May 2010
Free My Fantasy!
Baseball Rant #1
by Matt “Hack” Hackenmiller
The baseball season is a few weeks old and I just realized that I haven’t written a nice old fashion rant. Most of the time there is no real reason why a rant comes about. Usually, it is just something that pops up one day, probably after a day without caffeine, and sticks in my brain for some reason. The inaugural rant of the season has to with the big and mighty ESPN. More specifically, the fantasy sports coverage that ESPN provides for the millions of loyal fans.
For the last couple of years, ESPN has prided itself as offering the best fantasy baseball game in the business. They also have many excellent writers and former scouts that include some insightful analysis. Yet, for some reason, this season the higher ups at ESPN have decided to charge the fans for the privilege of reading that analysis that was once free. Not only have they decided to do this for fantasy baseball, but other fantasy sports as well.
The revenue that ESPN receives from fantasy sports most likely is a very small percentage in the overall big picture for the World Wide Leader. They are one of the most popular networks on cable TV that makes millions for their stockholders. Then why does ESPN feel the need to squeeze money out of the fantasy sports community? Doesn’t that seem a little Ebenezer Scrooge-ish?
It’s not that I have anything against businesses or websites charging for fantasy information. I understand why sites like Rotowire and Baseball HQ charge a fee. That is their lifeblood. Those sites aren’t making millions as they run a commercial every two minutes during a basketball game like the four letter network. The writers at the small sites typically have other jobs and only write because it is their passion.
Naturally, I don’t blame the fantasy writers at ESPN for this change in policy. This was probably decided on by some stuff shirt in a corporate office and now everyone else has to suffer. But hey, as long as the it helps make the bottom dollar look good, ESPN sees no problem with charging a few dollars a month for their expertise. Fantasy managers of the world unite!
Junior Archive Hits 1st Bomb!
Boy o’ boy, what a special day for the Archive Family! As most of you know Johnny Archive is active in the local Little League as an umpire and coach of the Rockies — for whom JA’s son Jacob plays for. Well, today Jacob — who has been showing steady improvement and enthusiasm all season — went deep for homerun #1 of his baseball career!
It was an oppo-shot for the young righty that was hit high and deep, landing in the upper-deck. It was a no-doubter. Well, if you think it was a little odd that a Little League field had an “upper deck” you are correct. Actually, it was a line drive screamer that went between the firstbaseman and the bag and rolled almost all the way to the rightfield fence. Plenty deep enough for me, as the firstbase coach, to keep him running all the way around the bases.
The whole stadium (probably 15 or so fans — parents and siblings) went wild! Jacob jumped for joy and his teammates gave him plenty of high-fives as he entered the dugout. The 3rd-Inning bomb gave the Rockies a 1-0 lead over the Blue Jays, which was also the first lead of the year for the Rox.
As you can imagine, I was very proud of my boy and for a few minutes the Rockies were without a coach because I became merely a teary-eyed father beaming looking at his son.
But as we all know, baseball is a game of highs and lows. The Rox defense let them down in the bottom of the 3rd and the ‘Jays tallied 3 runs. In the top of the 4th, we almost had a classic finish as the Rockies, with two outs, loaded the bases for…yep, you guessed it…Jacob “the Thunderstick.” Unfortunately, after fouling off 2 pitches, the mighty Jacob went down swinging to end the game.
Sure, a rally to win the game would have been amazing, but this was still an extremely big day for the Archive Clan and I am so happy for the achievement of my son.
-Johnny Archive, proud papa
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