Random Thoughts On A Sunday Morning Updated To 7-28

[scottybilly]

Welcome back, Y4L:

Any athlete being paid as much as A-Rod will always have a target painted on his back by the media. He probably likes the attention though. Jeter and Posada are probably laughing their butts off- it takes negative attention away from their mediocrity.

The Yankees are in the same boat with Burnett as the Giants are with Zito: They are both too afraid to admit they made a huge mistake by signing these pitchers that peaked before they got a fat contract. Both teams are stuck with paying the guaranteed money, but sometimes its better to cut ties with a player that hurts your team instead of helping it.

I think Alex Rios stinks for two reasons: One, hes still in shock that Chicago claimed him off waivers, thus taking him away from a team where he wouldnt be as scrutinized as he is now. Two, once he decided not to call himself Alexis anymore, his career has gone downhill.

After watching the Giants-Phillies series, I think you can put Beltran in the same list as Soriano and Rios. He let 3-4 balls drop in front of him too, without charging after them.

Why was the ROY voting so close last season? I realize that Heyward played many more games than Posey did, but who helped his team win more?

Why even bother calling a prospect a 5-tool player? Once he becomes a major leaguer, immediately he will give up on at least 2 of those tools.

[Yankee4Life]

Any athlete being paid as much as A-Rod will always have a target painted on his back by the media. He probably likes the attention though. Jeter and Posada are probably laughing their butts off- it takes negative attention away from their mediocrity.

Maybe so, but with the way those two posers have been playing it is going to take more than this to get the attention off them.

The Yankees are in the same boat with Burnett as the Giants are with Zito: They are both too afraid to admit they made a huge mistake by signing these pitchers that peaked before they got a fat contract. Both teams are stuck with paying the guaranteed money, but sometimes its better to cut ties with a player that hurts your team instead of helping it.

I agree. Burnett's been a huge bust and it is really is too bad. As I said, I can't even watch him anymore. I don't even want to look at him.

Why was the ROY voting so close last season? I realize that Heyward played many more games than Posey did, but who helped his team win more?

That's an easy question to answer. The ROY was close last year because Jason Heyward got over-hyped and praised since opening day last year. Remember what he did on his first at bat of the 2010 season? He hit a three run home run off of Carlos Zambrano. Ever since that ball landed in the right field seats he's been treated like the greatest thing ever.

Posey was the key for the Giants last year. Heyward just got the attention

[DetroitStyle]

1) Child please, when you make $20 million a year every thought, move, and word will be scrutinized. If he wants less attention take a smaller contract. Are the charges unfair and are "idiot" baseball fans, as you so-call them, unfair to jump on him right away? Possibly. But this is baseball we're talking about here, and this is gambling we're talking about. Not steroids, not flashing weapons in the locker room, not dating modonna. Gambling. Just ask Pete Rose how baseball feels about gambling. I don't care if he was playing strip poker with lady gaga and matt damon, if you play baseball, make that kind of money, and go near a deck of cards or a poker chip there's gonna be a lot of trouble. Thinking otherwise is foolish and ignorant.

2) Giffords was on the front page of the New York Times, but agree...she should've received more coverage. Get shot in the head and 6 months later make it back to congress to vote? Remarkable, amazing, heroic.

3) Alex Rios? What about Vernon Wells? It seems the only good product to leave Toronto was Halladay, and Maybe Cecil Fielder although he wasn't that good when he was there, but I digress.

4) Off topic, but Yankees and Red Sox....who cares? No one. The rivalry is all but dead except to the most hard core of fans. Read this article: http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/14706/red-sox-yankees-rivalry-dead-how-to-fix

18 games is way to much and all 18 are clogging up SNB. It's a money grab and ratings *****. I'd say the same thing if it was any other team. BBTN and SNB need to mix it up, but they want what brings in the cash and that's Boston, Philly, St. Louis, and New York. When was the last time you saw the Marlins and Astros on SNB or BBTN whe they were NOT playing one of the 3 above mentioned teams? I rest my case.

5) Heyward is over hyped but so is the lesser known Austin Jackson. Both had great first seasons but are struggling to find their place in baseball. Call it the sophomore slump, but both still have a lot to prove to their team. Calling him a bum is a bit of an overstatement especially in his second season.

6) Welcome back Dan Uggla.

7) Should Jose Valverde be considered for AL Cy Young? 32/32 ties a major league record for consecutive saves. 2.92 ERA with a .209 average against.

[Jim825]

I don't care if he was playing strip poker with lady gaga and matt damon,

With that mental picture, I guess I can forget about finishing the rest of my lunch..... :bad:

[Yankee4Life]

1) Child please, when you make $20 million a year every thought, move, and word will be scrutinized. If he wants less attention take a smaller contract. Are the charges unfair and are "idiot" baseball fans, as you so-call them, unfair to jump on him right away? Possibly. But this is baseball we're talking about here, and this is gambling we're talking about. Not steroids, not flashing weapons in the locker room, not dating modonna. Gambling. Just ask Pete Rose how baseball feels about gambling. I don't care if he was playing strip poker with lady gaga and matt damon, if you play baseball, make that kind of money, and go near a deck of cards or a poker chip there's gonna be a lot of trouble. Thinking otherwise is foolish and ignorant.

Child please? What the hell is that?

Why are you so dense? Is he the only guy in baseball that makes 20 million dollars a year? What about his teammate Jeter? He isn't scrutinized as much as Rodriguez. Damn, if Jeter was the guy who was playing poker they'd all be asking him how good a time he had and how much he won.

I did say the charges were unfair and the idiot baseball fans around the country would jump on this and look at him like he was guilty without knowing all the facts. After reading your comments, I stand by it and include you in that category of fans. Even though there were witnesses who said that A-Rod was not at the game in question where cocaine was present, someone out there who wanted so desperately to be interviewed by the media included him as being there. And that is all it takes for some fans to hear. A-Rod's guilty. He makes a lot of money. Of course he's guilty. That's God damn nuts.

I know darn well how baseball feels about gambling. And don't try to compare Alex Rodriguez playing poker to Pete Rose betting on the Cincinnati Reds. A lot of ballplayers play cards. But since Rodriguez' name was brought up, he's guilty. Because he makes 20 million a year.

18 games is way to much and all 18 are clogging up SNB. It's a money grab and ratings *****. I'd say the same thing if it was any other team. BBTN and SNB need to mix it up, but they want what brings in the cash and that's Boston, Philly, St. Louis, and New York. When was the last time you saw the Marlins and Astros on SNB or BBTN whe they were NOT playing one of the 3 above mentioned teams? I rest my case.

Well genius, the reason why the Yankees and Red Sox play 18 times is because they are in the same division. The Tigers play Cleveland tonight, right? They play the Indians 18 times this year or didn't you know that?

And what you are saying about other teams not being on prime time baseball has been talked about in here for a long time. Everyone knows it's not right. Each team deserves to have their time in the spotlight.

[DetroitStyle]

Y4L, drop the attitude it's getting old. You may be level headed in your writings but when someone else drops an opinion it's instant blasphemy.

Your assumptions of A-Rod are wrong yet again. He's not the only one, making $20 that's got a target on their back. I'm still hearing people cry foul over Jeter's failure to attend the all star game. Anyone making a lot of money is going to have a lot of attention. You don't think Tiger Wood's has a target on his back? But that's not my original point, of which you deviated from.

As well, you don't have to be betting on baseball. Any kind of gambling, especially the illegal in-your-friends-basement kind is serious stuff. Want to know why we don't hear this from Jeter? Because he's not stupid enough to be involved in this. Even if he's innocent of the claims he's got no business putting himself in a position TO BE POTENTIALLY accused of illegal gambling.

As to your second point, is the insulting attitude necessary? I'm sorry if my "child please" expression offended you but it's not meant as an insult to you. At what time did I mention anything about unbalanced schedules, or division schedules, or how division teams play 18 games? All I said was that they play each other 18 times, and all 18 are on BBTN. I don't appreciate the patronizing attitude, I was making a point about how the 18 are shown on TV, not a point about the scheduling within divisions.

[Yankee4Life]

The problem with you stating your opinions is that it is obvious when I read them that you didn't bother to read mine and even try to understand it. That's fine.

Exactly where have you been reading about people still complaining about Jeter skipping the All Star Game? Not even in the New York tabloids is this talked about anymore. And those guys love to bring anything up.

Think of any ballplayer today. Who gets scrutinized more than Rodriguez? God damn, the guy couldn't even be left alone when he was watching the Super Bowl with Cameron Diaz. People had to give him sh** for that too. It's a joke. But if Captain America was there with Minka Kelly they'd have him take a bow.

And Tiger Woods? You got to bring him up too? No one said a damn thing about Woods before he got caught screwing around on his wife with all those women. After that he was an open target. But before that happened he was able to do and say what he pleased. How the hell you can't see this is beyond me.

And as far as all 18 of the Yankee-Red Sox games being on National TV, I think you better check your TV Guide they are not all on prime time. It only looks that way.

[scottybilly]

Instead of disagreeing/arguing with Y4L, start your own blog or weekly rant here. This is a perfect example of why I wouldnt post my honest opinions about sports or anything. Why go through all the drama of people scrutinizing and arguing with me to the point where I have to defend my point of view about something? It's just a point of view. In philosophy classes, one of the biggest things you learn about is how to understand and consider, debate, and defend somebody else's opinions, beliefs, and values that conflict with your own.

On a lighter note, That is a really cool photo gallery you had posted on this site, Y4L. :good:

[Yankee4Life]

Instead of disagreeing/arguing with Y4L, start your own blog or weekly rant here. This is a perfect example of why I wouldnt post my honest opinions about sports or anything. Why go through all the drama of people scrutinizing and arguing with me to the point where I have to defend my point of view about something? It's just a point of view. In philosophy classes, one of the biggest things you learn about is how to understand and consider, debate, and defend somebody else's opinions, beliefs, and values that conflict with your own.

On a lighter note, That is a really cool photo gallery you had posted on this site, Y4L.

Nah, he is more than welcome here. He adds a lot in this thread. I just question where he gets some of his information though, like when he said people are still talking about Jeter skipping the All Star Game last month. Yeah, that was a big thing, but like I told him if the tabloids in NY are not even talking about it, then no one is. It's front page news for the Daily News and NY Post if a ballplayer gets caught jaywalking. They cover it all.

You like the pictures? Comment on them. Rate them. Come in here and request a player. I'll do my best to see if I have him.

[DJEagles]

Loving the direction the Jays are headed in. Finally. Looking forward to next season, when the Yanks, Rays, and Red Sox are all looking up at them in the division.

[DylanBradbury]

Loving the direction the Jays are headed in. Finally. Looking forward to next season, when the Yanks, Rays, and Red Sox are all looking up at them in the division.

Me too. :)

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 8-14

...Last week Joe Girardi called Jorge Posada in his office and told him flat out that he would not be the DH anymore. And since I read this article and others like this, the smile on my face has not come off. It's not that I can't stand the guy it's just that...ok, I can't stand the guy. He is taking up a valuable roster space from someone who can actually help the team and the only reason he has not been released yet is because the Yankees are afraid of the bad press they'll get.

...You are not going to catch me saying many good things about Red Sox players, but this is one of those times. When Jason Varitek's time as a starting catcher was ending for Boston he accepted a back up role with the club, caught now and then and helps out that team with his experience and his attitude. And do you ever see stories like "Varitek disappointed in playing time"? No. He doesn't throw a fit with his role and he does what he can for the team. Not Posada. It's been one thing after another with this guy and as I guarantee you that the Yankees are counting the days until he is off the team. Sure, give him a day in his honor. Thank him for what he has done. Then get him the hell out of there.

...I can't go on with this week's Random Thoughts without letting you all think I was going soft on the Sox because I complimented one of their players. Let me add that while I respect how Jason Varitek has gone about his business with class ever since he lost his starting job, I have the exact amount of disrespect for Jacoby Ellsbury, who has turned into the typical showoff rub-it-in player that the Red Sox seem to produce without effort.

...Sarah Palin's son Track (yeah, that's his name) and his wife are the new parents of a bouncing baby girl. No word yet if a reality show or a book deal is planned.

...Joy Behar recently had Kate Gosselin on her show and Gosselin was telling her how hard it was for her to find a man to be with her because of all the kids she has and when she was done with her latest attempt to culminate sympathy, Behar came up with the suggestion in a joking way that if she was having such a hard time finding a man, she should try lesbianism. Of course, that's assuming you can find a woman that would want to put up with her. Not even lesbians are that hard up.

...Poor Casey Anthony. A judge ordered her to return to Florida to serve a supervised probation for a check-fraud conviction. Last year she admitted stealing a checkbook from her friend and writing over $600 worth of checks with it. This woman was as good of a friend as she was a mother.

...Hey, how about those riots in London this past week? Thank God they are starting to subside now because a group of professional rioters from Philadelphia were planning on going over there soon to show them Londeners how to stage a real riot.

...The great DiMaggio will be getting a postage stamp next year in a series that will be honoring four baseball legends. And from the looks of this stamp I might be getting me a few of these.

...There are some pretty amazing people in this world and if you really pay attention you will find that the really impressive ones have nothing to do with sports. Take what this 98 year old San Francisco woman did. At her age she earned a tenth degree black belt which is the highest you can achieve. And to think, the only black belt I own I bought from Target.

...I wonder if Manny Ramirez has any second thoughts of not playing baseball anymore because if he had accepted that 100 game ban, he would have returned to the Rays by now.

...I wouldn't be so fast to dismiss the accusations that the Toronto Blue Jays are stealing signs. Let's just say I wouldn't put it past them - even when their catcher J.P. Arencibia denied the claim by stating that "if they were stealing signs it isn't helping me because I'm hitting .200" That may be so, but it also has nothing to do with it. Some players don't want the signs when they go up to hit and some do. And it sure isn't going to help someone like Arencibia who consistently can't hit at all. And that's in day games, night games, spring training games and batting practice. The Yanks were there last month and this came up. Even the Red Sox have addressed this. And I don't believe they have a "guy in a white shirt" that's doing this. That would be too obvious. But I do believe they are doing something.

...The Chicago Cubs have been having another one of their typical seasons this year. Losing, losing and more losing. But with the announcement on Friday night that Carlos Zambrano had apparently retired when he cleaned out his locker during the game when the Braves hit five home runs off of him. If Zambrano is serious about this, the Cubs can chalk up the 2011 season as a successful one despite their record.

...The trouble I am having with this is that I just don't believe it. Zambrano is going to apologize for what he did (again) and attempt to explain why he got so mad (again) and that he was frustrated with his outing (again). The Cubs should have tried to suspend him for the rest of the season instead of only thirty days. Why not? They've been a bad team with him, maybe now they can be better team without him.

...More good news: After his awful performance at the Atlanta Athletic Club this weekend, Tiger Woods failed to make the cut at the PGA Championship and because of that his PGA season is over.

[scottybilly]

Damn. Those are good items for me to rant about also, but I will try something different and positive instead. I'm really liking that Joe Dimaggio postage stamp. I hope the remaining 3 players are Pete Rose, Jose Canseco, and either Shoeless Joe Jackson or Derek Jeter. J/K. I think it will be Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, and probably Hank Aaron or Mickey Mantle.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 8-21

...Kudos to the Florida Marlins for demoting part time major leaguer and full time Tweeter Logan Morrison to their Triple A New Orleans farm team. Morrison probably won't mind as much as he said he did provided he can bring his laptop along.

...Nothing personal against Atlanta's Dan Uggla, but I was happy to see that his hitting streak was stopped cold at 33 games. I don't want anyone breaking Joe Dimaggio's record.

...He has one good game at the plate and Jorge Posada wants to play next year. I don't know where he thinks he is going to go because he's a designated hitter who can't hit, but I'm pulling for him provided he's not a Yankee.

...I kind of wondered how Posada felt about his intent on playing next year just a few days later. Wednesday (the 17th) was his 40th birthday and Joe Girardi sent up the birthday boy with two out in the ninth and the Yankees one run to the bad against Kansas City. Posada struck out against Joakim Soria to end the game without once swinging at anything Soria threw. It probably was the easiest save Soria ever recorded.

...Look, I understand that every team has a player or two that their fans say "Why is this guy on our team? He's useless!" The Cubs for example have Alfonso Soriano, and maybe fifteen or sixteen other players. And the Yankees have AJ Burnett. His latest contribution to Yankee losses was last night. 1 2/3 innings pitched, seven runs, all earned. And somewhere the Toronto Blue Jays are laughing about this over their morning coffee. Hey, you are the ones that wanted him.

...What the heck has happened to the Giants? It seems that lately when I check the baseball scores in the morning they have lost another game. Last night was another example. The Astros hit an inside-the-park home run against them in the first inning and it went downhill from there.

...Something tells me that if Sarah Palin ever sees Rise of the Planet of the Apes she would want all the apes in every zoo in the country put under twenty four hour surveilliance.

...By the way, go see that movie. You'll love it.

...I've been to Niagara Falls many times and it's a great place to visit, especially so in the summertime. But one thing you have to remember is to respect the power and force the Falls. Regretably a young Japanese student learned the hard way with her life as she died playing on the railing near the Falls. Somehow she fell over the side and into the powerful water of the Falls. This is one of those things that make you sad and angry at the same time. I'm sad that this girl died. Nineteen years old and far away from home. But what the hell made her think it would be ok to get on that railing?

...I finally came to the end of my patience with Firefox 5 and now version 6. All that did was give me constant crashes and pages would not load up for me. So, I went back to version 3.6 and everything is working as it should. Sometimes the newest version of something doesn't mean it's the best one.

...There must have been less than 30 posts made in here all last week on the entire website. It's like people seem to think that you are going to be charged for every post you make. I hate to say it but the new people in here offer nothing in the way of contributing to the community around here. Not everyone, so don't go waving your hand at me saying that you are not that way. But just look around and you'll see what I see. This place is as quiet as a morgue and the season is still going on. In January I would understand. But not in August.

...I think Joe Pesci said it best in Lethal Weapon 2 about drive-thru service. "They'll F*** you at the drive thru." You are not kidding Joe. How many times has that happened to you? Well, when I must go through one and after they give me my order, I don't drive off. I stay right there and open up the bag to see that I got everything I ordered. And I take my time - especially in places where they have screwed me more than once. Some of the window people don't and some do, but I'm not going to go back again to Taco Bell because they only gave me two soft tacos when we ordered three.

...Think I'm kidding? Let Joe tell you himself.

...If my wife's Android phone and I were on a boat and it suddenly started to sink and she had to save only one of us I am not sure I would be the one rescued.

...Philadelphia moment of the week: It's still pre-season in the NFL but some fans are in mid season form. Two fans were shot in the parking lot after the 49ers - Raiders game because apparently one fan was wearing a T-Shirt with an obscenity on it about the 49ers and wearing that kind of shirt in Candlestick Park is not advised, especially when he ran across the Candlestick fashion police who saw fit to shoot him in the stomach. By the way, the 49ers won the game. Lord knows how many would have been shot had they lost.

[scottybilly]

Players should be allowed to communicate with the fans. Its great PR for the particular franchise. On the other hand, if a player like Morrison can't get his head into the game because he's busy tweeting 24/7, then he should be demoted.

I cringed every time Uggla got a hit to continue the streak. But all it did for him was finally get his BA above the Mendoza line.

I can talk for days about how much the Giants suck right now. They would be in last place in either league without their pitching. And I do think it is Bam Bam Meulens fault. Its impossible to believe that 12-13 hitters on the team would hit so poorly at the same time for most of the season without it being the hitting coaches fault. Whatever he is teaching/advising the hitters has totally screwed up their heads. The only other explanation is that the players are deliberately ignoring what Bam Bam is preaching.

I totally want to go see the Planet of the Apes movie. Tim Burton's version was terrible, and although I like the original movies, it was time for a new vision. And showing the origin of how the apes came into being is the right way to go.

That's sad that a young woman fell over the falls like that. Where were her friends and fellow students at to keep her from being so irresponsible?

It is quiet as a morgue in here. I'm growing weary of hanging out with the dead all night. They don't talk back to me....

The 49ers-Raiders game was a perfect example of why I don't support either football team for years now. You gotta wonder what would happen if the Raiders totally changed the style and the colors of their uniforms? I swear to God that the only reason why they have such a huge fan base is because of how their uniforms look. The same can be said for White Sox fans.

I love Joe Pesci and his foul mouthed antics in movies. Even his Snickers commercial is funny... :rofl:

[Yankee4Life]

Players should be allowed to communicate with the fans. Its great PR for the particular franchise. On the other hand, if a player like Morrison can't get his head into the game because he's busy tweeting 24/7, then he should be demoted.

That's exactly what this idiot was doing. I think it's great for players to interact with fans because the fans really love it, but it seemed that this guy would rather pop off a good tweet instead of getting a base hit. He can go to hell.

That's sad that a young woman fell over the falls like that. Where were her friends and fellow students at to keep her from being so irresponsible?

Her dumbass friends were right there with her.

It is quiet as a morgue in here. I'm growing weary of hanging out with the dead all night. They don't talk back to me....

I don't blame you at all. I wish I could hang around with you during the late hours but we have a three hour time difference and I can't stay up all night. Then again not everyone is on the east coast so there's really no reason for it being so dead.

[superciuc]

I don't blame you at all. I wish I could hang around with you during the late hours but we have a three hour time difference and I can't stay up all night. Then again not everyone is on the east coast so there's really no reason for it being so dead.

Well, i think that most of the members now just download mods and make requests. A few years ago we used to talk more about baseball and less about mods. Actually, i don't think i've seen the old official Yankees thread since i've come back. Where did it end?

Edited August 22, 2011 by superciuc

[Yankee4Life]

Well, i think that most of the members now just download mods and make requests. A few years ago we used to talk more about baseball and less about mods. Actually, i don't think i've seen the old official Yankees thread since i've come back. Where did it end?

All the fan threads are gone.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 8-28

...Jared Weaver signed a five year 85 million dollar contract extension this week with the Angels. That's usually nothing to write about in here but the way he signed it is. It was against the advice of his moneygrubber agent Scott Bora$, because he wanted him to play out his option and get more money someplace else, therefore giving him more of a commission. Bora$ was so unhappy with this that he and no one from his office attended the press conference announcing Weaver's extension. "How much more do you need?" Weaver asked the press when talking about his new deal. If more players had this refreshing attitude, people like Scott Bora$ would be out of business.

...It was nice to see Toronto crybaby John McDonald get traded out of the American League.

...Apple co-founder Steve Jobs resigned his position this week as company CEO. This will give him more time to figure out why the iPhone sucks.

...I was shocked to hear about the death of former Oriole pitcher Mike Flanagan at the age of 59. I was very familiar with Flanagan during his time in the American League and I also saw him play in the minor leagues too. He was one of those left handed pitchers that you would love to watch work, even though he was on the opposition. R.I.P. to the Flanagan family and to the Oriole organization.

...Gamestop was caught this week opening up brand new PC game boxes of Dues Ex: Human Revolution because it contained coupons that gave free copies of that game to users of Onlive Cloud. I don't think I'd be too happy with some employee opening up a brand new game that I wanted to buy so they can remove something. Kind of makes me wonder how long Gamestop has been doing this before they were caught.

...Star Wars fans, you gotta love them. These fans are so loyal they will continually buy the same six movies over and over again as soon as they are told there are "changes" made in the films. And they'll be doing it again come September 16th when George Lucas releases the new Blu-Ray version. No price has been announced yet for this but that doesn't really matter. Lucas knows that these people will buy anything.

...Who gives a crap Dept: Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter has broken up with his movie star girlfriend Minka Kelly. Maybe that explains why he has been hitting the ball so good lately.

...Vin Scully has decided to return to the Dodgers as their announcer for a record 63rd season. Listening to this guy is a pleasure. He can make a long, boring game seem fast and exciting.

...There was only one quick reference in the shoutbox about what the Yankees did in the final game against the Athletics. But I'm telling you now, if the Yankees had lost that game 22 - 9 and had three grand slams hit against them instead of winning it, a hell of a lot more would have been said. People then would all of a sudden find a reason to post something.

...The Raiders are not going to let new rookie quarterback Terrelle Pryor wear uniform number 2 even though that was his number in college. He'll be wearing #6 because don't want any reminders of the last guy who wore #2, a certain Jamarcus Russell. Oakland also told Pryor if he wants to drink any kind of soda he is free to do so, provided it isn't grape.

...Hollywood wackjob Jennifer Aniston is moving in with her current boyfriend. I'll give Justin Theroux six months before his hair turns grey.

...For anyone who has ever flown on United Airlines, this news should not shock you at all. United ranks number one in customer complaints, a position they richly deserve. This is the airline that screwed up the first day of our trip to Hawaii back in March. To make a long story short, we were supposed to land in Honolulu at 3pm, but because of United we didn't land until 11 pm. If I can avoid them the next time we go, I will.

...If anyone has ever played the Mortimer Beckett series of games you will know how fun and addicting they are. These are games that really sharpen your eyes.

...Sucks to be you, doesn't it Barry Bonds? Your effort to dismiss your criminal conviction on obstruction of justice was rejected by a federal judge. Not even a few signed balls and bats will get him out of this one.

[Padres67]

Look out man Irene is after you.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 9-4

...Congratulations to California for beating Japan in the Little League World Series. Those kids played a hell of a game. And even though the Japanese lost, the Red Sox announced after the game that they signed the entire team to professional contracts.

...Boy you give a team a small taste of success and it goes right to their heads. The Pittsburgh Pirates announced that they are going to raise some ticket prices for the 2012 season. I guess spending a whole five days in first place back in July is the excuse they'll use for this.

...Besides, who knew that the best way to beat the Pirates was to have a horrible call from an umpire go against them? It would not have surprised me at all to find out that immediately after that happened they started making plans for what they were going to do during the off season.

...Daryl Hannah was arrested recently for protesting in front of the White House along with 100 or so other other people . Instead of paying a fine for this, I think it would be a good idea for the judge to have her sit in a room and have her watch all her movies one after the other before she is released.

...I must not have been mailed that PM that everyone else on this site has obviously received. You know, the one about not posting anything anymore?

...I drove past a cemetery about two or three days ago and there was more going on there than there is on this site.

...Also, last year we had a very nice weekly NFL prediction thread going with anyone who wanted to could join in and post their guesses for the week. I heard from someone who was in it last year that a PM was sent to everyone who participated in last year's predictions was reminded that they were going to do the same thing this year. Funny thing though I never got that PM. Just shows how not wanted I am. Right Dylan? Thank you so much for this.

...Are people these days really this uptight? The JC Penney company recently had to pull a T shirt from their stores because parents did not like the message that was on the shirt. For those of you curious to see this offending shirt and do not want to read that short article I linked you to, here is a picture of the shirt right here. If any of you have young daughters at home, please make sure they are not in the room now although somehow I have the feeling that it is only the adults who are getting bent out of shape about this and not the kids. It's a T shirt. That's it. If you don't like it don't buy it.

...Why does it seem to matter to people who Alex Rodriguez dated in the past (Madonna, Kate Hudson and Cameron Diaz) that they have to bring it up a lot but they never talk about who Captain Double Play is seen with until he breaks up with them?

...Whatever happened to Natalie Imbruglia?

...This hi-res baseball photo collection of mine has kind of taken a life of its own. For the month of August I grabbed 2,094 more. They are kind of fun to look back on during the off season months as I try to pass time during the cold days of winter.

...If anyone thought that those three games the Yankees played in Boston last week seemed to drag on, well you're right. Believe it or not it took a combined 11 hours and 36 minutes to play all three games. So the next time you read here or somewhere else where someone is popping off about how sick they are of the Yankees and Red Sox, this probably has something to do with it. There is too much attention given to them and when they are on TV playing against each other they act like they don't want the game to end.

...No way should these games last this long. And I am not saying that the Yankees are innocent in this because they are not. But the Red Sox take it to another level. Watch their pitchers one time, especially Beckett. The guy looks at the baseball like he's never seen one before. Then he decides to throw it. And when the ball is thrown back at him he does the same thing. Hey, what's this? And every one of their hitters has to step out at every pitch to glance at every person in the ballpark. Then they step back in. You almost hope they put the ball in play just so they stop looking around. But then the next guy comes up and the same thing happens.

...The Apple Iphone 5 prototype has been lost and police are assisting Apple to find it. It's nice to know that San Francisco's finest have nothing else to do but look for a phone.

[scottybilly]

Lol. No joke about San Francisco police. I agree that way too much emphasis is placed on Boston-NY games. I remember damn well No-maah Garciaparra took 10 minutes for every at bat with his whole routine that he did. I guess Boston grew tired of it cause they traded him away to the Cubs. Lmao. Are you really that disrespected here? Sorry to hear that.....

[Yankee4Life]

Are you really that disrespected here? Sorry to hear that.....

Yeah, it's because when that Blue Jays sign stealing thing came out I wasn't so quick to dismiss the fact that they could actually have been doing that stuff up in Toronto. And then Dylan posted a picture in the photo gallery of Fenway Park at dusk and I tried to needle him by calling him a closet Red Sox fan. And that was the last time he acknowledged me or spoke to me. That's why I didn't get the PM about joining this year's NFL prediction group. That's how it is here. And life goes on.

[GoRedSox34]

Updated to 9-4

...Congratulations to California for beating Japan in the Little League World Series. Those kids played a hell of a game. And even though the Japanese lost, the Red Sox announced after the game that they signed the entire team to professional contracts.

...Boy you give a team a small taste of success and it goes right to their heads. The Pittsburgh Pirates announced that they are going to raise some ticket prices for the 2012 season. I guess spending a whole five days in first place back in July is the excuse they'll use for this.

...Besides, who knew that the best way to beat the Pirates was to have a horrible call from an umpire go against them? It would not have surprised me at all to find out that immediately after that happened they started making plans for what they were going to do during the off season.

...Daryl Hannah was arrested recently for protesting in front of the White House along with 100 or so other other people . Instead of paying a fine for this, I think it would be a good idea for the judge to have her sit in a room and have her watch all her movies one after the other before she is released.

...I must not have been mailed that PM that everyone else on this site has obviously received. You know, the one about not posting anything anymore?

...I drove past a cemetery about two or three days ago and there was more going on there than there is on this site.

...Also, last year we had a very nice weekly NFL prediction thread going with anyone who wanted to could join in and post their guesses for the week. I heard from someone who was in it last year that a PM was sent to everyone who participated in last year's predictions was reminded that they were going to do the same thing this year. Funny thing though I never got that PM. Just shows how not wanted I am. Right Dylan? Thank you so much for this.

...Are people these days really this uptight? The JC Penney company recently had to pull a T shirt from their stores because parents did not like the message that was on the shirt. For those of you curious to see this offending shirt and do not want to read that short article I linked you to, here is a picture of the shirt right here. If any of you have young daughters at home, please make sure they are not in the room now although somehow I have the feeling that it is only the adults who are getting bent out of shape about this and not the kids. It's a T shirt. That's it. If you don't like it don't buy it.

...Why does it seem to matter to people who Alex Rodriguez dated in the past (Madonna, Kate Hudson and Cameron Diaz) that they have to bring it up a lot but they never talk about who Captain Double Play is seen with until he breaks up with them?

...Whatever happened to Natalie Imbruglia?

...This hi-res baseball photo collection of mine has kind of taken a life of its own. For the month of August I grabbed 2,094 more. They are kind of fun to look back on during the off season months as I try to pass time during the cold days of winter.

...If anyone thought that those three games the Yankees played in Boston last week seemed to drag on, well you're right. Believe it or not it took a combined 11 hours and 36 minutes to play all three games. So the next time you read here or somewhere else where someone is popping off about how sick they are of the Yankees and Red Sox, this probably has something to do with it. There is too much attention given to them and when they are on TV playing against each other they act like they don't want the game to end.

...No way should these games last this long. And I am not saying that the Yankees are innocent in this because they are not. But the Red Sox take it to another level. Watch their pitchers one time, especially Beckett. The guy looks at the baseball like he's never seen one before. Then he decides to throw it. And when the ball is thrown back at him he does the same thing. Hey, what's this? And every one of their hitters has to step out at every pitch to glance at every person in the ballpark. Then they step back in. You almost hope they put the ball in play just so they stop looking around. But then the next guy comes up and the same thing happens.

...The Apple Iphone 5 prototype has been lost and police are assisting Apple to find it. It's nice to know that San Francisco's finest have nothing else to do but look for a phone.

I love Beckett, but he takes way too god damn long. The biggest problem I see is that they have a 12 second rule for pitchers to deliver the ball but won't enforce it, because, well, Bud Selig is the commissioner. But I think 12 seconds would be too fast, make it 20-25.

[Yankee4Life]

Updated to 9-11

...No matter what we do today or what we are involved in, I don't think any of us can not help thinking about what happened ten years ago today. So many people, so many lives lost, so many tears. And life for all us survivors has never been the same. R.I.P. to everyone who died that day.

..Nothing from that tragic day has been positive. You might bring up all the heroic and beyond-the-call of duty stories by the fireman and policemen in New York that inspired everyone but I think we didn't need this kind of horrible event to realize how special those people really are. They are the true heroes of this world and not some ballplayer who hits a game winning single in the bottom of the ninth and gets shaving cream plastered on his face.

...Even Bin Laden's death back in May didn't put the final period in place on what happened ten years ago. Nothing will. For the rest of our lives airports are going to get worse and worse with the rules they have. It's harder now to go to Canada for example to visit the Falls or go to Toronto because now you have to have a passport. And that'll cost you over one hundred dollars. The U.S. government has become more invasive over the past ten years. And all because a madman had to plan an attack and used his religion as an excuse for doing it.

Subject change, ok?

...There is nothing like a good glass of homemade lemonade. Sweet, tart and cold. And if I can ever make it properly I'll be happier.

...Jose Reyes wears his uniform so sloppy he looks like a homeless man.

...Reese Witherspoon got hit by a car while jogging last week. The motorist did all he could to stop her from making another Legally Blonde movie.

...Nyger Morgan of Milwaukee seems to have taken over where Milton Bradley left off.

...Did any of you catch that bit of news about the Dutch woman who called her boyfriend 65,000 times?? Can you imagine that? She must have had an unlimited calling plan.

...This Kate Gosselin broad continues to annoy me as much as Sarah Palin does. All she has been doing lately is crying to the press about where she is going to get money from after her reality show was cancelled. It's finally hitting her that she's now going to become an every day single mom with eight brats in tow. And without the cameras following her around now she can't act like she's suddenly more important than everyone. That being said, the woman who is crying money woes just bought herself a brand new sports car that is in the $50,000 price range. It's what every single mom with eight kids buys when they are worried about money.

...This has been a terrible off season for the National Hockey League, hasn't it?

...Why is it that the schedule makers force the Yankees to go out to the west coast every September but not the Red Sox?

...Despite how much I try to get into that show Intentional Talk on the MLB Network I just can't. It's because of that loudmouth ex-Red Sox Kevin Millar. He doesn't know what he is talking about half the time but as long as you fall all over yourself saying nice things about the Red Sox you'll have a job on the MLB Network.

...Is there anything else that can go wrong for the San Francisco Giants this year? This time it's an injury to left handed pitcher Jeremy Affeldt. Seems as he had an argument with a bunch of frozen hamburgers and he lost. Affeldt tried to separate a bunch of frozen patties with a knife and ended up causing enough damage to his right hand that he had to have surgery on it. He's out for the remainder of the season. Maybe the next time someone else should be in charge of the grill.

...By the way the next time you visit San Francisco, you may want to bring an extra towel with you so you can give it to one of the many nudists that frequent that city. Nudity is legal in the City by the Bay and there is legislation being proposed right now that would make them sit on towels in public places for sanitary reasons. Funny, but when the virtues of San Francisco are brought up, this is never mentioned.

,,,Did you hear about that 1,000 pound crocodile that was caught in the Philippine Islands this week? It was one of the most amazing animals I have ever seen in and the locals want to keep this animal in captivity in an eco park so people can come and see it. Well, it seems that a bunch of animal rights activists want the crocodile released back in the water. I am all for animal rights but not for animals who go around eating people like this monster has. Maybe the people that want to spring this thing should release it themselves and let it free where they live and not back roaming the waters of the Phillippine Islands. Let's see how quick they change their tune then.