Intellectual Poison

Like most other people with ADHD, I've usually got five or six (or more) things juggling around in the front of my thinking. There's work stuff, geeky tech stuff, Kyani stuff, exercise stuff and lots more. I thought I'd share some of the cooler things that have passed my plate recently.

YouTube hack - found a video on YouTube that you love, love, love and you want to have a local copy on your computer or one that you can put on your iPhone or other portable device? There's a very cool way to do that. Replace the "Y" in YouTube with a "3" and you will be presented with an option to download the file in two different formats. It doesn't work perfectly all the time so be patient but it definitely does work and is very cool!

There was a cyclist killed on Monday morning in Los Gatos. His name was Joshua West, he was a single father of a seven year old girl. He was killed by an SUV that had drifted onto the sidewalk (note, he was on the sidewalk at an intersection, stopped) and annihilated him from behind. There were no skidmarks from the SUV indicating he didn't even see Joshua until after he had killed him. I spent a major portion of yesterday thinking about his daughter and the fact that her life has been completely ruined by a jackass named Kevin Derr who, according to eyewitnesses, was traveling at around 50 mph in a 30 mph zone when he killed Joshua. The link above includes information on how to donate to a memorial fund for his daughter. I am planning on donating to it and hope others will as well.

And, as I was writing the above, Jay posted more crappy news about another cyclist getting killed by an inattentive or distracted driver. And another kid who's lost his father needlessly because people can't seem to put down their damned phones while they are driving. Very sad!

On to lighter things, I've been geeking out on Logitech's very cool and fun to play with TouchMouse app and software. It allows you to control your Mac using your iPhone or iPod Touch. It is, for all intents and purposes, magic.

For some gorgeous and insane photographs of the 2010 Toughman Challenge, check out The Boston Globe's Big Picture series. Not only is the race crazy, the photographs from it are astounding.

I have truly started to doubt the competency of the San Francisco Giants leadership group. They fell all over themselves to pay Barry Zito a ridiculous sum to be a bottom half of the rotation pitcher and they are trying to lowball the best pitched in baseball, Tim Lincecum. Seriously? The guy's won the Cy Young in his first two years in the league and they don't want to pay him what he's worth? Stupid, stupid, stupid. I say they go back to him and add 10% to his last salary request. Do not piss off The Francise because he is the future of the club.

Plus, I need to talk with my doctor about possibly trying a differnt ADHD medication to see if something else might work a little better for me. Which presumes, of course, that I remember to take it every day which I've forgotten today and will take it right now.

And, oh yeah, our pending move, the upheaval, stress, painting and prepping and everything else that goes with relocating a family of four with a dog, cat and two fishtanks. When do we get to the easy part?

Labels: baseball, bicycling, geekery, life

There are lots of pretty cool folks born today. Let's give a quick shout out to some of them.

Ludacris, Maria Bartiromo, Harry Connick Jr., Kristy McNichol, Tom Landry, Bear Bryant, D. H. Lawrence, O. Henry, Lola Falana, Brian de Palma, Ellis Burks and, let's see, who else, oh yeah, ME!

Of course, today has been permanently clouded over by the terrorist attacks in 2001 but it will always be our birthday first.

To celebrate, we are heading to the beach with the whole family including Nande, our over-sized wild dog. And next week I am planning on going sky diving over the Monterey Bay. We're also going up to San Francisco on Tuesday for the Giants game against the Colorado Rockies, I scored a great deal on some club level seats a couple of weeks ago!

Labels: baseball, beach, birthday, skydiving

Congratulations to Mark Beuhrle for throwing a perfect game recently.

However, my fickle brain has decided to get focused on the concept of the perfect game and would like to suggest that he threw a near-perfect game.

You see, in the ridiculous world that my brain tends to exist in, a perfect game would be just that, perfection. "Perfection is, broadly, a state of completeness and flawlessness." That is, something complete and without even the tiniest glimmer of a flaw, a hint of not-perfection. My confuddled brain takes that to mean something much more than merely preventing all the opposing team's players from reaching base. Let me break it down.

There are 27 outs for each team in a 9 inning baseball game. To strike out each pitcher in the minimum number of pitches requires three pitches. Three times 27 is 81. A perfect game then, in my aforementioned ridiculous world, would be 81 pitches, all of them strikes without a single ball and without any of those balls being hit. All 27 outs recorded by strikeout without contact. No foul balls, no balls off the mark. No flaws in the perfection.

THAT would be a perfect game. And yes, I fully realize how utterly insane it is to propose such a strict definition of perfection but, hey, perfection is perfect. Perfection isn't something close to perfect, perfection IS perfect.

Now please don't think that I am, in any way, shape or form, trying to diminish what Buehrle did. I'm not, he threw what Major League Baseball defines as a perfect game, I'm merely suggesting that what MLB is proposing as perfect isn't quite as perfect as it could be. And I realize that, under my re-defined version, the likelihood of a perfect game EVER being thrown is just about zero since the most anyone's ever struck out in a game is 20, much less 27 on 81 perfect pitches. But, if the word "perfect" is to be invoked and revered as the sacred perfection it is then the deed to which it is being attached should embody that perfect perfection accordingly.

Why yes, I do end up arguing semantic points at parties, why do you ask?

Labels: baseball, perfection

Jose Canseco's press conference to announce his fight with Hong Man Choi, the 7'2" behemoth MMA fighter, does not get the clamoring crowds he'd been hoping for.

To which I say, Ha. Ha. Ha.

I'd be tempted to suggest that the one guy in the chair there is actually asleep or a blow up doll. Or Canseco's lover. Or a corpse. Or an escaped mental patient. Or Roger Clemens.

Why do I dislike Canseco so much even though he's been a major catalyst in splitting open the pinata that is performance enhancing drugs in major league baseball? Because he didn't do it out of the goodness of his heart, he did it for money and because he's a bitter, washed up and poor jackass. He has no interest in helping to clean up the sport, he is only interested in making money because he blew all his money on hookers and blow or whatever his chosen vices were that he can no longer afford.

Jose Canseco happily took part in the steroid era and then, when he bounced out of baseball, he tried to make a buck off of it again.

And now he's been reduced to fighting and getting knocked out in freak shows. Boo-hoo.

Labels: baseball, money, steroids

Here's my simple plan to clean up baseball and restore its integrity.

1. Announce a one month amnesty period. Any player that comes clean during that period is exempted from repercussions in their past (not any future cheating, of course). This exemption, obviously, wouldn't extend to the fans who would very likely be thoroughly disgusted and pissed off about so many players having been cheaters. There would be a real danger of baseball folding because of the revelations of those taking up the amnesty offer.
2. At the end of the amnesty month, hair samples, urine samples and blood samples will taken from each player, part of the samples will be tested and part will be stored to be tested at a later date as testing methods improve.
3. Any player that did not take the amnesty and is found to have cheated in any way, at any level is permanently banned from Major League Baseball. No baseball, no Hall of Fame, no residuals, no pension, nothing. It would be as if they had never played the game.

It would be brutal to implement and, by some estimates, up to 75 or 80% of players might be eligible to take the amnesty offer. Some would not, of course, and some would eventually be found out to have cheated. Some players would have to pay the price and be banned but the vast majority would see the wisdom and fairness of the new rules and play fair.

Making the penalties severe enough would make the risk/reward equation too lopsided to make sense to even attempt.

But, for something as harsh as this to go into effect, it would require an untainted commissioner with a great big set of balls which pretty much excludes Bud Selig. It would also involve the player's union realizing that these steps would be for everyone's betterment. Why? Because PED's shorten player's lives and suck the quality out of lives that aren't shortened. A cleaner game is a healthier game and that means the players' long term interests are being better served.

Let me know what you think in the comments, I don't pretend to have all the answers and this may not be the perfect solution but I believe its on the right road to a real solution to drugs in professional baseball.

Labels: baseball, PEDs

For those of you not knowing, Manny Ramirez just got handed a 50 game suspension for testing positive for a banned substance. His first attempt at an excuse is that he was taking a boner medication that happened to contain a banned substance. Yes, his story is that he took steroids to get an erection.

The fact that those steroids made him stronger and able to hit a ball further and recover more quickly is just a lucky side effect. Of course.

And he feels really, really bad about it. Of course.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports is recommending a lifetime ban. Make an example of one of the game's premier hitters. Take away his meal ticket, take away his fame, take away everything that is supposed to mean something to him.

Only by banning cheaters can baseball start to clean up its image. Only by throwing out those that would cheat can baseball regain its integrity.

I'm not so sure how I feel about a lifetime ban.

On the one hand, it is the Dodgers and I hate the Dodgers. On the other hand, it doesn't seem fair to, all of a sudden, start banning players for transgressions in the past. In fact, I think there's a legal term, ex post facto, that covers the concept. It says, basically, that you can't change the law and then go back and prosecute people who broke the newly changed law. You can prosecute moving forward but you cannot do it retroactively.

There's also the very difficult to test for without drawing blood, HGH, human growth hormone, issue. Some speculation is that use in the majors is rampant because it is so difficult to detect. I know, if I were a pro baller and I needed some extra pop in my bat, I would not even consider steroids because of the risks and would go straight to the HGH. But I'm not a baller and am not a cheater by nature. I prefer to win or lose on my own merits and not because of chemicals in a needle.

Do I dislike baseball as a result of all the cheating, the fake apologies (like A-Roid's utter BS, orangeface ridiculousness), the denials, the convoluted excuses, the false outrage by an enabler like Bud Selig, the taint on the name of the game? Yeah, I do certainly do like the sport less. Do I still enjoy it, watch it, consume it and play it via fantasy leagues? Yeah. Its probably akin to learning that Santa Clause isn't real, it doesn't mean you stop celebrating Christmas, it just means you are a little less trusting, it means you are a little more cynical and it means that monstrous whack knocking the ball clear out of the park is a little less laudable and a lot more suspect.

Labels: baseball, PEDs

Lots of stuff going on this week. Let's get to it.

Weak Catch - Ex-MLB catcher Bobby (Ch)Estella, who was built like a brick shithouse and now we know why, will accuse Barry Bonds of getting him steroids in the government's never-ending witch hunt for one player while an entire league was rife with PED abuse.

Weak Reason to Fight - Two friends got into a little fight "over nothing" after some drinks and one was arguing with his girlfriend. One punch knocked the kid down, he smashed his head on the ground, never regained consciousness and died the next day.

Weak Legislators - The California budget impasse continues unabated. Three months and counting.

Strong, LiveStrong - The Amgen Tour of California is set to kick off. But there were already some pre-race fireworks when an asshat of a reporter named Paul Killage asked Lance Armstrong a question during a press briefing. This is the same reporter that referred to Lance Armstrong as "a cancer in the peloton". Nice.

Strong (and Just) Punishment - Richard Craig McNew raped and murdered a 90 year old woman. He's been found guilty and is going back to prison for the rest of his disgusting and pathetic life.

Labels: baseball, budget, cycling, fighting, justice, PEDs, week in weak

Yes, I'm already biased against Alex Rodriguez, he plays for the Yankees after all. And he's been used to replace the now forcefully retired Barry Bonds as the face of steroids and drug use/abuse in Major League Baseball. He is, afterall, one of its stars and a story about him having lied in a national interview about using PEDs and then having to admit that he is a big fat liar, he did, in fact, cheat and use drugs to enhance his on-field performance (no word from Madonna if he's used drugs to enhance his on-hag performance yet).

But here's the thing, his apology, all softly lit to try and make him a more forgivable transgressor, his body language, his words all add up to a big fat nothing.

He wasn't contrite, he wasn't sorry for what he did, he was sorry for having gotten caught and for tainting every single record he's had thus far and every single record he may still break. He's sorry for tainting his chances at baseball immortality and he doesn't really come across as sorry so much as angry that he got caught and angry that he is being forced to apologize.

Do I feel bad for him being pushed out in front of the Steroid Witch Hunt 2.0? Nope. Nobody forced him to cheat, nobody forced him to take drugs for three years (at least that's what he's admitted to) and nobody forced him to air his false apology. Screw A-Tool, he's a plastic douchebag who isn't contrite in the least, he's more angry than sorry which means he's completely missed the point of apologizing for cheating.

Labels: baseball, cheaters, PEDs

Sandbagger Manny and his brethren in blue have lost their prescribed 4 games and were sent home by the Phillies last night. That just leaves the Rays and Red Sox slightly undecided but there's a strong possibility of the Rays overwhelming the Red Sox Cinderella-style.

I've watched a few games and the Red Sox just look flatter, less dynamic and not quite as capable as the Rays. The Rays, by the way, are a pretty good story and I'd have no problem with them taking on the Phillies for the World Series.

I'm just glad the Dodgers and Manny Ramirez have been sent packing. It took them alot longer to sparkle and then fade but they did indeed.

Have I mentioned what a limp bitch Manny Ramirez is for how he weaseled out of Boston? The dude pretended to be hurt, played at 75% effort and made it clear he wanted out. And when he got traded to LA, he miraculously got better and started crushing the ball again. I hate sandbagging bitches like Manny and I hope he gets too drunk in the off season and his friends shave his lame dreads.

Labels: baseball, World Series

There's been a little debate on the local sports radio lately about the baseball playoffs. One of the hosts believes that, because the Giants are long bounced from the playoffs, that its okay to root for the National League West representative team, the LA Dodgers.

But here's the thing, the Dodgers are the Giants long-time, long-standing rivals. The rivalry started in New York and came west and is as strong as ever.

You can't root for the Dodgers and then turn around and call yourself a Giants fan. It just doesn't work that way.

The only reason I'd want the Dodgers to get the World Series would be to suffer four straight crushing annihilations by the Red Sox or Devil Rays. And the cherry on top would be a fast ball in Manny's ribs for the bottom feeder style way he cheesed his way out of Boston and into LA.

To recap, if you're a Giants fan then you do not root for the Dodgers. Period. If you are saying "But, but, but" then you are not a Giants fan, period. You might get away with a little rooting for the Diamondbacks but that's because they aren't the fucking Dodgers!

The only baseball team I dislike more than the Dodgers is the goddamned didn't-even-mae-the-playoffs New York Yankees. As long as the Yankees keep flailing and failing, I'll keep smiling.

Labels: baseball, Dodgers Suck, SF Giants

Some days I feel like the Little Engine That Could. Others I feel like the Little Engine That Could Not. And still other days I feel like the Little Engine That Just Wants A Nap.

I think part of this is due to my lack of exercise lately and the changing of the season from sweet summer to wet and windy fall.

Oh and the never-ending depression that is the state of politics in America. And its downstream effects on the economy, the mortgage nightmare, the endless war in Iraq, the disgusting Republican doublespeak and the generalized venality of partisan life these days. When I see a McCain sticker on a car, I have an immediate tendency to think that the person driving that car is an asshole. I know that's a bad kneejerk reaction but I just cannot help myself. If you support an asshole then it stands to reason that you are, at best, an asshole sympathizer.

Let's be clear, McCain and Palin are poison to the future of this nation. They are the continuation of the exact same policies that have gotten us to this sad state we're in now. Voting for them is a vote for more of the same, only worse since Palin is actually a nastier and more deeply frightening VP candidate than even Dick "Shoot 'Em in the Face and Fuck You All" Cheney. And that is saying an awful lot. But the McCain campaign is employing the politics of desperation, smear and lies now and its very easy to see how poorly their message is resonating with Americans (bye Michigan, bye Ohio, bye Nevada, bye Virginia).

As I'd noted before, I did watch the Elite XC fights on Saturday night already knowing that Kimbo got knocked the fuck out. There were still some decent fights on the card and, when there were not, I'd just jump to Spike and watch the Griffin/Rampage rerun. That was a 25 minutes war between Forrest and Rampage and it really could have gone either way. But Forrest won, Rampage's life went sideways for a little bit and now we're looking at Forrest fighting Rashad Evans (fresh off his knockout of Chuck Liddell).

And then there were the other sports, the baseball and the football. Bummer on the Cubs for meekly rolling over and letting the Dodgers have their way with them. That sucks because I like the Cubs and freakin' hate the Dodgers and loathe Manny "Duffbitch" Ramirez. They are the first to bow out of the post season after having an outstanding year. Which leaves the Phillies to face the Dodgers and the American league possibilities are still open with the Angels and Red Sox still fighting and the White Sox still alive against Tampa. I would be happy seeing anyone but the Dodgers in the World Series at this point but, if they do make it, I'd love for the Red Sox to pound them out in four.

As for football. I lost a mere 3 games in the football pool yesterday but they were three big point games and I was out of the running by the start of the afternoon games. But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the games. The Niners had a chance to win but not much of one against a bye week Patriots team coming off a loss. The Raiders didn't lose because they didn't play and the Redskins continue to shock, amaze and awe with a win last week over the Cowboys and a win this week over the Eagles. Right on! Oh, and I got crushed in my fantasy league this week.

That's about it for the Monday morning wrap up. I suppose I should get to working now. Oh wait, I have been, I'm waiting for a drive to empty its trash. What joy.

Labels: baseball, football, politics, wrap-up

So with the end of the regular season of baseball and football ramping up and hockey just around the corner, I thought it was high time for a little fantasy sports breakdown.

Of the three fantasy baseball teams I played this season, I came in 2nd, 2nd and 1st respectively. Rick destroyed everyone in one league and I squeaked into the running for league #2 only to get annihilated 10-0 in the final. But in my last league, I was able to barely get through the semi's by an odd tie breaker and then eke out a victory by just a couple of points to take the season win.

Not too bad on the fantasy baseball front at all.

Fantasy football got off to a rough start beginning with the auto-draft "scoring" me Matt Hasselback (yes, the one married to the big foreheaded GOP parrot annoyance on The View, Elizabeth) of the sucktastic Seahawks and Stephen Jackson of the pathetically awful Rams. Two games into the season and I was still looking for my first W.

A squeaker got me on the board and then I had Brett Favre playing this week when he threw for a record 6 touchdowns against the Cards. Not a bad play at all. This week I have brought the heaviest smackdown of the season and am evening my record to 2-2.

I am also positioned for a local football pool win tonight if Big Ben and the Steelers can put together a win over the Ravens which will not be easy. But it is doable and that's what matters.

And last, the fantasy hockey league needs more teams. Want to play? (I will freely note that I pretty well suck at Fantasy Hockey and am just a body to skate over by some fanatical Shark fan friends). If you want in then leave a comment with your email address and I'll get an invite out to you.

Did you notice a lack of fantasy basketball news? That's because I find basketball to be, overall, a boring ass piss poor sport that lauds flopping, pimpsmanship and generalized douchebaggery from players, owners and fans alike.

Oh and one word to my Mets fan pal, John. Dude! Duuuuuuuude! And, last word to the long suffering gentlemen of the Mint 400, I hope this is your year and I further hope the Cubs get to pound the Dodgers down and out. Because I am all about cheering for whoever is playing against the Dodgers and the Yankees. Plus, Chicago's a great sports town and deserves to finally move past Steve Bartman (who I still think is wrongly blamed).

Also, I didn't take Washington yesterday but I love that they beat the Cowboys! Love it, love it, love it! And not just because Tony Romo sold his soul to Jessica "Toot Toot" Simpson.

Besides, any post season without the frickin' Yankees is a post season I can enjoy! Go Steelers!

Labels: baseball, fantasy football, fantasy sports, hockey, sports

Yes, yes I do have a third grader's sense of humor sometimes. You got a problem with that? I'll shake my wang at ya!

Labels: baseball, funny

Pitching to Lance Berkman is almost as stupid as pitching to Barry Bonds when he had his A game swing going. The Giants lost last night's game despite an excellent effort from Barry Zito (who looked good and carried himself with confidence that's been missing for the last few months) because they tried to pitch to Berkman.

The guy is absolutely white-hot right now. Do not give him any pitches to hit. Walk him. Frustrate him. Do not try to beat him, let him beat himself.

Unless its Cain or Lincecum pitching AND its early in the game (i.e. fresh arms) there's just no upside to going after him, most especially with a man on because that makes his dongers more painful.

Other than that, I think Zito pitched a helluva game and hope he's turned a corner and will resume some of his swagger from when he had his confidence and could throw that big old nasty curve on ya.

Note, I'm advising the Giants in direct opposition to my fantasy baseball needs as Berkman is one of my studs (along with Josh Hamilton). I love the Giants THAT much!

Labels: baseball, fantasy baseball

A rare forward from my busy brother....(my comments in italics)

Baseball's All-Scandal Team featuring:

First base: Mark McGwire Mob informers are easier to find than Big Mac
Second base: Billy Martin
Shortstop: Miquel Tejada The only active player on the list
Third base: Wade Boggs
Catcher: Paul Lo Duca Lo Duca was news to me but it makes sense
Left field: Barry Bonds Even without the steroid taint, he's got more skeletons than a coroner
Center field: Ty Cobb Truly one of the nastiest and least sportsmanlike stars of all time
Right field: Darryl Strawberry Should have been named Sniffberry but they got the straw part right
Designated snitchhitter: Jose Canseco Self-absorbed bitter needle junkie with terrible hair and a penchant for turning on former friends and teammates
Pitcher: Roger Clemens The poster child for bluster, lies, obfuscation and, eventually, tearful admissions and then jailtime, I hope
Pitcher: Dwight Gooden Dr. Feelgood and Straw were like a coke sniffing baseball star duo, they strike out and hit home runs during the day and snort massive piles of Columbian flake
Pitcher: John Rocker Racism IS alive and well in major league sports
Bench: Albert Belle, Rafael Palmiero, Sammy Sosa, Mickey Mantle Palmiero is the poster child for stupidity and hypocrisy, Sosa's the poster child for post-steroid pump shrinkage (he turned into his little brother when he went off the juice) and Albert Belle's the poster child for 'roid rage
Manager: Pete Rose I believe Pete Rose has gotten a raw deal and should be in the Hall for his accomplishments as a player and its a joke he's being held out because of a personal vendetta
Owner: George Steinbrenner Owners should own, players should play, coaches should coach and the Steinbrenners should SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY!
Trainer: Brian McNamee I have no animosity towards McNamee except for that his injections helped the Yankees cheat and win more games than they had a right to. On second thought, burn him!

I skipped over some of the lessor known and not so contemporary players to focus on these fellas. I find it rather interesting that, of all of those listed above, one is still playing, Miquel Tejeda. The rest have gone into hiding or are scaring the shit out of local yokels on company teams (can you imagine facing John Rocker at the company picnic?).

It may not be actually true but it seems like the majority ran afoul of cocaine and hot chicks (or in Clemens' case, HGH and fugly country singers).

Who else should be on the list?
I'd say Ken Caminiti's one, Jeff Kent should get an honorable mention for being such an ornery liar (broke his wrist riding his motorcycle in contradiction to his contract and lied about it), Scott Boras (not a ball player but he's done as much more harm to the game than any other non-player by disvirtue of his contract negotiations and escalating salaries) and Bud Selig (complicit and profited from rampant steroid use as owner and commissioner). I'm sure there are plenty, plenty more that could be added here.

[Update: Big Joe read the post before I'd had a chance to amend it to remove Tony Gwynn from the list. I'd crossed my wires and was thinking about Kirby Puckett who got crazy after his retirement and might have been crazy during his playing days. Apologies to Padres fans and fans of Mr. Gwynn. My brain isn't quite up to full speed after last week's meltdown.]

Labels: baseball, cheaters, cocaine, steroids

Report: Clemens had relationship with Mindy McCready which started when she was 15 years old. But his attorney swears it wasn't sexual. Oh no, of course not.

Which is to say, Roger Clemens is an even bigger asshole scumbag than anyone knew. And that's saying alot given his outrageous defense of the steroid allegations against him and lying to Congress.

One really important thing to keep in mind when providing testimony to Congressional committees is that lying to them can (and should) mean jail time.

I expect additional charges will be brought against if these new allegations are true. That and I expect more and more of his friends to abandon him since these charges are not about cheating at baseball but banging a 15 year old country singer for half her life.

Nice work, Rocket. I hope your life continues to disintegrate around you. Methinks your loud protestations of your innocence and the misrememberation by all those around will be your ultimate downfall.

Hall of Fame? Hell, you're going to be lucky to keep your filthy ass out prison.

Labels: adultery, baseball, cheat, Roger Clemens

Anyday that sees the Yankees getting shut out by anyone counts as a good day in my book. But when its my "lowly" Orioles doing the shutting out then its like an extra layer of icing on the cake. Add in a shut out by the Giants' Tim Lincecum (and relievers) over the Cards, the A's edging out a win, Boston getting a win and the Dodgers losing.

All in all a good day for my particular baseball allegiances. I'm sure Easy might be thinking otherwise since his Cards were on the other end of that shutout.

Labels: baseball, Cardinals, Dodgers Suck, F the Yankees, Orioles, SF Giants, Yankees

Yanks unearth Sox jersey at new stadium that had been buried in the concrete foundation by a Red Sox Nation construction worker.

I'm sorry but this is fucking hilarious. And that the Yankees are considering a lawsuit against the guy. I'm sure he'll have lots of fan support from Beantown if it comes to it.

Besides, the Yankees are their own curse. As long as a Steinbrenner is at the helm, they will continue to poison the game of baseball with their pay-for pennants.

Labels: baseball, curse, F the Yankees

New drug policy lets cheats off the hook like, oh I don't know, Roger Clemens.

I get that there is no way to go back and verify who was cheating and who wasn't. But to broadbrush the Mitchell Report and just say anyone noted in it gets a "Get Out of Jail Free" card smacks of sweeping it under the rug.

I mean, now that Bud Selig has gotten Barry Bonds out of baseball, he seems to have lost his bloodlust for steroid abusers.

Is the game cleaner now than it was five years ago? Undoubtedly.
Are there still cheaters playing?
Also undoubtedly.
Should cheaters get a free pass?
Nope. Not in my book. You cheat, you earn millions of dollars for cheating and then you get a free pass? Sorry but fuck you and the needle you made your millions on.

This decision to let the named cheaters wriggle off the hook is Selig's attempt to sweep all of this into the past and lay it all on a few very high profile players when the reality is that PED use in baseball has been rampant and it took place on his watch. Bud Selig is as much to blame for the steroid era as the players who had to do drugs to stay at the top of their game.

Labels: Barry Bonds, baseball, PEDs, Roger Clemens, steroids

I had a good day, went to San Francisco, saw the Giants play their home opener, badly but they played it. Got to ride my motorcycle a bunch and am sort of burnt and a little sore now. Anyway, some thoughts.

- Giants fans are remarkably polite, at least 8 or 9 people turned around and said, Excuse me, to me today.

- There were really a lot of people in the park today. It was too much at times.

- While people waited for forty five minutes or more to get their garlic fries, I walked up to an absolutely empty counter and got mine in fifteen seconds. Still makes me smile.

- A hundred and eight miles on a motorcycle is no joke. Its also alot of fun. And not one real close call.

- It was very nice to have been able to check my Aerostich motorcycle suit. It would have been nicer to know beforehand.

- I really enjoyed the pre-game festivities in celebrating the 50th year of baseball in San Francisco. It was cool seeing all the old timers driven around the stadium. Not sure if any pics came out.

- Oh, cool, the flyover did come out. I'll get it posted tomorrow, I hope.


- One last one that I forgot in all the hub bub. iPhones are selling so fast that Apple can't keep up with demand. I have to wait a week to get mine. Dammit!

Labels: baseball

One of the very best things about baseball is the opportunity for a player to dominate, to bend the other team to his will with his arm or bat. Barry Bonds was a player like that, even before he became a cheater and sideshow and witch-hunt and blah, blah, blah.

But his era is over, left tainted by allegations, testimonies and a really big head.

The Giants are looking forward and what they have to look forward to isn't so depressing as its been made out to be. The big story about the Giants has been the expense of signing Barry Zito and the return, or lack thereof, on that investment.

The reality is that Barry Zito is at his best as a third pitcher. He's not the ace, its a bad spot for him and it makes him put too much pressure on himself.

And he's obviously not the ace when you see Matt Cain pitch the next night. He's got to be the ace. He brings it, he brings it really freaking hard, with attitude, fire and hutzpah. Matt Cain is the ace of the San Francisco Giants.

But hold on now, its the third game of the year. And who's scheduled to pitch but Tim Lincecum. Only it isn't Lincecum when it comes to game time, its yet another potential star pitcher, Merkin Valdez. My first time seeing him and its a surprise, the reason is because both teams were told about a MAJOR storm that was going to delay the game by hours. Only it didn't. At least not at first.

Anyway, Valdez looks good, strong, confident. Not an ace. Yet. Four strikeouts with no hits in two innings. Solid like solid can be.

And then Tim Lincecum gets into the game in the fourth after Jack Tascher delivered, again (and is becoming another burdgeoning stud in the offing). And delivered four very solid innings, four hits, one run, four strikeouts. He got into and out of two tight jams. And remained perfectly calm the entire time, no grimace, no smile, no nothing. Same as Cain (although he snarls some from time to time).

Its patently obvious that Tim Lincecum is the ace on the staff. The manner in which he carries himself, there's no doubt. But what about Matt Cain? He's the ace, just look at him. And then you see Lincecum in action and its just too damned hard to make a choice between the two.

Which is a problem I'm happy to have.

Call them both aces, drop Barry (that's Zito) to third in the rotation, let him breathe and play.

Sure, it is appearing that the offense is going to be a little anemic (24 left on base and only two runs plated is more than a wee anemic). But they've got speed and maybe it isn't such a bad thing to go through a rough time. It builds character, weeds out the posers and you'll come through the other side better than you started. Or something like that.

There's light on the horizon, the Giants aren't going to be too hard to watch. Small ball, speed, great starting pitching, good defense and maybe it'll be a season worth watching.

And look at that, Brian Wilson, the new closer, just recorded his first save by striking out Furcal and Bengie Molina just recorded his first throw out at second to end the game with a double play for the first win of the season. That was damned satisfying to watch!

Have I mentioned I'm going to Opening Day next Monday? Hell yeah! I missed it last year but not this year. Still undecided about riding up or driving up but it is a day game and I could have a really nice ride up. Even do Skyline into the city, ooh yeah!

Now I need to find a nice zoom lens for the XTi and I'll have two quality cameras to play around with. Can you tell that I can't wait?

Labels: baseball, SF Giants

Tonight is the stateside start to the Major League Baseball season after the odd and unnecessary kickoff in Japan by the A's and Red Sox last week.

Today is a great day for baseball fans everywhere. Because there are no records, there are no sub-.500 teams, there are no cellar-dwellers. And there haven't been any sparkles and fades. Yet.

But some things seem to never change, like, oh I don't know, Nomar, and Schmidt going on the DL for the Dodgers. I don't wish ill upon any individual player unless they suit up for the Dodgers or the Yankees and then I just hope they get hurt enough to miss the season.

I hold out little hope that my San Francisco Giants will be much of a threat aside from their superior pitching talent. Lincecum and Cain are superb pitchers and both are definitely staff-ace quality. Zito should have a better year than last. Lowry is a very solid 4th and Correia is an understated 5th. The lineup the Giants are putting up isn't especially scary in terms of power but they are pretty fast and might surprise teams by playing small ball.

Which reminds me, this will be the first season in a very long time without Barry Bonds. His on-field presence will be missed but the circus that follows his every move will not. I do not deny that he almost certainly used steroids and other cheater drugs but he was, by no stretch of the imagination, the only one and my main complaint against the investigation of Bonds is that he is being used as the poster boy for steroids when he's barely even the tip of the iceberg. But at least Roger "Needleass" Clemens has done his part to take away the spotlight with his ridiculous denials and "they must be misremembering"'s.

And yeah, I do kind of hope that Clemens gets some jail time for his blatant and insane perjury and utter misrepresentation of the facts and reality. And for shooting his wife up with HGH too, that was a major league class act.

But enough of the spotted past of the game. Today is the start of a brand new season, a brand new era and a whole bunch of new stars are poised to leap into the imaginations of children and grown up children everywhere.

Today my Giants are in a tie for first place and that's likely about as close as they'll get this season but I don't mind, I'll be enjoying watching the Yankees lose, the Red Sox win, the Dodgers sparkle and then fade away and all the myriad microdramas that make up a baseball season.

Hot damn, its time for baseball again!

Labels: baseball, PEDs, steroids

I got a note from my mom this morning alerting me to the fact that my site is not reachable at present. Which is great, its about the last thing you want to hear just before you have to leave for work. When I won't be able to do anything about the site for a whole bunch of hours.

But the upside is that today is this week's Friday! I get a little mini-Spring Break action, nothing too crazy but a four day weekend shouldn't hurt too much.

And today I'm back to the schools I've been hitting the last two days. Today we're mounting the new Xserves which'll be fun because we'll have powertools!

I have been having a more and more difficult time writing and publishing posts lately, not sure whether its just the time of the year, the combination of work duties ramping up or other things impinging on my blogging but I'm just nowhere near as interested in it as I have been for the last six years. Maybe it'll pass, maybe it won't, I can't say, I'm just noting the feeling.

Other good stuff, baseball has started up again although the Japan start with the Red Sox and A's is stupid and unnecessary as the Japanese are loony for baseball already. And who watched the first game live anyway? Not me. But that's alright, I'm going up to Opening Day Monday after next and expect to have a pretty darned good time even if I end up rolling up on my own due to pal-complications.

Labels: baseball, random, work

I was just checking to see how expensive an Opening Day ticket will be to go see the Giants start the new baseball season against the Padres on the 7th of April.

The first annoyance was finding out that the Giants aren't selling individual tickets to Opening Day, I would need to buy a season pass to all 82 home games just to go to the one I want. First stupidity.

I turned to StubHub to see what kind of a deal they might have. The short answer is that they have tickets but the prices are loaded up with fees. A 10% fee commission to run the ticket transaction. Shipping and handling charges between $12 and $25 and, if you happen to be able to pick up the tickets directly, $15 for pick-up.

Um yeah, how about no?

View reserve seats for premium games (which is entirely arguable that there are NO premium games for the Giants this year as they are almost certainly going to suck) are $32 each. StubHub has them at $58 each. That's $26 above the listed price. And I can't figure out if that includes all of the bullshit fees. I'm assuming it does but it probably does not. Oh yeah, those two tickets at $58 each? They were sold in the time it took me to write this.

Convenience fees are like getting slapped in the face on a really cold day and I, for one, refuse to use services that charge outrageous fees for basic services. StubHub just joined TicketMaster as yet another opportunistic capitalizer.

But I'm still planning on going up to the game. Even if I don't get in to watch the game, I'm going to enjoy the spectacle of the start of the season regardless.

Labels: baseball, convenience fee

It is almost that time again, baseball is coming up on us, pitchers are working off their off season rust, batters are getting their muscles back into shape.

And fantasy baseball leagues everywhere begin anew. A fresh start and chance to attain glory over a bunch of people you're not likely to ever meet in real life.

Is this the kind of glory you crave?

Then come and join my league at Rocket Roiders and, when asked for a password to join, use WhatPEDs.

Labels: baseball, fantasy baseball

NY lawmaker urges FBI to drop Clemens probe, saying pitcher has suffered enough even though he hasn't even admitted that he's a big, fat freaking liar who's been using performance enhancing drugs for a long time.

Suffered? He's made millions upon millions of dollars from his lies and cheating.

Investigate him, force him to tell the truth or throw his ass in prison.

Anthony Weiner presents a false dilemma in his reasoning for dropping the investigation, that of the FBI having bigger fish to fry. The falseness here is that the FBI can only do one thing at a time and that they should be pursuing "real" criminals. The reality is very different in that the FBI is a HUGE organization simultaneously performing hundreds of investigations across all strata of society and criminal element. If the investigation of Clemens was exposing our country to a terrorist attack then of course I'd say drop it given that lives are far more important than a cheating baseball jerk. But the patent reality of the situation is that there are plenty of FBI agents to secure our nation AND investigate major cheating and lying in the huge business of professional sports. To say otherwise is to try and obfuscate the truth of the situation.

Letting Clemens off the hook without even his admission of guilt sends a deeply flawed message. To other cheater baseball players, to youth baseball players who looked up to him, to owners who profited from the drug era, to fans who want an honest game again.

Clemens needs to come clean, he needs to admit his guilt, admit his cheating and only then can any kind of relief be discussed.

Calling for the investigation to be abandoned would be damaging to the integrity of baseball and it would be condoning every single microgram of steroids and growth hormones injected into his ass.

Clemens knows the truth from what his twisted and totally unbelievable story has become. He knows he's lying, he knows that what he is doing is underhanded and dirty. Letting him get away with it would taint us all.

Investigate, prosecute, punish, forgive. The crucible that baseball must pass through won't be fun and some stars will be sacrificed in the cleansing, like Bonds and Clemens.

Labels: baseball, cheating, investigation, PEDs

Well it would appear that Roger Clemens is going to be investigated for lying to a grand jury, about the most avoidable crime going these days, and may end up in jail for his bloated pride and inability to admit that he's a drug using cheater.

There is very little doubt in my mind that Clemens has been juicing himself to stay competitive and dominant. The witnesses and testimony against him have been damning and directly contradict Clemens' own hard to believe tale and bizarre explanations.

I'm sure of my readers will be thinking about how this relates to my defenses of Barry Bonds in the past. And they'll have a reasonable point. I've long been a defender of Bonds as a fan and as a devil's advocate. But I honestly believe I'd have a different take if Greg Anderson, his trainer, had testified against him, if he'd had corroborating witnesses to contradict his stories and to catch him in lie and fallacy after mistruth.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all but positive Bonds cheated, just like the rest of the universe. But the body of evidence against Bonds and the body of evidence against Clemens are two very different animals but they excrete the same PED poop.

If either player plays another game in MLB then I will surprised. Though I'd bet Clemens is the more likely of the two to get a contract even though he is deeply tainted goods at this point.

I admit that I'm rather enjoying watching Roger squirm and try to convince the world that he's right and everyone else is wrong, the evidence is wrong, everyone else's memories are faulty and that he's never even so much as seen a performance enhancing drug much less had multiple injections to revive his flagging power as he aged.

Amy linked to a refutation of the statistically false Clemens Report by the guys who wrote Freakonomics and it pretty clearly and capably shreds the Clemens Report for the tripe that it is. The thing with stats is that it is really easy to see when someone is fudging data to serve their own foregone conclusions, in this case Clemens conclusion is that he never cheated so his defense team massaged and then beat the data until it served their purpose. The only thing is that it is really easy to blow selective data apart with a valid sample, as the Freako boys have done.

Clemens is a cheater, a liar and an underhanded head throwing scumbag. I hope he twists in the wind and then spends a chunk of time behind bars for his ego, pride and patently obvious lying.

Labels: baseball, cheating, PEDs

It was with delight that I got to listen in to Roger Clemens' speak to the congressional committee investigating illegal performance enhancing drug use in baseball on the way to work this morning. The squirm is palpable and absolutely hilarious.

And the thing is that there are two conclusions to this particular facet of the roid drama playing out. Either Brian McNamee is lying and will be going to prison for perjury or Roger Clemens is lying and will be going to prison for perjury. But McNamee's reason for disclosure is "truer" in that he has everything to lose by lying whereas Clemens has everything to lose by telling the truth. Motivations are very, very important and key to coming to some idea of who's reliable and who's trying to protect a, previous to this, Hall of Fame career. Hint, it ain't the trainer.

As each of the other pieces of the story come out, Andy Pettitte's corroboration, Andy Pettitte's wife's corroboration, the syringes and more, each piece goes further and further to cementing Roger Clemens as both a cheater and a liar.

And it sure is fun watching his big inflated ego bobble around like a balloon in a hurricane trying to stay up and keep from getting skewered. The only thing is that he's already skewered, just nobody has been able to get that bit of information to penetrate his cult-of-personality false reality.

I actually believe that Clemens has convinced himself of his innocence. He's so bought into his story that he no longer thinks its a story, he buys his own bull. The only trouble is that not a single person outside of Roger Clemens buys it. And the end result of all his bluster, attack dog lawyerations and interviews is that he'll have spent millions of dollars to convince no one. And I'm sure he'll still be protesting his innocence to his cellmate.

Labels: baseball, PEDs, Roger Clemens, steroids

McNamee's lawyers say physical evidence confirms Clemens' use of performance-enhancing drugs. Namely McNamee saved the syringes and towels he used when he injected Roger Clemens with PEDs (that's performance enhancing drugs) in 2000 and 2001.

Clemens is still denying all of it in spite of now physical evidence that has his blood, may still have DNA and steroids or HGH in it.

That's what we call GAME OVER. You weren't convincing anyone before and now there's nobody that believes you're clean, Roger. And, because you just testified at length yesterday that you've never, ever done PEDs, you might even be facing an indictment for perjury. Which would be sweet.

Clemens' legacy is already tainted and he's pretty well assured of going down in the Asterisk Wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame. And he deserves every bit of smackdown he's going to get.

I bet he wishes he'd stayed retired now.

Labels: baseball, cheating, PEDs

The perfect season didn't end so perfectly for the New England Patriots. They fell to the New York Giants to put a period and not an exclamation point on an undefeated season. Instead of a scary 19-0, they end up at 18-1 and are Super Bowl XLII runners-up rather than the champions.

There are plenty of reasons why they lost but I think the biggest is that the Patriots behaved as if the game was a foregone conclusion. As if nothing could possibly upset the applecart that is a perfect season so late in the game. But it appears someone forgot to tell the Giants they were supposed to be the footnote

Well that and the perceived mentality that playing the game was an afterthought and merely a formality. I'm sure that's now how the Patriots really felt the game was but that's certainly the feeling I got over the last couple of weeks.

And I'm sure the Giants came in feeling pissed off and ready to smash the Pats in the mouth. Especially after nearly beating them in week 17 a few weeks ago.

It wasn't inevitable but it felt like the Giants were alot hungrier, played alot harder and ended up winning. The perfect season fades into a footnote on the Giants huge upset Super Bowl victory.

The other big event this weekend was the debut of wrestling "champion" Brock Lesnar in the octagon competing in an MMA match for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He took on Frank Mir, a legendary fighter with insane submission skills. And Lesnar got submitted. I'll look forward to actually seeing the fight when it gets rebroadcast but I couldn't justify dropping fifty or sixty bucks on it. And Tim Sylvia was winning his fight with Nogueria when he got submitted. That'll be a good fight to see too. Why did I want Lesnar to lose? Simple, that haircut he sports is the worst thing I've seen since Mark Cuban started doing his homage to Canseco's bowlcut.

The bummer about the Monday after the Super Bowl (aside from my teams having been eliminated weeks ago) is that football is done for the year now. Which leaves us with hockey (which I like to watch) and basketball (which you cannot pay me to watch). The sports are slim pickings for a few months until baseball kicks back into gear.

Labels: baseball, football, mma, sports, UFC

Brace yourself, its a pretty big list. Broken down into three groups: No Doubters, Probablys and Purt Damn Likelys.

Sadly, a good number of players I like(d) are among the named names. I don't know what the impact of the report will be but hopefully the game of baseball will emerge as a better, cleaner sport.

The following players were connected to steroids, either use or possession, in the report:
Chad Allen
Mike Bell
Gary Bennett
Larry Bigbie
Ricky Bones
Kevin Brown
Ken Caminiti
Mark Carreon
Jason Christiansen
Howie Clark
Roger Clemens
Paxton Crawford
Jack Cust
Brendan Donnelly
Chris Donnels
Lenny Dykstra
Matt Franco
Ryan Franklin
Eric Gagne
Jason Grimsley
Jerry Hairston
Phil Hiatt
Matt Herges
Glenallen Hill
Todd Hundley
Ryan Jorgensen
Wally Joyner
Mike Judd
David Justice
Chuck Knoblauch
Tim Laker
Mike Lansing
Paul Lo Duca
Exavier "Nook" Logan
Josias Manzanillo
Cody McKay
Kent Mercker
Bart Miadich
Hal Morris
Daniel Naulty
Denny Neagle
Rafael Palmeiro
Jim Parque
Andy Pettitte
Adam Piatt
Todd Pratt
Stephen Randolph
Adam Riggs
Brian Roberts
F.P. Santangelo
David Segui
Mike Stanton
Ricky Stone
Miguel Tejada
Derrick Turnbow
Mo Vaughn
Ron Villone
Fernando Vina
Rondell White
Jeff Williams
Todd Williams
Kevin Young
Gregg Zaun

The following players were cited under "Alleged Internet Purchases of Performance Enhancing Substances By Players in Major League Baseball" in the report:
Rick Ankiel
David Bell
Paul Byrd
Jose Canseco
Jay Gibbons
Troy Glaus
Jose Guillen
Darren Holmes
Gary Matthews Jr.
John Rocker
Scott Schoeneweis
Ismael Valdez
Matt Williams
Steve Woodard

The following players were linked through BALCO in the report:
Marvin Benard
Barry Bonds
Bobby Estalella
Jason Giambi
Jeremy Giambi
Benito Santiago
Gary Sheffield
Randy Velarde

Labels: baseball, mitchell report list, PEDs, steroids

Sources: Mitchell Report to name MVPs, All-Stars, won't address amphetamines and here's a link to PDF copy of the report.

Names like Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Jason Grimsley, David Segui, Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons. Of course, it has just been released so the flood of alleged cheaters will be coming out for the rest of the day and, probably, into next season.

On KNBR they were talking about names that might be on the list but may not be. Guys like Jason Schmidt, Paul O'Neill, Marquis Grissom and a whole bunch of others.

Let's face it, the great American pastime is rife with athletes taking performance enhancing drugs. There's no ifs, ands or buts about it. Major League Baseball has a serious drug problem but it isn't just the athletes that are guilty, the owners, managers, trainers, pals and other assorted support personnel are as guilty but will, largely, go unpunished.

Does it diminish my love of the sport? Yeah, maybe just a little bit. Do I hope this is the first major step to cleaning up the game and re-levelling the playing field? Heck yeah.

Not only because PEDs undermine the integrity of the game, which is a big deal, but more so because younger players and kids look up to big leaguers and are getting the wrong message about drugs from them. They are getting the message that using PEDs is okay, that cheating to win and get that big contract is not only acceptable but encouraged. And that goes a long way to undermining the future of sport in America.

If some legacies have to be torched to clean up the sport then so be it. But let's not let the managers and owners get off scot-free. Let's punish every level of guilty party from the minors to the front office.

[Update: The player list originally sent over by my cousin is not the actual player list. I have a copy of the report and will add the named players when I get a chance.]

Labels: baseball, cheating, drugs, mitchell report list, PEDs, steroids

My favorite not-too-subtley-biased baseball writer, Jeff Passan, has penned the Top 10 A-Rod destinations.

I call him not-too-subtley-biased because of his quite outspoken dislike, distrust and condemnation of Barry Bonds in spite of never having failed a drug test. That's fine though, he's demonstrated a capable and strong understanding of the sport outside of this particular arena and I can respect his perspective even if I did rip him a freshie when he first came to Yahoo Sports. He actually wrote me an email and thanked me for my creative nicknaming convention! Gotta love a journalist who can take it as well as dish it out.

And I like his columns, especially the ones that focus on speculating where the biggest free agent in the history of the game is going to end up. No, not Barry Bonds, we're talking about Alex Rodriguez.

Now that the Red Sox are resting on their laurels in the wake of World Series Championship #2, the baseball universe turns its eyes to the off season free agent market movers.

I hope my Giants are a real contender in landing the big fish. I think he'd love San Francisco, would love hitting in AT&T Park and would instantly make the team a real contender. It will make the offseason bearable and what a great way to start the 2008 season if they do land him!

[Update: There is a rumor that A-Rod's agent, Scott Boras (the worst thing to ever happen to the game of baseball), is seeking $350 million to sign A-Rod. To which I say, let him sign anywhere else. No player is worth that much and Scott Boras is a douchebag for continuing to wreck the game.]

Labels: baseball

Okay, so I underestimated the power of the Rockies and underestimated how many games it would take the Red Sox to send the Indians packing.

I'd predicted a Diamondbacks versus Red Sox World Series but the D'Backs floundered and were handled easily by the Rockies. Wow, it seems like a long time ago now since that happened but its only been a little more than a week. Anyway, the D'Backs will be back next year, they're a good and talented team and this post season will only serve to improve them for next year.

Which sucks for my aged Giants but we'll see what they do in the off season now that Barry's salary is no longer holding them down. They had better get ALOT younger though, that's my one main gripe.

Anyway, back to the game and series that starts in an hour and change.

If Beckett pitches as he can then he's a lock for Game 1 and Game 4 or 5. If Dice K settles in and pitches like he can then the Red Sox take Game 3. Schilling has a lot of heart but not alot of gas left in his tank. I expect he'll scuffle and battle and he might just get pwned by the young and hot bats of the Rockies.

Matt Holliday is a major stud and swings a monstrous bat for high average and with superb power. But there are a bunch of players in the line up that are almost as dangerous. It should be a good series, that's for sure.

Now for the prediction.

I'm going with Red Sox in five but it'll probably end up being six. The Red Sox bats are hot now, the starting pitching is excellent and their bullpen is downright scary (though Gagne has been, ummmm, not very good is a nice way of putting it). If the Red Sox take Games 1 and 2 at home, it might be over sooner than expected.

At least the Yankees are all done so that makes us all winners!

[Update: Thursday night and the Red Sox took the first two games. If Dice K comes out dealing in Colorado then the Rockies will have a very tough time of it indeed. Schilling did, indeed, scuffle but ultimately kept his game together and the Red prevailed. But boy oh boy is Matt Holliday a stud or what?]

[Sunday Update: Well the Rockies showed some life last night after Dice K dealt like the superstar the Red Sox thought he could be and is. It was a good game and there were tense moments but, in the end, the Red Sox go up three games to none and things are not looking so good for the Rockies. Even if the Rockies win tonight, they face Beckett again and he has been truly phenomenal. Like Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis and Mike Lowell. Really the Red Sox have played like world champions and, barring an amazing resurgence and come back, they will be world champs again soon.]

Labels: baseball, World Series

Courtney over at the Midvale School has requested that everyone in and of the Red Sox Nation get their faith hats on and give the Red Sox the extra push they needed to force a game 7 in the ALCS.

We went a step further and broke out the fabled and powerful Red Sox Baby Socks that propelled the team to winning the World Series a couple of years ago. Then it was Grady's turn to don the socks and turn the tables.

This time around it is Sullivan's turn to use the magic. And boy, oh boy did it work last night! The completely annihilated the Indians and brought the series back to even at three apiece.

You can bet those socks will be in effect tonight for the series finale.

[Update: I had merely pulled the magic socks out and they were doing a fine job. But I wanted to make sure the Red Sox sent the Indians packing. So, in the 7th inning, I put them on Sullivan and then Ellsbury got on via the error on literally the next pitch and then Pedroia hit the two run jack. He's sleeping in his bed with them on now and the Red Sox are starting to make it ugly! Woohoo, go magic socks! That is now eight (8) runs since the magic socks got put on!]

Labels: baseball, playoffs, Red Sox Nation

Torre: Yanks' Contract Offer Was Insult

Gee, what a surprise, the Yankees consider this season a failure and blame it on Joe Torre instead of his pampered overpaid athletes. So they make a limp offer to him for a one year deal that everyone in the room knows is an insult.

And Torre refused to play ball and stood by his principles and turned his back on the organization. I wish I could say I feel sorry for whoever has to follow in his shoes as they will undoubtedly suffer the media scrutiny and the rabid fan base's win-now-or-else mentality.

I hope they have a fire sale too and let go of most of their studs. But I bet they go and sign more and more thinking that more money automatically equals a world championship. But baseball doesn't work that way. Otherwise the largest payroll would always win and the sport would wither and die.

More power to Torre and I'm actually glad he's gone from the Yankees and I can be free to admire him. Because I hate the Yankees organization and all that they stand for. They way the treated Joe Torre just confirms that deep seated hatred.

And their loss is another team's gain. I hope he gets on with another American League team and completely schools the Wankees everytime they meet.

Labels: baseball, yankees suck

[Update 10/9/07 8:10 am: And the Yankees are sent packing by the Indians. This is going to be an interesting AL and NL Championship series.

And I think Joe Torre has been treated like crap by Steinbrenner, who's a colossal jackass.

I think I'll start a new thread for the Championship series as this one is getting a wee bit long in the teeth now.]

[Update 10/7/07 8:00 pm: Of course the Yankees would have to go and ruin Sweep Sunday, the grand finale to Sweep Weekend by winning game three against the Indians. Of course, the Red Sox did their business and put the whimpering Angels down.

Oh well, I guess the Yankees will just go down tomorrow. I wonder if they have to now win every game through to the World Series or Torre will get canned? What great working conditions!]

[Update 10/6/07 9:56 pm: The Rockies just finished Sweep Saturday after the Diamondbacks knocked the Cubs out of the playoffs earlier today. The Phillies and Cubs get to go home. And we've got an all NL West Championship matchup.

Keep your fingers crossed for Sweep Sunday to send the Indians and Red Sox into battle and the Yanks and Angels home.]

[Update 10/4/07 8:26 pm: I should note that my predictions above are not indicative of what I'd like to see happen so much as what I think will happen. What I'd like to see is the Yankees lose in three (down 1-0 to the Indians now) and go home crying and throw A-Rod to the Giants. But I don't think it'll happen. Anyway, the Rockies are staying on target against the Phillies (erroneously posted originally as the Padres, woops), the Yanks got crushed and the Cubs are currently down. Oh yeah, Byrnes hit a triple in the second.

I think I'm going to just update this post as the playoffs continue.]

Original post 10/4/07 12:06 am
I thought I'd saved these but they've now gone missing so oh well.

Here are my predictions for the 2007 baseball playoffs.

Red Sox over Angels in four. Yankees over Indians in three. Diamondbacks over Cubs in four. Rockies over Phillies in three.
Red Sox over Yanks in five. D'Backs over Rockies in five.
Red Sox over D'Backs in six.

But I could be wrong. If Byrnes' bat wakes up then watchout for the D'Backs to really catch fire.

Got a different outcome in mind? Break it down for me.

Labels: baseball, prediction

This was an absolute trainwreck of a Sunday for football for me. I got utterly crushed in the fantasy league games and am an almost certain lock for the hall of shame in our local pool. Shockingly bad picks.

Ouch. At least the Giants ended the season on a high note and beat the crap out of the Dodgers.

Labels: baseball, fantasy football

It was announced earlier this week that Barry Bonds, perennial All-Star and home run king, will not be playing for the Giants next season. As with all dealings in baseball and pro sports, there are upsides and downsides to this announcement.

The upside is that the Giants will free up a rather substantial chunk of payroll in releasing him. His departure also opens the door to new and (much) younger talent to show off their left field skills. At this point in his career, Barry is a liability in the field and he will not be getting better in the off season.

The downsides include the loss of an icon and, in many ways, the face of the Giants. He has been very much the franchise player here and it always hurts to have an era come to an end.

Drug use allegations aside, he was and is one of the greatest players to ever play the game. Before he became a home run machine, he was a base stealing machine and a playmaker in the truest sense of the word. He is a deeply feared hitter even now, in his 40's.

It is a shame that his legacy appears to one of alleged cheating without real substantiation. And there's the other side of the coin, if he cheated then he most definitely was not the only one doing it. He just happens to be the best and that makes it okay to single him out and try to hang the steroid scandal solely on his shoulders.

Which is, of course, grossly unfair and overlooks the players have tested positive. It overlooks players who got out before the testing really got underway. It overlooks the managers, owners and GM's who looked the other way while stuffing their pockets with money.

Many fans hate Barry Bonds with a passion that surprises me. I like Barry but I don't love him, I wouldn't go especially far out of my way to meet him or get his autograph. But I do appreciate what he has done with his career, not only for himself but also for his contributions to the game of baseball. Love him, hate him, he really couldn't give a damn one way or the other.

I just hope he doesn't end up going to the Yankees. Anybody but the Yankees.

Labels: baseball

Bonds ties Aaron, belts 755th home run but the Giants still lost, again.

Anyway, I'm glad the record has been tied, I hope the Giants are able to concentrate on something else for a little while.

Also, I know there are a lot of people who believe that Bonds breaking the record and being excited about it equates to condoning the use of PEDs and cheating in general. While I respect that point of view, I also respectfully disagree that they are one and the same.

It was a baseball moment, regardless of the circumstances, it was a baseball moment and I wish I could have been there for it. The San Diego fans showed themselves to be baseball fans when they stood up and cheered as loudly as they could when he hit it. They felt what an occasion it was and they enjoyed it as baseball fans beyond being Padres fans (besides, they probably knew the Giants wouldn't beat them).

Call me a Barry apologist, call me a fake fan, call me whatever. It was pretty cool to see it happen, even if I had to rewind the Tivo to see it because I was outside at the exact time the home run was hit.

Labels: baseball, records, steroids

Damnit, after a 2 outs in the 9th and being down by four runs only to come back and tie the frigging game on Barry Bonds' 43rd birthday, you'd think the Braves would have the good grace to cede the victory to the Giants.

But NOOOOOOOOOOO! Extra innings losses hurt just a little bit more than a regular old beating but this one hurt more than most.

And, while the SF sports writers have already called the season over, I'll join them. The Giants are done for this year, they need to refocus, rebuild and shed some age (well, shed a whole lot of age!).

Damned Braves.

Labels: baseball

Armando Benitez Traded to the Marlins

To which the only thing I can add is: SUCKERS!

No wait, there's plenty more to add. The Marlins have just scored one of the worst closers in the game, an apathetic blame-shifting, slop-throwing, injury-prone clubhouse cancer.

Good fucking riddance.

Now maybe the Giants can win some of the games they go into the 9th leading.

Labels: baseball

I understand that you need a "color" person to add some interest to the broadcasts, someone to interview people in the stands, talk to special visitors and the like.

However, Cammy Blackstone is awful. Her questions are stupid, her behaviour is erratic and you'd think she might brush her hair before going on television.

Seriously, she "interviewed" Condi Rice the other night and didn't even introduce her, she just said Secretary of State. And she didn't let the Australian Foreign Minister actually speak, she waved the mic at him.

She's awful and needs to go. Just like the Crab and Rusty had to go. Send her away and hire someone with some skill and who isn't afraid of a hair brush. They can also be hot, that would be fine too. Cammy looks like she's just coming off a weekend bender all the time.

Labels: baseball

Vincent to Selig -- stay away from Bonds' celebration because, in Vincent's mind and Selig's (though Selig profited mightily as an owner during the steroid era), Barry Bonds has done steroids. Without ever failing a test, without any proof these two asshats have tried him and convicted him.

Bottom line, Bud Selig is the fucking commissioner of baseball. Barry Bonds is going to break the all-time home run record. For Selig to blow that off, he should resign. He's not fit to lead Major League Baseball.

Bonds almost certainly did use PED's, so did that majority of the league at the time. Doesn't make it right, doesn't excuse it but it also certainly does not make it right to dismiss his truly incredible accomplishments as a player.

He was a Hall of Famer before he ever became a home run hitter and it is absolutely ludicrous to debate whether he deserves to be in the hall now. If Bonds does not get into the Hall of Fame, I'll quit being a fan of the goddamned sport.

And Fay Vincent, take your circumstantial evidence and shove it right up your retired old ass. You "assume" you know what he did, you don't know and yet you are going to publicly smack the man down. You are a blowhard and a fool. Since we're free to "assume" whatever we like, I'm going to assume you like dressing up in little pleated plaid skirts and prancing around like a 13 year old girl with your grey hair in pigtails. What's wrong? Why can't I assume it about you?

As for Hank Aaron's attendance, I don't think he needs to be there if he doesn't want to be. It would be nice but he's not the commissioner of baseball, is he? He's a private citizen who's record is going to get broken. I have zero problem with Aaron staying away. Selig's job is to represent the sport, that includes attending momentous moments like this record being broken. To not attend is to not fulfill his obligations as the commissioner.

And he (Bud Selig) is a deeply hypocritical bitch too.

I'm sure there are plenty of you baseball fans out there who disagree with me on Bonds. That's fine. He's not Floyd Landis, he's not some instant superstar, he's just been one of the greatest shows in baseball for an incredibly long time. With or without PED's, he is the shiznit. And note, he didn't pull a Big Mac and just run and hide and pretend he can't answer. He has publicly denied taking steroids, he has gone on the record as saying he has never intentionally done them. And he's never tested positive. Not Palmiero, who denied and then got caught, not Sammy who denied and then lost his size and power. Not Jose Canseco who wanted to pump up book sales by calling out his former friends. Not Jason Grimsley for being the lockerroom dopeman. Barry Bonds has never tested positive for PED's. Until that day comes, Bud Selig needs to do his job.

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

Labels: baseball

Roger Clemens Returns To New York Yankees

$4.5 million per month and the analysts are already saying he doesn't guarantee the playoffs. Which is fine and all but come on, King George has all but announced he'd buy the damned championship if he could.

I hope he pulls a hammy in his first game warm ups and never registers an out for the Yankees this season but they still have to pay him.

Labels: baseball

It occured to me that I haven't written much about this young baseball season and, of course, my fantasy scores as well.

First off, A-Rod is destroying the ball and having alot of fun doing it. I wonder what will happen if the Yanks stay at .500 and that keeps happening? Or, more pointedly, when's the implosion coming?

Secondly, Ian Kinsler and Eric Byrnes have easily been my smartest picks in the early running. Kinsler was a sleeper second baseman who's just behind A-Rod for home runs. And Byrnes just plays balls out baseball. A 25-25 man last season (that's 25 home runs and 25 stolen bases) he's also good for highlight reels and the occasional cycle (worth serious points in some leagues).

The Giants are off to slow start but things are improving, especially with an extra-innings win over the Cards last night. And both Big Al and Barry went deep. Would have been nice to see, only the game wasn't televised here. Which, 'scuse my french, pisses the holy fuck out of me. I've been noticing that most of the local games aren't on the box. But, of course, today's is on. Nice. Barry looks healthy, he looks happy and the record looks very, very attainable right now.

As well as the NL West. Yeah, the Dodgers look pretty good but Nomar's only one muffed step away from the DL and Schmidty's already on it (to which I must pause and say HA HA HA). Kent is ripe for an injury as well. And then things can start to unravel for them.

Back to the Gyros. Let's run the lineup. Dave Roberts, his off-season acquisition was highly underrated and his impact on the team has already been awesome. His speed, his ability to get on-base and make the pitcher have to deal with him is a very slick weapon.

Omar Vizquel, another underrated threat. Check out his numbers, he gets on, he hits for high average and plays the game very intelligently. And that's not even mentioning, until now, his magnificent defensive capabilities.

#3 has been a rotating spot but I'll put Rich Aurilia in there because I like him there best and Durham in fifth. Aurilia already has a very good eye at the plate and batting in front of Bonds means he gets pitches to hit. With Roberts and Vizquel already on base much of the time, he will put up career RBI numbers. His versatility and just the fact that he's an old Giant comeback home makes him a favorite.

Barry Bonds, hate him or love him, he's having a great start to the season. His swing looks good and he's got pretty good mobility for a 43 year old guy with very roughed up knees. I think he will break the home run record. Probably not before mid-June at the earliest.

Ray Durham, he's kind of fragile but is a pretty fierce hitter with still good speed and he can definitely field his position at second. Not a spring chicken but that pretty much makes him unflappable. He can carry the team with his bat for short periods.

Next up should be Randy Winn since he his for a good average and has better than average speed. He's a very solid all-around player.

After Durham it's would normally be Bengie Molina. He's not a great offensive force but he's an ace behind the plate by both calling a great game and managing the pitchers.

Pedro Feliz comes up next, he's still kind of an enigma on offense. He can crush the ball and he can also look like he's never held a bat before. His defense is strong, as his arm on throws from third to first.

Here's where Winn is hitting, eighth in the line up. I think he should be hitting closer to the big bats. But that's not my decision and I'm pretty sure Bruce Bochy knows what he's doing with a ball club.

And look at that, they took two games in a row from the defending world champion St. Louis Cardinals so he must be doing something right.

On the fantasy front, I'm dominating one league, a strong leader in another larger league, a mid runner in a third and the caboose in my last league. Not forever though, just for now.

Also, note that I started this post five hours ago. That's what two small kids will do to your time.

Labels: baseball

For today is the Opening Day of the 2007 Major League Baseball season. The World Champion St. Louis Cardinals take on the scary good looking New York Mets!Today is the day when all teams can look to the future with anticipation rather than dread many of the bottom teams will have in a few short weeks (yep, I'm looking at you KC Royals).

Baseball is back and I'm pretty darned excited about it.

Our trip up to see the Giants home opener on Tuesday has been cancelled unfortunately but understandably. The ticket prices we were finding were a little crazy. I had already made the adult decision to step out of the festivities as I'm not working right now and it is hard to justify dropping the coinage on such a non-necessity.

Until the first pitch tonight, every player has a chance to be the home run king, the batting champ and the slugging champ. Until that first pitch and the stars start shining and the regulars start regularing.

But one of the best things about the start of the season is that there are always a couple of guys who come out of the gate HOT, HOT, HOT. Chris Shelton last year for Detroit was unreal and now he's working his way back up to the majors. Who will it be this year?

Whoever it is, I hope I've got them on my fantasy teams!

Also, GO GIANTS!

Labels: baseball, fantasy baseball

San Francisco Giants tickets went on sale yesterday. We've got a good crew of guys looking forward to heading up to San Francisco on Opening Day. However there is a catch. To get a ticket to Opening Day, we've got to become Season Ticket Holders, the cheapest of which (which also happens to be in the Upper Nosebleed section where occurrences of altitude sickness are not uncommon) is $840.

Yes folks, to go to Opening Day at AT&T Park, you have to buy a whole crapload of tickets.

Which means that I'll be watching the Opening Day celebration and Barry's March to 756 at home. Which is fine, the beers are alot cheaper, the hecklers are mellower and parking is free.

Still, I cannot understand the mentality behind this move. Seems destined for the Stupid Hall of Fame.

But maybe they did have some tickets available yesterday. But I had both kids all day yesterday so there really wasn't any time to break off and get online to get the tickets then. So maybe it's kind of my fault, unless they never had any other tickets for sale, in which case, the Giants are shooting themselves in the foot with this marketing scheme.

Labels: baseball, dumb marketing, SF Giants

Spring Training to Begin This Week

Pitchers and catchers are due to report for spring training this week in a no-doubt-about-it sign that spring is, in fact, on the way.

My boys and I are planning our Opening Day outing to the park complete with tailgate action, barley pops, bleacher seats and gloves set to catch the first home run balls of the Giants amazing 162-0 season (hey, fans are supposed to be optimistic before the season starts).

Steroid controversies aside, I just like baseball.

Also, to that end, Yahoo's fantasy baseball leagues kick off on Thursday. I want to see how low a league number I can get. If you want to play some fantasy baseball, leave a comment with an email I can send an invite to.

Labels: baseball, spring training

It isn't a surprise but it is with a big twinge of sadness that Mike Matheny, the catcher for the SF Giants, was forced to announce his retirement.

Concussions end Matheny's career

As a catcher, he got drilled with guys trying to come home, he got hit with bats and, the topper, nailed in the face mask with 100 mile an hour foul tips. The result was alot of concussions that resulted in Post-Concussion Syndrome and the medical staff basically told him that there was no way he was ever going to be cleared to play again.

I listened to him talk with The Razor and Mr. T on KNBR the other night and it struck me again what a class guy he really is. He will be missed but he's not disappearing, he just can't play anymore and what's really important, at the end of the day, is that he takes care of himself. Baseball will march on, it always does.

Tags: Mike Matheny, baseball, concussion, retirement

Labels: baseball, concussion, retirement