Don't Hate the Player(s)

On the morrow of the Philadelphia Phillies being eliminated from the 2011 Major League Baseball playoffs I have been reading on facebook and elsewhere that the team was eliminated because the players didn't do "their job." Some have implied, while others have said explicitly, that based on how well the players are paid, this alleged failure is made worse. Incidental to this argument is that since the players are paid so handsomely, the cost of attending a baseball game (or any professional sporting event) has become prohibitive to the "common fan." The syllogism runs thus: the players demand a lot of money (to play a kids game!); the owners need to generate that money from somewhere; ticket prices are high, therefore the players are responsible for the high ticket prices. Ancillary to this is that thus they should perform at a level that brings the most pleasure to the fans (the high cost of attending an event should provide maximum utility).*

This is so common a refrain that it is almost cliché. It also has everything precisely backwards.

Major League Baseball consists of 30 teams, each has a pool of 40 players that can be available to fill a game-day roster of 25 positions. So at any given time, there are 1200 major leaguers, 750 of whom can play at any given time.** Supply of the number of teams, the number of players and the number of opportunities to watch baseball are limited.

The Phillies have a current streak of over 200 straight sell-outs at Citizens Bank Park, where a standing-room only ticket costs $17. The fact that there is tremendous demand for access to their games is what allows the team to charge what it does for seats (for a very formal and technical treatment of the elasticity of demand for major league baseball tickets, see here). Other factors include the per capita income of the Philadelphia area, the age of the stadium (and its amenities) and the team’s performance.

What does not determine the price to attend a game is what the Phillies have to pay the players. True, the Phillies need to field a good team to generate fan interest, and attendance, and I don’t deny that at the very margin there is a feedback loop. But the players salaries, league-wide, are a consequence of the interest the American people have in baseball and the fact that we will pay $25 to park far away from a ballpark, $40/seat, $5/hot dog or watch three minutes of commercials between every half-inning and two minutes between each pitching change, not a determinant.

Of course I wish the Phillies won last night. But they didn’t. And that has nothing to do with what they are paid.

I hope to get more into the economics of sports here, mostly for selfish reasons but also because it proves most of the truths about economics in general, is easy for most people to grasp and a lot more interesting than monetary theory and Keynesian rubbish.

Anyone interested in a great history of baseball, with a focus on the relationship between the owners and the players, should read The Lords of the Realm by John Helyar. I read this before the 1994 season and my interest in the business of sports has been piqued since.

*this is my blog, so I get to frame the syllogisms. I know this is a very rough sketch, but I was up late last night watching baseball so cut me some slack. Make comments and I will address any valid concerns there or in a later post.

**regular season, of course; rosters are expanded during the playoffs, but salaries are paid over the course of the regular season and based on the sample of work provided by any particular player over that span, so I’m sticking with this

On 5 & Leadership

Recently Donovan McNabb was recently traded to the Washington Redskins by the Philadelphia Eagles. I have some interest in this as I am from (& still live in) the Philadelphia area and have been a Redskins fan since I was a little boy (yes, since even before Super Bowl XVII).

McNabb's time in Philly was done. He's the most successful quarterback in the franchise's history, by all significant metrics and he was a model employee. By all accounts, he has been an upright citizen. The move was mostly financial, he was in the last year of his contract. The Eagles' options were either to trade him, re-sign him to a long-term deal with a significant signing bonus or let him play out the final season and he would then leave as an unrestricted free agent.
The third option would have been a disaster as McNabb, head coach Andy Reid and every one else in the organization would have been asked about nothing other than McNabb's status. For the entire year. And after the same question 10,538 times, it may start to become distracting. Also, he does still have some worth, so it behooved the team to try to get something for him.
Re-signing him would have been silly. He's 33 years old. He's had several injury-shortened seasons. They would have had to have structured the contract in such a way that, had they been forced to cut him, the signing bonus, which would have to be significant, would be a serious hit to their salary cap. And the Eagles have been nothing if not savvy about their salary cap. They've also been shrewd about releasing older players before they become a liability.
So trade him they did. They got the Redskins' 2nd round draft pick this year and a third or fourth round pick next year. So the Eagles, who drafted Kevin Kolb in 2007 with an eye on him eventually becoming the starter, parted ways with McNabb.

And the Redskins got him. I've never particularly been a fan of Mr. McNabb. There was always something about him that was a little off-putting. Maybe it's the fact that he thinks he's funny (he isn't); or the fact that he took it personally when a few idiots booed the Eagles for picking McNabb instead of Ricky Waters (yes, back in 1999 this was a matter of debate and consternation); or his habit of stating how things are a team effort when they lose and then slipping in areas that could have been better (oddly, though, rarely the quarterback).

I'm not happy because, as bad as the Redskins have been, the problem wasn't quarterback. Now, I may not like McNabb, but I know he is a better quarterback, right now, than Jason Campbell. Running back has been touchy because Clinton Portis is getting dinged more and more and suffered his first, I think, serious concussion last year. The offensive line was wretched last year. Chris Samuels missed most of last season and retired this off-season. The other tackle spot has been a revolving door since Jon Jansen left (and he was starting to decline rapidly when the 'Skins cut him). Only Center Casey Rabach played his position well. Sean Suisham, their kicker, almost drove me to suicide. Their receivers came up small; the defensive backs played soft (DeAngelo Hall is a locker room cancer and not worth what he can bring on the rare occasions when he wants to); The LBs were about the only unit that played well all season.

The point is, with all of the things that are going poorly on the team (almost everything), the one (slight) glimmer of hope was a young quarterback who was unlucky enough to have had several different coaches (and offensive systems) in his short career. So they give away draft picks to bring in a moderately successful, older QB that will keep Campbell off the field for a few years. And giving away draft picks is something the Redskins have excelled at since Dan Snyder bought the team. In fact, the few things the Redskins have done better than piss away draft picks is sign free agents that don't fit the team, hire and fire coaches on sheer whimsy, and lose football games. They have also, counter-intuitively, made gobs and gobs of money.

Another of the things that struck me about McNabb was/is his constant refrain that he was "the leader" of the team. In my experience, the guy who says he is the leader, isn't. And the guy who is never, ever has to say it. I don't remember ever hearing Joe Montana or John Elway or Brett Favre say he was the leader. I do remember Favre, who I respect but don't necessarily like, saying he was responsible. And there is a tremendous difference. Also, I get the feeling that if, in the huddle, someone could hear a quarterback who is a leader, someone would tell their teammates to be quiet. If he couldn't hear McNabb, I get the feeling that someone would tell McNabb to speak up.

There is a recent political analogue. When George W. Bush said he was the "decider." I don't believe in conspiracy theories or shadow governments or that Dick Cheney secretly ran things. Ok, maybe a little bit on that last one. But the one thing I knew, as soon as Bush said that, that of all the people making decisions down in Washington DC, he wasn't one of them.

4th Down

Why Belichick was right to go for it. Football coaches at most levels seem to forget that the rules allow four tries to attain the first-down line, not just three with a punt/kick down.
But football coaches are managers, and are more highly motivated not to screw-up rather than ultimate outcomes. They can always explain their behavior to ownership by showing they desired to keep it close and followed convention--as all their brethren are conditioned and motivated to do--rather than risk and fail.
More insight here, here, here and here.

Life of Reilly

Just another in a long line of fantastic articles written by Rick Reilly. Sometimes (very rarely) he writes stuff that either pisses me off or (even more rarely) bores me.
Much more often than not, he writes brilliantly.

Catharsis

Congratulations to the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies and to me and the rest of their fans.

Hot DAMN what a great season!

Fox Sports

I'm loathe to write of bias for many reasons. Namely that it is almost never as bad as the offended party usually claims (as he is viewing the matter subjectively), it is almost impossible for any person to relay information without projecting his own prejudice in some manner, it is silly to expect him not to, and it's too easy to dismiss the forest for the few trees of bias. When the bias becomes the forest (see MSNBC or Fox News) then it becomes a problem most easily remedied by simply not watching. I've never understood people who claim to hate a news outlet and yet continue to solicit that outlet, especially the fragile waifs so easily offended by the New York Times (it is only the "paper of record" because of longevity and marketing, not for content). I complained for months about the content of the Philadelphia Inquirer; how the writing wasn't merely biased but juvenile in its incoherence and structure and, most offensive, riddled with poor grammar. There were other problems of incompetent delivery and impotent management (Supervisor: "I can't get rid of a delivery guy just because he's not delivering your paper."--read that again). The problem was easily solved by cancelling the paper and instructing the semi-literate simpleton at the customer service desk never to solicit me again (surprisingly, she didn't get that part as I still get telephone and mail solicitations at least monthly). I picked up a copy of the Inquirer after the Phillies clinched the pennant. It has gotten worse.

But I digress.

The coverage of the first game of the World Series by Joe Buck and Tim McCarver was beyond the pale. It started during the Phillies series against the Dodgers, but I assumed that the Dodgers were getting all of the favorable attention due to the fact that they're in LA and that Joe Torre is their manager. But it continued, more pronounced, last night with the Tampa Rays.

Their manager, Joe Maddon, was referred to as a "genius" no less than three times. Dubbed thus by the Nobel Committee of analysts in the Fox Sports booth for his irreplaceable, concurrent work in the fields of quantum chromodynamics; analytic number theory and mechanism design theory. All while managing a baseball team. Genius, indeed. He wears glasses.

Their right fielder, Ben Zobrist, was able to overcome the insurmountable, awe-inspiring challenge of converting to RF from short-stop. I hear a movie-of-the-week is in production. His heroism duly noted, Buck and McCarver went into fits of hysteria in the fifth inning when the center-fielder charged-in to try to catch a short pop-up and Zobrist, our hero, backed him up! He grabbed the ball off a hop after the CF missed it to prevent extra bases. Dear reader, don't you get it? He executed fundamental baseball skills that are taught to the six-year olds at the fields near my house; a feat pulled off by not-quite sober softball players nightly. He mastered a skill performed no less than a thousand times this season alone in Major League Baseball, even by the knuckle-dragging troglodytes with "Phillies" emblazoned on their chests. Yet this was impressive.

He was to be outdone, though, as far as the great McCarver was concerned, by his teammate, catcher Dioner Navarro. In the sixth inning he caught the ball. Let me set this up. The pitcher threw a ball--his job. The batter did not swing, this is good since: he was a Phillie; it was out of the strike zone; it was correctly called a ball by the umpire; I am a biased Phillies fan. Little did I appreciate what came next. McCarver declares, "What a great job by Navarro!" You see, he caught the ball. Never mind that his job description is "catcher." Never mind that "catching" is the sort of applied physics that my dog has mastered. The myopic McCarver seemed to think the ball was in the dirt. With the super-fast film that is used by the broadcasters in these games, it's a pretty bad call on his part, but perhaps forgivable since he's very old. However, they re-played the pitch, very slowly. Now we could all see, very slowly, that the ball was a good three or four inches off the dirt. I'm not saying that catching in the majors is easy and I would most likely soil myself if I were to don the gear and have to catch a professional pitch, but has the bar been set so low that we bestow "greatness" on a man for not letting a ball get by him? A man whose sole job description is not to let the ball get by him? I want McCarver to represent me at my next job review. Neither McCarver nor Buck revised the greatness tag after review.

All of this happened and more while the Phillies were mere pedestrians. Nothing anyone did was remarkable. And outside of our pitching, this was true. So I was more than a little boggled when one of the two jackasses stated matter-of-factly that the Rays bullpen was superior. It isn't, not by a damn site. I never would have believed it if you told me at the start of the season that the bullpen would help bring us to the playoffs and the World Series, compensating for some quiet bats, I would have thought you nuts. But they did.

And while the Phillies did nothing remarkable, the Rays did less. That's why we won and will take the Series in five games.

A pox on Fox for delaying the feed so it isn't synchronized with the live radio broadcast so I can't enjoy the dulcet tones of Harry Kalas while they're playing.

I do plan to record the radio broadcast for the last half-inning for posterity.

Go Phillies. One down, three to go!

Thoughts While Subject to Fox's Coverage of the World Series

Joe Buck is a biased prick and Tim McCarver is a horse's ass.

Otherwise, top flight coverage and analysis.

Also, not enough commercials. I think we can get a good five, maybe ten minutes between half innings. Stretch this puppy waaaayyy past midnight.

The Reason They Won (& Will Win)

On Thursday, 25 September I got in my car and 610 WIP-AM was on the radio. Typically I listen to the mid-day guys, but it was on from the day before and I was about to switch over to NPR when Angelo Cataldi says something or other about a "hot dog" themed day. He says that if you answer this trivia question you'll get a Ryan Howard jersey.
The question, "where did Bruce Willis & Demi Moore get engaged?"
Before I even knew what I was doing I called the station on my cell phone and got through to the producer and told him I knew the answer. You can't just call in with the answer though, they always want you to "bring something to the table." So I said I also wanted to make the case for Howard being the NL MVP this year. This was before 9:00am.
I drive to work, still on hold.
I get to my desk and get the computer up.
They haven't taken any calls, just talked to Mitch Williams and some other guest and commercials. The show ends at 10:00.
While at my computer I start googling to see if I'm right.
Nothing.
There is nothing on Bruce or Demi's wikipedia pages about where they got engaged or even anything on the place I'm thinking of's site or wikipedia entry. All of google. Nada.
But that doesn't matter since nothing has been mentioned of this trivia question in almost an hour.
At 9:57 Cataldi brings up the question and says "Adam, where did Bruce & Demi get engaged?"
"Adam," I say to myself, "who the hell is Adam?" I then realize that some guy may have called in faster than me and I'm out.
"Ghost," says Adam.
"What the hell does that have to do with hot dogs?" says Cataldi.
"I don't know," says Adam, "it sounded good to me."
Cataldi dumps Adam and says, "Sean, do you know where they got engaged?"
"Pinks hot dog stand," says I.
"Where?" says he.
"Hollywood."
"Congratulations, you just won a Ryan Howard jersey from the Sports Outlet in Glendora, NJ, hold on."
"Whoo hoo," says I.
I'm on hold for a few minutes then this guy pucks up and gets my information and tells me that someone will be in touch.
Over the next few days I tried calling, one day I talk to a guy who explains that the info has to go to his boss who then contacts the store, then they call me.
Never get a call.
I'm at a real estate closing and my GPS doohickey has me drive right past the Sports Outlet. I stop on my way back to the office. They say they don't have my name but it can take a few days. I try to be nonchalant. I look around the store which is absolutely freakin' awesome.
I tell them I have business in the are the next week and I'll try back then.
After a few more call to the promotions guy at WIP that weren't returned, I think I'm not getting the jersey.
I stop in the store the next week (I did have a closing there, I didn't go just for the sake of going) which was Thursday, 09 October, Game 1 of the NLCS. I talk to the woman I spoke with before and she remembered me and said they still didn't have my name from the station.
Then this guy comes in from the back and says he remembers me from the week before. I start to explain my predicament, especially the lack of response from the station. He says that he talked to the woman in charge of promotions at the station and that they had some things fall through the cracks. He tells me not to worry about anything.
He points to a rack of replica jerseys and says, "Take your pick, just try it on before you settle on it."
I am the proud owner of a replica Chase Utley alternate home jersey. They didn't have a Howard jersey in the alternate, which is what I was diggin'. I love WIP and the Sports Outlet in Glendora. And the PHILLIES!
The only game I didn't wear the jersey they got pounded.
I've already ordered my 2008 World Series patch and am debating on whether I should have it put on before the Series and risk adulterating the ju-ju or just wait until the parade.
Great problems to have. What election? What debate?

Coming soon: A painfully fond memory of October 1993

GO PHILLIES!

2008 National League Champions.

Man I forgot how cool this feels.

Give 'em hell, boys, and bring us home a championship!

NLDS

Why the f**k is Blanton pitching for the Phillies today?!?

UPDATE: Blanton pitched a hell of a game. GO PHILLIES! My question remains, though. In the playoff teams usually go to a three-man rotation. Cole Hamels is demonstrating himself to be a colossal pansy, albeit a great pitcher. The Phillies needed to win yesterday. If they lost it would have been Hamels v. Sabbathia in game five. Again, Hamels is a great pitcher, but so is Sabbathia. Do you think we would have tagged him again? Hamels should have demanded the ball yesterday.

Calling Harrison Bergeron

9 year-old pitcher not allowed to play in 8-10 year-old little league team "because he's too good." Story here, and detailing the requisite follow-up legal action here.

Money line:

Jericho ’s pitches are so fast and accurate that league officials and some
parents feared their kids weren’t able to play freely, league attorney Peter
Noble said recently.

I was watching the Incredibles this weekend, uh with my daughter, and this story brought back this dialogue:

Helen: Everyone's special, Dash.
Dash: [muttering] Which is another way of saying no one is.

Title comes from this (excellent) story by Kurt Vonnegut.

I Heart Chase

Not too classy, but cursing the reprobates in New York on national television makes you Okey-Dokey in my book.