Journal 003
It's easier to write now
I'm having a blast with the MLB, and the only downside so far is that live streamings can be tough to come by for international fans. But I've been pleasantly surprised by the quality and accessibility of what's available, so it's not a huge deal. I did splurge on a month-long subscription to get access to radio streams of all the live games, and it's been worth it for the postseason. The combination of the radio stream, with a pro narrator calling the action, and the Gameday view on the MLB website is a winning combo. Gameday is a really cool web app that shows game info and a minute-by-minute breakdown, including a 3D simulation of the match and player actions, complete with visuals for the ball trajectory and player runs. I'm having a lot of fun exploring the stats and learning about my favorite team's roster.
I'd almost forgotten what it's like to listen to live radio. The narrations are a lot of fun and totally different from TV broadcasts, since they have to paint a picture in your head. They're super descriptive and work at a faster pace to create drama, suspense, and excitement. The announcers are doing a great job of hyping everyone up - they're really entertaining and engaging.
I'm a total old school, so I've printed out the postseason brackets, the scenarios that played out with the Mets vs. the Braves to get the last two seeds against the Diamondbacks, and I've added my notes with a pen. I've also got the schedules for the division series and all kinds of information to dig in. I love the printed format, and it's nice to be able to consult my notes on paper whenever I want to double-check something I heard live or make sense of something. It's all super fun stuff. Now I just need to work on memorizing all the stats acronyms - it's not going quite well so far.
Right now, it's the top of the seventh in Atlanta at San Diego, and my favorite team, the Padres, are up 3-0. It's shaping up to be a great night. I've got my live feed, my radio broadcast, my printed paper, and a pen - what more could I need?
And, on a completely unrelated note, I just got new glasses and shoes, and it's been a great experience.