Letters to the Editor
aptnro
Published Letters: 50 Editor's Choice: 9
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House, heal thyself!
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When I read, or saw, that the House finale hinged on a Cuban refugee seeking House's ministrations, I said to myself, "Self, it seems that House will be supplementing its stunted take on medicine and deeply stupid approach to personal and work relationships with an equally dumb take on Cuban immigration and medicine."
I ruminated one more second, and then I said to myself, "Self, if you wish to see anything regarding the relative merits of Cuban and American medicine, you ought to see Sicko. Sure, it will not feature a fine performance from Hugh Laurie, but should you find yourself yelling 'That is so stupid!' at the screen, at least it will be in response to a substantive issue."
So, yeah, I skipped the finale, as with most other episodes of House this year. Don't regret it one bit, even if my suspicion that the Cuban angle was an attempt to cash in on Michael Moore's latest was incorrect. I've seen enough of House to know that, entertaining as Hugh Laurie is, if you've seen one, you've seen 'em all.
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With five years of financing...
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I give this league about 60 months to start smelling like 60 month old fish.
The league might be have money to solve the staffing problems, sort of, but let's not forget that besides losing the cream of the crop to the NFL every year, and gambling that enough the fourth-rounders and undrafted players that they do scoop up will turn out to have star potential, they will be competing with the Arena Football League for all the wannabe's and washed up NFL players.
Coaching staff will be even tougher - even though the NFL is kind of a closed loop these days, Bill & company still have to recruit staff who might make it in the NFL, and if not could find employment in the AFL, or Div I NCAA football. That recruitment is going to take more than a play-the-odds, throw-some-money-at-em approach, given the prestige that the NFL and Div I college ball jobs carry.
Also, while this league might be competing with the NFL for eyeballs on screens and butts in seats, they won't be competing with NFL teams, which will diminish the excitement pretty quickly. I do believe the previous poster who stated that Orlando wants a football team, but how long can they sell tickets when the Orlando Tourists aren't playing the Bucs or the Jags?
I get the philosophy that the NFL is ignoring some markets, and I get that there is a good bit of football talent, both on and off field, that never gets a shot at the big-time, but I don't see this business philosophy of sniping markets and market-share away from the NFL as workable. Maybe it would be better if they planned on starting more modestly, pitching it as local football for local markets, and grow the league accordingly, but going toe to toe with the NFL? No way.
On the plus side, though, with only eight teams, fans will definitely get to see their guys make the playoffs!
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The first thing I thought
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]was how much smarter the NBA and NFL are for drafting prospects after they've been through the farm system... ahem I mean the NCAA.
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But seriously, folks,
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There's been a lot of really good conversation here, even the bits that veered off into speculation about how racial integration might have affected baseball stats pre-1947.
But, what just occurred to me as one of the more relevant aspects of scouting young baseball players, as opposed to scouting basketball, football, or hockey players, is related to Big Paulie's point.
He pointed out that players in baseball are only sporadically involved in the play, thus making it harder for scouts to figure out who's got "it" and who doesn't. I'd add that players of the same age who've been concentrating on football, or basketball, or hockey, or almost any sport other than baseball, have way more minutes of making plays under their belts. Even if they aren't involved with the ball (or puck), they're doing their thing, running a route, setting a pick, checking, or whatever. Not only do scouts have more chances to see the athleticism in action, the player in question has put in more time actually doing the things they might be paid a lot of money to do if they are drafted. Even someone who's played all the way through college before being drafted probably hasn't spent as much time actually throwing or catching or baserunning (unless he's a pitcher) in a game situation as his peer in another sport. Raw athleticism aside, he hasn't had the chance to prove (to himself and to scouts) that he's got that little extra intangible thing that makes the difference between washouts and stars.