hockeykicker
Moderator
- Dec 3, 2014
- 35,207
- 12,809
Wait, are people still bashing MacPhail? What on Earth?
Duquette may have put the team over the hump and into the playoffs (with a bigger budget than MacPhail ever had), but the core of the Orioles was brought together by MacPhail. Adam Jones, Chris Tillman, JJ Hardy, and Chris Davis were all acquired via trade by MacPhail. MacPhail drafted Machado, Wieters, Gausman, and Bundy. MacPhail built the core of the Orioles, Duquette just added the filler.
Nats offered a lot more money but he didn't wanna leave la
The Nats offer included deferred money, so the net present value of the Nats' deal may have been lower than the Dodgers'. Also, Jansen has an opt-out clause with the Dodgers to leave after three seasons, and we don't know if the Nats offered one as well.
Basketball is a beautiful sport. The NBA has ruined it.
NBA was must watch when I was growing up. I caught the tail end of Magic/Bird but I was paying full attention during the Bad Boys era and then the emergence of Michael Jordan. The NBA was great, even though traveling was liberally enforced during Jordan's run. Still compelling games, with no background music while play was ongoing.
During this time College Basketball was right on par with the NBA, IMO. Duke, UNC, Kansas, etc... and then some Cinderella teams like Paterno's Kentucky team that lost on Laettner's last second greatest shot of all time. And Arizona's somewhat Cinderella run in '97 the culminated with an OT win over Kentucky for the Championship.
During this time our beloved Terps were rebuilt by Gary Williams and CBB really took over for me. The '94 and '95 sweet 16 teams led by Joe Smith and Keith Booth. The Steve Francis for a year followed by the Championship run led by Juan Dixon, Lonny Baxter and Steve Blake. Followed by the up and down years led by John Gilchrist and Nik Caner-Medley.
Basketball as a sport to follow starting losing me when Carmelo Anthony opened the one and done era of CBB and the NBA. IMO, the college game suffered because all the good players were gone after 1 year. It took a couple more years after Carmelo, but good teams had no 2-3 year runs anymore. Players like JJ Redick, that opposing fans loved to hate, were phased out. Rivalries like Duke/UNC suffered as well and Maryland dropped their ACC rivals without a second thought to join the Big10 for money. As a result, the NBA started to get filled with one and doners who showed up without the basketball skills staying at college would of taught them. The NBA turned into, basically, an individual game full of players that can't play defense, or won't. At least thats how I see the sport of basketball now. A shell of its former self.
In the NBA any team can have a HUGE lead going in to the last 10 mins and almost every single time, the other team decides to play hard and comes back. This happens so much I started just watching the 4th quarter lol...
Good stuff, Hog. As a UConn fan, their run in 2011 was the apex of my basketball viewing enjoyment. That run with Kemba was incredible.
twabby, I think Hog is more lamenting the change in how the game is played vs the way the league runs itself. I agree that the NBA is the best run league. The players and the league have a pretty close relationship. I don't think it's a coincidence that this occurs in a league that has the fewest players per team.
I love basketball, so I watch both college and the NBA regularly, but Hog is pretty much spot on. The quality sucks. Gone are the days of team offense and tough defense. Team offense now consists primarily of hero ball. The officiating is terrible. It's just not a great product.
I'd prefer to see a 20 yr old draft minimum. These guys SHOULD BE for the most part learning valuable life skills and lesson in college. As a parent, I'd hope my kid would go to college instead of selfishly wanting for him or her to cash in my early retirement. Now, if there are severe financial/medical hardships, I get wanting to cash in early.