 Major League Baseball and Japanese League Plan Merger
TOKYO, JAPAN -- Officials with Major
League Baseball have reportedly told the Japanese news agency
NHK that they are in merger talks with the Japanese baseball
league. American and Japanese all-star teams have been playing
each other for a number of seasons now, and Japan is well known
as one of the world's three baseball powerhouses along with the United
States and Cuba.
Recognizing Japan as a major financial
opportunity, Major League Baseball kicked off the 2004 season
with a series between the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay
Devil Rays at the Tokyo Dome—known locally as the Big Egg.
The success of this season-opening
publicity stunt, coupled with the influx of Japanese players
into MLB in recent years, has convinced officials that a merger
would be the best way to rake in the big bucks.
The merger is not surprising when
one considers the already intertwined nature of the two leagues.
For years, aging Major League players have made their way to Japan
to close out their careers; and now young Japanese stars are transitioning
to the Major Leagues. Even well-known American managers have taken up posts
in Japan. Former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine is again heading
up the Chiba Lotte Marines in the Pacific League. It is Valentine's second
stint with the Marines. He managed the Mets from 1996-2002.
In a new MLB.com
article on Valentine's move, it is pointed out that:
"There's also
something to be said for the Japan leagues being the first frontier
in Major League Baseball's effort to explore international expansion. There
is revenue to be raised growing the sport around the world, as
evidenced by MLB opening the season in the Tokyo Dome for the second time
in four years."
The merger, which will take effect in the 2006 season,
will mean a shake-up here in the States. Teams in cities
east of the Mississippi will be merged into a single league to be know
as the Eastern League, while teams west of the Mississippi will join the
twelve Japanese teams in the new Western League. U.S. teams falling on
the "fault" line
near the Mississippi will be used to balance out the two
leagues into 21 teams each.
The World Series will be played at
a neutral site in Honolulu each year beginning with the 2006 championship.
|
IOC Officials Surprise with Last Minute Announcement:
Robot Wars are a Go
ATHENS, GREECE -- Olympic officials today
surprised the world with their last minute announcement that
Robot Wars will indeed be an event at this summer's games in
Athens.
Fans of the
popular, though now defunct, American TV series in which robots
fight it out until only one is left intact have been bombarding
the IOC with letters requesting that their "sport" be
added to the schedule of Olympic events.
"You've let Curling in, and
what is that—people playing with brooms?" wrote one fan in a letter
quoted during today's press conference. "Our
robots are way cooler that that, and besides they can be used
to attack terrorists should an incident occur at the Games."
Apparantly
this and other persuasive letters convinced officials that the
21st-century Games do indeed have a place for our cybernetic
brethren.
"It
seemed only appropriate that, in the new millennium, machines
be allowed to compete," said Pierre Ludox, a spokesman for the committee. "There's
no doubt that it will be the most violent event in Olympic history,
but isn't violence what modern society is all about?"
What began as
a British series quickly became a phenomenon in America. In each
episode, six robots battle it out in an attempt to destroy one
other. Only one can emerge as the winner. The champion from each
episode goes on to fight in the season finale, known as the Robot
Wars: Extreme Warriors US Championships.
A frightened robot in battle
realizes that there will be no
gold medal for him in Athens.
Teams are already scrambling to prep their robots as the short
notice caught them off guard.
"We're pretty sure we can be ready to
go by August 10," said
Darran Mathers, builder of several robots that have competed
in various Robot Wars. "That'll give us just enough time to get the
robots on the plane and over to Greece for the first match on
August 14. One of the biggest hangups will be getting their passports
and visas."
Back at the news conference, Ludox announced to the relief
of all participants that drug testing requirements would be waved
for robots.
Robot Wars will be held in Ano Liossia
Olympic Hall, the same venue where wrestling and judo will take place.
|
iSeries Sports Fans Try to Balance Work with Play
RENO, NV -- iSeries operators who are
also sports fans walk a delicate line between time in the computer
room and time on the sofa. With baseball season now in full swing,
many technicians are finding that the need to keep an eye on
the iSeries is forcing them to miss some great match-ups.
That need not be the case, says computer consultant
Edward Green. "There
are a number of great third-party solutions out there that can
allow users to set up automated monitoring of the iSeries.
They can then go home, catch the game, and be notified by
cell phone, PDA, or e-mail if there is a problem that requires
their attention."
The
idea of setting up automated monitoring has caught on in
recent years, and those who have already done so have nothing
but positive things to say about it.
"We have quite a few systems to monitor, and
these machines are spread out all over the world," explained Jason
Glenn, a die hard sports and iSeries operator for Evans Business
Solutions. "Last
year we began implementing MessengerConsole, a robust solution
from Bytware, Inc. For the first time in years I was able
to catch all of the games of my beloved Cleveland Browns. The product
really changed my life."
Jason Glenn counts on MessengerConsole
when his
Cleveland Browns hit the field.
Another
iSeries user, Linda Hunter of Florida-based Drix Technologies, had similar
life-altering experiences with monitoring and notification software. "We tested a few different solutions before we purchased," she
explained. "We only have one iSeries, so consoling was not an issue.
Ultimately we settled on Bytware's MessengerPlus. It just had
more features and a longer track record than the solutions offered
by other companies. It was a great choice. Plus it hasn't skipped a beat
in more than two years of use... and it has saved us on more than a few
occasions."
Automated monitoring and notification solutions provide
centralized control for managing all activities across local
and remote iSeries systems, as well as across multiple partitions. From
a single point of control, operators can streamline monitoring, message
management, paging/e-mail notification, and statistical reporting, which
in-turn helps manage iSeries systems in a more efficient and cost-effective
way.
Plus, solutions such as Bytware's MessengerConsole can be integrated
with Enterprise Monitoring Solutions, including Tivoli, CA Unicenter,
and HP Openview, providing an even more complete monitoring solution.
MessengerConsole can also easily integrate with IBM BRMS and Job Scheduler,
high availability products, other third-party solutions, and your existing applications.
If
you've been missing the big games because of overtime monitoring the iSeries
with your own two eyes, get more information on these solutions and make
sure you catch that next big play.
MessengerConsole
MessengerPlus
|
