Off-Topic Forum

I completely agree with most of what you said Tony. I wouldn't disagree with you in any aspect. On-the-mound conferences and pitcher changes are clearly the slowest process of an MLB game and something should be done to speed them up. I've ALWAYS thought that the mid-game relievers should be setting up to take over in the 4th inning of a game if it's going the wrong way in scoring or at least be loose for a stint in the 5th to 7th inning. If the Starter is on fire, you leave him in the game until he loses location! Then you still have a reliever ready to back him up. If that reliever comes out firing blanks, you should have already had another warmed up to take his place too. Just my personal philosophy on baseball.

In the MLB, pitching wins as many games as hitting does. You just have to score more than they do. In the NFL, defense can only win games if the offense scores more points than the defense allows. In racing, you only have to be faster and smarter than the other teams at working within the rules.

ALL sports have rules. The sad thing is that it doesn't matter if you have the best athletes. If you know how to work within the rules of the leagues to make your athletes perform the best for the rules they are given, you can get an advantage. I'm certainly not talking about PED's here, just taking minor rules to the very edge of league tolerance.

I can't say that I've liked a single change baseball has made or talked about in the last two plus years. Juiced baseballs, putting a clock on a game that was previously untimed, limiting strategy, starting extra innings with a runner on second...baseball is so concerned with retaining and gaining casual fans that if they keep this up they're going to lose the real ones. And that upsets me. Leave the darn game alone.

That's all I've got to say about that.

Commissioners are oblivious to the history of the game and only interested in $$$.     Selig was the biggest phony and he gets into the HOF.     Hockey, baskeball, football, baseball all want more scoring for the ignorant fans who know nothing about the game.     They stopped calling traveling and 3 seconds years ago in basketball.     In football, refs stopped calling holding,   baseball just juiced the players and now the ball.   Hockey with the composite sticks  and the Brodeur rule.

Baseball is inherently a "boring" sport.  It's not basketball, it's not hockey, it can't match the NFL's bursts of action.  There's nothing you can change about the sport to make it more appealing to casual fans, outside of turning it into an MTV Rock N Jock game. Manford can tinker all he wants to shave off 1-3 minutes of a game. It won't make a difference.  

I disagree.  Baseball is a thinking man's sport.  No need for tinkering.   As for football, it is know fact that there is actually less than 9 minutes of action in a game, the rest is simply time running off the clock.  Basketball has always been "turn on the last 2 minutes and see if it's close".      Hockey is fine the way it is.

well, you have to look at it like this.. each sport in its own is somewhat methodical and thinking, like a chess match. except in most sports, you have to rely on who is around you  to achieve the objective. Only tennis singles and golf are more one-on-one action where you alone have to out think your opponent and stratagize for yourself. As far as the business is concerned- once the sport went organized back in the day and it was publicized - it became a business then. Owners saw the potential in money by having good players, therefore they soliciated for good players and marketed for a winning season. Today's age is all about the marketing and just getting fans to tune in or watch in person so vendor gets a piece of the action. the francise revolves around the star players although it still takes the team to win. the business aspect for today boils down to $$$ and players know it and they want action too, so bigger contracts. And as long as people keep going to the any game, its only going to continue to grow. and the only way to keep fans entertained is to change it up from time to time in order to put that kink in the strategy or play. can you imagine limiting a pitch count to batter to let's say 12 pitches only- and after that an automatic out? as a fan, we would miss that dual between batter and pitcher with the constant foul balls until someone strikes out or gets on base.

when football changed the kickoff rule, what did bill bilichek do? he had his kickers , boot the ball higher in most cases to the 5yd line-ish in order for his kick off team to get down the field and forcing the returner to run and not take a knee. --Again- different strategy. 

at the end of the day, whether we like or not- its going to come down to the organization and owners making the dough and finding ways to keep the fans tuned in somehow.

Basketball is my favorite sport, but baseball is right there as a close second.  There is something about the aura of baseball that is just special.  I can't put my finger on it exacty, maybe it's just the rich history of the entire game itself.  Maybe it's the sights and sounds of the ballpark.  The game doesn't need to be changed.  You either appreciate baseball or you don't.  

I was talking to a friend of mind over text even just a few minutes ago reminiscing about a funny baseball story.  A few years ago we were at a Spring Training game watching the Padres play another team, I can't remember who.  We started talking about how the Padres are really bad and a lot of their young players haven't panned out to anything decent.  As we are saying this, Chase Headley is coming to bat.  I say to him, well this Chase Headley is actually becoming a very good third baseman for them.  He tells me sure,  but if I'm running that team, I need more power out of my third baseman.  

Literally as those words left his mouth, Headley blasted the most towering home run I have ever seen in person.  The crack of the bat was startling, and the ball sailed clear over the right field wall, over the taco stand, out of the stadium and into the parking lot.  A classic moment.  That's the magic of baseball.  

The only thing that takes longer than a baseball game is reading all the comments on this forum!

but did you take a nap in the middle of them?

I just had to skip over most of them, since I'm at work and shouldn't be reading the forums in the first place!!