"In the little spare time I have between making horrible free agent signings and hiring incompetent scouts, I read "Straight up Sports" Brian "Free Pass" Cashman
Not an extremely deep class but top heavy to say the least. Aaron Curry is projected as either an 4-3 OLB or 3-4 ILB. Either way, he'll be solid by whatever team drafts him. The concern with him is keep those big uglies off of him so he can flow around and make tackles. I've always been a fan of Maualaga who is a beast stuffing the run and crushing people. Concern with him is that he might just a two down player (i.e liability in the passing game.) I feel he can be adequate in coverage but most teams don't risk a high pick on that. Still tremendous upside from a very talented player. Laurinaitis got a lot of hype from coming out of OSU and being little 'animal' but he's your typical Big 10 Linebacker. Solid tackler, smart player but doesn't have the crazy measurables. Still I see Laurinaitis being a late 1st - early 2nd rd pick and having similar career to Big 10 alums, Paul Posluszny, AJ Hawk, nothing ground breaking but just a solid player for 10 years. Beckwith is all about speed. He can run down any play all over the field and just a purely outstanding athlete. He also translates to an outside linebacker in a 4-3. Problem with him is size. There is going concern whether he will be more than a nickle/dime linebacker. He has troubles-shredding blocks and will need to be protected to be effective. Brinkley was a top 2 round pick before shredding his knee two years ago. He recovered and played last year but a lot of that freakish ability wasn't shown. That being said it's now two years since the injury and that freakish athlete might come back and become a very good inside linebacker. Ellerbe is a versatile player who has shown an ability to take on blocks and disengage. He was a bone crusher in the middle and constantly around the play. Concern with him is height and not really great speed and agility. ILBs 1) Aaron Curry / Wake Forest / Top 5 (3-4/4-3) 2) Rey Maualaga / USC / 1st (3-4/ 4-3) 3) James Laurinaitis / Ohio State / 1st – 2nd (3-4/ 4-3) 4) Darry Beckwith / LSU / 2nd – 3rd (4-3) 5) Jasper Brinkley / South Carolina / 4th (3-4) 6) Dannell Ellerbe / Georgia / 4th (4-3) 7) Scott McKillop / Pittsburgh / 4th - 5th (3-4/ 4-3) 8) Jason Phillips / TCU / 5th ( 4-3) 9) Gerald McRath / Southern Miss / 5th / (4-3) 10) Daniel Holtzclaw / Eastern Michigan / 5th (4-3) 11) Worrell Williams / California / 5th - 6th (3-4/ 4-3) 12) Antonio Appleby / Virginia / 5th - 6th (3-4)
#1 Boston University (-1?) over #3 Vermont Vermont has played well recently. Which is why they should be able to hold BU to under 10 goals per period. Final score: BU 26 Vermont: -2
#4 Miami-Ohio (-1?) over #4 Bejimidi State
The Miami-Ohio Redhawks channel their inner-Roethlisberger and take this. I guess. Final score: Miami-Ohio 4 Bejimidi State 2
#1 Boston University -4.5 (assumed) over #4 Miami-Ohio
Roethlisberger aint saving the Redhawks this evening. Final score: BU 45 Miami Ohio 1.
There you go. Championship.
2 final things:
-Colin Wilson sandwiches a two day 12 goal 12 assist 24 point effort around a Hobey Baker win on Friday evening. -1,000 shares of SUS stock to he/she who names the movie the title of this was stolen from.
1) Happy Passover to all of you fellow chosen people out there in cyberspace- I kind of hate Passover though. I was the only person at my Sedar under the age of 58. I like old people but I can only handle so many sex jokes made by late 50's family members. Also, kind of like bread and things related to bread such as pizza and pasta. So Passover kind of sucks for me. However, working in a school does mean I get a nice little 11 day vacation so I guess all in all it’s a positive.
(2) People who complain about how expensive going to baseball games who..... Buy tickets in a more expensive section as opposed to the upper tier reserve seats, say they have to get their kids hot dogs and pretzels and say they have to buy their kids souvenirs. Okay, my dad never did any of this with me yet I had a great time going to games with him as a kid. We ate before the game or brought food to the game, we purchased the cheapest seats in the house and either sat there or sat in unoccupied nicer seats, and he never bought me a souvenir at a game. You can do all of this for about 55-60 total dollars including the cost of the meal and travel via the subway. So if you are going to complain about how expensive everything is, that’s cool but just make sure you are spending the least amount of money possible in order to see a game before doing so.
(3) Yankees Shitty Aprils- I am incredibly sick of this same old song and dance from the Yanks. Every single April they play like ass. Then they generally pick it up hard core late June through the rest of the regular season. Then they play like garbage in the playoffs. So apparently, unknown to me, the yanks two biggest offseason acquisitions are slow starters. Great. We need more guys who are overpriced and are slow starters. I know is only the first 2 games but gosh it would be nice to have a strong April for a team with this astronomical payroll.
(4) New rule- If every media member says something is being blown out of proportion by the media, ITS NOT ACTUALLY BEING BLOWN OUT OF PROPORTION. All I kept hearing today on the 2 local sports stations was how overblown the Joba story was. Apparently some tabloids reported that a website had an audio recording of Joba telling policeman during his DUI arrest this winter that he found New Yorkers rude and that Yogi is really short. NO SHIT SHERLOCK!! But I read the Newsday and it was not reported in there and all I kept hearing was how much of a non story it was. Good thing I switched to fm radio.
(5) Mike, if you hate callers so much quit your job- Mike "I'm above respecting my callers" Francessa is getting out of hand. Every time a caller makes any statement about what he thinks will happen this season for his favorite New York baseball team he literally mirrors that response in a sarcastic and exasperated tone. Mike, your job is to relate to and converse with actual sports fans. I'm sorry that not every fan is as fascinating and likeable as your boys Bobby Knight and Jim Calhoun but save your fan hate for true morons and jerks who make racist comments or who say things like, "These ball players today have no respect for anything." Don't disrespect someone who is providing an honest opinion even they are not as fascinating as your aforementioned boys' opinions are.
(6) Stop calling the NBA Western race exciting- There is nothing exciting about figuring out who is going to be what seed between 2 and 7. It doesn't matter that much. Yes, the matchups do matter but it is just as likely that a team would benefit from being a 7 seed as it is that a team would benefit by being a 4 seed. Basketball is all about matchups and therefore who you play is more important than whether you have home court or not. For example, The Lakers would be much better off playing an offensive team who could not slow down Kobe like Dallas than it would be playing the rapidly falling but still defensively dominant Spurs. I know the Spurs won't finish as low as 8th but the point remains that a race for a seed is not gripping drama because not every team is or should be trying to improve its position when dropping in the standings might actually help its chances of winning a round or two. Either way it doesn't matter who gets what seed because LA is wayyyyyy too good to be beaten by anyone except a Ginobli led Spurs team which of course is now only a figment in Laker haters imagination (See you in 2010 Manu :(
Every so often we are subjected to horrendous columns by paid professionals that make even my stream of piss articles seem comprehensible and well written. Such was the case of this gem from Yahoo's own Jason King who bares a striking resemblance to Tony H. Romo's retarded half brother.
creepy
Anyway, King provided another useless fluff piece on the great Tyler Hansbrough that made me vomit all over my proverbial keyboard and further make me so glad that motherfucker is going to the NBA. While he is a great college player, Hansbrough will likely struggle in the NBA before eventually turning into a Rony Seikaly 2k9. King rattles on and on on the greatness of Hansborough but reading the various quotes, I lost some of that respect for ol TH. Yea yea, I know it's not the whole story and probably not the case. I just don't get how this is some massive validation story? Is it really about Hansbrough or is it more about the douchebag media types that wax poetically about his desire?
DETROIT – When it was all over, when one of the greatest careers in college basketball history was complete, Tyler Hansbrough marched into the North Carolina locker room and told everyone to shove it.
Now why on earth would the loveable, hard working, country boy, Hansbrough need to tell anyone to shove it? The past 4 years, we've heard that Tyler is the epitome of class, skill and hard work and golly gee whiz a great guy to boot. The sad thing is that everyone is on his jock to begin so why would he tell everyone to shove it? Unless of course, in WWE terms, he's turning heel which actually might be pretty cool. Look at the wonders it did for Dwayne Johnson. Anyway back to the article...
“I silenced a lot of people today,” said Hansbrough, smirking. “There are still going to be a lot of people that hate me. But you know what? I’m a national champion. When they prank call me, I’ll just leave it at that.”
Mild statements for some, but that’s trash talk for Hansbrough, who for four
years pursed his lips when fans and columnists criticized his game. And they criticized it a lot.
I only wish I had his number so I could prank his no talent ass clown all the live long day. I'm sure him telling he is a national champion will really stop all the hate. I'm more surprised by the answer. Isn't he some good ol boy from the midwest where they teach their kids about respect and isn't Hansbrough supposed to give some cliched answer. I mean most blue collar, try hard, work hard guys don't need any validation that they belong or they deserve something because they've proved it to themselves...
Furthermore, Hansbrough seems to have forgotten about the whole team concept here. I silenced... really? NOT YOUR TEAM. NOT ELLINGTON OR DAVIS OR LAWSON? They didn't do anything? They didn't pick your ass up when brought an earth shattering 8 points out against Oklahoma? You'd think someone so hard working, blue collar and country would mention the other guys that carried him to a tournament win? With every passing word, Hansbrough comes off like a whiney school girl here or most recently, like any member of the New England Patriots crying about no respect or disrespectful when they are the kings of that comedy.
Such desire exhibited here
Overhyped. Overrated. A future NBA bust. “He flops, he whines, he travels every time,” Duke fans chanted. People poked fun at his facial expressions and said he looked like Beaker from “The Muppets.”
All of it became rather ridiculous. We complain about athletes being prima donnas and using college as a pit stop to the NBA. Yet when a player comes along, works hard, stays four years and does it the right way, we rip him for it. It makes no sense.
Part of the problem with Hansbrough is that for the past 4 years, we've heard every media outlet (King included) crow about what a wonderful guy he is. Look that might be the case. I don't know the guy nor have I conversed with him nor hung out with him. He could be my new bff but the problem is all we hear from everyone is how great a guy Tyler is. I don't give a shit. Like most people, I'd like to shown why he's such a great g
uy, player, etc. not told. Ever hear the phrase Show Don't Tell? Except by Dick Vitales, Jay Bilas and Jason King's of the world, we are just told how great of a kid he is. You know what so is BH and we don't have him being praised on sportscenter. Yet every member of the media has told us and repeated it ad nauseum for the last 4 years. I'm surprised no one said no one works harder at giving interviews than Tyler Hansbrough.
Look, let's be honest, we can hear about the he stayed 4 years all he wants but that's not reality. Are you telling me if a player could make 5+ million dollars a year, take classes in the offseason and support his entire family that he wouldn't? The reality of the situation is that Hansbrough had obvious flaws in his game and at best projects to a bench player in the NBA. Yet Hansbrough's PR team is in full effect pitching "Staying in school" because he wants to. Yea okay. He needed to stay all 4 years to prove he wasn't as much as a super scrub as the 'haters' thought. I've heard similar PR spins like 'Jerome Bettis took a paycut to stay with the Steelers' or 'Pittsburgh Pirates: The Culture has finally changed' in my years of sports viewing but I digress.
Dick Vitale on Cloud 9.
“Once you’ve been around for a while, people start trying to find flaws in your game,” said Hansbrough’s father, Gene. “They did the same thing with [Florida quarterback] Tim Tebow. He doesn’t care about that. All he wanted to do was to be a part of a winning team.”
And win Hansbrough did, as the school’s all-time leading scorer helped North Carolina advance to consecutive Final Fours.
No victory, though, was as gratifying as Monday’s. Hansbrough finished with 18 points and seven boards in a 17-point victory that felt more like a 40-point blowout.
Now we have Mr. Hansbrough coming to his son's aid. Now it's a nice gesture and all but people sorry just because you have been around for 4 years doesn't mean people just all of sudden begin to look at flaws in your game. Actually the flaws are readily apparent maybe even around 4 games.
Look I get it. I mean it's tough for a 6' 10'' guy NOT to get a double double in college no matter how poor they are. It's almost a guarantee. I mean look it's hard to miss free throws, tip in missed shots or grab rebounds at 6' 10''. Those sort of odds are equivalent to the Spartans vs. the Greeks. I'll admit I try not to venture into the basketball world too much but as a veteran of 10 years playing the sport, does he even have any post moves? Every game I see it's the same shit. He holds it for a second or two so his teammates clear the area, takes a dribble or six, picks up his dribble, bends over so that anyone can swipe at the ball and the double team can occur, and then wildly throws up a 3-4 footer and prays that it doesn't break the backboard. You think that will work in the NBA?
“It’s amazing to see your son realize his dream,” Gene said from his first-row seat. “This is what he’s wanted ever since he was able to get the ball to the rim.”
Not the NBA? Not being a pro? Not being rich? But winning the college basketball title? Interesting...
“You can easily say he’s one of the best players – if not the best player – in North Carolina basketball history,” guard Bobby Frasor said. “I don’t know if you’ll ever see a player like this again. He’s pretty special.
“It’s a safe bet you’ll never see another Tyler Hansbrough.”
Really? I thought we already have seen him in various incarnations such as "Christian Laettner", "Cherokee Parks" and "Kevin Pittsnogle?"
If that’s the case, then at least the final image of Hansbrough – the one of him at his locker – will be a memorable one. As the paparazzi circled around him, snapping pictures and hanging on his every word, it was hard not to sense the weight falling off his shoulders as he got in the last word against his detractors.
“There have been a lot of good players that have never been part of a national championship team,” Hansbrough said. “I’m part of something special. Say what you want. I’m a national champion.
“I’m validated right now.”
Still no we. Yep. You are validated in the sense that you aren't a difference maker. You are a nice piece to a championship puzzle but you most certainly ain't the driver. Every team needs someone to rally around and you were that guy. It's a good story and I'm sure TH will have a nice ESPN movie made after him but still you are the college basketball version of Jerome Bettis in 2005.
Now go to the NBA and validate everyone's opinion of you being nothing more than a glorified 10th man. Also please hire a dance coordinator with your first round pick money.
Dear Devo, Mahatma, and the rest of your staff except White Boy South Bronx,
I love your website almost as much as John Sterling loves the sound of his own voice. But I want to know exactly what you guys are thinking when you're thinking it. How can I do this?
I want to be on all of you (again, except White Boy),
Shlomo from the block.
Well Shlomo from the block, good news: SUS is on Twitter! Yup, you too can find out exactly what the SUS writers are thinking exactly when they're thinking it! -What Jet does SHMUCK hate at this moment? -Which cousin is BH trying to woo? -Did I just see Yinzer in a Jay Pandolfo jersey? -Was that Girl From Cleveland with Big Z after the Cavs game last night? -What (Mets Jersey) is MissMet wearing? -How did Mahatma enjoy Upanayanam? -What did Devo think of the latest Playboy Mansion party in his honor?
Find out the answer to these questions and more at our twitter site.
Finally, Tyler Hansborough can start his career selling insurance in his hometown and hook-up with the prom queen. The American Dream if ever there was one.
Breaking this up in 3-4 OLBs and 4-3 OLBs once again for simplicity sake. As stated earlier in the DE preview, the tweener prospects pool especially in rounds 1-2 are as deep as they have been in years. While a number of college de's will have trouble covering backs and receivers in the flats initially, the pass rushing skills should translate to some success. Cushing and Matthews offer the safest of picks but both are under potential steroid allegations leaked by a site not that all disimilar from this one. Orakpo, Brown and Maybin have been classified as the top pass rushers in the draft with the order rotating. I usually refrain from giving Penn State any credibility and Maybin really does nothing for me. He does a good first step but really needs to bulk up. Orakpo is still the best in my book though he might need to drop a few pounds to be better in coverage. Brown might be the best down the line because he has the frame of an OLB already with the athleticism but I keep seeing Kamerion Wimbley 2k9 in him. Not that there is anything wrong with that but with the top 15 pick you expect a difference maker.
3-4 OLBs 1) Brian Orakpo / Texas / 1st 2) Everette Brown / Florida State /1st 3) Aaron Maybin / Penn State / 1st 4) Brian Cushing / USC / 1st 5) Larry English / Northern Illinois / 1st -2nd 6) Clay Matthews Jr. / USC / 1st – 2nd 7) Micheal Johnson / Georgia Tech / 1st -2nd 8) Connor Barwin / Cincinnati / 2nd 9) Clint Sintim / Virginia / 2nd – 3rd
The 4-3 guys are less talented overall but some solid mid round depth that can benefit teams looking for some steals. Curry has been projected as either an OLB in the 4-3 or 3-4 inside guy. He is probably the safest pick in the draft and will be a dominant player in the mold of current Titan, Keith Bullock. Cushing/Mathews and Sintim are also 3-4 outside guys but have the skillsets to play in either scheme effectively. The rest are purely depth guys as of now that have fallen due to injury, lack of top end measurables and converted safeties (Harris).
4-3 OLBs 1) Aaron Curry / Wake Forest / Top 5 2) Brian Cushing / USC / 1st 3) Clay Matthews / USC / 1st – 2nd 4) Clint Sintim / Virginia / 2nd - 3rd 5) Marcus Freeman / OSU / 2nd – 3rd 6) Tyrone McKenzie / South Florida / 3rd 7) Victor Butler / Oregon State / 3rd – 4th 8) Zack Follett / California / 4th 9) Nic Harris / Oklahoma / 4th – 5th 10) Cody Brown / Connecticut / 4th – 5th 11) Gerald Mcrath / So. Miss/ 4th – 5th 12) Lee Robinson / Alcorn State / 5th 13) Jonathan Casillas / Wisconsin / 5th
So I'm kind of annoyed at life right now. 2008 was great except for the fact that my beloved Yankees missed the playoffs for the first time since before I could vote. As my preview will demonstrate, the year of 2009 will be amazingly shitty.... except for the fact that the Yankees will be awesome.
Part I: The rotation
C.C. Sabathia- 20-8 3.35 ERA= This guy is good. He throws strikes and throws the ball hard with movement. He is a consistently great pitcher. I see no reason why he can't get 20 wins with this offense behind him.
A.J. Burnett- 17-9 3.55 ERA= I'm not sure what I am happier about, The fact that he is no longer pitching in the division or the fact that he now dons the pinstripes. Either way, he has had a great spring. He hits 95 on the radar gun without much effort and has great movement on his pitches. He, much like his hard throwing southpaw counterpart in Queens, seemed only to struggle in meaningless games against bad teams. Well there are no meaningless games in the Bronx A.J. So dominate like we know you can.
Chien-Ming Wang- 18-10 3.6 ERA= My favorite pitcher. I have always had a man crush on CMW. I will never forget his dominant 7 inning performance against the Jays in some random game in April of 2005. I had never heard of him until this game but was enamored with his strike throwing and ground ball inducing ways. He has been a benchmark of consistency since then his injury riddled 2008 aside. He should pick off where he left off in 2007.
Andrew Eugene Pettite- 13-9 4.2 ERA= Andy is of course a fan favorite. He has won many big games and has the moxy of a 13 plus year veteran, which of course he is. He should fare much better this year now that he does not have the pressure of carrying a weak rotation like he had last year.
Joba Chamberlain- 13-7 3.7 ERA= I figure he will have a low decision total for 1 of 2 reasons: (1) he will get hurt (2) he will leave a lot of games early. Joba has the stuff of an ace but throws too many pitches and has the tendency to get injured. If he is healthy all season he could threaten the ballyhooed 20 win mark but expect him to have at least one stint on the DL.
Mariano is G-d. Next issue.
Part II: The everyday position players
(1) Derek Jeter- .305 BA, 13 home runs and 69 RBIs (but wayyy less double plays)- Colin Cowherd is a moron. Yes I know I am not breaking any major ground here but moving Jeter to leadoff is as brilliant as it is critical. Derek, G-d love him, has developed a bad habit of hitting balls very hard into the ground and right at middle infielders in the first inning of games. This ruins the often crucial first inning and sets a bad tone for the game. Now, the same ground balls that would have been double plays with infielders shaded up the middle will become leadoff singles with infielders playing at normal position.
(2) Johnny Damon- .315 BA, 22 home runs and 87 RBIs- Batting Johnny second will allow his 1st inning home runs to count for more than 1 run on the scoreboard. Look, I like having the first batter of the game hitting a home run as much as the next guy. However, there is something more unsettling to a pitcher about having the leadoff guy get on base. It distracts the pitcher and makes him fear a big rally. So I'd rather not waste Damon's underrated power in the leadoff spot thank you very much.
(3) Mark Texiera- .285 BA, 30 home runs and 105 RBIs- Rumor has it that there is a wind tunnel that blows out to right field to make it even easier for power hitting lefties to lift fly balls into the short porch. If this is true, expect Tex to have a great season. Mark may start slow but I don't see it. He will become more and more relaxed as his seemingly shallow fly balls to right suddenly turn into 316 foot home runs. Oh yea, he is the best defensive player at the position to wear the uniform since Devo's boy Donny Backache.
(4) Alex Rodriguez- .306 BA, 40 home runs and 110 RBIs- Pro-rate these numbers over a full 162 game season and you approach his 2007 MVP statistics. Alex will find that coming onto a team that is already 16-5 will allow him to ease into the lineup. Had he started the year he would face the intense pressure as the guy who had to carry the offense of a 3 trillion dollar team.
(5) Hideki Matsui- 285 BA, 20 home runs and 84 RBIs- I wouldn't expect to see the artist formerly known as Godzilla to be in this spot very long. His best years are long behind him. He is a hard worker and by all accounts a class guy. However, his knees have taken a pounding over the years and he never quite lived up to his billing as a lethal power hitter anyway. He will be a nice 7th hitter on a good team however.
(6) Xavier Nady- 288 BA 23 home runs 90 RBIs- The X man figures to be a solid 6th hitter. He won't awe you in any one phase of the game but his professional fielding and productive and timely hitting helped the Yankees stay afloat until Joba's injury sunk the team last year.
(7) Jorge Posada- 283 BA, 20 home runs and 82 RBIs- Jorge will put up solid catcher numbers and probably play about 100 games at the position. He will need some time at DH and more days off than normal in order to keep his legs fresh and to prevent his body from breaking down.
(8) Robinson Cano- 313 BA, 25 home runs and 92 RBIs- Robby will have a strong bounce-back season. He will still have an underwhelming OBP of about 355 but will up his power and will get 85 plus RBIs purely by hitting behind the aforementioned guys.
(9) Brett Gardner- 250 BA, 2 home runs, 45 RBIs (330 OBP and 35 steals)- Brett will not make anyone forget about Bernie Williams in his prime. He probably will have weaker numbers in terms of production than Melk would have accrued had he been named the starting center fielder. However, Gardy will get his walks and will make the most of his times on base stealing at about an 88% clip and keeping pitchers focused on him rather than on future hall of famer Derek Jeter. So yes, I think he will have this position all year and Melk will probably be traded sooner than later.
Part III- Win loss
96-66= I think this team should win the division by 4 to 5 games as it has no real flaws. It has a legendary closer, solid middle relief and setup men including fireballers Jose Veras and Brian Bruney and changeup artist Edwar Ramirez. It also has the great lineup and rotation discussed above.
Part IV- Ultimate destination
The Yanks will win the Al pennant but will fall victim to yet another curse being lifted. The Yanks will lose to Lou's Cubs in 6 games. The NL will win the all star game and Chicago will win the World Series in Wrigley. I was going to do my whole playoff bracket but the last time I filled out a bracket I picked Michigan State to lose in the 2nd round to USC. Whoops! Whatever, LETS GO YANKEES!
Ah, early Spring. Buds are forming on the trees, birds are chirping in the morning, winds are rolling in at a cool 70 mph... ...well maybe not, but that sure is what it felt like yesterday at CifiField, the absolutely beautiful new home of the Mets. I won't speak of the game, because it (luckily) wasn't the main attraction for the sell-out crowd. As my friend and I rode in on the 7 train yesterday we saw something we hadn't seen in our lifetimes- a fancy schmancy ballpark where Shea Stadium's parking lot used to sit. Sure, I had seen the shell of Citi during my last trip to Shea at the end of last season, but this was different. Fans, bases, foods and players were now inside this stadium ready to experience a game. In my post last week, I wrote about the things that I was excited about seeing. Let's see what I got to see and what I didn't...
I did indeed get to sit in the outfield and a homerun ball (not from the Mets) came into our section, about ten rows in front of me. Angry (cold) Mets fans even yelled at the fan to "throw it back!" He didn't, wisely keeping the souvenir that he worked hard to get. I also did get to walk around the entire stadium, enjoying the open concourse views of the field, concession stands and clubhouse shops.
Since I was with a big group, we all wanted different things to eat while we were at the game. Its lucky that there were SO MANY CHOICES. While some went traditional (Nathan's frank and a beer for Kelly), others had more unique fare. My sister (all the way from Massachusetts) enjoyed her mozzarella and veggie sandwich. Jen had a sausage and pepper sandwich. Mike had the chicken quesadilla, while James and I opted to wait on the 20 minute line for Shake Shack burgers and fries, which was obviously worth every second.
Since there were no Mets homeruns during the game, its a good thing the new Apple was on display before the game started. Its bigger than the old one, and shiny and new looking. It pops out of the outfield, instead of a top hat, which was just too random for words. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the old Apple, but there's always next time.
I had plenty of time to look at the skyline from the old scoreboard as I waited in line for my lunch. They also had a big screen projecting the game over there, with Gary, Keith and Ron turned up for everyone to hear.
I definitely felt classy as I was walking in through the Jackie Robinson Rotunda.
I didn't get to go to the bullpens either, but I'm hoping the next time I go to a game, I'll be able to feel my extremities and it will be more comfortable to walk around.
So yeah, it was a great experience overall, and would have been even better had Ollie Perez not given up 6 runs in the first inning and if the weather weren't Siberia-like. That picture is from my walk around the concourse. Directly behind those gates are tables so you can stand and watch the game while you eat. I think the best part about the whole day was that it felt surreal. I had trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that the Mets will be playing there and that Shea is gone for good. I will definitely miss Shea, but CitiField is a more-than-worthy replacement.
Look, I'm not going to give you predictions about the new guys or talk about whether A-Rod can come back from surgery. I'm also not going to talk about a) the aging and inevitable breakdowns of Matsui/Damon/Posada/Pettite, b) Jeter having slightly more range at shortstop than Apocalypse Now-Era Marlon Brando, or c) whether the bullpen and/or starting pitching can hold up over the course of a 162 game season.
Nope, I'm going to talk about all of you hypocrite Yankee fans out there (present company completely included) who hate your team because they have started buying up all the quality free agents in baseball. Here's Angry White Man's question to you: Is this whole idea of the Yankees buying up players something new? So Sabathia, Burnett, and Texiera are really the straws that broke your back? Not A-Rod? Not Clemens? Not Clemens the second time?
Newsflash courtesy of SUS: If you're 40 or younger, the Yankees have been buying players like noone else in sports as long as you've cared about Pinstripes. What, you think the Yankees drafted Reggie Jackson? Catfish Hunter? A majority of the great Yankees that you remember from your youth, as well as many of the lousy players like Mel Hall and Mike Gallego were brought to New York through free agency.
(Note: A lot of these players were acquired by trade and not free agency. I don't have the time, patience, or inclination, to fact check. So let's just move along.)
The point is this: when you started rooting for this team, you signed on to root for a team that would spend, spend, spend, and do anything in its power in order to win a World Series. For better or worse, that is who the Yankees are. And from the time you wanted to be Don "Donnie Backache" Mattingly until the time you realized that your code of ethics precluded you from rooting for Texiera, Sabathia, A-Rod, etc., this is the team that you rooted for. And unless you're 13 or bowl a 129, this should not be news to you. So quit your liberal-guilt-caused-bitching, put on your Texiera jersey, pay your $900 for the only remaining Yankee Stadium tickets, and go watch the mercenaries-in-pinstripes that you have come to know and love.
Note: The only time it was acceptable to part ways with the Yankees over the feeling that their free-spending ways were "impure" was around 1973, when Steinbrenner bought the team. That was the start of the free-spending Yankees. (Even though the Philly/KC A's had always been a de-facto farm team to the Yankees, selling players to New York when they required too high a salary to keep.) And 1973 was the only time when one could, with clean hands say 'I rid myself of the Yankees and their free spending ways. I'm guessing these people did what my uncle did around then, and switched their allegiance to the Mets.
So to the "Steinbrenner Met fans" (this group of people may or may not be larger than just my uncle) props to you for getting off of the Yankee bandwagon the moment when it became as impure as Washington Square Park pot. To the rest of you Obama-loving, socialist-wannabe, granola-eating apologists, enjoy the season and try not to leave too large a trail of tears when you're celebrating your 27th Championship this October.
ahhaha. I love this guy. Not only does he piss off the massholes (The gasp at :28 by 16K massholes vomiting up their Sam Adams + Chowda at once is glorious) and homer Joke Edwards but he also brings a black eye to the Rangers nearly every time he does anything. The man can literally look at you wrong and be suspended. At this point, the league will suspend him for 20 games if we are using the 'sloppy seconds' as a measuring stick. Anyway, Bruins/Rags for the first round of the playoffs. Let's do this!
C.C. Sabathia approved lube for when you are getting bent over by the Baltimore Orioles.
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