The Book of Mike

One Month Plus

2010-05-31T08:49:00.002-05:00

It's been over a month since I last posted to the blog, but it's not that I've abandoned writing. Actually, I've been spending a lot of time at 750Words.com, where I've been writing on a daily basis. Truth be told, I've written over 50,000 words there in May alone.

There will be more to come on this site in the future, I promise. Yes, I know that at this point that's just a promise to myself. Whatever.

Check out 750Words. It's a cool site and it's free.

Old Seats

2010-04-28T08:30:00.000-05:00

The other day I took my seats from Old Comiskey Park out of the house and onto the back porch. As part of their centennial celebration (which I alone am hosting), I thought it would be nice to sit in them under the bright blue sky like people used to do for decades when they were actually installed at Comiskey Park.

Now, I've sat in the seats plenty of times over the years. But in recent months, they've been fairly fixed in a particular location in our house. In moving them outside temporarily I noticed that the bases the seats are fixed to are in worse shape than the seats themselves. This struck me as odd -- or at least a little bit funny -- since the seats are affixed to bases that are less than 20 years old, while the seats themselves are at least a century old. Comiskey Park opened in April of 1910. And these seats may have been installed a few months before then.

(On the topic of "old" stadiums, can you guess which ballpark is the 3rd oldest in the big leagues? Most casual fans would quickly identify Fenway Park and the stadium on the North side of Chicago as the two oldest parks... but the third might not come to mind immediately. It's Dodger Stadium. Yes, the stadium that the Dodgers had to wait to see built post the move out West is currently the 3rd oldest park in the big leagues. My, how times have changed.)

Talking to Dogs

2010-04-27T08:30:00.000-05:00

Whenever I make it to the after life (even if I don't make it to heaven), I hope that I get a chance to talk to the dogs I've known well in my life. In particular, I'd like to talk to Yogi, the deaf dog that we currently "own".

Now, I'm assuming that in heaven dogs are able to talk... or communicate directly with people somehow. That's what I'm hoping for at least. If that's possible, talking to all the dogs I've known well would be interesting. But talking to Yogi would be particularly so. I wonder if he knows he's deaf (I don't think he does - I don't think he feels that he's missing out on anything). And I'd like to talk to him about what he's thinking all through his current life.

One day, maybe.

The Library

2010-04-20T08:30:00.001-05:00

If you know me personally, you probably know that I'm "into" technology. And if you don't know me personally but are reading this blog, you'd probably guess the same -- if only because this blog has been in existence since 2003.

Due to my borderline obsession with technology and reading, I'm a proud owner of Amazon's Kindle. I haven't traded up yet to the Kindle 2 (but I am eagerly waiting for a 3rd version to be released). Since I first started using the Kindle, I've hardly read a "dead tree" book (which is, of course, how readers of e-books refer to traditional, printed books). In fact, I hardly even enter a bookstore anymore. I simply love the Kindle and the portability of my library.

What''s been even more rare than a visit to the bookstore is a trip to the library. This past weekend was probably my first trip to the library since I received my Kindle. And how much I missed the experience immediately struck me. Physically touching books and searching through racks containing books similar to what I was looking for was gratifying. While I've read a lot and enjoyed myself in my time with the Kindle, I had already started to forget how much I enjoy trips to the bookstore and the library.

I don't have any answers or deep thoughts about it (at least not yet). But it's an interesting place we find ourselves in. What will happen in the future? Will students be familiar with physical books or will they "read" everything on Kindle, iPad, and computer-like devices? Or will these e-readers and similar technologies simply augment our reading opportunities (similar to how radio, television, and the Internet have supplemented newspapers, magazines, and oral story telling)?

Time will tell.

Weekend Baseball

2010-04-19T08:30:00.001-05:00

Despite taking a hearty break to watch the Miami - North Carolina college baseball game on Saturday night, I was able to watch a fair portion of Saturday afternoon, evening, and late night's game between the Cardinals and Mets. Fox probably didn't intend to sign up for a 20-inning marathon, but that's what they ended up with.

You could argue a lot about the game. Some called LaRussa's performance the "Mona Lisa" in his career of over managing. There were plenty of strategies to doubt and calls to dispute (like the should-have-been stolen base that wasn't, right before Albert Pujols' double off the wall in the 19th). Overall, it was a fun baseball game to watch.

As I watched it, I couldn't help but think of one of my all time favorite books, W.P. Kinsella's "The Iowa Baseball Confederacy". It's a book that I've read a handful of times over the years. If you like a good baseball story, you'll probably like it too. If you like a "real" life story, masquerading as a baseball story (a la "The Natural"), you'll almost certainly like "The Iowa Baseball Confederacy".

In "The Iowa Baseball Confederacy" there's a very long baseball game between a small town team and a big league club. The game goes on for day's and makes Saturday's Cardinals-Mets tilt look more like a sprint than a marathon. Plus the novel includes time travel and a love story. What could be better?

By the way, if the name W.P. Kinsella is familar to you in a baseball sense, it's probably because you're thinking of Ray Kinsella, the hero from "Field of Dreams". That movie was an adaptation of W.P. Kinsella's "Shoeless Joe".

Trying

2010-04-15T20:03:00.002-05:00

Despite that the technology is infinitely easier for me to access, I'm finding it harder to blog regularly than ever before. I really want to blog regularly. I have plenty of things I want to talk about. But I'm just not making the effort so far.

Oh well. Here's a half-hearted effort anyway.

A few of thoughts before I go:

I love Jackie Robinson Day. It's great to see Mr. Robinson's legacy celebrated. In some sense, it's a shame that it's an off day for some teams. But at least the Dodgers are playing tonight.

Speaking of the Dodgers, I caught my first Vin Scully broadcast on Wednesday night. While Vin may look a little older, he still sounds the same. His ability to broadcast a game as a one-man show never ceases to amaze me. He's simply the best.

And although it's still extremely early, I love that Vlad Guerrero is hitting .500 at home. Sure, the Rangers have had only one homestand so far this season. But I'm hoping that Vlad continues to hit like a mad man in Arlington. Over the past three seasons Vlad hit .358 in Arlington. Should he keep up at that pace (and stay with the Rangers), maybe Vlad will reach 3,000 hits.

Jason Heyward is my favorite rookie of the young season. I heard him interviewed during a spring training game and I found myself really impressed with the young man. Plus, he "looks" like a ballplayer. And on Jackie Robinson day, I got a kick out of watching him wear #42 while wearing a throwback jersey that's from a time well before he was born.

That concludes today's Larry King style entry. If you've read this far, I apologize for putting you through it.

Where's the Offense?

2010-04-12T08:30:00.000-05:00

One home stand and two intra-division series are in the books for the White Sox and the results are simply disappointing. At the conclusion of week 1 of the 2010 season the White Sox find themselves in last place in the AL Central. Sure, it's only 6 games out of 162, but taking only 1 of 3 games from both the Indians and Twins isn't a good way to start the 2010 campaign. What's most disappointing about it is how poor the offense performed.

Sure, there was the outburst on Opening Day which now looks like an anomaly. But since then there's just been a lot of ineptness. White Sox fans shouldn't be surprised. Disappointed, maybe. But not surprised.

Heading into Spring Training "everyone" knew that the White Sox biggest weakness was offense. The starting pitching and bullpen look to be solid (or better) and the defense is adequate. But the lineup is riddled with guys who are past their primes, lack power, and/or don't get on base very often. Now, it's not a lineup without redeeming qualities -- there are good players -- but there are plenty of holes.

Those holes have contributed to a team batting average that's under .200. Well under .200. Certainly that will improve, but it's frustrating to see the week one DH's include Juan Pierre and Mark Kostay.

Maybe the Sox will make a trade. Realistically, that's unlikely this early. And by the time a trade is a reasonable possibility, the Sox may be on their way to being sellers instead of buyers.

Instead of a trade, maybe the Sox can pursue a free agent. While there's a lot of history and ill will involved in such a move, maybe the Sox should consider Jermaine Dye. Even a duplication of his horrific second half performance last season would be an upgrade over what the Sox are getting now. Or maybe the Sox should go after Hank Blalock. Maybe it's time to bring back Minnie Minoso.

Make or Break Games

2010-04-08T18:38:00.003-05:00

Given that the regular season is 162 games long, it's hard to say that any single game determines a team's course for the season or decides a team's playoff chances. But when the end of the season rolls around, you can often look back and think "what if" about a game here or there.

The White Sox and Marlins had games like those in their second game in the season. The White Sox lost a game they should have won, blowing a three run lead in the cold, while the Marlins managed to win a back-and-forth game that was wild until the finish.

When I think back on the 2003 Marlins and 2005 White Sox, they have more than World Series championships in common. Both of those teams won games that they seemingly should have lost. The most memorable example of that, of course, was the Marlins improbable come from behind win over the Cubs in game 6 of the NLCS. But winning games that are only won by a "team of destiny" was a theme for those clubs.

So what does it all mean? Well, time will tell. But it seems like a good omen for the Marlins to have found a way to win a game that they could have lost any of a dozen ways. For the White Sox, it's not so rosy. The loss in game two reminds Sox fans that the offense is still suspect and that even a solid pitching staff will go through rough stretches.

Calvin and Hobbes Explain a Slice of Life

2010-04-07T08:30:00.001-05:00

Granted, this isn't an official Calvin and Hobbes cartoon, but I got a kick out of it:

Source

2010-04-06T08:30:00.002-05:00

In the opening day broadcast, someone on the Sox broadcast team made mention of the White Sox playing small ball this season. It was probably Ed Farmer. It's an interesting point.

Over the past few years -- the past decade really -- the White Sox have relied on a power game. Sure, much of baseball did, but the Sox were particularly reliant on the long ball. The Sox stadium was homer friendly and the lineup was full of boppers.

Now the power hitters are gone or are on the decline. With the addition of players like Juan Pierre, it doesn't seem like the Sox offense will be carried by homers any time soon. Sure there will be surges like in the opener, where the team hit a few homers. But over the long haul, Sox fans will have to get used to station-to-station baseball, stolen bases, and bunts.

Sure, it's not the most statistically sound strategy. But it can be a lot of fun to watch. The 2010 White Sox will likely rely on pitching, defense, and "headiness" on the base paths.

As a fan of the college game, I get the importance of those things. Having watched plenty of Hurricanes games over the years, I've seen plenty of games won via the bunt (well executed, mis-handled, or both) and via stolen bases that set up game winning hits. It would be kind of fun to see that type of baseball work at the Major League level. The Angels have been doing that -- to some extent -- for years. Maybe this is the year the White Sox do it too.

(Re) Opening Day

2010-04-05T18:35:00.002-05:00

We've been dormant here for awhile, but it's time to bring the blog back to life. And what better day to do it than Opening Day? Exactly. So here we go... just a short entry today, but there will be more.

We're going to aim for a daily entry, Monday through Friday. We'll see how that goes. The topics will be a little varied this time around. Sure, there will be baseball -- both White Sox and Marlins. The content won't be as narrowly focused as on FishStripes. We'll also talk about football (college and pro). But there will be a lot of non-sports stuff too. There will definitely be technology talk, maybe some astronomy, and a little music. We may even get into personal stuff. We'll see. Time will tell.

But on to a few thoughts to kick off the baseball season:

The White Sox, among a few other teams, wore alternate jerseys for opening day. I hate that. Yes, we get the merchandising need for these things (even if they are more like softball jerseys than actual, traditional jerseys). Heck, I even own an alternate jersey (of the White Sox and Marlins variety). But save them for a day other than opening day. (And yes, get off my lawn! Old man rant over)
Sports Illustrated (in print at least) picked the Yankees to win the AL East and the Rays to win the AL Wild Card. No issues with that here. That's a reasonable pick. But the folks at the mag got cute and have predicted the Rays to represent the AL in the World Series. Really? Why's that? Apparently SI thinks the Yankees are better over the course of a 162 game season but that the Rays are better equipped for a short series.
Take a look at this list. What jumps out at you from the top 10? For us it was Johnny Damon (#8 with 2,425 hits). Granted, he's 36. But he's got a shot at 3,000 hits. Reaching the big leagues at 21 and sticking around helps. He probably needs 4 solid seasons to get to 3,000. It's a stretch, but possible. Does this mean Johnny Damon is a Hall of Famer? I wouldn't have ever thought it until I saw his hit total. But it's definitely possible. And with two World Series ring (1 Red Sox and 1 Yankees) , Damon will probably get a little extra consideration.

That's it for today. Not an epic entry, to be sure. But we're back.

Hopefully this will stick. The Book of Mike has been a lot of fun over the years.

Bringing the Blog Back, Again

2009-10-09T09:04:00.000-05:00

We couldn't go a week without updating the blog, so here's an entry. Like was said in a recent post, we know nothing. Given all of the travel this week, that's particularly true. I was surprised to learn yesterday that the Broncos are 4-0. I nearly missed all of last weekend's NFL slate.

The Canes host FAMU on Saturday. The Rattlers are Miami's first unranked opponent. Hopefully the Canes come out strong and win big.

The Cardinals host the Texans and Larry Fitzgerald is hoping for a pinkout (at the stadium some thought would be named the Pink Taco). Hopefully the Cards come out strong and take advantage of what should be a weak Texans secondary.

Other than that, we don't know much here. So that's all for this week's weak entry.

Random Friday Thoughts

2009-10-02T07:58:00.002-05:00

It's been a busy week and I have a bunch of thoughts. Since none of them are coherent or linked to each other, I'll make a bulleted list (which will be numbered, since I haven't fixed the bulleting issue yet):

The host of the 2016 Summer Olympics will be announced today. As you could surely guess, we here at The Book of Mike are hoping Chicago gets the games. Whether they do or not, Chicago has surely pulled out all of the big guns for their bid. A host of American Olympic champions are in Copenhagen to help demonstrate Chicago and the US's sincere interest in the bid. But more than that, Chicago / the US sent the most recognizable and influential African-American (and possibly the most well known American in the world currently) to help push for the bid. How will this work out? Will it be the final push that puts Chicago over the top? If it is, will Rio and Tokyo feel that the US simply outmuscled the rest of the world to get these games? If Chicago doesn't get the games, what will we make of the late push by our national icon? No, I'm not talking about President Obama. I'm talking about Oprah Winfrey. I hope we didn't overplay our Oprah card here.
The Hurricanes take on the Oklahoma Sooners this weekend. It's a home game for the Canes, which is good news. There should be a big crowd too (70-75k), which is great too. A night game at the Orange Bowl with a big crowd like this was usually good news for the Canes. Will it be Saturday night? No idea. The Canes get two defensive linemen back and one top wide receiver (all of whom missed the Virginia Tech debacle last week), but they'll be without a starting safety. Hopefully the Canes at least represent themselves well, even if they're not able to win the game.
The Cardinals have a bye week this week. Yes, it's unfortunately early. As seems to be the case for the Cardinals. It's probably a conspiracy by the powers that be from within the league to annually give the Cards a way-too-early bye week so that they can struggle through the middle and latter parts of the season. I'd look into it to confirm it, but I'm too lazy.
Despite the bye week and the crushing loss the Cards suffered heading into it, the Cardinals are talking big today. It's amazing, isn't it? The Cardinals are trash talking about a franchise weakness during their 1-2 start.
Reports came out this week that the University of Florida is prepared for a flesh-eating zombie attack. While this may sound like non-sense, or -- as the university is now saying -- an attempt at leviy on their part, I can assure you it's serious. I have been to Gainesville and I can definitely see how a zombie attack is a possibility. All those freaks can't be mouth breathing hillbillies. The odds are that at least some of them are actually zombies.
In other news from the University of Florida this week, it was reported that due to concussion symptoms, Tim Tebow was not able to watch television or read. Actually, it was reported that Tebow "can't watch television or read." What this left unclear was whether Tim Tebow can read when he is not suffering from symptoms of a concussion or not. Maybe he can't read. And maybe the inspiration for his locker room speeches really is Varsity Blues.
Staying in bizzaro world, David Letterman admitted to affairs and an extortion attempt on his show last night. If talk radio and Twitter are indicative of public opinion on the matter, Letterman is being lauded for the situation. Frankly, this amazes us. While we've always been fans of Letterman, talk of affairs is hardly praise or applause worthy.

That's all we've got for today. Pathetic, we know, but we're still getting back into this regular blogging thing.

The Curse of the Cardinals

2009-10-01T07:48:00.002-05:00

Talk of curses is fairly commonplace in sports. One curser, however, doesn't get much publicity and that's because it is rarely invoked. But as an Arizona Cardinals fan, I feel obliged to discuss The Curse of the Cardinals and to apologize to fans of the Carolina Panthers fans.

First of all, what exactly is this curse?

Well, history has proven to us that any team that loses to the Chicago / St. Louis / Phoenix / Arizona Cardinals on its home turf is set to suffer a trying future.

Do you doubt it? You shouldn't. The facts are inarguable.

In 1998 the "wild card" (how appropriate!) Arizona Cardinals travelled to Irving, Texas and defeated the Dallas Cowboys at (old) Texas Stadium. What have the Cowboys accomplished since then? In a word, nothing. The Cowboys haven't won a single playoff game. Immediately prior to that, the Cowboys had been dominant. Arguably, they were the team of the 90s - winning three Super Bowls under two different coaches. While the Cowboys did manage to reach the playoffs in 1999, they were eliminated in the first round and did not return to the playoffs until 2003. To date, the Cowboys have still not won a playoff game since their loss to the Cardinals in the 1998 playoffs. The Cowboys current playoff drought is longer than any other in the team's history. Who's to blame? The Cardinals.

Now it seems that the Carolina Panthers may be suffering a worse fate. Last season the Panthers were dominant. At least in the regular season. When the playoffs came around, they were nearly the opposite. The Panthers were soundly beaten by the Cardinals, and it all happened on the Panthers home turf. Since then the Panthers have imploded (to some degree). They are winless on the current campaign, despite returning nearly all of last year's team. It's worth noting that one significant change for the Panthers this season was the addition of Chuck Cecil as defensive coordinator; Cecil, of course, spent part of his career with the Cardinals.

Will the Panthers suffer the same maladies as the Cowboys? How strong is The Curse of the Cardinals?

Only time will tell.

N.B. There are only two known examples of the curse of the Cardinals. Despite the teams long history, it is decidely not storied. The Cardinals have only two road playoff victories in their near century of existence.

Interesting Concept / Partial Redemption

2009-09-29T07:59:00.002-05:00

Despite last week's rant, I'm still reading the Wall Street Journal's sports page (but only because it shows up -- gratis -- on my front lawn each day). Today, the WSJ partially redeemed itself with an interesting, yet highly incomplete, article about a new "trend" in sports stadium financing.

Here's a summarized version (although you're welcome to read the entire article here): to help finance new stadium projects (or wholesale refurbishments of existing stadiums), some teams (colleges) are selling "seat mortgages" to fans who are willing to make a long term committment. This is entirely different from a personal seat license (PSL), which has been common for at least a decade. PSL's give fans the right to buy tickets. They're simply a money grab.

These seat mortgages are very different. While they're still a money grab, they work very differently from PSLs. Fans who pay up front for their seat mortgage are guaranteed rights to their particular seat for a long term (30, 40, or 50 years). Cal-Berkeley has sold a few thousand such seats for $175,000 to $220,000 each.

While that obviously sounds like a lot (plus you're paying interest -- or as the school likes to call it, an "administrative fee"), it may not be such a bad investment. If you're a lifelong fan (or planning to be one), you can guarantee yourself tickets for a long time. By paying today, you protect yourself against future price increases (leaving you to assume that football tickets continue to increase in price as they have over the past 10-20 years -- which is a big assumption).

Should your team do well and should prices increase over the years, you could theoretically profit from reselling your seats (possibly even at the prevailing "face" value) for a tidy profit.

What's not clear is how this works for the school/team in the long run. They're guaranteeing a lot for money up front (details here). This is great in terms of the facility enhancements it permits. But what happens to alumni giving and ticket revenue in the long run?

Cal is selling their best / highest price seats (between the 30's on the home sideline) for the next few decades. Today those seats require a $1,200 annual donation per seat, plus the purchase of season tickets. In the future, that annual revenue stream is gone. So Cal has to be sure that their $200,000 price tag is worth it.

Should the school need money in 2035 from football revenue to help fund women's basketball or men's baseball, will they be able to raise that money? Today they likely can, from football related donations and ticket sales. That becomes tougher in the future when the prime donatable seats are pre-sold and no longer require an ongoing donation.

Granted, I haven't done all the math here. And surely the folks at a school as prestigous as Cal have. But Cal has clearly placed their bets on facility enhancement and has put future revenue streams at risk in order to do so. Is that the right risk to take? Time will tell.

Interestingly, the WSJ article doesn't explore this angle at all. They simple laud the concept and the creativity of financing projects. This is interesting. Again, not to blame the WSJ for the current financial situation in the USA / world. But as with numerous other dubious financial schemes that have developed over the past few decades, the WSJ lauds the short term upside and completely ignores the potential long term implications.

It's fine for the paper to be so short-sighted (being as such will likely cause them to not exist in a few more years). But the rest of us should keep our eyes open and think things through a little farther down the line.

I Know Nothing

2009-09-28T07:30:00.003-05:00

Going into the football weekend, my hopes were high. Both the Canes and Cardinals had "big" games against well respected opponents.

Despite that the Canes were on the road against Virginia Tech, I thought Jacory Harris, Mark Whipple, and the boys would find a way to win. To be honest, I thought the Canes would win big. It turned out to be pretty much the opposite of that. If there was a silver lining in Saturday's loss, it was how true sophomore QB Jacory Harris handled himself in the post-game press conference. It would have been easy for Harris to blame receivers (notably TE Jimmy Graham) for dropped passes, just as it would have been easy for Harris to blame his struggles on the weather. He did neither. Harris held himself accountable. Hopefully that mentality helps him to turn it around this coming weekend against Oklahoma.

Don't get me wrong though: not every cloud has a silver lining. Go stand outside the next time it's raining. Let me know if any silver drops in your yard.

The lack of a silver lining brings me to the Cardinals game. Which was just horrific. The Cardinals offense piled up some decent stats (300+ yards in the air). But much of that was meaningless. Not only did the Colts generate more yards of offense, they scored far more points too. Points are what count, obviously.

Now the Cardinals find themselves at 1-2. On a positive note, the Super Bowl champion Steelers are also 1-2 and the Cardinals are only 1 game out of the division lead. But in reality, the Cardinals have looked pretty awful through three games. In the opener, they were sluggish. Talk to a Jaguars fan about game two and you'll hear that the Cardinals caught a break with a missed pass interference call (which is probably true), soon after which came the blocked FG/TD return, and then the rout was on. Jags fans would say it was more of a momentum change and everything falling apart after that. Based on how the Jags played yesterday, maybe that's plausible. Time will tell... Then, last night, the Cardinals were simply out played. If the Cards and Colts faced off ten more times, I'm not convinced the Colts would win each meeting (better execution on the Cardinals part -- not fumbling, completing some open passes, etc -- could lead to beter results). But the Colts would win the majority of the rematches.

Now the Cardinals have a bye week. While it's exceedingly early, it comes at a good time. The Cardinals need to regroup. A lot needs to be fixed. Hopefully the Cardinals rediscover themselves in the coming two weeks. Otherwise the Football Outsiders pre-season prediction of doom and gloom is probably right.

Other thoughts from the weekend:

TO deserves some credit for handling himself well in yesterday's post-game press conference. It was the first game in memory where TO didn't catch a pass. The media battered him with questions about his happiness with the playcalling and the like. TO didn't bite. He kept it professional.
Possibly the only prediction (thought) that I had right about the weekend was picking the Bengals to beat the Steelers. The Bengals are better than people think and the Steelers are worse.
I'm not sure what to make of the Jaguars (who looked awful against the Cardinals) or the Texans (who continue to confuse people). I'm out of my survival pool league after failing to understand either of these teams (I had the Texans).
College football is wide open this season. Miami blew their chance at earning a national title birth with the loss against Virginia Tech. However, the Hokies blew a door open and are now officially in the hunt. If/when Florida or Texas slips up, my guess is that VT finds themselves in the BCS title game picture.
Although he's a Gator, I'd never wish injury on anyone, not even Tim Tebow. While much has been said about the hit, I think it was clean. It's part of football. It's unfortunate, but these things happen. The impact from the both the hit of the defender and Tim's collission with his offensive linemen led to an ugly looking concussion. If there's blame to lay today about the play, it probably lies with Florida coach Urban Meyer, who must defend why his star QB is playing in a game that's already been decided. Not only does UF need to get their backup QB some experience, but more importantly, there's no reason to risk injury to your star players. Injury is the risk you run when you always look for an extra score even when the outcome of the game is no longer in doubt.
Notre Dame struggled against an outmanned Purdue team. The Irish even benefitted from an inexplicable time out call by Purdue late in the game (a call which effectively game Notre Dame an extra down because they didn't have to spike the ball -- that down proved crucial, as ND scored the go ahead TD on 4th and goal). What gives with Charlie Weis? The only potential explanation for his struggles is that he and his coaches are failing to develop players. Notre Dame has a roster full of talent that matches nearly anyone in the country's. And between Weis and his assistants, they should be able to outscheme nearly anyone they face. So the gap must be development of talent. How long does Weis last?
I saw Jupiter on three nights in a row through my little (sub-$50) telescope this weekend. Now I really can't wait to upgrade to a better scope (with tracking). I'm just not sure what to buy.

Lots of "I" today. Off to find the Royal We.

EDIT: updated the bullets to numbers. Man, the bullets suck in this format.

Thoughts Heading Into the Weekend

2009-09-25T07:41:00.002-05:00

With the White Sox having tanked and the Marlins having fallen out of the race, my sporting attention has nearly fully turned to football at this point. Here are some thoughts heading into the weekend:

Hurricanes / College Football

I can't remember the last time the media was so high on the Canes. It likely was in 2002 or 2003 when the Canes were still dominant. But even then it felt like the media was more likely to find fault with the Canes than they are now. That makes me uneasy.

Yes, the Canes have done a lot well in their first two games. They've been impressive. But, as I've said before, Miami could have easily lost the opener to Florida State. And last week against Georgia Tech, the 'Canes didn't display a killer instinct late in the game. While Georgia Tech didn't do anything to put themselves back into the game, the Canes left the door open for the Yellow Jackets to do so. Can the Canes get away with that again this weekend? As a Miami fan, I hope we don't have to find out. Hopefully Mark Whipple and Jacory Harris have found some holes in Virginia Tech's offense to exploit.

Other thoughts:

Florida faces a pedestrian Kentucky team. The Gators need to dominate or doubts will start to surface about their alleged dominance. Yes, they are the defending national champions. But that was last season.
Notre Dame suffered a key injury to a star wide receiver last week and Jimmy Clausen is banged up heading into Saturday night's showdown with Purdue. But to re-insert themselves into the BCS discussion, ND needs to dominate Purdue. While Purdue is surely more talented than they displayed last week against Northern Illinois, this weekend's game is one that Notre Dame needs to dominate.
How will USC fare this weekend? They'll surely win. Washington State is simply inferior. But will the Trojans dominate? They're favored by 40+ points. Sure, the Trojans beat Wazoo by more than 40 last year. But that was last year. Mark Sanchez is gone. And 40 points is more than USC has scored in the past two games combined.

Cardinals / NFL

I'm uncharacteristically optimistic about the Cardinals chances this weekend in prime time against the Colts. It's odd to see the Cards listed as favorites in this game, even if it is a Cardinals home game. The Colts are the Colts. Even without Tony Dungy, Marvin Harrison, and (for the time being) Bob Sanders, the Colts are a quality football team that seemingly wins 12 games every year.

The Cardinals won 12 games once... sort of. Last season they won 9 games in the regular season and three in the playoffs. That's 12 in one season (over parts of two calendar years). They've never won 12 regular season games in a single season. Heck, there have been stretches of two and even three seasons when the Cardinals didn't win 12 games.

Yet I feel confident that the Cardinals will win on Sunday night. Yes, I know they're facing a defense that hardly ever gives up a passing touchdown, but that is susceptible to a rushing attack. And yes, I know that's nearly the opposite of what fits best for the Cardinals offense. This, my friends, is the life as a Cardinals fan. Delusion is the only way to get yourself through.

Other thoughts:

I'm excited about Mike Vick's debut for the Eagles this weekend. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Vick supporter (but I do believe he's entitled to have a job -- even a high paying one like he has). That the Eagles gave Vick a home gives me all the more reason to dislike the team. So that's great. And don't buy the talk that Andy Reid doesn't know what he's going to do with Vick this weekend. That's an outright lie. He knows. Vick will play. The real storyline here is how he's treated by the fans. By the end of the season I think we'll come to know that fans in Philly cheer Michael Vick, boo Santa Claus, boo Mike Schmidt, and jeered Michael Irvin as he was carted off the field on a stretcher. Stay classy, Philadelphia!
Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I hope the Falcons go into Foxborough and beat the Patriots. While I see the Falcons as having a legitimate shot to win the game, we all have to be mindful of my admission of delusion above.
I wouldn't put money on them (not that I bet anyway), but I like the Bengals chances against the Steelers this weekend. Maybe I watched too much of "Hard Knocks" and have grown somewhat attached to Marvin Lewis's team. But I like the Bengals. They're 1-1 and realistically could be 2-0 at this point. Their opponent, the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers, could easily be 0-2 at this point (fortunately for them, they are 1-1). Sunday's game is a big one for the Bengals. Win and have hope; lose and you're the Bengals.
Sticking with the Bengals - Steelers, I heard this week that Big Ben has a .750+ winning percentage in 1 PM and primetime games, but that he's barely above .500 in 4:15 kickoffs. Sunday's game has a 4:15 start time. Is there something to this disparity in winning percentage or is Big Ben a victim of a small sample size? I have no idea. But if the Steelers lose on Sunday, maybe there's something to Big Ben and the start time.
The Cowboys will be on Monday Night Football. Rather, the Cowboys' new stadium will be the star of MNF. Hopefully the guys on the booth can keep from drooling for three hours and can maintain focus on the game on the field. Monday night will officially be the first time that we all miss Kornheiser in the booth. He would surely have fun roasting Jerry Jones and the cost and flaws of the new stadium. Will every Cowboys game be featured in primetime this year?

Here's a quick baseball thought: there's really only (potentially) one playoff spot up for grabs and that's in the AL Central. The Twins are still close enough to be more than just mathematically in the race. Since there aren't other races, some folks are surely hoping for drama and a photo finish. If you're one of those people, read this article. Then you'll hope for the Tigers to pull away and lock up a playoff spot.

Have a great weekend!

The Worst Sports Page in the Universe

2009-09-24T08:16:00.002-05:00

For some reason The Wall Street Journal has seen fit to add a sports page to their newspaper. They did this about a year ago. It's literally a page -- a single page. In many ways, it's fortunate that their sports coverage is simply a page and not a section. That's because their coverage is awful. Simply awful.

Last week they ran an article about how left-handed quarterbacks aren't very common in the NFL and when they play in the league they're infrequently successful. The point of this story was to talk about how it was unlikely that Tim Tebow would be successful in the NFL because he's lefthanded. While I agree that Tebow's collegiate success is unlikely to translate into NFL stardom, the hand that he uses to throw the ball is not the reason. Somewhat amazingly, this lengthy article failed to mention one of the most successful left-handed college quarterbacks of all-time: Matt Leinart. How they managed to talk about college stardom and a lack of NFL success or opportunity without even mentioning Leinart baffles me.

Fundamentally flawed analysis in other sections of the WSJ probably helped lead to the ongoing financial meltdown that the WSJ itself regularly reports on.

Today's feature story talked about instances of cheating in sports. Here's a direct quote from the print version of the article (most of which consisted of photo captions, which this quote comes from):

Spanish Switcheroo: In 2000, the Spanish basketball team, playing in the intellectually disabled category, took the gold in the Sydney Paralympic Games. Turns out, 10 of the 12 players weren't disabled at all. The players were reportedly instructed to act dumb and slow their scoring when they played too well. When reporters back in Spain and were encouraged to grow beards and wear hats after the games were over to disguise themselves back in Spain when reporters became suspicious.

There are no errors in my transciption of the text that ran in today's edition of the paper. The online version has seemingly been corrected.

It's time for the WSJ to end its foray into sports. Originally adding a sports page was probably a gimmick to increase readership. For the gimmick to work, they need to deliver quality. That's not what they're doing. They rarely, if ever, do. It's time to kill the sports page in the WSJ.

Where did this come from?

2009-09-22T13:08:00.002-05:00

Generally speaking, Miami fans tend to feel that they are disrespected by the media. As a small, private school with a controversial history (in football terms at least), fans of The U tend to think that the media is quick to speak ill of the program.

But since the Canes started out 2-0 this season, it's becoming difficult to make that argument. First case in point, one ESPN writer ranked the Canes #1 in his ballot this week. That comes on the heels of Miami ascending to 9th in one poll and 13th in another this week (both big gains likely mean that at least some voters have the Canes in top 5 territory).

Why all the love and why all the love this quickly?

What do we really know about the Canes?

Yes, they went on the road and beat what now looks to be a good Florida State team. But that same FSU team could have easily won the opener, had their last pass as time expired been only a little bit higher. Had that pass from Christian Ponder been completed, FSU would be this season's "it" team. But it wasn't, so they're not.

In their second game, Miami dismantled a Georgia Tech team that was a pre-season favorite to win the ACC. While the win was impressive, it needs to be put into context: Georgia Tech was playing its 3rd game (this one on the road) in twelve days; Miami was playing its first game in 10.

At this point, I'm not sure what to think. Normally I'd expect to be the first to be on the Canes bandwagon. But I don't think we know what this Canes team is yet. We'll know more in another week and a half (after the Virginia Tech and Oklahoma games). But even then we won't still really know. We'll need to see how this Canes team handles games against teams that they're supposed to beat. They haven't faced that yet.

What do I expect to see the Canes do this weekend? I don't know. But I think SI's Stewart Mandel summed up my perspective best:

Miami at Virginia Tech, Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET): I've given up trying to figure out the Hokies. They had been outgained by Nebraska 343-190 before producing a game-winning 88-yard drive. Either they'll intercept Harris three times, run back a punt and win 19-17, or they'll suffer a fate worse than Georgia Tech.

And that's what makes college football so fun. The season is short. Every game counts. The players are young and (for the most part) inexperienced. Small things can change a game, a season, and a career. It's stressful, unpleasant, and exhilirating all at the same time.

Back?

2009-09-21T08:03:00.004-05:00

I had a recurring thought over the weekend: it's time to bring the blog back. Now, this isn't like reuniting The Blues Brothers. There's no need to track down Jake, Elwood, and the rest of the boys. It's just me. To bring the blog back I'd simply have to start writing once in awhile.

So let's start now.

I'm a bit torn about it... well, at least about where to start. Maybe I should start by looking for the Royal We, which is apparently already lost. Or maybe I should start with a recap of what's gone on in my life over the past few years since this blog was actually active. There's been a lot, obviously. But that's quite a bit to get into, so I'll leave the for later.

Instead I'll start where I spent much of the past focus of this blog: on sports.

First, the NFL and more specifically the Cardinals: Yesterday's win over (a probably not very good team in) the Jaguars was impressive. Yes, there was plenty of room for improvement (notably on punt returns, where Antrel Rolle was horrific and with Beanie Wells ability to hold onto the ball). But overall it was a dominating win. And not just that, but a dominating win on the East Coast (with an early start for a team that must have felt like it was an AM kickoff). Even if the Jaguars turn out to be a bad team, the Cardinals proved another point: they beat a bad team soundly. That's what good teams are supposed to do.

On the quarterback front, I will admit that I was one (of many) who was worried about Kurt Warner after the loss in the opening game. Kurt looked downright awful and that came on the heels of a pretty dreadful preseason. But he sure looked a lot better (that's an understatement) yesterday. Maybe the health of Steve Breaston (and Anquan Boldin) had something to do with that. Time will tell. Hopefully Warner found the fountain of youth (maybe he did, having been in Florida and so near St. Augustine).

In yesterday's game I found a new respect for Steve Breaston. The Cardinals offense operated completely differently with him in the lineup (and Boldin at or near 100% health). Without him last week the Cardinals offense looked slow and rusty. Yes, Breaston's the Cards number 3 receiver. But he probably wouldn't be on any other team in the league; on some teams Steve would probably be the #1 option.

Next week's game against the Colts looms large. After it, the Cards head into their bye week. A win will be very important to an up and down team. The Colts may not be what they once were (that's unknown at the moment and we'll probably have a better idea after tonight's tilt). But even if they're not, the game will be a nice measuring stick for the Cardinals.

The biggest positive for the Cardinals from yesterday's game was that they proved they're still capable of playing excellent, top level football. What remains to be seen is whether they can sustain it. Until they put together a stretch of solid games, the doubt about the team and the fear of the up-and-down rollercoaster ride (on defense, special teams and even on offense) the team can provide will remain. Playing well against the Colts -- actually, winning not just playing well -- will help to dispel some of those fears. This Cardinals team does not need to be 1-2 heading into the bye week. If they are, their season is likely done. I don't think the sea change in the locker room has taken hold enough to overcome that.

NFL Comments

If you ever doubted the existence of an East Coast media bias, you only need to see the hype surrounding the Jets-Pats game from this weekend to prove that it exists. Some called this a "Super Bowl". Hopefully that was only said in jest for this week 2 game, especially since we're going on 5 years since the Pats last Super Bowl win (and 40 for the Jets). But I doubt it. Now that the Jets have won, many are annointing them as something special. Time will tell.
The Bengals have to feel like they should be 2-0. Crazy.
The Steelers could easily be 0-2 at this point. They're fortunate that the Titans didn't execute well in the opener.
Speaking of, the Titans are now 0-2 and could easily be 0-3 after the upcoming week. At this point they have to be the best 0-2 team in the game.
Imagine if Andre Johnson played for one of the "New York" (err... New Jersey) teams. Would we be able to handle the hype? Or would 'Dre not get the standard NYC hype because he's a relatively low-key guy?
While I was happy to see the Cowboys lose in the "opener" of their new stadium, which has already hosted (at least) two preseason games, a college football game, and a Paul McCartney concert, it's not like I was cheering for the Giants (despite their pick-6 by Hurricane Bruce Johnson and almost pick-6 by another Hurricane -- Kenny Phillips).
Are they Cowboys really making comparisons between their stadium and the Roman Collisseum? Wow.
The 49ers officially make me nervous. I hope the Cardinals don't look back at the opening week game and think of it as a game that got away (as in a game that kept them from the post-season).

Hurricanes/College Football

Seeing the Hurricanes vault up as far as they did in the polls was a pleasant surprise. Hopefully the Canes prove worthy of the lofty ranking -- especially over the next few weeks. The Canes won't look past Virginia Tech, who always gives Miami fits (or worse). And the Canes will definitely be geared up for Oklahoma the following week, as many of these Canes suffered a rough defeat in Norman two years ago.
It's amazing that USC lost to Washington this weekend. Well, it is and it isn't. USC manages to win all of the big games (seemingly) but somehow finds a way to lose 1 game per year that they should win. That's the one blemish on the recent (decade long) run that USC has been on. My guess is that they rebound and go 11-1, putting them firmly back into the national title picture but find themselves (again) on the outside looking in for the BCS title game (even if they look like one of the best two teams in the country at the end of the regular season). That's the downside to losing to an unranked, not highly thought of school and of being in a conference without a title game.
Florida, despite having Tim Tebow and Urban Meyer, looks beatable this year. Who will do it -- Alabama? Florida State? Someone like significant, non-rivalry underdog (like Washington over USC)?
ESPN was lucky that the Texas - Texas Tech game was close and entertaining. It had all the makings of a blowout, with Texas Tech unranked and withou most of the talent that made it a top team last season.
Florida State remains an enigma. They easily could have beaten Miami in the opener. Only a just-a-little-underthrown pass as time expired kept them from winning. Then they struggled against a Jacksonville State team that most folks don't even realize isn't from the state of Florida. And most recently, they dominated BYU (in Utah) over the weekend. This is a BYU team that knocked off Oklahoma in its opener (and was holding its own just fine even when reigning Heisman winner Sam Bradford was in the game).
Seeing FSU manhandle BYU has to encourage Canes fans (once they move past the Virginia Tech game). While on paper Oklahoma probably has a deeper, more talented, and more experienced team than the Canes, BYU beat Oklahoma, FSU beat BYU, and Miami beat FSU. Following that simple train of thought, Miami should be able to beat Oklahoma. But it won't be that simple. That should be a great game. Hopefully Miami is 3-0 when they get to it.
And it wouldn't be football season without Fake Howard. Hoot, hoot!

Other

We (yes, not just me) saw "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" over the weekend. I really liked the movie. We saw it in IMAX 3-D. That was $4 more (each) than the regular 2-D version and $1 more than the "regular" 3-D version. Not sure if the extra dollar was worth it or not (having never seen a non-IMAX 3-D movie at the theater). But it was a cool experience. Sometimes it felt like the 3-D was too much of a gimmick. But overall it helped to immerse me in the experience.
"The Miami Herald" is now printing all of the Sunday features (and comics and coupons) in the Saturday edition of the paper (at the regular Saturday price). This has pretty much stopped me from purchasing the more expensive Sunday edition. I doubt this was a good decision for the Herald. I'm no longer a subscriber to the paper. In large part that's because I can get all the news I want from them for free online. And it's also because their sports scores (and other late news) is often incomplete. It's annoying to have to wait until Saturday to see Thursday night's scores in the paper. But that's often what happens in The Herald. And not just for West Coast games. So now I get the Sunday paper features for $0.50 and read the sports and news online for free.
Somewhat related to that newspaper/Herald rant, I think Twitter is here to stay. It's a great way to follow breaking news and sports. I thoroughly enjoyed following Stewart Mandel and Bruce Feldman's college football entries on Saturday, Adam Schefter on Sunday, and Smart Football all weekend. In regular news, the Herald gave good updates on the Coral Gables HS murder as news was developing last week. People will get hooked on Twitter.
Speaking of Twitter, Dan LeBatard needs to break up the folks on his show into multiple Twitter accounts. There's no benefit to the followers to have Dan, Stugotz, Hoch, Mike Ryan and others (are there others?) posting on the same account. It's confusing and some folks (notably me) don't want to follow some of the flakes on the show. Dan and Hoch are great on Twitter. Stugotz needs to have his own space so some of the rest of us can ignore him.

That's all for now. Yes, that's a lot of words for someone who usually doesn't have much to say and didn't say much with many words here. Whatever. Come back soon. Hopefully there will be more to read.

I Fear for Our Country

2009-03-23T12:58:00.001-05:00

Yes, that she's in Gator gear makes it that much worse for me, but it really wouldn't be any better if she was in the colors of any other school or team.

Life as a Cardinals' Fan: As Told by Charlie Brown and Lucy

2009-02-07T09:28:00.002-05:00

Just as I had started to move on with my life and accept that the Cardinals lost the Super Bowl, in last-minute, heart-breaking fashion at the "hands" of admitted drug dealer and rabbit killer from Ohio State (who, despite his un-Disney past, managed to get a parade down Disney's Main Street in his honor), the Cardinals as we knew them began to fall apart.

Here's an animated interpretation of what's transpired between the Cardinals and their fans since the end of the Super Bowl:

Charlie Brown plays the role of the loyal, but constantly burned Cardinals fan.

Lucy plays the Arizona Cardinals, specifically their front office.

The "signed document" represents the implied contract between the Cardinals and their fans. In real life this is represented by the Cardinals new stadium, their better record (of late) in the draft, and recent dedication to actually fielding a competitive team.

What is not seen in the interpretative short is what happens as Charlie Brown approaches the football held by Lucy. Here's a run down:

1. Free agent Karlos Dansby says the team has not approached him about a new contract. That was earlier in the week. Since then the two sides have talked. Dansby says he'd like to stay with the team, but wants to see what happens with Kurt Warner, Anquan Boldin, Edgerrin James, and others before making a decision.
2. Kurt Warner says his decision to return to the Cardinals or to retire hinges on what happens with the team, including offensive coordinator Todd Haley.
3. Offensive coordinator Todd Haley is hired by the Kansas City Chiefs as their new head coach (good for him).
4. Anquan Boldin says his relationship with the Cardinals is irreperably damaged. It seems like he's on his way out of town.
5. Defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast has been relieved of his duties (this is good news for the team, but it's more turnover).

The apocalyptic scene at the end of the film likely represents the fate that awaits the Arizona Cardinals as they likely return to being the team they've been so frequently.

Mike's Super Bowl XLIII Experience: Part 3

2009-02-04T11:26:00.004-05:00

I already wrote over 2,000 words about the Super Bowl and I haven't even touched on the game itself. Super Bowl XLIII is most likely (in terms of games of importance to me) the most memorable sporting event of my life (past or future).

I will go to my grave with memories of this game. Some are truly glorious (Fitzgerald's second touchdown in particular). Others will likely haunt me permanently (like Harrison's 100-yard interception return for a game changing touchdown).

If you'd rather skip my ramblings, but you'd still like a Cardinals fan's take on the game, go here and read Will's writeup. It's perfect.

My take on it will not be as concise. If you want the short version, here's my best shot at it:

After the Cardinals narrowed the deficit to 20-16 with a safety, Laura turned to me and said, "I don't know if I can be a Cardinals fan. This is too stressful." And she was 100% right. Super Bowl XLIII summed up a lifetime of being a Cardinals fan, all in one game. Being a Cardinals fan starts with having hope, then having your hopes quickly dashed. But somehow they find a way to re-ignite your hope (usually increasing it to a point higher than where it was before). In the end, they crush you; a little piece of you dies inside each time the Cardinals let you down again after they pick you back up.

The Cardinals did that in Super Bowl XLIII. Twice. Once in each half.

Prior to the game there was hope and excitement, although the experts were likely to tell you there was no cause for it. Then the game started and the Cardinals sputtered. They were dominated in the first quarter and didn't look like themselves. Suddenly there was a burst of hope in the second quarter. Things looked much better... until the unthinkable happened - a sure touchdown which would result in a halftime lead turned into the longest play in Super Bowl history, and a lead for the Steelers.

Now it's halftime and we've already gone through the hope, the dashing of hope, the re-ignition of hope, and the crushing. During the long halftime intermission, it was tough to envision what to expect.

But the Cardinals were receiving the ball to start the 3rd quarter. And their offense had been excellent coming out of the lockerroom of late. But as the second half began the Cardinals continued to sputter. So our hopes were already being dashed. At this point one could only think a blowout was inevitable. But then the Cardinals sparked hope again by striking back: the comeback was glorious. A touchdown drive. A goal line stand times two. A sputtered drive followed by a perfect punt and a safety. Then the back breaking touchdown... except that it didn't break the Steelers' back. Instead they came back. And we were left crushed... again. Twice in one game.

So that's the short version of my take on the Super Bowl. Here is an abbreviated list on some of the things that will haunt me for the rest of my life about this game:

The coin toss. Yes, I'm going there. While I love Coach Whisenhunt, I didn't like the decision to defer. The Cardinals should have received the kick and come out aggressively on offense.

The challenge of the TD call on the Steelers first drive was huge. That the Steelers kicked a field goal instead of going for it on 4th was equally huge. That short sequence could have decided the outcome of the game.

Starting out on offense by establishing the run. This failed so it's easy to second guess. But I think a team should lead with its strength, especially in a game of this magnitude. Force the Steelers to show they can slow down your passing game. Ultimately they proved that they couldn't. What would have happened if the Cards had thrown aggressively all game?

Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie made an amazing play in the first half to recover on a deep route and break up a pass. That was a huge play. It was a sure touchdown otherwise. Had it been, it would have been that much more difficult for the Cardinals to get back in the game

On one Steelers drive in the second half the Cardinals were called for (at least) two questionable penalties: DRC was called for a facemask (which video evidence apparently disputes). That cost the Cards fifteen yards and a first down. There was also a roughing the passer penalty, which was equally huge and drive sustaining. Had either of those calls not been made, the game could have been different.

The Cardinals self destructed on a drive early in the second quarter. Much of the drive devolved after Edgerrin James was flagged for a chop block. If there's no flag or Edge blocks differently, maybe things are different.

James Harrison's pick-six has to be talked about. It was an unbelievable play. As he ran it back I kept waiting for him to be tackled. It was a comedy of errors, but no one ever scores on a play like that. But he made it. What if he hadn't? What if the Cardinals had called a different play? If the Cardinals had put Boldin in one corner, Fitzgerald in the other, and Ben Patrick under the goal post, couldn't they have thrown a jump ball to one of them? Any other outcome would have had less impact on the game's final result.

In the 4th quarter the Cardinals had a tremendous goal line stand. Because of a penalty on Adrian Wilson (running into the holder, unintentionally apparently) the Steelers had two sets of downs to punch it in from inside the five. If you gave the Steelers six more plays to score a touchdown, I have a hard time imagining the Cardinals (or any other defense) stopping them. But in the one time they played those six downs, the Cardinals did stop them. It was unreal. Had that turned out differently, the Steelers may have sewn up the game then and there.

After a failed 4th quarter drive when the Cardinals were coming back, Ben Graham punted (from inside the Cardinals 40) and pinned the Steelers inside their 1. It was a tremendous punt out of a punter who had been inconsistent. There were a multitude of other outcomes there. The Cards could have gone for it on 4th down. The Cards could have attempted a field goal. Had they punted and gotten a touchback, the game would have been different. But they were fortunate enough to pin the Steelers deep and then force a safety. What happened made it possible for the Cardinals to continue their comeback. Nearly anything else would have killed their effort.

Overall, the officiating was awful. I don't think better officiating would have necessarily changed the outcome of the game. But I think it's fair to say the game would have been different. James Harrison was flagged for 15-yards when an official saw him punch Aaron Francisco. Why wasn't Harrison ejected? Bertrand Berry punched a Steeler. People in the stands saw it without replay. Why wasn't Berry penalized and/or ejected? To a large extent the officials let the players play. That's how it should be in the Super Bowl. But there was a great deal of inconsistency that affected both sides.

Larry Fitzgerald's 64-yard touchdown reception was the most memorable play I have ever seen in a sporting event. From my vantage point in the end zone I could see the play develop. Before the snap I watched Boldin and Fitzgerald because they were bunched up. As the ball was snapped I saw Fitzgerald find open space and a thought flashed through my mind quickly: ohmygodfitzisopenifwarnergetshimtheballit'satouchdown. Let me slow that down for you: "Oh my God, Fitz is open! If Warner gets him the ball it's a touchdown." Kurt Warner saw what I saw and got Larry the ball. Fitzgerald ran past the Steelers and scored. (As an aside, it was telling to see all-world super star Troy Polamalu quit on the play, which at the time appeared to give away the Steelers lead for good.) While the touchdown was great, one can't help but wonder what would have happened if that play hadn't gone for a touchdown. If the Cardinals had managed to score on a more methodical drive, they might have taken enough time off the clock to keep Pittsburgh from scoring. But it didn't happen that way.

Poor kick off returns throughout the game cost the Cardinals field position. It wasn't that the Steelers were particularly good at stopping returns. Rather JJ Arrington muffed one kick off and let another skip past him through the end zone. With better field position the Cardinals might have been able to mount better drives.

Darnell Dockett and Chike Okeafor lived in the Steelers backfield throughout the game. If the Steelers managed to block either man with some regularity, the Steelers offense may have been even more productive.

Santonio Holmes should have been penalized for using the ball as a prop. That's a 15-yard penalty on the kickoff, meaning the last kickoff of the game would have taken place from the 20 -- effectively taking 15 yards off of the Cardinals final drive. The call wasn't made. I heard the NFL's VP of Officials talk about the call on the radio. His explanation made sense; he said that the officials only have so long to wait to make the call. Right as the official left to go watch the extra point, Holmes started to use the ball as a prop. It was an unusual circumstance because they were letting Holmes keep the ball (as an obvious souvenir). Still, the call needed to be made. It's been made plenty of times throughout the season.

Would any of those things have changed the outcome of the game? Maybe. Maybe not. Cumulatively it's amazing to think that all of those things broke the way they did to deliver the finish we ultimately received. That's the luck of the draw in some sense. It's what you get when you have a one game championship.

It was a lot of fun. I'm glad I was there. It was the most memorable sporting experience of my life. I'll always think of what might have been. I'll always remember Larry Fitzgerald's run to the end zone to put the Cardinals ahead with barely 2 minutes remaining in the Super Bowl.

I'm not disappointed. This year's Cardinals gave us the greatest season they've had in my lifetime. And they nearly won the Super Bowl. It was a lot of fun.

Mike's Super Bowl XLIII Experience: Part 2

2009-02-04T11:22:00.002-05:00

Two things I forgot in the last post: seat cushions and post game t-shirt sales.

I've seen Super Bowl seat cushions from time to time and I always wondered about them. Sometimes people have them at a Marlins game or a Canes game. Well, we got them. Everyone at the Super Bowl gets a soft, souvenir seat cushion to take home. I guess that's why the face value of the tickets is $800.

After the game we walked past a guy selling Steelers Super Bowl champions shirts. Since we happened to be walking with a group of Cardinals fans, someone asked "do you have any for the other team?" The guy said that he did and that he'd sell them to us for $10 each. They were knockoffs though. Had they been real, I probably would have bought one or two. Then I could cry every time I looked at it.

Mike's Super Bowl XLIII Experience: Part 1

2009-02-03T21:03:00.007-05:00

On Sunday I attended my very first Super Bowl (as you know if you've been reading the recent entries). While the Cardinals lost, it was a heck of an experience. Before the details start to get fuzzy for me, I thought I should write down the highlights. So that's what this is. At first I thought I could bang it all out in one sitting, but there's a lot. This is the first part. It doesn't deal with any of the on-the-field stuff. Just the experience of getting to and from the stadium and what it was like for me aside from the game.

While I haven't been to too many major sporting events, I think I've been to my fair share. I've been to the World Series, the BCS Championship game, other bowl games that were de-facto championship games, the NLCS (in 1987, 1997, and 2003), the NLDS, and plenty of playoff games (NFL and mostly NBA). But none of those compare to the Super Bowl.

Laura and I left for the stadium around 1:15. Yes, more than 5 hours before kick off. And we did this under the assumption that we wouldn't be able to tailgate in our assigned parking lot.

Traffic on the way to the stadium wasn't bad. We made our way smoothly. What was odd were the road closures and freeway exits. Signs were posted on the freeway indicating which exit to take (depending on the color code for your assigned parking lot). Fortunately this was all indicated on our parking pass. Still, it was odd to see standard street signs covered up (apparently to hide the actual location of Raymond James Stadium).

All told we probably had to go 7 – 10 extra miles to arrive at our assigned parking lot. Once we arrived we found that we could have tailgated if we had wanted (but we didn't have any supplies, since we were informed that we couldn't). We didn't though as the lot was crawling with Steelers fans.

Also, despite being told that parking would be limited to fans with game tickets, we found no check point for that. This was the lone hole in security that we saw during the day.

So we left the car and headed towards the stadium, hoping to visit the NFL Experience again, as we optimistically hoped that the store would be restocked with Cardinals gear.

Approaching the stadium was no easy task. The four streets that surround the perimeter of the stadium (and/or its parking lots) were blocked. There were fences and concrete barracades everywhere. Surprisingly, fans were not allowed to walk down the blocked off streets. Instead we were only allowed to cross at designated barriers. This made for very lengthy walks to and from the stadium (not to worry though – NFL VIPs, like Mike Singletary – who we saw, received escorts in golf carts; I'm not sure what happened to folks in wheelchairs or who were otherwise disabled).

Eventually we made it near the stadium (near the pirate ship end) and received conflicting information as to whether we could walk through the stadium to the NFL Experience. Since we weren't sure, we figured we'd walk around the stadium and enter through the NFL Experience.

I'd talk about the state of the port-a-potties we encountered, but that would make me throw up in my mouth... a lot. It was disgusting. You'd think that they could bring in nicer set ups like you see at golf tournaments and tennis tournaments. I know that's a little frou-frou, but this is a high priced event and there are long lines everywhere. They could provide decent bathroom facilities. End of rant on that...

Back to the journey to the stadium: by this point we'd already been approached by half a dozen "Christians" who were either talking over a loudspeaker, handing us pamphlets or cards, or who wanted to talk to us about something. Some folks even sent their children up to us to try to hand us propaganda. I've seen this sort of thing at other events, but nothing was at the level of the Super Bowl. I felt bad for the kids, they seemed to be brain washed – and they were clearly forced by their parents to approach us.

Side note: I took the bait from one of these folks and took a business sized "trivia" card from one of these folks. He claimed the questions were of Cardinals trivia. They were – at least the first four questions. The fifth said, "What do the Arizona Cardinals, you, and everyone else have in common?" The answer was, of course, death. From there it went into a lengthy religious script…

On a funnier note, one random guy standing in the street "congratulated" Laura and I on being fans of the first baseball team to reach the Super Bowl. That cracked me up for whatever reason. Maybe it was because the guy could have been genuine.

To reach the NFL Experience we had to walk around literally half of the stadium. For most of the walk we were on the far side (relative to the stadium) of Dale Mabry, which is a main thorough fare in Tampa. Take whatever the most recognizable, highly trafficked street is in your area (other than a freeway) and imagine it as Dale Mabry. Now shut it down for a day and a half. That's what was happening in Tampa on Super Sunday.

Eventually we reached the line for the NFL Experience. While you had to have a ticket to the game to enter the NFL Experience on game day, the line was still exceptionally long. To get into the NFL Experience you had to go through the full security check (which thankfully we didn't have to go through again to get into the game as we stayed in the secure area at this point).

The queue for security was difficult to describe. It was a long winding maze that took a long time to get through (I wish I had timed it). While a large truck was brought in with a video board that was playing a live feed of NFL network, you could only see it half the time you were in line. The rest of the time you were forced to tune out the preachers and to avoid taking their handouts.

Eventually we walked inside of a fenced area, but the queue continued. Now there were large dumpsters around us. Apparently it was time to dispose of our water bottles, food, and other contraband. Keep in mind that contraband includes camera cases, bags, and purses larger than a certain size. Fortunately we were aware of the restrictions. Many folks apparently weren't. There were hundreds of nice camera cases, bags, and purses discarded in the pre-security check area. Had someone been willing to walk an armful back to their car, they could have made a small fortune by reselling the items later (probably enough to pay for their tickets). We saw Coach purses, Nikon camera bags, and dozens of other high quality things.

To no surprise, the NFL somehow managed to get people to discard these things in an area where folks without a ticket couldn't get. I doubt the security folks working the area had the opportunity to claim the discarded goods (to take home or to sell). Instead my (cynical) guess is that the NFL takes the merchandise and donates it or sells it on their own for a profit.

After discarding things, it's on to the security check. Men and women are separated and patted down. There seemed to be profiling going on here (which worked to our benefit, I suppose). Laura's patter-downer noticed something "hard" in Laura's sweatshirt… when Laura said it was a hat and scarf she was allowed to pass through (without showing the hat or scarf). After that we were allowed to meet back up and go through the metal detectors together. This was pretty much like at the airport, except that we were able to keep our shoes on. I somehow set off the metal detector, but they let me through without further investigation (I'm still not sure if that made me feel safe or not).

Finally we were through to the point where someone was prepared to scan our tickets. Now the moment of truth hit me: had we bought counterfeit tickets? While the guy we bought from looked like a reputable ticket broker, there was no way to be sure. And the ticket pick-up process was an experience in itself (probably worthy of it's own story on another day). We wouldn't know until the guy scanned our tickets… fortunately there was no surprise. We were in.

So here we are, hours before kick off still (we left plenty of time just so that we wouldn't be late). The process was by no means fast, but it didn't take as much time as we'd feared either.

We had time for a bite to eat, so we went to one of the stands near the video boards at the NFL Experience. Amazingly, they didn't have things like hot dogs and corn dogs ready. Why set up booths and let thousands of people inside and not have food to sell? Were they hoping to sell food on Monday, after everyone left town?

Anyway, we settled on something to share. A sandwhich, soda, and bag of chips set us back $21. Nice. And the soda was warm.

From there we went to the NFL Experience store. When we visited the day before (taking in the whole NFL Experience with friends) we were disappointed in the available selection of Cardinals gear. While Seahawks and Falcons gear was readily available, there was hardly any Cardinals gear – Super Bowl or otherwise.

That was unfortunate, as I was prepared to spend practically every dollar I have to get anything in red with Cardinals on it.

That was Saturday. Like with all things on Sunday, we started with hope. And we were rewarded… kind of. There were a few new things – like jerseys. The men's jerseys were the Cardinals road jerseys (white with red sleeves). No Super Bowl patches on them (which was correct – since the Cards Super Bowl jerseys were red). I thought it was odd that there were only four jerseys (Warner, Fitzgerald, and Boldin were givens) and that the fourth one was Tim Hightower. I really like Tim Hightower and I think he has a great future ahead of him, but I was surprised to see his jersey.

Laura considered a women's jersey, but they were white on white (on red anywhere other than the numbers and letters – which were in the correct font). They pretty much looked like practice jerseys. There were a few hats, but they were all crappy. So we passed.

We walked through the NFL Experience a little bit and took some pictures. We saw Dan Patrick in the NBC booth and took a last look at the Lombardi trophy (or a facsimile of it – I'm really not sure). After meandering a little more, we started to make our way to the stadium.

As we did that, we realized it was getting chilly and we weren't sure that we'd be warm enough after the sun went down. So we started scoping out souvenir stands. While there wasn't much Cardinals merchandise to be had, there were NFC Champs blankets at nearly every souvenir stand. I guess I have to give the NFL credit for knowing that Cardinals fans don't do well when the weather gets even slightly cool. So we scooped up a blanket for $65. All things considered, that was a relative bargain.

After that we went to grab a bite to eat. That was when we ran into MC Hammer. Seriously. This was before his commercial for Cash4Gold (or whatever) aired. Hammer was a really nice guy. He took a picture with Laura and talked to us for a minute.

At this point it had been well over two hours since we left the car and it was an hour and a half or so (maybe a little bit more) until kick off. So were nowhere near the game having started and I've already written over 1,700 words. Concise I am not.

So let's skip ahead to the pre-game stuff. I was overwhelmed by Faith Hill's rendition of "God Bless America" and Jennifer Hudson's singing of the national anthem. Finding out later that both were lipsyncing was a huge disappointment. As soon as Hudson finished, the (unannounced, but expected, but forgotten at the moment because the song was so good) flyover took place. The Thunderbirds were very cool (and we walked down the ramp with them after the game).

During the game Kim Kardashian's mom stood in front of our seats and taped a segment for Enetertainment Tonight (or some program like that). Kim's sister was there too (the one that doesn't look like a horse). They were both nice (Laura had a conversation with both of them, of course, and took a picture).

Meeting MC Hammer and some of the Kardashians was interesting to me. Before the game Laura and I wondered what the crowd would be like. Given how many celebrities and athletes seem to be in town pre-Super Bowl, I figured we'd run into some famous people. They can't all sit in luxury boxes. So we met three celebrities (pseudo celebrities at least). If we'd walked around the concourse a little more my guess is that we would have seen a few more.

Getting back to our car was not a problem, although the religious freaks were waiting for us -- with their microphones still blaring. I should have asked those religious freaks if Larry Fitzgerald was god or a god and if so why he didn't have his team win the game. People tried to say things like that to these zealots, but they would respond with something like, "You sir are filled with spirits -- and not the Holy Spirit -- sober up and come back to talk to me..." Which was pretty funny and disturbing at the same time.

Once we got to the car though, it was a mess. We pulled out of our space, started to merge into traffic, and then... stopped... for almost two hours. By the time we started moving there was no traffic on the roads, so we got back to the place we were staying pretty fast. But it was a mess. I've never seen anything like it.

So that's the recap of my gameday non-game Super Bowl experience. While it's long, believe it or not I left out a lot of the fun.

Yes We Can

2009-01-29T09:00:00.003-05:00

Last week I wrote about how happy I was that the Cardinals had earned a berth in the Super Bowl. I said that was more than enough for me and that the outcome didn't matter.

In some sense, that's true. But as we draw closer to game day, my take on the game has changed. Here's what I really want:

Yes, I want to experience the game and the entire Super Bowl experience for the reasons I outlined last week. But I want more than that too...

I want the Cardinals to win Super Bowl XLIII. I want them to win big. I want Kurt Warner to play a game so great that he can enter retirement if he wishes with no regrets. I want Larry Fitzgerald to further cement his status as the best receiver in the NFL currently. I want Anquan Boldin to play so well and to contribute so much that no one talks about his shouting match on the sideline during the NFC championship game anymore. I want Edgerrin James to score a touchdown or two and to earn the first ring that he won on the field. I want to see Terrelle Smith play in the Super Bowl in honor of his deceased parents and watch him deliver crushing blocks to break open long runs for Edgerrin James. I want Steve Breaston to emerge on the national stage, leaving fear in the hearts of everyone who think the Cardinals will take a step back if the team has to trade Boldin in the offseason.

I want Adrian Wilson and Bertrand Berry to become household names for their starring roles in a dominant performance by the Cardinals defense. I want to see Calais Campbell see the field enough to make a meaningful contribution. I want to see Antrel Rolle remind everyone of why he was such a high draft pick with a long return of an interception. I want Rod Hood to remind the Eagles why they shouldn't have let him go. I want Travis LaBoy to get healthy enough to make a contribution to the game. I want to see Darnell Dockett, Karlos Dansby, and Chike Okeafor excel.

While it would be cool to see Ben Graham become the first Australian play in the Super Bowl, I hope he never sees the field because the Cardinals never need his punting services.

As you can tell, I hope the Cardinals win in a blowout. They're invited to the biggest party there is in football. They might as well have a good time. I hope the Cardinals game plan is aggressive from the beginning and that they never let up. I hope the Cardinals win going away.

The Steelers and the media have talked about how none of that will happen. The Steelers -- led by Troy Polamalu -- have talked about how this Steelers defense may be not only the greatest Steelers defense ever, but the best defense in the NFL in more than a generation. It's a little early for the coronation ceremony. As Denny Green might say, "If you want to crown them... go ahead." But I don't think the current version of the Cardinals is going to let the Steelers off the hook if they have the chance.

I feel like I've been on the Steelers side of this in the past. When I cheered for the Miami Hurricanes in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl (National Championship game against Penn State) and the 2003 Fiesta Bowl (National Championship game against Ohio State) all of the pre-game talk was about how great the Canes were, how undermanned the opponent was, and where the Canes would rank in history once the game was officially decided.

Well, the Canes lost both games. It was devestating. In both cases Miami under-estimated their opponent (as did the media). It sure feels like that's what's happening with this Super Bowl.

If you solely consider statistics and history, the Cardinals shouldn't take the field. That's true. But football games aren't played inside your television. They're not played in computer simulations. And they're not played by emotionless robots that execute their skills perfectly in all situations.

Football is played by men with emotions and injuries. Given that, I'll take the Cardinals this Sunday. And if they win, I think they'll win big: Cardinals 34, Steelers 20.

Kurt Warner and the Hall of Fame

2009-01-28T09:25:00.004-05:00

The Cardinals recent success has increased the talk of Kurt Warner's chances to make the Hall of Fame. It's an interesting discussion. Kurt's NFL career has been only two things: 1) great or 2) underwhelming.

The latter is what folks use to make the case against Kurt's enshrinement in the Hall of Fame, regardless of the outcome of Sunday's game or Kurt's performance in it.

One key fact is often overlooked in the discussion: Kurt's sucess in the Arena Football League.

How is that relevant? Well, we're talking about the Pro Football Hall of Fame. There is no NFL Hall of Fame. The voting is just tied into the NFL and the Super Bowl because traditionally the best pro football players have been in the NFL (at least for the past 50 years).

It's also quite convenient that the entry criteria for the Pro Football Hall of Fame is very vague. If you've ever heard Peter King talk or write about the subject, you probably walked away more confused than you were at the beginning of the conversation. I suppose that's how the voters maintain their job security: confusion.

But that's not fair to Kurt Warner. Not only is he a two time NFL Most Valuable Player, Super Bowl champion, and Super Bowl MVP, but he has also been named one of the top 20 Arena League Players of all time.

Sure, Kurt's Hall of Fame credentials are not helped by NFL longevity. But his periods of greatness are virtually unmatched. His Arena League accomplishments are noteworthy. And his off the field story (obstacles he overcame to make it to the league) at least equal the story of anyone else in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Regardless of the outcome of Sunday's game, Kurt Warner deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

It's Super Bowl Week!

2009-01-26T08:45:00.004-05:00

After more than three years since there's been any levity on this blog (or cause for it), here's some light-hearted fun... Yes, it's only Monday, but I can hardly contain myself. Hopefully I make it through the week.

The Cardinals will be en route to Tampa soon. Here are some tidbits to tide you over until the insanity of media day starts tomorrow and the rest of the Super Bowl Week insanity starts:

Adrian Wilson will be the star of media day. Of all the elite safeties in the NFL, Adrian Wilson receives the least media atttention. Troy Polumalu and Ed Reed receive most of the headlines. But Adrian Wilson should at least be in the discussion of great safeties in the league. In addition to that, Wilson typically provides an entertaining interview and he's recently intimated that he's been saving his best for the Super Bowl stage.

The Cardinals last World Championship came in 1947, which was also the year that Jackie Robinson broke the color line in Major League Baseball. In 2008, Barack Obama became the first black man to be elected President of the United States, breaking another color line; Obama was inaugurated as President in January of 2009. The Arizona Cardinals won their first division title in over 30 years in 2008; they will play for the World Championship this weekend.

In 12 Cardinals wins this season (including playoffs, natch), the Cardinals have 30 more takeaways than giveaways (i.e. a turnover ratio of +30 -- or nearly 3 per game). In their 7 losses, the turnover ratio is -17 (more than -2 per game). The Cardinals lost the turnover battle in every game they lost this year. They won the turnover battle in every game they won (other than one -- against the Dolphins -- where there were no turnovers in the game). It's stating the obvious, but the Cardinals need to win the turnover battle to win the game.

The turnover battle is not usually close in Cardinals games. In 14 of 19 games this season, the Cardinals have had two more or two fewer turnovers than their opponent. In only five games was the differential within one turnover.

The rumor is that each team will have nine players on a podium at Tuesday's media day. While I've always paid attention to media day, I've never paid enough attention to count the "key" participants from each team. Here are my guesses for who the 9 Cardinals will be: Guarantees: 1) Kurt Warner, 2) Larry Fitzgerald, 3) Anquan Boldin; Almost Guaranteed: 4) Bertrand Berry, 5) Adrian Wilson, 6) Darnell Dockett, 7) Edgerrin James; Questionable: 8) Antrel Rolle, 9) Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie, 10) Tim Hightower, 11) Steve Breaston, 12) Karlos Dansby.

The Steelers are appearing in their 7th Super Bowl. They are 5-1 in previous appearances. Their lone loss came in white jerseys in a game played in Arizona. The Steelers will wear white jerseys and face a team from Arizona this year.

The Cardinals have never lost a Super Bowl.

If the Cardinals manage to win Sunday's Super Bowl they will have a winning record all-time in the NFL post-season. Really.

It's still sinking in.

Lagniappe

2009-01-19T11:02:00.004-05:00

We’re putting the blog back together. ^[1]

After a hiatus of more than three years, The Book of Mike is back.

What’s the impetus? The Arizona Cardinals and their improbable run through the playoffs.

I’ve been on the fence about resuscitating the blog and writing this post for a few weeks now. I’d held off because I didn’t want to “jinx” the Cardinals playoff run. Sure, I could theoretically “jinx” the team’s Super Bowl chances now, but I’m not worried about it.

The Cardinals are in the Super Bowl and that’s unbelievable. Whatever happens at this point is lagniappe. Actually, it’s been lagniappe since kick off of the divisional round game against the Panthers. More than that, it means a lot to me personally, for a variety of reasons.

Now I just hope I don’t embarrass myself too much in trying to tell the story (I probably will, as I haven’t written much in a long time – and that’s part of the reason why I need to bring the blog back: so that I write and do a better job of expressing myself. That’s a story for another day).

Now that my recent lack of writing and how difficult it will likely be to read this lengthy entry has been addressed, I will admit something else: Yes, I know that I have attached too much meaning to sports throughout my life.

In the case of the Cardinals and their current run though, the meaning I’m attaching to it all feels different. Much of what’s so special to me about the Cardinals doesn’t take place on the field. My Cardinals fandom is more about the relationships I’ve built, hope to build, and wish I could have built than it is about any product on the field. What happens on the field is usually an afterthought (although maybe that will change if they keep winning).

With that said, let’s jump into the middle of the story, because that’s the least logical place to begin (which is befitting of a story of the Cardinals, isn’t it?)…

The Cardinals moved to Arizona in 1988, right around the time I turned 11 (the Cardinals regular season debut in the desert took place two days before my birthday; I still own the #30 Stump Mitchell jersey that was part of that year’s birthday haul – although the size medium no longer fits me).

Originally the team renamed itself the Phoenix Cardinals. That was kind of fun, since a phoenix is a bird, like a cardinal. My dad and I talked about how we wished the team had renamed itself the Phoenix Phoenix, or even better (so we thought at the time) as simply the Phoenix – using the name of the new “home town” (well, no Cardinals game ever actually took place in Phoenix, as games were originally in Tempe and are now in Glendale) as both the location and nickname of the team.

In hindsight, I’m glad the team didn’t change its nickname. Cardinals not only fits, but it helps to tie together a lot of other things in my life.

First, it ties me to my grandfather (my mother’s father) in some way. I never had the opportunity to know my grandfather well (at least in terms of memories that stick with me as an adult). My family moved from Chicago when I was 7 and my grandfather died just after I turned 12 (during the Cardinals second season in Arizona). I knew my grandfather. We visited him in Chicago after we moved and we saw him plenty when we lived in Illinois. While I didn’t know my grandfather well, I like to think that we both enjoy a Cardinals game.

What I didn’t know back then was that my grandfather was a Cardinals fan. A Chicago Cardinals fan to be more exact. While it’s long forgotten, there was a time when Chicago’s football alliances were split much like its baseball alliances. In baseball you had the White Sox and the Cubs. In football you had the Cardinals and the Bears.

Given all of the migration from greater Chicago to metro Phoenix, I’m sure I’m not alone in this, but I consider myself a 3rd generation Cardinals fan. No, we don’t really have a link to the team in St. Louis. But that’s okay. My grandfather was a Cardinals fan. My father took me to Cardinals games from the time the team moved to Arizona until I left for college. And despite the Cardinals ineptitude, we could always find something to talk about with the Red Birds.

I will always remember the game against the 49ers in the Cardinals first season. It was the first game that the Cardinals taught me to hope. The 49ers were defending Super Bowl champions and had a roster full of future Hall of Famers like Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, and Ronnie Lott. Not surprisingly, the 49ers staked themselves to a 23-0 lead. But the Cardinals made a tremendous comeback and ultimately won the game, 24-23.

Cardinals fans, my dad and I included – from the first row of the upper deck in the North end zone – celebrated by throwing cups (mostly the souvenir plastic kind) throughout the stadium. It was years before souvenir cups returned to Cardinals games.

After that 49ers game, the Cardinals lost each of their remaining games that season. They finished 7-9. It was disappointing at the time. But given what would come over the next two decades, it was a pretty good season. We just didn’t know it at the time. Plus, with all the flashes of brilliance from the likes of Neil Lomax, Roy Green, Stump Mitchell and the rest, there was hope.

The Cardinals always gave you hope.

Even if they turned around immediately afterward and took it away.

More than just providing (fleeting) hope, the Cardinals played a big part in giving me bonding time with my father when I was young. Dad always bought season tickets (first in the upper deck of the end zone and later in the South end zone). We always tailgated before the games (usually in the armory just southwest of the stadium). My love of tailgating definitely comes from those tailgates. While the outcome on the field was usually not what we wanted, we always had a great time.

As a sports fanatic throughout my life, the Cardinals were the only one of “my teams” (other than the Suns – who I mostly watched and listened to, but didn’t attend live very often) that I was able to see live with regularity (the White Sox, my first love, were far away after we moved). Once the Cardinals came to Arizona, they were a staple in my life. Even since I’ve moved, they’ve stayed that way, even if they’ve been difficult to follow (that’s what happens when you win less than six games per year, on average).

To help alleviate some of that “difficulty” my wife has encouraged me to get a DirecTV subscription and to buy the NFL Sunday Ticket package. Accounting for all of the things we would “need”, the total package and set up would cost over $500. I haven’t been able to justify that investment to myself.

Sticking with my wife’s side of the story for a moment, it has always struck me that cardinals (the birds, not the team) were important to my wife and her parents (who passed away before my wife and I came into each other’s life). In some way I’ve always felt like my love of the NFL’s Cardinals connects me to her family’s love of actual cardinals and what the birds represent symbolically:

“As we observe the cardinal…we are reminded that even when things appear bleak or isolated, there is always the presence of beauty, hope, and love.”

While it’s often gone unrewarded, that is – in one simple sentence – what I have taken from the Cardinals on the field over the years. Most importantly “hope” has stuck with me.

And this season, more any other before it, has re-taught me hope. This year I’ve had my hope renewed (more than once, actually, given the late season swoon). I’ve been reminded that it’s good to dream. You may need patience, but dreams and hopes and wishes really do come true sometimes. Even if they don’t (or it they take longer to come to be than you’d hoped) you can still have fun along the way.

I’ve had my fun along the way with the Cardinals. But now they’re realizing things that are bigger than I had ever hoped or dreamed of. They’re going to the Super Bowl.

Before I wrap this up, I have to explain how my mother a role in the story too... it’s the venue: Raymond James Stadium.

My mother spent her last years in Tampa and she sometimes said that she would like to see a game at Raymond James. She wasn’t a Buccaneers fan; she wanted to see the giant pirate ship, with its cannons that fire with each score, in the end zone.

So here we are – fast approaching Super Bowl XLIII, starring my Arizona Cardinals. The game takes place at Raymond James Stadium, which is a mere four hour drive from my house.

Given that the Cardinals managed one playoff win in my grandfather’s lifetime and just one win in my mother’s lifetime (and neither of them saw a playoff win during the overlapping part of their lifetimes), I’m not too confident that the Cardinals will be back to this mega-stage anytime soon.

So I’m going to the Super Bowl. Laura and I have tickets, in the “pirate ship” end zone no less. We’ll see the Cardinals play in their first ever Super Bowl. Hopefully we’ll be sprayed with confetti from one of the stadium’s cannons as the Cardinals celebrate a championship on the field.

No matter the outcome, it’s more than a game to me. Actually, it’s not about the game at all. The game is lagniappe.

I can’t wait.

Over Time...

2005-12-20T22:24:00.000-05:00

Then:

Now:

In Memory Of

2005-11-28T22:40:00.000-05:00

Many of you who are here reading this already know the sad news. For those of you who are here looking for new baseball or Canes content, I don't have any today. My mother passed away on Friday, her 56th birthday, of a heart attack. She was in good health and we were all shocked. Actually, we're all still in shock.

(If you'd like to save that picture, just right click on it and select "Save Image As". Once you do that you'll be able to save the picture just like any other file on your computer. If you click on the picture first and then right click on it after you get to the next screen, you'll be able to save a larger version of the picture.)

Eventually I'll have more to say but I know that at this point I won't be able to write anything that does her any justice so I won't even try.

For the time being, I'll just leave this: I know that some folks will be stopping by here to find out about the funeral and memorial. I don't have all of those details yet. But if you were thinking of sending flowers or anything like that, please consider making a donation instead in Mom's name to one of her favorite chairities:

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
332 N. Lauderdale
Memphis, TN 38105
(901) 495-3300

Sinsinawa Dominicans (Donation info)
585 Country Road Z
Sinsinawa, WI 53824-9700
develop@sinsinawa.org
(888) 887-6193

Getting TECHnical

2005-11-18T09:18:00.001-05:00

There's a big football game scheduled this weekend for Georgia Tech and Miami. This game was originally scheduled to take place a month ago, but was delayed because of the looming threat of Hurricane Wilma (which eventually hit South Florida and did plenty of damage, but not until well after the game was originally scheduled to be played).

Aside from avoiding the potential safety issues, the delay was originally viewed by both teams as a largely positive thing. Both teams were dealing with some significant injuries at the time, most notably to their starting quarterbacks. Coaches at both schools felt that the change in schedule would allow both quarterbacks time to recover, which would allow both teams to be closer to full strength when they met.

That may end up happening, but plenty of intrigue, despite Georgia Tech's tumble out of the rankings and Miami's steady ascent, has been added to the game.

Earlier this week a profanity laced and sexually explicit song, featuring at least one current Miami football player, found its way to the Internet. The song was originally posted by a blogger/UM undergrad, but he has since heavily edited all of his posts related to the matter, so I'm not even going to bother linking to him (while I'm not disappointed in the young man for having posted the content, I am disappointed in him for having run from the issue now that it has received significant attention. Anyone who posted that information in the first place should have known that it could have turned into a significant story, particularly when a major media outlet contacted you about the story you wrote).

That's where the "story" part of the song "scandal" comes in. ESPN ran with it late on Wednesday and throughout the day on Thursday. The story is here. The editorial is here. The furor seems to have died down already, although Dan LeBatard is doing his best to make sure that you remember his name and don't just associate him with being just a little too close to Ricky Williams.

You can get all worked up about it if you want. The lyrics in the song are pretty shocking, even to someone who listens to a variety of mainstream rap and hip-hop. But don't kid yourself or make this into something that it isn't. And don't try to pretend that this stuff isn't going on elsewhere, whether their is music behind it or not. Most of the time, fortunately for most of us who like to believe in the myths and fairy tales that make sports an entertaining refuge from "real" life, this type of behavior doesn't make it to the surface. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't happen. And it doesn't mean it only happens at Miami. It doesn't mean that what's expressed in the song happens everywhere, but you're kidding yourself if you don't think this happens and if you don't think this happens pretty regularly at a lot of places. I'm done trying to say what I think about it. It's much ado about nothing. And besides that, the Mighty MJD sums it up better than I do.

The real issues are at Georgia Tech, although you'd hardly know it from reading or watching the news. Not only was Georgia Tech put on probation this week (for violations in football and other sports), but one of their players (defensive back Reuben Houston) was reinstated by a judge, making him eligible to play this weekend, despite a recent drug trafficking conviction.

Despite that Houston was convicted for possessing $60,000 worth of marijuana, which he apparently intended to distrbute, he'll play some college football this weekend. Some football players, from the other sideline, who may have rapped about various sex acts (it's not clear exactly who was on the recording, although a number of the participants are likely current Canes). If any/all of that bothers you, feel free to use it when you choose a rooting interest in this game.

For me, I think the more noteworthy news is that Miami playmaker Devin Hester will not play (due to a hamstring issue), nor will special teams standout and backup linebacker Willie Williams (also struggling with a hamstring issue).

The Canes will also be wearing Nike "revolution" jerseys (green jerseys with one orange sleeve - like Virginia Tech and Florida have worn in recent weeks) this weekend with green pants. For the fashion set, that might be the most noteworthy thing of all about this game.

Are we supposed to be impressed?

2005-11-16T11:48:00.000-05:00

The best thing that's come out of MLB's new steroid policy is that Senators like John McCain and Jim Bunning can actually go back to being Senators. The grandstanding, at least with regards to baseball, should now be over. Or at least it will be over soon, once they're all done patting each other on the back.

Yes, the penalties are stiffer. Great. Yes, they're going to test for amphetamines. That's good - they have been a problem for decades.

There's a lot not to be excited about though, and that's not being talked about. We're still dealing with urine based tests here and the samples aren't being kept. Many performance enhancing drugs can't be detected through today's urine tests. The threat of athletes circumventing this could be solved in one of two ways: either retaining the urine for future testing or using something more sophisticated than a urine test (i.e. a blood sample). The players union isn't going to agree to either of those things.

That means that players can continue to use substances like human growth hormone and the future generations of The Cream and The Clear (of Victor Conte fame). About a year ago, Conte said that the drugs involved in his Balco scandal were at least two generations old. At this point, the drugs that they have tests to detect are even more outdated. The athletes are well ahead of the testing. At this point, anyone who gets caught testing positive for steroids is an idiot and should be suspended, if only for their stupidity.

Regardless, don't get worked up or start feeling good about the new testing policy. Baseball isn't any cleaner today than it was yesterday. This is a little bit (granted, this is going to be a weak analogy) like regulating guns. Those that don't really know what they're doing or who want to abide by the rules, won't due steroids (or posess guns illegally). Those that know what they're doing will continue to use more powerful and less detectable performance enhancing drugs (just like criminals will continue to have whatever kinds of guns they want - regardless of the laws and potential repurcussions). Don't kid yourself.

The Classic Let Down Game

2005-11-11T09:54:00.000-05:00

The Canes are riding high after a win over then third ranked Virginia Tech last weekend. This weekend they play a rescheduled (due to Hurricane something-or-other) game against Wake Forest this weekend up in Winston-Salem.

It's a classic trap game for the Canes, who now have hopes--at least from the outside looking in--to play for the national title. To get there, the Canes will likely need a loss from two of these three teams: Alabama, USC, and Texas. Oh - and the Canes will have to win this weekend. The latter part is the part that we hope the Canes remember.

On paper, tomorrow's game is one that the Canes should win, and one that they should win easily. That's fortunate, because they'll be playing without at least three starters: Tyrone Moss at RB, Devin Hester, and DL Brian Pata. None of those three players will make the trip to Wake Forest. Despite the injuries, the Canes should still roll by three or more touchdowns. If they don't, talk of Pasadena reservations may have been premature.

Keys to the game:
Charlie Jones will be the Canes featured running back. He was exceptional against Virginia Tech and I expect another big game out of him this weekend. The key area of interest in the Canes backfield will be who emerges as the number two runningback for the rest of the year. Derron Thomas has been behind Jones all year on the depth chart, but speedy Andrew Johnson may eclipse Thomas. Quad Hill, normally the Canes fullback, may also start to see more carries.

My hope is that Johnson emerges as the number two back. That would provide the Canes with a between-the-tackles back (Jones) and an every carry touchdown threat (Johnson). Johnson is still recovering from a knee injury though, so only time will tell if he still has it.

Another key to the game will be Darnell Jenkins. Few opponents fear Jenkins at this point, and that could work in the Canes favor. Despite facing another excellent punter, Jenkins, who I expect to be the featured punt returner, will have some opportunities to shine. Jenkins' development this week could be key, especially if Hester tires during games down the stretch. If The U can replace Hester with another game breaker (as they were able to do when needed last year with Roscoe Parrish), it will be of great benefit.

Jenkins is also emerging as one of the Canes top receivers. Despite the hype that Lance Leggett, Ryan Moore, and Sinorice Moss receive, Jenkins is a solid receiver. He runs good routes, catches passes, and is a good blocker. He's already emerging as a top receiver on the team and his elevated role on special teams (with Hester out) should raise his profile even further.

My third key to the game is the defense. Yes, they've played great all year, particularly in the past five games. Tomorrow's game will be another test for them though. Wake's offense is one-dimensional (they have a very good ground game), but the Canes should be able to contain that. The test for the Canes comes from their ability to maintain focus and interest in the game. After the triple overtime thriller in Death Valley against Clemson earlier this year, Brandon Merriweather commented that the defense lost interest in the game when the Canes seemingly had it in hand. That attitude/lack of focus almost cost the Canes the game. Miami could overcome that this week against Wake Forest, but if the Canes really have championship hopes they won't allow that to happen. Instead they'll take advantage of a weaker opponent and win handily.

Canes - Hokies Preview

2005-11-05T09:40:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I'm late in getting this posted. But here it is. I'll focus on what I think the keys to the game will be.

1. People will talk about how the noise at Lane Stadium will affect the Canes. I know that it will be loud. It was loud in 2003 and it will be louder this year, as the stadium is bigger, and partially enclosed in the end zone. Still, the Canes opened on the road with a night game against Florida State followed by another road game against Clemson. I really doubt that Lane Stadium is going to be any louder than it was in Death Valley, especially during the 4th quarter and overtime.

2. Containing Marcus Vick - over the past four or five years, the only weakness of the Canes defense has been their ability to limit the scrambling of mobile quarterbacks. So far this year the Canes haven't faced any, and the defense has been nearly impenitrible. This is a big first test for the Canes. How well they contain Vick's ground game will go a long way towards who wins this game. Vick could run for a lot of yards, but I don't see him throwing for much. If he throws for more than one touchdown, I'll be shocked.

3. Non-offensive scoring - the Canes and the Hokies are perrenial leaders in non-offensive scoring. This year is no different. Both teams have defenses that can score at any moment and special teams play is always exciting for both squads. The big question in my mind is Devin Hester and the Canes punt returns. So far this year the Canes haven't set up a traditional return at all. The plan has been to let on or two opposing gunners (the first guys down the field) to get past the Miami defenders and right in front of Hester before he catches the punt. Against the likes of Duke and Temple, Hester dances away from the gunners and then has fewer men to beat. That strategy likely won't work against Va Tech, but I don't think the Canes will employ it. I expect to see some returns set up that the Hokies haven't seen on film. That could be interesting.

A blocked kick could be huge in this game.

4. Miami's offensive line - the run blocking has generally been good all year. The pass blocking hasn't been. If Miami is one dimensional, the Hokies will feast.

5. Miami throwing the deep ball - Somewhat related to the previous point, but a little different too: even when Kyle Wright has had time, he has struggled at times (although it may be more due to his hand injury than anything) completing passes on deeper routes. If he's able to complete those balls today, the explosive Miami offense that folks are used to seeing could be back. That's a big if.

6. Devin Hester - I mentioned Hester before, but aside from special teams, he could have a big impact on this game. Devin's not likely to see the field on defense, as others (true freshman) have passed him on the depth chart. That frees him up to see more snaps on offense. In 2003 it backfired, but Coker busted the playbook open (reverses, trick plays, etc). With Hester in the offense, that could make things interesting. Devin also lined up at tailback for a half-dozen or so plays last week against North Carolina. If nothing else that provides a major change of pace for the Hokies, who will likely be used to Tyrone Moss's power game by the time they see Hester.

___________________________

I'm really not sure what to expect tonight, but I think it should be a great game. Va Tech has played a relatively light schedule so far this year. They have beaten Boston College, but Miami poses their stiffest test of the year. The Canes played two tough games early, but have coasted since (partly because of the Ga Tech postponement due to weather).

No prediction from me. I'm not sure if this is going to be a close game or a lopsided affair (and if it's lopsided, I'm not sure who it will favor). Actually, I can't see it being a lopsided game in the Hokies favor. The Canes have only lost one game in the Coker-era (and you'd even have to go a ways back into the Butch Davis-era) where Miami wasn't winning or had a chance to win up until the last play/possession. That one game, of course, was against Va Tech in 2003 (the last time the two teams met in Blacksburg), but I just don't see the Canes getting blown out tonight.

Go Canes!

Just About Back

2005-10-30T09:45:00.000-05:00

Yay! My power came back late Thursday night. After my three-and-a-half days without electricity, I've found a new appreciation for electricity. That, like a lot of other things, is something that I've just come to take for granted over the years.

I was even able to buy gasoline this morning without having to wait in line. That's probably something that we all take for granted too, but it hasn't been a given in Miami this week. In some parts of town there are still lines for gas - lines that can stretch from a few blocks to a few miles.

The curfew is still in effect around town, but it's been extended from 8 PM to 11 PM or midnight. Still, I haven't ventured out much at night, mostly because (at least until this morning) it didn't seem like it was going to be possible to refuel the car.

The grocery stores are coming back to life too. There's fresh meat, baked goods and fruit/vegetables. The frozen sections are being restocked. Up until late yesterday, there was mostly only canned foods and beer to be had. Yeah, that sounds fun, but even that gets old after a time.

I don't have any television service yet, but I have pretty much everything else. Actually, I can't even get someone on the phone to come out and take a look at my satellite dish (or to help me find wherever it might be now). Hopefully that will get worked out eventually. Regardless, I don't really care too much at this point. Baseball season is over and I'm not finding myself missing television all that much.

I went to the Canes game at the Orange Bowl yesterday. That was an experience. There were only about 30,000 people there, for what was to be homecoming. But, all things considered, that was a pretty good crowd. It was definitely a loud crowd. It was a weird experience though. There was visible damage to the scoreboard and a few sections of seating. Part of the fence that keeps people out of the stadium was also lost. The most unusual thing of all was that one light tower (on the North side of the stadium) was completely missing. Wilma took that with her I guess.

Oh, and the Canes won. Big deal. I don't think anyone really cares at this point. It was just nice to do something different for a few hours and not be reminded about the Hurricane, gas lines, and the like (despite the fact the the Canes are the Canes and that they were wearing hurricane warning flags on their helmets).

It almost feels like normal here in Miami now. That's pretty good.

Wilma Took My Power! The Day Three Recap

2005-10-27T08:04:00.000-05:00

Still no power. FPL says it may take until 11/22. I'm optimistic that things will be back to normal before then. So far they've already restored power to 1/3 of all the people in Dade County. Last time (post-Katrina) I was one of the first people to get power back. The order of restoration seems to be different this time - I think because the damage in some places was more severe.

It's really weird. This whole thing is surreal. Not only do I not have power (and barely have water) but the White Sox won the World Series last night. I listened to the whole thing on the radio, but it still hasn't sunk in. It's a lot like how I keep flipping on light switches in my house, expecting lights to come on; I just can't comprehend that the Sox won the World Series (just like I can't comprehend that the lights really aren't going to come on).

The non-baseball "highlight" of the day came in the cafeteria yesterday, when I put out a small fire. Two young girls were ahead of me in line (there parents were nowhere in site). They were fascinated by the sterno that was heating up some food. One girl placed a napkin in the sterno (I didn't see this). Someone behind me noticed that it was on fire. I pulled the napkin out and stomped on it until the fire was out, but it was exciting to say the least. Weird stuff in a weird day.

Other than that, some normalcy returned around town. Grocery stores and drug stores reopened, if only partially. They're mostly running on generators. Nowhere is open later than 6 PM, so that workers have time to get home before curfew. The curfew is weird, but it's necessary because it's so dark that it would be easy to commit a crime and/or hurt yourself.

Enough rambling from me for now. Hopefully things will be back to normal tomorrow (except for the White Sox part - that unusual truth can stay).

Wilma Took My Power! The Day Two Recap

2005-10-26T07:27:00.000-05:00

Last night I perfected my re-heating pizza on a barbecue grill skills. It was truly a site to behold. In addition to that, I warmed up some bbq-chicken that I'd grilled last night. This feast, along with some fresh fruit that's in danger of going bad, was served under candlelight outside on my balcony. If it wasn't borderline depressing, it would be kind of fun. In reality, it was some of both.

So, there's still no power. Thankfully it's still cool in Miami. That makes the lack of power tolerable. I'm not sure how long that will last though.

There's some running water in my apartment now too. That's a tremendous luxury. Another good fortune is that I don't have to boil the water. Throughout Broward County (Ft. Lauderdale) and Miami Beach (my old home), you have to boil the water. I hope those folks filled up their washing machines and their bathtubs. If not, I'd imagine that it's hard to boil water without any power.

Here's the message I got from FPL about power restoration:

FPL is aware of the widespread power outages in your area and we are working to quickly restore your service.

Due to Hurricane Wilma, power restoration may take longer than usual.

This is today's update as Florida recovers from Wilma. Damage assessments continue, and based on what we know so far and on the ability to get additional out-of-state crews:

95 percent of customers will be restored by November 15th. The rest will be restored by November 22nd. Specific restoration dates for counties in South Florida and the Treasure coast will be announced on Wednesday's evening news and FPL.com.

We know being without electricity can be an inconvenience. We are working hard to restore your power as quickly and safely as possible. Thank you for your patience.

November 15th? November 22nd? That's like... a long time from now. Wow. Hopefully the update this evening will be encouraging. There's a small neighborhood less than a quarter of a mile away from me that has power.

My Hurricane Wilma Pictures

2005-10-25T14:31:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures I took around town yesterday (I know that most people prefer to see the pictures directly, but they're too large for the page and I'm having trouble sizing them):

This doesn't look like much of a picture (the light is from the flash), but it's the view from my apartment during some of the worst of the storm. It doesn't look like much came out, but that's honestly what it looked like outside at the time. You couldn't make out anything.

I took this picture during a relative lull in the action. Those white things that you see hiding out near the water are ibises (ibes?). Yes - the birds that the University of Miami uses to represent their mascot. We're always told about how brave the ibis is, since it's the last to leave before a hurricane and the first to return after a storm. Given that this picture was taken during the storm, I'm afraid to say that the ibis may just be dumb, as they rode out the storm without protection. Folks might think they leave late and return early, but in reality they may stick around all the time.

A sideways view of the second half of the storm, which was far less intense for me. I took this picture from outside on the balcony.

A normal looking shot from the same angle

The view slightly to the right of the previous two pictures (this looks somewhat Northeast). I thought I was taking a picture of a mini-tornado at the time. With the movement in the water you could almost see them forming. Fortunately, they never got going.

A view to the East. Normally you can see the Orange Bowl and the downtown skyline from this view.

NW 7th Street near LeJeune. Low hanging street lights like this were (and still are) a common sight around town. This picture was taken around 1:30 yesterday, just after the storm passed.

Typical Burger King. This one is at NW 7th and Douglas. Note that the large rectangular portion of the sign (where the BK logo should be) faces a different direction than the smaller rectangular portion below it. Normally these two pieces should line up.

Walgreen's signage. Another typical sight. This is the Walgreen's on 27th Ave and Flagler.

Some shops on 27th Ave and Calle Ocho lost all of their windows. This is a furniture store. Everything looked pretty ruined.

Same shop - more towards the corner. There were a lot of stores with broken windows. Those without store owners or workers were being guarded by police.

Another shot of the store. You can see through to 8th Street (Calle Ocho).

Outside Cocowalk. I went to visit a friend in the Grove. We went to look for food. We saw a stranded car (due to driver stupidity - not the storm) and lots of debris. This is just outside Victoria's Secret at Cocowalk.

More Cocowalk. Another Fat Tuesday's sees an ugly fate. You might be able to make out a television suspended from the ceiling, which seemed to be ok.

Another view of Cocowalk. Security wouldn't let us pass through - they said stuff was still falling.

Our intended destination. Senor Frog's on Main Highway never closes. Never. This is the first time in my decade in Miami that this place has been closed. This was an ominous sign.

A boat finds itself in the parking lot. This sailboat has to be at least 30-feet long. It's well into the parking lot in the Grove.

Some idiot from Channel 6 (NBC) prepares to do a shot with the boat. Note that the newsperson is wearing shorts. You always have to wonder what those people are really wearing when you see them on TV.

A view of the marina in the Grove. Normally there would be a lot of boats here. Note the masts. Many boats didn't survive the storm.

The boat in the parking lot wasn't the only one to suffer that fate. These just didn't make it as far.

These boats didn't sink. But they came loose from their moorings. It may have been fortunate that they ran into this island (not far from shore).

Hopefully the folks with the stranded boats aren't planning on calling SeaTow. Their boat sank too.

This mini-van was not far from the sunken sailboats. Hopefully this person's boat survived.

This is a full-size van on its side on top of a Camaro. This is on 14th and West on South Beach - just across the street from where I used to live.

And here's where I used to live. I was in the building on the left (the van is just to the right of this picture). The building looked ok, but getting in and out will be a mess.

Heading back to the Grove, we found this tree taking up the road. Someone was kind enough to nail a stop sign to the tree. That's a power line under the tree. We had no where to go but under the tree. Luckily the car (barely) made it. Such fun.

Major thanks to Craig for helping me to get these pictures posted! Thanks, Craig!

We Interrupt This World Series to Bring You Hurricane Wilma

2005-10-25T09:31:00.000-05:00

Barley twenty-four hours ago my focus was on the White Sox and the World Series. I wasn’t a happy camper when my television signal went out and I wasn’t able to watch the game. I followed along on the radio – and what an exciting game it was. I still haven’t seen highlights of the game. I suppose that I will soon enough. Maybe I won’t though. A lot of the basics of modern life that we take for granted aren’t a given right now. 2% of the people in town have electricity right now. You can count the number of open gas stations or open food stores on one hand. Trying to find an open restaurant is a hopeless effort. There’s even an 8 PM curfew in effect – for everyone. It’s really weird. All of that will probably keep me from seeing the game for some time.

Waking up this morning was the weird part. Yesterday morning, the storm was going on. There was no sleeping through it. The wind and the rain pounded away at the windows. The howl of the wind, which sounded like a train surrounding you continuously, was pretty much everywhere.

This morning was different though. It was quiet, peaceful, and tranquil. The doors and windows were open all night, so that some air would circulate. The only noises to be heard were from the frogs down near the (normally there anyway - storm or not) water.

But upon waking up, reality sets back in. There are places to be and things to do. You’re supposed to have a normal day today. But the light switch isn’t working. The refrigerator is warm. No water is coming out of the faucet – not even water that the county might insist that you boil somehow (you know, without power).

So you need a shower. Luckily there are plenty of supplies. That a shower requires cups, candles, and flashlights is weird. There’s plenty of improvising from there, but I’ll spare you.

Driving around town is weird too. Most of the major roadways have been cleared – by the people, like me, who went out and about yesterday. There are police officers in the major intersections now too. That’s a huge help, as hardly anyone in town (despite having had many occasions to learn the rules and to practice them) understands that when the traffic signals are out, intersections become four way stops for everyone. Sadly, it seems, few folks adhere to this because most folks are in a hurry and/or more important than everyone else. What a pain.

The fun and excitement was yesterday though. First the storm wailed and howled. I really thought that the windows, particularly in the living room, were going to come in. You could see them bending in an out from across the room. Then the power went out. I figured we were done for awhile. Then the power came back. The worst of the storm had passed by then and there was power. I figured I’d have power the rest of the way. I was elated. The house had stopped swaying (it does that by design, as all modern high-rises do, but it’s still disconcerting to hide out in your closet and to see your clothes swinging around and banging into your wall) and there was power. Everything was looking good.

Then the backside of the storm came. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the front end, despite what the weather people had told us to expect. I suppose that may be because it was pounding the other side of my building. I went outside and took some pictures on my balcony during this point in the storm. I had wanted to do this earlier, but it just wasn’t possible. Then the power went out. This time for good.

There’s still no power. There might not be any power for up to a month. We will see. Last time this happened, during Katrina, my power came back within a day, after they’d warned us that it could take a week for power to be restored.

Amazingly, the one thing that worked throughout the storm was text messaging. Not cell phone service – which was, at best, iffy all day, if it worked at all (it seemed to vary wildly depending on your carrier and location). People began texting each other before 7 am, when the storm was already going strong. I sent a friend an invite to meet at Denny’s for breakfast. Another friend on Miami Beach invited people over to his house, where he said he’d be hosting an outdoor breakfast. It’s all a sick form of humor that helps you get through a pretty stressful situation. There was obviously no going out for breakfast at that time. At that point, everyone was just hoping that the outside wouldn’t be brought inside.

Then the eye of the storm passed, or we got some sort of a respite. I’m really not sure what it was. Regardless it was a break, but anyone listening to the radio or television, or who had read the paper (and speaking of the paper – they delivered on Monday morning, but there was no late news or sports, so what’s the point?) knew that the storm wasn’t over yet. Still some fools were out on the roads driving around. I hope they made it back to their homes safe and sound. I could see at least one car that didn’t make it back home. They ran off the side of the road and got some of the first emergency attention that I saw after the storm broke.

After the quiet period ended, the storm picked back up. From my perspective at least, it was much less intense. I wandered outside and took the storm in. There were even some birds outside, which I thought was reassuring; if the animals were comfortable being around, it must not have been as bad as it seemed.

Even though it was a little calmer now, clouds and wind were moving in multiple directions, and if not that, they were certainly moving exactly opposite of the direction they were headed in just a few minutes before. That’s always the weirdest part of these hurricanes. And yes, you could effectively see the wind – if only because of how thick the rain was or because of the waves it was creating in the water.

Once the storm ended yesterday, the eerie quiet began. There was the occasional sound of a generator. Once in awhile you’d hear an emergency vehicle of some sort go by. Battery powered radios worked, but nearly every station carried the news and that became insufferable pretty quickly. Media people talked about destruction in grand terms – mostly using analogies like “war zone” and “looks like a terrorist attack took place” for the areas that were hit hardest. In some cases that sort of talk may have been fair, but for the most part such talk was overused and only served to upset people who were already devastated.

The saddest part of all, at least for me, was that the one radio station that I could find that was playing music seemed to be having a Backstreet Boys/Paula Abdul marathon – even sadder than that was that I was happy to hear it. Luckily for me, I didn’t have Fishfan’s MP3; if I did, I might have jumped off the 12th floor balcony. Thankfully my XM radio is also battery powered. Between baseball talk and the comedy station, there was some good stuff to distract you.

Eventually I went out to find some friends. We’d hoped to grab lunch at a restaurant. There’s always somewhere open after a storm. When the typical places weren’t open, we knew this was serious. Eventually we bbq’d at my place. Technically that’s not allowed, but I can’t imagine that anyone’s going to be a stickler for the rules at this point. We’ll see. I didn’t see many of my neighbors cooking on their balconies though. We’ll see. Maybe I will be in trouble.

TBOM's World Series Predictions

2005-10-20T14:28:00.000-05:00

I've atypically stayed out of the post-season prediction business this October, and that's intentional because the White Sox are in the playoffs. Now they're in the World Series and I'm not going to start making predictions about series outcomes. It's not that I'm superstitious or anything - some things are just bad luck.

That said, this looks to be a really great series. The pitching matchups look like they'll be outstanding. Both teams stand to benefit greatly from their home parks. You could easily make a case for either team winning the series. I'm not going to make the case for the White Sox or the Astros though. My only prediction will be that the series will not go to seven games. In their illustrious post-season history, the White Sox have never had a post-season series reach the limit. I see no reason for that to change right now.

Regardless of the outcome, I'm going to enjoy the ride. It's not that often that your team makes it this far. It might not ever happen again. I'm going to hope with all my might that the Sox pull off this series, but if they don't, that will be fine too. The 2005 White Sox season has been a heck of a ride, and I'm going to enjoy these next four to seven games to the fullest.

Go Sox!

White Sox in the World Series

2005-10-20T09:03:00.000-05:00

I'll be honest: it hasn't sunk in yet. This layoff between the end of the ALCS and the start of the World Series is both a blessing and curse.

It's a blessing because it allows White Sox fans everywhere to revel in the fact that the Sox are going to the World Series. We get nearly a week to enjoy that, without knowing whether the Sox will win or lose, or how it will all go down. Most teams and their fans don't get to enjoy that luxury; it's usually win one series and move on to the next. But after 46 years for some and a full lifetime for others, having this week to soak in the pennant, and to reflect on the season that still is, is a great thing.

This time off is something of a curse too. For the players, it would have been great to carry over the momentum from the ALCS into the World Series. Maybe it will carry over anyway, but having a week off raises some doubt about whether that's really possible or not. It's also a curse, although a very slight one, for Sox fans, as there haven't been any Sox games to watch. This downtime has been so long that it's almost as-if the offseason has begun. But it hasn't. And that's so great. Even if this downtime seems long, watching replays of the bottom of the 9th inning and John Rooney's call of the final out against the Angels makes the time pass pretty quickly.

I don't think I really ever understood your team winning the pennant and advancing to the World Series before. Sure, I followed the Marlins closely in 1997, the Diamondbacks in 2001, and was as emotionally and financially invested as anyone in the Marlins 2003 run. But it's not the same as this. I've been a Sox fan for as long as I can remember. Longer than that, actually. But in all that time, even through the great start and great finish this season, I never really hoped or expected that they'd reach (and possibly win) the World Series. Year upon year of heartbreak and disappointment had conditioned me to not hope for so much.

The first season of Sox baseball that I really remember was 1983. Up until this season, 1983 was undoubtedly the best year of Sox baseball in my lifetime. But I was too young at the time to appreciate the significance of winning 99 regular season games or winning the division by a record margin of 22 ballgames. I knew then though that the LCS loss to the Orioles was crushing.

So too was the end of the 1993 season. The Sox were good that year, but the Blue Jays were a buzzsaw. No good came of that LCS either. Hopes were high again in 1994, but we all know what happened there (at least we're not Montreal).

The Sox won the division in 2000 too, but it wasn't the same. Going into the playoffs (my hopes at least), hopes weren't that high. Those doubts were rewarded with a 3-game sweep at the hands of the Mariners, who went on to do nothing in the ALCS.

My hopes were high again in 2003. The Sox had won the division in 1983 and 1993. They'd had the Cy Young winner in both of those years too. Certainly there had to be something to years that ended in three - especially since this would be the third time that the "threes" came through for the Sox. But that didn't happen either.

By 2005, my hopes had eroded. I didn't expect much out of this season. I expected a .500 club and some fun and excitement throughout the year. But I got much more than that. It started with a comeback win on opening day and only got better from there. Sure, there were some bumps in the road along the way, but it was a great ride. And in some ways, those bumps along the way made the road a little bit more fun to travel.

I'm not sure what to hope for from here. Obviously I hope the Sox win the World Series, but it almost seems like too much to hope for. This has been a special year to be a White Sox fan and I feel privileged to have followed it from the get go.

More than anything, I owe Ozzie Guillen, Kenny Williams, Roland Hemond, and all the rest of the White Sox players and organization a big thank you for reminding me (and all of us) that it's ok to have high hopes and big dreams. It's only with those high hopes and big dreams that you can achieve such things.

The White Sox Win the Pennant!

2005-10-17T21:17:00.000-05:00

There will definitely be more to come on the Sox winning the AL Pennant, but I don't quite have time for it right now.

Suffice it to say, it's a really good day when this picture isn't even at the top of my list of things that made me happy:

After the 54th Out

2005-10-13T08:47:00.000-05:00

At this point, Doug Eddings is signaling a third strike, but he hasn't yet called the batter out.

It isn't the LCS in Chicago unless there's some memorable controversy. We got that last night after the third out in the bottom of the 9th inning when A.J. Pierzinski took first base on a phantom dropped third strike.

We'll be debating home plate umpire Doug Eddings' call and gestures for some time. Even to most Sox fans, Eddings' call was suspect. It seemed that he called the batter out, making a tag or a throw to first unnecessary. A.J., playing the game as he should, ran to first anyway and was rewarded for it, as that (apparently) wasn't Eddings' call.

Hopefully the Sox won't win this series in seven games. If they do, we'll never hear the end of this call. We may never hear the end of it anyway.

All things considered, last night's game was oddly umpired. Batters (from both sides) complained about called strikes throughout the game, particularly in the middle to later innings. The White Sox announcers even commented a few times in the 6th and 7th innings about how animated Eddings had become in making his strike calls and how he seemed to be taking pleasure in making the call for called third strikes. Umpires, good or bad, shouldn't become part of the game. Last night, even before the bottom of the 9th, they did. That's a shame - especially for a game of this magnitude.

But the Sox won, and I'm happy for that. Heading to Anaheim/LA with a split is pretty good. If the Sox can take two of three out West they'll be in good shape.

World Baseball Classic in San Juan

2005-10-11T10:19:00.000-05:00

As you probably now, there's going to be a tournament of 16 countries next spring to determine a true World Champion in baseball.

Well, it would be a true World Championship if MLB Commissioner Bud Selig would lay out rules for eligibility. So far he hasn't - only to decree that some players (i.e. Alex Rodriguez) will be placed on rosters regardless of their personal preference. If Olympic rules were used, Rodriguez would be allowed to play for the Dominican Republic. That lineup already includes the likes of Vladimir Guerrero, Manny Ramirez, and David Ortiz. Adding ARod to that mix would almost make them the prohibitive favorite. It seems that Selig is going to intervene and ask ARod to play for the USA - although it's against ARod's wishes.

In more recent news, it was announced that games for rounds 1 and 2 will be played in San Juan. This is an interesting development as we learned during the Expos visits to Hiram Bithorn Stadium that the park is a bit of a band box. Expect high powered offenses to prevail and for pitching to play a large role. This announcement makes for an interesting development. For rounds one and two, teams that are sent to Puerto Rico will likely want to focus on power. However, should they make it to the finals, which will be held at San Diego's Petco Park, they'll need to switch gears to focus on pitching - as Petco is not very power friendly. I wonder if the drastic differences between the two parks was an accident or if it was done intentionally to make things more difficult for certain countries.

The ALCS is Coming!

2005-10-10T10:55:00.000-05:00

The White Sox got the whole weekend (plus a day) off before the ALCS starts. At this time of year--after 162 regular season games, 3 playoff games, and dozens of Spring Training games--that's a blessing. But by Tuesday night I'm sure we'll be hearing nearly as much about the potential rust on the White Sox pitching staff as much as we'll hear about how tired the poor Angels/Yankees are after surviving Games 4 and 5 of their LDS.

The White Sox handled the rust factor by playing some simulated games over the weekend. Ozzie Guillen even took a few ABs against rookie Brandon McCarthy. I'm not sure yet if McCarthy will be on the LCS roster or not.

One pitcher who will be on the LCS roster is Jon Garland. While Garland won 18 games in the regular season, he didn't get to start in the LDS (he would have started Game 4 had it been necessary). There was talk that Garland would start Game 1 of the LCS. Now it appears that won't happen. The Sox rotation looks like it will set up like this: Contreras, Buehrle, Garland, and Garcia. By the time we get around to Garland for Game 3, it will have been a long time since he's pitched in a regular game. Maybe that's a good thing though, as Garland did tire down the stretch.

Yay!

2005-10-08T07:02:00.000-05:00

Make a Note of It

2005-10-04T07:54:00.000-05:00

During last night's local (Miami) Monday Night Football pregame show, the hosts debated (why, I'm not sure) whether or not Major League Baseball should have a salary cap, like in football. The hosts went on and on about how great it would be to have a salary cap in baseball because it would force more competitive balance. As examples, they started the strong starts that the Bengals and Redskins are off to this year.

They also, of course, went off about how Steinbrenner and the Yankees "buy" titles. What they didn't mention is that the Yankees haven't won a World Series since 2000. They also neglected to remember that the Patriots have won three of the past four Super Bowls, and were the pick of many experts to win again this year.

This type of talk is something to keep in mind - especially as the League Championship Series loom next week. There's a possibility that we'll see an Angels - White Sox matchup in the AL. If that happens, the same people who are advocating a salary cap in baseball will likely be talking of how the end is near for the game, as ratings will likely dip from what we've seen in recent years when the Red Sox and Yankees matchup.

You can argue either side of that coin. Go ahead. But you can't have it both ways. It's tough to argue that a salary cap would be good for baseball and that you want the Red Sox and Yankees in the ALCS each year.

The Collapse That Wasn't

2005-10-03T08:32:00.000-05:00

There's been a considerable amount of talk the past few weeks about the impending collapse of the White Sox. For awhile, it seemed pretty likely. I won't lie - I was worried about it.

But the Sox finished up strong, including a season ending sweep of the playoff-contending Indians. That allowed the Sox to win the division by a healthy 6 games. All told, the White Sox won 99 games - tying a franchise record (1983).

Now the playoffs begin and the White Sox have drawn the defending World Champion Red Sox. While the White Sox had the AL's best regular season record and have home field advantage in this series, they are, by almost all accounts, decided underdogs in this series.

I'm hoping that's just Red Sox hype, but I really don't know. Like each of the other six teams in the playoffs this year, the White Sox and Red Sox are definitely flawed. The 1998 Yankees and 1984 Tigers are not in this post-season tournament.

I'm just hoping that the White Sox stay hot for the playoffs. Most folks point at the ChiSox's strong record against the AL Central as evidence that they can't beat anyone outside of their division. That oversimplifies the truth, which is that the White Sox have run hot and cold this year. When they've been hot, they've beaten anyone. When they've been cold, they've lost to anyone (including the likes of the Royals). It looked like they were hot at the conclusion of the regular season. Starting tomorrow we'll get to see if that carries over into the playoffs.

The Steroids Show

2005-09-29T07:54:00.000-05:00

A parade of Hall of Famers went before Congress yesterday to talk about performance enhancing drugs, steroid testing, and the validity of records in the game of baseball. Nearly everyone seemed either (or both) angered or disappointed by what has become of the game of baseball.

What's amazing to me though is that as upset as all of these people are, none of them seems to get it. They're talking about stiffer penalties for positive tests. But what they're missing is that they're not testing for anything. Why don't they talk about testing for HGH? Or requiring the tests to be done with blood? The urine based tests that they're using today are insufficient to catch everything that baseball players could possibly be using. If you're going to get all worked up about this (now that the budget is set and there are no wars to fight, apparently), at least do it right.

Things That Sound Funny But Are True

2005-09-26T10:35:00.000-05:00

The Yankees wouldn't be where they are right now (in good position to make the playoffs) if it wasn't for Aaron Small.

That's simply frightening. Or at least I think it has to be if you're a Yankees fan. The year started with Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, Kevin Brown, Carl Pavano, and Jaret Wright headlining an expensive rotation. They've been dinged up throughout the year and have depended on the likes of Chien-Min Wang and Aaron Small. And they're still in the race. Wow.

Canes - Colorado: What I'm looking for

2005-09-23T09:08:00.000-05:00

The Hurricanes play their first home game of the year this weekend against Colorado. This is the continuation of a home-and-home series from the early 90s that was postponed because of a fight in Boulder during the first game and later Miami's probation.

It's an early start (noon kickoff) which should work to Miami's advantage. It also figures to be hot and humid, which could work to Miami's advantage as well (although many would argue that the high altitude training in Boulder that the Buffs get year-round will negate any such advantage).

Regardless of all that, the Canes should win this game handily. Rather, they need to win this game handily. Oddsmakers have the Canes as a two touchdown favorite. To solidify themselves as a top-10 type team and to keep themselves in the BCS discussion, I think Miami needs that sort of a win - probably more than that.

Honestly, I don't know much about Colorado, other than two things: they have a lot of returning starters on defense (10 - or nearly everyone) and their special teams are solid.

The strength of Colorado's special teams will present an interesting test for the Canes. One of Miami's hallmarks over the years has been outstanding special teams play. Over the past decade, Miami leads the nation in non-offensive scoring (including defensive touchdowns). While the Canes blocked a punt last week against Clemson, special teams have not been a highlight for the Canes this year. In the loss against FSU, special teams were horrific for Miami. There was hardly anything redeeming. Against Clemson, there wasn't anything special that happened. Quite frankly, with the current explosiveness (or lack thereof) of Miami's offense, the special teams needs to do something spectacular (create a turnover and/or score points). If that doesn't happen soon (not necessarily this weekend), it will be time to be concerned about the Canes special teams.

On offense, it will be interesting to see how Colorado reacts to Miami's "new" unbalanced offensive line (where the two tackles line up next two each other). Look to see more of that this week. Clemson didn't react and played straight up against it. I'd expect Colorado to throw in a wrinkle or two when they see it. Apparently that might cause Miami to throw instead of just running right over the big lineman.

Hopefully we'll see a little more "balance" return to the Canes this week - or at least we'll hopefully see more of a proclivity to throw the ball down the field on occasion. Doing that would require Miami to give Wright more time. We'll see if that happens.

Defensively, we've already seen the emergence of Kenny Phillips. I think he's going to be a mainstay in the secondary until he departs for the NFL. His impact on the defense could be similar to what Ray Lewis was for the Canes. It's early for Phillips (and don't confuse him with the other true freshman, who is not his brother, Randy), but he has all the makings of a star.

This week may also be the first time that we see highly-touted Willie Williams get extended playing time with the defense. Willie didn't see much action last week, but he was in on at least three tackles.

Prediction: Miami 38 - Colorado 13

In other action this weekend, there are a lot of good games. Two big ones take place in the ACC, with both games having implications on the ACC title race.

Boston College travels to Death Valley to face Clemson. It's BC's first road ACC game. If Clemson wins, they have an inside track to the ACC title game - assuming they can knock off FSU (the Tigers' loss to Miami last week came outside their division, so it doesn't hurt them as much). If BC can win the game, they'll still be in the race, but they'll need help (as in two FSU conference losses).

The other big game in the ACC features Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. GT will likely be without their star quarterback, Reggie Ball, who's suffering from viral meningitis. Without Ball, the Rambling Wreck will likely be slowed. Virginia Tech likely doesn't need any advantages. The best matchup in this game should be GT's Calvin Johnson (WR) against VT's Jimmy Williams (DB). Some all-conference and possibly all-American awards will likely go to the victor of that matchup.

There are a number of good games nationally. Tennessee - LSU was moved to Monday night. Weather permitting, that should be great. I'm also curious to see if Oregon can give USC a game. I don't think they can, but the crowd noise should make the first quarter interesting.

Can the White Sox Hang On?

2005-09-22T09:29:00.000-05:00

There's a little more than a week left in the baseball season and the White Sox are clinging to a 2 1/2 game lead in the AL Central. Just a month or two ago, I would have thought it was impossible for the White Sox to be in this position right now. I would have thought that the Sox would have had the division wrapped up by this point.

But they don't. The face the Twins and Johan Santana tonight and a three game set in Cleveland, against the hard charging Indians looms next week.

I'm holding out hope, but I'm not too optimistic. If the White Sox fail to make the playoffs it will go down as one of (if not "the") biggest collapses in the history of professional sports. Despite the Sox history of futility, they've never done anything along these lines before. Hopefully they won't start it this year.

That's the funny thing about this. If the Sox win the division by one game, no one will ever remember a "collapse". But should the Sox finish with 95 or 96 wins but trail the Indians by one game at the end of the season, all anyone will remember is how the Sox lost a fifteen game division lead.

Football Picks

2005-09-15T15:21:00.000-05:00

I know that it doesn't count because I didn't tell anyone ahead of time and I didn't even publish it, but last week (for the first time ever), I made some football picks (just for fun). Amazingly, I went 4-0 last week against the spread. A handful of games just jumped out at me. They were:

Tulsa + 31
Clemson + 1
Virginia Tech - 31
Northern Illinois + 2.5

Clemson made things scary for awhile, and Northern Illinois' game was very close too. But in the end I would have "won" them all. But it was all just pretend.

I was hoping that more games would jump out at me this week, but so far they haven't. The games of interest to me (point spread wise) are:

Oregon State +13 (vs. Louisville)

There are a number of interesting college games this weekend, but I'm not comfortable making a recommended wager on any of them:

Miami (-7) at Clemson
Oklahoma at UCLA (-6)
Tennessee at Florida (-4.5)
Florida State at Boston College (-1)

I have no idea what's going to happen in the Miami game.

I still can't get past the idea of Oklahoma getting that many points, despite how much they've struggled and despite that they'll be on the road. Have you seen Adrian Peterson? He single-handedly beat Tulsa last week and Tulsa knew what he was going to do (run right at them).

Boston College could be the real deal. But maybe Florida State (with all of their athletes) will really put it together this weekend.

It should be an interesting weekend. This is why I'm not a gambler.

Barry's Back

2005-09-13T07:52:00.000-05:00

Even though Barry Bonds was involved in a verbal fight with my childhood hero earlier this summer, I can't help but be captivated by Bonds' return to baseball. Bonds returned to the Giants lineup last night and, for the most part, looked like he hadn't missed a beat.

The Padres pitched him tough: lots of pitches just off the outside part of the plate and strikes low and in. If Bonds was 100%, which I think it's safe to say he isn't, he'd likely turn on those balls that are low and in and crush them into McCovey Cove. Last night he clearly couldn't do that though.

But Barry still had enough in him to nearly drive one ball out of the ballpark (missing a 1st at bat home run by mere feet). Bonds probably won't catch Ruth before the end of the season (he would need to hit 11 homers in 19 games), but he's going to pull remarkably close.

FishStripes Issues - Marlins at Astros Here?

2005-09-12T12:32:00.000-05:00

It looks like we're having some trouble over at FishStripes today. The site isn't working for me (at least not most of the time). Just in case the site isn't up, feel free to make your picks here and/or to use this thread as the open thread. If things return to normal over there, I'll update this entry or leave a comment.

Tonight:
Willis vs. Backe at 8:05

Dear Jan - Part One

2005-09-08T20:14:00.000-05:00

From a loyal reader (left in the comments):

Would you like to compare schedules? I'm no expert, but the announcers displayed ND's schedule for this year claiming it was one of the toughest in the nation. I don't recall hearing anything like that for Miami or Florida.

Really? You want to compare schedules? That's pretty weak. You don't have anything better to hang your hat on than strength of schedule? Wow. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

A lot goes into strength of schedule, and much of it is luck. Many of the bigger "home-and-home" series (like Notre Dame - Tennessee or Miami - Colorado) are scheduled years, if not decades (such as the Oklahoma - Ohio State series, which isn't scheduled to begin until 2018 or so), in advance of when they'll actually be played. As you well know, a national power can become nothing more than an also-ran in that amount of time.

In addition, most schools play in a conference, which takes away much of the ability to schedule challenging games. Still, Miami will play 5 teams that are currently ranked and 7 teams that appeared in bowl games last year. Notre Dame faces 4 ranked teams (5 if you count Pittsburgh) and 4 that appeared in bowls. The difference is slight, but I don't think it makes your argument.

And I'm sorry to bring up a subject like bowl games. I know that it's been a really long time since "your" beloved Notre Dame won a bowl game (1994 was ND's last bowl win. Since then, ND has appeared in seven bowl games in eleven seasons; last year's loss in the Insight.com Bowl was Notre Dame's second during this losing streak to noted power Oregon State. The improvement Notre Dame showed against the Beavers was definitely encouraging - in the 2000 Fiesta Bowl, Notre Dame lost 41-9. Last year, across town from the site of the Fiesta Bowl, Notre Dame narrowed the gap to just a 17 point deficit).

That said, it's difficult to assess strength of schedule this early in the season, since most of the schedule hasn't been played. Unexpected strong teams will emerge and other teams will fail to meet expectations.

Did you mean to reference the Florida schedule? What's the connection there? I don't think you want to go there. You clearly aren't aware of the number of ACC teams ranked in the Top 25, so I highly doubt that you're aware of the number of SEC teams that are ranked. I'll assume that you confused Florida and Florida State in your comment.

It's silly to do, but you brought it up, so let's look at Miami and Notre Dame's 2005 schedules:

Notre Dame’s 2005 Opponents

At Pittsburgh - The Panthers were ranked in the pre-season polls, but dropped out after losing their opener to Notre Dame. Amazingly, many Notre Dame fans are considering this to be a big win. I find this hard to understand - as the Chicago portion of Notre Dame fans (who should at least be familiar with Bears’ history) have apparently forgotten the damage that Dave Wannstedt can inflict on a program. He ruined the Bears. Then Wanny drove the Miami Dolphins into the ground. Maybe he’s doing the same to Pitt.

At Michigan - The Wolverines are highly ranked and on paper this looks like a challenging game. Traditionally, at least in the past decade or so, Michigan has been overrated in pre-season and early season polls.

Michigan State - Generally picked to finish near the middle of the pack in the Big 10, well behind the big boys.

At Washington - This is likely a game that was scheduled awhile back when Washington was a powerhouse. The only reason this game is interesting is because of the Huskies new coach - but talk of him merits its own piece (you know, how a classy place like Notre Dame handled his dismissal so honorably).

At Purdue - ND caught some bad luck here in catching a Purdue program that’s on the rise. If the Boilermakers keep putting solid teams together they’ll likely find that Notre Dame isn’t so willing to continue this series… or at least that Notre Dame will be less willing to travel to Purdue (that seems to be ND’s M.O. with the big programs that they tend to avoid).

USC - A traditional rivalry game. USC is up right now. This game will be a good measuring stick for ND.

BYU - Maybe this game was scheduled when the Cougars were a power. But it’s just another game.

Tennessee - The Vols were highly regarded in the pre-season, but struggled against a weak UAB team in the opening week. In all likelihood the Vols are for real. UT is a program that’s doesn't run away from any program. They'll play anyone, anywhere, and they'll even travel.

Navy - There’s some nice sentiment here in playing a service academy, but this game is a joke. Notre Dame should win this game with their scout team.

Syracuse - Some Big East teams were left scrambling to fill in their schedules and it looks like Syracuse found a match with Notre Dame. Nothing to see here.

At Stanford - Another “rivalry” for Notre Dame in that they play regularly, but the Cardinal are no powerhouse.

Miami Hurricanes’ 2005 Schedule

At Florida State - While the Noles have been down (relatively) since appearing in the 2000 National Championship game, they still win bowl games and turn out NFL draft picks.

At Clemson - Death Valley is a tough place to play. The Tigers are ranked and are led by a senior QB who would likely be in the NFL this year if not for a shaky junior campaign.

Colorado - This game is a continuation of a series that started in the early 90s. It’s just taken awhile to get the return game scheduled. Back when this home-and-home was set up, Colorado was pretty dominant. You might remember it (yeah, I know - there was no clip; Rocket really broke that one).

South Florida - This game was scheduled for two reasons: the previously scheduled opponent (Houston) backed out late last year (this was originally scheduled when Houston was once again an up-and-coming program and their Athletic Director was Miami's former AD) and to get the Canes a presence in Tampa (UM travels to Tampa in 2006), which is an important area to recruit, but which is largely owned by Florida and, to a lesser degree, Florida State. USF is a non-entity in Division I football. Miami is doing an instate school a favor by playing this game.

Duke - One of the benefits to being in a conference is that you get an easy game or two on the schedule. The payback comes during basketball season.

At Temple - As part of Miami's exit from the Big East, the Canes had to agree to play this game with Temple, in Philly, at cavernous Lincoln Financial Field - where the Owls rarely play. The Owls are planning on selling a bunch of tickets to this game.

Georgia Tech - The Yellow Jackets are ranked. This should be a good game.

North Carolina - If not for last year's upset, this game wouldn't be interesting. UNC will be decent, but this isn't a game the Canes would schedule if it weren't for the conference.

At Virginia Tech - Lane Stadium (like Death Valley and Michigan) is another very tough place to play. If this is a night game, the stadium will rock. Plus, the Hokies are an excellent team. This has become an exciting rivalry.

At Wake Forest - At least the Demon Deacons have high standards for their athletes that actually mean something (too much to get into here - but this will be a separate piece one day).

Virginia - Another ranked opponent for the Canes, despite that the Cavaliers lost a number of high draft picks to the NFL after last season. This should be a good game.

Well, that's it for the 2005 regular season schedules. Sorry that this isn't very thorough, but I put it together pretty quickly.

Thanks for this opportunity to talk about Notre Dame football. I've been looking for a way to work in a piece about Notre Dame's fradulent claim that they don't lower their admissions standards for athletes. I'll bring you published proof that this is false. Start lining up your excuses and denials. It would be appreciated if you could support them with facts.

Griffey - Out

2005-09-07T12:31:00.000-05:00

Rumors are circulating that Ken Griffey Jr. is out for the year. He was injured over the weekend.

It was just a week or two ago that I was hoping that the White Sox would swing a deal to bring Griffey to the South Side. It never came to be - apparently because the Reds didn't want to deal him or because Griffey didn't want to be dealt.

Now it looks like (assuming the rumors are true) that it's a good thing.

I wonder if this makes Griffey eligible for next year's comeback player of the year award. If so, he could be the first player to win the award in back-to-back seasons.

Getting Ready for the Canes and the Noles

2005-09-02T09:01:00.000-05:00

College football season, ushered in by the likes of Central Florida - South Carolina and Vanderbilt - Wake Forest last night, is back. There are some big games this weekend (Boise State - Georgia, NC State - Virginia Tech, and Urban Meyer's Florida debut), but the big game, at least for folks in Florida, is Miami - Florida State on Monday night.

It's tough to figure out what's going to happen in Monday's game. Mainly because it's the first game of the year for both teams. Possibly more importantly, both Miami (Kyle Wright) and Florida State (Drew Weatherford) will be making their first starts at quarterback.

Wright has been designated as the starter for much longer than Weatherford (who was just officially named to the job this week). That's good for Wright, because he'll need the extra prep time to be prepared for what surely will be a hostile environment for the Canes.

Adding to the jitters is that Miami will be starting a new center. The combination of a loud crowd, a new starter at quarterback, and a new starter at center could lead to some false starts and mis-handled snaps. Florida State is likely counting on that as much as Miami is fearful of it.

There are many more questions (on both sidelines) heading into this game.

Florida State fans are quick to point out that they'll be better able to run the ball this year. Despite losing two highly regarded tackles (to the NFL - one as a first round pick), FSU regains the talents of a 6th-year center, who was injured and did not play against Miami last year. What remains to be seen is whether or not the addition of one well-regarded talent can replace the loss of two all-conference bookends of the offensive line. FSU has also switched from a man-blocking to a zone-blocking scheme. We'll have to see how well the Noles work together as a unit and how well the scheme works against the Canes. Keep in mind that Florida State, with Booker and Washington in the backfield, only managed to average 1.6 ypc in last year's game.

Miami's defense is also a question mark. The Canes have much more depth and experience than they had last year, but nearly everyone from the defense which ranked 67th in the nation against the run last year will be back. The Canes stopped the Noles ground game last year. But they didn't stop many others. Will the Canes stop the run this year? Will they be able to stop spread offenses? That remains to be seen - but it sure seems they have the talent to do it.

FSU's defense, which was excellent last season is in much the same predicament as the Canes. Expectations are high for the Noles, but they are largely unproven particularly at defensive end and in the secondary. If the Canes can give Kyle Wright some time, they may be able to use their depth at wide receiver to exploit inexperience in the Noles defensive backs.

A number of off-field issues could ultimately prove to have no impact on the game, or they could be rallying points and motivating factors for the Seminoles. Wyatt Sexton was supposed to be the Noles starter at quarterback this year, but after a highly unusual episode, he was diagnosed with Lyme disease and will not play football this season. Is that a distraction or a rallying point or neither? Florida State had the validity of their nickname called into question by the NCAA this summer. FSU ultimately won their battle and will retain their Seminole nickname and will continue their traditions. Their traditional planting of a flaming spear at mid-field before kickoff will occur before Monday's game. A member of the Seminole tribe will participate. Will this serve as extra motivation for the Noles, or does it really hype the Canes (as they claim the spear throwing and Warchant does)?

We'll see on Monday night. It should be fun.

2005-08-31T08:19:00.000-05:00

Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer is on the road. You can catch up with Warren St. John and discover the meaning of college football - which will possibly lead you to an understanding of the meaning of life. If you figure that out, please come back and summarize it in the comments.

Thanks in advance!

After the Storm

2005-08-26T10:44:00.000-05:00

In case you're trying to track me down after Hurricane Katrina and you haven't been able to: I'm fine. A little water (mostly kept out of my apartment) and no power at my place (FPL says they'll have an update as to when power will be restored by Saturday night - nice!). Other than that, this was just a "fun" storm to ride out.

Hopefully whatever that is blowing around in the Atlantic won't turn in to anything.

Taking in BP

2005-08-17T13:08:00.000-05:00

I know that I rant about this fairly regularly, but I really enjoy getting to the ballpark early to take in batting practice. There was a nice feature about BP in today's USA Today which I thought I would share. The article gives a lot of nice information about what goes on during batting practice, including the most thorough description of the methods behind the madness (at least the most thorough written description that I've ever seen - I think my only formal exposure to the nuances of BP has been through osmosis).

There's also about an interesting anecdote about how Frank Thomas used to experiment during BP with an aluminum bat. It's too bad that MLB outlawed that. The Sox could have sold tickets to that show.

I also found the table at the bottom of the story to be quite interesting. Sixteen teams allow their fans into the ballpark earlier than the Florida Marlins. The Marlins are also one of only six teams (of 30, of course) that do not allow their fans into the stadium in time to see the home team take batting practice (everyone will allow fans inside in time to watch the visitors hit). That doesn't seem like a very fan friendly policy to me (and spare me the commentary about how the Marlins don't own the stadium and can't control the timing of when the stadium is opened as it's up to someone else's discretion - that's weak).

Maddux and 15

2005-08-12T08:28:00.000-05:00

It doesn't seem to be getting much attention, but with yesterday's win, Greg Maddux has only nine wins on the season. Although he's a Cub, I'm a little worried about this, as Maddux has a streak of fifteen win seasons that seemingly goes back until time began.

Can Maddux manage six more wins this season? Looking at it optimistically, it seems questionable. Greg probably has no more than ten starts left this season - so that means he'd have to win six of his next ten starts. That's certainly possible, but it's made more difficult by the fact that the Cubs just aren't that good. Maddux may be more greatful for the return of Nomar Garciaparra than anyone else (assuming of course that the Professor cares about his win streak - my guess is that he doesn't - he just wants to pitch and win ball games, but that the number of years with 15 or more wins is largely irrelevant).

Sleeping on the Rocket

2005-08-03T20:43:00.000-05:00

In all the pre-All-Star game hype, I got a little lost in the Chris Carpenter - Dontrelle Willis debate. At the time, most folks - myself definitely included - focused on those two as the best candidates to start the All-Star game.

Since then, Dontrelle has faded but Carpenter has continued to pitch well. But one pitcher kept up with both Willis and Carpenter early in the year, and at this point it's safe to say that he's well out-performing both of them.

That pitcher is, of course, Roger Clemens.

I mean, seriously: have you been following the Rocket this year? His numbers are sick. When it's all said and done I think his ERA might compare favorably with Bob Gibson's (1.12) in 1968 after you adjust for the league averages.

Clemens ERA in total is pretty sparkling (1.45). But what blows my mind is his ERA on the road (away from the bandbox known as Minute Main Park) is a miniscule 0.41. I'm pretty sure that 0.41 has to be a Major League record, but I haven't been able to verify it.

Regardless, Clemens is having a special year at the end of what is a special career. We should all take notice of it, because there may never be anything like it again in our lifetimes.

Manny Rocks Out

2005-07-29T11:08:00.000-05:00

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

2005-07-26T08:12:00.000-05:00

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)

2005-07-24T08:17:00.000-05:00

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:

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).
Once the site is back up I'll post something to alert everyone to come here next time if FishStripes goes down again.
I called Wiggins a jerk, not FishFan. I'll let Summer Wheatley handle the labels and name calling for FishFan.
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

2005-07-23T22:39:00.000-05:00

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

2005-07-22T10:11:00.000-05:00

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

2005-07-17T19:57:00.000-05:00

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

2005-07-13T13:44:00.000-05:00

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

2005-07-08T08:32:00.000-05:00

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!

Bill James and Clutch Hitting

2005-06-30T09:36:00.000-05:00

There has been a veritable firestorm in some SABR circles lately about the existence of clutch hitting ability and clutch hitters. Actually, this is a debate that has probably raged for the past twenty or thirty years (at least with data to support the argument).

In his latest work on the subject (please feel free to download, link to, and share the linked file), which hasn't been officially published anywhere, but which James has shared via SABR and is willing to share with anyone, James clarifies something that I think many of us miss when discussing clutch hitting:

random data proves nothing—and it cannot be used as a proof of nothingness

This statement was made to clarify an assumption that has often been made about clutch hitting: that since it cannot (or at least it hasn't been done so far) be proven, clutch hitting must not exist. Instead, James is pointing out that studies of clutch hitting often merely find random data - which doesn't prove anything.

James goes on to say:

I take no position whatsoever about whether clutch hitting exists or does not exists. I simply don’t have any idea

In his article (link above) James references some criticsm and other articles that have been written in response to his work. Those can be found here.

Personally (and while I cannot quantify it), my belief is that clutch hitting exists. However, there is so much clutch ability in major league baseball that it is difficult to identify and quantify. Major League baseball players are a very select group. Even the "worst" major leaguers are among the most elite baseball players in the world. The difference in ability between the best and the worst big leaguers is not that great. To make it to the majors, a ballplayer has to (typically) succeed in his youth and earn his way up through multiple levels of the minor leagues. In my opinion, those players who lack clutch ability (whether they are hitters or pitchers) don't make it to the majors (or if they do, it doesn't happen very frequently).

To give a more "real world" example, it's like being in a graduate program at Harvard (or I'm assuming this is how it is) and trying to figure out who the smart people are. The answer is not that some people are smart and that other people are not. It's pretty likely that everyone in the room is highly intelligent - probably in the upper one or two percent of world-wide intelligence. Sure, there will be some variability in intelligence and abilities, but I'm willing to guess that nearly everyone is very smart.

I think the same holds true in Major League baseball, but in terms of "clutch" ability instead of intelligence. The players who are clutch make it. You have to perform in front of scouts - that's the first clutch test. Plus there are big games as little leaguers. All of the bench guys who you rag on used to come through in the clutch at lower levels. Now they're just not the best of the best anymore. And when we see a clutch pitcher go up against a clutch hitter in a clutch situation, someone is going to have to fail. That's what makes Major League Baseball so great; the players are at the top of their field and imperceptible subtelties often make all the difference.

CWS Ends

2005-06-27T14:45:00.000-05:00

College baseball season is now over, as Texas swept Florida in the championship round. While I'm relieved that the Gators didn't take home the title this year, I would have liked to have seen one last game played tonight. Oh well. February isn't that far away.

In other college sports news (editorials really), Dan LeBatard wrote a piece over the weekend about how the transgressions of University of Miami athletes (those who have already left the school) seem to reflect more directly on the University than similar misdeeds of athletes from former schools.

It's an interesting piece. There are some factual errors - for instance Jon Vilma and D.J. Williams did not leave school early. Many attribute this phenomenon with Miami's athletes to it seeming that while athletes from former schools go on to become "former Tar Heels" or "former Buckeyes" no one becomes a former Cane. Once you become a Hurricane, you're a Hurricane for life. I guess because of that you sometimes have to take the bad along with the good.

Following the CWS

2005-06-21T12:40:00.000-05:00

I found a nice site today (Omaha's main newspaper, actually) to follow the College World Series, so I thought that I'd share it with you.

Here it is.

Also, they put together a list of the Top 25 Programs of All-Time. Miami comes in at #5. FSU is #12. UF isn't on the list. :-)

And then there were seven...

2005-06-20T15:43:00.000-05:00

Tennessee was eliminated over the weekend, making them the first team, from the field of eight, to be eliminated in the 2005 College World Series.

Despite their quick departure, the Vols added what's sure to be a highlight to this year's CWS - though it happened after they were eliminated yesterday:

Moments after his team meeting broke up after Tennessee was eliminated by Arizona State, Tennessee left fielder Julio Borbon ran out to the wall to thank those Nebraska fans in the bleachers who cheered for him Sunday.
Borbon high-fived those hanging on the wall, and the fans gave him a standing ovation. Classy, on both sides.

You don't always see that sort of thing at a sporting event. But what's normally out of the norm seems to become the norm in Omaha.

In other news, Florida looked very good over the weekend - much to my disappointment. The Gators - along with the winner of tonight's Texas - Tulane matchup - are sitting on easy street, with a clean path to the finals, and the opportunity to rest until Wednesday.

Fish Stripes: Up and Down

2005-06-18T13:53:00.000-05:00

Fish Stripes, and the other SB Nation sites, seem to be having some issues today. In case you can't get on to Fish Stripes today, but you do find your way to here, feel free to use this thread for today's Open Thread and Ichthyomancy.

Marlins and Angels get underway in a few minutes (around 3 Eastern time).

CWS Picks

2005-06-16T10:59:00.000-05:00

The College World Series starts tomorrow, so it's about time that I came clean about my horrible predictions. In the early going last weekend, my picks looked flat out horrific. Miami, Georgia Tech, and Florida State (each from the ACC) were all swept; I had them picked for Omaha.

Later in the weekend, Tulane, Oregon State, Texas, and Baylor all came through. That made me four for eight on picks (I was also off on the Arizona State - Fullerton series). That's not too sparkling of a record. I will say though that I called Oregon State a few months back. So that should count for something (I also picked Miami and FSU with my heart and not with my head).

Excuses over. Now on to Omaha talk.

The opening round features some interesting matchups. Texas and Baylor are very familiar with each other. So are Tennessee and Florida.

I'm still getting used to the new CWS format - where there are effectively two four-team regionals, followed by one two-team super regional to decide the national champion. This year the brackets are: 1) Tulane - OSU, Texas - Baylor and 2) Tennessee - Florida, Arizona State - Nebraska.

My personal favorite for the rest of the tournament is Arizona State. I grew up following Arizona State baseball and they're the closest thing I have left to a school that I have any allegiance to. The Marlins Paul LoDuca is also a Sun Devil. Plus, ASU's come-from-behind series victory is also a good story, particularly after they lost the opening game against Fullerton last weekend on a phantom balk call. Arizona State is the Cinderella of this tournament, along with Tennessee, so I'm happy to cheer for them.

Unfortunately, they face Nebraska in the opening game and the Huskers are loaded with pitching. Even if the Sun Devils survive the opening game, they're likely to have to face the Huskers later in the week (keep in mind that the CWS is double elimination).

There are a lot of great players (as always) to watch in this year's CWS. Many of the players you'll see in the next week and a half will be major league stars in the coming years. Nebraska features Jeff Gordon. Tennessee features Luke Hochevar. Tulane features Micah Owings and Brian Bougesvic. Texas has Taylor Teagarden, who has a name that's as cool as he is a good player. Florida features, well... who cares.

I like Tulane to knock out Texas in the "left" bracket (based on how the form is printed, I'm not trying to get political). On the right side, I'll take Arizona State to knock off Nebraska (although that's another heart and not a head pick). In the championship round (best of three), I like Tulane over Arizona State. That Tulane was able to come back against Rice last weekend was very impressive. They have a team loaded with future pros (maybe not major leaguers, but pros). There is depth at Tulane, plus a number of special players. That's a winning formula at the CWS.

CWS Update

2005-06-13T08:43:00.000-05:00

My picks for the CWS are looking pretty horrible. Miami, Georgia Tech, FSU, and Fullerton all went down over the weekend. I could take an 0-for on my picks. That's pretty embarrassing.

I'd like to rant and rave about the Canes late season meltdown, but I just can't bring myself to. This was the weakest Canes team in many years. Other than Carrillo, the pitching just wasn't there. Offensively, there were plenty of nice players (the Figueroa brothers, Braun, and Jay in particular), but the team clearly missed Barket (Tulane), Dini (Tulane), and Hooft (Arizona State). Those three guys are all still playing today and the Canes might be too if they were all still in Coral Gables.

More than anything, this is college sports. And in college sports, the best stories aren't always the ones about who wins and loses. The best stories are often the ones that you might not always here. With the Canes, I'd wondered in recent weeks what was happening with the middle infield. One of last year's post-season stars for the Canes was SS Roger Tomas. This year, he struggled, and ultimately didn't play much late in the year. Tomas's performance didn't bother me in the slightest. I knew that he'd been dealing with a plethora of off field issues. Not seeing him in the lineup did make me fear the worst. While "the worst" isn't the case with Tomas, it's been a really tough period for this young man.

This isn't an example of one of "the best stories" that you'd like to hear about, but Tomas has proven himself to be one of the best in terms of heart. I'm really hoping that things work out for him and that he regains his health.

Super Regional Coverage

2005-06-10T07:39:00.000-05:00

I suppose that now would be my last chance to clean up my predictions for the weekend, but I'll let them stand.

ESPN has some nice coverage of this weekend's games. There's a preview of each series with anonymous commentary from different coaches. The anonymity seems to make the insight pretty specific. Here are the links:

Miami - Nebraska
FSU - UF
Rice - Tulane
Tennessee - Georgia Tech
Southern Cal - Oregon State
Arizona State - Fullerton
Texas - Mississippi
Clemson - Baylor

Schedules for each series are listed in the previews above, but a composite schedule can be found here.

Over at Boyd's World, there's a nice article about this weekend's slate of games. What's possibly the most interesting is that--per Boyd's numbers--Oregon State and Cal State Fullerton are co-favorites to win the title, at least at this point.

Miami gets underway at 1 PM today. Cesar Carrillo will start for the Canes, but rumors have circulated this week that the Huskers will save their ace for the Saturday (or Sunday) game. They'd have to be pretty confident about winning the final two games to try that strategy.

Best T-shirts I've Seen Lately

2005-06-09T09:17:00.000-05:00

1. "I love Men" (with the "n" crossed out, and "love" actually being a heart - think the old "I love NYC" shirts) - it doesn't exactly work for me, but it's funny.
2. "It seemed like a good idea at the time" - this would get me out of a lot of trouble
3. "Stop Plate Tectonics"

I'd purchase the last two.

Super Regional Predictions

2005-06-07T10:29:00.000-05:00

The first weekend of the college baseball post-season is in the books and sixteen teams are left standing. Here are the teams, and their matchups for this weekend (national seeds in parentheses):

Rice at Tulane (1)
Tennessee at Georgia Tech (2)
Miami at Nebraska (3)
Clemson at Baylor (4)
Texas at Mississippi (5)
Arizona State at Cal State Fullerton (6)
Florida State at Florida (7)
Southern California at Oregon State (8)

Recap
I really didn't go much out on a limb last week, but I predicted 12 of the 16 Super Regional Teams correctly (missing on Rice, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Arizona State). That probably sounds nice, but isn't particuarly great considering that it was mostly top seeds that won last weekend. Southern California was the only non-number one seed pick that I was correct about. I'm not sure why I didn't pick Arizona State.

Here are my picks for this weekend (just as a reminder, the Super Regionals are a best-of-three set, beginning either on Friday or Saturday, depending on the specific regional):

Rice at Tulane (1)
I'd like to pick Rice, but there's no picking against Tulane. Rice will make it interesting though, but Tulane will win in three.

Tennessee at Georgia Tech (2)
If Tennessee gets a game, it will only be because of their ace, Hochevar.

Miami at Nebraska (3)
Nebraska is a legitimate team, but I have to go with my heart and take the Canes.

Clemson at Baylor (4)
Clemson won a tough regional. For it, they get no reward. Baylor wins in three.

Texas at Mississippi (5)
The Longhorns got shafted out of a national seed, and now have to travel to Ole Miss because of it. This is unfortunate because a UT - Ole Miss matchup is Omaha worthy. Despite the home field advantage and slightly better numbers, I'll take Texas here.

Arizona State at Cal State Fullerton (6)
The Sun Devils apparently have no one that loves them on the NCAA selection committee. In recent years they've found some very tough roads to Omaha. This year is no exception. CSUF will advance to Omaha.

Florida State at Florida (7)
The consensus here is that the Gators will romp. They're higher ranked, more highly touted, and playing at home. Florida State is better than folks give them credit for though. I think FSU will pull off the upset. Or maybe I'm just hoping for that.

Southern California at Oregon State (8)
This too will be a better Super Regional than most folks expect. While USC didn't host a regional last weekend, they were certainly deserving of the honor (as evidenced by the fact that they won on the road last week). Despite that, Oregon State will take out the Trojans this weekend.

Summary
So my picks for Omaha are as follows (with upsets claiming their victim's seeding):
1. Tulane
2. Georgia Tech
3. Miami
4. Baylor
5. Texas
6. Fullerton
7. Florida State
8. Oregon State

If that were to hold up, these would be the opening pairings in Omaha (keep in mind that with the new format, the College World Series is effectively two four-team brackets, with the winners facing off in a best of three series):
Oregon State (8) vs. Tulane (1)
Baylor (4) vs. Texas (5)

Georgia Tech (2) vs. Florida State (7)
Miami (3) vs. Cal-State Fullerton (6)

If my picks hold up, we'll have some very interesting matchups in Omaha. Sure, some teams (Oregon State and Tulane) are totally unfamiliar to each other. But others know each other inside and out (Baylor - Texas, and GT - FSU - Miami).

This should be another fun weekend of baseball.

Disappointed in The U

2005-06-06T11:03:00.000-05:00

I'll get back to college baseball talk tomorrow (once all the regionals are decided). For today, I wanted to rant about some of the recent goings-on with former University of Miami football players.

For the past decade or so (yes, that's how long it's been - Butch Davis came on board with the Canes for the 1995 season), we've heard all sorts of talk about how Miami is cleaning up its image and its program. To a large extent, that has happened. Miami has continued to win football games (including the 2001 national championship and a 34-game win streak), as they have for 20-plus years. They've also turned out Academic All-Americans, including Draddy winner Joaquin Gonzalez (remember him? He turned down the Harvard scholarship and ended up earning an MBA during his five years at UM) and all-around All-Americans, such as QB Ken Dorsey.

During this current run, the Canes have also turned out a record number of NFL players. The stats and comparsions are too time consuming to make, so I'll assume that you can find them on your own. Maybe it's the volume of players that's the cause of what's bothering me (as any time more and more people from any school find their way into any profession, the more likely it is that some of them will not work out or will have colorful off the job problems).

Unfortunately I think the problem runs deeper than that. Sean Taylor and Kellen Winslow's recent off-field issues may be limited to only them, but they reflect on the University of Miami as a whole. The University has done so much over the past decade to eradicate much of the reputation that it earned during the 80s and 90s - but all of those efforts can be quickly rendered meaningless if a handful of former players make headlines for the wrong reasons off the field.

Hopefully Taylor and Winslow are just isolated examples. I hope Miami is holding itself to a higher standard in recruiting football players (along with other students and athletes). The choice shouldn't be whether to recruit the best football players or the best student-athletes. The only option should be to recruit the best football playing student-athletes. The distinction is slight, but it's an important one.

At the end of the day, the general public doesn't remember that Taylor and Winslow left school early and without their diplomas. The public doesn't remember that the only time they hear about Jon Vilma or D.J. Williams is when it's football related or when they are doing something positive. The thing that sticks out in people's minds is that Sean Taylor went to Miami and that he's out waving a gun at people and that Miami's "f-ing soldier", Kellen Winslow, looks foolish for jeopardizing his career for a motorcycle ride. In the long run, those kinds of memories will stick with people longer than a 34-game win streak, a 5th national title in two decades, or inspiring stories like Willis McGahee's.

(Hey Kellen - if you're such a "f-ing solider" why don't you walk off your injuries and actually play some football this year? Why didn't you do that last year? Oh - what's that? It's physically impossible? Fine - then just be quiet and save your talk for when you've actually proven something. In the mean time, quit letting your dad tarnish his reputation by defending the indefensible.)

At the Movies

2005-06-03T09:52:00.000-05:00

This isn't baseball related, but I'll talk about it anyway.

I was fortunate to be invited to a "premier" screening of Cinderella Man last night. It's the best movie I've seen in a long time. The movie has received a tremendous amount of hype - or maybe it just seems that way to me, since they've promoted it at every Marlins game this year - but it certainly lives up to it.

Actually, I liked the movie much better than I thought I would from the previews.

I'll spare you the details so that you can enjoy the movie yourself. It's a definite departure from Star Wars and Madagascar, but definitely a departure that you should take.

Well, you should take it with one caveat: the boxing scenes are very realistic (if not realistic, definitely violent). If that's not your thing, you'll probably have your eyes closed for a large portion of the movie. The boxing is critical to the story though, and how Ron Howard and team executed it is wonderful.

Tourney Time

2005-05-31T10:14:00.000-05:00

Pairings for the 64-team NCAA regionals were announced over the long weekend. As always, there were a few surprises, but for the most part things went as expected. Miami was awarded an at large berth. This marks the 33rd straight trip to college baseball's post-season. That's the longest current NCAA post-season streak in any sport (and Florida State fans are quick to note that the Noles are right behind the Canes, having appeared in 28 straight regionals).

Miami and FSU were amongst the 16 teams who were awarded number one seeds and who will host their regionals this coming weekend (oddly, no number one seeds will travel to other schools this weekend, as has been the case in recent years). Neither Miami nor FSU received a national seed though. The top 8 seeds are:

Tulane
Georgia Tech
Nebraska
Baylor
Mississippi
Cal-State Fullerton
Florida
Oregon State

Don't feel too badly if some of those schools surprise you. There have been a lot of twists and turns throughout this year. Traditional powers like LSU and Stanford have been down. North Carolina didn't live up to expectations. Miami faltered badly at the end of the year.

I'm going to go the easy route with my prognostications for the regionals and take all of the #1 seeds, with a few exceptions. I'll take NC State to take out Nebraska (maybe I'm just hoping for that as it would allow Miami, should they win this weekend, to host a Super Regional).

I also like North Carolina to come out of the Florida regional. Go ahead and accuse me of being ACC-biased, but UNC has a lot of pitching and pitching wins this time of year. The Gainesville regional is a tough one though - Notre Dame and Stetson are no slouches.

I'll also take Southern California to come out of Long Beach State's regional.

I also like Winthrop to take the Tennessee regional. The Vols have no business being a number one seed. Winthrop does.

So that leaves me with 12 number ones plus NC State, UNC, Southern Cal, and Winthrop in the Super Regionals.

Random thoughts:

I'm not sure why Nebraska was rewarded with a national seed, let alone #3 overall. Should things play out as the Canes hope this weekend, that should set up about as favorable of a Super Regional as the Canes, mired in a six-game losing streak, could expect - even if they do have to travel for it.
Florida and Florida State are set for a Super Regional matchup. That could be a classic. I'm just glad that Miami didn't get paired with Florida. I would have hated to see the Canes season end against the Gators - although with all the pain the Canes have inflicted upon the Gators in recent years, I suppose Miami is due to find themselves on the short end of things.
Auburn will make things tough for the Noles this weekend.
No one did Rice any favors. They travel to LSU this weekend. Alex Box Stadium is about as tough of a college venue to win in as there is. If they survive, they'll likely face Tulane in the super regionals. It sure feels like that bracket was set up to guarantee a favorable Super Regional for television, as it will most likely feature Tulane versus LSU or Rice. It might not seem like a marquee matchup to some folks, but in college baseball those are three premier teams, especially when they play each other.
Clemson also didn't catch a break with their regional. They likely deserved a national seed - certainly above Nebraska. To make matters worse, they get the College of Charleston in their regional, which is a legit top ten club. The one bright spot for Clemson is that CoC might be knocked into the loser's bracket early by Oral Roberts, which features some good pitching.

Canes Drop Game 1

2005-05-26T07:52:00.000-05:00

Miami lost their opener in the ACC tournament, which puts them into the loser's bracket early in this double elimination tournament. The loss marked Cesar Carillo's second in as many starts, as well as it was his second career loss. With the loss the Canes have now lost 5 consecutive games, which is an unpleasant first in the Jim Morris era.

For a baseball fan, yesterday's game was a good one. The final score was 2 - 1, and the game was highlighted by strong pitching from both clubs, both of which were led by their aces. Unfortunately for Canes fans, it was just that NC State's Andrew Brackman outdueled Miami's Cesar Carillo yesterday.

NC State also deserves credit for turning to their outstanding closer, Joey Devine, in the 8th inning - instead of waiting for the "traditional" closer's time of the 9th. This was particualrly important as the Canes had their 3, 4, and 5 hitters due to the plate (All-Americans Ryan Braun and Jon Jay, plus Danny Valencia). Devine came in and did his job. Had the Wolfpack used another arm from their bullpen in the 8th, yesterday's outcome could have been different.

What's interesting for the Canes is the unusual lineup they used yesterday. Walter Diaz, normally the team's second baseman, played shortstop, while Roger Tomas, who is normally the shortstop, played second. The Figueroa brothers also swapped roles at the top of the batting order, with Paco leading off and Danny dropping from his customary spot to the second hole. It's usually not the mark of a championship team to change such things up during the post-season. With the way the Canes have been playing of late, I suppose that's stating the obvious.

Other Tournament News:

Wake Forest was eliminated, after a 9-8 loss to top seeded Georgia Tech last night. The Terps, along with Duke, Maryland, and Va Tech, can now enjoy the scenes and sites of Jacksonville at their leisure. We'll see more teams go the 0-2 and a barbeque route today.
Miami faces Clemson this morning at 10 am. One of these top teams will be eliminated quickly (Miami is the #3 seed, Clemson is #2).
#1 Georgia Tech faces #4 Florida State tonight in the late game. The winner here will likely be playing late into the weekend. Both teams won close games yesterday (with FSU needing extra innings).

Follow the ACC Baseball Tournament

2005-05-25T08:46:00.000-05:00

While it doesn't come with the cachet of the ACC basketball tournament, the ACC baseball tournament is a very exciting event. Things technically kicked off yesterday, but the higher seeded teams begin play today.

The Canes face NC State at 10 am, with Cesar Carillo taking the hill for Miami. He'll attempt to return to his winning ways for the first time since suffering his first career defeat last Thursday.

Keep up with the tournament here. There are brackets, access to webcasts, and loads of other information available at the official ACC site. As with all NCAA post-season baseball tournaments, this is a double elimination tournament.

As a long-time Canes fan, I was originally disappointed that the Canes baseball team would have to join the ACC. But for this week, at least, I'm glad to see them a part of it. These tournaments are always fun.

Carillo Loses

2005-05-23T11:01:00.000-05:00

It had to happen eventually, I suppose. Miami's Cesar Carillo, who had never participated in a game the Canes lost, took his undefeated career to the hill on Thursday night against the Clemson Tigers. Now, Clemson is no slouch of a ball club, but Cesar has beaten better. Cesar has beaten better in bigger games with more on the line. It didn't happen on Thursday though.

Carillo took the loss in a 15 - 5 debacle at the hands of Tigers. Cesar gave up 11 earned runs in 3.2 innings; at least he didn't lose a 1 - 0 heartbreaker. This game was decided early.

Football fans will remember that Clemson has not been kind to the Canes this academic year. That held up all weekend, in fact. The Canes were swept in South Carolina, losing all three games. This marks the first time since 2002 that the Canes were swept in a multi-game series.

This past weekend's outcome really lessens my hopes for the post-season for the Canes. The ACC tournament begins tomorrow (with a 10 am matchup against NC State). That will quickly be followed by regionals, and then hopefully super regionals and the College World Series.

It's tough to look too far ahead for the Canes though. Carillo was dominant for most of the year, as he was last season. In three recent outings though, he has looked extremely hittable. The results alone prove that out. I have no insight into what the cause of that is. Maybe he's tired. Maybe he's tipping his pitches. It has likely influenced his draft status. What's more concerning, at least in the short term, is the impact this has on the Canes.

Putting Cesar on the hill for the Canes was a guaranteed win for the Canes. That's not a given anymore. After seeing him struggle against the likes of North Carolina in mid-April, that seemed possible. Now that it has actually happened, we know it to be true. That's a grim reality to face for the Canes, as they're not even sure at this point who they can count on as a second starter.

College baseball championships are won with pitching - particularly depth of quality pitching. At this point, and I sure hope I'm wrong, the Canes seem to have neither.

As much as it pains me to pick them, I'm guessing Florida State will win the ACC tournament.

Sox - Cubs

2005-05-20T12:51:00.000-05:00

Interleague play starts today and it features all sorts of natural rivalries. Normally this is when I start to whine about how much pub the Mets and Yankees are getting, and how wrong that is, and how much more attention the White Sox and Cubs should be getting.

This year though, I can't make that complaint. Even if it's nowhere else, the Windy City Series has pretty much dominated Sports Illustrated online - even if it is only for today. Sure, much of the coverage focuses on how long it has been since either club won a World Series, but I'm not in a position to be picky.

There's even a great quote from Ozzie included:

"I think it's great when the game starts, but besides that I hate Wrigley Field," Guillen said this week." It's not about the Cubs fans, the players or the organization, it's about Wrigley Field."

While I've never been to Wrigley, I think that sums up my take on the rivalry and everything else related pretty well.

So, all is well in my simple world today. The Sox are playing the Cubs in a game that counts and the Sox enter the series favored. Well, things are only great as long as the Sox sweep, I suppose.

I agree with Dusty Baker on something, what's next?

2005-05-19T09:47:00.000-05:00

First of all, even when Dusty was managing the Giants, I found issue with him at times. Over the years, he's said some pretty whacked out things. This week though he said something about interleague play that I agree with:

"It's great for the fans, it's great for everybody, but that's a lot of games to decide who goes [to the playoffs] and who doesn't -- and they're not even in the same league," Baker said Tuesday. "I would like to see them go to three at their park one year and three at our park the next year."

While my initial reaction is to want to jump all over Dusty for being afraid to play the White Sox, he's got a point here. Yes, interleague play can be a great thing when the matchups are right. Series like Yankees - Mets, A's - Giants, and of course, White Sox - Cubs can be thrilling and meaningful (at least to the fans).

But the impact that these series can have on the playoff chase is also equally meaningful. This weekend while the Mets take on the Yankees and the Braves take on the Red Sox, the Marlins will play the first of two three-game sets against the lowly Devil Rays. Sure, the Marlins lost four of six to the Rays last year, but any team would rather play six against the Rays instead of six against the Yankees or Red Sox.

The interleague schedule is not equitable. At the end of the year this imbalance can impact who makes the playoffs and who makes tee times. I'd like to see more done about fixing that than I'd like to hear about imbalance in payrolls and the financial prospects of a team.

Julio Franco - Subject Him to Special Testing

2005-05-16T12:43:00.000-05:00

It's 2005 and Julio Franco is still going strong. It's completely amazing. Back in 1985, most folks probably didn't see Franco as a major leaguer as far into the future as 1995. But now it's 10 years past then and Franco is still going strong.

On what probably seems like an unrelated note, I'm tired of all the steroid talk. Just ban everything that should be banned and be done with it. To make it up to the players though, they should take a blood sample from Julio Franco and inject every major leaguer with whatever special stuff is flowing through his veins.

Heck, the rest of us would probably buy whatever it is too. Franco seems to have some anti-aging (maybe reversing) something-or-other in his body. At age 46, Franco is simply ripped - more so than most 26-year olds could ever hope to be.

Down the Stretch they Come...

2005-05-11T10:21:00.000-05:00

College baseball's regular season is quickly winding to a close. In the ACC there are two weeks of regular season games left and the race at the top of the standings is very close. Georgia Tech, Miami, and North Carolina enter the week with six conference losses a piece. Georgia Tech holds the overall lead though, as they have the most wins (as Miami and UNC tied in one game, and UNC was rained out of two others). The winner of the regular season championship will probably come down to the wire.

Keep in mind though that the regular season champ doesn't really get anything, as the automatic berth in the NCAA tournament (which all three of those teams will find their way into anyway, even if it's as at large teams) goes to the conference tournament champion.

As always, I will take the opportunity here to pimp some Miami players: Starting pitcher Cesar Carillo continues to impress. He's now 11-0 on the season and 23-0 for his career (which is the 4th longest win streak in NCAA history). In games in which he has appeared (last year he started as a reliever), Miami is 33-0.

Third baseman Ryan Braun, who you'll see in the pros as an outfielder, also continues to impress. The junior, who is hitting .417, already has 15 home runs and 21 stolen bases - making him a legitimate candidate for 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases, which in the college game (despite the aluminum bats) is about the equivalent of a 40-40 season in the majors. You just don't see it happen very often.

This Week's College World Series Forecast

2005-05-05T11:06:00.000-05:00

Last week we posted our first picks for the College World Series. Here are this week's:

Texas
Tulane
Florida
Baylor
Oregon State
Miami
Louisana-Lafayette
Cal-State Fullerton

The list hasn't changed much from last week, except that I omitted Fullerton last week somehow. The top two spots are pretty much locks.

Not that it would bother me any, but Florida may have peaked too early this year. While it's just a mid-week game, and it's always tough to get a read on those because of the lineups that are typically used, the Gators lost to Florida State, again, this week. It may be a timing thing, and it may be a mid-week thing, but the Gators might not be as good, and the Noles might be a little better than most of us are giving them credit for right now.

Louisiana-Lafayette is still my wild card pick. They haven't played any top 25 competition, which could hurt them come the post-season (especially when you consider that Baseball America's top 5 teams have each played at least 10 games against top 25 opponents; Texas has faced 19 coming into the week). It's never the top 8 teams in the country that make it to Omaha though. You've got to have some luck, good timing, and, of course, strong pitching. So I'll stick with Lafayette until they stumble.

As always, this list was heavily influenced by the pseudo-RPIs found at Boyd's World.

So I saw "Fever Pitch" Finally...

2005-05-02T13:30:00.000-05:00

I saw “Fever Pitch” the other day and it hit me in a way that most comedies don’t - or at least in a way that they’re not intended to.

Part of me is hesitant to post any my take on the film here because if I do it any justice I’ll probably have to reveal more about myself than I’m comfortable doing. Because of that, I'll probably short change the review and the impact the movie made on me.

But at the same time I’ll admit that I haven’t quite figured this whole thing out. Sometimes when I post something that I think is really good – or at least that I’ve put some thought into – there’s absolutely zero readership or reaction. Then at other times, when I just whip something together off the top of my head – it gets read, and read a lot. Sometimes a college course even incorporates it into their curriculum, or it generates a following of its own that generates emails for me that still trickle in a year later. So maybe this is one of those little pieces that will sit on the Internet anonymously. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t – but I’ll feel better for getting it out of my head and out somewhere.

I’ve read a number of reviews of “Fever Pitch” by other folks who blog about baseball. Many of them said that they felt like they really related to Jimmy Fallon’s character in the movie. In some ways I did, but in other ways I didn’t. Most of all, despite the fact that I have two blogs dedicated to baseball, I’m not nearly as obsessed with the game – or one team (not even the two or three teams I follow the closest combined) – as the movie’s character.

There were many obvious times in the movie when Jimmy put his relationship with Drew Barrymore in jeopardy for reasons that I can’t come close to relating to (no, I don’t remember their characters names and I’m not looking them up, so deal with it). The actions that he sometimes took, the things that he said, and the decisions that he made were just laughably pathetic. They were so plain for me to see that I know I couldn’t make those same sorts of mistakes

Well, I’d like to think that, but really I can’t. I’ve made those same types of mistakes – or worse. Repeatedly. Unfortunately, unlike the character in the movie, I’m never able to see those mistakes until the situation is irreversible and it’s far too late.

One of the initial scenes in movie showed Jimmy going to Fenway Park for the first time with his uncle. That scene was almost like a flashback for me, as I remember doing almost the same exact thing when I was about the same age, but with my father at Old Comiskey park. The tunnel we came up was at about the same place relative to home as what’s shown in the movie. I was overwhelmed by the size of the field and the green of the grass (even though I’m red/green color blind). To this day, although it was at least twenty years ago, I can vividly remember that scene. I don’t remember who the Sox played that day or where we sat, but I remember first walking up that ramp and first seeing the field live in person. I’d followed the Sox on television and in the newspaper by then, but I’d never seen them live. I suppose that first glimpse inside Comiskey Park is where the my fascination with baseball, the White Sox, and old Comiskey Park began.

Another scene that struck me was when Drew Barrymore asked Jimmy if baseball had ever loved him back. Like Jimmy said, obviously I’d have to say that no, of course it never has. But while baseball doesn’t ever love you back, unlike “real life” or relationships with people, baseball doesn’t walk away or leave you either - at least not permanently. When the game goes away in late October, you know that pitchers and catchers will report in February and that Opening Day will be in April. There’s never a case of someone leaving for a pack of cigarettes or an evening run and never coming back (neither of those specific things ever happened to me).

At least there’s not supposed to be. I suppose it happens in baseball sometimes – like when the Expos are taken from Montreal, or a strike cancels the World Series, or when the White Sox move across the street to a new park and continue to call the new place Comiskey Park. So sometimes the game does more to you than merely passively failing to love you back. The game can even reach out and hurt you – or at least take away something that you thought was a given. People do get attached and people do take these things as if they were family or “real.” I suppose it’s why I vowed way back when to never attend a Sox game at the “new” Comiskey Park and why I empathize with the fans in Montreal who are still sad about losing the Expos. Sure, there may not be a lot of them, but they’re hurt by the whole thing just as much as true Yankee or Dodgers fans would be/were if/when the same thing happened to them.

But for the most part, the game doesn’t love you back. But it’s always there. The players may change, but the nickname and uniforms remain recognizable. The outcome might not always be what you want (a pennant or a World Series), but there are limits on the downside too. You can only finish in last place. There is no divorce or loss of visitation with your kids (neither of which applies to me).

Well, this hasn’t come together at all like I thought/hoped it would when it was just rolling around in my head. To summarize, “Fever Pitch” is a very interesting movie and parts of it are laugh out loud funny. Some of the visuals leave something to be desired, particularly when you can tell what’s a live baseball shot and what was inserted from film. My point in writing this was that in a lot of ways I related to this movie, but not in the ways I thought I would.

Milton Bradley - I'm cheering for you

2005-04-29T09:31:00.000-05:00

There is a nice feature in the current edition of USA Today's "Sports Weekly" about Dodgers outfielder Milton Bradley (unfortunately, I can't find a link to it). As you know, Bradley has had a tumultous career, which has led him to bounce between the Expos, Indians, and now to the Dodgers. He is uber-talented, but has historically had a temper to match.

After his incident last year at Dodger Stadium (which isn't worth rehashing here), Bradley apologized to everyone and actively sought help.

So far it seems, he's genuinely made use of that help and is a changed person. What's even more fortunate for Milton is that the Dodgers stood by him. It would have been easy for them to sever ties with the outfielder - either to trade him or release him, but they didn't. And now they are reaping the rewards for this - as they have a happy and productive Bradley in their lineup.

I think there's a lesson in that for a lot of us. Maybe not - time will tell. In the mean time, I'll be cheering for Milton Bradley.

Marlins Stadium Issue - Talk to Someone

2005-04-27T10:44:00.000-05:00

Call (or write) someone who cares.

Week of 4/25: College Baseball Projections

2005-04-26T09:28:00.000-05:00

Boyd's World has new pseudo-RPIs up, so I thought that based on that (and my opinions) I'd make my first predictions for the field of this year's College World Series:

1. Texas
2. Tulane
3. Florida
4. Baylor
5. Oregon State
6. Miami
7. Louisana-Lafayette
8. Arizona State

The first two spots are gimmies. Those would have to be pretty much consensus picks. Florida seems to be for real too - although I'm always skeptical of the Gators.

Baylor and Oregon State aren't traditional powers, but they're having great years this year and I think they'll hold up.

While I don't think this is Miami's strongest team by any means, they seem to be holding up well in the rankings and ratings. That will probably buy the Canes a national seed, which likely means hosting a regional and a super regional. That could be what propels the Canes to Omaha this year, as my hopes for them are much dimmer if they have to go on the road.

I don't know much about Louisana-Lafayette, but I keep reading good things about them. So they're my darkhorse.

For the 8th team, I really struggled. This could have been any one of a number of teams. I picked traditional power Arizona State, but I'm not sold on it. You could easily make cases for at least three ACC schools (North Carolina, Georgia Tech, and NC State) and you could probably put Clemson into that fold as well. From the SEC, Mississippi, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, or LSU could also take a berth.

Barring injury or something else unexpected, Texas and Tulane are virtual Omaha locks. The last six spots though are up for grabs, and there are twenty clubs with legitimate shots at grabbing them.

Thoughts?

Canes vs. Noles - Baseball just like Football

2005-04-25T09:18:00.000-05:00

While the Seminoles were able to salvage something from the weekend with a 13 - 1 blowout win yesterday, it was a tough weekend for the young Noles - as they lost two out of three games to the Hurricanes in Coral Gables.

I carefully chose to say that the Noles lost two out of the three games - instead of saying that the Canes won two out of the three. To say that the Canes won the Friday and Saturday night matchups would be factually correct, but not entirely accurate either.

Honestly, this weekend's baseball series was much like the script that has played out so many times in recent years between the Canes and the Noles on the football field. The Noles dominate the Canes for much of the game, but eventually the Noles (usually via their kicker) find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Friday night's game was essentially decided in the bottom of the 8th inning. It appeared that the Canes had squandered their third bases-loaded opportunity of the night, but when Noles shortstop Ryne Jernigan tried to make the play at second himself to start what should have been an inning ending double play, he failed to reach second before the runner. As a result, the runner at second was safe and the Noles were not out of the inning. Jernigan later made an error on a routine grounder, which allowed the Canes rally to continue. To make things worse for poor Jernigan, he even fouled out to the catcher to end the game in the 9th.

How bad of a night was it on Friday for Jernigan? On Friday night, he wore number 8. By Saturday night, he had switched to number 56 - which was so new that he was the only player not to have his name stitched on above his number.

Fortunately for Jernigan, the number change was enough to shift the bad luck away. Unfortunately for Florida State, the bad luck didn't move to the Canes dugout - instead it shifted to the Noles outfield.

Seminoles' right fielder Ruairi O'Connor played the role of Florida State's kicker on Saturday night, as he dropped not one - but two - foul balls in the early going. Those drops ultimately led to baserunners and runs. O'Connor was replaced and the Canes went on to win the game.

Overall it was a good series for the Canes, as they won two out of three games and inched closer to the top of the conference standings (as Georgia Tech was swept by Virginia - who Miami will face in a few weeks). The wins for the Canes were not dominating though, and questions still loom as to how far this team will be able to go in the post-season.

How do things look for the Canes?

2005-04-21T11:03:00.000-05:00

There has been much consternation in Hurricane Baseball land this year. Coming into the season, expectations were high. Most everyone was returning from last year (and even the year before's) College World Series team, so folks felt this year the team was primed not only to reach Omaha, but to make a serious run at the national title.

Then injuries started to plague the team, and there are the unexplained, indefinite suspensions to Gaby Sanchez and Marcelo Albir which further robbed the team of needed depth (as we watch former contributors like Joey Hooft - at Arizona State - and Greg Dini and Matt Barket at Tulane fill major roles for other clubs).

That was followed by a typically sluggish start to the season, which included series losses (with one win and two defeats in each series) against non-conference, but arch-rival nonetheless Florida, and new conference foe Georgia Tech. Gloom and doom set in amongst the Hurricane faithful. It seemed that all was lost and folks started to talk of not only not making it to Omaha this year, but the likelihood that the Canes might not even host a regional this season.

Recently though, the tide has turned. Fueled by a sweep over lowly Virginia Tech (who the Canes struggle to beat in seemingly every sport), the Canes traveled up to Chapel Hill last week and won two (and tied another) against North Carolina and their vaunted pitching staff (which entered the weekend with a team era under 2.00).

Now it's mid-April and the Canes are in second place in the conference and ranked highly in all the major polls. In my favorite rankings, Boyd's World's Pseudo-RPI (Boyd's World is a great place for college baseball information), the Canes are ranked 5th this week.

Two of the teams ahead of them are Florida and Georgia Tech. Maybe those early season series losses weren't so bad after all. The other two higher ranked teams are Texas and Tulane - both of whom had higher expectations than the Canes coming into the year, so everyone knew that a trip to Omaha would run through them ultimately anyway.

The moral of the story is that it's mid-April and things look pretty good for the Canes right now. There are 12 regular season ACC games left (and three more non-conference games). Winning each series is critical - but winning each conference game might be more so, as each loss makes a regular season conference title less likely (although the regular season ACC doesn't count for much, other than better seeding in the conference tournament - where the winner receives an automatic tournament bid).

Canes - Seminoles Set to Square Off

2005-04-20T09:15:00.000-05:00

This weekend presents an odd first in college baseball, as the Miami Hurricanes will meet the Florida State Seminoles, as they have every year for some time now, but this year will be the first time they do so as conference rivals. So in that sense there's more on the line than their used to be, as these games count in the conference standings. But on the other hand, because of the ACC affiliation, they'll only meet three times per year from now on, instead of the six they used to.

What's also odd are the hats they're selling for this series. I'm not sure who a split Miami/Florida State hat appeals to, maybe other than Ken Dorsey's mom, as her other son went to FSU.

Like in nearly all recent years, both teams are playing well and are ranked. Miami is riding a hot streak, having won two games last weekend in North Carolina against the Tar Heels - including beating the Heels two most highly touted pitchers. FSU is hot too - having beat highly ranked Florida (which took two of three from Miami earlier this year) just last night. And the Noles did that while using one of their regular infielders as their starting pitcher (he'll also start on Sunday, after his strong showing last night).

This should be a great series at Mark Light this weekend. Friday night's game is already sold out (and features a giveaway). Saturday and Sunday's affairs should draw big crowds too (if only to see the Noles loud Sunday uniforms).