What Steinbrenner's legacy should teach ASG and Others

[khaos7]

Man, I couldn't stand George Steinbrenner! After the Braves lost to his beloved Yankees in 1996 and 1999, I hoped for the day they would meet up again and the Braves would pound them for the trophy. That day has yet to happen. And although I can't stand the Yankees, I've always wanted a transformational leader like George running my favorite Atlanta's sports team: the Hawks.

I know, I know. It's easy to say, "I want a George like owner" to be "the Boss" of my team. After all George spent money on his teams...lots of it. If he wanted A Rod, he got him. If he wanted Teixeria, he got him.

I know the counter arguments too. George was meddlesome. You think Billy Knight had problems with Belkin, what would have happened if George was his boss? I know he made things tough on Torre. I also know how stupid he and Billy Martin looked. I know about his episode with Dave Winfield.

I also know he bought the most storied franchise in baseball, the Yankees. Thus, he inherited a brand that had success.

All those things aside, I wish the ASG could mimic the one thing George provided to his consumer base. Confidence. No matter how crazy his decisions were or how evil he made the organization look, no one questioned his desire to put a real winner on the floor.

He found created ways to generate income (the Yankees network) to pump money into the team. Profit or saving money weren't his only goals.

George wanted to win and he wanted to win badly. And he was willing to spend to win. And for fans, that was comforting. Even when the Yankees had some rough times. Nobody wanted to run George out of New York or question his insatiable desire to win. Ask Clipper fans if Donald Sterling has ever shown the same.

George's fanbase had confidence that their owner wanted to win as badly or moreso than they did.

And so, here we are during the Hawks Free Agency period. We just gave Joe Johnson a max deal. Clearly an indication that the ASG wants to spend money to win, right? Or is this a way to make the team look attractive to a potential buyer? A 53 win team is a more desirable acquisition than a 25 win team.

After trading Childress away for a trade exception and 2nd rounder, sending the 31st pick away for cash and stating they are willing to spend over the luxury tax, provided it will make them a contender (only to stand pat and keep a team together that was embarrasingly swept out of the 2nd round two years in a row), this ownership group has failed to secure the confidence of it's fanbase once again.

And now rumors spread that the Hawks are out of the Shaq sweepstakes, not because he's a bad fit, but because they don't want to spend luxury tax dollars.

One could argue, if this rumor is true, that it is a prudent business decision in this economy.

However, hearing they don't want to spend the money along with the plethora of other things on their resume (court battles, rumors of cheapness and teams being on the market, not willing to spend on an established coach) only helps to subtract from the little bit of capital they were able to garner from the Hawks becoming a legit winning team.

Arthur Blank hasn't won a thing, yet he has the confidence of most of his consumer base. Yes, spending money does make a difference. However, most ATL fans (I'd venture to guess) believe that he wants to win. They know that Ted Turner wanted to win. Mavs fans know that Cuban wants to win. Pats and Steelers fans believe the less flamboyant Rooneys and Krafts want to win.

The Hawks/ASG have spent money. See Josh Smith. See Jamal Crawford. See Joe Johnson. See Mike Bibby. However, no one has confidence that they are willing to make over the top moves. Who knows. Maybe Sund will use the trade exception and 3 million earned from the draft day trade and flip that into a valuable piece. Perhaps, but that's not the issue. The issue is most fans don't have the confidence he will because of past behavior exhibited by the ASG. And at the core, that's the biggest issue and a huge reason we can't fill Philips up.

Steinbrenner gave Yankees fans hope.

The ASG leaves their fans scratching their heads.

Edited July 16, 2010 by khaos7

[NineOhTheRino]

After trading Childress away for a trade exception and 2nd rounder, sending the 31st pick away for cash and stating they are willing to spend over the luxury tax, provided it will make them a contender (only to stand pat and keep a team together that was embarrasingly swept out of the 2nd round two years in a row), this ownership group has failed to secure the confidence of it's fanbase once again.

I think the part we're all missing is that all of these questionable money-saving moves were made to make JJ's contract more affordable. am I off base here? I don't think it's an ASG inssue since they can only afford to play checkers while everyone else plays chess.

Edited July 16, 2010 by NineOhTheRino

[khaos7]

I think the part we're all missing is that all of these questionable money-saving moves were made to make JJ's contract more affordable. am I off base here? I don't think it's an ASG inssue since they can only afford to play checkers while everyone else plays chess.

^^^At the end of the day, it is an ASG issue for a few reasons. #1, to use your chess analogies, don't play the chess game if you're only familiar with the rules to checker. When the ASG bought these teams, they were deemed by the league as being capable of handling the responsibilities of ownership. You're not off base in the sense that they are trying to make things more affordable for the JJ deal. However, the lack of free agency movement coupled with other decisions made by this group doesn't give many of us confidence they will make the necessary moves to make us true contenders.

[ngc7]

great read and post +1 ..you have a great point. i dont even get into the convs of trades due to 0% confidence that it will happen. I just hope they at least keep the players i like the most on the team and if something big happens its that much better.