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Remember when ... ?

Frayed Knot Aug 18 2013 06:01 PM

- Remember when ESPN's 'Baseball Tonight' show on Sundays was mostly geared towards showing the highlights from all the games that day as opposed to acting mostly as a commercial for the one game that hasn't been played yet? - Remember when the 'Arts & Leisure' section of the Sunday NY Times used to be thicker than their fluffier and less substantial 'Styles' section?

MFS62 Aug 19 2013 07:12 AM Re: Remember when ... ?

Remember when you could pick up a newspaper on the way home from work that had the results of the afternoon games? Remember when there were regularly scheduled weekday afternoon games? Later

Frayed Knot Aug 19 2013 07:25 AM Re: Remember when ... ?

MFS62 wrote: Remember when there were regularly scheduled weekday afternoon games? There are actually still a decent amount of those. Wednesdays and Thursdays usually feature several "get-away" day games, sometimes nearly half the schedule on those days are in the afternoon. Five of fifteen this coming Wednesday for instance, then five of the nine scheduled for this Thursday. It's the Saturday day games that were once universal but are now rapidly disappearing. This past Saturday featured ZERO 1-PM start times (in any time zone) and only three or four that weren't at least a Six PM local start or later.

Ceetar Aug 19 2013 07:48 AM Re: Remember when ... ?

This "Monday off day" thing is pretty archaic isn't it? A result of Sunday doubleheaders or some such? Why have series wrap that way? Sunday night is better for ratings, and for me at least, easier to find time to watch a game. (maybe start at 7:30 instead of 8:19? I suspect ratings numbers suggest 8 is the best start time, but I think they're reading them wrong. I suspect that creates a higher peak, but I think they'd be better overall switching the 11-11:30 ratings to 7:30-8, but I digress) So why not have the series go Saturday->Monday, rather than Friday->Sunday? I feel like a monday game is better than a Friday, As more and more games are starting later on Saturdays (Thanks Fox..) this is probably the biggest window for travel and gives the players the most rest as well. Then you can play more games Sunday night, and also more Monday afternoon. This fits a lot better with the two Monday holidays that should have day games for BBQs. You're basically trading Friday nights for Monday afternoons and getting a couple more Sunday night games out of it as well. This probably plays better for TV ratings over in the ballpark attendance, but it seems like more and more it's TV that's important.

RealityChuck Aug 19 2013 08:14 AM Re: Remember when ... ?

Ceetar wrote: This "Monday off day" thing is pretty archaic isn't it? A result of Sunday doubleheaders or some such? Why have series wrap that way? Travel. Before airplanes, you needed a full day to get to the next city (especially if you were traveling from the east coast to Chicago or St. Louis). Same thing happened when baseball went to the west coast, even though they were flying. I suspect they keep Friday through Monday because you'd probably get a bigger crowd on Friday -- "it's the weekend; let's go to the game!" as opposed to "I hate Mondays and don't feel like going out."

Edgy MD Aug 19 2013 08:55 AM Re: Remember when ... ?

I remember Ralph and Tim talking about it. You used to need to keep an eye on the weekday schedule to make sure you were ready for day games vs. night games. But you never bothered checking the weekend schedule. It was always a night game on Friday, always a day game Saturday, almost always a double-header on Sunday (but the start time was the same either way), and always a day off Monday, even if you weren't travelling.

Frayed Knot Aug 19 2013 11:02 AM Re: Remember when ... ?

In BALL FOUR Jim Bouton tells two different stories about almost missing a game due to assuming the usual, including at least one where he was surprised by a Friday afternoon game and a panicked call from a teammate found him lounging around the house about an hour before game time.

SteveJRogers Aug 19 2013 09:14 PM Re: Remember when ... ?

Frayed Knot wrote: - Remember when ESPN's 'Baseball Tonight' show on Sundays was mostly geared towards showing the highlights from all the games that day as opposed to acting mostly as a commercial for the one game that hasn't been played yet? Remember when ESPN gave baseball coverage beyond what the rest of the mainstream national media was covering, or situations where they wanted to make it seem sports coverage should be taken as seriously as hard news stories?

Vic Sage Aug 21 2013 09:04 AM Re: Remember when ... ?

Edgy MD wrote: I remember Ralph and Tim talking about it. You used to need to keep an eye on the weekday schedule to make sure you were ready for day games vs. night games. But you never bothered checking the weekend schedule. It was always a night game on Friday, always a day game Saturday, almost always a double-header on Sunday (but the start time was the same either way), and always a day off Monday, even if you weren't travelling. The same thing in the theater... a Friday evening performance followed by matinee and evening performances on Saturday and Sunday (sometimes just 1 show on Sunday), with Monday dark. And the actors don't have to fly anywhere.

Frayed Knot Aug 21 2013 08:39 PM Re: Remember when ... ?

Remember when 12 year olds weren't the size of Ryan Howard? ... cuz I think some of these kids in the WWLS are.

Edgy MD Aug 21 2013 09:52 PM Re: Remember when ... ?

What the heck is the WWLS? Is that the Little League World Series in Elmer Fuddland? Speaking of big kids, check this out.

Ashie62 Aug 21 2013 09:58 PM Re: Remember when ... ?

Remember when Baseball Tonight on ESPN was not trumped by the interweb..

Frayed Knot Aug 22 2013 06:35 AM Re: Remember when ... ?

Edgy MD wrote: What the heck is the WWLS? Is that the Little League World Series in Elmer Fuddland? Or in dyslexia-land, or in late-night posting land. But, yeah, I flicked on ESPN looking for some late night hi-lights but the LLWS was still going on (too many pitching changes perhaps? ... excessive velcro adjustments? ... maybe some replay challenges took too long?) and there were some 12 year olds on whatever teams were playing that I'm pretty sure I would be physically afraid of if crossing in a dark alley. Remember when Baseball Tonight on ESPN was not trumped by the interweb.. Hell, I remember when one could actually Find BB2N on a fairly regular basis. Right now I can't even remember the last time I saw it because on occasions when I do go looking for it it's been bumped for something. I guess Bristol feels that the existence of MLBN has freed them from the responsibility of even pretending to care about baseball which will in turn allows them to become a full-time pro and college network starting in early July. No sense in waiting until the last minute to start with those pre-season predictions.

MFS62 Aug 22 2013 08:04 AM Re: Remember when ... ?

... when there were seven newspapers in New York, and you might find some different stories about your team, rather than the same stuff re-hashed from post-game interviews. Later

dgwphotography Aug 22 2013 03:00 PM Re: Remember when ... ?

... Dick Cavett hosted a show on HBO called, "Remember When.."? [youtube:3ufh2bhe]HBhSYT0Ncyo[/youtube:3ufh2bhe]

Nymr83 Aug 23 2013 11:31 AM Re: Remember when ... ?

MFS62 wrote: ... when there were seven newspapers in New York, and you might find some different stories about your team, rather than the same stuff re-hashed from post-game interviews. Later There were 7 newspapers with their own sports writers? The Post, Daily News, Times, and Newsday still have their own writers... who else is/was covering NY teams on a daily basis with their own writers?

Ceetar Aug 23 2013 12:03 PM Re: Remember when ... ?

Nymr83 wrote: MFS62 wrote: ... when there were seven newspapers in New York, and you might find some different stories about your team, rather than the same stuff re-hashed from post-game interviews. Later There were 7 newspapers with their own sports writers? The Post, Daily News, Times, and Newsday still have their own writers... who else is/was covering NY teams on a daily basis with their own writers? as for 'is', you've got the WSJ, Bergen Record and Star-Ledger at least.

Edgy MD Aug 23 2013 12:12 PM Re: Remember when ... ?

Nymr83 wrote: MFS62 wrote: ... when there were seven newspapers in New York, and you might find some different stories about your team, rather than the same stuff re-hashed from post-game interviews. Later There were 7 newspapers with their own sports writers? The Post, Daily News, Times, and Newsday still have their own writers... who else is/was covering NY teams on a daily basis with their own writers? As of the early sixties, there was the Times, the News, the Post, the Herald Tribute, the Journal-American, the World-Telegram & Sun, and the Daily Mirror. Plus there were two Long Island papers and others based in north Jersey or the Hudson Valley, all with significant city coverage. And the commie papers too.

Mets – Willets Point Aug 26 2013 08:56 AM Re: Remember when ... ?

Frayed Knot wrote: Remember when 12 year olds weren't the size of Ryan Howard? ... cuz I think some of these kids in the WWLS are. It's the World Wrestling League Series, of course they're big.