Category: Sports

We know that high school athletics is an ever-evolving issue in this state. The Legislature and the governor are involved. In other words, sports are really important around here. In further words, football and basketball are really important around here.

So important that the landscape looks increasingly like a scholastic version of free agency. It’s about students who are good athletes transferring. Sometimes because the family moves. Sometimes because a magnet program is inviting. Sometimes because a coach or a school booster crosses the “recruiter” line. Sometimes because a helicopter parent hovers too low on a sham residential move. We’ve seen the latter here in Hillsborough County.

We know how it works. De facto free agency–allowing student-athletes to be “immediately” eligible when transferring schools–has its detractors, advocates and apologists.

Nobody says anything about a thespian transfer. Or a young musician looking for a better program. Or a talented artist looking for the most inspiring mentor. That’s because such pursuits are extensions of what schools are inherently all about, such as extending the horizons of academics, creativity and discipline.

But they are not trade schools for promising football and basketball players.

What are high school sports for? Are they outlets for student-athletes representing their classmates and schools–or are they try-outs for IMG Academy and high-pressure proving grounds for big-time, mega-revenue college sports? The fact that we’re asking this question speaks volumes.

* This Sunday’s Rays’ home opener against the defending division champion Toronto Blue Jays is sold out–31,000 and change. It will be the 11th consecutive year they’ve done so. Don’t let it fool you. What will be more telling is what the Monday crowd is. If it’s barely double figures, it’s likely overall, poor-attendance business as usual. If it’s anything close to Sunday, it’s reason to feel downright optimistic.

* According to Forbes, the Rays franchise has appreciated $25 million in the last year. It’s now valued at $650 million, which is still last among the 30 MLB teams.

* Ron Rivera, head coach of the Super Bowl-runnerup Carolina Panthers, is still in damage-control mode in defending his team’s franchise quarterback Cam Newton. It has everything to do with Newton’s surly cameo performance in his post-game interview after the Denver loss. Rivera is making the case that you can’t expect players–after a “crushing” defeat–to be all that cooperative and friendly. So, maybe it should just be coaches who talk to the media so soon after a game.

Two points.

Rivera is right that this is asking a lot, especially since such Q&A sessions rarely turn up anything of note. Mainly clichéd answers to obvious questions.

Having said that, this is a business. Bottom line and show. It has long since ceased to be a pure sports event. Part of a player’s or a coach’s obligation is to be available to the media. The questions may be lame and repetitious and designed to evoke a sound-bite emotion that will play well on SportsCenter, but it is part of the pro sports gig. The stakes are high, the emotions raw and the compensation obscene. Deal with it.

* Everybody has moved on and it’s old news, but wouldn’t it have been cool to see Joe Maddon with the Rays in Havana? From finding a way to cruise the Malecón in a ’57 Chevy to press conference comments that showed some geopolitical chops.

* It’s still relatively pricey for Americans to visit Cuba. Not the case, of course, for members of the Tampa Bay Rays, who were honored to go and participate in history. And they were paid $10,000 each.

* Among the baseball entourage visiting Cuba: Tampa resident Derek Jeter. He’s a baseball icon; he’s known to Cuban fans; he’s an excellent MLB ambassador; and he’s still mentioned in future Rays-ownership scenarios.

* Lest we forget, Tampa’s reputation as a sports magnet is reinforced next month when Amalie Arena will host the NCAA Frozen Four. Among the schools favored to make it here (April 7, 9) is Quinnipiac University, the nation’s top-ranked team. Yes, they’re known for something other than political polling.

* Imagine, a local Palm Harbor kid–Lee McCoy–who used to go to Calvary Christian High in Clearwater, got an invitation to play in last weekend’s Valspar Championship at Innisbrook. Now a senior at the University of Georgia, McCoy didn’t just enjoy the big-time, international-field ambience and competition, he thrived on it. He finished fourth–and among those he outshot was Jordon Spieth, the top-ranked player in the WORLD. Spieth tied for 18th.

Only one downside. As an amateur, still playing for UGA, McCoy was ineligible for compensation. His fourth-place finish would have been good for, uh, $292,000. Spieth pocketed $88,450. But this time next year UGA grad McCoy will be playing, if not this well, for pay.

* No, these are not the best of times for American tennis players. The most recent WTA singles rankings of the top 10 men and women players shows a total of one American, Serena Williams. Switzerland and Spain have three apiece, and the Czech Republic and France have two each. Put it this way, the U.S. has as many Top 10 players as Poland.

* The Rays will be in Havana later this month. It’s an important, historic occasion. It’s about geopolitics, and it’s about good will. It’s a big deal. A dozen U.S. senators and the president of the United States will be there. So will the mayor of St. Petersburg. But not the mayor of Tampa.

We know the reason: It’s personal. It’s also unfortunate–and wrong for Tampa.

* Last Friday’s Rays-Red Sox game drew nearly 9,800 in Fort Myers for a spring training exhibition. For context, the crowd surpassed attendance at nine Trop games last season–or about 10 percent of Rays home games.

* By all appearances, the city of St. Petersburg is moving ahead on its master plan to keep the Rays where they are. By the end of the month urban planners will have submitted their visions for transforming 85 Trop-and-parking-lot acres into an economically synergistic and vibrant market-magnet that includes a new baseball facility. Finished plans, vetted by city council, will be due by the end of summer, and the Rays will be able to see a final vision by the end of the season. At some point a Plan B, Trop development sans a stadium scenario, will be included.

And this just in. City officials have just announced that Rick Mussett, who retired in 2014 as city development administrator, will be the point man for the city’s “Baseball Forever” campaign. In effect, he’ll be the liaison between the city and the Rays. Musset played a key role in helping bring baseball to St. Pete in 1998. He knows the issues, and he knows the Rays.

Only one problem. Plan B makes more sense. The Rays need a realistic, Tampa Bay regional stadium site in this hybrid, asymmetrical market.  And St. Pete needs a new-urbanism, development catalyst to make its Trop-site commercially viable.

* The Sportatorium, once a well-known, TV-wrestling venue, was back in the news last week because it was auctioned. I’m not exactly nostalgic for the days of Championship Wrestling from Florida–hosted by Gordon Solie–by I do have a memory.

I was prepping for a (Tampa Bay Magazine) piece I was to do on wrestling night at Ft. Homer Hesterly Armory in the mid-1980s. In short, what was that like? In brief, weird. But now I know the roots of Donald Trump rallies–although Dusty Rhodes was less blustery. I also remember Wahoo McDaniel, a former NFL linebacker, and Abdullah the Butcher (from “Parts Unknown”) being on the card.

Back to the Sportatorium on North Albany Avenue near Kennedy Boulevard. While waiting for Solie, I took the liberty to look around the cramped quarters. Wrestlers would work out and practice here. I peered into the ring area and looked on for a few minutes before being asked to peer somewhere else. I can understand why.

I was watching a rehearsal. Of course, they rehearse–otherwise a participant could get seriously hurt or look seriously, unintentionally silly. Why mess with mystique? Why allow access behind the Oz curtain? I get it.

But a sport? With fans who root and yell and care who wins and channel personalities? I never got that–until the Trump presidential campaign.

* Thanks nationally to the University of Connecticut and locally to the University of South Florida, we’re paying more attention to women’s basketball. And we’re seeing an interesting pattern. The female players are increasingly like their male counterparts. The talent level, the recruiting coups, the media coverage and the, uh, flair.

Celebratory female chest bumps are weird.

* Very cool that the Tampa Bay Lightning had its second annual dad’s trip–last weekend for Bolts games in Pittsburgh and Raleigh. You don’t typically see such father-and-son family affairs at the professional level. Only thing more surprising is that Joe Maddon didn’t think of it first.

* I don’t know these folks, but they deserve a major shout-out: Judith Baizan and Paul Wisniewski. They were the lone finishers in their age group in the Publix Gasparilla Distance Classic 15K  run. And that age group: 90-98.

* Baylor University is taking a lot of heat over not reporting a single instance of sexual assault in a four-year (2008-11) span. It later had more than its share from 2012-14. Critics said the school looked the other way until federal pressure was brought to bear. Put it this way: If you have big-time football and basketball programs, you just might have assault scenarios on your campus.

Call it the statement we’ve yet to see–and maybe never will–from Steven Stamkos, the face of the Tampa Bay Lightning franchise and its key to making another Stanley Cup run. “I definitely want to stay. This town, this franchise, these players, these fans. Here is where I want to be–today and tomorrow–not Toronto or some other highest-bidder. We’re gonna’ get this contract done–with Steve Yzerman–and no distractions or excuses as we make our playoff run. I’m all in, and you have my word.”

But those, of course, are not his words.

* Back in the day, growing up Irish Catholic in Philadelphia meant you were a Notre Dame football fan. It’s what you did–like going to Sunday mass. That all came coursing back after reading that John Lattner, ND’s 1953 Heisman Trophy winner, had died. He was a two-time All-American halfback who also played defensive back and was the team’s punter. And he returned kicks. He even made the cover of Time magazine his senior year.

He later played in the NFL, making the Pro Bowl his rookie year with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Then he served in the Air Force.

No, he wasn’t “Johnny Football,” simply John Lattner from another era.

* Video games, as we know, are now an established, virtual-reality complement to the real action on the field and, especially, the court. So, maybe we should have seen this one coming. Solid Oak Sketches is suing the creators of NBA 2K16 for its replication of copyrighted tattoos without permission.

* A lot of attention was showered on the post-Super Bowl press conference performance of normally extroverted Carolina quarterback–and NFL MVP–Cam Newton. His Panthers team lost, he didn’t play up to expectations and he walked out. Class act. It was almost enough to overshadow a moment in the game when he showed even more distain for the ultimate pro football forum. He merely watched as his fourth-quarter fumble was recovered by Denver.

He was in prime position to fall on it before players dived in. Instead–either out of a brain cramp or reluctance for even more physical contact, he backed off. It was blatant–and became more so with every replay. Network analyst Phil Simms pulled some punches, but it was obvious what he was saying. No guts.

So much for all the controversy caused by Newton’s declaration that he was “an African-American quarterback that may scare people because they haven’t seen nothing that they can compare me to.” After Sunday’s on-the-field and post-game performances, that was inimitably and ironically true.

* Last week we saw the high-profile coverage by local and national media of national signing day for high school football players. Two points:

First, this kind of front-page/ESPN coverage is way over the top. Any wonder that many, if not most, of these highly-recruited players have an exaggerated regard of their importance before ever setting foot on a college campus. Chances are these “blue-chippers” have been spoiled along the way, and this only confirms their extra-special status: and it’s not “student athlete.”

Second, check out where local players are going. The top destination for Tampa Bay area recruits? Not Florida or Florida State, which had none. And not USF, which did have four locals. It was Coffeyville Community College in Kansas. It has less than 1,800 students but fields teams in 24 varsity sports, including football and basketball. Its alums include a number of NFLers plus former heavyweight boxing champ Buster Douglas and actor Gary Busey. Now you know.

* Looking for additional signals–beyond those being sent by the Cleveland Browns–that this won’t end well for Johnny Manziel? Even his agent, Erik Burkhardt, has dropped him.