Coco Crisp for Marte and Mota
The rumors are rife about a deal between the Red Sox and Indians that would send Coco Crisp and a prospect from the Indians for highly touted 3rd base prospect Andy Marte, reliever Guillermo Mota and a prospect from the Red Sox.
Coco Crisp would really fill the hole in centerfield and as a bonus he's young (26) and would be under control by the Red Sox contract wise until 2009. He'd be an instant fan favorite. By midseason people could be asking "Johnny who?"
The big piece the Sox would be giving up is Andy Marte, who is currently rated the 8th best prospect in baseball by many Internet sites and who some people have projected to be the next David Wright. I would feel awful if the Red Sox gave up on the next David Wright but there's no guarantee that Marte will be a success. The opposite actually probably has a greater chance of being true.
Nobody knows what Marte will end up doing at the big league level but one thing we can do is look at past history. Here are how 3rd baseman drafted in the first round between 1990 and 2000 have done in MLB (I'm figuring this is a good way to look at other highly thought of 3rd base prospects). I'm simply dividing them into successes or F&J categories (success being guys with proven success and F&J being flotsam and jetsam).
Success
Chipper Jones (#1 1990 by Braves)
Alex Rodriguez (#1 1993 by Seattle)
Eric Chavez (#10 in 1996 by Oakland)
Troy Glaus (#3 in 1997 by Angels)
F&J
Phil Nevin (#1 1992 by Astros)
Calvin Murray (#7 1992 by Giants)
Eddie Pearson (#24 1992 by White Sox)
Tony Wilson (#4 in 1994 by Brewers)
Jeff Liefer (#25 in 1995 by White Sox)
Sean Burroughs (#9 in 1998 by Padres)
Tony Torcato (#19 in 1998 by Giants)
Alex Rios (#19 in 1999 by Blue Jays)
Scott Thorman (#30 in 2000 by Braves)
Damian Rolls (#23 in 1996 by Dodgers)
Over 70% of the 3rd basemen taken in the first round between 1990 and 2000 ended up being pretty much busts.
Consider that Marte was pretty much a flop in his big league debut going .140 BA / .227 OBP / .438 OPS with no HR in 57 AB. Compare that to David Wright (just a year older) who was a smashing success when he came up to the bigs - going .293 BA / .332 OBP / .857 OPS with 14 HR in 263 AB. Of the four guys I list as successes above - only Troy Glaus and Alex Rodriguez struggled as bad as Marte in their original big league tastes.
I should note that A-Rod is on this list only because he now plays 3rd (he was drafted as a short stop and would be playing short for any other team in the league). I should also note that he first came up to the bigs when he was 17. By the time he was 20-years old he was a phenom.
Glaus also struggled when he came up but has since become an all-star caliber player. I have to say that I would trade a young Troy Glaus (career 120 OPS+) for the promise of Coco Crisp (who had an OPS+ of 119 last season). Given that the Sox have an extreme need at center - I'd have no problem trading Marte for Crisp even if I knew he'd put up Troy Glaus type numbers.
When you consider that both Sean Burroughs and Phil Nevin were at one time more highly thought of than Marte - I have to say that the risk outweighs the reward for the Red Sox in this deal. You also have to consider that Trot Nixon is in the last year of his deal and Crisp could easily be moved over to right field (the spacious right field at Fenway demands a defender with CF skills) then this deal really makes sense from the Red Sox perspective.
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Sunday, January 22, 2006
Decorum and Politics - Part II
I had no intention of touching on this subject again this morning but the first thing I read today was this post by Gary Gross at the California Conservative.
1. The protest movement of the 60's devolved into a shout to be heard, don't let the other guy speak, any form of protest is conceivable and acceptable (which gets us the taking over of government or university buildings, naked protests, the throwing of pies, food or feces and even worse). If you look at any of the driving force protest groups of the left today (MoveOn.org, Code Pink, etc) you'd see them led by college age kids who don't know any better and who have never held a real job and older "hippy-types" who are trying to relive their glory days of the 60's. Those are the people who are determining the course of the discussion on the left.
2. The Democratic Party's lock step Party Platform. Woe to the Democrat who's Pro-Life or pro school vouchers. That candidate may win a local election but he'd never win nationally if he remained a Democrat. I'm surprised the Democratic party hasn't lost more Catholics to the Republicans. My Catholic parents would be aghast at the abortion on demand policies of the Democrats today and the fact that they sent six kids to parochial schools probably gives you a good idea where they would stand on school vouchers. The only candidate I think my parents would look up to today would be Joe Lieberman who is being ostrcized by the party because of his views on the War on Terror (Joe's not marching in lock step - so Joe must pay a price in today's Democratic Party).
You can find Part I of my argument from yesterday here.
I had no intention of touching on this subject again this morning but the first thing I read today was this post by Gary Gross at the California Conservative.
Actually, Charlie, you're only half right. When lefty bloggers ratchet up the hatred, their readership jumps. The more outrageous, the better the "ratings". When center-right bloggers ratchet up the hatred and nonsense, their readership drops like a rock There's an easy explanation for that: When I read a righty blogger like Hugh Hewitt or Captains Quarters, it's because I expect to gain new insight based on verifiable information. As an example, just in the last 2 weeks, Hugh's taught a ConLaw class as it pertains to the NSA wiretapping and Captain Ed's schooled us on Tuesday's Canadian elections.He's makes a very valid point. The Charlie that Gross refers to is Charlie Cook who has this piece up at Real Clear Politics. Gross disagrees with Cook's conclusions and I guess so do I. Cook says:
When a lefty blogger says of Mrs. Alito "Do we want a judge who would marry such a weak-willed bitch?", am I supposed to take that seriously? And this is the norm, not the exception. It's impossible to not notice the total lack of seriousness. The lefty bloggers are indeed the wild, wild west, Charlie, but I'd dare you to prove that on the right.
But an unreasonable share of today's political conversation is venomous and lacking any effort at accuracy or fairness. I blame this problem first on the rise of political food-fight shows on cable television, on radio talk shows, and most recently on the Internet, where political discourse has become the Wild West.I say that the root of the problem Cook is trying to explain stems from two things:
1. The protest movement of the 60's devolved into a shout to be heard, don't let the other guy speak, any form of protest is conceivable and acceptable (which gets us the taking over of government or university buildings, naked protests, the throwing of pies, food or feces and even worse). If you look at any of the driving force protest groups of the left today (MoveOn.org, Code Pink, etc) you'd see them led by college age kids who don't know any better and who have never held a real job and older "hippy-types" who are trying to relive their glory days of the 60's. Those are the people who are determining the course of the discussion on the left.
2. The Democratic Party's lock step Party Platform. Woe to the Democrat who's Pro-Life or pro school vouchers. That candidate may win a local election but he'd never win nationally if he remained a Democrat. I'm surprised the Democratic party hasn't lost more Catholics to the Republicans. My Catholic parents would be aghast at the abortion on demand policies of the Democrats today and the fact that they sent six kids to parochial schools probably gives you a good idea where they would stand on school vouchers. The only candidate I think my parents would look up to today would be Joe Lieberman who is being ostrcized by the party because of his views on the War on Terror (Joe's not marching in lock step - so Joe must pay a price in today's Democratic Party).
You can find Part I of my argument from yesterday here.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Anna Benson's Husband Traded to Baltimore
The husband of former stripper Anna Benson has been traded to the Orioles. The deal has Kris Benson going south to Baltimore and relievers Jorge Julio and John Maine going to the New York Mets. Here are my thoughts on the trade:
- I have a hard time picturing Kris Benson as a team ace as some people have described his new role with the Orioles. My guess is that Rodrigo Lopez is still the opening day starter for the Orioles.
- The Orioles staff is pretty interesting now with Benson. Its like having five number 2 (or 3) starters (Lopez, Benson, Eric Bedard, Daniel Cabrera and Bruce Chen). If Leo Mazzone can get these guys to lead the AL in ERA then I think sportwriters would have to seriously consider voting for Mazzone for the Hall of Fame.
- Mets GM Omar Minaya has now traded two legitimate number 3 starters - Jae Seo and Benson for four relievers when his big hole is 2nd base. Does that make sense to anyone? The Nationals have two excellent secondbasemen. The Red Sox have Tony Graffanino available. Whats with Minaya's fascination with relievers? If if he likes relievers so much - why did he let Roberto Hernandez walk to the Pirates for just $2.75 million?
- Yes the Orioles could use a starter like Benson but with Jorge Julio out of the picture - who is going to be the closer in Baltimore? How much do you want to bet that both the Braves and the Orioles have been talking to the Royals about Mike McDougal?
- Speaking of Graffanino - I would think the Sox have probably called Minaya about a Graffanino for Xavier Nady deal. It would make perfect sense from both sides and that's why I doubt if it happens. Nady would be a great cheap stop-gap in center for the Sox and Graffanino would be an excellent veteran addition to the Mets. Too bad Minaya hates the Red Sox and his hate clouds his judgment.
- It has to be noted that this could be a financial move by the Mets. They save about $7 million over two years with this trade. Prior to the trade they were at about $102 million for just 17 roster players. Last year their payroll was $109 million (if I recall correctly). Minaya may have been told it was OK to exceed last year's number but he may have been getting too close to his threshold (which made a dump of Benson necessary).
- Anna Benson has some serious naughty pillows.
The husband of former stripper Anna Benson has been traded to the Orioles. The deal has Kris Benson going south to Baltimore and relievers Jorge Julio and John Maine going to the New York Mets. Here are my thoughts on the trade:
- I have a hard time picturing Kris Benson as a team ace as some people have described his new role with the Orioles. My guess is that Rodrigo Lopez is still the opening day starter for the Orioles.
- The Orioles staff is pretty interesting now with Benson. Its like having five number 2 (or 3) starters (Lopez, Benson, Eric Bedard, Daniel Cabrera and Bruce Chen). If Leo Mazzone can get these guys to lead the AL in ERA then I think sportwriters would have to seriously consider voting for Mazzone for the Hall of Fame.
- Mets GM Omar Minaya has now traded two legitimate number 3 starters - Jae Seo and Benson for four relievers when his big hole is 2nd base. Does that make sense to anyone? The Nationals have two excellent secondbasemen. The Red Sox have Tony Graffanino available. Whats with Minaya's fascination with relievers? If if he likes relievers so much - why did he let Roberto Hernandez walk to the Pirates for just $2.75 million?
- Yes the Orioles could use a starter like Benson but with Jorge Julio out of the picture - who is going to be the closer in Baltimore? How much do you want to bet that both the Braves and the Orioles have been talking to the Royals about Mike McDougal?
- Speaking of Graffanino - I would think the Sox have probably called Minaya about a Graffanino for Xavier Nady deal. It would make perfect sense from both sides and that's why I doubt if it happens. Nady would be a great cheap stop-gap in center for the Sox and Graffanino would be an excellent veteran addition to the Mets. Too bad Minaya hates the Red Sox and his hate clouds his judgment.
- It has to be noted that this could be a financial move by the Mets. They save about $7 million over two years with this trade. Prior to the trade they were at about $102 million for just 17 roster players. Last year their payroll was $109 million (if I recall correctly). Minaya may have been told it was OK to exceed last year's number but he may have been getting too close to his threshold (which made a dump of Benson necessary).
- Anna Benson has some serious naughty pillows.
Theo Epstein Back with Red Sox
Theo's back and my reaction is "meh!"
While he was gone I noticed a resemblance between Epstein and Mr. Smithers. That got me to thinking how Larry Lucchino got Theo to return to the fold.
Theo's back and my reaction is "meh!"
While he was gone I noticed a resemblance between Epstein and Mr. Smithers. That got me to thinking how Larry Lucchino got Theo to return to the fold.
Decorum and Politics
Hugh Hewitt posts a very interesting speech given by Karl Rove. There's a few points Rove makes I'd like to comment on:
Rove points out that the economy is growing at an excellent rate, unemployment is under 5% and taxes are being cut. People know there is no more wasteful group of people than Congress (other than drunken sailors). Arguing against putting more money into people's pockets but instead putting more into Congress' is the side Democrats are trying to take and its a losing argument. The government does not know what's best for you or your family.
People are worried about the US becoming a one party state but if the Libertarians conduct themselves with decorum and speak about their ideas and views - I wouldn't be surprised to see them get support from many moderate Democrats who are ashamed of what their party is becoming. The Democratic Party is in danger of becoming the 21st century Whigs.
Hugh Hewitt posts a very interesting speech given by Karl Rove. There's a few points Rove makes I'd like to comment on:
Let me stipulate a few important things. Our opponents are our fellow citizens, not our enemies. Honorable people can have honest political differences. And we should strive for civility and intellectual integrity in our debates.This is a very important point. The key to Republican electoral victory in fact. Voters are extremely tired of shrill, partisan politics devoid of decorum and respect. I think negative advertising has reached its tipping point and will just backfire. Left leaning shows and movies like the West Wing or The American President or The Daily Show always call for an honest, open discussion of the issues but in real life when people try to debate they get shouted down in the rudest of fashions. The far left is even doing it to their own now. Did you see recently when the Code Pink people shouted down Nancy Pelosi? Who in the world ever told them this is an effective way to change minds or gather support? If the Right remains civil and the Left allows their more radical folks to continue to man the bullhorns then hope is lost for the Democrats.
In 2001 Congress passed this law with a large, bipartisan majority -including a vote of 98-1 in the Senate. The Patriot Act has protected the United States from attack and saved American lives - and yet the Democrat leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, recently boasted that Democrats had "killed the Patriot Act."The message is that the Republicans want to protect you and your family while the Democrats want to protect the ACLU. An open discussion about the facts shows that the FBI doesn't track people's library books (besides who goes to the library anymore?) and the government is not wire tapping average peoples phones (although they are monitoring calls outside the country to suspected terrorists which gets us back to protecting you vs protecting the ACLU).
Republicans want to renew the Patriot Act - and Democrat leaders take special delight in trying to kill it. This is an issue worthy of a public debate.
Rove points out that the economy is growing at an excellent rate, unemployment is under 5% and taxes are being cut. People know there is no more wasteful group of people than Congress (other than drunken sailors). Arguing against putting more money into people's pockets but instead putting more into Congress' is the side Democrats are trying to take and its a losing argument. The government does not know what's best for you or your family.
Recently, the American people have witnessed something like a national seminar on judicial philosophy. On one side of the divide were eight Democrat Senators: Kennedy, Biden, Leahy, Schumer, Durbin, Kohl, Feinstein, and Feingold. On the other side of the divide were two extraordinary judges: John Roberts and Samuel Alito.This brings us back to decorum. Brow beating upstanding people like Roberts or Alito may play to the far left but to most average people its just rude. More than rude - its disturbing. Voters won't want to vote for unhinged, crybabies who lack decorum. The Democrats need more dapper Harry Truman types and less slob Abbie Hoffman types. Yet the reverse is true. The Democrats are making their own bed. They should, however, remember that Abbie Hoffman never won an election.
The contest wasn't even close. The Democrats talked a whole lot longer - but John Roberts and Samuel Alito spoke a whole lot better.
People are worried about the US becoming a one party state but if the Libertarians conduct themselves with decorum and speak about their ideas and views - I wouldn't be surprised to see them get support from many moderate Democrats who are ashamed of what their party is becoming. The Democratic Party is in danger of becoming the 21st century Whigs.
Bode Miller's NFL Playoff Picks
Champion skier amd stoner Bode Miller has agreed to make this week's NFL picks here at A Large Regular.
BM: Aloha, Mr. Chris. As far as the first game tomorrow - Pittsburgh ain't got no mountains so you'd think that I'd be rooting for Denver but this is a game of people and location is just a state of mind. My mom taught me that when she home schooled me in our cabin that had no running water or electricity. It was like growing up like a mountain man and I think its going to take a mountain man to win this game. Both Jake Plummer and Ben Roethlisberger have mountain man beards going but I think Big Ben's beard is more mountain manish. That guy is cool under fire. He's like, "All I need are a few seconds in the pocket, a cool buzz, and I'm fine." What kind of nickname is Jake the Snake? That's so uncool. He looks like he'd panick and be hitting gates all the way down the mountain in a close downhill race. That's why I'm taking Pittsburgh and the points.
BM: Wait a second... Did you hear that? That was my skull! I'm so wasted! Did you know that you can ski in the Carolinas? Yeah - water ski - heh heh. [Miller mumbles something stares off into the distance and munches some gorp] This second game is going to be close and I think the advantage goes to the team that goes balls to the wall speed wise and that would be the Panthers. I mean just look at the coaches. You have a Fox vs a walrus and the Fox will always beat the walrus in a race unless its underwater and even though its been raining a ton in Seattle the game will still be above water. Right? I'm taking Carolina and the points.
Champion skier amd stoner Bode Miller has agreed to make this week's NFL picks here at A Large Regular.
BM: Aloha, Mr. Chris. As far as the first game tomorrow - Pittsburgh ain't got no mountains so you'd think that I'd be rooting for Denver but this is a game of people and location is just a state of mind. My mom taught me that when she home schooled me in our cabin that had no running water or electricity. It was like growing up like a mountain man and I think its going to take a mountain man to win this game. Both Jake Plummer and Ben Roethlisberger have mountain man beards going but I think Big Ben's beard is more mountain manish. That guy is cool under fire. He's like, "All I need are a few seconds in the pocket, a cool buzz, and I'm fine." What kind of nickname is Jake the Snake? That's so uncool. He looks like he'd panick and be hitting gates all the way down the mountain in a close downhill race. That's why I'm taking Pittsburgh and the points.
BM: Wait a second... Did you hear that? That was my skull! I'm so wasted! Did you know that you can ski in the Carolinas? Yeah - water ski - heh heh. [Miller mumbles something stares off into the distance and munches some gorp] This second game is going to be close and I think the advantage goes to the team that goes balls to the wall speed wise and that would be the Panthers. I mean just look at the coaches. You have a Fox vs a walrus and the Fox will always beat the walrus in a race unless its underwater and even though its been raining a ton in Seattle the game will still be above water. Right? I'm taking Carolina and the points.
Friday, January 20, 2006
The Replacements vs the Royals
I was wondering how a team made up of players from the remaining free agents would stack up against the projected starters for the Kansas City Royals. To conduct the experiment - I'm picking 8 position players, a DH, 5 starting pitchers and a closer. I will then compare what their win shares were last year vs what the win shares were for the projected starters for the Royals (using the MLB depth chart). First the replacement team:
C: Bengie Molina 15
1B: Frank Thomas 3
2B: Desi Relaford 2
SS: Alex Gonzalez 13
3B: Alex S. Gonzalez 6
LF: Terrence Long 9
CF: Richard Hidalgo 5
RF: Sammy Sosa 4
DH: Mike Piazza 13
Starter 1: Roger Clemens 25
Starter 2: Jeff Weaver 13
Starter 3: Wade Miller 4
Starter 4: Pedro Astacio 4
Starter 5: Jamey Wright 4
Closer: Uggie Urbina 5
The above replacement team had 110 win shares. The starters for the Royals according to their MLB site depth chart would have 143. No knock on the Royals but if I was a KC fan I'd be looking at another 100 loss season. I know that a good portion of the replacement's win shares came from Clemens but it should also be pointed out that a number of the other players were hurt much of last year which is why their win shares are so low. I'm also sure that if I spent more time I could come up with some better choices than Sammy Sosa and a few others.
I was wondering how a team made up of players from the remaining free agents would stack up against the projected starters for the Kansas City Royals. To conduct the experiment - I'm picking 8 position players, a DH, 5 starting pitchers and a closer. I will then compare what their win shares were last year vs what the win shares were for the projected starters for the Royals (using the MLB depth chart). First the replacement team:
C: Bengie Molina 15
1B: Frank Thomas 3
2B: Desi Relaford 2
SS: Alex Gonzalez 13
3B: Alex S. Gonzalez 6
LF: Terrence Long 9
CF: Richard Hidalgo 5
RF: Sammy Sosa 4
DH: Mike Piazza 13
Starter 1: Roger Clemens 25
Starter 2: Jeff Weaver 13
Starter 3: Wade Miller 4
Starter 4: Pedro Astacio 4
Starter 5: Jamey Wright 4
Closer: Uggie Urbina 5
The above replacement team had 110 win shares. The starters for the Royals according to their MLB site depth chart would have 143. No knock on the Royals but if I was a KC fan I'd be looking at another 100 loss season. I know that a good portion of the replacement's win shares came from Clemens but it should also be pointed out that a number of the other players were hurt much of last year which is why their win shares are so low. I'm also sure that if I spent more time I could come up with some better choices than Sammy Sosa and a few others.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Arroyo Signs Three Year Deal
Bronson Arroyo signed a three year deal with the Red Sox today for a total of $11.25 million. I see three possible outcomes here:
1. Arroyo stays with the Red Sox and becomes a valuable (and affordable) 3rd or 4th starter.
2. Since Arroyo is so cost effective now - he gets traded for a centerfielder. Most wags are saying he could be traded to Tampa for Julio Lugo - I don't see that happening. Terry Francona and the Red Sox keep saying they are happy to go into 2006 with Alex Cora as the starting SS. Why isn't anyone listening to them? If Arroyo does get traded I see it for one of the following; Jeremy Reed, Coco Crisp (probably need more than Arroyo), Brad Wilkerson of the Rangers, Jason Michaels of the Phillies or Joey Gathright of Tampa. Arroyo could also be part of a deal for Torii Hunter or Rocco Baldelli.
3. Arroyo stays with the Red Sox but the Sox keep him in the bullpen. The Red Sox don't know if Keith Foulke can close anymore and Arroyo has the make-up to be a top closer. He's fearless and he forgets mistakes easily. I'd feel better about him as a closer if he did better against lefties (they hit better than .280 against him) and if he didn't so often struggle in the first inning of his starts. I do think that Arroyo has more than a bit of Dennis Eckersley in him and wouldn't be surprised to see him pitching the 9th inning for someone someday.
Bronson Arroyo signed a three year deal with the Red Sox today for a total of $11.25 million. I see three possible outcomes here:
1. Arroyo stays with the Red Sox and becomes a valuable (and affordable) 3rd or 4th starter.
2. Since Arroyo is so cost effective now - he gets traded for a centerfielder. Most wags are saying he could be traded to Tampa for Julio Lugo - I don't see that happening. Terry Francona and the Red Sox keep saying they are happy to go into 2006 with Alex Cora as the starting SS. Why isn't anyone listening to them? If Arroyo does get traded I see it for one of the following; Jeremy Reed, Coco Crisp (probably need more than Arroyo), Brad Wilkerson of the Rangers, Jason Michaels of the Phillies or Joey Gathright of Tampa. Arroyo could also be part of a deal for Torii Hunter or Rocco Baldelli.
3. Arroyo stays with the Red Sox but the Sox keep him in the bullpen. The Red Sox don't know if Keith Foulke can close anymore and Arroyo has the make-up to be a top closer. He's fearless and he forgets mistakes easily. I'd feel better about him as a closer if he did better against lefties (they hit better than .280 against him) and if he didn't so often struggle in the first inning of his starts. I do think that Arroyo has more than a bit of Dennis Eckersley in him and wouldn't be surprised to see him pitching the 9th inning for someone someday.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Celebrity Jeopfactor of Fortune
I've had this idea for a new game / reality show that I thought I'd bring up again today. The show would draw on elements of Jeopardy, Celebrity Fear Factor and the old Wheel of Fortune.
The game show would be set up Jeopardy style with three contestants who would answer sports questions from different categories. The harder the question the more it would be worth. There would be three rounds and the winner of each round would get to go “shopping.”
The “shopping” is where the Celebrity Fear Factor and old Wheel of Fortune elements would come into play.
For celebrities - we would be looking for ex-sports stars that had the world at their fingertips but threw it away - like Darryl Strawberry or Tonya Harding. We could also go for people who had 15 minutes of sports fame – like Mark Henderson, the work release convict driver of the snow plow during the famous Miami / New England Snowplow game. Each show would feature three celebrities.
Do you remember when Wheel of Fortune first came out? At the end of each round the person who solved the puzzle would get to go shopping and buy things from a showcase. The prizes ranged from trips to exotic locations to Gucci ashtrays. It was pretty cool. Everyone watching got involved because they all wanted the winner to buy something different. I would want the winner to buy the jet ski’s but they would go for the dining room set.
Here’s how we combine these aspects.
Only the contestant who won each round would get to keep the money they won. So if Bob finished round one with $1000 and Sue and Tim finished at $800 each – only Bob would get to keep the money. This would make it competitive but we would keep the dollar amounts low (like in Win Ben Stein’s Money) so that contestants care more about participation than losing a million dollars.
The contestant who won the round would be given an equal amount of money that would have to be spent “shopping” but instead of prizes there would be little tasks that the celebrities would have to perform. These tasks could range from things like eating a bug for $100 to getting a Dutch Oven from a teamster for $1,000.
The contestant who won the round would spend the matching money on various tasks and would also get to select the celebrity that would have to perform them. I can hear it now – people screaming at their TV’s, “No, no – make Tonya Harding eat the pig rectum not Fernando.”
The celebrities would be given an appearance fee and a bonus for each task they completed. If a celebrity refused to do a task they would get nothing, zilch, nadda, zero.
The tasks could be the result of viewer participation. New tasks could be selected from suggestions sent in by the viewers at home who could also recommend the celebrities they want to see. We could have a special prize for the viewer whose task is selected for the show finale that would come at the end of the third round.
There could be a sports version, a TV version and a movie version of the show.
The only detail I am having trouble with would be what to call it. The best I can come up with so far is Celebrity Jeopfactor of Fortune.
What do you think? Is this something you would tune into watch?
I've had this idea for a new game / reality show that I thought I'd bring up again today. The show would draw on elements of Jeopardy, Celebrity Fear Factor and the old Wheel of Fortune.
The game show would be set up Jeopardy style with three contestants who would answer sports questions from different categories. The harder the question the more it would be worth. There would be three rounds and the winner of each round would get to go “shopping.”
The “shopping” is where the Celebrity Fear Factor and old Wheel of Fortune elements would come into play.
For celebrities - we would be looking for ex-sports stars that had the world at their fingertips but threw it away - like Darryl Strawberry or Tonya Harding. We could also go for people who had 15 minutes of sports fame – like Mark Henderson, the work release convict driver of the snow plow during the famous Miami / New England Snowplow game. Each show would feature three celebrities.
Do you remember when Wheel of Fortune first came out? At the end of each round the person who solved the puzzle would get to go shopping and buy things from a showcase. The prizes ranged from trips to exotic locations to Gucci ashtrays. It was pretty cool. Everyone watching got involved because they all wanted the winner to buy something different. I would want the winner to buy the jet ski’s but they would go for the dining room set.
Here’s how we combine these aspects.
Only the contestant who won each round would get to keep the money they won. So if Bob finished round one with $1000 and Sue and Tim finished at $800 each – only Bob would get to keep the money. This would make it competitive but we would keep the dollar amounts low (like in Win Ben Stein’s Money) so that contestants care more about participation than losing a million dollars.
The contestant who won the round would be given an equal amount of money that would have to be spent “shopping” but instead of prizes there would be little tasks that the celebrities would have to perform. These tasks could range from things like eating a bug for $100 to getting a Dutch Oven from a teamster for $1,000.
The contestant who won the round would spend the matching money on various tasks and would also get to select the celebrity that would have to perform them. I can hear it now – people screaming at their TV’s, “No, no – make Tonya Harding eat the pig rectum not Fernando.”
The celebrities would be given an appearance fee and a bonus for each task they completed. If a celebrity refused to do a task they would get nothing, zilch, nadda, zero.
The tasks could be the result of viewer participation. New tasks could be selected from suggestions sent in by the viewers at home who could also recommend the celebrities they want to see. We could have a special prize for the viewer whose task is selected for the show finale that would come at the end of the third round.
There could be a sports version, a TV version and a movie version of the show.
The only detail I am having trouble with would be what to call it. The best I can come up with so far is Celebrity Jeopfactor of Fortune.
What do you think? Is this something you would tune into watch?
When You're Wrong You're Wrong
The day Aaron Boone went done with a bad knee - I called it that the Yankees would trade for Alex Rodriguez. I've had a number of similar times when I called it right. I say this because I'm not afraid to laugh at myself when I'm wrong.
Well you can't get much more wrong than this:
At least I was right about him being better than Felipe Lopez.
The day Aaron Boone went done with a bad knee - I called it that the Yankees would trade for Alex Rodriguez. I've had a number of similar times when I called it right. I say this because I'm not afraid to laugh at myself when I'm wrong.
Well you can't get much more wrong than this:
LeBron James: He's a high school kid who hasn't done anything in the NBA. Sure he has tremendous potential but doesn't anyone remember Felipe Lopez who was supposed to be the second coming at St. John's? Now Felipe is just one of those guys at the end of the bench in the NBA. Now chances are LeBron will be much better than Felipe but I'm willing to bet that in 3 years time Lebron won't even be the best player on his own team - never mind one of the top players in the NBA.Chris Lynch on Sportspages.com 8/22/03.
At least I was right about him being better than Felipe Lopez.
Brilliant Blog!
His humor may not be your cup of tea but I think this blog is brilliant!
I'm going to spend lots of time going through the archives. This bit about flying on British Airways was genius:
HT Sports Frog
His humor may not be your cup of tea but I think this blog is brilliant!
I'm going to spend lots of time going through the archives. This bit about flying on British Airways was genius:
Going on a trip? Don’t forget to take some cigarette butts in your hand luggage. Leave them lying around the plane, it really pisses them off. They can’t work out why their nerdish smoke detectors aren’t working, and the look on their miserable faces sends my pleasure sensors soaring. I’ll show those fucks.For some reason the blog reminds me of Latigo Flint.
HT Sports Frog
Bud Selig Schedules Owners Meeting So He can Visit Grandkids
I saw this post over at David Pinto's talking about the agenda for the upcoming owners meeting in Scottsdale.
Maybe the MLB policy on nepotism can also be added to the agenda.
I saw this post over at David Pinto's talking about the agenda for the upcoming owners meeting in Scottsdale.
In addition to hearing about the classic, owners will get a detailed briefing on the Western operations center that opened in Phoenix last summer. The office works with teams in the western divisions of both the National and American leagues as well as the Cactus League, and it houses the West Coast operations of Major League Baseball Advanced Media, which, among other things, runs baseball's Internet site, MLB.com.I would like to point out that the person who runs the Western Operations Center for MLB is none other than Selig's son in-law Laurel Prieb. I've written about this before. I have to wonder if this meeting was scheduled in Scottsdale just as an excuse for Selig to visit his grandchildren. Sadly I'm not even joking.
Maybe the MLB policy on nepotism can also be added to the agenda.
Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.
My guess is that the Red Sox are waiting on Bronson Arroyo to settle his arbitration case before making a deal to ship him off for a centerfielder (or as part of a deal for a centerfielder). According to the Red Sox website - Arroyo asked for $4.2 million for 2006 and the Red Sox countered with $2.95 million. They will probably settle more in the middle but the closer to Arroyo's number the more likely the Sox may have to add a B-type prospect into any deal.... I think THE team to look out for next year is the Oakland A's. They have the deepest roster in baseball. In the outfield they currently start three centerfielders who can hit (Payton, Bradley and Kotsay) and their pitching staff is the deepest in baseball. They have Zito, Harden, Loiaza, Haren and Blanton in the starting five with Huston Street as the closer. If one of the starters goes down (or is traded to fill a hole) they can backfill with Joe Kennedy and Kirk Saarloos. Defense at first and a right handed power hitter may be their only weaknesses.... Manny Ramirez (199 HR as a member of the Red Sox) needs just 32 HR next year to move into 5th place on the Red Sox all-time HR list. He would trail just Dwight Evans (379), Jim Rice (382), Yaz (452) and Ted Williams (521). Manny is an RBI machine but he would need 638 more in a Red Sox uniform to move into the top 5 all-time for the Red Sox. With 32 HR next year Manny will also move into the top 25 in MLB history and with a typical RBI year Manny will move into the top 40 all-time for RBI as well... The continuing saga of the most expensive blow job in history since Gary Hart told Donna Rice, "I told you to lick my erection, not wreck my election."... Is a Bronson Arroyo and Trot Nixon for Torii Hunter deal too much to hope for?
Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.
My guess is that the Red Sox are waiting on Bronson Arroyo to settle his arbitration case before making a deal to ship him off for a centerfielder (or as part of a deal for a centerfielder). According to the Red Sox website - Arroyo asked for $4.2 million for 2006 and the Red Sox countered with $2.95 million. They will probably settle more in the middle but the closer to Arroyo's number the more likely the Sox may have to add a B-type prospect into any deal.... I think THE team to look out for next year is the Oakland A's. They have the deepest roster in baseball. In the outfield they currently start three centerfielders who can hit (Payton, Bradley and Kotsay) and their pitching staff is the deepest in baseball. They have Zito, Harden, Loiaza, Haren and Blanton in the starting five with Huston Street as the closer. If one of the starters goes down (or is traded to fill a hole) they can backfill with Joe Kennedy and Kirk Saarloos. Defense at first and a right handed power hitter may be their only weaknesses.... Manny Ramirez (199 HR as a member of the Red Sox) needs just 32 HR next year to move into 5th place on the Red Sox all-time HR list. He would trail just Dwight Evans (379), Jim Rice (382), Yaz (452) and Ted Williams (521). Manny is an RBI machine but he would need 638 more in a Red Sox uniform to move into the top 5 all-time for the Red Sox. With 32 HR next year Manny will also move into the top 25 in MLB history and with a typical RBI year Manny will move into the top 40 all-time for RBI as well... The continuing saga of the most expensive blow job in history since Gary Hart told Donna Rice, "I told you to lick my erection, not wreck my election."... Is a Bronson Arroyo and Trot Nixon for Torii Hunter deal too much to hope for?
Richard Scarry's Best Bastardized for PC Reasons Word Book Ever
This has been out there for a while but I just happened upon it (view it as slideshow). Just a couple of thoughts:
1. I can see changing "police man" and "mail man" to "police officer" and "mail carrier" but what bugs me is completely getting rid of the cowboy hippo and army aligator. Although with the success of Brokeback Mountain - the PC police at the publishing company may add back in the cowboy.
2. The more PC schools get the worse the test scores get. Don't tell me there's no connection. The more time spent talking about "diversity" the less time spent practicing the "four R's". I'm for school vouchers right now!
3. The "Politically Correct" stories by James Finn Garner are funny because they're satire of how bad things can get in the PC world. The Richard Scarry book is just sad.
HT William Stewart
This has been out there for a while but I just happened upon it (view it as slideshow). Just a couple of thoughts:
1. I can see changing "police man" and "mail man" to "police officer" and "mail carrier" but what bugs me is completely getting rid of the cowboy hippo and army aligator. Although with the success of Brokeback Mountain - the PC police at the publishing company may add back in the cowboy.
2. The more PC schools get the worse the test scores get. Don't tell me there's no connection. The more time spent talking about "diversity" the less time spent practicing the "four R's". I'm for school vouchers right now!
3. The "Politically Correct" stories by James Finn Garner are funny because they're satire of how bad things can get in the PC world. The Richard Scarry book is just sad.
HT William Stewart
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Bill Simmons vs Isaiah Thomas
This is funny to me because it may mean that the answer to "who wants to fight Bill Simmons?" may also be the same answer to the question "who wants to sex Mutombo?"
This is funny to me because it may mean that the answer to "who wants to fight Bill Simmons?" may also be the same answer to the question "who wants to sex Mutombo?"
Battle of Cowpens
Today is the anniversary of one of the most significant battles in the history of the United States and nobody seems to notice. A short history of the Revolutionary War could read like:
- The British surrendered at Yorktown after being surrounded by the Continental Army on land and bottled up by the French fleet at sea.
- The British were stuck at Yorktown because they had been so long occupied in the South by battles like the disaster (for the British) at Cowpens
- Cowpens was made possible by Valley Forge and the victory over the Hessians at Trenton
- The French navy was brought into the war because of the overwhelming victory over the British at Saratoga.
- Trenton was made possible by the Continental Army slipping out of Long Island where they really should have been trapped and destroyed by the British
- Long Island was made possible by the victory over the British in the siege of Boston which in turn was made possible by the guns taken from Fort Ticonderoga and by the start of the war at Lexington and Concord.
Of the above - the Battle of Cowpens (which happened 225 years ago today) is probably the least remembered.
If it is remember it is probably the version that was put forth in the Mel Gibson movie The Patriot. In the movie there is a battle without a name in which Gibson's character asks the infantry to get off two shots and then retreat to trick the British into chasing after them. This is the same basic "plot" to the Battle of Cowpens. The Jason Isaacs character of the dark-hearted Col. Tavington is loosely based on Col. Banastre Tarleton who led the British troops at Cowpens. Unlike the battle in the movie, however, in real life Tarleton (nee Tavington) escapes to fight another day.
One other note that may only interest me. In the movie The Patriot, Gibson's character uses straw soldiers to convince the British to let captives escape. In real life this trick was used but it was used by the British to allow the "captive" loyalists to escape Boston via ships in the harbor under the cover of "troops" placed overlooking the city on Bunker Hill. The troops later turned out to be straw dummies.
Today is the anniversary of one of the most significant battles in the history of the United States and nobody seems to notice. A short history of the Revolutionary War could read like:
- The British surrendered at Yorktown after being surrounded by the Continental Army on land and bottled up by the French fleet at sea.
- The British were stuck at Yorktown because they had been so long occupied in the South by battles like the disaster (for the British) at Cowpens
- Cowpens was made possible by Valley Forge and the victory over the Hessians at Trenton
- The French navy was brought into the war because of the overwhelming victory over the British at Saratoga.
- Trenton was made possible by the Continental Army slipping out of Long Island where they really should have been trapped and destroyed by the British
- Long Island was made possible by the victory over the British in the siege of Boston which in turn was made possible by the guns taken from Fort Ticonderoga and by the start of the war at Lexington and Concord.
Of the above - the Battle of Cowpens (which happened 225 years ago today) is probably the least remembered.
If it is remember it is probably the version that was put forth in the Mel Gibson movie The Patriot. In the movie there is a battle without a name in which Gibson's character asks the infantry to get off two shots and then retreat to trick the British into chasing after them. This is the same basic "plot" to the Battle of Cowpens. The Jason Isaacs character of the dark-hearted Col. Tavington is loosely based on Col. Banastre Tarleton who led the British troops at Cowpens. Unlike the battle in the movie, however, in real life Tarleton (nee Tavington) escapes to fight another day.
One other note that may only interest me. In the movie The Patriot, Gibson's character uses straw soldiers to convince the British to let captives escape. In real life this trick was used but it was used by the British to allow the "captive" loyalists to escape Boston via ships in the harbor under the cover of "troops" placed overlooking the city on Bunker Hill. The troops later turned out to be straw dummies.
Morning Links
Here are some morning links to read over your morning coffee.
- Does the NY Times have any credibility left? FARK has more credibility and at least their photoshop contests are funny. Fat drunk and stupid is no way to go through life and fake but accurate is no motto for a newspaper.
- Does anyone out there really care about who is on the US baseball team for the World classic? I may watch the games but I view it as an exhibition. I'd just as soon not have Barry Bonds or A-Rod on the team though.
- DJ Gallo is now writing for ESPN's Page 2? When did that happen? I'm a fan because of thoughts like this:
- Great point by Michael Felger on when the real seeds of defeat were sown by the Patriots:
Here are some morning links to read over your morning coffee.
- Does the NY Times have any credibility left? FARK has more credibility and at least their photoshop contests are funny. Fat drunk and stupid is no way to go through life and fake but accurate is no motto for a newspaper.
- Does anyone out there really care about who is on the US baseball team for the World classic? I may watch the games but I view it as an exhibition. I'd just as soon not have Barry Bonds or A-Rod on the team though.
- DJ Gallo is now writing for ESPN's Page 2? When did that happen? I'm a fan because of thoughts like this:
I pull absolutely zero weight in the sports media world, but is it too much for me to ask that this week's AFC Championship Game quarterback matchup between Jake Plummer and Ben Roethlisberger be officially dubbed the Beard Bowl? And, more importantly, that the winner be given Katie Holmes for a week? I feel I've earned that much.- I think Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel waited too long to get head coaching jobs and that Eric Mangini is being plucked before he's ready.
- Great point by Michael Felger on when the real seeds of defeat were sown by the Patriots:
No one is expecting those kind of fireworks this offseason, but it can’t be any worse than last year, when the acquisitions of Duane Starks, Monty Beisel, Chad Brown and David Terrell set the stage for what happened Saturday night in Denver.- Top 20 Fantasy 1st Baseman (Kevin Youkilis should have been on the list somewhere around 15 and where the heck is Travis Hafner or David Ortiz? They should be top 5. I know they are primarily DH's but they also play a tiny bit of 1st and qualify as such in most Fantasy Leagues)
Monday, January 16, 2006
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
Tom Brady probably blames himself for the Patriots loss on Saturday. Peyton Manning probably blames his offensive line (oh - wait - he did blame his offensive line). This is the main difference between the two quarterbacks. Our high school football coach used to put up inspirational or teaching slogans around the lockerroom. One I always remembered was "only losers yell at teammates". I can easily picture Manning yelling at his teammates. Quint was right - Manning's got soft hands, city hands from counting money all his life... If one of the Mariners starting five gets injured - their Plan B for 5th starter is Kevin Appier. The only way that could be worse is if Plan B was Hideo Nomo. This is why the Mariners are interested in trading Jeremy Reed for Bronson Arroyo... Who is more annoying and unfunny? Jimmy Fallon or Rob Schneider?... Today is John Carpenter's 58th birthday and I was going to do a top 5 for for his movies but I came to the conclusion that he only had 4 movies worthy of mention (Halloween, Escape from New York, The Thing and They Live)... Take a look at the commercials that Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have done. Brady's commercials always involve his teammates (the Visa commercial with the O-line and the XM commercial with his recievers and John Madden). Manning's commercials are all about him (cut that meat!). Its a little thing but I think its worth mentioning because football is a team game.... Put me in the camp of people who have not been able to sit through Big Trouble in Little China.
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
Tom Brady probably blames himself for the Patriots loss on Saturday. Peyton Manning probably blames his offensive line (oh - wait - he did blame his offensive line). This is the main difference between the two quarterbacks. Our high school football coach used to put up inspirational or teaching slogans around the lockerroom. One I always remembered was "only losers yell at teammates". I can easily picture Manning yelling at his teammates. Quint was right - Manning's got soft hands, city hands from counting money all his life... If one of the Mariners starting five gets injured - their Plan B for 5th starter is Kevin Appier. The only way that could be worse is if Plan B was Hideo Nomo. This is why the Mariners are interested in trading Jeremy Reed for Bronson Arroyo... Who is more annoying and unfunny? Jimmy Fallon or Rob Schneider?... Today is John Carpenter's 58th birthday and I was going to do a top 5 for for his movies but I came to the conclusion that he only had 4 movies worthy of mention (Halloween, Escape from New York, The Thing and They Live)... Take a look at the commercials that Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have done. Brady's commercials always involve his teammates (the Visa commercial with the O-line and the XM commercial with his recievers and John Madden). Manning's commercials are all about him (cut that meat!). Its a little thing but I think its worth mentioning because football is a team game.... Put me in the camp of people who have not been able to sit through Big Trouble in Little China.
The Best Piece I've Seen on the Alito Hearings Yet
The Alito hearings were pretty boring but this piece by Vandeleun is anything but. I'm especially pleased that the phrase "no more sense than a gnat's woody" has entered into my vocabulary.
The Alito hearings were pretty boring but this piece by Vandeleun is anything but. I'm especially pleased that the phrase "no more sense than a gnat's woody" has entered into my vocabulary.
Mike Vanderjagt - Sacrificial Goat
Somebody will have to pay for yesterday's loss by Indianapoplis and the goat who will pay with his job will be kicker Mike Vanderjagt. So let it be writen - so let it be done.
Yes you could lay the blame for yesterday's loss to Pittsburgh squarely on the shoulders of Peyton Manning (but he would just turn around and blame his offensive line). You could blame Tony Dungy for his team once again being bounced out of the playoffs but Tony just underwent an unspeakable tragedy and you would have to be a heartless bastard to blame Dungy now (he'll take the fall next year when once again Indy chokes in the playoffs).
Someone has to take the blame and that someone will be Vanderjagt (idiot kicker). It makes sense. The team needs someone to publiclly take the blame and the heat. Vanderjagt choked (no other way to describe that kick) and his contract pays him $2.9 million when you can hire a kicker with just a good a chance of choking in the playoffs for a third of that price.
No way is Vanderjagt on the Colts roster when they open up their season in 2006.
Somebody will have to pay for yesterday's loss by Indianapoplis and the goat who will pay with his job will be kicker Mike Vanderjagt. So let it be writen - so let it be done.
Yes you could lay the blame for yesterday's loss to Pittsburgh squarely on the shoulders of Peyton Manning (but he would just turn around and blame his offensive line). You could blame Tony Dungy for his team once again being bounced out of the playoffs but Tony just underwent an unspeakable tragedy and you would have to be a heartless bastard to blame Dungy now (he'll take the fall next year when once again Indy chokes in the playoffs).
Someone has to take the blame and that someone will be Vanderjagt (idiot kicker). It makes sense. The team needs someone to publiclly take the blame and the heat. Vanderjagt choked (no other way to describe that kick) and his contract pays him $2.9 million when you can hire a kicker with just a good a chance of choking in the playoffs for a third of that price.
No way is Vanderjagt on the Colts roster when they open up their season in 2006.
Cronkite and Coughlin
If you are 40-years old or younger - Walter Cronkite (if you recognize the name at all) was never much to you except some old guy who used to read the news or something like that. If you are over 40-years old then Cronkite is remembered as the most trusted person in journalism. Point being - Cronkite long ago became irrelevant and the number of people to whom his name means anything is dwindling.
When I read the latest rantings of Cronkite today - the first person I thought of was Father Charles Coughlin. I imagine most of you just said, "Father who?"
Father Coughlin was one of the first people to use the medium of radio for evangelical preaching. He became very, very famous doing that and also very very influential. At his peak Coughlin had about 30 million listeners a week at a time when the US population was just about 123 million. Almost one out of four Americans tuned into hear him speak and the things Father Coughlin chose to speak about became very political and partisan. Today, if anyone remembers him at all, it is as a anti-Semite barking moonbat.
I'm not saying Cronkite is an anti-Semite like Coughlin but I am saying that like Coughlin - he's just a guy who was very popular at one time but whose radical viewpoints will relegate him to the memory hole of history. I can't ever recall caring about what Cronkite's viewpoint was on any subject and now my feeling about Cronkite is the mass majority one.
If you are 40-years old or younger - Walter Cronkite (if you recognize the name at all) was never much to you except some old guy who used to read the news or something like that. If you are over 40-years old then Cronkite is remembered as the most trusted person in journalism. Point being - Cronkite long ago became irrelevant and the number of people to whom his name means anything is dwindling.
When I read the latest rantings of Cronkite today - the first person I thought of was Father Charles Coughlin. I imagine most of you just said, "Father who?"
Father Coughlin was one of the first people to use the medium of radio for evangelical preaching. He became very, very famous doing that and also very very influential. At his peak Coughlin had about 30 million listeners a week at a time when the US population was just about 123 million. Almost one out of four Americans tuned into hear him speak and the things Father Coughlin chose to speak about became very political and partisan. Today, if anyone remembers him at all, it is as a anti-Semite barking moonbat.
I'm not saying Cronkite is an anti-Semite like Coughlin but I am saying that like Coughlin - he's just a guy who was very popular at one time but whose radical viewpoints will relegate him to the memory hole of history. I can't ever recall caring about what Cronkite's viewpoint was on any subject and now my feeling about Cronkite is the mass majority one.
NFL Weekend, 5 Turnovers and Tequila Kicks My Ass
I had way too much to drink on Saturday and yesterday I was a big slug watching games prone from the couch. I picked three out of the four games right but it was the one game that I got wrong that I cared about and it was that one game that I loaded up on.
Saturday I was out with the boys and honestly I could have paced myself much better. I started off by drinking large Tanqueray and cranberry drinks (or gin and juice as my friend likes to call it) during the Seattle game. I switched over to drinking straight Tequila during the Patriots game. If I was driving then my friends would have intervened but as it was I didn't even get shut off (even though I was probably in the black on the buddy wheel). Funny enough on Sunday I didn't feel hung over (I didn't have a headache) - more beat up and sore all over.
Subconsciously I may have been numbing myself because I knew that the Patriots run was over.
5 turnovers! 5 friggin' turnovers! There's no way you win a game when you turn the ball over 5 times (unless you are playing the Jets). I won't say that the Patriots beat themselves though. If the shoe was on the other foot I would be talking about how good teams create turnovers by the other team and protect the ball themselves. If it was the Broncos with 5 turnovers then I would be praising the Patriots for causing those turnovers. Denver was just the better team on Saturday.
With the Patriots out of it - my zest for the NFL has dropped off a cliff. Last week SI's Dr. Z spoke about being at his saturation point and that feeling rang true for me as well. I'll still watch the games but I probably won't read much about them. For what its worth - I'm rooting for either Seattle or Pittsburgh to win it all.
I can't get into the Bruins or Celtics because neither team is going anywhere. How can you get excited by teams that would consider just making the playoffs a success and would surely be first round fodder? College ball? Well March Madness will be upon us fairly soon but again I have no passion for any team.
Thank God pitchers and catcher report in 33 days.
I had way too much to drink on Saturday and yesterday I was a big slug watching games prone from the couch. I picked three out of the four games right but it was the one game that I got wrong that I cared about and it was that one game that I loaded up on.
Saturday I was out with the boys and honestly I could have paced myself much better. I started off by drinking large Tanqueray and cranberry drinks (or gin and juice as my friend likes to call it) during the Seattle game. I switched over to drinking straight Tequila during the Patriots game. If I was driving then my friends would have intervened but as it was I didn't even get shut off (even though I was probably in the black on the buddy wheel). Funny enough on Sunday I didn't feel hung over (I didn't have a headache) - more beat up and sore all over.
Subconsciously I may have been numbing myself because I knew that the Patriots run was over.
5 turnovers! 5 friggin' turnovers! There's no way you win a game when you turn the ball over 5 times (unless you are playing the Jets). I won't say that the Patriots beat themselves though. If the shoe was on the other foot I would be talking about how good teams create turnovers by the other team and protect the ball themselves. If it was the Broncos with 5 turnovers then I would be praising the Patriots for causing those turnovers. Denver was just the better team on Saturday.
With the Patriots out of it - my zest for the NFL has dropped off a cliff. Last week SI's Dr. Z spoke about being at his saturation point and that feeling rang true for me as well. I'll still watch the games but I probably won't read much about them. For what its worth - I'm rooting for either Seattle or Pittsburgh to win it all.
I can't get into the Bruins or Celtics because neither team is going anywhere. How can you get excited by teams that would consider just making the playoffs a success and would surely be first round fodder? College ball? Well March Madness will be upon us fairly soon but again I have no passion for any team.
Thank God pitchers and catcher report in 33 days.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
"I Hate that F***ing Christmas Tree - The Tree HAS to Come Down"
I know this news is a bit dated but I just came across it and was amused enough to share it. This was my favorite part of the whole story:
I know this news is a bit dated but I just came across it and was amused enough to share it. This was my favorite part of the whole story:
Kiefer warned staff: “I’m smashing it - can I pay for it?”For some reason I picture the staffer looking just like Rowan Atkinson.
A staff member replied: “I’m absolutely sure you can, sir.”
Cheryl Tiegs' NFL Playoff Picks
Cheryl Tiegs who has been around the block several times - shares her NFL picks with A Large Regular.
Take it away Cheryl.
CT: In today's matinee - I like the Seahawks. People are always confusing me with other super models. They ask me why I divorced Billy Joel or why I divorced Rod Stewart. Well I was never married to either of those guys. That was other super models that made those poor choices. It makes me very angy when people confuse me with other super models and that's why I'm taking the Seahawks. People are always confusing Shaun Alexander with other runningbacks - calling him Tiki and stuff. And Matt Hasselbeck - people are always confusing him with that hockey player Mark Messier or some other bald guy. That has to make the Seahawks angry and I bet they take out their anger on the Redskins today. I'm taking Seattle and giving the points.
CT: Tom Brady is dreamy. The Patriots win this game out-right. I'm taking the Patriots on the money line with this one.
CT: Did you know that I was in a movie called Brown Bunny? I wasn't comfortable acting in that movie. I'm more comfortable acting when I play myself. Anyway, I bring up Brown Bunny because Jerome Bettis looks like a big brown energizer bunny and that's why I think the Steelers will win. Then again, my movie Brown Bunny ws a complete flop - so maybe the Steelers flop. Bill Cohwer does have a history of choking big time. Nope - I'm taking the points and the Steelers. Go my big fat brown bunny! Go!
CT: I'm from Minnesota which isn't far from Chicago. That's why I'm picking Carolina and taking the points.
Cheryl Tiegs who has been around the block several times - shares her NFL picks with A Large Regular.
Take it away Cheryl.
CT: In today's matinee - I like the Seahawks. People are always confusing me with other super models. They ask me why I divorced Billy Joel or why I divorced Rod Stewart. Well I was never married to either of those guys. That was other super models that made those poor choices. It makes me very angy when people confuse me with other super models and that's why I'm taking the Seahawks. People are always confusing Shaun Alexander with other runningbacks - calling him Tiki and stuff. And Matt Hasselbeck - people are always confusing him with that hockey player Mark Messier or some other bald guy. That has to make the Seahawks angry and I bet they take out their anger on the Redskins today. I'm taking Seattle and giving the points.
CT: Tom Brady is dreamy. The Patriots win this game out-right. I'm taking the Patriots on the money line with this one.
CT: Did you know that I was in a movie called Brown Bunny? I wasn't comfortable acting in that movie. I'm more comfortable acting when I play myself. Anyway, I bring up Brown Bunny because Jerome Bettis looks like a big brown energizer bunny and that's why I think the Steelers will win. Then again, my movie Brown Bunny ws a complete flop - so maybe the Steelers flop. Bill Cohwer does have a history of choking big time. Nope - I'm taking the points and the Steelers. Go my big fat brown bunny! Go!
CT: I'm from Minnesota which isn't far from Chicago. That's why I'm picking Carolina and taking the points.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Wow! Shark vs Octopus
This is fascinating.
I knew shark vs bear would be won by the bear but this was surprising.
HT NRO's Corner
This is fascinating.
I knew shark vs bear would be won by the bear but this was surprising.
HT NRO's Corner
Sports Guy Wrong About the Celtics
Bill Simmons goes off on a rant about Doc Rivers and the Celtics in his latest column but his conclusions are all wrong.
The rest of the column is a screed against Celtics Coach Doc Rivers where Simmons pretends to have expert knowledge about basketball. This charade is exposed with nuggets like this:
The real give-away that Simmons is just bloviating and does not truly know what he's talking about is the fact that he never once mentions Jim O'Brien who was Rivers predecessor and who by using Simmons points would have been considered a better coach than Rivers. Yet the reality is that O'Brien was exposed as a bad coach by his time in Philadelphia.
The truth is Doc Rivers and Danny Ainge work well together and this season is not about making the playoffs. It is about making things look close, look entertaining and yet still making the Draft Lottery because getting a good player out of the lottery is the only way the Celtics will get back to championship levels and that's what it is all about for true Celtics fans.
Bill Simmons goes off on a rant about Doc Rivers and the Celtics in his latest column but his conclusions are all wrong.
There's a decent chance that the Celtics could trade Paul Pierce within the next six weeks. I don't want that to happen because you can always find another head coach, but you can't always find another Paul Pierce. Still, the "Should we trade Paul?" question has been lingering over this team since November, when it became apparent that Pierce was heading for a career season on a subpar team. Playing his heart out every night, playing the most efficient basketball of his career, Pierce stands out the same way Tom Hanks stood out in late-'80s movies like "The Money Pit" and "Turner and Hooch." Back then, you always felt like Hanks could do better, that he would do better. Same with Pierce.Pierce is on the downward slope of his career. He's a cross between Antoine Walker and Mark Aguirre who never averaged more than 14 points per game after he hit 30-years old (Piece is almost 30). Bill - the Tom Hanks analogy just makes you look stupid. It just reminds me that you were the same guy who lost an NFL betting contest to a dog.
Pierce rarely forces anything, leads by example and does it with a smile on his face.Sports Guy obviously hasn't seen any Celtics games these past two years. The Pierce Pout has become famous in Boston. Doesn't force anything? Leads by example? Simmons must have wiped the memory of what Pierce did in the playoffs against Indiana last year out of his memory banks. Just to refresh everyone - here's how Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe described Pierce's "leadership" in that game:
Try this. There are 12.9 seconds left in regulation. The Celtics have a 1-point lead. Paul Pierce receives an inbounds pass and is fouled by Jamaal Tinsley. OK, he is fouled pretty hard by Jamaal Tinsley. OK, he is fouled very hard by Jamaal Tinsley, and he is hit in the face, and that's no fun. But all Pierce has to do is walk to the line, sink the two free throws that will put his team up by 3, engage in a little team defense, and walk off the floor, W in hand.Again - Bill how many Celtics games have you watched this year? What color is the sky on your planet?
But nooo. Pierce has to be macho. He lashes out with his left arm and is hit with a technical foul. No, seriously. He is thinking about Paul Pierce instead of the team. Reggie Miller sinks the technical free throw, of course. The game winds up in OT. Oh, and the OT is played without Pierce because it is his second technical. He also exits in a classless manner, pulling off his jersey and waving it at the crowd.
That leaves the Celtics with two options:When Reggie Lewis was playing you easily could have said that you'll never find another Reggie Lewis but shortly after his tragic death the Celtics drafted Paul Pierce. The Celtics were never going to win a championship with Reggie Lewis as their star player and these current Celtics will never win a championship with Paul Pierce as their best player. Its as simple as that. And saying all-star 6'6" small forwards don't grow on trees is just stupid. There is no commodity as available in the NBA as a 6'6" all-star small forward. Every offseason two or three change teams.
1. Trade Pierce now. I mean, RIGHT NOW. Get what you can, whether it's Luol Deng and picks from Chicago, Corey Maggette and Shaun Livingston from the Clippers or whatever. If they can convince Isiah to take Pierce and the Mark Blount/Raef LaFrentz/Brian Scalabrine/Dan Dickau "Salary Cap Poison Package" for expiring contracts and Channing Frye, even better.
2. Fire Doc Rivers and see if the 2005-2006 Celtics could be salvaged with a competent coach.
I vote for Option No. 2. You can always find another coach. You can't always find another Paul Pierce.
The rest of the column is a screed against Celtics Coach Doc Rivers where Simmons pretends to have expert knowledge about basketball. This charade is exposed with nuggets like this:
The Celtics average 16.6 turnovers a game ... only the Knicks (17.0) are worse. Well coached teams take care of the basketball.And this:
The Celts grab 10.0 offensive rebounds a game (26th in the league) and give up 12.2 (24th) for a differential of minus-2.2 (only Phoenix is worse). Well-coached teams don't give up second chance points.Larry Brown coaches the Knicks so by Simmons "logic" Doc Rivers is this a better coach than Larry Brown. The Suns are coached by Mike D'Antoni. By Simmons' logic Doc Rivers is thus a better coach than D'Antoni.
The real give-away that Simmons is just bloviating and does not truly know what he's talking about is the fact that he never once mentions Jim O'Brien who was Rivers predecessor and who by using Simmons points would have been considered a better coach than Rivers. Yet the reality is that O'Brien was exposed as a bad coach by his time in Philadelphia.
The truth is Doc Rivers and Danny Ainge work well together and this season is not about making the playoffs. It is about making things look close, look entertaining and yet still making the Draft Lottery because getting a good player out of the lottery is the only way the Celtics will get back to championship levels and that's what it is all about for true Celtics fans.
If Kennedy was Really Concerned with the Truth
I had tried to stay away from all things Alito but this one thought has bothered me all morning. If one wanted proof that Senator Kennedy was only interested in partisan politics instead of finding the truth in those decades old Concerned Alumni of Princeton papers he wants subpoenaed and that Alito was only tangentially associated with - you would only have to look as far as the fact that the Senior Senator from Massachusetts never called for John Kerry to make public either his health records or his military records. Alito is hoping to become just one of nine Supreme Court Justices and those CAP papers aren't about him and don't define him. John Kerry was running for THE most powerful job in the world and his health records and military records certainly did define who he is and was. Yet Kennedy never said "boo" about Kerry releasing those records.
I had tried to stay away from all things Alito but this one thought has bothered me all morning. If one wanted proof that Senator Kennedy was only interested in partisan politics instead of finding the truth in those decades old Concerned Alumni of Princeton papers he wants subpoenaed and that Alito was only tangentially associated with - you would only have to look as far as the fact that the Senior Senator from Massachusetts never called for John Kerry to make public either his health records or his military records. Alito is hoping to become just one of nine Supreme Court Justices and those CAP papers aren't about him and don't define him. John Kerry was running for THE most powerful job in the world and his health records and military records certainly did define who he is and was. Yet Kennedy never said "boo" about Kerry releasing those records.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
I'm no fan of Kevin Millar and that's all I'm going to say about the Orioles wasting their $2.1 million... Q: What did the fish say when it bumped its head on a cement wall? A: Dam!... Allan Embree is a good gamble for the Padres. Every year you see two or three older relievers reclaim their control and become valuable members of a pitching staff (see Bob Howry, Todd Jones and Rudy Seanez last year)... I watched Miller's Crossing again last night. Man - that s one great movie! IMDB has it rated as # 238 in the top 250 and that is much too low... I haven't written anything on the Alito hearings because like much of America, I'm bored with it. The plot is worn out by now. Lets see - qualified candidate gets grilled by leftist Senators who are more concerned with grandstanding to special interests groups like MoveOn.org and NARAL than with asking actual questions, candidate wonders if process is worth the hassle, candidate gets confirmed, people write about how Ted Kennedy made an ass out of himself. How many times do we have to see this same plot play out? It's gotten boring. It would only be exciting if it had a deus ex machina moment like Bush bursting into the hearings, point his finger at the committee, yell "stop being such a bunch of damn jackasses and confirm this good man" and storm out. Now that would be good TV...
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
I'm no fan of Kevin Millar and that's all I'm going to say about the Orioles wasting their $2.1 million... Q: What did the fish say when it bumped its head on a cement wall? A: Dam!... Allan Embree is a good gamble for the Padres. Every year you see two or three older relievers reclaim their control and become valuable members of a pitching staff (see Bob Howry, Todd Jones and Rudy Seanez last year)... I watched Miller's Crossing again last night. Man - that s one great movie! IMDB has it rated as # 238 in the top 250 and that is much too low... I haven't written anything on the Alito hearings because like much of America, I'm bored with it. The plot is worn out by now. Lets see - qualified candidate gets grilled by leftist Senators who are more concerned with grandstanding to special interests groups like MoveOn.org and NARAL than with asking actual questions, candidate wonders if process is worth the hassle, candidate gets confirmed, people write about how Ted Kennedy made an ass out of himself. How many times do we have to see this same plot play out? It's gotten boring. It would only be exciting if it had a deus ex machina moment like Bush bursting into the hearings, point his finger at the committee, yell "stop being such a bunch of damn jackasses and confirm this good man" and storm out. Now that would be good TV...
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
ANWR
Wow! I was blown away by the what the actual 2,000 acres of proposed development/exploration land actually looks like when put into perspective of the vastness of the entire Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Check this out and be blown away.
Wow! I was blown away by the what the actual 2,000 acres of proposed development/exploration land actually looks like when put into perspective of the vastness of the entire Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Check this out and be blown away.
The Baseball Hall of Fame, the UN and the Nobel Prize
I'm happy for Bruce Sutter. Really I am.
But I've about had it with the Baseball Writers of America.
Yesterday's Hall of Fame voting was probably the last straw. Yes I'm ticked that Jim Rice did not get voted in the Hall of Fame but I'm more disillusioned with the process than anything. No more do I want to hear a member of the BWAA smugly say that "its the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of the very good or the Hall of Longevity." No more do I want to hear that lame argument from baseball writers who get to vote just because they showed up for 10 years.
Jim Rice got 337 votes (or 64.8%) but needed 390 for enshrinement. Meanwhile five of these nattering nabobs of knownothingness found it in their "expert" analysis to waste five votes on Hal Morris and another 5 votes on Ozzie Guillen. That's right 5 jackasses voted for Hal Morris and another 5 voted for Ozzie Guillen. I won't even bring up the fact that Greg Jefferies got 2 votes.
Truth is - if Jim Rice just smiled at these morons with typewriters then he'd have been in the Hall of Fame with the likes of Smiling Kirby Puckett and Smiling Tony Perez long ago. Jim Rice didn't kiss their ass though - so he still finds himself on the outside looking in.
When I found out that Rice didn't make it my first reaction was to think about starting a petition for John Henry to retire Rice's number anyway (one of the conditions of getting a Red Sox number retired is election to the Hall of Fame). Carlton Fisk's number is retired by the Red Sox but compared to Rice - Fisk is not close to being a Red Sox all-time leader. Rice has more than double the home runs in a Red Sox uniform (382 to 162) and the difference in RBI is even more pronounced (1451 to 568). Yet Fisk has his Red Sox number retired and Rice does not.
This is a bad idea at this time though. If the Red Sox did the right thing and retired Rice's number anyway then some of the writers who are on the fence for Rice will not vote for him thinking that Rice has already been rewarded. Rice has three more years on the ballot and Red Sox ownership should continue to push for him getting voted in.
Where does the United Nations come into my rant? Let me explain.
The United Nations started off with the best of intentions but many of the same causes that has degenerated the UN into a den of thieves have also contributed to the BWAA degenerating into a den of morons. Each member nation of the UN gets a vote. So the vote of Belize is equal to the vote of the United States in General Assembly matters. This has become a real problem for the UN and it is also a big problem with the BWAA. The well qualified Peter Gammons gets a vote but so does the completely unqualified Bill Ballou of the Worcester Telegram. Ballou sent in a blank ballot this year just so he could write a self-righteous column about how none of the players were worthy of induction. This is the same Bill Ballou who refused to vote for Hideki Matsui for Rookie of the Year because he didn't think Japanese players should qualify for that award (he also got a self-righteous column out of that vote too). Trust me - I've been subjected to Bill Ballou for much of my life. He's a moron. If he was a UN nation - he'd be Haiti.
The other similar problem to the UN is secrecy.
The financial books of the UN are kept secret and thus scandals like the oil for food scandal are bred. The BWAA votes for the Hall of Fame are secret and thus we get two votes for Greg Jefferies.
I say make the votes public and make the writers defend their votes. If a writer voted for say Jefferies, Morris and Guillen - then there should be a vote of BWAA leaders to pull that voter's demented idea of voting. The BWAA should be proactive in getting rid of the deadwood otherwise we get more Hal Morris votes or writers jumping on a Poker Reese bandwagon in the future.
It used to be that getting elected to the Hall of Fame meant something but the bastardization of the process has watered down the award. What does enshrinement really mean when Kirby Puckett and Tony Perez are inside and Jim Rice who was twice the player is outside the walls? It reminds me of the Nobel Prize which used to be the most prestigious award in the world. Then the Bill Ballou's of the world started taking over the voting and we ended up with people like Arafat and Jimmy Carter making speeches in Stockholm.
To many people like me the Nobel Prize has become a joke. The Baseball Hall of Fame seems to be taking the same path.
I'm happy for Bruce Sutter. Really I am.
But I've about had it with the Baseball Writers of America.
Yesterday's Hall of Fame voting was probably the last straw. Yes I'm ticked that Jim Rice did not get voted in the Hall of Fame but I'm more disillusioned with the process than anything. No more do I want to hear a member of the BWAA smugly say that "its the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of the very good or the Hall of Longevity." No more do I want to hear that lame argument from baseball writers who get to vote just because they showed up for 10 years.
Jim Rice got 337 votes (or 64.8%) but needed 390 for enshrinement. Meanwhile five of these nattering nabobs of knownothingness found it in their "expert" analysis to waste five votes on Hal Morris and another 5 votes on Ozzie Guillen. That's right 5 jackasses voted for Hal Morris and another 5 voted for Ozzie Guillen. I won't even bring up the fact that Greg Jefferies got 2 votes.
Truth is - if Jim Rice just smiled at these morons with typewriters then he'd have been in the Hall of Fame with the likes of Smiling Kirby Puckett and Smiling Tony Perez long ago. Jim Rice didn't kiss their ass though - so he still finds himself on the outside looking in.
When I found out that Rice didn't make it my first reaction was to think about starting a petition for John Henry to retire Rice's number anyway (one of the conditions of getting a Red Sox number retired is election to the Hall of Fame). Carlton Fisk's number is retired by the Red Sox but compared to Rice - Fisk is not close to being a Red Sox all-time leader. Rice has more than double the home runs in a Red Sox uniform (382 to 162) and the difference in RBI is even more pronounced (1451 to 568). Yet Fisk has his Red Sox number retired and Rice does not.
This is a bad idea at this time though. If the Red Sox did the right thing and retired Rice's number anyway then some of the writers who are on the fence for Rice will not vote for him thinking that Rice has already been rewarded. Rice has three more years on the ballot and Red Sox ownership should continue to push for him getting voted in.
Where does the United Nations come into my rant? Let me explain.
The United Nations started off with the best of intentions but many of the same causes that has degenerated the UN into a den of thieves have also contributed to the BWAA degenerating into a den of morons. Each member nation of the UN gets a vote. So the vote of Belize is equal to the vote of the United States in General Assembly matters. This has become a real problem for the UN and it is also a big problem with the BWAA. The well qualified Peter Gammons gets a vote but so does the completely unqualified Bill Ballou of the Worcester Telegram. Ballou sent in a blank ballot this year just so he could write a self-righteous column about how none of the players were worthy of induction. This is the same Bill Ballou who refused to vote for Hideki Matsui for Rookie of the Year because he didn't think Japanese players should qualify for that award (he also got a self-righteous column out of that vote too). Trust me - I've been subjected to Bill Ballou for much of my life. He's a moron. If he was a UN nation - he'd be Haiti.
The other similar problem to the UN is secrecy.
The financial books of the UN are kept secret and thus scandals like the oil for food scandal are bred. The BWAA votes for the Hall of Fame are secret and thus we get two votes for Greg Jefferies.
I say make the votes public and make the writers defend their votes. If a writer voted for say Jefferies, Morris and Guillen - then there should be a vote of BWAA leaders to pull that voter's demented idea of voting. The BWAA should be proactive in getting rid of the deadwood otherwise we get more Hal Morris votes or writers jumping on a Poker Reese bandwagon in the future.
It used to be that getting elected to the Hall of Fame meant something but the bastardization of the process has watered down the award. What does enshrinement really mean when Kirby Puckett and Tony Perez are inside and Jim Rice who was twice the player is outside the walls? It reminds me of the Nobel Prize which used to be the most prestigious award in the world. Then the Bill Ballou's of the world started taking over the voting and we ended up with people like Arafat and Jimmy Carter making speeches in Stockholm.
To many people like me the Nobel Prize has become a joke. The Baseball Hall of Fame seems to be taking the same path.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
I'll Take the 60's for $300 Alex
Speaking about Judge Alito reminiscing about his college days, James Taranto in his Best of the Web today points out something on which I disagree. He points to a post by "Digby" on Atrios's website which states:
Me - I'm glad that Judge Alito was just a very good law student during the sixties.
Speaking about Judge Alito reminiscing about his college days, James Taranto in his Best of the Web today points out something on which I disagree. He points to a post by "Digby" on Atrios's website which states:
The [Vietnam] war provided two very distinct tribal pathways to manhood. One was to join "the revolution" which included the perk of having equally revolutionary women at their sides, freely joining in sexual as well as political adventure as part of the broader cultural revolution. (The 60's leftist got laid. A lot.) And he was also deeply engaged in the major issue of his age, the war in Vietnam, in a way that was not, at the time, seen as cowardly, but rather quite threatening. His masculine image encompassed both sides of the male archetypal coin--he was both virile and heroic.Taranto states that "By this puerile conception of masculinity, the ideal man would be one who embodies both Bill Clinton's tomcatting and John Kerry's showboating." By doing so he misses the point. Digby was showing extremes which by Digby's standards would be Lt. Calley on one end and Charles Manson on the other (Manson was a leftist revolutionary who did get laid a lot).
The other pathway to prove your manhood was to test your physical courage in battle. There was an actual bloody fight going on in Vietnam, after all.
Me - I'm glad that Judge Alito was just a very good law student during the sixties.
Hall of Fame Tuesday
Today the results of this years Hall of Fame ballots are announced. I don't have a vote but if I did - the following players would have their names checked:
- Jim Rice - no player has averaged a .300 batting average over a 10-year period and not been inducted. Six times Rice was top 5 in MVP voting (including the 1978 MVP).
- Andre Dawson - the National League Jim Rice. Although he was only top 5 in MVP voting 3 times (including the 1987 MVP) - Dawson also had 8 Gold Gloves to his name. He was the Vlade Guerrero of his day.
- Alan Trammell the man defined the Tigers as much as Cal Ripkin defined the Orioles. He doesn't have A-Rod's power numbers but he did hit 4th which says alot about the differences in eras.
That's it for my ballot. No Burt Blyleven (he cared about strikeouts the way Wade Boggs cared about singles and I'll be happy if he's stiffed). No Rich Gossage (sorry Yankee fans). No Bruce Sutter (I came close to putting him on my imaginary ballot though). Jack Morris and Tommy John were also tough to leave off my ballot.
Anyone voting for Gary DiSarcina should have their credentials revoked but there's always one joker in the crowd.
Today the results of this years Hall of Fame ballots are announced. I don't have a vote but if I did - the following players would have their names checked:
- Jim Rice - no player has averaged a .300 batting average over a 10-year period and not been inducted. Six times Rice was top 5 in MVP voting (including the 1978 MVP).
- Andre Dawson - the National League Jim Rice. Although he was only top 5 in MVP voting 3 times (including the 1987 MVP) - Dawson also had 8 Gold Gloves to his name. He was the Vlade Guerrero of his day.
- Alan Trammell the man defined the Tigers as much as Cal Ripkin defined the Orioles. He doesn't have A-Rod's power numbers but he did hit 4th which says alot about the differences in eras.
That's it for my ballot. No Burt Blyleven (he cared about strikeouts the way Wade Boggs cared about singles and I'll be happy if he's stiffed). No Rich Gossage (sorry Yankee fans). No Bruce Sutter (I came close to putting him on my imaginary ballot though). Jack Morris and Tommy John were also tough to leave off my ballot.
Anyone voting for Gary DiSarcina should have their credentials revoked but there's always one joker in the crowd.
Jack Snow RIP
The father of new Red Sox first baseman JT Snow has passed away.
Jack Snow was a Notre Dame grad, an all-pro reciever for the LA Rams and the father of three.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the Snow family.
The father of new Red Sox first baseman JT Snow has passed away.
Jack Snow was a Notre Dame grad, an all-pro reciever for the LA Rams and the father of three.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the Snow family.
The Tatnuck Bookseller and Air America
One of my favorite places just closed because the owners said they weren't making any (or enough) money.
The Tatnuck Bookseller has closed its doors (well technically they have a second location and the main location will still be having a 40% off sale this weekend but you get my point). I used to love going to the Tatnuck Bookseller. Most days I'd walk (3 miles round trip from my house), stop in, read and drink a coffee or have a beer. Some days I'd drive down and do some work in their cafe on my laptop. They had a self-serve bottomless cup of coffee, free wifi and Wachusett Country Ale on tap. It was quite a place.
Now its gone. Just like that.
For some strange reason - the closing of Tatnuck Bookseller has made me think about Air America Radio. How is it that Air America is still in "business" (I put business in scare quotes because an actual business is supposed to have a plan and make money)? The Tatnuck Bookseller's parking lot was always full and yet they have closed their doors. Air America has no customers or as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog puts it, "I own a conch shell with more listeners." Yet Air America is still on the air and still supposedly a viable organization. How can this be?
My guess is that someday soon Air America Radio will close its doors just like the Tatnuck Bookseller just did. There will be three main differences between Air America and Tatnuck Bookseller when that day comes:
1. Air America will not hold a 40% off Going Out of Business Sale
2. Nobody at Tatnuck Bookseller will have the theft of tens of thousands of dollars from a local charity on their conscience
3. People are actually saddened by the lost of Tatnuck Bookseller
One of my favorite places just closed because the owners said they weren't making any (or enough) money.
The Tatnuck Bookseller has closed its doors (well technically they have a second location and the main location will still be having a 40% off sale this weekend but you get my point). I used to love going to the Tatnuck Bookseller. Most days I'd walk (3 miles round trip from my house), stop in, read and drink a coffee or have a beer. Some days I'd drive down and do some work in their cafe on my laptop. They had a self-serve bottomless cup of coffee, free wifi and Wachusett Country Ale on tap. It was quite a place.
Now its gone. Just like that.
For some strange reason - the closing of Tatnuck Bookseller has made me think about Air America Radio. How is it that Air America is still in "business" (I put business in scare quotes because an actual business is supposed to have a plan and make money)? The Tatnuck Bookseller's parking lot was always full and yet they have closed their doors. Air America has no customers or as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog puts it, "I own a conch shell with more listeners." Yet Air America is still on the air and still supposedly a viable organization. How can this be?
My guess is that someday soon Air America Radio will close its doors just like the Tatnuck Bookseller just did. There will be three main differences between Air America and Tatnuck Bookseller when that day comes:
1. Air America will not hold a 40% off Going Out of Business Sale
2. Nobody at Tatnuck Bookseller will have the theft of tens of thousands of dollars from a local charity on their conscience
3. People are actually saddened by the lost of Tatnuck Bookseller
Monday, January 09, 2006
Marcus Vick Hits Bottom - Digs
Punk Marcus Vick arrested on gun charges.
Punk Marcus Vick arrested on gun charges.
Suffolk police told The Virginian-Pilot that the 21-year-old Vick surrendered at the magistrate’s office today on the misdemeanor charges and was later released on $10,000. A police spokeswoman said the parents of a 17-year-old boy said Vick pointed a weapon at their son and two others during an altercation yesterday.Suddenly Maurice Clarrett doesn't look so bad.
Heh Heh
Redneck economy car.
Lots more redneck comedy here.
HT Freedom Sight (who I've been meaning to add to the blogroll)
Redneck economy car.
Lots more redneck comedy here.
HT Freedom Sight (who I've been meaning to add to the blogroll)
Interesting Player Proposition Bet
I've seen at least one off-shore bookmaker set the over/under for the number of runs Johnny Damon will score next year for the Yankees at 125. Seeing how Damon has only topped 125 runs once in his career (136 in 2000 with KC) - I think the under would be a lock of a bet. The casino I saw offer this bet has since taken the bet down.
Too bad - it was easy money.
I've seen at least one off-shore bookmaker set the over/under for the number of runs Johnny Damon will score next year for the Yankees at 125. Seeing how Damon has only topped 125 runs once in his career (136 in 2000 with KC) - I think the under would be a lock of a bet. The casino I saw offer this bet has since taken the bet down.
Too bad - it was easy money.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Captain Quint on this Weekend's NFL Games
ALR: As a special treat - today A Large Regular got to speak with the legendary Captain Quint about this weekend's NFL games. Thank you for joining us Captain Quint - do you have a favorite team that you're rooting for?
Quint: Y'all know me. Know where I earn a livin'. I'm a New England man. I think they'll win it all, but it ain't gonna be easy. Tough teams. Not like playing the AFC East. These remaining teams can swallow you whole. No shakin', no tenderizin', down you go. So New England's gotta strike hard and fast especially since we'll be playin' on the road.
ALR: What do you think of coach Belichick?
Quint: The thing about Belichick is he's got lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eyes. When him and his team comes at you they don't seem to be human... until he beats you, and those black eyes roll over white. I've seen that happen on the sideline. Sometimes its the only emotion that seems to come out of him.
ALR: Anything you want to say about the Jaguars?
Quint: [singing] Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies / Farewell and adieu you ladies of Spain. / For we received orders for to sail back to Boston / And soon never more will we see you again. Heh heh [Quint reaches over and punches me in the arm - it hurts].
ALR: Did you see the Tampa Bay game?
Quint: That game sucked. The Redskin's offense was as useful as a camel on an oceanliner. I can't believe they won.
ALR: How about the Giants game? What do you think about these Manning kids?
Quint: I'll tell you what I think about those Manning kids - they got city boy hands, those Manning kids. They be countin' money all their life. I knew Carolina was gonna beat dem Giants and I'm glad they did it. I think everyone was sick about the talk about Peyton meeting little brother Eli in the Super Bowl.
ALR: How about the Steelers game? Did you see that hit on Carson Palmer?
Quint: That was a tough break for the Bengals. I wrecked my knee like that one time. I was Indian leg wrestling this big Russian guy in a bar in Singapore when snap - there went my ACL. Its tough to recover your mobility from a hit like that. Just look at the Patriots game. Did you see Leftwich trying to get away from the Patriots rush? I tell ya - I'll never put on a knee brace again.
ALR: What about Ben Roethlisberger? What did you think about him?
Quint: He's a big fella. Take two, three barrels to take him down.
ALR: Captain Quint thank you so much for joining us this morning. Anything you want to say to the readers here?
Quint: Here's to swimmin' with bow-legged women.
ALR: As a special treat - today A Large Regular got to speak with the legendary Captain Quint about this weekend's NFL games. Thank you for joining us Captain Quint - do you have a favorite team that you're rooting for?
Quint: Y'all know me. Know where I earn a livin'. I'm a New England man. I think they'll win it all, but it ain't gonna be easy. Tough teams. Not like playing the AFC East. These remaining teams can swallow you whole. No shakin', no tenderizin', down you go. So New England's gotta strike hard and fast especially since we'll be playin' on the road.
ALR: What do you think of coach Belichick?
Quint: The thing about Belichick is he's got lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eyes. When him and his team comes at you they don't seem to be human... until he beats you, and those black eyes roll over white. I've seen that happen on the sideline. Sometimes its the only emotion that seems to come out of him.
ALR: Anything you want to say about the Jaguars?
Quint: [singing] Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies / Farewell and adieu you ladies of Spain. / For we received orders for to sail back to Boston / And soon never more will we see you again. Heh heh [Quint reaches over and punches me in the arm - it hurts].
ALR: Did you see the Tampa Bay game?
Quint: That game sucked. The Redskin's offense was as useful as a camel on an oceanliner. I can't believe they won.
ALR: How about the Giants game? What do you think about these Manning kids?
Quint: I'll tell you what I think about those Manning kids - they got city boy hands, those Manning kids. They be countin' money all their life. I knew Carolina was gonna beat dem Giants and I'm glad they did it. I think everyone was sick about the talk about Peyton meeting little brother Eli in the Super Bowl.
ALR: How about the Steelers game? Did you see that hit on Carson Palmer?
Quint: That was a tough break for the Bengals. I wrecked my knee like that one time. I was Indian leg wrestling this big Russian guy in a bar in Singapore when snap - there went my ACL. Its tough to recover your mobility from a hit like that. Just look at the Patriots game. Did you see Leftwich trying to get away from the Patriots rush? I tell ya - I'll never put on a knee brace again.
ALR: What about Ben Roethlisberger? What did you think about him?
Quint: He's a big fella. Take two, three barrels to take him down.
ALR: Captain Quint thank you so much for joining us this morning. Anything you want to say to the readers here?
Quint: Here's to swimmin' with bow-legged women.
Happy Birthday Corporal Agarn
Larry Storch who played Corporal Agarn on F-Troop turned 83 today. Here's a bit of trivia from IMDB.com that I did not know about the show F-Troop:
Larry Storch who played Corporal Agarn on F-Troop turned 83 today. Here's a bit of trivia from IMDB.com that I did not know about the show F-Troop:
Melody Patterson was only 16 when she auditioned for the part, not really expecting to get it. When she found out that she did indeed get it, she and her mother put off telling the show's producers her real age until just before shooting started. By that time she had turned 17, still not of legal age. That's the main reason that, although you'll see Wrangler Jane pursue Wilton Parmenter at every conceivable opportunity, grabbing and kissing him whenever she gets the chance, he never kisses her first or even returns a kiss. In the second season - by which time Melody had turned 18 - Wilton is seen to be a bit more affectionate.
Aaron Sorkin Back To West Wing?
If this is true - then it is very good and welcome news for West Wing fans.
If this is true - then it is very good and welcome news for West Wing fans.
The First State of the Union Address
Interestingly, Washington delivered his address in person but the 3rd President, Thomas Jefferson simply wrote out his message and had copies delivered to each member of both houses of Congress. (I wonder if this was because Jefferson was not much of a public speaker and was reportedly rather shy in front of crowds.) Jefferson's precedent of a written message trumped Washington's precedent of a speech delivered in person for 112 years. From the White House web site:
You can find a copy of Washington's first State of the Union Address here.
"The President shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." Article II, Sec. 3, U.S. ConstitutionOn this day, 216 years ago, George Washington delivered the first State of the Union Address at Federal Hall in New York City.
Interestingly, Washington delivered his address in person but the 3rd President, Thomas Jefferson simply wrote out his message and had copies delivered to each member of both houses of Congress. (I wonder if this was because Jefferson was not much of a public speaker and was reportedly rather shy in front of crowds.) Jefferson's precedent of a written message trumped Washington's precedent of a speech delivered in person for 112 years. From the White House web site:
The first President to revive Washington's spoken precedent was Woodrow Wilson in 1913. Although controversial at the time, Wilson delivered his first annual message in person to both houses of Congress and outlined his legislative priorities.This is the format we know today (with the addition of the speech being "broadcast" over radio and TV live today).
You can find a copy of Washington's first State of the Union Address here.
Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.
I know that most of us work without contracts and are by definition "employees at will" but I can't help but wonder what it would be like for most of us if we went on vacation, called a bunch of other employees saying that we weren't happy with our jobs and were looking at moving on. Then right before our vacation was up - we called our boss and said that we changed our mind and would be staying on after all. The boss would have to consider us one hell of an employee to put up with that crap. This is why I think the reality of our own situations sours most of us on superstar pouting like that from multi-millionaires like Miguel "B12 shots are the secret of my success" Tejada and Manny Ramirez... Byung-Hyun Kim signing with the Rockies for just $1.25 million may be the signing of the offseason (value-wise). The downside for the Rockies is that Kim doesn't have much trade value because teams will be frightened that Kim won't react well to new surroundings... Who is the most overpaid Yankee?... I really, really wish that Al Leiter would just retire and that Fox would replace the terrible Tim "state the obvious" McCarver with Leiter in the broadcast booth... I wasn't sure how I felt about the Corey Koskie trade to the Brewers but when I read that the Brewers will only be responsible for just $2 million per year for 2006 and 2007 - I became convinced that this was a great move for the Brewers. With Troy Glaus at third and Shea Hillenbrand at DH - Koskie wasn't needed and his salary would be a drag on future moves by the Jays but the Blue Jays only got $.36 on the dollar and a minor league pitcher not even on the Brewers 40-man roster. This move may take JP Riccardi out as the early front-runner for 2006 Executive of the Year. Why not just wait till spring training to see what team loses a 3rd baseman to injury and get a better return on the dollar? The Brewers, however, already had 26-year old Bill Hall set to take a full-time starting role at 3rd. Last season Hall hit 17 HR and had an OPS of .837 (including 12 HR a .310 BA and a .917 OPS at home). Koskie is 6-years older and his career OPS of .825 is 12 points less than what Hall posted last year. One way to look at this deal is to compare it to what Boston just did signing JT Snow to back-up 26-year old Kevin Youkilis at first. The Brewers get the added benefits of Koskie being able to play 1st and the fact that he's signed for 2007 as well. One has to wonder if this move was made because Hall needs someone pushing him to compete for playing time to succeed? One more question - how come it is OK to mention you were surprised to find out Lew Ford was white and not OK to mention your were surprised that Bill Hall was black?... Shea Hillenbrand must be one hell of a teammate and clubhouse presence. In Toronto, his manager stepped up and told Riccardi not to trade Hillenbrand (even though they had a glut of 3rd baseman) and in Boston, local legend Johnny Pesky almost broke ties with the team when he found out Hillenbrand had been traded to Arizona...
Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.
I know that most of us work without contracts and are by definition "employees at will" but I can't help but wonder what it would be like for most of us if we went on vacation, called a bunch of other employees saying that we weren't happy with our jobs and were looking at moving on. Then right before our vacation was up - we called our boss and said that we changed our mind and would be staying on after all. The boss would have to consider us one hell of an employee to put up with that crap. This is why I think the reality of our own situations sours most of us on superstar pouting like that from multi-millionaires like Miguel "B12 shots are the secret of my success" Tejada and Manny Ramirez... Byung-Hyun Kim signing with the Rockies for just $1.25 million may be the signing of the offseason (value-wise). The downside for the Rockies is that Kim doesn't have much trade value because teams will be frightened that Kim won't react well to new surroundings... Who is the most overpaid Yankee?... I really, really wish that Al Leiter would just retire and that Fox would replace the terrible Tim "state the obvious" McCarver with Leiter in the broadcast booth... I wasn't sure how I felt about the Corey Koskie trade to the Brewers but when I read that the Brewers will only be responsible for just $2 million per year for 2006 and 2007 - I became convinced that this was a great move for the Brewers. With Troy Glaus at third and Shea Hillenbrand at DH - Koskie wasn't needed and his salary would be a drag on future moves by the Jays but the Blue Jays only got $.36 on the dollar and a minor league pitcher not even on the Brewers 40-man roster. This move may take JP Riccardi out as the early front-runner for 2006 Executive of the Year. Why not just wait till spring training to see what team loses a 3rd baseman to injury and get a better return on the dollar? The Brewers, however, already had 26-year old Bill Hall set to take a full-time starting role at 3rd. Last season Hall hit 17 HR and had an OPS of .837 (including 12 HR a .310 BA and a .917 OPS at home). Koskie is 6-years older and his career OPS of .825 is 12 points less than what Hall posted last year. One way to look at this deal is to compare it to what Boston just did signing JT Snow to back-up 26-year old Kevin Youkilis at first. The Brewers get the added benefits of Koskie being able to play 1st and the fact that he's signed for 2007 as well. One has to wonder if this move was made because Hall needs someone pushing him to compete for playing time to succeed? One more question - how come it is OK to mention you were surprised to find out Lew Ford was white and not OK to mention your were surprised that Bill Hall was black?... Shea Hillenbrand must be one hell of a teammate and clubhouse presence. In Toronto, his manager stepped up and told Riccardi not to trade Hillenbrand (even though they had a glut of 3rd baseman) and in Boston, local legend Johnny Pesky almost broke ties with the team when he found out Hillenbrand had been traded to Arizona...
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Whither Clemens?
Where will Roger Clemens pitch in 2006? Here are the latest odds:
Retired 9/5
Houston Astros 7/2
New York Yankees 3/1
Boston Red Sox 2/1
Texas Rangers 5/1
Other MLB team 5/1
I don't think he'll retire and the "other MLB team" isn't right either. If I had to guess - I'd go with the Astros but Clemens is a gun for hire so I wouldn't rule out him signing a big one-year contract with the Red Sox, Yankees or Rangers either.
Where will Roger Clemens pitch in 2006? Here are the latest odds:
Retired 9/5
Houston Astros 7/2
New York Yankees 3/1
Boston Red Sox 2/1
Texas Rangers 5/1
Other MLB team 5/1
I don't think he'll retire and the "other MLB team" isn't right either. If I had to guess - I'd go with the Astros but Clemens is a gun for hire so I wouldn't rule out him signing a big one-year contract with the Red Sox, Yankees or Rangers either.
A Man Worthy of Respect Passes
Hugh Thompson Jr. has died from cancer.
Hugh Thompson Jr. has died from cancer.
Early in the morning of March 16, 1968, Thompson, door-gunner Lawrence Colburn and crew chief Glenn Andreotta came upon U.S. ground troops killing Vietnamese civilians in and around the village of My Lai.Quoting a fictional character here may seem trite but the words that come to mind for me are from Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter, "It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends." Hugh Thompson obviously was a man of courage.
They landed the helicopter in the line of fire between American troops and fleeing Vietnamese civilians and pointed their own guns at the U.S. soldiers to prevent more killings.
Punk Marcus Vick Sent Packing by VTech
Marcus Vick has been told that his presence is no longer welcome on the VTech football team. All I can say is, "GOOD!"
I have no doubt that this decision was made by University president Charles Steger and not by football coach Frank Beamer. In fact I can imagine a discussion between the two going something like this:
CS: Marcus Vick is no longer to be a member of the football team effective immediately.
FB: Charlie we should give the young man one more shot. How about if I suspend him for the first game next year? It's against Kent State anyways.
CS: How many last chances are supposed to give this thug? He's embarrassing everyone at the university. He's off the team and I mean now. Do you want to tell him or should I?
FB: I guess I should tell him.
Marcus Vick couldn't care less. He thinks he's off to the millions of the NFL and he's sadly probably correct. I think he's talented by also over-rated but I also think some team will take a chance on him. Will it be in the first round?
Well Oakland is well known for taking players of questionable character but they draft 6th in the first round and I doubt they take that big of a chance. Some people have suggested that Baltimore might take a chance at 13 but I don't think so because Ozzie Newsome knows better. Atlanta at 15 has other needs than QB so they should pass on Ron NEW Mexico too. I really don't see Vick going in the first round. I also have a hard time seeing someone risking a second round pick on him.
I do know that what ever team takes Vick will immediately become my least favorite team in the NFL and yes I am "player hatin'" right now. Out of curiosity - I wonder what the lowest recorded Wonderlic score has been prior to Vick taking the test? Jeff George and Michael Bishop are the lowest I know with scores of 10 each. Michael Vick scored 20 but I see Marcus being closer to George and Bishop.
Marcus Vick has been told that his presence is no longer welcome on the VTech football team. All I can say is, "GOOD!"
I have no doubt that this decision was made by University president Charles Steger and not by football coach Frank Beamer. In fact I can imagine a discussion between the two going something like this:
CS: Marcus Vick is no longer to be a member of the football team effective immediately.
FB: Charlie we should give the young man one more shot. How about if I suspend him for the first game next year? It's against Kent State anyways.
CS: How many last chances are supposed to give this thug? He's embarrassing everyone at the university. He's off the team and I mean now. Do you want to tell him or should I?
FB: I guess I should tell him.
Marcus Vick couldn't care less. He thinks he's off to the millions of the NFL and he's sadly probably correct. I think he's talented by also over-rated but I also think some team will take a chance on him. Will it be in the first round?
Well Oakland is well known for taking players of questionable character but they draft 6th in the first round and I doubt they take that big of a chance. Some people have suggested that Baltimore might take a chance at 13 but I don't think so because Ozzie Newsome knows better. Atlanta at 15 has other needs than QB so they should pass on Ron NEW Mexico too. I really don't see Vick going in the first round. I also have a hard time seeing someone risking a second round pick on him.
I do know that what ever team takes Vick will immediately become my least favorite team in the NFL and yes I am "player hatin'" right now. Out of curiosity - I wonder what the lowest recorded Wonderlic score has been prior to Vick taking the test? Jeff George and Michael Bishop are the lowest I know with scores of 10 each. Michael Vick scored 20 but I see Marcus being closer to George and Bishop.
Friday, January 06, 2006
Vijay Singh - the World's Number Two
OK - I admit that sometimes I'm as mature as a 10-year old boy. This is one of those times. I just heard Vijay Singh described as "the world's number two" on ESPN. Maybe its because they didn't add in "player" or "golfer" at the end but my mind immediately went to thoughts scatalogical.
I will just die laughing if one of the announcers at the Mercedes Championship says that Vijay is "steaming".
OK - I admit that sometimes I'm as mature as a 10-year old boy. This is one of those times. I just heard Vijay Singh described as "the world's number two" on ESPN. Maybe its because they didn't add in "player" or "golfer" at the end but my mind immediately went to thoughts scatalogical.
I will just die laughing if one of the announcers at the Mercedes Championship says that Vijay is "steaming".
JT Snow and the Red Sox
Veteran first baseman JT Snow has signed a 1-year $2 million contract with the Red Sox. I like this signing very much but here are some other miscellaneous thoughts on the signing.
- $2 million is exactly what Snow made with the Giants last year so it has a certain symmetry to it. However - it does seem a bit strange that Snow will make 5-times as much as Kevin Youkilis and Youkilis is slated to be the starter and Snow the veteran backup. That's just baseball economics I guess.
- It is nice that the Red Sox now have a righty (Youkilis) and lefty (Snow) combo at first. However, Youkilis hits righties pretty good so I wonder how the platoon situation will work (besides the late inning defensive replacement usage of Snow).
- I didn't realize that Snow first came up with the Yankees and had a cup of coffee with them back in 1992. However almost immediately Snow was traded to the Angels for Jim Abbott who went 20-22 in two years in the Bronx.
- Even cooler (to me at least) when Snow was traded to the Giants from the Angels - one of the minor leaguers thrown into the deal was Fausto Macey. What a great name! Fausto Macey. If I was a rock star - I'd check into hotels under the name of Fausto Macey.
- When Snow is in the line-up - Boston may have the best fielding infield in MLB (Lowell at third, Cora at short, Loretta at second and Snow at first). Those guys may not have the range of youngsters but their experience and baseball savvy is unmatched. There will be no stupid mistakes from this group. Derek Lowe would have killed for this infield when he was in Boston.
- I wonder if part of Snow's contract stipulates that if he catches the final out in a World Series that he must turn over the ball to management?
Veteran first baseman JT Snow has signed a 1-year $2 million contract with the Red Sox. I like this signing very much but here are some other miscellaneous thoughts on the signing.
- $2 million is exactly what Snow made with the Giants last year so it has a certain symmetry to it. However - it does seem a bit strange that Snow will make 5-times as much as Kevin Youkilis and Youkilis is slated to be the starter and Snow the veteran backup. That's just baseball economics I guess.
- It is nice that the Red Sox now have a righty (Youkilis) and lefty (Snow) combo at first. However, Youkilis hits righties pretty good so I wonder how the platoon situation will work (besides the late inning defensive replacement usage of Snow).
- I didn't realize that Snow first came up with the Yankees and had a cup of coffee with them back in 1992. However almost immediately Snow was traded to the Angels for Jim Abbott who went 20-22 in two years in the Bronx.
- Even cooler (to me at least) when Snow was traded to the Giants from the Angels - one of the minor leaguers thrown into the deal was Fausto Macey. What a great name! Fausto Macey. If I was a rock star - I'd check into hotels under the name of Fausto Macey.
- When Snow is in the line-up - Boston may have the best fielding infield in MLB (Lowell at third, Cora at short, Loretta at second and Snow at first). Those guys may not have the range of youngsters but their experience and baseball savvy is unmatched. There will be no stupid mistakes from this group. Derek Lowe would have killed for this infield when he was in Boston.
- I wonder if part of Snow's contract stipulates that if he catches the final out in a World Series that he must turn over the ball to management?
The Threat of Islam - The Pope Sees it Clearly
Very interesting information via Hugh Hewett.
An interview with Father Jospeh Fessio, Provosty of Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida, and student and friend of Benedict XVI provides some gems of insight such as why Islam is not compatible with modernity:
Very interesting information via Hugh Hewett.
An interview with Father Jospeh Fessio, Provosty of Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida, and student and friend of Benedict XVI provides some gems of insight such as why Islam is not compatible with modernity:
...And immediately, the Holy Father, in his beautiful calm but clear way, said well, there's a fundamental problem with that, because he said in the Islamic tradition, God has given His word to Mohammed, but it's an eternal word. It's not Mohammed's word. It's there for eternity the way it is. There's no possibility of adapting it or interpreting it, whereas in Christianity, and Judaism, the dynamism's completely different, that God has worked through His creatures. And so, it is not just the word of God, it's the word of Isaiah, not just the word of God, but the word of Mark. He's used His human creatures, and inspired them to speak His word to the world, and therefore by establishing a Church in which he gives authority to His followers to carry on the tradition and interpret it, there's an inner logic to the Christian Bible, which permits it and requires it to be adapted and applied to new situations. I was...I mean, Hugh, I wish I could say it as clearly and as beautifully as he did, but that's why he's Pope and I'm not, okay? That's one of the reasons. One of others, but his seeing that distinction when the Koran, which is seen as something dropped out of Heaven, which cannot be adapted or applied, even, and the Bible, which is a word of God that comes through a human community, it was stunning.Some people have been raising the specter of Europe becoming Islamic in the next 50 years and it should be noted that "there are 98 Islamic countries in the world, and 97 of them do not have religious freedom". I'm starting to think that Islam itself and not just radical Islam is the real threat Western civilization is facing.
HH: And so, is it fair to describe him as a pessimist about the prospect of modernity truly engaging Islam in the way modernity has engaged Christianity?
JF: Well, the other way around.
HH: Yes. I meant that.
JF: Yeah, that Christianity can engage modernity just like it did...the Jews did Egypt, or Christians did to Greece, because we can take what's good there, and we can elevate it through the revelation of Christ in the Bible. But Islam is stuck. It's stuck with a text that cannot be adapted, or even be interpreted properly.
Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
The Saint Louis Rams could have kept Dick Vermeil, they could have opted for Lovie Smith but instead they went with Mike Martz. Hah Hah.... Miguel Tejada for Bobby Abreu seems to be a good match although I'd love for the Phillies to bite on a Matt Clement and Trot Nixon for Abreu deal... Am I the only one that is bugged by the fact that the guy who does the narration for PBS's Frontline is also doing voice-overs for the King Kong commercials?... I don't get the fascination with Herm Edwards. To me he's just the next Dave Wannstedt. Jim Hasslett, meanwhile, is just a blonde Rich Kotite... Speaking of trades I'd like to see - three way trade with the A's. Red Sox and Dodgers. The Sox send David Wells to the Dodgers, the A's send pitcher Joe Kennedy to the Sox and the Dodgers send Edwin Jackson to the A's (or other suitable prospects)... I feel bad that Worcester's Jerry Azumah may be all done with the Bears after this season but those feelings are tempered by the fact that the Patriots need secondary help and Azumah may be coming home to New England...
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
The Saint Louis Rams could have kept Dick Vermeil, they could have opted for Lovie Smith but instead they went with Mike Martz. Hah Hah.... Miguel Tejada for Bobby Abreu seems to be a good match although I'd love for the Phillies to bite on a Matt Clement and Trot Nixon for Abreu deal... Am I the only one that is bugged by the fact that the guy who does the narration for PBS's Frontline is also doing voice-overs for the King Kong commercials?... I don't get the fascination with Herm Edwards. To me he's just the next Dave Wannstedt. Jim Hasslett, meanwhile, is just a blonde Rich Kotite... Speaking of trades I'd like to see - three way trade with the A's. Red Sox and Dodgers. The Sox send David Wells to the Dodgers, the A's send pitcher Joe Kennedy to the Sox and the Dodgers send Edwin Jackson to the A's (or other suitable prospects)... I feel bad that Worcester's Jerry Azumah may be all done with the Bears after this season but those feelings are tempered by the fact that the Patriots need secondary help and Azumah may be coming home to New England...
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Separated at Birth?
I had to think about it for quite a while but to me the big game exploits of Vince Young last night can only be matched in recent memory by Jack Morris' 1991 Game 7 of the World Series. That's the last time I can recall a single player carrying a team on his back in a game as close as last night's.
I had to think about it for quite a while but to me the big game exploits of Vince Young last night can only be matched in recent memory by Jack Morris' 1991 Game 7 of the World Series. That's the last time I can recall a single player carrying a team on his back in a game as close as last night's.
USC / Texas
Maybe the greatest championship college football game ever played. My hats off to the Longhorns and Vince Young. However, I do want to bring up a point that I doubt you'll see mentioned anywhere else.
Keep in mind that the final score was 41-38. USC lost by 3 points. In the first quarter (at the 6:30 mark) USC had a fourth and one from Texas' 17-yard line. It was reported that Pete Carroll wanted USC to line-up and try to draw Texas offsides. When that didn't work - Carroll wanted to call timeout to bring on the field goal team. Instead Matt Leinart decided to go for it but was stopped for no gain. That unilateral decision by Leinart probably cost USC 3 points.
Let me remind you that USC lost by 3 points.
Let me also remind you of something I wrote after the USC / Notre Dame game:
Maybe the greatest championship college football game ever played. My hats off to the Longhorns and Vince Young. However, I do want to bring up a point that I doubt you'll see mentioned anywhere else.
Keep in mind that the final score was 41-38. USC lost by 3 points. In the first quarter (at the 6:30 mark) USC had a fourth and one from Texas' 17-yard line. It was reported that Pete Carroll wanted USC to line-up and try to draw Texas offsides. When that didn't work - Carroll wanted to call timeout to bring on the field goal team. Instead Matt Leinart decided to go for it but was stopped for no gain. That unilateral decision by Leinart probably cost USC 3 points.
Let me remind you that USC lost by 3 points.
Let me also remind you of something I wrote after the USC / Notre Dame game:
On that final play some writers are giving Carroll credit for going for the win instead of a tie. The fact is Carroll was going for a tie. He wanted Leinart to spike the ball so the kicking team could come on. Leinart and Reggie Bush decided they knew better and instead went for the TD. This play is going to come back to haunt Pete Carroll.I didn't think this would come back to bite USC in the ass so quickly but it has. If USC kicked that field goal in the first quarter - then the score is 10-0 and we have a toltally different game and maybe a much different outcome.
Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush are extremely talented (Bush more so than Leinart in my opinion but I’ll get to that in a moment). What they did on that final play was an act of insubordination – an act of mutiny if you will. They decided that they knew better than their superior officer / captain (Coach Carroll) and flagrantly disobeyed him. Luckily for them – they were successful and they provided a legendary ending to a legendary game.
What about the Leinart and Bush wannabe’s though? Leinart and Bush are legendary now for what they did at the end of this game and USC thrives as a program because they get players who want to be legends. The ego on these players will make them think that they are bigger than the program and certainly bigger than Coach Carroll. I’m predicting that you will start to see more open insubordination in the USC program now that Leinart and Bush have shown they can get away with it and be rewarded (none of the Leinart / Bush wannabe’s will allow the thought of failure to enter their mind – they will just see the glory in their minds an won’t see the ramifications of their inevitable failure). The dam has been cracked.
The Other Shoe
With all the noise about Jack Abramoff - I have to wonder if there will be an equal amount of noise when the other shoe drops. I have no doubt the other shoe will drop and also I have no doubt the MSM will be strangely silent about it.
Betsy reminds us that the Henry Cisneros saga is still waiting to be resolved (or is that reported?). Meanwhile I have another question to ask - does anyone out there remember David Rosen?
Rosen was a top finance aid for Hillary Clinton's bid to be elected Senator from New York. Rosen was acquitted of two counts of filing false campaign finance statements with the Federal Election Commission. Two things to remember about this case - nobody denied that laws were broken (but it was a mistake - like not seeing a stop sign) and a "secret" informant was used by the FBI to help make the case against Rosen.
To the first point - the Hillary Clinton fund raising event in question was bankrolled, organized and staged by two felons - Peter Paul and Aaron Tonken, who is currently serving a 63-month sentence on fraud charges stemming from celebrity charity fund-raisers he organized. Peter Paul was a two-time felon at the time he bankrolled the fundraiser in question and is now a three-time convicted felon who (according to this article in the New York Sun) also happens to be suing Mr. and Mrs. Clinton;
That brings us to what the Sun terms "the confidential witness (CW)".
Again using the New York Sun article as my source:
Keep in mind that the relationships in both parties are very incestuous. It is unlikely that the CW only worked on the Clinton Gala. For example - David Rosen was involved not just in fund raising for Clinton but also with Wesley Clark and Donnie Fowler who lost out to Howard Dean for the position of Democratic National Committee chairman.
Heck - politics has become so incestuous at this point that I wouldn't be surprised if the "confidential witness" turned out to be Jack Abramoff.
With all the noise about Jack Abramoff - I have to wonder if there will be an equal amount of noise when the other shoe drops. I have no doubt the other shoe will drop and also I have no doubt the MSM will be strangely silent about it.
Betsy reminds us that the Henry Cisneros saga is still waiting to be resolved (or is that reported?). Meanwhile I have another question to ask - does anyone out there remember David Rosen?
Rosen was a top finance aid for Hillary Clinton's bid to be elected Senator from New York. Rosen was acquitted of two counts of filing false campaign finance statements with the Federal Election Commission. Two things to remember about this case - nobody denied that laws were broken (but it was a mistake - like not seeing a stop sign) and a "secret" informant was used by the FBI to help make the case against Rosen.
To the first point - the Hillary Clinton fund raising event in question was bankrolled, organized and staged by two felons - Peter Paul and Aaron Tonken, who is currently serving a 63-month sentence on fraud charges stemming from celebrity charity fund-raisers he organized. Peter Paul was a two-time felon at the time he bankrolled the fundraiser in question and is now a three-time convicted felon who (according to this article in the New York Sun) also happens to be suing Mr. and Mrs. Clinton;
"...alleging the former president and first lady took more than $2 million in illegal donations, misreported them, and failed to follow through on a deal that involved Mr. Clinton coming to work for Paul's now-defunct Internet company, Stan Lee Media."David Rosen may have been acquitted but I don't think this case is going away (some have said that Rosen was acquitted only because the witnesses were slimier than the defendant).
That brings us to what the Sun terms "the confidential witness (CW)".
Again using the New York Sun article as my source:
"The CW [confidential witness] is related to an extremely prominent and well-known political figure. It can be expected that the fact that CW was working in an undercover capacity for the FBI will become the subject of intense media attention," prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg wrote in a November 2004 memo asking a federal magistrate to keep the relationship under wraps.The FBI cannot be happy with the results of the Rosen case and I would guess have redoubled their pressure on their "confidential witness" to give them something they can use in exchange for leniency in his/her bank fraud case. Is there another shoe here?
An affidavit filed by a Los Angeles-based FBI agent, David Smith, said the informant began working with the FBI in July 2002."The CW states that s/he is active in fundraising for the Democratic Party. CW assisted in the U.S. Senate campaign of Hillary Clinton. S/he was involved in the planning of the Clinton Gala," Mr. Smith wrote in January 2003. "The CW is the target of an FBI investigation on unrelated bank fraud charges. S/he has since signed a plea agreement, and has agreed to cooperate in this case."
Keep in mind that the relationships in both parties are very incestuous. It is unlikely that the CW only worked on the Clinton Gala. For example - David Rosen was involved not just in fund raising for Clinton but also with Wesley Clark and Donnie Fowler who lost out to Howard Dean for the position of Democratic National Committee chairman.
Heck - politics has become so incestuous at this point that I wouldn't be surprised if the "confidential witness" turned out to be Jack Abramoff.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Pirates Flotsam and Jetsam
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations on some of the latest Pittsburgh Pirates baseball news .
The Pirates and GM Dave Littlefield have recently significantly overpaid for both OF Jeromy Burnitz and 3B Joe Randa.
Burnitz was supposed to sign with the Orioles but it appears that the Orioles front office may have jerked him around on contract details which left the door open for the Pirates and Littlefield to call Burnitz's agent and say, "Hey we'd be interested in signing Jeromy at $6 million per year too." (The second year in Burnitz deal is a mutual option.) Burnitz then said to the Orioles, "Screw you guys - I'm going home".
Joe Randa was signed for one year and $4 million. Personally, I've never understood the fascination with Randa. I've always thought he was seriously over-rated. Put me into the same camp as the annonymous guy who sponsors Randa's Baseball-Reference.com page:
I'm not sure the Pirates really needed either Burnitz or Randa either. Its not like these guys are filling serious holes in the organization.
The Pirates already had the 29-year old Craig Wilson for left field who hit 29 HR in 2004. Is there some medical problem with Wilson that the Pirates aren't sharing? OK - if you weren't comfortable with Craig Wilson - how about Preston Wilson who just signed a deal that will pay him $4 million in 2006 ($2.7 million less than what Burnitz will get from the Pirates in 2006 - although Wilson also has a 3-year option that will cost another $6 million per year if picked up). Wilson is 31 compared to Burnitz's 37 (and yes I know Wilson has balky knees but he's also just a one-year risk at less money than Burnitz).
Tony Graffanino is a much better player than Joe Randa (I will not argue this point) and he could have been signed for 2-years $5 million. Heck - Freddy Sanchez is a better player than Randa and he's already on the Pirates roster.
Littlefield could have saved $4.2 million in 2006 and used that money to sign a starting pitcher. That's their real need.
If the Pirates are to contend then Zach Duke has to be an ace and Kip Wells has to be a solid number 2. The Pirates could have signed Jeff Weaver to a one year deal for between $4-6 million and been much better off.
Instead they got Burnitz and Randa.
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations on some of the latest Pittsburgh Pirates baseball news .
The Pirates and GM Dave Littlefield have recently significantly overpaid for both OF Jeromy Burnitz and 3B Joe Randa.
Burnitz was supposed to sign with the Orioles but it appears that the Orioles front office may have jerked him around on contract details which left the door open for the Pirates and Littlefield to call Burnitz's agent and say, "Hey we'd be interested in signing Jeromy at $6 million per year too." (The second year in Burnitz deal is a mutual option.) Burnitz then said to the Orioles, "Screw you guys - I'm going home".
Joe Randa was signed for one year and $4 million. Personally, I've never understood the fascination with Randa. I've always thought he was seriously over-rated. Put me into the same camp as the annonymous guy who sponsors Randa's Baseball-Reference.com page:
Joey Randa, proof that in the day of steroids, warning track power, a .280 avg. and .400 slugging % can still get you $2MM/yr. So toast the Joker who never saw a ball he couldn't pop up or a double play he couldn't hit into. The Colonel salutes you.Right back at you Colonel. Randa has never hit 20 HR in a season and the most similar batter to him (according to Baseball-Reference.com) is Jeff Cirillo and yet this contract will be the third time he'll be paid $4 million or more in a year. I don't get it.
I'm not sure the Pirates really needed either Burnitz or Randa either. Its not like these guys are filling serious holes in the organization.
The Pirates already had the 29-year old Craig Wilson for left field who hit 29 HR in 2004. Is there some medical problem with Wilson that the Pirates aren't sharing? OK - if you weren't comfortable with Craig Wilson - how about Preston Wilson who just signed a deal that will pay him $4 million in 2006 ($2.7 million less than what Burnitz will get from the Pirates in 2006 - although Wilson also has a 3-year option that will cost another $6 million per year if picked up). Wilson is 31 compared to Burnitz's 37 (and yes I know Wilson has balky knees but he's also just a one-year risk at less money than Burnitz).
Tony Graffanino is a much better player than Joe Randa (I will not argue this point) and he could have been signed for 2-years $5 million. Heck - Freddy Sanchez is a better player than Randa and he's already on the Pirates roster.
Littlefield could have saved $4.2 million in 2006 and used that money to sign a starting pitcher. That's their real need.
If the Pirates are to contend then Zach Duke has to be an ace and Kip Wells has to be a solid number 2. The Pirates could have signed Jeff Weaver to a one year deal for between $4-6 million and been much better off.
Instead they got Burnitz and Randa.
Judge Alito's Bold Justice Coffee
I got a caffine kick out of this story.
For social justice though - I think it's still hard to top these coffee growers.
HT FARK
I got a caffine kick out of this story.
For social justice though - I think it's still hard to top these coffee growers.
HT FARK
Joke of the Day
Not much happening so I thought I'd toss a joke out at you:
Not much happening so I thought I'd toss a joke out at you:
Young man was working in the produce department of a large grocery store chain. One day a guy about the size of Shaq asked him for half a head of lettuce. He told the big man he would be right back and went through a set of doors where his supervisor was working. Little did he know that the giant dude was right behind him. When the young man saw his boss he hollered, "Hey boss, some big dumb son of a bitch wants to buy half a head of lettuce." When he turned around he realized the big hulk was standing behind him. He then quickly told his boss, "And this fine gentleman wants to buy the other half."
Well the supervisor was impressed with the young man's quick thinking. He asked the young guy if he would consider taking a management position. The youngster replied, "Sure, where at?"
The boss told the kid, "We have an opening in a store in Canada."
The young man said, "Canada! The only things in Canada are whores and hockey players."
Upon which the boss replies, "My wife is from Canada."
"Oh yeah", says the kid. "Which team does she play for?"
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Jack Abramoff Going to Jail - for How Long?
Some off shore bookmakers are laying odds on how many years lobbyist Jack Abramoff will be sentenced to. Here are the current odds:
Under 3 years 3/2
3 to under 5 years 2/1
5 to under 8 years 3/1
8 to under 15 years 6/1
15 years or more 9/1
Any legal eagles out there want to help me place a bet? I'm leaning towards 5-8 years because the prosecutors supposedly will be asking for 9-11 years.
Some off shore bookmakers are laying odds on how many years lobbyist Jack Abramoff will be sentenced to. Here are the current odds:
Under 3 years 3/2
3 to under 5 years 2/1
5 to under 8 years 3/1
8 to under 15 years 6/1
15 years or more 9/1
Any legal eagles out there want to help me place a bet? I'm leaning towards 5-8 years because the prosecutors supposedly will be asking for 9-11 years.
Marcus Vick - Thug
I first heard of this incident yesterday via Eric at Off Wing Opinion, but I just saw the video. Is there any doubt that Marcus Vick is nothing but a thug? Any doubt at all?
HT Sports Frog
I first heard of this incident yesterday via Eric at Off Wing Opinion, but I just saw the video. Is there any doubt that Marcus Vick is nothing but a thug? Any doubt at all?
HT Sports Frog
In Justice
One of the more annoying things about watching yesterday's Notre Dame / Ohio State game on ABC (besides the Brady Quinn's sister obsession) was all the commercials for ABC's new drama In Justice. I'm predicting right here and now that this show will be a colossal flop.
People don't want to watch cop / lawyer shows where the "criminals" (or the lawyers for that matter) end up as the good guys. One of the reasons for the success of shows like Law and Order and CSI is the fact that the bad guys get nailed. This show will try to make our justice system the "bad guy" and it ain't gonna fly.
On a side note - Jason O'Mara, who co-stars in this show with Kyle MacLachlan, played Lt. Meehan in Band of Brothers.
One of the more annoying things about watching yesterday's Notre Dame / Ohio State game on ABC (besides the Brady Quinn's sister obsession) was all the commercials for ABC's new drama In Justice. I'm predicting right here and now that this show will be a colossal flop.
People don't want to watch cop / lawyer shows where the "criminals" (or the lawyers for that matter) end up as the good guys. One of the reasons for the success of shows like Law and Order and CSI is the fact that the bad guys get nailed. This show will try to make our justice system the "bad guy" and it ain't gonna fly.
On a side note - Jason O'Mara, who co-stars in this show with Kyle MacLachlan, played Lt. Meehan in Band of Brothers.
Burnitz to the Pirates?
It looks like Jeromy Burnitz is about to sign with Pittsburgh. What the hell happened with the Orioles? This could be a sign that the Tejada for Manny deal is still alive but it also could be a sign that the Orioles front office is still as screwed-up as ever and can't get a simple deal done. They had Burnitz down to taking his physical. Maybe they came to their senses about giving the 37-year old Burnitz $12 million?
Curious minds want to know.
It looks like Jeromy Burnitz is about to sign with Pittsburgh. What the hell happened with the Orioles? This could be a sign that the Tejada for Manny deal is still alive but it also could be a sign that the Orioles front office is still as screwed-up as ever and can't get a simple deal done. They had Burnitz down to taking his physical. Maybe they came to their senses about giving the 37-year old Burnitz $12 million?
Curious minds want to know.
Maurice Clarrett
When I first heard the news that Maurice Clarrett was wanted for armed robbery - I wasn't surprised. Now I'm starting to think something's fishy.
The positive ID of Clarrett supposedly came from the owner of a place called the Opium Lounge (behind which the robbery supposedly took place). The Opium Lounge? I'm guessing it ain't the Ritz. If the victims ID Clarrett then I guess Clarrett is just another gangsta wannabe and should spend some serious time behind bars (hey maybe he could be a real life Paul Crew). If the victims can't ID Clarrett - I wonder what the owner of the Opium Lounge is up to? Was Clarrett's the first name he thought of and is he protecting someone else?
Chances are that Clarrett did it and that the owner of the Opium Lounge is telling the truth. That's the Occam's razor explanation but the mere mention of a place called the Opium Lounge set off my crap detector.
When I first heard the news that Maurice Clarrett was wanted for armed robbery - I wasn't surprised. Now I'm starting to think something's fishy.
The positive ID of Clarrett supposedly came from the owner of a place called the Opium Lounge (behind which the robbery supposedly took place). The Opium Lounge? I'm guessing it ain't the Ritz. If the victims ID Clarrett then I guess Clarrett is just another gangsta wannabe and should spend some serious time behind bars (hey maybe he could be a real life Paul Crew). If the victims can't ID Clarrett - I wonder what the owner of the Opium Lounge is up to? Was Clarrett's the first name he thought of and is he protecting someone else?
Chances are that Clarrett did it and that the owner of the Opium Lounge is telling the truth. That's the Occam's razor explanation but the mere mention of a place called the Opium Lounge set off my crap detector.
Monday, January 02, 2006
Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc
The Ohio State Buckeyes pasted Notre Dame.
Notre Dame should have beat USC.
Texas beat Ohio State.
Therefore, Texas will beat USC.
Like most "Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc" arguments this progression doesn't really hold water and I would still look for USC to win tomorrow. However, I really wouldn't be surprised if the line came down from the curent USC -7.5 because of bettors using the above logic in putting money on Texas.
The Ohio State Buckeyes pasted Notre Dame.
Notre Dame should have beat USC.
Texas beat Ohio State.
Therefore, Texas will beat USC.
Like most "Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc" arguments this progression doesn't really hold water and I would still look for USC to win tomorrow. However, I really wouldn't be surprised if the line came down from the curent USC -7.5 because of bettors using the above logic in putting money on Texas.
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Off to the Patriots
No blogging today. I'm off to the Patriots / Miami game. The weather will be cold but there should be no rain or snow. Good weather for running the ball and that makes me a bit nervous because of Miami's ground game. God hates a coward though and I'm taking the Patriots -6. Wish me luck.
Before I go - here are a couple of morning links for your enjoyment.
- Churchill wanted Hitler to fry in electric chair. Good for him.
- File this under Bad Idea.
No blogging today. I'm off to the Patriots / Miami game. The weather will be cold but there should be no rain or snow. Good weather for running the ball and that makes me a bit nervous because of Miami's ground game. God hates a coward though and I'm taking the Patriots -6. Wish me luck.
Before I go - here are a couple of morning links for your enjoyment.
- Churchill wanted Hitler to fry in electric chair. Good for him.
- File this under Bad Idea.
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