Leitch and Bissinger, together at last

July 16th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

Seconds later, they went in for a kiss. I’m not kidding.

(BTW: This is from the new “Costas Now” this evening. Sadly, it’s not the one that’s been promised about race. It’s baseball talk with some greats. And I’m enjoying it. Update: Apparently Deadspin mentioned this today.  And I should have checked it before I posted this. But we got it from Cajun Boy on his Tumblr earlier. So oh well.)

Hey, looks like this Winter Classic thing is finally official

July 16th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

So, it was on. Then it was (maybe) off. Then I think it was on again, but no one really knew for sure. I think Sean Lennon wrote a song about this once. (BTW: that song is a good song.) But yeah: the Sun-Times — the same publication that reported it was on originally — is saying it’s back on like Donkey Kong. (American Pie reference. SO HIP.)

The details:

The worst-kept secret in Chicago sports is official as the Blackhawks are set to host the Detroit Red Wings on Jan. 1 at Wrigley Field.

The Hawks will make an announcement around noon today.

Hawks president John McDonough, who formerly held that position with the Cubs, and Rocky Wirtz continue to return the Blackhawks into prominence. The Hawks’ first-ever fan convention is this weekend.

It will be interesting to see if the Blackhawks do indeed become relevant again after this. The buzz started a bit last season and McDonough seems to be lining his ducks in a row nicely with both the fan convention and this coup. The man knows what he’s doing.

Now to score a ticket for this …

Yankee Stadium actually might suck

July 15th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

So, here’s something I enjoyed: the New York Times pressed some All-Stars and got them to say discouraging things about the House that Ruth built. I enjoy this because I had to listen to Yankee Stadium get verbally jerked off last night to no end. I’m pretty sure Reggie Jackson is still blabbing about how being a True Yankee is the greatest thing on this here Earth. (Which, all things told, if I lived and breathed that environment day and day out, I’d probably end up sounding like Reggie, too. But I haven’t, so I don’t. And I won’t.)

BUT ANWAYS, here are the quotes:

The smell,” the Texas Rangers’ Michael Young said.

“The tiny clubhouse,” Justin Duchscherer of the Oakland Athletics added.

“Hitting my head on the dugout,” the Chicago White Sox’ Joe Crede offered. “Every time somebody scored or got a hit, you jumped up and forgot how low the ceiling is in there.”

[ … ]

“Especially when it rains, the smell that comes up through the drainage system is not pretty,” said Jason Varitek of the Boston Red Sox. “It affects your sinuses, I’ll tell you that much.”

Young added: “It depends on the day. The last time we were there, which was a couple of weeks ago, a pipe burst. I was going back up the tunnel, and there was a flood — a sewer line broke or something like that. So I still have that kind of in my nose right now.”

You know what? I change my stance: these guys just don’t get it. That sewer spell? That’s the smell of champions. The small dugouts and clubhouses? That builds character. It’s all so simple, really.

David Stern does not believe you … you’re a liar

July 15th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

I can’t say the whole Tim Donaghy scandal really has had any effect on the amount of basketball I watch. And the same can be said for steroids in baseball; it happened (or is still happening), we all move on. (This is not to say I don’t think differently about each sport now — when Josh Hamilton was at the dish last night, I couldn’t help but let the thought creep into my mind that he might  A) be using a corked bat and B) could possibly be on some sort of performance enhancer. This is not an indictment on the guy, it’s just a reality now after what his predecessors did. )

So as it’s revealed that Donaghy made 134 calls to a fellow ref during the same time he was betting on games, some more of that suspicion starts to creep in.

 NBA commissioner David Stern has called Donaghy a “rogue, isolated criminal” acting on his own, without the cooperation of any other referees or league officials.

“The government had complete access to Tim Donaghy’s phone records and thoroughly investigated this matter, including conducting an interview of referee Scott Foster,” the NBA said in a statement. “The government has said that they have found no evidence of criminal conduct aside from that of Mr. Donaghy. Once again, the only criminal conduct is that of Mr. Donaghy.”

According to a story published Monday on Fox News’ Web site, the majority of the phone calls lasted no more than two minutes and occurred before and after games Donaghy officiated and on which he admits wagering.

Reached for comment by Fox, Foster was asked if he was being investigated by the NBA, the government or anyone else.

“Not that I know of,” he said.

Marcel over at SLAM seems to think this is a bit fishy, and I do tend to agree.  Although, it’s always a possibly they were sharing workout tips. Foster looks pretty JACKED too.

Ozzie Guillen’s mouth now inspiring the competition

July 14th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

Here are some things we know about Ozzie Guillen’s mouth:

1) It’s loud.

2) It’s vulgar.

3) Somewhere in the deep recesses of some people’s brain, they believe his tirades are a tool to motivate his squad.

But, if you’re an opponent, I guess this same theory applies as well.

The Rangers’ closer was in the midst a of potential meltdown – having already allowed three runs on five hits in the ninth inning – when he heard Guillen taunting him from the visiting dugout.

“I didn’t have good stuff, and then I got angry when Ozzie Guillen started yelling at me, and I just took it to another level,” Wilson said of striking out Jim Thome and Paul Konerko looking to end a 12-11 Texas win. “I wish I could have taken it to that level right away and then been out of there with a couple of pitches.”

So yes: C.J. Wilson, in the midst of a breakdown, claims that Ozzie Guillen’s mouth inspired him to take it up a notch. Whoopsies! Victory for the Rangers it is!

Wilson’s mouth, however, inspires teammates to get pissed at him.

David Beckham still not hip to the lingo

July 11th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

When I was in London a few years ago (is this the most overused lead-in on my posts? it’s certainly up there), one thing that was made painfully obvious to me by all the study abroad peeps was that even though we speak the same language, we don’t speak the same language.

For instance: they don’t say garbage, they say rubbish. And one that was of utmost importance to me: I was not waiting in a line at a bar or club, I was in the GD queue.  (Also: They are more apt to say “postman” than “mailman.” Fun!) Though it certainly wasn’t a main cause of concern, sometimes I said something or someone said something and there was confusion. But man, I was growing and learning and expanding my cultural awareness … so it was all good, homey.

And that’s why I can understand why David Beckham is still totally clueless sometimes.

The LA Galaxy star revealed he’s not quite down with his team mates’ lingo, saying they sometimes don’t understand what he’s saying either.

Becks said: ‘I must say I’ve had a few issues on that front. I sometimes say something and team mates don’t understand me.’

‘Then they say things and I don’t have a clue what they are going on about.’

‘The other day one of them said they had a raspberry. I can’t remember. They were talking about a grass burn! I couldn’t get my head around that one.’

Later Beckham admitted the main problem was that he’s spent so much time trying to figure out what the hell Snoop is saying that he hasn’t had time to pick up on much of anything else.

Let’s go Okie Noodling

July 9th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

Confession: I may not have been quite up to speed with Okie Noodling before today. But this video has told me all I need to know.

It appears all I need to do is lose some teeth, move to Oklahoma and start wrestling catfish. Which, to be honest, sounds kind of appealing at this very moment.

{HT: The Original Winger.}

Quick look: Ziller’s Blogdom Atlas

July 9th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

Hey, would you like to look at something cool? Yes, of course you would. You are at work doing mindless drivel; the Internet is your release from it all. So I present Tom Ziller’s blogdom atlas over at Ballhype:

(click photo for larger version)

On our next redesign, I need to make sure our logo translates well to graphs. Because if it takes you under five minutes to find us, you win a prize.