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The front page of the sports section today was dominated by a fun piece by Bee sportswriter Ahmed Ortiz. I’m not too familiar with Ahmed’s writing, mostly since I keep forgetting that these things called “Raiders” exist, and that’s Ortiz’s bread and butter. But he definitely caught my attention with today’s piece comparing the general flameout of Barry Zito to the other notable big-paycheck pitching flops of the last ten years.
My favorite bit was when he summed up Dodger pitcher Chan Ho Park as “another Boras special” and “a paper tiger,” the former comment referring to Scott Boras, the immanently unlikable “super agent” who always seems to be behind these ridiculously overpriced deals, the latter comment needing no explanation.
Good work, Ahmed.
3 Comments
I guess I blame Brian Sabean more than Boras. Sabean was a chuckhead for ever agreeing to that kind of contract in the first place. Teams like the Giants and Dodgers always try to play big paycheck ball. Giants fans need to get Sabean to read Moneyball.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:55 am
hey, just stumbled upon your site and wanted to clarify why you might be unfamiliar with my writing. it’s because i’m actually an assistant sports editor here and don’t do much writing. the piece you enjoyed was the product of some brainstorming amongst the sports editors, and i, as the baseball editor, volunteered to do it (although you either are pretty keen or have somebody on the inside who knows i also handle the nfl – although i’m switching to the kings next week). anyway, thanks for the compliment.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Ahmed – Let’s go camping again sometime. I’ll wear my Brotherhood of Death shirt.
June 25th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
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