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| SportsSunday, October 14, 2007 11:21 PM CDT |
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Deacon: Speed up the games
Every year the networks broadcasting the Major League Baseball postseason develop new graphics and gimmicks designed to enhance the telecasts. For example, this season, TBS — handling national coverage for the first time — has given us the nine-foot leadoff graphic, for no apparent reason. Want to truly enhance the broadcasts? Here’s an idea: Speed up the games! Baseball is notorious for having long, slow games with large gaps of down time. Apart from the steroid scandal, it’s the biggest knock on the game itself. But in the playoffs, the gaps between pitches seem even longer than normal as batters and pitchers spend countless seconds collecting their thoughts. Factor in field generals forced to micromanage every scenario and the pace slows to a turtle crawl. Top it off with longer-than-normal commercial breaks so networks can self-promote — sick of the FrankTV ads yet? — and you get games that last longer than feature films, trailers included. In the first round of the playoffs, only four of 13 games were completed in under three hours — one of those by only a minute and another by eight minutes. The other nine games went 3 hours, 22 minutes or beyond, and only one of those went extra innings. The first game of the National League Championship Series took 3:12; the ALCS Game 1 lasted 3:22. Both Game 2s went into extra innings, but one was nearly 4½ hours and the other eclipsed the 5-hour mark. Fans’ willingness to devote so many hours to these games is almost certain to diminish. While Bud Selig continues to point to attendance records as signs of baseball’s resurgence, the length of these games threatens to stunt the game’s popularity growth. A destined Series matchup? Wonder if a little destiny might be at work in the playoffs? Think of this: One of the inspirations for the Colorado Rockies during their blistering run has been the memory of Mike Coolbaugh, a coach in the team’s farm system who died this season after being struck by a batted ball. The Rockies voted a full playoff share to Coolbaugh’s widow, and his young sons threw out the first pitch at Colorado’s home playoff game against the Phillies. Before the season, the Cleveland Indians unveiled a memorial to another man who died on the diamond. A plaque of Ray Chapman was mounted on a wall at Jacobs Field’s Heritage Park, a walkthrough exhibit behind center field. Chapman, a popular shortstop, died after being hit by a pitch in 1920 — and Cleveland then went on to win its first World Series. Questionable calls No. 1 LSU’s play-calling at the end of Saturday’s loss to No. 17 Kentucky was puzzling to say the least. The Tigers needed a touchdown with a conversion to win in the third overtime. After an odd third-down running play left LSU facing a fourth-and two, Kentucky’s Braxton Kelley stuffed Tigers running back Charles Scott to seal the Wildcats’ win. LSU coach Les Miles said he was “surprised how well Kentucky moved the football.” He might have been voicing disappointment with his team’s defensive effort, but that sounds like a coach who underestimated his opponent. South Florida? Seriously? After LSU and No. 2 California both lost Saturday, another Top 10 shakeup was a guarantee. Not surprisingly, former No. 3 Ohio State inherited the top spot. The surprise came next. The out-of-nowhere Bulls of South Florida received 11 first-place votes and leapfrogged Boston College to grab the No. 2 spot. Sure, South Florida is 6-0 with impressive wins over Auburn and West Virginia. But how can anyone justify voting the Bulls No. 1? Do those voters legitimately believe South Florida is the nation’s best team? Maybe it’s just an indictment of college football’s parity — or mediocrity if you prefer. Joe Deacon is a Pantagraph copy editor. Contact him at jdeacon@pantagraph.com. Deacon’s “Short Hops” blog is at www.pantagraph.com/blogs Get area high school sports scores and statistics at Varsity Sports. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.
Round Mound of Rebound wrote on Oct 15, 2007 9:45 PM:
question wrote on Oct 15, 2007 1:15 PM:
LSU Playcalling wrote on Oct 15, 2007 11:30 AM:
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