Should He Stay, Should He Go?

The Dwight Howard Saga

By Will Fairbanks

This needs to stop sometime.  Seriously, its getting old.  Professional basketball players, and I repeat, PROFESSIONAL basketball players are asking for trades, demanding that they leave the team they are currently on, and are citing irreconcilable differences with ownership or the front office.  I just can't see how a player can be considered "professional" if they publicly request for trades and consistently whine about who they are playing with.  Last time I checked, players sign contracts for a certain amount of years and money and are obligated to carry out their "duties" with the provided team until the end of the contract.  Recently, this has not been the case.  Ever since Kobe and Amare wanted out of their respective teams and demanded to be traded, players left and right have been asking to do the same.  With demands by Carmelo, Chris Paul, and now, the latest of these, Dwight Howard (all players of high caliber), front offices have been put in a tight spot.  Do we satisfy the trade demand and try to get something of quality in return?  Do we keep them here, listen to them whine and complain all season, while being led by this individual?  Or do we put the season in jeopardy by not trading them and have them disrupting games with lackluster effort or even holding out?  

Organizations are always put in tough situations when dealing with prima donna athletes.  Lets take a step back and look at why. There are realistically three sets of people involved when a there is a potential trade.  A player asks for a trade and he does not necessarily care about his image to fans.  He wants to be in a situation that gives him better teammates and puts him in the position to win more games. On the other hand, a player asks for a trade and the organization sees it's image as number one.  Every move the organization makes in dealing with a player's request is watched so closely that one false move could mean a decline in ticket sales and merchandise revenue. When dealing with a trade request, yes, the player and the organizations want to be happy, but what about the fans?   After all, sports is an entertainment business relying on fan contribution.  So what would I do if I were a GM dealing with one of these players?

In the instance of Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic, the answer is simple;  trade him, trade him while I can.  End the drama now, get something in return and continue building with what I have and what I will get.  I am not worried about public image.  I have to do what I can to make this as successful a season as possible.  Some may say, I trade Howard and I lose out on the playoffs for a few years.  I could then argue that I would much rather trade him, receive people who are willing to put in the time and effort to play for MY team, and want to win a championship.  I don't want someone who will not play hard for MY team each and every day.  

I certainly don't listen to his stupid requests for bringing in players to try and win.  The man only has one year left on his contract and is claiming that he "could stay" in Orlando if an effort is made to satisfy those requests.  I truly believe that regardless of anybody that I decide to bring in, Dwight Howard is gone after this year. Too much has happened for him to want to stay.  I wouldn't even bother with his list of teams that he wants to go to.  If one of those teams isn't willing to deal, then what do I do?  I have to find the best possible trade out there in order to put MY team in a better position to build and win in the coming years.  

As far as an actual trade is concerned, I would NOT trade Howard for Andrew Bynum.  Howard is averaging 18.2 points/game, 12.9 rebounds/game, and 2.2 blocks/game while starting 566 out of 567 games.  Howard has also been named the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year three years in a row from 2009-2011.  Andrew Bynum averages 10.1 points/game, 7.1 rebounds/game, and 1.5 blocks/game while only playing in 332 out of 492 games, starting only 240 of them.  Howard has missed only 7 games in his 7 years of playing.  Bynum has missed 160, almost two full seasons worth.  This trade offer supposedly offered by Los Angeles also included Pau Gasol and Hedo Terkoglu.  Honestly, this wouldn't be fair at all.  Gasol is consistent but nothing spectacular.  He does not provide a defensive threat down low.  Orlando would be losing a lot and not gaining enough in return.

The trade rumors surrounding Dwight to New Jersey have been interesting.  These would involve New Jersey giving up Brooke Lopez.  In order to have this work, a third team would have had to jump in.  It was reported that Portland was offering Gerald Wallace, but that remains to be seen.  I honestly feel that no matter where Dwight goes, there is really no match in trade value, unless you trade star power for star power.  Right now there doesn't seem to be much out there for Orlando to get back on a trade but you have to find something.  You can't play out the season, let him walk, and get nothing but a bitter ending to a storied career in Orlando.

It doesn't sit well with me that someone would begin a season requesting a trade to another team.  What does that do for the team?  Where does that leave his teammates knowing he doesn't want to play with them and that he merely plays with them to earn a paycheck?  I kept emphasizing that it was MY team in these instances where I put myself in the GM's shoes because that's who makes the decisions.  It won't be some player calling the shots on who to bring in or where he should land in a trade.  He can argue that Orlando wouldn't be a basketball town if it wasn't for him, but I could come right back and say that the Magic made the decision on draft day to bring him in and give him an opportunity to be a star.  Now that he is, he wants to leave?  Okay, give him what he wants, but do it on your terms and get who is necessary to begin building again.  

Tiger is Back, or Is He?

Tiger's Back

Our first and possibly last golf discussion will be about the most dominant golfer in the last 20 years. Tiger Woods has won for the first time since his humiliating personal issues were shown to the whole world. Pundits, sports writers and many non golfers have proclaimed after his victory, "He’s Back!" Is he back to the Tiger Woods circa 2000, 2004-2007? No, and that player will likely never return. And surprisingly, this victory for him a couple weeks ago means less than the average sports fan realizes.

For decades, tournaments conducted after the end of the PGA Tour regular season have been referred to as “Silly Season” events: events that are not at all taken seriously by the professionals that play in them. Why do professionals not care in these events? Why are they viewed like a non-contact football practice and vacation? Why should Tiger receive less credit?

They are called Silly Season events for many reasons. The Silly Season consists of events that have some combination of the following characteristics: limited/zero effect on PGA tour status, limited fields, focus on charitable contributions, and huge paydays. Also, most if not all Silly Season events are in beautiful locations that these pros want to vacation to with their families. For example, the Grand Slam of Golf is held in Hawaii, Shark Shootout is held in Miami or Naples, Wendy’s 3-Tour challenge is held in Las Vegas.

So how does the Chevron World Challenge fit into the generally accepted definition of a Silly Season event?  

1.       It has zero effect on the PGA/European tour status as it is not a regular season event.

2.       It has an extremely limited field, just 18 players, just one player ranked in the top 7 of the OWGR.

3.       It has an asinine purse with over $5 million in prize money, nearly the same amount for a regular tour event, but with 88% less players. Every player receives a paycheck regardless of how badly they play, not true for PGA tour events.

4.       The tournament raises money for Tiger Woods’ Charitable foundation.

5.       The Chevron is held in Thousand Oaks, California, a beautiful city north of Los Angeles.

By any definition it is a Silly Season event.

Another crucial factor of why players didn’t focus on winning and just maintaining their swings was the weather. Weather played a major role in how players treated this event. It was quite windy this year, and scores reflected that being quite higher than in years past. For the non-golfers reading, wind is a swing killer. It kills rhythm, so much so arguably the most talented golfer in the world said earlier this year that he prefers not to play in windy tournaments because it hurts his game dramatically and it takes weeks to recover. This player simply voiced what every professional thinks about the wind. Knowing players thoughts, it was extremely likely these guys were just trying to maintain their rhythm in windy circumstances that were affecting them all week.

But describing this to the average sports fan, they still don’t really understand the time of the year. Even the casual golfer gives too much weight to these events and most people will say that it is still a big event because Player X, Player Y, Player Z was still playing. But were they really playing like it was a real tournament? The best way to make people understand how irrelevant this tournament was to everyone is to think of the Pro Bowl. These events are like the Pro Bowl as they are exclusively for golfers that have had a successful year. Only thing is Tiger has not been close to successful and is quite desperate for a positive story and a victory. Just remember that this a golfer who has been mostly terrible for 2 years, completely disgraced, his aura of invincibility gone, and then realize why that golfer will treat even the Silly Season events like a major tournament.

The force is strong in this one, or he has a temper.

So Tiger did win, but he won against a weak field, against players with little enthusiasm that were guaranteed a payday, while on vacation. He isn’t back, however he reminded the sporting world he is still capable of winning, and very much interested in doing so. I don’t believe he will ever be back to the Tiger of the early to mid-aughts, but he has all of the shots to win any given week.

For the non-golf fans that tune in for the majors or only when Woods is in the hunt, there are things you should look for in his game. Woods has big question marks that remain around his game, and going forward we should monitor several areas of his game which have been concerning even before his scandal broke out.

1.   Will he swing smoother and not continue to destroy his knee? This is the biggest question mark when considering his future. If he continues to run 5 miles a day on his bad knee, he might not play another 5 years. 
2.  In the past several years, his putter has failed him in the final rounds of major tournaments.
3. His short game has been declining for over 2 years now.
4.  His acumen for greens-in-regulation has dropped off. He needs to average 66% GIR’s.
5.  In 2011, Tim Tebow completes more passes on a percentage basis than Tiger hits fairways. Can’t win events when you are in the woods. Need to hit more than 50% of the fairways to win major tournaments, and for Woods the minimum expectation should be 55%.

Author’s note: Golf will not be a regular feature on this blog, however when significant events occur we will provide our viewpoints. I envision for the foreseeable future that we will stick with the big three sports for both professionals and collegiate athletics. 

The Ever Elusive Question: Why the hate?

Why the Hate? 

Will Fairbanks

Time and time again, we have seen the epitome of victory flow through the veins of a young Tim Tebow.  We have followed him through the ranks of his last years as a home-schooled, allowed to play for a public high school, football player.  We watched him dominate, and I mean dominate, the college football ranks winning "two" national championships (The quotes will be explained later).   Now, we watch him play quarterback for the Denver Broncos in the National Football League.  Yet, time and time again we wait for him to falter.  We wait for him to collapse in the face of adversity.  Why?  Why do we want such a successful individual to fail?  After taking a look at some of the details surrounding the player Tebow actually is, we can finally find out the source of this hatred and animosity towards such prominent sports figure.

 Tebow and the Gators won against the Seminoles all four years that he attended the University of Florida. As a Seminole fan, I can tell you that I did not enjoy watching Tebow dismantle the teams that we put on the field. However, this blurb is not directed towards why I may not be a fan of Tebow, but rather the reasons why Tebow is such a controversial person. I am going to divulge my thesis; I believe that Tebow gets more credit than he deserves.  This is not to say that he is a terrible athlete by any means, nor does he not deserve some of the credit he does get, I simply feel that he gets too much. 

Let me begin with the quoted “two” at this beginning of this piece.  The Florida Gators won a BCS National Championship in 2006.  Tim Tebow, while a freshman backup QB, is often noted for helping to win the Gators “two” national championships during his tenure.  The second championship, in 2009, can indeed be attributed to Tebow.  The first, however, cannot.  The 2005-2006 Florida Gators were led by Chris Leak, the Gators all-time passing yardage leader; it was Chris Leak’s team.  Tebow was battling for the position for starting quarterback as a freshman, but Leak eventually won out.  As a result, Tebow became the backup.  Tebow only threw 33 passes that year and attempted only 89 rushes.  Many of these came in garbage time or against weaker opponents.  In 2006, he did score touchdowns against the likes of LSU, Alabama, and 2 against Ohio State in the championship game but to say that he won those games for the Gators is a far stretch. Tebow led the Gators to the second championship while providing spot work for the first. 

Statistically speaking, Tebow was a monster in college, but realistically, he was merely a fullback who could throw.  The reason behind his success?  The spread offense.  The spread offense makes any quarterback look better than he really is.  Take a look at the success of Oklahoma, Houston, and Oregon.  When you employ many of the read-option plays on the run and pass, it automatically gives the quarterback an advantage in reading coverage, as well as choosing to hand off or take off.  While playing in a pro-style offense in college, quarterbacks are relied upon to do so much more in diagnosing coverage, choosing a receiver, and rarely run.  Tebow is the perfect player for the spread.  Possessing less than perfect accuracy, it was easy for Tebow to find an open receiver rather than try to fit it into coverage.  The spread allows for this with its many option plays because the defense is forced to play a fake first.  Tebow’s running also opened up his passing game.  Not to mention the number of skilled players (Percy Harvin, the Pouncey twins, Jeff Demps, Aaron Hernandez, etc.) that have come through and played with Tebow, allowing him to put up big numbers. This is reason number two as to why Tebow receives too much credit.  He is less of a quarterback and more of an individual who could simply fit the role that the spread offense requires.

Since joining the professional ranks, Tebow has faced nonstop criticism for his poor mechanics and his lack of football knowledge.  Because of the spread offense, he was never really required to improve his mechanics to have a quicker release.  He did try to improve in order to prepare for the NFL draft, but upon playing his first pro game, he retreated back to the poor throwing motion he started out with.  Since becoming the starter for the Broncos, Tebow has gone 6-1. This record has caused every media outlet in the country to scream Tebow’s name, calling him Denver’s “chosen one.” Fans have even started to craft personalized #15 Broncos jerseys to say “Jesus.”  While making references to Tebow’s faith, this is also reflecting on his coming on strong to, how do we say, “save” Denver’s season.  His faith is simply that.  His faith.  I will not harp on that.  But for fans to call him Jesus after going 6-1 as the starter is simply absurd.

This is my last point.  Tebow is not the reason for Denver’s 6-1 record.  Tebow has the lowest completion percentage out of anyone in the league (47.5%) while only throwing 158 passes through 7 games.  Denver’s pass game is 31^st in the league at just over 155 yards per game.  The games where Tebow shines are against teams who rank in the bottom tier in pass defense and pressure on the QB.  The two games that Tebow started and had QB ratings over 100 were against Kansas City and Minnesota.  He still only completed 52% of his passes between the two games.  Kansas City simply cannot get pressure on the quarterback and ranks 29^th in the league in sacks. Tebow completed 2 of 8 passes in this game.  Minnesota is the exact opposite.  They are tied for 2^nd in the league in sacks but have been destroyed by injury in their secondary and have the 26^th ranked pass defense in the league.  When he faced an above average front 7 in Detroit, he was absolutely destroyed.  He had a rating of 56.8 with 3 fumbles (1 lost) and an interception on 39 pass attempts and 10 rush attempts.

  

This nonsense of Tebow being the Broncos’ “savior” or “chosen one” is ludicrous.  He is a vital part of the system in Denver as he was in Florida, but he is just that, a part. Head Coach John Fox has had to implement the spread option zone read just to give Tebow what he needs, proving he is not fit for the pro game.  While it is working now, it will not work much longer.  Tebow and Denver have only faced one defense ranked in the top 10 (New York Jets; they have enough problems of their own though).  I would even go and say that Cam Newton has done more as a quarterback for Carolina, while facing more capable defenses, than Tebow has done for Denver.  However, regardless of Tebow’s completion percentage, I will give him the credit he deserves in regards to not turning the ball over.  He only has 1 interception on the year and has 6 fumbles, only one of which he lost.  He is simply being the game manager that Fox needs.  If it was not for having the 1^st ranked rush offense (led by McGahee, not Tebow), Denver would fall.  The day that this is completely shut down, Denver will lose.  The true test of this theory will come against Chicago’s 7^th ranked rush defense.

 I understand what he has gone through.  I understand what he is going through.  I understand that he is a winner simply because he is part of a TEAM that is winning.  In the pro game, I cannot believe that he can win a game by himself. To say that he is the sole reason why Denver has gone 6-1 since he became starter is unrealistic.  The defense has gotten key players back from injury while playing subpar offenses.   Denver’s pass offense is almost dead last and probably won’t improve with some of the most recent injuries.  Right now, with the way he is playing…Denver is not winning because of him, they are winning despite him.  He is playing poor to mediocre football against subpar teams, winning and gets heralded as a “Savior.”  Tebow is receiving more credit than he deserves.  This is why he is hated.  This is why we wait.  This is why we want him to fail.