D's Notebook

Tag: baseball (Page 3 of 22)

ASG, 2021

July 14, 2021 /

Ahhh, the All-Star Game! The mid-summer moment when we set aside our differences and come together as Americans to celebrate our once-and-always National Pastime.

Well, except for this year, which was ruined by the forces that want to keep us apart, that want us to continue arguing about manufactured wedge issues to distract us from the true damage being done to our sacred, national institutions.

Yes, I’m talking about those fucking terrible, straight ass uniforms.

For about the 8000th time in recent years, Major League Baseball has shown how they are clueless, tone deaf, run by the worst people, and care more about pleasing their advertising partners than catering to the fans of the game.

One of the greatest parts of baseball’s All-Star Game is always seeing the players collected from every team in the league, wearing their varied jerseys on the same field. In eras of excellent uniforms, the team/field pics were glorious, multi-hued snapshots of moment in baseball, and American, history. Even in bad years, when almost every team wears the same shade of gray on the road, it’s still fun to see the different caps scattered about the field.

But, for $ome rea$on, ba$eball decided to $crap nearly 100 year$ of tradition and ae$thetic $plendor to put the team$ in league-$pecific uniform$.

It’s not just that the idea of AL and NL uniforms was bad, it’s that they were executed so incredibly poorly. They were ugly and filled with awful design elements. One of the beauties of the All-Star Game has always been a quick glance at the screen can tell you who an unfamiliar player’s home squad is. All of that was lost, as you had to catch the camera view just right to see a player’s home logo plastered onto the All Star logo on his cap, or try to decipher the rec-league quality graphics on the fronts of their jerseys.

Honestly I’m shocked it took MLB this long to fuck up the All Star uniforms. Each year they roll out another set of “special” caps for any and every holiday that falls during the season, all of which cater to the America First/Support the Troops crowd even if the holiday has no patriotic angle. These alt caps are almost always terrible. Why MLB didn’t realize they could use the summer’s biggest showcase to force another shitty hat on the public sooner is really a small miracle.

The uniforms put me in a bad mood from the start, so most of the notes I took during the game were cranky, snarky, and cynical. Since I’ve written enough about the uniforms already, I’ll dispense with most of those and just focus on one other major point from the night.

I’ve never liked anything about Fox bothering mangers in the dugouts or miking-up players on the field during the game. In regular/postseason games, the conversations with the managers rarely provide any real insight into what’s happening during the game as they are reluctant to share any information that might put them at a disadvantage. The ASG in-game miked-up moments are usually awkward between technical difficulties and guys, you know, trying to play the game.

Last night was no different.

Freddy Freeman was solid, as he is affable and seemed eager to be involved. He did seem to have scripted some lines ahead of time. Which is fine; his segment was filled with “banter” rather than awkward pauses.

I enjoyed the Ozzie Albies and Khris Bryant segments, too, as they seemed the most like what a conversation with those guys would actually be like. They both seemed like laid back dudes who were enjoying being part of the event.

But the others? Yeesh.

Fernando Tatis Jr. is one of the great young stars in the game and is super media savvy. But his segment showed how tough it is to find guys who can speak naturally to people he can only hear while also trying to play a game. Maybe the worst broadcast moment of the night was when Joe Buck yelled into Tatis’ ear “Say something to him!” when his pal Vladimir Guerrero Jr. sauntered by after his massive home run. It seemed like a desperate attempt to salvage an awkward segment and ignored the fact that there was a 100% chance that Tatis was going to say something without being prompted. I wish Tatis chose Spanish for his comments as an F-you to Buck and Fox, but I think he’s too nice for that and just used the language Guerrero was most comfortable with.

Talking the Xander Bogaerts while he’s in the batter’s box seemed like a horrible idea, and made for bad TV. It also kept Fox from giving any attention to Guerrero Jr. nearly killing Max Scherzer with a wicked line drive and then going over and to hug him in apology afterward. They were too busy trying to get Bogaerts to share his approach in the box.

AL closer Liam Hendricks was miked-up, too, but apparently couldn’t hear Buck. Fox kept his mike on, though, which allowed us to hear his grunts on each pitch and a shouted “GODDAMMIT!” when he spiked a breaking ball. Later he dropped a clear f-bomb. It all came together when he conferenced with catcher Mike Zunino and Zunino advised him to keep quiet because of his mike.

“It’s ok, it’s not working,” we clearly heard Hendricks reply.

Thank goodness he didn’t say something truly offensive.

Trying to talk to batters in the box and pitchers on the bump is taking this too far. They should be focused on playing the game safely, not on what Joe Buck is saying in their ear or what they might accidentally say that goes out over the airwaves.

I’m open to trying new things tp spice up the broadcast. Sports coverage shouldn’t be static over time. If it was, we wouldn’t always be able to see the time and score or get other information on the screen. We wouldn’t have constant replays from 100 angles. And so on.

But when these innovations distract from the game rather than add to it, someone at Fox has to make the call to scale back rather than add another layer every year. Then again, all the attention they put everywhere other than the action on the field is a reminder of what the All-Star Game has become: a massive marketing event where the game is secondary to moving product.

That said, maybe all those distractions were a good thing. Baseball is pretty boring right now, and the game was indicative of that. Lots of swings-and-misses punctuated by a few home runs. At least the game wasn’t interrupted by a bunch of replay reviews.

This long run of American League dominance still feels weird to me, as I bet it does to most children of the ‘70s and ‘80s. We were raised on the idea that the National League always was, and always would be, superior. Sure enough, most Julys the NL would come out and beat the AL no matter how stacked the AL roster was.

My first sports gambling moment came when I was 8 and my uncle bet me a nickel that the National League would win. Dave Parker’s unforgettable outfield assist was the capper on a night when I first discovered sports bitterness and cemented in the idea that the AL was inferior.

Even after the 26 wins in 32 years, though, it feels very strange to me that the AL runs the game.

Finally, a shout out to the many, many, many, many minority-owned businesses in Cobb County Georgia who were decimated by MLB’s cruel decision to yank the All-Star Game away from them. Cobb County has long been a bastion of racial equality and minority empowerment and it is a damn shame that they got barreled over by the leftist, socialist, critical racial theory, politically correct agenda.

Weekend Notes

October 19, 2020 /

It felt like I mostly sat on my ass watching sports this weekend. Turns out a lot went on. Here are some details.

HS Football

M snagged a ticket at the last minute to the Indy high school game of the year: 5A #1 Cathedral vs 6A #1 Center Grove. Both teams were undefeated, had rolled through their first eight games pretty much unchallenged, and were ranked in the top 25 of the USA Today national poll.[1] They were also ranked 1–2 in the all-class Indiana computer poll, with a large gap between CHS and the #3 team.

I figured CG would win fairly easily. Although CHS had played a tougher schedule, CG is much more physically impressive. They have 6’8” and 6’6” kids on the offensive line. Their quarterback is just a junior and has offers from most of the Big 10. They have a d-lineman committed to Minnesota and a d-end who has offers from Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State, and pretty much every other major school. Their running back is an absolute horse who would likely be challenging career rushing records had he not missed almost his entire junior year because of injuries. CHS has a receiver who is going to Louisville…to play baseball. Their best running back is going to Columbia. Most of their other good seniors will go to D2 or D3 schools. Very good players, but without the ceilings of CG’s best.

Oh, and CHS won a very physical, nasty game 14–9 last year. So CG was motivated.

CHS punted on their first possession then CG scored without much effort. My prediction seemed solid. But CHS’ defense righted themselves and the rest of the first half was very even. CHS got two big completions and scored a touchdown in the second quarter to go into the break down just 10–6.

Then they controlled the third quarter, forcing multiple CG punts. They caught a huge break late in the period when they got an interception and ran it back 73 yards for a touchdown. Suddenly they were up 13–10 and controlling the game on D.

The fourth quarter was a series of traded punts. CG, who has arguably the best kicker in the state, put a 30-yard field goal off the crossbar to miss a chance to tie with about 4:00 left. The radio announcers started doing the math: three first downs and CHS would escape with a huge win. They got the first two, CG burned all their time outs, and the game came down to a fourth and one just past midfield.

CHS got too cute. Instead of giving it to their running back, who was having a good series, or letting the quarterback take it and make something happen, they handed it to a receiver on a sweep and he was stopped for a loss. The decision made some sense because CHS had not punted well all night, plus CG would have brought heavy pressure. With the way the CHS defense was playing, it was a reasonable risk.

CG had a minute to go 54 yards. They needed just 44 of those seconds, scoring on a touchdown pass with 0:16 left. CHS couldn’t do anything on the final three plays of the game and lost a terrific game 17–13.

CHS has to feel disappointed about the final outcome, but great about hanging with CG, something no team in the state did for more than 30 minutes. CG, provided they stay healthy, are going to roll through the 6A playoffs. Most assume that CHS will do the same in 5A. This should give them confidence that their first eight games were no fluke.

The highlights I saw on Twitter showed a group of CHS students in both the main visiting stands – the stadium was 50% capacity – and in one section of the end zone stands. When I picked M up I asked her where she sat, on the side or in the end zone.

“What do you mean ‘end zone’?”

L was with us – I had picked her up from a friend’s on the way – and she laughed out loud.

KU

Not much to talk about KU. The defense really hung in there and made some plays until they ran out of gas. The offense continues to look awful.

I was kind of half-watching when M walked through the room.

“Is that KU football? You never watch that.”

Which, first, is not true. But I explained how I don’t get as into football as basketball because KU has been terrible for a decade.

“Do people actually go to games?”

I knew what she was really asking but decided to deflect.

“Well, most stadiums have limits on how many people can be there. This game is in West Virginia so I’m not sure how many people are allowed.”

“No, I meant at KU. Do people just not go because they’re terrible?”

Roasted by my daughter who doesn’t know what an end zone is. I would be offended but, come on, it’s KU football.

Family Pics

The big event of the weekend was that we had family pictures scheduled for Sunday evening. But as the forecast looked rainy, we moved them to Saturday.

We haven’t done a true family pic in six years because they are always total disasters. At least one girl is crying, one or two of the others are surly and uncooperative, and S and I are usually stressed and yelling at everyone. It’s hard enough to get a Christmas card pic without total meltdowns, so we kept putting off the full family pic.

It had been a three-week hassle for S to get the girls to agree to clothes to wear. They didn’t want to go try things on so she would come home with bags full of things to try. They kept rejecting her suggestions without offering guidance on what they would wear. There had been plenty of yelling that I managed to stay out of.

Saturday morning when we told the girls pics were that night, one of them immediately burst into tears. For fuck’s sake. Another waited until about an hour before we left to start fixing her hair, which takes a long time to dry. Another was crabby and uncommunicative about the entire affair. And then the first girl cried again and refused to wear what she had agreed to wear. S was on the verge of tears. I decided to drink a beer and stay out of it because yelling at the girls to stop being jackasses never seems to work.

But we made it out of the house, everyone settled down, and we actually had a very good photo session.

You would think they would learn to shut the fuck up and just go along with what their mom wants them to do. It gets it over way quicker, there’s less stress, and they can get back to whatever it is they would rather be doing. But kids are dumb. Even smart kids.

Colts

Looked like it was going to be a disaster, then turned into a pleasant surprise. Aside from one bad interception Philip Rivers had a great game. Some receivers are stepping up to replace all the injured guys who should be playing. And I’ll write the first quarter off as a fluke for the defense.

Baseball

What a great end to the league championship series. The ALCS wasn’t necessarily a great game, but it was a great result. It felt very 2020 that Houston might find a way to reach the World Series. Thankfully Tampa shut the door and didn’t completely blow their 3–0 lead.

Game seven of the NLCS, though, was treeeeeeeeeeemendous. A back-and-forth game with plenty of huge moments, both good and bad, is perfect for a non-aligned viewer. Cody Bellinger’s game-winning home run was one for the ages. As a Twitter user I follow said, “That boy just hit the ball to Mars.” Also very 2020 that he apparently hurt himself, at least momentarily, celebrating with his teammates.

I kind of enjoyed the neutral field playoffs. I loooooved the seven games in seven days schedule. For everyone who complains about this year’s rules changes taking strategy out of the game, the schedule added a lot of tough decisions for managers.

I know the old Rangers stadium is probably not usable, but I think it would have been cool to have the ALCS in one of the stadiums, the NLCS in the other across the street.

It feels like it should be a very good World Series. But you never know which team will have good pitching all the way through, and which will slip up. I just hope Clayton Kershaw pitches well. I really don’t care who wins but I hope if the Dodgers lose it isn’t because of his failures. I usually don’t get into the “Athlete X deserves a championship.” I’m making an exception for Kershaw. A championship won’t erase all his past October struggles. But it will at least be a counter to them.

Dodgers in seven

  1. CHS was #25, CG #14.  ↩

Weekend Notes

September 28, 2020 /

It’s time for the weekly Monday sports review!

Gale

Gale Sayers was waaaaaay before my time. He retired about six months after I was born, and his final two years in the NFL were slowed by a series of serious injuries that robbed him of his breath-taking speed. But there were uncles, and friends of uncles, and other people their age who would get emotional when they talked about watching him play in his prime. I once had a boss who was from Chicago and grew up in the ‘60s. This man was gruff and cold and rarely smiled or laughed. But if you mentioned Gale Sayers to him, he would soften and talk about how he had never seen anything like Gale when he played for the Bears.

Gale Sayers died last week. He was the greatest football player to ever play at the University of Kansas, either at KU or as a pro. That’s not saying much, it being Kansas football and all. Which makes it more amazing that one of the most gifted running backs to ever play the game, someone who everybody who saw play in his prime said would be just at home in the modern game as in his era, was a Jayhawk.

Another thing about Gale: pretty much everyone who ever came across him in his post-playing days said he was one of the nicest, most unaffected former athletes they had ever dealt with. They always said he was warm and genuine.

Sayers wasn’t celebrated much when I was on campus. Which is a shame. As big of a deal as it was for Wilt Chamberlain to finally come back to campus in 1997, Sayers should have been welcomed back as often as he was willing to return. We all knew the names and stories of basketball legends of the past. Gale’s story really should have been drummed into our heads so that we knew, even if we never saw him play with our own eyes, how lucky we were that he was a Jayhawk.

KU Football

I didn’t play close attention to the build-up to last week’s game against Baylor since the game was in doubt until Friday due to Covid concerns on the Baylor roster. So perhaps I missed signals that a change was coming.

Thus I was surprised on Saturday when I saw the tweets that true freshman Jalon Daniels would be starting at quarterback. The coaching staff seemed thrilled when he committed and signed last year, but I don’t think I ever heard his name in the preseason. I wondered if he wasn’t ready for the challenges of college ball yet.

But Saturday he started well. I couldn’t see the game, only highlights that hit Twitter, but he was much bigger than I expected. Writers say he has a huge arm. He made a ton of mistakes, but also played with a swagger and confidence KU hasn’t had in a long, long time. His mistakes were out of ignorance and brashness rather than cluelessness or ineptitude.

KU played a lot of first year players Saturday. They lost 47-14. The first sentence in more important than the second. Les Miles and his staff are doing it right. They’ve filled their first three recruiting classes almost exclusively with high school players. That’s step one. Step two is playing those kids, for better or for worse. If you believe in their talent you get them on the field and let them learn by going through adversity. It sure as hell won’t pay off this year. It may not pay off next year. But unlike the wishy-washy half measures the last three coaches have taken at least this is a concrete path to the future.

Starting Daniels is the most obvious piece of this plan. To be fair, he started because at least one of the QBs who played week one was not healthy enough to play this week. But throwing Daniels out there also sends a message to this year’s recruiting class: if you’re good enough, you can get on the field quick. And look at this kid and his potential, don’t you want to be a part of what he’s going to do?

Offered with the usual caveat that this is KU football and any glimmers of hope are more likely to be brutally crushed than offer even meager payoffs.

Alex Gordon

This was Alex Gordon’s final weekend as a professional baseball player. Most of my readers are Royals fans, and thus read the many tributes to Alex over the weekend. I feel like most of what I would write would repeat those, so I’ll try to keep this brief.

Alex was the first guy who made me believe the Royals’ fortunes would change. He was the best player in college, grew up a Royals fan, and they managed to not fuck up the draft and pick him when he was waiting for them. He roared through the minors. This was it, the next great cornerstone of the franchise!

Then it didn’t exactly work out like we all planned it to. He retires being responsible for the biggest hit in franchise history, being beloved by the fanbase, and almost certain to have his number retired. But it was a bumpy road to get there, and even when he righted himself after early struggles, he still had a strange career. There was the offensive peak from 2011 until he got injured in 2015. Even then, though, he would be white hot for three weeks, then go stone cold for three weeks. He would hit the biggest, loudest, most majestic home runs you have ever seen, then look lost for weeks at a time.

He worked his ass off to become the best left fielder in the game. He may have worked too hard and hurt himself at the plate, but you could never, ever question his dedication or worth ethic. He was not the demonstrative leader that Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, or Salvador Perez were. Yet he was also the unquestioned guy that everyone looked up to.

There’s a part of me that will always view Alex’s career as a slight disappointment. He was a career .257 hitter with an OPS+ of 102. As good as he was in 2011 and 2012, if feels like he should have extended that success over a 4-5 year stretch. His defensive play always made up for his struggles at the plate, though. And “Gordon in the air to center…back, at the wall…this game is tied!” will always make up for any disappointment at his career numbers.

Kid Hoops

L’s first CYO basketball game of the year was Sunday. I am back on the bench as an assistant coach this year. We played a school we lost to by eight last year, mostly thanks to a third quarter in which we were outscored 6-0.

We led 7-5 at halftime and used a 8-0 run in the third quarter to break the game open. We got a little sloppy late but still closed it out to win 17-7.

L had four points. She hit a couple jumpers, one from a step inside the 3-point line. She also missed at least 80 layups and was 0-2 from the line. We will be spending a lot of time on layups at practice this week. I believe our team went 1-852 on layups.

I am responsible for the offense we run and the girls, well, they did not run it well. It’s a (theoretically) simple pass-and-cut offense that you can run against about any defense. They were passing and cutting, but then no one looked for the ball or posted up after their cuts. And no one looked at the cutters for a quick hit. Well, L did throw one toward a cutter late in the game, but the cutter never looked at the ball, and the defense had switched to zone so there were three defenders waiting to grab the pass.

Our defense, though, was awesome. We are pretty small and mostly fast. The team we played was bigger and slower. Our girls attacked every loose ball, jumped in the passing lanes, pressured the ball, and generally created havoc on the defensive end. Not exaggerating, we had at least 20 breakaway layup attempts that came off of steals. If we could get to even 50% on those we would be in really good shape, because half court offense is always going to be a struggle. That is middle school basketball for you.

MLB

Still trying to figure out how the playoffs work. I’ve been pretty checked out of baseball for the past month so need to start paying attention again.

NBA

Not sure if it is the bubble environment, the lack of crowds and travel, or just the strangeness of 2020, but Miami is making the playoffs feel more like an NCAA tournament. They are the team that got hot at the right time and never fade in the big moments. Some friends of mine and I like to make fun of Jimmy Butler and how he thinks he’s a superstar. If he gets the Heat to a title, I guess he can laugh at us. Lakers in six.

Sports!

August 10, 2020 /

It’s taken me awhile to get into them, but sports are back! Kind of, sort of, that is.

As I type this fall college sports are looking nervously at the drain, aware that a hand is lingering near the handle to flush them away to 2021.

But the pros have been keeping us entertained for a few weeks now. And it has been surprisingly good.

Golf

Golf was the first major American sport back, and had a glorious weekend with the first major championship of the year, the PGA Championship played at Harding Park in San Francisco. Twenty-three year old Collin Morikawa, just over a year after turning pro, won his first major with a sublime back nine Sunday.

Morikawa was in the middle of an extraordinarily packed leaderboard when he mis-hit a wedge on the 14th hole, coming up short of the green. Hoping to just get close so he could salvage a par, he chipped in to take the lead at –11. Two holes later he hit a legendary tee shot. Where others kept trying to fade the ball over the trees to the reachable par four, Morikawa took a little off his standard cut, bounced the ball just short of the green, and rolled it to six feet. He banged in his eagle putt and the tournament was his. He damn near holed a 30-foot birdie putt on 17 just to clown with people.

It was a dazzling end to a fantastic tournament. At least 120 guys had a chance to win on Sunday. Well, more like 12 or so, but it was a lot. Morikawa was the only one who could bust through, and he did it with absolute aplomb. He was the least heralded of last year’s three college megastars who turned pro together, largely because Matthew Wolff and Viktor Hovland played on one of the greatest college teams ever at Oklahoma State. All three have wins in their first year on the tour – Wolff also had a chance Sunday and is lamenting three putts that just missed – but Morikawa now has three wins including a major. The future of golf is good.

What was greatest about the weekend was ESPN’s coverage of the tournament. ESPN doesn’t get too many chances to show golf, but they balled out. Scott Van Pelt and David Duval were soooo good in their hosting duties. Duval never strikes me as a dynamic personality on his Golf Channel work. I don’t know whether Van Pelt drew it out of him or he was just more relaxed, but he was like a totally different guy. He provided great insight, was sneakily funny, and even gently roasted a few players. The network managed to show both the stars and the developing stories. Their on-air-talent was entertaining, informative, and humorous without being distracting.

In certain circles of the golf media universe, people love to kill CBS for how bad they are at broadcasting golf. ESPN gave people who complain exactly what they have been craving. I hope they can repeat the weekend’s performance when they take over non-network coverage of most PGA events in 2022.

Oh, and all PGA’s and US Opens should be played on the west coast. There’s nothing better than turning on golf at 10 AM and having it still on at 10 PM. I didn’t watch every minute of the coverage, but the TV was generally on just about every hour that ESPN and CBS were broadcasting.

NBA

The Bubble World NBA has been surprisingly entertaining. The first week I watched a lot; this past week I’ve mostly been watching only when the Pacers are playing. Where golf manages without a crowd – you lose the reactions to dramatic shots you but also lose the idiots who have to yell “GET IN THE HOLE” or “MASHED POTATOES” on every fucking tee shot – I was worried basketball without a crowd would seems sterile and boring. But it’s been alright. Granted, there is some fake crowd noise piped in, along with music and announcers. The Zoom fans are a cool touch, too.

I think what saves it is seeing the benches go nuts on certain plays. Those moments get lost a little when the crowd is going crazy. But when Joel Embiid took another piece of Myles Turner’s soul with a ridiculous dunk in the Sixers-Pacers game, seeing his teammates literally jump over the barrier in front of the bench was awesome.

As a Pacers fan, it has also been a lot of fun watching TJ Warren begin the restart on a ridiculous hot streak. He had some really good moments in the first part of the season, but also seemed to be working to find his place on the team. He’s not an alpha, content to quietly fit in, which made the transition a little more awkward. Something flipped and he’s just been going off. 53 in a win against the Sixers. 39, including a massive three with 11 seconds left to beat the Lakers. He’s been over 30 in every game but one and leads the league in scoring in Orlando.

The Pacers have also been a lot of fun to watch. They’ve been banged up, which has forced them to play small. But it is, mostly, working. I don’t know that they have enough to win a series or two in the playoffs, but at least they are entertaining.

Baseball

Baseball is also really strange without a crowd. Stadiums designed to hold 30,000–50,000 fans being completely empty gives the games a haunted vibe. Listening on the radio gives the games a spring training vibe, with the voices from the dugout and around the diamond coming through clearly.

With the short season and expanded playoffs, the math for this year is different than any other year. Teams that probably shouldn’t be taking chances to get to the postseason are doing just that in hopes they make the tournament and can then get hot.

The Royals are one of those teams. Brady Singer and Kris Bubic are clearly good enough to be in the big leagues. But I’m not sure it makes sense for the Royals to be burning a year of their big league control of each pitcher in a season in which the Royals are unlikely to contend. Then again, the Royals needed starting pitching and with there being no minor league ball this year, I guess this is the only way to allow their best prospects to keep developing. And I guess it’s a good problem if the Royals are good enough in a few years that they regret starting the service time clocks on these guys early.

For the first two weeks that decision looked especially dumb. The Royals looked pretty bad over the first 12–13 games. But now that they’ve ripped off four-straight wins, including sweeping first place Minnesota, and you start crunching numbers on how they can make the expanded playoffs. They’ve started hitting the ball. The pitching has been solid, especially the bullpen. And they are getting guys healthy.

It’s stupid to get too excited about winning four games (which translates to nearly 11 games in this year’s math). The Royals are still a pretty weak club. And baseball has made so many missteps along the way to reopening that I don’t think anyone has much confidence they won’t have to shut the game down at some point. At least there are games to watch for now.

(Mostly) Sports Notes

February 18, 2020 /

Time for some of my famous half-assed sports thoughts!

NBA ASG

Man, I am mad at myself for not paying more attention to Sunday’s All Star Game. I blame L. I told her the game was on and she wasn’t interested, so we watched other things. I turned it on for the last 30 seconds of the first half then switched away, got distracted by a book and emptying the dishwasher, and forgot about it until it was over.

Sounds like the new format was a success, though. This Elam Ending thing is certainly intriguing. I really hope that the NBA uses it in the G-League and summer league games, or even that some college holiday tournaments give it a shot. I like the concept but I really want to see it in a true game setting to understand how it works in practice. I’m suspicious about changing the context of a game within the game. But I would also love to find a way for the end of close games to not take 20 minutes of real time to play.

Astros

The Houston sign stealing scandal has gotten really good over the past few days. You have players calling out the Astros and the MLB commissioner. You have fans just destroying the team and the league. In an era when so many dramas are manufactured, this one is 100% legit and I’m waaaay in on it turning into a season-long beef.

I saw this morning that an oddsmaker set the Astros hit by pitcher total for the upcoming season at 83.5. My initial thought is that seems low, although I’m sure MLB is going to step in and do its best to chill things out if the beanings get out of hand in April, which could make that number about right.

KU

You see what they’re doing, don’t you? Marcus Garrett having the best shooting game of his life Saturday? And Devon Dotson repeating the act Monday night? They’re getting all those shots out of the way so they combine to go a very March-like 0–21 on Saturday against Baylor. At least it’s February…

Seriously, game of the year Saturday in Waco (assuming Baylor beats Oklahoma tonight). I hope KU has a better plan to attack Baylor’s defense than they did a month ago.

Marcus Morris

Plenty of chatter among KU fans about whether Marcus Morris was deserving of having his jersey retired. Since the standards were relaxed late in Roy Williams’ run, I think Marcus absolutely fits the standard: he was the Big 12 POY which, even at KU, should be enough. As a couple writers keep pointing out, he had the most efficient and impressive offensive year of any player in Bill Self’s tenure.

Still, I understand some of the reluctance. And I think it’s totally based on how Marcus’ teams never made it to the Final Four. Most of all, it goes back to the 2011 VCU game, the worst loss of Self’s career and perhaps in school history.

CJ Moore had an interesting conversation with Elijah Johnson on The Athletic about that game. Elijah is always a super interesting quote, but I can’t believe I hadn’t heard him share this story before. He said in the team’s film session before the VCU game, the coaches ended it with a highlight reel of the 2010–11 season. The design, it seemed, was to remind the players of all the good things they had done and how great they could be.

However, Johnson said, the players took it a totally different way. He said the film room was dead quiet afterward. Some players were emotional. He said instead of inspiring them, the highlights reminded them of how close to the end they were, a big deal for a team that was exceptionally tight. He also said it made him feel like no matter how they played in the VCU game, they couldn’t match what had been contained in those highlights.

Fascinating. It may explain why KU came out so dead in the opening five minutes of that game, digging a hole they could never get out of.

It also makes me madder about the game I’ll always be maddest about. A freaking highlight video kept a team with the easiest path to a national championship any KU team has ever had from beating a team that shouldn’t have even made the tournament? Going to find a stray dog to kick for awhile…

Colts

Speaking of kicking dogs, there is a lot of smoke around the rumors that Phillip Rivers could end up as a Colt. I totally get it. You go get Rivers or Tom Brady or Drew Brees or some other competent, experienced quarterback, draft someone else in the first round, and use the veteran to get through the next two years before that rookie is ready to play.

But Phillip Fucking Rivers?

For starters he’s a douche. His skills are clearly on the decline. Most of all, he and his teams were Kryptonite to the Manning-era Colts. They knocked them out of the playoffs twice, once with Rivers on the sideline injured. They ended the Colts’ perfect season in 2005.

At least Brady won Super Bowls. And even lost Super Bowls. Rivers’ teams have never gotten close. His game is clearly on the decline. He’s never been mobile. Seems like a horrible move to me. Just another reason for me not to watch the NFL, I guess.

I’m also fearful the Colts will draft Tua Tagovailoa. No doubting the kid’s heart, but he’s undersized and always hurt. Not a recipe for a franchise QB.

The Algorithm

Sometimes the various algorithms that run our lives are spooky. M is creeped out by the ads that pop up on her Instagram feed. They seem to mirror closely conversations she’s had. The other day she was saying “DOG FOOD!” near her phone, over-and-over, to see if that sparked a bunch of dog food ads. It did not, which I think proves the algorithm knows when you are trying to game/mock/test it.

I do enjoy how the algorithm works most of the time. Especially on YouTube, when it will randomly pick up some old song I haven’t listened to in years and spits its video or a performance of it out at me.

I say that because it’s been months since I’ve watched any 2014 or 2015 Royals highlight videos. Yet, last night when I was doing some research I’ll discuss in my next Reader’s Notebook entry, there were a bunch of ALCS and World Series highlight videos that kept bubbling up.

I approve, algorithm, I approve.

Weekend Notes

November 4, 2019 /

As has become routine, a quick-ish rundown of what went down over the weekend.

Halloween

OK, not technically the weekend, but worth a few words about how the girls spent Halloween.

M went to a friend’s house to hang out and watch movies.

C, along with most of the girls in her grade, dressed as Dalmatians. They didn’t quite make it to 101 but you get the idea.

And L dressed as Robin from Stranger Things and joined two friends who were dressed as Dustin and Steve from the show.

The big thing was that this was the first year ever our girls did not trick or treat in our old neighborhood. Last year we were still trying to sell the old house so we went over to turn on lights, put a car in the driveway, and then hang out with the neighbors. This year C and L were in separate neighborhoods near St. P’s, hanging with school friends.

Although I missed the annual dad chili cook-off and sitting in the driveway and drinking, it was nice to drop the kids off, come home for a quiet evening, and then go pick them up when they were done. We only had one group of three trick or treaters at our house. That was mostly because it was snowing, the windchill was in the 20s, and kids were not spending a ton of time outside.

World Series

Again, not officially last weekend. But that was some game seven, with the Nationals coming back to win with a 2015 Royals-like, late-inning rally. I’m still in a little shock that the Nats were able to pull off the upset. It will be interesting to see if they’re any good next year, between having the oldest roster in the league and a number of free agents to be.

L Sports

Basketball on Saturday. A nice win by eight over a team that was a good match. She scored one basket.

Soccer on Sunday, a makeup of a game that she was supposed to miss. She was kind of reluctant to play, we think because of getting hurt in her last soccer game. But she ended up being very glad she went. They won 5–1 to clinch first place by two games. She had an assist and then, finally, a classic L goal. She had a defender on her heels, faked her both directions until the girl turned her hips, cut the ball inside, flicked it outside to get an angle on the goalie, and then finished. She raised her hands and threw her head back, as if she, too, was saying, “Finally!” This was her only goal that was from her work this season, rather than a tap-in or from the penalty spot. Think she was glad to know she still has it.

Royals Hire Mike Matheny

Not happy about this. At all. His one, glaring weakness in St. Louis was his inability to handle young players. That’s what the Royals need right now, someone similar to Ned Yost who can nurture the young prospects as they begin working their way to the majors.

But I also thought Ned was a bad hire and he clearly learned from his failures in Milwaukee, although he was still driving us crazy deep into 2014.

So I guess I’m open to being surprised if Matheny ends up working out. Doesn’t mean I have to like it right now.

High School Football

Friday was week two of sectional play. Cathedral had a bye in week one so it was their opener. On a cold, clear night they ran up a 38–0 lead before halftime, played the sophomores through a running-clock second half, and advanced 38–13. M and C really wanted to go, so I bundled up in my ski trip clothes and sat through it. Thank goodness for that running clock. This Friday they play the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year. That team has won eight straight games so it should be a good game.

KU Football

One of the most reliable things in fall is KU coming off a big win, there being excitement around the program, and K-State kicking their ass and sending us Jayhawks back to reality. Bill Snyder may be gone but the math remains the same. For now.

Just an ugly loss. Pushed around on both sides of the ball, Carter Stanley playing his worst game of the year, and not converting when they had chances to keep the game close early.

I didn’t expect to win. I was hoping we could keep it competitive, though. There’s been progress, but still a long way to go.

Colts

I was at L’s game when I heard groans go up. I looked at my phone and saw that Adam Vinatieri had missed another field goal, this one that likely would have won the game. So two of the Colts’ losses are directly on him and his misses. He gets credit for winning last week’s game – although his misses in that game made the game-winner necessary – so he’s still trending to the bad side. It might be time, Adam. It might be time.

Of course, none of that matters if Jacoby Brissett is out long-term. Brian Hoyer was decent yesterday. But if the Colts have to rely on him for multiple games, I think winning my bet that the Colts will not win 10 games is back in play.

Belated Weekend Notes

October 29, 2019 /

OK, finally some weekend notes.

Youth Basketball

L’s team finally got their second win of the year, a nervy 18–15 win. They were down 14–10 in the fourth quarter, which seemed like a monumental gap. We got back-to-back steals and scores to tie, then cranked up the defense, got a couple more scores, and held on for the win.

It was everything a 5th–6th grade basketball game should be: maddening, hilarious, outrageous, and ridiculous. The girls try hard but, bless their hearts, it’s pretty rough rowing some days.

L was held scoreless for the first time this year. That was largely because she missed most of the second half. She got body-checked and went down pretty hard just before halftime. I was worried at first she had hit her head. A week after the possible concussion in soccer that would not be good. Turned out it was more of a hip bone directly into the hardwood thing. She eventually loosened up enough to come in for part of the fourth quarter. She missed a couple shots and two free throws, so she had her chances.

Kansas Freaking Football

How about them apples! Sure, it was Texas Tech, who isn’t all that great this year. And, sure, it came partially to a massive gaffe by Tech that gave KU the chance to attempt a second game winning field goal when the game should have gone to overtime. Still, a week after missing kicks, not making stops late, and having the clock operator help their opponent, KU did everything they had to do to win in the fourth quarter.

Man, the offense looked good at times. Brent Dearmon really might be a genius. Which means he’ll be in Tuscaloosa or Baton Rouge or South Bend or some other legit college football town sooner rather than later. I say back the truck up and pay that fool to stay.

We’ll see if they can keep it together again this week again Kansas State.

World Series

What a weird damn series. Last Thursday everyone had the Astros dead and buried. Today it is the Nationals who look cooked. With Strasburg going for the Nats tonight I fully expect a game seven tomorrow. Then the big question is can Max Scherzer be right enough to go?

Colts

A thoroughly uninspiring win against the Broncos, helped greatly by some rather fearful coaching decisions on the Broncos’ sideline. I had a bad feeling about the game for some reason, so I spent most of the first half doing yard work and running errands. It warmed up enough by halftime to watch outside, which was pretty glorious. Still not sure how good the Colts actually are. But they’re in first place and I’m another win closer to having to buy some beer for my buddy who believed they were a 10-win team in August.

Tiger

I watched bits of the Zozo Championship as my sleep schedule allowed. With Gary Woodland and Tiger Woods leading the event all weekend, I had plenty of reason to watch. I just wasn’t crazy about watching a rather meaningless golf tournament after midnight.

And the whole “Chase for 82” thing is silly. A) It only includes PGA tour wins, so Tiger’s true career win total is not reflected in it. B) As has been established many times, Sam Sneed’s 82 tour wins is a farcical number. C) Even if we decide that matters, isn’t win #83 the important one? Why is the PGA celebrating a record being tied? What was celebrated more, Hank Aaron’s 714th or 715th home run?

High School Football

Sectional playoffs started last week. Cathedral had a bye so we stayed in. Unfortunately, wind chills are expected to be in the 20s for their game this week. M hasn’t told me yet whether she wants to go or not. And if she goes, I likely have to go.

Speaking of going…I forgot to share how one of the songs the Cathedral band played as part of their halftime show this year was “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” As a massive fan of the Clash, I approve. But I also chuckled that I’m sure it was selected because of its use in season one of Stranger Things. Apparently that made the song part of Indiana culture!

A Few Baseball Notes

October 10, 2019 /

Each year as we pass through October I enjoy the memories that pop up in my Facebook feed from Octobers past. Specifically the Octobers of 2014 and 2015, when the Royals were keeping me up late so many nights as they won two-straight American League pennants.

Then there were the memories from years after the R’s run, when I joked about not thinking I would still stay up late to watch baseball when, in fact, I was staying up until 1:00 watching more crazy, extra-inning games.

Not this year, though. I have been casually watching games over the past week. But I generally check out around 11:00/11:30 regardless of the state of the game. I don’t have enough invested in any team this year plus I’m a few years older and have a harder time justifying being miserable the next day for a game that I don’t really care about.

The bitch of that is the meds that the good doc put me on to fight my poison ivy rash keep me from sleeping for more than two hours at a time at night. So I’ve been waking up around 1:30 or so, coming downstairs to read for awhile as my body resets, and checking the scores.

When I did that Thursday morning I was shocked to see that the Dodgers blew their lead and the Washington Nationals had advanced to the NLCS with a dramatic, extra inning win. I was not shocked to see that Clayton Kershaw was responsible for the Dodgers giving up their lead.

Although he’s had a few amazing post season performances, there is no doubt that he is now the biggest postseason…I’m struggling for the right word here…failure/frustration/goat/disappointment of his generation. One of the three or four best pitchers of his era and he consistently comes up short in the biggest moments of October. Of course, playing for the Dodgers he may still have four or five more chances to finally win a World Series even as his skills are slowly fading. That leaves him with, at best, a chance to have a John Elway-like career in terms of postseason success. It’s going to be hard to wipe away all those failures, though.

Good for Howie Kendrick for hitting the 10th inning grand slam that sent the Nats through. Seems like he’s been a very solid, but never great, player forever. I like that he has such a big moment to cap his career.

I also missed yesterday’s other game 5, the one in Atlanta between the Cardinals and Braves. L wanted me to pitch to her so we spent half an hour in the front yard hitting before I remembered that the game had started. I checked the score between pitches, saw the Cards were up 10–0, and knew I didn’t even have to turn it on.

I was pleased that this was finally the year that the Twins-Yankees matchup turned out differently. Oh, wait, it didn’t.

My World Series champ pick has been Houston. So I’m a little surprised they are facing a game five against Tampa today. Which also bums me out because that series going long means their rotation won’t be aligned ideally to face the Yankees should they advance. If things open up for the Yankees, I’ll probably dive back into the Netflix queue for the rest of the month.

R’s: End of the Season Notes

September 30, 2019 /

This was a lost baseball season for me. The Royals were shitty. For the first time ever, the MLB apps performed erratically at best, occasionally not at all. It was hard enough to find motivation to watch/listen to a bad team. When the tools that provide that access don’t work, you stop making the effort. Which is a shame because putting in the time in the bad years makes the good years even better. I don’t know how far off the next good run is, but I’d like to have thought following the Royals this year would be somewhat akin to the attention I gave them back in 2010–2012, when it seemed hopeless in Kansas City but there were guys developing in the system that I hoped would be good one day.

Alas, I could not match the attention I gave the team nearly a decade ago.

With another 100-loss season in the books, I thought I’d check in with some end-of-the-season comments since there has been some news.

New Ownership

This was out-of-nowhere and happened real, real fast. I figured David Glass would transition the team to his son Dan when the time was right. But quietly selling them to KC-area native John Sherman was a complete surprise. Sherman was alleged to have been a big part of Cleveland becoming more aggressive with their payroll since he became a part of the Indians’ ownership group. The natural hope is he will continue to be willing to spend money now that he has his own team. He doesn’t have to compete with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers in payroll. I do hope he is more willing than the Glass family generally was to spend money. Sherman got pretty good reviews from those in the know. I hope he is both a good owner and can hang around for 20 or so years to keep the Royals stable.

New Stadium?

There was immediate talk that the Royals were already quietly scouting areas in downtown KC for a new stadium. Word was this was very preliminary, with the idea being to have a downtown stadium ready to go when the current lease at the Truman Sports Complex runs out in 2031. I like the idea, though. The K is a wonderful park. But with downtown redeveloping over the past decade, a centrally-located stadium makes sense. Of course, I’ll be about 60 if/when this happens, which kind of sucks.

Ned

It wasn’t a huge surprise when Ned Yost announced that he would be retiring after the season ended. I didn’t expect him to hang on until the Royals were ready to compete again. But I did wonder if he would stick out a few more years, since his strength is dealing with young, developing players.

But I give him props for walking out on his terms, while he is still healthy, and while he can still do pretty much whatever he wants with his life.

I, like I think most Royals fans, came a long way with Ned. I didn’t love his tactical moves, his adherence to old school baseball, or the way he often dealt with criticism. I wanted him fired multiple times in 2014, as late as mid-way though the Wild Card game in fact. Check my Facebook feed for proof! But all that Royals Devil Magic of the 2014 and 2015 postseasons stemmed from his support for his players. He empowered guys to find their strength and do their thing. For that, they out-performed what most ever expected of them. By 2015 we had learned to love Ned despite his faults, understood some of his crustiness with the media was pure act, and adopted him as our oddball manager who got results. Winning the 2015 World Series meant we loved him forever and just chuckled and rolled our eyes when he did something crazy.

The biggest compliment I have for Ned is that he learned from his mistakes. Outwardly he comes across as very stubborn and sensitive to criticism. But it’s clear he learned from his failures in his first job in Milwaukee. He actually adjusted his style to adopt some modern analytics, although he would probably never admit it.

Despite his overall record and those maddening early years, he retires as a beloved franchise icon.

Alex

There are plenty of offseason questions the team needs to address as they approach the 2020 season, which should be the beginning of the climb from the bottom of the rebuild. I’m not sure if any of them are huge, given that winning is, at very best, one year in the future.

Thus figuring out what to do with Alex Gordon becomes the default most important decision of the winter.

It sounds like the Royals would like to have Alex back for another year, leaving the decision all up to Alex on whether he walks away or spends one last summer playing professional baseball.

I’d love it if he came back. His importance to the organization far outweighs his career stats, and it would be great for him to spend one more year helping transition to the next group of young guys. Even if that is in a reduced role.

But I keep thinking he will retire. He’s always done things quietly and on his own terms. Coming back would make it obvious that was the last run. I think playing out this season of uncertainty and walking off the diamond Sunday to a standing ovation is the way he really wants to go out rather than with a six-month farewell tour.

As I said, his importance outweighs his stats, or at least his offensive ones. The slow start to his career and then his wild swings between three weeks of being red hot and five weeks of being ice cold prevented him from ever being the offensive player he was expected to be.

But he was so good on defense. And, more importantly, the way he reclaimed his career by going to the minors and learning a new position without complaining, and his tireless work ethic are what we will remember about him. Honestly it’s a little difficult not to be disappointed by his career. He could have been a superstar. But that work ethic, his quiet demeanor, and the standard he set for every other player outweigh the slight disappointment you feel when you look at his numbers.

Oh, and then there was the biggest home run in franchise history.

Soler!

Speaking of home runs, a quick shout out to Jorge Soler who not only set the franchise home run record, but became the first Royal to ever lead the league in home runs. Even in a juiced ball year, that’s amazing. You figure some Yankee would hit 60 in their bandbox. Or this season it would be someone from Minnesota. But Soler seems to be developing into the player the Royals thought he could be when they traded Wade Davis for him. Now hopefully he can actually be part of a winning team before he departs for a team with more money.

I’m hopeful over the winter MLB gets their shit together so their apps work right again in 2020. Because I think that’s when it will start to be both interesting and rewarding to start listening to the Royals on warm summer nights again.

School Days

April 23, 2019 /

I really want to crank out a kid sports update. But this is our busiest week of the spring – two games tonight, track meet tomorrow, two games Thursday, game Friday, track meet Sunday – and it seems like I should wait until we get through it before I start breaking things down for you.

Instead I’ll share what I did with the girls last week, when I spent two days with them at school activities.

Tuesday I went with C’s class to the Indianapolis Indians game. It was a beautiful day, sunny and pushing 70. Unfortunately we were in the lower deck under the overhang so it was still a little chilly.

This is the third or fourth time I’ve gone to a baseball game with the girls and a school group. It was the oldest group I’ve gone with, and that was reflected in how we all sat. Although we were in the same section as the kids, the parents and teachers all kept to one side and the kids to another. In the past I would always be sitting right with my daughter and the group of kids I was responsible for.

Tuesday I had a group of five girls in my group, and they had instructions to check in with me anytime they went to get food, go to the restroom, etc and then to always have a buddy with them. One of the girls in my group is someone I know pretty well. She’s a really sweet kid and has probably never been in trouble in her life. Every single time she left she told me. I texted her mom to compliment her and asked if she was a rule follower. “For sure!” was the response.

Anyway, the kids had a good time. The Indians won – although former Royal Brandon Maurer tried to blow a three-run lead. C won a couple stuffed animals playing games. My entire group was accounted for at the end of the game. The dad who rode down with me observed that he didn’t think he had been to a baseball game and not had a beer since high school. Later that evening I saw one of the teachers posted a picture of her iced tea with the diamond in the background. Because of the light, it looked at first glance like she was drinking a beer. Man, that would have been some good stuff for a teacher to be sneaking beers and then posting on Facebook about it!

Thursday was the school’s annual day of service. I volunteered to join L’s class at the distribution center for a local mission. We spent most of the day sorting through large donation boxes. In our morning session somehow L and I got put with almost all the boys in her grade. She was literally the only girl in the group. You haven’t lived until you’ve spent two-plus hours with a bunch of fourth grade boys digging through boxes of random shit. Each time they uncovered anything interesting, they would have to yell out what it was and then the rest of the group would come running over. “OOOOHHH, look, a naked Barbie!” “HEY! I found a bowling ball!” The coolest thing they found was an original PlayStation, which knocked them off track for at least ten minutes. The coolest thing I found was a Rubbermaid box filled with random crap along with two, infant-sized, dirty diapers. Yeah, that was fun. The highlight was all the yelling at kids I got to do, because they were mostly acting like idiots. At lunch I asked L if the boys always acted like that. “Yes, they’re sooooo annoying!” Seriously, boys are a disaster. I don’t know how you parents of boys do it.

We got moved to the other group after lunch and here we just dug through boxes of clothes. That was more laid back and there was less yelling, although I did get to lay the smack down on a few kids again. Over the weekend C and L both said all the boys in their classes are afraid of me because I yell at them. Mission accomplished!

I realized that I’ve come a long way. Years ago I never would have yelled at someone else’s kid, and I was always confused by parents who would raise their voices at school events when teachers were present. I don’t know if it’s a private school thing, because the school is part of a church and we feel like we’re all a part of the community, or something else, but St. P’s parents are never shy about jumping in to correct behavior. I’m glad I’ve lost my reserve about barking at kids when they act like fools.

I’ve had nothing with M’s class, although she is about to start a very busy final month at St. P’s. Her class goes to DC next week. There’s a Mother’s Mass and Mom-Kid day out a week later. There’s an awards event the following week. We have about 100 different small projects to get turned in before graduation. And graduation itself at the end of May. Time is flying in her world.

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