A Funny, Funny Game Baseball Is...

After dominating over 7 innings of game 5 of the ALCS the Tampa Bay Rays found a way to look like the Devil Rays. I think the Sox have a tough road ahead of them to win this series, but we know they've done it before...Given the seemingly inevitable self-destructive nature of the Rays bullpen I have to say that the Phillies look like the favorite at this point. The endless power that the Phillies lineup has will wreak havoc on this bullpen, and the Rays don't have the starting pitching staff that can go deep into games. To top it off they are relying on Dan Wheeler to be their closer. I have to believe that the Rays will find a way to win one game back in the Trop', but I fear that the NL will end up with the title.

Blackhawks Fire Savard

Today the Chicago Blackhawks fired head coach Denis Savard after only 4 games into the season. Savard was hired as the head coach of the Blackhawks on an interim basis in November of 2006. Savard is a beloved figure among Blackhawks fans and I think this will be taken pretty hard by most fans if the new coach, Joel Quenneville, doesn't get off to a great start and lead this team into the playoffs. I'm a little torn about this. I love Savard, but I also understand that the new Blackhawks regime is trying to change much of what Bill Wirtz did. Right now I'm just a little shocked about the whole situation.

So Far October Sucks

Well, it's been a while since I've posted here the return of Confessions of a Sports Junking has inspired me to jump back into blogging again. In about an hour I will suffer through watching the White Sox play game 4 of their ALDS series against the Tampa Bay Rays. It sucks because I know the Twins would be there if it wasn't for a coin flip and a hanging change-up to Jim Thome. For the most part the last few weeks have completely sucked. The Purdue Boilers stink, the Twins missed the playoffs, the Cubs got swept, and the Vikings are the same old crap we've seen for the past 5-6 years. I was able to squeeze in a trip to NY with CSD72 and another friend for a visit to Shea & Yankee Stadiums before they are both torn down. Hopefully all of this terrible play by all my sports teams will bring some new luck for the winter teams like the Boilers Basketball teams and the Chicago Blackhawks.

Mark Grace, Twins & Other Ramblings

Mark Grace sang the 7th inning stretch at Wrigley this afternoon and was kind enough to sing "root for the Cubbies" for the Wrigley faithful. Take that D'Back fans! It's great to see Grace embrace his Cub history. There was a little falling out after he left and won a World Series with the D'Backs. Mark Grace is a Cub and will always be a Cub.


The Minnesota Twins visited the Chicago White Sox earler this week and dropped 2 of 3. I was lucky enough to attend the game on Tuesday. The White Sox' Gavin Floyd flirted with a no hitter into the 9th when Joe Mauer laced a double to left center with one out. I was actually rooting for Floyd to get the no hitter since the Twins were getting killed by 6 runs in the 9th inning. Personally I think it would have been kind of a weak no hitter as I believe that the official scorer gave an error to Carlos Quentin earlier in the game on a fly ball to left field that your average left fielder probably wouldn't have made. CQ made a great effort on the play but dropped the ball. The dropped ball led to a run later in the inning that went unearned. Either way it was a fun game to watch and I was glad I was able to see Floyd's performance.


I added a new link to the favorites today...The Heckler is a great site for Chicago sports fans to get a good laugh. I used to frequent the site, but I'd forgot about it over the last couple years. Len Casper and Bob Brenley mentioned the satirical newspaper during their broadcast today and it brought me back to the site. Check it out from time to time for some light hearted fun at the expense of Chicago sports teams.

"Who's gonna' hit the quarterback first?"

Last week the Minnesota Vikings announced a trade that brought Jared Allen, 2007 NFL sack leader, to the team. Allen brings with him a lot of baggage in the form of multiple DUI arrests while he was a member of the Kansas City Chiefs. While Allen claims that he has given up drinking and has moved forward from mistakes he made in the past there are understandably some skeptics out there. After the "Love Boat" fiasco, the failed second chance with Koren Robinson and many other issues with Vikings over the past couple years this move seems strange for a team that should be looking to clean up its image, but here's the bottom line....most Vikings fans don't care (including me). Look, we as Viking fans want the team to win, period. We're sick and tired of being the team that has made the Super Bowl but never won. Sure the past is littered with players who had behavior problems and completely flushed their career down the toilet, but there are also the shining gems like Cris Carter. Remember Cris Carter? Yeah, the guy who was referred to as a guy who could only catch touchdowns by Buddy Ryan. When he was released from Philadelphia the Vikings gave him a second chance and oh what a great decision that was. Sure the Vikes have given Jared Allen a $74 Million contract with $31 Million guaranteed (rumors are that this number could drop as low as $16 Million should Mr. Allen slip up). So what? Jemelle Hill with ESPN thinks we should all be questioning the signing and compares Allen to Pacman Jones along with others. Look, second chances are part of life and history is riddled with those who have failed and those who have succeeded. While this contract is more money than I will probably ever make in my entire lifetime we need to remember that none of these NFL contracts are guaranteed and even the "guaranteed" money isn't always guaranteed. While I agree that Allen should have a short leash I'm taking the wait and see attitude. If this D-line stays healthy and plays to it's past performance the QB's in the NFL will have a lot to deal with when facing the Vikings and Brett Farve will probably be even more content with staying retired...

Here's some highlights from the Vikings press conference introducing Allen.

Surprising Wake Up...

At around 4:45 AM this morning I was awaken by quite a weird situation. My entire bedroom was shaking!

That's right, why up here in NW Indiana we felt the earthquake that shook southern Illinois early this morning. I have felt some small quakes before but nothing as prolonged and definite as this. It almost felt like there was a huge series of wind gusts over about 5 seconds. To be honest I think it was a little cool to have the experience. Now, hopefully this is it and this quake doesn't jump start anything in the New Madrid fault system. I've read some information in the past about the New Madrid fault system and the damage that was caused back in the early 1800's when a series of massive earthquakes rocked the New Madrid area, but I took in a little refresher course this morning. If you live in the states surrounding this fault you should really take a little time to do some research on the topic and think about what you would need to do in the situation. It's not something we think about all the time around here (like we do tornadoes), but being prepared when you first start feeling the shakes could make a big difference.

Here's a couple sites worth checking out:

USGS.gov

The Center for Earthquake Research & Information (University of Memphis)

Long Time Gone

After just starting this blog a couple weeks ago I went on vacation to Siesta Key, FL for a week and didn't touch a computer all week. I have to tell you, going 7 days without looking at a computer screen can be an good experience from time to time. I actually read newspapers and enjoyed looking at printed box scores again.


Anyways, here's a recap of one of my journeys during the trip.

Tropicana Field

While I was in Florida I was bound and determined to catch a baseball game of some sort. I figured I would go and watch the Sarasota Reds, but I ended up traveling up to Tampa and catching the home opener for the Rays.

I know that the Rays rarely draw a big crowd, but I was a little worried with it being opening day. We didn't even try to look for tickets online until the day of the game and when we did we only had limited success. So I figured that I'd just find a scalper at the game and take care of the tickets there. We parked in downtown Tampa and took a bus into the field since all the parking around the field was full over an hour before the game. I was surprised that there weren't scalpers lurking all around the field, but from what I heard from the locals, scalping was just recently legalized in Florida. Anyways, we were walking around the stadium for about 5 minutes and just happed to spot a young lady holding up tickets. She took care of us and sold us two tickets in left center field.

Even with it being opening day the crowd was pretty late arriving. The attendance was about 34,000 and was called a sellout even thought the published capacity of the stadium is a bit higher. I have to say that Tropicana is one of the lower tier baseball stadiums I've been to. Playing baseball indoors in Tampa just seems silly. It was a beautiful night and taking in a game in open air with real grass would have been much more enjoyable. Overall the stadium does have some nice ammenities. There are plenty of bathrooms and lots of different selections when it comes to concessions. It was easy to see though that they were completely unprepared for the size of the crowd. There were plumbing problems in the bathrooms and vendors. One huge shock for me was that I couldn't find anyone selling programs or scorecards anywhere in the outfield. I have a thing for keeping score when I'm at a game and this really bummed me out.

The game itself had to be one of the slowest I have ever attended. It seemed to drag on and on. I was looking forward to seeing Matt Garza pitch for the Rays against Eric Bedard for the Mariners, but Garza got pulled early (for injury), and both pitchers worked really slow in the early innings.

In the end the Rays fell in their opener. Overall I'd have to give this stadium a C. It has a lot of fun things to do and eat in the concourses, but as far as the baseball experience this stadium falls short of even the Metrodome, and that's saying a lot.

The Rays are pushing for a new stadium in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area along the water with a retractable roof system. The promos around the stadium look pretty cool, but I'm just not sure that a city like Florida can support a Major League Baseball franchise. Just look at the Florida Marlins. The population in these cities seem to have mostly people who have either moved to the area and have loyalties to other teams, or just don't care to spend their evenings sitting in a baseball stadium. Who can blame them with the weather they have.