TheBron
I am a casual fan of NBA basketball, but I am a baseball fanatic. With that said, I do and do not understand the controversy surrounding LeBron James’ decision to leave Cleveland for Miami via free agency.
Professional sports are a spectacle, as much theater as athleticism. I love the soap opera dramatics that play out in the press...very entertaining. I 'love' the Mets and 'hate' the Yankees (and Braves and Phillies and...), but these are 'sports' emotions not real emotions. I've been known to chant "Yankees suck! Yankees suck!" during games, but if fact, the Yankees actually don't 'suck' they are really good. It doesn't matter though. When I'm involved in watching a Mets game I play the part. If David Wright, my favorite Met, leaves the Mets for the Yankees when becomes a free agent I will 'hate' him. If he makes his decision on a prime-time ESPN special, I will REALLY hate him. But again, baseball (like all sports) is a business, and you can't really blame a person for doing what's best for themselves. Likewise though, that player has to realize that what's best for them may not be what’s best for the fans, and they are going to let them know it! That's part of the deal. In the end, always remember: you can't really love or hate anything that can't love or hate you back.
This is why I am enjoying the LeBron James free agent drama so much. LeBron probably could have made more money and have become a bigger star playing in New York, but he chose to join a team that has great chance of winning a championship very soon. I admire that. I might be the only one. Sports writers are accusing him of taking the easy way out and being a coward! It's true that if LeBron had stayed with his hometown Cavaliers and won a championship, he would go down in NBA history as a Michael Jordon type player. Jordon spent years leading the Bulls from failure to glory, but that's not what James wants to do. He has chosen to become one of three superstars on a team that might win a bunch of championships. I don’t' see why that is bad.
With all that said, the way he left the Cavs, with the whole "Decision" ESPN special, was pathetic. And I loved it! Now, the best thing EVER is how the owner of the Cavaliers responded: with an emotional open letter posted on the front page of the Cavaliers web site! I had no idea that the NBA allowed owners to post anything they want on team pages! I would think that all the content is very closely scrutinized. I bet his letter was typed by him personally on his computer then copy and pasted onto the site. He used the Comic Sans font, a font not used by any respectable web designer. Yikes! This is no press release reviewed by the Team's or the League's PR people. What I like about the letter is that it is 'real', dripping with emotion. You just don't see that much anymore on official websites. I don't agree with a bunch of what the letter says, but I absolutely love that he has poured his heart out.
In the end, none of this matters. The Magic will win the Championship next year while the three Heat superstars will have a massive clash of egos. They probably won't even make the playoffs. ***Jinx!!!***
Open Letter to Fans from Cavaliers Majority Owner Dan Gilbert
Magic Destiny
I wrote the post below BEFORE the start of the Celtics vs. Magic game last night. I was at a sports bar watching the pre-game show and wrote this quick post using the WordPress app for Android on my Motorola Droid, but I forgot to post it! (I only had one beer, so I guess I can't "blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-a-alcohol," like Jamie Foxx always does.
A quick post about destiny. The Orlando Magic are down three game to none in the 2010 Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics. The mood in the bar and around the office is that of utter despair and defeat. Take heed my fellow Magic fans, for this 2010 Magic team is a team of destiny. I have only felt this feeling of destiny five time before in my life: The 1980 - 1983 NY Islanders Stanley Cup champion seasons and the 1986 NY Mets World Series season. The Magic will be the first team in NBA history to come back from a three games to none deficit and win the Conference Championship. After that, they will ROLL OVER the Lakers in the finals, with one minor hiccup that will cause them to go a game five. It's not a prediction. It's destiny.
Mets Trip: Wrap Up
My trip to New York to visit family and see my first Mets game at Citi Filed is quickly coming to an end. It was great to go to the game with my brother and friends and see the Mets win, but the Citi Field experience was completely underwhelming. To be fair, I've only seen Major League Baseball games in Shea Stadium, the old Yankee Stadium, and Tropicana Field. So, I don't have a large sample set to compare with Citi Field. With that said, I was not impressed with Citi, and I really missed Shea Stadium.
Shea was not that old. It's a crime that a structure was torn down after only44 years. Unfortunately, the economics of baseball made it necessary for the Mets to build a new venue, but I wish Shea could have been preserved or renovated for soccer or some other purpose. Shea was ugly, and there is no denying it. It was a multi-purpose, function over form, 1960s era behemoth. The mets and New York City could have made vast improvements over the years to Shea, but I guess they were focused on a new stadium and did little to make it a nicer place to visit.
I should probably give Citi Field another chance and come back to see another game before passing final judgement. You see, I grew up with Shea, and my opinions about Citi Filed are undoubtedly colored by sentimentality and sadness. I lived on the Port Washington Long Island Railroad line that transported me directly from my home town to Shea. I remember the first time my dad brought me to a game. I was in this dark hallway that led to a dark tunnel under the stands, and when I came through the tunnel into the stands I saw blue sky, green grass, and an ocean of people and orange and blue seats. It was breathtaking. As I got older and went to more games, I was never as impressed with this scene as the first time, but the sight of Shea before a game always gave me pause. For me, baseball is big and brash, just what New York is supposed to be. Citi Field is small and quaint and would be right at home in a small market baseball town. That 'intimate' feel was what the Wilpons were trying to achieve when the had the stadium designed, but as I stated in a previous post, this stadium seems to have more to do with a team that left New York for L.A. over 60 years ago than it does with my Mets. Citi Field is more about manufactured nostalgia than about the modern day New York Mets.
Citi Field is new and clean. It has wider seats and some more leg room. It is an inoffensive building with little to no warmth or charm. Food and beverages are insanely overpriced, and three of the four concession stands were closed in our section on the day I saw the Mets beat the Braves. There were no beer vendors in our section, and just a couple of hot dog guys. Tickets prices are beyond ridiculous. On that day, I was in no mood to wander the stadium. I hear that the area behind the scoreboard is cool, and I should have explored a bit more; perhaps that would have given me a better impression of the facility. Next time I come for a visit I don't think the loss of Shea will affect me as much, and I'll be able to do a better job of fully appreciating Citi Field, but with ticket prices being what they are it may be a long time before I come back to the house that CitiGroup built.
LIVE: Citi Field Impressions
Update: Long beer and food lines, no vendors, no love for the nose bleeders.
Like a shopping mall in Great Neck, Citi Field is clean and sterile. It could be in any generic park in the U.S. Nothing about it says Mets or New York.
On the positive side, I'm in the last row of Section 504, and I have to admit that the view is not bad at all. That's the positive of a tiny stadium.
Braves vs. Mets
Here we go! It's 9:30am, and I'm trying to get my brother's family, including a teenager and two tweens, corralled into the minivan. We have to drop one kid and the dog at the grandparents the make our way to Queens to drop off the girls and pick up the last member 'guys day out' gang. Then it's just a quick jaunt over to Citi Field to meet more friends and see the game. We'll never make it in time. Getting from Central Jersey to TWO destinations in Queens with only three and half hours to spare...not gonna happen, but we'll try.
I will be live blogging from my phone today, so wish me luck. I hope my Moto Droid is beer (and tears) proof. It is a Mets game after all. There will be beer and tears. My prediction: Mets 4, Braves 3.
Mets Trip
Mobile blogging from my Droid using the WordPress app. No spell check, this should be interesting. I reserve the right to correct misspellings and typos from my laptop later today.
Sitting on the plane at Orlando Airport, waiting for the flight attendant to tell us to turn off all devices for takeoff. I will be in NJ visiting family and then off to see Braves vs. Mets on Saturday at 1:10pm. This is my first game at Citi Field. I hope it surprises me. I am not a fan of this small stadium. Shea was ugly, but it was as big and loud as New York. It also looked like it belonged to the Mets. Citi looks like the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Note to Mets owners, the Wilpons...The Dodgers left town over 50 years ago. Get over it!
Time to stress out over the take off...not a fan of flying. Flying is fine, it's the crashing that I don't like. Gotta start my pre-flight OCD rituals. Let's Go Mets!
Baseball 101
In less than a month, pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. It's time for baseball again. Here in Florida, the idea of Spring Training is not difficult to fathom, but depending on where you live, there still may be snow on the field and bitter cold winds blowing. None the less, in two days the New Orleans Saints will be walking off the field with the Vince Lombardi trophy (mark my words: 24 to 17), and then it's time to start thinking baseball.
I plan to write a number of baseball-related posts in the coming months. Among the topics will be steroids, the color barrier, and my favorite team, the Mets. In this post, I want to have some fun, so I am going to attempt to explain the game of baseball in a single post. Baseball is the most complicated sport. If you doubt this fact then attempt this exercise. Try explaining the game of soccer to somebody that knows nothing about the subject. Then, try doing the same with baseball.
Soccer: a game played on an outdoor rectangular field with a goal at either end. Two teams compete to kick a ball into the other team's goal. The objective is to score more goals than the other team in the allotted time. Players can kick the ball, but cannot touch it with their hands. Only the goaltenders, one on each team, can defend his team's goal by using his hands. Now, there are more rules and many nuances to Soccer, but with the above knowledge a person could watch a game of soccer and understand it. Baseball is a whole 'nother story.
Years back I was in a new relationship with a woman who had recently moved to the United States from Eastern Europe. She knew NOTHING about baseball. When I tried to explain to her why I was yelling at a man named Piazza on TV to 'swing the damn bat!', I realized how daunting a task it is to explain baseball. Even people who have no interest in sports understand the basics of baseball, if they grew up in America. It's part of the culture. You just pick it up through osmosis. In grade school, your teacher gave you 'three strikes' to stop talking during class, and you 'hit a home run' when you received an 'A' on your geography quiz. In retrospect, I believe my attempts at explaining baseball to my girlfriend was partly to blame for the failure of the relationship. She thought I was crazy and just making this stuff up. She would say to me in broken English. “Do you think I’m fool? How can a ball be out of play but be caught by other man and first man be out?!” You no need to make up story to impress me. Just be real with me. Next think you’re going to tell me is that they play 162 games a year then have a 3 tiered playoff system.” Ok, so maybe she never said any of that, but I’m sure she was thinking it. Anyway, below I will attempt to explain the rules and game play of baseball in conversational style, off the top of my head...until I get tired and stop. Then it will be the reader's chance to pick up where I left off and comment the rest of the rules.
Buyers Remorse
To some extent, I always regret what I purchase. As much as I may love the item, parting with my hard-earned cash always takes a toll on me. As a result, I am VERY critical of every good and service that I purchase. I wouldn't have it any other way. When you buy a car, rent a DVD, or dine out at a fancy restaurant you have not only purchased that good or service, you have also purchased the right to bitch about it!
I have noticed that some people never negatively criticize something they have purchased, a sports team they follow, or anything on which they have spent money, time, or energy. I assume that they subconsciously feel that their choice of purchase reflects on them to a very large degree. Not me. I'll tell you straight up that I purchased a Chrysler PT Cruiser in 2002, and it was the biggest piece of crap that I've ever owned, but others would never admit it. They would defend the Cruiser and tell you how great it is despite their deep hatred for the car. This mentality is completely foreign to me. What's the use of being alive if you can't complain about living?!
If you are a regular reader of BackingIn, you know that I'm a Microsoft enthusiast, but don't get me started on how much I hate Microsoft Outlook. I live for the New York Mets, but I could do a thesis on why they suck out loud. I bought a 2009Volkswagen Rabbit, and it is a great car, but it gets horrendous gas mileage and the fit and finish are sub-par. I own a Motorola Droid, and it is way cool, but rest assured, I will give you a true assessment of it below.
