Posted on 05/21/2007 9:34:24 AM PDT by crunk
This is a few months old, but I thought it was interesting given the outrage over the latest shamnesty bill. Our national pastime being outsourced? Good or bad? What say you?
Get a ball and start a team in your neighborhood. Get to know people around you.
To hell with professional sports, packed stadiums, and their all-around price gouging.
“what say you?” posts when the ink on your terms of use agreement isn’t dry is usually taken to be suspicious....
It's crap. Whoever wrote this isn't really a fan of the game.
Fact of the matter is that baseball is on the outs among African-Americans and has been for years. It's not MLB's fault black kids would rather play basketball and football, and find baseball boring. OTOH, in the Dominican Republic, baseball is the entry way out of a country where life is in-between Cuba and Haiti. All-Stars and Hall of Famers have been coming out of there since the mid-60's.
Personally, I don't understand why people who complain about the slowness of baseball don't embrace hockey, in which the action is constant. Even football action only happens a few seconds at a time -- three hours to watch guys knock each other down for sixty minutes?
Interesting that they can recruit players in the Dominican Republic with these baseball academies for the youth of that poor country.
Why they are allowed to do this when American players are available? They can’t honestly argue that there aren’t enough American players to staff the major league teams.
While we shouldn’t discriminate against players from other countries, neither should we give them a free pass, as is apparently done with the Dominican players. The Dominicans are getting preferential treatment in recruiting, training, etc. to eventually get to the major leagues.
I don't consider baseball a dull game at all -- since it was always intended to be a more laid-back sport than most.
Football's a different story. To get a sense of just how dull football has become, consider this . . . a 3.5-hour NFL game actually has about 10-13 minutes of actual play. Good heavens -- wake me up, would ya?
Probably an industry stooge. Some kind of business dweeb without a clue.
This has long been the way it works in big-league baseball. If it has changed in recent years, then I'll stand corrected on it.
Its why Puerto Rico no longer draws the same interest from Major League Baseball as it used to. After puerto rican players became draft eligible, the academys stoppped being built or invested.
For a better understanding, think of it this why, why invest time, and money and instruction on developing a ballplayer, when there is a high percentage chance that another team will draft and sign that player, keep in mind that IFA's operate under different rules then draft eligible players in America.
This article is so centered on race, and immigration, with its populist touch, that ignored facts and left out valubale due dilligence and research that would have more accuratly explained the facts of this issue.
Not surprising considering how few American born blacks there are on MLB teams. The Astros don't have any. There's resentment against them by blacks who live in Houston.
The draft.
Why would say the red sox spend money and resources to develop players for the yankees and Blue jays, when they get develop players from overseas and keep them to themselves.
The draft changes all the dynamics.
...and Barry Bonds has been such a good "ambassador" to the game.
Welcome to FR
Until then...you will be known as a troll/drive-by wanna be Freeper..............
Your play.........
It was my guess that this would be the reason to give this practice a pass. Are the same dynamics in play in regards to foreign basketball players?
Thanks!
You retracted your welcome so fast, but I've been lurking long enough not to take it personally.
My post had "until then's"....
Maybe you've achieved those??
Congrats on being a lurker....IMO, you couldn't lurk at a better place.
FWIW-
Please.....MLB is is a for-profit enterprise. Every nickel they make is based on WINNING. Winning is a function of REAL competition and real excellence.
This article pretends that MLB ought to be like outcome-based-education, employment with the gummint, or the special olympics.
Foreign born players are eligible for the NBA draft, but there are some weird wrinkles in terms of player development.
NCAA rules are much more strict and heavy on college players regarding practise time, and coaching. European rules are more conducive to gymrats and workaholics.
When European teams get these players, they are generally more polished then NBA players of the same age. However, drafting them, is a risk and gamble as they are generally already on a european professional teams. You can draft them, but you need a myriad to get them (though obviously its quite possible).
The NBA doesn't do academy's on their own, but provides assistance (league wise, not team wise) to other countries.
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