Manny Rocks Out

Normally I would hate something like this, but for whatever reason with Manny, I think it's kind of funny.

Speaking of the Sox (or their players), this article - about the other Sox - resonated with me earlier this week. It makes me a little more worried about the White Sox playoff chances (the lack of hitting plus how they've - relatively - struggled against the best AL teams this year). But the playoffs are a crapshoot anyway, so anything could happen. If Buerhle, Garland, and Garcia pitch like they have all year, we could be watching the Sox for some time to come.

I had a lot more stuff to share -- really, I did -- but it's all escaping me now.

A New Favorite Quote

One of my favorite regular features at Baseball Prospectus is their "This Week in Quotes" retrospective (sorry - no link, as their site is down; I'll update it later). At the very least, it's always good for a chuckle. Once in awhile, there's an all-time classic shared, as is the case this week:

As much as I like Mike Cameron, this is possibly my all-time favorite quote: "The sun has been there for 500, 600 years . . ." --Mets outfielder Mike Cameron, after teammate Carlos Beltran lost a ball in the sun against the Dodgers (New York Daily News)

Now, I'm a big Mike Cameron fan. I wish he was still a White Sox. But that line is funny. I mean, c'mon: what does Mike think provided light back in the Middle Ages? Assuming that Mike is a Christian, does he think that Jesus walked around in the dark?

Sunday Open Thread: Marlins at Giants (7/24)

FishStripes is still down. I have no ETA on the site coming back up. I think we're dependent on Sammy Sosa (our tech guy) un-wrenching his back. I'm expecting to get an email (or two) before the site is actually back up (as we SBNation folks whine about the sites being down more than anyone), but it may go up before I realize it.

Make your Ichthyomancy picks in the comments and I'll get all the points totalled up once the site is back. This will serve as today's open thread until the site is back up, but I'm not putting the logos, starters, etc here (as I'm too lazy).

Here are some random thoughts and things I picked up from last night's comments:

1. Craig made a suggestion to give points to waive the three player max for player points in light of the site being down (in case folks can't find their way over here to make picks today). That sounds good to me, and I'm not sure who had who last night, so pick away today. If you got points last night and earn them again today, bully for you (or whatever they say).
2. Once the site is back up I'll post something to alert everyone to come here next time if FishStripes goes down again.
3. I called Wiggins a jerk, not FishFan. I'll let Summer Wheatley handle the labels and name calling for FishFan.
4. Do we need to plan another event? I am going to be back up North in early August. I'm hoping to catch some O's - Rays mid-week action at Camden on 8/9 and 8/10. Carolina and I are going to the White Sox - Yankees game at Yankee Stadium on 8/8 (but she won't be at the O's games with me). Other fun details about the trip to come, but if anyone's up for getting together while I'm up that way running around, let me know (I'm also hoping to take a tour of CBP in Philly on the 11th).
   

I think that's it. I had my picks all pre-made over at the other site, but I can't remember them now. I'll go with Treanor (or whoever catches) and a crowd of 40,083 today.

Marlins - Giants Open Thread

FishStripes is down, apparently, so I'm hanging out here tonight.

And this site may be the new Rally Marlin. The Fish are doing well since we came here (and since FishStripes went down).

Comment away. I'm sure we'll get the other site fixed.

No, Really

After taking some much deserved flak for slacking over at the other site the past few days, we try to go back to posting our typical *quality* content over there today and have found that the server is acting up with us.

Don't worry - nothing's wrong with FishStripes. We're just having some server issues. Everything should be back to normal shortly - even if you can't get to the site right now. There's even new content today, including a series preview, clips from the papers, and me rambling about a "nothing" game.

Reading

I am regularly accused of reading two types of books exclusively:

1. Baseball books
2. Poker books

But that's unfair. I read books of all kinds. To help dispel this unfair myth, I'm going to list some of the books that I've read within the past six months that aren't baseball or poker (or even diet/exercise related). I won't even provide Amazon links that would get me a kickback in case you bought anything (but you can still click on the Amazon link on the side and I'll get a cut of whatever you buy). Anyway, here are some titles I've recently read:

• Blink, by Malcom Gladwell
• The Tipping Point, by Malcom Gladwell
• Bringing Down the House - technically it's a gambling book, but it's more of a story than that, so I'm listing it.
• The Disapparation of James, by Anne Ursu - you might otherwise know her as BatGirl, but this is totally different
• The Meaning of Sports, by Michael Mandelbaum - well, it's definitely a sports book, but not technically a baseball book. But I'm listing it anyway because of it's sociological elements.
• Eats, Shoots & Leaves, by Lynne Truss - those of you who pay too much attention to the site may remember that I read this book last year. But I just re-read it. If you read this site or FishStripes regularly, you know that I should read books like this one more frequently.
• Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
• Persuasion, by Jane Austen

Ouch. The list is a lot shorter than I thought it would be. I've recently read more than twice that many baseball related books. Maybe I really do need to branch out and vary my reading a little more frequently. We'll see.

Pac Man on Ice

Former West Virginia star Adam "Pac Man" Jones was arrested today - well, technically he "surrendered" to police. I normally don't like to pick on people, especially those who are (or at least were recently) collegiate/amateur athletes. But Pac Man (and his agent) ran a smear campaign prior to this spring's NFL draft against Miami's Antrel Rolle. Rolle had an unusual arrest last summer, which nothing came of. Pac Man chose to make a big deal out of it, which increased Pac Man's stock, as it caused Rolle's to tumble a little.

But the tables have now turned. What's that they say about payback, Pac Man? I suppose you'll hear the word while you're locked up.

Credit to the Canes

Greg Cote wrote a nice piece about Ray Bellamy which was featured in today's Herald. You may not remember Bellamy, but he was the first black college football player at a major football program in the South.

Bellamy received his historic scholarship in December of 1966. Since then the landscape of college football - in the South and throughout the country - has changed significantly.

While the University of Miami seldom receives credit for these types of things, today's article reminded me of three significant events in collegiate sports that Miami blazed the trail in: one is Bellamy's scholarship; second is that Miami was the first school to award an athletic scholarship to a woman; third is that Miami was the first to sign an apparel/marketing contract with a sporting goods company (Nike).

The third event may not be the most positive of things - at least in many people's eyes, but it's still significant and has changed the face and the shape of college athletics over the past few decades. Awarding the first football scholarship to a black player in the South and the first athletic scholarship to a woman are signifcant though, no matter how you look at it. Just thought I'd point it out that each of those things happened in the same place. Go Canes!