So I took a vacation. Sue me. The only difference is that I don't have Dan Lebetard and Bob Ryan like PTI or Jason Whitlock and that creepy slow talking guy like Jim Rome is Burning. My co-blogger seems like he's done a good job manning the ship in my absence. Life goes on.
I hit up four states on my little road trip, most importantly Maryland and the beautiful Camden Yards. I was sitting 2nd row behind the Yanks dugout for the Posada go ahead solo homer in the 9th game a few weeks ago. Thrilling stuff. I managed to snap some halfway decent shots of Randy, A-Rod, Jete, Damon, Moose, and my personal favoirte, an irate Larry Bowa. They may or may not make their way to this website. I was especially impressed by Damon, who was the only one signing young children's baseball cards and balls before the game. He's genuinely a nice guy. Weird. I learned some things. I developed an immense distaste for Craig Wilson and his ugly swings followed by solid hitting. I grew to like Abreu. I saw that Randy just isn't that intimidating, no matter what they'd have you believe. I also saw that although Brian Schneider was a candidate for greatest Nationals/Expos player of all time, Bad Vlad was not. (On this note, who's the greatest Oriole of all time? The way I see it there are two real choices in Cal and Frank Robinson and a third dark ((and I mean dark) horse in Brooks Robinson. Furthermore, who's the greatest Cardinal of all time? Ozzie? Gibson? PUJOLS? The list goes on.) I tried to persuade my buddy Adam that we could leave at the start of the top of the ninth to beat traffic, but he, a Yankee hater, didn't seem to share the assuredness I had that the game was in the bag. (Herein lies the beauty of being a Yank fan. The cockiness that you give off almost inadvertently. I was honestly hand to god 100 percent sure that the game was ours in a tie ball game going into the ninth in Baltimore. It's a nice perk.)
Anyways, what I mean to say is that I missed alot. One of the most important stretches of the year. And for that I apologize. Rest assured it wasn't a lack of effort but more of a lack of broadband. Or maybe both. But I digress: I'm back for the 5-gamer in Fenway. Good timing I'd say. We all know what the outcome of the series will be. One team who's a little luckier will take 3 of 5 and both teams will leave pretty much the same they came in. Even so, it's soooooo tantalizing that if we went into Fenway and swept, we'd have a 6 AND A HALF GAME lead. That's bigger than the Tiggers lead, maybe even bigger than the Mets lead if they keep playing the way they are. 6 and a half games. I'm getting goosebumps.
Cory Lidle's grandma died. Sorry Cory. His replacement is some kid named Brian Bruney from Columbus. Go get em kid.
Moving on to the main attraction. The Yanks new stadium. 1.2 billion dollar stadium. Now if I may, and please excuse me, but fuck that. This is Yankee Stadium we're talking about. Not some Busch (the puns kill me) League stadium not fit to hold a candle to the one being torn down. The amount of history in the place is astounding. I love Yankee Stadium. It practically raised me till the age of 9. I love the short porch. I love everything about it. Within it's walls Gehrig stood and delievered arguably the most famous line not spoken by MLK. Out on the outfield grasses Mantle, Dimaggio, and Bernie roamed. Names like Munson and Berra manned the plate. Larson worked his magic here. And we're tearing it down? What? How can you with a clean conscious destroy the house of some of the most memorable moments of the modern world? For some new age superstadium. Then of course there's the shadiness of the motive which I can't even begin to tackle right now. I could try to cram all the great moments that occured in Yankee Stadium in the last 10 years into this paragraph and I would fail miserably. Wouldn't even come close. And that's just a sliver. Honestly, I'm speechless. And although most say change is for the better, and although we have until 2009 to appreciate the stadium, I think now would be a good time to bow our heads and give a moment of silence for it. It's housed a lot of memories.
A 12-2 fiasco. Goddamn it boys. OK OK... so the lead can still be six and a half. Not bad. Not bad at all. Bernie is 2nd all time Yankee doubles leader. Passes Mattingly, trails Gehrig. A nice milestone. Nick "haha his name has cake in it" Markakis ran all over us. What a disaster. I'll be back later to write a more levelheaded recap and a big ol' preview for the upcoming uberseries.
A little basketball news never hurt anyone. The US made it's final cut, the ever popular Bruce Bowen, otherwise known as the guy that everyone thinks is so underrated he becomes overrated. Yes he is a great defender. Yes he could probably lock down Manu Ginobli. Yes he is a great team player. But the point is... actually you know what I can't justify this cut. I love Bruce Bowen. What were they thinking. Antawn Jamison over Bruce Bowen. Excuse me? The final roster reads as follows.
Kirk Hinrich, Chris Paul, Dwayne Wade, Joe Johnson, Antawn Jamison, Carmelo Anthony, Lebron James, Shane Battier, Chris Bosh, Elton Brand, Dwight Howard, Brad Miller. Pretty formidable if I do say so myself.
Wade, Lebron, and 'Melo are all co-captains of the team. That '03 draft just keeps looking better every year.
Everyone's favorite team player is selling his shoe for 14.98. That's right, the universally loved Stephon Marbury has a pair of shoes designed specifically to sell cheap. Honestly, unless these shoes cause some sort of terminal illness, how can you knock this? I know Marbury is a lightning rod for scrutiny but I really like what he's doing here. What parent is gonna deny their kid a pair of flashy fifteen dollar kicks sponsored by Marbury? Well done.
As I said, keep your eyes peeled for crosstownrivals.org. It's a'comin.
I leave you on a lighter note. Sal Fasano's silly stache.
Come on. It's amusing..
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