Random Thoughts On A Sunday Morning Updated To 7-28

[Kccitystar]

.....I haven't done one of these in a while, but here we go: I can't stand people who think baseball is boring. This comes off the heels of an amazing no-hitter by Johan Santana. Sometimes people who say this praise soccer. I'm sorry, what? Baseball is not boring whatsoever. People just have no patience to actually watch a sport that may actually require your attention. I love baseball. It's the only sport on earth where you can be considered the greatest of all time if you are able to "hit 'em where they ain't" 3 times out of 10. It's funny to see people praise soccer to be such an amazing sport but take a crap on baseball, when even if you're a fan of soccer, you know that while it is a low scoring game, it's the little nuances and intricacies that make the game itself fun. Baseball to me, is a thinking game. The mental aspect of it is what makes it amazing to me. There is so much going on the baseball field with the players that spectators like you and I just don't see.

For example, on TV a couple of days ago, well, Johan Santana had a disgusting changeup and it had been working well for him as opposed to his fastball being all over the strike zone. You didn't see the slider regularly because that's his third best pitch so he won't throw it often. Now, as a hitter, you can consider that there's a chance that Johan will probably stick to the changeup as his GO-TO pitch whenever he needs a strike, and toy around with his fastball if he ever wanted to get you to put the ball in play. He might even trick you with a slider from time to time so you know that he has another pitch in his arsenal. Now, you, the hitter, are going to have to either adjust to the changeup or try to crush that random fastball, or even try to hit the slider should it ever come your way. You also have fielders are trying to figure out whether or not they play you deep, in, or on the lines. There's 9 guys out there on the field trying to play you the best way possible so that you can't score/get on base. You can compare it to chess. It's more about out-thinking your opponent.

...I'm glad to be back at MVPMods again even though a majority of the original "cast" left. It isn't as active as it used to be but that's okay, most of the members who are still around as well as newcomers continue to make the site what it is.

...The E3 conferences are this week. The significance of these conferences are to basically show you what each gaming company is up to and their plans for the year up until the next E3. I for one am not too excited as the gaming industry keeps letting me down. Instead of making new, fun and entertaining games, as a gamer I keep being let down with sequel after sequel, with uninspiring games filling in the gaps. I say this every year and people laugh but Nintendo is the only company that gets it right: Eventually every game is going to look similar and graphics will no longer be just a bullet point, and when that happens, if you don't have good gameplay or your game is not fun PERIOD, your game will tank and your company will fold up for taking stupid risks. People will bring up the story with Curt Schilling, but I'm not too informed on that. I'll just say that his game was pretty fun, but the MMO market is overshadowed by World of Warcraft in the same vein as Call of Duty to the first person shooter market. These are the anomalies, and companies should not try to emulate them because their entire product will suffer. If people want to play Call of Duty, they will play Call of Duty, not futuristic soldier game #47678032. If people want to play World of Warcraft, they'll play World of Warcraft, not generic MMO #7892. In a nutshell, stop chasing that fanbase. If your game is good and marketed well enough, people will buy it and through word of mouth people will tell other people to buy it. It's a core concept that many companies don't understand, and it just boggles the mind.

...Fantasy baseball is fun, but micromanaging your team every game is a pain :| While I did have a pretty stacked lineup, I should have known what everybody including the modern Yankees already know: You don't win games on paper. So far I'm 2-4-1, and this is a lineup with A-Rod, Pujols, Lincecum, Posey, Swisher to name a few guys.

...I'm making sure the MLB 13 team gets my feedback for their upcoming baseball title because if a company prides themselves on being the most realistic baseball game on the market, their uniforms need to be up to par, especially when Sony San Diego has threads dedicated to STADIUM feedback.

...I got an A in Psychology this semester. Hell yes.

...I bought some production equipment, some speakers, and a MIDI Keyboard. This summer is going to be fun.

[Yankee4Life]

Thank you KC for your feedback in this thread. I got to repeat myself again here, the feedback and comments and thoughts from other people here really make this thread go because it's great to read what other people have on their minds. Enjoy your summer!

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 6-10

...The NFL is getting ready to hire replacement referees because talks for a seven year labor deal extension have broken off. This is really nothing to be alarmed about because the replacements will blow just as many calls as the regular refs will.

...I was kind of surprised to read that the Beach Boys came out with a new album since I haven't heard anything from them in quite a while. It's not that I thought that anyone had died, I just thought their careers did.

...Facebook is considering letting kids under the age of 13 join mainly because some of the adults already on it act like they are under 13 so they are thinking if they let the kids sign up no one would know the difference.

...When Drew Barrymore got married last week you would have thought that no one would be happier that day than the bride and groom, but you would be wrong. The two most overjoyed people on the day of her nuptials were her ex-husbands who did not attend the wedding. For them, once was enough.

...Amanda Bynes is not taking her DUI charge lying down. She is trying to get the police officer who arrested her fired by asking President Obama to intercede and dismiss him from his duties. All she did to get arrested was to strike a sheriff's patrol car and refused to take a sobriety test when asked to and she expects the President to help her because she is of course, Amanda Bynes. She has as much of a chance of the Commander in Chief bailing her out than she has winning an Academy Award.

...When I read that Bob Welch had died I immediately thought of the former Dodger and Athletic pitcher. I had no idea that someone with the same name had once played in Fleetwood Mac.

...If you ever want to know how long a day really is just spend it waiting in a hospital lobby.

...While it wasn't right to douse Lebron James with beer after leaving the court after game six in Boston the other night, I do not understand why some people in the media were shocked that it happened. After all, it did take place in Boston, didn't it? Enough said.

...Which leads to..

...A big thank you to Lebron James and the Miami Heat for beating the Boston Celtics in game seven of the conference finals. It's not that I'm a Heat fan, in fact I could care less about them. But any time Boston loses that means it makes those people in that city upset and I'm all for that. That's how I am.

...There is an organization called The Little People of America (honestly, there is) and they are upset at the makers of the movie Snow White and the Huntsman because they did not use actual little people to play the dwarves in the film. Instead they used actors that were digitally made to appear shorter on-screen. One reason could be that the producers of the movie wanted to use actual actors because the last real actor who happened to be a midget was Hervé Villechaize and all he ever did was ring a bell and tell Ricardo Montalban that the plane was coming.

...Although you got to wonder about their timing. Why complain about this now after the movie is done? What were they doing when this film was being made?

...Whomever that person is on Youtube that posts full Happy Days episodes has my sincere appreciation. I'd rather watch a few shows of that old TV series than most of the stuff on today.

[DJEagles]

I have much respect for Jamie Moyer. I Hope to still be doing what I love when I am 49, and still doing it well...Majors or AAA, good for him.

[yankseagles]

Updated to 6-10

...There is an organization called The Little People of America (honestly, there is) and they are upset at the makers of the movie Snow White and the Huntsman because they did not use actual little people to play the dwarves in the film. Instead they used actors that were digitally made to appear shorter on-screen. One reason could be that the producers of the movie wanted to use actual actors because the last real actor who happened to be a midget was Hervé Villechaize and all he ever did was ring a bell and tell Ricardo Montalban that the plane was coming.

Actually, Peter Dinklage is a good dwarf/little person actor. He plays Tyrion Lannister in the HBO series Game Of Thrones, he won an emmy for the role and is sure to win another for this past season's performance.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 6-17

...I don't know how they come up with this stuff but Burger King has introduced a bacon sundae. Its ingredients are vanilla ice cream topped with fudge, caramel, bacon crumbles and a piece of bacon. You won't know whether to ask for a slice of toast or a maraschino cherry.

...As a rule I don't watch reality TV but I plan on breaking that rule this week when Bristol Palin's reality series begins on June 19th. Since a Palin is involved in this, it's going to be more of a comedy show than a reality show. She said her goal is to show everyone that she's a "grounded, normal mom." See what I mean? It's funny already.

...The State of Georgia said no and hell no for obvious reasons to the KKK when they applied last week to adopt a one mile stretch of a state highway that would put them in charge of keeping that area neat and clean from litter and debris. It's a good thing for the KKK that Georgia denied their request because if they had approved it every black family from miles around would come to that stretch of the highway just to dump their trash.

...The Chicago Cubs are having another one of their typically dismal seasons so they decided to fire their hitting coach because as we all know when you do that it solves everything.

...The Phillies had a week they'd rather forget. First the Phillie Phanatic is being sued by some opportunistic woman who is claiming "mental anxiety and anguish" all because he threw her into a pool two years ago. Why wait that long to file a lawsuit? It probably took her that long to find a lawyer that would take her bull**** case. And secondly, some idiot Phillie fan while watching his favorite team in Minnesota took an out away from the Phils because a foul ball hit by Ben Revere came near him and he prevented third baseman Mike Fontenot from making the catch. Given a new life, Revere hit an RBI single as the Twins won 11 - 7. If you have not seen the video of this you really must see it. The look on Fontenot's face is priceless. Somewhere Steve Bartman understood completely.

...That's why I thought it was especially funny when Cleveland's Carlos Santana plowed over some guy in Cincinnati the other day while trying to catch a pop-up. The next time a ball comes that guys way he's going to run to get another beer and four more hot dogs instead of trying to catch a souvenier.

...In a court of law you are innocent until proven guilty. Apparently no one on the World Triathlon Corporation knows this because they banned Cyclist Lance Armstrong from competing in the upcoming international Ironman triathlon contests despite the fact that he's never failed a drug test. I don't know if this guy has taken anything illegally or not but if he's never been caught with anything in his system after multiple drug tests over the years he should be allowed to compete. But it seems that all you have to do is be accused of something and that's good enough for the Triathlon Corporation to give you the boot.

...It hasn't happened yet, but get ready for it. The head of Youtube the other day announced that he's thinking about making some parts of it for paid subscriptions only. You know what that means, don't you? Anything that is worth seeing on Youtube we are going to end up paying for. Pretty soon the only thing we'll see for free is kids trying to imitate Jackass pranks on unsuspecting people.

...Jamie Lynn Spears, Britney's little sister, wrote a song about her titled "I Look Up To You" and the lyrics described a "scared little girl" that had her innocence "taken away too soon" because she found fame and fortune faster than expected. Maybe so, but that wasn't the case with everything - like her virginity for example. She gave that away all by herself.

...I did not watch that tightrope walk by Nik Wallenda from the U.S. side of Niagara Falls to the Canadian side on Friday night because daredevil stunts have never interested me. Don't misunderstand me, I'm glad the guy made it and that he didn't get hurt. But had something gone wrong and that safety harness would have broke they still would be searching for his body in those waters today and everyone there watching him would be thinking the same thing: he was an idiot for doing it. Because when you come right down to it that's what most people think about watching daredevil stunts. You watch it with a casual interest knowing all along that you'd never do anything as stupid as this.

...The funniest part of the whole thing was when Wallenda finally made it over to the Canadian side. That's when bureaucracy took over. After the idiots from Canadian customs viewed his passport they incredibly asked him if he was carrying anything over into Canada and what the purpose of his trip was. The sad part is they were serious.

...Happy Father's Day to all you fathers, grandfathers, uncles, brothers and brother in laws out there. I hope you all have a wonderful day today and you get to relax and enjoy yourselves.

...It's funny though but last month we send flowers to our mother and maybe take them out to dinner but on father's day Dad gets a card and some new tools so he can do more work around the house. Don't believe me? Then you've missed all the commercials this week about it. Sears has it in their heads that dear old Dad won't have a good day unless he gets a new Sears Craftsman toolset to keep him smiling all day. Just once I'd like to see the advertisers try to say that all Mom wants is a new vacuum cleaner for her special day or maybe a new Tupperware set.

...Next week's Random Thoughts will be delayed because this coming weekend I'll be down at the in-laws being bored and counting the time to come home, so I apologize for next Sunday's hold-up in advance. Have a wonderful week everyone!

[Kccitystar]

....spent most of the week at home, even though it was really beautiful outside. Unfortunately it's been really, really hard to reset my sleeping pattern so I miss most of the morning and afternoon. As of this post I should be asleep but I'm not able to.

...got back into modding the past few weeks. Personally I feel like many people felt about 2K's baseball offerings: It could have been much more. It's easy to mod things especially when a lot of the tools used to mod come from the NBA 2K series. Since I've gotten back into modding, I've gotten back into visiting a few old sites like sportslogos.net and uniwatchblog, among others. Thanks to DetroitStyle, I've also been on the lookout as to what teams are wearing on the field to tailor my uniform update accordingly. I've tinkered with the game so much that I've made a tumblr account keeping track of all my little discoveries, or as I call them (small victories) in the world of modding.

...I've also gotten into house music production to complement my DJing stuff. It's a little rough around the edges but I hope I can take this summer to learn a few things and come up with my own little composition. No dubstep though.

...I'm pretty glad with how the Yankees have been playing recently. 8 straight wins so far, including a win which didn't involve the longball? Awesome. Our starters are continuously weaving gems, and in the context of days where Sabathia starts, keeping the team in the game, so that's good too.

...I had an extremely thrilling, and satisfying victory with the Miami Marlins in MLB 12: The Show a few days ago. While I do experience gamer rage when my hitters slump, I hadn't played The Show in a while since I was on a losing streak of about...10 games in my season with the Miami Marlins. I figured you know what, I'll just leave the game alone for a bit, play some other games in my backlog and get back to it again some other time. Maybe my hitters have all just ran through a cold streak, or maybe it was because I was playing MLB 2K12 on the PC that my timing was WAY OFF as a hitter, but hey, this is baseball. Things happen.

[Yankee4Life]

What's a tumblr account KC? Is that just a place to host a blog?

[Kccitystar]

What's a tumblr account KC? Is that just a place to host a blog?

Something like that.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 6-24

...Judy Garland once said that there is no place like home and chances are she had to go to someplace like my in-laws house to make her say something like that. I'm home now and it should only take until Thursday before my back begins to feel better.

...We haven't been down there in about eight months and the last time we went a part of route 690 in Syracuse was being repaired. Sure enough when we drove past it on Friday afternoon it was still being worked on, which just convinces me even further that they have just one guy working construction and whenever he gets done he gets done.

...Well, that's that. Roger Clemens escaped the legal process with no major damage except the huge bill he has to pay to his lawyers and a reputation tarnished by this trial. No matter what the outcome of this trial would have been, Clemens made it much harder on himself to make it to Cooperstown because in the court of public opinion no lawyer can help him.

...Microsoft is coming out with their own version of a tablet computer to compete with the iPad. It's called the Surface and it will be running Windows 8. In other words, we are now going to have the option of owning a tablet that will crash just as much as laptops and desktops.

...Jenny McCarthy's son woke up recently with an abscess in his mouth and her dentist advised her to take some pictures of it and send them to him so that maybe he can see the extent of the problem. She did just that, but proving that down deep she's nothing but a dumb blonde she also sent the dentist a nude photo of herself. I guess that explains why he kept on wanting to set her up with a free teeth cleaning after business hours.

...I thought I knew as much as the next guy about Abraham Lincoln but I had no idea that he hunted vampires.

...I mentioned last week that I was going to watch Bristol Palin's new comedy - I mean reality- show and was I glad I did. It was everything you would expect from the attention grabbing look-at-me Palin family. The show started out with Bristol saying that she wanted "to show her son Tripp what is out there." The kid is three years old. What the hell is she talking about? Show the kid a sandbox and give him a few toys and he could care less where he is. She also brought her 17 year old sister Willow with her so she could watch Tripp while she was out doing "charity work" and hanging out with her friends. Willow's just like her in that she's pampered, spoiled and snotty. She also prefers the daily life in Alaska where nothing ever happens and where you dodge moose turds wherever you are walking. This show is funny. The only person that is taking Bristol serious is Bristol herself.

...And if you can't get enough of this show, another Palin will be going the reality show route. Mr. Sarah Palin, also known by his first name Todd, will be featured in NBC's reality show called "Stars Earn Stripes." I'll pass on this one. And as soon as Willow gets herself good and knocked up she'll be the next Palin to get their own reality show.

...There's a new T-Shirt coming out with the phrase Bryce Harper made famous recently when he said to a reporter "that's a clown question, bro" when a Toronto journalist asked him if he was going to have a beer after the game. Silly question indeed. Harper's a Mormon and he'll do his drinking when no one's around.

...I wonder if Josh Beckett is more upset about being on the disabled list because of an inflamed right shoulder or the inability to play a round of golf because of it.

...When it's time for Alex Rodriguez to come up for his turn at bat I always find something else to do because when he's hitting I am not going to miss a thing. This guy has morphed from a dangerous home run threat to a .260 hitter that no one is afraid of.

...Boston got to play six games against the Marlins and three against the Cubs, which shows you why the Red Sox love interleague play. Every year they get the softest schedule handed to them as they played themselves right out of last place after winning seven out of nine games against these slugs.

[DonSPa]

I know its not sunday but i was setting my fantasy teams up for the weekend and thought id do some stat looking.Last year I started expiermenting with the bidding type leagues and now id rather play those.Takes longer than ur normal drafts but still I think u pick up better teams.This years drafts there were 2 players whom I picked up in almost all my teams and which most people laughed.Wasnt because they were Pirates because normally I dont take Pirate starting pitchers.Those 2 players are James Mcdonald and AJ Burnett.James I had more confidence with the pick and Aj i wasnt sure which player would show up but thought If the AJ of old would show then I had a bargain.If the player who struggled showed then all I would be out would be $1.00 and pick someone off the FA list.Now who would have thought both AJ and James both each would have more wins than,Halladay,Lee and Lincecum combined.Granted Halladay has been on the DL but still is amazing.Not bad when i spent a total of $2.00 for both

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 7-1

...Welcome to July - the start of the two fastest months of the year. Blink your eyes and before you know it it's going to be Labor Day.

...The Red Sox drove another one of their popular players out of Boston when they traded Kevin Youkilis to the White Sox. Youkilis was the consummate Red Sox ballplayer. Sullen, pouty and self-indulgent. He was also convinced that the whole world was against him, especially umpires who dared to call him out on strikes.

...Even President Obama chimed in about the Youkilis trade. But because he's the President

he can't even make a joke about it without having it become an issue with some people. He was kidding around with the crowd that came to see him in Boston and that was the extent of what happened. The thing I didn't understand was why he was so happy the Skinhead was now in Chicago.

...Now that Venus Williams has been eliminated from Wimbledon it is going to be enjoyable to watch the matches now that she's gone. This will work out well for her too. Now she's got more time to pose for pictures and make commercials.

...And with any luck her sister Serena will soon be following her.

...I realize many people are against it but I still support what the state of Arizona is doing about their illegal immigrant problem. I figure if you don't want to be called an illegal alien, don't come to this country illegally. Sounds cut and dry to me.

...I could care less that the McDonald's employees will soon be getting new uniforms. Even if they went as far as making them wear a shirt and tie the french fries are still going to be dry, the fish in the fish filet still won't taste like fish and whatever drink you order you know you are going to get 75% ice in the cup.

...Maybe Adrolis Chapman would feel more at home in a playpen instead of in a bullpen.

...A.J. Burnett (9 - 2, 3.31 ERA) is making the Pirates look good for trading for him over the winter. And Yankee fans wonder why he couldn't do the same for them.

...I don't understand why twenty years after the fact Clyde Drexler had to complain about Magic Johnson winning the MVP award in the 1992 NBA All-Star game and of his spot on the Olympic Dream Team of that year. I know he's trying to sell a book but it's over and done with. Twenty years is a long time. As expected, once he saw his comments in print he immediately denied saying them. Haven't we seen this before?

...In a move that should have happened years ago, the NFL is changing the start times of the late afternoon games from 4:05 pm to 4:25 pm (east coast time) because many of the games that begin at 1:00 pm are not being completed on schedule and are running over, therefore preventing viewers from seeing the start of the second game. This makes so much sense that you almost hesitate to believe that the NFL was behind it.

...Katie Holmes filed for divorce from Tom Cruise last week. My guess is that she didn't want to sit through one more lecture about Scientology.

...For all of you Erin Andrews fans out there, don't worry one bit about your favorite hot sideline reporter because she is leaving ESPN. She and her long legs will be signed by another network long before the college football season begins.

...Have a safe and happy Fourth of July!!!!

[jay16509]

Y4L and all the MVPMODS Crew,

Happy 4th of July to all of you. We are almost at the halfway point of the MLB season. It has been an exciting season so far, and I am happy my Buccos are doing well right now. I am very shocked at Burnett, and hope he continues to do well. I honestly must say I thought this would be a huge mistake for my Pirates, and thus far on the season, I have been wrong. I hope the pitching continues to perform well, and that we can get some more offense (which I feel is holding us back). Say what you will about Clint Hurdle, but I have been very impressed with him as manager the past 2 years.

I went to Busch Gardens with my son yesterday to see the fireworks. Gorgeous display, and the park had things really well done. I wanted to go yesterday, as I figure the 4th will be insane there.

I can hardly wait for MVP 2012 to be finished. It looks to be an outstanding edition to this already impressive legacy of mods that the game has at this moment. A big thank you to all those involved.

[DonSPa]

jay can u imagine what mcdonalds record would be if he hadnt had those games that the pirates couldnt win but he still pitched good ,the one guy i thought would do better is bedard

[jay16509]

I know. Thats the one thing that has hurt the Pirates is the offense. The pitching has been outstanding for the most part this season. I also thought Bedard would do better, but he is at least staying healthy.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 7-8

...I hope that guy who got mauled by those two chimpanzees is going to be ok and recovers quickly and that in the future learns to keep his distance from them or at the very least share his bananas.

...Michael Jordan's son got arrested for causing a disturbance outside an Omaha hotel as he was charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and obstructing justice. Not to worry because all Dad has to do is sign a few autographs and shake a couple of hands and then everything will be fine.

...The first thing that I thought of after I read that Pacman Jones once spent one million dollars in one weekend is that I wished I had the chance to do the same thing.

...R.I.P. to Andy Griffith who died this past July 3rd. His teaming with the late Don Knotts on The Andy Griffith Show provided some of the funniest television ever seen.

...Did anyone hear about that "Buxom Bandit" that they had in Australia? A blonde haired girl wearing a very low cut top drove to a gas station with another man and stole close to $200 from the clerk. She never even bothered to conceal her face during the robbery because she probably figured the guy's eyes would have been elsewhere. Makes sense. That would have worked on me.

...Tony Larussa doesn't hold a grudge, does he? Just ask the Reds.

...It sure seems odd to look at the major league standings to see that the Washington Nationals and the Pittsburgh Pirates are leading their respective divisions.

...Dontrelle Willis retired last week. This guy had one good year and made a nine year career out of that before it took everyone to realize that the guy simply sucked.

...I'm happy to say I survived another Fourth of July. People have been blowing off fireworks all week - which is fine. The noise doesn't bother me but I can't say the same for my dogs because when I let them out to go and do their business the boom-boom-boom of the firecrackers has them jumping around as they try to figure out where the racket is coming from.

...Speaking of fireworks, I passed on attending the fireworks display again this year because I honestly believe that once you've seen one fireworks show in your life you have seen them all.

...Went to the drive-in in Avon, New York on Thursday night to see The Amazing Spiderman and Men in Black III. Both movies cost us eight dollars apiece in admission and the weather was just perfect to watch the movies. The only downside was when after drinking a 32 ounce cup of iced tea you had to walk a quarter mile to the rest room. It's either that or don't drink nothing for two movies!

...A 73-year-old Spanish man was gored in the right leg on the first day of Spain's annual running with the bulls and later on a young Japanese runner was dragged by a bull on the pavement downhill toward the bullring. Some people really know how to have a good time.

...I attended a baseball game for the first time this year only because I won two free box seat tickets and I was pretty happy about it until I found out that the Pawtucket Red Sox were the visiting team. My wife wanted to know if she should bring the digital camera like she always does but I said she didn't have to because like I explained before, Pawtucket was in town. We had great seats behind first base and at 93 degrees with a slight breeze it was an enjoyable night for a game. Naturally I heard and saw a few things that I wanted to share with you in this week's Random Thoughts.

1. Waiting in line to get in there was a guy wearing a Red Sox Jonathan Paplebon T-Shirt. Some kid saw the shirt and asked his dad if Papelbon was injured this year because he hasn't seen him pitch for the Red Sox.

2. While I am on the subject of that Paplebon shirt it was like Fenway Park West at Frontier Field Friday night. Red Sox hats, Pedroia jerseys, David Ortiz shirts, Ellsbury, Wakefield, Varitek - all Sox players from the past few years. But among that I happened to notice something. I did not see one jersey with the names of Red Sox players from years ago. I saw no Carl Yastrzemski, no Jim Rice. Not even Ted Williams. Then it hit me. These people had to be Red Sox fans since 2004. Anything before that they had no knowledge of.

3. I counted at least 20 cell phones that were out all around me that were constantly in use while the game was going on and in between innings. There was more but I stopped counting. One lady while talking on her phone complained that she couldn't hear the person she was talking to because there were "20,000 people here," which is impossible since Frontier Field only holds around 10,000.

4. FYI, there was only a little more than 5,000 at this game.

5. One kid sitting near me must have ate everything the ballpark had for sale. I saw him put away a hamburger, hot dog, nachos, popcorn, pretzels, pizza and cotton candy along with lemonade and Coke. He had everything but ice cream and I figured even he was full but the little guy proved me wrong because when the bottom of the eighth rolled around he came back with a fudge sundae.

6. Another kid came to the ballpark prepared. He brought his iPad and he was playing games in his seat. He will grow up to be someone who says he doesn't like baseball because he doesn't understand it.

7. Every once in awhile I did see people watch the game and try to follow it but to be truthful it wasn't a lot. When the Red Wings scored their runs these people I was talking about here cheered along with the crowd even though they had no idea what they were clapping for because they missed it.

...Tomorrow is the birthday of one of my all time favorite singers in Rock history, Bon Scott of AC DC. To me, Scott was one of the greatest singers and front men in the history of rock but since he died back in 1980, not many people today know of him.

[GoRedSox34]

Updated to 7-8

...I hope that guy who got mauled by those two chimpanzees is going to be ok and recovers quickly and that in the future learns to keep his distance from them or at the very least share his bananas.

...Michael Jordan's son got arrested for causing a disturbance outside an Omaha hotel as he was charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and obstructing justice. Not to worry because all Dad has to do is sign a few autographs and shake a couple of hands and then everything will be fine.

...The first thing that I thought of after I read that Pacman Jones once spent one million dollars in one weekend is that I wished I had the chance to do the same thing.

...R.I.P. to Andy Griffith who died this past July 3rd. His teaming with the late Don Knotts on The Andy Griffith Show provided some of the funniest television ever seen.

...Did anyone hear about that "Buxom Bandit" that they had in Australia? A blonde haired girl wearing a very low cut top drove to a gas station with another man and stole close to $200 from the clerk. She never even bothered to conceal her face during the robbery because she probably figured the guy's eyes would have been elsewhere. Makes sense. That would have worked on me.

...Tony Larussa doesn't hold a grudge, does he? Just ask the Reds.

...It sure seems odd to look at the major league standings to see that the Washington Nationals and the Pittsburgh Pirates are leading their respective divisions.

...Dontrelle Willis retired last week. This guy had one good year and made a nine year career out of that before it took everyone to realize that the guy simply sucked.

...I'm happy to say I survived another Fourth of July. People have been blowing off fireworks all week - which is fine. The noise doesn't bother me but I can't say the same for my dogs because when I let them out to go and do their business the boom-boom-boom of the firecrackers has them jumping around as they try to figure out where the racket is coming from.

...Speaking of fireworks, I passed on attending the fireworks display again this year because I honestly believe that once you've seen one fireworks show in your life you have seen them all.

...Went to the drive-in in Avon, New York on Thursday night to see The Amazing Spiderman and Men in Black III. Both movies cost us eight dollars apiece in admission and the weather was just perfect to watch the movies. The only downside was when after drinking a 32 ounce cup of iced tea you had to walk a quarter mile to the rest room. It's either that or don't drink nothing for two movies!

...A 73-year-old Spanish man was gored in the right leg on the first day of Spain's annual running with the bulls and later on a young Japanese runner was dragged by a bull on the pavement downhill toward the bullring. Some people really know how to have a good time.

...I attended a baseball game for the first time this year only because I won two free box seat tickets and I was pretty happy about it until I found out that the Pawtucket Red Sox were the visiting team. My wife wanted to know if she should bring the digital camera like she always does but I said she didn't have to because like I explained before, Pawtucket was in town. We had great seats behind first base and at 93 degrees with a slight breeze it was an enjoyable night for a game. Naturally I heard and saw a few things that I wanted to share with you in this week's Random Thoughts.

1. Waiting in line to get in there was a guy wearing a Red Sox Jonathan Paplebon T-Shirt. Some kid saw the shirt and asked his dad if Papelbon was injured this year because he hasn't seen him pitch for the Red Sox.

2. While I am on the subject of that Paplebon shirt it was like Fenway Park West at Frontier Field Friday night. Red Sox hats, Pedroia jerseys, David Ortiz shirts, Ellsbury, Wakefield, Varitek - all Sox players from the past few years. But among that I happened to notice something. I did not see one jersey with the names of Red Sox players from years ago. I saw no Carl Yastrzemski, no Jim Rice. Not even Ted Williams. Then it hit me. These people had to be Red Sox fans since 2004. Anything before that they had no knowledge of.

3. I counted at least 20 cell phones that were out all around me that were constantly in use while the game was going on and in between innings. There was more but I stopped counting. One lady while talking on her phone complained that she couldn't hear the person she was talking to because there were "20,000 people here," which is impossible since Frontier Field only holds around 10,000.

4. FYI, there was only a little more than 5,000 at this game.

5. One kid sitting near me must have ate everything the ballpark had for sale. I saw him put away a hamburger, hot dog, nachos, popcorn, pretzels, pizza and cotton candy along with lemonade and Coke. He had everything but ice cream and I figured even he was full but the little guy proved me wrong because when the bottom of the eighth rolled around he came back with a fudge sundae.

6. Another kid came to the ballpark prepared. He brought his iPad and he was playing games in his seat. He will grow up to be someone who says he doesn't like baseball because he doesn't understand it.

7. Every once in awhile I did see people watch the game and try to follow it but to be truthful it wasn't a lot. When the Red Wings scored their runs these people I was talking about here cheered along with the crowd even though they had no idea what they were clapping for because they missed it.

...Tomorrow is the birthday of one of my all time favorite singers in Rock history, Bon Scott of AC DC. To me, Scott was one of the greatest singers and front men in the history of rock but since he died back in 1980, not many people today know of him.

Entertaining as usual Y4L but I disagree with the player t-shirts and what the names on the back of those shirts means. The Red Sox are in a time of underproduction and injuries but the team is filled with stars who have been fan favorites since before you probably knew their names. Ellsbury was popular, and much anticipated by most as early as 2005 when I saw him play in Lowell, Pedroia is another homegrown talent that is everything you want in a ballplayer (him and Cano are the best in the league), and Wakefield gained a following in the 90's. This has nothing to do with 2004 as much as people outside New England love to pretend it is. Also, Yaz and Rice jerseys are few and far between compared to current players.

[Yankee4Life]

Entertaining as usual Y4L but I disagree with the player t-shirts and what the names on the back of those shirts means. The Red Sox are in a time of underproduction and injuries but the team is filled with stars who have been fan favorites since before you probably knew their names. Ellsbury was popular, and much anticipated by most as early as 2005 when I saw him play in Lowell, Pedroia is another homegrown talent that is everything you want in a ballplayer (him and Cano are the best in the league), and Wakefield gained a following in the 90's. This has nothing to do with 2004 as much as people outside New England love to pretend it is. Also, Yaz and Rice jerseys are few and far between compared to current players.

Ok, well in that case I stand corrected. You're right in that you knew these guys well before I did since you followed them in the low minors. I understand what you mean.

[rroy0824]

I have to disagree with you about the shirts meaning they were only fans since 2004. Most people buy shirts with the current players on it. Even though some of the players are gone, you can see why they bought the shirt. If you go to a Tigers game, you see shirts with Cabrera, Verlander, and even still, Inge. You don't see too many Trammell or Morris shirts. I think saying they are only fans since 2004 is a bit of a stretch. But I wasn't there, maybe there was more to it.

[Yankee4Life]

I have to disagree with you about the shirts meaning they were only fans since 2004. Most people buy shirts with the current players on it. Even though some of the players are gone, you can see why they bought the shirt. If you go to a Tigers game, you see shirts with Cabrera, Verlander, and even still, Inge. You don't see too many Trammell or Morris shirts. I think saying they are only fans since 2004 is a bit of a stretch. But I wasn't there, maybe there was more to it.

I suppose the reason why I wrote what I did was when I am watching all the Yankee games that I do and every time they pan the crowd I see T-shirts with a lot of the old Yankee legends mixed in with the ones you would expect to see (like Jeter, A-Rod and Cano.) I always see Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, Munson, etc all the time and that is why I wondered about these people and their knowledge of the Red Sox.

[rroy0824]

I suppose the reason why I wrote what I did was when I am watching all the Yankee games that I do and every time they pan the crowd I see T-shirts with a lot of the old Yankee legends mixed in with the ones you would expect to see (like Jeter, A-Rod and Cano.) I always see Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, Munson, etc all the time and that is why I wondered about these people and their knowledge of the Red Sox.

Thats true, people do have those shirts for the Yankees. However, I don't think that just because you have a shirt of a player from the past that it means you know more about you're teams history. The 18 year old kid with the Babe Ruth shirt may or may not know anything about Babe Ruth other then he hit a ton of homeruns. These are people who are usually fake fans. Every team has them, not just the Red Sox. I can't count the number of people with Yankees hats on that couldn't name a player other then A-Rod or Jeter. I'm not saying you're 100% wrong though. The Red Sox are a team with a lot of bandwagon fans, but there are some real fans too. ;)

[Yankee4Life]

Thats true, people do have those shirts for the Yankees. However, I don't think that just because you have a shirt of a player from the past that it means you know more about you're teams history. The 18 year old kid with the Babe Ruth shirt may or may not know anything about Babe Ruth other then he hit a ton of homeruns. These are people who are usually fake fans. Every team has them, not just the Red Sox. I can't count the number of people with Yankees hats on that couldn't name a player other then A-Rod or Jeter. I'm not saying you're 100% wrong though. The Red Sox are a team with a lot of bandwagon fans, but they're are some real fans too.

Oh yeah, you are not kidding. You won't get an argument from me about this. The Yankees have bandwagon fans too and you can spot them a mile away.

I agree that if you spot someone wearing a Babe Ruth T-shirt or jersey may only know the basics about him. Maybe all he knows about Ruth is that he's a player that he unlocked in a baseball video game.

When your team has a bit of success you are suddenly going to see your favorite team on everyone. I saw it first hand with the Yankees. They won nothing in the 80's. In the early 90's they had a lousy team. In fact they ended up in last place in 1990. Then they started to improve. After the great run from 1996 to 2000 you couldn't count the Yankee hats and jerseys around you as compared to before when you only saw two or three. There's some Yankee fans today who don't know or care about anything before 1996 because they never heard of them before then.

[rroy0824]

Oh yeah, you are not kidding. You won't get an argument from me about this. The Yankees have bandwagon fans too and you can spot them a mile away.

I agree that if you spot someone wearing a Babe Ruth T-shirt or jersey may only know the basics about him. Maybe all he knows about Ruth is that he's a player that he unlocked in a baseball video game.

When your team has a bit of success you are suddenly going to see your favorite team on everyone. I saw it first hand with the Yankees. They won nothing in the 80's. In the early 90's they had a lousy team. In fact they ended up in last place in 1990. Then they started to improve. After the great run from 1996 to 2000 you couldn't count the Yankee hats and jerseys around you as compared to before when you only saw two or three. There's some Yankee fans today who don't know or care about anything before 1996 because they never heard of them before then.

Right, same with the Tigers in 2006. I just don't think you can base fan knowlegde on a shirt. :)

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 7-15

...Despite being an American League fan it was still a pleasure to watch the All Star game although I would have preferred that Justin Verlander have a game like he did against the Yankees instead of the National League.

...Who am I kidding though? The Yankees would get guys on base and leave them there.

...I felt bad for Robinson Cano's family because they were harrassed by some Kansas City fans who must have had too much corn liquor in them to think straight.

...Some people were speculating that Verlander was distracted in the game because he has been seen going out with the gorgeous Kate Upton, which by any way you look at it is just foolish. Although if you think about it if he was preoccupied that's a hell of a good reason for it.

...Natalie Wood's 1981 drowning has been changed from "accidental" to "undetermined" on her death certificate after the case was re-opened last year. This now gives Robert Wagner something else to think about other than reverse mortgages.

...Less than two weeks after Katie Holmes told Tom Cruise to get lost an agreement was reached on their divorce settlement. How's that for quick work? Holmes must have something on Cruise to make him agree so fast and the Scientology big wigs knew it and told Cruise to give her what she wants.

...By the way, what is this Scientology anyway? Exactly who do they worship except the almighty dollar? I have never heard one good thing about them. This is a religion that encourages their members to cut off all contact with friends or family members who are "antagonistic" to Scientology. These people are a cult disguised as a religion.

...There's a movie being made about the life of Janis Joplin because someone figured why not. Already they've screwed it up because they inaccurately cast Nina Arianda in the lead as Joplin. Arianda's not hard on the eyes while Joplin makes Roseanne Barr look like Miss America.

...I had to laugh when I read the story about that woman who was watching NASCAR with a dead man for over a year because that is the only way that I'll ever watch a bunch of rednecks driving around in a circle.

...I'm sure if you asked Lenny Dykstra he'd tell you he's had better weeks.

...For any of you guys out there who have spent any time working in your yard pulling out weeds every time you think you've got them all you find another one.

...It was a special week last week here at Mvpmods in that we had two season mods released. First it was stecropper's 1962 season mod and then the 2012 season mod by Kyleb (among many others). The only problem I have is trying to find time to devote to each mod and so far that's proved to be impossible for me.

...For reasons only they understand, the Yankees told Reggie Jackson to stay away from the team for awhile due to the comments he made about Alex Rodriguez in an S.I. article when he said his steroid use clouded his records. The Yankees were upset with Jackson for stating the obvious which is that A-Rod has turned into the most expensive singles hitter in the game and an unproductive one at that. So basically what we have here is Jackson being penalized for telling the truth.

...I felt sorry for that guy down in Tennessee who filled up his gas tank recently and was hit for an $85,000 charge. That's what you get for filling it with Premium.

...Amazing how so many people are complaining that the U.S. Opening Ceremony outfits were made in China but no one complains that the iPods and iPads are made there too.

[sabugo]

Agree on just about everything.

Hardly a surprise that Reggie got in trouble by opening his mouth, something that he has been doing for the past 30 years or so. And comparing to some things he said in the past, what he said was pretty small stuff for such a big mess created over it.

And I'd be glad if A-Rod could hit singles.

Then again, with all that money, maybe his luck would change if he turned to scientology. Or maybe not :diablo: