Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Cardinals Halloween Costume: Easily Killed Zombies

Just imagine what could have been had the Cards not decided to celebrate Halloween a week or so early.

Look, I know it was a hell of a season, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah... I'mjust not the type to take these things well, and I sure as hell am not going to start now.

Here is the rub.... the Cards have blown FOUR 3-1 leads in best of seven series in their history which stretches back to the 19th century. I've lived through three of them (1985 World Series, 1996 & 2012 NLCS.) Actually I was alive for the fourth one as well (the 1968 World Series) though I was one-month old at the time. Oh I'm sure I cried when it happened, just not because it happened.

On the other side of the coin, the Cards have never come back from being down 3-1. Not once.

Its enough to make a fan want to chew out his own intestines. Or maybe I should just leave that for the Cardinals. After all, they are dressed for the part.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Games Of The Living Dead

Well, that is now two games in a row where the Cardinals decided they didn't need to compete with the San Francisco Giants. I loathe and despise games like these; games where you can tell after three innings that the Cards simply are not going to offer up a struggle. Against a pitcher like Vogelsong that is bad enough. Against a pitcher like Zito it is completely unacceptable

Here's hoping the Cards decide to show up tomorrow. I know they were swept away after being up 3-1 back in 1996, but that was a team punching far above its weight class. A collapse here would be decidedly more disgraceful and hard to take.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Thats The Playoffs Baby!

Congrats to DC United! They didn't make it easy on themselves at times, but they got the job done in front of a sell-out crowd in RFK. (And looking at the loud throng there I must say I miss being part of that scene.)

I often do not agree with the assessments of John Harkes but tonight he was right on; Andy Najar played a fantastic game. He really did look as good as any back in the league.

The Crew threw everything they had at United and it was nearly enough.  For a change, DC took an opponents best shot and gave better. I've no idea what this team could accomplish in the playoffs, especially without DeRosario, but I'll take getting there any day.

Come On Assholes!

Ah.... the NHL, the land where dipshits rule.

And I do mean dipshits. Look, I actually supported the owners in the last work stoppage. At the time the NHL players were completely out of their tiny little minds, arguing that hockey should emulate Major League Baseball in their finances. That's right, a niche, regionally supported league should take as their model the national pastime. Yeah, that makes sense.

However, as wrong-headed as the players were last time, the owners are just as wrong now. Given the fact fans have already recently lost an entire season AND the fact that the owners got everything they said they wanted last time round, there is no morally justifiable excuse for a lockout. They is no reason they couldn't continue the game while playing under the old rules. If the player dragged their feet and tried to do the same thing NEXT year then, and only then, could a lockout be justified.

This is especially true as the owners have been lying sacks of shit and are not even negotiating any more.

At this rate it doesn't look like we will have NHL hockey until December, because no matter what its the fans who need to be punished, presumably because we have been dumb enough to give these owners our hard earned money.

Come On Magpies!

If the first couple months are any indication Notts County may very well be on their way to the Championship next year. Given the sheer number of changes the team underwent this summer (which, to be fair, seems to be par for the course at this level) I had my doubts as to the ability of the squad to gel early on. However, gel they have and the results are following.

Optimism: Its what's for dinner.

Come On Cardinals

I certainly have a love/hate relationship with playoff baseball. Of course, I always want the Cards to get into and compete well in the playoffs, but the ever increasing stakes and the nerve wracking (and wrecking) aspect of the games themselves take a toll.

This is my way of saying I wish desperately the Cards could have sown up the NLCS last night. Unfortunately, we didn't show up ready to compete. As a result I will have no fingernails left on Monday morning.

Come On DC United

We (and, yes, I'm one of those people who says "we" when they discuss the teams they root for) only need a point at home tonight against the Crew in order to secure our first playoff berth since the 19th Century (or so it seems.)

We haven't lost a game at home since March, so, of course, we've gone down a goal in the first 7 minutes.

United doesn't look too bad, except for Korb who needs to settle his shit down. He's a little too amped and, as a result, is making poor panicky decisions.

Breathe Korb, breathe.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Baldomero Toledo Is A Very Poor Ref

Screaming doesn't seem to work, so I will say this quietly.

Toledo simply is not good at his job. He calls the game in what could be called an "imaginative" manner as it bear little to no resemblance to the match being played on the pitch. His obvious lack of quality seems to also affect the assistants who work with him, as they seem strangely apt at compounding Toledo's numerous errors of judgements with missed offsides calls. Incompetence breeds incompetence I suppose.

Toledo's continued employment does a disservice to fans, players and the sport in general.

We all deserve better than Toledo.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Ryan Braun: Your MFP (Most Fraudulent Player)

I wouldn't have thought the Ryan Braun debacle could have gotten any worse for baseball and for Braun himself. It just got a lot worse:

National League MVP Ryan Braun's 50-game suspension was overturned Thursday by baseball arbitrator Shyam Das, the first time a baseball player successfully challenged a drug-related penalty in a grievance...

During the hearing, Braun's side challenged the chain of custody from the time the urine sample was collected by Comprehensive Drug Testing Inc. to when it was sent, nearly 48 hours later, to a World Anti-Doping Agency-certified laboratory in Montreal, two people familiar with the case said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because what took place in the hearing is supposed to be confidential.

The sample was collected on Oct. 1, a Saturday and the day the Brewers opened the NL playoffs. The collector did not send the sample to the laboratory until Monday, thinking it would be more secure at home than at a Federal Express office during the weekend.

Yep. You read that right. Braun is getting off because the sample was taken on a Saturday and there was no way to get it to a CLOSED lab on Sunday. In other words, he is still guilty as sin but will pay absolutely no price for his cheating. This makes a total mockery of baseball's drug control efforts. Cynics of all strips now get to chime in to remind us that:

A) Braun plays for a team with close ties to the Commissioner of Baseball. How convenient.

B) Braun is the highest profile baseball player to get caught (while they are actively playing), and now its like it never happened. How convenient.

C) Braun is white. (If you think no one is gonna notice you are crazy. Do *I* think it played a role? Highly unlikely. It won't matter.)

Braun is never gonna hear the end of this. Had he taken his just punishment (and stayed clean) it would have been over for him. Now? He's not going to be so lucky.

He's a cheater.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

A-10 Officiating

I haven't seen enough A-10 basketball this year to be sure, but based upon today's SLU/Dayton game it seems pretty dire. It is being officiated like an NHL game. Whenever the Bills get a lead the refs make calls (or don't make calls as the case may be) in order to "keep it close."

As it is, if the Bills could hit their free throws they should win by 15. Based upon how the two teams have actually been playing, the Bills ought to win by 25-30.

That they will win by under 10 is chalked up in equal parts poor free throw shooting and uneven officiating.

Breaking My Silence To Say...

....Jaro Halak and the St. Louis Blues? Holy shit.

This isn't the prettiest offensive team you will ever see, and that lack of goal scoring could bite us in the ass in the end... but in the meantime, the Blues play killer defense and the goalies stop most everything they see.

Welcome back winning hockey in the STL! It's been awhile.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Just Get Rid Of The Appeal Process Already

Time to sigh:

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany will miss his club's next four matches after the Premier League leaders failed Tuesday in its appeal against the defender's red card against Manchester United.

Kompany was sent off for a two-footed challenge on Nani in the 12th minute of Sunday's FA Cup match. United beat 10-man City 3-2.

City manager Roberto Mancini said United striker Wayne Rooney pressured referee Chris Foy into showing the red card but the Football Association rejected City's attempt to have the decision overturned.

"The suspension consists of a statutory three-match suspension for serious foul play plus one additional game given this is Kompany's second dismissal of the season,'' the FA said.

The FA ought to just do away with the fiction there is an actual "appeal" process that might be effectual. Its hard to take them seriously when Kompany's "serious foul play" doesn't involve actually touching an opponent. Instead of acknowledging the obvious, the ref thought he saw something that didn't happen (and was probably swayed by United players in the process), the FA simply told City "Don't fuck with us."

Why bother.