Sports in the age of coronavirus: What 2 Watch

[JPhillips]

I'm pretty happy with that Reds lineup.

[sterlingice]

Taiwanese league baseball?

ELEVEN SPORTS TAIWAN on Twitter: "âš¾| 2020/4/16 The only #LIVE Pro-baseball game on EARTH on ELEVEN SPORTS. Watch here for the 2020 #CPBL season #UniLions vs #RakutenMonkeys
#ForTheFans #ELEVENSPORTS in ENGLISH!!! https://t.co/Rgm5VbPfVU"

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Taiwanese league baseball?

ELEVEN SPORTS TAIWAN on Twitter: "âš¾| 2020/4/16 The only #LIVE Pro-baseball game on EARTH on ELEVEN SPORTS. Watch here for the 2020 #CPBL season #UniLions vs #RakutenMonkeys
#ForTheFans #ELEVENSPORTS in ENGLISH!!! https://t.co/Rgm5VbPfVU"

SI

Watched for about the first hour (through the first inning) and it was fun. I love the little cultural nuggets and unique parts of this experience.

• Baseball!!
• Rakuten Monkeys logo!
• Cheerleaders with a dance number before the game (~23 min). They are not practicing social distancing
• Yesterday's 12th inning baseball game being the longest that can be played, per the rules
• Announcers ate at a 7/11 after last night's game because it was so late
• There's a little delay because the announcers are not native English speakers so the cadence is a little off but it's still a fun listen
• The fake fan cutouts are a unique reminder of the times
• So many things are universal: mundane talk between innings, blaming siblings for acting bad, etc
• Still talking about pitcher wins and fielding percentage - sabermetrics has not made it to the broadcast
• Team Home run dance celebrations (~39 min) are awesome
• They talk about compulsory military service of 4 months
• 150kph speed on the pitches and they talk about having a conversion chart and how that's 92mph
• Former MLB pitcher Donn Roach has also pitched in KBO, NPB, and now CPBL
• They know they have a new audience so they clarify that they can have 4 "imports", including Roach, and only 2 on the field at a time

Other things I was looking at:

• Looks like the average salary is about $60K, with the minimum being about $28K: http://www.cpbl.com.tw/eng/structures/
• You can totally gamble on CPBL games: https://www.actionnetwork.com/mlb/cp...lions-april-18
• I guess the above game is from a couple of days ago so you might find some internet spoilers

SI

[Butter]

FS1 has been showing old This Week in Baseball's on Saturday mornings and early afternoons.

It's like bathing in nostalgia. Mel Allen's voice, the old players, the theme songs. It's great.

[tarcone]

I loved this week in baseball. What time is it on?

[Butter]

It was like 11-1 the last couple of weeks.

[Butter]

1989 NFL Draft on tonight. Interesting to see the coverage style and how it has changed.

[tarcone]

Loved watching the MLB 2021 OOTP all star tourney today on twitch. Very fun.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Watched for about the first hour (through the first inning) and it was fun. I love the little cultural nuggets and unique parts of this experience.

• Baseball!!
• Rakuten Monkeys logo!
• Cheerleaders with a dance number before the game (~23 min). They are not practicing social distancing
• Yesterday's 12th inning baseball game being the longest that can be played, per the rules
• Announcers ate at a 7/11 after last night's game because it was so late
• There's a little delay because the announcers are not native English speakers so the cadence is a little off but it's still a fun listen
• The fake fan cutouts are a unique reminder of the times
• So many things are universal: mundane talk between innings, blaming siblings for acting bad, etc
• Still talking about pitcher wins and fielding percentage - sabermetrics has not made it to the broadcast
• Team Home run dance celebrations (~39 min) are awesome
• They talk about compulsory military service of 4 months
• 150kph speed on the pitches and they talk about having a conversion chart and how that's 92mph
• Former MLB pitcher Donn Roach has also pitched in KBO, NPB, and now CPBL
• They know they have a new audience so they clarify that they can have 4 "imports", including Roach, and only 2 on the field at a time

Other things I was looking at:

• Looks like the average salary is about $60K, with the minimum being about $28K: ä¸*è�¯è�·æ£’大è�¯ç›Ÿå…¨ç�ƒè³‡è¨Šç¶² The Official Site of CPBL
• You can totally gamble on CPBL games: Zerillo's CPBL Betting Odds & Picks: Fubon Guardians vs. Rakuten Monkeys, Uni-President Lions vs. Chinatrust Brothers (April 18) | The Action Network
• I guess the above game is from a couple of days ago so you might find some internet spoilers

SI

Games returning on Friday morning

According to Eleven Sports Taiwan, they will continue to offer English commentary starting this Friday with the Uni-Lions' home series. Overseas viewers can stream the games at @ElevenSportsTW #CPBL pic.twitter.com/JQorniQRiB

— CPBL STATS (@GOCPBL) April 21, 2020

SI

[sterlingice]

More updates that I am irrationally giddy about:

THANK YOU #Taoyuan ! Thanks to Taoyuan City for funding the English Broadcast on #ELEVENSPORTS. Cheerful news to all! We can continue this service till the end of regular season. @RakutenMonkeys @ChengWenTsan #桃園 #Taiwan #CPBL pic.twitter.com/xbtgsbKaBA

— ELEVEN SPORTS TAIWAN (@ElevenSportsTW) April 22, 2020

Mayor of Taoyuan told the media today that the city will provide $67,000 USD to fund the English commentary service for all the Rakuten Monkeysc home games this season. #CPBL pic.twitter.com/udZfI6aL6G

— CPBL STATS (@GOCPBL) April 22, 2020

According to ETtoday, the Fubon Guardians are going to provide English commentary broadcast for overseas fans starting April 24. The stream will be available on their Twitter account @FubonGuardians #CPBL �� pic.twitter.com/u3UjtRDsvK

— CPBL STATS (@GOCPBL) April 22, 2020

SI

[Butter]

A legitimate sporting event on tonight!

[Galaril]

Korean Baseball Org which is rated at about the Triple A level of baseball is planning to start their season in early May. I guess ESPN reached out to the Korean media company that owns the TV rights to see if they broadcast KBO baseball on ESPN. One problem ESPN ‘s offer was can we have the rights for free:-)....The KBO to go get bent. Lol.

[Butter]

Reminds me of people looking for design work in exchange for "exposure".

[SirFozzie]

Looks like the first sports to return will be in May or June

[BishopMVP]

Bundesliga targeting May 9 return.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Looks like the first sports to return will be in May or June

Not in this country. NBA and NHL are done with the season and unfortunately no playoffs or champ I would say. MLB will do something half season wise. I am willing to bet we get through most of the NFL and college season but the virus flairs up worse than now by XMAS and we miss out on the bowl games and playoffs. I hope I am wrong but I am pragmatic on this with current Federal leadership as is.

[albionmoonlight]

NC Gov says that unless things get worse, the Coca Cola 600 will take place at the end of May. Without fans, of course. But still, sports.

[sterlingice]

KBO starts tomorrow on ESPN
ESPN Agrees To KBO Broadcast Deal - MLB Trade Rumors

I'm guessing ESPN raised their offer from the laughable "zero" opening bid

SI

[SirFozzie]

NC Dinos! Samsung Lions!

It's baseball six nights a week.

I'll take it

[Thomkal]

Golf and the PGA Tour slowly coming back to live in a couple weeks starting with a charity match in Florida featuring Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy vs Rickie Fowler and a hot rookie Michael Wolff. Playing on an otherwise empty Seminole golf course, which I believe has never had a televised golf event despite being one of the top courses in the state. Regular season scheduled to start up in June.

[tarcone]

Did you guys watch the simulated Kentucky Derby? They took the 13 triple crown winners and used data to simulate it.

It was really cool. Secretaritat beat Citation by about 2 lengths.

[SirFozzie]

The Bundesliga returns in 10 days.

[EagleFan]

KBO! Live sports!

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

KBO! Live sports!

I watched it working out at lunch, not the same, but it's something and it isn't bad Baseball by any stretch.

[sterlingice]

Watching it now on DVR. Would help if they weren't so condescending about it. It's baseball guys, in a country that has their stuff together more than we do. Celebrate it, don't keep talking about how the MLB is better.

SI

[molson]

UFC 249 tonight is the most bet-on MMA event of all time. (individual McGregor fights are still bigger than any fight here, but top-to-bottom, this is the biggest). They did have a fighter test positive yesterday, and his fight is off, but hopefully the rest of it can go off without a hitch, and Wildman Dana White can help create some kind of template where this can be done with mitigated risk. I know they're doing stuff like only having 4 fighters in the arena at a time - two in the cage, two warming up backstage. When one fight ends, the warmup fighters go fight, and two more enter the arena from the hotel.

It's great to watch, great to see Bruce Buffer, Joe Rogan, and the rest. And by normal-time MMA standards, this is an absolutely loaded card. It's certainly ominous without the crowd nose and with facemasks all around, but, it's great to see. This is certainly the sport you can pull off with the fewest amount of people present, and the smallest amount of overall personal contact - even accounting for the fights themselves. There's less airborne transmission potential at this event than any grocery store today.

[Lathum]

That Luque fight was nuts. My 7 year old daughter was totally in to it. We took her to bed and she asked me to tape the rest. lol

[Critch]

Final of the Nicaraguan football league is live now. Real Esteli v Managua.

They're doing English commentary now too.

Nicaragua Football | Real EstelÃ* FC Vs. Managua FC - YouTube

[bhlloy]

This is an awful fight. These guys aren't good enough to be on the main card.

[bhlloy]

Holy crap. Baddest man on the planet.

[SirFozzie]

So, the EPL got the ok to return from June 1st (barring setbacks). If they can agree to a way to conclude the season (not a gimme, 14 out of 20 teams need to agree, and the lower ranked teams are holding out for a "no-relegation" promise.)

One plan would have 3-4 games played per day (between the English Premier League and the Championship). All on TV.

Report: All Premier League and Championship games could be televised under Project Restart - SportsPro Media

[miami_fan]

A quick look behind the scenes of one of today’s Bundesliga matches.

Home-spun commentary on Bundesliga. Strange days indeed. pic.twitter.com/JKJoQhttX6

— Ian Darke (@IanDarke) May 16, 2020