MLB All Star Game Review

A week later, I'm looking back on the 2008 MLB All Star Game and am happy the whole thing is over. I am very pleased the game turned out so well, because everything else felt like a rip off. The "Fan Fest" had very little content that wasn't an ad, even though it cost $30 to get in. The tickets were priced exorbitantly, but the parade was pretty excellent.

More than any other time since I've been a baseball fan, MLB is marketing very aggressively and I think I've had enough. And I'm a fan of marketing! I like logos, street teams, contests, events, promo items AND the game of baseball, so to have been pushed to far is really saying something.

I currently go to games, watch them on cable tv, have an online subscription for MLB.TV I am usually asked to upgrade, play fantasy baseball w/my friends and horde memorabilia. I have stopped buying the swag, but that's another post!

The thing that got me was the "MLB Insider's Club," an official fan club licensed by MLB that focuses on a publication they will create from fan's written contributions. Of course they will get a credit towards MLB merch if their material is used. This magazine sinfully emulates many of the features we love about Baseball Digest, such as letters (MLB just stole the title -- "The Fans Speak Out" outright), history, "The Game I'll Never Forget," "Quick Quiz" and its general perspective on the game. "Warm Up Tosses" is something I look forward to reading.

Baseball Digest is down to 8 issues per year and I believe MLB should buy it and make it the official (old) fan's journal. The history of the game is its focal point, so everyone who goes to the Hall of Fame should get a subscription included in their admission price. I don't know why Baseball Digest is unable to market effectively (it may have just been a way to sell souvenirs all these years -- look at their ads). Are Golf Digest and their other publications suffering too?

MLB Insider Club is "ONLY $2 a month!" That's $24 per year in my book, more than enough to treat yourself to a Baseball Digest subscription and still have enough for a soda.

Hank Aaron, Bob Marley and Babe Ruth Birthdays

This week, I am into commemorating three of my heroes who happen to have a birthday within two days of each other, Hank Aaron (2/5) and also Bob Marley and Babe Ruth, who were both born on February 6. It was also Fat Tuesday yesterday, and the word from the Big Easy is that it was almost back to pre-Katrina levels in attendance.

I'll be forever loving Bob Marley! Here's a great version of "Forever Loving Jah" as sung by a cancer-ridden Bob about six months before his death in 1981 at age 36. I was moved by a great special on XM's Reggae station the Joint today that featured an extensive narrative of the group's early years by Bunny Wailer. He said the Wailers story was "magical and mystical" and I agree. Many thanks Bob Peter and especially Bunny!




I also dropped by the Giants parade (see video below) yesterday, celebrating their incredible win over the NE Pats in Super Bowl LXII. Take that, Red Sox nation! I was predicting a Giant win based on vibes and Sports Illustrated, and I let Patrick Bryant from WMBR, Cambridge know it ("your guys are going down and I can't wait to see it.") They cheated against the Jets, and they lost their perfect season to the Giants. Very sweet.

For years, I have been pumping up El Serie del Caribe (that's "Caribbean World Series" en inglés), and in recent years coverage has increased to the point where we now have two stations in New York as well as the great MLB.com going almost all out. The lineups are at least 60-70% current major leaguers and the crowds and parks look great. I hope I get to see it someday.

One thing I didn't see was the last U2 tour. Sometimes you can't make it on your own, you know? I didn't work it that hard but I'm glad because I saw the film the other day and want to let everyone know that U2 3D is a GREAT concert movie, maybe one of the five best ever. Amazing music played well and the 3D effect is excellent. We see the band (like Larry hitting those drums!) in detail from many angles, never boring. After 30 years to have all the original members in a band is so great, it seems like no time has gone by at all. They have even survived a baldness gracefully.

Even the crowd shots in U2 3D convey nothing but energy, exuberance and joy from the kids who are packed in and pulsating in unison to the music. If you like U2, don't miss it.

Speaking of the great Hank Aaron, I was disappointed to hear that earbender Sports Personality of the Year Lewis Hamilton had been the target of racism from racing fans at a race held in Barcelona, Spain last weekend.

Another friend of ours with a Hank Aaron connect (they are both from Alabama) is Shelby Lynne, who appears on Craig Ferguson tomorrow night (2/7).

RIP, Pimp C, apparently the victim of a cough syrup overdose.

On the promotion front, our client Joseph Israel is back on tour:

Feb 6 - Broadway Oyster Bar, St. Louis MO
Feb 7 - Iowa City Yacht Club, Iowa City IA
Feb 9 - The Wild Hare, Chicago IL
Feb 10- Iowa State University @ The Maintenance Shop, Ames IA
Feb 14-The Record Bar, Kansas City MO
Feb 16-The Bottleneck, Lawrence KS
Feb 17-The Waiting Room, Omaha NE
Feb 20- The Snorty Horse, Springfield MO
Feb 21- VZD's, Oklahoma City OK
Mar 1 - 15th Annual Bob Marley Caribbean Festival, Miami FL
Mar 2 - Free Bird Live, Jacksonville FL
Mar 3 - 16 Taps, Wilmington NC
Mar 4 - Emerald Lounge, Asheville NC
Mar 5 - State Theater, Falls Church VA w/ Lionize
Mar 6 - Sullivan Hall, New York NY
Mar 8 - The Java Barn (St. Lawrence University) FREE SHOW, Canton NY
Mar 9 - Bill's Bar, Boston MA
Mar 10- The Stone Church, New Market, NH
Mar 11- Water Street Music Hall, Rochester NY
Mar 12- The Blue Gator, Athens OH
Mar 13- Annie's, Cincinnati OH
Mar 15- George's Majestic, Fayetteville AR
May 25- Desert Rocks Music Festival, Moab UT

No Asterisks for Steroid Cheaters

Everyone knows it was "the steroid era." There should no more be an asterisk for these players' stats than should there be one on the numbers of players from the high mound, dead ball and segregated eras.

It would be heavy if it cost Roger Clemens the Hall, but why shouldn't it? Like Bonds, he was probably already in when they first "went on the program." And like Rose, Shoeless Joe and more recently Mark McGwire, they will be made examples of and kept out.

But Rich "Goose" Gossage belongs and I hope this is the year for one of Willie Nelson's biggest fans.

The Mitchell Report is a bit of a mind-blow, to find out these guys were cheating. But on the other hand, doesn't it seem like they fall into a few categories? There are the border-line journeymen who make up the majority but then there is a circle of bona fide superstars. The superstars all seem to be the wound-too-tight type a personalities. Some of these guys seem like real rats, especially now that the jig is up.

Hank Aaron is still the Home Run King to me.