Gymnastics, MVP Award.....Same Thing

[DOUGHBOYS]

My wife and I traveled and visited with our daughter over the Holiday. My daughter and I love a good debate and can't wait to prove to each other how right we are. To make a long story a little shorter, she saw a gymnast from the Olympics on television and asked if I had seen her in the Olympics. Before asking the question, she had reminisced at how she had dominated an event. I told her I had watched a little of the competition and reminded her that gymnastics was not a sport.
"HOW IS GYMNASTICS NOT A SPORT?", she said, ready for a fight.
I told her that it was a judged competition. To me, any competition, be it 'American Idol' or boxing or synchronized swimming or figure skating, anything judged without a clear cut end game is simply entertainment, not a sport.
She replied that anything in the Olympics is a sport and that the hard work and dedication that goes into each Olympians routine is deserving of their event being called a sport.
I responded that that was not true since the Olympic committee themselves, judge what 'sport' goes into those particular games. The debate raged and ended as usual with both of us declaring ourselves the victory.

This is a prelude for the awards that go out for MVP, Cy Young, rookie of the year, and Manager of the year.
Not much credence into these awards because the vote is in the hands of writers. The credentials of the writers can be questioned themselves. They see their own team 162 times, others only 18 times at most.
Before tv, writers were the true experts of baseball. They were the only ones to attend every game that were not employed by the team. Now, anybody who has a Direct Package or something like it watches more baseball than writers.
The writers depend on statistics to judge the winners, much like most of us would do, no matter how much baseball watched.

Baseball awards are weird to begin with. The Rookie of the Year is for the best rookie. The Cy Young, best pitcher. But, the Most Valuable Player is not about best player. The name implies that the player not only be the best, but be the most valuable for his team.
It's stupid.
A player is granted 'extra points' if his team contends or gets a playoff spot.
Justin Verlander finishes four places above David Price for Most Valuable Player, but David Price wins the Cy Young award.
It's stupid.
One of two things has to happen to change this.
One- The name of 'Most Valuable Player' is changed to 'Most Outstanding Player'.
Or two- We add a 'Most Outstanding Player' to go along with 'Most Valuable Player' and pray that MLB does not call it the 'Jackie Robinson' Most Outstanding Player' award.

Besides extra points for playing on a playoff contending team, players get extra points for major accomplishments or records.
This year, Miguel Cabrera played on a playoff contender and won the triple crown.
Mike Trout never had a chance.
Sabrmeticians and folks who speak Numerish know the year that Trout had. Most would have voted for Trout, no matter Cabrera's triple crown.
The Triple Crown is dependent on the years other players have.
If Ichiro Suzuki were young and hit .360, somehow, that would have been relevant to the Most Valuable Player award because Cabrera would not have won the Triple Crown.
Stupid, isn't it?
That Triple Crown was the one thing every voter had on their mind when contemplating Cabrera.

Comparing players like Cabrera and Trout is stupid enough.
Even though both carried a bat to the plate to help their teams win a game, each had very different jobs.
Cabrera does what a Triple Crown winner does, he hits home runs, drives in runs, and does that consistently, while also getting on base a lot and maintaining a high average.
Trout was an igniter, Cabrera, the dynamite.
Trout stole bases, he hit home runs, made fantastic catches, scored from places on base that other runners can't.
Trout was the ultimate PITA (pain in the ass) to other teams.
Even with Prince Fielder batting behind Cabrera, Cabrera could be avoided with a simple intentional walk.
Mike Trout had spray hitters like Aybar behind him and still could not be walked because of his reign of terror on the bases.

For the Numerish in all of us, Trout had his own Triple Crown. One that was far more important for fantasy players.
Mike Trout is the only player in baseball history to have hit 30 home runs, stole 45 bases, and scored 125 runs in the same season.
No rookie has done it. No PLAYER has done it.
Only Trout.
And, he missed April.

We can't lose with Cabrera or Trout being named MVP. Both were great for their teams.
At the same time, discerning who is more 'valuable' is an exercise cloaked in stupid.
Also, I am not Championing Trout for MVP, I didn't care who won.
What puzzles me is that MLB can change divisions, put teams in different leagues, even have instant replay, but think of these awards as sacred and will not change them.

In my mind, watching a baseball game is tough for most people to do. Without our fantasy stake or a person's home town bias, the game of baseball pales in excitement to other sports.
Joe Plumber will not pay the money for his family to see a game without a rooting interest.
Fantasy baseball has helped keep baseball a money making venture.
I think it is time that Major League Baseball recognize what the fantasy industry has done for them.
Fantasy Baseball Player of the Year should be awarded in each league.
The competition between Trout and Cabrera for this award would have been keen and a helluva lot more meaningful than MVP to me.
Trout's stolen bases would mean something while a triple crown would not NOT be 'other player dependent', just numbers accumulated.

Baseball was the National Pastime. That was before video games, new sports, and technology.
Major League Baseball should recognize fantasy baseball as a new way to tolerate an old pastime.
Adding a 'Fantasy Baseball Player of the Year, award would be a step in the right direction of this recognition.
And if needing writers to vote on this award, PLEASE, at least them be fantasy baseball writers.
But, I am speaking like this is a possibility.
It isn't.
Like Jackie Robinson, baseball does not get what folks are doing for them at the moment.
It won't be till much later that Major League Baseball recognizes what fantasy baseball has done for their sport.
And that, that is too bad.

[Navel Lint]

Or two- We add a 'Most Outstanding Player' to go along with 'Most Valuable Player' and pray that MLB does not call it the 'Jackie Robinson' Most Outstanding Player' award.

Not a related comment about the awards, but I just saw this video today and thought I would post it here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP3G4E2ael8 - "42" The Official Trailer

[DOUGHBOYS]

Or two- We add a 'Most Outstanding Player' to go along with 'Most Valuable Player' and pray that MLB does not call it the 'Jackie Robinson' Most Outstanding Player' award.

Not a related comment about the awards, but I just saw this video today and thought I would post it here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP3G4E2ael8 - "42" The Official Trailer

I see two more new Jackie Robinson awards after this movie arrives!

Seriously though, Major League Baseball has always been slow to appreciate a treasure they have while it is in their midst.
They did not credit Robinson while he was playing or even much after he hung up his cleats.
It's too bad.

They are doing the same thing now to us, the fantasy player.
It's as if we are tolerated, not celebrated.
Fantasy baseball has done more for baseball in the last 10 years than any one player.
Can you imagine many baseball fans without a fantasy alliance watching the MLB network during the off season?
My son-in-law is a staunch Texas Ranger fan, but he gets bored with the network when it talks of the other 29 teams.
My guess is that most fans without a fantasy fish to fry feel this way.
It is the fantasy player that is keeping many revenue avenues for MLB alive.
And yet, we are unappreciated. Much like Jackie Robinson.
And again like Robinson, they will see the light.
And even again like Robinson, we may not be alive to see it when they do.