 |
| MLB...it's epic! 1 |
Perhaps there is a subconscious part of me that craves a
little sports nostalgia. The morning before the Brewers’ brew-ha-ha with the
Pirates at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, I watched the “30 for 30” documentary “Bad
Boys” on ESPN, about the Detroit Pistons teams of the late 80s and early 90s,
including consecutive championships in 1989 and 1990. The Pistons were the villains of the NBA at that time. Nowadays,
words like “thug”, “goon”, and “dirty” are often overused and misused. Those
labels were perfectly fitting for the Bad Boys Pistons. The documentary was
full of video highlights supporting that assertion.
Shortly after watching the program, I found myself craving
little more aggression in my sports viewing than normal. I watched the Game 1
first round of the NBA Playoffs between the Golden State Warriors and Los
Angeles Clippers – two teams that do not like each other. The game officials
kept the players on a short leash, dishing out fouls like people dish out candy
on Halloween for the least, little sign of aggression. Blake Griffin of the
Clippers and Andre Iguodala fouled out of the game. Five of the other eight
starters would finish the game in foul trouble.
Ordinarily, I would complain that the officials were trying
to control the game and exerting too much influence. Given the two teams
participating and their recent histories, however, I understood the reasoning
and it worked; there was only one technical foul and zero flagrant fouls during
the game. While there were several moments in which I could see players
exchanging some choice words (not “Holy Saturday” or wishing one another a “Fun
Easter”), the extracurricular contact between players was minimal, to my
temporary disappointment.
In the 80s and 90s, flared tempers followed flying fists or
at least strong shoves were no uncommon between rival opponents with mutual
contempt. Concerned for the image of the NBA, former Commissioner David Stern
led the charge to put rules in place in the late 1990s that would bring the
hammer down on players turning the basketball court into a boxing ring,
including fines and suspensions for leaving the bench for a skirmish, let alone
putting one’s hands on another player. The days of the NBA tough guys, as we
knew them (especially in the Eastern Conference at that time), were over.
 |
| This was Bill Laimbeer being nice. 3 |
BOYS BEING BOYS
Major League Baseball, reactive rather than pro-active as usual, followed suit within a few years. In the 20th century, bench clearing brawls in baseball, especially between division rivals, were just a part of the game, albeit much less frequent, as fights are in ice hockey. Fines, if any, were of a token nature and suspensions were extremely rare unless malicious injuring resulted from a team fight. Lengthy suspensions were almost unheard of. However, with the NBA making pro-active strides to rid its game of thuggery and even NHL hockey tightening its controls over glove-dropping goons, MLB codified fines and suspensions into its rules that would make players feel more than a pinch if they incited or inflamed a fracas.
The “bench clearing brawls” that I grew up with, in which
disrespect from a rival often ended with a few punches in the faces of one
another, were replaced my mass player meetings on the diamond and stern
talking-tos exchanged. Maybe someone might get pushed…perhaps even pushed to
the ground. That’s it. Scenes of punches and pandemonium were being cleaned up
in America’s Pastime.
THE CODE
So why am I talking about what happened yesterday? What happened exactly and what was so awesome about it? One would expect me to applaud the efforts to remove fighting from the sport and frown upon the caveman antics of two jocks in chest-thumping measuring contest gone bad. Right?
Pirates starting pitcher Geritt Cole served up a two out
pitch in the 3rd inning that was smashed into center field by
Brewers centerfielder Carlos Gomez. Gomez’s reputation for running hot precedes
him. Yes, it’s that Carlos Gomez who
was ready to single-handedly tangle with the entire Atlanta Braves roster in a
similar incident last September.
Gomez gave his bat a little flip (which can tantamount to a
little bird flip to the pitcher depending on the situation, past histories, and
body language), began a less-that-full-speed jog to first and the ball watched
(also a potential violation of the unwritten “baseball code”), presumably
because he thought it would either be a home run or a long fly out. It was
neither. The ball hit the wall and was in play, at which time Gomez began to
high-tail it around the bases, stopping at third base with a triple.
Cole went to back up third base on the play. On his way back
to the mound, Cole uttered some choice words to Gomez about his conduct on the
bases. Gomez took umbrage and told Cole what he could do with his “career
advice” and tempers began to flare. Like a flash-bomb, words became heated,
personal space was violated, and within seconds, both benches emptied.
 |
| This is not Gomez's first rodeo. 2 |
People were holding one another back, shoving, cursing and the coup de gras was Brewers reserve catcher Martin Maldonado delivered a knuckle sandwich to Pirates outfielder Travis Snider’s dome, both of whom left the bench when the fireworks started. Gomez, Snider, and Brewers bench coach Jerry Norton were ejected and a multi-game suspension of Maldonado is imminent.
While I doubt management of either club approved of the
incident, sometimes you need to start a fire to stay warm. The excitement of
season-opening April baseball tends to subside after a few weeks. It’s a long
season and October is a F..A..R away. The NBA Playoffs and its related
storylines dominate the front and back pages of the sports section (as well as
the middle). Only the most die-hard of baseball fans have much motivation to
pay a lot of attention to MLB until late June, leading up to the All-Star
break, after the NBA Finals are over.
More so, too many baseball players look like they’re just
going the motions until the September races heat up. Modern day players are so
brand an image conscious that fans seldom get anything juicy in the sound bite
department. Where’s the passion? Why should I care as a fan if every day is
just another day at the office for the players?
Then…BAM! Two division rivals meet up. One team, the
Brewers, is hot, in first place and off to a surprisingly fast start. The
other, the Pirates, was a playoff team from last year with eyes on the division
title and the pennant, yet is slumping early in the year with a sub-.500 record.
The short fused player on the hot team dishes out a little more misfortune to
the slumping team and the fireworks fly!
 |
| Sometimes you have to punch a guy in the face to keep the peace. 4 |
Yesterday’s blowup insured one thing: these division
opponents, who meet each other no less than any other teams on their schedules,
have upped the interest in their future games this season. Familiarity in
sports mixed with contempt always makes for a better spectacle than without
those two elements. For a sport that often drags behind the rest of the sporting
world in evolving during a time of year in which the game is competing with the
playoffs of two major sports leagues (NBA, NHL) and the ramping interest in
next month’s NFL Draft, a good, old-fashioned brawl was just what the doctor
ordered for MLB.
2) Image from http://espn.go.com
3) Image from http://fiestybudda.wordpress.com
4) Image from www.huffingtonpost.com
5) Image from www.freep.com
 |
| The game ended in a Brewers win after a 14 game marathon. Free fights...free baseball...what do they do for an encore? 5 |
Don't forget to vote in the fan polls!
To advertise with The Daily Hat Trick, or to submit a guest column, please contact the editor at eric@thedailyhattrick.info.
1) Image from Pittsburgh Sportsline via www.facebook.com2) Image from http://espn.go.com
3) Image from http://fiestybudda.wordpress.com
4) Image from www.huffingtonpost.com
5) Image from www.freep.com
No comments:
Post a Comment