Stupid People

I am only posting this for the hilarious shout out to Cubs fans which comes about halfway through the video.

Minor league baseball is the bomb

Among other exciting activities TinRoof and I enjoyed this weekend, we attended a minor league baseball game Saturday night. The Richmond Braves played the Toledo Mud Hens. A meeting of two first place teams in the International League (AAA). It was a great game to be sure - despite a few bonehead plays which one expects to see in the minors. Unfortunately, the home team was not the victor. The Mud Hens prevailed 4-1. A few notes about the game and minor league baseball in general:

• I appreciate that AAA players like to steal. They give the crowd plenty of excitement. But at the same time, it aggravated me to see people running just for the heck of it, just to see if they could make it. Stealing a base can pay off - if you're not stupid about it. The Mud Hens may have won the game - but they also had 4 of 5 would be base stealers get picked off! My favorite part was when a guy on second got caught in a pickle by the pitcher - who ran him down and tagged him. The idiot on the basepaths should have at least made the pitcher throw the ball! That at least provides the chance for an error. The best part is - on the very next play, the guy on first decides he's going to make a run for second and gets thrown out by the catcher. The Mud Hens went from 2 on, no outs to 2 down and nobody on.
• I like how many families come to minor league games. The number of cute kids in baseball getup was... innumerable. It was wonderfully distracting. And it makes me happy to live in America.
• Keeping score is easier with 2 people. You can take turns. You can get a second opinion on how to score a play. And you can get up to get a beer without losing track of the game.
• I'm glad we didn't go to the game on Sunday. The stadium was evacuated after the 5th inning due to a bomb threat! Can you believe that?

That's the game folks.

Hat O' Shame

The Cards are playing the Cubs this weekend. Should be good times as always. I just hope we can slaughter them :-) Maybe having them in StL will turn around our recent misfortunes playing at home. And yes... I do refer to the Cardinals as we or us. I am fully aware that I am not on the team. Deal with it.

P.S. You're going to have to click on it to be able to read it fully.

Baseball Picks 2007

Alright boyos, you asked for it - now ye shall receive it. In honor of the Cardinals' fourth straight win, I've decided to go ahead and post my picks for the season. I've sat by too long as Bourbon and McJew have touted their picks. Brownsox has made his opinions known even if he hasn't posted official picks. And Dubs seems to be too busy ranting about musicals and his own complicated (albeit hilarious) version of Christianity known as Catholicism to take time to stand up for the men who wear the birds on the bat. But no more. I am here to champion the cause of the defending World Series Champions - since the rest of the world will find any plausible excuse to write them off. My only disclaimer: I no longer play fantasy baseball as I've realized the time I spent doing so in the past was greater than or equal to the time spent on my own research. And research is the thing that will allow me escape this pitiable existence known as graduate school. That being said, I am much less aware of what is going on in other divisions than I used to be. So to some extent, all picks not regarding the NL Central are a crap shoot.

AL East

1. Red Sox
   
2. Blue Jays
3. Yankees
4. Orioles
5. Devil Rays

I have to make surprise predictions somewhere right? So I'm saying the Big Hurt has a big year and somehow the evil empire gets brought down. Basically I just wanted to hate on the Yankees so I picked them 3rd - even if it's not likely.

AL Central

1. Tigers
2. Indians
3. Twins
4. White Sox
5. Royals

I really wanted to put the Indians on top but I just couldn't do it. Maybe next year.

AL West

1. Angels
2. Athletics
3. Mariners
   
4. Rangers

Most of you know I love hating on the Cubs above all other teams. Want proof? I put the Rangers last solely because they've got Sammy playing for them now. Wait - are we supposed to predict what will happen? or what we want to happen? Ah, screw it.

NL East

1. Mets
2. Phillies
3. Braves
4. Marlins
5. Nationals

You have to hand it to them, the Mets are a pretty solid team. Witness the beating the Cards took to open the season. (I think they'd still trade that series for a trip to last year's Fall Classic though...suck it Beltran!) And I know the Phillies have started off rough, but I think they'll turn it around.

NL Central

1. Cardinals
2. Brewers
3. Reds
4. Cubs
   
5. Astros
   
6. Pirates

Ok, so I agree with everyone that this division will be close once again this year. Neglecting the Pirates (a fair assumption) I'm betting around 8 games between 1-5. It's gonna be a wild one. But come on - the Brew Crew, while lovable, is not ready to take down the Cards. And I reject the theory that the division will be close because every team is mediocre. Sure these teams have holes, every team in baseball does. It drives me nuts that the NL Central gets so little respect. Never mind the fact that the 2 central divisions have supplied 5 of the last 6 WS teams. I think it boils down to three simple, perhaps controversial words: East Coast Bias. That's right, I said it. I'm a firm believer. The freakin media loves to play to the coasts. But if something exciting is going on in the Midwest they're like, let the AM radio stations cover it. I'm going to stop myself now in the interest of time.

NL West

1. Padres
2. Dodgers
3. Rockies
4. Giants
5. Diamondbacks

Does anyone else wish Barry would just hit 20 home runs over the next 6 games so that the record - hallowed though it be - is *broken* already and we can proceed to ignore Bonds for the rest of our lives?

Light-Urple Rain

Admittedly I don't have much time for a long post right now. I have some homework due tomorrow that I have yet to begin...etc. etc. However, I feel I would be remiss if I didn't offer at least one comment on last night's "Super" Bowl. Now I could talk to you about the commercialization of the game and how much of a disgusting spectacle it has become. Or I could talk about how the game itself was fairly dull and the commercials were lacking. (After all, when a performance Prince is the highlight of the event, you know it's been a slow day.) And believe me I was happy to see the Colts win. TinRoof was happy. Tony Dungy was happy. And Peyton can finally tell Tom Brady to suck it. Or I could talk about how much fun it was to watch the game in HD (have I ever told ya'll that my TV is awesome?). But at the end of the day, this year's Super Bowl just served as further proof that baseball is better than football.

Let me be more specific. Colts players followed tradition by dousing a cooler of Gatorade on Tony Dungy to celebrate the win. Well perhaps I was the only one who noticed but... the freaking game wasn't over yet!! This kind of thing would never happen in baseball. In baseball, the game is not over until the last out has been called. It helps build what we like to call "tension". Even multiple-run leads that seem insurmountable can be... mounted. All you need is one out and a rally-cap. I've seen the Cardinals come back from as many as 8 runs in the bottom of the ninth before. And while I'm not saying football is never exciting and down to the wire (see the Colts' win over the Pats) it isn't even built to be so consistently.

Yikes. I gotta go.

Are you not entertained?

First off, I'd like to say I'm disappointed at the lack of audience participation this week. I was really excited to hear what some of you would say if you were the first person on Mars (cough cough Dubs cough Sandals). But I guess ya'll weren't interested. Well perhaps you'd rather I blog about politics....

Uh... the state of the union happened this week. It .. uh... was boring and I left after the first half and went to South Street for a beer instead.

Or maybe I could blog about the news...

A U.N. panel on climate change is set to give its strongest warning yet that human use of fossil fuels is stoking global warming. Of course this is nothing new to me, but I know I'll probably get posts from a relative or two telling me that the consensus of the 2,500 scientists who drafted this report is grossly exaggerated by the liberal media and that no credible link has yet been made between human actions and global climate change. Then if I really wanted to make them mad at me, I'd drop links like these on them: One Two (three?)

Or I could blog about sports...

...that is... once spring training begins. God how I miss baseball.

Maybe I'll just stick to what I'm best at - blogging about nonsense...

I hate umbrellas and here are some reasons why:

1. It's another thing you have to carry around with you... just in case.
2. They don't even do that great of a job usually. Your upper third perhaps stays a little drier but the rest of you still gets wet. The only way to get proper coverage is with an enormous umbrella which leads to...
3. They are unwieldy in windy situations. You have to hang on so tight it's not even worth the struggle. I let go of an umbrella in a storm a few years ago and haven't used one since. I just gave up on them.
   
4. It's just freaking water! We bathe in the stuff. We drink it. We're 80% made up of it. Why are we suddenly so scared of it?
5. Wear a freaking rain coat. Most people already are wearing one in a rainy situation - so what's the purpose of an umbrella? Oh right, you forgot how to use the HOOD.

I have spoken.

Baseball is better than football

I love baseball. I mean...like... a lot. I'd probably marry it if I could.

The first couple weeks I was dating my girlfriend, I was nervous the whole time that she was going to dump me because it was the playoffs and I spent all my free time watching the games. The one night we did go out instead of watching the game, I was checking the score on my phone the whole night.

Anyway - all that said, I wanted to share Thomas Boswell's amazing article from the Washington Post about Why Baseball Is So Much Better Than Football. It's a long list of reasons and incredibly brilliant. Just so you know - I'm not against football at all. I enjoy it. But it doesn't touch baseball. Here are a few reasons why (lifted from the article)...

• The coin flip at the beginning of football games is idiotic. Home teams should always kick off and pick a goal to defend. In baseball, the visitor bats first (courtesy), while the host bats last (for drama). The football visitor should get the first chance to score, while the home team should have the dramatic advantage of receiving the second-half kickoff.
• Baseball has no penalties at all. A home run is a home run. You cheer. In football, on a score, you look for flags. If there's one, who's it on? When can we cheer? Football acts can all be repealed. Baseball acts stand forever.
• In baseball, fans catch foul balls. In football, they raise a net so you can't even catch an extra point.
• The best ever in each sport - Babe Ruth and Jim Brown — each represents egocentric excess. But Ruth never threw a woman out a window.
• Football is played best full of adrenaline and anger. Moderation seldom finds a place. Almost every act of baseball is a blending of effort and control; too much of either is fatal.