By Jim Vallet and Robert Perea
Going to a Major League baseball game sure has changed over the years.
I am back in Detroit, MI where I grew up. I remember going to Detroit Tiger games when I was young. There was no huge scoreboard. There was no music. There wasn’t even an organ in old Tiger Stadium for the first bunch of years I went. The only entertainment, besides the game, was a local Dixieland band that played at the games sometimes, and a groundskeeper who danced sans music while he was raking the infield. Other than that and the more than occasional stupid drunk, you had to actually watch the game to be entertained.
It’s not like that anymore. Now there is a huge scoreboard that gives every statistic on every batter and pitch that you could ever think of. Between innings the scoreboard either plays games or plays REALLY loud music while very pretty girls dance on the dugouts waving signs that implore all patrons to make even more noise. If someone is standing in front of you so you can’t see the pitcher or catcher (a frequent occurrence) it’s ok because the scoreboard replays anything that you might miss.
At Tiger Stadium, the ushers, ticket takers, concession workers, vendors, and security all acting like they were doing you a favor by doing their jobs, unless you forked over a handsome tip. Now, tipping the ushers is not permitted (my brother-in-law is an usher there) and an usher will be fired if he is caught on one of the many surveillance cameras taking a tip. Most of the stadium workers are friendly with the constant comment of, “Enjoy the game”. Although I appreciate the niceties, the price of beer ($17 for 16 ounces) and a hot dog ($6.50) not to mention tickets and parking, does diminish the desire to return.
It’s a different experience.
Another difference is the promotions. Last Tuesday, there was a promotion called, “Bark in the Park”. For that game, you could bring a dog to the stadium if you paid for its seat. Why anyone would want to pay 25 dollars (the price of seats in the area where the dogs were allowed) so their pooch can attend a baseball game is beyond me, but a lot of people did it.
It got me thinking about people and their dogs in our country.
We are dog owners and we love our dogs. But, I am under no illusion that everyone loves my dog as much as I do. I personally put up with other people’s dogs because it is worth it to be with the dog’s owners, but I do not love anyone else’s dog. They bark when I want quiet. They jump up on you when you want to be left alone. They shed. They poop. They pee. They throw up on our new rug. They have to be let out so that the waiting bugs can be let in.
My sister and brother-in-law have an incredibly obnoxious dog that they believe everyone else loves. To see this dog’s owners is worth putting up with the dog, but I really can’t understand why my relatives let their dog behave like he does. But, even my sister would not take her dog to a baseball game.
There used to be a guy in Moapa Valley who not only insisted on bringing his dog to every football and baseball game, but standing on the sidelines of football games with his dog. The Moapa Valley football coach allowed this to go on, probably because the guy’s son was a good player, until the dog did what dogs do on the football field and someone fell in it.
Dogs were then banned from the football field while the game was going on.
We have good friends who asked us not to bring our dog to their house, although we had never done that, but felt free when they got a dog to bring their dog to our house because they felt we really wanted to see their dog. Some people think it’s “cute” that their dogs run at you in full attack mode knowing that their electric fence, which I didn’t know existed, would prevent an actual assault. Who hasn’t stepped in a canine surprise left by someone too thoughtless to pick up their dog’s crap on your lawn?
I pity delivery drivers and mailmen who must endure charges of dogs that “are just playing”.
To sum up, I love my dog, but I put up with yours.
Like someone else’s dog, some NFL teams are putting up with poor QBs. Some bad quarterbacks played surprisingly well last week, like Spencer Rattler (who had never won an NFL game he started) and Russell Wilson. But, don’t be fooled. A tiger never changes his stripes, a leopard doesn’t change his spots, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, a…never mind, you get the idea. It seems like a really bad idea to me to expect a QB who has been bad to suddenly play well at the most important position in sports. Oh, well. Maybe I can profit from their mistakes.
Or, maybe I can’t. My record so far is nothing to write home about, but here I go again. Lines are from espn.com on Wednesday, Sept. 17.
Buffalo Bills (-11 ½) vs. Miami Dolphins: It’s always tough on the road team on Thursday games. It’ll be tougher for a bad Miami team to face a good Buffalo team on the road on Thursday.
Houston Texans (+1 ½) at Jacksonville Jaguars: Same old Jags.
Philadelphia Eagles (-3 ½) vs. LA Rams: The Eagles are really good right now, and they tend to win and lose in bunches.
Washington Commanders (-3 ½) vs. LV Raiders: A mini-bye for the Red…ahhh Commanders against a Raiders team that has really struggled on offense.
Green Bay Packers (-7 ½) at Cleveland Browns: I don’t like giving this many points in the NFL to the home team, but this home team, with an aging QB, is prone to give up the ball to a defense that loves to take it.
Seattle Seahawks (-7 ½) vs New Orleans Saints: I’m betting against the Saints here.
Last week 4-2
Season 7-5
Robert’s picks
Rice (-2) at Charlotte: I normally don’t like laying points on the road with programs the caliber of Rice, but when you find something that works, stick with it doesn’t. I pegged Charlotte as a contender to be one of the worst defenses in the country this season. They promptly gave up 586 yards to Appalachian St, in the first game and gave up 458 in a 42-35 win over Monmouth. In between they held North Carolina to 303 yards but lost 20-3. Now here comes Rice with an offense like nobody else in the country runs, a triple option out of shotgun and pistol spread formations. Even if the Charlotte coaches figure out a way to defend it well, which I doubt, they still have to figure a way to get their players to do it. My money says they can’t.
Maryland (+10) at Wisconsin: Any game you bet on brings inherent risks, and as my record so far this season attests, I’m not risk averse when it comes to betting college football. The risk is in this situation is that Maryland under coach Mike Locksley has a history of starting the season well against lesser opponents, then coming up small in conference plays, especially against the big boys. But Wisconsin has regressed every year under Luke Fickell, and while the program may be one of the Big Ten’s big boys, this particular team is not. I would be more surprised by a double-digit Wisconsin win than I would by an outright Maryland win.
Utah (-3) over Texas Tech: I pretty much have to play this one. I said before the first game of the season that Utah might be the most undervalued team in the country. That didn’t last long, but here is where we find out whether either of these teams are going to contend for the Big 12 championship. Texas Tech has scored 67, 62 and 45 points against the feeble defenses of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Kent. St. and Oregon St., while Utah has held the impotent offenses of UCLA, Cal Poly and Wyoming to 10, 9 and 6. If I was right about Utah from the beginning, they’ll cash this one.
Texans (+2) at Jaguars: Sometimes when a team starts 0-2, it just means they aren’t very good. The Texans certainly don’t look very good offensively, averaging 265.5 yards and 17 points per game. Their leading receiver has caught six passes in two games, their leading rusher averages 51.5 yards per game, But Houston has owned this matchup, is desperate for a win, and despite the numbers in the first two games, I believe is still the better of these two teams.
Cardinals (+2 ½) at 49ers: If I can’t get +3 in this game before kickoff, I’ll probably just bet the money line. I bet against the 49ers and only a series of Seahawk mistakes and a touchdown on a pass with a 13-percent chance of completion according to NFL NextGen stats kept me from winning, Then I bet on the 49ers last week and the game went almost to the script in my head. The Cardinals have been a 49ers nemesis and the injuries on offense keep adding up for the 49ers.
Lions (+4 ½) over Ravens: This line was 6 earlier in the week, but the look-ahead line over the summer was 3.5, and I’ve seen nothing in the first two weeks that says the Ravens are better than projected, or that the Lions are worse. This game looks like it has dogfight written all over it to me.
Last week
College 1-2
NFL 2-1
Season
College 3-7
NFL 3-4
Comment
Comments