Reflecting back on MLB Series 2015

Reflection on MLB Series 2015The end of this season.

By Elizabeth Kilgore 11/3/2015

For me, this baseball season has been absolutely amazing. I had the opportunity not only to go to every Cardinals home game this year (minus the three I missed from being out of town), but I also go to meet a lot of sports managers, sports players, media stars, and all the amazing people behind the scenes at the stadium, I even got to hold the some tropes. Yes, I was what some have described as, “living the dream.” Now that the Royals have won the series it is time to but they jersey away and reflect on this year until next year starts again. Here are some highlights and low lights of my NBL journey this year.

Say hello

I got to say hello to a lot of people, sports team owners, and manager, players yet to come, hall a fame legends, and not just in baseball but in many different sports as well. I got to also met everyone who works at the ballpark the kitchen staff, security, police officers/police dog, users, and under cover users, and let me tell you being in Bush Stadium is like being part of a family, and most people who work there are family. They have great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, and their children, families who have worked there for generations. Instead of hearing back in the old country/old days stories, you will hear back in the old stadium stories, amazing stories, funny stories, heartfelt stories, and tear jerker stories, they have them all.

Rainy day phone calls

Baseball Stadium phone by Pacific Bell valued at $119.99 

We had a lot of rainy days this year in baseball and that one game that even the players decided to just keep playing in the rain. A lot of long nights of baseball and games that went into overtime. You may not know this but the best part of all those long dark days and night are the funny phone calls from fans and non-fans. People call in to ask and say all kinds of things from, “how do I turn my TV up” to, “tell Piscotty to come to the phone I want to speak with him about how to improve his swing.” Right in the middle of a game no less, or my personal favorite when the Cubs win callers ring in saying, “We bet you.” “Good game but you lost.” The fans are funny, the jokes are real, and the smiles will last a lifetime.

Baseball players lol

They got jokes folks. One day one of the users comes running in the office while we were all watching the game. She has pointed at the screen above and starts saying “wait for it, just watch, they will show it again, just wait.” So now we all had our eyes glued to the screen wondering what happened, did we miss something, did someone get hurt off camera, then she yells, “there it is! Do you see that! Why is he doing that?!” We still had no idea what she was talking about then the camera guy zoomed in as she starts laughing, “why does he stack those cups like?!” To this day we don't know but its funny. We had a player come in when the gates opened one time, he said he wanted to go into the stadium and then come back into the office. Instead, he snuck out of the park grabbing a bobblehead on the way and walked sneakily back and forth in front of our glass windows for a while before coming back inside to have a laugh about it. Then we noticed he somehow got not one but two bubble heads, which were meant for the fans who had bought tickets, the ones for everyone else are always upstairs in the ticket rep's office. When his joke was over he gave the bobble heads to some fans and went to watch the game. There's the thing Baseball players are people and some of them are very funny people. Sneaking around pulling pranks making jokes, and sometimes driving people crazy.  

When you say hello, goodbye will always follow.

Farewell Baseball photo from atozsportsblog.wordpress.com

Unfortunately saying hello also means you have to say goodbye, and this year was no exception. Saying goodbye in one of the saddest moments this year was having to say goodbye to bleacher Bob, one of the biggest fans at the stadium passed away. He had come to very game, he had cheered in every game, he stayed late later games to cheer fans up after games lost with his stories. One night, the night before the cardinals last two home games the baseball gods came down from the heavens to him to that big cut out cornfield in the sky. His brother came to say goodbye and finish the series the way his brother would have wanted. RIP Bleacher Bob, you will be missed.

Cricket All Stars Series 2015 (American Cricket History)

Cricket All Star Series 2015

And

The History of American Cricket

By Elizabeth Kilgore 10/27/2015

Well you know I had to do it, I just had to buy tickets for the Cricket All Star Series in America. I'm more excited than I can tell you! I remember watching cricket games on TV as a kid, it wasn't on TV often and let's face it TV has come a long way from the days where you could only watch what they were showing in your city or country. This is going to be an amazing series! The greats of cricket stepping out on the field one last time, I mean all the big bosses Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Wasim Akram, Jonty Rhodes, Michael Vaughan and so many others are all coming together to play cricket right here in America. But wait, hold on, what did you just say? Did you say cricket has never been played in America, Americans don't love cricket? You didn't say that you couldn't have. Okay maybe you did, I know a lot of people have asked me if this is the first cricket game ever played in America. The answer is no it's not, and since I can't hear this any longer here is...

The history of American cricket.

Philadelphia cricket team in_1884

Before American history, we had cricket history.

Dating back to before the 1700's cricket has been played in America, oh yes that's right folks America has been playing cricket since before it was founded in 1776. Cricket was the first organized and major team sport in America. America also has domestic and international cricket teams, and there are also official cricket grounds all over the country. Oh and before I leave out this little jewel of America is a member of the ICC. America had a team in Philadelphia, St. Louis, Boston, Detroit, and Baltimore and elsewhere some states still have teams to this day.  

First President of the United States George Washington

The first president of the United States was George Washington, and it said that he good play a good match of cricket. After attending a formal dinner held by George Washington Lieutenant George Ewing wrote of a cricket match they played after dining, "This day His Excellency dined with General Nox and after dinner did us the honor to play at the wicket with us." George Washington was also known for bringing his wickets within on long trips so that he could play cricket where ever it traveled. 

Famous cricketers from America

George Patterson photo 1184. Still, holds the record batting record 271

Did you know that there are 23 famous America cricket players? Here is the list Aijaz Ali, Bart King, Clayton Lambert, Craig Wright, Donovan Blake, Howard Johnson, Jehan Mubarak, Jehan Mubarak, Jignesh Desai, John Lester, John Thayer, Leon Romero, Mark Johnson, Milton Work, Nasir Javed, Nelson Graves, Rashid Zia, Richard Staple, Rohan Alexander, Samuel Goodman, Steven Massiah, Tilak Raj, Tony Raj, Tony Ried, and William Ernest Goodman.

Why cricket isn't as big in America as it uses to be?

Belmont cricket club 1905

This is actually the best question one could ask. You see crickets season in America is in the winter mouths and long before cars, central air/heat, and amazing doctors, going out into the winter snow could cause one's sure death. One little or big illness could lead to an unstoppable and inevitable death, so riding for hours on a horse and buggy, to sit outside for two days in the snow to watch a cricket match become something that could end your life. That is said by some to have been the start of the decline of cricket in America. The clubs stated that a lot of them closed down due to the decline of fans in the winter months. Honestly, they couldn't keep up with the game because they couldn't watch it, and without knowing the score, who is playing, who is winning, and what teams are going on to the finals what then is the point of watching the game once things start to warm up outside.

Today Cricket News

Napa Valley Cricket Club 2015

Today Americans are still enjoying cricket and the numbers are rising. The above photo is of the Napa Valley Cricket Club and they have annual world series. Cricket sports bars, clubs, teams, and groups are popping up everywhere, and some have been around a long time. With the internet, social media, cable, and heated cars and buildings now available people can enjoy the sport all year around and not miss a beat. America has in fact seen a decline in baseball and football and an up raising in the sports that started those fields like soccer and cricket.

Back story to the last statement 

Harry Wright 1869

Harry right was one of the developers of baseball as we know it today. He gives baseball a lot of what the sport looks like to today, the reason baseball isn't what it use to be, What baseball use to be was a game called stickball until Harry Wright gives it some pointers. He was the son of the professional cricketer Samuel Wright, and use what he knew about cricket to develop the sport known as baseball. 

Government, and actors

Brian Lara and America President Barack Obama 2009 

Barack Obama, "I don't know about cricket but still I watch cricket to see Sachin play. Not because I love his play it's because I want to know the reason why my country's production goes down by 5 percent when he is batting"

That's Obama always making jokes, but the reason they went down 5 percent was because we were watching too :)

The first president to try a left handed cover drive.

Richard Burton 1953

Richard Burton also was known as Richard Jenkins on what looks like a break from filming the movie The Robe in 1953, playing cricket on his off time.

Ray Kelly

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly,
cricket is still played in New York today.

Andrew Garfield, Samir Kochhar, and Jamie Foxx 2014

Jamie Foxx playing cricket with Andrew Garfield, and Samir Kochhar in Singapore while on a break from their promotional tour.

George Bush 2006

          George Bush playing cricket in Pakistan.

Clinton 1995

                  Bill Clinton Received                         many cricket gifts like                        the bat in this photo.










As you can see cricket has a long history in American, and there are a lot of people who are very great full to Shane Warne, and Sachin Tendulkar for not only bringing it back but for also bringing it back in style. What an amazing and big way to share the joy of cricket with American and to introduce to the Americans who have never seen a match, or a live match. There's to hope for more live cricket in America.

Chippewa Cricket Club Card 1875

India's winning streak World Cup 2015

  India's 8 Game Winning Streak

        Anyone who knows me knows that when it comes to sports I love watching those history making games, those games that change the way things have been for a long time, and brings a new and exciting twist to any sport. Oh yes, any sport but that is a topic for another day today is India's day, and this year is turning out to be a great one for India in terms of cricket. If you weren't living on another planet on February 21st, 2015 or on March 6th, 2015 then you watching history being made on the cricket field. India has made history on the field this year many times, and this last time just qualified them for the quarter-finals of the ICC cricket world cup 2015. I cannot tell you how excited this makes because I watched, read, and clicked out google scores like crazy to keep up with all of this.

          Firstly India beats South Africa for the first time in cricket history BY! States of India 307/7 (50) to South Africa 177/10 (40.2). India dissevered that win in what I called the, "shut up South African win of the century" well really that is almost a century it's was really the half-century in the making and well worth the wait. I say half century because the Cricket World Cup has only been played for 40 years so that 10 years away from a full century. I use the phrase "the shut up South Africa" in the assumption that whenever South Africa takes to the field with India their fans and themselves assume they will win, but this time was different this time India showed them to shut up as the won their first game against them in cricket World Cup history.

           Now India has decided to make even more history in their game against the West Indies, and go on an 8 game winning streak! This streak ties them at their longest winning streak to record, and you can bet I will be watching from now on to see if the make it 9 and beat their record. Not only or they on their first 8 games winning streak since 2003, but Dhoni finished the game again. At some point, I remember India was winning and then it seemed like they weren't and the here comes Dhoni the Finisher. In this game (that at this point can only be described as a true nail bitter so much so that even those who don't bite their nails would find themselves at the end of this game nailless) Dhoni takes the field. He is cool, claim, and collective as always, and seems to bring a peace to the crowd of India fans who up until this point were probably about to fall off the edge of their seats. The thought in the fans minds would be something to the existent of, "Dhoni is here, now everything well is ok." I'm imagining all of this of course because I wouldn't watch the game which is why the computer I was sitting in front of might have wished it not to break if it could wish, and my google history shows clicks of mad women to prove it. You see I wasn't able to watch the game on TV, the computer, or my phone so I had to click for stats (which killed me) and read the commentary. India is on FIRE this season, and this is definitely not the time to miss a game.

The Fall Of Football?

The Fall Of Football

Or The Rise Of Something Better?

                     Since the Super Bowl first started on January 15, 1967, the sport has grown to epic proportions and has even started to branch out to other countries. It is predicted that the super bowl will bring in 150 million dollars for its host city alone this year, and that's not even accounting for the 4 million it dollars it cost just to place one commercial ad between the breaks of the game. The average pay for an NFL player is 2.4 million a year and Jay Cutler of the Chicago Bears just signed a 7 year $126.7 million contracts making him the highest paid player in the NFL. This doesn't include the side work they do on TV shows, movies, in magazines, and appearances. Let's not forget that the NFL isn't the only people raking in the money off of football so are middle schools, high schools, and colleges as well take home the cash on the backs of their most talented players. So it's really no wonder why being a football player in America is almost like being a king.
              It is well known in schools where football is played that the players can almost get away with murder so to speak. It turns out that attitude doesn't end in school and last year in 2014 football took some big hits when it came to moral conduct of the players. Normally these little bumps in the roads don't affect the NFL but this year the NFL has lost a lot of fans. It has also been predicted that they will keep losing fans more and more every year. Blogs are popping up all over the internet giving ideas on parties to throw in place of the super bowl parties, ideas like the fish bowl and the nerd bowl. So what happened and what is happening to put that bad taste in the mouths of football fans, fans who once saw these players as untouchable?

Healthy brain on the left football players brains on the right.

Well, one reason might be the health risk the game brings and how this year was the major campaign to make people aware of how much harm the sport is bringing to players both young and old. It doesn't help that there was a $750 million class-action lawsuit by former professional football players against the NFL this year. The lawsuit hits on the fact the players received injuries while using standard protection equipment. A settlement was set and the players use the funds to bring to light the harms of playing football and how young players are taking advantage of and aren't being taught how to protect themselves from injury. While brain injuries are serious this year was also about violence related to football.
             The year started off pretty bad with Derwin Pasley, Leon Watson, and Jerry Sandusky finally being charged in court for harming children. The courtroom didn't even have time to dismiss when football related rape charges popped up in Tennessee, Kentucky, Oregon, Ohio, Missouri, and Florida, and two girls commit suicide out of fear. Peoples hearts were still clenched for these girls when word that Ray Rice knocked his wife out in an elevator and knocked around her unconscious body around like a "rag doll" people said. He was one of eleven players this year to be charged with domestic violence the other ten are Davone Bess, Jah Ried, Josh Morgan, Greg Hardy, T.J. Ward, Ray McDinald, Keelan Johnson, Jo-Lonn Dunbar, Adrian Peterson, and Johnathan Dwyer. Adrian Peterson hit his four-year-old child with a tree branch, turned himself in and paid his own bail of 15,000.  
     The unrest continued with the football hazing scandal in New Jersey, and there also seems to be mixed feelings about The Rams Michael Brown salute. Some people like the Rams salute and some people didn't like it at all. It seems that this year has given a lot of people a reason to take a step back and look at how much power football has over people and what can really be done when that power is in the wrong hands. Football really has seemed to take a dive from its high throne this year. There has been less NFL advertising and stores haven't been jam-packed with football gear or super bowl gear. Thanksgiving was about giving thanks without the underline tonne of football, and no one seemed to notice the lost.
            The question now doesn't seem to be will football fall now the question seems to be how far will football fall. Even Rome had to fall, and maybe this isn't such a bad thing. Children will now be taught how to reduce their risk of injury when playing football instead of being taught to hurt themselves for this countries love of the sport. They will no longer be toys for people to watch but they will be people playing football. Not just children but everyone who plays will seem as people. The Rams who did the salute to Michael Brown were told to "shut up and play football" in many media forms. They were told "You are here to perform a service, not give your opinion" and whether they were wrong or right they are still people, not pawns. The NFL should care if their helmets don't work and if their chest plates are faulty, they should care about what happens to them as the age results from playing football when they were younger.
        Football players and members  should be held accountable for what they do when they hurt other people and not have their bad deeds swiped under the rug or hid in a closet for the love of football. Which seems to be what people are starting to realizing now and why football has taken such a hard hit this year. After the flaws are fixed and players, owners, principals, coaches, and the people can get back to the game maybe football will get back a little of what it lost this year. This isn't something that happens in a day, it takes years to fix something that has been broken for years. Someday the stains will fade, the new and improved helmets will be brushed off and the players will settle in for the first hike, and someone will say, 'I remember when I was a kid' and the magic of football will be reignited.  

2015 Cricket World Cup

Cricket Cuties

Best Roster Photos of the 2015 World Cup

by Elizabeth Kilgore Jan 6th 2015

Growing up my family use to watch all kinds of different sports and I myself have played all kinds of  sports everything from tennis to soccer, and I have been on many different types of sports teams. No what sport it is and no matter where are how it is played there is and always will be the sports roster photo aka "The Mug Shot." This is the photo that will be seen on TV every time they talk about a player, in the newspaper, or on trading cards. As a child (and sometimes even now) I would look to see the photo's of my favorite players if someone had a bad photo last year I would sit hoping for them to redeem themselves and have good photos. From the 30 probable list.

India's Final 15

While writing this post-India named their list of the final 15 players for the 2015 Cricket World Cup here is the list

India squad for ICC World Cup 2015: MS Dhoni (c & wk), Virat Kohli (VC), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Akshar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Stuart Binny, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma.
India Squad for tri-series: MS Dhoni (c & wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akshar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Stuart Binny, Umesh Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohit Sharma.

India

 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ambati Rayudu, Amit Mishra, Karn Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Murali Vijay, R Ashwin, Rohit Sharma, Sanju Samson, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Shikhar Dhawan.

 

England

Chris Jordan, Chris Woakes, Eoin Morgan, Harry Guney, Joe Root, Ravi Bopara, Steven Finn

Pakistan

 Ehsan Adil, Fawad Alam, Junaid Khan, Misbah-ul-Khan, Mohammad Talha, Nasir Akmal, Younis Khan

South Africa

Dale Steyn, David Miller, Faf du Plessis, Farhaan Behardien, Imran Tahir, JP Pumping, Marchant de Lange, Morne Morkel, Ryan McLaren.

 Sri Lanka

 Dhammiku Prasad, Dinesh Chandimal, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Numan Pradeep, Numan Kulasekara, Thisara Perera, TIllakaratne Dilshan

West Indies

 Andre Russell, Darren Bravo, Darren Sammy, Denesh Ramdin, Dwayne Bravo 

New Zealand

 Anton Devich, Colin Munro, Corey Anderson, Daniel Vettori, Haish Bennett, James Franklin