Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Never Underestimate the Potent Team That Sneaks Into the Playoffs

Before I go into my latest rant, I want to have a moment of silence -- or well I guess blank space -- in memory of Cory Lidle, who died last night in a plane crash in New York City at the young age of 34. Our thoughts are with the Lidle family and all of his friends and teammates.

















And now to begin my rant:

I have been reading a billion and a half previews for the NLCS. I've had time and there was down time between NLDS and NLCS. Every one is picking the Mets to destroy. Not just win, but destroy. Some even go as far as to say the Mets in four. Now I wouldn't have much of a problem with this if they said this because the Mets looked great in the NLDS and even though the Cards looked great as well, the Mets in their prime are better than the Cardinals in their prime. But this is not the reasoning. They argue that the Mets will win because the Cardinals sucked quite a few times this year and they just barely beat the Padres in the NLDS, and they only won because the Padres sucked it up hardcore in the NLDS. This is faulty logic as apparently outscoring the Padres 14-4 is just sliding by. Yes the Cardinals backed into the playoffs and I don't expect them to be favorites to win the NLDS, but once you enter the playoffs, you record goes back to 0-0. The regular season no longer matters. The Cardinals have a beaten up, but still potent offense as they proved against the Padres, the hottest team entering the playoffs. The Mets have this amazing bullpen that is expected to shut down the Cardinals, but the Padres bullpen was said to be better and they were beat by the Cardinals. The Cardinals have the slight adavntage over the beaten up Mets starting rotation while the Mets have the adavantage over the beaten up Cardinals lineup. But then again, it is pitching that wins championships. So all you betting people out there who are taking the Mets in four or five, I'll take you. My call: Cardinals in six.

Friday, July 07, 2006

You can have it cheap, fast or quality; pick two.

So the Major League Baseball All-Star game is coming upon us and I must say I like that the fan's opinion matters. I like that this game actually means something. I don't like that the All-Star game uses both. I do like that the All-Star voting race can be rather exciting to a fan, but fans are to bloody stupid and biased to select an All-Star team for a game that means anything, that could decide anything for the sport. So the All-Star game is a popularity contest and depends greatly on the team's market. Fine, for a completely meaningless game or simply for the honor of being selected by the fans. That's great. But not for a game that means anything.

This is what I think should be done:

Still have this selection by the fans, but not for in the middle of the year, but as an end of the year honor. Call it the Fan's Voice All-League team. You have first-team, second-team, and honorable mentions. This can be a huge honor and can really show a player's marketability and appreciation for what they do by the fans. Have a huge ceremony and have the voting start at the middle of the year (when you can actually see who is having a great year, and who was just simply good last year) and go until the last week of regular season play, when the best players really do step it up.

Three weeks before the All-Star break, have an MLB-wide day or two off where every manager from each league meets together to decide an All-Star team for their league. Each league meeting would be presided by last year's pennant winner. These coaches by this point have seen all the players and can sit down and figure out the best team to try and win the game against the other league so that their league can win home-field advantage in the World Series. Coaches can argue for their player and when needed, it comes down to a vote. But if the game is going to mean anything, the team needs to be selected with that in mind. And completely do away with having every team represented in the All-Star game. Sometimes none of the players from a certain team are going to be the best of that league. *Cough* Mark Redman *cough*.

Okay, that's my rant, what do you think?

Sunday, May 14, 2006

No it's not because you are a jerk, it's because of your race, that's it...

Warning: Minor Political Incorrectness below

If I hear one more athlete try and pull the race card as a reason why people don't like their asshole ways, I may shoot someone. Earlier this week I heard Barry Bonds say that the only reason people don't like him and don't want him to break the big home run record is because he is black and he is mad that the black community has not risen up to support him through this rough time of the steroid scandal.

Am I the only one who sees the most obvious flaw with this statement? Besides the fact that hating an athlete because he is black in this day and age is nearly like hating sports in general, even more obvious is the fact that Hank Aaron is black!!!!! Yes, we white people hate to see a black man's record be broken by another black man. One black man in the record books is enough, we can't afford another. Come on.

And while we are on the topic of Barry Bonds, I fully support a full investigation of the steroid use. And if he is found to be guilty, I think he should not simply have an asterrisk next to his name, but be taken out of the record books. We all agree steroids is cheating and like figuring out earned runs and you can't assume the double play, you can't assume that he would have hit as many home runs without being juiced. But I warn you, Baseball, you do this, and you must investigte Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa as well. I loved seeing these two players do their thing and htey were more of the kind of guys you could admire, but cheating is cheating and you can't stop with the asshole that no one likes. And as much as I liked these guys, I would expect the same consequences. And it would pain me to see it happen to Mark McGwire, but he would not deserve the single season record either if he were on steroids when he did it. Baseball really needs to gut out the system and get rid of grime so people can take the game seriously again.

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Since when was diversity an issue in baseball?

So baseball is not diverse enough, apparently. Oh bloody hell. Looking at all pro sports, baseball is the most diverse. And apparently baseball doesn't have enough black pitchers. I'm sorry, but I'm tired of hearing about certain workplaces/schools not being diverse enough. Whatever happened to simply choosing the best person for the job? Especially in baseball, or any other pro sport, I really don't think that race has anything to do with it. You simply have to be the best. Period. You can be black, white, asian, latino, anything, and if you are the best, you get the job.

This may simply be a rumor, but I still don't care for Jeffery Loria, and I have no idea why he was allowed to own another baseball team. The article pretty much says it all, so I'm not going to add to it.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Cubs are Mathematically Eliminated from the Playoffs

Cubs are mathematically elimnated from teh playoffs.

Braun on Braun

Pujols is the man.

So a guy has hit two solid base hits and a towering Bonds-esque three-run shot over the right field fence, there are two outs and the bases are empty, what do you do? Well, I guess there are several things you could do, but what you don't do is pitch to the guy. Give him first base. The guy after him hasn't done jack, this guy is obviously seeing the ball well. This isn't rocket science.

Well, when you pitch to him, you give up a home run after the umpire has already rung him up on two strikes and then you lose the game by one bloody run.

That's all I have for now.

Oh yeah, Duke sucks.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

This is a blog, a multiple user blog to simply talk about sports. If you are interested in becoming a user, contact me. It can be arranged. Even if you are a Cubs fan. :-P