What a great weekend for my sports teams!

• Ohio State clinched a trip to the Rose Bowl by downing Iowa
• Missouri beat Kansas State, in Manhattan, KS. First time a Coach Gary Pinkel lead team beat a Coach Bill Snyder lead K-State.
• Green Bay beat the Dallas Cowboys, which means my favorite two teams won this weekend in the NFL.
  
  • What's that? My two favorite teams in the NFL. Oh, that's easy...my Favorite team is the Packers. My second favorite is whoever is playing the Cowboys. See how that works?
• And...my old High School's football team won their playoff game which sends them to the Class 2 Semi-final game next Saturday. Win that and they go to the State Championship game, which they last won in 2003.

Honorable Mention goes to the Former Bungles of Cincinatti who beat the Steelers, sweeping the season series from them. Not to mention the Ravens. I don't like the Ravens, don't care much about the Steelers and like to see success stories.


Yay teams!

Another year, another World Series, and another Champion$hip for the Yankee$.

For the record, I don't begrudge the Yankee$ their well played and hard won Champion$hip this season.  They played hard, played well and battled back from a dismal beginning of the season.  I remember there being rumors or speculation that Yankee$ manager Joe Girardi would be/could be/should be fired.

There are those who will say the Yankee$ bought the World $eries this year.  They may have, as they spent close to a Half Billion dollars in off-season Free Agent signings.  It might not have been that expensive but for the bidding war with the Bo$ton Red $ox who go after the same players so the Yankee$ won't get them.  And have you ever noticed that when a Big Player is on the trading block or free agent market, those two teams are always in the discussion due to their ability to cough up large amounts of cold, hard, highly paid balllpayer cash?

But for all the charges of the Yankee$ buying the series this year, they did bring up a few of their players through the minors, players that they drafted and developed on their own.  Their free agent signings were additions, not saviors.  Even if they did cost enough to settle the debt of some companies at the Bailout trough.

There is a part of me that would love to see a more reasonable way of ensuring competitive balance, so that teams like the Minnesota Twins will not just make the playoffs, but have a chance to actually beat the Yankee$ or Red $ox.  Teams who can, have and will again make horrible mistakes on free agent signings (Kevin Brown, anyone?).

Yet, I look at the NFL and their enforced parity and what I see is a competitive balance that is a result of widespread mediocrity in the league.  There are few, if any, great teams in the NFL.  The Patriots over the course of this decade are the exception and not the rule.  Still, they have flaws in their overall game.  The Steelers, for all their recent success, haven't been able to put two great seasons together.  And we also have a lack of teams going to the Super Bowl in consecutive years of late.

Sort of like Major League Baseball.

It has always been fashionable to bash on the Yankee$ for their deep pockets, willingness to throw $$$ at ballplayers and make fiscal mistakes that would ruin other franchises.  It is all a part of the commitment to the franchise that the Yankee$ owner has made over the years.  Whether I like it, or not.

So, congrat$ to the Yankee$.  They got their money's worth this season.  And then some.

While I was waiting for the baloney in the World Series pregame to finish, I watched some of a United Football League football game on VS.  It was an interesting experience.  The Las Vegas Locos (Locomotives) were playing the New York Sentinels in an almost empty stadium on the Hofstra campus.  A few thoughts and observations.

Simeon Rice, former NFL standout was playing for the New York.  According to ESPN, he's listed as a Colt.  Whoops!

The punter for the New York Sentinels, one Scott Player, was wearing one bar on his helmet.  And it was aimed way, way down.  A sight I hadn't seen in many years.  And will never see on another player as the NFL has a rule against them now.

The level of play was about what I expected.  Ragged, would be a good word for it.  And that's because of the set-up.  There is only one GM for the league.  The teams uniforms are all styled the same, with different colors.  They don't appear to have individual owners of teams, but a group that owns the league as a whole.

I like the concept of a fall league that doesn't aim to take on the NFL, and only charges around $20 or so for a ticket.  Makes it affordable.  Still, with the sheer number of empty seats in NYC, they need to do a better job of marketing.  It almost looked like there were more people involved with the football game, than fans.

I hope they succeed, but I have my doubts.

Oh, and anyone who wondered what became of J.P. Losman?  He's a Loco....

Ok, so a couple of days ago, I took a look back at the National League predictions I made back on April, 9 of this year.  They seemed like good ideas at the time, but...that's why they play the season.

In the aftermath the of the 12 inning AL Tiebreaker last night, we look at what I had to say about the American League races now that their season is finally over.  To refresh:


AL East: Tampa Bay
AL Central: The Tribe
AL West: Angels of a couple of municipalities in Southern CA
AL Wildcard: BoSox

I blew it in the AL East.  Tampa Bay had a rough year, in what amounts to the toughest division in MLB and finished out of the running.  I didn't see the Yankees putting it all together this year, but they did.  Still leaves Boston in the Wild Card, so I go that one right.  The AL West was a gimme.  That division is loaded with teams that aren't so very good.  The Texas Rangers outstanding season was a complete surprise to not only me, but the world around us as well.  We all knew they could put up a ton of runs, but they finally got some pitching.  Not enough for this year, but they appear to be a team to watch in the future.

And then there's the AL Central.  Cleveland looked just about ready to take that final step.  Yet, the only steps they took this season were to unload payroll by trading their big guns away and starting over.  By the All-Star Break, they did this...


I'm going to take the easy way out and just pick the Yankees to win it all. 

I hate the Yankees....

Ugly.  The game was ugly is you were not rooting for the Vi-Queens in their much better looking retro jerseys last night.  Poor Aaron Rodgers who got sacked 8 times last night.  EIGHT SACKS!  That's 20 for the season, which is nigh impossible to believe.  It should be against the law.  Rodgers O-Line should be taking him out for dinner, a massage and I don't know what all.

Still, for gakking up the football via fumble and the odd pick-off, the Packers came close to pulling it out.  They didn't quit.  Rodgers showed poise under fire and the rush.  He wasn't perfect by any stretch, and Favre was blessed with a Hollywood Script Writer for his game on that field, on that night.

It was exciting, that much was certain.  Now, we wait for Favre-a-Geddon when the Queens show up at Lambeau Field...hopefully with Chad Clifton no injured and the rest of the Offensive Line not being offensive in their execution. 

The other thing that bugged me was the sheer loathing and vitriol I heard from some Packer Backers on Twitter last night.  They are discounting the 15 years he lead the Packers back to glory, and seeing idiots (yes, idiots) who took Favre jerseys and turned them into doormats...Get a fucking grip, People. 

A) It's just football, dammit.
B) You can not erase his great years as a Packer
C) Ted Thompson was right, last night notwithstanding.

People who bash on Favre, like Favre went out of his way to shit on their supper plate need to get the hell over themselves.  Seriously.  It's not about YOU.  It's about Brett showing he has an ego, that it got bruised and he (quite humanly, I have to add) wanted revenge.  He got a small measure of it last night.  He'll share his real, honest emotions at some point in a biography.  So, they won, and he had a great game.  Good on Favre, and bad on the Packers for not playing better and shooting themselves in the foot with a shit storm of penalties.

Here's hoping the Packers learned something from this, and that Rodgers starts to get some protection back there.   I don't want to watch him running for his life the rest of the season...

Way back on April 9th, I posted how I saw the 2009 Championship season panning out for Major League Baseball.  I have no illusions about being taken seriously as prognosticator, so keep that in mind as we look at where I went so horribly wrong....

To refresh, my selections in the National League were:

NL East: NY Mets
NL Central: Chicago Cubs
NL West: LA Dodgers
NL Wildcard: Philly Phillies


I sure screwed the pooch on the NL East and Central didn't I?  The Mets finished 18 games under .500 and in 4th place.  Whoops!  And the Cubs would have finished better than 7.5 games back of the Cards in the Central were it not for an amazing late July/early August rampage the Cardinals went on.  Still, 5 games over the break even point shouldn't win you a Division Crown.

The Dodgers did everything they possibly could to hand the NL West to the resurgent Rockies of Colorado, waiting until this past Saturday to actually win the division.  Keep in mind that the Rockies were 12 games or so under .500 in late May.  This race shouldn't have even been close.  The Rockies are playing terrific baseball and should do well in the playoffs.  

As much as I love the Cardinals, ending your season with a 5 game losing streak, a bullpen that looks shakier than a Cubs fan during the playoffs doesn't bode well for them in the Postseason.  I can see and Three and Out for them, even though the ESPN wonks say the Cards are the strongest team in the NL.  (And I didn't see that coming this spring, that's for sure...)

We'll look at how I botched the AL on Wednesday, after the Tigers and Twinkies play their Extra Game on Tuesday to see who wins the AL Central.

It has been 20 years since Pete Rose was banned from Organized Baseball for gambling on Baseball. 20 years. 20 controversial, tumultuous years. Rose denied, denied, denied for 14 of those years. "Hell no, I never bet on Baseball!" was his mantra for 14 years.

He appeared to be taking the approach that if he said it enough, people would believe it and it would be true. People did believe him. It still wasn't true. He finally confessed to what the evidence said he did. He confessed to get paid. I still see his book on the bargain pile from time to time.

I really disliked Rose as a kid. I recognized what a great player he was and admired that. He just reminded me too much of the smug jocks at school who could get away with most anything because of what they can do with a ball in their hands. Rose was like that. He thought he was bigger than the game. I believe him when he says he loves the game. I just believe he loves himself more.

His apologists, outside of his friends, just don't get it. They never have and I doubt they ever will. Rose's crime was against Baseball, not Society. So, the notion that drunks, drug addicts and the like are somehow worse offenders in a Baseball sense is bullshit. Drunks and drug addicts hurt themselves more than society (unless they are driving) and their immediate families suffer as much. Teammates suffer from the side affects of the self-abuse.

Gambling on baseball, betting on games in the same league you are playing in or even in the minor leagues gives the impression that you have inside knowledge of who is going to win or lose that game. That the game isn't on the level. That somebody out of the field isn't giving their all to win for the Home Team.

The 1919 World Series scandal tore apart the game of Baseball. The crime of gambling is committed against Baseball, not Society. That's the difference. You must keep in mind the victim of the crime to determine the severity. In this case, poorly reflecting on the Integrity of the product on the field is worse than anything else in The Game. With that loss of faith in that integrity, MLB becomes little more than Pro Wrasslin' and we all know how 'real' that is.

I think Rose has finally learned his lesson. It's almost too bad that it happened late for him to have gained anything from it. I take little joy in Rose being banned from the game. His accomplishments on the field demand a place in Cooperstown. However, his actions off the field and in the managers office demand that he not. Those demands come first.

The tale of Pete Rose is an American Tragedy and Rose has been the architect of his own demise.

It wasn't even three weeks ago that Favre let it be known he was staying retired.  It wasn't three weeks ago I said I didn't believe a word that came out of his mouth on that subject.  Turns out I was right to be skeptical.  Turns out he is going to chase his vendetta against the Packers GM, Ted Thompson and play for the Vi-Queens this season. 

When I got the Green Bay next month, I may have to try and find one of these



I don't really care that he still wants to play football.  I'm not even that bent out of shape that he's wants to play for the Vi-Queen's and (try to) get his revenge for the perceived hurt he suffered at the hands of Ted Thompson.  Because, let's face it, Aaron Rogers has been damn good, will be damn good and outside of the 'Queens there isn't anybody in the NFC Central who will seriously challenge the Packers for a division title this year.  Letting Favre stay away from Green Bay was the right football decision.

No, what irks me no end is the Prima Donna behavior that goes with this crap.  He's just a big ol' baby and the 'Queens are damn fools for playing along with him.  Mark my words, when Favre disappoints and visions of the playoffs disappear down the shit hole, not only will Favre be the goat, but 'Queens coach Brad Childress will be looking for work as well.  He better pray Favre can play.  His future depends on it.

The other night, I was listening to some sports talk show on ESPN, and they had Michael Wilbon on to talk about the un-un-retiring of Brett Favre.  His take on it was priceless to me.  "I don't care."  He then went on to add that, "Favre has no credibility with me about this subject."

He stated that he'd listen to Favre talk about anything else, but with the recurring drama every year, for the past few years of the 'Will I or Won't I?" routine.  I found myself laughing and agreeing.  I don't think Brett really knows what he wants to do.  

I do believe that he doesn't want to deal with The Grind.  Since he wants a trip to the Super Bowl, he's looking at the least, a 19 game season.  Not including pre-season.  That's a grind for a man as grizzled and old (in football years) as he is.  I don't blame him, either.  I'd not want to do that.

I also wouldn't want to take entire teams and fan bases hostage on an annual basis.  Which is essentially what he has been doing the past few years.  First, the Packers, the teary retirement, the mind change, the Drama with the Packers (Again), going to The Jets, retiring again, then this latest fiasco with The Vi-Queens.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that nobody will believe anything regarding Favre and retirement until he is dead.

Memorial Day weekend and let's now take a look at the standings...

Boston and New York are atop the AL East with Tampa Bay surging.  The Detroit Tigers are leading the AL Central with the surprising Kansas City Royals in 2nd.  Well, not surprising to me.  Their manager, Trey Hillman is a good skipper and the team has done a fine job drafting and making a few key signings.  They are building from within and keeping the good players.  This could signal a return to the glory days for the Royals.  And in the AL West, the Texas Rangers are 3 games up in the Angels of multiple designated regions.

The Rangers are doing with good hitting and good pitching.  They could well be for real.  Would be nice for the fans of the Rangers and make for an interesting race with the Angels and the Rally Monkey.  It appears that the most exciting race could be in the AL East where the Blue Jays were sitting pretty for a while.  The only clunker in the division is the perennial also-rans, the Orioles.  I wonder when Oriole fans are going to wake up and stop going to the games.  That's the onliest way that ownership will start putting a good product on the field.

Over in the Senior Circuit, the Phillies Mets and Braves are having some fun fighting it out.  It makes things more exciting because they ALL have the Nats to kick around.  And sad to say that the Nats are one of the worst teams in pro sports...and I don't see that changing anytime soon.  Nice park they play in, though.  Watch out for the Marlins in a season or so.  They are a good young club with lots of star power.  It would be nice if fans in their area gave a damn and went to the games.

The NL Central is solid from top to bottom.  The Cubs would be better if they could hit, and that goes for the Pirates as well.  Great pitching staff that the PIrates have, but they can't hit worth two cents.  Still, they are only 4 games under .500.  And there's the Lastro's living down to their name.  They can't do anything right, it seems.

The Cardinals weren't picked to win anything this season, and thus far have been battling for 1st place in the Central.  They have struggled against their main rival (so far this season), the Brewers and that may be their undoing.  The Beer Makers have improved pitching, improved defense and Ken Macha managaing.  Of course, how the team reacts to and recovers from the loss of SS Weeks for the season will tell a large part of the story from here on out.  LaRusssa is doing it with smoke and mirrors this year, using more rookies this season than he can feel comfortable with.  It remains to be seen whether Troy Glaus ever comes back from his injuries.

And finally in the NL West, the Manny-less Dodgers are running away with a bad division.  The Giants are a couple seasons away from being seriously competitive.  I have no explanations for what happened to both the Rockies and the D-Backs.  Then again, I don't pay much attention to that division.

Wrapping up, Manny Ramirez shows us that "Manny Being Manny" will no longer be something to smile snidely about.  What he did to not only his teammates, but the game is inexcusable.  Dodger fans who were calling for the head and bat of Barry Bonds for being a cheater who cheer for Man-Ram upon his return will show themselves to be the hyporcrites they are.  Because they will.  Which gives tacit approval to the behavior and kicks dirt on the players who ARE clean, who ARE honest and who honor the game by being honorable themselves.

I'm as sick and tired of the steroids blather in baseball as the next guy.  I also wonder why nobody seems to give a damn about the prevelance of steroids suspensions in the NFL (all of which are greeted with a "ho-hum" attitude by both fans and the media) and part of me just wishes it would all go away.  But, until dipshits like Manny and other idjits continue to try and create shortcuts to success, I guess we're stuck with it.

(The less said about that sad sack, Pay-Rod, the better...what a loser he turned out to be...)

And finally, does anyone BUT me find the tricked out red hats for Memorial Day (and I presume the 4th of July) to be just a bit much?  All the teams wearing red hats with Red, White and Blue team insignia's on them?  That's just off to me somehow.  I'd much rather see some form of camouflage uniforms to better honor our soldiers, past and present.  The red hats just smack of gimmickery to me...


And for a completely different view of baseball thane one I share, check out Rick Reilly's column about what he'd do if he were commissioner.  There are some things I don't agree with, but I like the way he writes it all up.

Reports are leaking all over the Interwebs (somebody gimme a towel) that Retired-as-a-Pro-Boxer Brett Favre has scheduled surgery with the Sports World Famous Dr. Andrews on his torn bicep.  The logic here being that no 39 year old RETIRED and GONNA STAY that way QB with a chip on his shoulder would actually go through with this.

I don't know why this is surprising to anyone.  Favre has made a Spring/Summer ritual out of the Will He or Won't He waffle-a-thon.  I think he's been doing this longer than he's been a player in the NFL.  It got tiresome a few years ago.  It showed a few years ago that he was a bit of a Prima Donna.  Considering that he's a Pro Athlete, this isn't at all suprising either.  It just seems like he was different somehow. 

Until he got to believing his own press clippings, that is.  What with John Madden chortling, "Well, he's Brett Favre and Brett Favre is Brett Favre...." as nauseum...it was amusing the first couple of years of the Man Crush...but Jeez Louise, boyz...get a room, play some poker or something.  Just shut up!

So, I'm not surprised, I'm no Saddened and I am in no way one of those Packer fans who insists on hating his guts.  Because I know what the fans of the Vi-Queens are going to have to put up with.  An over the hill, Prima-Donna QB who has a huge chip on his shoulder who will undoubtedly play his best games against the Packers.  For revenge.  Enjoy it, Vi-Queens Nation...it won't be much fun.

It's petty.  But, most athletes are small that way.  Inside.  Little boys playing at being men.

We're a couple of weeks into the season.  A couple of days ago, the Florida Marlins were 11-1 and the Sports World was all ga-ga over them.  "Are they for real?  We'll talk about it after THIS message!" 

The Marlins are a good, young team.  However, they got to 11-1 by beating up on the Washington Nationals.  The epitome of a Really Bad Team.  While is doesn't have quite the same ring as the original, "Washington.  First in Peace, First in War and Last in the National League East" pretty well sums up this baseball team.  So, beating up on them is to be expected.

Fast forward a few days.  The Marlins are now owners of their first losing streak of this young season.  They've dropped two in a row to the not-quite-as abysmal Pirates.  Seems they are having trouble scoring runs.  As in they have only scored 2 in the last two games.  See what happens when you run across a better class of bad team?  It's a long season. 

Another Chicken-Little subject has been the early season explosions of home runs at New Yankee Stadium.  Because they have nothing else to talk about (Except the NFL Draft, it appears), some stat monkey extrapolated it out and came up with the boggling number of 400 plus home runs if things continue at their current pace.

They won't.  It's a long season...

Stat Monkeys talk lots about "small sample sizes" and then trot out stuff like this?

It's a long season.  As Chris Berman (my favorite blow hard on TV) likes to say (with style and gusto and a lot of chutzpah), "That's why they play the game"

I don't get terribly excited about the standings in April.  May, I might look once a week or so.  I finally start paying attention in June.  Mainly because, historically, that's when the Cubs swoon and things start to settle out for the rest of the season.

The serious questions that should be asked now are;

1. Is Wang really in trouble and do the Yankees need to worry?
2. Is the 6.9% drop in attendance a trend or is it attributable to the weather?
3. Is David Ortiz washed up?

Just some random thoughts from early in the season.

The summer of 1976.  I was 12 years old (I can hear the adding machines whirring now) and I had a hero.  He was a lanky, spindly, long haired pitcher for the Detroit Tigers.  His name was Mark "The Bird" Fidrych.

I remember sitting in the den of the neighbor's, watching a Tigers game in May of that year.  The late George Kell was in the broadcast booth (Kell died earlier this year, as a matter of fact), doing color commentary.  I forget who the play-by-play guy was, but I don't suppose it matters much.  What I remember, clear as yesterday, was this gawky guy, running out to the mound, kneeling and smoothing, patting and moving the dirt to suit him.  He then talked to the baseball before he threw it.

If he came along now, the interwebs would have a field day with what an obvious phony this guy was.  Which he wasn't.  He was for real.  He was just unique.  Totally different than anyone else who came before or since. 

Fidrych was a phenomonon.  It is hard to explain what it was like in the era before ESPN, or baseball games on almost every day of the season.  The Game of the Week was just that.  Local TV coverage was pretty well limited to weekends and day games.  20 games of your local team was a lot in most markets, and that certainly was the case in the Detroit area.  Which Ann Arbor wasn't very far from.

I first heard the Trashmen's song, "The Bird is the Word" when Fydrich-mania exploded.  I still think of him when I hear that song.  A book, "Go, Bird, Go!" was penned and released before the season of 1976 was over.  He was viewed with curiosity and not more than a little affection.  He made the Major League mininum that season.  $16,500.  He was, for that one magical season, the biggest thing in Major League Baseball.

Wherever the Tigers went, the night Fydrich was scheduled to pitch, the house was packed.  The Tigers got a lot more TV coverage that season
and his appearences on Monday Night Baseball were the highest in a five year period.  The Bird was more than just a baseball phenomonon, he was a cultural phenomonon as well.  It was a wild and wooly summer for Bird-Mania.

But there's more.  He could pitch.  Flat out, fog 'em in there, pitch.  He had nasty stuff.  He made great hitters look foolish, waving bats around like they were at a badminton game.  All while talking to the baseball, and being his carefree, lovable goofy self.  He wasn't humble, he was an innocent.  And people accepted him at face value.  This wasn't the age where everything good and wonderful was greeted with bored cynicism.  People bought into Fidrych, his eccentricities and loved him for it.  That he was a helluva pitcher was almost (but not quite) beside the point.

Fidrych died today.  The same day as Philedelphia Broadcasting legend, Harry Kalas.  Two men who put smiles on faces just by being who they were.  The world is a little poorer for their passing, was a little better for their precense.  I smile when I think of either one of them.

Except today.  Today, I wipe a tear away.  A tear for another small piece of my childhood slipping away.  A tear for the families of these two fine men, and a tear for the game of baseball.  Which is a little sadder today.

I'll smile tomorrow.

The Bird is gone.  Yet, he'll live on.  For one glorious summer, he achieved immortality.  And was my hero.

Henry Pearson, 25
Courtney Stewart, 20
Nick Adenhart, 22

Three young people are dead.  We only heard of this accident on the National News because of the occupation of Nick Adenhart.  Usually, the names of the other two victims are buried deep in the story if they are mentioned at all.  Such is life in our celebrity obsessed culture. 

I feel horrible for the families of all three victims, and to some some extent, I feel some sympathy for the alleged driver's family of the mini-van that took the lives of these three young people.  I only feel a smoldering anger at the alleged driver, Andrew Thomas Gallo who is also 22.  I also feel some resentment to a society that can acknowledge how dangerous drunk driving is, yet do so little to prevent it.

Consider this; Gallo was allegedly driving with a suspended license from a previous DUI.  He'd already been arrested and convicted once of Drunk Driving.  At present he faces a battery of charges, not the least of which is 2nd Degree Murder charges for the three dead kids.

However, if drunk driving was treated with more seriousness, then perhaps repeat offenders wouldn't have the chance to do things like this.  If Drunk Driving were treated with harsher penalties for the first offense, then just perhaps the rate of drunk driving accidents would be lower than it is.

To me, driving drunk is pretty close to waving a loaded gun with your hand on the trigger in a public place.  The slightest 'OOPS' moment can cause Bad Things To Happen.  Driving Drunk is (mis)guiding a loaded weapon, with little to no control.  Punishment should be harsh.  It should be stiff enough to discourage people from even thinking about it.  Penalties for driving with a suspended or revoked license should be harsh, over the top, and borderline ridiculous.

It appears that the current laws don't do much good.  Just ask the families, friends, co-workers and fans of the deceased.

It's that time of year.  Time for me to act like I know what I'm talking about and throw my pre-season MLB picks out there for the world to see.  I'm no expert, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, and since my Bracket Picks for March Madness were SO AWESOMELY bad, I just can't resist another chance of looking like an idiot.

With that in mind, here we go:

In the National League;

Since the Cubs had the best record in the NL last season, yet proved they truly are Completely Useless By September (CUBS, get it?) by winning as many post season games as the St. Louis Cardinals (who finished 4th in the NL Central) I have little trouble picking them to win the NL Central again this year.  The Brewers lost their pitching studs to free agency, and they still can't field worth a lick so they're not much threat.  The Cardinals are a cypher, bullpen wise and are depending too much on Chris Carpenter returning to his Cy Young form, but could still make some noise.  Having El Hombre in your lineup means you're seldom out of the the game.

In the East, the Mets improved themselves enough to actually hang on to win those games they should've last year.  The Braves have improved their pitching, but not enough.  The Marlins are young, but they always are and the Nationals are comfortably awful like the Senators of yore were.  The Phillies won't repeat as the Champs of the East, but could very well take the Wild Card.

The West is the Dodgers to lose.  Everyone else is either lousy or lacking depth.  Manny is a huge difference maker in that division.

So, to summarize:

NL East: NY Mets
NL Central: Chicago Cubs
NL West: LA Dodgers
NL Wildcard: Philly Phillies

And in the Jr. Circuit....

The AL East is a dog fight, without Michael Vick or his scummy buddies.  The Yankees have the best team money can buy, but they are old.  They also have A-Rod, which is both a blessing and a curse.  Joe Girardi isn't skilled enough to work with the assorted egos to bring out the best in these Yankees.  The Red Sox are the Red Sox and making up for years of bad ownership and the attendant bad decisions that went along with that.  And the Rays appeared to have gotten better in the off-season.  

The AL Central is a mish-mash.  The Royals are vastly improved, the Twins are the Twins and the White Sox are solid.  The Tigers are a mess, it seems.    Three years removed from the WS and ownership is looking for a reason to give Leyland the boot.  But the Indians seem to be the Pick of the Division.    The Royals could make things interesting, but I think they are still a year or two away.

And the AL West appears to the Angels of Anaheim's to lose.  And then they'll bow out after the first round of the playoffs, just like clockwork...and enjoy Junior of his farewell tour.  Even if he hasn't said so, the end is nigh on a terrific career.

So, to recap:

AL East: Tampa Bay
AL Central: The Tribe
AL West: Angels of a couple of municipalities in Southern CA
AL Wildcard: BoSox

We'll revisit this at the end of the seaon and see how much I screwed this up.  Should be a fun year.

I can tell by little things.  The days are getting a little longer, there are more days per week where I can actually ride a motorcycle to and from work and not freeze in place.  And the biggie today?

I saw on my very own, personalized MyYahoo page...the upcoming schedule for Spring Training Baseball games for the St. Louis Cardinals!

BASEBALL SEASON is fast approaching!

Bring it on!

I stumbled across something interesting this morning whilst reading about the Mizzou bastketball game I went to yesterday with a couple of friends.  That's the ESPN Sports Travel Passport.  You can see mine here (if you want to, that is).

It's a neat idea for the sports junkie, yet I find it fairly limiting.  It only goes back to 2006, for example.  So, many of the games and events Elaine and I have been to aren't able to be listed.  Things like the 13-10 last minute Packer victory at Lambeau Field in the waning seconds of the game with a temp near 20 and an Alberta Clipper making the cold even worse.  That happened in 2004.  Can't add that event.  Or that game at Lambeau the previous year.  Or that game at SBC Park (which was Pacific Bell Park, and is now AT&T Park) because it was in 2004,  Games I attended in the 90's and Farout Field can't be included...or my first MLB game at the sorely missed Tiger Stadium in Detroit in 1977.  Heck, there's no way to even add that I've been to that 'Venue.'

And when did 'Venue' become the word du jour for stadium/ballpark?  It's as pretentious as the Super Bowl and the Roman Numerals.  Feh!

Anyway, it's a neat idea yet it seems lacking execution.  As a final insult, I can't list ANY of the games I've been to at Busch Stadium because they don't have the EVENTS listed for any of the years.  Except an April 10th game in 2006.  Ridiculous...

I am a baseball fan of the highest order.  Most times, if there's a ball game on TV, I'll be watching.  Doesn't matter who plays, just want to watch the game.  Heck, I even watch the Cubs on occasion (don't root for them though...that would be bad).

I'm also a huge Green Bay Packer fan.  Neither of these admissions should come as a surprise to long time readers of this here LJ...

The problem, you ask?  What to do on Sunday Night!!!

Y'see, the New York Yankees play their last game EVER at Yankee Stadium Sunday night and the game is on ESPN.  The Packers, with new QB Aaron Rodgers play 'Merica's Team (yarite), the Dallas Cowpokes on NBC at the same time.

What's a man to do?  I don't want to spend the whole night channel flippin' as that wears your average couch potato out...but WAUGH!!!!

I am so confused...