Random Sports Discussion

[Paelos]

Except economics.

They can make a safer version. It needs to trickle down. That's why they got sued and settled.

[Ingmar]

Because wooden bats break, they're just not possible to use for youth leagues and stuff, far too expensive. There's a better option out there I'm sure, just waiting for someone to invent it.

[ghost]

I just had a patient's mother pay for treatment in $1 bills...... 

[Ingmar]

Might want to disinfect those.

[Paelos]

How nice were her tits?

[ghost]

Ummm, yeah.  I'm sure there's plenty of ass sweat on those bills.

[Paelos]

Answer the question! 

[ghost]

I wouldn't have picked that out as her profession, no.

[ghost]

Sweet!  My dad just sent me a basketball that was signed by all the members of Kentucky's national title squad from last year, including Anthony Davis, Terrence Jones and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.  That was unexpected.

[Paelos]

Sweet!  My dad just sent me a basketball that was signed by all the members of Kentucky's national title squad from last year, including Anthony Davis, Terrence Jones and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.  That was unexpected.

Pics please! That's neat.

[ghost]

I'll get one when I get home from work.  He also sent me a limited edition Louisville Slugger commemorative bat from the title, which isn't signed but is also cool.

[ghost]

Here's the ball:



And a couple of views of the bat:





They aren't the best photos, but apparently my iPhone hates me.

[Paelos]

The ball is really cool. Have you considered getting one of these?

[ghost]

I figure I probably ought to.  I just got it the other day though and haven't really had time to think about it. 

[ghost]

Sweet Caroline cut by Penn State....


Seems a might bit overkill to me.  But, then again the first thing I think of when I hear the song is getting into a shower with a 12 year old boy.

[Ingmar]

...

(Recorded music is an abomination in college football anyway. You have a band, they're there for a reason.)

[ghost]

I absolutely agree.  I guess I thought that the band was playing it.  But then again I didn't read the article really closely.

[ghost]

You know it's a bad time for US sports when ESPN is putting up a lot of Euroloeague soccer on the front page.   

[Paelos]

That's why baseball should end this weekend for the regular season imo.

Everyone's played about 130 games, we could start the playoffs and it would make great ratings while we dealt with the crap week of college ball and the week before the NFL.

[naum]

That's why baseball should end this weekend for the regular season imo.

Everyone's played about 130 games, we could start the playoffs and it would make great ratings while we dealt with the crap week of college ball and the week before the NFL.

This^^

Regular season should end in August. September-October (no baseball in November please) should be reserved for post-season. And the post-season should be expanded to best-of-9 series.

It would make baseball distinctive and take away NHL claim to most extensive playoff tournament, steal thunder from NFL/NCAAF season opening, grant more excitement to small/mid market teams, and fits more in with modern pitching staffs and organization rosters. Yes, the purists will grieve over expanded playoff field, but that nut has already been cracked -- and the current setup is a travesty -- not so much the new single elimination wildcard game, but the best-of-5 for divisional round is insufficient.

[Ingmar]

Hey baseball owners, do you want to give up the income from 16 of your home games? No? Didn't think so.

EDIT: And as a fan I don't want less regular season games myself. As far as I'm concerned they could play all 12 months and I'd be happy.

[Paelos]

13,000 people supposedly showed up to watch the Indians play the A's yesterday in cleveland. That's pretty typical for teams that aren't northeastern powerhouses or aren't in the playoff talk at this point.

Besides, NFL owners seem to be able to make it work with about 500-600k fans a year that support a payroll of about $120M. They run 10 games with the preseason included.

The worst team in the MLB draws about 1.5M fans a season. Are you telling me they can't adjust ticket prices and amenities to support that same payroll? Think about the variable costs of just opening the stadium during a shitty season end. Do they actually even MAKE money on those last 16 games? Maybe about 30% do that are in the running. I'm guessing the rest barely break even.

[Ingmar]

NFL ticket prices are shamefully high because of it. Stuff like $20 bleacher seats make it a lot more possible for a wider group of people to attend games. So no I don't think it would be a plus at all to adjust prices up and reduce the number of games. Even those 13,000 ticket games are going to be moneymakers for them, and you'll also end up asking season ticket holders to pay the same amount for 16 fewer games; that's a good way to get your season ticket holders to tell you to fuck right off.

[Paelos]

That 13k pretty much is just season ticket holders that didn't bother showing up.

Hell, I'm a season ticket holder in Atlanta, and I'd prefer not to go to regular season games in September. That's football season.

[ghost]

Do stadium numbers even mean shit any more?  Isn't it all about advertising dollars?

[Paelos]

Do stadium numbers even mean shit any more?  Isn't it all about advertising dollars?

In baseball, the entire payroll is driven by attendance, unless you are the Yankees. It's like that because there's no cap. In other sports, not as much.

[Ingmar]

Do stadium numbers even mean shit any more?  Isn't it all about advertising dollars?

They absolutely do, at least for baseball. You can see it in the financial documents that were leaked for a few teams a couple years ago. A couple examples:

For a top-end example: 2009 Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles Anaheim Whatever: ~$100 million in ticket receipts, ~$15 million in concession sales. Meanwhile stadium operations cost them $16 million. (This is about half their revenues overall.)
For the team in probably the shittiest situation in baseball at the time: 2009 Florida Marlins: ~$21.5 million in ticket receipts, $2.5 million in concessions against $7 million in stadium operations.


So there's a wide range, but it is big, big money and they're pretty much all making at least some money this way. No way do they walk away from that.

[ghost]

Interesting.  I'm shocked.   

[Paelos]

LA's a shitty example though. Like NY, they very much have the population to be in the top 10 for not only one, but TWO franchises should they choose. Short of carpet bombing the stadiums, they are going to draw people no matter what. In fact, there has never been a time in the last decade where the NY and LA teams didn't at least have one franchise in the top 5. In 2006, all 4 teams were in the top 5 in attendance.

A better example of where attendance drives payroll would be Atlanta, Houston, Detroit, or Seattle.

[ghost]

I think it would be fine if the had the same games and just started the season a little earlier.  Weather might be an issue in some locations, but hey, these guys make millions of dollars per year so should be able to suck it up and play.  Ending the season now would probably really boost attendance for another reason-  in most locations school has started and parents are going to be much less likely to drag the kids out of school for a game in the first month of school.  They would probably think differently if it was the playoffs though.

[naum]

…Ending the season now would probably really boost attendance for another reason-  in most locations school has started and parents are going to be much less likely to drag the kids out of school for a game in the first month of school.  They would probably think differently if it was the playoffs though.

Americans love "playoffs".

In the old MLB divisional/league setup (pre wildcard), when you had to finish 1st to play in the postseason there was still some interest in where your team placed (i.e, as a Pirates fan, even if they didn't win the division, I still rooted in September to be a "spoiler" or finish ahead of Mets, Phillies, Cubs, etc.…). With a wildcard setup, most games in September are entirely meaningless now.

The same reason that ties/draws are an anathema -- if there is no winner/loser, it is unfulfilling -- but we'll watch just about anything where there is a "winner advance", "loser eliminated" contest -- even ESPN 8 lumberjack competitions to see who can cut down a tree the fastest. ;)

[HaemishM]

They could compress the season more if they played more doubleheaders (or really any... do they even do doubleheaders much anymore?).

[cmlancas]

They could compress the season more if they played more doubleheaders (or really any... do they even do doubleheaders much anymore?).

Doubleheaders are typically for makeup games.  Also, eight hours of baseball is supremely demanding of athletes, especially when it's in the middle of a four-game series.

[Ingmar]

With a wildcard setup, most games in September are entirely meaningless now.

This is like the exact opposite of true. Far, far more games were meaningless in September under the old system.

[HaemishM]

Hell, most Cubs' games later than June have been meaningless for 90% of my lifetime.