Sez Me …

It would be a snap to say Matt Kemp had to go to Atlanta to become a disappointment to me — except, according to Matt, he was a disappointment to me, himself and everybody but the hoteliers the entire time he was in San Diego.

× Matt Kemp traded to Braves

This is why the Padres salary-dumped their wealthy right fielder to the Braves in exchange for an alleged woman abuser who never will wear Padres brown and gold, or blue and white, or camouflage, or whatever colors they choose to don now or in the future.


Kemp was not unproductive here (except he’d lost it as a fielder), but, by his own admission, he wasn’t everything he was cracked up to be, and (my words) not nearly worth what he was making. General Manager A.J. Preller did a great job shipping Matt and his huge salary to Georgia. It gave A.J. $31 million to play with, and he’s already made some use of it by signing yet another respected international player, Cuban pitcher Ronald Bolanos.

Kemp since has said he could have done more here, especially in the leadership capacity, for which he provided zilch. I won’t say he was a clubhouse cancer, but he wasn’t a panacea, either. Despite decent offensive numbers, he was expendable on a team going nowhere.

But I didn’t quite know how clueless he was until he actually got to Atlanta and said: “I’ve never played in a real baseball town before. So I’m excited about that.”

I’ve got news for Matt. Atlanta is about as great a baseball town as Minsk. The Braves even have had trouble selling out playoff games — which they haven’t had to worry about lately and won’t for a while.


Kemp came here from L.A., which ranks No. 1 in MLB attendance. San Diego, in a down year, sits at 16. Atlanta, really down, is at 25 but wasn’t great when the Braves were good and underachieving.

I’ve never considered San Diego a great baseball town. Good, yes. Good enough, definitely. I wonder if L.A. is a great baseball city. Does drawing 42,000 a game from a pool of 14 million make you great?

But Atlanta, no chance. It can get stadiums built there, though. I guess The ATL has fewer influential hoteliers than we do.

San Francisco is a great baseball town. Wasn’t always. San Franciscans never even adopted easily adoptable Willie Mays. St. Louis is the best baseball town.


But now that he’s in a tremendous baseball metropolis, Kemp vows to change his ways. Please. Old dog. Old tricks. …

No chance USA Today would have named Petco the best ballpark prior to the All-Star Game. Not enough people had seen it. …

Imagine Preller’s surprise when he was told he was wasting his time trying to sign Che Guevara. …

How the hell can Alexi Amarista pull a hamstring? Isn’t it about an inch long? …


Yasiel Puig will leave Oklahoma City for the Warriors. …

Rio is the Qualcomm Stadium of cities. Beautiful from a blimp. …

Can’t see the complaints by spoiler alertists over the Olympic Opening Ceremonies not being televised live. There is no result to give away. …

Loved media tweets on the Ceremonies. It reminded me of KNX Radio sending a correspondent every year to describe the floats in the Rose Parade. “Oh, here comes Canada!” …


Gisele Bundchen paraded 500 magnificent feet during the Opening Ceremonies, nothing compared to the 500 feet of broken glass, hot coals, razor blades and deflated footballs Tom Brady crawled over to meet her for the first time. …

USC has had a gold medalist in every Olympics since 1912. Only 15 countries have more. …

Is there anything in the football world more useless than passing stats from training camp 7-on-7 drills? No. …

A group of nuns visited Bolts camp Friday. And, thus, we have it from the highest authority. A Super Bowl victory is assured. …


The Chargers SHOULD NOT talk to the San Diego Taxpayers Association any more than they should bother talking to the City Council. …

When the Chargers signed James Jones, I was thinking of the great writer of war, “From Here to Eternity” and “The Thin Red Line.” Not the same guy. …

SDSU’s football team is ranked 37th in the preseason Coaches Poll (about as important as the last wave that crashed at OB). Every school in the top 25 is from a major conference, except Houston. Polls stink. …

Coaches aren’t qualified to vote for polls any more than sportswriters. Can’t come close to seeing all the teams play. …


Bovada of Vegas, which is qualified, puts Aztecs football over/under at 9½ wins, Boise State at 11. …

Phil Mickelson’s 69.192 scoring average leads the PGA Tour. He hasn’t won. Tough game. …

Draymond Green sends out a photo of his privates to show the world they’re OK, the only ones he hasn’t kicked. …

Texas is allowing concealed weapons on campus. Student grades are expected to rise dramatically. …


The greatest human mascot ever is a Chicken. …

Why is it that we come up with some indecipherable crap every day and not a single new swear word? How much longer must we rely on the classics? …

They’re saying 70 is the new 50. I hated 50.

sezme.godfather@gmail.com Twitter: @sdutCanepa