Williams Sisters Make Tennis Boring

When the Williams sisters decide to try, they sure know how to make tennis boring.

I was as glad as anyone else when the sisters emerged as the next big thing on the WTA tour. I thought it was great that African American women succeeded at what has traditionally been a rich, white man's game.

They came, they saw, and they conquered, though, and for the last several years the Williams sisters haven't seemed to care much about the sport that made them rich and famous.

Instead of improving their tennis games, the Williams sisters turned their attention to off-court endeavors. To each her own, of course, but their half-hearted dedication to the game strikes me as odd.

Perhaps they have simply become bored.

What's upsetting to me -- and no doubt the players on the women's tour -- is that whenever they decide to try, the Williams sisters seem to be able to pull out a Grand Slam championship.

So when Venus Williams won her fourth Wimbledon title today, my reaction amounted to a shrug and a sigh.

A shrug because the result was hardly surprising, and a sigh because the sport continues to be at the mercy of a pair of sisters who rarely seem to care.

Neifi Perez is a Bad Cheater

If you're going to cheat, you'd better cheat well.

Tigers' utility man Neifi Perez has been suspended 25 games for testing positive for a performance enhancing drug.

This news causes me to question not only Perez's (very limited) playing ability, but also his apparent lack of a brain.

If you're going to juice up and risk getting caught, you better fork over for the good stuff. In this day and age where soft-hitting utility players are in less demand, I can understand Perez's desire to look for an edge.

But if he's going to juice up, I fully expect a .300 average, 10-12 home runs, and about 25 stolen bases by now. Instead, he's hitting a buck-seventy-two with one homer and six RBIs. Weak.

If chemical assistance doesn't help you produce numbers better than that, it's probably time to hang up the cleats.

UPDATE: In all fairness to Perez, it was amphetamines he was caught with, not steroids. Still, as Tyler points out in the comment below, this was not a first offense.

4 Steps to Fixing the All-Star Game

As some have pointed out, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game is the best of its kind; the NBA All-Star Game and the Pro Bowl don't compare.

But the MLB All-Star Game could be better.

And it should be.

I wrote Monday that the All-Star Game had lost its luster, and I promised some suggested solutions for how to fix it. So here they are in no particular order.

1. Make it a best of three series. That way the teams can gel and the host city will see more action. More games equals more revenue, which is what everyone wants, right?
   
   
2. Give all players a full week off. The full week accommodates the best of three series and gives managers a chance to use players in a manner they normally would. For instance, Dice-K would be given the opportunity to go seven strong this year, instead of being taken out just when he's getting a feel for his stuff. I don't think you'd hear any non-All Stars complain about this.
   
   
3. Count the stats in the record book. If what we're aiming for is a game that "matters," what better incentive than etching the goings on into the players' permanent records. Besides, shouldn't a home run hit against an All Star count for two instead of zero?
   
   
4. Pay out the big bucks to the winning team. When it comes to getting professional athletes to care about the outcome of the game, money talks. Forget home field advantage in the World Series, how about half a mil to each member of winning team?
   

Many of you will retort that these ideas are ridiculous and will never be instituted. I will agree on the second part.

The bottom line is the All-Star Game needs fixing. Now that I've put my piece out there, it's your turn.

Go.

5 Reasons the All-Star Game Has Lost its Luster

The Major League Baseball All-Star Game has lost its luster.

Personally, I haven't watched it since 2003. Despite a good year last year, recent trends show that the game is not the draw that it used to be.

But why?

It's hard to put a finger on an exact reason, but I am a firm believer in the ol' college try. Here are five reasons why I believe the All-Star Game is not what it used to be.

1. Interleague Play makes the best players in both leagues available to fans in every city. For example, interleague play brought Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants to Seattle last year, a city that had never hosted the team or the slugger.
   


2. The Yankees, Mets and Red Sox play every night. As teams with enormous budgets continue to stockpile talent, marketing the All-Star game as an unusual display of talent almost seems ridiculous. Thank goodness the small market teams get to keep the stars a few years before free agency.
   


3. Cable television allows any person in any city to follow the exploits of any player or team in any other city. There was a time when you'd have to dig through the sports page to find news and stats about your favorite player, as I once did when Will Clark signed with the Texas Rangers. Between MLB Extra Innings and MLB.tv, though, there is no such thing as an out of market game anymore.
   


4. Free Agency means you'll get a chance to see your favorite player eventually, and he may even wind up on your team. Just be patient. Kenny Lofton has played on 11 teams in his career, including at least one in every Major League division. Even Alex Rodriguez, arguably the best player in all of baseball, has seen his share of the country -- he's played on both coasts, with a stop in the middle.
   


5. Despite what Bud Selig would have you believe, there's not much at stake. Players love to go out and have a good time, chum it up with other superstars and maybe get some footage on their new camcorder (I always get a kick out of that). But once the game rolls around, they're just trying not to make an idiot of themselves. The "winner gets home field advantage" in the World Series ploy is dumb, because only two teams make the World Series anyway. Do you think Derek Jeter will be putting out extra effort just so the Red Sox will have an edge in October? I don't think so.

So what can be done to remedy the boredom? Interleague play, big budget teams, cable television and free agency aren't going anywhere. But #5 gives us a little wiggle room, and in a future post I'll address suggestions for fixing the All-Star Game.

An End to the Human Rain Delay, Mike Hargrove

Fortunately, Mike Hargrove is not dead.

He is, however, finished as manager of the surging Seattle Mariners. Hargrove made the stunning announcement before today's game.

(Thanks to Geoff Young at Knuckle Curve for the heads-up.)

Hargrove said that "my passion has begun to fade," a statement that I have a hard time believing in light of the Mariners' recent success.

Had the Human Rain Delay made the statement in one of the last two seasons, I would have understood. The Mariners were a struggling team with a lot of potential but not many wins, and I can imagine that the bench had to start feeling a little warm under Hargrove.

But now, with the team having seemingly righted the ship and possibly on course for a playoff berth, this decision makes zero sense if you take Hargrove's reasoning at face value.

There is some speculation that Hargrove and Ichiro don't have the best relationship, so this is how I see the situation playing out.

Ichiro, who is in a contract year, makes it known to the Japanese media and possibly the Mariners' management that he isn't the biggest Hargrove fan. Bill Bavasi, whose job is likely in danger if the Mariners don't reach the playoffs, then has a choice to make: Ichiro or Hargrove?

I don't know the nature of Bavasi's relationship with Hargrove, but if Bavasi's job is on the line, the safest course of action is pretty obvious. Pull Grover into the office and give him the golden handshake. Then schedule an appointment with Ichiro and his agent and do everything humanly possible to keep him in Seattle.

Hargrove is given the opportunity to resign on his own terms, which he does, of course. He adds the bit about having lost the fire, and the majority of the Mariners' fan base is none the wiser.

This is, of course, speculation, but it leaves Seattle fans with a choice: take Hargrove at his word, or dig a little deeper. I think most Mariners fans, given the choice Bavasi faced, would make the same decision. But I also think they deserve the truth.