He's come back...and he's VERY angry...

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I haven't posted on this blog for quite some time. Not sure why I lost the urge...I guess the thrill was gone (as that crappy blues dude used to say) and it never came back.


I'm making a special guest appearance to congratulate Stanicek on passing the BAR. Sure, the news of his BAR success comes at a horrible time, but I guess there's a silver lining. Now if UGA can somehow pull off a miracle in Jacksonville, it'll probably be a top 5 weekend in his life. So jig like you haven't jigged before boyyo, you deserve it.





Picture this...replace Chris Leak with a picture of Stanicek. Now replace the Championship trophy with the bar exam. Now replace Florida Gator shi* with UGA paraphernalia. Now replace the confetti with beer spraying everywhere. MMM...what a sight. Way to go TK...YOU'RE #1 according to all of us and the BCS (Bar Champtionship Series).

Just fricking...AWESOME...

Joe Torre says, "Go F yourself Yankees". Just a fantastic and ballsy move on his part. Now I don't know what side of the fence I come down on the "Is Torre a great manager" issue - but I do believe that he is the best fit for managing the Yankees. You don't just need baseball know-how there you have to deal with 1) hellish media, 2) obnoxious fans, 3) unrealistic expectations, 4) 24-7 scrutiny...so basically like coaching football for Georgia - except instead of 1 million loyal followers you have 456 million worldwide.

Mob scene at Yankee Stadium just because Torre called for a bunt in the second inning against the Royals on June 13th, 2004.

I wish I could have been there when they said - "here you go Joseph - one year, incentive laced deal...if you make the World Series you're back for another year" and he just said "World Series this" and flipped a lit match onto the board room table on which he had secretly spilled 2.6 gallons of gasoline...it ignites, he turns, dons some shades, then walks to the hallway as the executives burst into flame and tells a passing youngster "now that's what I call a hot streak". Yep. That's how it went down.

The scene in the Yankee's executive offices in Tampa, seconds after Torre walked out

In other news - the Indians better win tonight or I'm going to jump into a vat of boiling peanut oil. Check out that and other observations in this month's "Tim Kellys overreactions to seemingly insignificant events".

Picks, Round 2

So I OWN the American League and whiffed on the National League...sue me...the D-Backs and Rockies?! Ouch. I'm sure, somewhere, Bud Selig is weeping over all the ratings numbers he has lost. Phils-Cubs would have been choked in drama, intrigue, nationwide appeal...and we get D-Backs-Rockies. Now for me - I don't really care, I just want to see a good series...I can appreciate pretty much any matchup. I have my favorites (Troy "Little Cal" Tulowitzki) and I have my enemies (Eric "Hey is that a camera that I'm not on?!" Byrnes), so I'll be just fine. But I can see where people will tune out, hell, Arizona is pulling an Atlanta and hasn't even sold out Games 1 and 2 yet! When your own team has only been to the playoffs twice and you can't sell out - you know your team lacks appeal. Anyway - on wit da picks.

Indians over Red Sox in 7 - now you may think this is a biased pick because I think the Red Sox are a festering pile of runny, noxious, repellant bodily discharge but that's only partially true. The Indians will be tossing four games of CC and Fausto at the Red Sox and no matter how good Beckett is...I see Beckett v. CC being a split...Fausto takes his two over Dice-K, and then it's just a matter of Westbrook or Byrd winning one out of 3...and Athens' own Jake Westbrook is up to that challenge. Tribe prevails over the forces of evil.

D-Backs over Rockies in 6 - I have picked against the Rockies at every turn this season -said they would lose out on a playoff spot, said they had NO chance of beating Peavy in the one game playoff, was POSITIVE J-Roll and Ryan Howard were going to club them like little bastard baby seals...and yet they're still here. Now they go up against the D-Backs, a team with fans that apparently couldn't give a flip about them and with a roster that barely anyone outside of Buster Olney's circle of friends knows. But I'm nothing if not consistent...so I'm going with the D-Backs...and again I'm going to say its because of pitching. Webb...Livan...and Doug Davis...yeah, I just said Doug Davis is an asset - you got a problem with that? Compare that with Francis, Jimenez and Morales and I got to go with the staff comprised of a Cy Young winner and a former NLCS and World Series MVP. I know Jimenez and Francis have looked strong down the stretch but this run has to come to an end...right?

So there it is....MLB and Fox's worst nightmare...an Indians-D-Backs World Series.

On another note - I stopped putting pictures in the blog - does it really make a difference? I used to try to find funny little pictures and put in funny little captions, but it got to be time consuming and really...I just didn't want to do it anymore. Let me know via the poll on the right if you want pictures back.

Chalk one up for the good guys....

What's the #1 restaurant in Atlanta?

One in Athens.

Oh sweet Lord?!

This was a bad idea in 1994...what makes it a good idea NOW?

And so it begins...

when I'm not fuming over Atlanta's unconscionable water conservation plans I'm watching PLAYOFF BASEBALL BAY-BEE! My pennant predictions allllmost were on the money except for the fact that they were mostly wrong. The Mets collapsed, the D-Backs held on and the Padres got a gift in the 7th inning of the one game playoff only to get hosed in the 13th (so I guess it evened out). But hey! I did nail the entire AL and the Cubs...note: please forget about the fact that the AL was mostly decided when I made my picks. Anyway - on to my playoff picks:

ALDS:
Red Sox over Angels - it pains me....PAINS me to pick this but hey it looks pretty much like a lock. The Angels are banged up, the Red Sox have the pitching to dominate a short series and the hitting to get by. I would say the Red Sox have the edge in playoff experience but after Epstein dismantled the 04 squad its pretty much Schilling, Ortiz, Man-Ram, Varitek...OK they have the experience. This pick in no way alters the fact that I pray each and every day that the Red Sox lose every game from now until Major League Baseball is forced to contract them.

Indians over Yankees - as Pasqua and I were saying yesterday - it's not that we really dislike the guy but wouldn't it be great if this "A-Rod sucks in the postseason" story continues forever. He will be the greatest hitter that all his teams hated EVER....Yankees hate him, Rangers hate him...OK the Mariners like him but they are West Coast pansies. Anyway - got to love Sabathia and Carmona pitching 4 out of 5 of these games and as for that other Indians starter - well that would be Madison County's own Jake Westbrook...going in Game 3, 6:30pm IN Yankee Stadium against Roger Clemens! WOOOO-WEEE! That's drama

NLDS
Phillies over Rockies - I would like to see this Rockies Cinderella story continue but let's be honest...Jeff Francis? Josh Fogg?....and....they don't know...that's right -the Rockies have no idea who is going to be their third starter for this series. Not a good sign - especially when you are staring down at Cole Hamels for two of these possibly 5 games.

Cubs over D-Backs - basically I am picking the Cubs for two reasons - 1) the Cubs are a great story - win or lose and 2) I DETEST Eric Byrnes - not because he's a shameless self-promoting "dive for balls even when I could just walk up and grab them", "do crazy runs and dances on the base-paths for a infield fly dinkus, but because he was a solid if not pretty dang good player EVERYWHERE he went....EXCEPT the Baltimore Orioles. The O's in the middle of an almost-maybe-could be in contention season traded for Byrnes at the All-Star Break...how did ole Eric "Hey can I be on Fox? I'll let my dog drown" Byrnes do? Glad you asked - he batted .192 with as many homeruns as errors...3. I hope he and the D-Backs make an early exit and Eric is forced to eat sheep testicles during the 7th inning stretch of the NLCS as part of Fox's new "Fear Factor"-style humorous vignettes.

NLCS picks to come when all of these predictions are verified on the field....

Words....escape me....

Ahh...blissful ignorance....

MAN!

I love baseball. If you watched that one-game "playoff" (technically its the regular season) last night you would know what I mean. It was like eating a big plate full of Old Bay steamed shrimp and fresh corn on the cob, like sitting out on your back porch drinking High Life and cracking into some fresh steamed blue crabs, like hanging out with your friends and eating some fresh steamed oysters...I think you're catching the drift. I mean I was tired as a UGA tailgater after a night game because they were forced to wake up in the pre-dawn hours to stake their spot...but still - I couldn't turn away. So...some thoughts:

• Holliday didn't touch the bag - and I have no idea why home plate ump Tim McClellan didn't call him safe immediately and then just casually did after Barrett already was scrambling back to the then screaming in pain runner. Why didn't he just do it immediately? I know he's notorious for delayed calls but still...
• I have absolutely no idea whether Atkins' hit was a homerun - it seems like it caromed an awfully long way for just hitting the top of the padded fence but still - I never saw definitive proof that it was O-U-T gone. John was basing his call of no homerun on the fact that the lady next to the wheel chair was upset after the ball ricocheted back out. My answer to that is that she was simply sad that she didn't catch the ball.
• But that brings me to my next point - what was up with that lady? Was she using the wheelchair? And if so she was pretty spry in trying to catch that ball...was this just a woman who uses wheelchairs like the fat people in Kroger...you know the people that run over your foot in their Rascals and then when they really need to get their on sale Jiff get out of the chair and walk all the way down the aisle? Can someone find out what this woman's story was? Kudos to John for pointing out that on multiple occasions Joe Simpson referred to her as "that gentleman behind the wall".
• Back to baseball: Jake Peavy BLOWS when it counts - in three games (two post season, one tiebreaker) he has pitched 16 1/3 IPs and surrendered 29 Hs and 19 ERs. That ERA puts him somewhere north of 11.00 and would certainly not help those of you in a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball tiebreaker...yeah Josh - you know I'm looking at you.
• Trevor Hoffman may now only be remembered for his titanic chokes - the All-Star game and now TWO times in the last THREE games he has the opportunity to clinch for the Padres and blows it both times, once at the hands of the son of the greatest Padre ever no less. Yeah, he was probably the best closer in the NL over the past 15 years but does anyone 1) think he is anywhere CLOSE to as good as Mariano and 2) as Pasqua told me today - really think this guy is first ballot HOF material?

So there you have it - if the postseason is anywhere NEAR as exciting as last night's game I may have a coronary by the NLCS.