MLB Fall Classic: Dang those Old folks & Ad Men - Part two

MLB Fall Classic: Dang those Old folks & Ad Men - Part two
by Dan Salem and Todd Salem (10-25-13)

[Part one - Average event in a Golden package]



TODD:
I think the problem is deeper for baseball. This league has stars, lots of them, perhaps more than at any point in our lifetimes. Miguel Cabrera (albeit injured during the ALCS), is the best hitter in the world. That type of player would draw a viewing audience in other sports. And what about Yasiel Puig and Clayton Kershaw in LA? The most exciting young player in the NL and the best pitcher in the world are both on the same team, yet this doesn't tip the needle. I think the problem has more to do with baseball not being a great sport to watch on television. It is slow and deliberate and that cannot change unless you overhaul the fundamental aspects of the game. A team can score waves of runs at any time, but tuning in for action sequences is random and unpredictable. The game was meant for the radio or in-person, where it thrives. But in an increasingly digital and fast-paced society, there may be no room for it. This leads to exactly what you said; people only care about their own team. I believe that sentiment will grow as the years go on.

The juxtaposition is that baseball is actually easier to follow nowadays. While the culture may be moving past the sport in real-time, box scores and stats can be checked immediately after every game has concluded to see how the league is doing. It is much easier to keep up on the sport as a whole without actually tuning into any game play. I...don't know what this means for the future of the sport. Maybe you have some idea.

As for the '13 World Series itself, the Red Sox made an interesting improvement, going from last in their division to first and making the World Series. But last year's team shouldn't have been that bad; it really just came down to injuries. Jonah Keri did a great job of detailing this recently in a piece for Grantland, with stats that --


DAN:
Let me interrupt you right there, because the stats you were about to lay down are mind blowing. Thanks in advance Jonah for making everything about the Red Sox quite clear. We'll talk injuries in early November. Its a big can of worms and I want to do it justice.

So we have baseball as both an inferior TV product and baseball as an incredible real time app update (iPhone, Android etc). Both are true, but I disagree about this being a problem. Baseball has always been an inferior TV product. The games are long and its completely unpredictable. Hence everyone only wanting to watch their home team. However, this technology boom that we are right in the middle of is huge for baseball and MLB. You are spot on, its so damn easy to check the score inning to inning, or go watch the thirty second recap of the entire game within five minutes of it ending. If videos aren't your thing, then you can read the game summary complete with inning by inning scoring plays and statistics. It goes one step further even. Go read the in game Twitter feed that ESPN posts on its Gamecast. Only one word comes to mind. Brilliant! Its so damn entertaining to read the feed from analysts, fans, etc. And I'm not sure if this is universal, but the Yankees' Twitter feed posts photos of the big plays and video of every run scoring play. So awesome. How is this bad for baseball?

The obvious answer is that its not bad at all. Its actually saving the game. I've never been more into regular season baseball for this reason alone. I just go click, click on my phone for thirty seconds and get all the juicy game details. Or I can read how the new young star you mentioned, Yasiel Puig, had yet another monster afternoon and is now batting over .400 in the postseason. Yes, he did that. This is beyond great for baseball. You get this with football as well, but not nearly as much with the NBA. It translates, just not to this level.

So what's baseball's problem, what is holding back MLB from bridging the generation gap and getting fans excited? Its the old folks I tell you. They are holding back the sport with their memories. They are constantly trying to recreate the "good old days" of when baseball was pure (Note to everybody: It never was). And when I say "they" I'm referring to the folks in charge of the league. I think the MLB Network is great and I love the show where it bounces around the entire league and shows you the big moments of all the games taking place. Brilliant! But does anyone actually know about this? Have you seen a single commercial on ESPN advertising this amazing new way to watch baseball? The answer is a resounding No. Its not that they lack good ideas, they lack the ability to tell anyone about them. Its ridiculous. I think this same idea can be applied to the postseason. Put a show together that combines the weirdness of live Twitter and in game analysis, with only the best parts of the actual game. Maybe you have to air this starting in the fifth inning, so that it will catch up with real time by the end of the game. But then you cut out all the boring filler that turns fans off.

Advertise your stars damn it! And embrace the new wave of technology that is making baseball fun to follow. I'm psyched for this World Series matchup, but I don't care to actually watch it. That's a very fixable problem. Better than with the NHL where I don't even care to begin with. Sorry hockey.


TODD:
Your delayed telecast idea is rather brilliant. It will never happen because it would mean television networks lose five innings of advertising, but picking up the game late and having it pick and choose the important parts from the first two thirds of the game to show is perfect for baseball. It is an MLB DVR with a brain.

Oh, someone strikes out the side on only 12 pitches in the third? Okay, we'll show you that whole half inning. But there's one long double and nothing else happens in the fourth? We'll just show you the hit and a good defensive play if it occurs. This is so awesome it actually is upsetting me that I can't watch the World Series games like this.

Again, I know this is a TV rights issue and all that business bullshit, but MLB Network would be perfect for this. Let FOX run the whole World Series, all the innings of all the games. I'd rather tune in to the 'Series Shortener' on the other channel. While the live telecasts start at 8 pm EST, this one could chill out and wait until 930 or 10 and catch us all up before reacclimating with the live feed by the later innings. Alas, our brilliance goes to waste in the current world of advertising and network broadcast rights.

[If you missed Part one - Average event in a Golden package]

Statistics, steroids & What exactly is Cheating - Part four

Statistics, steroids & What exactly is Cheating - Part four
by Dan Salem and Todd Salem (9-27-13)

[Part one - Steroids, PEDs & Sports. Oh my]
[Part two - PEDs & the Children]
[Part three - Destroying legacies & the Steroid witch hunt]



TODD:
Players cannot pick and choose which rules they want to obey. That's not how sports work. Perhaps certain players think they should be able to wear barbed wire on their boxing gloves and the rule against it is stupid. Or, less severely, what if a baseball player thinks batters should get four strikes before they strike out. Does that allow them to play by different rules? Rules are rules, whether they are good or not. Bad rules get changed eventually but the athletes must follow them until they are changed.

As for baseball gaining credibility back...are they? This whole situation seems to be souring people's opinions of the sport. We are on the precipice of the playoffs and have more great, young players in the league than at any point in my lifetime and yet, all people talk about are the guys getting suspended or the guys cheating. How is that improving public respect?

Whether this is Selig's fault or not, baseball is now, officially all-in on the steroid chase. You really think once he retires, the sport can move on and become like the other sports, because I don't. For whatever reason, MLB will have to fight this forever...until the rules are changed somehow. Baseball has numbers to protect, its history is vast and more important than that of the other sports, and its fans are more concerned with the past than the present. Tainted numbers will continue to be an issue whether Bud is around or not.

It just strikes me as funny that baseball fans are so passionate about their statistics (and I include myself in that group) but fans of the other leagues just don't care. I guess they have already accepted that different eras will supply different numbers. Passing/receiving totals in the NFL are ludicrous these days because of rule changes over the years. Everybody knows this and accepts that Tony Romo is not better than Troy Aikman even though all his numbers are. I am curious if we will ever get to that point with baseball. If, say, HGH is found to be safe and it is legalized, will fans eventually just adjust their frame of reference for what the numbers mean? That seems like a simpler solution than testing, finding and banning all the "cheaters." And once we get there, however many years it takes, we will know that Derek Jeter Junior is not better than Derek Jeter even though all his numbers are.


DAN:
First of all, I agree that you need to follow the rules of your sport, no matter how moronic. But I'm going to caveat this by saying that this generally is limited to the game on the field and that the majority of athletes learn from the very beginning that if the referee does not see it, then it did not happen. You can't have it both ways, expecting players to follow the rules and then teaching them to break them without getting caught. Two easy examples are grabbing a guys shorts in soccer, or holding in football. Its not a penalty unless its called, so most players do it and find their own grey area. I'd also like to throw in sucker punches to a man's genitalia in football. This was all too common by at least some lineman when it was obvious the opponent was not wearing his cup.

Now we move off the field of play and you expect the players to have a higher sense of altruism, when they were already taught to try and get away with things during the game? It can't possibly work that way. Hence the steroids problem.

I'll jump right back into the Major League Baseball discussion now. You proclaimed yourself as a MLB fan who's passionate about his statistics. I do see the fun in comparing the 1920's greats to today's greats, but its a baseless comparison. No one in their right mind thinks players back then were as strong or gifted athletes as today's players. This has nothing to do with drugs and everything to do with medicine, science and simple evolution. So what do you do with your statistics? What do you gain from them?

My favorite baseball stats include the Yankees 27 World Championships and the fact that up until this season they had made the playoffs in 17 of 18 years, all but one season of the wild card era. Those are awesome stats. They hold weight, validity and substance no matter what decade they took place in. The fact that the Yankees have more money is an advantage, but its been proven season after season that having strong management is what ultimately matters, not just money. Hell, the Royals have a better record than the Yankees right now.

The reason I pegged Selig's retirement as the day baseball moves on and lets go of the steroids witch hunt is because they MUST move on at some point. That day seems like the perfect opportunity to let go, move forward and decide that just like the NFL and NBA, Major League Baseball will also live in the present and honor its statistics but not be led blindly by them. The unwritten rules are some of the most fun and stupid things about baseball, but stats are just numbers. They will always change, always fluctuate and never mean the same thing generation to generation. One dollar today is not the same as one dollar in 1950, so why should 30 home runs be the same? Its not. Get over it.


TODD:
True sentiments; let's just move on. But before we go, I have to burst your bubble on one more thing. You realize the Yankees making the playoffs 17 of 18 years in this era is also not comparable to the past, right? There used to be just one team from each league who made the "playoffs" and the playoffs consisted of just the World Series matchup. You had to win the pennant to get in. Your stats don't hold up either. Sucker!


DAN:
Damn it! But I think this proves my own point regardless. Stats are valuable to the individual who values them, but don't necessarily hold up in general conversation, let alone analysis. So why loft them on a pedestal? I think the stats are just fine, regardless of how well they hold up over time. You can't take anything away from Barry Bonds for annihilating the baseball over 70 times in a single season. That was pretty awesome. And so was Roger Maris hitting 61. If Bonds cheated to get his record, then an asterisk is appropriate. The Olympics strips medals, but you can't actually change history. Let's just all admit we loved it and move on.

[If you missed Part one - PEDs, Steroids & Sports. Oh my]

[Part two - PEDs & the Children]

[Part three - Destroying legacies & the Steroids witch hunt]

Destroying legacies & the Steroid witch hunt - Part three

Destroying legacies & the Steroid witch hunt - Part three
by Dan Salem and Todd Salem (9-23-13)

[Part one - Steroids, PEDs & Sports. Oh my]
[Part two - PEDs & the Children]



DAN:
I'd like to think you asked a fun follow on question, but you're asking me to tarnish the memory of one of my favorite athletes of all time. If either of my two favorite athletes growing up were big time steroid users I'd be very sad. Those two players are Marshall Faulk and Charles Barkley.

I LOVED Faulk on the Colts and his time with the Rams was icing on the cake. Barkley was and still is amazing. I'm not sure how I'd feel if I found out they took steroids, but their greatness would be tarnished. My memories of awe and delight would not be as sweet. I'm past the age of glorifying athletes, so I don't have a current player I'd be bothered by. I REALLY hope Mike Trout is clean, mainly because he is an unbelievable talent and has trashed users, but if he was a user I'd still be okay.

I'm classifying users as steroid users. I'm not bothered by HGH or supplements nearly as much. Steroids and the needle in the butt crosses a line for me. But you're correct on my apathy towards how Manning and Peterson successfully rehabbed injury. As for Derrick Rose, I'm equally as apathetic mainly because he still go paid. Manning had to rehab as quick as possible to ensure he had a job. So did Peterson really, since roster turnover in the NFL is week to week and no one trusts a guy who's been out for over a year. Things are different in the NBA and Rose was guaranteed to come back to cheers and a starting spot no matter when it happened. Plus he got paid to rehab, knowing full well his team was probably not going to beat Miami. Rehabbing naturally was fine for him, mainly because he's in the top ten talent of the NBA. But if he isn't at 100% today and HGH will get him there, he should take it. Its medicine. Take it.


TODD:
I agree that becoming a role model is a responsibility these guys have to deal with, whether they like it or not. But I have a hard time believing they are any more suited for it than those worrisome musicians or politicians you mentioned. After all, you just painted Derrick Rose as some sort of egotistical monster. You say he would cheat at the drop of a hat, but the only reason he's not is because he is selfish and greedy beyond belief. If he didn't have millions of dollars and a starting job waiting (if he had to play his way back to them), he would have cheated in a second. That's the impression you just laid on one of the NBA "good guys." Yeesh.

I'm also having a hard time with your distinction between steroids and HGH and supplements. If something is against the league rules, it is cheating. Why is one form of cheating worse than the other? It sounds like you're only concerned with the cheating that is harmful to the users in the long term; is that fair?

And if that is the case, would you be equally as sad if you found out Faulk or Barkley were some of the first HGH users? They would have cheated before it was cool! But apart from the time frame, just assuming growth hormone was around and in use in the early 90's (it might have been; I don't really know), you would be fine with finding out those guys cheated with HGH but crushed if they were using harmful steroids? I'm going to be honest here. It sounds like you are still stuck on those petty children. You don't have any problem with players actually cheating/breaking the rules. You just have a problem if they take something that would harm teens who also took it.

I don't exactly know what to make of this so I am going to move on.

Why does it seem like Major League Baseball is so much more concerned with this epidemic than the other sports? It has to be equally as prevalent in football and basketball; there's no doubt in my mind. So why does the MLB care and the others don't? Should they care less...should the NFL and NBA do more? Supposedly, during the Biogenesis scandal, there was information to be passed on about players in those other sports, as well as the NCAA. When investigators went to these leagues and told them, the leagues decided to pass; they didn't care and didn't want the info. This is both hilarious and disturbing at the same time. But it also makes Bud Selig and baseball look like kooky nuts who are on a witch hunt...even if those witches exist in droves.


DAN:
I didn't say that Derrick Rose would cheat at the drop of a hat. I was simply saying that it didn't matter to me if he 'cheated' to get healthy or did it naturally and that it DEFINITELY didn't matter to Derrick which way he rehabbed. The only scenario in which Rose benefits from rehabbing by 'cheating' is if he couldn't get completely healthy the natural way. Otherwise, let it take its time and do it naturally because unlike Manning and Peterson, he did not have incentive to speed things up.

I'm bothered by the 'cheating' that hurts the player's health, yes. But its practically impossible for me to say protein powder or a muscle builder from GNC is acceptable (not cheating because its not against league rules), while a low level steroid is unacceptable (cheating because its against league rules). Both are supplementing the bodies natural levels of whatever and both are helping build muscle faster and stronger. The only reason one is cheating and the other is not is because of the all so holy league rules. We don't arbitrarily agree with the NCAA rules about how student athletes are suppose to act, so why arbitrarily agree to this one about which drugs are 'good' and which are 'bad.'

For me it comes down to what hurts your body and what is unnatural. I don't see HGH as unnatural, but shooting up juice into your veins is definitely not natural. So yeah, I wouldn't care if Barkley or Faulk took HGH. Its not in the 'cheating' category for me. I don't hold it against Andy Pettitte either. But if they took the roids I'd be a little sad. They were GREAT without it, as far as I know. They didn't need it, as far as I know. I want to keep it that way!

I wish I had a mind-blowing answer for you on MLB and its steroids witch hunt, but I'm going to have to disappoint you and our audience with simply a best guess. Major League Baseball is WAY more concerned than the NFL and NBA and NHL about steroids and PEDs. I'd harken to bet that it has a significantly smaller problem with it than either of those other sports, yet its blown it so far out of proportion that you would never know it. Its unsurprising that the other sports passed on the Biogenesis information. Why ruin careers with second hand information? If a player fails a league test, he gets punished. Otherwise its don't ask, don't tell for the NFL and NBA. They have nothing to gain from chasing witches like the MLB.

Here goes; I'll make a guess at why MLB has gone on a steroids witch hunt. They actually do have something to gain from all this. They can reclaim public respect and credibility. Don't forget how much MLB was completely embarrassed by Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds. Like pie in the face, pull your pants down and spank your naked behind in front of a 1000 people embarrassed. This did not happen to the other leagues. And more importantly, this happened to Bud Selig himself. So before he retires, I think he would like to close the door on this mess, pin it all on a few bad apples and show the public he's cleaned things up. Once he retires the witch hunt ends. Or once Alex Rodriguez retires, whichever comes first.

[Part four - Statistics, steroids & What exactly is cheating]

[If you missed Part one - Steroids, PEDs & Sports. Oh my]

[If you missed Part two - PEDs & the Children]

"Hey. Hey guys. Guess what the bat represents!" - What ha... happened? (August Part one)

"Hey. Hey guys. Guess what the bat represents!" - What ha... happened? (August Part one)
by Dan Salem and Todd Salem (8-26-13)



"What ha... happened," where we scour the internet for a crazy sports photo or GIF and someone must try to explain it. Seesaw Sports asks what ha... happened? Monday: Opening statement. Friday: Rebuttal.

Real photos. Real results. But what in the heck happened?



DAN:
The Alex Rodriguez crying photo is pretty awesome, but its only a warm up. An insightful cover for the sweet stuff inside. We got GIFs baby!

I present to you the following:

Photo: Nice and easy A-rod

Title: "Hey. Hey guys. Guess what the bat represents!"

Description: Are you familiar with Alex Rodriguez? The third baseman for the New York Yankees? He's been in the news a bit lately. Something about PED allegations, a ban by Major League Baseball, an appeal to MLB which has allowed him to continue to play for the New York Yankees and a potential lawsuit against the Yankees themselves for screwing him over with their doctors. Then he got hit by a pitch, hit a home run, dropped his lawsuit and now...

Oh good, you have heard. Well A-rod seems to be enjoying his time with the bat here. I wonder what he's thinking. I wonder who or what the bat represents to him. Why Alex; why are you man handling your wood like that?

What ha... happened?


TODD:
As hilarious as this might be, I feel like Alex Rodriguez has been taking too much heat. Enough heat to bring any man to tears, or a fit of passion with the bat.

I know it is an awful lot of fun to hate on the guy, but we've gone over the line. He's not evil; he hasn't hurt or injured others off the field. He has never gotten into legal trouble per say, other than going against baseball's own rules. And those rules seem kind of arbitrary and shallow to begin with. Why are some performance-enhancing actions legal and others are not? Alex is not the villain you want him to be and his fun time waiting on deck exemplifies this.

A true villain doesn't rub so hard. A-Rod is getting slammed all over and it doesn't seem warranted. Bud Selig tried to suspend him a year and a half for a violation that already has a set penalty of a 50 game suspension. Something doesn't add up! I don't like to be a Rodriguez supporter, but like the wood he's stroking, I'm with him for now.

If Alex Rodriguez was not A-rod, rather someone we previously liked, it would be interesting to see what penalty this situation would have warranted. If all the details were the same except the name of the player, I think Selig would have issued a much more reasonable suspension...which seems absolutely ludicrous! Imagine a professional sports commissioner airing out personal grievances against a player by slamming him with harsher penalties. It sounds like something out of the WWE.

So what happened? Alex has baseball by its balls and he's going to town on their bat.

[Part two - "Liars and Cheats* get Love too"]