I am heading out for a full day of high school homecoming activities today. Throw into that mix a re-dedication of our newly remodeled high school and it is going to be a busy Saturday. To keep you all up on what I am doing, I had a guest post yesterday at Shooting for the Show. Go visit my friend Justin’s blog about college and minor league hockey and read a piece I did on Binghamton finally getting a championship.
Category Archives: Professional Sports
Let Hockey Season Begin
As a tribute to the 2011 Calder Cup champions – the hometown Binghamton Senators – I am posting some photos taken while waiting on the bus to return the players from their winning game. Tonight the banner goes up and these will all be in the past and a new season will being.
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October Means One Thing
The calendar has once again turned to October. Good news! My fall marathon is over. Better news!! The temperature is going to warm up a bit. Best news!!! October is the start of hockey season!!!
On my recent trip to Pittsburgh for my daughter’s college graduation, we had the chance to visit the Consol Energy Center and attend a preseason skate and inter-squad scrimmage for the Pittsburgh Penguins. While I was sad to think that the Igloo – directly across the street – would eventually be torn down, the Consol Energy Center is a beautiful arena. I can imagine there is not a seat in the house that is bad for hockey. On top of that, it was wonderful to be in a city that supported its teams. This particular Sunday was the home opener for the Steelers and yet, there were plenty of people at this skate.
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Skeptic at Heart
While I have been told that I am too trusting by many people, I find myself being a skeptic here in the last day or two of the 2011 Tour de France. As almost anyone knows – even those who do not follow the sport of cycling, doping allegations and proven cases have been rampant in the sport in the last ten years. While regulatory agencies are trying to clean cycling up as much as possible, it seems every major event brings about new accusations.
As the 2010 Tour de France wrapped up, news approximately a month later was that the winner, Alberto Contador of Spain, had a sample test positive. Contador defended himself saying the drugs in his system had come from meat treated with the drug. The final determination regarding this doping has not been made yet as the 2011 Tour is about to wrap up. My skeptism this year wraps around Contador.
Contador looked human in the Pyrenees. He didn’t have much on these mountains. He tried to take seconds away from his time that he was behind the leaders and did not do it. He, through my non-rosy glasses, looked like a man who suddenly did not have that extra that was necessary to win. In this case, he looked like a man who was trying to stay squeaky clean and that was making his riding less than effective in the mountains – an area where he had excelled in the past.
Then, there were rest days and some flatter stages prior to rolling into the Alps. Contador looked like the cyclist of old in the Alps. While he did not win a stage, or really take back time to draw himself closer to the leaders, he attacked and attacked again on these ascents. He did not look like the same cyclist that had ridden through the Pyrenees. Something – and the skeptic in me does not think it was pride – motivated him a bit more in the Alps.
While I know in my heart I should believe this man innocent until he is defnitely proven guilty (as if a positive blood test is not enough), I can’t for some reason. Maybe it is the persona that Contador has presented in previous years. Maybe it is the cockiness Contador always presents. Maybe it is just the skeptic in me.
Do you follow professional cycling? What do you think of the various riders in the 2011 Tour de France? What do you think of Contador?
Sports Fanatic
I admit it. I am a sports fanatic. The unfortunate truth is I do not necessarily like the average sports that most Americans spend hours watching. I do like college football and admit to watching a pro game here and there but I could really care less.
On the other hand, I will plan my nights around hockey games. I was jokingly told, during this year’s conference playoffs, that I was a bad date. Now, first, I was only out with a friend so there was no date going on at all. Second, the problem was I was not paying attention to his pool shots. I would literally walk away from the pool table to watch the hockey game on the television. Reception was not great so I did move closer to the TV to be able to see. It wasn’t like I was throwing the pool game – at least not the first couple. I was close to winning. I was shooting as best I could. I am not a huge pool player so I was happy when it was a challenge.
Needless to say, this summer has been a big sports fest for me. The World Cup soccer tournament has just recently finished up. Since the last World Cup tournament in 2006, I have become a runner. Consequently, I was running a race on the day of the final championship game. That is okay with me. Had I not been running, I would have been watching.
Then, overlapping with the end of the World Cup was the start of the Tour de France. Do not ask why I like this but I do. I hate missing coverage so much I watched coverage on my computer when I was not near a TV. I am enthralled with the stamina and skill that these athletes have. None of the stages are easy. None of the mountains are small. I love the idea of the team yet individual competition.
Do you like sports? Which ones would you watch?
Is NBC right for the NHL?
Yes, I am sure the money is right. If nothing else is important to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, money is. The bigger question is “is the television contract with NBC good for recruiting new and more hockey fans?”
I would say emphatically NO after the past two days. First off, this year’s Stanley Cup Championship Finals are being aired on both Versus (cable television where the regular season airs) and NBC. This partnership between Comcast and NBC seems perfect except now. Versus does not mind that teams host viewing parties. NBC does.
How does a team recruit new fans? There is the draft a local kid idea but that is hard to do. So, teams cash in on good play. When a team makes the Stanley Cup Finals, that team should be able to draw in as many spectators as possible.
Last night, a critical game six and possibly Detroit’s winning of the Cup, saw NBC screw with both Pittsburgh’s and Detroit’s ability to broadcast the game on large screens. Pittsburgh was told NO to showing game six on the big screen outside Mellon Arena. Detroit was told NO to showing the game on what is known in Hockeytown as “Joe Vision” – a viewing party at Joe Louis arena on the big screens. NBC’s reasoning for these denials – something that was allowed during games three and four at Pittsburgh when the games were televised on Versus – is simple and money oriented. It screws with ratings to have large group viewing parties.
If I were in Buffalo or Niagara Falls, I would protest. I would watch the Stanley Cup Finals on Canadian television. Since I live in the Southern Tier and do not get Canadian channels, I will suffer through making good ratings for NBC for game seven on Friday night. Then, I will go back to not watching things on NBC.
August 13th’s B Mets Game
I won four tickets to any non-fireworks Binghamton Mets game online at the local newspaper a week or so ago. I do like going to these games, although they now make me feel slightly older than they use to as the players tend to be the same age as my children. My 21 year old daughter was home from college. She had a week off, give or take, and we had decided we would use the tickets while she was here.
For $2 per ticket, I upgraded from free general admission to box seats. Last game we went to, we sat on the third base line as those were the best seats left when I got tickets. This time we sat on the first base line. Made for much better viewing of the home team during warm-ups but the picture taking ability was definitely better from third base.
Better than anything else, the B-Mets won the game last night. They are fighting for a playoff position and at the start of last night were one game out of second place in their division of the Eastern League. The win did not do much for their standings as they are now tied for third in their division but at least they won a game.
Gallery of photos is below (please be warned – six year old digital camera that is not all that great):
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- Warm-Ups
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- More Warm-Ups
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- Grounds Crew
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- Jose Sanchez
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- Sanchez Again
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- Salomon Manriquez
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- Fernando Martinez
HBP – Hit by Pitch
So why is it news when Ozzie Guillen lets out that managers do tell pitchers to hit batters? In my mind, and there are sports purists out there who will think this is blasphemy, this was a given. I have watched it from Little League to high school through college and pros. I have seen the pitches that could be nothing but intentional.
My daughter was a huge baseball player. Much to the chagrin of the Little League board and the boys on the team that wanted her off so they could play, she continued playing baseball until age 15. She stopped at that point in time as teener league was split in two age groupings and, while her fielding and base running were still better than most of the boys, her ability to stand in the box was being compromised by the fact she was a girl. Pitchers would take shots at her figuring they could scare her. She never moved. Talk about HBP. She was hit by pitches numerous times. That was not nearly as disturbing as being hit by fielded balls as they were thrown at her as opposed to the base player.
If pitching at the batter is prevalent – regardless of reason – in this level of sports, I can only imagine that it is prevalent at higher levels. I have found that poor sportsmanship tends to be a top down concept. The players start out just there for the game, the love of the game. They move on as told to by those above them – coaches, managers, owners – to being there for the money (even in college because what is a sports scholarship other than payment to play but that is fodder for another blog post) and doing what those above them tell them to do.
Do I think Ozzie Guillen was wrong in admitting he sometimes tells a pitcher to hit a batter? No. Do I think Ozzie Guillen was wrong to tell a pitcher, to start with, to hit a batter? Yes. Should he be punished for being honest? No. Should he be punished if the offense can be proved? Yes.
Versus on Time-Warner Cable
I am a huge professional cycling fan. I live for the three weeks in the summer when I get to watch the best of the best battle the mountains of the Pyrenees and the Alps and the cobblestone of French villages as they ride the Tour de France. I also love seeing the French countryside but that is just a bonus.
Versus, channel 32 on the local Time-Warner Cable, is the “official” network of the Tour. I have never been disappointed in their coverage. I miss Al Trautwig this year. He has been replaced with Craig Hummer. I am still trying to figure out who Craig Hummer is but that is really not that important. The other three major “talking heads” are actually former professional cyclists – Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwen and Bob Rolls.
The mountain stages, both in the Pyrenees and in the Alps, are long days. Live coverage starts early on these days. This is advertised well in advance – on both current day program, the program channel and within Versus. These days live coverage is set to start at 6:30 am.
Not a single one of these days has Versus started programming at 6:30 am. Some half hour infomercial comes on at 6:30 and they break into already in progress coverage of the Tour stage at 7 am. I am extremely annoyed with this and have emailed Versus. I want to know why we don’t get the entire time of the show.
