Teamwork on the Savanna

These Oxpeckers need this Zebra......and it needs them. They make excellent use of each other. As the Oxpecker eats ticks and parasites off of the Zebra, the beast thanks them for the pest control. These birds also serve as a warning signal for any potential threats on the savanna. Hmmm......

Tranquil Teamwork

These Clown fish need this anemone......and it needs them. They make excellent use of each other. Hmmm......

Effects of "The HBE"

After many page views and a bit of bickering in the "Comments" section here's where we stand in the aftermath of the Heath Bell Effect:

The Good Reader was encouraged to arbitrarily take out their frustrations on Scott & BR regular Sid Rosenberg. Rosenberg being an East Coast based radio personality and Mets fan would serve as THEE symbol of bias for the following email:
Dear Sid:
We ruined your opening night and took the series from you....we know, we know...we listened to your interview with Scott & BR---"The Mets didn't take the series seriously"---"The Padres are an awful baseball team"---"We only have two players, and some guy named Headly who gets lucky every once in a while"---"And when the season's over the Padres will be where they belong...in last place".

Well let's look at last year: The (last place) Padres took 5 of 7 from the Mets and the Phillies won the East by 3 games....do the math and chew on that Mighty New York Fan. Your overpriced team will likely cave again and we'll just keep on battling....see you on August 8th!

Sidney Arthur Rosenberg responded as follows:
Love the enthusiasm. Good email. Factual and well written. But your team still sucks. Take care!

Nice! A good fella, that Sid. Hope we didn't crash your e-mail box (Suppose that 4 e-mails probably couldn't do it anyway...)

After Sid responded a heated discussion began to take place by one East Coast representative, one West-Coast apologist and of course yours truly. While attempts were made to actually have a debate the parties involved were so entrenched in their own viewpoints that an old quote came to mind:

"Arguing with a teenager is like mud wrestling with a pig — you both end up dirty but only the pig is happy!"

In either one of the above cases you fail to get anywhere substantive and it began to feel that way in regards to our media bias discussion......so I gracefully (as possible) bowed out. As the conversation became more spirited it eventually ended with the West Coast representative declaring that....I speak my mind and don't want to argue with idiots like you that have no common SENSE. But I sure would like to know where you live.

Ahh, the spirit of debate......so I got to thinking.....

It seems to be so intuitive that when you hear baseball news there are the Haves and Have Nots.....there are those teams that ESPN leads with (NYY, NYM, BOS, CHC) and then everybody else. Let's also be realistic in saying that EVERY team receives coverage but that it is doled out in lesser degrees relative to the big spending franchises. It should also be mentioned that it is ESPN's prerogative to continue with the inequity as long as they feel it is the most profitable course for them to continue on (although we disagree......if Baseball Tonight gave the Padres adequate coverage then I would watch it.....and then I would learn about some of the other "have-not" MLB teams thus leading me to be intrigued by some of the nightly ESPN broadcasts, which I might then watch. Clearly ESPN disagrees with us...).

.....back to what I was thinking. I needed to turn on ESPN radio and then check Baseball Tonight when I got home on Monday night....just to confirm that I was not crazy. What did I hear/see:

ON ESPN RADIO (4:15pm Monday)

• Josh Beckett of the Red Sox and his suspension.
• The high rate of balls flying out of Yankee Stadium.

Baseball Tonight on the radio would eventually discuss the Dodgers in detail (but who really cares about them?). At home I would turn on ESPN to find out that the game that was supposed to be on was Oakland at the new Yankee Stadium but it was postponed due to rain.....bonus coverage of the Braves....first highlight on Baseball Tonight: Red Sox winning for 6th consecutive time on Patriot Day. Tuesday morning I turned on Dan Patrick. He was talking about the HR balls flying out to right at Yankee Stadium and the prospects of bringing in an expert of some sort to analyze angles and slopes, blah, blah.

Is it really very far fetched to suggest that there are certain teams that receive more coverage than others? It's not even wrong that ESPN chooses to cover baseball this way....but it's intellectually dishonest not to acknowledge the facts.

What were other's saying? Geoff Young's Padre blog, Duck Snorts, said the following in his weekly column:
I love that Bell called out ESPN for covering three teams and ignoring the other 27. Everyone knew that already, but it’s cool to hear a big-league player acknowledge it. As I’ve said before, San Diego is not ESPN’s market. That’s not a complaint, it’s a fact. We have no use for each other. I would rather invest my time in “Millionaire Matchmaker” or “Cash Cab.” If I’m going to watch crap, it should be entertaining.
Do What You Cannot Do [Ducksnorts]

I agree...... Crap does need to be entertaining (hope this blog is doing the trick).

What about Craig Elsten and Chris Ello over at 619 Sports?

They had a great podcast on the topic with each taking a very different viewpoint on the matter. It was sensible and passionate and we encourage you to have a listen (they have a bunch of other good podcasts as well at their new site):
New Closer, New Song, New Attitude [619 Sports]

Going back to the email that I encouraged people to send out.....The email was meant to be a protest of unbalanced coverage of the "Big Dogs" on ESPN.....Heath Bell complained about the Padres getting very little run on Baseball Tonight but in reality this is not an issue solely related to the Padres. At the core it is more a matter of a vast majority of teams getting inequitable coverage from ESPN.

In the process of spreading the Gospel we were banned from our local Padre blog, Gaslamp Ball, because our enthusiasm runneth-ed over until it was technically classified as "Spamming"....ooops. We grovelled our way back into good graces.[Gaslamp Ball]

We were also unexpectedly approved for posting by the Executive Vice President of the Padres. Paul De Podesta let us sneak in at his blog:[It might be dangerous...you go first]

An interesting week it's been......and the Padres have dropped three in a row. Jake got banged yesterday and a 10 inning affair this afternoon in SF.

The Heath Bell Effect

Below you'll find the Heath Bell Effect. What's that you say? It's what happens when he pitches and then opens his mouth: Padres win, people start talking.

After Bell saved game #1 in Citi Field's history he proceeded to bash ESPN's Baseball Tonight for never featuring the Padres and never even mentioning SD in the build-up to the Mets' opening night. Fair enough....we know that on the West Coast we play second fiddle. So I shall propose two things to you, San Diego Sports fan:

1. Check out the time-line below.....it is the chronology of The Heath Bell Effect.
2. After reading the chronology (and listening if you have the time) follow Heath Bell's lead and make a little noise....I have a suggestion.
   

April 14th: Heath Bell dogged ESPN in an interview with Scott & BR on Tuesday morning:
[XX1090-Audio]

April 16th: HB then went on Baseball Tonight and spoke with Karl Ravech:

Click:[ESPN Video Link]

April 17th: The following afternoon Baseball Tonight's Tim Kurkjian spoke with Darren Smith:

[XX1090-Audio]

April 17th: Miami radio personality Sid Rosenberg (a native New Yorker and Met Fan) and Scott & BR regular hooked up to talk about a few things...the last of which was a brief commentary on the Padres where he bashed them mercilessly!
[XX1090-Audio]

April 19th: Bell's remarks ring true about almighty ESPN
[Union Tribune-Nick Canepa]

That folks, is the Heath Bell Effect:

1. Heath Saves Games:
2. Heath Drops Mad Quotes:
3. People Start Talking About Heath....And The Padres.
   

This folks, is my proposal:

1. Let's E-mail Scott & BR's regular Radio Active guest: Sidney Arthur Rosenberg
   

Listening to that guy Rosenberg reminded me of Bleacher Bum Jordan (if you added a brain). Brash, loud, opinionated and completely New York-East Coast-Centric. He came off as an extension of the ESPN bias that Heath Bell justly attacked earlier in the week....so let us join Heath Bell in appealing to Common Sense......here's Sid Rosenberg's email address:

sidsback2001@yahoo.com

Dear Sid:
We ruined your opening night and took the series from you....we know, we know...we listened to your interview with Scott & BR---"The Mets didn't take the series seriously"---"The Padres are an awful baseball team"---"We only have two players, and some guy named Headly who gets lucky every once in a while"---"And when the season's over the Padres will be where they belong...in last place".

Well let's look at last year: The (last place) Padres took 5 of 7 from the Mets and the Phillies won the East by 3 games....do the math and chew on that Mighty New York Fan. Your overpriced team will likely cave again and we'll just keep on battling....see you on August 8th!

For those of you who are the regular rebel-rousing-Thomas Paine-types but lack the time required of a full-time insurrectionist: feel free to copy & paste the above gibberish. Or get creative as you keep in mind that the national information outlets think San Diego and its fans are a joke....so you don't have to be nice.

How many e-mails can we inundate ol' Sidney Arthur Rosenberg with?

Editor's Note: It appears that there is another component to The Heath Bell Effect......when someone else tries to close a game......it's kind of ugly. Well, you can't win 'em all. A great week had by both the Padres and....Dodgers.