Baseball

ew the modern athlete as arrogant, Babe Ruth may have actually invented athletic braggadocio.  Baseball had never seen anything like Ruth.  He shattered nearly every record the game had ever known.  In the third game of the ’32 Series, Ruth allegedly ‘called his shot’ by pointing to the centerfield bleachers.  The very next pitch he slugged clean over the centerfield fence.

Continue reading "October Moments To Remember (in 750 words or less)"

In my current quest to work as little as possible while also attending premier sporting events throughout Florida, I decided to withdraw a small portion of my dwindling bank account and scalp a ticket to the Monday night Red Sox-Rays game.  Despite having lived in Tampa, I had never been to Tropicana Field.  But let’s be honest, prior to this season, there was never really a good reason to go.  Since their inception, the Rays have never finished in anything other than last place in their division.

Continue reading "Rays Fans Are Baby Taunters!"

The sunshine state has long been a hotbed for college football.  With an abundance of high school talent leaving for college every year, Florida schools have their pick of the litter of some of the nation’s best athletes.  For as long as anyone can remember, at least one of the big three (Florida, Florida State and Miami) has been a factor in the national championship picture.  In the past ten years, all three of these schools have won national titles: Florida State in 1999, Miami in 2001 and Florida in 2006.  During that same time period, however, these three schools have traversed dramatically different paths to arrive at their current circumstance.  Furthermore, in a state where most believed that no other schools could compete in either recruiting or ranking, the Universities of Central and South Florida have both become presences in their own right.

Continue reading "College Football in Florida: A Ten ..."

up.  One problem… there’s not four outfield positions in baseball.

Major League Baseball originally established the designated hitter in 1973 to cure then struggling American League offenses.  The ‘position’ has been in existence ever since.  Has it made a difference?  Of course.  The top five hitting teams in the majors this year are all in the American League.  A.L. teams have consistently had higher team batting averages ever since the DH’s inception.  But has it dramatically changed the game?  Probably not.  No true designated hitter has ever won the Most Valuable Player award, although David Ortiz recently came close.  And the position has prolonged the careers of Hall of Fame caliber athletes, allowing fans to see more of Bernie Williams, George Brett, Edgar Martinez and Paul Molitor.

Continue reading "A Case for the Designated Hitter"

Hello, my name is Christopher and I'm a Red Sox fan. Which makes what I'm about to say so difficult.

I could not have written this five years ago. In October 2003, we Sox faithful had once again suffered another devastating defeat to our arch-rival and overall evil-doers, the New York Yankees. This time, the blow came from the bat of Aaron Boone in the American League Championship Series. Game Seven, extra innings, another loss to the Yankees, could things get any worse? Numbness ensued. Another crushing loss meant yet another year of ribbing from Yankee fans everywhere who were, and had always been, our daddies. However, five years, two World Series titles and one Ruthian exorcism later, Red Sox fans can put all that behind them and openly talk about the past, for it is now the Yankees who haven't won in ages.

Continue reading "A Tribute to the Evil Emperor"

Unless, of course, Mario and I were the only two in the stands aware that Major League Baseball still keeps stats like complete games. Or do they?

With modern athletes in better shape than their predecessors, pitchers should have the stamina to go the distance. With the Marlins up 3-1 going into the ninth and the Diamondbacks still reeling from Nolasco's impressive performance, Gregg shut them down in order. That's like Gregg getting to go home with the girl that Nolasco bought drinks for all night long. From this fan's perspective, seeing a CG on the back of Nolasco's baseball card would have been much more impressive, and entertaining, than any S under Gregg's.

Continue reading "The Lost Art of the Complete Game ..."

Roger Clemens continues to profess his innocence that he has never used steroids. He has been on 60 minutes and now has had a press conference and released a tape with his former trainer to prove what he has said. Now I'm really torn on this one for a number of different reasons. I've always been a big fan of Roger Clemens but it seems there could be a lot of evidence that he has used them. The worse part about this whole story is no matter what Roger Clemens does he is always and forever going to be associated with steroids even if he is not guilty of it. It seems as a society we all rush to judge someone before we know the whole story. Even if Clemens is found to have never used them their still will be the cloud over his head. How much will it effect his hall-of-fame election is another story. He may not get in for awhile.

Continue reading "Can We Really Trust What Roger Clemens Is Saying?"

Well this should not come as much of a surprise that Jose Canseco has signed a deal to finish his new book on steroids in baseball and according to him and his agent many more names will be dropped in his book that was left off the Mitchell report. Now I'm not one to say Jose always speaks the truth, but so far everything he has said has been right on. Now according to him A-Rod and Ivan Rodriguez were left off that list and should be included plus a few others which of course will be mention in his book.

Continue reading "Juiced 2 The Sequel!"