Look Quick or you’ll miss it! Tonight during the SF Giants and San Diego Padres game, Giants Pitcher, Alex Wood, was pitching against Jurickson Profar in the 4th Inning. Profar hit the ball and as Alex Wood was turning away from the pitch, with his mitt still behind his back, he caught the ball. Probably a better description would be the ball accidentally fell into his mitt as he was returning to the pitcher’s mound. No kidding!! It happened so fast I had to rewind it several times to see what actually happened. Needless to say the fans gave total approval with a standing ovation at Oracle Park.
And I’m not talking about a win, though we did, and I am, but this is about the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants game on Thursday night football. Evidently, this particular game had a few brawls going but these were in the stands, not on the field, and involved two “ladies” throwing blows at each other, who were eventually pulled apart when a beer drinking man fan, pulled one by the hair and yanked her down the stairs. Seriously? According to the Mercury News there were a lot of “fan fights” going on during that game.
What’s this got to do with Baseball you ask? On April 2, 2011, a local Santa Cruz fellow was the victim of a vicious crime while attending a Giants/Dodger game in Los Angeles. It was a heartbreaking story: https://garlicfriesandbaseball.com/2011/04/01/a-dodger-fan/ and received national attention, rightfully so. The end result being brain damage and disability to the victim and 8-and 4-year prison sentences to the perpetrators.
I guess the compelling reason I felt so strongly about writing on the subject relates to a passion for sports and also for politics and the same question, “What’s being done about it?” An obvious answer for the sports mania might be to stop selling booze at the games but you know that’s not going to happen. Maybe harsher sentences for the perpetrators? Or how about banishing them from future games? If you have an idea you can always write it up and send it to the powers-that-be at the NFL or the MLB.
Politics? Not so much ~ It just seems to go on and on with the best of intentions. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose and sometimes it rains (Bull Durham). It seems to be a game that can’t be won, even when you win. If you have an idea you can always write it up and send it to your Congressional representative who may or may not be there. It depends on whether the government’s still open after a looming shutdown.
Earlier this week I watched the Giants vs the Rockies game on ESPN. I subscribe to Direct TV’s Regional Sports Channel so I can watch Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper ~ the Giants regular announcers and the best in the business, truly. But that day I was at the mercy of ESPN. These are the guys that mic up certain players in the field while they’re actually playing and chat about nothing really. I always worry someone’s gonna get beaned or worse!
When we’re not listening to the guys in the outfield chatting about nothing, we have to endure the two in the broadcast booth, who are also chatting about nothing, and a bit irritating as they’re doing that, especially when there’s action at the same time on the field.
We ended up winning that game which put us back in contention for the playoffs, sort of. ESPN’s headline promo for this game was: “Mic’d up: Nolan Jones joins ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball Telecast for an In-Game Conversation During Tonight’s Colorado Rockies vs. San Francisco Giants Broadcast.”
It’s frustrating when your favorite player comes up to bat and the camera and sound is focused on the opposition in the field who’s chatting with someone in the booth about nothing, really. And then your favorite player gets a double and the mic’d up player huffs and puffs to get the ball, still mic’d up, and all the attention is focused on the fielder. That didn’t actually happen, but it could have.
So after the game, I turned to social media to see the reaction of Giants fans and I guess we’re all peas in a pod because they were expressing themselves exactly the same way I’d been feeling throughout the entire game. Here’s some examples: (actual quotes from the fans):
CAN WE JUST WATCH THE GAME!!
Terrible! Can we just watch what’s going on in a game?
How do we contact ESPN to shut up? We’re trying to watch the game.
Please! These announcers suck!
Keep the cameras on the GAME! And shut up
I don’t know which is worst. ESPN or FOX ugh!
So Painful!!!!
Too much talking
How much do you pay for a channel? Asking for a friend.
I have audio muted. Listening to KNBR
Final score please?
We are stuck with a bunch of old wannabees. Seriously. I shut if off and turned on the radio KNBR
Totally agree. This is ridiculous
These guys are just awful
Remember when local sports were Free!
Really! Is this the best you can do?
And these were just from one venue. There was a lot more, but you get the general idea. Save the interviews for after the game. And No. 15 was right! I DO remember when local sports were FREE, back in the good old days:))
I’ve spent the past few days researching a Blog I wrote back in 2014 about the Baseball Reliquary in Whittier, California. I’ve always loved the idea of it and was interested in its survival, whether it made it or not (the institution, not the blog:)) To tell you the truth, when I wrote that particular piece I was a bit concerned as I’d included a rather risque photo and a kinda, sorta irreligious quote. I mean, you know, reliquary defined is about religious stuff.
But I posted it anyway and hoped for the best. It had to do with Annie Savoy’s now famous “Church of Baseball” in the movie “Bull Durham“. Come to find out the man who wrote the screenplay, Ron Shelton, also produced and directed Bull Durham and, get this, he’s also a Member of the Advisory Board for the “Baseball Reliquary”. Who knew? Whew! It made me feel at least a bit vindicated for my sort of religious transgression. I mean, he did it first:))
Check it out online ~ the Baseball Reliquary. It’s a fantastic tribute to everything baseball. Also, “The Baseball Hall of Fame’s Mischievous Cousin” by Scott Miller, New York Times, gives us some entertaining background of what’s been happening with the Reliquary these past few years. It will make you want to go there!! …. if you haven’t already decided to.
A special thanks to Joe Price, Director of the Baseball Reliquary and The Institute for Baseball Studies, for his interest and support in what I’m trying to do here.
"I was the worst hitter ever. I never even broke a bat until last year when I was backing out of the garage." Lefty Gomez, Yankees pitcher.
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. ~George F. Will.
"Does Pete Rose hustle? Before the All Star game he came into the clubhouse and took off his shoes and they ran another mile without him." Hank Aaron.
More Baseball Quotes!
“You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time.” - Jim Bouton
"I was such a dangerous hitter I even got intentional walks during batting practice." - Casey Stengel
"This isn't a job. This is a privilege, that's what this is!" - Mike Krukow, TV Commentator, on being at the ballpark each day.
"I've found that the knowledge of the game is usually in inverse proportion to the price of the seats." -Bill Veeck, Chicago White Sox owner.
"Derek Jeter's accomplishment puts Pete Rose's hits record in perspective. 3,000 hits is phenomenal. 4,000? Freakish!" - Anthony Castrovince via Twitter
"The best possible thing in baseball is winning the World Series. The second best thing is losing the World Series." - Tommy Lasorda
"You teach me baseball and I’ll teach you relativity.... You will learn about relativity faster than I learn baseball." - Albert Einstein
"Baseball is a game of race, creed, and color. The race is to first base. The creed is the rules of the game. The color? Well, the home team wears white uniforms, and the visiting team wears gray."
Joe Garagiola
GARLICFRIESANDBASEBALL is written by a long-time fan who simply loves the game. I write my own articles (hence the grammar and occasional misspellings). If I include an article from another source, credit is given to that source and will include links when appropriate. The opinions are my own.
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