7.30.2009

中時觀念平台: <韓德森的釘鞋人生>

 
這是第一次先用英文寫完以後把文章翻成中文的稿件.從東京到台北的飛機上,頭昏腦脹地完成.



瑞奇.韓德森(Rickey Henderson),是職棒史上最佳的第一棒。他保持了生涯最多盜壘、首打席全壘打、得分、單季盜壘的紀錄。二十五年的球員人生在他四十五歲的時候結束。名人堂的候選資格是在退休後五年開始,往後的十五年都有機會獲選。他在有候選資格的第一年就超高票通過,有些人說這是實至名歸,也有人開玩笑說大家是要趕快把他送進博物館,免得他到現在還一直想要回到球場打球。

上個周末在名人堂的歡迎儀式上,他發表了三十年來,最動人的演說。儘管文法錯誤百出,可是一個字一個字情義真摯地唸出來,還是為他的球員生涯寫下完美的註腳。這也大概是第一次在公開場合,他不是用第三人稱稱呼自己──儘管他在球場上聰明絕頂攻守全能,可是在球場下,他總是人們的笑柄。他視語言學為無物,談話當中從來不用我這個字,也是常常被取笑的事情。幾年前他被紅襪隊釋出以後,他在教士隊老闆的答錄機上的留言是這樣的:「這是瑞奇,以瑞奇的身分留言,瑞奇要打棒球。」在台灣,通常只有過氣花瓶女星,和浮用公款出國觀光的縣長會這樣說話。

瑞奇出糗的事情還不只這樁。在他剛開始展露頭角的時候,奧克蘭運動家給他一張一百萬美金的支票當紅利。過了一陣子,運動家隊的會計部門很納悶,為什麼帳目上有一大筆錢對不清……原來瑞奇很興奮自己變成百萬富翁,便把支票裱起來掛在牆壁上,他並不知道支票需要兌現才會變成錢。

他對數學的知識也令人不敢恭維,一名退休球員曾經表示,百分之五十的大聯盟球員都有用過類固醇。他聽到以後跟記者說,瑞奇我本人不是那百分之五十,我一個人就是那百分之四十九啦。他對算數不太行的紀錄還有很多,二○○四年紅襪隊直落四擊敗紅雀隊,拿到世界冠軍之後,他打電話給他在紅襪隊裡熟識的工作人員,想要弄到第六場球賽的門票。

不過這也是瑞奇.韓德森的生涯引人入勝的地方。他很有可能是文盲,有低於常人的生活知識,可是走進球場,他卻變成最可怕的武器。他並沒有強力打者的體型,可是他也說過,雖然全壘打和打點不在行,他卻專精其他的小東西,像是得分、盜壘、上壘。他對於自己的史上最多得分紀錄特別驕傲:「因為只有得分,球隊才會贏」。

在大聯盟曇花一現的台灣球員們,早早遭受傷痛殞落的宿命。瑞奇二十五年來,每次盜壘都是把自己的身體送向對手的釘鞋,這樣的堅持與創下的奇蹟,更顯得難能可貴。而我跟在華爾街打滾的人越是熟絡,越是能夠體會,能夠為球隊得分的人,通常並不是那些說話頭頭是道的傢伙,而是打擊出去就悶著頭向前跑的瑞奇.韓德森們。 

7.27.2009

Rickey Henderson

 
"But my mom thought I would get hurt playing football, so she chosed baseball for me. I guess mom do knows best. Thanks mom."

Rickey Henderson made the best speech in his life, at Cooperstown over the weekend.

After a long 25-year career, Rickey Henderson got elected into the baseball Hall of Fame at the first year of eligibility, at age 50. Some writers joke about one of the reasons that Rickey got so many votes at the first round is because people want him to stop thinking about going back to play once for all. His last major league game was with Dodgers at 2003. However, he did not stop trying out at spring training until couple years later.

Being the all-time leader in runs scored and stolen bases, he is the best leadoff man in baseball.

He is not famous for his choses of words. The H.O.F. induction speech is probably the first time in public that he didn’t refer himself as the third person. He is not famous for his intelligence off field either. Here are some of the stories:

  • In 1996, Henderson’s first season with San Diego, he boarded the team bus and was looking for a seat. Steve Finley said, “You have tenure, sit wherever you want.” Henderson looked at Finley and said, “Ten years? Ricky’s been playing at least 16, 17 years.”
  • After Henderson was released by Red Sox, he called San Diego GM Kevin Towers and left the following message: “This is Rickey calling on behalf of Rickey. Rickey wants to play baseball.”
  • Henderson once fell asleep on an ice pack and got frostbite – which forced him to miss three games — in mid-August.
  • The morning after the Sox finished off their 2004 World Series sweep against St. Louis, Henderson called someone in the organization looking for tickets to Game 6 at Fenway Park.
  • Rickey was asked if he had the Garth Brooks album with Friends in Low Places and Henderson said, “Rickey doesn’t have albums. Rickey has CDs.”
  • When he was on the Yankees in the mid-1980s, Henderson told teammates that his condo had such a great view that he could see, “The Entire State Building.”
  • To this day and dating back 25 years, before every game he plays, Henderson stands completely naked in front of a full length locker room mirror and says, “Ricky’s the best,” for several minutes.

This one is for my statistics savvy friends:
  • A reporter asked Henderson if Ken Caminiti’s estimate that 50 percent of Major League players were taking steroids was accurate. His response was, “Well, Rickey’s not one of them, so that’s 49 percent right there.”

Just to be fair, this is for my account friends:
  • In the early 1980s, the Oakland A’s accounting department was freaking out. The books were off $1 million. After an investigation, it was determined Rickey was the reason why. The GM asked him about a $1 million bonus he had received. Then he found out that Rickey was so proud of making the $1 million, he framed the check and hung it on a wall at his house.
But you know what? After I get more and more used to talking to people who love to use big words instead of being able to hit a baseball, run the bases, and score for the team, I realize I would rather being associated with people like Rickey Henderson. Or Maria Sharapova, of course.

7.16.2009

中時觀念平台: <球迷無價>

 
 
早上,一個朋友問我說,結果你昨天晚上寫了什麼?
我說我也不知道.


 

應該沒有甚麼人會想到,今年中華職棒會有如此的盛況。畢竟在球季開始之前,兩隻球隊在醜聞下收攤,不該輸的國際賽也輸了,今年球季能夠順利開打已經算是奇蹟。不過,其實大家也可以看到,除了運氣以外,台灣職棒並沒有甚麼本質上的改變。創造這個盛況的,當然並不是職棒聯盟,而是可愛的球迷們。

大多數的職業運動都被當地政府特許了獨佔市場的地位,也就是說社會托付了一筆公共財,給這些運動經營者去開發。而球迷就是職業運動最重要的財產,如果職業運動經營者不能體認這個事實,或是不能善用這筆資產,就是社會的災難。

這樣可能還是太抽象。這樣說吧,大多數的人應該會難以相信,在許多調查當中NASCAR,也就是職業賽車聯盟,竟然是北美用戶忠誠度最高的品牌之一,甚至超過Google跟Apple。超過七成的賽車迷,會因為賽車聯盟的招牌,而買它們的產品。台灣的球迷對這樣的情況當然也不陌生,四處可見的洋基或是兄弟象的商品,也都是來自品牌的忠誠支持。不過在台灣的職業運動,對於品牌的延伸,往往也僅止於商品而已。經營球迷最重要的並不是商品,而是行銷跟通路,在台灣,還有不少可以推展的空間。

我昨天一整天在一個職業運動總部開會,因為簽了保密協定的關係,姑且就讓我叫它A聯盟吧。我服務的公司提供職業賽車聯盟的會員服務,A聯盟對類似的服務也有興趣。這個聯盟每年有相當可觀的球迷到現場觀賽,看電視轉播的人口更是好幾倍。聯盟裡面的指標性明星,更是全世界知名的運動員。

發展出A聯盟可以賣的商品,是整個行銷過程最簡單的部分,困難的是如何把商品推出去給球迷。這時候,需要做的第一件事情,就是找出每一個跟球迷接觸(Engage)的點。像是聯盟的網站,每一個頁面都是寶貴的接觸點。中華職棒聯盟一天平均有接近萬人的流量,這一萬個忠誠的球迷,倘若是在北美市場,一年大概有四、五千萬台幣的價值。此外,每一張門票,球迷的電話跟地址的資料庫,轉播的頻道,也都是基本而需要完全開發的寶貴通路。

除此之外,新興的科技更是潛力無窮。智慧型手機的應用程式像是雨後春筍,之前已經談過就不再贅述。當今的信用卡科技也令人驚艷,我們已經可以做到在任何時間,針對特殊的球迷族群,傳簡訊或是電子郵件提供即時的,利用信用卡的限時折價購物活動。

故事的重點是,職業運動聯盟掌握了獨佔的公共財,讓這個公共財有極大化的產值,是聯盟不能推卸的責任。聯盟必須能夠在對的通路跟時間,提供球迷需要的商品,賺最多的錢,再投資提升球員的薪水跟比賽的軟硬體品質,才是對社會負責的表現。
 

7.12.2009

When He Talks about Running

 
I finally finished reading Maruki Murakami’s running book, “What I talk about when I talk about Running”. It was my spring basketball book, then the summer swimming pool book. Fortunately I wrapped it up before the ski season.

Murakami is the most popular Japanese writer, as well as the most hopeful future Nobel Prize winner. This book is a memoir about his...running career. He has been a long distance runner for more than 25 years, almost as long as his writing career.

I do not enjoy running. But his book prompted me to try once--2.6 miles, about 1/3 of Murakami’s daily routine. I even dragged my sun-hating girl friend to run with me. By the way, it always puzzles me why most of the Asian girls believe that they are part of the Dracula family and they can’t be exposed to Ultraviolet. Anyway, the short running took us more than an hour. The pain on my overworked knees and ankles were unbearable. We stopped by Dairy Queen for ice cream at the half way, which I am sure of would not be part of Murakami’s routine either.

After I read the last part of this memoir, I understood why the running is not for me. He wrote: “Of course it was painful. But pain seems to be a precondition for this kind of sport. If pain weren't involved, who in the world would ever go to the trouble of taking part of in sports like the triathlon or the marathon? It's precisely because of the pain, we can get the feeling, though this process, of really being alive -- or at least a partial sense of it."

I can’t put myself in the situation where pain is assumed to be a part of it. So running can never be my sports. However, ironically, I still hurt myself too much doing things other than running. I probably secretly enjoy the pain, and the privilege to whine about it. Sometimes I struggled with my sense of existence. Well, once in my life I was stunned by a malfunctioned automatic door -- I thought I vanished. If you haven’t noticed, I need consistent reassurance of my existence. The pain would be a great reminder of not only being alive, but also being here. Although I do not particularly look for pain in my daily life, it still comes to me to fill the void from my insecurity.

In the end of the book, besides thanking Raymond Carver’s widow for granting the permission to use the idea of the book title “What We Talk about When We Talk about Love”, Murakami, or the publisher, put a note about the font that is used in the book. It’s very pleasant to read:

The text of this book was set in Electra, a typeface designed by W.A Dwiggins (1880-1956). It avoids the extreme contrasts between thick and thin elements that mark most modern faces, and it attempts to give a feeling of fluidity, power, and speed.
This is the first time I read about the font in the book, in the book.

I am very fussy about fonts. I can’t stand the randomness that people usually adapt to in terms of the font selection. I am a Calibri person. I try to use this font whenever I can, reports, spreadsheets, presentations, or emails. The funny thing is that there are occasions--more often recently, I would have to hide my identity in documents due to various reasons. Besides my especially poor grammar and spelling, the font would be another giveaway for people to trace my work back to me. In most of those cases, I would use Consolas instead. When I need to be extremely cautious, Arial is the font of choice. I can never put myself as low as Times New Roman though. Murakami said he wants to have this carved on his gravestone: “Writer (and Runner). At Least He Never Walked”. Maybe I would say “At Least He Never Used Times New Roman” on mine.

So I rushed back from the swimming pool, to look up what my particular font says about me. I would imagine Calibri is modern yet is fully engraved with history. It would reflect my attempts to be witty, humble, and logical. Anyway, here is what Wikipedia tells me:

Calibri is a humanist sans-serif typeface family under the Microsoft ClearType Font Collection. In Microsoft Office 2007, it replaced Times New Roman as the default typeface in Word and replaced Arial as the default in PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook.
So much for my pathetic effort to be unique.
 

7.09.2009

Train Ride

 
So I am sitting on the floor, on a slow train to New York.

An elder lady just lied to 5 people who asked for the seat next to her, “My husband is coming back”. She finally gave in, and put her feet on the floor instead of the other seat. It’s either that or the lady who sits next to her now is sitting on her imaginary husband’s lap.

Anyway, for anybody who has no issue sitting on the floor, the number of seating option became infinite.

This kind of reminds me when one of my high school buddies was depressed because he just realized he was bi-sexual. He had been teased by everybody for being too feminine for years. It was not a shock to any of us that he likes guys. However apparently he was surprised by it. To ease his pain, a wise friend congratulated him that he just doubled his options in life.

He later turned full-time gay, of course. I hope he wasn’t surprised again, because we weren’t.

Finally I got a seat. I like riding trains, especially instead of flying. Being a statistical person, I believe everything in life is statistics, including the risk of train riding. However I always feel that I am not an individual, but a percentage when I travel by air. I hope that I would always be the 99.999% that comes back to the ground in one piece, not the unfortunate 0.001%.

My company lost one of the founders at the Pan-Am incident in 1988.

Unfortunate Stanley was the childhood friend of The Other Stanley, who is the chairman of the company today. They were both extremely smart. Being the best friend of each other, they had worked on many different things together through their life. They founded the company, one of their joint ventures and adventures, 30 years ago.

When their business finally started to take off so they weren’t poor anymore, Unfortunate Stanley told The Other Stanley his secret plan: one day he would just take enough money and leave everybody behind. No family, no work, just himself.

So even as today, The Other Stanley is still not sure whether his buddy was on the plane. Maybe he was not the unfortunate one after all. Maybe he owns several islands in the Caribbean’s and has 5 wives.

Anyway people always have their own particular issues with one or two public transportation systems. Air travel has never been my favorite. A friend of mine talked about her fear of missing the train stop a lot. She would remind people that she took off the train too early when she first travelled by herself at the age of 12 or 13, almost every time the subject of train ride was brought up. It must have become a deep-tissue nightmare for her. If I have a time machine, to find that poor little girl and tell her to wait couple more stops would be one of the things on my to-do-list.

I don’t really have a long to-do-list for the time machine scenario. I certainly have a long list for invisible cloak or a device that can freeze other people. Not sure how many of the things on my list are legal though. Time machine is not that practical for me --- not because I do not have many regrets in life. I think I do. However, I am sure for most of things I regretted in life, I could not do any better even if I get a second chance. I am very confident of my inabilities and lack of intelligence. And I am not really interested in meeting dinosaurs.
 

7.03.2009

中時觀念平台: <觀賽新世代>

 
落後亞洲先進國家一年左右的美國通訊業,一直到去年才開始正式跨入3G時代,無庸置疑,iPhone正是最重要的推手。上市不到兩年,iPhone已經在智慧手機市場搶下兩位數的占有率。幾年前商場上人手一台黑莓機,在被鎖小燈照射後的鍵盤上,違反人體工學飛快輸入的畫面,現在也被iPhone的觸控螢幕取代。

iPhone開放式的平台,打破了應用程式設計師跟路人間的藩籬。從用戶端不斷湧現的各種創意,雨後春筍般出現在蘋果提供的平台上,很快地,生活的各個層面都出現了便利的應用程式。根據最新的統計數字顯示,目前智慧手機所使用的網路頻寬,光是iPhone的用戶,就占了將近七成的流量。也因為如此,絞盡腦汁吸引消費者的商家們,當然無法忽視這個最貼近消費者的傳播媒介。

職棒舊金山巨人隊的主場,是由iPhone在美國獨家合作的電話公司AT&T冠名贊助。上星期,AT&T提供了一些有趣的數字:每場比賽當中,平均有上千名觀眾在球場裡使用無線網路上網。不少觀眾是一邊看球賽,一邊用手機推特(twitter)賽事的進展或更新自己的臉書(Facebook),也有人是拿著筆記型電腦瀏覽網路。根據巨人隊資訊長的研究,這些球場網民,有八成是iPhone的用戶。

而球場為因應這些新型態的球迷,也推出了不少貼心的服務。在巨人球場,球迷可以用手機上網,只要鍵入自己的座位號碼,無論是想喝特定廠牌的啤酒、吃墨西哥捲餅還是美式熱狗,網站都會告訴你離座位最近的攤位選擇及步行路線圖;吃多喝多了也不必擔心,同樣的工具能幫球迷找到最近的廁所。死忠的球迷只要花十元美金,就可以下載大聯盟推出的iPhone應用程式,投手所投的每一個球、進壘的路徑、速度、球種都鉅細靡遺,這個應用程式也提供了同時間其他比賽的實況轉播。

在球場上,球迷最不習慣的事情之一,應該是看不到電視轉播提供的精彩重播畫面。稍縱即逝的美技畫面,頂多會在球場的大螢幕上重播一次。假若表現精采的是來訪的客隊,主場更是不可能出現任何鏡頭。不過有了智慧型手機跟無線寬頻,錯過的畫面可以立即在聯盟的官網上下載,或是經由Slingbox觀賞自己家裡電視的實況轉播,球迷再也不必擔心錯過比賽精采的部分。

除了提升球場的周邊服務,球賽本身的品質,也在新科技下受到不同的考驗。在棒球場上,凡是遇到爭議性的判決,都是以不要激起現場球迷情緒為處理的原則,盡量避免在球場內重播爭議的畫面。試想,倘若一個離譜的判決在球場的大螢幕上不斷重播,說不定會引爆四、五萬人的騷動。智慧型手機在提供便利的同時,隨傳即到的重播畫面,卻也打破了球場的安全防線。

不過,科技是沒有回頭路可走的,球賽也只能隨之改變,愈來愈進步。

費曼與陳偉殷

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