Professional sports are a spectacle, as much theater as athleticism.  I love the soap opera dramatics that play out in the press...very entertaining.  I 'love' the Mets and 'hate' the Yankees (and Braves and Phillies and...), but these are 'sports' emotions not real emotions.  I've been known to chant "Yankees suck! Yankees suck!" during games, but if fact, the Yankees actually don't 'suck' they are really good.  It doesn't matter though.  When I'm involved in watching a Mets game I play the part.  If David Wright, my favorite Met, leaves the Mets for the Yankees when becomes a free agent I will 'hate' him.  If he makes his decision on a prime-time ESPN special, I will REALLY hate him.  But again, baseball (like all sports) is a business, and you can't really blame a person for doing what's best for themselves.  Likewise though, that player has to realize that what's best for them may not be what’s best for the fans, and they are going to let them know it!  That's part of the deal.  In the end, always remember: you can't really love or hate anything that can't love or hate you back.

This is why I am enjoying the LeBron James free agent drama so much.  LeBron probably could have made more money and have become a bigger star playing in New York, but he chose to join a team that has great chance of winning a championship very soon.  I admire that.  I might be the only one.  Sports writers are accusing him of taking the easy way out and being a coward!  It's true that if LeBron had stayed with his hometown Cavaliers and won a championship, he would go down in NBA history as a Michael Jordon type player.  Jordon spent years leading the Bulls from failure to glory, but that's not what James wants to do.  He has chosen to become one of three superstars on a team that might win a bunch of championships.  I don’t' see why that is bad.

With all that said, the way he left the Cavs, with the whole "Decision" ESPN special, was pathetic.  And I loved it!  Now, the best thing EVER is how the owner of the Cavaliers responded: with an emotional open letter posted on the front page of the Cavaliers web site!  I had no idea that the NBA allowed owners to post anything they want on team pages!  I would think that all the content is very closely scrutinized.  I bet his letter was typed by him personally on his computer then copy and pasted onto the site.  He used the Comic Sans font, a font not used by any respectable web designer.  Yikes!  This is no press release reviewed by the Team's or the League's PR people. What I like about the letter is that it is 'real', dripping with emotion.  You just don't see that much anymore on official websites.  I don't agree with a bunch of what the letter says, but I absolutely love that he has poured his heart out.

In the end, none of this matters. The Magic will win the Championship next year while the three Heat superstars will have a massive clash of egos.  They probably won't even make the playoffs. ***Jinx!!!***

Open Letter to Fans from Cavaliers Majority Owner Dan Gilbert

I wrote the post below BEFORE the start of the Celtics vs. Magic game last night.  I was at a sports bar watching the pre-game show and wrote this quick post using the WordPress app for Android on my Motorola Droid, but I forgot to post it!  (I only had one beer,  so I guess I can't "blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-a-alcohol," like Jamie Foxx always does.

A quick post about destiny. The Orlando Magic are down three game to none in the 2010 Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics.  The mood in the bar and around the office is that of utter despair and defeat.  Take heed my fellow Magic fans, for this 2010 Magic team is a team of destiny.  I have only felt this feeling of destiny five time before in my life:  The 1980 - 1983 NY Islanders Stanley Cup champion seasons and the 1986 NY Mets World Series season.  The Magic will be the first team in NBA history to come back from a three games to none deficit and win the Conference Championship.  After that, they will ROLL OVER the Lakers in the finals, with one minor hiccup that will cause them to go a game five.  It's not a prediction.  It's destiny.

Shea was not that old.  It's a crime that a structure was torn down after only44 years.  Unfortunately, the economics of baseball made it necessary for the Mets to build a new venue, but I wish Shea could have been preserved or renovated for soccer or some other purpose.  Shea was ugly, and there is no denying it.  It was a multi-purpose, function over form, 1960s era behemoth.   The mets and New York City could have made vast improvements over the years to Shea, but I guess they were focused on a new stadium and did little to make it a nicer place to visit.

I should probably give Citi Field another chance and come back to see another game before passing final judgement.  You see, I grew up with Shea, and my opinions about Citi Filed are undoubtedly colored by sentimentality and sadness.  I lived on the Port Washington Long Island Railroad line that transported me directly from my home town to Shea.  I remember the first time my dad brought me to a game.  I was in this dark hallway that led to a dark tunnel under the stands, and when I came through the tunnel into the stands I saw blue sky, green grass, and an ocean of people and orange and blue seats.  It was breathtaking.  As I got older and went to more games, I was never as impressed with this scene as the first time, but the sight of Shea before a game always gave me pause.  For me, baseball is big and brash, just what New York is supposed to be.  Citi Field is small and quaint and would be right at home in a small market baseball town.  That 'intimate' feel was what the Wilpons were trying to achieve when the had the stadium designed, but as I stated in a previous post, this stadium seems to have more to do with a team that left New York for L.A. over 60 years ago than it does with my Mets.  Citi Field is more about manufactured nostalgia than about the modern day New York Mets.

Citi Field is new and clean.  It has wider seats and some more leg room.  It is an inoffensive building with little to no warmth or charm.  Food and beverages are insanely overpriced, and three of the four concession stands were closed in our section on the day I saw the Mets beat the Braves.  There were no beer vendors in our section, and just a couple of hot dog guys.  Tickets prices are beyond ridiculous.  On that day, I was in no mood to wander the stadium.  I hear that the area behind the scoreboard is cool, and I should have explored a bit more; perhaps that would have given me a better impression of the facility.  Next time I come for a visit I don't think the loss of Shea will affect me as much, and I'll be able to do a better job of fully appreciating Citi Field, but with ticket prices being what they are it may be a long time before I come back to the house that CitiGroup built.

Update: Long beer and food lines, no vendors, no love for the nose bleeders.

Like a shopping mall in Great Neck, Citi Field is clean and sterile. It could be in any generic park in the U.S. Nothing about it says Mets or New York.

On the positive side, I'm in the last row of Section 504, and I have to admit that the view is not bad at all. That's the positive of a tiny stadium.

I will be live blogging from my phone today, so wish me luck.  I hope my Moto Droid is beer (and tears) proof.  It is a Mets game after all.  There will be beer and tears.  My prediction: Mets 4, Braves 3.

Sitting on the plane at Orlando Airport, waiting for the flight attendant to tell us to turn off all devices for takeoff. I will be in NJ visiting family and then off to see Braves vs. Mets on Saturday at 1:10pm. This is my first game at Citi Field. I hope it surprises me. I am not a fan of this small stadium. Shea was ugly, but it was as big and loud as New York. It also looked like it belonged to the Mets. Citi looks like the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Note to Mets owners, the Wilpons...The Dodgers left town over 50 years ago. Get over it!

Time to stress out over the take off...not a fan of flying. Flying is fine, it's the crashing that I don't like. Gotta start my pre-flight OCD rituals. Let's Go Mets!

I plan to write a number of baseball-related posts in the coming months.  Among  the topics will be steroids, the color barrier, and my favorite team, the Mets.  In this post, I want to have some fun, so I am going to attempt to explain the game of baseball in a single post.  Baseball is the most complicated sport.  If you doubt this fact then attempt this exercise.  Try explaining the game of soccer to somebody that knows nothing about the subject.  Then, try doing the same with baseball.

Soccer: a game played on an outdoor rectangular field with a goal at either end.  Two teams compete to kick a ball into the other team's goal.  The objective is to score more goals than the other team in the allotted time.  Players can kick the ball, but cannot touch it with their hands.  Only the goaltenders, one on each team, can defend his team's goal by using his hands.  Now, there are more rules and many nuances to Soccer, but with the above knowledge a person could watch a game of soccer and understand it.  Baseball is a whole 'nother story.

Years back I was in a new relationship with a woman who had recently moved to the United States from Eastern Europe.  She knew NOTHING about baseball.  When I tried to explain to her why I was yelling at a man named Piazza on TV to 'swing the damn bat!', I realized how daunting a task it is to explain baseball.  Even people who have no interest in sports understand the basics of baseball, if they grew up in America.  It's part of the culture.  You just pick it up through osmosis.  In grade school, your teacher gave you 'three strikes' to stop talking during class, and you 'hit a home run' when you received an 'A' on your geography quiz.  In retrospect, I believe my attempts at explaining baseball to my girlfriend was partly to blame for the failure of the relationship.  She thought I was crazy and just making this stuff up.  She would say to me in broken English.  “Do you think I’m fool?  How can a ball be out of play but be caught by other man and first man be out?!”  You no need to make up story to impress me.  Just be real with me.  Next think you’re going to tell me is that they play 162 games a year then have a 3 tiered playoff system.”   Ok, so maybe she never said any of that, but I’m sure she was thinking it.  Anyway, below I will attempt to explain the rules and game play of baseball in conversational style, off the top of my head...until I get tired and stop.  Then it will be the reader's chance to pick up where I left off and comment the rest of the rules.

Baseball 101

Baseball is an outdoor sport played on a diamond-shaped field.  Well, the inner part of the field, known as the 'infield' is in the shape of a diamond, but the outer part ('outfield') expands outward from two of the lines that make up the diamond (the baselines) to a (mostly) curved wall.  Two teams of 9 players compete to score more 'run's in 9 'innings'.

Scoring Runs

To score a run, a player from one team must touch (with any part of his body) each 'base' (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and home plate) in sequential order.  To get to the bases, the player must hit a ball that is thrown ('pitched') at him.  Before I get into that, let me explain that even though there are two teams, when a team is on defense ('fielding' or 'in the field') all nine players participate.  They are: the pitcher, the catcher, 1st baseman, 2nd baseman, third baseman, three outfielders, and a guy who stands between 2nd and 3rd bases called a 'shortstop'.  All nine of these guys are on the field trying to keep the 'batter', the player trying to hit the ball, from scoring.  When a team is on offense, only one player from that team is on the field at the beginning of the inning.  If all goes well during the inning, there may be as many as four players on the offensive team on the field.  Ok, so back to trying to score runs.  Let's talk about the 'at bat'.

At Bat

The Pitcher throws the baseball to his teammate, the catcher, who stands behind home plate.  The batter, the guy on the other team, stands next to  home plate, in front of the catcher, and tries to hit the ball.  If the pitcher throws the ball and it crosses over home plate and above the batters knees but below the number on his baseball jersey and the batter does not swing...that is a 'strike'.  If the batter gets three strikes then he is 'out'.  He has to leave the playing field and go back to the 'dugout' (a hole in the ground where the players who are not playing stay).  Each team gets three Outs  per inning.  Ok so, the batter can also get a strike by swinging at a pitched ball and missing.  And, a batter can get a strike by hitting the ball to an area outside the field of play ('out of play').  This is any area not within the baselines except for over the outfield wall.  If he hits it over the outfield wall, that's good.  That's a homerun...more on that later.  What was I talking about?  Oh yeah, foul balls.  The batter can swing and miss, not swing at a good pitch (a 'strike'), or hit the ball foul.  All of these are strikes, and if he get three, he's out.  I almost forgot.  If a batter has two strikes, he cannot get another strike by hitting the ball foul. That would be called 'fouling out' and it cannot happen...unless the batter is bunting.  A bunt is when a batter intentionally tries to tap at a pitched ball to hit it weakly making it difficult for the opposing team to 'field' the ball and 'throw out' a runner at another base.  Are you getting all of this?  See, it's not that difficult to understand.  Back to hitting...

If the batter (aka the 'hitter), hits the ball and a member of the fielding team catches the ball before it hits the ground then the hitter is out.  Go sit down.  If the batter hits the ball and it travels over the outfield wall, that is a home run.  The batter must touch each base and home plate in sequential order, and he scores a run.  The other team can't do squat when the hitter is running around the bases because the ball has been taken home by a fan and sold on Ebay.  Now, hitting a home run is only one way to score a run.  The next best way to score a run is the 'suicide squeeze'.  Just kidding...  So, if the batter hits the ball, it isn't caught, and it doesn't go over the wall, but it hits the ground the batter must run to 1st base.  If he get to the base before a fielder can pick up the ball and throw it to the 1st baseman then the batter is 'safe'.  Keep in mind that the 1st baseman must have at least 1 foot on the base when he catches the ball.  If both the ball and the runner (the batter is now a 'runner') reach the base at the same time, the runner is still safe.  The Runner can also be called out if a member of the fielding team tags him with the ball before he gets to first base.  Now if the runner (formerly the batter) reaches 1st base safely, he doesn't have to stay there.  He can run to 2nd base... Oh, snap!  I forgot to explain 'walking'.  If the pitcher throws the ball and the batter doesn't swing and the pitch is not a 'strike' (the ball goes over the plate and above the hitter's knees but below his uniform numbers) it is called a 'ball'. Now stick with me because this is confusing.  The baseball that is thrown is a 'ball', but a non-strike is also called a 'ball'.  If the pitcher throws 4 balls before he can get 3 strikes, the batter 'walks' (more like a trot) to first base.

Ok, I'm tired.  You finish it...  Don't forget to explain:

• Force out vs. tag out
• Stealing bases
• Advancing runners
• Home team bats last
• Why Major League Baseball supported cheating with steroids
• Sacrifice flies
• Tagging up
• The infield fly rule
• Balking
• Why Major League Baseball supported segregation
• Foul poles
• Defensive indifference
• The 7th Inning Stretch
• Morgana the Kissing Bandit
• How a team can be 1/2 a game behind another in the standings
• Extra innings
• Why Tim McCarver never shuts up and Joe Buck thinks he's funny
• Ground rule doubles
• Intentional walks
• Dropped 3rd strike
• Fielder’s choice
• Tasters choice
• Catching balls in foul territory
• Don Zimmer
• Youppi!

I have noticed that some people never negatively criticize something they have purchased, a sports team they follow, or anything on which they have spent money, time, or energy.  I assume that they subconsciously feel that their choice of purchase reflects on them to a very large degree.  Not me.  I'll tell you straight up that I purchased a Chrysler PT Cruiser in 2002, and it was the biggest piece of crap that I've ever owned, but others would never admit it.  They would defend the Cruiser and tell you how great it is despite their deep hatred for the car.    This mentality is completely foreign to me.  What's the use of being alive if you can't complain about living?!

If you are a regular reader of BackingIn, you know that I'm a Microsoft enthusiast, but don't get me started on how much I hate Microsoft Outlook.  I live for the New York Mets, but I could do a thesis on why they suck out loud.  I bought a 2009Volkswagen Rabbit, and it is a great car, but it gets horrendous gas mileage and the fit and finish are sub-par.   I own a Motorola Droid, and it is way cool, but rest assured, I will give you a true assessment of it below.

A Quick Motorola Droid Review

The Motorola Droid is an Android-based smartphone sold by Verizon Wireless.  The Droid has many features not found on the Apple iPhone, its main competitor.

• Physical keyboard
• User-replaceable battery
• SD Memory card
• Multitasking
• LED Flash for Camera
• Open application development
• Widgets
• Verizon Wireless
• Support for Adobe Flash 10.1 (to be released Q1 2010)

It is because of the above features that I chose the Droid.  Well, that and the girl who sold me the phone at the Verizon kiosk was super-cute.  After almost two months of ownership, I still love my Droid.  The phone sound quality is excellent.  I have experienced no dropped calls, and the 3G coverage is  omnipresent.  Web browsing is fast and seamless.  The onscreen keyboard is as easy to use as a touchscreen keyboard can be.  I especially like the predictive text feature.  The hardware feels solid and well built.  Battery life has been excellent so far.  There are over 20,000 apps available for the Android operating system that runs the Droid, and you can find almost everything that you want in the Android Market application store.  Almost everything.  And that brings me to the fun part.  The negatives:

• Applications.  Unlike a Windows Mobile phone, where Mobile Office is included, the Droid does not come with an application that can create or edit Office documents.  There are applications that you can purchase from the Market that will give you edit capability, but the phone should come with Office compatibility.  Also, unlike a Windows phone, the Droid does not make it easy to sync with Outlook.   You can't even access Google Docs from the Droid or any Android phone.  Google made Android!  What's up with that?
• Applications, part II.  There are thousands of Android apps for the Droid, and the fact that the iPhone has over 100 thousand apps is no big deal.  The number of apps is way less important than the availability of the apps that you want.  Most companies are not going to develop separate apps for iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Windows Mobile, Palm Pre, etc.  They are going to produce an iPhone app and maybe a Blackberry version.  Hopefully this will change with Android and other smartphone operating systems pledging Flash support.
• Touchscreen feel.  The Droid has a very good touchscreen, but there is a slight delay from when you touch and drag your finger across the screen to when the interface begins to move.  It is not as smooth as the iPhone (or the Nexus One, so I'm told).
• Camera.  The camera takes way to long to focus and snap a picture.  The wait time between photos is long as well.  Photo quality is good for a cell phone, but flash photo quality if very low.
• Stability.  I have had to pull the battery out of the Droid about 4 times to fix problems.  Three times the phone was locked up, and recently, it lost all data connectivity.  Pulling the battery fixed the issues, but the lack of OS stability is troubling.  The Android 2.1 update is due for the Droid, but no date has been given.

All in all, I recommend the Motorola Droid.  Despite its shortcomings, many of which will hopefully be fixed by future software updates, it is the best smartphone on the market.  The Google Nexus One has a better screen and faster processor, but it remains to be seen if Google can service a consumer electronics product effectively.  The iPhone has the apps and the accessories, but it lacks many important features and is tied to iTunes and Apple censorship.  The Palm Pre has received glowing reviews, but will Palm survive 2010?  To paraphrase the great Obi Wan, "These are the Droids you're looking for."