chetzoid's blog: "Chetzoid's World"

Where were you on July 12, 1979?  I know most of you weren't born yet and others are saying I don't remember what I had for breakfast let alone what I was doing 31 years ago.  Let me tell you where I was and what I was doing.

I had graduated high school in May and was looking forward to starting college.  Basically I was working and enjoying the summer.  One day in late June I heard of a promotion for a Chicago White Sox double-header against the Detroit Tigers that was coming up.  The promotion was called "Disco Demolition Night".  Tickets were 98 cents if you brought and turned in a disco record at the Comiskey Park box office.  When I realized this was scheduled for a Thursday night I decided I would go.  The White Sox had a losing record and attendance for Monday through Thursday was well under 10,000 people.  This in a ballpark that was built in the early 1900's and had a seating capacity of 90,000.

Before leaving I made up the appropriate story, to let my parents know, that I would be gone all day that day and wouldn't be home till late at night.  My family lived in a small (less than 900 residents) west central Indiana town about 155 miles or so south of Chicago.  I also had to plunk down $5.50 plus tax for a disco record.  I remember it was the Bee Gee's, the first and only one I bought, but I don't remember the name of the album.

I arrived at Comiskey Park in time for batting practice.  Good thing I did, because I was surprised by the attendance.  By the time the first pitch was thrown the place was full.  Standing room only.  It was a hot and humid day and by the time the 6th inning was over the fans were becoming restless.  People in my section, the sun drenched left field bleachers, had drunk more than their fair share of beer.  What I thought at first were black frisbees flying around were in actuality records.  The White Sox were also behind and that wasn't helping the fans mood at all.  Mercifully the first game ended with little trouble and the White Sox losing.

Then a guy dressed in army fatigues and a helmet enters the field and strides to center field.  He was followed by a woman and a large wooden box, filled with tens of thousands of disco records, escorted by security.  The guy, dressed to play army, has a microphone and starts leading the fans in a chant of "Disco Sucks".  Everyone in attendance joins in and the chanting gets louder and more intense.  Then he begins a countdown and when zero is reached he pushes a button and BOOM!!!! The box with all the records explodes leaving a hole in the grass.  I see records and album covers flying through the air in flames.  They land harmlessly on the field and begin burning patches of the grass.  Now all hell breaks loose.  All that pent up excitement is unleashed as the fans, me included, rush onto the field.  While I was walking around I could see people were ripping up chunks of sod and Chicago's finest were cuffing others.  Mini riots were happening and other people were starting new fires.  It was chaos.  I heard the PA announcing for everyone to leave the field and return to their seats.  Even the scoreboard was flashing "PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEATS".  I thought that a good idea and began to make my way back.  Finally it was announced the second game was postponed.  After hearing that I headed for my car to drive the 155 or so miles back home.  Depending on the source 35-40 people were arrested and another 6-12 were treated for injuries.  I was surprised the totals were not higher.  As I drove home I knew this would be one day at the ballpark I would never forget.  The next day Lee McPhail, President of the American League, announced the game would not be made up and Detroit was declared winners by forfeit.

I found a picture of that night on the website Bleacher Report.  It was part of an article by RM Herold, dated 9 July 2010.  The article was titled "What is Wrong with You?!  The 20 Worst Fans of All Time".  The "Disco Demolition Night" ranked 16th.  I have included graphics on the pic to show where I was walking around on the field.

Well now it is official.  Lebron James will join Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat roster.  Lebron, a free agent, made his announcement on an ESPN special show devoted to his decision.  He has spent the first 7 years of his NBA career as a Cleveland Cavalier.  Being a free agent enabled Lebron to listen to offers from other NBA teams and pick where he wanted to play next.  James, Wade and Bosh are now considered the big 3 and immediately makes the Heat a possible contender for the NBA title this coming season. 

Miami's hopes for a title is just that a hope.  A look at their roster and anyone, familiar with the NBA, will notice the lack of any supporting cast.  These 3 will not be able to deliver the title on their own.  The season is too long for them to play a majority of the minutes and account for all the offense in each game.  It is now up to the management in Miami to acquire solid players that can produce results on their own.  If the management fails, Miami will loose in the first round.  At least the fans in South Beach has a reason to be excited and attend games.  Wade and James are the superstars of this team with Wade taking a backseat.  Bosh, some have called a superstar also, is not.  His stats are impressive and makes him a star in the league, but not a superstar.  Miami will have a target on their backs all season long.  With all the attention this has generated other teams in the league will be looking to knock off this so-called juggernaut of a team. 

Poor, poor Cleveland.  Football.  John Elway of the Broncos engineered the Drive.  A 95 yard march down the field, in the 3d quarter of a game against the Browns, that ended Cleveland's hope for a Super Bowl berth.  Years later Art Modell, owner of the Browns, can't get a new stadium for his team.  So what does he do?  Moves the team to Baltimore.  The fans in Cleveland file a complaint in court to keep the name Browns and the team colors in Cleveland and they win.  Modell has to rename his organization in Baltimore to the Ravens and announce the new team colors.  The NFL, after the court ruled in favor of the fans, promises the city of Cleveland they will get an expansion team.  The NFL keeps its promise and the new Cleveland Browns are born.  As with all expansion teams, they have not been very competitive.  A far cry from where they were before Modell moved them.  Baseball.  There are too many instances of the MLB Cleveland Indians choking away regular season games and playoff games in their history.  Basketball.  Now the beloved son of Cleveland, Lebron James, says goodbye to the city he has played basketball in his whole life.  Fans are understandably upset.  He was one of them.  He was going to bring a championship to a city starved for a winner.  Now they feel betrayed.  Some will say that the city of Cleveland is cursed and will never have a championship team in any sport.  The problem is with owners like the sports franchises have had, no curse is needed.  Take a look at this open letter to the fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers written and released by the majority owner Dan Gilbert.  After reading this don't you get the feeling this is the ranting of a kid and not from the owner.  He also stated in an interview on ESPN's website that during the playoff series, against Boston and in last years playoffs, Lebron quit on the team.  He calls Lebron names and never once thanked him for his time there or wished him well in the future.  Pretty classless if you ask me.  Lebron stated that he wanted to play where he had a good chance at winning a title.  After reading the letter I wouldn't be surprised if there were other more pressing reasons for leaving.

Well at least next season the NBA will be more interesting, especially in the Eastern Conference.

Now about the World Cup.  My quarterfinal round picks were horrid.  I decided to no longer post any additional picks.  I think I have proven my ignorance this year very well.  Maybe 4 years from now I can atone for this year's tournament.

Further note on the rookie card that drew huge bids on Ebay.  The owner of the card, as I previously stated in an earlier post, ended the auction early and cancelled all bids.  I have been checking Ebay everyday since June 28, 2010 and the owner has not put the card up for auction again. 

First lets review how I did with my Round of 16 picks. 

Correct picks--Uruguay, Argentina, Netherlands, and Brazil. 

Wrong picks --USA (Ghana won), England (Germany won), Japan (Paraguay won), and Portugal (Spain won).

50%.  Umm not all that great. 

Ok now to pick the Quarterfinal winners.  Hopefully this will all work out.

Uruguay/Ghana --- Uruguay has scored 6 goals and given up only 1 goal.  Ghana has scored 4 goals and given up 3 goals.  Ghana has great team speed, which has proven to cause problems with their opponents, and will do the same here.  Uruguay thus far have shown they repel opponents goal attempts.  I'm seeing one goal scored and Uruguay wins.

Netherlands/Brazil --- Netherlands, thus far, no draws or losses, 7 goals and 2 goals allowed.  Brazil, no losses and 1 lackluster draw, 8 goals scored and 2 goals allowed.  This is a toss-up.  Both can score and defend.  I am going to pick Brazil for this one reason.  Creativity.  I feel Brazil has the talent to score a goal from out of nowhere.  But I won't be surprised if Netherlands pulls out the win.

Germany/Argentina --- Germany has 3 wins, 9 goals scored, 2 goals allowed.  One of their wins was a 4-1 rout of England.  Argentina has 4 wins, 10 goals scored, 2 goals allowed.  Do I give the Germans the chance to prove me wrong again?  Yes I do.  I'm a glutton for punishment I guess.  I'm going with Argentina.  Why?  Maradona is letting his team play and has not tried to rein in anyone.  As a player for Argentina in the 1986 World Cup they won.  Can he win the cup as a coach?  All of Argentina thought he didn't know what he was doing during the qualifiers.  He used a large number of different players throughout.  Now, with their advancement through this years tournament, the whole of Argentina is completely behind him.  Seems he is coaching as he played, by doing it his way.

Paraguay/Spain --- Will it be an all South American Final Four?  Nope.  Paraguay can defend, but score they cannot.  3 goals in group play and no goals against Japan in regulation and 30 minutes of overtime in the Round of 16.  Paraguay beat Japan 5-3 by penalty kicks.  What was amazing about the win was Japan selected as their 4th penalty kicker a defenseman.  I don't know why Japan would do that to themselves.  Japan was, surprisingly, a strong team.  I just feel Spain is too strong and talented to fall to Paraguay.  I pick Spain in what will be the biggest goal difference in these 4 matches. 

Well there you have it.  3 teams from South America and 1 European team in the World Cup Final Four.

Hmmm I wonder if I have gone over the edge with these picks?

I guess we will watch and find out.

One other note.  It seems every game in this tournament has had one or more horrendous calls by the referees.  I don't see this changing.  It will be a huge black mark on this sport and FIFA if a blown call by a referee, late in any match, decides the outcome.  The president of FIFA has steadfastly supported all the officiating in this World Cup.  Now, however, there seems to be a ray of light.  The president of FIFA announced tuesday June 29, 2010 they will look into the issue of incorporating technology to assist referees.  Earlier in the tournament FIFA released a statement saying technology incorporation into the game will not occur. 

The Stephen Strasburg rookie card auction, that almost reached a million dollars on Ebay, has ended early and all bids were cancelled.  The auction was ended at 8:17 EDT on 27 June 2010.

The bid history showed that all bids were cancelled due to ending the auction early.  My thought is those bidding, that did contact the owner, could not prove to to the owner's satisfaction they had the means to pay if they won the bid. 

Now with the additional rules permitted by Ebay will the owner put the card back up for auction on Ebay?  Will the owner find another auction venue?  Will the owner attempt to sell the card to a private collector?  I don't see the card being sold outright.  It might fetch a better price through auction.  If the owner is offered six figure amount or close it might be enough.  Check out my previous post about this card titled How Much for that Rookie Card?.

Someone got a screen grab of the card when it hit its high mark last friday, 25 June 2010.  Below is that grab.

Nope it's not Honus Wagner or Micky Mantle.  It's the rookie card for Washington Nationals phenom Stephen Strasburg.

From an article in Asylum dtd 25 June 2010 by Brian Fairbanks it seems Topps Trading Card Company released the autographed red border rookie card of Stephen Strasburg.  There was only one copy of this card released.  Yes only one copy.  So this card is very rare indeed.  According to the author at the time of his article the highest bid on the card was for, now get this, $999,900.00.  That is not a misprint.  The article stated the auction has days to go.  When I clicked on the author's link to the auction the page informed me the auction was over.  When I googled for the card several links verified the amount.  The link to the Washington Examiner also confirmed the amount and that was around midday of the 25th of June.  The Washington Examiner also contained more info.  It seems due to the large amount of the bidding the owner of the card added restrictions with permission from Ebay.  The bidder had to have 10 feed backs and had to contact the owner prior to bidding for approval.  All those that had bidded also had to contact the card owner.  This dropped the high bid to $501,000.00 by the evening of the 25th of June.  That's still half a million dollars for a players card and his rookie season hasn't even ended. 

To put some perspective to this, the card of all baseball cards is the Honus Wagner card sold in 2007 to a private collector for $2.8 million.  Topps highest selling card was a mint condition 1952 Micky Mantle rookie card that sold for about $125,000.00.

Ebay has alot of other Stephen Strasburg card auctions going on currently with prices ranging from 99 cents to almost $900.00.  There are also buy it nows ranging up to $1,999.00. 

Stephen Strasburg was one of the most hyped pitchers even before draft day.  With so many busts happening in baseball its no wonder people didn't take notice.  When Strasburg was called up earlier this month and pitched against the Pittsburgh Pirates in his debute everyone did take notice.  Here's his line from that game:

7 innings pitched; gave up 4 hits; allowed 2 earned runs for 2.57 ERA; NO walks; and 14 strikeouts.  Oh yes and he was the winning pitcher.  He has since pitched in 3 more games and has 2 wins with 1 loss. 

Now getting back to the card auction.  As I stated earlier the auction has closed.  Have spent almost an hour trying to find out the winning bid.  No luck so far.  The announcement will come and most of you will no doubt already hear the amount paid.  I will post the winning bid anyway when it is announced.

Pretty damn impressive for a rookie through his first 4 games.  Now to wait and see what else he can do.

Adidas World Cup Balls

1970-1982-- Leather ball with 32 panels of black and white.

1986 -- 1st non-leather water resistant ball with 32 panels

2006 -- Thermal bonded ball with 14 panels

2010 -- Thermal bonded ball with 3d design with 8 panels.  1st ball to be spherically molded to make a perfectly round ball. 

During group play of the World Cup there have been some grumbling about the ball being used.  Adidas has made the official ball for World Cup play since 1970.  Adidas has followed the stringent rules set by FIFA, the governing body.  Some of the complaints from players are that it is unpredictable and flies too easily.  Why are these complaints being made now?  This ball was provided to all teams in the tournament for familiarity this past February.  I'm sure each team received several balls to show consistency from ball to ball.  During this time almost all players when asked about the ball had only good things to say.  They were all impressed with the power of the ball.  To me that means the ball is traveling faster after being kicked.  I decided to find out what the ball is made of.

 Materials / pre-products:

> Thermoplastic polyurethane-elastomer (TPU) TPU 0.3 mm: Manufactured in Taiwan
> Latex bladder: Manufactured in India
> Ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) EVA 3.5 mm: Manufactured in China
> Isotropic polyester/cotton fabric: Manufactured in China
> Glue: Manufactured in China
> Ink (11 colours): Manufactured in China

Well I'm not a scientist, but I don't see leather listed.

Now about the grip'n'groove 3d design.

Aero grooves create the clearly visible profile on the ball’s surface. The Grip’n’Groove profile circles round the entire ball in an optimal aerodynamic way. The integrated grooves provide unmatched flight characteristics, making this the most stable and most accurate adidas ball ever. The ground-breaking performance features of the adidas “JABULANI” have been confirmed in comprehensive comparison tests at Loughborough University in England and countless checks in the wind tunnel and the adidas football laboratory in Scheinfeld, Germany.

I also read what those that tested it said.  The grip'n'groove design does give added control on the foot and even when wet does not slip off the foot when struck.  This design acts similar to the dimples on a golf ball.  When the ball is struck true it flies unbelievably straight, which in turn adds distance.  When you put spin on the ball it really moves adding an advantage over a goal keeper.  Also testers stated that you could feel the increase of power when receiving a pass or stopping a shot.  To me this means the ball is moving faster. 

Those complaining most seem to be coming from players in leagues where Adidas is not the ball sponsor and thus could not incorporate the Jabulani into league play.  What I have been able to determine is that the ball flies farther and doesn't just bend when a person wants to put spin on the ball.  It moves and dives more than any previous ball, a nightmare for goal tenders. 

Is it fair to have such a radically different ball?  I don't know.  One thing I do know is that FIFA wants to see an increase in goals and I am not sold that there has been so far.  Basically I haven't done a goal comparison to previous World Cups.  Maybe something for me to do.

Oh one other thing I would like to point out.  Elevation.  For instance Johannesburg is 5,751 ft above sea level.  Anyone that has watched a Colorado Rockies home game knows what happens to baseballs hit there.  So distance will be even further than what teams at lower elevations saw.  Also with the lack of oxygen content the air has less stuff in it, not just oxygen, thus the term thinner air.  This means the 3d grip'n'groove design has less air to grab through flight and will react differently than when tested at lower elevations.  This talk about the ball now acting unpredictable may just be due to elevation.  A team at a lower elevation uses the ball and knows what to expect with this new ball.  That knowledge is now thrown out the window at higher elevations.

Location, location, location.

Yes this is going to be a sports blog with some other stuff thrown in.  About all the soccer posts.  Well I finally decided to start doing this just as the World Cup kicked off.  Strasburg for Washington already had his debut game, and did he ever make a statement.  Anyway the World Cup is every 4 years and the USA team each year gets better.  I enjoy the game which is in contrast to alot of Americans.  I know Wimbledon is going on, but I'm sorry tennis doesn't do it for me.  I will be blogging on traditional American sports trust me.  Right now I'm getting what I can about the World Cup done.  In a day or 2 I will be moving.  Luckily just around the corner.  Unluckily I won't have cable or internet access till the cable provider shows late on friday.  So late friday or saturday I will be hear to bore you again. 

One of the biggest turn-offs for Americans is the faking of getting hurt.  A player with possession of the ball gets challenged by an opponent and falls.  What galls me is seeing that player laying on the grass writhing in pain from the contact.  The ref calls a foul and the defender is given a yellow card, in essence a technical foul.  After the yellow card is given, the player writhing in agony suddenly jumps up with a smile and has no apparent problem walking or trotting around.  If FIFA would make it a penalty and require the faker to be given a yellow card this crap would stop.  Also, just as bad, the player on the ground gets carried off on a stretcher only to return within a minute or two is crap.  If the player is injured enough to have to be carried off on a stretcher should his safety be compromised to allow him to continue?  Just require the player to be substituted for.  All these tactics are designed to do is allow time to run off the clock and get a cheap foul called.  If yellow cards were issued for these types of tactics the game would benefit.  These types of incidents would all but disappear.  Remember how many guys in the NBA used to "flop" to get fouls called close to the basket.  NBA refs started ignoring flops and thus hardly anyone even trys anymore and play close to the bucket has improved.

Has 4 widely talked about calls by refs have an adverse impact on the matches?  All of the calls involve 4 separate games.

2 calls involve 2 USA games.  In both games the USA goals were disallowed due to being offsides.  Replays clearly showed the USA were not offsides. 

England, in their match against Germany, had a goal disallowed that would have tied the match at 2-2.  The ball hit the crossbar and ricocheted down to the turf and with backspin bounced out to the goal keeper.  It was ruled a non-goal and play continued.  On replay the ball is shown to hit the turf a full foot inside the goal.

The other call was between Argentina and Mexico.  Argentina already up 1-0 scored and went up 2-0.  On replay the Argentine player that scored was seen to be at least 2 yards past the last defender of Mexico, thus the call should have been offsides and the goal disallowed.

The final score of England/Germany was Germany 4 and England 1.  The final score of Argentina/Mexico was Argentina 3 and Mexico 1.  Now most people would look at the final score and say if the calls were reversed the outcome would be the same.  I, however, beg to differ.  The results of these blown calls forced England and Mexico to commit more pressure on the offensive end by bringing forward more players.  When this occurs defenders brought forward are out of position when ball possession changes and the defense is now at a disadvantage.  The result is a goal is easier to score.

If FIFA, the World Cup and International Soccer sanctioning body, had incorporated video technology or additional refs at the goals the proper calls would have been made and the match results may have been different.  As has been seen in after game interviews coaches of the teams affected do not criticize, I suppose, to avert the wrath of FIFA penalty sanctions.

Current FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter of Switzerland has made a statement on FIFA's stance to incorporate technology to assist refs on questionable calls.  Simply put he feels that the game must be played the same from youth leagues through the highest levels.  And he further stated,  "The simplicity and universality of the game of association football is one of the reasons for its success."  I for one think reasoning such as that is a load of crap.  In the United States everyone knows that for football, baseball, basketball, and hockey the rules are not the same from youth leagues through to the professional leagues.

Not one person here believes that youth leagues should incorporate the type of technology assistance that the NFL, MLB, NBA, or NHL have instituted. 

Why can't FIFA incorporate camera technology at the goals to assist refs?  FIFA's statement cites the cost as being to prohibitive.  Crap again.  It doesn't make sense for youth leagues to have that imposed for a list of reasons.  However, it should be mandatory for all World Cup matches starting with all qualifiers through the World Cup Championship.  As for all the professional leagues around the world incorporating the technology.  My thought is that should be a league decision.  If the Premier League in England and MLS in the USA want it and the Bundesleague in Germany refuses fine.  That is a decision that should be left to the leagues not FIFA.  If FIFA were to implement camera technology at the goals for the World Cup then I'm sure all the major leagues throughout the world would follow suit.

About stopping play to review calls.  If you have ever watched any soccer match on this planet after a goal alot of time is lost to celebrations after a goal is scored.  If there are review officials, like in the NFL, during the celebration those officials could be reviewing the goal to verify if it should be allowed or disallowed.  It would have no impact on the speed or pace of a match. When I read the following statement from FIFA's stance I almost drowned in the coke I was drinking.  FIFA's President closed their stance on technology with this statement.  "The nature of the game: association football is a dynamic game that cannot be stopped in order to review a decision. If play were to be stopped to take a decision, it would break up the rhythm of the game and possibly deny a team the opportunity to score a goal. It would also not make sense to stop play every two minutes to review a decision, as this would go against the natural dynamism of the game."

Just use the camera technology at the goals idiots.  The play on the field would not be helped significantly enough with this technology.  It is only needed to verify the validity of a goal scored.  Was the offense offsides or did the ball cross the goal line is what needs to be determined.  A ref 30 or so yards away and assistant refs on the sidelines a too far away to make those determinations.

Cleaning play up on the field.  Let me talk about that in a later post.

Saturday night at the co-promoted event by Strikeforce and M-1 Global an upset occured.  Fedor Emelianenko, considered by almost every MMA expert as the best heavyweight in the world, submitted to Fabricio Werdum at 1:09 into the first round.  Fedor from Russia is under contract with M-1 Global and Werdum from Brazil is under contract with Strikeforce.

What happened?  Fedor knocked Werdum to the mat and proceeded with his well known ground-and-pound attack to gain a quick win.  Then the unthinkable occured.  Werdum grabbed Fedor's left arm and applied an arm bar hold and, with Fedor between the legs of Werdum, Werdum was able to use his legs and put a triangle choke on Fedor.  Fedor could not escape either hold and had to tap out.

In the post match press conference Fedor explained that he failed to counter Werdum because of being overly aggressive to have a chance to end the match quickly.  Well the match ended quickly with Werdum victorious. 

This is one of the reasons that make MMA so popular in my opinion.  No matter the skill level of the opponents if one recognizes a mistake made by the other and can capitalize on it they will win.  That is why I like Brock Lesnar.  I know he used to be a pro wrestler but he has extensive amatuer wrestling experience which is the key.  Amatuer wrestling, otherwise known as grappling, is a form of combative sport without striking.  One just has to learn the art of striking to add to the arsenal.  Lesnar is doing that.  Each form of martial art has their own submission holds not unlike grappling.

All the talk of a Fedor/Lesnar match may or may not happen.  My thoughts on that and MMA's popularity on a later post.

Getting back to the results from saturday night.  As I stated earlier this kind of upset is one of the reasons that increases this sports popularity.  The prospect for a rematch will be up to the co-promoters.  Will a title shot against Alistair Overeem, current Strikeforce heavyweight champion happen soon for Werdum?  We will have to wait and see what happens.