July 1, 2012

As discussed earlier this week, The Playhouse took June off. No excuses really. We'll be the first to admit that we got a bit lazy. For one thing, summer in Seattle lasts about 90 days, max. As such, we prefer to spend our off days during that time playing golf rather than devoting an hour to writing a blog that, generously, has seven readers.

The inactivity, however, should not be mistaken for apathy. Nor sir. Joe Berger Inc. is as committed and as passionate as ever about delivering the best possible sports consulting experience to our customers, all zero of whom it should be said have benefited greatly from a very profitable baseball season. The Crew has run up over 24 units on the diamond so far this year, including winning nine of our last 11 (which we just jinxed by publicly stating for the record). For the non-belivers, it's all documented by our boys over at Wagerminds.com.

While the golf season is far from over, we'll try to be in this space at least once a week until football season starts, when things will begin to get weird here. A couple thoughts before we get to The Super Play of the Day...

The Denver Broncos last week donated $50,000 to help victims in fire ravaged areas of Colorado, where thus far two people have died, 347 homes have been destroyed and more than 38,000 people were forced to evacuate in one of the worst natural disasters in the state's history.

While it's invariably difficult to find fault with those who are charitable with their time or money, Denver's donation is an embarrassing and completely bullshit gesture, one that is tantamount to a slap in the face to the state and the affected communities.

Forbes last year valued the franchise at just over a billion dollars, meaning the donation amounted to less than .00005 percent of the Broncos' total net worth. That's the very rough equivalent of the average American household giving about $2.50.

“This is our home, and we need to do whatever we can to take care of our neighbors. If at all possible, I encourage our fans to help however they can in providing relief during this time of need,” read a statement by Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, who hasn't come close to doing whatever he can, and if that is indeed his home, he is a shitty neighbor.

The Broncos are uniquely woven into overall fabric and culture of Colorado. The fans there are rabid, having passed down the tradition from generation to generation. The Rockies could win 20 consecutive World Series titles and the Broncos would remain the biggest game in town.

And Bowlen, as owner of the team, has profited enormously from that passion and devotion, reaping in millions from merchandise and ticket sales, and when the Broncos built a new, $364 million stadium in 2001, guess who picked up most of the tab? Colorado tax payers.

Now, 11 years later, when lives have been lost and homes have destroyed, Pat Bowlen essentially ponied up $2.50 to help out the community that has made him a billionaire.

Fifty grand is a lot of money in most circumstances. Not this one. Fuck you, Pat...

In the days leading up to the NBA draft, ESPN.com breathlessly reported that the Lakers were calling teams to gauge interest for Pau Gasol. Aside from Gasol reportedly being on the trading block for most of the last year, this of course was newsworthy because it made Gasol one of about 300 players around the league who were the subject of similar calls before the draft, a time when every team evaluates their roster. Nice journalism...

The Playhouse is fast developing a man crush on Yahoo! Sports' Dan Wetzel, who has absolutely killed it recently covering the Jerry Sandusky trial and the proposed college football playoff. His most recent column about Joe Paterno and his underlings at Penn St covering up Sandusky's horrors was absurdly good...


The Super Play of the Day


Mariners-Red Sox under 8