05.16.12
Mike Francesa – Possibly Not A Fan Of Gary Carter Raw
In which New York sports radio’s #1 (consumer of Diet Coke) swears that he will never use Twitter. While “never”, is a very long time, perhaps it really is better off this way?
Full Credit To Brett Lawrie…
…somebody had to make David Wright look composed by comparison last night. And not to condone helmet (or beer) tossing, but those who didn’t catch last night’s Tampa/Toronto tilt are well advised to check out Blue Jay Hunter’s Zapruder-esque analysis of the two called strikes that caused Lawrie to (literally) flip his lid. Lawrie’s meltdown makes for a fun late-night clip, but as BJH puts it, “Lawrie will have consequences for his actions, and (home plate umpire) Bill Miller will not … or at least, we’ll never hear about it.”
Charlie Hustle To Showcase His Thespian Skills
The following bit of news from the Cincinnati Enquirer’s John Eradi is either the worst thing to happen to the performing arts since the casting of Matthew Modine and Paul Reiser in “Bye Bye Love”, or the biggest diss to date experienced by Tom Sizemore.
Pete Rose hits the live stage Friday night at Belterra Casino Resort in what is basically a one-man show billed in various places on the internet as “An Evening With Pete Rose,” or “4,192 — The Making of the Hit King.”
“It’s me telling stories about how I got started playing ball, the impact my father had on me as an athlete, signing with the Reds and right on through the breaking of the (all-time) hit record,” Rose said Tuesday in a telephone interview.
There will be graphics on a big screen, questions from an on-stage interviewer to maintain the storyline of river rat Pete growing up near Anderson Ferry all the way through breaking Ty Cobb’s hit record on Sept. 11, 1985, and Rose’s forte, taking questions from the audience.
“That’s what keeps it fresh for me,” Rose said. “You never know what people are going to ask. Somebody will ask a question I haven’t heard before and it calls to mind a story and I’m off and running.”
Hardball Talk’s Craig Calcaterra suggests brave attendees ask Pete, “how it felt to kill Bart Giamatti”, and assuming you can make that inquiry without being escorted from the premises, you might also raise the subject of maiming another player during a meaningless exhibition game.
05.15.12
Rosenthal : When You Perform Like Hamilton, You Can Take All The Foolish Risks You Want
“For all the uproar over Josh Beckett’s ill-timed golf outing,” writes Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, “Josh Hamilton’s headfirst slide on a wet tarp in Baltimore last week was probably the more reckless act.” Yes, but Beckett’s golf game didn’t bring back memories of Rick Dempsey (and Hamilton’s tarp-slide didn’t come on the heels of being unable to make a scheduled start).
Hamilton had gone 5-for-5 with four homers the previous night for the red-hot Rangers, while Beckett — coming off his role in the fried-chicken-and-beer episode last September — was struggling for the disappointing Red Sox.
There also is this:
Hamilton plays in the Dallas-Ft. Worth market, where fans and media are far more forgiving than they are in Boston — relentlessly intense, occasionally over-the-top Boston.
I’m not defending Beckett, whose act is beyond tired. He knows the landscape in Boston, yet he chose to stay with the Sox, signing a four-year, $68 million extension in April 2010.
Still, name another city where Beckett would have been flagged by media for playing golf on an off-day while dealing with tightness in his lat muscle. Frankly, I’m not even sure it would have happened in New York.
I don’t honestly believe Rosenthal is indirectly campaigning for the Yankees or the (broke-ass) Mets to sign Hamilton this offseason, but there’s no way an afternoon of golf, jell0 shots or worse goes unreported, especially if the outfielder isn’t getting it done on the field.
Couch Slouch : Albert’s MLB’s New Coke
In stark contrast to Josh Hamilton’s terrorizing of American League pitching, Angels 1B Albert Pujols has struggled mightily since signing a gargantuan pact this past winter, so much so that Adam Dunn feels sorry for him. Writing for The Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Norman Chad (above) proposes that Albert isn’t merely a big useless lump in the middle of Mike Scioscia’s lineup, but is instead, “a living, breathing ‘John Carter’”. Full points to the Slouch for not referencing “Heaven’s Gate” or “Tusk”.
If Pujols — who signed a 10-year contract — doesn’t defunkify, we’re looking at something that goes beyond free-agent bust. He’s entering hallowed cultural territory. Here are, unofficially, the five biggest flops of the past halfcentury in American life:
• New Coke (1985): Was anybody complaining about Coca-Cola? What were they thinking? This was like adding skylights and terraces to the pyramids.
• Chevy Chase’s talk show (1993): Magic Johnson’s talk show was actually worse, but he was a point guard. Chase is an entertainer.
• Ben-Gay Aspirin (1990s): Yes, Ben-Gay Aspirin. For real. I mean, I’ll smear that delightfully smelly stuff on my back, but do I care to swallow it?
• Dennis Miller on “Monday Night Football” (2000-01): I still have nightmares of the former funny guy referring to Mike Shanahan as “Shanny” 37 times in four quarters.
• Susan B. Anthony dollar (1979-81, 1999): Hey, I was as big a fan of women’s suffrage as the next guy, but I don’t want some feminist coin rolling around my pocket ruining the feng shui of my favorite quarters and dimes.
05.14.12
Joey Barton Attemps To Deflect Attention From His Latest Gaffe With Something We Can All Agree Upon…
…namely, that Alan Shearer is really bald. The New York Times found the dramatic events in Manchester Sunday afternoon a big enough to warrant the front page of Monday’s sports section, but they somehow failed to mention that QPR’s near-defeat of Manchester City might’ve had just a little to do with the former fighting for their EPL survival. Though the R’s achieved safety when Stoke equalized at home against Bolton, that’s still not quite enough to get QPR midfielder Joey Barton off the hook. Here’s a few of Barton’s tweets from Monday, not including the classic rejoinder to the BBC’s Gary Linekar (“do u wanna go there publicly “Mr Squeaky Clean” ? Think u should have a look in that vast closet of skeltons before u respond”)
Megdal : When You Compare To Frank Francisco To Another Diabolical Mets Fire-Starter, You’re Not Necessarily A Racist
(above : absolutely not a photograph of Frank Francisco)
Earlier today, the New York Daily News’ Andy Martino asked (via Twitter), “Why do people compare (Frank) Francisco to (Armando) Benitez? There have been many bad closers in the intervening years.” Said loaded question came less than 24 hours after Francisco blew his 2nd save in 3 games against the Marlins, Sunday’s ending with an on-field meltdown that almost resulted in Terry Collins being squashed by his enraged reliever.
Putting aside for a moment whether or not Sandy Alderson’s two-year, $12 million investment in Francisco was ill-advised (hey, we could be stuck with J.J. Putz), The Journal News’ Howard Megdal takes exception to Martino’s inference, pointing that persons quick to compare Francisco to Benitez have legit reasons for doing so besides race.
Armando Benitez was a heavyset reliever who threw a majority of fastballs. His second pitch was a splitter. He suffered from command issues with his slider pitches, tended to leave those fastballs over the middle of the plate when he got beaten. He was primarily a flyball pitcher whose velocity tended to hover in the mid-90s. He walked well more than four per nine innings, and struck out better than a batter per inning.
All of these things are true for Frank Francisco, too. All of them. They are both a very specific type of pitcher. They also look remarkably similar, facially, and wear practically the same number: Benitez wore 49, Francisco wears 48.
And Braden Looper was a groundball pitcher who barely struck out anybody. Mets fans weren’t fond of him, but it wouldn’t make any sense at all to compare Francisco to Looper, for reasons having nothing to do with race.
Notice also that despite a general dislike of Francisco Rodriguez within the fan base, no one is comparing Francisco to Rodriguez, despite the two of the being of Latin descent.
Well, not quite no one. No one with any credibility, perhaps.
If You Don’t Think Basketball Is Life & Death, Please Interview Someone Besides Kevin Garnett
Boston’s Kevin Garnett (above, right) is no stranger to bold statements and overblown analogies, and during a Saturday chat with WEEI’s Grande & Max he continued on a similar path, promising that he’d kill himself in order to win. I’m hopeful Billy Hunter has made it clear KG cannot be contractually held to this pledge. Transcription courtesy of Slam :
‘I’d die out here if I had to and that’s real talk. I’ve been doing this for a long time and ways where I know how to conserve energy and get ‘em at free throw lines and when guys are shooting free throws, those are valuable seconds for me. When I train in the summer I train for a lack of, and when I say that, I mean rest. I program my body to recover as quickly as it can. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I’m a cerebral player these days and I know how to buy myself time on pick and rolls and stuff like that, things that you don’t see when you’re in your seat and it helps me.’ [...] ‘I have no life at this point. I go home, get treatment, come back in here, study tape, film. No life at all. This is what it is.’
05.13.12
Notorious Wife Swapper Declares : “I Was The Proto Cole Hamels”
…which you have to admit, is slightly less spectacular than comparing yourself to Bob Gibson. Fomer Yankee starter Fritz Peterson is characterized by the New York Daily News’ Bill Madden as, “delightfully flaky”, in a nod to a libertine lifestyle that made headlines nearly 40 years ago. That’s a description that’s slightly easier to swallow than say, Cole Hamels calling himself “old school”.
“I hit 42 batters in my career,” Peterson said, “every one of them deliberately.”
He’s quite proud of that, if only because it says something about his control, and also because, in his mind, it helped him last as long as he did in the big leagues, with a 133-131 record from 1966-76, including a 20-11 season with the Yankees in 1970 and two other 17-win seasons for them.
“All of my pitching strategy was about winning games and giving myself an advantage,” Peterson said. “I didn’t throw that hard, upper 80s most of the time, and so I had to use purpose pitches. Hitting batters was part of my game plan.”
And Peterson can remember each and every one of his 42 victims with great pride.
“My all-time favorite was probably Rick Monday ,” Peterson said, “even though I broke his elbow with a pitch that put him out for 50 games. I felt terrible after about that, but at the time I took great pleasure in hitting him because, in my mind, he was this brash guy from California who needed to be taught a lesson.”
Happy Mother’s Day!
(from Mad Magazine, Bob Clarke, 1971. Image copped — GET IT? — from Jim Blanchard)
QPR’s Joey Barton – Challenging Amar’e, Metta World Peace For Spring 2012′s Top Display Of Leadership
Were it not for a late PK goal by Stoke’s Jonathan Walters against now-relegated Bolton, it is pretty safe to say that QPR captain Joey Barton would be a very unpopular person in West London tonight. While Barton’s sending off failed to doom the R’s (simply because of Walters’ equalizer), it’s also likely he’s won himself the ire of Manchester United fans, mindful their club could well have won the EPL title today had the Stupor Hoops’ self-styled intellectual not left his team shorthanded at one of the most crucial times in club history.
05.12.12
Q : How Bad Was Marc Davis’ Friday Night At Staples?
A : Even Tim Donaghy thought he should’ve been more subtle. If Reggie Evans is gonna get whistled for phantom fouls, he might as well just revert to his old, cock-grabbing ways.
05.11.12
Sirius/XM Sports Yacker Doesn’t Quite Have The Pipes For The “Green Acres” Theme
(a rare photograph of Sirius/XM’s Screamo Cockface in which his mouth is not attached to Tim Tebow’s rear)
Mad Dog Radio’s Dino Costa took a break this week from running interference for George Zimmerman and/or declaring Gary Bettman to be professional sports’ best commissioner (!) to announce that starting in July, he’ll conduct his evening broadcasts from a home studio in Cheyenne, Wyoming. If that town doesn’t strike you as a cultural hotbed, Dino writes, “I hope you never show up, because the less people in Wyoming and all the better is my feeling.”
Goodbye to the concrete jungle and tall buildings, and hello to fields of amber waves of glory, with the sight of combines harvesting the fields, cows and other assorted livestock on the horizon, and majestic scenery made up of mountain ranges that never fail to take my breath away.
Goodbye to loafers and preppy ass clothing that makes me want to vomit, and hello to the pleasing sight of a man wearing a Cowboy hat, a pair of boots, a Wrangler shirt – and a well worn pair of jeans.
Goodbye to this new wave sound that some suggest is actually music — and hello once again to the best music in America…gimme that country twang of Montgomery Gentry over and over again.
Goodbye as well, to the likelihood that Dino might ever encounter more than a handful of blacks or jews. With Costa clearly in possession of incriminating photos of Chris Russo, it seems he can pretty much pick and choose which parts of the modern world he’d like to contend with. You shouldn’t be surprised that a spineless legend-in-his-own-mind like Costa would take flight from the melting pot that is NYC, but perhaps he should’ve done so much earlier. At least prior to describing a transgendered person as “it”. But leave it to a guy complaining about “this new wave sound” in 2012 (does anyone know what the fuck he’s talking about? Ladytron? Skrillex? Linda Ronstadt’s ‘Mad Love’?) to think his brand of bullying is socially acceptable.
Massarotti : Beckett Recalls One Of The Greatest Red Sox Starters Of All-Time
Sadly, that starter happens to be Roger Clemens towards the end of his tenure at Fenway Park. Hurler Josh Beckett was roundly jeered by the hometown fans after a pathetic, albeit brief performance last night against Cleveland came on the heels of his missing a prior start that was allegedly preceded by a day on the golf course. If Jeff Van Gundy considered golf and god to be the two worst things to happen to the NBA, perhaps golf, beer, fried chicken and a shitty attitude are the four worst things to happen to Josh Beckett’s career. While comparing Beckett to one of the game’s bigger frauds, the Boston Globe’s Tony Massarotti reminds us “Last summer, before the debacle that was September and after becoming a husband and father, Beckett freely admitted that baseball was not the most important thing in his life anymore..he should have just told us baseball has no meaning to him whatsoever.”
Near the end, Clemens got this way, too, remember. At this stage of his career, when he was in his early 30s, Clemens went 40-39 with a 3.77 ERA during a four-year span in which the Red Sox generally looked like they look now. Clemens was out of shape. He lost the fire who made him who he was. Clemens basically had three Cy Young Awards in the same pocket where Beckett now holds two World Series rings, and it certainly started to feel like the big guy was just cashing the checks and living off his reputation.
And so last night, there was Beckett again, telling us all that the off-days belong to him, that players only get 18 off-days during the season, the same way Clemens reminded us that the Red Sox had to carry their own bags through the airport. Clearly, you can only hide a life of entitlement for so long.
Do you even like what you do anymore, Josh? Do you? Or do you see your talent as some sort of needless burden? Five years ago, when Beckett was leading the Red Sox to their last world title, Red Sox officials spoke of Beckett having lofty goals, of him wanting to be a 300-game winner. Now they can’t get him to keep his weight down during the season. They can’t get him to stay off the golf course and do the prudent thing when he is scratched from a start with stiffness in his right lat muscle. The Red Sox just offer a series of meaningless, contradictory statement about Beckett’s injury, or non-injury, or work ethic, all seemingly because an admission of guilt or wrongdoing would reveal some weakness.
Haven’t DC Baseball Fans Suffered Enough? – Third Eye Blind At Nats Park
Thanks to Wizznutzz for the heads-up concerning the Nationals’ dubious decision to boost flagging ticket sales with a postgame concert by the enormously washed-up Third Eye Blind after the Nats/Mets tilt on August 18. CSTB’s music snob readership is already groaning, and with good reason, but I give Washington’s marketing department credit for killing the following two birds with one stone. For starters, as long as Third Eye Blind’s Stephan Jenkins is on the premises, fans and opponents alike will be reminded that Bryce Harper isn’t even close to being the biggest tool within range of a 9-volt battery.
What’s more, this could represent a unique opportunity for the Washington franchise to reconcile with a beloved broadcaster / voice-of-the-people who found himself persona non-grata, merely for suggesting Stephen Strasburg was a big pussy insulting women speaking his mind. Who amongst us isn’t dying to see ROB DIBBLE open for Third Eye Blind by performing his one-man “Don’t Look Back”-style tribute to Body Count’s self-titled, 1992 debut?
05.10.12
Botched Dunks, Terrible Tats & Smoking Weed Might Be The Least Of The Birdman’s Problems
The Denver Post’s Jessica Fender reports Nuggets C Chris Andersen will not participate in the club’s postseason activities “while Douglas County sheriff’s detectives investigate him for unknown Internet crimes against children,”.
Authorities searched Andersen’s Larkspur home this morning and seized property. Andersen, 33, has not been arrested or charged with a crime.
“The Denver Nuggets are aware of today’s media reports involving forward/center Chris Andersen. It involves a legal investigation and we are awaiting further details,” team officials wrote in an unsigned statement. “Per team policy, the Nuggets will not comment on any ongoing legal circumstance involving any player or employee.”
Andersen has been under investigation since February, when a California law enforcement agency tipped off Douglas County investigators.
MLB Advanced Media : Xenophobe Sympathizers, Or Just Deperate For Cash?
With the New York Knicks’ 2011-12 abbreviated season coming to a crashing halt last night in Miami and the Rangers having a tough time in Washington, I found some unlikely relief in the form of the overachieving Mets completing a rare road sweep of the Phillies. While the CSTB HQ jumbotron was tuned to playoff hoops and hockey, I attempted to watch the Mets/Phillies tilt via MLB.TV, an effort that would’ve been thoroughly rewarding, were it not for Texas Senate hopeful David Dewhurst (R) running some dozen or more commercials during the webcast.
It’s nice to know that MLB Advanced Media can send messages of extreme hate fuckery into my home given they know my viewing location, but Dewhurst’s crazed attack ads aimed at rival Ted Cruz combine faux patriotism with production values somewhere south of a Tim & Eric clip. Ted Cruz, you see, isn’t merely a politician. He’s A LAWYER. A lawyer that represents a Chinese company who have STOLEN “things” from “an American Manufacturer”. Never mind that everyone is entitled to the best legal representation they can find, THESE PEOPLE ARE CHINESE.
I’ve read more than once that MLB Advanced Media is wildly profitable and ranks as one of Bud Selig’s undisputed triumphs. I’ve yet to read however, who exactly Bud won’t take money from, presumably because the list is so very short.
Clemens Jurors : Who Is This Roger Guy Again?
(one of these men is on trial for something or other)
The New York Times’ Juliet Macur reports the judge presiding over Roger Clemens’ trial on federal perjury charges has warned both attorneys for both sides they’re boring the shit out of the jury. If only they’d kept the IRS staffer in the pool, who knows what kind of sparks would be flying.
“Those folk are fed up because they see their time being wasted,” the judge, Reggie Walton of United States District Court, said to the lawyers before the jury entered the courtroom.
He said jurors were so antsy that they had begun discussing the case, which they were told not to do. He said he learned about the discussions when a juror asked his law clerk when the jury would be told about the charges against Clemens because some jurors were confused about what Clemens was accused of.
Walton said he knew why they broke the rules: “Because, they’re bored!” He told both sides to stop asking unnecessary questions and stop showing needless photographs.
Brian McNamee, the government’s star witness, could have spurred jurors out of their malaise if he testified Tuesday, as the government said he would. But he did not; prosecutors pushed his testimony to later in the week.
05.08.12
Not Even A 12th Rover Can Help Blackburn Avoid Relegation
The above incident is described by When Saturday Comes’ Tom Hocking :
Blackburn Rovers fans have made it their business to protest against manager Steve Kean and owners Venky’s this season. Last night a fan managed to smuggle a chicken into Ewood Park and, adorned in a Rovers flag and a “Kean Out” placard, it was released onto the pitch in the seventh minute. Wigan goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi and Blackburn’s Yakubu formed an unlikely partnership to corner the fowl in the goal net before capturing it and handing it to a steward.
Strubel : Kancel Kiner
John Strubel claims to understand and respect, “Ralph Kiner’s importance in Mets history”, but that doesn’t mean he’s particularly patient when it comes to the Kiner’s very occasional visits to the SNY booth, this Sunday’s game against Arizona being a case in point (link courtesy Repoz and Baseball Think Factory)
Kiner, 89, was back in Flushing, making the annual pilgrimage to appear on SNY’s broadcast. I understand the desire to honor Mets history, but listening to Kiner was uncomfortable. His three-inning appearance was dominated by slurred, inaudible comments. While Kiner appears to still have a sharp memory of people, places and games and has been referred to by the New York Times as ”a human archive of Mets and baseball history,” sorry, he no longer adds value to the broadcast.
Call it blasphemy, I understand. Refer to me in expletives, I can take it. But when you’re done throwing darts ask yourself, is it true? Go to MLB.com and watch the replay of the game. Listen to Kiner. When you’re done listening, ask yourself, “Why was Kiner invited on the air?”
I thought of the possible reasons why the Mets (and SNY) still invite Kiner back to the broadcast booth. If it’s tradition, then please explain to me when the Mets began taking tradition into consideration (see Banner Day, Mets Hall of Fame, Old Timer’s Day, etc.)?
Pride? History? SNY can go along of directions in response. Tom Seaver. Bud Harrelson. Darryl Strawberry. In fact, don’t the Mets already have a strong contigency of team pride and history already on staff (Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling, Bob Ojeda)?
Kiner’s work is no longer enjoyable. His slurred speech and inaudible mumblings are no longer desirable. Please, SNY, stop while you’re ahead. This is not how Mets fans want to remember Ralph Kiner.
OK, I’m pretty certain Strubel holds the Mets and SNY accountable here rather than blaming Kiner for having lost a step or several at nearly 90 years of age. I’d also hope that when and if Ralph’s no longer capable of adding coherent thoughts to Mets broadcast, he’d be the first person to admit as much. But to suggest Tom Seaver would be an adequate guest/replacement compared to Kiner has me wondering if Stubel’s actually heard the former’s not-so-terrific tenures as an analyst for the Mets or Yankees.
I’m not going to argue that Kiner’s best days are long behind him, but what purpose is served in pointing out the obvious? Could it be, that during an era in which Mets ownership is generally short-sighted and purely profit motivated, they continue to invite Ralph to participate because we love him so much?
My own memories of Kiner’s insights and humor are in no way threatened by episodes like Sunday. Even on his worst afternoons, he’s still making more far sense than Fran Healy ever managed. I’ll take a few of innings of Ralph Kiner at diminished capacity over Josh Lewin on the radio any day of the week.
Q: How Do You Know When Al Trautwig Isn’t Shilling For The Knicks?
A: He’s probably at home in his bathrobe or doing something with friends and family besides his job. Man, what a loaded question! While Amar’e Stoudemire’s productive performance in Game 4 of the Knicks’ first-round playoff series with Miami was highly unlikely given his self-inflicted injury, few can be surprised at Mike Woodson’s insistence that PG Jeremy Lin is unavailable, even were the series to go to a 7th game. Few, that is, besides MSG’s Al Trautwig, who as recently as Sunday afternoon, continued to tease a Lin comeback, causing the New York Daily News’ resident Gallagher-lookalike Bob Raissman to dub Al, “a snake-oil salesman”.
“I always wondered how the Jeremy Lin movie would end. Here we go,” Trautwig said on MSG’s Game 4 postgame show. “Jeremy Lin returns for Game 5 and leads the Knicks to become the only team in NBA history to come back from an 0-3 deficit.”
The statement was absurd on many levels. No matter. The jive Trautwig was pushing is good for Garden business. It fits a pattern at the Gulag, where fantasy is sold as reality to a fan base that laps it up and a segment of the media that spreads it as if it were fact. Wiggie now creating the notion Lin can ride into Miami on his white sneakers and save the day is the last illusion left to sell this season.
05.07.12
Major Accounting Firm Owns Up : There’s No Persons Alive Who’d Call Andrew Bogut, “Most Improved”
The NBA’s Most Improved Player Award winner was unveiled Friday, with Orlando’s Ryan Anderson becoming the fifth Magic play to received said honor. Incredibly, Bucks/Warriors C Andrew Bogut reportedly garnered a first place vote, despite playing in just a dozen games for this past season. SheridanHoops’ Chris Bernucca initially figured this was “a practical joke”, but has since learned the accounting firm in charge of the balloting, Ernst & Young, goofed. Thus providing guys like me with another opportunity to dump on Andrew Bogut. Maybe this guy shouldn’t be running an accounting firm?
The NBA sent a release Sunday admitting the error and stating that the vote that went to Bogut should have been given to Andrew Bynum.
It appears to be an honest mistake, one that removes Bogut from the list of players receiving votes and elevates Bynum to sole possession of fourth place with 101 points.
Ernst & Young also handles the draft lottery drawing for the NBA later this month. Let’s hope the firm has gotten all of its mistakes out of its system and Anthony Davis doesn’t wind up with the Miami Heat.
They’re Already Buying Tuxedos For The VMA’s : The Golden Boys’ “Dirty Fingernails” video
The Golden Boys – “Dirty Fingernails” (from the album, ‘Dirty Fingernails’, 12XU), directed by James Parker and Jeremy Ward
Featuring an abundance of goth-baiting, stylist-brawling, gratuitous littering and pizza thieving, “Dirty Fingernails”, the second video from The Golden Boys’ fifth album was shot two weekends ago and makes great use of local landmarks that are a big part of the band’s day-to-day lives (Trailer Space, Nay Nay’s bathtub). In short, it’s the greatest music video from the state of Texas since this.
Cole Hamels : Far More Comfortable With A Purpose Pitch Than Shawn Estes
(above : guy who was the subject of no-hype whatsoever)
Phillies starer Shawn Estes plunked Nats rookie OF Bryce Harper in the first inning of last night’s 9-3 Philadelphia takeover of Nats Park victory, and while Harper made the highlight reel by stealing home a few minutes later, it’s Hamels’ postgame comments to the Inquirer’s Matt Gelb that will likely raise eyebrows at MLB.
“I was trying to hit him. I’m not going to deny it. It’s something I grew up watching. That’s what happened. I’m just trying to continue the old baseball. Some people get away from it. I remember when I was a rookie, the strike zone was really, really small and you didn’t say anything. That’s the way baseball is. Sometimes the league is protecting certain players. It’s that old-school prestigious way of baseball.”
Hamels is gonna get points for honesty this morning, but his admission is rife with confusing doublespeak (if the strike zone is bigger in 2012, where’s his gripe?) and implications of favoritism (8 days into Harper’s big league career). It really doesn’t sound any better than simply saying, “Harper’s punk reputation preceded him…and I’m jealous.”
