39 Things I'm Looking Forward To in MLB 2019, Pt. 3

10.) Altuve. Bregman. Correa

They are the stars of what is probably still the world's best team. Altuve the $150mm man from last year, Bregman the newly mited $100mm man, and Correa, the guy in maybe the most interesting position. Altuve and Correa were both visibly hampered late last season, particularly Correa who hit terribly after coming back from a back injury midseason. Correa is in his age 24 season (ridiculous), he should be a monster, he can be a monster. Altuve himself should have his bat-speed back. Bregman is a superstar. This has a chance to be the best 2B-SS-3B trio of all time when it is all said and done. We'll have this trio for at least three more seasons, after which Correa becomes a free agent. Hopefully we can enjoy it for longer.


9.) Yankees vs. Red Sox

Last year was the first time ever both teams won 100+ games. This can easily be the second such season. The arms race was such a fixture of my youth, but having it back has been fun to a degree. Especially since prior to them winning the World Series, the Red Sox fanbase seemed fully terrified at the prospect of the Yankees future, with the ability to add money to their trove of prospects. That still all might be true, but the Yankees have now struck out on adding big FAs, placing even more importance on their prospects. It's weird how the two teams have switched approaches to some degree. Dombrowski traded a bunch of prospects for stars, paid them and other FAs, and it pad off with a World Series coupled with one of the worst farm systems. Both teams are very good, but it will be interesting to see if the Yankees more sustainable approach pays off.


8.) The Padres Rise

First it was the Royals, then it became the Cubs, then the Astros. A series of drafts and trades and selective tanking paying off all at once. Now, it is the Padres turn, with their near-unanimous, hilariously stuffed farm system. Some guys are still a bit away, but they have five top-50 prospects per Keith Law, with already having graduated a few prospects last year. Maybe it isn't 2019, but 2020 or 2021, but with adding Manny Machado to the mix, it is sooner rather than later for the Padres. For a team that has been so non-descriptly boring, it will be great to watch them surprise. And just like the Cubs or Astros, sometimes it comes sooner than people expect.


7.) The NL Central trying to Clown the Cubs

The Cubs were supposed to be a dynasty. They were supposed to change the game. They were so damn good in 2016. Three years later, they are still a good team, but there is no changing the game. In many ways, it has started to fall down. They were built on mega-prospects supplemented by a few interesting FA signings. Now, the prospects have either graduated or been revealed to be terrible people (Addison Russell); adn they're building more and more on overpriced, older veterans. The rest of the division passed them yesterday - something thought to be impossible prior. Seeing how the rest of the division has caught them has been so interesting. The Brewers specifically (up in a few steps) never tanked, never outspent, just outsmarted. In the end, maybe Theo Epstein isn't the genius we all thought him to be.


6.) The A's vs. the Rays in pitiable greatness

Both these teams could be good - in most cases both should be good. But in a larger context, both should not be here. Both are in unteneble situations in their home market - something has to give. But while local community governments try to fight off losing or keeping them, the teams themselves just continue to play above their head. The Rays nicely snapped up Charlie Morton, extended Blake Snell and look to be able to contend with the Yankees and Red Sox. For the A's, there is a sense that they peaked lat year with their 97-wins. They're already having injury issues after an 0-2 start in Japan. I hope I'm wrong. I hope one day, if the A's get their beautiful new ballpark, and the Rays move, these can be franchises whose means can match their mighty brains.


5.) The Brewers trying to Game the System

The Brewers were a few runs away from making the world series last year. It's well documented how they bult this contender despite never really tanking which is great. They didn't really do anything in the offseason other than re-signing Mike Moustakas. What they have done though is move some of their trove of relievers into some potential nice starters. The Brewers have been a step ahead on this revolution, be it the relievers - having their best one explicitly not be their closer - and short starters, and all the rest. I love how well this team is put together and it will be amazing to have them keep it going. These teams that build organically usually have fairly short life-spans (look at the 2010-2012 Reds, or 2013-2015 Pirates as examples), so this could easily be the last year of Milwaukee magic.


4.) Clayton Kershaw trying to Regain Himself

Clayton Kershaw was supposed to be one of the huge free agent fishes in 2019. Instead, a second year of back issues, his worst season in a decade (2.73 ERA it should be said) made it an easy choice for him to quietly re-up with the Dodgers. I'm glad he's not leaving LA, but saddened to see the diminished Kershaw last year. Again, for him, 'diminished' is very relative - he's still an excellent pitcher capable of excellent performances but if the best of Kershaw is gone, it will be amazing to watch him try to match his previous greatness. Can he do it at 90 mph instead of 93, can he do it developing a change-up for the first time. Can he do it with that incredible command and delivery. Can he go back to what made him one of the greatest pitchers ever.


3.) Mike Trout - a GOAT Candidate

Speaking of one of the greatest ever. Mike Trout had the best first seven seasons of all time. He's on track to have an all-time career. He definitely has an all-time contract. I don't know if 'pressure' will actually matter to Trout, but it will be interesting to see how he's covered and how he plays with the weight of that $430mm price tag to his name. Of course, nothing happened what that person was A-Rod, he was rather good on that $252mm deal back in 2001. Trout's team is actually decent this year with a potential to surprise, especially offensively. For Trout, he also gets a challenge he hasn't faced before, not being the league's reigning best player. For the first time (or second, depending on which WAR you use for 2015) Trout was not the best player in the AL for a season he was healthy throughout. Mookie Betts was. Trout has accepted every challenge with ridiculous success - you have to think he'll take this one also.


2.) The Impending Legal Drama

I'm writing this on March 23rd. The season starts the end of next week. Dallas Keuchel is still a free agent. Craig Kimbrel is still a free agent. A bunch of signed free agents got quite a bit less than was expected. A bunch of players signed early extensions, maybe with the thought of avoiding getting underpaid and squeezed in free agency. Baseball financial system seems more broken than it has been in a long time - and because there is too much money and the owners don't want to give it to the players. Some of it is sensical - teams shouldn't be handing out $150mm+ contracts to 30+ year old players. However, the flip side is pre-arb and arb salaries are still constricted. Owner are trying to have it both ways. There will be legal drama hanging over each of the next two seasons - hopefully not any longer as baseball tries to avoid ending a long extended period of labor peace.


1.) The Astros Fight for Reclaiming the Throne

I'll just leave this here...

30 Things I'm Looking Forward To in MLB 2019, Pt. 2

20.) The Few Milestones


19.) The New Single Trade Deadline

The most outrageous change MLB pushed through randomly was probably going to the 3-batter minimum rule for pitchers which is slated to start in 2020, but it is interesting for them to suddenly move to a single trade deadline this year. Now it makes perfect sense. I never could understand what the waiver process actually represented, but all I know is the Astros got Justin Verlander in the August trade deadline - in what was maybe the best August trade ever. That is gone. The earlier deadline may actualyl stunt the trade action, as more teams may think they're in it a month earlier. It will be interesting what impact this actually has on trade activity.


18.) Vlad Guerrero Jr Making me feel Old

I remember Vlad Guerrero. I'm not mentally ready for another one. I realize this is not a nromal age gap between generations, that Vlad Sr. was fairly young when Vlad Jr. was born, but I remember Vlad Sr. vividly. He was a large factor in a running diary I wrote about teh Angels/Yankees ALCS in 2009 in this blog's infancy. I distinctly remember his dominant 2004 season. I remember him way too much to know be watching ridiculous highlights of his ridiculous son that is set to dominate the world with his bat. Him hitting a one-handed double in spring training was the most watched mlb .gif since Jose Bautista's bat-flip (may be an exaggeration). Anyway, stop making me feel old.


17.) Scherzer

The world's moved on to finally accepting that Scherzer is the best pitcher in baseball in terms of the multi-year approach (I mean, for jsut last year, it is still DeGrom). And despite not three-peating his Cy Young wins, he had maybe his best season - 300 strikeouts, a b-war of 9.5. It will be so interesting to see if we see any slippage from Scherzer in his age-34 season. At some point he has to start slipping. At some point his incredible arm has to give way. Hopefully not this year - being so used to his dominance. He slowly passed Kershaw, and while peak Kershaw was better, you can easily argue peak Scherzer is more dominant (though let's not forget Kershaw too had a 300-k season).


16.) Damn Long Summer Nights

I have way too many of these that are basically a version of 'man, isn't baseball amazing' but the endless nature of it's season will always get to me. The length may seem like its biggest weakness, but to me it is baseball's biggest strength. The issue with basketball is the season is too long. Baseball took that length and doubled it, so overwhelming is the regular season it is the one sport that people care more about regular season success when debating who the best player is. There are other factors, but the length, the monotonous, ridiculous length, is the biggest part of that.


15.) Harper in Philadelphia?

It is easy to argue that Manny Machado is better than Bryce Harper, adn the Padres got a better deal than did the Phillies, but even if you accept that, you have to still admit that Harper in Philadelphia is a much more ineteresting story. Bryce Harper can be a beast in that ballpark with the same powerful swing that Ryan Howard worked so well - but with better bat control. He can also quickly become a hated figure in the area. That team can be really good, and if Harper can approach even his 2017 form (let alone if that 2015 Harper tyrannasaur ever comes back) they are the clear favorite in teh division, even with the strength of the Nationals. Philadelphia loves the Phillies - I learned that first-hand being in the Philly region from April through July of last year. They'll love Harper, or quickly love to hate him.


14.) The Dodgers trying to Hold Onto Dominance

People got mad this offseason when the Dodgers did nothing. They let Machado go (fairly expected). They did that weird Puig trade that seemingly got them the ability to clear salary to sign AJ Pollock, a nice, if oft-injured player. The biggest addition is just getting Corey Seager back healthy (remember him, the 8 WAR player in 2017?), but with Kershaw already feeling arm issues in the spring. I think the Dodgers honestly have fooled people into thinking they are better than they are. This is still a team that needed to play Game 163 to win the divisiion last year. Yes, they went to the World Series, but were overmatched there and needed seven games in the NLCS. I truly think this is the worst iteration of the Dodgers since probably 2015 - of course, that year they still won the division. That's almost guaranteed. What happens when they get there? No idea.


13.) The Twins and White Sox fight to be the surprise team

Last year, the AL seemed fairly boring coming in, and then the Athletics appeared and won 97 games. This year, teh Astros, Indians, Red Sox and Yankees seem like obvious locks for the playoffs - again (if they do all make it, it will be that quartet's third straight year), but who will be that fifth team. The A's are the 'favorite' I guess. The Angels still have Trout and a rebuilt lineup around him. But I think if any team were to surprise, it might be one of these two. The Twins wouldn't be a huge surprise given they were in teh wild card game two years ago, but I like what they did this offseason, getting Odirizzi and Pinieda - even if both are true wild cards. For the White Sox, we've all been waiting for their version of the 2014 Royals or 2015 Astros, the perennial dormant team with a great famr. It could be this year - more likely it is next, but it is coming, and I can't wait.


12.) T-Mobile's MLB TV Promotion

At this point, I can't remember if this is the third or the fourth year T-Mobile has ran this great promotion, but once again, T-Mobile is allowing their customers to get free MLB.tv for the year. It might be the single greatest promotion in cell phone plan history - like really, how does this happen again. I remember when Madden gave out a year of DirecTV Sunday Ticket for free in 2012 (might have been 2013). That was a miracle. T-Mobile doing this three straight years is just insane.


11.) The Royal's Speed

The Royals stink. They will very likely stink this year. I pulled up their depth chart and am so damn confused who 'Brad Keller' (#2 SP) and 'Jakob Junis' (#3 SP) is. I have no idea who Ryan O'Hearn is, and barely know who Adalberto Mondesi (starting SS) is. But what I do know is they will steal all the bases. The Royals won in 2014-15 because they eschewed the high-OBP trend to get guys who could put the ball in play, and build a dominant bullpen before that was in vogue (excepting the Giants, who beat them in 2014, were doing this for years). Now, they are turning back the clock to some old 1980's style of heavy hit-and-run and I can't wait to see it not work. If you're going to lose 90+ games, you may as well do it in style.

30 Things I'm Looking Forward To in MLB 2019, Pt. 1

I've done this

30.) Verlander and Cole

There's obviously more Astros related points on this than other teams. That is 95% homerism and 5% because I find them an endlessly fascinating team, starting with the two guys who are free agents at the end of the year. Justin Verlander and Gerritt Cole were both absolutely incredible last year, with 275+ strikeouts each (the first teammates to do that, despite limited innings, since Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling). Two years, two trades, both magical, and gives Houston something so few teams have. I will be interested to see if Verlander can continue this amazing rennaissance, and if Cole can continue his rebirth - being every bit the pitcher who deserved to go #1 overall in 2011. It will be interesting if the Astros retain one of the two (hard to imagine they can get both with all the big contracts now and in future), and sadly I think they'll pick Cole over Verlander, but if this is the end, it will be a glorious one.


29.) The Damn Cardinals and Goofy Cubs

Thank God for the competitiveness of the NL Central (and NL East, and to some degree the NL West). It is hard to remember a division where there is so little separating first place and last. And while we may love the Reds (they're to come) and marvel at the Brewers ability to rebuild on the fly, in the end it will probably come down to the Cards and Cubs. The Cardinals made the offseason splash with Goldschmidt, and that outfield of Bader and Ozuna is nice, but I do worrry about their pitching - worry until I remember some random AAA guy will have a 2.82 ERA in September. For the Cubs, I can't say it hasn't been fun watching their run so quickly end. Remember when we all thought they were a dynasty in the making? Now, PECOTA picked them to finish in last place - albeit winning 80 games. It is great to see the turmoil and the drama around a team that can still roll out Darvish, Hamels, Quintana and Lester - of course, three of those names would have carried way more fear in 2015.


28.) Judge and Stanton (et. al.)

The Yankees quietly won 100 games last year. They quietly mired their way to a down season for a lot of their top players. Most likely, that's not happening again, and while their picthing seems to be worse with Severino out (Gio Gonzalez a nice nifty pickup), but man I'm sure Judge and Stanton will pick up the slack. We all should be lucky enough to call seasons of OPS+ of 126 (Stanton) and 145 (Judge) down years. We always have an outside shot of both of them just going bananas in 2019. It will happen some year in this Yankee run - just hopefully not when they play Houston, especially ina  potential ALDS/CS. The more interesting question to me though is if Bird and Sanchez and the others can make this into the truly lethal lineup they still have the ability to be.


27.) The Rockies and D'Backs Trying to Retain Relevance

It's been great watching the Rockies and D'Backs these last two years try and compete with the Dodgers. No one was particularly close in 2017, but they got both wild cards. Last year, the D'Backs fell off late, but the Rockies forced the Dodgers into a 1-game playoff. Neither seems particularly likely to challenge the Dodgers this year either, but damn if you ain't trying. I so love the Rockies extending Arenado early. I love them building with pitching, and I so hope Jon Gray gets back to his 2017 form. That city should embrace baseball like it has its other sports. For teh D'Backs, just watching Zack Greinke is worth the price of admission.


26.) What do the Mets Do?

I'm so curious about everything going on with the Mets - starting from the second Brodie Van Wagenen was named GM. It was an oddball choice that would have been met, I truly believe, with a very different reaction of it was any other team but the LOLMETS. He made weird trades that probably on the whole made the team better. He has two giant trade chips in DeGrom and Syndergaard, and while they try to recapture 2015 for a fourth time, maybe it works. It probably won't in waht may be the toughest division


25.) The Reds Experiment

The Reds are not a good team. More accurately, they were not a good team, losing 95 games last year. But when you look at their rotation, and look at their lineup - aided in large part by a quizzical salary dump trade by the Dodgers - things don't look so bad. That rotation with Wood (always good stuff when healthy), a potentially reborn Sonny Gray and Tanner Roark isn't too bad. A lineup with Joey Votto, Eugenio Suarez, Jose Peraza and Yasiel Piug (getting to hit in a band-box let's not forget) is even better. The prospect of super-prospect Nick Senzel coming up is the cherry on top. Most likely outcome is a solid 79-win season for the Reds, but man will it be a fun 79 wins.


24.) Good Ol' MLB.tv

I'm really hoping MLB.tv fixed the issue of allowing people to watch four games at once again. They took this away last year and it was so terrible. But even without that added bonus feature, MLB.tv remained a gold standard for live sports streaming. The qualtiy so good. The ability to overlay radio amnnouncing is brilliant. The just great thrill of throwing up a random game in a random town on a random June night? That is honestly what makes baseball special. In reality, NHL gamecenter is about as good, but then again that was built off of MLBAM. We can think baseball is for the old fogies, but they got digital way before any other sport.


23.) Tucker and Whitley

There were so many trade ideas floated about around the Astros this offseason, particularly around JT Realmuto. The names Kyle Tucker (Keith Law's #15 prospect) and Forrest Whitley (#5, top pitching prospect), both 21-22, were often in those trade announcements. Thankfully, Jeff Luhnow said no, and the Astros still have two enviable prospects. Tucker may start the year in the majors. Sure, he had a really rough cup of coffee last year, but go back and look at what Alex Bregman did in 2016 and tell me how relevant two months is. For Whitley, he's a big boy that throws 95. The Astros are likely to lose major guys soon, be it this year (Verlander and/or Cole) or next (George Springer and others). It is the Tucker's and Whitley's that will keep this amazing window amazingly open.


22.) The Nationals in a post-Bryce World

There's a common refrain right now that that the Nationals may be better without Bryce Harper, and honestly, there's a lot of truth to that. Not that losing Harper will help them, not some stupid Ewing Theory shit, but that this is a loaded team that underachieved (Harper included) last year, and is closer to the 97-win monster in 2017. They have two prodigies in the outfield, and oh by the way signed the best free agent pitcher in Patrick Corbin. This is a better team that last year's unit.. Even if you assume some regression for a 34-year-old Max Scherzer, you should equally assume some upward regression from Strasburg to counter that. The Nationals to me still have the best all-around team in the division... maybe.


21.) Random Nights in Random Ballparks

This is tied somewaht to the MLB.tv point, but what I love about baseball is how the different ballpark styles naturally make watching games, whether in person or on tv, so different depending where they are. Forgot the places we all know (Wrigley, Fenway, New Yankee Stadium, AT&T Park - or whatever it is called now), but how about watching the light flow through the weird roof in Miller Park while the sausage race happens, or how the Philly faithful take to Harper, or that stunningly beautiful Petco Park, or the sight of the river in Pittsburgh, or even the sad mausoleum that is Oakland. Every ballpark is beautiful in some way. Every ballpark is amazing. Every ballpark deserves our respect. Some day, I hope to visit all of them - for now, just visiting them over MLB.tv is good enough.

What I Want from the end of Veep and Game of Thrones

The Final Season of Veep, a show that started in 2012 (seriously, in Obama's first term) is coming up in a few weeks. The final season of Game of Thrones, which started in 2011, is coming up in about a month.

Both shows, for better or for wrose, defined comedy and drama in the 2010s. Shorter seasons (10 episodes each year - excepting the last couple GoT years). Such cultural relevance, Such acclaim. Pushing HBO back into the forefront of standard TV. The 2010s were defined by streaming taking over, starting in earnest in 2013 with NETFLIX's first push into original content, but in the end, the best comedy, and most lasting (if not best) drama were on good ol' HBO.

That they end the same year is something poetic, after both had to take 2018 off. For different reasons, mind you. Game of Thrones because it was just too daunting to put all that out so quickly, and for Veep because Julia Louis-Dreyfus was successfully battling cancer. In a sense, maybe they needed that break, as both shows hit creative nadirs, to some degree, in their most recent season. Sure, they were still good shows, but nowhere near their best. And for that, I do have some serious reservations on each show.

Game of Thrones seems more pressing just because how much has been driven by plot, and how much of that plot lost itself once it outpaced George RR Martin's books - doing so late in the fifth season / early in the sixth, and completely running free in teh seventh season. Suffice it to say, George RR Martin does not write that stupid Wight heist. The shows fewer episodes also entirely changed things, with people seemingly teleporting across Westeros after the six prior seasons taught us how daunting any travel across that continent was.

For Veep, it was partly losing its original creator, partly losing Selina's connection to active office, and partly because our actual political scene went from relatively calm to completely batshit during the run of the show. It became increasingly hard to satirize politics when actual politics and storylines crossed Selina's politics in the middle of the night and went far beyond anything Armando Ianucci and the leftover team could concoct.

On my personal ranking of TV shows, I have Game of Thrones ranked #9, and Veep ranked #8, and unlike the seven shows ahead of them, I've watched these two from start to finish (the closest I came in the rest was Breaking Bad, starting live in Season 3). These aren't the first long-running shows I've watched more or less from beginning to end - that was probably How I Met Your Mother. These are just hte best shows I've watched from beginning to end, and I do have a clear checklist of how I want them to finish.

For Game of Thrones, I want an appropriate conclusion to the Jon / Daenarys reveal. I want someone to kill Cersei but make it meaningful. I don't care if the Night King wins, but I want some connection to the three-eyed raven or Arya or some of the Stark kids that they've spared unlike the scores of others that have died.

For Veep, it is more simple, I want Selina to win her election, and I want something that doesn't try to parody Trump. He's un-parody-iable in reality. They should not even make mention of him - certainly Julia Louis-Dreyfus is no Trump supporter (as she made clear in her acceptance speech in DC for winning the Mark Twain Prize last year); the best thing is to avoid parodying any Trump event.

For both shows, I just want a nice send-off. When Game of Thrones aired, I was 20 years old - 21 for Veep. I remember starting Veep without knowing who Armando Ianucci was, and knowing Julia Louis-Dreyfus just from Seinfeld. It was quick, but damn did I learn just how brilliant she was and he was.

For Game of Thrones, it took a while to truly appreciate the astounding production value. For years, we critique the show due to plot and character development, but let's not lose sight of the fact the show has put on movie-level staging and effects for 8-10 hours year after year.

I won't forget these shows, especially as the world of TV continues to get more and more stratified. There honestly may not be another TV show for a long time that is as much a cultural touchstone as Game of Thrones, adn while Veep is definitely mnot at that level, it is about as high as a smart comedy can get in this day and age. These are two tentpole TV shows, two all-timers, and they're both slated to end within weeks of each other, and I truly hope they go out as high as they can.

The Return of the Zou

Look, I didn't plan to write my last piece right before Zidane ceremoniously announced his return to the Bernabeu, and I don't know if this solves a lot of the problems I outlined in Madrid, but man does it make things so much brighter. Zidane returns as a conquering hero, and does so with Florentino Perez for the first time in a long time submissive to his manager's wills.

Apparently he came back with the support of the board, not Perez, and with the backing that he will get to buy his players, and get a lot of money to do so, the result of Madrid explicitly not doing that the last couple seasons. I still don't blame Madrid for their moves after the 2017 season to go younger, like bringing in Ceballos, Odriozola, Vinicius, etc., but after losing Ronaldo and them doing nothing to replace him, it was obvious a sea change was needed.

It remains to be seen what Zidane's plans are for the offseason. The names and rumors have already started flying (Kante, Pogba, Mbappe, Hazard, on and on and on). Something will happen. Many have predicted Madrid match their 2009 profligacy in the transfer market. There will probably be some exoduses as well - Bale seems as good as gone with this news. Whatever the result, Madrid will look much different in 2019-20, the first year in a while where they will try to retake what is theres after letting it all so easily fall away.

I'll have more when the moves are made. Right now, all that Madrid needs to focus on is stay in a top-3 spot to guarantee them a Champions League appearance. Also in bringing some stability back into the fold.

One weird position I've seen people bring up is what is in it for Zidane, to potentially ruin a legacy of three Champions League Wins, but to me, let's remember who this is. Zidane was a legend before he coached a game. He only added to that legend by, and let's not lose sight of this, WINNING THREE STRAIGHT CHAMPIONS LEAGUES. Before Zidane, no one had won two straight, with him, Madrid wins three straight.

Now, after seeing the team go to shit without him, he can step back, mold a new team, and potentially lead them to glory. If he wins one more, and maybe adds a La Liga, just sign this guy up for football Mt, Rushmore. I mean, if Peyton Manning took over last year as coach of the Colts, and with him as coach they won three straight Super Bowls, he could go 0-16 for three seasons and the impact to his legacy would be bumpkis. It's no different with the genius.

Zidane as coach should be fun. If anything, his regal frame just felt so right on the touchline of the Bernabeu. Part of me was hoping he would take over Juventus - the other club of his history - and reunite with Ronaldo and win a Champions League for the club that he couldn't do so as a player. But this is better, this works better, this is where Zidane needs to be, and this is where he will be. 

The Quick End of Real's Monster

Zinedine Zidane left after winning three straight Champions Leagues as coach. He did because he knew, as he always does. He knew things were about to go the way they did. They already were, with Madrid ending up 17 points off of Barcelona in last year's La Liga. They pulled off a miracle of guts, brilliance and blunders (good ol' Karius) to win a third successive Champions League. It was a great moment in Real Madrid's history, a capper for a set of players that made history time and time again. But it was that, a capper. Zidane knew, and Ronaldo leaving (which was basically in the cards the second the Champions League Final ended) did it for sure. Call it hubris for not replacing and refreshing an aging team. Call it just the natural turn of time. But one of the great eras of the sport is over.

I'm not going to put this all on Zidane leaving, and this being a sign of what a brilliant genius he remains, but it is amazing how quickly Madrid's internal politics started getting played out in the open. Other than a few rotation playeres wishing they played more, the Zidane years were such relative calm in the capital. The second he left, and Flo Perez became the main honcho again, it all returned.

I should say this could all change. Ten years ago, after four straight times losing in the Round of 16 in the Champions League, Perez paid a shitload one summer for Ronaldo, Kaka, Xabi Alonso and others. It was the greatest spending spree ever. The first year didn't work too well. Starting in 2011, with the hiring of Jose Mourinho, it all came together, with the first of what would end up being eight straight trips to the Semifinals. Ten years later, with that stream finally ending, Perez may open his checkbook once again, and if he does, things could get resurrected quickly.

But it should be said that while his team was busy winning four Champions League Titles in five years, the most successful period in the modern era of the Competition, Perez did very little to actually improve the team. The biggest signing in that period was James (coming after the first win) who never really found his footing. They had some good young players, all bought on the cheap. They did a nice job adding youngsters after 2017 in Ceballos, Vellejo, Vinicius, etc., but other than Vinicius (who really could be a star) none have made a huge impact. They've been strangely quiet on spending, and that's come home to roost now.

The biggest mistake is thinking they can just easily absorb losing Ronaldo. Despite all the 'tap-in' jokes, the guy scored 50 goals year after year, and was the greatest KO stage UCL performer ever. They lost him, fine, but did nothing to replace him other than hope internal players would pick up the slack. They haven't, and the team has been awful.

It will be interesting to see how coaches them next. Julen Lopetegui was always a weird signing, a guy who cost himself a whole lifetime of jobs to get 14 games at the helm of Madrid. Solari was a strange attempt to recapture the Zidane magic, but just as Solari was no Zidane as a player, might have been even less so as a coach.

In the end, I do go back to Zidane. No team had ever won two Champions Leagues in a row in its current format (started in 1992). Under Zidane, Madrid won three in a row. And not even a week after the third win, Zidane retires. He retired as a player on top (headbutt aside), winning the Golden Ball in the 2006 World Cup. He could have played more. He retired (for now) as a coach on top. He had the foresight just like he had the great vision as a player. He knew what was about to happen to his team, and got ot before it happened.

I saw a lot of pieces laughing at Madrid, but maybe we should take a step back and appreciate what they accomploshed in the five years preceding this one. The UCL is the sports toughest competition because of how much luck can play a factor, but Madrid rose above all that. Guys like Ronaldo, Benzema, Varane, Ramos, Modric, Casemiro, Marcelo, were there for all four. It is amazing how constant their team was through the five years. It couldn't last forever. It didn't, and of course, the two brightest stars in that hourney left before it all came crumbling down. 

Living Count the Dings

18 months ago, I wrote a piece called "The A-B-C's of TrueHoop TV" (http://loungingpass.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-b-cs-of-truehoop-tv.html), detailing, in 26 painstaking installments, my love for ESPN's long gone podcast network born out of Henry Abbott's TrueHoop blog. The podcasts were incredible, a true unicorn that survived on the brink battling ESPN's corporate mothership time and time again. That August, of 2017, the show was shuttered when Jade Hoye, its producer, left ESPN.

I wrote the piece mostly out of a loving, appreciative despair. I had seen favorite podcasts go away (I would have another one leave in a few months, when Marek vs. Wyshynski ended). But there were oodles of episodes held in archives (shout-out to podfanatic, which still has them). And when I wrote the post, sent it to Jade, he posted it for the THTV world to read, and replied to my twitter dm basically telling me that the show was not going away. It would be back. It did come back, and 18 months later, I finally got to meet the man behind the podcast mask, the rest of the bunch, and just how great that community of people, both hosts and listeners, is.

The podcast came back a few weeks later outside of ESPN's watchful eye, named The Basketball Friends under the 'Leverage the Chat' name. That lasted a few months (there's an amazing story behind it apparently). It has come back for (knock on all woods) good as the Back-to-Back podcast on the Count the Dings network (along with other non-Back-to-Back shows like BOMM - Black Opinions Matter Monday, the Friday Mailbag, etc.). It is largely the same people (though pour one out for those still at ESPN, like Brian Windhorst, Kevin Pelton, Tim McMahon, Tim Bontemps and so many others that made the original Truehoop podcast network amazing). It is reborn, and its cavalier go-at-it-alone survival has only increased its potency, and more than anything the bond it has created with its listeners.

I listen to a bunch of podcasts. Many of them have done live shows. This is the first time I went to one. Within the history of this show, dating back to its ESPN roots, they've had live shows, three times in Cali, once in Vegas, and twice in my own damn backyard. Twice they came to New York. Twice I missed it, first because I was traveling for work, second because I was traveling for fun. When they announced one in Boston, I took the leap, without looking back, and after a great weekend, I'm more pumped not only to attend the subsequent live shows, but to listen to these band of hilarious crazies.

The best part of the live show wasn't the actual live show - though that too was amazing. It was meeting the hosts, and the fans, and seeing how blurry the line is between the two. The live show itself was from 8:30pm - 11:30pm on Saturday. But for the 90 minutes before, and the 150 minutes after, and for 180 minutes or so on Friday night, we weren't watching them on a stage, we were mingling and talking and belting out karaoke bangers with them.

The blurred lines between host and fan probably started when Jimmer Jimson Jr. was a live guest on a Friday mailbag way back in Jan, 2017. That followed with more guests, and ultimately to some of those guests becoming recurring hosts and participants in shows (mainly the Friday Mailbag, where they famously answer minimal questions). Beyond them, there was the group of people who had been to previous live shows, and were basically close knit friends. Then there were us live show rookies, but there's no velvet rope.

This all is credit to Jade Hoye, who has broken the barrier between host and listener long time ago, opening a lens to his personal life, and by proxy having us all do the same. That through this creation he can get so many people that are at a minimum NBA media famous do the same, is such a credit to what he has built.

Dating back to when I did that A-B-C's post, I gave nine people their own letter, and I was able to meet with, joke with, talk to, six of them. And at a deeper level than just a quick shake of a hand. That's what makes this group special. Even if to them it is a quick shake of the hand, for me (and I would think for most of us who attended) it was something more personal.

The other incredible aspect of the weekend was meeting all the other fans. Some of whom I've interacted with on Twitter, or Discord, or at least heard on the show as a guest, but so many that were just like me - making their first live show trip. In a sense, it was reassuring that there were so many people who were crazy about this little fly-by-night podcast network like me, if not so many more so. All from different backgrounds, different entry-points, different opinions. But all sharing one key 'like' in common.

The show itself was amazing - three hours of consistent laughs, consistent great moments, be it the behind the scenes stories that normally are 'bossanova'd' during the podcast (ie. hidden behind some lovely elevator music because the story reveals some secrets), or a great discussion around the Boston Celtics struggles, or having the man behind TrueHoop originally (Henry Abbott - who recently re-launched the blog on his own) give a great creation story. The actual three hours of the show were special, but it was the hours around it that left its mark.

I've listened to these people talk about sports, music, pop culture, life and so much more, for three plus years. I've read some of them and asked questions on the long defunct ESPN Chat section to some of them. But seeing it all play out in front of you, with the ability to talk to them afterwards, was just different.

I've had a few interactions with the show in the past. Be it the couple times my questions have been asked on the Mailbag (most memorably - to me at least - having the first question when the show re-started in April, 2017, after a two week cancellation). Be it the A-B-Cs article which got some nice love at the time. To finally being a guest on the mailbag in October, dialing in from a loud Mumbai street (props to Jade putting up with the urban maw of noise). But these all pale in comparison that actually meeting these people, and seeing how approachable, how nice, how hilarious they all are.

The moment that for me was both most surreal and most real, was late on Friday, after the karaoke event ended, riding back to my hotel being driven by Jade himself, with two hilarious and incredibly chill hosts on the Monday show - Black Tray and John Jervay, - in the car. The whole night seemed like being inside the podcast, but this was literally so. It was out of sheer luck - me staying in the same hotel as Jade, and Jade Hoye being enough of a mensch to give a ride to a relative stranger (in his mind, none of us are strangers, which is what makes him great). But this was truly a surreal moment, and the one where I knew that the Count the Dings community is real, and the time I invested listening to this podcast for three plus years, through four or five different names, is being paid back in full.