Manny Ramirez, Get a Clue!

There is such a disparity in this country I can not believe it. As I sit and write this, I continue to live pay check to pay check. I continue to watch my spending and hope that I can make rent next month, however I still find myself lucky to even have a job. Considering the millions of people that are out work, I can not believe what I am reading today from the world of baseball.

Manny Ramirez has turned down ANOTHER million dollar deal from the Dodgers, offer number three in fact from LA.

Ramirez has turned down a $25 million contract for one year with an option for $20 million in 2010. This comes after he turned down a $25 million for just one year with no option and guaranteed two year, $45 million deal.

Huh? This guy is painting himself as the ultimate jack ass.

There are families in this country that are struggling to make payments because of layoffs and people’s salary’s are being cut or frozen, and Manny is turning down $25 million. I guess $25 million just doesn’t buy what it use too, right Manny?

The latest stat is 2.6 million people lost there job in 2008 and already two million in 2009. There are people living on $200 a week from unemployment and this guy is saying $25 mill is not enough.

So when are these million dollar athletes going to start getting pay cuts? When are these high priced corporate executives going to start getting pay cuts? NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell already has taken a pay cut, good for him! Although he still is going to make like $5 million, but at least he took a pay cut.

These pro athletes are something else. If Manny doesn’t want to play for that money, don’t let him. I would rather pay $12 for a ticket to see some up and coming kid who still has it in the back of his mind that he wants to play for the love of the game and not the almighty dollar.

Forget Manny and forget these million dollar athletes who say their contracts are worth more than the millions of people out there that lost there jobs, or had their contracts bought out at the company they worked for.

He is basically spitting in the face of the American people with his greed and it’s a disgrace to baseball and the people of this country.

I could care less if I ever see Manny play again. Good riddance.

The MLB Network...or Cricket

This is an appeal to all cable companies, please add MLB Network as part of the standard cable package.

I don’t care about Fox Sports World and some cricket game in Indonesia.

What I do care about is watching baseball and getting all the latest info I can.

Of course, that is probably why cable companies feel they should charge to add MLB Network (or NFL Network). It’s all about demand and if people want it badly enough they will pay for it.

I know baseball has its roots from cricket, but I would rather watch Sir Albert Pujols connect for a 435 homer against the Cubs to win a series then watch Sir Charles Luberstink bounce a ball from one wicket to the next.

Where is the pitching mound?

Getting Local

So I have stayed away from writing about this economy for as long as I can, but it is absolutely killing the communications industry. Radio and television stations across the country are cutting back, freezing salaries, laying off people and adding on more work on the people left behind. In the end it’s the product that suffers, and the product is what you need in order to sell to make the money.

There are tons of good and talented people that are without a job for no other reason than the place they worked for could not afford them.

That is one of the hardest things to get over I think, and I know because I was a victim of that same thing. It is one thing to lose a job because of being just bad at it. Fortunately that has never happened to me.

However, it’s a whole other animal to lose a job because the place you worked for couldn’t afford to keep you on. Two of my friends are in the same boat as thousands of other professionals out there.

It’s hard when you give 110% of your time to your work, carefully making sure it was at the highest quality you can give and at the same time got praise for the work done, only to be told you can’t keep working because of the bottom line.

Local radio sells, I have seen it work. Ever since radio started, it sold itself.

Cutting radio, or going network and getting rid of the local flavor only hurts the company in the long run in the local community.

From my point of view in Minor League Baseball, I will never understand why teams cut radio when it can be such a powerful marketing tool in the community, and so easy to sell as well. I feel so passionate about it and that is why I think it can be a financially successful aspect of the company and is a bad idea to cut.

When it comes to local radio, local hosts, local jocks, they are so much more entertaining then the network. People want to know what’s going on in their community, in their town. There needs to be a local flavor to radio, there needs to be that connection to the community.

People like to know the person they are listening to is local, they like to know when they flip on the radio they are going to hear about their town and not some city or town on the other side of the country.

Why is satellite radio failing? If you ask me it’s because it doesn’t have the feel of the community like radio has, or should I say “had.”

My heart goes out to my friends and all the thousands of good, hard working people out there in my industry that have been let go because of budget cuts. I have been there.

Hopefully things will turn around and hopefully the time on the bench is not long.

Warner has MVP Game in Super Bowl Loss

Super Bowl XLIII was probably one of the best Super Bowl’s in history. Kurt Warner has now played in three of arguably the top five Super Bowl’s in history and is 1-2. Warner probably went to sleep thinking about how the interception at the end of the first half cost the game for the Cardinals, a 100 yard TD return by Pittsburgh going into the half. I still can't believe nobody could make a tackle on that play.

It might be the play everyone remembers because it changed the momentum of the game. The Cardinals were on the doorstep of taking the lead, and instead gave up six to the Steelers. The other play everyone will remember is of course Santonio Holme’s catch in the corner of the end zone giving the Steelers the lead with 35 seconds left in the game, maybe the best catch ever in the Super Bowl.

However, if I was Warner, I would go to bed thinking, if only the defense could have stepped up and made a play. Warner kept his team in the game and if the Cardinals won for sure put up MVP type numbers. Warner was 31-for-43 with 377 yards and three touchdowns.

The Arizona defense committed three personal fouls on one Steelers drive allowing Pittsburgh to score on a 79 yard drive that took 8:39 off the clock. Granted it was only a field goal, but still points on the board for a 13 point lead.

The one thing that worried me, along with the coaches for the Cardinals and every fan of the Cardinals out there, was the fact that there was too much time left on the clock when Larry Fitzgerald scored on a 64-yard reception for a 23-20 lead with 2:37 left.

The defense could not hold the Steelers. All Warner could do is watch as the Steelers marched down the field and somehow Ben Roethlisberger found Holme’s in the corner of the end zone floating a ball over three defenders. The Cardinals had just 30 seconds to go the length of the field.

Just like in Super Bowl XXXVI against the Patriots when Warner brought the Rams back from 14 points down, Warner did it again in Super Bowl XVIII bringing the Cardinals back from 13 points down. Unfortunately, just like the game against the Pats, the Cardinals defense could not make a game saving stop.

It was hard to watch Holme’s make the catch in the corner of the end zone behind three defenders. Especially when he nearly made the same catch a play before on the other side of the end zone.

This wasn’t how the game was supposed to end. Warner’s Hollywood script was about walking off the field with a second Championship, a second MVP and something nobody ever will probably do again. Take two teams that were the laughing stock of the league to the promise land. Instead, it ended with Warner walking off the field in a shower of confetti as the other guys celebrated again.

Ironically though, while Warner has been the victim of poor defense in his last two Super Bowl’s, Warner’s one Super Bowl win came down to great defense, maybe the greatest single defensive player ever in the Super Bowl, with the Rams Mike Jones making a game saving tackle in 1999 in the waning seconds.

Warner is two good defense stands away from having three Super Bowl Championships. His numbers in the post season are undeniable though, he is one of the greatest.

Warner is a Hall of Famer, win or lose.