by Jim Barton on Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 1:39am
The Texas Rangers nominated Dirk Nowitzki to throw out the first pitch at their first home World Series game. Individual teams are allowed to make selections for this honor for regular season games, but need league approval for the World Series games. But Dirk seemed like a logical choice. He had just led his Dallas Mavericks team to the NBA finals with a sweep over Kobe Bryant's Lakers and a destruction of the Miami Heat and their three superstars in the NBA Finals. Add to that the fact that Dirk is a Ranger's fan, just flying over from Germany for the American League championship series.
Shockingly, Major League Baseball initially nixed the selection, issuing this brief statement: "Dirk does not have broad national appeal. It's nice that he's attending some of the games, however." MLB Commissioner Bud Selig must have rocks for brains. You would almost have to back to Jimmy The Greek to find a dumber statement issued in the sports world.
Dallas-Fort Worth, the so-called metroplex, did not take kindly to this empty-headed statement by the head brass of baseball. Eric Rodriguez echoed the sentiments of many DFW residents: "Are you fucking kidding me? Dirk has global appeal! This is the biggest slap in the face to Dirk and his greatness I've ever witnessed. You think they would have done the same if the Marlins wanted LeBron? Hell no. cause he's flashy and does shoe commercials. this represents everything that is currently wrong in sports.You can be the best in the world, but if you dont sell yourself out as a brand you will be disrespected. I'm thoroughly pissed."
First of all, Bud Selig lied about the reason Dirk was disrespected. It had nothing to do with Dirk's relative appeal. It was done by baseball's hierarchy to show solidarity with their NBA owner brethren who have locked out the NBA's players in an effort to hammer out a more owner friendly labor agreement. Secondly, their assessment of Dirk Nowitzki's national appeal is flat out wrong. The Nielsen Polls annually measures the marketability of NBA players in the United States. The poll itself states that it reflects national perception and appeal. The Nielsen findings released August 1 show Dirk Nowitzki to be the most marketable of all NBA players with an N rating of 132. Kobe Bryant finished 2nd in the poll with a rating of 83. Dwyane Wade rated 34 with Lebron James at 26.
The next day Major League Baseball reversed their decision on Dirk with a mealy-mouthed statement. MLB spokesman Pat Courtney said commissioner Bud Selig didn't know Nowitzki wasn't involved and thought he should be. So the league is inviting him to throw out the first pitch at Game 3 on Saturday at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Yeah, right!
A riot was averted in Dallas-Fort Worth.
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