With temperatures in the low 100's this week in the D.C. area, it looks like the perfect weekend to stay home and watch sports. Unfortunately it is a slow weekend in sports, but fear not, sports fans, use my guide and you'll find enough to avoid outdoor chores.
10: NHL Free Agency Begins
This counts as sports right? Sure it does. By all accounts it is a shallow pool for free agents this season, but that makes the intrigue all the more. Who will overpay for the likes of Zach Parise and Justin Schultz? I understand this isn't sexy, but teams have holes to fill including my Washington Capitals. Per my insiders (Japers Rink @japersrink and Neil Greenberg @ngreenberg) the two players to hope for in Washington are Shane Doan and Mikael Samuelsson who are both right wingers which is the biggest deficiency of talent on the roster. For more visit Japers Rink and their thoughts on what the Capitals should do here.
9: NBA Free Agency Begins
For fans of a more popular sport, (unfortunate as that is to say) the NBA follows up its draft with Free Agency. Deron Williams is the prized jewel of the free agent class along with aging superstars Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. The New Orleans Hornets revamped their roster through the draft last night, but the key to improving next season is hanging on to their lone star Eric Gordon.
8. New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers
This ship is sinking fast for the Dodgers. Injuries have taken their toll as now Andre Either has been added to the list of casualties. The Mets are trending upwards and even though R.A. Dickey has seen his streak of scoreless pitching come to an end, they are playing really well of late. They also get the nod for the Sunday night national televised game and Dillon Gee will be matched up with Clayton Kershaw. If I were Kershaw I'd be worried about pulling a muscle or straining a hamstring.
7. AT&T National
If you are brave enough to sit through the scorching weather here in the area, head on over to Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, MD this weekend. Tiger Woods and a slew of relative unknowns are playing on a course that was recently seen hosting last years U.S. Open. According to the people at Congressional, the course will play much harder during this tournament than when Rory McIlroy carved it up last year.
6. Pittsburgh Pirates at St. Louis Cardinals
Don't look now, but both of these teams are inching towards the Cincinnati Reds for 1st place in the N.L. Central. The defending champion Cardinals are still hitting minus the services of Albert Pujols who left them for Anaheim and Lance Berkman who is injured. The Pirates are being buoyed by A.J. Burnett who has won 8 consecutive starts for the first time in franchise history since Dock Ellis in 1974. It looks as though the move from New York was indeed the perfect thing to reinvigorate his fledgling career.
5. Wimbledon
Usually the first week of a Grand Slam Tournament is rather mundane with the top seeds rolling through qualifiers and youngsters, but this year has already been a shocker. Yesterday 5 time Wimbledon finalist Rafael Nadal was ousted in jaw dropping, dramatic fashion by 100th ranked unknown Lukas Rosol. Less stunning, but still surprising was on the Ladies side of the draw where former #1 and current 7th ranked Caroline Wozniaki was dropped in the first round. Add to the fact that Venus Williams again disappointed losing in the first round and you've got yourself an intriguing tournament for a change during week one.
4. Chicago White Sox at New York Yankees
Two first place teams that I equally don't like, but who are both playing really good baseball right now. The Yankees have lost 2/5 of its starting rotation this week, but they are the Yankees and we all know they will find a way to survive. More than likely they will just hit more home runs to make up for the lack of quality outings by their staff. The White Sox also made noise by acquiring Kevin Youkilis from the Boston Red Sox. Game one of this 4 game set went to the White Sox on a 9th inning 3 run blast by Dayan Viciedo.
3. Washington Nationals at Atlanta Braves
The first place Nationals look to stay that way as the All-Star Break approaches. They will throw out both of their aces (Strasburg and Gonzalez) this series in hopes to add a cushion to their 3.5 game lead in the division. The Braves who have lost Brandon Beachy and his 2.00 ERA for this season and probably next year as well with the dreaded, yet all too common Tommy John surgery. The Braves are good, but I have a feeling this could be a possible last stand of sort if they are to contend this season.
2. Cincinnati Reds at San Francisco Giants
Guess which pitching staff is the hottest in the Majors right now? They are located in the Bay area and their colors are green and gold...yes the Oakland Athletics. Over their last 14 game the A's have given up more than 3 runs only three times. That's nice and all, but its their cross bay rivals the Giants that have thrown 4 consecutive shutouts and vaulted the injured Dodgers into 1st place in the N.L. West. The Reds are scuffling as of late, but still hold a slim lead in the N.L. Central. Matt Cain looks to extend the scoreless streak for the Giants tonight.
1. Euro Cup 2012 Final
Spain vs. Italy. Hopefully we get a game like yesterday when Italy scored early at shook Germany to the core. All it takes is an early goal to have the coaches throw out the game plan and get their team scrambling. Mario Balotelli showed all the good that he can bring to a team while leaving all the bad out Spain hasn't given up a goal in a knockout game since 2006 so we know they will have a great defensive structure and it will be interesting to see how the Italians try and break through. If Spain falls behind it should be fun, if they score first it could be a mind numbing 1-0 final score.
--------------------------------------------
I am headed to Texas to get away from the D.C. heat this upcoming week. The wife and I are headed to visit her sister, but I am looking forward to eating some Texas brisket, some local Mexican food, eating some burgers and gaining 15 pounds. I better walk around and see the sights or else I may not make it back in one piece.
I will probably not be updating the page too much unless I need a reason to stay out of the heat. I will be posting pictures of my gluttonous conquests on my Twitter page so enjoy those.
Enjoy the week ahead including the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on the 4th of July. I do love me some food.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Pocket Pair 6/28/12
It's NBA Draft day everyone!!! Woooooo! Who will be the next LeBron James or the next Stromile Swift?? Will your favorite team take the best player or one that actually fits their current roster? Hopefully they don't reach for that promising teenage European named Darko while passing on Carmelo Anthony. Stupid Pistons.
To be honest I don't watch nearly as much College Basketball as I used to. I've become much more North Carolina-centric with my lack of free time. I don't think I saw Florida guard Bradley Beal play once. I couldn't tell you whether he will be the next Ray Allen, J.J. Redick or Joseph Forte. When your primary talent is shooting and you're really good at it College, the NBA scouts salivate. I look at the stat line for Beal and I see 44.5% shooting with 33% from 3 point range. That doesn't strike me as a dead eye sharp shooter, but again, what do I know? Joseph Forte was an inch shorter than Beal, but shot 45.5% and nearly 37% from 3 point range in his two years at UNC. He was a complete and utter bust in the NBA. I certainly hope Bradley Beal brings more to the table than did Forte.
Let me stick to what I (think I) know best North Carolina. They will have four 1st round draft picks in all likelihood tonight. They also did this in 2005 and nearly repeated the feat in 2009. Of course both of those teams were NCAA Champions (damn you Creighton). I'm going to quickly break down this years four players to the best of my limited ability.
Harrison Barnes-
Brought in with lofty expectations as the next greatest player to ever play, Harrison Barnes could only muster flashes of brilliance. What he will be remembered for, though, is failure to come up big when his team desperately needed him to. Yes he hit some game winning shots and had an unbelievable ACC Tournament his Freshman year, but he seemed to shrink when Kendall Marshall went down as he couldn't create his own shot. He still averaged 17 ppg., but at times it felt like he could average 25 ppg. wtih his skill set if he just had better ball handling abilities. If he works on that part of his game I could easily see him having a stellar career in the mold of Paul Pierce.
Kendall Marshall-
Stuck behind Larry Drew II, Marshall did not start his career at UNC with a bang. Once he got on the court, everyone saw why he had been on the radar of UNC since as early as 6th grade. He fit Roy Williams' fast break system to a tee with his ability to get the ball out of his hands and into a teammates hands in the exact spot it needed to be. He struggled shooting, but even that got much better as his Sophomore season went on to the point he had to be guarded up close at all times. His final game as a Tar Heel will be remembered for his injury, but he had 18 points on 7-8 shooting to go along with his standard 11 assists. His ceiling seems to be limitless in the right system, but with his deftness as passing, I think he'll make any system look good.
Tyler Zeller-
The only player of this draft class to be a part of a National Championship and one that stayed a full four years (even though he missed most of his Freshman year with a broken wrist thanks to those UK douches), Zeller is a question mark. He runs the court very well and is a true 7 feet tall. He proved to be very weak as a post player though and never was able to stretch his mid range jumper to anything more than the free throw line. His stats were bolstered by the efficiency of Marshall's full court passes, but I'm not sold that he will be a failure. Post play technique can be taught and upper body strength can be improved. He's a smart player and he'll give full effort and whether that will ever be enough to be a star in the NBA is yet to be seen.
John Henson-
I have big time reservations for the thin framed John Henson. He got stronger through each of his three years with North Carolina, but I still don't see him being able to hold his own on the block in the NBA. He's going to get stuck on offense being a near 7' wing player and that is just awkward. On defense he can be a difference maker with better strength, but to avoid being the next Brandan Wright things will need to change. His hopes is to turn his game into that of Marcus Camby and be a defensive stalwart and that wouldn't be too shabby.
------------------------------------------------------
After a wonderful start, the Euro Cup 2012 has taken a dreadful turn into boredom. The group stage games were for the most part compelling and lively. Everyone knew the battle between two defensive minded teams in England and Italy was going to be tough to watch, but we had high hopes for Spain and Portugal. Yesterday's game was awful, there was no flow, no action and really no drama because I didn't think either team was going to score. There was way too much talent on the field for a second consecutive scoreless draw.
Whatever on the fence American fans that had been drawn in this go around were fast asleep by the time Cristiano Ronaldo sat on the sidelines watching his less talented teammates cost him a chance to play in the Finals. Today's game should be one sided with Germany pressing for a goal while Italy will be looking for a quick counter attack. I hope we see some good play and hopefully that leads to a goal or two.
It's obvious soccer will never be a main attraction in America, even if the U.S. wins a World Cup. The game just doesn't appeal to what we love about sports. We like a good pace, obvious strategy that can be debated and star athletes doing things that we can only dream of. I can kick a ball 20 yards wide of a net. I can pass a soccer ball with a couple friends in a triangle. I can most definitely drop down and hold my ankle and writhe in pain when somebody clips my leg. I can't dunk, I can't throw 95 mph or hit a ball 425 feet, I can't break through tackles of 275 lb. linebackers or throw a perfect spiral into a 2 foot window and I can't hit a slap shot at nearly 100 mph while skating around a pro defenseman.
The rules need to be tinkered with to create a better paced game:
1) I call for unlimited on the fly changes of players. Stop standing around in the late stages of games because you can only substitute 3 players and your tired. Fresh legs = more energy = more scoring.
2) Force some players from each side to stay on the opposing teams side at all times. While on attack the attacking team needs to leave its goalie and 3 defensive players on their side and the defensive team needs to leave two offensive players there as well. Open space will create better passing and better scoring chances.
3) Power plays! A foul is a 2 minute penalty and a yellow card is a 5 minute penalty.
4) Tweak the offsides rule or eliminate it in the final five minutes of each half. Holy smokes would that be exciting. Cherry picking and long passes would stretch the field and teams like Spain and Brazil couldn't just pass the ball around to protect the lead.
5) Shot clock. 90 seconds to put a shot on goal when you cross the midfield line. 30 seconds to get the ball over the midfield line and no going back over the midfield line once you cross it. Yes back court violations.
6) Two goal shots. Draw an arc outside the box and any goal scored from past that is 2 goals.
To be honest I don't watch nearly as much College Basketball as I used to. I've become much more North Carolina-centric with my lack of free time. I don't think I saw Florida guard Bradley Beal play once. I couldn't tell you whether he will be the next Ray Allen, J.J. Redick or Joseph Forte. When your primary talent is shooting and you're really good at it College, the NBA scouts salivate. I look at the stat line for Beal and I see 44.5% shooting with 33% from 3 point range. That doesn't strike me as a dead eye sharp shooter, but again, what do I know? Joseph Forte was an inch shorter than Beal, but shot 45.5% and nearly 37% from 3 point range in his two years at UNC. He was a complete and utter bust in the NBA. I certainly hope Bradley Beal brings more to the table than did Forte.
Let me stick to what I (think I) know best North Carolina. They will have four 1st round draft picks in all likelihood tonight. They also did this in 2005 and nearly repeated the feat in 2009. Of course both of those teams were NCAA Champions (damn you Creighton). I'm going to quickly break down this years four players to the best of my limited ability.
Harrison Barnes-
Brought in with lofty expectations as the next greatest player to ever play, Harrison Barnes could only muster flashes of brilliance. What he will be remembered for, though, is failure to come up big when his team desperately needed him to. Yes he hit some game winning shots and had an unbelievable ACC Tournament his Freshman year, but he seemed to shrink when Kendall Marshall went down as he couldn't create his own shot. He still averaged 17 ppg., but at times it felt like he could average 25 ppg. wtih his skill set if he just had better ball handling abilities. If he works on that part of his game I could easily see him having a stellar career in the mold of Paul Pierce.
Kendall Marshall-
Stuck behind Larry Drew II, Marshall did not start his career at UNC with a bang. Once he got on the court, everyone saw why he had been on the radar of UNC since as early as 6th grade. He fit Roy Williams' fast break system to a tee with his ability to get the ball out of his hands and into a teammates hands in the exact spot it needed to be. He struggled shooting, but even that got much better as his Sophomore season went on to the point he had to be guarded up close at all times. His final game as a Tar Heel will be remembered for his injury, but he had 18 points on 7-8 shooting to go along with his standard 11 assists. His ceiling seems to be limitless in the right system, but with his deftness as passing, I think he'll make any system look good.
Tyler Zeller-
The only player of this draft class to be a part of a National Championship and one that stayed a full four years (even though he missed most of his Freshman year with a broken wrist thanks to those UK douches), Zeller is a question mark. He runs the court very well and is a true 7 feet tall. He proved to be very weak as a post player though and never was able to stretch his mid range jumper to anything more than the free throw line. His stats were bolstered by the efficiency of Marshall's full court passes, but I'm not sold that he will be a failure. Post play technique can be taught and upper body strength can be improved. He's a smart player and he'll give full effort and whether that will ever be enough to be a star in the NBA is yet to be seen.
John Henson-
I have big time reservations for the thin framed John Henson. He got stronger through each of his three years with North Carolina, but I still don't see him being able to hold his own on the block in the NBA. He's going to get stuck on offense being a near 7' wing player and that is just awkward. On defense he can be a difference maker with better strength, but to avoid being the next Brandan Wright things will need to change. His hopes is to turn his game into that of Marcus Camby and be a defensive stalwart and that wouldn't be too shabby.
------------------------------------------------------
After a wonderful start, the Euro Cup 2012 has taken a dreadful turn into boredom. The group stage games were for the most part compelling and lively. Everyone knew the battle between two defensive minded teams in England and Italy was going to be tough to watch, but we had high hopes for Spain and Portugal. Yesterday's game was awful, there was no flow, no action and really no drama because I didn't think either team was going to score. There was way too much talent on the field for a second consecutive scoreless draw.
Whatever on the fence American fans that had been drawn in this go around were fast asleep by the time Cristiano Ronaldo sat on the sidelines watching his less talented teammates cost him a chance to play in the Finals. Today's game should be one sided with Germany pressing for a goal while Italy will be looking for a quick counter attack. I hope we see some good play and hopefully that leads to a goal or two.
It's obvious soccer will never be a main attraction in America, even if the U.S. wins a World Cup. The game just doesn't appeal to what we love about sports. We like a good pace, obvious strategy that can be debated and star athletes doing things that we can only dream of. I can kick a ball 20 yards wide of a net. I can pass a soccer ball with a couple friends in a triangle. I can most definitely drop down and hold my ankle and writhe in pain when somebody clips my leg. I can't dunk, I can't throw 95 mph or hit a ball 425 feet, I can't break through tackles of 275 lb. linebackers or throw a perfect spiral into a 2 foot window and I can't hit a slap shot at nearly 100 mph while skating around a pro defenseman.
The rules need to be tinkered with to create a better paced game:
1) I call for unlimited on the fly changes of players. Stop standing around in the late stages of games because you can only substitute 3 players and your tired. Fresh legs = more energy = more scoring.
2) Force some players from each side to stay on the opposing teams side at all times. While on attack the attacking team needs to leave its goalie and 3 defensive players on their side and the defensive team needs to leave two offensive players there as well. Open space will create better passing and better scoring chances.
3) Power plays! A foul is a 2 minute penalty and a yellow card is a 5 minute penalty.
4) Tweak the offsides rule or eliminate it in the final five minutes of each half. Holy smokes would that be exciting. Cherry picking and long passes would stretch the field and teams like Spain and Brazil couldn't just pass the ball around to protect the lead.
5) Shot clock. 90 seconds to put a shot on goal when you cross the midfield line. 30 seconds to get the ball over the midfield line and no going back over the midfield line once you cross it. Yes back court violations.
6) Two goal shots. Draw an arc outside the box and any goal scored from past that is 2 goals.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Pocket Pair 6/27/12
The best thing about following sports is that there never seems to be a dull moment. Just when the sports world appears to be entering the 'slow' part of the year (post NBA & NHL and pre-NFL) we get new, fun stories to cover. Yesterday was a moment that many sports fans have yearned for for years. College Football which is extremely popular has been slow to adapt to the wishes of its fans. After seeing the successes and growth of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, fans across the country have clamored for football to do likewise.
We have been jaded over the years about the inequalities of the BCS. Entrusting our faith into some made up computer rankings combined with the absent minded rankings of coaches who probably didn't watch any games but their own and sports writers with agendas that make a true ranking completely impossible. How many times did we need to see quality programs like Boise St. and TCU get shafted because they didn't play in a bigger, more well known Conference? Is it their fault that other schools refuse to play them either at home or on the road because it would be a lose/lose situation for the bigger school? If you beat them, you're supposed to and if you lose, you're season is ruined and a chance at a National Championship is gone.
2009 saw the biggest cluster**ck occur when five different teams (Alabama, Texas, TCU, Cincinnati and Boise St.) all finished their regular seasons undefeated. This was the worst case scenario for the BCS and it will continue to be the worst case scenario under the new format. Yesterday NCAA Football agreed to a four team playoff system that will start in the 2014 season. Now teams can still have a chance to win a National Championship without finishing #1 or #2. Of course if five teams were to go undefeated somebody would still get left out of the 'small dance'.
As soon as the four team playoff was announced the shift in focus for fans of a playoff was getting to 8 or even 16 teams. I have always thought that 8 teams was the right number. I understand that the major draw for college football is that every regular season game matters. At most, teams should only be allowed to lose one game and still qualify as a championship contender. To finish in the top 8 would still be a difficult enough feat.
In the last five years the breakdown in losses between top 8 and top 16 teams looked like this:
2011 1-8 10 losses 9-16 20 losses
2010 1-8 7 losses 9-16 14 losses
2009 1-8 5 losses 9-16 20 losses
2008 1-8 7 losses 9-16 17 losses
2007 1-8 14 losses 9-16 20 losses (Hawaii was an outlier finishing 12-0 but ranked 10th)
The top 8 in the last 5 years combined for only 43 losses while the next 8 had 91 losses in the same time period. I think it's fair to state that anyone finishing in the top 8 at the end of the regular season should be good enough to get a shot at winning the whole thing.
Allowing 4 teams to compete for a National Championship is a good start, but it's still not good enough. There will still be arguments and there will still be a very good team that doesn't get the respect it should throughout the season which will cost them the ultimate shot at glory.
---------------------------------------------
Locally the Washington Capitals went back down the rabbit hole to ex-players, turned coaches to find a new head bench boss. Adam Oates played six seasons here in Washington, including the magical season of 1998 which is the only year the Capitals played in the Finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs. That's where the comparisons between him and ex-coach Dale Hunter end. Even though Hunter was supposed to be an offensive style coach, he brought a completely defensive approach in his only season here. Adam Oates should allow offensive weapons like Alex Ovechkin, Nick Backstrom and Mike Ribeiro to utilize their skills a bit more. He also is going to be much more charismatic than was Hunter. While he may not be the life of the party with his words and reactions like John Tortorella, he can't be much more vanilla and stoic than Hunter was.
Whether the coaching gig works out for Oates or not, he will also remember yesterday for another reason. He was also elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. I'd call that a pretty good day to say the least. On the ice, Oates was one of the finest passers the NHL has ever seen. He made other people better scorers. End of story. If you were on the ice you had better have been ready to shoot because if there was a sliver of open ice, Oates could find you. Backstrom and Ribeiro have shown flashes of this skill throughout their respective careers and adding a good teacher in Oates should only help. With the loss of Alexander Semin (probably) the Capitals are still lacking consistent offensive punch. Even with shortcomings on the current roster, hopefully we don't have to watch the same defensive approach that was so painful to cheer for in the playoffs earlier this year.
We have been jaded over the years about the inequalities of the BCS. Entrusting our faith into some made up computer rankings combined with the absent minded rankings of coaches who probably didn't watch any games but their own and sports writers with agendas that make a true ranking completely impossible. How many times did we need to see quality programs like Boise St. and TCU get shafted because they didn't play in a bigger, more well known Conference? Is it their fault that other schools refuse to play them either at home or on the road because it would be a lose/lose situation for the bigger school? If you beat them, you're supposed to and if you lose, you're season is ruined and a chance at a National Championship is gone.
2009 saw the biggest cluster**ck occur when five different teams (Alabama, Texas, TCU, Cincinnati and Boise St.) all finished their regular seasons undefeated. This was the worst case scenario for the BCS and it will continue to be the worst case scenario under the new format. Yesterday NCAA Football agreed to a four team playoff system that will start in the 2014 season. Now teams can still have a chance to win a National Championship without finishing #1 or #2. Of course if five teams were to go undefeated somebody would still get left out of the 'small dance'.
As soon as the four team playoff was announced the shift in focus for fans of a playoff was getting to 8 or even 16 teams. I have always thought that 8 teams was the right number. I understand that the major draw for college football is that every regular season game matters. At most, teams should only be allowed to lose one game and still qualify as a championship contender. To finish in the top 8 would still be a difficult enough feat.
In the last five years the breakdown in losses between top 8 and top 16 teams looked like this:
2011 1-8 10 losses 9-16 20 losses
2010 1-8 7 losses 9-16 14 losses
2009 1-8 5 losses 9-16 20 losses
2008 1-8 7 losses 9-16 17 losses
2007 1-8 14 losses 9-16 20 losses (Hawaii was an outlier finishing 12-0 but ranked 10th)
The top 8 in the last 5 years combined for only 43 losses while the next 8 had 91 losses in the same time period. I think it's fair to state that anyone finishing in the top 8 at the end of the regular season should be good enough to get a shot at winning the whole thing.
Allowing 4 teams to compete for a National Championship is a good start, but it's still not good enough. There will still be arguments and there will still be a very good team that doesn't get the respect it should throughout the season which will cost them the ultimate shot at glory.
---------------------------------------------
Locally the Washington Capitals went back down the rabbit hole to ex-players, turned coaches to find a new head bench boss. Adam Oates played six seasons here in Washington, including the magical season of 1998 which is the only year the Capitals played in the Finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs. That's where the comparisons between him and ex-coach Dale Hunter end. Even though Hunter was supposed to be an offensive style coach, he brought a completely defensive approach in his only season here. Adam Oates should allow offensive weapons like Alex Ovechkin, Nick Backstrom and Mike Ribeiro to utilize their skills a bit more. He also is going to be much more charismatic than was Hunter. While he may not be the life of the party with his words and reactions like John Tortorella, he can't be much more vanilla and stoic than Hunter was.
Whether the coaching gig works out for Oates or not, he will also remember yesterday for another reason. He was also elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. I'd call that a pretty good day to say the least. On the ice, Oates was one of the finest passers the NHL has ever seen. He made other people better scorers. End of story. If you were on the ice you had better have been ready to shoot because if there was a sliver of open ice, Oates could find you. Backstrom and Ribeiro have shown flashes of this skill throughout their respective careers and adding a good teacher in Oates should only help. With the loss of Alexander Semin (probably) the Capitals are still lacking consistent offensive punch. Even with shortcomings on the current roster, hopefully we don't have to watch the same defensive approach that was so painful to cheer for in the playoffs earlier this year.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Pocket Pair 6/26/12
Last night I was not afforded the opportunity to watch my normal allotment of sports. I missed Arizona sweeping away South Carolina ending their stranglehold over the competition in Omaha. I missed, for the most part, Stephen Strasburg having a mere mortal outing in Colorado as the Rockies touched him up for all of 3 runs in 6 innings. So you're saying he might be human after all? I missed my Athletics pound out all of three hits in Seattle against the Mariners, but still walk away with a win 1-0. Tommy Milone who is another piece of the Gio Gonzalez trade from Washington has now become the first rookie to win 8 games before the All-Star break for the Oakland franchise.
I was out with some of my teammates from my baseball team. We were saying goodbye to one of our players who has taken a job in the state of Washington. It's never easy to lose a teammate especially one that has been so vital to us winning two straight championships. We keep a list of retired News Hounds (our team name derived from the Falls Church News Press) and that list grows ever longer as we keep playing. After 10 years players have left for various reasons and each time somebody moves on its tough.
Our team has always worked to be very open to new guys and keep the mood of the team light except for when it comes down to winning in the playoffs. We don't practice, we barely show up on time, but when we step between the chalk lines (if there were any for our amateur league) it's all about winning. We may not always have the best talent, but I guarantee you we have the most fun. It's always tough to watch other teams who are very talented but seem to be having no fun whatsoever while playing. This is an amateur league, one in which we pay to play...nobody's paying us!! If you're not having fun while paying money then you're doing it wrong. Our opponents from this past weekend are famous for showing up 2 hours early to the game, hitting, fielding, running and stretching under strict order from their coach all the way up until game time. We show up very casually, some players at various levels of inebriation and are usually trying to figure out a lineup as the pitcher is throwing his final warm ups. Then we go and stomp on them while joking the whole time...it's a great feeling. We have knocked that team out of the playoffs each of the last two years and I still don't think they can figure out how we do it. Win or lose we're going to have fun and that's probably why its so difficult to see a teammate, because they usually end up being a better friend in the long run.
The above photo shows the Falls Church News Hounds winning championship #2 last year in dramatic walk off fashion. That's me barely getting off the ground as my now ex-teammate, Jason Hand, scores the winning run. My other teammate pictured, Jody Fellows, is the topic of my next story.
------------------------------------
The other reason for going out last night was to sample a hamburger that had pulled pork on it. There were other toppings, but Jody runs a burger blog for the DMV (D.C., Maryland, Virginia for those of you not in the know) area and he'll tell you all about it at BurgerDays.com.
Make sure you have an empty stomach because after visiting the site, I guarantee you will be hitting up a burger joint afterwards. He takes fantastic photos and along with his brutally honest descriptions of the restaurant, you are certain to know whether your trip will be a good one or not.
You can follow him on twitter @Burgerdays and your stomach can thank me later.
I was out with some of my teammates from my baseball team. We were saying goodbye to one of our players who has taken a job in the state of Washington. It's never easy to lose a teammate especially one that has been so vital to us winning two straight championships. We keep a list of retired News Hounds (our team name derived from the Falls Church News Press) and that list grows ever longer as we keep playing. After 10 years players have left for various reasons and each time somebody moves on its tough.
Our team has always worked to be very open to new guys and keep the mood of the team light except for when it comes down to winning in the playoffs. We don't practice, we barely show up on time, but when we step between the chalk lines (if there were any for our amateur league) it's all about winning. We may not always have the best talent, but I guarantee you we have the most fun. It's always tough to watch other teams who are very talented but seem to be having no fun whatsoever while playing. This is an amateur league, one in which we pay to play...nobody's paying us!! If you're not having fun while paying money then you're doing it wrong. Our opponents from this past weekend are famous for showing up 2 hours early to the game, hitting, fielding, running and stretching under strict order from their coach all the way up until game time. We show up very casually, some players at various levels of inebriation and are usually trying to figure out a lineup as the pitcher is throwing his final warm ups. Then we go and stomp on them while joking the whole time...it's a great feeling. We have knocked that team out of the playoffs each of the last two years and I still don't think they can figure out how we do it. Win or lose we're going to have fun and that's probably why its so difficult to see a teammate, because they usually end up being a better friend in the long run.
The above photo shows the Falls Church News Hounds winning championship #2 last year in dramatic walk off fashion. That's me barely getting off the ground as my now ex-teammate, Jason Hand, scores the winning run. My other teammate pictured, Jody Fellows, is the topic of my next story.
------------------------------------
The other reason for going out last night was to sample a hamburger that had pulled pork on it. There were other toppings, but Jody runs a burger blog for the DMV (D.C., Maryland, Virginia for those of you not in the know) area and he'll tell you all about it at BurgerDays.com.
Make sure you have an empty stomach because after visiting the site, I guarantee you will be hitting up a burger joint afterwards. He takes fantastic photos and along with his brutally honest descriptions of the restaurant, you are certain to know whether your trip will be a good one or not.
You can follow him on twitter @Burgerdays and your stomach can thank me later.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Pocket Pair 6/25/10
Sad Monday Everyone! Is there any worse day of the week than a Monday? I do feel bad for it, but it's saving grace is that most Holidays (at least when we observe them) fall on Monday's. It is a good day for people in the sports world to recap what happened over the weekend, and that's where I come in. I know you all have busy lives and can't watch everything, so hopefully you come here for a quick recap on the good, the bad and the ugly.
10: 2012 NHL Draft
If you watched any of this it means you are a true hockey fan. I was at my baseball game on Friday night, but kept up via twitter and it appeared that everything came up rosy for the Washington Capitals. Not only did they trade for a new Center in Mike Ribeiro without giving up much of anything, but one of the top offensive players dropped all the way to pick #11 for them. Swedish born Filip Forsberg, only 17 years of age, has one more year left in his Swedish contract, but will be over to D.C. for the 2013 season. George McPhee continues to impress with perceived quality off season moves, but the post season is where he and the Capitals have come up short. Nail Yakupov was the 1st overall selection for the Edmonton Oilers which was their 3rd consecutive #1 overall pick in the NHL Draft.
9: College World Series
The magical run for The University of South Carolina in Omaha was hanging in the balance on Friday night against Arkansas. Down 2-0 going to the bottom of the 5th, the two time defending champions roared back to even the score. That is when the Gamecocks turned to Matt Price who had already won 4 College World Series games in his exquisite career. One more would set the new standard for the sports. He threw 3 nearly perfect innings and South Carolina scraped together a run to advance to their 3rd straight Championship Series.
Last night Arizona took Game 1 of the best of 3 Series behind their ace Konner Wade who tossed his 3rd straight complete game. South Carolina will once again be facing elimination, but they have shown a propensity to come up with their best efforts so far this tournament with their backs against the wall. Game 2 is tonight at 8 pm.
8: Washington Nationals at Baltimore Orioles
The Battle of the Beltway had never garnered so much attention until this season and it is easy to see why after three well played games again this weekend. Only 10 total runs were scored in this series which was two runs fewer than the Giants and the Athletics combined for in the 9th inning alone this weekend. Baltimore appears to be in a much tougher division and they really needed to squeak out their two wins. The Nationals pitched really well and neither Strasburg or Gonzalez touched the ball and news out of Washington said that ex-closer Drew Storen is getting closer to returning to help bolster an already outstanding bullpen for the Nationals.
7: Germany vs. Greece Euro Cup Quarters
This game was lucky to be as close as it was. Germany outplayed the Greeks in every aspect of the game and could have easily had four goals each half. They are the clear cut favorites to win Euro 2012 as they just come in waves of attack. Greece did will with what possession they were afforded, but it was too little to counter the offensive firepower of the Germans.
6: Spain vs. France Euro Cup Quarters
Just like Germany, Spain dictated the action against the French. This was done slightly differently thought as it seemed more like a boa constrictor tightening its grip on a helpless prey. France just couldn't muster any consistent offensive zone time because they couldn't get their foot on the ball. The strategy of Spain is ball control with precise offensive attack and with a late penalty kick the score finally resembled the sheer and utter dominance that Spain presented. The semifinal match up on Wednesday vs. Portugal will be a fantastic show.
5: England vs. Italy Euro Cup Quarters
The final quarterfinal game unfortunately paired two ultra conservative teams. For the first time all tournament nary a goal was scored during regulation play. England seemed content to send this game to penalty kicks after the first 20 minutes of play. Italy spent the majority of time on the offensive side, but they couldn't break the defensive shell the England created. Neither country has ever had much success in penalty kicks (combining on a 3-10 major tournament record before yesterday), but it was settled that way this time. England took a quick lead but missed its final two shots giving Italy the golden ticket to face off against Germany on Thursday.
4: Tampa Bay Rays at Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday
I highlighted a trio of great pitching match ups and this one ended up being the best of the bunch. David Price and Cole Hamels threw 14 total innings giving up only one earned run while striking out 15. As soon as they departed each team was able to score in the eighth inning as Tampa Bay scored three to Philadelphia's one and the Rays walked away victorious.
3: San Francisco Giants at Oakland Athletics on Sunday
All season long Brandon McCarthy has been doing two things: pitching great and battling shoulder soreness. For the second time this season he has been placed on the Disabled List and the Athletics were forced to send A.J. Griffin to the mound to make his Major League debut against Matt Cain. After surrendering two early runs, Griffin settled in not being scored upon in his final five innings pitched. Cain dominated again giving up a lone run over 7 innings. The ninth inning brought the fireworks for the third consecutive game as fellow Athletics rookie, Derek Norris hit a 3 run walk off home run for his 1st Major League bomb.
2: New York Yankees at New York Mets on Sunday
This ended up being the most disappointing of the pitching match ups of the weekend. R.A. Dickey was rudely treated by the hard hitting Yankees as he was touched up for 5 earned runs over six innings. He seemed to be too careful with his location or maybe he just didn't have good control over his vicious knuckleball. The Yankees pounced thanks to Nick Swisher's 3 run homer in the 3rd inning. C.C. Sabathia pitched better, but gave up the lead in the sixth inning behind some shaky fielding. He ended up giving up 5 runs, but only one was earned thanks to Robinson Cano's error. We just might see these two meet up again in Kansas City come July at the All-Star game.
1: The Rest of the Sports World
Somebody won a gold tournament and drivers raced around in a circle for miles upon miles and somebody won that as well...yawn.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This biggest non sports sports story of the weekend was the verdict in the Jerry Sandusky child abuse case. If I had more time I could sit here and wax poetic on how justice has been served and a monster will be put away for the rest of his miserable life. I could delve into the years of possible cover up and negligence at Penn St. University. What I won't do is make jokes about the situation. It was ugly and perhaps we'll never know how ugly it was. Jerry Sandusky used and abused children in his family and others that he was supposed to be mentoring not only at Penn St. but at his children's charity center The Second Mile.
There were apparently questions about his behavior around children for years, but not enough evidence to bring it to light and nobody ever came forward until at least 15 years had passed. While Sandusky was the monster and what he did will go down in history as one of the most vile acts in the history of vile acts, there were plenty of chances for his co-workers, his family (not the abused children, don't get me wrong I am not placing any blame on any victims) or any local authority that had heard the whispers to take that extra step and put an end to this. In my eyes they are just a culpable as Sandusky.
It is not right to sit back and ignore possible child abuse. There is always someone you can turn to whether it is a valid concern is just conjecture. The innocence of children is probably the most sacred and cherished ideal we hold true and to have someone strip that away is unacceptable. Please, I beg you, go that extra step, put yourself out there and tell somebody about it. If you are certain you are right and nothing has been done by the person you told, tell somebody else. Everybody has a boss or supervisor. Keep climbing the ladder. Nobody will ever fault you for trying too hard to stop child abuse. Just remember to do it the correct way. Do not confront that person if it is not your job to do so. Do not throw wildly inaccurate information around to the incorrect parties because slander can do a lot of damage.
For more information visit:
http://www.childhelp.org/pages/hotline-home
The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) is dedicated to the prevention of child abuse. Serving the United States, its territories, and Canada, the Hotline is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with professional crisis counselors who, through interpreters, can provide assistance in 170 languages. The Hotline offers crisis intervention, information, literature, and referrals to thousands of emergency, social service, and support resources. All calls are anonymous and confidential.
10: 2012 NHL Draft
If you watched any of this it means you are a true hockey fan. I was at my baseball game on Friday night, but kept up via twitter and it appeared that everything came up rosy for the Washington Capitals. Not only did they trade for a new Center in Mike Ribeiro without giving up much of anything, but one of the top offensive players dropped all the way to pick #11 for them. Swedish born Filip Forsberg, only 17 years of age, has one more year left in his Swedish contract, but will be over to D.C. for the 2013 season. George McPhee continues to impress with perceived quality off season moves, but the post season is where he and the Capitals have come up short. Nail Yakupov was the 1st overall selection for the Edmonton Oilers which was their 3rd consecutive #1 overall pick in the NHL Draft.
9: College World Series
The magical run for The University of South Carolina in Omaha was hanging in the balance on Friday night against Arkansas. Down 2-0 going to the bottom of the 5th, the two time defending champions roared back to even the score. That is when the Gamecocks turned to Matt Price who had already won 4 College World Series games in his exquisite career. One more would set the new standard for the sports. He threw 3 nearly perfect innings and South Carolina scraped together a run to advance to their 3rd straight Championship Series.
Last night Arizona took Game 1 of the best of 3 Series behind their ace Konner Wade who tossed his 3rd straight complete game. South Carolina will once again be facing elimination, but they have shown a propensity to come up with their best efforts so far this tournament with their backs against the wall. Game 2 is tonight at 8 pm.
8: Washington Nationals at Baltimore Orioles
The Battle of the Beltway had never garnered so much attention until this season and it is easy to see why after three well played games again this weekend. Only 10 total runs were scored in this series which was two runs fewer than the Giants and the Athletics combined for in the 9th inning alone this weekend. Baltimore appears to be in a much tougher division and they really needed to squeak out their two wins. The Nationals pitched really well and neither Strasburg or Gonzalez touched the ball and news out of Washington said that ex-closer Drew Storen is getting closer to returning to help bolster an already outstanding bullpen for the Nationals.
7: Germany vs. Greece Euro Cup Quarters
This game was lucky to be as close as it was. Germany outplayed the Greeks in every aspect of the game and could have easily had four goals each half. They are the clear cut favorites to win Euro 2012 as they just come in waves of attack. Greece did will with what possession they were afforded, but it was too little to counter the offensive firepower of the Germans.
6: Spain vs. France Euro Cup Quarters
Just like Germany, Spain dictated the action against the French. This was done slightly differently thought as it seemed more like a boa constrictor tightening its grip on a helpless prey. France just couldn't muster any consistent offensive zone time because they couldn't get their foot on the ball. The strategy of Spain is ball control with precise offensive attack and with a late penalty kick the score finally resembled the sheer and utter dominance that Spain presented. The semifinal match up on Wednesday vs. Portugal will be a fantastic show.
5: England vs. Italy Euro Cup Quarters
The final quarterfinal game unfortunately paired two ultra conservative teams. For the first time all tournament nary a goal was scored during regulation play. England seemed content to send this game to penalty kicks after the first 20 minutes of play. Italy spent the majority of time on the offensive side, but they couldn't break the defensive shell the England created. Neither country has ever had much success in penalty kicks (combining on a 3-10 major tournament record before yesterday), but it was settled that way this time. England took a quick lead but missed its final two shots giving Italy the golden ticket to face off against Germany on Thursday.
4: Tampa Bay Rays at Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday
I highlighted a trio of great pitching match ups and this one ended up being the best of the bunch. David Price and Cole Hamels threw 14 total innings giving up only one earned run while striking out 15. As soon as they departed each team was able to score in the eighth inning as Tampa Bay scored three to Philadelphia's one and the Rays walked away victorious.
3: San Francisco Giants at Oakland Athletics on Sunday
All season long Brandon McCarthy has been doing two things: pitching great and battling shoulder soreness. For the second time this season he has been placed on the Disabled List and the Athletics were forced to send A.J. Griffin to the mound to make his Major League debut against Matt Cain. After surrendering two early runs, Griffin settled in not being scored upon in his final five innings pitched. Cain dominated again giving up a lone run over 7 innings. The ninth inning brought the fireworks for the third consecutive game as fellow Athletics rookie, Derek Norris hit a 3 run walk off home run for his 1st Major League bomb.
2: New York Yankees at New York Mets on Sunday
This ended up being the most disappointing of the pitching match ups of the weekend. R.A. Dickey was rudely treated by the hard hitting Yankees as he was touched up for 5 earned runs over six innings. He seemed to be too careful with his location or maybe he just didn't have good control over his vicious knuckleball. The Yankees pounced thanks to Nick Swisher's 3 run homer in the 3rd inning. C.C. Sabathia pitched better, but gave up the lead in the sixth inning behind some shaky fielding. He ended up giving up 5 runs, but only one was earned thanks to Robinson Cano's error. We just might see these two meet up again in Kansas City come July at the All-Star game.
1: The Rest of the Sports World
Somebody won a gold tournament and drivers raced around in a circle for miles upon miles and somebody won that as well...yawn.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This biggest non sports sports story of the weekend was the verdict in the Jerry Sandusky child abuse case. If I had more time I could sit here and wax poetic on how justice has been served and a monster will be put away for the rest of his miserable life. I could delve into the years of possible cover up and negligence at Penn St. University. What I won't do is make jokes about the situation. It was ugly and perhaps we'll never know how ugly it was. Jerry Sandusky used and abused children in his family and others that he was supposed to be mentoring not only at Penn St. but at his children's charity center The Second Mile.
There were apparently questions about his behavior around children for years, but not enough evidence to bring it to light and nobody ever came forward until at least 15 years had passed. While Sandusky was the monster and what he did will go down in history as one of the most vile acts in the history of vile acts, there were plenty of chances for his co-workers, his family (not the abused children, don't get me wrong I am not placing any blame on any victims) or any local authority that had heard the whispers to take that extra step and put an end to this. In my eyes they are just a culpable as Sandusky.
It is not right to sit back and ignore possible child abuse. There is always someone you can turn to whether it is a valid concern is just conjecture. The innocence of children is probably the most sacred and cherished ideal we hold true and to have someone strip that away is unacceptable. Please, I beg you, go that extra step, put yourself out there and tell somebody about it. If you are certain you are right and nothing has been done by the person you told, tell somebody else. Everybody has a boss or supervisor. Keep climbing the ladder. Nobody will ever fault you for trying too hard to stop child abuse. Just remember to do it the correct way. Do not confront that person if it is not your job to do so. Do not throw wildly inaccurate information around to the incorrect parties because slander can do a lot of damage.
For more information visit:
http://www.childhelp.org/pages/hotline-home
The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) is dedicated to the prevention of child abuse. Serving the United States, its territories, and Canada, the Hotline is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with professional crisis counselors who, through interpreters, can provide assistance in 170 languages. The Hotline offers crisis intervention, information, literature, and referrals to thousands of emergency, social service, and support resources. All calls are anonymous and confidential.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Pocket Pair: 6/22/12
Happy Friday everyone! Your guide to the weekend in sports is here. It's the final weekend of Inter-league play for MLB and there are some fun match ups (yes even the Mets vs. Yankees might make the list).
Here's the Top 10 things every sports fan should be watching this weekend:
10: 2012 NHL Draft
Yes I know it is late June and Lord Stanley is making its way around Los Angeles, but I am sending you to Pittsburgh for the weekend. There will be plenty of young hockey players drafted that nobody has heard of unless you're a true hockey nut, (follow @MikeHumeESPN on Twitter for more) but here's why you should watch. If you're a DC local, the Washington Capitals have picks #11 and #16 and a league high 11 picks overall. GM George McPhee is always fun to watch during draft weekend as well.
9: College World Series
Sunday Night starts the best of 3 Championship Series in Omaha. Arizona knocked off Florida St. on Thursday extending the impossible streak of futility for the ACC in Omaha. But to find out who their opponent is takes a winner take all game tonight pitting 2 time defending CWS Champion South Carolina and their fellow SEC rival Arkansas.
8: Washington Nationals at Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore is licking its wounds from a decisive 3 game sweep at the hands of the New York Mets. Is it the beginning of the end for their surprise run this year? Even though the 1st place Nationals are coming to town, the Orioles do catch a major break by not having to face either Stephen Strasburg or Gio Gonzalez. The New York Yankees are threatening to run away and hide from their A.L. East competitors so a series win here is of the utmost importance.
7: Germany vs Greece Euro Cup Quarters
I really can't see Greece slowing down the Germans today. But what do I know and that's why it's worth a watch. After all Greece has won the Euro Cup more recently (2004) than has Germany (1996).
6: Spain vs. France Euro Cup Quarters
Now we're talking. Two really good teams with the winner playing the dreamy Cristiano Ronaldo in the semi-finals. Secretly I'm pulling for Spain mainly because I want to see what can only be described (for Americans) as a Redskins vs. Cowboys playoff game next week. Spain and Portugal don't like each other one bit and that would be much better than watching France.
5: England vs. Italy Euro Cup Quarters
Wayne Rooney. Mario Balotelli. Two strikers who garner a lot of attention good and bad while on the pitch (look at me soccer guru). I have a feeling that whatever the outcome one of these two players will be the reason. Italy hasn't won a Euro Championship since 1968 and England is still waiting on their first. Couple that with a horrible drought in the World Cup since 1966 and the Brits have got to be getting a bit impatient to say the least.
4: Tampa Bay Ray at Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday
Have I got a Sunday triple header for you guys (and girls). At 1:35 you can settle into David Price (9-4) against Cole Hamels (10-3). Two of the best lefties in the game square off in a big series for both teams. The Phillies are still banged up and still in last place in the N.L. East. The Rays are in the middle of the tough A.L. East and have no time to start slumping.
3: San Francisco Giants at Oakland Athletics on Sunday
Game two of your triple header takes you to the worst stadium in Major League Baseball, but home to my favorite team in Oakland. The Athletics will send out Brandon McCarthy who when not tweeting up a storm or posing with his wife on magazine covers or missing starts due to a bum shoulder is quietly 4th in the A.L. in ERA and sitting at 6-3. His opponent is Matt Cain who was recently seen throwing a perfect game and is 9-2 overall. He's also given up all of 3 ER to the Athletics over his last 31 innings pitched.
2: New York Yankees at New York Mets
After you grab a quick dinner, I highly suggest you settle in for this game. I will be watching for the pitching match up only as I could care less about who wins. CC Sabathia brings his ample frame and his 9-3 record across town against the hottest pitcher on the planet. R.A. Dickey whom you may have read about earlier this week is 11-1 with a scintillating 2.00 and owns a 41 2/3 consecutive innings streak without giving up an earned run (stupid passed balls). He has only given up two hits over his last two starts combined and will be truly tested on national television against the Yankees who lead all of the Majors in home runs.
1: NBA Finals Game 6 Miami Heat at Oklahoma City Thunder
Oops...so much for that. Instead may I suggest Olympic Qualifying on the networks of NBC?? No? How about NASCAR racing in Sonoma on Sunday?? Yeah, I didn't think so. The PGA Tour is in sunny Cromwell, CT for the Travelers Championship. No he's not playing, nor is he and don't believe for a second that he's playing either. Okay last shot, how about the WNBA? Just kidding folks...carry on, nothing to see here.
-----------------------------------------------
Congratulations to the Miami Heat. Theybought won a Championship. LeBron played his ass off and took home his first title along with the Finals MVP Trophy. As he put it 'It's about damn time!' The obvious correlation that has been mentioned on the internet is how it took Alex Rodriguez to join Derek Jeter, winner of multiple championships and consummate professional to win a title. Dwayne Wade has always done it the right way and he stayed in Miami rather than skipping around the league looking for a solid running mate to win with. LeBron James showed why he is the best active basketball player on the planet, but I know deep down he wishes he could have done this in Cleveland and people who detest him will never forget the fact that he couldn't get it done there.
Here's the Top 10 things every sports fan should be watching this weekend:
10: 2012 NHL Draft
Yes I know it is late June and Lord Stanley is making its way around Los Angeles, but I am sending you to Pittsburgh for the weekend. There will be plenty of young hockey players drafted that nobody has heard of unless you're a true hockey nut, (follow @MikeHumeESPN on Twitter for more) but here's why you should watch. If you're a DC local, the Washington Capitals have picks #11 and #16 and a league high 11 picks overall. GM George McPhee is always fun to watch during draft weekend as well.
9: College World Series
Sunday Night starts the best of 3 Championship Series in Omaha. Arizona knocked off Florida St. on Thursday extending the impossible streak of futility for the ACC in Omaha. But to find out who their opponent is takes a winner take all game tonight pitting 2 time defending CWS Champion South Carolina and their fellow SEC rival Arkansas.
8: Washington Nationals at Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore is licking its wounds from a decisive 3 game sweep at the hands of the New York Mets. Is it the beginning of the end for their surprise run this year? Even though the 1st place Nationals are coming to town, the Orioles do catch a major break by not having to face either Stephen Strasburg or Gio Gonzalez. The New York Yankees are threatening to run away and hide from their A.L. East competitors so a series win here is of the utmost importance.
7: Germany vs Greece Euro Cup Quarters
I really can't see Greece slowing down the Germans today. But what do I know and that's why it's worth a watch. After all Greece has won the Euro Cup more recently (2004) than has Germany (1996).
6: Spain vs. France Euro Cup Quarters
Now we're talking. Two really good teams with the winner playing the dreamy Cristiano Ronaldo in the semi-finals. Secretly I'm pulling for Spain mainly because I want to see what can only be described (for Americans) as a Redskins vs. Cowboys playoff game next week. Spain and Portugal don't like each other one bit and that would be much better than watching France.
5: England vs. Italy Euro Cup Quarters
Wayne Rooney. Mario Balotelli. Two strikers who garner a lot of attention good and bad while on the pitch (look at me soccer guru). I have a feeling that whatever the outcome one of these two players will be the reason. Italy hasn't won a Euro Championship since 1968 and England is still waiting on their first. Couple that with a horrible drought in the World Cup since 1966 and the Brits have got to be getting a bit impatient to say the least.
4: Tampa Bay Ray at Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday
Have I got a Sunday triple header for you guys (and girls). At 1:35 you can settle into David Price (9-4) against Cole Hamels (10-3). Two of the best lefties in the game square off in a big series for both teams. The Phillies are still banged up and still in last place in the N.L. East. The Rays are in the middle of the tough A.L. East and have no time to start slumping.
3: San Francisco Giants at Oakland Athletics on Sunday
Game two of your triple header takes you to the worst stadium in Major League Baseball, but home to my favorite team in Oakland. The Athletics will send out Brandon McCarthy who when not tweeting up a storm or posing with his wife on magazine covers or missing starts due to a bum shoulder is quietly 4th in the A.L. in ERA and sitting at 6-3. His opponent is Matt Cain who was recently seen throwing a perfect game and is 9-2 overall. He's also given up all of 3 ER to the Athletics over his last 31 innings pitched.
2: New York Yankees at New York Mets
After you grab a quick dinner, I highly suggest you settle in for this game. I will be watching for the pitching match up only as I could care less about who wins. CC Sabathia brings his ample frame and his 9-3 record across town against the hottest pitcher on the planet. R.A. Dickey whom you may have read about earlier this week is 11-1 with a scintillating 2.00 and owns a 41 2/3 consecutive innings streak without giving up an earned run (stupid passed balls). He has only given up two hits over his last two starts combined and will be truly tested on national television against the Yankees who lead all of the Majors in home runs.
Oops...so much for that. Instead may I suggest Olympic Qualifying on the networks of NBC?? No? How about NASCAR racing in Sonoma on Sunday?? Yeah, I didn't think so. The PGA Tour is in sunny Cromwell, CT for the Travelers Championship. No he's not playing, nor is he and don't believe for a second that he's playing either. Okay last shot, how about the WNBA? Just kidding folks...carry on, nothing to see here.
-----------------------------------------------
Congratulations to the Miami Heat. They
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Pocket Pair 6/21/12
With a slow sports night behind us unless you're a baseball junkie like me I figured that I'd cover something off the beaten path. I just finished reading Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith. Surprised? Shocked? Yes I occasionally read a book or two. I actually went years without reading much of anything except for the Lincoln Rhyme novels by Jeffery Deaver. Thanks in large part to my iPad and the Overdrive app that you can download to access library books for rental, I have read much more in the last year. I cruised through the Alex Cross series by James Patterson which was very easy reading and didn't contain much plot detail, but merely rather a quick moving easily solved case with mixed levels of danger. I don't fault Patterson for churning out books for the masses, but the feeling is that he spits them out over a long weekend.
I also worked through, working being a bad term because I actually enjoyed them thoroughly, the Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly. I'll never be mistaken for a book reviewer, but I think that Connelly is an excellent writer. Its obvious that he has done exhaustive research on how the police and lawyers interact or at least he sells it to the reader well. The plots always start out simple enough, but they continue to to get deeper and the path to the resolution gets trickier for Bosch as he wades through political pressure and his own personal drive to not be stopped. The characters are always flawed, especially Bosch and that's what made me enjoy him even more. He made mistakes, whether interpersonal one with co-workers, friends or a significant other and he admitted them, but rarely learned from them. It was a bulldog personality that was his biggest personal demon. Burning bridges en route to finding justice was his forte. I can relate because I know I'm not the best with my own relationships when it comes to seeing other peoples needs and wants (just ask my wife).
I still enjoy Jeffery Deaver the most as a storyteller. If you've seen the movie The Bone Collector starring Denzel Washington, then you are familiar with the character of Lincoln Rhyme. A New York detective who has been paralyzed from the neck down save for the use of the fingers on his right hand (a convenience that I'm willing to overlook). He uses forensics and his encyclopedia worthy database of knowledge of everything related to the subject to help stay a step ahead of the killer. Deaver gives the reader just enough information to keep you guessing and pulls the curtain back just when you are expecting a different outcome. Does he take liberties to keep the drama flowing? Sure, but that's why I like it. He minimizes the extracurricular story lines and keeps the mystery flowing. Again I've read about 0.000000000000001% of books in the world and by no means am I an expert, but if you feel like reading something new I highly recommend any of the series listed and I hope you enjoy.
As for Abraham Lincoln and his secret life as a vampire hunter. I'm sure the movie will add more oomph to it, but some of it, okay most of it felt forced. I'm a sucker for history based conspiracy theory movies (National Treasure, JFK etc.) but reinventing history is probably a step too far. I'll give the author credit to interweaving fact based history with Lincolns' mysterious diaries about his hobby of choice, but I was expecting more. I don't know what it was, but I guess I was expecting a deeper more concise story not one that was covered in less than 300 pages and spanned his entire life. Hopefully that's not a spoiler, sorry. I guess I'm just used to a book lasting a couple of days or weeks at most over a couple hundred pages (unless you've read The Passage by Justin Cronin which covers a wee bit more time in 700+ pages, but has vampires!).
I'm trying to be a better reader after years of being a die hard movie watcher. I don't judge either type of person even though I know a lot of readers who insist the book is always better and look down on people who swear by the movie. Just because you've developed more characters and delved deeper into their lives doesn't make for a better story. Although I haven't read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, I have seen the movie and asked friends about the book and they say that there's an extra 200 pages of characters and family history that are just not needed. Sometimes being forced to keep the running time of a story under 120 minutes is the best thing. Director's Cuts of movies are not also better, even though some are fabulous. Whichever path you choose, reading or watching, the reason you are doing so is you want to escape into another persons' life for a bit and enjoy the genre of the story and I'm all for that.
--------------------------------------------------------------
There has been a lot of chatter about Stephen Strasburg and the supposed innings limit for this season coming off of his Tommy John surgery 2 years ago. The reason there is talk is because the Washington Nationals held fellow starting pitcher, Jordan Zimmerman to 160 innings during the 2011 season after he had the same surgery a year earlier. Last year the Nationals were not in contention to make the playoffs, but this year after a torrid start, they are. Washington is going to have a very, non pine tar related, sticky situation to handle come mid-August. Do they dare risk the prized jewel of the pitching staff and let him throw a full season and possibly more with playoff starts? Do they potentially sacrifice this season and keep in mind the next 10 years.
I'm not a medial expert and I don't know how many other pitchers have been held to an innings limit in their first full season back from Tommy John surgery. I can only hope that the Nationals brass have reached out to other teams and asked for input on how they handled this type of situation. I am sure there has been short term and long term research on recovery times and innings pitched for Major League starters.
Personally I would love to see the Nationals make a run at it. As a Washington Capitals fan I had been spoon fed the story that the window for the 'Young Guns' is wide open. That started five years ago and the window seems to be closing faster than ever. The youthful core for the Nationals seems to have a good 10 year window, but we fans realize all it takes is a Mark Prior type regression of a young star pitcher, a bad trade and a loss of a key player to free agency and the franchise is back to square one. I will completely understand if the Nationals choose the safe route as long as they continue to add payroll and keep the core intact in future years.
I also worked through, working being a bad term because I actually enjoyed them thoroughly, the Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly. I'll never be mistaken for a book reviewer, but I think that Connelly is an excellent writer. Its obvious that he has done exhaustive research on how the police and lawyers interact or at least he sells it to the reader well. The plots always start out simple enough, but they continue to to get deeper and the path to the resolution gets trickier for Bosch as he wades through political pressure and his own personal drive to not be stopped. The characters are always flawed, especially Bosch and that's what made me enjoy him even more. He made mistakes, whether interpersonal one with co-workers, friends or a significant other and he admitted them, but rarely learned from them. It was a bulldog personality that was his biggest personal demon. Burning bridges en route to finding justice was his forte. I can relate because I know I'm not the best with my own relationships when it comes to seeing other peoples needs and wants (just ask my wife).
I still enjoy Jeffery Deaver the most as a storyteller. If you've seen the movie The Bone Collector starring Denzel Washington, then you are familiar with the character of Lincoln Rhyme. A New York detective who has been paralyzed from the neck down save for the use of the fingers on his right hand (a convenience that I'm willing to overlook). He uses forensics and his encyclopedia worthy database of knowledge of everything related to the subject to help stay a step ahead of the killer. Deaver gives the reader just enough information to keep you guessing and pulls the curtain back just when you are expecting a different outcome. Does he take liberties to keep the drama flowing? Sure, but that's why I like it. He minimizes the extracurricular story lines and keeps the mystery flowing. Again I've read about 0.000000000000001% of books in the world and by no means am I an expert, but if you feel like reading something new I highly recommend any of the series listed and I hope you enjoy.
As for Abraham Lincoln and his secret life as a vampire hunter. I'm sure the movie will add more oomph to it, but some of it, okay most of it felt forced. I'm a sucker for history based conspiracy theory movies (National Treasure, JFK etc.) but reinventing history is probably a step too far. I'll give the author credit to interweaving fact based history with Lincolns' mysterious diaries about his hobby of choice, but I was expecting more. I don't know what it was, but I guess I was expecting a deeper more concise story not one that was covered in less than 300 pages and spanned his entire life. Hopefully that's not a spoiler, sorry. I guess I'm just used to a book lasting a couple of days or weeks at most over a couple hundred pages (unless you've read The Passage by Justin Cronin which covers a wee bit more time in 700+ pages, but has vampires!).
I'm trying to be a better reader after years of being a die hard movie watcher. I don't judge either type of person even though I know a lot of readers who insist the book is always better and look down on people who swear by the movie. Just because you've developed more characters and delved deeper into their lives doesn't make for a better story. Although I haven't read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, I have seen the movie and asked friends about the book and they say that there's an extra 200 pages of characters and family history that are just not needed. Sometimes being forced to keep the running time of a story under 120 minutes is the best thing. Director's Cuts of movies are not also better, even though some are fabulous. Whichever path you choose, reading or watching, the reason you are doing so is you want to escape into another persons' life for a bit and enjoy the genre of the story and I'm all for that.
--------------------------------------------------------------
There has been a lot of chatter about Stephen Strasburg and the supposed innings limit for this season coming off of his Tommy John surgery 2 years ago. The reason there is talk is because the Washington Nationals held fellow starting pitcher, Jordan Zimmerman to 160 innings during the 2011 season after he had the same surgery a year earlier. Last year the Nationals were not in contention to make the playoffs, but this year after a torrid start, they are. Washington is going to have a very, non pine tar related, sticky situation to handle come mid-August. Do they dare risk the prized jewel of the pitching staff and let him throw a full season and possibly more with playoff starts? Do they potentially sacrifice this season and keep in mind the next 10 years.
I'm not a medial expert and I don't know how many other pitchers have been held to an innings limit in their first full season back from Tommy John surgery. I can only hope that the Nationals brass have reached out to other teams and asked for input on how they handled this type of situation. I am sure there has been short term and long term research on recovery times and innings pitched for Major League starters.
Personally I would love to see the Nationals make a run at it. As a Washington Capitals fan I had been spoon fed the story that the window for the 'Young Guns' is wide open. That started five years ago and the window seems to be closing faster than ever. The youthful core for the Nationals seems to have a good 10 year window, but we fans realize all it takes is a Mark Prior type regression of a young star pitcher, a bad trade and a loss of a key player to free agency and the franchise is back to square one. I will completely understand if the Nationals choose the safe route as long as they continue to add payroll and keep the core intact in future years.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Pocket Pair 6/20/12
Last night the Washington Nationals used a little insider information to get relief pitcher Joel Peralta ejected. In 2010 Peralta pitched 39 very successful innings in Washington and then left as a free agent to Tampa Bay to play with the Rays. Last nights appearance would have been his American League leading 35th appearance for Tampa Bay, but with the score 5-4 in the 8th inning in favor of the Rays, Nationals manager Davey Johnson rolled the dice.
He had probably been told by numerous unnamed sources on his team that Peralta was known to use a foreign substance hidden in his glove that would allow for a little bit more break on his off speed pitches. Using this information he asked the home plate umpire to take a look and he found enough evidence to warrant confiscating the glove and ejecting Peralta from the game without throwing a pitch. The strategy didn't work for Washington as they weren't able to rally, but the message was sent. Joe Maddon, the Rays manager tried a little gamesmanship by having the umpires check the glove and hat of a Nationals reliever, but nothing was found. Its still to be seen whether the Rays will further counter by starting a little bean ball war over the final two games of the Interleague series.
Cheating is nothing new in baseball (read yesterday's post if you missed it) and the golden rule seems to be it's only cheating if you get caught. Sammy Sosa got caught corking his bat, Joe Niekro got caught with sandpaper on his finger, and Albert Belle sent a teammate through the rafters of the of the stadium to retrieve and swap out a bat that was suspected of being doctored. The list goes on and on throughout the history of baseball.
Arguably the most famous home run in baseball history was because of cheating. Bobby Thompson hit a series winning homer off of Ralph Branca in 1951 that has since been dubbed the 'shot heard around the world'. According to the Giants they were using an elaborate sign stealing system from the catcher as he would tell the pitcher which pitch to throw.
There are reasons why catchers have to use multiple signs to the pitcher with a runner on second base. Teams change their signs from the third base coach often (mid game even if rampant paranoia sets in). As a pitcher I have caught runners at second relaying my catchers signs to the batter and have plunked said batter in retaliation. Have I cheated in my 25 years of playing baseball? You betcha. When I'm coaching 3rd base I will relay the catchers' signs to my batters if I can see them. It's not my fault the catcher is too lazy to squeeze his legs.
Baseball historians love the cloak and dagger aspect that baseball can produce. Pitcher Gaylord Perry had the worlds worst kept secret about how he doctored the ball, but that didn't stop him from getting into the Hall of Fame. As I stated yesterday, its all fun and games until records start falling.
-----------------------------------
Yesterday also capped the group stage of the European Soccer Championships (Euro Cup 2012). Sixteen countries started and the tournament has now been whittled down to eight. Germany looks to be the favorite as they were the only country to win all three of their matches, but it only takes one mistake to fall in the knock out stage.
Looking at the quarterfinal matches that start on Thursday, the Czech Republic is the biggest underdog based on the FIFA World Rankings. They are the 27th best team in the World whereas the next lowest team is Greece at 15th. Portugal should advance over the Czech Republic as should Germany over a spunky Greece squad. I also think Spain will upend France and England, who just got back star Wayne Rooney, will advance against Italy.
Whatever the results, it has been a pretty good Euro Cup. I don't watch enough soccer to be an expert, but I love watching national teams play on the biggest stages. There haven't been any scoreless draws which is great for American viewers who get bored easily by soccer. The star players have been present, the games have been competitive and for the most part, the top teams have advanced. The only thing that is lacking is neither of the host teams, Poland or Ukraine, advanced. Every tournament needs a Cinderella and a host Cinderella would have been the cherry on top.
He had probably been told by numerous unnamed sources on his team that Peralta was known to use a foreign substance hidden in his glove that would allow for a little bit more break on his off speed pitches. Using this information he asked the home plate umpire to take a look and he found enough evidence to warrant confiscating the glove and ejecting Peralta from the game without throwing a pitch. The strategy didn't work for Washington as they weren't able to rally, but the message was sent. Joe Maddon, the Rays manager tried a little gamesmanship by having the umpires check the glove and hat of a Nationals reliever, but nothing was found. Its still to be seen whether the Rays will further counter by starting a little bean ball war over the final two games of the Interleague series.
Cheating is nothing new in baseball (read yesterday's post if you missed it) and the golden rule seems to be it's only cheating if you get caught. Sammy Sosa got caught corking his bat, Joe Niekro got caught with sandpaper on his finger, and Albert Belle sent a teammate through the rafters of the of the stadium to retrieve and swap out a bat that was suspected of being doctored. The list goes on and on throughout the history of baseball.
Arguably the most famous home run in baseball history was because of cheating. Bobby Thompson hit a series winning homer off of Ralph Branca in 1951 that has since been dubbed the 'shot heard around the world'. According to the Giants they were using an elaborate sign stealing system from the catcher as he would tell the pitcher which pitch to throw.
There are reasons why catchers have to use multiple signs to the pitcher with a runner on second base. Teams change their signs from the third base coach often (mid game even if rampant paranoia sets in). As a pitcher I have caught runners at second relaying my catchers signs to the batter and have plunked said batter in retaliation. Have I cheated in my 25 years of playing baseball? You betcha. When I'm coaching 3rd base I will relay the catchers' signs to my batters if I can see them. It's not my fault the catcher is too lazy to squeeze his legs.
Baseball historians love the cloak and dagger aspect that baseball can produce. Pitcher Gaylord Perry had the worlds worst kept secret about how he doctored the ball, but that didn't stop him from getting into the Hall of Fame. As I stated yesterday, its all fun and games until records start falling.
-----------------------------------
Yesterday also capped the group stage of the European Soccer Championships (Euro Cup 2012). Sixteen countries started and the tournament has now been whittled down to eight. Germany looks to be the favorite as they were the only country to win all three of their matches, but it only takes one mistake to fall in the knock out stage.
Looking at the quarterfinal matches that start on Thursday, the Czech Republic is the biggest underdog based on the FIFA World Rankings. They are the 27th best team in the World whereas the next lowest team is Greece at 15th. Portugal should advance over the Czech Republic as should Germany over a spunky Greece squad. I also think Spain will upend France and England, who just got back star Wayne Rooney, will advance against Italy.
Whatever the results, it has been a pretty good Euro Cup. I don't watch enough soccer to be an expert, but I love watching national teams play on the biggest stages. There haven't been any scoreless draws which is great for American viewers who get bored easily by soccer. The star players have been present, the games have been competitive and for the most part, the top teams have advanced. The only thing that is lacking is neither of the host teams, Poland or Ukraine, advanced. Every tournament needs a Cinderella and a host Cinderella would have been the cherry on top.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Pocket Pair 6/19/12
I think it might be time to learn how to throw a knuckle-ball. After watching R.A. Dickey carve up yet another major league baseball team at the ripe age of 37, I'm beginning to think my career as a pitcher might not be over. At my age (34) R.A. Dickey was barely hanging on to his career after being jettisoned to the mid west to pitch with the Minnesota Twins. Prior to this he had spent parts of six seasons with the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners. His best ERA during his career to this point was 5.09 in his first full season in Texas. For those not into baseball stats 5.09 is not good, it's not even average. Anything under 3.00 is All-Star worthy, 3.01-4.00 is good and 4.00+ is slightly below average. If you're up over 5.00 you're not going to last.
He realized his career was coming to an end so he worked on a perfecting a knuckle-ball. His last season with the Rangers saw him try, and fail to throw that pitch. He persevered as he continued to struggle through his two seasons in Seattle and Minnesota and when he was signed by the New York Mets at the age of 35 he had to figure this was his last chance. Starting in the Minor Leagues, R.A. Dickey finally found some success and was called up to the big leagues in early May.
That season was the best of his career to date and it amazed all of the baseball pundits to see him transform himself into a quality starter after failing for so many years. He won 11 games that season which was a career high and sported a 2.84 ERA in 26 games. It was a great story, but when his stats slipped a little (8 Wins, 13 losses, 3.28 ERA) in the 2011 season it appeared the great 2010 season was nothing more than a outlier. At 37 he wasn't going to be getting better, that doesn't happen (unless you're Roger Clemens and misremembering sticking yourself in the ass with a needle) at his age.
Lo and behold, father time has been pushed aside in 2012. R.A. Dickey is doing things that are unfathomable to even the most knowledgeable baseball fanatics. With his win last night against the Baltimore Orioles he has already matched his career high of 11 wins(11-1). He has started only 14 games! He is on a 42 inning streak without giving up an earned run. That was six starts ago on May 22nd when he gave up a lone run to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yesterday he became the first pitcher since 1988 to throw back to back complete game 1 hit shutouts. I could keep going folks. In those two games he has struck out 25 batters with 12 last start which was a career high and 13 yesterday for a new career high. He keeps getting better.
In 99 innings this season he has given up 22 earned runs and 8 of those were in one start. That means in the 95 other innings he has pitched in 2012 he has allowed only 14 earned runs (1.33 ERA). He's not just pitching well, he is dominating in ways no pitcher has done since Pedro Martinez in his prime. The kicker is he is barely hitting the mid-80's with his hardest pitch. Right handed starting pitchers are supposed to throw in the low to mid-90's to be successful. Only crafty lefties like myself should be successful throwing the ball just hard enough to break a pane of glass. His ball flutters and moves like it's being controlled by remote. It's as if he's playing the easy level on the XBOX against the best ball players in the World. He's going to start the All-Star game and that is fantastic. I suggest you pay attention to what he is accomplishing because it is something that might not be seen for another generation.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The ugliest chapter since the 1919 Black Sox scandal ended yesterday when Roger Clemens was found not guilty of obstructing justice and lying to Congress about using performance-enhancing drugs. Countless hours and American tax dollars have been spent on cleaning up Major League Baseball and bringing to light those parties who were using the PED's in the decade starting in the mid 90's. In the long run this process will be good for the game, but what us fans have witnessed from Congress has been nothing short of a debacle.
With Andy Pettitte announcing that he might have 'misrembered' about whether Clemens injected himself, the prosecution was left without their star witness and the case fell apart. I'm glad that we've cleaned up baseball for the most part, even though I'm sure HGH usage is rampant. I'll never forget the summer of 1998 when we were all caught up in the home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. I was a huge fan of McGwire and watched every at bat with bated breath. Looking back it was good for baseball at the time, but the bad things that were going on in the seedy underbelly of the locker rooms was poisoning the game I love.
The record books for Major League Baseball are the most revered and when those started falling, it became a problem. The number 61 was known by every fan and it looked as though it would stand forever. For 37 years nobody had threatened the mark, but between 1998 and 2001 it was surpassed six times by three different players. Barry Bonds joined Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa as the poster boys for what was wrong with the game just years after they were lauded with helping make the game the most popular it had been in a generation. More names were leaked and soon everyone who played during that period was assumed to have cheated. Pitchers didn't escape the wrath of the fans, they were doping just as much. To stay strong throughout the year and as you get older is just not humanly possible. There should be a natural tapering off of an athletes skill set as he or she gets older. This wasn't happening, especially with Roger Clemens.
At 33 years of age Roger Clemens had just finished back to back sub par years with the Boston Red Sox. He signed as a free agent in Toronto and whatever was in the Canadian water proved to be right elixir for Clemens. At ages 34 and 35 he won back to back Cy Young awards for the best pitcher in the American League going a combined 41-13. It was his best seasons in almost a decade. He was traded to the New York Yankees where he pitched five more years including posting a 20-3 record at age 38. He wasn't done. Signing with the Houston Astros in 2004 at 41 years of age he again won the Cy Young award this time for the National League with an amazing 18-4 record and a svelte 2.98 ERA. At 42 he led the National League in ERA at 1.87....1.87!!!! He was 42 years old and dominating. Unlike R.A Dickey in the above story he was doing it with power, not finesse. Its obvious to everyone who wasn't on the jury yesterday that Clemens was being enhanced by something. Too bad it couldn't be proved in a court of law. I truly hope the baseball writers of America 'misremember' to vote for him when he is eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2013.
He realized his career was coming to an end so he worked on a perfecting a knuckle-ball. His last season with the Rangers saw him try, and fail to throw that pitch. He persevered as he continued to struggle through his two seasons in Seattle and Minnesota and when he was signed by the New York Mets at the age of 35 he had to figure this was his last chance. Starting in the Minor Leagues, R.A. Dickey finally found some success and was called up to the big leagues in early May.
That season was the best of his career to date and it amazed all of the baseball pundits to see him transform himself into a quality starter after failing for so many years. He won 11 games that season which was a career high and sported a 2.84 ERA in 26 games. It was a great story, but when his stats slipped a little (8 Wins, 13 losses, 3.28 ERA) in the 2011 season it appeared the great 2010 season was nothing more than a outlier. At 37 he wasn't going to be getting better, that doesn't happen (unless you're Roger Clemens and misremembering sticking yourself in the ass with a needle) at his age.
Lo and behold, father time has been pushed aside in 2012. R.A. Dickey is doing things that are unfathomable to even the most knowledgeable baseball fanatics. With his win last night against the Baltimore Orioles he has already matched his career high of 11 wins(11-1). He has started only 14 games! He is on a 42 inning streak without giving up an earned run. That was six starts ago on May 22nd when he gave up a lone run to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yesterday he became the first pitcher since 1988 to throw back to back complete game 1 hit shutouts. I could keep going folks. In those two games he has struck out 25 batters with 12 last start which was a career high and 13 yesterday for a new career high. He keeps getting better.
In 99 innings this season he has given up 22 earned runs and 8 of those were in one start. That means in the 95 other innings he has pitched in 2012 he has allowed only 14 earned runs (1.33 ERA). He's not just pitching well, he is dominating in ways no pitcher has done since Pedro Martinez in his prime. The kicker is he is barely hitting the mid-80's with his hardest pitch. Right handed starting pitchers are supposed to throw in the low to mid-90's to be successful. Only crafty lefties like myself should be successful throwing the ball just hard enough to break a pane of glass. His ball flutters and moves like it's being controlled by remote. It's as if he's playing the easy level on the XBOX against the best ball players in the World. He's going to start the All-Star game and that is fantastic. I suggest you pay attention to what he is accomplishing because it is something that might not be seen for another generation.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The ugliest chapter since the 1919 Black Sox scandal ended yesterday when Roger Clemens was found not guilty of obstructing justice and lying to Congress about using performance-enhancing drugs. Countless hours and American tax dollars have been spent on cleaning up Major League Baseball and bringing to light those parties who were using the PED's in the decade starting in the mid 90's. In the long run this process will be good for the game, but what us fans have witnessed from Congress has been nothing short of a debacle.
With Andy Pettitte announcing that he might have 'misrembered' about whether Clemens injected himself, the prosecution was left without their star witness and the case fell apart. I'm glad that we've cleaned up baseball for the most part, even though I'm sure HGH usage is rampant. I'll never forget the summer of 1998 when we were all caught up in the home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. I was a huge fan of McGwire and watched every at bat with bated breath. Looking back it was good for baseball at the time, but the bad things that were going on in the seedy underbelly of the locker rooms was poisoning the game I love.
The record books for Major League Baseball are the most revered and when those started falling, it became a problem. The number 61 was known by every fan and it looked as though it would stand forever. For 37 years nobody had threatened the mark, but between 1998 and 2001 it was surpassed six times by three different players. Barry Bonds joined Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa as the poster boys for what was wrong with the game just years after they were lauded with helping make the game the most popular it had been in a generation. More names were leaked and soon everyone who played during that period was assumed to have cheated. Pitchers didn't escape the wrath of the fans, they were doping just as much. To stay strong throughout the year and as you get older is just not humanly possible. There should be a natural tapering off of an athletes skill set as he or she gets older. This wasn't happening, especially with Roger Clemens.
At 33 years of age Roger Clemens had just finished back to back sub par years with the Boston Red Sox. He signed as a free agent in Toronto and whatever was in the Canadian water proved to be right elixir for Clemens. At ages 34 and 35 he won back to back Cy Young awards for the best pitcher in the American League going a combined 41-13. It was his best seasons in almost a decade. He was traded to the New York Yankees where he pitched five more years including posting a 20-3 record at age 38. He wasn't done. Signing with the Houston Astros in 2004 at 41 years of age he again won the Cy Young award this time for the National League with an amazing 18-4 record and a svelte 2.98 ERA. At 42 he led the National League in ERA at 1.87....1.87!!!! He was 42 years old and dominating. Unlike R.A Dickey in the above story he was doing it with power, not finesse. Its obvious to everyone who wasn't on the jury yesterday that Clemens was being enhanced by something. Too bad it couldn't be proved in a court of law. I truly hope the baseball writers of America 'misremember' to vote for him when he is eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2013.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Pocket Pair 6/18/12
I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. Here in the D.C. area we had fabulous weather which was perfect for a round of golf with your old man if you chose to do so. It was as always a fun weekend for fans of all sports, so lets look back at what transpired.
10. Pittsburgh Pirates at Cleveland Indians
The Pirates won two of three in a battle of two teams that have been winning with smoke and mirrors. Cleveland is destined for some struggles with 17 of their next 20 games before the All-Star Break against winning teams. Pittsburgh is in much better shape schedule wise as they have a mixed bag heading into the Break. I can see them hanging around for a bit more especially if Pedro Alvarez (5/11 4 HR 9 RBI) has more series' like the one he just had against Cleveland.
9. Baltimore Orioles at Atlanta Braves
The Orioles took two of three in Atlanta behind dominant pitching performances by Jason Hammel and Wei-Yin Chen who both climbed to 7-2 on the season. Baltimore continues to amaze the baseball world as they stay right on the tail of the big bad Yankees in the brutal American League East. The Braves not only lost the series at home, but also lost their best starting pitcher, Brandon Beachy to injury and he has been placed on the Disabled List. With 9 of their next 12 games against the Yankees, Red Sox and Nationals, this could be a make or break stretch for this team facing some pretty good adversity at the moment.
8. Chicago White Sox at Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers took the series by winning an extra inning game on Sunday. All three games were one run games and even though Friday nights' match up of Sale vs. Kershaw didn't develop into a pitchers duel, the series was one of the best of the weekend. Los Angeles still holds the best record in the Majors while Chicago is playing just well enough to stay ahead of a below average division. I still believe the Detroit Tigers will end up winning the American League Central by at least 5 games when all is said and done.
7. Euro Cup 2012 Sweden vs. England
This was by far the most dramatic and entertaining game to date of the Euro Cup. England struck first and led 1-0 at the half, but Sweden countered with two early goals in the second half. England got one back and then took a late lead that they wouldn't relinquish with a highlight reel goal by Danny Welbeck. It's usually stunning to see a team blow a lead and lose in soccer, but to have both teams blow a lead and the score to jump back and forth made for a great group stage match.
6. College World Series Friday
The shoe didn't fit for Cinderella Stony Brook as they were thumped by UCLA 9-1. The second game of the evening was much more competitive as Arizona and Florida St. went extras. After the game was tied at 3 after six innings, it wasn't until the 12th when Arizona finally broke through with a run and they hung on to beat Florida St. This probably means another year will go by without the ACC winning a National Championship in baseball. Wake Forest won the only one for the conference and that was way back in 1955.
5. College World Series Saturday
As what happened to Stony Brook, Kent St. got routed in their first ever appearance in Omaha. Arkansas did the job with an easy 8-1 victory. The other game between arguably the two best teams in the country went to South Carolina. They beat rival, #1 ranked Florida to extend their unfathomable NCAA Tournament win streak to 22. 22!!! They are the two time defending champions for a reason folks, but 22 wins in a row is ridiculous.
4. Euro Cup 2012 Sunday's Action
It was a pair of great games in a group that was still up for grabs. Germany and Denmark traded goals early on in a game that Denmark needed desperately to earn a draw in, if not win outright. They couldn't dent the twine in the second half and when Germany scored with just over 10 minutes left, the tournament was over for the Danes. The other game saw the Dutch take an early lead as they hoped to salvage some pride and even move on if they could win by 2+ goals, but Cristiano Ronaldo was having none of that. He scored a goal in both the first and second half to give Portugal a 2-1 victory and move them on to the quarterfinals. So far we have Germany facing Greece and Portugal going up against the Czech Republic in the quarters.
3. NBA Finals Game 3
By all accounts the game was close throughout. Yes, that means I didn't watch most of it. I was glued to the U.S. Open even without Tiger in contention. Luckily for me this game followed the pattern that NBA detractors clamor about on a nightly basis. The final two minutes proved to be the most important and nothing else mattered. Beat me up if you wish, but no lead is safe in the NBA, it is after all a game of runs. Oklahoma City looked to be making the final run to steal game 3, but they missed a couple shots down the stretched and had a costly turnover on an inbound play. Give credit to Miami for hitting almost 90% of their free throws.
2. New York Yankees at Washington Nationals
The veteran Yankees proved too much for the young Nationals this weekend in DC. They pitched better, they hit better and they fielded better and it added up to a three game sweep. The Yankees have now won 9 in a row, but because the American League East went 10-2 against the National League East the Yankees didn't extend their lead by too much and the Nationals lead held rather steady. Bryce Harper had a very eye opening game on Saturday in a bad way as he went 0-7 with 5 K's and was real close to getting ejected for his bad reactions at the plate.
1. U.S. Open
The weekend started out with all eyes on Tiger Woods, but that ended quickly on Saturday and into Sunday as he faded into oblivion with poor putting and even worse iron shots. After Woods dropped out, it was all about who could survive the tough Olympic Club course. American Jim Furyk was in the lead for most of the final round, but Graeme McDowell was on his tail looking to bring the championship back to Northern Ireland for the 3rd consecutive year (Rory McIlroy last year and McDowell in 2010). Ernie Els made a mid round charge in his attempt to win a 3rd U.S. Open and even first round leader Michael Thompson charged back into it with a 3 under final round. In the end, though, it was relative unknown American Webb Simpson who recovered from an early stumble to birdie four out of five holes mid round and play rock steady golf the rest of the way to take home the title. Both Furyk and McDowell struggled (McDowell early, Furyk late) in the final round combining to shoot 7 over par.
-------------------------------------------
Yet another Father's Day came and went and I saw all the tweets about brunch with Dad, gold with Dad and the stories about 'how my Dad made me who I am' and so on and so forth. I didn't do any of that with my Dad who lives only 20 miles away from me, not because I don't care, nor is he ignoring me, but because he is on the road Geocaching.
If you are not familiar with Geocaching you can visit the website and learn about it, but I'll give you a quick synopsis. You carry a GPS around that is loaded with locations of hidden objects that you need to find. Some are big like a large ammo can and some can be so small that they would fit in the palm of your hand. When you find said object, you note that you've found it on your GPS and sign the enclosed sheet of paper that is inside the hidden object. That's it. You move on to the next one and then the next after that.
Some are very simple to find, some are incredibly difficult. They are hidden in public places (and you are told to avoid the 'muggles' who are random people not looking for the Geocache) and in the middle of forests. Basically if you plan on going for a walk, you might as well take a GPS along and make a game of it. You will be surprised how many hidden objects are within 10 miles of where you live.
My parents have been into this for about two years now and when my Dad delves into a hobby he goes in full throttle. He was in a bowling league in the 80's, he took up golf in the 90's, fell hard in taking cruises in the 2000's and now is staying in shape by Geocaching around the United States. This weekend my parents recreated a two week family trip from the summer of 1995 by hitting the mid west. Their goal was to find a Cache in six states in one day...they did seven. As my Dad put it 'It gives me a reason to go back to states that I went to before.' They walk between 10-20 miles a day looking for these things. They see sights, they visit big cities and small towns. It keeps them young, but it also makes my sister and I worry. My mom will go out by herself and at times she thinks she's Bear Grylls. She'll wade through rivers, climb rocks and do all this just as the sun is rising or far past sunset. She's been bitten by spiders, bruised by falls and had brushes with poison ivy. My Dad stepped in a bees nest giving him a good dozen stings. He drove all the way home after that (not calling us at all) and while he was walking upstairs another bee got loose in his shorts and stung him again. This was nearly 20 minutes after the first sting!
We have forced them to carry whistles, first aid kits and to always have their phones on them. I fear that its only a matter of time until they break something, but for now they are having fun and traveling the countryside. I highly suggest that you take this hobby up. It is highly addictive if you don't mind the great outdoors and small (or large) insects you should have fun. I try and get out with them when I can and I have even dragged my wife around who is not a fan of heavily wooded areas. There are enough in residential neighborhoods to keep busy though.
10. Pittsburgh Pirates at Cleveland Indians
The Pirates won two of three in a battle of two teams that have been winning with smoke and mirrors. Cleveland is destined for some struggles with 17 of their next 20 games before the All-Star Break against winning teams. Pittsburgh is in much better shape schedule wise as they have a mixed bag heading into the Break. I can see them hanging around for a bit more especially if Pedro Alvarez (5/11 4 HR 9 RBI) has more series' like the one he just had against Cleveland.
9. Baltimore Orioles at Atlanta Braves
The Orioles took two of three in Atlanta behind dominant pitching performances by Jason Hammel and Wei-Yin Chen who both climbed to 7-2 on the season. Baltimore continues to amaze the baseball world as they stay right on the tail of the big bad Yankees in the brutal American League East. The Braves not only lost the series at home, but also lost their best starting pitcher, Brandon Beachy to injury and he has been placed on the Disabled List. With 9 of their next 12 games against the Yankees, Red Sox and Nationals, this could be a make or break stretch for this team facing some pretty good adversity at the moment.
8. Chicago White Sox at Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers took the series by winning an extra inning game on Sunday. All three games were one run games and even though Friday nights' match up of Sale vs. Kershaw didn't develop into a pitchers duel, the series was one of the best of the weekend. Los Angeles still holds the best record in the Majors while Chicago is playing just well enough to stay ahead of a below average division. I still believe the Detroit Tigers will end up winning the American League Central by at least 5 games when all is said and done.
7. Euro Cup 2012 Sweden vs. England
This was by far the most dramatic and entertaining game to date of the Euro Cup. England struck first and led 1-0 at the half, but Sweden countered with two early goals in the second half. England got one back and then took a late lead that they wouldn't relinquish with a highlight reel goal by Danny Welbeck. It's usually stunning to see a team blow a lead and lose in soccer, but to have both teams blow a lead and the score to jump back and forth made for a great group stage match.
6. College World Series Friday
The shoe didn't fit for Cinderella Stony Brook as they were thumped by UCLA 9-1. The second game of the evening was much more competitive as Arizona and Florida St. went extras. After the game was tied at 3 after six innings, it wasn't until the 12th when Arizona finally broke through with a run and they hung on to beat Florida St. This probably means another year will go by without the ACC winning a National Championship in baseball. Wake Forest won the only one for the conference and that was way back in 1955.
5. College World Series Saturday
As what happened to Stony Brook, Kent St. got routed in their first ever appearance in Omaha. Arkansas did the job with an easy 8-1 victory. The other game between arguably the two best teams in the country went to South Carolina. They beat rival, #1 ranked Florida to extend their unfathomable NCAA Tournament win streak to 22. 22!!! They are the two time defending champions for a reason folks, but 22 wins in a row is ridiculous.
4. Euro Cup 2012 Sunday's Action
It was a pair of great games in a group that was still up for grabs. Germany and Denmark traded goals early on in a game that Denmark needed desperately to earn a draw in, if not win outright. They couldn't dent the twine in the second half and when Germany scored with just over 10 minutes left, the tournament was over for the Danes. The other game saw the Dutch take an early lead as they hoped to salvage some pride and even move on if they could win by 2+ goals, but Cristiano Ronaldo was having none of that. He scored a goal in both the first and second half to give Portugal a 2-1 victory and move them on to the quarterfinals. So far we have Germany facing Greece and Portugal going up against the Czech Republic in the quarters.
3. NBA Finals Game 3
By all accounts the game was close throughout. Yes, that means I didn't watch most of it. I was glued to the U.S. Open even without Tiger in contention. Luckily for me this game followed the pattern that NBA detractors clamor about on a nightly basis. The final two minutes proved to be the most important and nothing else mattered. Beat me up if you wish, but no lead is safe in the NBA, it is after all a game of runs. Oklahoma City looked to be making the final run to steal game 3, but they missed a couple shots down the stretched and had a costly turnover on an inbound play. Give credit to Miami for hitting almost 90% of their free throws.
2. New York Yankees at Washington Nationals
The veteran Yankees proved too much for the young Nationals this weekend in DC. They pitched better, they hit better and they fielded better and it added up to a three game sweep. The Yankees have now won 9 in a row, but because the American League East went 10-2 against the National League East the Yankees didn't extend their lead by too much and the Nationals lead held rather steady. Bryce Harper had a very eye opening game on Saturday in a bad way as he went 0-7 with 5 K's and was real close to getting ejected for his bad reactions at the plate.
1. U.S. Open
The weekend started out with all eyes on Tiger Woods, but that ended quickly on Saturday and into Sunday as he faded into oblivion with poor putting and even worse iron shots. After Woods dropped out, it was all about who could survive the tough Olympic Club course. American Jim Furyk was in the lead for most of the final round, but Graeme McDowell was on his tail looking to bring the championship back to Northern Ireland for the 3rd consecutive year (Rory McIlroy last year and McDowell in 2010). Ernie Els made a mid round charge in his attempt to win a 3rd U.S. Open and even first round leader Michael Thompson charged back into it with a 3 under final round. In the end, though, it was relative unknown American Webb Simpson who recovered from an early stumble to birdie four out of five holes mid round and play rock steady golf the rest of the way to take home the title. Both Furyk and McDowell struggled (McDowell early, Furyk late) in the final round combining to shoot 7 over par.
-------------------------------------------
Yet another Father's Day came and went and I saw all the tweets about brunch with Dad, gold with Dad and the stories about 'how my Dad made me who I am' and so on and so forth. I didn't do any of that with my Dad who lives only 20 miles away from me, not because I don't care, nor is he ignoring me, but because he is on the road Geocaching.
If you are not familiar with Geocaching you can visit the website and learn about it, but I'll give you a quick synopsis. You carry a GPS around that is loaded with locations of hidden objects that you need to find. Some are big like a large ammo can and some can be so small that they would fit in the palm of your hand. When you find said object, you note that you've found it on your GPS and sign the enclosed sheet of paper that is inside the hidden object. That's it. You move on to the next one and then the next after that.
Some are very simple to find, some are incredibly difficult. They are hidden in public places (and you are told to avoid the 'muggles' who are random people not looking for the Geocache) and in the middle of forests. Basically if you plan on going for a walk, you might as well take a GPS along and make a game of it. You will be surprised how many hidden objects are within 10 miles of where you live.
My parents have been into this for about two years now and when my Dad delves into a hobby he goes in full throttle. He was in a bowling league in the 80's, he took up golf in the 90's, fell hard in taking cruises in the 2000's and now is staying in shape by Geocaching around the United States. This weekend my parents recreated a two week family trip from the summer of 1995 by hitting the mid west. Their goal was to find a Cache in six states in one day...they did seven. As my Dad put it 'It gives me a reason to go back to states that I went to before.' They walk between 10-20 miles a day looking for these things. They see sights, they visit big cities and small towns. It keeps them young, but it also makes my sister and I worry. My mom will go out by herself and at times she thinks she's Bear Grylls. She'll wade through rivers, climb rocks and do all this just as the sun is rising or far past sunset. She's been bitten by spiders, bruised by falls and had brushes with poison ivy. My Dad stepped in a bees nest giving him a good dozen stings. He drove all the way home after that (not calling us at all) and while he was walking upstairs another bee got loose in his shorts and stung him again. This was nearly 20 minutes after the first sting!
We have forced them to carry whistles, first aid kits and to always have their phones on them. I fear that its only a matter of time until they break something, but for now they are having fun and traveling the countryside. I highly suggest that you take this hobby up. It is highly addictive if you don't mind the great outdoors and small (or large) insects you should have fun. I try and get out with them when I can and I have even dragged my wife around who is not a fan of heavily wooded areas. There are enough in residential neighborhoods to keep busy though.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Pocket Pair 6/15/12
Happy Father's Day weekend. If this is your one weekend of the year to sit back, stress free and watch sports then I'm here to guide you through.
Here are your Top 10 sporting events worth watching this weekend:
10: Pittsburgh Pirates vs Cleveland Indians
Two pretending contenders. Which one will fade first? Both teams are 32-30 and both teams have been outscored by 31 runs this season. It's just a matter of time and this weekend could be the last over .500 for one of them. If that doesn't tickle your fancy, try Philadelphia at Toronto where both teams are under .500 but have outscored their opponents. Baseball is a tricky sport.
9: Baltimore Orioles at the Atlanta Braves
Two teams headed in the opposite directions at the moment as the upstart Orioles, winners of 5 straight, and the Braves who have dropped 4 in a row after winning 8 of 9 meet up. Saturday promises to have the best pitching match up with Jason Hammel going for Baltimore and Brandon Beachy toeing the slab for the Braves.
8: Chicago White Sox at the Los Angeles Dodgers
Two first place teams square off this weekend which is always good, but throw in the fact that Vin Scully will be calling the games and it goes up one notch. Tonight (Friday) has the marquee match up with 8-2 Chris Sale going for the Sox against 5-3 ace Clayton Kershaw for the Dodgers. First one to 10 K's wins.
7. Euro Cup 2012 Sweden vs. England
This is a probable elimination match between two very proud countries. Neither team won their first game thus they can't afford to not win today.
6. College World Series Friday
One of my favorite events starts this afternoon and Cinderella Stony Brook is the first team to take the field as they battle UCLA. More traditional powers Arizona and Florida St. play tonight.
5. College World Series Saturday
The other Cinderella, Kent St. takes on Arkansas while the marquee match up wraps up the first round as two time defending Champion South Carolina takes on National #1 Seed Florida.
4. Euro Cup 2012 Sunday's Action
Denmark vs. Germany and Portugal vs. Netherlands. Although the Dutch have been a disappointment the other three teams are still pretty good. Plus you get 90 more minutes watching Christiano Rinaldo, that's worth watching in itself.
3. NBA Finals Game 3
There is only one NBA game this weekend and it's not until late night Sunday. It's a good way to cap off a relaxing weekend and a much better option than the baseball game that ESPN will be showing. Call this game mini pivotal as its not the pivotal Game 5 nor the ultimate Game 7.
2. New York Yankees at the Washington Nationals
Dare I say this will be a World Series preview?? Both teams enter the series in 1st place. The only downer is that neither C.C. Sabathia nor Stephen Strasburg will be pitching this weekend. That being said, Jordan Zimmerman facing off against Andy Pettitte Saturday afternoon should be tasty. At least ESPN went with the disappointing Red Sox vs the putrid Cubs for prime time Sunday night. That was a good decision.
1. U.S. Open
Father's Day Sunday, Tiger Woods in contention, 18 holes of tough golf, drink in hand, meat on the grill. This is the ideal day. Cherish it.
----------------------------------------------------
This will hopefully be my last Father's Day not being a father myself. My beautiful wife is expecting our first child in mid-December.
I've asked my friends for advice and they all tell me...you're on your own sir. Not really, but they say to rest up now, read your books, go to your classes and listen to your wife.
We're very excited and are hoping and praying for the best.
For all of you fathers who are reading this, continue to do what you do and enjoy your one weekend off.
Here are your Top 10 sporting events worth watching this weekend:
10: Pittsburgh Pirates vs Cleveland Indians
Two pretending contenders. Which one will fade first? Both teams are 32-30 and both teams have been outscored by 31 runs this season. It's just a matter of time and this weekend could be the last over .500 for one of them. If that doesn't tickle your fancy, try Philadelphia at Toronto where both teams are under .500 but have outscored their opponents. Baseball is a tricky sport.
9: Baltimore Orioles at the Atlanta Braves
Two teams headed in the opposite directions at the moment as the upstart Orioles, winners of 5 straight, and the Braves who have dropped 4 in a row after winning 8 of 9 meet up. Saturday promises to have the best pitching match up with Jason Hammel going for Baltimore and Brandon Beachy toeing the slab for the Braves.
8: Chicago White Sox at the Los Angeles Dodgers
Two first place teams square off this weekend which is always good, but throw in the fact that Vin Scully will be calling the games and it goes up one notch. Tonight (Friday) has the marquee match up with 8-2 Chris Sale going for the Sox against 5-3 ace Clayton Kershaw for the Dodgers. First one to 10 K's wins.
7. Euro Cup 2012 Sweden vs. England
This is a probable elimination match between two very proud countries. Neither team won their first game thus they can't afford to not win today.
6. College World Series Friday
One of my favorite events starts this afternoon and Cinderella Stony Brook is the first team to take the field as they battle UCLA. More traditional powers Arizona and Florida St. play tonight.
5. College World Series Saturday
The other Cinderella, Kent St. takes on Arkansas while the marquee match up wraps up the first round as two time defending Champion South Carolina takes on National #1 Seed Florida.
4. Euro Cup 2012 Sunday's Action
Denmark vs. Germany and Portugal vs. Netherlands. Although the Dutch have been a disappointment the other three teams are still pretty good. Plus you get 90 more minutes watching Christiano Rinaldo, that's worth watching in itself.
3. NBA Finals Game 3
There is only one NBA game this weekend and it's not until late night Sunday. It's a good way to cap off a relaxing weekend and a much better option than the baseball game that ESPN will be showing. Call this game mini pivotal as its not the pivotal Game 5 nor the ultimate Game 7.
2. New York Yankees at the Washington Nationals
Dare I say this will be a World Series preview?? Both teams enter the series in 1st place. The only downer is that neither C.C. Sabathia nor Stephen Strasburg will be pitching this weekend. That being said, Jordan Zimmerman facing off against Andy Pettitte Saturday afternoon should be tasty. At least ESPN went with the disappointing Red Sox vs the putrid Cubs for prime time Sunday night. That was a good decision.
1. U.S. Open
Father's Day Sunday, Tiger Woods in contention, 18 holes of tough golf, drink in hand, meat on the grill. This is the ideal day. Cherish it.
----------------------------------------------------
This will hopefully be my last Father's Day not being a father myself. My beautiful wife is expecting our first child in mid-December.
I've asked my friends for advice and they all tell me...you're on your own sir. Not really, but they say to rest up now, read your books, go to your classes and listen to your wife.
We're very excited and are hoping and praying for the best.
For all of you fathers who are reading this, continue to do what you do and enjoy your one weekend off.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Pocket Pair 6/14/12
All eyes were set to be on San Francisco for the U.S. Open, but Matt Cain started the party a bit early. He threw MLB's 22nd perfect game and the first for the Giants franchise. Not just the San Francisco Giants, but the full 130 year history of the Giants dating back to their time in New York. That's quite astonishing to believe that only one person in 130 years has done what Matt Cain just accomplished for the franchise.
Some pundits are trying to devalue his feat because it's the second perfect game of the young season and fifth in the last 3 years whereas the one before this cluster was a full five years before that. In fact there were only four perfect games during the entire decade of the nineties. That aside, no one can ever devalue a perfect game. Especially those who have never stood on a mound and faced professional hitters every five days. I guarantee you that no current or ex-ball player will ever speak about devaluing feats like this. Only those journalists looking to play devil's advocate and trying to get a few extra page views for their website will be an antagonist. Outside of hitting four home runs in a game, throwing a perfect game is one of the rarest, most difficult things to do in baseball and each time we fans are fortunate to witness one, we should feel fortunate.
--------------------------------------
As already stated, the U.S. Open starts today also in San Francisco at the Olympic Club. The last time the Open was held here was 1998 when American Lee Janzen took home the title at even par. This is what is great about watching this particular tournament. The world's best golfers are reduced to your average amateur, just happy to escape each hole with a par.
Last year was a fluke with Rory McIlroy wining at a very spectacular 16 below par. Just like Tiger Woods did in 2000, the newest phenom lapped the field with a once in a life time weekend. To put it in context the 10 winners in between McIlroy and Woods combined, yes combined, to hit 14 below par. Normally if you are under par at any time of the tournament, you are in contention. There were even back to back years where the winner posted a 5 over par score.
The level of concentration that it takes by each player over the course of 72 holes is awe inspiring. Each mishit can result in a big number on a hole. A big number leads the golfer into thinking about that last shot and the next time he looks up he's 8 over and missing the cut. It doesn't take much to fail, but it'll take everything to succeed.
Some pundits are trying to devalue his feat because it's the second perfect game of the young season and fifth in the last 3 years whereas the one before this cluster was a full five years before that. In fact there were only four perfect games during the entire decade of the nineties. That aside, no one can ever devalue a perfect game. Especially those who have never stood on a mound and faced professional hitters every five days. I guarantee you that no current or ex-ball player will ever speak about devaluing feats like this. Only those journalists looking to play devil's advocate and trying to get a few extra page views for their website will be an antagonist. Outside of hitting four home runs in a game, throwing a perfect game is one of the rarest, most difficult things to do in baseball and each time we fans are fortunate to witness one, we should feel fortunate.
--------------------------------------
As already stated, the U.S. Open starts today also in San Francisco at the Olympic Club. The last time the Open was held here was 1998 when American Lee Janzen took home the title at even par. This is what is great about watching this particular tournament. The world's best golfers are reduced to your average amateur, just happy to escape each hole with a par.
Last year was a fluke with Rory McIlroy wining at a very spectacular 16 below par. Just like Tiger Woods did in 2000, the newest phenom lapped the field with a once in a life time weekend. To put it in context the 10 winners in between McIlroy and Woods combined, yes combined, to hit 14 below par. Normally if you are under par at any time of the tournament, you are in contention. There were even back to back years where the winner posted a 5 over par score.
The level of concentration that it takes by each player over the course of 72 holes is awe inspiring. Each mishit can result in a big number on a hole. A big number leads the golfer into thinking about that last shot and the next time he looks up he's 8 over and missing the cut. It doesn't take much to fail, but it'll take everything to succeed.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Pocket Pair 6/13/12
I'm definitely getting old. There's no way around it. No longer can I get out of bed and pitch 7 innings without even thinking about it. Do to that now would require a whole bunch of pills and more than likely a short hospital stay to recoup from the pain afterwards. I've come to the reality that my sporting life is coming to an end at the level that I once played at. I've taken on the role of coach on my baseball team helping guide the youngsters.
There will always be a youth movement in sports. Its the natural order of being an athlete. You play as long and as hard as you can, but just like you did to somebody before you, a player who is younger and now better than you will replace you. The window of opportunity is longer for others, but for most athletes you are lucky to have a 5-10 year stretch to show the world how well you can play at an elite level.
In Oklahoma City, a group of young, elite athletes have become the newest stumbling block for LeBron James and his quest to win a championship. Just a few years ago it was James that was the future of the NBA. When he stormed into the NBA at 18, people figured he'd be in line to break all of individual scoring records and win multiple championships. His window seems to be closing quickly and he's only 27! Michael Jordan was 28 when he won the first of his six championships. He even took two years off to play baseball in his early thirties. There's no reason LeBron can't win multiple championships, but Kevin Durant (23), Russell Westbrook (23) and James Harden (22) are all younger and if they continue to play together, look to be to current 'future of the NBA'. If LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh made the aging Boston Celtics trio of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen look old, then what will people say about the Miami Heat if the Thunder roll through the Finals this year?
The Washington Nationals also have one of those players. Well they have a handful of young players, but I'm going to focus on the youngest...Bryce Harper. It's difficult not to wax poetic about him. At 16 he was touted as the 2nd coming of *insert any HOF baseball player here*. Now just 3 years later is in part of a youth machine that is currently rolling through the season. Nobody knows what his ceiling can be because he is only 19 years of age (old enough to drink in Canada, but don't go there bro). Yesterday he hit a moon shot against the Blue Jays which would have shattered the window of the old Hard Rock Cafe if it were still there. He swings hard, runs fast and puts forth a youthful exuberance that I hope never subsides. In a team game that has a six month season, it seems that the world comes to a stop when Harper is up to bat. As a fan, you just want to see what he will do next.
The last athlete I will touch on will be a new name to most...Andy Zhang. He is only 14 years of age, yet on Thursday he will be partaking in the U.S. Open! The same tournament that makes even the most seasoned veteran look like mere amateurs will allow a kid who is just entering high school tackle it. This is one of the greatest aspect of The Open, if you are good enough all you have to do is qualify. Even though it took someone dropping out because of injury for Zhang to make it, the story is still wonderful. While the world will be focused on the likes of Tiger, Phil and Rory, I will be following Andy and I hope that you do as well.
---------------------------------------------------------
Tonight on NBA TV (9 pm) is the documentary about the 1992 Dream Team. If you are too young to remember them, watch it. If you remember how they dominated the opponents and what to look back to a time when the United States were the best at basketball in the world, watch it. If you want to see why the world has become so much better at basketball, its because of what the Dream Team did in the Olympics. Basketball became so popular, because the athletes that were sent to Barcelona handled themselves with dignity, were likeable and put their ego's aside for the betterment of the team (well outside of Michael Jordan refusing to play with Isiah Thomas). Now NBA players are asking to get paid to represent their country...oh the shame.
There will always be a youth movement in sports. Its the natural order of being an athlete. You play as long and as hard as you can, but just like you did to somebody before you, a player who is younger and now better than you will replace you. The window of opportunity is longer for others, but for most athletes you are lucky to have a 5-10 year stretch to show the world how well you can play at an elite level.
In Oklahoma City, a group of young, elite athletes have become the newest stumbling block for LeBron James and his quest to win a championship. Just a few years ago it was James that was the future of the NBA. When he stormed into the NBA at 18, people figured he'd be in line to break all of individual scoring records and win multiple championships. His window seems to be closing quickly and he's only 27! Michael Jordan was 28 when he won the first of his six championships. He even took two years off to play baseball in his early thirties. There's no reason LeBron can't win multiple championships, but Kevin Durant (23), Russell Westbrook (23) and James Harden (22) are all younger and if they continue to play together, look to be to current 'future of the NBA'. If LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh made the aging Boston Celtics trio of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen look old, then what will people say about the Miami Heat if the Thunder roll through the Finals this year?
The Washington Nationals also have one of those players. Well they have a handful of young players, but I'm going to focus on the youngest...Bryce Harper. It's difficult not to wax poetic about him. At 16 he was touted as the 2nd coming of *insert any HOF baseball player here*. Now just 3 years later is in part of a youth machine that is currently rolling through the season. Nobody knows what his ceiling can be because he is only 19 years of age (old enough to drink in Canada, but don't go there bro). Yesterday he hit a moon shot against the Blue Jays which would have shattered the window of the old Hard Rock Cafe if it were still there. He swings hard, runs fast and puts forth a youthful exuberance that I hope never subsides. In a team game that has a six month season, it seems that the world comes to a stop when Harper is up to bat. As a fan, you just want to see what he will do next.
The last athlete I will touch on will be a new name to most...Andy Zhang. He is only 14 years of age, yet on Thursday he will be partaking in the U.S. Open! The same tournament that makes even the most seasoned veteran look like mere amateurs will allow a kid who is just entering high school tackle it. This is one of the greatest aspect of The Open, if you are good enough all you have to do is qualify. Even though it took someone dropping out because of injury for Zhang to make it, the story is still wonderful. While the world will be focused on the likes of Tiger, Phil and Rory, I will be following Andy and I hope that you do as well.
---------------------------------------------------------
Tonight on NBA TV (9 pm) is the documentary about the 1992 Dream Team. If you are too young to remember them, watch it. If you remember how they dominated the opponents and what to look back to a time when the United States were the best at basketball in the world, watch it. If you want to see why the world has become so much better at basketball, its because of what the Dream Team did in the Olympics. Basketball became so popular, because the athletes that were sent to Barcelona handled themselves with dignity, were likeable and put their ego's aside for the betterment of the team (well outside of Michael Jordan refusing to play with Isiah Thomas). Now NBA players are asking to get paid to represent their country...oh the shame.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Pocket Pair 6/12/12
Fear not Capitals fans, it can be done. For the first time in franchise history the Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup. Founded in 1967 by ex-Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke, the Kings had actually had worse playoff success than the Capitals until this season. Both Washington and Los Angeles had been to one Stanley Cup Final in their history before this season with the Kings going in 1993 and the Capitals being there in 1998. With a couple bold moves this off season and in season, namely acquiring two ex-Flyers Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, the Kings had the perfect mix of offense and defense to go along with all world goal tending by Jonathan Quick.
It's difficult to feel bad for Philadelphia as they chose to trade away their Captain (Richards) and fellow young star (Carter) to make room for what they thought was a goaltender, Ilya Bryzgalov, who would lead them back to the Finals. There are plenty, too many actually, Capitals fans who think that trading away their Captain, Alex Ovechkin would make sense. Hopefully they can see how it worked out for Philadelphia and rethink their stance on the issue. While Ovechkin may never be the dynamic force he was in his first couple season, he still has all worldly talent that cannot be duplicated.
The shift from free roaming, pure offense that the Capitals were famous for to the bunker down, don't make a mistake defensive hockey they tried this season can only help Ovechkin become a better two way player. Whatever coaching direction the Capitals decide to go with this year, it must fit with the skill set of Ovechkin. He needs to be able to lead them on offense, but still be held responsible on the defensive side. Alex Ovechkin will have to respect the coach that is brought in and be willing to do whatever it takes to bring Lord Stanley to Washington.
-------------------------------------------------
In case you didn't realize, and if you're not a poker player you probably haven't, the World Series of Poker is in full swing in Las Vegas right now. This year there are 61 events culminating in the Main Event which to poker players is the most coveted bracelet in all the world. It has also become the most difficult bracelet to win because even though the Main Event is 40+ years old, the entry fee of $10,000 has not changed. No longer do only the wealthiest and best players play, but anyone who can scrape together the funds or have won a smaller, cheaper qualifying event can play. Through 2003 the most players who had entered the Main Event tournament was 839, but when a true amateur, Chris Moneymaker, defeated a grizzled poker pro, Sam Farha, the poker boom began.
The next year 2,500 entrants tried their luck (and skill) at taking home the gold bracelet. 2005 saw that number jump to 5,600 and then it peaked in 2006 at at stunning 8,700 entrants. Due to online gaming restrictions in the United States, fewer websites were allowed to send winners of online tournaments to Vegas and thus the number dropped in 2007 to a scant 6,300. The last four years participation has held steady between 6,500 and 7,300 and that is even after the corruption scandals and eventual shutdown of a couple of the most popular online gaming sites for poker fans.
Already this season history has been made as poker legend, Phil Hellmuth won his record 12th gold bracelet in the 7 card Razz event. Razz is basically a poker game where you actually try to win with the worst poker hand. It will be interesting to see how quickly Hellmuth can order new jackets and hats that signify his new record of 12 victories because his current logo revolves around the 11 he had. Always a shameless self promoter, you have to respect Hellmuth for his skill level at the poker table, but fans of poker are somewhat ashamed of his boorish behavior towards his fellow competitors. When he controls his emotions, Phil Hellmuth is one of the best to play the game.
The Main Event begins on July 7th, so save your pennies kids and get out there and win. Last years winner, Pius Heinz won $8.7 million. I sure could use that kind of money.
It's difficult to feel bad for Philadelphia as they chose to trade away their Captain (Richards) and fellow young star (Carter) to make room for what they thought was a goaltender, Ilya Bryzgalov, who would lead them back to the Finals. There are plenty, too many actually, Capitals fans who think that trading away their Captain, Alex Ovechkin would make sense. Hopefully they can see how it worked out for Philadelphia and rethink their stance on the issue. While Ovechkin may never be the dynamic force he was in his first couple season, he still has all worldly talent that cannot be duplicated.
The shift from free roaming, pure offense that the Capitals were famous for to the bunker down, don't make a mistake defensive hockey they tried this season can only help Ovechkin become a better two way player. Whatever coaching direction the Capitals decide to go with this year, it must fit with the skill set of Ovechkin. He needs to be able to lead them on offense, but still be held responsible on the defensive side. Alex Ovechkin will have to respect the coach that is brought in and be willing to do whatever it takes to bring Lord Stanley to Washington.
-------------------------------------------------
In case you didn't realize, and if you're not a poker player you probably haven't, the World Series of Poker is in full swing in Las Vegas right now. This year there are 61 events culminating in the Main Event which to poker players is the most coveted bracelet in all the world. It has also become the most difficult bracelet to win because even though the Main Event is 40+ years old, the entry fee of $10,000 has not changed. No longer do only the wealthiest and best players play, but anyone who can scrape together the funds or have won a smaller, cheaper qualifying event can play. Through 2003 the most players who had entered the Main Event tournament was 839, but when a true amateur, Chris Moneymaker, defeated a grizzled poker pro, Sam Farha, the poker boom began.
The next year 2,500 entrants tried their luck (and skill) at taking home the gold bracelet. 2005 saw that number jump to 5,600 and then it peaked in 2006 at at stunning 8,700 entrants. Due to online gaming restrictions in the United States, fewer websites were allowed to send winners of online tournaments to Vegas and thus the number dropped in 2007 to a scant 6,300. The last four years participation has held steady between 6,500 and 7,300 and that is even after the corruption scandals and eventual shutdown of a couple of the most popular online gaming sites for poker fans.
Already this season history has been made as poker legend, Phil Hellmuth won his record 12th gold bracelet in the 7 card Razz event. Razz is basically a poker game where you actually try to win with the worst poker hand. It will be interesting to see how quickly Hellmuth can order new jackets and hats that signify his new record of 12 victories because his current logo revolves around the 11 he had. Always a shameless self promoter, you have to respect Hellmuth for his skill level at the poker table, but fans of poker are somewhat ashamed of his boorish behavior towards his fellow competitors. When he controls his emotions, Phil Hellmuth is one of the best to play the game.
The Main Event begins on July 7th, so save your pennies kids and get out there and win. Last years winner, Pius Heinz won $8.7 million. I sure could use that kind of money.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Celebrating 25 Years of Fanaticism: High School Pt 3.
Part 3: Junior Year
The summer of 1994 was my first with a driver's license. It gave me the freedom to do things on my time and not have to rely on rides from my parents or my friends parents. I played baseball again that summer and this year Jody was on my team. We hit 1-2 in the order that year and were much better than opponents at that level. The previous spring I had made the Varsity baseball team, but was relegated to keeping score so outside of practice I didn't get to actually play much. I was eager to play and play a lot. Being a rec league, I wasn't forced to playing solely with just my team. A couple of times during the summer teams that were playing after our games would ask for players to fill their roster and I said yes every time. I just loved playing ball. Splitting time between outfield and first I stayed active, but I just wanted to get on the mound. Occasionally I would get a chance to pitch, but I only threw a fastball. At that level it was enough to not get pummeled, but I knew I had to have a second pitch I was even to get the chance in high school.
With my new found freedom I also got to hang out with my new friends outside of school for the first time. We started to get interested in street hockey. We had a goal and I went out and bought a hockey stick and a group of us would find an abandoned parking lot and play. Running around while trying to play hockey was exhausting. Quickly some of my friend bough rollerblades which were all the rage in the mid nineties. Inline skating was going to be the transportation of the future...was being the key word in that sentence. I had never skated much (ice or roller) so I was not quick to switch and thus forced to play goalie which sucked. I needed to learn how to skate.
The summer of 1994 is known for many things. The United States hosted the World Cup which introduced a new generation to the sport of soccer. I already loved soccer and at the time I cheered for Argentina. Why you ask? I did a report on Argentina in 1989 for a sixth grade class and learned they were the defending champions from the 1986 World Cup. I was at a friends' birthday party in 1990 when they took on West Germany in the Finals of that World Cup and I remember asking my mom as she picked me up "Who won?" and she said Germany I was bummed. The United States wasn't very good at soccer, but they played well that year surprising the world by making it out of the qualification round. Although they lost to Brazil, it marked a turning point for the game here in the states and I quickly left Argentina behind even though they do have a pretty shade of blue on their flag. I was also very privileged to be asked to go to the Mexico/Norway by a friend of mine and that was a wonderful experience. I remember a drunk Norwegian who couldn't find his seat, so he took up residence in the aisle. He just sprawled out without a care in the world, until security hauled him off.
1994 is also remembered for the OJ Simpson slow moving car chase in the white Bronco. It was during the NBA Finals between New York and Houston and we kept flipping back and forth. The drama was so intense. I had only known OJ from the Naked Gun movies, but my Dad grew up watching him play football. It was just a surreal set of events that day and they will never be forgotten by those watched it live. ESPN did a magnificent documentary about that day on their 30 for 30 feature. It is a must watch.
What 1994 means most to me is the baseball season that never was. The Montreal Expos had the best team in the majors that year and because of the strike and eventual cancellation of the playoffs they never got their chance to play on the big stage. All of their best talent (Pedro Martinez, Larry Walker, Cliff Floyd, Marquis Grissom and Moises Alou) would eventually be traded away or lost to free agency and the franchise began a steady downward spiral that they would never recover from leading them to fold and move to Washington, D.C.
Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres was hitting .394 and with 45 games left was still within reach of ending at or above the magical .400 mark. Matt Williams of the San Francisco Giants had 43 home runs with 47 games left and was within reach of the record 61 hit by Roger Maris 33 years earlier. The baseball world was being robbed of potential history. It was history of another sort that I was wrapped up in.
The Athletics were still terrible, but they had been placed into the newly formed American League West division with only three other teams and they sucked equally as much. I didn't care what the standing were, I just knew the Athletics had a chance at making the playoffs. On June 13th the Athletics were a miserable 19-43. During most seasons they would have already been eliminated. At the time they were a mere 12.5 games out of first. All of a sudden they became the hottest team in baseball. Over their next 22 games they went 19-3 and on July 7th they were a scant 3 games out of 1st! They reverted back to their losing ways and as the strike date approached I knew that if the Athletics could just be in 1st place at the time of the strike maybe they'd be allowed in the playoffs if everything got resolved by October. They swept a 3 game series from the 1st place Texas with only four days left until 'D-Day' and were within 1.5 games of the Division lead. Two nights later Ruben Sierra hit a go ahead 8th inning home run to beat the White Sox. I was on vacation at the beach with my family but watching the game on WGN and I remember writing 'YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD...YES!!' on a piece of paper and taping it to the mirror in my Dad's bathroom. With two games left the Athletics had crept to within 0.5 a game of first place. They lost their last two games and finished one game out when the strike hit and the season never finished. Texas led that worst division in the history of MLB with a stellar 52-62 record. It's probably best that fans weren't subjected to a playoff race of sub-.500 teams.
Junior year started and it was my first school year not playing a sport other than baseball. Choosing not to play baseball that fall, it gave me ample opportunity to learn how to roller blade. I purchased a pair and slowly got used to it. Going to tennis courts I relied heavily on the brakes and had a very difficult time not crashing into the fence when trying to stop. It was much easier to skate with a stick in hand and once I mastered the crossover life became much easier. My strongest attribute was my slap shot. Not having ever played hockey before it just came naturally. I could hit that ball (we used a tennis ball sized plastic ball that had liquid in it to keep it from bouncing) hard and sometime accurate. Nobody was practicing tip drills in front of the net when I wound up.
As soon as everyone in my group of friends was up to speed in skating we found every waking moment available to play. Abandoned tennis courts were the most ideal and Cavalier Park in Falls Church, VA was where you were most likely to find us. As the weather grew colder, we played more because nobody was playing tennis. I loved to throw my weight around and as I became sturdier on skates it was my goal to drop Justin on his ass as much as possible. Luke did enough of that himself without contact and we yelled "Nancy!" each time. Zack bit the bullet and became our resident goalie. I don't know if he never took to skating or he just relished the challenge, but for our level he was pretty darn good. Trevor and Jody were good skaters and when one of them didn't play a co-worker of Zack's stepped in. Our best player, Isaac dominated us at times. He had played ice hockey all through his youth and until becoming a father this past year was still playing. At first he skated circles around us and beat Zack like a rented goalie on numerous occasions. We tracked our improvement by slowing Isaac down. The best part about it is how frustrated he would get when we stole the puck away from him or got past him while he was on defense. Zack and I would yell "DA DUM" every time he failed and then he would just unload a slap shot harder and higher to prove his worth.
Tennis players never cared about us skating on their courts and our wheels were made of the same material that tennis shoes were made of, but that didn't stop the locals from calling the cops on us on a regular basis. The police claimed we were too loud (we weren't) or scuffing the courts (we didn't) and did their duty by shutting us down for the night. There were plenty of open tennis courts so we just rotated until we were thrown out. It was harmless fun but we got pretty competitive especially Isaac and I. I wanted to be the best athlete in the group and I knew he was miles ahead of me on skates. That never stopped me from trying to beat him and he relished someone getting closer to his level. I never was able to skate with him, but I used his temper against him and that was my smartest move. All I had to do was get him angry and he stop using skill and resorted to being a bull in a china shop and stopping someone going straight at you is much easier than having him go wide and using flashy moves.
If I had thought that the 1993 season had been bad for the Washington Redskins, 1994 proved to be even worse. The Redskins had select Heath Shuler in the draft earlier that year and he was supposed to be the next great quarterback in franchise history. He proved to not even be the best quarterback Washington drafted that year. In the 7th round a little known quarterback, Gus Frerotte was selected and he wound up playing 118 more games than did Shuler in their respective careers. It's said when a franchise chooses the wrong quarterback of the future it sets the franchise back five years with two to three years to prove he can't play and two to three more to find the next savior. This would resonate all too true.
The Redskins lost 6 of their first 7 and 7 of their following 8 only to end with a meaningless victory to end the season a paltry 3-13. It was their fewest wins since 1963...31 years earlier!! From a model franchise to the laughing stock of the NFL in only three years. What a sad state of affairs.
As did the Redskins, the Detroit Pistons drafted who they thought would be the savior of a once proud franchise. With the 3rd overall picked I was dismayed to watch Detroit select Grant Hill from the hated Duke Blue Devils. It was very difficult to root for him and I never embraced him fully. To add insult to injury the Pistons traded for Bill Curley who was the best player on the same Boston College team that had just beaten UNC. To say the Pistons were testing me as a fan is an understatement.
After having two picks in the top 11 from the draft before it was apparent that the Pistons now had the building blocks to be a better team. It didn't show that season. Although Grant Hill led the team in scoring, the team as a whole only increased their win total by 8 games. Don Cheney, the Pistons head coach over the last two horrible seasons, was let go and the team was forced to head in a new direction.
Down a level the Tar Heels were loaded with as both Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse were back and with it being their team now, issues of meshing well with the older guys was no longer going to be an issue. They were ranked #2 in the preseason polls and started the season 18-1 as they elevated to #1 in the nation. The most memorable game of that season was against rival Duke who was having an all time worst season with their coach (who shall not be named because if he doesn't count the stats against him he doesn't get a mention from me here) out for the season after back surgery. UNC was 16-1 and Duke was 10-9 and losers of all seven conference games. UNC dominated in all aspects of the game early on including one of the sickest dunks by Jerry Stackhouse that I had ever witnessed.
Then Duke made a run...of course they did. This was during the heart of the era of the Cameron Crazies. The student section at Duke was ahead of its time and they caused havoc on the psyche of opposing teams. Everything that Duke did that night was thanks to the fans. They were undermanned and outplaying one of the most talented teams in the country. They blew past UNC and had a double digit lead in the second half. The Tar Heels clawed backed and forced overtime and that is when the Tar Heels took over. With only 1:30 left in the 5 minute overtime UNC had scored the only 9 points. The game was over, I had survived. I couldn't imagine going to school after losing to Duke. UNC was #1 and Duke sucked. It should have been a blowout, but a win is a win and I'll take it. Oh Duke hit a 3 pointer? Too little, too late. Less than a minute to go. UNC misses and gets the rebound and is fouled. Hey they're rolling the credits of the film crew. Ballgame! Two free throws, an 8 point lead. Duke comes down and hits a two pointer with :30 left. Big whoop. The announcers already have already moved UNC to 7-1 in conference play. Two more UNC free throws and the lead was back to 8. Duke hit a 3 with :16 left and the lead was still a safe 5 points. The Tar Heels made 1 of 2 free throws to extend the lead back to 6 and Jeff Capel took the ball back down the court and charged into the UNC defender for an offensive foul....what? NO! A blocking foul?? Are you effing kidding me?? He made the basket but it was still a four point lead and there is no four point play in college. He made the free throw and during the timeout I was still pissed. How the hell was that not a charge? Duke fouled 7' 6" Serge Zwikker and all he had to do was make one of his two free throws to officially ice the game. He missed them both. Cherokee Parks grabbed the rebound, fed it to Jeff Capel who launched a desperation shot from just over the mid court stripe and buried it! The game was tied at 95 and headed to a second overtime. It felt like UNC had lost. I was dumfounded. It was too late at night to yell, I couldn't break anything but I was furious. What type of crap was this...how was that not a charge!?!
The 2nd OT was just like the first with UNC scoring the only 3 points through the first 3 1/2 minutes. Then Duke hit a 3 to tie the game at 98. Ugh. UNC scored, stole the inbound pass and scored again and were up 102-98...phew. Survived that one. Duke scored with :45 left to cut it to two and then inexplicably didn't foul UNC. :30 :25 :20 and then a forced pass into the paint and the ball was stolen with :15 to go. Duke now could win the game with a 3 since that is what they are best at. Fudge! Crap! Darn it! Yes that is what I was screaming in my head. Freshman point guard and all time poster boy that is all wrong with Duke Steve Wojciechowski (Wojo) slowly dribbled the ball down the court and hurried a two point shot which he missed and the put back was missed as well and the game was over. 102-100. A classic.
The second half of the season saw a few more bumps in the road for UNC and they entered the NCAA Tournament as the #2 Seed in the Southeast. The #1 Seed was Kentucky. My friend Erin and I were now 3 games away from a possible meeting for a trip to the Final Four. Of course Trevor had his favorite team, UCLA in Tournament as a #1 Seed as well.
I assumed that UNC would breeze by Murray St. in their 1st round game and I remember getting the substitute teacher to let us put the tournament on during class so I could keep an eye on it. I should have avoided it all together. The Tar Heels came out flat and trailed the 15 Seed by a point at the half. I had to go to baseball practice at that time so I had no clue what was going on. If UNC lost it would be a total disaster. Erin and I had already began our smack talk on how UNC would crush Kentucky and it looked like both the team and I forgot we had win 3 games first. After practice I got in my car and sat there waiting to hear the scores on the sports ticker. I held my breath the entire time. It was excruciating. Finally I heard "UNC 80 Murray St. 70"...and exhale. Survive and advance.
UNC cruised in it's 2nd round game as did Kentucky. UCLA needed a last second, full court sprint by point guard Tyus Edney to survive and move on. In the Sweet 16 UNC was matched up against Georgetown and spectacular point guard Allen Iverson. My father who was still a Georgetown fan took me to my Uncle's house to watch the game on his brand new big screen television. He was an alum of Georgetown so I was on a very uncomfortable island. Luckily UNC handled the Hoyas from beginning to end and moved to the Elite 8. Kentucky crushed Arizona St. and the stage was set for the most epic battle of my High School years.
For three years Erin and I had been going at each others' throat about which team was more supreme. It was probably for the best that we only had 48 hours to wait for the game because it would've gotten ugly. Our back and forth was all in good fun, but we were serious about our hatred for each others school. UNC already had a championship 2 years earlier and I held the upper hand. A victory in the game and I would hold bragging rights for a long time.
Kentucky relied heavily on their press defense that would cause turnovers and I knew UNC could handle this. If they didn't it would get ugly, but if they did and Stackhouse and Wallace got free from breaking it, Carolina would roll. It was tight, it was exciting, but the Heels pulled away down the stretch and UNC was headed to Seattle for the Final 4! Erin didn't speak to me for a week. It was pure bliss. I wore a different UNC shirt/hat combo (I had plenty to spare as well) each day to school that week. Up next was Arkansas. Oh hi, I remember you guys from last year beating Duke for the National Championship. Remember when I said we owed you one? Well forget it.
They didn't forget it. What worked so well for UNC against the pressure defense of Kentucky, failed in Seattle. After leading at half time, UNC fell apart in the 2nd half. Stackhouse and Wallace had only 13 combined shots. They couldn't get the ball. The Heels had to rely on the outside shooting of Donald Williams (the hero of the 1993 Final Four), Jeff McInnis and Dante Calabria who combined for 11 for 38 shooting which didn't work out so well. Arkansas moved on to the Finals where they lost to Trevor and I had to hear about those 11 Championships for another year. We're even Arkansas...ya bums.
The NHL had labor issues just like baseball did and for a moment it looked like the season was going to be lost. Shortly after the start of the new year the each side came to a resolution and the 'Sprint for the Cup' was afoot. Peter Bondra was beginning to become the face of the franchise along with Dale Hunter and in the shortened season he had a spectacular year. In only 47 games he scored 34 goals which is a near 60 goal pace. The NHL was in the middle of the the clutching and grabbing trap era when scoring plummeted and goalies starting putting up ridiculous statistics. Bondra led the NHL in goals during that shortened season and with the emergence of rookie goaltender Jim 'Ace' Carey who had the 2nd lowest goals against average I had high hopes for that playoff season.
Not so surprisingly the Capitals were paired up with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1st round. I really hate that team. The Capitals went into Pittsburgh and beat them in game 1 and then lost Game 2. Games 3 and 4 in Washington were blowouts...by the Caps!! The won each game by a 6-2 score and had a commanding 3 games to 1 lead and were doing it in dominating fashion. In game five it was more of the same with Washington taking a 2-0 lead and heading to a power play late in the 1st period. Jaromir Jagr who fashioned a horrible euro-mullet struck with a short handed goal and the lead was shaved in half. The Penguins evened the game up in the 2nd, but Dale Hunter scored his second of the game to restore the lead. Once again Pittsburgh scored late and the game was tied after two periods. Peter Bondra opened the scoring in the 3rd period and less than a minute later the lead was gone as Jagr scored again. Only 26 seconds after that Bondra restored the Capitals lead with his second tally and it was the fourth time the Capitals led. The fourth time wasn't the charm as less than 3 minutes later the score was tied at five when Kevin Stevens scored his second goal of the game which was a very common theme. The game headed for overtime and true Capitals fans knew that if they lost this one the momentum may have been lost forever. Luc Robitaille scored in the fifth minute of overtime for the Penguins and the series was head back to Washington (well Landover, MD to be exact). The next two games in the series will probably go down as the worst performances in Capitals history. They were outscored by a combined 10-1 and the season was over, just like that. To be so close to moving on with four leads in a closeout game only to watch 12 of the series final 13 goals go in against you was shocking.
That spring my High School got a new baseball coach which was good for me. I hated the previous coach as he had told me I would never pitch. I didn't throw hard enough and wasn't good enough. Way to build a player up coach! Tom Horn was our coaches name and he was a revelation. He taught me so much about the game that I realized. He focused on the details and how to take advantage of every situation. Our practices were completely different, they were organized, up beat and we were always learning. Skills sets were developed, confidence was instilled.
Most importantly though, Tom Horns' singular focus was improving the conditions of the field, how we looked and how we were perceived. We had no fence on the baseball field so we built one. Our field was rock hard and didn't hold water well so he imported 'Camden Yards' dirt and we replaced everything. He realized that the mound didn't line up with the plate so we dug that up and aligned it properly. He tore down the mound and built it up for a better angle. We cleaned out the shed that was next to the field and turned it into a clubhouse. We ordered new team cleats and were asked to polish them before every game. We ordered new jerseys because you have to look good to play good. When it rained we pulled out wet vacs to suck the water off so we could practice. We had conditioning practices before school. What was probably taken for granted at bigger schools were brand new to used and we relished in it.
That season I platooned in the outfield and only got to pitch two innings. I was told to practice and pitch a lot that summer to get a chance next season. Two of my classmates were already ahead of me for next year on the mound and our best player who was a grade behind me was probably going to be the third pitcher. If I didn't get better I wasn't going to get to pitch. As a team we lost in the first round of the District Tournament but we had a good feeling about next year with a full season under our belt as a real team.
The summer of 1994 was my first with a driver's license. It gave me the freedom to do things on my time and not have to rely on rides from my parents or my friends parents. I played baseball again that summer and this year Jody was on my team. We hit 1-2 in the order that year and were much better than opponents at that level. The previous spring I had made the Varsity baseball team, but was relegated to keeping score so outside of practice I didn't get to actually play much. I was eager to play and play a lot. Being a rec league, I wasn't forced to playing solely with just my team. A couple of times during the summer teams that were playing after our games would ask for players to fill their roster and I said yes every time. I just loved playing ball. Splitting time between outfield and first I stayed active, but I just wanted to get on the mound. Occasionally I would get a chance to pitch, but I only threw a fastball. At that level it was enough to not get pummeled, but I knew I had to have a second pitch I was even to get the chance in high school.
With my new found freedom I also got to hang out with my new friends outside of school for the first time. We started to get interested in street hockey. We had a goal and I went out and bought a hockey stick and a group of us would find an abandoned parking lot and play. Running around while trying to play hockey was exhausting. Quickly some of my friend bough rollerblades which were all the rage in the mid nineties. Inline skating was going to be the transportation of the future...was being the key word in that sentence. I had never skated much (ice or roller) so I was not quick to switch and thus forced to play goalie which sucked. I needed to learn how to skate.
The summer of 1994 is known for many things. The United States hosted the World Cup which introduced a new generation to the sport of soccer. I already loved soccer and at the time I cheered for Argentina. Why you ask? I did a report on Argentina in 1989 for a sixth grade class and learned they were the defending champions from the 1986 World Cup. I was at a friends' birthday party in 1990 when they took on West Germany in the Finals of that World Cup and I remember asking my mom as she picked me up "Who won?" and she said Germany I was bummed. The United States wasn't very good at soccer, but they played well that year surprising the world by making it out of the qualification round. Although they lost to Brazil, it marked a turning point for the game here in the states and I quickly left Argentina behind even though they do have a pretty shade of blue on their flag. I was also very privileged to be asked to go to the Mexico/Norway by a friend of mine and that was a wonderful experience. I remember a drunk Norwegian who couldn't find his seat, so he took up residence in the aisle. He just sprawled out without a care in the world, until security hauled him off.
1994 is also remembered for the OJ Simpson slow moving car chase in the white Bronco. It was during the NBA Finals between New York and Houston and we kept flipping back and forth. The drama was so intense. I had only known OJ from the Naked Gun movies, but my Dad grew up watching him play football. It was just a surreal set of events that day and they will never be forgotten by those watched it live. ESPN did a magnificent documentary about that day on their 30 for 30 feature. It is a must watch.
What 1994 means most to me is the baseball season that never was. The Montreal Expos had the best team in the majors that year and because of the strike and eventual cancellation of the playoffs they never got their chance to play on the big stage. All of their best talent (Pedro Martinez, Larry Walker, Cliff Floyd, Marquis Grissom and Moises Alou) would eventually be traded away or lost to free agency and the franchise began a steady downward spiral that they would never recover from leading them to fold and move to Washington, D.C.
Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres was hitting .394 and with 45 games left was still within reach of ending at or above the magical .400 mark. Matt Williams of the San Francisco Giants had 43 home runs with 47 games left and was within reach of the record 61 hit by Roger Maris 33 years earlier. The baseball world was being robbed of potential history. It was history of another sort that I was wrapped up in.
The Athletics were still terrible, but they had been placed into the newly formed American League West division with only three other teams and they sucked equally as much. I didn't care what the standing were, I just knew the Athletics had a chance at making the playoffs. On June 13th the Athletics were a miserable 19-43. During most seasons they would have already been eliminated. At the time they were a mere 12.5 games out of first. All of a sudden they became the hottest team in baseball. Over their next 22 games they went 19-3 and on July 7th they were a scant 3 games out of 1st! They reverted back to their losing ways and as the strike date approached I knew that if the Athletics could just be in 1st place at the time of the strike maybe they'd be allowed in the playoffs if everything got resolved by October. They swept a 3 game series from the 1st place Texas with only four days left until 'D-Day' and were within 1.5 games of the Division lead. Two nights later Ruben Sierra hit a go ahead 8th inning home run to beat the White Sox. I was on vacation at the beach with my family but watching the game on WGN and I remember writing 'YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD...YES!!' on a piece of paper and taping it to the mirror in my Dad's bathroom. With two games left the Athletics had crept to within 0.5 a game of first place. They lost their last two games and finished one game out when the strike hit and the season never finished. Texas led that worst division in the history of MLB with a stellar 52-62 record. It's probably best that fans weren't subjected to a playoff race of sub-.500 teams.
Junior year started and it was my first school year not playing a sport other than baseball. Choosing not to play baseball that fall, it gave me ample opportunity to learn how to roller blade. I purchased a pair and slowly got used to it. Going to tennis courts I relied heavily on the brakes and had a very difficult time not crashing into the fence when trying to stop. It was much easier to skate with a stick in hand and once I mastered the crossover life became much easier. My strongest attribute was my slap shot. Not having ever played hockey before it just came naturally. I could hit that ball (we used a tennis ball sized plastic ball that had liquid in it to keep it from bouncing) hard and sometime accurate. Nobody was practicing tip drills in front of the net when I wound up.
As soon as everyone in my group of friends was up to speed in skating we found every waking moment available to play. Abandoned tennis courts were the most ideal and Cavalier Park in Falls Church, VA was where you were most likely to find us. As the weather grew colder, we played more because nobody was playing tennis. I loved to throw my weight around and as I became sturdier on skates it was my goal to drop Justin on his ass as much as possible. Luke did enough of that himself without contact and we yelled "Nancy!" each time. Zack bit the bullet and became our resident goalie. I don't know if he never took to skating or he just relished the challenge, but for our level he was pretty darn good. Trevor and Jody were good skaters and when one of them didn't play a co-worker of Zack's stepped in. Our best player, Isaac dominated us at times. He had played ice hockey all through his youth and until becoming a father this past year was still playing. At first he skated circles around us and beat Zack like a rented goalie on numerous occasions. We tracked our improvement by slowing Isaac down. The best part about it is how frustrated he would get when we stole the puck away from him or got past him while he was on defense. Zack and I would yell "DA DUM" every time he failed and then he would just unload a slap shot harder and higher to prove his worth.
Tennis players never cared about us skating on their courts and our wheels were made of the same material that tennis shoes were made of, but that didn't stop the locals from calling the cops on us on a regular basis. The police claimed we were too loud (we weren't) or scuffing the courts (we didn't) and did their duty by shutting us down for the night. There were plenty of open tennis courts so we just rotated until we were thrown out. It was harmless fun but we got pretty competitive especially Isaac and I. I wanted to be the best athlete in the group and I knew he was miles ahead of me on skates. That never stopped me from trying to beat him and he relished someone getting closer to his level. I never was able to skate with him, but I used his temper against him and that was my smartest move. All I had to do was get him angry and he stop using skill and resorted to being a bull in a china shop and stopping someone going straight at you is much easier than having him go wide and using flashy moves.
If I had thought that the 1993 season had been bad for the Washington Redskins, 1994 proved to be even worse. The Redskins had select Heath Shuler in the draft earlier that year and he was supposed to be the next great quarterback in franchise history. He proved to not even be the best quarterback Washington drafted that year. In the 7th round a little known quarterback, Gus Frerotte was selected and he wound up playing 118 more games than did Shuler in their respective careers. It's said when a franchise chooses the wrong quarterback of the future it sets the franchise back five years with two to three years to prove he can't play and two to three more to find the next savior. This would resonate all too true.
The Redskins lost 6 of their first 7 and 7 of their following 8 only to end with a meaningless victory to end the season a paltry 3-13. It was their fewest wins since 1963...31 years earlier!! From a model franchise to the laughing stock of the NFL in only three years. What a sad state of affairs.
As did the Redskins, the Detroit Pistons drafted who they thought would be the savior of a once proud franchise. With the 3rd overall picked I was dismayed to watch Detroit select Grant Hill from the hated Duke Blue Devils. It was very difficult to root for him and I never embraced him fully. To add insult to injury the Pistons traded for Bill Curley who was the best player on the same Boston College team that had just beaten UNC. To say the Pistons were testing me as a fan is an understatement.
After having two picks in the top 11 from the draft before it was apparent that the Pistons now had the building blocks to be a better team. It didn't show that season. Although Grant Hill led the team in scoring, the team as a whole only increased their win total by 8 games. Don Cheney, the Pistons head coach over the last two horrible seasons, was let go and the team was forced to head in a new direction.
Down a level the Tar Heels were loaded with as both Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse were back and with it being their team now, issues of meshing well with the older guys was no longer going to be an issue. They were ranked #2 in the preseason polls and started the season 18-1 as they elevated to #1 in the nation. The most memorable game of that season was against rival Duke who was having an all time worst season with their coach (who shall not be named because if he doesn't count the stats against him he doesn't get a mention from me here) out for the season after back surgery. UNC was 16-1 and Duke was 10-9 and losers of all seven conference games. UNC dominated in all aspects of the game early on including one of the sickest dunks by Jerry Stackhouse that I had ever witnessed.
Then Duke made a run...of course they did. This was during the heart of the era of the Cameron Crazies. The student section at Duke was ahead of its time and they caused havoc on the psyche of opposing teams. Everything that Duke did that night was thanks to the fans. They were undermanned and outplaying one of the most talented teams in the country. They blew past UNC and had a double digit lead in the second half. The Tar Heels clawed backed and forced overtime and that is when the Tar Heels took over. With only 1:30 left in the 5 minute overtime UNC had scored the only 9 points. The game was over, I had survived. I couldn't imagine going to school after losing to Duke. UNC was #1 and Duke sucked. It should have been a blowout, but a win is a win and I'll take it. Oh Duke hit a 3 pointer? Too little, too late. Less than a minute to go. UNC misses and gets the rebound and is fouled. Hey they're rolling the credits of the film crew. Ballgame! Two free throws, an 8 point lead. Duke comes down and hits a two pointer with :30 left. Big whoop. The announcers already have already moved UNC to 7-1 in conference play. Two more UNC free throws and the lead was back to 8. Duke hit a 3 with :16 left and the lead was still a safe 5 points. The Tar Heels made 1 of 2 free throws to extend the lead back to 6 and Jeff Capel took the ball back down the court and charged into the UNC defender for an offensive foul....what? NO! A blocking foul?? Are you effing kidding me?? He made the basket but it was still a four point lead and there is no four point play in college. He made the free throw and during the timeout I was still pissed. How the hell was that not a charge? Duke fouled 7' 6" Serge Zwikker and all he had to do was make one of his two free throws to officially ice the game. He missed them both. Cherokee Parks grabbed the rebound, fed it to Jeff Capel who launched a desperation shot from just over the mid court stripe and buried it! The game was tied at 95 and headed to a second overtime. It felt like UNC had lost. I was dumfounded. It was too late at night to yell, I couldn't break anything but I was furious. What type of crap was this...how was that not a charge!?!
The 2nd OT was just like the first with UNC scoring the only 3 points through the first 3 1/2 minutes. Then Duke hit a 3 to tie the game at 98. Ugh. UNC scored, stole the inbound pass and scored again and were up 102-98...phew. Survived that one. Duke scored with :45 left to cut it to two and then inexplicably didn't foul UNC. :30 :25 :20 and then a forced pass into the paint and the ball was stolen with :15 to go. Duke now could win the game with a 3 since that is what they are best at. Fudge! Crap! Darn it! Yes that is what I was screaming in my head. Freshman point guard and all time poster boy that is all wrong with Duke Steve Wojciechowski (Wojo) slowly dribbled the ball down the court and hurried a two point shot which he missed and the put back was missed as well and the game was over. 102-100. A classic.
The second half of the season saw a few more bumps in the road for UNC and they entered the NCAA Tournament as the #2 Seed in the Southeast. The #1 Seed was Kentucky. My friend Erin and I were now 3 games away from a possible meeting for a trip to the Final Four. Of course Trevor had his favorite team, UCLA in Tournament as a #1 Seed as well.
I assumed that UNC would breeze by Murray St. in their 1st round game and I remember getting the substitute teacher to let us put the tournament on during class so I could keep an eye on it. I should have avoided it all together. The Tar Heels came out flat and trailed the 15 Seed by a point at the half. I had to go to baseball practice at that time so I had no clue what was going on. If UNC lost it would be a total disaster. Erin and I had already began our smack talk on how UNC would crush Kentucky and it looked like both the team and I forgot we had win 3 games first. After practice I got in my car and sat there waiting to hear the scores on the sports ticker. I held my breath the entire time. It was excruciating. Finally I heard "UNC 80 Murray St. 70"...and exhale. Survive and advance.
UNC cruised in it's 2nd round game as did Kentucky. UCLA needed a last second, full court sprint by point guard Tyus Edney to survive and move on. In the Sweet 16 UNC was matched up against Georgetown and spectacular point guard Allen Iverson. My father who was still a Georgetown fan took me to my Uncle's house to watch the game on his brand new big screen television. He was an alum of Georgetown so I was on a very uncomfortable island. Luckily UNC handled the Hoyas from beginning to end and moved to the Elite 8. Kentucky crushed Arizona St. and the stage was set for the most epic battle of my High School years.
For three years Erin and I had been going at each others' throat about which team was more supreme. It was probably for the best that we only had 48 hours to wait for the game because it would've gotten ugly. Our back and forth was all in good fun, but we were serious about our hatred for each others school. UNC already had a championship 2 years earlier and I held the upper hand. A victory in the game and I would hold bragging rights for a long time.
Kentucky relied heavily on their press defense that would cause turnovers and I knew UNC could handle this. If they didn't it would get ugly, but if they did and Stackhouse and Wallace got free from breaking it, Carolina would roll. It was tight, it was exciting, but the Heels pulled away down the stretch and UNC was headed to Seattle for the Final 4! Erin didn't speak to me for a week. It was pure bliss. I wore a different UNC shirt/hat combo (I had plenty to spare as well) each day to school that week. Up next was Arkansas. Oh hi, I remember you guys from last year beating Duke for the National Championship. Remember when I said we owed you one? Well forget it.
They didn't forget it. What worked so well for UNC against the pressure defense of Kentucky, failed in Seattle. After leading at half time, UNC fell apart in the 2nd half. Stackhouse and Wallace had only 13 combined shots. They couldn't get the ball. The Heels had to rely on the outside shooting of Donald Williams (the hero of the 1993 Final Four), Jeff McInnis and Dante Calabria who combined for 11 for 38 shooting which didn't work out so well. Arkansas moved on to the Finals where they lost to Trevor and I had to hear about those 11 Championships for another year. We're even Arkansas...ya bums.
The NHL had labor issues just like baseball did and for a moment it looked like the season was going to be lost. Shortly after the start of the new year the each side came to a resolution and the 'Sprint for the Cup' was afoot. Peter Bondra was beginning to become the face of the franchise along with Dale Hunter and in the shortened season he had a spectacular year. In only 47 games he scored 34 goals which is a near 60 goal pace. The NHL was in the middle of the the clutching and grabbing trap era when scoring plummeted and goalies starting putting up ridiculous statistics. Bondra led the NHL in goals during that shortened season and with the emergence of rookie goaltender Jim 'Ace' Carey who had the 2nd lowest goals against average I had high hopes for that playoff season.
Not so surprisingly the Capitals were paired up with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1st round. I really hate that team. The Capitals went into Pittsburgh and beat them in game 1 and then lost Game 2. Games 3 and 4 in Washington were blowouts...by the Caps!! The won each game by a 6-2 score and had a commanding 3 games to 1 lead and were doing it in dominating fashion. In game five it was more of the same with Washington taking a 2-0 lead and heading to a power play late in the 1st period. Jaromir Jagr who fashioned a horrible euro-mullet struck with a short handed goal and the lead was shaved in half. The Penguins evened the game up in the 2nd, but Dale Hunter scored his second of the game to restore the lead. Once again Pittsburgh scored late and the game was tied after two periods. Peter Bondra opened the scoring in the 3rd period and less than a minute later the lead was gone as Jagr scored again. Only 26 seconds after that Bondra restored the Capitals lead with his second tally and it was the fourth time the Capitals led. The fourth time wasn't the charm as less than 3 minutes later the score was tied at five when Kevin Stevens scored his second goal of the game which was a very common theme. The game headed for overtime and true Capitals fans knew that if they lost this one the momentum may have been lost forever. Luc Robitaille scored in the fifth minute of overtime for the Penguins and the series was head back to Washington (well Landover, MD to be exact). The next two games in the series will probably go down as the worst performances in Capitals history. They were outscored by a combined 10-1 and the season was over, just like that. To be so close to moving on with four leads in a closeout game only to watch 12 of the series final 13 goals go in against you was shocking.
That spring my High School got a new baseball coach which was good for me. I hated the previous coach as he had told me I would never pitch. I didn't throw hard enough and wasn't good enough. Way to build a player up coach! Tom Horn was our coaches name and he was a revelation. He taught me so much about the game that I realized. He focused on the details and how to take advantage of every situation. Our practices were completely different, they were organized, up beat and we were always learning. Skills sets were developed, confidence was instilled.
Most importantly though, Tom Horns' singular focus was improving the conditions of the field, how we looked and how we were perceived. We had no fence on the baseball field so we built one. Our field was rock hard and didn't hold water well so he imported 'Camden Yards' dirt and we replaced everything. He realized that the mound didn't line up with the plate so we dug that up and aligned it properly. He tore down the mound and built it up for a better angle. We cleaned out the shed that was next to the field and turned it into a clubhouse. We ordered new team cleats and were asked to polish them before every game. We ordered new jerseys because you have to look good to play good. When it rained we pulled out wet vacs to suck the water off so we could practice. We had conditioning practices before school. What was probably taken for granted at bigger schools were brand new to used and we relished in it.
That season I platooned in the outfield and only got to pitch two innings. I was told to practice and pitch a lot that summer to get a chance next season. Two of my classmates were already ahead of me for next year on the mound and our best player who was a grade behind me was probably going to be the third pitcher. If I didn't get better I wasn't going to get to pitch. As a team we lost in the first round of the District Tournament but we had a good feeling about next year with a full season under our belt as a real team.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)