The Problem With MLB's Discipline Of The Phillies-Giants Brawl

In case you did not hear, the Giants and the Phillies got into a benches clearing brawl. As a result of this brawl, Shane Victorino got suspended three games, whereas Placido Polanco was inexplicably fined and Ramon Ramirez and (in particular) Eli Whiteside were only given fines. A few comments.

a). Shane Victorino was suspended for one reason and one reason alone: He pushed an umpire to re-enter a brawl. Why he is appealing that I have no earthly idea. The Phillies are entering a three-game series tonight against the Dodgers and following that will play in a three-game series at home against the Nationals. Please, Shane, do yourself and your team a favor and sit out against the weaker teams and end that.

b). Now that we got that taken care of. Why wasn't Eli Whiteside suspended? I can understand Ramon Ramirez not getting anything (I don't agree, but I understand why), but when a guy is hopping like around like he's Little Bunny Foo Foo and/or the world's worst Muhammad Ali impersonator, he has gone from the threshold of protecting his pitcher (which you could argue he was not even doing that as in the time between the plunking and Whiteside's tackle of Polanco, Ramirez advanced more than Victorino did, who before Whiteside's tackle, never exhibited any signs of wanting to fight) into the territory of "I want a fight." We all know what happened next. It is clear as day that Whiteside and Ramirez incited a bench-clearing brawl. Why is not that a suspension worthy offense? Better yet, what does that say about MLB?

MLB's statement on the matter might as well have been this: "MLB will not tolerate the physical abuse of umpires. However, if you incite contact with members of the opposing team, you will get away with only a paltry fine. Good friend and closer adviser to MLB, Gary Bettman, believes this is a good way to conduct business."

This is not a matter of wanting Eli Whiteside off the team in order to sabotage the Giants in the standings. Quite the opposite is true, in fact, it could be that MLB is getting very creative in their punishments and punishing the San Francisco Giants as a whole by not allowing them to have games where Eli Whiteside is not an eligible player. Cruel, unusual, and given the fact Whiteside has amassed a paltry 0.6 WAR in 60 games this season, effective.

c). Placido Polanco got fined for being on the wrong end of the worst-looking double leg takedown since Hornswoggle last stepped in a wrestling ring. What Placido Polanco was going to do, I have no idea, but aside from being on the wrong end of a tackle my grandmother could have executed better, he only showed he was doing the same thing everyone else was doing at that point. How on earth is it fair that he gets singled out because he made Whiteside look like he had less muscles than a toddler?

Ramon Ramirez, Eli Whiteside, and Placido Polanco got the same punishment for that fracas. Major League Baseball, ladies and gentlemen!

Thank you! Good night! Tip your waitresses! Try the veal!

Keith Olbermann Suspended Indefinitley

To start the NFL season, Keith Olbermann was kicked off Football Night In America to focus on his political show on MSNBC. Now, he might be finding himself struggling for work. Per sources at Politico.com, Keith Olbermann committed a huge MSNBC sin this election season.........donating money to 3 political candidates, something that is a no-no at the company, even if the political candidates are Democrats. From MSNBC.com

Msnbc TV host Keith Olbermann was suspended indefinitely on Friday for making campaign donations to three Democratic congressional candidates, apparently in violation of NBC News ethics policy.

The announcement came in a one-sentence statement from msnbc TV President Phil Griffin: “I became aware of Keith's political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay.”

The donations were first reported by the Politico website earlier in the day.

Olbermann acknowledged the donations in a statement to Politico, saying he gave the maximum legal donation of $2,400 to Arizona Reps. Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords and Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, who waged an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate against Tea Party standard-bearer Rand Paul.

Like most news organizations, NBC News, parent of msnbc TV, prohibits political contributions by its journalists without prior approval of the president. (Msnbc.com, a joint venture of NBC News and Microsoft, also has a policy against its journalists contributing to political campaigns.)

"Anyone working for NBC News who takes part in civic or other outside activities may find that these activities jeopardize his or her standing as an impartial journalist because they may create the appearance of a conflict of interest,” it reads. “Such activities may include participation in or contributions to political campaigns or groups that espouse controversial positions. You should report any such potential conflicts in advance to, and obtain prior approval of, the president of NBC News or his designee."

Oy ve. The stupidity of some people. I mean seriously, did he actually think he could get away with violating company policy in such blatant, obvious form? While not a technical firing, per se, I can only imagine that Olbermann will be out for a long time and this will do even further harm to his already damaged image. He may return to MSNBC, but if this suspension turns into a firing or a "leave on peaceful terms and go on separate ways" type deal, then one really has to wonder where he would end up next. He would have burnt bridges with all 3 cable news stations, NBC as a whole (and now by default Comcast), and not to mention that ESPN never wants to associate with him ever again. Now as mentioned, Keith could be back on MSNBC in a month and everything could be dandy, but if not, what is he going to be reduced to? A full-time baseball blogger?

Update: Inside sources at TVNewser say Olbermann will not be returning to MSNBC, although the fill-in host for Countdown tonight, Thomas Roberts, seemed a little more optimistic that Olbermann will return.

Dan Carcillo Suspended Two Games For Being A Repeat Offender Who Wears Orange

I can rant about this all day long and you will roll your eyes and think of me as nothing but a stereotypical tin-foil hatty whiny Flyers fan. Instead, I will just show you the video and the rule that says Dan Carcillo should not have been suspended for what happened in this video.



Rule 60.4 Match Penalty: "When, in the opinion of the Referee, a player attempts to or deliberately injures an opponent while carrying or holding any part of his stick above the shoulders of the opponent, the Referee shall assess a match penalty to the offending player."

Dan Carcillo apologized intensely to Clarkson immediately after the high stick. Not 5 minutes after, but immediately after as the two were still dancing on the ice. It was an accident. As the rule states above, you can only get a match penalty if there is a deliberate attempt to injure someone. As you can clearly see with the video and as evidenced by the immediate apology, Carbomb had absolutely 0 intent to injure in that sequence. Now the refs did not know that during the game so I can't fault them that much for sending him off during the game, but really, when you are ruling it a suspension for a deliberate attempt to injure, should not you take into consideration the fact that there was an immediate apology??? This is not a suspension for a high stick in the face. This is a suspension for being a repeat offender in orange. Sigh. Colin Campbell's incompetency strikes again.

Blount Suspended For The Season

I have live blogged many memorable games and moments since starting this blog, but what happened last night with Oregon RB LaGarrette Blount may have been the most bizarre. And as a result of it, he will not play any more college football this season. And seeing as he is a senior, unless somehow he gets an extra year of elligibility, he won't play any more college football. From The LA Times.

The suspension, which was handed down by the school, will include a bowl game if Oregon qualifies. Blount, a senior, threw a punch that knocked Boise State defensive end Byron Hout to the turf.

Hout had approached Blount after Boise's 18-9 victory and struck the Oregon player on the shoulder pads. After throwing the punch, Blount had to be restrained by his coaches as he was escorted off the field.

Hout will not be suspended, Boise State announced. However, Broncos Coach Chris Peterson, during an interview on ESPN, said there "would be some internal consequences." Video footage showed Peterson trying to pull Hout away from Blount before the punch was thrown.

Good for the University of Oregon to really step in and make a statement on this behavior. And while it was seemingly not fully unprovoked as Byron Hout, the Boise player who was punched, tapped him on the shoulder pad and clearly said something, there is no excuse for sucker punching a player after a hard-fought, entertaining, albeit very sloppy, football game. While it seems that Blount is remorseful and sorry about the whole ordeal, what's done is done and Blount and his football career will pay dearly.

We Have A Ruling On Michael Vick

I mentioned earlier today how it was likely today that we would get a ruling on how long Vick would be suspended for the start of the season. And the answer is 2 games. Vick will sit out Week 1 @ Carolina and Week 2 vs. New Orleans before returning Week 3 in Philadelphia vs. Kansas City. And yes, that's a "vs." That game is in Philadelphia. Here's the report from NFL.com

Goodell met with Vick earlier today, a meeting that also included Eagles coach Andy Reid. Goodell said he also spoke at length with former NFL coach Tony Dungy, who has served as a mentor to Vick in recent months.

“Ultimately, it was my decision,” Goodell told members of the national media.

Asked by reporters Thursday why he decided on the third week of the regular season versus regular-season opener, Goodell responded: “I do not want him to be put in a position where he’s overwhlemed.”

I guess that seems fair. Both sides met and Vick apparently is understanding of Goddell's decision so all is fine on that front. The positives of this ruling is that it will allow McNabb sometime to get into a rhythm with the offense, the bad thing is is that this will be 2 weeks where the Eagles can't run the exact offense they originally had in mind when they got Vick. But they knew of these conditions and were probably expecting worse. I know I originally thought that we would wait until after the Eagles bye week and he would see his 1st action Week 5 versus Tampa Bay.

Right now, Kevin Harlan and Solomon Wilcots are feeling like the luckiest men in the NFL while the execs at CBS are probably cursing the fact that they release their announcer assignments for the 1st 3 weeks so early in advance. If CBS knew ahead of time that they would get the Vick game, surely they would have sent Nantz/Simms or Gumbel/Dierdorf there, wouldn't they?