Bob Smizik's Blog

A plan to save football

Wednesday, 16 May 2012 15:30

Written by Bob Smizik

Football is not dying. But there remains a legitimate chance it could be in jeopardy due to its violent nature. Jason Whitlock, who played college football, is the latest with a plan to save the game. It calls for no kickoffs, 14-game schedules in the NFL and reduces the number of full-contact practices to one a week on all levels.

No word from Whitlock on what the ''educators'' from the PIAA should do with the 14 and 15-game schedules they have Pennsylvania high school kids playing.

By Jason Whitlock, FoxSports.com

A linebacker from The Ohio State University chose law school over a chance to play for the Cleveland Browns. If they can remember, Tom Cousineau, Marcus Marek, Chris Spielman, Andy Katzenmoyer, Steve Tovar, Lorenzo Styles, A.J. Hawk and all the other Linebacker U 2.0 immortals are rolling over in their scarlet and gray jerseys.

Over the past 30 years, there are only two jobs more coveted, prestigious, revered and dangerous than NFL middle linebacker: 1. NFL quarterback; 2. Kim Kardashian sex slave.

Andrew Sweat’s decision to eschew the Browns for law school speaks to how swiftly football’s image is changing. America’s national pastime has had a Thanksgiving driveway-like car accident. Junior Seau is Elin Nordegren and the NFL is Tiger Woods.

Tiger is still a force of nature when it comes to drawing viewers to golf. He’s still famous, infamous, attractive, charismatic, exciting and impossible to ignore. He’s also damaged and a shell of his former self on the golf course.

In the aftermath of Seau’s suicide and growing concern over football head injuries, football could soon be a shell of its former self, a sport played almost exclusively by America’s option-less underclass

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Ranking MLB broadcasting teams

Wednesday, 16 May 2012 14:00

Written by Bob Smizik

FanGraphs.com ranks the MLB radio broadcasting teams. The Pirates crew did not do particularly well in what is a fairly shallow evaluation process.

By Carson Cistulli, FanGraphs.com

At the beginning of March, we released the results of our television broadcaster rankings — itself the product of reader crowdsourcing that had started in late November. Since then, FanGraphs has asked readers to rate the radio broadcast teams (on a scale of 1-5 for charisma, analysis, and then overall) for all 30 major-league clubs — with the intention, ultimately, of determining which broadcasts might best reflect the sorts of inquiry and analysis performed here at the site.

Below are the 30th- through 21st-ranked radio broadcast teams, per the FanGraphs readership.

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Pressure is on Todd Haley

Wednesday, 16 May 2012 12:00

Written by Bob Smizik

Clark Judge lists 13 NFL figures facing intense pressure in the 2012 season and, not surprisingly, included in that group is new Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley.

By Clark Judge, CBSSports.com

If there's pressure these days it's on someone like LeBron James or Henrk Lundqvist, not on anyone lining up for snaps in the NFL.

But wait a couple of months. It will be, and it'll start squeezing people like Philadelphia coach Andy Reid or San Diego's Norv Turner, both of whom are under orders to reach the playoffs.

My concern here is not with Reid, Turner or any NFL head coach. It's with everyone else who's stressed to succeed and to succeed immediately. I know it's early, but let's talk about 13 -- an unlucky 13 -- in the line of fire, and let's start here:

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Is it time to fire Gregg Ritchie?

Wednesday, 16 May 2012 10:15

Written by Bob Smizik

The Los Angeles Angels threw long-time batting coach Mickey Hatcher under the bus yesterday, which, understandably, raises the same issue in Pittsburgh:

Is Pirates batting coach Gregg Ritchie responsible for the well-below awful performance of almost all of the team's hitters?

It’s a perfectly acceptable question. The Pirates offense is a distant last in MLB run production and was little better last year, Ritchie's first on the job, when it finished 27th among the 30 teams.

My stance should be familiar: Players are mostly responsible for their own performance. Coaches are there to make suggestions and assist. They can’t make chicken salad out of chicken feathers.

All that said, the firing of Hatcher brings to the front the fact that coaches are convenient scapegoats. And that’s what Ritchie would be if he is fired. The Pirates are a poor offensive team not because of Ritchie but because general manager Neal Huntington put together a sub-par roster.

The entire issue is complicated by this well-known fact: Manager Clint Hurdle, a former batting coach, is hands-on with the Pirates hitters. Any blame placed on Ritchie also falls on Hurdle.

In explaining the decision to fire Hatcher, who has been the Angels batting coach since 2000, the team offered the best avenue for the Pirates to pursue, if they wish to fire Ritchie.

In a prepared statement, general manager Jerry Dipoto said, ``We think the absolute world of Mickey as a person and thank him for all of his contributions to this organization. Sometimes in the sports world a point is reached where perhaps a new voice is needed in order to attain the desired goals and objectives. Unfortunately we feel this is one of those times. Offensively we have underachieved and everyone shares in the responsibility of what has transpired thus far.''

The ``hearing another voice,’’ is usually the perfect out for a team, although that doesn’t fully work for the Pirates unless Hurdle removed himself from hitting instruction, which is highly unlikely.

My guess: Pirates management is not known for collapsing under the pressure of public opinion. Which means fans figure to have Ritchie to kick around for some time to come.

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Pirates must alter stand-pat stance

Wednesday, 16 May 2012 00:15

Written by Bob Smizik

It’s no secret the Pirates would be a legitimate contender in the NL Central if their offense would step up and just be half-decent. But that’s not happening. The team’s MLB-worst offense remained in place last night, wholly unable to overcome a rare poor start and the Pirates lost to the Florida Marlins, 6-2.

That makes the Pirates 6-18 when they score four runs or less. When they score four or more runs they are an amazing 11-1. The Pirates offense is so hapless that Clint Barmes, a .160 hitter, batted sixth last night.

You’d think the organization would be doing everything possible to score more runs. It’s not. It’s the same old, same old every game. Manager Clint Hurdle shuffles the deck almost daily, but no matter what players he puts out there or how he arranges his lineup, there rarely is anything approachng an average offense.

General manager Neil Huntington, the man in charge of building the roster, has a plan and he’s sticking to it.

Two days ago, Huntington said, ``The guys that are going to help our offense are the regulars. Those are the ones that we've got to get going."

Should anyone thing the Pirates might make a trade to bolster their offense, Huntington said, ``There's very few trades of substance made in May, and there's still few trades of substance made in June. Our solutions are going to have to come internally unless we're willing to be less than intelligent and dramatically overpay for someone else's bat."

No, the Pirates certainly wouldn’t want to ``dramatically overpay.’’

Even, apparently, if it might result in more victories.

Power bats are not available. But the Pirates don’t need a middle-of-the-lineup guy to improve. Their offense is so bad that it would be hard not to bring in new players -- almost any player --- and not get better.

Consider the team’s outfielders.

* Andrew McCutchen is highly acceptable.
* Jose Tabata is acceptable.
* Alex Presley is unacceptable.
* Nate McLouth is unacceptable.
* Yamaico Navarro is unacceptable.

It is entirely possible that somewhere in baseball, and that includes the minor leagues, there is a hitter or hitters who could bring more to the Pirates lineup than Presley, McLouth or Navarro.

Presley was 0-for-3 last night. He now has three hits in his past 43 at bats. If he were an established major-league hitter, such patience might be understandable. He is not.

McLouth, batting .174 with an incredible .217 slugging percentage, has shown nothing this season, as he did in his previous two seasons at Atlanta. Navarro is batting .171. His career batting average is .197.

Somewhere in baseball there has to be players who merit an opportunity over these three. And if anyone knows where the bodies are buried, it’s Huntington.

The Pirates are blowing a great opportunity and Huntington is letting his team down with his stand-pat stance.

The Detroit Tigers gave former Pirate Brad Eldred an opportunity a couple of weeks ago. It didn’t work out, but the Tigers at least tried. Huntington owes it to his team to do the same.

The Pirates should be scouring baseball for offensive help, not sitting back and declaring they’ll go with the players they have. Those players are not working and a possibly great opportunity is being lost.

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Pressure is on Todd Haley

Is it time to fire Gregg Ritchie?

Pirates must alter stand-pat stance

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