November 01, 2006
Triple Threat
I'm pretty excited today. A few friends and I bought a 12 game package for the Jazz and tonight is opening night versus the Houston Rockets, which means T-Mac, Yao Ming, and apparently "country legend" Billy Ray Cyrus.
July 13, 2005
Le Tour Resources
Here's some sites that I discovered last year that I've had to rediscover this year for Le Tour. So, in an effort to not have to find them again next year I'm making a list.
- » Tour de France Blog - My first source for "insider" news during the Tour.
- » Daily Peloton - A good general cycling resource.
- » VeloNews - Good play-by-play while I'm sitting at work I can check it every few minutes and see what has recently happened.
- » Official Site - Excellent use of Flash during the live stages. It shows the gaps between all the riders.
- » PezCycling - Check out the Daily Distractions section. Via Mark.
Also, here's a couple of pretty cool pdf's I've garnered from a couple of newspapers. If you've new to cycling (pdf 2.84 MB) or the Tour, (pdf 6.96 MB) they provide some good information.
July 12, 2005
Ahhhh
Getting my Tour fix.
February 07, 2005
Super Bored?
Apparently, a lot of people were either bored or didn't watch the Super Bowl. I for one was less than impressed by this year's commercials, but the game was almost second-to-none. Sure there were several turnovers, but the defense for both teams were excellent.
Personally, I thought it was the best Super Bowl I've seen in a long time. It even came down to the last minute.
So, the city of Boston has two tremendous victories under their belt and one sad loss. Let's see if the Celtics (a longshot), who are leading the Eastern Conference's Atlantic Division can make it a trifecta.
As for me, my sports predictions have been perfect as of late. All 11 victors of the NFL playoff games this year I predicted correctly. Too bad I'm not a gambling man.
October 28, 2004
World Champions
What a series! My emotions have been running high for the last 11 days. I'm pretty glad its over. Of course, probably not as glad as the city of Boston to have that giant gorilla-like baseball player named Babe Ruth off its back. Phase I of world domination complete.
October 26, 2004
Curse Schmurse
New England's Reign of world domination has begun. First, the Boston Red Sox will win the World Series. As this will be the first time in 86 years, this is the first sign of the apocalypse. Next, John Kerry, from Massachusetts, will be elected President of the United States. Finally, the New England Patriots will go undefeated through the 2004 NFL season and win the Super Bowl in January about two weeks after Kerry is inaugurated.
I'm just kidding. Actually, I wish I lived in Boston right now. I have been enjoying myself so much lately watching the two biggest teams in professional sports, the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots.
In case you have fallen off the face of the planet, let me fill you in on both of these teams. First, the Patty's have won 21 games in a row, if you count last season! Second, the Red Sox were down three games to zero against the New York Yankees and rallied to win the series. This has never been done in baseball. Also, the Sox have never won a deciding game against the Yankees. Of course, everyone knows the history of the Red Sox and the Curse of the Babe.
My father has been a huge BoSox fan for his whole life. To this day, his favorite sports hero is Ted Williams. Its funny, but growing up I hated the Sox because my dad loved them. For the past three or four years, though, I have been somewhat converted into a Red Sox fan. My favorite team growing up was the Atlanta Braves (because I could watch every game on TBS) and they have developed sort of a disappointing pattern for the last 14 years.
Also, I'd be on the watch for the Celtics dominating in the NBA. Although, this could be a long shot.
November 12, 2003
Vindictive Designers and Logos
I'm going to see a hockey game tonight. I'm not a huge hockey fan, but I love attending any sporting event. I have an inside contact at the company who designed the logo for our local team. From what I am told, the actual designer of the logo was fired immediately after finishing the design.
In a moment of vindictive wrath, he made a genital . . . i mean, gentle change to the tongue of the grizzly bear design that you see above. Look closely. Its there.
The funny thing is that nobody notices this "deformity" in the tongue of this poor bear. It cracks me up everytime I see it because people proudly display it in car windows, on jackets, t-shirts, etc. I see it everywhere.
This reminds me of another urban legend of the animator for Disney who was fired shortly before finishing his design for the poster of the Little Mermaid. Apparently, he decided to make similar alterations to some pillars on a castle. This, too, made it to print.
What do we learn from this? Graphic designers can be dangerous when fired. Before you know it, they'll be drawing genitals on everything they can get their hands on. No pun intended.
October 17, 2003
1 Out of 2 Ain't Bad
Well, here's my analysis of last night: Grady Little left Pedro in too long. I'm no manager or anything. But, when New York almost started a 2 out rally in the bottom of the seventh, I thought to myself, "Yank him." I knew, from my many years of playing ball and watching the National League, that he was done by this point. But Little left him in, narrowly escaping the rallying Yanks.
On comes the eighth, and Pedro got shallacked from the very beginning and by the time Little pulled him, it was a tie. Too bad for the Sox, this time, the manager cursed them, not the Babe.
UPDATE!
I just jumped over to ESPN.com and saw that this is the exact thing that the analysts there are saying. Maybe I missed my calling. Damn, I should have been a baseball manager.
October 16, 2003
Hell Has Frozen Over in Boston and Cali
"Hell Froze Over." This was the headline today on the apple website after Steve Jobs released iTunes for Windows. Touted as the "best Windows App ever" it will replace MusicMatch as the default jukebox application for my iPod.
Also, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees will meet head-to-head in Game 7 of the ALCS tonight. Publicized as the "Game of the Century" this could be the chance for the BoSox to shed the Curse of the Bambino.
Since the Cubbies lost last night, this is the last chance for those of us looking for gradification through one of the "Cursed" teams.
No Doubt, Bill Gates is pissed. My hope is the Bambino will join him after the game tonight.
October 13, 2003
Boston Brouhaha
I'd like to make a comment on the situation that occured during Game 3 of the Boston Red Sox/New York Yankees game.
I'm sure that I have a much different take than most people.
If you didn't see it, I'll give you a quick breakdown. The Boston Pitcher, Pedro Martinez, threw a fastball, straight at the batters head, Karim Garcia. Fortunately, the pitch nicked the batters back harmlessly. Nevertheless, he was hit and got a free trip to first base. The next batter then hit into a double play, where on his way to second, Garcia attempted to break up the double play as every good little leaguer has been taught. However, Garcia, took it too far and tried to "take out" the Red Sox Second Baseman. Words were exchanged. Tempers flared. Tension was felt by all. Nothing happened, though, before the Yankees received their third out of the inning.
Retaliation came quickly when Clemens delivered a pitch "high-and-tight" to Red Sox Outfielder Manny Ramirez. Hysteria ensued. Said hysteria included benches clearing with each player choosing his favorite target on the opposing team. The scuffle that brought the most attention was the one between Sox Pitcher Pedro Martinez and Yankees Coach Don Zimmer. That's right, I said Coach. Zimmer was so angry over the beanball thrown by Martinez, he thought, he'd go give Martinez a knuckle-sandwich to let him know. The problem is that Zimmer is 72 years old and Martinez only 31. Martinez simply side-stepped the punch and threw Zimmer harmlessly (somewhat) to the ground.
I've tried to be as "fair and balanced" as I could in my retelling of the story. Now, its my turn to sound off. First, I'm a baseball purist. I love the history of the game. I'd love to get back to the way baseball was 70 or 80 years ago. I don't want to get too far off topic, but obviously, there are many problems with modern day baseball (commercialism, doping, corking of bats, "juiced balls", etc.). These topics couldn't be covered adequately in a book, let alone a blog.
But the "pure baseball" I've read about, involved the "brush-away pitch", the beanball, "chin music", whatever you want to call it. This was done in the old days by throwing a pitch dangerously close, if not directly at a player to send a message to the opposing player/team. This was all part of the game. This was also a different era. Pitchers (and all players for that matter) weren't babied like they are today. Most pitchers played other positions as well. They were tough. In fact so tough, that they would even bat for themselves. Imagine that! Not like today when pitchers in the American League don't have to stand in the box and face the same (chin) music that the rest of the players do. Today, if a pitch is too close to a batter, a pitcher can be removed from the game. I certainly don't want players to be hurt, thats not what I'm saying. I simply feel that athletes today are spoiled and that bothers me.
Yes, Pedro's pitch was dangerously close to Garcia's head. Yes, Garcia tried to retaliate on an innocent player by sliding dangerously close to him. Yes, Clemens threw his pitch close, albeit, not as close as Martinez, to a player on the opposing team. Guess what? Its all part of the game. At least it was a half a century ago. And I believe it should be today.
Which brings us to the Martinez/Zimmer rumble. A lot of sports commentators out there are saying that Martinez was in the wrong for throwing an old man to the ground. In fact, NYC Mayer Michael Bloomberg said Martinez should have been arrested for assaulting an old man. Are you kidding me? I watched the altercation live and I recall seeing Zimmer swing first at Martinez. I'm not a lawyer, but I've always understood the law to say that you can defend yourself, which is exactly what Martinez did. He certainly could have swung at Zimmer, but he didn't. He seemed to show some restraint in that respect. Furthermore, what was Zimmer doing all the way over by the Red Sox dugout? He was the one who searched out Martinez, not the other way around.
This may be a moot point, but I feel that the problem lies with the rules and state of the game. If a pitcher in the National League throws a beanball at a player, he'd better hope he gets yanked out of the game before his next at-bat because he'll get Mr. Spalding tattooed across his forehead. Not so in the American League. Will the recent fines stop the beanballs? Of course not, they've been thrown for decades. Sorry, Zimmer, being an older player, from a different generation, you should know this.
One last thing, I know I probably sound like a Sox fan, but believe me, I'm not. Nowhere near it. Just a fan of the game.