“It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.”

— A. Bartlett Giamatti

Opening paragraph from “The Green Fields of the Mind,” cut and pasted, according to the Orange County Register, in Vin Scully’s custom-made leather scorecard cover.

baseball sports

10 plus 1 things the MLB should change about the game

Blogger Neil Cohen wrote on The Dot the other day the ten things he thought Major League Baseball should change about the game right now. Most of his ideas are sound. One’s blasphemy.

1. Wild card teams should play two out of three

Yes. A hundred and sixty-two games coming down to just one is cruel and unusual. Cohen suggests the regular season be cut back by two games to keep the overall season the same length. I don’t much like that idea since only four teams make the Wild Card spots and cutting two games from the schedule is really cutting something like 48 games that would have otherwise been played over two days across both leagues.

2. Enough with the beards.

Totally. Enough said.

3. The NL should adopt the DH

Oh hell no. I won’t go into all the Totally Obvious Reasons baseball is a superior game with all the players actually playing the way the New York Knickerbockers meant for them to play, but for NL purists (hello) the DH is an abomination from them depths of hell. We may as well let pro players hit with metal bats.

How about this idea: Teach pitchers to hit.

4. Kill the blackout

I don’t disagree with this, either, but dude assumes there’s some kind of logic behind how games get aired where. Plus, he could solve his issue by getting MLB.tv. It’s the best thing on the damned planet. Worth every centavo.

5. No more smokeless tobacco

Agree again.

6. PED scarlet letter

If a player gets caught using PEDs, upon return from suspension, the player has to wear a red uniform all of the time.

Yes. Plus, if they get caught a second time, they’re banned from the game for life and all their records evaporate. Like they never existed. That’d fix the issue pretty quick.

7. Stop counting pitches

Back in the day, guys would pitch full games on consecutive days for years. I know, the game’s changed. Really? Or is it that these guys cost too much money to use them as much as they were used in the old days?

8. Change how managers bullpens something something

Whatever. Let them dance their dance. This one sounds it comes from a guy who thinks the DH is a good idea.

9. Get the cameras off the fans

Yeah, I’d rather see how the guys in the bullpen are reacting to the game than some random dude in section 325. While we’re at it, can we establish some kind of minimum acceptable dress code for those people lucky enough to score those seats right behind the batter? And throw them out of the stadium if they wave into the TV camera while on their cell phone. “Hey, can you see me!?” Yes. You look like an idiot.

10. Stop whining about how long the games take

Amen. During the winter, I crave baseball and its timeless, easygoing cadence. I savor every second and resent travel days and the All-Star Break and the NFL for playing over the baseball season. Plus the months of November though February.

That’s Cohen’s list. I got one more.

11. Let the computers call balls and strikes

Heresy, I know, but I’m tired of watching good batters go down looking because the ump called a crap pitch as a strike (only to “give one back” later by calling a wickedly placed pitch a ball). We have the technology. There’s no reason to leave this up to the arbitrary verities of fallible humans anymore. In what other game are we asked to accept the blatantly wrong calls of the officiants over and over again during the course of a game? It’s madness. This would be better for batters and pitchers and fans. It would be fair.

I know, in the greater scheme of things, these calls work themselves out, but at any moment a rally can be killed or wrongly born because an ump screwed up. We’ve already got the camel’s nose under the tent flap with instant replay review. Let’s finish the job and let HAL call the pitches.

Apple media tech

Exactly like that but totally not

Over on Recode — oh, sorry…I mean Re/code — Uncle Walt posits that Apple is like a movie studio.

Studios release blockbuster franchise movies every few years, and then try to live off a series of sequels until the next big, successful franchise. We are in the early stages of one such project right now: On May 2, Columbia Pictures will release “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” the first of what may be several sequels to the original 2012 film, that was itself a reboot of an earlier series.

Looked at in this way, your almost-new iPhone 5s and iPad Air are mere sequels, iterations of Apple blockbusters that rocked the world when they first appeared. The same goes for your MacBook Air, which has gone through many changes and improvements since Mr. Jobs theatrically slid it out of a manila envelope in 2008 to show how thin it was.

He uses the word “iteration” there but I think he confuses its meaning with the word “derivative.” Iteration implies methodical incremental improvement which, I think, any casual observer would see has been the case with the iPhone and iPad and pretty much everything Apple makes. Constant improvement. Sometimes not earth-shattering by themselves, but when taken in aggregate, adding up to a pretty big deal.

In contrast, Spider Man reboots are derivative. You are literally retelling the same story with minor changes around the edges which, in itself, is derivative of its comic book source material. It might be better or it might be worse. The only thing you can count on is it will be in some way different. But not. The goal isn’t to improve Spidey, only get you to see him again with another actor’s face (and, let’s be clear, to enable Sony to maintain their license to Marvel’s IP).

Movie sequels almost (almost) always do worse financially than their predecessors. Which Apple “sequel” has sold more poorly than the device it replaced? Also, with a few notable exceptions, qualitatively the originals are better, too (Empire Strikes Back and Godfather II being the most obvious examples I can think of). Movie sequels are often a crass attempt to pull more treasure from a productive hole. See Jaws 2, Poltergeist II, Matrix Reloaded, etc.

I also have to wonder what would qualify as a “game-changer” from Apple? Which game are we looking to change? From a financial aspect, there is no way for Apple to create something that generates the kind of revenue iPhone does. Not unless they branch out into oil production or auto manufacturing.

Apple is solely focused on making great products. Sometimes they change games, sometimes they “merely” make those games better to play. But they don’t make ill-conceived bullshit to give tech writers something to natter on about. Walt, of all people, should know better.

media tech

Random Facebook Paper thoughts

Facebook dropped its new iPhone newsreading app Paper yesterday and it’s getting universally positive reviews. And for good reason. It’s lovely. Some random things that have occurred to me as I’ve used it.

  • The interface is going to change mobile apps. It is almost entirely without chrome (as in, buttons and menus and such). All the navigation and interaction is done with swipes and gestures. This is not new. Other iPhone apps have established this kind of interface before, but none with the potential impact of Paper as Facebook has hundreds of millions of mobile users. The mechanisms set by Paper could easily become a new standard for other apps.
  • Which wouldn’t be a bad thing since they’ve been thoughtfully devised. After only a few seconds, I found myself intuitively getting how Paper worked. That hasn’t always been the case for other apps using gestures for interaction. After an extended Paper session, I found myself trying to use the “swipe down to close” gesture to get out of a folder in iOS. It just makes sense.
  • Wither most recent? Paper seems to have the “top stories” feed view hard-coded into it. I think that’s bad news for frequent Facebook users (like yours truly). I’ve found that “top stories” rehashes things I’ve already seen or are out of date. For example, in the last 12 hours or so, I’ve noticed the large images above the news feed stories seem to be stuck. I keep seeing the same post by George Takai and one by another friend, both from yesterday. Same goes for the stories in the feed. Too much repetition and stale stuff when I know there are new things to see that aren’t there. The algorithm is either stupid or there’s a caching issue. In any event, I much prefer “most recent” but haven’t found a way to make that happen. More bad news for those of us who want more control over how we view our feeds.
  • Speaking of that big image above the feed, Paper cycles through a number of stories and pictures there but doesn’t seem to allow a way to navigate among them. The dots that usually indicate more “slides” in a “stack” actually indicate more curated feeds. So, if you swipe to the side, you get the next feed stack, not the next slide in the current stack. It doesn’t make sense and is an odd and glaring UI misstep in an otherwise lovely experience.
  • With regard to the other curated feeds, I’d like to be able to pick and choose which sources show up there or even make my own. Imagine being able to make a Tech feed made up only of pages you’ve already chosen to follow on Facebook. Maybe another that’s just high school friends. That would be pretty sweet. Hopefully, we’ll see that in future releases.
  • Releasing it as a stand-alone second option to the existing Facebook app (probably the single most popular mobile app in the world) is likely a smart move, but strikes me as very un-Apple-like. Also not very Zuckerberg-like. Typically, they seem to shove new approaches and views down their users’ throats with the suggestion to “trust us.” Not sure if this indicates a tempering of that attitude or just a healthy helping of corporate caution. Nor if it’s a good thing or bad.
  • No, there are no ads, but we all know they’re coming so please don’t whine about it when they show up.

Paper seems to be a logical and natural step in the progression of Facebook. The site and its apps are more and more becoming how many people get their news and find things to see and read on the web (which is exactly what Facebook wants, of course). I don’t think this is just another way to view Facebook or is a “Flipboard killer.” It’s the future of the platform.

Apple

Once-ler’s lament

9to5 Mac points towards an investment note that shows why Wall Street analysts are the worst people to pay any attention to if you want cogent thoughts about Apple’s future.

Says BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk:

The bottom line is that if Apple can’t deliver products, Tim Cook may have to pay the price. This is a public company. The shareholders own the company and they want profit growth. Making great products is a noble goal but if it doesn’t grow the business despite the massive market opportunity that exists that would be a larger strategy problem.

Didn’t this guy ever read The Lorax? Biggering for biggering’s sake does not come without consequences.

As Siegler points out, iPhone is responsible for nearly 60% of Apple’s revenue. That’s a product that all by itself is bigger than Microsoft and is more profitable than just about any non-energy business on the planet. And it was created by focusing on making great products.

Regardless, what could Apple make that would drive profits in a meaningful way in the shadow of such a massive business? Watches? TVs? Oil and natural gas production? Also, let’s not forget that the China Mobile deal means the potential for iPhone growth continues for a while yet. Also also, Apple’s profits are still growing. Maybe not as fast as before, but you know, there are only so many people on the planet. It’s the insane push for profit growth at all costs that make companies do stupid things. Buy companies they shouldn’t. Produce products they have no business making. Lowering prices to chase higher unit volume. Apple, so far, hasn’t shown itself to be that short-sighted. They’re playing a longer game.

The real bottom line is Apple is only successful because they focus solely on making great products. If that’s not a business investors want to invest in, they should divest themselves of AAPL and find someone as short-sighted as they are to put their money behind.

“And I think really the media seems to have given President Clinton a pass on [the Lewinsky affair].”

OK. First of all…I mean, come on. Really, Rand? You’re going to drag out the stained blue dress after all this time? Gee, can’t imagine why.

Two, dude, I was there. I remember how the media gave Clinton “a pass.” Suggesting he wasn’t anything but absolutely savaged by the press is farcical.

Via

Gay Rights Movement in Uncharted Territory

Reinhardt wrote that government actions that treat people differently based on sexual orientation “are subject to heightened scrutiny,” like actions singling out racial minorities or women. And he concluded that lawyers aren’t free to strike jurors just because they are gay. That differential treatment, he said, violates the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.

That seems so patently obvious to me it’s hard to believe it’s even at issue. Singling out people because they’re gay is like singling out the left-handed or blue-eyed.

media politics

Freely speaking

Phil Robertson got kicked off Duck Dynasty (at least for a little while) because of something he said. What he said really isn’t important to this discussion, but A&E felt sufficiently disturbed by it to give him the boot. 

And instantly, everyone lost their shit.

Fox News and their ilk cranked up their industrial-scale outrage machine and cried to the heavens about the sorry nature of “free speech” in our culture. Except there’s nothing in this event that suggests there’s anything at all wrong with the price of speech in America.

Consider…

  • Robertson was asked by GQ what he thought to be sinful and he was able to answer, presumably, from his heart.
  • GQ was able to publish the account (to great effect, undoubtedly).
  • A&E was able to exercise their right to expression by canning Robertson.
  • Due to the massive popularity of Duck Dynasty, Robertson will undoubtedly have the opportunity to return to television (assuming he’s permanently off the show and the show falls apart without him) when another network exercises their right to free expression and picks him and his family up.
  • Fox and the rest of the media nabobs are contributing mightily to the problem of greenhouse gasses by talking this thing into its atomic sub-particles.
  • Several friends I have on Facebook have an opinion on the matter and are not shy about sharing it freely (let alone how the kerfuffle has added to the Twitter firehose of expression).
  • Lastly, remember that our Supreme Court have elevated money to be the equivalent of speech and Robertson is terrifically wealthy meaning he has more potential “speech” at his disposal than likely all the people who will read these words combined (yeah, I don’t get a lot of traffic). Nothing that has happened will materially change his fortunes for very long (if at all).

The First Amendment restricts the government’s ability to stifle speech, not citizens and their corporate counterparts. A&E is freely enjoying their speech now as much as Robertson was in the GQ interview or MSNBC was when they canned Martin Bashir and Alec Baldwin (where was the outrage over free speech for Bashir, I wonder?).

“Free speech” isn’t freedom from having to deal with the consequences of what you say. It isn’t carte blanche to say whatever you want wherever you want regardless of your relative visibility in the media. It is not a freedom to be bigoted with no strings attached. It never has been and was not intended as such.

So, as far as I can tell, speech it still free as a bird here in the USA.

life

Timing

The other night, Chris sent me a Facebook message.

“You up?”

It was only 9:38 but I wasn’t. I had turned off the light only a few minutes before.

I pinged him back the next morning.

Long story short, he wanted to talk about him mom Nancy who’s very sick. I knew she was dealing with some kind of chronic issue that wasn’t likely to get better, but I didn’t recall what it was (and still don’t, except that it’s something to do with muscular degeneration). He didn’t expect she’d live a lot longer.

One second, I’m in high school and at his house and Nancy is making us food then I’m out of high school and half way across the country with a job then I’m getting married and Chris is there then there’s babies and the babies become little people and then actual people and your parents start to get sick and sometimes they die.

And it becomes really obvious: You are going to die, too.

And fuck, but why didn’t you think of that? During the all that time between the seconds you can remember when nothing much of interest was going on and you could have been doing something more…more.

And, like, I’m 46. More than halfway gone. I don’t regret. Life’s not that bad, after all. Things are pretty good. But I want more time. Now that more’s behind than ahead, I want all that time back. Not to change a thing. Not to reset my life. I’m lucky that way. I’m OK with where things are. But I want back my time.

Chris spent an afternoon with Nancy in August. She was aware and present and he feels closure. That’s important. When my dad got sick, I went out for the surgery but he was pretty out of it. I left very early and spent a few minutes in his hospital room and told him goodbye in that way you say goodbye when you leave for the day, not forever. I didn’t tell him I loved him. He was right there and I didn’t say it. I thought it, but the words didn’t come out. I figured, there’s still time.

Then I talked to him on the phone maybe a week or so later. He had some hope. There was a program. He sounded optimistic. Still didn’t say it. There’s still time.

Then I was travelling and got a call from his wife. No more time. Come now. By the time I got there, it was all over.

That closure’s important. Because the door’s one-way. There’s no making up for it after the fact.

I’m glad Chris had that afternoon. Glad for both him and Nancy.

Originally published on Medium.

New tick picked

When you first realize you have a tick up your nose, it takes a lot of willpower not to claw your face off.

Er…yeah.