misplaced priorities

When the Houston Astros defeated Atlanta after an 18-inning marathon, little did anyone suspect that the game's length would be only the second most interesting record set that evening. Houston fan Shaun Dean caught the winning homer, which complemented the grand slam ball he had caught 10 innings earlier. In the most unlikely of scenarios, the same fan caught two home run balls in the same game.

With all the homers churned out during this era of live balls and juiced players, you wouldn't think home run balls would be a hot commodity. But this is also the era of the collectible anything, so somewhere, someone is willing to pay big bucks for the right home run memorabilia. It might not be Mark McGwire's 62nd home run ball (a relatively poor investment given the home run derby years that followed), but same-game dingers from a Divisional Series victory might net a tidy sum from the right Astros fan with more money than sense.

It's in this environment that the Baseball Hall of Fame approached Shaun Dean about reclaming the balls for a special exhibit in Cooperstown. Dean, in return for signed jerseys and paid trips, relinquished the dual dingers for posterity. His willingness to part with the unlikely trophies netted this gushing from Hall of Fame representative Jeff Idelson:

"Think about trying to find anybody who caught two home run balls in the same game, and I don't think you can find anybody," Idelson said. "Put it in the context of the historic game played here, and it's really amazing. Shaun's gesture is the ultimate act of selflessness." [emphasis added]

Dean was originally going to keep the balls as souvenirs for his son, and I would respect someone keeping commemorative items when they have such a personal association with the event. So it's cool that he is willing to turn them over to an establishment representing the game itself, so that others may enjoy the story for years to come. It shows a non-monetary appreciation of sports that is being smothered by loudmouth late-night hucksters on home shopping networks.

But Jeff Idelson, and perhaps a few other cronies at the Hall of Fame, need some perspective drummed into their tiny heads. Returning a couple of $2.89 baseballs, no matter who hit them and when, is not the ultimate act of anything, except perhaps normalcy. Grandiose assessments of selflessness are normally reserved for people who die for the good of another, not those who donate sports equipment to a museum. Soldiers and cops pay the ultimate price for far less gratitude than the Hall of Fame has shelled out to the Dean family, and with far fewer column-inches devoted to their plight. Jeff Idelson better hope he never needs someone else's ultimate act of selflessness to save his hide, lest he get pelted with baseballs when he needed a heart transplant or a grenade cover.

low tech Sunday

While intelligent people were enjoying yesterday's perfect weather in a multitude of outdoor activities, I decided it was time to catch up on some bike work. It might not have been a walk in the park, but a nice breeze and moderate temperatures keep things tolerable when sweating through grease-coated repairs.

From 9:30am till 6:30pm, I was disassembling, drilling, installing, and reassembling, with a quick trip to AutoZone for a micrometer in between. The entire escapade was punctuated with ample cursing, especially when trying to remount the carbs, but ultimately the bike made it back together with the upgrade installed and no extra bits lying around.

"Old tech" machinery is notoriously fickle, especially highly-evolved analog devices that require Rube Goldberg-esque machinations to balance physics and craftsmanship. This was proven when I tried to start the bike; one turn over, then nothing. With all my hours of work for naught, I moved the bike inside and resigned myself to a humiliating trip to the shop to have my repairs repaired by professionals. But when I demonstrated the woeful predicament to my wife an hour later, lo and behold, the bike turned over like normal! Despite a cacaphony of rattling and smoke blowing out the wazzoo (i.e. the tailpipe), the problem had cured itself.

Scenarios like this have pushed manufacturers to add precision and predictability through computerization. And now, computers are so cheap and so good at things like fuel injection, it doesn't pay to keep motorcycles carbureted anymore. After eight hours tweaking the guts of my bike, it would be an easy sell to pay $250 for a computerized gizmo that does the same job and installs in 20 minutes.

But even after toiling indoors on a perfect day, the accomplishment more than outweighed the effort. The magical tangibility of mechanical instruments provides a soothing correlation between physical inputs and outcomes. I may be happy to save time when upgrading a fuel-injected bike, but I'll certainly miss the experience.

whither, blockbuster

As I've discussed previously, I'm a fan of Netflix in part due to their ability to stick it to Blockbuster. Years of usurious late fees and tacit censorship ensured that I will never support their business, even if they evolve a new business model around renting free self-help videos to under-served 3rd world nations.

Apparently I'm not alone in my Blockbuster dislike. Herr rental chain is going to miss their subscription target of 2 million online users for Q1 2006. For comparison, Netflix tallied 3 million customers in Q1 2005. BBI stock has been on a continual skid in the face of an industry-wide 12% decline in store-based revenue, and this news is unlikely to turn things around. Awwww ...

Over a year ago, Motley Fool suggested that Netflix would hang around due to its advantage of engaging customers and satisfying their need to rent a broad variety of titles in addition to the latest releases. They were right; the NFLX stock has risen steadily over the past six months. And Netflix has recently boosted that capability by adding the "Friends" feature, by which you compare queues, ratings, and recommendations with other select Netflix users. I recently linked up with TJ, and I'm hooked. It adds a whole new dimension to see where you and friends agree or disagree about movies, providing a much-needed "community" angle to online rentals.

DVD rentals will eventually loose share to streaming video. But, like Amazon, Netflix has tapped into the need for additional context around transactions. This infrastructure and information will go a long way towards protecting their existing business, and allow them substantial leverage should they eventually partner with a content provider.

Are you paying attention, Blockbuster? What Netflix does well is called "branding" and "customer relationship management." In case BBI execs are wondering, that's different than "short-term revenue maximization."