Arsenal: this week and the future

Five defeats in the league, an unhinged William Gallas, angry fans and a hopeless team of soft youngsters. Beautiful football and nothing else. That's how things stood as of this morning.

By this evening, the young players in question proved that they can provide backbone to an extent. Led out by the new club captain, 21-year-old Cesc Fabregas, the young guns gained a hard-fought but tactically dominant win over a decent Dynamo Kyiv. This was just the midweek tonic Arsenal needed and the statistics from this game will make good reading for the manager as well.

The selection of Cesc Fabregas as captain is monumental. This is someone who skippered every Barcelona side he ever played in from the age of 11, as did a certain Carlos Puyol. To call Fabregas a boy is to misjudge his maturity. He is a man, hardened by the experience, training, tackles, injuries and psychological battles of football.

The patience of Arsenal fans has been tested this week to arguably its greatest extent since the Wenger era began over a decade ago. The youth-first policy, still unfulfilled in terms of silverware, has riled many including myself. As things stand today, Arsenal are not title winning material. A first Champions League trophy is within reach, but the gruelling Premier League is not. There remains the need to invest in toughness in defence and midfield as well as a classy addition up front. Arsenal should also regain the tactical Plan B (winning without playing well) that was evident early last season when the promise of silverware was at its greatest for three years.

The Arsenal machine is moving in the right direction but the team needs fighters (as the now-deposed William Gallas insisted) and the squad has to be improved to fight for honours. Under new refreshing leadership the fight continues at Chelsea on Saturday, where the prospects certainly look better now than they did this morning.

I've seen xenophobia, but this is ridiculous...

All this talk about outsourcing of baseball jobs has me thinking: does this guy know what outsourcing is? To hear it from him, any job of any sort going to any foreigner is outsourcing. I beg to differ. This guy is an idiot. Non-American players have been playing at a high level for a long, long time. Recently, there has been an up-turn in exposure given to foreign players (I blame Hideo Nomo). I've known who Yu Darvish is for a while now, just like I had heard of Junichi Tazawa, Hiroki Kuroda, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hideki Matsui, Ichiro Suzuki, Kaz Matsui and so on and so on. Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel are just 2 more names to keep an eye out for. For each of these highly touted prospects,* I could name 10 American-born players who have had as much exposure before playing in the majors.

"Outsourcing," as I think of it, involves a job going overseas to someone whose productivity costs less (the marginal cost of a good produced is lower). Is that what is happening with these two pitchers? Not really, no. A true outsourcing would be to field a minor league team in a foreign country, with players from that country, who are playing at the same level, but for less money.

These guys are being brought to America, with the hopes that they can perform at the highest level. That's what the MLB is all about, not just finding the best American players, but finding the best players in the world. The Jays owe more than a small share of their success in the late 80s and early 90s to their ability to recruit Latin-American players.

India has the chance to be the next great hotbed of baseball talent, based on the success of these two individuals. Because of cricket, there is a good chance that they have acquired the most simple of skills necessary for baseball: they can field and they can throw. Yes, the bowlers have far different mechanics than a pitcher, but bowlers might also have a better understanding of a full body throwing rotation, where the arm is just along for the ride (think Tim Lincecum, the NL Cy Young winner). There are 1 billion people there, putting a baseball camp somewhere has to turn out something useful.** The marketing opportunities for MLB alone should drive one team to take that chance.

To sum up, this ain't outsourcing, this is competition. Being in the Pirates organization, there is not much competition, but these guys still have a lot to learn.

Speaking of uncommon baseball markets,*** the Jays are hopefully going to be debuting the first New Zealander ever, Scott Campbell, either this year or next year. Basically, this year is gonna be fun to watch because of the kids (Romero, Romero (D and R), Cecil, Mills, Purcey, Snider, Lind, Campbell, Thigpen, Arencibia, Jeroloman, Dopirak, Jackson, Fuenmayor, Cooper, Collins, Emaus, Ahrens et. al) and because of the inevitable Roy Halladay vengeance tour for the Al Cy Young vote. It's not that he didn't win (Lee was a perfectly suitable choice, although I would have chosen Doc), it's that so many voters put him 3rd, and even getting dropped altogether from one ballot!
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*Singh and Patel are not highly touted, they are just test cases and reality TV show winners. Like Pros vs. Joes, except the Pros are still actually in their prime
**The Devil's Advocate would point out that China has produced just 1 Major League Player: Harry Kingman, playing in 4 games in 1914, amassing a batting record of 0-3, with a walk. Yep, that's a .000/.250/.000 line.
***Off-topic, but the coolest place of birth ever: Ed Porray. Birthplace: A Ship on Atlantic Ocean.

"Let me say right off that I have nothing personal against Indians in general"

The headline gives you an idea where this one's going.

Let me say right off, I'm not a freakishly nationalistic person, by any stretch of the imagination. But this article is unbelievable.

Here's my basic problem; essentially Slate is saying that the introduction of two Indian pitchers* (who, according to Milway, were signed by the Pirates), will spark the Apocalypse for the sport of baseball. That's a shocking allegation, and a wonderful piece of xenophobia.

There have been Japanese players in Major League Baseball since 1964, and they have their own , very successful, league now. Last time I checked, though, the MLB still exists, and still hauls it in.

So explain how an Indian player is going to cause the "Outsourcing" of baseball. Moron. It's an unbelievable spiel of drivel, and I'm shocked idiocy like this gets published. Even if it is only in the Warren Reporter.

If anything, Indian players in Major League Baseball sparking (an unlikely) popularity of baseball in India will serve nothing but good for the sport. It will create another country who can compete in the Olympics and Little League World Series competitions, thus strengthening the legitimacy of the sport on the international level.

Glove tap to Sager at Out of Left Field for the tip.

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* The pitchers' blog can be found here.

Dear Santa, I've been good this year...

... so if you'd be so kind as to let me find this book under the tree on the morning of December 25, I would be much obliged.

Sincerely,
Amrit

PS - Thanks to Sherry at Scarlett Ice for the heads up

Scholar? I barely knew her...

Myron Rolle is the current starting Strong Safety for Florida State University. Coming out of high school, he was one of the top defensive recruits. He has a very strong chance at being drafted, and drafted highly, into the NFL this year or next year.

He may turn it all down.

Why? Because he is now a Rhodes Scholar. He was excused from FSU's game yesterday, which had playoff implications, to interview for the position, with only 32 scholarships being handed out nationally. The NCAA allowed him to take a chartered flight from his interview in Alabama to his game in Maryland, arriving on the field in the 2nd quarter. He found out he had been selected about 3 hours before game-time.

This just a shock that such a good athlete can have the time to focus on his studies. He finished his degree from FSU in 2.5 years, majoring in Exercise Science with a focus on Pre-Med and is currently working on his Master's Degree.

But beyond that, if you had to choose any school that this story would come out of, Free Shoes University* would be far, far down that list. Last year, around 24 players were suspended before the Music City Bowl for being given the answers to a music history exam.**

In their game against Maryland yesterday, 5 wide receivers were suspended because of a fight they got into with a fraternity over a girl. Details about that fight are sketchy at best, but let's just say it was not for the feint of heart.

This is probably the most positive story to come out of FSU since Chris Weinke. He was drafted by the Jays out of high school, spent 6 years trying to make it in baseball, couldn't cut it, enrolled at FSU and won the Heisman as a senior at age 28. He went on to the NFL, where he has compiled a career record as a starter of 2-18. So, yeah, FSU really needs Myron Rolle to succeed. Hopefully he can convince other players that they should focus on their studies, and not take classes like Ballroom Dancing. Every football player is always one play away from having to make a career change.
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*Dubbed thusly because of a 1993 scandal where some players had a shopping spree at a local Foot Locker. University of Florida head coach Steve Spurrier accused FSU of using free shoes as a way to win over recruits. FSU went on to win the 1993 National Championship
**Is it ironic that it was music history that kept them from visiting the Music City? No? Okay, just me then.

Michael Carrick: the crucial piece of the jigsaw

Sir Alex Ferguson has been known to spend large amounts of money on midfielders of, according to short-sighted media and fans, questionable utility. Owen Hargreaves and Juan Sebastian Veron alone come to mind. Yet both of these players are the embodiment of the unlikely mix of skill, strength and tactical intelligence. As is Michael Carrick, another midfielder supposedly struggling to justify his price tag.

Regardless of price, one thing Fergie does not do is misjudge talent or the needs of his team. Hargreaves' and Veron's impacts at United were limited, but Carrick's is massive. The shocking fact is that his impact remains unseen - such is the nature of his role. His former club, Tottenham Hotspur, owe their recent instability entirely to the continued vacancy of his position in their midfield. As they failed to see the importance of his position, Spurs have spent £13million out of the £18million they received for Carrick's sale on paying compensation and severance packages for three different managers and their former clubs.

Carrick's importance can be situated in a broader movement - history has favoured him to an extent. The tactical evolution of modern football has meant more and more lone strikers and goals from midfield. The 4-3-3 of old is dead, replaced by a 4-5-1 with fluidity in attack, goalscoring wingers and a strong base in midfield. Often teams play with no strikers at all. Manchester United owe their recent success to the mastery of this evolution. The fluidity in attack, the goals from a certain Portuguese winger, and the solid midfield base Michael Carrick provides tick all the boxes of modern football.

Carrick assures solidity without overreliance on tackling or physicality. His deep position does not imply a defensive mindset but an astute tactical awareness. His passes are the expressions of his close reading of the game, his feet dictating the tempo and his passes moving the game forward or back as required.

In light of England's 2-1 win in Berlin last night, Carrick's importance has never been greater. England played a neat and tidy game, yet fans calling in to football chat shows could not quite describe this new feeling, using the word "solidity" in most cases as the best approximation. The fact that England fans could only feel, rather than see, the source of this newfound solidity perhaps explains why Carrick will remain the invisible man.

Obituary - Queen's Homecoming

Please read Neate Sager's post from Out of Left Field, explaining to a tee my feelings on Queen's administration canceling changing the date of Homecoming to late May.

And shed a tear for the moving of this school's greatest tradition, and no I don't mean Aberdeen.

The thing about the Aberdeen party is this:
Queen's students go to the street, mull about for a while, then leave.
Non-Queen's students spend hours on the street 'waiting for something to happen'.

Here's the letter I sent to the Carleton Charletan* last month explaining my feelings on this in response to an article on their journalists had written on our Homecoming (why the fuck did they have a reporter at Queen's Homecoming. Carleton is unassociated....).

Thanks McGill, Carleton, Ottawa, Western, U of T, Ryerson, York, Laurier, Waterloo, et al, you fucked it up for us.
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* I don't know why they called me "Amrit A.", I gave them my entire name. High-quality newspaper eh?