Parity or moneybags?

Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue made the word “parity” into a mantra, while fans of European football are normally realistic enough to admit that before a single ball has been kicked in anger only a handful of teams will in earnest compete for the title.

In the NFL, with the enforced balance of free agency, revenue sharing, salary cap (re-introduced with the newly minted CBA after the uncapped 2010) and the draft system, gone are (mostly) the days of the dynasties of the past. The way the Steelers, 49ers and Cowboys dynasties in the 70s, 80s and 90s respectively were constructed would not be possible in today’s regulatory system.

Since the introduction of the free agency in pro football in 1992, the Super Bowl has seen 13 different champions, with only Dallas, Denver, Green Bay, New England and Pittsburgh winning more than once during the 19 Super Bowls of that era.

13 teams have gone from last in their division in one year to first in the next and since the re-alignment to 8 divisions in 2002 and in 1999 St.Louis Rams went from 4-12 to 13-3 and Super Bowl Champs behind a former shelf-stocker from Iowa.

Green Bay, the only top league team in the world owned completely by its fans, is the pundits’ favourites for a repeat Super Bowl ring but without revenue sharing, the little city in Wisconsin (pop. 104,057 though roughly 300k in the metropolitan area) would not be able to compete with the large market teams.

The MLB has less of a complete parity mainly due to the salary luxury tax instead of a fixed cap and very limited revenue sharing, but even the World Series has seen ten different winners since the 1994 strike year with only the Yankees, Marlins(!) and the Red Sox winning more than once in the last 16 years. Small-market teams like Oakland and Tampa have showed that with shrewd scouting, drafting and trading you can still compete, although only for a shorter period until your star players hit the money years.

The current MLB season has been a slight shift back towards big money power with the top three teams in baseball (Philadelphia, Boston and NY Yankees) occupying the top three spots in the salary table ($173m, $162m and $203m respectively) as well.

Still, teams like Milwaukee ($85m), Atlanta ($87m) and Arizona ($53m) are in the running for post season spots while money whales like Cubs ($125m) and NY Mets ($118m) are showing that money doesn’t solve everything.

The window for small market teams exist, but as Tampa have found out after a few years at comparatively stratospheric levels, that window is small and closes pretty fast.

Time, the great equaliser

The baseball season is 162 games and has been since 1961 in the AL and 1962 in the NL. It stretches from early April to late September and usually sees canyon deep slumps and stratospheric streaks, sometimes from the same player or team. Yet despite that, every year we see the same doomsday prophets or championship crowners less than a quarter into the season.

The Red Sox spent more money in the off season than any previous year with a combined $296m invested in Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez and were considered by all pundits and fans to be serious contenders not only for the AL East but also for a third ring in eight years. On the other side of the spectrum the Cleveland Indians set a historical precedent when they in consecutive years traded away the reigning American League CY Young winner, CC Sabathia to the Brewers in 2008 and Cliff Lee to the Phillies in 2009. In 2010, the purge continued when they traded star catcher and slugger Victor Martinez to the Red Sox and the Tribe finished fourth in the AL Central with a 69-93 record.

Going into 2011 with a roster filled with occasional greatness (Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore), surprising imports (Shin-Soo Choo), promising talent (Carlos Santana, Asdrúbal Cabrera) and trade bait (Justin Masterson, Andy Marté) not many believed this was the year of the Indians, as the 200-1 odds for a WS win indicated. Yet Cleveland opened the season with an 18-8 April , leading to optimism on the reservation as Cabrera showed his sensational defense, Grady Sizemore led a surprisingly potent line up to a league third-best 34 homers in their first month and Masterson showed the potential that had him highly rated as a Red Sox prospect.

The Red Sox on the other hand started 2-10 and limped into May in last place in the AL East with a 11-15 record, “led” by Crawford’s .155 average – so far below the Mendoza line you’d need a ladder to see it. Naturally the experts were wondering if either side would sustain their fortunes, or lack thereof, although some corners saw several nay-sayers already closing the book on the Sox. As we know, the Red Sox has gone 14-6 in May, including winning 8 of their last 9 and sweeping division rivals Yankees in the Bronx and are now only ½ game out of first place. The Indians young squad has continued riding their wave of success and with a 11-7 May (up to the 23rd of May) now have an AL best 29-15 record.

Elsewhere in the MLB, Pittsburgh is still close to .500 with signs of their young squad finally threatening to end decades of futility, Tony La Russa has somehow managed to steer the Cards to the top of the NL Central despite Pujols longest HR drought ever and losing his ace pitcher Wainwright only days before the season and San Fransisco is riding high on the Beard and the 2010 WS win, leading the NL West by 3 ½ games.

Will all these standings remain?

Will the same teams win again and again?

Of course not.

History has shown us that even though market size and subsequent purchase power does influence some aspects, the ten different champions since the 1994 strike season is a spread fans of equality dream about.

One of the greatest appeals of baseball is that the number of games guarantees only one thing; (almost) anything can happen.

Perfection

On to Outside the Lines on ESPN, where Amy K. Nelson follows up on Jim Joyce, who umpired first base in a Tigers game in June.

"I think about it still, almost every day," Joyce says. "I don't want to be known as Jim Joyce, the guy that blew the perfect game. But I think that's inevitable."

Why?

"Because I'm Jim Joyce," he says, "the umpire who blew the perfect game."

I do hope that he get's to a point where it's not an every day presence in his mind. It might takes some time though...