Friday, June 01, 2007

Mr. Furious Sports Machine

Can anybody remember waaay back before there was Sportscenter you had to wait for the weekly (and primitive) "George Michael Sports Machine" or "This Week in Baseball" to catch your higlights? It was like some kind of Dark Ages... Anyway, getting ready to assemble the latest "Links Post" I realized they are all sports-related, so without further ado...

A-HOLE-ROD Twice over the last week Alex Rodriguez has has some "adventurous" trips around the basepaths. Last week it was the totally cheap-ass take-out slide / elbow piledriver to Dusin Pedroia's crotch. This week in Toronto, while running between second and third he called for a pop-up while behind the third baseman, causing him to give up on the play and the ball fell. While I don't think this is the capital offense some have made it out to be, it is a pretty bush move. Couple those with the infamous Arroyo ball play, and the conclusion is that Slappy McLipstick is something of a prick.

BO KNOWS... Last weekend I found myself watching some of "Lethal Weapon 2" and there was a moment in the film where a tv showed one of the old Bo Jackson nike ads, and Danny Glover mutters some comment. I said to myself, "God. Remember Bo Jackson?..." A couple days later I came across this great article about Bo Jackson and what an exciting athlete he was. Little-known fact: Bo was drafted by the Yankees in 1982, but opted to go to Auburn instead.

->SEND<- "Oops! Ah, shit!" Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line coach Larry Zierlein apologized Thursday for accidentally e-mailing an explicit sex video to numerous NFL employees, including league commissioner Roger Goodell. [link] Oh, that's gotta suck. Hmm. How would he ole Sports Machine've handled that highlight...?

GREEK GOD OF WALKS BLOGS Sox firstbaseman Kevin "Not Actually Greek" Youkilis started a blog this week. Good timing. His kick-off post is about his inside-the-park home run (the most exciting play in baseball) and he's in the midst of a 23-game hit streak.

BARRY BONDS' HEAD WOULD STILL BE SWOLLEN W/O STEROIDS Barry Bonds has no plans to give the Hall of Fame anything from the game when he break's Aaron's record...
NEW YORK (AP) - [link] As Barry Bonds nears his record 756th home run, he's stockpiling quite a collection of souvenirs — bats, balls, helmets and spikes, pieces of baseball history perfectly suited for the Hall of Fame.

Whether he'll donate any of them to Cooperstown, however, is in doubt.

"I'm not worried about the Hall," the San Francisco slugger said during a recent homer drought. "I take care of me."

Stay classy, Barry. Douche.

As Deadspin reminds us, don't feel bad for the Hall and its Director. He's the dick that banned Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon from a recent celebration of "Bull Durham" because they were critical of the War and the President.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

MINE!

Mike said...

I remember the George Michaels Sports Machine. I loved getting the national highlights, but the way he'd say, "Let's go into the sports machine" and press that idiotic button was cheesier than a dairy farm.

I still don't see what's wrong with what A-Rod did on the pop up.

Mr Furious said...

From your comment at Toast's:

4. Opposition doesn't like it, plunk the guy next time around.

Yeah?
It's no accident that puss-boy pulled that play at the end of game 3, rather than early in a series.

Is that play really just the flip side of the hidden ball play, or faking a runner on an incoming throw? Perhaps, but it's part of a dickish baserunning pattern for A-Job.

Mike said...

I'm not saying it's not part of a pattern for Slappy Rodriguez. Nor am I saying he doesn't deserve to get drilled either.

But it ain't exactly breaking the catcher's collarbone in the All Star game, or spiking someone. Seems a couple of "all time gamers" were known for those things.

Reggie breaking up the DP with his butt in the '78 series was part of what made him such a huge star.

I think it's a good play, like stealing signs or engaging in gamesmanship with the umps. You gotta do what you can to win games.

Mr Furious said...

I always hated Rose, specifically for that Fosse play. As a kid I just thought that play was so fucking unnecessary, and the whole "Charlie Hustle" schtick pissed me off from then on. Everything else about Rose was just the icing.

As for A-Rod, I've actually come around a bit on the "shout" play some. while I think he's a douche, that play wasn't really that bad.

While it still strikes me a slightly cheap, and less manly than stealing signs, I suppose I now file it under the category of "acceptable cheating but when you get caught, expect retaliation." Announcers and everyone else (myself included) really have no dog in that fight—leave it to the Jays to settle score if they so desire.

--

While I like to pile on him as much as the next guy (if not more), his treatment in NYC by the media, the fans, Jeter and Torre has been pathetic. At times I have felt genuinely bad for him. He answered back nicely in the ninth last night.