Minor league baseball, the rust belt, and the recession

Lake Michigan Shore magazine's July 2010 edition includes an article on three rust belt teams along the southern most shores of Lake Michigan: West Michigan Whitecaps, South Bend Silver Hawks, and Gary Southshore Railcats (the only independent league mentioned in detail).

http://visitshoremagazine.com/2/?p=13972

The recession has put a squeeze play on America, but no place has been hit as hard as the Rust Belt. Unemployment in Michigan reached 14.3 percent in January, the highest in the country.

But minor league baseball continues to prosper in Michigan, notably with the Midwest League’s West Michigan Whitecaps outside of Grand Rapids. On the Indiana side, the South Bend Silver Hawks are branching out into the community, and the most remarkable upswing can be found with the Northern League’s Gary SouthShore RailCats—a team that is defying odds with its spiffy downtown ballpark.

Baseball can thrive during bad times.

There were some interesting statistics in the article. I always knew (even before the ballpark was built) the highest percentage of fans at Railcats games would come from places other than Gary. However, I didn't know Gary residents were as high as the third largest percentage of fans at US Steel Yard either. I figured Gary residents were far lower down the totem pole in that department. Don't know why I figured that since I'm a Gary resident and practically live at the ballpark and know other Gary people that camp-out there as well.

A few other interesting statistics, while I knew the Railcats attendance went up last year I didn't know that during the same year 81% of all minor league attendance went down. Railcats attendance seems a little down this year (2010) though. Maybe bad economic times have taken hold. I seem to remember larger crowds on Fireworks Fridays.

Fwd: Wasp Spray

This is an example of one of those mass emails people like to forward to about fifteen of their email contacts. The woman who sent me this forwarded email is one of my cute MySpace and Facebook friends. Once upon a time we used to chat about where in Chicago to go on a date. Now I am reduced to one of the fifteen forwarded. My reply (and my replies to HER forwarded emails never receive a reply from her) follows.

Subject: Wasp Spray

I know some of you own GUNS, but this is something to think about...

If you don't have a gun, here's a more humane way to wreck some one's evil plans for you. Did you know this? I didn't. I never really thought of it before. I guess I can get rid of the baseball bat.

Wasp Spray - A friend who is a receptionist in a church in a high risk area was concerned about someone coming into the office on Monday to rob them when they were counting the collection. She asked the local police department about using pepper spray and they recommended to her that she get a can of wasp spray instead.

The wasp spray, they told her, can shoot up to twenty feet away and is a lot more accurate, while with the pepper spray, they have to get too close to you and could overpower you. The wasp spray temporarily blinds an attacker until they get to the hospital for an antidote. She keeps a can on her desk in the office and it doesn't attract attention from people like a can of pepper spray would. She also keeps one nearby at home for home protection. Thought this was interesting and might be of use.

On the heels of a break in and beating that left an elderly woman in Toledo dead, self defense experts have a tip that could save your life.

Val Glinka teaches self-defense to students at Sylvania Southview High School . For decades, he's suggested putting a can of wasp and hornet spray near your door or bed.

Glinka says, "This is better than anything I can teach them."

Glinka considers it inexpensive, easy to find, and more effective than mace or pepper spray. The cans typically shoot 20 to 30 feet; so if someone tries to break into your home, Glinka says "spray the culprit in the eyes". It's a tip he's given to students for decades.

It's also one he wants everyone to hear. If you're looking for protection, Glinka says look to the spray. "That's going to give you a chance to call the police; maybe get out. Maybe even save a life."

Please share this with all the people who are precious to you!

Did you also know that wasp spray will kill a snake? And a mouse! It will! Good to know, huh? Goes without saying it will also kill a wasp.!!!!


............................................
Re: Fwd: Wasp Spray

Great idea with the wasp spray. If an intruder gets into my house then I can first spray them, get my gun while they're blinded, shoot 'em (for violating my domain), and get one of my many baseball bats at the ready if I only wound the intruder.

Mice??? Well, I have cats for that or sticky pads. I'm not ruining the vanish off my furniture just to spray a mouse. Great idea though.
Ken

Brother, can you spare a dime?

The strangest minor league in the world, the Premier Basketball League (PBL), is at it again. They have hired a new president.

Levingston unveiled as new PBL president
MATTHEW WUEST
METRO HALIFAX
June 09, 2010 1:26 a.m.

...
The Halifax Rainmen owner was officially unveiled as the PBL’s new president yesterday following the league’s annual meetings in Chicago and said he is “coming in shaking the rug” and that the league “can’t continue to do business as usual anymore.” Levingston, whose role with the Rainmen is expected to be unchanged, said his main focus is to have teams with more stable ownership.

“No longer are we looking for guys with an extra $100,000 thinking they can own a professional basketball team in our league,” Levingston said. “Those days are over. It has to be harder.

“We want solid ownership that will run business the way we want business run.”
...

What is so strange about hiring a new president?!? Well, the new president wants solid ownership that will run business the way WE want business run. The Problem is that Levingston is also a team owner; the owner of the Halifax Rainmen and...

Halifax Rainmen $376,000 in debt
The Halifax Chronicle Herald
January 2010

The Halifax Rainmen basketball team and owner Andre Levingston are facing a full-court press for about $376,000 in unpaid debt.

A Toronto finance company called 565819 Ontario Ltd. says in court documents the team and its owner received $55,000 on March 12, 2007, and $252,200 on April 27 of that year but have not repaid the loans in full.

The amount the team and its owner owed grew to about $383,000 because of missed monthly interest payments, but the total was reduced after a May 25 payment of $10,000, say court documents filed in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.
...

Instead of whittling the loan amount down since 2007, the amount of the team's start-up loan amount actually grew because of so many missed payments. Does this mean the league is no longer looking for owners like himself??? This is a very strange league indeed.

Me and Bike the Drive 2010

Chicago's annual Bike the Drive event is where busy Lake Shore Drive is closed to car traffic then turned over to bicycle traffic. Bike the Drive is also my ultimate machismo statement, I ride a bicycle faster than you. Yes, that means you too towing your four year old daughter behind your cruiser bike. Actually, I was more sociable this year. I spoke to riders along the route other than the usual, "I'm on your left" and made conversation during rest stops. This is the video I made at this year's event.

I am riding a mountain bike, the same mountain bike I use for commuting. I cannot keep up with hard charging riders on road bikes. The people passing me like I was standing still were riding road bikes or recumbent bikes. I am buying a good road bike in the upcoming months and my fangs will be out even further for next year's event.

The following is the video I made from Bike the Drive 2009. The video is over 36 minutes long and I sometimes watch it while I am on my stationary bike to simulate real conditions.


Ken Biking The Drive, 2009

MySpace Video

Floyd Landis: Is there any proof...anything?

If only one person on Earth needs to put up or shut up, then disgraced (and stripped of his 2006 Tour de France win) Floyd Landis is that person. His allegations about Lance Armstrong are obviously false and unfounded. How do I know his allegations are false and unfounded? I know because of the French. If the French could not find anything to discredit Armstrong's seven Tour de France wins, then Lance is clean. The French tried hard and are still trying overtime because Lance Armstrong is not done with the Tour de France yet. The French caught several big name cyclists doping during the Armstrong years, but none with the last name Armstrong. Are we to believe Lance Armstrong is too smart to be caught? Smarter than the French? Smarter than every athlete caught taking performance enhancing drugs (and there are a lot of cheaters being caught these days)? Or are we to believe Lance Armstrong used the same strength and determination when overcoming cancer to also overcome seven Tour de Frances? I prefer the latter.

Shouldn't the League Commissioner Present the Championship Trophy?

I have witnessed four Northern League championships settled at US Steel Yard in Gary and one CBA championship settled in Gary. All five times the league commissioner strolled out to the middle of the playing surface to present the championship trophy to the winning team. I have watched an AHL championship final on tv where the AHL commissioner presented the cup to the winning team. This YouTube video shows then IHL commissioner, Paul Pickard presenting the 2009 Turner Cup to the Fort Wayne Komets.

The league commissioner has also presented the winning team its championship trophy every time I have watched a major league championship final game.

The commissioner presents the winning team the championship trophy. That is universal protocol. However, the director of operations (third in the chain of command) presented the 2010 Premier Basketball League champions their trophy. Maybe the PBL commissioner was too busy that day. Maybe it does not matter who presents the trophy in the PBL. It does send a message to the rest of the organized sports world though. The message is we aren't organized and we don't care.

Owner of the Strangest Minor League Interviewed

Finally the owner of the strangest minor league (at least, the strangest minor league I ever saw), the Premier Basketball League (PBL), was interviewed with real questions. Dr. Severko Hrywnak, owner and C.E.O. of the PBL re-affirmed why I think the PBL is such a strange league, but he answered the questions rather honestly. I found his candor refreshing. Apparently Dr. Hrywnak is not a spin doctor.

Excerpts from the article:

...
Q: When do you think (the league can run without your money)?

Hrywnak: I wish I had that crystal ball. To run the league, it costs on the average about $1 million a year.

Q: What’s the goal, getting to the point where you aren’t the bank for the league and every owner has a stable operation?

Hrywnak: I’d like the team owners to be profitable, and I’d like, as an ownership group, that we’d all have a piece of the league and everyone can benefit.
...

Next blog: Shouldn't the League Commissioner Present the Championship Trophy?