One of my loyal readers wants some Braves road woes talk, and I am happy to oblige. They suck on the road. End of story, sort of. They are 7-18 on the road this year, near the bottom of the league in that category. Everyone except Chipper stops hitting on the road. The real issue is that they have lost 17 straight 1-run games away from the Ted, which tells me that two things... bullpen has been unsteady and clutch, late inning hitting has been non-existent.
Good news though. The Braves decided to go with the all-navy hats yesterday with the grey unis, something I have been hoping for all year, and it paid off with an 8-1 win. They better have the same look going tonight vs. the Reds in Cincy. And does anyone else love the navy blue jerseys as much as I do? I wish they didn't get beat every time they wear them, b/c Bobby will probably hang those up for good if they can't bust a win out in 'em sometime soon.
And these days, no Braves post can go without a Chipper update. After 54 games (50 for him), he is hitting .420. Not a typo folks. The 36 year old is crushing. A couple of interesting items when you dig into his stats. (If you are interested, espn.com has a great stats page full of drillable statlines with a huge array of ways to sort and filter. And I just gave away the fact that I am a geek with no life) Chipper is hitting about .430 from the right side, .415 from the left. Unbelievable consistency from both sides. He leads the NL in walks for the month of May, but is not even in the top 25 for the year, which means pitchers are just now starting to pitch around him... fools I tell you! In addition to his walks, he ranks in the bottom 20 of all qualifying hitters (3.1 AB/game) in strikeouts, with a lowly 18. Unreal. And since this time last year, he has hit a cool .378, obviously best in the major leagues. Any MVP talk that starts developing this summer had better include alot of Chipper talk. Without him, these Braves are 8 games under .500 at best.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Instant Replay Anyone? Not me.
Welcome back loyal readers. I apologize for depriving so many(I mean both) of you of my rants and raves for a few weeks. With a busy work schedule and some travel mixed in, I had to put aside the soap box for a bit... But I'm back with a vengeance.
First topic of note: not the election, GW's former press secretary ripping him a new one (although I will get to that one sometime soon), or stupid stories about our needy population demanding more of my paycheck to buy cell phones and tv's. No, this post is about the new push in the sports media to bring in the dreaded, bring-the-game-to-a-snail's-pace instant replay in Major League Baseball. The all-american pasttime, the grand ole game, whatever you like to call it, has long been the bastion of tradition and americana. Aside from a few bogus updates to the game (the DH, for example), baseball has remained much the same as it was back in the late 1890's when it became part of our national culture. Players have gotten bigger, bats have got more pop, and the stadiums are now multimedia events for a family, but the rules of the game have not changed much.
We are now being bombarded with stories about the need for instant replay in the game. SI.com has a feature article right now about its imminent need to ensure the accuracy of the calls made. Sounds all swell, but that goes against the fabric of the game to me. Calls are going to be missed, as they have been for years. Calling a strike when a pitcher is throwing 99 mph is probably the most difficult task in all of sports officiating. Seeing whether or not a ball hit the chalk or just missed is right behind it. But 99.9 percent of the time, the call is correct. And when it is not, the players/teams deal with it.
The call now is for instant replays on fair/foul calls, home runs that hit/don't hit the foul pole, not necessarily for a computerized strike zone. But guess what: the New Deal in the 1930's was seen as a temporary fix to address the problems with the Great Depression, not send this nation into a feeding frenzy for billions of dollars every year in handouts, even almost 80 years later. My point being that it doesn't stop once the ball gets rolling. Replays for review will turn into replays for balls and strikes, which will turn into a digital strike zone. Heck, why don't we just get rid of umpires all together and call the whole game electronically?
Most of you probably think I am an idiot and should get with the times, much like the NFL, NBA, and other pro leagues have done. Have you watched one of these games though when the replay goes into effect? 15 minutes later, the ref in an NFL game comes back to say that the ruling on the field stands. Great. I just wasted 15 minutes of my life. Baseball is a slow enough game as it is, especially for the casual fan. And how much fun is it to watch Bobby Cox waddle out of the dugout to argue a call and get tossed? One of the great joys of life that is. What will he do now? Rip off a red stirrup from his leg and chunk it onto the field before the next pitch?
Keep the game the way it is. Missed calls have broken my heart, made me breathe a sigh of relief, and been a part of this game since day one. Let's not change that people. Just because we have the technology to be perfect doesn't mean its in the best interest to do so.
First topic of note: not the election, GW's former press secretary ripping him a new one (although I will get to that one sometime soon), or stupid stories about our needy population demanding more of my paycheck to buy cell phones and tv's. No, this post is about the new push in the sports media to bring in the dreaded, bring-the-game-to-a-snail's-pace instant replay in Major League Baseball. The all-american pasttime, the grand ole game, whatever you like to call it, has long been the bastion of tradition and americana. Aside from a few bogus updates to the game (the DH, for example), baseball has remained much the same as it was back in the late 1890's when it became part of our national culture. Players have gotten bigger, bats have got more pop, and the stadiums are now multimedia events for a family, but the rules of the game have not changed much.
We are now being bombarded with stories about the need for instant replay in the game. SI.com has a feature article right now about its imminent need to ensure the accuracy of the calls made. Sounds all swell, but that goes against the fabric of the game to me. Calls are going to be missed, as they have been for years. Calling a strike when a pitcher is throwing 99 mph is probably the most difficult task in all of sports officiating. Seeing whether or not a ball hit the chalk or just missed is right behind it. But 99.9 percent of the time, the call is correct. And when it is not, the players/teams deal with it.
The call now is for instant replays on fair/foul calls, home runs that hit/don't hit the foul pole, not necessarily for a computerized strike zone. But guess what: the New Deal in the 1930's was seen as a temporary fix to address the problems with the Great Depression, not send this nation into a feeding frenzy for billions of dollars every year in handouts, even almost 80 years later. My point being that it doesn't stop once the ball gets rolling. Replays for review will turn into replays for balls and strikes, which will turn into a digital strike zone. Heck, why don't we just get rid of umpires all together and call the whole game electronically?
Most of you probably think I am an idiot and should get with the times, much like the NFL, NBA, and other pro leagues have done. Have you watched one of these games though when the replay goes into effect? 15 minutes later, the ref in an NFL game comes back to say that the ruling on the field stands. Great. I just wasted 15 minutes of my life. Baseball is a slow enough game as it is, especially for the casual fan. And how much fun is it to watch Bobby Cox waddle out of the dugout to argue a call and get tossed? One of the great joys of life that is. What will he do now? Rip off a red stirrup from his leg and chunk it onto the field before the next pitch?
Keep the game the way it is. Missed calls have broken my heart, made me breathe a sigh of relief, and been a part of this game since day one. Let's not change that people. Just because we have the technology to be perfect doesn't mean its in the best interest to do so.
Monday, May 5, 2008
I love animals, but...
are you serious about this? Going through the AJC online this morning, and came across this gem of a story. http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/stories/2008/05/04/peta_0505.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab
For those of you too busy to click the link, PETA wants the jockey of the euthanized Kentucky Derby Runner Up, Eight Belles, to be suspended and have the $400,000 prize money revoked. They say that, and I quote, the horse was 'doubtlessly injured before the finish'. Really? Was a PETA psycho actually on the horse? Or wait, maybe they can read the horse's thoughts and sensed pain in those ankles. Either way, these guys are obviously way more intelligent than us mere mortals. I can't even tell what my dog is thinking. Actually that's a lie. He is thinking how much more he likes Summer than me, but that is another story.
These PETA clowns are a disgrace. Some of their causes may be worthy, but just like with the Democrat party, they have been hijacked by fools and nutjobs. This is a horse race. Been here for longer than your stupid organization. Will be around after PETA goes the way of the garbage can, I mean recycling bin. It sucks that a horse died, but we'll all go on just the same. It was an accident, and accidents happen.
For those of you too busy to click the link, PETA wants the jockey of the euthanized Kentucky Derby Runner Up, Eight Belles, to be suspended and have the $400,000 prize money revoked. They say that, and I quote, the horse was 'doubtlessly injured before the finish'. Really? Was a PETA psycho actually on the horse? Or wait, maybe they can read the horse's thoughts and sensed pain in those ankles. Either way, these guys are obviously way more intelligent than us mere mortals. I can't even tell what my dog is thinking. Actually that's a lie. He is thinking how much more he likes Summer than me, but that is another story.
These PETA clowns are a disgrace. Some of their causes may be worthy, but just like with the Democrat party, they have been hijacked by fools and nutjobs. This is a horse race. Been here for longer than your stupid organization. Will be around after PETA goes the way of the garbage can, I mean recycling bin. It sucks that a horse died, but we'll all go on just the same. It was an accident, and accidents happen.
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