League pulls plug on T-Bones' virtual game

[Ez Street]

GAME OVER

League pulls plug on T-Bones' virtual game

In pulling plug on T-Bones? promotion, league leaves the ?virtual? in virtual reality

By DAVID HAYES

The Kansas City Star

As baseball fantasies go, this one turned out to be a little too fantastic.

After further review, minor-league baseball?s Northern League is balking at an on-field Xbox promotion scheduled next month by the Kansas City T-Bones.

The T-Bones had planned to allow two video gamers to play the first two innings of the team?s July 16th game with the Schaumburg Flyers on a Microsoft Xbox game console hooked up to the big screen at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.

The T-Bones and Flyers were to pick up in the third inning using the score the players racked up playing MVP Baseball 2005, and finishing out the last seven innings of the game.

Mike Stone, commissioner of the Northern League, reversed his earlier ruling to allow the unusual promotion.

?I have decided that this concept as originally presented is not in the best interest of the Northern League,? Stone said in a statement Monday afternoon.

The decision left Rick Muntean, general manager of the T-Bones, ?a little miffed.?

?I feel bad for Mike (Stone),? Muntean said Monday evening. ?I think there was some outside influence on this.?

Muntean noted that previous league games featured ESPN ?Cold Pizza? co-host Jay Crawford pitching a game for St. Paul. Budweiser pitch man ?Leon? (Nigel Thatch) has pitched in three games for the Flyers.

?They had a guy from a Budweiser commercial pitching, and we can?t do this?? Muntean said.

Stone, however, was concerned that a close race or a playoff spot could be affected by the T-Bones-Flyers outcome.

?Any promotion that could affect the outcome of a regular-season game is not permissible,? Stone said. ?Ultimately, such an event could have an influence on the final standings, and this certainly challenges the integrity of the league.?

The teams, instead, will play a regular nine-inning game. The Xbox gamers will take the field after the game, picking up at the top of the eighth inning.

John Blake, chief operating officer of the Northern League, said Stone?s decision ?did not have anything to do with outside influence.? Stone could not be reached Monday evening.

A contest to choose two Xbox players to compete in lounge chairs at home plate after the game will continue at CompUSA stores in Overland Park and Independence.

?My message to those that influenced him was we were just trying to have some fun,? Muntean said.

?Today we take it too seriously?The league wouldn?t exist if it weren?t for stuff like this. If we sat here and sold baseball, it wouldn?t be around.?

Muntean said the team already has sold more than 6,000 tickets for the July 16 game and expects its largest crowd ever.

Attendance this year is averaging 5,100.

[Dilbert]

Good that was just stupid!

[paynomind]

Dumb ass move by the Northern league. How much have we, a group of sports fans, been talking about their league the past three years? I'd say just about none. But this unique promotion made us aware, got us talking. And now they take themselves too seriously to allow a promotion that BOTH teams AGREED to? Ridiculous. You aren't the MLB, Northern League. You aren't that important. I'd organize a boycott fo the game, if I lived there and wasnt so incredibly lazy.

[Ez Street]

Dumb ass move by the Northern league. How much have we, a group of sports fans, been talking about their league the past three years? I'd say just about none. But this unique promotion made us aware, got us talking. And now they take themselves too seriously to allow a promotion that BOTH teams AGREED to? Ridiculous. You aren't the MLB, Northern League. You aren't that important. I'd organize a boycott fo the game, if I lived there and wasnt so incredibly lazy.

I agree............about the lazy part.

Seriously I think this move is Chicken :censored: by the league. I know that the T-Bones will still do fine though. That team is run extremely well. I've met the GM, he is a great baseball guy. They will think of something else that night.

[Mac the Knife]

Hang Mike Stone in Effigy Night.

That said, this was a stupidass idea, and I'm glad it got axed.

[NJTank]

Good this was a joke and an embarssment to the sport and the players.

[Kess]

?Any promotion that could affect the outcome of a regular-season game is not permissible,? Stone said. ?Ultimately, such an event could have an influence on the final standings, and this certainly challenges the integrity of the league.?

And having Jay Crawford or "Leon" pitch in games could not affect the outcome of a regular-season game? If those dudes get shelled and the team they're pitching for is in too big a hole to climb out of, that won't affect the outcome of the game.

That doesn't add up.

[slapshot]

Is "Leon" just a promotion, or is he a real baseball player that happened to work a few commercials?

If he's doing it as "Leon", then it's no different than the XBox promotion. If he's a real ballplayer, then he's just another pitcher in the game.

[Gamingboy]

Is "Leon" just a promotion, or is he a real baseball player that happened to work a few commercials?

If he's doing it as "Leon", then it's no different than the XBox promotion. If he's a real ballplayer, then he's just another pitcher in the game.

He's a real ballplayer, he pitched for Univ. Of Miami but then went on a acting career, and now he is pitching for a independent team on the side. They just bill him as "Leon" because that's what independent leagues do.

[cyandlux]

Ive watched my friends play Xbox and let me tell you, I wouldnt pay to see some shmoe play Xbox for two innings. It was just a really silly bad idea.

If we sat here and sold baseball, it wouldn?t be around << Ithink that says it ALL

[omnivore]

That's a really, really unique and funny idea.

I mean, I can see where it makes a 'mockery' of the game in a sense, but I think it's a neat idea regardless.

Besides, it's independent minor league ball. No one really cares.

People go to stupid baseball games and get excited about the games on the video screens where the three "whatevers" (depending on the ballpark) race each other.

People cheer over dizzybat races and other stuff.

It would've brought kids to the park, got the league some press and whatever. I think they were probably more concerned about precedent than anything else. But what would the players care? It's just two innings they get to chill out.

Besides, if they'd already sold more tickets than they had before..why wouldn't it work?

I don't see it being any different than gimmicks where people like Manute Bol suit up and make a "mockery" of those games or when gimmick people like guys from ESPN show up and pitch an inning.

Seems inconsistent.