Tag Archive: Milwaukee Brewers

A Barrage of Thoughts in Street Fighter Attacks

July 13, 2011 Randy Neil

Well, well, well. Let’s see here. I’ve got a lot of topics to cover and so little time. What that really means is I’ve been watching a lot of TV and have formed opinions about things that I probably have no business discussing. Perhaps I’ll take a page from my colleague and use some rapid fire. COMING ATCHA!!!

BAM! I hate Joe Buck. He’s an absolute moron. Not only do I find him pretentious and arrogant, but he’s also completely biased when it comes to Philly sports, and that, will not stand. Buck was commentating for the All-Star game last night and opened with, “It’s a daunting task for the NL to go against such a line-up like the one of the American League.” The American League had a line-up full of designated hitters, the National League had a line-up of baseball players. Guess who won?

SONIC BOOM! Why do people like Chris Berman? He legitimately thinks he is better than the average man. There’s a smorgasboard of footage involving Chris Berman cursing at cameramen, producers, and boom-mic-holding guys when he’s off the air. The guy’s a dick. Monday night during the Home-Run Derby, Berman gave the introductions for the captains and participants, and practically demanded a handshake from every one of them. It was weird. Then he started schmoozing with Prince Fielder as he was called up. Fielder was booed during the introduction, so Berman leans over and says, “These guys will boo anybody, huh?” I know that doesn’t read bad, but if you caught it, he said it like a dick.

YOGA FLAME! James Harrison is practically digging himself a grave. In a recent interview with some magazine not worth mentioning, Harrison went on a tirade criticizing anyone and everyone in the NFL. First and foremost, his boss, Roger Goodell. Everyone hates Goodell right now, but the public is fickle, and they will embrace him once again when ESPN starts broadcasting stories on how the lock-out ended. Harrison called him the devil and an idiot. Although I often wish I could tell my boss that, I realize that there are consequences (and he already suffered some of those) in the form of fines. I likes my money, dog. Even worse, he talked garbage on his own, 2-time Superbowl-winning quarterback, B. Reezy. Who does he think he is, the Head Rush?? I can’t foresee any positives coming out of this. You are going to burn a bridge with your own QB? The man has gone off the deep end.

KEYIAHH! As I mentioned before, Adam picked the Milwaukee Brewers to take their division and I thought he was absolutely insane. Maybe not insane, but not realistic. Well, as of right now the Brewers are leading their division at the All-Star Break, they have Rickie Weeks, Ryan Braun, and Prince Fielder having All-Star seasons, and they just signed Francisco Rodriguez as their closer. That prediction looks pretty damn good right now. I also want to mention that Adam didn’t have the Phillies going to the playoffs (I deserve my jab after such praise.) Either way, I’m on the Brewers bandwagon to win the Central. My prediction is they’re out in the first round of the playoffs, though. Signing a big name acquisition, having a great home record, and fizzling in the playoffs, I’ve seen this before. 2008 NLDS with C.C. Sabathia anyone?

HYODUKEN! If you haven’t been watching the Women’s World Cup Soccer, you should be. It’s incredibly competitive and full of talent. I watched the entire United States v. Brazil match on Sunday and it was probably one of the top 3 soccer games I’ve ever seen in my life, male or female. Hell, I’m even willing to say it’s in my top 10 sporting events of all time. International competition always makes sporting events more epic, and to watch a match with such controversy resolve the way it did was amazing. As corny as it sounds, I really did feel a great sense of pride when it was all said and done. The crowd in Germany really appreciated the effort our team was putting into the game. It was almost like Rocky IV.

While debating women’s soccer someone posed to me, “If the US Women’s soccer team played NCAA D-I Men’s soccer team, who do you think would win?” Honestly, it would probably be the NCAA team, but I hardly see how that should be relevant to the opinion of another league. That’s like saying, “NCAA basketball players aren’t as good as the NBA ones, so I’ll just watch the NBA.” The point is that within the World Cup, the women are still placed within the same caliber of players and what they do is still pretty remarkable.

I hate dating my posts, but as of right now the US are tied 1-1 with France in the semi-finals of the World Cup. The game has been pretty awesome. It would be nice to see them make an incredible run. Of course, once this is over, I probably won’t watch women’s soccer for another 4 years, but STILL!

Go forth and be merry! The day is yours!

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Valdez Pitches a Gem, Punches Bastardo in Celebration

June 1, 2011 Randy Neil

Adam and I were talking about posting some NBA Finals predictions, but once we both figured out that our predictions were the exact same, there wasn’t much point. Heat in 5. After last night… Heat in 4. For the sake of saving face, David Stern might even give the trophy out on game 3.

I was thinking maybe Dallas would steal game 1 but I guess the Heat have decided to play every game this series. That’s really all it comes down to.

Jim Tressel resigned this week (or was fired, I’m not sure which) after attempting to cover up a “scandal” that involved some student athletes selling their jerseys and getting discounts at a tattoo shop. How is this even remotely a scandal?

It’s sad that other NCAA coaches can’t come to Tressel’s side and admit that it’s an extremely common occurrence, but obviously they can’t do that without incriminating themselves. The fact remains though, that this kinda stuff happens every day. They got discounts at a tattoo parlor. Big whoop.

It doesn’t make what they did right. It makes the NCAA rules wrong. And stupid. Kids shouldn’t be punished for making secondary incomes while generating revenue for the colleges they play for. College kids have absolutely no income before entering one of the highest paying jobs fathomable in the world.

We gotta talk about Valdez’s 19th inning gem that he pitched last week too. What an awesome night. I stopped watching that game in the 8th inning, only to resume it around 12:30 am in the 14th because I was so blown away by how long it was lasting. I’m glad I stayed up. Did you see Valdez tag Bastardo in the mouth right as the game was over, too? All in good fun I’m sure, but hilarious none the less.

The hat is being placed in the Baseball Hall of Fame since he’s the first positional player to get a Win since Babe Ruth in 1921. Actually, correction, the hat showed up at the Baseball Hall of Fame, and they acknowledged it via Twitter. I don’t know if it will make it on the floor, but they have it.

Shane Victorino is set to come back from the DL here soon, and people are saying John Mayberry might get moved down to AAA Lehigh. I think that’s a position better for Michael Martinez than Mayberry. Keep Mayberry in the outfield. He’s hitting. Martinez ain’t. He’s got like a .140 average right now.

There was a small poll taken from players throughout the MLB asking “Who do you think is the most overrated player in the Majors?” Ranking #1 was Alex Rodriguez, which is understandable because the man is so paid, how can you not think that? Derek Jeter got #3 and that’s surprising. Sure, he’s old and slumping now, but no one is confusing that and calling him incredible now. Everybody is saying how old and slumpy he is, so how is that being rated high?

What was awesome is that Jayson Werth was #4. That huge paycheck he got for a 7-year deal could make anyone overrated, but especially a padded-stat having fool like Werth. More strikeouts than Howard last year. Let’s not forget that.

To be fair, the man has 12 or so less RBIs than last year around this time, but that’s simply because the Nationals are so bad. Who’s getting on base for him? His average and home-run depletion are entirely up to him, though. Enjoy the next 7 seasons there, Jayson.

Earlier this year when Adam and I made our baseball predictions, I thought he was insane for picking the Brewers to win the NL Central. Now, somehow, it looks kinda realistic. They are 2nd in the division with a 30-25 record and quietly won 8 of their last 10 games. On the flipside of that, the Marlins are also 2nd right now in the NL East, and we all know they ain’t going nowhere.

The Diamondbacks have climbed into the top of the NL West too. That whole division is just a pity party, though, waiting for some mediocre team to come out on top. Every year I think the Rockies are going to surge, and then they don’t. The past 4 years have been awesome hitting ruined by awful pitching. And sure, some may say the Giants have it, but last year those guys won the World Series with only 3 original positional players from the beginning of the season. Most of those guys aren’t around anymore, either. Plus, they suck.

The feel-good story so far has been the Cleveland Indians. Lord knows that city needs something to revive it. No one would have guessed the Indians could have the 3rd best record in the majors right now, but they do. Strangely enough… they do. You know who’s got #1 right now? The Phillies. So all is right with the universe.

All right, I’m done rambling. It’s an unbelievably hot day on the east coast today, so get yourself some ice-cream, and don’t hesitate to run over a child to do it. Oswalt takes the mound this afternoon for an unusual Wednesday day game.

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Rickie Weeks & Yuniesky Betancourt’s Double Play

May 13, 2011 Randy Neil

This is a pretty awesome web gem. Happened a few days ago and I wanted to do some youtube searching to find the vid.

Normally people have to videotape the television instead of directly recording to avoid copyright infringement (which to be honest, I never understood how that worked.) These guys found a much, much, much funnier way of making a copyright violation-free youtube video. Well done gents. Plus it sounds like they’re swearing!!

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2011 Baseball Predictions!!!

March 29, 2011 Adam Thomas

Every year at theheadrush.com we get together to harness our psychic ability and forecast the results of the upcoming baseball season. Last year, we all did pretty good. This year, with an extra season of experience under our belt, we stand to do even better (Randy more-so than Adam.)

The picks are separated by division, with number of Wins next to their name.

Randy’s Picks

American League

 

EAST
Boston Red Sox (95)
Tampa Bay Rays (93)
New York Yankees (89)
Toronto Blue Jays (81)
Baltimore Orioles (79)

CENTRAL
Chicago White Sox (92)
Minnesota Twins (90)
Detroit Tigers (82)
Kansas City Royals (73)
Cleveland Indians (64)

WEST
Texas Rangers (88)
Oakland Athletics (85)
L.A. Angels of Anaheim (80)
Seattle Mariners (63)

National League

 

EAST
Philadelphia Phillies (95)
Atlanta Braves (92)
New York Mets (83)
Washington Nationals (79)
Florida Marlins (75)

CENTRAL
St. Louis Cardinals (91)
Cincinnati Reds (86)
Milwaukee Brewers (81)
Chicago Cubs (75)
Houston Astros (74)
Pittsburgh Pirates (59)

WEST
Colorado Rockies (90)
San Francisco Giants (88)
Los Angeles Dodgers (80)
Arizona Diamondbacks (72)
San Diego Padres (68)

Special Notes

This year I think the team’s that are going to hurt the most are the Padres and the Marlins. Padres traded away their best player, and the collapse at the end of the season doesn’t give me much hope for a weak division.

I expect more out of the New York Mets than most are predicting. I don’t expect the Phillies to get 100 wins this year, simply because the Braves are on the rise, and regardless of how bad they may be, every team in the NL East has improved except for Florida.

Adam’s Picks

American League

 

EAST
New York Yankees (94)
Boston Red Sox (90)
Toronto Blue Jays (87)
Tampa Bay Rays (85)
Baltimore Orioles (75)

CENTRAL
Minnesota Twins (92)
Chicago White Sox (89)
Detroit Tigers (80)
Kansas City Royals (68)
Cleveland Indians (65)

WEST
Oakland Athletics (89)
L.A. Angels of Anaheim (88)
Texas Rangers (87)
Seattle Mariners (64)

National League

 

EAST
Atlanta Braves (94)
Philadelphia Phillies (90)
Washington Nationals (79)
Florida Marlins (78)
New York Mets (67)

CENTRAL
Milwaukee Brewers (92)
Cincinnati Reds (89)
St. Louis Cardinals (83)
Pittsburgh Pirates (77)
Chicago Cubs (75)
Houston Astros (74)

WEST
San Francisco Giants (91)
Colorado Rockies (90)
San Diego Padres (83)
Arizona Diamondbacks (74))
Los Angeles Dodgers (73)

Special Notes

It’s going to be a tough year for Phillies fans.  Look at my picks, and you will see that I don’t even have them making the playoffs.  Crazy.  But it could happen.  Look, I think this is going to be the Braves year.  They have a lot of young talent, a lot of depth, and they added some bats.

I could be way off here, but I’m not afraid to go out on a limb and say that the Phils have flown too close to the sun on wings of Pastrami (yeah, that’s what they did…)

You look at that line-up, and the one thing that pops out is that it is old as hell.  Ibanzez (old) Jimmy (old) Victorino (pudgy) Chase (old and hurt) Polanco (old).

Besides Howard, who I expect to have a monster year, there isn’t much to look forward to on the offensive end.  Yeah the pitching will be great (at least, I hope as Cole and Oswalt have looked turrible this spring), but I just see this as the year other teams start to catch up to the Phillies. Sigh.

Playoffs:

AL: Yankees, Twins, A’s with the wildcard being the Red Sox

NL: Braves, Brewers, Giants with the wildcard being the Rockies

World Series: Red Sox over the Braves

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