Monday’s Sports Biz Bonanza: Bowden Resigns, Manny Bends, Missing NFL Players
1st March 2009
You have to hand it to the Washington Nationals. The departure of general manager Jim Bowden had all the earmarks of a professional political party ouster. For the past week, it’s been a matter of when “Trader Jim” would be shown the door, not if. For starters, the Nationals had Bowden announce his resignation on a Sunday morning, the slowest media day of the week. Add in that Bowden resigned, as opposed to a firing, and his resignation statement, and it all added up to an event that was in the works for some time.
As for that resignation statement, Bowden’s was one of the longest and scripted departures in recent MLB memory. As “Snowboy” at Baseball Think Factory said:
He can’t run a baseball team, but he can sure craft a resignation letter.
It reminded me of Nixon’s “last press conference” in 1962, where he declared “you won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.”
I played “Adagio for strings” whilst reading it.
Funny stuff.
In very serious news, National Football League players Corey Smith and Marquis Cooper were among four people sought by the U.S. Coast Guard in Florida after their fishing boat failed to return from a trip in the Gulf of Mexico.
Alex Rodriguez met with MLB investigators and MLB’s Labor Relations Department, for two hours. I’m sure it was all warm and fuzzy.
Joe Nathan is the next WBC causality.
By the way, in case you didn’t know, the Dodgers, Manny Ramirez, and Scott Boras have an interesting love triangle going on these days. Now, Ramirez is ready to (gasps for air) accept a modified version of the fourth offer that was rejected that made Frank McCourt issue a snarky press release (whew).
The NBA will no longer let Dwayne Wade wear Band-Aids as a fashion statement.
The NFL “silly season” is in high gear as witnessed by Colin Cole, Colin Cole, Michael Clayton, Jon Kitna, Brian Dawkins, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Takeo Spikes, Lito Sheppard, Rocky Bernard, and Antonio Smith.
The Leader of the Free World sips beers at the Wizards game.
Johan Santana finds out you can’t beat Mother Nature.
New research shows that elbow ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction prior to selection in the Major League Baseball (MLB) draft does not increase the risk of future injury or affect the rate of professional advancement.
Can’t get enough of MLB salary arbitration? Here’s a focus on the process.
I’m still floored at how much the ratings for the tournaments that Tiger Woods missed due to injury dropped from the year prior. Half of the 16 televised tourneys he missed had ratings below 50 percent from the year prior with the Saturday round of the PGA Championship down an incredible 78 percent.
Finally, the Business of Sports Network has been updated with links to all of the 51 (and counting) interviews we have conducted.
Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He is contributor to Baseball Prospectus, and is available as a freelance writer. Brown’s full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network.