Try giving gnats the Bounce
Seems like everywhere I go these days I'm coming across story ideas about the outdoors. I was golfing this past Sunday at the Chenango Valley State Park golf course in the Surowka Open, part of an annual, weekend-long reunion of relatives on my mother's side of the family. Right before teeing off, I talked to the course's starter, Mickey Scott, an ex-Major League Baseball pitcher who put in time during the 1969 season with the Syracuse Chiefs.
Scott talked briefly about the teams he played on. He was initially drafted by the Yankees in 1965 and later threw for the Baltimore Orioles, the California Angels and the Montreal Expos. As we were warming up, Scott said the course was in fine condition despite the rain the previous few days. It was then that my wife, Laura, blurted out, "Is there anything you can do about these gnats?" The tiny, irritating bugs were making a small cloud around her head.
Scott, his arms crossed as he sat in his golf cart, quickly turned his head. He pointed to a sheet of Bounce fabric softener attached to the back of his hat by a paper clip.
"This keeps the gnats away," he said, adding the fragrant sheet is just as effective for black flies and mosquitoes.
I called him up Tuesday morning at home to talk more about how he keeps the bugs off him at work.
"I just use regular Bounce. I started doing that a couple of years ago. Heard if from somebody," he said. "One sheet will last me for two to three days. When the scent starts leaving the sheet, I just put on another one."
I haven't tried it, but it seems Scott's use of Bounce would have applications for hikers, canoeists, kayakers, fishermen - or anyone bothered by gnats and other bugs flying around their face. I checked the Bounce Web site. It's full of testimonials from folks who use the fragrant sheets as an insect repellent and for other clever uses. Check out
Anyway, during Tuesday's phone call to Scott I mentioned a well-publicized baseball game last October when New York Yankees rookie pitcher Joba Chamberlain was rattled by a cloud of midges in a game against the Indians in Cleveland. Despite spraying himself all over, the bugs descended on his sweaty, muscular neck and he ended up throwing a wild pitch that allowed the Indians to tie the game in the eighth inning. The Indians went on to win in the 11th inning. I asked Scott if Chamberlain would have fared better in the game if he had clipped a sheet of Bounce to the back of his hat.
"I saw a shot of the game," he said. "There were a ton of those things out there (on Chamberlain). When you're getting attacked by that many, I don't think anything would have helped."
2008 Syracuse Online LLC.
Bush says Olympics exceeded expectations
Halfway around the world, President Bush managed to cap his Olympic experience at a place he calls home: a baseball field. Bush listens to baseball games like background music at the White House, a sound that puts him at ease. And so here in Beijing, comfortably keeping an eye on a baseball game, Bush reflected on an Olympics experience that was extraordinary even by presidential standards.
"It's exceeded my expectations," Bush told The Associated Press in an interview Monday before returning to Washington. He meant the whole deal: the venues, the people, the pride.
Never before had a U.S. president taken part in an Olympics on foreign land. Bush came and soaked it in for four days. He managed to do what he promised he would, take in a whole lot of sports, while dealing with Russia's violent crackdown on Georgia and carefully confronting China's repression of human freedoms. At the Olympic baseball stadium, Bush was in the mood to talk sports, not policy. He had just spent time mingling with the Chinese and U.S. baseball teams, and now they were lacing line drives across one of Beijing's pristine Olympic venues.
The president was in his element.
"I think the highlight was getting my picture taken with the teams," Bush said, referring to a moment he had with the whole U.S. Olympic contingent.
The comment was surprising and telling. Bush gets his photo taken so often with so many groups that it would hardly seem to be a defining moment. Consider, for example, that he also got to see the stunning opening ceremony and an exhilarating victory by U.S. swimmers.
But for Bush, those seemingly routine photo opportunities with athletes are a joy. Anyone close to him knows he likes sports for what they are, but also for what they represent: competition, grit, work. It doesn't hurt that the athletes are thrilled to see him.
"They were so gracious, and grateful, and excited," Bush said. "It's just a very energetic feeling. You know, they represent the best of U.S. athletics. And they were really excited about their events, and they're full of hope. It was just a very uplifting experience."
And he was everywhere. Bush went to a practice of the U.S. softball team, as well as the baseball practice game, as a sign of support for the two sports. Both were cut from the Olympic program in 2012. The president got sandy practicing with the beach volleyball duo of Misty May-Treanor and her partner Kerri Walsh. A photo showing May-Treanor's show of spirit, she prodded the president to give her a playful smack on her lower back, and he went along, caused something of a buzz. Bush said he saw no reason why. "I didn't take it very seriously," he said. "I guess everything the president does is interesting."
Before the big U.S.-China basketball game, Bush met the players, huddled up, and led them in a one-two-three-USA cheer. He laughed in describing the moment, how high he had to look up to see their faces. Bush figured the crowd at the game would be raucous, and didn't know why it wasn't.
"And then it dawned on me that they're neutral," Bush said. "It's an international games. There are people from all over the world watching and not cheering madly."
He did, though. In a fine bit of timing, the last official competition the president caught was so good that within minutes it was being described as one of the greatest comebacks in Olympic history. In the 400 freestyle swimming relay, the American team won when Jason Lezak, blasting his way through the water, overtook a French swimmer at the last possible second. Watching from the deck, the team's superstar, Michael Phelps, burst into a picture of exuberance that will long be remembered.
"I was watching Michael Phelps after the anchor leg touched," Bush said. "The whole thing is genuine. That's the good thing about the Olympics."
Bush said the athletes tend to ask him for the same thing, an autograph and a picture, and that each one sends a message.
"They're genuinely pleased that the president came to support them," Bush said. "And I really believe that it helps them realize the country is supporting them. A lot of people are pulling for them."
One of them was last seen in China watching baseball, getting all he wanted and more.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Bush says Olympics exceeded expectations
Halfway around the world, President Bush managed to cap his Olympic experience at a place he calls home: a baseball field. Bush listens to baseball games like background music at the White House, a sound that puts him at ease. And so here in Beijing, comfortably keeping an eye on a baseball game, Bush reflected on an Olympics experience that was extraordinary even by presidential standards.
"It's exceeded my expectations," Bush told The Associated Press in an interview Monday before returning to Washington. He meant the whole deal: the venues, the people, the pride.
Never before had a U.S. president taken part in an Olympics on foreign land. Bush came and soaked it in for four days. He managed to do what he promised he would, take in a whole lot of sports, while dealing with Russia's violent crackdown on Georgia and carefully confronting China's repression of human freedoms. At the Olympic baseball stadium, Bush was in the mood to talk sports, not policy. He had just spent time mingling with the Chinese and U.S. baseball teams, and now they were lacing line drives across one of Beijing's pristine Olympic venues.
The president was in his element.
"I think the highlight was getting my picture taken with the teams," Bush said, referring to a moment he had with the whole U.S. Olympic contingent.
The comment was surprising and telling. Bush gets his photo taken so often with so many groups that it would hardly seem to be a defining moment. Consider, for example, that he also got to see the stunning opening ceremony and an exhilarating victory by U.S. swimmers.
But for Bush, those seemingly routine photo opportunities with athletes are a joy. Anyone close to him knows he likes sports for what they are, but also for what they represent: competition, grit, work. It doesn't hurt that the athletes are thrilled to see him.
"They were so gracious, and grateful, and excited," Bush said. "It's just a very energetic feeling. You know, they represent the best of U.S. athletics. And they were really excited about their events, and they're full of hope. It was just a very uplifting experience."
And he was everywhere. Bush went to a practice of the U.S. softball team, as well as the baseball practice game, as a sign of support for the two sports. Both were cut from the Olympic program in 2012. The president got sandy practicing with the beach volleyball duo of Misty May-Treanor and her partner Kerri Walsh. A photo showing May-Treanor's show of spirit, she prodded the president to give her a playful smack on her lower back, and he went along, caused something of a buzz.
Bush said he saw no reason why. "I didn't take it very seriously," he said. "I guess everything the president does is interesting."
Before the big U.S.-China basketball game, Bush met the players, huddled up, and led them in a one-two-three-USA cheer. He laughed in describing the moment, how high he had to look up to see their faces. Bush figured the crowd at the game would be raucous, and didn't know why it wasn't.
"And then it dawned on me that they're neutral," Bush said. "It's an international games. There are people from all over the world watching and not cheering madly."
He did, though. In a fine bit of timing, the last official competition the president caught was so good that within minutes it was being described as one of the greatest comebacks in Olympic history. In the 400 freestyle swimming relay, the American team won when Jason Lezak, blasting his way through the water, overtook a French swimmer at the last possible second. Watching from the deck, the team's superstar, Michael Phelps, burst into a picture of exuberance that will long be remembered.
"I was watching Michael Phelps after the anchor leg touched," Bush said. "The whole thing is genuine. That's the good thing about the Olympics."
Bush said the athletes tend to ask him for the same thing, an autograph and a picture, and that each one sends a message.
"They're genuinely pleased that the president came to support them," Bush said. "And I really believe that it helps them realize the country is supporting them. A lot of people are pulling for them."
One of them was last seen in China watching baseball, getting all he wanted and more.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Why Do You Play Fantasy Baseball?
In today's hustle-bustle society, I find myself constantly on the move or doing something. Living in the DC area, it's tough to get away from the overcommitted, high achieving mindset that this city seems to create.
Which is exactly why I play fantasy baseball.
Okay, so maybe my busy lifestyle and local area don't exactly explain why I participate in this game. I mean, if I'm so taxed with other activities and a busy lifestyle, why bother adding more "work" on with a fantasy team?
As fantasy baseball players (or prospective fantasy baseball owners), before we play or participate in the game, we must first access our motives for participating in such a deep game. On the outside, fantasy baseball looks like a list of players with a lot of numbers. On the outside, fantasy baseball looks like a game merely based on chance and hitting on young players with skills. I am here to tell you that fantasy baseball is much more than just names and numbers, and if played the right way, fantasy baseball is a highly beatable game in every way, shape, and form.
But we will leave all of that to a future post. Remaining focused on topic, why do people decide to play fantasy baseball in the first place? Love of the game of baseball. This reason is probably the most common reason you find, as fantasy baseball does take a good amount of dedication and love of Major League Baseball. In recent years, however, I have personally seen a decline as this being the main reason, as I will explain later. Personally, fantasy baseball has had a strong impact on my appreciation and love for the game of baseball. It really is a beautiful thing.
Play to win some cash. I grew up on basic Yahoo Fantasy Baseball leagues, so I really dislike this as the main motive for one playing the game. Fantasy baseball is meant to be fun, but cash can be a huge motivator for any serious individual. Once I shifted to pay leagues with Sporting News and CBS Sportsline, I found the owners to be much more serious and active - possibly to the point where the league wasn't much fun.
Play to keep socially active with friends. The fantasy baseball game takes up a great deal of time, so if you play with a bunch of friends, you don't have to abandon your social life completely! It is a great way to keep in touch with relatives or friends from around the nation, and even the world. Embrace the game for the social benefits it can provide. The connections you make in fantasy leagues can be invaluable to your future with the game.
If your league emphasizes the use of a message board (read: you are playing with strangers), always attempt to start fruitful conversation and see if you can connect with owners to invite back to future leagues. Play to win or for strict competition. If you know me in real life, you know the kind of competitive attitude I possess. I love competing year round, and fantasy baseball fulfills that hunger from March through October. Strategize with free-agent moves and shrewd trading, and you'll find yourself really in control of a team's destiny. Bottom line: if your team stinks, you will know it when you look at the standings. Hopefully, with the help of this blog, I can help you find the secret to winning any fantasy league: something I have been doing for the past five years with an incredible amount of ease.
In closing...why do you play fantasy baseball?
2008 SportingNews.com
PHOTO: Yankees Fan Falls For Foul Freebie
There's something about catching a ball at a baseball game that will make some fans run afoul in their attempts just to snag one.
Such was the case for one lucky, or unlucky fan in his case, at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night as the Yankees hosted the Baltimore Orioles.
In this photograph submitted to CBS 2 HD by a fan attending the game, another fan is seen falling from the first deck onto the protective netting behind home plate while trying to grab a foul ball.
To make matters worse, the ambitious fan's cell phone clipped to his trousers gets caught in the net, making his crawl back to the mainland that much more difficult.
It may have been an embarrassing tumble, but hey, at least he got a free baseball!
MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Baseball isn't what it once was
Some observations about baseball as we head to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in July:
When I was growing up baseball was king. The first year I really watched baseball was 1973, and I can still remember seeing Willie Mays tribute night on TV. That year, the Mets were in the World Series, and I was heartbroken to see my hometown team lose in to the hated Reds. The next year, I saw Hank Aaron break the all-time home run record on television. Back then Monday Night Baseball was on the tube, and I waited in anticipation as Aaron cracked the record against the Dodgers and Al Downing. I can still remember the thrill of the subway train, coming out of the ground, reaching the elevated stage, looking out the dirty windows and seeing Shea Stadium for the first time.
Of all things, I saw the Yankees play the Oakland A's in a doubleheader in 1974. Yankee Stadium was under renovation that year and the Yankees and the Mets shared Shea Stadium. Ripping open packs of Topps baseball cards, which at that time were about a dime, was a ritual, even if I got my 10th Bob Forsch "traded" card. My friends and I played some form of baseball almost every day over the summer, from the time we woke up, until sundown, pausing only for meals and a dip in the public swimming pool. Over the years, because of work stoppages and use of performance enhancing drugs by even the stars of the game, baseball has become tarnished. Or has it?
Amazingly to me, Major League Baseball set an attendance record last year, despite the steroids scandal and the fact it cost a small fortune to get in to a MLB game. Last year, 10 MLB teams drew over three million fans. Eleven MLB teams have set team attendance records in the last three years. In 1973, the first year I watched baseball, the average attendance at a Major League Baseball game was 15,496. That figure was up to 31,256 per game in 1994, the year of the big strike which cancelled the World Series. In 1995, attendance plummeted to 25,022. In 2007, the average was back up to 32,766. The turnstiles have been spinning hard in 2008, and MLB could set another record this year. At the same time baseball attendance has grown at the major league level, there seems to be contradictions all around us. I'm sure baseball has lost some of its purists. After the strike in 1994, I refused to watch an MLB game until the 1995 World Series. A friend of mine who was a huge baseball fan refuses to this day to watch baseball because of the strike and because of the drug infractions which inflated home run numbers. Now we are finding out pitchers were also involved.
I find it really hard to sit at the TV and watch an entire baseball game. I have no problem watching an entire NFL game. Kids, including mine, got bored of the game, and stopped playing. Earlier this year, I was watching the "Civil Rights" baseball game on ESPN, where the announcers constantly lamented the fact that baseball participation among African-American players has dropped off drastically in the last 10 years. This appears to be true not only in the major leagues, but also in the college ranks and the high schools. While watching the College World Series and recent Coastal Plain League games, I saw very few African-American players. In the local high schools this spring, the same was true. Whereas African-American student athletes dominated basketball and football teams, there were probably fewer than 10 black baseball players among the Southampton, Franklin and Windsor squads.
Baseball teams, major and minor league, have had to set up other attractions at the parks to lure kids to the games. Back in the day, there was just the game. Despite all of the negatives, there also seems to be hope, especially locally. I recently wrote a story about little league baseball coming back to Ivor for the first time in three decades. To watch those kids run onto the field put a smile on my face. A traveling team based in Southampton County and Franklin was launched this spring. The Western Tidewater Hurricanes started the program so that local baseball players wouldn't have to travel to Suffolk or Chesapeake to play on traveling teams. The baseball (and softball) program that is run by the Windsor Athletic Association continues to thrive and send top-notch talent to the Windsor High School baseball team. Maybe baseball's not dead after all.
More on the franklin girls
I had the honor of attending a celebration for the Franklin High School girls basketball team on Tuesday night at the Franklin Sportsman Association Building. The team was honored with T-shirts and very nice jackets, which were all paid for out of the goodness of sponsors. The celebration was hosted by Toni Hunt, who was the team mom during the season, the parents of the players, and mentors Mr. and Mrs. Waverly Lawrence. Like I said in an earlier column, going to the state championship game is something those players will always remember.
Copyright 2008 Tidewater News
The danger of maple bats is a major problem for MLB
There is a scourge upon the otherwise robust game that commissioner Bud Selig must do something about quickly. No, it's not the Seattle Mariners, the most wasteful USD110 million ever spent in baseball. It is the daily danger caused by broken maple bats. Baseball has a full-blown safety threat on its hands and the commissioner, who needs the cooperation of the players association to address it, is confronted with an historically important decision.
Selig has expressed his concern about the maple bats and will have his major league baseball officials meet next week, June 24, with union members to discuss possible course of action. Doing nothing no longer is an option. Selig must decide whether to push for an outright ban of maple or for changes to the allowable bat specifications, such as barrel size, handle size or the minimum weight relative to the bat's length. You need to go all the way back to 1893, when flat-sided bats were banned with a rule stating "bats must be completely round" to find a change to hitter's equipment as important as the one that might be forthcoming. Another option that baseball is reluctant to put on the table is to increase the protective netting behind the diamond, such as extending it between the dugouts. Given the increased pricing of premium seats, and the appeal they carry of being close to the action, baseball has shown little inclination for putting more barriers between the high-paying fans and the game.
The danger of maple bats is, however, so clearly established that every major league baseball game is an accident and lawsuit waiting to happen. Baseball will not be able to claim in court that it was unaware of the hazards caused by maple bats, which routinely break apart in large jagged pieces that put players and, most especially, fans in harm's way. Major league baseball has been collecting breakage information for years from club equipment managers and, most obviously, seen the scary highlights nightly. The danger is so prevalent that Selig should consider the equivalent of a temporary restraining order, banning them immediately until and unless safety assurances can be put in place. However, such urgency presents a major logistical problem. Approximately 55 percent of major leaguers use maple. Short of players sharing bats, Little League-style, there may not be enough ash bats to equip them.
"If you were to say, 'No maple bats after the All-Star Game,' that's a problem, " said Chuck Schupp, manager of professional bat sales for Hillerich & Bradsby. "We can't buy all the trees needed, cut them, dry the wood and make the bats in 30 days. It's just not possible. We don't have enough billets in the pipeline to fill 100 percent usage."
Pirates hitting coach Don Long and a fan at Dodger Stadium, Susan Rhodes, have been struck in the face by broken maple bats. In recent years right-handed pitcher Rick Helling, while pitching in the minor leagues, was impaled in the left arm by a broken bat, a 15-inch shard penetrating three inches into his arm. The maple bats, because of a denser cell structure, do not crack like ash bats but break apart, with the jagged barrel piece typically flying up to 100 feet in any direction: toward the pitcher, infielders, base coaches, dugouts and, most dangerously, toward fans who watch the flight of the baseball, not the bat part, if they happen to be paying attention to the game at all.
"I'm not so much worried myself," Blue Jays third baseman Scott Rolen said. "I'm locked in and concentrated on every pitch and every swing. I can see the ball and the bat. But I don't want my family sitting near the field unless they are behind the (backstop) screen. The bats are a hazard for fans more so than players. Said Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, "I've never seen anything like it. Even if I'm 140 feet away (at third) base I'm in danger. In the last year or two I've seen more bats break. Why not ban them? They've banned everything else."
Both Rolen and Rodriguez use ash bats. Rolen said he tried maple bats briefly, but gave them up when two of those bats exploded even though he made contact with the baseball on the sweet spot of the barrel, a common complaint among maple users.
"Oh, yeah, I've hit balls right on the nose and they break in half," said Yankees outfielder Johnny Damon, who recently ordered ash bats after breaking a small forest of maple bats over recent years.
How did major league baseball allow this danger to proliferate? The collective bargaining process makes it difficult for baseball, like an enormous cruise ship, to make quick turns. The owners did ask the players in 2006 labor negotiations for changes to the official bat specifications over the concern about maple, but the players adamantly opposed those proposals. Bats can have barrels no larger than 2 3/4 inches, handles no thinner than 16/19-of-an-inch diameter and a length no greater than 42 inches. Baseball players gradually have moved toward light bats with thick barrels and thin handles, in part because they have learned to hit with metal bats with those characteristics, because of the evolution of hitting in which contact is compromised for power and because of more information about the technical and physical elements of hitting. For instance, Babe Ruth in 1927 wielded a 35-inch bat that weighed 40 ounces while becoming the father of power hitting. But Ruth probably didn't need such weight, or mass, in his bat. Because the bat already has so much more mass than the ball, bat speed (velocity) is much more significant than the mass.
Maple bats are thought to have been introduced into the game by Toronto outfielder Joe Carter in the early 1990s and became increasingly popular due to the wood's hardness, though the usage rate has leveled off in the past few years. Testing has shown that balls do not leave a maple bat with any greater velocity than off an ash bat. Until maple, ash was the lone source of bats since it replaced hickory in the 19th century. (Rules stipulate only that bats be a one-piece solid piece of wood.) Players who prefer maple bats note that they do not flake like ash bats can and tend to maintain their hardness longer as long as they don't bust in half.
"I don't like the way the stuff breaks, no," Schupp said.
Hillerich & Bradsby, as well as other bat manufacturers (of which there are many more than when Carter brought maple to the big leagues), will not be part of the June 24 discussions, but clearly need to consulted at some point in the process. Nimbleness and responsiveness never have been part of baseball's strong suits. But the danger of maple bats is unmistakable. The owners and players must move smartly but also quickly before more injuries occur.
Copyright 2008 Time Inc.
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