* Don Meredith, the former Dallas Cowboy quarterback and entertaining color commentator of NFL games, died recently and earned the plaudits he received. My favorite Meredithism is from an early ’70s Monday Night Football game involving the Cleveland Browns. His response to the initial mention of Browns’ wide receiver Fair Hooker: “Never met one yet.”
* Of course Carl Crawford, who practically grew up a Tampa Bay Ray, should not be characterized as a “Judas” for leaving the Rays for more money. Professional sports, no matter that it’s marketed as an exercise in symbiotic, local allegiance, is a business. And unique among major American professional sports, Major League Baseball has no salary cap. Consequently, it continues to force teams to compete on an uneven economic playing field. The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox are Exhibits A and B for skewed resources. They’re richer than everybody else, and the relatively revenue-challenged Rays have to compete in the same (American East) division with them.
But here’s the point on Crawford, who’s been a really good player and a really good guy since he signed out of Houston’s Jefferson Davis High School in 1999. He was already rich with the Rays and would get richer. But that’s a relative term. Free agency presented him with two viable options. He could become outrageously rich by signing with the Los Angeles Angels and joining his good friend Torii Hunter, which wouldn’t have a dramatic impact on the Rays. Or he could become obscenely rich by signing with the Boston Red Sox, which would directly–and adversely–impact the Rays, where he still has former teammates and lots of friends and fans.
At a certain point, adding more millions has to be more about ego than economic insecurity. There is no insecurity when the options all involve nine figures. Crawford exercised the prerogative he was presented. Nothing personal, just business. He’s not a traitor. But, yes, he should have signed with the Angels.
* The next big step for USF basketball and football will be the day both programs are no longer overly dependent on transfers, especially from junior colleges.