OK, I wanted to start a blog a while ago but now I am dedicated. The post from November is obviously a little outdated. I am sorry to have to even type this, but in January, Bud Selig decided to change his mind (where have I heard that before?) and continue his reign as commissioner. Wait, you haven't heard the worst part. It's through 2012... Yes. I'm not lying... Anyways, I obviously seem to disapprove of him, but it's not like I hate him. It's just that he's a big ol' stinkin' fart. I in no way want this to seem like a Selig-bashing blog.
Back to business, though... I will post my rants and raves and probably go off on tangents every two sentences. But it's fun that way, don'tcha think?
With housekeeping out of the way, I'd like to start continue my anti-Selig stuff for a little bit and then we'll get back to the current stuff.
The All Star Game...
The fact that it decides home field advantage... it all comes back to the problem of interleague play, doesn't it?? If only the revenue of the All Star game equaled the revenue of interleague play. The reason All Star games used to be played was the fascination with seeing players from the other league. So obviously with interleague play fans just don't care that much about seeing these superstars. (This issue also goes back to ESPN. Duh. Don't think there's no anti-ESPN rant coming.)
Now about it being the event that determines home field advantage. Guys from the Royals, Rangers, and Rays will NOT be playing in the WS. If they do something to screw up the game, why should that cost a better team a WS game? When it comes down to WS's like '01 when each team wins all its home games, why should be DBacks win the deciding game because a guy from the Giants got a big hit off a guy from the A's? This has always been an exhibition game-don't make any more of it. HFA should be determined, if we're going to have interleague play, by which league led it. This means that this league is not as good as the other and therefore provided lesser competition for its league's champion. Therefore it was easier for them to reach the WS and should be harder for them to win it.
OK, to the voting process. Obviously, you'll have an entire region not watching the ASG if they don't have THEIR guy there. I understand that, and I'd be fine with it if the game didn't matter. But don't you want the BEST players if you want HFA? If this game counts and you really want to win, you're going to want the best players possible. That means NO Mark Redman from the Royals in 2006. And then there's Barry Bonds. Do the people from MLB want to run a popularity contest or a talent competition? Nobody's heard of the REAL talent in the MLB. Make them starters. I'm tired of Carl Crawford not getting any recognition. Don't force the fans to see people they see every week. Everyone gets into the game sometime or another. Play the talented guys in the starting lineup so they get the attention they deserve. Nobody knows who Joe Nathan and JJ Putz are. The game ends so late that buy the time the should-be-superstars show up, the kids are sleeping. Last ASG I was sleeping by the eighth inning. I was tired. I had a full day of work. I didn't want to stay up any later. I had to go to work the next day. Why should I be forced to stay up until midnight? I see the game going nowhere, fall asleep on the floor, and wake up seeing Ichiro getting the MVP (not to mention a nice car). I thought, OK, game ended how I expected, uneventful ending... Little did I know that the NL mounted a threatening comeback! Why should I be forced to watch something that matters this much until midnight?
Postseason Scheduling... what a disaster!!! No weekend afternoon games?!?! Please... it all comes down to money - that's more important than young fans. Imagine if you're a Phillies fan. It's Saturday night and your team's about to be eliminated from the playoffs. You'd like to see your team be competitive. I love the Phillies - they're fun to watch and I wanted to watch this game. But it started at 9:30. Yes. That's PM. Yeah, I get it. It's 7:30 Rockies time. But these games, even NL, last 3 1/2 hours and nobody wants to stay up until 1 AM, even on the weekend, and be totally exhausted AND depressed that their team lost the next day. What is wrong with splitting the TV rights between two channels like I remember FOX and ESPN doing a few years ago and having 2 games overlap a tiny bit? People will most likely have a preference of watching one game over another. And no postseason game should start past 8 ET unless both teams playing are at or past the Mountain time zone. There is nothing wrong with afternoon games on weekends. At least the next generation will actually see some postseason baseball in their childhoods. He'll miss all the awesome moments at the end of each games, the celebrations. I'll bet a lot of young Rockies fans missed that Matt Holliday play. How can a young kid love baseball if they can't see it? Why do you think basketball is becoming the game to play? Yes, game are in primetime when they start at 8:40. But they end so late! How about having the real latter-part-of-the-game action on at primetime? Why should a game at Fenway on a Saturday night end at 1 AM? Totally unreasonable, especially when it's the championship series. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir by now.
OK... Up next... current stuff. Look for it ;)
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Bud Selig (Frustration keeps BUILDING)
Bud Selig... Grrr....
Wild Card's great, I totally support it. It brings baseball to some cities for 2 extra months. And we can't have a situation like 1993 with the Braves and Giants. That was just horrific.
But interleague play?
Bear with me on a hypothetical storyline... Imagine if the Indians played the Pirates, Reds (oooh, Dusty Baker, scary), Nationals, Astros (as much as I love Oswalt), and Cardinals. None of them are very good. So the Indians win 12 interleague games. Now, the Tigers play the Mets, Phillies, Cubs Rockies, and Padres. of course, this situation wouldn't exactly happen, but it could be close on any given year. So the Tigers win 7 interleague games. That's a 5 game difference. Now imagine the division comes down to the 2 teams, and they've each won the same amount of intraleague games because they're just about as good as each other - versus other opponents. BUT now imagine the Indians pitching staff just not being able to pitch to the Tigers and being slapped around by them all year. And the Tigers' pitchers dominate against the Indians hitters. All year. So technically the Indians can't measure up to the Tigers. BUT the Indians have more wins - because their interleague opponents are weaker! So if the wild card comes out of another division, the stronger team does not make the postseason.
This is certainly possible. Of course, MLB makes good dough off this junk. But I'd rather maintain the integrity of the game and the fairness of regular season results than have them make more money. SO NOT NECESSARY!
Another thing, Buddy. Instant replay. Sheesh. Don't go telling Mike and the Mad Dog something they won't refute because they're actually trying to respect a public sports figure. Bud, I totally understand not wanting a pitcher to have to wait on the mound to wait for somebody to review the play. But have you ever watched a baseball telecast in your life? Those television guys can review a play in less than 5 seconds. Look at the way tennis does their instant replay. It's quick, easy, and pretty much painless. Hire a REAL, NON-BIASED official scorer to review these plays, and flash his rulings on the scoreboard, just like any other close call (hits vs. errors, for example).
Human element? You'd rather have the wild card winner be determined on a judgment call? Or even the world champion? That's just downright stupid. If you have the technology, USE IT! It was totally ridiculous to have 2 late-summer games lost because the tying run was not granted the base he should have been given fairly, on blown calls - 2 years in a row! (Both against the Mariners, coincidentally.)
You don't need instant replay for balls and strikes, just safe or out and fair or foul. Grant a manager 2 challenges a game. If he wins one he doesn't lose either of his challenges and can challenge 2 more times. If the manager gets the call wrong, he loses one of them.
This WOULD NOT add more than ten minutes to a game. Try actually enforcing the time limits for batters and pitchers - that will speed the game up. Not that I want the game to any faster. I watch it because I love it. I'm not in any rush to turn it off. And i care enough about my team to get upset if an umpire blows a call - I'd rather they got it right than sped the game up. I don't want any less of the game than I already have - 162 games is just not enough! I don't care if I'm watching all night. This is entertainment. If you're not entertained, don't watch.
Wild Card's great, I totally support it. It brings baseball to some cities for 2 extra months. And we can't have a situation like 1993 with the Braves and Giants. That was just horrific.
But interleague play?
Bear with me on a hypothetical storyline... Imagine if the Indians played the Pirates, Reds (oooh, Dusty Baker, scary), Nationals, Astros (as much as I love Oswalt), and Cardinals. None of them are very good. So the Indians win 12 interleague games. Now, the Tigers play the Mets, Phillies, Cubs Rockies, and Padres. of course, this situation wouldn't exactly happen, but it could be close on any given year. So the Tigers win 7 interleague games. That's a 5 game difference. Now imagine the division comes down to the 2 teams, and they've each won the same amount of intraleague games because they're just about as good as each other - versus other opponents. BUT now imagine the Indians pitching staff just not being able to pitch to the Tigers and being slapped around by them all year. And the Tigers' pitchers dominate against the Indians hitters. All year. So technically the Indians can't measure up to the Tigers. BUT the Indians have more wins - because their interleague opponents are weaker! So if the wild card comes out of another division, the stronger team does not make the postseason.
This is certainly possible. Of course, MLB makes good dough off this junk. But I'd rather maintain the integrity of the game and the fairness of regular season results than have them make more money. SO NOT NECESSARY!
Another thing, Buddy. Instant replay. Sheesh. Don't go telling Mike and the Mad Dog something they won't refute because they're actually trying to respect a public sports figure. Bud, I totally understand not wanting a pitcher to have to wait on the mound to wait for somebody to review the play. But have you ever watched a baseball telecast in your life? Those television guys can review a play in less than 5 seconds. Look at the way tennis does their instant replay. It's quick, easy, and pretty much painless. Hire a REAL, NON-BIASED official scorer to review these plays, and flash his rulings on the scoreboard, just like any other close call (hits vs. errors, for example).
Human element? You'd rather have the wild card winner be determined on a judgment call? Or even the world champion? That's just downright stupid. If you have the technology, USE IT! It was totally ridiculous to have 2 late-summer games lost because the tying run was not granted the base he should have been given fairly, on blown calls - 2 years in a row! (Both against the Mariners, coincidentally.)
You don't need instant replay for balls and strikes, just safe or out and fair or foul. Grant a manager 2 challenges a game. If he wins one he doesn't lose either of his challenges and can challenge 2 more times. If the manager gets the call wrong, he loses one of them.
This WOULD NOT add more than ten minutes to a game. Try actually enforcing the time limits for batters and pitchers - that will speed the game up. Not that I want the game to any faster. I watch it because I love it. I'm not in any rush to turn it off. And i care enough about my team to get upset if an umpire blows a call - I'd rather they got it right than sped the game up. I don't want any less of the game than I already have - 162 games is just not enough! I don't care if I'm watching all night. This is entertainment. If you're not entertained, don't watch.
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