Mets game delayed due to scoreboard malfunction

Adfreak has a note about a scoreboard malfunction at New York's Shea Stadium this week:

"A new rotating billboard in center field, designed to flash ads between innings and then go dark, so batters can see the ball better, malfunctioned yesterday—sticking on an image of the Mets pitcher and delaying the game for 14 minutes or so in the sixth inning." Read more...

Did you know:

• This year, the New York Mets debuted four new full-color LED (light emitting diode) displays at Shea Stadium.
• The Diamond Vision video board in left-center field was replaced by a high-definition LED board manufactured by Mitsubishi Diamond Vision. The new display offers HDTV compatibility and a 16:9 aspect ratio. It's the third generation Mitsubishi Diamond Vision video board installed at Shea. The first board was installed in 1982, and that original board was replaced with a higher resolution CRT (cathode ray tube) board prior to the 1992 season.
• The video and scoreboard displays at Shea Stadium are operated by the Mets Video & Entertainment staff, led by Producer Vito Vitiello. Vito supervises a game day production staff of 18 people.
• Source: Mets A-to-Z Guide
  

List of Major League Baseball mascots

From Wikipedia, a list of baseball mascots, present & historical.

I did not know that in the absense of the Chicken, San Diego has the Swinging Friar, a person dressed as a friar swinging a baseball bat.

Did you know: The first "costumed/character" in pro sports was Mr. Met, from the New York Mets. It was also his "birthday" yesterday, on April 11. His official debut was on April 14, 1964.

Fans jeering ends pope moment of silence in Scotland

From CBS SportsLine.com:

"Fans at a Scottish Cup soccer game jeered during a minute's silence for Pope John Paul II on Sunday, forcing the tribute to be cut short. The booing by Hearts fans came before the semifinal against Celtic, which has mostly Catholic fans. Referee Stuart Dougal ended the memorial less
than halfway through because of the noise. The game was televised in Britain and overseas."

"Celtic’s main rival is Rangers — whose fans are largely Protestant — and games between the teams have led to violence inside and outside stadiums."

Read the article...

Related:

• Hearts say sorry for fans who booed Pope tribute (Scotsman.com)
• Fans charged after Pope jeering (BBC Sport) Six Hearts supporters have been charged with sectarian hate crime following Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final.

Youppi! Round-Up

Youppi!, the former mascot of the defunct Montreal Expos, could soon be joining the Montreal Canadiens. The Expos put Youppi! up for sale before they left for Washington (something about difficulty getting citizenship papers for a giant orange mascot).

From the Montreal Gazette:"I can confirm that the Canadiens organization has shown some serious interest in adopting Youppi!," Canadiens vice-president Donald Beauchamp said Tuesday, although he did not confirm the deal was done. Other rumoured corporate suitors interested in the popular mascot were the Jean Coutu pharmacy chain and Ste. Justine's Hospital."

This news broke at the end of March, but we never got around to posting anything about it. Here are some Youppi! links:

• Wikipedia: Youppi!
  
• ESPN: Youppi! is alive and well (good pics)
• RDS: Où aboutira Youppi?
  
• EPSN: It's official: Youppi! lives!
  
• Pierre Deschesnes on being Youppi
• Youppi! pics via Google
  

Did you know:

• The original Youppi costume was a cast-off from a Jim Henson muppet production.
• Youppi! is one of three mascots in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The others are the Phillie Phanatic and San Diego Chicken.
  

Turn down the volume - please!

Here's an article from a couple years back from The Hockey News ... found it while searching for something else:

"Arena music: Can't live with it, can't use a machete to hack your ears off then slice 'em into itty-bitty pieces so they can't be re-attached.

That's what comes to mind whenever we're violated by the sounds emanating from arena speakers.

To be fair, it isn't just the NHL that is guilty of monotonous, entirely predictable choices for in-arena music during games. But they are as guilty as any sports industry of dealing sonic waste to innocent customers, and if they're intent on cultivating a repeat audience, switching up the playlist would help immensely."

Read more...

Mascot steroid scandals rock sports world

Mike Argento writes in the York Daily News:

"The Baltimore Orioles were rocked today — Opening Day of the 2005 baseball season — by allegations of steroid use among one of its most beloved team members — The Bird.

Rumors that The Bird was using steroids have dogged the mascot for years, but it was the recent publication of the Phillie Phanatic's new book, "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits and How Baseball Mascots Got Big," that propelled the issue into the public eye.

In the book, the Phanatic wrote that he once injected steroids into The Bird's buttocks in a stall in the men's room on the 700 level of Veterans Stadium."

Read the article...

DJ Bedz spins love of hip-hop into official Nuggets gig

From the Denver Post:

Bednark, 29, known as DJ Bedz around the Pepsi Center, is enjoying his second season as the Nuggets DJ.
...
Bednark and partner David Lopez, a.k.a. DJ Psycho, work off two turntables, CDs and a "360" machine that is loaded with instrumental music, sound effects and your typical sports sounds like the "Charge!" horn and the "Addams Family" theme.
...
NBA rules specify when songs or sounds can be played. Tunes that mock the officials, like "Three Blind Mice," are prohibited. Ditto for songs that would incite violence. Fines for first offenses range from $2,500 to $10,000 and can be doubled or tripled with multiple offenses.
...
NBA DJs are becoming more popular. Now that Coors Light is sponsoring Bednark's DJ booth, corporations are starting to see the relevance of a DJ at NBA games.

Read the article...

10 Worst Jobs in Sports: Mascot

From USA Today, a chat with Bromley Lowe, former mascot performer with the Baltimore Orioles, and now performing as YoJo.

On heat inside the costume: "Yes, Sunday afternoon games in August during "Code Red" days on the heat index will do this to you. You do gain it all back when you drink water, gatorade, or whatever beverage you consume by the gallon. (Hic!)"

Does he talk in the suit: "I usually stay silent. However there were exceptions to (A) People I work with, (B) People I know, or (C) People who are obnoxious and being jerks. Usually saying "Yo! Take it easy," in a deep voice usually shocks them."

On close games & blow-outs: "Well, they both have different atmospheres when performing. Example, when were being crushed 14-1, don't even think about making your fans get all "rah-rah." It just won't happen. Close games are easier when it comes to making people make noise."

On mascot pay: "It totally varies. Some MLB mascots make very little for what they're worth, and others get six-digit salaries. The Oriole Bird was only a part time position, so I didn't earn a full living on the birdseed that was given to me. But I do have to say it was a GREAT part-time job. It totally depends on the teams that these performers work for."

Read the full article...

Skydome to get a new video scoreboard

Along with a new name (Rogers Centre), the Skydome will get a new video scoreboard sometime in 2005.

TheStar.com has a good history of the jumbotron at the stadium:
"June 1989: Unveiled as world's largest JumboTron scoreboard at a cost of $17 million and hailed as the showpiece of the "Eighth Wonder of the World." Three times bigger than any colour videoboard in the world at 34.8 metres high and 10.6 metres wide. Used 420,000 Trinilite bulbs to decode and display video signals." Read more...

I saw the screen back in the summer at a soccer game, and it looked pretty good for its age. Big, bright, and lots of replays -- including one that clearly showed the acting abilities of one of the Italian soccer players.

Music at lacrosse games

There's a good discussion on the Lacrosse Forums about music in National Lacrosse League games. The NLL is one of the few sports to play music not just in stoppages of play, but throughout the entire game.

http://www.lacrosseforums.com/showthread.php?t=12675

Some samples:

"Anyone who's sat close to the floor for summer box lacrosse knows that this sport is better when you can hear it....the slash to the forearm that you can hear all the way in the back rows.....the sound of a car wreck when two or more opposing players chase a loose ball into a corner....The sound of a shot hitting the post.....or smacking off the goalie's pads. These sounds are all better than listening to the same crappy CDs I could listen to at home for nothing."

"The music should be used when a larger arena isn't very full. The sport is great to watch but it will become boring after a while if they don't do something to keep the crowd. When the building is packed and the game is intence, there is abosolutly no reason to be playing music since they crowd should be overpowering it anyway."