The sports fervor that is the foundation of the Yard’s publishing empire began with the Los Angeles Times Sports section in the mid-1960’s. I devoured this legendary sports section every morning. Jim Murray’s column was where the Yard witnessed literary genius at its pinnacle. Forget Whitman and Hemmingway, Murray knew how to craft a story. Each morning, with the paper splayed out underneath my bowl of cereal, the sports result of the previous day was reviewed in granular detail. Every box score was analyzed, and the daily standings absorbed. Daddio would have to read national and local news before I would release this hallowed Section C for his morning constitution. Those Dodger and Laker teams from the late 60’s were always in the national discussion and the LA Times was our fan portal. The Rams were the disappointment that they would be for the entirety of Yard youth. The Kings were just the other tenant at the Lakers home court.
The sports section was beloved. It was a sad day recently, when the Los Angeles Times announced that the Sports department would be cut back significantly. The paper decided that it did not need to publish the scores and results of the day, each day. There was a new cost-cutting directive to write interesting stories about sports and athletes but not the events that make them interesting. Sure, this information is available on any number of sports apps. Every time something happens Yahoo Sports, Bleacher Report, MLB, my son, and my nephew notify me. The morning Sports was my ultimate morning app. The Sports page would open to two feet by three feet without twinkling ads competing for my eyeball. There was never a risk that if I touched the wrong part of the paper I was going to whisked away to an unneeded ad. The page would be completely static except for the transfer of the ink to my hands and my mother’s walls. It was the golden age of the sports page and The Yard origin story.
Steve Cohen was vetted by baseball owners during his quest to acquire the Mets. He pledged that he would not blow up the Mets payroll. Cohen is usually truth adjacent in his dealings. The SEC does not fine your firm $1.6 billion and put two of your top advisers in prison if you are on the up and up. The SEC could not nail Cohen, so Cohen let his men go down. He bought a new toy MLB team with his ill-gotten billions. The Dodgers dodged his bullet when he tried to buy the team. He waited a full year before going rogue in free agency and giving huge salaries to aging pitchers among others. The Mets payroll inflated to nearly $250 million for the 2023 season. After 102 games with the Metropolitans twenty games out and failing, the payroll evacuation started. The Mets were flushing payroll faster than Jeremy’s bowels after he ate a bad shrimp. The Mets signed Justin Verlander to a stupid contract that the Astro’s would not match. Cohen ate $35 million of that contract and then traded him back to the Astros. The Astros got Verlander and Kate on the cheap thanks to little Stevie. Cohen, the charlatan, runs the Mets like a hobby. He kept his thirty pieces of gold but made a Faustian bargain for his soul.
The Padres ousted the Dodgers from the playoffs last year in a four-game sweep. San Diegans everywhere cheered their moribund franchise’s slaying of the Dodgers. The Padres went down to the Phillies but vowed they were the new sheriff in town. Friar management continued to shower money and make trades to bolster this perception. With the PED shamed Tatis reinstated, the Padres had a championship planned and the payroll to go with it. The new sheriff in town has mutated into the Dodger’s Huckleberry. Last week, The Padres’ rotated through their ghastly uniforms and the Dodgers demolished every iteration. San Diego's starting pitching is decent, but their middle relief is lit gas. They took a rare 5-0 lead on a rare Monday day game before losing 13-7. Four games below .500 and 13.5 games out with 40+ to go? San Diego is going to enjoy a most colossal failure if this continues. Juan Soto is not going to re-sign into this malaise. Hader is probably gone as well. While the Padres spent money like they just got their first student loan, the Dodgers were patient. They did not make any splashy signings or blockbuster deals for the 2023 season. They let Seager, Machado and Bellinger leave without an offer. Their prize is Shohei Ohtani. Friedman has been storing his chestnuts for the 2024 free agent campaign. Ohtani wants to stay in LA and play for the Dodgers by many reports.
On June 17, my sister and the Yard in-law purchased our seats for the Giants-Dodger game. They were excited to attend a game. The Dodgers lost 15-0. They would have got mercy ruled in the fifth if that had been one of the new rules. Giant fervor is not what it once was, but it was a beat down of a bitter rival. Giant has not had much to cheer for the past decade, so they had fun. It was also a harbinger for the future. LA is 32-14 since that game. On that June evening, SF was on a roll and back in the NL West mix. Arizona was in first place and San Diego still had hope. Their fans were crowing to the Yard about the demise of the Dodgers. Arizona has settled into their historical mediocrity. San Diego is a dead man walking. The Giants are thrilled to just be in the Wild Card discussion. Everybody is looking up and seeing blue. This Dodger team is more competitive than the fiscal miscreants in NY and SD. The future's so bright I must wear shades.
Pac-12 Obituary: When UCLA and USC jumped ship to the Big Ten, the remnants of the conference should have taken heed. College athletics is all about your television contract for football. Basketball is more egalitarian because CBS pays the freight. Football deals are all over the place. The better the product, the more Benjamins for your school and all the other sports. The Big Ten now covers every time zone with football programming. UCLA and USC are getting three times what they were getting in the Pac-12 deal when it existed. 2023 might be the last year of the Pac-12 Network. They do have bumping offices in downtown SF, which is kind of nice.
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