Baseball, cars, and food: Controlling the risks
"If it provides more safety, then I'm all for it," says the New York Mets' All-Star third baseman, David Wright, of his new Rawlings S100 batting helmet. Wright was clocked with a pitch two weeks ago (see video here) that left him on the disabled list with post-concussion symptoms until tomorrow's opener in Denver, where he hopes to try out the new helmet.
It has a thick Polypropelene liner and an additional composite insert. "We're confident that it will withstand a pitch up to 100 mph," said Mike Thompson, Rawlings senior vice president for sports marketing and business development.
The AP reports that all Minor League Baseball players will be required to use these helmets next season, as beanballs and subsequent concussions are inherent risks to America's pastime.
"It's one of those things that happens," said Scott Rolen of the Cincinnati Reds, who recently landed on the Major League's DL with a concussion. "Nobody's out there trying to throw at guys' heads - that's the idea. We'll go out there and compete. I mean, we drive home every day, too, and that's not real safe."
It's true: people accept risks everyday. But they do so trusting that everyone involved is controlling the risks to the best of their ability - from pitchers to helmet manufacturers, from fellow drivers to auto makers, and from cooks (at home or elsewhere) to food producers.
When eating, it's the culture of food safety of everyone from farm to fork that will determine the level of risk an individual is accepting. They should all adopt the attitude: "If it provides more safety, then I'm all for it."
Ten Arizona Diamondbacks out with barf
I used to play a lot of video games in my spare time. I really only liked sports games and readily finished baseball, football, basketball and hockey seasons on my sega, PC and Playstation. I've won a few championships (sometimes thanks to the reset button).
I'm not super-proud of my nerdy tendencies, but at some point in the past 5 or 6 years my video game attention turned to fantasy sports, especially football and baseball. This time of year (Jan-Mar) is the fantasy sports dead zone for me, although I'm getting close to gearing up for baseball. It's a bit like the anticipation many have for the holiday season. Emails full of trashtalk, trade offers and rule changes have been flooding my inbox over the past couple of weeks. 
Last night Doug beat me to a post about Tony Scheffler, Denver Broncos Tight End who came back from the Pro Bowl with E. coli O157 symptoms (which may have been linked to the Western Stock Show -- infosheet below). Scheffler was on my team, Bend it Like Brady, for most of the past year. His oft-injured groin cost me at least two games this year, and maybe a shot at our league playoffs. I really don't like that guy.
Today, I'm taking the sports-related post -- ten Arizona Diamondbacks (including Scott Schoenweis, who was once on my team, the Berserkers) missed spring-training drills today with some GI issues.
The team isn't sure if the illness stems from something the players ate, a virus going around the clubhouse or some other factor.
"I'm not an authority on gastrointestinal conditions," Melvin said, but after talking with the team physician he expects all to return to practice Monday.
Some players fell sick Saturday night, others arrived at the clubhouse Sunday morning feeling sick and were sent home.
And if you think I'm crazy about fantasy sports, I'm nothing compared to this guy or this dude (who hired a couple of interns and gave t-shirts to players on his team)
You can get the Western Stock Show/E. coli O157 food safety infosheet here (and they are all archived at www.foodsafetyinfosheets.com).
Tampa Bay is in the World Series cause they let fans bring their own food to the ballpark
Baseball is incredibly boring. Anytime someone gases on about the mathematics and how literal it all is, I’m reminded of the time Homer Simpson was sober for a month and agreed that watching baseball was the most boring thing ever. At a hockey game in Sweden last night the crowd littered the ice with dildos. Hockey’s a great game.
But I’m forced to write about baseball because the World-Series bound Tampa Bay Rays did something somewhat astute: as reported in the New York Times, “The Rays are here (in the World Series) because of the outstanding good karma of allowing fans to bring their own food into the dome.
“In the vast majority of sports arenas and stadiums in this great land of freedom and opportunity, anybody caught transporting edible contraband through the turnstiles is immediately taken under the stands and beaten with rubber hoses.”
Tell me about it.
A pregnant Amy and I went to a Kansas State football game a few weeks ago. The dude doing the bag check found a wrapped energy bar and confiscated the offending carbs. I said, ‘She’s pregnant, she needs food.”
He grunted, which was as persuasive as K-State’s terrible football defense.
And unlike airport security, where an empty water bottle will be allowed through, K-State only allows full bottles of water. No one would ever fill a water bottle with vodka.
Back in Tampa, the Times reports that,
“Under this sane policy, fans can actually bring carrots and apples and cereal to the ball park and not have them wrestled away by gristly guards. I know what you are thinking: “There’s no healthy eating in baseball,” what with the mandatory calories and salt and sugar laced into the junk food sold in the corridors of American arenas.”
Michelle Mazur: Food safety at baseball parks
Even the hot dogs have evolved. How about a Tags: Culture of food safety, ballpark, baseball, food safety
