The Cubs....

Has anyone seen the movie "The Hangover"? My wife and I went to see it and we loved it. But as I started to think about the concept something just struck me as odd and I couldn't figure it out. And then, as I was watching the Cubs this afternoon, it hit me.

Background - there was a rain delay and CSN was showing a game from September of last year against the Brewers. Ramirez was hitting like a madman and Soto looked good...it made no sense why they were stinking up the joint this year. I think it was the game where ARam hits the HR to beat them. It just didn't seem possible that a team that won 97 games last year could be hovering at .500 in June this year. My thoughts went to the playoffs against the Dodgers - and that is when I got it. The Cubs have a hangover. I really believe that. All they heard in the offseason was about how badly the played in the playoffs and how much they needed a LH bat in the lineup. Every move in the winter was made to get that lefty bat - which also hasn't done jack. If you hear something enough, don't you start to believe it?

The hard part is fixing the hangover. Lord knows, if you've partied at all there are a thousand different "methods" for curing the hangover. Do I believe cutting Gerlad Perry loose was one o them? No, but something had to be done. If I knew enough about the game I would be getting paid by a team to help them - but I have suggestions....

1. Tell Soriano he is not hitting leadoff and if he doesn't like it - threaten him with a suspension like Frank Robinson did in Washington. He did end up going to LF remember? And he played well. Do the same thing. The managers run the team, not the players.
2. I would hit Reed Johnson leadoff if it were me. IT seems like he is a catalyst for this team. He plays the game the right way - and he wear his stirrups the right way too. :)
3. Hit Theriot 2nd. He is the perfect 2 hitter - bat control, moving runners, taking pitches, etc...
4. Fukudome sits. Let him get right - this whole LH bat thing spiraled out of control. Just give me guys who hit. I don't care what side of the plate they hit from.
5. Play Jake Fox at 3rd until Rami gets healthy. Yes, it could be ugly defensively but you cannot keep giving up such quality starts from the starting pitching.
6. The rest of the lineup would be as such: Lee 1B, Fox 3B, Soriano LF, Bradley RF, Soto C, and some warm body at 2b. Probably Fontenot because he is a lefty.

There you go Lou, the answer to all your problems. :)

College World Series

I know it's been a few days....but I am getting ready to go to Young Life Camp for a week starting on Saturday. We are going to Castaway Camp in Minnesota. It looks very cool, but is a LONG way away. I wish charter buses had more leg room. :)

OK, so I have been trying to watch as much of the College World Series as possible. As you probably already know, I am a baseball fanatic - in every sense of the word. I watch MLB, CWS, Little League World Series and even the Pony League WS. If it is baseball, I'll watch it.

The thing is - there aren't many college baseball powerhouses in the Midwest region. So it really wasn't until I went to college in SW Missouri (Southwest Baptist Univ.) that I latched on to college baseball. My first memorie are of Robin Ventura having a 58 game hit streak for Oklahoma State. He is still one of my favorite all-time players. But living there - everyone liked OU, OSU or Missouri. And I wanted to be different, so I really didn't connect with any one team...until I graduated from college.

In 1994 I was watching the CWS and caught Cal State Fullerton. They were coached by Augie Garrido (now at Texas) and they were awesome. They played the game the right way (the way I liked to play it and to watch it - like Dirtbags) and had a stud named Mark Kotsay. They were unbelievable and I was hooked. They became my team. After a few years I went to Spring Training one year in Arizona and ended watching ASU play Stanford in Tempe. Their field is very cool and even though Bonds went there I found myself liking them as well. Finally, around the same time I stumbled upon Rice. It is a smaller college in Houston, but I loved their uni's, their coach and a player named Lance Berkman. Over time, Rice surpassed ASU - but they are the three teams that I follow.

In 2006, when I graduated with my Masters, my present was a trip to the CWS. I went by myself (which I wouldn't do again) and loved it. It is such a festival type of atmosphere. College kids and younger baseball players with their dads. It is so cool. I did get to see Fullerton and Rice that year, but Oregon State ended up beating UNC for the title. I will go back someday - and maybe even someday Illinois can get there. :)

Anyway, if you get a chance to watch the CWS - please take some time and check it out. I know they use aluminum bats but college sports are almost always more fun to watch than the pros because of the spirit. This year Fullerton and ASU both made it (Rice lost in the Super Regional to LSU). Fullerton is out and ASU is on their last leg. Good luck Sun Devils!!

(If you get a chance try to find pictures of ASU playing Texas two night ago, their throwbacks were awesome. For any uni-related items I suggest going to www.uniwatchblog.com where Paul Lukas and the Gang do a tremendous job covering the uni-related issues in the sports world)

The Weekend

Nice, short weekend in Chi-town. Went to a friend's wedding on Saturday and then caught the Cubbies on Sunday. Had fantastic seats, and as always, sat next to great people. It was topped all of by my boy, Ryan Theriot, hitting a walk-off single in the 9th (btw, I called a walk-off win for the Cubs at the game - no specifics, just a walk-off win. I'll take what I can get).

SO many thoughts over the weekend - let's just hit a few.

• Way too much to talk about with the Cubs, so I'll save it for a rainy day. I just know that I LOVE going to Wrigley. It is still amazing.
• My old stomping grounds of Westfield HS has their baseball playing for the state championship this Saturday at the home of the Indianapolis Indians, Victory Field. Pretty cool stuff.
• Speaking of Westfield, one of my former students (and current ace of the staff) Kyle Kramp got drafted by the SF Giants. While you may say that it was the 45th round I will say it is still cool as heck that someone you know got drafted. I think he will still go pitch for Butler Univ. this fall though.
• I really like Northern Indiana. Merrillville, Crown Point, Valpo, Hobart....all nice towns. And very close to Chicago, which helps.
• Let me just say that it is weird staying at a relatives house when they are not there.
  
• Road construction must be what Hell is like.....because I cannot stand it. It is incredible all of the never-ending construction on I-65. People - let's get it right.
• My summer vacation is going WAY to quick. For those of you who don't know - I am a high school teacher
• I could spend thousands of dollars and hats and shoes (mostly of the athletic variety), but alas - my exorbitant salary does not allow it

Finally, let me get back to the "list" thing. I LOVE lists. Addicted to them. VH1 could put out a Top 100 Metal Hairdos of All-Time and I would watch it. That being said - I am also very critical of them as well. Last week I recorded and watched the BDSSP's list of top 50 Unbelievable Upsets and I have some thoughts.

1. You CANNOT, under any circumstances, consider an MLS upset as one of the 50 greatest. I am sorry - it's not happening. World Cup I can understand. But if you are trying to tell me that you think some playoff upset in the MLS is better than Doug Flutie upsetting Miami FL in 1984 with the Hail Mary....YOU ARE INSANE!!!!!
2. While the Giants beating the Patriots in the Super Bowl was an upset - it is NOT more of an upset than the Jets beating the Colts in SB3. Sorry - not buying that either. We knew the Giants could play with the Pats just from the final game of the regular season. Plus, the NFL today has alot more parity than it did back then. In SB3, the AFL was considered the step-child league. Until that point no one believed (from SB1 and SB2) that the AFL was worthy of holding the NFL's jock. The Colts that year were as dominant (in the NFL) as any team had ever been and were in line to be considered one of the all-time greats. The Jets were 17.5 point underdogs...(Giants were around 11.5 underdogs) and that was kind. And to top it all of - Joe Willie "guaranteed" the win for the Jets. C'mon, you know what guarantees get you - a _____ slap upside the head because it is bulletin board material.
3. Thankfully, you cannot go wrong with #1. The good old 1980 USA Olympic Hockey Team. I swear every time I watch a show about them it gets misty in the room (apologies to my blatant copying of the Sports Guy. You know what they say about imitation....)

Anyway, I won't bore you with the rest. But I will post some of my own list on here from time to time. One of the things I do as a teacher is have Top Ten Tuesday. It's just a fun thing to get students warmed up for class and to have some fun at the same time. Who says we can't have fun in the classroom and learn at the same time? :)

Fanaticism

Just watched the movie "Fanboys". For those of you who haven't seen it, the plot involves a group of friends road-tripping to Skywalker Ranch to steal a preview of Episode 1. It was very funny, but when the movie was over I turned to my wife and said "see, I could have been one of those, but I chose sports". She said she was glad I chose sports but it is still weird.

I couldn't help but wonder as I watched it why a fanaticism like that can be portrayed as somewhat nerdy, but cute (just like in "40 Year Old Virgin"). Sadly, the one movie that comes to mind about a sports fanatic was that horrible Jimmy Fallon movie about the Red Sox. Or the one scene in "City Slickers" where they talk about sports around the fire. So why is it that sports fanatacism can be looked upon as worse than a Fanboy or Trekkie? By worse, I mean that I have heard on many occasions that I follow because I couldn't play, or get a life it's only sports, blah, blah, blah. And yes, you would be right in saying that the Star Wars or Start Trek nerds endured the same thing. BUT - has a sports fanatic ever been romaticized on the big screen? No, we get movies like "The Fan" with DeNiro going overboard and trying to kill Wesley Snipes. If you can think of a sports fanatic being portrayed in a good light in a movie, please let me know.

All I ask is for fair treatment Hollywood. Some of us out here will remember that Fred Lynn won the MVP and ROY before Ichiro did it (with the Red Sox 1975 - and that he was the 1st player to hit a grand slam in an All-Star Game, 1983 with the Angels at Comiskey Park off of Giants pitcher Atlee Hammaker). Until then I will just have to keep watching Big Bang Theory and enjoy watching it even though they like comics and such and not sports.

Cubs....

Getting ready to go watch the rubber game of the Cubs-Astros series. Was disappointed in the loss last night. I continue to be amazed at this team's lack of ability to score runs. Granted, their best hitter is on the DL (Ramirez) - but still, it's frustrating. Miles, Fontenot, Johnson, etc... aren't going to give you more than stopgap ability. Long term, they need Aramis. And maybe even more help.

The bullpen has been shaky to say the least. I will give Guzman a break for last night because he has been awesome with that exception. Gregg and Marmol need to pick it up and Heilman better start throwing strikes or he is going to be gone. I think they should bring up the Shark.

Anyway, good news is that they are only 3 games back....and it's a long summer. Maybe they are lowering our exepectations and then surprising us, like the Astros a few years back. Let's hope so.

New Start

Well, so much for living the blogger life like I wanted to many years ago....it's amazing how things change when you get married and have kids. It's also from me being lazy. But, we are going to give it another go. Yes, there will mostly be sports talk. But there will also be random Top 10 Lists and other pop culture stuff as well.

So without further adieu, I give you the relaunched "14 Days of Ambivalence". Enjoy!