This is the fourth time MLB has opened in Japan. Back in 2000 the Mets and Cubs opened the season, in 2004 it was the Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, and in 2008 it was the Red Sox and Athletics. All three opening series were able to be viewed live on ESPN. The key word in that last sentence was live. This year, if you did not live in the Pacific Northwest and have access to the Seattle affiliate ROOT Sports, or subscribe to MLB.tv, you couldn’t see this game live. MLB Network broadcasted the game on tape delay 3 hours after the game actually started. Imagine that, MLB fans that woke up at 6:00am EST to watch the first game of the season was blacked out. Major league baseball’s own television network, MLB Network, was showing a replay of a spring training game at 6:00am EST this morning. I cannot believe that Major League Baseball did not work out a plan to show this game live to anybody who wanted to see it. What is even worse, is that fans in Oakland had to wait until the tape delayed game was on to watch it as well. So much for a ringing endorsement from Bud Selig and MLB to kick off the new year. If you are not going to promote the game, if you are not going to show the game live, then why bother having the game at all? I wonder what the outrage would have been if Yankees fans had this happen to them. Can you imagine the outrage if the NFL’s first game of the season was tape delayed? Dallas Braden, an injured starting pitcher for the Oakland A’s said it best last night on Twitter, “Guess a Cy Young winner (Felix Hernandez), Japanese UBER star (Ichiro) & the Cuban missile (Yoenis Cespedes) debut aren’t enough 4 the A’s and M’s on live TV huh? Thx for the love MLB.” Thanks a lot Commish, great way to kick off the season.
On the Diamond…
·
Big day today for the Los Angeles Dodgers
organization. The Frank McCourt era has
finally come to an end. A new ownership
group that includes Los Angeles legend Magic Johnson has purchased the club for
an estimated $2.1 billion. Yes, that’s
billion. The highest ever paid for a
North American sports team. Magic
Johnson did not put up the highest share in this bid, but he will become the
new face of the organization. Great day
for Dodgers fans everywhere. Baseball is
better when Los Angeles is relevant.
·
Chipper Jones has announced that he will retire
at the end of this season. A truly great
career will come to an end. Chipper was
one of the main faces of the Atlanta Braves organization for almost 20
years. He will go down in my opinion as
one of the top 4 switch hitters of all time behind Mickey Mantle, Pete Rose,
and Eddie Murray. There may not be many
more players that play for as long as Chipper did for only one
organization. He will start out the year
on the D.L, but hopefully when he comes back in early May, he can play out the
rest of his final year healthy.
·
A tough loss for the A’s this morning to
Seattle. The problem that will be going
on all year will be the hitting. I know
that scoring runs is always tough against Felix Hernandez, but this team will have
to play small ball to score some runs this year, and this morning a couple poor
sacrifices and caught stealings hurt their chances. A solid start to the season for Brandon
McCarthy though. Whoever trades for him
in July will get a solid pitcher. Yoenis
Cespedes went 1-3 with a hard hit double, a HBP, and 2 strike outs.
·
49 year old Jamie Moyer pitched again
today for the Colorado Rockies. A rough day though. His line was 4 innings, 7 hits, 3 walks, 3
runs and 4 K’s. Hopefully this didn’t
hurt his chances of making the roster.
On the Ice…
·
What a performance last night by the Buffalo
Sabres in a 5-1 win over the Washington Capitals. Truly dominant in every sense of the
word. The Sabres now hold a 2 point lead
over Washington for the final spot in the playoffs with 5 games left in the
season. Ryan Miller was outstanding yet
again in goal, and the Tyler Ennis, Drew Stafford, and Marcus Foligno line
continued its hot streak with a couple more goals scored by Stafford. Does
Ryan Miller get a couple votes for MVP now the way he has played over the last 20-25
games? Not saying he should win, but he
should get some votes. For how hot the
Sabres have been, I’m sure the teams at the top of the conference are hoping they
don’t have to play the Sabres in the first round.
On the Gridiron…
·
Count me one of the people who do not think Bill
Parcells is going to come out of retirement to coach the New Orleans Saints
this coming season. I don’t think he
will make himself have to wait 5 more years to become eligible for the Hall of
Fame again all to babysit a team for one season. Better start looking elsewhere Sean Payton.
·
Any chance the 49ers asked Jerry Rice’s opinion
before the team signed RB Brandon Jacobs today to a one year contract? Rice was the one who called Jacobs “soft”
prior to the 49ers/Giants playoff game this year.
·
I heard some rumors on ESPN’s Mike & Mike in
the Morning that the NFL may change the “too many men on the field” rule this
coming season. During this year’s Super
Bowl, the Giants were called for this penalty late in the game, and ended up
costing the Patriots at least 10 seconds on their last drive of the game. The proposed change will make the penalty a dead ball penalty, similar to that of a false start so no
time can be wasted.
On the NCAA Hardwood…
·
For this week, I wish I lived in the great state
of Kentucky. I really wish I appreciated
the hatred Louisville and Kentucky fans have for each other. With these two teams meeting in the Final Four
this weekend, the winner of this game will make their fans feel like they won
the National Championship. Kansas and Ohio
State in the other game that has taken a back seat this week in the media due
to the intense rivalry game between Kentucky/Louisville. Just
to show you how intense the Kentucky/Louisville rivalry is read this article
that made its way around the Twitter world today… http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball/story/2012-03-28/kentucky-louisville-rivalry-fight-at-dialysis-clinic#ixzz1qR07dduC
·
Too bad Kendall Marshall couldn’t play this past
week for North Carolina. They would
still be playing, and in my opinion, be the favorite to win the Tournament if
he were still playing.
On the Links…
·
Tiger Woods finally broke through in a PGA event
and won for the first time since his “marital transgressions” became
public. Golf is so much better when he
is near the top or at the top of the leader board. This past Sunday afternoon was great
watching him run away from the group of players that started the round close to
him. You never got the sense Tiger was
in trouble. Great win for him.
·
I am very excited now for the Masters. Tiger is now the favorite to win the
tournament. If Tiger and Rory McIlroy
are at the top of the leader board on Easter Sunday for the back 9, the Masters
might become the second most watch sporting event for the entire year (behind
the Super Bowl). It would be amazing for
golf fans everywhere. Let’s all hope it
happens.
On the Homefront…
·
The improbable run to the top of Nick Martino’s
NCAA Bracket challenge is complete, and my wife has clinched 1st
place. That’s right, someone who has no
idea who Kendall Marshall is won. I love
it.
·
Another tough loss for the Youngsters this past
weekend. The Veterans have dominated for
the past couple weeks and have taken a commanding 4-1 series lead in the Sunday
afternoon basketball classic. The
Youngsters just do not have an answer to the big men that the Veterans have
down low and the shooting percentage of the Youngsters of approximately 20% isn’t
helping either.
·
Rumor has it that the “New Rez” has all of the
lights installed on the one softball field that called for them to be
installed. I’m not sure how all of the
other diamonds look, but the start of the Summer softball season is May 1st
for the defending Tuesday night champs and I hope all construction will be done
by then. I’m excited to see how many “all-stars”
come back to the Falls to play on the new diamonds.
That’s all I have for today. I’m off to my final fantasy baseball
draft. Until next time...
Finally got around to reading that linked story---good stuff.
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