Category: Media

The Best (and Worst) Baseball Movies Hollywood has to offer

The most excellent baseball blog Hardball Cooperative just posted their Top List of Baseball Flicks.  I had a hand in contributing in the article so definitely check it out. 

In their poll of contributors, Bull Durham eked out Field of Dreams for best baseball movie.  For my part, I chose Baseball: A Film by Ken Burns as my fave and did a short review of it.

And what’s a best baseball movie list without a list ofmajor_league_back_to_the_minors “bad” baseball movies?  HC didn’t drop the ball and presents us with their panels’ list of “worst” baseball movies.  ClichĂ©s, stereotypes and over-used plots are the norm here.  My choice?  Major League: Back to the Minors (aka Major League 3).  I have to admit the “bad” movie list is an entertaining read.  Check out the article (including my review of ML:BTTM).

Thanks to James Bailey of Hardball Cooperative for affording me the opportunity to participate in the project.  It was fun.

70 years of televised baseball and we’re still fighting for the remote

old TV

Last week was the 70th anniversary of the first televised professional baseball game in major league history.  On August 26th, 1939, it was a doubleheader that took place in Brooklyn between the Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds (the very first televised baseball game was a game between Princeton and Columbia held at Bakers Field).. 

There was nothing particularly outstanding about the games themselves though the Reds did manage a 5 run inning in the first game to make a comeback making the final score 5-2.  Dem Bums made it a split by scoring a quick six runs in the first three innings and never looked back winning the second game 6-1.

While the implications of televising this game most definitely had far-reaching effects, I’m sure those at the time may have had their doubts.  There were only about 400 television sets in the New York that could take advantage of this this new technology.  The quality of the picture was very grainy and snowy. 

But the picture quality eventually improved over years, taking away the mystique of the commentaries from the radio broadcasters and showing EXACTLY what was happening on the ball field.  And with the continued development of televised baseball broadcasting, Major League Baseball owners saw with delight the revenue streams that could be exploited with it.  Soon after with sports media networks such as ESPN, came to the same conclusion. 

Fast forward through 70 years of development, both from a technological and business sense and in the last 10 years, we see Major League Baseball going through a new revolution in content delivery.  We now have High-Definition television taking the picture quality to a higher level. 

But we also see MLB content delivery taking a different turn away from conventional television.  We no longer need to switch on the remote to follow your favorite team.  In 2000, MLB created a new branch, the Major League Baseball Advanced Media, to meet this need.  Generally speaking, the MLBAM is charged with content delivery of baseball on the internet as well as any interactive media.  Because of MLBAM, fans can view baseball games on streaming video over our computer and recently, even our smartphones.

Orville and Wilbur Wright probably never envisioned NASA when they were successful in their first flight at Kitty Hawk.  Nor did those responsible for televising the very first game 70 years ago envision the state of baseball viewing today.

MLB Advanced Media introduces Twitter interface

It looks like MLB Advanced Media will be incorporating a Twitter client within its Gameday and MLB.tv interfaces for those fans who use the social networking tool.

gamedaytwitter

gdtwitterfull

I took the above screen captures from a Gameday stream between the Cubs and the Rockies.  The presence of the Twitter window will be opt-in (chosen by a tab) so for those who don’t use it, it won’t use up valuable screen real estate. 

The question is will the new system get used??  Most avid Twitter users already have a preferred method of using the micro-blogging tool, most likely a client program they’re comfortable with. 

But perhaps, it will spur the group of people who signed on to Twitter but never continued to use it
 to start using it  (Don’t know where I heard it but I think the majority of Twitter accounts remain inactive).  Maybe even some new people might give it a try. 

ESPN not seeing the big picture on social networking issue

twitter ESPN has now issued new guidelines to its employees on how they will interact on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. 

Essentially, the guidelines are two-pronged.  First, they prohibit discussing (on any social network forum) internal policies or how stories are “reported, written or produced”.

Second (and more open-ended), they prohibit employees from having sports-related blogs or websites.  Further, they require a supervisor’s approval before discussing sports matters on a social networking forum.  If employees violates the new policy, they are subject to dismissal or suspension.

To the first point, I agree with ESPN’s point.  Internal matters stay within the business.  To not do so would open up a whole can of messy legal worms.

As to the second point, I feel ESPN is going down the wrong road.  They are missing the whole point of social networking.  I don’t want to subscribe to Rob Neyer’s twitter stream so I can hear about his vacation. 

Will ESPN abandon Twitter and Facebook altogether?  I’m sure they won’t.  They will have ESPN-sanctioned accounts in which the content will be very factual indeed but come off as stilted and will smack of the “company line”. 

Should ESPN have come out with guidelines on how to deal with these new-fangled social networking sites?  Of course!  Employ new guidelines to encourage responsible online behavior.  Encourage employees to interact with the public and put a good face forward.

But to totally ban discussing the very topic that they are in the business to report seems so backwards to me.  And to threaten dismissal as a punishment
 the mind reels. 

Get with the times, ESPN.  It’s a brand new world out here.

10 things ESPN TV doesn’t need

My list of ten things that ESPN could get rid of and would make me a happier (and more attentive) viewer:

  1. NASCAR
  2. Spelling bees (as much as I enjoy them)
  3. Poker Tournaments
  4. Sports demagogues for analysts/broadcasters (I was going to name names but this about covers it)
  5. Talk shows with the word Damn in them
  6. Diamond-cams and the like
  7. In-game interviews with the managers/coaches/etc
  8. ANY talk show show where decibel level is louder than the street work being done outside.
  9. Dog shows (again, I can enjoy them especially when I watch them with my 9 year old daughter
 just please, not on a premier sport network)
  10. Chris Berman, (I lied in #4.)

What’s on your list?

Manny, PEDs and the media

It’s interesting to me, in light of Manny Ramirez’ suspension for performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), how certain media elements are handling the story.  While some like ESPN or Sports Illustrated are taking a more hard line approach, MLB.com not surprisingly is towing the company line and taking a more conciliatory approach. 

Compare these two articles that came out the day the suspension was announced, one from Sports Illustrated and the other from MLB.com.

Both are factual and to my knowledge, accurate.   However, the SI makes some clear or at least implied allegations that go beyond Mr Ramirez:

Ramirez is the first major star to be suspended under baseball’s stricter drug-testing rules that went into effect in 2003. Until now, baseball and the players union have portrayed drug use as having been nearly eradicated in the past few years, pointing out that the major drug-related stories — involving Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez and the revelations in the Mitchell Report — involved drug use prior to the 2003 tightening of the program.

It’s also interesting to note the tone of the headlines of “Related Articles” from SI.  Manny saga no longer funny, the sarcastic Didn’t see this one coming and Do you buy Ramirez’ excuse?

MLB.com’s initial article, predictably and I guess blamelessly, has a very official and almost apologetic tone to it.  There are quotes from Ramirez about his “doctor’s excuse “ and his statement of apology to the owner of the Dodgers; Joe Torre, his teammates and of course, the fans. 

We also read the requisite statements from other baseball officials on how “saddened” they are. 

Links to other articles on MLB.com point to official documents such as Major League’s official drug policy and the official statements by Ramirez and the player’s union and the MLB. And more articles about how others are sad about this
. but not angry. 

Where am I going with this?  Do I think MLB is evil because they don’t tell the whole story or because they sugar coat the issue?  Not really.  Do I think ESPN, USA Today Sports and others are the bastions of sports freedom because the speak the truth?  HARDLY. 

Just this and maybe it’s painfully obvious, baseball fans need to diversify their sports news input.  Since MLB.com obviously has direct access to the information, it’s a great place to go for the hard facts like stats, boxscores, game wrapups etc.  But for good analysis, I’ll read the columnists on the more independent (but not as independent as I’d like) media outlets. 

But for straight out-and-out opinions, I’ll read the blogs.

Quit messin’ wit’ my box scores

BoxScore7

With the advent of the digital era, we as baseball fans now have a bevy of sports information at our fingertips.  We have baseball data galore, streaming video, analysis all of it coming to our screen even to our mobile devices. 

That was pretty apparent when I was standing next to three Cub fans at the Illinois game last Saturday.  Between pitches, they would refresh their smart phones so they could check on the progress of the Cubs-Cardinals game. 

Unfortunately, with progress in one area, we step back in one or two others.  Do a search on “Where are the box scores?” in your favorite search engine and you’ll find more than a smattering of articles or even letters to the editors complaining about newspapers no longer printing box scores in their sports section. 

An argument can be made which I will not refute that print newspapers have seen better days and are on their decline.  Whether their demise is here and now, is quite debatable.  And not doubt it’s true, a lot of newspapers in smaller markets have legitimate financial reasons to cut back on sports coverage.

Also interesting are those newspaper outlets who still print or post boxscores on their web site and use it as a marketing tool.  Like Freep.com.  No, they’re not like those other papers.  

Even among web-delivered stats and box scores there has been a trade-off.  For years, I’ve enjoyed the USA Today’s section for one simple reason
 in years past, they’ve displayed their box scores in a one-page format.  A year or two ago, they “enhanced” it slightly but it only required one click to expand all box scores. 

But the full box scores page on UST is no longer.  They’ve taken the “Box Scores” link down.  Unless, I’m missing something, they no longer do that forcing us web browsers to click back and forth for each game. 

The reason is simple from USA Today’s (and ESPN’s and MLB.com’s etc) perspective.  It means more click-throughs and more ad views and therefore more ad revenue.  

Maybe I’m being picky.  But my time is valuable and I’d just as soon scroll down a page.  I will give USA Today credit for keeping their Stats by Team in a one-page format for each league.  That is still pretty handy. 

Quit messin’ wit’ the box scores.  Analysis is great but it’s only opinion.  Box scores are the reality of baseball.

Smile Politely interviews me

Joel Gillespie of the local online magazine, Smile Politely sat down with me Saturday and interviewed me for what can be best described as a “get-to-know-your-local-blogger” profile.  The end product, Zealous about Illini baseball turned out really well in my opinion. 

It was a fun chat.  Joel as it turns out was a baseball fan himself.  An Iowa product, he roots for the Twins.  I tried to goad him into talking trash about the White Sox but to his credit, he would have none of it. 

It also seems that he follows the Illinois baseball team.  It won’t be long before they start playing at Illinois Field so I’ll have to invite him out for a home game sometime. 

thanks for the great article, Joel! 

Smile Politely:  Zealous about Illini baseball

MLB Network gets going

The MLB Network is now on the air.

MLB Network Launches January 1, 2009

A couple points I’d like to make:

1.  They are still pushing Silverlight technology to distribute their online video content.  This is not unexpected since I think their deal with them extends till April when MLB Advanced Media will go with Flash.  It can’t be soon enough in my opinion. 

2.  My hope is that the MLB Network does not ignore the sector of society that gets their information and news totally from the web.  I’ll be honest, I rarely get my news from TV and yes, that includes sports news.  My hope was that would be that they would be streaming MLB Network live. 

There are plenty of business models out there using streaming video out that seem to work.  MLB, let’s make it work, too. 

I’m hoping the MLB Network gets off the ground.  They seem to have realistic expectations:

Petitti has made it clear that his new network’s signature show does not need to beat “Baseball Tonight” in the ratings for the network to be declared a runaway success. It’s all in the baseball family.

“Being second for us is a good thing,” Petitti said. “If we’re the second place people turn to for baseball, we’ll be very successful.”

That tells me they know they are targeting a niche market, their core audience.  That’s a good thing. 

Now just don’t do anything to piss them off.