Back In The Spring Training Saddle

 BY SCOTT MORGANROTH 

When I woke up Sunday Morning, I truly felt that Baseball Was Back!

It didn’t matter that the most recent lockout amounted to nothing despite the bickering back and forth that led to great content for 99 days. 

In the end, there would be a shorter Spring Training and a 162 Game Schedule was going to take place.

Despite doing podcasts and writing stories, today was a different feeling because now I was attending my first Spring Training game since 2020, pre-pandemic. 

That game was a Cactus League Contest between the Milwaukee Brewers facing the Los Angeles Dodgers in Glendale, AZ at Camelback Ranch.

Back then, I didn’t know how to record a video and the South Florida Tribune was in its infancy stages. We didn’t have an account with the MLB Credentialing System.

I started covering the Marlins during the Summer of 2020 and Zoom Calls were the only access we had with the team. 

It was a fun experience learning new technology, but there were other things I had to get used to as there were no exclusive interviews. 

Everyone had to use the raise your hand function to ask a question. 

It was harder to get feature stories and everyone shared the same quotes to compile their own stories.

That year, was my first covering the Miami Marlins and I was learning a new team on the fly. 

I did speak with two Marlins Communication members and no final decision has been made whether there will be Zoom Calls this year for the media since there will be more traveling with the team. (Copy and Paste this at the end of the Story)

This was my first interaction with Marlins Manager Don Mattingly, who guided the team to the MLB Playoffs with a 31-29 record.

Now in my third season, I’m much more familiar with the club and some of the media members.

One thing hasn’t changed! I still believe that Mattingly belongs in the Hall of Fame! 

Perhaps, I’ll be alive to see this!

Before the game, I had a chance to address the manager about the Universal DH, Shortened Spring Training getting used to some of his new players, the rosters being expanded until May 1 and his team’s progress so far before the Marlins Game vs the Houston Astros.

During the off-season, the Marlins were wheeling and dealing.

Miami made three trades before December 1, acquiring Gold Glove Catcher Jacob Stallings from Pittsburgh, 2022 All-Star Joey Wendle, and reliever Louis Head in separate deals with Tampa Bay. Miami also signed OF Avisail Garcia to a four-year contract and agreed to extensions with RHP Sandy Alcantara and INF Miguel Rojas.

I’m sure that you’re going to enjoy what the manager said about these subjects.

(Insert the Video)

The Houston Astros defeated the Miami Marlins 4-3 in front of 3,942 fans at Roger Dean Stadium.

Miami left-handed starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo, formerly of Marjory Stoneman Douglas, had a solid performance by pitching four innings, giving up five hits, one run, but it wasn’t earned, with five strikeouts and one walk. He left the game leading 3-1.

The Astros won the game in the top of the sixth as Yuli Gurriel hit a three-run homer off of Richard Bleier.

Former Marlins outfielder Lewis Brinson, who was non-tendered by the club on November 30, 2021, signed a Minor League Deal with the Astros on March 12, 2022. He had two plate appearances and did get a hit.

Copy and Paste Marlins Communications ———————————-

It was great being Back In The Spring Training Saddle.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com and his broadcasts can be seen on the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel. There is no cost to subscribe and also follow him on Twitter @TribuneSouth.

Information From Unexpected Sources

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

Nowadays, everyone uses Social Media for specific purposes.

There are certain ones that I get more out of than others.

I’ve had an extraordinary amount of success using Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

When I started working with Peter Wein at the Wei Network, I leaned heavily on LinkedIn to get guests for the Sports Exchange. The professional contacts that I’ve made on LinkedIn have been amazing and I just found out about it about 12 years ago. LinkedIn has been helpful meeting other Media Relations Directors and I’ve covered Sporting Events around the country.

Twitter has been an asset enabling me to post stories and share broadcasts from the South Florida Tribune. I’ve also landed some great guests for my shows. To date, I’ve had 18,000 tweets.

Finally, there is Facebook. I initially went in there to keep in touch with family, friends from my childhood and longtime colleagues around the country. I’ve actually visited some longtime friends and colleagues when I have been in there areas.

As time progressed, I’ve been able to land guests for my broadcasts by using Messenger. This is something that I never visualized but it’s been an unexpected asset. Now I’m using Facebook to stream my shows.

Now that I’ve discovered how valuable this is, I’ve tried to keep my friends total above 4,990. 

You never know who you’re going to meet and what you can learn when it comes to dealing with other people’s hardships.

I have one friend that is dealing with extensive head trauma named Kelly Gautreaux Lindberg. I wished her prayers and told her that I sympathize what she’s going through.

A few months ago, I suffered my first major concussion when an old water bottle leaked and I took a nasty fall in my house. I was out for a couple seconds but felt wobbly. Thankfully, my wife Candy, who was stunned at the nature of the fall was home, but she wasn’t sure how to help me. I got up and she helped me get into bed.

The nature of that fall resulted in increased headaches, sensitivity to too much sound as well as occasional dizzy spells. 

Being a person that likes to drive, this doesn’t happen as much because I experience headaches more often and struggle after 15-30 minutes. Things are so bad with the sound that I turn off the commercials when I’m watching my television shows.

A few days after my fall, the problems continued to persist and as a result, My wife and in-laws finally convinced me to go to the hospital to get checked out. The doctors officially diagnosed what we already knew and that I did have a bad concussion.

Being in Sports Media, I enjoy covering Sporting Events and now that’s been compromised because of my condition as most of the venues are more than 30 minutes away. Unless I take my wife to an event to take photos, then I don’t go.

I did go to my family doctor and told him about my concussion diagnosis 30 days after the injury. The doctors at the hospital told me the only way to get through this was to stay off the road and rest. I did just that.

After I saw my family doctor, I decided to go to a networking event at the West Palm Beach Airport Hilton. It took 30 minutes from that appointment to experience my second concussion as after I parked my vehicle, I didn’t see a curb and took a nasty fall and hit my head badly into the concrete. 

Another guy who was attending the event was with me and helped me get back on my feet. This guy stayed with me until I got my bearings straight.

I did manage to get through this event and got some things accomplished. 

I called my wife and explained to her what had happened. 

In her cool demeanor, we talked and I told her how frustrated I was by what happened. She told me to contact her when I got home and has done the majority of the major driving.

I wasn’t going back to the hospital. This time, I knew what was wrong. 

Seeing Kelly’s challenges made me understand what she was going through.

As I was communicating with her, former football player QB Coach Bill Howe saw my response to Kelly and offered his support. He’s had numerous concussion issues so he knew what I was going through.

Bill told me that I never healed from the first one and have what’s called “Second Impact Syndrome or SIS.” My brain never had time to heal before taking another concussion. Bill was definitely right.

Having covered sports for 42 years, I’ve seen athletes that have had concussions. But until you experience these injuries, these are nothing to take lightly. I’m finding that out the hard way. I’m extremely tentative when I walk and a bit more nervous when I drive. 

Driving has always been my source of meditation and that’s been compromised. 

To date, there is some dizziness and I’m sensitive towards darkness and light. Headaches are the norm and I’m frustrated I have to deal with them. But I’m learning how to be more patient.

I’ve been doing more broadcasts but do miss going to Sporting Events. 

I’ll be going back in time but I have to pick my spots and cut back. 

Despite gas prices going up, I do miss driving. If I go on a long trip, then My wife goes with me if I have to relinquish the wheel. By no means, do I want to get hurt or injure anyone else. My drives are limited to 30-45 minute increments when going to local restaurants.

We all know that Social Media is here to stay. You get out of it what you can.

But if there is one thing that I’ve learned when I think of Kelly and Coach Bill Howe, with Social Media, at least you can sympathize and learn from an unexpected source that wasn’t as predominant 20 years ago. 

I’m very thankful to coming in contact with Kelly and Coach Bill. They have helped me gain a better understanding of the seriousness of head injuries by their experiences to go along with what I’ve seen in Sports Media with the athletes that I cover.

I’ll definitely remember the words, “Second Impact Syndrome” because I didn’t hear these words from a doctor and they have much more meaning coming rom Coach Bill Howe.

The Information came from an Unexpected Source.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com.

To see his broadcasts, Subscribe to the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel at no charge.

Defacto General Managers

 BY SCOTT MORGANROTH 

For many years, I used to watch a lot of game shows.

I always enjoyed watching; Let’s Make a Deal, The Price is Right, Jokers Wild, Family Feud and many others.

But one that stands out is when Regis Philbin hosted his classic “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?”

This got me thinking as I was preparing for a Sports Exchange when describing today’s modern day athlete, “Who Wants To Be A General Manager” so I decided to title the show, “Defacto General Managers.”

This wasn’t a show that I wanted to bombard our listeners with a lot of facts. Just opinions.

We did have some interesting facts in the show and I assembled a great crew to address the subject.

We had former NFL Player Mel Farr Jr., Steve Balestrieri, who covers the New England Patriots and Rick Curti aka Mr. Opinion and I had a blast talking about this! In fact, I felt bad for Balestrieri that he had to talk about the NBA because he was out of his comfort zone but I made it easy for him and generalized the subject matter.

During the show, we all raised our hands that we enjoyed the outspoken nature of NBA Legend, now turned TNT Commentator Charles Barkley with his harsh criticism of today’s NBA Players. I often refer to the NBA as the National Drama League because that’s what it has become where these players are the most outspoken athletes of the four major sports. 

I certainly respect them utilizing their platform to talk about social issues. During the millennium, I never heard about the term “Load Management” until players started taking games off at key points during the regular season and at times during Nationally Televised Games. 

Late Commissioner David Stern cringed at this and had to work to rectify this problem. Stern inherited a league that was close to bankruptcy back in the late 1970’s and was on tape delay. When Magic Johnson and Larry Bird entered the league, followed by Michael Jordan, Isiah Thomas and Barkley, the interest began to increase drastically. 

During the Sports Exchange, my crew talked about the college transfer portal, Magic Johnson, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, LeBron James, the creation of super teams that I actually feel began when NBA Players participated in the Olympics.

There has been the drama of Ben Simmons, James Hardin, Kyrie Irving, plus we talked about Isiah Thomas and former Jack Eichel formerly of the Buffalo Sabres.

If you’re looking for a great debate with your friends, family, etc… then I encourage you to watch this show. Our opinions varied and it was great having a guy like Farr Jr to get a players perspective when dealing with athletes.

The names that we mentioned covered the past and the present therefore, that’s what made this a fun topic to talk about. There are shows that I like to create that are extremely informative and my goal is to make sure that everyone can learn something! There are other shows where my goal is to keep the fan’s wheels turning! Then there are shows that accomplish both objectives.

So check out this show and we encourage your feedback. 

For those individuals that respond, I would definitely consider inviting you to be a guest on a future show.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com.

You can find this broadcast as well as others on our website and we ask if you would please Subscribe to the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel to view them or you can listen to them where ever you get your podcasts.

We look forward to hearing from you!