I had the opportunity to be the editor for two of the films, and it was definitely the high point of my time here at BU. It was something I’ve always dreamed of doing ever since I helped out with a couple films as a lowly freshman.

This screening is FREE and open to the public, and will be held the Tsai Performance Center at 7pm. This event has been known to fill up over the past few years, so get there early!

On April 29th, 2013, Jason Collins cemented himself into civil rights history by becoming the first ever openly homosexual athlete to play in the four major American sports. His declaration covered the front page of Sports Illustrated, the esteemed magazine that revolutionized sports photography and periodicals. ESPN, “The Worldwide Leader in Sports,” also announced Collin’s momentous disclosure on their popular website in their “Headlines” column below a news story of a Jets backup quarterback’s release. ESPN.com also displays large color photos of the biggest news stories from the day. Again, ESPN failed to notice the Collins’ story’s importance. Their top story: Tebow was cut.

Two hours later, ESPN backpedaled and placed Collins on their homepage. Two hours gave ESPN time to reveal itself as more errant than a Tim Tebow throw. Coverage of the ex-Gator aired continually, as it has for the last few years. On their normally reputable program, Outside the Lines, analyst Chris Broussard announced that being gay “is an open rebellion to God.” Who knows how that statement relates to sports coverage?

ESPN’s apparent desire to minimize the story of the first active gay athlete demonstrates their current disillusionment with sports news coverage. First, it shows that ESPN was jealousy that a rival sports journalism outfit broke the story. ESPN’s is valued at $40 billion dollars. ESPN dominates sports in wealth, power, reach, and publicity. Other outlets receive more respect, like in the example of the Jason Collins story. It appeared as though ESPN acted as a gatekeeper and tried to downplay its significance. A leader in sports journalism should have obviously covered this as a top story.

Second, their never-ending fawning over Tim Tebow exemplifies their dependence on self-created stories. Nobody covered the faithful punt protector like ESPN, who also developed his legend since he won the Heisman trophy at the University of Florida. The real sports world has mostly ignored Tebow. Since his release, no team has announced any interest. His hometown Jacksonville Jaguars made public that they will not sign the erratic arm’d 25-year-old. The Canadian Football League has not even dialed his number. Still, Tebow continued to dominate ESPN’s coverage.

ESPN’s flagship program, Sportscenter, lacks much of the irreverence, cynicism and fun that caused such a splash when it debuted. I believe its present tameness stems from the aging original players and its current status as a cash cow. Think about how ornery Keith Olbermann. And much of Sportscenter now focuses on talking heads discussing strategy or the next games as opposed to the exciting highlights that popularized the show. I think because ESPN has money, they will pay the people they have worked with for years to talk instead of paying an editor to make a cheap highlight reel. But only the ESPN bigwigs know why they slowly phased out highlights.

The original Sportscenter was a simple studio with one desk and two anchors. It screamed “cheap.” The hosts were smart and snarky. That attitude has now moved on to another platform that today’s ESPN likely despises: Deadspin.com.

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On January 16th, 2013 Deadspin.com posted a blog that shook the sorting world. The “heartbreaking” story of Manti Te’o’s dead girlfriend was completely and totally fabricated. It was all a hoax.

The story fascinated me, and I have covered it extensively. However, ESPN also planned to cover the story with an exclusive interview with Manti Te’o the following Monday. He planned to reveal the truth behind the hoax in an interview with sporting giant, ESPN. That interview never aired.

Deadspin beat ESPN to the story, and received due credit for excellently breaking the news. ESPN again demonstrated a desire to glorify its athletes as opposed to relying on true sports coverage. Does anyone remember when ESPN aired “The Decision,” where free agent LeBron James announced he would play for the Miami Heat? It is moments like this where ESPN displays a desire for ratings as opposed to reporting the news. Everyone would have watched the Te’o story on ESPN. Deadspin reported it as they heard it, like true journalists, and they received all the credit.

Deadspin.com has become one of the best ways to get blog-like information about all sports. They promise “Sports News without Access, Favor, or Discretion.” They often challenge ESPN’s dedication to sports coverage. Deadspin is the new, smart and snarky guys. It cannot be expensive to run a blog.

Of the Gawker media conglomerate, Deadspin’s website updates the most interesting sports stories of the day with opinion, videos, and live commentary from their writers. I think every Deadpsin article is clickable. And they are irreverent. I watched a video from China of a bear and a monkey racing on bicycles. The race ends as the bear hops off his bicycle and eats the monkey.

Anyway, Deadspin’s frequent enjoyableness outdoes ESPN’s foray into blogging. Bill Simmons, a longtime writer for ESPN, runs Grantland, a sports blog that also includes pop culture and random Internet videos. They even have a few respected authors. Charles P. Pierce, Jay Caspian King, all Jonah Keri are all entertaining reads. However, this is coupled with boring articles from Simmons himself, Chuck Klosterman, and other who-are-they authors. During the Jason Collins escapade, Deadspin continually had updates on how the sports world was reacting. Grantland ran an article about Iron Man 3. I checked Deadpsin hourly.

ESPN continues to provide excellent stats and updates from the entire league, but it is no longer the cultural touchstone it once was. Deadspin is an Internet Age website that is not powered by money. Or, at least not yet.

Strat-O-Matic Baseball, or just “Strat,” is the Dungeons and Dragons for baseball as it both uses dice to determine outcomes and is just as likely to popular people playing the game. It uses real statistics from MLB Players. Every player in the game has their own card that includes their season’s statistics and many dice rolls that would probably correspond to how they would fare in the league. You can purchase cards via an entire season or just individual teams. I own the entire 1999 season (the Mariners are the best team) and every Red Sox Team that has made it to the World Series.

Anyway, let’s say that Mariano Rivera was batting against David Ortiz. You roll some dice, and then that would correspond to an event (a Home Run, a groundout to the Shortstop) on one of their cards. The best thing about the game is you manage the team. Do you want to steal with Jacoby Ellsbury? Do you want to intentionally walk Pujols? You can select all of this, including making the lineup.

What’s amazing about the game is how startlingly realistic it is. I once played with the 2004 Sox against the 2004 Mets. Nomar Garciaparra hit two home runs, Mike Piazza had 3 RBIs and Trot Nixon left the game with an injury.

The game has multiple sets of rules, too, all of which are fun and create their own challenges. There’s Basic, which is the purest version and only takest 20 minutes to play a whole game. Then, there is Advanced, which includes Righty/Lefty splits and a more intricate stealing and fielding system. Finally, there is Super Advanced, which is insane. In Super Advanced, it’s possible for Outfielders to crash into each other. When playing with first-timers, Basic is definitely the most fun, even for veterans. If there are hardcore players, Super-Advanced can be fun but it does involve looking up a lot of rules. I prefer Advanced because the inclusion of Right/Lefty splits adds a fun element.

Anyway, I am 5-0 and am starting to feel bad about beating all my friends this year, so here is an incomprehensive guide on how to field the best Strat-O-Matic baseball team.

Setting Up The Lineup

Moneyball, the groundbreaking book about the Oakland Athletics and their disposal to use statistics rather than purely relying on scouting, is essentially my Bible on baseball, so I do things like forgoing putting the best base stealers and hit-and-run guys in the top of the lineup. Rather I like to put the guy with the best OPS (on base plus slugging) in the cleanup spot. Then, of anyone with a .380-plus OBP, I put whoever is the best baserunner batting first. Then, I go all the way down 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 and place them in order of OBP. However, in Advanced I make sure to check whether the batters are Righties or Lefties, and will make sure that in the latter half of the lineup, multiple hitters who bat the same will not hit back-to-back so as to make pinch-hitting easier later in the game. This won’t work for the whole lineup, but it’s okay.

Selecting a Pitcher

I choose for better hitters than better fielders at each position, but this creates a conundrum because I usually have a team that cannot field. To combat this, I choose the starting pitcher who has the best K/BB rate (the most strikeouts to walks rate) so he has a better chance of getting people out himself. Most managers go by best ERA, but I would only do that if I had a solid defensive team behind me.

In-game Tactics

I only steal if the baserunner has an A stealing, and I will never bunt or hit and run (unless it’s with the pitcher or a truly terrible hitter). Know what the double switch is and when to use it.

Does anybody have any other questions? Please, ask away in the comments sections. Aren’t I really cool for playing this game? Are there any other Strat fans out there?

And in case you want more, here’s my playlist from 1st semester:

The movie chronicles smart-ass Tony Stark’s quest to defeat a terrorist whose genetically enhanced army is striking all across the country and promises to soon attack the President himself. Along with these enemies, Iron Man must also defeat his inner demons which include anxiety attacks, PTSD, and his fear of losing the only thing left that matters to him, his wife. This added character development added something to this Iron Man that the previous ones were lacking.

The special effects are awesome as usual. Each piece of Iron Man’s suit can now fly individually, which makes for some pretty cool scenes.

Without revealing too much, the movie’s main downfall is the development of the villain, whose back-story was pretty weak. I also didn’t really like the ending. But the rest of the movie more than made up for these flaws.

Definitely better than Iron Man 2, I think this third one is nearly as good as the first one, if not better. Go see it for sure!

http://open.spotify.com/user/1280930839/playlist/6Jf1NT1LVnCya8aoWTJCJo

In a sincere attempt to twist the memory of those hours into some sense of productivity, I’m sharing my two main playlists here. Playlist #1 is designed specifically for the journey to your respective study destination. I live about 20 minutes away from Mugar, so these nine songs suit my purposes perfectly.

As for the second playlist, I listen to a wide variety of music while studying. Sometimes, if I have to power through a paper in one night, I will listen to Daft Punk exclusively. Sometimes if I need to outline an entire textbook, I’ll listen to Vivaldi. Sometimes I’ll just listen to whatever I’m into that week. But for this playlist I compiled songs that help you get in the zone without distracting you from your work all that much. I hope you find something you like, and I hope you’re procrastinating less than I am!

 

- Sydney

Side note: I threw Don’t Stop Believin’ in there because everyone needs that song in their life this week.

Join us for a silent rave to unwind and dance your stress away… silently. Click here to visit our specially formulated silent rave playlist!

The silent rave will be on Sunday May 5th at 8pm in the Link outside of Mugar Library.

Bring your headphones, friends, and dancing shoes!