The Zong

Sports-wise, this is pretty much my second-favorite time of year. After months of trying to ignore the fact that professional hockey and basketball still exist, and after the free-agent signings and trades in both football and baseball have died down a bit, the long slag of spring training and March Madness ends, and enough baseball is on the tube that you can choose not to care whether or not the Warriors make the playoffs.

Baseball draws its intrigue as much from the personas of the players and managers as it does from the playing of the actual game. They’re all characters whose actions on and off the field result in endless storylines and fodder for the press and fans, and for better or worse, baseball has always been an interesting cultural barometer. Sure, it’s just a game, but the theater that it plays in makes the game a lot more interesting than just balls and strikes.

With all that in mind, here are some things I’ll be thinking about as the season begins in earnest this week:

What Hath Bonds Wrought?
I think just about everyone is sick of hearing about who isn’t going to watch Bonds break Hank Aaron’s record, probably sick of hearing about Bonds in general. What makes it significant for me is that when he does break the record - and if he keeps hitting the way he has this spring, he might just do it by August - it will be pretty easy for me to imagine him breaking the record in a different environment. He’s a pariah now, but had he reached the milestone without juicing and being a jerk to everyone with a notepad, it would be a proud moment for the Giants franchise, among the greatest moments in the history of the team. Instead, he’ll break the record as a sour afterthought in a career that should have been revered as one of the greatest ever achieved by a baseball player, and San Franciscans will be chided and publicly condemned for cheering him on. In reality, the best thing he can do right now is what he’s doing: shutting the hell up and playing great baseball.

Major League Baseball Loves Money, Hates You
In case you don’t have cable, you should know that if you do, and you don’t live in your favorite team’s market, there’s no way that you can watch your team’s games unless you plan on getting it through MLB.com and their low, low-quality stream. I lived in Los Angeles for several years, and I know that this isn’t really a new thing; watching Giants games down there was a virtual impossibility unless they were playing the Dodgers or I had the bread to go spend an evening drinking at a sports bar. While MLB and the cable providers are still technically negotiating, the reality is that if you don’t have a satellite, you’re probably SOL.

What really pisses me off about this is that even if they reach a cable deal, you’ll still pay hundreds of dollars to get access to every game being played by every team. This is great if you live in Seattle and your favorite team is everyone in the National League, but the greediness of baseball doesn’t allow you to pay less to have access to just your team. They can argue that they’ll lose profits by doing so, but I call bullshit on that: how many more people would be signed up nationwide if they were able to pay an affordable price to watch their favorite team out-of-market? This is almost as fan-unfriendly as the NFL’s extortion-like “sellout or blackout” policy.

Anyhow, the best solution is probably the MLB audio subscription, which is 15 bucks for the season. It doesn’t make me happy to give them any of my money, but baseball still sounds great on the radio, and if you can deal with the crappy audio stream, it’s better than clicking refresh every five seconds on the box score page.

Glavine on the Edge
With all the hubub over 755, it’s going to be easy to forget about the solid working man’s milestone being set by Tom Glavine. He pitched a gem last night, and now he’s 9 wins away from his 300th. For me, it’s a bigger deal than watching someone like Clemens or Randy Johnson get there, because Glavine got there without a high-90s fastball. For most of his career, Glavine (like his right-handed buddy Greg Maddux) has thrown junk at two generations worth of sluggers, and he just continues to get them out through fundamentals like location, changing speeds, and great pitch selection in every count. Without being able to throw smoke, Glavine has simply stayed healthy and made adjustments his entire career, and he’ll enter the Hall of Fame in some pretty amazing company. He’s not done yet, but racking up 300 wins in the Steroid Era without being able to punch it up past 90 most of the time is a legendary, if not entirely unmatchable, achievement.

Vivan los Gigantes?
I started losing faith in the Sabean/Magowan tandem soon after they traded away the franchise for A.J. Pierzynski. Now, I’m faced with the conflict of the excitement of another new season with what I can see is the same Giants team that Sabean has been trotting out every year; too old, shaky bullpen, lots of “potential.” If that potential ever really pans out, it’ll be fun to watch this team, but right now they look like they’re built for .500, and I just can’t take watching Armando Benitez losing otherwise well-pitched games anymore. With Jason Schmidt wearing blue, everyone seems to think the Dodgers are the team to beat in the West. I love a good rivalry, but I truly wonder what the Giants can muster this season. Barry Zito is dreamy, but he’s not a miracle worker, Captain.

At any rate, I guess it’s time to shut up and play ball.

- M.G.