Breaking Balls: Fan Building
7/25Last week in this space, I talked about how baseball teams should knock it off with the Obey-o-Tron and build their fan base with the kind of cheer clubs you see in soccer. Here's the cool part: it's already happening. I got e-mail from readers all week long.
Breaking Balls: Cheer Clubs
7/18A month later, despite Bud Selig and Bob DuPuy’s continued Thelma and Louise-style drive towards a cliff–which probably includes hand-holding–I’m still thinking of something I saw during the World Cup. Baseball doesn’t need to borrow much from other sports (oh, the good announcer/bad announcer from wrestling, sure), but it should steal the "cheer clubs" from...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightBreaking Balls: Breaking Balls: Reader Testing
6/20It's been brought to my attention that many of you are using illegal drugs. I'm not accusing you, in particular, no. But you know who I'm talking about. This puts you at an unfair disadvantage. Readers on methamphetamines are able to read an entire day's BP.com content in minutes, leaving valuable time for other activities, like bicycling 100 miles or staring off into space while developing facial tics.
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightBreaking Balls: Reader Testing
6/20It’s been brought to my attention that many of you are using illegal drugs. I’m not accusing you, in particular, no. But you know who I’m talking about. This puts you at an unfair disadvantage. Readers on methamphetamines are able to read an entire day’s BP.com content in minutes, leaving valuable time for other activities,...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightBreaking Balls: Barry’s World
6/13Why must Bonds be the story in every Giants' loss?
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightBreaking Balls: Barry’s World
6/13Bonds hitless as Yankees beat Giants 4-2 — Headline of 6/9 game recap at ESPN.com Last Sunday, facing the Yankees, Barry Bonds was walked four times and hit by a Roger Clemens fastball once. Ichiro Suzuki can hit a double off a slider in the dirt, and Vladimir Guerrero can take balls off his shoes...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightBreaking Balls: Meet the Press
6/06John Boles doesn’t know this, but for a time he was one of my favorite people. Every week, as I put together The Week in Quotes, I went through all the wire game recaps of two teams and gorged myself. Tony Muser was always good for a couple of lines, but John Boles was quote...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightBreaking Balls: The Master Plan
5/30I'm the new owner of the Angels. Disney kept the team from leaving Anaheim, but their tax break was mostly expended, and running the team took energy the company wanted to spend persecuting peer-to-peer file sharing. The franchise didn't come cheap, mind you, but I think it will be worth the money. Now, I'm Bud Selig's worst nightmare, because I'm going to derive millions of dollars through his proposed revenue-sharing plan and field a team that's going to thrash his precious Brewers for the foreseeable future.
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightBreaking Balls: The Master Plan
5/30(Ed. note: Derek Zumsteg and the voices in his head will be occupying this space every Thursday.–JSS) I’m the new owner of the Angels. Disney kept the team from leaving Anaheim, but their tax break was mostly expended, and running the team took energy the company wanted to spend persecuting peer-to-peer file sharing. The franchise...
continue reading chevron_rightchevron_rightBreaking Balls: Breaking Balls: MLB Cribs
2/04In the National League, now that it appears the Cardinals are on their way to having a privately-constructed stadium, only the Marlins and Mets remain in older stadiums that beg to be torn down. The Marlins are in the same boat as the Devil Rays, in that they stink and have bad relationships with local political powers. And the Mets? Sure, the Yankees and Mets would both like new stadiums, but the sheer cost and difficulties associated with getting that kind of project underway makes it unlikely. After the two parks open in 2004, there's one new stadium coming in St. Louis and then it would seem we're not going to see anything else for a long while. A more interesting question: Will these new, baseball-only stadiums have the lifespan that their multi-use parents did, or will they last as long as the old parks like Fenway and Wrigley Field, the models these new kids looked to for inspiration?
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