HBO, MLB WANT You to Care About 3,000 Again

While show prepping for the best edition of "The Exchange" yet, my editor asked me for a Yankees piece for the paper. Seemingly, everything has been said about the topic, but not necessarily for the purview to the New York Beacon's audience (we are a weekly, after all). Fortunately, when HBO sent its press release regarding production on a show that followed Derek Jeter towards the 3,000 hits mark, I didn't lack a topic; though certainly for internet-savvy baseball addicts, the reaction to this upcoming special may have been said elsewhere with no word count limit. It is published in this week's Beacon, but for you out-of-towners, here you go.

Building Up Jeter, 3,000 a Task Beyond Yankee Universe for MLB, HBO
By Jason Clinkscales

Earlier this week, HBO announced that it would follow Derek Jeter’s quest towards the magical 3,000 hits mark. Magical because in baseball, no matter the controversies that still pull the sport down, it’s a testament to a player’s consistency, health and diligence to the craft.

Only 27 other players in the history of baseball have ever crossed this plane and amazingly, Jeter – the Yankees’ franchise leader in hits – will be the first to have done so for the Bronx Bombers (former Yank Wade Boggs did so with Tampa Bay). He’ll pass other legends in the game such as Roberto Clemente and Lou Brock before the end of the month and might approach Rickey Henderson, Rod Carew and the underrated Craig Biggio before season’s end.

Unfortunately, because of the Yankees’ dominance in the sport’s narrative – even when they are not involved with the game you may be watching – Jeter’s eventual milestone doesn’t have the panache outside of New York that it would have before baseball had to defend itself from performance-enhancers and the worst financial system in sports. What it does have, however, is good timing as this season has lacked a defining moment thus far.

HBO has a history of telling amazing stories that you may have not expected; from making Floyd Mayweather Jr. boxing’s greatest villain on its acclaimed 24/7 platform to a humored reflection on the infamous Broad Street Bullies of the 1970s (NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers). Yet, those were unearthing personalities seeking an opportunity to shine or casting a larger spotlight where one previously dimmed years ago. With the in-production “Derek Jeter 3K”, this is different because there may not be a new look into an iconic player.

What can be said that hasn’t been said before about the most revered Yankee since Mickey Mantle? The local adulation may be a bit much for some, but considering that Major League Baseball is desperate for anything to take attention away from the financial struggles with the Mets & LA Dodgers, this would be a chance to recapture the national narrative. HBO helped make the New York Jets the most talked-about team in America in 2010 and made you briefly care about hockey before the 2011 Winter Classic, but they are now charged with reviving a seemingly faded brand.

Jeter’s a man that can actually get Boston Red Sox fans watching his inevitable climb to 3,000 out of sheer respect. He’ll have baseball fans throughout the NYC metro area stand and applaud, whether fans of the Yankees, Mets or other. Yet, it’ll be up to HBO to make this moment matter beyond the constellations in the Yankee Universe. They may gloss over the same reverence as many media have over the years, but with its unique brand of storytelling, the premium cable channel has a chance to refresh the story a bit as Jeter inches closer to 3,000.

Say What?!?!: So, it's been nearly three weeks since the last post, but you can blame the new fulltime job. However, as you may have picked up on quickly, the show don't stop! Catch up to the archives of The Exchange, including Tuesday's excellent special episode with Michael Tillery of SLAM Magazine & The Starting Five along with Paulsen of Sports Media Watch.

Interview with Paulsen of Sports Media Watch

In the last decade, you may have heard as much about television ratings as quarterback ratings. Whether it’s television, print, radio or online, ‘major’ sports media personalities constantly mention them in some way to justify or belittle the viewership of games. However, with the increased public discussion to viewing measurement, few actually provide proper context behind the much ballyhooed numbers. It’s why a site such as Sports Media Watch has become a go-to destination for media and fans alike over the last five years.

Since 2006, Paulsen has maintained the well-regarded and highly-referenced site which takes a deeper look into Nielsen ratings and major movement in the sports media industry. Certainly one with his own opinions and curiosities about sports media, Paulsen was gracious enough to respond to questions about the purpose of SMW, the public conversation about ratings, social media’s role (or lack thereof) in increasing television viewership and his frustration with the sports media world throughout the LeBron James free agency saga.

In advance, many thanks again, Paulsen.

A Sports Scribe: You’ve operated SMW for a few years now. Could you explain why you came up with the site?

Paulsen: I used to write a lot of Wikipedia posts, which in retrospect wasn’t a great idea. One day in ’06, I read a blog post that quoted fairly liberally from one of the Wikipedia articles I edited, and I realized that it made a lot more sense for me to publish that kind of information on my own blog, as opposed to a place like Wikipedia where you really have no ownership of the things you write.


Scribe: SMW is predominantly television ratings analysis, yet over the past year and a half, you’ve added some excellent in-depth interviews with some major players in the sports media business. How did a passionate fan as you manage to talk to the crew from Inside the NBA and Russ Greenberg of HBO Sports?

Paulsen: I can really thank some very good sports PR people out there for helping me get these interviews, such as Jeff Pomeroy and Megan Bondi at Turner Sports, Nate Smeltz and Diane Lamb at ESPN, Mike Giluyi at PromaxBDA, Brandon Bagley with the Ivy Sports Symposium, and others.

I actually went to Turner Sports in December of last year and May of this year, and they couldn’t have been more gracious and accommodating, from the PR officials like Pomeroy, Eric Welch and Tareia Williams to the on-air personalities like Chris Webber, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson. They showed me an incredible amount of respect, which is amazing considering how bloggers are sometimes viewed by others in the sports media.

In February, I attended the ESPN Wide World of Sports opening, and ESPN’s Mike Soltys and George Bodenheimer were kind enough to take the time to speak with me – especially Mike, who I pelted with sports media questions as we walked through the Disney theme park. Funny story: as Mike and I were talking, a woman came by and just blasted ESPN the Weekend right to our faces. She was the only person I saw who complained.

Also, I should thank Bob Rathbun and Darren Rovell, the first two people I reached out to for interviews.


Scribe: The interviews with former players & coaches turned analysts – NBA’s Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Chris Webber from TNT and former NHLer Barry Melrose of ESPN – were especially enjoyable reads. Did they discuss anything about how they educated themselves on the media business during or after their active careers in those leagues?

Paulsen: Not necessarily. Kenny mentioned how he didn’t really see being a TV analyst as a career until Craig Sager told him how much potential he (and Inside the NBA) had.

Set Meters used by Nielsen for ratings measurement (via AgencySpy)

Scribe: Nielsen television ratings have been around since 1950, yet it truly started to enter the sports lexicon over the past decade. Sports media critics and industry insiders have had conversations about the metrics for years, yet it seems that only now, these numbers are talked up on the air in the same breath as yards per catch and ERA. Do you see a rhyme or reason to it all?
 
Paulsen: People like to compare. They like to say that their sport is #1, and someone else’s sport is less popular. From what I can tell, sports fans use television ratings as a sort of value judgment, where sports with higher TV ratings are somehow better than sports with low TV ratings.

Just look at the NHL-NBA and MLB-NFL flame wars that erupt each year. I think a lot of fans take pride in how their sport does on an overall level, and on a team level as well. Just going from what I see on message boards, Laker fans are proud, for whatever reason, that their team is the biggest draw in the NBA. I guess it’s a good reflection on Kobe. Yankee fans like to point out how World Series ratings drop when their team isn’t in it. It’s a badge of honor, another thing to brag about. That said, I don’t necessarily agree that TV ratings information is as commonplace as yards per catch and ERA – but it certainly seems more commonplace than it was a few years ago.

You know what this is (via Los Angeles Times' Showtracker)

 
Scribe: Until this past July, you were once very active on Twitter; using the forum to engage with your readers outside of SMW itself. Yet, shortly after The Decision, you tweeted “underrated aspect of LeBron saga: the unbelievably poor state of American sports media. And I don't just mean ESPN.” Could you elaborate a bit on that statement?
 
Paulsen: I truly believe the coverage of NBA free agency, and of LeBron James in particular, was the nadir of sports journalism – at least since I’ve been following it. Lots of rumor based reporting, the ‘Allan Houston’s house’ story being arguably the worst of it.

The coverage of LeBron post-The Decision has produced, in my opinion, some of the worst sportswriting in recent memory. There’s one writer who has gone after James in such a personal, unprofessional manner over the course of the past several months that it amazes me he is considered one of the better NBA writers out there. He’s just one of many. The number of cheap shots taken at James, whose only crime is being very full of himself, has been frankly disheartening.

I’m not a big fan of moral outrage, especially when it comes to something irrelevant like sports. I can’t muster up the energy to be offended by something like Hanley Ramirez not going hard after a ball. As far as LeBron’s special goes, I really have no respect for anybody who watched it and then complained about it afterwards. Everyone knew what it would be days before it actually aired. Nobody had to watch it; if they wanted to know where he would sign, they could have just checked any sports website that night. I watched it, and then I got on with my life. I didn’t feel the need to complain about it for four months, and I surely didn’t feel the need to judge somebody on the basis of sixty minutes of easily escapable television.

Anyone who has watched LeBron over the years knows he has a big ego. For me, that’s mildly amusing. For others, that is a high crime. I guess it comes down to perspective – or lack of it, in the case of the sports media. If LeBron wants to think of himself as a “winner” when he hasn’t won, that’s his prerogative. I don’t need to write articles sneeringly pointing out the fact that he hasn’t won a championship. A lot of these guys take James’ hubris personally, which tells me that they need to perhaps take some time off and reevaluate their lives.

The defense of the people of Cleveland has been particularly ridiculous, considering that James was a free agent and owed neither the city nor the Cavaliers anything. The fans of Cleveland deserved nothing from James, or any other player, the same way no fan in any city deserves anything from the people providing them optional entertainment. As far as James not informing Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, I just think of the many, many players who are not informed about trades, or about being cut – like Damon Jones, who in 2008 reportedly found out from his limo driver that Gilbert’s Cavs traded him to the Bucks.

Overall, it was a pretty awful summer for anyone who enjoys rational thought, as opposed to screaming outrage, cheap shots, and the ravenous tearing apart of yet another athlete. There’s a lot of people I lost respect for over the summer, not that it would (or should) matter to them.


Scribe: Being that social media has become part of the new normal, how much of a role do you think it plays in attracting eyeballs for sports programming, if at all.

Paulsen: I think the influence of social media is a bit overstated. I may be wrong about this, but I can’t imagine that a tweet or Facebook message from ESPN or Turner is going to get someone who wasn’t going to watch a sporting event to suddenly decide to tune in. Even in the case of dedicated (as opposed to casual) sports fans, I’d imagine the effect of social media on the decision to watch a sporting event would be negligible.


Scribe: Considering how deep in the forest you are when it comes to the sports industry, do you have the same sporting interests today as when you were younger? If not, how do you reconcile such changes?

Paulsen: Probably not. For example, the first couple of times the Spurs made the NBA Finals (’99 and ’03), I wasn’t necessarily thinking about it through the lens of their negative effect on the NBA’s TV ratings. Once I became more aware of the business of the NBA, it was tougher for me to watch their subsequent appearances without thinking about how poorly the games were doing in the ratings. For games that I know will do poorly – for example, Bucks/Hawks Game 7 last year – there is certainly that feeling of ‘nobody’s watching this’. Generally, games and series that do terribly tend to correlate with games and series that aren’t very fun to watch. I can’t think of very many series that have been entertaining and well-played that still had terrible ratings. Maybe Devils/Ducks in ’03, but perhaps a more astute NHL viewer than I can tell me whether or not that series was actually good hockey (I enjoyed it, at least).

At the very least, I can say that the business aspect of sports is very much present in my mind when I’m watching games.

As far as how I reconcile this with my personal sports fandom, sometimes I have to separate myself from the business aspect of sports in order to enjoy it. It’s been a bit more difficult to do that since I started the blog.

The San Francisco Giants and their fans couldn't care less about ratings (via SF Chronicle)

 
Scribe: Much is made about how this past World Series between the new champion San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers was tied as the lowest rated series of all time despite the teams being from the 5th and 6th largest media markets in the United States. When both teams defeated the favored Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees, immediately there were cries about how the Series would fare poorly because neither team (more so New York) was involved. Do you see some sort of self-fulfilling prophesy when it comes to ratings: if people start predicting doom, doom will happen? If they begin to hype something, ‘everyone will watch’?
 
Paulsen: In a way, yes. It’s kind of a chicken and egg scenario. The Yankees are a big TV draw because they can attract large audiences. Those large audiences watch the Yankees because they’re told the Yankees are popular and important. Here’s my ‘theory’: there’s a base level of popularity these teams bring to the table, which is magnified by media attention. The Yankees are already extremely popular, and media hype just shoots them further into the popularity stratosphere. There’s no doubt in my mind that the Yankees would be the best draw in baseball even without media hype – but if the media gave more equitable attention to the Yankees and other teams, perhaps the gulf between a Yankee World Series (11.7 in 2009) and a non-Yankee World Series (8.4 in 2008 and 2010) would not be as great.

Having said that, one thing that bothers me is when sports fans complain about the Yankees, Red Sox, Heat, Lakers, Penguins, Red Wings, Cowboys, Patriots and others getting lots of nationally televised games. With few exceptions, these teams always get substantially higher ratings than others, and that’s on the fans, not the networks. I’ve heard it suggested that if the Rangers and Giants got more national TV appearances, the ratings would have been higher for the World Series. But the Rangers were on FOX as many times as the Yankees last season (granted, not always as the featured game) and the Giants had two fewer appearances. As another example, just this past week, ESPN aired Suns/Heat on Wednesday and TNT aired Suns/Magic on Thursday. In both games, Phoenix was blown out. The Heat game drew a 1.4, nearly twice the rating of the Magic game (0.8). Why shouldn’t the networks give the Heat more national appearances than the Magic? Say what you want about the Heat hype, but nobody’s forcing anyone to watch.


Scribe: Finally, SMW’s existence is based on a belief that sports fans should care or at least be aware of viewing measurement. As a whole, do you think they do care?

Paulsen: I would say the belief of SMW is not necessarily that sports fans be aware of viewing measurement, but that they have accurate information. There are plenty of newspaper articles that don’t distinguish between a cable rating and U.S. rating, an overnight and a final or even between a rating and a share. Granted, who cares, it’s just TV ratings. But when I see a lot of the incorrect comparisons that go on, it can be a bit frustrating.

As far as whether sports fans care about viewing measurement, I would go back to my answer earlier. Fans want to know how their sport is doing relative to other sports, and from that perspective, I do think they care. They don’t care enough to think about it too frequently, and I don’t think it’s a top of mind concern when they’re watching actual sporting events, but it matters enough for them to want the basic information.

A Curious Thought on The Boss

So, for a few weeks, baseball is the only show in town. For once, this isn’t maddening as many of you are tired of hearing about The Guy in South Beach and all associated parties. However, in these parts, there’s an understandable cloud with the passings of both Yankees public address announcer Bob Sheppard and principal owner George Steinbrenner.

Unless you’re in the Boroughs (and you still have to find it), you won’t be able to see my first contribution to the New York Beacon since the start of the season. In short:

Save for Marvin Miller, the former leader of the player’s union whose tenure brought riches and opportunity to many baseball players, Steinbrenner was more powerful and influential than nearly every rival owner, agent, player or commissioner in his 35 years as principal owner. The days ahead will be more than “win one for George” rally; the Yanks won seven World Series crowns for him before. They will be a reminder of his famous quote that will be repeated often; “Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing. Breathing first, winning next.”

It may have surprised most baseball fans to discover that Steinbrenner had such a connection to football as a former player and coach; that was certainly the case when I did some research on him almost a decade ago. A question of sheer curiosity I asked back then came up the other day; if he had the chance to own a NFL franchise, which one would it have been?

Though the football Giants would come to mind, it would have been unlikely considering the ownership between two families (the Mara and Tisch families) and their own deep roots with the franchise beyond signing checks.

His Cleveland roots didn’t stop him from becoming an unquestioned New York icon, but could he have put forth the same dedication and obsession with winning with the eternally-tortured Browns?

Steinbrenner may have been controversial in his obsession of winning, but he was an undeniably acute businessman. While he took the buy low road that many successful investors have in route to riches and wealth, what if he decided to blaze a trail and start anew? When he purchased the Yankees, the NFL just began to take hold in the South in cities like Atlanta and New Orleans (both in 1966 and 1967, respectively). Could he have taken charge in his adoptive home of Tampa where the Buccaneers were eventually born in 1976?

Again, this is more curiosity than anything else. He was baseball’s biggest personality for years and its most important owner, arguably, since another controversial leader who was based in New York, Walter O’Malley. Yet, football stoked his passions quite a bit in his younger days. If he looked at the gridiron instead of the diamond, it would have been quite a spectacle in itself.

Stadium Visit - Finally Inside Yankee Stadium

Here you go. Long awaited, I know, but hopefully you enjoy it.

Unsurprisingly, I was limited in what I can actually show. Why? No point in explaining.

However, let me just say that despite the mixed reviews from fans and media, friends and colleagues about the new Yankee Stadium, I was much more impressed than I thought I would be.

Now, does it unseat Pittsburgh's PNC Park as my favorite or the best in the majors? No way, yet because the Pirates aren't what we call a very good team, it does not get the national recognition it deserves. However, the new Stadium is a tremendous upgrade from the old Stadium; far more spacious (at the sacrifice of less seats), better views of the field, more comfortable seating (at least from where I was at) and an undeniably amazing display of the franchise's history.

Of course, I expect many of you will feel differently. Yet, at least this near-7:00 video will give you a glimpse of what millions of fans will enjoy for decades to come. Do take in a game and see for yourself... if you can afford it, that is.

In all likelihood, I'll be here again, but for another event coming up. I will be intrigued by the seating configuration for that event, but more details later.



For more pictures, check the slideshow below.

The Demolition of Old Yankee Stadium - Easter Sunday

These have been a whirlwind two weeks outside of Scribe, yet despite another chaotic three weeks on tap, I've neglected this place for too long. And so, at least three times, I'm going to make it up to you with new substantial postings; interviews and other original thoughts I've been meaning to share with the masses.

If anything, some of the energy has been spent with the baseball previews on The Perpetual Post (I handled both central divisions) and April's newest on Norman Einstein's Magazine (which will be fully explained and followed up on tomorrow).

Meanwhile, I took a stroll around the old Yankee Stadium. Here are a few photos with the link to all pictures on Picasa. Also, you'll see the small clip originally published to the Tumblr account.

Yeah, it's not pretty... or it is if you can't stand the Yanks.

From Elsewhere: Yankees in Camp and Brittney Griner

So after months of slightly bashing baseball fandom and management, I’m getting back in the leather, rubber and cork mode. For the New York Beacon, there’s a small (very small, no PDF yet) spring training preview of the World Series champs as the Yankees started camp recently. Basically, it’s a quick comparison of how camp was last season (with far more distractions) in contrast to today (relaxed in going for the repeat). Not much special to say.

Meanwhile, for something far more substantive, check out Wednesday's contribution to The Perpetual Post. Howard Megdal and I discussed the professional prospects of Brittney Griner, the freshman sensation of the Baylor Lady Bears.

She’s the curious case in light of a boastful claim from NBA Commissioner David Stern that a woman will play in the NBA within a decade. Now, whether or not this is true, we don’t know. However, it appears from both Howard and me that she may not be that player, but can be a transcendent professional, regardless.

Here's the recent Outside the Lines feature on her:



As old school hip-hop wannabes used to say, “Check me out, homes!”

In the next week, expect plenty more from outside of Scribe, including another timely essay for March’s Norman Einstein’s Magazine and baseball previews for The Perpetual Post.

Over/Under

For those who have paid attention to this little spot on the internet or have followed some passionate sports ramblings and discussions over the years, you know that the last thing anyone can ever accuse this Scribe of is being a homer. Not only is this a result of rooting interests outside of the New York area, but of a firm belief that a sport is bigger than one team, one player or one game. Years of fandom and media experience has shown me the light as I’ve learned to appreciate sports from a vast landscape beyond the Boroughs or even Boston and Philadelphia, where collegiate and family ties are everlasting.

Since Game 1 of the World Series begins in a few hours, I wanted to chime in briefly on the coverage here in New York. While there is a good bit of solid analysis, even if it’s regurgitated, the most resoundingly absurd, abhorrently awful and maddeningly lazy media efforts are below.

Beyond homerism and fans defending the crowns of both leagues, there’s an unfortunate tendancy of some in sports media to pander to the lowest common denominator. These are prime examples (along with this phenomenally fourth-rate article about Philadelphia being a "second-rate city") as one can allude to their own conclusions about them (painting players as sissies is old, tired and in this case, borderline homophobic for no reason).

If this is to rile up the masses, all it truly does is make them seem like buffoons. The intensity that the words “World Series” should be enough for any fan base as it is the pinnacle of Major League Baseball. The fact that these two historic franchises – please Yankee Universe, stop selling the Philly Phanatics short – are playing in it brings a different sort of energy to it differs from recent championship tilts. Yet, to continue in this vein while shortsighting some of the Yankees fans that DO enjoy objective analysis and stories about the opponents is beyond stupid and in it's own unfortunate way, beyond baseball.

This is not to say that the Philadelphia media hasn’t done any wrongs in relation to the Bronx Bombers and my original home borough, but attention would have been drawn for those that were committed. These headlines and so-called stories are reasons why despite the diversity of fan allegiances, interests and awareness, the area’s reputation of being the ‘most knowledgeable’ of sports towns is saddled with being equally obnoxious.

Now, onward to some fun.

Because national broadcasts are relatively predictable when it comes to covering Philadelphia and New York-based teams, I figured that this would be a good time for some over/unders throughout the first few games of the Amtrak Series.

Ineffective

For the past three days, I've been a reluctant participant in the American League-versus-National League debate. Admittedly, this comes from frustration of the hearing the same dead horse being beaten since the start of the decade. It also comes from reading, watching and listening to countless numbers of New York Yankees fans discounting the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies chances of playing a tough World Series (and this Scribe believes the Phillies will win it). Yankee fans are quick to dismiss the Phillies because they play in the NL, an apparently inferior league to the one perceived as stacked and full of vast resources to build championship contenders.

After reading one of today’s posts in the New York Times “Bats” blog, “AL vs. AAAA?”, I’ve had enough. As the Amtrak Series is upon us (Turnpike Series sounds kind of boring), the continued debate of which league is better continues to rage on with two grossly overrated and ineffective measures; interleague play and the All-Star Game that shouldn't ever count.

While the interleague formula has been modified over the years, it is a good look at how the leagues are early in the season when no trades have been made to alter the landscape of playoff contention. If the AL and NL squared off in the second half of the season after the trading deadline and a change in the weather, there could be a completely different story. Even though Major League Baseball and associated media take a total of wins and losses for all teams during interleague play, it’s still an inconclusive measure of conference superiority because 15-18 games out of 162 tells a small part of the story for any team throughout a long season.

As for referring to the All-Star Game… well, it’s time that this aspect of the argument needs to be taken to the woodshed. Truthfully, though they are differing leagues and sports, you would never hear the Pro Bowl, the NBA, or even the NHL and MLS All-Star Games as litmus tests of opposite conferences.

When the National Football Conference won fifteen of 16 Super Bowls from 1981-1996, they had a slim 9-7 margin in the all-star contest over the American counterparts. Even though the game was the week after the Super Bowl, it’s still a collection of the highest-regarded players in the league. Even as the AFC took the mantle as the better conference since 1997, they didn’t assert absolute dominance in either the Super Bowl or Pro Bowl. The AFC has nine of the last twelve Super Bowl titles and eight of the last twelve Pro Bowl wins; yet this era has featured the closest Super Bowls in league history as a handful of plays could have easily kept the scales on the NFC’s side for a nearly three-decade stretch.

Since the turn of the century, the Western Conference has long been recognized as the superior side of the NBA and for good reason with the dominance of the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs. It’s a lot easier to come to this conclusion considering that unlike baseball and the NFL, every team in the league plays each other at least twice in an 82-game season. Yet, that’s all fans and media members need to make this observation. Referring to the All-Star Game – one in which players understand that it’s an exhibition, not something to be taken seriously by any means – would be unwise as outside of the East’s five-game win streak from 1980-1984, neither conference has won more than three straight in the 49 year history of the contest.

Both the NHL and MLS have changed their formats several times over the years; the sheer consideration of the midseason exhibition as a measure of conference superiority would be even more absurd. Though the NHL has returned to the traditional East-vs.-West format, there are no ASGs during Olympic years as will be the case in 2010 when the league takes a break for the Vancouver Games. They had an ill-received North America-versus-World format from 1998-2002 that blended players of both conferences based on nationality as opposed to conference allegiances. Major League Soccer just puts together the best players in the entire league to play an English Premier League team as its All-Star Game.

The lazy use of the All-Star Game and interleague play is all the more reason why people need to invest themselves in sports packages (even if it’s just hitting up the neighborhood sports bar a couple of times during the week to see out-of-market games). You get to see a bit more than the capsules of highlights and national broadcasts, but truly watch how the other half lives, sort of speak.

Sure, the World Series is upon us and outside of New York and Philadelphia, most non-Yankees and Phillies fans may not be so engaged in watching the series and are content to counting down to spring training. Regardless of how you feel about either team or the baseball postseason as a whole, let us understand that brand name teams and a few games against non-traditional opponents do not a superior conference make.

Besides, the Washington Nationals took two out of three at Yankee Stadium back in June. Guess who's still playing?

Thoughts/Twittering

For the second weekend in a row, I am away from home for another family gathering. No disrespect towards the fine folks at Time Warner Cable, but this brings me into Comcast Country, where the NFL Network and its Red Zone compliment will dominate the television for seven hours. Considering that we are 30 minutes away from Philadelphia, I'm in a rabid Steelers home (yes, this is possible) and they still show New York games in the area, there will be plenty to salivate over to the point of dehydration.

With all of this said, please feel free to once again join the live Twittering and leave comments/thoughts/questions here on this post for all to respond to. Though I may still lean on Field Pass here and there, today will be the first time I have seen the Red Zone channel in action, so please provide some insights.

By the way, since you are likely being innudated with pre-game shows, if you have not read 'Superfluous' and 'Basics (Again)', take a moment to do so.

Now, a few thoughts:

Ouch: I met Chris Arreola two years ago after a fight in Las Vegas back in 2007 (that trip being the genesis of Scribe, by the way). Nice guy and as those who watched the title fight last night on HBO between him and Vitali Klitschko, he's got a ton of pride that showed itself in an emotional post-fight interview. Yet, it was pretty sad to see despite his best efforts, it was impossible for him to gain any traction against the taller, rangier and more experienced Klitschko. Vitali schooled him in every facet last night in Los Angeles and though Arreola made him work more in the early rounds than any previous fight, it was damn near clinical.
Arreola should remain in the mix for heavyweight supremacy, but unless there is a legitimate challenger who can match either Vitali or Wladimir in terms of height and precision while adding better ring movement, it'll be hard to knock the brothers of the perch.

Ouch (Again): Spending time with the family means that on occasion, you might miss some action. The latest chapter in the legend of Florida QB Tim Tebow finds him fighting the flu and a concussion sustained in a 41-7 blowout of Kentucky. Already Gators fans and the media are moving their hands towards the big red panic button as hopes of a third national title hinge on his health.
So for those of you that don't hate the Gators, how would you handle the personnel with or without the fearless leader?

They got that baseball thing going on... : Beyond the fanbases themselves, is it me or is there a noticeable lack of buzz and interest around the Yankees and Red Sox postseason appearances (the latter not yet official)? Around the baseball playoffs in general?

On the flip side... : When was the last time you noticed such anticipation for the return of both the NHL (just over a week from now) and the NBA (just over a month)?

Double

Pulled double duty for this week's edition of the Beacon. First on page 38 is a defense of Derek Jeter's glovework, which has been much maligned for years by sabermetricians Martians who landed in Boston and discovered baseball through Red Sox Nation. Now that he has broken the all-time career record of hits by a shortstop (Luis Aparacio was the keeper of that flame), he's just a couple of weeks from breaking that record in the history of the Yankees. So before the media (local and national) wax poetic on Jeter's accomplishments, I figured that it was time to remind folks that his defense is far better than it has been portrayed for various reasons:

Honestly speaking, much of the ‘hate’, if you will, for Jeter’s defense comes from a seemingly endless loop of Yankee coverage from the national media. Considering that the Yankees are absolutely beloved or reviled – there is no middle ground with this team – any of The Captain’s highlights, including the famous backwards-leaping toss to first, drives his detractors insane. Jeter isn’t as smooth or quick as Ozzie Smith or Omar Vizquel, two of the best defensive players of any position in the game’s history. Yet, if he wore a Kansas City Royals uniform or even that of the Chicago White Sox, his shortcomings and strong points would have dimmer lights shone on them.

On page 39 is a look at the New York Giants' rushing depth now that Danny Ware and Allen Patrick are trying to make up for what was lost when Derrick Ward departed for Tampa Bay during free agency:

It appears that Ware prepared himself well for the increased workload, even if we’re talking about the preseason. “I think I had a pretty good offseason,” said the undrafted reserve from Georgia. “I lost a little weight, trained hard, studied hard, just been working as everything has been about football this offseason.” With the glaring opportunity of 2009 in front of him, he quipped, “I noticed that we had Ward leave, so there was an opening and I took it upon myself to just go get it… and see what happens with the end results.”

Just to say about Ware is that quite a few people in the press thought highly of him last August, but he wouldn't get any shine considering he was fourth on the depth chart of a Super Bowl-winning team (one that waived Ryan Grant before he caught fire with Green bay in 2007). He was certainly appreciative that I mentioned that to him.

Now, something tells me that the former will illicit some heated comments or at least spark a few thoughts. Have at it.

Bandbox

This was in this past edition of the New York Beacon (in the print edition only here in the city). There may be a point or two worth discussing among all of you baseball fans, especially those of you have had the chance to visit a few ballparks around the country.

Again, keep in mind that I have yet to visit the new Yankee Stadium for a game, though you've seen a video weeks before it opened this past spring.



By now, you’ve heard and read about, if not witnessed the story, play itself out during these forty-two home games at the new Stadium. By some baseball media and executives, it has been dubbed Coors Field East after the long ball-happy home of the Colorado Rockies. The Bombers have sent 78 balls into the seats while their opponents added 61 of their own for a grand total of 139 souvenirs in a half-season of home games. The story has legs not only because of how much the park’s construction was (about $1.5 billion), but beyond the new amenities, the Stadium’s dimensions are identical to its predecessor as if the park was just shoved across the street.

Yet, what few, if anyone has talked about is that for opposing teams and the newest Yankees, the new Stadium is just the latest in a long line of new structures they visit every few days.

Save for four teams (Boston, Minnesota, Oakland and Florida), every other opponent on the Yanks’ schedule this season plays in either a relatively new stadium or in the case of Kansas City, a remodeled one. Most of the players in the majors since Baltimore ushered in the league’s stadium boom in 1991 have grown accustomed, if not have played their entire careers in new facilities. Since those stadiums are still building their own histories, the intangibles do not exist in the level that they did at the House that Ruth Built. Eighty-five years of big games in front of nearly 58,000 rowdy fans reminding them of the Yankees’ prestige placed opponents at a huge psychological disadvantage when playing there.

Even as a fan or media member, there’s a different feel to walking in an older stadium such as Boston’s Fenway Park, Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles or Chicago’s Wrigley Field, where generations have walked through the same corridors and sat in the same seats over decades. With stadiums such as San Francisco’s AT&T Park or PNC Park in Pittsburgh - considered two of the best buildings in the game – only the players can take comfort in knowing that none of the new facilities have a distinct home-field advantage just yet. With that unique ambiance – or annoyance for non-Yankees – missing, this is just another new ballpark, no matter which team plays there.

In a sport obsessed with attaching some statistical reason why things happen, intimidation has no number to account for. You can’t put a statistic on it, but it’s an undeniable factor on performance. The new Stadium has enough games to tell us that until Yankee fans can finish transferring that mystique from across the street, that home run tally will keep rising to absurd levels.

Overlooked

Every season, Roy Halladay's name is thrown in the trade rumor mix and like clockwork, members of the major baseball media proclaim how underrated and unheralded the Toronto Blue Jays pitcher is.

There's no doubt of his tremendous gifts on the mound and how greater his profile would be had the Jays been a perennial contender over the last decade. Yet, it's a little tough to be appreciated when your stock photo is faded behind the Yankees' CC Sabathia and Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Geez, even on ESPNews (part of the AL East media, as some of you may believe) this team is in a distant third place. To further the point, Keith Law had to speak more about the breaking news of Donald Fehr's retirement as head of the MLBPA than updates of the three faces above. Imagine which two hurlers were discussed immediately afterwards.

Tsk, tsk. Overlooked again.

Interweak?

Hopes are that this goes into this week's edition of the New York Beacon as part of the Yankee column, but it's just an excerpt from the Yankee-focused column.

Personally, I'm all for interleague, but I understand that it feels a little forced to the players and the purists in the masses. As anyone else with a forum, I have a few thoughts on how it can be improved for all parties, however, since there so many words devoted to that very topic (search on, my friends), I'll keep this relatively short and sweet.

Besides, this isn't the only post you will see today.


The merits of interleague play will continue to be debated as those who are for and against it will fight for baseball’s soul each mid-June for eternity. Yet, the biggest qualm for those who accept that interleague play isn’t going away any time soon is that not all schedules are created equal.

Major League Baseball could probably take a page from the NFL in regards to properly scheduling out-of-conference games. After a few seasons of mixing up opponents in bringing greater ticket sales in various markets, MLB returned to the original format of rotating divisions while adding the geographic rival of the opposite league. Taking on the geographic rival is vital as you want nearby fan bases jawing at each other for a few games. However, other opponents should be determined by how teams finished in the previous season, regardless of division.

Players understand that interleague games are a unique experience, even if the majority would prefer to return to the way things were. Yet, as opposed to griping about how one team’s interleague schedule is more challenging than their division rivals, a record-based slate could start to quell those complaints while keeping the games more entertaining. The Yanks aren’t going to have much of a problem against a Washington Nationals team with the worst pitching staff in all of baseball, but neither fan base is particularly excited these games. Yet, if the Yanks traveled to St. Louis a team with a nearly identical record in 2008, then intrigue would grow beyond the historical factor of baseball’s most successful franchises going head-to-head.

Then again, it’s not as if bottom feeding doesn’t happen within your own league.

Maybe it’ll be a different tune if the Yanks would have won at least one game at Fenway Park last week as they have yet to beat the Boston Red Sox this season. The highs and lows – certainly lows this year – of facing the longtime rival take a lot of even the best team in the game, but to be followed by what seems to be a few sets against unnatural opponents seems a bit odd.

Hysteria

While much of the noise coming out of the hometown has been about this little blooper – goodness, I’m the only person in this city who actually feels terrible for Luis Castillo – I spent last night and this morning observing some of the post-Stanley Cup reflections from Pittsburgh and Detroit.

The hysteria behind what was an inexcusable, but hopefully un-Chuck Knoblauchian* error, is amazing compared to the responses in Michigan.

It’s amazing how bent out of shape a good portion of New York Mets fans have gotten in the same time span that every Red Wings fan grew sorrowful after losing a tough battle.

It’s amazing in the sense that a fielding error made by one of the more sure-handed second basemen in the game has made the Mets a complete and utter failure as a franchise, business and collection of human beings.

It’s amazing that as a few callers in talk radio suggested, the Mets need to work on the fundamentals of the game. A botched play in the new Yankee Stadium and a bad throw 3000 miles west in Los Angeles just under a month ago have suddenly made the Metropolitans the worst defensive team to ever take up a baseball field.

It’s amazing in that this was game 59 of 162.

Sure, the mistakes become more and more glaring as the season labors on. Yet, this is baseball, my friends. What’s an endless season in many other depots around North America is actually 162 seasons in a six-month stretch that comes up every calendar year for a place like the New York metropolitan area (or any cold-weather, northeastern bastion of happiness).

In Season 59 – the opening of another Subway Series that players themselves want to end as quickly as possible – Luis Castillo became the worst human being to ever don a Mets uniform because of an unfortunate flub against the team that the Flushing faithful will never admit it wishes to be.

Meanwhile, in Detroit, where the most cherished accolade of a sport – the championship of hockey’s premier professional league – was on the line in Game 7, Maxime Talbot and Marc-Andre Fleury broke the hearts of one of the most passionate fan bases anywhere. A couple of defensive lapses and missed scoring opportunities in the game’s final minutes doomed the repeat for the Wings.

Despite some posturing and whining from a few bitter fans, Nikolas Lindstrom has not been nominated for most vile man on the planet. Brad Stuart and Nikolas Kronwall have not been thrown under the jail that Kwame Kilpatrick once resided in. Chris Osgood, a familiar scapegoat when things have not gone well over the years for Detroit, was tremendous in a valiant losing effort.

All of the marbles were on the line at the Joe Louis Arena, but this morning, Detroiters didn’t have to wake up and see this…

Wow.

Thanks to the uploaders of the pics and video.

* - Knoblauch was an excellent second baseman for Minnesota and his first season with the Yankees until 1999, where he picked up a psychologically dehabilitating case of 'the yips'.

Almost (II)

As promised after yesterday's trek to Citi Field, an update of the (almost) completed new Yankee Stadium.



Stadium Wiki

Thoughts? Comments? Questions?

Hard

It doesn't take a phD in economics to know that "times are hard, son" as the kids say these days. With the exception of the Oakland Raiders - thanks in part to two astronomical short-term deals with cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha and punter Shane Lechler - it seems as if every pro sports team is feeling of the plummeting economy.

While the NBA trading deadline was dwindling down and it was rather obvious that a few teams were paring payroll to lower costs, news broke out that the league was granting loans of at most $11.7 million to at least fifteen teams hoping to offset operating losses (the league itself being granted a $175 million credit from JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America).

Two weeks ago, Advertising Age reported that both the NBA and Major League Baseball were expanding their ad offerings to liquor and gambling (you read that right: baseball and gambling) to bring in revenue.

Yet, for a complete shocker, look below.

Now, if you live in this area, this should be VERY striking to see as the Yankees relied on their history alone to sell tickets. Is the economy tanking so badly - or at least are their usual ticket buyers reluctant to purchase seats in the brand new and pricey Stadium - that the Bronx Bombers have to hustle and bustle like everyone else in the league?

It's possible that every team in baseball is making some concerted effort to advertise ticket sales through what is known in the advertising and marketing community as behavioral targeting. Yet, this is the last team in the known universe you'd expect to use this avenue.

Could this be a result of the body shots that have crippled the financial sector (and beyond) that have taken away some of the usual suspects in ticket purchases for both New York teams? Could this be part of the potential public relations fiasco that may follow if the big wigs of some of the companies that receive bailout money happen to be seen on the YES Network  or YES Network-lite (FOX) during a game? Who knows, really.

All we can tell right now is that "times are hard, son."

Say What?!?!: Speaking of the Yanks, the financial sector and hard times, the Stanford Financial scandal (as mentioned recently on Scribe) actually affects a few players on the team. It may be nominal investments for these guys, but it's interesting nonetheless.

More...

Yeah... more about that guy in an excerpt of this week's article for the New York Beacon:

"Not too long ago, some people were willing to cut affable sluggers like Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa a little slack for their alleged use. The popularity of both players – known for their home run chase over ten years ago – took some hits at the time, but it was during the infamous Congressional hearings back in 2005 that it made a nose dive because of their reluctance to discuss their still alleged drug use. Barry Bonds, the current home run king, seven-time Most Valuable Player and another alleged user, was never thought of fondly by the media or many of his peers, but the last thing the former Pittsburgh and San Francisco star was concerned about was his image. Rodriguez, like Bonds, has rarely, if ever been revered, but this is because he has been so aggressive in crafting his persona. Now, on top of the game’s richest contract and the pinstripes he wears, he loses even more favor for actually confessing to what he calls ‘a stupid mistake for a guy with a lot of baseball to play’."

Thankfully, the Nets' beat will begin this week; keeping the focus on something in-season and these days, less controversial. It's going to be a long year at the new Stadium, and not for what's on the diamond.

Then again, most of us in the press can't recall when has it been otherwise.

Now, it's time to make you happy... sort of.

Did you know that the man behind musical excellence, as discussed a while back...



was also the man behind this audio brilliance?



And while he's not the composer, writer or choreographer of this superior dose of entertainment...



it would be nothing but the hotness if he was in any way, shape or form involved with the creation of this episode of lyrical fitness.



Grateful 80s-born, 90s-bred children thank you, Mr. John Tesh.

And I thank you, former college radio show co-host for forwarding along the wonderfulness of being a Niners fan.

Geez...

Just as questions have been asked both off and online about Alex Rodriguez's alleged, then admitted use of performance-enhancers, Marc Rasbury, the sports editor for the New York Beacon asked for a piece about the player's mea culpa.

The reply to the request: How many words? I already want the baseball season to be over with.

Obviously, the 500-word piece was done and will be available in select newsstands this Thursday. The world awaits. Yet, not to get on the high horse (again), but America's kind of broke right now. If this is Rodriguez's or Major League Baseball's way of getting our minds off of the doldrums, they need to register for a Tony Robbins seminar immediately.

Yet, until then, it's wishful thinking. Unlike most of you, I sincerely believe that Rodriguez wants to get to spring training already as the rest of us, just so that we can enjoy the actual game.

That being said, we're going to hear about players' alleged use of steroids and PEDs (there is a difference between the two as you can infer from the links) until the end of time. However, the silence coming from the owners is especially damning. As written for the Beacon:

What has yet to happen on a grand scale is an admission of knowledge from the team owners themselves. They have been relatively silent on the issue, even though they are responsible for signing players, hiring team executives and promoting a game that is believed to be tainted. Tom Hicks, owner of the Rangers since 1998, said that he felt personally betrayed by Rodriguez’s admission. However, to think that Rodriguez took these drugs beyond Hicks’ eye is hard to believe, especially knowing that ten players from those Rangers teams have been linked to using enhancers, including Jose Canseco, Ivan Rodriguez and the late Ken Caminiti.

When a current owner steps up to the plate and discusses what he (or she, on behalf of the estate of former Cincinnati Reds owner, the 'lovely' Marge Schott) knew about what players did or did not do, then the potential for real teeth behind PED and steroids testing can truly become reality. As the Mitchell Report stated back in 2007, the always-looming macroeconomics, however, trumped one of the facets of the game's finances:

The onset of mandatory drug testing, the single most important step taken so far to combat the problem, was delayed for years by the opposition of the Players Association. However, there is validity to the assertion by the Players Association that, prior to 2002, the owners did not push hard for mandatory random drug testing because they were much more concerned about the serious economic issues facing baseball.

Personally, as crazy as this may sound, I couldn't care less. It's not because of any favoritism or even exhaustion of this entire drama, though the latter drives this train most of the way. It's because while it hasn't been said or proven with these players, it's not as if any of these athletes who have been linked to using these substances have turned into 'Steve Lattimer'... yet (WARNING: It may be from a movie, but I recognize how serious the subject matter is).



Say What?!?!: With this fiasco, Chris Brown (allegedly) deciding to beat on Rhianna and Bong-gate, can we enjoy something good in the sports and entertainment world this week?

Recommended

A few recommended articles to check out (if you haven't done so already):

• Yankees fans beware... but Red Sox, Angels, Mets, Dodgers and Cubs fans, don't show that grin too much. Your financial comeuppances are near.
  
  
• Continuing with the business side of sports, here's BusinessWeek's annual 100 Most Influential People in the Business of Sports.
  
  
• With the NHL season about to begin this weekend in Europe (Eastern Conference champion Pittsburgh plays Ottawa in Stockholm, Sweden while the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning tango in Prague), they hope to build off of the creeping marketing momentum of the past three post-lockout seasons.
  
  
• A slight diatribe before the next referenced article: Something that has always stuck out to me in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was the immediate response from athletes. Whether it was the Manning brothers or Kevin Garnett or the charity game organized by former NBA guard and TNT analyst Kenny Smith, I found myself marveled by their sense of urgency and their understanding of their stature (fair or not) as public beacons for entertainment and social causes. Yet, I was simultaneously screaming at the television about the "Johnny-come-lately" actions of the many levels of government and (dare I say) other entertainers who essentially sat by and waited to be told what to do. However, the continued efforts of one former athlete should be lauded and exemplify how someone used his former standing to try to make a dent in the mess in New Orleans. Respect due to the so-called bust, Jonathan Bender.
  Because while folks are talking about change these days, the basketball player who was forced to give up his physical gifts changed his own life by giving to others.
  
  
• Something that I wanted to expound an argument on earlier this week is still on the radar, but at least for the moment, ask yourself this question: is this the best sports year ever?
  Usually, I hate these best-ever questions, mostly because of how VH1 and others have driven that phrase to the ground. However, it's an intriguing thought.

Afterthought

Tonight gives us the closing of a venerable piece of American history as Yankee Stadium hosts its final baseball series between New York’s pinstriped bunch and the Baltimore Orioles. Before the finale, there have been (and will be) a lot of tears and tantrums, some waxing poetic and sardonic, some reflection and a few suggestions such as “raze the damn thing already!” Yet, there are very few thoughts coming from the neighborhood itself.

Then again, that’s always been the case, it seems.

David Gonzalez hoped to have provided at least a more honest native voice in his article in Saturday’s New York Times. He spoke of having grown up in the area, more so about attending Cardinal Hayes High School with the Stadium’s imposing presence nearby. He touched upon several incidences where the executives showed a blatant disrespect for the immediate world outside of the Stadium’s walls. To this day, many of the fans that descend onto 161st Street and River Avenue have either heard about, read about or at worst, perpetrated the stigma about the neighborhood it surrounds.

Even as Harlem – where out-of-town fans would speed through en route to the Stadium because of similar fears – continues to gentrify across the Macombs Dam Bridge, you’ll hear a few of the newest residents ask if the borough of “Fort Apache, The Bronx” lore remains.

As someone who has spent his life on both sides of the Bridge, I have never heard anyone who I grew up with say “hey, let’s go to a Yankee game this weekend”. Outside of talking about the players and how they will fare in the postseason, people around the way didn’t take to the Stadium experience the way that the outside world may have assumed. The reasons stem from any combination of the price to attend and enjoy the game, the racial history of the team (integrated fifteen years after Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby) and the beating taken from Howard Cosell’s alleged “the Bronx is burning” quip (amongst others in media). The organization doesn’t embark on a ton of publicized community efforts anywhere in the metropolitan area, but New Yorkers are more likely to see the Knicks (the most active), Mets or either NFL team out and about.

So the closing of one Stadium for another may further cool a frosty-but-accepted existence between franchise and borough, especially as the economic downturn compels the Yankees to reach for the affluent fans from the outside. Yet, with this new attractant into the City should come changing perceptions about the people and the place that is the Bronx.

As said, it should… but it won’t.