Ghostbusters 2016 wasn’t good but not because of girls
August 2, 2016Time for a Twins-based Intervention, Indians: Between Innings
August 3, 2016
Morning, you guys. Happy Wednesday and stuff. I have to admit: Being back on this content management system (or CMS, as the cool kids call it) is a bit—for a lack of better term—weird. I’m struggling to find an apt comparison, but it’s almost like packing up all your belongings to head off to college, only to return home a month or so later (for whatever the reason) and having to figure out a way to put all of your things back in their rightful places.
The essentials are the first thing you unpack. Boxes are still full of a few ancillary items, your clothes aren’t exactly in the same location as they were prior to the move. You vow to chip away at everything else as the time comes, but you’re largely unsure of what the future holds so you weigh the now-versus-later. Plus, the weather is still nice so who really wants to spend time inside tearing through boxes?
Anyway… It’s good to be back. We apologize for any inconvenience. Seriously. Those boxes I mentioned? Our archives from the past few weeks are tucked away in there somewhere. The Cavs’ championship and all of Joe Gilbert’s awesome Browns breakdowns and Jessica’s story on Josh Gordon (not that one)… They will all be here at some point. Thanks again for sticking with us. It means more than you guys will ever know.
Sportsball
If you were anywhere near the internet on Tuesday morning, you were likely bombarded with link-shares of the latest Lee Jenkins story, to be published in the next Sports Illustrated, about Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James. A slew of stories on James have been published since the Cavs won their first title for the city of Cleveland in 52 years, but Jenkins rolls in, reportage guns blazing, and provides us all with a story that helps fill the void left by the pesky NBA offseason.
We’re immediately taken into a film study of sorts where James watches the final minutes of Game 7 for the fist time.
James dutifully dissects pocket passes he threaded to Tristan Thompson and hesitation moves he put on Andre Iguodala, three-pointers he rushed over Festus Ezeli and box-outs he missed against Draymond Green. But as footage from the fourth quarter of Game 7 unspools across the portable big screen, his reactions grow more animated, his descriptions more detailed. He grips his armrests. He covers his face. He pumps his fist.
We’re taken to Las Vegas where the team celebrates their title and J.R. Smith allegedly sprays $23,000 worth of champagne. But we’re also taken into the head of LeBron James when one of the kids at the Nike camp watching film with James asks what keeps him motivated after all this time.
“My motivation,” James says, “is this ghost I’m chasing. The ghost played in Chicago.”
Naturally, this line is the linchpin of the entire story, a legend in his own right attempting to place his name next to one that has history and lore and nostaglia—remembering the good, forgetting the bad—on his side.
Jenkins contrasts the two stars, mentioning Jordan’s six titles, but quickly recounts James’ performances in both the 2015 and 2016 NBA Finals, the latter which saw him win unanimous Finals MVP while leading both teams in all five major statistical categories. He also mentions what is undoubtedly the most meaningful mark of them all: The championship for the city of Cleveland.
Jenkins’ story dovetails a bit into the lack of pressure James will have from here out, questioning whether or not it will allow him to enjoy playing the game. The four-time MVP insists that he’s not concerned about Kevin Durant heading to Golden State, yet here he is at 6 a.m. in West Hollywood, working out just weeks after playing his final minutes of the 2015-16 postseason. James’ coach Ty Lue questions whether or not James will be able to relax and soak in his final seasons, but as Jenkins pens, “unfortunately, the immortals are not wired that way.”
Technobabble
Some of the biggest news to hit the tech space yesterday (completely removing iOS 10 and the new emojis from the purview) was Instagram’s decision to completely ape Snapchat and create “stories.” For those unaware, “stories” are one of Snapchat’s latest incarnations where images or video added to this feed are available for viewing for up to 24 hours. These were very fun to create during the Cavs’ playoff run, as anything I was able to accumulate late at night could be watched by all of my followers in the morning. Apparently, as big as it has become for Snap, it wasn’t patented.
Initially, I was suspect. Instagram (owned by Facebook) has a history of making decisions that don’t always have the user in mind. All it took was a few minutes, however, and I couldn’t agree with this Gizmodo piece any more.
Instagram still doesn’t have lenses, which is one of Snapchat’s most popular features; however, I imagine Instagram will soon add if it really wants to make Snapchat obsolete. After all, Snapchat launched Stories in 2013 and it took them two years to get lenses. Instagram Stories launched today, and aside from missing that essential feature, it seems to be running very smoothly. Moreover, Instagram Stories are intuitive, easy to use, while Snapchat is more complicated, especially considering how difficult it is to add new friends and find celebrities.
Not only can one create live video stories in similar ilk, they can share it with their entire follower base or decide who gets to see what. The photo quality is exponentially better, the ability to add from the camera roll is much more functional, and the add-ons are much more user friendly. I’ve already managed to add to Vines I created from last night’s Tribe game into one story. (Follow me here to see it.)
Snapchat’s biggest hurdle, at least in this author’s opinion, was the difficulty in searching out folks and brands—you literally needed to know their exact handle to be able to follow their work. Instagram is much more friendly when it comes to search and the engagement factor (“Send Message” displays at the bottom of every story) destroys Snap. That stories are a completely different element and do not get added to the feed makes it that much better—especially when you’re like me and are super picky about what you toss on the ol’ IG.
Like any other tech item, specifically in social media where layouts and functionality changes daily, where Instagram takes this will be an interesting arc to follow. Given their starting point, they’re already way ahead of the curve.
A Little Culture
While most Americans were preparing to listen to the presumptive favorite to be the next President of the United States last Thursday night, taking in the entire undercard of speakers, I opted to listen to We The Best Radio on Apple Music. As ridiculous as this may sound—choosing DJ Khaled over a host of folks with political clout—it was the only way to hear “Major Key,” Khaled’s ninth (NINTH!) studio album, before its wide release on Friday morning.
The show went as such: Khaled would introduce a song from his album, oftentimes with an anecdote, shout “DJ Khaled” or “We The Best” or “Major Key” or some other Khaledism every few moments, occasionally restart song in the middle to fill the entire length of the show, and then repeat this chronologically until all 14 tracks were complete. To this point, “Major Key” is only available on Apple Music, continuing the trend of exclusive streaming for a period of time before albums end up on Spotify or wherever. Drake did it. Chance the Rapper did it. Frank Ocean’s long-awaited album will be handled in a similar fashion. As much as the way we consume music has changed, these streaming services have found a way to turn album releases into events, much like midnight showings of major films.
I won’t pretend that Khaled is even sniffing Mt. Rushmore of hip-hop, but to listen to his album at the exact same time as the rest of the world—in addition to hearing Nicki Minaj drop a line about LeBron James blocking Andre Iguodala—was pretty cool. I also won’t pretend that I have any idea how this financially benefits anyone involved, as compensating artists in trying times remains at the forefront of music-based discussion. But I also know that we are slowly evolving into a culture of experience—just take a look at retail sales—and getting to listen to albums in this manner is incredibly cool. It may never trump the nostalgia of record stores and unwrapping albums and getting lost inside them during that first listen, but debut-like streaming is something that is collective, and given the role of social media (especially with someone like Khaled) in today’s age, there is no doubt that this is the future of music consumption.
#ActualSportswriting
“The Longest Run” by SL Price (Sports Illustrated): “When International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach announced the 10 members of the first-ever Refugee Olympic Team in June—after a yearlong global vetting by 17 national Olympic committees and the United Nations Refugee Agency and after countless tryouts in Europe and Africa that resembled nothing so much as the hunt for Willy Wonka’s golden tickets—he clearly intended the impact to redound far beyond sports.”
“The Frightening Future of Baseball and Why Shorter Seasons Make Sense” by Tom Verducci (Sports Illustrated): “The final five innings of this year’s All-Star Game demonstrated the frightening future of baseball. The growing trends of more velocity, more strikeouts and more relief pitchers—seen every night during the regular season—were on display again on July 12 in San Diego, where after the fourth inning, the American League and National League teams combined for 12 pitchers, nine strikeouts, five hits (all singles), no runs, no stolen base attempts and 27 swings-and-misses. The game essentially ended two hours before the final out of the AL’s 4–2 win.”
“A Sports Editor: How I do my job” words by Jason Stallman (NY Times): “People really, really like good stories… Digital platforms tend to feel like insatiable beasts. I think we should turn against that urge and become even more selective with what we pursue. We could probably do a lot less, but with greater impact.”
“Out of the Blue” by Bonnie D. Ford (ESPN.com): “She was supposed to drive to Penn State to watch Ohio State — her younger twin sisters’ team — play a women’s hockey game. She had been looking forward to it, but now she was panicky, exhausted and desperate for relief. There had been enough nights of interrupted sleep, when she would wake up crying, or laughing for no reason, or throwing herself against the mattress. So easy to steer off the road. The thought bubbled up unbidden and mortified her.”
And finally, some video
From the Lee Jenkins piece above, here’s a three-and-a-half minute video about LeBron James, anger, promises and forgiveness. It’s very, very good.
Have a killer Hump Day, you guys. You’re still a city of champions.
16 Comments
Olney and Verducci have both penned recent “fix MLB” columns. Normally these things make sense, but I have left each feeling they were written with the specific intent to propose items that would never be accepted by MLB (or MLBPA) and do not fix the aspects of the game that would help.
Baseball isn’t broken, MLB just needs to tweak a few things like forcing managers to make replay decisions right away, enforcing pace of play rules, moving the pitching clock up to MLB, etc.
it’s so weird because I freaking love pitchers duels—the lede in Verducci’s piece. I keep thinking back to Game 5 of the 2011 NLDS between Halladay and Carpenter and how the Cards scored in the first inning and that was literally IT. Every pitch was nail-biting. Imagine the anxiety of a Cody Allen ninth inning but for an entire game. How more people aren’t captivated by this, I don’t know.
IMO: it’s the difference between being a baseball fan and enjoying a baseball game. Casual versus diehard.
The baseball fan can hang on every pitch. 12-pitch at bats are seen as battles with breakdowns in your mind about what pitch sequence is used and what the batter might be looking to do (shorten the swing? wait on a fastball?).
The casual fan wants to be entertained. 12-pitch at bats are long w/o game action. More runners on base, more contact means more fun.
I think there’s a middle ground and it’d be obtained w/ making the true dead time between pitches and batters minimized. I get there are thoughts happening in that space, but it would help reward the fast-thinkers and the deep-planners more. Not a bad thing and it helps bridge the gap between diehard and casual fans.
Start every inning with a guy on first. No wind-ups, quicker pitches. Boom. Problem solved.
Where do I patent this genius?
how about that guy on first has to be Jason Giambi? yes, for all 30 teams. OK, maybe Shelley Duncan and Russell Branyan have some spare time.
or, to get into the Millenial “share the experience” method — a fan is randomly chosen to start each inning there. pick the seat of a 2yo? oh well. playoff game and an opposing fan gets selected? bum luck for you.
Wait, why is there a comment section? Also why isn’t this on the front page of the wfny.scout but is on waitingfornextyear.com ?
I HAVE CONFUSION
What is wfny.scout? Did you have that strange dream where Cleveland wins the NBA Finals and WFNY changes formats again?
Pssst: https://waitingfornextyear.com/2016/08/site-update/
My suggestion for improving baseball:
1. Lengthen football season.
My biggest disappointment about he whole Scout this, is that we didn’t get to celebrate the victory here/ :/
Would it have happened if we were still here? Did it cause the cosmic shift that allowed the Cavs to come back from a 3-1 deficit and for Cleveland to win a title?
We might never know for sure, but you can be assured I’m blaming the move back if the Indians don’t win the WS!
Hey, if the NFL makes a 20 game schedule, then the Browns might have more 8 win seasons.
Between Pro and College ball, they should be able to offset each season in addition to adding a game or two to each, and leave us with only a month of excrutiating non-football downtime. 😀
A pitcher’s duel requires you to be a hardcore fan to be entertaining, almost by definition. You can’t have a pitcher’s duel blow your mind on TV unless you’re really watching from the first pitch. Unless it’s a no-no or perfect game bid, you can’t send out an alert that a pitcher’s duel is happening right now. I’m not disagreeing that they’re cool, but it’s a difficult thing to sell in this current moment where we flip around constantly and have league pass alerts for both the NBA and NFL. Also I think pitcher’s duels are entertaining because they’re relatively rare. If they happen all the time, it’s just boring baseball.
you had me until the last line.
not all low-scoring games are pitching duels. there is certainly some nuance to bad hitting versus great pitching. the jaw-dropping curve that falls into the dirt at the last moment or similar pitch is a good indicator there.
but, just because they happen a bunch doesn’t mean it becomes boring. again, all about investment.
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to your first points, MLB has to start letting people immediate GIF things. being able to send reactions w/ real-time GIFs would help the sport so much. that curve ball mentioned? well, if you send the GIF out, people might flick over hoping to catch a live one.
MLB is understandably worried about licensing there. well, then they need a MLB licensed auto-GIF that is embedded into social media tools so that fans can do the same thing (and, do it even easier). little MLB logo watermark shows who owns it just like anything else.
Pitching duels and defensive battles in the NFL: two things I enjoy that people are often “bored” by. Not that putting up 22 on the Yankees or a 52-49 Giants-Saints track meet isn’t a blast to watch, but there’s beauty in the low numbers, too.
Agreed. Our culture is moving toward constant action. Most young fans think the battle between pitcher and hitter is boring and until the ball is put in play nothing is happening. While I vigorously disagree, I can see the handwriting on the wall. Thus, we need to get to the “action” sooner. I suggest a minor tweak – 3 balls for a walk along with 3 strikes for an out. This would force the pitcher to challenge the hitter sooner. I think this would speed up the game along with limiting visits to the mound and stopping the batters from stepping out of the box.