Scott Gray Sports Commentaries for this week - Direct comments or questions to scott.gray@cbsradio.com

Monday,  May 12th 2008-Sports Commentary

Let's peel the baseball onion and see what's under there.  The top layer is made of folding currency.  Ticket price increases are now an accepted way of life, even forty to fifty percent a year is hardly worth mentioning.  What's concealed under the second layer gets tricky.  It's not the price, it's how many tickets you have to buy to get the one game you want.  A non season ticket holder who wants a ticket to one Yankee-Mets game has to buy a six or seven game package for games of little interest, same for Red Sox-Yankees tickets.  Some games are designated as "premium" based on the opposition or a superstar player.  If that "superstar" is injured come game time and doesn't play there's no refund on the premium.  "Caveat emptor".  Let's peel this onion one more time and see what's under there.  Waiting for unsuspecting fans, many of whom were informed as they came home from opening day, glowing from that long standing family tradition and the beginning of another baseball season, are three to four hundred percent increases for next year, effectively pricing them out of tickets many have owned for a half century or more, to make room for their favorite team's newest, richest friends.  The next layer of the onion, beyond unconscionable price increases that would be deemed illegal in any other business, are seat liscencing fees of five thousand dollars and up for the right to buy those seats, then sign a contract to continue paying for those seats for the next five or six years, first year costs payable in advance, and grant the team the right to increase their cost by a minimum of five to six percent a year.  It's the next layer of the onion that gets us closest to the core, the one that's best hidden.  Now even some of the corporations and high ticket professional firms targeted by Major League Baseball teams are finding tickets too pricey and they're branching off into the brokerage business, becoming accomplices to well camouflaged illegal activity.  They'll keep a select number of those tickets and sell the rest to ticket brokers, who will then use the next layer of the onion to diquise that illegal activity by circumventing laws that regulate the amount over face value for which tickets can be sold by packaging them with hotel rooms and transportation and calling them "vacation packages", for which they can charge any price they want and make, in some cases, a hundred percent profit on the tickets.  Who benefits most from all of these hidden layers of the baseball onion?  Baseball owners, who's only regulation comes from a commissioner from their own ranks who never saw an owner friendly illegal activity he wasn't happy to turn a blind eye to.  Who suffers most?   Baseball fans, little people now paying four dollars a gallon for gas while their congressmen turn their heads and cough and allow them to suffer without so much as whispering the phrase "anti trust exemption", just when you would think it's about time elected officials did something to protect the people who elect them.  The layers of this onion, when peeled back, stretch from the Major League Baseball ticket offices all the way to the halls of congress and the more you peel it the more it stinks and the more it brings tears to your eyes.  With a comment from the sports world, I'm Scott Gray.

Tuesday,  May 6th 2008 - Sports Commentary

College basketball is suffering from a serious disease.  Former Southern Cal star O.J. Mayo is just a symptom.  It's called "One and done disease" and the NCAA now understands it requires special attention.  For the first time in it's history the NCAA is devoting a team of investigators to one sport, in the wake of allegations that Mayo recieved more than thirty thousand dollars in gifts and cash from the agency he signed with after announcing his draft intentions while he was still in high school and during his one year at USC.  The agency, Bill Duffy Associates, denies the allegations, saying they never gave Mayo money, nor were they involved in any other transactions with him.  The former associate doesn't contest the denial, saying the payments were made to a go between who filtered them to Mayo.  Players who begin their college basketball career in October and end it the following March have little regard for rules violations for which they will never be called to account.  The rule instituted by the NBA three years ago requiring players to be nineteen years of age and a year out of high school to be draft eligible did serve one purpose.  Bringing college back into the mix at least required some attention to grades in high school by players who might otherwise rest all of their hopes for the future on basketball, often to tragic results.  Still many college coaches feel if they can fudge a players grades enough to meet minimal entry requirements by the time their lack of academic accumen is discovered they'll have served their one year purpose and be gone, no longer counted against the program.  For the player himself it was an open invitation to market himself to potential agents for an early payoff.  As has been evidenced by two cases a USC alone the prevailing attitude is by the time anyone catches on the "one and doners" will be out of school, no longer accountable to the NCAA for their actions.  It's time to strengthen the legislation.  The NBA has the power to legislate an increase in the age requirement, which would give players the option of college or the NBA Developmental League after high school, knowing that the high profile world of college basketball offers the faster track to the NBA.  Let the unscrupulous agents who would claim rights violations for their unsuspecting meal ticxkets fight the precedent of myriad laws designed to protect young people from their own immaturity and vulnerability.  Teen driving regulations have been stiffened in many states while the eighteen year old drinking age fell victim to the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, all for the protection of our young people.  The NBA and the NCAA need to realize that shielding young people from any criminal element, and make no mistake, an agent who would ignore laws prohibiting contact with student athletes is a criminal, fall under those rights of protection.  After two years players are subject to inclusion in a programs Academic Progress Rate, any player who leaves before two years should now be automatically counted against that program, regardless of academic standing.  The responsible adults in our society realize we can't leave naive children to fend for themselves.  It's time the NCAA and the NBA realized as much.  With a comment from the sports world, I'm Scott Gray.

Wednesday,  May 14th 2008 - Sports Commentary

Bill Belichick is a cheater.  Bill Belichick is a liar.  But we already knew that.  After a three and a half hour meeting yesterday between National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell and former New England Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh we still know that Bill Belichick is a cheater and a liar, but nothing new.  That should finally bring a halt to the "spygate" affair.  After the meeting Goodell said he never really bought into Belichick's assertion last fall that he misinterpreted the rules about videotaping opponent's signals.  The eight videotapes Walsh submitted to the NFL only verified what the league already knew, that Walsh, or somebody on the Patriot's staff, covertly filmed and edited tapes showing formations, game situations and the corresponding signals from the opposing coaching staff.  The production of such tapes is cheating.  Belichick knew they were being produced.  He ordered them.  He's a cheater.  It's clear to all parties in the NFL that such tapes are illegal, to say otherwise is lying.  Belichick's a liar.  He paid the price last fall with stiff fines to him and the Patriots, plus the loss of a first round draft pick.  The only new information to come out of yesterday's meeting was that, as far as Matt Walsh knew, no tapes existed of the St. Louis Rams pre game walk through prior to Super Bowl XXXVl, as had been reported by the Boston Herald in February.  Walsh admitted to being present, in official Patriots garb, preparing his game equipment while the Rams walked through their game plan.  Nothing covert, they knew he was there.  When asked by the Pats coaching staff if he'd noticed anything about the Rams workout he mentioned they had a formation with Marshall Faulk returning kicks.  Every coach in the league will admit to a similar debriefing in a similar situation.  But "spygate" tells us something about not only the Patriots and Belichick, but about ourselves.  The Herald presented a classic example of the rush to judgement mentality that permeates the media.  In it's apology for their erroneous story the newspaper admits it had no evidence, never saw a tape, never actually talked to anyone who did see a tape, just went on hearsay for the sake of a scoop.  We've reached a point with such journalistic indiscretions where apologies are no longer enough.  Personal opinions are giveaways of personal allegiances, no more so for anyone than Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, who continues his inquisition in search of proof that the Patriots cheated his beloved Steelers in a playoff game, while headlines blare of murders, rapes, natural disasters and soaring gas prices.  One might think he'd have better things to spend his time on, as do Jets, Steelers and Rams fans who refuse to give up the calls for another pound of flesh.  Bill Belichick is a cheater and a liar.  We already knew that.  Let's hope he gets over it and moves on, just like the rest of us should.  All the guns stopped smoking a long time ago and "spygate" has consumed much more of our time than it should.  With a comment from the sports world, I'm Scott Gray. 

Thursday,  May 15th 2008 - Sports Commentary

If there's anything worse than Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter's insistence on elevating "Spygate" to Mitchell Committee proportions it's the arrogance of the New England Patriots, the organization not the players, as they parade their self righteousness in the wake of the apology by the Boston Herald for it's erroneous report of a Super Bowl walk-through tape of the St. Louis Rams and the declaration by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell that the matter is now closed.  But the misdirected energies of congress and the arrogance of major league sports teams shouldn't surprise fans who continue to get battered from pillar to post with no advocacy on their behalf.  As I've pointed out many times in this space congress would much better serve long suffering constituents by exercising it's control over Major League Baseball (see: "Anti Trust Exemption") and pulling in the reins on outrageous price gouging, which stems strictly from the arrogance of certain teams.  For the Red Sox to say they need to increase prices next season to levels that will evict long time season ticket holders from their seats to be able to compete with the Yankees is unfair.  The numbers have yet to be carved in stone, but if early reports are accurate the Yankees, arrogant in their own price increases, will be selling comparable seats for about seventy five dollars less and including food in the package.  A simple road trip might give fans and members of congress, who demonstrate an amazing ability to turn a blind eye with a good conscience, a better understanding of how the arrogant "haves" in major league sports take advantage of their situation.  The Texas Rangers offer suite rentals that, depending on the number in your group, give everyone a premier seat to a game and an elaborate buffet for about two hundred and forty dollars a head less than it will cost for one field box seat at Fenway Park next season, without food but with the right to add a tip for wait service to your tab for the game.  Fans closed out of games at Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium might want to think about taking in a series with their favorite team against the new darlings of the American League, the Tampa Bay Rays.  Total the cost for two airline tickets to Tampa, a room for three nights at a budget priced motel, a rental car for three days and lower level reserved seats for three games and you get an entire series with the team of your choice for about the same amount it would cost two people for gas, parking and two comparable tickets to one game at Fenway Park.  Anyone who's paying four to five dollars a gallon for gas and views international politics and petroleum as a combustible combination might want to think about how dangerous it is to mix one part arrogant sports teams with one part ignorant and uncaring congressional representation.  You might also get the idea that Arlen Specter must have better ways to spend his time.  With a comment from the sports world, I'm Scott Gray.

Friday,  May 16th 2008 - Sports Commentary

Successful businesses are made up of good people who make mistakes.  It's a lesson the Boston Herald learned this week in the wake of the developments in the "Spygate" case.  On February 2nd Herald New England Patriots beat reporter John Tomase authored a story that the Patriots had videotaped the St. Louis Rams pre game walk-through prior to Super Bowl XXXVl.  Tomase felt he had all his ducks in line, but one critical piece of information that led to an assumption of proof at the moment the decision was made to print the story went bad, proving once again that old adage about assumptions.  Tomase's expose' in this morning's Herald on how the story came together and why decisions were made is must reading for any journalism student, or anyone who rushed to judgement and called for Tomase's firing.  To his credit, and to the credit of the Herald, there are no excuses and no pleas for forgiveness.  "I take immense pride in what I do and the paper I work for", Tomase writes in ending his piece.  "I truly believe it's a privelege to serve as a link between the fans and their team.  On February 2nd I let you all down.  Today I hope to begin the long road back."  The Herald printed an apology two days ago, when it became aparent no video tapes of the Rams walk-through ever existed.  They could not stand behind their story, but, to their credit, they stood behind their man and announced that Tomase would not be fired.  Whether they feel his effectiveness on the Patriots beat has been compromised to the point where he should be removed from it remains to be seen, Tomase saying this morning he intends to continue covering the team while he mends the broken fences.  It's left for us who would judge him, perhaps those of us in the media more so, to examine our own glass houses before we commence throwing stones.  Critical judgments are often made based on a series of circumstances that lead to an obvious conclusion, that conclusion becoming the bridge that spans the final gap to the decision to go with a story.  Often the line that separates conclusion from fact becomes so blurred it's difficult to tell one from the other.  I once absorbed job threatening blame for an erroneous story, when I was only repeating a story that had originally been reported elsewhere.  My problem was I had a more substantial forum than the original reporter, who had cited a personal conversation with a source he named.  The source was unimpeachable, which, if the conversation had actually taken place, made the story as solid as February ice on Alton Bay.  The conclusion was natural.  Citing a named source makes a story legitimate.  My mistake was in arriving at that conclusion.  I should have called the source myself for confirmation.  As it turned out the conversation cited in the original report never did take place and the story was wrong.  I took a greater hit than the original reporter and it almost cost me my job.  I also learned a valuable lesson.  Just because the sky is brightening at dawn doesn't mean the sun is coming up.  Get another source.  The Boston Herald won't cease to publish and John Tomase shouldn't be out of a job.  Both have become better for the experience.  With a comment from the sports world, I'm Scott Gray.