaub any day. But Denver was a good choice. It's a soft division, it's a solid offense and spectacular defense meaning Peyton may not have to drop back 40 times a game and he was able to force out Tebow in the process making Denver his and his alone. Depending on his recovery and assimilation i can see Denver winning 10-12 games and being a contender for a top seed. You can never count out Pittsburgh (aging defense), New England (no defense), or Baltimore (Flacco) but they all have as many holes as Denver does now so it is anyone's game.

This does mean that Tebowmania is over in Denver and moves to the biggest media whore of the NFL, the New York Jets. I think this spells the end of both Sanchez and Tebow's careers. Sanchez will not be able to handle Tebowmania and Tebow once he gets the start there wont be able to handle the New York media. It's sad, it would have been neat to see him go back home and play for Jacksonville where he could have grown as a QB or in Miami where he could've been a savior for a once proud franchise. 

During this process, a story broke of a long running "bounty" system within the Saints defensive group awarding money for a variety of things but the most egregious of which was paying money for injuring a player causing him to be removed from the game or removed from the field on a cart. The bounty system was supposedly an idea of then defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. My first thought on this was "yeah and?" Bounties have been around forever and i would expect nearly all defenses in the NFL to have some sort of bounty system, even involving rewards for injuries. In our concussion weary NFL the idea that defensive players are out there to hit so hard they hurt players makes the league wince at first. But, the reality is hard hitting is integral to playing defense. Obliterating a receiver going over the middle accomplishes any number of things. Dislodging the ball, making the receiver more tentative in the future, reducing his physical capacity either by dinging him up or actually taking him out of the game. If a safety had a clean shot and hit Calvin Johnson over the middle so hard that he had to sit out for a play, a series, or the rest of the game, I think he'd be congratulated by teammates and coaches and proud of himself. Besides scheming, extraordinary physical contact is important to good defense. It's football, people get hurt, and no matter how much Goodell wants to, he'll never legislate it out of the game.

To be clear, if the facts are what they were publicly, that the Saints basically gave the middle finger to the NFL by ignoring requests to affirmatively shut down the bounty system, then the punishment is fine. It's more of an administrative thing, than a bounty thing. Apparently, every punishment (Sean Payton's 1 year suspension, GM Mickey Loomis' 8 game suspension, Asst. Coach Joe Vitt's 6 game suspension, The Saints being fined half a million and losing 2nd round picks in 2012 and 2013) is under a appeal, but considering the appellate judge is the same guy that issued the suspensions in the first place, pretty sure the punishments stand. But honestly, I think this is more about the Saints flipping off the NFL than the bounty program. They existed before and they will exist again, albeit in much more secret this time around.

As mentioned earlier the Masters starts this week, and even if you dont play golf and think watching golf is as stupid as Bud Selig's opening day plans the Masters is always a unique experience, usually because it's the only Major event played at the same spot, and because that course is among the most beautiful in the world. Further it is harder to make it into the Masters field and the Green Jacket award for winning is among the most recognizable along with the Lombardi Trophy and The Stanley Cup. What makes this Masters compelling is the reemergence of Tiger Woods. He dominated Arnold Palmer's tournament two weeks ago and having watched all of the final round he looks very good. Further, many big name players are playing good golf. Mickelson has had a decent start to this season, Rory McIlroy is tearing up the European tour with 4 top 5 finishes in his 4 starts this year. Rory is also seeking a way to erase the epic collapse from last year's Masters.

This is setting up what many want to see: a showdown between Rory and Tiger. I would love to see it and I would love to see Tiger smash him good. I never wavered in my opinion that Tiger could make it back and will win 5 more majors to pass the Golden Bear Jack Nicklaus, and the win two weeks ago puts Tiger back in everyone's mind and made all the talking heads conveniently forget that they wrote him off for dead. If nothing else, watch this Masters to see an ultra competitive Tiger try to blow away everyone at Augusta. Rory is fun to watch, but neither he nor anyone else will ever be Tiger when Tiger is playing well. I expect it this week.

It's good to be back, please comment below and enjoy the podcast!