Three ways to improve Major League Baseball


major-league-baseball

Ah, Major League baseball. When I write “three ways to improve Major League Baseball” what I really mean is “three ways to make baseball more like football.”  Sorry, major league baseball fans.  The National Pastime is past its prime and a distant second-string to the pigskin.  Don’t take it too hard.  It’s not like football is a sport; it’s a quasi-religion.  Heck, more Americans would rather watch a guy in a suit read names from a podium than catch another sport’s playoff game.

Major League Baseball will never be able to catch up to the NFL but it can close the gap.  After all, baseball, when the games really matter, is the most dramatic of all the sports.  Major League Baseball certainly has more substance than the NBA, tougher players than MLS (barely), and fewer franchises in inappropriate cities than the NHL.  Below are three ways the game of baseball can improve itself.

A word of warning to baseball purists, have your defibrillator ready.

(Guest post by Ryan Hogan)

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5 small market MLB teams to watch: Oak, Mil, K.C. T.B. Pit


Brewers

Without a salary cap in MLB, small-market baseball teams have a tougher time trying to succeed. While revenue sharing and luxury tax thresholds help these teams with extra cash in order to stay competitive, it’s still a tall task to go up against other teams who have virtually unlimited resources.

However, teams with smaller payroll have proven they can hang with the large-market teams in recent years. Here are five small-market MLB teams who could be contenders in the 2013 season.

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Kansas City Royals mascot lap dance photo (NSFW)


kansas city royals

The Kansas City Royals have been last, or close to last, in the AL Central for as long as most MLB fans can remember. However, they are overwhelmingly first in mascot debauchery. Someone tweeted this picture (again Not Safe For Work) of Sluggerrr, the Kansas City Royals mascot, getting his naked lap dance on.

You’ll have more respect for the Kansas City Royals when you see this. Because you probably have very little respect for the Kansas City Royals right now. And this is the most interesting thing to happen, Kansas City Royals related, since 1985.

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New York Knicks, Rangers have new CEO; former Mets VP Dave Howard


new-york

The New York Knicks, New York Rangers and the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden all have a new boss today. And the people of New York are familiar with his work from the New York Mets.

Hank Ratner, president and chief executive officer of The Madison Square Garden Company announced that Dave Howard joined the company as president, MSG Sports, effective April 9.

Howard will be responsible for running the business operations of the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, New York Liberty and Hartford Whale, as well as the management of the company’s Sports Properties unit.

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TNT, TBS sideline reporter Jaime Maggio photos and bio


jaime_maggio

TBS/TNT sideline reporter Jaime Maggio got a lot of attention during 2011 March Madness. During that time of year, when college basketball routinely sees an exponential growth in popularity and coverage, America creates new media stars too. Jaime Maggio is such a star.

“It sounds like the breakout performer so far in Chicago is CBS/TBS sideline reporter Jaime Maggio,” tweeted SI.com writer Stewart Mandel. “Not on the preseason depth chart.”

And her stock rose again as she covered the NBA Playoffs between the Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers. And in the 2011 MLB playoffs where Jaime Maggio garnered  a ton of newfound interest on the internet, and a lot of people searched for Jaime Maggio again in the 2012 NBA playoffs. Basically, she’s covered it all.

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Former L.A. Dodgers GM has new gig


dodgers

The resurrection of the Northern League surfaced once again this week when veteran major league executive Dan Evans was announced as commissioner, and the proposed second-tier Atlantic League may have hit a bump in the road when a current owner expressed his opposition.

           Evans, who started in baseball as an intern with the Chicago White Sox while still in school at DePaul in 1981 and two decades later was general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers (2001-04), said all the right things when I reached him between games of a day-night scouting mission in Arizona, to discuss his appointment by DC Sports and Entertainment to start up a new Northern League by May, 2014.

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Baltimore Orioles scouting the independent leagues hard


baltimore-orioles

The best place for an Independent Baseball fan to hang out this month—at least aside from a major league spring training site where many a hopeful is playing—might be at the Buck O’Neil Baseball Complex on the south side of Sarasota, FL.

           At one time, this same site hosted the Kansas City Royals’ innovative Baseball Academy.  Now, it is the Baltimore Orioles minor league spring training camp, where well over 20 products of the Independent leagues are trying to claw their way up the baseball ladder.  More than half of them have joined the Birds’ nest since the end of last season.

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Hooters ball girl picks up fair ball at Phillies-Rays game (video)


hooters-ball-girl

The Philadelphia Phillies have an interesting way to attract fans to their meaningless spring training games- having a Hooters ball girl in both foul territories to act ballgirls. What says Clearwater, Florida more than a Hooters ball girl?.Sounds like brilliant marketing; MLB exhibitions between 8th string players need something to spice them up.

Of course, this can happen- a Hooters ball girl will pick up an actual fair ball. And then give it to a fan in the crowd (see video)

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10 best coach and player interviews I’ve ever done


STEVE-MCMICHAEL

I’ve had the tremendous opportunity of conversing with many of the most interesting and compelling interview subjects in the world of sports. Across the spectrum in the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, college football, college basketball and much much more. Most player interviews are terrible, but these were great.Unless otherwise noted, these coach and player interviews are pretty much all exclusive.

It was impossible for me to truly rank these 1-10, as you’ll find most fascinating whichever game or personality you are Unless otherwise noted, these coach and player interviews are pretty much all exclusive. ost into.

And besides, narrowing years of work down to ten coach and player interviews subjects was difficult enough. Click on the title in bold to read the whole interview feature.

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Chicago Cubs 300 lb prospect Daniel Vogelbach slims down, remakes himself


In June of 2011, an 18 year kid named Daniel Vogelbach was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the second round of the MLB amateur draft. The high school first baseman was listed as 5’11″ 285. However, in the pics we saw of him, he looked easily three bills. But we thought hey Daniel Vogelbach he can hit a ton.

The Cubs claimed right after the draft he dropped 40 pounds off what he was listed on the scouting report I quoted above. Vogelbach throws right and bats left. The now allegedly “245 lb” prospect fits into the Cubs 105 year rebuilding plan, but how? That Anthony Rizzo guy kind of has 1b locked down for awhile. In the video after the jump you’ll see that he has slimmed down to 240ish

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When will team sports see a Openly Gay Male athlete?


john amaechi

At the NFL Combine, there was speculation over the sexuality of Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o. And his answer, “far from it, farrrrrrrrr from it” on Katie Couric actually didn’t help things. It just reeks of over-compensation. And Te’o is Mormon, which is so strict it’s like…if Christianity is cocaine than Mormonism is crack.

But this isn’t about just Te’o. Earlier this week Colorado tight end Nick Kasa admitted that during the NFL combine a team asked him if he “liked girls”. Because of Kasa’s comments, the NFL is looking to investigate whether or not there is any truth to Kasa’s claims about questions he was asked during the combine. And now, Michigan State running back Le’Veon Bell is reporting that he was also indirectly asked about his sexuality. h/t Down and Distance

This comes off the heels of a recently retired NFL veteran being out after a fight with his boyfriend over soy sauce led to legal charges.

So when will we see an openly gay male athlete in one of the four team sports?

I think sports may lag the rest of society here, and it could be a long time before we see an openly gay male athlete in the NFL, NBA, MLB or NHL- mostly because of the atmosphere, reputation and language of the locker room. Of course, I regard that as a travesty because if you can integrate lifestyle differences in the military -an even bigger bastion of so called manliness- you can do the same in sports.

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ESPN’s Wendi Nix: photos and bio


You’ve seen her on ESPN Baseball Tonight, as well as handling some of the Eastern Seaboard Programming Network’s incessant coverage of the New England Patriots. She’s the gorgeous 38-year-old Wendi Nix who hails from the New England area.

Prior to working for ESPN, Wendi Nix was a weekend sports anchor at WHDH in Boston (2003–2006) and had previously worked for Fox Sports Net, NESN and WPDE in South Carolina.

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