What will Barça do after Messi’s Last Dance?

ESPN’s The Last Dance miniseries about the one and only Michael Jordan was well received by many when it aired recently. The miniseries discussed Michael Jordan’s career and his final season with the Chicago Bulls. Of course, talk on Barça social media was how much they looked forward to a similar miniseries made about Lionel Messi when his playing days are over. Yet, as much as I look forward to enjoying a miniseries about Messi, I am also concerned of about Barça after Messi’s last dance with the Blaugrana.

The idea of Messi walking away from football struck a nerve last December when Messi addressed the media after winning the Ballon d'Or for a record-breaking sixth time. Messi said, "I'm aware of how old I am. And I enjoy these moments so much because I know that retirement is approaching. Time flies." Barça fans have been under the illusion that Messi was eternal and would play on forever. Yet, that December night woke Barça fans from their stupor and made them realize that nothing lasts forever.

All good things must come to an end, and the day Messi walks off the pitch as a Barça player will be one of the most gut-wrenching days as a fan. Messi has been representing the Blaugrana for almost 20 years, ever since his arrival from Argentina as a young teenager who made his way through La Masia ranks before reaching the first team and becoming a married 32-year-old man who is also a father to three children. Throughout those years, the one constant was Messi representing FC Barcelona. Eventually, we will have to bid farewell to Messi when the wonderful magician walks off the pitch as for the final time as a Barça player. However, is the club ready for when that day arrives?

Since I started following my beloved Blaugrana, I have seen a couple of great eras and great players come and go. The club survived after they sacked Johan Cruyff and survived after Pep Guardiola left the club in 2012. The club survived after Romario, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, and Ronaldinho departed the club. But there is a cause for concern about of FC Barcelona after the departure of Messi.

The Chicago Bulls never tasted success before Michael Jordan’s arrival and have not since his departure. The Bulls allowed their successful coach, Phil Jackson, and Dennis Rodman to walk away while trading Scottie Pippen to Portland. The Bulls began a new era with Toni Kukoč as their best player with the hopes of enticing other players to join their team. However, players ignored the Bulls and their history and opted to join other teams while the Bulls slowly slid into an abyss of failure. Also, the successful Boston Celtics of the 80s paid the price for not having players ready to step in for Larry Bird and Kevin McHale when they retired in the early 90s and would struggle for many years until becoming competitive again. I am concerned that Barça seem to be following in the footsteps of the Bulls and Celtics regarding future planning of the squad at the moment and when Messi retires. Luis Suárez and Gerard Piqué are both 33, and Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba are both 31. While Frenkie de Jong seems to be Busquets’ successor, the club still lacks the necessary successors for those other players, and for Messi as well.

The grand plan of former Barça president, Sandro Rosell, was for Neymar to be Messi’s heir apparent, either after they sold Messi or after Messi left the Blaugrana. However, that plan went down in flames when Neymar opted to join Paris Saint-Germain F.C. in 2017. Barça received quite the windfall, €222 million, from Neymar’s departure to Paris Saint-Germain but the club squandered that fortune on expensive transfers that have failed to deliver. Barça splashed €105 million on Ousmane Dembélé whose bad luck with injuries have frustrated the fans. Coutinho cost €145 million and lasted a season and a half before being sent out on loan. Meanwhile, Liverpool used that €145 million to sign Virgil van Dijk and Alisson and win the Champions League.

While looking ahead to determine what signings Barça need to make, one has to wonder how dire is Barça’s current economic situation when they cannot afford to sign Neymar or Inter’s Lautaro Martínez without selling other players first. They were able to gobble up players before, but now, Barça seem to have tightened the belt across their waist twice. Will they have the financial capability to sign other “Cracks” when Messi leaves or is the financial hole they’ve dug themselves into is far too deep to crawl out from?

We lived through this financial mismanagement under Joan Gaspart’s presidency and it took Joan Laporta a year to clear the club’s deadwood. Elections are next year and will the next Barça president have the funds needed to replace Messi and strengthen the team? Moreover, will the next Barça president be brave or crazy enough to contemplate the thought of selling Messi to recoup the funding needed to pay off the club’s debts and sign new players. Besides Messi, the only players that could warrant a big transfer value are Marc-André ter Stegen, Arthur Melo, Frenkie de Jong and a healthy Ousmane Dembélé.

If Messi walks away, careful planning will be needed to usher in the new Barça project. This club will always rebound but the appropriate decisions need to be made to ensure a smooth transition to life without Messi and not become what Manchester United and A.C. Milan are today. Failure to do so will be catastrophic for this club.

March Madness Always A Wonderful Time Of The Year.

March Madness is upon us once again. The annual survival of the fittest in College basketball has commenced and already has had its share of upsets and surprises and Cinderella stories. The competition is unique and provides us with a month where we get to see the heavy weights and the small fries face off against one another where victory is never guaranteed. Without a doubt, March Madness is the most wonderful time of the year….right after Christmas, sometimes.

March Madness has been great to watch and now that I live in Spartan country, I am more invested in watching it. I have been following March Madness ever since I was exposed to it when I was 10 years old and Duke went on to win their first title under coach K. It seems like yesterday that the 1999 Final Four was held in my hometown in Saint Petersburg, Florida where the team I grew up rooting for, Duke, lost to UConn in the final. I was able to go see the teams practice for free and see others schools’ fans, students and alums root for their schools. It was without a doubt a memorable experience and was glad to have enjoyed a part of it. Just wish Duke hadn’t lost to UConn.

Me and my friend checking out Final Four practices

There is something unbelievable about this tournament that other sporting events cannot deliver. 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament is unparalleled in any other sport. Do or Die. It is indeed the survival of the fittest. One bad performance can be enough for a team to crash out and dash their hopes and dreams. The uncertainty and the unpredictability of it, is one important aspect of this tournament. This competition wouldn’t be this memorable if each edition of March Madness had the top seeds advancing to the Final Four. Instead, we have seen David slay Goliath on numerous occasions.

Valparaiso upset architects, father and son.

Over the years, we have witnessed great upsets such as when Richmond eliminated Syracuse, Weber State eliminated North Carolina, Hampton eliminated Iowa State, Santa Clara eliminated Arizona, Valparaiso eliminated Mississippi, Princeton eliminated UCLA, George Mason eliminated UConn, Gonzaga eliminated Stanford and Florida, Virginia Commonwealth University eliminated Kansas, to N.C. State pulling off the greatest upset in defeating Houston in the Final. There are so many that I apologize if I forgot to mention your school.

                              Jimmy V after NC State won the title.

If you love rooting for the underdog, then March Madness will not disappoint either. This competition has also given us a share of Cinderella stories. Gonzaga were a Cinderella story back in in 1999 when they eliminated Minnesota, Stanford and Florida before falling in the Elite Eight. George Mason had a memorable run when they defeated the likes of Michigan State, North Carolina, and UConn to make it to the Final Four. Virginia Commonwealth University defeated the likes of USC, Georgetown, and Kansas before falling to Butler in the Final Four. If there ever was a great Cinderella story, then Butler wins that prestigious label hands down.

Butler's Cinderella Run

Not too many teams can brag about making it to consecutive Final Fours, let alone consecutive Final Four National Championship Finals. Butler managed to do that in 2010 and 2011. Butler made it all the way to the Final Four when they defeated the likes of Syracuse and Kansas State to get into the Final Four where they eliminated my beloved Michigan State University Spartans in the National Semi-Finals before losing to Duke by 2 points in the National Championship Final. Butler defied the odds again the following year when they defeated the likes of Syracuse and Florida to make it to the Final Four yet again. They eliminated fellow Cinderella story, Virginia Commonwealth University in the National Semi-Finals before falling to UConn by 8 points in the National Championship Final.

We have already seen our share of upsets this year. Florida Gulf Coast eliminated Georgetown, Harvard knocking off New Mexico and La Salle knocking off Kansas State in the first round of March Madness. You can’t take anything for granted. Gonzaga were a top seed this year and were nearly beaten in their opening game before Wichita State sent them home packing a few days later. How times have changed. Back when I was a teenager, Gonzaga were a Cinderella team defying the odds and now there are the top seed being upset by another team donning the Cinderella label.

This truly is an uncanny tournament where most people don’t even know the majority of the players let alone where the heck some of these schools are located. Yet, people still tune in to watch. I am from Florida and I never heard of Florida Gulf Coast. I didn’t knew they were just south of my hometown. There is something about young kids playing to win a title …and earn a big pay day when they head to the NBA. This is the tournament that introduced us to future NBA legends such as Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, Isaiah Thomas, Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, and Dwayne Wade after guiding Marquette to the Final Four.

Dwayne Wade working his magic before his Heat days

We are almost down to 16 teams now. This tournament kicked off on Tuesday and the majority of the teams have been eliminated. So sit back and watch to see which team will be the next Cinderella story and which player will become a future NBA legend. There will be nail biting buzzer beating shots and some heart breaks along the way. May the best team win indeed.... and here's hoping it's Michigan State.

Here's to Coach Izzo bringing MSU another title

Off Topic – Why the hate on NBA Players during the Lockout?

I know it’s not football related but hey, it’s my blog. This topic has been bothering me for quite a while; People hating on the players during the ongoing NBA Lockout. Sure, both the owners and players share a bit of the blame but blame the owners for the state of the Lockout and the state of the game in general.

NBA has suffered Lockouts before. Some were real brief but the last wiped out half a season. The players fought against the owners and Commissioner David Stern. The owners complained that the then Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) was unfair to the owners and had to be changed. The players looked bad and greedy with some of the big stars like Patrick Ewing saying "SureNBA players make a lot of money, but we spend a lot too", and another, KennyAnderson, saying he would have to sell one of his 8 cars to make ends meet (he later said he was kidding). They got scared when their pay checks didn’t arrive and caved in. David Stern and the owners won. This Lockout was back in 1998 for the 1998-1999 season. High fives for them and even Sports Illustrated showed how this was awesome for the owners and the league.

Stern won, then, which was no surprise; he almost always does. That's why the owners had the good sense for the last six months to keep their mouths shut and let him work. While the players were talking too much—first putting their hightops in their mouths with ludicrous comments that showed how out of touch they are with the average fan and then hurting the union's cause by revealing how desperate they were to settle—the owners let Stern be their voice. It's true that they had a gag order with the threat of a six-figure fine hanging over their heads, but these are wealthy, powerful men. The fear of writing a check didn't keep them quiet. Confidence in Stern did.

So fast forward to today and what do we have? The owners are complaining the current CBA is not good for them and that they are losing tons of money. Say what? The owners forced the players to accept the deal. It was their deal. They played hard ball, via Stern, and won. So now, the league is saying that they are losing more than $300 million a year. So whose fault is that? The players? Last time I checked, it wasn’t the Players’ Union who gave Rashard Lewis a $118 million contract who doesn’t play any D and can only jack threes.

The owners forced the players to accept the last CBA. They were the ones who said the players will get 57% of the share. Now the owners want to take it down to 50% or even lower and people are upset at the players for not accepting? Look, I am a Portland Trailblazers fan and I want to see them win a title in my lifetime. But I also understand where the players are coming from. They were strong armed into accepting the last CBA deal and now they are getting strong armed into accepting another. Why should they trust the owners and their judgment? It’s like that old saying, “Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me.” They don’t want to get burned again.

What makes this lockout even better is Michael Jordan’s role.  When the last lockout took place, it was reported that Jordan told one owner, Abe Pollin of the Washington Wizards, "If you can't make a profit, you should sell your team." Ironically, he ended up playing for Pollin at the end of his career which many Jordan fans forget to recall or prefer to wipe out of their memories. Now, Jordan is on the other side of the debate as the owner of the Bobcats and you can’t help but see the irony. One day, you’re telling owners get out of the game if you can’t afford it and now you’re saying you can’t afford to stay in the game and want the players to accept less.

So the lockout is still ongoing but the players and owners don’t seem close to reaching an agreement. Good. It happened to the NHL and they missed a season and now the league is doing well but we’ll see how things go when their next CBA deal end. As for the NBA, they should not reach a new deal until both sides are happy. That way, we can blame both for the lockout. Right now, I can’t point the finger of blame on the players. The owners wanted the last CBA deal; got it and now they are crying that the deal is no good. Sorry, but that’s your fault.