Bob Sheed (08-02-2020),RedTeamGo! (08-02-2020)
The best parts of the Copacabana Incident story is Mantle telling the Grand Jury that the way one of the local guys got injured was Roy Rogers rode Trigger into the Copacabana, and Trigger kicked the man knocking him unconscious on the floor! Most speculate it was Hank Bauer's fist that knocked the man unconscious. Also, Stengel punishing some of the players for being out late by either removing them from the lineup or moving them down in the lineup.....except Mantle. When asked, Stengel said he was upset with Mantle also....but not enough to risk losing the game/pennant race!
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”― Marcus Aurelius
I consider Jordan the clear GOAT and I am a Kobestan 4 Life....but I do not think either had a fraction of direct influence on the business side of the league as Lebron. I am sure they were top of mind when the league made decisions, but I am not aware of the league seeking their input beyond them being one of 300+ in the NBAPA. MJ and Kobe were never deeply involved or out front on League/NBAPA business. Also, I am not insinuating it is a good or bad thing in regards to Lebron...just that it is what it is. Also, I do not see the next Lebron as of right now...someone that will be involved and a heavy influence on league business. Maybe someone like Giannis or Zion will develop into that role, but right now they appear more of the traditional superstar path similar to Magic, Bird, Jordan, Kobe, etc., being more indirectly influential on league business as opposed to being directly influential in decisions.
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”― Marcus Aurelius
IIRC Jordan wasn’t in the Player’s Association at all... video games had to make deals with him separately for him to be included, and some didn’t.
But while bubbles are proving to be the best and safest way to conduct the business of playing sports, they do not last forever. And it is what comes next — as teams and leagues attempt something resembling normalcy in communities where the virus is still on the rise — that will be a riskier test for sports.
M.L.S., for example, will push ahead with plans to allow its teams to resume play in their home stadiums later this summer, if local rules allow it. The N.F.L. is expected to open its 2020 season this fall with teams in their home markets as well. And baseball has vowed to push forth as long as it can, even as it contorts its competitive structures at the whims of a capricious virus.
The only reason bubbles became necessary, of course, is because the United States failed to wrest control of the virus in ways that other developed nations have. In Europe, most of the world’s top soccer leagues finished their seasons with teams playing in their own stadiums. Fans were allowed back into baseball stadiums in South Korea this week.
The drawbacks of bubbles, of course, are plain. They are difficult to organize, expensive to maintain and emotionally taxing on players, who cannot return to their homes for weeks or months at a time.
Michele Roberts, the executive director of the N.B.A. Players Association, said in an interview this week that the league and union were watching closely for any “adverse consequences of being segregated from family and community for extended periods of time.”
Roberts said that for all the safety afforded by a sport’s bubble environment, the emotional strain on the people inside it was obvious.
“Months of life in this bubble is not an extended vacation,” said Roberts, who has been on site at Disney World among the teams. “I’m reminded of this every time I see a player doing FaceTime with a young child.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/s...e-nba-mlb.html
"Today was the byproduct of us thinking we can come back from anything." - Joey Votto after blowing a 10-1 lead and holding on for the 12-11 win on 8/25/2010.
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