Salvation for the Franchise Comes by Breaking the Mold
340915
When I watched the third Terminator movie a couple of weeks ago, I felt like it was beginning to feel old, familiar, and predictable.  Still, that movies ending, I was curious to see how the story would advance in the next film, Terminator: Salvation.  I was surprised to find they told a different kind of story in the familiar world of the franchise, and I liked the movie for that.

For the first time, the entire movie takes place in the post-apocalyptic future, aka 2018.  John Connor (Christian Bale) is leading the resistance, or at least part of the resistance, in Los Angeles.  While on a mission, he uncovers a device that might lead to the complete destruction of SkyNet.  And the timing couldn't be better since a new hit list has just come out with John as number two.  Number one?  A teenager named Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin).

Tests of this new weapon are proving to be successful, but theres a complication.  Destroying SkyNet might also mean the destruction of Kyle.  John now needs to find a way to save his father, and he might have to rely on the most unlikely of sources for that help.

While we have seen glimpses of the future in the past movies, this is the first time weve spent much time there.  That alone was a nice change of pace since we can now see the future weve been hearing about and dreading.  Normally, Im not a fan of post-apocalyptic stories, so the fact that I was ready to explore this world says something about the franchise.

Another change that I liked was the fact that we didn't spend the entire movie running from terminators.  Yes, that aspect of the franchise was still there, but it wasn't the focus of the movie.  Instead, the focus was taking the battle to SkyNet while still preserving the past.  Plus we get a bit about the power struggle happening inside the resistance.

The thing we do still get are wonderful action scenes.  They had me glued to the screen since so much was happening so quickly I couldn't keep track of it any other way.  Was what we saw possible?  Probably not.  But it was so well done I really didn't care.  The special effects were wonderful as always for the franchise, too.

The one flaw I can see in the movie is the lack of character development.  I know, thats not usually a strong point in an action movie, but it is a flaw again here.  The only character I truly felt connected to was John Connor, and that was because this is the fourth movie telling his story.  Even then, he could have been a stronger character.

Not that Im blaming the actors.  They do a great job with the material they have.  Its the script that could have been stronger.

Speaking of actors, there is a noticeable absence in this film.  When the movie was made, Arnold Schwarzenegger was busy being the governator here in California, so the brief appearances of his face in the film are all CGI.

Weak characters aside, I still loved Terminator: Salvation because it told a new story in the world we already know.  Like the rest of the franchise, its a fun ride, so pop it in, sit back, and enjoy.
2779624
Building his or her own real baseball team is a dream for many fantasy baseball players.  For two editors of Baseball Prospectus (the current and former editors), that dream becomes a reality when they were allowed to run the baseball operations of the Sonoma Stompers of an independent league in California. The adventures of Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller running this team during the 2015 season are captured in this excellent book.

Given their occupations and obsession with statistical analysis, the duo tries to assemble the roster completely through their spreadsheets (even calling some of their prospects spreadsheet guys) but soon come to realize that some old-fashioned scouting and legwork will work as well.  The comparisons to Moneyball are inevitable and they actually provide some of the more entertaining passages from the book. For example, one of the funniest lines of the book states that if the As were a collection of misfit toys, as Micheal Lewis wrote, then well be building a team out of toys that got recalled because they were choke hazards.  I was in tears after reading that line.

Some of the passages are also more serious or even poignant such as some of the exchanges between Sam and/or Ben and the players or the manager. When trying hard to sell a strategy such as a defensive shift or using a closer for more than just the ninth inning, the guys realize that there has to be some trust in the instincts and knowledge of baseball men like the manager and scouts. There is a lot of compromise on these types of conflicts throughout the Stompers season.

This format is a winner for the book as it is one that anyone who is a baseball fan, whether a stat geek or an old-school believer; casual fan or addicted seamhead, young or old, should add to his or her baseball library. It will entertain, inform and delight all readers of baseball books.

I wish to thank Henry Holt and Company Publishing for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
1127135
Every franchise has a story to tell, and a true baseball fan can appreciate success that comes as the result of hard work, even if the winner is not that fan's favorite team. In 1970, the Baltimore Orioles dominated their opponents on their way to a World Series championship. That domination was made possible by a system of belief that was ingrained in Orioles players from their days in the minors; that system was called "The Oriole Way."

Editors Mark Armour and Malcolm Allen, along with biographies from the Society for American Baseball Research, celebrate "The Oriole Way" in Pitching, Defense, and Three-Run Homers. This volume is filled with statistics and anecdotes for all the contributing members of the 1970 squad, from skipper Earl Weaver and his "Ten Laws of Baseball," stars Jim Palmer and Brooks Robinson, to key role-players such as Chico Salmon and Terry Crowley.

In addition to the player biographies, Allen contributes a "Timeline" for each month of the 1970 season, displayed the Baltimore Sun`s headline for each game as well as a brief write-up. The book culminates with a concise, three-page chapter describing the 1970 postseason. The authors don't revel in the victory, but present a well-balanced, factual account of how the Orioles triumphed over their rivals.
2416643
A very different game experience for the franchise. Quite refreshing.
3902044
Many writers have explored the subject of how owners of sports teams persuade, cajole, threaten or otherwise intimidate state and local governments into building them at public expense magnificent sporting arenas. This is a fine example of this genre of muckraking journalism. It focuses on the large number of sports specific arenas built at public expense around the nation in the 1980s and 1990s to the tune of some $1.5 billion dollars. Since this book first appeared in 1998, this trend has continued as virtually every major league city has been held up to owners for new stadiums and indoor arenas.

Like most journalism Field of Schemes is best in the specifics of telling stories of individual efforts to oppose efforts to build new sports complexes. It follows the stands made against the owners in such cities as Detroit, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Seattle. I should add that in every case a new stadium eventually was built with significant taxpayer involvement. The only small success in these fights was in San Francisco, where the Giants actually built the stadium but not before the city made many internal infrastructure improvements to the area.

The best part of the book is Cagan and deMauses delination of the steps taken by the owners to obtain new stadiums. The playbook goes like this:
1. The Home Field Disadvantage: the assertion that the current stadium is sol old and in such poor shape that it simply must be replaced.
2. Faking a Move: claiming that unless the situation in the local city is remedied the owner will have no choice but to move the team.
3. Leveling the Playing Field: claims that the team is unprofitable and cannot compete effectively without a new stadium to draw fans to the game and raise revenue.
4. Playing the Numbers: commissioning one or more reports that argue that investment in a new stadium will yield a tremendous return through the creation of jobs, rise of investment in business near the stadium and the like.
5. The Two-Minute Warning: owners setting a deadline for a decision to build a new stadium of a move of the team to another city will take place.
6. Moving the Goalposts: As agreement seems to be reached, even sometimes when the agreement is already signed, the owner demands more concessions from the city; handling cost overruns, technological add-ons such a retractable roof, and the like.
As my father used to say, when someone robs my I want them to use a gun. Regardless, city after city has placated the whims of owners rather than employ the slogan from the Reagan anti-drug crusade, Just Say No.

Its an interesting problem. This book is cathartic for those of us frustrated by billionaire owners sucking dry the local government, but doesnt do much to resolve the problem. Cagan and deMause do offer two suggestions that I liked. First, force the leagues to allow public ownership of teams. The Green Bay Packers have been publicly owned by the city of Green Bay for decades and it has worked out quite well. But when Ray Krocs widow tried to give the San Diego Padres to the city, along with an operating trust, Major League Baseball prohibited it. Now that Donald Sterling is going to be forced to sell the Los Angeles Clippers NBA franchisegood riddance Donaldwhy not allow the city to become majority owner?

Second, before any deal is to be done anyplace, anywhere, with any governmental entity, force the team in question to open its books for audit. Is it really losing money; is it really unable to compete? Dont take what the owner says at face value. Make the franchise prove it. Until elected officials grow some backbone and stare down the owners the situation will not improve and ordinary Americans will continue to subsidize these activities even as our schools and our roads and bridges and other elements of our nation crumble around us.
4337295
Michael Shapiro writes a fascinating history of the third major league called the "Continental League."  This is fascinating because most baseball fans never knew that such a league existed.  The league fronted by many wealthy individuals in cities not served by the existing major leagues but a very big scare into the powers that be.

However, instead of learning a lesson and changing their ways to change with the times, MLB owners found ways to keep the status quo going as long as possible. This had very bad repercussions in the long term as the National Football league studied the Continental League's ideas with interest and found many of them to be interesting, most importantly the idea of pooling TV revenues so that every team has a chance.  The end result is that Green Bay, the smallest professional city in America has been competitive in the NFL while baseball has seen nothing but the largest teams with the most money dominate.

All in all an interesting and fun read for baseball fans!
2769615
Who woulda thought this is how the baseball world (and the rest of it, as well) might have played out if the Red Sox had managed to keep Babe Ruth? "Chairman" Bill Lee has the number on that one, offering us a riotously funny alternative history. Just as Philip K. Dick in his book "The Man in the High Castle" gives us the dark side of the Axis Powers winning World War II and occupying the U.S., Lee gives us the brighter side with "Splendid Splinter" Ted Williams beaning der Fuhrer and averting WWII altogether. Of course, Williams goes on to eclipse Babe Ruth's career home run record, lead the Sox to scads of World Series wins, and even persuade team management to acquire Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays. In the sad, real world, the Sox were the last Major League team to integrate, but this version offers us good, (not-so-) clean fun instead.

Lee seamlessly interweaves fantasy with reality. "When you're out of Schlitz, you're out of beer" may no longer apply, but did you know that it was Yaz who said, "Schlitz is the beer that made Mel Famey walk us"? Or was it the Dodgers' Pee Wee Reese? Or did a sports writer simply make it up? Anyway, in a world where the Yankees have won zero World Series (actually 27) and the Red Sox 37 (actually 8, but 3 of the last 10), you have to suspend reality, stretch your imagination, and just bask in it. Ah, 37! There is an updated paperback edition that features the Curse reversed, but for now, I shall be content with "the Curs of the Bambino", "the Purse of the Bambino", "the Nurse of the Bambino", etc., as well as other Bill Lee shenanigans. Under Chairman Lee, Babe Ruth lives exactly ten years longer, works with Joe Kennedy, Sr., to build a Red Sox dynasty, and even does a stint as Mayor of Boston. Try that on for size! Fr. Dennis
P.S. The "Curse Reversed" edition adds new material at the beginning where Lee accepts thanks from a grateful Red Sox Nation and suggests several honors on his behalf, lest he sic a new "Curse of the Spaceman" on the team.
3562501
Can you believe it's been 20 years since the first Madden came out?  1988...  I remember playing that on the Sega Genesis - remember those three receiver windows that pop up when you drop back?  Madden has come a long way.

Well, with NFL 2K franchise gone now because of the exclusive license, we don't exactly have another option, but fortunately EA still puts in a good effort year after year to make some improvements.

New and good for this is Cris Collinsworth's commentary.  A "Backtrack" feature breaks down exactly why a play failed and rewinding lets you try again.  Some new audibles improvements.  The graphics actually got even better as the player animations were increased and made even more natural.

The bad (or I guess not so new) is that the Superstar and Franchise modes didn't get any updates.  I was really looking forward to the online leagues but there are many issues at the time of this review including not being able to keep track of your players season stats!!  I mean, if your star RB is racking up 2000+ yard against your online league with 31 other people, you wanna let them know!

Overall, another good edition, but what can you say about it?  We have no other option, last few years' versions are already excellent, so it's just a matter of shelling out that $60 for the updated rosters and a few minor tweaks I guess...
1927053
You can make most the tweaks yourself using the many options in the game.
Franchise mode.
Lots of stuff to unlock.
Online play with stat tracking OnLine.
Next years game with be much better like it always is.
1912066
A well written and quick moving history of the Continental League, a bold attempt to create a third major league that ultimately shows not only how the business of baseball changed in the 1960's but also how the NFL overtook baseball through shared revenue plans.  Branch Rickey is known to americans as the man who brought Jackie Robinson and integrated the major leagues.  He is also known to baseball afficianados as the man who created the concept of the farm system for major league teams (as opposed to buying talent from independent minor league teams).  What is not known-and is detailed in this book-is how Rickey advanced and championed the idea of shared revenues, and how Pete Rozelle took the idea to the NFL.

The details of how the Continental League developed and ultimately failed, as well as the corollary stories about the Federal League in 1915, offer commentary on the difference in perspectives between how baseball owners conduct business and how NFL team owners conduct business.

The Casey Stengel portions of the book are interesting, but often seem like they were added simply to add length to the book.  It is happenstance that Stengel and Rickey saw their greatest influence die off at the same time, but the two do not seem to be connected to each other.

Excellent book, shining a spotlight on an important and forgotten era in baseball history.
4913021
This new and improved All-Star Baseball 2004 game is slightly better than 2003. The gameplay has gotten better, the pitching is pretty much the same, the hitting is a lot more realistic and the new different gameplay selections are great.
A new feature to this game is: Scenario Mode, which is where you play a certain part of a game like Mariano Rivera on the mound in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded and no outs and your objective is to retire the inning without the opposing team scoring any runs. Like all of the previous All-Star games, you have CREATE-A-PLAYER. This updated feature is so much better than any other one in the previous games. You have over 300 faces to choose from, a lot more batting stances and also when you work on your player's ability points, there is no limit. Remember in 2003 where you only could use 20 points? Well, in this game, there is no limit so you can make your character the best in the game. Tip: Don't give your player all A+'s becase the game will freeze near the end.
The best new feature to this game, which I love is the In-Game Save capability. So if you're playing a game during your season, you can save where you left off during the game, so when you re-load your season, it'll bring you right back to where you were. GREAT! In Season mode, a lot of different things have been added. In the General Manager's offive, there is a numerous amount of things you can do from: trading players, high minors and low minors rosters, disabled list, trading block (you recieve trade offers from other teams for the player you select), and Player Editor. What is Player Editor? Instead of just editing your created player, you can edit anyone in the major leagues as far as ability points, looks, batting stances, etc. For pitchers you change their pitches selection to your favorites. But, don't make it too easy and have all of your team A+. It makes it too easy.
There is a couple things that have gone down or haven't been improved too much. One is the pitching. Yes, it is a lot easier to hit the ball because it has slowed down since 2003. But, it is a lot more diffucult to get strikeouts when pitching. It makes your pitching stats more realistic to real pitchers today. But the cathces still has some flaws in it. Not as often, but you see it happen sometimes where there is a pop-up and the ball is ten feet to the side of your fielder and he still catches it. Things like that.
Overall, this a fantastic game. Many things have been improved, things have been created for better and funner gameplay and it worked. This game is definitely a must buy.
1359359
I loved ESPN NHL 2k4, and, at first glance, ESPN 2k5 is even better.  There are many game play improvements like swiping at the puck on defense and more control over fighting.  The addition of scouting both prospects and players is an interesting concept that is cool in theory, but doesn't really pan out in reality.

The fatal flaw in this game is that there is a bug that causes the game to freeze when you are playing in franchise mode.  This is a widely experienced bug (check ESPN and Gamespot news groups) that has not been addressed by the developer.

I love this game, but franchise play is the way to go.  I am going to sell it and go back to ESPN 2k4.
273773
To enjoy this book, you have to like either statistics or sports. Preferably both: *The Wages of Wins* is a crash course in *Freakonomics* for the really, really motivated guys in your fantasy baseball league.

 But even if you only like competition and not the numbers, *The Wages of Wins* (Stanford Business Books) lives up to its subtitle, "Taking Measure of the Many Myths in Modern Sport."

 It takes measure by using plenty of numbers -- authors David Berri, Martin Schmidt and Stacey Brook are economists, after all -- but also by relegating most of the statistics to the (lengthy) footnotes. And it keeps a sense of humor: There's a running joke about the NBA and its "short supply of tall people."

 Economists are such cards. But they're also capable of exploding a few sporting myths: Can owners use giant payrolls to buy themselves championships? (No.) Don't fans prefer leagues that are competitively balanced? (Not really.) Does having a superstar lead to increased ticket sales? (Only for the other teams.)

 Turns out that superstars don't help their teammates play better, don't perform better in crunch time, don't elevate their game during the playoffs. Oh, and NBA coaches and scouts basically don't know what they're doing: With draft prospects and veterans both, they overemphasize the value of scoring while greatly undervaluing things like shooting percentage, assists and rebounds -- you know, the stuff that wins games.

 Quarterbacks, moreover, aren't anywhere near as essential to a team's won-loss record as the NFL's rating system implies. One of the book's funniest passages is the account of how the NFL came up with its convoluted, inaccurate quarterback rating.

 Naturally, in among all the standard deviations and regression analyses and Gini Coefficients, the authors devise their own methods for rating quarterbacks and power forwards. The math isn't impossible to follow, and it's fun to watch Philadelphia 76ers guard Allan Iverson being used as a whipping boy. (Sure, he's a scoring machine, but only because he coughs up the rock a lot and shoots with no discernible conscience.)

 Still, if you're "not the competitive type" and not a bean-counter, what does *The Wages of Wins* have to offer? The performance measures devised by Berri et al. aren't applicable to regular Joes, mostly because mid-level managers don't usually rate their employees in 17 separate statistical categories. But stats, the authors remind us, measure all the things that players are doing when we're not watching. Your wages for reading *Wins*? A healthy distrust of the conventional wisdom. Whatever we're sure about is probably wrong.
1265575
No one who has followed the Boston Red Sox in recent years seems to be without an opinion about the teams unprecedented collapse at the end of the 2011 season and the subsequent disaster of all of 2012. Sox fans who belong to the my franchise, right or wrong school may have a problem with this clear eyed look at the implosion of an organization that was in the not too recent past was the toast of New England, but this is a book that deserves a wide readership. Those among you who feel the teams parting of the ways with its most successful field manager in a century reflects badly on the organization, those among you who love to watch Major League Baseball but cant shake the persistent notion that most of the business models are flawed, and most importantly those among you who are searching for an entertaining look at what it was like to occupy one of the sports hottest seats should brew up a pot of your favorite coffee,  find a comfortable chair and make sure your TV recorder has been set because you are not going to want to limit your reading to just a chapter.

In the overall scheme of Baseball books, this may not be quite in the same league as Wait Till Next Year or The Boys of Summer, but like the sports announcers are fond of saying, it deserves to be part of the conversation
4487096
September Swoon, by William Kashatus has a vivid feel that hits home for me and probably would for anyone else who endured the historic end-of-season collapse that happened in what was later known in Philadelphia as "the year of the blue snow."  Blue it was indeed for my then fifth grade psyche.  I LOVED the Phillies.  Johnny Callison was my hero and it seemed that 1964 was all going our way from the June 21st perfect game by Jim Bunning, to Callison's walk-off 3-run homer to end the All Star game to the six-game lead that the Phillies held in the NL before losing ten of their last twelve games.  Just as true, though is the tragic career of Richie (later "Dick") Allen, the Phillies' Rookie of the Year third baseman.  Race relations for me had little to do with baseball, the Phillies  and every other team had always had colored players (at least to my awareness) and frankly, I hadn't given the matter any thought at all by that time.  Like the author`s, my memories are of faithful listening to late night west coast games with a transistor radio under my pillow and the crackle of lightning-generated static cutting through the play by play of By Saam, Rich Ashburn and Bill Campbell.
But it is undeniable that Richie Allen came to be a figure inescapably linked to the racial boil-over that was occurring nationwide throughout the sixties.  Intelligent and articulate, Allen later admitted to having been thrust reluctantly at first, into the role of baseball's poster child for black belligerence.  The Philadelphia baseball franchise was notorious for its lily-whiteness until 1957, when it hired its first black player.  These facts were unknown to a ten year old, but Kashatus artfully weaves the race scene that erupted into riots together with the baseball collapse that the Phillies suffered.  A fight between superstar Allen and journeyman Phillies' player Frank Thomas in 1965 sparked a torrent of media, and consequently, fan scapegoating of Allen, who did little to pour oil on the troubled waters, opting instead for a Stagga-Lee in red pinstripes persona.  If we were becoming modern, multicultural and tolerant at the time, it wasn't instantaneous, and a considerable amount of racially charged derision did certainly befall this tragic player, who had he been born ten years later, would surely have been a Hall of Famer.
In the end, neither the Phillies of 1964 nor Dick Allen got the prize they might have.  The world has held together, I witnessed in person the Phillies' world championship in 1980, and life has continued on.  But the hope and dreams that were mine along with so many others in 1964  would never come to pass.  If the wheels came off for the Phillies in 1964, the event certainly coincided with the beginnings of a world so different and cynical by comparison, that it would have been unimaginable to most, regardless of color, at that time.  There is no doubt that the racial strife of the sixties led to an accelerated timetable for the legal elimination of racism, but it is probable that the matter has remained uglier for much longer because of this hasty era of impatience and insistence.  Dick Allen the man is just a man, he is not the cause of anything, not even his own fate.  But he symbolizes a thought that is bestride the before and the after: What if things had gone differently?
September Swoon is a good read for any season.  It's poetry and baseball, history and biography.  It's a true story from the Birthplace of the Nation.  Every so often, someone writes a book from the heart and so Kashatus has touched this heart many miles and years removed.
133252
Perfect, Once Removed, by Phillip Hoose is a delightful book, both because of what it is, and what it's not, and because it far transcends being just another book about baseball.

Given its premise, it could easily have been a self-indulgent descent into banal baby-boomer nostalgia. To his credit, Hoose steers well clear of that, and in doing so he tells the story - his story - in a manner that's far more meaningful than a trite trip down memory lane.

The plot is simple and straightforward. Better still, it's entirely true. A very young boy (a geek for the most part, but interesting and likable nonetheless) moves to Speedway, Indiana - just outside of Indianapolis - in early 1956 and tries to fit in as best he can. He latches onto baseball as a "raison d'tre," but (given his rather "bookish bent") he enjoys less than limited success on the playing field. Nevertheless, he doesn't give up, and although he's unable to manage even one base hit in his entire first season of organized baseball, he becomes a virtual encyclopedia of baseball knowledge by immersing himself in the baseball periodicals of the day.

As the story unfolds, Hoose - with no apparent plan or design - uses baseball to connect with the immediate world around him. Then, like finding a $100 bill on the sidewalk, he discovers that he's connected (by blood, no less) to a starting pitcher for the legendary New York Yankees. Don Larsen (the Don Larsen) is his cousin, albeit once removed. That - in turn - connects him to a world far beyond grade school in mid 20th century middle-class middle America - a world of glory, glamour, fame and celebrity. And as if that weren't enough, cousin Don proceeds to pull off a feat that connects him, and everyone who feels a connection with baseball, with something singularly historic, epic, extraordinary and grand: He pitches the one and only "perfect game" in the history of the World Series against the fabled Brooklyn Dodgers.  Thus, heaven becomes manifest for the young Mr. Hoose.

Like they say, you can't make up stuff like this.

It's hard not to love this unpretentious little book because it succeeds so well on so many different levels, but the best part is its spiritual underpinnings: Without being obvious or heavy-handed in doing so, it makes you think about and appreciate the connections that we all have to our childhood, our families and friends, and how we are all connected to where and when we grew up and all the countless things that have happened to us over the course of time, and all the people whose paths we have crossed.

All told, this is a great book - pure and simple - because it's a terrific story, well told. At the same time, there is no way to read it without connecting to your personal sense of your own past, who you are and how you are connected to the world around you in countless ways, big and small, whether you're young with virtually all of your future before you, waiting to happen, like the book's young and innocent protagonist, or you're not so young with a catalogue of memories connected to all the people, places and things that constitute the sum total of your life and make you who you are.
4547865
This was, for a newer Rays fan, an excellent history of the true mess that the original owner got the team in; as well as a detailed perspective of how the new ownership used Wall Street savvy, economics, and hard-line negatiations to turn a laughingstock into a winner.  Any baseball fan would be interested to learn about the way the Tampa Bay organization made a complete 180 and is a perennial playoff contenter, and a fair number of current MLB employees could learn a thing or two from Mr. Keri's accounts.  A must-read!