Thursday, August 27, 2009

Chillin in the Hamptons


So I'm hanging out in the Hamptons with some very good family friends and I'm being pampered like it's nobody's business. All day today we hung out by the pool, drank a ton of wine and thanks to the MLB package my family friends have on every single tv in their house (they have 27 tvs and watched the game on their outdoor tv by their firepit) I was able to watch game three of the Rockies/Dodgers Series. When Furcal tried to be a hero and it went to shits, I thought oh great. We are dropping two of three to the Rockies and they are now two games back. But Broxton came through and had the game he really needed, ending it on a 102 mph strikeout. Dodgers are four games up from the Rockies and I think Broxton is back. Let's cross our fingers.

If we could flash back to yesterday, I had a very long day which included a bunch of bloody mary's on my flight over to NY. Straight from JFK we headed to the Bronx to catch my first Yankee game of the year at the new Yankee stadium. It was great. I saw the one game of the series the Yanks won and had the most fabulous seats in the world. 2nd row right behind homeplate. I inlcuded a picture for your entertainment (only girly side of me you're going to see).

PS. Barkley is named starting QB for SC. Should be interesting.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Little bit of everything



I'm still a little confused as to why the Red Sox would leave Josh Beckett in the game when he made it very clear in the beginning innings (how about first pitch of the game, a home run to Jeter) what type of pitching he was going to be deliver that evening. But as someone who despises the Red Sox, I'm not complaining. Yankees won 8-4 and Red Sox are only one game ahead of the Rangers. Who would have thought that when I made plans to go to the Yankees/Rangers game this Wednesday at the beginning of the season the Rangers would be in the Wild Card Race. They are one win and a Sox's loss to evening out this Wild Card Race. LOVE IT!!!!

The Dodgers couldn't quite pull a four game sweep but three out of four will do. This next series coming up is one that worries me a bit. If the Dodgers go all Dodger-y on me we can come out of this series tied for the lead (we once had I think a 15 game lead).

I also caught a glimpse this weekend of the Raider pre-season game. Just catching up on Sportscenter this morning, people are making too big of a deal out of Pre-Season games. Lions went 4-0 last pre-season, Raiders went 4-0 the pre-season before that. Enough said? Or the writers over at espn are just digging for stories right now. Either way let's stop coming to conclusions when Brett goes 1-4 with a total of 4 yards. Save your energy for the start of the regular season people's.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Don't let the media get to you

For all you people that watched Sportscenter last night and this morning and fell for the 'Roethlisberger's injury might be serious' routine:

From my friends at Rotoworld: FoxSports' Jay Glazer seconds Adam Schefter's report that Ben Roethlisberger's injury is not serious.
"I'm told it was a superficial injury, and if a regular season game was Sunday he'd be able to play," Glazer tweeted. Draft Big Ben as you normally would. He's fine.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaideerrrrrs

From our friends at Rotoworld.com

The National Football Post is reporting that Raiders assistant Randy Hanson will turn over medical records, and he's expected to cooperate with Napa, Calif. police.
Police as well as NFL Security have been attempting to get Hanson to talk since the story of his fractured jaw emerged earlier this week. It's believed that he will now cooperate because the Raiders will not allow him to return to his former position. The next step is likely an investigation and a possible felony charge against head coach Tom Cable. Cable has declined to comment. Aug. 20 - 3:45 pm et
Source: National Football Post

Sounds about right.

Three and a half games and counting


Somebody better pay me twenty bucks and fast. I'm going to put it towards buying Jonathan Broxton home delivery meals so he can drop 40/50 pounds. That guy is terrible. I understand that you are up against one of the best hitters in baseball so your first thought is to try and pitch around him, but Jonathan can't go there right now. He has lost so much confidence and at the point where he now has to go balls out. He needs to go for that big strikeout that he hasn't had in a looooooong time. He can't walk the 1st batter of the 9th inning when the score is tied. Just unacceptable.

As you can probably tell by the outcome, I watched the game. I did see the two homers from Ethier and Blake. Not putting all the fault on fatty, I also did see a man in scoring position for the better half of the ninth inning. No outs, man on first, one out man on second, two outs, man on second, three outs, man on second. Game Over!

Now just 3 1/2 games ahead of Colorardo, 4 1/2 games ahead of the Giants. The Dodgers are not playing their best baseball right now. I'd like to think they can step it up a little just cause they aren't coming through with those clutch moments they did in the first half of baseball. But now I just don't know. I think we are good just not as good as the Cardinals. They are always one step ahead of us.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

This girl just keeps digging herself a hole

This just in from my favorite sexual assault case (and according to espn.com): On July 12, less than 24 hours after the alleged rape, McNulty writes about how much she has enjoyed entertaining the celebrities and VIPs.

"The golf tournament has been really fun ... I am really excited because we are all going to see Journey tonight and that will be soooooo much fun. Speaking of which I need to head over to dinner with your lookalike and a few others before heading out," the e-mail said, according to Cornwell.

Calvin Dunlap, the attorney for McNulty, told ESPN's Shelley Smith "no comment" on Wednesday in response to the release of the e-mails.

In her lawsuit, McNulty said she was distraught and left work after the assault, going to cry in her pickup truck.

Roethlisberger's lawyers are advising Ms McNulty to drop this case. I would listen to them if I were her. How crazy of a person do you have to be to 'fake' being raped? Is it because she needs attention? That's a very sorry way to get people's heads turned towards you.

Maybe I just shouldn't watch the games


This is what happens when my girlfriend calls me up and wants to go out to dinner during the Dodger game - they win. I put the game on in the car but she wasn't having it. I tried to get updates during dinner, but at the same time I didn't want to be rude and be on my phone while we were chatting. So pretty much, I missed most of the game and it looks like we did pretty good. I did at least see Chady single in a run to take a 1-0 lead. My first thought - you know our hitting is bad when our pitcher is the only one bringing in the runs. That apparently was not the case last night and the Dodger broke their 4 game home losing streak and at the same time halted the Cardinals five game winning streak. 20 bucks the Dodgers DON'T pick up where they ended last night.

So remember when Vick signed for the Eagles?

On a college football note, with the loss of USC's starting center Ohio State might have a better chance to win that game. I'm still looking for that spread, I see 4 points, 6 points, 10 points. I need something definite but in the meantime a straight up bet to pick Ohio State wouldn't hurt :)

Monday, August 17, 2009

Camp Sucks


Like I said a few weeks ago, going to camp sucks and apparently Brett agrees with me. I don't know about you, I just kind of laugh at the fact he's coming back, he's retiring, he's gonna play, he's done. For whatever reason so many people are getting worked up about this but I don't really see what the problem is. If anything, espn has got to love whats going on. There's been about 4 or 5 different times that people have overloaded espn.com or watched sportscenter over and over to get the latest news on Brett. It's great. What else are we going to talk about right now? Definitely not the Dodgers.

Is anyone else nervous about the way they are playing? Is anyone else a little unsettled at the fact that the Cardinals have won the last 10 of 13 games against the Dodgers? Shouldn't home be the place where you feel most comfortable? Not the place where you lose four games in a row? In the 9th inning shouldn't the batters put up some sort of fight instead of swing for the fences on the first pitch only to pop up to first base - MANNY? I have this really uneasy feeling going on right now as the Dodgers usually do what they do in the second half of baseball - BLOW IT! Even if we make the playoffs (and I've been saying this over and over again) the Cardinals are going to rip us apart. Their pitching is flawless, they have monsters that bat for them, and they have our number.

In other normal Raider news, Oakland Raiders head coach Tom Cable denied reports, which surfaced Monday, that he punched defensive assistant Randy Hanson in the jaw and caused injuries that required treatment at a hospital earlier this month. That's just the way we roll.

Friday, August 14, 2009

I wonder what's going on today


Since the rest of the world is talking about the Eagles signing Michael Vick to a 1-yr, $1.6 million with an option for a 2nd year at $5.6 million I mine as well. But to say the least, he has been signed, Goodell hasn't even said when Vick will be allowed to play (so funny if now Goodell decides to suspend him for 5 years) and those first two pre-season games are going to get the most views a pre-season game has ever had. I'll tell you what, Vick is lucky he has quite the support system. God bless Tony Dungy for wanting to aid in this situation. Tony is that nurturing type of guy and it is in his best interest to want to help people. It also helps when the Eagle's most prized player has your back as well.

Right now, Vick is saying and doing all the right things. He showed up to that conference, zero speech prepared, it 'came from his heart'. He looked sharp but not over the top. I definitely noticed he had empty holes in his ears. He acknowledged that he socialized with the wrong people and will take the right steps to better his image (even with the Humane Society). He did good and slowly but surely winning over the hearts of the people.

I'd like to say I'm on that guys side because I'm a very forgiving person but everytime I look at my lab I'm going to think about what him and his friends did to those dogs. It seriously takes my breath away to think that you can take a dog with a face like that and hang it, electrocute it, drown it, use it for bate for the other more ferocious dogs and be ok with it. Those dogs just want to love you unconditionally and the way you pay them back is torture them to death and laugh about it. It makes me gag even to imagine that. But that's all in the past, however. Vick has suffered the consequences and he has been given 'another' chance.

What does this do for the Eagles? If he is allowed to play, Andy is going to throw him into the mix for sure. If there is a team that can handle Vick, it's the Eagles. They are contenders this year, they have self confidence and Andy Reid seems to think that Vick is going to help in this situation.

It's going to be quite interesting after their bye week when they head to Atlanta. Vick let the Falcons down. They loved him there. I saw on sportscenter this morning Arthur Blank carting Vick off the field in a wheel chair after his knee injury. Arthur told stories that he shed a tear when Vick would shed a tear. Vick 100% let that franchise down and he's going to have to face it. To be continued.....

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Oy Boy


And just to follow up what I said in my previous blog:

According to Rotoworld.com, rookie Darrius Heyward-Bey is listed as the first-team split end on Oakland's initial training camp depth chart.

He's opposite flanker Chaz Schilens. This wasn't expected, as DHB has run almost strictly with the second and third teams in camp. However, it's probably an indication that Al Davis wants his top pick in the Week 1 lineup.

100 bucks the first offensive play of a the Raider season is a long ball to Heyward-Bey.

Youkilis is a tool



The Dodgers held their own again in the middle innings of the game. Same as yesterday they began the game leaving multiple men on base and in scoring position then Jesus, I mean Andre stepped to the plate in the 5th inning with two on and hit an almost home run (double) to take a 2-1 lead. After a few more runs in the 5th, Manny stepped to the plate in the 7th and smacked a 3 run bomb to take a 6-1 lead. He looked stoked running back into the dugout. The boos after the home run were music to my ears. Manny was stoked and so was the rest of the team. It would be nice if that Dodgers can sweep the orange and black (disgusting colors) against the best pitcher in the league. But let's take it one step at a time.

In other baseball news, however, Youkilis turned into a major tool bag and charged the mound as itty bitty Porcello was waiting for the inevitable. But the skinny guy prevailed and body slammed that fat ass to the ground. Did anyone else notice? Youkilis got what he deserved but unfortunately the Sox still won and go figure, Lowell (Youkilis' sub) hit the winning home run.

And then in other unfortunate Raider news, DeAngelo Hall was on Colin Cowherd this morning and he was yet another ex Raider bashing the Raider family. It was rough listening to first hand accounts of coaches telling players that certain ideas sound great but they have to run them through Mr. Davis. Mr. Davis would attend occasional practices but would spend most of his time watching all the films. I mean this is nothing new but Hall and Cowherd were just giggling about it. The Raiders are the laughing stock of professional sports yet I'm still going to fly up to those games and wish for the best.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Oh Buddy!



http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/bowlprojection?season=2009&week=0

Bowl projections have officially hit espn.com. Good news is that I won't have to travel far to see the National Championship game but I know other SEC fans will!!!! We have a guest room, first come first serve.

Who knew?


The first few innings of the Dodgers/Giants game were not looking too good. Kuroda looked a tad shaky, Dodgers were leaving men in scoring position, and the Giants fans were all pumped up. I didn't like the scene set for the Dodgers. Then my man, Matty Kemp came to the plate and handled his shit. That's when my brother and father called me and told me they were out to dinner at Madeo's and wanted us to join for a glass of wine. Let me think about this......

Good news is that they had a tv there so we were all good. Was able to watch a few more scoreless innings and a little scare in the 9th. But before I knew it, the game was over and the Dodgers snapped their three game skid. I'm not getting excited because we could lose the next two games and be right back where we started.

Also as a side note, I was reading sports illustrated yesterday and in the portion of 'who's hot and who's not,' they had the Astros as the not so hot team. I think after I gave them a little shout out a few weeks ago about how stellar their pitching was, they started to sink.

So after we got home from a couple glasses of some very fine wine and grappa my husband convinced me to watch the TO show. I'm not one for reality but I am one for looking at a half naked man with probably the most perfect body (this is where my girl side comes out) I have ever seen. In this episode he went back home to Alexandria, Alabama to visit his family. It was very sad. TO lost it (and so did my husband and I - btw it doesn't take a lot to make my hubby cry) when he was visiting his grandma who had advanced Alzheimer's. And then to proceed on with his emotional roller coaster, he stopped by his daddy's house who has never ever been to one of his games! He was an absent figure in TO's life and TO went to get answers. The whole point of this silly story is that sometimes I just want to kill TO because he is such a hot head and when things don't go his way, all hell breaks lose. But you saw another side of him watching this show and it was very interesting. I've never really hated him but I'm rooting for him this year (and occasionally checking out his ass).

I think he is going to be a good fit for Buffalo. They are in a very difficult division but I'm not quite sure if Brady is going to bounce back the way everyone thinks he is, the Jets are going to be a mess at QB and I think Chad is going to go back to the old Chad of lets go through a ton of interceptions.

Monday, August 10, 2009

This just in!

Great news Dodger Fans:

According to Jeff Fletcher of AOL Fanhouse, Chad Billingsley (hamstring) will not make his scheduled start Wednesday.

Billingsley tossed an extensive bullpen session Monday evening, the results of which must have been troubling. The Dodgers could slide long reliever Jeff Weaver into the rotation for a day or recall Scott Elbert. Aug. 10 - 7:47 pm et

I just only hope that they take the series from the Giants. But hope is turning into praying which is turning into begging. Oy Vey.

Stupid people bother me



Here is a nice update to the Roethlisberger sexual assault case:

According to TMZ (probably the most legit gossip website who doesn't make shit up) a former co-worker of Andrea McNulty (woman accusing Ben of sexual assault) signed an affidavit saying McNulty told her "she was hoping for a 'little Roethlisberger.'" The affidavit was obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

She also said McNulty told her she wanted to travel to Pittsburgh in August 2008 to try and "run into" Roethlisberger, according to the sworn statement.

Like I said before, sexual assault is a very serious ordeal and my heart goes out to any victim involved in a situation like that but I don't think I'm going to give my heart to this Blondy. And how stupid can you be thinking you are going to take a trip to Pittsburgh and think you are going to run into one of the most popular football players in the US. She's so that girl that lies about being on the pill. She better be careful that shit doesn't turn around and she's the one accused of being a stalker.

Ben is going to put this aside and have the year of his life. I'm back on the Steelers going to the superbowl train. Woowoo!

I'm glad I took the weekend off


So this weekend I just focused on relaxing and pretty much not paying attention to anything. My life has been a little hectic the past few weeks so I skipped out of town with my mom to San Diego and we did the spa thing. There were occasional moments where I did turn on the television to find that the Dodgers were losing or Forest Griffin got his ass handed to him and I just turned the tv off and either went back to the spa or bar. I didn't really feel like facing it this weekend. The good news is that the Yanks pulled out a four game sweep and shut those annoying New Englanders up - god they are so obnoxious. I got home from my trip just in time to see Damon and Teixeira hit back to back homers with two outs, bottom of the 8th, and start a come from behind rally. It was a very nice ending to my relaxing weekend. Unfortunately now it's Monday and I have a whole work week ahead of me, I think.

What was even cooler was that the first pre-season football game was held yesterday. Listening to Colin on my way in from work, the ratings were over a five (just as an fyi, the ratings for the Yankees/Red Sox Series were a little over three). You think people are a little excited to see some football? I for sure as hell am. For the short time I did watch sportscenter this weekend some dude had the Raiders having and 8-8 season. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahhahaha!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

If only Joe Joe listened to me 100%


When there are two on, two outs, I know it's tempting to take one of the best players off the bench and have him pinch hit - especially when the last time that happened he hit a grand slam. But when I said to bench Manny a couple blogs ago, I meant for the entire game. Not for 6 innings. And Joe Joe put him in, down by 3, two on, two outs and he grounded out. Needless to say, the Dodgers have lost seven of their last eleven games and taking on Derek Lowe this evening and the hot hitting Braves. You know that the hitting is good when Lowe has over a 4 ERA and 11 WINS! It's time to turn this around boys. The NL Central is starting to look a lot better than you guys and the yucky Giants are starting to gain speed on us.

In Raiders news, and according to CBS sports, the New England Patriots have obtained two-time Pro Bowl defensive end Derrick Burgess. Burgess had held out of training camp with the Oakland Raiders in hopes of being traded. On Thursday, they obtained undisclosed draft considerations for him.

Ha! He didn't want to go to camp hoping that another team would pick him up. God. It's like the time I went to the sleep away camp from hell. I should have just not shown up. Good move buddy, it worked!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

College football begins in a month people!!!!


I truly believe that every time Manny stepped up to the plate he was saying to himself "I'm out to prove Jessica wrong." He sort of did. He went 2 for 4 with a bomb in the 5th inning. Of course I'm not 100% convinced. Lets see what happens when two are on in the bottom of the 9th, two outs, Dodgers down by one in game 5 of the NLCS and Manny is up to bat. We'll see......

Ok, so college football is a month away and I'm so fucking excited I can't even tell you. Today I have been going back and forth with my Baton Rouge gang just confirming up plans for the Florida/LSU game. For those of you who are up for a fun vacation, Los Angeles will be taking over Baton Rouge that weekend. For those of you who haven't experienced an LSU tailgate, a writer from Sports Illustrated will be doing a piece about my families tailgate that weekend. That's some pretty impressive stuff. And for those of you who think I have a hard on for LSU, I will also be attending U of Arizona's homecoming against WSU a few weeks after that - as a good alumn, I'm all about getting drunk, crazy and cutting up a shirt to wear as a dress in Tucson!

But now to the more important talk - the actual football part. Let's start with LSU. They have quite the road ahead of them. Yes, they have a very easy non conference schedule but they need to save up come time for SEC play - nothing new there. The game vs Florida is going to be outright impossible but if by some miracle they can pull it out (because I'm there) they still only have Auburn, Ol Miss, Bama and Arkansas left. If they aren't dead by the end of the season I really think they can hold their own. They are somewhat rebuilding a bit defensively however the only way for LSU to go with defense is up. Most importantly, they have improved at the Quarterback position and they still got Mr. Scott! He's a machine.

Now as mentioned before, USC has an amazing recruiting class year after year. We will see how amazing they are since they lost a slew of defensive players and have quite the schedule this year. As a USC hater, I have no problem finally saying that this team has quite the schedule this year. At Ohio, at Cal, at ND, at Oregon. Yikes! I have a weird suspicion that SC is going to lose to Ohio State but I think that weird suspicion is me 'hoping' they lose. The odds aren't out yet but SC is going to win that game. And at 7 to 1 odds of them winning the National Championship, I see no harm in taking that bet. The other gut feeling I have is that they are going to play a flawless season then lose to my Wild Cats in their last game :)

A couple of other bets I like for National Championship wins are: Cal - 45/1 (that's the longshot), LSU - 25/1 (if you bet with your heart), Oklahoma - 6/1, Texas - 8/1 (my favorite).

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Laker Schedule is out!!!

http://www.nba.com/lakers/schedule/index.html

Of course I will be on an airplane during the Christmas day game. That's standard though for my family. We always head someplace tropical on XMAS Day and catch the highlights on sportscenter. I'm not worried though. We will see either the Cavs or the Celts again in June.

Plaxico Burress ain't playing football anytime soon


So this stuff I was saying about Manny before? I'm still sticking to it. For those of you who didn't turn the tv off before the 9th inning of the Dodger game last night you got quite the treat. As soon as the Brewers put in Trevor Hoffman I knew the Dodgers had a great chance to tie this game up even though we were down by four runs. That is until Manny stepped up to the plate, bases loaded, two outs, Dodgers down by a run (we just rallied to score 3). I think it was two or three pitches in, he flied out - game over. Bench his ass! And no, that doesn't mean give him the night off.

To switch gears a little, yesterday Plaxico Burress was indicted by a New York grand jury on charges of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. Now I've been listening and reading about a few different takes regarding this situation but I'm still not going to give Plax the benefit of the doubt. He brought a gun into a club and shot himself. Enough said? There are so many things wrong with that. The state of New York has a very strict policy about concealed weapons and Plaxico abused that policy. Now I highly doubt when he grabbed that gun to go out he said to himself 'self, this might not be a good idea because the mandatory sentence for having a concealed weapon is 3 and a half years in NY'. He brought it for his own safety. But do we know why he accidentally shot himself? What if he accidentally shot someone else? Has anyone ever spoken about why the gun went off? Did he accidentally sit on it? Or did he actually reach into his pocket to grab the gun for 'some' reason. Maybe he wanted to shift a little. Or maybe he saw something he didn't like and grabbed that gun for security purposes - which only means he might have had intentions to shoot someone.

There have been many discussions concerning a high profiled figures safety but the fact of the matter is that people get robbed or held at gunpoint all the time. I would think an average Joe or Jane walking down the street can just as easily be held at gunpoint as an athlete hanging at the club. If I'm about to turn a street corner and it doesn't look safe to me, I'm not walking there. So if Plaxico feels the need to bring a concealed weapon to a club for his safety then he shouldn't go. I can think of a 101 other ways to have a good time. Plus they charge you $500 for a bottle of Grey Goose that I can get at Ralphs for 20 bucks.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Hahahahahahahahahahaha!


This just in from Arizona Cardinal Camp: Former USC Quarterback Matt Leinart will be competing against Brian St. Pierre for the 2nd string quarterback job. For those of you who aren't familiar with St. Pierre, he has thrown one pass in six years at the professional level. Impressive. I hope Matty-O can keep up!

Sorry, Leinart was amazing in college and he's gone all Jamarcus Russell on us. But instead of reporting back to camp fat, he's just got different priorities. He has better people to do instead of play football.

Forget the South Beach Diet, lets go Patron


NFL camps have begun and I can't tell you how excited I am as the camp news keeps coming in. So many players are signing, so many players are getting injured, so many players are reporting in shape, and of course we got the fatty's over at the Raiders camp.

A story that struck me this morning was that LenDale White reported to camp 30 pounds lighter because he dropped the tequila from his diet. Now since he is an SC alumn, I'm not giving him any benefit of the doubt.

So if he dropped 30 pounds from last year then does that mean he was on his tequila diet during last season? 30 pounds is a lot of tequila, especially if you're playing in a professional football game for many weeks in a row. 773 yards last year is pretty impressive on a patron diet. I take 2 shots of tequila and the last thing I want to do is play football - I just like to make out. It's a good thing he decided to shape up as this is is 'contract year'. For all you fantasy people out there, Mr. White might be a good addition for your team. It sounds like with the weight drop, he's on track for 1000+ yards this year.

Speaking of someone who has NOT been on track - Good ol Manny Ramirez. While I was watching the Braves game and he came up to bat with two on, two outs his stats appeared on screen - 1 for his last 19. Needless to say, he struck out looking (yes he got a hit later on which was followed by a bomb from Kemp). Should Torre maybe sit him out for a game or two? I remember back in the day when the Dodgers had Jew power Shawn Greene on their team and he was in a ridiculous slump. I think Jim Tracy was the manager at the time and benched Shawn and gave him time to grieve. When Shawn was given the green light to get back on the field, he went nutz - something on the lines of 49 homeruns for the season. Just a thought.

On a happier note, Jason Schmidt came out to play on Friday. I'm a little bit more convinced but not totally. Jason had 6 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and 3 strikeouts. Unfortunately he had 5 walks but the bottom line is that he kept one of the hottest hitting teams in the month of July scoreless. I'm in shock. I still need to see another game, however.