Indians News: Nick Swisher activated, Jason Giambi hits the DL
June 12, 2014Red Sox 5, Indians 2: Papi & Lester stymie Wahoos for third straight loss
June 13, 2014
Hey everyone, happy Friday. I don’t have much in the way of links this week, but I had a slightly off-beat topic that I enjoyed writing about, so strap in.
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I’ve been thinking a lot about fragmentation lately… In a lot of ways I find fragmentation to be infuriating. Fragmentation in the movie industry / TV will drive you nuts. Is it on Netflix? Is it on HBO? Is it still in theaters, on demand, or both? It costs how much? (For a  brilliant cartoon playing this scenario out, check The Oatmeal.) Same thing with music. New album is out and I want to hear it. It’s streaming ahead of its release for free, but then the first month after it’s out I can’t listen to it on Spotify premium, which I pay for? Anyway, one segment of entertainment that fragmentation hasn’t reached yet is pro sports.
Vince McMahon tried with the XFL, but that failed miserably. His instincts were right, but he was probably just far too early. Back then in 2000 and 2001 the NFL and NCAA were even more infallible than they are today. There was no gap to be had between the NFL and college football. Today with the NCAA feeling the fire from former players and even Northwestern’s attempt to unionize, its heading toward a path where it seems much more reasonable for something like the XFL to exist. Â It won’t be football though, I don’t think.
With the news of LeBron James and his Miami Heat-mates potentially considering setting up their financial futures in such a way that they can welcome Carmelo Anthony to the team, it occurs to me that no spot is more ripe for fragmentation than the NBA. If players are doing this much work to team up and build teams, why would they do so and still have to leave money on the table? When you consider what they’re doing, you could argue they’re harming the overall league, but you can’t argue what kind of entertainment value they’re creating by putting all these great players together on one team. Trust me, as a Cavs fan I despise it, but let’s remove that filter.
What LeBron James and company are talking about doing is going out of their way to make one of the biggest, most marketable entertainment ventures in the history of entertainment and for their trouble, they are considering giving up money? You’re telling me that LeBron James – the man who reportedly just cashed in $30 million in the sale of Beats by Dre to Apple – won’t be able to see the financial anchor weighing him down? It’s called the NBA.
Again, I’m not saying I’m a proponent, but what’s to keep LeBron from recruiting the 40 best players in the NBA, creating a four-team league, signing his own TV deal with, say, FOX and then cutting all that NBA overhead out of the equation? It’s happened in the music industry with artists going straight to consumers and skipping labels. It’s happening in movies with films going direct to Netflix or Amazon and skipping theaters and Hollywood producers. Where music labels were identified as nothing but unnecessary overhead for a lot of bands in this new future, you can’t tell me that a bunch of franchise owners won’t someday appear to be the same thing in a sport that empowers its most talented participants like no other.
It probably won’t happen, but tell me it’s impossible in your mind. In a world where LeBron, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Carmelo Anthony could realistically team up in the same city, you better believe it’s possible.
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I’m nowhere near as good at holding grudges as I used to be… This story about Manny Ramirez is just one of the many reasons why. Manny Ramirez recently apologized to a Red Sox employee that he threw to the ground in 2008.
âI went and spoke to Jack,â Ramirez said. âI apologized to Jack. I told him, âJack, I want you to forgive me because it was my fault. I behaved bad here with everybody. I want you to forgive me.ââ Ramirez said McCormick, who was 64 at the time of the incident, accepted his apology, saying, ââManny, thank you, I was waiting for that.ââ
It’s part of getting older, I think. There are degrees of course. For example, while I finally did forgive Jim Thome, I’m still against the statue. Then again, what LeBron James did to Cleveland was far worse and I recently told TD on the podcast that I would forgive LeBron too if he ever came back and did good things for the Cavaliers on the court again.
And even if he doesn’t play for the Cavs again, given enough time, I’ll probably go ahead and soften on it anyway, especially if we get a real, direct apology. I won’t forget and it will still be one of the worst things ever done to me by anyone in sports, but that “time” thing really does funny things over and over again.
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For this week’s music post I want to pump up one of the best bands in the world that I think sometimes gets a bad rap, MUSE. I think it’s because they’re a dramatic band and really huge that people have started to take pot shots at them. I have been listening to Muse for a long time and I’m not their most vocal fan, but whenever I see anyone bash them, I go straight to a YouTube video I saw of them playing the song Stockholm Syndrome.
We’re talking about a band and a performance that, regardless of whether you like them or not, is so undeniably electric and impactful on an audience that any musician should ever be so good, lucky and talented. Performances like this are exactly why anyone’s a fan of music at all, and these guys can do it. It shan’t be overlooked on my watch.
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That’s it from me this week! Please enjoy the World Cup. Have a happy father’s day all you dads out there.
88 Comments
The Heat got booed last night, and their “fans” left early again. If that doesn’t make your day . . .
I think what Popovich has created and, more impressively, maintained is historic. It would be like the ancient big 3 of the Celtics still threatening for championships in the mid-’90s, when in fact they were reduced to just bloodying a few noses 5 years earlier. This is a thing of beauty.
Copying Pops’s success is like trying to copy Belichik’s magic elixir by poaching his assistants and FO guys. Forget it. He’s sui generis.
unless, of course, you were the team fortunate enough to have stolen Sam Presti.
Pippen, Rodman, and Shaq might not have fit that very specific criteria you mentioned, but they were incredibly impressive players.
Did we win?
Hey, I told you I don’t follow the NBA.
reminded me of:
http://didthetribewinlastnight.com/
http://stream1.gifsoup.com/webroot/animatedgifs4/1533983_o.gif
Has any “star” in the modern era ever won with a demonstrably bad team?
Yeah, I love my blue one, but old school it is.
For a while, but that might have had more to do with that Lebron guy. Ferry and Brown (hat tip to mgbode, I forgot Brown was an assistant there) definitely had the San Antonio flavor to them, but had their own ideas when it came to talent acquisition and how to run an offense. Unfortunately, I think its more of a Popovich thing than a system/Spurs thing. I.e. it can’t be copied, you need the original.
Ahem. It’s loath.
Drop and give me 20.
Plus, you can’t be “The Best Ever” if you open up your own league. I agree though about a summer league, though I wonder if there’s contract wording that stops that (and very quickly it would be added if not).
Imagine a mini-tournament of 8 teams of 8-10 players, playing 3-game sets in a bracket style? The whole thing would be less than a month and would absolutely rake it in. They could even have the superstars pick their teams from the player pool.
Plus, you can’t be “The Best Ever” if you open up your own league. I agree though about a summer league, though I wonder if there’s contract wording that stops that (and very quickly it would be added if not).
Imagine a mini-tournament of 8 teams of 8-10 players, playing 3-game sets in a bracket style? The whole thing would be less than a month and would absolutely rake it in. They could even have the superstars pick their teams from the player pool.
Until the first big name player suffered an injury and submarined his team’s season because he couldn’t play until January…
Like I said, very quickly there would be wording in contracts. đ
Making it 50. Having a bad spelling weak.
(Sorry, this is going to be long-winded, and constitutes my opinions only…)
I certainly don’t disavow any of LeBron’s personal responsibility for The Decision. I guess I am just no longer surprised by the decisions he makes/has made. What did it for me was that it is now the EXACT same arguments we heard in 2009-2010: Miami must do whatever it can to placate LeBron so that he doesn’t leave, because (cue sobbing) he just can’t win it all by himself!
So, while I took The Decision pretty personally (which, in hindsight was pretty dumb) at the time, I now realize it was largely a product of the media storm that insisted “LeBron’s career was being wasted in Cleveland because he just couldn’t do it all by himself!”
Well, he teamed up with two All-Stars, and they’ve (they being Miami) convinced many solid role players to come to Miami for less money. LeBron is clearly the best player in the league, has been to four straight Finals (with two rings and a very small outside shot at a third), and it STILL isn’t good enough for the media machine that peddles this notion that LeBron just isn’t getting enough “help” to win. Put Michael Jordan in his prime on a team of commensurate ability and that team probably DESTROYS the Spurs.
It feels like ESPN trying to protect an investment of sorts. They went all-in on FREE LEBRON!! in 2010–not to mention the substantial investment they’ve made in the NBA as a whole–and they’ve gotten what they wanted for four years. It feels to me like they’re paving the way for another huge star to go to Miami; they want to foster the reaction of “AWESOME!! Another star on a team of stars!” instead of “Good God, when will this end?” and they want to do it so that people will keep tuning in to watch their extensive NBA coverage.
This entire saga is why I literally don’t watch the NBA at all anymore, which is a far cry from where I was in 2010.
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/183/050/tumblr_lmpdixbFDm1qdt7kvo1_500.png
“still has Wade, Bosh, Allen”
reminds of this joke i knew once; a cripple, a lady and a senior citizen walk into a bar….
Honestly, in watching the last two games it is more apparent that even with the rest afforded Wade this year his knee cannot provide him the lift anymore, Bosh has never truly been a “big 3” component and Ray Allen although amazingly still playing isnt long for the golf course.
For as superior as that team looked over the past three years, to me… they are in trouble for the future.
Seems to me the new model is that you take a hit to have your record played on Spotify in the hopes that people come out to your shows which is where you make the lion’s share of your money.
Of course not.
I’d take those Bulls teams sans Jordan over this current Heat team sans Lebron. There are some names on this Heat team, but they aren’t playing that well.
I guess my whole gripe, though, is that this Heat team sans (a much better) LeBron is >>>> than the 2009 Cavs team sans 2009 LeBron. Remember, he HAD to go to Miami because the Cavs just weren’t good enough. Now that his much better supporting cast is failing, to hear the same arguments again about him needing help just falls flat.
The Spurs lost in the Finals last year. Tell me which superstars they had to go out and sign to be back here and destroying the Heat this season.
“For as superior as that team looked over the past three years, to me… they are in trouble for the future.”
Absolutely true. That’s what happens when you construct a team with free agents who have all been in the league for 10+ years, though. You get what you pay for: a short-term boom followed by a bust period if you haven’t been drafting well.
Let’s not forget, also, that Duncan is 38, Ginobili is 36, and Parker is the spring chicken at 32. It’s not like the Spurs have tons of young superstars. They just play better together.
The main thing that Spotify and similar services (I subscribe to Slacker, for instance) provide is the same thing that terrestrial radio provided, same thing that satellite radio provides, and that is curation and promotion.
Any artist can publish a song or two for free on the Internet, then charge for the whole album. They would actually make a lot more money on a percentage basis that way.
They won’t actually make any money that way, because without the promotion, no one will find them. Okay, so some die-hard local concert scene folks will find them, but that will pay very little. So the artists need Spotify, et al, for promotion.
The average consumer needs help knowing what’s out there that’s good, according to his/her tastes. Spotify, et al, provides curation and categorization to help introduce them to new music.
I’d argue that streaming services are not killing artists, but rather consumers are. These services are not priced accidentally. It is what the market will bear. If consumers were willing to pay $20/mo or $30/mo, that’s what they’d charge and the artists (and everyone else) would make more money.
I firmly believe that great artists will be found. It’s sort of like the silly childhood memes that somehow all of us who are old enough learned all over the country even though there was no Internet to spread it.
that’s the best defense Ehlo ever played on Jordan
and have supplemented them with great cogs to the system (Mills, Green, Diaw) along with a potential new star to the fray (Leonard).
Allen Iverson came ever so close.
you beat me to the punch; there is nobody on the Heat bench that I would look to as a system fitting cog for the future.
Throw Melo into that fray and the “system” becomes even more of a jumble.
Boom.
He’ll never separate from the league; but you bet your bottom dollar he will be an owner after he retires.
And once on the board I wouldn’t put it past him to make the push again for contraction.
Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty⊠I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.
That’s right, I just dropped some Teddy-R on y’all. Good Teddy would envy these Spurs.
Yeah, and in their off time they can help solve “mysteries”.
Yeah, that’s why I mentioned they would have to get it added as allowed in their contracts. Owners would push hard against.
I would imagine if they use your idea though, it would be a short-court 3×3 Hoop-it-Up style game. More fun that way and still rakes in the $$$$.
Except 3-on-3 isn’t the same kind of game and doesn’t come off as establishing greatness like 5-on-5, that’s why I avoided that route. Those games are cute but not really “wow”. I’m thinking more like a mini-March madness but with the best players in the world.
I get where you are coming from now. Yes, that makes perfect sense and I am with you up until the not watching the NBA anymore. I truly enjoy it and will be sad if I get to that point (which could happen much quicker than NFL or MLB honestly).
ESPN is protecting it’s investment and they love hyping and tearing down their golden whipping boys. LeBron happens to be their most profitable one. I get frustrated with the silly arguments as well, and they are definitely silly.
The Heat are good enough to win the title even against these Spurs (as they proved last year). What ESPN refuses to accept is that the Spurs are also good enough to win the title even against this Heat team (as they are proving now and demonstrated up until very late in game6 last year).
Anyway, it’s annoying and entirely frustrating, but it’s not changing. I’m not to the point of turning the NBA off yet, but Carmelo to the Heat will put me one step closer to it.
yeah, but you also need to differentiate from the normal game to really get people to tune in after a long NBA season (and to get players to sign up).
honestly, to get this idea off the ground, I wouldn’t even put current NBA players in it. I would make it a venture for a bunch of retired and/or busted players.
Cheap labor and it would make decent money for whoever organized it especially if they were able to get some of the bigger names from both the NBA (Iverson needs money, right?) and the college ranks (the Duke All-Bust team!).
see, it’s just easier to setup if the organizers make the money đ
His supporting cast is much better in name only. I’m not sure I would take this Heat team without him over that Cavs team. The rest of that starting lineup shot 32% last night, and they got killed on the boards, allowing the Spurs to pull down 36% of their own misses.
The reason Miami is getting smacked around has little to do with Lebron. They’re big names, but the fact of the matter is that Lebron does need a better supporting cast to win it all. No, that doesn’t get any sympathy from these parts, but it’s still the truth.
The Spurs were one shot away from winning in 6 last year, not getting blown out. I’m not sure that saying they lost in last year’s Finals is a great comparison.