By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
Billionaire owners cry poor, as usual. Plus: Our Hearts Ache For Minneapolis; Illinois Provides Week’s Top Sports Story; Last Dance Remnants; The Blackhawks Just Undeservedly Made The Playoffs; Kaner & The Breadman; Reopening Sports; Remembering Biff Pocaroba!; Thibs Lives!; Biggs’s Bag; and Chicago-Based Wilson Gets Back The NBA’s Official Game Ball.
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SHOW NOTES
* 306.
* Rod Carew’s career batting average is .328.
* ABC News: A Look Inside South Korean Baseball’s Elaborate ‘Cheer Culture.’
3:34: Our Hearts Ache For Minneapolis
George Floyd should be breathing right now. We have a lot of progress to make. A lot. Remember his name. Remember what happened.
— Rocco Baldelli (@roccodbaldelli) May 27, 2020
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“I am a white male in a position of leadership and I don’t take lightly the fact that I have not experienced some of these things our individual guys have had to experience.” How Ryan Saunders and the Timberwolves are responding to George Floyd’s death. https://t.co/8uDtP5YqPO
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 28, 2020
12:03: Illinois Provides This Week’s Top Sports Story.
Tough loss for the Illini.
Illinois football coach Lovie Smith shaved his glorious, bushy white beard. https://t.co/SnVa1xRXav
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) May 28, 2020
16:32: Last Dance Afterparty.
* Coffman: Be Like Jerry.
* Jordan’s rules:
Sam Smith says Michael Jordan ‘made up or lied about’ several things in The Last Dance, suggests Jordan had altitude sickness in Flu Game https://t.co/g3aUhMmJKM pic.twitter.com/OfFbifggO3
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 23, 2020
* Lance Armstrong: Also a psychopath!
23:35: The Blackhawks Just Undeservedly Made The Playoffs.
Date: TBD
Time: TBDSee you then, @EdmontonOilers 😈 pic.twitter.com/Pk0JH5Npda
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) May 26, 2020
* Bruins, Lightning Still Betting Favorites To Win The Stanley Cup. Blackhawks Quite Not.
31:55: Kaner & The Breadman.
Last month, Kane made waves by saying skating on the same line with Panarin was the “funnest hockey” he’s ever played.
How could that be when he’d won three Cups with other teams and linemates, but he never even won as much as a single playoff series alongside the Breadman?
“After I said that I thought about it a little bit and I didn’t want that to– I don’t know if that came across the right way,” Kane said. “Those years from 2009-2015 for me, that was so fun . . . playing on winning, Stanley Cup champion teams, that’s as fun as it’s going to get.
“When I was playing with Panarin I felt like, for me personally, that was like ‘this is how hockey should be played.’ This was just two players combining their talents and having the chemistry… it wasn’t like anything was planned or set in stone. We just figured it out on the go. Then after 10 or 15 games you figure out the spots you want to go to.
“It became pretty natural playing with him. It was really, really fun hockey playing with him for those two years. For me personally, that was the most chemistry I’ve probably had with someone, just natural, instinctive chemistry to play that hockey with someone.
“I’m glad I got to do that with him.”
36:35: Reopening Sports.
* KFVS-TV: Patron-Free Horse Racing Returning To Illinois.
* Tribune: Chicago Red Stars, NWSL To Return June 27.
* ESPN: Premier League Clubs And Players React To June 17 Restart.
* UPDATE since recording this show: Serie A Gets Green Light To Return June 20.
* Hot Time in Old Town: MLS Getting Closer: Chicago Fire Return To Training.
* The NBA: Make it Madness!
45:38: Baseball Is Blowing It.
It may look ugly between MLB and the players’ union, but there will be a baseball season, with each side realizing there’s simply too much to lose. https://t.co/bjS2PiJOI6
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 29, 2020
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In a memo to his clients, Scott Boras told players to not bail out MLB owners in labor talks.
He used Tom Ricketts and the #Cubs as an example of how owners use debt financing as a workaround to not give players their fair value.https://t.co/R0OtxZaF3t pic.twitter.com/GnFOdpo3GQ
— 670 The Score (@670TheScore) May 28, 2020
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MLB News: Cubs release 30 minor leaguers, contribute to massive cuts across baseball: The Cubs’ releases this week were in line with the majority of the industry, supporting an ESPN report that “upward of 1,000” players could be let go. https://t.co/MUKyYbrsNr pic.twitter.com/p5IsjCxeU8
— SportTezz (@SportTezz1) May 29, 2020
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So, it’s 25 White Sox minor leaguers released. Guerrero is Vladimir Jr.’s cousin and signed for $1.1M in 2017. Davis came over in the Melky Cabrera trade. Maldonado was an overslot HS signing out of the 11th round in 2018. Shilling is a U of I product pic.twitter.com/KBIWjHWPnJ
— James Fegan (@JRFegan) May 27, 2020
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The #Nats have reportedly informed all of their full-time employees that they will be taking pay cuts of up to 30 percent. https://t.co/jVoi6EU7aO
— Nationals on MASN (@masnNationals) May 27, 2020
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Just some rough math. Say there are 200 players in a minor league system. Paying each $400/week for July, July and August is $5,200 per player. To pay every minor leaguer would have cost the Oakland A’s a hair over $1 million.
Owner John Fisher is worth an estimated $2 billion.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 27, 2020
52:23: Remembering Biff Pocaroba!
* Sports Illustrated: “Pocoroba was a fan favorite because of his name and his baseball cards also drew attention. Many who grew up in that era (like the writer of this article) had some of Pocoroba’s cards. As a matter of fact, the first ever baseball card I ever got was Pocoroba’s 1978 Topps card.
“Here is a funny story from the San Diego Union-Tribune that mentioned the one time Ted Turner tried to trade Pocoroba to the Padres for the San Diego Chicken.”
53:07: Thibs Lives!
55:52: Biggs’s Bag.
1:02:20: Chicago-Based Wilson Now The Official Game Ball Of The NBA.
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STOPPAGE: 5:28
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Comments welcome.
Posted on May 29, 2020