* Looks like the long-shot Carillon Business Park in the Feather Sound area of Pinellas County is now all but officially off the table as a potential site for a new Rays stadium. In the two years since Darryl LeClair unveiled his plans to shoehorn a facility amid a mixed-use development (“Echelon City Center”), the Rays have never deigned to respond. Now it appears LeClair will be moving on with Echelon sans any Rays scenario.
But it still confounds that the “Echelon” plan seemed viable to many–even though Rays owner Stu Sternberg has been adamant about a “pitch perfect” location. Parking would have been problematic–and impossible for day games. Rush-hour traffic is a mess and heavy rains flood nearby streets. And there was no public support from incumbent Carillon corporations. “Pitch perfection” this was not.
And there was always this: Would enough people be willing to live in apartments and stay in a hotel that shared walls with a baseball stadium?
* Now that Major League Baseball has named a new commissioner–Rob Manfred–speculation is spiking about what priorities he will–or should–have. Among them: length of games, steroids, revenue disparities and competitive balance.
While this doesn’t rank with the above, here’s a suggestion that would make the game a bit more appealing for TV viewers.
Start with an MLB memo to all players reminding them of the ubiquity of television cameras and what that means for coverage. Because baseball is a pedestrian-paced game with too much down time between pitches, at-bats, plays, outs and innings, those cameras are always looking for reaction shots–in the stands, in the dugout, on the field. Too often they inevitably fix on players in the process of cup adjustments and nostril probes.
And if memos don’t work, go to replay.
* I typically don’t watch the Little League World Series. The ESPN coverage is a reminder that everything’s a product–including adolescence. Pre-teens with Major League mannerisms. Even spitting. More to the point, it’s a lot of pressure for kids.
But I flipped on ESPN while on the treadmill at LA Fitness recently and took in part of the Pennsylvania-Tennessee game that featured the female pitcher from Philadelphia. She threw a two-hit shutout. Beyond impressive. Great story.
Then I looked in on Pennsylvania’s next game against Texas. I was reminded why I don’t typically look in.
It was cringe-inducing to watch the Texas pitcher crying on the mound as the pressure–despite his manager’s (microphoned) pep talk–was getting to him. It was everything that is wrong with the overly hyped, nationally televised Little League World Series. I turned it off. I didn’t want to see a 12-year-old melt down over not being able to control his split-finger or his cutter.
* Nice to see Seminole’s own Brittany Lincicome–she’s 29 now!–back in the hunt at the LPGA Championship last weekend. She hadn’t won a tournament in three years and came ever so close before losing in a playoff to LPGA tour star Inbee Park of South Korea. But there was a major consolation for the former Seminole High golfer: Second place was worth $207, 791.
* I know it’s a familiar refrain, but why are there published point spreads for NFL pre-season games? Are people actually betting on games that will typically be decided by those who don’t even make the teams?