Conflicted About Recent Request for $12M in State Funding for the Uht

 "City of Erie Requests $12M in State Funding for the Uht" Yes, this is the type of headline appearing this week in the local paper that makes you do the proverbial double-take. As in "WHAT????" $12 million for improvements to an already beautiful ballpark. And, then when you realize it's state money, oh well, that's not so bad. Of course, when you consider again that you are a taxpayer in this state...Okay so maybe those weren't your reactions, but they certainly were mine.

And then there is this bit from the story in the paper, "The planned improvements at the ballpark, which is managed by the Convention Center Authority, include new enclosures; expanded concessions; a team store; elevated decks and the expansion of corridors at the stadium; an exterior marquee; a larger children's area; and new lighting and walkways. 'Uht Park needs all of these improvements,' said Roger Richards, a Convention Center Authority board member who heads its Strategic Planning Committee."

Alright, I don't know about you, but I'm not sure any of that stuff is really "needed." I mean I was at the park at least a half dozen times last year and I never remember thinking, "Wow, I wish there were more concessions (maybe more variety) or a better exterior marquee."

Those were my initial thoughts at least. Digging a little deeper, apparently Erie Insurance is building or has built a five-level parking garage somewhere in the area, at a cost of $11.2 million, which the city has submitted as the majority of the matching funds required to get the funding from the state. The Convention Center Authority has pledged to put up the other $800,000. So, basically, for the a total of $800,000, the Convention Center Authority, with the backing from the city, is hoping to get $12.8 million in improvement money for Uht Part from the PA State government (as well as use of the parking garage I'm assuming, so maybe we throw another $11.2 million on top of that). I guess that is a good deal for us, although why the taxpayers of PA are funding improvements at a ballpark that only serves Erie (as well as the teams, primarily the Seawolves, that play there) is beyond me. A lot of the conflicts associated with municipal funding of stadiums utilized by privately owned teams are addressed in Gregg Easterbrook's wonderful book about football - The King of Sports. I can't recommend this book more if you are fan, like I am, of all things football, but sometimes find yourself questioning, "why?"

Anyhow, I guess I hope we get the money because if we don't some other equally, or even more, nefarious project somewhere else in the state likely will, but seriously....ah well, I guess I should just shut up and enjoy the Uht!
 

Otters Blow 3-0 Lead; McDavid Scores Highlight Reel Goal

So, I'm kinda embarrassed about it, but last night was the first time I saw the already legendary Connor McDavid in action. McDavid, who now has 20 goals and 60 assists, on the season was great. He scored a highlight reel goal on a breakaway in the first period  (Link is to Youtube video. McDavid's goal is at about the :22 mark) to give the Otters a 3-0 lead. Here's how the Otters' Web site described it: "Connor McDavid was sprung through the neutral zone on a pass from Darren Raddysh. McDavid entered the offensive zone, turned defenseman Brady Austin inside out, and beat Patterson on the phenomenal individual effort to give Erie a three goal lead."

Unfortunately, it was all downhill after that, as the Otters got tired and/or lakadaisical and were outshot 12-6 in the second period - enabling the streaking London Knights to tie the game. London then scored on a power play with less than a minute left in the game to win 4-3. Kind of a big loss as Erie was one point ahead of London in the standings going in, and while Erie has been slumping, London has won like eight in a row.

Anyhow, it was nice to see McDavid, who is the presumptive top pick in the 2015 NHL draft, which means he was one more year in Erie (and then maybe many in Buffalo)! Hope to see him many more times.

Great night for D-10 Playoffs; Otters at Home Tonight vs. London

Amazing night of basketball in D-10 last night. McDowell smoked Prep for AAAA title, while East beat Oil City to advance to AAA final. Meantime, Farrell came from way down in the fourth quarter to knock of SV and spoil a potential East-SV AAA title match-up. SV still has chance to advance to states with win over Oil City in third-place game.

So, one night after having the opportunity to attend the very exciting Prep-McDowell game - full house at the Hammermill Center/Audi, I'm heading to see the Otters for first time this year, against the London Knights, who I am told are coached by ex-NHLer Dale Hunter - a great fighting scorer type, who also has Ty Domi's kid on the team - apparently another scorer/fighter type. A great week of sports for me (love it when my buddies call me up with extra tix.) Looking forward to seeing Connor McDavid and hopefully the rest of the Otters on the ice tonight.

New MLB Plate Blocking Rule Confusing

The new MLB rule designed to prevent homeplate collisions, is somewhat confusing, at least in its initial form. It's an experimental rule designed to limit plate collisions. Apparently, there would have been too much retraining of catchers required in too short a time period to completely eliminate collisions. But, to me the way the new rule is worded leaves too much discretion in the umpires hands and could lead to a hit first, ask questions later approach by base runners.

In particular I think the second comment associated with the rule is particularly vague: (From an ESPN story): "unless the catcher is in possession of the ball, the catcher cannot block the pathway of the runner as he is attempting to score." The runner shall be declared safe if the catcher violates that provision. In addition, it is not a violation "if the catcher blocks the pathway of the runner in order to field a throw, and the umpire determines that the catcher could not have fielded the ball without blocking the pathway of the runner and that contact with the runner was unavoidable."

Later in the story it says Orioles catcher Matt Weiters would "like to get clarifications from Major League Baseball on exactly what is and isn't permitted." I agree.

Yanks could face FSU QB Winston

In spring training game scheduled for today: http://m.espn.go.com/mlb/story?storyId=10512225. Winston, of course, won the Heisman and led his team to BCS title this fall. He's also a Yankee fan. Go figure.

Happy Tuesday.

Yankees Once Traded a Bigot for a Racist

Yes, this all happened in the madcap world that was the MLB in the late 1930's. Check out Steve Wulf's entertaining piece on former ball player Jake Powell and his quote about beating (well, you know)s with a black jack to stay in shape in the off-season. Back then apparently you did need to Twitter to go virile!

Winter Olympics over - Baeball around the Corner

Going to miss the Winter Olympics. They only come once every four years, and this is probably good, as I don't know how much skiing, ice skating, bobsledding, and even hockey I can watch, but it sure is fun when it comes around. The colors of the uniforms and the scenery are a big help. I mean who doesn't enjoy watching a Swedish All-Star hockey team in bright yellow with three blue crowns on their chest, battle the red-and-white Canadians and their maple leaf insignia?

Baseball season is just around the corner. Major League training camps have already started. I'm trying to get my coaching house in order. Looks like I am going to be managing the Post 11 NWPA Junior Legion team this year, taking over for a guy who did a great job last year. I got to coach last year,  a job which was pretty much gravy: you show up and do baseball stuff. Now, I have to do some admin/paperwork stuff as well. Ugh. But, what are you going to do? We have a good group of kids and are hoping to have a great season.

Still some confusion over what I'm going to do for Little League/Junior League for my boys. There was some serious doubt about whether Erie Little League was going to be functioning this year, but that seems to have been alleviated. I guess there is a Facebook site up there, but I can't seem to find it. So, I guess we'll see. One of the guys I coached with  last year has already said he is going over to MYAA, which is something I am considering, despite my history with Erie - but I still want to go with Erie. Let's hope we can get our proverbial stuff together!

Finally, just finished up a great book by the outstanding sportswriter Roger Kahn -  A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaching '20s. Dempsey seemed like a great character to write about, but then again, maybe it was Kahn's great writing the portrayed him that way. Everything in the book was well crafted - up through the acknowledgements at the end!

Kahn is best known for his The Boys of Summer portrayal of the 1950s Dodgers, which was published in the early 1970s. I tried reading it on the recommendation of a friend, maybe when I was in junior high. Maybe because I am a Yankees fan, or maybe I was just too young to grasp it, but I didn't really enjoy it nearly as much as my buddy did. But, then, maybe 15 years ago, another buddy of mine gave me a signed copy of The Era, 1947-1957: When the Yankees, the Giants, and the Dodgers Ruled the World, and I loved it. It was apparently published in 1993. The Dempsey book was published six years later, and I also immensely enjoyed that. So I don't know. Maybe I'll go back and read Boys of Summer or maybe I just like Kahn's later writing.

That all said, like the 2014 Winter Olympics, I am going to miss hanging out with Jack Dempsey and his colorful 1920's set.

Cheers.

Have a great week!

Ralph

Physicality Wins Postseason NFL Football

Well, it at least helps a lot. The last three Super Bowls have been won by the Seahawks (last night) preceded by the Ravens, and the Giants. Non of these three squads would be what you call finesse football teams. They all featured physical, strong defenses, and more or less older-school offenses. All three champions' offenses could run the ball - with the Giants and Ravens also specializing in the deep ball, while Russell Wilson is a bit more of a "West Coast" offense guy, who is still a very physical with his ability to run and throw absolute bullets on shorter passes.

Let's just ignore the physicality of the defenses, which is somewhat obvious, and look at the quarterbacks for a minute. Wilson, Flacco, and Eli Manning were all relatively younger guys, with Eli, at 31, the oldest of the three. Tom Brady last won the Super Bowl when he was 27. Granted, he's been in a couple Super Bowls since, but it seems that in general youth prevails in the playoffs these days. Aaron Rogers, Ben Roethlesberger and Aaron Rogers have both enjoyed tremendous postseason success under 30, and while Payton Manning and Drew Brees seemed like veterans when they won their Super Bowl titles, each was still only 30. (Going back 10 years, you start to run into Brad Johnson and John Elway, who were older, so we'll restrict our argument to the last 10 years.)

Colin Kapernick probably needs to be mentioned here, as well. After somewhat struggling, as Wilson did, during the 2013 regular season, Kapernick acquitted himself nicely with two wins in the playoffs - and, in light of the Super Bowl, the close loss to the Seahawks in the NFC championship game cemented the contention that the 49ers were the second best team in the NFL this year. Kapernick is interesting because he is a very athletic quaterback who was chosen as the the starter over the less athletic, but solid Alex Smith. While Smith was let go and enjoyed a fine regular season with the Chiefs (probably better statistically that Kapernick's), his team was one-and-done in the playoffs, while Kapernick's went 3-1 for the second straight year. Russell Wilson, meanwhile, is now 4-1 in the playoffs for his short career.

Bottom line is that the key to playoff/ultimate success in the current version of the NFL seems to be a strong, physical defense, and a strong, younger, physical quarterback. Which isn't really too different when you think about from the formula the Stillers used to win four Super Bowls back in the 1970s.

Somewhat Tragic, Ironic Marathoner Story

Sad story here, but somewhat ironic as well I guess. It seems this 84-year-old woman died a day after completing the New York City marathon in November. She was even interviewed by Al Roker on the day she died. She apparently fell, hit her head, had it bandaged and then finished the race. Doesn't exactly say why she died - but basically, she went to bed with a bump on her head...alright, I know this is not supposed to be funny.

So, is this a tragic or a glorious end, or a tragic-glorious way to die? Apparently, she loved running. From a 2008 interview, post NYC Marathon, " “When I crossed that finish line in Central Park, I just knew this is what I would do the rest of my life,” [Joy] Johnson said. “Running makes you feel good. It’s energizing."

So, if it's true that dying doing something you love is the best way to go, it seems like she went out well. Something I've always thought about since my father in law died of a heart attack playing tennis a few years back. 

Christmas Season 2013-2014

Very good Christmas - New Years season this year. 10 reasons why:

1. Didn't really drink too much on any single day. Probably had equivalent of 6 drinks or so on New Years Eve, spaced out over several hours. But felt pretty good for the couple weeks.

2. With the exception of
   a.) a flu bug that hit me the Sunday before Christmas - but unlike three of my family members (and several other people I talked to) I didn't end up throwing up. Big plus :). And I was only sick for about a day and a half - a much shorter duration than others. Took some serious bed rest of about 20 hours, but the virus eventually was overcome.
   b.) woke up with a cold a week later, the Sunday before New Years. That also took about a day and a half, at least, before I started feeling better but still am feeling some aftereffects. Nonetheless, on both cases, I seem to have healed quickly, which makes feeling normal feel all that much better.

3. Rod Hockey:

Family got a new Stiga set from Santa. Loads of fun for everyone. Much higher tech than the Munro early 70s version we have been using.

4. Great 15th annual New Years Eve party- (also my son's 15th birthday). Solid bunch of guests. Good food, company, cheer, and foosball - not necessarily in that order.

5. Majestic Chili Dogs: Maggie picked up a quart for NYE party. Ate with champagne at midnight!

6. Lot's of snow - yeah, it's a pain but great fun too for sledding, skiing and even street hockey!

7.  Blu Ray player. Yes, finally got a good one, hooked it up to my stereo and can start catching up on those movies I've missed because I wasn't satisfied with the picture my old DVD player was giving me. Watched Goon last night - great, stereotypical sports movie with some fun hockey stuff thrown in.

8. Kids liked their XMas gifts - always a big plus.

9. Great New Years Day with absolutely nothing on the schedule. Did some skiing at golf course, cleaned up after sed party, watched some football with neighbors - went to bed!

10. Great nights out at Maggie's brothers for XMas, Maggie's Mom for XMas eve, and the Petrone's for Friday night games and conversations. Thanks for the hospitality.

Cheers all and have a great 2014.

All-time College Football Top 15

Top 15 College football programs from my perspective - a bit biased and limited of a kid who grew up in Western PA, Catholic, and came of age (as a sports fan) in the 1970s, but still follows sports today - with renewed interest (thanks to sons?)after burning out on it a couple times earlier in my life, including after working for three-plus years as a sports writer:

1. Alabama Crimson Tide
2. USC Trojans
3. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
4. Ohio State Buckeyes
5. Michigan Wolverines
6. Nebraska Cornhuskers
7. Oklahoma Sooners
8. Texas Longhorns
9. LSU Tigers
10. Penn State Nittany Lions
11. Florida State Seminoles
12. Miami Hurricanes
13. Florida Gators
14. Clemson Tigers
15. Georgia Bulldogs

Jumping on Marrone

I really hate to do it before he loses his first game as a Buffalo Bills' head coach, but Doug Marrone really needs to be called out for the current QB situation in Buffalo. His decision not to bring in another QB, following presumptive starter and rookie E.J. Manuel's knee injury could prove to be really boneheaded. Yes, it appears the Bills are counting on Manuel to be recovered from his procedure in time to start Week 1, and, for Marrone's sake, I'm hoping this is a lock, because if Manuel is not ready, we're going to end up with either RFA Tim Tuel or a recently signed street free agent (Matt Leinart or Thaddeus Lewis) at QB. None of those three options are good, if you ask me.

Why Marrone didn't move sooner to sign another QB when Manuel went down, and presumably knowing Kolb's history of concussions, remains a mystery to me. I wasn't aware of Kolb's history when news of Manuel's surgery first broke, but I still thought it an odd/risky move not to bring in another veteran QB to at least hedge our bets. Marrone did not. Instead he went all in with who he had and then a week or so later found himself scrambling to find a back-up QB who now has only two weeks to learn the system before opening day. This could lead to disaster if Manuel can't go or re-injures knee during Week 1 game vs. Pats.

We really don't need a blowout loss at home vs. Pats to start season - as I fear our long-suffering fans would quickly become disgruntled. But, Pats have well publicized problems of their own, so at least we go that going for us.

Anyhow, good luck Bills and Doug Marrone heading into Week 1. Hope it all works out, although our margin for error is looking pretty thin at the moment.

Greek golds to Heroes

From the introduction to Robert Fagles' translation of the Illiad. Intro. was written by Bernard Knox "Such people the Greeks called "heroes;" they recognized the fact that they transcended the norms of humanity by according them worship at their tombs after death. Heroes might be, usually were, violent, antisocial, destructive, but they offered an assurance that in some chosen vessels  humanity is capable of superhuman greatness, that there are some human beings who can deny the imperatives which others obey in order to live."

This all reminded me Raskolnikov, the ax murder's thinking in Crime and Punishment.

Just thought I had to put that on the record somewhere.

Maybe Pineda Trade Will Work Out

With the news today the the Mariners have sent the potentially great Jesus Montero down the the minors, last year's preseason trade for Michael Pineda doesn't look so bad for the Yankees anymore. Montero is a catcher who can't catch, but had a great reputation as a slugger. Unfortunately for the Mariners he hasn't been slugging either. Maybe the Yankees knew something....

But, then again, you have to wonder what the Mariners knew when they gave up the 6'7" fireballer Pineda. If you remember, he reported to the Yankees camp overweight last year and then came down with a shoulder injury that required surgery. Over a year later, Pineda is finally throwing again and reports are that he's almost ready for a minor league rehab assignment. Whoopee!

Seriously though, he was fairly good in his first full season of big league pitching at age 22, posting 173 strikeouts vs. 55 walks with a Walks & Hits per Innings Pitched (WHIP) of a very solid 1.099, although as to be expected because he pitched for Seattle, his home numbers were slightly (although not that much) better than his road numbers. Another promising indicator is that his minor league strikeouts/walks/hits numbers were slightly better than his major league numbers - so it appears he's been fairly consistent.

Now all Pineda has to do is comeback fully from shoulder surgery, which is something that others have certainly done, but we shall see. At least it doesn't seem like we really missed out on anything by giving up Montero for him.

Allosourus vs. T-Rex - new dinosaur modeling

So, if you know me, I've always been a big fan of dinosaurs. It's even my belief that as the once dominant creates of the earth, dinosaurs represent the forebearers of the human race. But that's a conversation for another day.

It's also been my observation that Google News, which I try to peruse several times per week, if not daily, gives an inordinate amount of coverage/links to dinosaur stories in its science section. This another reason I like Google.

Today's featured dinosaur article discussed the eating habits of the Allosourus' vs. the Tyrannosourus Rex. For background, the Allosaurus lived 155 milion to 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period, while the T-Rex roamed the earth during the late Cretaceous period, about 85 million to 65 million years ago. T-Rex was about 30% longer and weight about three times as much as the Allosourus.

A few quotes from the engaging article:

• "'People think of it as a smaller, earlier version of a T. rex, but it was successful in a very different way,' said Eric Snively, an Ohio University paleontologist."
  
• “'Allosaurus really was better at certain things' than T. rex, Snively said. 'It was quicker at striking prey and more efficient.'"
  
• "'T. rex was extremely powerful and had a very large head, huge teeth and large … muscles, which sounds great and is,' Witmer said. 'But that comes at a cost, meaning it was difficult for the T. rex to move its head around with great speed and control. Allosaurus had a much lighter head.'”

All great stuff. The information they came up with was based on computer-generated studies that take into account soft tissues and not just bone structure. The articles call these computer generated dinosaurs the "future of paleontology," replacing the old bone-centric models that have been used historically.

Hunter S. on Kentucky Derby

Great second look or whatever they call it on Grantland, on a 1970 Hunter Thompson story by Louisville native Hunter Thompson on the Kentucky Derby. There is some commentary from Hunter's sidekick and cartoonist Ralph Steadman. The story originally appeared in some counterculture publication, which I guess you had back them. Here's a link to the entire story.

To tease you, here is a quote from it (It's Thompson talking to Steadman, who is from England, about the sketches he keeps drawing and giving to people.): "Fuck England," I said. "This is Middle America. These people regard what you're doing to them as a brutal, bilious insult. Look what happened last night. I thought my brother was going to tear your head off."

And so forth....

Bills Draft 2013

Just want to go on record as saying that I am in favor of the Bills drafting E.J. Manuel of Florida State in the first round this weekend. Think his strong arm, good size, and mobility make him a project that new head coach Doug Marrone thinks he can build into an all-pro - or at least a Pro Bowler. Marrone obviously felt he had gone as far as he could with his college QB Ryan Nassib of Syracuse.

I read a scouting report (that unfortunately, I can't seem to find the link to) where a couple Florida State watchers were really questioning Manuel's football aptitude - not his intelligence or work ethic, just his feel and innate understanding of the game. Not sure how much of an issue this is, but obviously something Marrone feels he can work with. We'll see. Proverbial upside potential is huge. Downside is that Marrone swings and misses, and I don't know that he has a back-up plan in place at the moment, but if he's really a good coach I would expect him to develop one. Remember the  Cowboys drafted Steve Walsh and Troy Aikman early on in Jimmy Johnson's career. Only one worked out. (For more on playing the odds keep reading.)

Also, this signing of D'Rick Rogers could be huge. For those of you who didn't click on the link, or haven't heard of him, he was an all-SEC receiver as a sophomore, but has had some pretty serious off-the-field problems (drugs and fighting I think are two of them) and pretty much got kicked off the Tennessee team. He transferred to Tennessee Tech and had a pretty good year this year - don't know who his QB was - including one game in which he had over 300 yards receiving.

Now, Rogers may or may not work out - but the reason the move is great for the Bills is because it's so sound from the process standpoint. What am I saying? Well, if you know me, I am definitely a fan of the Moneyball approach (I was an early Bill James reader in junior high) of exploiting what I'll call "market opportunities." (Moneyball is mainly about market inefficiencies, but this is something a little different.) Basically, we all know the Bills have trouble attracting prime veteran free agents due to their history of losing and probably location - without overpaying them. So, it's going to be very tough to build a team that way - as I think we kind of saw in this offseason. The draft is one way they can build, and it is weighted toward losing teams, so that helps. But, where else can Buffalo gain an edge over more successful franchises? I would think in recruiting UFAs like Rogers, because they see a chance to gain valuable playing time in Buffalo that they might not get anywhere else. I mean, seriously, Rogers could theoretically step in and start opposite Stevie Johnson next year. At least, I'm thinkin' that's what he was thinkin'.

So, great move by Buffalo, and hopefully some of their other UFAs went through the same thought process. Because, as I said, Rogers might not work out, but the plan in our player development should be to assemble as many highly rated prospects as possible and assume some will work out and some won't. Obviously, the more you have, the better chance of developing more better players. And as the guy on the AT&T? commercials, more is better, isn't it?

Kevin Kolb Sets Sights on Super Bowl

Really. You mean to tell me the erstwhile (love to use that word) Cardinals signal caller said he signed with the Bills because he wants to win a Super Bowl. This blogger blames multiple concussions Kolb has suffered throughout his career. Yes, that's what we've become...

Bills Making Headlines

Can't believe the Bills are relevant nationally, for the first time, well I guess since Trent Edwards started us 5-1 in 2008 before we collapsed. I'm hoping this year's team is fundamentally sounder. We seem to move the ball well, both through the air and on the ground - a good sign, of course if Freddie or Fitz goes down, all bets are off. And, our run defense seems much improved. As for the pass defense - four interceptions yesterday (off Brady of all people) was great, but you can't expect that every game. I'm thinking a pass rush is going to have to emerge at some point, for us to make the playoffs. We'll see....Merriman had like one pressure yesterday, on something like 40 attempts by Brady - so he was certainly not his old "Lights Out" self. I guess we can just continue to outscore people...

Cheers.

Ralph

At Least You're not a Bills Fan

From Bill Barnwell's daily update (of the current NFL free agent frenzy) on Grantland:

"Say a word for the Bills, who have to spend about $30 million or so to hit the salary floor by the end of this season. They started their arduous trek to the basement by giving 30-year-old cornerback Drayton Florence a three-year deal worth $15 million. They're sort of like the Panthers, but they don't even have the ability to woo most of their own free agents into re-signing for ghastly sums of money. Expect Donte Whitner to follow Paul Posluszny out the door. Some mid-tier free agents with a high tolerance for cold weather are about to become very happy people."