Friday, August 20, 2004
Message To yankee Fans
Congratulations, yankee fans. Your team really did a great job tonight. They had a 9-2 lead. Quantrill came in, just the way it's supposed to be. Zero innings pitched and three earned runs later, plus some more inherited runners scoring, and the lead was all but gone. Sheffield bailed you out with a homer, but not before he gave up the lead because he can't lift his arm above his shoulder. And if the Twins put someone--anyone--at the plate besides Jose Offerman in a key situation, they may have taken an insurmountable lead. But as Charley Steiner said, it was another come from behind win for the yanks. Does he mention that the only reason they had a chance to come from behind is because they blew a SEVEN run lead? No. Anyway, great job tonight, yankee fans, on going to bed early--I mean rooting your team on. You're better than me. You are a great person with a perfect life. Everyone loves you. Oh wait, what's that? Oh, the president is on the line for you, yankee fan. You are truly a national hero.
You know what else Steiner said? When the Twins had the tying run at third late in the game, there was a popup into shallow center field. Jeter backpedaled, and made the catch, then threw a strike to the plate (this is all based on what I heard on the radio.) The runner bluffed, and stayed at third. Steiner actually then uttered the words: "There's another play where Derek Jeter's talent will fail to show up in the boxscore."
Any last words before your execution, Charley?
Jeter did nothing more than what you're supposed to do. Can you even think of anything else you'd do in that situation? It was a popup. He caught it. The runner wasn't going to score no matter what happened. Maybe Steiner thinks that Mark Bellhorn would've let the ball drop on purpose. Or caught it and rolled the ball toward first base, allowing the run to score. Or thrown the ball into the center field stands while announcing to the umpire that his team is forfeiting the game.
Anyway, I was listening on the radio because Chan and I were driving back from the city, where I lived the dream of seeing Ghostbusters outside in Washington Square Park at dusk. It's one of my all time favorites, and Harold Ramis was there to introduce the movie. I guess the guy who puts on these events is friends with Ramis, and that's how he gets him to come. Ramis rules. GB rules. F the yanks.
You know what else Steiner said? When the Twins had the tying run at third late in the game, there was a popup into shallow center field. Jeter backpedaled, and made the catch, then threw a strike to the plate (this is all based on what I heard on the radio.) The runner bluffed, and stayed at third. Steiner actually then uttered the words: "There's another play where Derek Jeter's talent will fail to show up in the boxscore."
Any last words before your execution, Charley?
Jeter did nothing more than what you're supposed to do. Can you even think of anything else you'd do in that situation? It was a popup. He caught it. The runner wasn't going to score no matter what happened. Maybe Steiner thinks that Mark Bellhorn would've let the ball drop on purpose. Or caught it and rolled the ball toward first base, allowing the run to score. Or thrown the ball into the center field stands while announcing to the umpire that his team is forfeiting the game.
Anyway, I was listening on the radio because Chan and I were driving back from the city, where I lived the dream of seeing Ghostbusters outside in Washington Square Park at dusk. It's one of my all time favorites, and Harold Ramis was there to introduce the movie. I guess the guy who puts on these events is friends with Ramis, and that's how he gets him to come. Ramis rules. GB rules. F the yanks.
Thursday, August 19, 2004
The Lama
Magic number is 52. 8 back with 6 to play head-to-head.
You know what's funny? When you hear that the yankees lost, then you get home and put on the replay of the game, and you hear Michael Kay getting all excited about some hit in the first inning. And you know they're gonna lose. But you're hearing the arrogance in his voice, like he thinks the yanks will win. But you can just sit back and relax, knowing Kay will be disappointed.
I've had one of those weeks where I'm doing something every night, so I haven't been writing as much. So...I got that goin' for me.
You know what's funny? When you hear that the yankees lost, then you get home and put on the replay of the game, and you hear Michael Kay getting all excited about some hit in the first inning. And you know they're gonna lose. But you're hearing the arrogance in his voice, like he thinks the yanks will win. But you can just sit back and relax, knowing Kay will be disappointed.
I've had one of those weeks where I'm doing something every night, so I haven't been writing as much. So...I got that goin' for me.
Monday, August 16, 2004
Joe The Juice Guy
The tone of Joe Castiglione's voice when the Red Sox recorded the final out tonight gave me the impression that he just wanted to take the win and get the hell out of there, knowing that the game was much more frustrating than an 8-4 victory should be.
It was like he just put on the "We won, everything's fine" face, as if saying like that would make it so, when he easily could've said something like, "The Red Sox win a tough one," in a much more nervous voice.
That game, man, I felt like I was listening to the pre-Roy Hobbs New York Knights minus the traditional blooper-reel music in the background.
Speaking of announcers, I was thinking about how weird it must be for some of these athletes when they get to the point where they have to meet their new team's announcers. Because you know half the dudes don't care about announcers, while, in turn, all the announcers are probably so excited to meet someone whose profession is so much "cooler" than theirs. Also, the announcers get to hang out with the players for interviews and stuff, and they probably really look forward to it. Whereas the average player probably thinks that the last thing they want to do after hitting a game-winning home run in front of 50,000 people is go chat with some crusty old stat freak who his father probably beat up in high school, and couldn't even play infield on his Little League team. "What was I thinking on that 2-2 fastball? I was thinking about how great it feels to be a 23-year-old millionaire who's loved and adored by an entire city. What were you thinking when you called it?"
No offense to the announcers, of course. Castig rules. I'd hang out with him.
And finally, more about this MLB deal with all the team sites being the same:
Today there's a story where you can pay a dollar to charity, and get a ticket to a game on specific days. I thought the phrase "...ticket to any home game played on September 1st..." sounded a little suspicious. So I looked at the full story, and it gave each team's locations (where you donate your $) and which games you can get tickets to. Of course, every other team had a series of dates listed, while the Sox, understandably, only offered one date. You'd think, though, that when they filled in the dates for the story on the Red Sox page, they would've seen the horrible wording, and just changed "any" to "the." It really sounds bad: Any home game on the 1st. Wow, I can choose between all ONE of them! I think I'll choose the 7:05 game.
I wouldn't be surprised if one day there was a story on there that said, "...see Manny, Pedro, and all your favorite insert team name here stars!"
Time for teams to start succeeding from the MLB website union.
It was like he just put on the "We won, everything's fine" face, as if saying like that would make it so, when he easily could've said something like, "The Red Sox win a tough one," in a much more nervous voice.
That game, man, I felt like I was listening to the pre-Roy Hobbs New York Knights minus the traditional blooper-reel music in the background.
Speaking of announcers, I was thinking about how weird it must be for some of these athletes when they get to the point where they have to meet their new team's announcers. Because you know half the dudes don't care about announcers, while, in turn, all the announcers are probably so excited to meet someone whose profession is so much "cooler" than theirs. Also, the announcers get to hang out with the players for interviews and stuff, and they probably really look forward to it. Whereas the average player probably thinks that the last thing they want to do after hitting a game-winning home run in front of 50,000 people is go chat with some crusty old stat freak who his father probably beat up in high school, and couldn't even play infield on his Little League team. "What was I thinking on that 2-2 fastball? I was thinking about how great it feels to be a 23-year-old millionaire who's loved and adored by an entire city. What were you thinking when you called it?"
No offense to the announcers, of course. Castig rules. I'd hang out with him.
And finally, more about this MLB deal with all the team sites being the same:
Today there's a story where you can pay a dollar to charity, and get a ticket to a game on specific days. I thought the phrase "...ticket to any home game played on September 1st..." sounded a little suspicious. So I looked at the full story, and it gave each team's locations (where you donate your $) and which games you can get tickets to. Of course, every other team had a series of dates listed, while the Sox, understandably, only offered one date. You'd think, though, that when they filled in the dates for the story on the Red Sox page, they would've seen the horrible wording, and just changed "any" to "the." It really sounds bad: Any home game on the 1st. Wow, I can choose between all ONE of them! I think I'll choose the 7:05 game.
I wouldn't be surprised if one day there was a story on there that said, "...see Manny, Pedro, and all your favorite insert team name here stars!"
Time for teams to start succeeding from the MLB website union.
Sunday, August 15, 2004
Fenway Park, August 14th
I was up at Fenway tonight for a key win. Pat & I have really taken to our "new seats." Instead of sitting in the bleachers, we've been standing at the top of the grandstand between home and first. Great view and really close, not bad for 20 bucks. A little hard to see when everyone stands up, but it's worth it. Ortiz had two dongs, should've had three, Manny had one, too. We could see Pedro with his little toy bat in the dugout, imitating the batters. That guy rules. Schilling was really on after that rough spot in the first. Youk made a hell of a catch. It reminded yet again how overrated that Jeter catch is. And the Saturday night crowd was even livelier than your weekday and day time crowds (naturally.) It was a fun night. And only the very end of the drive back to SW CT was affected by Hurricane Chuck, or what's left of it.
I'm surprised that there are still people who say, "Why are they booing Youkilis?"
And that so many people boo Carl Everett. I was a big fan of his. He was a weird dude who hated the yankees. My kinda guy. My fiance used to call him the rogue strategizer.
And I wouldn't have expected so many Cubs fans at a Red Sox-White Sox game. I guess all the people who root for the Cubs in the Boston area come out to root against their hated rivals. And I mean there were a lot of them. Like more than the amount of, say, Blue Jays fans you'd see when the Blue Jays are in town. In fact, there were more Cubs fans than White Sox fans there, from what I could tell. Also, I saw two Nomar Cubs jerseys. But they could've been actual Cubs fans, as opposed to people making a statement. I'll see how many of those I see in two weeks when I'm up there again.
When you go up to those sinks that have a sensor under the faucet, and there's no one around, so you have a choice of five sinks, do you ever pick one of the ones that isn't broken? I don't get a working one until my second or third try.
I thought of that because it happened to me at Westborough Plaza on the Mass Pike tonight. We went there as opposed to Framingham or Charlton, because it's the one without a McDonald's, so the crowd is about 200% smaller...
What's your Mass Pike rest area of choice?
I'm surprised that there are still people who say, "Why are they booing Youkilis?"
And that so many people boo Carl Everett. I was a big fan of his. He was a weird dude who hated the yankees. My kinda guy. My fiance used to call him the rogue strategizer.
And I wouldn't have expected so many Cubs fans at a Red Sox-White Sox game. I guess all the people who root for the Cubs in the Boston area come out to root against their hated rivals. And I mean there were a lot of them. Like more than the amount of, say, Blue Jays fans you'd see when the Blue Jays are in town. In fact, there were more Cubs fans than White Sox fans there, from what I could tell. Also, I saw two Nomar Cubs jerseys. But they could've been actual Cubs fans, as opposed to people making a statement. I'll see how many of those I see in two weeks when I'm up there again.
When you go up to those sinks that have a sensor under the faucet, and there's no one around, so you have a choice of five sinks, do you ever pick one of the ones that isn't broken? I don't get a working one until my second or third try.
I thought of that because it happened to me at Westborough Plaza on the Mass Pike tonight. We went there as opposed to Framingham or Charlton, because it's the one without a McDonald's, so the crowd is about 200% smaller...
What's your Mass Pike rest area of choice?
Whine Whine Whine
On the Red Sox website, there's a survey for "tv viewers." It's on every MLB site I guess, only cut-and-pasted in a way that would make a stupid person think it's a survey referring only to their team. So I took the survey and on every question, I checked off "I don't currently watch MLB games." (surprising option, since the survey is specifically designed for tv viewers) Which is a white lie, because I watch the yankees, and the Red Sox when they're on national tv. And then I used the "comments" section to once again give my complaint about not being able to see my team. Here's what I wrote:
You may have noticed that I don't watch games on TV. This is because my favorite team is the Boston Red Sox. And in Fairfield County, Connecticut, where I've lived my whole life, we're considered OUTSIDE of NEW ENGLAND Sports Network's viewing area by MLB. Despite the fact that WE ARE part of New England. Why do I still have to write letters about this after all these years? When will someone at MLB finally realize this travesty and say, "Whoops, our mistake," and flip some switch that allows ALL of New England to see NEW ENGLAND Sports Network?
I've noticed that the Red Sox organization has been attempting to "win over" Conecticut baseball fans lately. Are there talks in the works about NESN coming to Fairfield County? Please update me on this situation.
I'd like to have the option of watching my home team, instead of being limited to the Mets and Yankees. And Atlanta Braves. I can see a team that plays a thousand miles away, but I've never been able to watch the only teamthat plays here in New England.
Please help.
Thank you,
Jere
So hopefully they will write back. A while ago I wrote that letter to the CT Fox stattion, and said I'd write their reply here, and I'm sorry that I never did. I was just so depressed by his answer, which basically said, "No matter which team we choose to show, we'll get thousands of complaints. So we just show the yankees because they've been more popular lately." My reply to that would have been tens if not hundreds of pages long, so I just said screw it, it only affects a few national games per year, I'm not gonna waste my time on that HUGE yankee fan. Just bring some eggs if you're driving by the FOX-61 studios, and I'll do the same.
You may have noticed that I don't watch games on TV. This is because my favorite team is the Boston Red Sox. And in Fairfield County, Connecticut, where I've lived my whole life, we're considered OUTSIDE of NEW ENGLAND Sports Network's viewing area by MLB. Despite the fact that WE ARE part of New England. Why do I still have to write letters about this after all these years? When will someone at MLB finally realize this travesty and say, "Whoops, our mistake," and flip some switch that allows ALL of New England to see NEW ENGLAND Sports Network?
I've noticed that the Red Sox organization has been attempting to "win over" Conecticut baseball fans lately. Are there talks in the works about NESN coming to Fairfield County? Please update me on this situation.
I'd like to have the option of watching my home team, instead of being limited to the Mets and Yankees. And Atlanta Braves. I can see a team that plays a thousand miles away, but I've never been able to watch the only teamthat plays here in New England.
Please help.
Thank you,
Jere
So hopefully they will write back. A while ago I wrote that letter to the CT Fox stattion, and said I'd write their reply here, and I'm sorry that I never did. I was just so depressed by his answer, which basically said, "No matter which team we choose to show, we'll get thousands of complaints. So we just show the yankees because they've been more popular lately." My reply to that would have been tens if not hundreds of pages long, so I just said screw it, it only affects a few national games per year, I'm not gonna waste my time on that HUGE yankee fan. Just bring some eggs if you're driving by the FOX-61 studios, and I'll do the same.
