Ramblings

It's been awhile since I've done a "real" post. I apologize and offer these ramblings as my offering for forgiveness.

I've got myself becoming more and more like my father. I'm talking about little quirks here. I've begun doing that little "there's nothing on TV" frustration sigh while I stare at my remote to make something good come on. I've caught myself reading the newspaper in the same fashion. I've had enough people say I look just like my father that I came to terms a long time ago with that. That fact that I'm now imitating his quirks has me a little concerned.

Speaking of my father, with the NBA making a big comeback this season I've thought my Dad must be enjoying this postseason. One thing I remember growing up is my father's notebooks. Inside the notebooks were his teaching notes, some semblance of a schedule, and his student's grades. Among all that stuff would be pages of NBA players and their stats. I could never make sense of their order or why he wrote them down. Maybe he was being his own GM? I should ask him about that.

I meant to include this story awhile ago in my birthday post for Ben I. For some reason it slipped my mind. After my parents divorced, my Dad moved us down to South Carolina. On holidays and during the summer we would drive up to Columbus to spend time with our Mom. It's a ten hour trip so my Mom and Dad would meet halfway in Kentucky. While riding with Mom to Columbus, Ben was tired and kept asking how much longer. One time he asked, and Mom said it would be another 45 minutes. Fifteen minutes later he asked again. Mom said it'd be "half an hour." Ben suddenly got really frustrated, and we didn't know why. Then Ben said, "You said we were minutes away and now it's hours!" Maybe you had to be there. There's also the time that Ben kept calling condominiums, "condoms."

Baseball has taken another hit with this whole Jason Grimsley HGH investigation. The interesting thing is the names that were blacked out in the affidavit. This guy pitched for 7 teams since 1989 including the Phillies, Yankees, and Indians. That's a lot of players whose names could be hidden behind that black ink. Of course these names will eventually be leaked. This will most likely trump Canseco's "tell all" book because it deals with active players and Human Growth Hormones. No major league sport currently tests for HGH. Most likely the MLB will start testing because they've been forced into a corner once again. Does this mean the NFL or NBA will then be forced to follow suit, or is baseball held to a higher standard?

I'm putting up a fight in both of my fantasy leagues this season. Considering both teams have Aramis Ramirez that's pretty good. My best waiver wire grab is Marlins' shortstop Hanley Ramirez with his .302 average and 17 stolen bases. My best draft pick is probably Reds' pitcher Harang, who I scooped up off the bottom of the draft pool.

There should be an online dating site where you create the questionaire for potential dates.

Are kids not getting their asses kicked anymore? For the past few years there seems to be more and more smart mouth kids talking trash. Every time I run into one of them I wonder how they've survived without getting a beating. I don't mean by their parents but by their peers.

I haven't felt this lethargic in years.

When will toilet paper companies realize that more absorbency and more plys will not keep us from using a lot of toilet paper? We use a lot of toilet paper because we want to create as much of a barrier as we can between our hand and our ass.

Ramblings

I tried quitting Lost, but my Tivo won't let me. I missed a couple episodes. Or so I thought. Checking my Tivo I discover it recorded the episodes I missed. Sure, enough I'm kind of hooked again. I mean the blacklight map was a nice little gift to the viewers. I will also say I came up with the idea of there being a supply drop about a year ago. I know Brian will say he came up with it, but he's wrong.

With a crammed premiere episode, Thief hadn't exactly won me over. Mr. Braugher was dynamite as always, but there was something missing. This week's episode though got things going. You can see the conflicts more clearly, and really it's great just watching Braugher act.

I think 24 has blown it big time with their huge reveal at the end of this week's episode. Doesn't that completely negate the first half of the season? They've always been somewhat ridiculous and overboard with their twists and turns. That's part of the fun of the show. I think this is too much though. They have a crap load of explaining to do to make it even possible work.

Dom and I finally worked out a fantasy baseball trade.

The Twilight Singers announced the dates of their official tour. I put in bold the dates when they play close to most of the readers here. Now I really don't expect any of you readers to go (except Bob). I simply puts this up to make you think about it. Maybe you have nothing to do that night? Maybe you'll be in a particular mood to hear some rock n roll in the month of May or June? I'm just saying this is something you could do. The Italian rock group Afterhours and songwriter Jeff Klein will be opening up. Don't you want to hear some new music?

MAY

18 Minneapolis MN - Varsity Theatre
19 Chicago IL - Metro
20 Newport KY - Southgate House
21 Indianapolis IN - The Vogue
23 Columbus OH - Little Brothers
24 Cleveland OH - Grog Shop
25 Detroit MI - St. Andrews Hall
27 Toronto ON - Lee's Palace
28 Montreal QC - Cabaret du Musse Juste Pour Rire
29 Boston MA - Paradise Rock Club
30 Philadelphia PA - Theatre of Living Arts (TLA)

JUNE

01 New York NY - Irving Plaza
02 Washington DC - 9.30 Club
03 Carrboro NC - Cat's Cradle
05 Atlanta GA - Smith's Olde Bar
07 New Orleans LA - One Eyed Jacks
09 Austin TX - The Parish
10 Dallas TX - Gypsy Tea Room
12 Denver CO - Larimer Lounge
13 Salt Lake City UT - Club Sound
15 Portland OR - Doug Fir Lounge
17 Seattle WA - Neumo's
19 San Francisco CA - Great American Music Hall
21 Hollywood CA - Avalon

Speaking of the Twilight Singers. In case you didn't notice, the new guitarist commented on this blog. Yes, that might be the highlight of my blogging career. Yes, I'm a nerd.

PLW, have you seen Slither yet? It satisfied that "monster matinee" jones I often have.

A few people have asked me if I have high hopes for the Cubs this season. My response: Glendon Rusch is our #2 pitcher. Glendon Rusch! That means no.

Finally saw Fever Pitch on HBO. Many people have suggested it because I'm a Cub fan and I guess I'm supposed to relate. You know what? It sucked! If I was a Red Sox fan I'd dislike that movie even more. First of all, the baseball aspect wasn't even used well enough to disguise the fact that it's really a chick flick. Second, that is not a die hard fan. That's a nut.

Finally it's that time again for the Long Beach Indy car race. This means a couple things for me this weekend. First of all, there will be absolutely no parking. Second, the race will be less than a mile from my apartment. You might be thinking that could be cool. Yeah, I'm real close to an Indy car race. My problem. Have you heard these cars. It's like the Swarm is buzzing my front door every five seconds. Third, there will be no parking.

You Can Trust Me...maybe.

I admit I lie sometimes. I admit that I sometimes have the smile where it looks like I'm up to no good. But, I think on the whole I'm honest and not that sneaky. Right? Then why won't Dom accept a fantasy baseball trade from me? I offered him 2B Marcus Giles and closer Chad Cordero for speedster Chone Figgins and closer Keith Foulke. I know I'm overpaying for steals. Bob knows I'm overpaying for steals. Does anyone think Foulke's 90 year old knees are going to hold up through the year, or even this month? When I told Bob that it was declined, he was confused as well. So, why did Dom decline? Apparently, I'm a sneaky bastard that is always trying to pull something over on people. It could be his baseball knowledge is inferior and he's afraid to let it show. (But that doesn't really add to the theme of this post.)

This is part of the internal conflict between Good Brad and Evil Brad. When I say "Evil Brad," I mean more in a rebellious cliche "bad boy" way than a keep me away from sharp instruments and puppies way.

Evil Brad has always existed. He would sneak a Pepsi late at night when everyone was asleep even though he had his parental designated limit of two for the day. He drove too fast on the three wheeler when he was on the other side of the lake and nobody could see him. Evil Brad would try to string together as many swear words as possible even though it ended up making no sense at all. Evil Brad would ask to borrow a step-uncle's recording of some crappy move knowing that Porky's was recorded on the tape as well. He would buy Boston's debut album and hide it in his dresser. Yes, I realize that last one is actually lame as well as evil. During those days and on into undergrad Evil Brad may have existed but nobody really saw his face. Good Brad easily dominated Evil Brad those years.

The last couple years of undergrad Evil Brad began to surface. It occurred because of the old familiar teen movie problem that "I was tired of being so nice." I was tired of being viewed as always the nice guy. It would still be a few years till nerds and nice guys actually became viewed as studs. That's when Evil Brad started to surface. Evil Brad became the shell to protect Good Brad. Because Good Brad couldn't say "no" to people, Evil Brad would show his face so people wouldn't ask in the first place. Rather than shy Good Brad sitting at a party looking like a recluse, Evil Brad would show he didn't care if he was talking to anyone or not. Good Brad still at that point controlled everything.

Now Evil Brad might have a little too much power. Evil Brad controls the tongue a little too much. Evil Brad has shortened Good Brad's tolerance of morons considerably. Evil Brad can really be a prick sometimes. Good Brad is still the core. I help my friends and family when they need it. I always over tip. I am still a nice guy. It's just the shell is maybe a little too thick. Now I'm seen as cold, a little sneaky, and sometimes mean towards those that irritate me. So maybe this whole Evil Brad shell has back fired a little. But could anyone have predicted that Emo and nerds would take over the world?

Perhaps the real problem is that Good Brad was never allowed to mature and grow. Maybe the real question is why I've associated Good with being a wuss. Clearly I have no idea where I'm going with this post. I just wanted to vent that Dom turned down two trades I offered, because he didn't trust me. Sorry I wasted your time.

Ramblings

So Saturday was the Twilight Singers Pre-SXSW show. It was at a small place called The Scene up in Glendale. The place only holds around 100 plus people which isn't bad for a concert like this. Of course there was a moment where it looked like I might not get in because they couldn't find my name on the will call list. I thought there was going to be an opening band, but apparently I was wrong. This meant I had to kill 3 hours in a bar by myself. Bob I wish you were there.

Anyway it was worth it. Dulli and company rocked it like they do. They have a new guitarist. I really liked their last guitarist, but the new guy won me over. Their new keyboardist on this tour Scott Bennett is the musical director for Brian Wilson. Yeah, I don't need to add anything else to that. The two cornerstones, Scott Ford on bass, and Bobby McIntyre on drums were outstanding as always. If Dulli ever replaces them I'd feel a little sad. But on to the important stuff. This concert was a warm up for their SXSW show and to debut songs for their new album. He performed six songs (*) from upcoming Powder Burns album. They all sounded great. My favorites came in the encore. Candy Cane Crawl had Dulli in full on soul man mode. Considering is was in the hospital two days before for some unstated reason, he gave it all. That's the thing with Dulli he will always give you his best show. There were sometimes his voice seemed to fail him, but he still tore through the set like a man posessed. They then went into Underneath the Waves which was a straight up rock n roll. Dulli lead the song off by saying "keep your hands up, you won't regret it." He was right. It should also be noted that they didn't play a single Afghan Whigs song. I really didn't mind not hearing them. The Twilight Singers catalogue has become so strong the Whigs songs aren't necessary. This week I put some of my favorite Twilight Singers songs in the player. They have one of the new songs up on their myspace page.

3/11/06 Setlist-Glendale, CA - The Scene (from summerskiss.com)

toward the waves*
i'm ready*
esta noche
too tough to die
teenage wristband
bonnie brae*
dream on/love
annie mae
that bird sings
early today(and later that night)
martin eden
decatur st.
forty dollars*

encore-
candy cane crawl*
underneath the waves*
the twilite kid

This might be my favorite time of year in sports, with March Madness and the beginning of baseball season. Sunday I had my fantasy baseball draft. I'm pretty happy with it. I am a little short on pitching, but my bench is strong enough that I think I can swing a trade or two. There are a couple new things this year, since I switched over to yahoo. I like the designation of outfielders. You have to pick a RF, LF, and CF, not just a bunch of outfielders. I also like that Holds are being counted, and not just saves. Below is my team. We'll see how this turns out.

C: M. Barrett
1B: P. Fielder
2B: M. Giles
3B: A. Ramirez
SS: J. Rollins
LF: J. Bay
CF: J. Edmonds
RF: B. Giles
UTIL: M. Holliday
Bench: M. Jacobs, N. Johnson, R. Church, M. Murton

SP: B. Sheets
SP: C. Capuano
SP: D. Lowe
SP: A. Harang
RP: R. Dempster
RP: C. Reitsma
RP: S. Linebrink
P: M. Morris

I watched Sopranos last night. The most surprising thing was seeing Axl Rose at the Sopranos' premiere party.

And Corinne Marrinan's week just keeps getting better. After snagging an Oscar, her speech made an appearance on Best Week Ever. Perhaps I would win an Oscar if I didn't watch such pointless TV.

Speaking of pointless TV, I Love Toys ranked the hula hoop as the greatest toy ever. How can hula hoop beat out Legos? What can you do with a hula hoop except swing your hips and nearly choke yourself when you try to swing it around your neck. With Legos you can do anything.

The rest of my weekend was spent trying to find a good pair of earbuds for my Nano. I was tired of the crappy ones they give you. It's like having two speakers out of my '74 Maverick. So, I did a little research, and bough a pair. It's ridiculous how much I spent on them, but they are fantastic.

Ramblings

So, I went to the Queen Mary’s Shipwreck Halloween Terrorfest. Including the ticket and parking it cost a whopping $40 bucks. Now I thought that the high price would eliminate some of the riff raff. I was wrong. This meant I had to be searched before entering. There’s nothing like being felt up in public. What’s even better is when I had to go back through the line because cameras weren’t allowed. Now they apparently had a shortage of the metal detector wands. I was lucky enough to get a guy with a wand the first time. Second time, I wasn’t so lucky. I didn’t realize my predicament till I was stuck in the middle of the line. Certain there was some protocol in which I couldn’t request a wand, I just took my groping and moved on.

Inside, there were seven mazes to walk through. We just went through the two mazes that were actually on the Queen Mary. That was plenty. I give them credit for grandness and effort, but they were still just standard haunted houses. This being the Queen Mary I expected them to do something a little original particularly for the mazes on the Queen Mary itself. Just once I’d like to see someone go the creepy route rather than the jump behind a corner route. They have a supposedly authentic haunted ship. Why not play off that with a little movie magic, and really creep people out rather than just “Boo!”

I also don’t know the proper reaction I’m supposed to have. My night vision is crap, so I couldn’t really see anything. But is it rude to not act scared? They are technically paid performers. It’s not their fault if I can’t see them enough to be scared. I feel like it’s not applauding after play. Also, I think I suck at pretending to be scared.

To all those people that have been congratulating me on the White Sox making the World Series: Don’t. Cub fans do not root for the White Sox, and vice versa. If I’m to root for the White Sox, I might as well root for the Cardinals. And that’s never happening. I am impressed with the way the White Sox have been playing. How can you not be when their starting pitchers throw four straight complete games? My question is how does their curse of the Black Sox scandal become easier to overcome than the Cub’s stupid Billy goat curse. The old White Sox threw the World Series. How is not allowing a Billy goat into the park worse than that? Not that curses exist.

I really dislike the word “moist.”

A couple people have asked how well my fantasy baseball team did. I never wrote much about them because there was nothing to write. They did as well as the Cubs did. My worst pick ended up being Cristian Guzman for the Nationals. He was even worse than Kerry wood. My best pick ended up being Traveras of the Astros. I picked him up on the waiver wire right after the draft. The best move I ever made. Actually it was the only good move I ever made.

It is absolutely pouring rain outside right now with actual thunder and lightning. This rarely ever happens in Los Angeles. It’s something I actually miss from living in Ohio. The problem with LA rains other than the usual lack of lightning and thunder, and that it lasts for days on end, is the snails. It’s like tiptoeing through a minefield after it rains. No matter how hard you try though you always end up hearing that crunch.

Is anyone else watching Invasion and enjoying it? It’s not as “cool” or slick as Lost, but I like it. For once the writers seem to actually know ahead of time what they are doing. It gets my best new drama of the season award. My best new comedy obviously goes to Extras. I do love my awkward comedy.

OW!

Baseball (Real)

The Cubs have had an uncanny amount of injuries. Todd Walker had a sprained MCL. Garciaparra tore (as in off the bone tore) his groin muscle running to first base. Kerry Wood has had arm problems that keep the team doctors baffled. And to cap it all off, Mark Prior had a ball ricochet off his elbow resulting in a fracture. Even with all these injuries the Cubs are above .500. The Cardinals have run away with the division, but the wild card is still in reach. So perhaps when a few guys come back healthy and a trade or two is made the Cubs may make it to the playoffs yet. If they do, there is one reason why: the MVP playing of Derek Lee. It won’t happen but he has a shot at winning the Triple Crown. He is either leading or a close second in the required categories of RBI, HR, and AVG. Carl Yastrzemski was the last player to achieve the Triple Crown for the BoSox in 1967. The problem is that with all of today’s specialty roles in baseball the Triple Crown isn’t likely. But we can dream can’t we?

Baseball (Make Believe)

To confirm my belief that I am the curse my fantasy team is going through the same struggles as the Cubs. I have six players on the DL. Six! Three of the injured are Hampton, Hudson, and Wood my top three pitchers. It’s gotten so bad that the day one of my pitchers came off the DL he pitched a few innings and then went back on the DL. At the beginning of the season I wrote “Things I need to happen for this year to be successful are Dubois to prove to Dusty he deserves to play fulltime, Wood stays healthy, Berkman comes back lighting it up, and Hampton pitches like the second half rather than the first half of last season.” Yeah. None of that happened. Morris though has worked out pretty well and I love the Father Murphy look. Of course this means he’ll be on the DL next week. I’m currently in fifth place and the injuries seem to have cemented me there. It’s sad when seeing your team in fourth place excites you.

Baseball (Real and Make Believe)

I have no idea if this is cool or a sign of things to come. Right now I’m leaning towards cool. Wait...no...yes. Thanks to Carp for this one.

The Day After

There's nothing like waking up with a fresh mind and getting a second look at who you drafted.
I hate to blame it on one thing, but having my JAVA program lock up really screwed with my mojo. Still it's not awful, but it could have been a heck of a lot better. I need to scrounge up another closer, and pray that Taveras not only clears waivers but actually gets a decent amount of playing time till Berkman comes back in May. My best pick was probably Sanders simply because I got him so late in the draft. My worse was clearly Morris. I have no idea what I was thinking when I drafted him. Things I need to happen for this year to be successful are Dubois to prove to Dusty he deserves to play fulltime, Wood stays healthy, Berkman comes back lighting it up, and Hampton pitches like the second half rather than the first half of last season. Of course whether you like it or not, I will keep you updated.

Twilight Swingers

P Kerry Wood, ChC
P Tim Hudson, Atl
P Al Leiter, Fla
P Matt Morris, StL
P Mike Adams, Mil
P Mike Hampton, Atl
P Chin-hui Tsao, Col
P Yhency Brazoban, LA
P Zach Day, Was
Bench Rheal Cormier, Phi
Bench Chris Hammond, SD
C Michael Barrett, ChC
1B Brad Wilkerson, Was
2B Mark Loretta, SD
3B Aramis Ramirez, ChC
SS Cristian Guzman, Was
OF Corey Patterson, ChC
OF Willy Taveras, Hou
OF Larry Walker, StL
OF Reggie Sanders, StL
OF Terrmel Sledge, Was
2B/SS Chase Utley, Phi
1B/3B Nick Johnson, Was
Util J.D. Closser, Col
Bench Jason Dubois, ChC
IR Lance Berkman* , Hou

4 Days till Opening Day!

Simmons (The Sport's Guy) wrote this nice little column to Cubs fans (He's a Red Sox fan). I actually got slightly misty eyed and have no idea. Trying to picture what it'd be like to watch the Cubs in the World Series I actually cringed. Not the idea of the Cubs in the World Series, but because of Fox's coverage. Just like the Red Sox fans had endure a historical retelling of Babe Ruth every commercial break, Cubs fans will have to deal with goat pictures, that damn black cat, the ball through Leon's legs in '84, and probably a shot of Bartman everytime a foul ball is hit. I shudder. I wish there was a way that Bartman could charge for everytime his image is shown, he deserves better than this.

So Much for that idea

Well, that didn't work so well. Only half our league was there so the draft flew by in just an hour. An hour! So much for a running commentary. Now we're stuck with my stupid recap. My first pick was Mark Loretta. Then I was all set for Jason Bay to be my next pick, when the damn system locked up. I got stuck with Berkman, which meant I had to go for another pick to fill his spot till he gets back. It was pretty much all downhill from there. I got some decent players, but completely missed the run on closers. I had to clean that barrel to still get two. I go into more detail, but I'm simply frustrating myself. I think my team is in the crapper, but only the season will tell. I need a drink. Goodnight.

8:55 Jeez I'm getting nervous. It's just a game. It's just a game. It's just a game.

9:00 pm

And we're off. Carlos Delgado is the first pick. Man my draft position blows.

8:45 pm 3/30/05

Fifteen minutes and counting till the draft. I'm seventh in line to pick, which is one reason it sucks to come in fourth. Right now it looks like Larry Walker, David Wright, or Lance Berkman will be available. Berkman is tempting but he will miss the first part of the season because he tore up his knee playing flag football on a chruch retreat. Now I realize you should still be able to have fun doing other athletic activities as a baseball player, but if you're bringing in a multi-million dollar contract then I'd want nothing to do with anything that might take away my chance to play professional ball. Of course that could just be the hypochondriac in me.

8:30 pm Jersey on. Bobbleheads setup. Tunes on. Almost ready for the draft

Crunch Time!

For all three of my readers on this blog I’m going to be trying something new tonight. As you all may know I have a fantasy baseball team called the Twilight Swingers. I am only doing one team this season well because I dropped $250 on a PSP. Tonight at 9 pm west coast time I have my live draft. In order to give those that may wonder an idea of what happens during a draft I’m going to be doing a running blog during my draft. I don’t know what is going to happen or what I’m going to write, but there is a chance it might be slightly entertaining. It could also be a horrendous disaster, but that can still be entertaining, right?

To begin thing off let me give you a little background and info on my fantasy team. I go through ESPN’s fantasy website to play. I am in a National League only 5x5 rotisserie keeper league. In a keeper league, at the end of the season each owner selects five players from their roster that they want to keep for the upcoming season. This year I kept:

Kerry Wood - Pitcher
Aramis Ramirez – 3rd baseman
Tim Hudson - Pitcher
Corey Patterson - Outfielder
Brad Wilkerson - Outfielder

Yes, I know three out the five are Cubs. My game plan tonight is to stock up on hitters in the early rounds. With Wood and Hudson as my pitchers I can wait a bit to think about drafting another pitcher. Ramirez is my only true slugger so I have to get some bats early on. We’ll see how that goes. So come back every now and then and see what happens. Or just wait till tomorrow and read it all at once. Or just wait awhile till a non-baseball post shows up. But, I hope to see you tonight.

It’s All in the Preparation

It’s the beginning of Spring Training. And once again I am filled with anticipation for this upcoming baseball season. It is by far my favorite time of year. Hope springs eternal or at least till your team gets swept in late September by a sub .500 team, putting them out of the playoff race. Though even with the expectation of defeat, I begin every season with some rituals in preparation for Opening Day.

Baseball Movie Marathon: Throughout the month plus of Spring Training I will watch Sandlot, Bull Durham, The Natural and Field of Dreams in that order. As of a few years ago I tacked on The Rookie. The only one stipulation I really hold to in watching these movies is that I have to watch them alone, particularly the last three. I made the mistake of watching The Rookie with a friend of mine. When Quaid calls to tell his wife that he got called up and she hands the phone to their son. Oh boy. That moment is up there with the ballboy handing his own bat to Redford, and Costner asking his Dad to play catch. Dammit. My allergies are acting up already. Speaking of baseball movies, I caught a trailer of Fever Pitch. Some Red Sox fans I know were furious that Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore tainted the Red Sox celebration by running on the field to re-shoot the ending. I can understand their dislike for this apparent cashing in on the Red Sox, much like Dan Shaughnessy, and I share in their dislike of Jimmy Fallon. Who the hell likes the Red Sox and the Yankees? But no matter what, there is no way that this movie will even come close to the travesty that is Rookie of the Year. I will also admit that I’m slowly becoming disenfranchised with the Red Sox Nation.

Fantasy Baseball Draft: Like the real baseball season, much of the enjoyment of Fantasy Baseball is the preparation. I spend so many countless hours researching magazines, box scores, and online columns it’s amazing I ever get any work done. Though with so much information out there it’s nearly impossible to find a sleeper or comeback player that nobody else has heard of. It’s basically all come down to draft position and working the waiver wire. This is a big year for me in fantasy baseball. I’m in my final year of my keeper league. I came in fourth last year and I am going to need the Twilight Swingers to reclaim my rightful position of first from two years ago. I was killed last year by injuries and losing players traded to the AL, but I feel good about this year despite my terrible draft position. That could of course all change with a dislocated shoulder, bizarre nerve problem in the arm, or Achilles heel.

MVP Baseball: Early March is when the new baseball video games come out. For years the one thing I hated about baseball was the video games. I wasn’t just bad at them, I was horrendous. My armless niece could beat me I was so inept at those games. That is until EA came out with MVP Baseball. Thanks to their new fangled pitching system I can now at least compete. I still swing at everything. It’s still like watching Bad News Bears when I attempt to field anything. But I can at least pitch the lights out now. This year is EA’s final baseball title. This would normally be terrible news, if it wasn’t for the fact that this means I will eventually have to play more than one season. I would do a full review, but this review will be better. I do though have two gripes that Mr. Katcher doesn’t mention. First on the color coding of the pitches. The colors are all wrong. To help when batting they’ve now color coded the ball up to the point of release. If the ball is white that means a fastball is coming. A red ball means the pitch is gonna move like a curve or slider. Green means change up. Isn’t it obvious that fastball should be green, curve should be yellow, and the change up should be red? I can understand the fastball needing to stay white, but when I see green I think go, which is the wrong thing to be thinking on a change up. I know this aspect of the game is supposed to help with batting, but I still can’t hit. In fact I think it makes me worse. Secondly, in Owner Mode I played an 18 inning game at my home ballpark. I assumed that I should rake in on the concessions, but no. I brought in around the same amount as every other game. How can this be? Even if you split my attendance in half for those who went home, shouldn’t I be taking in at least a little more? Did nobody want anything to eat or drink for the last nine innings? For the record it was 0-0 till the 18th when the Pirates scored two on errors of course. But I was somehow able to score three runs in the bottom of the ninth. The last run involving a head on collision at home plate which knocked the ball free. How much do I love this game! Also, the fact that Nomar got injured in the fifth game of my season scares me to death.

Cub’s memorabilia: Usually I purchase a new Cubs hat for the new season. I still end up going back to my two Cooperstown replica hats, but I still buy one. This year I went a little large. I finally bought my own Ryne Sandberg jersey. I even went old school with simply the number and no name on the back. I also gave into the Cubs believe bracelets. I’m not usually a sucker for such things, but they caught me when I was easily persuadable. I bought five. At least they go to a good cause.

Baseball trip: While surfing the Cub’s website seeing when they are playing the Dodgers and Padres, I always plan a dream baseball trip. I try to fit as many games I can in a week. Twice it’s actually happened. I hit all the California teams with my father a few years ago, and my friend Bob and I hit the Northeast with a long ass drive to Wrigley in the middle. This year I might try to actually make trip #3 across the Mid-west. Thank God for hiatus.

Cub’s Media Programming: I’ve got my Tivo set for the Cubs games. I’ve programmed all the XM MLB stations into my presets. I’ve even signed up to get the Cubs games on my computer.

It’s a lot to cram in a month, but it all helps that month pass by a little faster. As of this writing there are 25 days 20 hours 26 minutes 22 seconds left till Opening Day. So I say screw January 1st. April 4th is really the beginning of the New Year.