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Topic: So Long, Yankee Stadium. It's Been Wonderful.
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Stephen Furley
Film God
Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002
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posted 09-23-2008 11:26 AM
Arsenal Football Club, in North London, moved to a new stadium a couple of years ago. The old one opened in 1914, and certain parts added in the '30s are listed, and have been retained in the new development of the site for housing. The facade of the building looks like this:
web page
If you fancy living there a one-bedroom flat can be yours for a mere 345,000 pounds, about 650,000 Dollars.
web page
You'd better hurry if you're interested, it's almost all sold, even at those prices.
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Chad Souder
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 962
From: Waterloo, IA, USA
Registered: Feb 2000
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posted 09-24-2008 03:13 PM
Golf and bowling aren't sports. For my money, you have to be able to play defense. No defense = no sport. Athletic events, yes. Sports, no.
quote: Bobby Henderson
Baseball simply requires good eye-hand coordination and quick wits -both of which anyone can develop if he works hard enough at it.
While you are correct that great eyesight (average in MLB is 20/12, pitchers excluded - it was rumored Babe Ruth could read license plates from 3 blocks) is a must and quick decision-making is vital, hitting a baseball has been proven to be the hardest thing to do in all sports. The fast-twitch muscle fibers required to hit a round ball moving 90 mph with a round bat are ridiculous. This speed cannot be taught, it’s all genetics. It can be honed and refined, sure, but Big Mac made the head of his bat move approximately 130 mph. Most humans just cannot achieve that with that quick a response time. Minor league players spend their lives trying to hit a major league pitch and most of them never can. That’s why I’ve always loved baseball. You have to be born special to throw a baseball 95 and you have to be born equally special to catch up to that from 55 feet away and contact the proper part of the wood.
quote: Bobby Henderson
To get anywhere with football you need the genes to be giant monolith.
Steve Smith, stud receiver is 5' 9"; Darren Sproles and LaDanian Tomlinson, both good running backs, are 5’ 6” and 5’ 10” respectively. Adam Jones, as are many D-backs, is under 6’. I could go on and on. I won’t even get started on kickers. The NFL has the greatest variety in body size of any of the major sports.
quote: Chris Slycord
So becoming a White Socks fan is out of the question?
Definitely. As a fellow Cubs fan, White Sox play in the American League, which isn’t real baseball anyway, so as disgusting as the thought is, becoming a Cards fan would be preferable. Now I have to go wash my mouth with soap. Wrigley Field is synonymous with the Cubs. I can’t imagine a different park. Everyone should go there once.
Yankees stadium had lots of history and after 85 years it was probably time for a new facility. The house that Jeter built, I suppose. I’m glad I went once, although I hold that Yankees’ fans are the poorest fans in all baseball. I think it’s funny that the final season in that historic place was the first in 13 they missed the playoffs. I also find it VERY curious that during their closing ceremonies, neither Roger Clemens nor Joe Torre was honored in any way. In poor taste, in my opinion, but to be expected from the Steinbrenner family.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 09-24-2008 09:31 PM
quote: Chad Souder
While you are correct that great eyesight (average in MLB is 20/12, pitchers excluded - it was rumored Babe Ruth could read license plates from 3 blocks) is a must and quick decision-making is vital, hitting a baseball has been proven to be the hardest thing to do in all sports.
A great fastball pitch in baseball isn't as fast as the serves in a lot of professional tennis matches. Let's not leave out Jai alai -often called "the fastest game on earth." The ball in that game can travel at speeds close to 200mph.
This is not to say that hitting a major league quality pitch is easy. When pitcher is in the groove and his stuff is hot that night even the most productive hitters are going to have a very hard time.
Pitchers aren't perfect either. Even the best pitchers will have bad nights where their control isn't great. And even when they're doing well it's still a precarious battle. Hang a curve ball out just a tiny bit too close to the center of the plate and even the most average hitters are going to blast it. Pitchers can endure only so many innings. After throwing the ball upwards of 120 times during a game even the best pitchers will begin to fade. Pitching selection is also critical. If the batter knows what you're going to throw at a certain count he'll make you pay for it.
I also don't agree that the ability to bat well is a genetic-based thing. I believe there's a lot more skill involved than anything. I'm not sure I would even go so far as to call it "talent," even though that's more of what it is. A person's mental "twitch factor" can be improved very well, especially when that person is young and his brain is still developing. The thing that matters is how hard that person will work to develop that skill. It's scary for anyone the first time they get into a batting cage and look at a 90mph pitch up close. But you can get used to it and learn how to hit something going that fast and do so quite well.
I believe it's the mental thing that makes hitting quality pitches difficult. It's a pitcher's job to screw with the batter's mind. If a pitcher doesn't have much more than just a great, chest-high 95mph fast ball he's not going to do much more than some relief pitching work. If he combines that same "burner" pitch with an off-speed change-up that looks nearly identical when thrown he'll fool a lot of hitters. Good curve ball and breaking ball pitches add more variety and make it even harder for the batter to anticipate what's coming next. And there's nothing like a Nolan Ryan inspired "brush back" pitch where the fast ball is shaving the lettering off your chest or going at your ear.
I love the games where you get a great hitter and pitcher going back and forth for a dozen or so pitches. The pitcher throws what he's sure will be the strike out pitch and the batter deliberately fowls it away looking for something better. Lot of drama in that, especially when you have a runner or two in scoring position.
quote: Chad Souder
Steve Smith, stud receiver is 5' 9"; Darren Sproles and LaDanian Tomlinson, both good running backs, are 5’ 6” and 5’ 10” respectively.
Check their body types. Their builds are far from average. LT's legs are like big tree trunks. The way he runs, his legs might be damned near as strong too.
quote: Chad Souder
I’m glad I went once, although I hold that Yankees’ fans are the poorest fans in all baseball.
I wouldn't go that far. Just don't show up at a Yankees' game wearing Mets gear.
The one thing I found annoying about Yankees fans is their sense of entitlement. They expect World Series titles. They're used it. And it's not all that big of a deal when the Yankees win one. Whoop dee doo! What will the next one be? The 27th championship? It kind of gets boring seeing the same team win again and again.
It was a very big deal in 1986 when the Mets won the World Series. I was able to attend Game 2 at Shea Stadium (Boston won that game). But I was still pissed about Houston losing in the NLCS that year; I badly wanted the Astros go all the way -especially with Nolan Ryan pitching for them at the time. The Mets hadn't been to a World Series since the late 1960s (when Nolan Ryan played for them). Lots of people were really excited about it.
For the same reason, I'm hoping the Cubs win the World Series this year. Odds say they're overdue for a title and their long suffering fans would appreciate it immensely -far more than the level of enthusiasm any Yankees fans could muster. To me it's looking like it will be a Rays-Cubs series. And that will be a very tough battle. Both teams are excellent.
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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!
Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 09-25-2008 06:49 AM
Okay...I'm a bowler...is it a sport? Perhaps, in that you can get quite winded by playing but it certainly isn't a competitive sport.
No matter how you cut it, bowling, like golf (also can get quite winded), are not sports in the sense that your opponent can not affect your outcome other than perhaps burning up the oil in the lane (anyone that bowls in leagues knows how the lanes change as the night progresses). You bowl, your competitor bowls...whom ever had a better game at that moment, wins.
In team bowling, depending on how its played...you can affect your odds at a higher score. In league bowling...if you tend to do better than YOUR established average, you will help your team with the converse being true...but again, neither your team nor your opponent can affect YOUR outcome. You could have everyone bowl on different nights, fill out the score sheet and not be able to tell any difference.
As to baseball being an average person's sport that requires nothing more than training to become good...boy are you all wrong! There are people that love the sport, live, breathe, play baseball and NEVER become very good. They may be better than the layperson that occasionally picks up a bat and ball but put them in a professional situation and they will get destroyed (hitting or fielding or pitching).
Talk to anyone that is in professional baseball and the journey they took. I've watched minor-league baseball for some time now (had my wedding reception in minor league park even), there are those that have it and those that don't and those that might. Listen to the player's story. Everyone on minor league ball was the STAR of their High School team. Their first year in Rookie league ball is a HUGE wake up call. They are on the field with all of the other HS stars and find out that maybe, on a national level (let alone world level) they are not necessarily all that good. And that is the beginning of their journey. I've noted that if you can make it to AA ball, you probably have enough skill to play in a major league park, at least in some capacity. However, by the time a player makes it to AA...many, if not most of the folks they met at the Rookie level hae washed out. All of those guys that washed out, thought they were going to the majors at one point...they all played VERY hard (ever seen a minor league game...they play their asses off in the HOPES of "going to the show").
Just because you can pick up a bat and ball does not mean you are any good at it...same with basketball, football...and the list goes on. There needs to be some inherent talent, mixed with hard work and dedication to make a top athlete.
Steve
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