Cowboy Joe Rips Yankees/Red Sox

[Kevin Finnerty]

Originally Posted by Rich Ives

What's the wall clock time for an NBA game or an NHL game?

Why isn't anyone complaining about them?

The NBA's brand of basketball has become a sad joke on what was once a wonderful game.

[Kevin Finnerty]

Curt Schilling blows a lot of gas, but some of what he says here is spot on:

"Not to mention [West] often times acts like he'd rather be any place in the world other than the field.''

"... Part of the reason their games are slower is because [the Yanks' and Sox's] offenses are so deep, and so good. Hitters never give away at-bats. Every pitch matters, on both sides, for nine innings."

"The reason the games are slow is very clear, and one not many will print -- TV. Ad revenue has gotten to the point that TV is allowed to dictate pace of game, not the game itself."

[Rich Ives]

Gee - the NFL and NBA and NCAA have all those TV commercial time-outs where the players are just standing around sucking their thumbs for a couple of minutes at a time. Keep track sometime of how often commercials interrupt play and how long the interruptions last. It's dead time on the field when that's happening.

Most baseball parks have something going on during the breaks - whether it be the Phanatic, a sausage race, or something on the giant screen in CF - or in the minors the beanbag toss, toilet musical chairs, tee-shirt cannon, fan-quiz or whatever promotion is happening that night.

If you're bored it's because your team is behind and you have little faith in their ability to catch up.

[GA Umpire]

I agree that TV is a major problem. What is it like 2:25 per commercial break? That alone is a minimum of 16 breaks in the game. That is over 30 minutes there(too lazy to do exact math).

I love baseball. I can stand to watch 4 hours of it. I think the problem is time. Many times, I don't have 4 hours to waste like that. It detracts from other things.

Football has a lot of down time. Actually, the average offense/defense is only playing about 20 minutes of the game. Much of it is standing around and letting the clock go down. Not to mention the clock stopping for incompletes and out of bounds. It is perceived different but it is very similar. An average of 30 or more seconds is wasted between each play. That adds up.

I agree that the clock probably makes the perception different. Everyone knows how much time is in the game unlike baseball. They know the end is coming.

Cut out the commercials and it would probably get a lot better. After that, then they can discuss rule changes. I think they need to get to the "heart of the matter" first -- TV commercials.

[Rich Ives]

I went to the referenced story and found:

During spring training, Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon told WEEI.com: "Have you ever gone to watch a movie and thought, 'Man, this movie is so good I wish it would have never ended.' That's like a Red Sox-Yankees game. Why would you want it to end?"

Way to go Jonathan!

From a Yankee perspective: Watch a replay of the July 1 game where Jeter dove into the stands. Or watch the Bucky Dent game with Yaz popping up in the bottom of the ninth.

A Sox fan would add their memories - like the comeback from 0-3.

Tell Joe we don't care. It's Yankees-Red Sox.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Rich Ives

I went to the referenced story and found:

During spring training, Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon told WEEI.com: "Have you ever gone to watch a movie and thought, 'Man, this movie is so good I wish it would have never ended.' That's like a Red Sox-Yankees game. Why would you want it to end?"

Way to go Jonathan!

From a Yankee perspective: Watch a replay of the July 1 game where Jeter dove into the stands. Or watch the Bucky Dent game with Yaz popping up in the bottom of the ninth.

A Sox fan would add their memories - like the comeback from 0-3.

Tell Joe we don't care. It's Yankees-Red Sox.

Two teams that think Major League Baseball revolve around them. I'd rather watch Pittsburgh against Kansas City, to be quite honest.

[ozzy6900]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

Two teams that think Major League Baseball revolve around them. I'd rather watch Pittsburgh against Kansas City, to be quite honest.

NY vs Boston is something that cannot be understood by anyone West of NY & NJ. It is purley a New England thing and when the two teams meet, it is revenue time! Everyone from MLB right down to the corner bar profits from Red Sox/Yankees games. You would be hard pressed to find more loyalty to a team than you find with a New York or Boston fan and the revenue that is generated would out do any other park (if Fenway were larger). As much as I do not like the Yankees, I never miss a battle of these two teams because the rivalry will always be the best in baseball.

[zm1283]

Originally Posted by GA Umpire

Football has a lot of down time. Actually, the average offense/defense is only playing about 20 minutes of the game. Much of it is standing around and letting the clock go down. Not to mention the clock stopping for incompletes and out of bounds. It is perceived different but it is very similar. An average of 30 or more seconds is wasted between each play. That adds up.

This is true. NFL games in person can be very boring at times. Commercials after every punt, every change of possession, etc. I took my wife to her first NFL game a couple of years ago and she said "It's fun but they really stand around a lot".

[johnnyg08]

That's a good point...any Div I football game or NFL game in person has quite a bit of down time...and you can't really leave your seat for fear of missing the "big play"

[grunewar]

Originally Posted by zm1283

This is true. NFL games in person can be very boring at times. Commercials after every punt, every change of possession, etc. I took my wife to her first NFL game a couple of years ago and she said "It's fun but they really stand around a lot".

When I was in the military (1980s), my buds and I crossed the channel from Germany and went to the first NFL game in Wembley Stadium - Cardinals vs Vikings. We had a blast.

We sat with a bunch of Brits who agreed (my recollection) to keep us in beer as long as we explained the game to them as it went along! How great is that.

Opening kickoff. Tackle. TWEET! One guy turns to me and says, "Where are they all going?"

I said, "What?"

He said, "The players, they're leaving the field. Where are they going?"

I said, "Oh. Those were the kickoff teams. Now, the offense and defense are coming on the field."

He said, "Oh, ok, in Rugby we just keep going. I don't see the point....."

It was great fun, best I can recall......


Yep, there is a lot of downtime in all sports - especially tv games.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by grunewar

Opening kickoff. Tackle. TWEET! One guy turns to me and says, "Where are they all going?"

I said, "What?"

He said, "The players, they're leaving the field. Where are they going?"

I said, "Oh. Those were the kickoff teams. Now, the offense and defense are coming on the field."

He said, "Oh, ok, in Rugby we just keep going. I don't see the point....."

A Brit I know once described football as the quintessential American sport: "it features episodes of extreme violence, interrupted by a committee meeting."

Brilliant.

[cviverito]

What if baseball did have a clock? Hypothetical...let's say 2hr, 40min clock.

There are no "time out's for the clock. Live/dead balls - yes - but the clock keeps ticking. No time out for the clock. Not even for commercials or injuries ( I know - but let's have some fun with this). In the case of an injured player the ball is dead but the clock keeps ticking.

The game ends at 2:40, so long as it is an official game and both teams have had an equal number of at bats. In cases where the clock expires during an active inning the team at bat will be allowed to complete their turn. Should the home team be ahead at such time the visitors have completed their clock-expired time at bat they shall be declared the winner, or if they are tied or behind, the home team shall be allowed one final clock-expired time at bat. If during the home team clock-expired time at bat they score a go-ahead run the game shall be over with the home team being declared the winner. If after the home team completes their clock-expired time at bat they are still behind the visitors shall be declared the winner. If the game is tied at the end of that clock-expired inning the decision shall be declared a tie.

Should a game reach a conclusion of 9 innings with the home team ahead or behind in less than 2:40 the game shall be over. However, if the game is tied and time remains on the clock, additional innings may be played until the home team is ahead or the clock expires. In cases where the clock expires
and the visitors are ahead or the game is tied, the inning shall continue until both teams have had an equal number of at bats or the home team goes ahead. Regardless of the outcome the inning in progress will become the last inning. If the game is tied at the end of that clock-expired inning, when both teams have completed their at bats, the decision shall be declared a tie. If the visitors are ahead they shall be the winner, and vice-versa.

[kylejt]

Originally Posted by cviverito

What if baseball did have a clock?

Then it wouldn't be baseball.

[bob jenkins]

What's the question?

Thousands of youth-level games are played under similar rules every week. We see the problems the time limits cause. It would be worse at the pro level.

[cviverito]

Originally Posted by bob jenkins

What's the question?

Thousands of youth-level games are played under similar rules every week. We see the problems the time limits cause. It would be worse at the pro level.

Agreed. I don't want it or think it could work. Just having fun with it.