2013 MillersTime Baseball Contests

05 Tuesday Feb 2013

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baseball, Baseball Contests, MillersTime Baseball Contests

(Workers on Tuesday are loading a truck with the Red Sox’ gear for spring training. Marie Torto photo)

2013 MillersTime Baseball Contests

A few changes for this year’s contests in response to some readers’ suggestions.

Primarily, I have de-emphasized the Sox and Yankees (only one contest involves these two teams), and I have tried to allow for your specific interest in a favorite team, a favorite player, and/or your baseball knowledge (or lack of it also) in general.

Contest #1:

Make a prediction about the 2013 MLB baseball season.

“What He Meant to Us” -Bob Costas on Stan Musial

28 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, Go Sox

≈ 1 Comment

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Bob Costas, Stan Musial

Yes. my third post on Stan Musial in the last week, more than I’ve ever done on any one topic previously.

Why am I so focused on him?

Probably because Musial, more than anyone, embodies “the better angels of our nature.”

If you’ve got about 20 minutes, listen to the Remembrance Bob Costas gave at Musial’s funeral.

“If This Could Only Happen More Often”

22 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, Go Sox

≈ 2 Comments

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Abel Mutai, Ivan Fernandez Anaya, Lance Armstrong, Stan 'The Man' Musial

In response to the Stan ‘The Man’ vs Lance ‘The Liar’ post on MillersTime a few days ago, friend and reader Diane K. bemoaned that there were not more good stories of athletes such as Stan Musial.

As if on cue, my son-in-law told me about a story he had just seen where Ivan Fernandez Anaya, a Spanish runner, did precisely what Diane, and many others, long to hear.

In December, in a long distance race, Abel Mutai of Kenya, who had won a bronze medal in the Olympics, thought he had won this race and slowed, actually short of the finish line. Anaya, coming up behind Mutai, knowing that he could have passed Mutai and won the race, did something different.

Stan ‘The Man’ vs Lance ‘The Liar’

21 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, Go Sox

≈ 2 Comments

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Joe Posnanski, Lance Armstrong, Stan 'The Man' Musial

(LIFE with The Man: Rare and Classic Photos of Stan Musial – Click to see all 18 pix)

Let me see if I can explain myself.

Lance Armstrong – “An American Myth”?

18 Friday Jan 2013

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, Go Sox

≈ 3 Comments

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Lance Armstrong, Michael Specter, The New Yorker

Now that Lance Armstrong has mostly admitted (to Oprah) what he has done, is forgiveness to follow? (Click on the red ‘link’ above to see for yourself three minutes of highlights of Armstrong’s Oprah interview).

Check out this article — What Lance Armstrong Did — in The New Yorker, written by Michael Specter, Jan. 15th.

I agree completely.

Enough of Lance Armstrong.

Two Articles for the Baseball Obsessed

10 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

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"Esquire", Baseball Hall of Fame, Bill Pennington, NY "Times", Richard Ben Cramer, Ted Williams

Now that Opening Day is in the current year, more and more of my thoughts are turning to one of my serious but not life threatening obsessions.

Apparently others can say the same, as I’ve received from MillersTime readers the following two links to baseball articles, both of which I gladly pass on to others who may be equally obsessed and looking for something to read other than warmed over Hot Stove material.

It’s Coming

08 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 1 Comment

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Baseball Contests, Baseball Predictions, MillersTime Baseball Contests

The signs are all around us.

The football season is, finally, coming to an end.

There will be an announcement tomorrow about the new inductees to Cooperstown.

References are appearing to the number of days until ‘Truck Day,’ ‘Pitchers and Catchers,’ Spring Training, etc.

Two of my three Nats’ ticket partnerships have had their drawings for 2013 tickets.

Life is beginning to stir again.

Which brings me to thoughts of the annual MillersTime Baseball Contests.

As most of you know, I offer six contests each year based upon contestants predictions for the coming baseball season. The prizes are good ones – seats at future baseball games, often playoff ones. Even if not everyone claims his/her prizes! (To see the questions and results of last year’s contest, use this link.)

And it’s an equal gender contest as about half of the winners are consistently of the female persuasion (three of six in 2012).

So as I fashion this years contests, I’m calling for ideas on what would make for good questions. In the past, I’ve asked about your best single prediction for the coming season, who would be in and win the World Series, how well would the Nats do, what would happen with the Red Sox and Yankees’ seasons, etc.?

But I am open to some new questions, some new contest ideas.

Hopefully, some of you will send ideas for questions for the 2013 MillersTime Baseball Contests.

You can do so by emailing me (Samesty84@gmail.com) or putting your question(s) in the Comment section of this post.

Thanx in advance.

Go Sox.

Why Do We Love Sports?

10 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 2 Comments

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Agents, Coaches, Fans, Players, Sports Enthusiasts, Sports Fans

I’m ‘working with’ an eighth grader at a local school who for a major two year project he will complete this year is trying to determine “Why People Like Sports.” (Not so different, I guess, from a question a friend asked asked me as we were leaving a Nats’ game earlier this year: why are these games so important to us?)

Anyway, my young friend is looking for “sports’ enthusiasts – players, coaches, agents, fans – who are willing to be interviewed for this project.

The end result will be “a radio documentary/podcast about the root of why people like sports.” I participated in a 20 minute interview last month and mentioned that I’d be willing to help find others who might also be willing to be interviewed.

These interviews can be conducted “by phone, email or whatever is most convenient,” including in-person interviews if you are in the DC area.

If you are willing to help out, my young friend has a list of questions he is ready to ask you. Just let me know (Samesty84@gmail.com) if you are willing to participate and what is the best way for him to be in touch with you. I’ll pass on your contact info to him. Also, if you know anyone who works/plays in sports for a living, he would very much like to interview some of those folks also.

Maybe we will learn why so many of us are obsessed by which ever sport has taken on a life of its own in our own lives.

Final MillersTime 2012 Baseball Contest Winners

01 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 2 Comments

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Baseball Contests, MillersTime 2012 Winners

This year was not a good one for MillersTime baseball prognosticators.

In most of the Baseball Contest categories, except for how well the Yankees would do, contestants failed miserably to come even close to what happened this year.

Overwhelmingly, you said the Angles would beat the Phillies in the World Series, the Nats would improve to 85-77 (not bad but not close as they were 98-64), and the best you could do on choosing Division leaders at the All Star break was three out of six.

The one area that had some life was in Contest #1, making a prediction about the 2012 year. There were 10 predictions that came true, and in a close vote, readers gave the victory to the prediction that the Nats would be in the playoffs.

Here then is a summary of the winners for 2012:

“The Last Days of September”

28 Sunday Oct 2012

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

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baseball, End of the Season, poetry

(The author of the poem below is Troy Lovett, a retired high school math teacher living in Louisville. The poem came to me through a long time Kentucky friend who regularly sends baseball and other good, current writing, and I think received a copy of the poem in a recent email.)

The Last Days of September

The last days
of September carry with them a sense
of change; a longing for what is
fleeting; a remembrance of what is no more;
and an awareness of approaching winter.
Days are filled with a little of all that–warm afternoons, chilly nights, bluer skies,
less daylight, and warm cider.

There is urgency in the precious last days
of autumn. Squirrels and birds scurry to beat the night’s cold and we
unpack winter sweaters and knitted scarves and brace for change.

The greatest game
follows its inevitable path toward conclusion with
athletes playing through the wear and tear of a long season, trying to
find the resources to make one final push
for glory. For some it is the morning of a promising career; for others
the evening of a journey through paradise passing far too soon.

For the players, and for us,
we sense, as at no other time,
that the game goes on and we are fleeting;
that what is real is much more than what is seen;
that life is a prelude to a greater glory;
that we have been blessed in incalculable ways
to have played another season; and that life
and the game are gifts from a Father’s love.

There are lessons to be learned from
late September days.

Sleep warm, my dear friend.

Vote for the 2012 Best Prediction in the MillersTime Baseball Contest

18 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

baseball, Best Baseball Predictions of 2012, MillersTime Baseball Contest

Eleven predictions came true (either exactly or close enough to be declared finalists) for Contest #1: Make a Prediction about the 2012 Baseball Season.

Now it’s up to you folks to decide which one should be declared the winner:

A few ‘rules’:

*Deadline to send in your selection is Oct. 31 at midnight.

*You can send your choice to me by email (Samesty84@gmail.com) or simply put it in the Comment section below.

*Consider adding an explanatory sentence or two when you vote, especially if you want others to be influenced by your wisdom, insight, or because you want them to vote with you. (If you send your vote by email, let me know if I can post it in the Comment section).

*You have to be on the MillersTime email list or you must have made a submission to at least one of the MillersTime Baseball Contests over the past three years.

Here are this years finalists. Vote for the one you think is the Best Prediction, however you want to define “Best.” Remember, all of these predictions were made before Opening Day 2012.

Cards Make Playoff
Red Sox rebuilding, Not close to playoffs
Phillies greatest decline in W-L (actually they tied with Red Sox, 21 fewer wins)
Strasburg voted to All-Star game
Astros worst team in the Majors
Cards better offense without Pujois (true in Hits, Runs, RBIs, but three less HRs, .002 in BA)
Nats make playoffs
Rafael Soriano performs for the Yanks
Angels not win their Division
O’s not last in AL East
Papelbon stellar Year. Sox will miss him.

PS – I’ll be interested if the Yankees can make up for their worst choke ever (2004 AL Playoffs when they blew a 3-0 game lead to the mighty Sox and lost 4-3, before the Sox went on to win the WS). Whaddayathink? Just wondering…

Winners and Losers in the MillersTime 2012 Baseball Contests

08 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 1 Comment

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a poem, baseball, MillersTime Contests, The Last Days of September

Overall, I’d say it was a mixed season for this group of prognosticators:

In Contest # 1 – About one-third of the specific predictions folks made actually came true.

In Contest #2 – Most predicted the Nats would do better, but the closest anyone got to their 97-65 record was 93-69.

In Contest #3 – No one got close to getting all six of the Division leaders at the All Star break. The best anyone could do was only three out of the six.

In Contest #4 – Most thought the Yanks (94-68) would do better than the Sox (69-93), which they did, but no one foresaw the huge slide for the Sox (nor the Phillies, 81-81, for that matter).

In Contest #5 – A majority of you thought the Yanks would beat the Sox in the 12 games they played after the All-Star break, but only two of you called it exactly (8-4).

In Contest # 6 – Most predicted the Angels and Phillies would be in the WS. Not happening. Not even close.

Now for the specifics and the winners for the contests that are final.

$1,040 If the Nats Win It All

04 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends, Go Sox

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

AL Pennant, Braves, MLB Playoffs, Nationals, NL Pennant, Orioles, Red Sox, World Series

If the Nats win it all, the Millers stand to win $1,040.

The proof?

As you can see from the two pictures above, on Jan. 6, 2012, when no one was predicting the Washington Nationals would make the playoffs, yours truly was in Las Vegas with younger daughter Elizabeth. As any good father would do, I purchased some Pennant and World Series bets.

Actually, I purchased four tickets, two for Elizabeth and two for myself.

So, if the Nats win the NL Pennant, both Elizabeth and myself will each collect $160.

Then, tho unlikely, if the Nats win the World Series, we each stand to win an additional $360.

Total between us would be $1,040, $520 each.

If you subtract the cost of the tickets, that’s a ‘profit’ of $1,000.

Additionally, I bought a World Series tickets for both my Atlanta nephews, and they stand to win $200 each should the Braves make it from the Wild Card spot all the way to winning the WS.

Then, I threw in another $10 to buy my so-called Baltimore O’s friend a WS bet/ticket. I don’t know how much he stands to win if they go from their Wild Card spot all the way to win the WS. But it probably doesn’t matter. It seems NR (true initials) can’t find his ticket. Typical O’s fan, I guess.

(Full Disclosure: Because I am a loyal Red Sox fan, I also made bets for then AL favorites, two for the Sox winning the AL Pennant and two for them winning the WS. That was $40 down the drain.)

Anyway, my total outlay?

$110.

Any questions?

96-64 – .600 – 1st Place – NLE

02 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

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NL East Champions, Washngton Nationals

The team no one predicted would win the NL East Division did just that.

Despite a shaky (tired?) last two weeks, the celebration that took place last night at Nationals Park was well deserved – for the players, for the owners, and for the fans.

And if you don’t live in DC nor have access to the Washington Post, sportswriter Thomas Boswell explains it all.

Immediate Baseball Advice Needed: Please Help

27 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 25 Comments

Tags

AL East, Baltimor Oriioles, Bostonb Red Sox

Tomorrow I am scheduled to go to Orioles Park for a 7:05 game between my beloved Boston Red Sox and those cranky Baltimore Orioles. I am attending said game with a long time Bal’mer resident (former) and fan (current).

You may know that the Orioles have a slight chance of knocking the Yankees out of first place in the AL East and into (or even out of) a Wild Card, one game playoff position. (The mighty Sox, alas, are at or near the bottom of their Division and will end the season with the worst record they’ve had in 30 or 40 years).

So whom do I root for?

My Sox or his Os?

Before you rush to advise me, know that said O’s fan referred to above last year cheered wildly at the end of the season game we attended together when the Os knocked the Sox out of the playoffs. He was merciless.

So, please advise how I should approach him and the game tomorrow.

As we will no doubt leave in the mid-late afternoon, this request for advice is urgent, and I hope you will respond by noon Friday, Sept. 28 at the latest.

Thanx.