I Love The Smell Of Baseball In The Morning. Smells Like...Victory

In retrospect, that headline should have been used last week. Sometimes my creativity lags a few days behind.

Earlier this month, the Milwaukee Brewers named Ben Sheets as the Opening Day starter. The accompanying story noted that it was his sixth season-opener in the past seven seasons. No disrespect to Sheets, but that seemed like a lot, especially for a guy with a career 113 ERA+. So I hit up Baseball-Reference's list of Opening Day starters, went through team-by-team, and made myself a spreadsheet. Five of the more interesting finds are below:

5) The longest active Opening Day streak for one team is five, held jointly by Toronto's Roy Halladay and Houston's Roy Oswalt. Both are expected to extend that mark to six on Monday. Jack Morris holds the Retrosheet Era (1956-present) for multiple teams, starting fourteen straight Opening Days for Detroit, Minnesota, and Toronto from 1980-93.

4) The most consecutive Opening Day starts for one team in the Retrosheet Era is Morris' 11 straight for the Tigers from 1980-90. Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton each started ten straight.

3) The record for most combined Opening Day starts by two brothers is 13, shared by the Niekros (9 for Phil, 4 for Joe) and the Martinezs (8 for Pedro, 5 for Ramon). Gaylord and Jim Perry just missed with 12 (9 and 3, respectively).

2) Gaylord Perry was the Opening Day starter for five different teams: Texas, Cleveland, Seattle, San Diego, and San Francisco.

1) Six franchises have begun play since 1977. The Opening Day starters for each:

Toronto (1977): Bill Singer
Seattle (1977): Diego Segui
Rockies (1993): David Nied
Marlins (1993): Charlie Hough
Rays (1998): Wilson Alvarez
Diamondbacks (1998): Andy Benes

Bonus: Opening Day pitchers have been born in 46 states (all but New Mexico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Vermont) and at least ten foreign countries, including The Netherlands, Nicaragua, Canada, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Venezuela, Japan, and South Korea.

Well, That Was Fast

One and done -- again (UnionLeader.com)

And so begins another long offseason without a national championship for the alma mater. They haven't sniffed a Frozen Four since I was a student there, a date that used to be fairly recent but is now slipping further and further into the past (five years already?).

Not surprisingly, unhappy fans are already calling for the head of coach Dick Umile (one enterprising soul has already created the required FireDickUmile.com web site), which makes sense, really - he's only got the eighth-most wins among active coaches and could move up to sixth by the end of 2008-09, but without a title on the resume? Loser.

Perhaps My In-Laws (And Local Law Enforcement Officials) Should Not Read This Post

So my wife and I went out to dinner with the baby and our friend Allison tonight. On the way home, they were playing with the ringtones on their phones - the missus is infatuated with her new "Shipping Up To Boston" ring, while I die a little inside every time someone calls Allison and I have to hear the chorus to "Mmm Bop". My phone is always set to vibrate, so I decided it would be funny if I made the ring go off and instead of music, like theirs, it would just be the sound of it vibrating. Hilarious, I know.

We pulled up to a red light and I pulled the phone out. Couldn't figure out how to make it ring without having one of them call me, which wouldn't have been nearly as much fun. We're sitting there for a couple of minutes, I'm fidding with the phone, when all of a sudden there's movement out of the corner of my eye. Cars are starting to go. Light must be green. I put the phone down, start across the intersection...and realize that the only cars that are moving are on the other side of the street. The cars next to me hadn't budged an inch. That red light I was stopped at? Yeah, still red.

Somehow, this fact escaped the three adults in the car until we were about halfway across the intersection, by which point I could only step a little heavier on the gas and hope that oncoming sedan in the left turn lane didn't speed up to beat his light and accidentally hit us. Fortunately, it wasn't even close.

Once it was clear that my complete mental shutdown was not going to result in the tragic demise of my entire family, there was much laughter, especially when I realized that a) there were no flashing blue lights in my immediate future and b) I was doing about 25 MPH in a 40 MPH zone. By the time we hit the next light, a quarter-mile down the road (it was green, I swear), the cars that had been behind me at the previous light had caught up and were no doubt cursing the fact that they'll give anyone a license these days. It was dark, but I did my best to look suitably sheepish, just in case any of the other drivers could see me and take some pity.

"Hey, assho - oh, look at how ashamed he looks. His cheeks are all red...and I think he may be crying. Oh look, his wife is really giving him an earful. Let's just move on. The poor boy has enough on his plate." I'm sure it happened exactly like that.

Petroskey Out, Idelson In at The Baseball Hall of Fame

A few hours ago, I saw the news on Yahoo! Sports that Baseball Hall of Fame President Dale Petroskey had resigned:

Dale Petroskey resigned Tuesday as president of the baseball Hall of Fame after its board’s executive committee found he “failed to exercise proper fiduciary responsibility.”

The Hall’s executive committee said it found there were “other business judgments that were not in the best interest of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.”

The Hall did not detail Petroskey’s actions. Spokesman Brad Horn said the executive committee felt they weren’t criminal and that he did not benefit personally from them.

When I worked at the Hall of Fame as an intern six summers ago, my run-ins with Petroskey were infrequent and unmemorable - about the only thing I can say about the man is that he constantly had a huge smile plastered all over his face and gave off the vibe of someone who had spent a lot of time in politics.

His acting replacement, Jeff Idelson, however, is someone with whom I had a few more interactions. It's good to see him achieve such a lofty position, interim or not. Here are a few reasons why I remember Idelson fondly:

1. Whenever a milestone was near, Idelson was the Hall of Fame representative dispatched to the site to pick up any necessary artifacts for the museum's collection. One of the more fascinating moments in my life up to that point was watching the 2002 All-Star Game on TV with a group of fellow interns and seeing Idelson in the dugout, slapping a player on the back after a particularly good play. We felt like Will Ferrell in "Elf" when he finds out "Santa" is coming to the store: "I KNOW HIM!"
2. During Hall of Fame Weekend, interns in all departments rotated through a variety of responsibilities. Once or twice, I ended up in the press room, where members of the media came to write their stories and make small talk*. I don't know if anyone remembers this, but that was the year the living Hall of Famers drafted a letter asking Bud Selig to do anything in his power to avoid a potentially devastating labor stoppage (or something like that - I haven't seen the letter in awhile). When the letter was released, I was working the press room and Idelson came flying in and told me to go make twenty copies. I went to the copier in the other room, too slowly, I guess, because about thirty seconds later he came tearing in and said something along the lines of, "Gotta get moving!" Great energy.
3. My goal at the time I left the Hall was to write a broad paper on the history of Jewish players in the game of baseball (it eventually became a rather crappy paper on Hank Greenberg). With that in mind, I asked Idelson how to go about speaking with the various Jewish players who were still active at the time. He was terrific about giving advice and pointing me in the right direction. His actions nearly helped me land an interview with Gabe Kapler and did get me a few minutes with Arthur Richman**, who I believe was a senior VP with the Yankees at the time. He also took the time to answer a few questions about his own experiences, which I thought went above and beyond the call of duty.

*This is where I met Jayson Stark. He and a few other writers were talking about Harry Kalas - this was the year Kalas received the Ford C. Frick Award - and noted that By Saam had also been honored by the Hall of Fame several years earlier. This led him to ask me, research intern extraordinaire, if any other partners had each won the Frick Award. It took me two days and a lot of parsing of Total Baseball's Announcer Roster, but I eventually managed to get him a list of possible combinations that was horrifying in its inaccuracy. As he was leaving and I pressed the hand-written sheet of paper into his hand, he said he's look it over and maybe use it in his column. Thank God he didn't.

**The Richman interview would have been a total waste if not for one thing that I'm pretty sure I mentioned in an interview with Pyle of List last year - during our talk, Richman casually mentioned that he had to leave soon because the owners and players union were announcing a new agreement that would avoid a strike. Probably the only "breaking news"-type story that I'll ever get, and all I could do was hang up the phone, turn to my girlfriend, and pass along the good news. If only I'd had a blog back then.

Need A Pick-Me-Up? Try Reading The Greatest Speech of the Past Fifteen Years

Feeling a little down today, so I decided to take advantage of Sports Illustrated new online feature, The Vault, and read the January 1993 cover story on Jim Valvano and his fight against cancer. Then I tracked down the transcript of his famous speech at the 1993 ESPY Awards, possibly the greatest speech of my lifetime, and read that as well. It's strange to say this about a man who died fifteen years ago, but if Jimmy V can't get you fired up to go out there and face the world, nothing can.

Both the text and video of the speech, which was delivered fifteen years ago this month, can be found at American Rhetoric. Some of my favorite parts are excerpted below.

Three things we should do every day:

To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special.

His first pregame speech:

I was coaching at Rutgers University, that was my first job -- oh, that's wonderful [reaction to applause] -- and I was the freshman coach. That's when freshmen played on freshman teams. And I was so fired up about my first job. I see Lou Holtz, Coach Holtz here. What was it like, the very first job you had, right? The very first time you stood in the locker room to give a pep talk. That's a special place, the locker room, for a coach to give a talk. So my idol as a coach was Vince Lombardi, and I read this book called Commitment To Excellence by Vince Lombardi. And in the book, Lombardi talked about the first time he spoke before his Green Bay Packer team in the locker room -- they were perennial losers. And I'm reading this and Lombardi said he was thinking should it be a long talk? A short talk? But he wanted it to be emotional, so it would be brief.

And here's what he did. Normally you get in the locker room, I don't know, twenty-five minutes, a half hour before the team takes the field; you do your little X's and 0's, and then you give the great Knute Rockne talk. We all do. Speech number eight-four. You pull them right out, you get ready, get your squad ready. Well, this is the first one I ever gave. And I read this thing -- Lombardi, what he said was he didn't go in. He waited. His team was wondering: Where is he? Where is this great coach? He's not there. Ten minutes -- he's still not there. Three minutes before they could take the field Lombardi comes in, bangs the door open, and I think you all remember what great presence he had, alright, great presence. He walked in and he just walked back and forth, like this, just walked, staring at the players. And he said, "All eyes on me."

And I'm reading this in this book. I'm getting this picture of Lombardi before his first game and he said "Gentlemen, we will be successful this year, if you can focus on three things, and three things only: Your family, your religion, and the Green Bay Packers." And he...like that...And they knocked the walls down and the rest was history. I said, that's beautiful. I'm going to do that. Your family, your religion, and Rutgers basketball.

That's it. I had it. Listen, I'm twenty-one years old. The kids I'm coaching are nineteen, alright? And I'm going to be the greatest coach in the world, the next Lombardi. And...I'm practicing outside of the locker room and the managers tell me "you got to go in." "Not yet, not yet"... family, religion, Rutgers Basketball. All eyes on me. I got it, I got it. Then finally he said, "three minutes," and I said "fine." True story. I go to knock the doors open just like Lombardi. Boom! They didn't open. I almost broke my arm. I was like...Now I was down, the players were looking. Help the coach out, help him out. And now I did like Lombardi, I walked back and forth, and I was going like that with my arm getting the feeling back in it. Finally I said, "Gentlemen, all eyes on me." These kids wanted to play, they're nineteen. "Let's go," I said. "Gentlemen, we'll be successful this year if you can focus on three things, and three things only: Your family, your religion, and the Green Bay Packers," I told them. I did that. I remember that. I remember...where I came from.

On goals:

It's so important to know where you are. And I know where I am right now. How do you go from where you are to where you wanna be? And I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal. And you have to be willing to work for it.

The formation of the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research:

And ESPN has been so kind to support me in this endeavor and allow me to announce tonight, that with ESPN's support, which means what? Their money and their dollars and they're helping me -- we are starting the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research. And its motto is "Don't give up, don't ever give up." And that's what I'm going to try to do every minute that I have left. I will thank God for the day and the moment I have. And if you see me, smile and maybe give me a hug. That's important to me too. But try if you can to support, whether it's AIDS or the cancer foundation, so that someone else might survive, might prosper, and might actually be cured of this dreaded disease. I can't thank ESPN enough for allowing this to happen. And I'm going to work as hard as I can...for cancer research and hopefully, maybe, we'll have some cures and some breakthroughs. I'd like to think I'm going to fight my brains out to be back here again next year for the Arthur Ashe recipient. I want to give it next year!

The Spirit of Jimmy V:

I know, I gotta go, I gotta go, and I got one last thing and I said it before, and I'm gonna say it again: Cancer can take away all my physical ability. It cannot touch my mind; it cannot touch my heart; and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever.

Chasing A Silly, Unrealistic Dream vs. Settling For A Safe Career

Hard to believe it's been almost a week since I last posted something here, especially considering the personal record-setting output of January and February - 113 posts combined between the two months, which is impressive even after the necessary adjustment for throwaway stuff like the Virtual Playoffs and The Links*

*The championship game in the VP will be coming soon - I just haven't had the time to run the simulation yet - and The Links are probably - finally - dead forever.

I had a conversation with a coworker tonight that made me want to come home and write something. We were talking about career options and I mentioned the increasingly overwhelming feeling that Human Services is not the field for me and I'll probably end up teaching history at some point in the not-so-distant future. She eyed me for a second, considered what I had said, and the following exchange ensued:

Her: "You don't want to be a teacher. Don't lock yourself into doing something you don't really want to do."

Me: "Okay then - what should I do?"

Her: "You're a good writer. Why don't you become a sportswriter?"

True story. What makes it ironic is that her entire exposure to my writing is stuff that I put in our daily communication log, none of which screams, "PULITZER!" When I called her on that, she had another quick answer at the ready: "Well, it just flows out of you."

We went on like this for another ten minutes, back and forth, with her trying to convince me that this was a good idea and me trying to explain to her that yes, I've considered writing as a career, but it's not exactly the easiest industry to break into (and the pay isn't the greatest, especially for someone with a young family). I did not mention that I've had a sportscentric blog for almost two years and can't seem to develop any type of regular reader base. One might consider this a key point.

Anyway, long story short: the chances are good that sometime in the next two years, I will be teaching U.S. History to sixteen-year-old kids who aren't quite sure when the Civil War was fought, yet complain about the amount that is assigned each night. Sorry, Linda.

The Only Sci-Fi Writing I've Ever Enjoyed

Heading into my senior year at the University of New Hampshire, still missing the required science credits that would allow me to graduate, I followed the advice of my friend Danny and signed up for Physics 406 - Astronomy. Though closer than I ever wanted to get to a physics class, it actually turned out to be a pretty decent learning experience, even if the only constellation I can identify with any consistency is Cassiopeia.

One of the course requirements was a final paper on the topic of our choosing. Because I was a History major with a concentration in Religious Studies, I decided to write about the Star of Bethlehem, the biblical event that led the magi to the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

I found a lot of good factual information in the course of my studying, allowing me to put together a decent paper. The best thing I stumbled across, however, was a short story by Arthur C. Clarke called, "The Star," which attempted to take one theory, that the Star of Bethlehem was a supernova, and look at it from a unique angle.

From the time I read "The Star", I was hooked on Clarke's work. I banged away at his collected works during my rare down time in the summer of 2003, finding many of the stories both enjoyable and prophetic - and I'm not even a science-fiction fan. His ability to tell a story was remarkable.

Unfortunately, Clarke passed away yesterday at the age of 90. It's sad, yes, but really, it's hard to complain when somebody dies after a nine decade run on the planet. That alone is impressive, without even considering the things he accomplished in his life.

The Strangest Opening Day Starter In Professional Baseball History

By now, most sports fans are aware of the fact that Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka is a new father: his wife, Tomoyo, gave birth to a baby boy early Saturday morning. What they may not realize, however, is that the team has apparently signed the newborn-to-be-named later and may plan on using him during its season-opening road trip to Japan:

I'm guessing this is nothing more than a cheap attempt at shaming Josh Beckett into forgetting all about his ouchy back*, getting on the plane, and making the start on March 25. It has to be, right? I mean, the kid is about thirteen hours old as I write this - he might have a decent natural heater, but there's no way he had the room in the womb to work on his offspeed stuff. And the gyroball? Forget about it.

Of course, my kid had barely opened his eyes at this point, so maybe it's just the jealousy talking.

*I think I made this same joke last year about the finger avulsion that caused Beckett to miss a couple of starts in midseason. It's strange because I obviously harbor no ill will toward Beckett; the man was a monster in the playoffs last year, probably the main reason the Sox won the World Series. Still, there's something about his injuries that makes me chuckle. Nervously.

2008 NCAA Football Virtual Playoffs Final Four

(Seven of my last nine posts have been 2008 pretend tournament-related. I enjoy doing this, but I'll breathe a sigh of relief when it's over and I can go back to sitting in front of my computer, trying desperately to think of something to write.)

Florida (29) @ Virginia (25)
Final Score: Virginia 28, Florida 21 (OT)

Oregon (34) @ Arizona State (14)
Final Score: Arizona State 35, Oregon 23

25th ranked Virginia will travel to 14th ranked Arizona State for the long awaited national championship game.

2008 NCAA Football Virtual Playoffs Elite Eight

Northern Illinois (112) @ Virginia (25)
Final Score: Virginia 35, Northern Illinois 14
Virginia advances to play Florida (29) in the Final Four

(Strange scoring in this one. It went into halftime with the score 21-0, then the two teams combined for 28 points in the first 90 seconds of the second half...and didn't score again after that.)

Florida (29) @ Boston College (12)
Final Score: Florida 34, Boston College 7
Florida advances to play Virginia (25) in the Final Four

(Back in the early 1990s, Boston College's mens basketball team made a huge tournament run, including an upset of top-ranked North Carolina, only to be stopped in the Elite Eight by the sharp-shooting Florida Gators (God, who was the best player on that Florida team? It's on the tip of my tongue...somebody help before I go crazy thinking about this, please?). Coming in, I thought maybe this game would be payback for that game; it didn't exactly turn out that way, did it?)

Arizona State (14) @ Ohio State (6)
Final Score: Arizona State 14, Ohio State 7
Arizona State advances to play Oregon (34) in the Final Four

Oregon (34) @ USC (7)
Final Score: Oregon 14, USC 0
Oregon advances to play Arizona State (14) in the Final Four

2008 NCAA Football Virtual Playoffs Sweet Sixteen: Games of Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Arizona State (14) @ LSU (3)
Final Score: Arizona State 21, LSU 7
Arizona State advances to play Ohio State (6) in the Elite Eight

Oklahoma (11) @ Ohio State (6)
Final Score: Ohio State 28, Oklahoma 21 (OT)
Ohio State advances to play Arizona State (14) in the Elite Eight

Virginia Tech (10) @ USC (7)
Final Score: USC 14, Virginia Tech 10
USC advances to play Oregon (34) in the Elite Eight

Oregon (34) @ Tennessee (18)
Final Score: Oregon 20, Tennessee 17
Oregon advances to play USC (7) in the Elite Eight

2008 NCAA Football Virtual Playoffs Sweet Sixteen: Games of Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Northern Illinois (112) @ Hawaii (1)
Final Score: Northern Illinois 35, Hawaii 28
Northern Illinois advances to play Virginia (25) in the Elite Eight

Florida State (56) @ Virginia (25)
Final Score: Virginia 14, Florida State 10
Virginia advances to play Northern Illinois (112) in the Elite Eight

Texas Tech (37) @ Boston College (12)
Final Score: Boston College 31, Texas Tech 17
Boston College advances to play Florida (29) in the Elite Eight

Florida International (116) @ Florida (29)
Final Score: Florida 28, Florida International 3
Florida advances to play Boston College (12) in the Elite Eight

2008 NCAA Football Virtual Playoffs: Who's Ready For The Sweet Sixteen?

Below are the matchups for the next round of the tournament, the Sweet Sixteen. The first four games are the left side of the draw, the second four from the right side. One team from each group will make it to the championship game.

Northern Illinois (112) @ Hawaii (1)
Florida State (56) @ Virginia (25)
Texas Tech (37) @ Boston College (12)
Florida International (116) @ Florida (29)

Arizona State (14) @ LSU (3)
Oklahoma (11) @ Ohio State (6)
Virginia Tech (10) @ USC (7)
Oregon (34) @ Tennessee (18)

Hawaii clearly has an advantage as the only Top Ten team in a bracket that includes the only two remaining 100+ seeds (although Florida State is probably overvalued on the game and may actually be more representative of a much better seed).

The other side of the draw, on the other hand, is absolutely brutal, featuring four Top Ten teams, including a monster 7-10 showdown between Virginia Tech and USC. If everything works out, the best offense (USC, 141 points in three games) will meet the best defense (Oklahoma, zero points allowed in three games) for the opportunity to advance to the national championship game.

Team	Rank	Games	Points For	Points Against
USC	7	3	141	28
LSU	3	3	114	40
Arizona St.	14	3	95	20
Boston Co.	12	3	87	31
Ohio State	6	3	82	20
Texas Tech	37	3	79	27
Tennessee	18	3	75	17
Florida State	56	3	72	21
Virginia	25	3	71	43
Florida	29	3	69	34
Fla. Int.	116	3	66	38
Oregon	34	3	58	30
N. Illinois	112	3	57	24
Virginia Tech	10	3	55	23
Hawaii	1	3	53	14
Oklahoma	11	3	40	0

2008 NCAA Football Virtual Playoffs Third Round: Games of Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Florida Atlantic (39) @ USC (7)
Final Score: USC 48, Florida Atlantic 14
USC advances to play Virginia Tech (10) in the Sweet Sixteen

Nebraska (87) @ Virginia Tech (10)
Final Score: Virginia Tech 14, Nebraska 3
Virginia Tech advances to play USC (7) in the Sweet Sixteen

UAB (114) @ Tennessee (18)
Final Score: Tennessee 35, UAB 7
Tennessee advances to play Oregon (34) in the Sweet Sixteen

Louisville (66) @ Oregon (34)
Final Score: Oregon 17, Louisville 7
Oregon advances to play Tennessee (18) in the Sweet Sixteen

2008 NCAA Football Virtual Playoffs Third Round: Games of Monday, March 10, 2008

New Mexico State (99) @ LSU (3)
Final Score: LSU 38, New Mexico State 10
LSU advances to play Arizona State (14) in the Sweet Sixteen

Rutgers (46) @ Arizona State (14)
Final Score: Arizona State 24, Rutgers 0
Arizona State advances to play LSU (3) in the Sweet Sixteen

Miami (FL) (86) @ Oklahoma (11)
Final Score: Oklahoma 6, Miami 0
Oklahoma advances to play Ohio State (6) in the Sweet Sixteen

Auburn (27) @ Ohio State (6)
Final Score: Ohio State 17, Auburn 10
Ohio State advances to play Oklahoma (11) in the Sweet Sixteen

(Ohio State drove downfield and scored with 1:00 minute on the clock to take the lead, then forced a fumble on the second play of the ensuing drive to eliminate defending champion Auburn)

The Links: Rumors That They Were Considering "Mark Richt King" For A Boy Are Still Unconfirmed

Another mini-blogger enters the world (She's Here! @ Dawg Sports)

Should Penn State fans be concerned about Terrelle Pryor's temper? (More Bacon Than The Pan Can Handle @ Run Up The Score!)

Something tells me these two aren't the best of friends. That "NY Good Day" logo in the bottom right corner is just so damn ironic ("Right. So What Do You Want Now?" @ The Big Lead)

I think this is the way I've always felt about traditional vs. New Age stats. It just took Joe Posnanski* and one of his curiously long posts to put it into words (Statheads and True Wins @ Joe Posnanski)

*Apparently, Joe would like the world to refer to these as "Pozterisks". Done.

I used to work with a guy who felt that the name "Hipolito Pichardo" could be used to convey virtually every emotion known to man. He's right - try it (The 100 Greatest Royals of All-Time #59: Hipolito Pichardo @ Royals Retrospective)

Jordi chooses between an old love and a new flame (Another year of long distance love @ The Serious Tip)

Um, did major media coverage of the Duke-UNC game leave something out? (Duke-UNC Hype Is Off-Target @ Epic Carnival)

Site News - Get Your Site News Here!

I took some time today to finally finish up the remodeling of the links section that started several months ago. If your link used to be there and now it's gone, or if you never had a link here but want one, shoot me an email and I'll do my best to get you added.

2008 NCAA Football Virtual Playoffs Third Round: Games of Sunday, March 9, 2008

Indiana (60) @ Texas Tech (37) (The "Bobby Knight Bowl")
Final Score: Texas Tech 24, Indiana 10
Texas Tech advances to play Boston College (12) in the Sweet Sixteen

Mississippi State (44) @ Boston College (12)
Final Score: Boston College 21, Mississippi State 3
Boston College advances to play Texas Tech (37) in the Sweet Sixteen

Florida International (116) @ Air Force (20)
Final Score: Florida International 21, Air Force 14
Florida International advances to play Florida (29) in the Sweet Sixteen

South Carolina (68) @ Florida (29)
Final Score: Florida 31, South Carolina 13
Florida advances to play Florida International (116) in the Sweet Sixteen

You Gotta Know When To Fold 'Em

You have to respect a guy like Mike Hampton, who keeps trying to get back on the mound after losing more than two full seasons to injury (the $30 million he has collected in that time probably doesn't hurt), but the most recent malady - a groin strain - begs the question:

At what point does Hampton feel a twinge somewhere while throwing a pitch, say to himself, "Shit, enough is enough," and just keep going until he physically can't do it anymore, and walk off the mound knowing he gave it his all?

Not anytime soon, if he really believes what he told ESPN's Jayson Stark recently:

"What I guess I'd like to do," he says, "is come back, win the World Series this year, pitch Game 7 ... and then play another 10 years."

Ah, spring - where optimism reigns supreme. Good luck, Mike.

Deja Vu All Over Again

You know, when I heard that Gerald Green had been let go by the Houston Rockets, I immediately thought that it might be interesting to write something about the chance that the Celtics might take a chance and bring him back to Boston.

Then I remembered: I already wrote that post - six weeks ago.

The main point back then - that the tutelage of Kevin Garnett provided Green with the best possible opportunity to "get it" and become a serviceable NBA player - still stands; if anything, the recent additions of veterans P.J. Brown and Sam Cassell drive it home even harder. Green's first 2 1/2 NBA seasons were spent in situations where he was a young player surrounded mostly by other young players, and when he got to Houston, he was recognized as a talented young player who, in the words of Rockets GM Daryl Morey, was "going to have a tough time getting on the floor." What better place for him now, then, than in Boston, with veteran leaders who can finally show him the right way to approach the game?

2008 NCAA Football Virtual Playoffs Third Round: Games of March 8, 2008

If you've checked out the online bracket for this tournament, you've probably noticed that the whole 128-team monstrosity is rather unwieldy and can be difficult to navigate. That's why I took the liberty of creating a smaller bracket, beginning with the Sweet Sixteen. Much easier to see everything that's going on this way. It can be viewed by clicking on the same link in the left sidebar and choosing "2008 Sweet 16".

Wake Forest (32) @ Hawaii (1)
Final Score: Hawaii 14, Wake Forest 7
Hawaii advances to play Northern Illinois (112) in the Sweet Sixteen

Northern Illinois (112) @ Navy (49)
Final Score: Northern Illinois 16, Navy 10
Northern Illinois advances to play Hawaii (1) in the Sweet Sixteen

Florida State (56) @ East Carolina (41)
Final Score: Florida State 20, East Carolina 7
Florida State advance to play Virginia (25) in the Sweet Sixteen

Virginia (25) @ Georgia (8)
Final Score: Virginia 31, Georgia 7
Virginia advances to play Florida State (56) in the Sweet Sixteen

Why Do People Do This To Their Kids?

Coming from an old (mostly) Irish family that tends to give kids traditional names (my niece's name is Hannah, my nephew's is Patrick, my son is Joseph...and those are just the grandkids), it came as something of a shock to everyone when my younger sister, the baby, decided to get all wild and crazy with her two younguns. First came Shakeira, then Taliyah; I shudder to consider the possibilities if she ever has a boy.

As out of place as those two names are in our family tree, there is absolutely no comparison to the move a Florida couple recently pulled on their unsuspecting twin newborns. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to Brett and Favre Kinsaul.

Okay. Here's the deal: Brett? An okay name - not one of my personal favorites, but nothing too strange or gimmicky about it. Favre? Different - but maybe I could learn to love it. It's unique, yet recognizable. The two of them together? Guaranteed to earn this dynamic duo a spot in at least two fistfights before the age of sixteen. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone is a Brett Favre fan.

In the end, it's not so much the first names that irk me - it's the full name of each child. Because, as you already know if you've read the above link or the Hashmarks post that originally turned me onto this story, the name fun didn't stop there. The Kinsauls apparently have some interest in religion as well as sport and decided to go with Aaron and Moses, respectively, as middle names.

This, in my opinion, breaks a cardinal rule governing odd names - specifically, if you're gonna go untraditional with the first name, use a more traditional middle name (for the record: Shakeira's middle name is Jeanne, Taliyah's is Mae. To some extent, my sister gets this rule). Wanna be a huge attention hog and name your kid "ESPN"? Go for it - but throw a "Robert" or "William" in there, just in case he gets to middle school and suddenly decides he doesn't want to be share a name with a global sports network. Really, it's the decent thing for a parent to do.

And it's where the Kinsauls messed up. Again, Brett Aaron is alright by me (potentially questionable initials aside); I kinda like it because it makes me think of George Brett and Hank Aaron. But Favre Moses? You're gonna give him a choice between a Hall of Fame quarterback who is regarded as a god by the entire state of Wisconsin or the dude who actually went to the top of a mountain and got the Ten Commandments from God Himself? How about just naming the kid, "You Don't Stand A Fucking Chance In Life"? Or, "Your Parents Hate You Because You Were The Second Twin Out Of The Chute"? Don't they realize they're setting him up for a lifetime of jokes about "failing to complete the deep ball" or "parting the Red Sea", regardless of which name he chooses to use? If I was Brett Aaron, I'd go back and forth between names every week, just to rub it in.

Good luck, young Favre Moses Kinsaul. You're gonna need it.

Who Had Brett Favre's Back All Those Years? (Or, How Close Were The Packers To Mediocrity Between 1992 and 2007?)

On Hashmarks this morning, Matt Mosley linked to an excellent Rumors and Rants post that compared Brett Favre to every Chicago Bears quarterback of the last 17 years. I was already working on a list of quarterbacks who immediately followed Hall of Famers (Quincy Carter came after Troy Aikman in Dallas, for example), so one of Matt's thoughts struck a chord with me: listing all the quarterbacks who backed up Favre during his time in Green Bay.

Help me, Pro Football Reference, you're my only hope.

(In all likelihood, someone in ESPN's research department probably already did this for fun on his or her lunch break, but I don't care. Did they do it with a screaming infant on their laps? At one o'clock in the morning? No? I win.)

1992
Don Majkowski (14 games, 3 starts)

1993
Ty Detmer (rookie) (3 games)

1994
Mark Brunell (rookie) (2 games)

1995
Ty Detmer (4 games)
Jim McMahon (1 game)
T.J. Rubley (1 game)

1996
Jim McMahon (5 games)
Doug Pederson (1 game)

1997
Steve Bono (2 games)
Doug Pederson (1 game)

1998
Doug Pederson (12 games)

1999
Matt Hasselbeck (rookie) (16 games)

2000
Matt Hasselbeck (16 games)
Danny Wuerffel (1 game)

2001
Doug Pederson (16 games)

2002
Doug Pederson (16 games)

2003
Craig Nall (rookie) (1 game)
Doug Pederson (16 games)

2004
Craig Nall (5 games)
J.T. O'Sullivan (rookie) (1 games)
Doug Pederson (4 games)

2005
Aaron Rodgers (rookie) (3 games)

2006
Ingle Martin (rookie) (1 game)
Aaron Rodgers (2 games)

2007
Craig Nall (1 game)
Aaron Rodgers (2 games)

Added bonus: PFR also allows users to look at draft histories by team - behold, the quarterbacks drafted by Green Bay during the Brett Favre Era:

1992: Ty Detmer (9th round, 230th overall)
1993: Mark Brunell (5th round, 118th overall)
1995: Jay Barker (5th round, 160th overall)
1996: Kyle Wachholtz (7th round, 240th overall)
1997: Ron McAda (7th round, 24oth overall)
1998: Matt Hasselbeck (6th round, 187th overall)
1999: Aaron Brooks (4th round, 131st overall)
2002: Craig Nall (5th round, 164th overall)
2005: Aaron Rodgers (1st round, 24th overall)
2006: Ingle Martin (5th round, 148th overall)

The Links: Why Is Jordi Turning Green?

Mathematical computations have been performed, and the truth uncovered: the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays will be the greatest team in baseball history (Win/$ Projections: Devil Rays To Win 118 In 2008 @ Bugs & Cranks)

A few weeks ago, I drank 36 cans of Mountain Dew in a week and my heart almost exploded; how someone drinks 50 Red Bulls a day and lives is beyond me (Red Bull Gives You Wings, Hallucinations @ Sporting Blog)

Rick Peterson, human lie detector (Reporter Ticks @ Baseball Musings)

Winless in conference play? That has to be a Reverse Survivor category, doesn't it? (NJIT May Have Company @ Storming the Floor)

Bobby Knight has always been a big supporter of the media (The Funniest Thing Ever @ Half-Baked Ravings)

Even after seeing this, I picked Jacoby Ellsbury for my fantasy team; I pray that Will Carroll and his system are wrong, wrong, wrong in this case (Further Explanation @ Baseball Prospectus)

Jordi is one of the nicest people I've met in over a year and a half of blogging. But do not steal ideas from him, for it will make him angry (David Whitley of the Orlando Sentinel is neither funny nor original @ The Serious Tip)

Compulsory blood testing for professional athletes? Yeah, maybe not such a good idea (Submit To Your Weekly Blood Test @ Signal to Noise)