Bottom of the Bird Cage 4/23

It’s the 113th day of the year.

On April 23, 1635, the first public school in what would become the United States was opened. It was called Boston Latin School in obviously Boston, Mass.

It was on April 23, 1985 that Coca-Cola introduced New Coke to America. I know people who stocked up on the original Coke because they couldn’t stand the new taste. In less than three months, the folks at Coca-Cola would send New Coke back to the lab and they brought back the old formula.

On April 23, 1988 Pink Floyd’s album The Dark Side of the Moon left the charts after spending 741 consecutive weeks (over 14 years) on Billboard Magazine’s Top 200.

And on April 23, 1995 Howard Cosell passed away in New York City. He was 77 years old. Once many years ago, I spent an entertaining hour, sitting at a gate at the airport in Atlanta as Cosell entertained a group of media types from Pittsburgh. Oh my, he was pompous, but he made you laugh because he was completely serious and that just made his pontificating even funnier. Especially comments like this one:

“The importance that our society attaches to sport is incredible. After all, is football a game or a religion? The people of this country have allowed sports to get completely out of hand.”

Maybe it got out of hand. If true, that’s why anybody outside of New York ever knew who Howard Cosell was in the first place. Without sports and the fanatical fans, he would have remained Howard William Cohen, New York attorney. Instead, he became an unforgettable figure in our memories of sports.

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
What if a team could look into the future and draft the NFL defensive player of the year, an offensive tackle who would become the highest paid at his position, a record-breaking Super Bowl quarterback, one of the better kickers in the NFL, a Pro Bowl linebacker, a two-time Pro Bowl running back, All-Pro tight end and others who would go on to play with distinction?

That would be some draft, except the college prospects who went on to all those accomplishments have one thing in common — not one was drafted.

They are, in order, James Harrison, Jason Peters, Kurt Warner, Jeff Reed (and a host of other kickers), Bart Scott, Willie Parker, Antonio Gates and many more.

The NFL is littered with good to great players who were bypassed in the seven-round draft and later signed as rookie free agents. For all the money and time spent scouting players and deciding which ones to draft, many who aren’t picked go on to better careers than some drafted in the first round.

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The college free agent is also part of the draft process. Teams evaluate these guys and through the roll of the dice, they end up on the outside looking in. Many times, they are in a better position than a seventh-round choice, because they can pick where they want to play, if more than one team is interested. It’s another facet of the personnel puzzle that should never be ignored. Over the years, the Chiefs have gotten big contributions from players who were not drafted. One of them – CB Emmitt Thomas – went into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last year.

From the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram:
Not long after the NFL went out and got itself stupid rich, one of the things that so many of the coaches, general managers and even players had previously has become an extravagance. No one has time anymore. The days when the Dallas Cowboys or Cincinnati Bengals could draft a player with the long-term vision of developing that person into a solid contributor are all but gone.

“There has been a cosmic shift in the way front offices move these days,” veteran NFL agent Dave Canter said. “I don’t care what anyone says — you have three years to make it in the NFL if you’re a coach, a GM or a player. After that, you’re out the door.”

On Saturday, the NFL begins its annual crash-course development program when the draft starts. Although coaches pay lip service for needing ample time to develop a quarterback or an offensive lineman, the first- or second-round picks play now and better be good now. And as for players seen as “projects,” their clock ticks a lot faster and the clock is a lot cheaper.

The league doesn’t have much time for projects. The coach and the GM don’t have time because they could be fired. The players don’t have time because teams are scouring fields all over the nation looking for cheaper replacements. With NFL Europe deemed a failure and no real grown-up minor league system, the chances of a player being allowed adequate time to develop are slim.

Interesting take and it’s not too far off the mark. Just ask Herm Edwards. The fact is there is no patience in the NFL anymore. Owners seem a team like Miami go from 1-15 to 11-5 and they want to know why they can’t do that. It’s largely because they aren’t willing to pay the millions that came with bringing in Bill Parcells to run the football side. It’s largely because they aren’t willing to stay out of their football guy’s way in the manner that former Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga was. More than ever, patience is needed in the NFL, but it’s in short supply.

From the New York Times: Odd patterns have been forming inside New York’s two shiny new baseball stadiums, ones not seen in years. Clumps of empty blue and green seats are painfully obvious because many of them are in the best sections or right behind home plate, while fans are concentrated in the more remote parts of Yankee Stadium and Citi Field.

After spending $2.3 billion on new stadiums packed with suites, restaurants and the latest technology, the Mets and the Yankees expected fans to embrace their new homes and pay top dollar for the privilege. Almost every team that has built a new stadium in the recent past has seen an immediate surge in attendance.

Instead, the Mets and the Yankees face a public relations nightmare and possibly millions of dollars in lost revenue after failing to sell about 5,000 tickets — including some of the priciest seats — to each of their first few games after last week’s openers.

The empty seats are a fresh sign that the teams might have miscalculated how much fans and corporations were willing to spend, particularly during a deep recession. Whatever the reason, the teams are scrambling to comb over their $295- to $2,625-a-seat bald spots.

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Me thinks there’s a lot of teams who may have miscalculated on high-end seating and tickets for various sports. Long-term, it’s going to be interesting to see if the Royals and Chiefs can make a go with their new premium spots in Kauffman and Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs, far more than the Royals, have invested money and effort in viewing areas over and above the single stadium seat. If the Mets and Yankees are having problems in a metro area the size of New York, teams in smaller markets are going to face similar situations.