by John Scanlan
First off, I want to wish my little girl, Allison, a happy 4th birthday.
When I was younger and actually into the NBA, I was a big Cleveland Cavaliers fan. My favorite players growing up were Mark Price, Brad Daugherty and Larry Nance. I loved watching Craig Ehlo drill 3’s and yes, my heart was broken by Michael Jordan many times over.
However, as the NBA became what it is today, I started to gradually move away from my Cavalier fanhood. I cheered from a distance, but these Cavs seemed nothing like the ones I cheered for growing up. Maybe it was the uniforms, maybe it was having a legitimate superstar, maybe it was my indifference toward the NBA as a whole…but I just didn’t feel that sense of excitement with this recent run of success nor that sense of disappointment when Orlando beat them.
All that being said, it will be interesting to see if the acquisition of Shaquille O’ Neal is the move that puts them over the top or ultimately leads to the implosion of the franchise. With LeBron James impending ability to opt out of his contract, the drama O’ Neal tends to bring could push him out of town if it doesn’t come with a title.
Did you see the U.S. Soccer team stun Spain yesterday? No, neither did I.
Sorry Angel fans, but you just lost more of your self-developed moral high ground. An off-duty police officer shot 2 would-be robbers in the Angels Stadium parking lot last night.
The Dodgers gave up 6 home runs to the Chicago White Sox last night. It brings to mind the whole fallacy behind the supposed “Smallball” approach the White Sox employ under manager Ozzie Guillen. When they won the World Series in ’05, what most analysts who regurgitated this nonsense forgot to mention was that the Sox hit 200 homers that season. That was good for 4th in the AL that season. In ’06 they ranked first in the AL in homers, in ’07 they ranked 2nd and were first again in ’08. This year, they’re in the middle of the pack…and struggling to win games. So they aren’t really a “Smallball” team. They are a team that relies on home runs to score. It’s just another case of lazy analysts ignoring reality and resorting to spewing axioms and clichés.
Speaking of, did anyone hear new Dodger announcer Eric Collins absolutely own Steve Lyons last night when debating the new stats vs. the old school mentality? Lyons looked ridiculous while Collins showed restraint instead of further exposing how much of a buffoon Lyons is. In summary, Lyons dismissed all the new stats because they didn’t show a player’s heart and desire.
It doesn’t come as a surprise that Lyons would want his .642 OPS ignored. I’m sure he thinks he got a raw deal because people actually looked at his stats rather than his desire to play. Sorry Steve…it’s a shame that you stunk, but that isn’t the fault of statistics. Be bitter all you want, but having more factual information to base decisions on is actually a good thing.
Quick Scans shows its heart and desire every Monday-Thursday on midvalleysports.com.
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