Month: November 2015

When a Friendly meets Hostility

Posted on by DylanHornik

Leon Trotsky once said, “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.”

Tragedy struck the city of Paris, France in the same vein on Friday. Radical militants attacked six different locations in and around the city, killing over 120 people. The bloodbath is the largest attack on France since World War II.

One of the sites that faced a spine-chilling, life-threatening scenario was outside Stade de France in Saint-Denis. During an international friendly between France and Germany, two suicide bombings and a third explosion went off just outside of the stadium. The match ended in a 2-0 victory for France, but by that time hundreds were already dead.

Sporting events are supposed to be a sort of safe haven for the human race. In these instances, we’re allowed to forget about the myriad problems that we face on a daily basis, not to mention those that loom larger than us that are out of our control. What happened on Friday night is nothing short of a cataclysm on all fronts, but the very fiber of life that keeps millions of us level-headed was ripped, just a little bit, for a short time.

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While the soccer match continued, an unfathomable horror went on outside the gates of Stade de France.

When the explosions were heard inside the stadium, around the 15th minute, it was met immediately with an uproar from the crowd, a mixture of excitement, fear, and a pure adrenal reaction that comes from an event of that nature (a video can be seen here). President Francois Hollande was taken away from the area. From there, it wouldn’t be long before the fans inside the confines of Stade de France were aware of what was happening so harrowingly close to them. The haven of sports, if only for a split-second, was breached by something unimaginable.

Then, match officials and executives made a controversial, but what turned out to be ingenious, decision. They decided to withhold information about the attacks on Paris from the players and fans until the match concluded. They decided to use the inherent comfort, a virtual bubble secluding the match from the outside world, to their advantage to prevent fear and panic from striking the fans and players. They made it seem as if  nothing was happening, and the fans went along with it, cheering and booing normally and appropriately, even doing “The Wave” at one point. Officials saved their fans from clouding their own heads with nightmarish scenarios of what was happening, and let them enjoy themselves as much as they can.

After the match was over, the blinders that shade spectators from reality retracted, and everyone in the stadium knew of the sheer horror that, at that time, fully infected the entire country. Some exited under their own volition, players retreated into their locker rooms to check in on family members and friends, but something interesting happened. Many fans flooded the pitch and stayed there long after the match ended. They hugged one another, checked cell phones, and generally loitered under a haze of controlled panic.

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Thousands of fans went on the field after the game in reaction to the attacks on Paris.

The safety net that sports naturally provides is on full display. Instead of attempting to wrap their head around what just happened in their city, they stayed inside the arena, conferred with fellow fans, and decided to sidestep real-life tragedy, just for a little while longer. In that moment, the human race needed sports as much as sports needed the human race. A soccer friendly turned tragic became friendly again, with thousands of fans helping each other cope.

We have seen it happen before. Sports have an uncanny ability to heal in times of tragedy and loss. Whether it’s Mike Piazza’s go-ahead home run in the first game after the September 11th attacks, David Ortiz’s “Boston Strong” speech after the Boston Marathon bombing, or Steve Gleason blocking a punt and scoring in the first game in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, sports can soften the blow of extreme adversity.

I, and everyone sound of mind and spirit, feel the pain of the massacre in Paris. During the pain and suffering, soccer provided an alternative for several thousand people. I hope everyone affected by these attacks has something to lean on to lighten the immense weight of loss that they carry.

The Superior Sport?

Posted on by DylanHornik

I love sports.

So do you. That’s probably why you’re reading this blog (except for you, Mom). That means that you probably watch more than one sport, which is good, because all of them are great, but which one is the best? That’s what I’m going to try to decide here.

I’ll be using a complicated (not) grading system based on four factors. Each factor, excitement, popularity, clarity, and live experience, will be graded out of five, and the total results will be converted into a score out of 100. I’m only going to grade the four biggest sports in America: football, baseball, basketball, and hockey. Hopefully, this will all go according to plan, and the top dog in the wide world of sports will showcase itself.

Football: 

Excitement: 4/5- Football is pretty damn great, let’s be honest. There’s at least one mildly exciting game every Sunday, and the really exciting ones go down in sports history, like last year’s Super Bowl between the Patriots and Seahawks. However, to truly understand a lot of the weight that some football games carry, you need to know some background context about each team. On top of that, the time between plays is not well-used and there are too many commercials for (now illegal) daily fantasy companies.

Popularity: 5/5- The top 21 most-watched TV programs in American history are all Super Bowls, so that should say something about the draw of watching grown men run into each other. In 2014, 35 percent of sports fans called football their favorite, the largest portion of any sport in America, according to a Harris poll released by ESPN. That means the sport gets big points in this category.

Clarity: 3/5- Other than the obvious, “run-to-the-end-zone-and-don’t-get-tackled” concepts, football is very, very difficult to understand. To be a casual fan is to barely understand half of the penalties that could get called over the course of one game. Not to mention all of the complex play calls that most fanatics try to understand, but can never accurately predict when watching from their couches.

Live Experience: 4/5 Football excels when it comes to this. there’s never a bad seat in any stadium, and the camaraderie between like-minded fans is at an all-time high in the friendly confines of the glorious home stadium. Heckling opposing fans is even nastier than most other sports, which is just as entertaining as the actual game. The only knocks are that it can be absolutely frigid in the middle of the season and sitting in below-freezing temperatures during timeouts, commercial breaks, and quarter and halftime breaks is unenjoyable.

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Total: 16/20 or 80/100

Baseball:

Excitement: 3.5/5- The biggest knock on baseball is that it’s so slow, especially on TV. Not many people want to watch a game that could easily surpass three-and-a-half hours, but fanaticism is as fanaticism does. However, baseball is unique in that it is the only sport that allows for a walk-off scenario multiple times in a game. There’s nothing like a come-from-behind win in the bottom of the 9th…or the 16th.

Popularity: 4/5- Baseball ranks second behind football in the same ESPN/Harris poll, but has around 100 million more fans according to sporteology.com. Their big grade comes from the fact that it may be the most international sport on this list, with fans from Japan to America and the Caribbean to its budding life in Europe. As the national pastime of our country already, it’s more potent in its ability to travel globally.

Clarity: 3.5/5- There’s a basic understanding of the game like their is in football, but there isn’t such a deep understanding that’s vital to watching the game like in football. Superfans are crazed with sabremetrics and pitching matchups, but it’s not completely necessary because the basic stats can get you by.

Live Experience: 5/5- Going a baseball game is so great that there’s even a song about it. That alone is enough to give it a perfect grade. There’s something about ballpark food, although overpriced, that’s just magical, and watching a homer fly through the air live is more graceful than anything else in sports.

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Total: 16/20 or 80/100

Basketball:

Excitement: 4.5/5- Basketball, along with hockey, is constant action, which makes them the most exciting sports of the four. In addition, breakaway dunks and long three-pointers are pure ocular ecstasy. Buzzer beaters are right up there with walk off homers as far as game-ending drama. Plus, the NBA Finals always have at least one great game. Like the NFL, however, there are too many commercials that break up the continuity of the contests.

Popularity: 4/5- Like baseball, basketball is also multi-national, with leagues in China, the Philippines, Australia, Spain, and more. China is becoming a hotbed for fans and pretty decent players. Basketball shoes might be the most popular footwear item in the history of western civilization, and everyone knows Jordan, LeBron, and Kobe, amongst others. Every suburban driveway has a basketball hoop, not field goal posts or a pitcher’s mound.

Clarity: 4/5- Every sport has its technicalities, but basketball also might be the easiest to understand. Run, dribble, put the ball in the hoop, and try to stop the other team without getting too touchy-feely. Travels are pretty self-explanatory, and if a player scores a lot of points, then they’re good. Stats are really unnecessary to be a huge fan of basketball, save for the “per game” stats (points, rebounds, assists).

Live Experience: 3/5- Arenas may be the most aesthetically pleasing venue except for baseball stadiums. Aside from that, basketball gets pretty boring live, watching the two teams trot back and forth, save for the occasional breakaway, which I guess is why someone would want to watch an entire contest live. The potential for late-game dramatics is also the draw for going out to a game. Overall, it’s not much of a spectacle, like football or baseball.

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Total: 15.5/20 or 77.5/100

Hockey:

Excitement: 4.5/5- High marks for hockey for its intense level of play and the rarity of goals. When someone scores, every fan goes crazy like they already won the game. Fights are exhilarating too, and it’s the only sport where they’re allowed, if not encouraged. It’s also another game where play is nearly constant, and there are less frequent commercials. The half-point gets taken off for the short stoppages of play every time the whistle blows.

Popularity: 3/5- Outside of Canada and parts of the northern U.S., most sports fans on this continent don’t care for hockey all that much. You’ll find some hotspots of fandom, but overall real hockey fans are few and far between. That being said, hockey is huge in northern Europe and Russia, which is what drags this rating over the halfway mark.

Clarity: 3/5- There are a lot of rules that are confusing to the casual fan (what the hell is icing?), but once you watch long enough, you’ll get the most salient points. Still, there are some rules that are always in effect that won’t usually be at the forefront of a game, like where the goalie can and can’t handle the puck, or penalty box time for each infraction committed.

Live Experience: 4/5- Hockey arenas are great because you won’t get overheated wearing a nice sweater and a hat because, you know, it’s played on ice. They’re also really loud which makes it even more enjoyable, because the energy spreads around the seats. Plus, high-fiving that random guy next to you after your team scores is awesome, because that guy is probably drunk.

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Total: 14.5/20 or 72.5/100

So there you have it. Baseball and football are the best sports ever, followed by basketball and hockey. I know it’s kind of anti-climactic, but that numbers never lie. Just be grateful that we have these four sports, though, every time you sit down to watch ESPN and billiards is on. Blah.

The 2015 Mets: Do Not Look Back

Posted on by DylanHornik

Keep your heads high, New York Mets fans. This team was special in more ways than one, from keeping themselves alive with an anemic offense for the first half of the year to storming past the rest of the National League in October, this was a dream season in reality.

The World Series was a bit of a debacle, but New York can take solace in the fact that if they played their best baseball, they easily would’ve won it all. It was just the wrong combination of slow offense and untimely errors that led to the team’s demise, if you can even call it that. The Mets blew past 28 other teams, but couldn’t close against the 29th.

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In what became the pinnacle of the Mets season, they defeated the Dodgers in a 5-game NLDS, then swept Chicago Cubs in the NLCS (Getty Images).

Now the team will look ahead to what will be one of the most interesting offseasons in recent memory. They will look to wash the taste of a bad finish out their mouth, like they have tried to do for the last decade, but they’ll do so as real contenders and probably the favorites to repeat as National League Champions. The Wilpons and General Manager Sandy Alderson will be in a position unique to the franchise, where they’re already a very good team, but they need to replace or re-sign some key players to stay as competitive as they were this year.

The nucleus of the team under contract can probably get them back to the playoffs again next year. The starting pitching will return, as will most of the lineup, but two significant pieces could be missing come April. Yoenis Cepsedes and Daniel Murphy are free agents that got them to October and kept them in the postseason. Cespedes hit .291 with 35 homers in the regular season, for sure a career year for a talented player. Murphy hit seven homers in the first two round of the playoffs, one off the record for the most dingers in the playoffs ever.

The two were key pieces in 2015, but neither of them should be re-signed. Cespedes was the ultimate streaky hitter for the Mets. He was cold for the first part of August, went on a torrid hot streak to urge the Mets past the Nationals in the NL East, then cooled down towards the end of the year. He hit just .222 in the postseason, including .150 in the World Series. The Mets do not need an extreme Lucas Duda (who is another notorious consistently inconsistent hitter) in the middle of their lineup. Reports have already surfaced that the team won’t try their hardest to bring him back, and for good reason.

Oct 21, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy hits a two-run home run against the Chicago Cubs in the 8th inning in game four of the NLCS at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Caylor Arnold-USA TODAY Sports ORG XMIT: USATSI-245774 ORIG FILE ID: 20151021_jel_ca2_052.jpg

Daniel Murphy played above his normal value for most of the playoffs. Mandatory Credit: Caylor Arnold-USA TODAY Sports

Anyone who watched the Mets play in the regular season knows that the playoff version of Daniel Murphy is definitely not the same one you’ll get from April to September. Even he cooled off in the World Series, showing that the pressure of the biggest stage in baseball can affect the hottest of hitters. His defense is also a liability at best, and nonexistent at the worst. With the incredible pitching corps that the Mets have, they need a better defender than Murphy, whose errors were direct causes of multiple World Series losses.

Then the question is; who should they sign? It would be a uniquely ironic situation if the Mets were able to sign pending free agent Ben Zobrist, who just beat them as a member of the Royals. He is the prototype of what the Mets need at the second base position: he hits well, plays good defense, and can be moved around the infield in case someone in the infield (David Wright) isn’t 100 percent healthy. He won’t be the power bat, averaging 17 homers a season, but he’ll be the perfect fit in the second spot of the lineup, where Wright has been miscast all year.

What about Cespedes’ spot? It’s very possible that the Mets don’t sign an outfield bat, with the trio of Juan Lagares, Michael Conforto, and Curtis Granderson playing well. However, Lagares played with an injured arm for most of the year, and making a big signing will take the pressure to play off of him. If they do sign a free agent, they’ll probably go with someone that can play centerfield or right field, giving them the option to move Curtis Granderson around.

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Mets fans are appreciative of what Yoenis Cespedes did for the team, but in all likelihood he will not be back come March. (Photo: Getty Images)

If they sign an outfielder, it will be someone with power to give them a middle-of-the-order presence not named Duda or d’Arnaud. That’s why Justin Upton is a viable option, albeit one with a high price. He hit .251 with 26 homers while playing in the worst offensive ballpark in the major leagues. He’s shown flashes of raw hitting potential and many think he’s on the verge of a breakout year if he’s given the opportunity to be the guy.

There are numerous possibilities, but the biggest realization is that the team can NOT go back to the way they were just a few months ago. Every player who’s coming back next year now knows what it feels like to have the greatest prize in the sport taken away from them. They’ll know that they need to finish. They know that they can’t be complacent with mediocrity, like they have been for so long. the front office also knows that it’s up to them take them to the next level, like they did moments before the trade deadline in July.

Remember, this is all looking forward, which is exactly what the Mets should do now. It was a great season, no doubt about it. There were countless memories made and history happened, so it’s understandable that fans and players are upset. The future is high, though, and this won’t be the last time we’ll all be in this position.