Dan Shafer: Shafer on Sports

Wed, 13 Nov 2002 20:17:59 GMT

Check My Sports Blog In New Location. I am, temporarily at least, posting my sports stuff over here in my Web Crossing 5.0 Blog Lab. Check it out and let me know how you like it.

Fri, 08 Nov 2002 22:20:54 GMT

Maybe I'll Forgive the Giants. If... The sadness of Dusty Baker's departure from the Giants lingers. The bad taste in my mouth for Giants ownership will cloud my admiration for the team. Friends and columnists who called for his departure and who are now gloating over same make me sad because they are, to a person, wrong-headed. They wanted Dusty to go because of his (needed) arrogance and/or his (inevitable) tactical mistakes. No new manager will satisfy. But perhaps such is the reality of life as a major league baseball manager. Now if the Giants:

Fill the position quickly
Fill the position with someone of serious baseball stature (and that decidedly does not include pitching coach Dave Righetti
Make the right trades to beef up the roster so we hae a legit shot at the World Series again next year

then I might be able to find some forgiveness in my heart. But if they let Dusty go and then allow things to deterioriate into a Florida Marlins kind of low-level inertia, I'm so outta here.

Thu, 07 Nov 2002 20:50:08 GMT

Baker's Gone, More's the Pity. The San Francisco Giants, proving that owners' egos can be and usually are, bigger than those of players and managers who actually are the product, fired Dusty Baker yesterday. The move was not unexepcted. And contrary to the stupid spin put on the move by majority owner Peter Magowan, it was a firing, not a "failure to renew an agreement." Dusty has an ego. Big deal. You expect anyone to be a successful major league manager -- let alone of the five most successful of the past decade -- without an ego? Most owners (notably excepting George Steinbrenner) swallow their pride and work for the good fo the team. Not Magowan. He was pissed off at Baker and he wasn't going to hire him back no matter what. The only guy to win NL Manager of the Year three times. Manager of the team with the best cumulative record in baseball over the last 10 years, a team that finished first or second in eight of those 10 years. Nice move, Pete! Some of my friends are happy Dusty is gone. They didn't agree with some of his on-field decisions. I guess winning is less important to that crowd than that their manager make decisions they agree with. And on the flip side, San Jose Mercury-News columnist Skip Bayless in his column this morning said letting Baker go was good for the team and all Dusty deserved. What a jerk Bayless is. A team takes a guy like Baker, who's been the heart and soul (if not the arms) of the team for the past 10 years, a guy who's been with the club 15 years, and tosses one of the finest managers in the history of baseball on the scrap heap because he finally demands what he's been worth for some time. Forgetting that he agreed two years ago to a much smaller deal than he almost certainly could have gotten elsewhere, the Giants demonstrate their loyalty. And we wonder why players jump ship for millions of dollars. Exhibit A. I think I'm done with the Giants. Great ballpark. Great superhero. Great GM, in fact. Shitty ownership. I'm not sure I'm not done with baseball altogether. That would be hard for me to do. I guess I'll look around for another team I can support. Maybe the A's (though I have serious reservations). I started out this piece prepared to comment on who I thought Baker's successor should be. Changed my mind. I don't give a crap. The mystique of the Giants is gone for me. It may not be recoverable. Bastards.

Tue, 05 Nov 2002 23:00:07 GMT

This Explains Why I Can't Pick NFL Winners. The N.F.L. Season So Far: a Parody of Parity. After nine weeks, it seems as though teams are changing identities several times a month. By Damon Hack. [New York Times: Sports] Darned insightful piece and fun reading, too.

Mon, 04 Nov 2002 21:45:15 GMT

Maybe the Niners Are Better Than I Thought. Gee, after the Niners finally won a road game against a team with a winning record by nudging cross-Bay rival Oakland yesterday, maybe I'll have to conclude that they are better than I thought they'd be. I sort of felt like this would be a 9-7, maybe 10-6 wild card kind of season for the Niners this year. But here they are 6-2, tied for the third best record in the NFL, two games up in the division race with the Rams not a real threat even if they revitalize themselves. It sure looks like they could win the division. They could win 11 or 12 games this year. That would be a wonderful surprise to me!

Mon, 04 Nov 2002 00:15:44 GMT

Mariucci, Cortez to Blame. The Niners were in complete control coming to the final seconds of the game against the Raiders. No sweat. Third down at the Raiders' 5. About 15 seconds left. Remember, third down. Mooch has Garcia wait until there are only three seconds on the clock to call time-out for the field goal try. Bad move. If you miss a FG try on third down, it's still your ball. You can try again. But not if you start the play with three seconds left. Chris Collinsworth pointed this out from the broadcast booth. He was right. Of course, he was also right that Cortez should never have missed that chip shot. That's a PAT. No excuse. Cortez has to go. He missed two FGs and kicked a kickoff out of bounds today that led to the Raiders' tying score in regulation. Release him. (Late Addition. I don't care that Cortez finally made one and kicked the game-winner. He's lame.)

Sun, 03 Nov 2002 22:49:22 GMT

Poor Officiating in Raiders-Niners Game. Late in the second quarter, the officiating crew in the San Francisco-Oakland game blew three calls in about 30 seconds. First, they missed a clear case of roughing the passer against the Raiders. Jeff Garcia had been thrown to the ground roughly after having clearly thrown a pass. The rushing defender had two or three steps to stop and didn't. Second, on the next play, the Niners tried a screen. The Raider defender pushed the receiver while the ball was in the air. He knew it. He threw his arms in the air. No flag. Then the Niners punted and got called for illegal touching. The call was right; Rumph touched the ball first after having been forced out of bounds on the return. But to miss two calls with significant potential impact only to call one with no meaning at all -- a really stupid techical rules violation which in thse case wouldn't have mattered because there were three other Niners within touching distance of the ball -- just shows a poor sense of priority. Halftime as I write this and the Raiders are up 13-10. The Niners' D is holding the highly rated Raiders' offense nicely. But the Niners aren't scoring, either. Everyone expected a high-scoring game here. Not so far.

Sat, 02 Nov 2002 19:08:35 GMT

Raiders Over Niners. Tomorrow's a big NFL game day in the Bay Area as the 49ers visit the Raiders for the first time in a lot of seasons. I participate in a friendly little NFL picking contest every week (and have for four or five years) made up mostly of 49ers fans. I've become more a follower of the Raiders in the past couple of seasons, though I'm still much more a Niners backer. Tomorrow, though, I expect the Raiders to beat the Niners. Jerry Rice and Charlie Garner, two ex-Niner superstars, are motivated to play hard. The Raiders' home field advantage is at least intimidation. And the Raiders have something to prove here, having lost three straight after opening the season 4-0 and drawing Super Bowl speculation. The Niners, meanwhile, are coming off an important win in their division and have four very tough games immediately ahead against the Chiefs, Chargers, Eagles, and Seahawks. I don't think the Niners will look past the Raiders so much as they'll be hard-pressed to focus intensely on that many games in succession.

Sat, 02 Nov 2002 07:37:41 GMT

Brian Sabean's Back. So Sabean signs a multi-year deal to return as the SF Giants' GM. Now we can focus on getting Dusty signed. Turns out we also have two other players who could leave: Bell and Sanders. I'd characterize Bell as a "must sign" and Sanders as "nice to have."

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 21:20:29 GMT

Whither the (SF) Giants? Now that the disappointment of the World Series loss is behind me, I can take a quick look at what I think is in store for the Giants in 2003. Yeah, I know. Get over it. Baseball's done for this year. But for me, baseball is a year-round sport. Or at least sports topic. Will Dusty be back? Will it matter? Will Kent return? Does that matter? What hole(s) do the Giants need to shore up? It's all in the longer story I wrote for today.

Tue, 29 Oct 2002 18:07:33 GMT

Of Course, Bud Selig Will Take the Fun Out of THIS Stuff!

Nice piece in Salon about the kids in the Giants' dugout and what it meant. "quote" Daddy's home. Sharing the dugout and lots of affection with their sons, the Giants telegraphed good news about fatherhood -- and manhood -- in 2002. [Salon.com] "endquote" Of course, baseball's Non-Commissioner Bud Selig has already signaled he plans to take the fun out of that aspect of the game for next season. That's what the game needs, Bud: more reasons for people not to enjoy watching it instead of football. You moron.

Tue, 29 Oct 2002 01:37:58 GMT

Monitor Says Series Was 'Fun for the Common Man'

Dave Winer pointed out this morning that the Christian Science Monitor has now become available via the RSS news feeds that are at the core of the world of blogs. I couldn't resist. Here's a delightful little ditty on how wonderful the recently concluded World Series was. I don't like the observation, but that doesn't make it untrue.

Mon, 28 Oct 2002 17:35:00 GMT

A Literate Reminder

"quote" Bart Giamatti: "It is designed to break your heart." [Scripting News] "endquote" Thanks for thie pointer, Dave. It is a cycle. It comes again. We must hibernate our passions now, relax into the well-being that is, focus on what we have and not on what we lack. Deep breath.

Mon, 28 Oct 2002 06:28:33 GMT

Scoble's More Philosophical Than I

After the Giants' shocking loss in the World Series, my buddy Robert Scoble wrote: "quote"

Well, onto the rest of our lives. I'm getting married in six days. I was hoping that the Giants would start the week off right, but they didn't. Oh well. I'm still proud of the team.

"unquote" and "quote"

It'll be a long off season, that's for sure.

[The Scobleizer Weblog] "unquote" I can't be quite so philosophical. I'm twice as old as Robert. I'm not sure how many more seasons I will see. The last time I was a fan of a World championship baseball team was 1968 when the Tigers beat the Cardinals.

Mon, 28 Oct 2002 04:09:10 GMT

The MVP is WHO? You Gotta Be Kidding Me!

The idiots who decide the Most Valuable Player of the World Series gave the trophy to Troy Glaus, who was described as having "the most consistent Series, batting .385 with three doubles, three home runs and eight RBIs." EXCUSE ME! Did you guys see the same World Series I did? The one with a guy who hit nearly .500? Who changed the complexion of the game and the nature of its strategy so dramatically that he was clearly the best player on either team, by a lot? Glaus was the MVA - Most Valuable Angel. But he should reject the MVP trophy and tell the voters to give it to the only one who deserves it, Barry Bonds. This is a damn travesty.

Sun, 27 Oct 2002 17:41:02 GMT

Someone Else Thinks Dusty's Yank Was Too Quick

Just when I repent and allow as how maybe Dusty wasn't wrong to pull Ortiz in the seventh, a New York Times reporter concurs with my first reaction. "quote" Baker's Gesture Proves Premature. Dusty Baker's decision to cut short the most impressive outing of any starter in the Series backfired tremendously. By Rafael Hermoso. [New York Times: Sports] "endquote"

Sun, 27 Oct 2002 17:17:02 GMT

After Further Review, the Angels Win

One of the problems with being a passionate fan and coupling that with instant reportage and analysis is the "homer effect." I have seen this before in my former life as a professional sports writer and it reared its ugly head again last night. This effect is characterized by subjective feelings not just being evident in writing but dominating that writing, so that the emotions themselves become the story. It's bad journalism and after last night, I think perhaps bad blogging as well. In my distress as a hard-core Giants' fan, I allowed myself to wallow in self-pity (which is not necessarily a bad thing in a blog) and to analyze the outcome in a way that was just not accurate (which is). So now in the cool light of day and after a chance to reflect, let me re-cast the game from yesterday. The Giants did not lose that game. The Angels won it. They proved the better team. The Giants did exactly what got them to where they were even playing in the Series. The starter went deep and was throwing a shutout. The opponent got a rally going. Dusty called on his normally trusty bullpen. Barry homered. We could have said we had them right where we wanted them. But the Angels, who rallied from behind in the 7th inning and later so many times this year, did what they do best. Again. And we couldn't withstand the rally. So I'm not looking to blame Dusty or the bullpen. I'm doffing my cap to the Angels for a well-fought victory and moving on. I still think it is now extremely likely the Angels will win the World Series tonight. And if they do, they deserve it. This has been a helluva Series. East Coast fans are missing some terrific baseball.

Sun, 27 Oct 2002 06:51:19 GMT

Bullpen Falls Apart, But Dusty Moved Too Quickly

Dusty should have left Russ Ortiz in longer. I know. Easy to say in hindsight. But Dusty has always been guilty of leaving pitchers in too long. Tonight he deviated from that usual policy -- which got us to the World Series (among a lot of other things, of course) -- and it backfired. The bullpen stunk tonight. Nen serves up a gofer ball. What's with these guys? If you can't hold a 5-0 lead in the most important game of the season, maybe you don't want it badly enough. Maybe the other guys deserve to win. Disgusting.

Sat, 26 Oct 2002 22:38:21 GMT

NY Times Dave Anderson to Selig: Pete Rose Deserves HOF

I've made no secret of my support for Pete Rose's return to eligibility for lifetime baseball honors, including election to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Dave Anderson of the New York Times agrees. "quote" Dear Bud: It's Time to Forgive Pete Rose. Before Game 4 of the World Series this week, fans told Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig that they have forgiven Pete Rose for his betting behavior. By Dave Anderson. [New York Times: Sports] "endquote" Anderson's most cogent summary of reasoning: "Steroid-using sluggers tamper with baseball's integrity more than Pete's bets did." Yep.

Sat, 26 Oct 2002 19:05:34 GMT

Another Vote for Bonds as the Greatest of All Time

Allen Barra of Salon.com adds his voice to the rising tumult. His wondering about whether the fact that Barry's black might have something to do with baseball fans trying to deny him superiority over Babe Ruth was reminiscent of what happened to Muhammad Ali as he was coming up in boxing. "quote" Barry and the Babe. Forget the nostalgia freaks droning on and on about the Mythical White Ballplayer era. Barry Bonds is the greatest player in baseball history. [Salon.com] "endquote" I suppose it goes without saying that I agree with Allen and the millions of other fans who have seen this truth for a couple of years now.

Sat, 26 Oct 2002 18:30:59 GMT

History Favors Angels? But There's a Twist Here

Dave Winer this morning links to a New York Times piece that outlines why the odds favor the Angels in the last two games of the 2002 World Series. But there's a hidden gem here for Giants fans. In that piece, Murray Chass points out that, " In [the last 20 years], teams have taken a lead of three games to two on the road seven times, and six times returned home without the World Series championship." This, he thinks, mitigates the 2002 edition in the Angels' favor. But later in the piece, he points out that three of those six instances were the only times in history that all of the games were won by the home team. Clearly statistical anomalies. This Series is more like most of them that have been played: teams have won at home and on the road. I'm staying with my original prediction: Giants in six. They win tonight. But an important caveat here: if the Giants manage to lose today, then I think the odds swing strongly to the overcoming, charmed Angels who will then likely win it in seven. (That's not an original idea. As I posted yesterday, Peter Gammons of ESPN makes the same prediction.)

Fri, 25 Oct 2002 18:41:25 GMT

Here's Jake's Take

"quote" Giants Win Game #5 by 12 Runs: Film at 11.. I took a bunch of pictures at World Series Game 5 tonight at PacBell Park in San Francisco. Since there's no game on Friday, I'll post a little slide-show here so you'll have something to look at until the Giants win Game 6 down in Anaheim. Yes: The Giants do eat monkeys for breakfast. [Jake's Radio 'Blog] "endquote" Can't wait to see the photos, Jake! Thanks for making it a virtual "there".

Thu, 24 Oct 2002 16:39:53 GMT

Blogging Away About the World Series

Jake over at UserLand blogged Game 4 of the World Series last night. He and I chatted on AIM throughout the experience as well. I also tried BlogChat last night. The program is still in beta and feels like a sort of unformed AIM at this point, but I had a nice interaction there and I'll probably try it again when the software's a little farther along. I sort of thought I had invented this notion of blogging a live sports event. Now there are several folks doing it, which I absolutely love. I have some thoughts on how to turn this into something even richer and more interesting. But it turns out this isn't my invention. One of my blog readers told me a newspaper in South Carolina did this with a high school football game a year ago. Good. Validates my belief. Let me know if you're blogging the game, watching other bloggers, or doing something else cool and interactive in real time during the games. I'd love to keep track of this stuff. (Dave Winer and Jake will be at he game tonight in person, so I doubt they'll be able to blog even if they wanted to. Which they won't want to do anyway because the game will be so much more engaging in person!)

The Appeal of Baseball

Thu, 24 Oct 2002 16:13:21 GMT

The Appeal of Baseball

Dave Winer has some wonderful insights at mid-World Series time into what baseball means to its mostly male adherents. For me, while it is certainly cliche to say it, baseball is attractive because it is a thinking man's game and I am a thinking man. But there are other, less often stated, reasons, too. First, one can be less than a superb athletic specimen with a finely chiseled body and still play this game well. Guys like Livan Hernandez and Randy Johnson and David Wells and Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb were mere physical mortals who have excelled at this sport. That gives guys like me hope, and hope is something palpably important to the human spirit. Second, baseball is the only one of the major sports (the others being American football, basketball, and hockey) in this country of which hard physical contact is not part of the very fabric. It is a peaceful game which nonetheless satisfies that deep inner itch for a competitive exprience, for the staging of the battle between good and evil, my team and your team. As such, baseball stands dignified and alone as a non-combative solution to conflict and disagreement. And in this sense, too, it creates hope. Finally, it is the game itself and not its less-than-godlike gladiators, that is the important focus of attention. There is always something going on for a deeply engaged and knowledgeable fan. But there are also lots of breaks in the action for the less-involved fan who wishes to combine sports spectatorship with social intercourse. These are the principal reasons why, even when it betrays its fans, even when its business side becomes more apparent than we might prefer, even when the off-field conduct of its superstars tarnishes its image, I keep coming back to baseball as my Sport of Choice. I've grown to love pro football over the years, but given a choice between a baseball game and a football game at the same moment, I am far more likely to watch baseball. It is for me a more spiritually and emotionally satisfying experience.

Wed, 23 Oct 2002 01:12:58 GMT

Blogging Game Three

I'll be blogging the World Series, Game Three, at my beloved Pac Bell Park this evening, starting in about 15 minutes. I'll also be participating in Dave Winer's interactive notepad of the game just to see how the flavors of these two approaches to real-time logging of a sporting event differ. I'm gonna be one busy guy! GO, GIANTS!