Once again I've said yes when I meant no. Some friends insisted I join their fantasy football league and rather hesitantly I did so. Well, to be more precise, I was euchred into doing it. The sight of grown men groveling, pretending that they only need one more person to fill out their bracket-or whatever-reduced me to wrongheaded thinking. I should have realized the error of my ways when they instantly hopped to their feet and I believe I heard them say something like, “Hot damn, he fell for it.” Or similar. And, worse, I know their motives; They're looking for a sucker who doesn't mind being last and, really, expects to be. My rise to spectacular failure is traceable and, to some, possibly even a learning curve. Just down, not up

The word “fantasy” has always implied something that isn't real, non-existent, ethereal in a place that isn't there. But combine that with the word “football” and what you've got is a raging, snarling beast that drives men to charts, statistics and drink. Not necessarily in that order. And it's not just limited to football, one can have “fantasy” any sport and it will draw to it devotees of that the same violent reaction as does football to many others. But I was unaware of that. I thought this to be the equivalent to the office pool on the Super Bowl, charitably allowing a child to beat you at checkers, playing something innocent. As it would work out, I was the innocent and the “something” was a Lorelei on a rock luring the many to disaster. And so with that-which is to say nothing-in mind, I figured out the basics of the thing and began. Unfortunately, my natural tendency to regard many things as a quasi scientific experiment led me down a path less taken by everyone save me. What I did was regard this fantasy group of players as something in a Petri dish. Put there, cultured, observed and then after a stated period of time, Conclusions Drawn. The main conclusion was that I didn't know what the hell I was doing. For what I thought the purpose of Fantasy Football was meant selecting a team and then never varying the players and seeing how correctly you'd picked over time. Bye weeks meant nothing to me, nor did admissions to the DL list not to mention unforeseen encounters with the law. By season's end I had perhaps a dozen or so men still playing-and that includes the offense-so it will come as no surprize that I finished dead last. Worse, really, than dead last but it's not possible to have a player ranked in negative numbers.

Puzzled as to what few errors I might have committed, I wandered over to the Athletic Director's office at the school at which I was lecturing. Friendly as a fund raiser, he listened to my question, my explanation to my question and then my charted results. His face went from being tanned to blank to blanched and that preceded his jaw dropping. Clearly he was in the presence of one of the true innocents of the world and perhaps one of the stupidest. However I was the guest and he was the host and so, as carefully as possible, he began the task of deconstructing everything I thought about Fantasy Football and then trying to present the basics of the realities. Imagine a permissive parent trying to coax a truculent three year old to eat spinach and you've an approximation of this unfortunate interview. But I did learn and I was grateful. However, had this gentleman known what I'd learned he would have been bashing his head against a door jamb. Walking back to the lab I concentrated on two sets of numbers; The realities (sic) of fantasy football and some new and interesting numbers about the perturbation of the ellipsoid orbit of Mars. These are two groups of figures that cannot-or should not-be aligned, nor did I try. However, inadvertently, they did cross pollinate one another which led to my next disaster in the newly revealed world of Fantasy Football.

The main thing I'd learned from the stricken AD was that this was not, as I had imagined, a static thing. It had movements and consequences not only week to week but day to day. One had to be au courant with whether a hamstring had been strung or an arrest had been made. Then there was that whole thing about “Byes”. Somehow I'd never noticed that not every team played every week. In my philosophy, save for the “season” which didn't strike me as long enough to get a vacation, they didn't do much else beside collect cheques and sit around being boors and thugs. And then one had to stack all these variables up and, voila!, Eureka, you'd have a winning side. Save that I didn't.

In the world in which I lived, the word “fantasy” did not really exist, it was replaced by “speculation”. There is no future in investigating “fantasy” but speculation is what keeps the scientific community humming. Also blocking my view of the problem at hand was that by the time the next fantasy football season, and the real football season as well, rolled around I was in Russia working on a satellite programme. Now, you know and I know that American style football isn't played in newly Tzarist Russia. Soccer(football) da, but American style, nyet. Further, most of my life had been lived beneath the code of Amateurism and so professional sports as a whole (save golf and tennis) were beyond my purview. To also help set the scene for what happened next consider this. At the time of my next team I was an American Citizen of South African lineage and some basic culture working in Russia-in Russian-on a multinational satellite trying to select real players from American football teams to really not play as a group in a fantasy situation. So it's probably obvious as to why on my second time out I did only marginally better than the time before. I still finished last but, as I'd had time, I'd swapped and dropped and added players, never successfully, and given as much of the limited time I had to trying to figure out what the hell was going on. And, to finish off these season I couldn't even really participate in the last two week as I was aboard a Russian Nuclear Submarine in the Barents Sea preparing to launch the satellite. I don't ask for absolution for my errors but surely one can see how distraction and confusion led me astray.

You may have heard the expression, “Third Time's the Charm”? Hogwash. For my next adventure in lala land I'd done a bit more research, read blogs on the topic and listened to friends whose enthusiasm for football bordered on mania. And, should they be fixated on one team, monomania. But up pops another wall and it's called, “Wandering Knowledge of Anything”. Names of players and the positions they filled, also a total misunderstanding of what the names of positions really were meant to indicate. For example, I heard considerable at a cocktail party about a “snapper”. Now see it as I did. It's summer, we're wandering in and out of the house to the lawn and they're discussing “snappers”. I'd just bought a new lawn mower for my home (known as the mausoleum) so I thought I knew what the discussion was about. Party/drinking/lawns/mowing/snapper. And I got snapped. Equally unhelpful is that I am afflicted with the sort of mind that retains rather too much information, most of it superfluous but...it's still there. I approached picking my next squad with a more alert eye. I had names in mind to look for and some vague idea as to the position they played. Because I'd written a piece satirizing them, I was aware of Rex Grossman and Peyton Manning. Brett Favre was another name known to me but after that...However, Roman Gabriel, Joe Montana and Roger Staubach were fixtures in my memory and so I upgraded them to “active player” status and that didn't end happily. Thanks to an advertisement for a soft drink I knew who Joe Green was but beyond his name and his inferred reputation, that was it. And there were other more contemporary names that resonated with me but what they did and for whom they did it was lost to flight and song. It was, I believe, about this time that I went through what I refer to as “The Defense Problem”. Given a bit of research I'd learned that in addition to quarterbacks, there were nickel backs, full backs and perhaps half backs. Applying the same logic to the defense as well as the offense I'd been thwarted in that you didn't pick that person by person, but group by group. It had been hard enough to come up with sufficient mis-information about offense and now to discover that I needed a whole new set of mental muscles to select one whole group of men to represent me was daunting. The resolution was what I always do when faced with a “situation” in professional football, I go with something from Kansas City. Not that I know much about it as a team, but over the years I've gathered a certain wandering familiarity with them if only because they're the “local” team. (and in this part of the world where people routine drive hundreds of miles in a day to do nothing very important, the 200 miles to Kansas city seems local). Again, it was a losing year but I felt I'd made progress. Of what sort I was unsure but certainly progress.

Having stacked up three successive losing seasons I took some time off but this year the game is on again. I've been working at it. I almost know the names of all the teams and into which league they fall. I've made a concerted effort to learn the names of players but in many cases I'm stymied by the tendency to combine what is incorrectly thought to be Afrocentric with “La's” and misspellings that contribute to my confusion. (Once in Nairobi I'd ask a friend, Japhet Keti, a Ministerial level politician, what he thought of Kwanza. He thought he'd never heard of it. As best I could I explained it to him and he just shook his head. Had he known the expression, he would have told me that this was clearly a Hallmark created holiday. He then suggested we go to the Tamarind Seed for lunch and to get sufficiently drunk to boo President Moi.) The net result to this is that I cannot remember names that have no relevance in my memory banks. I realize this makes me seem prejudiced toward white players, but that's not the case, I can remember Matt or Steve or Jake whereas La Twantonian goes right by me. So that's where we stand just now. Next weekend I have to endure public humiliation by participating in what is called an “online draft”. This, I gather, is to emulate the tatty little fraud run by the NFL to do something over the course of several days that which could have been done in two or three hours in an office. But I've a strategy this time. However bad they may be I'm going to make all my selections from the....wait for it....Kansas City Chiefs. I told this to someone who looked at me strangely and said, “They're not a very good team”. Well I know that but “not very good” surpasses the perfectly awful teams that I've picked in the past. And I've got the bye week problem solved. That's when I substitute Green Bay. ( I once blogged about Aaron Rodgers so I somewhat feel comfortable if unfamiliar with them.)

So that's it. My fantasy strategy for this year and I certainly hope it works or, to put it more accurately, I hope the Chiefs work. And, who knows? Perhaps they'll have one of their “surprizing” years when they almost make the playoffs. I can dream can't I? After all, what are dream but the alternate form of fantasy. It all takes place in your mind. And, just as in dreams, you're using real people to do things with other real people that they'd never do. Wish me Luck.

Postscript

Since I wrote that, my friends have let me out of my obligation. Even they couldn't miss having a “real” player and, the final truth, they found someone who desperately wanted in as much as I wanted out. So although I may privately run a total to see how I'm not doing, others will not be forced to wonder at my stupidity. It's better that way. PJ 

WASHINGTON -- The Washington Nationals say Rob Dibble will no longer work as a TV analyst for the team's games, a split that comes after the former reliever made comments critical of rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg.

Dibble lashed out at Strasburg last week for not pitching through pain. Dibble said on Sirius XM Radio that "you can't have the cavalry come in and save your butt every time you feel a little stiff shoulder, sore elbow."

Strasburg has since been diagnosed with a torn elbow ligament and will have surgery Friday. He will be sidelined 12 to 18 months.

Two days after making those comments, Dibble was absent from the broadcast both on MASN, the network that televises the games. At the time, MASN said Dibble had requested "a few days off."

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

Worst HS football play ever?

That's all for today.

Jeff
 

In other Big 10+2 news, the conference finally decided how to organize itself in the future. It decided to put Ohio State into one division and Michigan into another, which is a dumb decision, but at least it decided to keep the Ohio State/Michigan game as the regular season finale. There had been rumors that the big wigs were considering playing the Game at some time other than at the end of November,  which to me only goes to show that said big wigs (1)aren't particularly bright and (2) Notre Dame was correct to keep its distance. Having seen how the former Big 12 screwed up the great traditional Nebraska/Oklahoma game, it sure looked like the Big 10 was going to do the same thing to its signature game. (Not that the Illinois/Northwestern game isn't exciting.)

As for my Irish, I'm thinking Brian Kelly sure looks like he knows what he's doing. I've said that before and been wrong - Bob Davies, anyone? - but I think they're going to win 9-10 games and go to a nice bowl. I'm not as optimistic as a fellow Irish alum I met at the Lake County Captains/South Bend baseball game last week, who thought they'd go undefeated this year, but I'm still pretty upbeat. And why not? If you can't be upbeat before the first game is played, when can you be upbeat?

Happy Thursday and Greetings from the Rocky Coast of Maine It was the last fling of summer the kids go back to school next week so despiute the heat wave we are having in the Northeast the beaches aren’t crowded due to Maine, NH, and some of Mass. Are already back in school. A couple hurricanes  in the Atlantic does wonders for the waves. The kids have been bogey boarding all week and the adults have take the boards away so they can get on the action. The life guards earned their money this week as well. I was talking to one yesterday and he was saying usually it’s an easy gig but the past few days it’s been  busy.  This kid worked his tail off yesterday.

It’s been a week of backyard cookouts and friends coming up to visit and going to friends who have places in the same town. The kids get to spend sometime with some school buds and we get some social time with friends. It’s what summer is about. I hope Hurricane Earl doesn’t totally ruin the last couple of days. I think we are far enough North for just a little rain..

It’s here finally it’s time sure all the big time teams play the likes of lesser opponents unless it’s a National TV game but it’s football and it counts that’s the most important thing. So let the games begin.

Last week I took in the all important3^rd preseason game. Featuring the Rams and The Patriots. Tom Brady looked really good. The Patriots have no doubt will score a lot of points this season. Unfortunately, if this game was any indication of things too come

They are going to give up a lot points. The Patriots were unable to stop the run , the pass and anything else that was thrown at them. I will say I was very impressed with same Bradford. He had two kind of lame duck passes but that was the only negative.

The Red Sox look like they are cooked so it’s time to turn off the oven. Folks here were all hung up on a play in one of the Sox Tampa games over the weekend. One out runner on third a foul down in the funky corner at the Trop. JD Draw makes a catch on a foul but it allows the run to score. Drew said he was trying not to catch it but instinct tookover. It would have been two strikes on the bater. I say you make the catch if the run scores it’s part of the game,

I thought it was an interesting season and they hung tough all year with a bunch of spare parts and what was suppose to be great starting pitching whuich didn’t live upto expectation. Sure Bucholtz, Dice-K and Lester were fine but Beckett and ZLackey struggled all year.

Finally, How long does Ozzie put up with Manny. ? I  say this will be a short lived relationship. All Manny needs to due is take a day off because he would rather play with his R/C cars. Ozzie will go nuts.

That’s it for this week. If you are some where that Earl will effect you good luck and be safe. Everybody else enjoy the start of the college football season.

Happy Thursday Gabbers!

FOR SALE:

Young, washed up quarterback. Loves to party, hates to train. Can't hit the broad side of a barn with a football. Has a terribly weak arm and lacks foot speed. For more information, please contact Ken Whisenhunt.

How far has the mighty fallen? Matt Leinart, the once-highly touted quarterback out of U$C is now for sale after being replaced by Derek Anderson as starting quarterback of the Arizona Cardinals. And, if you haven't paid attention to Anderson's career, let me just put it this way: Being replaced by Derek Anderson is as close to rock bottom as you can get in the NFL.

But I'm sure some team will take a flier on him and sign him when the Cardinals give him the heave ho this weekend. If I had to place a bet on where he ended up I'd put my money on Buffalo, because to me that's about the only place that he could go where he would have a realistic chance at taking over the starting job. The rest of the teams in the league either have an established starter or have a newly drafted rookie to take over the reigns.

The NFL regular season is just around the corner, and I don't know about you guys but I'm stoked. I'm tired of watching pre-season games that mean nothing with players who won't even be in the league after this weekend - I'm ready for some real football. But have no fear: we're only a week away from the regular season kickoff between the Saints and the Vikings. Of course, the bad part about this is we will have to listen to the non-stop Brett Favre talk all week leading up to the game, but at this point I don't even care any more - I need to see some real football, and I'm willing to put up with a little Favre-fest to do it.

A few weeks ago I made my bizarre Super Bowl prediction of Chargers/Packers, but if I remember correctly (and I'm too lazy to go back and look) I didn't predict the other playoff qualifiers, so I'm going to do that now.

NFC

Division Winners: Dallas, San Francisco, Green Bay, New Orleans
Wild Cards: Atlanta, Carolina (homer pick, I know)

NFC Championship: Green Bay over New Orleans

AFC

Division Winners: New England, San Diego, Baltimore, Indianapolis
Wild Cards: Houston, Cincinnati

AFC Championship: San Diego over Indianapolis

Super Bowl: Green Bay over San Diego

(In February when we discover that I got all these picks correct, I'll gladly remind you of this day.)

MEMBER PARTICIPATION: What are your playoff predictions? Surprise teams (good or bad)?

Moving on to one brief thought in baseball: It looks like the Dodgers finally got smart and realized that Manny wasn't the guy they needed in the middle of their lineup any more, so they decided to cast him to the waiver wire, and he ends up going to Chicago to play for the White Sox. (Although I think it would have been more interesting if he would have went to the Red Sox, but maybe that's just the side of me who enjoys a little drama to keep things interesting.) But, Manny's in Chicago, and if you're like me, your reaction was "meh, whatever". I understand that the White Sox are in a division race at the moment, but I just don't think that Manny has that much to offer them at this point in his career, especially when you factor in that he's been hurt for the majority of this season. But, to each his own, I guess.

Totally random baseball link: If you're into weird baseball stories, be sure to take the time to read this article.

Well, that's it for me this week. Feel free to add any thoughts you have in the comments section, and stay tuned for the start of the NFL season this coming week.

Until next Thursday...


 

This past Monday, WWE had its 900^th episode of Monday Night Raw, and to say it was a big disappointment would put it mildly. Raw did have a rating of 3.5 which meant that 5,053,000 viewers watched.

First off, it’s a special show and it was for only 2 hours not 3. Second, the writers couldn’t come up with anything witty. The show looked like it was just thrown together at the last possible minute. Finally, there were no special moments, contrary to what Nexus star Wade Barrett said would happen. There was no Stone Cold Steve Austin, no Triple H, no Shawn Michaels and no Rock. I could understand that they couldn’t use any members of TNA, but the WWE could have called in some former stars. They did have Bret Hart (who, with the Undertaker, was on the first show), but that was not a special moment as he has been part of WWE now for the past 4 months.

To sum up the show HIGHLY DISAPPOINTING!!!

Dixie Carter, Owner of TNA, is spreading the word around that TNA has just signed a major free agent wrestler. TNA viewership is over 1,000,000. They are using the ECW angle.

Kaval wins season two of NXT.

The following are going to be on NXT season 3:

Naomi to be trained by Kelly Kelly
Maxine to be trained by Alicia Fox
Aksana to be trained by Goldust
Jamie to be trained by The Bella Twins
A.J. to be trained by Primo
Aloisia to be trained by Vickie Guerrero. Aloisia is a 6’9” giant of a women.

This is Aloisia:

Chris Jericho’s contract expires within the next couple of weeks. WWE is negotiating with Jericho on an extention. 

 Til Next Time:

Scott

1) Cubs rookie SS Starlin Castro.

Whose current stats in 102 games are.

Hits-120, OBP-.358, SLG-.438, AVG.-.315

The Cubs have not had a slick fielding SS that can hit in 30 years. He has had some errors, but Starlin is 20 years old and he gets to many more balls than the average shortstop. Not only does he have a cannon of a throwing arm. His base running is amazing. Not in the number of stolen bases (overrated stat), but in taking the extra base and putting pressure on the opposing teams defense.

I know that other players have gotten more publicity in the 2010 NL Rookie of the year race, but my vote goes to Castro.

2) The gagging of the Cardinals.

As anyone who follows Baseball knows the Cubs & Cards have a fierce rivalry. Some outsiders classify this rivalry as "friendly". I have one word for those outsiders. Bullshit !

As a veteran of literally hundreds of games at Wrigley and plenty of Cubs/Cards tilts. The back and forth between the respective fans is sometimes heated. The smugness of Cardinal fans is unlimited. They always are sure to point out the last Cubs championship was more than 100 years ago. 

These self-anointed "best fans in baseball" are jerks. If they are not defending LaRussa's DUI & LaRussa's managing of many PED's users. Have any big name PED users NOT played for LaRussa ?

They are acting all uppity at the very suggestion that Pujols may be dirty. I am not saying that Pujols is, but the possibility is not out of the question.

The Cardinals are currently on a 4 game losing streak which has put them 7 games behind the Reds. Not impossible to overcome, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Couldn't happen to a better bunch of fans.

This is my 1st post on yougab. I hope I posted in the right spot.

If there's been someone who stands out to you as a TOOL, then by all means nominate them and come back on Saturday to see if the person you nominated becomes the "YGS Tool of the Week"!!!

 
Well here we are again...Time to get our Hump on!

It's the most wonderful time of the year folks...Football season is here...Yes, I'm a huge Hockey fan, and there's nothing better than the Stanley Cup Playoffs...But growing up in North East Ohio, it is all about Football...And here, the season started last Friday...The kids and I followed the High School Band down to the stadium, and watched our team take on their neighborhood rival...The owned us, 26-0...They needed to get payback for the beating we gave them last year...

Tomorrow night the College Football season kicks off with a few games...A little warm up for Saturday...Ahhh, Saturday...Fighting Irish Football returns as they take on Purdue...The first step to the turnaround many of us have been waiting for...I'm ready for it!



I have to fired up for College Football, because living in Cleveland, I don't have much faith in the Browns...Thank God there's Fantasy Football to keep me interested in the NFL...Speaking of Fantasy Football, here's a tip from the Beeze...

DON'T DRAFT THAT HACK MATT LEINART! While you're at it, just avoid drafting any Arizona Cardinals...If Derek Anderson starts, he'll throw just as many to the opposing team as he will to his own guys...Believe me, I saw him do it last year! Cardinals receivers numbers will be down...And don't think Beanie Wells will be the key...teams are gonna put 8 in the box to stop the run, 'cause they don't fear anyone at the QB position...

Back to College Football...Many expected the University of North Carolina Tar Heels to have big season this year...Well, things aren't looking so good anymore...As the 'Heels are getting ready to open their season, they're being investigated by the NCAA for multiple violations...There are rumors of players having contact with an agent...Also there has been even more talk about some inappropriate academic behavior having to do with the teams former tutor...Accusations include, the tutor doing assignments for some of the players...It's also been said the tutor also worked for Coach Butch Davis' family...Well, Butch, you were dolt in Cleveland, why would that change just 'cause you moved back down south?

Now to the important stuff...On this fine Hump Day, which cheerleader tops your preseason rankings...


A. Some Beaver power from Oregon State!


B. How about some practice time with a Sooner?


C. Who wants to see if those Clemson Tigers growl?


D. Is it always Christmas at Arizona State?

E. The Wolfpack seems flexible at NC State!

As Always, read and Respond...

Later, The Beeze.  
 

Hey Gabbers. It's Wednesday, but this time it means we're that much closer to a 3-day weekend and the start of college football season. The high school football season is underway. My guys lost a heart breaker 34-27 last week. We had the tying touchdown in our grasp. We were on the 20 heading into the end zone. The guys in the booth called a pass. The linemen blocked it perfectly. The pass came out clean and then proceeded to bounce off the receiver's face mask. That was all she wrote.

The other team got the ball and kneeled to run out the clock. I then had one of my jv kids ask me what the other team was doing. I thought this was the Madden generation. How have they never seen this scenario? I can only guess this particular kid wasn't very good at the game and hope that he learns more from myself and the other coaches.

Speaking of football, it seams that the 18 game schedule so many people are rooting for may be a possible reason for an NFL strike. Many players are against the idea of adding games. They argue that for a player who plays 9 seasons in the league, an 18 game season adds the equivalent of 2 extra seasons to their career. They are also unsure of what health risks might come up. Of course, owners are for it as it will help line their pockets. They are, however, at odds as to how much they should share with the players. Their plan: dole out pittance.

As per usual, the fans are forgotten. ESPN"s outside the lines has asked for fans to leave comments and voice mails at their site. I can sum mine up.

Onto something a bit more light, USA basketball is on a roll. Kevin Durant and the squad are 3-0 having narrowly beaten Brazil. They've done it with some flash, which makes a few talking heads nervous. They might be cutting things a little too close to showboat, but that's how the game is played anymore. It doesn't phase me too much. The first Dream Team put on a show. This happened...

Guys like to show off. It might be "disrespectful", but the game has evolved into a spectacle. It's not enough to just win anymore. you have to have some flair. I'm not saying i condone it, but I think i get it. You can't take the show out of the game. So long as they win, why not let them play?

Lastly this week, it looks like everything that's old in news again. Three controversial figures we thought were gone have come back. Kimbo Slice is back. He's figured out he doesn't have the stamina or training to make it in the octagon. Maybe Toney should have figured out that he was doomed after watching Slice. Either way, a boxing promoter has decided that it would be a good business move to bring Slice to the boxing ring. Seems like a good move. He doesn't have to move as much and he can benefit from his big punch ability. Good luck on the new move.

Maurice Clarrett has resurfaced too. Now, Clarrett has been in the news after he re-enrolled at OSU. Great move on his part. Now, Clarrett has decided to return to football with the UFL. He's signed with the Omaha Nighthawks. He had to get permission from a judge due to his past legal troubles, but hopefully this goes well. Its an interesting draw for the UFL.

Finally, our friend Plexico Burris was not so lucky with the judges this past week. Plex wanted a work release so that he could join a team this season. That plead fell on deaf ears. It looks like Plex will have to serve his full sentence. Good. Maybe it will put some sense into his head. Maybe he'll be more grateful next time and play the game without the stupidity.

Well, that's it for me. Hope everyone enjoys the holiday weekend and gets out there to enjoy the tail end of summer. Get ready for some college football. Also, I hope Jeff's boy has a great game this week. That goes for any other proud poppa out there. Thanks for coming by and for any comments.

It's another Wednesday, and of course time for some deep thinking. Since I have been writing in this slot, there seems to be an abundance of great "stuff" to write about. I have to start this week off with another peach.

Normally, an errant golf shot is quickly followed by "fore". Today in Irvine California a golfer found himself with a serious dilemma. Instead for "fore", he had to yell "FIRE". Apparently a golfer in the rough managed to cause a spark when he hit a rock during his swing. Here is the report:

The golfer at the Shady Canyon Golf Course in Irvine landed a shot in the rough Saturday. On his next swing, his club snagged a rock, causing a spark that lit the rough ablaze and eventually attracted 150 firefighters to the scene.

Fire officials say the fire burned through the rough, into vegetation next to the course and over two dry, brushy hillsides. 

No charges were filed against the golfer, whose name was withheld.  12 

Charges? What would you charge him with? Bad golfing? But on second thought, I have my doubts that the spark was caused by his club hitting a rock. So is there quite a bit of flint or chert in Irvine? Have you ever tried to start a fire with flint? I have and it is very difficult. My guess is that dude was smoking a cigar and laid it down to hit his ball. Could be a tool event in the making...

                                                Speaking of tools...

I know that Rob Dibble was a really good pitcher. But sometimes he would do well to just keep his mouth shut. Of course we all know that Stephen Strasburg is out for the season and will have Tommy John surgery on his elbow. Strasburg was taken out of the game after a pitch he threw hurt his elbow. This was what Dibble had to say about Strasburg leaving the game:

"I'm not a doctor, and I haven't read the MRI yet, but I'm pretty sure he's gonna come back fine," Dibble said as the "First Pitch" discussion began. "And for me, if you can throw the next day, then you probably could have continued out there on the baseball field. So are they a little bit overcautious at this point? Maybe. But he's a $15 million investment. I absolutely can't blame them for taking him out.

"But here's the thing. If this was happening to this kid in college and you knew that, then you also knew that he can pitch through this stuff. So a little bit is, ok, let's see this kid pitch through it.

"I also look at this from the player's standpoint, that this is your job. This is what you do. You're never going to be 100 percent healthy, feel perfect. So you have to take accountability that you're gonna throw sometimes, your arm's gonna hurt. You're gonna be out there on the mound sometimes, the mound is gonna be terrible and the dirt is gonna be a little loose and it might not be so great. You can't constantly be complaining over every little thing.

"So for me, a little bit has to be put back on Strasbug here. Ok, you throw a pitch, it bothers your arm, and you immediately call out the manager and the trainer? Suck it up, kid. This is your profession. You chose to be a baseball player. You can't have the cavalry come in and save your butt every time you feel a little stiff shoulder, sore elbow.

"I mean, excuse me. There's guys I played with that had screws holding their elbows together. Chris Sabo played two weeks on a broken ankle. I put a steel plate in my wrist so I could be back in five weeks instead of three months. So, this is your choice. You can either suck it up and be a man at 22 making $2 million a year [with] a $15 million contract, or every time you get an ache and pain you can go out of the game and say I'm gonna let down the other 24 guys right here and possibly end up forfeiting the game." 

"What Mike Rizzo and Jim Riggleman do, that's totally different," Dibble said. "They have to think of the long-term ramifications of what they're doing right now with this kid's career. As far as this kid? Stop crying, go out there and pitch. Period.

"There's so many [other] guys....Josh Willingham, who is gonna have surgery on his left knee, was playing with torn cartilage in his knee, could barely run around the bases. This is the simple answer to this, you need to know the difference between pain and injury. When I was 12, my arm hurt. When I was in my teens and I would throw and walk off the mound when I was a starter, my arm would throb. I couldn't even hold a glass of water. And you know what? I loved it.

"I was so sick, I loved it, 'cause I felt 'ok, I'm throwing hard enough to make my arm shake when I'm just standing there.' So I was a totally different animal than I think has been created here with Strasburg, where now you're telling this kid as soon as you feel any arm pain, call us and we'll come help you. Please.

"This is the major leagues. This is not college any more. You're not on scholarship. You're being paid to do the job and guys depend on you, and I think it's unfortunate that the Nationals and the team are in a situation here where this kid now, he feels any kind of arm pain, he's gonna call you out? That's scary to me."

And like I said, the discussion ended with Dibble lamenting the nature of the modern player.

"You give these guys $15 million bucks, please," he said. "Get your butt out there and play every fifth day." 

What Dibble says is generally true. Many major league pitchers have been babied. Much of the success for the Rangers this year has been attributed to Nolan Ryan changing the mentality of the Ranger's pitching staff. He has them throwing batting practice and really just throwing much more than they ever have. In order to pitch, you have to develop arm strength. But I digress...

Dibble had no way of knowing that Strasburg was really injured. What really got me was the response that Dibble had once he learned of the injury:

UPDATE: Dibble responded to the criticism for his remarks on Tuesday morning:

"If you're hurt, you can't suck it up, so that's a moot point, but if you're not hurt, that's what I was talking about. If you're not hurt and your arm's fine, then keep pitching....Our opinions are formulated through facts, not fiction, not their little chat room jargon, and so they can try and twist it any way they want, and if a guy's hurt, he's hurt, he's going to go on the disabled list, it's a moot point. But if he's not hurt, get your butt out there and play....They're two totally different scenarios, so, you know, stick to what you know, which is nothing, and stick to your little blogs."  

So we can twist it any way that we want? Stick to what we know, which is nothing? Really? Well screw you Dibble.

Here is a picture that I really like:

Last week, I mentioned that my son was playing his first varsity football game. I mentioned that I would give you bits and pieces through the season. The first play of the game, the RT charged my son and hit him in the chest and knocked him 6 feet backwards, where he landed on his ass. Welcome to varsity football youngun. He really played okay. He had 6 unassisted tackles, but was out of position several times. We lost 31 to 7, but were inside the 10 yard line twice without scoring. It appears that there has been quite a realignment this week and my son has been moved back to Mike linebacker. Since this is where he has played since 7th grade, this will probably be a good thing. He is not starting this week, but it is really good for him to have to work to get his starting gig back. Here are a couple of pics from the game if you are interested:

http://kenspix.zenfolio.com/p665837965/e3b75c55 

http://kenspix.zenfolio.com/p665837965/e1507f679 

Back to baseball for a moment. I caught something on the radio that sort of grabbed my ear. Most folks seem to have given the Padres a lock to win the NL West. I talked to a friend of mine that is a Giants fan last night and even he seem resigned that San Diego was going to win. Have you looked at San Diego's remaining schedule? It is pretty tough. Here is what they have left: 6 games against the Rockies. 6 games against the Dodgers. 4 games against the Giants. 4 games against the Cards. 3 games against the Reds and they end the season with a four game series against the Cubs.

The Padres are a feel good story this year, but considering they have lost six games in a row I would not consider them safe. The Rockies and Giants still have chance.

IHM gave a mention to several baseball awards earlier this week, but I wanted to finish with a look at specifically ROY awards for the AL and NL.

In the AL, there are a few names that stand out for me:

Neftali Feliz

Austin Jackson

Brennan Boesch

John Jaso

Wade Davis

Although each of these players have had good seasons, I cannot see how Feliz does not win. With more than 30 saves, it would seem that he is a lock. Last year's winner was Andrew Bailey, who won with only 26 saves.

For the NL, there is an amazing amount of talent this year:

Jason Heyward

Buster Posey

Jaime Garcia

Gaby Sanchez

Chris Johnson

Tyler Colvin

Ike Davis

Steven Strasburg

Matt Latos

John Axford              

Starlin Castro ( After reading Domehead's blog, I was reminded of this great young SS for the Cubs).

I have a very difficult time picking the best of these players. Heyward played well early, but missed time on the DL. Strasbug had an amazing few games, but his body of work is simply not enough. Jaime Garcia's numbers are amazing. He is 12 and 6 with an ERA of 2.33. Buster Posey seems to have at least 2 hits each night. Latos has been terrific as well...13 and 5 with an ERA of 2.28. It is a tough choice, but the numbers favor Latos. If Heyward continues on his recent hot streak, he could take it at the wire.

I will leave you with a bit of Jack Handy:

We used to laugh at Grandpa when he'd head off and go fishing. But we wouldn't be laughing that evening when he'd come back with some whore he picked up in town.
 

Better not take a dog on the space shuttle, because if he sticks his head out when you're coming home his face might burn up.   

If you missed my earlier ramblings, they're still up at Sporting News. http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/SeattleFlannel

I love sports, especially the Seattle Seahawks, Mariners, and my Washington State Cougars. Yes, I know the Cougars have been bad, but they're going to turn around one of these days. While writing about sports, I also like to use my blog as journal, as I'm working through some crazy stuff that has happened in my life recently.

Enough about me, how about some WSU Football!

The key to the Cougars future is that guy righ there. Sophomore Quarterback Jeff Tuel.  Many are comparing him to former WSU QB, Jason Gesser who lead the team to the Rose Bowl in 2003. He has a great football IQ, a strong arm, and excellent mobility. 

 Tuel has good group of receivers, (Daniel Blackledge, Jared Karstetter & Gino Simone) but in the backfield, it will most likely be a running back by committee.  According to coach Paul Wulff, the offensive line is the teams strength. Well, I think I can speak for Tuel and many of the WSU faithful when I say, I Hope So Coach!

What Tuel is to the offense, defensive end Travis Long needs to be the same for the defense. Long has the potential to be a premeire pass rusher. The Cougars are going to have to break in some new linebackers, but the staff feels the secondary should be greatly improved. I should hope so after last year!

Here's WSU's schedule

@ Oklahoma State

Montana State

@ SMU

USC

@ UCLA

Oregon

Arizona

@ Stanford

@ Arizona State

California

@ Oregon State

Washington

I'm not expecting anything crazy when it comes to number of wins, but I do expect a better showing than last years 1-11 record. A win over Washington for the Apple Cup would be great, but I expect them to be really tough this year.

If you were one of those keeping up on the mess in my personal life, here's an update. Things are going well. My son (Adam) spent his first weekend at my place, in his new room we designed together. He was a little nervous at first, but it went well. His mother (Kathy) and I are doing well too. We've actually gone out a couple times without Adam. Things are going well, taking slow dealing with the trust issues, but going well nonetheless.

Matt Leinart never had a chance, even when chances were repeatedly handed to him. The 2004 Heisman Trophy winner was the tenth overall pick of the 2006 NFL Draft, a draft considered a weak quarterback class. Vince Young and Jay Cutler headline the group, followed by career backups like Tavaris Jackson, Charlie Whitehurst, Kellen Clemens, Brodie Croyle, and Bruce Gradkowski.

Leinart has outperformed all except Young, Jackson, and Cutler, but not by much in cases like Gradkowski. Not the results the Arizona Cardinals were looking for, so they signed 2007 Pro Bowler Derek Anderson after Kurt Warner retired. Anderson was a sixth round draft pick in 2005 now on his third team.

As I predicted upon his signing, Anderson has won the starting job as quarterback of the Cardinals. Now Leinart is crying to the media exclaiming the Arizona coaches never gave him an explanation as to why they went with someone other than him.

Welcome to the NFL Prima donna, a world that sometimes touches a reality many of Earth experience.

Leinart was known as the pretty boy in college, a guy who some were trying to put in the category of future Hall of Famer Tom Brady as far as good looks combined with winning games. He led his Alma mater, USC, to a BSC Championship and AP Championship and some NFL scouts thought his game would translate to the pros.

Unfortunately, like many Heisman winners, his game soon was shown to not have what it takes to be an effective NFL player. Even in the modern where rules are heavily slanted to the quarterbacks favor. Some will say his party boy attitude early in his career derailed his progress, but the real reasons run deeper.

One huge reason is his lack of an NFL arm. The Cardinals run an offensive system where a strong arm with accuracy is needed to succeed. Leinart has neither. To have Anderson, coming off a terrible 2009 season, and a not much better 2008, replace him as he learns a new system on the fly speaks volumes.

Leinart wants a reason, and perhaps the truth will set him free. He was an overrated, overhyped college athlete surrounded by immensely talented teammates. The best comparison to him might be Todd Marinovich, a weak armed lefty drafted in the first round by the Los Angeles Raiders in the 1991 draft. The 6'4" Marinovich, an inch shorter than Leinart, was a USC product who partied his way out of the league after just two years.

Though it appears likely Leinart is destined to be playing his last year in Arizona this season before embarking on a journeyman career bouncing around the league, some think his skill set better fits the dink/ dunk game of the West Coast offense.  It is forseeable he ends up in Seattle next year, rejoining college coach Pete Carrol, though it is improbable he could unseat incumbent Matt Hasselbeck or even move on top of Charlie Whitehurst in the depth chart.

Perhaps not all is lost for Leinart. There certainly no guarantees Anderson excels or even stays healthy a full season. It is likely he will be given yet another chance to redeem himself. What he does with it, if given the chance, is also unknown. Yet all signs point to disappointment. 

Something he has been since entering the NFL. 

What can that player say other than...

Everybody has the fantasy of owning a major sporting team no matter the sport. The problem is drawing wanting to buy closer to finishing the deal is a difficult process. As of now, you cannot find a clear cut bidder for the team who will make some sort of offer on paper. This would help everyone save probably the McCourts who are likely to see any offer as "too little". None-the-less, estimating the value of the Dodgers isn't an easily done thing. For tax purposes yes, for sale purposes no. In a sale you effectively have two competing sides, the seller and the buyer. Both agree on one basic thing and that's to transfer something from one to the other. In this case there is only one side, the sellers, and they're bifurcated to the point that no one can agree on a price. And, anyway, having a price isn't relevant as there's no one who, as of now, is a buyer. But for the divorce to be finalized some solution to the "Dodger Problem" must be found and that solution has nothing to do with better fielding or a new manager although when it comes to the "bull" pen, there may be some parallels.

In strange ways baseball teams are regarded by fans as a sort of a one off public utility. That's why on rare occasion when one has moved it's rather as if the gas company tore out their pipes and moved on. Brooklyn still mourns the loss of "their" team and though it's been fifty plus years, many of us who remember those days, still find it odd to see the boys from across the East River as now being the boys from Boyle Heights. This complicates the issue even further as whatever is done by whomever, they are going to have to be careful to not enrage their fan base. Let us propose that a big noise from wherever shows up, says, yeup, I'll take 'em and here's five billion dollars. Oh. And they're moving to My Home Town. This is the ultimate in binds, the McCourts have been aces as if they say that's not enough, they'll be horse laughed out of court but if the deal gets sanctioned by the court, and it probably would, then the Dodgers could potentially be on the move.

What the court might sanction, MLB probably would not. (Can you see this headed to court? I can.) Mr. or Ms. Big Noise have a bill of sale and their attitude, completely understandable, is that it's their property, they paid for it. Just like a car on the show room floor, the dealer doesn't have the right to keep the vehicle just because it's already in their building. Given this snag, we're back to Divorce Court. If the seller cannot take possession of his or her property then ring up No Sale and we're back to the original problem. At this juncture it would be lovely if the McCourts had a Perry Mason moment and realized they really, truly loved each other and got back together. Admittedly their legal bills would be whopping but they are worth more together than apart. Of course that won't happen so what happens to the Dodgers next?

I don't even know save that somehow, sometime and for some amount of money they're going to be sold. But to who and for what and the hanging garden of problems that surround this whole mess cannot be known. It's a good thing we're closer the end of the season than the beginning. Maybe by Spring training this will all be worked out. But I doubt it.