EVIL~! alkeiper

"Big Cat" Ernie Ladd

Korea defeated Japan in the late game last night. So tonight it's Cuba vs. Japan at 11pm (ESPN2), loser goes home. That should be one hell of a game. And putting Alex Rodriguez aside for a moment. If Derek Jeter plays defense for the Yankees like he does for team USA, the Yankees are not going to win shit this season.

Surprise mostly. Not a real memorable one, though I remember thinking it was stupid at the time. Still do.

After a sabbatical from wrestling, 24/7 got me interested again in the product. I'll confess that I'm a John Cena fan, and I think the in-ring product has been as good as ever perhaps. So with a live Monday Night Raw coming, my friend, his fiance and I picked up some tickets for the show. We lucked out with it becoming a three-hour special featuring the draft lottery. -Legends! We got appearances from Dusty Rhodes, Roddy Piper and the Fabulous Moolah. -Chris Benoit's last Raw match. -Local product Snitsky got DQ'ed for beating up Miz after the bell. Like that merited a DQ. My friend actually worked with Snitsky a short time at a local resort. -The limo explosion. What an odd event at a show, we found out later that it was actually filmed the night before. The arena is actually in a fairly isolated spot, which made it an attractive venue to pull off that stunt. For those who bash John Cena, it is really obvious from most live crowds like this that he is a tremendous draw. What struck me more than anything though is that the sound feedback was incredible. During the matches you just heard this incredible hum through the sound system. WWE cranks up the music to the point where I'm surprised the announcers can function. Next up: Smackdown

It's not September and the Phillies aren't chasing. http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/fwhT

To be fair, the other team had Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran.

Oh yeah I forgot. I'm not supposed to care about meaningless exhibitions.

And the US advances! Six batters came to the plate, only Jeter made an out.

Cabrera isn't faltering because he lacks the closer mentality. He's faltering because he's a pretty crummy pitcher.

5-4. Bases Loaded, one out. Of course, all the drama is killed by the fear of who's going to hurt themselves.

Back to back singles! Now let's see what Captain Clutch does.

Devil's advocate here. Heyman was heel and Vince face. If his promo was true and on the money, is it really a good promo?

C Yogi Berra Forget the personality. This is a player who won three MVP awards in five seasons. He finished top four in MVP voting in seven consecutive seasons. An outstanding player.

Yeah, Team USA still down 4-3 heading into the ninth inning.

Great point Sciambi making on the sac bunt. And the bunt took the bat out of two hitters' hands, Beltran and Delgado.

Are Buck Martinez and Jon Sciambi on MLB Network as well? This sounds like a Simulcast.

Well he did end up pitching about nine full seasons altogether for the Cubs, that's no small change.

Fokai, that covers Monday's missed pick. You've got another pick you can make immediately, and then tomorrow's at 4am ET. (10pm your time)

For those interested, XM has the game on XM 140 for ESPN Radio.

All I know is that if Jimmy Rollins gets hurt, I'm not going to run back here crying like a little baby.

I'm half-tempted to take Scroby as my referee.

And all other baseball isn't interesting. Got it.

And for the record, I am a baseball fan. What that involves for the most part is that I love watching good baseball players playing good baseball games. The World Baseball Classic has gathered good players from around the world, and good games have resulted. Why should I not love something like this?

Attendance and Television Ratings Shine For Selig's Folly

To be honest Venk, I smelled a little bit of gay while you were gone.