Yankee4Life

Well Dylan it looks as if the TSN website was right all along. I am watching the MLB Network right now (12:55 pm) and they are having a special report on the Grienke trade. Good work man.

Updated to 12-19 ...It sure is nice to be back in here again doing another edition of the Random Thoughts thread. I didn't know that there were that many people who followed this and that's pretty nice. But I want to kindly remind you that this is not a private thread exclusively for me. Join in any time you wish to. ...Thank you everyone for the condolences you sent our way. I forwarded them to my wife, because it was her older sister who passed away. She was 49 and even though she was very sick this was unexpected. ...My job during all this was to pay my respects, sit near my wife during the wake and then basically get the hell out of the way when it was all going on and I think I did this admirably. I figure that is the best thing to do in situations like that. ...But it did not stop me from observing what went on during the wake. Because when you are at a wake and you watch what some people do at one while its going on, the time passes more quickly for you. Here's a few things that I noticed: 1. Some people attended this wake like they were dressed to go out to the movies instead of being dressed respectively for a wake. I'm not saying bring out the suit and tie, but don't come in with a dirty pair of jeans on either. One lady actually came in with a matching jogging suit on, a fact that did not escape my sister-in-law's eyes either. 2. One guy came in so fast that if you would have blinked you would have missed him. He came in, rushed up to the casket and said the fasted prayer known to man, got up, turned around and headed for the door like he was double parked or something. 3. I was waiting for this to happen and it ended up happening twice. Two times during the wake someone's cell phone went off and started ringing. And both times when it was really quiet in the room when no one was talking. I should have bet with someone that this would happen but probably no one would have taken my bet since it was as close as a sure thing as you can get. 4. Remember that little seven year old SOB I talked about briefly when I was there for Thanksgiving? Well towards the end of the ceremony someone decided to bring the little terror to the wake. He comes running in the room looking around at all the people and I think he got confused because this time no one made a fuss over him or asked him what he wanted from Santa. To his credit he was not disruptive and was even quieter than a lot of the adults. And that my friends is how I passed four hours away in a funeral parlor. ...Once again, the lack of internet access, no newspaper and not being able to watch any kind of sports on TV prevented me of learning that Cliff Lee signed with Philadelphia until I returned home. Can any of you imagine how frustrating this is? ...And as far as Cliff Lee goes, if he didn't want to sign with the Yankees, oh well. Can't worry about it and besides, what the hell good would it do to dwell on it? ...Right now you would have to favor heavily the Boston Red Sox to win the American League East next year with the acquiring of Adrian Gonzalez via trade and the free agent signing of Carl Crawford. I'd have loved to have Crawford with the Yankees because I don't trust Brett Gardner. ...But the real reason to favor the Sox? The pitching situation. Boston's got it and the Yankees are struggling right now. Only Sabathia is dependable. Pettitte is still not sure if he is going to play in 2011 and is still going through his Brett Favre moment. Phil Hughes is ok until you really need an important game out of him and then he chokes. You don't know what you are going to get from Ivan Nova and then there is A.J. Burnett. He's the pitcher that separates the Red Sox from the Yankees. The Red Sox are fortunate that they don't have to throw this guy out there every fifth day. The Yankees on the other hand are in the unfortunate situation in that they have to send him out there because there is no one else. I can hear everyone blaming Joe Girardi already. ...It's a good thing the Vikings are not going to the post season this year because there is no way they are going to fix that roof in the Metrodome any time soon. And why the hell did they put a roof like that up in the first place? ...I read in the shoutbox where DylanBradbury reported that Kansas City's Zach Greinke went to Milwaukee. Dylan even provided a link for it right here. But I swear to God I don't see this posted anywhere else. Not on ESPN, not on the MLB homepage and not on the Sporting News website. Maybe TSN.CA has the jump on everyone else. Wouldn't surprise me. And look at what Milwaukee gave up for Greinke! Absolutely nothing. This could go down as being the best deal the Brewers ever made. ...Just wanted to say thank you to the New York Yankees for an early Christmas present when they signed Russell Martin to be the starting catcher and effectively taking Jorge Posada's job away from him. Our defense behind the plate has suddenly improved and maybe next year we will throw some runners out. ...I have once again avoided listening to The Twelve Days of Christmas during this holiday season and I am determined to continue avoiding it for the rest of the week. You have no idea how much I hate that song. ...Ok folks, less than a week now and this Christmas stuff is all over with! ...And finally, R.I.P's to Cleveland's Bob Feller, Boston's Walt Dropo and the Chicago Cubs' Phil Cavarretta, all who passed away this week. It was a tough week for baseball.

Yeah, and welcome back to civilization also. What a toilet it is down there! Hey, no big deal that it is being done over there. All I care is that the Raiders win.

I made these picks before I went out of town and it turned out that I didn't need to because I came home before this week's picks were closed. Well, I had to be sure. Here are my picks, in bold and underlined. Just post them out where everyone can see them when you do your posts next week Thu, DEC 16 San Francisco at San Diego Dec, DEC 19 Kansas City at St. Louis Buffalo at Miami Cleveland at Cincinnati Jacksonville at Indianapolis Houston at Tennessee Washington at Dallas Philadelphia at NY Giants Arizona at Carolina Detroit at Tampa Bay New Orleans at Baltimore Atlanta at Seattle NY Jets at Pittsburgh Denver at Oakland Green Bay at New England Dec, DEC 20 Chicago at Minnesota (Bears 41, Vikings 14, total of 55 points)

Doesn't matter to me where the picks are made. In fact I will make mine on both sites until something is decided. There are only a few weeks left anyways.

Thank you. It actually was my wife's sister. It was sudden. She was only 49 years old.

Just an FYI for those of you that read this thread on Sundays. The Random Thoughts thread will return on the 19th of December. Believe me, I would love to do one this Sunday but I will be out of town on a family emergency (a funeral) and the God damn house I will be staying in does not have an internet connection. It's a bull**** situation down there and I hate it each and every time I have to go there. Being on the computer is not my priority this weekend anyways since I'll have other things to do down there like attending the wake, etc. So, be back on the 19th!

And expect more of the same. These people that do this never learn. They just think that it doesn't pertain to them. Also, always watch out for the dshibshm account. There are almost 25 of them.

Here we are folks. The radio game for the month of December. Posting these games here once a month really helped make this year fly by. The game presented this month is game five of the 1948 World Series between the visiting Boston Braves and the Cleveland Indians. 86,288 baseball fans filled Cleveland's Municipal Stadium for this game. The starting pitcher for the hometown Indians was Bob Feller. He was opposed by Boston's Warren Sphan. Both pitchers are of course in the Hall of Fame now. And that's all the information I am going to give you about this game. I hope you enjoy this game like you have enjoyed all the others in this series of monthly historical broadcasts. Although I have the suspicion that 99% of you have never once bothered to come in here to see what this thread was about since it obviously wasn't about the Playstation 3. Boston Braves vs. Cleveland Indians Retrosheet Link 1948 World Series Games and Boxscores. Game played at Municipal Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4.

Updated to 11-28 ...I don't know how everyone's Thanksgiving was but mine was one to forget, although I am not about to any time soon. Consider: A. We got there on Wednesday night and didn't leave to go home until Saturday. I had to sleep in a broken recliner because there wasn't enough beds. That is to say I didn't sleep. I couldn't keep my eyes opened during the day and as soon as I got home I went right to bed. And no, I couldn't have slept on the couch. Someone already had dibs on that. B. There's a little seven year old S.O.B. down there that doesn't shut up or stop screaming at all. The kid doesn't listen because he doesn't have to. They watch him grab a candy bar and eat it and only then they will tell him not to have one. That's how bad it is. The only person who told this little devil not to do something was me when he was playing rough with my dogs. The kid got confused because someone said no to him. I'd like to give the kid a kick in the a$$ and be done with it. It is because of rotten kids like this that I am happy I never had kids. C. I did not find out until Saturday who won the Bengals-Jets game on Thanksgiving night because (1) they don't get the NFL Network down there and (2) they don't get the newspaper either. So after I take another nap today I am going to be reading up on some webpages to see what I missed. Who knows? Cliff Lee could be a Yankee right now and I don't even know it. ...With all I heard about having extra state troopers out on the holiday, I did not see one trooper on the way down. They are easy to spot too. But I did see a couple going home yesterday afternoon. It is always a pleasure driving north towards home away from that place. ...I do all the driving, and invariably my wife ends up falling asleep on the way down there because we leave as soon as she gets out of work. I always end up constantly switching the radio stations just to see if I can get something to listen to provided it isn't country music. I fell upon some religious show where some guy was reading the gospel and talking about it and I ended up listening to it until I went out of range. It suddenly occurred to me that this is not the first time I have stopped to listen to these type of programs while driving. The people who talk about God on the radio are simply doing that as opposed to the ones on TV, who have to make a big show about it. These guys on the radio don't make it seem phony as opposed to the TV guys. ...Going back to my mother-in-laws house after Thanksgiving dinner we drove past Toys-R-Us. It was around 8:30 at night and it was freezing out. But that didn't stop some people though. There had to be a line there about fifty yards long because that store was going to open up at 10 pm and those people were not going to let something as trivial as 30 degree weather stop them. ...The store that was going to open up the earliest on Friday down there was a store called Kohl's and they were opening their doors at 3 am. Damn, I could have been there since I wasn't asleep anyways. ...I didn't get a chance to watch a lot of football but I was lucky enough to see that touchdown grab by the Patriot's Deion Branch, who made one of the best runs after a catch that I have seen in years that tied the score at 24-24 against the Lions. ...I had no say about what was going to be watched on TV by everyone so that is why I had to watch for the very first time a movie called Elf. Yeah, I am probably one of the few people who has never seen this movie and I never wanted to watch it because Will Ferrell was in it. I happen to this this guy isn't funny at all so I avoid every one of his movies. That is, until Friday night. ...There is a show I have been starting to watch and it does seem very interesting. Have any of you heard of Dr. Oz? If you can get past the stupid screaming women they have on there, this guy has a lot of helpful tips for being healthy. Hey, I need all the help I can. ...The Nazi party is alive and well. They're now known as the Transportation Security Administration (the TSA) at the airports. These people can get away with anything by hiding behind two words: National Security. All they got to do is say those two words and they can say and do anything. I've read so many horror stories about these people in the last week that it makes me dread going on my trip in March. ...How good is Total Classics, how much does it drag you in to keep playing it? Read on. Recently I played a game with the 1968 Detroit Tigers. The Tigers that year had a guy named Ray Oyler playing shortstop. Now these are his actual statistics. I'm not making them up and if you think I am, go look them up yourself. In 1968, Oyler hit .135. In 111 games he had 29 hits and 21 of them were singles. He was a career .175 hitter. So what does Oyler do for me? He went 3 for 4. Go figure. ...My Thanksgiving starts today. I'm home.

Thu, NOV 25 New England at Detroit New Orleans at Dallas Cincinnati at NY Jets Sun, NOV 28 Jacksonville at NY Giants Pittsburgh at Buffalo Tennessee at Houston Green Bay at Atlanta Carolina at Cleveland Minnesota at Washington Kansas City at Seattle Miami at Oakland Philadelphia at Chicago St. Louis at Denver Tampa Bay at Baltimore San Diego at Indianapolis Mon, NOV 29 San Francisco at Arizona (Cardinals 27, 49ers 14, total of 44 points)

Please do not take anything out on DJEagles for his post. Let him just have his opinion here and leave it at that. The guy does not need to be raked over the coals for what he said since 99% don't bother to come in this thread only because I was the one who started it. Besides, I don't think DJEagles really cares what anyone thinks in here anymore. The guy was a loyal staff member. Towards the end of his stay on the staff he was not around as much but that was not by choice. He had to go across country to work to provide for his family and he did this a few times. Then real life situations got in the way. But he still came back here every chance he got to help out. So, don't get all over him because he had the nerve to speak his mind. DJEagles, myself and the rest of the guys thrown away last month may not be part of the inner circle anymore, but his opinion is just as worthwhile and valuable as always.

Updated to 11-21 ...Kind of late in the morning for the weekly contribution in here but it's because I slept in today and since this thread has almost turned into a one man show I didn't think it really mattered when I posted this. ...It's sad. This website has changed so much. I miss the days when Fuzzone was running around. He was a unique personality to say the least. Kraw. KC. Cartersyard. On and on and on. Good people, good contributors. Makes me wonder how different this site would have been had EA not lost that baseball license because eventually we lost people over the years. ...Couldn't sleep last night so I was flipping through the channels and I saw some show that I never heard of before. Something called Fear Factor. No thank you. In one part of the show they had the contestants eat spiders for some reason. No thank you!! I did not stay tuned to see what other fun stuff they had planned for those people. And they call this television? ...Cleveland's Shin-Soo Choo helped South Korea's baseball team clinch the gold medal Friday and that should keep him out of his obligation for required military service in Korea. Talk about playing for your life. ...Poor Derek Jeter. He thinks the Yankees should give him a blank check and be done with it. ...Thing is, everyone knows that re-signing Mariano Rivera is much more important than re-signing him. ...Isn't it funny that all Michael Vick had to do was throw a few touchdown passes and everyone forgave him? ...I don't care what Felix Hernandez' stats were. He still only won 13 games. ...Three games on this Thanksgiving day folks. Patriots at Detroit, Saints at Dallas and the Bengals at the Jets on the NFL Network at night. It figures that the best game is the one that not everyone gets. And why do the Cowboys always have to play on Thanksgiving? ...Everyone have a great Thanksgiving. I will be at the in-laws this year so having a good Thanksgiving has no chance of happening But I will grin and take it as much as I can. Happy holiday to all Mvpmods members, the ones here now and also the ones who do not come here anymore.

I saw this on another board and I thought it was really interesting. I've never heard of this type of shrimp before. It's fascinating. This shrimp is the loudest animal on the planet. Yep. You didn't read wrong. It is louder than a rock concert, and the temperature made by the noise reaches that of the sun. Watch it in action:

Thu, NOV 18 Chicago at Miami Sun, NOV 21 Buffalo at Cincinnati Arizona at Kansas City Green Bay at Minnesota Washington at Tennessee Cleveland at Jacksonville Houston at NY Jets Baltimore at Carolina Detroit at Dallas Oakland at Pittsburgh Atlanta at St. Louis Tampa Bay at San Francisco Seattle at New Orleans Indianapolis at New England NY Giants at Philadelphia Mon, NOV 22 Denver at San Diego Chargers 35, Broncos 17 Total of 52 points

Updated to 11-14 ...Well the big news in baseball this week was the announcement by ESPN that they are breaking up the Sunday Night team of Jon Miller and Joe Morgan after twenty-one years. Miller, always an announcer I could live with, will be missed. But there's no way I'll miss Joe Morgan. That guy was terrible and he kept on getting worse and worse as the years went by. ...Look for the MLB Network to scoop up Morgan and have him join their team. I can see it now. They'll prop him up in front of a monitor and anything that happens in baseball he can compare it to the 1970's Big Red Machine. ...If anyone here wants to complain about east coast bias in baseball, what happened this week says it all. The Seattle Mariners lost Dave Niehaus, their announcer since the Mariners came into the league in 1977 when he died of heart failure on Wednesday. Niehaus announced every game for every season for thirty-three years and hardly a word was said when he passed away. It's because he announced for a team based in the Northwest that gets no exposure in baseball. Have Niehaus' talents anywhere on the east coast and he would have been more famous than he was. At least he was able to be inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame in 2008 in the broadcast wing in Cooperstown. R.I.P. to a great announcer. ...So, Jenn Sterger talked to the NFL bigshots this week about Brett Favre? I wonder how the NFL is going to cover up this one? ...Sure would have liked to been a fly on the wall when Favre was trying to explain to his wife why he sent pictures of his you-know-what to that gorgeous young girl. ...While I got Favre on my mind right now, do you know who reminds me of him in baseball right now? Andy Pettitte. ...I read that the Cubs are interested in Nick Johnson for first base "if the medicals look good." That's great. Now who is the other first baseman that they will have that will end up playing the other 140 games for them? ...The new Conan O'Brien show on TBS looks pretty good. ...Here's something I've always wondered. You've seen those political signs at the edge of the road when you are out and about driving around? "Vote for Joe Smith on Election Day" etc, etc. Know what I mean? Who ends up getting rid of those signs after the elections are done? It's like there they are, they're still there. And then one day, they disappear. Where do they go? ...I absolutely love the Goodwill people here in my town. For three reasons. First, they take anything you got. Secondly, you get a tax write off for it and if those two reasons are not good enough, you know that once you donate your stuff to them it is finally out of the house for good and you don't have to look at it anymore. ...Finally, a big thank you to Jim825 for the release of Total Classics 1975.

1975 continued The rally that never was: Carl Yastrzemski tries to bunt Fred Lynn over to second base with no one out in the inning but ends up getting him forced out instead. Yaz was safe at first on the play but was erased on a Jim Rice double play that ended the inning. This is what I mean about the overlay used here in this mod. Simple, precise, and not too loud. It fits right in with this mod. How the Reds won it: Pete Rose (not pictured) lead off the top of the eighth with a single and he was replaced by pinch runner Ed Armbrister. Armbrister, of course, is well known to Red Sox fans who know the history of their team. Ken Griffey (who singled Armbrister to third base) upends Boston second baseman Doug Griffin as he breaks up a double play and while this was going on, Armbrister was racing home from third with Cincinnati's second run of the day. Pedro Borbon takes the toss from first baseman Tony Perez (not pictured) to force out Boston's Carl Yastrzemski in the 8th inning. Reds manager Sparky Anderson has a quick meeting on the mound to discuss what to do with Jim Rice coming up. Now coming into pitch for the Reds in the 9th, Rawly Eastwick. This was a good move by Sparky Anderson because Eastwick saved 22 games for the Reds in 1975, winning 5 and losing 3 with a 2.60 ERA. It only took seven pitches and Eastwick earned another save by retiring the Sox in order in the ninth. Final score was Reds 2, Red Sox 1. Thank you Total Classics 1975!

The lastest total conversion mod has been released by Jim825 a few days back and it is the 1975 Total Conversion Mod which can be downloaded on this website by following this link right here. It is another welcome edition to the Total Classics experience that you can only have by downloading these fun packed mods here on this website. This also marks the first time in the history of Total Classics that successive years have been done. There are a lot of subtle changes on each and every team from the 1974 editions to what you see when you load up the 1975 mod for the first time. Take the Red Sox for example. Fred Lynn and Jim Rice were late season callups for the Sox in '74. Lynn played in 15 games in 1974 and Rice played in 24. They're not even on the 1974 Red Sox team. Jim "Catfish" Hunter was on Oakland in '74. You'll see him on the Yankees in the 1975 mod. Hank Aaron was a Brave in 1974. In '75 you'll see him in a Brewer uniform. Yeah, there's only a one year difference but there were so many changes. This 1975 mod is definitely worth the download! The overlay is identical from the 1974 mod. It's the same ABC Sports logo that works so well with this time period. It's well done and professional. And the choice of music is once again classic mid-1970's top of the charts pop music. It's what everyone was listening to on their LP's and 45's at that time. Again, great job Jim. Although no one will probably do it, I recommend that any of you who were not around during the 1975 season to have a baseball reference guide next to you when you are playing this (or any of) mod. You'll be pleasantly surprised at what you learn. Thank you Jim for all that you have done. Video: Jim Rice hits a sacrifice fly that drives Ken Griffey to the warning track. Screenshots: Welcome to Total Classics 1975! (Now, I don't want to spoil it, but before you see this image you are going to see an image of a certain Cleveland Indians outfielder with one of the biggest Afros you will ever see in your life. It's my guess that this photo was placed there in homage of a particular stadium modder who has made updated stadiums for the 1970's mods and updated present day stadiums for everyone to download. This man's tireless work has kept MVP baseball alive and has renewed interest in this great game.) Leading off for the Reds, their All Star thirdbaseman Pete Rose. Give the Reds an opening and they take it. Rick Burleson overthrows first baseman Carl Yastrzemski for a two base error that allowed Cesar Geronimo to advance to third. Geronimo scores Cincinnati's first run when pitcher Don Gullett hit a check swing grounder to first and Carl Yastrzemski threw home to try to catch the sliding Geronimo. This angle shows how off line Yaz's throw was as Geronimo scored easily. Joe Morgan made a fantastic diving play on this sinking line drive but at the same time he knocked himself out of the game and was replaced by utility infielder Darrell Chaney. At the end of five innings it's a close one. Johnny Bench can't believe he has been called out on strikes. Luis Tiant, although ending up the losing pitcher, pitched masterfully as he struck out seven Reds and was in total control the entire game.

Just a reminder for this predictions thread, beginning this week of the NFL season (week 10) there was a Thursday night game and this will continue without interruption during weeks 11 through 16. The final week of the season will be played on Sunday, January 2nd and all sixteen games that week are scheduled for that day.

Thu, NOV 11 Baltimore at Atlanta Sun, NOV 14 Detroit at Buffalo Cincinnati at Indianapolis NY Jets at Cleveland Minnesota at Chicago Houston at Jacksonville Tennessee at Miami Carolina at Tampa Bay Kansas City at Denver St. Louis at San Francisco Seattle at Arizona Dallas at NY Giants New England at Pittsburgh Mon, NOV 15 Philadelphia at Washington (Eagles 35, Redskins 27, Total of 62 points)