Dodger Fans Are Weak

There's some lunacy going on in SoCal at the moment that the Frappe nation needs to be aware of.

Dodger fans have clearly lost their mind.  Whether calling in to sports talk radio, talking in the streets, or being interviewed on TV, they are distributing......no other way to describe it........crazy talk.

The craziness begins after some form of the question "If you make it to the World Series, would you rather play the New York Yankees or the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim?

About 1% (data is unscientific) of the fans answer with "I'd love to play the Angels so we can prove who the true L.A. team is."  Ok, we can all get with that answer.

The problem comes with the prevailing majority of the responses:

"I hope we play the Yankees for the history of it." Really?  The Dodgers and Yankees have matched up in the Series before. A Freeway Series would be true history, BECAUSE IT HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE.

"I hope we play the Yankees so Joe Torre can try to beat his former team." 

Zzzzzzzzzzz

"It's ok if we play against the Angels because I follow both teams." That's like being married and having a girlfriend.  You're really not genuinely invested in either, just selfishly taking what is most attractive to you at the time.  And no, it's not ok to have a "National League Team" and an "American League Team".

The only reason to not root for a Dodgers v. Angels World Series if you are a SoCal is fear.  Fear that if it were to happen that it would be the disappointing snoozefest that the 2000 Freeway World Series was between the Yankees and Mets.

I Was Wrong About Soccer

I hear the Intrinsicites out there screaming, "No!, Tell me it's not true!"

I know a vast number of you have hung on every phrase I've uttered about soccer over the years. Things like "Soccer is the vampire sport that is sucking the lifeblood out of American sports", "Soccer sucks", and "There's more action in a chess match".

But I've seen the light. I get it. Soccer is action packed. Soccer has many ways to score. Soccer players are very skilled.

The way I discovered this was while accidentally watching it tonight on ESPN.

Soccer is an awesome sport if you can condense all the highlights of a game into one minute.

This is me admitting I was wrong.

Attn Bud Selig: You suck!

Game 3 of the NLDS in Colorado has been postponed today, October 10, because of snow and ice. There is no one to blame but one - Bud Selig.

No, Selig does not control the weather. But he does have a major role in setting up the schedule. This season ended late because of one of his pet projects, the World Baseball Classic, took place in the spring. On top of that, the playoffs started at least a day later than normal, because of another of his pet projects - bending over backwards to make Fox television happy.

Mr. Selig, this is ridiculous. If playing the games on days that Fox doesn't prefer - or scheduling games to take place before midnight eastern time - means less money in television revenue, THEN SO BE IT. This is a summer sport, and the playoffs are meant for early October. This year we are guaranteed to have at least one World Series game in November. Who knows what that will be like if the Rockies go all the way this year? We are very lucky that two west coast teams appear to be headed to the next round - and that the northeast is not experiencing the same weather as the Rocky Mountains are currently.

Our request is simple, Mr. Selig - think about the fans and the betterment of the game. Not the owners' pocketbooks.

Lebron Getting Dunked On Video

All the hype over Lebron James getting dunked on by an unknown college player and the subsequent confiscation of video tape by Storm Troopers Nike officials seems to be misplaced.

This video by a pirate on eBaum's World left me wondering "Is that it?"  It was basically a fly by and not worthy of taking film away from anyone at all.

I thought it would be a mugging like this.

Lance Armstrong Is Gaining

I'm not going to sit here and pretend I'm some sort of cycling enthusiast.  I'm not.  I don't even understand cycling, aside from the fact that you are supposed to ride fast and that the cycling team is crucial for any one rider's success.  Even so, I'm keeping my eye on the Tour de France this year.  Why?  Because Lance Armstrong is back.

In case you didn't know, Armstrong retired from competitive cycling after winning his 7th consecutive tour in 2005 only to return earlier this year.  Now at the age of 37, not many people are expecting Armstrong to do very much and yet Armstrong is already showing he is here to be competitive.  On day 3 of this race, Lance moved up from 10th to 3rd, proving that his age and his experience might actually be his advantage.  With heavy winds yesterday plaguing the group, Armstrong anticipated the conditions and hitched a ride with the leaders allowing him to leap frog the rest of the competition. 

While it is still much too early in the race to say that this will make an overall difference, it is impressive to see that Lance Armstrong can still be competitive.  So until July 26th, I'll be periodically flipping the channel over to Versus and staring blankly as I try to figure out what is going on out there.  On second thought, I'll just watch the Sportscenter highlights.

******Update*****
Lance Armstrong has pulled into second place thanks to his team's victory in Tuesday's time trial.  Had his team beat team Saxo by one more second, Armstrong would be wearing the yellow jersey tomorrow. 

Sports Douche of the Week

Arland Bruce III, whose nickname is "Mr. Mature," was fined this past week by the CFL for his excessive touchdown celebration which paid homage to the King of Pop.  I know that you're probably expecting a crotch-grab, or a moonwalk, or maybe even a thriller-zombie move.  I mean, that is what would make most sense.  Instead, Bruce passed up all those and went for the most idiotic tribute you can think of.

I guess someone forgot to tell him tributes are usually oriented to the life of the person and not their current state of death.  When asked after the game why he removed his pads, Bruce replied, "I was supposed to be in a casket.  They wouldn't fit." 

Arland Bruce III, if that is your real name, you are a douche.

Viewer Feedback

If you don't live in New England, then you probably don't remember who Jerry Remy is. He's the 1970's ballplayer who has served as the color commentator for the Boston Red Sox television network for over a decade. Beloved by Sox fans, Remy has been out for the 2009 season as he battles lung cancer.

To fill the hole in the broadcast booth, the New England Sports Network (NESN) has used several guest announcers, but has recently settled on a two man rotation consisting of Dennis Eckersley and Dave Roberts. This blog is my own personal feedback on their performances thus far, and a chance for fellow watchers to chime in.

We'll start with the good: Eckersley is surprisingly awesome to listen to. Let's start with his voice: Eck has a certain country twang that is very unique. He doesn't sound southern, not exactly midwestern, he just talks in a way that I can't say I've ever heard anyone talk before. His Wikipedia entry tells me he was born and raised in California, which thoroughly befuddles me. He sounds very relaxed at all times, perhaps to a fault, as he let a four letter word slip out on the air last month. Eck comments on the game as you would expect a former pitcher to. He discusses pitch selection very frequently. He also introduces the viewer to lots of baseball slang that I had never heard before. I suspect he is making many of these terms up as he goes, but it's entertaining nonetheless.

And now for the bad. Dave Roberts is another beloved figure in Red Sox history: his stolen base in the 2004 ALCS is often credited as the cataclysmic play of that history-changing series. And him taking the broadcast booth seemed a natural way for Sox fans to better get to know him, since Roberts only played for the Sox for a partial season. But my advice to Roberts is simple: quit while you're ahead. Roberts has a relatively boring voice, which he can't do much about. But the real problem is that I have yet to hear him add a single interesting thing to the broadcast. He regularly compliments ballplayers for being "great," and he loves to describe the obvious. Over the weekend, he explained why during a very hot day game in Atlanta, Kevin Youkilis was rubbing a cold towel over his head in the dugout. (I'm not exaggerating, he went into great detail about how a cold towel can refresh you and rejuvenate you between innings.)

So there you have it, the good and the bad. I think color commentators in baseball have one of the most tricky jobs. There are so many that I cannot stand. My hope is that if/when Jerry Remy returns to his post, that Eckersley will get some future opportunities somewhere to keep calling games.

Shaq To Cavaliers Is Reality

Shaquille O'Neal, The Big Nomad, is picking up his tent and moving again.

A long rumored deal between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Phoenix Suns happened right before the draft when the Cavs traded Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, a second round draft pick, and cold hard cash for O'Neal who has one year left on his current contract.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, the regular season champs, were shock and awed when they were unceremoniously run out of the playoffs by the Orlando Magic, surprising just about everyone in America that cared.

Here's what this trade means though:

The Suns get rid of a bloated contract (no, that's not a reference to Shaq), get some marginal players, and most importantly get a draft pick, and cash which is king in this economy.

Shaq never did fit into the Suns style of run and gun basketball.  It's doubtful that Wallace or Pavlovic will ever don a Suns uniform, since they (Suns) are in payroll trimming mode. 

The Cavs' backs are against the wall after planning their victory parade that never came to fruition.  Their Coach Of The Year winning coach was rumored to be under the gun, Lebron James has one year left before he can become a free agent, and they are forced to force a championship season. Lebron will be pursued by every team in the league except for the Clippers and Grizzlies.

They either need a championship before Lebron bails, or they need a championship in hopes of convincing James to stay.  Either way, they have to have a championship.  And this time, no one is going to get all giddy just because they are doing well during the regular season.

The Suns are fortunate that they could wave their hand in front of the Cavs and state "You will take Shaq off our hands" and have it work.  Good thing Cavs GM Danny Ferry and Suns GM Steve Kerr played together back in the day.  It's sad that Kerr worked him like that.

The real loser in this deal is the public, NBA fans or not, who will be subjected to "buddy marketing" advertisements and random dance offs like the one pictured.

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