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IMDb page link

The Jackie Robinson Experiment 

Jackie Robinson made one of the most difficult transitions imaginable at an extremely young age, obviously mature beyond his years....

one particularly masterful scene is a photo shoot that was set up to help save face for the Philadelphia phillies organization and there coach after a disgustingly, excessive ignorant list of despicable taunts he yelled to Jackie throughout his first three at bats of the game. Jackie picks up a bat and lets the cameramen take their photo opp with each man holding part of the bat "so they don't have to touch skin" says Jackie. ZING and he deserved so so so much worse.

One of the more inspirational points in the movie without giving too much away is the scene where the 2nd basemen "PeeWee" walks up and puts his arm around Jackie, something so insignificant now but which had an overwhelming feeling of relief after seeing it. Such a touching moment.

Overall the movie was great, def something worth showing your high school sports team before the season starts or night before a big game, def some motivational stuff in there, 

I give it an 8.5/10

ESPN

The ESPN empire has exponentially grown over the past say 20-25 years that I have been watching it. My first memory of any sports is growing up the first thing my father and I would do after waking up was to grab cereal, bowl, milk and sit at the kitchen table with a small tv and watch highlights from the day/night before games. From what I remember it was a majority of Baseball, Football and Basketball. The big difference I get watching today is firstly they have several networks such as ESPN deportes for the Hispanic audience, and now they cover everything from the X-games to the golf network. Obviously Tiger Woods is a big reason golf grew in popularity and revenue. Although he has basically dropped off a cliff in his play he still draws a crowd, thankfully for golf fans, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIIroy have stepped up and look to continue to develop a rivalry.

Now with publications like ESPN the Magazine and ESPN.com they are looking to continue their growth. I have a problem with this expansion though. Sometimes growth is great and sometimes it spreads you so thin that you don't fully grasp the consequences. For me personally, I can't stand that ESPN.com now has a large number of material and even entire sections in the college category that are only available to view if you are a ESPN The Magazine subscriber. ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE.

I happen to be a subscriber because I still enjoy reading a magazine, having the feel of it in my hands. But a large majority of the population, especially in today's seemingly bad economy, shouldn't be forced to shell out another $10 to get the full story on the website. It doesn't matter that it's less the $1 an issue. It's the point of it.

 I try to write factual and interesting pieces based on my opinions of articles. Coming from where i'm sitting I just don't think it's right to make portions of a website and conglomerate that make a huge number of profits, off limits to hard working sports fans, spending time supporting your business by reading articles on pages FILLED WITH ADS YOUR BEING PAID TO SHOW.

what do you guys think? should espn eliminate the "pay to play" per se??????

Sox should be willing to ponny up the $20 mill without giving it a second thought

                                   ESPN.COM Article link

Once upon a time the Boston Red Sox were able to sign a player thought to be at the very top of the game of baseball no matter what country he pitched in....but then he pitched in the AL East. It wasn't pretty. The majority of his games were downright boring. Dice K Matsuzaka was a phenom of sorts in Japan and the Red Sox payed a pretty penny most thought at the time for a young stud to be at the top end of their rotation.  

baseball reference article link on DICE K

In his 6 years in Boston he posted an ERA under 3 only once, the 2008 season he went 18-3. His career era in Boston was over 4.5 in 6 years that became more and more painful to watch for fans.

Hopefully this time around the Sox outbid the competition again but get a better result by plucking the best starting pitcher in the Japanese League in his prime. The $20 million buy out that his Japanese team will receive if he signs in MLB is $30 million less the what the Red Sox paid for Matsuzaka before they negotiated his contract. Mashahiro Tanaka is dominant....much more so then DICE K. He has 53 complete games along with 18 shutouts.  This past season he went a steady 24-0 with just over 1 ERA. 

The Sox NEED to do something to strengthen up their starting pitching at the front end. While right now it may look as if they have more then enough pitching, by the end of the year it always seems like you can never have enough. Since it's an international signing and the only detriment to them would be in their wallets I see no reason that Tanaka isn't pitching in the AL East right behind Jon Lester and a healthy Clay Buckholtz. Getting a #3 pitcher who can go deep into ballgames and take pressure off the bullpen which is looking to already be a strength would be a move that could pay off for years to come. 

The Sox could sign Tanaka and possibly trade one of their heralded prospects to replace their hole in center-field if Jackie Bradley isn't deemed ready yet. While the competition in Japan obviously isn't what it is here in MLB but domination is domination and he has shown a steady progression throughout his 7 years overseas and is now in his prime. Having possibly 4 starting pitchers in their prime in their rotation along with young power arms mixed with proven veterans in the bullpen could be a recipe for success for a long dynasty type run in Boston.