Random Thoughts On A Sunday Morning Updated To 11-24

[jay16509]

exactly, scottybilly, that's why I go to more minor league games. You can actually go and enjoy a good night of baseball for a lot less than going to a MLB game. I would especially go the nights that were designated buck nights.

[scottybilly]

Ah yes. Good ole minor league baseball. Here in N. California, I used to take little roadtrips in the summer to all the Giants and A's minor league teams in Sacramento, Modesto, Stockton, Fresno, San Jose, and Salem, Oregon.

[Yankee4Life]

Ah yes. Good ole minor league baseball. Here in N. California, I used to take little roadtrips in the summer to all the Giants and A's minor league teams in Sacramento, Modesto, Stockton, Fresno, San Jose, and Salem, Oregon.

You're lucky that you are able to have such a huge choice of minor league baseball that you can go to.

[DJEagles]

Love ya, Y4l. But you'll excuse me for rooting for the Tigers tonight!

[Yankee4Life]

Love ya, Y4l. But you'll excuse me for rooting for the Tigers tonight!

Absolutely. You won't be the only one. :)

[jay16509]

Yep, and now I'm down here in Tampa, Florida, and can get over to see the Tampa Yankees, the Lakeland Flying Tigers, the Bradenton Marauders, the Clearwater Threshers among others. And being able to go to spring training is an awesome experience.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 10-9

...Talk about dodging a huge bullet. Amanda Knox got her conviction overturned after she and her ex-boyfriend decided to get rid of their mutual house guest one night by slashing her throat. Why it was done was never explained. Maybe they wanted more elbow room in the apartment. Knox couldn't get out of Italy fast enough. All she leaves behind is an assortment of questions as to what really happened and a grieving family in England is

still looking for answers about their slain daughter.

...I don't know what Knox is going to do when she gets settled again in Seattle but I think it is safe to say she is not going out for an Italian dinner.

...I wonder if Adrian Gonzalez thought it was God's will that the Rays got eliminated by the Texas Rangers last week in their ALDS series?

...Nice going Yanks. You had another outstanding October didn't you?

...I've said it before and I will say it again. I refuse to believe that this Yankee team is a good hitting team because good hitting teams do NOT fold up and die every time they are behind. Get ahead of this team late in a game and it is as good as done because all they'll do is pop up or strike out.

...And now you are done Jorge Posada. Your Yankee career is over. Go home. Thanks for the double plays. Thanks for the popups. Thanks for the strike outs looking.

...Scottybilly I will say it in here like I said it in the shoutbox. I could care less if Sabathia opts out of his contract. The guy is making an insane amount of money right now and if that isn't enough then there is the door. These over rated choke artists lose in the first round again fans are supposed to worry about if one of them is going to leave. Let him go if he wants and take Captain Phony with him.

...Speaking about the Almighty, Captain Phony approves the Chicago White Sox hiring of Robin Ventura as the new White Sox manager. What a collective sigh of relief the entire South Side must have had after finding this out.

...Nice try Roy Oswalt. Trying to blame a squirrel for a pitch you threw and trying to have the pitch thrown out. I predict because of your whining and self entitlement that you have a future as a member of the Boston Red Sox. Attitudes like yours are welcomed and encouraged there.

...It appears that the squirrel from St. Louis got in touch with his relative in Philadelphia because there was another one who ran on the field during game five of the Cardinal-Phillie series. I was half expecting Roy Oswalt to voice a complaint about this one too.

...Makes me wonder what Oswalt would have said had he been on the mound in Cleveland in 2007 when the midges were all over Joba Chamberlain. At least I know who Adrian Gonzalez would have blamed.

...What a job of pitching Chris Carpenter did for the Cardinals especially going against a great pitcher like Roy Halladay.

...Don't look now but all of a sudden the Phillies have questions that have to be answered for next year, just like everyone else. They don't know if first baseman Ryan Howard is going to be ready for the start of the year and when he does come back, how good is he going to be. The Phils need Howard back because above everyone else on that team he knows how to choke up when it matters the most.

...This really makes all the people that were shouting for a Philadelphia and Boston World Series back in March look pretty stupid doesn't it?

...I wonder if Detroit manager Jim Leyland takes Nyquil before the start of every Tiger game? Every time I look at him he seems that he is only a few seconds away from nodding off.

...I have no idea who sings that song that MLB plays to advertise the post season playoff games but I never want to hear it again. Sitting in the stars,a million miles away...etc, etc Please, no more. Get out of my head!!

...To me, TBS does a better job broadcasting and showing the games as compared to FOX.

...Call me old fashioned, whatever you want but I do not like those during the game interviews that FOX started that made its way over to TBS when they interview the managers between innings. Let them do their job and talk to them when the game is over. Somehow I could not imagine them doing this to someone like Billy Martin.

...What's FOX going to come up with next? Interviewing the players as they walk up to the plate?

...Sarah Palin finally stopped playing the will-she-or-won't-she game with everyone by announcing that she will not run for President. Good. Now maybe this woman will go back to Alaska and never return.

...With a nod to David Letterman, here's my top ten list of why Sarah Palin is not going to run:

A. When she found out the term of office is four years she decided not to do it because she knew she would have got bored with it

after nine months, a year tops.

B. She was told that if elected as President she could not have the Presidential office on her tour bus.

C. She suddenly realized it was easier for her to stand off to the side and pick at and find fault with anyone who holds an elected

position especially after she was told she couldn't throw people in jail that criticized her if she somehow managed to get in the White House.

D. She didn't like the Tea Party anyways because she secretly prefers coffee.

E. She wanted to go on Dancing with the Stars because if Bristol can do it so can she.

F. There's another professional basketball player she has her eyes on.

G. She has so many new ideas for books, like a cookbook because that's never been done before.

H. She's aching to get back out in the Alaskan wilderness and shoot defenseless animals.

I. Her younger daughter Willow is getting older now so she has to get her knocked up and out of the house.

J. She can't keep her husband Todd out of Alaska any longer because if he isn't in weather that is not at least 30

below zero he begins to act crazy and starts to profess his love to Katie Couric.

...R.I.P. to Apple founder Steve Jobs. The products that this man introduced to the world changed how people get connected to the world. How many imitations of the popular iPad do we see out on the market now? This is all because people struggled to keep up with this man. Love or hate Apple, that's one thing. Respecting what this man did is another.

...Finally, the loss of Oakland owner Al Davis yesterday really hit me hard. Since I have been a Raider fan all I have known is Al Davis. Al Davis was the Raiders. I'm sure you've heard that line many times today but if you are not a real fan of the Oakland Raiders you won't understand how true that really is. George Steinbrenner last year. Al Davis this year. My two favorite owners. R.I.P. Mr. Davis. :sad:

[kado456]

Well even though I don't post regularly in this thread I do read it, as I consider it my sunday digital editorial . . . so to keep in the spirit of this thread I'll drop a few "random" thoughts

... With Texas making it back to the World Series is this their Year.

... With the BCS revealing their first ranking tonight I once again wonder why we're deprived of a playoff with the FBS, being a FCS grad I can attest to the fact that a playoff system is the best system.

... Talking about playoffs do you think we'll have a NBA season this year, I'm predicting they'll be back after christmas.

... Recently picked up a LCD TV, and hooked the old mod box to it, loaded "MVP baseball" and was pleasantly surprised to see it was in 720p this game just keeps amazing me

... Talking about "MVP baseball" it's amazing but this game is still the best by far and it's because of the little things.

OK, I've run out of things to say; looking forward to Y4L's return

[LouisvilleLipp]

Most of the guys on this site could care less about the NBA. I wonder why? However, I'm a fan of NBA and college basketball

[JoeRudi26]

Most of the guys on this site could care less about the NBA. However, I'm a fan of NBA and college basketball

I don't care much for the NBA, but college basketball is a different story. :)

[kado456]

Ok people, still no Y4L, so I'll drop some random thoughts for another week

... After a crucial error in game 2 and no post game interviews Pujols pulls a Mr. October in Game 3 this is why I love baseball

... What a college football weekend; both Wisconsin & Oklahoma got knocked off, the new BCS rankings should get real interesting

... So in the NFL today a lot of new Qbs are taking the snap, but I want to focus on what's happening in Miami, I think it's pretty sad that the Dolphin's ownership is basically making it "Tebow Day" I really hope new ownership takes over this team soon

... This one is for Y4L, so the Raiders traded for Carson Palmer and many are saying he could be the next Jim Plunkett I'm not quite sure of this move it seems more video gamish to me

... Talking about video games will EA ever have another gaming year as their '05 titles, this year is considered by many to be their best all around sports titles year by far; I personally play MVP and the NCAA & MAdden titles on the regular even though I own a PS3 and have the '12 titles

Until Next time folks

[LouisvilleLipp]

For as much as Y4L has to say, kinda strange how he's disappeared without a peep.

[scottybilly]

He was either suspended temporarily or banned permanently for debating politics, and apparently it got way out of hand and hostile. :sorry:

[LouisvilleLipp]

He was either suspended temporarily or banned permanently for debating politics, and apparently it got way out of hand and hostile.

That's too bad, He was always preaching a code of ethics to others on this site, yet he managed to say whatever he wished without penalty, at least until now. I'm pretty sure he'll be back, he's revered around here.

[DJEagles]

To bad about Y4L, he's quite vocal in his beliefs, and it bit him in the ***. I disagreed with him about ALOT of things, but I also know he loves this site. I miss conversing with him, it's not the same around here.

This site has changed alot in the past couple of years. It's a shell of it's former self, and that's to bad.

I will always have a place in my heart for MVPMods, but I am also a realist, and this site is dead.

[kado456]

To bad about Y4L, he's quite vocal in his beliefs, and it bit him in the ***. I disagreed with him about ALOT of things, but I also know he loves this site. I miss conversing with him, it's not the same around here.

This site has changed alot in the past couple of years. It's a shell of it's former self, and that's to bad.

I will always have a place in my heart for MVPMods, but I am also a realist, and this site is dead.

Well this is definitely bad to hear . . . hope dude is back soon. As far as this site being dead it obviously doesn't have the traffic and conversations of the past but there are still a few of us around. I try to visit as much as possible, never was much of a poster but I have truly enjoyed the people and mods from this site. (Wow that last sentenced sounded like a eulogy statement).

Anyways, quick random thought . . . This World Series was, and really this September and Playoffs, truly amazing some really great classic games. I think I can safely say Game 6 will go down as one of the greatest games of all time, and is definitely one of the new classics for this new era of baseball.

Staying with that "New Era" theme what "DJEagles" said as far as this site has me thinking, as old as MVP is the few of us that are still actively around are still finding a uniqueness to MVP that is still lacking in the current available Baseball games on the market.

Now, I'm an old school gamer my first home console was an "Magnavox Odyssey2" so for me a game has to be more than some pretty images to be considered the best, because I've seen and played 'em all. Now this is just my opinion, but while this generation of "sports games" have been some of the most beautiful I've ever seen they also have been unquestionably lacking in gameplay feel, except for NBA 2k11 and 2k12.

So with that said, I think I can safely see myself modding and tweaking MVP at least throughout the duration of this console generation and maybe even the next.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 11-13

...Nice to be back in here after all this time. I had some technical difficulties which prevented me from coming in here to do my weekly Random Thoughts but they have now been taken care of and we are good to go.

...I want to thank the other people who took some time to come in here and make a few posts. I have always said that the posts by others in here really make this thread go and this just proved my point. Thank you all and please come back any time.

...The NBA still has not played a game yet and not surprisingly at all no one is too upset about it. With the NFL, people were worried. Not with these guys. It's hard to like a league where Lebron James is the marquee player in it.

...Just for laughs go out and find ten people who actually care about this. Ok, ten is too much. Go out and find five people who are all worried about the start of the NBA season.

...I stayed busy though. I finished up my baseball albums and even made a special one for the World Series. All the pictures posted in the month of October were overwhelming because they posted over 100 of them for each game played in the post season. And I covered them all.

...If anyone needs any book recommendations let me guide you towards the new book by Stephen King called 11-22-63. This is the first book by Stephen King that I have ever read in my entire life. I don't care for any horror stuff and I even avoided the movies that were made from his books, with the exception of The Green Mile. Now, I will not go into any detail in the book that you won't find in the description and I won't tell you how it ends. It's a time travel book and the only warning I have for you who decide to get this is this book will not let you go. I kept on saying to myself that I was only going to read one more chapter and go to bed but it never worked out that way. I had to force myself to put this down just so I could get sleep just so I could wake back up and continue reading. If any of you get this, you'll love it. The link for it on Amazon is right here.

...So Jonathan Paplebon is now a Phillie. Now I have to ask myself is this good for the Phillies or good for the Red Sox?

...When I read that the Twins signed Jamey Carroll for seven million dollars over two years I actually had to stop to try and recall exactly who this guy was. He's been with a number of teams. The Expos, Nationals, Rockies, Indians and as of late, the Dodgers. And now this journey man lands in Minnesota with a pretty good contract under his belt. Pretty good for someone who hit .290 with no home runs and a whopping 17 runs batted in in 146 games. Who are the Twins kidding here?

...It would be hard to imagine Albert Pujols in any other uniform than the Cardinals and if he accepts the Marlins offer he'd really look out of place. Pujols has said that he would "listen to God" when it comes to where he plays next. I kind of think that the Good Lord has other things to concern himself with than guiding some overpaid ballplayer to his next place of employment.

...Speaking of the Marlins, do you know what a good paint job is? It's when you spruce up everything around you to make it look a lot better. That's what the Marlins are doing. New stadium, new name, new uniforms. Everything new and improved on the surface. But they are still the Marlins and Jeffery Loria is still going to be running them. If there is one guy who has the ability to ruin everything down there fast, it's this guy. Major League Baseball may have conveniently forgotten what this guy did to baseball in Montreal but the city of Montreal has not.

...For forty-five years Joe Paterno was the head coach at Penn State where he won two National Championships. But now he is only going to be remembered as someone who decided to look the other way. And all it cost him was his job and every ounce of respect that people had for him.

...I'm glad that Jorge Posada is being realistic enough to know that he won't be back with the Yankees next year. He had as much of a chance to be back next year as Graig Nettles did being signed as the back up utility infielder.

...Dennis James churned out another top ten hit with his Negro League Baseball mod. Oh the history included in that mod. Careful now, you might learn something. Thank you Dennis for what you did here.

...On a personal note, I sure miss my friend MarkB not being here. I have no idea what's up with him or what is going on. I heard from him back in August and he said he was getting some things wrapped up that was taking up his time and then he was going to come here again. That's the last I heard from him. I sent him a birthday greeting on the 18th of last month and I heard nothing back. I just hope everything is ok with him.

[scottybilly]

Good to see you back. I was wondering where the hell you went..... >_>

The Miami Marlins uniforms are terrible!. Do you really expect cheapskate Loria to spend maybe half a billion dollars to sign Pujols, Reyes, and Buehrle? I sure as hell don't.

Speaking of Pujols. He says that he will go where God tells him to play. God must have told Pujols to go to any team that is willing to give him at least A-Rod type money. Sorry Cardinals fans. $200million and part ownership of the team isnt enough to keep this greedy chump in town.

Poor Jorge Posada. Deep down he still thinks there is a 1 in million chance the Yankees will bring him back. Then hes delusional enough to claim that there are at least 2 or 3 teams interested in signing him. Really? The market for past their prime DHs consists of David Ortiz and Jorge Posada.

This whole scandal at Penn State is terrible. It makes me wonder how many other sexual predator are on the coaching staffs or running the school. I havent seen any organization look the other way like this since the Catholic Church does with its priests.

Y4L, we all know you are laughing out loud at everything thats been going on with the Red Sox. A bunch of overpaid players that choked when it mattered most. Blame the manager and fire him. Lose wonderboy Epstein to the Cubs of all teams. Lose their highly overrated closer to Philly where he is destined to become the next Brad Lidge. All that wasted money they spent on Gonzalez, Crawford, and Lackey.

[HFLR]

Hi guys, I'm back after an absence because of MVP Caribe 2011 and university studies but I come here to share this that happened to me yesterday:

Yo guys might remember Pat Venditte http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtofU1hgf2w the switch pitcher that was drafted by the Yankees years ago, well, he's pitching here in Mexico and on friday his team (Mexicali) played here in Obregon for the first time in the season, it was awesome to see him, so yesterday I went to the field (I got a press pass for the season because of MVP Caribe ) when he was on practice I aproached to him and we had a nice conversation, he's an awesome guy and he told me he played MVP Baseball 2005 and asked me if I could give him a copy of MVP Caribe and one of the polo-style shirts I made for MVP Caribe, I said I'd give them to him if he helped me with a promo for MVP Caribe 2011, he agreed so today I'm going to pick him up at his hotel and we'll go to the ballpark to get the video for the Caribe mod. I'll post pictures later!

[kado456]

Hey Y4L good to see you back

[Veesmack]

Welcome back Y4L. so I was away for many years and I made a return back in July. But before I left, I think MarkB was the only friend here who knew what was going on with me behind the scenes. And over the years, I never forgot about MarkB. I was hoping that I'd talk to him again here when I returned. I didn't really want to go around asking people what happened to who. I was just hoping everybody would still be here. But that's not the case and something that really isn't realistic. So seeing you back Y4L is very cool to me.

[Yankee4Life]

Welcome back Y4L. so I was away for many years and I made a return back in July. But before I left, I think MarkB was the only friend here who knew what was going on with me behind the scenes. And over the years, I never forgot about MarkB. I was hoping that I'd talk to him again here when I returned. I didn't really want to go around asking people what happened to who. I was just hoping everybody would still be here. But that's not the case and something that really isn't realistic. So seeing you back Y4L is very cool to me.

Thank you Veesmack for welcoming me back here. Mark has not been here since December of last year. I have been trading e-mails with him during the course of the year but as I said in my post, I have not heard from him since August. So I really do not know what is going on.

I miss Mark around here. He was a good friend, probably the best I had on here and we knew each other on another board before we came here. I am older than him but that was never an issue. I learned a lot from him and he was good to have around here and I hope he returns.

There is also a lot of people that I wish were still around here. Too many to name right now.

Hey Y4L good to see you back.

Thank you kado, and thank you for coming in here to post. I really appreciate it.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 11-20

...The Florida/Miami/Whatever Marlins have reportedly offered Jose Reyes a six year contract with a lot of money attached to it. Reyes plays shortstop and the problem here is that the Marlins already have a prima donna shortstop on the team already in Hanley Ramirez. After Ramirez heard the rumors of Reyes possibly becoming a Marlin, he came out with a statement telling everyone that "he's the shortstop of the team and no one else is going to play it." I was immediately transported back in time 7 1/2 years when the Yankees acquired Alex Rodriguez from Texas and Captain Selfish said essentially the same thing.

...What a combination those two would make on the Marlins though. Ramirez, who only plays all out when he feels like it and when he doesn't he goes through the motions and Reyes, who just quits on the team when he thinks the time is right.

...Congratulations to Jim Crane, the Houston businessman who just purchased the Houston Astros. His main concern should be how to turn around a ballclub that lost 106 game in 2011. But because of something he had to agree to before Bud Selig gave his final blessing to the transaction, his ballclub will become an American League team in 2103. The traditionalist that I am hates this move. Houston has been in the National League since 1962, starting up in the same year as the New York Mets. They belong there. Bud Selig continues to prove that the changes he makes are moves that really do not have to be made for the good of baseball.

...Don't feel too bad for former Red Sox manager Terry Francona. He continues to prove that he is no fool because he quickly withdrew his name from consideration for the Cubs managerial job. Stating that he wanted to "re-energize" himself before he took on another job as manager, which was the nice way of saying to everyone there is no chance I am going to manage that team. Are you nuts? It should be pointed out that Francona did not say he needed to re-energize himself when he was in consideration to manage the Champion Cardinals.

...Nice to see so far that the Yankees haven't thrown a Brinks truck or two filled with money at some overrated free agent pitcher. On the other hand it's only November 20th. It's still too early for them.

...The latest gossip about the Yankees is that they are interested in pitcher Yu Darvish who just happens to be this year's version of the greatest Japanese pitcher ever. Who knows, one of these days the numbers that these pitchers put up in the states will equal the hype that surrounded them.

...I thought in this country you were supposed to be able to express your opinion freely. But in this politically correct society that we are in that is the furthest from the truth. Take what just happened with Franco Harris. Harris came out recently supporting his former Penn State coach Joe Paterno and said that the University should have backed Paterno during this time instead of firing him. That's it folks. That's all he said. And because of that he lost his job at a place called The Meadows Racetrack & Casino in Washington, Pa., a job which required him to be seen by customers to glad-hand them, welcome them to the place and make public appearances representing the racetrack. In other words, a friendly familiar face that the customers can see right before they go into the casino and lose all their money. Well, because of what Harris said, he has this job no longer. It was his opinion. Nothing more and nothing less. If you agree with him, fine. If not, that's fine too. He didn't force his views on anyone. He just told people what he thought. But these days you can not do that. You can only speak out and not worry only when you say things people want to hear. Franco just found this out the hard way and all it cost him was his new job.

...Reading about stuff like this makes me laugh out loud when I hear America described as "the Land of the Free." If they really want to get it right they'd add on "provided you say and think and believe what everyone else does, or else you won't like what happens." Makes me wonder how bad things are going to be fifty or a hundred years from now.

...The Natalie Wood drowning case has been opened up once again after thirty years. The captain of the boat, a Mr. Dennis Davern, claims that Robert Wagner was responsible for Wood's death because of a huge fight the two had and that he initially lied to police during the investigation. Why wait all this time to say he lied? Why be dishonest in the first place? The only thing that is certain from that night thirty years ago is that a woman is dead for no apparent reason.

...I was at a place called the Finger Lakes Casino and Race Track yesterday. That's not exactly how I'd like to spend a Saturday afternoon, but it was interesting. I was watching people that were so absorbed in those machines that they didn't know what was going on around them. One lady was putting twenty dollar bills in a slot like it was nothing. By the way, that is exactly what she won.

...Can't make this stuff up Dept: There's a small town in Texas named Turkey. Reading up on this town from their Wikipedia entry their population, according to the census taken in 2000, is 494. So maybe now eleven years later they have ten or twelve more people. This small town's claim to fame is being the home of a man named Bob Wills. Wills was responsible for introducing something called "Western Swing", which was an offshoot of country-western music. If it were not for Bob Mills, this small town of Turkey would not have had any attention. That is until this week and the quacks who run PETA are responsible for it. PETA informed the town that they would like them to change their name from Turkey, Texas to Tofurkey, Texas for Thanksgiving. No kidding. Because you know, that will stop everyone from coast to coast from having Turkey this thursday.

...Well, with that out of the way I would like to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in here. Have fun on that one special Thursday of the year where we put away a lot of turkey (and everything else that happens to be on the table) and when we are forced to watch the Dallas Cowboys year after year without fail.

[Padres67]

The America we know and love today will not exist 50-100 years from now.

[Veesmack]

The NBA Stike has been great for Major League Baseball. Since the 1994 Strike, America's past time has been relugated to being #3 as America's favorite sport behind Football and Basketball. Perhaps, MLB will be back at least at #2 before the NBA re-opens for business. Glad the NFL avoided a lockout. Football has been pretty good this year