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By Jordan Lauterbach  June 18, 2009, at 10:38 pm  Had tickets for Thursday’s rain shortened first day at Bethpage? Think your getting some sort of compensation or rain check? Think again.
From ESPN:
Even though most of the field didn’t hit a ball Thursday, tickets for the day are no longer valid for the rest of the tournament.
Unlike baseball, where a rain check is issued if an official game isn’t played, the USGA has no such policy.
If a whole day’s play is wiped out, the USGA would honor that day’s tickets at a later date, possibly Monday, if the the tournament were forced to continue on a fifth day.
I’m not sure how I feel about this. While it does make sense that the USGA would honor the tickets for today, I’m struggling with how they would. Because the stated goal is to play the rest of round one and all of round two on Friday, it would be impossible to honor tickets for both days. Like the above passage says, this isn’t baseball. The possibility of make up days for fans is virtually non-existent. Allowing two sets of crowds on any of the next three days would be ludicrous. Plus, what if their are more rain outs this weekend. You can’t very well play favorites between each set of stiffed fans.
Full monetary refunds would also be hard to do. A lot of these tickets were given to corporations and as part of packages. How do you determine what the value of the refund would be? Surely, it would be unfair to get a full refund. After all, their was the possibility of seeing more then half a round from some of the players. Tiger Woods got six holes in. Sure, it stinks that it rained, but are you entitled to a full money back refund? I don’t think so.
This looks like one of those situations where Joe Fan has to grin and bear it. What happened at day 1 of the 2009 U.S Open was awful for everyone. Not one person involved, player, fan, or USGA official, wanted rain to come. But some things just can’t be controlled. Some things don’t have a solution.
Is it fair? No. But neither is life.
By Anthony De Franco June 18, 2009, at 10:05 pm The MVPuppets ad campaign is brilliant. I’m a huge Muppets fan and I’ve long been of the belief that everything is funnier when It’s said by a puppet. Here’s Kobe’s celebration commerical:
Brilliant.
By Anthony De Franco June 18, 2009, at 9:00 pm Seriously, He might be my least favorite person on the face of this earth. And your talking to a guy who has made his share of enemies of the last 23 years. Sanchez had this to say about Lightweight #1 contender Kenny Florian according to MMAweekly.com:
“One of the reasons for me dropping to 155 was the fact that Kenny Florian is coming up on his second title shot, and this is a guy that I walked through four years ago,” said Sanchez. “And everybody thinks that, yeah, we’ve both evolved, we’ve both changed, we’re both different fighters, we’ve both improved a lot. But the fact is that I walked through him and it wasn’t even a fight, and this is the number one contender. So in my mind, I am the number one contender right now.”
Uhh…No. You are not. Florian beat the likes of Joe Stevenson, Joe Lauzon and Roger Huerta to get here. Since moving down to lightweight (cause Diego could hang at Welterweight) You’ve beat Stevenson by decision in a fight that was close enough to win fight of the night honors. In what way does that make you number one contender.
Sanchez went on to start talking about his plans after he beats Guida on Saturday night. How if Florian wins they should coach the next Ultimate Fighter season and fight at the end of that. Then he said that he is rooting for B.J. Penn. “I’m rooting for B.J. Penn,” he said. “I would like B.J. Penn to win; that’s a guy I’ve always wanted to fight.”
If he does get the title shot, It’s only because he’s a name. Frankie “The Answer” Edgar has been dominant in all his victories and just picked apart a former champion in Sean Sherk. He should be the next in line at the strap.
However, none of this will matter when the Carpenter smashes Sanchez this saturday night.
Please, Clay.
*****Stay Tuned for a full picks column for The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale this saturday night on Spike. Should be posted by noon on Friday.******
By Anthony De Franco June 18, 2009, at 7:00 pm For those who don’t live in the New York area, The New York Giants have sold the naming rights to their practice space, as well as ad space on their practice jerseys to Timex. Here’s the breakdown from PFT:
The New York Giants have become one of the first NFL teams to take advantage of the new rule allowing corporate logos to appear on practice jerseys.
And, fittingly, the team whose coach requires players to set their watches five minutes ahead will be sponsored by Timex.
The jersey placement is part of a broader deal, which includes naming rights to the team’s practice facility: the Timex Performance Center.
Per the New York Daily News, it’s a 15-year, $35 million deal.
Wellington Mara is no doubt turning over in his grave right now. The man that fought PSLs and kept the name Giants Stadium in place for so many years is now going to watch his team from above while they run in jerseys with little clocks and advertisements on them.
I’ve been against this whole naming rights thing for a long time and have been lucky enough to be a fan of teams that have avoid the trend. Yankee Stadium is still Yankee Stadium. Madison Square Garden is still the Garden.
Now, I have to do deal with that my favorite team of them all was one of the firsts to sell out. Someone get me a drink.
By Bryan Berg June 18, 2009, at 6:21 pm We’ve been a little light on the coverage lately, and I suppose it’s pretty understandable. The Rangers have been on the golf course for the past two months. The Islanders have been preparing for the draft for the past, oh, forever or so, but Botta has the draft covered so well it doesn’t even make sense to detract from that. So it’s been a quiet time in the New York hockey scene, to state the obvious. Fortunately, the NHL Awards show is coming up tonight. While I have no interest in actually watching the show – I can hardly think of something more boring than watching a group of wooden personalities congregate in a large banquet hall – the awards themselves are a blast to debate. I love everything about the NHL awards, from their antequated names to the diverse array of hockey prowess they measure. Reading the predictions of others is always fun, or at least it is until the awards are narrowed down to three finalists, at which time the winner becomes somewhat predictable.
So we’re going to have fun with this. Just like we did at the middle of the season, we’ll tell you who we’re predicting to win – and who would actually win in a perfect world. Remember, the NHL awards are supposed to represent the regular season only. We’ll be sure to keep that in mind. We can’t say the same about the actual voters.
Hart Trophy
– Who Usually Wins: The highest-scoring player on a media-friendly East Coast team.
– Nominees: Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit), Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh), Alexander Ovechkin (Washington).
– Who Should Have Been Nominated, But Wasn’t: Zach Parise (New Jersey).
– Who Should Win: Ovechkin.
– Who Will Win: Ovechkin. Malkin will get far more consideration than he should, as everybody will forget that Pittsburgh spent about three-fourths of the season either out of the playoff picture or just barely hanging onto the eighth spot. Meanwhile, the Caps were great whenever Ovechkin played and were horrendous in October, when Ovechkin missed some time. Datsyuk would never have a prayer of winning an award where Ovechkin and Malkin are both nominated.
Vezina Trophy
– Who Usually Wins: Martin Brodeur. Whether he had a good season or not.
– Nominees: Niklas Backstrom (Minnesota), Steve Mason (Columbus), Tim Thomas (Boston).
– Who Should Have Been Nominated, But Wasn’t: Henrik Lundqvist (New York Rangers).
– Who Should Win: Thomas
– Who Will Win: Mason. For some reason, it seems like rookies have a better shot at the Vezina than any other individual trophy. And Mason had a truly phenomenal season. However, this is a group where each finalist is flawed. Backstrom and Mason play in defense-heavy systems, while Thomas split time with Manny Fernandez for much of the season. My gut feeling is that the voters will let it slide with Mason and will hold Thomas’ low number of games played against him, even though goalies won the Vezina with even less games played one generation ago. Thomas, however, held it down on a team that was second in the league in scoring, truly a remarkable achievement.
Norris Trophy
– Who Usually Wins: An offense-heavy defenseman from a good team.
– Nominees: Zdeno Chara (Boston), Mike Green (Washington), Nicklas Lidstrom (Detroit).
– Who Should Have Been Nominated, But Wasn’t: Mark Streit (New York Islanders).
– Who Should Win: Green.
– Who Will Win: Green. Even if some of us detest the Norris becoming an offense-first award, it’s hard to ignore Green’s numbers and his solid play at his own end. Lidstrom has won this award for the past 50 or so years and it’s time to see someone else take the Norris. Some, including notorious Bruins homer Jack Edwards, have championed Chara’s cause, and he has certainly had a Norris-caliber year. That said, when Chara has 73 points in a season, he can win this trophy.
Calder Trophy
– Who Usually Wins: The league’s best rookie… provided he’s a “name” and had impressive numbers.
– Nominees: Steve Mason (Columbus), Bobby Ryan (Anaheim), Kris Versteeg (Chicago).
– Who Should Have Been Nominated, But Wasn’t: Cal Clutterbuck (Minnesota).
– Who Should Win: Ryan.
– Who Will Win: Mason. If Mason is a serious Vezina candidate, you can bet the Calder is his as well. Which is a shame, because Ryan should be the guy here. If Ryan had played a full season – and it’s not his fault he didn’t, as he wasn’t called up until November – he’d have ended up with 80+ points; even out in Anaheim, those numbers would speak very loudly to voters. Versteeg had a great year as well, but his critics would say he had plenty of help in the high-scoring Blackhawks offense.
Lady Byng Trophy
– Who Usually Wins: A highly skilled offensive player who totally shies away from physical play.
– Nominees: Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit), Zach Parise (New Jersey), Martin St. Louis (Tampa Bay).
– Who Should Have Been Nominated, But Wasn’t: Like it matters.
– Who Should Win: St. Louis.
– Who Will Win: Datsyuk. He’s the biggest name among these candidates. Since it doesn’t really make much of a difference who wins, they usually go for the biggest name. I’d be more inclined to vote for St. Louis, who is as annoying of a little turd as you’ll find in the NHL.
Selke Trophy
– Who Usually Wins: A solid defensive forward who also doubles as a top scorer.
– Nominees: Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit), Ryan Kesler (Vancouver), Mike Richards (Philadelphia).
– Who Should Have Been Nominated, But Wasn’t: The Selke is like the Gold Glove or the NFL Pro Bowl – once you’re on the ballot, you never come off. So let’s say Jere Lehtinen, just for fun.
– Who Should Win: Richards.
– Who Will Win: Datsyuk. He seems like the perfect guy to win this award – skilled, yet fairly anonymous on defense. Really, though, Richards needs to win this award one of these years. He’s too good to be denied. Most American journalists haven’t seen enough of Kesler to give him the nod, which is a shame.
Adams Trophy
– Who Usually Wins: A first-year coach who turns a loser into a winner. Or a coach who has a super season with a perennial powerhouse.
– Nominees: Claude Julien (Boston), Todd McLellan (San Jose), Andy Murray (St. Louis).
– Who Should Have Been Nominated, But Wasn’t: Dan Bylsma (Pittsburgh).
– Who Should Win: Julien.
– Who Will Win: Julien. If it’s possible to vote against a coach whose team was the second-best offensive team while allowing the fewest goals in the entire league, I’d love to hear the reason. Murray had a tremendous year in St. Louis, but it doesn’t compare to the job Julien did with the Bruins. And as much as the Adams is supposed to represent the regular season, it’s impossible to separate McLellan’s 117 regular season points and his team’s latest playoff choke job. A bit unfair, but that’s life.
Masterson Trophy
– Who Usually Wins: The player who suffered the most grotesque injury the prior year and came back to play.
– Nominees: Chris Chelios (Detroit), Steve Sullivan (Nashville), Richard Zednik (Florida).
– Who Should Have Been Nominated, But Wasn’t: Anybody who watched all 82 games of Islanders hockey this season.
– Who Should Win: Chelios.
– Who Will Win: Zednik. It’s hard to vote against a guy who had his throat slit open and came back for more. But Chelios, the Ric Flair of the NHL, keeps coming back to work with the young guys in Detroit even though he’s routinely scratched for playoff games. Do you realize Chelios was drafted twenty-nine years ago? That’s insane.
Funny story – before I was able to finish this post, the awards show actually started! So far, I was right about Datsyuk winning the Selke and Mason winning the Calder, but I missed out on Steve Sullivan winning the Masterson. He missed two years with a back injury and came back to play in Nashville, of all places, so he certainly deserves this one.
EDIT: Now that it’s all over, let’s see how I did…
– Hart: Correct on both accounts
– Vezina: My pick was correct, my prediction was incorrect
– Norris: Wrong on both accounts
– Calder: My pick was incorrect, my prediction was correct
– Lady Byng: My pick was incorrect, my prediction was correct
– Selke: My pick was incorrect, my prediction was correct
– Adams: Correct on both accounts
– Masterson: Wrong on both accounts
So that makes five of eight predictions in terms of picking how the “experts” would vote. Not so good. And I seriously only got four right? Jeez.
By the way, if you’re looking for media bias – and I personally love to do this – there were four winners from the East Coast (three from Boston, one from Washington), two Red Wings, one from Columbus, and one from Nashville. Yeah, the winning players came from good teams. But if you’d rather cry conspiracy or East Coast Bias… you might not be far off.
By Jason Comack June 18, 2009, at 4:39 pm Billy Beane once said “either you’re building something special or you’re not” simply meaning, either you aer a title contender or a pretender. In pro sports too often teams fall into the “grey area” good enough where you believe you have a chance but realistically don’t. This “grey area” can doom teams in the short and long-term.
Look at the Seattle Mariners. Last year they believed they were pieces away from a playoff caliber team. They go out and trade Chris Tillman, Adam Jones, George Sherill, Kam Mickolio, and Tony Butler for Erik Bedard. This might go down as one of the single worst trades of the decade. Bedard fell way short of expectations in Seattle and was injured more often than not. Seattle as a team meanwhile missed the playoffs, fell apart this season and is entering a full rebuilding mode…except without a few of their top prospects. While the Mariners should serve as a cautionary tale it seems teams never learn.
Over the next week or so I’m going to separate the contenders from the pretenders. I’m going to put my GM hat on and in great detail outline what teams should rebuild and how they should do it. And what teams should go for it and how they should do it.
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