Home of the Brave(s)

The Atlanta Braves planned move to Cobb County Stadium outside of the city after the lease on Turner Field expires in 2016 is one of mixed emotions in the city of Atlanta.  Most folks in the urban areas surrounding the city feel the team is abandoning its area and such structures have been cornerstones to rebuilding urban areas in cities like Denver and Minneapolis.  Front office execs of the Braves agreed to keep all of the details fairly quiet and feel the area surrounding Turner, although with a few new lofts and renovations, is time for a newer look.  They never considered the field as a tool for revitalization.  Some places near the stadium are still among the poorest in the city.  The Atlanta Falcons also plan on leaving the Georgia Dome in the near future to relocate into a different home.

All eyes on you

Turner Sports and CBS will be producing three different telecasts for the 2014 Men's Final Four games in Texas.  Each channel, TBS, TNT and truTV will show the same game at the same time with different announcers and different camera angles customized for each specific team.  It is essentially considered 'teamcasts' that Turner Sports is innovating into the layout of the already highly watched NCAA Tournament. 

Hardware coming Home

For most of the Pittsburgh southwestern Pennsylvania area, a true superstar to lean on in baseball has been missing since the early 90's when the infamous Barry Bonds roamed the outfield grounds of Three Rivers Stadium.  Now, with the unveiling of the 2013 NL MVP honors going to Pirates outfielder, Andrew McCutchen, that warm and cozy feeling of security in the Buccos lineup is back.  This is the third year in a row McCutchen has been in the MVP picture and the second straight where his performance has warranted serious consideration.  This year's performance by the Pirates as a whole, reaching he playoffs for the first time since 1992, is what put him over the top of the voting.  McCutchen won by a comfortable margin as he received 28 of the 30 first place votes. 

The Pirates manager, Clint Hurdle, also received a prestigious honor for his efforts in the 2013 baseball season.  Hurdle was named manager of the year, receiving first place votes on 25 of the 30 ballots.  He wins the award for the first time in his career, becoming the only Pirate manager to win the award beside Jim Leyland who won it twice ('90 and '92).

 

 

And last but certainly not least, Pirates starting pitcher, and another candidate in my opinion for MVP of the Pirates clubhouse at least, Francisco Liriano, won NL Comeback player of the Year award for his efforts in the 2013 season.  His 16-8 record and an ERA just over three (3.02) gave the Pirates the ace performance they have been so desperately seeking for over a decade.  Liriano is the first Pirate to ever win the award, which was first implemented into baseball before the 2005 season.

 

 



Phantom on Ice

If you thought the title was a segway into a theatrical production on ice, you're not right, but not entirely wrong either.  The Phantom camera, which was a huge hit in the MLB World Series in 2012, is now being introduced into the NHL on FOX sports, with its first game being this week pitting the Anaheim Ducks at Florida Panthers.  Unlike the normal camera which captures 30 frames per second, the Phantom camera captures 5,000 frames per second.  The technology has been experimented with in the Florida region throughout the last year, with uses during the Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins games.

 

 

 

Words hurt

 

In the latest scandal within the sports universe, the NFL finds itself at the forefront yet again in a not so good light. Richie Incognito, offensive lineman for the Miami Dolphins, has been suspended indefinitely by the team because of accounts of bullying and harassment towards fellow offensive lineman, Jonathan Martin.  Incognito denies the allegations that his intent was to bully or intimidate and insists Martin is a close friend and that is simply part of the locker room culture.  Incognito has had a history with attitude and control issues that have made him a "loose cannon" by most people's opinion yet many teammates on the Dolphins stand by Incognito's ability and leadership skills in the Dolphins organization.  The video below depicts a pinker version of the Hulk...just kidding.  That's Incognito going crazy during what looks like a Sunday fun day gone wild.

The road to Jerryworld begins

The college basketball season is upon us and the road to North Texas is about to be paved as the NCAA will have its annual 24 hour hoops marathon run from November 11-12, concluding with the Champions Classic held at the United Center.  It will be quite the finale to the day long marathon, as four of the top five teams in the country will face off in a double header that could quite possibly preview the Final Four candidates.  Duke will take on Kansas and Kentucky will play Tom Izzo's perennial power, Michigan State Spartans.

The true highlight of the event comes in freshmen forms throughout the four showcased teams, as Kentucky brings in five of the top ten recruits in the country, with the heralded lefty, Julius Randle, headlining the class.  Duke also brings in a very highly touted recruiting class with arguably the best talent out of high school since Lebron James in Jabari Parker.  And the reason why I say arguably is because of the talent Parker will be up against with Andrew Wiggins of the Kansas Jayhawks.  Let us not forget about sensational sophomore of Michigan State, Gary Harris, who is another outstanding young talent that has the advantage of one more year of college and tournament experience on the freshman class this season.  Regardless of the outcomes on Tuesday night, look for this foursome of young and endlessly talented teams to be vying for their share of the Final Four puzzle come end of March.

He felt that one...didn't he?

A young Irish inventor, Mark Dillon, came up with a product to detect serious head injury to athlete's in contact sports through a mouth guard that he created. 

"A tiny accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer, along with a wireless chip and battery, are all packed into the device, which Dillon calls "Mamori" (Japanese for "protect"). The inertial sensors constantly monitor for movement and relay that information in real time to a laptop on the sidelines. If a player takes a hit, the force involved is immediately known, and if the impact falls above the threshold where a concussion is likely, medical care can be given instantly," courtesy of NBC News technology describes in some detail what specifically it measures.

It all stemmed from the ongoing injuries being suffered in Gaelic football.  Despite the helmets, players were still continually sustaining head injuries.

Referees to Robots

Goal-line technology is being developed to help the already boring game of soccer become essentially more agonizing to watch...no cheap goals or off sided breakaways any more!!  Hawk-Eye is the company behind the creation and has already begun implementing it into the English Premier League games.  Some of these types of technologies are taking two dimensional images and turning them into three dimensional representations that can detect goals, offsides, and even handballs with the multiple slow motion cameras included in some of the technology packages.  They are essentially adapting to what many American sports have moved toward over the last ten years or so.  Not all fans are on board with this, nor are all team owners and personnel, feeling this could slow down the tempo and flow of the games.