SubscribeNomar Garciaparra retires
Nomar Garciaparra, a one-time Hall of Fame lock, has called it a career after 14 seasons in Major League Baseball. He has officially retired and will now begin working as a baseball annalist for ESPN.
I wont miss him. I’ve never been a Nomar Garciaparra fan. To watch him at bat was a baseball at it’s worse. After every pitch, he would step out of the batter’s box and adjust his batting gloves. It was so, so annoying. If his gloves really needed to be adjusted after each and every pitch, maybe he was wearing the wrong gloves.
Goodbye Nomar Garciaparra. You will not be missed. At least not by me.
Which of these two men is older?
Who’s the older man in this picture? Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail or “new” Baltimore Orioles third baseman Miguel Tejada?
I wasn’t sorry to see Miguel Tejada leave the Orioles in 2007. I can’t say that I’m happy to see him return. Not only did he appear on the Mitchell Report in connection to steroids, he actually is one of the few players in Major League Baseball to have a criminal conviction stemming from the steroid controversy. On February 11, 2009 Tejada pleaded guilty to charges that he lied to Congress in 2005. He received one year of probation.
I just don’t see how once again adding Miguel Tejada to the Baltimore Orioles will make them a better ballclub. He’s old. Since he lies about his age, nobody even knows how old he really is. Some scientists claim that he may be 67-years old.
At least that’s what I heard.
Mark McGwire admits to using steroids
Mark McGwire has finally come out and admitted what everyone always thought – that he used steroids when he broke baseball’s home run record in 1998. What’s he going to admit next, that he has red hair and a goatee?
I don’t really understand all the hoopla when it comes to steroids in baseball. Contrary to what you might have heard on sports talk radio, steroids do not help you hit home runs. What they do is allow your muscles to heal faster and recover quicker when subjected to trauma or damage. This means that when someone is engaging in strenuous weight lifting and they are taking steroids, they will be able to recover quicker in between workouts then someone who is not taking steroids. This allows them to lift more and work harder than someone who is not taking them.
So in other words, a person taking steroids is able to work harder than a person not taking them.
The notion that they are some kind of home run hitting magical elixir is absurd.
I guess one might make the argument that steroids help a person gain more muscles and more muscles help a person hit home runs, so it’s cheating. The problem with that argument is that simply lifting weights help to gain muscles too.
Is lifting weights cheating too? How about eating egg white omelets and broiled skinless chicken breasts?
I’m not even convinced that big muscles help a person hit home runs. Hank Aaron held the life time home run record for the longest time and he wasn’t a big muscle type of guy.
It’s probably a good thing that Mark McGwire came out and told everyone what we all thought to begin with. It’s not like he was the first baseball player to use steroids before they were banned by Major League Baseball. I’m sure that as time goes on, more players will come out and make similar “confessions”. If they were smart, they would come out now while all the attention is being focused on McGwire.
Nobody said ball players were smart.
Andre Dawson elected to the Hall of Fame
Andre Dawson has been elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He will be enshrined into Cooperstown on July 25, 2010.
This is the ninth time Dawson has appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot. The other eight times Dawson was on the ballot, he was not yet good enough for Cooperstown. Even though he has not played professional baseball in 14 years, he evidently has somehow improved as a player. Even though his stats and accomplishment have not changed since his retirement, he’s now good enough for the Hall of Fame, even though he evidently wasn’t good enough the prior eight times his name appeared on the ballot.
I just don’t get that.
Either a player is a Hall of Fame player or he’s not. I don’t get how the voters can reject someone for enshrinement for years and then suddenly reverse their prior votes.
John Legend sings the National Anthem at game two of the 2009 World Series
If this isn’t one of the best renditions of the National Anthem, I don’t know what is. It’s truly a beautiful performance. It more than made up for Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ earlier performance of the Billy Joel rip-off Empire State Of Mind. Though I liked the part sang by Alicia Keys, I wanted Jay-Z to just shut up.
In Empire State Of Mind, Jay-Z claims that he “made the Yankees hat more famous than a Yankee can.” Really? Then why is it still called a Yankees hat and not a Jay-Z hat?
Lifelong New York Yankees fan jumps ship after only one game
Former executive producer of the Ron and Fez Show and lifelong, die-hard New York Yankees fan Earl Douglas has stopped supporting the New York Yankees and has evidently decided to instead support the Philadelphia Phillies. As this photo shows, he has even gone to the extent for replacing his Yankees hat with a Phillies hat.
Seeing Earl Douglas wear something other than a Yankees cap is a lot like seeing Rush Limbaugh wearing an Obama t-shirt.
The Phillies beat the Yankees last night in game one of the World Series, 6-1. If the Yankees win tonight, will Earl Douglas go back to being a Yankees fan? Will he only go back to supporting the Yankees if they win the World Series?
It should be noted that even though the Yankees have the highest payroll in baseball ($208 million), they haven’t won a World Series since 2000.
Hopefully, it’s a trend that will continue. Like Earl Douglas, I hate the New York Yankees.
This is one of the reasons people hate the New York Yankees
What would post-season, October baseball be without the New York Yankees benefiting from a “questionable” call? Seriously, this is just ridiculous. Umpire Phil Cuzzi was standing right there watching the ball land in fair territory and then bounce into the stands. It should have been a ground rule double. Instead, it was strike two for Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Maurer.
The score was tied 3-3 in the 11th inning with no outs.
Umpire Phil Cuzzi is no stranger to controversy. He has a track record of making controversial calls. He shouldn’t have been anywhere near this game, especially considering that he lives in New Jersey and likely has a bias when it comes to the New York Yankees. Is it a stretch to think that a guy who was born and raised in Newark probably grew up rooting for the Yankees?
I think not.
Seriously, this is a travesty. Because the first round of the playoffs is only five games long instead of the regular seven, blown calls like this one are even more egregious than normal. Coincidentally, the Yankees seems to always seem to be the ones benefiting from something like this.
Let the Major League Baseball Divisional Series games begin!
The post-season officially starts today for Major League Baseball (MLB) and according the Awful Announcing, this is the TV schedule for all the divisional series games:
Wednesday, October 7th
- Colorado Rockies @ Philadelphia Phillies, Game #1 (TBS, 2:30pm)- Brian Anderson, Joe Simpson and David Aldridge
- Minnesota Twins @ New York Yankees, Game #1 (TBS, 6pm)- Chip Caray, Ron Darling and Craig Sager
- St. Louis Cardinals @ Los Angeles Dodgers, Game #1 (TBS, 9:30pm)- Dick Stockton, Bob Brenly and Tom Verducci
Thursday, October 8th
- Colorado Rockies @ Philadelphia Phillies, Game #2 (TBS, 2:30pm)- Brian Anderson, Joe Simpson and David Aldridge
- St. Louis Cardinals @ Los Angeles Dodgers, Game #2 (TBS, 6pm)- Dick Stockton, Bob Brenly and Tom Verducci
- Boston Red Sox @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Game #1 (TBS, 9:30pm)- Don Orsillo, Buck Martinez and Mark Fein
Friday, October 9th
- Minnesota Twins @ New York Yankees, Game #2 (TBS, 6pm)- Chip Caray, Ron Darling and Craig Sager
- Boston Red Sox @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Game #2 (TBS, 9:30pm)- Don Orsillo, Buck Martinez and Mark Fein
Saturday, October 10th
- Los Angeles Dodgers @ St. Louis Cardinals, Game #3 (TBS, 6:30pm)- Dick Stockton, Bob Brenly and Tom Verducci
- Philadelphia Phillies @ Colorado Rockies, Game #3 (TBS, 10pm)- Brian Anderson, Joe Simpson and David Aldridge
Sunday, October 11th
- Los Angeles Dodgers @ St. Louis Cardinals, Game #4* (TBS, TBD)- Dick Stockton, Bob Brenly and Tom Verducci
- Philadelphia Phillies @ Colorado Rockies, Game #4* (TBS, TBD)- Brian Anderson, Joe Simpson and David Aldridge
- New York Yankees @ Minnesota Twins, Game #3 (TBS, TBD)- Chip Caray, Ron Darling and Craig Sager
- Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim @ Boston Red Sox, Game #3 (TBS, TBD)- Don Orsillo, Buck Martinez and Mark Fein
Monday, October 12th
- New York Yankees @ Minnesota Twins , Game #4* (TBS, TBD)- Chip Caray, Ron Darling and Craig Sager
- Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim @ Boston Red Sox, Game #4* (TBS, TBD)- Don Orsillo, Buck Martinez and Mark Fein
Tuesday, October 13th
- St. Louis Cardinals @ Los Angeles Dodgers, Game #5* (TBS, TBD)- Dick Stockton, Bob Brenly and Tom Verducci
- Colorado Rockies @ Philadelphia Phillies, Game #5* (TBS, TBD)- Brian Anderson, Joe Simpson and David Aldridge
Wednesday, October 14th
- Minnesota Twins @ New York Yankees, Game #5* (TBS, TBD)- Chip Caray, Ron Darling and Craig Sager
- Boston Red Sox @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Game #5 (TBS, TBD) Don Orsillo, Buck Martinez and Mark Fein
David Wright’s gigantic helmet
A lot of people are making fun of New York Mets third basemen David Wright’s gigantic helmet, and rightfully so. The helmet makes him look completely stupid. I don’t know if it’s because his helmet is just too big, or that his body is incredibly small.
He’s wearing this contraption because he was hit in the head with a pitch a few weeks ago by Matt Cain of the San Fransisco Giants. Wright went down hard and stayed down for a couple of minutes. He was eventually able to leave the field under his own power and the Mets put him on the 15-day disabled list. He suffered a concussion and the fear is that if he’s hit in the head again, the concussion will be worse. That’s the way concussions are, each one is progressively worse.
This new helmet is supposed to give his head more protection than the standard MLB batting helmet.
I think the problem with this helmet is that the designers tried to make it look sort of like a baseball cap. Back in the olden times, batters went to bat without a helmet, they simply wore the same wool cap that they wore when they played defense. When helmets first appeared in MLB, they looked just like wool caps, only they were hard plastic. Over the years, they slowly evolved into safer helmets, yet they have retained the look of a baseball cap.
I think that’s a mistake.
They should just design a safe helmet and not worry about making it look sort of like a baseball cap. No matter what they do, it’s not going to look like a baseball cap so they should just stop.
The unassisted triple play
It was the 15th unassisted triple play in major league baseball history and only the second time it’s happened to end a game. There were runners on first and second and both runners were attempting to steal when Jeff Francoeur of the New York Mets hit the ball directly to Philadelphia Phillies utility infielder Eric Bruntlett. Out #1 was when Bruntlett caught the line drive. Out #2 was when Bruntlett stepped on the bag for the force out of Luis Castillo who was on second base, but legally could not advance to third base because the hit ball had never touched the ground. Out #3 was when Bruntlett tagged Daniel Murphy before he could get back to first base.
One. Two. Three. An unassisted triple play by a utility infielder.
Nationals sign top draft pick with minutes to spare
The Washington Nationals were able to reach a deal with 2009 Major League Baseball No. 1 draft pick Stephen Strasburg late last night only minutes before the midnight deadline. Strasburg signed a $15.1 million, four-year deal.
That’s a lot of money.
If the Nats had failed to sign Strasburg before then, they would have lost the rights to sign him and he would have to go back into next year’s draft. The Nats earned the right to take the first draft pick this year by losing 102 games last year.
Strasburg is a right-handed power pitcher. He stands 6-5 tall and weighs in at 216 pounds. His fast ball is clocked at 97 MPH.
There’s a slight chance he might be coming to the Hagerstown Suns for a few minutes, but I kind of doubt it. Then again, I didn’t think the Nats were going to even sign him, so what do I know? The Suns are the single A team for the Washington Nationals and play in Memorial Stadium. It’s the stadium baseball great Willie Mays made his professional debut.
Strasburg hasn’t pitched since May while playing for San Diego State as a sophomore.
David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez reportedly on the 2003 list of steroid users
The New York Times is reporting that David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez are among the players that tested positive for steroids in the confidential “anonymous” performance enhancing drugs (PED) test in 2003. Both players were with the Boston Red Sox and contributed greatly to Boston’s championship seasons of 2004 and 2007.
As it turns out, these tests weren’t very confidential or anonymous. From the article:
Baseball first tested for steroids in 2003, and the results from that season were supposed to remain anonymous. But for reasons that have never been made clear, the results were not destroyed and the first batch of positives has come to be known among fans and people in baseball as “the list.” The information was later seized by federal agents investigating the distribution of performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes, and the test results remain the subject of litigation between the baseball players union and the government.
Ortiz is now acting as though this is the first time he is learning that he tested positive in 2003, though it was reported earlier that the players that tested positive were informed by their union when federal agents seized the results.
So what does this actually mean? In my opinion, absolutely nothing. Major League Baseball didn’t ban anabolic steroids until 2004. These test results were from 2003.
The ironic thing is that David Ortiz is one of the few players have come out and been critical of those using PEDs, even calling for a one year ban on the first failed test. Of course, this was before it came out that he himself failed a test in 2003.
Pot, meet kettle.
Finally
Looks like the Baltimore Orioles will finally be bringing top prospect Matt Wieters up to the Major Leagues this Friday. It’s about time.
Wieters to debut on Friday [Camden Chat]
Looking at Wieters, O’s fans have star in eyes [Baltimore Sun]
Wieters ‘madness’ hits Baltimore [Washington Times]
Matt Wieters Will Start for Orioles Friday [FanHouse]
Orioles reliever accuses umpire of being a degenerate gambler
Orioles reliever Jamie Walker got called for a balk in last night’s game against the Anaheim Angels by home plate umpire Angel Hernandez. I get the impression that Walker did not agree with the call. From the Baltimore Sun:
“No way in hell did I balk on that pitch,” Walker said. “I don’t know if the guy has something against me or what, but no way in hell did I balk. It changed the whole damn game. I may get screwed in the long run, but that’s just unacceptable at this level. I don’t know if he had money betting on the game or what, but that’s a horseshit call. I don’t even have a damn pickoff move. I think that might be my first career balk.”
I doubt the ump was betting on the game. Even if he was a degenerate gambler, who in their right might would take action on an Orioles game? With that said, why on earth is a man named “Angel” allowed to work a game involving a team with the same name?
I see a direct conflict of interest here.
No baseball for Sirius satellite radio subscribers
The Major League Baseball (MLB) season starts tomorrow and it looks like Sirius XM subscribers who subscribe to the satellite radio service with a Sirius radio will not be able to listen to games like their XM counterparts, even if they are paying extra for the “Best of XM” package.
The reason for this is that even though the two satellite radio providers were finally allowed by the Federal government to merge into one company, Sirius XM Radio CEO Mel Karmazin insists on running the merged satellite radio company as though it is really two separate companies. Though he was able to quickly strike a deal with the NFL, the NHL, NASCAR, and the NBA to allow both XM and Sirius to broadcast live games and/or events, he was not able to work something out with MLB.
MLB wanted more money to allow games to be broadcast on Sirius. XM Radio had already pre-paid MLB for the rights to broadcast every game up to March of 2011.
I think this is a problem in that out of all the major sports, baseball is the only one that is actually worth listening to on the radio. When I listen to a baseball game on the radio, I can easily see the game play out in my mind’s eye. I’ve listened to games on the radio and then later watched highlights of these same games on ESPN. The events transpired exactly like what I imagined.
I can’t say the same thing for any other sport.
Poor A-Rod
I listened to the Alex Rodriguez press conference yesterday and I found the whole thing to be wildly entertaining. The problem, at least for Alex Rodriguez, is that I don’t think that was the intended purpose of the press conference.
To entertain me.
Why doesn’t he just come out and say exactly what he did? The only thing people hate more than a cheater is an idiot. The more A-Rod talks, the more he sounds like a total idiot. For example, his explanation on how he got the steroids; He says that a cousin smuggled them in from the Dominican Republic. He claims that he doesn’t really know what they were or what exactly they did.
There are just some things you don’t allow even a cousin to do. Injecting your buttocks with a mysterious substance from the Dominican Republic is one of those things.
Steroids weren’t even banned in Major League Baseball until 2005. He should just come out and be completely honest. Don’t hold anything back. In today’s press conference, he refused to identify his cousin. Does he honestly think he can keep the name of his cousin a secret?
I wish him the best of luck with that.
Mike Mussina to retire after first 20-win season
Yankees 40-year old pitcher Mike Mussina is calling it quits after achieving his first 20 win season in 18 years of playing Major League Baseball. Mussina was an Orioles first round draft pick in 1990. He played for the Orioles from 1991 to 2000, and then went on to sign a free agent contract with the rival Yankees.
The big knock on Mussina – if there was one — was that he never registered a 20- win season. He had two back to back 19-win seasons while playing for the Orioles as well as two 18-win seasons. With that said, he was almost always the number one pitcher on his team for much of his entire career.
I happened to be in Camden Yards the night he scored his 100 win. I don’t remember the date, but it was an interleague game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Baltimore Orioles. I remember there being more Philly fans in attendance then Oriole fans. That’s a trend that only worsened as the Orioles worsened. Not just with the Phillies, but with the Yankees and the Red Sox too.
The most exciting sporting event I have ever seen in my life was a game between the Cleveland Indians and the Baltimore Orioles. Mussina was on the mound. He had a perfect game going into the ninth inning. Indians catcher Sandy Alomar then got a one-out single to break up the perfect game.
If Mike Mussina somehow doesn’t end up in the Baseball Hall of Fame, it will be a crime against humanity. He finishes his career with a 270-153 record and 3.68 ERA. He has 2,813 career strikeouts and just won his seventh Gold Glove award. He spent his entire career in the offense happy AL East and 10 years of that pitching in hitter-friendly Camden Yards. He’s also a total class act. That shouldn’t matter much when it comes to Hall of Fame consideration, but it counts a lot in my book.
Not that I even have a book.
The Washington Nationals TV ratings are like steroids
What do the TV ratings for the Washington Nationals have in common with steroids? Both are being investigated by Major League Baseball.
Speaking to members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, Commissioner Bud Selig said that MLB will be checking into the accuracy of published Nielsen ratings. The SportsBusiness Journal reported last week that the Nationals were pulling in an average of only 9,000 households in the Washington area.
That’s pretty bad.
It’s not as bad as the TV ratings the team was pulling when it was still in Montreal. They weren’t even televised the last few years was the Expos.
Where do you go if even the Orioles do not want you?
Former Baltimore Orioles outfielder and human growth hormone (HGH) junkie Jay Gibbons has finally found a place in professional baseball. Too bad for Gibbons it’s with a team in the independent Atlantic League.
Evidently he sent a letter to 29 Major League Baseball teams asking for chance to play. No team was interested.
It’s not like he needs the money. Even though the O’s released him last year after he admitted to using HGH, they are still paying him. He is being paid a guaranteed $11.9 million by the Orioles until the end of the 2009 MLB season.
Far be it from me to ever criticize anything the Oriole front office do, but I wouldn’t have released him. I would have kept him around. They have to pay him no matter what. I would have made him sell beer or cotton candy at Camden Yards. I’m sure the MLBPA would have had something to say about it, but I would have at least tried.
I would never fire someone I had to still pay.
Gibbons to join Atlantic League [Baltimore Sun]
Roger Clemens is a perv
From the New York Daily News:
Roger Clemens carried on a decade-long affair with country star Mindy McCready, a romance that began when McCready was a 15-year-old aspiring singer performing in a karaoke bar and Clemens was a 28-year-old Red Sox ace and married father of two, several sources have told the Daily News.
Well that’s certainly creepy. It’s not like Roger Clemens would be the first Major League Baseball player to have an extramarital affair. Why did he have to focus his attentions on a child? A 28-year old screwing a 15-year old is definitely creepy unless the 28-year old is a female teacher and the 15-year old is a boy. In that case, it’s just Florida.
Mindy McCready is the country singer that got into trouble with the law for trying to use a fake OxyContin prescriptions. I think she also tried to choke a boyfriend to death. Mindy McCready may very well be a flawed and troubled person because Roger Clemens was throwing her the high hard one when she was just a kid.
I always thought Roger Clemens was a dick. I just never realized he was a sexual deviant.
Mindy McCready has since confirmed the story.
Frank Thomas is no longer a Blue Jay
The only thing worse then somebody getting paid millions to play a game is someone getting paid millions to not pay a game. The Toronto Blue Jays have come to a “mutual agreement” with slugger Frank Thomas. They will continue paying him the remainder of his $8 million 2008 salary. He just won’t have to come to work any longer. In fact, they don’t want anything to do with him anymore. He has been released and he is now free to look for a job with another team.
Frank Thomas used to be a fantastic baseball player. He was the last player to win back-to-back MVP awards (1993 & 1994). Plus he was in that baseball movie with Tom Selleck. The one where he went to Japan to play baseball.
Derek Jeter’s never been in a Tom Selleck movie. Derek Jeter sucks.
Former Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada actually two years older then he claims
It turns out that when Miguel Tejada signed his first professional baseball contract in the Dominican Republic, he was 19 and not 17 as he claimed. He’s been lying about his age ever since.
At least to Major League Baseball. According to the Houston Astros — the team he plays for now — his green card, his driver’s license, and everything else that he uses in his personal life shows that he was born in 1974. Everything in baseball shows that he was born in 1976.
The thing I don’t understand is how his correct date of birth appears on his green card, yet none of the teams he has played for knew his correct age. Not only do they have to look at his green card, I believe they have to retain a copy of his green card.
Why didn’t anyone look at it?
If he has been lying about his age, what else could he be lying about? In 2005 Rafael Palmeiro was suspended for ten days after testing positive for steroids. Acording to ESPN, Palmeiro implicated Miguel Tejada to baseball’s arbitration panel saying that Tejada was responsible for his positive test. Palmeiro claimed the only thing he had ever injected himself with was vitamin B12 supplied by Tejada.
Could the B12 have really been the potent anabolic steroid stanozolol?
I’ll be totally honest and admit that I never liked Miguel Tejada. He always seemed too fat to be a shortstop. I thought he swung at the first pitch too much. He had decent numbers. I guess. I don’t think he was worth what the Orioles were paying him, but what else is new? I was glad when they traded him to the Astros.
Pretzels that look like they were found on the front lawn
If you’ve ever wanted a hot pretzel that looked remarkably like a piece of dog doodie, you need to get over to the new Washington Nationals ballpark. Whoever designed this piece of salted junk food never had a dog.
I think whoever took this pic has the pretzel backwards. It would look much more like the “W” shown on the napkin if it was flipped the other way.
(Pic: Nats 320)
Play ball!
Today was Opening Day in Major League Baseball. That is, if you don’t count the game that took place last night in Washington D.C. between the Nationals and the Braves or the two games that happened last week in Japan between The A’s and the Red Sox.
Those two games counted as regular season games. Go figure.
The Red Sox then came back to the land of the Big BX and played the Dodgers this past weekend in Los Angeles in a “spring training” exhibition game in the Los Angeles Coliseum in front of 115,300 fans. The last time I sat in the Coliseum to watch a Raiders game there was only about 45,000 people there and a good many of them for Browns fans.
When I got off work I turned on the Orioles game on my XM Radio. They were beating the Rays 2 – 0. By the time I got home, the Orioles were losing 6 – 2. Good to see that O’s are back in true Oriole form.
They haven’t racked up 10 losing seasons in a row by accident. Could this year make eleven? Only time will tell.
Roger Clemens and his twerpy looking strength coach
Thanks to the fact that I felt like dog poo today and called off work, I was able to sit at home in my r
ecliner and watch Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee testify before Congress about performancing enhancing drug use. I would have listened to the hearing if I was at work, but I would have missed out on a lot of the details if I had only listened to it on XM.
I’m not even sure why Congress is investigating this. From what I can tell, Clemens either used or didn’t use steroids and human growth hormones before they were even banned by Major League Baseball. Plus, at least some of his supposed performance enhancing drug use happened when Clemons was in Toronto. The last time I checked, Toronto was in a different country.
I don’t know what a strength and conditioning coach is supposed to look like, but I’m pretty sure they are not supposed to look like this guy. Could Roger Clemens have found a bigger nerd then McNamee to be his strength coach?
I have no idea if Roger Clemens used steroids or human growth hormones or B-12 shots or egg white omelettes or skinless chicken breasts. I really don’t care. I do think he should be kept out of the Baseball Hall of Fame. The reason? For hiring an Ichabod Crane lookalike to help him lift weights.
For that, he should be forever banned from Cooperstown.
Now Congress is investigating baseball player wives
Wondering what Congress is doing about ending the war in Iraq? They are too busy investigating Major League Baseball. Specifically, they are looking into steroid and human growth hormone use by players before such substances were banned by Major League Baseball.
Not only are they sniffing around to find out what former players such as Roger Clemons were taking, they are evidently investigating baseball player wives.
From the New York Daily News:
Brian McNamee told congressional investigators Thursday that Roger Clemens’ wife took human growth hormone before she appeared with the pitcher in Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue in 2003, according to a Washington source.
I understand why Congress is looking into steroid and human growth hormone use by baseball players. The Constitution is quite specific that Congress is to provide oversight over professional sports leagues.* It doesn’t say anything about their wives.
* No it doesn’t. I was being sarcastic. I do that sometimes.
The Oscars should be more like the Baseball Hall of Fame
The Oscars are in four days. The movies up for awards are all from this past year. I think that’s a mistake. We ought to wait a while before bestowing awards to movies and the people that make them. Let the dust settle so we can reflect on what is truly award worthy. It’s not like any of the movies up for awards this year were actually made in the last 12 months.
In baseball, a player must be retired from Major League Baseball for five (5) years before he is eligible for the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The Oscars are sort of like the Hall of Fame. They are both very prestigious and considered to be the crowning achievement of one’s carrier. The following movies are up for Best Picture this year:
- Babel
- The Departed
- Letters from Iwo Jima
- Little Miss Sunshine
- The Queen
Are we going to feel the same way about any of these movies in 2012? Granted, when I was a kid I figured that I would be too busy riding around in my flying car to be watching movies. For some reason I now don’t see myself in a flying car in 2012.
Here is a list of the movies nominated five (5) years ago for Best Picture:
- A Beautiful Mind
- Gosford Park
- In the Bedroom
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
- Moulin Rouge
The winner was A Beautiful Mind. It featured Russell Crowe as a mathematical genius who also had schizophrenia. I never saw it. I thought it sounded both boring and depressing. I also never watched Moulin Rouge or Gosford Park.
Did anyone watch Gosford Park?
I did see In the Bedroom and thought it was a great movie. I might even be willing to say that it was the best movie I watched that year if I hadn’t watched The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
It’s a movie I’ve watched over and over and over again. I own it on DVD. Both the theatrical version and the extended boxed set. It’s a fantastic movie. There is no way I believe that Russell Crowe acting like a crazy guy who is good with numbers is better then Gandalf fighting a Balrog in the mines of Moria.
I cannot help but believe that five years later, the voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would have realized that.
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