Things you don't see in sports anymore

[DG_ThenNowForever]

star players staying with one team for their entire career, i.e. Jeter or Chipper Jones

How can two things actively happening right now be something you don't see anymore?

[BBTV]

While he's not nearly on the same level as Jeter or Chipper Jones, Jimmy Rollins is still a former ROY, MVP, has a World Series and 5 playoff appearances so he's at least been kinda good. He started with the Phillies in 2000, was ROY in 2001, and (though I disagree with it but they didn't ask me) is signed through 2014 (maybe an option for 2015) so it's likely that he'll wrap it up on the same team he started with.

Quick Edit: Just heard that he passed Larry Bowa for most games played at shortstop for the team, and is 4th in hits, 3rd in runs, and 3rd in games played. Not bad for a (albeit mostly sucky) 129 year old team.

[PacificCoastRL]

Speaking of nicknames. I only heard this one a few times. Remember Joaquin Andujar, who pitched mostly for the Cardinals I believe - his nickname was "Where's my head". That's a great nickname.

[Discrim]

well, youneverknow. If you get sick, then you die.

[CS85]

The major reason for the nicknames and such is that sports has been stripped of it's romance because of it's accessibility. Back when sports writers were given poetic license to take ordinary guys and turn them into legends via prose, people would cultivate the myths to an unreachable standard, despite the relatively normal gameplay on the field. A nickname became much more than just a moniker, it was how you were remembered, it was how word spread.

Now most nicknames are either ones they brought up in life or ones fans created as an inside joke, positive and negative.

[cmm]

Half the Giants' roster has nicknames. Whether they're contrived or not is up to you.

The Freak

Buster Posey

Kung Fu Panda

The Beard

The Great White Shark

The Melkman

Captain Underpants

Vogelstrong

Pardon my stupidity, but who's that?

[TrueYankee26]

Half the Giants' roster has nicknames. Whether they're contrived or not is up to you.

The Freak

Buster Posey

Kung Fu Panda

The Beard

The Great White Shark

The Melkman

Captain Underpants

Vogelstrong

Pardon my stupidity, but who's that?

That would be Hunter Pence.

[cmm]

Ah, underpants sort of sounds like Hunter Pence. I get it now. I am dumb. Thanks.

[Saintsfan]

Remember back in the day when players were probably known more by their nicknames (which also by the way weren't forced or contrived unlike the current media age) than their real names?

Still happens. King James, CP3, Ocho Cinco, TO, Tiger, Linsanity, JPP, and Floyd Money come to mind immediately.

Most of these are forced though...they're nicknames just to have nicknames.

Thank you for saying that for me. Any combination of letters/initials and jersey number (or stuff like D-Fish, J-Will, et al) is as contrived as contrived gets. And "Linsanity"? Yeah, the very definition of "forced"...even more so than Vinsanity was (even if it was also half-appropriate).

Call me back when we get another transcendent nickname out there in present day.

Yep. Everything except Tiger is forced and contrived on that list.

Isn't the point of a nickname that it's contrived? Isn't 'the sultan of swat' or 'Dr J' every bit as contrived as some of those?

[Sport]

Slightly off-topic, but I like how in baseball certain nicknames get passed from one generation to the next. The names Pudge and Doc are two that have been prescribed to several different players over the years.

[infrared41]

May have been mentioned before...but...no corporate sponsors for everything during the telecast! Everything these days is "call to the bullpen by AT&T" or "safe and secure at second by New York Life". And I'm relatively young (30 years old) but it's irritating.

This! And I am only a year older than you. Another example is "Kwik Trip to the mound. Kwik Trip reminding you that your $20 shouldn't cost you $21.50" Or "Home Depot doing more on defense..." "Jimmy Johns delivery of the game" for a huge strikeout. I've turned it into a game (perhaps there is a drinking game to be had), and joke about it. I even make up non-existent ones for on the playing surface too. Something like "He's at the FreeCreditReport.com Free Throw Line to shoot a one and one."

Now that games are on more and more, it gets ridiculous every time you hear it.

There is a perfectly good reason for that. Acquiring the broadcast rights for a team is pretty expensive. The station/cable network needs to find ways to make back the money they spent so they sell advertising. The rights fees increase while the "natural" slots (between innings, quarters, etc.) for ads stays the same so they come up with new slots to place advertising. That's why you hear things like "Kwik Trip to the mound. Kwik Trip reminding you that your $20 shouldn't cost you $21.50" It's either that, or pay-per-view. Can either of you afford $39.95 a game?

[Kramerica Industries]

The Melkman himself was also given the derivative nickname of "Leche" during his time with the Yankees.

Another, that I just found out while typing this post, is "Masa Pan Con Leche". Yankees players obviously loved the milk entendre's.

[The_Admiral]

There is a perfectly good reason for that. Acquiring the broadcast rights for a team is pretty expensive. The station/cable network needs to find ways to make back the money they spent so they sell advertising. The rights fees increase while the "natural" slots (between innings, quarters, etc.) for ads stays the same so they come up with new slots to place advertising. That's why you hear things like "Kwik Trip to the mound. Kwik Trip reminding you that your $20 shouldn't cost you $21.50" It's either that, or pay-per-view. Can either of you afford $39.95 a game?

While no one's paying $40 a game, thank goodness, how many people are still getting their baseball for free? Between RSNs on extended-tier cable and buying the out-of-market packages (mlb.tv, Extra Innings), fans are paying a premium to be inundated with advertising. I understand the financial realities, but I don't begrudge people their sensory overloads.

Though oddly enough, I kinda like when NHL Gamecenter doesn't block commercial breaks because it's fun to see local ads from Edmonton or Detroit and so forth. Plus that "we'll be right back" stock music that plays gets really annoying!

[infrared41]

There is a perfectly good reason for that. Acquiring the broadcast rights for a team is pretty expensive. The station/cable network needs to find ways to make back the money they spent so they sell advertising. The rights fees increase while the "natural" slots (between innings, quarters, etc.) for ads stays the same so they come up with new slots to place advertising. That's why you hear things like "Kwik Trip to the mound. Kwik Trip reminding you that your $20 shouldn't cost you $21.50" It's either that, or pay-per-view. Can either of you afford $39.95 a game?

While no one's paying $40 a game, thank goodness, how many people are still getting their baseball for free? Between RSNs on extended-tier cable and buying the out-of-market packages (mlb.tv, Extra Innings), fans are paying a premium to be inundated with advertising. I understand the financial realities, but I don't begrudge people their sensory overloads.

Though oddly enough, I kinda like when NHL Gamecenter doesn't block commercial breaks because it's fun to see local ads from Edmonton or Detroit and so forth. Plus that "we'll be right back" stock music that plays gets really annoying!

You could say the same thing about most any programming. You don't strike me as a "watches network TV" type. My guess is you're paying a premium for pretty much everything you watch on TV. Sports just happen to be the most expensive of those programs so of course they cost the most and run the most advertising. Fans are paying a premium because that's the only way they're going to get to see games. So sensory overload it is. (and really, is it that awful to hear "Kwik Trip to the mound?")

Sidenote: It's pretty amusing to see people complaining about too much advertising in one thread while others are pining away for the days of ads on the outfield walls in another. What a place.

EDIT: One of things I like about MLB Extra Innings is the chance to see the local commercials in other markets.

[BBTV]

In some cases, don't the teams actually pay the stations to carry their programming? Kind of like buying a 3 hour long commercial, but you get to sell commercials for your commercial. I know it works that way in radio more than TV, but I think there's at least a few cases where it happens for local TV as well.

[TrueYankee26]

Sidenote: It's pretty amusing to see people complaining about too much advertising in one thread while others are pining away for the days of ads on the outfield walls in another. What a place.

Old picture of Fenway park. Lots of advertisements, even back in the day.

[infrared41]

In some cases, don't the teams actually pay the stations to carry their programming? Kind of like buying a 3 hour long commercial, but you get to sell commercials for your commercial. I know it works that way in radio more than TV, but I think there's at least a few cases where it happens for local TV as well.

I honestly don't know if that's the case with any of the "major" sports but I could see it with sports that aren't ratings grabbers. It would certainly help explain how soccer ends up on TV.

[infrared41]

Sidenote: It's pretty amusing to see people complaining about too much advertising in one thread while others are pining away for the days of ads on the outfield walls in another. What a place.

Old picture of Fenway park. Lots of advertisements, even back in the day.

That's what I was referring to. I don't know which thread it was in (hell, it may be this one for all I know) but someone said they wished the outfield walls still looked like the ones in your picture.

[The_Admiral]

In some cases, don't the teams actually pay the stations to carry their programming? Kind of like buying a 3 hour long commercial, but you get to sell commercials for your commercial. I know it works that way in radio more than TV, but I think there's at least a few cases where it happens for local TV as well.

I honestly don't know if that's the case with any of the "major" sports but I could see it with sports that aren't ratings grabbers. It would certainly help explain how soccer ends up on TV.

A lot of local radio deals, especially in the NHL, are basically brokered radio. The Blackhawks bought their airtime and sold back their ads up through 2008. When they moved to WGN, they switched to a profit-sharing model, but I don't think they've made it all the way to a rights fee. You're seeing fewer and fewer rights fees in radio, I think.

As for MLS, I think they're under the same sort of profit-sharing that the NHL and NBC had from 2005-2011, where the league wasn't paid for the rights but was allowed to split ad money.

You could say the same thing about most any programming. You don't strike me as a "watches network TV" type. My guess is you're paying a premium for pretty much everything you watch on TV. Sports just happen to be the most expensive of those programs so of course they cost the most and run the most advertising. Fans are paying a premium because that's the only way they're going to get to see games. So sensory overload it is. (and really, is it that awful to hear "Kwik Trip to the mound?")

No, not really. Having been in advertising, I've developed a pretty high tolerance for it. I only get angsty about ads when it comes to the Cubs, because it's a deeply held conviction of mine that the so-called "sanctity" of Wrigley Field is such a big part of why people flock to the park, and papering it with ads to "open revenue streams" will ultimately have the reverse effect, as a Wrigley Field with its ivy shorn for outfield ads and every inch of surface space whored out stops being a unique attraction and just becomes an old major league stadium with bad concourses and piss-troughs. It was a masterstroke of marketing for John McDonough to turn a relic of a neighborhood ballpark into Something Special back in the 1980s; I would hate for the bean-counters for the cash-strapped bobos juggling this team to miss the forest for the trees and blitz the place with ads just because "Fenway can do it."

Speaking of lots of money changing hands and a crappy baseball team, I wonder if we'll ever hit a breaking point where sports just becomes Too Damn Much. We're expected to pay out the ass for tickets, pay too much for merchandise, pay too much for concessions and parking, pay for the telecasts, sit through the ads for the telecasts we paid for, get overwhelmed by billboards all over the publicly-financed stadiums, all in the name of "maximizing revenue streams in order to remain competitive." The bubble has to burst one day. Gas is $4.25 a gallon! Populism!

[Kramerica Industries]

There is a perfectly good reason for that. Acquiring the broadcast rights for a team is pretty expensive. The station/cable network needs to find ways to make back the money they spent so they sell advertising. The rights fees increase while the "natural" slots (between innings, quarters, etc.) for ads stays the same so they come up with new slots to place advertising. That's why you hear things like "Kwik Trip to the mound. Kwik Trip reminding you that your $20 shouldn't cost you $21.50" It's either that, or pay-per-view. Can either of you afford $39.95 a game?

While no one's paying $40 a game, thank goodness, how many people are still getting their baseball for free? Between RSNs on extended-tier cable and buying the out-of-market packages (mlb.tv, Extra Innings), fans are paying a premium to be inundated with advertising. I understand the financial realities, but I don't begrudge people their sensory overloads.

Though oddly enough, I kinda like when NHL Gamecenter doesn't block commercial breaks because it's fun to see local ads from Edmonton or Detroit and so forth. Plus that "we'll be right back" stock music that plays gets really annoying!

You could say the same thing about most any programming. You don't strike me as a "watches network TV" type. My guess is you're paying a premium for pretty much everything you watch on TV. Sports just happen to be the most expensive of those programs so of course they cost the most and run the most advertising. Fans are paying a premium because that's the only way they're going to get to see games. So sensory overload it is. (and really, is it that awful to hear "Kwik Trip to the mound?")

Sidenote: It's pretty amusing to see people complaining about too much advertising in one thread while others are pining away for the days of ads on the outfield walls in another. What a place.

EDIT: One of things I like about MLB Extra Innings is the chance to see the local commercials in other markets.

Kinda wish MLB.tv did the same, instead of having the same blue screen up 80% of the time, with the same three sponsorship ads of MLB.com airing the other 20%. Just more incentive to eventually upgrade in due time.