Mandatory Post About My Blog

Basically in this post I;m going to talk about my best and worst posts and how to improve my blog.

So far since I started this blog I've made four posts and only three of them are true pots because the first one is an introduction to my blog. If I had to single out a single post as the worst, I would say it is my third post entitled "Greedy NBA Players". In that post I essentially wrote about the NBA Lockout and why it is stupid and frustrates me. Now, looking back, I realize that I failed to present my argument clearly.

My favorite most, so far, is "Getting to Sports: Baseball".I like this post because it is short, to the point, and ca teach people about her America's present. Another aspect of the blog I liked is that I didn't write the rules in paragraph form. By keeping it like notes, the post does a better job to kepp readers. I hope to really take off with this blog and make a series of it to help people get into the whole world of sports. I think that the next sports I have to talk about are: football, basketball, soccer, and hockey.

I think with the exception of one, my posts so far lack pictures. My posts are generally long block of text. I want to work to improve that by adding pictures. Adding pictures will bring more color to my blog in addition to breaking up the text. Mreover, I could use pictures to help explain what I am writing about.

Getting into sports: Baseball

This is going to be a start of a series of post about the basics of major sports because I want to reply to a comment that asked me to help him get into sports.

Because the Baseball World Series, or championship series, is about to begin, this post is going to be about baseball - America's pastime.

Here's the absolute must knows for baseball:
- The baseball field consists of an infield and outfield.
- The infield is primarily made of dirt and has the three bases: first, second, and third. The infield also includes home plate.
- The outfield is made of right, center, and left field. It is either grass or turf.
- A game consists of 9 innings.
- Each inning is divided into a top and bottom halves.
- In the top half of an inning, the away team bats and the home team pitches.
- In the bottom half of an inning, the home team bats while the away team pitches.
- Each half of an inning last for 3 outs.
- Outs can be made by:
- striking out a batter
- catching a ball before it hits the ground
- if the ball hits the ground, a player can pick it up and throw it to the base which the batter is running for. If the ball gets there before the batter, he's out and if not, he's safe.
- To strike out a batter, a pitcher must throw 3 strikes to the batter.
- Strikes are pitches that are: swung at by the batter and missed, a pitch the batter doesn't swing at, but is within two inches off the edges of home plate and between the knees and stomach area, or is a pitch the batter hits, but is hit foul (not in between first and third base) *note: The last example applies until there is two strikes. Once there is two strikes on a batter, fouling a pitch no longer counts as a strike.
- If the pitch isn't a strike, it is considered a ball. If the pitcher gives up four balls to a batter, the batter gets a walk, or a free pass to first base.
- To score a run a batter must reach first base, advance to second, third, and then to home without making an out.


If you somewhat understood the stuff above, try and watch a inning of baseball and it'll make more sense. If you didn't understand what I wrote, try reading it again or google it!

Greedy NBA Players

Who wants to watch the NBA this year? Well, too bad because it doesn't look like there is going to be a season.

This week it was announced by NBA commissioner(equivalent of a business CEO, except for basketball), David Stern, announced that as of now, the first two weeks of the season will be canceled.

NBA Commissioner David Stern

Photo From: here

Why? Following the conclusion of last season, the players union began talks with team owners about a petty issue. In a nutshell the argument is as follows:

The owners want more money and they want to have more control over how much the players get. The players on the other hand absolutely refuse to give up a percent or two of their pay.

Derek Fisher, Laker guard and representing players in negotiation

Photo From: here

The players are, in my opinion, extremely ungrateful because they cannot stand losing a percent or two. In reality, losing a fraction of their pay is mere pocket change because they already make millions of dollars every year - much more than the average American makes in a lifetime.

Furthermore, this lockout demonstrates that the players and owners alike don't care for their fans. What they fail to understand is that by going on lockout they aren't hurting the opposing side because both are already wealth. They only people they're hurting is the fans who pay and generate revenue for the teams. Now fans don't get to come home, sit down on the couch, and watch their team play. The only people who benefit are from foreign countries where the player will have to go if they want to play.

By not having a season at all, the owners don't make money, the players don't get paid, they players have to play abroad, and the fans don't get to watch.

Sounds like it's going to be a boring winter for NBA fans. It's times like this that make people appreciate collegiate and women's basketball.

Photo Finish to a Historic MLB Season

Hello again. I know I named this blog "Bay Area Sports" and readers assume it's going to be about well, sports in the Bay Area, but today I want to blog about Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011. Why Sept. 28, 2011? Sept. 28th in Major League Baseball can be described as historic, amazing, enthralling, extraordinary, and remarkable. Entering play last Wednesday, the last day of the regular season for Major League Baseball, the playoffs were far from settled.

Major League Baseball is divided into two leagues the National League (NL) and the American League (AL). Each league is then divided into three divisions: the west division, central division, and east division. In order for qualify for the playoffs, there is two things a team can do, win their division or win their league's wild card position.

On Wednesday, the division winners were already finalized, but the wild-card spots were open for the taking. In the American League the team's vying for wild card were the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. In the National League the wild card sport was between the Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Now, let's backtrack about one month so we can understand why Wednesday was historic. On Sept. 3rd, the playoffs looked to be set. The Red Sox led the Devil Rays by 9 games for the AL wild card and the Braves led the Cardinals by 7.5 games. Considering there was only 27 games left in the regular season this was a monumental lead. Why is this a monumental lead?

In baseball, the lead a team has can change under specific conditions. Here is how a lead changes.

1. If the leader (Red Sox, Braves) lose, and the chaser (Devil Rays, Cardinals) win, the lead is decreased by one game.
2. If the leader wins and the chaser loses, the lead is increased by one game.
3. If the leader doesn't have a game, and the chaser wins, the lead is decreased by a half of a game. If the leader doesn't have a game, and the the chaser loses, the lead is increased by half of a game.
4. If the leader wins and the chaser is idle, the lead is increased by a half of a game. IF the leader loses and the chaser is idle, the lead is decreased by half of a game.

On Sept. 3rd there was 24 games left to play for the Devil Rays and Cardinals, so basically their only hope to make the playoffs was to wing as many games as possible and hope the Red Sox and Braves completely collapse.

And that's exactly what happened. The Devil Rays had a 17-9 record in Sept. while the Red Sox sank with a record of 7-20. In the National League the Cardinals went 18-8 and the Braves limped to the finish line with a record of 9-18. The finish to this season's playoff push is historic because of the fact that there haven't many collapses of any teams like the Red Sox and Braves, let alone has two teams broke apart -- in one season. Additionally, the wild card races weretied going into the last day of the season, Wednesday, Sept. 28th.

As the final games progressed, it appeared that the Red Sox and Braves would live to fight another day despite their finish. The Red Sox were leading the Baltimore Orioles 3-2 in the 7th inning, while in Tampa, the Devil Rays were being murdered by the New York Yankees 7-0 in the 7th inning. In the NL, the Cardinals shut out the Astros 8-0, but the Braves were leading the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 in the final inning. All the Braves had to do was finish the game, which would have forced a single game playoff between the Cardinals and Braves to determine which team moved on.

The Devil Rays wouldn't fold, and fought back and tied the game with two outs when pinch hitter Dan Johnson, former A's player, belted a home run. Meanwhile in Baltimore, rain delayed the game for awhile, but when play restarted, the Orioles were determined to ruin the Red Sox's season. Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth, the Orioles strung together some two out hits and won 4-3. Back in Tampa the game was moving along, but when the Red Sox lost was announced to the stadium, the fans went wild and eight minutes later, Evan Longoria won the game with a walk-off home run.

In Philly, the the Braves failed to wrap the game up, and by doing so, failed to wrap their season up. They gave up a run in the ninth which forced extra innings. The Phillies squeezed by and won 4-3.

By losing their games, the Red Sox and Braves completed their collapse of epic proportions and the Devil Rays and Cardinals march on to the playoffs riding a wave of momentum. Whoever has to play these teams -- beware.

Geez, this is really long. Two things. I apologize for making this really long, but this really was historic. Secondly, Congrats for reading this.