Labor Day Blog Hits

- I had to sit on this for a minute because I needed to get all of the frustration out of my system about the end of last night's instant classic. As much as I'd like to call Jarmon Fortson "Jarmon Castillo" or "Luis Fortson", it's not entirely his fault. Lost in the drop was Jimbo letting 30-35 seconds run off the clock in confusion, on top of some questionable playcalling inside the 10 in the waning moments. Not to mention, I've never seen a Mickey Andrews defense get out-athleted like that. Sooner or later, not getting stops on 3rd down (at least two on Tha U's winning drive) will come back to bite you.

That said, I haven't been this excited about FSU football since the 2000 title game. For the first time since Old Man Weinke was under center, they have a potent offense with weapons (Taiwan Easterling and potentially Ty Jones); and for all the defensive shortcomings last night, Greg Reid is a superstar in waiting (as a freshmen no less). With 38 sophomores on the team, not only are they closer to Florida than delusional Gator fans would have you believe, they're a year away from beating them; most importantly, Shirtless Jesus the QB isn't going to have a highlight-reel boat race this year against them.

Can't wait for the rematch against Tha U in Tampa in December.

- I'm not saying LeGarrette Blount's suspension is right or wrong, but Oregon needed to do it. Chip Kelly had to make a stand in what was the first major moment of his collegiate coaching career and the university needed to be decisive in its punishment on an incident that brought negative attention to them. As for Blount, that should end his NFL prospects. Ask Marcus Vick how on-field incidents bode for your career.

- If Joe Mauer and Zack Greinke aren't your AL MVP/ Cy Young winners, then the postseason awards are officially a joke. Scratch that, it became a joke when Jimmy Rollins got the MVP in '07 because his teammates won the division for him to make him look like a prophet. My bad, keep on truckin, writers.

- Love the verses on the new Kid Cudi/Kanye/Common track. The beat? Ehhhhh, not so much. Who were the ad wizards who decided "Hey, let's take the chorus of a song that was really annoying to begin with and put it on the beat of the entire track!" Taylor Swift thinks Lady GaGa is oversaturated. Oh wait, who are we kidding?

- Anyone else find it strange that for the majority of his career, Jayson Werth was a pinch runner/defensive replacement and yet has suddenly become a 30+ home run hitter?

- Thoughts on the Rescue Me finale last week: From a comedy aspect, this was probably the most consistently funny season since the first, the storylines though were a little disappointing. Sure, seeing Lou get even with the hooker was nice, but there were a couple useless stories to go with it (Mike's band and Franco the 9/11 conspiracy theorist). Not to mention the whole "season ends with Tommy's life in question" has been done already in Season 3 when Sheila lit the beach house on fire in a fit of rage.

Speaking of Sheila; as hot as she is (and from what I've been told, TV doesn't do her or Janet justice), her over the top psycho nympho act has gotten stale.

- Like what I've seen from Josh Thole at the plate so far since his call-up. I think him and Santos as a platoon next season works very well. Jerry Manuel needs to be playing him as much as possible this month. When you have a year old switch-hitting catcher, it's best to see what you have. There is no reason AT ALL why Brian Schneider should seen anything beyond a pinch-hitting role this month. Then again, I could've said that same sentence 3 months ago.

- I was hoping to see if they would bring up Ike Davis as well. For those of you who don't know, Davis was the one of the Mets two first round picks last season and has been mashing all year in St. Lucie and Binghamton. The front office does have a dilemma, I suppose, since Davis is a first baseman and that just so happens to be the place where Daniel Murphy is finally comfortable. That leaves left field open and hell, anything is an upgrade over The Incredibly Dreadful Nick Evans.

- I can honestly say Tim Redding is in the discussion for worst Met pitcher of my lifetime. The lack of any good stuff, the fact that we wasted some of the Derek Lowe money on him, the blank expression and the incredibly hideous goatee, it's all there. Anthony Young is #1 by default with Armando Benitez 1A, Redding and John Thomson (the import of the ridiculous Jay Payton trade) fighting for next in line.

- The Bucs firing their offensive coordinator (whose last name I'm not even going to attempt to spell) isn't as big of a deal as it seems for a few reasons. For starters, it will be a 6-win season at best. Secondly, from reports, he was way over his head since joining and that his replacement was drawing up most of the plays. There was also a reported squabble between him and Raheem Morris over who the starting QB should be. If it were up to me, I'd go the old fashioned route and let Hour Glass Leftwich start the first 7 games before letting Josh Freeman take over.

As I've said since the Glazers cleaned house in January, I'm willing to sit through a 6-10 or 5-11 season if there's progress, especially with Freeman. Did Freeman show promise in the preseason? Yes. Enough to say he's a 1st round pick? Not quite. Has Raheem Morris done anything instill confidence in the Bucs fan base? Uhhhhhhhh, not exactly.

Oh well, at least we can keep watching Barrett Ruud run with the torch Derrick Brooks handed to him last season.

Running Diary: New England Revolution vs. Seattle Sounders FC

As promised, I'll be keeping a running diary of tonight Sounders match against New England, I'll post the first half comments at half and the 2nd half after the conclusion.

9:26 P.M.- Quick aside before we begin. As Omar Minaya is determine to run off one of the two guys left on this team that can actually hit, I can't wait until David Delucci, Wily Mo Pena and Nick Evans make up the starting outfield, good lord.

2nd Minute- the marco polo-like "SEATLLE......SOUNDERS!" chant is EPL-esque....or an asshole chant from Monday Night Raw

6th minute- Nyassi of New England has a brief ankle injury. XBox Pitch at Qwest Field is back to field turf after using real grass during the international friendlies.

8th minute- Nearly get our first chance to see rookie sensation (and No. 1 pick) Steve Zakuani in action, pass goes wide.

10th minute- Sounders controlling the tempo so far, and on the attack, and they can't quite convert after crosses from Jaqua, Brad Evans and Alonso.

17th minute- good takedown by the Revolution's Darius Barnes on a James Riley breakaway

19th minute- I think Kasey Keller tends to get a bit of an unfair rap. While he was in net for the U.S. disappointments in the '98 and '06 World Cups (in '06 he had the uneviable task of following Brad Friedel's supreme effort in Korea, he's always kept his teams in the match and he;s finally getting credit for that this year in Seattle.

20th minute- naturally, New England immedately scores thanks to some great 3-man passing in the open field and even better foot work by Sharlie Joseph to put it home.

22nd minute- Seattle can't convert the corner kick thanks to a solid-handed save by Matt Reis and clear by Steve Ralston

24th minute-nearly 2-0 Revs but they can't convert on a loose-ball scramble

26th minute- Jaqua with an inexcusable miss after a great set-up from Leo Gonzalez, who's playing in just his 3rd game with the Sounders.

29th minute- Joseph with a neaar-perfect header that goes over the goal

34th minute- our first true dive of the evening goes to New England's Sainey Nyassi

35th minute- Reis slips on a goal kick and the crowd roars. I know it's not soccer's deal and all, but a "you fucked up!" chant would've been cool.

39th minute- Gonzalez gets a yellow card for an alleged takedown, but replays show a complete miss.

42nd minute- Freddy Montero takes a knee to the chest from Steve Ralston while going up for a ball, penalty kick coming. Momentum-changer right here either way.

44th minute- Iron unkind as Montero's kick hits the top crossbar and goes out.

stoppage time- a yellow card away from the ball, followed by the Revolution coach, who was filling in for Steve Nicol who is on a 2-game suspension, getting ejected, leaving the goalie coach to oversee the 2nd half. Somewhat similar to Bruce Bochy getting tossed, then his bench coach getting canned in the same game a few weeks back.

51st minute- New England starting to control the tempo by slowing it down.

53rd minute bogus yellow card against Montero, keeping him out of Sunday's match at conference-leading Houston

56th minute- Evans nearly ties it, deflection brings a corner kick.

57th minute- Reis isn't pretty, but he keeps it 1-0

62nd minute- Usei just knocks away a game-tying goal by Gonzalez

65th minute- 5 yellow cards for the Revolution tonight, I have a feleing we're not done in that department.

71st minute- Two quick responses by Keller to prevent point-blank chances.

76th minute- New England's defense has been tremendous in closing on scoring opportunities tonight, they deserve to win.

82nd minute- This is sort of like one of those basketball games where one team is rallying the entire game, but can't get any closer than 1 or2. It's that kind of night for the Sounders.

2 minutes into Stoppage That may have been the Sounders last chance as Sanna Nyassi (Sainey's twin brother) hits one of the side of the net. Not a great idea, considering he had 4-5 Seattle attackers coming.

The final whistle goes and the Sounders fall 1-0, fail to get a point, and fall to 8-5-8.

More Sounders (and EPL as well) reports to come in the future.

Digging The Sound

Soccer and I go back awhile. Most of us, of course, played soccer in the schoolyard when we were kids; My brother played soccer since the age of 9 through high school, several friends of mine in high school were on the soccer team (the boys team won the mythical national championship in my sophomore year) and i call both the men's and women's teams at the local college on the internet. That said, outside of the World Cup and maybe the UEFA Champions League final, I never followed it much on TV. Mulling it over recently after all the attention the U.S. national team has received during its Confederations Cup run and World Cup qualifying match against Mexico, I figured as a true sports fan and sports blogger, it be my duty to follow the MLS and English Premier League and pick a team in each league.

I'm still very green as far as the EPL goes, I've had an interest in Portsmouth because an old friend of mine lives over there and Green Street Hooligans nearly made me a fan of West Ham on the spot, but that would be trite. With the EPL season kicking off last weekend, I'll be following closely and eventually finding myself a team.

When it comes to an MLS tam, I've already got myself a team picked out. I've always believed that if the MLS wanted to be as popular as its European counterparts, that it needed to be as true to the European elements as possible, fan bases who know the subtleties, rivalries and no silly nicknames (which is why I have a measure of respect for Toronto FC, FC Dallas, D.C. United, etc.). While my adopted team is guilty of that, Seattle Sounders FC is as true to the european style as any team and fanbase in the league.

Despite playing in a nearly 67,000 seat football stadium, the Emerald City Supporters routinely jam 25-30,000 into Qwest Field for their games. Much like they have done with making the most crowd noise possible with the Seahawks, Sounders management has alloted the rowdiest fans towards the stands behind the goal (normally the end zone seats, which are made of aluminum to reverberate more noise) and travel well too (as evidenced by their presence in L.A. earlier in the week for the match against the Galaxy).

From everything I have read and witnessed during brief viewings, I'd say the best fanbases rank like this:

1. D.C. United
2. Columbus
3. Seattle
4. Toronto FC
5. Houston

Also, the Seattle FC Alliance has a unique privilege in that they have an important say in team decisions including whether the general manager retains his job (strangely enough, minority owner Drew Carey suggested the idea); you think Omar Minaya's glad that this hasn't translated to other sports? Another cool part of the fan base is the March to the Match, in which fans join the team marching band in a march from a nearby park into Qwest Field, very coillege football-esque if you ask me. All this was enough for me to buy in as a Seattle Sounders FC fan.

I'll have a Sounders FC running diary on Thursday night when they take on New England.

Sometimes you can't make it on your own

One of the biggest stories of the weekend was the pictures of Josh Hamilton's relapse in an Arizona bar in January. The media reaction has been divided with some saying that this is a cry for help, proof that solely beliving in God to keep him sober isn't working, that this takes the shine off of his comeback story, or that this earns him more respect because it proves he's human, but to have a story-line based opinion is to miss the point. On that note, I think it makes the story more compelling because that element of this whole thing disappearing in one bad night is very real now, again though, there's a deeper problem.

All of us have a friend or relative who has dealt with an addiction of some kind and it can be unbearable to watch at times. When some of those who are lucky enough to make it back to soberity, it's a constant vigil to keep them there. Whether they are an accountant, plumber or an executive, the battle to avoid the bottle, the needle or whatever it may be is an constant high-wire act. It's hard enough to battle this if you're an everyday Joe, but imagine being in Hamilton's position. He was a resident of the abyss for a time, made it out, was still able to live his dream while not trying to run from the past that nearly killed him and in part, became a star because of it. If I were him, it would be torture just running to the outfield and seeing alcohol advertisements sprayed all over the walls.

I obviously don't know what his intentions were the night he went into that bar, but I am of the belief that it was just one night that got away from him. The way that he immediately took responsibility (both following the incident and the release of the photos) by not reading a statement or anything along those lines says to me that he's making a concerted effort to keep this isolated.

What's going to make it tough though is the scrutiny that was already intense to begin with. You've heard the old saying about how we love building athletes up and tearing them down, but Hamilton was someone we all genuinely wanted to see make it, the problem is there are plnety of shock journalists in the media and degenerate fans who won't be as forgiving.

Unlike Doc Gooden and Daryl Strawberry, Hamilton has people in place to keep him in line, the question will be can he check himself. Given what we know about what it means to be a recovering addict, I'm worried he won't. I can't tell you how much I'd like to be wrong.

Late Night Hits From The Blog

With my dad beginning his chemo this week and family in town, I won't get to do an entry on the front office chaos, but here's a couple current thoughts:

- Props to the Phils for getting a Cy Young winner and a 2nd postseason anchor without having to tear down the farm to do it. The Phils post-season rotation now sets up like this: Hamels, Lee, Blanton (who has been solid since he came to Philly last July) and potentially J.A. Happ since Jamie Moyer no longer looks like the reliable pitcher he was when he stared down Rube Waddell. Pretty damn imposing, right? Ugh, I'll be drinking heavily when it's a Phillies-Yankees World Series.

On top of that, they were able to keep prized prospects Kyle Drabek and Dominic Brown. Maybe someday the Mets will learn that the farm system is there to help them. Wait, who are we kidding?

- To paraphrase Big Daddy Kane, I'm not saying Mark Buehrle's the best, I'm just saying he's (bleeping) incredible.

- I think the entire argument about when Michael Vick should return is unnecessary, at least for this year. Had the circumstances been different and Roger Goddell was able to make this decision back around May, this would be different. I think that with Vick just being eligible now, if a team was interested in signing, they would have to dedicate part of their camp and preseason to helping him learn the playbook, finding a way to intergrate him into their offense, on top of the PR hit they'd be tkaing. I just don't see why any team (save for the Raiders obviously) would find it worth the trouble.

- If Colin Cowherd really is right (I just threw up in my mouth) and sports is EXACTLY like the stock market, then somebody must have got insider trading on the Pirates. Good lord, it's not even funny anymore.

- Jeff Francoeur's first 14 games with the Mets: .309 avg, 3 HR, 16 RBI. Last 22 games with Atlanta: .233, 1 HR, 6 RBI.........and yes, I'm the driver of the Frenchy bandwagon, why do you ask?

- I like the Magic signing Matt Barnes, I'm just not sure how he'll fit though. If it works, he'd be a big X-factor come playoff time.

- Does anyone else think Brett Favre was intentionally screwing with the Vikings all this time just to get back into the good graces of Packer fans? Nah. As much as I'd like to think it's for real this time that the Wrangler QB is finished, let's wait 'til after Week 9 before we can celebrate.

Welcome to The Summer of Our Disconnect

(The following Mets are exempt from this: Johan, Frankie and Gary Sheffield)

Like so many Met seasons of the past, the 2009 edition of the New York Mets died in Turner Field this evening as they lost 3 of 4 to the Braves to start the 2nd half. Sure, they may have been kept alive by the machines (the Phillies struggling for a month), but this team has been a goner for awhile now. After the first post All-Star break series, they sit 10 games back of the Phillies in the loss column, are once again the weak punchlines of bloviating windbags in the sports media and with the trade deadline 11 days away, it's highly unlikely the Mets will be buyers.


Following the trauamatic endings of the last 3 seasons, having the Mets going into the tank now seems almost welcome by comparison. If 2006 was walking in on your wife screwing your best friend, 2007 was getting screwed in the divorce and last year was losing custody of the kids, then this year has been akin to living in a motel off I-95 in Palm Coast.

Now admittedly, I haven't been as diligent this year since I don't have the luxury of Extra Innings, but I still follow as closely as I can by watching online, analyzing the boxes, the transactions and the rumors. Every time I watch a Met game on ESPN or catch a look-in on MLB Net, the place just sounds comatose. Part of that can be blamed on the ridiculous ticket prices of Citi Field that has welcomed the Bailout Crowd, whose conferences are being interrupting by a baseball game, but the holdovers from Shea have been silent as well. Before the injuries, I felt like the fans and players shared the same attitude of "Who cares? We have to wait 5 months to make everyone shut up anyway." After one crunch-time failure after another, it's pretty easy to be jaded and after 3 spectacular chokes, Met fans are as bitter as Keith Olbermann these days.

It would be easy to blame this on all injuries like many others, but there's a lot more to what's currently going on in Flushing than just the disabled list. Management will take a lot of the blame as they're responsible for the roster. It's been New York's dirty secret that the Wilpons were one of the biggest victims of the Madoff scheme (some estimates range as high as $700 million, nice to know you can lose that and still own a team in the biggest market), which along with the injuries may explain why Mets have been hesitant to pull the trigger on any deals.

Omar Minaya is fortunate that he has the injuries to fall back on this season becuase he certainly is not without blame for this mess. You can't blame him for not having depth from a free agent standpoint because how many capable backups can you find on the market that can be a starter for an extended period as well? He can blamed however for the deals not made (Derek Lowe, Edwin Jackson for Ryan Church) and not having an adequate minor league system to go to in case of emergency.

Since Minaya's arrival in 2005, here are the list of Mets who came up through the system: Heath Bell (before he became the second coming of Trevor Hoffman, go figure), Royce Ring, Anderson Hernandez, Mike Jacobs (played 1 month in '05), Brian Bannister (was a starter for the first month of 2006, got hurt, traded that offseason), Phillip Humber, Henry Owens, Mike Pelfrey, Lastings Milledge, Carlos Muniz, Joe Smith, Carlos Gomez, Eddie Kunz, Jonathon Niese, Bobby Parnell, Argenis Reyes, Nick Evans, Daniel Muprhy, Fernando Martinez.

Out of that entire group, they only players that can still contribute are Pelfrey, Parnell, Murphy and F-Mart. That's 4 out of 19....below average production, right? Even if the Mets were in contention to make a big trade, there's such a dearth of talent in the minors (and hope pinned on the ones who can make a difference), that they couldn't swing a deal for a chase-changer.

The onus is on the players too. At some point, you have to stop making excuses and play full-out. Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez are major league pitchers with front of the rotation material and have double-digit win seasons to their name, yet every time something doesn't go their way, they throw a pity party and make a potentially bad inning a disasterous inning. Daniel Murphy never had an issue with defense last season, but he let everyone's suspicions and criticisms get in his head, and I say that as a Murphy fan.

The Cardinals had plenty of injuries in 2006, the Phillies have had their share of injuries the last 3 seasons, but that didn't stop them. This is just a team that feels sorry for itself and it's pathetic.

Oh well, at least I'll be able to enjoy August and September for once.

Knuck If You Buck

I'm sure you've read your fair share of Tim Wakefield articles the last few days from jaded middle-aged columnists, but allow this young one to give a tribute to a man who finds life better at 62 MPH.

Wakefield is from my neck of the woods and is the most famous player of the baseball program that I work at (record holder in many hitting categories), so I've always had a bit of a soft spot for the Red Sox because of him, even if the Sox fans I know are beginning to reach Taylor Swift-like levels of omnipresence and irritation. But having met Tim on several occasions over the years, I can tell you that everything you read about him being a class act is not exaggerated at all.

I wrote for an independent local publication when I was 11 (feel free to potshot that, I understand), and I got a chance to interview him at a Florida Tech event. He was genuinely interested in the interviews and even talked for awhile afterwards. I've run into him a couple times at fundraisers in the years since and somehow he remembered me and was always gracious. But this column is about more than just some fawning fan.

Often times, you'll hear about athletes being active in their charities, often times it's a photo-op and a check, but Wakefield is a cut above that.

Wakefield if nothing else over the years has been a loyal soldier. When they wanted him to start, he took the ball; When they needed him in middle relief, he'd go 3-4 innings if he had to; When they went unorthodox and wanted him to close, as much as of an adventure as it was some nights, he got it done (15 for 15). Some pitchers would bemoan rotating between the pen and the rotation (ahem Aaron Heilman), but Wakefield always took it in stride and did it to the best of his ability.

When Aaron Boone launched one of the most memorable home runs in baseball history, it was depressing to see it happen to a guy like Wakefield. When it happened, the first thing I said was "Oh no, Boston's gonna hate him now," completely forgetting the 2 gems he threw earlier in the series and that Grady Little had committed one of the biggest brainlocks in history. Fortunately, he escaped that fate and Boston fans were very appreciative of him upon his return.

While some blowhards would consider knuckleballers akin to a prop comic, it's a lot more difficult than it looks. Often times, you need the wind and humidity to play in your favor and like any other pitcher, you need your movement to be on. Especially as a knuckleballer, as to whether other pitchers can make up for it by just slinging it 95-96 MPH past the batters if their offspeed isn't working. In the case of Wakefield, some nights, you can go 8 innings and give up 2 hits; and some nights, you'll throw 4 wild pitches in one inning.

This year, everything has moved Wakefield's way, he's 11-3, will be in his first career All-Star game tonight and all at the age of 42. So when you're watching Wakefield's pitch dancing against the likes of Prince Fielder, Chase Utley and company, know that on that mound is a man, whose time is long overdue.