The Sox are Teasing Me

The Sox finished up their west coast swing by sweeping the Angels. Over the ten game trip they were 6-4. Naturally the baseball gods only did this to prove my "kiss of death" prediction wrong, to show that this road trip was not a harbinger of doom. They did it to coax me into writing an optimistic post in which I write something like, "Hey this is great. 5 1/2 games out of the wild card isn't terrible. Now we have the middling Tigers and pathetic Indians next at home. This will be a chance to pad the record before heading to the hostile confines of Yankee stadium. Then... who knows?!" Then of course the Sox will lay down like a cheap whore and irrevocably take themselves out of all contention. That's what the baseball gods want me to do. I shake my fist at you and spit in your eyes oh you gods! I shall not be your patsy!

NFL Hyperbolic Statements-Week 16

A couple of super lame items this week that make me want to spit...

Super Lame I: Really, Colts? Really? You're going to let your undefeated season end like that? Without even trying? I know they have an organizational philosophy of resting starters once they've clinched everything they can clinch. It would be one thing if this philosophy was actually successful. But it's not. It's just not. First of all, when the Colts played out the string with their starters in 2006, they won the Super Bowl. They haven't won a playoff game since with this philosophy of rest.

Secondly, they're already getting a week of rest. That's what the bye is for. What's the point of working for the bye if you're going to start resting three weeks ahead of time. I could accept, if not condone, resting starters with a 14 point lead or 14 point deficit. But the Colts were only up 5 with five minutes remaining in the third. Like I said, if this strategy had a proven track record go ahead, but it doesn't, and again the Colts are not going to be successful in the post season. Basically, by the time they get to their first playoff game, Manning and Co. will have been resting for a month. Hope you're happy with 14-2 and no hardware, dummies.

Super Lame II: The Giants, with everything to play for in their final game at Giants stadium, get shellacked by the Panthers. A loss is one thing, but 41-9? After winning the Super Bowl two seasons ago the Giants have been the most underachieving team in the league if you ask me.

Look Who's Back: The Jets. After all of the criticism, browbeating at the hands of the NY, media, and living and dying by their rookie quarterback, the other NY team is in the driver's seat for their playoff destiny. Of course, they got some help with the aforementioned Colts laying down. Whodathunkit?! If you listen to WFAN you would think they're 0-15.

File This One Under WTF: I have a 7 foot piece of asbestos pipe in my house. It's going to take $975 to remove it. I swear, if it wasn't on record and disclosed on the MLS report, I would take it out myself. I'm not too scared of cancer, it's a few feet of the stuff. It's not like I'm blowing foam installation without a respirator everyday. Oh well, I'm just glad it's getting done.

NFL Hyperbolic Statements-Week 12

Another comeback from... guess who? From pariah to golden boy. Cool threads. And a couple more dummies need to close their pie holes.

Clearly the Best Team in the League: The Colts spotted the Texans leads of 17-0 and 20-7. Then two pass interference calls: one legit, the other... not so much, aided an Indy drive that culminated in a Reggie Wayne TD that put the Colts right back in it. Blood in the water. After taking a one point lead on a Dallas Clark TD catch in the fourth, the Colts D made a couple of huge plays that just buried the Texans. Clint Sessions returned an int for for six. Then Matt Schaub got stripped to set up a Chad Simpson (who?) TD run. All of a sudden, the Colts were blowing out the Texans. This is the fifth consecutive game that the Colts have won after trailing in the fourth quarter. I don't know how that bodes for their playoff chances. What it does mean is that they don't care what situation they're in because they're better than you. Oh, and btw... this is the Colts' 20th straight regular season win spanning the last two years.

Coolest Redemption Ever: Vince Young. Who knows how long this will really last, but I think it's great to see Vince Young back and making plays. It seems like he's figured out something out from the mental side of things. Last Monday he looked great and the Titans were brilliant with their play calling mixing runs and passes for him. He also looked like he's vastly improved his accuracy (which is why the called runs work). Then with this 18 play drive to win the game Sunday, he looks like a completely different player.

You Need a Slap in the Mouth: Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes. Both players have publicly questioned Ben Roethlisberger's toughness (in a very oblique way) after he sat out Sunday's game with post-concussion symptoms. Really? Do you guys want to let Big Ben live in your place and wipe his drool when he's 60 and can't remember his own name? It's his life. He has to deal with the consequences, not you. No one has a right to question someone else's manhood after a head injury. But why would you trust a neurologist anyway?

My Aesthetic Sensibilities: Is there any earthly reason that the Buffalo Bills shouldn't permanently return to their retro threads? I mean c'mon! Those are far superior to the hot mess of stripes, piping, and three different shades of blue that they wear now.

File This One Under WTF: When did our society become so germophobic? People in my office building have been opening door handles with paper towels and slathering themselves with Purel every five minutes. My company now has strategically placed sterilization outposts stocked with wipes, Kleenex, and anit-bacterial goo. Guess what? No matter what you do you're going to get a cold. As long as your not licking the restroom floors, I think you'll be fine.

Shut Up Haters

I hate the Yankees. But not for all the reasons you may think. I hate the Yankees because they are the Red Sox rival and rivalries are fun. I am entirely sick of corn-fed Midwesterners, fans sad sack baseball teams with skinflint owners, moaning and crying that the Yankees win because they spend the most money. This of course is a fallacy. Their wealth and spending certainly keeps them and the Red Sox in contention every year. But let's look at the real reason some teams have money and some don't.

Sox and Yankees fans just care more. Rabid fans spend more money. That money translates to resources and eventually rings. This type of disparity is true in ALL sports except the NFL. Example: University of Texas has fans who are crazed for college football. They want to win. They spend mountains money on merch and devoutly attend games. College football is king in Texas, but not so in Connecticut, where we are. UConn couldn't even fill a 40,000 seat stadium the first game after poor Jasper Howard died! A player died and people don't even come to show support.

Admittedly, it's a bit of a chicken and egg thing. Were the Yankees not so successful for about 90 years would the fan base be so passionate? Hard to say. But let's look at two examples that contradict that theory. The Red Sox, of course, went 86 years with no titles and only three World Series appearances. Yet the Red Sox fans continued to come back year after year and sell out games, buy caps and shirts, and watch faithfully every night on TV (ad revenue).

Conversely, the Tampa Bay Rays, perennial AL East whipping boys, finally broke through and made it all the way to the World Series, and they were having trouble selling out ALCS games! Believe me. When contracts for B.J. Upton and Evan Longoria come up, you can bet your Yankees World Series hat that the Tampa front office will tighten their purse strings. The Rays will be back in the basement before long. Someone needs to hold these owners accountable for running teams into the ground while turning a profit, but thats a different story.

Except for the NFL, all sports are largely regional. On the East Coast it's baseball. On the West Coast it's the NBA. The South and Midwest drool over college football and NASCAR. It's about culture and tradition that's all. You care more and you get what you want for a sports product.

Vincente Padilla Lightens the Mood

In the midst of the World Series some sports headlines may fall to the wayside. Like how some people might have missed the trade between the Pirates and the Rays that sent Akinori Iwamura to Pittsburgh.

But the best story cames from Nicaragua where Vincente Padilla did his best Plaxico Burress impersonation.

Sometimes you just wonder: What the hell were they thinking?

Instant Replay is Not the Answer

So as it was replayed 50 times on Friday night, I'm sure that everyone knows that Joe Mauer actually hit a ground rule double in the top of they 11th inning and not a foul ball down the left-field line. If Mauer was given the double then he more than likely would have scored in the top half of the inning and perhaps they would have kept playing into the early morning hours in the Bronx rather than sitting in their hotel rooms in Minnesota right now.

Much has been made about this umpiring flop in particular and the quality of officiating in the playoffs in general, but I'll say this: let it go. Human error is part of the game. Just like Matt Holliday is a pariah in St. Louis for his blunder in Game 2 against the Dodgers and Bill Buckner became the anti-Christ in Boston for years, umpires can have lapses and miss calls. It is the human element of the game and I for one am not going to throw them under the bus for a couple of screwed up plays.

The Twins might not even be in the playoffs if not for a blown call. So how can they complain if one goes against them in a big spot? The reality is Minnesota had the bases loaded and nobody out in that same inning and they could not score a run. Delmon Young and Carlos Gomez each saw one pitch and made an out. Neither swung at a quality pitch or made Dave Robertson make a pitch. So who is really to blame for the Twins inability to score in the 11th? Phil Cuzzi or poor hitting with runners on base?

I understand that from my perspective it is tough to feel the pain a Twins fan might be feeling, but every section of fandom in every sport has had a call go against their team. Sometimes your team out plays the mistake, sometimes it causes them to fall apart, but the reality is that sometimes you have to just look in the mirror for the real reason you did not win.

Leave the umpires alone. They call a remarkable amount of plays the right way and the game is better for having people out there making quick decisions rather than second guessing every close play. I don't know about you, but I don't think I could stand it if Yankee vs. Red Sox games got any longer.

Red Sox Continue to Flaunt Rules

Watching baseball through the steroid-era I have seen some pretty low stuff, but Jonathan Papelbon takes the cake with this newest infraction. Apparently the Sox pitcher has been skirting the rules and taking to long to commence pitching when he comes into from the bullpen.

Frankly I'm shocked he hasn't been suspended.

Seriously, the MLB needs to get their heads on straight. I understand the need for games to move in an efficeint manner. Hell, as Yankee and Red Sox fans, we here at Brothers at Arms know better than anyone else the pain of a four and a half hour 9-8 baseball game. The reality is that games tend to slow down due to advertisement inbetween innings and during pitching changes, especially when games are nationally televised.

So continues the vexing rule of Bud Selig.