16 vs. 18 games, not sure yet.

On the surface it's simple. 18 game schedule, 2 more games that count, sign me up! Then you take a look at the whole thing and wonder if it really is a good thing or not. In an age where we think we need more of a good thing, bigger this, instant that its hard to look at something that is great and say giving us more would be a bad thing. The NFL owners appear to be set to vote on an 18 game schedule when they meet in Atlanta on August 25th. Rumor has it they have enough support to make it happen. I am leaning towards liking it but I do have many questions and from a wide range of angles, from simple time frame to level of play and even how it effects fantasy football. Keep reading...

The premise of the 18 game schedule is to add two games that matter and drop 2 preseason games. This is good news for season ticket holders who already have to purchase 10 games anyway, 2 of which were preseason games at the regular season price. Now it'll be 9 regular season games and 1 preseason game. Only 1 game to give away to friends of friends because you can think of better ways to spend your Thurs, Fri, or Sat night.
Q: Will camp still open in late July with preseason games scheduled 2nd and 3rd weeks of August and regular season starting 1st week of September or is all that going to change?
Season length isn't really an issue in the NFL, it currently runs Sept-Jan if this adds the month of February it isn't a huge deal. It would tie MLB for length at 6 full months for regular and postseason. The NBA currently goes 7 plus and the NHL 8 plus. If anything the NBA & NHL need to figure out how to condense the length of their seasons but that is another blog for another day.

Each team currently operates under a 17 week regular season, 16 games 1 bye week. This has worked well, I remember a season '96 or '97 maybe where the NFL experimented with an 18 week regular season, 16 games 2 bye weeks.
Q: If the regular season expands to 18 games will the NFL go to a 20 week regular season, 18 games 2 bye weeks?
Doing so would extend the season by 3 weeks, this goes with whatever the answer is to my first question. If you start the first week of September but tack on 3 weeks you push the Super Bowl back 2 weeks to the 3rd Sunday in February. Some people may balk at that idea but I say hang on folks, this is a good thing. Every red-blooded American who loves football and who has ever attended a Super Bowl party has either said or thought, the day after the Super Bowl should be a holiday. BINGO! If the Super Bowl is played on the 3rd Sunday of February then the Monday after IS a holiday, its President's Day! I'd say green light the 18 game schedule just for this reason alone and make the time frame work. This instantly revs up the Super Bowl hype machine to another level. Logistics of 2 byes could be something along the lines of 6 teams are off every week from week 5 to week 14 and the final 4 teams are off in week 15. No team can have their 2nd bye within 4 weeks of their 1st bye. So every team plays at least 4 games before a bye and then at least 4 more after the 1st bye and then everyone would play in the final 5 weeks of the season.

Most of the player reactions that I have heard or read seem to think 18 games is good for the fans, good for the owners, not so good for them. They say its too hard to stay healthy for 16 games, what is 18 going to do to their bodies. That's where the 2nd bye week may be essential for player health.
Q: How will 2 more games effect the level of play? Will it have the same effect on the game that expansion did?
I'm sure the NFLPA will weigh in on this too but rosters could be expanded from 53 to 55 and game day inactives could be left at the same number so 2 more players could dress each week. It would create 64 jobs and maybe prolong careers. I don't believe it will water down the play much if any at all. It would just give guys like Shawn Springs, who believes he can still play, a chance to stay in the league and not retire while there may be something left in the tank. At the same time, I issue the challenge to you to name 60% of the 2nd string QB's in the NFL right now without looking them up on depth charts. Those guys might see more time on Sunday if 18 games becomes the norm. What happens to teams like the 2008 Lions or 2009 Rams in an 18 game schedule? The stadiums were empty by the 12th game of those schedules can a team endure half a season worth of empty stadiums?

I have read where some people are saying "What about the record books?" The record books didn't stop the 12 game schedule from becoming 14 and the 14 game schedule from becoming 16. When QB's throw for over 5,000 yards it will not diminish what Marino did for those who are smart enough to understand he did it in 16 games. He also did it without a bye week, so there.

It's now time for the question(s) that most of us want answered but that no one has asked.
Q: How does this effect fantasy football? How do we structure our schedule? Do we add roster spots? Do we allow less playoff teams?
The players will tell you that they don't play the game for the fantasy stats and the coaches will tell you they don't care that your RB needed 2 more yards for 3 bonus points or that with one more catch from your WR you would have a 5 game winning streak. That is obvious every time a team kneels on the ball at the end of games or pulls starters when a game is safely out of reach. We all know, NFL owners included, that the evolution of fantasy football is what has helped to make the NFL the number one sport in the U.S. The NFL's website has its own fantasy game, they employ a fantasy blogger and all the TV networks show highlight packages with stats geared specifically towards fantasy football. People like Jason LaConfora, Adam Schefter, Chris Mortensen, and Jay Glazer all have the job they do because of fantasy or because of the gambling aspect. The NFL would rather not embrace the gambling side of it so they'll say fantasy. Does a fan who is only watching the game need to know what Jason, Adam, Mort, & Jay have to say? No! The fantasy players need that info. Seriously though, most leagues operate with a 13 game season and 3 weeks of playoffs or 14 weeks and 2 playoffs. What happens with an 18 game schedule and possibly 20 weeks? Do you just add 2 weeks to your fantasy season? It's not that simple, if you just add 2 then its 15 and 3 or 16 and 2. If the format of the NFL schedule is anything remotely close to what I outlined above weeks 15 and 16 could still include byes, maybe even 17. No one can play in a fantasy league where players will be on byes when the fantasy playoffs are going on. Does this mean less teams get in fantasy playoffs so they only cover weeks 18 and 19 to avoid all by weeks. Does 2 bye weeks mean fantasy rosters need to expand? Two of my leagues only allow for 13 spots and a 3rd is position specific(3 QB's, 4 RB's, 5WR/TE's 1 flexRB/WR/TE) if guys have 2 byes per season we will need more roster spots.

I feel like as I was writing this I have talked myself into believing an 18 game schedule is a good thing but if its constructed poorly it could be disastrous. I guess it makes for a good conversation until we know for sure.

MLB Trade Deadline Winners & Losers

The MLB non waiver trade deadline has passed and the most talked about name the last 48 hours didn't get moved. Enjoy the reset of the summer in D.C. Mr. Dunn.  He actually could still get moved but I can't see the Nats putting him on waivers at this point when they could have actually gotten something for him by trading him. If they hold him for the rest of the year now and then he walks in the winter ala Alfonso Soriano the Nats would get a pair of compensatory draft picksjust as the did when Soriano left. At that time the Nats used one of those picks for Jordan Zimmerman. So now that Dunn didn't get dealt expect him to stay in the capital for the duration of the season.

The way I see it the winners at the deadline include the Rangers who acquired Cliff Lee 2 weeks ago and then added Jorge Cantu and Cristian Guzman to plug a couple areas of need. They traded Smoak and recalled Chris Davis to fill the hole and Davis couldn't show the Rangers he could get it done so they went out and got Cantu. Kinsler went on the DL yet again and young SS Elvis Andrus has stumbled a bit in July so Guzman plugs the hole at 2B until Kinsler gets back and then becomes a super sub for the stretch run. The rangers biggest competitor in the AL West went out and got SP Dan Haren and tried to pry Derrek Lee away from the Cubs but Lee exercised is option to refuse the deal as 10/5 guy(10 years+ in MLB, 5 with same team). Of course no MLB trade deadline would be complete without the Yankees making a move or three. Yankees were said to be in on the Cliff Lee deal but ultimately balked before he went to Texas, then they were rumored in on Oswalt, Dunn, Lilly, and probably every other deal because they are the Yankees. What they did actually do was add Lance Berkman to fill the spot that was supposed to be Nick Johnson's before he made his annual injury pilgrimage to the DL. The other two moves won't make you ooohhhh or aaahhhh but they added Austin Kearns and RP Kerry Wood. Both have seen better days and are on the downside of their careers as far as productivity is concerned but as always with the NYY for 2 months plus they might just catch lightning in a bottle.

The Phillies went out and got Roy Oswalt who they wouldn't have needed if they just held on to Cliff Lee in the first place but with the two Roy's the Phillies should be putting heat on the Braves in the near future. They did give up a nice young arm in J.A. Happ so hopefully they can work something out long term with Oswalt. Who would have ever thought the San Diego Padres and their 29th ranked payroll would be a serious BUYER at the deadline. In the past the Fathers have been the farm system for the rest of the league but not this year. Trying to build on their 2.5 game lead in the NL West the Padres acquired Miguel Tejada and Ryan Ludwick and dodged a bullet when the SF Giants were unable to make any significant moves. The biggest winner out west may have been the Dodgers but will it be enough, with 31 of 59 on the road the rest of the way the Dodgers are 6 games under .500 on the road and hold a slim run differential of +8 and trail the Padres by 7 games. There was some Manny talk near the deadline but in the end he stayed put and the Dodgers added RP Octavio Dotel, LHSP Ted Lilly, middle infielder Ryan Theriot, and OF Scott Podsednik. So while the ownership of the team is decided by an L.A. judge in divorce court it will be up to the new guys to decide the teams fate on the field.

Losers at the deadline include the SF Giants and the Cincinnati Reds for standing by as the teams they are chasing made moves to improve. The Rays only added RP Chad Qualls to try and run down the Yankees and then Adam Dunn since he lost another MLB season without the chance to be on a winner.

I Call B.S. on Blackhawks

All references made towards claims are from claims made in this article >
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0730-confidential-hawks-20100730,0,1613106.column

Thank you Rocky Wirtz! The 2009-10 Blackhawks season was an absolute blast! Most fun I have had as a fan! The Bulls' wins were during my high school and college years, 1985 Bears, I was 10. 2005 White Sox, I was rooting for all 3 opponents.
I attended 16 games during the Stanley Cup Season, 11 regular and 5 playoff. I was able to enjoy the season with my friends, my children, and on one rare weekend with the open road. January 16-17, 2010 I made a weekend roadtrip from Chicago to Columbus, OH to Detroit, MI and caught 2 games. Nights and weekends were planned around the Blackhawks schedule, dinner times were altered, appointments and meetings were scheduled to make sure that I was available when the puck dropped. It had been 12 years since I changed my life that way for Michael Jordan and the Bulls and now the scheduling process had returned. I wore out the DVR for the playoffs and I shut out the outside world on a few occasions so I could watch the entire playoff game from start to finish instead of jumping in when my daughter's softball games were over. I watched the Cup clincher in a bar in Nashville, TN, with people who were more interested in the CMT Music awards that were on a few other TV's, while starting a vacation. I had a ticket to game 7 which would have involved me renting a car and driving from Nashville to Chicago for the game and then back so I could resume my vacation. I was all in and I loved every minute of it!
Now comes word, in the form of the above referenced article that the Blackhawks lost money in the same season in which they won the Stanley Cup and I'm calling bulls**t.  I kept it real simple and used basic numbers and I am sure that with more time and a little digging I could get more accurate but for the sake of argument I kept it simple. There were 2 United Center preseason games and 40 regular season games(1 of 2 in Helsinki was a "home" game). I figure the average ticket take for those games to be $989,000. There were 11 home playoff games I estimate the take from those to equal $22.6 million, they give the NHL at least 50 percent of what their gate receipts would have been at a regular-season United Center sellout or about $500k per game($5.5 million). The UC's website says there are over 6,000 parking spaces under UC control at a $25 avg I estimate $7.8 million in revenue. The article states that each team in NHL gets less than $10 million in TV revenue, we are using $10 million because its a nice round number. So let's do the math, 42 x 989000 = 41.5 million plus 22.6 - 5.5 = $17.1 million plus $7.8 million in parking and finally $10 million in TV revenue. 41.5 + 17.1 + 7.8 + 10 = 76.4. The salary cap was 56.8 million. So after salaries for the players 76.4 - 56.8 = 19.6. I know this is real BASIC and I'm not figuring in salaries of call ups and trades and other signings during the year but after the capped payroll there is approx $19.6 million dollars left just from gameday revenue. Now there is concessions, merchandising, and advertising to factor as income and of course practice facilties, travel, lodging, and all other employee's within the Blackhawks organization that need to be factored as expenses but, there is approximately $19.6 million in a buffer before all that begins.
Now Wirtz Corp views the Blackhawks as a separate entity and that is probably the smartest way when dealing with such large dollar amounts but Wirtz Corp. includes Wirtz Beverage Co., a five-state liquor distributorship, which Wirtz said has about $1.5 billion in annual sales; an insurance business; prime real estate; two banks; a 350-acre farm; a stake in Comcast's regional sports network; investments in Alberto-Culver, U.S. Bank, Sally Beauty Supply and The Sun-Times Media Group; and half of the United Center. It's that last part that is important, "half of the United Center" that means that Wirtz Corp's Blackhawks pay Wirtz Corp's United Center for use of the building and most likely where the $7.8 million parking revenue is going and maybe the concession and advertising money for signage on the ice/boards and around the UC. So sure, go ahead and claim the Blackhawks are losing money but then show us how much you made off the 50% ownership of the United Center. I haven't mentioned the circus, Disney on ice, or the concerts that are money makers for the UC and the Wirtz Corp as well. Rocky, I thank you for the Cup but I call B.S. on your books!

Shuffle up and deal

There is still work to be done but that first step is always a doozy. We were all doing just fine and no one was bothering us until someone snuck a small piece of legislature regarding internet commerce and foreign banks into a bill that was largely an anti-terrorism bill. That was the day internet poker and on-line sports books new they had arrived because they had just lost a huge audience, Americans living in the U.S.A.

The UIGEA
The UIGEA, or Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, was signed into law in 2006. This act does not make online poker or online gambling illegal. This act instead targets banks and financial institutions, demanding that they identify poker and gambling transactions and block them.
To date, banks have had extreme difficulty enforcing this act. Billions of transactions take place every day in the US and banks don't have the resources to identify individual transactions. In late 2009, the implementation of the UIGEA was delayed for 6 months to allow for more debate and to give banks more time to comply with the law.
So far, the UIGEA have proven to be an impotent piece of legislation. The only effect the UIGEA has had is that sometimes credit card transactions to poker sites are blocked. In those cases, players simply choose a different deposit method and continue on as normal.

It has taken almost 5 years but we have a light at the end of the tunnel to get back the full ability to play poker online for REAL money(legally) and maybe, just maybe, go even farther.
http://www.onlinepoker.net/poker-news/poker-law-industry-news/online-poker-bill-passed-federal-lawmakers/6854
The above article hints that online gambling could be legalized, obviously it would get taxed if it was legal but at the same time if it wasn't taboo maybe it would lose some of its lustre. So for everyone who would stop betting on sports if you taxed it someone else would take interest because it would be available everywhere. Don't believe its possible to get a handle on the gambling market? I present to you the Canadian government, the province of Ontario allows you to bet on sports everywhere lottery tickets are sold. Its called Pro-Line,
http://proline.olg.ca/demo_proline_e.jsp  you get a sheet that has the sporting contests listed and odds for the possible outcomes, you choose between 3 and 6 outcomes and place a wager amount of $2 or more. If all your outcomes are correct you win. Winnings are claimed exactly as the lottery is and the losses are allocated to fund various entities within the government just as the lottery is. Just make sure you understand all the abbreviations, I learned the hard way that NJ is the Giants and NY is the Jets, explanation given was because Giants play in New Jersey. I know, I know. They both do and the NJ would seem to fit the J in J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets but my argument didn't win and neither did my 3 team pro-line wager that I thought was a WINNER because I didn't have the Jets, I had NJ(the giants) but anyway you get the point. Individual states could have their own pro-line or they could form a co-op like Mega Millions and Power Ball and share. Can you see the Saturday and Sunday morning convenience store lines during the NCAA and NFL seasons with guys(& gals) wanting to place their 3 to 6 team parlays?
Back to poker to wrap this up, the current bill that was passed by the House Financial Services Committee will only legalize online poker, so sports betting will need a Pro-Line like movement, and the bill will most likely need to be attached to something larger to get passed into law. Like most things that the government gets their hands on there will be hoops to jump through for the licensees or the site operators but it is a start. HFSC communications director, Steven Adamske said "We shouldn't be telling [Americans] what to do with their own money."
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/political-economy/2010/07/congress_is_thinking_about_mak.html

Ryno in Waiting?

Let me start by saying, I am a huge fan of Ryne Sandberg. As a 9 yr old in the summer of 1984 he was my hero. I began wearing #23 that summer and every baseball season thereafter, I began to pride myself more for my defense than my offense. I kept my baseball stats at home after each game and the first thing I figured was my fielding %. I would rather make every play than hit a HR(I couldn't anyway). I loved the way he played the game and the way he represented himself. Hard to believe that a smart mouth kid who usually had to have the last word idolized a quiet ballplayer who didn't talk to the media and didn't like the spotlight. That team had Sarge Matthews, Ron Cey, Keith Moreland, Leon Durham, Jody Davis, Rick Sutcliffe, Larry Bowa & Leon Durham among others but the biggest personality associated with the Cubs may have been Harry Caray but I absolutely adored Ryno.
Fast forward 26 years, lots of players have come and gone, media coverage has exploded, I'm not that starry-eyed little kid anymore, I'd rather have a beer with a ball player than get an autograph or a picture but no Cub has ever replaced Ryno atop my list. The Cubs' manager job is about to be open and Ryno is my guy, right? WRONG! And here is why.
The Cubs have many more issues than just needing a manager. They have an exploding payroll with backloaded contracts, they have 3 absolutely awful contracts that they are going to have a real hard time moving even if they want to in Soriano, Zambrano, and Fukudome, what a waste!
For 2011 they need a new right side of the infield, 2 SP and at least 4 RP. They have new owners but still play in a ballpark that is a bigger attraction than the team itself. I don't want Ryne Sandberg to be the next guy to come in with over the top expectations from a blind faith fan base only to be run out of town after 3 or 4 years as the scape goat much the way Baylor, Baker, and now Lou have fared. Some of you may say, don't be such a downer or why so pessimistic. People! It hasn't happened in 102 years, 50 managers have come and gone, some more than once. The odds are in my favor for the failure to continue.
The one positive is that the minor league system seems to be in pretty good shape but given the state of the payroll and the need for at least 8 players on the 25 man roster I don't see a trip to the World Series in the near future. So I say, Why ruin Ryno for those of us who adore him? Please hire someone else. Maybe Joe Torre or Bobby Valentine or Joe Girardi. Encourage one of them to give Ryno a long, hard look as their bench coach just don't make him suffer as the ring master of Cirque de Echec. (echec is french for failure)