Interesting Jayson Stark web chat

by pageian on Jun 23, 2007 6:07 PM CDT

On June 22nd Jayson Stark hosted an ESPN.com web chat. I don't really care for Stark, not a good writer. It seems to me that he spends the first 2/3 of his column wasting space and writing cliches to tell you about the point that he's going to try and make, without ever getting to the point. Very frustrating trying to read the guys stuff consistently. However, he can't waste so much time during a web chat so it's a little easier to read his stuff there, and I found something fairly interesting in yesterday's chat.....

Here is a link to the chat

If you scroll about 3/4 of the way down you'll find this exchange, which resulted because of an earlier exchange where Stark defended interleague play:

Mr Durden (Seattle): The problem I see with interleague play, which I have never heard in any discussion, is that it disrupts the wildcard schedule. If the Mariners and Yankees are neck & neck for the wildcard they need to play each more than the M's need to play the Padres or the Yanks play the Rockies.

SportsNation Jayson Stark: That's true. But let me ask you something: How come nobody ever complains about the NFL schedule, which has those inequities built into the system? But people constantly complain about the baseball schedule. I'm not saying I understand this year's interleague schedule, which is the most inconsistent I can ever remember. But this seems like one more case of baseball being held to a different standard than the NFL.

Anyway, sorry if this is old news, but I just thought it was pretty enlightening. What I can't figure out is why a Mariner fan hates the Cubs so much???

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of SB Nation or Al Yellon, managing editor (unless it's a FanPost posted by Al). FanPost opinions are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable baseball fans.

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2 Things

Stark's NFL analogy is off the mark because although there is a kind of interleague portion to the schedule, it is weighted to achieve some kind of parity, and all divisional opponents have to play basically the same teams. The only difference is the top teams in each division have to play the best teams in the interleague division and vice versa. The only time that teams within a division play different teams than the rest is as part of split-interleague and again, the top teams from the previous year play each other. Starks wrong on this, and although I like interleague and I can appreciate the scheduling nightmare that is MLB, he should just fess-up and say that the inequity is because of scheduling, not because there is something special about interleague play.

Second, understand this about Seattle fans in general: They hate everyone else because of a basic inferiority complex that is indemic of the region. The Seattle sports fan's matra is: No one ever gives us an respect. My answer: Once you've won a championship of any kind, we'll give you respect, but until then, you're just a bunch of whining runners-up.

by steelerman37 on Jun 24, 2007 10:19 AM CDT reply actions