I’d Like To Understand How ESPN Creates Power Rankings
To preface all this, obviously things like ESPN and NFL.com Power Rankings mean absolutely nothing. The Patriots are the #1 seed in the AFC, clinched the division and a 1st-round bye, and they’re running rampant to Houston. We all know that. These sites and media outlets do things like power rankings to get people talking and generate a little buzz on their platform; smart strategy for a company like ESPN that needs to distract people from the fact that it’s losing exorbitant amounts of money on a daily basis. But anyway, here I am taking the bait, showing you yet another way that ESPN continues to prove that even sports news can’t exist without some bias.
So, as you can see, ESPN has ranked the Dallas Cowboys as the top team in the league, followed by New England. You can also see that it represents a switch from last week, when Dallas sat at #2 following a road loss to NYG and the Pats were #1 after the win against Baltimore. Fast forward to Week 15; both teams win. The Cowboys by 6 at home against the 8-5 Bucs, and the Patriots by 13 on the road against the 8-5 Broncos. So, for those of you scoring at home, think on this: the opponents had the same record, Dallas won by 6 at home, and New England won by 13 on the road (against the defending Super Bowl Champs, mind you); so Dallas’ win is worth more? That’s the game that proved that they’re the real deal? A game that they trailed after 3 quarters? A game that they were 7-point favorites in, when the Pats were only -3 at kickoff? I’m not even really angry or anything, because who cares about ESPN’s rankings really, I’m just kind of confused. And maybe that makes me a paranoid, bitchy Patriots fan who thinks everyone’s out to get them, but that’s kind of like when you cheat on a girl 3 times and she gets really suspicious about everything you do; it’s not my fault, I’m not crazy, years of torture made me like this. This is who Pats fans need to be right now, because if we’re not, we’ve seen what happens.
PS – I know nothing has been posted on this site for like a week. We’re busy dudes, and finals have been a bitch. Keep checking out RotoStreetJournal, as well as all Reed’s stuff, and we’ll keep TakeZone active when we can.
Pablo Sandoval admits to “complacency” after big contract, vows to work harder in 2017
ESPN — Pablo Sandoval says he isn’t proud of what he has become over the past two years and insists he is ready to make the most of the second chance he’s about to receive.
In a joint English-Spanish interview with ESPN.com and ESPN Deportes, Sandoval said he got “complacent” after signing a five-year, $95 million contract with the Boston Red Sox in November 2014 and pledged to “start my baseball career all over again” now that he is fully recovered from left shoulder surgery.
“My career had fallen into an abyss because I was so complacent with things that I had already accomplished,” Sandoval said by phone in his first public comments since August. “I did not work hard in order to achieve more and to remain at the level of the player that I am and that I can be.”
Look, I’ll be honest with you; when this season abruptly ended and my first thoughts towards 2017 surfaced, Pablo Sandoval was not a part of them. I declared myself #done with this guy last April and I’ve had no intention on backing down from that. We overpaid him to start, then he got fat and lazy and played like crap and then missed an entire season. That a guy you want on your roster? No thank you. But I understand that trading him certainly isn’t an option, since his value right now would be so low, and I get that even though salary doesn’t dictate anything, you’re not gonna take a guy who you owe over $50 million to and throw him to the curb. The Sox obviously saw something in Pablo that made them pull the trigger on 5 years, $95 million, and they’re hoping it resurfaces. We all are.
Now that Travis Shaw is a Brewer, Boston’s 3rd base position is wide open for Sandoval to swoop in. Which is probably good, because we all know what happened last year when Pablo had a little competition for his spot. You can see in the image above that Sandoval has clearly lost weight, and now today’s ESPN piece shows something we really haven’t seen a lot of from Pablo; humility and regret. He seems to at least feel a little bad for what he’s put Sox fans through for the past two years, and he seems determined to turn his legacy around in 2017.
Now, a lot has contributed to Sandoval’s weight problems. He would rapidly fluctuate weights in San Francisco, and since he’s come to Boston we’ve heard about stress, eating disorders, the whole nine. But what matters now is that he cares; cares enough about Boston, the Red Sox, and his own career, to turn it around. Obviously Sandoval was a top-5 third basemen during his Giants days, and he’s still only 29 years old; this isn’t an impossible task we’re talking about here. I’m not getting my hopes up too much yet, but we could be well on our way to a brand new Pablo Sandoval era here in Boston. But I’ll believe it when I see it.
Red Sox acquire reliever Tyler Thornburg from Brewers for Travis Shaw, prospects
I’ll be clear to start: I don’t hate this trade. In 67 innings last year, Thornburg let up just 16 earned runs, walking 25 and striking out 90 (3.6 K/BB). You can never have enough relief pitching, especially when your rotation features guys like Clay Buchholz and Drew Pomeranz, and Thornburg will be a solid addition to Boston’s bullpen. What I do hate, however, is what this trade seems to mean for the 3rd base position in 2017.
Now, I know this is just speculation. Sandoval was supposed to start last year, and even before he got hurt he lost his spot to Shaw. He could get hurt again. Brock Holt could take over at the hot corner again. A surprising prospect could come out of nowhere in Spring Training. It’s too early, we have no idea. But I do know that I’ve only been #done with 2 things in my life: the dog face filter on snapchat, and Pablo Sandoval. Do with that what you will.
So goodbye, Travis Shaw. Hope Milwaukee respects your candidacy for Mayor of Ding Dong City. I know I did.
Bud Selig is in the Hall of Fame; are PED users next?
Bud Selig was the commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1992 to 2015. Before that, he was a trusted MLB executive and, before that, a minority owner of the Milwaukee Brewers. He’s been heavily involved in baseball since the 60s and, even though many have disagreed with his decisions in the past, it’s obvious that his life’s work has been dedicated to the advancement of the sport we all love. And now, Selig can add another title to his long and impressive resume: Hall of Famer.
It was announced yesterday that Selig, along with former Royals and Braves executive John Schuerholz, will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017. Selig’s induction was pretty inevitable considering how much of his life he dedicated to the game, but it’s controversial nonetheless; now, people are saying that if the man who seemed to enable a decade-plus of PED use in his beloved sport is in the Hall, then maybe the men who used PEDs can be in, too.
To a point, I agree with what these people are saying; it’s commonly believed that Selig knew about the PED problem for some time before taking any action, so why should a man who let his sport’s integrity go by the wayside to generate more fan interest and revenue be honored by that sport? Baseball’s Hall of Fame is historically extremely selective, so much so that the league’s leader in hits and its leader in home runs both currently find themselves on the outside looking in due to moral issues (obligatory #FreePeteRose), so obviously people are going to ask questions here. But are they justified? And, if so, does this actually change the fates of confirmed juicers who put up great numbers?
It could in theory, but in reality it won’t. No matter who gets into the Hall from the Steroid Era, the majority of voters are still gonna have qualms with voting for guys like Bonds, Clemens, and McGwire. Yeah, Selig may have turned a cheek while some shady things were going on, but he didn’t physically take the stuff; he didn’t personally cheat. The traditionalist voters that the Hall employs aren’t going to look the other way just because Selig is in. Maybe that’s hypocritical, maybe it’s not fair, but that’s life, kid. Deal with it.
Regardless, congrats to Bud. He may have made some controversial decisions in his time (canceling the ’94 World Series and basing World Series home-field advantage off the winner of the All-Star Game, to name a couple) but he worked hard to grow the game of baseball and deserves recognition. And, possibly being lost in the noise, congrats to John Schuerholz, the man who built the Atlanta Braves dynasty of the 1990s. Great guy, great executive, and very deserving of a spot in the Hall.
Same shit different day: Your boy’s got a new gig
I know exactly what you’re thinking: just can’t keep up with us, can you?
First, it was yours truly doing some Odyssey stuff (which I quit after a couple months because it was pretty awful compared to being able to do whatever I want on my own site). Then, Reed got his viceroy gig that he continues to kill it at. And now, another new gig for ya boy, and it’s at Rotostreetjournal.com.
RotoStreetJournal was made to be a safe haven away from all the numbers and analytics to tell you what you need to know and when you need to know it so your fantasy football team is ready to go. Now, I suck at fantasy, but what I’m writing about over there is something I’m even worse at: gambling. I’ll be highlighting the major spreads for the weekend near the end of each week, then recapping them after all the games are through.
Now, obviously this is a little different than TakeZone or Keegansports; these guys already have an established site. Nevertheless I’d love to get the continued support of the select few people who have always been reading, sharing, and supporting what we’ve been doing. TakeZone will keep going, but I’ll be throwing up probably about 2 articles a week on RotoStreet, and would love if you guys could share and help grow that site into the powerhouse that it has the potential to be. These guys know their stuff over there.
You can find their Twitter account here. My first post should be up this afternoon, so keep an eye out. And as always, thanks guys!
Major League Baseball has a new Collective Bargaining Agreement
Yesterday, just hours before the old CBA was set to expire and send MLB into its first work stoppage since the ugly strike of 1994, the opposing sides came to an agreement on a brand new collective bargaining agreement. There are plenty of reasons this CBA took so long to become solidified, like the possible institution of an International Draft and a remodeling of free agency, but the owners and the union were able to compromise enough to avoid a lockout. 21 straight years of labor peace, that’s what I’m talking about. So now, let’s see how this new CBA is going to have an effect on Major League Baseball now and in the future.
Luxury Tax: Baseball is essentially doing its best to have a salary cap without actually having a salary cap. And up till now, that’s happened in the form of a Luxury Tax that is imposed on teams whose payrolls exceed the limit set by the CBA, which is currently $235 million. If a team’s salary exceeds this, they’re subject to a penalty. In the past, the highest tax rate a team could have to pay was 50%; now that limit no longer exists. Teams will pay the tax according to how much they exceed the cap by. This improved on but didn’t fix a prominent argument against the luxury tax; if a team can afford to spend more than the cap on players, isn’t it safe to assume they can afford to pay the tax as well? It was discussed to have this penalty involve draft picks as well, which would hinder the team in a much different, more apparent way, but that discussion seems to have fizzled. Regardless, as ESPN’s Jayson Stark writes, the Dodgers are kinda fuuuuuuucked:
Free Agency: The main talk here surrounded the rule that forces teams to forfeit a 1st-round draft pick if they sign a free agent that previously rejected a qualifying offer. It’s a strange rule, and now it’s been tinkered with a little; teams will still have to forfeit a draft pick, but a lower pick. And, if the team is also over the luxury tax threshold, they’ll forfeit two picks; a 2nd- and 5th-rounder.
International Draft: The arguments for and against an international draft are both good ones. In arguing for it, the owners cited safety above all; the idea to eliminate stories like Yasiel Puig or Jose Fernandez being smuggled to America overnight and having to face threats from those who helped them once they were here and signed huge deals. But additionally (and, in reality, more important to the owners), an international draft would be a huge money-saving maneuver for teams as opposed to spending tens of millions of dollars to lock up a talented player who hasn’t even seen a major league fastball yet. The players, on the other hand, love the current system; obviously. It was clear, however, that something had to change, and something did; teams now have a $5 million per year cap on signing international free agents. No exceptions. It will certainly change the landscape of signing free agents from overseas, but exactly to what extent we have no idea – yet.
Tobacco: In the last year, Boston joined Chicago, LA, and San Francisco as cities that have banned the use of smokeless tobacco in public parks. And yes, public parks encompasses major league stadiums. Many a player has been caught on camera violating these statutes, and none have been punished (as far as we know), so the new CBA went a step further; tobacco is now banned among major league players – sorta. If you’ve played at least 1 day of major league baseball as of today, you’re free to dip and chew all you want, but the newcomers can’t. It’s a strange rule that will need changing over time to reach their ultimate goal, which is to remove the substance from the game altogether, but an interesting wrinkle to the new agreement.
Scheduling: A minor story, but starting in 2018 the season will start 4 days earlier. As a result, 4 more days off will be scattered throughout the season to give players a little extra rest, especially when the dog days of summer roll around. Schedule makers will also push for day games when both teams face a long flight immediately after the game. All of these are efforts to minimize exhaustion, which, the league hopes, will help keep some of its stars off the disabled list.
All-Star Game: I’d always been in the minority group for this, but I’ve always kinda liked the idea that the ASG decides home-field advantage for the World Series. It’s a strange stipulation, but it helps provide something that no other league can claim; an interesting, competitive All-Star Game. MLB’s Midsummer Classic has boasted the best ASG ratings out of the 4 major sports in the last few years, and I personally think the “This One Counts” idea was a part of this. I won’t say it’s the only reason the game got good ratings, because that’s certainly not true and we had great All-Star Games before this rule came into place, but it certainly helped. Nevertheless, I guess we’ll see the effect of this when the 2017 ASG in Miami rolls around.
More details about the agreement will undoubtedly emerge in the following days and weeks, and while some will be hated and some loved, one thing is now certain: we will have baseball in 2017. And thank God for that.
Josh Norman can’t figure out exactly why people don’t like him
I personally think a lot of times CBs in the NFL get too much shit for being cocky or self-centered. Being an NFL cornerback is the closest thing in team sports to being a boxer or MMA fighter in that you’re all alone out there; you make a great play, it’s all you, and you get roasted, it’s allllll you. So I think as a corner you’ve got a little free reign to be a dick, especially when you’re good. It’s arguably the most difficult position in the sport, comparable probably only to QB, and if you dominate at it I think you get a little leeway, which is why even though I’ve never been a fan necessarily of Josh Norman, Richard Sherman, etc I’ve always respected what they can do.
One thing I particularly like about how Norman does it is he goes after the star receivers; he’s not over here chirping the garbage slot guys, he’s going word for word with OBJ and Dez Bryant, two of the most feared receivers in the league. And even further, he’s outplaying these guys. With all that Dez has said the last few days about “dominating” Norman, the numbers show a different story: 12 career targets, 4 catches, 38 yards. Now, Dez’s Cowboys has had some success against Norman’s teams in the past, including this past Thursday, but not necessarily against Norman himself. And earlier this year was the same story; Odell Beckham may have racked up some yards on Norman and the Redskins, but Norman built permanent real estate in OBJ’s head, leading to him quite literally losing his mind on a kicking net the following week, and Washington got the win.
But now we get to the problem here, and it’s what Norman now has to say. Both guys have obviously cooled off a bit since the game and, while they aren’t stepping down from their remarks, they’re coming off a little more centered now. After Dez famously proclaimed on Twitter he’s going to post clips all week of him “exposing” Norman, he then had this to say Monday.
It’s certainly not “I’m sorry, I was wrong and Josh and I are spending the holidays together”, but it’s definitely down a few notches. Anyway, now we have a quote from Josh Norman in the Washington Post, talking about the situation with Dez and how he wants to move on from it.
Oooookay, bro. Yes, people come after you. Sometimes excessively. But let’s not forget that Dez only made the “Washington should get their money back” comment because you legitimately made the same exact comment last year after a Carolina win over Dallas. OBJ may have thrown the first punch or two, but you retaliated both physically and verbally, and it takes more than two, to tango… or something like that.
Bottom line is, act like this crazy badass CB all you want and roast these receivers and chirp them until the cows come home. Just don’t act like some innocent bystander the next day when your team is 3rd in the division and your fans want answers. If you’re man enough to push and shove and talk during the game, be man enough to face the music once it’s over.
Another great NFL Sunday is in the books
Say what you will about the NFL, but since the ratings fiasco became front-page news the product on the field has gotten better and better. I’m aware that that fact has nothing to do with upper NFL management and everything to do with the players on the field who actually create the product, but still. Baby steps.
This week was no different. It actually started on Thursday, when for the first time in a few decades we had 6 teams play on Thanksgiving that were all over .500. That number is typically brought down by some perennial Thanksgiving teams that aren’t usually that great, aka the Lions, but even Detroit has been bringing it this year. The result was 2 great games both decided by 5 points or less and a late game that was basically a blowout because Andrew Luck was concussed. Nonetheless, a great Turkey Day of football that reminded us that no matter how many racist relatives we have, there will still be football. Hallelujah.
Then came Sunday, where 9 out of 12 games were decided by 9 points or less. I use that stat a lot, how many games were decided by single digits, because I think it’s a great indicator of parity in the league. If teams are constantly being blown out or blowing teams out, that’s not really good for anyone in the long run. Ratings go down, people care less about the games, and even the team that’s doing the winning becomes the Warriors eventually and everyone hates them and wants them to lose. Lose-lose.
Everywhere you look there’s something to be intrigued by. The Pats squeaked out a win at the Meadowlands over the Jets, moving to 9-2 on the year and a perfect 6-0 on the road. Now, New England hasn’t played anyone on the road that’s particularly great, with a combined record of 20-46-1, but the success is there. The surprising Titans have moved to 6-6 on the year, and although a close win over Chicago is nothing to pop champagne about it’s clear that Marcus Mariota and his boys are on the up and up, and are moving in towards a playoff spot in the weak AFC South. The Bills improved to 6-5 with a home victory while simultaneously handing Jags coach Gus Bradley his 45th career loss, a new record for NFL head coaches. Call me crazy, but I think old Gus is on the hot seat.
The Dolphins won their 6th straight after a 1-4 start, proving to be an interesting wrinkle to an otherwise dull AFC East. The Chargers beat Houston, and like Miami, San Diego continues to be an interesting sidepiece in their competitive division. Obviously a playoff spot is out of the question, with 3 of the NFL’s top 5 win totals in front of them in the stacked AFC West, but San Diego is in a great position to play spoiler come December, when they host Oakland in Week 15 and Kansas City to finish the season. And finally, we can stop pretending Russel Wilson is back; he wins games because of that stout defense, and his 151 yards and 2 INTs against Tampa Bay’s 23rd ranked defense prove that.
And finally, we had Sunday Night Football; a huge divisional tilt between Denver and Kansas City. The teams played a scoreless first quarter and sat at just 9-3 KC at halftime, but the second half and beyond did not disappoint. Emmanuel Sanders had a huge 2nd half, finishing the game with 7 grabs for 162 yards and a huge TD late in the game. Von Miller and Justin Houston both finished with double digit tackles and 3 sacks, and regulation wasn’t enough to sort this out; after a late KC TD and 2-point conversion that tied the game at 24, we went to overtime. It had the looks of another tie for a while, as Denver knocked in a field goal and KC came back with one of their own, but big old Andy Reid wasn’t having no tie; after getting great field position off a missed 62-yard game winner by McManus, Alex Smith drove the Chiefs downfield just enough so Cairos Santos could boink a 34 yarder off the left upright and through for a game winner. As someone who got a decent sum of money with a Denver win, the kick was a real roller coaster of emotions. And I think Denver’s mascot agrees (he’s down by the base of the post):
RIP in Peace, Miles.
So tonight, on Monday Night Football, the Packers will travel to that shithole we call Philly to take on Carson Wentz and the Eagles. This is a real battle of teams that had a lot of promise early in this season, only to be currently sitting on the outside looking in to the NFC Playoff picture. The Pack have lost their last 4, mainly due to RB injuries and defensive woes, while Carson Wentz just hasn’t been enough for the Eagles who now sit at 5-5. I’m looking at the odds as we speak, and it’s tough to not take Green Bay +4 1/2 here. Yeah they’ve been cold, but it’s hard to lose 4 straight and come out flat on Monday Night Football. The Pack will come to play tonight, and at the very least they’ll cover.
Why Thanksgiving > Christmas
Every year when November rolls around I have to have this debate with people. Maybe I don’t have to, but I kinda do. Halloween ends and everyone goes full blown Christmas mode, and I for one am downright sick of it.
As a little kid, Christmas is the GOAT. No doubt about it. Christmas is Jordan, Thanksgiving is Pippen, anyone who argues that is dumb. You just sit on your ass for 2-3 weeks instead of going to school and play with all the pointless shit your family just spent a shit ton of money they don’t have on and you won’t touch again after mid February. It’s awesome. The last week of school before break is a joke, with parties and yankee swaps and whatnot, and then you give Santa some cookies and you get a bunch of stuff. It makes zero sense that Christmas has become the commercialized shitshow it currently is considering what it’s supposed to be, but I will never ever ever ever argue with it until I have shitty kids who want stuff.
But once you hit a certain age, Christmas pretty blatantly loses its magic. Santa (spoiler alert) isn’t real anymore, and you have to actually start buying presents for people and not just receiving them, and it’s just not as fun as it was. Don’t get me wrong, Christmas is a top 3 holiday and it always will be. But it’s not #1 after a while; Thanksgiving is.
Let’s do a little rundown of Thanksgiving: high school football, food, beer, NFL football, beer, food, more NFL football, beer, pie, sleep. Uh, yeah I’ll take that 365 days a year please. If you’re really choosing pretending to be pumped about the Champion ankle socks your aunt got you last-second over all that, you’re dumb and also pretty stupid. It’s relaxing and you eat great food and drink and watch grown men injure each other. Maybe put up with some casual racism from that uncle, maybe pretend to give a shit what your grandfather thought about the election, but the good certainly outweighs the bad.
So yeah, call me crazy, but I’ll take Thanksgiving over Christmas any day. Don’t @ me.
Take Zone Sports 