Because baseball games are no longer used to settle land disputes and damages from horse collisions, they’ve become the battleground for deciding which U.S. city will be the first to move to the moon. Catch a nation-changing showdown with this GrouponLive deal.
The above is an actual quote from a Groupon deal for Mets tickets at Citi Field against the Phillies, White Sox, Pirates, and Reds. Yeah, i have no idea either.
Don’t believe me? Here’s the link to the Groupon deal.
(via amandarykoff)
A virtuoso study in up-selling? Although if baseball games decided issues of moon colonization you’d probably have to pay more than $8 for a ticket.
The front of today’s New York Times Sports section.
The NYT is just throwing negative space and reverse boxes all over the place these days. Also, this tiny paper already beat them to this trick.
Former Major League Baseball Players’ Association chief Marvin Miller died today, aged 95. A union organizer by nature, Miller became the head of the MLBPA all the way back in 1966, despite never having been involved with baseball as a sport or business before. Over the course of his subsequent 16-year leadership, he won major victories for the players’ union, perhaps none more significant than the abolishment of the reserve clause in 1975. In place for a staggering 94 years, the clause stripped players of autonomy in terms of where they played, forcing them to re-up with the same team that employed them the previous year, or stop playing altogether. Nowadays, thanks in large part to Miller, players get to sign where they please — “free agency,” as it’s called. source
Roger Clemens, minor leaguer: Five long, controversy-filled years after leaving the major leagues, legendary pitcher Roger Clemens took to the mound Saturday, throwing 3 and 1/3 innings for the Sugar Land Skeeters. He didn’t do half-bad, either, considering he’s been away for half a decade — he allowed just one hit and threw 24 strikes, at points throwing 80mph+ heat. Not bad for a 50-year-old on the comeback trail. (photo by David J. Phillip/Associated Press)
In a bizarre attempt to avoid a 50-game drug suspension, San Francisco Giants star Melky Cabrera created a fictitious website and a nonexistent product designed to prove he inadvertently took the banned substance that caused a positive test under Major League Baseball’s drug program.
But instead of exonerating Cabrera of steroid use, the Internet stunt trapped him in a web of lies. Amid the information-gathering phase of his doping case last month, his cover story unraveled quickly, and what might have been a simple suspension has attracted further attention from federal investigators and MLB, the Daily News has learned.
Just saying — making up a fake Web site to hide the fact that you screwed up only makes you look more guilty. Just ask Stephen Glass.
Harry Reid tries to co-opt “clown question, bro”: Only days after The Daily Caller tried to take Bryce Harper as their own, the Senate Majority Leader is getting in on the Bryce Harper action. But that’s not the only reason why. Harper is a Las Vegas native, giving him a tie to Reid’s home state of Nevada, and the Senator is apparently a huge fan (his spokesman claims to have spent “literally zero minutes” convincing Reid to use the line). In classic Reid fashion, he hardly cracks a smile. Either way, it’s gonna be funny when the Washington Nationals star rookie reveals himself to be an anarcho-socialist. source
Roger Clemens found not guilty of perjury: The former baseball pitcher faced a seven-week long trial over whether he lied to a Congressional panel on his steroid usage back in 2008. Accusations that Clemens (among other players) used steroids date back to the Mitchell Report, produced by former Sen. George Mitchell in 2007. After a few days of deliberations, which largely hinged on the word of his former strength coach Brian McNamee, the jury sided with Clemens, finding him not guilty of all charges. More as we get it.
Teaching our boys to treat ladies with deference, we choose not to place them in an athletic competition where proper boundaries can only be respected with difficulty … Our school aims to instill in our boys a profound respect for women and girls.A statement from Our Lady Of Sorrows Academy • Explaining their baseball’s team’s forfeiture of an Arizona state championship game, due to the participation of a female player. Paige Sultzbach, a high school freshman, plays second base for Mesa Preparatory Academy. When the two teams played throughout their regular season, Sultzbach went the way of self-sacrifice, willingly sitting out in respect of the school’s religious convictions. With a championship on the line, however, she was unwilling to sit on the sidelines to appease her opponent’s orthodoxy. As a result, Our Lady Of Sorrows straight-up forfeited the game. Said Sultzbach’s father, John: “Instead of changing their position, they decided to not play the game. Both teams worked hard to get to where they are and to have it come down to that is unfortunate.” source (via • follow)
» Saddled with debt: The bidding group, led by former NBA star-turned-entrepreneur Magic Johnson, is about to set a record for the most expensive team purchase in history, topping a $1.1 billion 2008 buyout of the Miami Dolphins and a $1.47 billion buyout of Manchester United in 2005. (Well, a federal bankruptcy court still needs to approve the sale.) The team, currently owned by Frank McCourt, declared bankruptcy in June of last year after admitting the team has $600 million in outstanding debt. McCourt had to sell the franchise partly because of an expensive divorce, and was told by a court in December that he could not sell the team’s media rights, leading to his sale of the team. But he’s still making out like a bandit — even considering that he has to cover the debt on the team’s sale, he spent just $330 million to buy the team eight years ago, along with another $100 million to build the team’s current stadium.
It is the first step in restoring my good name and reputation. We were able to get through this because I am innocent and the truth is on our side. We provided complete cooperation throughout, despite the highly unusual circumstances.Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers • On the reversal of his 50-game suspension. Braun, the most recent NL MVP, challenged a recent drug-related penalty and was successful in overturning it. Because his urine sample was not sent to the testing facility on the same day it was collected, the MLB Players Association announced the decision’s reversal. Not everyone agrees with this decision; Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, claimed this reversal to be ”a real gut-kick to clean athletes.” source (via • follow)
Yahoo wants to buy Hulu now too. They’re going on an “I...
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Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
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Former San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds was sentenced to 2 years probation and 30 days home confinement for his obstruction of justice conviction.
Later, the judge agreed to stay her sentence while Bonds appeals his conviction. - San Jose Mercury News
Photo: Barry Bonds enters the Federal Courthouse in San Francisco. (Gary Reyes / Mercury News)
Think the punishment fits the crime? Bonds’ reputation is already in tatters. But 30 days in home confinement sounds kinda weak for an obstruction of justice conviction.
notnadia asks: I heard this morning on the radio that Major League Baseball's new labor deal includes the addition of another wild card game. Is that true? How would that work exactly?
» SFB says: Here’s how it’d work: Each league will get a new wild-card team, and at the end of the season, each league would play a one-game playoff to decide which team would go to the postseason. Here’s why baseball purists may not like this: The end of this year’s regular season was made interesting by the Tampa Bay Rays and St. Louis Cardinals (who won it all) coming from behind to overtake the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves, respectively, for the wild-card slots. Under the new scenario, the Braves and Red Sox would have one last shot to redeem themselves, effectively taking a couple of weeks of excitement and putting it into a single game — kinda like sudden death at the end of a hockey game. What do you think? Like? Dislike? — Ernie @ SFB (It’s our Office Hours! Shoot us a question over here.)
I was super scared, and even though they did not hurt me physically, it was something that was very painful. I didn’t think I was ever going to see my family again, and that hurt me so much. But now, I am with them again and it feels tremendous to be back.Washington Nationals player Wilson Ramos • Discussing his kidnapping ordeal, which ended last night amidst a storm of gunfire. Ramos claims that, despite his kidnapping, his kidnappers treated him well. “They wanted money and they said they were not going to hurt me if they got their money,” he said. “They actually treated me well. They never hurt me. They fed me. They knew who I was and said it was not about hurting me. It was about money.” Ramos, who is from Venezuela, is the first known MLB player to be captured in this way, though it’s happened before with players’ relatives. source (via • follow)
The vehicle was found, but Ramos is still missing: In a harrowing incident sure to bring attention the the spate of armed kidnappings in Venezuela, four armed kidnappers took Wilson Ramos, who just finished his rookie season with the Washington Nationals, from his home in Santa Ines. The 24-year-old is one of hundreds of people captured in recent years — including 619 in 2009 alone. It’s gotten to the point where the wealthy in the country — including baseball players, who take part in winter leagues — pay for security detail. “Every Major League player has his own security, but we don’t know if at that time he had his security there,” notes Domingo Alvarez, vice president of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. Our thoughts are with Ramos, his family, and his team. (photo by Keith Allison on Flickr) source
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