Australian Rules Football

          Considering I will be studying abroad in Australia next semester I decided to take time and learn the rules of some of the popular sports over there. the most popular sport is Australian Rules Football and I will explain a few "laws" of the game and how it is played.     

            Australian Rules Football originated in Australian as far back as 1841, where there is evidence of the first few matches ever being played, although the laws (rules) of the game were unknown. The laws have evolved over time to where they stand now. Australian Rules Football is played on an oval shaped field with an oval shaped ball. The playing field has a center square that is 50m x 50m, which dictates how many midfielders can be in that area, it surrounds two-center circles, one that is three meters in diameter and the other 10 meters in diameter; the center circles dictate where the two opposing ruckmen stand during a center bounce. There are two 50m lines that are arced around the goal lines. The 50m lines are strictly used for knowing where players are at on the field. The goal lines that are on either end of the field are straight lines and 19.2m long, which house the goal posts. Outside of the goal lines there are goal squares that are 6.4m x 9m in front of each goal. The goal squares come into play because there are 2 sets of goal posts on either end of the field, the regular goal posts are 6.4m apart and usually painted white, and the behind posts are shorter than the regular posts and are on either side of the regular goal posts but they are 6.4 m away as well, but they are painted red.

          The two teams playing are allowed to have 18 players on the field at a time with 3 bench players waiting to be substituted in.  The structure of the players on the field is similar to the structure of players on a soccer field; there are six forwards, six defenders, and six midfielders that consist of two wingmen, one center, and three followers. 

          The games last four quarters that are 20 minutes each; the clock only stops on scores, the ball going out of play and whenever the umpire needs the clock to stop. Similar to rules of soccer there is usually stoppage time at the end of quarters to replace the time that was missed during injuries, or stagnant time during a game. The game as officials called umpires; there are four different types of umpires: field umpire, goal umpire, boundary umpire, and an emergency umpire. In the professional AFL games there are three field umpires, two goal umpires, four boundary umpires, and usually one or two emergency umpires to replace injured umpires.

          Australian Rules Football starts when the umpire bounces the ball while two opposing players, ruckmen, try to get the ball similar to a tip-off in basketball, but its called a center bounce. Another rule is that when moving the ball down field the players can kick the ball, punch the ball or tap the ball with an open-hand, but cannot be thrown at all. When running the ball down the field, the player with the ball must make the ball touch the ground once every 15 meters. Another form of moving the ball downfield is by kicking it to teammates. Professional AFL players can kick the oval-shaped ball as accurate as an NFL quarterback can throw it. The interesting thing when it comes to kicking is that when the kickers teammate is trying to catch it he can use the opposing players as leverage, by jumping off their back, etc. When it comes to stopping the opposing team advancing the ball downfield towards your goal you can tackle them, but it cannot be too high or too low, the hit must be between the knees and shoulders. When tackled the player must dispose of the ball cleanly to the other team.

            When it comes to scoring there are only two ways to score points and they are by kicking the ball through the four goal posts that I stated earlier. The team receives six points for kicking the ball through the two main goal posts and only one point when the ball is kicked through the main goal post and the behind post. When the ball is kicked it can touch the ground or fly through the air as it passes through the goal posts but it cannot be touched by anyone on the field before it goes into the goal and after the attacking team has kicked it.

          I think it will be useful to know some of the rules of Australian Football prior to going over there so I can catch up quicker and potentially spend time learning the rules to other games like cricket, rugby, etc.

To Play Collegiate Baseball or Not

     When it came down to deciding if I wanted to play college baseball or not I had to make some tough decisions. The decisions I had to make were whether or not I could get back to the skill I was playing at prior to my elbow surgery, and whether or not playing baseball at the collegiate level would be worth it. I loved the game of baseball and loved the idea of being a college athlete, but would it be worth busting my ass to get back to the skill level I was at prior to my elbow surgery and whether or not my grades suffer if I became a college athlete.
     Those questions played a big role in my decision to not play college baseball. I felt as if I was good enough to play Division II baseball, and had several smaller colleges that were interested, with the exception of the University of Ohio, showing an interest in me with letters asking me to come to camps and coaches emailing me and coming to school. The interest soon washed up after I told them I was going to have elbow surgery after my senior season.
     I still had some options left when it came to playing collegiate baseball, but I decided against it so I would have time to focus on my school work, social life, and a part time job. After befriending some of the athletes here at UCM I have determined I made the right decision to not play due to the simple fact of the horror stories they have told, but a part of me will always be disappointed in myself for not attempting to play collegiate baseball.

New York Attorney General Deems Daily Fantasy Sports Illegal

     The New York Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, has now made it illegal for the daily fantasy sports companies Draftkings and FanDuel to take bets in the state of New York. Schneirderman has said that the two daily fantasy sports websites are vehicles for illegal sports betting, "Our investigation has found that, unlike traditional fantasy sports, daily fantasy sports companies are engaged in illegal gambling under New York law, causing the same kinds of social and economic harms as other forms of illegal gambling, and misleading New York consumers". FanDuel quickly replied by saying that there business is completely legal and the Attorney General was just looking for press attention.
     The reason the Attorney General deemed that the websites were illegal is because he claimed that they do not require skill to win and that makes these daily fantasy sports a form of gambling. FanDuel's response that I stated earlier says that their site required skill to pay and win in their games. 
     This is big news because daily fantasy sports has seen an increase in the number of users and a growing popularity which has increased these companies sales and made them very popular. If other states follow along with the New York Attorney General this good be very bad and could potentially end these companies.

Athletes Worth the Money?

      Have you ever stopped and thought why do athletes get paid hundreds of millions of dollars to play a game that seems of little importance to the economy and well-being of the country as a whole? How could someone make hundreds of millions of dollars without contributing much to society or the country in general, like a doctor, or an inventor, etc.
     The reason professional athletes get paid so much is because they do in fact make a difference in the economy and society. Athletes are paid an extreme amount of money because they make millions of dollars for their owners and their organizations. The sports industry in North America is worth $500 billion dollars, which puts it in the top five industries in North America. The sports industry worldwide is worth roughly $1.5 trillion dollars. This means that the sports industry accounts for millions of jobs in North America and globally, so these athletes do contribute to society but are they worth the hundreds of millions of dollars they get paid? That is a personal opinion that I will let you decide on, but just keep in mind that there are athletes out there that are making hundreds of millions of dollars while there are people savings lives and defending our country for less than $40,000 a year.

Korean Baseball

     After viewing and listening to a lecture about baseball in Korea in my Intro to Sport Management course, I have decided to look into it a little bit more. Korean Baseball is identical to Western baseball or the Major League Baseball when it comes to rules and regulations, but when it comes to fan interaction and events during the game it is completely different.
     Korean Baseball is centered around fan interaction and for people to have fun at the game. They do this by having cheerleaders, contests, and different sections for fan interactions. In the film that Dr. Lim showed in our class it was clear to see that fans were enjoying the game a lot more than it seems like fans do here in the United States. The video was centered around fan interaction and showed the cheerleaders, who were usually female with one main cheerleader being male, a beer-chugging contest, chants and songs for players, and the wide variety of concessions. One of the main differences between the Korean Baseball Organization and the MLB is the fan interaction, but another interesting difference is the allowance of fans to bring food into the stadium, as well as ordering food from restaurants to have it delivered.
     After viewing the lecture and the video I think it would be cool to experience the different type of baseball in first hand and view a Korean baseball game and interact with all of the fans.

2016 MLB Free Agency

     With the 2015 MLB season ending last weekend, with the Kansas City Royals winning the World Series, we will be seeing a lot of big name free agency signings. After every year there are many players who become free agents meaning that any team in the MLB can come in contact with that player and discuss contract terms and potentially sign them. The Kansas City Royals will be seeing some of their best players leave their team to due to free agency and the lack of willingness to spend money to keep them Royals.
     The Royals have quite a few free agents with several of them being big name players. The Free agents for the 2016 from the Royals roster will be: Alex Gordon, Alex Rios, Ben Zobrist, Jeremy Guthrie, Johnny Cueto, Franklin Morales, Ryan Madson, Chris Young, and Jonny Gomes. The big names that the Royals have already lost are right fielder-Alex Rios, left fielder-Jonny Gomes, and starting pitcher-Jeremy Guthrie. The Royals would like to resign Ben Zobrist, Alex Gordon, and Chris Young, with little interest in signing the others, but due to the lack of money, or willingness to spend it, the Royals may be only getting Chris Young back. Zobrist and Gordon will most likely fetch $100+ million dollar, multi-year contracts which will put those players on other teams in the league.

World Series Parade

     The Kansas City Royals have won the 2015 MLB World Series, and with this comes a parade through downtown Kansas City where players are able to celebrate with fas and vise versa. The parade is scheduled for Tuesday at 12:00 PM which conflicts with several of my classes at the University of Central Missouri, including the class that this blog is required for. With that in mind, I will be attending the parade and will have to miss out on some participation points in lectures to witness history in Kansas City, which sounds like a fair trade.
     I have never been able to witness anything like this especially with the Royals because the last parade they had was in 1985 after they win the World Series. This championship is huge for Kansas City and the history of the city, so that is why I will be attending the parade with friends rather than being stuck in a lecture hall, unable to even watch the parade. I have been a Royals fan all of my life, going to games when I was younger where they practically paid you to watch with cheap tickets during the seasons where the Royals had 100 losses, which happened frequently in the 2000s. I am not being selfish when I say "Kansas City needed this Championship" because Royals fans everywhere who stuck with the team in the 2000s deserve this and being able to celebrate with thousands of fans and the Royals organization during this parade will be well worth skipping a few lectures, sorry Dr. Lee, and Dr. Lim.

2015 World Series Champions

     The 2015 Major League Baseball season is over and for the first time in 30 years the Kansas City Royals are the ones hoisting the Commissioners Trophy. The Royals were seen as an underdog for almost every single game in their post season run against the Astros, Blue Jays, and Mets, but they managed to prove everyone wrong on their way to becoming World Champions.
     The series between the Mets was supposed to be a disaster for the Royals, as they were expected by many top baseball analysts to lose the series in as little as five games. This was not the case considering the Royals won the series in five games winning the series 4-1 against a very good New York Mets team. When looking at the numbers,  the Royals should've lost the series, but late-inning rallies, a few extra-inning wins, and a dominant Royals bullpen, proved to be New York's kryptonite.
     The Royals have continued to prove everyone wrong throughout the 2015 season considering many of ESPN's best analysts projected them to finish fourth in the American League Central Division. Newsflash; they won the American League Central Division, they beat the Houston Astros in the American League Divisional Series, beat the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series, finally beating the New York Mets in the World Series. Kansas City has risen from the dark years of losing 100 games to prove that they can compete and be World Champions.