The world according to Jim:
• Question of the week: Which has caused the most furor from coast to coast – a) the Dodgers’ spending decisions; or b) the Kansas City Chiefs’ supposed cozy relationship with the NFL’s game officials? …
(There is a third answer: c) railing against each is a waste of breath and energy.) …
• And while we are talking about the Dodgers – the gift that keeps on giving for not only their fans but sports opinion merchants (i.e., the engagement farming industry) throughout North America – we have this from Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner, who in an interview with YES, the Yankee-owned cable network, allowed, “It’s difficult for most of us owners to be able to do the kind of things that they’re doing.” …
• I have to think that his late father would have some things to say about that statement, none of them complimentary.
George Steinbrenner presided over baseball’s original Evil Empire – that nickname was coined by then-Boston Red Sox president Larry Lucchino during the 2002 offseason – and The Boss had a simple philosophy: Do what you have to do, and spend what you have to spend, to win. I’d like to think he would have slapped his son upside the head for whining. (I’d also suggest that he wouldn’t have allowed the Mets to outbid him for Juan Soto.) …
• And this, too, from Hal Steinbrenner in that YES segment, regarding the most recent World Series, which the Dodgers happened to clinch in Game 5 at Yankee Stadium in memorable fashion:
“(The) Dodgers were not better than us. They played better than us. … I know we’re way better than we showed in that last series. We’re gonna be better defensively this time around, if we make it. I believe if we make it, we’ll get the job done, but we’ve got to play our best game when you’re playing a team like the Dodgers.” …
• Meanwhile, there’s a very popular (among Dodger fans, anyway) car decal recreating the Fox scorebox as the Game 5 rally began – top of the fifth, Yankees leading 5-0, two out, bases loaded, 1-0 count on Mookie Betts, right before that grounder where Gerrit Cole failed to cover first base. Maybe someone should send one to Hal Steinbrenner. …
• So which is more impressive: Coming back from a 5-0 deficit in baseball or from trailing 28-3 in football?
I’m sure New England Patriots fans will have an opinion. They don’t have much else to talk about right now. …
• Sonoma State, citing budget issues, announced last week that it would discontinue intercollegiate athletics. The Rohnert Park campus competes in the Division II California Collegiate Athletic Association, or at least will for the balance of the school year. And in the aftermath of the decision, athletes, coaches and others who care are gearing up to fight for the survival of their programs. …
• If you recall, UC Riverside threatened to wipe out its athletic program four years ago, while pondering its own budget shortfall in the aftermath of COVID-19. But a round of belt-tightening – severe belt-tightening, to be sure – helped save the program.
Getting rid of athletics completely seems like the nuclear option, nearly unthinkable. But once one school does so, will others consider it more seriously? And would that be specifically so in a new era of college athletics where athletes now can legally share in the profits and the big schools continue to separate themselves from everyone else? …
• In the meantime, this story matters in Southern California for this reason: Of the 220-some Sonoma State athletes who compete in baseball, soccer, golf and basketball on the men’s side and volleyball, basketball, softball, cross country, track and soccer on the women’s side, 40 hail from L.A., Orange and western Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Will there be spots available for them elsewhere? …
• Item: NBA veteran Terry Rozier, now with the Miami Heat, is the subject of an investigation in a federal gambling probe, as originally reported Thursday by the Wall Street Journal, amid suspicions that he manipulated his performance during a March 2023 game for Charlotte against New Orleans. There was, allegedly, unusual betting activity on prop bets involving Rozier, and authorities are looking at whether some of those bettors involved in the Jontay Porter scandal had inside information here as well. Porter, you might recall, was banned from the NBA last summer and subsequently pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy crime.
Comment: I’ve been very queasy about the recent marriage of convenience between professional sports and the gambling industry, seen not only in the ads for FanDuel, ESPN Bet and the like, but the incessant reminders on game telecasts of potential prop bets and odds.
And when you devote a large chunk of your game presentation to the myriad ways people can wager on the outcome, should it really be a surprise that even highly paid athletes, fueled by their competitive instincts, decide that what used to be the third rail of sports – do not bet – feels more like a suggestion than a prohibition? …
• A suggestion, for those involved in TV, and particularly college basketball telecasts for some reason: Way too often, the commentary gets swallowed up by the crowd noise. To those wearing the headsets: Talk louder. To those in the truck: Mix the sound levels better.
jalexander@scng.com