Random Crap

Summer fridays are awesome. So awesome it allows me to surf the internet in freedom to find the latest and dumbest things around.




Apparently it's the NHL draft this weekend. I'm sure you all are dying with excitement as we are. Atleast, the NY isles have an early pick so all you Isles fans can look at the next guy you will trade at the trade deadline next year. This guy will be the first pick. He's from Canada and he plays hockey. Tampa has the first pick also.



Other things of note:


Props to Brooklyn Education system



The new thing from space that will kill us:



fantastic!


But don't worry everyone, we will soon have H20 powered cars!



Let's check in with what Ice Cube has to say about this:


Indeed.


And lastly some mind reading:



Have a good weekend folks!

Welcome, Jerry! (MissMet's Positive Outlook for the Beginning of Summer)

Hey there, Sports fans. Today is officially the first day of Summer Vacation, unfortunately also known to me as Unemployment. Even though I now have to face the scary job market, I will be looking at the positives:

1. Wimbledon starts on Monday and I will be able to watch the early rounds without that pesky thing known as 'work' getting in the way. Go Rafa!
2. The Mets are (FINALLY) done with their games on the West Coast this season. I hope the fact that the team did all of their traveling out west in the first half of the season will help them out after the All-Star Break, when every other NL East team has to travel more. We all know that the Mets haven't exactly benefited from all of their travel, suffering from Met Lag after an ESPN Sunday Night Baseball game in New York and a Sunday doubleheader in New York before their last two trips.
3. With a Braves loss yesterday, the Mets have moved into 3rd place in the division. The team also had a real off-day yesterday that didn't involve a rainout or a Charity Event.
4. With the media firestorm mostly behind them, new Manager Jerry Manuel can finally focus on baseball and turning the team around. Let's take a look at Jerry and two of his new coaches, Dan Warthen and Ken Oberkfell.
Jerry Manuel
The 2000 AL Manager of the Year for the Chicago White Sox led his team to a 95 win season. Manuel was fired by the Sox because the team became complacent with him and his chill demeanor. Personally, I have always liked Manuel, especially when he, not Willie, got thrown out of the game against the Yankees while he argued Delgado's non-homerun call. That, I said to myself, is the kind of passion we need here for the Mets. Jerry faced his first on-field challenge when he took a foot-stomping, whiny Jose Reyes out of the game for precautionary measures. Manuel then followed the child to the clubhouse to kick his ass, I mean, knock some sense into him with a stern chat. Reyes turned out to be fine, but how can you blame the man? This was his first game and he was already under a crazy amount of scrutiny. There's no way he's going to take a chance with his team's igniter. Also, in his first game, Wright was the DH, which meant that he finally got some rest. I really don't know why Willie was so intent on having David play every inning of every game. Didn't Reyes stop playing so well last August/September because he was so tired (or addicted to some drug or another)? It just seems wise to rest players a little more and then have them available to pinch-hit late in the games. If the season continues the way it has been, how important have the late-innings been? Manuel also said that he plans to rest his starters on the road, so that the fans get to see the stars and once again, the team is rested. Sounds good to me, man.

Dan Warthen
This man is described as the anti-Rick Peterson. Peterson was a zen master, who I thought was kinda cool. I mean, you have to be pretty comfortable with yourself to give a statement to baseball reporters about the Eastern language symbol of crisis and how the symbol is the same for opportunity. He also said that the team was renovating its house and he was a hardwood floor, while they were looking for Tuscany tile. Apparently, Warthen is nothing like this. He's more simple: use your strengths as a pitcher to be the best pitcher you can be. He has been the pitching coach for the Tigers, Padres, Mariners and the bullpen coach for the Dodgers.

Ken Oberkfell
The new first base coach was a member of the Braves and Cardinals, amongst others. He was the manager of the New Orleans Zephyrs before moving up to the majors this week. Some say that he should have been named Mets manager because he is everything that Willie is not- fiery and aggressive. Plus, he has a ton of managerial experience in the Mets organization. He is in the know when it comes to the prospects. Maybe he'll prove himself to be worthy this year as 1st base coach and the Mets will decide to promote him once the season's over.

I really am not sure how much these guys are going to change things. I think that the team needs a kick in the ass, but that might not be enough. Maybe they are just too old or just don't mesh well together. The next chapter of the saga of 2008 starts tonight when the Mets take on Colorado, with Johnny Maine pitching against Aaron Cook.
~MissMet

Apparently Nationals Field doesn't want my money...

Looks like the good people in charge of Nationals Field are taking Equal Protection a little too far, no?

Is there a basketball game tonight?

probably but I'd rather watch this.





I dare Kobe to try to bust that shit out...

Some Things We Learned From Watching Weeds

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Mary Louise-Parker. Still hot. Very hot. Like I wonder if her tv kids realize how lucky they are to play the children of someone so hot.

-Jewish women in their late 50's love Albert Brooks. And if that's not entirely true then, well, my Mom loves Albert Brooks.

-Shane, the young kid went through puberty. Which makes sense, since the kid is probably 14. Unfortunately there's about 3 hours difference between last season's finale and this season's premiere. So in the span of about 3 hours, Shane's balls dropped. Pretty realistic, no?

-The writing is still fantastic. Best line of the night: Andy talking about jerking off in his childhood room, with the stains still on his wall, followed by Nancy saying that her children are sleeping next to their unborn cousins.

-But as far as the plot is concerned, this season could go either way. Apparently Nancy is going to be a drug runner for the Latinos, making frequent trips across the border. I like the idea of more Guillermo Diaz, AKA the "Fuck you, fuck you, you're cool, I'm out" guy from Half Baked; but I'm not sure that I buy Nancy as a drug mule. Eh, either way, I'm glad it's back.

Yankees and Mets Owners Try to Out-Asshole Each Other

Whether it's Jeff Wilpon making Omar Minaya fire Willie Randolph in a cover-of-night move that would make Richard Nixon proud or Hank Steinbrenner trying to cover for the fact that his Taiwanese pitcher is a terrible athlete, know this, New York:

5 WEEKS UNTIL GIANTS AND JETS CAMP OPENS!

Good Decision, Bad Timing...Willie Randolph is Out

Today has been a weird day. When I woke up at 6:15, the power was out in my house. The weather has been going back and forth between blue skied and sunny to cloudy with the promise of rain. Last night, when I went to sleep, the Mets were winning 4-3 against the Angels in Anaheim. This morning, my dad woke me up to tell me that Willie Randolph (as well as Rick Peterson and Tom Nieto) had been fired and that Jerry Manuel was now the Manager. I was positive that meant that the team ended up losing last night then. "No, they won," my dad said. It was all a little strange and curious, but I didn't have to be up for work yet plus we didn't have power, so it wasn't like I could get on the internet and read opinion v. opinion v. opinion about what the hell went on last night at 12 am in Los Angeles.
When I did wake up, I was forced to listen to Craig Carton (oh, Boomer, why weren't you there today??) on the Fan. I slowly learned more about the goings from early this morning. Turns out, Willie was fired because of a press release (not directly because of a press release of course). Metsblog.com is reporting that management released the news so that Omar would have to fire him that night. This then, led to the end of the Willie Randolph Era, in a hotel room. However, Fred Wilpon is quoted as saying that the firing was all on Omar, because it is his team. Oh, who to believe...
Either way, why fire him after a win? Furthermore, why fire him after a win when they made him fly all the way to California for that win, when they easily could have fired him last Saturday or Sunday, or even on Thursday, the upcoming off-day? I agree that it was time for a change. It just seems like every ring in this Media Circus has made a mockery of a team that doesn't necessarily need to be made into more of a mockery. Just because I believe that he was not the right manager for the team does not mean that I don't like Willie. I definitely do and I feel badly for him. He got the shaft big time.
Meanwhile, the baseball world is salivating at the Conspiracy Theories: why was Sandy Alomar, Sr. the only coach not fired (and a Latino) - to run the show and the bad-mouthing of the team: New York Post's Mike Vaccaro calls last night, ‘A midnight massacre,’ which he describes as, ‘Disgraceful,’ and ‘Unspeakable,’ while asking, “Is this the best the Mets can do? Is this really what they are about? Can they really consider themselves a professional operation when they do the simplest task in sports, firing the manager, this wretchedly?"
So, there you have it. Out with the old, I guess.
Keep your eyes open for my look at the new guys and what they'll bring to the team.
~MissMet

I have seen Carl Lewis, and you, my friend, are no Carl Lewis. (Hell, you're not even BH)

Why do pitchers try so hard to rid baseball players of all credibility when it comes to claiming to be athletes? First we had David Wells and Rich "El Guapo" Garces. Now, Chien Ming Wang, a seemingly in-shape, healthy 28 year old pitcher hurt his foot running around the bases. I know CMW's injury was during the course of the game, but this has to be only slightly less embarassing of an injury than Sammy Sosa hurting himself sneezing, or SHMUCK hurting himself bowling, no? (True story about SHMUCK. Somehow it didn't get the same coverage as Sosa though.) But hey, in CMW's defense, running is difficult.

So now I'm just waiting for Joe Girardi or Hank "Sonny" Steinbrenner to blast interleague play, saying something along the lines of "these types of injuries happen when you expose pitchers to conditions that they are not used to." Or uh, maybe you can teach guys not to hurt their feet on that painful infield dirt. Either way, it serves the Yankees right for being so close to 5 games above .500.

Wow.

In this era when ESPN saturates with superlatives like Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons, there are very few sporting events that live up to their hype. In fact, the only individual games that come to mind from the last few years are the Texas/USC Rose Bowl and Colts/Patriots from the '06/'07 playoffs. Well, add Tiger/Rocco at the '08 U.S. Open to the list. As if yesterday's matchup was not enough, the two Americans played 18 holes, ending just as they began, tied. Personally, I thought Tiger would lose after he missed a 50 ft. putt on 16 by about 3 inches. Shows what I know. Either way, props to Tiger and Rocco for making the average sports fan legitimately care about golf, if only for a few hours.

Sure there was an NBA game tonight...

but most importantly it's our fearless leader's birthday!!



Here's to another year!

Things I've learned from watching the NBA Finals.

I hate the L.A. Lakers. Their team is made up of 1) guys who suck 2) europeans who don't suck until there's pressure and expectations put on them and 3) Kobe Bryant, simply an awful, awful, human being.

I hate L.A. I've been over this before but every time I see their jerk-off fans, I'm reminded of what a jerk-off city it happens to be. Though for the record San Francisco rocks. (Hey, Devo, you know how I know that you're gay?)

I hate Boston. Love the town. Hate the people. Maybe diehard Celtics fans deserve to see their team return to glory. But you know what? Every Celtics fan is also a Sox and a Patriots fan. So screw them.

I actually like this version of the Celtics. It's simply not that easy to root against KG, Jesus Shuttleworth, and The Truth. But maybe L.A. fans are right. Maybe a guy who was stabbed 11 times and crawled to a hospital only to show up for the start of the NBA season 2 months later was faking his injury. Again, I hate L.A.

Go Celtics, with a quarter to go, I wish you guys luck. And more importantly, I really hope I don't have to see you guys celebrate with Sully, Murph and the rest of Masshole nation.

ps-Did anyone else see the end of the U.S. Open today? Holy crap that was amazing. Go Tiger.