Happy Birthday's

  Just browsed a list of today's famous birthdays (courtesy of www.famousbirthdays.com) and found it interesting that there are no interesting birthday's today.  This prompted me to google "today's sports birthdays" and although I have yet to view the results, I'd imagine I can round up some pertinent information on at least 1 or 2 of these athletes.

  1.  Happy Birthday to Joliet, IL native Jesse Barfield.  51 years young today, he was once a featured gun out in right field, known predominantly for a cannon otherwise knows as his right arm.  He led all outfielders in assists from 1985 to 1987 - surprisingly, people kept trying to take an extra base on him.  He finished his career with 162 outfield assists - well short of Tris Speakers 449 career assists, but still a huge number for a 12 year career.

  Some of his on-field accomplishments included making the 1986 AL All-Star team (0-3, 2K), winning 2 Gold Glove Awards (1986, 1987) as well as a Silver Slugger Award (1986).  For his   After 8+ seasons north of the border, he was traded to the NY Yankees for left-handed pitcher Al Leiter.  He remained with the Yankees until after the 1992 season, when he took his game overseas and played for the Yomiuri Giants for a season in 1993.

  Barfield can still be found at Yankee Stadium for the yearly Old Timer's Day - throwing old dudes out at home with regularity.

  Over his 12-year MLB career, he amassed 241 HR, 716 RBI's, and 1,234 strikeouts (in 1,428 games).  He wasn't so much known for his bat, but he had an arm that base runners of his era will not soon forget.

  2.  Former NY Islander defenceman Denis Potvin turns 57 today.  He was the 1st overall pick in the 1973 NHL Draft and was inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame in 1991.  Although he is currently one of the voices of the Florida Panthers, it might best be remembered when the Islanders and Rangers played at the Garden, Ranger fans chanting, "beat your wife Potvin, beat your wife." over and over and over again.  Unless you've been to a Rangers game, you don't know the tempo or cadence of that chant, but you get the picture.  Another favorite of Ranger fans, albeit less original, were the "Potvin Sucks!" chants that bellowed from the rafters of MSG.  They were all jealous of his beard.

  I was brought up an Islanders fan (it gets harder and harder to root for them) but I will stick by them.  They play in a dump, so the end product really is no surprise.  He and Brian Trottier are the only two players Islanders to play 1,000 games for the team, a list that isn't likely to grow anytime soon.

  Let's Go Islanders!  Let's Go Islanders!  Potvin helped lead the Islanders to an unprecedented 4 consecutive Stanley Cup victories from 1979-80 to 1982-83.  (even though on the 1980-81 Cup, it reads "Ilanders").

  3. NY Mets right handed knuckle-baller RA Dickey is 36 today.

  4. Former Ohio State standout RB and current criminal Maurice Clarett turns 27 today.

  5. Puerto Rican boxing great Wilfredo "Bazooka" Gomez (44-3-1) turns 54 today.

  SF Giants are two wins away folks.  SUCKA!  All you Rangers fans with that stupid air high five or magic fist or claw, whatever you wanna call it.  Doesn't seem to be working thus far.  Still a ways to go, but it's a good start for the renegade Giants.

Jays-Yanks; Hold off Earl

  Headed over to the Stadium at around noon or so to catch a matinee between the Blue Jays and the Yankees.  Upstart Ivan Nova takes the hill for the Yanks while Brandon Morrow gets the nod for the Jays.

  Nova is making his third start since being called up from AAA (against TOR and CWS).  He's 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA. 

  Morrow has some electric stuff, 174 K's in 143.1 IP.  He's struck out 21 Yankees  in his two August starts against the Bombers (12 in a ND and 9 in a W).  This is a guy who struck out 17 in a one-hitter vs. Tampa on August 8th.  Surprisingly enough, his double-digit K games versus the Yankees and Rays are his only two of the year (he's had 11 other games on 8+ K). 

  They've seen Morrow before.  Just gotta figure him out and put the ball in play and anything can happen.  Toronto is 8th in the MLB  in fielding percentage (NYY are 4th).  Toronto is looking to play spoiler.

  Nova can't let MLB HR-leader Jose Bautista beat him.  He pitches well, the Yankees can open up a 2 game lead over 2nd-place TB (who visits the lowly Orioles tonight). 

  Hurricane Earl should hold off a little bit today, I'm hopeful.  It's a hell of a lot cooler outside, still muggy as shit, but you can't always get what you want.  Stay away Earl!!

  11pm Friday it should hit the NYC area.  That's tonight, for all you meteorologists.  We're the 2nd to last stop on the Earl Train.  From what I hear, they're preparing for a natural disaster off the Massachusetts coast.  Hope it's an over-reaction.  Earl needs to cool it.

  OK, time to get some stuff done.  Breakfast is the first order of business.

Baseball and Birthdays

Well, the Yankees almost pulled it off last night against the Phillies.  Brad Lidge's ERA went up from a 1.12 to a 2.00 and he made the game pretty interesting.  He's been pretty automatic since he's been healthy this season, so it was good that the Yanks showed a little fight.  I was on the flight back from Dallas, so I missed it.  We flew AirTran but I wish I would have gone JetBlue.  AirTran has some of the most cramped seating of any airline I've ever been on.  K, K, BB, 2B, 1B, K.  He struck out the side, but all the drama started with a two-out walk to Mark Teixeira and could have ended with a walk-off. 

The Rays are reeling (7-6 in June), the Yankees have been fairly steady (10-4 in June), as are the Sox (10-5 in June).  The Blue Jays have fallen back down to Earth and the O's are still looking for an answer.  Shaping up to be a three horse race again, for like the fifth straight season. 

I am going to the Yankees game tonight - and am just counting my blessings I don't have to suffer through a Jamie Moyer start.  Kyle Kendrick vs. Andy Pettitte.  Andy is going for win #201 as a Yankee and #238 overall.  He is putting up incredible numbers thus far, with his only real bad outing being against the Rays on May 20th (5 IP, 9 H, 7 R) in am 8-6 loss.  Looking forward to the game - it's always nice seeing a game at the Stadium, freaking thing is awesome.  It's really a sight to be seen.

The Rays are on the docket too, as Big Game James Shields takes on Tim Hudson in Atlanta.  The Yanks could take over first place tonight.  Hudson has been nothing short of dominant this year (6-2, 2.43 ERA).  He's had some command issues (30 BB in 85.1 IP) but has pitched out of the jams for the most part.  His last outing was a 2-1 CG loss to the Twins (8 IP, 7 H, 2 K).  When he's on, he's tough to hit.  Let's go Timmy.

Party at the "Copacabana", Barry Manilow turns 64 years old today.  He's still knocking them dead - I mean he should be, he's probably had a lot of $$ pumped in and out of his face.  He's made quite the transformation - I mean normally, you go from left to right, he went the opposite direction.  Wrinkles be gone, poof!!  I am kind of glad he chose Barry Manilow, seeing how he was born Barry Alan Pincus.  He was raised in Williamsburg Brooklyn.  He started off writing jingles, and his most famous being State Farm Insurance ("Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there...") and Band-Aid's (I am stuck on Band-Aid, 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me!").  Happy Birthday Barry, and thanks for taking on your mother's last name.

Back at work, gotta do some work.  Going to purchase some chain and lock it down at Gaelic.

Lock it up!

Rants, raves, ridicule, and riots

Rant:  Well looky looky who decided to come out of his early season funk, but the cheese-man Javy Vazquez.  For the second straight start, he actually dominated the game the way he can and should.  This is the guy who's 2nd behind Randy Johnson in K's since the start of the 2000 season, and today he had 9 (vs. TOR).  Last Tuesday, he had 7 against the O's.  Today, he passed HOFer Juan Marichal (2,303) to move into 44th all-time in strikeouts with 2,305.  Next on the list is Rube Waddell (2,316).  Keep climbing Javy.

Past two starts:  14 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 5 BB, 16 K - sounds like numbers from a guy who $11.5 million dollars.  Get on a roll for God's sake - you are pretty good, contrary to what you might believe.  Just because you're the Yankees #5 starter doesn't mean you can't pitch like a #2 or #3 starter, I'm sure they wouldn't mind.  Keep doing it, queso!

Rave:  Although a rave is often times thought of as a drug-induced party with fast-paced electronic music, the actual definition is this (according to dictionary.com): 

–verb (used without object):  1.to talk wildly, as in delirium.  2.to talk or write with extravagant enthusiasm. 

3.(of wind, water, storms, etc.) to make a wild or furious sound; rage.

–verb (used with object):  4.to utter as if in madness.

–noun:  5.an act of raving.  6.an extravagantly enthusiastic appraisal or review of something.  7.Chiefly British Slang. a boisterous party, esp. a dance.

–adjective:  8.extravagantly flattering or enthusiastic: rave reviews of a new play.

For this part of the post, I will refer to definition 2.  There is a song out right now, "Magic" by B.o.B. ft. Rivers Cuomo.  For those of you not familiar with music, have no access to a radio, and have no access to a television, this is probably a song you've never heard.  Rivers Cuomo is the lead singer of Weezer, one of the greatest bands from the past 15+ years.  21-year-old rapper/songwriter/producer B.o.B. is coming on strong.  "Magic" may be one of the lesser known songs, but it is hands down my favorite.  "Airplanes" featuring Hayley Williams (Paramore) is #3 on the Billboard Top100.  You might have heard that one, but here is the link: "Magic" - B.o.B. ft. Rivers Cuomo.

Ridicule:  Parents, parents, parents.  I was driving to CT today and was listening to WFAN radio, 660AM and there was a discussion on trophies in youth sports and callers were calling in for around 25 minutes.  I wanted to dial the number and get on the radio, but 1. my terrible memory prevented me from memorizing the number, and 2. I don't have one of those blue tooth ear pieces (because I'm not a tool).  I think trophies up until the age of 10 or 11 is fine, but eventually, enough is enough.  Kids who get trophies for being on a team where they are a non-factors should not get trophies - trophies for everyone should stop in middle school.  I mean the kid who wins 7 games gets the same trophy/varsity letter as the schmuck who kept the book all year?  Kids (and parents) need to realize that there are kids better than them (or their kids) and accept the fact that there is no participation trophy for life.  Kids feel a sense of entitlement because they've been desensitized to failure.  There is more pats on the ass than there should be.  "You made 3 errors, so what, you guys won"  B.S.  "You played well, went 4-4 with 2 doubles.  The rest of the guys sucked, that's why you lost 10-1"  B.S.  If you show  up to work every day and get nothing accomplished, what do you get?  FIRED!  If you show up to college and try to walk-on to a college baseball team and go 0-14 in tryouts, what do you get?  CUT!  There are no awards for participation, and I believe these awards/trophies should cease after the age of 12. 

Parents who coach and play their kid over the rest of the kids because he's his own, take a good hard look in the mirror, and ask yourself this:  is my kid better than the guy starting in front of him?  If he is, then start him, because he's better, not because he's your kid. 

The cream rises to the top, and those guys should be rewarded.  That's why awards in the college and professional ranks are so elite, because only a handful of guys get them, and for good reason.  They showed up and dominated.  They didn't suck.  Those guys tend to get released or traded.  Take it or leave it.  Let's hope kids get tougher.  If my dad ever called a college coach asking why I wasn't pitching, I woulda asked him to stop coming to my games.  And I'd be embarrassed as shit.  Let the kids play, and earn whatever awards or accolades they may receive.  Work hard, practice hard, play hard.  Don't bitch if you don't get a trophy. 

You shouldn't play a sport for a trophy, you should play it because you love it.

Riots:  Just a joke i came across today - Lindsay, I wouldn't golf if this was me:  A man and a friend are playing golf one day at their local golf course. One of the guys is about to chip onto the green when he sees a long funeral procession on the road next to the course. He stops in mid-swing, takes off his golf cap, closes his eyes, and bows down in prayer.

His friend says: “Wow, that is the most thoughtful and touching thing I have ever seen. You truly are a kind man.”
The man then replies: “Yeah, well we were married 35 years.”

It' 6:17, do you know why I'm up?

Nathan needed to go out, that's why.  Yesterday he slept in, which allowed me to sleep in for the first time since like 2003.  I felt like crap yesterday for the most part, so sleeping until 7:25am was nice, although it didn't help how I felt.  Today, 5:57am and he was walking on the wooden floor, my alarm clock.  Might as well be productive for five minutes.

R.I.P. John Wooden - UCLA legend John Wooden passed away at the ripe old age of 99 yesterday.  He was considered a teacher and an innovator.  He led his Bruins squad to 88 consecutive wins between January 1971 and January 1974, including two undefeated National Championships.  No small order.  He was and always will be considered the greatest of all time.

AJ Burnett looked like crap, and the Yankees lost to the Blue Jays 6-1 last night at Rogers Centre.  They didn't even have an RBI - Swisher had a nice GIDP in the 6th to score their only run.  Completely uninspired effort last night, but it was against one of the hottest pitchers in the league, LHP Brett Cecil.  He's improved to 6-2 on the year, winning his last four starts with a 1.21 ERA over that span.  Today, Andy Pettitte will take on another Toronto lefty, Ricky Romero, who actually has better numbers than Cecil this year.  Tall order, Yankees win, Yankeeeeeeeees win!

Back to the A/C - I'm done for now.  And I'm ready to eat brunch at Jesse and Julia's engagement brunch today.  Checked out the menu last night, looks good.  Will give you the rundown when we get back.