NHL clubs have been circumventing the league’s hard salary cap from the moment it was instituted in 2005 but the player contract signed by Ilya Kovalchuk with the Devils two weeks ago has taken things to a new extreme.

I’m pro-player and I wish good hockey teams with the means to spend could retain all of their top talent.  Unfortunately, the wide disparity in fiscal health among big and small market teams forced NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to fight for and gain a restrictive cap after a bitter work stoppage that scrapped the ’04-’05 season.  The hard cap removes the Yankees vs. Royals problem from hockey and has turned out to be a good thing for the league overall.  The downside is that teams loaded with talent find it hard to stay under the cap.  Exhibit A is what’s happening with the Blackhawks this off-season.  The Hawks have too many good hockey players expecting pay raises and have been forced to unload several of them for less than market value to stay beneath the cap.   

The Kovalchuk deal in Jersey is clearly an attempt to avoid unloading players in the name of cap space.  It’s a 17-year contract worth $102 million.  Spread out over 17 years, the Kovalchuk annual cap hit to New Jersey would amount to $6 million.  What makes the arrangement fishy is the heavy front-loading of money.  All but $3.5 mil gets paid out in the first eleven years.  The final six years of the contract with chump change payouts are tacked on to lower the annual cap number.  It’s extremely unlikely Kovalchuk will be playing hockey when the contract expires.  He’ll be 45 years old at that point.

Larry Brooks wrote a column in the Post over the weekend saying the Devils acted properly.  Brooks argues the NHL is acting “capriciously” in disallowing the deal.  “Successful teams and general managers have a choice.  They can shrug their shoulders and allow the CBA to break up their rosters.  Or they can act creatively within the confines of the CBA to keep their teams intact as much as possible.” 

The CBA (collective bargaining agreement) has all sorts of provisions pertaining to enforcement of the cap but doesn’t clearly address whether the method used by New Jersey is allowable.  The NHL says no.  New Jersey (backed by the Player’s Association) is challenging the NHL’s intervention.  The parties will take their case to an arbitrator soon. 

Despite a lack of specific language in the CBA dealing with the deliberately unrealistic addition of strung-out contract years to lower the annual cap number, I think the NHL is justified in taking a stand against the Kovalchuk deal. 

The league stood by and did nothing last year at this time when the Hawks gave a 12-year contract to Marian Hossa.  The front-loading in that deal was a sneaky evasion of Hossa’s true cap impact.  The Kovalchuk contract this year is even more extreme. 

What’s ironic about the current dilemma is that it was NHL owners who caused a whole season of hockey to get lost so they could gain a hard salary cap.  Five years later, several team owners are doing everything in their power to get around the cap. 

-It’ll take some time to get a true feel for what kind of drawing power Thierry Henry has in New York, but there are two concrete indicators right off the bat.  The Red Bulls sent out an e-mail Tuesday saying the August 14 home match against the LA Galaxy at their new arena in Harrison has sold out.  Henry’s addition to the roster was formally announced July 14th.  His debut came at home eight days later against Tottenham.  Brian Lewis of the Post says only 4500 tickets were sold for the Tottenham match before Thierry’s signing.  More than 20-thousand showed up. 

7-27-10 1730

Just three weeks after a Queens judge modified an order of protection allowing my former state senator Hiram Monserrate to reunite with his girlfriend, the two marched hand-in-hand Sunday in the annual Colombian Day Parade.    

Monserrate chanted “Viva Colombia” and waved a small flag to the big crowd assembled along twenty blocks of Northern Boulevard.  By his side was Karla Giraldo, the woman who accused Monserrate of slashing her face with a broken glass after a 2008 Christmas party. 

Giraldo recanted her original account of the attack when Monserrate went on trial for felony assault last year but a video introduced during the D-A’s presentation showed Monserrate manhandling Giraldo in his apartment building the same night cuts near her left eye required more than 30 stitches to close.  That video piece of evidence was enough for a judge at Monserrate’s bench trial to hand down a misdemeanor assault verdict in the case. 

Soon after, Monserrate was removed from the state senate by his colleagues.  Rather than fade from the public eye and seek private sector employment, Monserrate is attempting a return to elected office.      

Immediately after his ouster, he ran for the senate seat he was booted from and was defeated soundly in a special election earlier this year.  Now Monserrate is running for the state assembly office vacated when Jose Peralta slid into Monserrate’s senate seat. 

The people Monserrate passed on the parade route near me seemed mostly indifferent to his presence.  I couldn’t sense whether the dull reception was from unfamiliarity with Monserrate’s past – or whether folks are stunned he'd continue courting voters with Giraldo in tow.    

The musically-inclined and dancing parade participants generated perhaps the most excitement during this neighborhood event.  Also getting big cheers was the locally famous drag queen Oswaldo Gomez, a smiling Colombian often seen late at night riding his bicycle down Roosevelt Avenue with a parrot perched on his head.       

Temperatures were in the low 90’s for the parade.  Up and down the route, men and women sold water and juice stored in coolers with wheels.  

7-26-10 0130  

United and Continental Airlines announced second quarter financial results this past week and both reported big profits and big stacks of cash on hand. 

Just three months ago, the two carriers disclosed plans to merge operations and turn the new, combined entity into the biggest airline in the world.  The primary reason cited for the proposed merger was what the architects of the deal said was an inability to consistently turn a profit as stand-alone carriers.   

Well, it’s just a quarter, but United and Continental made a combined profit of $663 million in the three months ending June 30.  They did it as stand-alone carriers.  Their combined cash stash now sits at $8.4 billion.

A number of factors have helped produce improved financial performance for the airlines this summer.  Perhaps the most fruitful strategy has been a concerted effort to reduce the number of seats that are sold by the big airlines.  “Capacity discipline” is the buzz phrase used by airline CEO’s.  Less supply (fewer flights) creates greater demand and an ability to raise fares. 

You’re also seeing what the airline bosses call a new treasure of “ancillary revenue” which is slowly taking hold in the form of bag fees and various other day-of-flight offerings that allow customers to purchase better seating locations.  Before the merger, United did calculations suggesting it could add a billion dollars annual from bag fees. 

Continental CEO Jeff Smisek said Thursday he believes the merger of Continental and United will be a done deal before year’s end.  In the meantime, United and Continental will roll in large profits for at least another quarter on their own.  It probably can’t be said given the latest results that sustained profit is unattainable without the merger.  It would be more honest perhaps to acknowledge the new behemoth is about an effort to better dominate markets and control capacity netting even larger profits than what the two carriers obtained individually in the second quarter. 

7-25-10 0145

You may have noticed less regular updates here the last few weeks.  I’ve been spending significant amounts of free time transferring pictures, music and words from the aging hard drive on my desktop computer to an external storage device. 

I sense the end may be near for my desktop machine.  Some of the stuff I’ve accumulated on it over a period of more than nine years would be nice to preserve for later perusal.  So, that’s what I’m doing.  It’ll make the death of my current computer much easier to handle when it’s had enough. 

-I didn’t know it until today, but I was surprised to discover the M train is operating two cars short of a full string.  All but a few NYC subway lines run with ten cars.  The M is using just eight, which will take some getting used to.  It’s typically my subway custom to enter either the front car – or the rear car - because they seem to be the least populated.  When the M entered the Roosevelt Ave. station this afternoon, the train rolled right by me.  The last car was a good ten yards away from where I was standing, prompting a quick scamper to beat the closing doors.  Same thing happened on my return trip as the eight-car string left large gaps at both the start and end of the platform.  For future reference, I’ll remember this quirk by associating the letter M with the word “middle.”

-The return of Carlos Beltran to the Mets after a year on the shelf should have been happy, celebrated occasion.  It may yet turn out that way, but you’re hearing Met fans on the radio grumble about Beltran’s impact on team chemistry.  The introverted center-fielder re-joined the team after the all-star break and the Mets have gone 1-6 since.  Right fielder Jeff Francoeur is the odd man out from Beltran’s return (Angel Pagan shifted from center to right).  The Post reported Thursday that the Mets are seeking to deal Francoeur and a Post source says Francoeur supports getting moved.  Francoeur has just six hits in his last 52 at-bats, so on paper it’s a hard case to suggest he deserves to play over the red-hot Pagan.  But Francoeur (affectionately known as “Frenchie”) was the front-and-center clubhouse leader before his benching.  His cannon for an arm is missed and his dissatisfaction as a backup may very well be a contagious negative on a team that always seems to be dogged with a fog of indifference.  Beltran has a year left on his bloated $119 million deal and isn’t going anywhere.  I’m starting to get the feeling that the current Met 6-14 slide is destined to turn into the same type of fade job we’ve seen in each of the last three prior seasons.          

-The Lou Piniella announcement that he’s done as Cubbie skipper at season’s end has suddenly given Yanks manager Joe Girardi serious leverage as he approaches expiration of his deal with the Yankees.  Girardi wasn’t given even a sniff of an opportunity to ink an extension by Hal Steinbrenner after last year’s World Series win.  Girardi’s lame-duck status combined with his fondness for Chicago could end up forcing the Yankees to depart from organizational tradition of playing hard-ball with the incumbent manager.  Speaking with Francesa on Thursday afternoon, Girardi was careful to sidestep talk of a possible courtship with the Cubs but he definitely didn’t close the door on it.   

7-22-10 1830

My neighborhood’s only full-fledged park/playground has temporarily annexed more space through closure of a busy street that adjoins it.    

Thanks to pressure from a coalition of neighborhood activists, the city has shut off 78th Street to vehicular traffic between 34th Avenue and Northern Boulevard through the end of August. 

The affected street runs parallel to the popular two-acre Travers Park.  The street’s closure essentially gives the park a safe, open, buffer zone along one side of it.  When I walked down 78th on Saturday en route to the bus stop, dozens of families had set up lounge chairs and shade umbrellas right there in the middle of the street.

One wouldn’t think sitting or playing in a shut-off street next to a park would be desirable, but in a place so densely populated and busy, any open space gets consumed.  It’s a magnet for the masses.    

The current mayor actually deserves credit for seizing even longer stretches of roadway in Manhattan for conversion to space reserved solely for pedestrians – and pedestrian activity.  When Mike Bloomberg moved to close off several blocks of Broadway in Times Square and Herald Square last year, his idea was met with significant skepticism. Those in vehicles who feel like they own the road complained about the crimp on their route.   

The mayor didn’t care.  He got beat on congestion pricing so he shut down streets.  He made a small but significant overture to alter the balance of power between pedestrian and driver. 

People have gobbled up that open space on Broadway.  They read newspapers, drink coffee and make otherwise great use of a street formerly clogged with taxis.  Bloomberg announced earlier this year that his Broadway experiment was so popular, it would be made permanent.

-My preferred neighborhood produce market has been stocking some incredible South Carolina peaches in the last week or so.  All of them are coming from the Yonce and Sons operation in Edgefield County, SC.  Each peach carries a small sticker that says “Big Smile.”  I’m getting them for 99-cents a pound.  Every one of them hits maximum sweetness a day or two after purchase.  I slice them in half starting at the top - all the way around – and the pit pops out with barely a nudge.  The flesh stays firm.  It’s candy.  I hope the Big Smiles keep coming this way.    

7-18-10 1200

The famously difficult par-four 17th hole at the Old Course at St. Andrews is more of a bogey threat at this year’s Open Championship than ever before.  It runs 495 yards, which is forty yards longer than the last time (2005) the world’s best gathered at St. Andrews for the season’s third major.  Known as the “Road Hole,” the feel of the new tee location at 17 was well captured by ESPN Thursday morning.  From the tee box facing the hole, golfers are staring at a large lodging structure, an empty parking lot converted into what looks like hospitality tents and the second hole’s fairway. It takes a precise, looping 260-yard knock over the close-range obstructions to set up any kind of tolerable second shot. A deep and devilish pot bunker sits to the left of the 17th green.  A paved two-lane road that’s officially in play borders the right side of the entire hole.  Tournament officials said they would scrap the new, further-from-the-hole tee box should rain and wind unleash maximum wrath, but on Thursday the first round started with relatively tame conditions and the new tee box was used.  At the end of first round play, 17 was far and away the most difficult hole statistically.  Almost half the competitors failed to make par on the hole.  It took the field 4.58 strokes on average to get through it. 

-The Steinbrenner patch affixed to the Yankee jersey starting with Friday night’s game is horribly ill-conceived.  A total of 35 letters and characters using a bland font appear in a very small space, making it near impossible for a fan to decipher it from a distance.  Whoever designed and approved the patch should look at the advertising signage displayed at Yankee Stadium and gain a lesson on the effectiveness of brevity.  The Steinbrenner uniform patch should simply say “BOSS.”  Instead, it throws the kitchen sink at you.  The patch will be stitched above the interlocking NY on the home jersey and above the “YORK” portion of New York on the road uniform.  Another more attractive patch honoring Bob Sheppard (featuring a microphone) will appear on the uniform’s left sleeve.

-I caught a five-buck on-demand showing of the movie Greenberg this week and can’t recommend it.  The 2010 Noah Baumbach release received decent reviews.  It stars Ben Stiller as a 40-year-old barely-together carpenter “living the life (he) didn’t plan on.”  A house-sitting stint for his rich jerk brother leads to an implausible romance between the Stiller character (Roger Greenberg) and his brother’s errand girl.  Hurt-people hurt people is the recurring theme, with most of the hurt being doled out by Greenberg.  The only character deserving sympathy in this flick is the ailing dog.  When young party-goers feed the sick dog beer and pizza in a maddening but effective sequence late in the movie, it’s the only time I got stirred up and felt some connection with Greenberg.  

7-15-10 2245

Not everybody shares my disdain for the hot, humid weather we’ve been having in the big city this summer, but I’ve grown tired of it.

It slows me down.  It turns the crank on cranky.  It spins the electric meter as fast as it’ll go.  It adds a near-steady layer of noise from the air conditioner to an otherwise quiet apartment. 

You walk to the subway entrance and descend into a tunnel that’s bottled up two months of heat and humidity.  It makes you dizzy and drenched if you don’t have your A-game going in. 
 
I checked the data from the National Weather Service station at LaGuardia to confirm what I’ve been feeling this summer and this is what I came up with:

In the 41 days since June 3, the thermometer has hit 90 or above twenty times.    

In the last seven days, we’ve had relative humidity numbers of 85, 85, 74, 84, 79, 82 and 85. 
 
For the months of June and July, we’re about 5.5 degrees above the combined average high. 

It’s funny.  We had a beautiful stretch of weather for about a week before Independence Day.  There were plenty of hot days but the humidity was down near 25 percent.  One night I got home from work at 1 AM and it was 84 degrees.  Because the dew point was so low, it was very pleasant sleeping with the windows open.  Since then, it’s been a sauna.  It’s been really miserable.  A cold beer doesn’t even really taste that great.  

I wouldn’t complain if it weren’t for the fact we still have six, seven weeks of full-on summer remaining.  The forecast for the next seven days or so is more of the same. 

I have a week off in late August and plan on joining my family in the upper reaches of Wisconsin.  I imagine the prospect of cool nights and wouldn’t mind if the days of hot, hot heat between now and then pass quick.

7-14-10 2145

Many of the dozens of people who made public statements assessing the legacy of George Steinbrenner on Tuesday referenced a late-in-life mellowing or softening in the man’s approach to his employees. 

Steinbrenner’s numerous well-documented displays of nastiness with people who reported to him before his mind went to mush were mostly omitted from remembrances on the day of his death.  That’s as it should be I guess. 

The line of demarcation in Steinbrenner’s demeanor isolating perhaps his final five years or so was an unspoken acknowledgment by pundits and former players that the Boss was a serious jerk before he lost his marbles.  Said Yankee TV play-by-play man Michael Kay on Steinbrenner’s YES network Tuesday night:  “Toward the end, he was a different guy.”  Yeah.  He was a different guy because he was off the Yankee power grid – out of reach – and unable to push the tyrannical buttons that impacted so many pummeled by his reign.

Steinbrenner deserves huge credit for that gleaming shrine in the Bronx and seven of the world championship flags that fly on top of it.  Yes.  To say he was a “different guy” late in life is undue deference on a day when the inclination is to filter out the deceased’s flaws.

7-13-10 1915

Disappointment, sure.  But I don’t get the hostile and sharply negative reaction coming from cities that lost their bid to gain the services of LeBron James. 

Here in New York, James was roundly criticized in the media for choosing Miami.  The dominant beef was that James somehow chose the path of least resistance, ducking the bright lights and stiff challenge of playing at the World’s Most Famous Arena.

New York thought its great basketball venue alone was enough to court the King.  It had little else to offer.  Imagine the scene as Knicks officials had their recruiting session with James when the free agency period opened ten days ago.  The sloppy owner Jim Dolan and the physically frail GM Donnie Walsh highlight their pitch with the boast they possess two max-contract slots and a thin existing roster topped by Danilo Gallinari.  When it came time for Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni to wax poetic about his defensive vision (which we know is important to LeBron), how is it a serious conversation?  

How great could playing on the floor of Madison Square Garden be when the facts get laid out and you’re sitting across the table from Dolan, Walsh and D’Antoni?    

A few days after that first meeting with James, the Knicks preemptively nailed down Amare Stoudemire for near-max money.  To me, that was a sign the Knicks were hedging their bets on James.  It can’t rally the larger cause to commit to a guy who plays zero defense when you know James puts a high premium on it.

What disturbed me most about the James recruitment was when I heard the Knicks used Isiah Thomas in last-ditch efforts to pull in the King.  I guess it’s possible some players outside New York don’t know the full scope of damage Thomas leveled on the Knick organization.  Perhaps he’s seen by some as the smiling Pistons star who was among the best of his generation.  But his decisions ruined the Knicks.  Thomas made so many horrible personnel moves and agreed to so many mind-boggling bad contracts, his return as an emissary in this process makes you cringe. 

The Knicks in their current state of dysfunction really have no right to be upset about getting rejected by such a great free agent. 

As far as Dan Gilbert goes, I think he’s nuts.  His reaction exposes something deeper than losing a star through free agency.  Something is festering from the Gilbert/James working relationship for the owner to spew such hate.  Yeah, James failed to execute a tidy separation.  The TV special was horribly awkward when viewed from the perspective of a Cavs fan.  But James gave a lot to that franchise and played a lot of honest, full-effort basketball in that city.  He saw a better opportunity and wanted a change of scenery.  His contract was up.  He had the right to leave without being called a traitor. 

-It’s been barely discussed, but James, Bosh and Wade can start this process anew in 2014.  The new, six-year contracts for all three players include termination clauses after year number four and opt-outs after the fifth year.  That information was reported late Saturday night by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  The new arena in Brooklyn should be open by 2014 and James will be 29 years old when the 2014-15 season starts.   

-The airplane that hauled out ten Russian snoops Thursday night launched from busy LaGuardia Airport of all places.  The little-known charter carrier Vision Airlines operated the non-stop flight to Vienna, Austria using a Boeing 767 adorned with Vision’s red, gold and white color scheme.  The spy swap mission is likely Vision Airlines’ most high-profile moment since initiating operations in 1994.  Photographs of the Vision airplane sitting on a tarmac next to a smaller Russian aircraft in Vienna Friday have been widely circulated.  The front page of Saturday’s Times carried a large Reuters photo that prominently displays the tail of the Vision airplane.  What struck me as odd was that the US government would contract to use a wide-body airplane configured for more than 200 people to carry just ten spies plus perhaps another ten CIA and other government employees on a long international flight.  Why not use a smaller, more fuel efficient aircraft?      

7-11-10 0145

After two decades of dental indifference and neglect, I’ve launched a serious commitment to get my teeth the professional attention they belatedly deserve. 

It took about a year to locate a trusted and recommended dentist that accepts my insurance.  I finally settled on a woman who went to dental school with a high school pal.  She works at an office near where my parents live in suburban Chicago. 

It probably sounds crazy to travel 700 miles to reach a dental chair, but of the dozen or so dentists that gained endorsements from friends here in New York City, none of them would accept my card emblazoned with the words Aetna DMO. 

Knowing I needed a big overhaul, and knowing I’m super skittish near the drill, I didn’t want to see just anybody who took my plan.   

So, Wednesday was the first day of four trips to the Chicago burbs for extensive drilling, bite realignment and replacement of the degrading amalgam (silver) fillings that had served me well until I hit 40. 
 
The doctor issued me a prescription for a 2 mg valium pill in advance of this week’s visit.  I took it about fifteen minutes before I arrived at her office.  The low dosage was less than what you’d like if you wanted to have fun, but it did generate a hint of a carefree feeling. 

Once in the chair, there was a full two hours worth of drilling followed by insertion of a white-colored composite substance to fill the holes that were dug.  Multiple injections of novocaine masked all but a few twinges of pain. 

Wearing thin blue disposable gloves as they worked, the dental assistant and dentist discussed current events and their Fourth of July barbeques as if I wasn’t there.  Not that I was able to contribute anything to the conversation, anyway.

It all went a little better than I expected.  It wasn’t pleasant, but it wasn’t torture.  My Dad picked me up when it was over and took me to a place that serves old school strawberry milkshakes.  The numb half of my mouth didn’t know what hit it, but the other side really enjoyed the fresh, mashed berries blended with ice cream and whole milk. 

I go back in a month for phase two of what will end up being three or four visits to get my bite right. 

I’ll smile when it’s all over.           

7-8-10 1730

I wonder what kind of logistical leaps of faith were made by the planners of the free Drake/Hanson concert at the South Street Seaport a few weeks ago.  If you didn’t hear, 25-thousand people showed up on a Tuesday night for that widely-promoted event. 

Nervous about the potential for chaos, police cancelled the concert before Drake or Hanson took the stage.    

The scenic East River pier gets crowded when five-thousand assemble there.  According to multiple accounts (including several You Tube clips uploaded by attendees), it got pretty rowdy.  Just about any gathering would go that way when turnout exceeds capacity five times over and there’s jostling for a view of the performance.  Throw in the sale of beer and the public’s accessibility to a multi-level deck overlooking the pier and it was lucky there wasn’t full-on chaos when the show was abruptly scrapped. 

Paper Magazine was the gig’s primary sponsor.  It had to know Drake is way bigger than the Seaport.  The corporation that runs the Seaport had to know, too, right? 

A few days before the concert, the Times ran a feature on Drake calling him the “New Face of Hip-Hop.”  This is an artist who can sell a half-million records in a week.  So, really what else would the Seaport expect from a free Drake show on a nice night in the big city? 

I’d love to hear what the show’s organizers said among themselves when they met to discuss their big gig in the days and weeks leading up to it. 

Smartly, the Seaport has shelved a scheduled performance by Kesha on the same stage after likely doing a little math showing how big that crowd might be.   

Still a go at the Seaport are gigs by Avi Buffalo and Thee Oh Sees.  It’s been a decade’s worth of free shows by bands of that stature that has made going to the Seaport a real treat. 

When somebody with a wildly out of whack understanding of Drake’s star power blows it this bad, you hope it doesn’t un-do all the good things that have happened at that venue over the years.  Stick with the Avi Buffalo’s of the world and things we’ll be just fine.  

-Ronan Tynan sang “God Bless America” during the seventh inning stretch of Red Sox/O’s at Fenway on the Fourth of July.  It was Tynan’s first Fenway performance since relocating to Beantown from New York City.  The talented tenor was banished from singing at Yankee Stadium after it was revealed he made anti-Semitic comments to a realtor in his Manhattan apartment building last year. 

7-6-10 0005

A few minutes after the latest batch of bleak labor stats came out Friday morning, President Obama boarded a flight for the Bob Byrd funeral in West Virginia.  Before he left, Obama did one of those quickie assessments (without inquiries by the media) of the data for TV.  His statement on the nation’s jobless numbers sounded a lot more positive than what economists were saying.  “Make no mistake – we are headed in the right direction,” said Obama. 

9.5-percent is the official national unemployment rate in the June 2010 report compiled by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.  That’s a sham number.  People without a job are dropping off the countable total by the hundreds of thousands each year this miserable economy drags forward.  The Times on Saturday put the unemployment rate at 16.5-percent using a formula that more fairly measures the total pool of people looking for work. 

Who needs the stats anyway?  Everybody has friends out of work right now who don’t want to hear the President saying things are headed in the right direction until things actually are truly pointed that way. 

Saying things are better than they are won’t make them better.

What would help is direct intervention in places like Evansville, IN where the Whirlpool refrigerator factory shut down a week ago Friday.  The 1100 jobs at that plant will be moved to Mexico.  The 19 bucks an hour workers made in Evansville is no doubt a whole lot more than what the workers in Mexico will command.  Whirlpool said the exportation of its refrigerator plant will improve “operating efficiencies.”  To hell with the notion we should make our own stuff in this country so we have communities that can survive and flourish.  Instead, we’re watching them turn into shells of their former existences.          

The 19 bucks an hour those 1100 Whirlpool workers made in Evansville wasn’t making ‘em rich.  But it gave them a life.  What else but corporate greed walks away from the idea that communities are built on these types of factory jobs? 

If politicians and policy-makers want to keep yapping about Main Street, they should stare down the types of decisions made by the likes of Whirlpool in all our cities.  Since it seems to do no good to appeal to the moral compass of the large employer, maybe it’s time to un-do the trade agreements that make it so easy for Whirlpool to hop the border for cheap, international labor. 

The Times says six million factory jobs have been lost in the last twelve years.  The cities that lost them are easy to see.  Obama should quit talking about how things are getting better or headed in the right direction until this part of the employment picture gets a fuller explanation.          

-Apple’s disclosure that all versions of its I-Phone display an inaccurate signal strength measurement brought this observation from Times reporter Miguel Helft in his story on the subject:  “For a company that obsesses over every detail of its products, the failure to detect this longstanding problem earlier is astonishing.” 

-It didn’t garner any newspaper coverage or analysis on the SNY broadcast, but I thought Mets third basemen David Wright acted uncharacteristically unsportsmanlike on a play in the first inning of Friday night’s game in Washington.  Nationals leadoff man Nyjer Morgan attempted to steal second base and had no trouble beating the throw of Met catcher Rod Barajas.  With lefty slugger Adam Dunn batting, the Mets were in a pronounced shift, leaving Wright to receive the Barajas throw and apply the belated tag.  As Morgan slid head-first into second, his momentum carried him past the bag.  When he finally skidded to a stop, Morgan’s left foot was all that came in contact with the base.  Wright must have sensed Morgan’s tenuous attachment to the bag.  In a sweeping motion after catching the ball, Wright used his glove (with ball inside) to push the runner’s foot off the base.  Wright made a funny face directed at second base ump Bill Welke as if to suggest Morgan’s foot came off the base on its own.  Welke called the runner out.  Morgan was livid.  Wright’s action was beyond the typical gamesmanship I would think is acceptable.  He basically used force – and a corny contortion of his face – to turn an opponent’s clean stolen base into an out.  Had Alex Rodriguez done the same thing, he would have been heavily criticized. 

7-4-10 0140

The long list of permanent bus and subway service reductions that took effect over the weekend will hurt lots of New Yorkers, but won’t have broad impact on transit riders in my Queens neighborhood.  Yeah, we lose the “V” train, but the V was little more than a slower (local) version of the “F.”  Those hitting the city from an express stop generally ignored the V given the F’s reliability and high cruising speed.       

I can’t speak for those from outside my neighborhood about this indifference to the loss of the V.  I suppose there were local riders who rode it to make short trips in Queens if it happened to be the first one through the tunnel, but it always looked empty to me.  The V never seemed to gain much of an identity for that reason.   Unlike the significant fanfare over the eliminated “W” train linking Astoria to lower Manhattan, there was no ceremony or party for the final day of the V train.  Its last run was Friday night after just eight and a half years in existence.     

What makes the V’s elimination even easier to deal with is the addition of new “M” train service through the heart of Queens including a stop at 74th Street in Jackson Heights.  Until now, the M linked Middle Village, Bushwick and Williamsburg with lower Manhattan.  Its new incarnation retains its existing route and merges it with the now-eliminated V on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.  It becomes the only subway line in New York City to both start and end in Queens. 

An outline of the M line on a map resembles the shape of a pair of salad tongs. 

A ride on the M from one end to the other will be an hour and change.  It’s anything but a speedy link between Queens and Brooklyn but it’s important because Queens gets its first no-transfer train ride to Bushwick, which is shaping up to be the city’s new frontier for the makers of art, music and creatively prepared food.

-Without being cocky, Elena Kagan displayed great confidence, humor and skill answering questions from the likes of Sessions, Grassley and Graham on Tuesday.  Her performance through one full day of questioning stands in sharp contrast to President Obama’s first Supreme Court appointee Sonia Sotomayor.  I believe Sotomayor will prove to be a much stronger counter-balance to the conservative agenda of Roberts/Scalia/Thomas and that’s really all I care about in the end.  But Kagan has been very impressive, very credible in convincing even the most cynical of Republican lawmakers that she’s not much interested in being an activist jurist.  Sotomayor was much more tentative and non-committal in discussing specific cases and issues.  Maybe Kagan’s credible sell as a moderate makes it easier to navigate this process, but whatever the case, she’s coasting as no supreme court nominee has ever coasted since I’ve been watching.        

-As he usually does, my longtime barber Nick was listening to a Greek-language radio station while chopping my locks Tuesday morning.  Late in the haircut, Nick excitedly dashed over to the radio to get his ear near the speaker to hear an announcer who had broken into programming.  I wasn’t sure what was happening, but Nick returned to the barber chair and proclaimed that Japan and Paraguay were going into the penalty kick phase of their scoreless match.  Nick pulled off the apron that had collected my cut hair and said with a thick accent:  “You follow me!  Penalty kicks!”  He whisked the back of my neck with a brush.  I paid him and grabbed my book bag before following Nick to a nearby Greek café.  Nick didn’t enter the café.  He peeked in a window with a view of a large hi-def television.  His face was close to the glass.  It was me and Nick the barber looking through the window of a Greek café with Nick blurting out a running commentary in his native tongue for those passing by.  When it was over, we shook hands and I thanked him for inviting me to his special World Cup viewing spot.            

-The Post has printed a lot of World Cup coverage the last two weeks but doesn’t have a single reporter in South Africa covering the event.  Post soccer writer Brian Lewis is writing stories without a dateline.  Mike Vaccaro did soccer columns this past weekend from LA while covering the Yankees and the rest of the Post coverage has been AP wire copy.  The Post’s primary competitor – the Daily News – had two reporters in South Africa covering the event.  One of them is Fil Bondy who says this has been the costliest World Cup to cover of any.  Bondy returned home after the US exit leaving his colleague Michael Lewis to handle the rest of the tournament.  As you’d expect, the mighty Times has at least a half-dozen staffers writing World Cup match coverage, features and opinion pieces.

6-29-10 1730

You wouldn’t know it from watching and reading the analysis that immediately followed Saturday’s US loss to Ghana, but the 2010 World Cup was not a good one for the stars and stripes.

Enough already with the “future is bright” take that John Harkes tried to dole out as the match ended on ABC.  And spare me the kind of Chris Fowler pat-on-the-back he applied after it was over:  “The US made fans with their fighting spirit,” said Fowler.   
 
The four games played by the US in South Africa were exciting, yeah.  We went 1-1-2.  Ok.  But the final assessment of this Cup should deem Project 2010, Sunil Gulati, Bob Bradley and the round of sixteen exit an unacceptable failure for US soccer.

Let’s clear out Gulati and Bradley before the US National team steps on the field for its friendly here in New York this August.  No longer should we blame development programs, the newness of the sport in the US or a nation’s distraction with the football that scores six points in one play.  We’ve been playing soccer long enough now to beat Ghana and Slovenia.  We’re a big country with lots of beautiful soccer fields and teachers of the sport who emigrate here from all over Europe, Mexico and South America.  We have a professional league that produces great young players who to my eye play at a very high level.  

Give another GM-type and coach a shot at mining and deploying the rich soccer talent in this country.  Gulati deserves tons of credit for laying a fine foundation on the developmental side when the sport was growing up here, but he should be done picking coaches. 

Bradley appears to be a nice guy, but the starting lineup juggling at this Cup showed a lack of conviction.  He also turned a blind eye to the serious injuries that slowed Oguchi Onyewu and Carlos Bocanegra entering the Cup.  Also, why bother adding the red-hot Galaxy goal-scorer Edson Buddle to the roster if you’re barely gonna use him? 

Judging from the comments of two esteemed writers, losing in the first knockout round match isn’t a bad outcome for the US.  Jere Longman of the Times said it “will not be considered a failure.”  SI’s Grant Wahl said it “met expectations.” 

To me, squeaking into a knockout round match against Ghana with a chance to play Uruguay next isn’t something to celebrate unless you reach the semi-finals.  If Longman and Wahl are correct, what’s the expectation for 2014? 

If the goal of Project 2010 was to win the Cup, yet a round-of-sixteen loss somehow meets expectations, I suppose the bar is adjusted as you go.          

-My newly-elected state senator Jose Peralta voted “yes” on legislation legalizing MMA events in New York State.  The bill barely passed the state senate (32-29) and awaits consideration in the state assembly.  Madison Square Garden has helped drive support for removing New York’s prohibition on MMA (ultimate fighting) events given the sport’s ability to fill arenas.  If you haven’t seen a MMA bout, you’re absolutely not missing anything.  It’s a barbaric street-brawl in a cage that has the feel of a cockfight.  New York should retain its ban on ultimate fighting and leave it to states like New Jersey to stage these brutally violent events.       

-Jets punter Steve Weatherford should consider greater familiarity with Facebook’s privacy controls.  His current profile picture on the social-networking web site (available to the general public) shows Weatherford flaunting a firearm in the waistband of his black dress pants.  A tucked-in, form-fitting, white tank-top gives Weatherford a tough guy look.  That’s cool if you’re a buddy of the young man from Indiana.  But I doubt the Jets would love the idea one of their own is flashing heat on a web page that can be seen by the masses.  Nor is it likely the organization would endorse Weatherford’s “likes and interests” which include “driving too fast” and “shooting big guns.”   

6-27-10 0005       

I wandered up and down the West Side of upper Manhattan Thursday with no real agenda other than to get out of the hot apartment on the open day before starting a long run of work shifts.

I jumped on and off buses and trains and mixed in long stretches of walking to go up Broadway from 57th to 175th Street – and then I went back down.  I veered West off Broadway in the 120’s to get a nice look of the Hudson from Riverside Drive. 

Public schools don’t let out for the summer until Monday, but everywhere I turned there were young men and women wearing graduation gowns – walking in the company of proud family members. 

I stopped off at two different farmers markets, both among the network of fifty in the city (operated/organized by Greenmarket) selling fresh, locally-grown produce and fruit.  The one at 175th Street had just a few stands, most of them selling different types of lettuce that had wilted in the midday heat.  The radishes looked good as did the onions, but I decided to pass on purchases until I reached the market near the campus of Columbia University. 

Occupying almost a full city block on Broadway between 114th and 115th, the Columbia farmers market is full-fledged.  It’s not a quarter the size of the Union Square flagship, but there’s plenty of variety.  Flowers, fish, pies, and plenty of produce.  I got a bunch of beautiful, fresh asparagus from the South Jersey farm Lani’s and a pint of strawberries and some early-in-the-season tomatoes from the upstate NY Stannard Farm.          

All of it has a significant freshness and home-grown edge over what I’d get at the regular produce stands all over my neighborhood.  This stuff is picked the day before and trucked to the market in the morning.  You pay a premium of what I’d estimate to be at least 75-percent above the neighborhood produce stand, but the flavor is worth it.   

On the way back downtown, the bus passed the Apple Store at 67th and Broadway.  Barricades outside the store set the boundaries for a long line of people in the hundreds waiting to buy a new telephone.  A lady on the bus shook her head and said:  “By the time they get it, it’ll be outdated already.” 

6-24-10 1815

After running up and down the field for ninety minutes, where did Landon Donovan get the burst of speed to streak up the right sideline to set up and then knock in the decisive rebound goal with time expiring in a must-win against Algeria?

It has to be the weight of all the pressure and criticism he’s carried as torch-bearer of American soccer most his adult life.  Donovan’s legs have built great strength and endurance from a frustrating but determined professional career that’s bounced back and forth between the US and Europe, paying off in the most important of ways on the biggest of all soccer stages.

I’ve been reading Fil Bondy’s new book detailing the cast of characters that comprise the current US Men’s National Team and the Donovan bio gets full treatment.  

Raised in Redlands, CA by a single mother, Donovan played the violin and grew up in a less-than-affluent home.  He was a soccer standout at an early age.  Before even graduating high school, Donovan learned Spanish on the soccer field and got scooped up by a US soccer academy aimed at grooming National team players.  He inked a contract to play in Germany’s elite professional league (Bundesliga) at the age of 17 before ever playing a meaningful adult soccer match in the US. 

None of Donovan’s three stints playing in Germany went well.  His most recent Bundesliga run with Bayern Munich in late 2008 and early 2009 started nicely but generated resentment by the insecure Bayern striker Luca Toni who helped freeze out the American.  Each time Donovan got sent home from Europe, he’d come back to the MLS without expressing much in the way of bitterness.  And each time, he’d dominate the professional league here.  He was stoic.  Bondy says Donovan burned inside with desire to succeed in Europe and saw success overseas as the only way to validate his career.   

That chance came briefly with a nice but abbreviated contribution to Everton in the English Premier League earlier this year.  Still, Donovan’s view of himself (as well as the assessment of this country’s soccer fandom) left open the question of whether he fully realized potential seen from his early days as a prodigy.  Remember, Donovan scored two goals for the US team in the 2002 World Cup at the age of 20.    

Since then, Donovan certainly has not been fully supported and appreciated in this country.  Many soccer fans call him “Landy Cakes” which suggests softness by those who use the nickname.       

His brilliant goal against Slovenia last Friday – and the late-game heroics against Algeria Wednesday – likely put an end to the Landy Cakes nonsense. 

Thanks to Donovan, the US is looking at two winnable matches in the knockout round (and who knows beyond that) after gaining the top seed in group play.  I would hope this 2010 Cup run convinces Donovan that the eight years of professional struggle he endured is payoff for all the frustration that preceded it.   

Back to the Bondy book:  One passage about Donovan’s failures in the Bundesliga is instructional I think about the difficulties France and England have had turning their rosters of dominant world-class players into cohesive and successful teams at the World Cup.  I suppose other sports are the same, but Bondy says the game of soccer can very easily make the greatest players look horribly ineffective depending on how the team is constructed.  “It is a game of shared space, exquisite timing and alternating pace,” said Bondy.  “If one’s own playing rhythms are a poor match with teammates, or a coach’s vision, then failure is certain to follow.”  

-True soccer fans probably weren’t distracted, but I missed most of Ghana/Germany and Australia/Serbia to tune into the unbelievable Mahut/Isner ace-fest marathon at the All England Tennis Club.  ESPN-U picked up Wimbledon while the two Group D matches played out.  Bristol didn’t go out of its way to alert viewers about the beyond-believable tennis history being made, probably because it didn’t want to siphon off any of the soccer audience. 

-The only significant criticism I have of ESPN’s Cup coverage so far is the network’s refusal to clearly lay out precise scenarios for advancement to the knockout round while final matches in group play are being played.  I realize the information is accessible to fans via the web – or in the newspaper – but you’re talking about a more casual soccer audience here in the states.  Tell us precisely what the teams we’re watching need to do to advance.  On Tuesday, Martin Tyler called Mexico/Uruguay and had no idea Mexico was safe with a one-nil loss.  Somebody finally informed him near the end of the match that Mexico’s goal differential was solid relative to South Africa, but there should be no confusion as two matches are played at the same time.  Update the other match’s score frequently and post a near-continuous graphic that shows what each country needs to advance.  Otherwise, you’re watching in the abstract.  All it takes is a graphical nudge to put you in the real world.  It’s a lot more exciting that way.   

-The Seinfeld TV booth visit during Wednesday’s Met game will get exhaustive coverage, so I’ll just mention one nugget.  Seinfeld said his fandom goes all the way back to ’67 but he lists the 2006 Endy grab as his all-time favorite Met memory.  Seinfeld says he owns the prized baseball caught by Chavez in the sixth inning of game seven of that NLCS loss to the Cardinals but neither Gary Cohen nor Keith Hernandez bothered to ask him how he came to possess it. 

6-23-10 2245

A few loose ends from the Cleveland trip:

I forgot to mention in the recap last week that the Indians still use the “Chief Wahoo” (pictured above) character as the main symbol of the organization.  It appears prominently on the front of the primary road and home cap worn by players, and it’s displayed in the form of a shoulder patch on the home and road jersey. 

Chief Wahoo is all over the ballpark, too.  Flags carrying the cartoonish depiction of a Native American flutter high atop the ballpark.  Fans wear t-shirts bearing the symbol. 

I guess I hadn’t been paying attention, but when I attended the Indians game last Tuesday, I was surprised to see Chief Wahoo still existed as the front-and-center symbol of Cleveland’s ballclub. 

I had assumed passage of time would yield consensus that Chief Wahoo is an offensive and outdated representation of a disrespected minority group.    

Chief Wahoo became a symbol of the Indians baseball team in 1947.  More than sixty years later, it’s still alive and well.

Many athletic teams use the names of individual Indian tribes and have associated symbols that respect the history and culture of that entity.  Chief Wahoo doesn’t fall into that category.  It makes the Indian look like a foolish goof. 

I suppose Chief Wahoo’s continuing prominence means there’s ongoing acceptance by the Cleveland community and minimal backlash from those who pressure on such matters.  I guess I’m surprised baseball commissioner Bud Selig hasn’t intervened using his broad best-interests-of-the-game powers. 

-The gates behind the outfield at Progressive Field opened at 4:30 PM for the two 7:05 PM games I attended.  A few hundred fans were there for the early entrance.  We were restricted to the right field seats until 6 PM.  At that time, the rest of the ballpark became accessible.  What was nice about getting in so early was the ability to watch the batting practice sessions of both teams. 

-I mentioned the young ball-hawk Zack Hample in a post here a month ago, and wouldn’t you know it, he was in Cleveland.  He wore a baseball glove, a Met hat and a knapsack.  Hample positioned himself in various parts of the outfield seats during BP depending on who was batting.  He scooped up several baseballs that bounced into the seats and placed them in a nylon sack attached to his back.  Hample was zealous in his pursuit of baseballs but didn’t appear to use size or brawn to his advantage as he contended with younger fans for souvenirs. 

-I wore my Heilman jersey and was on the receiving end of several wisecracks.  One Met fan approached and said:  “You must be a relative.”

6-22-10 0145

The sharp reaction by many US soccer fans to the disallowed goal against Slovenia was predictable.  It was a “we wuz robbed” tabloid-like response backed with all sorts of nasty rhetoric aimed at the yellow-shirted African ref Koman Coulibaly.   

Did he blow the call?  Coulibaly has yet to explain what he saw in advance of the Maurice Edu punch-in at 85 minutes that would have given Uncle Sam a 3-2 lead.  Specifics on Coulibaly's thinking  are expected on Monday.  Until then, you’re getting little but hot-air claims of robbery and/or incompetence from a country quick to overlook the flawed game its team played before the controversial judgment by Coulibaly.   

Jere Longman covered the match for the Times and said it’s possible Coulibaly didn’t explain himself on the field (immediately after the foul call or after the game) because of a “language barrier.”  Coulibaly’s home country is Mali and French is the dominant language.

ESPN replays of the sequence show all sorts of shoving by both teams before US midfielder Landon Donovan launched his short free kick.  A widely-published Reuters photo with a wide-angle view of pre-kick grappling reveals US defender Carlos Bocanegra with a tight grip around the waist of Slovenia’s Nejc Pecnik.  The same photo shows Slovenian players doing much the same type of physical restraint on US players. 

My brother believes Coulibaly was looking to make a foul call on the free kick after second-guessing himself for the whistle he blew when an American was apprehended just outside the box on the play before. 

Fil Bondy of the News believes Coulibaly may have been focusing on a space-clearing shove by American Clint Dempsey on Andraz Kirm prior to the Donovan free kick.  Bondy says the shove didn’t merit a foul call, but he pointed out that Dempsey got away with a flagrant elbow to an opponent’s head at the start of the same contest.  It was a play that could have yielded a red card and a one-man shortage for the US the balance of the match.

I say enough with the griping from US fans, players and coach.  The US simply needs to beat Algeria Wednesday to move on.  Between now and then, that should be the focus.         

-Jerry Seinfeld will do at least three innings of commentary during SNY’s television broadcast of this Wednesday’s Met game against Detroit.  Seinfeld will sit in the booth with analyst Keith Hernandez and play-by-play man Gary Cohen.  Ideally, Cohen would excuse himself from the proceedings to give Keith and Jerry comedic isolation.  Word is Cohen will stay, however.  Listeners of the Steve Somers radio program on WFAN have been treated to Seinfeld’s take on baseball several times in recent years.  Seinfeld is a frequent caller to the Somers show and is as funny in that setting as he was on the long-running TV program bearing his name.  Given Hernandez’s unpredictable candor, a live booth stint with Seinfeld on Wednesday should produce great television. 

-The Queens Democratic Party machine has again improperly flexed its muscle to give one of its hand-picked state legislative candidates an unobstructed path to office.  Francisco Moya got the machine’s blessing before even mounting a real public campaign for the open state assembly seat that represents my Queens neighborhood.  Once the machine stamped Moya with its endorsement, Democratic Party opponent Bryan Pu-Folkes dropped out of the race a week later.  In both New York City and New York State, contested primaries are rare.  Pu-Folkes was a legitimate candidate who knew he was toast when the machine intervened.  In the interest of good government, party machines (formally established or not) should recognize primaries with more than one candidate best serve the public.  A contested campaign is really the only way people can learn about their elected representatives in advance, especially at the local level.  Since much of NYC elects Democrats exclusively, it’s critical more than one be allowed to run for the same office without the party stacking the deck.  In the case of Moya, he’ll now be able to walk into the state legislature without having been subject to a full examination by his constituents.                    

6-20-10 0145

Back from 48 hours in Cleveland to see the Mets win the first two games of a three-game interleague set with the Tribe. 

I bought a ten-dollar ticket each night and slipped down into the box seats at what's now called Progressive Field.  The Indians stink and the city they play in has been walloped with job losses and a huge population decline.  At the rate things are going, it's hard to imagine the storied Cleveland baseball franchise will survive in this city forever.  One high-rise office building just beyond the ballpark's center-field backdrop is completely vacant.  The city's center has an eerie, depressing and empty feel when it gets dark.   A ride on the public rail line connecting the airport to downtown passes by dozens of abandoned manufacturing operations. 

I was last in Cleveland in 1995 with my Dad and brothers for a White Sox/Indians game.  The time elapsed between visits makes Cleveland's current full-on display of urban decline striking.  It's Detroit.  It's white flight.  It's NAFTA.  It's seriously messed up.    
 
I stayed in room 216 of the Holiday Inn out by the airport.  I mention the room number only because it happens to be the primary area code for the city of Cleveland. 

The two wins I witnessed against the Tribe were my first two Met games in person all season.  I have yet to visit Citi Field in 2010.  The 8-4 Met win on Wednesday night makes it ten victories in the last eleven games and 17 in the last 22. 

This Met season started badly but seemed to turn after a crazy 20-inning win in St. Louis in mid-April.  The call-up of rookie first baseman Ike Davis (pictured above) two days later also seemed to inject energy into both the lineup and the fan base.  In the two games I was present for in Cleveland, Ike had two doubles and a home run.  The 23-year-old left-handed batter strikes out a lot, but he has a great glove and serious power.  The Indians put an extreme infield shift on Ike the last two nights, but that's a mistake.  Ike can hit the fastball to all fields.  

  
Jose Reyes looks to be his old self after a long, frustrating time on the shelf.  He's now wearing a smile on face and has zip in his step.  I noticed last night that Reyes spent much of his idle time in the field flexing his hamstrings.  He seemed fidgety but focused.   As the Met leadoff man goes, so goes the Mets.  When Reyes (pictured above) scores a run in games this season, the Mets are 24-6.  

The crowds were small.  14,246 on Wednesday and 12,882 on Tuesday.  Met fans made up roughly half the gate on both nights.  The "super" bratwurst sold at the stand below the left field bleachers was excellent.  I had one each night. 

After the Tuesday night game, I convinced the Heckler and his buddy to join me at Edison's Pub in the nearby Tremont neighborhood.  Edison's emerged in my internet research of Cleveland's nightlife.  Google Maps put the walking distance at 1.1 miles from the ballpark.  As a backup to the printed directions, I used the navigation aid on my cell phone.

Turns out getting to Edison's was an adventure.  At about the half-mile mark on our trek, we found ourselves alone and lost in the parking lot of a crumbling warehouse.  My navigation device was as lost as we were.  The Heckler broke the nervous silence with a West Side Story reference.  "The Jets and the Sharks seem not too far off," he said. 

The lights from Progressive Field served as our beacon of reference.  We decided to follow the lights wherever they took us.  At one point, we had to climb through a hole in a chain link fence to access a path back to downtown.  After blowing a solid hour getting lost, we jumped in a cab and reached Edison's.  It was worth the effort.  An adjoining pizza kitchen made excellent slices and the bar was a great neighborhood joint with a much better vibe than the standard ballpark pub.      

I asked a lot of Clevelanders whether they thought Lebron would re-sign with the Cavs.  I'd characterize the consensus feeling among the natives to be a combination of hope and apprehension.  As you'd expect, fans here really want Lebron to remain a Cav, but there's no great confidence he'll stay.   Tuesday's news that Tom Izzo passed on the Cavs coaching vacancy seemed to stir even greater concern that Lebron is eyeing relocation.  

I'm not sure why Lebron would want to stay in this dying rust belt city, really.  His commute to Quicken Loans Arena for Cavs home games must surely take him past the many depressing symbols of a metropolis that's seen better days.  I realize his ties to nearby Akron run deep but beyond that it's hard to get a feel for what makes him tick.  It's hard to believe he doesn't already know where he'll end up.  If winning a championship is priority number one, he'd go to Chicago.  The Knicks have few quality players to surround him with, but Lebron's love of the Garden buzz is strong.   The fact Lebron has offered so few hints to date may suggest he's looking beyond the Bulls, Cavs and Knicks.  I view the Izzo development as a strong sign Lebron has already nixed the Cavs.  I feel bad for their fans should that happen.  

6-17-10 1415

I doubt he’ll do it, but the President should set aside 60 seconds of his prime-time BP speech tonight to alert the Facebook crowd that their big boycott of BP service stations is a misguided waste of foot-stomping. 

Same goes for the fools throwing water-balloons full of brown paint at the BP signs at stations here in Queens and in Manhattan. 

The sight of brown streaks defacing the distinctive BP logo probably feels good for those seeking an outlet to channel anger and frustration about the Gulf’s contamination, but we’re now finding out people who own BP stations have little linkage with the corporate giant behind the gusher.

Several recent television and print stories have revealed that BP has almost nothing to do with the service stations bearing the BP name.  BP doesn’t own the stations and in many instances, it doesn’t even supply or produce the gasoline that’s sold there.  The revenue derived from the franchises bearing its name is said to be beyond miniscule relative to BP’s massive extraction and refining business.  

True Moms and Pops are getting boycotted simply because they chose to align their pumps with a brand name that had pull until the current fiasco.     

Times columnist Ron Lieber noted that even Greenpeace is having none of the BP station boycott because BP-produced fuel is sold at so many other places selling gas.  Lieber said an examination of the boycott has produced “uncomfortable truths” showing that BP gas is sold at many of the retailers touted as alternatives by the boycotters.  He says those wanting to express outrage should use less fuel.  “Those who wish to inflict the maximum amount of pain on (BP) are instead putting much of the hurt on the family businesses that actually own the stations,” said Lieber.     

-One aspect of this BP madness seems pretty straightforward.  There’s no way BP can pay its shareholders a dividend for the pending quarter  - or for any future quarter – until the oil stops – and until there’s some sense the business can meet all of its financial obligations connected to the spill under the worst-case scenario.  Dividend payments are akin to Christmas bonuses.  You can’t send dividend checks to those owning BP stock while shrimpers get a flat two-grand per month to keep their boats on the dock. 

6-15-10 0005

“(Robert Green) may not wanna go home,” said ESPN’s Chris Fowler at halftime on ABC’s US/England broadcast.  Green, England’s netminder, blew what should have been an easy save on a Clint Dempsey shot a few minutes before the halftime intermission.  The ball was launched from 25-yards or so and didn’t have much mustard on it.  Green got both hands on the low shot that bounced twice before it reached him.  It may have been the second bounce that fooled Green as he lost it to his right.  It rolled slowly behind him over the goal line.  Since Green’s right knee was planted on the turf when the ball rolled away, he was unable to dive or scramble quick enough to stop it. 

The half-second that elapsed between the moment it left Green’s hands to when it crossed the goal line had to be an excruciating feeling for England’s players and fans. 

The goal’s significance was magnified because the game ended in a one-one draw.  England was expected to win. 
 
After the match, Green offered no excuse – or explanation – for how he lost the handle on Dempsey’s shot.  The brilliant US goalkeeper Tim Howard said it’s possible the new Adidas soccer ball (the Jabulani) being used for the first time in this World Cup might explain Green’s difficulty on the play.  Some keepers have said the new ball makes unpredictable movements.  Even Landon Donovan suggested the ball may have been to blame for Green’s momentary struggle.    

Or maybe those goofy, padded gloves Green wore are too cumbersome for handling a low shot? 

Who knows?  Watching on TV, it looked like the softest of soft goals.  From Green’s perspective, maybe it was a more difficult shot to handle than it appeared.  The moral of the story for this World Cup may be that those with possession should take shots from inside 40 yards if there’s a clear path to the net.  Don’t always think pass first.  Take the shot.  Especially with this new soccer ball.  Take the shot.  Maybe it’ll go in. 

Going back to Fowler’s halftime comment about Green:  I’d rather not hear American broadcasters fueling the notion that players from passionate soccer countries who make bad mistakes face dire life consequences upon return home. 

Yes, the Columbian defender Andres Escobar was killed in 1994 after an own-goal in a World Cup match that same year.  But Fowler’s smirk while predicting a negative reception for Green in his homeland after this tournament serves only to legitimize irrational reactions or thoughts of some fans who take sporting outcomes way too seriously.

Fowler may not have intended for what he said to come out as it did.  But to me, it sounded like an insensitive Fowler took delight in the idea Green may have a hard time going back to England.           

His observation may contain truth, but athletes fail as much as they succeed.  Those who watch this beautiful game should not suggest retribution or harsh treatment awaits players who fail.  Rather, failure should be put in proper context.  It happens.  

6-13-10 0135 

Bettors playing Saturday’s much anticipated England/USA World Cup match are taking a strong position against a Stars and Stripes victory.  At plus-550, an American win is solidly viewed as an unlikely result by the people who may know best. 

Home soil coverage of the USMNT going into World Cup 2010 has been highly over-optimistic about the current squad.  Much of it comes from a somewhat deceiving run at the 2009 Confederations Cup which included a thrilling shutout of Spain in the semi-final round. 

Overlooked in the interim is what feels like a bad case of denial as it relates to Oguchi Onyewu, the most important US defender.  “Gooch,” as he’s known, is a major physical presence capable of protecting a US goal manned by perhaps the best keeper in the world right now (Tim Howard).  Problem is, Onyewu is seven months removed from major knee surgery.  He only stepped back onto the field for competitive play two weeks ago, and looked to have a distinct limp during the few times he went all out.  His head coach Bob Bradley insists Gooch is ready to play 90 minutes, but it’s clear the hulking defender is in anything but world class shape. 

Additionally, an ankle twist put top US scorer Jozy Altidore on the shelf for much of the last week.     

What I’m afraid of Saturday is a game plan that has the US eyeing the safe haven of a low-scoring game to protect their crucial goal differential number which will determine whether it advances out of group play. 

The powerful England squad will relish facing a US team playing on their heels and will fire lots of rockets.  I’m assuming at least a negative-two for the US entering their crucial, pressure-packed second match a week from today against Slovenia.  By that time, the media’s coverage will have caught up with team USA’s deficiencies.  Advancement from group play will be on the line against the Slovenes.  Barring a sudden, new revelation from US personnel on their own end of the field, I believe Uncle Sam can book the long trip home before knockouts start.

6-11-10 0005

I went down to Brooklyn on the off day Wednesday to visit the pie-making sisters at Four and Twenty Blackbirds. 

What a great place.

After a forty-minute ride on the F train, and a two block walk to the pie shop on a quiet corner, I ordered a slice of the rhubarb ($4.50) and a cup of coffee ($2.00).  The chunky barb filling was more greenish than red in color and super flavorful.  There was a cinnamon hint but sister mystery beyond.  A sweet, baked-on glaze atop the strips of Gowanus-baked dough held the pie’s ceiling in place.  A spoonful of sweet, thick cream made it a la mode.  Sips from the pungent, organic house blend brewed with beans “farm roasted upstate” was a perfect complement to the near-crunchy sweet/sour chunks that fell out of the generous serving of four-star pie.  

Behind the counter, one of two Elsen sisters (originally from Hecla, SD) made pie.  The other assisted a third worker fielding orders.  The entire operation is in full view of the customer.  
 
About eight occupied tables tightly arranged on the wood floor in the warm space on Third Avenue at Eighth Street made me want to stay, but for what?  Another slice of pie would be over-doing it.    

I ordered two rhubarb slices to take home.  Just one remained.  The cheerful non-sister worker shoveled the lone remaining serving into a recycled cardboard container shaped like a hamburger box.  I put it in my book bag and was on my way.  I’ll be back for sure.  Next time I’ll try another flavor.  Or maybe I’ll get there for breakfast. 

A big TSR round of applause to the Elsen sisters for constructing a unique and inviting business on an out-of-the-way Brooklyn corner.  I wish them success…

6-9-10 2245

One of the nicest guys I’ve ever met died in Melbourne, FL Monday.  Perpetually and naturally positive 54-year-old sportswriter Mike Cherry is gone way too soon and leaves a really cool wife and a kid just three years old.   

Maybe the meanest of all mean diseases – cancer – and the treatments that went with it - took him out.   

I found out early Tuesday through a Facebook update which pointed the way to a brutally sad accounting of his health battle on his wife’s blog.  Her web site launched before Mike got sick and endeavored to inform family and friends about the beautiful life she and Mike were making with their newborn daughter.  The blog entries capture many intensely personal ups and downs.  There’s one especially upsetting entry chronicling the difficulty of gaining permission for a chemo treatment from the health insurance plan they’re covered under by the decent-sized newspaper they work for on Florida's East coast. 

Mike’s three-year-old little girl loses so much here.  That’s obvious.  But plenty of people will tell her down the road how her Dad approached life – how he was so nice, so smart, so good at his job, so principled, so fun-loving.

I got to know Mike from my West Virginia days.  We’d be part of a large group of journalists who’d gather at a windowless tavern near the state capitol late at night to talk about the day’s news and sports.   Mike would tell me which high school gyms to hit during hoops season.  His recommendations were never based on the hottest matchup, rather they aimed to expose me to the small schools with the most spirit and unique atmospheres.  When I moved to New York, I’d meet up with him at the Blarney Rock near the Garden after he filed Big East tourney stories.

I lost touch with Mike after he moved to Florida and I had no idea he was sick.  I should have.  As I stayed up late this morning reading his wife’s picture-filled blog, my whole being ached from the tales of such a dramatic and humble struggle lost.  I really hope his wife and daughter can find strength as days go by without him. 

6-8-10 2325

Lots of analysts appearing on CNBC the last few weeks have been saying with a straight face that BP stock is a “buy.”  Down 40-percent from where it was when the BP well began contaminating the gulf, the guests with investing advice say BP’s battered stock price already fully “prices in” the corporation’s financial obligations related to the spill.

Several of the analysts used the phrase “oversold” when referencing the BP stock price. 

Its shares were trading at about 36 bucks on the NYSE when the bell closed the Monday session.    

These guys on TV are smart, I’m sure.  They study many different measurements publicly disclosed by BP related to the corporate giant’s financial performance and they likely apply well-informed assumptions about BP’s exposure to damages going forward. 

BP has massive reach.  It extracts what is really the people’s energy from all over the earth and feeds it to oil-thirsty developed countries at a big markup.  I guess I shouldn’t doubt BP’s ability to overcome the current crisis by virtue of its too-big and too-powerful-to-fail status, but man, it doesn’t sound right to hear investment guys calling BP a “buy” at the moment. 

Wait until the leak stops.  And then wait for clarity about the full impact of all that escaped oil before telling people to buy BP at 36 bucks a share.      

I’m not making the “it’s immoral to add BP stock to your portfolio” argument.  To me, the stock market is a long list of betting propositions.  I’d bet against my favorite team if I knew they were gonna lose.  I’m simply saying it’s hard to believe and it’s hard to justify the notion that BP’s stock price is a bargain right now.  It should lose more value.  Shareholders should sweat pretty good before (and if) it rebounds.    

-The BP spill coverage on TV and in the newspapers has been pretty extensive, but I find myself wanting much more examination of the government-approved use of chemical dispersants.  University of Georgia marine scientist Samantha Joye appeared on the Maddow program Monday night after compiling on-the-scene research about dispersant usage.  Joye said the chemicals make it “impossible” to clean up the oil because it breaks an otherwise thick and recoverable substance into “millions of little particles.”  She added that the environmental effects of the chemicals used are “unknown.”  Various reports citing the EPA as the source say more than a million gallons of chemical dispersants have been used on the BP spill to date.   

6-8-10 0145

The five-hour ESPN portion (noon to five) of the Belmont Stakes day telecast included at least twenty plays of the same commercial pushing the November Breeder’s Cup.  In the 3 PM hour, the spot ran three times in the span of three minutes.  Footage from Zenyatta’s thrilling win in the ’09 Classic is the foundation of the 30-second spot, which is cool – and I realize selling advertising for the broadcast of a lackluster Belmont card must be tough, but how could ESPN pummel its viewers with such repetition? 

Other ups and downs from what was a seven-hour shared broadcast by ESPN/ABC on Belmont Day:

-As is annual tradition, ESPN/ABC went out of its way to push the notion that New Yorkers are prone to say “fuhgedaboutit” and like to “chomp” on cigars.  At one point, Joe Tessitore went the other way with his stereotyping of the Belmont crowd by suggesting New York fans are more inclined to read the Racing Form than those who attend the Derby or Preakness. 

-Backed by deceptive crowd shots focusing on the track apron, Tessitore repeatedly said the Belmont crowd was “huge.”  Never did he attach an official attendance figure – or even an estimate to his observation.  NYRA put attendance at 45,243.  That’s hardly “huge.”       

-As you’d expect from two of the best, Tom Rinaldi and Steve Cyphers made nice contributions to the telecast even though the race track may be a bit out of their element.  Rinaldi had interesting features on jockey Jamie Theriot and the late trainer Alan Seewald.  Cyphers cut to the chase for his scene-setters and one-on-ones. 

-There was extensive and interesting debate throughout the day about whether the Triple Crown format should be changed.  Analyst Randy Moss suggested greater spacing between the three races.  He proposed moving the Preakness to Memorial Day weekend and the Belmont to Fourth of July weekend.  The current format puts two weeks between the Derby and Preakness and three weeks between the Preakness and Belmont.  The Moss proposal makes it four and five weeks in between respectively.  Moss doesn’t believe winning a triple crown would be “easier” under his calendar because he believes it would increase participation among the sport’s three-year-old stars.  The thoughtful former jockey Jerry Bailey has a plan of his own.  He would keep the Triple Crown schedule as is, but would limit the number of Kentucky Derby starters to 14 to reduce the number of fluky winners we sometimes get from the bulky 20-horse field.  Bailey also believes the implementation of a rich Triple Crown bonus program would increase the likelihood of more concerted Triple Crown focus by those who train three-year-olds.  Personally, I agree with trainer Nick Zito who says the Crown should retain its grueling schedule.  “Sports is supposed to be tough,” said Zito. 

-ESPN’s resident jokester Kenny Mayne narrated a ridiculous Martin Garcia sketch that wouldn’t have passed muster on most public access channels.  It was that ill-conceived. 

-Moss spent a good portion of the afternoon breaking down the race on a computer touch screen that appeared fun to use but was of little help to the viewer. 

-Belmont track announcer Tom Durkin’s call of the race was the one used on TV – and unfortunately he blew the description of the race’s stretch drive.  Durkin failed to pick up on the late move by Drosselmeyer, the race’s eventual winner.  The fan processing sound and picture at home wasn’t able to makes heads or tails of the race’s crucial moments.  Nobody feels worse about this than Durkin, I’m sure.  He very rarely loses his way.  What was painful about this Durkin call on a big stage was his prolonged period of puzzlement fought with really desperate stabs in the dark.  One thing you can count on:  Durkin will be asked about this and he will explain the best he can how it happened.           

It’s uncertain whether the Belmont will return to ABC next year.  All three jewels of the Triple Crown are on expiring contracts.  There’s been talk among the three race tracks hosting Crown races that they may join forces and seek a television deal that treats the Crown as a package.       

-Francesa did his show from Belmont Friday and among his guests was the producer of the forthcoming motion picture about Secretariat.  Francesa gave the guy a free, fifteen-minute commercial for the flick.  It turned comical when movie producer Mike Ciardi told Francesa that actress Diane Lane plays the part of Secretariat’s owner Penny Chenery.  In a serious voice, Francesa offered the highest of praise for Lane.  “She’s one of the great actresses, I think, in cinema.”  Really, Mike?  Diane Lane? 

-Also appearing on Francesa’s show Friday was the Daily Racing Form’s Steve Crist.  The DRF publisher and columnist said he believes New York will have the best and richest racing in the country in five years’ time.  A slots parlor at Aqueduct stymied for almost a decade could be in place by next year, says Crist.  It’s expected to pump a million bucks a day into New York racing.  Crist also said he believes use of synthetic surfaces at US race tracks will be a “historical blip” as time goes on.                

6-6-10 0130