Was it just me, or did anyone else notice that just hours after the baseball season ended in St. Louis the weather took a terrible turn for the worse? The truth is, the weather simply began acting as it should in October; it had been unseasonably warm for a couple of weeks. It was as if the Creator of the Universe decided: baseball is over, so is summer – let there be Fall.
I am not ashamed to admit that I was informed of Albert’s home run the morning after. From what I have read the game ended at approximately 10:40 p.m., which is way past my bedtime. You see on Tuesday mornings I must take Maggie to band practice, which requires getting up at 5 or so. I am usually in bed by 9:30 at the latest. I think on that special Monday night I stayed up until at least 10:15, but by then it was clearly over (shows you what I know). My being in bed is not my point. My point is so were all of my children, and I suspect most children under the age of…well, shall we say most kids were in bed and missed the home run.
How many of you out there remember Kenny Boyer’s grand slam home run in the 1964 World Series? I am not sure which game it was, 3, 4 or 5, but I know it was in New York. I remember watching it live. I also remember watching game #7 in school. My point: Major League Baseball is doing absolutely nothing to build a fan base for the next generation. I think all the World Series games are played at night – too late for many, if not most kids to watch. Kids are waking up in the morning and tuning in ESPN’s SportsCenter to see how their favorite team fared the previous day. Television and its revenue may just be destroying baseball. What a thrill it must have been for those who stayed up and watched Albert’s homer. And what about the walk off homerun in game 2 of the ‘Series; I bet far, far more kids watched the replay than saw the action live.
Can we rewind for a moment to last June. Remember when the River City Rage were forced to play their first home playoff game in franchise history at Savvis Center as opposed to their home at Family Arena. In my column I wrote that the entire endeavor was “seemed more of a courtship than a courtesy.” Granted, this weekly is not mentioned in the same literary conversations as larger, more established publications, but the fact is you read about the possibility of the Rage leaving Family Arena here first! I had no references, just a gut feeling about the way the entire situation was being handled – call it a hunch. Well, I have another hunch – Mike Martz will not return as the head coach of the Rams. Listen to what the man said at Monday’s press conference announcing he would not return this year: “This is Joe Vitt’s team now,” Martz said. “They are going to be fine without me and that makes me mad.” Think what you want of Martz, I for one love him, my partner Bob Barton thinks he is over-rated, Martz usually is very clear when trying to make a point. Oh sure, when he doesn’t want to make his point clear, he can talk circles with the best of them, but when he wants you to know what he is thinking – he is clear as can be.
Monday, Martz announced that he was taking the remainder of the season off with sick leave, but first he made it very clear that his boss was a liar. Believe me, I have learned first hand that one does not “call his boss out” in public without suffering, usually severe, consequences. Once again, its just a hunch, but I would bet dollars to donuts (or is it the other way around), that Martz has seen his last day as head coach of the Rams.
Lastly, as I write this I am not certain how the “roof-gate” incident will turn out in Houston. But I do think that should the roof had been open when the Cardinals were playing, well, the Cardinals might still be playing. Unfortunately, for me and my kids, the games would have ended past our bed times.
