If you wanna know about sports this is the place to go. And I don't mean the modern "which athlete tweeted what about who" brand of media that has sprung up so recently (thanks ESPN). I mean actually stories and opinions (i.e. my opinions) about stuff worth talking about. It may not always be the most trendy or fashionable news of the day, but it'll be good. At least, I hope so.
Oh, and they call me Panda.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Hi Everybody… Hi Dr. Nick!
Nothing like the boredom inspired by a lazy summer at home to make you want to share your opinion about stuff with people who probably don’t care. Anyway, I’m back! (at least for one post).
In my time away, a lot of sports stuff has occurred that I’m gonna try and get caught up on.
The Dallas Mavericks won the NBA Championship, defeating the “taking my talents to South Beach” Miami Heat (that joke never gets old). As a Mavs fan, my life is now complete, and even though this is old news, I’ll probably talk about it some more in the near future.
Lockouts galor! Well, lockouts for the NBA and NFL anyway. Two of America’s (Amurica’s) top 4 sports currently have no plans to play in the near future, although the NFL is apparently getting closer to a deal, and that’s kind of terrifying. Especially with the NBA coming off one of their best seasons popularity wise in a decent time. I haven’t done as much homework as I probably should have on this stuff, so more to come soon.
College football corruption has replaced political sex scandals as America’s drama filled pastime, despite Wiener’s best attempts to keep memories of the Clinton years alive (low blow? too soon? shouldn’t have cheated on his wife via the internet then). If it’s a college football program that’s won something important recently, they’re probably being investigated. Ohio State (you can put a The in front of that if you want, I refuse), Oregon, Auburn, North Carolina, USC, West Virginia, they’ve all/are being investigated for one reason or another. Again, something else I’ll go into more later, but if people want to start placing bets on who is gonna get the death penalty, there are some strong candidates to consider (Pony Up!)
In sum, there is no better time for a re-opening of this project. As long as a good book or my re-found obsession with golf don’t get in the way, I hope to be able to continue bringing some solid, opinionated sports thoughts your way. Enjoy (please).
Old Time Family Baseball: Team Recap: Texas Rangers
For previous recaps, click here.
Record: 90-72, 1st Place in the AL West, American League Champions
Offensive Leaders: Josh Hamilton 1.044 OPS, 8.0 WAR
Pitching Leaders: CJ Wilson 3.35 ERA, CJ Wilson/Colby Lewis 4.4 WAR
Surprise: Colby Lewis’ years in Japan were absolutely…
I love longboarding, can’t wait for the snow to clear up so I can get out again
Milk 'n Cookies: Top 5: Everything that went wrong in Super Bowl XLV
Have you already forgot about the Super Bowl? I know I have, and it’s not just because the Green Bay Packers had it in the bag back in Week 8. I had a problem with a number of things last Sunday (and it wasn’t just that my favorite team didn’t even make it to the playoffs). Here is my list of…
I love Blake Griffin, probably a little too much
Blake Griffin does what he does with the huge put-back slam against Miami.
Because Blake Griffin embodies all that is awesome.
Fun Stuff Since Last Week
So lots of cool stuff has happened in the sports world this past week or so, and some more events are coming down the pipe, here are some of my particular favorites:
Super Bowl - the Super Bowl is this week. If you want hear all about it go watch ESPN cause they aren’t gonna stop talking about it until Sunday. Its the Steelers and the Packers, I think the Packers are gonna win, everyone is gonna speculate about this that and the other having an effect on both teams where in reality they’re probably just gonna look at it as another game and not get all worked about anything. But it should be a great game. We’ll see on Sunday.
NHL All-Star Game - so that happened. And it was probably awesome but I couldn’t watch it cause I don’t get Versus or CBC or whatever. Still, 11-10 final probably meant a pretty cool game.
College Hoops - fun week in college b-ball, Texas decided to wake up and be awesome after losing to UConn a while back and now they’re basically unstoppable, highlighted by winning at Kansas, at OSU and stomping Texas A&M in Austin and away at College Station. San Diego State went down to BYU, Ohio State is still cruising and Syracuse couldn’t buy a win there for a while. None of this really matters cause all of these teams are still gonna make the NCAA tourney but still, a lot of good basketball going on.
National Signing Day - lots of kids just signed up to get full rides at top universities to play a game, which is always fun to watch as a non-athelete in college paying for school. But complaining aside, lots of speculation about who has the best draft class will be made and honestly, we won’t know until four years from now after the national championship who truly had the best class. I think that is a way better judge of the quality of a class than whatever rankings people give kids just coming out of high school.
NBA All-Star Game Selection - basically everyone you’d expect made it this year. Blake Griffin is a coaches pick, which is awesome because he is probably the most exciting and entertaining player in the game right now. I think LaMarcus Aldridge, Tony Parker or Lamar Odem might should’ve gotten the nod over Tim Duncan who hasn’t had the best year, but maybe Rodger Goodel will pick one of them for the team. Should be a good game regardless.
NFL Pro Bowl - who cares?
Fun News I Care About and No One Else Does - The University of Tulsa men’s basketball team beat Memphis in Memphis this week. First time in the last 12 meetings the Golden Hurricane has beaten the Tigers and thats pretty freaking awesome. TU has now beaten three teams (UAB, UTEP and Memphis) that were in first at the time in C-USA, and now Tulsa is only half a game out of first place. Go TU!
So until next time, remember, it could always be worse. It could be Snowpocalypse.
Stephen Strasburg Attempts to Quit Smokeless Tobacco
While I applaud Strasburg’s efforts because it’s the less disgusting and healthier choice, here comes the really sobering information from the Washington Post:
“Major League Baseball has urged players to not use it when on camera. Since 1993, all tobacco products have been banned in the minor leagues on fields, in clubhouses and during team travel. It’s also banned in college and in every significant amateur association.
And yet, experts say, the usage among major league players has remained steady. Roughly 33 percent of major league players, Connolly said, use some form of smokeless tobacco, a rate that has remained stagnant. More dispiriting, its use has risen among young males. The only significant increase of any tobacco product over the last five years, according to Connolly and other advocates, has been the use of smokeless among youths. It has increased to 25 percent, compared to 16 percent of the general population.”
It’s an interesting article as Major League Baseball tries to separate itself from something that is so firmly ingrained into the idea of the sport itself. From the first time I picked up a bat, I pretended to be a Major League player by spitting, later moving onto the gateway drug that is Big League Chew. Click through to read more.
Yeah, I just started up and I’m trying to find some other people into sports. And yeah, I could probably do that for you.
