Gary's Blog: Baseball's Back, But…
Well, it was fun for a while. Live sports, that is. Pro sports. Team sports. Baseball. I had a feeling last Thursday and Friday that I hadn't had for a long time. Watching one of the major sports leagues return to action, with games that counted, it was a little surreal. A good kind of surreal.
It felt kind of strange, of course. Over four months had gone by since the last game with one of the major sports leagues. It felt so good to have a few days where my main focus was how my NY Mets were gonna blow a game. And they did, of course. Two outs, 2 strikes and a 1-run lead in the 9th inning vs Atlanta on Saturday, and their "closer" (that's a laugh) Edwin Diaz did what he did all of last season: give up a 9th inning home run to blow the game. It wasn't so bad, though, because it was a real game.
Sports were really coming back. I was going to write this whole blog on how great it felt. So even though my Mets did it again, it was okay this time. It brought back memories, memories I haven't felt in so long, that I forgot how it felt. And baseball was just the beginning, because the NBA and NHL are back this week as well. NFL camps are open as of now too. It's been so long, that I still have to remember things are different. As an example, I always read the box scores and look at stats, times of games and attendance figures. I scrolled the box scores on Friday to see how many fans showed up to the two games on Thursday. For a few seconds, I was upset at my NY Post paper, for leaving out the attendance numbers. Then I remembered, no fans this year, no attendance numbers.
As I wrote at the beginning of this, it was fun for a while. Because between Sunday and Monday, 12 Miami Marlins players, 3 staffers all tested positive for you know what. First of all, MLB is at fault for playing the game on Sunday in Philadelphia after knowing that Marlins players tested positive. Now, everyone on their team, and the Phillies, umps too, employees at the Miami team hotel have all been exposed. Now what, MLB? I don't envy any Commissioner of any league these days. But the decision should have been made to cancel the game yesterday. Two games on Monday were cancelled, at least one on Tuesday as well. Some are calling for a few days of games being postponed, some want the season canceled. I strongly feel if one more team has that many player's test positive, cancel the season. It's not worth it. Don't wait until someone dies because of baseball. It's not looking good for baseball, is it? But last Thursday and Friday, the feeling was great, if only for a few days.
I'm glad and a little surprised that I'm remembering to write what I ended last week with. I love watching good TV series, the ones that are classic and that you need to pay attention to every detail. I just finished watching "Breaking Bad," I agree with many that it's one of the best series of all time (but not the best, that's "The Sopranos"). But one thing I observed is that they both have one thing in common: A lot of phone calls are made on these shows, some angry calls, but not all. But EVERY phone call ends without a "Goodbye." Why such bad manners? I wonder if there's a reason why this is so. I understand if someone is mad at the other, but there are a lot of normal calls, and never a Goodbye. It's amazing. Or, maybe it's just me. But seriously, watch one of these shows again and watch for that. I will do my best to try and find out.
BTW, former UCLA great Marques Johnson was on the show on Monday. Marques is a TV analyst for the Milwaukee Bucks now. He's in the college basketball Hall of Fame, a five-time NBA All-Star and an actor who was in White Men Can't Jump. I wonder if that title would be allowed today? The interview is on our Sideline Hawaii app. And we talked about the movie, you'll love his story about a razor blade.