Well I am currently severely limited in my mobility so I figured what the heck, why not post a new sports blog. There's really only one topic on my mind today and that is The Biggest Scandal in Sports. And it may not be what you think.
Steroids. In any sport. Baseball, Football, Golf, or perhaps the dirtiest sport of them all, cycling. It's all no big deal. Dog Fighting. Michael Vick. Federal Indictment. Small potatoes. An NBA referee involved with mobsters in point shaving, and throwing games. Now that is a scandal. Tim Donaghy has suddenly put the result of every NBA game in question. In the past, but more importantly in the future as well. Every close game with a questionable call will now involve rants invoking the name of Tim Donaghy. Sure, its easy to blame Donaghy. He shouldn't have been involved with the mafia . . . Well duh. He should have had more integrity than to fix games or point shave just for some extra money. These things are true. Still I don't blame Donaghy, I blame the NBA.
The NBA needs to take the brunt of the responsibility for this whole situation. Throw Donaghy in jail, he deserves it. You roll with the mafia you are going to get pinched, end of story. However, point the finger at the league. The NBA doesn't pay its official enough, plain and simple. You pay your people right and they don't go around looking for shady ways to make extra money. Take the 1919 Black Sox scandal for instance. One of the major reasons these players threw the World Series was because they weren't getting paid squat by their ballclub. And this is pre-free agency, so its not like they could just perform for a few years and then bolt to the open market. The guys paying the players to fix the series allowed them to make a living, thats all their is to it. It's the same basic principle with Mr. Donaghy and whatever other officials he is about to give up in this investigation (you don't really think this is an isolated incident do you?). Pay your people right, and they are much less likely to wind up getting paid by the wrong people to do the wrong things.
Now you're saying, Ravi, its all fine and good that the NBA is at fault for this whole thing, but is this really worse than steroids and dogfighting? Yes. Steroids, you can test for, you can clean up your game, you have a legitimate testing program for a few years and people forget about the whole thing as a small dark period in baseball's long and glorious history. Dogfighting? Yes it's a felony and its disturbing as all get out, but its one stupid athlete involved in a stupid off the field hobby. The fact that an NBA official is involved in gambling on games that he calls, puts the integrity of the entire league, the integrity of all of professional basketball on the line. Unlike the other issues that the other sports are dealing with, this shakes pro basketball to its very core. Basketball refs can effect a game so much by the way they are calling it, that a guy blowing whistles with alterior motives can seriously effect the outcome of the game. Need the Cavs to lose? Whoops looks like Lebron has gotten called for a couple charges instead of the block call or the no call that he usually gets. All of a sudden King James is out for the rest of the first half with foul trouble and we all know how good the Cavs are without Lebron. Yeah, it really is that easy. Congratulations, I just taught you how to throw an NBA game if you are a ref. Its not really rocket science.
You see the problem with this isn't just that so many calls in a basketball game can go either way (although that's certainly part of it), its that you can actually kick a team's best player out of a game with relatively little fanfare. In the NFL, you can call pass interference on Champ Bailey all day if you'd like, but the difference is, after 6 times, you can't send him to the showers. In basketball, more than in any other sport, the integrity of the referees is absolutely vital to maintaining the integrity of the sport itself. That is why this is such a big deal. Who can ever say for sure now whether the outcome of any given NBA game was legitimate? Now that kind of cloud hanging over your sport definitely qualifies as the biggest scandal around. The running joke in sports circles is that NBA commissioner David Stern is the most powerful man in sports. If this is true, then the mobsters trying to keep Donaghy from talking may be the least of his worries.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Don't Worry, I'm Alive
Hey sports fan, I apologize for the layoff. I am in the extensive process of starting a Mafia family which is dominating most of my time. I will do my best to keep up on my blogging while starting this venture. Some of you may have been wondering why I have cut back from posting everyday to just a few times a week, the answer is pretty simple. I really just want to make sure I don't get burned out on the whole thing. I feel like I will be able to give you a better product if I post slightly less frequently. We're going for quality over quantity here people. Also I am proud to announce that I have been brought on by a site called ChewThemOut.com to do some writing for their page. They are also a sports blog as well with several writers on staff. I encourage you to check out their page, I am posting for them about once a week, usually on the weekends. My post this week is a nice little bit about boxing, if you are a fan at all, or even if you're not, you might enjoy reading it.
One last little bit of house keeping before we get to the meat of today's post, I just wanted to respond to Keith who was nice enough to take the time to comment on my All-Star Break Awards post. Keith wanted to know where I got my footage of Japanese baseball players to know that they all slap swing. I have two "sources" if you will. First of all, I was one of the exactly seven people to stay up in the middle of the night to watch Japan play in the World Baseball Classic last year. This is in fact where my thought that 90% of Japanese players swing like they're in the Women's College World Seires was first born. My second source of Japanese baseball footage is the same place that everyone finds every video they could ever hope to watch, YouTube. While the Red Sox were in the process of bidding for and eventually landing Daisuke Matsuzaka, I did a good deal of scouting on him. Yes, I realize this means that I am far too invested in being a fan of a baseball team, to the point where it is probably unhealthy. Yes, I also realize I will probably one day have to see a shrink for this. Anyway if you type in Daisuke Matsuzaka, Kei Igawa, or Akinori Iwamura, you should find a plethora of Japanese baseball footage.
Now on to today's topic, Steroids in Golf. And no, I'm not kidding. Gary Player was quoted as saying that he knew of at least two players for sure who were using performing enhancing drugs. He said he didn't know if it was HGH, creatine, or just your regular run of the mill anabolic steroids, but he estimated at least 10% of golfers were juicing (just in case you were wondering, yes I did laugh out loud when typing that statement). Here is what I know about the possibility of performance enhancing drugs in golf. Every one on the PGA Tour passes the eyeball test. I'm fairly certain most of these guys couldn't run the mile in under 10 minutes and couldn't bench press their own weight (which would make them eligible to be drafted second overall by the Seattle Sonics, I'm sorry Mr. Durant, I can't let it go). Actually there is one guy on tour who you could possibly, maybe, say doesn't pass the eyeball test. Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods is straight up jacked. But he doesn't look like a guy on steroids to me. He's been pretty freakishly athletic and strong looking for being a golfer his whole career minus a small stretch after his marriage. I whole heartedly chalk it up to Tiger realizing he was reaching into Phil Mickleson territory with his body, and upping the work out regime. End of story. No one is going to accuse Tiger of doping, and lets be honest, no one else on tour looks like they possibly could be.
THE END!
One last little bit of house keeping before we get to the meat of today's post, I just wanted to respond to Keith who was nice enough to take the time to comment on my All-Star Break Awards post. Keith wanted to know where I got my footage of Japanese baseball players to know that they all slap swing. I have two "sources" if you will. First of all, I was one of the exactly seven people to stay up in the middle of the night to watch Japan play in the World Baseball Classic last year. This is in fact where my thought that 90% of Japanese players swing like they're in the Women's College World Seires was first born. My second source of Japanese baseball footage is the same place that everyone finds every video they could ever hope to watch, YouTube. While the Red Sox were in the process of bidding for and eventually landing Daisuke Matsuzaka, I did a good deal of scouting on him. Yes, I realize this means that I am far too invested in being a fan of a baseball team, to the point where it is probably unhealthy. Yes, I also realize I will probably one day have to see a shrink for this. Anyway if you type in Daisuke Matsuzaka, Kei Igawa, or Akinori Iwamura, you should find a plethora of Japanese baseball footage.
Now on to today's topic, Steroids in Golf. And no, I'm not kidding. Gary Player was quoted as saying that he knew of at least two players for sure who were using performing enhancing drugs. He said he didn't know if it was HGH, creatine, or just your regular run of the mill anabolic steroids, but he estimated at least 10% of golfers were juicing (just in case you were wondering, yes I did laugh out loud when typing that statement). Here is what I know about the possibility of performance enhancing drugs in golf. Every one on the PGA Tour passes the eyeball test. I'm fairly certain most of these guys couldn't run the mile in under 10 minutes and couldn't bench press their own weight (which would make them eligible to be drafted second overall by the Seattle Sonics, I'm sorry Mr. Durant, I can't let it go). Actually there is one guy on tour who you could possibly, maybe, say doesn't pass the eyeball test. Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods is straight up jacked. But he doesn't look like a guy on steroids to me. He's been pretty freakishly athletic and strong looking for being a golfer his whole career minus a small stretch after his marriage. I whole heartedly chalk it up to Tiger realizing he was reaching into Phil Mickleson territory with his body, and upping the work out regime. End of story. No one is going to accuse Tiger of doping, and lets be honest, no one else on tour looks like they possibly could be.
THE END!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
It's the Middle of July, What Do You Expect Me To Write About?
It's the middle of July, of course I'm going to be talking about more baseball, what else is there? Anyway, here are some things to watch out for in the second half of the season.
Pedro Martinez. Yes, THAT Pedro Martinez. First of all let it be made clear that I may or may not be in love with Pedro Martinez, so any reports of his greatness in this blog while 99% accurate may be slightly exaggerated, but not much I swear. Anyway, if the Mets are going to get past the NLCS this year, Pedro is going to be the key. On a team that for the most part is full of players who can best be described as ancient, Pedro of all people could be a breath of fresh air for the ball club. Reports from Martinez's rehab say he is throwing as hard as he has in years. Now everybody knows Pedro's got the mind and secondary pitches to dominate because he still was great for the Mets his first year in New York when he was sitting around 89 MPH with his fastball. Can you imagine if the reports are true and he's really back up to 93-94 MPH? Pedro could dominate again like he did in his early days with the Red Sox, and all of a sudden the Mets are legit. They have a good lineup, and if they acquire any pitching before the deadline they could be headed for another NL upset in the World Series. New York is eyeing an August 1st return for Pedro, that should give him enough time to find his groove and be ready to roll for October baseball.
Look out for . . . the Yankees. I know, I know, I waffle more on the Yankees chances this year more than John Kerry did on political issues but they just have so much talent, they scare the living begeebees out of me. Especially because I am almost certain that they will go out and acquire someone big at the trade deadline. Or several someones for that matter. I just get that feeling. Not to say that it will save their season, but when Phil Hughes comes back, their starting pitching all of a sudden doesn't even look that bad. If Mussina can figure it out and somehow Wang, Clemens, Pettite, and Hughes stay healthy in the second half then it looks like the only hole on the team is bullpen depth and that can easily be fixed with a deal or two at the deadline. I know its probably just me being a paranoid Red Sox fan but the Yanks are scary. . . At least they are until next week when I will be claiming their knocking on death's door again.
Keep your eye on . . . Alex Gordon. After starting off the year as a collosal disappointment who spent his time battling the Mendoza Line, Gordon has been on a tear the last month or so. All of a sudden he looks like the player every thought he would be right out of the gate. He has started to hit and he's playing a pretty good third base as well. With the Royals youth movement they have going on right now they might be a .500 ballclub one of these days and have more than one all-star representative, but if they don't manage to have more than one, Gordon should be the mainstay for them for years to come. Luckily for those who follow KC, I think they will have the likes of Billy Butler and Luke Hochevar joining the former Husker at sometime in the near future though.
Well those are just a few things to look out for sports fans, enjoy the second half of what should be an entertaining season. That's all folks.
Pedro Martinez. Yes, THAT Pedro Martinez. First of all let it be made clear that I may or may not be in love with Pedro Martinez, so any reports of his greatness in this blog while 99% accurate may be slightly exaggerated, but not much I swear. Anyway, if the Mets are going to get past the NLCS this year, Pedro is going to be the key. On a team that for the most part is full of players who can best be described as ancient, Pedro of all people could be a breath of fresh air for the ball club. Reports from Martinez's rehab say he is throwing as hard as he has in years. Now everybody knows Pedro's got the mind and secondary pitches to dominate because he still was great for the Mets his first year in New York when he was sitting around 89 MPH with his fastball. Can you imagine if the reports are true and he's really back up to 93-94 MPH? Pedro could dominate again like he did in his early days with the Red Sox, and all of a sudden the Mets are legit. They have a good lineup, and if they acquire any pitching before the deadline they could be headed for another NL upset in the World Series. New York is eyeing an August 1st return for Pedro, that should give him enough time to find his groove and be ready to roll for October baseball.
Look out for . . . the Yankees. I know, I know, I waffle more on the Yankees chances this year more than John Kerry did on political issues but they just have so much talent, they scare the living begeebees out of me. Especially because I am almost certain that they will go out and acquire someone big at the trade deadline. Or several someones for that matter. I just get that feeling. Not to say that it will save their season, but when Phil Hughes comes back, their starting pitching all of a sudden doesn't even look that bad. If Mussina can figure it out and somehow Wang, Clemens, Pettite, and Hughes stay healthy in the second half then it looks like the only hole on the team is bullpen depth and that can easily be fixed with a deal or two at the deadline. I know its probably just me being a paranoid Red Sox fan but the Yanks are scary. . . At least they are until next week when I will be claiming their knocking on death's door again.
Keep your eye on . . . Alex Gordon. After starting off the year as a collosal disappointment who spent his time battling the Mendoza Line, Gordon has been on a tear the last month or so. All of a sudden he looks like the player every thought he would be right out of the gate. He has started to hit and he's playing a pretty good third base as well. With the Royals youth movement they have going on right now they might be a .500 ballclub one of these days and have more than one all-star representative, but if they don't manage to have more than one, Gordon should be the mainstay for them for years to come. Luckily for those who follow KC, I think they will have the likes of Billy Butler and Luke Hochevar joining the former Husker at sometime in the near future though.
Well those are just a few things to look out for sports fans, enjoy the second half of what should be an entertaining season. That's all folks.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Running Diary of the All-Star Game . . . Sort of
Alright so here we go. This is my All-Star game running diary. However, there was a slight problem with the recording of the game and I only got from the pregame through the top of the 3rd inning. So we have a running diary of approximately 1/3 of the All-Star game. Its probably best this way seeing as its my first go at a running diary and really a whole baseball was awfully ambitious. Don't worry there will be more running diaries to come and hopefully I will be able to do those events live so we don't have anymore taping fiascos. Also there are some half innings missing due to nothing interesting happening in those frames. Hope you enjoy.
Pre-Game:
Jeter and Griffey had a nice little conversation with Willie Mays. To be honest I can’t really understand anything Mays is saying, he just kind of mumbles and then laughs and then Jeter laughs with him like he understood every word. I don’t buy it Derek. I tell you what though, Mr. Jeter probably has a career in politics after his playing days are over, he just has that vibe. Meanwhile Griffey is just sitting there and giggling like an idiot for half of the interview, leaving one of two explanations. Either he was stoned during the whole thing, which I doubt, or he went into little kid mode being that close to Willie Mays. My bet is on the second one seeing as that’s pretty much exactly what I did when I got within 100 feet of the Red Sox the first time I saw them play in person. The whole thing just kind of reminded me of Charlie Murphy retelling his stories of things that happened with Rick James on the Dave Chappelle Show. I just kept expecting Mays to pause for a moment before saying “Cocaine is a helluva drug.”
John Groff of San Diego, California is now stepping up to a batting tee to see if he can hit a ball 280 feet to win a million dollars. My question is how bad do you have to be to not be able to hit a ball 280 feet off of a tee. I could literally do this at the age of 11. This guy is atrocious. He got one ball to leave the infield and looked much worse than the guys trying to get a hit off of John Rocker on Pros vs. Joes. I would not be surprised at all if John Groff’s family disowned him after that pathetic display. Just embarrassing.
The AL roster being announced received little fanfare with a couple of interesting exceptions. First of all you have to appreciate that the Giants fans at the game still boo-ed the representatives from the Angels even though it’s been almost five years since the Angels and their rally monkeys swiped a World Series right out of San Francisco’s grasps. You have to love fans with long memories. Secondly, Jorge Posada was also boo-ed by the crowd, with the only possible explanation that it really is true that everyone hates the Yankees.
The NL roster announcements reminded everyone that rivalries are alive and well in baseball as both Brad Penny and Takashi Saito from the Dodgers both received resounding boos from the crowd. Nice to see people still care about arbitrarily hating an opponent. There’s really not enough of this in sports these days. I’m completely serious.
The biggest ovation was obviously for Barry Bonds, but honestly it was a lot tamer than I expected. Don’t get me wrong it was still pretty loud but I expected the place to just go crazy and that didn’t really happen. A little disappointing to be honest.
A nice tribute to Willie Mays going on before the first pitch. Not a lot to say about it really except that I hate when people over dramatize an event such as Joe Buck was doing during the whole thing, saying Willie Mays may be the greatest player of all time. To be honest, I have had the G.O.A.T. discussion with several different people and Willie Mays is never in the running. Should he be? Maybe, but he’s just not. You have Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Barry Bonds in that discussion with Ruth almost always coming out on top due to his dominance as a pitcher as well as a hitter. Alex Rodriguez will likely join in on the debate if his career continues as it has to this point. Of course the same was said about Griffey and look what happened. Still Junior has some juice left and if he squeezes out a few more years of hitting like he is this year and maybe reach 700 homers and if he can play a good right field he probably lands in Mays territory as a player on the fringe, just outside of the G.O.A.T. debate.
Top of 1st Inning:
Ichiro takes Jake Peavy for a single through the infield. If you have ever watched some clips from professional games over in Japan, just about 90% of the players over there have the running slap swing like college softball players. And just for the record, I hate it. That’s not a swing its an abomination.
I am pretty sure Tim McCarver just compared Jake Peavy to Brandon Webb. First of all no disrespect to Brandon Webb, but as far as stuff is concerned, he’s not anywhere close to Peavy’s league. Please Tim, just stop talking you sound like an idiot.
Just by watching the hacks these American Leaguers are taking against Peavy, I can bet you none of them will be requesting a trade to the NL West anytime soon.
After a double play, and an error, David Wright makes a nice diving stop to end the inning.
Bottom of 1st Inning:
Seriously how did the Oakland A’s get Dan Haren in the Mark Mulder deal with the Cardinals? St. Louis just got absolutely robbed blind in that deal. Did Billy Beane wear a ski mask during negotiations?
As Ken Griffey Jr. bats I just can’t help but wonder how people are disappointed with his career. I mean when you draft a kid out of high school, if someone told you that by the age of 37 the kid would be tied for 6th all time on the home run list, I am fairly certain you would make that pick every time. I don’t care how much more he could have done if he wouldn’t have gotten hurt, the guy is probably going to end up 4th in the history of the game behind Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, and Babe Ruth and if he gets lucky he could even pass Ruth. This guy’s had one of the best careers of all time, so shut up.
Griffey gets an RBI single for the NL and they take the lead 1-0 at the end of the 1st.
Bottom of 2nd Inning:
Prince Fielder seems like a very nice young man so I hate to say this but I noticed that Prince has a tattoo on his neck which means that he without a doubt will at some point in his life spend some time in prison. It’s a sad but true fact of life. People with a tattoo on their neck = people who have or will spend time in jail in their life. It’s just the way the world works.
Top of 3rd Inning:
David Ortiz really just does not look right at the plate. Even when he makes good contact you can tell that his injured quadriceps is really giving him issues. With the Red Sox as far out in front as they are they should really just consider sitting Ortiz for a couple weeks and sticking Wily Mo Pena in at DH. This just feels like one of those injuries that’s going to nag at him for the rest of the year and keep getting worse until it renders Big Papi essentially useless. I mean if they can keep a decent lead out, sit him out for a month, let it heal up give him a rehab assignment and bring him up in time to get his timing back in time for the stretch run.
Well this is where the tape ran out, but hopefully you enjoyed what you go. Have a nice days folks.
Pre-Game:
Jeter and Griffey had a nice little conversation with Willie Mays. To be honest I can’t really understand anything Mays is saying, he just kind of mumbles and then laughs and then Jeter laughs with him like he understood every word. I don’t buy it Derek. I tell you what though, Mr. Jeter probably has a career in politics after his playing days are over, he just has that vibe. Meanwhile Griffey is just sitting there and giggling like an idiot for half of the interview, leaving one of two explanations. Either he was stoned during the whole thing, which I doubt, or he went into little kid mode being that close to Willie Mays. My bet is on the second one seeing as that’s pretty much exactly what I did when I got within 100 feet of the Red Sox the first time I saw them play in person. The whole thing just kind of reminded me of Charlie Murphy retelling his stories of things that happened with Rick James on the Dave Chappelle Show. I just kept expecting Mays to pause for a moment before saying “Cocaine is a helluva drug.”
John Groff of San Diego, California is now stepping up to a batting tee to see if he can hit a ball 280 feet to win a million dollars. My question is how bad do you have to be to not be able to hit a ball 280 feet off of a tee. I could literally do this at the age of 11. This guy is atrocious. He got one ball to leave the infield and looked much worse than the guys trying to get a hit off of John Rocker on Pros vs. Joes. I would not be surprised at all if John Groff’s family disowned him after that pathetic display. Just embarrassing.
The AL roster being announced received little fanfare with a couple of interesting exceptions. First of all you have to appreciate that the Giants fans at the game still boo-ed the representatives from the Angels even though it’s been almost five years since the Angels and their rally monkeys swiped a World Series right out of San Francisco’s grasps. You have to love fans with long memories. Secondly, Jorge Posada was also boo-ed by the crowd, with the only possible explanation that it really is true that everyone hates the Yankees.
The NL roster announcements reminded everyone that rivalries are alive and well in baseball as both Brad Penny and Takashi Saito from the Dodgers both received resounding boos from the crowd. Nice to see people still care about arbitrarily hating an opponent. There’s really not enough of this in sports these days. I’m completely serious.
The biggest ovation was obviously for Barry Bonds, but honestly it was a lot tamer than I expected. Don’t get me wrong it was still pretty loud but I expected the place to just go crazy and that didn’t really happen. A little disappointing to be honest.
A nice tribute to Willie Mays going on before the first pitch. Not a lot to say about it really except that I hate when people over dramatize an event such as Joe Buck was doing during the whole thing, saying Willie Mays may be the greatest player of all time. To be honest, I have had the G.O.A.T. discussion with several different people and Willie Mays is never in the running. Should he be? Maybe, but he’s just not. You have Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Barry Bonds in that discussion with Ruth almost always coming out on top due to his dominance as a pitcher as well as a hitter. Alex Rodriguez will likely join in on the debate if his career continues as it has to this point. Of course the same was said about Griffey and look what happened. Still Junior has some juice left and if he squeezes out a few more years of hitting like he is this year and maybe reach 700 homers and if he can play a good right field he probably lands in Mays territory as a player on the fringe, just outside of the G.O.A.T. debate.
Top of 1st Inning:
Ichiro takes Jake Peavy for a single through the infield. If you have ever watched some clips from professional games over in Japan, just about 90% of the players over there have the running slap swing like college softball players. And just for the record, I hate it. That’s not a swing its an abomination.
I am pretty sure Tim McCarver just compared Jake Peavy to Brandon Webb. First of all no disrespect to Brandon Webb, but as far as stuff is concerned, he’s not anywhere close to Peavy’s league. Please Tim, just stop talking you sound like an idiot.
Just by watching the hacks these American Leaguers are taking against Peavy, I can bet you none of them will be requesting a trade to the NL West anytime soon.
After a double play, and an error, David Wright makes a nice diving stop to end the inning.
Bottom of 1st Inning:
Seriously how did the Oakland A’s get Dan Haren in the Mark Mulder deal with the Cardinals? St. Louis just got absolutely robbed blind in that deal. Did Billy Beane wear a ski mask during negotiations?
As Ken Griffey Jr. bats I just can’t help but wonder how people are disappointed with his career. I mean when you draft a kid out of high school, if someone told you that by the age of 37 the kid would be tied for 6th all time on the home run list, I am fairly certain you would make that pick every time. I don’t care how much more he could have done if he wouldn’t have gotten hurt, the guy is probably going to end up 4th in the history of the game behind Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, and Babe Ruth and if he gets lucky he could even pass Ruth. This guy’s had one of the best careers of all time, so shut up.
Griffey gets an RBI single for the NL and they take the lead 1-0 at the end of the 1st.
Bottom of 2nd Inning:
Prince Fielder seems like a very nice young man so I hate to say this but I noticed that Prince has a tattoo on his neck which means that he without a doubt will at some point in his life spend some time in prison. It’s a sad but true fact of life. People with a tattoo on their neck = people who have or will spend time in jail in their life. It’s just the way the world works.
Top of 3rd Inning:
David Ortiz really just does not look right at the plate. Even when he makes good contact you can tell that his injured quadriceps is really giving him issues. With the Red Sox as far out in front as they are they should really just consider sitting Ortiz for a couple weeks and sticking Wily Mo Pena in at DH. This just feels like one of those injuries that’s going to nag at him for the rest of the year and keep getting worse until it renders Big Papi essentially useless. I mean if they can keep a decent lead out, sit him out for a month, let it heal up give him a rehab assignment and bring him up in time to get his timing back in time for the stretch run.
Well this is where the tape ran out, but hopefully you enjoyed what you go. Have a nice days folks.
It's Coming
Don't worry sports fans, I know you are very excited about my first ever running diary, its on the way. Here's how things are going down. I had plans tonight which I did not wish to break. At the same time I am very loyal to my readers (all 7) and wanted to keep my promise to them of a running diary of the All-Star game. As a result, the All-Star game was recorded, I kept my plans, and now I will be watching the game on a tape delay if you will and the running diary will be posted sometime tomorrow. All is well and right in the world.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Half Way There
Well we have reached the halway point of the baseball season and so it is time to do some evaluating of what the season has brought us thus far. So here we go, Big O Sports Blog's first ever edition of the All-Star Break Awards. Let's roll.
Biggest Disappointment (both leagues)
Well this one is really a no brainer but there are some interesting contestants for second place. Obviously the winner here is the New York Yankees, and I'm not just hating. The Yanks are limping into the break under .500 and 11 out of the AL East race, not to mention 9.5 back in the wild card chase as well. I just keep waiting, like everyone else, for the Yankees to turn it around, to right the ship, but let's be honest with ourselves, it is getting pretty late in the season here. I heard the other day that if the Red Sox play jus .500 baseball for the rest of the year the Bronx Bombers would have to play .650 ball for the rest of the year just to tie the Red Sox in the division. Now if that isn't being up against it, I don't know what is. Don't get me wrong, I am going to be the last person to pronounce the Yankees as dead, I'm too paranoid for that. I still think they can turn around and win the wild card, but I have to be honest at this point it just doesn't look that good for them. At the same time, you can never count out a team that has the willingness and resources to acquire just about any player at the trade deadline, so we'll see what happens.
Runners Up:
St. Louis- The defending World Series champs do not have to worry about repeating. They are simply awful. Theres nothing else to be said here.
Chicago White Sox- The White Sox have been so bad there's public talk from the GM about a fire sale. That's a good sign things aren't going well.
Biggest Surprise (both leagues)
OK, so I might sound like an idiot here, but I'm going with the Milwaukee Brewers. I knew the Brew Crew was young and talented, I do after all follow Minor League baseball more than I would like to admit. However, it's the Brewers. They have been young and talented for a while now, and I think I just kind of expected them to still be, well . . . you know . . . the Brewers. I have to say though, despite their up and down spurts they go through and their awful road record, I think they have enough to hold on in the weak N.L. Central. That being said, due to their youth and inability to win on the road I don't expect much from them in the postseason but just getting there is a big step for Milwaukee.
Most Outstanding Player
I have created a seperate category of awards specifically for Alex Rodriguez because what he is doing is just absurd. However I can't give the MVP to a guy who plays for the biggest disappointment in the league. So I present to you, the Most Outstanding Player award, all sorts of college feeling isn't it? You ever notice how the Final Four and the College World Series and pretty much every bowl game has a MOP instead of MVP? Anyone know why this is? Seriously someone get back to me on this.
Most Valuable Player (AL)
I am going to take the easy way out on this one and give it to Magglio Orodonez of the Detroit Tigers. I figured I would go with the best player on one of the top couple of teams in the league which seems to be a popular formula. When looking at the American League I just didn't have anyone pop out at me. Boston is very well balanced so no one player sticks out in their lineup and no one on the Angels really impresses me that much either. So I begrudingly hand the award to Ordonez. If David Ortiz would have hit about 5 more homers in the first half it'd be his prize for the taking no question. Yes I am biased, and no I don't care.
Most Valuable Player (NL)
Prince Fielder, Milwaukee Brewers. Next question please.
Cy Young (AL)
I want to go Josh Beckett here, I really really do, but I just can't. Dan Haren of the Atheltics has just been too good. He has double digit wins a 2.30 ERA. I can't argue with that. Besides Haren's WHIP is exactly 1.00, which if you don't know, is really really good. The award could also go to Johan Santana, I mean, this award can pretty much ALWAYS go to Santana, but Haren takes it home here.
Cy Young (NL)
Well here it came down to a couple of Padres. It was Chris Young and Jake Peavy. Young's ERA is slightly lower, and they both carry a whip of 1.06. Young's on-base percentage against him is slightly lower than Peavy's, but Peavy has the advantage is slugging percentage against. Basically this decision came down the fact that Peavy has a big advantage is strikeouts and well I just like him more. Also he wasn't involved in a wind breaking, no contact, fist fight with Derek Lee. The thing is, if I am a Major League hitter (you may be surprised to learn I am not) I'm simply more scared of Jake Peavy than I am of Chris Young. That being said, Peavy is the first half Cy Young winner here.
That's all we've got folks. I hope this will tide you over until my upcoming running diary of the All-Star game on Tuesday night.
Biggest Disappointment (both leagues)
Well this one is really a no brainer but there are some interesting contestants for second place. Obviously the winner here is the New York Yankees, and I'm not just hating. The Yanks are limping into the break under .500 and 11 out of the AL East race, not to mention 9.5 back in the wild card chase as well. I just keep waiting, like everyone else, for the Yankees to turn it around, to right the ship, but let's be honest with ourselves, it is getting pretty late in the season here. I heard the other day that if the Red Sox play jus .500 baseball for the rest of the year the Bronx Bombers would have to play .650 ball for the rest of the year just to tie the Red Sox in the division. Now if that isn't being up against it, I don't know what is. Don't get me wrong, I am going to be the last person to pronounce the Yankees as dead, I'm too paranoid for that. I still think they can turn around and win the wild card, but I have to be honest at this point it just doesn't look that good for them. At the same time, you can never count out a team that has the willingness and resources to acquire just about any player at the trade deadline, so we'll see what happens.
Runners Up:
St. Louis- The defending World Series champs do not have to worry about repeating. They are simply awful. Theres nothing else to be said here.
Chicago White Sox- The White Sox have been so bad there's public talk from the GM about a fire sale. That's a good sign things aren't going well.
Biggest Surprise (both leagues)
OK, so I might sound like an idiot here, but I'm going with the Milwaukee Brewers. I knew the Brew Crew was young and talented, I do after all follow Minor League baseball more than I would like to admit. However, it's the Brewers. They have been young and talented for a while now, and I think I just kind of expected them to still be, well . . . you know . . . the Brewers. I have to say though, despite their up and down spurts they go through and their awful road record, I think they have enough to hold on in the weak N.L. Central. That being said, due to their youth and inability to win on the road I don't expect much from them in the postseason but just getting there is a big step for Milwaukee.
Most Outstanding Player
I have created a seperate category of awards specifically for Alex Rodriguez because what he is doing is just absurd. However I can't give the MVP to a guy who plays for the biggest disappointment in the league. So I present to you, the Most Outstanding Player award, all sorts of college feeling isn't it? You ever notice how the Final Four and the College World Series and pretty much every bowl game has a MOP instead of MVP? Anyone know why this is? Seriously someone get back to me on this.
Most Valuable Player (AL)
I am going to take the easy way out on this one and give it to Magglio Orodonez of the Detroit Tigers. I figured I would go with the best player on one of the top couple of teams in the league which seems to be a popular formula. When looking at the American League I just didn't have anyone pop out at me. Boston is very well balanced so no one player sticks out in their lineup and no one on the Angels really impresses me that much either. So I begrudingly hand the award to Ordonez. If David Ortiz would have hit about 5 more homers in the first half it'd be his prize for the taking no question. Yes I am biased, and no I don't care.
Most Valuable Player (NL)
Prince Fielder, Milwaukee Brewers. Next question please.
Cy Young (AL)
I want to go Josh Beckett here, I really really do, but I just can't. Dan Haren of the Atheltics has just been too good. He has double digit wins a 2.30 ERA. I can't argue with that. Besides Haren's WHIP is exactly 1.00, which if you don't know, is really really good. The award could also go to Johan Santana, I mean, this award can pretty much ALWAYS go to Santana, but Haren takes it home here.
Cy Young (NL)
Well here it came down to a couple of Padres. It was Chris Young and Jake Peavy. Young's ERA is slightly lower, and they both carry a whip of 1.06. Young's on-base percentage against him is slightly lower than Peavy's, but Peavy has the advantage is slugging percentage against. Basically this decision came down the fact that Peavy has a big advantage is strikeouts and well I just like him more. Also he wasn't involved in a wind breaking, no contact, fist fight with Derek Lee. The thing is, if I am a Major League hitter (you may be surprised to learn I am not) I'm simply more scared of Jake Peavy than I am of Chris Young. That being said, Peavy is the first half Cy Young winner here.
That's all we've got folks. I hope this will tide you over until my upcoming running diary of the All-Star game on Tuesday night.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Every Dog Has His Day
66 hot dogs. 66 hot dogs. 66 FREAKING hot dogs. In 12 minutes. That's 5 and a half dogs, every minute. Approximately a hot dog downed every 11 seconds. That's a lot of hot dogs. Also it requires some sort of unnatural ability to eat that many hot dogs in 12 minutes. Give me 12 days, and I could maybe do it, but after eating 5 hot dogs a day for almost two weeks I probably wouldn't want to see another one for a good year or so. And that's coming from a guy who loves hot dogs. I used to eat hot dogs in the dugout during baseball games. I would tell my coach I needed something because of my diabetes, but really I just wanted a hot dog from the ball park, delicious stuff. But back to the point, Joey Chestnutate consumed 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes to defeat 6-time defending champ Takeru Kobayashi who downed only a meager 63 hot dogs, to bring the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Championship and the coveted Yellow Mustard Belt, back to the U.S.A.; a very fitting American triumph on the 4th of July. Doesn't it just fill you with a sense of patriotism? . . . And nausea?
I am not about to defend competitive eating as a sport, I'm still trying to decided whether or not the Bible speaks out against it, but there is no doubt in my mind that it takes a special kind of human being to be involved in this sort of thing. And feel free to take the word special to mean whatever you'd like in this context. I am just saying this isn't one of those things where if you practiced for long enough and committed yourself enough to it that you could make it one ESPN one day, the way trick shot pool or darts or poker might be. Normal people cannot under any circumstances eat that much food. I believe I saw a graphic that said between the hot dogs and the buns the winner would be consuming somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000 calories. So basically that'd be the equivalent of eating everything you would normally eat over a 10 day period, in the matter of 12 minutes. This would not end well for you. It also probably wouldn't go well for your carpet or whatever type of flooring was in the room where you tried this.
The absolutely crazy thing about competitive eating is the best eaters in the world, aren't even fat. Kobayashi weighed in at 154 pounds this year after tipping the scales at a ripped 170 last year. And I'm not even kidding about that, Kobayashi is jacked. This year's winner, Joey Chestnut weighs 230 pounds but he's 6'1'' and a construction worker, and he's built like a construction worker. Pretty built guy, not what anyone would consider fat. One of the top 5 or 10 eaters in the world is literally a 100 pound girl. The old school of the big fat champions in eating is apparently over. Which makes it a sad for for my favorite competitive eater Eric "Badlands" Booker whose day job is being a rapper from New York, and whose weight probably rivals the combined weights of the 3 previously mentioned eaters. Badlands is a big dude, but it appears his time to shine in the world of competitive eating is coming to and end. Luckily he's got the rap career and his stable of young rappers to fall back on. Hopefully that stable includes about a 1000 rappers because if Booker is falling back on them, they're probably in danger of becoming pavement pizza. I'm sorry, I had to.
So I guess what I'm really getting at is if your stomach can handle it (it takes almost as much intestinal fortitude to watch the competition as it does to participate in it) you should definitely take in a competitive eating event sometime. While it may not be a sport, and while it may be an unholy exhibition, it really is fascinating stuff that deserves to be checked out sometime.
That's all folks.
I am not about to defend competitive eating as a sport, I'm still trying to decided whether or not the Bible speaks out against it, but there is no doubt in my mind that it takes a special kind of human being to be involved in this sort of thing. And feel free to take the word special to mean whatever you'd like in this context. I am just saying this isn't one of those things where if you practiced for long enough and committed yourself enough to it that you could make it one ESPN one day, the way trick shot pool or darts or poker might be. Normal people cannot under any circumstances eat that much food. I believe I saw a graphic that said between the hot dogs and the buns the winner would be consuming somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000 calories. So basically that'd be the equivalent of eating everything you would normally eat over a 10 day period, in the matter of 12 minutes. This would not end well for you. It also probably wouldn't go well for your carpet or whatever type of flooring was in the room where you tried this.
The absolutely crazy thing about competitive eating is the best eaters in the world, aren't even fat. Kobayashi weighed in at 154 pounds this year after tipping the scales at a ripped 170 last year. And I'm not even kidding about that, Kobayashi is jacked. This year's winner, Joey Chestnut weighs 230 pounds but he's 6'1'' and a construction worker, and he's built like a construction worker. Pretty built guy, not what anyone would consider fat. One of the top 5 or 10 eaters in the world is literally a 100 pound girl. The old school of the big fat champions in eating is apparently over. Which makes it a sad for for my favorite competitive eater Eric "Badlands" Booker whose day job is being a rapper from New York, and whose weight probably rivals the combined weights of the 3 previously mentioned eaters. Badlands is a big dude, but it appears his time to shine in the world of competitive eating is coming to and end. Luckily he's got the rap career and his stable of young rappers to fall back on. Hopefully that stable includes about a 1000 rappers because if Booker is falling back on them, they're probably in danger of becoming pavement pizza. I'm sorry, I had to.
So I guess what I'm really getting at is if your stomach can handle it (it takes almost as much intestinal fortitude to watch the competition as it does to participate in it) you should definitely take in a competitive eating event sometime. While it may not be a sport, and while it may be an unholy exhibition, it really is fascinating stuff that deserves to be checked out sometime.
That's all folks.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Hey Now, You're an All-Star
Well I know everyone has been waiting in eager anticipation for the results of my softball game this weekend, so here it is. My team took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning, only to surrender 6 runs in the next couple of innings. We battled back to cut the deficit to 6-4 before the wheels fell off and we lost by the score of 9-4. Yours truly went 2-3 and hit the ball about as well as I've ever hit a softball, so that was nice. Also while playing secondbase I made a handful of plays without an error. Now that that important bit of business is out of the way, we'll get on to the minor little event of the Major League Baseball All-Star game. Also, mark it down, I will be writing my first ever running-diary of a sporting event during this years All-Star game, and it will be posted shortly after the completion of th game, so be sure to check back for that.
The Mid-Summer Classic
I find that baseball's All-Star game is without a doubt the best all-star exhibition in sports. Not just the game itself, but also the entire weekend of festivities. Baseball is the one sport out of the big three in America, where players don't actively dodge participating in the game and in the entire weekend of events. When a player gets an invite to participate in the Home Run Derby, they usually accept it with arms wide open. When you watch the Home Run Derby, you are almost always seeing more or less one of the best collections of sluggers the game has to offer. This is a far cry from the NBA's Dunk Contest where the league can barely get rookies who never see the court to participate. With the exceptions of a few players like Manny Ramirez, whose actions can be explained only by someone with divine inspiration, it appears as though anyone who is selected to particpate is not only honored but actually thrilled to be involved. I have a theory about why this is the case. Baseball more than any other sport is very connected with its history. Legends and records of the past are still very much alive in today's game, mostly because its more or less the exact same game that's been played since the beginning. There was no invention of the shot clock or the 3-point line or the widening of the lane which dramatically changed the game the way it did with basketball. There was no introduction of the forward pass to revolutionize the way teams played offense. Baseball, even with its minor changes, and its cyclical pattern of big offense followed by pitching dominance, is more or less the exact same game through its history. There's very little speculation in baseball about things such as whether Pete Maravich would have scored 100 with a 3-point line, or what Shaq would do if he played with the same size lane that Wilt Chamberlain did. From Honus Wagner to Cy Young, to Babe Ruth, to Ted Williams, to Willie Mays, to Nolan Ryan, to Barry Bonds, the game itself is the same. The modern players look at those names, many of whom played in All-Star games, and jump at most likely the only chance they will ever have to be directly linked to the all-time legends of the game.
With all of that being said, there are a couple changes that baseball needs to make to its all-star game. First of all, this whole, every team needs a representative on the team is an absolute joke. Some years, some team just don't have anyone worthy of being an all-star. This is literally the only thing that can even somewhat taint the incredible honor it is to be selected. Because of this rule we have to forever remember that Ron Comer was part of baseball's immortal mid-summer classic. You ask who Ron Comer is? That's my point. He represented the Twins one year when contraction seemed to be a realistic option. With all due respect to Ron Comer, he should never be able to be mentioned in the same blog as the names mentioned earlier. For the integrity of the game itself (both the All-Star game and the game of baseball) this rule needs to be the boot and someone just needs to say, sorry Ron, you won't be heading to the All-Star game this year.
The second thing that needs to be changed is the whole "This time it counts" crap. As I have already mentioned the all-star game is already respected and means something to its players and to the fans, there is simply no need to up the stakes the way baseball is attempting to do. I understand that this whole thing was part of the backlash from the game ending in a tie in extra innings several years ago, but here's an idea, instead of awarding home-field advantage to a team who only had at most a few players even in the All-Star game to make sure it doesn't end in a tie again, just tell the managers, hey we're going to play until someone wins, so save a few of your players. That sounds pretty simple huh. This way the home field advantage in the World Series can be decided on more than just an exhibition game. Think it over Bud Selig, get back to me, we'll have a brain storming session.
That's all folks, hope you enjoyed.
The Mid-Summer Classic
I find that baseball's All-Star game is without a doubt the best all-star exhibition in sports. Not just the game itself, but also the entire weekend of festivities. Baseball is the one sport out of the big three in America, where players don't actively dodge participating in the game and in the entire weekend of events. When a player gets an invite to participate in the Home Run Derby, they usually accept it with arms wide open. When you watch the Home Run Derby, you are almost always seeing more or less one of the best collections of sluggers the game has to offer. This is a far cry from the NBA's Dunk Contest where the league can barely get rookies who never see the court to participate. With the exceptions of a few players like Manny Ramirez, whose actions can be explained only by someone with divine inspiration, it appears as though anyone who is selected to particpate is not only honored but actually thrilled to be involved. I have a theory about why this is the case. Baseball more than any other sport is very connected with its history. Legends and records of the past are still very much alive in today's game, mostly because its more or less the exact same game that's been played since the beginning. There was no invention of the shot clock or the 3-point line or the widening of the lane which dramatically changed the game the way it did with basketball. There was no introduction of the forward pass to revolutionize the way teams played offense. Baseball, even with its minor changes, and its cyclical pattern of big offense followed by pitching dominance, is more or less the exact same game through its history. There's very little speculation in baseball about things such as whether Pete Maravich would have scored 100 with a 3-point line, or what Shaq would do if he played with the same size lane that Wilt Chamberlain did. From Honus Wagner to Cy Young, to Babe Ruth, to Ted Williams, to Willie Mays, to Nolan Ryan, to Barry Bonds, the game itself is the same. The modern players look at those names, many of whom played in All-Star games, and jump at most likely the only chance they will ever have to be directly linked to the all-time legends of the game.
With all of that being said, there are a couple changes that baseball needs to make to its all-star game. First of all, this whole, every team needs a representative on the team is an absolute joke. Some years, some team just don't have anyone worthy of being an all-star. This is literally the only thing that can even somewhat taint the incredible honor it is to be selected. Because of this rule we have to forever remember that Ron Comer was part of baseball's immortal mid-summer classic. You ask who Ron Comer is? That's my point. He represented the Twins one year when contraction seemed to be a realistic option. With all due respect to Ron Comer, he should never be able to be mentioned in the same blog as the names mentioned earlier. For the integrity of the game itself (both the All-Star game and the game of baseball) this rule needs to be the boot and someone just needs to say, sorry Ron, you won't be heading to the All-Star game this year.
The second thing that needs to be changed is the whole "This time it counts" crap. As I have already mentioned the all-star game is already respected and means something to its players and to the fans, there is simply no need to up the stakes the way baseball is attempting to do. I understand that this whole thing was part of the backlash from the game ending in a tie in extra innings several years ago, but here's an idea, instead of awarding home-field advantage to a team who only had at most a few players even in the All-Star game to make sure it doesn't end in a tie again, just tell the managers, hey we're going to play until someone wins, so save a few of your players. That sounds pretty simple huh. This way the home field advantage in the World Series can be decided on more than just an exhibition game. Think it over Bud Selig, get back to me, we'll have a brain storming session.
That's all folks, hope you enjoyed.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Saturday's Post
Saturday's Post was a continuation of a post I started a few days ago. Blogger trying to be ever so helpful apparently posts things in order from when they are started, so to read today's post of Big O Sports Blog, click on "Moving Day" on the right hand side of your browser. Sorry for the inconvienence. Enjoy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)