Tag Archive: all star game

The Slumpiest Sports Week of the Year

July 16, 2013 Randy Neil

Oooo, fans, do read on!  That compelling title probably has you foaming at the mouth for more!  Well, let me clarify about the reason this week is the sccchhlompiest sports week of the year.

During the All-Star Break, the Phillies aren’t playing.   The actual All-Star Break is a fun time, but it’s over on Wednesday and that means we really are in a break.  There’s not going to be any baseball on for a while.  Even worse, there isn’t any filler sports to ease that pain except for the occasional Union game or Summer League basketball game.  Bleh.

Buuuuuuuuuuut, there’s still a couple gems that need discussing (see how I salvaged everything, there?)

Congrats to Tim Lincecum for throwing a no-hitter right before the All-Star Break.  With all of the struggles he’s had this season, being able to pitch a gem the way he did shows that there’s still a lot of talent in the Freak.

A lot of commotion was made about the fact that he threw 148 pitches to accomplish it.  People are criticizing Bruce Brochy for not pulling Timmy earlier in that game because of the pitch count and lead they had.

The way I see it, Lincecum is not the same pitcher from 2 years ago.  He may never be again.  The lack of velocity on his fastball is something you can’t just reclaim (unless your Bartolo Colon and you take a crap ton of PEDs.)  Even if Tim’s season goes in the toilet from here on out because of his high pitch count, he’ll still sit in the history books as a pitcher with a no-hitter and 2 Cy Young Awards.  He could have a career 8.00 ERA and people will still marvel at those accomplishments.  Bochy made the right call.

Jason Kidd was getting a lot of crap for taking phone calls during games that he was coaching this summer.  On one hand, it was the D-league, and the coaches don’t really coach those.  On the other hand, he’s been a coach for like a month, he could probably learn a thing or too.

Well, Mr. Kidd pleaded guilty to his DUI from 2012 today, so he was probably talking to his lawyers.  He’s gotta take those calls, lol.

On a closing note, Jay-Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail is… actually… pretty good.  With all the corporate sponsorship, phone release, and poor audio quality, I was just dying to find reasons to hate this album.  But, I don’t.  It’s put together really well.

Turns out Rick Rubin didn’t do a single thing for that album, in spite of him being featured in the commercials.  Apparently, he just sat on the couch.  That’s what you can aspire to, boys and girls.  Become so cool that people will pay you to sit on a couch and enjoy music.  Then, they’ll film it.

Alright, I’m out.  Get to a pool folks!  It’s SUMMAH TIME!

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A Weekend in Recap

July 12, 2010 Randy Neil

altWow, it’s been a crazy weekend.  Lebronathon is coming to a close now that he has officially announced his new team and pissed everyone but Miamians off.  The World Cup Finals were played yesterday, Spain outdiving the Netherlands, and the MLB All-Star break has officially started.  

I’m not going to talk about Lebron, mostly due to the fact that everyone else already has, and I think my partner summed it up about as well as one could.  I will say this though:  Lebron, get your ass a speech coach man.  Your were mumbling and stumbling all over the place.  Even your big official announcement sentence had pauses and stutters.  That ain’t ballin’ son…. that ain’t ballin’ indeed. 

Aside from the media circus that was, the Phillies decided to host a circus of their own, having 3 extra-inning walk off wins, and a sweep of the Reds.  It’s a nice way to enter the All-Star break (47-40) as baseball takes a pause from the daily grind.

Baseball is like the long-term relationship where you are constantly guilty of taking the significant other for granted, but totally miss them when they’re gone.  Baseball seems like it’s always on, and makes for great background noise, but we all know if you had a chance, you’d bang football much more often.  They seem more exciting, but clearly won’t give you the long term love and support baseball does.  Football is just for sex, which is why I’ve patended a new sexual position called the ‘Jerry Jones.’ 

So, if the MLB was a relationship, then this is the fun vacation getaway.  The point where you and baseball try to spice up your marriage.  The Home-Run Derby starts tonight with some pretty good names, but sadly, no Phillies.  No Chase Utley to talk shit on LA fans.  Still, the show must go on, and if I had to pick a winner, I’d go with Hanley Ramirez.  He has the least amount of HRs going into the derby with 13, so my pick has pure logic behind it.  It’s NOT going to be Matt Holiday with 26 total homers.  NOT.

altSoccer, your foreign lover, is going to end it’s very sweet and sensual affair that only comes but once every four years.  The World Cup has ended, and your ultimate victor is Spain.  They only scored 8 goals the entire elimination round, which usually doesn’t add up to an exciting final, but they definately kept it interesting.  I was very surprised at how well these two teams actually matched up.  At first I thought Spain would just be a dominate force the entire match, and although they did handle possession better, the Netherlands had a pretty good defense for Spain’s attacks, and had a pretty good amount of shots on goal as well. 

Since I’m a FIFA 2010 whore for the PS3, I always go to the Match Facts.  Spain, although having more shots total, only had 4 shots on goal.  How many did the Netherlands have?  4.  During the match I remember my feelings changing from “Oh wow these teams are pretty evenly matched” to “Oh man this is totally going to turn into a game where someone is going to sneak a goal in the last minutes after an incredibly even power struggle, and I will feel unfulfilled.”  Boy was I right.  Spain ended up faking more injuries and eventually all the yellow cards caught up to the Dutch.  It was bland, it was expected, and I’m not feeling satisfied.  It’s almost funny to think that our style of soccer play (US) represents our media and sports expectations, in that it’s very hectic and nail-biting.  Maybe I’m just a piece of shit American and I can’t see the glory in this…

Either way, I’m about to Jerry Jones this bitch, so I gotta roll…. until next time…

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