Halftime (II)

Don't forget to read Part 1 of Halftime and check the new video from KeySpan Park.

Cue the classic Nas track.

Early July is a pretty intriguing time in sports. There’s the free agency frenzy in both the NBA and NHL, with the backdrop of a devastating recession. The sight of the word July is a boon to Major League Baseball as it prepares for the All-Star Game, the trading deadline and its only month as the lone major team sport in town. Wimbledon is going to give us championship battles during the holiday weekend, with storylines for both the men and women’s finals.

Yet, as Wednesday’s post discusses, we have entered the second half of 2009, a year that has sped by us with great games, historical events and utterly bizarre news. After reading about a few of the general issues headed into the next six months, here are some sport-specific thoughts you should pay attention to.

MLB: It looks as if the big boys are wielding heavy lumber into the postseason chase as all of the usually-despised big market teams (save the Cubs, at the moment) are in contention for the playoffs. Specifically, the Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, Mets and Phillies are in the running, while fans in Cleveland, San Diego, Washington D.C. and Oakland await NFL training camps to distract themselves from the misery.

For a sport that almost openly roots for the major market teams to go long in the postseason, it will be interesting to see not only how their players perform, but their stadiums. The demand is high in those cities, for sure, but if we are seeing empty seats immediately behind home plate in Citi Field and the new Yankee Stadium, what will we find in a few months?

You can’t even dream of getting Red Sox tickets during the season, let alone the playoffs. The Phillies might be fine considering that they would be defending their championship. Manny Ramirez’s presence in the Dodgers lineup creates absurd revenues for the front office. Yet in New York City, neither team can fill their ballpark, even as they play winning baseball. Ticket prices are such a turnoff at a time where fans would love to attend games that it would be hard to imagine that anyone would fork over entire paychecks/unemployment benefits for a Divisional Series game, let alone the World Series.

NFL: Donte’ Stallworth’s guilty plea to DUI manslaughter – in which he was given 30 days in jail, two years of house arrest, eight years of probation, 1,000 hours of community service and a lifetime suspension of his driver’s license – had set off a firestorm among fans and media. The immediate and most common reaction has been a comparison of his crime compared to that of Michael Vick’s prison sentence after his dog-fighting ring was discovered. However, the Humane Society and PETA gave the NFL enough grief (that’s being kind on PETA) about Vick that it could be credited with placing the pressure on law enforcement and the league to act swiftly on the former Atlanta Falcon.

As pondered in part one last night, will there be any word from any anti-drunk driving organization such as MADD in regards to Stallworth? Sadly, if there hasn’t been already, there may not be any time soon. Since this country and this particular league have a kinship to the alcohol industry, drunk driving does not illicit the same anger and conversations as performance-enhancing use, dog fighting or throwing three interceptions in the first half.

NBA: So the LeBron in 2010 campaign started this past season, but it will be in the final year of his contract that the real chaos begins. I say chaos because while LeBron-to-New York (or Brooklyn, if the Nets are still dreaming of the Barclays Center) has been assumed for some time, if you think that the Knicks and Nets are the only teams that will make a play for him, you must not follow the NBA outside of what the mainstream media says.

Unlike the Draft, where leading to the event, it’s insinuated that teams will intentionally lose games to have a better chance to secure the top pick for a potential star, free agency is about maneuvering salaries in order to attract the best available and newly unattached players.

We should keep an eye out on which other teams not only enter the fray for the current Cleveland Cavaliers star, but which teams have a legitimate shot in landing him. Many believe that James would inherit just about the same scenario of the lack of a strong supporting cast wherever he may go. When you also add to the fact that he didn’t need to be in a ‘major’ market to become a superstar, teams that are not in the New York, Los Angeles or Chicago areas have greater incentive to make a play so long as they have the foundation to win, or at least contend for championships during the span of his new contract.

Then again, this offseason will provide plenty of intrigue on its own without thinking so much about 2010.

NHL: This league has found remarkable success since emerging from the lockout in 2005. Much of this has to do with its young stars to go along with are arguably the most exciting playoffs in all of sports year after year.

What we have discovered in the last two years in particular is that whether people love or hate them, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin have people watching and debating their skills, value and presence in sports. What is somewhat overlooked is that both players, along with some strong supporting casts have matched, if not trumped, attention paid in larger markets. Sure, Pittsburgh and Washington D.C. are not home of the Original Six teams, but both are fairly strong sports towns. The Steel City is already home to the current Super Bowl champion Steelers, but also a pretty profound hockey history. Meanwhile, outside of Cleveland, there’s probably not another American city as starved for a champion than D.C.; proved by their willingness to get behind the Capitals in recent seasons.

Early free agent movement points towards some of the bigger market teams as they try to supplant the Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings. Yet, with the NHL’s momentum being built without some of those squads, there’s a legitimate question headed into the fall: can the league continue its ascension without a contender in New York City or a relevant team in Toronto?

Finally, a few quick thoughts:

College football: Will the anti-BCS movement gain greater traction now that there has been some governmental wrangling in recent months?

College basketball: Who will be the most talked about rent-a-stars/one-and-done players with even fewer brand names next season?

Tennis: Will the US Open give birth to a new star beyond the usual names of Venus, Serena, Roger, Rafael, Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova and Novak Djokovic?

Golf: Can the PGA learn how to live without a dominant Tiger Woods? Can the LPGA withstand some of the economic hits to some of their tournaments?

NASCAR: Next week, there will be a lengthier discussion on the country’s most popular motorsports organization. For now, if (a HUGE if) Danica Patrick joins NASCAR after the season ends, how much of an impact would she make on a sport once considered America’s fastest growing sport just a few years ago?

Intrepid

For those who have been reading Scribe for a while, you are well aware that the NCAA is as close to a cuss word as there is on this blog. It’s not so much about the action as it about the politics surrounding the surface of play. There’s no question that as long as basketball and football continue to be the engine that drives the organization, the debate about compensation for its athletes beyond scholarships will rage on.

Yet, though it may not appear to be the case right now, the future of the NCAA hinges on a couple of intrepid kids.

Last year, it was Brandon Jennings who decided to jump across the pond – bypassing the NCAA in the process – to play professional basketball in Italy before offering his services to the NBA. Now, we have Jeremy Tyler, a 6-foot-11 prospect from San Diego, who has decided to take things to another level by forgoing his senior year in high school.

High school.

It appears that Jennings’ gamble, which was to join a league where he would be tested by seasoned pros and endure a more grueling schedule than even the top NCAA teams create, has paid off as he’s projected to be at least a middle first-round draft pick in June. While many believe that his decision was based on not performing well on the SATs in order to enroll at Arizona (a test is not a measure of someone’s aptitude, contrary to popular opinion), Jennings understood that he would be wasting time in playing against peers that he easily dominated or would toss aside in college. Having played numerous invitational games (high school and AAU) seemed to have been all the evidence Jennings to see that there would be little challenge to spend the mandatory one season away from prep school to play in the NCAA.

So, in the face of those whose extol the virtues of a ‘free education’ while pocketing money for the work of these athletic marketing representatives (which is what a student-athlete essentially is), Jennings essentially became an apprentice. He decided to build his craft in a foreign land among men who are playing for more than mere dreams, but for mere employment in an über-competitive industry.

Tyler would have been a lottery pick in the pre-age limit NBA. Where Jennings appears to be the best young American point guard not in the Association, skilled big men are coveted with as much fervor as finding reasons to jump on the Twitter bandwagon. Yet, deciding to skip his senior year in high school seems to be for similar reasons as Jennings; being a man among boys. Why go through another year of quadruple teams against kids nowhere near your size? Why deal with an eventual college coach who is going to work to only keep his job or look ahead for the big program?

Yet people will be up in arms about Tyler’s decision to skip the senior prom, the senior trip, the aptitude exams and missing out on a 400-karat high school ring from a mail-order catalogue. The thing is that Tyler understood that the NCAA isn’t the only organization that feeds off of young talents, but his high school as well.

He understood that in high school (including those AAU teams and basketball factory prep schools), there isn’t a foundation or even interest to cultivate more than a handful of talented kids. Much of the reason for the age limit in the Association is because when a bunch of random names threw their names in the hat, there were too many ‘raw’ prospects, unfinished products and unprepared youngsters who were pushed through the traditional channels too fast.

This isn’t to say that either Tyler or Jennings will become multiple All-Star selections and win NBA titles. It’s quite possible that both completely bomb out when they reach the NBA (next season for Jennings, 2011 for Tyler at least). Yet, it’s hard to get upset at two kids willing to take such drastic steps to get one step closer to making their dreams come true.

For all the histrionics about the one-and-done players who are apparently wasting a college’s resources by not being engaged in the classroom, just be happy that there are a couple of teen phenoms who don’t want to do the same to some high school.

Say What?!?!: Further commentary found here.