Inspiration

Nate Winters had the dream of becoming a pro baseball player but that changes on day after a tragic boating accident. One day on the lake Nate was ejected from the boat and he lost part of his leg. He was devastated because he lost his hopes of ever playing baseball again. With hard work and determination he made it through physical therapy and his hopes of making it back to the baseball field were in sight. He finally was healthy enough to pitch in a high school varsity baseball game. He pitched the whole game and won. People like Nate are an inspiration because when you think  you did not have a good game think of all the kids that do not even get to pitch or play in the game like you do. Nate could have just given up and said oh well I will never play baseball again. But with his hard work and love of the game he went against the odds and accomplished his dream.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1KCD4h52aM

Pitchers Cheat without Steroids

Steroids are not the only way that athletes can cheat in sports. Not a lot of baseball pitchers cheat but when they do they are really sneaky. Some ways they cheat are sandpaper, spit balls, and putting different types of substances on the ball so it will move.  Pitchers will spit on the ball to give it some extra movement. They are rarely caught but one instant was  in 1999 a Dimondback pitcher was caught when a bandaid fell off his shirt and it had "heat balm" on it. He was immediately  ejected. Other substance that pitchers use are mud, Vaseline, and sunblock. Former Tigers pitcher was ejected from a game for putting a small piece of sand paper on his thumb. He was subtly scuffing the ball to give him more movement. Pitchers do not cheat often. But when they do its effective. Most of the time they are not caught.

Cheating in Baseball

Pete Rose may have been one of the best players in baseball. He had a fantastic career and is known as the "Hit"king with a total of 4,256 hits. He was also the Cincinnati Reds manager. Unfortunately Pete Rose is banned from the baseball hall of fame. He is banned for his gambling addiction. Pete Rose was reported to be betting on the games. He denied all accusations but finally on August 24th, 1989 he accepted all punishments and was banned from major league baseball. He has been fighting to be apart of baseball again. He has been making money by signing autographs and being apart of endorsements like Sketchers. Pete is still not eligible for the hall of fame but he says he will not stop trying. He luckily was just hired to be a special guest and analyst for Fox Sports MLB broadcasting. Gambling in baseball has always been a serious problem. There was the 1914 wold series when the Philadelphia Athletics and Boston Braves played and the players did not play their hardest. The A's then traded all of their starter players so MLB could not prove the allegation of throwing the game. The punishment for this was never given and MLB acted like nothing happened. Since Pete Rose was caught they were very hard on him. Sometimes people make mistakes but the MLB has to show the public it is not acceptable to cheat.

Reaction to the League of Denial

The League of denial was a good video with a lot of interesting knowledge about concussions. The video was a little repetitive though. In the documentary the video found CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in almost every brain examined in retired football players. Many, if not all, lost there way and ended up committing suicide and devastating their families. Many players blame football for their brain trauma and want something done about it. The NFL is without a doubt in full denial of it all. Trash talking other neurologist who try and go against the NFL. In my opinion the NFL is wrong and should use the large amount of money they have and do something about this issue whether is helping prevent it or paying retired players. The fact that the NFL is trash talking well renowned neurologists is very unprofessional. I believe Doctor Omalu and Doctor McKee were completely right and deserve an apology from the NFL and deserve the respect they deserve. 

In baseball concussions are not as serious as other baseball related injuries. A major injury in baseball is a surgical procedure in which a healthy tendon extracted from an arm (or sometimes a leg) is used to replace an arm's torn ligament. The healthy tendon is threaded through holes drilled into the bone above and below the elbow. This in jury happens to most pitchers in baseball. In the 2014 season there were 17 players that had Tommy John Surgery. This surgery is a major surgery that is taking pitchers out of the game for a whole season and some do not even return the following year. A tweet from John Roegele "Since the start of 2012, 53 Major Leaguers have undergone Tommy John surgery and had a full year now to recover. Only 32/53 are back in MLB." This statistic is extremely high and major league baseball needs to make a change and cut back on players receiving this surgery.

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Yankees won't pay Alex Rodriguez

On Friday night, at Fenway park Alex Rodriguez hit his 660th home run. He just tied Willie Mays. Alex made an agreement with the Yankees that when he hits this home run he will get a $6 million dollar bonus. The Yankees are not paying him the money because the contract says that he is due $30 million in possible bonuses if he hits five milestone home runs. The Yankees are not paying because since he was suspended all of last season due to performance enhancing drugs they don not want to advertise him to the public positively. Should Alex Rodriguez home runs count that he hit while he was on steroids? If the Yankees will not pay for his bonus did he really even hit 660 home runs? The MLB will not take away any of his home runs. Since Alex hit 660 home runs it has not been advertised anywhere. There are no t-shirts or advertisements that say he hit 660 home runs. The TV stations barely announced it. The actual home run ball has little to no value right now. Baseball didn't ignore the fact that Alex Rodriguez used performance enhancing drugs but baseball cannot ignore the fact that he hit 660 home runs. 

Commissioner of Baseball

About 75% of kids quit youth sports by the age of 12. Most kids quit because there is a lot of standing around and it is not very fun. At a young age the game is about learning basic skills. T ball is the first interaction with baseball most young athletes have. It can be really boring for a four year old to stand around in the field and play in the dirt.  To improve a T-ball baseball game I would make the games shorter and the teams smaller. If the teams were smaller there would be a smaller amount of kids standing around. If the games were shorter then the kids would not get bored so quickly. Some kids quit because they do not get the same amount of playing time as other kids. I think that the town baseball programs should play every kid on the team. Each player should get an even amount of time and work on skills. When a kid joins a travel or club baseball team the coach should play the best players and try to win the game. By making T-ball games more efficient and making town baseball games about skills, that will influence more kids to keep playing baseball and not quit.

Youth Baseball

Since 1996 2.5 million kids played youth baseball but since then the amount of kids that play has decreased 25%. The number of kids that play youth baseball is slowly decreasing and Major League baseball is trying to help increase the popularity in the inner city. Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) is a youth outreach program designed to promote interest in baseball, increase the self-esteem of disadvantaged children and encourage kids to stay in school and stay off the streets. It was started in 1989 by John Young. In 2003 this organization reached 185 cities. It is crazy to think it started in one city and it now spreading and helping so many kids.This great organization is now giving the inner city kids a better opportunity to play baseball. 

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/mlb_official_story_headline.jsp?story_page=rbifacts_rookie

NCAA and Baseball

University of Bloomsburg baseball player was dismissed off the team after tweeting a nasty comment towards Little League pitcher Mo'ne Davis. Joey Cassleberry was sent off the team after tweeting about how Mo'ne is going to have a Disney picture about her story and how it is a joke. His tweet had some crude language and has been deleted from twitter along with his account. Bloomsburg has since tweeted and has apologized about what he has said  does not represent Bloomsburg. Cassleberry was having a great season with a batting average of .389/.522/.778. I agree with Bloomsburg for taking action against what he said about her but I would not have made him leave the team. The NCAA does not have any rules about inappropriate comments made on social media but players should be punished if they say something that does not represent their school.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/25118154/college-player-kicked-off-team-for-controversial-mone-davis-tweet

Should College Athletes Get Paid For Playing?

The NCAA basketball tournament brings in a lot of money. In the year 2012 the tournament brought in over $871.6 million dollars. Most of this money comes from the television air that the tournament receives. The NCAA said " While the amount of revenue is large, little of the money is retained by the NCAA national office. About 96 percent is distributed directly to the Division I membership or to support championships or programs that benefit student-athletes. The remaining 4 percent goes for central services, such as building operations and salaries not related to particular programs." I believe that the student athletes should receive some of the money that is made off this tournament. I think that all sports of any division should get paid a portion of what their sport makes. I understand that most of the division I athletes are getting a free education but how great is the education. They are traveling all the time and always practicing. Are they getting the best education as another student who has plenty of time to study and prepare for his or her classes. Another reason athletes should get some money is because the sports consume most of their life and time and there is no times for the student athletes to get a part time job.  Student athletes are constantly practicing and playing. They are bringing so much money for their school they deserve some money. 

Fans Should Stay True to Their Team

I have been born and raised a Phillies fan. I have stuck by the Phillies side when they won the World Series and even now when the Phillies are struggling and trying to rebuild. I will always stay by the Phillies side and root them on. I think that every sports fan should do that for any sport. People should not flip flop back and forth to whatever team is predicted to win this season. I was very upset when the Phillies traded my favorite right fielder, Jayson Werth. Werth was traded to the Washington Nationals and a lot of fans were upset and some even became National fans because of it. This is completely wrong. Fans should stay loyal to their team  not just one player.

Steve Bartman

October 14th, 2003 might be the worst day in Steve Bartman's life. It was the eighth inning and the Chicago Cubs were winning the fifth game of the world series 3-0.   The Cubs were only five outs away from going to the world series since 1945. The game went wrong when a foul ball was hit down the left field line right where Bartman was sitting. Bartman reached up to grab the ball and so did the left fielder Moises Alou. The ball was knocked into the stands and after that everything went down hill. Moises Alou threw a fit in left field complaining about fan interference.  Fans started yelling at Bartman for interfering and not letting Moises catch the ball. Shortly after this the wheels fell off the Chicago Cubs wagon. The Cubs lost game five and lost game six. Everyone in Chicago blamed the loss on Steve Bartman. After they lost Steve releases a statement saying that he was truly sorry for what he has done. Bartman has declined all interviews and public appearances. Eight years after the incident he declined to be apart of the documentary made about him on ESPN.

Harold Reynolds

Harold Reynolds

Harold Reynolds is a well know baseball broadcaster. He played major league baseball for 12 years. He spent most of his career with the Seattle Mariners.  He was a very successful baseball player being a three time Golden Glove second baseman  winner and led the American league in stolen bases during the 1987 season. While his baseball career was great he was successful of the flied as well. He has been a broadcaster for all types of baseball from Little League World Series to the Major League World Series. Not only does he broad cast important and not as important games he is an important member on MLB network. MLB network is a network that gives commentary on the draft, World Series, trade deadlines and anything baseball related. Harold is very well know in the baseball community and liked so much he is consistently rated one of the top baseball broadcasters. He is such a successful broadcaster because of his great personality that he can range from a variety of areas in baseball.

Baseball in the Media

Baseball in the Media

Baseball is a very popular sport. Baseball games are broadcasted almost every night during the regular season. There is major league baseball, college baseball, and little league World Series baseball. All types of baseball are broadcasted on TV. There are local stations that talk about the local baseball teams such as Comcast sports net Philly talks about all Philly sports in the Philly area. Baseball really depends on local stations to cover local sports. There is a MLB Network dedicated to all baseball news. This station will give you all the news on who trades and anything related to baseball. There are designated days that each TV network can show games. On Saturday afternoons and  nights Fox will televise the games and on Friday nights ESPN will televise the games. If you want to watch your local team you have to be watch on the local TV station but if you want to watch a highly covered game you can tune in on the national TV stations. Baseball will always be a highly covered sport.  

Role Models

Baseball Players are Not Role Models

Baseball players and other athletes are highly admired by kids. Baseball players are paid to be great baseball players not role models. It is parents  responsibility to be kids role models. Professional baseball players make mistakes too but they get there mistakes put on the internet and TV for everyone to see. For example Alex Rodriguez got caught taking steroids. This news was leaked everywhere and all kids saw that a great and talented baseball player was cheating.  Alex made a mistake, he is a human just like everyone else. Alex is paid to be a great baseball player, he should not have taken steroids to enhance his skills but it is not his responsibility to show kids what to do. I think that baseball players should be mindful of what they do because their life is under a magnifier glass. But it is not their job to be a role model, it is their job to be a professional baseball player. 

MLB Mistakes

Jayson Werth Arrested

Jason Werth is a right outfielder for the Washington Nationals. In his 2014 season he had 16 home runs and 37 doubles. Jayson is a great athlete and role model for young kids to look up to if they aspire to be a professional baseball player. But would you want your son looking up to a great baseball player who had to spent 10 days in jail? Jayson Werth was arrested on July 6th, 2014 for reckless driving. He was pulled over on the Capital Beltway in Fairfax County,  VA. He was driving 105 mph in a 55 mph zone. Jayson was sentenced to 10 days of jail and 170 days suspended. He also lost his licences for 6 months. Every body makes mistakes but was Jayson willingly speeding. When arrested the state trooper said Jayson responded to his question of "What were you doing driving 105 mph" with "Pressing my luck."  Jayson made a mistake of driving way to fast but he knew he was driving too fast.  This story was not very big and not many people heard about it luckily for Jayson's sake. But if this story was more public it might affect his fan base. 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2014/12/05/washington-nationals-jayson-werth-sentenced-to-10-days-in-jail-for-reckless-driving/19954935/

Should baseball have a clock??

Should Baseball Have a Clock?

Football is a timed game, people know what time the game is starting and about the exact time it is going to end. Football is successful this way because there is a clock. Football has a strict time limit and the clock keeps the game moving. If baseball has a clock more people might be interested in watching the game. An article from the New York Times says "In 1950 the average major league baseball game was about two and a half hours. In 2014, games ran a little more than 3 hours on average." The games have gotten longer and longer throughout the years. A lot of this has to do with advertising. There needs to be enough amount of commercials shown and the broadcasters and the jumbo trons needs to advertise. But are people really losing interest in the game? If baseball wants to gain more viewers they should have a clock. The clock will speed up the game and more people will have the attention span to watch the game. The New York Times article also states that "On Sunday night, a regular season N.F.L. game outstripped the World Series Game 5, with some 7 million more viewers." The Major League Baseball Network will drastically increase that number of viewers if they make the game shorter by adding a clock. The clock will speed the game up and make people more interested.


http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/should-we-put-baseball-on-speed/?_r=0

Super Bowl Commercials

The 2015 Super Bowl commercials hit an all time high in cost. The cost for a Super Bowl commercial has been increasing over the past few years. The Super Bowl has started to be about watching the commercials more than watching the game. Forbes magazine said "Several studies have proven that 50% of the Super Bowl audience tunes in just to watch ads." A 30 seconds commercial costs $4 million dollars and a 60 seconds commercial costs $8  million dollars.  Probably one of the most controversial commercials this year was the Nationwide commercial enforcing child safety. The commercial was about a young boy who talks about all of the life steps he will never take because he died in an accident. The end of the commercial tells viewers that the number one cause of child deaths is preventable accidents. Nation wide got a lot of negative feed back from the commercial and had to announce a statement as to why they released the commercial. The commercials are so expensive, why are companies spending all of this money on commercials that are having negative effects on their company? 

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