Category Archives: Non-Baseball

Putting things in perspective

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During the Athletics-Rangers game yesterday, I saw somebody (one of the Oakland reporters) retweet this:

Stephanee Neshek is the wife of Pat Neshek. Pat Neshek is a right-handed reliever for the Oakland Athletics, notable for his rather quirky delivery. He came up through the Twins system, and he’s one of the most fan-friendly guys in baseball. He had (and still has, although it isn’t updated much anymore) a website that is about his love of autograph collecting, with an address for fans who want to trade signed cards or if anybody had anything to be signed. During one of his stints in Rochester, after he had lost his spot in the Twins’ bullpen following Tommy John surgery, he brought his dog to the ballpark on a “Barks in the Park” day and played toss with the dog for the “first pitch”. For some reason that stuck with me: he’d lost his spot in the big leagues, he’d gone through Tommy John surgery, and he was stuck in AAA four years after he had been seemingly called up for good. And yet he was good-natured enough to bring his dog to the ballpark as part of a promotion.

Neshek found his way back to the majors, first with San Diego, and then this season in Oakland. And now it looked like he was going to have the best day of his life: his team was about to pull off a miracle final-week comeback to win the AL West, and he was becoming a father for the first time.

Which is why it was sad to see this in my Twitter feed this morning:

Suddenly, there was a realization everything that had happened yesterday, from the results on the field, to Miguel Cabrera’s Triple Crown, to even the presidential debates, were just so trivial. It was the best day of Pat Neshek’s life, and it turned into what was probably his worst.

So keep that in your thoughts when you think you are having a bad day. And keep the Nesheks in your thoughts as they go through this horrible tragedy.

The Strangest Stadiums: Weird Parks Themselves

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One of the reasons why baseball is different is because of how the playing field’s dimensions are different in essentially every ballpark. However, this can also lead to some weird stadiums. I mean, we’re talking utterly bizarre, stadiums or fields that almost certainly didn’t have baseball in mind when they were created, or parks that are extremely different from the usual image we have in our minds of what a baseball stadium should look like. And, of course, there are also ballparks that have really weird stories behind them (those will come later).

Take a look (after the jump, of course):

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Football Continuum: The Seattle Screwjob

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Sports has had many blown calls in history: Jeff Maier, Hull in the crease, the 1972 Olympic Basketball mess (I’m still reasonably sure that Doug Collins is forming a Ocean’s Eleven-style team to go steal the gold medals back from the Russians), and, of course, the epic tale of Joyce and Galarraga. But, with the possible exception of the ’72 games, none have been as surreal as what happened last night. Given how Twitter was busy comparing the NFL’s current replacement ref-a-palooza to the WWE, I decided to do some research on pro wrestling to find a inspiration for the name for this incident (thanks internet!). I found my inspiration in something called the Montreal Screwjob, where Vince McMahon intervened in one of his fake wrestling spectacles to ensure that Bret Hart, who had announced he was about to leave for another wrestling company, would not “win” a title at McMahon’s company.

Now, admittedly, there was no vast fake-wrestling conspiracy to take out the Packers last night. Instead, it was just utter incompetence on the part of the replacements, the NFL owners, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. But, c’mon, Seattle Screwjob rolls off the tongue well.

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Analyzing the “42” Trailer Far Too Closely

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While certainly there is plenty to talk about today, whether it’s the Pirates’ crazy player development “training” or the whole thing about Melky Cabrera, but instead, I’m going to be putting a spotlight on something else: a movie trailer.

The trailer, to be more specific, for 42.  As the title and the fact you are on a baseball blog suggests, it is a movie about Jackie Robinson. It has a good pedigree, written (and directed) by Oscar-winning screenwriter Brian Helgeland, and with Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey. Emmy nominee Christopher Meloni plays Leo Durocher. Somewhat wisely, Robinson himself will be played an unknown names named Chadwick Boseman, who’s previous roles have been on TV and an appearance as Floyd Little in the Ernie Davis biopic, The Express. A good move, really, as I worry that if a “star” were to be playing Robinson, it would overtake the story of Jackie Robinson. Let me put it another way: If Will Smith were 15-20 years younger and was cast in this movie, people would be watching the movie thinking about Will Smith, not Jackie Robinson. And that would not be a good thing.

Anyway, here’s the trailer. After it (and the jump), my thoughts:

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Other Sports Team Names derived from Baseball

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Given that baseball is the oldest professional team sport in America, it is hardly surprising that other sports teams often derive their names from baseball teams, usually those that they once shared a city with. In general, they fall into a few different categories:

  • Those that just plain copied or used the name of the baseball team.
  • Those who made a name that played off of the baseball team’s name.
  • Those that have a history with a baseball team but have since sort of morphed into something else, while keeping a vague link.
  • Names that actually aren’t connected, but everyone thinks they are.

Take a look after the jump:

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It’s Labor Day, and Baseball remains the most peaceful work environment in sports

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What the heck is going on? No, I’m not talking about how the Orioles continue to defy the laws of the universe (again), I’m talking about how, on this Labor Day, Major League Baseball remains the most stable place in sports when it comes to the relations between players and management. Yes, baseball, the sport that had one strike force the season to become a split-season and the World Series get cancelled, and which at one point in the early 2000s seemed to be headed towards another strike, is the best example of labor harmony.

Meanwhile, the NBA lost a significant portion of it’s season last year, the NFL narrowly avoided a work stoppage with it’s players and now is using scab referees due to a dispute with the usual refs, and the NHL is headed down the road to another work stoppage, which could very well annihilate another whole season.

Remember when the NHL was a major sport on ESPN and everything, and not just something that was only popular in about 6 American markets and could only be found on NBC properties? That little transition from being part of the Big Four to being on the outside looking in on the Big Three happened when they lost an entire season to the 2004-2005 lockout. Who knows what might happen if they again end up with a lost season? The Europeans could just say “Screw this, I’m going home” and depart to teams in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, never to return. What little interest in hockey that there exists in the the United States outside of the Northeast and Upper Midwest will disintegrate even more than before. But, by all accounts, the NHL and the NHLPA seem destined to run straight into the abyss again.

So why is baseball avoiding those problems? Partially it’s because MLB is making so much money that it doesn’t really matter, and the revenue sharing has allowed even the worst teams to spin a hefty profit. The same is not true for the NBA and NHL, and the fact it was more-or-less true in the NFL was one of the main reasons why there was only one preseason game that was lost.

However, the bigger reason is, in my opinion, basically the realization by both the owners and the MLBPA that to have a work stoppage, especially a work stoppage that cancels the playoffs, is a case of mutually assured destruction. Even if one side were to “win”, they’d end up far worse off than they had been before. The 1994 strike was proof of that: fans abandoned baseball until Cal Ripken, the home run chase and the late-90s Yankees dynasty brought it back. However, had the 2002 labor dispute ended in a work stoppage, there was no guarantee that any heroes would come over the hill to save the day. It just wasn’t worth the risk, so they came to terms, and have done so every CBA since.

That lesson, alas, has not yet come to the NHL.

Random Non-Baseball-related Video of an Undetermined Amount of Time:

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You probably saw this on ESPN. It still needs to be posted, as it is one of the most error-filled sports video… ever.

So, to sum it up: the receiver of the punt muffs it, the Kent State guy grabbed the muff and proceeded to RUN THE WRONG DIRECTION, his teammates BLOCKED FOR HIS SUICIDAL WRONG-WAY RUN, Towson TRIED TO STOP THE SUICIDIAL WRONG-WAY RUN… and, in the end, everything ended up NOT MATTERING because, by rule, a muffed punt is down as soon as the opposing team touches it.

Whoops.

Bizarre Baseball Culture Theater: The Time Mark Wahlberg Shot Derek Jeter

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From the 2010 comedy The Other Guys:

The Marlins go early and Ozzie gets some final naughty-words in during the final episode of the 2012 edition of “The Franchise”

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So, it is done. The Franchise on the Miami Marlins is done. Much like, it should be noted, the Marlins’ playoff hopes. This was why it has ended early, only going seven episodes instead of the originally planned eight. Showtime and MLB Productions were having a hard time making the Marlins interesting as they fell deeper and deeper into the basement, so they basically just threw up their hands and said “screw it”. The result is a final episode where the documentarians basically throw in every prepacked bit they hadn’t included already, focus somewhat on the future of the Marlins, and with heavy doses of what might have been. Oh, and Ozzie Guillen swears. Of course.

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Ozzie Guillen is silent, Jose Reyes’ streak ends, and Eritrea comes into play in the 6th episode of “The Franchise”

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First off, let me show you the “Carlin Word” count for Wednesday’s episode of The Franchise for Ozzie Guillen:

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There weren’t any. The total number of times he’s used a swear word on The Franchise remains at 105. On average, Ozzie Guillen swears about once every two minutes.

So, there you go, people-only-here-to-read-about-Ozzie-Guillen-language. Now, everyone else, go after the jump to read my observations

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