Posts Tagged ‘mlb’

  • 28 Apr

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    Now baseball has their “hoodie”

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    OriginalHoodie McDHoodie

    Quick Reaction: Even though we’ve grown tired of Bill Belicheat’s hoodie (which has also spawned Josh McDaniels taking that tradition to Denver), it seems that another coach has decided to join this exclusive club of fashion-insensitive coaches: Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays coach Joe Maddon (Maddon, not Madden):

    TBHoodie

    Maddon’s hoodie however, has caused much more controversy, since baseball still insists that baseball managers need to wear the same uniform that their batters and pitchers have on.  Yes, they may be permitted to wear a team coat if it’s cold, but certainly not a hoodie.  All that changed this month when MLB Brass decided that Maddon wearing a hoodie would not ruin the tradition of the game, and reversed their original ruling.

    Belicheat, inspired by Maddon’s courage, decided to send him a Patriots hoodie.  However the story didn’t specify whether Belicheat chopped off the sleeves before he sent it.

    This story reminds me just how ridiculous it is to see these middle-aged & older men wearing these baseball uniforms as if they’re going to step into the batter’s box.  This makes as much sense as having Josh McDaniels or Mike Shanahan strap on some shoulder pads, or George Karl putting on some baggy shorts.  I’m glad baseball’s loosened the reins a bit for cold weather gear, but they should really relax these rules for all games.  Maddon admitted he didn’t want to wear a shirt & tie, but it’d be nice to see these managers in a nice polo or something.

  • 12 Oct

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    More Baseball Scheduling Thoughts

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    Well the Rockies had a great run and blew everyone’s expectations – especially when you consider that back in the Spring Hurdle got fired because the team was so bad.  I’ll be honest: Now that the Rockies are out of the Playoffs, my level of interest in MLB has significantly decreased.  I did want to offer a thought, more-so an expansion of something I Twittered about last night before fatigue got the better of me.

    The Rockies started playing at 8pm on a Sunday night, with the game ending well past midnight.  We’re talking Mountain Time, never mind that we were playing Philly, an Eastern Time Zone team.  Yet somehow baseball doesn’t see anything wrong with that.

    Look, I’m not in so much denial about the Rockies’ stature that I believe the team warrants the major prime-time spot, and I am somewhat grateful that they re-scheduled the Rockies game to give Broncos fans the opportunity to watch..  but really an 8pm start time?!?  Baseball can’t get away with the same tricks that basketball and hockey pull – their games are under 3 hours – and an 8pm start time doesn’t work for playoff baseball.

    I’ve heard the detractors of my views (and debated with them on Twitter), that I am being selfish and am unwilling to sacrifice a little to support my home team.  Perhaps they’re right, but consider this: Baseball has been in an arguable decline in popularity over the last few decades.  Their die-hard fans aren’t getting any younger, and the only way to build your stature is by getting your product in front of as many potential fans – especially kids – as possible.  It’s pretty hard to that when they’re all in bed.

    I’ve stated previously that the NBA is pretty obnoxious about their playoff scheduling, but in the beginning they’re trying to fit in 8 games.  Yet somehow baseball only has to manage 4 games and still finds a way to screw that scheduling up.  Baseball is in a tough spot, but they need to start somewhere and accept a few things.  For one, accept that you can’t avoid football and may just need to compete with it.  If you’re going to play on a Sunday in the fall, you can’t avoid all of their games.  Secondly, you need to make sure you’re on in the afternoons on weekends, the fact that you didn’t have a game scheduled on Saturday afternoon is nothing but a missed opportunity.  Thirdly, if it’s too hard for you to take 2 games each night and alternate nights, then you maybe should accept the fact that the games will need to run on alternate channels.  I know each sports feels their playoffs should run exclusively, but if you can’t manage the 4+ hours your game run then you need to do something.

  • 07 Oct

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    Playoff Schedules: Who screws it up the most?

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    Rocktober is here! The Rockies are in the playoffs and I’m really looking forward to see the Rockies take on the Phillies. only to find out that the game aired at 12:30pm on a Wednesday?!?  We’re talking about playoffs – the pinnacle of your season – yet MLB in it’s idiotic lack of wisdom puts the game on when the entire country is at work and can’t watch the game.  At what point is this a good idea?   I realize that these leagues feel like their game should be the only game on TV, but at what point does it seem like a good idea to air your game in the middle of the day compared to airing two games in the same night, or rotating the 4 games with 2 on each night for opposite nights?  Thanks for nothing baseball!

    However baseball isn’t the only sport that screws up their playoff schedules.  Nobody is perfect at doing this, but a lot of leagues have a lot more to learn than others.

    NFL

    It’s pretty hard to screw up football, and the NFL does a pretty good job of not killing momentum with the playoffs.  With the “1 and done” format and the fact that the NFL is played on weekends, it’s not surprising the the Super Bowl is an unofficial national holiday.

    What they need to improve: Get rid of the week between the Conference Championships and the Super Bowl.  While I’m sure all those involved with the game appreciate that week, it’s excruciating watching the hype-machine in overtime.  This year they’re putting the Pro Bowl in that week between the games, so hopefully this schedule/format change will improve things a bit.

    NHL

    The NHL arguably does the “best of.” playoff series most effectively.  The NHL isn’t afraid to alternate nights, and have teams play on the same night, yet ensure that each series effectively gets a share of the spotlight.  The playoff rhythm is strong and consistent from the start of the playoffs to the Stanley Cup Finals.

    What they need to improve: Get on a network where people can watch them.  They would have the perfect playoff format if they were on at least a major cable network.

    NBA

    The NBA is obnoxious with it’s playoff scheduling, especially in the early rounds.  You have teams that play one night, then won’t play again until 3 or 4 nights later.  They get in a better rhythm in the later rounds, but it’s tough to get through the first round and realize that the playoffs are going to span a better part of 2 months.

    What they need to improve: Go to a best of 5 series for the first round, maybe even for the 2nd round.  Alternate nights for these rounds so that the series won’t last longer than 10 days.  If necessary, air 3 games on the same night.  The Eastern/Western Conference layout makes it easier to make sure the home teams can get a the game on in their prime-time.

    MLB

    MLB has a lot of wrongs that they need to correct, and they need to start with October.  First off, they need to get their games at times when people can watch them. That means that they need to get their first-round games out of the mid-afternoon time slot, as well as get their League Championship Series and World Series at earlier start times so that people on the East Coast can watch them without staying up until 1-2am.  Trust me, the West Coast will tolerate a 4:30 start time for the World Series.

    What they need to improve: Aside from the previously mentioned time changes, they need to move to an “Alternate Night” model and stick with it.  if a series ends early, don’t be afraid to kick it off reasonably early.  Rest after a series is not a right guaranteed to both teams, it’s something you earn by sweeping your opponent. It’s inexcusable that the Rockies had to wait nearly 10 days to play the next round.

    Honorable Mention: College Basketball. They do the most effective job maintaining intensity for a 64 team playoff throughout the end. If they could just do away with the 64/65 “Play-In” game they would be perfect.

    Dishonorable Mention: College Football. It’s hard to have a playoff schedule without a playoff.  Aside from that, the fact that the bowl games are played up to 5 weeks after their last game is asinine.

  • 13 Dec

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    Latest baseball debacle: The Mitchell Report

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    Today’s the day of the long-awaited Mitchell Report: the definitive study on the Steroids Era in baseball.  The news delivered as promised – some pretty big-named players have been named including Roger Clements, Andy Pettitte, and of course Barry Bonds.  George Mitchell concluded that there’s plenty of blame to go around.  I’m just glad to see that not any big-named Rockies (with the exception of Dante Bichette) weren’t on that list.

    So the big question – now what?  Now we know that steroids were prevalent since the mid-90′s to only a few years ago, where does baseball go from here?  Many of the players named in the report are still active, so how do we treat those?  I’ve heard many advocate for leniency against the players, as there technically wasn’t a rule that they broke by taking steroids – since steroids weren’t banned until 2004.  However, I think Mitchell himself best states the players’ crime:

    They violated federal law and baseball policy, and they distorted the fairness of competition by trying to gain an unfair advantage over the majority of players who followed the law and the rules. The players who follow the law and the rules — are faced with the painful choice of either being placed at a competitive disadvantage or becoming illegal users themselves. No one should have to make that choice.

    They broke the law and used illegal substances.  I don’t know how much content from this report can be leveraged in a court of law, but one thing is clear: baseball needs to do something to deal with this ugly mark on their sport.  There should be consequences to this debacle, and I think the following should happen:

    Don’t suspend or ban the current players – while there’s not necessarily a statute of limitations against this in baseball, it’s questionable to punish players for what they did many years ago when management shares as much blame for looking the other way. Fans will choose whether or not they want to come out and see the tainted players – don’t take that choice away from them by suspending them.

    However, I do think that that if there is evidence that players perjured themselves when they testified in front of Congress or the Grand Jury, then they should be prosecuted under the fullest extent of the law (that includes McGwire and Bonds).

    Burn the league individual record books from the steroids era – Any individual records attained by players found to have used Performance Enhancing drugs during the steroids era should be stricken from the record books – this includes any MVPs and namely the Home Run records attained by McGwire and Bonds.  I also think Bonds should be stripped of the HR crown as well. Any records attained by players that are not found on the report should be kept, but “written in pencil” and able to be removed if performance-enhancing news about that particular player were to surface.  Team records could still be maintained on a team-by-team basis, which would essentially create two sets of records (team-wide and league-wide), serving as a consequence of this era.

    Granted, that’s pretty harsh, and I don’t really expect baseball to strike their records, but I do think it’s not unreasonable to expect an asterisk next to records of implicated players in the Steroids Era.

    Bottom line – baseball is a great sport that is managed poorly and continues to give fans less and less reasons to want to be passionate about this sport.   Today is a sad day for baseball and sports.

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