I saw your tears tonight.
Wow.
Something is real inside of you.
Inside of your heart.
You have something worth living for.
It might be a dream now.
It might never be anything more than a dream.
But it is worth waking up for, today and tomorrow and the day after until it is yours.
Hello all,
Starting today, I am going to take an extended break from social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter. I’m not sure how long my break is going to last, but I’m preparing to stay away for about a month.
I invite you to call me and see in in real life while I’m away from this virtual world. You have my contact info, or can find it if you really care.
In the meantime, I am cutting myself from The Matrix1
I currently have a daily posting on Twitter/Facebook that reads:
“Today is Day ? of 90”
These daily postings are an extension of a speech that I gave in my Toastmasters club a few weeks ago. Toastmasters is a public speaking organization that I’m a member of.
The speech was called “Day 1 of 90”. I shared the power of creating a new habit by trying it out for 90 days.
My personal habit, for this project is to not drink soda for 90 days.
As I promised in my speech, I have a daily reminder of how many days have taken place, up until day 90.
What are some things that you are willing to start/or end in order to improve the quality of YOUR life?
Recap, I would have the Wild Card be decided by a one game playoff. The two participants would be the 2nd place finishers of the divisions that did NOT produce the Wild Card winner the previous season.
(I also have posted another plan splitting each league into two divisions, each with their own Wild Card. However, since Houston looks like they’re moving to the AL, three division play looks like it will stay)
Hypothetically, the AL East and NL Central would not be eligible for the 2012 Wild Card since teams from their divisions won it last year.
1. It would give a rooting interest to every fan of those two divisions. Let’s say that the two AL Wild card participants would be the Yankees and Twins. Fans of EVERY team in both the AL East and AL Central (including the division winners) would have a vested interest in that game, since it will affect their club’s playoff potential for the following year.
2. It would lead to a change in GM strategy, including an increase in deadline deals. Since 1/3 of the teams would not be playing for a wild card, it would give GMs in those two divisions incentive to dump players at the July and August deadlines, that they otherwise wouldn’t give away in slight chances of winning the division or Wild Card. Also, in the offseason, GMs would build teams differently if they knew that they were not eligible for the Wild Card that year, choosing instead to rebuild.
3. It would give more teams a chance to win. In the first 17 years of the Wild Card, the winner came from the AL East 13 times. By only having the ability to win the Wild Card every other year, it would allow more teams to be involved.
Over the past few weeks, I have been formulating an opinion on Occupy Wall Street, and all of its spinoffs across the nation. Do I like it? Do I despise it?
I am not protesting in Zucchini Park or Liberty Park or whatever it is called. I am not making signs complaining to banks. I am not branding myself as one of “The 99%” or “The 1%”. I see friends who have been part of the protest, and others who have spoken against it. Some of the signs have been cool, and the photos of the Jewish High Holy Day services look pretty. A big part of Occupy Wall Street’s success has been that it’s trendy. Yet that doesn’t make it the right (or wrong) thing to do.
Yes, I get that on paper, the banks and government have created financial hardships for the average American families and individuals that did not exist prior to my 30-something years on the planet. And I get that it doesn’t have to be this way, but I also believe that Robin Hooding is not the solution.
The truth that I subscribe to is not starting a new war, but acknowledging that we have abundance. Everything we need to live and thrive is at our disposal. It’s not being held hostage by the banks. If you’re sick of the banks, and the high interest rates and the refusal to offer credit that reasonable to your income, there are other options. One of them is to start your own bank.
NYC might be the financial capital of the world, but it is also the home to great entrepreneurs. Instead of declaring yourself as a victim to the banks and Wall Street, start a business. There are great places like New Work City and General Assembly where you can meet people and take affordable priced classes in your quest to become a leader. There are websites like Kickstarter which allow people to raise money for their dream projects. Even better, there are websites and businesses that don’t exist yet because you haven’t created them yet.
My invitation to you is to stop protesting and start creating.
This was the Knicks logo, introduced in the Pat Riley era:
It was certainly an upgrade over this:
The current logo, introduced in 1995 after Riley left is this:
The added “NEW YORK” was unnecessary, and remains a symbol of the bad Knicks teams of the 2000s.
Also added in 1995, and more prominent these days, is the alternate “Subway Token” logo:
I’d like to see the Subway Token become the new primary logo, and the “90s Triangle” be permanently retired. It’s had its run, but now its over. Let the token be in center court and on future championship banners.
What do you think?
Major League Baseball released its entire preliminary 2012 schedule this week. These days, one of the first things I check is if this is the year that the Dodgers finally visit the Yankees.
Guess what, it’s not happening. Neither are the other 7 city-specific series that have not been played since inter-division Interleague Play started in 2002. (The first 5 seasons, 1997-2001, only had East vs East, Central vs Central and West vs West).
LAD @ NYY
MIN @ ATL
CHC @ OAK
CHW @ NYM
ATL @ KC
SD @ TOR
STL @ LAA
TEX @ STL
I have given more details about the so-called “Interleague 8” in a previous post. 2011 saw some series come off of this list, including CHC @ BOS and MIL (as a NL team) @ NYY.
Each of these teams have played each other at the other ballpark, in some cases more than once. With talk of realigning MLB, and moving the Houston Astros to the American League as early as 2013, it may create more balance in Interleague scheduling. However, 2012 looks to have no city-specific first time series.
On Monday, August 1st, 2011, voters in Nassau County voted against a proposal to spend tax dollars on a new arena in Uniondale, NY for the New York Islanders.
The Islanders lease at their current arena, Nassau Colieseum expires at the end of the 2014-15 season, and they have no intention to renew it. If the team cannot get a new or renovated arena in their current location, they may move elsewhere, whether its in the NYC area (Brooklyn, Queens and Suffolk County have been reported as possibilities) or somewhere else.
The widely held assumption is that if the Islanders leave Uniondale, that Nassau Coliseum will close.
I don’t think that’s the case. I say sell (or create a marketing agreement) with an existing entertainment promoter to book the Coliseum with concerts and other events. Perhaps also get a minor league hockey team. Madison Square Garden had previously run the former Hartford Civic Center with great success, and now is in the process of buying the LA Forum, where the Lakers and Kings played prior to the opening of the Staples Center.
I saw Phish at Nassau Coliseum on October 7-8, 1999. Hopefully there will be more concerts there in the future, whether the Islanders are there or not.
This weekend, the 15th season Interleague Play has started up again in Major League Baseball. It is also the 10th season of interdivision Interleague play.
This year sees a few regular season Interleague matchups that hadn’t happened yet, led off by the Chicago Cubs visiting the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park for the first time since the 1918 World Series. The Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals will each visit Camden Yards for the first time and play against the Baltimore Orioles. The Milwaukee Brewers, who switched to the National League in 1998, will visit the New York Yankees for the first time since 1997, their final season in the American League.
This leaves eight remaining stadium-specific matchups that have not happened in regular season Interleague Play, including three World Series rematches. Each of these teams have played at least one series at the other team’s stadium.
Los Angeles Dodgers at New York Yankees: The Yankees and Dodgers have a lot of history with each other, dating back to when the Dodgers were based in Brooklyn. They have played many World Series against each other, the last being 1981. While the Yankees have visited Chavez Ravine twice, the Dodgers are the only current Major League franchise* to have never played a regular season game at the old Yankee Stadium.
Minnesota Twins at Atlanta Braves: Another World Series rematch (1991) that hasn’t been scheduled. While the Braves have visited the Twins, Minnesota has never been to Turner Field, which opened for baseball in 1997.
Chicago Cubs at Oakland Athletics: OK, so the two World Series were in 1910 and 1929, when the A’s were still based in Philadelphia, but they still have not played each other in Oakland, which could use the high profile visiting team to boost sagging attendance.
The other five series, with no particular history or backstory are:
CHW @ NYM
ATL @ KC
SD @ TOR
STL @ LAA
TEX @ STL
My question is what are Bud Selig and the schedule makers waiting for? All eight of these series, led off by Dodgers at Yankees, should be scheduled for 2012.
*The Washington Nationals never played at the original Yankee Stadium as the Nationals, but the franchise visited there many times as the Montreal Expos, including David Cone’s perfect game in 1999. The Nationals visited the new stadium in 2009. The only Dodger to play at Yankee Stadium as a Dodger since 1981 was Russell Martin, the team’s only representative at the 2008 All Star Game.
Let me start by saying that I was against Comcast’s purchase of NBC Universal (now NBCUniversal). However, the one immediate positive is that the new bosses at Kabletown (with a K) have let the NBC Sports people run their existing sports operations.
Comcast, pre-NBC, owned Versus, a national sports network that has the NHL, Tour De France as well as some college football and basketball. They also own Comcast SportsNet, a series of regional sports networks in many markets like Chicago, Boston, Washington, San Francisco and their home base of Philadelphia.
CSN (I wonder if they had to license the name from Crosby Still and Nash) and Versus will be changing their names this summer, with NBC somewhere in the name.
This leaves us with SportsNet New York, which is run by Comcast, in the same manner as the CSN stations, but is also co-owned by Time Warner Cable (just the cable business, which was spun off from the rest of the company a few years ago) and the New York Mets. Even though its run by Comcast, it does not have Comcast in the name.
It would be wise for NBC/Comcast to have SNY be part of the NBC rebranding, as it would bring their new cable sports brand to NY’s largest market. NBC is connecting its local and national sports cable networks to the flagship TV network.
Uniting all of these sports presences would allow for something that currently isn’t happening in the sports media space: a legitimate competitor to ESPN. Having a local affiliate in New York would tremendously advance this possibility.
What’s likely needed is money. NBC needs to pay the Mets and Time Warner Cable to be part of this plan. While they’re at it, they should convince TWC to have their upcoming network about to launch in Los Angeles, featuring the Lakers to take the NBC branding as well.
