Thursday, November 2, 2006
My Friday!
Hello All! Well, it is my Friday today. What does that mean? Well, since I am not working on Friday, Thursday becomes my last work day of the week, so it is my Friday. Even better, I get Monday off of work as a holiday, so I've got a four day weekend coming. With how busy life can be, a four day weekend is more than needed! So again today, I will generally just have some bullet points for you to peruse. I hope you are finding some of the bullet points interesting or informative or thought-provoking. I am hoping to get all of the football picks from our panelists before I head out of town, but if not, I will try to find a way to get them posted here for tomorrow.
Have a great Thursday!
Al Doyle of The Baseball Analysts have a very interesting two-part Never Give Up series up now. In Part 1 and Part 2, they discuss older veteran players, some with big league experience, who spent their seasons in the affiliated or independent minor leagues. There are some great stories in it, so please check it out!
Cardinals' reliever Josh Kinney toiled in the independent leagues for a bit five years ago. He now will have a World Series ring. Why would I mention this? Well, he was a college teammate of Josh Rabe at Quincy University.
They really were easy choices, weren't they? The Twins named Alexi Casilla the winner of the Sherry Robertson Award as the Twins top minor league hitter. They also named Matt Garza the recipient of the Jim Rantz Award for the Twins best minor league pitcher. Kevin Slowey deserved consideration, but Garza was the right choice. Both Casilla and Garza started the season in Class A Ft. Myers and ended their year with the Twins.
A 50 game suspension for the Mets Guillermo Mota for performance-enhancing drugs. Hey, remember back in the day when people used to think that the hitters were the ones bulking up? And, remember back in the day when some people thought that the world was flat? Some people are so silly. Good luck getting that big free agent contract!
Speaking of silly, how 'bout John Kerry!?
If you go to that link again and compare what John Kerry said to what writer Amy Brundage wrote, I'm thinking that if a person studies, works hard and isn't intellectually lazy, maybe they would write something a little more intelligent, rather than personal attacks!
Michigan State fired its head football coach John L. Smith yesterday, but he will continue to coach the rest of the season. OK, seriously, if I were to be fired, I don't think that I would stick around. What is the benefit of that?
In another one of the worst kept secrets, the Yankees promoted hitting coach Don Mattingly to bench coach. I think we first heard that about five days ago, but it became official yesterday. Many believe that he could take over the managerial job after next season when Joe Torre is likely not to be brought back. However, do you think there is any reason that Joe Girardi, who could probably have picked his managerial spot this offseason, decided that he would spend a year in broadcasting? Irony? I think not!
Minneapolis ranked as the #6 most educated city in the country. St. Paul finished in 14th. Not bad representation!
You just wonder how a guy with so much talent and an incredible opportunity can just throw his life away. Check out the Jeff Allison story. It is really quite sad! JUST SAY NO!! Seriously, it's not that hard!
Kevin Garnett won the NBA's Walter Kennedy Award for outstanding service and dedication to the community. Garnett donated $1.2 million to help build 24 houses to Hurricane Katrina victims.
Speaking of Garnett, the Minnesota Timberwolves opened their 2006-07 season with a 92-83 win over the Sacramento Kings at Target Center. KG had 24 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks. Just one negative... Garnett took just nine shots in the whole game (made seven of them!). This is an old story with Garnett, but it's hard to imagine how many more points he could score if he would only be a more selfish player.
Is it possible that Frank Robinson is one of the most underrated baseball players of all-time? Seriously, in his 22 year career, he hit .294/.389/.537 with 528 doubles, 586 homers and 1,812 RBI. He played in 12 all star games. He won an MVP award in each league. He won the AL Triple Crown in 1966 when he hit .316 with 49 homers and 122 RBI. He played in five World Series, and is a Hall of Famer. But when the names of the greats of all-time come up, we rarely hear his name. Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and others are brought up before Robinson, and I don't know why? Is it because he has stayed involved in the Major Leagues? He has been a Manager for four organizations, although never very successful. Any thoughts?
That's it for today and for this week (except for the football picks, of course). Hopefully you found something interesting again today! Please stop back tomorrow.