Larry Brown Sports

The St. Petersburg Times has a really interesting chronology and account of Billy Donovan’s decision to leave Orlando and return to Florida. In reading through the article, I can’t help but notice that Donovan’s wife seems to have been a driving force in Donovan’s departure from the Magic. Just take the opening sentences:

Billy Donovan was distraught Saturday morning, and his wife took action. Christine Donovan dialed Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley and told him Donovan was having second thoughts about becoming the Magic’s coach.

Later it’s explained that the wife was instrumental in making sure assistant Larry Shyatt was involved:

She turned to assistant coach Larry Shyatt. “Make a U-turn, ” Shyatt recalled her saying as he drove toward a basketball camp. The Donovans needed help.

Donovan’s wife apparently continued to make the telephone rounds, calling Billy’s father next:

By early Saturday afternoon, Bill Donovan had received a call from his daughter-in-law, telling him how distraught his son was. He knew Billy was “very sensitive about how things affect other people.”

I could be off base in my analysis of what I’ve read in the article, but it really seems to me as if Donovan’s wife went out of her way to make sure he returned to Florida. Think about, only days later she was making all sorts of phone calls on his behalf. If she weren’t around making all these phone calls, where would that have put Billy? Isn’t it entirely possible that he would have worked out his misgivings and realized he should honor his commitment to the Magic? I certainly think so.

I’m willing to bet that Billy Donovan would be the present day coach of Orlando if his wife wasn’t next to him pushing all the buttons. I could be entirely wrong, but that’s what I’m gathering based on the article.

After entering this debate with my dad yesterday, I felt I had to put this on the site. Outside of Tom Glavine who will win his 300th game at some point this season, and Randy Johnson who could reach the same mark at some point next season, there will never again be another 300 game winner. None, never, not again. Out to suffer the same fate as the dodo bird, Hideki Irabu, Shinjo, and LA Gears.

It’s just impossible with today’s game. Pitchers hardly ever go past seven innings — even the top ones. Run support is necessary, as is a stable bullpen that can both protect and close out a lead. There are so many external factors that prevent pitchers from getting the win at the end of the day. Back in the days, starters would throw all nine and receive a decision in 95% of their starts. Now, you’re lucky to take a decision in two thirds of your starts.

Take last year for instance, Brandon Webb won the NL Cy Young with a 16-8 record. 16 wins. That’s it. That’s all it took to grab the most prestigious pitching award in the world. Even looking at the American League, the uber-stud Johan Santana won his second Cy, this time with only 19 wins. Considering Santana is BY FAR the best pitcher in baseball, my dad suggested that Santana could reach the barrier. I told him no way. Then we looked it up.

The same guy who has been the most dominant starter in baseball for the past three and a half seasons only has won 80 games in his career. At age 28, Santana is in the middle of his prime, but it’s hard to argue he’ll be nearly as effective 10 years from now — and he’d need to win 20 for the next 10 years to come close.

What about the fate of the National League’s top starter the past three seasons? He just hit the 15-day DL with an arm injury, not an unfamiliar story for Chris Carpenter.

Not convinced? How about this — remember the Oakland A’s and their vaunted Big 3? Well, Mark Mulder (103 wins, 29 y/o) is nowhere to be heard from, and hasn’t been good since he left Oakland. Tim Hudson (119 wins, 31 y/o) hasn’t produced for Atlanta, while Barry Zito (102, 29 y/o) is 0-2 in the first year of his $126 million contract.

OK fine, Roy Halladay, he’s a pretty good pitcher, probably the second best in the American League. Seems like he’s been at it for a while, right? Yeah, guess again, 96 career wins for Doc, and he’s turning 30 this year.

How about Roy Oswalt, probably the second best and one of the most consistent pitchers in the National League? He’s won 20 games twice, which is like, unheard of these days. Yeah, he’s got just 99 wins, and he’s turning 30 this year.

What about some of those emerging youngsters huh? Francisco Liriano could’ve been interesting, but he’s having his entire arm rebuilt. Scott Kazmir hit the DL last year.

Let’s try Pedro Martinez — seems like a blast from the past. I mean Pedro’s had ERA’s skinnier than his stick figure. That badass has won three Cy Young Awards, you know? Well, amidst his injury recovery, the 35 year old pitcher has just 206 career wins. There are questions as to whether or not Pedro will be ready by August. To think he’ll be able to muster 94 more wins is just plain dumb. Even his previous Red Sox cohort Curt Schilling, who completely embodies the grizzled veteran, has just 208 wins — so you can kiss him good bye.

In today’s game, wins are not had easily. For that reason, I am convinced there will never be another 300 game winner with the rules remaining as they are. Chop 50 off that total, I still can’t see any of our current day studs reaching the mark. They’ll pull a growing, require Tommy John, or just simply flame out beforehand. I’d even go as far as to say 225 wins could be the new 300 for this era of pitcher. Even in that case, it’s hard for me to think one of these up and comers will even surpass that total.

Disagree? Let me know why, because I just explained to you why it won’t happen.

Also check out all my baseball predictions for the 2007 season.

Yes, Florida certainly was awesome down the stretch, closing out their season with ten straight wins. Yes, their closest game during the entire tournament was a seven point 2nd round win over Purdue. Yes, they never had a moment of panic and struggle. Yes, it was extremely difficult to go from being an underdog last year and winning it, to becoming the favorite entering the year and managing to repeat. There’s no denying that what Florida did was special.

That being said, I will respectfully disagree with Billy Donovan who announced

I think you really have to look at this team, and I’m not saying they are the best team, but you have to look at them and say they are one of the best teams to play this game

I won’t annoint this team as one of the best ever. Sure, winning back-to-back titles now seems more difficult than when Duke did it in the early 90s; legacies and eras of domination are too short because players leave for the NBA too early in their college careers. But as good as the Gators proved themselves to be in the tournament, you have to wonder what business they had losing ANY games this year. Call me a cynic, call me a flaw-finder, call me a pessimist, call me a bitter UCLA fan. I’ll take it all.

But I’ll tell you this much about Florida — they were by far the best team in college basketball this year, with nobody coming in as a close second. Tell me one team that would win more than three games against Florida if they had played ten against the Gators this year? Name me one. Because I sure as heck know that I saw Greg Oden’s best effort tonight, and I saw a lot of hustle from UCLA on Saturday, and I know either team would be lucky to get one out of ten games against Florida. Disagree with me? Impossible.

Florida had every weapon, rather, Florida had no weakness. They had dominant big men, three in fact, and they had killer guard and perimeter play. It’s kind of hard to beat a team that can crush you either inside or outside, or both.

So why did they lose? What team that’s one of the best ever in college basketball has a four game stretch in which they lose three? Answer me that. If you want to argue with me and say that they played their best ball when it mattered the most, then I’ll tell you the regular season and post-season set up needs a serious overhaul where Florida would’ve had more incentive to play to their maximum potential. Either that, or I’ll tell you that the Gators weren’t worried about being considered one of the best teams ever. Because if they set their minds to it, they wouldn’t have lost more than once all year.

I’m not comfortable calling the Gators one of the best teams ever after looking at their easy draw in the Midwest Regional, and the fact that they lost to Vanderbilt, LSU and Tennessee all within a four game span during the regular season. Correct me if I’m wrong, because I don’t think I am.