Bored

I can't find any official rosters yet. Reportedly Barry Bonds will play for the U.S. I'll believe that when I see it. Buck Martinez will be the U.S. manager. Yippee. The likes of the Hernandez brothers and Jose Contreras won't be playing for Cubs for obvious reasons. Pool A: Tokyo, Japan Date Local time EST Match-up Stadium Fri. March 3 12:00 pm 10:00 pm (Thu) Korea v Chinese Taipei Tokyo Dome Fri. March 3 7:00 pm 5am Japan v China Tokyo Dome Sat. March 4 12:00 pm 10:00 pm (Fri) Korea v China Tokyo Dome Sat. March 4 7:00 pm 5am Japan v Chinese Taipei Tokyo Dome Sun. March 5 12:00 pm 10:00 pm (Sat) Chinese Taipei v China Tokyo Dome Sun. March 5 7:00 pm 5am Japan v Korea Tokyo Dome ticket info >Pool B: Phoenix, Arizona Date Local time EST Match-up Stadium Tues. March 7 2:00 pm 4:00 pm USA v Mexico Chase Field Tues. March 7 7:00 pm 9:00 pm Canada v South Africa Scottsdale Stadium Wed. March 8 2:00 pm 4:00 pm USA v Canada Chase Field Wed. March 8 7:00 pm 9:00 pm Mexico v South Africa Scottsdale Stadium Thurs. March 9 6:00 pm 8:00 pm Canada v Mexico Chase Field Fri. March 10 1:00 pm 3:00 pm USA v South Africa Scottsdale Stadium ticket info >Pool C: San Juan, Puerto Rico Date Local time EST Match-up Stadium Tues. March 7 2:00 pm 1:00 pm Puerto Rico v Panama Hiram Bithorn Wed. March 8 2:00 pm 1:00 pm Puerto Rico v Netherlands Hiram Bithorn Wed. March 8 8:00 pm 7:00 pm Cuba v Panama Hiram Bithorn Thurs. March 9 8:00 pm 7:00 pm Cuba v Netherlands Hiram Bithorn Fri. March 10 2:00 pm 1:00 pm Panama v Netherlands Hiram Bithorn Fri. March 10 8:00 pm 7:00 pm Puerto Rico v Cuba Hiram Bithorn ticket info >Pool D: Orlando, Florida Date Local time EST Match-up Stadium Tues. March 7 1:00 pm 1:00 pm Dominican Republic v Venezuela Cracker Jack Stadium (Disney) Tues. March 7 7:00 pm 7:00 pm Australia v Italy Cracker Jack Stadium (Disney) Wed. March 8 7:00 pm 7:00 pm Venezuela v Italy Cracker Jack Stadium (Disney) Thurs. March 9 1:00 pm 1:00 pm Dominican Republic v Italy Cracker Jack Stadium (Disney) Thurs. March 9 7:00 pm 7:00 pm Venezuela v Australia Cracker Jack Stadium (Disney) Fri. March 10 7:00 pm 7:00 pm DominicanRepublicvAustralia Cracker Jack Stadium (Disney) Round 2 ticket info >Pool 1: Anaheim, California Date Local time EST Match-up Stadium Sun. March 12 1:00 pm 4:00 pm Pool A Runner-up v Pool B Runner-up Angel Stadium Sun. March 12 8:00 pm 11:00 pm Pool A Winner v Pool B Winner Angel Stadium Mon. March 13 7:00 pm 10:00 pm Pool A Winner v Pool B Runner-up Angel Stadium Tues. March 14 4:00 pm 7:00 pm Pool B Winner v Pool A Runner-up Angel Stadium Wed. March 15 7:00 pm 10:00 pm Pool A Winner v Pool A Runner-up Angel Stadium Thurs. March 16 4.30:00 pm 7:30:00 pm Pool B Winner v Pool BRunner-up Angel Stadium ticket info >Pool 2: San Juan, Puerto Rico Date Local time EST Match-up Stadium Sun. March 12 2:00 pm 1:00 pm Pool C Winner v Pool D Runner-up Hiram Bithorn Sun. March 12 9:00 pm 8:00 pm Pool D Winner v Pool C Runner-up Hiram Bithorn Mon. March 13 2:00 pm 1:00 pm Pool D Winner v Pool C Winner Hiram Bithorn Mon. March 13 8:00 pm 7:00 pm Pool D Runner-up v Pool C Runner-up Hiram Bithorn Tues. March 14 8:00 pm 7:00 pm Pool D Winner v Pool D Runner-up Hiram Bithorn Wed. March 15 8:00 pm 7:00 pm Pool C Winner v Pool C Runner-up Hiram Bithorn Finals ticket info >San Diego, California Date Local time EST Match-up Stadium Sat. March 18 12:00 pm 3:00 pm Pool 2 Winner v Pool 2 Runner-up PETCO Park Sat. March 18 7:00 pm 10:00 pm Pool 1 Winner v .Pool 1 Runner-up PETCO Park Mon. March 20 6:00 pm 9:00 pm SF 1 Winner v SF 2 Winner PETCO Park

In kkk's most recent entry on K-Mart customer service he made mention of how he had thought Harold Baines didn't get enough credit as a player. Now Baines best season was probably 1984 when he was still an everyday outfielder. Now he was never a serious MVP cadidate and '84 was no different but the MVP voting that year was quite interesting. For one a closer won it in Willie Hernandez of the Tigers. A closer winning an MVP should always raise a few eyebrows as it's pretty much impossible for them to equal the value of an everyday player. Now Hernandez was far from your one inning and done closers of today. He pitched 140 innings that year which is a ton of innings for someone who didn't make a single start. He was dominating with 112 strikeouts to 36 walks, a 1.92 ERA, and ridiculous 0.94 WHIP. Obviously since he won the MVP, he also won the Cy Young. Now a closer winning a Cy Young is something that probably shouldn't happen too often but can happen and be a legitimate choice. In 1984 there simply wasn't starter with numbers (at least the standard ones) that really jumped out and when a closer has a year like Hernandez did under those circumstances it's not surprising he won the Cy Young. Dave Steib would have been the better choice but of course the writers overlooked him due to only having 16 wins (not his fault). But Hernandez was not a bad choice at all for winning the Cy Young. Now in 1984 the A.L. was a one team league: Detroit Tigers. They started the year 30-5 and basically it was all over after that as the second place Blue Jays finished 15 games back, who had the second best record in the league overall. Really it's hard to blame the writers for wanting to give a Tiger the MVP that year when they were so much better than the competition. But was Hernandez the right Tiger? Kirk Gibson and Alan Trammell finished 6th and 9th in the voting repsectively and as I mentioned before a closer can't match the value of a star everyday player like those two. But there was something else that was interesting about the '84 A.L. MVP voting, it was who finished 2nd: Kent Hrbek. The Twins that year finished 81-81 and Hrbek didn't crack the Top 5 of any writer favored offensive categories (AVG, HR, RBI). How could a first baseman on the Twins get more votes than a household name like Eddie Murray and a rising star in the media capital of the world in Don Matttingly who played the same position? You would think Hrbek would get overshadowed. This really puzzled me but when you look at the A.L. West that year in conjuction with the Tigers dominance of the East it starts to make "sense" how the writers voted Hrbek that high. See since the Tigers great start eliminated any chance of a pennant race all the attenion went to the West. Now the race in the West was almost as bad as the race in the N.L. West in 2005. The Royals would win the division at 84-78 with the Twins and Angels tied for second just three games back at .500. Royals would have finished 6th in the East with that record. The West was so bad that the last place Rangers were closer to first than the second place Blue Jays were in the East to Tigers. The Twins were neck and neck with the Royals and Angels going into the final couple of weeks of the season when the MVP voting was going on. The Twins would lose six straight to end the season but it was the added attention that Hrbek received and the lack of a race of the East that nearly propelled him to the MVP. So should have a Tigers position player won the MVP? Should one of the big name first basemen with better numbers than Hrbek have won the award? Or was it someone who received almost no support at all for the award? Now I'll tell you...if your still reading. For reference here is the actual order of finish in '84: 1) Willie Hernandez 2) Kent Hrbek 3) Dan Quissenberry 4) Eddie Murray 5) Don Mattingly 6) Kirk Gibson 7) Tony Armas 8) Dave Winfield 9) Alan Trammell 10) Willie Wilson 11) Dwight Evans 12) Alvin Davis 13t) Harold Baines 13t) Dave Kingman 13t) Jim Rice 16t) Lance Parrish 16t) Willie Upshaw 18) Brian Downing 19t) Steve Balboni 19t) George Bell 19t) Andre Thorton 22t) Buddy Bell 22t) Lloyd Moseby 22t) Dave Steib 25t) Juan Beniquez 25t) Mike Boddicker 27t) Doyle Alexander 27t) Cal Ripken #10 .284/.391/.497, 110 RC, 146 OPS+, .318 EQA, 59.5 VORP, 27 Win Shares #9 .293/.399/.458, 91 RC, 145 OPS+, .327 EQA, 60.6 VORP, 28 Win Shares #8 130 ERA+, 2.25 K/BB, 1.14 WHIP, 74.3 VORP, 25 Win Shares #7 .340/.393/.515, 116 RC, 154 OPS+, .328 EQA, 61.5 VORP, 26 Win Shares #6 .298/.361/.441, 101 RC, 126 OPS+, .302 EQA, 69.1 VORP, 27 Win Shares #5 .295/.388/.532, 130 RC, 147 OPS+, .321 EQA, 63.0 VORP, 29 Win Shares #4 .314/.382/.468, 99 RC, 136 OPS+, .308 EQA, 66.4 VORP, 29 Win Shares #3 .343/.381/.537, 125 RC, 156 OPS+, .328 EQA, 72.7 VORP, 29 Win Shares #2 .306/.410/.509, 123 RC, 156 OPS+, .335 EQA, 75.8 VORP, 33 Win Shares #1 .304/.374/.510, 122 RC, 145 OPS+, .318 EQA, 92.2 VORP, 37 Win Shares OMG SWERVE~! As you see in the actual results, Ripken is the last name listed. He received just a single a 10th place vote. It wasn't like he was some young player no one had heard of yet, he won the the MVP the year before! But what happens to a lot MVP winners who were on the top team in their league, like the Orioles were in '83, and the following year the team isn't as good the perceived value of that MVP drops like a rock. Really him, Murray, Mattingly, Trammell, or the always overlooked Evans would have made fine choices. Hrbek just missed the Top 10 and Hernandez may have cracked the Top 15 if I extended the list that far but neither were deserving as much support as they received. As you'll see I did include a pitcher in Steib and two players in Yount and RICKEY~ who didn't receive a single vote in '84. The legendary Juan Beniquez, who had 382 plate apperances, received more support than Ripken, Yount, and Henderson. That's pretty bad.

And he's already changing his story. Who's he think he is, Roger Clemens?

Apparantly Kevin Brown will announce his retirement. Aww bad timing with the Bonds' future retirement announcement. Keltner him Al! Chop, chop Google Boy!

Okay honestly, is this any better than when they would just have the players come off the bench as they announce them?

Do they ever replay the new episodes during the week or is it only shown on Saturday nights? I missed last night's episode.

I honestly wasn't even sure if K-Mart was still around. Don't know of any near where I live. Figured Wal-Mart and Target had gobbled up the market. Usually when they are found dead. As for Baines, ya your nuts. Okay maybe not. I can't remember if he was underappreciated or not. He was a good, consistent performer but never a serious MVP candidate. To really get notice as a DH though you need to put up big numbers on a regular basis.

Anyone wondering what ex-Phillies catcher Darren Daulton has been up to? Even if you weren't this pretty damn funny, or sad depending on your perspective. He's pretty much lost his mind. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writ...rren/index.html

1. Head to Head or Rotisserie? Head to Head 2. Max on player aquisitions/trades for season? (if yes, how many?) No. 3. Time managers have to protest pending trades? (No or yes and # of days) No. 4. Trade deadline? (if yes, use July 30, Aug 6, Aug 13, Aug 20 or Aug 27?) July 30 5. Time players are on waivers (days or no waivers) Three days 6. Use "can't cut list"? No. 7. Trades reviews by commisioner or league votes? Commissioner. 8. After draft, all unclaimed players free agents or waivers? Waivers 9. Minimum innings pitched per week? (if yes how many) 30. 10. Roster changes weekly or daily? Weekly

You could definently argue he hasn't been around long enough (although only one year less than Duncan) but Dirk Nowitzki is certainly on his way to becoming an all-time great barring injuries. For retired players who weren't on the original list I'd put Adrain Dantley, Artis Gilmore, Joe Dumars, and Chris Mullin ahead of Kidd among possibly others.

A week ago on the wonderful baseball stat geek site Hardball Times there was this article about the 1994 Montreal Expos. The article is titled "Where Are They Now?" but it more or less only tells you were they went rather than where they are now, not that I was needing to find out where Freddie Benavides was nowadays. So I figured I'd do the same for another team from the past but have a more approriate title for it. Now for picking the team I was going to go with 1989 Oakland A's or the 1997 Florida Marlins but figured I'd go for something more obscure for the first one so I picked the 1985 New York Yankees. The 80's were considered the dark days for the Yankees, at least by their fan base, but they actually had some very good teams that decade just with no World Series ring to show for it. The best Yankee team of the '80s was the 1985 team which won 97 games but came up two games shy of the Blue Jays for the A.L. East title. Catcher: Butch Wynegar (.223./.356/.320, 10.9 VORP, 10 Win Shares) - After putting up solid offensive numbers the previous three years, Wynegar hit the catcher wall in '85. He'd spend one more year with the Yankees and then be traded to the Angels where'd he finish out his career. First Base: Don Mattingly (.324/.371/.567, 78.9 VORP, 32 Win Shares) - Donny Baseball might be a tad overrated by Yankee fans of the 80's but you can kind of understand why when you look at his numbers during the mid-80's. He would of course spend his whole career with the Yankees, retiring after 1995. He won the MVP in '85 but he actually wasn't the best player on his own team. Second Base: Willie Randolph (.276/.382/.356, 32.9 VORP, 20 Win Shares) - Very consistent, solid performer in the 80's for the Yankees. He'd leave after 1988 as a free agent to the Dodgers. From there he'd be traded the A's during the 1990 season and get to play in his fourth World Series. He'd finish up with one year stops with the Brewers and Mets before retiring after 1992. Third Base: Mike Pagliarulo (.239/.324/.442, 19.4 VORP, 13 Win Shares) - Aww one of my favorite "names" when I was a kid. Good power but couldn't hit for average or draw walks. He'd flame out pretty quick being traded to the Padres in 1989, ended up with Twins in 1991 and picked up a World Series ring, finshing up with the Orioles and Rangers. Shortstop: Bob Meacham (.218/.302/.266, 2.7 VORP, 11 Win Shares) - Egads is that an ugly line. If the Yankees had a competent shortstop in '85 maybe they win the East. Maybe Baseball Jesus, The Jeter, will discover time travel and lead the '85 Yankees to World Series title. *fist pump* Left Field: Ken Griffey (.274/.331/.425, 19.2 VORP, 14 Win Shares) - At 35, Junior's dad was still an okay player. He'd be traded to the Braves for another aging outfielder in Claudell Washington in 1986. He'd make a nostalgic trip back to the Reds at the end of the decade before being released during the World Series run of 1990. Then five days later he'd be picked up by the Mariners in a marketing ploy by having father and son play together. Center Field: Rickey Henderson (.314/.419/.516, 94.1 VORP, 38 Win Shares) - The man, the myth, the legend, and the real 1985 A.L. MVP. This would be Rickey's best year until he topped it and finally won the MVP in 1990. Of course that was with the A's as he was traded midseason back to Oakland in a trade that still has to have Yankee fans gritting their teeth. The booty for Rickey: Luis Polonia, Greg Cadaret, and Erick Plunk. Woof. Rickey would get his first World Series ring in '89, while Polonia would lead the league having sex with 14 year olds. Running thru where Rickey went: Oakland Toronto Oakland San Diego Anaheim Oakland N.Y. Mets Seattle San Diego Boston Los Angeles Newark Right Field: Dave Winfield (.275/.328/.471, 38.0 VORP, 21 Win Shares) - Hey look George Steinbrenner's favorite player. '85 was actually the start of a bit of down time in Winfield's career (for him) before he swung back up the bell curve in 1988. Traded to the Angels for Mike Witt in 1990, would win a World Series with the Blue Jays in 1991, make the late career hometown visit with the Twins for a couple of years, then finish up with the Indians in 1995. Designated Hitter: Don Baylor (.231/.330/.430, 26.6 VORP, 12 Win Shares) - Baylor was definently a product of the DH extending a player's career. Couldn't pay the field anymore but could still hit a decent number of homeruns so he stayed in the line-up. As mentioned before he'd make a tour of the next three A.L. Champions in the Red Sox, Twins (World Champs), and A's before retiring. Pitchers Ron Guidry - (123 ERA+, 58.4 VORP, 18 Win Shares) - This would be Guidry's last good year and he finished 2nd to Bret Saberhagen in the '85 Cy Young voting. He played his entire career with the Yankees, retiring after 1988. Phil Niekro - (98 ERA+, 27.9 VORP, 10 Win Shares) - If I ever have a son he's gonna learn how to throw a knuckleball so he can earn a Major League salary into his late 40's and support me since I'll have no Social Security. Ed Whitson - (83 ERA+, -0.5 VORP, 4 Win Shares) - Okay maybe if the Yankees didn't have Ed Whitson making 30 starts in 1985 they win the East. Whitson had a weird career as he did absolutlely nothing of note for 12 seasons then suddenly at age 34 with the Padres he pitches like a stud for two seasons in '89 and '90 then falls off a cliff in '91 and was out of the league after that. OMG HE WAS ON THE JUICE!!!! Joe Cowley - (102 ERA+, 25.0 VORP, 9 Win Shares) - I really don't know whole lot about Cowley. He'd be traded to the White Sox after the '85 season, pitched decently in '86, traded to the Phillies right before the '87 season where he'd meltdown and was out of baseball soon after. Closer: Dave Rigehtti - (145 ERA+, 30.0 VORP, 15 Win Shares) - Absolute beast of a closer during the mid-80's. Started to tail off by the end of the decade and the Yankees let him leave as a free agent after 1990. Spent three years with the Giants then made brief stops with the A's, Blue Jays, and White Sox before retiring after 1995.

The fact that Buster Olney is now on the A's bandwagon scares the hell out of me. But I think they do have as good a chance as anyone to win it all as they have quite possibly the deepest team in baseball. Thing is though the A.L. looks absolutely loaded this year so if they get a rash of injuries (and they have serveral injury prone players) it could come crashing down in a hurry. I'm sure I'll do a full scale preview of them during Spring Training.

Yup, with just two weeks left in the season. I was surprised when I looked up the Yankees boxscores from that season that Whitson actually did make one more start that year in the opener of the final series of the season at Toronto. The Yankees were three games back and needed to sweep the Blue Jays and won that first game but the Blue Jays won the next day to clinch the division.

I follow Stanford basketball and they've had some fun chants especially in the late 90's. For UConn's Khalid El Amin who already had two kids when he was in college they chanted "Who's your baby?" and my personal favorite was for Mike Bibby who they chanted "Your dad hates you!" for him in reference to his dad Henry Bibby who he doesn't get along with.

What no mention of Sammy Sosa turning down the Nationals (Nats fans rejoice) and probably going to retire now? Poor Sammy, no one cares anymore.

To not turn this into solely a blog about the Oakland A's (although I'll probably just go back to them for my next entry) I figured I'd pull out something random. So here is a look back at the 1989 NBA Draft using Win Shares. I picked the '89 Draft because for quite the lack of talent that came out of it as there is not a future Hall of Famer in the class, it featured it's 2nd pick overall Danny Ferry pitching a fit after being selected by the Clippers and sitting out the '89-'90 season, and it was the first year that the draft was shrunk to two rounds. As you'll see they couldn't fit nearly a full round of decent NBA talent. In addition only Clifford Robinson is still active from the '89 Draft so you can realistically evaluate a draft when almost every player is no longer in the league rather than those who try to evalute only a few years after a draft. Robinson incidently enough was the best value pick of the draft as he was not selected until 36th overall. Now for Win Shares, everyone thinks of them for baseball but at Basketball-Reference.com they came up with a version for basketball. I don't know how reliable the stat is but seems useful to compare the success of players who were drafted the same year. 1989 NBA Draft Rankings by Career Win Shares 1. Glenn Rice, Miami - 270 Win Shares (4th pick) 2. Vlade Divac, L.A. Lakers - 269 (26th) 3. Clifford Robinson, Portland - 258 (36th) 4. Tim Hardaway, Golden State - 252 (14th) 5. Shawn Kemp, Seattle - 237 (17th) 6. Mookie Blalock, New Jersey - 203 (12th) 7. Sean Elliott, San Antonio - 174 (3rd) 8. Nick Anderson, Orlando - 161 (11th) 9. B.J. Armstrong, Chicago - 138 (18th) 10. Dana Barros, Seattle - 133 (16th) 11t. Danny Ferry, L.A. Clippers - 103 (2nd) 11t. Sherman Douglas, Miami - 103 (28th) 13. George McCloud, Indiana - 80 (7th) 14t. J.R. Reid, Charlotte - 70 (5th) 14t. Pooh Richardson, Minnesota - 70 (10th) 14t. Blue Edwards, Utah - 70 (21st) 17. Chucky Brown, Cleveland - 58 (43rd) 18t. Pervis Ellison, Sacramento - 52 (1st) 18t. Doug West, Minnesota - 52 (38th) 20. Tom Hammonds, Denver - 45 (9th) 21. Stacey King, Chicago - 40 (6th) 22. Dino Radja, Boston - 38 (40th) 23. Haywoode Workman, Atlanta - 31 (49th) 24. Todd Lichti, Denver - 17 (15th) 25. Michael Ansley, Orlando - 16 (37th) 26. Randy White, Dallas - 14 (8th) 27. Greg Grant, Phoenix - 10 (52nd) 28. Kenny Battle, Detroit - 9 (27th) 29. Jeff Martin, L.A. Clippers - 8 (31st) 30. Byron Irvin, Portland - 7 (22nd) 31. John Morton, Cleveland - 6 (25th) 32. Michael Smith, Boston - 5 (13th) 33. Brian Quinnett, New York - 4 (50th) 34t. Pat Durham, Dallas - 3 (35th) 34t. Kenny Payne, Philadelphia - 3 (19th) 36t. Jeff Sanders, Chicago - 2 (20th) 36t. Anthony Cook, Phoenix - 2 (24th) 36t. Frank Kornet, Milwaukee - 2 (30th) 39t. Ed Horton, Washington - 1 (39th) 39t. Doug Roth, Washigton - 1 (41st) 39t. Scott Haffner, Miami - 1 (45th) The Zero Club Roy Marble, Atlanta (23rd) Dyron Nix, Charlotte (29th) Stlaney Brundy, New Jersey (32nd) Jay Edwards, L.A. Clippers (33rd) Gary Leonard, Minnesota (34th) Ricky Blanton, Phoenix (46th) Mike Morrison, Phoenix (51st) Never Played Michael Cutright, Denver (42nd) Reggie Cross, Philadelphia (44th) Reggie Turner, Denver (47th) Junie Lewis, Utah (48th) Jeff Hodge, Dallas (53rd) Toney Mack, Philadelphia (54th) Here's one more list, as we know just because a player had a good career didn't necessarily make him a good draft pick for the team that drafted him. So here's the Top 10 in career Win Shares for the team they were drafted by. 1. Shawn Kemp 180 2. Sean Elliott 169 3. Nick Anderson 151 4. Clifford Robinson 137 5. Vlade Divac 120 6. Tim Hardaway 115 7. Glenn Rice 109 8. B.J. Armstrong 102 9. Doug West 50 10. Dino Radja 38 Yikes quite the drop off after Armstrong.

Well I did pick the year kind of randomly. If I get Bored enough I'll probably do evaluations of other drafts.

Runner up two years in a row, I might as well go for three peat.

Since the Pro Bowl was today I thought about trying to find some useless, maybe interesting Pro Bowl facts but then I remembered there is nothing interesting about the Pro Bowl. When I was younger I actually used to love watching the game and would even record it to watch it again later. What the hell was wrong with me? I would be upset when my favorite players wouldn't play in the game but now I question the sanity of any player who'd play in the game. Hey if I were a player I wouldn't play, call me a pussy if you want but I wouldn't risk my career in such a meaningless game. Well I guess suffering a potential career ending injury in the Pro Bowl wouldn't be as bad as suffering one playing a flag football game on the beach like poor Robert Edwards in 1999. One thing I did find when I was looking for anything from the past from the Pro Bowl was the first MVP of the Pro Bowl after I was born (that being the 1979 Pro Bowl) was Ahmad Rashad. Almost no one seems to remember that he was a pretty good wide receiver in his day at the University of Oregon and then with the Minnesota Vikings. His post career is better remembered for marrying the mom from the Cosby Show and being Michael Jordan's personal interviewer. You know in the 1990's if you were to kick Michael Jordan in the balls you would have also been kicking Ahmad Rashad in the head. Speaking of verbal fellatio of athletes, I made the mistake of flipping on the Pro Bowl when they were discussing Brett Favre. Now I don't have it down word for word but here is essentially what Mike Patrick said of Favre possibly retiring: Good lord. I know announcers aren't journalists but how can you take someone seriously when they something like this? Mike also seems to have a conflict of interests with his feelings as he says it'll make him happy but it will break his heart. With him done with announcing after tonight he'll now have free time to stalk Brett. I definently won't miss him as listening to Mike Patrick announce a game always sounded to me like a guy calling a game that he just saw the previous week.

2006 will mark 20 years of sports memories for me and I'm finally starting to feel like an old fart who reminisces about the good 'ol days. Fact is I was an old man when it came to sports when I was a kid as I loved sports history and researching useless sports facts which is still one of my favorite things to do. Regulars to sports folder have seen this most recently with my several useless fact posts in the Comments that don't warrant a thread, um thread, but that died off fairly quickly and figured it'd probably be more appropriate to post useless stuff like that in a blog. So to make this all about me, I'll take a look back at my first ever live sporting event: 5/11/1986, Boston Red Sox at Oakland Athletics. As to memories about the actual game I have little to none. I only remember my family and I sat in the Plaza Level (2nd deck) of the Coliseum on the first base saide. My dad bought me an A's bobblehead, the old school ceramic ones not the plastic ones that you get today, which I promptly broke about a week later. Anything I remember from the game now comes from looking at the boxscore from Retrosheet. It featured a great "name" pitching of Oil Can Boyd vs. Moose Haas. The A's trailed 6-4 going into the 9th but a Carney Lansford homerun started a rally. They had 1st and 2nd with two out but pinch hitter Dusty Baker grounded out to the pitcher (wasn't hot enough for him?) to end the game with a Red Sox victory. That makes me feel old right there that Baker who will be in his 13th year of managing this season was playing in my very first live MLB game. Now to look back at the starting line-ups from that game and just throw in a few comments about each player with their stats from 1986. Red Sox 1. Dwight Evans RF (.259/.376/.476, 41.4 VORP, 24 Win Shares) - Doesn't get nearly the publicity for the Hall of Fame of his outfield mate Jim Rice, mainly because Evans fell off the ballot without notice while Rice remains a serious candidate. It's odd as Evans was equal the hitter of Rice and was unquestionably the superior defensive outfielder. Evans bests Rice in career Win Shares 347 to 282. Very underrated during his playing days and post career. Hopefully he'll get more notice when he comes up on the Veteran's Committee ballot. 2. Wade Boggs 3B (.357/.453/.486, 82.0 VORP, 37 Win Shares) - Roger Clemens would win the MVP in '86 but it should have been Boggs. I'm not sure where this myth that Boggs wasn't a feared hitter comes from beyond that he wasn't a power hitter but circa 1986 pitchers should have been pretty fucking scared to face Boggs. 3. Bill Buckner DH (.267/.311/.421, 21.5 VORP, 13 Win Shares) - Yes I'm sure you can see the irony in Bucker at DH in 1986. 4. Jim Rice LF (.324/.384/.490, 61.4 VORP, 28 Win Shares) - I was on the Rice for HOF bandwagon a couple of years ago but I've jumped off since. If he ever gets in I won't have a problem though but it wouldn't be much of an oversight either if he never gets in. 5. Don Baylor 1B (.238/.344/.439, 29.1 VORP, 16 Win Shares) - Mr. HBP who lucked into playing on three straight A.L. Champions on three different teams form '86 to '88 (Red Sox, Twins, A's). 6. Rich Gedman C (.258/.315/.424, 26.0 VOP, 18 Win Shares) - This was the last of a decent three year run for Gedman but he hit the wall the following season. 7. Marty Barrett 2B (.286/.353/.381, 38.0 VORP, 22 Win Shares) - Good season in a largely unspectacular career. I only remember him going beserk in the Red Sox dugout in the infamous Game 4 of the '90 ALCS when Roger Clemens was ejected. 8. Steve Lyons CF (.250/.312/.363, 0.4 VORP, 2 Win Shares) - Bad player and possibly even worse announcer. Claim to fame was playing literally every position and dropping his pants during a game when he was with the White Sox. 9. Ed Romero SS (.210/.270/.283, -3.9 VORP, 2 Win Shares) - I found edromero.com but it sadly it was a lounge singer not the baseball player. A's 1. Tony Phillips 2B (.256/.367/.345, 22.7 VORP, 17 Win Shares) - Vastly underrated player who's best days would come away from Oakland. By no means a superstar but he just simply got a base a lot and could give you solid defense at multiple positions. He did smoke rock though. Has congress investigated the performance enhancements of crack? 2. Dwayne Murphy CF (.252/.364/.386, 18.9 VORP, 15 Win Shares) - Another underrated player. Probably would have been better appreciated if he played today as he got on base at a good rate, could hit for power (although by '86 he'd lost it), and was one of the best defensive outfielders of his era. Didn't help him that he played along side one of the greatest outfielders ever during his prime in RICKEY~. 3. Jose Canseco LF (.240/.318/.457, 30.2 VORP, 21 Win Shares) - He hit the first homerun I ever saw live in this game (not that I remembered it) but he was on the juice so it should ERASED FROM THE RECORDS!!!! Anyways the guy was a prick and by '89 I hated him. Wally Joyner absolutely got robbed in the '86 ROY voting by Canseco. 4. Dave Kingman DH (.210/.255/.431, 4.8 VORP, 8 Win Shares) - Awww Dave Kingman, never saw a pitch he didn't like. Really how long would he have lasted today with more emphasis on OBP? It amazes me a guy with so much power could draw so few walks. He'd hit 35 homeruns that year which is the record for most homeruns by a player in his final season but the average and on base tell you why no one was calling him up after '86. 5. Bruce Bochte 1B (.256/.357/.337, 12.8 VORP, 11 Win Shares) - No this isn't the Padres' manager. Is the answer to a trivia question, who was the A's starting 1B before Mark McGwire? 6. Carney Lansford 3B (.284/.332/.421, 32.8 VORP, 19 Win Shares) - Good hitter who was fun to watch because of his unique batting stance. Was my mom's favorite player and she probably would have fucked him she had the chance. Then I would have had to kill him. 7. Mike Davis RF (.268/.314/.454, 30.3 VORP, 18 Win Shares) - Was the A's "star" if you will the season before. Traded to the Dodgers after the '87 season where he did nothing but he drew a walk in front of Kirk Gibson's homerun in the Game 1 of the '88 Series. Thus I want him dead. 8. Alfredo Griffin SS (.285/.323/.364, 34.2 VORP, 17 Win Shares) - Never much of hitter but his glove kept him in the league for 18 years and had a badass JheriCurl. 9. Bill Bathe C (.184/.208/.359, -2.8 VORP, 1 Win Share) - Yes he was the back up catcher with those numbers, not that starter Mickey Tettleton did a whole lot better (.204/.325/.389, 11.3 VORP, 8 Win Shares). Okay that's enough nostalgia for one night.

Hey only $164.99 for a South Africa jersey Aww you can't buy any Cuba merchandise. You can tell MLB designed all the uniforms for the tournament as they are all pretty bland.

I didn't want to bother digging up the WBC thread, but the U.S. final roster has been announced. With all the dropouts the outfield isn't exactly the best they could have fielded. http://www.worldbaseballclassic.com/2006/r...ex.jsp?sid=t940

Well I already accidently went to espn.com which spoiled me on the all the remaining results tonight so I can view this thread. It's tougher on the west coast to avoid all of this as we get the event coverage later than anyone. To echo comments about Bode Miller already, watching the test runs yesterday they mentioned that he was only 7th in the downhill world cup standings and then I immediately thought "why the fuck is he getting all this attention then?" Oh well in the end it's all about marketing and he's the one who did it best I guess. And yes I was sad about Michelle Kwan dropping also but only because she's a piece of ass.

What no Pro Bowl thread? Seriously why do they still play this game? I think any player who doesn't pull out of the game is out of their mind.

kkk mentioned in his blog about how former players he watched becoming general managers and presidents of teams makes him feel old. For example Chris Mullin was the identity of the Golden State Warriors when I was growing up and now he's their general manager. But there's another general manager (and now part owner) in Oakland that everyone knows, Billy Beane, but unlike Mullin he's far better known for his work in the front office than as a player. In fact you'd probably have barely even noticed the guy when he played. Although I didn't happen to learn this until many years later but I actually had been witness to his last at bat in the Majors. As I mentioned in my first entry I had very few memories at all about my first baseball game. In fact as great as the A's were in the late 80's I have very few in game memories about them even though I went to probably 6-7 games a year. One game that I do sorta remember was on October 1, 1989. October 1st happens to be my birthday and from '87 to '89 I had my birthday party at the A's game. Really the only thing I remember about the game itself was Mark McGwire homering (his birthday too) and the A's beating the Royals on the final day of the regular season. A couple of years ago on another nostalgia trip I was looking at the boxscore and play account for game. Being that it was the last day of the regular season and the A's had wrapped up the A.L. West they pulled all their starters during the middle of the game. It went into extra innings and in the 11th inning with it tied 3-3, Billy Beane came up with a runner on 2nd and no one out. If you know anything about the Beane-era A's is that they rarely bunt, as they shouldn't as it's fairly useless strategy in the American League. But what did they ask the young Beane to do on this date? Yup, Beane's last at bat in the Majors was a bunt and I was there to witness "history"....not that I remembered it. Fun fact: The Royals DH in this game was Bill Buckner, just like my first game.