Too many years ago, Bud Selig and his merry band of morons introduced interleague play. And, like most of his innovations, I ended up enjoying them later. Hell, who doesn’t get juiced if their 83-win team has a shot at the 2nd wild card slot and – dream big here – blazing a path to a championship. Ah, innovation rewards the truly mediocre.
So interleague play is here to stay. And it works if you like me are a fan of a team which shares its city with another or has a legit natural rival. We love the intensity of Mets/Yankees; we think Orioles/Nationals is intriguing, especially now that legitimacy has been bestowed on both clubs. When the White Sox play in Wrigley Field it is intriguing because it seems backwards.
The Blue Jays hosting the Braves? The most potentially exciting thing there is Canadian Customs weerily eyeing Fredi Gonzalez while trying to remain typically polite and resisting the urge to profile him in that small office over there.
As an aside, I think MLB should just regionalize like hockey. You wouldn’t love a division with the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, Phillies and we’ll say the Pirates? 19 games a year? Hockey does a good job of keeping these rivalries fresh, no? Then you’ve never been to a Rangers-Islanders game.
So Selig — because he was smart enough to move his Brewers to the NL to fix the odd-number problem in each league in baseball – moves the Astros to the American League and creates a constant Interleague series. No biggie, I thought, bury the Rockies/Mariners series among the Hands free access.
But then we have the aforementioned Mets/Yanks, White Sox/Cubs, Angels/Dodgers at the exact same time during the week of Memorial Day. Wait…what? Why on Earth are we stacking these rivalries on top of each when the numbers say we must play an interleague series every day of the season? On a night where Matt Harvey was on the mound for the Mets against the Yanks, baseball is losing a chance to showcase Chris Sale humming a four-seamer under the chin of Anthony Rizzo. Yeah, because that make sense.
I’m from New York which, of course, means no other city counts. But residents of other big cities, I’m told, have a prurient interest in other cities. One might call it an indirect rivalry they all want to be New York, I know.
Bud’s solution to running out of pitchers in an All-Star game was to – think about this – make the game count for home field advantage in his sport’s championship, without addressing even the issue of running out of pitchers in the All-Star game. This year, it counts!!! It may count, Bud, but it certainly doesn’t add up.
So maybe I’ll tape the games of the Crosstown Classic that’s what they call it in Chicago, by the way while I watch the Yankees whitewash the AAA Mets. I’ll hope the pressure of the Los Angeles rivalry doesn’t make Josh Hamilton drain a fifth of vodka hidden in CJ Wilson’s Head and Shoulders bottle of course in Chavez Ravine this week Come on, Hamilton running to third after the ball squirts away on a strikeout? Must see TV, dude.
Bud and his merry band of bumbles should thank the stars that their game is so beloved by its fans, or at least those who haven’t switched to football news in May over actual game action. We consume, in multi-media form, all the baseball we can get. We put up with gimmicks like the Fan Cave, six home and road uniforms for every team, and, well, Mitch Williams, in order to get our beloved game of baseball.
But if you’re going to make interleague play a constant commitment based solely on the math of your decisions, unstack the rivalries and showcase them around the country. We all love our teams, but passion for the game is universal and baseball could use a constant showcase of intensity and excitement. Otherwise we might watch spring college football or listen when ESPN tells us the NBA playoffs are, like, the only thing that matters and that Tim Tebow is still relevant.
Many Florida families thinking about saving for future higher education costs often find themselves in an uphill battle and very confused. The news is filled with stories questioning the value of higher education, highlighting the recent increase in college tuition and bringing to light the nationwide student loan debt crisis.
All of these things are legitimate concerns for parents and the abundance of information is overwhelming. Here are a few facts for you to consider:
Individuals with a bachelor's degree earn an average of $20,000 a year more than high school graduates and earnings continue to increase with additional degree levels.
Although Florida is still considered one of the most affordable states for in-state college tuition, state law permits tuition and fee increases of up to 15 percent at state universities until the national average is reached.
Student loan debt exceeds $1 trillion in the U.S. — the highest in history. It is higher than credit card debt and auto loan debt with an average balance of $25,000. In addition, millions of student loans are delinquent three months or more.
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