Jon, Author at View My Seats

Fans of the New York Mets vs Citi Field

May 26, 2014 by Jon

Your Honor, esteemed members of the Jury. I stand before you today on behalf of all long suffering New York Mets fans who wish to no longer sit idly by and watch their beloved baseball team struggle through yet another disappointing season. Something needs to be done to change the fortunes of this franchise and it is my duty today to present the case for innocent fans like Mr. Met, Jerry Seinfeld, and Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino.

The problem is not talent as the Mets have enough young starting pitching in the pipeline to contend in the NL East for years to come. Trading a few of those assets for a big time bat, cough-cough Giancarlo Stanton cough-cough Troy Tulowitzki cough-cough, and all of a sudden you’re maybe talking about the first World Series victory since 1986.

No, the real reason why the New York Mets stink is because of Citi Field. Now your Honor, I would be remiss if I didn’t at least acknowledge what a sensitive topic the Mets ballpark has become across the many media outlets in the Tri-State area and while there are a few radio/tv personalties that will remain nameless – cough-cough Michael Kay cough-cough – who suggest that the Mets players need to “suck it up” and stop looking for excuses. However, anyone who has watched the Mets play on a regular basis since they moved into Citi Field back in 2009 understands that the ballpark, as presently constructed, is preventing the New York Mets from becoming a winning baseball team.

Case in point, this past Saturday the then 21-25 Mets hosted the underperforming 18-31 Arizona Diamondbacks in an all together forgettable matchup between two cellar dwelling teams. The D-backs won by a final score of 3-2 and the primary reason why the Mets only managed to score 2 measly runs was Citi Field.

Look no further your Honor than the bottom of the 3rd inning, Mets already trailing 3-0. With 1 out and runners on 1st and 2nd, Curtis Granderson steps up to the plate and on a 1-0 count drills a 79 mph changeup from Josh Collmenter deep into the right center field gap. The crowd stands in unison fully expecting a game tying/momentum shifting/season saving 3-run blast off the bat of their free agent slugger when, as if it had run into the wall of smoke emanating from the Shake Shack fryolator, the ball plops down on the warning track and hops over the outfield fence. Ground rule double. Only the runner on 2nd base scores and after a Chris Young strike out and a Lucas Duda pop up , the Mets headed to the top of the 4th inning still trailing by two runs.

Ladies and Gentleman, to give you a sense of how devastating this very moment was to the Mets team and fans I present Exhibit A a highly scientific diagram demonstrating the impact of Citi Field on Granderson’s should have been home run from the 3rd inning of Saturday’s game vs Arizona.

Exhibit A

Clearly, Curtis Granderson did all he could to help his new team win. In the end it was his ballpark that let him, his teammates and the fans down. I now present to the court Exhibit B highlighting the Mets’ team emotions following this pivotal moment on Saturday.

Exhibit B

The defense will argue that Citi Field is not the reason the Mets are not a good baseball team and that the real reason they lost by a final score of 3-2 on Saturday was not Granderson’s ground rule double but rather Lucas Duda stranding 7 runners on base. Regardless of the facts, what the defense is overlooking is how damaging these losses have become to the collective psyche of Mets fans.

Here now is the final piece of evidence today labeled Exhibit S as in “sad” which shows the general lack of optimism amongst Mets fans compared to every other fan base in MLB.

Exhibit S

So as any reasonable human can attest, the problem with the Mets has nothing to do with the hitting coach or Jose Valverde. No, the reason the New York Mets lose much more than they win is because of Citi Field. Mets fans deserve much better your Honor.

The NHL Playoffs: Best of 8

May 1, 2014 by Jon

In the NHL there’s only one thing better than a game 7. A game 8. Think about it.

1 – If all playoff series were best of 8 then as far as owners were concerned more playoff games means more beer and hot dogs and more beer and hot dogs means more stadium renovations and more stadium renovations means higher ticket prices and higher ticket prices means more corporate handouts and more corporate handouts means your ass is stuck on the couch surrounding by a wife, 2.5 kids and a Portuguese water dog named Sir Lancelot.

2 – If all playoff series were best of 8 then the postseason would end in August which means the start of the next season would be less than a month away and players could spend their entire offseason playing ping pong in the clubhouse instead of retreating to far away destinations like Moose Jaw and Minsk.

3 – If all playoff series were best of 8 then the NHL could have a Champions League style format where goals scored by the road team count twice as much as goals scored by the home team thus eliminating the silly need to score more goals then your opponent unless you’re at home. Or is it better to score more on the road? Hmmmmmmm….

4 – If all playoff series were best of 8 then non hockey fans would stop talking to hockey fans about how exciting game 7 was and how they swear they’re going to watch more of the NHL regular season next year that is until they realize that the NHL regular season, much like the NBA, is sorta boring.

5 – If all playoff series were best of 8 then Canada may have more than one team remaining in the playoffs. Actually, that’s not true, the Montreal Canadiens were the only Canadian team to qualify for the NHL playoffs and Montreal is in Quebec which means if they had it their way the province would be a part of France not Canada.

Behind The L Screen

April 30, 2014 by Jon

A preview of the upcoming week in baseball.

First – Robinson Cano vs. the Yankees (Tue – Thu)

He’s baaaaaaack and if the reception at The Tonight Show was any indication New Yorkers will not soon forget about being jilted at the alter by the second baseman who bolted for the greener, as in dollars, pastures of the Emerald City. And how’s that working out so far? Cano’s stats are only so-so and the Mariners are toiling away at 10-14 already 5 out in the competitive A.L. West.

Meanwhile, back in the Bronx, the sorta/kinda rebranded Yankees are off to a fast start thanks to newcomers Jacoby Ellsbury and Masahiro Tanaka. Which begs the question: is New York better off without Robinson Cano? Certainly if you were to poll Yankee fans today they would prefer the Ellsbury/Tanaka/McCann/Beltran platter over Cano. But things change and if Ellsbury goes on the DL with a hand and 4 days rest begins to wear on Tanaka then opinions will change. For now though, the Bronx isn’t burning.

But, honestly Yankee fans, why so much hate for Cano? The guy served you admirably for 9 years, barely taking a day off. So what if he didn’t always hustle down to first base? Can you really blame him for choosing more years and more money? What would you have done in his position? (Note: if you say you would take less money and less years to stay in New York because of the tradition of the Yankees then congratulations you’re a typical Yankee fan and you’re lying.)

Second – Carlos Gomez vs. The Cardinal Way (Mon – Wed)

Speaking of being misleading, The Milwaukee Brewers have the best record in baseball thanks to shamed PED myth maker Ryan Braun as well as oft-critizied outfielder Carlos Gomez, who has on several previous occasions come under attack for demonstrating what some call (see: McCann, Brian) a lack of respect for the game.

St. Louis is one of those old school franchises that prides itself on playing baseball the “right way”, the Cardinal Way, which is to say Chris Carpenter yelling at opposing hitters or the offseason signing of Jhonny Peralta, he of the 50 game Biogenesis suspension. Put simply, there isn’t a single MLB team that can be absolved of all wrongdoings and as this latest Pineda pine tar incident revealed, players will be allowed to bend the rules as long as they’re not overly obvious about it.

So there you have it Carlos Gomez, Amurica will only appreciate your general good will and generosity of spirit if the next time you pimp a home run you try to be less “flashy”* about it.

(*Flashy is a code word for hispanic because we all know that baseball fans, especially older folks and Mike Francesa callers, respond differently depending on who is doing the celebrating.)

Third – Charlie Blackmon vs. the New York Mets starting pitching (Thu-Sun)

The Rockies’ Blackmon is among the NL leaders in several statistical categories including average, hits, runs and stolen bases while the Mets young starting pitching, and Bartolo Colon, has kept them in the conversation far beyond the predictions of most pundits.

Here’s the thing with the Mets though, they don’t hit. Like close to worst in baseball besides the Astros and we’re not even sure if Houston isn’t intentionally vying for some sort of relegation to the minors. That being said, Colorado has been known to cure the common OPS and if the Mets offensive can start putting up some representative numbers then with their excellent starting pitching who knows how long they’ll be able to hover above .500 this season. Let’s give them at least until May 1st.

Home – Bryce Harper vs thumb surgery (until at least July)

It’s a well know fact that it’s impossible to criticize a player for a lack of hustle if they slide head first. Therefore, is it fair to blame Nationals manager Matt Williams for the injury that will keep Harper out of the lineup until the summer? Given the complicated history here it’s safe to say that whenever Harper does return he’ll continue to both mesmerize and befuddle with his reckless style of play.

Past Is Present – Albert Pujols vs Eddie Murray (record books)

Now that Albert has joined the 500 home run club, time to set his sights on passing a string of Hall of Famers including the next on the list switch hitting Murray. It’s remarkable to think that it only took Pujols 14 seasons to reach this historic plateau. Less remarkable when you factor in the unavoidable taint of the steroid era. Years from now, when all those overly righteous baseball purists have gone to that Ebbets Field in the sky and a lot of the known juicers like Bonds and McGwire will be granted access to Cooperstown which it’ll make it even easier to vote for a “guilt by association” user like Albert Pujols who has never tested positive for a banned substance yet who people suspect was enhancing due to his outrageous numbers and the fact that PEDs were as much apart of baseball as sunflower seeds and groin adjustments.

Pure Fantasy – Aroldis Chapman vs. Sports Journalists (not soon enough)

When Chapman’s face heals and he’s ready to petrify hitters once again with his +100mph fastball, here’s hoping he gets a chance to face every single sports journalist who was on the clock covering the NBA back in the mid-2000s yet chose to ignore Donald Sterling’s long, public history of discrimination and ignorance. I ride with Bomani Jones on this idea that it’s very convenient to pile on the Clippers owner today after he’s caught with his depends down but where was the outrage when he and his wife were snooping door to door slinging their prejudice around L.A?

Housing discrimination does not have the same sex appeal, or page views, as a tired, old married man blathering on to his much younger mistress about not being caught in public with younger, black men but this incident is no where near as damaging to the country as the ongoing socio-economic crisis rocking our cities. When Sterling does sell the Clippers all those hundreds of millions of taxable gains should be earmarked for improving the quality of our public schools because education, not salacious headlines and internet traffic, is how you promote tolerance and equality.

Augustalytics: The Masters by the Numbers

April 8, 2014 by Jon

Augustalytics: The Masters by the Numbers by Jonathan Lord

Sports was once behind politics and the stock market when it came to statistical analysis but those day are long gone now as simple math is the driving force behind many of the important decisions made by both athletes and front office executives. Professional golfers have always enjoyed playing the numbers. From pacing off yardages to factoring in handicaps, a round of 18 would not be complete without a little remedial calculus. Fans of golf can make analytics work for them too and with the 78th Masters Tournament set to tee off later this week, now’s a good time to take a peak inside the abacus at Augusta National to determine who will wear the green jacket next.

The Fountain of Truth

The average age of the previous 77 Masters champions is 32.66. There are 8 players in this year’s field between the ages of 32-33: Graham DeLaet (32), Nick Watney (32), Brandt Snedeker (33), Brandon de Jonge (33), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (33), Justin Rose (33), Matt Jones (33) and reigning champ Adam Scott (33). Only Rose (’13 U.S. Open) and Scott (’13 Masters) have previously won a major championship while 2014 represents the first trip down Magnolia Lane for both DeLaet and de Jonge.

Around the Block and Back Again

Before leveraging the farm on either DeLaet or de Jonge consider this: only 3 players have won the Masters on their very first attempt: Horton Smith ’34*, Gene Sarazen ’35 and Fuzzy Zoeller ’79. 2014’s roster of 24 neophytes is an accomplished group with the likes of Harris English, Jordan Spieth, Victor Dubuisson, Jimmy Walker and Patrick Reed. If history has taught us anything it’s that even the most talented golfers require a few laps around Amen Corner before reaching Augusta nirvana.

The average number of starts before a first victory is 6. With names like Hunter Mahan, Rory McIlroy, Ryan Moore, Louis Oosthuizen, and Bubba Watson the list of players entering their 6th Masters in 2014 reads like a portfolio of blue chippers. Out of this group only Moore and Mahan have yet to win a major championship.

The player with the most starts at Augusta National without a victory is Ernie Els with 19 followed by Jim Furyk (17) and Lee Westwood (16).

*Horton Smith deserves the asterisk since 1934 was the year of the first Masters.

The World Is Flat But A Golf Ball is Round

Golf is a global game but the list of countries represented by Masters champions is not entirely indicative of the diversity of the sport today. The United States is way out in front with 57 winners. South Africa (5), Spain (4), England (3) and Germany/West Germany (2) are the only other countries with multiple green jackets while Australia, Argentina, Fiji, Canada, Wales and Scotland have one each.

This year’s field of 97 represents 22 different countries from around the world including Thailand (Thongchai Jaidee) and the Netherlands (Joost Luiten). Not surprisingly the U.S. leads the field with 44 entrants. England is a distant second with 7 and Australia rounding out the top three with 7.

Even though Americans comprise close to half of the entire field at the 2014 Masters, 4 of the last 6 champions hail from outside the States including the first ever victories for the continents of South America (Cabrera ’08) and Australia (Scott ’13). A player from Asia has never won the Masters*, which, if the trend continues, could be good news for the 4 Korean players in the field: Sang-Moon Bae, K.J. Choi, Chang-Woo Lee and Y.E. Yang.

*Vijay Singh, the 2000 Masters champion is from Fiji, which is technically part of Oceania.

Caddying For Position

In the 16 years since Tiger Woods won his first of four Masters in 1997 by a historic margin of 12 strokes the average margin of victory is roughly 2 strokes. In that time, only 6 eventual champs have held a lead heading into Sunday with the largest leads belonging to Vijay Singh (’00) and Tiger (’05) who were both 3 shots clear of the field before the final round. In 2011 Charl Schwartzel overcame the largest Sunday deficit when he came back from 4 shots behind 3^rd round leader Rory McIlroy who for his part imploded on the back 9 finishing with a final round 80.

Fast starts aren’t necessarily indicative of success as the last wire-to-wire winner at Augusta was Raymond Floyd in ’76*.

*Trevor Immelman had a share of the lead after round 1 in ’08.

Climbing the Corporate Ladder

Since ’97, 7 of 16 champions (7 of 10 if you don’t count any of the wins by Woods or Phil Mickelson) came from outside the top ten in the world rankings including long shots like Zach Johnson (#56 in OWGR in ’07) and Angel Cabrera (#69 in ’09). Potentially signs of trouble for the current top ten of Scott, Henrik Stenson, Jason Day, Mickelson, Rose, McIlroy, Sergio Garcia, Z. Johnson and D. Johnson.

A Clearing in the Distance

Since the latest round of “Tiger-Proofing” prior to the 2006 tournament when Augusta National was lengthened to 7,435 yards, only 2 champions (Cabrera and Watson) have finished the year in the top ten in total driving distance on the PGA Tour. That’s bad news this year for Bubba, DJ and DeLaet. Surprisingly, during that same period of time no winner has gone on to finish the season in the top ten in total putting which means it might be better to be ‘bearish’ when it comes to the chances of Graeme McDowell, Matt Every and Russell Henley.

Azalea and Firethorn*

Most majors are won or lost Sunday on the back 9. When looking at the final round scores of the past 8 champions since ’06, the recipe for this year’s Masters becomes much clearer. Since ’06, the last 8 winners were a combined -13 on the two par 5s on the back 9, #13 and #15. Schwartzel is the only player not to have birdied #13 while just Johnson and Immelman failed to post a red number on #15.

Even more astounding is that over that same period of time, the 12 runners up (including ties for second and playoff losers) were a combined -6 on #13 and #15. If by Sunday afternoon you’ve yet to handicap the leaderboard then look no further then the took back 9 par 5s.

*Which reminds me of a little game I like to play called hole at Augusta National or “Game Of Thrones” character?

Augusta Baby Augusta!

With Tiger out, Rory McIlroy has been installed as the odds on favorite to win the 2014 Masters at 9-1. But before dialing up the bookie realize that last time the line got it right with the favorite was Woods back in ’06.

And finally, since golf, like every other sport, is about streaks, it’s hard to find an equation that takes into full account the form of a golfer heading into Augusta. Ultimately, the 2014 Masters champ will be determined by who hits the most quality shots/putts and unfortunately, numbers can’t always predict the future. Or can they???

An Ode To Opening Day

March 30, 2014 by Jon

Baseball is back, hope springs eternal.
With buntings unfurled, red white and blue waving in the wind.
America’s Pastime has returned, a nation of loyal fans rejoice.

Ballparks stand ready, having risen from their long winter slumber.
The grass freshly cut, the dirt perfectly groomed and adorned with strategically placed white lines.
Fair or foul, sports’ swiftest form of justice remains intact.

Outside the gates, people wait with pennants in tote, ticket stubs still a source of great nostalgia.
Past the turnstiles the smell of popcorn and hot dogs permeate the senses, returning all to a time long ago.
Follow the flood of fellow fans through the tunnel and out into the open air of the stadium where you’ll soon be drowned in a sea of childhood memories.

To be a kid again is the goal of so many.
Baseball is a sport that welcomes all ages to share in the creation of timeless traditions and era-less etiquette.
A simple tip of the cap and you’ll be transported back to the sandlot and a phase of life so full of hope and opportunity.

Underneath the seats, the clubhouse sits still with uniforms hanging hauntingly like ghosts waiting for their inhabitants to arrive.
From places like Florida and Arizona they come having spent months working out the kinks in the warm sun.
Grips have been shaped, swings are on plane, geometry an essential building block for success.

Preparing for this moment, when the box score matters and the standings an ultimate manifestation of a meritocracy.
Players earn their keep in this game, follow the money and you will find some of the best.
For Kershaw Cabrera and Trout this game wasn’t always about the eight figures, but love.

Love comes in all shapes and sizes including diamonds filled with routine double plays and dramatic leaps of faith.
Love is what it takes to overcome obstacles and remain disciplined, patience a precursor for prevailing throughout an unrelenting summer.
Love knows no bounds, no warning tracks or dugout railings.

Love for this game will fill stands across the country.
Fathers, sons, friends and foes will gather together to applaud their hero’s triumphant return home.
The goal remains the same. October, we can all dream.

It’s Opening Day, a day to rejoice, a day to embrace.
Watch with joy as the season unfolds and dreams come true.
Tis the season, of Baseball.