Check out my Ravens Coverage
Check out my coverage of the Ravens' picks in the 2007 NFL Draft and raise a glass to the only winning team in Baltimore.
Is it football season yet?
4.30.2007
Check out my coverage of the Ravens' picks in the 2007 NFL Draft and raise a glass to the only winning team in Baltimore.
Is it football season yet?
Orioles Update
Today's Honoree for Oriole I Want to Punch:
Jay Gibbons takes the award today for his amazing ability to pretend to be a major league baseball player and get millions of dollars to do absolutely nothing. I am so proud of him for riding the interstate at .194, for refusing to cut his wretched mane of hair and for being a glaring weak spot in an already abominable defense.
Thank you for proving that the designated hitter need not know how to hit and for showing how much damage one player can do to an entire team.
Honorable mentions were: EVERYONE ELSE ON THE ORIOLES.
Not even our ace pitches well, our 42 million dollar bullpen keeps choking, and we have one player hitting over .300.
Though the Yankees are tanking even worse, at least they all step up and take the blame.
4.27.2007
The Curt Schilling Sock Update
Via Curt Schilling's Website, in reference to Gary Thorne's accusation that he painted it to look bloody during the 2004 ALCS:
I’ll wager 1 million dollars to the charity of anyones choice, versus the same amount to ALS. If the blood on the sock is fake, I’ll donate a million dollars to that persons charity, if not they donate that amount to ALS.
Muhahahahahahaha.
I also love this gem from Schill's diatribe:
If you haven’t figured it out by now, working in the media is a pretty nice gig. Barring outright plagiarism or committing a crime, you don’t have to be accountable if you don’t want to. You can say what you want when you want and you don’t really have to answer to anyone.
Um, hello? Don Imus?
And you have to love the first of over 200 comments to the post:
Come on, Curt. Just admit to painting the sock. None of your present or past teammates like you, so the truth is going to come out eventually anyway.
CONCLUSION:
This is stupid. It was a joke. No one cares about your ankle.
Jews Draft Koufax. Everyone Laughs.
Honestly, what is it with these Jewish athlete stories?
In a startling example of wasting a draft pick, the Mo'din Miracle, one of the six teams created for Israel's Inagural Baseball Season, selected Sandy Koufax for their final pick.
Says MSNBC:
In the 1965 World Series, Koufax wouldn’t pitch Game 1 for Los Angeles because he wanted to observe the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. In his career with the Dodgers, he threw four no-hitters, including one perfect game.
The first pick in the draft was infielder Aaron Levin, 21, from San Luis Obispo, Calif., who played for Cuesta Community College, and who was also selected by Modi’in.
The league begins play June 24 with the six teams playing a 45-game schedule. Players from nine nations were drafted, and about a dozen of the 120 players in the league are expected to be Israeli citizens.
This is clearly just a publicity stunt, as the most I'd heard about the baseball league was about the guy from my hometown outside Baltimore who made it to the draft, but wow. I thought honorary degrees were BS, but honorary draft picks. And anyway, I thought Shawn Green was the new official Jewish athlete.
Cricket World Cup Championship for Dummies
If you’re not a cricket fan, the most you’ve probably heard about the Cricket World Cup (CWC) is that Pakistan’s coach, Bob Woolmer, was mysteriously found dead after his team lost to Ireland. For those of you just tuning it, 16 teams have been playing in the West Indies since March 13, and tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM, Australia (the defending champions) will go against Sri Lanka in the championships.
If you know nothing about the game, but you like the idea of drinking beer and watching sports early on a Saturday morning, here are some important things to know about Cricket (more extensive information is available via the BBC:
1. The cricket world cup is ‘One Day Cricket’ (as opposed to ‘Test Cricket’ in
which one match can last up to five days). In one day cricket each team has
the opportunity to hit 300 balls (50 overs; one over = 6 balls = one at bat)
2. On the field are two sets of wickets. A wicket is a set of wooden stumps with
small pieces of wood, called bails, resting on top. There are always two
batsmen, one at each wicket.
3. The person who throws the ball is the bowler, not the pitcher (knowing this
is like knowing how to pronounce Houston St.). The batsman tries to hit the ball
and switch places with his teammate at the other wicket.
4. You get one run if you and your teammate reach each other’s wicket before the
ball hits either the wicket or the player, you can also score if the ball
crosses the boundary in mid-air (6 runs) or after a bounce (4 runs)
5. There are four ways to get out in cricket.
a.The bowler hits the wicket with the ball.
b.The batsman kicks the ball with his legs (when it would have likely hit
the wicket)
c.A fielder catches the ball before it hits the ground
d.The ball is fielded, thrown and hits the other wicket before the batsman
reaches them
6.According to the BBC, a good score in one day cricket is between 250 and 300
runs. There are two numbers in a cricket score. The first represents the number
of runs a team has scored and second represents the number of outs. If there is
no second number (all out) it means that all ten batsmen have gotten out or all
the overs have been thrown.
Interesting story lines:
Russell Arnold, a left-handed batsman for Sri Lanka will retire after the CWC final as will Glenn McGrath, a right-handed bowler for Australia.
Read this article from the International Herald Tribune about the history between the two teams, or this one from Bloomberg about who is favored to win.
If you want to see the match you can check out this report from WNYC from earlier this week to find out about the West Indian establishments where you can watch it.
There are also a few Australian pubs in New York where you can catch the match.
8 Mile Creek
240 Mulberry St.
(between Spring and Prince)
The Sunburnt Cow
137 Avenue C
(at 14th Street)
and
Sheep Station
149 4th Ave. in Brooklyn
(at Douglass St.)
If you really fall head over heels for the game and want to play, you can contact the United States of America Cricket Association. Their mission is, “to promote the game of Cricket at all levels in the United States of America, develop national teams that will be competitive and successful in international competitions and to become the symbol of excellence in sports throughout the world.”
New york region contact email is: ny@usaca.org
And, if you need supplies, you can order then from Big Blue Cricket, an online store based in Brooklyn.
Orioles Update
The bad news first. The Orioles have now lost four consecutive games and are 11-11. Back on the verge of dipping below .500, where they spent almost all of last season, it is extremely important that they win tonight's game against Cleveland.
Chris Ray gave up his second grand-slam home run of the season. After the first one I read about how Perlozzo was impressed at how quickly he rebounded and got his confidence back. Let's hope he does the same thing tonight.
Now to the optimistic news. Traschel is on the mound for the O's, he is 1-1 with a 4.37 ERA and looked really great last Sunday against the Jays. His curveball was fooling hitters left and right. Jake Westbrook is pitching for the Tribe. He is 0-2 with a 9.15 ERA. Ramon Hernandez is back and he doubled in his first at bat. Adam Loewen looked like a veteran on the mound. He also sounded like a veteran after the game saying, "There's really no panic." I agree. The O's seem to be hitting again, except for Corey Patterson, who is hitless in the last two, and (I can't believe I'm saying this) at least they're not as bad as the Yankees.
Here's hoping we see the O's as happy as they were in that picture. Actually, even happier, since Bruce Chen and Luis Matos are no longer collecting dust on our payroll.
Chris Ray gave up his second grand-slam home run of the season. After the first one I read about how Perlozzo was impressed at how quickly he rebounded and got his confidence back. Let's hope he does the same thing tonight.
Now to the optimistic news. Traschel is on the mound for the O's, he is 1-1 with a 4.37 ERA and looked really great last Sunday against the Jays. His curveball was fooling hitters left and right. Jake Westbrook is pitching for the Tribe. He is 0-2 with a 9.15 ERA. Ramon Hernandez is back and he doubled in his first at bat. Adam Loewen looked like a veteran on the mound. He also sounded like a veteran after the game saying, "There's really no panic." I agree. The O's seem to be hitting again, except for Corey Patterson, who is hitless in the last two, and (I can't believe I'm saying this) at least they're not as bad as the Yankees.
Here's hoping we see the O's as happy as they were in that picture. Actually, even happier, since Bruce Chen and Luis Matos are no longer collecting dust on our payroll.
4.26.2007
Shawn Green: Right Fielder, Super Jew
Last year Shawn Green announced that he was exicted to come to the Mets so he could play in front of Jewish fans. (read about it here)
Well, it seems that the Jews got his phone number and now he's got to put his money where his mouth is.
Green is participating in a fundraiser for the UJA Federation of New York (the biggest Jewish philanthropic organization in the city) whereby he will donate $180 for every run he bats in this season.
Those of you interested in the numbers game will note that last season Green batted .257 with 15 RBI. This season he is hitting .351 with 13 RBI in only twenty games.
I love that the UJA waited to see how he would hit before they started the promotion. Then again, their other option in New York is David Newhan, and I think he's a born-again Christian now.
Sporting a New Look
Past the NBA and NHL recaps in today's LA Times is a first person piece entitled "Old Mike, New Christine."
Mike Penner, Times Staff Writer, has announced to the world that he will be undergoing Sex Reassignment Surgery and come back as Christine.
The best part is when Penner writes:
Over the past couple of months there has been so much uproar in sports about discrimination and identity. Amaechi comes out, Hardaway is homophobic, Don Imus' comments, just to name a few.
I really admire Penner for writing this so publicly and I cannot imagine how difficult it will be to be an out transsexual sports writer. Hopefully having someone so mainstream be honest will give people a greater understanding about transsexualism and hopefully the often close-minded sports world will not make this a huge joke.
Mike Penner, Times Staff Writer, has announced to the world that he will be undergoing Sex Reassignment Surgery and come back as Christine.
The best part is when Penner writes:
I broke the news to Tim by beginning, "Are you familiar with the movie 'Transamerica'?" Tim nodded. "Well, welcome to my life," I said.
Tim seemed more perplexed than most as I nervously launched into my story.
Finally, he had to explain, "I thought you said 'Trainspotting.' I thought you were going to tell me you're a heroin addict."
Over the past couple of months there has been so much uproar in sports about discrimination and identity. Amaechi comes out, Hardaway is homophobic, Don Imus' comments, just to name a few.
I really admire Penner for writing this so publicly and I cannot imagine how difficult it will be to be an out transsexual sports writer. Hopefully having someone so mainstream be honest will give people a greater understanding about transsexualism and hopefully the often close-minded sports world will not make this a huge joke.
Schilling's Red Sock and Peyton's Politics
This first one is hilarious.
Gary Thorne, a play by play announcer for the Baltimore Orioles, claimed last night during the bradcast of the O's/Sox game that Doug Mirabelli (Red Sox catcher) told him that Curt Schilling's bloody sock was actually just painted to look bloody.
Schilling's sock became an object of obsession during game 6 of the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees. At the time, Schilling's ankle had been "patched together" with a "wall of stitches."
Mirabelli claims he never said it, Terry Francona is "stunned" at Thorne's claims.
What to do? Test the damn thing. In case you missed it, the sock is at Cooperstown in the baseball hall of fame.
Oh, and just in case anyone was still wondering, Peyton Manning is a Republican.
4.25.2007
Outnumbered At Home
Last season I attended one O's/Yankees game at Camden Yards. It was a nightmare. I was surrounded by Yankees Fans and I felt like a stranger in my own home.
Rick Maese explains the larger problems with the fact that the only games that sell out in Baltimore are when our division rivals are in town. Using two studies, one from 1992 and one from last year, he concludes that when the Orioles are bad, the stadium loses money and the city does too.
Here is the saddest portion of his column:
Maese was right to note last week that the O's are in a very important stretch right now. If they beat the Red Sox at home and play well against the Tigers, they will be on their way to proving that they're worth watching.
In other news, the Yankees have lost five in a row and are in last place in the AL East. Probably won't matter, but it feels good for right now.
Rick Maese explains the larger problems with the fact that the only games that sell out in Baltimore are when our division rivals are in town. Using two studies, one from 1992 and one from last year, he concludes that when the Orioles are bad, the stadium loses money and the city does too.
Here is the saddest portion of his column:
The Orioles have played 12 home dates this year, and despite some exciting and competitive games, the team has drawn fewer than 20,000 fans for six of those games. Yesterday's 4-2 loss drew an announced crowd of 14,452. It's become somewhat easy to ignore the backdrop of empty green seats, but when you scan over the hotels and businesses across the skyline, you start to think about what this attendance plummet really means. And that's when you realize how desperate that this city - as a community - is to have a winning team downtown.
Maese was right to note last week that the O's are in a very important stretch right now. If they beat the Red Sox at home and play well against the Tigers, they will be on their way to proving that they're worth watching.
In other news, the Yankees have lost five in a row and are in last place in the AL East. Probably won't matter, but it feels good for right now.