Bored

Can you believe that it will be 10 years since the McGwire/Sosa homerun chase and 10 years since the Yankees tore through the American League on their way to an 114 win season? I really have nothing to add to that and I am just posting one of my random lists, this time around every team's Opening Day/Night starter from the '98 season. I went to every A's Opening Night game from 1995-2002 and in '98 it was actually a fairly momentous occasion as they were playing the Red Sox in Pedro Martinez's first ever start for them. Pedro dominated as expected but glancing at the boxscore I forgot it was also Dennis Eckersley's first appearance in Oakland since 1995 as he played his final year with the Sox. On to the list... Angels: Chuck Finley Astros: Shane Reynolds Athletics: Tom Candiotti Blue Jays: Roger Clemens Braves: Greg Maddux Brewers: Cal Eldred Cardinals: Todd Stottlemyre Cubs: Kevin Tapani Devil Rays: Wilson Alvarez Diamondbacks: Andy Benes Dodgers: Ramon Martinez Expos: Carlos Perez Giants: Shawn Estes Indians: Charles Nagy Mariners: Randy Johnson Marlins: Livan Hernandez Mets: Bobby Jones Orioles: Mike Mussina Padres: Kevin Brown Phillies: Curt Schilling Pirates: Francisco Cordova Rangers: John Burkett Reds: Mike Remlinger Red Sox: Pedro Martinez Rockies: Daryl Kile Royals: Tim Belcher Tigers: Justin Thompson Twins: Bob Tewksbury White Sox: Jamie Navarro Yankees: Andy Pettitte

That was 10 million times better than I thought it would be as I was expecting a complete train wreck.

I guess Kansas is better than a team of Western Conference All-Stars. All four 1's in for the first time ever, so in theory the Final Four should be awesome but we shall see.

Let's see lose two home games and have these games start at 3:00 AM local time thus meaning I will not see them. Ya I'm not fucking bitter at all about this. Oh well season is over for the A's before it begins anyways. Wake me in 2010. TUESDAY Red Sox (Daisuke Matsuzaka) vs. Tokyo A's (Joe Blanton), 6:00/3:00 AM, ESPN2 WEDNESDAY Red Sox (Jon Lester) vs. Tokyo A's (Rich Harden), 6:00/3:00 AM, ESPN2

Ugh, Stanford had a great start to the second half and pulled within one at about the 12 minute mark then Texas seemingly flipped a switch and has dominated since. Sweet 16 was all I wanted but was at least hoping, and confident, that they would hang with Texas all night but hasn't happened. Edit: At least Davidson's performance will completely over shadow the shit kicking the Cardinal took the last 10 minutes of this game.

And Louisville has put Tennessee away while Western Kentucky has made it a game again. Edit: Aww I'm slow.

I've scored 20 fewer runs than any team in the league. Barfield and RICKEY~ are still killing me hitting at .193/.273/.318 and .185/.294/.223 clips respectively.

My favorite baseball team, and favorite team in all sports, the Oakland Athletics are going to suck this year. For the first time since the the late 90's I'm going into a baseball season with no hope or optimism. So since my favorite team is going to suck, I hope all your favorite teams suck this year too. Time for a little free floating hostility as I run down the other 29 teams in MLB and why they suck. (Disclaimer: Don't take any of this seriously) Angels: John Lackey's arm is about fall off and they'll find out that they wasted another $90 million on another overrated centerfielder. If Lackey does end up having surgery at some point hopefully they'll do something for his face too. God damn is that an ugly mother fucker. Astros: Hey maybe they can bring back Roger Clemens again! That'll solve everything! Blue Jays: They still play baseball in Canada? Braves: No one gave a shit about them in Atlanta when they were good and no one gives a shit about them now that they suck. Move them to Alaska. For that matter move every professional sports franchise out of Atlanta. Brewers: Anything that makes Bud Selig happy is a bad thing and the Brewers ever getting back to the playoffs will make him happy, so with that in mind I continue to hope for several more years of mediocre Brewers baseball. Signing Jason Kendall will of course help that cause for this year. Cardinals: Seriously, fucking retire already LaRussa. Once you lucked out with the 2006 World Championship you should have done the George Constanza "Alright that's it for me! Goodnight everybody!" Cubs: 100 years, no championships and now they are selling Wrigley Field's naming rights. Just kill yourself Cubs fans because it's gonna 100 more years of the same shit. Diamondbacks: Would somebody kill Eric Byrnes already? Dodgers: They're gonna trade Matt Kemp for Joe Crede, you just know it. Jeff Kent can't teach these kids how to win ya know! Giants: HAHAHAHAHA...yes keep convincing yourself Giants fans and front office that you didn't need Barry. God I can't wait for the Summer when they are 30 games out of first place and averaging less than 10k fans a game. It's gonna be great! Seriously if they ever fire Brian Sabean I'm going to cry. Indians: Seriously eat a fucking dick Cleveland for blowing it against the Red Sox in the ALCS to help that annoying fucking fan base celebrate another championship. Mariners: Trading for Erik Bedard isn't going to cover up that this team vastly overachieved last year and Bill Bavasi is still the GM which will always lead to failure. Marlins: Would somebody kill Jeffrey Loria already? Mets: This team looks like it wants to go out of it's way to out perform the A's in the injury department this year. I personally approve of the failure of all New York teams so hopefully they'll crash and burn. Nationals: Dmitri Young and Elijah Dukes on the same team...excellent. Orioles: Batting 4th, Kevin Millar. Padres: Padres' "fans" gave Barry Bonds a standing ovation when he tied Hank Aaron's record. At the end of the season Tony Gwynn Jr. hits a game winning triple against the Padres that forces them into a one game playoff against the Rockies which the Padres lose in crushing fashion. It's called karma, bitch. Phillies: Would have been better off trading Kyle Kendrick to Japan for real and thrown Adam Eaton in the deal. Gonna be another cocktease year for Phillies' fans but like they give a shit anyways as they'll be too busy chanting "E-A-G-L-E-S" at the games. Pirates: Not even worth it. Rangers: Why does this franchise not get shit on more for being a complete joke? 47 years in existence and not a single playoff series win. They'll have no problem blowing by the 50 year mark and beyond. Rays: Ooo they have so much young talent! They might be really good in 2010! Who gives a shit? Still going to be 90% Yankees and Red Sox fans at their games. Reds: The fact that there are Reds fans who actually want to get rid of Adam Dunn tells me they deserve a manager like Dusty Baker. Red Sox: Hey remember when we all thought it'd be great if the Red Sox won a championship so we could stop hearing all the whining from their fan base about "The Curse"? We never knew how good we had it. Every SAWX fan I see this year, I'm kicking square in the fucking nuts. Rockies: Like the Indians, fuck you for losing to the Red Sox. Royals: This team is more painful to watch than George Brett popping his hemorrhoids. Tigers: Kenny Rogers is an asshole and Todd Jones is a closet fag. Twins: 1. Trade Johan Santana, 2. ???, 3. Profit White Sox: Is this team gonna suuuuuuuuuuck? YES! Yankees: Derek Jeter is a selfish prick who is going to drag this franchise down very soon by his refusal to leave shortstop. This guy is the Lonnie Smith of shortstops. But whatever, Yankee fans deserve any losing season they get and hopefully they'll happen soon.

Reading the recap of the game it sounds like a replay of the 2003 ALDS. Glad I missed it.

Good news everyone, Gus Johnson will be around for the regionals unlike last year where we had to suffer with James Brown. He'll be doing the Detroit games so hopefully Curry Man will work more of his late game magic for Gus.

I'm offering to trade one of my worst players for anyone's best player. Don't pass up this offer before it's gone!

My team has scored two runs or less in eight of my last nine games so not surprising I've only managed two wins in that span. Even though none of my regulars have high injury ratings I've had a bunch of them hurt together as for the first game of my next series Jesse Barfield, Kent Hrbek, and Julio Franco are out of the line up. Problem has also been that Barfield and Rickey Henderson are both off to slow starts. When my lead off hitter and my #3 hitter aren't hitting there's not a whole lot I can do.

This was looking like a lousy session 20-30 minutes ago and now every game is close. Even Miami had a chance to send it to overtime at the end.

Sunday Tip Times Siena vs. Villanova, 12:10 PM/9:10 AM Miami vs. Texas, 2:15 PM/11:15 AM Butler vs. Tennessee, 2:30 PM/11:30 AM San Diego vs. Western Kentucky, 2:40 PM/11:40 AM Davidson vs. Georgetown, 2:50 PM/11:50 AM Mississippi State vs. Memphis, 4:45/1:45 PM Oklahoma vs. Louisville, 5:00/2:00 PM Arkansas vs. North Carolina, 5:20/2:20 PM

THANK GOD...and I mean Brook Lopez.

I much prefer games like this when I don't have a rooting interest.

Stanford's idiot head coach Trent Johnson got himself ejected and handed four free throws to Marquette. It was an evenly played game to this point and now Marquette has their first real lead of the game. Unbelievable. On top of this Brook Lopez has reverted back to his ways as a freshman by getting into early foul trouble. Didn't matter against Cornell but they need him here to take advantage of Marquette's small frontline. Edit: Stanford has completely melted down. 11-1 run since that fucking moron got himself ejected.

Tampa is where high seeds go to die apparently. Siena was a popular upset pick so of course I decided not to pick them.

Saturday Tip Times West Virginia vs. Duke, 2:10 PM/11:10 AM Kansas State vs. Wisconsin, 4:20/1:20 PM Purdue vs. Xavier, 4:40/1:40 PM Notre Dame vs. Washington State, 6:40/3:40 PM Marquette vs. Stanford, 6:45/3:45 PM UNLV vs. Kansas, 6:50/3:50 PM Michigan State vs. Pittsburgh, 9:10/6:10 PM Texas A&M vs. UCLA, 9:15/6:15 PM

We're guaranteed a double digit seed in the Sweet 16 which we didn't have last year for the first time in 13 years.

Gus Johnson so needed to be assigned for the Tampa games. UConn on the ropes.

Now the tournament has begun!

God Tim Brando is annoying.

I think it's time for a closed door player's meeting.

Today looked a lot like last year's tournament which isn't a good thing.