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Friday Roundtable: Bad Actors and Unemployment

Posted by Morrisseyweb on Friday, November 06, 2009 at 12:01:03 AM

As you've come to expect, the Friday Roundtable brings you the most pertinent news from the previous week in the world of sports. Now, despite the name "Mo's Tavern," we are steadfast in our opposition to alcohol abuse - and we're particularly opposed to workplace accidents. And please, please, please, don't ever call anyone in this establishment "a bugger" for "buggery" has a specific and particular meaning not appreciated in these here parts. But to show that we're not without our fun side, we've teamed up with The Freetail Brewing Company to offer free beer each time Manu Ginobili and the Spurs win without batting down a Mexican Free-tailed Bat. We'll give you a coupon for a free beer at their place. They're in San Antonio. Airfare is not included.

The McCourts headed back into court yesterday in their divorce case, at issue was whether or not Jamie McCourt should be reinstated as CEO of the Dodgers. Now, this was denied, but still not settled is whether or not the $800 Million team is community property or if it is solely Franks. Apparently if it is determined to be community property, Jamie may have another bite of the reinstatement apple. But in the end, there was 1 issue resolved today - that Jamie can use a swimming pool between 6 AM and 2 PM. An attorney for the Dodgers says the divorce hasn't affected the team at all and that it is business as usual. REALLY? The CEO is forced out, your manager is saying in essence that he'll play out his contract next year and you've got 16 Free Agents, and it's business as usual? Serious?

Something caught my attention today when I heard Vic Carucci on Boston sports radio today in discussing the Breveland Clowns GM situation. Now, Kokinis was abruptly terminated 8 games into his first season with the team at 1-7. Cleveland.com's report on the situation has Browns owner Randy Lerner calling the circumstances for Kokinis' departure "unforeseen," and "just cause." SI reports that he essentially lost a power struggle with Mangini, but Carucci suggested that there may be more to the story...he seemed to hint that there could be a few salacious details yet to come, so Beeze, I'm counting on you to find the truth. It's incredibly difficult to imagine what could have happened unless you start putting a Steve Phillips spin on the situation. I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'. Even more interesting, in last weeks' roundtable, I noted that some fans were urging a boycott of the MNF game by encouraging fans to stay out of their seats for the opening kickoff. Well, in the wake of this whole GM debacle, Lerner decided to actually MEET with these guys to convince them to call off the Dawgs, as it were. So, I've been thinking about a way to get into see Bob Kraft - when I was looking for a grad school internship at the dawn of the Drew Bledsoe era, I wrote to the Patriots asking them if they had an opening. I got a wonderful letter essentially saying "no." Now I know what I did wrong. I should've tried to convince people to stay away. Oh, wait. They WERE staying away. I went to the last game of the season, having bought 4 tickets that week in the South End Zone. I think it may have sold out, but long and short, it wasn't really tough to convince people not to come - the team was doing a good job of that themselves. Lerner actually met with these guys. Wow. Just wow.

Now, as the nation's unemployment rate is just about at 10% - and this only includes those who are unemployed AND LOOKING for work AND RECEIVING unemployment benefits, not those who have dropped out of the job market or who have exhausted their benefits - 79 major leaguers declared that they're unemployed and looking for work as well. Now for the rest of us squalid individuals whose marketable skills might have something to do with widgets, these guys are probably not filing for benefits and as such aren't included in the 10% either, which is good news. I mean what would be the maximum benefit for these guys? Matt Holliday, John Lackey and Jason Bay are among those newly minted job seekers. Let's see. If you were to earn $50,000 a year for 20-years, you'd have earned $1MM. Just remember that when you hear what these guys sign for. One guy who is a little lighter in the wallet these days is Tim Lincecum, who had to pay a $622 fine for speeding and marijuana possession. Oops. I got pinched for speeding this week too, but I can tell you the $200 ticket I got hurts my wallet just a little more than the 6-bills and an angry lawyer cost Lincecum. State cops, always there to tweak you for being a little top heavy on the accelerator, but have to change a tire? Where are they? So why the rush to declare unemployment? The World Series came to an end on Wednesday.

So the Philadelphia Phillies put up a good fight, but in the end the result was the same as it was in 1950 (and frankly as it has been for just about 26% of the World Series' ever played) with the New York Yankees emerging as World Champions. Think about this: 27 Titles. The Celtics have won 17, The Red Sox 7, and the Patriots 3. 27 titles divided by 3 teams. No wonder Boston has an inferiority complex. Now, I hate the Yankees as much as any true-blooded Bostonian, but I do rather cringe at the charge the Yankees bought the title. The Red Sox payroll has been quite large during their championship runs, the Phillies, Marlins, Diamondbacks, and White Sox have won without staggering payrolls, and as a matter of fact the Yankees have had the highest payroll for nigh on a decade and they've won once. Cripes, the Phillies dragged them out to 6 games, the Angels did as well (although no pauper club they). It's not easy to win it all, even if you've cornered the market on the high priced players. That's all I'm going to say about this because I do believe I just vomited in my mouth at the thought I'd actually defend the Yankees. Blech. All I know is that my brother-in-law is going to be an intolerable sot for the next 12 months or so.

In spite of the World Series result, I do hope you have a wonderful Friday and enjoy all that it has to offer. Peace out.