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Brandon's Bio

A graduate student at D'Youville College in Buffalo, New York. My passion is following baseball despite having only a handful of career at bats outside of high school P.E. Thus, I am a baseball fan first, a Bisons fan second and an Indians fan through association.

Recently, I have been brought aboard to write for Baseball Digest Daily. In addition to this, I maintain a blog of exceptional length.

Brandon Writes About

The Short List facts and information about Brandon Heikoop

Favorite Sports Teams

Cleveland Indians, Buffalo Bisons, Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Nets

Bulletin Board (32) Post a note »

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  1. by L. J.
    about 21 hours ago

    Hell no.

    The only high points from '75-'87 was Ronny Reagan's voodoo economics, the birth of the neo-con movement and the fall of the Soviet Union...which, sorry to bust anyone's bubble, would have collapsed regardless of the 'Star Wars' defense shield procurement. The Soviet Union was bankrupt long before we outspent them.

    Goebbels would have been proud.

    The stock market crash of '88 exposed the fallacies of Reagan's economic programs and was a smack of reality. Not that a different administration would have improved the situation but...I had one of the hottest, recession proof restaurants on the Chesapeake Bay that decade and I had to lay off people that I needed badly.

    I truly believe that the dot com era, in spite of it's failures, has either saved us or distracted us from hard reality and disaster. Only time will tell.

  2. by L. J.
    about 22 hours ago

    It's good that we can bury the hatchet. After reading your work, and it is excellent work, it's obvious you're a true fan of the game and that means a lot to me.

    I feel that the fall of Baseball in the '70's was more than just socio-economics, it was a the tipping point for America's view of their immediate world around them. Joe Namath had shown that American humility was passé in what would become this country's biggest sports stage, we had just been embarrassed militarily and backed out of a war that we won on the ground but lost in the media, a pretty good President lost his mind and our political future was gunned down. Violence in some form became daily front page news and continues to do that this very day. We've become fascinated by it...it's like a Judeo-Christian porn.

    I think the controlled and managed violence of football became an outlet for the average Joe Blow to vent his frustrations. Football gives us the outlet to turn on each other and revel in our neighbor's defeat, "us" against "them", city vs city, school vs school, because we feel emasculated on the world stage. Football became our new war...a war that we can win every Sunday...unless you live in Phoenix. Our country was split into regional, racial, social and philosophical factions that desperately needed confrontation. There is no better example of it than "Disco Demolition Night" at Comiskey in '79...it was about MUSIC for cripe's sake...they almost burned the house down.

    The beauty that is Baseball will never give you that, it's like comparing Checkers and Chess.

    My favorite football game is the iTunes snap-to-whistle version of Boise State vs Oklahoma. I can watch it in less than 30 minutes and never miss a down.

    You can't do that with Baseball. When that pitcher steps off the mound for that rosin bag...something is going on out there, a decision is being made for two outs later....unless it's Greg Maddox, then it's two innings down the road.

    Start writing your book now.

  3. by L. J.
    1 day ago

    Here, I desktopped this for future reading. It's an excellent piece and gives some eyewitness insight that confirms both of our points on some subjects especially the 10" mound;

    http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E5DD123EF93AA15755C0A96E9C8B63&scp=5&sq=pitching+mound&st=nyt

  4. by L. J.
    1 day ago

    Your last post has a good feel about it and I don't want to keep escalating this debate. We have made it personal and I probably threw that first stone but, as our debate so clearly shows, this 'issue' has created a deep and painful divide among passionate Baseball fans that very, very often falls along generational lines.

    It's a divide that used to limited to a lighthearted DiMaggio, Williams, Dodgers, Yankees and Koufax, Marichal style debate. This one has turned ugly as you and I, the Nazi and Zander well know.

    I wasn't putting BDD down so much as complimenting your writing abilities and thinking they would compliment a bigger stage.

    I can only speak for myself, my sons and my friends who are or used to be rabid Oriole fans (that naturally excludes people of your generation) when I tell you that we are no longer the fans that we used to be because of the steroid issue. We no longer have season tickets or read morning box scores, we don't call each other in the middle of work to say "did you see that!" and we don't wear our O's caps as much as we used to. We are terribly disappointed and we have a right to be and no amount of debate can alter that opinion, just as none can alter yours.

    We deserve more respect. When you speak of Baseball going bankrupt in the '90's it was just as bad in the '70's if not worse, when Baseball was just a passé sports oddity that no one really understood or cared about anymore. It was those of us who bought extra tickets and gave them away just to help our teams. It was us who bought season tickets in the nosebleeds and showed up 4 nights a week when gas was more expensive than it is now. It was us old guys that would talk non-stop about a 2-1 game that 'Cakes' won in front of 3,302 fans. It was us that made Baseball cards important again. It was in the 1970's that real fans and Reggie Jackson actually 'saved' the game in spite of itself.

    That would be a great article for you to write someday, how Baseball disappeared for a whole decade but survived the '70's.

    You and I are two immovable objects and the best we can do is agree to disagree, which I am willing to do. But you really should interview some old timer fans about what we went through when the NFL took center stage away from the real game.

    I can't question your love for the game, it's obvious you're dedicated to the day in day out mechanics of it more than I, but don't dare question my level of love ... yeah, I said it, love ... for the game.

    And...you'd be surprised what the 10" mound has done to innings pitched/season and how it made failed starters into millionaire left handed relief specialists.

    And...on occasion I wear my Chief Wahoo hat to formal functions solely because of Rocky Colavito so we have a slight Indians thing in common.

    And...don't get pissed at me but I edited a syntax thing on your "Clubhouse Warriors" piece.

    Peace.

  5. by L. J.
    1 day ago

    And this ... This is a bit absurd don't you think? Is this a striking out in anger deal?

    "That's fine. You probably think team's shouldn't have closers or relief specialists. You probably think the game is fundamentally flawed and that teams should have 4 man rotations.

    Additionally, you don't come off as a baseball fan. I mean, it seems as if you try to know everything about every sport. For me, I know that I don't know everything about the only sport I truly follow."

    (I do think that the 10" mound is a detriment to the game and has damaged pitching and pitchers due to the physics of the thing.)

    Your ego is weighing heavy on your heart young fella. I do actually enjoy a couple of sports and competitions but I don't think that has ever precluded anyone from being a knowledgable "fan" of one or the other. I'm just as secure and verbose on motorsports as I am on Baseball. I stay away from Football and Basketball because I have nothing more than a passing interest and therefor can't really discuss them with any acumen. Now Lardner, Ring Lardner, there was a writing multi-tasker. He's in that book bag of yours I'm sure.

    "As for what I will say about the steroid era, I will say it how I remember it. As an era which stabilized and SAVED baseball."

    Another interesting perspective. I don't remember Baseball needing to be "saved" at any point in it's history and if you refer to 1994 then Cal certainly gets all the credit for obliterating that fiasco from fans memories. Any real baseball fan will tell you that.

  6. by L. J.
    1 day ago

    "My guess, is that I have a better understanding of baseball, past and present, then even the most die-hard 70 year old"

    That destroys any credibility you achieved in the post you left on my profile. Good thing it was just a guess.

    You're an outstanding writer. I need to read your stuff. If it's as good as what you write for me then you're wasting your talent at BDD ... morality excepted of course.

    The real issue with the steroid era isn't the players who cheated, it's about the ones that didn't cheat. There's the rub.

    I wonder what their legacy will be?

  7. by L. J.
    1 day ago

    Elderly? You betray your youth, that's actually a compliment and much appreciated ;o). We tend to own real estate.

    .260 vs .300 ... An A.L. Batting title in '67? ... a single a week? I'll go with a single or so a week.

    Son, you've got, what, 10-15 years of Baseball in your book bag? C'mon, you've got decades to go before you're a Henry Chadwick or a Povich ... not Maury, the "other" one.

    It's understandable that the birth of your Baseball awareness coincides with the 'roid era and you desperately defend those players because they are all you know... but a lot, and I mean a LOT, happened in Baseball prior to 1985 and we elderly have either seen it or sat at the knee of our, even more elderly, parents and grandparents and heard stories of Cobb, Lajoie, the Babe, Smokey Joe, Joltin' Joe, Jackie Robinson, the Splendid Splinter, the War Years and on and on.

    I enjoyed telling my boy all of what I learned from them and also about players that I saw, about Mays, Mantle, Marichal, Koufax, the '66 O's, George Foster's amazing '77 season and more. You know, the golden age of Baseball. Hell, the Orioles and I have the same birthday.

    What are your stories going to be about? Bonds? Clemens? Caminiti? Will you leave out the 'roids deal? When your kids Google those names what will they see first? How to explain to them that almost half of MLB's 50+ home run seasons occurred in a six year span? How to explain that it took Maris 34 years to hit 60 the second time in history and then 37 years later it was achieved six times in next four years ... but never again?

    If your kids are bright, that question will come up and you know it. Will you use greenies and beer as an excuse for 'roids?

    Elderly ... yes, I like that. My memories are flush with the boys of summer and if what they say about Alzheimers is true, that I'll remember details from the past but forget Baseball's nasty current events, then I look forward to it.

    I can see Frank Robinson stroking a double in the gap already ...

  8. by L. J.
    2 days ago

    I appreciate you recognizing my being a sports fan, specifically a Baseball fan.

    I still can't justify your stand.

  9. by Jeff
    2 days ago

    OK, let's assume it was encouraged by MLB to its players. I've no problem with that assumption, since I never said it wasn't. Acceptance still doesn't make an illegal behavior "legal", it only makes it accepted.

    If you want to enlighten me on exactly how MLB had the legal authority to "override" the laws of our country as they pertained to anabolic steroids, I'm all ears. Otherwise, we are essentially arguing semantics - and endless exercise that doesn't interest me.

  10. by L. J.
    2 days ago

    Al Downing used steroids? Other Braves from 1974 used steroids?

    Your credibility just went zilch.

    I can see this is going nowhere, it's that way with casual fans of the game.

  11. by L. J.
    3 days ago

    RE: Steroids ... I'm embarrassed for you.

  12. by Tim
    5 days ago

    I hear ya.. I just think you forgot he was kinda old for a first-year player. Rookie ball is generally for the rookies who didn't go to college, or maybe if they're signed early and put into action right away.

    For example, Matt Wieters was drafted by the Orioles and went straight to High-A. He moved up to Double-A after 285 plate appearances. That's an extreme example, but him being 22 has a lot to do with it. If he were 19 and being as awesome as he is, that would be less likely to earn him such a quick promotion.

    What does that site have over firstinning? I haven't used it much, so maybe I'll give it a shot.

  13. by Tim
    14 days ago

    Hey Brandon,

    I said "nice job breaking it down," meaning you did a good job analyzing the trade from every angle. Then I said try to "break it up," meaning with subheads, etc., so that it doesn't look as long to a reader. When you write a long piece, it helps to break it up into smaller parts sometimes. This wasn't super-conducive to integrating subheads in there, but keep that in mind for the future.

    It was all good stuff, it's just that sometimes the average person doesn't want to start reading something that looks like a big stretch of text.

    Take it easy,
    -Tim

  14. by Bryan
    21 days ago

    And as for the attitude and stuff, I'd like to think we weren't still 'hungover' in 1998. The crowds in the mid-90's were some of the most enjoyable I've ever been to and some of the most intense I've ever seen—sure there may have been fewer people aware of the team, but don't mistake that for a lack of passion. The people that showed up to the 'Dome did so consistently and built a realistic relationship with the team.

    Today, the entire city is aware of the team because the in-city marketing has improved—it's allowed more people to take notice, but the crowd is extremely different and extremely docile and incoherent when it comes to the sport.

    Given the choice, I'd take the limited crowds of the 90's and the feeling of being at a legitimate baseball game over the slightly larger crowds today that give off the feeling of 'just being there'. I would say a majority of people don't legitimately care or understand whats going on when they attend the game, and the only way to have a coherent baseball conversation is with someone from out of town, following their team.

    That and the team has become exceptionally gimmicky now—one of the slogan's on this year's campaign says "It's not the peanuts cracking under your shoes, the crack of the bat, or every pitch that's thrown—it's what happens between the pitches"—essentially it would be the anti-baseball motto.

    I have no idea if I'm even on topic anymore or just ranting again, but needless to say the 90's crowds were legit—moreso than todays :)

    BT

  15. by Bryan
    21 days ago

    Yea definitely, as I had said, I wasn't up on the rumors, so it was something that had caught my eye...

    And yea, their Front office is great....too bad we can't get a park that anyone aside from Adrian Gonzalez can produce in....

    BT

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