Watchdog

Useful information that has nothing to do with me, Glauber or Cornell:

It's Ch. 9's slate of Yankees games for 2009, which is of special interest to those who do not get YES. A lot of Tuesdays involved here, plus Bosox, Rays and Mets.

Tuesday, 4/14/09, Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays
Tuesday, 4/21/09, Yankees vs. Oakland Athletics
Tuesday, 5/12/09, Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays
Tuesday, 5/19/09, Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles
Thursday, 5/21/09, Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles
Tuesday, 5/26/09, Yankees at Texas Rangers
Tuesday, 6/9/09, Yankees at Boston Red Sox
Tuesday, 6/16/09, Yankees vs. Washington Nationals
Tuesday, 6/23/09, Yankees at Atlanta Braves
Friday, 6/26/09, Yankees at New York Mets
Tuesday, 7/7/09, Yankees at Minnesota Twins
Tuesday, 7/21/09, Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles
Tuesday, 7/28/09, Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays
Thursday, 8/6/09, Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox
Tuesday, 8/11/09, Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays
Tuesday, 8/25/09, Yankees vs. Texas Rangers
Friday, 8/28/09, Yankees vs. Chicago White Sox
Tuesday, 9/8/09, Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays
Tuesday, 9/15/09, Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays
Tuesday, 9/22/09, Yankees at Los Angeles Angels
Friday, 9/25/09, Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox

(UPDATE: I checked on the Tuesday thing and commenter Jeff W. is right on. It's because WWE gets big ratings on Fridays, thus Ch. 9 preferred Tuesdays.)

NYC has had second thoughts about the suite it demanded from Yanks in new park, which had resulted in public relations difficulties.

I remembered to watch the MLB Network Monday night for the first time since it premiered Thursday and learned that it will be showing the Mark Teixeira presser live across America.

(Sources tell me the shrimp at the CC/A.J. introduction was particularly jumbo, but I have decided to risk missing out on more of that today so I can keep blogging.)

Also on MLB Net Monday I observed Ken Burns - still with the haircut and enthusiasm of a 15-year-old at age 55 - promoting the Tuesday premiere of the replay of his nine-part, 1994 PBS documentary, "Baseball."

As I recall my impression at the time was that series was earnest and sporadically interesting, but relied too heavily on New York-centric eggheads. I recall in particular the discussion of the end of the 1960 World Series, which dealt much more with the disappointment of Yankees fans than the exhilaration of Pirates fans.

I have the soundtrack CD from the series, which is very good.

In addition to my usual Friday column, I wrote a piece on the rough year 2008 was for New York coaches and managers.

Why me? Because the last week of every year the entire staff other than me and the football, hockey and basketball writers heads to Cabo to hang out with Jessica Simpson and whatever Cowboys happen by.

The piece is accompanied by a graphic listing the most and least vulnerable managers/coaches in 2009. You can see it if you click on the article link, but the type is too small to read online.

Suggested solution: Buy the newspaper! Thank you.

Interesting take on the Yankees' spending from Darren (Roslyn) Rovell of CNBC.

Marc Ganis, a quotable consultant who has been a regular in sports business columns such as mine for many years, made a brief appearance in my Wednesday newspaper article in the wake of the Teixeira signing.

Full disclosure: He has done work for the Yankees in the past - including on the financing of the new stadium. But he had some interesting things to say about the team's most recent spending spree.

Most eye-popping remark: "The Yankees are a not-for-profit business from the Steinbrenners' perspective."

Click below for more.

Continue reading "Sports consultant calls Yanks 'not-for-profit business'" »

I only had an hour or so to research my Wednesday newspaper article - the latest installment of a 30-plus-year-old story on the theme of, "How do the Yankee$ do it?"

Fortunately, I was able to turn up an interesting fellow named Mike Cramer, whom I never had spoken to before.

Turns out the former president of both the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars - and the guy who signed both Alex Rodriguez (in 2000) and Mark Teixeira (in 2001) - now is an assistant professor in the sports management department of the Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management at NYU's School of Continuing and Professional Studies. (He said he still is "an investor" in the two Texas teams.

I quoted Mr. Cramer extensively in the article, including this great line about the A-Rod deal: "My name's on the contract, but I wouldn’t brag that around.")

Click below for more of his thoughts that I couldn't fit into the newspaper.

(UPDATE: Check it out! Barry Horn has weighed in on this topic.)

Continue reading "NYU prof on baseball prices: 'borderline irresponsible'" »

Loyal WatchDog reader / former Newsday columnist / long-time chronicler of Scott Boras signings Jon Heyman of SI, SNY and WFAN just reported Mark Teixeira will sign with the Yankees. Wow.

Maybe it's time for me to stop rooting for the Pirates and Royals and get with the program.

I need some time to digest this. See you Wednesday.

Enjoy Nets Magazine at 11:30 p.m. on YES.

Hank Steinbrenner has been a Sporting News columnist for several months, but now his father has joined the family side business, contributing an article in the current edition that has a section recalling sports figures who died in 2008.

Click for excerpts from The Boss' remembrance of Bobby Murcer.

Continue reading "George Steinbrenner recalls Murcer in Sporting News" »

Sports business is part of my beat, but fortunately my editors realize if I were to cover everything interesting and important on that topic in addition to media and whatever else is in my vast, sprawling jurisdiction, I would need a staff of young interns to get my coffee, answer emails and talk to Glauber.

Thus, I am pleased that Barbara Barker wrote this story about the Yankees and Mets spending big on free agents while also raising ticket prices and asking for tax breaks in difficult economic times.