Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Sad Day
This was such a great team though. No huge super stars but just a great group that made an amazing run to the World Series. Then like most things in sports, it had to come to an end. The next year they kept all of their core players around but injuries took their toll on the team. It was the next year that I realized that baseball is a business and eventually a team will get rid of players or they will choose to leave. In 2005, Jarrod Washburn, David Eckstein and Troy Percival left. Percie, was the hardest as he had been my favorite pitcher. Benji Molina in 2006. 2007 was especially hard as my 2 favorite Angels left. Darin Erstad and “The Kingfish” Tim Salmon. K-Rod and Garret Anderson left in 2008.
Still through all of these players leaving there had still been 3 that had remained since the World Series. Up until this week. In a matter of a few days the Angels lost Chone Figgins and John Lackey. Chone wasn’t super hard to lose but Lackey hurt. A lot. He had been the rock of the rotation for 7 years. The bull-dog. The player that as a fan I knew the Angels had to give the ball to in a touch situation. The ace. He was the first player since the early 1900’s to win a World Series Game 7 as a rookie. His emotion was so much fun to watch as a fan. What hurts even more is where he signed. With the Red Sox. A rival that the Angels finally broke through against in the playoffs this past season. Now, the only player left from that great team is Scott Shields. It’s an incredibly sad day to be an Angels fan.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Christmas Wish List
As it’s nearly Christmas I thought I would present my sports Christmas wish list….
1. Al Davis to go away. I don’t want him to die but please just go away.
2. Packers play the Vikings in the playoffs. And win.
3. Instant replay for Major League Baseball.
4. Another Heisman trophy for Tim Tebow. (That’s for your Padre)
5. Ndamukong Suh to actually win the Heisman.
6. Jackrabbit men to make the NCAA tourney.
7. Nebraska win their Bowl Game.
8. Nebraska to score at least one offensive touchdown in the Bowl game. Just one.
9. Beat Ford in our Madden bet.
10. Lakers sweep season series with Cavs.
11. Angels keep Lackey and sign Bay.
12. T.C.U. wins the A.P. National Championship.
13. Win fantasy football.
14. Yankees go bankrupt.
Question of the Week:
If you could receive tickets to any sporting event in the next year what which would it be?
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Girls Rule. At least against Me.
Growing up I was made to believe that women were inferior when it came to athletics. Again, I’m not saying I believe this but this is what I learned growing up. “You throw like a girl. You run like a girl. I hated these comments. Cause of course it meant that I was not as good as the other guys. I played these sports like girls and or course so I thought girls are never as good as men in sports.
I learned something the other day though. Some girls are good. Really good. Some girls are just plain better at sports then me. I mean this wasn’t the first time I was humiliated by a girl. A few years ago in a 5 on 5 basketball game I was blocked by my friend Corey. Now she is a very good basketball player but my ego couldn’t take it. So I did what any reasonable man would do in this situation. I waved everyone else to the side and I drove on her, 1 on 1. And what happened? I was blocked again. A few years later I was again playing basketball and I was blocked not once but twice by a female who was not quite in the same basketball level of Corey. I proceeded to foul her to the ground the next time she came by me. Not my finest moment.
I’ve played other sports where I was beaten by females but it wasn’t until this past weekend that it really hit me. Maybe there is not a female that can beat Jordan 1 on 1 and I will never believe a team of females could play against an NFL team and beat them but when it comes to me against a few women in sports I will give them the upper hand. Maybe this means I’m turning in my man card or maybe I’m just waking up to the fact that some females are just much better at sports than me. Maybe?
P.S. Congratulations by the way to Meghan, Cassandra and Topher on an impressive win.
Question of the Week:
Which of these teams would win if all of the players were in their prime?
Team Brandon
Steve Nash
Michael Jordan
Hakeem Olajuwon
Kobe Bryant
Kevin Garnett
Team Clyde
Magic Johnson
Reggie Miller
Shaquille O'Neal
Lebron James
Karl Malone
Monday, November 23, 2009
Perfection
In line with all of these is Pat’s Perfect football weekend. There is a formula for this. Okay maybe not a formula but a list of things that has to go right for this perfection to work. First thing that must go right normally happens on a Thursday or Friday night. The Washington Warriors, my high school football team has to win. While they didn’t play this past weekend they recently won the state title. Next comes on Saturday. THEE South Dakota State Jackrabbits have to win. They did and with it made the Football Championship Sub-Division playoffs for the first time. Go Jacks! Next Nebraska has to win. Not only did the Huskers win this weekend, they also won the Big 12 North. Something that has not happened a lot recently. To do it against K-State makes it even better. It’s not uncommon for the Warriors and Huskers to win.
What’s a lot more difficult is my NFL team. The Raiders. They don’t win a lot. Especially against good teams. I was a little shocked when they beat the Bengals this weekend. It’s even more surprising in the way that they did it. The Raiders have made a living out of losing close games in a crazy ways. They turned around and had the Bengals lose to them in that way. (Bruce Gradkowski is my new hero by the way.) So the Warriors, Huskers and Raiders all win. That is a great weekend. When some of my other favorite teams win it’s also great. OSU Cowboys, Packers, Patriots all win. Colorado, Notre Dame (Loved it!!) and Oklahoma Sooners all lose, which makes the weekend even sweeter. (Side note. One of my favorite things in the whole world is to watch Bob Stoops pout when Oklahoma loses.)
It’s not perfection though. There are a few things that have to go wrong for perfection. A few select teams have to lose. One of them being the Denver Broncos. It just so happened this weekend that the Broncos not only lost, I’m not sure they even showed up. 32-3. Sweet. Only thing better is if Mike Shannahan was still coaching.
Everything was near perfect. Just one other thing had to happen for Pat’s Perfect Football Weekend. The Vikings had to lose. Didn’t happen. Not with “The Man” playing for them. I will admit it’s been a little hard to cheer for him this season. I cannot deny though that he’s doing freakishly well this year. I never would have imagined that it would be my favorite player preventing me from having the perfect weekend. Thanks Brett.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Back to the Sports
Monday, May 18, 2009
Greatest of All-Time
The man that would probally get my vote is Willie Mays. While I never got to see him play his stats are pretty amazing. He made the all-star game in 1954 and every one after until 1973. He's 4th in home runs and 10th in RBI's and I don't believe he was ever accused of using steroids. There are a lot of other I thought about but rather than listing off the stats of these other great players I thought I would make up my greatest living team. I would love some comments on players I missed or whether you agree or disagree with the players I did make.
Position Players
1st Base: Harmon Killebrew
2nd Base: Joe Morgan
SS: Cal Ripken Jr.
3rd Base: Brooks Robinson
C: Johnny Bench
LF: Stan Musial
CF: Willie Mays
RF: Hank Aaron
Bench:
Ricky Henderson
Pete Rose
Mike Schmidt
Starting Rotation
Greg Maddux
Tom Seaver
Sandy Koufax
Bob Gibson
Randy Johnson
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
"The Man" in Purple
I hate the giant Viking mascot that rides a motorcycle. I hate almost everything there is to hate about the Minnesota Vike'queens'. But I love Brett Favre.
I love watching his excitement when he plays the game. I love the term "Gun slinger" when people talk about him. I love way he lit up my Raiders in the wake of his dads death. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/football/nfl/12/23/packers.raiders.ap/
I love living in Wisconsin and seeing what Brett meant to this state. I never understood that growing up in South Dakota. Now the football player I love most might be playing for a team that I can't stand. What now?
If Brett makes it back to play with the Vikings can I cheer for him? I will want to so much but that would mean I am cheering for the Vikes. Maybe I can just cheer for him to do well but not the rest of the team. I'm not sure if that will work. I'm pretty sure though that if he does make it back I will be excited to watch him regardless of what team he plays for. See, I am a Brett fan. No matter what decision he makes or how man times he changes his mind I am sticking with him. If he retires 100 times and comes back each of those times I will be happy. I will be happy that one more time I will get to see Favre being a "Gun slinger". I will get to see him run down the field with his arms in the air. I will get to see my favorite player act differently than every other quarterback playing today. There is only one Brett Favre. Even if he's wearing Purple.
Monday, April 20, 2009
The Raider is an Autumn Wind
I am a Raiders fan. I'm pretty sure if you really looked at my blood closely it would be silver and black. I have been a Raiders fan since I was in junior high. I have seen some great teams. There were teams in the early 90's that I really thought would go to the Super Bowl. The late 90's were really tough to take as a fan but then they got Rich Gannon and Chucky. Those were great years. When they finally made it to the Super Bowl I truly thought I had died and gone to heaven. Even with the Super Bowl loss times were great. Players have come and gone but through it all there has been one constant. Al Davis.
I don't know what I'm supposed to think of Al Davis. He's my team's owner. For better or for worse he's the face of my team. Am I supposed to love him or hate him. He has done a lot of great things for the league and for my Raiders. On the other hand he has done a few questionable things.
Moved the Raiders from Oakland to Los Angeles.
Moved the Raiders back to Oakland.
Threatened to move the Raiders back to Los Angeles.
Hired Art Shell than fired Art Shell than hired Art Shell than fired Art Shell
More bad free agent signings than I can mention.
I'm torn as to how I'm supposed to feel about him. He gives out horrendous amounts of money to bad free agents and I want to jump ship to another team. He trades away John Gruden and I want to cry. But than something strange happens. I watch a game and I see him in his white jump suit http://espn-att.starwave.com/i/magazine/new/al_davis_a.jpg I hear him talk at a press conference. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3XAohGHEv8. I am hooked. He is so different than the other owners in professional sports. He keeps things interesting. He makes me believe that this really will be the year they win the Super Bowl. I start to believe that he will get the team back to the top. Al Davis has this way of pulling me in. I should give up on him but I just can't.
I can't give up on him. I feel invested in him. When the Raiders win the Super Bowl and I truly believe they will in my life time, I can't wait to see the commissionair hand Al Davis the trophy. I want to be able to say I never gave up on him. Bad move, year after year I stuck by him.
Just Win Baby. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKbYjyKOoR4
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
I love this game
I'm not sure at what point I became so interested in baseball. Probably when I was very young. I remember being young and going to visit my grandma. I would sit in front of the TV for three hours rooting on the Minnesota Twins with her. She would get so excited when they won. It was hard for me not to get excited when I saw her joy this simple sport brought her. I never had time to think the game was boring. I would keep stats of my favorite players through out the game. I hated missing Twins games because I didn't want to miss any exciting plays. I knew my grandma was watching and it pained me to know I wasn't seeing what she was. Maybe I only got into the game because of my grandma but I will never forget those moments spent with her.
Those young memories have given way to some many more memories for me. Watching our small market semi-pro team through the wall in the outfield. Rooting on my Angels when they got to the World Series but only being able to watch game 7 on a small black and white TV that didn't have reception. Going to Milwaukee Brewer games with friends. Cheering the home runs and screaming at the painful plays. Memories that when I close my eyes I can immediately be taken back to these places.
One of the reasons I love baseball so much is that the game has no clock to determine when the game ends. Unlike other major sports the game is slow enough to enjoy while having a conversation with the person sitting next to you. The feeling when you walk out of a tunnel and see the green grass and the blue sky. The wonderful sounds that you get to hear at a game. The vendors selling beer and peanuts. Fans cheering for their teams or heckling opposing players. The sight of the pitcher throwing a 95 mile an hour fast ball and the sound of the ball hitting the catchers mitt. That is why I love baseball so much. It's so much more than the action of the game. It's the sights and the sounds. The passion of watching a game with a friend or with a loving grandmother.
I love watching baseball. I will admit that it may not be the fastest action of any sport but I don't need that. As baseball season begins again I will again cherish the opportunity the go to a game. The opportunity to sit for 3 hours either in my living room or hopefully a beautiful stadium. I will again be taken back to my grandmas living room. I will again cherish her and the beautiful game that she introduced me too. Go Twins.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
My celebrity football team
My choice for quarterback got a lot of flack and a few laughs. I decided to go with Jason Kidd. He is a smart basketball player which made me think that his smarts would carry over onto the football field. I’ve never seen him throw a football but seeing him throw a basketball makes me want him on my team. http://espn.go.com/magazine/vol5no11freaks.html
For my running backs I decided to go with Josh Duhamel http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0241049/ and Jim Riggs. For those that don't know Mr. Riggs, he runs the horse stables at the camp I work with. One of my favorite memories of Mr. Riggs was when he decided to chase a counselor wearing a giant dinosaur costume through our dining hall with a pitch fork. Keep in mind the dining hall was filled with about 150 campers. For entertainment alone I am picking him.
My two receivers are Will Smith and Michael Phelps. I picked Michael Phelps because well....he's Michael Phelps. Not sure why I picked Will Smith. I know they were movies but seeming him box in Ali and save the universe in about 3 different movies made me think he could catch a ball over the middle.
I went with Tyler "Psycho T" Hansbourgh for my tight end.
Reason #1. I would pay good money to see this.
Reason #2: He's a beast.
These are my picks and whether they are good or not I would love to hear some feedback on them.