Sports fans = Prison inmates? Bill James thinks so.

Bill James writes a very interesting piece on Grantland about how the deterioration of fan conduct at baseball games and prisons in America seems to have happened around roughly the same time. A great tidbit that stood out:

"That's the thing about regulating conduct; there is always some conduct that doesn't get policed. When baseball effectively prohibited its players from defending their good names with physical threats and small weapons, this in essence required the players to put up with verbal abuse from fat, pimply guys whom they could have very easily beaten the grits out of. People say things in public all the time now for which, if you had said them 40 years ago, somebody would have kicked your ass. We've regulated the ass-kicking, so the rudeness is out of control, and we wind up with Keith Olbermann and Rush Limbaugh doing political commentary that falls in the same general class as drunken, shirtless bellowing.

I used to know both of those guys. Limbaugh used to work for the Royals. I didn't really know him, but I bumped into him a couple of times. Olbermann used to be a broadcaster; funny, funny guy. They're good guys; I wouldn't have any trouble playing poker with either one of them, but I'm not sure what moron gave either one of them a microphone.

Which is an unfair thing to say; they have complex political philosophies, both of them, and they have microphones because somebody figured out that you could make a lot of money by combining a sophisticated political philosophy with oral flatulence. But I was reminiscing about the good old days, when men were men and high school girls didn't have nipple rings, and you knew who the heavyweight boxing champion of the world was — even the high school girls did — because there was only one at a time and he was a big deal."

He goes on about a number of topics that don't seem related at first but overall it's a good piece worth reading.

New York Mets Top 10 Prospects Lists ('Tis the season for this too.)

As many Met fans measure the length of rope necessary to hang ourselves when Jose Reyes signs with another team, the more optimistic ones like myself look to the future and see whether the stuff growing down on the farm are worthwhile buds or just sprouting weeds. With this in mind, I was very interested in reading Baseball Instinct's recently released list of the top ten prospects: in the New York Mets organization. Baseball Instinct's top ten Mets Prospects are:

1. Matt Harvey - RHP
2. Zack Wheeler - RHP
3. Jennry Mejia - RHP
4. Jeurys Familia - RHP
5. Brandon Nimmo - OF
6. Michael Fulmer - RHP
7. Jordany Valdespin - 2B/SS
8. Reese Havens - 2B
9. Wilmer Flores - SS (for now)
10. Kirk Nieuwenhuis - OF
Bonus - Aderlin Rodriguez - 3B

A few weeks ago, Baseball America released a fairly similar list, with the exception of Cesar Puello making the list instead of Valdespin:

1. Zack Wheeler - RHP
2. Matt Harvey - RHP
3. Brandon Nimmo - OF
4. Jeurys Familia - RHP
5. Cesar Puello - OF
6. Jennry Mejia - RHP
7. Kirk Nieuwenhuis - OF
8. Michael Fulmer - RHP
9. Reese Havens - 2B
10. Wilmer Flores - SS (again, for now)

I have to admit though that the countdown that has fascinated me so far is the one over at MetsMerizedOnline.com, where Petey Pete has been counting down the list of Top 20 New York Mets Prospects and released #7 on the list earlier today. (The list of prospects #7 through #20 are listed at the bottom of the link. Petey Pete was kind enough to oblige my request to hyperlink each prospect on the list to his own page in the countdown.)

The interesting part about the list is it's safe to assume the four stud pitchers (Familia, Harvey, Mejia, and Wheeler) and Brandon Nimmo will take five of the remaining six spots. So who gets the last of the six spots and who is left out, Aderlin Rodriguez or Kirk Nieuwenhuis? Or do both of them get dropped in favor of LHP Robert Carson, CF Matt den Decker, or OF Fernando Martinez? (Not likely but possible and yes, F-Mart is still considered a prospect and, in spite of his arthritic knees, is still only 22 years old.)

I know I'm anxious to see who makes #6 on the list on Monday!

Selig: Mets never threatened over cap flap - NYPOST.com

Here's more proof that Bud Selig is, and always will be, way in over his head as the commissioner of Major League Baseball. The fact that he could be so clueless as to the importance of the Mets wearing the first responder hats like they did in 2001 is pathetic and sad. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, Matthew Cerrone of Metsblog, Adam Rubin of ESPN, John Harper of The New York Daily News, and George Willis of The New York Post agree that the Mets should have been wearing the NYPD, FDNY, and PAPD hats for 9/11.

Blue Mets Jerseys in 2013? Sounds too good to be true!

Looks like the blue uniforms the Mets wore for Fiesta Latina weren't a fluke after all. Apparently the team was testing fan reaction and was impressed with the positive response:

"“We did receive quite a bit of feedback, almost all of it anecdotal, but fairly extensive and fairly uniformly positive about the blue jersey,” [Mets executive VP for business operations Dave] Howard said. “It’s something we wanted to try. We had been discussing it internally. And we had been hearing from fans -- and observing on blogs and things like that -- of people having a view that they’d like to see more of the blue and orange. So with the “Los Mets” jersey, obviously it’s something you wear for one day for a promotion. And we thought it would be a good opportunity to try out this particular design. And it was very well received.”"

Everyone from David Wright (via Metsblog) to Metsblog readers (91% in favor) to me weighed in on the blue jerseys, nearly all of it in favor of the blue.

The only drawback of this is Major League Baseball's uniform rules are so ridiculous, teams have to submit their uniforms for the following season prior to opening day of the current season. Meaning, if the Mets wanted to make the blue uniforms part of their regular jerseys for next season, it would have to have been submitted for approval to the league offices this past March. How ridiculous is that?!?

A-Rod: Jose Reyes is "the world's greatest player"

From ESPNNewYork.com:

"They have the world's greatest player playing shortstop over there, and the most exciting," Rodriguez said, referring to electrifying New York Mets leadoff hitter Jose Reyes. "I turn on the TV every time I get a chance to watch him."

The tolerant side of me thinks A-Rod is being honest and channeling his childhood as a Met fan. The cynic in me is wondering if this is a setup to try to woo Reyes to be a Yankee next season. Unfortunately we can only wait and see...

Jose Reyes continues to sizzle...

From ESPN.com: "Jose Reyes played his 1,000th major league game [on Tuesday] and went 4-for-4 with a walk before being replaced with Ruben Tejada as a pinch-runner. Only Ty Cobb had more steals and triples in his first 1,000 games in major league history."

More: "The Tigers estimated Reyes had swung at 153 pitches in the past two weeks and missed only three."

I'm starting to run out of words to describe Jose Reyes's season. The statement "Only Ty Cobb had more steals and triples in his first 1,000 games in major league history." speaks for itself.

"Back(story) in Black"

Finally! An explanation to where those black New York Mets uniforms originated. This is worth reading because it's a really good story.

If the NCAA had listened to me, we'd be sitting on pins and needles today...

If you've followed this blog since the beginning, one of my earliest posts was my solution to the BCS "Mess", where I made the following recommendations:

1. Keep the BCS points system
2. Use the Rose, Orange, Sugar, and Fiesta Bowls as National Quarterfinal games
3. Select three new locations each year for the two semifinal games and championship game
4. Take the conference champion from the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac Ten, Big East, SEC, and ACC. Then take the top two mid-major teams in the BCS standings, so long as they finish in the top ten.

The reason we'd be hanging on the edge of our seats for tonight is because of point #4: "Take the conference champion from the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac Ten, Big East, SEC, and ACC. Then take the top two mid-major teams in the BCS standings, so long as they finish in the top ten." Boise State went into yesterday ranked #11 but had a commanding victory over Utah State yesterday.

The question we'd be waiting to have answered would be is a victory over a weak opponent like Utah State enough to push Boise State up one spot into the top ten? Based on the BCS rankings going into yesterday's play, TCU was the only mid-major team in the top ten. Based on my criteria listed above, that would mean the other open spot would go to the highest non-conference champ in the BCS, which would be Stanford. Based on yesterday's results, we have the following:

• SEC Champ: Auburn (currently #1)
• Pac-10 Champ: Oregon (currently #2)
• Big 12 Champ: Oklahoma (currently #9)
• ACC Champ: Virginia Tech (currently #15)
• Big East Champ: Connecticut (currently unranked)
• Big Ten Champ: Either Wisconsin, Ohio State, or Michigan State (currently #5, #6, and #8, respectively)

So rather than the anti-climactic announcement of the Auburn vs. Oregon matchup, we'd be waiting to find out if Boise State cracks the top ten for an automatic bid and, if that doesn't happen, whether the automatic bid goes to Stanford or one of the Big Ten teams that does not get the conference's automatic bid. Then we'd be waiting to find out how the seeding works out. Instead the BCS and NCAA choose to give us a rather dull and boring bowl matchup announcement on Sunday night.

Think about it guys. My idea could have given you better ratings!!!