Out of Left Field

On December 12, 2020, Jasmine Harrison climbed aboard Argo and started rowing. She has not stepped foot on dry land since.The 21-year-old swim instructor/bartender-turned-adventurer is competing in the 2020 Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, a 3,000-mile race from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean. There are 21 boats in this year's TWAC, and Jasmine is the only woman among the eight solo rowers attempting the crossing. When she arrives in Antigua -- some time within the next two months -- she will become the youngest woman ever to row across the Atlantic alone.You can follow Jasmine's progress at https://www.taliskerwhiskyatlanticchallenge.com/. Click on the Race Tracker and dot watch with the rest of us (Jasmine's is the violet dot). Follow her Rudderly Mad Facebook feed for photos, videos, and regular updates from the middle of the Atlantic. Find out more about Jasmine at https://www.rudderlymad.co.uk/, and please consider supporting the charities that she is rowing for: Shelter Box and the Blue Marine Foundation.We want to thank Jasmine Harrison for allowing us to share her inspiring story, Ian Couch and Atlantic Campaigns for all of their help (credit for the photo is courtesy of Atlantic Campaigs), and Susan -- Jasmine's mom -- for her time and unique perspective.As always, we want to thank our friends at Electra-Craft (home of the Espressione Concierge), Everipe Superfood Smoothies, and the inimitable Soggy Doggy.Big thanks to George Hochbrueckner (check out his album, Celticafricousticelectric, on iTunes) and Eliana May for sharing their original music.

The mainstream sports fan probably only spends about six minutes watching horse racing in a given year -- the combined running time of the three Triple Crown races. A smaller subset will follow the 14 million-dollar races run over Breeders Cup weekend. Fewer still will watch the graded stakes races that lead up to the Kentucky Derby. Almost no one pays attention to the claimers, the largest segment of the racing world. This oversight costs them the chance to follow the same kind of stories that draw them in on Derby Day. Just because an event plays out beyond the spotlight's reach doesn't mean there aren't compelling stories to follow. For 21 years, the horses on the lowest rung of competitive racing and their human connections have had their day: the Claiming Crown, to be run again this year at Gulfstream Park. In this episode, we share the story of the biggest raceday with the biggest purses and the best fields available to the sport's little guys.Thank you to Dan Metzger of TOBA and Eric Hamelback of the National HBPA for all of your help in putting this story together, and to everyone who made themselves available during a busy race week to talk about the Claiming Crown: Mike Maker, Ken Ramsey, Peter Walder, and my go-to horse guy, Steve Schubert. Big thanks to Gulfstream Park and Canterbury Park for the calls from Claiming Crowns past, and to Denis Blake and Coglianese Photos for the action photo of Leitone from his win in the 2019 Claiming Crown Jewel. Thank you, as always, to our friends who make every episode possible: Electra-Craft, Everipe, and Soggy Doggy. And to George Hochbrueckner for the original tunes.You can follow the 2020 Claiming Crown live by setting up an account with 1stBet.

As you're sitting around this Election Day, waiting for results to come in, sports might be the furthest thing from your mind. Just as when you watched your favorite college football team play on Saturday, electoral politics probably were the last thing you wanted to think about.But what if there actually is a relationship between the two, a link between the outcomes of Saturday's games and Tuesday's election? That was the premise pursued by Andrew J. Healy, Neil Malhotra and Cecilia Hyunjung Mo in their 2010 study, "Irrelevant Events Affect Voters' Evaluations of Government Performance."The new season of the Out Of Left Field Podcast officially will begin next week. But we couldn't let this Election Day pass uncommented upon. And so today's story revisits that decade-old study and tries to project which college football games played over the weekend will have a lasting impact on the Great American Experiment.If you know of any out of left field stories that deserve to be told, visit our Contact page (https://outoflf.com/contact/) and let us know.As always, I want to thank everyone involved in the total team effort behind this episode:* George Hochbrueckner, for the closing theme. Check out his album, Celticafricousticelectric on iTunes.* Scott Holmes Music (https://scottholmesmusic.com/) for the opening theme, Hotshot.* Dr. Neil Malhotra, Professor, Political Economy at the Stanford Graduate School or Business.* Jessica Berenblat of JB Arthouse (https://www.jbarthouse.net) for the cover design.* Rachel Blechman of Tinbear Consulting (https://tinbearconsulting.com/) for her technical guidance and for building a new internet home for Out Of Left Field (OutOfLF.com).* Our sponsors, Everipe Blender-Ready Superfood Smoothies (everipe.com), which has rescued breakfast-time for my family; Soggy Doggy (soggydoggydoormat.com), because it’s a lot easier to shelter in place when your place doesn’t smell like wet dog; and Electra-Craft (http://electra-craft.com/), whose coffee machines keep us all fully caffeinated and surprisingly productive in our new working- and schooling-from-home situation.

It was a baseball game that originally was not supposed to be played. By the time it was over, it was a game that 16 seniors from Rhodes College and SUNY Oneonta -- and their teammates, coaches, and families -- will never forget.

Officially, their seasons had been cancelled a few days earlier, as the spreading coronavirus began to rewrite the Spring of 2020. But the Lynx and Dragons were allowed to finish out their spring break trips to the RussMatt Invitational in central Florida, and they wound up sharing an impromptu Senior Day game at Chain O’Lakes Park that turned what could have been a sad day into a celebration of everything they’ve loved about playing baseball their entire lives.

Throughout this first season of the Out Of Left Field Podcast, we’ll continue exploring the many ways the sports world has been remade by the coronavirus. If you know of any out of left field stories that deserve to be told, visit our Contact page (https://outoflf.com/contact/) and let us know.

As always, I want to thank everyone involved in the total team effort behind this episode:

* George Hochbrueckner, for the closing theme. Check out his album, Celticafricousticelectric on iTunes.* Scott Holmes Music (https://scottholmesmusic.com/) for the opening theme, Hotshot.* Eliana May, for her original music. Her new EP will be released in the near future; you can find out more at elianamay.com.* Rhodes College baseball coach Jeff Cleanthes, SUNY Oneonta baseball coach Ben Grimm, and their players who were willing to share their stories with me over Zoom.* Dan Miller of United Collegiate Umpires, who captured some remarkable footage of this unlikeliest of ballgames. Dan has some big plans to continue sharing this story; I look forward to keeping you updated as his project continues to develop.* Jessica Berenblat of JB Arthouse (https://www.jbarthouse.net/) for designing the cover art.* Rachel Blechman of Tinbear Consulting (https://tinbearconsulting.com/) for building a new internet home for Out Of Left Field (OutOfLF.com).* Josh Sippie, my podcast mentor from the Gotham Writers Workshop (https://www.writingclasses.com/). His encouragement is directly responsible for whatever late-night hours I'm spending on this podcast when I really should be sleeping.* Our sponsors, Everipe Blender-Ready Superfood Smoothies (everipe.com), which has rescued breakfast-time for my family; Soggy Doggy (soggydoggydoormat.com), because it’s a lot easier to shelter in place when your place doesn’t smell like wet dog; and Electra-Craft (http://electra-craft.com/), whose coffee machines keep us all fully caffeinated and surprisingly productive during this stay-at-home spring.

The NFL likes to tell college prospects that the size of their school or the level of competition they play doesn't matter, that if a player has talent, they'll find him. But small school prospects know the reality: exposure to NFL decision-makers is extremely limited, and there just aren't many opportunities to catch an eye. Especially in a world shut down by a global pandemic.

Prospects like Will Gladney, a record-setting wide receiver at Division III Ithaca College, are finding it harder than ever to make an impression, to showcase their abilities and share their stories. All they can hope is that sometime before the 2020 NFL Draft, they made an impression on someone who will open the door for them and their dreams of playing professional football.

Throughout this first season of the Out Of Left Field Podcast, we'll continue exploring the many ways the sports world has been affected by the coronavirus. 

I want to thank everyone involved in the total team effort behind this second episode of our first season:

* George Hochbrueckner, for the original tunes. Check out his album, Celticafricousticelectric on iTunes.* Scott Holmes Music (https://scottholmesmusic.com/) for the opening theme, Hotshot.* NFL prospect Will Gladney and his father, Mark Brainard* Justin Lutes, Sports Information Director at Ithaca College* Jeremy Menard and WICB radio* Ithaca College football coaches Dan Swanstrom and Reece Petty* Quentin Gause andIron Visuals* Mike Rittelmann and the College Gridiron Showcase* Jessica Berenblat of JB Arthouse (https://www.jbarthouse.net/) for designing the cover art.* Rachel Blechman of Tinbear Consulting (https://tinbearconsulting.com/) for building a new internet home for Out Of Left Field.* Josh Sippie, my podcast mentor from the Gotham Writers Workshop (https://www.writingclasses.com/).* Our sponsors, Everipe Blender-Ready Superfood Smoothies (everipe.com), which has rescued breakfast-time for my family, and Soggy Doggy (soggydoggydoormat.com), because it’s a lot easier to shelter in place when your place doesn’t smell like wet dog.

Opening Day is about many things: The return of baseball season. The end of winter. Most of all, it is a day of hope and possibility. The caliber of gameplay might not yet be in midseason form, nor is the weather; still, Opening Day arrives with the promise of better days to come. 

Not this Opening Day.

In 2020, Opening Day of the Major League Baseball season came and went, without anything actually opening. Without any baseball.

This debut episode of the Out Of Left Field Podcast looks around the stillness of the baseball world and imagines what should have been happening on March 26, 2020: Opening Day. Roger Owens, a vendor who has worked every Los Angeles Dodgers Opening Day since baseball came to California, should be pitching peanuts in the Loge Level of Dodger Stadium. Tony Rossi, the longest-serving head coach in Division I college baseball history, should have been in the dugout for Siena College instead of having his 51st season canceled. Lindsey Knupp, one of the most creative marketing and promotions minds in minor league baseball, should have been finalizing her plans for the Rocket City Trash Panda’s first season in their new town. Two million Little League baseball and softball players should be preparing to play ball.

I want to thank everyone involved in the total team effort behind this first episode of the first season:

* George Hochbrueckner, for the original tunes. Check out his album, Celticafricousticelectric on iTunes.* Scott Holmes Music (https://scottholmesmusic.com/) for the opening theme, Hotshot.* Jessica Berenblat of JB Arthouse (https://www.jbarthouse.net/) for designing the cover art.* Rachel Blechman of Tinbear Consulting (https://tinbearconsulting.com/) for building a new internet home for Out Of Left Field.* Josh Sippie, my podcast mentor from the Gotham Writers Workshop (https://www.writingclasses.com/).* Our sponsors, Everipe Blender-Ready Superfood Smoothies (everipe.com), which has rescued breakfast-time for my family, and Soggy Doggy (soggydoggydoormat), because it’s a lot easier to shelter in place when your place doesn’t smell like wet dog. * And, lastly, to Strat-O-Matic . . . which is not a sponsor, but was a game I always enjoyed playing as a kid, and now provides a portal into a simulated alternative universe (http://www.strat-o-matic.com/2020-season-simulation/) where the 2020 baseball season is playing out as scheduled (man, those A’s are off to a hot start).