Posts tagged Sports
Major League Ballparks Visited
My first major league baseball game was in 1987 in NYC to see my beloved Yankees. I’ve loved going to games ever since so I thought I’d put together a list of ballparks I’ve visited.
The stadiums and teams have changed over the years, but it’d be nice to eventually be able to say I’ve seen each franchise play at home at some point. I’m not necessarily trying to complete a collection here, but each unique visit brings its own sights, smells, sounds and memories.
A list of ballparks I’ve visited (last updated 5/15/11):
- Old Yankee Stadium (NY Yankees)
- New Yankee Stadium (NY Yankees)
- Shea Stadium (NY Mets)
- Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox)
- Olympic Stadium (Montreal Expos)
- RFK Stadium (Washington Nationals)
- Nationals Park (Washington Nationals)
- Rogers Centre (Toronto Blue Jays)
- Memorial Stadium (Baltimore Orioles)
- Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles)
- Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium (Atlanta Braves)
- U.S. Cellular Field (Chicago White Sox)
- Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs)
- Progressive Field (Cleveland Indians)
- Metrodome (Minnesota Twins)
- Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers)
- AT&T Park (San Francisco Giants)
- Oakland Coliseum (Oakland Athletics)
Complete list of MLB stadiums on Wikipedia.
Random Rules
I wrote a guest post for my favorite basketball blog, Free Darko, about the NBA’s new technical foul policy and legal philosophy. Check it out here.
During a particularly inspired round of SSRN browsing for search terms wholly unrelated, I stumbled across an article titled “Legal Formalism, Institutional Norms, and the Morality of Basketball”, which pretty much made me want to give Learned Hand a courtside high-five.
The article revolves around the Suns vs. Spurs 2007 playoffs suspensions and is clearly colored by the author’s frustrations as an NBA fan and legal scholar. Though the article is a few years old, I think it’s a great platform to explore the recent Technical Foul rule change and how the new approach appears to be similarly flawed to those of us who are legal realists, and fans of a League of personalities.
Context.
I saw the Levi’s Store and thought I should pop in and get some jeans because I’ve been looking dorky lately. Was about to settle on some relaxed but rugged 559’s when I looked up and saw a familiar face. I thought to myself, “Is that two-time NBA MVP, Steve Nash? Nah, he’s too short. Wait, that totally is Stevesie!”
It definitely was Steve Nash.
A bit starstruck and not wanting to blow up his spot, I contemplated not saying anything to him. But nobody was really paying attention and I’m a huge fan and he seems like a chill guy so I thought I’d introduce myself, politely and discretely.
Steve Nash is an extremely awesome dude.
“Steve? Hi, my name is Mark and I’m a big fan.” He was appreciative and cool and shook my hand. “I heard a rumor you were thinking about coming in to the Facebook office this week? I work there…” He said he meant to swing by this road trip but couldn’t make it this time but wants to grow his fan base on Facebook and mentioned how he thinks Facebook is great for keeping in touch with fans. ”Awesome!”
Steve Nash has heard of Free Darko.
“I actually write guest posts from time to time on a basketball blog called Free Darko. You heard of it before?” Steve Nash grinned and said he knows Free Darko. I mentioned I have a post dropping soon about the 2007 Suns / Spurs playoff suspensions and legal formalism and technical foul policy and he sort of nodded and seemed interested and generally cool.
Steve Nash took a picture of us.
I asked for a picture like a fanboy. Nash snapped the shot with a one-armed self-portrait assist. He even insisted on taking two because he’s a perfectionist.
Steve Nash is my new best friend.
Pictured from Left to Right: Mikhail Prokhorov, Michael Bloomberg, Jay-Z
Q: What do a Russian oligarch billionaire, the mayor of New York City, and the best rapper alive have in common?
A: Breakfast.
There needs to be an oil painting of this up at the MoMA, or at least in my living room.
Not pictured is real estate developer Bruce Ratner, who also broke bread and discussed the Nets with Bloomberg. The team’s big move to Brooklyn, the NBA’s shift to accepting a global economy, eminent domain, and the courtship of Lebron James all make me feel like writing an update to my post at Free Darko last year on basketball and architecture.
A Guest Lecture at FreeDarko.com
My favorite NBA blog is, as I’ve explained before, FreeDarko.com.
When a short comedy film that I had not seen in about five years percolated into my Facebook newsfeed, I felt compelled to send along the link to the editors of Free Darko along with the descritpion: ingmar bergman + mike dunleavy = free darko?!!!?
At this point, you’re probably wondering what “Free Darko” means. For the sake of brevity, the namesake of the site is Darko Milicic, a Serbian draft pick in the NBA. “It is a website where style is revered and effective style is canonized.”
With the Duke vs. UNC game coming up this weekend, they allowed me to publish a brief guest lecture where I discuss the intersections of Duke University, viral media, avant garde film, and Michael Dunleavy, Jr.
J.D., NBA
I’m a big NBA fan, but had mostly given up on the League when I went to college. It was tough to simultaneously care about the intricacies of Duke’s bball squad, the ACC, Dick Vitale’saphorisms and at the same time manage to understand the big league movement. My college idealism and amateur appreciation for the sport coincided with big money work stoppages and a lack of star power in the NBA. Times have changed.
Now? I love the NBA.
A large part of that has to do with the quality of coverage coming from a site called FreeDarko. The dudes over there somehow manage to weave grand narratives out of nightly contests while discussing the intersections of race, history, philosophy, and art in basketball. It is a website where style is revered and effective style is canonized.
In a recent guest post by Kelly Dwyer from TrueHoop, a conversation began about Nike’s new advertising campaign. I was hooked by the Just Blaze beat and ended up watching it a few times.
The result? A Brief and Inaccurate Statistical Analysis of Air Force 25 Commercial:
Kobe: 1 assist
Dwight Howard (?): 2 points
Chris Paul: 3 points, 1 assist, 1 steal
Paul Pierce: 2 points (self pass? assist)
Jermaine O’Neal: 2 points
Tony Parker: 1 assist
Shawn Marion: 2 points
Amare: 1 TO, 1 FG attempt (unknown outcome)
LBJ: 4 points, 1 assist
Sheed: 2 points
Steve Nash: 1 TO (kicking ball)
I later amended the analysis after learning that Dwight D. Howard isn’t even in this campaign. Furthermore, I assessed a technical foul to Sheed for excessive celebration that is out of line with the League’s new (racist?) behavior policy.
KD at TrueHoop made a post to encourage me to step away from the computer and go buy some shoes. Good call. I’ll be buzzing the door at Alife Rivington if you need me.
Actually… I’ll be getting nostalgic for the days when I could still dunk on a Nerf hoop and hold onto the dream that the world needed another Moses in the NBA.
They Might Be Giants… Or French Canadians
I received this message today. Basically, I’m going to be famous in the minds of french canadian 10 to 12 year olds.
+++
Hi,
We are publisher of a french canadian scientific and educational magazine for children from 10 to 12 years old called Les Débrouillards.
In our upcoming issue we would like to tell the kids about basketball player Gheorghe Muresan. I was wondering if you could provide us with the permission of using your picture to illustrate our short article. If so, this image would have to be in higher resolution (300dpi, 20 X 20 cm).
In the name of our young readers, I thank you very much for your time and help!
Name Redacted
www.lesdebrouillards.qc.ca
World Cup
Thoughts While Watching the 2006 World Cup
- Baseball broadcasters shouldn’t be allowed to do soccer commentary.
- In some parts of the world, having a mullet is not only acceptable, it appears to be encouraged.
- I might start faking injuries during my daily life. “Mark, could you type up this memo for me and have it on my desk by this afternoon?” *Grab the ankle. Wave for medics with magic spray*
- On a similar note, I am considering carrying around a yellow and red card in my wallet. Should come in handy at bars.
- How is there a 6’7” soccer player? It’s like somebody Peter Crouch for a video game just to see how funny it would look for a tall dude to play ball. Oh, and he can do the robot quite well.
I have to go. The TV just randomly shut off. Not even the electronic appliances in this country like to watch soccer.
Preakness. It’s My Weakness.
This is a meta-photo of our Preakness experience. We were on the outside looking in, but it was amazing people watching.
Faced with the choice of standing in the muddy infield, or rubbing elbows with the hat-wearing air-conditioned box seat ticketholders for cheaper; I went with the hats.
My grandmother called me to ask if I could place a bet on her and my grandfather’s behalf on the horse Platinum Couple to show. The horse was getting between 25 and 50:1 odds.
The picture you see was chosen as DCist’s photo of the day.
Hate the Game, Not the Player
I wrote something with my buddy from college for the fine folks at CampusProgress.org. It’s described as a (competitive) discussion on the role of athletics in academia.
Check it out and leave comments below. There’s gonna be a rebuttal round too. I think the winner gets a trophy, or a high-five or something.
