playoffs?!!?!

uncle dave is on vacation so ill be doing this thing solo for a few days.

just wanted to point out that in my mock draft i got only 2 right. the first and the last. ironic.

i feel i must explain, defend, justify my baseball picks from a few weeks ago. here goes.
first off, the al east: i picked the sox to win, no explanation needed. they are simply the best team in the league. this team is deeper than my obsession for celeb reality shows. their best hitter (papi) and their best pitcher (dice-k) go down and they dont miss a beat. rotation and bullpen is rock solid, proven, experienced big game guys. good mix of youth as well with lester, paps, delcarmen, masterson. lineup is a cohesive bunch, fast at top( jacoby, pedroia), power in middle and high on base at the end(youk, lowell,and crisp). francona is one of the best leaders out there. remember manny and youk got into a scuffle. you dont seem to hear about it too much. beckett is struggling. its quiet as can be. it seems the whole team is really steady and always stable .
we move to the central where i picked the tiggers. it actually looks like the twinkies are making a go at it with their recent 9 gamer but im still confident det will be the one on top at the end. obviously they have talent. but also bec they have jimmy leyland. he kept these guys believing when they could have easily folded. who knows why they sucked the first half but at the halfway point (81 games) they are actually over .500(41- 40). the production was going to come it was just a matter of time and when it did come would it have been too late. now seems like a perfect time. guys like cabrera verlander renteria c-grand are all stepping it up a notch or two and seem to be only getting better. combine this with the young'ns they brought in to infuse some energy and they are starting to form a strong team. kids like raburn, galaraga, bonine are contributing to a level that without them its ugly to imagine where this team would be had they not stepped in. zumaya and rodney are back from injury to bolster a pretty solid, flamethrowin pen.
chi is actually intriguing bec they have led the div most of the way and the offense still hasnt got under way. konerko, swish, and thome have been horrible. each one in the low 200's. yet they are still significantly above .500. the pitching has been the surprise. buhrle, danks, gavin floyd, contreras, and vazquez are performing as one of the better starting units in the mlb. combine that with another surprise carlos quentin, the stillmatic jermaine dye, the underrated joe crede and you got yourself a decent team. if only the other guys would play like they have in the past we might be talking about he best team in baseball. ozzie is no wizard, he wields a different type of stick. the most fiery guy in chicago this side of the north side. he wont let his team drop off that much. i think you can expect the underperforming veterans to pick it up and the "surprises" to fade a bit. this translates into a mediocre to good second half. they will be right there at the finish line but ultimately succumb to the tigers by a finger(perhaps a middle one).
in the west: its the angels wire to wire. simple as that.
the wild card: i went with the yankees. as much as people are sick of this team or are at least sick of them getting predicted to do this and that every year they still have what it takes. say what you may, but the components will always be there, the only question remains is can they do it. i say yes and i will give you one word to clear it all up for you. you ready? its coming.... right now........JOBA!!.
it sounds crazy but this guy is a top of rotation guy by the time he made his 5th start. tell me how many 21 year old guys have exceeded expectations like that in the last 10 years. guys like homer bailey, phil hughes, mike pelfrey (9th overall-2005) still might be good one day but generally these things take time to come together. joba came up last year and dominasted out the bullpen. started this year and stayed just as strong, then shifted to a spot in the cycle and all he does is quality. you just dont see those 2 and 1/3 innings - 7 er type of games. his worst start would be a like a 4 and 2/3 with 2 er and five walks. fastball hits 99-100. slider is shiznasty. throw in a decent curve and when he is dealing strikes he cant be touched. granted his walks are up, he is struggling to get his secondary pitches over for strikes yet he is still fighting out of jams and getting it done. picture this : in september the yanks could potentially roll out a rotation of wang, joba, pettitte, a rejuvenated moose, and either kennedy or hughes, whichever makes more strides. not half bad. that to me will be the difference in making a run or not. they will have superior starting pitching than their wild card competitors, most likely the rays, oak, and det/chi. the offense isnt half bad either and they have a guy named mo who can close out a big game or two late in the season. troy percival just doesnt do it for me. the rays talent is astounding, and their youth is a breath of fresh air but in september, you need some experience and been there done that type of mentality. i can just see it now, its mid sep and the rays are in a must win against a good team. upton uses his speed and runs down a gapper but mishandles it and a run scores. longoria in the biggest game of his life makes a rare crucial throwing error. hinske strikes out in a big spot. this can happen to any team but my point is the talent they do have like pena crawford upton longoria have never even sniffed october. and the veteran guys that have played in big games are frankly not that good( hinske, cliff floyd, percival, bartlett). i dont like that balance.

nl east: at this point last year the mets, pads, and brewers were leading their respective division. as it turned out none of them went on to win their division(phi, chi, ari). this year i stayed with all three current div leaders to hold on for dear life. it just so happens to be the exact same teams as last year. this bothers me a little, considering the fact that it doesnt happen often( that the same 3 teams win their respective division 2 years in a row, in case you are not following). im too lazy to do the research but feel free to chime in. anyway, the phillies( nl east) have the strongest lineup in the league, and they play in a new york backyard. i was trying to remember the last time one team had 3 straight mvp's with all different guys. off the top of my head i came up with the 1921-23 st louis browns. joking ,again too lazy. but it happens this year (howard-06,rollins last year) with chase the "base" utley taking home the award( and then presumably putting it on his mantle or leaving it in a box in the garage). after hamels theres not much to waste paper on, but when you score 13 a night you have a shot at outscoring the other guy. lidge is back like britney on how i met your mother. manuel might be the worst manager in the game but he doesnt get to bat. i dont foresee any revenge of the mets taking place although they will play better in the second half. the braves sadly, are a forlorn bunch. they are ravaged with injuries. they have a manager who farts foul-line chalk. the rotation is more top heavy than dolly parton. too many roadblocks to overcome. the marlins crush the ball. they all hit homers, but they dont all play defense, and they dont all close out games too well either. and they have a triple-a 3rd base coach as a manager.

nl central: the baby bears are extremely balanced. right now it looks like they are the frontrunners in the nl. it all starts with the big z. zambrano is the prototypical ace. he is a stopper. goes out and eats innings, strikes out a bunch, and wins. dempster is a total surprise. he has been one of the best number 2s in the majors. lilly has been solid, and the back end gets nice production most of the time with marquis, gallagher. they will usually keep you in the game. the lineup is impressive. when healthy they have soriano and theriot, thats power, crazy speed, and solid on base percentage. then opposing pitchers have to face(in no particular order) d-lee, aramis, edmonds(what the hell happened in sd?), fukodome(2nd best rookie in the nl), and geovany soto( the best rookie in the nl). derosa, reed johnson, mike fontenot are better roleplayers than the average team has. i see this team in tandems. soriano and theriot at the top. dlee and aramis in the middle. z and dempster 1-2 in the rotation. but the best tandem they have is marmol and k-wood. the tandem at the tail. scary in the late innings. throw in howry, leiber and lefty cotts, its of the strongest out there. they also have a manager (sweet lou- reds) who has won before and wont let his guys play soft. its also 100 yrs since their last one so why not. have a ball. go crazy.

nl west: this is like the "do i really have to pick one"? division. i seriously wanted to skip this div bec they all suck save for a nice start by the dbacks. other than that its embarrassing. hurdle went from a genius to just a guy with a really big, really red head. the giants are playing to fill out the back of their cards. the dodgers prove that it was jeter all along and not anything torre ever did. the pads are thinking of inserting the chicken in the cleanup spot. lastly the dbacks. talent wise, definitely way above average. maturity wise, definitely way below average. webb and haren are winning games but micah should be playing left and randy shouldnt be playing at all (side note: the guys' face looks worse than seals'). c young, drew, upton, jackson, reynolds are all studs, but it seems they all need to be playing well at the same time to win games. its hard to rip these guys for underperforming bec their age tells you they are not supposed to be that good anyway (you can argue that not one regular is in their prime, either past it or before it). but we saw last year that they have something. maybe its still too much of a grind. maybe its the chemistry. maybe its the manager. whatever it is they should be running away with this thing and right now theyre not. with that said theyll be able to get 88ish wins and that will be enough to win the left coast.

the wc: it will be mayhem throughout wisconsin when the beloved brewers capture a spot in playoffs. the beer and cheese will flow in the wild card parade that will shift from town to town and last longer than the actual playoffs regardless of what the brewers do in the postseason. it will be one big drunken, mustached, flannel party. maybe im going overboard but whos still reading at this point. seriously though, with sheets, suppan and sabathia at the top they are primed for a run. and yes trading for cc is part of the equation in this prediction. they have the farm talent to pull it off and they are going to want it bad. there are legit very good, very underestimated players on this team. other teams should fear braun and fielder. surrounding them are weeks(coming into his own), cameron (still doing it post-steroids and post collision), russell branyan, cory hart, jj hardy, and billy hall (4 of the best baseball names to play on one team). the bullpen gets the job done. ned yost (another great name) is a baseball man. they will find a way to beat out the cards for the final spot and trigger the happiest days in the history of the great state of wisconson.

jimmy sports

making a mockery of the draft

1 its all roses in chitown 2 miami spreads the mayo outright 3 beasley drops to minny 4 nabs best big brook. 5 conley sucks, bayless is the new mem pg 6 new gm donnie takes best bet gordon 7 clips clip longhorn augustin 8 milwaukee is the new city of love 9 with bobcats top choices off the board they take stopper westbrook. 10 the italian stallion will feel at home in northern jersey 11 larry bird takes the next larry bird in wvu alum j-alex 12 kings go with anthony randolph "bec he might be good one day" 13 everyone expects blazers to move from this pick and they will bec this is the worst spot in the draft, if not ill go with deandre jordan here 14 koufos is a good fit with gs 15 Alexis Ajinca sounds good 16 philly fans will boo the roy hibbert selection 17 donte green falls into indys lap 18 Marreese Speights goes to the nations cap 19 the other lopez takes Varejaos' spot and hairdo 20 Darrell Arthur gets to go to cha and never get min under larry brown 21 jj hickson is a beast jayz will love him 22 if both espn. com and si.com have the same guy here i have no choice Courtney Lee it is 23 at this point no one cares anymore so im done

jimmy sports

a must see

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy2ilLSlmS0&feature=related

"donnie raceball"

recently don imus has reappeared in the news. supposedly he said something racist again. when told that pacman has been arrested six times, he asked what color is he? when the other guy said he is indeed african-american imus replied "There you go. Now we know". i can see how one might perceive that as racist, but i believe imus when he says he didn't intend for it to mean what you think it means. he claims he meant to say now he knows why he had been arrested so many times. because he is black. here is the exact quote from the explanation: "What people should be outraged about is that they arrest blacks for no reason," Imus said Tuesday. "I mean, there's no reason to arrest this kid six times. Maybe he did something once, but everyone does something once."
whoa, slow down there cowboy. you know at first that actually sounds selfless and noble. but after a little playback i realized this dude is going a little overboard in his attempt to convince the american public that he is a peace loving hippie.
the comments last year about the rutgers womens bball team were indeed atrocious. soon after, the debates flew. is he a racist or not? to be canned or not to be canned? whatever you believe, the i-man started campaigning that he truly loves everyone. he met with all the self proclaimed black "leaders". said all the right things, and when he finally got a new show, he even hired a black producer and two black co-hosts (1 male and 1 female). that is all well and good but something sounds fishy about this whole thing. when i read his quote again it hit me, this guy is becoming the white, skinny version of al sharpton. fat al totally turned him around.
to say you are not a racist, fine. to say you love all people, fine, to specifically build a diverse cast on your show, fine. but to say that pacman didnt deserve to be arrested all six , that it must be police racial profiling or that he probably didnt do anything five of the times and he got detained strictly bec of his color is mad. thers no doubt racial profiling exists but to make a loose statement to that degree without specific knowledge of all the arrests and charges is unfair, unmerited, and excessive. we've heard this before, from guys like jesse jackson and fat al. but now it sounds like he is going out of his way to bash anyone that might look at a black person the wrong way. he doesnt even know half the things this kid did. he didnt even know who pacman was, for heavens sake, until ten seconds prior to that statement. frankly, i'm offended. as an american im offended. as a believer in the justice sysytem and law and order im offended. a punk is a punk no matter what color. everyone knows that.

just ask jerry jones.

jimmy sports

The Day, The Days After, and The Days After That

It all started with a bang. Then came the crying and the yelling. The scene was ugly. It was the most wicked thing I’ve ever seen. The skies were a shade too gray. The dark clouds formed overhead as the wind and rain picked up. Little boys were sprinting home trying to avoid dust and wrappers blowing in the gusts. Grown men were whimpering, while fumbling for their cell phones. Off in the distance, the neighborhood dogs were barking too loudly. Women shrieked as they hurriedly gathered up their babies to safety. Sirens blared, horns honked. Cops tried to gain control, but it was complete chaos.

Me? I was in complete shock. More surreal than fear. It was like someone taxidermied me. My eyes were locked in a lost stare and my jaw dropped to my belt buckle. It was like a car bomb had just detonated right in front of me, only it wasn’t. I was like Hillary when she was told she lost.

The hairs on the back of my neck were standing at attention. I thought it was the apocalypse. It was by far the worst day in the history of the world. The date was 10/20/2004. The day the Yankees lost game seven of the ‘04 ALCS.

Now, I don’t know if all of that actually happened but that’s how I remember it. That’s how it goes down in my nightmares. I have never spoken of this day until now. My therapists want to know why I drink and why I don’t get along with anybody, well, this is why. People just don’t recover from this type of trauma. The agony is unbearable.

I sometimes think of the days when I used to wear button-down shirts and shave everyday. The days when I had a job, when I had friends, and a sense of humor. Sadly, those days are long over. Now I spent most days on the couch watching Yankee highlights of the ‘98 season over and over. I’m in a deep depression that I can’t get out of. It’s worse than quicksand. At least quicksand doesn’t smell like cheetos. I drink day and night and have alienated my entire family. My mom won’t even let me come up from the basement. Now I can’t laugh at anything, not even fat kids. My eyes are permanently red and puffy from all the sobbing. I must have used more tissues in the last four years than Jenna Jamison’s biggest fan.

I’m helpless. I’m stale. I’m done. I even tried to commit suicide by wearing a t-shirt that says “Fuck the Sox” to Fenway. No death, only a face full of middle fingers and one jab to the crotch by a nine-year old (quite unexpected).

To my credit, I have tried to get my head above water. I’ve been to psychologists, consulted with life coaches, all to no avail. I went to rehab in California, but had to leave when I punched a guy who looked like Matt Damon. I had cut down my painkiller intake to only a few days a week. My rule was only when the sox won a game. With time, I was gradually healing my unfathomable pain. My pizza delivery guy said he noticed a difference. Things were actually starting to look up. Then, “they” won again in ‘08.

Honestly, I didn’t think I would make it. I totally relapsed. I spiraled back into Bolivia. I boozed harder than ever. I fought more. I had no one to talk to. I had become an animal. It wasn’t until I hit my deepest emotional point in my life when I finally had reached a breakthrough.

I met Joba.

All of a sudden with one glance, my eyes cleared up and a hint of a smile appeared on my chapped lips. I felt the black cloud around me slowly floating away. Just like that, the sun was a bit brighter, the birds chirped merrier. For a quick second there, I even thought my toilet paper was softer. After years, I was, for a moment, happy. It was indeed a breakthrough.

The fist pump, the flat bill of the cap, the tree trunk legs, the 100 mph fastball, was all I needed to start living again. The infectious personality, the youthful energy, the passionate intensity, was all I needed to start believing again.

As i stood off the couch realizing i had turned a corner in my life, i wanted to celebrate. the only thing that felt natural was a fist pump.

jimmy sports

he's an average joe

this has nothing to do with anything, but i have to get it on record to get credit for it. i want to start calling joe mauer- "average joe". not that hes an average player but as in batting "average" . i havnt seen this anywhere so i am taking credit.

jimmy sports

U.S.A.!!!

Here's the u.s Olympic team: MVP kobe, lebron, d-wade, melo, kidd, tayshaun, booza, bosh, dwight " superman" howard, cp-trey, big redd, and deron.
hell yeah, this team is loaded. these guys are going to dominate and return the u.s. to glory after a "disappointing" bronze in the 2004 O's. the reason the word disappointing was euphemized was bec to me it wasnt all that disappointing. dont get me wrong, i would have loved the gold, but there were issues with the olympoic team boiling up since 2000 that people just wanted to ignore. sometimes americans think that no matter what happens they deserve to win. im a realist. those guys had it coming.
to me, there were 3 very large factors contributing to the temporary downfall of u.s. basketball.
1. the rest of the world was simply catching up. 20 years ago drazen petrovic was a phenomenon. now, every team except the knicks have a european scorer/slasher/shooter. get my point. in two quick decades the serbias, montengros, germanys, and argentinas of the world progressed to a level international hoops has never seen. just a quick list of names to illustrate the point: (note-count how many of these names are arguably top twenty in the nba) dirk, manu, tony parker, nash, yao ming, pau, scola, hedo, okur, diaw, peja. obviously these guys are no kobe or lebron, but surely better than marbury and rich jefferson( both on the 04 squad).
2. the best american players, for whatever reasons, did not participate. the level of talent was not as nearly good as it could have been. guys like kobe, shaq, kidd, t-mac, vince, ray-ray, all didnt want to play for their country. oh, but we had lebron and melo and amare and wade you'll say. i say they were were 19 and 20 and 21 with barely no nba experience let alone international experience. the only super-star players at or near their prime were duncan and iverson. the rest of the team was just average. if its a gold you want, i dont think emeka okafor was going to cut it.
3. lastly, the guys they did have just got outplayed, outhustled, outshot, out everything. maybe larry brown was still high on crack from the finals after party, but this team did not come out to play. they thought they would win simply on talent and intimidation. the only problem was the disparity in talent, as we explained, was miniscule, and shaq wasnt there so no body was intimidated. i have found that when duncan holds the ball by his face with two hands and his elbows out so all you see is his eyes, it isnt so mean-looking as he thinks it is. the team was thrown together and none of these guys had ever balled together for a substantial time. on the other hand, teams like argentina and peurto rico had been gelling for years and had one thing we lacked and sorely needed, chemistry.

i know this was basically an article that is 4 years old, but i think 2004 directly affects the dynamics, chemistry, mindset, and outcome of this years games. the brass and decision makers (colangelo) apparently have learned from their mistakes. they brought in coach k and convinced kobe to play and lebron to return. they put better shooters(redd, kobe), more physical(lebron, dwight), hard-working(tayshaun, boozer), team-oriented(deron, cp, wade) players on the roster. this is starting to like a team.

i don't know about you but if they don't win i'll be disappointed.

jimmy sports

Willie, Rants, and more

Before we get to the NBA finals, which was one of the more anticlimactic sporting events in recent memory, I’d like to first say goodbye to the managers that left this week, Willie Randolph and John Mclaren (sorry Gibbons- you’re out of the loop). The truth is I’m really Willie’d out, but lets do this anyway. I have lived in New York my entire life (as a Braves fan), so following the greatest regular season collapse of all time (the greatest all-time collapse was of course, the Yanks of 04’) I knew that the only way Willie Randolph would be forgiven by the Mets fans, was to win them a title. Not a playoff appearance and not a World Series appearance. A title.

I could understand where they are coming from (utter humiliation), but the truth is it’s because Mets fans are schizophrenic in a way. They over dramatize every little thing. They are the Bill Walton of fans (more on the legendary broadcaster/player in a few). They put themselves through more highs and lows than any other fan base, except maybe the Cubbies and Phillies fans. They are in a love/hate relationship with their team. One day it’s “Reyes for MVP”, the next day its “trade Reyes for a bag of balls”. I remember when they booed Mike Piazza for heavens sakes. And if they ever experience a really painful moment with their ball club they will never forgive and forget (I actually agreed with most Met fans that said Willie should’ve been fired after “the collapse”). So we all knew that Willie would have had to storm out of the gates to win back support just from inside the organization before making it right with the Shea faithful (what a way to say goodbye to Shea. I’m lovin it!!!!).

So for Willie to get off to such a listless start with such a talented team it was a no-brainer to ax the former yankee. But as everyone was preaching for the past week, the way they went about it was wrong. Not because they did it at 3 a.m. ET, (it was just an hour and a half after the conclusion of the game), but because they waited so long to get rid of him (I’m having flashbacks of a Bob- "I belong in a nursing home" Murphy describing a shallow fly ball that somehow went over the wall). They should of done it after my Braves whooped them for a 4 game sweep in May, not after they win 3 out of 4 games and finally look like their somewhat conscious. But this Mets front office, from Omar Minaya on down just seems dysfunctional and unfaithful to each other (don’t get me started with this Tony Bernazard dude who just came out of the woodworks, who the hell is he?) It is a mess. But you know what? Winning could heal a lot of the wounds for these crazy fans. It could, but it won’t.

Mclaren on the other hand will not be remembered for a great collapse, just for a pathetic rant. It was a desperate attempt to ignite his team to start playing baseball up to the level of its talent. The rant didn’t help his team nor did it make it in to “Rant Lore”, where the great rants of all time reside.
A great rant is a memorable rant, what makes a rant memorable?
1. Scary. That we- the viewers are a bit scared of the events unfolding, like its possible the coach or manager might pull out a gun and shoot someone, like when Kevin Borseth, the Women’s Michigan coach who came storming into the press room slamming his stat sheets on the podium- http://youtube.com/watch?v=xENkpDpS8ks. Or when Oklahoma State Football Coach Mike Gundy went a little crazy at the reporter for printing an article about his QB. He looked like a crazy schoolteacher ready to snap and finish his remaining days in a mental institution- http://youtube.com/watch?v=5VytIZZzee0%20.
2. One-timers. There are those rants that are one-time rants that basically define the coach’s career. We find them kinda funny at first and over time we fall in love with them, to the point where on a boring day (when your unemployed and can’t play golf because of the weather, you’ll know what I mean) we youtube them over and over again. The top 3 of these have to be, in order- Jim Mora-“playoffs”?, Dennis Green-“so crown them”, and although I’m trying to strictly concentrate on coaches I must include A.I’s legendary “We talking bout practice, practice, practice” rant. I could’ve kept writing practice but don’t want to get sued by the “family guy” guys (although those bits are the most annoying part of that hilarious show)- keep reading, beacause this was by far the corniest joke of this article.
3. Classics. Then there are the classics, Knight, Piniella, Parcells, Guillen, Ditka. They have had so many great one’s that there isn’t any one rant of theirs that stand out in particular. We just love them all.
I’m not going to get in to the old-timers because we can be here all day (and you can’t youtube them).
4. The Fassel. My favorite one. In 2000, when the giants were 6-4 and struggling somewhat and his job was hanging in the balance, Jim Fassel went on a “I’m putting all my chips in the middle of the table” rant (I actually credit him with starting the poker boom. Notice to Norman Chad: royalty checks to my boy Jimmy here). The team ended up coming together and did not lose a game until the super bowl. Now that’s the way to do it.

A couple of points on the finals: It was really a bizarre finals, for almost everyone got it all wrong. We all thought the Lakers were the superior and mentally tougher team (“they are Kobe-led, of course their focused”), while the Celtics were barely making it through their early rounds and were running on fumes. We were all wrong. The Celtics were so much better than we thought they were and what they displayed up to that point in the playoffs (it helps when one of your stars-Allen decides to wake up from the dead). They weren’t tired; they suffocated the Lakers, to the point, where even the best player in the world got frustrated. The Celtics played with urgency and the poise of a championship team, while the Lakers played like they were scared of the moment and wanted to just go home. The entire Lakers team really started playing apprehensively as soon as the noose on their leads starting shrinking. Game 4 was the perfect example, and that game really did them in. Their dream ended that night in the Staples Center- in front of Larry David. I’m calling it the “Larry David Curse” (it was like that Curb Your Enthusiasm episode when Larry also sat courtside and tripped and injured Shaq). What was he doing there anyway? I guarantee Larry doesn’t know the difference between Basketball and Dodgeball.

Kobe was climbing up the ladder of legends this season to where he was about to crack top 5 of all time, but his mediocre performance in the finals brings him back to earth (he’s currently in the 8-12 greatest players of all time). The comparison everyone was making between him and Michael was unfair and very premature. He did win 3 titles when most people thought he wasn’t the important player on his own team. I disagreed with that perspective. He might’ve not been as dominant as Shaq was, however he was the one hitting all the clutch shots down the stretches of those championship games (remember “hack a-Shaq). Sometimes Shaq wouldn’t even touch the ball in big spots. Kobe was the glue of those teams (like George was the glue on Seinfeld even though Jerry got all the accolades). But he had to win his own title, Shaq-less. It didn’t happen. The comparisons will eventually return to our water coolers one day, but not for a very long time.

Quickies: (these are stupid remarks just to get keep you reading)

Prince Fielder hit an inside the park home run this week. Yes, that Prince Fielder!!!!!!.

The Bill/Luke Walton Father’s day halftime interview was fascinating. Firstly I must say, that Bill has been getting an unfairly bad rap in the last few years. Sports in general needs guys like him to excite us during the dog days of our respective sports seasons. So what if he overplays some events just a tiny bit? like when Derek Fischer steals the ball-“that was the greatest steal in Lakers history”, big deal!!!. He’s awesome. And watching him with those 70’s glasses smiling from frame to frame at a-very uncomfortable or- very high on something- Luke, was priceless. During the interview I was cringing and loving it at the same time.

Cubbies fans: your 100th year anniversary may very well be a sweet one.

Chipper will still hit .400 for the entire year. Take it to the Bank.

Uncle Dave

The Unexpected Weekend

I am not a big fan of introductions to begin with, plus I just finished watching the best weekend any sport will have this year (unless yankees-sox go 7), the sudden death playoff at the U.S. Open Championship so I’ll keep it brief.
So here it, my name is Uncle Dave, they call me Dave but I insist on Uncle, I guess because I have more nephews and nieces than anyone my age (don’t even try to guess my age, I won’t give that away in blog #1)- hence the name. I love sports for the days like today and yesterday, when were sitting on the edge of our couches anticipating the unexpected and hoping for the improbable.
Sports to me is not about Donehey, Clemens or Spygate. I couldn’t care less about that. That’s good for talk radio. I endure it for the great moments that we get a couple of times a year- (sometimes when were ready for them (game 7’s, Super bowls), sometimes when they are wonderfully unexpected). I endure it for the red sox of 04’, the giants playoff run, and to watch guys like Kobe, Manny, Brady, and Tiger play their game. And we must begin with Tiger (I can’t believe my first blog is about golf, who woulda thunk it, Hey! I barely know the sport.- oh and game 6 of the finals happens to be tomorrow night. Crazy.)

After Tiger’s legendary back 9 on Saturday - with 2 eagles (one was skill, the other luck) that I can only dream about hitting (in my pitch and putt game), we thought this weekend would be another notch on Tiger 58 inch belt, but NO- out of nowhere came this lovable character named Rocco. It was like straight out of a movie (I can’t wait for the premiere of Rocco 4). Could a 45 year old guy who nobody ever heard of take down the greatest golfer of all time? It was improbable. It was better than “Rudy”-except I didn’t cry when jimmy Roberts was whispering at 18.
And as Sunday afternoon went along I kept believing that somehow, someway the great Tiger would fall. Maybe the leg would totally give out, maybe it was like Orlando beating Jordan after his layoff (Tiger didn’t play in a couple of…um months), or maybe he would just pull off a Phil. And I think most of the Country was rooting for Rocco (Mediate) to dethrone the Tiger that never lost a final round lead in a major. Not because we were anti- Tiger all of a sudden (although I am), it was because this guy- Rocco is what we love about sports, the funny, relaxed, old underdog going toe to toe with “the greatest” (Ali, if your reading then pardon me).

And back and forth it went, Tiger leading, and then Rocco leading, and back and forth with a little mix of Lee Westwood sprinkled in. It was fascinating. I was transfixed, I couldn’t even get up from the couch to go to the bathroom- and I have DVR!!!. And right when I finally counted Tiger out on 18, he delivered again, with the crowd going bonkers again. I guess I was more hoping then predicting that he would miss that 15-23 foot shot (I have no idea how far these shots are from watching on tv, its impossible to read, its harder than those greens).
As we (da boys) finally got up after being glued for 5 straight hours (my ass was flat like a pancake, and sore as hell), there was a unanimous prediction- “Tiger will crush him tomorrow”. I mean if it was a sudden death 3 hole playoff, we can still pray for Rocco, but 18 HOLES!!! There was just no hope. Most of da boys said they weren’t even going to watch it, either because of work or because it would be so anticlimactic that they would lose that great taste for the sport that they still had in their mouth. It would be like bringing home a gorgeous chick only to find one or more body parts were fake (depends how picky you are). Good analogy? Just try not to cringe, I’ll get better.
But since I’m currently unemployed, and I stress (and put in quotation marks) “currently”, I decided I’ll watch even though I knew it wouldn’t be better than Sunday’s round.
It was better. A lot better. I didn’t move from the couch until about 45 minutes after Costas(probably the greatest sports broadcaster of our generation) poignantly interviewed Tiger (probably the gr… -you get the point). By then I was drained, it was as if I played 91 holes in 5 days. But it was somewhat disappointing that Rocco couldn’t pull it off. HE HAD IT WON. He was up a stroke on Tiger going into the 18th. It was like Rudy getting injured on that last play and getting carried off on a stretcher (getting better with the analogies, huh?). This was all after Rocco was down 3 strokes after the 10th hole. No one could believe that 3 strokes to Tiger in a major would be like a 20 point lead to the lakers at home. Nobody thought Rocco would even have a sniff the rest of way. I was even thinking about getting up to stretch. Thankfully I didn’t because the next 9 holes were amazing with Rocco storming back, especially on the 15th, where Tiger hit a ridiculous shot on to the green, followed by Rocco’s 25-40 foot birdie, followed by Tiger missing his 24-27 (I got a good read on it) foot putt on the 16th by about an inch. I kept on bending and waving the balls to the destinations that I wished they would go to, I felt like Carlton Fisk. And then a heart stopping 18 followed by another heart stopping sudden death playoff hole. Wow.
All I have to say is that I’m officially hooked on to Golf now ( I mean it is still behind- in order, Football, Baseball, basketball, old boxing?). It is definitely making its move up the leaderboard as a sport. I mean besides Tiger munching on that green apple between holes (I never saw Brady or Kobe do that), that was strange.
So, at the end of the day Tiger will get all the headlines, and rightfully so - he was a great competitor, he kept on coming back from behind, he was extremely focused- as usual, but with the leg really causing him noticeable pain, he still gutted out an EXTRA 19 holes, it was probably his finest performance of his career, maybe besides the 97’ Masters. I still think Rocco really was the story, and I am nominating him right now for a finalist for SI’s Sportsman of the year. Seriously. What a weekend. At least I have a day to air my ass out before game 6.

Uncle Dave

oraclizing

these are my baseball playoff picks:
American League-East- Boston; Central- Detroit; West- L.A.; w.c.- New York
National League- East- Philadelphia; Central- Chicago; West- Arizona; w.c.- Milwaukee

jimmy sports

i'm "phil"ed with anger

Phil Mickelson sucks. Phil Jackson sucks. Phil Sanderson sucks. I'm not sure who the last guy is, but it seems anyone with the first name phil and a "son" at the end of his last name is sucking bad right now.

jimmy sports

why?

Hi. My name is Jim. My friends call me Jimmy. I am sometimes referred to as jimmy brackets, jimmy knees, jimmy almanac, jimmy three-times, jimmy genius, Jimmiroquai, jimbalaya, jimbotron, jimbo the bimbo, jiminy cricket, and jimmy nickname. Ok, that's enough about me. Speaking of  alternate monikers, there's only one line of business with more nicknames than the mafia, and that's sports ("Pistol Pete" Maravich is my all time favorite).

Actually, sports and the mob have more parallels than you might think. You got the sharp, loud suits; the swagger; the structure/organization; the soldier/war mentality; captains; teamwork (it's hard dragging a dead body by yourself) and the simple fact that you don't necessarily need to be a genius to succeed. You just need to know how to play the game. This is one of the many reasons why I love sports. Just play the game, baby!
Some might say "you play to ween the gaaaaame!' but it's not all about winning. I swear it's really not.  You need heart, passion, athleticism, camaraderie, competitiveness, sacrifice, and fearlessness. You need to be a little crazy and somewhat intelligent (only somewhat- I don't want to contradict myself in the first five minutes of this whole thing). When all of these elements spill out collectively onto a field, it has the ability to produce something thrilling. You know what I'm talking about, don't you. If I actually went to college maybe I would be able to describe the emotion of returning an interception 95 yards for a touchdown. Then again, you probably have to actually perform an act to be able to describe it properly. I peaked in little league. I'm the pauly shore of sports.

The point is, we all love it. What we do with it is the question. For some it's like a mistress. You'll sneak quietly out of the house to a shady bar to get some Lucious Pusey. Yes, that's a real sports name.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/profile?playerId=148900.
For some it's a religion. Not worth getting into. For others it's simply a diversion. Sometimes you just wanna forget the bills from home and watch the bills from buffalo. Or, you might, for a moment, want to stop thinking about the bombs over Tehran and start witnessing bombs over Teahan (mark, of the royals).

Whatever your perspective may be, when you ignore the scandals and other negative aspects for a moment, the appeal is undeniable. When it is truly broken down to its most natural form, the pure athleticism is fascinating. After that concept is fully appreciated, one can now start having a sense of a slightly bigger picture, such as a game situation. Sprinkle in the dynamic of coaching, refereeing, injuries, conditioning, and gamesmanship. When these points are ingested a fan is now ready for the broadest outlook of in-season sports. They are now ready to realize the effect of rivalries, chemistry, match-ups, and history. They can now call themselves a "sports fan".

We have all been, at one time or another, sitting in a bar recalling famous games, breathtaking plays or memorable situations. And, in truth that’s why we do it. We follow our team, we watch the big games, all while utilizing the knowledge, stats and perspective we have developed up until that point. Then we use the experiences to formulate an opinion and proceed to bullshit about it for hours.

One might call me a fanatic, but aren’t we all in one way or another.

For some guys its work and money. For women, it is shoes and "sex and the city". For others it could be collecting antique coins or ex-girlfriends' loose hair. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but everybody needs something. I just chose sports.

To those who don't follow, to those who don't care, there are always movies or books. For me there is football and basketball
and baseball.

That's why they call me "jimmy sports".