Random Thoughts On A Sunday Morning Updated To 11-24

[Jim825]

...Same supermarket, same day. While I was in the checkout I took a look at the cashier and noticed that there was a hole in her earlobes big enough to push a pen all the way through without having to force it. As I was paying for my things I was looking at it closer without trying to be conspicuous about it and I saw that there was a piece of plastic in the middle of her ear where the hole was and then I figured out that the hole she had there was no accident. I don't know if there is a name for this or not or if this is just something else to do to yourself instead of getting a tattoo. Maybe not, since she had enough of those. I swear if there was a way to drill a hole in your head and live to tell about it people like this would be standing in line to have it done.

My daughters informed me years ago that the piece of plastic is called a "gauge". People who get this type of piercing in their ear start with a small gauge and as the earlobe stretches, they add larger and larger gauges to make the hole larger. I've seen people with holes the size of my wedding band in their ear. They even make decorative jewelry that are solid discs that can be put in the holes. This is not something that I am attracted to, but hey, to each, their own.....

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 7-14

...I don't know if it is going to matter one bit if Chipper Jones complains about umpire Angel Hernandez and tells everyone that he won't watch any game that he umpires in. I'm with Chipper 100% because I see for myself how bad Hernandez is but I think that nothing is going to happen to this guy because Commissioner Do-Nothing always looks the other way. Who knows? Maybe he has incriminating pictures of Selig working late at night with his secretary in a room that apparently was so hot they had to remove all their clothes. Hey, could be. Just a guess.

...The American Civil Liberties Union is very concerned about the accommodations that Aaron Hernandez is having to cope with as he waits for his murder trial to start. They are worried because he is in solitary confinement and locked alone in a small room with very little human interaction for over twenty hours a day. The ACLU argues that prisoners who are locked up in this way suffer debilitating psychological effects when they are extremely isolated and that it drastically diminishes the chances of rehabilitation. Maybe so. But even if Hernandez is locked in a room all this time and might get a little stir crazy because of it his situation is infinitely better than Odin Lloyd's, who is six feet under and unable to complain about his accommodations.

...I have to admit that Manny Ramirez looks almost normal after he got his haircut.

...There is a rock formation in Utah called The Wave and if people want to hike there the only way they can do it is by entering a lottery for the privilege to do so. The odds of winning this permit are as low as ten percent but it did not discourage an elderly couple from California from entering. Lady Luck must have been with them because the next thing they knew they had won the permit to go there and they arrived in Utah so fast even the Mormons were impressed. This place is protected so well by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management that they only allow twenty hikers a day to go there. (By the way, before I go on, someone's missing a golden opportunity here. If they increase it to fifty people a day and then have a couple of their employees drive around in dune buggys selling cold water and sandwiches to the hikers they'd clean up.) This is why this couple was so thrilled when they won. It is unknown when Lady Luck got interested in something else left them on their three mile hike across open country but that's exactly what she did and both of them, the woman (aged 69) and the man (aged 70) were found the next day by other hikers, dead of dehydration. I don't know what it is but when I read about senseless deaths like this it stays with me for awhile. These people should be alive today. I have two questions about this and one easy prediction.

1. Didn't these people realize that this section of the country has been having daily temperatures soar well over one hundred degrees making the humidity insufferable and maybe --just maybe-- because of this called it off due to health concerns?

2. Same point as above, but pointing the finger at the officials that run this thing. Because of the hundred degree daily temperatures that they've been going through wouldn't it have been a good idea to postpone this until the weather breaks like ten or fifteen degrees? Or if not, supply them with a two-way radio or something for them to have to call for help?

3. And here's my prediction about this entire mess: expect a lawsuit from someone on behalf of the deceased. Told you it was an easy one.

...Whether they come out and say it or not, law enforcement agencies must love social media sites like Twitter because it gives people a false sense of security that helps them catch the suspects they are looking for. That explains how the San Diego County District Attorney was able to catch a sixty year old woman who was on the run for receiving over $660 thousand in disability payments when it fact she wasn't injured. The woman in question was sentenced to more than twenty years in prison for this and also was order to pay more than one million dollars in fines and restitution. If she wasn't hurting then she's certainly hurting now. When this verdict was handed down back in January this woman decided that her life here in the United States suddenly began cramping her style so she took off as fast as she could with very little luggage but plenty of money and her final dig to the San Diego D.A. was via twitter and it said "catch me if you can" and the next thing she knew that is exactly what they did. The cops didn't have to go far to get her as they went over the border to Rosarito Beach, Mexico which is only fifteen miles south of San Diego. When you do something like this you become your own worst enemy. She's probably still wondering how they found her.

...Sarah Palin said last week that she is considering running for senate in Alaska in 2014 but she wants to make sure that people understand she's only considering it and also stated that she may or may not run as she is not too sure right now. It could be one way or another. Nothing's been decided and she's certainly not reached a decision as of yet. If you understood all of this consider yourself a step ahead of everyone else.

...What this woman lacks in intelligence she makes up for in stupidity.

...I don't know if the kids in Thailand were taught about World War II or if they've even heard of it but Adolph Hitler, of all people, is a cult figure in that country. This guy is so popular he has a Fried Chicken joint named after him and initial reviews of the place say that the chicken is pretty good. Hitler's mug is all over the place there it's really hard to say why. (Although I did have to laugh at what they did to the Ronald McDonald face that is just to the right of the hot looking but mixed up girl.) There was even a time when some students showed up for school dressed as Nazis with swastika arm bands and toy guns. Can you imagine if that happened in this country? School officials will be falling over themselves to be the first to suspend the kids and notify the media. This is one of the oddest things I have heard in a long time and it is anyone's guess as to why those kids are treating this guy of all people like a rock star. But as nuts as this fried chicken place sounds and whatever reasons the Thai kids think that Hitler is somehow cool it is that country's concern. We have enough to worry about right here.

...The saddest person in all of Thailand after Hitler's Fried Chicken opened up was a rabbi who has lived in Bangkok for these past thirty years. He expressed sadness that a place of business used that name to represent themselves but was even more downcast when he finally admitted that the chicken that he had from that place was the best damn chicken he ever had.

...I realize that Brian Wilson has had two Tommy John surgeries in the past but it is still hard to believe that no one has taken a chance on him this year.

...Congratulations to Atlanta's Freddie Freeman for being voted to the final spot on the National League All Star team instead of hot dog Yasiel Puig. *&#% him.

...Amanda Bynes got on her twitter account last week and added the President and Mrs. Obama to the long list of people that she has called "ugly." I feel bad for the President and First Lady because Bynes is an expert on what is ugly and what isn't because all she has to do is look in the mirror.

...I've been hearing about those 3D printers for awhile and the more I've been reading about them the more interesting they've become. I was even flirting with maybe getting one of them but when I heard they were over $1,000 the flirtation immediately stopped.

...A Tennessee woman last week went to her neighbor's house and asked him if she could go swimming in his pool completely naked. The guy must have thought he'd won his own private lottery because he couldn't say yes fast enough and to show the woman he was a nice guy he stayed right by the pool the entire time she was there watching her swim. Finally after about twenty minutes he went to get her a towel but it seemed that the woman must have felt she needed a little bit more practice on her backstroke because she went right back in the pool after drying off. Seems the woman had a purpose in all of this because while she was doing all that swimming her husband was in the house robbing the place and he went off with some jewelry, medication and a firearm. The first thing that I thought of when I first read this was thank God I do not have a pool.

...Between now and the 31st of July we will be showered with news about actual trades and rumors about ones that may or may not happen and to get things off on the right track this year are the Yankees, who are supposed to be shopping Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes around the league. If this is true or not no one is talking about it right now. That's why it's a rumor. But the way I see it this really has to be because I can not imagine any other team in baseball that would want anything to do with either of these two underachieving losers unless the Yankees threw in something of greater value, like an all expense paid dinner at a five star restaurant.

...If there is any truth to that ESPN article that said Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun and "at least twenty other players" will be suspended sometime after the All Star break then all this is really going to do is take the game off the field where it belongs and bring it to a courtroom where nothing good comes from it. I won't worry none if Rodriguez gets suspended and the amount of games means nothing to me either. I'll still sleep like a baby either way. But this time to show they aren't conducting their own private A-Rod witch hunt, baseball had better be serious about suspending Braun and those "twenty other players" because if they don't it is going to give Rodriguez' lawyers grounds for saying he has been singled out.

...Derek Jeter returned to the Yankees last Thursday afternoon with the cheering of the Yankee Stadium crowd ringing in his ears. Don't misunderstand, it was nice to see him back but this team is going to need more than his presence to turn things around in the second half. Jeter did leave the game early due to suffering a strained quad muscle when he was running out a ball in the sixth inning. How long he will be out for this is anyone's guess right now. This latest setback did not discourage him one bit once the game was over as he spent the rest of the evening performing brain surgery, delivering two sets of twins in a subway and being the guest conductor at the New York Philharmonic.

...I was flipping through the sports channels during that Thursday Royals-Yankees game just to listen to ESPN and the MLB Network issue enough hosannas towards Captain Twenty Million that it almost made you want to check to see if Jeter's feet were actually on the ground when he was walking. As far as I knew it was and I got a hi-definition TV. Then Kevin Millar, who has no business being on TV talking about baseball or anything else, says this gem about Jeter when he was talking about him getting his timing back. He's a veteran. He's got 3,300 hits. So believe me he's been in that batter's box a lot. Really? Because I had no idea. I thought maybe he bought all those hits off of someone on eBay.

...Final thing about Jeter, he ended up in fifth place among the voters for the American League's starting shortstop and that is despite not playing in one game. Too bad though, had he managed to play in one or two games he would have had the ballot stuffers working overtime to get him in.

...He hasn't been here in awhile but I want to wish a happy birthday to that great schedule maker and more importantly all around good guy Dylan Bradbury. Have a good one Dylan!

...Prediction for Tuesday's All-Star Game at Citi Field? An American League victory. Reason? Who knows, I'm just guessing here.

[Jim825]

Updated to 7-14

...I've been hearing about those 3D printers for awhile and the more I've been reading about them the more interesting they've become. I was even flirting with maybe getting one of them but when I heard they were over $1,000 the flirtation immediately stopped.

We got a 3D printer at work recently. One of the Mechanical Engineers has been using it to create sample parts for our products. These parts are then sent off to a company that will create plastic injection molds and then create the final parts for us. It will only take a few of these parts to pay back what it cost the company for the printer because it saves the company from having the Mechanical Engineer create part details on an AutoCad system and then send them to a different company to create the part template.

[sabugo]

I wonder if a 3D printer could be used to make A-Rod a new brain.

On second thought, whenever he dies, and if brain transplants are an option then, I'd be the first in line to get his, because it's never been used, brand new.

[wudl83]

ROFL, very bad, but very funny.

[DylanBradbury]

...He hasn't been here in awhile but I want to wish a happy birthday to that great schedule maker and more importantly all around good guy Dylan Bradbury. Have a good one Dylan!

Thanks for the birthday wishes, Y4L!

Happy Birthday to you too!

[Yankee4Life]

Thanks for the birthday wishes, Y4L!

Happy Birthday to you too!

Thank you Dylan. I appreciate it a lot. I hope you had a wonderful birthday too.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 7-21

...I went to a fireman's carnival last week at one of our neighboring towns and while I was walking around it was almost like I was transported back in time to when I used to go to these thing regularly as a kid. The girls for instance looked and acted like the girls of thirty, thirty-five years ago. You could tell who were the pretty and popular ones because they hung around in packs and they stood in a close circle as if keeping the whole world at a distance as they talk among themselves. Then all of a sudden they'll start walking and after twenty feet or so they huddle up again for a new set of downs. I saw it back then and I saw it now. Must be something in their DNA. Another thing is wasting money trying to win a stuffed animal that probably cost at the most a quarter to make and when next year's spring cleaning rolls around you take a look at the prize you won last summer and without having a second thought about it, throw it away. In our house we'll be doing this twice because when my wife asked me to win her something I ended up winning her two stuffed animals. My luck wasn't with me that night.

...Last Monday, the day before the All-Star Game, Bud Selig said in an interview that baseball is "cleaner than it's ever been." This guy may be a lot of things but I had no idea that he was a comedian.

...There was an All-Star Game played last week but if you judge it by the lack of attention this got from people on this website you could have sworn the game was rained out. Personally I enjoyed it because I always like to see well pitched games and since I've been watching only Yankee games the only time I am aware of this happening is when it is being done to the Yankees or when I hear about it going on in another game. So as I sat down knocking off a six pack of Lipton Iced Tea, I had these observations.


1. Since there was a baseball game being played and a Yankee was a part of it you almost had to expect to see some kind of injury and bless his heart, Robinson Cano didn't disappoint.

2. I didn't even mind listening to Tim McCarver babble on last night because I kept on telling myself that this was the last All-Star Game this guy was going to ruin.

3. I'd have loved to know the odds before the game on Prince Fielder hitting a triple.

4. Thankfully no one on the Red Sox did anything in this game to brag about because if they had their fans would be crowing about it until Labor Day.

5. The game was played in ninety degree heat. This must have made the concession stands in Citi Field deliriously happy as they raised the prices of beer and soda across the board.

6. The nicest part about having Mariano Rivera out there on the mound as the bottom of the eighth started was that the players on both sides did it themselves and it had nothing to do with the commissioner or what he thought about it. Love or hate the Yankees --that's your choice. But this guy is the classiest player to ever put on a uniform.

...Did it really shock anyone when they found out Derek Jeter went back on the disabled list?

...Yasiel Puig got over not being elected to the All-Star team very well as he spent his time off at the Playboy Mansion partying with his brand new friends. Let's see if he gets invited back there after he hits .250 for the rest of the season.

...The plan for the Chicago Cubs to construct a first-ever electronic Jumbotron above Wrigley Field's ivy-covered outfield walls came one step closer to becoming a reality when the city's landmarks commission approved a plan to allow the team to build it. The Cubs are not in the clear yet because the full City Council still must give its approval. One of the most important points the Cubs are trying to sell to people that are opposed to this being done is that the advertising revenues generated by the signs will help the team win but people with long memories reminded the team that this is exactly what was said when lights were installed in 1988 and in the twenty-five years since then the Cubs haven't exactly set the league on fire.

...I don't think the ball club has anything to worry about because this looks like a whole bunch of political posturing. There's no way the Cubs are going to lose this argument with the city because if they do they'll just pack up and go someplace where they'll get their way and the entire city will end up having to watch the White Sox and that's something that no one wants to do even if they are unlucky enough to live in Chicago.

...O.J. Simpson will be appearing before a Nevada parole board later this month but the chances of him receiving parole at that time are very slim. That's too bad because I was curious to see how well his golf game was coming along.

...Beginning in September Jenny McCarthy will be joining The View, a show that is aimed for women where they discuss current issues. Obviously not hired for her intelligence, McCarthy has a little less than two months before she debuts on the show to learn what current issues actually are and how to talk about them.

...I have been noticing these past few years that when it's that time of year when my birthday rolls around the thing that makes me the happiest is knowing that once it gets here I don't have to think about it anymore for a full year.

...I have no problems with ESPN the Magazine's The Body Issue but I wouldn't mind the next time they do one of these that they keep the men out of it.

...There's an old nursery rhyme that starts out with Hey diddle diddle, The cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon. What this old English lyric does not go on to say is what the cow did once he finished jumping over the moon and for a forty-five year old Brazilian man he found out the hard way. While he and his wife were asleep in bed this nocturnal cow decided to take a quick walk around the neighborhood to stretch his legs after all that jumping. Somehow the cow got all mixed up and before he knew it he found himself on the roof of this man's home. Roofs are not meant to support something weighing over a ton and without any warning to the cow, the animal crashed through the roof and landed on the man's leg and missed the wife completely. The man died later while in the hospital but surprisingly the family blamed his treatment in the hospital more than the cow because they said he spent a long time waiting to be examined. That's not to say that the cow was not made to answer for his part in this. When the man's family got together after his wake to have a dinner in his memory for him all the ground beef there that day was courtesy of that same roof walking cow.

...Soon after George Zimmerman was found not guilty of murder in the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, celebrities from the sports, music and entertainment world fell all over themselves in their race to jump on their twitter accounts to let everyone know they felt about the verdict. While I understand the frustration that some folks have been feeling about the outcome of this trial it appeared to me that there was as much attention paid to what people like Rihanna and Miley Cyrus, two women who will never be mistaken for their acute knowledge of due process, had to say about it. It also seems to me that it is very ironic that when the Casey Anthony verdict was announced two years back the number of celebrities who came out to express their outrage over that was no where near as much as the ones who disclosed their opinions on George Zimmerman.

...It did not take long for celebrities to move on from the Zimmerman verdict to zero in on Rolling Stone magazine for their decision to put Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the cover of their latest issue. If we had bothered to listen to these people they'd have us believe that the magazine wanted to turn Tsarnaev into a celebrity and that we should boycott this magazine and not purchase this issue. Well I didn't need someone like Brad Paisley to tell me not to buy this issue because I wasn't about to anyway since I'm too cheap but I did do the next best thing and I read the entire article online and if these people took the time to read this piece they would see that Rolling Stone did not praise him or try to make him look good at any time in the article. While the article in itself was very well written, I came away with no more understanding of this mixed-up religion of Islam, a faith that constantly preaches peace but only in a tongue-in-cheek way. There's a old cliché that says don't judge a book (or in this case a magazine) by its cover. Personally that's what I think happened here and everyone jumped on it. It really didn't matter to me if that kid's face was plastered on a magazine or if we have to see something about him every day on the internet news sites like CNN because when it's time this guy is going to have to answer for what he did and that is when the city of Boston will really be satisfied.

...Malala Yousafzai is a young Pakistani girl gifted with courage that exceeds her sixteen years. She is the girl shot at close range by Taliban gunmen last October because felt that girls deserved the right to have an education and felt so strongly about this that she was not afraid to say this in public despite the constant threats given by the Taliban before they finally made good on it. After she was shot she was flown to Great Britain for treatment and has not returned home because of continued threats from the Taliban saying that they would finish the job once she returned home. Soon after delivering an inspirational speech at the United Nations she received a letter from a Taliban commander asking her to return home and in it he expressed his "shock" that she was attacked but stopped short when it came to apologizing to her. They probably figured if they worded it like that she'd get on the next plane that was headed back to Pakistan. The Taliban wants her back so they can finish her off because this group of trained killers who hide their faces when they murder people are afraid of a little girl who has more fearlessness and inner strength then they'll ever have (and at the same time I have to admit more then I'll ever have) because she had the guts to stand up to them and by doing that she did more damage to the Taliban than an entire army.

...I admire people like this a lot more these days then professional athletes. I'll always be a baseball and football fan but I don't have the same love for the game as I had for it when I was a kid. Hell, I don't even have the same love for baseball that I had ten years ago. When I was a kid following the Yankees each day was everything. But back then I followed all the teams. I could tell you if Willie Stargell was in a slump or not or if Steve Garvey was having a better year than the year before. I don't mind dating myself here a little bit but I was in-con-sol-able after the Reds swept the Yankees in four straight games in the 1976 World Series. I cried for days. I tore out every picture of a Reds player that I had in the scrapbook I was keeping. I was convinced that I would never see the Yankees win anything again because I was born to late to see them when they were really good. Now it's different. When the World Series gets here this year and by some act of God the Yankees are in it and they end up losing to the Reds or any other team in four quick games, as soon as the last game is over and done with all I'd do is check to see if there was a movie on TV that I might be interested in and if not, go to bed.

...A New Jersey man was convicted Friday of sexually abusing a woman while she slept on an airline flight and is now facing a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. Witnesses say while the woman was resting the man leaned over onto her seat and had his left hand beneath a sweater that was draped over her and when she woke up she found his hands inside her shirt and shorts. For anyone that's ever traveled in coach before you can imagine how hard this would be to do. The man's excuse for doing this was that he was trying to get a job with the TSA and he wanted to show them how good he'd be at patting people down.

...A Pennsylvania woman last week gave birth to a fourteen pound baby girl that was delivered via cesarean section by doctors since there was no way the kid's head would have fit through had she popped out the way most babies do when they come into the world no matter how much drugs they'd have pumped into her to relax her. The mother passed out five or six times after the delivery was completed every time she was told how much the kid weighed and in between one of her fainting spells she called her husband over to her hospital bed and told him that in no uncertain terms would she consent to going home with him unless he got himself a vasectomy because there was no way she was going to take the chance in giving birth to another sumo wrestler again.

[HFLR]

I totally forgot about this thread, I want to share not a thought but a story that happened to me... Back in january, I talked with the Mexican Pacific League if they could give me a press pass for the Caribbean Series (Wikipedia link) since it was near to me (3 hours by car) for the first time in many many years, they told me I was going to have the pass. Thankfully, the team I support and that first helped me with MVP Caribe, Yaquis de Obregon, won the Mexican championship and advanced to the Caribbean Series.

So.. I loaded up with 60 DVD cases with MVP Caribe (with a printed cover, all were given free) and traveled to Hermosillo, it was unbelievable, for the first time in almost 6 years that I have worked with MVP Caribe I had the opportunity to watch some of the Caribbean teams, on the first day I went to a hotel where my press pass was and I found Caribbean Comissioner Juan Puello (he appeared to be lost) and I walked to him about MVP Caribe, he wanted to see me during the games and on the third day I handed him a copy of the game and talked with him, he was very happy and told me he'd talk to the other leagues about making it "the official game" of the Caribbean Confederation, here´s a pic of that moment:

The other 59 dvd cases were given to press members, players and most importantly, Carlos Rivera, maybe you don't remember but back in 2007/2008 I had a dynasty with Yaquis posted frequently here on MVPmods, Rivera was the leader of my team and in real life he was champion bat with Yaquis and helped them win their first championship in 27 years... Well, a friend of mine who I met online thanks to MVP Caribe was in Puerto Rico at the time, send me a message on facebook that he was happy to see his team on the Caribbean Series and I told him that I had plenty of DVD's with the game for the players and press, he then sent a message to Rivera on his cellphone and Rivera told him that he'd give me his cap at the end of the Series.

The last day before the finals, Puerto Rico was beaten badly by Mexico (10-0) and I was waiting for Rivera outside their clubhouse, sadly, I saw him giving his cap to a little kid and I thought "awww crap, well, maybe the kid will be happier with it than me", I waited for him to come outside just to say goodbye because he seemed to be a great guy and he was, he came back with his jersey (signed) and gave it to me.

Shitty pictures for epic moments haha

I met a lot of great people and to my surprise, many of them knew about the game, Moises Alou (remember him?) is now the GM of the Dominican team that traveled to the Caribbean Series and he knew about the game and congratulated me, I also met the now retired Venezuelan league president, Mr Grasso Vecchio, his league was the first to call MVP Caribe it's official game and I gave him a copy too, here are more pics. I hope it doesn't bother you guys.

Above, Moises Alou (with Rivera's jersey, obviously )and Mr Grasso Vecchio is in the lower picture (I got the "Navegantes" jersey in a trade with a Venezuelan radio broadcaster, I gave him a Yaquis one)

It was the greatest week of my life, also Yaquis won the Caribbean Series beating the Dominican Republic after playing 18 innings, all of this was on february 1-7, and all started here, on MVPmods, where MVP Caribe was born, thank you for your support guys. I really, really appreciate it.

Now here's a random thought, does anyone else hate people who honk instead of knocking/ringing the bell of the door? I really hate that...

[Jim825]

Updated to 7-21

...It did not take long for celebrities to move on from the Zimmerman verdict to zero in on Rolling Stone magazine for their decision to put Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the cover of their latest issue. If we had bothered to listen to these people they'd have us believe that the magazine wanted to turn Tsarnaev into a celebrity and that we should boycott this magazine and not purchase this issue. Well I didn't need someone like Brad Paisley to tell me not to buy this issue because I wasn't about to anyway since I'm too cheap but I did do the next best thing and I read the entire article online and if these people took the time to read this piece they would see that Rolling Stone did not praise him or try to make him look good at any time in the article. While the article in itself was very well written, I came away with no more understanding of this mixed-up religion of Islam, a faith that constantly preaches peace but only in a tongue-in-cheek way. There's a old cliché that says don't judge a book (or in this case a magazine) by its cover. Personally that's what I think happened here and everyone jumped on it. It really didn't matter to me if that kid's face was plastered on a magazine or if we have to see something about him every day on the internet news sites like CNN because when it's time this guy is going to have to answer for what he did and that is when the city of Boston will really be satisfied.

I think it's the particular picture that was put on the cover that got people upset more than the story itself. If they had used a picture of him being led away in handcuffs after his capture, bloodied and disheveled, rather than the clean cut "boy next door" image, people would not have been as outraged. It's been 3 months since the bombing, but it's still fresh in a lot of people's minds here.

How would you have felt if Rolling Stone did an article in early December 2001, with the smiling, "normal", faces of the 9/11 hijackers on the cover?

[Yankee4Life]

I think it's the particular picture that was put on the cover that got people upset more than the story itself. If they had used a picture of him being led away in handcuffs after his capture, bloodied and disheveled, rather than the clean cut "boy next door" image, people would not have been as outraged. It's been 3 months since the bombing, but it's still fresh in a lot of people's minds here.

This is why I love feedback in here from something that I've written. And what you said here Jim was something that I did not mean to, but still got away from when I posted this section yesterday. I was so intent on making my point to have everyone read the article that his photo was secondary to me. Maybe it was Rolling Stone's intention to show this guy as a normal looking kid because in the article that is exactly what he was until his ideals got all mixed up due to influences around him.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 7-28

...Despite a Circuit Court Judge's ruling that it was unconstitutional for the city of Detroit to file bankruptcy a request to the Michigan Court of Appeals was made to block this order from taking effect. Motown is 18.5 billion dollars in debt and the question that comes to mind is how did they let it get that much out of control and secondly why wasn't this action taken years ago? Detroit's money struggles have resulted in an almost complete deterioration of city life. The murder rate is the highest in nearly forty years. On the average it takes the police fifty-eight minutes to respond to any call that comes their way. This is why it's so easy to knock off someone there because all you have to do is do the job and then sit down and have a meal or watch some TV and you'll still have time to take off before anyone got there. Before too long the only people that will be left in Detroit will be the criminals and they'll have to resort to mugging each other. During World War II the automotive companies in that city switched from making cars to producing planes, tanks and ammunition for the war to earn the city the nickname of the "Arsenal of Democracy." But that was then. Detroit has been closed for years now. Last week they made it official.

...I do have one idea for Detroit's problems. This won't solve everything but it will be a start. If they could manage to round up all their illegal guns and turn around and sell them they could forestall bankruptcy for a couple of years.

...If there is any truth at all to reincarnation I want to come back to be someone like Tiger Woods' ex-wife Elin Nordegren. She received $100 million in the divorce settlement from Woods and if that isn't enough her new boyfriend happens to be a billionaire. Talk about choosing wisely.

...Burger King has reported that while buying his four-year-old grandson a Kid's Meal, the boy's grandfather found a pot pipe filled with marijuana. They also went on to say that the pipe belonged to one of their employees who was hiding the item while he was at work and it was his personal property. Also this was in no way being offered to customers on a limited time only basis.

...Cincinnati second baseman Brandon Phillips gave an interview recently and said that after he signed a six-year, $72.5 million contract he felt it was a "slap in the face" compared to the ten year, $225 million dollar deal that the Reds gave to Joey Votto. Phillips did try to backtrack somewhat by saying that his contract was a nice slap in the face but this was after he said how hurt and scarred he was by his deal. People from all around the country would stand in line for hours to let their employers slap their faces to get paid like that and would gladly let themselves be scarred by the same amount of money that Phillips got. Getting through the remainder of this contract will probably come with a lot of sleepless nights for him considering that the Reds are only dishing out twelve million dollars per annum to Phillips' checking account. The burdens some people have to live with!

...Last Wednesday after months of negotiations the city of Chicago approved a $500 million proposed renovation of Wrigley Field. This privately financed proposal consists of a 300 million dollar renovation of Wrigley Field and 200 million for improvements outside the park. This took awhile for the Cubs to get the final go ahead but there really wasn't any doubt that they were going to get their way - especially when the team is footing the bill all by itself. Rooftop owners are very upset about this decision because in a few years they won't be able to charge people to watch something that isn't on their property and some may have to resort to drastic measures like getting a job to supplement their income.

...This should be nice to see once it's done and for the fans they'll have a more comfortable, modernized way to watch the Cubs lose.

...Just when Alex Rodriguez was about to rejoin the Yankees last week he came through in the eleventh hour and was diagnosed with a Grade 1 strain on his left quadriceps which is completely different from Derek Jeter's latest injury because Captain Moneybags has a Grad 1 strain on his right quadriceps. Many Yankee fans were worried about his return because there already are enough people in the lineup right now who strike out and ground into double plays as it is without having him pitch in.

...Fun fact: Between Rodriguez and Jeter the Yankees will spend about $50 Million this year for absolutely nothing.

...Korey Harris is, well was, a defensive lineman for the West Virginia Mountaineers. That all changed last week when he and two others entered a home and held the residents at gun point while burglarizing the house. While the people were being forcibly detained the three men made off with cash and electronics from the home. The problem was that Harris showed up for his part of the robbery wearing his team issued sweatpants from WVU with his uniform number 96 proudly displayed on them. He's now in jail with bail set at $75,000 and his football scholarship is gone. No doubt we haven't heard the last of this and Harris will somehow try to say this was all a huge mistake and then he'll be able to play football again at some other school and eventually be drafted in the first round and play for the Cowboys.

...729 people gathered in Spain to set a Guinness Book World Record for the most nude sun bathers on a beach in one place. It broke the previous record of 506 nude bathers that was previously set in New Zealand by a group of people that also didn't know any better. I'm sorry to say that I saw a few pictures of these new record setters and I immediately regretted it. Most of them looked like old hippies left over from the sixties that have been in the sun too long. It's always the people whose bodies should be covered up with an over-sized bath towel that want to be naked.

...In the latest version of Games Rednecks Play a Kentucky man was arrested for bringing a skunk in a convenience store restroom and leaving it there. The store manager told police that she saw the man walk into the restroom with a garbage bag and when he came out the garbage bag was left behind and before he left the store he apologized to the store manager. As soon as he left she went to see what he was so sorry about and as soon as she opened up the door she saw a baby skunk and it was too late for her to do anything about it because it already sprayed the men's room with its perfumery. She went on to tell police that when customers came in the store and when they got near the door they would smell the skunk and leave. She said everyone did the same thing except one old woman who said that it smelled like her husband every time he got done sitting on the toilet.

...I thought that the most exciting news last Monday was the birth of the Royal baby over in London but instead a twenty-nine year old baby in Milwaukee, Wisconsin overshadowed him on this day. This was the day that Ryan Braun was told to pack up his glove and bats and go home because Major League Baseball had him dead to rights taking PED's and the sad part is Braun knew it and didn't fight the decision that suspended him for the rest of the season (including post season, but when that rolls around the rest of the Brewers will be just like Braun and will be watching it on TV) and will lose about 3.4 million dollars in salary. That last part's going to hurt him the most this winter since he only made five million this year and let's face it, where are you going to go when you only make five million in a year? And somewhere in Florida right now Alex Rodriguez is no doubt wondering how many games baseball is going to ban him for because if he gets away with sixty-five games too he should get on his knees and thank God.

...Other thoughts on Ryan Braun's coming out party:

1. It was nice to see baseball ban someone besides Alex Rodriguez first in cases like this. Now that Braun is out of the way go get A-Rod.
2. Baseball could have really stuck it to him by making him play for the Astros for the remainder of the year. Instead they suspended him.
3. Brewer fans are dealing with news very well. About the only thing that gets them really upset is when they raise the price of beer at Miller Park.
4. Could be that Dino Laurenzi Jr after hearing about this news is preparing a huge lawsuit against Braun but we might not hear about it that much because Braun will settle out of court quietly.
5. Braun may not like having the rest of the season off but that also means he has the rest of the summer to indulge himself drinking Milwaukee's finest.
6. Now that Braun has been found guilty of using PED's I wonder how long it is going to take for the Yankees to acquire him?
7. Braun's NFL fantasy team should be improved this year because he has more time to devote to it.

.... After days of waiting for this rumor to become a reality, the Yankees reacquired Alfonso Soriano from the Chicago Cubs and while I was 100% against this I can understand why.The guy's 37 years old and that is the perfect age for the Yankees to give up prospects for. But Soriano? Robinson Cano is lazy enough as it is. Imagine if he learns from the master! Soon we'll be seeing him run 3/4th's of the way down the line before slowing down. They'll have to give him a kick in the pants to get him out of the dugout and out onto the field nine times a night. If he takes more than three pitches during an at-bat he'll claim he's tired and try to get himself taken out of the game. The only ground balls he'll be fielding is the ones hit right at him or one step away from him in either direction. And yet Soriano is now back wearing a Yankee uniform.

...Last week my wife had the idea for us to go on a boat ride on the historic Erie Canal because they had a special murder-mystery themed trip with an Hawaiian background going on that day. The WHODUNIT was supposed to have taken place in Hawaii and we were given clues from the actors to help and guide us to who the real killer was. I didn't mind it because it was a hell of a hot day and it was pretty cool on that boat. There also was a cash bar there and trust me, a lot of cash was exchanged there during that three hour ride. I had to go there twice to get us our drinks and they soaked you good because an order of iced tea was almost as much as a Mai-Tai. Each time I went up there I ran into two different women that obviously already knew where the bar was and had no intention of leaving. The first time I had this lady jab me in the ribs each time the bartender put an ingredient in her drink. Look, it's lemonade (jab) and now it's vodka (jab)! I don't know if she had more fun watching the drink being made or drinking it itself. The next time was right after we had lunch and the final speeches were given by the suspects to plead their innocence. This woman was in line at the bar still finishing the drink in her hand while ordering a few more. She turned to me and asked me who I thought committed the murder and I whispered to her that I thought the butler did it and she said to me that she must have missed the part when they were talking about a butler. I'm sure if I would have said the bartender did it she would have said no because then she would have been able to provide a air-tight alibi for him since she was within five feet of him the entire trip. Like I said this boat ride had an Hawaiian themed background to it and part it was that they advertised an authentic Hawaiian style food spread for the buffet. So I was looking forward to that. Instead when we got up there we saw broiled and barbecued chicken, rice, salad, fruit and corn bread. They must have been thinking of another Hawaii. As for the murder mystery, it wasn't too hard. There were a few people who guessed the correct killer and I was lucky enough to be one of them. My prize was two tickets to any baseball game either in July or August. Looking back on it, the next time they have one of these I will stay on shore.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 8-4

...Now that the NFL training camps have been under way I always like to try to guess who is going to be the next idiot among the ranks and while it may be hard to guess the name of the player that screws up since there's so many of them waiting to do it, you eventually know that it will happen. Tarell Brown of the 49ers lost himself a huge chunk of money --two million dollars worth-- because he failed to show up to the team's workout program. Naturally once Brown learned about all the money that he had lost he fired his agent and took no responsibility himself. Had this been me I'd of had post-it notes to remind me that I would have had to be in a certain place on a certain day along with e-mail reminders sent from my wife every two hours. I don't care if you have an agent, a press secretary and a personal assistant. You got to have some responsibility for yourself.

...Ok NFL players, who's next?

...Curtis Granderson returned to the Yankee lineup last Friday night in San Diego after his second stay on the disabled list and promptly went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts. It's amazing how quickly he shook off the rust and is now in mid-season form.

...Computers are never wrong Dept: An Ohio woman went out of town for a few weeks and on her return home found the keys to her house were changed and her furniture and possessions gone but it was not the work of thieves or pranksters. Thinking it was the house across the street, a bank that she was not even a customer at repossessed her home because their GPS system lead them to her house. You would be inclined to think that once the bank learned of their undeniable error they would have been willing to do all they could to fix it. Of course not. The woman presented the bank’s president with an $18,000 estimate to replace the lost items but he refused to pay and he incredibly added that they would not be paying the woman retail at the bank for all her items. Naturally had they knew how to read a GPS they wouldn't have been in this mess. If there isn't enough things already you can now add one more thing to make you feel uneasy about when you go out of town for work or relaxation

...Years ago there was this anti-drug commercial that was played on TV a lot. It started out with butter melting on a hot frying pan and a voice-over saying "this is your brain" and then an egg would be placed in the frying pan and the voice continued with this somber message "and this is your brain on drugs. Any questions?" I think of that every time I see Amanda Bynes' name when it comes up in the news because if she isn't the perfect example of being completely fried then no one is.

...Aaron Rodgers, who is business partners with Ryan Braun told reporters that it did not "feel good to be lied to" when Braun on multiple occasions looked Rodgers in the eye and denied that the allegations from the Biogenesis scandal were untrue. He shouldn't feel that bad because he has plenty of company. I've learned that people could look you in the eye and lie with no problem at all way back in elementary school. Braun used Rodgers just like he did everyone else. I wonder what this means for the future of their restaurant?

...I don't know how many times I have heard Alex Rodriguez's name mentioned over the past ten days or so but it is safe to say when the ruling is announced either later on today or on Monday it is going to get a hell of a lot worse. I really don't care what happens with him because no matter how many games he gets he deserves more, unless they actually come through and present him with that lifetime ban. It's too bad for him though because once this is done and he tells everyone that he is sorry for what he did and that he let everyone down (now you know this speech is coming) the only people that are going to believe him are his lawyers.

...Too bad C.C. Sabathia wasn't part of this Biogenesis scandal. With the way he's been pitching no one would miss him for the rest of the year.

...The nice thing about attending a family picnic is seeing relatives that you only see once a year if you can help it and if you are really lucky they don't show up at all. I've been having a stroke of good luck lately (not counting Soriano's return to the Yankees) and this is just what happened to me during a family outing last week. There's this one guy who I'm not even sure is a relative but nevertheless is always there and every year he has to ask me the same question which consists of him pestering me with questions on what is wrong with the Raiders. As soon as I give him six or seven I-don't-know answers he is satisfied and walks away and I'm safe for another year. He wasn't there this year since he was distracted by something new in his life called a job.

...Last week Pope Francis held mass at Rio de Janeiro's famous Copacabana beach. The sermon drew three million people, mostly young people, from nearly 180 countries. Many of the girls who showed up to hear the Pope came dressed in bikinis, which certainly helped attendance and if this idea was spread out to the entire church there would be packed houses from here on out.

...There is a chance that Albert Pujols will be missing the rest of the season for the Angels. This couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

...As this year's trade deadline approached its final hours last Wednesday I could not help but experience the same feeling of nervousness that I usually get each year at this time and that's because I was worried that the Yankees were going to make some kind of move that would have their fans scratching their heads because I thought the Yankees were going to try and top themselves after the Soriano trade because this team seems to make moves just for the sake of making them. It's like they can't help it. The only guy I thought they'd might get was Raul Ibanez from Seattle because he's 40 years old and the Yankees can't resist acquiring players a few steps away from retirement. I thought the Rangers were the big winners when they got Matt Garza from the Cubs. He'd of fit in very well at Yankee Stadium because he would have kept the ball in the ballpark unlike Phil Hughes, whom the Yankees could not give away to anyone last week. Sad to say but if you are a Yankee hater you must be loving what you see this season.

...Setting aside the fact that nothing that this guy has done or will ever do change how I feel about him, I find it amusing that baseball was not even considering suspending David Ortiz after he smashed two phones in the visitors dugout in Baltimore last week with his bat and narrowly missing the head of Dustin Pedroia. Come to think of it that last part wouldn't have been so bad but the point is that toddlers do not throw tantrums as violent as this guy did and if they did you could be sure that it would have been their last outburst for awhile because they'd be spanked so hard they wouldn't be able to sit. You try this the next time something doesn't go your way at work. If all you get is a suspension you should consider yourself lucky.

...The Oakland Raiders have looked very impressive at their training camp in Napa, California, which is not surprising. Things don't start falling apart for them until the pre-season games start.

...They must take their professional wrestling very seriously over in South Africa because last week a fan came up from behind wrestler Randy Orton after the match was over and while he was gesturing to the crowd he ran up and sucker punched him. Either this guy was very, very brave or very, very drunk because this Orton guy is no slouch. He stands six feet five inches tall and weighs 235 pounds according to his Wikipedia page and after looking at that guy's photo that was posted there I have come to the conclusion that the person who attacked him was blitzed out of his mind because all I'd ever do if I was near that guy would be to say hello and how you doing?

...I don't follow wrestling like I used to years ago. When I first heard the name Orton I immediately thought of a wrestler named Cowboy Bob Orton and sure enough he's his father. I was a big Roddy Piper fan and Cowboy Bob was his "bodyguard," as if Piper ever needed one of those. It was fun watching wrestling back then with guys like Paul Orndorff, The Magnificent Muraco and Hulk Hogan. The guy I couldn't stand back then was Jimmy Snuka and I actually got the chance to see him wrestle once in person but unlike that guy in South Africa I remained in my seat and did not charge after him due to a combination of fear, common sense and a hot dog.

...You know that Rolling Stone issue with the face of the kid responsible for the Boston bombings on the cover? Despite having it banned by some drugstores and supermarkets the magazine reported that the sales for last month's issue doubled. This didn't surprise me. As soon as you start banning something and refusing to sell it people are going to be drawn to it.

...I was kind of sad to find out that Cote de Pablo is leaving NCIS when the new season begins in September. It's always the good ones that leave the shows. Ziva was one of my favorite characters on that show and I hope that they get someone just as beautiful to replace de Pablo. Why couldn't it been that tattooed freak Abby that left the show? That I'd be able to handle a lot better.

...There's a popular game show in Pakistan called Aman Ramazan that besides giving away prizes that you would normally expect from a game show (like refrigerators, washers and dryers, microwave ovens, etc) they also give away abandoned babies to unsuspecting couples during the show. The people that get these babies are people that have expressed an interest in one before and have gone through the proper channels to gain guardianship (adoption is not recognized in Pakistan) but have no idea that attending this game show they'd be going home with another mouth to feed. This gives a whole new meaning to being blindsided by something. I wonder how the kid is going to feel when he gets older and finds out that he was the prize in a game show and that his father was secretly holding out for a new refrigerator that had an automatic ice maker built into it?

...The guy that held those three girls captive for ten years in his home in Cleveland was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole and if that isn't enough to handle he was also given an additional one thousand years on top of it. That's the part I don't get about this. It's almost like they expect him to stick around for both sentences.

...I don't believe this new format of electing captains and having them pick teams for the NFL Pro Bowl is going to get more people interested in watching it. It's still an exhibition game and that means there is not going to be one player who is going to go all out for it since it is so easy to get yourself injured and mess up your career. The only thing that has ever been important about the Pro Bowl is getting chosen to it because that means you get to spend a week in Hawaii with all expenses paid courtesy of the league and no matter what they do that is never going to change.

...Houston Rockets first year player Terrence Jones was arrested last week after stomping on the leg of a sleeping homeless man after walking out of a bar in Portland, Oregon. It was Jones' bad luck that a police sergeant witnessed the entire incident and not some random person. The homeless person received a minor leg injury and did not require immediate medical attention. You can almost make the argument that this guy won the homeless lottery because he was attacked by a rich professional athlete while minding his own business and a police officer was on hand to see the whole thing. There's going to be an exchange of money, an apology by Jones and one less homeless guy who may not freeze so much this winter thanks to a stupid act by a twenty one year old basketball player that clearly does not know better.

[GoRedSox34]

Don't know if there are any other Santigold fans here but I made this banner for the channel art on my YouTube page

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 8-11

...I was glued to the television last Monday afternoon when the Biogenesis suspensions were announced and had a big smile on my face when I heard that you-know-who got a 214 game ban. That didn't last long however when I heard that the Yankees activated Rodriguez that same day and that he would be appealing his suspension which probably means the Yankees will be stuck watching him ground out for the rest of the season. If somehow he does not have to miss the entire season next year he should consider himself lucky and I have a bad feeling that this is what is going to happen. I just hope when the arbitrator's decision comes up later on this year Rodriguez fights the urge to plant himself in front of a microphone and cameras and apologize to everyone because that's what he did in 2009. Some people believed him then. Very few will now.

...Believe it or not there was one thing worse than having Alex Rodriguez suit up and play on the same day he was suspended and that was witnessing what Robinson Cano pulled in the first inning at Chicago. Cano hit a sharp line drive that the White Sox left fielder initially misplayed but was still able to recover in time to throw him out on a very close play at second base as he was trying to stretch the hit into a double. Replays showed that Cano did his usual jog out of the batter's box and didn't turn it on until it was too late and instead of putting himself in scoring position he ran the Yankees out of an inning by not hustling. And people look at me like I am crazy when I tell them I hope he is on another team next year.

...Of all the names that were banned last week the only one that really bothered me was Francisco Cervelli's. I've always liked how he played even though he's been the kind of player that could not shake that string of bad luck of getting injured for months at a time. It would not shock me at all to learn that he's played his last game in a Yankee uniform because of this and if this is the case it is too bad.

...Even Johnny Damon had his say about Rodriguez's situation when he said that the Yankees 2009 World Series title would be diminished if it were discovered that Rodriguez was using performance-enhancing drugs during that post season. If you notice he said absolutely nothing about the 2004 Champion Red Sox who won with PED users Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz. Of all people to open his mouth Damon shouldn't have been one of them.

...I liked what Nelson Cruz of the Rangers said as he tried to explain his involvement in Biogenesis after accepting his fifty game suspension last week. He said that he "made an error in judgment" and I immediately thought that if any of the other twelve players that were banned considered saying this too. Whatever Cruz did was no mistake on his part. It's his free agent year and he knew exactly what he was doing when he got himself involved with Biogenesis and it was to put himself in a position to get more money in his walk year while at the same time hoping he would not get caught. So much for that.

...One thing about the Red Sox is that they have the ability to draft pitchers that end up helping them in their rotation. Guys like Felix Doubront and Clay Buchholz are two pitchers any team would be happy to see in their rotation and I'm saying this even though Buchholz has been on the disabled list for awhile now. And then you take a glance at the Yankees and you see pitchers like Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes, two players who have never lived up to expectations and whose hype completely overshadowed their talents on the mound. It remains to be seen if someone like David Phelps will end up being more then just a roster space like these two have been.

...Hey Captain Twenty Million! Go grab a fork and stick it in you. You're done.

...Johnny Manziel is the latest athlete that thinks that rules were written for everyone else except him.

...Bryce Harper showed his true colors again during a Braves - Nationals game last week after he was drilled by a pitch that was in retaliation of him standing at home plate admiring the home run he hit the at-bat before. The benches cleared and Harper didn't stop yapping his mouth until he got to first base and even then had more to say. I don't care how young he is but he is one of the biggest hot dogs in the game and he had this coming to him. Maybe the next time he will learn that when you hit a home run and stay at home plate and admire it you will get drilled. But a part of me hopes he never learns this and that his body will continually be used as target practice by pitchers all around the National League.

...About a month ago I wrote in here about a baby shower that was being planned where some woman came up with the bright idea of dragging the men along so they could be a part of it too. Last week that shower took place and as I glanced at the other men in the room I think they would not have minded one bit if an announcement was made saying that for future baby showers their presence was not required. This statement was never made but it was nonetheless wishful thinking. The shower was held at a local golf course in a building where they host weddings and graduations and while the mother-to-be was droning on about how cute a bib looked or an outfit looked my brother-in-law was looking out the window watching the golfers drive off to play a round in their golf carts. He whispered over to me and told me he had his clubs in the trunk of his car and he was thinking about going out there and I asked him if I could come along and be his caddy but my sister overheard us scheming and that ended that. We ended up being there 4 1/2 hours and I did not realize until the next day how much this ended up working in our favor. Since this lasted so long it was decided that the next time a baby shower is held only the women will be the only ones invited. I don't know how they put the blame on the men but I don't want to find out. It's not like any of them got up and shouted out "hey, I didn't get a good look at that stroller!" All I can say is that I am thankful this is over and that I hope none of you ever have to experience this firsthand.

...At least what my wife and I did the day before this was a lot more fun for the both of us. We went to something called the Park Avenue Festival that is held every year here for the past thirty-five years. Vendors from twenty-one states and Canada come to this and they sell stuff that they try to pass off as art but it actually looks like something you'd see at a flea market and pass up without looking back. Of course my wife was in heaven and luckily the only thing she bought was a homemade dog leash that had pictures of poodles on it. I was afraid to ask how much she paid for it. As for myself I had to be content with overpaying for bottles of water on a hot summer day and I was silently pleased with myself for wearing dark sunglasses because I could not count the amount of women there who mistook this festival for a day at the beach and my wife had no clue where I was looking thanks to them. Use your imagination.

...Don't mess with a man's burger Dept:A Georgia man found himself in trouble with police after he called them to complain when he discovered that he was missing one McDouble hamburger order from McDonald's. He became irate when he found out there were only six McDoubles in his bag instead of the seven that he ordered and when he did not get his other burger he became upset and dialed 911. When the police came and found out why they were called they arrested the man and made him spend the night in jail for misusing the emergency 911 telephone service. The bright side for him was that he had six burgers with him to keep him company overnight unless he had the bad luck to be put in a cell with someone named Billy Bob who ended up taking all six burgers for himself.

...If this had happened in Detroit he would have heard a message that the 911 number had been disconnected.

...I really miss those Real Men of Genius commercials that Bud Light had going awhile back.

...Poor Paris Hilton. After throwing a big bash at her Malibu home last week her home was broken into for the seventh time as a group of girls snuck into her bedroom and stole her bikinis and purses and were trying to sell them on the street but as luck would have it they were seen by some of the people that attended Hilton's party. All of her possessions were recovered this time but the thieves managed to get away. Hilton complained about her bad luck with all the break-in's that she's had but this is what happens when you never close and lock your door when you are not home.

...Last Wednesday morning an employee who works at the Brooklyn Cyclones ballpark discovered that the Jackie Robinson statue that they have on display there was vandalized when someone painted racial slurs and Hitler references on it. To me it didn't matter who did it or even why. This is what some people do to get their kicks. All that really matters is that it was done and it was done to upset people and get a reaction out of them. I'm not going to use this space here to go on and on about this because no amount of well-written articles or speeches about this is going to change anything. This was here way before any of us were thought of and it will be around long after we are gone and that's the sad truth.

...I'll never understand the attraction these oversized sandwiches have on people but recently a Southern California restaurant may just as well have created the biggest one yet. It is appropriately called a Big Fat Fatty and that's exactly what you'll be if you manage to eat this thing in the allotted time. This twelve pound, twenty-seven inch sandwich includes five cheeseburgers, 1 1/2 pounds of cheesesteak and pastrami, ten chicken fingers, ten onion rings, ten jalapeno poppers, five fried eggs, bacon, a basket of french fries, two cups of chili and marinara sauce and finally topped off with something called fat sauce which looks a lot like thousand island dressing. This managed to make me sick just typing out what was packed in this thing. This sandwich contains enough food to keep a bear content all winter. It costs $49.95 but if you can finish it in forty minutes or less the sandwich is free and you also can create and name your own version of this sandwich. The real reward should be a free ambulance ride to the nearest hospital once they finish their last bite. There's been about 800 attempts so far and only two people were successful and both of them were professional competitive eaters. That's another thing. How do you become one of these? Is there some sort of training you have to go through before you can be known as a professional glutton?

...Fortunate for this place that Honey Boo Boo's family lives three thousand miles away from them because they'd be knocking off these sandwiches as fast as they could make them.

...I don't know what it is with those people down in Florida. Maybe it's because they have to live there with all those alligators and Burmese pythons all around them. Who knows? Last Thursday a domestic fight between a Miami couple turned violent and then deadly as the woman was shot to death by her husband. You would think that after you do something like this you are going to do one of two things. Either you are going to get the hell out of there and go as fast and far as you can get or you are going to wait there for the police to come to take you away. Not this guy. He changed his clothes and then went to see his family to tell them what he did and then he turned himself into the police. But before he did that he took a picture of his dead wife and logged onto his computer and went to his Facebook account and posted the photo of her dead body for everyone to see and said his goodbyes to all his Facebook friends because he probably figured that he won't get a chance to have anymore contact with them once the police had him. I understand that the purpose of Facebook is to let your family and friends know what you are doing so you can keep in contact with them but this guy took it to the next level.

..I wonder if the last thing he did was change his status to "single" before logging off ?

...Ok, bad joke. I couldn't resist.

...I told my wife about this and she told me she knows I'd never do anything like that because I don't know how to operate a digital camera, let alone upload a photo to Facebook, which I am not a member. I said that's right and besides I would never do that because you make the best pancakes I've ever had. Then she kicked my chair. I think I should have said something else.

[GoRedSox34]

If Miguel Cabrera wins the MVP award over Trout again this year I'm going to lose my mind.

[rroy0824]

If Miguel Cabrera wins the MVP award over Trout again this year I'm going to lose my mind.

I know I haven't posted here in a long time, but I was curious to know why. The numbers don't lie.

Mike Trout- BA-.328 HR-20 RBI-71 OBP-.423 SLG-.572 in 114 games for a third place team.

Miguel Cabrera- BA-.363 HR-35 RBI-109 OBP-.455 SLG-.676 in 107 games for a team with the third best record overall.

Trout is no doubt having a great year, but Cabrera has a legitimate chance at a second triple crown here. Trout may have him beat in stolen bases and fielding, but Cabrera is having too good of a year. For some reason, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves sometimes. Chris Davis has a pretty good argument for MVP as well, but his average is a little lower.

[dishnet34]

I know I haven't posted here in a long time, but I was curious to know why. The numbers don't lie.

Mike Trout- BA-.328 HR-20 RBI-71 OBP-.423 SLG-.572 in 114 games for a third place team.

Miguel Cabrera- BA-.363 HR-35 RBI-109 OBP-.455 SLG-.676 in 107 games for a team with the third best record overall.

Trout is no doubt having a great year, but Cabrera has a ligament chance at a second triple crown here. Trout may have him beat in stolen bases and fielding, but Cabrera is having too good of a year. For some reason, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves sometimes. Chris Davis has a pretty good argument for MVP as well, but his average is a little lower.

Add in the fact that Trout is playing on a team that isn't a contender this year (and will probably not make the playoffs), Cabrera will win the award based solely on the Tigers making the postseason, and the Angels not.

[GoRedSox34]

I know I haven't posted here in a long time, but I was curious to know why. The numbers don't lie.

Mike Trout- BA-.328 HR-20 RBI-71 OBP-.423 SLG-.572 in 114 games for a third place team.

Miguel Cabrera- BA-.363 HR-35 RBI-109 OBP-.455 SLG-.676 in 107 games for a team with the third best record overall.

Trout is no doubt having a great year, but Cabrera has a ligament chance at a second triple crown here. Trout may have him beat in stolen bases and fielding, but Cabrera is having too good of a year. For some reason, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves sometimes. Chris Davis has a pretty good argument for MVP as well, but his average is a little lower.

If the award in debate here was Most Valuable Hitter, Cabrera takes the cake. But it's not. Cabrera is statistically the worst defensive player at his position in the Major Leagues (according to UZR he has cost the Tigers 11.1 runs this year), with absolutely no range, and on the basepaths, one of the slowest. Basically, he hurts his team in a rather substantial way when he's not at the plate.

And regarding the Triple Crown, I'll just have to quote Keith Law.

This is begging the question: It assumes that the Triple Crown is an accurate measure of value, which it's not. Here's a short list of important factors not covered by the Triple Crown categories: Walks, the added value of doubles and triples, stolen bases, other aspects of baserunning, defensive value, positional value, park effects -- in other words, huge swaths of the game that are completely ignored.

Triple Crown is cute, but there's something very arbitrary and dated about its categories, an anachronistic way to look at the game that is wildly out of tune with how front offices look at players today. Once you realize, as you must, that a player who wins the Triple Crown has not necessarily delivered the most value, this argument evaporates.

I haven't even gotten into the offensive, defensive, and baserunning metrics with Trout as I am pressed for time but this should do for now.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/happy-22nd-birthday-mike-trout-2/

[GoRedSox34]

Add in the fact that Trout is playing on a team that isn't a contender this year (and will probably not make the playoffs), Cabrera will win the award based solely on the Tigers making the postseason, and the Angels not.

Hmm, I'm pretty sure the MVP is an individual award. Somehow it's Trout's fault that the Angels rotation includes...

Jerome Williams

Joe Blanton

Tommy Hanson

And the fact that Pujols (hampered by injuries) and Hamilton have had their worst statistical seasons to date, should further hurt Trout's case at an MVP? Asinine.

[GoRedSox34]

And rroy, whether you want to admit it or not your perspective is skewed because you are a Tigers fan. I can see why you would naturally want Miggy to win the award.

[rroy0824]

Hmm, I'm pretty sure the MVP is an individual award. Somehow it's Trout's fault that the Angels rotation includes...

Jerome Williams

Joe Blanton

Tommy Hanson

And the fact that Pujols (hampered by injuries) and Hamilton have had their worst statistical seasons to date, should further hurt Trout's case at an MVP? Asinine.

In my mind and in many others, MVP stands for Most Valuable Player and is not the player of the year trophy. As weird as it sounds, to me there is a difference. Is it Trout's fault the Angles are losing? Absolutely not. However, how your team finishes should play a factor. I will admit though that it should be a small one because like you said, it's not his fault and he is playing great.

If the award in debate here was Most Valuable Hitter, Cabrera takes the cake. But it's not. Cabrera is statistically the worst defensive player at his position in the Major Leagues (according to UZR he has cost the Tigers 11.1 runs this year), with absolutely no range, and on the basepaths, one of the slowest. Basically, he hurts his team in a rather substantial way when he's not at the plate.

Believe it or not, he is not an awful fielder. He is not great by any means, but he has an absolute cannon and makes most of the plays he gets to. His range sucks, but lets not forget he would be playing first on most teams. Saying that he hurts the Tigers by running the bases just isn't true at all.

And rroy, whether you want to admit it or not your perspective is skewed because you are a Tigers fan. I can see why you would naturally want Miggy to win the award.

I know you probably won't believe it, but I'm not being bias. In the past 25 years only 5 players have hit over .360. Cabrera had an MVP season last year and has only done better this year. Forget the triple crown completely, he's playing better than anyone. I also said Chris Davis has a pretty good case for winning it too.

And as I'm typing this, home run off Mariano.

[Yankee4Life]

And as I'm typing this, Home Run off Mariano

And as I'm typing this, Home Run Brett Gardner.

[rroy0824]

And as I'm typing this, Home Run Brett Gardner.

Yeah........ I thought they were going to squeak that one out. Oh well.

[Yankee4Life]

Yeah........ I thought they were going to squeak that one out. Oh well.

Don't worry. At least your team has a future.