David Baumann's Blog

Big Money Sport: Politics
Obama playing basketball Politics, ladies and gentlemen, could be running on sports networks across the nation (in fact, the pre-election coverage did take over sports media giant ESPN on the eve of Super Tuesday). It's Blue vs. Red, no holds barred!

There's a plethora of fans for each team, "trash talk", a lot of pointing fingers, tons of hypocrisy and plenty of lying and cheating. We see these things in the sports world daily. Plus, after starting with a full field (98% of the teams stand no chance of winning), it eventually all boils down to a powerful blue team against a powerful red team (both powerhouse teams are built from money, of course).

Obama spent approximately $600-M in his campaign whereas McCain spent about $300-M. Put that together and perhaps you could save a few third world countries, or cure some incurable diseases, or bail out Freddie and Fannie, or pay Alex Rodriguez for a couple seasons, or compete on the biggest stage in sports... the sport of politics.

Chicago was the site for Barack Obama's victory. The crowd was spectacular. Cheering, crying, hugging, high-fiving... A first-time achievement for African-Americans. An historic event. Every ounce of drama that goes into a terrific sporting occasion... Everything that went into Obama making it to the White House was purely sport. Every speech he gave was simply a pep talk. He was rousing up his team and trying to get as many new fans as he could to jump on board the Obama-bandwagon.

Obama vs. McCain: Winner decided by which one competed the hardest in the sport of politics... and gave the best pep talks. Seriously. Send comments to David.Baumann@cfnews13.com

"O'Leary-Syracuse Connection?": Oct. 28
O'Leary No Way. No How. George O'Leary to SU? Maybe? Perhaps? Hmmm... Wait, there's a $5-million dollar buyout in his contract? No way, SU.

I've talked to O'Leary about his days at Syracuse. He enjoyed those days. I enjoyed my time at the school too, but those are days gone by. He and I would never want to be subjected to the dreadful eight month winters ever again. 40-degrees below zero, whipping winds, lake-effect snow, no peek at sunlight for half the year? No Thanks. Nowadays, O'Leary takes advantage of the beautiful Central Florida mornings and squeezes in as much fishing as he can.

There are in fact plenty of O'Leary connections to the Orange. He was an assistant to Dick McPherson from 1980-86. He was promoted to the Assistant Head Coach position in his final two seasons with the Orange ("Orangemen" at the time). Prior to that, he spent five years in Syracuse at the high school ranks where he guided Liverpool High to a perfect 10-0 season in 1979.

He's a New Yorker, born and raised. Central Islip (Long Island) is his hometown. His New York accent runs thick - and familiar/comprehensible to those in Central New York. So, the ‘Cuse's craving for an O'Leary reunion would make sense. He has proven he can build programs from the ground up. Yet, I have tremendous doubts he'd ever move back. At 62, he can retire at any time... and where do New Yorkers often retire? Florida. He's already here.

Not to mention, why would O'Leary want to take over yet another program in need of a complete makeover? He's already got one at UCF. Although O'Leary's Knights are struggling in 2008, he is not struggling at all.

Coach O'Leary has a 1 million per year, long term contract that takes him into his 70's. He has more job security than any other human being on this planet. Any school hoping to lure the white-haired Irishman would have to dig deep and pay a 5 million dollar buyout to UCF. In this kind of economy, what school has that kind of money to spend as a down payment for a coach? I doubt there are many (or any).

But, who knows? Maybe Syracuse will soon get another huge donation from once-proud graduate Donovan McNabb who decides that he will give up 1/23rd of his 12-year 115 million dollar contract with the Philadelphia Eagles in order for the his alma mater to land O'Leary. Then, the glory days would be restored. That's probably the only way it could happen.

My odds on O'Leary to Syracuse... 5 million to 1.

Miami Hurricanes- Oct. 8
The Miami Hurricanes never wanted to leave the Big East and join the ACC. Let me write that again. Larry Coker never wanted his (at the time) Miami Hurricanes to leave the Big East. Why? It's because they would have continued to dominate the down-and-nearly-out conference. More big bowl games. More money. More blue chip talent. More, more, more...!

Easy win after easy win. The Hurricanes won nine Big East Titles in its 13 years in the conference. 9/13 is 69% of the time. Not bad. School president Donna Shalala pulled the plug on the mostly boring Big East in 1993, claiming that the future of the ‘Canes program would be best fit in the more powerful ACC. She was wrong. Five years later and it's difficult to determine when and whether the team will hit rock bottom.

Here we are today, Miami is a middle-of-the-road college football team that is on pace for a second straight losing season. They were 5-7 last year without a bowl bid. There was a time nobody could comprehend one losing season for Miami, let alone two in row. Heck, it was just seven years ago when they won the national championship. Oh yeah, that's way back when they were a member of the Big East. The Hurricanes are a LONG way away from ever coming close to another national title. It's like they're in football purgatory.

In its last four seasons of Big East play, the Canes won 46 games and lost only 4. Larry Coker knew the instant Shalala announced she would be moving his team to the ACC that he would soon be out of a job. Can you remember his old press conferences about the move? He knew it was ‘gonna get ugly. 9-3 in his first season of ACC play. 7-6 in his second year. That was it. He was toast. And so was/is the program...

Since it began play in the ACC in the 2004-05 season, the ‘Canes record is an un-‘Cane like 23-19. Each successive season record has been worse than the previous year. A 2-3 record to start 2008 doesn't bode well for head coach Randy Shannon. He holds a 7 and 10 record through his first 17 games as head coach. 5 more losses and he'll reach Larry Coker's total for losses at the school. Keep in mind Coker recorded 60 wins against those 15 losses, not to mention the national title in ‘01. Oh wait, I just did.

Miami basketball has improved in recent years and found success in the ACC this past season. (Although the Big East basketball teams might be stronger today than those of the ACC - but that's a different stoory) As for the football team, it will take a few top-ten-ranked recruiting classes in successive years for any hope of getting back to a "bigtime" bowl. They'll be lucky to get to any no-name bowl game this season.

The best move Miami could make would be to beg the Big East to take them back RIGHT NOW so they can rack up another 12-1 record and a BCS Bowl Berth. They might be just an average team on a national scale, but they're record would be great enough to get ‘em into a BCS game. Randy Shannon could keep his job and it would be back to business as usual in Coral Gables. If it weren't for that pesky contractual agreement with the ACC signed back in '03. The years before that are now considered the good ol' days for Canes fans.

Orlando Magic- Sept. 26
Here are my thoughts on a season preview for the Orlando Magic.

Dwight Howard has a gold medal. Now it's time for a championship. Hold up!!! 2 things... The Magic are never going to get it as long as Howard's free throw woes continue (59% last season). The Magic will never get it unless Howard develops and utilizes a mid-range game. Sure, you can argue that Shaq got his rings with poor free throws, but Shaq was a higher scorer, a bigger body, and a more dominant player. Not to mention, Shaq had Kobe as a supporting cast in L.A. and then Dwyane Wade as a supporting cast in Miami. Howard has Turk and Sweet-Lew, but neither of them (or combined) is either Kobe or D-Wade.

Magic Big-man coach and NBA Hall-of-Famer Patrick Ewing failed to help Howard make strides in either department last season. Yes, Howard's scoring average increased from 17.6 PPG to 20.7 PPG and his rebounding average jumped from 12.3 RPG to an NBA-leading 14.2 RPG. But, back to my point... Howard started the year by taking a couple of jump/bank shots in the first game of the 2007-08 regular season. After that, he hardly gave it another try. After game one, it was back to the paint and dunk, dunk dunk.

Free throws are free points. If Dwight would have hit 80% of his free throws last season, the Magic would have had an extra 188 points during the course of the regular season. Add 2+ points per game to the team scoring average and then wonder how many MORE games the Magic could have won during the course of the year. Just how much more a dominant player would he be if he could hit the easy 10-foot bank shot that former MVP Tim Duncan could hit with his eyes closed? (may I add, Duncan has his rings.) It stretches the defense and would make the game so much easier for his teammates as well as himself.

The Magic might hit 52 wins again this season, but I don't think they'll make it out of the second round again unless Dwight can learn how to hit a free throw or a 10-foot bank shot. Add to it that he needs to develop a thicker shell and a tougher demeanor against savvy veterans like Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess. And stop arguing with the refs on the offensive end Dwight!!! Those are the things I'll be watching closely this season.
Send comments to David.Baumann@cfnews13.com