In light of Bud Selig taking no responsibility what so ever yesterday for the steroid scandle, I have put together a comparison between Selig and the other major commissoners in sports. To refresh readers memories, Selig told Newsday yesterday that he was not to blame for the steroid era. Here is the list of major flaws between Selig and the other commisoners.
MLB Commissoner-Bud Selig
-MLB had a strike in 1994, because of that there was no World Series.
-Another MLB strike could very well have happend in 2002.
-An All-Star Game ended in a tie, hence Bud makes up for it by making a new rule that the winner would have home-field advantage throughout the World Series, despite record.
-Introduced interleague play, which is interesting but changes outcomes of division races
-Introduced that each league would have a wild card team. This idea was fine, but make the first round in the playoffs a true 7 game series.
-During the period of reallignment, in some way he allowed 6 teams to be in the NL Central and only 4 teams in the AL West, basic math says that is hard to do.
-Turned his back on the steroid problem, even though he denies it. He lost such control of his league Congress had to get involved.
-He went along with the "Mitchell Report". In the end, people will look at ruined legacies rather then how the report got the game a little cleaner.
-Ultimately allowed an anonymous list of 104 players to get leaked, that he promised would be sealed. Yes, the other 103 names besides Rodriguez will be released eventually.
-Has yet to set a standard for Hall of Fame voting.
-Under Selig's tenure the league has been too predictable. We see the same teams in the playoff virtually every season and that is boring for fans in smaller markets.
NFL Commissoner Roger Goodell
-The punisher, Roger has shown no patience. If you screw up in his league you will have it handed to you.
-Early in his tenure, the verdict is still out. Roger's legacy will hend on whether or not he can fix the NFL's upcoming labor and free agency issues.
NBA Commisoner David Stern
-The NBA had a strike in 1999 and the season was limited, but the league did have a champion in that season. The strike however led to a #8 seed to make the NBA Finals. In a full season and #8 seed would never accomplish that.
-Stern put in a rule that won't allow players straight out of high school to enter the NBA Draft. If you are 18 and can fight a war, you should be able to try to play in the NBA. Stern's two leading MVP candidates are both straight out of high school in Lebron and Kobe.
-A little error, but mis-pronounced the Minnesota Timberwolves as the Minnesota North Stars during an NBA draft.
-Stern has let the All-Star festivities tank when they were once very popular.
-Stern has been weak when it comes to putting his foot down on organizations like the New York Knicks. When a team has management that bad the commish has to step in.
-It is arguable that Stern has over-expanded the league. Hence the organization of the D-League.
-A ref gambling scandal surfaced during Stern's tenure.
NHL Commissoner Gary Bettman
-He let an entire season get wiped out because of a lockout
-He has killed the popularity of the NHL by making horrible television deals
-Has had too many teams and relocated them into different cities. Some have worked, many other moves haven't.
Decide for yourself. I think the idiot of the bunch in Selig, he just had so much going for the game and it has turned into this debacle. I would put Bettman 2nd. He messed up but the NHL wasn't nearly as popular as the MLB. Stern has been a survivor and it is just too early to decide on Roger Goodell.
Other Notes....
Dwight Howard just abused Emeka Okafur and Bobcat's Head Coach Larry Brown last night. "Superman", went for 45 points, 19 rebounds and 8 blocks. It was one of the best lines statistically put together ever in an NBA game. Brown made a terrible decison by deciding to single cover Howard and shut the other Magic players down. It was a close game, but that decison humiliated Brown's big man and gave Dwight Howard even more confidence.
T-Mac is gone for the season because of microfracture knee surgery. Houston, you have a problem. The Lakers, Spurs, Nuggets, Hornets, Blazers and Jazz are safe to make the playoffs. The Suns put up a rediculous 140-100 win over the Clippers last night, but in the end it will now officially be Phoenix, Dallas and Houston fighting for the 2 final playoff spots out west.
The Broncos continued their dismantling of players, the lastest to go is CB Dre Bly. Bly lost a step once he arrived in Denver. He was not the Pro-Bowler he used to be for the Lions and Rams, and he was not arguably the best CB in ACC history that he used to be. In all fairness, Bly played opposite of Champ Bailey during his tenure in Denver. It is a rare occasion that an opposing QB throws to Bailey's side of the field, hence Bly was always the one being posterized for getting beat on the long TD completions. Bly is on the downside of his career, but he was not as bad as cameras' showed during his tenure with the Broncos.
And the Picks...4-0 last night, puts me at 44-21-1 against the spread.
NBA
Denver -1 @Philadelphia
@Dallas -7 New Jersey
NCAAM
@Florida State - 2 1/2 Miami, FL
Providence +14 @ Louisville
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2 comments:
Criticizing David Stern, really? He's only the strongest, most influential, most successful commissioner in the history of American sports. Even ahead of Pete Rozelle.
I wasn't trying to make Stern look bad at all, I was just comparing some of the big time moments that have come across the 4 major sports' commissoners. Stern has done a great job keeping the NBA what it is, espcially during the transition from Magic, Bird, and Jordan to the superstars we see now. I just needed to be fair because I've bashed Bud Selig so bad. Stern has been a great commish and Selig has been anything but.
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