Where Have You Gone Joe DiMaggio?

This is the time of year we reflect on the past year and ponder what the future will bring for us all, its a time to be grateful for ones good fortune and keep charity in our hearts for the less fortunate, to remember the good and try to change the bad. It's also a time many of us sit inside and watch a lot of sports. While I was doing that a little Elf kept whispering in my ear why do some athletes have to be such jerks.In this day and age it sometimes appears that classlessness seems to be an end game for some sports franchises and athletes alike. Many of today's athletes seem much more concerned with their individual highlights rather than whether their team wins or loses. "How many points, goals or hits did I get and will it be on ESPN?" How often do we see an NFL player make a tackle, get a pick or sack the quarterback in a game where they are losing by 25 or 30 points and celebrate like they just won the Superbowl. When did performing like a professional and doing your job as expected become a special reason for a world-class celebration.There used to be a time when putting yourself before the team or acting like a Prima Dona got you traded or benched, or possibly and emotional "Code Red" from your teammates. We constantly hold up our past heroes, coaches and players alike as role models for our children to learn from. People with character, class and professionalism that did their jobs with discipline and distinction. Like Red Auerbach, Vince Lombardi, Scotty Bowman, Derek Jeter, Carl Yaztremski, just to name a few. Then we proceed to market and sell the biggest mouthed, most poorly behaved, self centered modern day athletes we can find. For whatever reason it seems they are more abundant in football - Keyshawn Johnson, Terrell Owens, Dion Sanders, Warren Sapp, etc. These people are responsible for their behavior, but they are not to blame alone. The TV Networks, radio, and newspapers are possibly even more responsible for encouraging flamboyant and loudmouth behavior. The media doesn't condemn or criticize this behavior, they market it, highlight it and in essence promote it with their coverage. If you are an obnoxious big mouth player in your career, many times you will end up on some NFL pre-game show as a reward after your playing days are over. They are all there, just look around. This dynamic is not unique to Sports, it's really a sign of the times and shows how much our society has changed. The more outrageous a celebrity's behavior the more coverage they get - Lindsey Lohan, Miley Cyrus, Kanye West, et al. It works in every arena just look at politics. The rub here is that we all watch sports to generally get away from all the crazy inappropriate things we deal with in our lives everyday. The sports arena has been invaded, its often been said that sports imitates life, so in this case we all would be better off still living in a fantasy.

Fantasy or Reality?

In baseball signing free agents has become an accepted way to either rebuild your team or add to a nucleus to help you stay on top. More and more teams are  now willing to spend big money in the off season to build their brands and increase the value of their franchises. The luckiest owners in Major League Baseball have to be the Wilpon 's because even with all of their failure in recent years the Mets still are the 3rd highest valued franchise in the league. I wrote in an earlier blog that the Mets continually try to sell an inferior product to their fan base and convince them that they really care about the success of their franchise . The bottom line is based on recent acquisitions and money spent they don't care about their fans or winning a championship. They have been terrible owners ; but the fans don't get a pass because they continue to acccept this lack of commitment and continue to support an ownership  that doesn't really seem to care about the future of the team .  2014 may actually be different. The recent acquisition and signing of Curtis Granderson  shows at least a minimal effort on the part of ownership to give the fans a better team.  But one has to wonder if this was done simply to placate the fans, who would have no reason to go to the ballpark without serious upgrades this year ,  or are they really trying  to build a winner in New York . If they are really committed  they certainly have a lot more work to do regarding trades , free agency signings , and player development . Granderson is a class act , an upgrade and should help the team even if  his power will be discounted hitting in homerun challenged Citi Field. The Mets got good value for their signing and did not overpay , the coffers should have plenty of money left let's see how serious the Wilpon 's are about winning . Money talks or fans should walk.