Tom Delay never ceases to amaze me.........
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2005-07-28T004909Z_01_N27400684_RTRIDST_0_POLITICS-ENERGY-CONGRESS-DELAY-DC.XML
I'm waiting to comment on the potential Sori trade until I hear more news. Right now it appears to be about 50/50 proposition about whether Sori remains in a Ranger uniform after the trade deadline this Sunday, July 31st. If a deal gets done, it looks like the Mets are the most likely trade partner with the Twins probably having an outside chance. The Mets seem to have the most to offer as far as the Rangers are concerned. Lastings Milledge/Mike Cameron/young pitching prospect (Petit or Heilma) for Sori and A Gonzalez sounds good to me. Stay tuned......
And for the record, I would HATE to see Sori leave Arlington but if we can get a guy like Mike Cameron combined with one of the best prospects in baseball AND a pitching prospect, I think you have to pull the trigger on that deal.
Big D
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Sori Talk
It has been quite awhile since my last update. Despite some minor newsworthy event, I really have not felt the need to update this puppy the last couple weeks. One thing I'd like to discuss is the increasingly likely scenario of Alfonso Soriano getting dealt out of Texas.
More to come later.........
More to come later.........
Thursday, July 14, 2005
The Tigaaaaa and a Darn Good Fight
This weekend actually proved to be worthwhile as we got to see yet another great performance by Tiger Woods at the Old Course and win his 2nd british open and 10th major. To go along with that, we also got to see the first good boxing fight (I don't see many) that I can remember in a long time. Thanks to our kind host (Jay Hills and I guess Riley and Sands), we were able to have the stereotypical guy Saturday night (if Gadoci and Worthy hadn't ignored the memo about no chicks). Nothing like beer, boxing, and a bunch of dudes hanging out on a Saturday.
You all who couldn't make it that night need not worry because we freaked the girls out enough that they decided to hang out on the back porch for much of the night. Special recognition to Marcus "chump ass" Walther aka Bin Laden with that beard he is sporting. He casually decided to stroll in around the 9th round. You deserved whatever ridicule you got that night my friend.
We can also sleep easier now that Cuyler has covered his bet that Tiger would win 2 majors this year. Whatever Tiger was looking for these past few years, he has definitely found it and then some. Granted, Tiger may never win at the % that he did during his magical run in 2000, but the guy gears himself for majors now. And I really see nobody stopping him until passes Jack somewhere around the time he turns 40 (or 2016).
That's all I got for now. I would review Wedding Crashers but Fraser has already beaten me to the punch on his blog. So check his review out.......
You all who couldn't make it that night need not worry because we freaked the girls out enough that they decided to hang out on the back porch for much of the night. Special recognition to Marcus "chump ass" Walther aka Bin Laden with that beard he is sporting. He casually decided to stroll in around the 9th round. You deserved whatever ridicule you got that night my friend.
We can also sleep easier now that Cuyler has covered his bet that Tiger would win 2 majors this year. Whatever Tiger was looking for these past few years, he has definitely found it and then some. Granted, Tiger may never win at the % that he did during his magical run in 2000, but the guy gears himself for majors now. And I really see nobody stopping him until passes Jack somewhere around the time he turns 40 (or 2016).
That's all I got for now. I would review Wedding Crashers but Fraser has already beaten me to the punch on his blog. So check his review out.......
Harden DOMINATES Rangers; Mantle review
First of all, I was watching TXCN or Texas CAble News while "surfing" channels, and apparently it rained like a mo-fo in Houston today. Big time flooding. It was pretty insane. So I hope all you houston readers (probably just Glover) made it out OK.
With that said, the day after the slowest day sports day of the year and we are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. Football season is fast approaching and it is a very good time to be a sports fan.
A's top Rangers 6-0, but it gets worse:
Unfotunately, out in Oakland, the Rangers got damn close to having Rich Harden throw a perfect game against them. 2 singles (all we got was 2 god darn hits) by Sori and Dellucci were the only thing stopping Harden from throwing a perfect game. He only needed 81 pitches to throw a 2 hitter with no walks. Pretty incredible. I'm as much a ranger homer as anyone, and I don't like the way this thing is heading. I hope we make a deal or something. Because it is looking like the team in its current form probably isn't going to catch Anaheim. And the wildcard is an even bigger pipe dream and with the Yanks/Orioles/Red Sox/Indians/Twins all probably more likely to win the wild card then the rangers. However, if Hart can swing a deal that nets a decent right fielder and/or a starting pitching option (yea right in this market), then the Rangers might have a prayer.
On a brighter note, I got to check out the HBO documentary/biography on Mickey Mantle, and it was really a moving story that everyone should check out if you at all are interested in our parents' generation hero worship of Mantle. It also touches on his bad alochol problem and how he really was a poor father for a variety of different reasons.
As much bashing as I heard by those blowhards on "the Ticket's" http://www.theticket.com/ shows today, Mantle really was a fascinating person regardless of your interest in sports. He was one of the few athletes to transcend sport and actually became part of American (mostly-white) culture. For all of his great flaws in his personal life, Mantle was the best position player during the 50s and 60s outside of maybe Willie Mays. Of course, being white and playing for the yankees didn't hurt either. Mantle actually won 7 world series and played on 12 world series teams with the Yanks. He hit 536 HRs and probably would have been closer to 6 or 7 hundred if he hadn't had such bad luck with his body both on and off the field.
The show has a lot of interviews with the usual (Costas and Billy Crystal) and not so usual suspects (Ed Harris??? and Richard Lewis). One of the more poignant portions of this show were the stories by Billy Martin's son about Mickey and his father during their time with the Yankees. I can only imagine the boozing Mickey, Billy Martin (who also tragically died about 150 yards from his own driveway in upstate new york coming home from a bar Christmas Day in 1989), and Whitey Ford did in NYC and all over the country during their playing days. It must have been a hell of a ride hanging out with Frank Sinatra and others.
One of the creepier portions of the show was Ed Harris reciting a poem that he wrote about Mickey when he was 10. It was cute and scary at the same time.
I think Mantle may have been the last true sports American hero for our parent's generation. Maybe Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer could argue, but Mantle's passing definitely affected a lot of the people born in 30s, 40s and 50s. Mantle had the charisma despite his off the field problems not being known to the American public. It does bring up an interesting point that Mantle probably never would have reached his near-mythical status if he played in today's media environment. Back then, players could keep their private lives away from the press as long as you were winning. Much like the Cowboys shenanigans of the early 90s under Jimmy, Mantle and his buddies could get away with whatever they wanted as long as they were winning. But unlike the Cowboys escapades being widely known, Mantle was able to avoid public scrutiny despite playing in the largest media market in the country for the best known team in professional sports.
It also shows that there may never be another hero like Mantle who actually made you feel like he was one of us out there on the field. Because athletes are so over-exposed by today's in your face coverage from the time athletes are very young, you don't feel the personal connection with today's athletes. Even Jordan no matter how great he was on the court never really let the American public into his personal life. Regardless of how many books were written about him, Jordan never let people get to close to him. And when you stop to think about, maybe that's not such a bad thing.
Mantle was so beloved that it was almost impossible for him to assimilate back into society when he retired. It's not hard to understand the demons Mickey faced when he realized his playing days were over. At least Mantle at the end of his life realized how foolish he had been throughout his life, and he let the American public know he had screwed up as a father. He has to deserve some credit for owning up to his mistakes to the public.
I think that Mantle really defines a hero in every sense of the word. Heros are human and Mickey Mantle was most definitely human....
Anyways, check out the program sometime will ya.
With that said, the day after the slowest day sports day of the year and we are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. Football season is fast approaching and it is a very good time to be a sports fan.
A's top Rangers 6-0, but it gets worse:
Unfotunately, out in Oakland, the Rangers got damn close to having Rich Harden throw a perfect game against them. 2 singles (all we got was 2 god darn hits) by Sori and Dellucci were the only thing stopping Harden from throwing a perfect game. He only needed 81 pitches to throw a 2 hitter with no walks. Pretty incredible. I'm as much a ranger homer as anyone, and I don't like the way this thing is heading. I hope we make a deal or something. Because it is looking like the team in its current form probably isn't going to catch Anaheim. And the wildcard is an even bigger pipe dream and with the Yanks/Orioles/Red Sox/Indians/Twins all probably more likely to win the wild card then the rangers. However, if Hart can swing a deal that nets a decent right fielder and/or a starting pitching option (yea right in this market), then the Rangers might have a prayer.
On a brighter note, I got to check out the HBO documentary/biography on Mickey Mantle, and it was really a moving story that everyone should check out if you at all are interested in our parents' generation hero worship of Mantle. It also touches on his bad alochol problem and how he really was a poor father for a variety of different reasons.
As much bashing as I heard by those blowhards on "the Ticket's" http://www.theticket.com/ shows today, Mantle really was a fascinating person regardless of your interest in sports. He was one of the few athletes to transcend sport and actually became part of American (mostly-white) culture. For all of his great flaws in his personal life, Mantle was the best position player during the 50s and 60s outside of maybe Willie Mays. Of course, being white and playing for the yankees didn't hurt either. Mantle actually won 7 world series and played on 12 world series teams with the Yanks. He hit 536 HRs and probably would have been closer to 6 or 7 hundred if he hadn't had such bad luck with his body both on and off the field.
The show has a lot of interviews with the usual (Costas and Billy Crystal) and not so usual suspects (Ed Harris??? and Richard Lewis). One of the more poignant portions of this show were the stories by Billy Martin's son about Mickey and his father during their time with the Yankees. I can only imagine the boozing Mickey, Billy Martin (who also tragically died about 150 yards from his own driveway in upstate new york coming home from a bar Christmas Day in 1989), and Whitey Ford did in NYC and all over the country during their playing days. It must have been a hell of a ride hanging out with Frank Sinatra and others.
One of the creepier portions of the show was Ed Harris reciting a poem that he wrote about Mickey when he was 10. It was cute and scary at the same time.
I think Mantle may have been the last true sports American hero for our parent's generation. Maybe Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer could argue, but Mantle's passing definitely affected a lot of the people born in 30s, 40s and 50s. Mantle had the charisma despite his off the field problems not being known to the American public. It does bring up an interesting point that Mantle probably never would have reached his near-mythical status if he played in today's media environment. Back then, players could keep their private lives away from the press as long as you were winning. Much like the Cowboys shenanigans of the early 90s under Jimmy, Mantle and his buddies could get away with whatever they wanted as long as they were winning. But unlike the Cowboys escapades being widely known, Mantle was able to avoid public scrutiny despite playing in the largest media market in the country for the best known team in professional sports.
It also shows that there may never be another hero like Mantle who actually made you feel like he was one of us out there on the field. Because athletes are so over-exposed by today's in your face coverage from the time athletes are very young, you don't feel the personal connection with today's athletes. Even Jordan no matter how great he was on the court never really let the American public into his personal life. Regardless of how many books were written about him, Jordan never let people get to close to him. And when you stop to think about, maybe that's not such a bad thing.
Mantle was so beloved that it was almost impossible for him to assimilate back into society when he retired. It's not hard to understand the demons Mickey faced when he realized his playing days were over. At least Mantle at the end of his life realized how foolish he had been throughout his life, and he let the American public know he had screwed up as a father. He has to deserve some credit for owning up to his mistakes to the public.
I think that Mantle really defines a hero in every sense of the word. Heros are human and Mickey Mantle was most definitely human....
Anyways, check out the program sometime will ya.
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Entourage -- Taking the leap? and of course a little Rangers sweep!
As my too short of weekend winds down, I thought I'd take a little time to discuss the happenings or most notable things of the weekend in my little world, the Rangers sweep of the Blue Jays and tonight's entourage.
I really though tonight's show was transecendent or however you say that word. I have been a pretty consistent watcher of Entourage since it first came on last year, but tonight's show was the first time that I really felt like I HAVE to watch this show every week. As much as I like Jeremy Piven and his Ari character tonight's show really had me wanting more.... Not sure if anyone else has noticed but during my time with Shane INgraham's brother I defintitely saw some Turtle like aspirations. Don't recall if he was an x-box player or not. Just a thought....
And another thing, Rome looks to be pretty bad ass show too. HBO can do no wrong right now well maybe that Lisa Kudrow show, who knows.
As for the RAngers, I watched them off and on all weekend, and I have to say they are peeking my interest. I knows it's easy to want to throw in the towel on this team (Kenny Rogers incident most notably -- thank god I was in Europe during that meltdown), but damnit they sure are a fun team to follow. Despite the local media's best efforts to bury this team, they just are doing enough to stick around. They after all, are only 5 games back at the break. Certainly not an insourmantable task. And sure Maybe John Hart might not make a move this year, but as long as we stay the course with our farm system this team is just going to get better. We have Blalock and Young locked up for a long time. Tex will hopefully soon be there. Screw Boras, Tex should fire his ass and then sign a huge freaking contract. That would be a statement by Hicks to show Boras who is in charge out in Arlington. No one player is bigger than an organization and star players now realize it. Sooner or later, Tex will realize that and hopefully Boras will go away. Either way, the rangers arms have never seen a brighter future.
D-Diamond, V-Volquez, D-Danks are all very much for real. Talk already is that Volquez may be up in the 2nd half rotation, which seems possible considering he's 21, a pedro clone (just wait till you see him on the mound), and throws mid-90s with a plus curve. DAnks is going to be front-line starter, at worst will be a #2 or #e guy and at his top end could be a #1. And he is the one thing the RAngers haven't had in a lonnnngggg time, a power lefty in the starting rotation. But if Volquez or Danks doesn't become the #1 guy, Diamond is probably the best bet to be a true "ace" in the sense of the word. Diamond dominated at Div. I-A college ball at UNO (New Orleans) and has dominated at all levels of minor league ball so far http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/thomas_diamond.shtml). It's really not a matter of if Diamond gets called up to the rotation, but when. Most likely to start the '06 season and worse case by next year's all star break. He is 22 after all. His time is coming. Just think about how poor are starting pitching looked during the late 9os and I feel damn lucky to see the starting pitching luck start to go our way.
Of course, health is always a concern but just think about a rotation like the following:
Chris Young/Ric Rodridguez/Volquez/Danks/Diamond. We can win a world series with that rotation. It has that much potential.
It is John Hart's job to stay the course and not be swayed by whims offered by the media. We build around Michael Young, Blalock, Soriano (YES Soriano bashers come from far and wide any time the guy makes a mistake), and Teixeira. The rest of the positions need to be considered.
Catcher is a work in progress. Buck is going with Barajas until he breaks down or performance gets really bad. I expect Laird to start in '06 and I'm ready for that position to get settled and hopefully Laird will be the answer. Teagarden backing up isn't a bad proposition very soon either.
Left field is locked down by Mench until further notice.
Center is still a position of concern but there are some potential takers of CF talent in a trade(Preston Wilson, Matt Lawton come to mind quickly). I think Nix is a good option until Hart deems it necessary to go after a big name guy. I don't want to give up too much that's for sure. Because Preston Willson carries a big $$$ price and Lawton is a notorious poor 2nd half guy. I still wouldn't mind rolling the dice on Lawton. Because the guy seems like a gamer to me, has a good OBP for a leadoff hitter and he could be the extra oomph this lineup needs. Just a thought, because I love Nix's approach and defensive ability. Just a little worried about his bat right now.
Right Field is a situation in flux but that's a good thing because good rightfields are not hard to come by. I expect us to make a move for a more permanent solution in right this offseason. For now, Hidalgo/GMJ monster will have to continue until further notice. Sinisi is a guy to watch for the '06 and '07 seasons.
DH seems like a pretty simple situation. Dellucci for the next year or so and Botts should be at least platooning by '06. Maybe even later this season. I have seen Botts in person and the dude reminds me of a switch hitting richie sexson. But I think he has better bat coverage than sexson. Things are definitely optimistic at DH.
The bullpen has a pretty good ancher with Coco until further notice. The setup position is a little rocky but options are emerging, Dominguez and Loe seem like the most logical answers now. Orel and Buck will have to continue to work to find answers. Bullpens across MLB are melting down at epic levels.
So sit back over the next 76 games (86 already played) and see what happens. The most logical trade option is finding a right-handed bat on the cheap. That is the easiest way to help this team and not give up much to do it. Stay tuned. And stop knee-jerking every decision. Thank you DAllas media for really continuing to pretty much suck.
I really though tonight's show was transecendent or however you say that word. I have been a pretty consistent watcher of Entourage since it first came on last year, but tonight's show was the first time that I really felt like I HAVE to watch this show every week. As much as I like Jeremy Piven and his Ari character tonight's show really had me wanting more.... Not sure if anyone else has noticed but during my time with Shane INgraham's brother I defintitely saw some Turtle like aspirations. Don't recall if he was an x-box player or not. Just a thought....
And another thing, Rome looks to be pretty bad ass show too. HBO can do no wrong right now well maybe that Lisa Kudrow show, who knows.
As for the RAngers, I watched them off and on all weekend, and I have to say they are peeking my interest. I knows it's easy to want to throw in the towel on this team (Kenny Rogers incident most notably -- thank god I was in Europe during that meltdown), but damnit they sure are a fun team to follow. Despite the local media's best efforts to bury this team, they just are doing enough to stick around. They after all, are only 5 games back at the break. Certainly not an insourmantable task. And sure Maybe John Hart might not make a move this year, but as long as we stay the course with our farm system this team is just going to get better. We have Blalock and Young locked up for a long time. Tex will hopefully soon be there. Screw Boras, Tex should fire his ass and then sign a huge freaking contract. That would be a statement by Hicks to show Boras who is in charge out in Arlington. No one player is bigger than an organization and star players now realize it. Sooner or later, Tex will realize that and hopefully Boras will go away. Either way, the rangers arms have never seen a brighter future.
D-Diamond, V-Volquez, D-Danks are all very much for real. Talk already is that Volquez may be up in the 2nd half rotation, which seems possible considering he's 21, a pedro clone (just wait till you see him on the mound), and throws mid-90s with a plus curve. DAnks is going to be front-line starter, at worst will be a #2 or #e guy and at his top end could be a #1. And he is the one thing the RAngers haven't had in a lonnnngggg time, a power lefty in the starting rotation. But if Volquez or Danks doesn't become the #1 guy, Diamond is probably the best bet to be a true "ace" in the sense of the word. Diamond dominated at Div. I-A college ball at UNO (New Orleans) and has dominated at all levels of minor league ball so far http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/thomas_diamond.shtml). It's really not a matter of if Diamond gets called up to the rotation, but when. Most likely to start the '06 season and worse case by next year's all star break. He is 22 after all. His time is coming. Just think about how poor are starting pitching looked during the late 9os and I feel damn lucky to see the starting pitching luck start to go our way.
Of course, health is always a concern but just think about a rotation like the following:
Chris Young/Ric Rodridguez/Volquez/Danks/Diamond. We can win a world series with that rotation. It has that much potential.
It is John Hart's job to stay the course and not be swayed by whims offered by the media. We build around Michael Young, Blalock, Soriano (YES Soriano bashers come from far and wide any time the guy makes a mistake), and Teixeira. The rest of the positions need to be considered.
Catcher is a work in progress. Buck is going with Barajas until he breaks down or performance gets really bad. I expect Laird to start in '06 and I'm ready for that position to get settled and hopefully Laird will be the answer. Teagarden backing up isn't a bad proposition very soon either.
Left field is locked down by Mench until further notice.
Center is still a position of concern but there are some potential takers of CF talent in a trade(Preston Wilson, Matt Lawton come to mind quickly). I think Nix is a good option until Hart deems it necessary to go after a big name guy. I don't want to give up too much that's for sure. Because Preston Willson carries a big $$$ price and Lawton is a notorious poor 2nd half guy. I still wouldn't mind rolling the dice on Lawton. Because the guy seems like a gamer to me, has a good OBP for a leadoff hitter and he could be the extra oomph this lineup needs. Just a thought, because I love Nix's approach and defensive ability. Just a little worried about his bat right now.
Right Field is a situation in flux but that's a good thing because good rightfields are not hard to come by. I expect us to make a move for a more permanent solution in right this offseason. For now, Hidalgo/GMJ monster will have to continue until further notice. Sinisi is a guy to watch for the '06 and '07 seasons.
DH seems like a pretty simple situation. Dellucci for the next year or so and Botts should be at least platooning by '06. Maybe even later this season. I have seen Botts in person and the dude reminds me of a switch hitting richie sexson. But I think he has better bat coverage than sexson. Things are definitely optimistic at DH.
The bullpen has a pretty good ancher with Coco until further notice. The setup position is a little rocky but options are emerging, Dominguez and Loe seem like the most logical answers now. Orel and Buck will have to continue to work to find answers. Bullpens across MLB are melting down at epic levels.
So sit back over the next 76 games (86 already played) and see what happens. The most logical trade option is finding a right-handed bat on the cheap. That is the easiest way to help this team and not give up much to do it. Stay tuned. And stop knee-jerking every decision. Thank you DAllas media for really continuing to pretty much suck.
Monday, June 20, 2005
Last Great Sports Weekend of the Summer?
As June comes to a close, it is fairly safe to say that we will not see another weekend like the past one until the end of the baseball season combined with the start of football season sometime in September after Summer comes to a close. I'd first like to say that for those who weren't there, Jeff Hurst and Lauren Butters wedding was quite a gathering this weekend in Horseshoe Bay. Great time had by all, and I guess the only disappointing thing about the whole weekend was not seeing Glover get thrown in the pool at the reception. Of course, i did leave relatively early in the night so maybe something happened after I left. Any updates are welcome as to Glover's situation. I do know that the smart money was on Glover being the first one in the pool at the hands of Marcus.
With that out of the way, let's recap the events of the June 17-19th sports weekend:
-- Great US Open at Pinehurst #2. This course now officially takes a backseat to no one on the major championship rotation. After its memorable debut in 1999, this tournament didn't have quite the ending drama of the famous Mickelson/Stewart duel, but this year was another memorable Sunday at #2. The great thing about Pinehurst compared to some of the other venues chosen by the USGA is that the course doesn't have to be tricked up to bring the greatest players in the world to their knees. It was definitely a fair setup yesterday, and still guys were crumbling under the pressure worse than Tim Duncan at the free throw line last night.
Other quick-hits from the open:
With that out of the way, let's recap the events of the June 17-19th sports weekend:
-- Great US Open at Pinehurst #2. This course now officially takes a backseat to no one on the major championship rotation. After its memorable debut in 1999, this tournament didn't have quite the ending drama of the famous Mickelson/Stewart duel, but this year was another memorable Sunday at #2. The great thing about Pinehurst compared to some of the other venues chosen by the USGA is that the course doesn't have to be tricked up to bring the greatest players in the world to their knees. It was definitely a fair setup yesterday, and still guys were crumbling under the pressure worse than Tim Duncan at the free throw line last night.
Other quick-hits from the open:
- Tiger Woods has nothing to be ashamed of. The guy hit the ball as good as I've seen him since his hey-day back in 2000. He has really found his driver again (see tee shot on that dogleg 400 yard 7th hole), and his iron shots were dialed in all day. To make 6 birdies under that course setup is pretty phenomenal. If you take away his slip-ups on 16 and 17, Tiger ends up with a 67 for his final round score and most likely ends up in a playoff today. I think the rest of these guys should be very scared if Tiger ever finds his touch again on the greens. St. Andrews should be the next time Tiger wins a major again in about a month or so.
- Despite his 84 on Sunday, Jason Gore is exactly what makes the US Open such a special tournament. On the hardest golf course in the world, Gore was able to hang with the big boys all the way until the final round. Sure, he ended up 14 shots off the lead when it finally over, but Gore and the people who watched will never ever forget his performance this weekend
- As infallable as Goosen seemed the first 3 days, his sunday performance (81) shows just how difficult #2 was playing. No player (Tiger included) is immune from blowing up at a US open and Goosen showed that Sunday. While it seemed unlikely Goosen would come back to the field with a seemingly comfortable 3 shot lead coming in, yesterday showed that no lead is safe at a US Open. Was I surprised it happened to Goosen ? Sure Was I shocked ? Definitely not.
- Great coverage by NBC all weekend (Bob Costas always adds that something a little extra to an event), but Johnny Miller continually criticizing these guys on Sunday was getting old. Sure Johnny, some of these guys really didn't play all that well yesterday, but he made it seem like this was the bob hope classic or something out there. Birdies were tough to come by and I was happy to see the winning score come in at 280 (E). You never see pros struggle and squirm like the at the US Open (except for the British when the weather is bad), and I think it is good for the pros to be humbled once a year by the USGA. I think it definitely is fun to watch as a viewer.
-- Unbelivable game 5 win for the Spurs last night in Detroit. As much as I have bagged on the NBA this season, last night's game was something special. If I could only watch one game all season, last night's game would have been the one I chose. It was a back and forth struggle throughout the 4th quarter with both teams exchanging big shots. The difference ended up being that same guy who always seems to come up big around this team of year: Bob Horry. NOt much more you can say about the guy except that he will go down as the best clutch player of this generation not named Michael Jordan. Tim Duncan came very close to handing this game the Pistons with all of his missed free throws. But the bottom line is now the spurs are going back to SA up 3-2. I'm not ready to bury the Pistons just yet, but it is definitely not looking good.
-- Longhorns are able to win their first game of the CWS against Baylor 5-1. I only was able to catch the late innings of this one due to the wedding thsi weekend. From what I could tell, this was a very business like performance by the longhorns. Having lost to Baylor all four times they met during the regular season, it was nice to see the Horns get the job done when it really mattered in Omaha. With the tournament being as wide open as I can ever remember, Texas will be in great position to at least get to the championship series if they can get by Tulane tonight.
-- Rangers were able to take 2 out of 3 from the Washington Nationals or "gnats" as they are often affectionaly referred. Unfortunately, the Angels did the same to the Marlins thanks the impaler, Vlad Guerrero, so the Rangers are still 1.5 games out of first in the west. The most encouraging thing about the weekend series was the performance again of Ricardo Rodriguez. This guy is going to let everyone forget about Ryan Drese and he should be the 3rd guy (let's not kid ourselves about CHOP) we need behind kenny and Chris Young. The search will continue to find the answer for our 5th starter. CJ Wilson looked okay, but i am pretty convinced he is only a stop-gap solution to our problem. I fully expect to see a number of different guys audition for the role. I think Wilfredo Rodriguez may be the next guy to get a look after he gets called up and starts out in the pen. This is a situation worth monitoring.
The rangers open a large series tonight in Anaheim with Chris Young going against a suddenly resurgent Paul Byrd, so the AL west race definitely heats up starting tonight. Combined with the Tulane/Texas tilt this evening, and it should be a fun Monday night.
T
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Back in Business....
It’s been a while since I’ve posted on here so bear with me while I try to rediscover my “voice” in my writing (I doubt I ever had one, but teachers always told me you need to have a “voice” when you write and to this day I am not really sure what it means).
On to my random thoughts…..
Looks like the hockey labor problems are on their way to being solved. I know everyone is excited as I am, meaning not very excited. The biggest hurdle that the union and the owners had to clear was coming to an agreement on the salary cap. They solved this issue by agreeing on a salary cap that will be based on team’s revenue. I am not the smartest person in the world (no, really I’m not) but there are some fatal flaws with this system. First, and most obviously, this system means that teams that have higher revenues will have a higher “cap” and will be able to spend more money on players. Conversely, teams with lower revenue will have a lower “cap” and will be unable to keep up with higher revenue teams in paying their players. Isn’t this the exact opposite of competition? I guess the NHL hasn’t seen the recent success of the NFL salary cap system that provides more parity than any other sport. The NHL has pretty much sealed the fate for smaller market teams that have lower revenues. Since these lower market teams will be unable to compete in the long-run, they will have to cut costs (namely salaries) just to stay in business. Second, along with the “cap” the agreement also sets a “floor” for team salaries. This means that teams have to spend a minimum amount on salaries no matter what their revenues are. This means that even if a team cuts it’s player’s salaries and tries to just not lose money (similar to what the Royals and other major league baseball teams have done) they still have to pay the minimum. This will drive many of the small market (lower revenue) teams right out of the league because it will not be profitable for the teams to stay in business (which I believe needed to be done anyway through league contraction). And even if a team had an owner with unlimited resources, he would still be restricted by the cap and could not pay his players as much as higher revenue teams. What does this all mean? It means that in a few years people still won’t care about hockey.
The NBA finals have finally arrived. I was actually anticipating these finals as one of the best basketball match-ups in a while. If the rest of the games are anything like the first, I will be very disappointed. I had anticipated, and I still hope, that these games will be similar to the Rams-Patriots Super Bowl of a few years ago. I thought that you could pretty much skip the first 3 ½ quarters and just watch the end of the game and catch some of the most intense basketball in years. Hopefully the Pistons will pull their heads out of their asses and play like the defending champions.
I read an article that said that Bud Selig is actually considering for interplay next year to have AL rules apply in NL parks and vice versa. His reasoning is that NL crowds are actually are missing the opportunity of seeing players like Frank Thomas bat in NL parks. Doesn’t this defeat the purpose of home field advantage for the NL teams? Plus I don’t think too many people are showing to White Sox games to catch a Frank Thomas pinch hit opportunity. Anyways, I just thought it was funny that Selig used Frank Thomas as an example.
The “feel good” story of baseball this year has got to be the Washington Nationals. I don’t care if they end up finishing last in the NL East because the recent ride they have been on has been great. How many people gave this team a chance at the beginning of the season? Frank Robinson embodies what a baseball manager is supposed to be. What a message it must have sent to the rest of the team when he cut Toma Ohko after Toma turned his back to Robinson when he went to the mound to take him out. I wish that once in my life I could demand that kind of respect.
I will digress from talking about the Rangers because “T” has already covered the subject in some depth on this blog.
Z
On to my random thoughts…..
Looks like the hockey labor problems are on their way to being solved. I know everyone is excited as I am, meaning not very excited. The biggest hurdle that the union and the owners had to clear was coming to an agreement on the salary cap. They solved this issue by agreeing on a salary cap that will be based on team’s revenue. I am not the smartest person in the world (no, really I’m not) but there are some fatal flaws with this system. First, and most obviously, this system means that teams that have higher revenues will have a higher “cap” and will be able to spend more money on players. Conversely, teams with lower revenue will have a lower “cap” and will be unable to keep up with higher revenue teams in paying their players. Isn’t this the exact opposite of competition? I guess the NHL hasn’t seen the recent success of the NFL salary cap system that provides more parity than any other sport. The NHL has pretty much sealed the fate for smaller market teams that have lower revenues. Since these lower market teams will be unable to compete in the long-run, they will have to cut costs (namely salaries) just to stay in business. Second, along with the “cap” the agreement also sets a “floor” for team salaries. This means that teams have to spend a minimum amount on salaries no matter what their revenues are. This means that even if a team cuts it’s player’s salaries and tries to just not lose money (similar to what the Royals and other major league baseball teams have done) they still have to pay the minimum. This will drive many of the small market (lower revenue) teams right out of the league because it will not be profitable for the teams to stay in business (which I believe needed to be done anyway through league contraction). And even if a team had an owner with unlimited resources, he would still be restricted by the cap and could not pay his players as much as higher revenue teams. What does this all mean? It means that in a few years people still won’t care about hockey.
The NBA finals have finally arrived. I was actually anticipating these finals as one of the best basketball match-ups in a while. If the rest of the games are anything like the first, I will be very disappointed. I had anticipated, and I still hope, that these games will be similar to the Rams-Patriots Super Bowl of a few years ago. I thought that you could pretty much skip the first 3 ½ quarters and just watch the end of the game and catch some of the most intense basketball in years. Hopefully the Pistons will pull their heads out of their asses and play like the defending champions.
I read an article that said that Bud Selig is actually considering for interplay next year to have AL rules apply in NL parks and vice versa. His reasoning is that NL crowds are actually are missing the opportunity of seeing players like Frank Thomas bat in NL parks. Doesn’t this defeat the purpose of home field advantage for the NL teams? Plus I don’t think too many people are showing to White Sox games to catch a Frank Thomas pinch hit opportunity. Anyways, I just thought it was funny that Selig used Frank Thomas as an example.
The “feel good” story of baseball this year has got to be the Washington Nationals. I don’t care if they end up finishing last in the NL East because the recent ride they have been on has been great. How many people gave this team a chance at the beginning of the season? Frank Robinson embodies what a baseball manager is supposed to be. What a message it must have sent to the rest of the team when he cut Toma Ohko after Toma turned his back to Robinson when he went to the mound to take him out. I wish that once in my life I could demand that kind of respect.
I will digress from talking about the Rangers because “T” has already covered the subject in some depth on this blog.
Z
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Random Thoughts
I thought I'd go with a change of pace from the recent entries and give my random thoughts on the current sports world and other stuff in the news.
-- This NBA playoffs year has been lackluster at best. I know that I'm sounding like homer because after my team gets bounced I start complaining about the teams still playing. But this entire NBA playoffs year has been rather boring to me. While I do think TNT does a pretty good job covering the games, ESPN has really reached the point of being so bad it's pathetic. Everything has been going basically how the experts predicted (with the exception of maybe Phoenix getting this far), and that has probably been some of the problem. Maybe a spurs-Heat finals will save it, but I have my doubts. Shaq vs. Duncan should be fun at least.
-- Yankees vs. Red Sox was about as entertaining as you can make a series it only being the end of May. When it just about looked like the Yankees may be starting to assert themselves as the class of the AL East again after their 6-3 win on Friday, the red sox responded most emphatically on Saturday with a 17-1 drubbing of the bombers in Yankee stadium. And to really make sure the Yankees knew who still owned this feud until proven otherwise, the red sox beat up on Mussina 7-2 Sunday night with Wells pitching really well after a very shaky first. The two bombs Ortiz hit in Yankees stadium Sunday night were incredible. Especially the 2nd one into "the black hole" in center. That ball was CRUSHED.
To confuse things even greater, the Red Sox riding their momentum from the Yanks series, laid an egg in the series opener against the 1st place orioles losing 8-1. Arroyo looked really bad in the process. While the Orioles are definitely going through some adversity currently ( Bedard, Matos, and Lopez on DL), I anticipate them at least hanging around for awhile since the Yanks and Sox have their own issues to deal with.
-- Congrats to UT grad, Justin Leonard, getting his 2nd win of the year at the St. Jude classic. Granted, he almost blew the biggest sunday lead in tour history, but he was able to salvage bogey on the 18th to win by 1. It took a herculean effort by DAvid Toms shooting a 63 to make it that close. Call me crazy, but I think Leonard has a chance to make some noise at one of the remaining majors.
-- I know this Danica Stewart story is a good puff piece for trail-blazing women in the sports world, which I am always in favor of. But really, jesus christ could be racing in Formula One and no one in the US would watch. Much like I will never understand how NASCAR does so well in the US, I am equally as shocked by the fact that Michael Schmacher is one of the richest athletes in the entire world because of his Formula One racing.
-- UT Baseball ended a somewhat lackluster regular season and big 12 tournament this weekend losing to baylor. I think we were understandably seeded outside of the top 8, and thust not guaranteed to host a super regional unless Ole Miss loses on their side. Regardless, college baseball just got a hell of a lot more intriguing with the added coverage provided by ESPN and its sister stations. At least they are doing something right at the sports leader. THANK YOU hockey.
-- For anyone that doesn't get a chance to catch Rangers broadcasts, you are really missing out on the unintentional comedy provided by our announcers, Tom Grieve and Josh Lewin. I laugh out loud at least 5 times a broadcast when these two do a game. It's quite funny. And don't forget everyone's favorite sideline reporter, Jim Knox. While I get very tired of his schtick during football season, his stories during the baseball season are usually quite funny.
-- No one in baseball should be worrying about finding the next great pitchers after the current greats (Clemens, Maddux, Pedro, RJ) retire. There are plenty of young arms ready and willing to take the torch when these other guys do finally ride off into the sunset. Most notably:
-Jake Peavy
-D-Train -- no more fun guy to root for in the majors right now
-Josh Beckett
-Brett Myers
-Johan Santana
-Roy Halladay
That's all I got for now....................
T
-- This NBA playoffs year has been lackluster at best. I know that I'm sounding like homer because after my team gets bounced I start complaining about the teams still playing. But this entire NBA playoffs year has been rather boring to me. While I do think TNT does a pretty good job covering the games, ESPN has really reached the point of being so bad it's pathetic. Everything has been going basically how the experts predicted (with the exception of maybe Phoenix getting this far), and that has probably been some of the problem. Maybe a spurs-Heat finals will save it, but I have my doubts. Shaq vs. Duncan should be fun at least.
-- Yankees vs. Red Sox was about as entertaining as you can make a series it only being the end of May. When it just about looked like the Yankees may be starting to assert themselves as the class of the AL East again after their 6-3 win on Friday, the red sox responded most emphatically on Saturday with a 17-1 drubbing of the bombers in Yankee stadium. And to really make sure the Yankees knew who still owned this feud until proven otherwise, the red sox beat up on Mussina 7-2 Sunday night with Wells pitching really well after a very shaky first. The two bombs Ortiz hit in Yankees stadium Sunday night were incredible. Especially the 2nd one into "the black hole" in center. That ball was CRUSHED.
To confuse things even greater, the Red Sox riding their momentum from the Yanks series, laid an egg in the series opener against the 1st place orioles losing 8-1. Arroyo looked really bad in the process. While the Orioles are definitely going through some adversity currently ( Bedard, Matos, and Lopez on DL), I anticipate them at least hanging around for awhile since the Yanks and Sox have their own issues to deal with.
-- Congrats to UT grad, Justin Leonard, getting his 2nd win of the year at the St. Jude classic. Granted, he almost blew the biggest sunday lead in tour history, but he was able to salvage bogey on the 18th to win by 1. It took a herculean effort by DAvid Toms shooting a 63 to make it that close. Call me crazy, but I think Leonard has a chance to make some noise at one of the remaining majors.
-- I know this Danica Stewart story is a good puff piece for trail-blazing women in the sports world, which I am always in favor of. But really, jesus christ could be racing in Formula One and no one in the US would watch. Much like I will never understand how NASCAR does so well in the US, I am equally as shocked by the fact that Michael Schmacher is one of the richest athletes in the entire world because of his Formula One racing.
-- UT Baseball ended a somewhat lackluster regular season and big 12 tournament this weekend losing to baylor. I think we were understandably seeded outside of the top 8, and thust not guaranteed to host a super regional unless Ole Miss loses on their side. Regardless, college baseball just got a hell of a lot more intriguing with the added coverage provided by ESPN and its sister stations. At least they are doing something right at the sports leader. THANK YOU hockey.
-- For anyone that doesn't get a chance to catch Rangers broadcasts, you are really missing out on the unintentional comedy provided by our announcers, Tom Grieve and Josh Lewin. I laugh out loud at least 5 times a broadcast when these two do a game. It's quite funny. And don't forget everyone's favorite sideline reporter, Jim Knox. While I get very tired of his schtick during football season, his stories during the baseball season are usually quite funny.
-- No one in baseball should be worrying about finding the next great pitchers after the current greats (Clemens, Maddux, Pedro, RJ) retire. There are plenty of young arms ready and willing to take the torch when these other guys do finally ride off into the sunset. Most notably:
-Jake Peavy
-D-Train -- no more fun guy to root for in the majors right now
-Josh Beckett
-Brett Myers
-Johan Santana
-Roy Halladay
That's all I got for now....................
T
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Memorial Day Weekend
First off, I'd like to say that I have a rejuvenated purpose in continuing to write this blog, since a few people stated this weekend (well two that I can recall directly - Matza and Owen). Regardless, it's two more people than I thought read this site so at least it's a start. Anyways, great scene this weekend at my old roomate's (Marshy-poo) wedding. Feel free to leave any of your comments at the end of his post because this thing will be 10X more interesting if we have more chatter than just cuyler, Zach, and I's ramblings. Until then, here is my rant for this memorial day weekend.
Rangers continue to roll, and I am really starting to get excited about this team. It is clearly a two team race in the west, and I feel like we will have enough to outlast the Angels as long as our pitching holds up. And the signs are there that we will. Let's take a look at the rangers in the month of May.
Batting Average: .276 3rd in AL behind Boston and the Evil empire
OBP: .337 3rd in AL same teams above us
OPS: .838 1st in AL and MLB
HR: 42 most in MLB by 6
ERA 3.56 7th in AL (only 16 homers allowed vs. 42 hit in may)
Looking even deeper into the numbers,
Our starting staff (Rogers, Park, Young, Astacio, and Drese have started every game) has a 4.03 ERA good for 4th in AL. When you consider how poorly our bullpen started with the initial shock of the Francisco and Almanzar losses, this whole pitching staff has really done the job so far this year. Orel Hershiser should be given a key to this city if he can lead us to a world series. He has meant that much to this pitching staf. Let's look at the starters first in rank of impact so far:
Rogers -- Should be the starter for the AL in Detroit at the all star game. 1.69 ERA and has carried this team on its back at times. I really am amazed how he is doing it at the age of 40. I never thought he would be this good, and anything he does for the rest of the season should be considered a bonus. I will happily eat crow as Rogers continues to win.
C-Young -- Tell me how a guy like Young can go from Double-A last year about this time to dominating good teams like the Yankees and White Sox and look very good doing it. I am amazed at what he has done so far at such a young age. As much crap as I give HP, Young could be the guy to change my feelings on that town. Last year, his fastball was barely hitting 90 and this year, he is getting it up to 93 and 94 last outing. It is very impressive stuff considering that his 12-6 curveball is downright nasty at times. This Princeton kid has the potential to be a guy we build our staff around.
CHOP -- As crazy as it seems to be touting Chan Ho, you can't argue with the results this year at least. Bottom line is this, Rangers are 8-2 when Chan Ho starts. That stat alone should tell you how far beyond anyone's expectations (and there were some very bleak expectations coming into the season), he has performed this year.
Drese -- I give this guy an incomplete so far. He has had some really good outings (CG 1-run win against Cleveland), and he has had some really god - awful outings at times. I will continue trust Orel with Drese's sinker until he proves otherwise. This guy really could be the key to our playoff hopes if some other stuff doesn't go our way.
Astacio -- He is what he is. I am hoping he does well, but in the back of my mind I wish I could see Ric-Rod up here. As long as he continues winning, I think he is worth the incentive laden contract.
I'm sure I will talk more about the rangers over the next few days because of our sick 8 game winning streak blinding any worts this team may have. Right now, I'm just enjoying the ride.
More commentary tomorrow on other topics hopefully....
T
Rangers continue to roll, and I am really starting to get excited about this team. It is clearly a two team race in the west, and I feel like we will have enough to outlast the Angels as long as our pitching holds up. And the signs are there that we will. Let's take a look at the rangers in the month of May.
Batting Average: .276 3rd in AL behind Boston and the Evil empire
OBP: .337 3rd in AL same teams above us
OPS: .838 1st in AL and MLB
HR: 42 most in MLB by 6
ERA 3.56 7th in AL (only 16 homers allowed vs. 42 hit in may)
Looking even deeper into the numbers,
Our starting staff (Rogers, Park, Young, Astacio, and Drese have started every game) has a 4.03 ERA good for 4th in AL. When you consider how poorly our bullpen started with the initial shock of the Francisco and Almanzar losses, this whole pitching staff has really done the job so far this year. Orel Hershiser should be given a key to this city if he can lead us to a world series. He has meant that much to this pitching staf. Let's look at the starters first in rank of impact so far:
Rogers -- Should be the starter for the AL in Detroit at the all star game. 1.69 ERA and has carried this team on its back at times. I really am amazed how he is doing it at the age of 40. I never thought he would be this good, and anything he does for the rest of the season should be considered a bonus. I will happily eat crow as Rogers continues to win.
C-Young -- Tell me how a guy like Young can go from Double-A last year about this time to dominating good teams like the Yankees and White Sox and look very good doing it. I am amazed at what he has done so far at such a young age. As much crap as I give HP, Young could be the guy to change my feelings on that town. Last year, his fastball was barely hitting 90 and this year, he is getting it up to 93 and 94 last outing. It is very impressive stuff considering that his 12-6 curveball is downright nasty at times. This Princeton kid has the potential to be a guy we build our staff around.
CHOP -- As crazy as it seems to be touting Chan Ho, you can't argue with the results this year at least. Bottom line is this, Rangers are 8-2 when Chan Ho starts. That stat alone should tell you how far beyond anyone's expectations (and there were some very bleak expectations coming into the season), he has performed this year.
Drese -- I give this guy an incomplete so far. He has had some really good outings (CG 1-run win against Cleveland), and he has had some really god - awful outings at times. I will continue trust Orel with Drese's sinker until he proves otherwise. This guy really could be the key to our playoff hopes if some other stuff doesn't go our way.
Astacio -- He is what he is. I am hoping he does well, but in the back of my mind I wish I could see Ric-Rod up here. As long as he continues winning, I think he is worth the incentive laden contract.
I'm sure I will talk more about the rangers over the next few days because of our sick 8 game winning streak blinding any worts this team may have. Right now, I'm just enjoying the ride.
More commentary tomorrow on other topics hopefully....
T
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Ranger Playoff Hopes
Because I am bored at work today, I decided to take a look and see how this Rangers team stacks up against the good rangers (we can't call them great since we got beat by the yankees in 4 or less games each year) teams of the past.
I did a quick analysis of our 2005 team vs. the 3 ranger teams that made the playoffs (1996, 1998, 1999) http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/TEX/
1996 -- BA .284 / OBP .359 / SLG .469 Team ERA 4.66
1998 -- .289/.356 / 462 Team ERA 5.00
1999 -- .293 / .362 / .479 Team ERA 5.07
2005 thus far -- .264 / .326 / .456 Team ERA 4.52
It looks like our current team most closely resembles the 1996 team. Those 1998 and 1999 teams leaned very heavily on the offense and not surprisingly struggled mightily in the playoffs. That 1999 offense was really stacked (huge years from Juan-Do, Pudge, and Raffy) combined with some uncharacteristic huge years from the role players (Lee Stevens and Zeile).
Going back and looking at it, the 1996 team really did give the yankees a good run in the playoffs and predictably that team had a much better pitching staff than the 1998 or 1999 teams. If you look at the '05 team, this pitching staff looks even better than the 1996 team, so that is a good thing. Unfortunately, I don't think we will even approach the 1996 team as far as offensive production unless we add a big bat at DH or Laird gets called up.
One area where you can tell more offense will come is at home. If you look at our home splits so far: .263/.321/.480
You have to figure that the BA and OBP #'s will increase as the temps continue to rise, and our offense definitely has the potential to reach that of the '96 team. Anyways, not sure if anybody cares about all this. It was fun for me to go back and look at those old clubs since I was partying like a rock star back in high school when the rangers used to be good. Ok, not really.
T
I did a quick analysis of our 2005 team vs. the 3 ranger teams that made the playoffs (1996, 1998, 1999) http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/TEX/
1996 -- BA .284 / OBP .359 / SLG .469 Team ERA 4.66
1998 -- .289/.356 / 462 Team ERA 5.00
1999 -- .293 / .362 / .479 Team ERA 5.07
2005 thus far -- .264 / .326 / .456 Team ERA 4.52
It looks like our current team most closely resembles the 1996 team. Those 1998 and 1999 teams leaned very heavily on the offense and not surprisingly struggled mightily in the playoffs. That 1999 offense was really stacked (huge years from Juan-Do, Pudge, and Raffy) combined with some uncharacteristic huge years from the role players (Lee Stevens and Zeile).
Going back and looking at it, the 1996 team really did give the yankees a good run in the playoffs and predictably that team had a much better pitching staff than the 1998 or 1999 teams. If you look at the '05 team, this pitching staff looks even better than the 1996 team, so that is a good thing. Unfortunately, I don't think we will even approach the 1996 team as far as offensive production unless we add a big bat at DH or Laird gets called up.
One area where you can tell more offense will come is at home. If you look at our home splits so far: .263/.321/.480
You have to figure that the BA and OBP #'s will increase as the temps continue to rise, and our offense definitely has the potential to reach that of the '96 team. Anyways, not sure if anybody cares about all this. It was fun for me to go back and look at those old clubs since I was partying like a rock star back in high school when the rangers used to be good. Ok, not really.
T
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Changing of Seasons
Well another action packed sports weekend has passed and as one season closes another one starts to blossom. It was a quite a weekend to be a sports fan in this crazy sports landscape known as the metroplex. We really are lucky to have so much going on in our back yard as far as sports go.
With that said, let's discuss the mavs first to get it out of the way. What can you say? The Mavs lost to a better team. You can come up with any laundry list of excuses as to why Dallas couldn't win it all this year (Nellie's retirement, not even rookie coach, Dirk's inability to take "the leap" to superstar, or our inability to stop any of phoenix's athletes), but what it boils down to is the suns were better than the mavericks this season.
The sub-plot with Nash playing his old team (Cuban as a cute secondary figure) made this series more interesting than it reallly was. I like the mavericks just as much as anyone, but we need to regroup this offeseason (i just picture Cuban spending 72 straight hours mulling acquisition and trade options). And I think we will.
Future is bright for this team:
--Dirk is going to be pissed all offseason.
--Josh Howard is going to be a good player in this league for a long time.
--Dampier will be at least adequate as a big man
--Avery is the right guy to coach this team and use his Popovich and Nelson to tutelage to win a championship.
RANGERS SWEEP SORRY STROS
Now, onto better news. This weekend couldn't have been better for Rangers fans. Not only sweeping a team at home, but you get to make fun of every sorry person associated with Houston the whole summer. The stros just stink. There are no two ways around it. I understand rebuiliding can hit you really quickly all of the sudden. It happened back in around 2000 when the Rangers playoff runs ended. The rangers became a really old team that relied on old veterans to win games. And they didn't win many. I vividly remember the Caminiti, Gallaragga type acquistions that were doomed from the beginning. I don't think the astros are as screwed because they have a better farm system, front office situation than those rangers teams. But rebuilding is never fun. Unless you are a Dallas fan who enjoys seeing Houston suffer, whatever the endeavor may be. I kid. I kid.
Moving back to the Rangers for a minute, this team really has some potential to be putting something special together. It may not be this season, shoot it may not even be 2006, but sooner rather than later the Rangers are going to be competing for a championship. First off, the west is automatically easier to win just by the fact it's the only 4 team division in MLB. So by default, you have a better chance to make the playoffs.
Combine that with the knowledge and experience of a Buck showalter and a great young nucleus of players to build around (Coco, Myoung, Blalock, Tex, Nix, Mench, CYoung, etc.) and you have something special working. These guys play the game the right way and it is just a matter of time before we put it all together.
Not to sound too major league cliched, but the rangers really excited me in a good sort of Major League way.
See in the pecking order of sports movies, Major League just is in that other level as far as funny sports movies. I like Caddyshack just as much as anyone, but Major League has always been funny to me on all levels.
From the fat guy running out twice on the end celebration scene, to bob uecker as harry doyle, "this guy her is dead", it's all great stuff. I feel that way about the rangers. For whaveter reason, there is something about this club that appeals to my emotional heart.
So to the Texas Rangers, you are my Major League.
I'd like to end by giving a special award to my buddy Marcus (he's 26) who ended up running the bases (apparently this happens at some rangers games) with all the kids after the Rangers 2 nuthin shut out of the stros. He even cut himself diving into homeplate. If you have never met Marcus, you are really missing out. The guy is a true one of a kind.
T
With that said, let's discuss the mavs first to get it out of the way. What can you say? The Mavs lost to a better team. You can come up with any laundry list of excuses as to why Dallas couldn't win it all this year (Nellie's retirement, not even rookie coach, Dirk's inability to take "the leap" to superstar, or our inability to stop any of phoenix's athletes), but what it boils down to is the suns were better than the mavericks this season.
The sub-plot with Nash playing his old team (Cuban as a cute secondary figure) made this series more interesting than it reallly was. I like the mavericks just as much as anyone, but we need to regroup this offeseason (i just picture Cuban spending 72 straight hours mulling acquisition and trade options). And I think we will.
Future is bright for this team:
--Dirk is going to be pissed all offseason.
--Josh Howard is going to be a good player in this league for a long time.
--Dampier will be at least adequate as a big man
--Avery is the right guy to coach this team and use his Popovich and Nelson to tutelage to win a championship.
RANGERS SWEEP SORRY STROS
Now, onto better news. This weekend couldn't have been better for Rangers fans. Not only sweeping a team at home, but you get to make fun of every sorry person associated with Houston the whole summer. The stros just stink. There are no two ways around it. I understand rebuiliding can hit you really quickly all of the sudden. It happened back in around 2000 when the Rangers playoff runs ended. The rangers became a really old team that relied on old veterans to win games. And they didn't win many. I vividly remember the Caminiti, Gallaragga type acquistions that were doomed from the beginning. I don't think the astros are as screwed because they have a better farm system, front office situation than those rangers teams. But rebuilding is never fun. Unless you are a Dallas fan who enjoys seeing Houston suffer, whatever the endeavor may be. I kid. I kid.
Moving back to the Rangers for a minute, this team really has some potential to be putting something special together. It may not be this season, shoot it may not even be 2006, but sooner rather than later the Rangers are going to be competing for a championship. First off, the west is automatically easier to win just by the fact it's the only 4 team division in MLB. So by default, you have a better chance to make the playoffs.
Combine that with the knowledge and experience of a Buck showalter and a great young nucleus of players to build around (Coco, Myoung, Blalock, Tex, Nix, Mench, CYoung, etc.) and you have something special working. These guys play the game the right way and it is just a matter of time before we put it all together.
Not to sound too major league cliched, but the rangers really excited me in a good sort of Major League way.
See in the pecking order of sports movies, Major League just is in that other level as far as funny sports movies. I like Caddyshack just as much as anyone, but Major League has always been funny to me on all levels.
From the fat guy running out twice on the end celebration scene, to bob uecker as harry doyle, "this guy her is dead", it's all great stuff. I feel that way about the rangers. For whaveter reason, there is something about this club that appeals to my emotional heart.
So to the Texas Rangers, you are my Major League.
I'd like to end by giving a special award to my buddy Marcus (he's 26) who ended up running the bases (apparently this happens at some rangers games) with all the kids after the Rangers 2 nuthin shut out of the stros. He even cut himself diving into homeplate. If you have never met Marcus, you are really missing out. The guy is a true one of a kind.
T
Friday, April 15, 2005
Swinging the Sticks
Alright, so I’m bored, I got two weeks left at my current job, and I am about to get the hell outta here. Therefore, I will take the time to rundown my favorite golf courses. Granted I have never played Pebble Beach, Pinehurst, or Bethpage, in fact, I haven’t played anywhere of consequence. As I am moving to Atlanta in the near future, this list will likely change some. None the less – here are my top courses and why I like them. If you are lucky enough to have played any of the nations top 10 courses, well, fu*k yourself.
1. Grand National (Links Course) – Opelika, Alabama
The Skinny: My favorite track I have ever played. Everything about it was spectacular. Holes cut into a large forest of trees. Some water, but not too much, great elevated greens that are nice and soft. Excellent track.
Most memorable shot: 4 iron into 18 to set up a gimme par after an estimated 17 consecutive triple bogies
2. Stonebriar – Frisco, Texas
The Skinny: This is as close to a home course as I am going to have. Hard as hell. Greens are about the toughest I have ever played, but the course is surprisingly manageable. I just love this track.
Most memorable shot: The time I chunked a huge divot on my playing partner as I warmed up on a par 3 on a muddy day. I didn’t know the guy.
3. Capital Hill (Judge Course) – Prattville, Alabama
The Skinny: Another RTJ track. Great undulation, picturesque holes. I’ll take Grand National if forced to choose, but this track is solid as well. Great Greens.
Most Memorable shot: A chili dipped wedge on the easiest hole on the course, which traveled all of 15 feet into the woods. Resulted in a lost ball and a declaration that I would chug a beer for every hole I did not make par. I did not make any more pars.
4. The Quarry – San Antonio, Texas
The Skinny: Awsome layout. Back 9 is probably my favorite 9 on any course. Cut into a quarry in San Antonio, this track has great soft greens, and great views.
Most Memorable shot: 9 iron into an low green right over the flag stick, even got a little spin on it. Set up my first birdie of the day.
5. Barton Creek Fazio Foothills – Austin, Texas
The Skinny: Another awesome layout. Tons of undulation, elevated tees, great hole design. Numbers 9, and 16 are two of the prettiest holes I’ve played. My favorite of the Hill Country courses.
Most Memorable Shot: snaked in about a 50 footer for birdie on 9 green after I thought I had missed the green entirely, probably my best putt ever.
6. The Raven (now Arizona National)– Tucson, Arizona
The Skinny: This is what desert golf should be about. An oasis of grass in the middle of the desert to create target practice golf. An all around great layout where your entire game is tested.
Most memorable shot: 5 iron off the tee, 3 wood into the green on the 3rd par 4 we played. It was just strange to play that kind of target golf, it really tested my game.
7. Barton Creek Fazio Canyons – Austin, Texas
The Skinny: Another great track in the Barton Creek family. This course is pretty difficult with danger on every shot. This course is really long, and requires tons of 4 and 5 irons into the par 4 greens. Tough but fair.
Most memorable shot: I never hole out…..ever. But, I did manage to get a sandy birdie from a tough trap just off the green. As soon as it was up, it was in.
8. Arrowhead – Littleton Colorado
The Skinny: A Robert Trent Jones course. Awesome views out in the Redrock front range of the Rockies. Probably my favorite Colorado course, its very beautiful, and you can hit it a mile.
Most memorable shot: More like shots. Mind you this is when I was playing the best I have ever played….started out birdie, birdie, par, birdie to close out the front 9 in 37. I managed to shoot 84. I was ever so pissed.
9. Deer Valley – Tyler, Texas
The Skinny: Lots of doglegs on this course. This was my introduction to tree golf, as this course is cut into the forests that start in East Texas and stretch all thoughout the south. Fun track, great greens.
Most memorable shot: The one my dad took on fellow idiot Z, as he made him pay for his round after I all but assured him that he would cover it. Sorry Z.
10. Bear Dance – Castle Rock, Colorado
The Skinny: Cool Track right outside of Denver. Again you can just crush it. Great views of Pikes peak and the Rockies in the distance. Course was in incredible shape, and the layout was a lot of fun. Not terribly difficult, but challenging none the less.
Most memorable shot: The one that caromed off the cart of the group in front of us as my brother remarked “I didn’t think I could hit it that far”
Nothing Spectacular here, but these are some fun tracks. Feel free to post comments.
JC
1. Grand National (Links Course) – Opelika, Alabama
The Skinny: My favorite track I have ever played. Everything about it was spectacular. Holes cut into a large forest of trees. Some water, but not too much, great elevated greens that are nice and soft. Excellent track.
Most memorable shot: 4 iron into 18 to set up a gimme par after an estimated 17 consecutive triple bogies
2. Stonebriar – Frisco, Texas
The Skinny: This is as close to a home course as I am going to have. Hard as hell. Greens are about the toughest I have ever played, but the course is surprisingly manageable. I just love this track.
Most memorable shot: The time I chunked a huge divot on my playing partner as I warmed up on a par 3 on a muddy day. I didn’t know the guy.
3. Capital Hill (Judge Course) – Prattville, Alabama
The Skinny: Another RTJ track. Great undulation, picturesque holes. I’ll take Grand National if forced to choose, but this track is solid as well. Great Greens.
Most Memorable shot: A chili dipped wedge on the easiest hole on the course, which traveled all of 15 feet into the woods. Resulted in a lost ball and a declaration that I would chug a beer for every hole I did not make par. I did not make any more pars.
4. The Quarry – San Antonio, Texas
The Skinny: Awsome layout. Back 9 is probably my favorite 9 on any course. Cut into a quarry in San Antonio, this track has great soft greens, and great views.
Most Memorable shot: 9 iron into an low green right over the flag stick, even got a little spin on it. Set up my first birdie of the day.
5. Barton Creek Fazio Foothills – Austin, Texas
The Skinny: Another awesome layout. Tons of undulation, elevated tees, great hole design. Numbers 9, and 16 are two of the prettiest holes I’ve played. My favorite of the Hill Country courses.
Most Memorable Shot: snaked in about a 50 footer for birdie on 9 green after I thought I had missed the green entirely, probably my best putt ever.
6. The Raven (now Arizona National)– Tucson, Arizona
The Skinny: This is what desert golf should be about. An oasis of grass in the middle of the desert to create target practice golf. An all around great layout where your entire game is tested.
Most memorable shot: 5 iron off the tee, 3 wood into the green on the 3rd par 4 we played. It was just strange to play that kind of target golf, it really tested my game.
7. Barton Creek Fazio Canyons – Austin, Texas
The Skinny: Another great track in the Barton Creek family. This course is pretty difficult with danger on every shot. This course is really long, and requires tons of 4 and 5 irons into the par 4 greens. Tough but fair.
Most memorable shot: I never hole out…..ever. But, I did manage to get a sandy birdie from a tough trap just off the green. As soon as it was up, it was in.
8. Arrowhead – Littleton Colorado
The Skinny: A Robert Trent Jones course. Awesome views out in the Redrock front range of the Rockies. Probably my favorite Colorado course, its very beautiful, and you can hit it a mile.
Most memorable shot: More like shots. Mind you this is when I was playing the best I have ever played….started out birdie, birdie, par, birdie to close out the front 9 in 37. I managed to shoot 84. I was ever so pissed.
9. Deer Valley – Tyler, Texas
The Skinny: Lots of doglegs on this course. This was my introduction to tree golf, as this course is cut into the forests that start in East Texas and stretch all thoughout the south. Fun track, great greens.
Most memorable shot: The one my dad took on fellow idiot Z, as he made him pay for his round after I all but assured him that he would cover it. Sorry Z.
10. Bear Dance – Castle Rock, Colorado
The Skinny: Cool Track right outside of Denver. Again you can just crush it. Great views of Pikes peak and the Rockies in the distance. Course was in incredible shape, and the layout was a lot of fun. Not terribly difficult, but challenging none the less.
Most memorable shot: The one that caromed off the cart of the group in front of us as my brother remarked “I didn’t think I could hit it that far”
Nothing Spectacular here, but these are some fun tracks. Feel free to post comments.
JC
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Rangers -- Time to Panic???
I would like to thank Cuyler and Z for their new adds the last couple days. I'm sure we are the only three reading this thing, but it sure is fun isn't it?
Okay, down to business. Ranger talk. The rangers dropped another one tonight 12-9 or something like that to the vaunted Angels. Before I talk about the rangers, I'll discuss the clear-cut favorite (two days ago i though the west was wide open). Even if their starters are average (and with the exception of colon they are), once they get to the bullpen with Shields, Donnelly, and KROD it's game over. KROD is just nasty and should be the most dominant closer in baseball very soon. The angels offense could be downright scary this year. Vlad has gotten a hit in all 24 games against the rangers which is a crazy streak, Orlando Cabrera looks like a huge upgrade over david eckstein right now, jeff devannon is filling in nicely at DH, and chone figgins may be a terror on the basepaths and be a good utility guy.
Back to the rangers, I am not too worried about our starters yet (bet against Chan Ho tomorrow if you are not opposed to betting against the rangers). Chris Young has looked very shaky but the rest of the staff has looked serviceable to this point. I am worried about our bullpen and am counting the days until Francisco and Almanzer get back which should be shortly. Our lineup looks like it is going to be pretty stout this year. But as always, there are some negatives.
Positives:
-- Lots of WALKS (2nd in the majors despite the small sample size). Our OBP should be markedly higher this year which in all probability (see Baseball Prospectus) means more runs for our lineup.
--Dave Dellucci -- The "Godfather" continues to play like this and he will gain a cult following among rangers fans, well maybe just Marcus and I. We were brainstorming ideas for a group to rival the already famous hank's homies out at the ballpark. I had the very cheesy "the barajas bunch". But i have to admit to liking Marcus' idea of "Dellucci's goons".
--Rod Barajas offense - Admit it, the guy is hitting the ball so far better than anyone could have anticipated. Of course, there is the issue of his very suspect knocking down balls and catching plays at the plate.
--Sori, Hank, Young, and Tex -- These guys should produce all year. If any of them (besides maybe soriano because kinsler can step up) gets hurt, this season is over.
--Adrian Gonzalez -- In his limited abs to this point, I think he's a keeper.
Negatives
--Bullpen - I can't really single anyone out (besides "gas can" RA Dickey). If our bulppen ended being really lucky with our bulpen last year, then this is going to be a long season. Because our starters are not good enough to win games for us. Almanzar and Francisco (I'm praying) coming back should help us stabilize the pen and allow us to win games late. Time to wake up Coco
--Gary Matthews, Jr. - I love GMJ, but if he continues to hit like this, it may time to call Nix back up and start rotating gary again around the outfield
--Mench - He has looked overmatched at the plate so far. I'm not overly worried yet because he seems like a slow starter
Overall impressions so far, I am not going to panic yet because we are only 8 games into the season. But if we do get our top 2 setup men back and we still aren't playing better baseball, then my expectations for this season are going to diminsh very quickly. I still think we can win this division and until shown otherwise, I will not change my mind.
While we are on baseball talk, I thought I'd go ahead and go off on my weekly rant:
Can ESPN get over itself with this CONSTANT discussion about Derek Lowe and Dave Roberts at fenway yesterday. I have heard no one talk about this with the exception of the talking heads on the alleged "sports leader". So many other great storylines out of Fenway yesterday (johnny pesky, the bill russell, bruschi, bobby orr, richard seymour quartet) and all ESPN can talk about it is the pointless discussion on Lowe / Roberts putting a red sox jersey on for 45 minutes.
ESPN reminds me of the railroad industry in that the network can afford to be so cocky because you have a true monopoly with sports fans. As much as hate to admit this becuase I think Ric Renner is a cheese dick and fox sports is far from perfect, I admit that I find myself watching the Best Damn sports show only because i get so sick of the product ESPN puts out. I don't see anything stopping ESPN in the near future, but we can still hope that the network will continue to put out the best product they can. That's all I ask.
While we are on baseball talk, I will give you my top 5 uniforms in the major leagues:
1) Dodgers -- I hate the dodgers, but they got the best damn uniforms in the game. Classy
2) Yanks -- If I didn't hate the yankees so much, they would be #1.
3) Tigers -- Maybe it goes back to the Tigers hat Ice Cube wore in boyz n the hood, but I love these uniforms. TIVO alert -- If you have not checked out the HBO series on Detroit's world series win over the Cardinals in the late 60s bringing a city together in the midst of turmoil, you should check it out.
4) White Sox -- I put their unis here because they became the standard for the very cool expansion team unis, Marlins and Rockies, who easily could have been on the list themselves.
5) Cardinals -- It's a homer pick sure, but you have to admit these unis are classic. My personal favorite are thier home white on white. Great throwbacks to the baby blue '82 unis.
That's all i got....
T
Okay, down to business. Ranger talk. The rangers dropped another one tonight 12-9 or something like that to the vaunted Angels. Before I talk about the rangers, I'll discuss the clear-cut favorite (two days ago i though the west was wide open). Even if their starters are average (and with the exception of colon they are), once they get to the bullpen with Shields, Donnelly, and KROD it's game over. KROD is just nasty and should be the most dominant closer in baseball very soon. The angels offense could be downright scary this year. Vlad has gotten a hit in all 24 games against the rangers which is a crazy streak, Orlando Cabrera looks like a huge upgrade over david eckstein right now, jeff devannon is filling in nicely at DH, and chone figgins may be a terror on the basepaths and be a good utility guy.
Back to the rangers, I am not too worried about our starters yet (bet against Chan Ho tomorrow if you are not opposed to betting against the rangers). Chris Young has looked very shaky but the rest of the staff has looked serviceable to this point. I am worried about our bullpen and am counting the days until Francisco and Almanzer get back which should be shortly. Our lineup looks like it is going to be pretty stout this year. But as always, there are some negatives.
Positives:
-- Lots of WALKS (2nd in the majors despite the small sample size). Our OBP should be markedly higher this year which in all probability (see Baseball Prospectus) means more runs for our lineup.
--Dave Dellucci -- The "Godfather" continues to play like this and he will gain a cult following among rangers fans, well maybe just Marcus and I. We were brainstorming ideas for a group to rival the already famous hank's homies out at the ballpark. I had the very cheesy "the barajas bunch". But i have to admit to liking Marcus' idea of "Dellucci's goons".
--Rod Barajas offense - Admit it, the guy is hitting the ball so far better than anyone could have anticipated. Of course, there is the issue of his very suspect knocking down balls and catching plays at the plate.
--Sori, Hank, Young, and Tex -- These guys should produce all year. If any of them (besides maybe soriano because kinsler can step up) gets hurt, this season is over.
--Adrian Gonzalez -- In his limited abs to this point, I think he's a keeper.
Negatives
--Bullpen - I can't really single anyone out (besides "gas can" RA Dickey). If our bulppen ended being really lucky with our bulpen last year, then this is going to be a long season. Because our starters are not good enough to win games for us. Almanzar and Francisco (I'm praying) coming back should help us stabilize the pen and allow us to win games late. Time to wake up Coco
--Gary Matthews, Jr. - I love GMJ, but if he continues to hit like this, it may time to call Nix back up and start rotating gary again around the outfield
--Mench - He has looked overmatched at the plate so far. I'm not overly worried yet because he seems like a slow starter
Overall impressions so far, I am not going to panic yet because we are only 8 games into the season. But if we do get our top 2 setup men back and we still aren't playing better baseball, then my expectations for this season are going to diminsh very quickly. I still think we can win this division and until shown otherwise, I will not change my mind.
While we are on baseball talk, I thought I'd go ahead and go off on my weekly rant:
Can ESPN get over itself with this CONSTANT discussion about Derek Lowe and Dave Roberts at fenway yesterday. I have heard no one talk about this with the exception of the talking heads on the alleged "sports leader". So many other great storylines out of Fenway yesterday (johnny pesky, the bill russell, bruschi, bobby orr, richard seymour quartet) and all ESPN can talk about it is the pointless discussion on Lowe / Roberts putting a red sox jersey on for 45 minutes.
ESPN reminds me of the railroad industry in that the network can afford to be so cocky because you have a true monopoly with sports fans. As much as hate to admit this becuase I think Ric Renner is a cheese dick and fox sports is far from perfect, I admit that I find myself watching the Best Damn sports show only because i get so sick of the product ESPN puts out. I don't see anything stopping ESPN in the near future, but we can still hope that the network will continue to put out the best product they can. That's all I ask.
While we are on baseball talk, I will give you my top 5 uniforms in the major leagues:
1) Dodgers -- I hate the dodgers, but they got the best damn uniforms in the game. Classy
2) Yanks -- If I didn't hate the yankees so much, they would be #1.
3) Tigers -- Maybe it goes back to the Tigers hat Ice Cube wore in boyz n the hood, but I love these uniforms. TIVO alert -- If you have not checked out the HBO series on Detroit's world series win over the Cardinals in the late 60s bringing a city together in the midst of turmoil, you should check it out.
4) White Sox -- I put their unis here because they became the standard for the very cool expansion team unis, Marlins and Rockies, who easily could have been on the list themselves.
5) Cardinals -- It's a homer pick sure, but you have to admit these unis are classic. My personal favorite are thier home white on white. Great throwbacks to the baby blue '82 unis.
That's all i got....
T
Good to be back
At the behest of my colleague (I use the term loosely) “T” I have decided to get back on the horse and start posting on the good’ol blog once again. These are just some unorganized thoughts I’ve had over the past week.
1. This years Masters was great. Despite the rain the tourney became a two-man race that could have developed into a one-man race. Chris Dimarco showed great determination and posted the second best fourth round score on the day. We definitely get spoiled watching the Masters because of the continuous coverage and minimal commercials. Compared to any other sporting event, the Masters may be the toughest event to get up and use the bathroom because there aren’t too many breaks in the action.
2. Watched my first baseball game from start to finish the other night. This just shows how fantasy sports or gambling can cause someone to watch an otherwise meaningless game. This was a prime example, there was no other reason for me to watch the Pirates-Padres game other than fantasy implications.
3. The steroid issue is not going to go anywhere soon. It seems that major league baseball will continue to bust inconsequential players each week for the rest of the season after busting Alex Gonzales and Jorge Piedra over the first two weeks of the season. Wouldn’t it be great if we could bet on the next player to be suspended for steroids. My money is on Jorge Cantu.
4. Is there anything worse than having the 1st pick in a draft with no clear-cut first pick. The 49ers are in this position. Of course one of two QBs that the 49ers take could develop into great players, but everyone knows if another team wanted to move up to the 1st pick the 49ers would jump at the offer. I will be most interested to see how the receivers are drafted. Braylon Edwards and Mike Williams may be the two best players in this draft and could have the most impact on the teams they end up on.
5. Continuing with the draft, does anyone else think that Mel Kiper has his final “Big Board” finished and he moves players around just to keep people buying into ESPN’s Insider.
6. The NBA playoffs should be exciting this year. That’s an obvious statement if I’ve ever made one. It is even scary to make predictions. The departure of Shaq from the West makes almost every playoff team a contender. The Nuggets, Rockets or Mavs all could make runs to take them to the finals. The East looks like it will probably come down to the Heat and the Pistons. Even though I don’t like the Piston’s attitude of thinking they can turn it on when it matters, they do have a successful strategy for shutting down Shaq. The most intriguing team in the East is the Baby Bulls. They are that unpredictable team that depends on their youth. Also, Ben Gordon may be the best 4th quarter player in the league and it will come down to him producing in the playoffs like he has in the regular season. As much as I like Lebron, thanks to upper management moves Lebron will be gone after the first round, but he will probably average 38 points a game. All that being said, I like Dallas to beat the Pistons in the Finals and finally give Mark Cuban a successful reality show. Yes, this is a biased choice.
7. I saw “Fever Pitch” this past weekend. A little background, I was with my parents and they were trying to decide between “Fever Pitch” and “Sahara”. I think I made the right choice. Drew Barrymore personally tried to ruin this movie. I guess she must be a bargain compared to other Hollywood actresses. She just isn’t likeable. And if I’ve learned anything from watching countless amounts of movies, to make an otherwise borderline movie into a slightly enjoyable movie all you have to do is just get the hottest girl available. This movie would have been much better if someone, say Jessica Alba, played Barrymore’s role. Even though I haven’t seen any of Alba’s movies, I am sure she can act as well or even better than Barrymore, plus she is much, much, much hotter. Besides Barrymore, the movie wasn’t terrible. The best part about the movie was the scenes from actual games. It was like watching a part of the series “When it was a game” that used to come on HBO from time to time. Seeing glimpses of the greatest comeback in sports history from angles that even Fox couldn’t get their hands on was great. I also liked the tough issues that this movie confronted. The issue of men’s obsession with sports hasn’t been tackled like this since 1996 when both “Celtic Pride” and “The Fan” came out. These movies deal with fans having obsessions with either one team or one player. However, today’s sports fan usually likes all big time sports, where there isn’t an off-season. I am still waiting for the movie to come out about a sports fan that is consumed year round by sporting events and how he deals with his relationships. It could be called “Fever Pitch 2: Electric Boogaloo”
Z
1. This years Masters was great. Despite the rain the tourney became a two-man race that could have developed into a one-man race. Chris Dimarco showed great determination and posted the second best fourth round score on the day. We definitely get spoiled watching the Masters because of the continuous coverage and minimal commercials. Compared to any other sporting event, the Masters may be the toughest event to get up and use the bathroom because there aren’t too many breaks in the action.
2. Watched my first baseball game from start to finish the other night. This just shows how fantasy sports or gambling can cause someone to watch an otherwise meaningless game. This was a prime example, there was no other reason for me to watch the Pirates-Padres game other than fantasy implications.
3. The steroid issue is not going to go anywhere soon. It seems that major league baseball will continue to bust inconsequential players each week for the rest of the season after busting Alex Gonzales and Jorge Piedra over the first two weeks of the season. Wouldn’t it be great if we could bet on the next player to be suspended for steroids. My money is on Jorge Cantu.
4. Is there anything worse than having the 1st pick in a draft with no clear-cut first pick. The 49ers are in this position. Of course one of two QBs that the 49ers take could develop into great players, but everyone knows if another team wanted to move up to the 1st pick the 49ers would jump at the offer. I will be most interested to see how the receivers are drafted. Braylon Edwards and Mike Williams may be the two best players in this draft and could have the most impact on the teams they end up on.
5. Continuing with the draft, does anyone else think that Mel Kiper has his final “Big Board” finished and he moves players around just to keep people buying into ESPN’s Insider.
6. The NBA playoffs should be exciting this year. That’s an obvious statement if I’ve ever made one. It is even scary to make predictions. The departure of Shaq from the West makes almost every playoff team a contender. The Nuggets, Rockets or Mavs all could make runs to take them to the finals. The East looks like it will probably come down to the Heat and the Pistons. Even though I don’t like the Piston’s attitude of thinking they can turn it on when it matters, they do have a successful strategy for shutting down Shaq. The most intriguing team in the East is the Baby Bulls. They are that unpredictable team that depends on their youth. Also, Ben Gordon may be the best 4th quarter player in the league and it will come down to him producing in the playoffs like he has in the regular season. As much as I like Lebron, thanks to upper management moves Lebron will be gone after the first round, but he will probably average 38 points a game. All that being said, I like Dallas to beat the Pistons in the Finals and finally give Mark Cuban a successful reality show. Yes, this is a biased choice.
7. I saw “Fever Pitch” this past weekend. A little background, I was with my parents and they were trying to decide between “Fever Pitch” and “Sahara”. I think I made the right choice. Drew Barrymore personally tried to ruin this movie. I guess she must be a bargain compared to other Hollywood actresses. She just isn’t likeable. And if I’ve learned anything from watching countless amounts of movies, to make an otherwise borderline movie into a slightly enjoyable movie all you have to do is just get the hottest girl available. This movie would have been much better if someone, say Jessica Alba, played Barrymore’s role. Even though I haven’t seen any of Alba’s movies, I am sure she can act as well or even better than Barrymore, plus she is much, much, much hotter. Besides Barrymore, the movie wasn’t terrible. The best part about the movie was the scenes from actual games. It was like watching a part of the series “When it was a game” that used to come on HBO from time to time. Seeing glimpses of the greatest comeback in sports history from angles that even Fox couldn’t get their hands on was great. I also liked the tough issues that this movie confronted. The issue of men’s obsession with sports hasn’t been tackled like this since 1996 when both “Celtic Pride” and “The Fan” came out. These movies deal with fans having obsessions with either one team or one player. However, today’s sports fan usually likes all big time sports, where there isn’t an off-season. I am still waiting for the movie to come out about a sports fan that is consumed year round by sporting events and how he deals with his relationships. It could be called “Fever Pitch 2: Electric Boogaloo”
Z
He's Back
Make no mistake about it, he is back. Forget about two bogies on the last two holes of a major to almost lose the tournament. Forget about the amazing shot on 16. Forget about 7 straight birdies. Forget about the opening day 74. Forget about his wife. Forget about Phil. Forget about Ernie. Forget about Vijay.
The Tiger is back.
When Tiger Wood’s dominated the game of golf in 2000-2002, it wasn’t because he could hit the ball farther than anyone. It wasn’t his ability to knock down 10 footers at will. It wasn’t that he was shattering tournament records. It was his mind. It was intimidation. And the Tiger got it back on Sunday. Tiger won his 9th major with a terrible Sunday performance by Tiger standards. But he still did it. When it really mattered, Tiger hit a bullet 3 wood down the fairway, a safe but solid shot into 18 green, and a screaming putt, that happened to be center cut. No one but Tiger can do those things, and everyone on tour knows it. That is what separated Tiger from Robotic Vijay, Amazing shot maker Phil, and the Big Easy. And they all knew it too. No one wants to be in the final group playing Tiger on Sunday.
He had lost a bit of that intimidation. People thought Tiger had lost a step after getting married. Younger guys could hit it farther, and straighter. Vijay took the #1 spot, Ernie finished second in almost every major last year. Phil finally got his. The playing field was even……not so fast.
Tiger has what the greats have. The one thing that separates them from everyone else, the desire to win to go along with the talent. Jordan, Magic, Farve, Gretsky, …….Nicklaus. These guys had the talent to win, and would do whatever it took to get there. Tiger has it. If you saw his reaction on 16 when he made that shot, it was not a fist pump, or a tip of the hat. He stared into his competitors eyes and let him know that he was there to win. No one else can put that fear into another player.
Can he break Jack’s records? Who knows. Can he win another major this year? Very likely. Is Tiger the favorite in every tournament he enters? Definitely.
Bring on Pinehurst, Bring on St. Andrews, Bring on Baltusrol. The Tiger is back.
JC
The Tiger is back.
When Tiger Wood’s dominated the game of golf in 2000-2002, it wasn’t because he could hit the ball farther than anyone. It wasn’t his ability to knock down 10 footers at will. It wasn’t that he was shattering tournament records. It was his mind. It was intimidation. And the Tiger got it back on Sunday. Tiger won his 9th major with a terrible Sunday performance by Tiger standards. But he still did it. When it really mattered, Tiger hit a bullet 3 wood down the fairway, a safe but solid shot into 18 green, and a screaming putt, that happened to be center cut. No one but Tiger can do those things, and everyone on tour knows it. That is what separated Tiger from Robotic Vijay, Amazing shot maker Phil, and the Big Easy. And they all knew it too. No one wants to be in the final group playing Tiger on Sunday.
He had lost a bit of that intimidation. People thought Tiger had lost a step after getting married. Younger guys could hit it farther, and straighter. Vijay took the #1 spot, Ernie finished second in almost every major last year. Phil finally got his. The playing field was even……not so fast.
Tiger has what the greats have. The one thing that separates them from everyone else, the desire to win to go along with the talent. Jordan, Magic, Farve, Gretsky, …….Nicklaus. These guys had the talent to win, and would do whatever it took to get there. Tiger has it. If you saw his reaction on 16 when he made that shot, it was not a fist pump, or a tip of the hat. He stared into his competitors eyes and let him know that he was there to win. No one else can put that fear into another player.
Can he break Jack’s records? Who knows. Can he win another major this year? Very likely. Is Tiger the favorite in every tournament he enters? Definitely.
Bring on Pinehurst, Bring on St. Andrews, Bring on Baltusrol. The Tiger is back.
JC
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Championship Game Thoughts and a Few Links
Well, the college basketball season is finally over and what a great NCAA tournament/season it was. After a few down years (when the high school kids first started coming out), college basketball is definitely back in a big way. Last night's game was a classic and even one shining moment (which CBS has been butchering for about 5 years now) was very well done. .
Kudos to Illinois for making the game close up until the last 3o seconds. They could have laid over and died (it was close to becoming a yawner like the much hyped BCS title game between USC/OU) when they got down fairly big at the beginning of the 2nd half, but their guards would not let them go down without a fight. The backcourt of illinois (brown, williams, and head) will be remembered by Illinios fans for a long time. Amazing, compelling storylines can arise when you settle things on the playing field (wake up college football). Tons of great games and despite what bowl apologists may say that a playoff system only lets one team go away as a winner. I think fans in Morgantown, Champaign, Louisville, East Lansing, Milwaukee, and wherever the hell bucknell is are all celebrating their great seasons this summer.
Once again this season has to be considering a smashing success for college basketball and despite kids leaving early, the sport has adapted very nicely.
My top 5 Memories from this tournament:
1 ) Illinois / Arizona and the entire regional final weekend-- This season was scripted almost too perfectly for Illinois. A perfect regular season up until a meaningless loss at Ohio St. Then a picture perfect path to the final four in their own backyard of St. Louis. On the verge of being completely foiled by a game Arizona team. Lute Olsen really had his team ready to play this tournament (he is very hit or miss come march) and they looked to be moving on to St. Louis before a furious Illinois comeback and winning the game in OT. Of course, we'll disregard that I missed the entire 2nd half.
2) West Virinia -- What a great story. These guys were in jeopardy of not even making the tournament until a trip to the big east final ensured their birth. They then proceeded to squeak by Creighton ( I had them in my tourney auction so i was pissed), but the next 3 games were all classics. An unbelievable double OT win against Wake (maybe the best game of the tournament), and then a nail biting low scoring affair (beating the Gengeral). And finally, the absolute classic regional final against Louisville. I will remember the names Pittsnogle and Gansey forever.
3) Crazy Friday night of the opening round games -- My bracket was looking TOO good. I had every region (with the exception of Albuquerque) 100% right until the 6 pm games on Friday tipped off. By the end of the night, Syracuse (I had them in the finals) AND Kansas had lost and order was restored. And by Saturday night, my champion (wake forest) had lost as well.
4) Washington -- While my boys may have gone down in the sweet 16, this was a great season with a great group of players. They just ran into a buzzsaw called Louisvilee and had their season ended sooner than expected. I will always have a spot in my heart for Nate Robinson.
5) Final Game -- While the semifinals didn't quite live up to its billing, the final was a classic that will not soon be forgotten. Great work by my hometown of st. louis hosting the event.
Here are some good links that I will start to post from time to time:
Bob Strum's blog from the Ticket -- This guy is my favorite personality on the Ticket and his blog is pretty informative:
http://sturminator.blogspot.com/
Great minor league baseball website from guy named John Sickels. Well respected in the sabremetrics (aka baseball nerd community):
http://www.minorleagueball.com/
If you are intersted in golf at all, you should do this masters pool run by Johnny Mackovic's son:
www.masterspool.net
That's it for today.
Go Rangers!
Back to work........
Kudos to Illinois for making the game close up until the last 3o seconds. They could have laid over and died (it was close to becoming a yawner like the much hyped BCS title game between USC/OU) when they got down fairly big at the beginning of the 2nd half, but their guards would not let them go down without a fight. The backcourt of illinois (brown, williams, and head) will be remembered by Illinios fans for a long time. Amazing, compelling storylines can arise when you settle things on the playing field (wake up college football). Tons of great games and despite what bowl apologists may say that a playoff system only lets one team go away as a winner. I think fans in Morgantown, Champaign, Louisville, East Lansing, Milwaukee, and wherever the hell bucknell is are all celebrating their great seasons this summer.
Once again this season has to be considering a smashing success for college basketball and despite kids leaving early, the sport has adapted very nicely.
My top 5 Memories from this tournament:
1 ) Illinois / Arizona and the entire regional final weekend-- This season was scripted almost too perfectly for Illinois. A perfect regular season up until a meaningless loss at Ohio St. Then a picture perfect path to the final four in their own backyard of St. Louis. On the verge of being completely foiled by a game Arizona team. Lute Olsen really had his team ready to play this tournament (he is very hit or miss come march) and they looked to be moving on to St. Louis before a furious Illinois comeback and winning the game in OT. Of course, we'll disregard that I missed the entire 2nd half.
2) West Virinia -- What a great story. These guys were in jeopardy of not even making the tournament until a trip to the big east final ensured their birth. They then proceeded to squeak by Creighton ( I had them in my tourney auction so i was pissed), but the next 3 games were all classics. An unbelievable double OT win against Wake (maybe the best game of the tournament), and then a nail biting low scoring affair (beating the Gengeral). And finally, the absolute classic regional final against Louisville. I will remember the names Pittsnogle and Gansey forever.
3) Crazy Friday night of the opening round games -- My bracket was looking TOO good. I had every region (with the exception of Albuquerque) 100% right until the 6 pm games on Friday tipped off. By the end of the night, Syracuse (I had them in the finals) AND Kansas had lost and order was restored. And by Saturday night, my champion (wake forest) had lost as well.
4) Washington -- While my boys may have gone down in the sweet 16, this was a great season with a great group of players. They just ran into a buzzsaw called Louisvilee and had their season ended sooner than expected. I will always have a spot in my heart for Nate Robinson.
5) Final Game -- While the semifinals didn't quite live up to its billing, the final was a classic that will not soon be forgotten. Great work by my hometown of st. louis hosting the event.
Here are some good links that I will start to post from time to time:
Bob Strum's blog from the Ticket -- This guy is my favorite personality on the Ticket and his blog is pretty informative:
http://sturminator.blogspot.com/
Great minor league baseball website from guy named John Sickels. Well respected in the sabremetrics (aka baseball nerd community):
http://www.minorleagueball.com/
If you are intersted in golf at all, you should do this masters pool run by Johnny Mackovic's son:
www.masterspool.net
That's it for today.
Go Rangers!
Back to work........
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Illinois / Louisville stream of consciousness notes
I ripped this off from collegefootballnews.com's bit during the college football season. You can talk to my attorney (Z) if I infringe on any copyrights during this blog entry.
Illinois / Louisville
This should be a good one. Louisville's wins this tournament (raping #5 georgia tech, just flat out outplaying #1 W-dub, and a thrilling comeback against an unconscious #7 West Virginia team) may be better than Illinois's wins so far (#3 Arizona OT thriller not withstanding, a cinderalla #12 UW - Milwaukee team, and #9 Nevada -- no kirk snyder on this team) but there is something abou this Illinois team that feels like a team of destiny.
--Despite Pitino's experience edge, I think Bruce Weber's job this seasona makes the coaching a wash.
--Early in the game, louisville's d has been better than expected.
--Augustine and Illinois' other big man (smith?) look goofier than any big man combo i can remember (big country and ostertag didn't play on the same team). It also helps that smith has a nice porn stache working.
--12 minutes into the first have and Louisville finally has committed its first foul.
22-22 all with 6:56 to go in the first half
--nice fight shown by louisville so far.
--O'bannon!!!! this guy was big last game too. I like him but i'm not sure whether or not he's related to the once-famouse o'bannon bros. (charles and national player of the year ed) at UCLA
31-24 ILL with 2:00 to go in the first half
--So far Illinois has been doing OK down low, better than I expected.
--Amazing stat so far, Louisville had its first turnover of the first half late in the 1st half (4 minute mark.
--Smart play by Illinois to hold for one shot at the end of the first half even if they don't convert. I guess there's a reason this team has only lost 1 game so far this season.
31-28 Illinois at HALF
--Defenses have been GOOD this game.
--Billy Packer is not nearly the anti-christ (see Barry Horn column in today's DMN) that some fellow media members make him out to be. He shuts his mouth and let's the game do the talking when it matters. So what if he mouths off at some non-conference in early december.
--Big 3 by Powell!
34-33 Illinois
--Wow!!!!! That follow by Powell was nasty. Missing a 3 and then follwing with a jam.
-- Big Run Alert!
-- Good answer by Dean.
--Powell has really played well this half, and Illinois usually wins when he plays well (or so the experts tell me.
--Jeez, I love Luther Head. This 3 guard combo for Illinois is really special.
55-49 Illinois 8:20 to go in the game
--The shots aren't falling this game like earlier this tourney for Louisville.
--Watching this game, this really has been a fun year for college basketball.
--Wow!!!!! This Illinois team is on fire.
--Big 3 by Head AGAIN (No penis jokes please
Ilinois up 9 Late
--This game is not over. Pitino can press the rest of the game, they can have a chance. All Illinois needs to do is hit their shots.
-- Got to love Keady's comb over.
-- No comeback for Louisville, Illinois is running away.
--Okay, I don't have the final score right now but Illinois covered, i know that.
--I'm pounding UNC -5 and -230 for no good reason other than I think a UNC-Illinois matchup will be badass.
--Until next time......
T
Illinois / Louisville
This should be a good one. Louisville's wins this tournament (raping #5 georgia tech, just flat out outplaying #1 W-dub, and a thrilling comeback against an unconscious #7 West Virginia team) may be better than Illinois's wins so far (#3 Arizona OT thriller not withstanding, a cinderalla #12 UW - Milwaukee team, and #9 Nevada -- no kirk snyder on this team) but there is something abou this Illinois team that feels like a team of destiny.
--Despite Pitino's experience edge, I think Bruce Weber's job this seasona makes the coaching a wash.
--Early in the game, louisville's d has been better than expected.
--Augustine and Illinois' other big man (smith?) look goofier than any big man combo i can remember (big country and ostertag didn't play on the same team). It also helps that smith has a nice porn stache working.
--12 minutes into the first have and Louisville finally has committed its first foul.
22-22 all with 6:56 to go in the first half
--nice fight shown by louisville so far.
--O'bannon!!!! this guy was big last game too. I like him but i'm not sure whether or not he's related to the once-famouse o'bannon bros. (charles and national player of the year ed) at UCLA
31-24 ILL with 2:00 to go in the first half
--So far Illinois has been doing OK down low, better than I expected.
--Amazing stat so far, Louisville had its first turnover of the first half late in the 1st half (4 minute mark.
--Smart play by Illinois to hold for one shot at the end of the first half even if they don't convert. I guess there's a reason this team has only lost 1 game so far this season.
31-28 Illinois at HALF
--Defenses have been GOOD this game.
--Billy Packer is not nearly the anti-christ (see Barry Horn column in today's DMN) that some fellow media members make him out to be. He shuts his mouth and let's the game do the talking when it matters. So what if he mouths off at some non-conference in early december.
--Big 3 by Powell!
34-33 Illinois
--Wow!!!!! That follow by Powell was nasty. Missing a 3 and then follwing with a jam.
-- Big Run Alert!
-- Good answer by Dean.
--Powell has really played well this half, and Illinois usually wins when he plays well (or so the experts tell me.
--Jeez, I love Luther Head. This 3 guard combo for Illinois is really special.
55-49 Illinois 8:20 to go in the game
--The shots aren't falling this game like earlier this tourney for Louisville.
--Watching this game, this really has been a fun year for college basketball.
--Wow!!!!! This Illinois team is on fire.
--Big 3 by Head AGAIN (No penis jokes please
Ilinois up 9 Late
--This game is not over. Pitino can press the rest of the game, they can have a chance. All Illinois needs to do is hit their shots.
-- Got to love Keady's comb over.
-- No comeback for Louisville, Illinois is running away.
--Okay, I don't have the final score right now but Illinois covered, i know that.
--I'm pounding UNC -5 and -230 for no good reason other than I think a UNC-Illinois matchup will be badass.
--Until next time......
T
Friday, April 01, 2005
Final Four, Pope, and Tom Delay
This blog has been lying dormant for awhile so i thought I'd try to ressurrect it. With the Terry Schiavo story finally fading away, the pope's health becomes the next story that the cable networks and media will latch onto like the blood-sucking leaches that they are. I admit to watch just as much cable news as the next person (CNN is my preferred network), but enough is enough with this saturated news coverage we have in our country today. I guess there is nothing we can do besides grin and bear it. Before I move on to more interesting matters (final four, start of baseball season), I have to get one more political point off my chest.
Tom Delay has officially moved past any other politician on my most evil list. This guy is so crooked and so fake that it makes me sick. I understand plenty of other politicans cow-tie to the religious right (an i'm ok with that), but I'm not ok with his blatant disregard for any shred of ethics. With the redistricting of the Texas congressional districts along with his blatant illegal campaign financing, you would think this guy would be in serious trouble of losing his job. That's the great thing about America though. If you have the money and power, you can become truly invincible. What a country! Is it any shock that Delay's home district is located no other than in the great city of Houston. Just another in the long line of great american crooks to come out of that city.
Okay.... Time to move onto more important things like the start of baseball season and the final four.
Final Four Predictions
UNC -5 over Michigan St.
While I really don't like either team all that much (I dogged on Michigan St. all season), I think UNC has too much talent to to lose to Tom Izzo's squad. Michigan St. should be able to match up well defensively with the UNC juggernaut and on paper they should make it a really close game. Unfortunately for MSU, you don't play games on paper and UNC has some sick talent that I don't think will slip up here. I have really been impressed with Sean May's play this tournament and UNC should win this one going away. It should be a competitive game, but i think UNC will win this one rather handily. UNC 86 Michigan St. 74.
Louisville +3 over Illinois
This should be a great game. Illinois has the superior guard play, but something about this Louisville team really scares me. I think it will come down to the final 2 minutes with Illinois winning at the wire. They seem to be a team of destiny this year and CBS would kill to get a UNC-Illiinois final (Best ratings since '93 UNC / Fab 5?). Illinois 74 Louisville 73.
I would make guess as to wins a UNC / Illinois final, but i'll wait until tomorrow's games are played.
I'm worn out typing now so i'll update with baseball talk a little later tonight / tomorrow morning.
Until then I'll leave you with a famous quote from Z's favorite,
"Either they don't know, don't show, or don't care about what's going on in the hood".
T
Tom Delay has officially moved past any other politician on my most evil list. This guy is so crooked and so fake that it makes me sick. I understand plenty of other politicans cow-tie to the religious right (an i'm ok with that), but I'm not ok with his blatant disregard for any shred of ethics. With the redistricting of the Texas congressional districts along with his blatant illegal campaign financing, you would think this guy would be in serious trouble of losing his job. That's the great thing about America though. If you have the money and power, you can become truly invincible. What a country! Is it any shock that Delay's home district is located no other than in the great city of Houston. Just another in the long line of great american crooks to come out of that city.
Okay.... Time to move onto more important things like the start of baseball season and the final four.
Final Four Predictions
UNC -5 over Michigan St.
While I really don't like either team all that much (I dogged on Michigan St. all season), I think UNC has too much talent to to lose to Tom Izzo's squad. Michigan St. should be able to match up well defensively with the UNC juggernaut and on paper they should make it a really close game. Unfortunately for MSU, you don't play games on paper and UNC has some sick talent that I don't think will slip up here. I have really been impressed with Sean May's play this tournament and UNC should win this one going away. It should be a competitive game, but i think UNC will win this one rather handily. UNC 86 Michigan St. 74.
Louisville +3 over Illinois
This should be a great game. Illinois has the superior guard play, but something about this Louisville team really scares me. I think it will come down to the final 2 minutes with Illinois winning at the wire. They seem to be a team of destiny this year and CBS would kill to get a UNC-Illiinois final (Best ratings since '93 UNC / Fab 5?). Illinois 74 Louisville 73.
I would make guess as to wins a UNC / Illinois final, but i'll wait until tomorrow's games are played.
I'm worn out typing now so i'll update with baseball talk a little later tonight / tomorrow morning.
Until then I'll leave you with a famous quote from Z's favorite,
"Either they don't know, don't show, or don't care about what's going on in the hood".
T
Monday, February 14, 2005
The Elite Six
Since everyone believes that they’re own opinion on sports is usually the right one, a sense of elitism is created that makes people believe that they are better than other people that they talk to about sports. I think that every sports fan, in their own way, is a sports elitist. And there are many types of sports elitists. You have the quintessential sports elitist that is comprised of sports radio talk show hosts, sports writers, and local TV sports anchormen. Other groups of sports elitist include old school elite, the general elite, the Internet elite, the gambling elite, and the almanac elite.
People in sports media are probably the most obvious type of sports elitist. In their minds they are actually as important or more important than the athletes themselves. Most of these guys actually buy into what they are saying no matter how ridiculous. Most of them have no idea of what the athletes go through and hold the athletes up to standards that they themselves don’t live by. Most of us don’t have any contact with these people besides hearing them peddle their opinions on the air or in print. Saying all of that, there are many people that cover sports that can be respected as knowing their own limitations as well as those of the athletes, but they are far and few between.
The old school elitists believe that because they have been around for so long that they have a better understanding of the game and that they know best. They look down at the way sports are played today and the athletes that play them. They always talk about the “glory days” and think that sports haven’t been the same since players began being paid millions of dollars. For them, nothing of importance has happened in sports since the late 60s.
The general elite has the same attitude about everything including sports. They have a passing interest in sports, but think that they are so smart that they don’t really have to follow sports to have intelligent opinions about sports. Usually these people don’t watch sports until the playoffs and don’t feel the need to because the regular season games aren’t that important. The only time you talk sports with these people is when something about sports reaches the front page of the newspaper.
The Internet elite think that because they have a screen name, and maybe even a reputation, on message boards that their opinions on sports are validated. They pay extra money to have “Insider” status on the web and get the extra information that mere mortals can’t obtain (unless they have a credit card). Because of this “Insider” information they believe that they actually know what is going on with a sports program or organization. These people usually don’t respect what is actually going on and often have trouble drawing the line between their Internet persona and reality.
Most gambling elitist believe in nothing more than the bottom line. They claim that they are the most objective and never bet with their heart. Usually you see these people at bars either buying drinks for everyone because some random Ivy-League team covered the spread or they are searching for loose change in vending machines because they tried to turn their last $10 into $200 by trying to pick a 5-team parley.
Almanac elitists are exactly what they sound like, people who memorize stats and use them as often as they can to seem like they know what they are talking about. Usually you only want these people around when you have an obscure question about a sports record, after that they are dispensable.
Many sports fans fall into one or more of these categories and are, even if they don’t admit it, sports elitists. And in my opinion there is nothing wrong with this. One of the greatest elements of sports is that it doesn’t really matter. It’s not like politics where people sometimes feel as though they have to keep their opinions to themselves so that they don’t offend anybody. The end result is that people continue to talk sports with all kinds sports elitists and I would much rather have that then be surrounded by people that only talk about stuff that matters.
Z
People in sports media are probably the most obvious type of sports elitist. In their minds they are actually as important or more important than the athletes themselves. Most of these guys actually buy into what they are saying no matter how ridiculous. Most of them have no idea of what the athletes go through and hold the athletes up to standards that they themselves don’t live by. Most of us don’t have any contact with these people besides hearing them peddle their opinions on the air or in print. Saying all of that, there are many people that cover sports that can be respected as knowing their own limitations as well as those of the athletes, but they are far and few between.
The old school elitists believe that because they have been around for so long that they have a better understanding of the game and that they know best. They look down at the way sports are played today and the athletes that play them. They always talk about the “glory days” and think that sports haven’t been the same since players began being paid millions of dollars. For them, nothing of importance has happened in sports since the late 60s.
The general elite has the same attitude about everything including sports. They have a passing interest in sports, but think that they are so smart that they don’t really have to follow sports to have intelligent opinions about sports. Usually these people don’t watch sports until the playoffs and don’t feel the need to because the regular season games aren’t that important. The only time you talk sports with these people is when something about sports reaches the front page of the newspaper.
The Internet elite think that because they have a screen name, and maybe even a reputation, on message boards that their opinions on sports are validated. They pay extra money to have “Insider” status on the web and get the extra information that mere mortals can’t obtain (unless they have a credit card). Because of this “Insider” information they believe that they actually know what is going on with a sports program or organization. These people usually don’t respect what is actually going on and often have trouble drawing the line between their Internet persona and reality.
Most gambling elitist believe in nothing more than the bottom line. They claim that they are the most objective and never bet with their heart. Usually you see these people at bars either buying drinks for everyone because some random Ivy-League team covered the spread or they are searching for loose change in vending machines because they tried to turn their last $10 into $200 by trying to pick a 5-team parley.
Almanac elitists are exactly what they sound like, people who memorize stats and use them as often as they can to seem like they know what they are talking about. Usually you only want these people around when you have an obscure question about a sports record, after that they are dispensable.
Many sports fans fall into one or more of these categories and are, even if they don’t admit it, sports elitists. And in my opinion there is nothing wrong with this. One of the greatest elements of sports is that it doesn’t really matter. It’s not like politics where people sometimes feel as though they have to keep their opinions to themselves so that they don’t offend anybody. The end result is that people continue to talk sports with all kinds sports elitists and I would much rather have that then be surrounded by people that only talk about stuff that matters.
Z
Friday, December 03, 2004
Zach and Cuyler acting like a married Couple
I will stay out of the catfight between these two, and cover some stuff I've been pondering this past week:
1) Steroids -- Enough with the steroids outrage. Anyone with half a brain has known for years many baseball players use steroids. When great ballplayers (Bonds / Sosa as an example) go from 30 homerun/30 stolen base guys to 66 home runs and 73 !!!!! home runs respectively in the span of a few years, red flags obviously need to be raised. You'd have a better chance finding WMDs in Iraq then convincing someone that steroids aren't being used in baseball. Bonds and Sosa's heads are the size of coconuts. Canseco and Caminiti (and now Giambi) have publicly admitted to using steroids during their MVP seasons.
The question isn't whether guys are using steroids, but how many are using the juice? So these guys inject steroids/HGH/testesterone into their body, so what? Of course, testing would curtail some of the widespread use of these substances like any other major sports regulatory body all over the world already does. The reason testing is already not in place. You guessed it. The beloved MLB ayers union. Their leader, Donald Fehr (who is more evel than even Donald Rumsfeld) refuses to budge on steroid testing. But alas, the MLB players union doesn't budge on anything. This steroids issue is just yet another example of ESPN policing the hand that feeds it. We all know ESPN is one of the main culprits when it comes to glamorizing the long ball, and now all of sudden they lead the "outrage" over players enhancing their ability to hit the long ball. The hypocrisy in this country is mind boggling.
2) BCS -- The Texas fans have lost it. Threatening (both verbally and physically) AP voters, writing nasty emails to any talking head (herbstreit, Albersts, May, etc.) who says anything lhe least bit negative about Texas deserving to be in the BCS. Here's the deal. Texas and Cal both deserve to be in the BCS. Assuming nothing crazy happens this weekend, Cal or Texas is going to be left out. Is that fair? Of course not. This systems sucks, and the problems will persist until an 4 or 8 team playoff is put into place. If the decision makers (ADs, school presidents, Bowls, networks) are judged based on their past history, we should have a playoff somewhere around the year 2050. Maybe Mack Brown will have a conference title by then. Hey mack, figure out how to BEAT OU and then all your problems will be solved.
3) Ricky -- Let's just let Ricky be Ricky. No need to bag on the guy. We all have known he beats to a different drum for years now. Just remember all the great memories he provided during the years he did play and move on. I had the luxury of being in school during his Junior and Senior seasons. I remember the unbelievable season he had in '97 despite zero talent around him. What Texas fan will ever forget the '98 thansgiving game against A&M in Mack's first season (on a side note - the coach at UT ages about as quick as the president of the US in office - just compare mack '98 to mack '04) ? Ricky's run to the record book (F Ron Dayne) with a national tv audience watching and dorsett on hand to witness it. So many others: wearing #37 against OU, his dominant bowl performance against miss st., ending nebraska's 47 game home winning streak in lincoln. Sure, Ricky would have finished with unbelievable numbers in the pros (maybe even a hall of famer). Let's not forget Earl Campbell's possible influence on his decision to get out of the game. Earl can barely walk anymore, and Ricky was always conscious of how much a beating you take as a running back in the NFL. I'm not trying to make excuses, just trying to let Ricky be Ricky.
4) Championship weekend - Quick predictions (for recreational purposes only of course) for this weekend's games.
VA - Tech (+7) @ Miami - Va tech is not in awe of Miami like many other teams. While Miami has been improving and their team is finally healthy (ryan moore, moss, etc.), these two teams are very equal in terms of talent. Despite the game being played in the orange bowl, I'll take V-tech plus the points. Miami 21 Va Tech 17.
USC (-23) @ UCLA - This game is being played in the Rose Bowl, but imagine the crowd will have a fairly sizable SC contigent. This SC team is peaking at the right time, and their offense received an added boost (not that they needed it) when Steve Smith came back from his broken leg. They have had 1 close call all year, and I don't see how UCLA will be able to hang with this SC juggernaut. Keep in mind UCLA last played a game NOvember 13!!!! USC 48 UCLA 17
Big 12 Championship
Colorado (+23) vs. Oklahoma - Call me crazy, but I think Colorado plays OU tough. Colorado really has nothing to lose, and Oklahoma has everything to lose. Don't think OU players won't have last year's K-st. debacle in the back of their minds. I know Joel Klatt is no heisman candidate, but he is a darn good QB. Colorado has a decided edge in the kicking game (their kicker has serious range and Dicarlo is a stiff). Now OU should torch Colorado's secondary, but I think Colorado will put some points on the board. I don't have the guts to predict a colorado win but i think this game will be close in the 4th quarter. OU 34 Colorado 21.
SEC Championship
Auburn (-14) vs. Tennessee - This Tennesee team is doing it with smoke and mirrors, and Auburn is playing the best football outside of Southern California right now. Unless Phillip Fulmer has one more trick up his sleave, i don't see any way Tennesee will be able to keep up with Jason Campbell, Cadillac, Ronnie Brown, and co. Auburn rolls big time in this game. Auburn 41 Tennesee 14.
Cal (-24) vs. Southern Miss - I wish like hell southern miss was a better team this season. But they aren't. Maybe with the stars aligning, Southern miss could pull off the monumental upset. I just don't see it. Cal is top 5 in the nation in both total offense and defense. They should win this one easily. Cal 34 Southern Miss 13.
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1) Steroids -- Enough with the steroids outrage. Anyone with half a brain has known for years many baseball players use steroids. When great ballplayers (Bonds / Sosa as an example) go from 30 homerun/30 stolen base guys to 66 home runs and 73 !!!!! home runs respectively in the span of a few years, red flags obviously need to be raised. You'd have a better chance finding WMDs in Iraq then convincing someone that steroids aren't being used in baseball. Bonds and Sosa's heads are the size of coconuts. Canseco and Caminiti (and now Giambi) have publicly admitted to using steroids during their MVP seasons.
The question isn't whether guys are using steroids, but how many are using the juice? So these guys inject steroids/HGH/testesterone into their body, so what? Of course, testing would curtail some of the widespread use of these substances like any other major sports regulatory body all over the world already does. The reason testing is already not in place. You guessed it. The beloved MLB ayers union. Their leader, Donald Fehr (who is more evel than even Donald Rumsfeld) refuses to budge on steroid testing. But alas, the MLB players union doesn't budge on anything. This steroids issue is just yet another example of ESPN policing the hand that feeds it. We all know ESPN is one of the main culprits when it comes to glamorizing the long ball, and now all of sudden they lead the "outrage" over players enhancing their ability to hit the long ball. The hypocrisy in this country is mind boggling.
2) BCS -- The Texas fans have lost it. Threatening (both verbally and physically) AP voters, writing nasty emails to any talking head (herbstreit, Albersts, May, etc.) who says anything lhe least bit negative about Texas deserving to be in the BCS. Here's the deal. Texas and Cal both deserve to be in the BCS. Assuming nothing crazy happens this weekend, Cal or Texas is going to be left out. Is that fair? Of course not. This systems sucks, and the problems will persist until an 4 or 8 team playoff is put into place. If the decision makers (ADs, school presidents, Bowls, networks) are judged based on their past history, we should have a playoff somewhere around the year 2050. Maybe Mack Brown will have a conference title by then. Hey mack, figure out how to BEAT OU and then all your problems will be solved.
3) Ricky -- Let's just let Ricky be Ricky. No need to bag on the guy. We all have known he beats to a different drum for years now. Just remember all the great memories he provided during the years he did play and move on. I had the luxury of being in school during his Junior and Senior seasons. I remember the unbelievable season he had in '97 despite zero talent around him. What Texas fan will ever forget the '98 thansgiving game against A&M in Mack's first season (on a side note - the coach at UT ages about as quick as the president of the US in office - just compare mack '98 to mack '04) ? Ricky's run to the record book (F Ron Dayne) with a national tv audience watching and dorsett on hand to witness it. So many others: wearing #37 against OU, his dominant bowl performance against miss st., ending nebraska's 47 game home winning streak in lincoln. Sure, Ricky would have finished with unbelievable numbers in the pros (maybe even a hall of famer). Let's not forget Earl Campbell's possible influence on his decision to get out of the game. Earl can barely walk anymore, and Ricky was always conscious of how much a beating you take as a running back in the NFL. I'm not trying to make excuses, just trying to let Ricky be Ricky.
4) Championship weekend - Quick predictions (for recreational purposes only of course) for this weekend's games.
VA - Tech (+7) @ Miami - Va tech is not in awe of Miami like many other teams. While Miami has been improving and their team is finally healthy (ryan moore, moss, etc.), these two teams are very equal in terms of talent. Despite the game being played in the orange bowl, I'll take V-tech plus the points. Miami 21 Va Tech 17.
USC (-23) @ UCLA - This game is being played in the Rose Bowl, but imagine the crowd will have a fairly sizable SC contigent. This SC team is peaking at the right time, and their offense received an added boost (not that they needed it) when Steve Smith came back from his broken leg. They have had 1 close call all year, and I don't see how UCLA will be able to hang with this SC juggernaut. Keep in mind UCLA last played a game NOvember 13!!!! USC 48 UCLA 17
Big 12 Championship
Colorado (+23) vs. Oklahoma - Call me crazy, but I think Colorado plays OU tough. Colorado really has nothing to lose, and Oklahoma has everything to lose. Don't think OU players won't have last year's K-st. debacle in the back of their minds. I know Joel Klatt is no heisman candidate, but he is a darn good QB. Colorado has a decided edge in the kicking game (their kicker has serious range and Dicarlo is a stiff). Now OU should torch Colorado's secondary, but I think Colorado will put some points on the board. I don't have the guts to predict a colorado win but i think this game will be close in the 4th quarter. OU 34 Colorado 21.
SEC Championship
Auburn (-14) vs. Tennessee - This Tennesee team is doing it with smoke and mirrors, and Auburn is playing the best football outside of Southern California right now. Unless Phillip Fulmer has one more trick up his sleave, i don't see any way Tennesee will be able to keep up with Jason Campbell, Cadillac, Ronnie Brown, and co. Auburn rolls big time in this game. Auburn 41 Tennesee 14.
Cal (-24) vs. Southern Miss - I wish like hell southern miss was a better team this season. But they aren't. Maybe with the stars aligning, Southern miss could pull off the monumental upset. I just don't see it. Cal is top 5 in the nation in both total offense and defense. They should win this one easily. Cal 34 Southern Miss 13.
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