Running Diary of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game from my brain:
I skipped Fox's intro for the most part. I caught Erin Andrews saying goodbye to Chipper Jones and hello to Mike Trout. I've never been a fan of the Atlanta Braves, but I wear #10 and I'm getting close to calling it a career in baseball and seeing Chipper get all teary eyed got me all...moving on, nothing to see here.
Kansas City, home of the Monarchs from the Negro League. I'm happy they paid homage...good job.
I can't believe Jonathan Papelbon is an All-Star from a last place team and A.J. Burnett who has carried the first place Pirates after a disastrous start is at home. Outside of that 12 run game, Burnett has a 2.60 ERA over his other 14 starts and is 10-1 in those games. Papelbon is a douche on a crappy team who has his second highest ERA in any season so far this year.
Hello Bryce, Stephan and Gio...I hope to see you every year for the next 10 years.
Oakland Athletics sighting!!! My guess is Ryan Cook doesn't play tonight.
I don't know who you are anthem singer...be gone with you.
Still hate Tim McCarver although he's resembling Harry Caray in his later years more and more.
Ice cream break!!!
I don't think I'll ever get over the loss of Carlos Gonzalez from having a career in the green and gold. I will forever loathe Matt Holliday because of it.
That didn't take long as Ryan Braun smokes a ball to the fence. Somebody test his urine. Maybe Verlander should stick to the curve ball, because it is beyond filthy.
Yikes! Verlander imploding before my eyes. This is...unexpected. It has to be because of that inspiring, rah-rah speech by Chipper. I was ready to run through a brick wall for him.
Something tells me if that Josh Hamilton hit had left the yard, we'd be in for a really good game. Now I'm not so sure this isn't a big time blowout.
Joey Gloves!
Matt Cain is a very good pitcher, not flashy, just very consistent who will forever have his place in history with World Series championship, perfect game and All-Star game start.
Gio time! Please take Brandon McCarthy Nationals. I want the A's and Nats to be trading partners for life. Just keep it fair guys.
I repeat...if you think having a BBQ is going to Burger King...you are not my friend.
WHERE WERE THOSE STATS WHEN YOU WERE IN OAKLAND MATT??? (Sorry for that kids)
Looks like the Cardinals are still haunting the Rangers...hahahahaha
3 triples by the NL and its only the 4th inning? Wow.
Oooooh Strasburg vs. Cano, Hamilton and Baustista...me likey!!
I think that curve fooled the umpire. Shocker!
Washington Nationals overload...Bryce Harper time!! Don't be scared Weaver...throw a strike you long haired surfer boy!
Oh Bryce! Booooooo. Bringing back the Natinals with that gaffe.
Way to go Chipper! Sail off into the sunset with that one.
Well Mike Trout just welcomed R.A. Dickey quite rudely. Dickey would be out of baseball if it weren't for the National League...just saying.
Bryce Harper vs. Ryan Cook, my worlds are colliding. It'll be fun to watch Cook pitch for the Yankees in a couple of years.
Well that's about it for my interest in the game.
Kellie Pickler? Really? She's still relevant? Oh how horrible.
The words 'Taco Bell' and 'gourmet' should not be used in the same sentence
Tony LaRussa is going to drag the rest of this game out with bullpen changes. Of course going from Kimbrel to Chapman is not fair.
Last licks for the American League...8 run rally caps on everybody.
Final Score: National League 8 American League 0...See you in DC for Game 1 of the World Series.
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This morning the wife and I went to find out whether we are having a boy or girl....it's a BOY!!! I really hadn't set my mind to wanting one or the other, just one that was healthy. Either way my kid was going to be well versed in the rules of baseball longer before his peers.
This brings us to the debate about the names...Jessica has thrown out names that I have no interest in and she has already shot down Nicklas Alexander after my two favorite Washington Capitals. I have come up with an idea that she has agreed to that we are going to do this like a jury selection.
We will both submit 10 names and each person will quickly eliminate five names from the others list without objection. We will then take our new list of 10 names and put them through a strenuous question and answer session to make sure they are not hiding any secrets that will come back to bite us in the ass. The main reason Jessica eliminated Nicklas is she didn't want her baby boy to be called 'Dickless Nicklas' at school. How petty!
Feel free to submit any ideas of names you may have...I am an open book at this point. I have always thought about naming him Jason Alan Wippich Jr. so that I could be Jason Alan Wippich Sr. or JAWS!! That would be sweet. I could hear my nephews/nieces say 'Hi Uncle Jaws!!' That makes me smile because I'm silly like that.
Showing posts with label all star game. Show all posts
Showing posts with label all star game. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Pocket Pair 7/10/12
I love baseball. I'm going to put that out there right now. I've been playing since I was five years old and no matter how fervent I feel towards other sports, there's nothing that gets me going more than baseball. As an Oakland Athletics fan, the past 20 years have been filled with disappointment and heartbreak with flashes of brilliance. The peaks have been as pronounced as the valleys. Now that Washington D.C. has a team I have somewhat split my allegiance between both the A's and the Nationals. Basically I have a reason to cheer on a team from 7-10pm and 10pm-1am each night. I can watch the Nationals on TV and then fall asleep to the A's on my iPad later in the night. My addiction to the sport is as deep as ever.
That being said, I was bored as hell during last nights Home Run Derby. Each year is the same as the last. The first round is fun watching the newest phenom/power hitter/great story get his shot at glory, but with a 3+ hour running time, it gets old fast. From Mark McGwire in his prime to Barry Bonds when he was a God to the great story of Josh Hamilton and the accelerated emergence of Mark Trumbo, there always seems to be a story for viewers to get attached to. But what do you do with the last 2 hours of the broadcast?
Obviously viewers hate Chris Berman and they're sick of his shtick. ESPN produces the Derby in the same style every year. Berman yelling, player reactions and that's it. Sure they try and build drama up as if the Derby means anything and it was good to have a true villain in Robinson Cano last night, but for the most part its a complete waste of time.
I'm here to present some new events to 1) keep viewers and bring in a new batch 2) highlight the skill sets of non pure power hitters 3) allow ball players to showcase their personalities to a broader audience 4) get more players involved.
First, how to fix the Home Run Derby:
Change it to 5 hitters with only 2 rounds. Take two of the best power hitters from each league and then invite the best power hitter from the host city whether he is an All-Star or not. You now have invested fans in the crowd to go along with the normal corporate big wigs who could care less about what is going on. The two rounds shorten the event to a manageable time frame and opens up time for other events.
What other events you ask?
I want to get the pitchers involved, but in a way that they won't fear injuring their arm. What i suggest is carnival games to test the pitchers accuracy. This will allow them to get mic'd up and still showcase some skill. Let's line up some milk bottles and have the pitchers throw at them to win prizes for charity or children. I got my inspiration from a Seattle Mariners commercial starring Felix Hernandez.
Another event that I think would be great and help raise money for charity would be a dunk tank. What fun event is a better way to showcase personality and accuracy than a dunk tank? Fans can pay money (all to charity) to go up against a rival teams pitcher. As a Nationals fan I would love to sit there while hated rival Cole Hamels tries to dunk me. I could lightly heckle him and then hopefully you get an autograph from your favorite player for your troubles.
Next up for the speeders would be a fastest around the bases contest. I remember watching Darryl Green and Willie Gault face off in a sprint contest for the NFL's fastest player contest and thought it was great. Line up players like Michael Bourn, Elvis Andrus and even future speedster Billy Hamilton from the Futures game at home plate and time them going around the bases. To this day people still talk about watching Deion Sanders running the base paths because of how fast he was and I want to bring that aspect of the game back into the light.
When players are talked about being a 'five tool player' it means they can hit for power, average, run well, play good defense and throw well. I want to showcase outfield throwing ability. Lets run the Tom Emanski video skill contest. Line up a trash can on its side at the plate and have the best arms in baseball throw a ball into it from center field. Any baseball player remembers Fred McGriff endorsing these videos:
Just like in hockey when there are breakable targets in the shooting accuracy challenge, baseball can build targets to aim at as Bryce Harper launches a laser from right field to third base. It would be a joy to watch.
The last event I'd like to see is a six inning rookie versus sophomore game. The NBA has it and it is a great way for viewers to learn some new names from around the league. Make it shorter than the real game to keep the roster size smaller, but allow the future of MLB to go to an All-Star week to get some valued exposure and experience.
----------------------------------------------------
While in Texas I went and saw the movie 'Ted'. It was rather funny even if most of the best jokes were shown in the extended cut trailer. Just like in Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane hearkens back to his youth with references from the 80's and early 90's. He is five years older than I am, but the gap isn't large enough where I don't get the jokes. Sure I don't know all of the references, but the ones I know of are great.
There was a spoof of the the spoof movie Airplane which, judging by the audiences reaction, not many people got. I saw the movie in Austin which is a younger city and the crowd looked to be littered with college kids and younger (a family of five with the children no older than 11...awful parenting there). I can tell you that some of the jokes probably went way over their heads and even though they laughed at the jokes, they missed out on the connection.
*Spoiler Alert*
The bulk of the second half of the movie involves the lead character from the 1980 movie Flash Gordon, which I can say I've never seen. That was a bit of a letdown because I had no connection to the film nor the main character Sam Jones so I couldn't relate to the obsession that Mark Wahlberg and Ted had. It was still funny, but not to the extent that I'm sure Seth MacFarlane and fans of the cult hit felt.
That being said, I was bored as hell during last nights Home Run Derby. Each year is the same as the last. The first round is fun watching the newest phenom/power hitter/great story get his shot at glory, but with a 3+ hour running time, it gets old fast. From Mark McGwire in his prime to Barry Bonds when he was a God to the great story of Josh Hamilton and the accelerated emergence of Mark Trumbo, there always seems to be a story for viewers to get attached to. But what do you do with the last 2 hours of the broadcast?
Obviously viewers hate Chris Berman and they're sick of his shtick. ESPN produces the Derby in the same style every year. Berman yelling, player reactions and that's it. Sure they try and build drama up as if the Derby means anything and it was good to have a true villain in Robinson Cano last night, but for the most part its a complete waste of time.
I'm here to present some new events to 1) keep viewers and bring in a new batch 2) highlight the skill sets of non pure power hitters 3) allow ball players to showcase their personalities to a broader audience 4) get more players involved.
First, how to fix the Home Run Derby:
Change it to 5 hitters with only 2 rounds. Take two of the best power hitters from each league and then invite the best power hitter from the host city whether he is an All-Star or not. You now have invested fans in the crowd to go along with the normal corporate big wigs who could care less about what is going on. The two rounds shorten the event to a manageable time frame and opens up time for other events.
What other events you ask?
I want to get the pitchers involved, but in a way that they won't fear injuring their arm. What i suggest is carnival games to test the pitchers accuracy. This will allow them to get mic'd up and still showcase some skill. Let's line up some milk bottles and have the pitchers throw at them to win prizes for charity or children. I got my inspiration from a Seattle Mariners commercial starring Felix Hernandez.
Another event that I think would be great and help raise money for charity would be a dunk tank. What fun event is a better way to showcase personality and accuracy than a dunk tank? Fans can pay money (all to charity) to go up against a rival teams pitcher. As a Nationals fan I would love to sit there while hated rival Cole Hamels tries to dunk me. I could lightly heckle him and then hopefully you get an autograph from your favorite player for your troubles.
Next up for the speeders would be a fastest around the bases contest. I remember watching Darryl Green and Willie Gault face off in a sprint contest for the NFL's fastest player contest and thought it was great. Line up players like Michael Bourn, Elvis Andrus and even future speedster Billy Hamilton from the Futures game at home plate and time them going around the bases. To this day people still talk about watching Deion Sanders running the base paths because of how fast he was and I want to bring that aspect of the game back into the light.
When players are talked about being a 'five tool player' it means they can hit for power, average, run well, play good defense and throw well. I want to showcase outfield throwing ability. Lets run the Tom Emanski video skill contest. Line up a trash can on its side at the plate and have the best arms in baseball throw a ball into it from center field. Any baseball player remembers Fred McGriff endorsing these videos:
Just like in hockey when there are breakable targets in the shooting accuracy challenge, baseball can build targets to aim at as Bryce Harper launches a laser from right field to third base. It would be a joy to watch.
The last event I'd like to see is a six inning rookie versus sophomore game. The NBA has it and it is a great way for viewers to learn some new names from around the league. Make it shorter than the real game to keep the roster size smaller, but allow the future of MLB to go to an All-Star week to get some valued exposure and experience.
----------------------------------------------------
While in Texas I went and saw the movie 'Ted'. It was rather funny even if most of the best jokes were shown in the extended cut trailer. Just like in Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane hearkens back to his youth with references from the 80's and early 90's. He is five years older than I am, but the gap isn't large enough where I don't get the jokes. Sure I don't know all of the references, but the ones I know of are great.
There was a spoof of the the spoof movie Airplane which, judging by the audiences reaction, not many people got. I saw the movie in Austin which is a younger city and the crowd looked to be littered with college kids and younger (a family of five with the children no older than 11...awful parenting there). I can tell you that some of the jokes probably went way over their heads and even though they laughed at the jokes, they missed out on the connection.
*Spoiler Alert*
The bulk of the second half of the movie involves the lead character from the 1980 movie Flash Gordon, which I can say I've never seen. That was a bit of a letdown because I had no connection to the film nor the main character Sam Jones so I couldn't relate to the obsession that Mark Wahlberg and Ted had. It was still funny, but not to the extent that I'm sure Seth MacFarlane and fans of the cult hit felt.
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