Archive for the ‘baseball’ Category

General thought roundup

Posted: March 22, 2009 by datechguy in baseball, Blame Bush, catholic, doctor who, oddities, opinion/news, personal
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Some general thoughts for the last few days.

First when you are sick it is amazing how little the vagaries of the political world matter. When you are lying in bed with fever you don’t care what joke the president cracked or no.

That being said if President Bush had said that…etc etc etc.

Is it just me or it it almost becoming a cliché to say those words “if George Bush had done that”, it’s pretty sad that this is the case only two months into a presidency.

And slate is still doing Bushisms. They just can’t help themselves. Hot Air is answering with their Obamateurism of the day.

I actually thought that the Comedy Central show “That’s my Bush” was actually kinda funny. think it’s safe to say we won’t see a comedy central show called Obama & Mama about a president dealing with his mother-in-law living in the White house. The concept of a mother-in-law comedy in the White house does have possibilities but it would never happen.

This won’t be our first post racial president until we can laugh at him like any other president.

Then again I don’t recall laughing at the president being normal until Nixon. In fact other than Carter and Bush #1 every president from Nixon on has been the butt of public jokes. That is a real change in my mind or maybe I am whitewashing history.

In my opinion Ezra Klein’s attack on Ann Althouse is dishonorable.

It’s hard to remember sometimes that only 4% of president Obama’s first term is done. There is still a lot of time for him to make things work out.

Then again after calling for Imus to be fired for insensitivity his special Olympics joke was really stupid. Not so much the joke which was kinda lame but that the President cracked it. Where was the teleprompter when you need it. Wasting its time blogging!

Of course he could have said it was candlepin bowling. That takes real skill. There has never been a perfect game in Candlepin Bowling.

And can someone tell me how a protest of 25 people at AIG make the top of Yahoo news while 3000 “tea party” protesters don’t warrant a mention?

Bert Blyleven and his Dutch team have done the sport of baseball a great service. All baseball fans should be very grateful…

Unless you are from the Dominican Republic.

This by the way is the first time that a Cuban baseball team didn’t make the semi’s of a tournament in 50 years, I’m heartbroken.

Is it just me or is there just nothing worth going to the movies to see anymore? I haven’t been excited about a movie since the LOTR trilogy.

And I still can’t believe they cut out the death of Saruman from the theatrical release. Buy the extended version instead.

Rich’s comic blog is nearing the end of his Doctor Who strip that has run 210 pages so far since march of 2007. If you are even the least bit of a doctor who fan and you haven’t already checked it out you are missing something wonderful.

I sure hope there will be an actual physical comic, I would very much like to buy it.

I have not checked for Dr. Who Audio’s on ebay now for several weeks, April 12th can’t come fast enough for me.

Eventually the normal business cycle will turn and the country will be back on its feet again. The only question is when it will happen and who will be in a position to take credit for it when it does.

And it would be nice if Catholic Colleges can have pro-life rather than pro abortion speakers at their commencements.

And those quarter sovereigns that I picked up at £47.50 (or 47.10s if you want to go old style) are now selling direct from the royal mint at £67.50 That is a £20 increase in under 3 months. I hope you followed my advice way back when and picked some up.

Oh and they make that Darwin coin in gold too. Price £625.

The Marxists, and Answer are still protesting the war. Gotta do something to keep that bankroll full.

And Gateway Pundit has more pictures from his tour of Spain and Morocco amidst his political blogging. They are really something. Just keep scrolling down.

And finally before I hit the sack and get rested up for tomorrow I want to thank one of my favorite fellows of the left Mike for his good wishes during my illness. If you haven’t figured out that good friends come from left right and center then you spend too much time on the web and are too angry to enjoy real life.

WBC roundup: Back to prison for the Cuban team

Posted: March 19, 2009 by datechguy in baseball
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If there was ever a time when Castro’s son might be tempted to defect it would be now as not only has the Cuban team failed to make the final 4 but given the change to avenge their defeat to Japan of three years ago managed to be shut out twice!

Might I suggest that this would be a great time for the lot of them to decide to hang around in the US. Perhaps Castro won’t want them back after this.

On the bright side for Latin American dictators Venezuela continued to impress defeating the US in the seeding game winning it’s 5th straight. The game is meaningless (I actually think they should drop the seeding game myself).

The last seeding game puts Japan against Korea for the 4th time in the tourney. It appears that Korea, Japan’s arch rival has been the only team that can handle them. I must say I have absolutely no idea who is going to win this one. The winner gets the US and the loser gets Venezuela. Since they have split their games lets say Japan wins and faces the US and Korea faces Venezuela. I would not be surprised to see a Japan Korea final although MLB would consider that it’s nightmare scenario.

WBC Roundup USA USA USA!

Posted: March 18, 2009 by datechguy in baseball
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Considering that Puerto Rico is a part of the US it amounts to beating yourself but an amazing 9th inning comeback brought the US from the brink of elimination to the Final pool of the WBC.

Now the question who do you want to play in final round Korea, Japan or Cuba? All are nasty.

On the other side of the country a sloppy first inning made the difference as Korea beat Japan to clinch their spot in the final four.

This sets up the last meaningful game of this pool tonight Japan vs Cuba at 11 p.m.

This is Cuba’s last chance to avenge their defeat of last year and their shutout by Japan earlier this round. I’ve got to give Japan the edge here.

The tune-up game between US and Venezuela this is their 3rd meeting in the tourney and it’s anybody’s game. It will be good baseball but this is the “scrubs” game. You’ve gotta be holding back your best for the one and out game this weekend.

Anyone who thought these games would be boring has been proven very wrong.

Cuba puts the “cage” in batting cages…

Posted: March 18, 2009 by datechguy in baseball, opinion/news
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…and very few people notice. However babau blog is one of them:

Cuba is one of the few countries in the world that prohibits its citizens from leaving without government permission, a violation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Because Cuba’s athletic teams compete internationally the participants are constantly shadowed by members of Cuba’s state security apparatus. The primary objective of Cuban state security is to prevent defections which embarrass the Castro regime and deplete the country of athletic talent. In Democratic countries like the United States this presents a perverse situation where Cuban athletes are basically deprived of their rights to move freely. If an athlete does manage to defect his family is not permitted to leave Cuba as a form of punishment. Often Cuban defectors must then pay human smugglers to extract their families from the island.

Unfortunately this has been a good tourney for the dictator teams. A Cuba vs Venezuela final would be a propaganda boon for two of the worst western hemisphere.

I can’t understand how our friends on the left can ignore this while decrying Gitmo. I also can’t see why our government is allowing the restrictions on movement. These guys only get legitimacy when we allow ourselves to follow their rules.

I would so much love to see the team defect en masse but I suspect that with this administration they would be handed back a-la Elian Gonzales.

Update check out the factsheet some Gems:

“The option not to play in the [World Baseball Classic] tournament, which has been exercised by the Yankees’ Hideki Matsui among others, is not available to Cuban players – if the government tells them to play, they must. On the other hand, the regime can suspend a player from ‘Team Fidel,’ as the national team is often called, simply out of suspicion that he might defect. This happened to Orlando Hernández, before he managed to escape in a boat and eventually find fame with the Yankees.”

According to baseball agent Joe Kehoskie, the Castro regime has been using a bonus system to keep Cuban players from defecting. Players are awarded varying sums based on team performance but the awards are only given if the entire team returns to Cuba without any defections. In this way the regime creates peer pressure among team members to discourage any from exercising their right to defect.

If this administration could stand up it would make a huge difference.

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