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MLB Needs to Shorten its Season

https://voicethread.com/share/8898109/

Sources:

2, Mark KreidlerPage. "Baseball Finally Brings Amphetamines into Light of Day." ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 15 Nov. 2005. 

"MLB Television Viewership Up Five Percent." FanGraphs Baseball. N.p., n.d. 

VERDUCCI, Tom. "David Ortiz on Why He's Definitely Retiring, No Matter How Well He Hits."Sports Illustrated. N.p., 14 July 2016. Web.

Quinn, T.J. "The HOF: Why I Stopped Voting." ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 28 Dec. 2012. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.

"Percival To Cut Tobacco, Coffee." Sports | Percival To Cut Tobacco, Coffee | Seattle Times Newspaper. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.

Shafer, Jacob. "Will 2016 Spell the End of Major League Baseball's 162-Game Season?"Bleacher Report. Bleacher Report, 26 Jan. 2017. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.

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Week 10: Final Blog

Throughout the past ten weeks, I was able to read and analyze a variety of non-fiction/personal narrative/argumentative sports pieces, and incorporate the author’s choices into my own work. Some of the main re-occurring themes that come to mind throughout these pieces include: race, hero worship, and players on/off the field.  

During the first couple of weeks, I read a variety of sports columns like David Halberstam’s “Jordan’s Moment” or Murray Kempton’s “The Champ and the Chump” which taught me how to understand the writer’s role in the piece. I came to learn quickly that it’s not just about understanding what is going on the article, but that it is important to pick out the type of language and tone the writer uses and what themes are trying to be conveyed. My first assignment was to write my own sports column and I chose to write it on the typical underdog story of Liverpool upsetting AC Milan. Even though it was a fantastic game/comeback from Liverpool, it was also a time for the struggling country to come together in joy and happiness.

From there I was introduced to a variety of humorous and ironic pieces like Mike Royko’s “A Very Solid Book” and Hunter S. Thompson’s “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved”. Thompson used a ton of irony in his piece, mainly situational irony, which influenced me to write my humor essay on Jay Cutler of the Chicago Bears, using verbal irony throughout the entire piece. Like how Thompson wanted to shed light on the ridiculousness of people attending the Kentucky Derby, I shed light on the ridiculous of the Chicago Bears hanging on to Jay Cutler. Ironically, the Bears released Cutler on Wednesday.  

Towards the final weeks, I read a variety of different argumentative pieces which prepared me for my final assignment. Articles on how hypocritical the NCAA is, whether or not players are treated a certain way because of their race, or whether it’s immoral to watch the Super Bowl all had one thing in common: they all used data, real life examples, and expert opinions to back up their arguments. Seeing how these authors backed up their arguments helped me when it came to researching my argumentative topic: whether the MLB should reduce their season or not. Just like the articles, I researched data, quotes from players/coaches, and real life examples to make aware of this issue.

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Issues and Arguments

It wasn’t until 1961, the same year the New York Yankees defeated the San Francisco Giants in the three game “playoff series” that crowned Mickey Mantle and his teammates World Champions, that the creation of the 162 game season was adopted. Since then, the MLB has been stubborn to even discuss changing the length of the season. Currently, the regular season runs from early April to late October, followed by a postseason into late October. Between players, coaches and fans, the issue of changing the length of the season has been a controversial topic for decades.

With the NBA and NHL both at 82 games a season, and the NFL at 16, there is no sport out there with a tougher schedule on its players than the 162 games played in a 183-day span of the MLB. When David Ortiz spoke out on his decision to retire after the 2016 season, he blatantly admitted that his decision had nothing to do with the fact that he couldn’t hit at an elite level, but that the heavy schedule completely wore him down.

Changing the number of games in a season would have a huge impact on comparing players from different eras. When Babe Ruth set a single season homerun record with 60 bombs in 1927, the season was 154 games long at the time. When the season was expanded to 162 games in 1961, The Great Bambino’s single season record was broken by New York Yankee Roger Maris when he hit his 61st homerun in the last game of the season. Debates immediately arose as to who deserved to hold the record. Eventually, the commissioner announced that Ruth’s record had not been broken since Maris had not hit 60 homeruns in fewer than 154 games.

During the 162 game stretch, barely any days go by where a team is either practicing, traveling across the country, or playing a game. After the ban of amphetamines, many players have turned to energy drinks and caffeine to help fight off fatigue, like relief pitcher Troy Percival who had a habit of pounding 10 cups of coffee and going through 2 cans of chewing tobacco a day to be ready to come in to close a game. The fact that baseball legends like Hank Aaron used to rely on amphetamines called “greenies” to help grind through a 162 game season proves that the game has a huge mental effect on its players.

With the MLB bringing in an annual revenue of around 10 billion dollars, removing even a few games from the season would cause that number to decrease. As any accountant would confirm, a decrease in annual revenue must be fixed by cutting costs, and Commissioner Rob Manfred hits it on the spot by responding to a question about a shortened season with “You want to work less, usually you get paid less”.

While 162 games may seem ridiculous to determine who makes the playoffs, part of the history of baseball suggests using large sample sizes to determine the best team. Many fans look at the season as a long narrative in which they invest plenty of time in to see how it unfolds.

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It’s Immoral to Not to Watch the Superbowl: Week 9 Blog

This week we transitioned to take a look at argumentative pieces which included controversial sports topics that have been a topic of discussion for a while now.  In some pieces, we saw the author take a side to the argument and backed it up with data and real life examples, while the other articles were written just to make aware of the issue with the author not necessarily taking a stance. With the upcoming assignment on writing about a sports issue, these articles provided me with with solid examples for how I can attack the assignment. 

Before reading “The Shame of College Sports” by Taylor Branch, I had a mutual stance on whether or not college athletes should be paid. But the article was not just about whether they should be paid, it explores how corrupt and hypocritical the NCAA truly is. Branch clearly did tons of research and put together a somewhat persuasive piece that changed many people’s minds on the NCAA, including myself. Between the variety of statistics and real life examples of the NCAA profiting from their players, I don’t know if I will be able to view the league the same. One example that was shocking to me was that Reggie Bush had to return the Heisman trophy and the University of Southern California was stripped of its 2004 National Title after the Bush family received free airfare, limousine rides, and a rent-free home all paid for by sports agents who wanted Bush as a client. Who would’ve known that being overly courteous is a bad thing!

Later in the week when we discussed football and its effects to the brain, I realized that there is nothing that I could read that would change my mind on the game. The players know exactly what they are getting themselves into. Some of the stories that were shared were extremely tragic, especially the boy who died in front of his parents at the dinner table after taking several blows to the head between football and rugby. Sure, the NFL is going to continue to research and try to find out ways to make the game safer, but it is absurd to say that it is immoral to watch the Super Bowl.  

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Making a Character Come to Life: Week 7 Blog

This week’s readings were a perfect example of how to describe a certain place/person to the reader in great detail. This is one aspect that I feel I have been struggling with while writing my nonfiction essay. While it may be easy for me to picture myself in the moment, it is very difficult to put those thoughts into words where as the reader can see nearly exactly what I see. Gay Talese’s fascinating piece on Joe DiMaggio, “The Silent Season of a Hero”, does a great job of creating an image of this great American hero in the reader’s mind. Being a fairly large baseball fan, I knew a decent amount of Joe DiMaggio when it came to stats. This piece immediately grabbed my attention when it started talking about Joe and his personality off the field. We find that he is this very reserved and quiet man that often times keeps to himself. and tends to brush off the media as much as possible. The deeper I got into this article, the more I could picture the actual Joe DiMaggio on and off the field. I hope to prove that I have learned from this piece when I finish up writing my nonfiction essay about a special person in my life that I consider a hero.

Later in the week, our readings carried into argumentative articles, rather than personal narratives. We got to take a look at an article that is clearly trying to persuade the reader towards one side of the argument, and also an article that reveals both sides of the argument with the article taking neutral stance. In Bucky McMahon’s article “Heart of Sharkness”, we observe the argument of surfers being severely injured or killed by sharks and who is to blame. Should surfers be allowed to surf if it’s proven that it is a dangerous area? Should something be done to eliminate the shark species? While McMahon does not take a side, he does a good job of providing facts and statistically data to let the reader pick their own side. 

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Leaving the World of Sports: Week 5 Blog

Unlike the previous readings, this week’s articles were different in the fact that they were personal narratives; where the writer played a crucial role in the piece. I was introduced to possibly my favorite piece of writing that I have ever read, “Death of a Shortstop” by Robert Vivian. The idea of identifying who we are when we leave “the world of sports” was quite eye-opening to me. The author was able to see a life beyond sports while his friend Wob, who seemed to live and breathe baseball, saw no life outside of sports as he decided to end his life before exiting the sports world. This made me think of how difficult it was for me to leave my world of sports. I developed a group of friends when I started playing ball in grade school, and that group of friends quickly became my best friends. Whether we were sitting on the bench cracking jokes and spitting sunflower seeds on the ground, or sitting together at lunch discussing upcoming games, we lived and breathed baseball just like Wob. It seemed as if we played baseball every day of the year together whether it was 75 degrees outside and we were shagging fly balls or hitting in the batting cages inside during a blizzard. Now that I look back on it, I was stuck in the world as well. It wasn’t until our loss in the playoffs our senior year that we felt ourselves being pushed out of the world we loved. To this day I wish I could go back in time and relive those glory days. 

One of the most difficult parts of writing for me is being able to use enough description to allow the reader to truly visualize a certain character or setting. By reading “Mavericks” by Alice Gregory, I learned a few things regarding how to depict an image in the reader’s mind. Gregory describes the crowd at the surfing competition as people who “possess all the features that constitute a modern, normative standard of beauty, but exaggerated to a ghoulish degree. Between the description of the crowd, the description of the surfers, and the description of the scene at the Mavericks, Gregory did an incredible job painting a picture in my mind. I look forward to attempting to use her writing strategies in my upcoming nonfiction personal narrative. 

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Chicago’s Greatest Investment of All-Time

During the past decade, Chicago Bears fans have been thrilled with the way their team has been performing. On January 2nd 2014, the Bears made a decision to extend Jay Cutler’s contract to seven years, $126,700,000. Bears fans could not have been happier, as they knew their team was going to be a Super Bowl contender every year with a quarterback that is paid in the same ballpark as Drew Brees and Peyton Manning. With a total of one playoff win in his first six seasons, and leading the team with a 5-6 record the year before the contract extension, it only made sense that the guy deserved a pay raise that high. Not to mention, Cutler brought new leadership qualities to the team that no one has ever quite seen before.

In 2014, the Bears made it to their first NFC Championship with Cutler as their quarterback. Shortly after the start of the second half, with the Bears down 14-0, the Chicago offense took the field without their star quarterback. Cutler was shown walking up and down the sidelines, emotionless as usual, while the Fox Sports reporter announces that the backup quarterback Todd Collins has come in because Cutler has a “sore knee”. It was not evident when the injury had occurred, and when Jay was asked by head coach Marc Trestman when it happened, Cutler responded with “I’m not sure”. Shortly after it was announced that Jay would not return to the game, we see him riding a bike on the sideline at normal speed. How brilliant! This is where his true leadership qualities really kicked in. While a five-star quarterback like Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers would have toughened it out and gone back in to help their team win, it took courage for Jay Cutler to realize that he sucked in the first half, not putting up a single point against a mediocre Packer’s defense, and to simply take himself out of the game. Now that’s why this guy gets paid the big bucks. Even though the Bears only lost the game by a touchdown, the leadership of Jay Cutler to cover himself with a warm jacket while sitting his ass on the bench is what gave the Bears a chance to win the NFC title.  

After the 2016 season, there has been talk of the Bears getting rid of Cutler. After going 6-10 in 2015 and 3-13 in 2016, Bears fans would be beyond devastated to make a quarterback change.

When former Bears tight end Martellus Bennett was asked of his opinion of his former quarterback, his response was “Worst quarterback in the NFL… I’d be open and he’d throw into double coverage”. What Bennett clearly did not think about is that throwing the ball at a defender was one of Cutler’s greatest strengths. The defense expects him to throw the ball at a receiver, so why not play a little mind game and throw the ball right at a defender and see what happens? Pure genius.

It’s time to let go Chicago fans. The top-tier quarterback that we once saw in Jay Cutler is long gone. We have been waiting years for someone to light a fire under Cutler’s ass, but unfortunately, this may just be another case of an athlete who has little determination because win or lose, he is still going to be happy with the $17,000,000 going into his pocket each year. As Stephen A. Smith once said, “the only time he smiled in Chicago is when he signed his contract”.

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Being Humorous: Week 4 Blog

The most common theme found throughout this week’s readings is the use of humor in sports writing. One of my favorite pieces that I have read so far is Mike Royko’s “A Very Solid Book”. From the title, I expected a short writing on a good piece of writing the author had found, but it was far from it. Royko receives a copy of a book about the Mets defeating the Cubs in the 1986 playoffs and reveals himself as being a bitter fan who can’t let things go by throwing the book against the wall, jumping up and down on it and slamming his chair on it. Royko must not have been lying, that book must’ve been solid. Being a bitter sports fan when your team loses is a common thing, even for myself. Every time someone asks me about the Chiefs being in the playoffs I cannot forget about the 2014 playoff season when they were beating the Colts 38-10 in the second half and managed to lose 45-44, making it their 8th straight playoff loss in a row. If I ever see a book about the Colts amazing comeback in 2014 against the Chiefs, I might just have to test out how solid it is. 

This week’s readings also revealed the effectiveness of irony throughout a variety of sports pieces. In Diane Shah’s article we see an average pitcher on the Phillies who begs to be interviewed by a top notch columnist. The irony revealed is the reverse of roles of the sports writer essentially becoming the athlete. How many times after a game do we see players looking around, begging to be interviewed? The only reason a player talks to the press is because it’s part of their contract. Just ask Marshawn Lynch who only showed up to the press conferences so “I [he] just won’t get fined”. Another perfect example is Hunter S. Thompson’s use of situational irony in his article, “The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved”. Throughout the piece, Thompson seems to ridicule the culture of the Kentucky Derby and the characteristics of the people who attend it. When in reality, towards the end, he finds himself as one of them. 

When a writer can incorporate irony or humor, or better yet both, it keeps the reader engaged and wanting to read more.

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Passion for the Game: Week 3 blog

Many people may call Bobby Knight a hypocrite, but to me, I see a coach who is extremely passionate for basketball. In Frank Deford’s article featured in Sports Illustrated “The Rabbit Hunter”, Deford describes Knight’s actions on the court as “if he wants to make a point, he will perhaps merely rage, or pick up a chair and slam it against the wall, or dismiss a hopeless athlete”. He merely could not control his actions on the side of the court. He was not afraid to get in his players face to let them know they made a mistake. Many people view him as a hypocrite because he demanded discipline from his players yet showed that he himself had little discipline. This theme of coaches abusing their power was nostalgic to me, bringing me back to varsity baseball. I remember sitting behind home plate picking up signals from my coach of what pitch he wanted me to pass on to the pitcher to throw. A fastball inside to the right handed hitter crowding the plate. Well, at least what I thought his signs read. The pitcher wounded up and threw the ball on the exact spot I set up; low, middle in. Once the ball passed the plate, the batter crushed the ball over the left field fence. I look over to the dugout at my coach, angrily pacing back and forth. I knew that that wasn't the pitch he wanted. After the inning, I walked towards the dugout and my coach met me halfway. With all my catcher’s gear still on, he grabbed me by the facemask, in front of all the fans, and let me have it about the curveball that was supposed to be thrown. I had never been so upset in my life, and our fans were not happy about him embarrassing me in front of everyone like that. Looking back on it now, I see a coach who is just extremely passionate about baseball, not abusing his power. 

A common reoccurring theme from past readings that is present once again in this week’s is the subject of race. One interesting piece I took out of Gary’s Smith “The Chosen Once” is when Tiger Woods states that even though he has a tiny drop of black blood in him, he is still looked at as “black”. Knowing this, I think Tiger wanted to be almost a “poster person” for those of the multiracial identity. The whole idea of Tiger being “a destiny” every since he was a little kid astonishes me. The way his father talked him up as being the future of golf ever since he was two years old is quite amazing, especially looking at all of Tiger’s accomplishments over the past 20 years. There are so many sports figures who get the hype of being “the next big thing” but end up being a nobody; just ask Tim Teebow or Johnny Manziel.  

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The Comeback of the Century

It only took six minutes for legends of world soccer to forger about their desired championship and to accept their runner-up medals in shame before throwing them away to let go of the pain it reminded them of. In only six minutes, the world of sports flipped completely upside-down, causing nothing but havoc at the Attaturk Stadium in Istanbul where the underdogs from Merseyside—Liverpool—were taking on European giants, AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League final.

After a mere 50 seconds, an Andrea Pirlo-taken free-kick connected with Paolo Maldini who opened up the scoring with a 12-yeard volley from the edge of the box. Liverpool are stunned and straight from the get-go have a deficit to overcome. By the 38th minute the score was doubled by Crespo who converted a tap-in from 5 meters away. To make matters worse, AC Milan scored again seconds before half time when Crespo lifted the ball ever-so-gently over the goalkeeper after latching onto a long ball from midfield. Carlo Ancielotti’s AC Milan were leading 3-nil after the first 45 minutes and it could have been more. It was the “Milanese Men” versus the “Mersey Boys”.

At the break, Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool went into the locker room with their heads down, devastated by the score line. After a spirited speech by their coach, the “Mersey Boys” came out knowing that they had nothing to lose, but everything to gain. Liverpool would begin the 2nd half with 3 across the back, 4 in midfield, and 3 forwards—a bold, yet expected move by Benitez.

Right from the get-go, Liverpool looked like a brand new side, pressing higher up the pitch, and adding a more aggressive tempo to to game. The pressure from Liverpool kept mounting and finally paid off 7 minutes into the second half when Steven Gerrard scored. Could the comeback be on?

The ball is immediately intercepted after the kick-off and Liverpool got their second goal of the night just seconds after their first. 2 goals in as many minutes… Game on!

Cheered on by the English fans, Liverpool kept pushing for the equalizer—and it worked! Just four minutes later Liverpool was awarded a penalty after Gerrard fell to the ground after an evident push in the back by Gattuso. initially parried by Dida, the Spaniard was the first to pounce on the rebound and burry the ball in the back of the net from a tight angle! From 3-0 down, to 3-3 in just six minutes…Incredible!

The coach clearly had influenced his team since he completely changed them for the second half. He took the underdog mindset out of their vocabulary and made them believe that they were capable of turning this around. These battles of morality within one’s mind can make or break the outcome of whatever they are doing. It takes more than leading by example to be a leader; it also takes an individual who is able own up to his mistakes (here, Benitez’s wrongfully selected tactics for the game), and amend them without losing personal pride.

After the equalizing goal, the game balanced a bit and both sides saw similar amounts of game-winning chances. With nothing to separate the two sides in regulation, it was time for extra time. This phase of the game was similar to the first half of regulation where AC Milan pressed and were close a game-winner, but were ultimately stopped by the heroics of Jerzy Dudek.

Dudek took the weight of the game upon his hands when he realized the outfield players were tired from the massive distances they covered in sprints. His leadership to put the team’s ambitions behind him proves that a team is composed of all of its members, even if they were the weakest link as it is usually the goalkeepers that get blamed for conceding goals. Dudek showed the public that forgetting mistakes and focusing on your goals (no pun intended) is the only thing separating a person’s demise from success. This was most notably shown during the penalties, where the goalkeeper proved his worth by saving a handful of them, ultimately handing Liverpool the championship.

Driven by persistent leadership of Steven Gerrard, the tactical genius of Rafa Benitez, and the support of some of the worlds most passionate and loyal fans, Liverpool proved to the world to—even in the most unfavorable of situations—never give up. Even over a decade later, the spirit of what was dubbed the “Miracle of Istanbul” lives in the hearts of soccer fans all over the world. The lyrics of the famous [1]You’ll Never Walk Alone ring in every Liverpool fan’s ears as they walk “through a storm” to reach their forever-promised “golden sky.” This victory will not be remembered by the silverware these players took home, but rather by the symbol for courage and motivation that this game created.      

[1] You’ll Never Walk Alone – Gary & The Pacemakers

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Week Two Blog

In my opinion, sports fans, like ourselves, take for granted the work of sports writers and announcers. Each and every one of them have to be careful of what they say or write, or else fans will just rip on them for their mistakes; just ask Joe Buck. 

One of the most common themes found throughout this week’s readings is how to write about a sporting event and really bring it to life. When writing a sports’ piece, its extremely important to resonate and be able to connect with the audience. William Zinsser touches on this subject in his article, “Sports,” where he discusses how modern writers think that they are the main story, and how the writers believe “they are more interesting than the game they were sent to cover.” Simply give the readers what they want. Tell us what happened in an interesting manner. In his article, “Champ and Chump,” Murray Kempton excelled at this when describing the boxing match of Cassius Clay versus Sonny Liston in 1964. When describing the first round of the fight, he writes “he fought the first round as though without plan, running and slipping and sneaking punches, like someone killing time in a poolroom.” Kempton’s use of figurative language throughout the article is extremely effective, as it gives the piece some character and keeps the reader interested. 

One other theme that was brought up this week was the hollowness of sports announcer’s language. Even though some announcers are dreadful to listen too, this reminded me of the several times of me watching Cubs games and the announcers had “technical issues” which forced viewers to watch the game in complete silence. Even though I love baseball, watching the games in silence was so dry and boring that it made me want to instantly change the channel. Fritz Huber discusses in his article “Bad Call: The Growing Redundancy of Sports Commentary” how foolish some of the questions to athletes are after a game and their cliche responses. While reading this article, I happened to be watching the College Football National Championship and chuckled when a reporter asked DeShaun Watson, quarterback of Clemson, why he had emotion on his face after Clemson won the game. Why wouldn’t he have emotion after winning the National Championship? Come on, let the man live in the moment and reflect on the game later!

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Week One Blog

While we all get caught up following our favorite sports teams on a daily basis, it is quite fascinating to take a step back and look at how sports affect us. One common theme found throughout this week’s readings is the similarity between sports and religion. Whether it’s purchasing tickets to a game or filling up our closets with merchandise, us die-hard fans pour our hearts and souls into our favorite teams. Author Michael Serazio describes in his article, “Just How Much Is Sports Fandom Like Religion?” how sports teams can be described as a “totem” which is defined as a significant spiritual figure to a certain society. The one word that comes to mind for me when reading Serazio’s article is unity. When I go to church, I join a large group of people to worship the same thing. In comparison, when I go to a sports game, I join a group of fans to root for the same team. I think about how many phone calls I made to my dad during the Cubs playoffs, and once they did win, how many high fives I shared with thrilled cubs fans like myself on the congested streets of Wrigley. Sports truly have a way of providing unity; similar to  religion.

As exhilarating as it is to celebrate a championship, we seem to forget the fact that a majority of the time the season leaves us in disappointment. Taibbi uses exotic humor and a variety of comparisons to describe the loss and pain that sports constantly sell to their fans. We constantly think of the “what ifs” or what could have happened if a certain play was made and how the outcome of the game would have been changed. I think there’s something about losing that makes us want to win even more. That’s why no matter how ugly the season was, we always look forward to the next year.

I found it interesting how Mckinley describes our sports teams as tribes and our favorite sports figures being the warriors fighting to protect their tribes. He also writes about the several physiological effects that sports bring to their fans. People generally do not think about how a sporting event may damper their mood or in contrast higher their self esteem. One of the most interesting facts that I pulled out of Mckinley’s article is how fans say “we won” and “they lost” when describing the outcome of their favorite team’s games. That ties back to sports providing unity, as everyone feels as if they are doing their part to help the team.

This week’s readings made my view sports from a completely different perspective. It’s truly amazing how much time and money people spend following their favorite teams. But in my mind, it’s worth every second and penny.