Archive for July 3rd, 2006
Continue Reading July 3rd, 2006
Here’s a quick look at our thoughts over the last twelve minutes:
:00 - “Yeah! This Spider-Man website is awesome! Go Spidey!”
1:00 - “Yeah! I’m going to make some hard boiled eggs!”
2:00 - “Yeah! I’ve successfully taken the pan out of the cupboard, which allows me the means to begin the egg boiling process!”
3:00 - “Yeah! The water is in the pan now!”
4:00 - “Yeah! Now it’s time to turn on the gas on the stove!”
5:00 - “Yeah! I did it! Time to put the eggs in!”
6:00 - “Yeah! Half hour to euphoria!”
7:00 - “Yeah!”
8:00 - “Oh yeah!”
9:00 - “Yeah! Internet time!
10:00 - “Yeah! Ben Wallace is signing with the Bulls!”
11:00 - “Yeah! Go Cavs - your new Central Division champs!!!”
12:00 - “Yeah…the Bulls…they’re in the Central, too. Hm.”
There are many things to ponder here, one of which is why it took so freaking long for us to get out a pan, fill it with water, and put eggs in it. Maybe it’s time we reevaluate things - spend less time self-congratulating over trivial things and more time trying out non-trivial things.
One thing we’re sure of - the Pistons as you knew them are finished. That team was the definition of “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. They’re also not getting anything back for him, which is Boozerful, particularly since they’re capped out.
Another thing we’re positive on - the Cavaliers’ breakout year is 2006-2007. They’re gonna be riding high on the momentum of their playoff debut, and what’s sure to be a preseason full of “LeBron for MVP” predictions. This regular season is going to be one where they understand what they’re playing for, and that’s homecourt advantage.
One last thing - the Bulls just got even tougher defensively, especially if you consider Big Ben is going to be playing with a “the Pistons pissed me off in some manner” type of shoulder chip. (The 4 years/$52M he’s getting in Chicago is only $4M more than Detroit was offering - guess there were other things working here, huh?)
This is a team that already played with unreal intensity. Somebody teach Tyson Chandler a jump-hook, btw - otherwise that frontline is both the most expensive and the most offensively inept duo in the NBA.
Blog a Bull is pleased. All other involved parties are holidayishly silent as of now.
Continue Reading July 3rd, 2006
We’re ducking out a half hour early today — which, mind you, is about three days later than just about everyone we know ducked out of their jobs — because tonight, of course, is the big Deadspin outing at RFK Stadium, and we have to make sure our tuxedo is back from the dry cleaners.
Fortunately, we’re taking tomorrow off, which means tonight should be a late one. Shockingly enough, for a Monday night Nationals-Marlins game, there are still tickets available. (Our section is Section 532; obviously, the upper deck’s going to be empty, so you can just walk over to our area if you have tickets from somewhere else.)
But yeah. Should be fun. We hope we’re alive to tell you about it come Wednesday. Have a safe July 4, all.
Spend Your Fourth With Us [Deadspin]
Continue Reading July 3rd, 2006
We’re featuring a new feature here at YAYsports! called the Weekend Teabag (just like the title of the post). It’s a sort of roundup feature that talks about various games/minutiae/etc./words/et al./pictures/harassment about the weekend that was in Major League Baseball. Think of it like a teabag—you just sort of dip it in, and eventually the tea comes out and flavors your water. And then you have tea to drink.
☻ Garrett Anderson of the LA Angels and Manny Ramirez of the Red Sox both got their 2000th hit on Saturday, becoming only the 3rd duo ever to do so in Major League history. Interestingly, however, was the fact that it took Anderson 72 fewer games to accomplish the feat. Also interestingly, Pallisa is a district in eastern Uganda that is named after its “chief town.”
☻ Speaking of the Red Sox, they set the Major League record for consecutive games without an error when they played their 17th straight errorless game Friday night against the Marlins. We can relate considering we once typed 19 straight posts without making an error. Although, a little bit of the glory was lost when we realized that we had accidentally been typing the entire time on a French keyboard, and it ended up just being sheer luck because we don’t talk Frenchspeak except for “crepes”. Nonetheless, the record still stands till this day.
☻ Gary Matthews Jr. That is all.
☻ Didn’t the Mets, the National League’s “best” team, just lose 5 out of 6 to the Red Sox and Yankees, two teams that are neither the first nor second best team in their League? Hmm…
☻ The baseball world is abuzz with Minnesota Twins fireballing youngster Francisco Liriano’s start of 9-1 with a 1.99 ERA. However, not to be a wet blanket here, but that’s not as good as 10-0 with a 1.98 ERA. It’s just not.
☻ Speaking of the Twinkies, they have won 10 games in a row, and 20 of their last 22. And in that time they have gained a grand total of 1.5 games on the Detroit Tigers. Yikes.
Well, that wraps up this session. Thank you for joining us on our first teabag. We hoped you enjoyed it as much as we did, and we look forward to teabagging you next week.
Continue Reading July 3rd, 2006
We have a hard time working ourselves up about the selections for the All-Star Game, mainly because — “this time it counts!” aside — the game has often lost interest by the fourth inning or so. We would love to fall into a it ain’t what it used to be party line on the All-Star Game, because we do remember enjoying it a lot more when we were kids. But we think that was for the same reason we loved shiny objects and open flame; we were just a lot easier to impress when we were eight.
So yeah: The All-Star game will be an overdone event that we’ll watch if just because it’s the only sporting event on over a three-day stretch, and our lives are empty enough that three days without sports sends us into a vat of despair and longing for diversion. But as for the game itself, or the “snubs” — we can’t find a single All-Star game story that doesn’t mention the word “snubs,” by the way — we just can’t summon up much righteous indignation.
We do, however, love that the Kansas City Royals’ Mark Redman is on the team. Far be it from us to make fun of a team that just took two out of three from our Birds at Busch, but Mark Redman has to take this year’s Lance Carter award. We absolutely cannot wait to see him pitch; think we can eliminate the middle man and just have him throw the Home Run Derby? We didn’t mean to pile on by showing a picture of Redman after someone’s hit a homer off him, but, honestly, we had a difficult time finding one that didn’t.
All-Star Selections [Baseball Musings]
Continue Reading July 3rd, 2006
The Nuggets weren’t finished after giving Melo his inevitable max contract extension, as they spent the weekend giving a six-year, $60M deal to bench player Nene.
Yeah, if Angry Kenyon Martin gets traded as assumed, then Nene is the starting power forward, albeit one that’s coming off ACL surgery. Apparently that’s not a big deal anymore now that we have microfracture surgeries.
Nene last season played only 3 minutes after tearing his right anterior cruciate ligament in the Nov. 1 opener against the San Antonio Spurs and missing the rest of the season. [Nuggets coach George] Karl said the Nuggets would “have a party” if Nene can play 2,000 minutes next season.
“He’s particularly grateful to Stan Kroenke. He stood by him after his injury,” [Nene agent Dan] Fegan said of Nene, who has averaged 10.7 points and 6.2 rebounds in four seasons.
We’re betting George’s Nene party doesn’t happen, although it’s going to have nothing to do with injuries. No, it’ll have everything to do with Nene not being very good.
Nene is one of those guys who was supposed to develop into a powerhouse big man - he’s the type that people are always hyping up his potential, even after four years and four average seasons. (Yes, we count last year’s 3-minute showcase, simply to make our point sound better.)
He is what he is - an average big man off the bench, and now he’s being paid like an upper echelon starter. Says a lot about the state of the big man in today’s NBA, eh? (See: Dampier, Erick and Foyle, Adonal and Chandler, Tyson and Dalembert, Samuel and soon to be Gooden, Drew unfortunately.)
What do we really care though, right? So Denver brings back the exact same team as last year - the one that struggled through the regular season and got embarrassed in the NBA PLAYOFFS. NBA PLAYOFFS in big letters for DRAMATIC TENSION.
(Seriously - are ACL’s not a big deal anymore? We’re not a doctor after that incident in late 03, so we haven’t kept up on such things.)
Continue Reading July 3rd, 2006
Notes from a day in baseball:
• 1. A Bronx Tale. One can almost hear the tiny squeal of air escaping from Mr. Met’s enormous, balloon-like head. Alex Rodriguez led the Yankees to a 16-7 demolition of their crosstown rival with a grand slam and seven RBIs on Sunday. It still left the Subway Series tied overall at 3-3, but how sweet is an effort like that on the final day of interleague play? The Mets are 10 up in the NL East, but have lost five of six. And the Yankees’ win gave the AL a 154-98 record against the NL this season, proving, well, something we’re sure. Rodriguez, who earlier in the day made his league’s All-Star roster for the 10th time, also had a three-run homer. Meanwhile, the Mets were receiving this news. Oy.
• 2. Vote For Francisco. Great things are happening in Minneapolis these days; too bad it’s mostly all indoors, where God (a huge baseball fan, we hear) can’t see it. When are the Twins getting that new outdoor stadium again? Anyhoo, even when Joe Mauer gets the day off (raccoon bite*), the Twins break out the whackin’ sticks and win their 10th straight (and 20th of 22), 8-0 over the Brewers. Francisco Liriano (9-1) struck out 12 over eight innings for the win. (He didn’t make the All-Star roster, by the way.)
• 3. Being There. It’s the unsung streak of the decade; better in some ways than DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak, mainly because Orlando Cabrera is still alive and we can ask him questions about it. On Sunday Cabrera reached base safely in his 59th straight game — the longest “gettin’ it done” streak since 1960 — in the Angels’ 4-0 win over the Dodgers. Cabrera is chasing Ted Williams’ major league record of 84 games.
• 4. Gonna Fly Now. The Phillies have had a rough couple of weeks. But on Sunday, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley each had a home run and Bobby Abreu had four RBI to lead an 11-6 win over the Blue Jays. Philadelphia went 2-7 on its road trip, which is still better than reliever Brett Myers fared.
• 5. Red Sox File Appeal To Extend Interleague Play. Between the Twins and Red Sox, the NL had no chance. The AL teams combined for a 32-4 record against the rival league, with the Stockings holding up their end with a 16-2 mark. David Ortiz marked the end of the slaughter for this year with his third home run in two days in a 4-3 win over Florida.
* = May not be accurate.
