Double Dipped

Remember this first catch, I posted it a few weeks ago... well, stay tuned for #2!

Flawless Thoughts

Now that our Farve anxiety has ended, there is the first game to look forward to. The question for me is - will Farve make it through the first game? His Vikings will be taking on the defending champion Saints, the team that ruined his Super Bowl dreams almost as bad as they ruined his ankle.

Tiger Woods has seemingly gotten things together hot on the heels of his (ex) wife breaking her silence about the hell she's been through. Woods must have also been married to the golf universe, because similar to his marriage, the last 6 months of viewership for PGA events could be described as hell as well.

The Cowboys have traded Jessica Simpson for Kim Kardashian, this seems like a move that could win them a Super Bowl. If the Cowboys do win it, I'm sure that we will see the Redskin's owner Daniel Snyder babysitting Kourtney Kardashian's kid!

Who's my sleeper team this year? If the Falcons or Ravens could be considered sleepers, I'd pick them. The Falcons are a team that seem to have all the pieces and all the heart, while the Ravens WERE one piece away from a contender - that was before they picked up Anquan Boldin, the toughest WR in the game if you ask me. He said he wanted to go back in the game the same day the Jets knocked his lights out! That's a football player right there!

The Yankees and Rays have an exciting battle going on, equally as thrilling are, Philly/Atlanta, Cincinnati/St. Louis, and San Diego/ San Francisco. Maybe I was wrong, maybe we don't need a hard salary cap in baseball, maybe the free market will prevail after all, if only that would happen for Wall Street!

VOSJ: Brewers Ace Gallardo Robbed at Gunpoint

In the "things that make us go, 'hmmm'" category, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported this morning that Brewers starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo and a clubhouse attendant were robbed at gunpoint at 2:35 a.m. (CDT) Friday. A team spokesman told the newspaper that Gallardo was not injured, but that attendant Alex Sanchez was struck in the head with the butt of handgun. Thankfully, according to another member of the organization, both men were “doing fine.”

Gallardo had pitched in a loss to the Dodgers Thursday night, a game that began around 7 p.m. local time and ended just after 10. What was Gallardo was doing hanging out with a clubhouse attendant more than four hours after the game, you ask? According to the article, Gallardo said that he and Sanchez were "just going out and getting a bite to eat before heading home and trying to stay out of trouble ... Unfortunately trouble finds us.” Hmmm...

Now at first, I figured the context of the reporters' questions (perhaps something akin to my inquiry, above) would explain the pitcher's defensive explanation of the attack. But according to The Green Bay Press Gazette, which reported the story yesterday, Gallardo did not take any questions after briefly discussing the incident outside the team clubhouse. Without any information about a potentially provocative question from reporters, methinks Yovani doth protest too much. Then again, maybe he’s just a tad crabby at being pistol whipped worse than the clubhouse boy lately. In eight starts since coming off the DL (strained oblique muscle) in mid-July, Gallardo has tossed just 37 1/3 innings and posted an ERA of 6.27 with a WHIP ratio of 1.61. Gallardo was selected to his first All-Star game earlier this season.

The Joys of Weekend Golf

So I get a call from a friend of mine the other day asking me if I'd care to join him for a round of golf today at Dyker Beach.  Being that it has been quite some time since my last outing I happily accepted.  His next statement to me was "We have an 11:15 tee time, so really thats 11:45."  Now, if you have played golf before on a weekend at a public course you know to always expect backups, a longer round, and a delay getting out to the tee. 

Pictured above is the line at roughly 11:05.  It is still growing.  If we get out by noon I will be shocked.  Why do I even bother making a tee time?  How hard is it really for a public course to stay SOMEWHAT on schedule.  An hour wait is really unacceptable anywhere.  Just another reminder of why I never play on the weekends.  Its been so long this nonsense had never even crossed my mind before jumping to play today.

On a positive note, its a GORGEOUS day, and I'm out on the golf course, ready to break 100!  Watch out now!

Sports Tweet Of The Week

Covering for Josh this week, I couldn't resist to post this tweet a day earlier than usual. Pretty hilarious.

Minutes ago, Chad Ochocinco tweeted:

OGOchoCinco
Coming soon http://twitpic.com/2ibw6s

The More The Merrier?

As an increasingly likely labor lockout looms, NFL owners are preparing to vote on a proposal to expand the regular season to 18 games. WAIT!!! NO!!!! STOP!!! WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT GIVE US MORE OF THE GREATEST GAME ON EARTH!!! OK, OK, so perhaps the rabid fan contingent is the not most critical factor in the outcome of this debate.

The players, for one, don't seem to be taking kindly to the idea. Some are concerned with increased risks of injury, others with the dilution of the value of each regular season win (to be sure, the more games, the more room for error, and with that, the potential for less excitement and less meaning wrapped up in each weekly battle). Those in favor point to chopping down the unnecessarily long preseason in favor of more games that actually count. And for the season ticket holder who pays regular price for these games, this may be especially true. After all, who wants to toss away a couple hundred clams to see the starters play for a quarter, at best?

Still, the rebuttals to the case for an 18-game regular season (which, admittedly, range far beyond those raised here) seem to have merit. Could extra games really dilute the intensity of a divisional turf war in October? Isn't it bad enough that we must endure a Week 17 that not even fantasy owners are willing to stake their seasons on? Could Weeks 18 and 19 mean a virtual month off for the top teams’ top talent?

Look, I cannot, in my right mind, oppose more football - certainly not more meaningful football. But the more I consider the potential downsides of an 19-week football bonanza, the more even this pigskin junky must pause at the prospect.

Fantasy Football Is Here!!

Over the weekend, I partook in my first fantasy draft of the 2010 season. It was a great time as always, however I have a warning to the general public: Do not, I repeat, DO NOT drink the latest malt liquor/energy drink combo known as “four Loko” before or during your draft or auction (or really ever, assuming you want to live to age 40). Do, however, encourage your opposing owners to enjoy a can or two, as this should gain you a decisive advantage within 20 minutes of completion.

I am sad to report that I gained no such advantage from my league-mates’ pre-auction inebriation. I'm still debating exactly how this may have happened, but I’m pretty sure I jinxed myself when, while donning my No. 17 Plax Burress jersey, I replied to a friend’s snide remark, "This jersey is indicative of what I am about to do to myself in this auction." As was then inevitable, after purchasing the contract of Aaron Rodgers (in a league with only 1 starting QB slot), I proceeded to win the bidding for Peyton Manning while trying to price enforce and thereby committed almost 20% of my auction budget on my reserve QB. Talk about a solid bye week replacement!

Somehow I knew something like this would happen. And without the four Loko excuse of my opponents, I can’t help but be extremely disappointed in my performance.

VOSJ: Clemens' Indictment Afterthought

No matter one's personal opinion of Roger Clemens, fandom or animus aside, the way people view these types of stories is more a function of the times in which we're living than the principles or morals of the viewer. Before 24-hour cable news, the internet, Twitter and, yes, the blogoshere, the circus surrounding Major League Baseball's steroid scandal would not have been possible. And without it, we all might have a very different perception of the people at the center of the story.

No one that I've read or heard has captured this truth as well as New York Times op-ed columnist Ross Douthat, in his Aug. 22 piece, "What Roger Clemens Wants."

Yes, I Swear... I Am Not A Moron

We all knew this was coming... Even Clemens did. But the fact that he still denies his guilt is somewhat appalling. I know everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and I am still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I fear I will be proven wrong. The thing that bothers me the most about this whole situation though is Clemens' unwillingness to let it go. If you remember, congress was about to cancel his hearing. He never would have had to "lie". It was only due to Clemens' demand that the hearing go on that it did, and THAT now may land him in jail and permanently tarnish his reputation.

As a baseball fan I don't think steroids should take away from a players legacy. I am NOT saying that it was right to do them, and I in no way condone cheating. But the fact of the matter is that 90% of the league was doing it so it was more or less an even playing field. That era is over and we need to let it go and move on.... something that Clemens apparently couldn't do, and look where it's about to land him!