tennis, football, and baseball in just one post!

as we are reminded daily…you can’t always get what you want. that’s part of being a sports fan. it’s a good thing that real life interferes with sports, because being depressed for too long can’t be healthy for us.

andre agassi is one of the greatest tennis players ever. roger federer may be the best i’ve ever seen. i really wanted agassi to win, as the highly partisan crowd in new york did, and he had a good chance in that third set. he had a great run in the u.s. open…and for three sets, it was a competitive match. i’m sorry that the match ended the way it did for andre, but i hope he keeps playing. he is fun to watch.

as for my beloved ohio state buckeyes, their loss to texas doesn’t surprise me. after watching justin zwick and troy smith struggle at QB, i have decided that i don’t like either of them. try someone else. here’s what we need to do. work on the runnning game until it actually becomes a threat to the opposition. throw more long passes to holmes and ginn. continue to unleash carpenter and a.j. hawk on the opposing QBs. the weekend wasn’t a total loss, as the michigan wolverines went down in flames to notre dame.

what can i say about the new york mets? apply the sharp, pointy fork. they’re done. sure, it was somewhat impossible to climb over four teams, including three division opponents, to get the wild-card slot. i can still call the last few games a pitiful choke job, because that’s what it was. i suppose ending the season with a winning record is too much to ask. we shall see.

coming up in this here blog — my theory on why fans of ohio sports teams are so pessimistic about those teams, the radical cult-like nature of fantasy sports, and the abuse of information by televised sporting events.

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ramblings about sports part II

the pro baseball season is winding down and it’s going to be crazy down the stretch. I would like to see the Yankees miss the playoffs. I have a few other thoughts here.

  • now would be a good time for the mets to act like they are making a serious attempt to make the playoffs.
  • question for red sox fans: which would you rather have, a healthy schilling or last year’s world series championship? apparently you can’t have both. I would also worry about that bullpen.
  • root against the Yankees. it’s always the right thing to do –forcing their fans to endure suffering and embrace humility. losing games could work to achieve this. it’s more difficult to hate steinbrenner when he donates a million bucks to Katrina relief.
  • more proof that great defense is superior to great offense in baseball – baseball tonight on espn and web gems. home runs we’ve seen before. yawn. diving catches and sweet double plays never get old or boring.

by the way, if you don’t follow baseball, football, or college basketball, you should be kicked out of the jingo-istic American cabal. loving sports is just as much a part of the American fabric as capitalism and should be respected in the same way. women are of course excluded from this requirement.

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suggestions for my beloved baseball team

before i get into this post, i would just like to comment on the worthless drivel that is the VMAs. good to know diddy doesn’t need to work out issues with self-esteem. was it just me, or was the whole thing a 3+ hour commercial for the former sean combs? it seemed like r. kelly was lip-syncing…think anyone’s gonna call him on it? what was the deal with that whole skit, anyway? i don’t even want to get into whatever shakira thought she was doing up there.

i’ve noticed a bad trend among male rock stars –green day, my chemical romance, etc — the black eyeliner. just don’t do it. it’s not a good look. that’s time in my life i will never get back. 🙁

ok. back to baseball…
the mets are still hanging around the playoff chase. they have very important games coming up against division opponents. there has been some suggestions about trading steve trachsel for some bullpen help. yes, we do need some. i’m just not sure this is the way to accomplish that goal. of course, we really don’t have many good pieces to trade right now.

i’m not comfortable with our current rotation without trachsel. we have pedro, zambrano (ick), benson, glavine (who has pitched better recently), and seo. this is not a rotation that inspires much fear. i would take my chances with trachsel over zambrano.

as far as the bullpen is concerned, at this point i don’t think there’s anyone out there worth trading trachsel for. even if his value is diminished somewhat, he’s still worth more than a couple relief pitchers.

mr. omar minaya – don’t be a fool. don’t do it. (trade trachsel for scrubs)

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an actual sports post

can it be possible that the mets are still playoff-chasing, even though they are dead last in the nl east??? i can’t believe it either.

from the “this doesn’t happen very often” department — the mets are actually playing better than the yankees. wouldn’t it be awesome if the yankees missed the playoffs entirely? YES.

speaking of the evil empire (and i was), isn’t it obvious that the yankees are a prime example of capitalism run amok? even the free market can’t prevent age and injuries, george. heh.

take heart, devil rays fans. yes, it sucks to be you. but at least you’re not royals fans and you have former met prospect scott kasmir. thanks for zambrano, by the way. please take him back.

anyone else ignoring the NFL preseason? proof that pre-season means nothing? cleveland browns 2 and 0.

so the president doesn’t believe he was wrong about iraq? (i agree) will he admit to being wrong about MLB’s wild-card?

i see playoff chokes from the white sox, cardinals, and braves. i would see one from the yankees, except they will choke before the playoffs. the playoffs are wide-open in my view. everybody in has a shot…and one fatal flaw.

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memo to T.O. and Gary Sheffield–shut up and play ball!

i am not a philadelphia eagles fan. if i were one, i would be sick of the constant whining of terrell owens. he is one of the many examples in sports today of talented athletes who think they are special enough to treat other people like dirt or to flame them in the media. it’s a joke. all of us want to make more money in our jobs. that’s understandable, except that the ink is barely dry on t.o.’s current contract. is he underpaid in his current deal? maybe. but he has only himself and his agent to blame for signing it in the first place. the eagles are exactly right in this case to take a hard line on owens and his idiocy.

as far as gary sheffield and his comments about the yankees are concerned, what the heck did he expect in new york? a team with a-rod and the overrated derek jeter will never give gary sheffield top billing, sorry. grow up, sheff. get with the long-forgotten team concept. they need you to help them stay in the playoff hunt and you’re not helping the cause.

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