| Wednesday, March 27, 2019 |
| Homeland Defense and Security Summit looks at ways to fight threats in cyberspace | |
 | Keeping the country safe is proving to be more challenging as new technologies are developed. Governor Phil Bryant brought together cyber security experts from around the world for Tuesday's Homeland Defense and Security Summit in Biloxi. "If our enemies figure out through cyber how to bring that down or how to turn it against us, that's exactly what they're going to do," Bryant said during his opening remarks. Now than ever before, information is right at our fingertips. And without the right defenses, that same information is right at the fingertips of hackers, as well. This is the second time Bryant hosted the International Homeland Defense and Security Summit. This time, to look at new ways of protecting our digital borders. "There's more and more data to be collected. It's easier to be collected, and we haven't figured out all the ramifications for this," said Drew Hamilton, director of the Center for Cyber Innovation at Mississippi State University. |
| Darrin Dodds to Head Mississippi State University Department | |
 | Darrin Dodds, professor and Extension cotton specialist at Mississippi State University, is the new head of the university's Department of Plant and Soil Sciences. Dodds, a 12-year veteran of the department, takes the helm April 1. A native of Rushville, IL, Dodds is well respected throughout the Mid-South for his teaching, research and outreach programs in cotton physiology. In 2016, he was awarded the Dr. J. Tom Cothren Outstanding Young Physiologist Award by the National Cotton Council and its partners. An MSU alumnus, Dodds has garnered nearly $6 million in research funding and mentored a dozen graduate students. The professor performs more than 100 cotton extension and research trials each year. "Dr. Dodds is an exceptional research scientist and educator," said George Hopper, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. |
| New lights aimed at promoting safety on University Drive | |
 | Starkville-based startup Glo recently developed an addition to the city that will make pedestrians feel safer walking on University Drive. Glo CEO Hagan Walker pitched the idea to Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill to create a unique source of light in that area. "She kind of challenged back with me and told me that's a great idea. If I have the cool idea to make it happen," he said. Walker said Spruill left the ball in his court and now a lighting strip has been installed that goes the full length of the bridge. It's currently one of the mayor's favorite new additions to Starkville -- one that she believes will make the city special. Spruill expressed great appreciation to Starkville Utilities and the Starkville Street Department for assisting in the installation. |
| Middleton Court filling back up | |
 | Four months after losing two anchor stores, the Middleton Court shopping center is poised to be fully occupied. Jason Perry, who owns the shopping center through the company Lewko Properties, said three stores -- Owens Outfitters, Home Store Furnishings and Paul Davis -- are in the process of moving into the vacant spots left behind after Tuesday Morning and Sports Center closed late last year. "Big things are happening," Perry said. "A lot of that went down pretty fast, but we had pretty much filled back up within a month. We had all these signed and deals put together pretty quickly." In addition to the new stores, Umi Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar is expanding into an empty space behind a courtyard to the restaurant's immediate west. |
| Ingalls in Pascagoula gets $1.5 billion contract to build Navy ship that transports Marines | |
 | Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula has won a $1.48 billion contract from the U.S. Navy to build the 14th San Antonio class ship and the first Flight II LPD. The cost-plus-fixed-fee contract was announced Tuesday and helps secure jobs at the Pascagoula shipyard. Fabrication is scheduled for 2020. These San Antonio class ships built at Ingalls are used to transport Marines, their equipment and supplies, using air cushion or conventional landing craft and amphibious assault vehicles, along with helicopters or vertical takeoff and landing aircraft such as the MV-22 Osprey. Ingalls has secured building permits for $79 million to restore its East Bank shipyard that was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. Another $1.6 million in construction is being spent on pier A at the shipyard. |
| Bill would cut farm taxes, shift to other taxpayers feared | |
 | A bill nearing passage in the Mississippi Legislature could cut property taxes for owners of farmland and timberland, but leave owners of homes, cars and commercial property paying higher tax rates. House Bill 1456 would alter a formula setting the taxable value of agricultural land to mandate a 16.67 percent decrease in value that would take place over five years. Farmland and timberland isn't taxed on market value, but on a legal formula computing its economic value. The measure is pushed by the Mississippi Property Tax Alliance, a group of farmers in Leflore and Holmes counties who say taxes are too high. Harry O'Neal, one of the group's directors, said agricultural land values have risen following good crop years, increasing land taxes that farmers pay. |
| Terroristic threats, bomb threats: Mississippi passes state law | |
 | In January, bomb threats were made to three schools in Holmes County. An 18-year-old was charged with making a false report of an explosive. However, come July 1, an individual making a bomb threat against places with a group of people could face Mississippi's new terroristic threats law. Most of those charged now face up to a year in county jail for a misdemeanor and a year or more in prison for a felony conviction. The new law will make it a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. "This is to tell people we are serious when it comes to making these type threats," said Sen. Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg, who authored the bill. |
| Mississippi plan seeks to increase black voting strength | |
| The Mississippi Senate on Tuesday adopted a plan to increase the black voting age population in one of its districts, bidding to satisfy a federal court order in a gerrymandering lawsuit. The plan goes to the House for further consideration. It would affect two of the 52 state Senate districts -- one that's the subject of a lawsuit and another beside it in the rural flatlands of the Delta. Three black plaintiffs sued the state in July over the composition of Senate District 22, which stretches through parts of six counties, including poor and mostly black parts of the Delta into the affluent and mostly white Jackson suburbs of Madison County. It has a 51 percent black voting-age population and a white senator, Republican Buck Clarke of Hollandale. |
| Bill Waller Jr. touts vision for state's future | |
 | Taking a brief break between shaking hands inside the stately and historic Union County courthouse, Bill Waller pointed to struggles facing rural healthcare across Northeast Mississippi and the state. Emergency room closures, long ambulance response times, uncompensated emergency room visits, nervous bond rating agencies -- Waller said he's hearing these concerns loud and clear. "That was one reason I got in the race," Waller said. "For Mississippi to prosper, we have to have healthy hospitals." Waller, 67, was chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court until he resigned in January. The son of a former governor, he held judicial office for more than two decades, but he's never been on a statewide ballot. Touting a message that Mississippi's government can work more effectively for its people, Waller believes he can connect with Republican primary voters and overcome a steep financial advantage held by the presumed frontrunner for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves. |
| Criminal justice reform progress applauded but advocates say it's a step, not 'the leap' Mississippi needs | |
| As legislators hammer out final details of a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill behind closed doors this session, advocates say they aren't satisfied with what they've seen so far. Lawmakers are shaping a set of criminal justice reform proposals through HB 1352, aptly named "The Criminal Justice Reform Act." The bill has passed both the House and the Senate, and a handful of lawmakers will draft a final version in conference that will go back to both chambers for a vote. Consistent in earlier versions of the bill are plans to expand the state's drug court system, to allow judges to help more people get old convictions removed from their records, and to eliminate the mandatory suspension of driver's licenses over controlled substance violations unrelated to driving a vehicle or unpaid fines and fees. Though many advocates for reform support the bill, some say the current version of the legislation is limited to re-entry measures and will not actually reduce Mississippi's prison population. The state has the third highest incarceration rate in the nation. |
| Politicians disagree on who has the power to move the monument | |
 | State legislators who authored the bill that dictates how military monuments can be relocated have different opinions about who has the final authority to actually relocate the Confederate monument that stands in the center of the Ole Miss campus. The bill, which was signed into law by former Gov. Haley Barbour in 2004, states, "The governing body may move the memorial to a more suitable location if it is determined that the location is more appropriate to displaying the monument." Mike Chaney, who is the Republican insurance commissioner for the state, served as one of the main authors and said the intent of the bill was to prevent cemeteries and battlefield sites in his hometown from being altered. "I think it's important to note that the law also prevents changes to monuments from a host of other military events and figures," Chaney said. "The law also allows for the governing body to move a memorial to a more suitable location, should they so decide. In this case, (the state college board) is the governing body." |
| Hinds CC VP makes history; new president at Delta CC | |
| Mississippi Delta Community College is naming a native of the Delta region as president. Tyrone Jackson will become the college's first African-American president and its ninth overall. Larry Nabors is retiring after six years as president. College trustees chose Jackson, now a Hinds Community College vice president, to lead the 2,400-student institution beginning July 1. "It's very special," Jackson told The Greenwood Commonwealth. "As an African-American, to come back to the Mississippi Delta and to be the first African-American to lead this institution, it's definitely an honor to have this opportunity." He earned bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from Delta State University. |
| U. of Alabama System chancellor to recommend next UAH president | |
 | The interim chancellor of the UA System is recommending the engineering dean at Kansas State University to be named next president of the University of Alabama in Huntsville. "I want to thank the UAH Presidential Search Advisory Committee for its hard work over the last six months and believe that Dr. Darren Dawson is the right person to lead UAH to the next levels of excellence," Interim System Chancellor Finis St. John said in a statement released by the system office on Tuesday. Dawson will replace UAH President Robert Altenkirch, who announced plans in June 2018 to retire once a successor was on campus. Altenkirch has been president of UAH since 2011. The system began looking for a replacement last fall. St. John will recommend Dawson's appointment to the UA System board of trustees at its upcoming meeting in Huntsville on April 12. The April board meetings typically are the UAH institutional meetings. The system did not have a date Tuesday for when Dawson would start work, but system spokeswoman Kellee Reinhart said he is expected to be on campus by mid June pending approval by the board. |
| Public Universities Work Hard to Make Up for Budget Cuts. But In-State Students May Be Paying the Price. | |
 | High-achieving but financially needy students who settle for colleges that won't challenge them may be the victims of "underrecruiting" by public universities that are too focused on drawing in wealthy students from other states. That's the contested conclusion of a report released this week by the Joyce Foundation, a policy-research group focused on equity. The study, led by researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Arizona, finds that public universities trying to make up for cuts in state support are using recruiting practices that are biased against low-income and minority students. The reasons for the shift are clear, the report says: When states disinvest in higher education, their universities respond by putting a higher priority on students who will bring in the most money. Colleges facing the biggest budget crunches are the likeliest to aggressively recruit wealthy out-of-state students. |
| UA is 'extreme case' of state schools recruiting out-of-state residents, report finds | |
 | A study released Tuesday showing state schools focus on recruiting out-of-state students from white, wealthy areas labeled the University of Alabama as an "extreme case" of the trend. When state funding for public universities decreases, those institutions recoup the shortfall by recruiting out-of-state students, whose tuition can range from double to three times as much as in-state tuition, according to the report from UCLA and University of Arizona researchers titled "Recruiting the Out of State University." The report was funded by the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation, which bills itself as a "non-partisan" organization "that supports policy research to advance racial equity and economic mobility for the next generation." The University of Alabama said the report was too narrowly focused to give an accurate picture of its recruitment efforts. |
| Librarians prepare to take a harder line with publishers | |
 | University of California system administrators shook up the scholarly publishing world earlier this month when they announced their decision to ditch their bundled journal subscription deal with Elsevier. University librarians have long griped about the rising cost of their "big deals" with major publishers, but relatively few have followed through on threats to cancel them -- fearing the impact that losing instant access to new research may have on their institution's academic standing. The UC system's cancellation has given many librarians hope that they, too, can push for change. If one of the largest university systems in the country can do it, why can't they? The University of Virginia, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Minnesota, Duke University and Iowa State University are among the institutions whose librarians have recently published statements in support of the UC system's decision. |
| Betsy DeVos defends billions in education-spending cuts to skeptical House Democrats | |
 | Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday defended her request to cut billions of dollars from the agency's budget, as Democrats attacked her plan as outrageous and damaging to students who need the most help. Democrats were also cold to DeVos's plan to use the federal tax code to support private school scholarships, suggesting that the secretary's priorities will face another tough year in Congress. "I believe this budget is cruel, and I believe it is reckless," said Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.), who chairs the education subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee and presided over the hearing. Lawmakers cited a variety of programs targeted for cuts or elimination by the Trump administration, such as the $17.6 million supporting the Special Olympics. Even the top Republican on the panel, Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.), said that while some proposed reductions make sense, others are "somewhat shortsighted." |
| Asian studies scholars discuss the politics shaping the overseas Chinese student wave | |
| The rapid growth in the number of Chinese students studying abroad has created complex new political dynamics in the classroom, speakers said during a panel here at the Association for Asian Studies annual meeting titled "Politics and Ideology: Classroom China in the Age of Higher Education Globalization." Alisa Jones, a senior lecturer at the University of Tübingen in Germany who studies history education in China, began the panel by discussing what Chinese students learn in their schooling about Chinese history. "For Chinese students, they've had a very, very comprehensive study of Chinese history from ancient times to the present, and they have repeated this at every level of schooling," she said. Although the historical narrative taught in schools has changed somewhat over time, Jones said what's currently in vogue is a "narrative of humiliation," a narrative of a great ancient civilization that was oppressed by Western powers from the 19th century to the middle of the 20th. Jones quoted a colleague who summed up the narrative in seven words: "We was great, and we was robbed." |
| Elizabeth Warren's 2019 political stop in Mississippi has few parallels to RFK's 1967 Delta visit | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: The rather nondescript email from activist Marissa Barrow of the "Progressive Change Campaign Committee" arrived in my email inbox on March 18 with the subject line: "Elizabeth Warren parallels RFK's 1967 tour of Mississippi Delta." Upon opening the email, I was greeted with a series of comparative photographs -- some color photos showing Democratic presidential contender and Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren visiting with Mississippi Delta residents in Cleveland in 2019 alongside black-and-white photographs of the late U.S. Sen. Bobby Kennedy visiting Delta residents in 1967. The attempt to compare Warren's 2019 visit to the Delta with Kennedy's 1967 visit seems exceedingly shallow and contrived -- in a way almost politically and morally blasphemous. First and foremost, comparing the state and nation's political and social climate in 1967 with that of today is telling. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State shakes off sluggish start vs. Valley | |
| No. 2 Mississippi State managed to overcome disastrous start against Mississippi Valley State on Tuesday. Bulldog starting pitcher Eric Cerantola hit three batters, walked one and recorded only one out before being lifted. The Delta Devils capitalized on Cerantola's early command issues by scoring three runs but still came up well short in an 18-5 loss to MSU. "That's just a young kid fighting the game a little bit right now," MSU coach Chris Lemonis said of Cerantola. "He works extremely hard and is ultra talented but he's got to get out there and compete a little more between the lines." The Diamond Dogs' offense picked up the freshman right-hander from Canada by pounding out 17 hits, propelled in part by an eight-run eighth inning. |
| Mississippi State baseball storms past Mississippi Valley State | |
| Playing its sixth game in eight days, the No. 2 Mississippi State baseball program played through a slow start to earn an 18-5 victory over Mississippi Valley State on Tuesday evening at Dudy Noble Field. MVSU (5-9) took the early 3-0 lead, before MSU (23-3) scored one in the second and four in the third to grab a 5-3 lead. The Delta Devils then knotted the score at 5-5 with two runs in the fourth, before the Bulldogs plated the final 13 runs of the contest. The Diamond Dawgs piled up 18 runs on 17 hits on the offensive side, while the pitching staff struck out 16 on the night. The Delta Devils plated five runs on five hits, with four hit batters and five walks. Senior Jared Liebelt tossed two-thirds of an inning in relief to earn his first career win. Junior Colby White tossed a scoreless frame, redshirt-junior Jack Eagan struck out all six batters he faced and redshirt-junior Spencer Price threw a scoreless ninth inning. |
| LSU baseball shut out by McNeese State: 'We've got to step it up' | |
 | The players in the dugout turned around their hats for the ninth inning, trying to spark a dormant offense to a game-winning rally. The superstition didn't help. On Tuesday night, LSU got shut out by McNeese State. The Tigers lost 2-0 at Alex Box Stadium. It was the third straight loss for No. 12 LSU, which opens a three-game series Thursday at No. 4 Mississippi State. McNeese State has now beaten LSU (17-8) in three of the teams' last four meetings. "Obviously," coach Paul Mainieri said, "I didn't have them ready to play." "Some of the guys are feeling some pressure a little bit. It's been showing the past four, five, six games, whatever it's been. We've got to step it up or we're probably going to lose when we go to Mississippi State," said shortstop Josh Smith. |
| LSU's hitting woes continue in 2-0 shutout loss to McNeese State | |
 | Some losses result in anger, and some leave a disappointed Paul Mainieri sitting back against the dugout wall with his arms crossed as his team talks it out itself in right field. Those are the losses that have Mainieri speaking softly and without much fire. Those are the ones that have the LSU coach at a loss for words, because LSU isn't supposed to lose 2-0 to McNeese State like it did Tuesday, and it isn't supposed to be 2-2 against Southland schools. "I didn't say anything to them tonight," Mainieri said. "We'll address it tomorrow when we get to Starkville. There's not anything for me to say tonight to them that would have made any difference." Things aren't going to get any easier with a trip to No. 2 Mississippi State starting Thursday. That's why the LSU players had a long meeting lasting nearly 20 minutes in right field after the game. |
| When it comes to this Mississippi State hoops star, the experts got it wrong | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: The Atlanta Tipoff Club this past weekend announced the four finalists for the Naismith Trophy that annually goes to the player selected as the most outstanding women's college basketball player in America. None of those finalists was named Teaira McCowan. This is absurd. As someone who has watched McCowan play all season -- either in person or on TV -- I find it preposterous to even imagine there are four more outstanding players than she. Further, I would submit that no player has been more valuable to her team or come further in the college experience than has Mississippi State's McCowan. This is not meant to belittle the accomplishments of Louisville's Asia Durr, Iowa's Megan Gustafson, Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu and Notre Dame's Arikie Ogunbowale. All are splendid players on terrific teams. But none has accomplished more than Teaira McCowan, who has led the Bulldogs to a 32-2 record, the Southeastern Conference regular season championship, the SEC Tournament championship and a Sweet 16 NCAA berth. |
| Chris Marve making a new home at Mississippi State | |
| Chris Marve was comfortable with his job coaching linebackers at his alma mater Vanderbilt. Considered one of the country's up and coming young coaches, Marve decided to step out of his comfort zone late last month when he took the same job within the conference at Mississippi State. "This has been my first move in this profession," Marve said. "There's a lot of movement, but I had been fortunate enough to be at my alma mater for quite some time. The thing that made this transition so easy was my wife. She was all on board and very supportive. I couldn't do it all without her." Another aspect that led the 30-year-old to MSU was his relationship with the Bulldogs' defensive coordinator Bob Shoop. Marve played in Shoop's defense during his senior season for the Commodores in 2011 and the two have kept in contact ever since. |
| Dawgs ready to perform in Pro Day | |
| It's show time. Mississippi State football will host its annual Pro Day on Wednesday morning at the Palmeiro Center. The event is closed to the public. For MSU's NFL Draft hopefuls, the event marks a chance to perform in front of scouts from across the league. A program record eight former Bulldogs have already done so after participating in the recent NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. An MSU spokesperson said they expect several of those who attended the combine to limit what they partake in during Wednesday's session. Wednesday's Pro Day will include the 40-yard dash, pro shuttle, L-drill and 60-yard shuttle. On-field position workouts are also scheduled. |
| Keith Olbermann attacks Mississippi hunter for killing white turkey | |
| Who can forget former MSNBC political commentator Keith Olbermann's "Worst Person in the World" segment during his 2003-2011 show, "Countdown with Keith Olbermann?" But today, perhaps Olbermann earned that title himself. Why? It all started with Outdoors writer Brian Broom writing a piece about a Mississippi hunter bagging a rare white turkey. The story has been extremely popular with Clarion Ledger readers. Olbermann, no fan of guns or hunting, retweeted the story to his 1.08 million followers with the following comment: "It be rare and beautiful so me should kill it. This pea-brained scumbag identifies himself as Hunter Waltman and we should do our best to make sure the rest of his life is a living hell. And the nitwit clown who wrote this fawning piece should be fired." Clarion Ledger Executive Editor Sam R. Hall responded, "What was I thinking? I guess I should have fired our outdoors writer for writing about a hunter killing an unusual turkey during turkey hunting season." |
| Mike Anderson out as Arkansas basketball coach | |
| The University of Arkansas fired men's basketball coach Mike Anderson on Tuesday, citing a failure to consistently compete for conference and national championships. Anderson, 59, never finished with a losing record in eight seasons as the Razorbacks' head coach, but it wasn't enough to keep his job after Arkansas finished the season 18-16 and didn't advance to the NCAA Tournament. "After a review of the program, including an analysis of the past eight years and a look forward, I have made a decision that a change in leadership will best position our men's basketball program for future success," UA Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek said in a news release. Anderson, whose annual salary of $2,550,000 ranked 39th nationally, according to a USA Today survey, is owed slightly less than $3 million from the university, based on a contract extension he signed Nov. 22, 2017. |
| March Madness: The story behind the man with the last remaining perfect NCAA bracket | |
 | Gregg Nigl almost didn't fill out his March Madness bracket on NCAA.com's "Bracket Challenge." Now, he's made history. Nigl, 40 of Columbus, Ohio, has a perfect bracket through 48 games, the most games in a row that someone has ever correctly predicted in NCAA.com's tournament challenge. He learned about his perfect bracket Monday night, when a reporter tracked him down. "We couldn't believe it. My wife (Casandra) was sitting next to me and I had it on speaker phone," Nigl said. "I kept asking, 'How do I know this is not a joke?'" He got on his computer, "saw my bracket and it was all green. It was pretty wild." It's pretty unlikely, too. The odds of a perfect bracket are up for debate. Some say it's 1 in 9.2 quintillion. Others say it's 1 in 2.4 trillion. Another estimate is 1 in 2 billion. Whatever the actual odds, the point is that picking all 63 NCAA Tournament games correctly is ridiculously improbable. In all the major online tournament challenges, no one has ever done it -- even if, as Jim Carrey asked in "Dumb and Dumber," "So you're saying there's a chance?" |
| Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians leading by example in changing NFL's rigid hiring system | |
| In a tiny corner of a packed ballroom, Bruce Arians delivered his sermon. The bespectacled Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach held court, wearing his signature Kangol and offering his own unique brand of relaxed but straightforward candor. And the gospel of Arians did not disappoint. Surrounded by a handful of listeners, the respected coach casually declared the NFL needs to significantly improve its diversity hiring practices. It took mere minutes for him to highlight the lack of opportunities for female and minority coaches within the NFL ranks, and more importantly, offer a simple solution: Hire more of them. "I always go back to Dot Murphy at Hinds Junior College when I was at Mississippi State," he told the small group of reporters gathered around him. "She was one of the best receiver coaches I've ever seen. And this was 25 years ago. And somebody asked me, 'Can women coach?' Hell yeah. ... So you have to have ownership and the general manager willing to let them come in and show they can. Now, if they can't do it, you get fired like everybody else." |
| Statistics ruined baseball by perfecting it | |
| Since sportswriter Henry Chadwick popularized the box score in the 19th century, baseball fans have had a love affair with statistics. Many can recite records like Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak, Rickey Henderson's 130 stolen bases or Barry Bonds' 73 home runs in one season. But have statistics ruined the game fans love? In the new millennium, the statistical revolution forced baseball to double down on numbers. By looking deeper into the data, the far-sighted general manager Billy Beane of the Oakland Athletics converted a small-market team into a big winner -- and in the process got to be played by Brad Pitt in the blockbuster film "Moneyball." Soon fans had to learn new stats, dumping time-honored but not very revealing counts like pitcher wins and runs batted in, in favor of newfangled rates like wOBA and xFIP. But the statistical turn has changed how the game is played -- and in far from fan-friendly ways. As someone who used stats to turn around a team, I know that they also have their downsides. |
| Baseball Wants Younger Audiences, So It's Trying To Speed Up Games | |
 | Baseball is back. Thursday is opening day for the major leagues. All 30 teams are in action. And while the cry of "play ball!" sounds throughout the majors, baseball officials hope the game embraces a companion cry of "hurry up!" Since 2014, the average time of a nine-inning game has hovered at or above three hours, which may be driving away the younger demographic baseball is trying to appeal to. When Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred made a recent spring training swing through Arizona, he acknowledged pace of play is one of the trends of the game that the league watches carefully. "We're thinking we can make small changes in what is still the greatest game in the world," Manfred told reporters, "in order to make our entertainment product more competitive." Baseball unveiled one of those changes during spring training. It didn't last long. |
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