The Arrow's Path

There is nothing more asinine in major professional sports than the mid-season all star game. There...I said it. The NFL used to have a Pro Bowl after the season which was at least something to watch for those suffering from football withdrawal after the Superbowl. Then (like  virtually anything else in the No Fans Left league) they had to ruin even that. Now they play that before the Superbowl in that weird no man's land between the NFC and AFC championships and the Commercial Fest...I mean Superbowl. The problem with that is what plagues all all star games: no player wants to get hurt, especially before a Superbowl, and so no one really tries. It is not even as rough as a collegiate intramural flag football game. It's a beauty pageant for jocks. The same thing plagues Major League Baseball. It is a game where the desire to win and the hustle level is somewhere between a church league softball game and two brothers playing each other in Mario Kart. In other words, milliona...

OBSTRUCTION is the act of a fielder who, while not in possession of the ball and not in the act of fielding the ball, impedes the progress of any runner. Rule 2.00 (Obstruction) Comment: If a fielder is about to receive a thrown ball and if the ball is in flight directly toward and near enough to the fielder so he must occupy his position to receive the ball he may be considered “in the act of fielding a ball.” It is entirely up to the judgment of the umpire as to whether a fielder is in the act of fielding a ball. After a fielder has made an attempt to field a ball and missed, he can no longer be in the “act of fielding” the ball. For example: an infielder dives at a ground ball and the ball passes him and he continues to lie on the ground and delays the progress of the runner, he very likely has obstructed the runner. Sorry, Red Sox fans, but the Umps were right . Maybe if you played in a league that didn't use Church League Softball rules...

No one was elected on the current Baseball Writer's Association Hall of Fame ballot came out . With a dearth of steroids users and general thugs, the Atlanta Braves great, Dale Murphy, did not make the cut on his last year of ballot eligibility. Murphy was always a class act that gave so much back to the community for years (and continues to do so), whereas Bonds and some of those other bums can't be bothered to do any community service that is not ordered by the courts. Considering poor Dale Murphy was cursed to always play on teams that were lousy, I can only imagine how great his numbers could have been had he gotten to play for a stretch of years on a team that was actually a contender for more than 1 month running. The poor guy languished with the Braves in the 80's when the Bravos were perennially in the cellar, and was traded away the year before the Braves got good. He then spent time in Philadelphia and was traded away the year before the Phillies got good, and...

I admit I am a dyed-in-the-wool Atlanta Braves fan, so this blog post is probably biased on this issue. But Dale Murphy is again on the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame ballot where he has been languishing for a few years of eligibility. In fact, he is on his next to last chance on the ballot before he gets bumped off the baseball writers' ballot permanently. I remember having this card as a kid. Frankly, if he does not get in this year, his chances are virtually over because there is a host of potential Hall of Famers slated to come on the ballot in the next year that will supersede him, or will at least garner all the media attention. He has an outside chance that the steroids issue may kick off a few of the 2013 newcomers to the ballot like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens, Mike Piazza, Curt Schilling, and Craig Biggio. Granted those guys are steroids users (or at least a few cases highly suspected thereof,) but the steroid-user-into-the-Hall-of-Fame debate wil...

One of the highlights of vacation was a trip my father and I took to Miller Park in Milwaukee. (I was told by fans that the letter "l" in Milwaukee is silent by 'native speakers.') Having been to the new Target Field in Minneapolis earlier in the year, I was interested to compare it to Miller Park. Miller Park is relatively new, as it opened in 2001. I was surprised to learn it was almost 10 years old. It still feels new, at least to me. Miller Park is a case of "First Impressions can be deceiving." As you can see in the slideshow, Miller Park is truly bizarre looking from the Interstate when you approach it. It looks like a gigantic beetle with metallic back braces. This is because it has a retractable roof. More precisely, it is a flat roof, not a dome. Despite its bizarre appearance from afar, when you walk up to it after parking in the expansive parking lot (paying the extra 13 dollars for preferred parking is worth it, as its a short exit right ont...

I was watching a little TV the other day and ESPN was airing some interview with Nolan Ryan, the former Major League Baseball pitcher and Hall of Famer. I believe, if I recall correctly, it was shortly after the Red Sox no hit the Kansas City Royals about a year or so ago. They were interviewing Ryan because Ryan still leads the all time No Hitter list with 7 no-no's in his career. I came upon the interview about half way through it, so I was not exactly sure to whom they were speaking immediately. When it finally dawned on that it was Nolan Ryan, I literally exclaimed, "Good lord! He's an old man!" I guess that interview stuck in my brain because I always liked Ryan, probably because his last name was my first name. I didn't know any other Ryans until I was well into high school. I suppose that is just one of those funny things that appeal to impressionable young kids if a star shares his name or his birthday or something of the like. I am not exactly sure why t...

A lousy field goal, that's all Baltimore could come up with. Wait...this is BASEBALL ! It turns out this is the first time a baseball team has ever scored 30 runs in a game in 110 years. Some things are just wrong, and they are always wrong. There is absolutely no reason why 30 runs should be allowed in a baseball game. Mercy rule, anyone? At first blush, or sunburn as the case may be seeing as this game went on for hours and hours, one would blame the pitching quality. And there is some truth to that. Run inflation has increased as the number of teams in each league has increased. There was a time when there was less than 20 teams. Fewer teams meant higher quality players per capita. I also helped that Major League Baseball had a monopoly on athletic talent because they were about the only respectable sport out there that you could make any money in. Of course, by "making money in" I mean money enough to support yourself. Back in the days of the reserve clause, players w...