Faciliation 8/1: Should Sammy Sosa be in baseball's Hall of Fame?

This past weekend baseball held its Hall of Fame induction ceremony. This year two of the classiest and purist players ever to play were the new inductees, Tony Gwyn and Cal Ripken Jr. Both of these players showed hard work during their long careers, and were both loyal to the organizations that brought them up. These players were more than eligible to be inducted.

With the recent steroid scandal hovering over Major League Baseball, many players with Hall of Fame caliber numbers may not get into the Hall of Fame because with the speculation of these players using performance enhancing drugs during their careers. These players include Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McGwire, and the player to be debated, Sammy Sosa.

Sammy Sosa is a difficult player to determine whether or not to be in the Hall of Fame because he has never been tested positive for steroid use. However, during the congressional hearing, involving Major League Players, Sosa spoke through an interpreter which was something he had never done when speaking to the media. This was considered a cowardly and questionable move. Below are some bullet point reasons whether or not Sosa should be a Hall of Famer.

Reasons to be in the Hall of Fame:

• Only player in MLB history to hit more than 60 HRs three seasons.
• Has over 600 career HRs
• 1998 NL MVP

Reasons Not to be in the Hall of Fame:

• Used a corked bat in 2003
• Walked out on team in 2004
• No other great stats other than HRs
• Spoke through an interpreter at Congressional Hearings

Facilitation 7/30/2007 Salary Cap

In professional sports, a salary cap is a limit on the amount of money a team can spend on player salaries, either as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster (or both). Several sports leagues have made salary caps mandatory, both as a method of keeping overall costs down, and in order to balance the league so a wealthy team cannot become dominant simply by buying all the top players. Salary caps are often the major issue in negotiations between management and players' unions.


The NFL's cap is a so-called "hard cap" (which no team can exceed for any reason under penalty from the league), and a hard salary floor (a minimum team payroll that no team can drop beneath for any reason, 75% of the cap).

The NBA's salary cap is a so-called "soft cap", meaning that teams are allowed to exceed the cap number in order to retain the rights to a player who has already been on the team.


There are ciriticisms of salary cap.
1. Unfair Negotiation Tactic
Salary cap is simply a way for management to get an unfair advantage in labor negotiations with players.

2. Veteran Neglect
Often a team will have to let go of many of its players – frequently, veterans who have been with the club for a long time – in order to comply with the salary cap.

3. Distorting Fan Attitudes
Fans tend to lose interest in a team once it is out of playoff contention.

4. Restricting Free Markets
"There should be no artificial limit on what anyone is able to earn if they have the talent."


MLB has instead implemented the so-called luxury tax, an arrangement by which teams whose aggregate payroll exceeds a certain annually revised figure is taxed on the excess amount (or fined). Unlike the other major North American sports, MLB has no team salary floor. The only minimum limits for team payrolls are based on the minimum salaries for players of various levels of experience.

Then, do you think MLB should introduce salary cap?

7/18/2007 Facilitation, MLB All-Star Game: Should It Count?

Just a couple weeks ago Major League Baseball had it's All-Star game. Just a couple years ago MLB decided that the All-Star game needed more interest and that it needed to count towards something. They decided that the winner of the All-Star game would decide which league had home field advantage in the World Series that year. The All-Star game for baseball puts the American league stars vs. the National league stars. MLB made this switch in 2003 at the All-Star game in Chicago. Previous to this home field advantage just switched between leagues each year. Now, with the NBA and NHL letting the team with the best record have home field advantage is it fair in MLB if a team has a better record than the opposing one that it not have home field advantage because the other teams league won an All-Star game? Should home field advantage go to the best record or revert back to its previous form of switching leagues each season?

Arguments why the All-Star game should decide home field advantage.
-It adds excitement to the All-Star game, makes more common fans watch.
-It provides a reason for players to want to play in the game because of what is on the line.

Arguments against having the game count.
-It is not fair to a team that did the hard work of achieving the best record during the season to let its leagues All-Star team lose the game and not allow them home field advantage.
-Some players that play on bad teams that have no shot at the world series that play in the All-Star game wont care about the end result because it does not affect their team.

What are your opinions?

7/18/2007 Facilitation

Should professional sports players and coaches be held accountable through their respective leagues for DUI charges? Since players are in the public eye, if they are not held accountable for their DUI’s, does that send the wrong message to fans, especially younger adolescent to teenage years? Should the professional sports leagues set rules in place such as requiring players to attend rehabilitation treatment centers to send out a good message? Is it even the professional sports responsibility to use their players as role models to be upstanding citizens?

Tony LaRussa: blew a 0.093 in Florida during Cardinal’s spring training in March of 2007. The legal limit in Florida is 0.08. The Cardinals staff was supportive of La Russa.

Jerry Buss, owner of the LA Lakers. His blood alcohol level was not posted.

Steve McNair, quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens, says his DUI will not affect his performance on the field. Although McNair was only a passenger in the vehicle according to Tennessee state laws passengers are held accountable as the driver is.

Jerramy Stevens was let go by the Seattle Seahawks because of previous charges of marijuana possession and DUI charges, but was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

These are example of persons who have had run-ins with DUIs.

Facilitation for 7/9

Hey everybody, I'm doing one of the facilitations for tomorrow, and I thought I'd give you a little heads up on my topic. As you can see from my posting this week, I am a Lions fan, and the main reason I became a Lions fan in the first place was because of one man:

BARRY SANDERS

However, Barry often draws comparisions with whom many others consider to be the greatest running back of all time:

JIM BROWN

So, who was the greatest running back of all time, Sanders or Brown? Arguments can be made for others, but nobody redefined the position at the time they played like these two men did, and nobody but these two get compared to by today's players as much as they do. So, here are some arguments to support both men.

Barry Sanders

• Played 10 seasons with the Detroit Lions (1989-1998)
• 1989 Offensive Rookie of the Year
  
• 10-time Pro Bowler
• 3rd on the All-time rushing list with 15,269 yards, accomplished despite holding the NFL record for yards lost from scrimmage.
  
• Averaged 5.0 yards per carry during career (He and Brown are the only two to ever average over 5 yards)
• 1997 AP NFL Co-MVP with Brett Favre
• One of only 5 people to ever rush for over 2,000 yards in a season (O.J. Simpson, Eric Dickerson, Terrell Davis, and Jamal Lewis)
• Holds various NFL records including 5 consecutive 1,500 yard seasons and 14 consecutive 100 yard games.
  
• Elected to Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004

Jim Brown

• Played 9 seasons with the Cleveland Browns (1957-1965)
• 1957 Offensive Rookie of the Year
  
• 9-time Pro Bowler
• 7th on the All-time rushing list with 12,312 yards, accomplished despite playing in the 14 game season era.
  
• Averaged 5.2 yards per carry during career
• 1957, 1958 & 1965 AP NFL MVP
• Holds Cleveland Browns' franchise rushing record of 1,863 yards.
• Holds various NFL records including career yards per carry (5.2) and career yards per game (104.3)
• Elected to Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971

I look forward to the debate tomorrow!