respublica

Baseball has gone on too long

I was shocked this morning when I looked at the MLB playoff schedule and learned that playoff games will still be being played in November. I mean, come on. Baseball should be over in October and if it keeps on keeping on into Thanksgiving month, something is really wrong. There is no good excuse for this beyond money.

The Apple obsession has gone too far

We've had Apple iPhones and iPads for many years, so long that we take it all for granted. However, this season the St. Louis Cardinals must have received a boatload of money from this company because they have been using it several times in ways that leave out many fans. A couple of weeks ago an important game was only televised on Apple TV. Many local fans were irate over this because they did not have Apple TV. We sure don't.

Today Dale has the opportunity to go the the first Cardinals playoff game with three other friends. Unfortunately to get into the game with the tickets the team won't accept the actual ticket or a QR code, but must have an Apple ID. Dale cannot find his Apple ID which has pretty much upset the whole morning. This Apple business seems unfair and almost obnoxious. The Cardinal owners must really have gotten a big payday.

What about anyone who does not have an Apple iPhone? How do they get into this game?

If Dale does get in he is with 3 others who have gotten the season seats of a company they have worked with over the years and will be sitting in the second row behind home plate, a bit to the left as you see it on the screen. If you don't see Dale, you'll know why.

Golf Tidbits

The Master's Golf tournament is going on this weekend in Augusta is probably the most famous and most tradition filled 3 days of any tournament. This article shared some things we may not know including food prices fans pay while on the course. The low cost of these things amazed me when I contrast the costs at most other major sporting events. Here is the board which stands on the golf course showing selections and their prices.

 

You may have to click to enlarge this image to see better.

Why Bengals?

Dale and I have been talking about Sunday's Super Bowl and began wondering why Cincinnati's team chose the name Bengals. What is a Bengal anyway? It turns out to be a rather fascinating subject to check out. The simplest answer is that the original owner, Paul Brown chose it as a nod to a much older team.

But, the crux of the matter is that Bengal is not a tiger, but a state in the country of India. There are tigers there, but they aren't called Bengals. A man who is from India wrote: " As an Indian guy, it confuses the hell out of me. Bengal is a state in India.  It's so weird to see a team being called the Bengals. It's a state in India, you don't use a plural with it. The tigers there aren't called Bengals for sure. To us, it's like having an Indian sports team that's called the Delhi Floridas. It's just weird!

In simplest terms, yes, the state of Bengal in India has some beautiful tigers. Here is a good look at the tigers from Bengal

A case could certainly be made that since the tiger found in Bengal is the image conveyed, then an argument could be made that Bengals is alright. In any case, these are huge animals and come in different colors.

This was unexpected and sad

According to a Collinsville high school announcement: " The Illinois House passed House bill 4783 that forces schools to remove names and logos associated with Native American Tribes. Starting with the new school year in August, this will be the new name and logo for CHS....

No more historic Kahoks. I guess Kayhawks is as close as it can get and pronounced the same, but just ridiculous to have to do this.

And, before anyone spreads this around: April Fool

FYI to Fox Sports viewers

Beginning March 31, FOX sports regional networks will become Bally Sports. This will include our local FOX sports midwest. The channel numbers will remain the same and supposedly the programming we've currently had will be the same. What will be different with the nw company name?

The only thing I can find is one explanation: "they will unveil new graphics, music and more."

So basically FOX sports Midwest along with other regional FOX sports channels was bought out by Bally Sports. Time will tell if anything changes with the Cardinals.

It's basketball time

I'd have to confess I did not really believe the college basketball tournament would go on this year what with all the snags due to Covid. But, here we are. The games begin late this afternoon and the stadiums will only be allowed to fill  25 percent of capacity. I wonder if that number is just fan numbers or will it include all the sports media, team members etc.

What is very different this year is that every game by every team will be played in Indianapolis. That means every game from the beginning to the finals.  My first thought when I heard this was how are they going to do this logistically. I did some checking and found Indianapolis has quite a few big gyms and several nearby colleges with gyms. Many of the early games will be played in the big Lucas Oil Stadium as will the final games. Hotels for all the teams must be plentiful as well.

Here is a schedule of all the games, times, and tv broadcasts as well as what gym or stadium they will be held in.

Go Illinois!

This is unexpected

Late yesterday afternoon while the NCAA basketball tournament selection show was on, I was busy fussing with a pot roast dinner I was getting ready to serve up so I pretty much missed the rankings. After we had eaten we did not go back to any basketball news so this morning I was fairly shocked by the teams and seeding.

Duke is not in for the first time in anyone's memory. Actually for the first time since 1995. That's 26 years! I'm not sure too many fans will miss them, but wow. Unfortunately their absence is not due to being poorly competitive this year, but because of a recent Covid outbreak. This happened just 3 days before the selection of teams.

Good unexpected news came when Illinois received a number one seed. That surprised me today as did the news that Baylor also got a number one. One of our daughters did her graduate work at Baylor and the other daughter went to Valparaiso where the coach was Homer Drew. Drew's son, Scott Homer Drew, is now the Baylor Coach.

We have two teams to root for, the state team and the family team. Unusual.

But then...North Carolina ended up in the tournament but a 30 seed! How the mighty have fallen. And three of the top four are not the usual suspects-Gonzaga, Baylor, Illinois, and Michigan.

The gift that keeps on staying put

I've mentioned too many times to count about how frustrated and disappointed we were with the gift I'd ordered for our grandson Connor. It never came even when ordered the first week in December. The present was a DribbleUP basketball which works with technology. There is something in this ball which connects wirelessly to an iPhone/pad or a smart TV which turns its use into a virtual basketball trainer. It sounds very cool and those who have actually gotten one, rave about it. Connor is playing 7th grade basketball so this sounded like something he would really like. Check the link to see for yourself.

It comes with a stand to hold the phone or ipad so you can watch and copy the drills. Even better is connecting to the smart tv with the bigger picture.

In any event our order is still someplace in New York. Last night my obsession with this issue had me looking at the dribble up facebook page and there were posts telling people about the latest things possible with this basketball and many raves from those who have one. So I commented that "we still have not received ours."  I did not expect much from my comment but it wasn't 5 minutes before someone from DribbleUp answered my comment.

He apologized, explained the issue is with the US postal service without being critical of them, and asked me to message or email him for the email address I used to order. I did that and 15 minutes later he'd found where our package was (same place in New York I'd found). He was still hopeful the USPS would eventually deliver but...Then came the best part- "Just to be sure that you'll receive one, I just submitted a replacement order - free of charge. You'll receive a new tracking number once your order ships the next business day. In case you receive both orders, feel free to let us know so that we can send out a prepaid return label for the extra."

I have to say this is customer service at its best. How many businesses have someone working during the night to get back to people immediately? I am very impressed and now have hope a cool basketball will finally get here.

Being entertained during the virus shutdown

Sports directors for radio and often TV have used St. Louisans love for baseball in general and Cardinal baseball specifically, to replay games from the past. Mostly these were games of some significance, winning games, that we remember. But, really, this has become a constant thing and I wonder who really enjoys listening to all these past games. It makes me miss real time games that much more. I've come across Dale watching old games but even he, a real baseball fan, isn't all that excited by them.

What Dale does love is watching old movies which pop up on obscure stations. This was Man Week on some channel which featured all manner of war movies, one even based on the Revolutionary War. Others were men at war with the world. Lots of shooting, bombing, screaming, etc. And these movies are all long. I mean long. One lasted almost 4 hours.

What's old is new again these days.

Oh, and, one more new entertainment thing is rating the home basement or office rooms from which TV news anchors have been broadcasting their portion of the news. We've seen a lot of basements and offices recently and I confess we've studied them with a critical eye as well.