Right now, I am staring out at the Mediterranean from an office window. It's warm, very warm, and the horizon stretches to infinity as it is prone to do over large bodies of water (very cold water, as I learned last weekend.) I seem to have everything here - beaches, snow-capped mountains, mounds of hummus and tabouleh, freshly squeezed orange juice, palm trees, a bar where I can drink as much as I want for about $13...but I have this insatiable hunger for something I cannot have. I want to watch a Reds game, almost to the point of desperation. Yes, it is February, and no matter where on Earth I am, the hunger arises at the same time every year.
I had a dream last night that I was sitting in a ballpark, in all of its infinite green, and I could almost smell that hotdogs and hear the pop of a pitch hitting a mitt. Nothing like it, that pop. As I sit here now, I can almost hear the humming sound of a fastball tearing through the air, and then...pop! Such a beautiful song.
Commentary on baseball and society, baseball and philosophy, baseball and history, and baseball and baseball.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
I'll take one ticket for a dollar, please
A soccer team in England is using the Radiohead model of sales to boost attendance, and it's working.
When Radiohead released their last album, they did it without any record label and they did it online, using a pay-what-you-want way of selling records. It worked very well for them, and apparently it's working well for the English soccer team.
Reds fans often use the "it's too expensive" excuse for not attending games, and often attendance is embarrassing. I wonder if this pay-what-you-want model would work for teams that struggle to draw fans. There are too many games to make it work all season, but maybe for select days?
Then again, the "too expensive" excuse Cincinnatians use is just that - an excuse. It's not too expensive when you can take a family of four to the ballpark for less than $30 (that includes parking.)
When Radiohead released their last album, they did it without any record label and they did it online, using a pay-what-you-want way of selling records. It worked very well for them, and apparently it's working well for the English soccer team.
Reds fans often use the "it's too expensive" excuse for not attending games, and often attendance is embarrassing. I wonder if this pay-what-you-want model would work for teams that struggle to draw fans. There are too many games to make it work all season, but maybe for select days?
Then again, the "too expensive" excuse Cincinnatians use is just that - an excuse. It's not too expensive when you can take a family of four to the ballpark for less than $30 (that includes parking.)
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAH. HAHAHAHAHA. AHAHHAHAHAHAAH!!!!
Why am I laughing? Because it's 65 degrees here and you're all buried under snow! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I saw a little girl carrying a baseball bat and ball a couple of days ago. The sight of it reminded me that it's almost time! Now that the winter distraction that poses for a sporting event is over, focus will turn to baseball!
March 5 will be the test run to see if I'll actually be able to watch the games, as it is the first televised Spring Training game. Is the timezone in Arizona one or two hours different than in Florida?
Why am I laughing? Because it's 65 degrees here and you're all buried under snow! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I saw a little girl carrying a baseball bat and ball a couple of days ago. The sight of it reminded me that it's almost time! Now that the winter distraction that poses for a sporting event is over, focus will turn to baseball!
March 5 will be the test run to see if I'll actually be able to watch the games, as it is the first televised Spring Training game. Is the timezone in Arizona one or two hours different than in Florida?
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Brief update
Ok, so it's tougher to update than I thought it would be. I'm getting sucked into this city and baseball is the furthest thing from my mind right now. Sorry. Will update soon...
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
We got rid of Taveras AND Rosales in one move?
Wow. It makes the Cabrera deal ok, in my opinion. Not great, but good, really. Suddenly, I'm not so sure I should be saying I can't wait for 2011. This is the same kind of stuff Jocketty did to make the Deadbirds win even when they didn't look so good on paper (aside from one glaring name.)
This has been the best off season for the Reds in a long, long time. It's about time we get something like this.
This could be a fun year.
This has been the best off season for the Reds in a long, long time. It's about time we get something like this.
This could be a fun year.
Monday, February 01, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Uh oh?
I have a big problem.
The world wide web, while world wide, has varying levels of functionality depending on where you are. In a dysfunctional country like Lebanon, broadband might as well be dial up, and that's with electricity, which is out an average of three hours a day. That's what 15 years of civil war followed by 20 years of corruption, the occasional bombing by Israel, and the outbursts of various militant groups will do for you.
I'm leaving for Lebanon on Monday, but I'm not losing sleep over that. No, what I'm losing sleep over is will I be able to watch Opening Day on April 5th, or will the internet be too slow to stream it? Funny how ten years ago this wouldn't even be an issue, as there was no MLB.TV. What times we live in! I might need a boat ride and an overnight stay in neighboring Cyprus at that time.
Come to think about it, this might not be such a problem after all.
The world wide web, while world wide, has varying levels of functionality depending on where you are. In a dysfunctional country like Lebanon, broadband might as well be dial up, and that's with electricity, which is out an average of three hours a day. That's what 15 years of civil war followed by 20 years of corruption, the occasional bombing by Israel, and the outbursts of various militant groups will do for you.
I'm leaving for Lebanon on Monday, but I'm not losing sleep over that. No, what I'm losing sleep over is will I be able to watch Opening Day on April 5th, or will the internet be too slow to stream it? Funny how ten years ago this wouldn't even be an issue, as there was no MLB.TV. What times we live in! I might need a boat ride and an overnight stay in neighboring Cyprus at that time.
Come to think about it, this might not be such a problem after all.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Sinking the Mayflower
Something on baseball...something on baseball... You know, I believe I only have so many words to use a month, and I think I've used them all up. That and there's really nothing too exciting in baseball to write about. Sure there was the McGwire admission, which took ALL press attention from the Reds on the one day they should have been in the news. Can't you big markets give us small market folks just one day in the spotlight?
I've written before that I don't care about steroids, that Barry Bonds is my favorite non-Reds player ever, and that I think this whole "controversy" is largely just a bunch of that brand of moralizing horsey doodoo that is so typically American. Drugs Are Bad. War on Drugs. Mandatory Sentences. This Is Your Egg Brain. Everyone and his brother and sister and mother and father and neighbor and dog has weighed in on the subject, so I will say no more.
Except.
Comparisons of Rose to the Roid Boys are stupid, though I think Rose would have used had steroids been available back then, which brings me to another who-cares-about-roids point. People keep saying "The Steroid Era," but how many ballplayers of the past would have used if the drugs had been available to them? Yep. That weird thing we call nostalgia has purged all the evil from the past, and the HOFers are all saints. Except Ty Cobb. Everyone knows he was a jerk, thanks to Tommy Lee Jones.
The Roid Boys didn't murder anyone. They just wanted to be the best and they used the technology available to them to get there. Bud "National Disgrace" Selig let this happen because baseball needed something to bring it back from the strike. If anyone should be banned from baseball, it should be him. Did the Roid Boys cheat? Well, steroids weren't specifically banned in baseball. We know both hitters and pitchers did it. That's pretty much all we know, because we'll never get all of the names of the guilty. Was McGwire's apology one of those non-apologies? Maybe, but you could see he really did regret using. What's done is done. It is what it is. Time to move on.
So I guess this is my steroid post, or another of them anyway, and despite "not caring," I had to say something. Because McGwire belongs in the Hall. Bonds belongs in the Hall. Sosa belongs in the Hall. I enjoyed every minute of watching them play, even as my hatred for the Deadbirds and Chub$ was growing. I sat on the floor of my door room at Miami one September day in 1998, eyes one with the television screen, and nothing will ruin the way I felt watching that game, especially not some puritanical blabbering from the can-do-no-wrong self-righteous sports-writing generals of the nothing-but-sports crusader army who have an uncanny ability to lead the mouthbreathers to arms.
I guess I did have some words left.
I've written before that I don't care about steroids, that Barry Bonds is my favorite non-Reds player ever, and that I think this whole "controversy" is largely just a bunch of that brand of moralizing horsey doodoo that is so typically American. Drugs Are Bad. War on Drugs. Mandatory Sentences. This Is Your Egg Brain. Everyone and his brother and sister and mother and father and neighbor and dog has weighed in on the subject, so I will say no more.
Except.
Comparisons of Rose to the Roid Boys are stupid, though I think Rose would have used had steroids been available back then, which brings me to another who-cares-about-roids point. People keep saying "The Steroid Era," but how many ballplayers of the past would have used if the drugs had been available to them? Yep. That weird thing we call nostalgia has purged all the evil from the past, and the HOFers are all saints. Except Ty Cobb. Everyone knows he was a jerk, thanks to Tommy Lee Jones.
The Roid Boys didn't murder anyone. They just wanted to be the best and they used the technology available to them to get there. Bud "National Disgrace" Selig let this happen because baseball needed something to bring it back from the strike. If anyone should be banned from baseball, it should be him. Did the Roid Boys cheat? Well, steroids weren't specifically banned in baseball. We know both hitters and pitchers did it. That's pretty much all we know, because we'll never get all of the names of the guilty. Was McGwire's apology one of those non-apologies? Maybe, but you could see he really did regret using. What's done is done. It is what it is. Time to move on.
So I guess this is my steroid post, or another of them anyway, and despite "not caring," I had to say something. Because McGwire belongs in the Hall. Bonds belongs in the Hall. Sosa belongs in the Hall. I enjoyed every minute of watching them play, even as my hatred for the Deadbirds and Chub$ was growing. I sat on the floor of my door room at Miami one September day in 1998, eyes one with the television screen, and nothing will ruin the way I felt watching that game, especially not some puritanical blabbering from the can-do-no-wrong self-righteous sports-writing generals of the nothing-but-sports crusader army who have an uncanny ability to lead the mouthbreathers to arms.
I guess I did have some words left.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Andre Dawson was NOT a National
The blogosphere full of comments from Nationals fans about how the team should retire Dawson's number and how he should go into the Hall of Fame wearing an Expos cap.
Newsflash: Andre Dawson was not a National.
Yes, I know the Nationals are a reincarnation of the Montreal Expos and that they possess the legal rights to all things Expo, but Dawson never played baseball in Washington, DC. There WAS no baseball in Washington, DC when the Hawk was flying across Olympic Stadium. The only connection Dawson has to the Washington Nationals is corporate. That's it. There's no sacred bond, no soul. Just cold, hard cash.
Now, I realize that there isn't much for a Nationals fan to root for. I stopped going to so many games in 2009 because I was tired of seeing shitty baseball. (Rooting for one shitty team is hard enough, but rooting for two shitty teams is depressing.) But mooching off another city's hero?
Baseball is a game of three periods of time - the past, the present, and the future, with the past arguably playing the most prominent role in the love of the game. Baseball exists to create memories. In no other sport is the sense of nostalgia so strong and so necessary. That's why a team belongs to the city in which it plays. What happens on the field becomes a part of the collective psyche of the city's denizens. No, baseball teams aren't about trademarks and copyrights, they are about the people who invest their emotions into them. That's why the Cincinnati Reds claim to be established in 1869. Sure, the current franchise dates back to 1882, but the baseball teams that played before the business were as much a part of the city as the corporation that owns the trademark. George and Harry Wright are as much a part of the Cincinnati Reds as Johnny Bench and Frank Robinson, and that is why they are enshrined in the Reds Hall of Fame.
Inside Nationals Park stand three statues - Walter Johnson, Frank Howard, and Josh Gibson. These three men never played for the Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos franchise. Yet they belong here. They were an inherent part of Washington baseball, part of the city itself, its history, its culture, its people. Those statues deserve a rightful place here in our nation's capital. Dawson, as good as he was, does not.
_
Newsflash: Andre Dawson was not a National.
Yes, I know the Nationals are a reincarnation of the Montreal Expos and that they possess the legal rights to all things Expo, but Dawson never played baseball in Washington, DC. There WAS no baseball in Washington, DC when the Hawk was flying across Olympic Stadium. The only connection Dawson has to the Washington Nationals is corporate. That's it. There's no sacred bond, no soul. Just cold, hard cash.
Now, I realize that there isn't much for a Nationals fan to root for. I stopped going to so many games in 2009 because I was tired of seeing shitty baseball. (Rooting for one shitty team is hard enough, but rooting for two shitty teams is depressing.) But mooching off another city's hero?
Baseball is a game of three periods of time - the past, the present, and the future, with the past arguably playing the most prominent role in the love of the game. Baseball exists to create memories. In no other sport is the sense of nostalgia so strong and so necessary. That's why a team belongs to the city in which it plays. What happens on the field becomes a part of the collective psyche of the city's denizens. No, baseball teams aren't about trademarks and copyrights, they are about the people who invest their emotions into them. That's why the Cincinnati Reds claim to be established in 1869. Sure, the current franchise dates back to 1882, but the baseball teams that played before the business were as much a part of the city as the corporation that owns the trademark. George and Harry Wright are as much a part of the Cincinnati Reds as Johnny Bench and Frank Robinson, and that is why they are enshrined in the Reds Hall of Fame.
Inside Nationals Park stand three statues - Walter Johnson, Frank Howard, and Josh Gibson. These three men never played for the Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos franchise. Yet they belong here. They were an inherent part of Washington baseball, part of the city itself, its history, its culture, its people. Those statues deserve a rightful place here in our nation's capital. Dawson, as good as he was, does not.
_
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
This is my Aroldis Chapman post
The thing that got me was the snow. He'd never seen snow before. I know there are people in California and other parts of the USA who have never seen snow in their lives, but this was different. I was looking for a justification for the significance of the tall man at the table, and I found it all in the comment about snow.
I thought of Havana - hot, sultry Havana, with its perpetual summer, warm, tropical breezes, palm trees, and...poverty and oppression. I thought of John F. Kennedy, of Che Guevara, of Fidel Castro, of Nikita Khrushchev. I thought of Bay of Pigs and Missile Crisis and all of those Americans and Cubans who wondered if they'd wake up to see the sun rise the next morning or if they'd die not knowing that the politicians had sold their innocent souls for power and greed. Everything I know about the homeland of Aroldis Chapman revolves around these things.
That very tall, very young man sitting in front of cameras in a room full of people whose language he doesn't speak appeared nervous and shy even when he broke into his big, dream-fulfilled smile. All the talk about the man's character is b.s. That table stood two transatlantic flights and a courageous decision from where the dream began, and just sitting at that table showed his character.
I hope someday soon the embargo is lifted (and the Marlins move to Havana so we can go on awesome baseball vacations!) and relations are normalized so Cubans can start to lead lives that aren't mired in missed opportunities. Until then, young men like Aroldis Chapman will continue to have to make decisions us Americans can't even imagine - leave behind our family and friends to fulfill our dreams and destinies or stay and forever wonder what might have been.
I also hope we'll stop thinking of this man as the Cuban defector and start thinking of him as an ace in a rotation of aces, and maybe, if the baseball gods have finally forgiven us, a (whispers) future Hall of Famer? (I'll settle for a World Series game winner!)
I thought of Havana - hot, sultry Havana, with its perpetual summer, warm, tropical breezes, palm trees, and...poverty and oppression. I thought of John F. Kennedy, of Che Guevara, of Fidel Castro, of Nikita Khrushchev. I thought of Bay of Pigs and Missile Crisis and all of those Americans and Cubans who wondered if they'd wake up to see the sun rise the next morning or if they'd die not knowing that the politicians had sold their innocent souls for power and greed. Everything I know about the homeland of Aroldis Chapman revolves around these things.
That very tall, very young man sitting in front of cameras in a room full of people whose language he doesn't speak appeared nervous and shy even when he broke into his big, dream-fulfilled smile. All the talk about the man's character is b.s. That table stood two transatlantic flights and a courageous decision from where the dream began, and just sitting at that table showed his character.
I hope someday soon the embargo is lifted (and the Marlins move to Havana so we can go on awesome baseball vacations!) and relations are normalized so Cubans can start to lead lives that aren't mired in missed opportunities. Until then, young men like Aroldis Chapman will continue to have to make decisions us Americans can't even imagine - leave behind our family and friends to fulfill our dreams and destinies or stay and forever wonder what might have been.
I also hope we'll stop thinking of this man as the Cuban defector and start thinking of him as an ace in a rotation of aces, and maybe, if the baseball gods have finally forgiven us, a (whispers) future Hall of Famer? (I'll settle for a World Series game winner!)
What to watch
The documentary, Cobb Field - A Day at the Ballpark, will have its national broadcast premiere on the Major League Baseball Network (MLB) on Sunday night, January 17th at 10:00PM Eastern time.
I wrote about the documentary here: A Handful of Banana Split Coupons at the Dairy Queen
I wrote about the documentary here: A Handful of Banana Split Coupons at the Dairy Queen
Monday, January 11, 2010
Bet you thought you'd see something on Chapman here today, didn't you?
Well, I'm working on something. The words are just all scrambled in my head right now. Call it shock...
Oh, and McGwire belongs in the Hall.
_
Oh, and McGwire belongs in the Hall.
_
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Dear Walt
For my birthday today, I'd like a shortstop and a leftfielder. Thanks.
UPDATE: Or Aroldis Chapman?
UPDATE: RT: @JeffPassan: Non-stop Delta flight left FLL for Cincinnati at 9:20 this morning. Another source said $30 million deal is for five years.
OMG. Could it be true?
UPDATE: OMG, it is true! Thanks, Uncle Walt!
UPDATE 5:46pm: OMG, it's still true! I really can't believe it. In this day of Bankee$ and Bread $ox, the Cincinnati Reds got the top prospect IN THE WORLD. Just wow.
___
UPDATE: Or Aroldis Chapman?
UPDATE: RT: @JeffPassan: Non-stop Delta flight left FLL for Cincinnati at 9:20 this morning. Another source said $30 million deal is for five years.
OMG. Could it be true?
UPDATE: OMG, it is true! Thanks, Uncle Walt!
UPDATE 5:46pm: OMG, it's still true! I really can't believe it. In this day of Bankee$ and Bread $ox, the Cincinnati Reds got the top prospect IN THE WORLD. Just wow.
___
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Can't believe I'm going to watch another football game today
That's three in 2010, more than all of 2009.
For the first time I'm starting to understand the bandwagon thing. Well, not really. I'm not a football fan, but when a team does pique my interest, it is because it's a local team doing well. It's not like I grew up in Pittsburgh and became a New York Yankees fan because they were good and the Pirates were not.
I often think about this because I wonder what it's going to be like when the Reds start winning and the stadium starts filling. (Will it fill? The Bengals had a hard time selling out a playoff game. Is Cincinnati too lazy to fill a stadium these days? I ask in sincerity. And don't give me that "too expensive" excuse - you can take a family of four to Great American Ballpark for $27, which includes parking two blocks from the stadium. If you can't afford $27, maybe you shouldn't have cable television.) One of the great things about watching losing teams play is that you can always go to the stadium and buy a ticket, just like you'd do for a movie. It might be the only good thing, but, you know, there has to be something, right?
Anyway, I have no problem with the casual fan from Cincinnati suddenly appearing at Great American. I suppose my problem with bandwagoners stems from the sheer number of Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers fans who've never set foot in Chicago, New York, Boston, or LA, who root, root, root for the Large Market team and perpetuate this whole six out of eight teams in the playoffs are the same every year nonsense we've had for most of Emperor Selig's reign.
(Sorry if I permit myself to dream that the Reds will be a good team in the near future.)
So is it wrong that I can't stand bandwagoners but I'm going to watch the Bengals take on the Jets today in their playoff game? Is it hypocritical? It does seem a tad inconsistent, doesn't it?
It's weird having a Cincinnati team in the post-season of anything.
I'm colded out, ready for baseball. Seems a lot of people are starting to get restless - lots of "X days until pitchers and catchers report" scattered across cyberspace.
For the first time I'm starting to understand the bandwagon thing. Well, not really. I'm not a football fan, but when a team does pique my interest, it is because it's a local team doing well. It's not like I grew up in Pittsburgh and became a New York Yankees fan because they were good and the Pirates were not.
I often think about this because I wonder what it's going to be like when the Reds start winning and the stadium starts filling. (Will it fill? The Bengals had a hard time selling out a playoff game. Is Cincinnati too lazy to fill a stadium these days? I ask in sincerity. And don't give me that "too expensive" excuse - you can take a family of four to Great American Ballpark for $27, which includes parking two blocks from the stadium. If you can't afford $27, maybe you shouldn't have cable television.) One of the great things about watching losing teams play is that you can always go to the stadium and buy a ticket, just like you'd do for a movie. It might be the only good thing, but, you know, there has to be something, right?
Anyway, I have no problem with the casual fan from Cincinnati suddenly appearing at Great American. I suppose my problem with bandwagoners stems from the sheer number of Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers fans who've never set foot in Chicago, New York, Boston, or LA, who root, root, root for the Large Market team and perpetuate this whole six out of eight teams in the playoffs are the same every year nonsense we've had for most of Emperor Selig's reign.
(Sorry if I permit myself to dream that the Reds will be a good team in the near future.)
So is it wrong that I can't stand bandwagoners but I'm going to watch the Bengals take on the Jets today in their playoff game? Is it hypocritical? It does seem a tad inconsistent, doesn't it?
It's weird having a Cincinnati team in the post-season of anything.
I'm colded out, ready for baseball. Seems a lot of people are starting to get restless - lots of "X days until pitchers and catchers report" scattered across cyberspace.
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