David Mckee's Stiffs & Georges - Baseball

Quote of the Day

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:02:00 -0700

"If C.C. Sabathia starts game one of the World Series, the Yankees will know they have won tonight." -- Fox Sports baseball analyst Tim McCarver, sinking to bathyspheric depths of belaboring the obvious, early in Sunday's game six of the ALCS. (The Yankees won and it probably won't take until Wednesday night for them to realize it.)

Oh me of little faith

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:40:00 -0700

Pardon a smallish digression from the world of games to something truly important ... baseball. With painful memories of the '04 and '05 postseason meltdowns acid-etched into my mind, I've not been able to summon the intestinal fortitude to watch either of the first two Red Sox/Angels games. (And postseason Angels games really take a toll on one's stomach.)

Now, with the Halos up 2-0, I'm wondering if it's safe to peek between my fingers as the series repairs to Fenway Park. My gut-twisting gut-level feeling is that this series goes the full five games, which is my recipe for pure torture. But ... Angels pitchers seemed to have conquered their fear of BoSox hitters and shut them down.

Besides, I've been wrong before about this team -- 1,000% wrong about Bobby Abreu, who's been a tremendous influence for the better. His superb plate discipline has been worlds away from the bizarre flailing of Vladimir Guerrero (which you can only get away with if you're Vlad and can lift a far-outside pitch over the fence in straightaway center). Patient at-bats were the key to the Angels' '02 World Series run, which made up for less-than-dominant starting pitching. If there's an Angels/Yankees ALCS, it'll be a contest to see who can take more pitches: a real tortoise-and-hare match.

At least the Angels and BoSox share a common adversary: the umpires. "Country" Joe West and C.B. Bucknor are showing yet again why they are two of the worst in MLB ... although seemingly every American League playoff game this year (including the Metrodome miniseries that finished the Detroit Tigers) has been plagued by truly craptacular umpiring and amazingly poor calls. If this were the NFL, these clowns would be relegated to working late-season Rams/Raiders games or some purgatorial equivalent.

Speaking of the Yanks, I can't hold out much hope for my old home team, the Minnesota Twins. All the Homer Hankies in the world aren't going to do it for a pitching staff that can't hold a lead against the Bronx Bombers, and it pains me to type that.

Thanks for your indulgence. We now return to our irregularly scheduled blogging. As soon as I find my Rally Monkeys, that is.

P.S.: It's a damnable shame that our server won't load previously unused images into the blogs. 'Cuz I've got a great Philly Phanatic photo that would be perfect should they make it to the Fall Classic.

What's a Trump casino worth?

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:07:00 -0700

Only $14 million in cash (plus a $100 million equity infusion), according to The Donald. Bondholders say, we'll see your $115 million and raise you $100 million. The latter would recoup at least some -- but not very much -- of their $1.25 billion debt under their plan, while Das Trump would send them away virtually empty-handed. (Moral: When Donald Trump asks you for a loan, take a page from Nancy Reagan and Just Say No.)

The bondholders' assignment of a $75 million valuation to Trump Marina seems awfully optimistic for what is, in essence, a corpse that can't be sold. In essence, the real value proposition is resurgent Trump Taj Mahal, with the other two casinos scarcely better than throw-ins. The Marina is, if anything, an albatross around the company's neck. Still, given that CEO Mark Juliano is going to exceptional lengths to champion the Trumpster's bid, which is a big "screw you" to the debtholders, here's hoping Judge Judith H. Wizmur holds firm for a more responsible solution.

Ho: No! "I don't see major resorts opening for the next couple of years now," says Lawrence Ho. thereby raining pessimism on the expansion plans of Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts and Galaxy Entertainment. The younger Ho also speculates upon the Chinese government's motivation for throttling, then somewhat relenting upon travel to Macao. Interesting tidbit: Marketwatch.com reports that "Venetian Sands" [sic] has cut its number of table games by 25%.

Nevada revenues in. And yeah, they suck. They're much less sucky than usual (-9%), showing an upward trend in baccarat plus two locals-oriented bright spots in the form of Aliante Station and M Resort. It's unclear, though, how much of the growth generated by the last two is new business vs. redistribution of dollars from elsewhere in the valley. The Sun's analysis is far more informative than that found in the R-J.

Wait 'til next year. That's the timeline for casinos in Massachusetts. Even though western Mass looks like slim pickings, lawmakers will probably have to put a casino there just to get the bill onto the floor.

Penn bid falls. Lenders to bankrupt Fontainebleau won a small victory or two, as the judge overseeing the case seems determined to keep lead developer Jeffrey Soffer as far from the disposition of F'bleau as possible. (Soffer is both a debtor and creditor on the project.)

F'bleau, for its part, revealed that Penn National Gaming's offer is now "substantially less" than $300 million, but would include money to replace the windows that are reportedly falling off the building. (One more reason not to build a Strip megaresort tower flush against the "pedestrian realm.")

Groundbreaking today for the long-awaited SugarHouse casino in Philadelphia, under the shadow of a stick-it-to-SugarHouse tax that's been proposed in the Lege. Table games, meanwhile, might be off the table in the face of a $200 million lawsuit. You see, non-racino casinos are allowed to have 5,000 slots (in return for a $50 million fee). Small "resort" casinos -- known as "Category 3" -- only have to $5 million and get 500 slots (accessible only to guests). That's proportional, obviously, and seems fair.

However ... lawmakers want to tilt the playing field by giving Category 3 casinos 30% as many slots as, say, Rivers Casino or SugarHouse, instead of 10% ... and open those games to the general public, not just guests. Of course, the state can't go to the one existing Category 3 casino and ask for another $10 million -- can it? Casino operators are also solidly behind the GOP position on table games: $10 million upfront plus a 12% tax. But, unless House Dems completely capitulate, the gaming bosses are unlikely to get what they want, at least where the tax rate is concerned.

Penn whiffs again. Although Penn Nat'l was supposed to be a bidder in the bankruptcy auction for the Lone Star Park racino, it evidently didn't get into the action and the track went to the Chickasaw Nation for $27 million. (A lot less than Harrah's Entertainment paid to get into Ohio.)

Which means that if/when gambling is legitimized in Texas, the Chickasaws will have a double advantage (parimutuel + tribal status), while Penn will be looking at yet another missed opportunity. Penn's corporate strategy is a baffling alternation of rashness and hyper-caution.

In other tribal news, much-criticized National Indian Gaming Commission Chairman Phil Hogen is gone, thank God, and with him his new, more-restrictive Class II rules. Hogen was justly pilloried for attempting a rollback of hard-won gains in what games tribes could offer. His new rules reflected Bush administration paternalism toward tribes and while they're officially postponed for a year, I think it's safe to say they're dead.* No wonder Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK) is smiling. Watch out for that doorknob, Mister (Ex-)Chairman.

(* It's probable the same thing would have happened under a President McCain, as either candidate would have brought a more enlightened attitude to D.C.-tribal relationships.)

Supporters of video gambling are starting to push back in Illinois, at least in rural, conservative McHenry County. So far it's been the urban areas where this expansion of gambling hasn't been gaining traction.

A repeal of UIGEA continues to gain ground in the House of Representatives, even if it got pulled off the floor in the Senate. (Thanks for nothing, Harry Reid.) The money quote, literally, is a reference to an amendment Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) which would would specify that "corporate taxes owed on regulated Internet gambling activities are collected, as they currently are from the land-based casino industry." [emphasis added]

If that means what it implies, it would remove the spectre of industry-wide federal gambling taxation from the discussion and leave taxation to the states. If not, then the nose of the federal casino-tax camel is still sticking through the legislative tent. And you know where that leads.

We've seen a nationwide gaming tax get shot down during the Clinton administration but there are desperate times, obviously. Republicans like Mike Huckabee and Rep. Steve King (R-IA) have been looking to sock it to casinos at the federal level for some years now, so I fear it could have bipartisan support, should such a debate come to pass.

It's playoff time. A tired, flat-footed Minnesota Twins squad looked positively dreaful last night, flailing at outside pitches from C.C. Sabathia (if you couldn't reach that slider in the first inning, your arms aren't going to be any longer in the seventh, son). Cliff Lee made short work of the Colorado Rockies (besides, Jim Tracy can't win in the postseason), the St. Louis Cardinals look set to continue their tradition of postseason underperformance and my Anaheim Angels are forever reduced to a quivering heap of Jello in playoff games against the Boston Red Sox. Why am I having visions of brooms?

To blog or not to blog?

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:52:00 -0700

That is the question for today. It's not the larger, existential question of whether the opinions of one curmudgeonly blogger amount to a hill of beans in this world, especially when even the village idiot has a cyber-soapbox.

No, it's a more practical quandary. My cup runneth over with prospective topics -- and with pending deadlines. To wit, a theatre review and a news story for the July 23 CityLife, reviews to stockpile for Mike Shackleford's forthcoming WizardOfVegas.com Web site, three Question of the Day topics, and a revision of an old article I wrote for Washington National Opera in the wayback.

Say ... one of the QoDs upon which I'm working asks for instances of complaints about Harrah's Entertainment. Care to chip in? You'll be duly credited (or not, if you prefer). Actually, the back pages of S&G have been a marvelous source of information on this topic, due in no small part to your contributions. Actor Ben Browder (Stargate SG-1) says that the most important element of any story is the audience. That goes double for S&G.

Also, in the (I hope) very near future, there will be some original S&G reportage on labor negotiations at Caesars Palace, among other topics. In the meantime, I have a week of GamingFloor.com to catch up with, plus wrapping my brain around LinkedIn and Facebook, when there's a moment to spare. Given the exponentially faster advance of technology (compared to say, 1965), I can but conclude that it's a Star Trek world and we're just living in it ... long and prosperously, one hopes.

In the meantime, if the blogorrhea is less generous than average, I beg your indulgence.

All-Star Game: Not much to say about it, other than its relative brevity was merciful. (Never saw so much first-pitch swinging in my life.) Contrary to expectation, the most interesting aspect was the usually tiresome pre-game extravaganza. Sheryl Crow gave a master class in how the National Anthem should be sung and President Obama threw a rainbow curve the likes of which I haven't seen since the heyday of Sid Fernandez.

And it did bring a lump to my throat to see our nation's first black president shaking hands with Bob Gibson and Lou Brock, venerated figures in the Cardinal-worshiping McKee family and two players whose prime coincided with the apex of the Civil Rights movement in the U.S. I'd love to know how much Brock and Gibson think our country has advanced since then. Oh, and Tim McCarver was actually bearable. Wonders never cease.

"The mean reds"

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:28:00 -0700

Back at the home office, things still aren't up to speed. I'm caught between a cold and a stomach bug, so I feel pretty thoroughly depleted. On top of that, I'm trying to grappled with a sudden plunge into depression. It's one of the lingering aftereffects of having fallen victim to clergy-parishioner sexual abuse when I was younger. I didn't address it in therapy when I had the chance and I'm paying the price now.

Despite the risk of giving too much information, I feel it's important to acknowledge the past in the hope that it might encourage other people that they're not alone and it's never too late to get help. Considering that this kind of trauma can wreak havoc in all spheres of one's life, the dangers of suppressing it are great indeed.

Oh, and my refrigerator is broken ...

... other than that, it's as wonderful as Mondays are famous for being. At least there's the Home Run Derby tonight.

Seen last night flying into Las Vegas from Dallas, former MLB manager and current Fox Sports personality Kevin Kennedy (or, as a friend refers to him, "the man with the square head").

MGM: Deal or no deal?

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:55:00 -0700

MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren is re-mulling asset sales of MGM Grand Detroit, Gold Strike (Tunica, Miss.) and Beau Rivage. But all Strip assets are definitively off the market (yes, even Slots A Fun). Since the Detroit and Tunica casinos are already encumbered with CityCenter-related debt, presumably Murren would transfer those mortgages to some or all of the "Mandalay mile." As far as I know, those three casinos are still unencumbered. The Detroit resort would be a real "trophy asset" for any potential buyer ... presuming that banks are more inclined to lend than they were(n't) the last time Murren shopped this trio around.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal took a good look at MGM's Giza deal -- and it's even better than initially thought. Not only will the company collect management and franchise fees, it also gets a cut of any profits. If there's a downside here, I'm too myopic to see it.

MGM wouldn't sell Monte Carlo when Jack Binion came calling. One presumes this had more to do with potentially being able to extend CityCenter into Monte Carlo, rather than Jack's money not being good enough for MGM. However, if the company really cares about the property, why are they slowly letting it go to seed? The Brew Pub will close on July 12.

Also ... our LVA research team has discovered that no further Lance Burton performances are scheduled. This seemingly writes finis to his long relationship with Monte Carlo. Is it just an expedient way to save money or was Burton's unpardonable sin to get very good reviews from the local dailies right after Criss F. Angel laid an $85 million egg with Believe? Burton out and Angel in? That's just not right.

"IUER"? WTF? Don't call Melco Crown International's new City of Dreams a "casino." Melcospeak for the new pleasure place is "integrated urban entertainment resort." At least Steve Wynn's "casino-based destination resort" coinage rolled off the tongue a little more felicitously. On second thought, just call it "a casino."

Holy cow! The husk of the late, lamented Holy Cow Brew Pub & Casino (home of the best beer in Las Vegas) is proposed for redevelopment -- again. It was briefly the site-to-be of the phantom Ivana condo tower, one of the more egregious examples of condo "vaporware" during the recent bubble. Arizona- and New Mexico-based developers intend to tip the old Cow and replace her with a low-rise, low-cost (no hotel) casino.

The Strip needs some fresh mid-market casinos and this one could be it. But why make your anchor tenant a Walgreens when it's the flagship retailer ... of Palazzo. We sure could use the jobs, too, what with unemployment hitting record levels in Nevada. A good thing that Gov. Jim Gibbons was shamed into accepting federal funding for the jobless.

No Surprise Dept.: So the Moulin Rouge is (literally) toast and arson is suspected. The fire happened the day after a bankruptcy auction found no takers for the property.

Obama backpedals (sidepedals?) on gay rights. If he wants to give the country change it can believe in, how about revoking the profoundly un-American policy of throwing our LGBT brothers and sisters out of the military? If they've volunteered to lay down their lives for Old Glory, they're better people than me. And if Harry Truman is remembered for nothing else, he'll always be the president who integrated the military with a stroke of a pen. Does President Obama have Truman-like intenstinal fortitude?

One of the vilest of major-league baseball players back in the Eighties was slow-moving, philandering, showboating slugger Mel Hall. But we never knew just how loathsome he was. Good luck in the slammer, Mel.

Grab your ankles, casinos

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:05:00 -0700

Nevada lawmakers' revenue model.

There's one industry that does far and away more than any other to pay the bar tab for the State of Nevada and it's probably about to be mandated to pay even more. That's because even though we're suffering through, proportionally speaking, the worst budget deficit in the U.S. and the methodology underlying Nevada's general fund is incredibly flawed, other industries will be allowed to continue shirk their share of the load.

How do we know this? Because invertebrate gubernatorial wannabe Barbara Buckley (D-[Your logo here]) flat-out won't support a corporate income tax. Which might be all right if she had a viable alternative, other than a pie-in-the-sky suggestion that Nevada diversify its economy.

Heck, people more serious than Buckley have been calling for such diversification for years and it still hasn't happened (in part because the wretched state of Nevada education -- about to get worse -- scares companies away). And it's sure as shooting not going to magically happen in the scant few weeks the Lege has to cobble together something resembling a budget.

Sales taxes and gaming taxes each represent roughly a third of the state's revenue base. The former is regressive both by definition and in practice, while the latter discriminates heavily against one industry, while letting all others pretty much off the hook. For instance, the state's two most lucrative mines paid $13.3 million in taxes to Nevada in all of 2007 -- on $436 million in taxable revenues. Casinos, however, paid $65 million in taxes on $840 million in revenue last February alone.

Were Nevada's gaming industry not in freefall, that disparity would be more glaring still. But Silver State solons would rather jam hot needles into their eyes than ask the sacrosanct extractive industries for one thin dime more. (Boy, they'll be sorry when those mines are tapped out.)

Heck, our legal brothels have actually offered to be taxed but our maidenly lawmakers demurely proclaimed, "No, no, a thousand times, no! You cannot buy my caress." How come? It would create -- get this -- image problems for a state that got on the map as the divorce capitol of America. Prostitutes are showing themselves more civic-minded that our ostensible "leadership" ... but the profession known as prostitution has always been considerably more honest than the prostitution known as politics.

Given the ramshackle history of Nevada's tax structure and some hints dropped by Buckley and crony Morse "Moose" Arberry, we've got a pretty good idea of what to expect from their Secret Budget Plan (under wraps until next month): More of the same. As in higher sales taxes, state fees ... and, yes, gaming taxes. Steve Wynn's warning about the catastrophic effect of the latter is apparently going to fall upon deaf legislative ears. Wynn's said he's "the most powerful man in Nevada." Now would be a good time to prove it.

On another note ...

God forbid, you need to answer the call of nature during the playing of a mediocre Irving Berlin song, at least when you're at Yankee Stadium. Support freedom -- or else! That good old George Steinbrenner spirit remains alive and well, I see.

Texas afterthoughts

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:52:00 -0700

My apologies for leaving regular readers high and dry on Thursday. I was KO'd by a viral infection of some sort. Between that and a couple of doses of Zicam, I spent most of the day drifting in and out of sleep. Amazingly, I managed to stay awake through the early part of a Dodgers/Padres game in which neither starting pitcher could find the strike zone with two hands and a flashlight (the first two innings took an hour to play), only to doze off as things became -- moderately -- interesting and each team overcame its aversion to scoring runs.

Wednesday's report on Sheldon Adelson's surprise appearance in Austin, prompted this reader reaction, posted here because it was devoured by LVA's Comment-Eating Server: Regarding Texas and Casino Gaming: IMO the reason North Texas and Oklahoma are so closely linked is because Texas has strong beer and strong porn, and Oklahoma has Casino Gaming, and both sides are more OK with it than they want to admit.

Having taken note of Adelson's Texas peregrination, the Las Vegas Review-Journal said to Las Vegas Sands, in effect, "Show me the money!" (Adelson is promising to spend $2 billion-plus on a Dallas-area casino.) The company's response was that its current troubles "wouldn't impair its ability to invest in Texas, in large part because even if gambling is legalized there licenses wouldn't be up for grabs until at least March 2011."

So is Sands promising to have its financial house in order 23 months from now? We'll take that as a "Yes." (Don't forget that Adelson is also courting Massachusetts legislators in hopes of landing a casino deal in his native state.)

The Dallas Morning News, to its credit, did a little number crunching and -- at the end of its story -- poked a big hole in the revenue projections being made by Texas casino proponents. In essence, they're promising 3X-4.5X the amount of casino-tax lucre that Nevada pulls in, with only double the tax rate and a tiny fraction as many casinos. Uh-huh.

Then again, the poster boy for a Lone Star casino industry is the man who once crowed, "We could build 10 Las Vegas Strips over here [in Asia], there’s so much demand!" How's that working out?

Mandalay Bay is best in LV

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:36:00 -0700

It may be tempting fate to mention this, but online voters like Mandalay Bay best among Strip casinos ... or, at bare minimum, dislike it the least. Voters in the Steve Friess "Stripper Poll" on which casino most ought to be imploded have cast nary a ballot against the big place with the Komodo Dragon (seen giving rival casinos a Bronx cheer). As for the winners/losers of this ignominious race, Tropicana Las Vegas still holds the lead but only 16 votes separate its first-place status from the fourth-place spot held by Imperial Palace. "Impotent Palace," look to thy laurels!

Baseball season: Six months of alternating paradise and torment -- paid out in 162 increments -- begin today. This Los Angeles Angels fan is at best guardedly optimistic, seeing how the team continues to accrue one-dimensional sluggers, tubby Bobby Abreu being the latest specimen. Also, with our three top-shelf pitchers on the ... well, on the shelf for time being, the starting rotation is the weakest it's been since 2003.

Now with two of the best Angels of recent memory, Garret Anderson and Casey Kotchman, playing for the Atlanta Braves, I'm actually going to have to start thinking positive thoughts about the Braves, if not of their tiresome manager, Bobby Cox, whose incessant petulance wore out its welcome, oh, around 1991.

A.C. casino workers dissed (again)

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:40:00 -0700

Representative democracy seems to be too radical a concept for the New Jersey state senate's Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committe to enwrap within its parochial minds. It's sent back for redrafting a bill that would allow Atlantic City casino employees to hold elective office there, too. Dangerous, revolutionary stuff, that.

Most reasonable people know a conflict of interest when they see one, but Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex) wants it codified in the statute. GOP Sen. Joseph Pennacchio, of Passaic, went one further, huffing and puffing that allowing casino workers to represent themselves "potentially could be putting the wolf in the chicken coop, where right now the wolf is on the outside."

Geez, if you work in an Atlantic City casino, moving to a leper colony would be a step up, at least when attitudes like Pennacchio's hold sway. Besides, taxation without representation is so 1775, senators.

The Wall Street bailout in 10 words or less: And the winner is ... President George W. Bush with, "If money isn't loosened up, this sucker could go down." It won't pass for Nobel Prize-winning economic analysis, but it possesses the virtues of being memorable and succinct.

1999 Mets revisited. A reader points out, "You know, those Mets were not too overachieving. Their Pythagorean W-L was only 2 games worse than their actual W-L. It's the 2000 Mets that were seriously overachieving. By comparison, the 1999 Braves were 5 games over their Pythagorean. The winner on overachieving, however, are this year's Angels ... 12 games over!"

Math was, by far, my worst subject, so I'll take your word for it. But -- did you have to remind me of the 2000 World Series, which the Mets lost when creepy manager Bobby Valentine hung pitcher Al Leiter out to dry in the final game? (Never mind a possibly steroid-maddened Roger Clemens trying to harpoon Mike Piazza with a broken bat.) I've never teared up at the end of a sporting event ... except that once.

Monday morning levity

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:16:00 -0700

"TRUST IN THE LORD." At first I thought it was someone writing in, trying to save my soul. But, no, it's the headline of yet another e-mail scam,* in the vein of the (in)famous "Nigeria Letter." I just get a chuckle out of somebody running a con having the brass to begin their snake-oil pitch with the word "TRUST."

* -- the link leads to an abridged version of the letter. The one sent to HP has an additional four paragraphs, including much taking of God's name in vain.

Angels 5, Bosox 4. In 12 innings. It's getting so I can't bear to watch. (And who thought that hitless wonder Erick Aybar would provide the clutch RBI?) Like the emotionally grueling '99 NLCS between some plucky, overachieving Mets and the then-ubiquitous Braves, I keep hoping the Angels will climb out of the hole they've dug themselves, but every pitch is agony, especially when there's no room for error.

Actually, that's not true: The Halos have muffed so many plays and swung at so many pitches off the plate, it really is a miracle that they're still in it. A good thing I have two bottles of Mylanta in the fridge.

All-star atrocity

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:07:00 -0700

Pardon the digression whilst I vent about the bad joke that was last night's MLB All-Star Game (or was it the "State Farm All-Star Game" or something like that? Bud Selig is whoring the national pastime out like a regular pimp daddy). It was Exhibit A for everybody who hates baseball and says the games are too long and slow.

A 290-minute playing time is simply unforgivable, especially when you consider that it was prefaced by 90 minutes or so of huffing and puffing as Fox Sports foot-dragged its way to the first pitch. You'd think it was a presidential inauguration or something. Plus, the hellish 15-inning duration meant that we had to endure more than our fair share of those two Comstock Lodes of conventional wisdom, Joe Buck and Tim McCarver.

(Although the "WTF?" moment came from ESPN's normally sagacious Karl Ravech, who offered the seemingly insane opinion that George "The Boss" Steinbrenner was the most beloved person in Yankee Stadium that night. Heck, if fans had to choose between the also-present Yogi Berra and George, Steinbrenner would have trouble finishing third. Besides, has everyone forgotten the petty, vindictive and cruel ways in which Steinbrenner would punish pitchers like Jim Beattie, Hideki Irabu and Donovan Osborne who had the temerity to lose games?)

For an All-Star game, it also had precious few stars. The two managers -- Terry Francona most of all -- were in an obsence hurry to get the marquee players off the field ASAP. Which meant that the game was decided, and that most of it was played, by the second-stringers, not the players voted in by the fans, i.e., the players people were presumably tuning in to see. If truth-in-advertising laws had pertained to Fox's All-Star [sic] Game promotion, the TV spots would have featured Michael Young of the Texas Rangers and George Sherrill of the Baltimore Orioles, not Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, who made but cameo appearances. "This time it counts?" You'd never know it from how the game was managed.

Just seconds before J.D. Drew clocked a fat fastball into the right-field stands, to erase a 2-0 National League lead, I thought, "He's going to homer on the next pitch and then he'll be more insufferable than ever." What's worse, he was all-too-predictably voted MVP of the game. That honor should have gone to Sherrill or, in a losing cause, the Rockies' Aaron Cook, who both performed extra-long relief stints as the game dragged into the wee hours of the morning, Yankee Stadium time.

But what made the game truly brutal, other than its marathon length, was the "uggla" play of Florida Marlins second-sacker Dan Uggla. If anyone single-handedly managed to lose the game for the NL, it was he. But with Chase Utley having been prematurely pulled, it was nine innings of ineptitude from Uggla that spectators got.

(In fairness to the NL players, they may still have been in a funk from that rambling, unfocused, repetitive and downright depressing speech Ernie Banks gave them in the clubhouse beforehand. Conversely, George Brett's feisty address to the AL crew made me want to grab a bat and have a go.)

Here's a modest suggestion for future All-Star Game managers: Don't yank (pun unintended) your starters until the game appears to be reasonably in hand. Both Francona and Clint Hurdle were congratulating themselves on having gotten everyone into the game. Being down to your last player isn't cause for popping a cork; it's an admission that you weren't managing to win. Heck, except for Mike Scioscia in 2003, nobody's tried that seemingly radical concept. Might be worth looking into again, y'know?

This wasn't a game for the ages. It merely succeeded in lasting for ages.

"Risky" Harrah's; Yanks Heart Seminoles

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:29:00 -0700

Reuters reported this week that the debt carried by Harrah's Entertainment "may weaken from already distressed level as heavy capital spending and interest payments absorb cash flows at a time when the casino operator is also facing declining gambling revenues." We've already seen one set of quarterly income wiped out -- and then some -- by costly interest payments and early retirement of debt. One analyst decribes Harrah's leverage as "pushed ... to the limit" with little prospect for improvement. Guess that puts paid to a Galaxy Entertainment acquisition. Not to mention that physical expansion is going to require even further indebtedness. Meanwhile, Wall Street speculates that Harrah's may elect to retire some bonds not with cash payments ... but with even more debt. The cost of insuring said debt is steep, reflective of the fact that "people are pricing in a lot of risk there," according to analyst Christopher Snow of CreditSights. And while analysts like Snow wait to see which way the current downturn in gambling shakes out, they're also fretting over how new infusions of rooms into the Vegas market are going to eat into Harrah's pricing power. Oh, and a slew of notes come due in 2010, when Snow predicts the company will hit "a pretty high wall of maturities starting in 2010 and going through to 2011 and afterward." Harrah's won't fail, predicts a third analyst, "but this is a tough one." CEO Gary Loveman's multi-million-dollar early opt-out clause may be looking very attractive right now. The Harrah's car isn't going over the cliff by any means, but the upside of the Apollo Management/TPG Capital deal still appears chimerical. The New York Yankees are hanging in there like the tough old birds they are. And if you can bear to watch Melky Cabrera's graceless outfield play (a far remove from the gliding elegance of Bernie Williams in years past), then you'll be looking forward to pulling up a table at either NYY Steak or a Hard Rock Restaurant in the House That Ruth Didn't Build, when it opens next year. This joint venture between the Pinstripes and Florida's Seminole Tribe is another tribute to the economic muscle that was nurtured by tribal gaming but is now being flexed in myriad other business arenas. Still, while it's all well and good for the Seminoles to be tapping into the megamillions of the Bronx Bummers, I hope that -- closer to home -- they're showing some love to the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays, 2008's Cinderella team. If no else is up for a Rays/Angels ALCS, you can at least count me in.

Stumped by a reader

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:06:00 -0700

For those of you who don't click on the "Comments" link, my last update on the casino freeze in Macao prompted a response that left me, momentarily, at a loss for an answer (other than "I'd hate to pass up an opportunity to make fun of Stanley Ho, that's why.")

The question was: Why should we care about the international misadventures of companies who flee American affordability while chasing the Chinese dollar?

Somebody else want to take a crack at that? Anyone?

In bobblehead veritas. In case 15 seasons (and counting) of sub-.500 baseball haven't gotten the message across, Pittsburgh Pirates ownership makes sure Pirates fans get the message. Mutual, I'm sure.

A good question

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:21:00 -0700

Math was always my worst subject, so it's a good thing I've got sharp-eyed readers who keep me honest. One of them asks how MGM Mirage is going to save $75 million (later restated by the company as $200 million) by showing 400-plus managerial employees the heave-ho. "What," the reader asks, "is the annual salary of the 400 managers? [$]75,000,000/40 = $187,500 [...] pretty good gig for middle management!" (Can't argue with that last point, for sure.)

To be fair, let's re-divide by 440 (the precise number of mid-level people MGM has said it let go), which gives us $170,454.54. But I'm still foxed for an answer -- unless the value of employee benefits, like health insurance (possibly including dependents) is being factored into MGM's equation. Asks the reader, "is somebody fudging some numbers?"

Well, considering that those numbers increased by $125 million in the space of a day, I'd conjecture that despite "months of research" MGM is itself unsure as to what they are. Maybe it just threw a ballpark figure out there and then, when Wall Street reacted with a sell-off, tossed out a bigger one. But that's 101% speculation.

Speaking of MGM Mirage, it must be feeling pretty confident that server-based gambling in Nevada is a "go" because it's inked a memo of understanding with IGT for the latter to set up a all-server-based casino at CityCenter. (Yes, even table games)

Although, as the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Howard Stutz once observed, server-based gaming is forever 'a year away,' it makes more sense to put the infrastructure in beforehand than to retrofit. Plus, with CityCenter's opening night a year and two-thirds away, Nevada has plenty of time to sign off on the technology. It also provides a distinctive selling point for a casino that's been overshadowed by all other aspects of CityCenter so far.

Unfortunately for IGT, the good news was upstaged by 2Q08 results that came in 35% lower than expected. The recession also cast a pall over the outlook for the rest of the year. Here's the full report.

There's got to be some good news, right? Indeed. Tourists visiting Macao are spending 15% more than last year. I wish they were spending it in the good old U.S. of A. But at least they're still spending.

Oh, and CotaiNews.com has launched an offshoot, devoted to worldwide casino developments. The lead story? Myriad Botanical Resort (above) -- what else? According to the blog, Myriad's snow park is still part of the plan. Wacky! Like I said, it's the Dixie Dubai.

Is Eisenhower still president? That's how I felt last night after a BoSox/Yankees game that ran a mind-numbing 4.25 hours and ended with a football score (9-15) ... which didn't preclude Joe Girardi from having Mariano Rivera warm up to protect a six-run lead (had it been a mere five runs, I'm sure panic would have run rampant). The Yankees are aging better than the BoSox, who look ancient and cement-footed, but it took them a week to steal their first base, so don't expect much excitement out of either team. Just mediocre pitching vs. worse pitching, while they take turns clubbing each other into submission.

Nine down, 153 to go

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:05:00 -0700

Our blogging software just ate a lengthy post on the smoking controversy in Atlantic City. And a follow-up effort. Which is technology's way of saying, "Fuck it; it's Friday and I'm outta here!"

In other news, Bill Clinton still can't find the truth with both hands and a flash light. (The accompanying "I almost caught one THIS big" photo is particularly apt.)

But, to end the week on a positive note, I see that the snakebitten Detroit Tigers have finally taken a game, bringing their winning percentage to a robust .111. On the other hand, the St. Louis Cardinals offloaded most of their power hitters -- not to mention the sublime David Eckstein -- in the offseason but are 7-3. Go figure.

And the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have a half-share of the lead in the AL West. So life is good.

Understatement of the Century

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:58:00 -0700

"I understand that there's not a lot of respect for education in Southern Nevada." -- David Schwartz, director of the UNLV Center for Gaming Research. For the full context, read Die Is Cast.

Crazy Bonus Stat:

53% of Las Vegas Review-Journal readers (in unscientific online poll) say Joe Torre's Los Angeles Dodgers will have a better season than Joe Girardi's New York Yankees. Well, I saw the Dodgers eke out a win last night against a wretched San Francisco Giants team comprised of rookies and players in the twilight of their careers, and it wasn't impressive. Dodger fans, you're in for a long summer, I'm afraid. (Not that my Los Angeles Angels are looking so hot right now, with the #1 and #2 starting pitchers on the shelf indefinitely.)