Public Media and Baseball

A few weeks ago on a #pubmedia chat session on Twitter, I mention what has public media done well and what public media should add. I mention public media should add sports, but sports that fit to the public media culture. The sport that first came to mind is baseball. Not because public media needs baseball, but baseball needs a partner for the long run.

I was a decent baseball fan throughout my life. In 1999, I went to my first baseball game at Camden Yards when the Red Sox faced the Orioles. I was semi-interested, but the Orioles weren’t my team as I learned DC used to have a baseball team and got rejected from MLB owners (mostly Peter Angelos). I started to get into baseball fully when the Montreal Expos moved to Washington to become the Nationals in 2005. It was in 2008 that I understood how special baseball is.

I had partial season tickets to the Nats inaugural season at Nationals Park and attended 20 games. However, it was my trip to Chicago that I went to Wrigley Field for the White Sox-Cubs interleague rivalry and words can’t describe the experience as a tourist in Wrigley Field. I wanted to like baseball, but the Nats were stinking up the joint. Then when Stephen Strasburg arrived in Washington for his MLB debut last year, I understand how baseball is that magical.

Baseball every year has these magical moments. The problem I have with baseball is not the game (although there need to be tweaks, but that’s for a different post), but the broadcasting.

The problem with baseball announcing is that it is trying to excite you artificially or that they don’t care for the game. I’m looking at FOX, who bought a lot of money to get the MLB package, but from the looks of their broadcasting team, coverage, and theme music over the years, it seems like Fox put baseball in the back-burner. TBS are at the same boat since they’re in a network that shows comedies. ESPN is being ESPN.

In addition, youth baseball has been dropping every year since 1996 because sports like lacrosse and soccer have constant motion and have excitement, but in baseball, you stand there most of the time. I mostly blame that on managers (mostly parents) who want to be the alpha people among the teams by yelling and screaming, when the game requires patience, which most of us don’t have.

This brings me to public media, specifically PBS.

What baseball is missing in most broadcasts is storytelling. Baseball announcers are renowned for their voice and stories. Vin Scully comes to mind as a great broadcaster and storyteller. Without commercial breaks, PBS can use the middle and end of each inning to describe what is going on and why it matters and if the game is a blowout, a few stories to tell. The PBS broadcast would let the game flow dictate how to call it.

Another thing PBS can bring to baseball is the element of community. PBS affiliates do a great job promoting arts and culture to their local community. Teaming up with MLB and minor league baseball, not only you would get an engaged community, but a diverse community that is lacking in public media. In addition, you bring the 170 million Americans who contribute to public broadcasting and have something to unite.

If baseball came to PBS, it would eliminate the “elitist” label that public media perceived to have since baseball is a global sport. PBS has done some sports from golf, tennis, and Ivy League football, but those sports tend to be the high-end of the spectrum (to be fair, they did air the FIFA World Cup in 1982). Although baseball is played by world-class athletes, it’s the magical moment people want or do not want to believe that makes the sport special.

Finally, baseball has two things on their side: history and government. Baseball’s history is rich and with PBS having Ken Burns (Baseball, The Tenth Inning), the game can be preserved. Add to that, most government officials and politicians are still fond of baseball (1994 strike, steroid hearings involved the U.S. government). If baseball is struggling, MLB can rely on the U.S. government to help, possibly bring MLB back to the non-profit side. The U.S. government still allows the NFL to be a non-profit for some odd reason.

Baseball might be dropping like boxing and horse racing not because of steroids or parity in the field. The problem with baseball is networks like Fox, TBS and somewhat ESPN are trying to spice up baseball with graphics and hyperbole when the game doesn’t require it.

This is a perfect time for PBS and its affiliates to pony up and get baseball after the 2013 season, when MLB’s TV contract with Fox, TBS, and ESPN are up, to bring baseball back to life and give the sport its proper due.

Realistically…

MLB would want a big contract with the major broadcast and cable networks after 2013 and wouldn’t care about the long-term effects of the game. MLB are still thinking about being cool at the grown-up table instead of being the adult.

PBS and their affiliates do not have the resources to pay a quarter of what MLB is asking and really can’t do anything except do stories and make documentaries about baseball. In addition, who pays for the TV rights: PBS, PBS affiliates, a third party?

Public broadcasting and baseball would have been a great relationship because both need each other and would fill each other’s weaknesses. It would be similar to hockey in Canada with TSN doing the heavy load of the work and CBC handling the major hockey events (Winter/Heritage Classic, All-Star game, Stanley Cup Final). Instead, greed will always win in baseball and some in the public media audience would not appreciate baseball as an art form. That’s a shame on both accounts.

Two-Day Double Dip

The past two days, I went to D.C. for four events: Cherry Blossoms, Natsfest, Nationals Opening Day, and a Caps game. The only reason I wanted to go is to experience my first D.C. Sports Doubleheader. This one is special because it was opening day in baseball and the Caps push to the playoffs.

Here are the pics I took the past two days

Cherry Blossoms

I have done this the past three out of four years. It never gets old. There’s nothing to add except I would like festival organizers is more choices for JapaDogs. That day, it felt like Vancouver.

Natsfest

I walked from the Tidal Basin to Nationals Park to go to Natsfest. It started to rain when I arrived and I was amazed there was a solid crowd who came. I would imagine a smaller crowd with the weather and it was a school day, but this shows there’s a growing fan base in Washington. With the rain coming down, practice was cut short and there were no autograph sessions, but people saw memorabilia of Washington’s baseball history and Q & A sessions. The star of Natsfest Washington Senator great, Frank Howard, who told his nine consecutive strikeout story at least two times and it never got old. The event went well under the circumstances.

Nationals Opening Day

This was my first opening day. I would imagine a sunny and a crisp 60 degree day. Instead, it was drizzly, but freezing. All the weather reports said there was a good chance of rain and in the mid 40s. It almost felt like it was 25 degrees. This was easily the coldest event I went to and I was outside for a good 6 hours, although I did get a free bratwurst and water as a result from broken registers . I don’t mind the cold, but it’s spring and it’s suppose to be warm, but on the plus side, I met most of the Nats tweeps in real life and made this a better event, even in the cold. I have been to 4 different home openers and by far, baseball is the most genuine I attended, although the 2006-2007 George Mason men’s basketball home opener was very special. As for the game, the Braves beat the Nats, 2-0. A disappointing result, but a wonderful event everyone should attend and if you’re lucky, next year’s opening day might be a buck.

Just to go back on Natsfest; the Nats lost and I mostly think the weather play a role, but another part could be about Natsfest. There are several fans who were upset Natsfest was a day before Opening Day and not in January, where most baseball teams have their annual fanfest. Mark Lerner, principal owner of the Nats, said this was the only time to bring all the players to come to Natsfest. I heard all sides and both make compelling arguments. I understand Mark’s standpoint of holding the event the day before the game, but this event needs to happen a week before the first game and the Nats can’t do it because of spring training. January is a great time to do it, but I understand this is the players’ offseason and they have their own schedule, plus going into D.C. in the winter has started to become brutal with snowstorms. There are two options the Nats can take:

Option 1: Still hold Natsfest the day before Opening Day and have a deal with the DC public schools to bring kids to the park after school and bring them to the field and have the players stay in the field, meet and greet, sign autographs, and take pictures.

Option 2: Have Natsfest in January, but social media has to play a role since nearly everyone in D.C. has a social media profile (remember, DC is the most socially networked city in the U.S.). Word can get out quick and the players will respond. Right now, the Nats do not have a strong enough fan base to have their voices heard, but when 2012 comes around with Strasburg and Bryce Harper on the team, things might change. In addition, we know Strasburg and Harper have Twitter accounts, so we can bother them why they can’t attend.

Caps

After 6 hours in the unexpected freezing weather, I travel to Chinatown to California Tortilla to get a burrito and getting a “10″ hot sauce to warm myself up. After that, I went to see my friends and it was off to the game. Caps won 4-3 over the Columbus Blue Jackets in overtime, but it shouldn’t be like that since Columbus didn’t have Rick Nash in the lineup and fielded an AHL team. The Caps might be in the playoffs, but without possibly Mike Green and Dennis Wideman, can the Caps advance? The longest preseason is almost to a close, but the real season begins and let’s sees if the Caps have learned from past seasons.

For these past two days, it was a time to relax and enjoy something special that may never happen again, unless you have the Beltway Series and the Stanley Cup Finals, which would be the penultimate. Overall, these past two days is a great time to be a Washingtonian…unless you’re a twitching little freak who is ticked by this and this.

Poll: Should I bring back the Elvis Silver Wig for this upcoming Washington Nationals Season?

The Tenth Inning

I went to the screening of The Tenth Inning, the sequel to Ken Burns (and Lynn Novick’s) popular miniseries, Baseball. In a nutshell, the latest installment tells what happened after 1994, when baseball players went on strike.  They broke it  into 5 segments: the strike, the comeback (basically how Cal Ripken, Jr. saved baseball), globalization, the steroids era, and why people love baseball.  A few observations from the clips:

• Bob Costas seemed like the only one who saw the forest in the trees about steroids.  He loves baseball, but objective.  I think baseball and casual fans were romanticized about the home runs during the steroids era and when the popularity of baseball boomed, almost all didn’t care about the consequences. I find that interesting.
• I knew Ken Burns is a Red Sox fan, but his film partner, Lynn Novick, was a Yankees fan. How can the both coexist so well with deep-rooted interests.
• The majority of the audience were Red Sox and Yankees fans and the last clip they show was from the 2003 ALCS where Aaron Boone hit a walk-off home run and put the Yankees to the World Series. There was some rooting and anguish from the Sawx fans.  It was fun and see a little glimpse of the rivalry.

The most intriguing part of the night was the Q & A discussion with Ken, Lynn, and ESPN.com writer Howard Bryant. They had discussions about all-time baseball players, steroids, and how to bring baseball back.  Two things that caught my attention:

1. Burns ranked the steroid scandal third behind 1) segregation and 2) gambling. Burns reminded when baseball  started in the late 1800s, there were 80 years of segregation until Jackie Robinson came to the majors and the color barrier was broken. Gambling still lingers with the Black Sox scandal and Pete Rose. Steroids just happened recently and is mostly gone away in 20 years, which is an achievement.
2. They mention Bud Selig that although he’s still an old-timer, he still advance baseball enough to keep people’s interest.  Buck O’Neill also got props from the panel and all three want O’Neill to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
3. I found one person who did not want to be a beat writer for the Washington Redskins: Howard Bryant. He got the job during Joe Gibbs second stint and had the job for 5 seconds and became an ESPN writer.  His real love was baseball, which goes to show people love baseball over football.

The Howard Bryant discussion lead me to think about baseball fans.  I have stated in the past that hockey is my number one sport I root for because of the fans and the game.  I haven’t changed that, but I’m appreciating baseball more and more since there is a team in D.C., and although the Nats stink, I’m still attracted to go to their game.

In hockey, the game is very exciting, the crowds are raucous, and every time the team scores, it is earned.  However, although hockey does have the most loyal fans, there’s something that push people away appreciating hockey either by watching TV and can’t see the puck or the hockey loyalist who establish guidelines on how to wear, what to wear, what to cheer, etc. In baseball, there’s some mystique to it no one understands. I appreciate hockey of what it is, but baseball seems to have an open-door policy that makes anyone a fan. In hockey, the only memory I will remember is who raised the Stanley Cup and when will the Caps get theirs. In baseball, I have several memories and most of which include the crappy Natinals out of nowhere.

To make Howard’s point, people appreciate football because it is the most interactive of the 4 sports (gambling, fantasy football, Red Zone, etc.), they appreciate basketball for the skill, and they appreciate hockey for the action and sportsmanship, but people appreciate baseball for an assortment of reasons. What baseball has that none the other sports have: randomness and romanticism.  I think this is what Burns and Novick were attempting in this sequel is with the steroids scandal, the strike and dwindling fans, why people look past that and still love baseball.

The full answer is on “The Tenth Inning”, which will be on September 28 and 29 on PBS. Check Your Local Listings.

Strasmas

The event in the past 10 years I wanted to attend was Barack Obama’s inauguration in January 2009.  I wanted to be part of history, but it was too crowded for my taste but would love an opportunity to revisit.  I’m not saying The Strasburg’s MLB debut was like that, but this is easily the best sporting event I ever attended and it was in my backyard.

I have been to a Caps playoff game, the White Sox-Cubs game, , Gilbert Arenas MLK Buzzer Beater against the Jazz, but none of these had the magnitude in this game.  The reason could be this is what Washington baseball has been waiting for a very long time.  The other is DC really has been on futility for so long from the rest of the teams, except for the Caps the past few seasons.  Everyone wanted to be part of history and they did: it was a sellout, celebrities including Charlie Casserly, who I met before leaving the game, media was loaded, Baseball Tonight was on location, you name it.  What made the event special was not the media hype, but the performance was out of this world.

People are gong to say it’s the Pittsburgh Pirates, they’re MLB-lite and it was easy cooking for the Strasburg.  Fair, but the Strasburg had to deal with the media attention, a bigger crowd, and a hungry team trying to ruin his spotlight.  The result was the Strasburg gave up 2 runs, struck out 14, and allowed no walks in 94 pitches, which is a first in the majors. You can say the team is weak, but don’t look at the opponent, look at the Strasburg pitches.  They are so nasty, you even feel sorry for the opponents’ batter like Joe Theismann’s leg.  You can discredit Pittsburgh as a weak team, but at least they battle unlike the worst team in baseball a few miles up north from Washington (and they’re in the American League).  The fans sounded they wanted to erupt and wanted to let it out from the beginning and sustain it to the end.  Makes me so proud as a DC fan, I’m going to cry.

The only downsides of the event I encounter were:

1. Food is still subpar.  Had a soggy bun on my hotdog. Bleah!
2. Teddy still lost when the Strasburg made his debut.  Guess we have to wait when Bryce Harper makes his debut, then Teddy might win.

I will say in this one night, The Strasburg is the number two rank athlete in DC, behind Alex Ovechkin.  However, The Strasburg can be number one in less than two years if the Caps still become “choking dogs” and the Nats win the pennant or win the wild card, which can happen of how the team is built.  The Caps lead the renaissance of DC sports and they should get credit, but from tonight’s game with the sellout crowd, Strasburg merchandise, and a Nats fan throwing a Pirates home run ball back into the field, winning is not enough…DC wants a championship.  That is a sign DC has become a legit sports city.

I hope you had a Merry Strasmas and hope you have a safe The Strasburg Boxing day today.

Strasmas pictures

The Strasburg

Before I begin, it should be noted from here on out, I’m calling Stephen Strasburg, “The Strasburg.”

Yesterday, I went to The Strasburg press conference to not only see The Strasburg speak, but see the real, devoted Nationals fans in attendance.  There were around 200, but most of them were under the facade since the seats were sitting on coals.  I was dumb enough to take a front seat along the third base side to see the press conference.  There was nothing special about the press conference, but it was important to see The Strasburg show off his new jersey and supporting the team (Good Move, The Strasburg).

After the press conference, the Nationals front office held a town hall meeting.  That lasted five minutes not because of protesters, but mother nature, although you could argue mother nature could be protesters.  After a few hours and food from Five Guys (not at the park, but at Navy Yard), it was time for the game.

The game was anti-climatic as the Nats lose to the Brewers 7-3.  The only exciting parts to came out from the game was the heavy downpour, and the rainbow before the game.  One thing of note: Teddy lost the race again.  Although the Nats lost, there was some positive things to came out of the day and for the future.

As you know, I’ve been calling out the Nationals for many different things from the front office, their play, the lousy music, the uniforms, you name it.  The reason I did The Strasburg Signing Deadline Countdown was to see if the Nationals are serious about building a team in DC.  It’s not important if The Strasburg does great with the Nats, although that’s would be a nice bonus.  The key is if the Nats care about being cheap or really care about their investment. In the past two months, the Nationals:

• Traded Lastings Milledge and Joel Hanrahan to Pittsburgh for Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett.  Trade is looking good so far.
• Trade Nick Johnson to the Marlins for prospects.
• Sign The Strasburg before the deadline.
• Mike Rizzo became the permanent General Manager of the Nationals.
• $1 all day passes which include the press conference, town hall, and the game.  Attendance was 75% capacity that day, which is not bad for a terrible team.
• I did not hear a song from Jonas Brothers or any awkward intro music of players (i.e. Nick Johnson and “Sexyback”).
• “We Want The Strasburg” chants were not only from baseball.  Redskins fans were chanting during a preseason game against the Steelers.

From the looks of it, the Nationals future looks bright and cannot wait for next year, where the team comes full circle…ok, they’re not going to win the division or the wild card, but with Bryce Harper in the 2010 Amateur Draft next year, the Nationals could be the great relatives of the 1994 Montreal Expos.

The Strasburg has arrived in DC

MASN’s Coverage of the Press Conference with a cameo appearance by someone you know, Part 1

MASN’s Coverage of the Press Conference with a cameo appearance by someone you know, Part 2

MASN’s Coverage of the Press Conference with a cameo appearance by someone you know, Part 3

If I Was Running A Company…Trust

This is a little early to about this but I must address after what happen today.  This past few weeks, President Obama passed The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and The Employee Free Choice Act.  There are a lot of discussions about it, so I just want to summarize my feelings.

I do not mind the LLFPA because I think there needs to be reasons why some are getting high salaries and some are not.  The problem is each employee is a case-by-case based on industry, geography, and other factors and I understand there might be some discrepancy.  However, I do think it’s necessary to have it on record.

I understand the EFCA is coming from because of the distrust among businesses with the economy tanking and workers need to unite themselves to fight.  However, the bill is too much in favor of the union and the bill suggests the prisoners are running the asylum.  Also in this current climate, companies are aware of the challenges and are willing to be fair.

I agree with many of my HR bloggers that the only way to combat these issues is to be proactive and upgrade your policies and efficiency.  Also, earn the trust from employees that you’re making an attempt at a better workplace.

The last part is the main reason I’m writing this post.  If you already know, Alex Rodriguez was tested positive for steroids in 2003.  This was a survey test and would not subject of any punishment.  The deal is not about A-Rod tests positive for steroids; the bigger issue is how this came about. 

A little history of this; between 1970-1995, there were four strikes in that time with 1994 been the biggest impact since that strike season cancelled the World Series.  In all 4 occasions, the owners wanted a salary cap to stray off a terrible baseball economy.  The players wanted a big pool of money.  In all instances, the owners use the good ol’ boy politics and the players’ union were always truthful (albeit arrogant) about these negotiations.  Then in 2002 when steroids surface, the players knew this had to be dealt with and at the same time, did not want another strike. So Executive Director of the MLBPA, Donald Fehr, and COO, Gene Orza, agreed to add steroid testing in the CBA. 

When the CBA included steroid testing, the union did survey tests, MLB and the players union agreed when the survey tests are done, burn it and be done with.  It was shady, but that was agreed upon both sides.  However, the federal government stepped in to to seize the reports because it involved ten people in the BALCO case.  The documents were suppose to kept secret but the people mention that A-Rod was 0ne of 104 players tested positive.  The bigger issue is when the Mitchell Report came out, it mention that in 2004, Orza tipped someone that a random test is coming up.  From the reports today, it looked like Orza tipped A-Rod since he was the highest-payed player in baseball.

With the possible revelation that Orza tipped A-Rod of upcoming tests, Orza not only violated the terms of the CBA, but has now cause a rift among the players who are making a lot less than A-Rod and the other superstars in the league.  It was a long struggle for the players to get what they want and that is all credit to the Fehr and Orza (and Marvin Miller if you want to include him).  Now Fehr and Orza are playing favorites of who should get the most money?  Their act swings back the momentum to the owners, who will argue that the union took advantage of the CBA and the players must now have the onions to confront Fehr and Orza of what they did.

Overall, the A-Rod situation can be a lesson to companies and unions that:

1. Be proactive
2. Be prepared if one does not go through
3. Be respectful to each other
4. Collaborate
5. Finally the most important thing: live up to your end of the deal and be accountable

In baseball (and politics if you want to go that route), no one took accountability of all the actions and that’s pathetic of a game that was adapting to the 21st Century.  Instead, it’s politics as usual.

The A-Rod story also brought up two things:  Jose Canseco is a very reliable source and;

HENRY “HANK” AARON IS STILL THE UNDISPUTED HOME RUN KING!