And. Here. We. Go.

Ladies and gentlemen start your engines. No no, not talking about NASCAR, I don’t have a broke down car in my front yard or a severe enough of a tan line to be an expert on stock car racing. I’m talking about the best 2 months of the year that have come upon us, November and December. There are many many reasons why these two months dominate the year. First of obviously is the birthday or a certain awesome man…I mean I know he’s a big deal but I never thought Ryan Moats birthday would really make November the month it has come to be. There’s also the greatest holiday ever in December (boxing day obviously) and Christmas music for two months. Just a little sidebar here, people who say November is too early to listen to Christmas music fall into the following categories: 

A. “Too cool” to listen to it which means are inherently tools.

2.  Don’t have enough Christmas music to last them for two months. (You can only hear Winter Wonderland by Amy Grant so many times)

Thirdly. Can’t hear the bell anymore and don’t “believe” in Santa, whatever that means.

D. Are dumb and have a scrooge like factor to them…but not the scrooge at the end of the play, the guy at the very beginning who everyone dislikes. 

Anyway I digress, since this is a sports blog (if you can even call it that) I am going somewhere with this. November and December happen to be the best months of sports that we get all year as well. Don’t believe me? Well then you’re probably the guy listening to Tik Tok by Ke$ha instead of Merry Chirstmas, Happy Holidays by N*Sync.

Let’s begin with the obvious; we have the most sports going on during this time. College football, college basketball, high school football, high school basketball, NFL, NBA, and NHL are all being played during these times, and in my opinion most of them are in some of the best part of their schedules.  

Let’s begin with NCAA football. The BCS championship is in January, not December, along with all the other BCS bowl games, I hear you. However, think about what those games mean. Yes the BCS championship game crowns the victor at the end of the season, but until we go to a playoff (2014 I believe) the other BCS games truly mean nothing. A bowl game isn’t a playoff game, and in the end it really means nothing. It’s a way to reward players, coaches, fans, and sponsors for the effort they put in during the season. The truly great games are the ones that are before the bowl games, the ones that decide which team goes where. These tend to be the last 2 games of the conference schedule and all the conference championship games. You truly see the players taste that championship, and in many cases get to see rematches of already great games throughout the season. It’s these games I love to watch so much more than the bowl games because they matter.

Next to NCAA basketball, now many people may believe the best time is in March, I am one of those people as well, but excluding that tournament, the best games are in November and December. These are when you get matchups that might happen in the tournament. You get the Big 10 ACC challenge, Gonzaga palying a ridiculous non-conference schedule, and you get to see teams like Kentucky, Pitt, Syracuse, and tons of other great schools play the best teams they play all year. 

NFL, now obviously the playoffs and the SuperBowl are the best, that’s a no brainer, but just like college football here are teams that are fighting to get into the playoffs playing huge divisional games down the road. Don’t think I have a valid point? Look at the last two SuperBowl champs, the Packers and the Giants, both went 9-7 in the regular season and had to win their last game (in the Giants game the last 2) to even have a chance to make the playoffs. The playoff pictures are shifting around and those final few weeks in December you somehow become best friends with that weird guy at work with the mustache just because you know he has DirecTV and NFL Sunday Ticket (then all of sudden once the playoffs roll around you don’t seem so interested in his in house art studio or his kid that seems to see you as a jungle gym not a human being…hmmm wonder how that happens). 

NBA, the season begins. I know most people aren’t as big of NBA fans as I am but I love the NBA. Here you get a feel for how teams really are going to be. Its early enough in the season where there aren’t a whole lot of injuries and the guys are still playing all four quarters…wish I got paid to only “really” perform for a fourth of my work day. Now the playoffs are obviously the best time but just the beginning of the season gets me as excited as a teenage girl if they came out with a movie where Twilight meets Justin Beiber and they save Selena Gomez from the evil Rebecca Black on Friday and then all go to Katy Perry’s house and sing Lady Gaga while watching the Bachelorette…yea MORE excited than that. 

NHL, well highlights are fun to watch...even though there may not be any this year. Barry Melrose will still go on SportsCenter and do highlights for games that didn’t even happen…that’s how good he is. PS if hockey doesn’t start I’m anticipating Canada goes crazy and may just go absolutely nuts on the world…I think that’s what the Mayan calendar was referring to when they said the world will end in 2012. 

In these two months, we have all those sports, all on TV, all over the news, every day. We also have English Premier League Soccer too if you’re into that (I am). Not a day goes by that you can’t turn on SportsCenter and be entertained for literally 4 hours, and the Top 10, oh the Top 10, it’s no longer overweight baseball players falling to make a catch, it’s actually good plays. You have football games on Thanksgiving, basketball and football on Christmas, high school football championships, you’re families together, Santa comes, its cold outside so you just stay in and watch the games, you have tons of food, presents, fantasy football champions crowned, Santa comes, Barkely’s back on TNT, Santa comes, and Christmas music. Need I say more, it’s truly is the “most wonderful time of the year”. Enjoy it, because before you know it it’s a Tuesday in July and the top slot on SportsCenter is a highlight of the Marlins and Astros game where Houston won 4-2.

 

The Best Week Ever in Sports...and I Bet You Missed It

Ok, clarification, the best week ever in sports for this sport, just had to get your attention somehow, looks like that Marketing degree I got in the mail yesterday is already paying off. So you are probably wondering what did I miss? I listen to sports radio every day, watch more hours of SportsCenter collectivley then I do sleep, and always correct random conversations when somebody who knows nothing about sports blurts out "yea I think the Jazz can go all the way this year". Now I'm not here to say that you missed it completely, that you didn't know it was happening, the odds are you just probably didn't see it live. I'm talking about "America's Pastime", yes ladies and gentlemen, I'm referring to the first round of the MLB postseason.

Hold up hold up, before you click that little back button and return to your Facebook and Twitter feeds where the Kardashian's update on its left hang nail seems to be more important than this (yes I called them an "its"...i refuse to acknowledge them as human beings), hear me out. I know baseball is boring to watch, I get it. I played baseball from age 4 to age 18 and at one point considered it my favorite sport, even thought about playing it in college, and I still hate to watch it on TV. Going to a game is completely different, those who live in Utah can't really understand this (Bee's games are fun but its like dating a girl who's friend is much much hotter than her...you're like yea she's hot but eh eh eh... somethin better is literally right in front of you), but games live are an event and even going to a Rockies game when they're 380 games out of first place (actually happened this year no joke) when the stadium is half full is a blast. But just like hockey now a days, baseball just isn't appealing on TV anymore. However, this postseason was entirely different.

Let's begin with some facts.

• Even before the playoffs started we had two play-in games, how on earth teams can play 162 games and then be tied for first place in the same division is mind boggling to me but it happened twice this year. Controversy happened in one of those Wild Card games in which a basic rule was evaluated and challenged and eventually had an effect on the game. While this sucked for Braves fan it made for a little flare and drama. We also had the O's and the A's make the playoffs (it was the year of the vowels) and the A's basically just created a sequel to Money Ball this year (so be ready for that to hit theaters in a year because we all know Hollywood is running out of ideas...seriously Fast and the Furious 6?) 
• This is the first time in baseball history that every series went to the max amount of games, 5 in this case being the first round. Going into the last day each team had a chance to make it to the next round, people were talking about Yankees and Cardinals World Series matchups as well as A's and O's. 
• The Giants came back from a 2-0 deficit to win their series against a good Cincinnati team, complete with a blustering home run but Posey in game 5 to put the Giants in cruise control for that last game. 
• 6 of the games were decided by 1 run or fewer. In this case if you would've just watched the 7th, 8th, and 9th inning, the game would've been gripping, especially with how much is on the line.
• Out of those 6, 3 went into extra innings. There's nothing better in baseball because at this point the bullpens are bare and the hitters are tired so if there ever was a time to dig down and beat the other team on sheer fight this is the time in baseball. 
• Playoffs are actually strategy based and its fun to watch managers play chess with each other. Send in a pinch hitter and then they change pitchers, lefty on lefty, righty on right, small ball, and players actually springting to first base...sprinting!!! Crazy I know

I'll admit, I fell victim to the same thing. I may have decided to watch a rerun of a Family Guy episode (ok maybe 4 episodes) instead of watching the games. But when I turned on the radio and ESPN.com for an update on the status of my fantasy quarterback (it was Jay Cutler at the time so....still sucks), I saw the status for games 1 and 2 and decided that I'm def def gonna start watching. And even though I decided to watch the last few innings only, I felt as if I had watched one of the most captivating things I've seen in sports all year. (Also the Yankees got smashed in the next series and A-Rod struck out...and he wasn't even playing!!!!)

So with the World Series in the full swing and the fall classic more captivating than ever with the Giants up 2-0 (on the other side of where they've been the whole playoffs), take a night and go out to a bar and have dinner and causally watch a baseball playoff game, or put it on the background in your house while you have family night or are folding laundry, you'll be surprised at how with 8 innings left your glued to your couch and chatting about how a .301 average against a lefty in a ball park like Detroits means they'd be better off with a advancing that runner with a bunt to get to that hitter even though it means two outs. It's America's Pastime, don't let the time pass you without enjoying it.

e.moats

Dear Kansas City...

A Cordial Letter to the Fans of Kansas City:

First off, it's disguesting, how dare you, and you should be ashamed to even consider yourself a sports fan. The fact that you would cheer, yes I said it CHEER, when your quarterback Matt Cassel suffers a concussion in the latter stages of last week’s game against the Baltimore Ravens sickens me for so so many reasons. But I’m only gonna focus on one thing because otherwise I could write a novel longer than War and Peace about how much said “cheering” upsets me. I won’t speak on how the over abuse of alcohol probably contributed to this or even on this certain entitlement that fans feel (because believe it or not professional athletes owe you nothing. Yea you pay for tickets but that is your choice, just because you fork up $50 for a seat and $30 for beer doesn’t mean the man playing on the field is now in your debt…trust me athletes do it for the fans, they want the fans to be happy but in the end this is THEIR job, not yours, this is their life and their career, not yours. Don’t think they owe you something just because you wish you were there…and please please please don’t think just because you can put up 50 in Madden on semi-pro against the Jaguars defense that you know more about football then these players and coaches.) Sorry that just upsets me, but that’s for another time. No, what I’m going to write to you Kansas City fans about is how what you did is a perfect example of what has happened to the fans of the NFL. While the NFL has become progressively more advanced in so many ways (Plays, Equipment, Strategy, etc.), we as fans (and yes I’m including myself in this) and especially you certain few (not all) in Kansas City have become a dumber fan, and less sophisticated fan, and it’s ruining one of the greatest games ever invented.

Let’s start with the obvious. You cheered someone who is injured. That’s just stupid. Now I know we all love to see the big hits, love to see people getting leveled on the sideline or coming across the middle, when you see J.P.P. comin off the edge to the quarterbacks blindside you get giddy and anticipate seeing someone get smashed. That’s ok, but only if the person gets up and plays on, or is out for a few plays. That’s at least civil. But when someone goes down and stays down and then has to be escorted to the locker room because they can’t walk straight…and you cheer, that’s terrible. With all the media coverage of how the NFL, and especially concussions which Cassel suffered, affect players in the long run how can you seriously wish that upon somebody and rejoice when it happens. It is literally the equivalent of walking into a firestation and cheering a fallen comrade or someone who got hurt putting out a fire, there’s no difference. To add on top of that, IT WAS YOUR OWN PLAYER!!!! What kind of fan does that? A dumb fan, that’s who.

I understand he wasn’t playing the best, but you want me to tell you why it was dumb? Let’s start here with the obvious, you were playing the Baltimore Ravens. One of the top teams in the NFL, an elite defense with an ever increasing offensive attack, a legitimate super bowl contender. Throughout the course of this game, your Kansas City Chiefs had rushed for 240 yards…240 yards on one of the premier defenses in the league. Sure Cassel didn’t throw for 300 yards, but how are you to know that he didn’t audible passes and turn them into runs that went for 6-10 yards? You don’t. And if you really want to throw the ball against an elite defense 40 times with no true slot threat and not establishing the run, then the game probably would’ve been 90-6 instead of 9-6. In this day and age, with everything at our finger tips and the emergence and huge popularity of fantasy football you expect way too much way too quick. You have an amazing defense, and that is what your team should be based off of. Don’t think it works, look at San Francisco, what is the difference between your team now and their team a year or two ago. Not a great offense, exceptional defense, good running attack…that only led them to NFC championship, no big deal. But you don’t see that do you, you want to throw the ball, put up 70 points in an offense that right now can’t handle it. You held the Ravens to 9 points…is nobody pointing that out? Why can’t you cheer about that? An almost elite offense with weapons everywhere and you kept them from scoring any touchdowns. You need to lean on your defense, play the time of possession and field position game, please why can’t you be a true fan and understand that 9-6 games can be just as entertaining as 45-42 if you understand how the game is supposed to be played, but you obviously don’t.

Ok so you wanna say that even with the defense and stopping the ravens and the run game and all that it was still an awful performance from a quarterback, and has been subpar each year. Ok, that I will agree with you, but while that doesn’t allow you to cheer his life possibly being changed forever, I’ll tell you another reason its despicable. You’re a Kansas City fan, be a fan no matter what. You can be frustrated you can talk trash about your team, but please support them. What kind of man cheers his own team doing bad. Try being a Rockies fan, they had one good year where they went to the World Series, other than that they’ve been like last all the time (I know that’s not historically accurate but they’ve been bad), and yes I make fun of them and say jokes, but when they play I cheer my heart out for them. Whether it’s a terrible play or an amazing play I’m there all the same. You can’t say you’re doing that, you have to be patient. Have to trust the coaches, the players, the owners, and it’s your job to support them, not judge, not make decisions, not cheer when a man gets knocked out, but to support. And eventually they will make a run, they will win a super bowl, they will have a great team and then you can be there supporting your team in the freezing cold in December just as your were in all the years before when those week 16 games where the team was 3-15 didn’t matter.

Kansan City, you disappointed me. I implore you to be a smart fan, try to learn the game and understand what is going on around you and that the NFL season matters more than your fantasy league, support your players and your team win or lose, and don’t you ever ever ever cheer someone getting knocked out again. That’s disgusting.

 

e. moats

Above All, It's a Business

Let me paint a picture real quick. Imagine the owner of a company starts to see a dip in sales. What are you taught to do in business school? Evaluate your product, which he/she does (lets just say he for now...no offense ladies it's just one letter shorter which obviously makes a huge difference when typing...carpal tunnel can wait). So he sees that his product is not performing as predicted, so he goes out and speaks with all the members on his board, his VP his CFO, the product team, etc. They all evaluate and decide that the product needs to be upgraded. So they make a concise decision on a new product that they believe will have a larger R.O.I., and invest capital in that product.

Now, go back and put "player" in for product. Now instead of some owner, put John Elway, and instead of sales, put...oh wait sales. What is the difference between what John Elway did with Tebow and Manning and what Apple did with the iPhone 4 and 5? Nothing, except the iPhone 4 doesn't have John 3:16 written on the back. Ok, ok, seeing as this is a sports blog you probably could've guessed where that was going (the title may have given it away), but what sparked my interest to write about this subject? The new IOS 6 Update...I mean the replacement refs, a sub par piece of equipment that doesn't live to up expectations and compromises the product.

We all saw the Green Bay, Seattle game, we all know what happened, "The Golden Push" (as I have so ineptly called it) which led to the new NFL rule "Catch the guy who caught the ball and that is now a catch". But I don't want to talk about the call, nor directly the people who made the call, but the reaction to the call and all the calls that had been made leading up to that. As I stated before, sports is a business, the NFL is a company above anything else, out there to do what every other company tries to do, turn a profit. What happened on that night led to an immediate deal between the NFL and the normal refs. Two days before that call, ESPN had reported that the referees and the leagues meeting had gone horribly, and that neither side seemed to budge. Then all of a sudden they magically agree on everything and chose to give and take? Roger Goodell had a sudden change of heart a la the Grinch?Do you think it was because the NFL really cared that the call was made wrong?  No, never, and well kinda. The real reason, in my opinion obviously, is the product was compromised. The product (remember the trade in word for product).

 The deal got done because you had a proven product, a $9 Billion a year industry, not performing to its expectations, and the entire world not only knowing about it, but talking about it in a negative manner. Turn on sports radio any of those three weeks, especially the day after that horrendous call, it is all anybody could talk about. Nobody mentioned how Aaron Rodgers was running for his life that game, or the fact that a relatively unknown Seattle defense dominated one of the most prolific offensive attacks the game has seen the past 4 years, no it was the refs. A game that should've been embellished the NFL for its parody and ability to captivate audiences instead turned the league into a laughing stock.  In the business world this simply does not do. Do you remember the Toyota recall with the whole brakes situation? That turned out to originally be because a car rental company put the wrong floor mat in a Toyota rental and it pushed up against the brake pedal so the driver couldn't put it down. But it went public and people freaked out. Now when you ride along with someone in a Toyota, you are thinking in your head jump, tuck, and roll while your hand is on the handbrake instead of focusing on the fact that your significant other is trying to have that all important DTR with you.

So what happens when the public screams for you to change the product? When its on as big of a national stage as that game was (and when it hits every paper in the world just like the Toyota thing did), you budge, just like the NFL did. I can almost guarantee you Ed Hochuli broke his record for curls on that night because he knew 100% that the NFL couldn't let its product be shamed and ridiculed like that any longer. You can't put a Sketchers sole on a Nike shoe and expect people not to know the difference. Sure to the casual shoe wearer they may not be able to tell what's wrong. But to those who truly love Nike, they will walk around and be like wait wait a minute, something's not right. Then when that ankle sprains, they'll say enough is enough and go buy a different shoe (ok ok no more metaphors I promise).

So what's the take home message here? Next time you try to figure out why Aaron Rodgers makes $8 million a year, how the NFL can charge on average $78.38 per ticket, or how you yourself are enamored with a backup quarterback to the point where you'll buy the jersey of a guy that doesn't even play, just take away the ball, take away the jerseys, take away the pads, and the colors, and the announcers, and look at the players and the games purely as an item of output. Do they perform to their expected value (salary)? Does the company meet the shareholders expectations (record)? Do they receive bonuses from exceptional output (extra ticket prices for playoffs)? And can poor performance force a company to yield to a union (self-explanatory)? In the end, all it really is is a business, and quite the business if I do say so myself.

E. Moats