Having tossed plenty of thorns in the direction of baseball’s commissioner, I now face the unusual duty of having to praise Bud Selig for removing (albeit temporally) his head from a tight, dark cavity.
The commissioner has decreed all postseason games, as well as tiebreaker games for division titles and wild-card position shall be full games; they will not allowed to be shortened by weather.
This has to be considered a good thing by any right thinking person. No player, team, nor fan would want to see all the hard work over 162 games washed away in an abbreviated contest.
Baseball is an endurance sport played over half a calendar year. Allowing crucial games to be short-circuited by weather is wrong on a massive level. Kudos to Commissioner Selig for realizing this fact and changing policy to eliminate any question of what is proper in this regard.
"All postseason games, All-Star games and that, will be full-length affairs, and the rule will be so written," Selig said following an owners' meeting last week. "Any game that has significance for the postseason," he said. "It will be very clear now. Everybody will know exactly."
The Fox broadcasters—Joe Buck and Tim McCarver—drove a great deal of the media angst by not knowing what was told to both teams before the game.
A professional media type with access to managers and coaches during the game should think to ask someone who would actually know what is going on instead of blathering on incorrectly.
Of course, they wouldn’t be Buck and McCarver if they would do something in a logical and professional manner. Buck has made it clear he greatly prefers the NFL over baseball yet remains Fox's lead MLB broadcaster, while McCarver is a one-man justification for the mute button on TV remotes.
Additionally, if the game had started in a decent time slot, the game would have likely been finished before the rains came, but again we have Fox to thank for that.
Why does Fox have so much sway over baseball you might ask? Thank Commissioner Selig and his dedication to filling the owners coffers to the detriment of the fans.
Come on Uncle Bud, you didn’t actually think there wouldn’t be any thorns in here somewhere did you? Silly rabbit.
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about 1 month ago
great read J.C.! very well written,
from about 1 month ago
Thanks for your comment Miah.
This article corresponds to number 4 of my philosophy of sport listed on my bio page. It is a reverse of the idea, but still valid.
about 1 month ago
Hey JC. It's been awhile since I've read some of your work. I have to agree that Selig made the right move here. Also have to agree about McCarver... I can't believe the guy even has his own show. You ever notice how much angst he has against the Cardinals?
Anyways, it's nice to see you writing again. Hopefully, I can bring myself to do the same.
from about 1 month ago
Hey Michael, thanks for stopping by with your comments.
Work and visiting family had conspired to kick my tail the last month or so, which kept my writing down.
McCarver is a work of art, strained and demented. The only positive thing Deion Sanders did in the sporting world was dump a couple of buckets of ice water on Tim's head.
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