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At the Intersection of Sports and Culture

Photo Credit for Header: Alex Foucre-Stimes

Live from a Sand Dune in Sandwich England

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By Sunday morning, I was a little burned out by all the Open Championship coverage. Don’t get me wrong, I love that ESPN, unlike other networks covering golf, is willing and able to show the entire round as opposed to just the back 9. But, I knew that maybe I had had enough when my dreams were starting to be narrated by Peter Alliss.

With all the Open Championship coverage I was able to develop a deep familiarity with the players and course. For instance, how did ESPN manage to frame those nuclear power plant silos in the background of every single shot from Royal St. George’s? It was like an optical illusion. By Sunday I felt like those omnipresent smoke stacks from Sandwich, England were going to make there way back to my hometown. And with the players, you really start to develop a personal attachment to a golfer when you wake up at 4am on Thursday morning to watch their first shot of the tournament. I never would have guessed that I could have developed such an attachment to Raphael Jacquelin.

It was certainly fun to watch Darren Clarke close out an Open Championship, even with the two Americans, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson nipping at his heels for most of the afternoon. I have always held a fondness for Clarke. It could be because he comes across as a really jovial guy, man of the people if you will, and someone who all golf fans remember watching dominate the 2006 Ryder Cup only weeks after losing his wife Heather to breast cancer. I’m also happy for Northern Ireland. Who knew that a country the size of Connecticut, and the population of West Virginia, would claim 3 of the last 6 majors. Time for New England to step up their golf game!

At some point I hope to spend a fortnight in England catching both the final weekend of Wimbledon and all four rounds of an Open Championship. And after watching as much links golf as I have this past weekend, what with all the rain/wind/sand, at least I’ll have a pretty good idea of what to pack.

view from the Open Championship courtesy of @robbycharles

Steve “The King of the Midwest” Stricker vs. Derek “The King of New York” Jeter

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While watching the first round of the Open Championship with a friend of mine we started talking about what a cool guy Steve Stricker seems to be. We dubbed Stricker the “King of the Midwest” for his unfailing ability to win big golf tournaments in America’s heartland. Somehow, the subject of Derek Jeter reaching the 3000 hit milestone came up and then BOOM – it hit us. Which of the two “Kings” would be better to hang out with: tailgating w/ Stricker before a Wisconsin Badger football game or sitting courtside at a Knicks game with Derek Jeter? Fortunately, this question cannot be answered with a simple yes or no so instead I had to break it down into categories.

Food/Beverage: Part of what makes Wisconsin/Big Ten football so enticing is the pregame tailgate. Find me one American who wouldn’t like to spend a Saturday afternoon in the fall stuffing their face full of bratwurst and washing it all down with an ice cold Leinekugel. Stricker also strikes me as the kind of guy who understands how to properly operate a smoker and, for the record, there is no better way to kill 4 hours than slow cooking a brisket. At Madison Garden everything is so overpriced. I’m sure Jeter would be kind enough to pick up the tab but that wouldn’t stop me from feeling somewhat guilty for throwing back a whole bunch of Nathan’s Famous hot dogs and $12 Heineken’s. On a side note, who chooses to drink Heineken anyway? I think my dad did once but that was way back in the 80’s when every adult male in their late 30’s was emulating Gordon Gekko.  Advantage Stricker

Entourage: I’m guessing Jeter would have to bring along his girlfriend Minka Kelly which would be pretty cool because she’s gorgeous and we could talk all about her HUGE role in Friday Night Lights. However, top to bottom, it’s hard not to take the Badger faithful over Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, and Gerald Williams. Gerald Williams you may say. Well, I too was wondering what the heck the Eddie Murphy look a like, and former Yankee, was doing sitting in Jeter’s private box during the 3000 hit game. Either the two remain close or there was a major glitch in security that day.  Advantage Jeter

Conversation: I feel like Jeter would be really distracted during out brief time together. Sitting courtside isn’t the most conducive environment for quality conversation what with the action only a few feet away. Not to mention that all of New York would be passing by our seats and starting one of those brutally annoying and played out “Derek Jeter” chants. Conversely, there is no better atmosphere for friendly banter than the tailgate. And who better to spend hours talking to than a professional golfer? These guys spend rounds of golf shooting the breeze with their caddies and fellow competitors. So they have a lot of practice and would certainly be able to carry on a conversation with a 20 handicap like myself. I would also love to ask Stricker how he and Tiger Woods became such good friends and Ryder Cup playing partners. They seem like such different people and I as far as I know Stricker prefers IHOP over Perkins. Advantage Stricker

Exposure/Bragging Rights: Trust me, your friends would not really care that you traveled all the way out to Madison to see a Badger football game from Camp Randall with Steve Stricker. To me, that’s the charm of the experience, getting to blend in with the crowd. At MSG, with the Yankee Captain, there would be no such thing as blending in. In fact, your face would be plastered on the jumbotron during most timeouts. All of your friends could watch the game from home and see you sitting directly across from the Knicks bench and wonder why they aren’t as lucky. Who knows, you may even get yourself a halftime interview with Walt “Clyde” Frazier, which to me would more than make the whole experience. Advantage Jeter

Atmosphere: Madison in the fall trumps NYC in the winter/spring. Even though the big city is truly one of the most beautiful places to be during the holiday season. The pace of Midwestern life suites my current station in life much more than the busy, on the go pulse of NYC. The people of Wisconsin are also much more understanding of an outsider than the Garden faithful. New Yorkers can smell an outsider a mile away and will test you if they sense that you do not belong. Whereas the people of Madison are just so darn happy to have another person to have a beer with.  Advantage Stricker

Stricker wins 3 to 2.

 

Wednesday Evening Worries: Claret Jug Edition

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I’m worried that….

I don’t totally understand how to differentiate between links golf and “regular” golf. Is links golf confined to the British Isles? Must it involve bunkers that look more like sand dunes and fairway rough which resembles the African savannah? I asked my dad for some clarification but he didn’t really know the difference either. So in a last ditch effort to uncover some sort of clarification on the matter I turned to the absolute last place you should look for information…Wikipedia. After reading up on links golf I discovered that the majority of my assumptions were pretty much correct to begin with which made me feel much better about being able to accurately predict the 2011 British Open.

with so many European favorites to pick from that I’m going to settle on an American to win the 2011 Open Championship. Of all the golfers from the States playing this weekend, Nick Watney seems like the trendiest pick of golf commentators and social media mavens. One name that hasn’t come up much in regards to winning the British Open this year is Dustin Johnson. Sort of surprising really since Dustin was a grounded club and a disastrous final round front 9 from winning both the 2010 PGA Championship and US Open respectively. If I were to pick an American to win this week at Royal St. Georges I would have to go with Steve Stricker. The King of the American Midwest is riding high after his win at the John Deere Classic, plus all good things come to those from Madison, Wisconsin.

my pick of Lee Westwood to win the 2011 Open Championship is way too predictable. But you know what, when it’s 10:44 at night and you’re planning on waking up at 4am to catch the beginning of the 1st round from Sandwich England, slow and steady becomes a whole lot more appealing.

 

Flip Flop Fly Ball: The VMS Interview

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Craig Robinson is the progenitor of Flip Flop Fly Ball, a blog dedicated to his love and appreciation for the game of baseball. His first baseball book, Flip Flop Fly Ball: An Infographic Baseball Adventure is in stores today. Craig is an Englishman living in Mexico, a story for a later date, and was nice enough to sit down with VMS to discuss his new book, Ichiro, and the universal language of baseball.

So Mexico huh? Sounds like the beginning of an Ernest Hemingway novel. Was the appeal of Mexican League baseball just too enticing for an expatriate like yourself to pass up or was it something simpler that drew you south of the border like say the tequila?

A bit of both. I’m British, and I was in Berlin during the 2009/10 and it was horribly cold and grey. I wanted to skip a winter and be somewhere warmer, and I had a couple of friends here, so gave it a go. It’s a great city. And the fact that there is baseball and soccer here is a massive bonus.

One of the things I like discussing is the accessibility of baseball and how people with limited exposure to the game find it so hard to comprehend. The reason I like your work on Flip Flop Fly Ball is because it has a way of translating the game of baseball into a universal language, something all people can understand. In the States, we have a crisis on our hands where fewer and fewer kids, especially from the inner city, are playing baseball, choosing instead to specialize in either football or basketball. In your estimation, what can be done in the US to attract more kids to the sport of baseball?

I’m not so sure. I never played as a child, but simple things to trim the excess time would be good in general, and that might help get rid of any perception that it’s a “boring” game. Properly making sure pitchers don’t take forever on the mound, stopping all the stepping out of the box, limiting the throws over to first, and IBBs only having to be one throw might help.

How do you explain to your non country of baseball acquaintances that a batter is not supposed to peer back at the catcher as he flashes the pitcher signs? And, taking it a step further, if that batter is to be caught “cheating”, on the very next pitch the pitcher will proceed to put a mid 90’s fastball right in the center of his ribs. It seems to me that this is one of the many nuances that makes baseball different from other sports. Do you think other sports, soccer for instance, have a way of regulating themselves like baseball?

Not really. All the unwritten rules seem fairly singular to baseball. Like everyone barring, in would seem, FIFA, I abhor the diving, play-acting, and lack of honesty in soccer these days.

I’m sure you have been pestered with ideas for future charts and infographs so let me just bother you with one more: track the total distance the ball has traveled, from plate to base, on all the would be basestealers Pudge Rodriguez has thrown out during his major league career. Then compare that number to the other catching greats throughout MLB history. Who would you suppose tops that list?

I have no idea without looking it up, that’s a good idea, though.

In what ways will your new book Flip Flop Fly Ball, available in stores now, appeal to non baseball fans as much as your brethren in the country of baseball?

Well, most of the people I know here aren’t interested in baseball, and they still kinda like looking at the book. It’s colourful and neatly designed which I think is something a lot of people will like. The info, though, will be fairly baffling to a non-baseball fan.

Lastly, your love affair with Ichiro. Please explain. I feel that many fans may now overlook his career accomplishments while he gradually withers away in the Pacific Northwest. If he were say a New York Yankee for the past decade, do you think he goes down as one of the 10 best hitters of all time? My favorite line about Ichiro is that if he had wanted to he could have averaged 30 HR’s and over 100 RBI a season for his entire career.

He’s simply a joy to watch from the moment he steps out of the dugout. His at-bats are never boring, and he’s a great defender. I lived near Seattle for a while, and it was great to sit in right field and watch him between batters. Even though you knew he was concentrating on the game, it kinda looks like he’s got other things to think about in those moments when he’s not required to think about baseball.

all views from Foro Sol courtesy of @flipflopflying

Monday Morning Musings: Extreme Makeover – All-Star Game Edition

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Where’s my invitation to the MLB All-Star Game? At this point so many have turned down a chance to compete Tuesday in Arizona that I’m beginning to feel a little left out. Desperate times indeed and I wonder how many young fans out there are going to enjoy the 8th inning matchup of David Robertson pitching to Miguel Montero. Unfortunately there probably won’t be many young fans watching at that point because by the time the 8th inning rolls around it’s 11pm and most folks have already switched over to either The Daily Show or Keeping Up with the Kardashians reruns.

A Quick Trip Around the Bases (aka 4 simple ways to improve the All-Star game)

1B- Make it a day game. What’s so wrong with a 1 or 4 o’clock start on a Sunday afternoon? Fear of running up against the ratings buzzsaw otherwise known as the final round of the John Deere Classic? If you make it a day game you expose younger fans to the best players MLB has to offer which will surely lead to greater interest in the sport. Which leads me to my second point…

2B – Smaller rosters and eliminate that silly little rule where each team has to be represented. Believe me, I’m a Baltimore Orioles fans and even I don’t think Matt Wieters is an All-Star this season. Baseball fans only want to see the best competing against one another. Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated said something really interesting when he talked about how All-Star starters should be left in longer and that playing time shouldn’t be equitable.

3B – USA vs World. Call it an appetizer to tide you over before the next World Baseball Classic. (By the way, when is the next World Baseball Classic?) The NHL tried this for years and I seem to remember it working out quite well. Of course, if you really wanted to up the ante you could pair countries together like USA/Japan/Korea vs Dominican Republic/Puerto Rico/Venezuela. The only problem with this model is that you would then need to alter the current All-Star Game stakes where the winning side is crowned the home team in the World Series.

HR – Shorten the length of the home run derby. Do we really need 3 rounds? Also limit the number of competitors to 4, 2 from NL and 2 from AL, and make sure only the best power hitters are invited. Instead of having captains choose their squads, why not have the fans vote to determine who participates in the derby?

I would also add a skills challenge to the derby festivities, sort of like what the NBA does before the slam dunk competition. You could have a bunch of skilled 2 hitters likes Placido Polanco and Dustin Pedroia going through a round of “mission” hitting where they are awarded point for successfully executing a hit/run, sacrifice bunt, etc…. You could also organize a relay race of sorts where you have 5 competitors from each side competing against one another to see who can record the fastest time. Things like this could add an exciting element to the All-Star Game festivities.

view from AT&T Park courtesy of @MF_FOXDOG