I'm back...

Haven't posted in a little bit. It's not from lack of interest rather it's from having more than one interest. I just got back from a trip to the 50th state. Not much Tampa sports news out there - although there was one article on the Rays remaking their image. Go figure.

So this site will be fired back up in the next day or so.

The World is waiting..... and praying

I haven’t been a boxing fan for my entire life. Much like I haven’t been a hockey fan or football fan for my entire life. The only sport that I can really say that I’ve followed from childhood would be baseball. It’s been there my entire life – ever since I was young American playing tee-ball in Germany.

One might say that baseball has been the constant companion in my life, kind of like the girl that you would marry. Good looking, fun, smart and sensible that would be baseball. Boxing on the other hand would be the crazy ex-girlfriend that you had a fling with during college that randomly appears in your life from time to time.

You don’t trust her, you know she’s bad for you and that it won’t work out. Yet for some reason, even though you know it’s going to end badly, you buy her a drink and give her one more chance. Well get you wallet open ‘cause here she’s back – and “The World Awaits”.

It’s Oscar De La Hoya and it’s Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last month than you know they’re fighting this Saturday in Las Vegas. It’s the Pretty Boy versus the Golden Boy and for the sake of boxing it better live up to the hype.

Never before has a fight had so much riding on it. Multi-city press tours and a semi-reality series on HBO are just two of the promotion gimmicks that have been thrown at sports fans in the last few months. With the decay of the pride of boxing – the heavyweight division – and the rise of Pride/IFC/ Mixed Martial Arts the boxing world needs this fight to be a success.

According to Oscar and Golden Boy Productions the fight should shatter records for most pay per view subscriptions. The number they are throwing around is 2 million subscribers. At $54.95 that’s a hefty amount of money coming in. So what would make the fight a success?

Simply put – a good, exciting fight with an honest decision. It doesn’t seem that hard to do does it? However, with the state of boxing these days you never know what might happen. The good news is that Don King isn’t involved.

With all the hype about this being the fight that may save boxing it’s easy to forget that the actual fight could prove entertaining. Two of the biggest stars are set to face each other and they both have drastically different styles of fighting.

The battle inside the squared circle is going to put the unmatched athleticism of Mayweather against the guile of the slugger De La Hoya. For Oscar to have a chance he’s going to have cut the ring off and force the slick Mayweather to stand toe to toe with him. Pretty Boy has no intention of doing that.

Mayweather is going to use his phenomenal conditioning to move around the ring and avoid the power of De La Hoya. His game plan is to score and scamper. It might not be the most courageous way to fight and it’s probably why Floyd enjoys less fame than his ego desires, bit it’s also the reason he’s undefeated and regarded as the best pound for pound boxer in the sport.

He hasn’t faced a boxer yet that has the finishing power of the golden boy from California. Of course De La Hoya has to catch him before he can hurt him and that may cause a problem. There are some predicting a quick victory for Mayweather (I’m looking right at you Big Mike!) but they are discounting Oscar’s pride.

I fully expect De La Hoya to be spouting blood like an extra from “300”, but Mayweather has spent the last few months hurling every insult in the book at the pride of Mexican-Americans across the country. That’s good enough in my book to make the 34 year old a dangerous commodity in this fight.

Watching and reading all the pre fight hype hasn’t helped determine who’s taking this fight more serious. For all of the crazy antics and distractions happening in the Mayweather camp there are equal stories about De La Hoya and his role as boxer / promoter. It seems that most of the articles written about De La Hoya building up to the match are about him transitioning to the role of promoter rather than boxer. It makes you wonder on where his focus is the fight or the financial success of the fight.

While the preoccupation with his promotion is understanding given his age (34) and recent performance (2 losses in his last 4 fights) people seem to forget he’s still looking to cement his legacy as one of the all time greats in the ring. If he can legitimately defeat the loud mouth “brat” from Las Vegas he does a lot to shut up his critics who say he hasn’t had a real fight in years.

From the Mayweather side this is the career defining fight that he has searched for to silence his detractors. Long hyped as the best pound for pound boxer in the sport his unblemished record hasn’t led to the type of fame he needs. If it’s out of the ring excursions (domestic violence charges, assault charges, brash talk) or his win on points style of boxing that has led those to question the validity of his career he know has the fight to prove the naysayers wrong.

Personally I think Mayweather has too much speed and skill for the lumbering De La Hoya I don’t think the flamboyant youngster (30) has enough power to knock out the legend. I say Mayweather by decision.

Whatever the outcome the world will be watching and for the sake of the sport of kings – it better like what it sees.

Lightning Round!

Some notes on sports while I watch Brady Quinn drop down the draft board


I apologize for not writing in about a week. I spent the week mourning the end of the Lightning’s season. In the end they just ran out of gas. I think the turning point of the series happened in overtime of game 4 – Martin Brodeur stopped Vincent Lecavalier at point blank range – from then on Brodeur was his old self and the Lightning were done.

- I don’t see Dan Boyle resigning with the Bolts. He had a breakout season and will be a hot commodity in the off season. It’s a shame that the Dan Boyle Era looks to be coming to an end.

- Aki-knock(ed) to the DL…. Arrghhh… Akinori Iwamura goes on the DL with an oblique strain. It’s a tough break for the Rays as they lose one of the igniters in their offense. It looks like he may be gone for 4-6 weeks.

- The Rays leap frog the Yankees in the standings. It’s only April, but it’s still sweet. Is the end near for Manager Joe Torre? Haven’t we heard this story before, as recently as last year? After the series with the Red Sox ends this weekend the Yankees play their next 13 games against the Rangers (9-13) and the Mariners (9-9). Against those two clubs they could get hot very fast and start climbing back up the standings.

- In the Yankees / red Sox game Kei Igawa just came into the game to pitch – wearing sunglasses. I think Joe Buck may run down on the field and rip them off his head. Of course Igawa induces a double play from David Ortiz.

- I like the Bucs drafting Gaines Adams. Their style of defense is predicated on putting pressure on the quarterback. That is something that has been missing since the Super Bowl season.

- I still think Jon Gruden is gone after this season.

- Finally Brady Quinn to the Browns at the 22nd pick. I like the move by the Browns. They pick up Joe Thomas and Quinn in the same day. The jury is still out on Quinn, but maybe this is just what he needs – some players (or “golden boys” as Keyshawn just called him) need a chip on their shoulder to play at an elite level. Who knows?

- Speaking of Golden Boys – next Saturday Oscar de la Hoya versus Floyd Mayweather. The Golden Boy vs. Pretty Boy. I like this fight. Big Mike is saying Mayweather wins in the first or second round. I disagree. I think it goes much deeper.

For the first time in a long time there is a fight where there is a clearly defined good guy (de la Hoya) and a bad guy (Mayweather). They don’t like each other. Mayweather called de la Hoya a “fake-ass fighter” Oscar's response was to call him "a brat". They are both warriors in the ring. De la Hoya is coming to the end of his boxing career and wants to go out with one more shining moment. Mayweather needs to win to satisfy his ego and solidify his spot as one of his generations great pound for pound fighters. It would also be nice to see him go through a fight without breaking a hand.

In the end I think the Pretty Boy beats the Golden Boy in 10. If that happens do we see a rematch?


- Curt Schilling. Sigh. It looks like even when he’s in the right he comes off as a jerk. In response to Gary Thorne’s comments earlier in the week about the bloody sock and it’s validity Schilling fired off a blog post (all can read it at 38pitches.com) in which he ripped Thorne and the rest of the media that “hacked and spewed their way into a day or two of stories that had zero basis in truth”

Thorne later admitted that he misunderstood what he heard from his source (Doug Mirabelli) and as far as I know hasn’t ever been involved in this type of situation before. He is a good announcer (as long as he isn’t calling Detroit Red Wing games) and has earned a lot of respect through his career.

Schilling could have stayed above it all and not used it as a forum to trash the media, but that just isn’t his style. There are times when it’s better to keep your mouth shut and walk with your head held high. However, Schilling can’t let anything go by without commenting on it. He has as they say – Rabbit Ears.

It might just cost him later in his career. While it’s hard to say he’s not going to get in the hall of fame (he should end up his career with 250 wins and 3500 strikeouts) his reputation is going to continue to suffer. When his time comes there will be writers arguing that he doesn’t belong in the hall.

- Interesting stat so far this year. Which Ray pitcher is currently tied for 3rd in the majors in strikeouts? If you said Scott Kazmir you would be wrong (he’s 15th). The answer is right-hander James (Don’t Call me JAMIE!) Shields. With 37 strikeouts he is tied with local boxer, err, Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels for 3rd in the league. Shields had a strong spring training and is carrying that over to the start of the season. That bodes well for the Rays.


That’s it. Back to cleaning the sweet bachelor pad.

Sick and loving it....

Last Wednesday featured a rare sporting double header in the TBA. With the O’s in town matching up against the Rays in a matinee and with the Lightning battling the Devils in game 4 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs I felt it was my duty to be there. That meant calling in sick to work. I had no problem with that. If you’re over 50 I’m sure you cringe at my work ethic. To you I say – Hey glad to have a reader!

Because I’m not a total ass I did let my teammate at work know that I would be calling in sick that day and she okayed it. As far as I was concerned my boss didn’t need to know. All she needed to know was that I had 136 hours of sick time that I would lose if I didn’t use it.

I decided to pack my trusty Paperblanks notebook in my back pocket so that I could give you loyal readers a running diary. For company Big Mike was with me for 10 hours of sporting fun. Enjoy!

7:30am – Alarm goes off. I forgot to change it last night before I went to bed. It is quickly changed to 8:30.

8:30am – Alarm goes off again. I contemplate hitting the snooze bar, but then remember I have to call in sick. I look for my phone. I can’t find it. I decide to use technology to my advantage. I stumble into my second bedroom and turn on the computer. As it boots up I go the kitchen for breakfast.

8:35am – Nothing to eat in the kitchen so back to the computer. I send a vague email to the boss stating that I won’t be in today. No details so I’m technically not lying about why I’m not there.

8:45am – I check myspace.com. Sweet Gabriele wants to be my friend! She is quickly deleted. I don’t know her and I doubt she’s a sports fan.

9:30am – The Internet has been giving me issues for the last 45 minutes so I shut it down. I tried to see if there was anything interesting in the world since last night. I guess I’ll have to watch SportsCenter.

9:45am – I realize that it’s pretty much the same SportsCenter that I watched at 2:00AM so I decide to do something productive. I find some shorts and shoes and go out for a run. I live about 2 blocks from the Pinellas Trail which is convenient when I am in a workout mood.

10:15am – I’m back from the run. Being productive sucks.

10:45am – 12:30pm – I take a shower and then proceed to watch daytime TV. Ahhh a relaxing pastime since 1994 for me.

12:30pm – Big Mike calls to say he’s on the way. I find some shorts and my Michael Restovich game worn jersey. Restovich never officially played for the Rays he only spent some time with them in Spring Training a few years ago. I guess it’s stretching the “game worn” aspect of it, but it was cheap and it is a nice looking jersey so I don’t care.

2:30pm – After a nice lunch at St Pete institution “Ferg’s Sports Bar and Grill” it’s into Tropicana Field for the game. Now this is the way to spend a day. The stadium isn’t as bad as make it out to be. It’s not the best in the league but it’s waaaaaaaay better than Olympic Stadium was.

3:08pm – The Rays music director has a sense of humor. As the players take the field he plays The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. Good song… interesting line – “Meet the new boss/ Same as the old boss”. A discreet shot at the Sternberg ownership or a coincidence?

3:12 First pitch from Scott Kazmir is ---- a ball. Hope it’s not one of those games from the young ace. The Rays are playing in front of friends and family as the saying goes. There can’t be 6,000 people here. (Note the announced crowd was over 10,000).

3:21pm – Rocco Baldelli goes yard. It was a titanic blast. Big Mike points out that the most amazing part of the blast is that it actually hit a fan.

5:08pm – Time to leave Tropicana Field and head across the bridge. It did turn out to be one of those games for Kazmir who lasted 4 innings. The Rays were losing 5-3 when we left and trust me you didn’t miss anything.

6:45pm – 10 minutes before the puck is dropped and from our vantage point in Section 320 the arena is 75% empty. Gotta love late arriving Tampa fan. During the pre-game warm ups Big Mike comments that, “They have to ride Holmer as far as they can, Ramo is a sieve”. He’s right, I think I could beat Kari Ramo tonight. Good thing he’s on the bench.

7:18pm – Brian Gionta knocks in a rebound for the first goal. It sucks the energy out of the crowd. The Devils were on a power play thanks to a phantom hooking call on Jason Ward.

7:24pm – Bedlam. Eric Perrin flips a puck past a screened Marty Brodeur to tie the game at 1.

7:39pm – Sadness. Zach Parise adds the “toe” to the tick, tack passing play by the Devils. 2-1 Devils.

8:00pm – Comment of the night courtesy of the drunk salesman from behind us. As a svelte women with low jeans, a thong and a tattoo wiggles her way down the steps he tells his buddy, “The wife moved out and she moved in…. she’s a nice girl”.

8:05-8:26pm – I seriously can’t write anything cohesive about the last two minutes. Lest just say Devil fans should stick around for the end of the game when they get to see the presentation of the pay off money to the officials. Horrible calls (including a boarding call on Brad Richards) lead to a 3-1 Devils lead.

8:27pm – St Louis gets the Bolts back to within one goal. It’s 3-2. The scoreboard pans to a sign in the crowd. “We have the real Marty!” Hope that doesn’t upset the karma in the series.

9:39pm – Sorry nothing in the last hour or so. The nerves are setting in and I don’t feel so good. The Bolts tied it up and we’re heading to overtime. Lecavalier looks shaken up as the horn sounds. It looks like he took a bad slash, of course there was no call.

10:00-ish – fukity, fuck, fuck FUCK! Sorry for the language. The Devils just won on a Scott Gomez goal off of a Corey Sarich turnover. Dang, Holmer stood on his head this game and has nothing to show for it. I have a feeling Brodeur is warming up. Not good for the Bolts.

There ya go. That’s how I spent my Wednesday. Two losses, no beer but a hamburger and a pretzel and several Pepsi’s pretty much ruined my diet.

Winning the Rays Way.....

Nice victory for the Rays this evening. I have a feeling this is the way most of their wins are going to come – jumping to an early lead and then hanging on. James (Don’t Call Me JAMIE!) Shields picked up his first win of the season. He pitched 7 innings, if not for one misplaced pitched to Michael Young he would have pitched 7 STRONG innings.

Brian Stokes and Al Reyes cleaned up the win with two scoreless (and hitless) innings of relief. It looks like Reyes has officially stamped his name on the closer role. He also vaults into the lead as the most likely Ray to be traded before the deadline.

The offense racked up 12 hits, or should I say 11 hits and one Aki-knock as the Wasteland’s favorite Japanese import went 1 for 3 with another steal and another run. Ben Zorbist hit his first home run of the season, a 421 foot blast in the first inning. I think it went further than all of his previous hits this season combined.

After building up a 6-1 lead though 4 innings the bats went silent collecting only 2 hits the rest of the way. Ah-ha I knew Juliet was a plant! “Lost” can’t pull one over on me…. The Rays need to keep the pressure on other teams starters if they’re going to be successful this season.

Zorbist’s home run makes Josh Paul the clubhouse leader as to which Ray isn’t going to hit a home run this season. It’s always a fun way to make the dog days of July and August go by.

That’s all I got for tonight. Except for the one and only comment I’m making on the “Imus Situation”. He said something stupid. He’s old, antiquated and out of touch with the times. He probably has the same amount of listeners that the Tennessee/ Rutgers game had viewers. Should he have been suspended – yes. Should his show have been yanked from MSNBC – no.

Radio and TV announcers have been making bone headed comments ever since the first person held up a microphone. Heck Rays broadcaster Joe Magrane makes at least one idiotic comment per game. His aren’t racist or sexist, but they’re just as dumb. Let Imus make his apology and do his time. All of this incessant writing and talking about it doesn’t change anything it just prolongs it.

Curses!

After raving about the defense in my last post the Rays go out and blow it all to hell. Three errors and 5 unearned runs in tonight's 12-6 loss to the Rangers. Whoops make that 12-7 loss.

This is the latest in the long series of jinxes that I have unleashed on the sporting world. Just last fall I wrote a great post about Lightning forward Ryan Craig (Craiggers!) and boom goes the knee. He's out for a month. Make it a 12-9 loss. I should really wait till the end of the game to post a blog.

Anyway back to the curses. Along with the Craig injury I have a long line of autograph curses. Basically if I obtain an autograph from a Tampa sports personality they will be traded or released within a year. "Aki-knock" I think I like that term from Mr Dewayne Staats. 7 game hitting streak for the Japanese import. Dukes finally flys out to end the game. It's officially a 12-9 loss.

Back to the curse. So far the only one to survive the curse is Vincent Lecavalier. Just last year I scored 'graphs from Aubrey Huff, Nick Green, Toby Hall and Travis Harper. All of them were gone within 7 months or so. I guess that's bad news for Casey Fossum - I had him sign a card at Fan Fest this February.

Oh well. That's all for now.

One week in... how are the kids doing?

As of this writing the Rays are wrapping up their first week of the season. The early returns are intriguing. Their record (2-3) is better than expected after opening with a series on the road against the Yankees and at home with the Blue Jays. However, it could have been better as they surrendered leads in two of their three losses.

The biggest culprit of the blown leads has been their pitching (6.95 ERA and a WHIP of 1.70). The bullpen has been shakier than the starters who, with the exception of Casey Fossum, have averaged about 6 innings in their first starts. Two of the more experienced bullpen members have struggled the most – Ruddy Lugo (3 appearances 13.50 ERA) and Shawn Camp (7.71 ERA in 2.1 innings). Al Reyes looked good in his one save opportunity, but bridging the gap from the starters to the closer looks like it’s going to be a yearlong struggle for the Rays as many have predicted.

Enough of dwelling on the bad news because there has been more than enough good news to keep people excited. They have a road win. That doesn’t sound like a great stat until you realize that they only won 3 road games before the All Star break last season. The next week will be a real test to see how the team has improved on the road as they have 3 in Texas and 4 in Minnesota. It will be a test for their bullpen as well. Including a 3 game series against the Baltimore Orioles after the road trip they will have played 14 days in a row.

The young kids have been a surprise as well. BJ Upton is hitting .400 and adapting well to second base. Delmon Young is showing why he was a pre-season Rookie of the Year favorite as he is hitting .350 and leading the Rays with 5 RBI’s. One of the bigger surprises is Elijah Dukes. As one of the last players added to the roster he started his big league career with a home run in Yankee Stadium for his first career hit. He added another one the next game and has also shown a good eye at the plate drawing 4 walks in his first 5 games.

Upton and Young have both had issues making contact (6 strike outs for Upton and 5 for Young). Yet when they make contact they are getting on base. On at bats where he puts the ball in play Young is hitting .467 (7 for 15). Upton has been even better. When he makes contact the new second baseman is hitting an impressive .667 (6 for 9). The high number of strike outs can be attributed to them getting behind in counts. Part of that is their aggressiveness and part of it is their inexperience. As they compile more at bats they will develop a better eye for a major league strike zone and start forcing pitchers into hitters’ counts.

Perhaps the biggest surprise has been the play of Akinori Iwamura. The Japanese gold glover has been a pint size power house for the Rays. His first week has produced a .527 average, 1 home run, and 7 runs scored. He has also shored up the third base position handling his first 44 chances without an error at the hot corner.

In the first game against Texas he made 3 consecutive dazzling plays. First he charged a bunt, set his feet and displayed the arm that earned him the nickname “Top Gun” in Japan. The second play was pure reaction. Kenny Loften smoked a line drive that was heading toward left field and Aki stretched his entire frame (generously listed at 5’9) to snag the line drive. The final play was a smashed one hopper that Iwamura got in front of, fielded cleanly and threw over to first.

His play looks like it help solidify a position that has plagued the Rays for the last few seasons. Since the retirement of Wade Boggs they have juggled a cast of characters in search of some one that could lock down the left side of the infield. Along with Ben Zorbist the Rays may lack range, but should be fine on everything hit at them.

Overall the defense has been better than expected. With so many young players in the line up I was sure that the Rays would challenge the record for most errors and most unearned runs given up in a season. Not only do I have no idea what those records are, but the Rays have actually committed the fewest errors in the American League with only 1. While they have given up the second most runs in the American League (34) none of them have been of the unearned variety.

The outfield has been solid with either Rocco Baldelli or Elijah Dukes patrolling centerfield. Delmon Young has yet to record an assist, but has unleashed several Raul Mondesi-esque throws to keep runners from advancing. With Ichiro moving to centerfield I think Young has to be one of the two best arms patrolling right field at the moment (Vladimir Guerrero would be the other).

Offensively the Rays need to be above average if they are going to win 75 games (an arbitrary number picked by myself). So far the hitters have been holding up their end of the bargain. They are hitting .272 as a team which is good for fifth in the American League and their 9 home runs lead the league. Last season they were the worst team in the majors at getting on base. Their OBP of .314 was 5 points lower than the next worst team – the Chicago Cubs. This year, despite a line up that has 4 players that are getting their first real major league experience their OBP is 6th in the American League at .332.

What’s this all mean? In the long run one week probably doesn’t mean much. After all Camp and Lugo are currently getting their brains beat in by the Rangers hitters. It will be interesting to see how the team fares the second and third time they face teams, but with their blend of speed, power and youthful promise they have officially become a dangerous team to play.