Sun Set Long Ago on World Series Tradition

Here, see this picture of the sun?

Well, ol' shiny hasn't seen the World Series with its own eyes since 1984! Can you believe it!

At least this season, Fox scooched up the start times.

The New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies will open the Series tonight at 7:57 p.m. EDT — about 30 minutes earlier than usual — and will end each game when most children, at least those living on the East Coast, are sleeping.

Rather than catering to kids, Major League Baseball and Fox are shooting for the highest ratings they can get to help sell the commercials that pay the bills.

“World Series games, for more than 20 years, have been played at a time when the greatest number of fans can watch, from coast to coast,” Fox Sports president Ed Goren said in a released statement. “This year, we worked with MLB to move postseason start times 30 to 40 minutes earlier, and we would be very willing to consider televising World Series games played during the day if the fee to acquire those rights reflected the smaller audiences that day games would naturally produce.”

When Goren’s comments were relayed, Selig wouldn’t close the door on lowering rights.

REACT: A major sports commissioner, willingly taking LESS money for almighty television, would be something to behold. Of course, I don't see it actually happening. But the thought is intriquing.

Forget "the kids" as an argument for making World Series games start at a better hour. It really should be about us. The adults! You know, people who work for a living!

Truth be told, kids aren't going to be jostling in front of the ol' wooden fence knothole on their walk home from school. That Norman Rockwell painting isn't real. Kids are buried in their iPhones, XBox's, and the like.

So forget the kids. Just move the start of World Series games up to 7:25 latest in the east. That would be perfect! If you can trim the length of post-season games down about 10 minutes, then the (hopefully) thrilling conclusions would happen at 10:45 or so in the east.

Day games? Eh. I'm not as romantic about that as Selig. Especially if that game has to fight tooth and nail with football.

But imagine a restaurant that only opened at 8:30, not 7 p.m. While maybe you can attract diners with more money at that late hour, how are you going to grow the overall number of people who might eat there on a regular basis?

That, and maybe we need to give each manager a booklet with only 3 "vouchers" for "mount visits" each game. When you are out, you are out. Period.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>



Totally random side note. While google-image-searching for this lovely sun picture, I came across this blog thread. It is a flight sim nerd's screen-capped account of a computer flight from Beijing to Seoul.

Whooo. Hah. Exciting stuff. Just look at all that intense computer game action!

It rained on the landing in Seoul! Incredible!

But hey, I'm a nerd in my own right (see Ryder Cup, President's Cup, and Solheim Cup obsessions in golf) so I sorta dig the fact that there's a group of wanna be commercial aviation jocks out there pouring hours into their Pentium III's flying Chinese 737s.

Whatever stiffens your joystick.

"Nobody's Going To Complain..."

Lest anybody think I would miss the Tim Donaghy book story, rest easy.

With a quick pause in the World Series, let me loop back to the news of last week that was akin to Christmas for all of us David Stern haters.

The disgraced former NBA ref has penned a book from prison. And …. it... is.... awesome!

Heheheheheheh!

The original publisher got cold feet, and pulled the project. Thankfully, somebody with a rough copy got a very salacious chunk of it to the boys at Deadspin.com. Allegedly, several other publishing houses are in negotiations to pick up the book and run with it.

You can read the devastating chapter-and-verse of NBA refereeing shennanigans here. Don't believe him? He's a crook? What about his credibility?

Please.

Just because a guy is a gambling degenerate scumbag, doesn't make him a liar. Besides, the roid dealing creeps who took Pete Rose's gambling action on baseball, were scumbags.

They also told the truth about Rose.

Even if only 20% of what Donaghy says is true, it's a devastating enough barrage to cripple the league's credibility. Not until David Stern has slipped into a wealthy retirement, and many of the high profile crony refs we all know by name – Bavetta, Javie, Delaney, Crawford et al. - hang it up, will we ever feel like the league has returned to being roughly on the up-and-up.

People always called me a “conspiracy theorist” on the NBA. Not true. I never claimed conspiracy. You didn't need one.

The NBA simply “massaged” outcomes, and manufactured excitement any way they could. The refs caught on, that calling “rules” and “fouls” when they were not needed, wasn't going to get them in the good graces of the league brass.

This is exactly what gave rise to guy like Dick Bavetta. He was, and is, a professional brown-noser. He knew what made the bosses happy, and went about helping make it happen. There were no grand conspiracies needed. No memos, no meetings. No guys in trenchcoats waiting outside the arena.

Here's the key exerpt on this point from Donaghy...

In the pregame meeting prior to Game 6, the league office sent down word that certain calls-calls that would have benefitted the Lakers — were being missed by the referees. This was the type of not-so-subtle information that I and other referees were left to interpret. After receiving the dispatch, Bavetta openly talked about the fact that the league wanted a Game 7.

"If we give the benefit of the calls to the team that's down in the series, nobody's going to complain. The series will be even at three apiece, and then the better team can win Game 7," Bavetta stated.

As history shows, Sacramento lost Game 6 in a wild come-from-behind thriller that saw the Lakers repeatedly sent to the foul line by the referees. For other NBA referees watching the game on television, it was a shameful performance by Bavetta's crew, one of the most poorly officiated games of all time.

Well. Duh.

We watched the game. We saw it. But it's nice to see it in black and white. Finally. There it is.

“Nobody is going to complain...” Exactly. Except the fans whose team (usually small market) gets screwed.

Bavetta's crew that night should have been suspended, if not fired. It was such a travesty, it did not pass the smell test on any level.

But it gave the league another game (more product!), controversy, hype, and ratings. Win, win, win.

If this game was an isolated outlier, that would be one thing. But you combine it with the fact that Jordan almost never fouled out of a game despite playing pit bull like defense, the Sixers over the Bucks in the Eastern Finals in 2001, the frothing at the mouth Mark Cuban tirade as Stern left the court in Miami, Cuban's repeatedly fined crusade for more officiating research, improvement and transparency, and on and on and on....

It is a shame. The NBA has super-freak athletes. The game could – and should – be so much more at that level. But the instinct of Stern to be a marketer first, league commissioner second, has stained the league. It won't go away, until he finally does.
There's a reason why the NBA used to pull 17-18-19 ratings for the Finals, where now, even a Lakers v. Celtics “dream matchup” with stars-a-plenty, wheezes to crack a 10 share.

Casual fans may enjoy the sizzle, but genuine sports fans don't take the league at face value. And too many fan bases of lesser markets, now never feel they will get an honest chance if the stars align to deliver them a championship caliber team.
Tim Donaghy is, according to the court of law, a convicted felon.
To me, he's a hero. May his full story in the league, yet be told.

Penalties? Pfffffttttt... Big Deal, Sez Cupcake Wade

Cowboy correspondent Mike McGowan sends this angry dispatch via email this week...

This is my coach. Cowboy fans are in good hands with him at the helm. Godspeed, Wade Phillips, Godspeed.

From Cowboys website:

People always want to blame Wade Phillips for not being a taskmaster as relates to team discipline, particularly with penalties. Well, the reality is Phillips isn't completely sure penalties are the deciding factor between good teams and bad teams.

"To me, I've never seen one," Phillips said. "There's no direct correlation between the teams that are penalized and the teams that win and lose. There's no direct correlation there. The more mistakes you make I think it hurts you, certainly. The pre-snap penalties are the ones that bother me. We work at the other ones, obviously, not holding, doing all those things. But pre-snap you can do a lot about, I believe. And we haven't done enough on those, so we're going to keep working on those."

Denver game. Romo makes key pass for a first down at mid-field. Penalty takes it off the board and puts them at third and twelve from their own 20 (or so). Next play, Romo sacked, fumble, recovered by Broncos. Next play, Broncos score TD. Broncos go on to win by seven.

But Cupcake says penalties don't impact games.

I think I told both of you this, but if not: I was ranting to my girl Janice about what a buffoon Philips is (I'm sure that was a pleasurable conversation for Janice), and she asks me, "Is Philips the worst coach in the entire NFL?" I started to respond with an emphatic "yes," ready to pile on with more bashing, but I stopped myself. I replied, "No, he's the second worst coach in the NFL."

I'll let you two draw your conclusions from there.

MY TWO CENTS: You are correct, Mike. Zorn WAS the worst coach in the league, but now that he's only "fake coaching" with a plastic steering wheel next to Sherm Lewis, I would say Eric Mangini has surpassed him.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>



Let it be known: if you try out for America's Got Talent, then David Hassellhoff and his lawyers HAVE YOU BY THE BALLS!

Decked out in sequined black and gold dresses, Anne Harrison and the other women in her Bulgarian folk-singing group were lined up to try out for NBC's "America's Got Talent" TV show when they noticed peculiar wording in the release papers they were asked to sign.

Any of their actions that day last February, the contract said, could be "edited, in all media, throughout the universe, in perpetuity."

Lawyers for years have added language to some contracts that stretches beyond the Earth's atmosphere. But more and more people are encountering such everywhere-and-forever language as entertainment companies tap into amateur talent and try to anticipate every possible future stream of revenue

.

But if you think that's bad, then how about this gem, forwarded to me by emailer John Dreiser.



Call that... an "Apocalypse Clause".

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>



For those who missed it, I spoke last Friday about how overboard the NFL's “Breast Cancer” sponsorship has gone. One week? Fine. No problems. A month? Get outta here. This stance, of course, was unpopular with some, because of course, I am actually PRO breast cancer. Right.

FROM: Jonathan French
RE: Breast Cancer "Awareness"

No doubt, Czabe is being hammered by emailers and callers for the breast cancer comments yesterday. Well, he was absolutely right! Tons of charitable resources are wasted on the expenses associated with putting on events like Race for the Cure. For every dollar donated, I would imagine that very little actually goes to research or helping those with breast cancer. On top of that, breast cancer, while horrible, has a very high survival rate, and almost always impacts adults who are at least capable of attempting to acquire and understand their treatment options. I wish professional sports and the public in general spent as much time raising funds for research into cures for terminal illnesses for kids, like childhood lymphoma. Facilities that provide treatment for children with potentially terminal illnesses pro bono are much more worthy causes. Forget the ta-ta's, save the kids!

REACT: While I don't know the actual dollar return rate on events like Race For the Cure, I concur with the rest of his points. Skin cancer has a similarly high survival rate. But how many special months do we have for that?

Furthermore, I have a hard time thinking that cancer research (of all stripes) is under-funded. I gotta believe major foundations, universities, government programs and such, all support “research” in spades.

Awareness is a different story. I would respect the NFL a lot more, if once a year, they made us all “aware” of a public health issue that maybe – wait for it.... - we are ACTUALLY NOT VERY AWARE OF!

Rotate this “horrible-thing-you-don't-know-about” on a yearly basis. At this point, I am afraid some men think that breast cancer is the ONLY kind of cancer women ever get.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>



On the political front, I don't understand the thinking of anybody who looks at a 1,990 page deathtrap of government health care regulation and says: “You know, THAT is going to make my life, better.”

But, sadly, some do.

I had the following (paraphrased) conversation with an earnest suburban Maryland liberal housemommy. When I asked her if she REALLY thought Obama's health care reform was a good idea that would actually work, she said: “It may not be perfect, but if it helps some people get insurance they can't afford, then I'm all in favor of it.”

My follow up efforts asking her about unforeseen complications, failed assumptions, runaway costs, end runs on the new system, fraud, and all the other inevitable horrors of this statist manifesto... well, they fell on deaf ears.



She was stuck. Stuck on the glow of a warm, fuzzy, good intention.

Facts, logic, or past history of such attempts were simply no match.

These things can lead freedom loving, rational people to despair. If you have no chance to sway folks of this mindset, then what will prevent them from blissfully voting away our freedoms one-by-one, with each new warm and fuzzy idea that comes along?

The unemployment rate shows no signs of abating, despite the genius idea of just printing ourselves some money for new “jobs” back in February. I squealed like a stuck pig in this (mostly sports) blog back then, for no other reason that I felt I just had to speak out.

Holy shit, what a waste of money!

Some of you, said I was wrong. Well....

The numbers are coming in, and they ain't pretty.

Chip Reid of CBS News took the O-ministration to the woodshed over the stimulus and its so-called “saved” jobs count.

At a small college in Georgia, $100,000 in stimulus funds paid for trucks for students to practice for commercial driver`s licenses. Another $100,000 went for a modular classroom. The school reported to the government that 280 jobs were created. In reality, not even close. That’s the number of students who benefited. It has nothing to do with jobs. In Cocoa, Florida, a childcare center reported 129 jobs created by a stimulus grant. In fact, no jobs were created. The money was really used to increase the compensation and benefits of 129 existing employees.

And on, and on, and on.....

If the stimulus was a good idea, then another one – even bigger – would be an even BETTER idea. Right? Well, I guess even that's too hard a sell for Democrats at this point.

Yet if I asked my suburban liberal democrat housemommy she might totally agree! Yes, let's keep trying HARDER to vote ourselves rich, and spend our way out of a recession!

The only way any of this gets turned around, is if small business starts feeling good about the political tides shifting enough to thwart Obama's socialist agenda. Right now, that sector is hunkered down in survival mode.

Hiring? Ha! If they hire somebody now, who knows if Obama will pass a law forbidding companies to fire anybody, for any reason in the near future.

I know several doctors who own their practice (small business) and several other entrepreneurs with a business and they could tell you exactly how worried they are that Obama's agenda on a variety of fronts will simply wipe them out.

They have told me.

But hey, don't believe me. Believe somebody else. Caroline Baum of Bloomberg.com paints a full picture of this liberal fantasy.

Actual hiring seems to be lagging behind the model’s land of make-believe. For small businesses, which are the source of most job creation in the U.S., the government’s increased and changing role in the economy isn’t a confidence builder. Businessmen have no idea what health-care reform will mean for their cost structure or what whimsical tax policies the government might impose when it realizes those short-term deficits are running into long-term unfunded liabilities. No wonder capital spending plans were at an all-time low in the third quarter, according to the NFIB monthly survey.

And so it goes. You don't come here to read about politics. I know that. I won't be changing any minds. I know that.

But I feel like I must at least get my voice on record. Its crap. Its depressing. I pray it all gets stopped. And just because I'm a “sports guy” doesn't mean I can't have an opinion on politics or business. Just like you, in whatever field you make a living in, are certainly entitled to speak up wherever and whenever you can.

I am just one voice. But perhaps it'll make you feel better to know that I feel the same was as you. There are many more voices like us out there, you just sometimes don't know it.

Now, back to sports and other stuff ....

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>



I have been skeptical of fan "boycotts" and or "walkouts" to protest the Snyder Regime with the Redskins. Most of these things fail, miserably. But this idea.... well... it might just be crazy enough to work.