soupcan

I remember that.

Willie Mays playing in the '73 Series.

Elster88 wrote: Remember when a Randy Johnson pitch hit a bird in mid-air and the bird exploded? Last night my wife said she saw this story on the news. She said that the sportscaster commented that 'it has never happened before'. I said 'well that guy doesn't know what he's talking about because Dave Winfield killed a 'gull and Randy Johnson pretty much vaporized one.' I'm right about that right? Didn't Johnson just turn that bird into so much dust?

Volume.

="Johnny Dickshot"]5. Stephen Holmes FWIW - a friend of mine was a councilman in Lincoln RI (Holmes hometown) has known the kid since he was in Little League, here's what he has to say... "His mom is older sister to a good friend of mine. The good news is that he has gotten better every year since he was about 10. He was a second team All-State his senior year in high school which isn't saying much for RI except the first team pitcher, Jay Rainville, went in the first round to the Twins that year straight from High School. And the Yankees took a kid named Norton in the 7th round from UConn who was also second team All-State the year before Holmes. What happens in RI is we don't have the level of competition that Florida has when the kids are younger so they start to blossom in college. Dan Wheeler of the Astros is another kid who was ok in RI high school but got better as he got older."

Yeah I don't remember much of an uproar when Mazzilli was traded for Darling and Terrell. I'm fairly certain that Ron and Toni(?) have been divorced for a while now. Ron is part Hawaiian, was a Sports Illustrated cover boy and was chosen by that same magazine as its preseason favorite to win the Cy Young award (in 1987 I think).

Florida?

So we got one guy who had shoulder surgery, one guy was 3-8 in college, one tall guy with attitude problems and a guy with average stuff. Whoo-hoo.

Looks like Pujols won't play anyway so we're looking at three possible starters.

Vic Sage wrote: ="Yancy Street Gang"]If you know anyone who was born on November 11, 2000, they'll be 11 on 11/11/11. Actually, there are a lot of 2000 dates that would lead to stuff like that. One each month. Me, I don't think I know anyone at all (yet, anyway) who was born in 2000. My niece was born in 1999, and my daughter in 2001. my son was born in 2000... 11/21/00 it will always be easy to remember how old he is... for as long as i can remember what year it is. My birthday is 11/11 although I was born a few years after 1911. My son's birthday is 1/9/99 which I think is kinda cool because on his birthday he'll always party like its 1999.

Lenny with the rock star hair.

But he wasn't unhappy, we were all having a great time. I was laughing when I printed the picture out. It's typical for him.

Go here. Select the date of the game and the gallery number that the photog should have given you.

We did that to sharpie. Ours are there. Did you get the 'roll number'?

The soupcans were at this game as well - apologies to all in attendance for consuming all the cotton candy in the stadium. Apparantly my younger son was scared of the large Asian man taking our picture.

Greg's got an interesting take on it...

And here is yet another cover story on our boys from this week's Crain's, New York Business Mets swing for fences Resurgent team beefs up books with TV network; planned ballpark risky but could double revenues by Aaron Elstein Last Wednesday, on a perfect evening for baseball, 38,000 people filled Shea Stadium to watch the New York Mets win a 13-inning thriller when a backup outfielder singled home the game's only run. The victory helped solidify the team's grip on first place, and success on the field is rapidly translating into a financial windfall. Attendance is up 17% from last year; television ratings have jumped 56%. What's more, the Mets' new network, SportsNet New York, boasts 11 million subscribers nationwide--the same number as the Yankees' highly successful YES Network. For the first time in years, the Mets may contend with their Bronx rivals in the accounting ledgers as well as in the standings. "The Mets are doing it all right," says Lee Berke, the president of consulting firm LHB Sports Entertainment & Media Inc. The game plan for the Mets is the financial equivalent of swinging for the fences: spending heavily to sign players, anteing up to start a cable network and building a new stadium. The last move is especially hazardous: To build the stadium--scheduled to open in 2009--the Mets will borrow $600 million, more than three times last year's revenues, according to Forbes. The increased debt will add about $40 million in annual interest expense to an organization whose costs already include a $100 million payroll. Team management declined to comment for this story, but experts say that if the Mets can string together several winning seasons, demand for seats and suites in the new ballpark could double the club's revenues. That would help close the fiscal gap with the Yankees. "The Mets are about to take large financial risks, and it's not a slam dunk that they'll succeed," says Marc Ganis, president of Chicago consulting firm Sportscorp Ltd. "To make it work, they have to win consistently and get significantly higher levels of fan interest than they've had over the last few years." Boost from cable network In the meantime, the new cable network provides an economic boost. The team owns about 60% of SportsNet New York, which launched in March. It charges cable carriers just under $2 per subscriber per month. The team gets about $140 million a year in subscription revenues, more than double its annual fee last year. Ironically, SNY owes thanks to the Yankees. YES, which launched four years ago, had to fight a long legal war before Cablevision bowed to pressure and agreed to carry the network. The Mets seemed poised for their own battle with Cablevision, until it decided it didn't want a second controversy and agreed to put SNY in its 3 million homes. "Precedent is helpful," says SNY President Jon Litner, a Boston native who grew up rooting for the Red Sox. "Very quietly and out of the newspapers, we worked hard with Cablevision to negotiate a deal that works for everyone." The high subscriber base will help sell advertising as SNY matures. Kagan Research analyst John Mansell says ads typically account for no more than 15% of revenues during a regional sports network's first few years, though they can eventually generate up to 40%. Seventeen percent of the YES Network's $257 million in revenues last year came from ads. With the cable network humming, the next step for the Mets is to keep a successful team on the field to maximize revenues from the new stadium. A new ballpark can lift a club's revenues by anywhere from 30% to 100%, according to one investment banker. The $800 million ballpark will contain 45,000 seats, 12,000 fewer than Shea. But the team hopes to sell the naming rights for a record $15 million a year; the number of luxury boxes will increase by almost a third, to 58; concession stand points of sale will rise by 41%; and restaurant space will expand sixfold. A giant gap Many doubt the Mets can ever equal the Yankees, whose $277 million in revenues and $200 million payroll are far larger than any other teams'. Even with the Mets' success this season, their games on SNY generate an average rating of 2.4, or 177,000 households. The Yankees average a 4.1 rating on YES. Even so, the investment banker says the team can emulate another rival: the San Francisco Giants. The Barry Bonds-led team, which is competitive most years, has nearly doubled its value since moving to a new ballpark in 2000. "San Francisco experienced a transformational change with their new park," the banker says. "Guess what the Mets have in mind." Comments? AElstein@crain.com

That's something that's neat about baseball. You can be 'on pace' for 800 homeruns in a season but if you don't stay hot or healthy... Matt Williams was on pace to hit 62 homeruns when they struck in '94 (43 ding dongs on August 11). Not that those numbers mean anything post-steroid but that was another possibly historic season that fell by the wayside.

Elster88 wrote: There are very few rules in life that I follow without exception, but one that I do follow is "Never believe anything Harold Reynolds says. Ever." I'm with Elstah. Mets fan friend of mine is a photographer. Was doing a photo shoot in Spring '01 with a model. They got to talking and it turned out that the model was Harold Reynolds girlfriend. She was later on the phone with Reynolds and asked my friend if he'd like to say hi. My friend gets on the phone and Reynolds proceeds to tell him that Glendon Rusch is the second coming. Based on what Reynolds saw of Rusch in 2000 Series he guarantees that Glendon is on the cusp of a dominating career. Friend calls me immediately after that conversation and both of us giggle like schoolgirls for weeks after that. I wet my pants for no reason that day.

Nymr83 wrote: 3 Loge Reserved seats: $117 (gold game)+ 2 beers: $13+ 4 sodas: $20+ 3 hot dogs: $13.50+ 3 french fries $13.50+ 1 scorecard: $4+ 2 pretzels: $9+ 2 over-priced souvenirs: $50= ---------------------------------------------------------------- money left in soupcan's wallet: $0. Amazing isn't it? I remember when General Admission was $1.50.

Hoping for a rainout tomorrow so I get to see the triple-header on Sunday. First time taking both my boys (ages 7 & 9) to a game at the same time. Oh, the money I'll spend.

Excellent. I'm going Sunday.

Oliver had some clutch performances last month and Heilman & Duaner came back down to earth.

]...she said that when you live in the state long enough you start following the Tigers. I was horrified. He was horrified! Love it. Great interview. Thanks Greg.

Can you imagine? Yeesh.