Kuzul

It’s one of the most sensitive topics in Washington, D.C., these days. Did the Nationals make the right decision in sitting fireballer Stephen Strasburg during the playoffs?

Could Strasburg have helped the Nats sweep or just simply beat the St Louis Cardinals? Did general manager Mike Rizzo make a calculated decision that ultimately backfired and cost the team an opportunity at a World Series title?

Those are kinds of questions people are asking. The Nats’ collapse of epic proportions will be debated in baseball circles for years to come. They blew a 6-0 lead in Game 5 of their NLDS series against the San Francisco Giants and their season ended.

Every time I saw Strasburg on television during the game, he had a blank look on his face. I’m not sure if he was disillusioned about not pitching in the hottest sporting event in D.C. in many years, or if he was tired of the camera being shoved in his face hoping for a reaction.

GM Rizzo decided long ago that Strasburg would be shut down after 160 or so innings. He was true to his word when he benched the superstar after 159+ innings. The official reason: The Nationals were trying to protect Strasburg’s arm. They were looking out for his future.

Rizzo got a lot of props for making such a bold move, but he was also raked over the coals by others. What a gutsy move. Rizzo knew if the Nats were eliminated, he’d face the critics once again.

I’m trying to figure out the logic behind this decision, and for the life of me, I can’t come to terms with it. Strasburg’s arms had recovered. Most major league pitchers who have Tommy John surgery make a comeback.

It’s a very successful procedure that has worked for the majority of pitchers who had it. Strasburg was the latest, and he looked damn good this season. Yeah, his last couple of starts in the regular season were rough, but, geez, it’s a long season. All of the players are tired, even the ones who didn’t have the Tommy John operation.

If Strasburg is on the roster, the Nats are a much better team,. With him and Gio Gonzalez anchoring the pitching staff, they’re among the strongest in the league. That’s a lot for the Cards to deal with, especially if they have to face Strasburg twice in a five-game series.

I think Strasburg would have won both his starts, with Gio winning the other, and the Nats would have advanced to the National League Championship series. From there, I had them beating the San Francisco Giants and moving on to the World Series against the New York Yankees.

I wonder how Strasburg felt. He kept giving us the “company line” when asked about being benched. But this town was crazy. There’s nothing like playoff fever for a city craving a championship, especially for a team that hasn’t seen baseball playoffs since, well, you get the idea. It’s been a long time. Strasburg deserved to pitch. He deserved the opportunity to share in the jubilation and excitement.

Heck, he’s one of the main reasons the Nats made it to the playoffs. Instead he was sitting in the dugout watching like all of us at home. It wasn’t fair to the young man and I give him major credit for not trashing the team and saying all the right things. He’s impressive off and on the mound. But he deserved better.

Lets talk about the surgery. He had completely recovered. Anyone who saw him pitch during the regular season knew that. His fastball was untouchable. He had complete command and control. He wasn’t lacking anywhere.

He was clearly one of the best pitchers in baseball. Some would argue he was the best. He is without a doubt in the same class as Justin Verlander and CC Sabathia.

By all accounts, Strasburg’s arm was fine. So what are you protecting him from? Why not let him pitch in a series he’s been dreaming about since he was a little kid? Why not give your team a better chance at winning the division series and hopefully a world championship? If Strasburg has been cleared by medical experts to pitch, why not let him pitch?

I often wonder what manager Davey Johnson “really” thought about sitting down his best player for the playoffs. There were reports of internal strife between Johnson and Rizzo during the season. Both downplayed the tension, but it raised a lot of questions about their ability to co-exist.

Was Johnson voicing his displeasure at Rizzo’s decision to de-activate Strasburg? Was Johnson telling Rizzo he was making a big mistake?

Let me just say I’m a Johnson fan. I thought he got the job under shady circumstances when former manager Jim Riggleman “resigned.” But that wasn’t Johnson’s fault. It was an ownership and Rizzo debacle. If anybody knows baseball,  it’s Johnson. He’s been there and done that. In previous columns,  I’ve sung his praises.

He was a great player for the Baltimore Orioles and a winning manager just about everywhere he’s been. Just ask the Orioles. Before this season, the O’s were mired in ruins. The last manager to take them to the playoffs? Johnson. But he had some issues with owner Peter Angelos, and vice versa, and they parted ways shortly after Johnson took Baltimore to the 1997 playoffs.

Johnson is invaluable to any major league baseball franchise. He’s tough, outspoken and opinionated. Any general manager or owner who hires him must know that before offering him the contract. Johnson’s worth it. All you have to do is look at his record.

The decision to bench Strasburg and lose a series in such disappointing fashion at home after having such a large lead will reverberate throughout the clubhouse and executive offices for a while. Trust me. This won’t blow over.

I find it hard to believe that Johnson said, “Sure, de-activate my best player.” I’ve followed him long enough to say he probably had some strong discussions with Rizzo about this controversial call. I know Johnson wants to win. He knows he has the team to do it, but in order for him to achieve that goal, people have to get out of the way and let him do his job.

I’ll give Rizzo credit for putting together a playoff team in a short period of time. He deserves accolades for that and he deserves them. Ian Desmond, Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman are some of the best young baseball players in the game. If they keep this team together, they’ll be contenders for years to come.

But upper management decisions will have to be monitored more closely. Ted Lerner and the top brass need to closely study what happened to the Nats this year. They deserve more answers and perhaps a clearer explanation about why one of the game’s top pitchers wasn’t allowed to pitch. At the very least, the fans deserve that.

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The tone of this article would’ve taken on a whole new meaning had one of the umpires at the Atlanta Braves vs. St. Louis Cardinals game been injured because of the controversial infield fly rule. Look, I get that the call was an emotional one for Braves fans. But if something flying out of the stands had seriously injured one of the umps, America’s Favorite Pastime would have suffered another black eye.

I don’t care how much you love your team, it doesn’t give you the right to hurl something from your seat. You don’t have the right to possibly injure an official.  That ump you’re throwing things at? He may be someone’s father or husband. He’s doing his job and deserves some respect, whether he blew the call or not.

Now, before all of Fulton County begins pressing “send” with a pointed response to this article, understand it’s about more than a few beer cans tossed from the stands at Turner Field. It’s about the behavior of some sports fans across the country involving every sport you can think of.

If I’m at a Braves game with my six-year-old son, do I tell him it’s okay to throw something from the stands when you disagree with a call? Obviously not. But kids are watching what we do. Some will grow up thinking it’s okay to attack the game official if they don’t like the call.

Our behavior at professional sporting events has become reprehensible. It’s embarrassing. It’s criminal. More than anything, it’s stupid. It’s a game, people. Life will go on tomorrow whether your favorite team wins or loses.

We all remember the Oakland Raiders vs. San Francisco 49ers game last year when mayhem erupted in the stands. Guys throwing punches MMA-style. It was a free-for-all. Young men punching each other in the face with no regard for the outcome. Seriously? Has it come to this?

There’s a young man in California who can no longer care for himself because he was attacked outside of Dodger Stadium for being a San Francisco Giants fan. He was beaten into submission. A few months ago, he finally came out of a coma and now lives in a wheelchair. Why?

Oh, I know. The Braves incident was minor, right? It only took the grounds crew a few minutes to gather the beer cans and other debris. The game resumed. No problem. It’s all good in the ATL. If I’m the owners of the Braves or the mayor of Atlanta, I’m embarrassed. The entire country was watching, and your fans looked like a bunch of sore losers. 

Are we that wrapped up in our team’s fate that we have to resort to violence to express ourselves? And it’s not just Major League Baseball. It’s the NFL, NBA and NHL. Fans everywhere are acting like complete idiots when things don’t go their way.

It almost feels like some fans are bringing personal problems to the stadium. Things aren’t going right for me personally, so I’ll go to the game and curse out the referee or slap the guy sitting next to me because he’s wearing the opposing team’s jersey. I had a bad day, so I’ll unleash my aggression at the game tonight. Whoever is in my way better look out!

I’ve seen parents with a look of horror on their faces when attending the game with a son or daughter and the drunken fans around them begun cursing and screaming. Not much those parents can do, except whisper in their kid’s ear that this is the wrong way to express yourself at the game.

Now, I understand it’s your right to scream at the ref or ump if you disagree with a call. That’s fine. But do you really have to curse him out? Do you really have to use four-letter words to express yourself? Have you noticed that 6-year-old girl sitting nearby who’s looking at you and wondering why you’re acting this way? Probably not, because you’re on your ninth beer and counting.

Stadium security is a joke and we all know it. Sure, they’ll eject the guy who gets into a drunken fight with another fan. But they’ll miss the other 15 fights in the stands. We can’t blame stadium security. Blame the owner for hiring only a handful of men and women who wear bright yellow jackets with “Security” splashed across the back. Blame the owner for only hiring a few off-duty city police officers to patrol the arena.

I often wonder what the owner is thinking when he’s sitting on his throne in the owner’s box and the fans begin chanting an expletive that sweeps across the stadium or arena like a tsunami. Is he proud that some fans are spewing expletives that are being broadcast nationally by CBS, NBC, ABC, TNT, TBS or Fox Sports? Good time to be an owner?  Probably not.

We all have the right to yell at the ref or ump. We paid the admission fee and should be allowed to voice our disapproval. We don’t have the right to use offensive language. We don’t have the right to throw things from the stands.

Before you begin trashing me, understand I’m not directing this column at all sports fans across the country and around the world. By and large, most of us respect the games and those who are seated around us. A lot of us care about what youngsters hear at the games. A lot of us simply want to cheer and boo in a respectful manner.

You think I’m overreacting? Maybe. Maybe not. Critics might say nothing happened as a result of the fans showering debris onto Turner Field. They might say the umps weren’t injured. No harm. No problem. Well, that’s the easy way out.

One day, we’ll have to deal with the escalating problem of unruly fans at sporting events. One day, we’ll have to develop a strong solution to the knuckleheads who think they’re above the law when they come to games. One day, we’ll have to address the issue of drunken fans who offend everyone in sight at the game. One day, we’ll act more civil towards each other and game officials. Hopefully.

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Washington Nationals manager Davey Johnson’s leadership, Bryce Harper‘s rising stock, and Stephen Strasburg‘s arm appear to have the Nats on a fast moving ride to the 2012 Major League Baseball Playoffs. The team made some strategic and painful decisions, but it’s paying off. Barring any unforeseen events, the players are built for a run in the postseason.

Lets start with Bryce, Bryce, Baby. Harper is batting a shade under .300 and is a clear All-Star this year. There’s no debate there if he’s judged on the first half of the season.  He has 50 hits and counting. You have undoubtedly heard that the kid is 19 years old. It looks like he has the complete package.

Harper is more mature as a baseball player than most teenagers his age. He proved that when he told the reporter, “That’s a clown question bro’.” He didn’t step into the trap the reporter may or may not have been setting on drinking at a younger age in other countries. He handled it well, and for that he deserves recognition.

I’ll be honest. I’m on the bandwagon. If it isn’t his team, it will be soon. Forget about the age. he possesses the attitude of the great Pete Rose. Assertive and aggressive is a good thing if you’re a hot-shot major league baseball star. And yes, I said it!  Bryce Harper is a baseball star.

He clearly has the talent. He has a rough edge, when needed, and that’s a good thing. Many major league teams are looking for a Bryce Harper. The Nats were in the right place at the right time.

Harper reminds me of Pete Rose. They have a similar body type, an NFL cornerback mold. He’s medium height, with stocky shoulders, and rough. If you kids don’t know about Rose and Cleveland Indians catcher Ray Fosse during a 1970’s era All-Star game, look it up. That’s what I mean by rough.

The Kid also has the confidence of a young Rose. He’s never intimidated. It doesn’t matter if it’s an opposing player, the media, or his own bat! He’ll keep coming at you at 100 miles per hour. Like Rose, he knows no other way: all-or-nothing. That’s usually the attitude of a winner. Which brings me to manager Davey Johnson.

I’ll admit, I didn’t like the way he came into the picture. Former manager Jim Riggleman was kicked to the curb. It smelled bad and looked even worse. But it’s the reality if everyone has moved on, and that’s a good thing. Johnson has definitely moved on and in a big way!

Johnson has the team looking like it’s playoff quality, and that says a lot given where they’ve come from over the past few years. Teams losing 100 games a year usually don’t turn it around like the Nats have, but that’s exactly what General Manager Mike Rizzo has done. He ignored the haters out there, and it paid off. And boy were there haters. If you lose 100 games in a season, the haters are part of the territory, unfortunately.

Johnson is one of the most respected baseball minds in history. He’s has the playing career to back it up. Those 1970’s Baltimore Orioles teams were some of the best in MLB history, and Johnson was the starting second baseman. He’s been there, and some.

The 1970’s Orioles had several 20-game winners, a Hall of Fame third baseman in Brooks Robinson, a fiery manager, and World Series accomplishment. Johnson knows how to win and that’s contagious with a young team like the Nat’s. The kids like rings. They like winning. They like championships. This group looks special.

Too bad it didn’t work out for Johnson as manger of the O’s. He got them into the playoffs in the late 90’s, but it wasn’t enough for Owner Peter Angelos. Johnson left, and the O’s went into a steep decline and only recently began climbing out of the cellar. I suspect Angelos feels he made a mistake.

Davey can pull out the World Series ring and show the kids what it looks like; what it feels like. That’s a lot. Many managers can’t do that, at least not yet. Pat Riley pulls out his Lakers Championship rings if he has to make a point. It is quite effective.

In the eyes of many, Strasburg may be the best pitcher in baseball, if not in the top 3. His commanding pitching style is something we don’t see that often in this league. They come around every now and then. He has “it.” Every team needs an ace, Strasburg is all that and a helluva lot more.

He throws in the mid-to-high 90’s and appears untouchable at times. The velocity is hard to contend with if you’re a hitter. How can anyone hit that? It seems almost impossible. Occasionally, he’ll have a rough outing, but very few teams have been able to hit his pitching with any consistency.

If you’re going to make it to the playoffs, you’ll need pitching. Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez are winning games. They’re on a roll and moving fast. With two solid signal callers and a couple of role players on the pitching staff, they look good to go.

Desmond, LaRoche, and the boys are red hot. it looks like a new team. Perhaps it was a matter of the team coming together, finally, with new, solid dugout leadership. It could be the continued development of a young dominating pitcher. Maybe it is the infusion of a young aggressive teenager into the outfield.

Perhaps it’ll be a combination of all of the above that has Washington D.C. fans gearing up for the playoffs in the Nation’s Capital.

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They’re all living the life every single sports-loving kid across the country hopes to experience one day, but is it worth the price?  Kobe Bryant is back in the national spotlight for reasons unrelated to his superhuman abilities on the basketball court.  Barry Bonds is portrayed as a baseball villain, despite beating federal prosecutors on all of its most serious charges and walked out of a United States Courthouse flashing the victory sign.  Fastballer Roger Clemens is currently visiting his tailor for nice suits as he prepares to walk in and out of a federal courtroom for several weeks later this spring.

They’re three of the world’s biggest sports stars, yet we’re talking about everything but their athletic accomplishments.  Did they create the situations currently facing them?  Is the media chomping at the bit to chew them up and spit them out?   Have these three superstars made poor decisions?  Whatever the case, Kobe, Bonds, Clemens and other sports celebrities can’t breathe these days without gossip websites shoving a small camera in their faces.  But perhaps some of these troubles can be avoided with better decision making and advisers.

Kobe should have known better.  He’s my favorite basketball player, but when he uttered the gay slur, I knew the worst was yet to come.  I was watching the game and could clearly read his lips.  Although Kobe’s slur wasn’t directed at a gay person, it doesn’t make it any better.  It’s still wrong and offensive.  I don’t want to hear him say it.  I want to see him pulling up for a long three in the playoffs.  That’s the Kobe I want.

No. 24 uttered the word out of frustration with a referee.  But nevertheless it’s a word that’s very hurtful to the gay community, and he knows that.  In fact, he’s been through enough personal issues in his life.  I’m sure some women across the country have never forgiven him for the sexual assault charges in Denver a few years back.  The charges were dropped, but Bryant’s image took a huge hit, and it took him a while to recover.  He was finally back to being the NBA‘s coverboy and now this.

In fact, I was just watching one of Kobe’s NBC public service announcements.  He is the face of the NBA.  Don’t believe the hype about LeBron being the man.  In time, perhaps, but Kobe is still the King.  Furthermore, he’s too old to make those kinds of mistakes.

Big time sports legends like Kobe have to understand the camera is always rolling.  It never blinks, and there’s always one trained on you unless you’re in the privacy of your home.  From the moment he drives out of his estate in Los Angeles, Kobe is being photographed and tracked by the paparazzi and mainstream media awaiting his arrival at the arena.

If you’re Kobe, you can’t afford to do what you did the other night in front of a national TV audience.  Someone who loves him should tell him that.  Someone who cares about him.  Not someone with his hand in Kobe’s pocket waiting for another handout.

Right or wrong, the media jumped on the Kobe gay slur and ran with it.  ESPN was running the same video and soundbites for three days, and counting.  Did it deserve that kind of coverage?  Doesn’t matter.  He’s a big star and the sports world is always looking for the big story.  Why?  Because that’s what they do.  Ratings. Viewership.  Target audience.  Demographics.  Revenue.  You get the picture.

As for Barry Bonds, he might as well be dressed as Darth Vader, right?  Some believe he helped create the negative persona that forms a black cloud around him whenever he leaves the San Francisco Bay area.  Who knows if that is true, but one thing is for sure: He ain’t gonna win any popularity contests.  He did however win his court case against a group of blood thirsty federal prosecutors, so to speak.

Baseball’s all-time home runs leader was found guilty of one count of obstruction of justice, and likely won’t do any jail time.  The government couldn’t nail him on lying about whether he took human growth supplements, and looked quite silly at the end of the day.  They’ve been chasing this guy for years.  They’ve spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars prosecuting this case, and couldn’t get the verdict.  I guess we won’t see any new federal prosecutors being promoted in San Francisco any time soon, right?

Bonds doesn’t care for the media, and that’s putting it lightly.  He snarls before the TV cameras.  He looks downright miserable most of the time.  It all makes Bond look kind of suspicious and shifty.  If anyone could use an image makeover, it’s Bonds.  How can the all-time home run leader not be a likable and lovable guy?

When I was a kid, the all time home run leader was loved and respected.  You’d never hear a bad thing about Hank Aaron.  He was very laid back, but everyone liked him.  He didn’t have a TV commercial on the air every sixty seconds, but he was a popular figure.  Carried himself well.  Very respectful and classy.  Humble.  America likes humble.

I’ll say this about Bonds.  Every time something is printed about him, it’s usually negative.  We rarely see something in print, on the web, or on television that focuses on something positive about the guy.  He doesn’t help matters much with the way he carries himself sometimes, but when I see his face flash on the screen or on a web page, I know he did something wrong—or at least the media tells us that.

It’s gotta be tough growing up as the child of a celebrity.  Bobby Bonds was also a superstar when he starred for the San Francisco Giants.  He was one of the best players of his generation, or for any generation for that matter.  Barry was always at his side.  In the dugout.  In the outfield.  At the news conferences.  Maybe that determines how you act around people when you become a grownup.  I don’t know.  Steroids or not, Bonds has lived his entire life in a fishbowl.   From son of a famous major leaguer, to Arizona State, to the Giants and finally to the federal courthouse.

Roger Clemens has been hiding.  Cameras haven’t caught a picture of this guy in months.  He comes out of his cubby-hole when he wants to profess his innocence, but other than that he’s become invisible.  Like Kobe and Bonds, he isn’t helping himself in the eyes of the public.  We think of one thing these days when we see Clemens: Human growth.

I’ll say this about The Rocket: He’s fighting till the end and has steadfastly denied using ‘roids.  Like the others two, when you see his face or name these days it has nothing to do with a record-setting career.  I hope for his sake, the allegations are untrue, because he has spent tons of money defending himself and it isn’t over.

Clemens should be having the time of his life.  One of the greatest pitchers of all time according to the record books.  Instead, whenever you see him he’s walking away from the cameras and has little to say.  There was a time when he was the golden boy.  Now the gold is a little tarnished.  Has the media been unfair with Clemens?  Maybe.  Maybe not.

The Rocket doesn’t strike a sympathetic pose when you seen him.  He’s defiant and slightly argumentative when asked about steroid use.  He certainly doesn’t help his image by running away from the accusations.  But does he have a choice?  He knows whenever a reporter is present, they’ll ask him about one thing, and one thing only.  Perhaps he’s tired of addressing the subject.  His handlers however, should learn a thing or two about “spinning.”  Controlling the message might help him.  But maybe spinning is the least of their worries with a federal trial looming.

Kobe, Bonds, Clemens and all sports celebrities deserve a little privacy.  They also deserve the benefit of the doubt sometimes.  The only thing we really know about these superstars is what we see on the web and television.  That’s where we form our misguided opinions.  They deserve a little space and a little freedom.  But if a sports stud should find himself entangled in personal and legal problems, unfortunately a camera will always be waiting outside their door.

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