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04/26/2005: Thought for the Day:
New York City is a baseball town, and always will be. Last January, on the day the New York Jets played an AFC Divisional Playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the back page of the New York Daily News did not contain a picture of Chad Pennington, or Herman Edwards, or even that weird fan in the fireman's hat. No. It was a picture of Mets general manager Omar Minaya. This was January.
This works out perfect for New York. Unlike the other two major sports, baseball has no salary cap. The Knicks sign Allan Houston for too much money, and their team will suffer for a decade because of it. The Giants make a draft mistake, or pick the wrong head coach, and the unforgiving nature of the league punishes the misstep tenfold. But in baseball, specifically New York baseball, you can make mistakes. You can sign Tom Glavine for too much money in the twilight of his career. If it's a mistake, that's OK; just sign Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran the next offseason, and everyone will forget Glavine, a future Hall of Famer, even plays for your team. The Mets and the Yankees can afford to throw money at problems because they can spend all they want. Hence, the baseball teams -- the last few years of Met "baseball" notwithstanding -- can never fall too far back. Meanwhile, the Knicks jump up and down and spin in circles if they can sneak in the playoffs as an eight seed. And they will do so for a very long time.
--Will Leitch
Len on 04.26.05 @ 07:33 AM CST
