(This can just be an open thread if you like.)
I’ve been thinking about JC’s discussion of expanding football — maybe with a spring league. I figure such a league would have 8, 10, or 12 teams. Three teams would be in New York (you might even get the city to spruce up Shea for football to get a team inside the city), LA, and Chicago. The others would go in areas that (like LA) don’t have football. So where?
The largest population areas without pro football (those marked with an * have no major professional sports, including hockey) are:
Rank City
02… LA
13… Riverside (CA – aka “Inland Empire”)*
24… Portland
27… Sacramento
29… Orlando
30… San Antonio
31… San Jose
32… Las Vegas*
33… Columbus (OH)
34… Virginia Beach/Norfolk*
36… Providence*
39… Austin*
42… Memphis
44… Louisville*
45… Hartford*
46… Richmond*
47… Oklahoma City (has the Hornets part-time but they are moving out)
These are all larger than Buffalo, the second-smallest market in the NFL. The smallest is, by far, Green Bay, but I count that as Milwaukee.
49… Birmingham*
50… Rochester (NY)*
51… Salt Lake City
That’s every metro area over a million. I am insane. Anyway, here’s my alignment of a 12-team league:
EAST
New York
Chicago
Somewhere In Virginia
Orlando
Memphis
Birmingham
WEST
Los Angeles OR Inland Empire
San Antonio
Austin
Vegas
San Jose OR Sacramento
Portland
What do you think? Other than that I’m insane?
Sabernomics » Blog Archive » The Lull
(It’s my blog, and I’ll write what I want to.)
my head hurts…
I’ll use the open thread to more properly restate my trivia question (sorry, Cliff):
How many Atlanta Braves retired having played at least 10 seasons with the Braves and never played with any other team?
Atlanta only or do the other 2 cities count?
here’s that Smoltz story.. 🙁
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AqcT7igXCjJ0PIbUrDNWnuU5nYcB?slug=ap-braves-smoltz-divorce&prov=ap&type=lgns
I only looked at Atlanta Braves, CJ. (And I’m having a heck of a time getting comments to post this morning)
I got two. Bruce Benedict and Biff Pocoroba. I guess you could say that Pocoroba played “10 years” with the Braves, though a lot of them are fractions of years.
I’ve no idea what the problem is.
Rick Camp almost made it, he played nine years, all with the Braves.
We have very few long-career Braves, don’t we?
I like that football idea, but they’d have to play on Thursdays or something, when there is little to no other football to go up against (counting high school)
I like that football idea, but they’d have to play on Thursdays or something, when there is little to no other football to go up against (counting high school)
I was thinking about a spring league.
Yep, Benedict and Pocoroba are it. In fact, very few Braves have played a career of even five seasons exclusively in Atlanta. Here’s the list (I think I got everyone — lots of partial seasons):
12 — Benedict
10 — Pocoroba
9 — Camp
8 — Paul Runge
7 — Rod Gilbreath
6 — Andres Thomas, Brian Asselstine, Max Leon
5 — Larry Whisenton
How’s that for a Murderer’s Row?
My only advice for a spring football league is to avoid Shreveport. The WFL and CFL convinced themselves that since east Texas, Arkansas, and north Louisiana are football mad, then Shreveport would be a convenient place to put a team. Both times, the team went bankrupt in spectacular fashion.
As for Atlanta-only careers, Francisco Cabrera almost qualified, but he spent three games with Toronto in 1989.
The XFL had the right idea on spring football in one main respect:
Teams should primarily have a regional affiliation. Since we’re all aware that these aren’t the top professional players, there needs to be an additional hook. This was the perfect way to take the pre-built enthusiasm for college football and integrate it into the new league.
Each team was matched with three college teams from the area and had first rights to any players in the league from those teams. The college team affiliations were:
Birmingham Thunderbolts: Alabama, Auburn, UAB
Chicago Enforcers: Notre Dame, Illinois, Northwestern
Las Vegas Outlaws: Nebraska, BYU, UNLV
Los Angeles Xtreme: USC, UCLA, San Diego State
Memphis Maniax: Tennessee, Mississippi State, Memphis
New York/New Jersey Hitmen: Penn State, Syracuse, Rutgers
Orlando Rage: Florida, Miami, Central Florida
San Francisco Demons: Cal, Stanford, San Jose State
So it was intended to give to a top Division I traditional power per team (Alabama, Notre Dame, Nebraska, USC, Tennessee, Penn State, Florida… okay Cal doesn’t fit so San Fran got shorted).
Then a second solid Division I program (Auburn, Illinois?, BYU, UCLA, Mississippi State–at the time, Syracuse–at the time, Miami, Stanford–at the time).
Finally, a third local team that was a non-power (UAB, Northwestern, UNLV, San Diego State, Memphis, Rutgers–at the time, Central Florida, San Jose State)
Then a team would fill its position needs in the general draft and other player distributions.
So, hell, let’s take Mac’s teams and make college affiliations (some can be kept right from the previous XFL model) and maybe add a 4th:
EAST
New York–Penn State, Rutgers, Syracuse (and/or perhaps UConn)
Chicago–Notre Dame, Illinois, Northwestern (and/or Wisconsin)
Richmond–Virginia Tech, Virginia, Maryland (and/or West Virginia)
Orlando–Florida, Miami, Central Florida (and/or South Florida)
Memphis–Tennessee, Mississippi Rebels, Memphis (and/or Arkansas)
Birmingham–Alabama, Auburn, UAB (and/or Troy)
WEST
Los Angeles–USC, UCLA, San Diego St (and/or Arizona State)
San Antonio–Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Houston (and/or LSU)
Austin–Texas, TCU, Oklahoma St (and/or SMU)
Las Vegas–Nebraska, BYU, UNLV (and/or Texas Tech/Utah?)
San Jose/Sacramento–Cal, Stanford, San Jose St (and/or Fresno St.)
Portland–Washington, Oregon, Oregon St (and/or Washington St)
The West is difficult, especially figuring out how to divide the San Antonio and Austin teams in Texas. Usually, the rivalry guys get shoved together, but since these teams are so close geographically, I figured I’d try to maintain the rivalries. Thus Texas and Oklahoma State were split from Texas A&M and Oklahoma.
Hmm..
This map helps:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c4/Cfdia.PNG
I think Georgia could replace Troy for Birmingham, but that might make it too strong a contingent relative to others.
Right now, San Antonio and Richmond rate the strongest, while San Jose rates the weakest.
If I were running the Birmingham franchise, I’d ask for Southern Miss (which was the third school for the WLAF team, I think).
Too bad about Smoltz and his wife. My dad and I sat next to her at the 91 world series (while she was pregnant with their first kid) – she seemed like a nice woman – although I was only 10, so what did i know.
i’d locate teams around football crazy cities and not necessarily avoid current NFL areas. Cities with extra stadiums handy would be ideal (i.e. Miami [orange bowl, joe robbie], LA, etc).
It’d be great to see the NFL get some competition
I’m also sad to hear about Smoltz’s personal problems. He seems like a great man off the field.
The article about Smoltz on atlantabraves.com said something about other players showing complacency with losing. Any ideas as to who that was?
Most of all, I’m sorry, Mac.
I think Smoltz’s problem is more important than your footall’s discussion of expanding football. I read the news yesterday. I was shocked into silence at first.
I heard he is a family man and committed Christian. 16 years of marriage….long story…I feel truly uneasy about him because I’m his NO.1 fan. Sometimes can be swayed by a emotion.
I don’t know exactly about that, but I’ll miss much games in this season. I’ll bet, would give a warm round of applause for him wherever I am.
IMO, there is really nothing to talk about with the Smotlz divorce. I am very sad for him and his wife and I wish I could somehow help them get back together, but I can’t.
There is nothing I’ve heard that changes my opinion that he is a great person and I know he has been a wonderful representative for the Braves on and off the field. Beyond that, there are some things that we’ll never understand and are frankly none of our business. All I know to do is pray for him and wish him and his family the best. Spring football may not be the more important topic, but it’s the better topic for a thread as I see it.
td,
i agree…it’s time to play ball.
smoltzy is a pro, he will play ball and continue on his path, this isn’t something that needs to be / or will be solved by discussion on this board. my best wishes to him and all involved.
Smoltz’s personal business is Smoltz’s personal business. I have no opinion of the off-the-field stuff, as long as he doesn’t interfere with other folks’ lives. For me, that’s the end of story.
As always, I’m rooting for him on the field.
Everyone knows Smoltz’s problem is non of my business. So his article has been deleted in the official site. I also hoped so.
It’s not about a matter of persnonal business. My point is ,as a fan, I’m just sad about his long marriage life. And I wish Smoltz is Smoltz on the mound. Just expressed about it.
Why does Georgia Tech love to ruin my day? Earlier they beat Virginia Tech in football, now they are beating UConn.
Jay10,
If it makes you feel any better, they lost to Georgia Southern in baseball, which in the inconsistent world of baseball rankings will kill their ranking.
Look on the bright side, they won’t get to the NCAA Tournament. And I like them.
http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070211&content_id=1799932&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl
More Vulturing for us this season. 🙂
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2762481
“Villarreal gets three points for each start and one point for every game he finishes. He would receive $25,000 bonuses for reaching 30, 39, 48 and 60 points.”
I hate incentive clauses like this for pitchers. I don’t want to hear Vulture whining if he’s a point or two short of 25k.
We won’t hear whining from him because he’ll only get that if he spot starts or becomes a full-time starter. Gonzo, Raffy and Wickimania own the 8th and 9th innings in normal situations.
10 starts, 13 starts, 16 starts and 20 starts. How likely is it that he’ll be on the mound in the 9th and two outs in a blowout loss? That’s the only way he’s going out there in that situation.
Well, nobody really has the 5th spot locked up, and, frankly, I think I’d take him over Davies as a starter when Hampton and Hudson make their trips to the DL.
There you go. He’ll get his bonuses. No whining.
Any thoughts on the Mauer signing? When will a deal similar to Mauer’s make sense for McCann and the Braves?
I agree that Smoltz’s off-field issues are no ones business. But I can’t help commenting on the irony that someone that professes his religion so strongly (and whose leaders always condemn the break up of families caused by “liberal” values) finds that marriage isn’t as simple as they would like to think. I’m sorry for anyone, especially the kids, that has to go through that pain.
Live & let live, baby.