Category: Sports

Next year marks the inaugural World Baseball Classic, an event that organizers hope might some day grow into the counterpart of soccer’s World Cup. It will be an 18-day tournament in March featuring 16 teams from North and Latin America, Asia, Europe, Australia and Africa. The games will be played in Tokyo, Puerto Rico, Florida (Walt Disney World), Arizona and California.

It could not have happened without the cooperation of Major League Baseball. As a result, many of the biggest MLB names, such as Bobby Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr., will participate.

However, the most pre-eminent name in the annals of international baseball – Cuba — will be absent. That’s because the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control denied MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association the permits required for a Cuban team to travel here to participate. It’s a function of the Bush Administration’s ever-tightening trade and travel sanctions on Havana.

It’s also a function of lobbying by the usual one-trick pony South Florida politicians, such as Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, who want all Cuban screws tightened until Fidel Castro finally does the right thing and dies. For now, however, the Administration will remain tethered to a counterproductive Cold War policy that is as much at variance with sensible trade polices as it is with basic, humane practices.

An interesting aside to the World Baseball Classic is its possible impact on future Olympic bids by U.S. cities.

“This will impact IOC (International Olympic Committee) members negatively,” points out Peter Ueberroth, the U.S. Olympic Committee chairman. “This may be the only example of a country prohibiting competition on an international scale.”

In baseball parlance, it’s called a Bush League move. It’s also another low for a country that ought to be above this sort of vindictive, arrogant action that helps no one. Especially – and ironically – the U.S., which can ill afford any more geo-political black eyes.

Ten years ago there was no football team at USF. In a couple of weeks, the Bulls will be in a bowl game.

Granted, it’s the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, N.C., and not the BCS Sugar Bowl in Atlanta that had loomed a fortnight ago. And, yeah, Head Coach Jim Leavitt didn’t look ready for prime time with his poorly-timed brain cramps that cost the Bulls that embarrassing loss to Connecticut and a national TV show-down game with West Virginia.

But it is what it is. No football program in the country has ever come this far, this fast. And to be disappointed about a consolation prize – because you’re not going to a BCS Bowl in your fifth year of Division 1-A play — is itself a testimonial to ambition, lofty goals and the big time.

The feel-good feeling feels fine, thank you.

For those keeping score, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are still pitching shutouts. Still undefeated in the off-season. Still scoring PR coups during football and hockey season.

Even Devil Rays’ press conferences are upgrades. The most recent one, the well-orchestrated announcing of Joe Maddon as manager, had a nice buffet spread — with no side orders of Naimoli. The principals – President Matt Silverman, Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman, Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations Gerry Hunsicker and Maddon – were accessible, affable and lingered late. No one wore a Hawaiian shirt or a disingenuous expression.

The message: We are big league, and we will act like it. Neat concept.

Maddon, 51, was as billed: the quintessential, new-age field boss for the “Moneyball” generation of Major League Baseball executives. College educated, computer literate, podium savvy. Upbeat and personable. Known as a “player’s coach” when he was with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Also known as a numbers guy.

Friedman saw a lot of them first-hand. At the first interview. That’s when Maddon strode in with a thick binder of Rays’ statistical information. The executive veep was impressed.

“He’s extremely prepared,” understated Friedman. “And there’s also a willingness to embrace new ideas. We liked his enthusiasm for the game; we liked his scouting and player-development background; we liked his communication skills. He has the full skill set.”

A sense of humor was in evidence as was a familiarity with the mainstream culture that spawns all of today’s players.

“Well, they say 50 is the new 30,” Maddon noted drolly. “I have no problem relating to younger players. I like ’em. I get involved in their culture a little bit. It’s fun. I think you can separate business from having a good time. Interpersonal relationships matter. You need that balance. There’s enough pressure from the outside world. We don’t need to apply any more.”

He even managed to look credible and sound serious while sporting that goofy mismatched ensemble required of all new managers: baseball cap plus uniform jersey incongruously draped over a dress shirt and tie.

He put into context his well-publicized utilization of computers. “It’s a tool,” he explained. “I like numbers, but I also like instincts. I think with my brain, my heart and my gut.”

Maddon also made it clear that fundamentals were not a part of the game to be relegated to spring training. He underscored “situational hitting and situational base running.”

He then put the consummate competitor’s spin on much-maligned Tropicana Field.

“Well, it’s unique,” he said diplomatically. “But it can be a home-field advantage. You can take advantage of the nuances of a ballpark. I’d like to make it into a (deafening) pit for visiting teams. A place where people hate to come here to play.”

Maddon was candid on Rays’ shortcomings and complimentary on what he personally saw of them last year. The Rays beat the division-winning Angels five out of nine in 2005.

“The pitching needs to be improved upon,” he said, “and the defense definitely needs to be improved upon.” He’s also a “big bullpen guy,” he emphasized. “You need four functional guys out there you can pitch when you’re even or ahead.”

For those reading between the lines, this is further confirmation that the Rays will not be in the free-agent hunt for any pricey starting pitchers. It also shows that Maddon and Hunsicker, the general manager in all but title, are on the same page.

“The fastest way to improve your pitching staff is through your bullpen,” asserted Hunsicker. “If you can own the last three innings, you’re on your way to dramatically improving your team.”

Maddon lauded the Rays for “a great group of young, offensive players. The nucleus is great.” He said they were “tough to play against” and nobody in pennant contention, including the Angels, “wanted to see those guys.”

And now “those guys” are his guys.

Three years ago Vince Naimoli brought in Lou Piniella. However accomplished and popular, Piniella wasn’t the right guy in the right situation. Probably no one would have been. It was called the return of the native.

Now the Rays are “Under Construction.” Business acumen, marketing smarts and public relations savvy are in. As is a 10-20% hike in payroll. League-wide credibility has ratcheted up with new principal owner Stuart Sternberg and the recent addition of Hunsicker, a well-regarded baseball insider.

Now the Rays of Sternberg have added Joe Maddon, who comes with the highest of recommendations from his Angels’ tenure that included the better part of a decade as bench coach. The Angels reached the playoffs in three of the past four seasons and won the 2002 World Series. Credibility begets more credibility.

Call it an early return on investment.

USF’s football season could turn out to be special. If it does, here’s hoping the home town media coverage will be commensurate with the success.

To date, USF still gets short-shrifted on game day when other state programs of note are also playing. The time, frankly, has passed for treating USF as a novelty act overtaken by events – as a lesser priority than the more tradition-laden campuses: notably Gainesville and Tallahassee. For example, how many more over-hyped “Bowden Bowls” will there be?

Go Bulls.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays continue to make all the right moves. On the marketing front, they’re pitching a shutout: from free parking, a liberal refreshments policy and more community involvement to No More Naimoli and LaMar. Rocco Baldelli will be here long term and Tropicana Field upgrades are already underway.

“Under Construction,” indeed.

Then the Rays moved on to the next phase.

They shored up a glaring in-house weakness: precious little baseball experience between top management Wunderkinds Matt Silverman and Andrew Friedman. That was addressed with the hiring of well-regarded, veteran baseball executive Gerry Hunsicker, the man most responsible for putting together the National League pennant-winning Houston Astros.

Call it: “Under Instruction.”

Antonio Tarver, the likable and loquacious light heavyweight champion from Tampa, has announced his next two fights: Sylvester Stallone and Mike Tyson.

In December he starts filming the sixth Rocky movie, “Rocky Balboa.” He’ll play “Mason Dixon,” a boxer – not a disc jockey.

In February or March Tarver will play himself against Tyson, the former heavyweight champion and convicted rapist, who is now the biggest grossing tomato can in the history of pay-per-view television. He’s not even good burlesque any more.

It’s understandable that the 35-year-old Tarver, who’s eyeing a post-boxing career in show business, would want to max out on his career’s remaining window of opportunity. The light heavyweight division is notoriously challenged for big money fights, so absent a barnstorming venture with Roy Jones Jr., he’s relegated to moving up to the heavyweights.

So he’ll add pounds and ease into it against Balboa and Tyson — an aging fictional fighter and an over-the-hill fraud. Yet another forgettable Rocky movie never looked so good.

Yo.

What to make of the National Basketball Association’s new player dress code?

For openers, it’s an employer-employee issue, with ample precedent in the marketplace. In the NBA’s case, the league is requiring its player-employees to wear “business casual” attire when involved in team or league business. It’s called image.

Disney has one; so does IBM. Alas, so does the NBA, and that’s the problem.

The NBA is a billion-dollar enterprise, and it doesn’t want to screw it up. Having a black, hip-hop product in a largely white, mainstream marketplace can be dicey. How the NBA wishes it still had Michael and Magic, wondrous, race-transcending talents who also styled in three-piece suits. The best of both worlds – court and corporate appeal.

Now they’re saddled with the current generation who are undeterred about having less to swagger about. The product, arguably, has diminished, while the image is the antithesis of Jordan and Johnson. Too many player ensembles consist of baggy sweatpants, throw-back jerseys, doo-rags, indoor sun glasses, baseball lids on sideways and gold chains and medallions that would shame Mr. T.

Whatever code language the NBA chooses, this is what it’s really saying: “We don’t look at this as a black fashion statement by a given generation that is misunderstood by a bunch of intolerant, clueless, old white guys. To too many of our sponsors, corporate-suite owners and paying customers, the hip-hop look is a thug look, conjuring up misogynistic attitudes and in-your-face boorishness. You don’t have to watch BET Videos to come to that conclusion. They don’t like the look, and they won’t underwrite the league in perpetuity. This is a business, as every millionaire player well knows.”

And, by the way, the NBA’s right to impose its new code in business-related contexts is part of the collective bargaining agreement with the players.

Gator fans are now coming to the sobering realization that not even Urban Meyer transcends an immutable law of college football. Overlaying a new system on inherited personnel, however talented, usually doesn’t result in immediate success – or instant renewal.

Quarterback Chris Leak, whose name actually circulated in Heisman Trophy Watch circles, probably suspected as much.

Much has been made of the splashy debut of the bedeviled Rays’ new ownership team. For openers, Stuart Sternberg, 47, and his gee-Whiz Kids — 29-year-old team president Matt Silverman and 28-year-old director of baseball development Andrew Friedman — dominated a news cycle that included the return of the Lightning and an undefeated jumpstart by the Bucs.

They cleaned out the Stygian Stables of Chuck LaMar & Co. and announced free parking at Tropicana Field for all Rays’ games. They promised to spruce up the Trop, update computers and — in a conceptual breakthrough — generally do things in a “major league” way. Obviously image and good will matter. Talk about a “Hit Show.”

They even issued new business cards – embossed with an “Under Construction” logo – but sans any old-paradigm titles.

And with “chairman emeritus” Vince Naimoli bought off and booted upstairs beyond the catwalks, it was all PR coup, all the time.

Naimoli’s legacy

And speaking of the bumbling, grumbling, gaffe-prone Naimoli, the vincible one got off easy. He pocketed an eight-figure check and picked up a handful of hosannas for having brought major league baseball to the Tampa Bay market. He earned neither.

Sometimes you add by subtracting. He’ll now be paid not to meddle, insult or embarrass – not unlike paying Greg Vaughn not to play and LaMar not to general manage.

But as for being the patron saint of baseball’s expansion to this market, let’s not get carried away. Baseball was coming here anyway; the timing was imminent. The demographics, media heft, favorable geography and baseball tradition were not to be denied in perpetuity. Also unalterably changing: the Tampa Bay area’s perennial status as leverage for other franchises to legally extort new stadiums from their home cities – such as Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco.

And don’t forget Naimoli wasn’t the only prospective owner in the local hunt. Just the one with the biggest personal down side. Had there been no Naimoli group, the franchise arguably would have been awarded to the one headed by Tampa businessman Frank Morsani. That Major League Baseball didn’t choose Morsani in the first place is a reminder that implausibly short-sighted decisions didn’t begin with see-no-evil steroid policies.

That would have meant a real baseball stadium in the real epicenter of the Tampa Bay market – Tampa. And by sheer default, it would have to have been a better-run operation.

Winning approach

Unless you are a traditional metro market up North, where attending baseball games is part of the culture, winning is pretty much the only way to draw significant interest and sizable crowds. That axiom is particularly applicable here — given the uninviting dome depot, the skewed St. Petersburg location, out-of-town baseball allegiances and the myriad of outdoor pursuits available to Floridians.

If ever there was a time for “best practices”-enamored, smart young people – in the mold of Oakland GM Billy Beane, Boston GM Theo Epstein and Cleveland GM Mark Shapiro — to take their shot, it is right now, right here. Generation Wrecks has already had its chance.

Next season is still six months away, but the Rays will come into it on a winning streak. And on a “construction” schedule that is both short and long term.

Look for Sternberg to hire a savvy general manager, add payroll intelligently and create an organizational culture that treats fans as paying customers with other discretionary-dollar options.

Then comes the really heavy lifting.

This market is a unique challenge, but it not an exception to the ultimate bottom-line rule. Build a winner — and they will come. And then they will come back. Whether the home team is called the Rays, the Devil Rays, the Sting Rays, the Gamma Rays, the Aldo Rays, the Johnny Rays or the Bob and Rays.

What’s important is that the old regime is now the Ex-Rays.

If the Bucs continue their winning ways, you’ll be seeing more players out in the community – whether doing commercial endorsements or showing the flag at various fund-raising events. It’s all part of earning a high-profile living – and just living – in this community.

But special plaudits to a trio of Bucs who took time on their only day off (Tuesdays) recently to travel to decidedly unglamorous, PR-challenged Bartow to visit with about 200 incarcerated juveniles. Kudos to punter Josh Bidwell, safety Will Allen and backup quarterback Luke McCown for leveraging their relative fame for a low-profile cause that’s easy to ignore.

Their message, religious in nature, was that a productive life outside the Polk County Boot Camp, detention center and halfway house still awaited these young men. Bidwell chronicled the process of overcoming testicular cancer, while Allen and McCown talked of making good choices and jettisoning bad influences.

The Bucs’ bandwagon will remain subject to wins and losses. That’s the nature of the games athletes play and the fans who follow them. By all accounts, Bidwell, Allen and McCown have added a different kind of fan base. Not all bandwagons are the same.