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Old 07-19-2018, 10:31   #31
Ret10Echo
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Originally Posted by Airbornelawyer View Post
Did anyone see the introduction of the Medal of Honor recipients at the All-Star Game? It was a great moment, even for someone as cynical as me about how much the "honor our troops" stuff by MLB seems more marketing gesture than genuine expression of patriotism.

WRT to the Orioles, I guess the question is do they just rent out the rest of their pending free agents like Britton and Adam Jones, or do they see what kind of return they can get for younger players like Bundy and Givens, or even if they can get takers for Trumbo or Cobb.
I did not watch the entire game. Just caught bits of it along the way so no sense of how the MOH event went.

IRT the O's I think anyone who heads to free agency between 2019 - 2021 should be on the table. Focus should be on building the farm and getting the younger guys experience.
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Old 07-19-2018, 13:06   #32
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MLB; ATTENDANCE

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I did not watch the entire game. Just caught bits of it along the way so no sense of how the MOH event went.

IRT the O's I think anyone who heads to free agency between 2019 - 2021 should be on the table. Focus should be on building the farm and getting the younger guys experience.
Attendance at MLB is continuing to decline. Too many Teams have diluted the talent of the starters, PRICES for tickets,parking, food & drinks way out of line...Also I suspect the TV audience is declining The stands look empty at all most all of the games on TV. AMERICA'S PAST TIME HAS PASSED.TK
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Old 07-19-2018, 14:40   #33
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The stands look empty at all most all of the games on TV. AMERICA'S PAST TIME HAS PASSED.TK
I don't think its time has passed; some areas with certain teams/markets, this will always be so. But one thing that I believe has hurt the fan base (and they will show it in return by not going to games or buying merch) is that most of the televised game slots were sold off to MLBN, and other channels that are a premium fee unless someone has already decided that Platinum package is what they have to have (some of whom are in need of less couch, more PT). So someone who may go to a couple games a year - and as you say, for most that'$$$ a big deal, a vacation-like expense - can't follow the team on TV without genuflecting to the MLBN cartel.

I enjoy watching the Cubs when I can but most of those opportunities relate to them playing Milwaukee, where the Fox station up here covers them ALWAYS. Having an HF station & a long piece of wire the most common method here is old-fashioned AM radio while doing something else if I'm in the house. But the selling off of games to MLBN's near monopoly has not made any friends.
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Old 07-19-2018, 16:30   #34
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11 of 30 teams have higher average attendance this year. Among these are the Astros (+22%), Phillies (+11%), Brewers (+10%), Yankees (+7%), Mariners (+4%) and Braves (+4%). So putting a winning product on the field is certainly a factor. Conversely, the biggest decline is, unsurprisingly, the Marlins (-53%), followed by the Royals (-25%), Blue Jays (-25%), Pirates (-23%) and Tigers (-23%).

Another factor that has to be considered is the really bad weather early in the season, compounded by starting the season earlier in late March, which probably depressed attendance in cities like Chicago, Boston and Cleveland. And the Cubs, Red Sox and Indians are also probably hurt by having so many tanking teams in their divisions. Would you pay the ridiculously high prices for tickets and beer at Fenway to see the Orioles or Rays?

Where I am, I can see both Orioles and Nationals games on MASN or MASN2, so TV viewing is not a problem. This MLB/Facebook deal is annoying, because I have no intention of watching a baseball game on Facebook, or having anything to do with Facebook period.

Regarding the MOH ceremony, here is the video:

https://www.mlb.com/video/antonetti-...d/c-2284755483

There were 29 recipients present at the game:

CSM Bennie Adkins
COL Donald Ballard
COL Harvey Barnum, Jr.
SGT Gary Beikirch
MCSWO Edward Byers
COL Bruce Crandall
COL Roger Donlon
SP4 Michael Fitzmaurice
LTG Robert Foley
LTC Harold Fritz
LTC Charles Hagemeister
CAPT Thomas Kelley
LTC Charles Kettles
CSM Gary Littrell
MG James Livingston
COL Walter Marm, Jr.
SP5 James McCloughan
SFC Melvin Morris
CSM Robert Patterson
MSG Leroy Petry
COL Gordon Roberts
SSG Clinton Romesha
CPT Gary Rose
SFC Ronald Rosser
SP5 Clarence Sasser
SGM Kenneth Stumpf
MAJ James Taylor
1LT Brian Thacker
CPL Hershel "Woody" Williams

In case it's not clear from the abbreviations, CAPT Kelley was a navy captain, and CPT Rose was an Army captain (and SF medical NCO).
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Old 07-20-2018, 05:50   #35
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Regarding attendance and the attitude of fans toward their local team and the game as a whole, there's another set of factors at play, though I have no idea other than a gut feeling as to how much these factors matter as compared to others. This is the combination of free agency, analytics and fantasy sports.

Free agency has obviously been around for a while, so its role in a player's loyalty or lack thereof to an organization is pretty well known. Ever since the Moneyball/analytics "revolution", though, you have to combine this with the way organizations now view players as quantifiable and disposable pieces, rather than individual personalities. With some exceptions, whatever residual notions of loyalty between players and teams are gone. If it is not a quantifiable metric, it is at best ignored or at worst sneered at by the baseball cognoscenti. Non-quantifiable factors like team chemistry and leadership and being a good dugout presence no longer carry much weight. The net result is, with few exceptions such as the Orioles ownership's inexplicably high regard for Chris Davis, teams and players don't really matter to each other.

Then comes the growth of rotisserie leagues and fantasy baseball. Now fans have jumped on the bandwagon of interchangeable pieces and can pick and choose which players they root for, rather than which teams. Why go to a game to see the one or two players who might be of interest, when you can just check the highlights or box scores of multiple games to see how all your picks did? Furthermore, the growth of sports betting sites like DraftKings means you also have a financial incentive to divorce yourself from caring about individual teams and focusing instead on individual players.

That all said, my only real perspective is baseball, so maybe there's a bigger picture I'm missing. I stopped following professional football and college basketball years ago, and I never cared for professional basketball, and association football just bores me to tears. Other than occasional mentions of the NFL's kneeling controversy, I know nothing about football popularity and attendance issues.
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Old 07-20-2018, 11:08   #36
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AL,
My personal take has been that Fantasy sports and metrics have moved fans out of the stands and onto their computers.
I don't "do" fantasy leagues but my uneducated assessment is that there is little interest in a team's performance as they are focused on individual players across multiple teams. Mixing that with free-agency amplifies the loss of interest in "team" sports outside of jersey and hat sales.

Not like when I grew up. I still can recite the Red Sox roster from back then because those guys were there year after year.

R10
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Old 09-01-2018, 11:23   #37
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NL Central continues to be a dogfight. Although the Cubs lead, the Cards & Brewers have positioned themselves to have a stab at both NL Wild Card spots. Need more hairball? The Cubs have 2 series remaining against the Brewers before this thing is done... ain't over till it's over. What a division.
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Old 09-03-2018, 08:48   #38
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The Cardinals have been impressive since firing Matheny and blowing up the roster. I'd like to see them slugging it out with the Cubs for the division championship the last weekend of the season (and winning it of course).
For this Cardinals team to come back and win it all (World Series) would be legendary.
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Old 09-03-2018, 09:15   #39
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The Cardinals have been impressive since firing Matheny and blowing up the roster. I'd like to see them slugging it out with the Cubs for the division championship the last weekend of the season (and winning it of course).
For this Cardinals team to come back and win it all (World Series) would be legendary.
Yeah, they really caught fire.

For all the flipping potential of 2 series left with the Brewers, the Cubs host the Cards for the final games; always a fun time. Someone mentioned to me recently how they manage to see Cubs & Cards fans all over the place, wherever they play - then used that old announcers' expression "the fans travel well."

My answer: "No, we have embedded cells all over the country that can be activated on demand."
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Old 09-04-2018, 14:30   #40
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Yeah, they really caught fire.

For all the flipping potential of 2 series left with the Brewers, the Cubs host the Cards for the final games; always a fun time. Someone mentioned to me recently how they manage to see Cubs & Cards fans all over the place, wherever they play - then used that old announcers' expression "the fans travel well."

My answer: "No, we have embedded cells all over the country that can be activated on demand."
Go Cubs?
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Old 09-04-2018, 14:33   #41
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Go Cubs?
With all due respect...

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Old 09-04-2018, 14:58   #42
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Sorry. I was looking through my fishing gear and thought I'd do some trolling.

With the recent fade of the Phillies, it appears that the NL Central and both Wests are the only interesting fights left.

In the AL West, I always expected Houston to get better once they got healthier. Seattle's fade is a bit sad, since they looked good for a while. I suppose I can allow myself to no longer actively root against Oakland, now, since they DFA'd their pizza-delivery person assaulting Colin Kaepernick-wannabe catcher. Although Oakland is still in the Bay Area, so they've got that going against them.

I honestly don't care about any of the teams in the NL West, although I remain annoyed that whenever MLB network has any late evening or West Coast coverage, it's always the Dodgers or Giants.

As between the Cardinals and the Cubs, Im' rooting for the Brewers. It's a bit of rooting for the underdog, but also I'm a fan of Christian Yelich. He seems like good kid.
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Old 09-04-2018, 17:41   #43
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Orioles are in 1st place for 1st pick.... Clinched in the sweep by KC (the second worst team in baseball).

The fun right now is trying to see if Baltimore exceeds their worst franchise team. As it stands now their current (losing) percentage gives them MAYBE 6 more wins...

So 46 - 116

Gausman down in Atlanta is sub-2.00 ERA.

EPIC

Now for actual baseball:

Does Judge's return boost the Yanks to where they survive the wildcard playoff? Their recent loss to the A's does not bode well
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Old 09-04-2018, 18:43   #44
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Sorry. I was looking through my fishing gear and thought I'd do some trolling.

As between the Cardinals and the Cubs, Im' rooting for the Brewers. It's a bit of rooting for the underdog, but also I'm a fan of Christian Yelich. He seems like good kid.
LOL, no sweat. That poor hat probably felt it needed delousing.

Must say, we end up watching Brewers games because of the selling off of games to MLB cartel. It's the only way to see Cubs because the local Fox station covers all Brewers games, and replays 'em for shift workers. They look like such a different team this year. That kid Yelich is a GOOD lookin' ball player and imo one of the very best acquisitions they've made. He has great traditional baseball career written on him if he keeps his stuff together.
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Old 09-05-2018, 10:32   #45
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My brother is an Orioles fan, he is excited that they get the pick. He's also pretty excited that they are finally listening to Duquette, and signing international players.

Yelich is a stud, he isn't flashy, so he's often overlooked, but the kid can flat out play the game.

I am not sure how much Judge is going to help, it is going to take a him a few weeks to get his timing back, at the very least. Then again, nobody thought he'd be this good to begin with!!
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