Well my dream of having Mr. Joe Torre back as the New York Yankees manager for the 2008 season will not come true, but another familiar Joe will take the reigns instead. I am of course talking about Joe Girardi. Girardi was the 2006 NL Manager of the year bringing the lowly Florida Marlins from the depths of the NL East to a couple victories away from the playoffs. This was a team that had a payroll of $17 million dollars.
To put that number into perspective, Arod makes 8 more million a year, Jeter 6, Giambi 3, Pettitte 1, and Abreu makes 1 million less than that a year. If you can bring a young inexperienced team like that to such a great season the skys the limit for this Yankee team under Girardi.
Girardi is no stranger to the pinstripes after playing under his predecessor, Torre, in the late 90s being apart of 3 World Series championship teams. He's obviously no stranger to winning and no stranger to what is expected out of you in New York and the Steinbrenner's.
The biggest thing Girardi must do is to talk to the free agents that are contemplating whether to come back or go to different teams. He has extremely good relationships with the big 3 free agents, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettitte. Rivera and Pettitte both pitched to Girardi who was a great catcher and passed the torch along to Posada once his career began to diminish.
Girardi's used to replacing fan favorites in New York as he took over the catching duties from power hitting Mike Stanley in '96 and he won over the Yankee faithful as his heroics along with the rest of the teams great play brought home the Yankees first title in 18 years. Joe made it clear that he wasnt trying to be the next Joe Torre, because everyones different and this was just the dream job and he knew when it was vacated by his former skipper he had to jump on it.
Even though its hard to watch Joe Torre put on the Dodger uniform and go manage somewhere else, it makes it much easier to swallow when a class act like Joe Girardi is going to be the new guy calling the shots in the dugout.
Monday, October 29, 2007
I'm Sorry
This is an apology to everyone that has ever bashed Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez. I'm apologizing because for the past four years I have been backing him up and taking offense to what people would say about him. This is also an apology to every Red Sox fan(yes I know it hurts to say) and Rockies fan, because in the middle of a good baseball game we had to listen to that geek Joe Buck tell us that Arod will opt out of his contract with the Yankees leaving the 3 years and $72 million on the table. Also not even negotiating with the Yanks after they were reportedly ready to offer Rodriguez a 5 year $150 million extension on top of those 3 years. I'm sorry Mike Lowell and the other CLASSY Red Sox who had to answer questions about Rodriguez after they just won the World Series.
Well thats enough of the gooshy stuff because I dont owe as many apologies as Arod does. This is a guy who believes that he is bigger than the game. This is a guy who left a place "he would never leave", in Seattle, for his first huge contract with the Rangers. When the Yankees some how ended up with Arod after their 2003 loss in the World Series it seemed like they got the missing piece to another dynasty, but after a good season in '04 "Arods team" had the biggest collapse in history and he put the biggest exclamation point on the collapse when he slapped Bronson Arroyo, a memory that is extremely vivid in my head. And I even back him up for that!
This is a guy who has said multiple times that he was going to stay in the Yankee pinstripes for the rest of his career and how much of honor it was to wear this jersey blah blah blah. I do not take a thing that this man says serious. Every interview he has sounds like it was scripted and it probably is because he would probably get too nervous in a regular interview and probably slap the reporter. This guy is a head case and will NOT win wherever he ends up and I feel bad for his new teammates because they will be the newest victims of what is the Arod circus.
He had it all, the richest contract in the history of sports, playing 3rd base for the most successful franchise in the history of sports, a good ballpark to hit home runs in, but no he wanted more. Good riddance Arod I think I speak for every Yankee fan by saying, maybe your numbers will be missed but your ego and perennial choking will not. And oh yeah dont worry I'll be in the Bronx for your first game back with a nice greeting.
Well thats enough of the gooshy stuff because I dont owe as many apologies as Arod does. This is a guy who believes that he is bigger than the game. This is a guy who left a place "he would never leave", in Seattle, for his first huge contract with the Rangers. When the Yankees some how ended up with Arod after their 2003 loss in the World Series it seemed like they got the missing piece to another dynasty, but after a good season in '04 "Arods team" had the biggest collapse in history and he put the biggest exclamation point on the collapse when he slapped Bronson Arroyo, a memory that is extremely vivid in my head. And I even back him up for that!
This is a guy who has said multiple times that he was going to stay in the Yankee pinstripes for the rest of his career and how much of honor it was to wear this jersey blah blah blah. I do not take a thing that this man says serious. Every interview he has sounds like it was scripted and it probably is because he would probably get too nervous in a regular interview and probably slap the reporter. This guy is a head case and will NOT win wherever he ends up and I feel bad for his new teammates because they will be the newest victims of what is the Arod circus.
He had it all, the richest contract in the history of sports, playing 3rd base for the most successful franchise in the history of sports, a good ballpark to hit home runs in, but no he wanted more. Good riddance Arod I think I speak for every Yankee fan by saying, maybe your numbers will be missed but your ego and perennial choking will not. And oh yeah dont worry I'll be in the Bronx for your first game back with a nice greeting.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Please Dont Talk
There is nothing that gets me angrier when watching a sports event then listening to announcers who have no idea what they are talking about. I find that announcers that follow teams throughout the season are much easier to listen to because A. They know all the players on the field and they know how they play because they've been watching them all year. B. Even though people dont like to admit it the normal everyday announcers push for their team more, which i find more exciting.
It makes no sense to me for a team, especially a baseball team, to play for 5 months with the same guys announcing day in and day out and then when the playoffs start they have to go to other stations with announcers who haven't seen one of these teams play all year.
The list begins with the worst announcer of all time, Joe Buck. Joe has been doing the baseball post season for years now and every time I want to sit down and watch some good playoff baseball I am greeted by the voice of the most ignorant man Ive ever listened to. Joe doesn't solely just do baseball either, he does football all year and he is even worse with that.
The main reason I am writing this blog though is because of the disgraceful group of announcers that TBS put together for the Division and Championship series' this year. I was kind of embarrassed for guys like Bob Brenley and Tony Gwynn, because these are guys who did great on the field playing and managing, but have no business what so ever calling these games. They messed up 16 times in game 3 of the Cleveland Yankees series that I counted. 16. That is horrible and when you say things like this is Derek Jeter's 49th postseason game you should be automatically turned off.
I hope MLB caught watched these games and realized how stupid these announcers are and leave the games on their normal channels with normal announcers. This would make the games much more enjoyable and Im sure many more people would tune in.
The newest channel thats got me going crazy is Versus. The new hockey channel that originated last year with a bunch of idiots talking about everyting except whats going on in the game right in front of them. These guys should really prep and do some research before they call these games so they can sound somewhat intelligent because they are making me lose my mind and I will begin to watch games on mute if the anounncing doesnt improve.
It makes no sense to me for a team, especially a baseball team, to play for 5 months with the same guys announcing day in and day out and then when the playoffs start they have to go to other stations with announcers who haven't seen one of these teams play all year.
The list begins with the worst announcer of all time, Joe Buck. Joe has been doing the baseball post season for years now and every time I want to sit down and watch some good playoff baseball I am greeted by the voice of the most ignorant man Ive ever listened to. Joe doesn't solely just do baseball either, he does football all year and he is even worse with that.
The main reason I am writing this blog though is because of the disgraceful group of announcers that TBS put together for the Division and Championship series' this year. I was kind of embarrassed for guys like Bob Brenley and Tony Gwynn, because these are guys who did great on the field playing and managing, but have no business what so ever calling these games. They messed up 16 times in game 3 of the Cleveland Yankees series that I counted. 16. That is horrible and when you say things like this is Derek Jeter's 49th postseason game you should be automatically turned off.
I hope MLB caught watched these games and realized how stupid these announcers are and leave the games on their normal channels with normal announcers. This would make the games much more enjoyable and Im sure many more people would tune in.
The newest channel thats got me going crazy is Versus. The new hockey channel that originated last year with a bunch of idiots talking about everyting except whats going on in the game right in front of them. These guys should really prep and do some research before they call these games so they can sound somewhat intelligent because they are making me lose my mind and I will begin to watch games on mute if the anounncing doesnt improve.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Guitar Zero
It all started last year around this time when my friends and I went to my friend Blake's house behind the SDT sorority house. We were all just hanging out watching football like we usually do on Monday nights, when one of Blake's house mates came down after the game with his PS2 and his new Guitar Hero game. It looked pretty cool, I didn't really feel like I would like it that much because Im not the most musically inclined person in the world, but the songs were good so at least it was something decent to listen to.
Blake's roommates were all amazing at the game so some of my friends wanted to try it out as well. They obviously weren't that good but it was a start. Within the next week my friends picked the game up and started playing it a little bit. These set of friends lived in the glass towers while I lived in Higgins with other friends so we didn't get to play it unless we went over there. When it was cold outside in the winter is when most of the playing went down and towards the end of the 2nd semester when the weather began to change.
I still havent really ever played the game up to this point. I had no intention of ever playing either. It seemed like the more I saw people playing the game the more I hated it. I feel that a game that is all about memorization is really boring and it seemed like the whole world felt the complete opposite.
I never despised the game until about 2 weeks ago. For about the past month and a half my 5 other roommates have taken over the chilling area for hours upon hours of Guitar Hero. At the beginning it really wasn't that bad and my feelings about the game were almost about to have a change of heart. I even played the game because I was feeling better about it, but I still didnt like it. Then the songs that I liked when they first started playing it began to get a little old and when they got into the even harder levels and keep replaying the same song, they got really old.
I dont think thats even the main reason for my hatred of this game, its got to be the scroll that goes across the bottom to tell you what notes to play. This gives me the worst headache ever and puts me in an extremely bad mood. My friends started noticing me being pissed off and realized how angry I would get but it wouldnt stop them from playing.
The good thing happened the other day though when Brian's Dad came and brought us a new TV, which has now turned into the video game TV. This at least lets me watch TV instead of watching them play and get headaches, but I can still hear the songs which is annoying but not as bad as it was before. SO if your allready hooked to the worst video game ever I'm sorry, but if you have never played then stay away and dont get caught in the obsession that is Guitar Hero or how I call it, Guitar Zero.
Blake's roommates were all amazing at the game so some of my friends wanted to try it out as well. They obviously weren't that good but it was a start. Within the next week my friends picked the game up and started playing it a little bit. These set of friends lived in the glass towers while I lived in Higgins with other friends so we didn't get to play it unless we went over there. When it was cold outside in the winter is when most of the playing went down and towards the end of the 2nd semester when the weather began to change.
I still havent really ever played the game up to this point. I had no intention of ever playing either. It seemed like the more I saw people playing the game the more I hated it. I feel that a game that is all about memorization is really boring and it seemed like the whole world felt the complete opposite.
I never despised the game until about 2 weeks ago. For about the past month and a half my 5 other roommates have taken over the chilling area for hours upon hours of Guitar Hero. At the beginning it really wasn't that bad and my feelings about the game were almost about to have a change of heart. I even played the game because I was feeling better about it, but I still didnt like it. Then the songs that I liked when they first started playing it began to get a little old and when they got into the even harder levels and keep replaying the same song, they got really old.
I dont think thats even the main reason for my hatred of this game, its got to be the scroll that goes across the bottom to tell you what notes to play. This gives me the worst headache ever and puts me in an extremely bad mood. My friends started noticing me being pissed off and realized how angry I would get but it wouldnt stop them from playing.
The good thing happened the other day though when Brian's Dad came and brought us a new TV, which has now turned into the video game TV. This at least lets me watch TV instead of watching them play and get headaches, but I can still hear the songs which is annoying but not as bad as it was before. SO if your allready hooked to the worst video game ever I'm sorry, but if you have never played then stay away and dont get caught in the obsession that is Guitar Hero or how I call it, Guitar Zero.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Forgetting How to Lose
I have never seen anything like it. The Colorado Rockies are an average baseball team, and it seemed like they would be perfectly content with that label throughout the entire season except September and October. They were a solid 5 games out of the playoffs with a week and a half to go and made up that ground on the San Diego Padres and tied them to force a one game playoff to see who would get into the post season.
After the Rockies took care of the Padres, they went on to sweep another red hot team in the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS. The Rox won on perfect pitching, clutch hitting, and stellar defense. So now the so-so Rockies have won 17 of their last 18 games and are now going on to play the best team in the National League this year, the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Rockies took the first 2 games in Arizona and last night put the Diamondbacks in an almost insurmountable hole by winning the first ever NLCS game in Denver. This just means that the Colorado Rockies have now won 20 of their last 21 and havent lost since September 16th, almost a month ago.
This accomplishment is a once in a lifetime feat that hasnt occurred this late in the season since the 1935 Cubs, according to espn.com. This has me questioning how good the Colorado Rockies really are. If your a baseball fan you know that usually its the hottest teams going into the playoffs that usually come out victorious in the World Series, except for recent winners like the Cardinals last year and the Yankees of '98 who both stumbled into the playoffs and ended up winning championships.
I dont know one team that would line up right now and want to play the Rockies in a 7 game series. These guy from Denver seem to have forgotten how to lose and thats a mindset that you need to win in the MLB post season. Some people including myself might say that they play in the National League and that has a huge part in all of this but for any professional team to go just about undefeated for a month is something that you dont hear about often at all.
So I say good for the Rockies and good for Colorado, mainly because they have been a weak team ever since they came into the Majors in the mid '90s and the team and the state deserve to watch some good playoff baseball for once. In conclusion lets all join up and root for America's new team the Colorado Rockies.
After the Rockies took care of the Padres, they went on to sweep another red hot team in the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS. The Rox won on perfect pitching, clutch hitting, and stellar defense. So now the so-so Rockies have won 17 of their last 18 games and are now going on to play the best team in the National League this year, the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Rockies took the first 2 games in Arizona and last night put the Diamondbacks in an almost insurmountable hole by winning the first ever NLCS game in Denver. This just means that the Colorado Rockies have now won 20 of their last 21 and havent lost since September 16th, almost a month ago.
This accomplishment is a once in a lifetime feat that hasnt occurred this late in the season since the 1935 Cubs, according to espn.com. This has me questioning how good the Colorado Rockies really are. If your a baseball fan you know that usually its the hottest teams going into the playoffs that usually come out victorious in the World Series, except for recent winners like the Cardinals last year and the Yankees of '98 who both stumbled into the playoffs and ended up winning championships.
I dont know one team that would line up right now and want to play the Rockies in a 7 game series. These guy from Denver seem to have forgotten how to lose and thats a mindset that you need to win in the MLB post season. Some people including myself might say that they play in the National League and that has a huge part in all of this but for any professional team to go just about undefeated for a month is something that you dont hear about often at all.
So I say good for the Rockies and good for Colorado, mainly because they have been a weak team ever since they came into the Majors in the mid '90s and the team and the state deserve to watch some good playoff baseball for once. In conclusion lets all join up and root for America's new team the Colorado Rockies.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Shelley
Ever since I started working at the job Ive worked at for the past 4 years now I have idolized my coworker who eventually became my boss. His name is Henry Vera, probably the nicest guy anyone will ever meet, he'll do anything for anybody without hesistation. I still look up to him but back when I was 16 I wanted to be like him in every way. One of the coolest things that he had that I wanted to get one day was a pickup truck. To me pickup trucks are very ideal unlike the rest of my family.
When I finally had enough money last summer I went out on the hunt for my pickup. I wasnt going to copy Henry straight out and get a Ford F150, but I really liked the 2005 Dodge Dakota, and unlike Henry's I wanted the one with 4 doors. Sure this cuts down on bed space but I like to have room in the cab or else I would get claustrophobic.
One day in the early summer I was driving with my buddy Chris and we past by a Dodge dealership with an '05 black Dakota sitting right out in front, so I quickly turned around to check it out. The truck was beautiful, so I thought. It had 9K miles, running boards, V6, and cloth seats. Not bad for a little truck and I really thought that this one could be it until I took a closer look on the inside and noticed that locks and windows were manual. I was shocked I had no idea that they still made manual locks and windows in 2005, I just assumed that everything would be power by now but you know what you do when you assume.
After back and forths with this dealership who wanted to put in power locks and windows for me for a grand I finally took my deposit back and began the search again. This one hurt because I really felt like that one was it but hey I guess it wasnt meant to be and everything happens for a reason. That night I went to my Dads friends house to eat dinner and he said he would talk to his buddy who was the general manager of a Chrysler dealership.
My fathers friend called me the next afternoon and said that his friends got a red V8 in the lot with only 350 miles on it. I wanted to stay away from the V8 because it sucks gas like no other but it wouldnt hurt to look. Once I saw her it was like love at first sight. It was fully loaded with leather and just looked like a beast.
After some negotiations the beast was mine. May 31st at 5pm was when it officially became mine and I didnt take much time to do some things to it. Henry and I put a bed liner in there so when I put things back there it wont scratch the paint. I then got a bed cover towards the end of the summer which was extremely expensive.
The last thing I was looking for was a name and in July I found it. I brought my friend from school who lives in Rochester to his first Yankee game and starting for the first time ever that night was power hitter Shelley Duncan. I loved Shelley's toughness and style and I felt his name really fit my truck well. So if you see this beast rolling around be careful because sometimes it has a mind of its own.
When I finally had enough money last summer I went out on the hunt for my pickup. I wasnt going to copy Henry straight out and get a Ford F150, but I really liked the 2005 Dodge Dakota, and unlike Henry's I wanted the one with 4 doors. Sure this cuts down on bed space but I like to have room in the cab or else I would get claustrophobic.
One day in the early summer I was driving with my buddy Chris and we past by a Dodge dealership with an '05 black Dakota sitting right out in front, so I quickly turned around to check it out. The truck was beautiful, so I thought. It had 9K miles, running boards, V6, and cloth seats. Not bad for a little truck and I really thought that this one could be it until I took a closer look on the inside and noticed that locks and windows were manual. I was shocked I had no idea that they still made manual locks and windows in 2005, I just assumed that everything would be power by now but you know what you do when you assume.
After back and forths with this dealership who wanted to put in power locks and windows for me for a grand I finally took my deposit back and began the search again. This one hurt because I really felt like that one was it but hey I guess it wasnt meant to be and everything happens for a reason. That night I went to my Dads friends house to eat dinner and he said he would talk to his buddy who was the general manager of a Chrysler dealership.
My fathers friend called me the next afternoon and said that his friends got a red V8 in the lot with only 350 miles on it. I wanted to stay away from the V8 because it sucks gas like no other but it wouldnt hurt to look. Once I saw her it was like love at first sight. It was fully loaded with leather and just looked like a beast.
After some negotiations the beast was mine. May 31st at 5pm was when it officially became mine and I didnt take much time to do some things to it. Henry and I put a bed liner in there so when I put things back there it wont scratch the paint. I then got a bed cover towards the end of the summer which was extremely expensive.
The last thing I was looking for was a name and in July I found it. I brought my friend from school who lives in Rochester to his first Yankee game and starting for the first time ever that night was power hitter Shelley Duncan. I loved Shelley's toughness and style and I felt his name really fit my truck well. So if you see this beast rolling around be careful because sometimes it has a mind of its own.
NBA (No Brains Association)
When I was younger there was no contest for what my favorite sport was, which was basketball. Ive had a basketball hoop outside my house my entire life and back to my first memories I remeber staying ouside all night with my brother and kids on block until it was completely pitch black out and we couldnt see the ball anymore. I loved the Knicks and loved their point guard John Starks and everytime that I would play I would try to emulate Starks in every way.
The Knicks were a good organization back then with a good core group of players like Starks, Patrick Ewing, Anthony Mason, and Charles Oakley. They never good enough to take down Jordan's Bulls in the Playoffs and the only time this group of players would top the Bulls to get to the NBA Finals would be in '94 when Jordan left basketball for baseball. The Knick lost in the Finals in 7 games to the Houston Rockets and wouldnt return to the Finals till '99.
Over the years the core group back from '94 slowly disappeared and suddenly the new age of basketball player arrived. This "new" player wasnt like the old, they were selfish and all about the money, not about the team.
The biggest reason I think this trend began was because of the surge of high school kids making the jump straight from high school to the pros with stars like Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnet, and LeBron James leading this wave. These players have talent like no one else but to have 18 year old kids come into professional sports so early, they get caught up in things that they are too young to be exposed to and with all the money that they earn it makes those bad situations that much worse.
In recent years the NBA has gone down on all facets of the game, on and off the court. This new player has brought a new game to the NBA that includes no defense and an offense that you take the ball yourself, shoot and not follow your shot. This type of game is horrible to watch and that's why ever since the lockout in '99 the rating have shown that people arent interested in the "new" game.
The problems dont end with on the court issues for the NBA because players like Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, and even Knicks coach and former Piston Isiah Thomas have all had legal issues over the past couple of years. Many others have had changes that include possession of a concealed weapon to attempted murder. I feel that this stems from the problem that I spoke about earlier with players being too young in a professional sports league. When you mix teens with money and a lifestyle mixed with partying, drugs, and alcohol, youre just about asking for trouble.
The last part about the NBA which has made me sick is the actions taken by former referee Tim Donaghey in which the FBI found out that he was betting on games over the past couple of years. This is just the tip of the iceberg for me. Even though I made a revival last year and watched a good amount of the Knicks games, even though they were terrible, I dont know if I can watch much more of a game that I dont even know if the calls on the court are fixed or not.
Its extremely sad when a sports league seems to do everything wrong, but thats whats going on in the NBA and to be blunt i really dont feel that sad. They have been putting on a horrible show for about the past 10 years now and theyre finally getting what they deserve, some negative press. Hopefully this will inspire David Stern to clean house and the NBA into what it used to be in the National Basketball Association not the No Brains Association.
The Knicks were a good organization back then with a good core group of players like Starks, Patrick Ewing, Anthony Mason, and Charles Oakley. They never good enough to take down Jordan's Bulls in the Playoffs and the only time this group of players would top the Bulls to get to the NBA Finals would be in '94 when Jordan left basketball for baseball. The Knick lost in the Finals in 7 games to the Houston Rockets and wouldnt return to the Finals till '99.
Over the years the core group back from '94 slowly disappeared and suddenly the new age of basketball player arrived. This "new" player wasnt like the old, they were selfish and all about the money, not about the team.
The biggest reason I think this trend began was because of the surge of high school kids making the jump straight from high school to the pros with stars like Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnet, and LeBron James leading this wave. These players have talent like no one else but to have 18 year old kids come into professional sports so early, they get caught up in things that they are too young to be exposed to and with all the money that they earn it makes those bad situations that much worse.
In recent years the NBA has gone down on all facets of the game, on and off the court. This new player has brought a new game to the NBA that includes no defense and an offense that you take the ball yourself, shoot and not follow your shot. This type of game is horrible to watch and that's why ever since the lockout in '99 the rating have shown that people arent interested in the "new" game.
The problems dont end with on the court issues for the NBA because players like Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, and even Knicks coach and former Piston Isiah Thomas have all had legal issues over the past couple of years. Many others have had changes that include possession of a concealed weapon to attempted murder. I feel that this stems from the problem that I spoke about earlier with players being too young in a professional sports league. When you mix teens with money and a lifestyle mixed with partying, drugs, and alcohol, youre just about asking for trouble.
The last part about the NBA which has made me sick is the actions taken by former referee Tim Donaghey in which the FBI found out that he was betting on games over the past couple of years. This is just the tip of the iceberg for me. Even though I made a revival last year and watched a good amount of the Knicks games, even though they were terrible, I dont know if I can watch much more of a game that I dont even know if the calls on the court are fixed or not.
Its extremely sad when a sports league seems to do everything wrong, but thats whats going on in the NBA and to be blunt i really dont feel that sad. They have been putting on a horrible show for about the past 10 years now and theyre finally getting what they deserve, some negative press. Hopefully this will inspire David Stern to clean house and the NBA into what it used to be in the National Basketball Association not the No Brains Association.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Mr. T
I can still see the headines of Newsday back in early 1996, "Clueless Joe". Of course this Long Island based newspaper was referring to the new manager of the New York Yankees, Joe Torre. I was young and if you were a manager and your name wasnt Buck Showalter then I didnt know who you were.
I read the newspaper as well as I could and saw that Mr. Torre has been in the Major Leagues for years, as an All-Star player back in the 60s and 70s, and also as a manager since the 80s with the Mets, Braves, and Cardinals. He was terrible with the Mets, bad with the Braves, and OK with the Cardinals, so things werent looking good for the Yankees for the next couple of years. The surprising part about everything was that despite the horrible numbers there was never anything bad that anyone could say about Mr. Torre as a person or how he treats the players.
The experiment tested by George Stienbrenner worked as Mr. Torre won 4 out of the next 5 World Series titles, winning the division every year as well. This trend seemed like it would continue into the next millennium as the Yankees made it to the World Series game 7 but lost on a bloop single in the bottom of the 9th inning. The Yankees would win the division every year until 2007, but only making it to the World Series once since '01 and that also resulted in a loss.
2007 was strange year because the Red Sox, not the Yankees, won the division and for the 3rd straight year and 4th time in 6 years the Yankees lost in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. The story of Steinbrenner firing Torre has been going on for a couple of years now because usually when a manager isnt winning the World Series theyre in trouble with the Boss whos gone through more managers than socks over the past 30 plus years. This year has been the most serious of talks because George said that if Joe didnt get out of the first round they wouldnt bring him back next season. This story is all over the news and has been since the Yankees lost earlier this week, which makes no sense to me.
If you know baseball then you know George Stienbrenner and you know how he works. He doesnt live for anything but Championships. No one knows this better than a manager that works for George either, so I cant see this being anything new to Joe, but the media is blowing this up way too much.
To me Joe Torre is the greatest manager I have ever seen and the numbers dont lie. 4 World Series, 10 Division Titles, 2 time Manager of the Year, and a record of 1173-767 (.605), by far the best record in the Major Leagues over the past 12 years. He is also a man that doesnt raise his voice, and is not only a players manager but also a father figure to the players like no one else according to his players like Derek Jeter, Andy Pettite, Jorge Posada, and Mariano Rivera, who all grew up with Torre as their manager and dont know any other way to play the game besides Mr. Torre's way.
For anyone to say that he's done, or not a good manager is either plain ignoranat or doesnt know a thing about baseball. Joe Torre doesnt put on a glove and play the field, pick up a bat and take swings in the batters box, or take the ball and pitch it. If people are looking for others to blame for the recent failures of the Yankees you must look at the players.
If this was it and Joe Torre will never put the navy blue pinstripes on again it will be rough part of the Yankees history, but they will get through it. I just hope that Stienbrenner and the whole Yankees organization take care of this situation the same way Mr.T ran the clubhouse for the past 12 years, with some integrity and class.
I read the newspaper as well as I could and saw that Mr. Torre has been in the Major Leagues for years, as an All-Star player back in the 60s and 70s, and also as a manager since the 80s with the Mets, Braves, and Cardinals. He was terrible with the Mets, bad with the Braves, and OK with the Cardinals, so things werent looking good for the Yankees for the next couple of years. The surprising part about everything was that despite the horrible numbers there was never anything bad that anyone could say about Mr. Torre as a person or how he treats the players.
The experiment tested by George Stienbrenner worked as Mr. Torre won 4 out of the next 5 World Series titles, winning the division every year as well. This trend seemed like it would continue into the next millennium as the Yankees made it to the World Series game 7 but lost on a bloop single in the bottom of the 9th inning. The Yankees would win the division every year until 2007, but only making it to the World Series once since '01 and that also resulted in a loss.
2007 was strange year because the Red Sox, not the Yankees, won the division and for the 3rd straight year and 4th time in 6 years the Yankees lost in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. The story of Steinbrenner firing Torre has been going on for a couple of years now because usually when a manager isnt winning the World Series theyre in trouble with the Boss whos gone through more managers than socks over the past 30 plus years. This year has been the most serious of talks because George said that if Joe didnt get out of the first round they wouldnt bring him back next season. This story is all over the news and has been since the Yankees lost earlier this week, which makes no sense to me.
If you know baseball then you know George Stienbrenner and you know how he works. He doesnt live for anything but Championships. No one knows this better than a manager that works for George either, so I cant see this being anything new to Joe, but the media is blowing this up way too much.
To me Joe Torre is the greatest manager I have ever seen and the numbers dont lie. 4 World Series, 10 Division Titles, 2 time Manager of the Year, and a record of 1173-767 (.605), by far the best record in the Major Leagues over the past 12 years. He is also a man that doesnt raise his voice, and is not only a players manager but also a father figure to the players like no one else according to his players like Derek Jeter, Andy Pettite, Jorge Posada, and Mariano Rivera, who all grew up with Torre as their manager and dont know any other way to play the game besides Mr. Torre's way.
For anyone to say that he's done, or not a good manager is either plain ignoranat or doesnt know a thing about baseball. Joe Torre doesnt put on a glove and play the field, pick up a bat and take swings in the batters box, or take the ball and pitch it. If people are looking for others to blame for the recent failures of the Yankees you must look at the players.
If this was it and Joe Torre will never put the navy blue pinstripes on again it will be rough part of the Yankees history, but they will get through it. I just hope that Stienbrenner and the whole Yankees organization take care of this situation the same way Mr.T ran the clubhouse for the past 12 years, with some integrity and class.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
We're All Islanders
I'm a longgg time Islander fan mainly because I live around the corner from the Nassau Coliseum, the home of the Islanders, but its been a tough 20 years rooting for this team. They have by far the worst front office in all of sports besides the New York Knicks. These teams just cant spot good young talent and always seem to give away perennial AllStars. This year with the Islander changing around the look of their front office they made some moves that were suspect to a lot of people around the league by letting their top 2 players leave for free agency, but they went out and picked up some really good players.
Billy Guerin, Mike Comrie, and Ruslan Fedetenkov are solid player who I feel can help the Islanders a great deal. They all team players who have skills but arent selfish at all. Theyre also guys who are going to stand up for their teamates, theyre never afraid to get in the middle of a scrum and rough people up.
The best part about the Islanders is going to the Nassau Coliseum and watching them play live. Because they were such a bad team for such a long time they lost a lot of their fan base so they had to try and bring them back and for the past couple of years they have had special seating and pricing for college students. This year is probably the best deal of all because tickets for students are only 10 bucks. I dont know any other professional sports game where you can get a decent seat for 10 bucks besides the bleachers in Yankee Stadium. The Coliseum is also awesome because security lets you get away with a lot of heckling and yelling at the other teams fans. There is a picnic area outside the Coliseum too for a nice intermission break where you can have a beer, cigarette, or a bathroom break whatever you need.
So even though there arent many expectations for the Islanders this year I have my expectations and they will surprise a lot of people and go deep into the playoffs. If anyone lives near the Coliseum you should probably go to a couple games over winter break and support the team because We're All Islanders.
Billy Guerin, Mike Comrie, and Ruslan Fedetenkov are solid player who I feel can help the Islanders a great deal. They all team players who have skills but arent selfish at all. Theyre also guys who are going to stand up for their teamates, theyre never afraid to get in the middle of a scrum and rough people up.
The best part about the Islanders is going to the Nassau Coliseum and watching them play live. Because they were such a bad team for such a long time they lost a lot of their fan base so they had to try and bring them back and for the past couple of years they have had special seating and pricing for college students. This year is probably the best deal of all because tickets for students are only 10 bucks. I dont know any other professional sports game where you can get a decent seat for 10 bucks besides the bleachers in Yankee Stadium. The Coliseum is also awesome because security lets you get away with a lot of heckling and yelling at the other teams fans. There is a picnic area outside the Coliseum too for a nice intermission break where you can have a beer, cigarette, or a bathroom break whatever you need.
So even though there arent many expectations for the Islanders this year I have my expectations and they will surprise a lot of people and go deep into the playoffs. If anyone lives near the Coliseum you should probably go to a couple games over winter break and support the team because We're All Islanders.
Monday, October 1, 2007
craziness
Ive been hearing for years how great the movie Butterfly Effect was but I have never taken the time to rent or buy or anything like that, but the other day my friend suggested that we watch it so I agreed. From the beginning I knew this was going to be a crazy movie and in the end it turned out to be one of my favorite movies. I used to never really watch dramatic thrillers when I was younger but now that Im getting older I watch more and more movies that have crazy twists and turns which I'm finding a lot more entertaining than comedies.
The whole movie i was on the edge of the seat wondering what was going to happen next and trying to figure out all of the things that were going on. It must be pretty terrible if that is a real disease that someone can get, the one that Ashton Kutcher has. I wouldnt be able to live my life with pieces missing and not knowing why somethings happened, that would make me go crazy.
I really havent had a movie make me think like the Butterfly Effect made me think the other day. I had to watch it again the next day to pick up some of the things that I missed and thats when you know its a good movie. The movie was extremely fast paced and the acting was phenomenal.
Theres nothing better than siting down and watching a movie especially when you have nothing to do and your bored. Its a million times better than sitting down and reading a book. I feel that there are way too many distractions that you can run into when you are trying to read and if your really locked into a movie its much easier to block those outside things out.
All in all if you guys havent seen the Butterfly Effect I highly recommend it and I think you should go out now and pick it up if you got an hour and a half to two hours to spare.
The whole movie i was on the edge of the seat wondering what was going to happen next and trying to figure out all of the things that were going on. It must be pretty terrible if that is a real disease that someone can get, the one that Ashton Kutcher has. I wouldnt be able to live my life with pieces missing and not knowing why somethings happened, that would make me go crazy.
I really havent had a movie make me think like the Butterfly Effect made me think the other day. I had to watch it again the next day to pick up some of the things that I missed and thats when you know its a good movie. The movie was extremely fast paced and the acting was phenomenal.
Theres nothing better than siting down and watching a movie especially when you have nothing to do and your bored. Its a million times better than sitting down and reading a book. I feel that there are way too many distractions that you can run into when you are trying to read and if your really locked into a movie its much easier to block those outside things out.
All in all if you guys havent seen the Butterfly Effect I highly recommend it and I think you should go out now and pick it up if you got an hour and a half to two hours to spare.
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