GSB News and Notes: Big Earth Day for Green-Sports in Baltimore, Chicago and London; Eco-QB Josh Rosen Drafted By Arizona

The Green-Sports world was on overdrive over Earth Day last weekend. Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the beautiful home of the Baltimore Orioles, earned LEED Gold status. The Chicago White Sox became the first team in Major League Baseball to no longer dispense plastic straws at their home games. The London Marathon tried out compostable cups. And the Kia Oval, South London home of the Surrey County Cricket Club, announced it would be single use plastic-free by 2020. Plus, a few words on the first round of the NFL Draft as the Arizona Cardinals traded up to the 10th spot to take UCLA QB — and eco-athlete — Josh Rosen.

 

ORIOLE PARK EARNS LEED GOLD CERTIFICATION FOR EXISTING BUILDINGS

The Baltimore Orioles and Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) celebrated Earth Day by announcing that 26 year-old Oriole Park at Camden Yards — the venue that ushered in the “retro stadium” movement in baseball and a must-visit if, like me, you love ballparks — earned LEED Gold certification for existing buildings. Oriole Park now is part of a four-member club of LEED Gold certified MLB ballparks (AT&T Park in San Francisco, Marlins Park in Miami and Minneapolis’ Target Field are the other three).

The iconic B&O Warehouse, which is home to the Orioles offices just beyond the right field fence, also earned LEED Silver certification. Both facilities garnered LEED points for a variety of sustainability practices, including waste management, recycling, paperless tickets, and the installation of state-of-the-art energy efficiency systems.

 

Oriole Park at Camden Yards, newly certified at LEED Gold for existing buildings, with LEED Silver B&O Warehouse beyond the right field wall (Photo credit: Ballparks of Baseball)

 

“The historic and iconic Oriole Park at Camden Yards, already amongst the best ballpark experiences, is now further enhanced with energy efficient equipment and environmentally conscious improvements,” said Maryland Lt. Governor Boyd Rutherford. “The LEED certification project, fully funded by MSA, supports Maryland’s commitment to sustainability, every day, and especially this Earth Day.”

To celebrate the LEED-i-fication of Camden Yards, all Orioles players and coaches wore green-accented jerseys and caps for last Sunday’s Earth Day game. The game-worn jerseys and caps were autographed and authenticated, and are being auctioned online at www.orioles.com/auctions to benefit the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

 

CHICAGO WHITE SOX SAY NO TO PLASTIC STRAWS

In an effort to reduce plastic waste, the Chicago White Sox announced that they would become the first MLB club — and the first Chicago pro team, no matter the sport — to no longer provide plastic straws with drinks sold at their stadium. Biodegradable straws are replacing their plastic cousins at Guaranteed Rate Field^.

The policy, which went into effect on Earth Day, is the result of a partnership with Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium and its “Shedd the Straw” campaign which encourages Chicago residents to stop using single-use plastic straws.

 

 

“As an advocate for wildlife, Shedd Aquarium has declared that Earth Day is the last straw for single-use plastics that threaten water health and environmental quality,” the aquarium said in a statement.

 

COMPOSTABLE CUPS AT LONDON MARATHON

Earth Day’s London Marathon was the hottest in the race’s 37 year history, with temperatures reaching 75°F. That meant the 40,000 or so runners faced even more of a thirst-quenching, endurance test than normal with huge numbers of drink bottles and cups distributed.

 

Sunday’s London Marathon was run in record heat (Photo credit: London Marathon)

 

The plastic waste issue is significant and organizers took an important step to address it by piloting the distribution of 90,000 compostable cups along three drink stations.

Mike Childs, a campaigner at Friends of the Earth, told BBC Radio 5 Live that: “The compostable water cups being trialled have the potential to lessen the amount of plastic waste created by the marathon, but there are challenges when it comes to the correct collection and processing of these to ensure they have their full impact”.

That is why race organizers also made 760,000 recyclable plastic bottles available to runners. A spokesperson for the London Marathon told BBC Radio 5 Live that using recyclable plastic bottles remains “the best solution for the distribution of water and sports drinks to the more than 40,000 runners.”

 

KIA OVAL TO GO SINGLE-USE PLASTIC-FREE BY 2020

Meanwhile, in South London, Surrey County Cricket Club announced it plans to make the Kia Oval a single use plastic free stadium by 2020.

According to an April 20 story in sportindustry.biz, the commitment is a logical extension for the club that, since 2015, has served beer in recyclable and reusable pint glasses, and this season banned plastic straws, introduced compostable coffee cups, and is phasing out plastic bags in the club shop.

 

Kia Oval, home of Surrey County Cricket Club (Photo credit: Sport Industry Group)

 

Going green has certainly been good for business for Surrey CCC: Last year, it inked deals with new sponsors Fidelity Energy and ENGIE, which ensures that all electricity used at the Kia Oval is generated from sustainable sources. The partnership has already saved 223.8 tons of carbon.

 

 

ECO-QB JOSH ROSEN DRAFTED BY ARIZONA CARDINALS IN FIRST ROUND

Two weeks ago in GSB, I opined that with the third pick in the first round of the NFL Draft, my quarterback-needy (desperate?) New York Jets should select UCLA’s Josh Rosen, the “best pure passer and the most intelligent” player available.

And that was before I found out climate change is a big concern of his. In an in-depth interview on espn.com with Sam Alipour, Rosen declared, “One cause I’ll champion is the environment. It touches everything. I mean, the war in Syria started because of the drought and famine that destabilized the country and led the population to revolt against the government. I know global warming is a partisan issue for some stupid reason, but it touches everything.”

How cool is THAT?!?

While I clearly preferred Rosen to two of the other three quarterbacks being considered as top 10 picks, Wyoming’s Josh Allen and Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield, I did make one hedge. If Sam Darnold was available when the Jets picked, I’d go with the USC signal caller over the twice-concussed Rosen by a smidge because he moves better and will likely be more durable. Draft experts at the time felt Darnold would be gone by the Jets pick, with either the Cleveland Browns at one or the New York Giants at two taking him. In that case, I would’ve been more than happy to see a green Rosen to wearing Jets green.

But, the Browns selected Mayfield with the first overall pick and the Giants did not pick a QB, opting for Penn State running back Saquon Barkley, generally regarded as the best player in the draft, regardless of position. The Jets, with both LA quarterbacks available, chose Darnold. And Rosen began to fall.

 

Sam Darnold (r) with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, after being picked by the New York Jets with the third pick in the first round of Thursday’s NFL Draft (photo credit: USC Trojans)

 

That slide ended when the Arizona Cardinals traded with the Oakland Raiders so they could snag Rosen with the tenth pick.

Arizona is a perfect place for Rosen, from a football perspective (the Cardinals run an offense that fits his skill set) and climate change-wise (the Phoenix area has been buffeted by its effects, from frequent and deep droughts to high temperature records being broken frequently).

 

Josh Rosen, new QB of the Arizona Cardinals, with commissioner Goodell (photo credit: The Ringer)

 

So here’s hoping that, on February 7, 2021, at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium, the Jets with Darnold defeat the Rosen-led Cardinals in Super Bowl LV.

Before that, here’s hoping that Darnold joins Rosen in the climate change fight. And when Darnold joins the eco-athlete club, let’s tell the sports media they should let fans know about it (#CoverGreenSports).

 

 

^ I know naming rights deals are lucrative but Guaranteed Rate Field doesn’t have a great ring to it IMHO.

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UCLA’s Josh Rosen, Eco-Athlete, Hopefully Will Be Gang Green’s (aka NY Jets) Next Quarterback

This year’s NFL draft is considered by many so-called experts to be a quarterback bonanza. Many mock drafts have four QBs — in alphabetical order, they are Josh Allen of Wyoming, Sam Darnold of USC, Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield, and Josh Rosen of UCLA — being chosen in the top 10 picks of the first round. In fact, there is a solid chance that the first three picks of the draft will be quarterbacks. It says here that, if he is available when Gang Green, aka the New York Jets, my New York Jets make the third overall pick in the first round, they should select Rosen for two good reasons: 1. He’s the best pure passer in the draft and has a high football IQ, and 2. He’s an eco-athlete! 

 

EDITORS’ WARNING: THE FIRST TEN PARAGRAPHS OF THIS GSB POST GET INTO THE MINUTIAE OF THE NFL DRAFT, THE ANNUAL SELECTION OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL STARS THAT DRAWS A TELEVISION AUDIENCE OF ALMOST 10 MILLION VIEWERS, AS WELL AS THE PSYCHOLOGICAL SCARS OF NEW YORK JETS FANS. IF THIS DOES NOT APPEAL TO YOU BUT YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE ECO-ATHLETE ASPECT OF THIS STORY, PLEASE SKIP AHEAD TO THE PROMPT BELOW. THANK YOU.

The New York Jets have been in the quarterback desert for almost 50 years, the halcyon days of Joe Willie Namath and the miracle of Super Bowl III. As a Jets fan since the then, I — and my brothers and sisters in green — have suffered, quarterback-wise, through the unspeakably awful (Browning Nagle, Geno Smith), the hopeful-but-ultimately-meh (Richard Todd, Mark Sanchez), the good-ones-derailed-by-injury (Chad Pennington) and the pretty-good-but-did-they-really-bloody-pick-him-before-Dan Marino?!?! (Ken O’Brien).

 

Browning Nagle, one of many Jets quarterback busts over the past 40 years (Photo credit: Gang Green Nation)

 

That legacy of abject failure means most Jets fans approach the first round of the 2018 draft — which takes place April 26 in Dallas — with typical sports fan hope (“we’re picking third, we need a quarterback AGAIN and there are four top QB prospects. We will get one of them!”) leavened by a heaping helping of fatalism (“not all of them will be good and these idiots will pick the wrong guy!” and/or “even if they pick the right guy, he’ll get hurt!”)

And that fatalism is amped up by the fact that the Jets, originally slotted to pick sixth in the first round (the 32 NFL teams pick in inverse order of their finish the season before — the team with the worst record picks first, the team that won the Super Bowl picks 32nd), traded two their two* second round draft picks this year and their second round pick in 2019 to the Indianapolis Colts to move up to the third slot as they were fearful of missing out on the Big Four. Second round draft picks are expected to turn out to be solid-to-very good starters so that was a heavy price to pay. But if you don’t have a quarterback, you’re nowhere, so, it says here, it was a trade the Jets had to make.

And that amped up fatalism has been dialed up to DEFCON1^ status because, as good as the Class of 2018 quarterbacks appear to be — Allen has one of the most powerful arms seen in recent years, Darnold looks like the complete package, especially his ability to improvise under pressure, Mayfield is a leader and is very accurate, and Rosen is seen as the best pure passer and the most intelligent of the bunch — none are sure things. They all have flaws: Allen’s accuracy, Darnold turns the ball over too much, Mayfield is too short, and Rosen has a concussion history and is alleged to have personality issues (or, as Sam Alipour of ESPN The Magazine puts it, while “roughly half of draft-loving America feels he’s a future franchise QB, while the other half fears he’s a crap-stirring, system-disrupting locker room poison pill.”)

So, who should the Jets pick? It depends on who will be available.

With the draft two weeks away, conventional wisdom has it that the Cleveland Browns, picking first and with a three decades long need at QB, will select Darnold. As an aside, if you’re unfamiliar with the NFL draft and the first 500+ words of this post make no sense, rent the 2014 movie “Draft Day,” starring Kevin Costner. It gives you a Hollywood-i-fied version of the draft, it’s entertaining and Costner’s character runs the draft for the Cleveland Browns. Art imitating life.

The New York Giants — the “older brother” rival of the Jets — have the second pick. Eli Manning won two Super Bowls (2008, 2012) for them at QB but he’s 37. Backup Davis Webb, a third round pick last year, is untested. If these QBs are really “all that”, then the Giants will pick one. If they opt to stay with Manning and Webb, they could trade down to amass more picks, to a team more desperate for a signal-caller (Denver, Miami, Buffalo, and Arizona are all in that predicament, to one degree or another). Or, they stay put pick the best non-quarterback in the draft. I think Big Blue will pick a QB. My guess — and it’s just a guess — is that they will take Josh Allen, loving his big arm in the cold weather games of the northeast. But, for the sake of this Jets-centric post, let’s assume they take a non-QB (pass rusher Bradley Chubb would be my choice in that case), giving Gang Green the choice of the law firm of Allen, Mayfield, and Rosen.

I would pick Josh Rosen.

 

Josh Rosen, working out for NFL scouts in the run up to the draft (Photo credit: Michael Owen Baker/Associated Press)

 

My biggest concern is his concussion history but I’m not worried about the personality stuff. And on the field, I like his vision, decision making and arm. He’s not as good a runner as the other three but he moves well enough to extend plays. If Darnold somehow is available when the Jets pick, I would take him. Otherwise, for me, it’s Rosen.

 

Josh Rosen (l) and Sam Darnold shake hands after Darnold’s USC Trojans defeated Rosen’s UCLA Bruins last season (Photo credit: Kevin Kuo/USA Today)

 

ECO-ATHLETE ONLY READERS, IT’S SAFE TO REJOIN US HERE.

And that was before I learned about Rosen’s eco-athleticism on Tuesday. In an in-depth interview on espn.com with Sam Alipour (it’s well worth reading), Rosen took on the personality issues that have dogged him, and showed himself to be a curious, insightful 21 year-old. And he also discussed climate change when discussing which causes he will champion as a pro:

I think it’ll evolve, but one cause I’ll champion is the environment. It touches everything. I mean, the war in Syria started because of the drought and famine that destabilized the country and led the population to revolt against the government. I know global warming is a partisan issue for some stupid reason, but it touches everything.

Rosen is the first athlete I know of who made the link between climate change, the drought in Syria, and, by inference, the resulting refugee crisis. I expect this from Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman but not from a quarterback about to be a first round NFL draft pick.

It shows common sense, the ability to connect dots, and the ability to think. All important, if underrated, qualities for an NFL QB.

So, to New York Jets General Manager Mike Maccagnan, the ultimate decider in the draft room, bring eco-athlete Josh Rosen to Gang Green.

Unless, of course, Sam Darnold is available. Then all bets are off.

 

* The Jets had an additional second round pick in the 2018 draft due to a prior trade with the Seattle Seahawks

^ DEFCON1 is the most severe level of readiness of the U.S. military, on a 1 to 5 scale

 

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