Scribbled notes on a cocktail napkin, Part XVIII
Schedule Edition … The NFL's Holiday Takeover continues ... Bucket List Stadium trip planning ... the couple who created the NBA & MLB's schedules
"Scribbled notes on a cocktail napkin" is my weekly Sunday feature that's a tribute to the sports columnists I grew up reading who penned Herb Caen-inspired three dot columns. It's an excuse to shamelessly plug my other side projects, post my favorite Immaculate Grid from the week with a story about one of the players, link to stories I found interesting, and string together loose topics on my mind.
Scribbling from Albuquerque
The National Football League released its 2024 schedule on Wednesday, a non-event bonanza that I consider comically stupid, yet also eagerly participate in, so that I can begin my own scheduling madness that cross references college football schedules, concert lineups, and a lot of Google Maps searches.
The NFL says it takes thousands of computers and six broadcasting executives to create the 272-game schedule.
The drama of the NFL schedule unveiling is not the opponents. We’ve known who will play who since the season ended. The intrigue involves when the games are played, on what networks, on which holidays, at what starting times, and when each team gets its bye week.
The NFL used to play nice with other sports, scheduling their games around MLB’s World Series, college football’s traditional games the day after Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, and leaving Christmas to the NBA.
Not anymore. The NFL reigns supreme in this country. They want to maximize viewership on every holiday, and don’t care how many new streaming services fans have to gain access to watch games. They’ll play on Halloween. They’ll play on Thanksgiving. They’ll play on Black Friday. It’s Raiders-Chiefs this year and I’ll need to find someone with Amazon Prime to watch it.
This year, Christmas is on a Wednesday and the NFL still scheduled two games. (It’s the first non-Covid makeup Wednesday games in NFL history.) The four teams won’t even get a bye leading up to it, but will play the previous week on a Saturday.
Apologies to all the non-sports fans who are stuck watching more football during the holidays.
Scheduling the Bucket List trip
I’ve gone on a “bucket list” stadium trip with friends Matt and Dan since 2015. We attend a college game and NFL game on the same weekend, preferably where the drive isn’t too long between cities, soak up the vibe in new cities, make new friends, and try to mix in something non-sports. (Renting bikes or scooters to view new destinations is my favorite.)
I enjoy getting on Google Maps, plotting out potential connecting cities, and learning about geography. Having lived my entire life in California, then New Mexico – two enormously large states -- I’m frequently amazed at how close some cities are to each other, then disappointed at far away other cities are.
One year, we attended a Friday night Twins baseball game, then drove to Madison, WI (only 4.5 hours) to see the University of Wisconsin at Camp Randall, then returned to Minneapolis for Raiders at Vikings.
Another year, we went from Columbia, SC to Charlotte, NC (only 90 minutes). Yet another, Louisville, KY to Cincinnati (also only 90 minutes). Even when really tired/hungover, the conversations on Sunday morning drives and viewing different parts of the country I’ve never seen are some of the best parts.
We’ve scheduled a distance as short as Dallas to Arlington (30 minutes).
The longest was a Chicago to Green Bay, WI (3.5 hours) to Ann Arbor, MI (6.5 hours) to Detroit (45 minutes) trip over four days.
A few days before the NFL released its schedule, I asked Matt and Dan which weekend was best for us, looked at the college schedules that are already out, and prepared a list of possibilities based on which NFL teams are home.
Most of the teams we wanted to be home will … drumroll … not be home for our chosen weekend. Booooooo. This schedule sucks! How can the Titans and Falcons and Bears all not be home on the weekend that’s best for us?
Alas, we have a tentative plan, but it’s possible our schedules will change over the next few months, based on how the MLB playoffs shake down, once the NBA and NHL release their schedules, any concerts that are nearby, and other life events that get in the way.
Who created the MLB schedule?
A man named Eddie Gottlieb created the NBA schedule by hand for 40 years, using the backs of envelopes and other scraps of paper. Gottlieb was in his 80s when he retired in the late 1970s.
The NBA wanted to modernize its schedule, but couldn’t find a computer to handle the job. Five software design firms couldn’t do it. The breakthrough came after a conversation that started when a couple bought a used car.
The couple was Henry and Holly Stephenson. The used car dealer was the son of George Faust, the NBA’s former director of broadcasting and scheduling. The Stephenson’s heard about the NBA’s scheduling problem and asked if they could give it a shot.
The couple realized the computer could generate about 85% of the schedule, but they needed their own judgment for the final 15% to account for when arenas were available, the preferences of teams for days of the week, and the rigors of travel.
The Stephenson’s were awarded the NBA scheduling job and quit their previous jobs. Holly had been a systems analyst, Henry an urban planner.
In 1981, Harry Simmons retired after making Major League Baseball’s schedule for 40 years. The Stephenson’s reputation and scheduled drafts earned them the MLB job. Later, the North American Soccer League signed on too.
The couple worked from the upstairs bedroom of their three-story home, near the Staten Island ferry landing.
MLB’s schedule is the least sexy, the longest (162 games over six months), and the most complex. Back in 1987, a visit by Pope John Paul II to deliver Mass at Dodger Stadium created scheduling havoc.
A common complaint is why baseball games are scheduled in cold weather cities in April.
After one season with abnormally high number of postponed April games back East, the Stephenson’s devised a “warm weather schedule” that put a heavy emphasis on games played in April in the West, South and under domes.
But those teams were upset because attendance is better in the summer, and they got stuck with lousy attendance in April. The Stephenson’s returned to making a schedule where the home games were balanced for everyone across six months, not worrying about the possible weather.
On a personal note, I remember wondering why the Oakland A’s were opening the 2005 season in Baltimore and prepared for brutally cold weather. As it turned out, it poured rain in Oakland and the weather was beautiful in Baltimore.
You can’t schedule for weather, whether you think you can or not.
The Stephenson’s were outbid in 2004 by a company called Sports Scheduling Group, which continues to create the schedule.
The complaining never stops, regardless of who is creating the schedule. Two months ago, Bartool Sports posted a story under the headline “The MLB Schedule Makers are Idiots” on Barstool Sports:
On a personal rant, the Albuquerque Isotopes will play their 46th game of the season today. All 46 games were played against the same four opponents. I swear to you. We’ve played 15 games against El Paso, 12 games against Sugar Land, 12 games against Oklahoma City, and 6 games against Round Rock.
We’ll finally play a new team on Tuesday in Salt Lake … then play Oklahoma City. Again.
Where are the Stephenson’s when I need them most?
This week’s not-so random Immaculate Grid story: Joel Youngblood
No computer or married couple could ever devise a schedule to allow a player to accomplish what Joel Youngblood did on Wednesday, August 4, 1982: get two hits, for two different teams, in two different cities, against two Hall of Fame pitchers.
Youngblood started the day as a member of the New York Mets, but they were hoping to unload his salary in a trade. They played a day game at Wrigley Field in Chicago against the Cubs. Youngblood started in center field, batted third, and struck out in the first inning against future Hall of Fame pitcher Fergie Jenkins.
In the third inning, Youngblood singled off Jenkins to score two runs, giving the Mets a 3-1 lead. In the middle of the fourth inning, the trade was official and Youngblood was removed from the game.
“We hoped to make the deal by game time,” Mets general manager Frank Cashen said. “But there was a phone circuit problem, and we couldn’t complete it. (Mets manager George) Bamberger asked me what to do with Youngblood, and I told him to go ahead and start him, we’d take a chance on his getting hurt.”
Nowadays, a player might go home, pack up a few more things, go see his family, and report to his new team the next day or two. Not Youngblood.
“I got the word in the third inning at the Mets game in Chicago,” Youngblood said. “I made a plane reservation, went to the hotel to pack, realized I’d left my glove in the dugout, went back to the ballpark to get it, went to the airport, had dinner on the plane and took a cab to the ballpark. It was my idea to rush here. If I was a member of the Expos, I wanted to be here.”
Expos manager Jim Fanning inserted Youngblood into the game in the bottom of the sixth inning, replacing Jerry White in right field. Youngblood caught a flyball in right field to end the bottom of the sixth inning.
Then in the top of the seventh, facing future Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton, Youngblood reached safely on an infield single.
Two hits. Two different teams. Two different cities. Two different Hall of Fame pitchers.
And one of my all-time favorite baseball cards.
Inside the NFL schedule
The other items I eagerly checked when the NFL released its schedule, for my own scheduling purposes.
Are the Aztecs at UNLV the same weekend as the Raiders are at home? No.
Are the Aztecs at Colorado State or Air Force the same weekend as the Raiders are at Denver? No.
Are the Isotopes playing any weekend games in September that are drivable to an interesting game? No.
Here are trips that I can’t make with my friends, but if you like our “stadium bucket list” idea and want to something similar yourself, here are a few options for your consideration:
Fri, Sept 14: Reds at Twins … Sat, Sept 15: Nevada at Minnesota … Sun, Sept 16: 49ers at Vikings
Sat, Sept 21: UCLA at LSU … Sun, Sept 22: Eagles at Saints
Thur, Oct 3: Bucs at Falcons … Sat, Oct 5: Auburn at Georgia (The Braves might be playing a playoff game too.)
Sat, Oct 12: Oklahoma vs Texas in Dallas … Sun, Oct 13: Lions at Cowboys
Sat, Oct 26: Florida State at Miami … Sun, Oct 27: Cardinals at Dolphins
Sat, Nov. 9: Alabama at LSU … Sun, Nov. 10: Falcons at Saints
Sat, Nov. 16: LSU at Florida … Sun, Nov. 3: Raiders at Dolphins (5.5 hour drive)
[Yes, I’m listing the Baton Rouge/New Orleans weekend twice because I consider that the Holy Grail of football weekends and we haven’t been able to pull it off. Yet. The scheduling Gods do not like us. One year we will make this happen.]
For those who truly can’t get enough football:
Thur, Oct 24: Syracuse at Pittsburgh
Sat, Oct 26: Nebraska at Ohio State (3 hours from Pittsburgh)
Sun, Oct 27: Ravens at Browns [2 hour drive from Columbus]
Mon, Oct 28: Giants at Steelers (2 hour drive from Cleveland)
When time was a general concept
I didn’t get a cell phone until I was 26 years old. I’ve never worn a watch. I never wrote events on an old-fashioned calendar (my parents did). I did get a pocket hand-written scheduler calendar to keep track of my flights, etc. when I was 28 years old.
I’m constantly baffled at how I showed up on time so consistently, didn’t miss any flights through my mid-20s and rarely missed deadline. My best theory is that I asked people “what time is it?” a lot, I cut it very close a lot, and I focused on the general concept of time more than specific minutes.
These days, I’ve scheduled reminders on my phone to take out the trash every Sunday night, possible yoga classes to attend, topics that will be timely for this Newsletter in August, anniversaries of random baseball events to discuss between pitches on my pregame show broadcasts, and I’m in the process of scheduling multiple offseason trips.
And, yes, I finished this post about schedules on Saturday night and scheduled it to be published Sunday morning.
I just met you
and this is crazy
But I’m a writer
So tip me maybe?
If you enjoyed this Newsletter, here are previous posts that are related.