Today was a low day in the American Economy, 69,000 lost there jobs, being the total of people who have lost there jobs in 2009 to almost 200,000 people.
It was once thought that the sports industry was recession proof, that people would turn to their sports teams to find joy in a time of despair. But this is not the case with this recession. This is the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930's, people are out of work, people are losing their homes, bills are increasing and people can not make ends meet.
While all of this is happening, Baseball players are getting the largest contracts every, NBA players, with guaranteed contracts are whining about how much they make and playing time, Teams are raising ticket prices, and asking fans to buy licenses for their seats. What does this say? Well fans, the sports world has become greedy, and we are playing along with them.
While many people are out of work, so are people around the sports world. The NFL, the crowned jewel of the American sports industry was forced to lay off 150 people in December, many individual teams are laying off employees.
So what needs to happen? well We need to get back to the days when players played for love of the game, and not love of the paycheck, back when the name on the front of the uniform was more important than the name on the back.
When I was in college, I stopped watching the NBA, because I couldn't follow who played for what team anymore, and I couldn't stand to hear people talking about the next Michael Jordan. Folks, there will never be another Michael Jordan. Jordan was the best at what he did, but he also helped his team win, he made players around him better, but the one thing he also did was win titles. Why is it that we always hear about the next Jordan, but we never hear how a team could be the next Boston Celtics. From 1957-1969, the Boston Celtics won 7 NBA titles, and they played great team basketball.
So, what else needs to happen? How about prices. Why is it that an upper level ticket to a sporting event can cost almost $18, then you want to eat, try $7 for a hot dog, $5 for a soda and almost $7 for a beer, when people are trying to decide what bills to pay this month, they are not thinking about a $7 hot dog, to bring fans back to arenas, the price of everything must come down, if you lower them, they will come.
Fans will always be there for their team, but in these times, teams need to be there for their fans.
Big C
Monday, January 26, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
And.....We are back.
Well, it seems that I have been slacking off and not follow the world of sports like I should, and for that I hope I can be forgiven.
Well lets talk about some topics. First, some news from the NFL that hits me a little close to home. As of Friday afternoon the Kansas City Chiefs had fired Herm Edwards and were looking to hire former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan as their coach. First, While I could see why the Chiefs would want to hire Shanahan, but with the Hunt family still running the Chiefs, I feel this is one team that should follow the Rooney rule and make sure that they have interviewed a minority candidate in their coaching search. Their are a number of minority candidates that should be looked at, for starters, Chargers defensive coordinator Ron Rivera, who is one of the top Hispanic coaches in the NFL right now. What about former NFL coach Dennis Green, he has done great coaching jobs with troubled players. In addition to minority candidates, what about coaches like Dallas offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, a young coach, a coach you could build around, or Former Tampa head Coach, John "Chucky" Gruden, anyone of these coaches would be a great choice, Do I think Shanahan would be a great coach? yes, but I don't want to see him in the AFC West.
As we get closer to the spring it can only mean one thing...Baseball season is around the corner!
Now, this is the first time that Big C has talked about baseball, and I want to say loud, well loud for Internet blogging, that I am...a...Washington Nationals fan...yes, the former Expos, turn Nationals, I am a fan. While you might think this is tough living in Denver, and it can be at times, but thankfully the internet is around to keep me up on all the comings and goings (and right now there are a lot of goings). This off season the Nationals hoped to bring in a player that they could have as the long time face of the team. Having lost out to the Evil Empire in the lottery to pick up Mark Teixeira, many fans hoped they would sign either Orlando Hudson or Adam Dunn, the only two major hitting free agents left on the market. As of today, the Nationals have yet to make a move to bring in either of these players. According to some, myself included, Dunn and Hudson are both asking for too much from any of the teams that are looking at them. Hopefully this means that either one of these players can come in and make a contribution to a team that is still trying to find an image.
With the state of the economy in this country, even the once recession proof industry of sports is suffering, which means that players are going to have to take pay cuts as well, or they won't be playing at all. The only team that seems to be able to offer huge contacts are the New York Yankees. With the huge signings they have made, and the whining that has come from the Knicks and Stephan Marbury make me wonder if these huge contracts have really taken athletes completely out of reality, while some people are evicted from houses, NBA players are whining about the contract they have and how they can't get by on what they are making. People are out of jobs, and players like Anquan Bolden is whining about how he didn't get the ball in the 4th quarter of his teams win over the Eagles to take them to the Super Bowl. Have the past few years really skewed how people think and how the view the world?
With the Super Bowl next weekend, we will be forced to say goodbye to another football season, but, don't worry guys, pitchers and catchers report in 18 days...so we have that to look forward to.
Until next time...
Big C
Well lets talk about some topics. First, some news from the NFL that hits me a little close to home. As of Friday afternoon the Kansas City Chiefs had fired Herm Edwards and were looking to hire former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan as their coach. First, While I could see why the Chiefs would want to hire Shanahan, but with the Hunt family still running the Chiefs, I feel this is one team that should follow the Rooney rule and make sure that they have interviewed a minority candidate in their coaching search. Their are a number of minority candidates that should be looked at, for starters, Chargers defensive coordinator Ron Rivera, who is one of the top Hispanic coaches in the NFL right now. What about former NFL coach Dennis Green, he has done great coaching jobs with troubled players. In addition to minority candidates, what about coaches like Dallas offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, a young coach, a coach you could build around, or Former Tampa head Coach, John "Chucky" Gruden, anyone of these coaches would be a great choice, Do I think Shanahan would be a great coach? yes, but I don't want to see him in the AFC West.
As we get closer to the spring it can only mean one thing...Baseball season is around the corner!
Now, this is the first time that Big C has talked about baseball, and I want to say loud, well loud for Internet blogging, that I am...a...Washington Nationals fan...yes, the former Expos, turn Nationals, I am a fan. While you might think this is tough living in Denver, and it can be at times, but thankfully the internet is around to keep me up on all the comings and goings (and right now there are a lot of goings). This off season the Nationals hoped to bring in a player that they could have as the long time face of the team. Having lost out to the Evil Empire in the lottery to pick up Mark Teixeira, many fans hoped they would sign either Orlando Hudson or Adam Dunn, the only two major hitting free agents left on the market. As of today, the Nationals have yet to make a move to bring in either of these players. According to some, myself included, Dunn and Hudson are both asking for too much from any of the teams that are looking at them. Hopefully this means that either one of these players can come in and make a contribution to a team that is still trying to find an image.
With the state of the economy in this country, even the once recession proof industry of sports is suffering, which means that players are going to have to take pay cuts as well, or they won't be playing at all. The only team that seems to be able to offer huge contacts are the New York Yankees. With the huge signings they have made, and the whining that has come from the Knicks and Stephan Marbury make me wonder if these huge contracts have really taken athletes completely out of reality, while some people are evicted from houses, NBA players are whining about the contract they have and how they can't get by on what they are making. People are out of jobs, and players like Anquan Bolden is whining about how he didn't get the ball in the 4th quarter of his teams win over the Eagles to take them to the Super Bowl. Have the past few years really skewed how people think and how the view the world?
With the Super Bowl next weekend, we will be forced to say goodbye to another football season, but, don't worry guys, pitchers and catchers report in 18 days...so we have that to look forward to.
Until next time...
Big C
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