As someone who watched Manny Ramirez when he was with the Los Angeles Dodgers once and numerous times while he was with the Cleveland Indians, I look forward to him joining former Tribe teammate, Omar Vizquel, on the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday. **** If only Manny could've picked up a couple of weeks ago, when the White Sox were "in town" so I could've seen more of a Tribe reunion (i.e. with Jim Thome on the field for the Minnesota Twins).
As someone who has "adopted" the Minnesota Twins, I'm also curious to see how the addition of Manny affects the White Sox and Twin's race to the finish (i.e. the post season) since the White Sox are currently only 4 games back...
I remember Manny's glory days in Cleveland. The city loved the Tribe and it wasn't easy getting a ticket to the game since the team was so talented (i.e. Sandy Alomar, Roberto Alomar, David Justice, Jim Thome, Kenny Lofton, Manny Ramirez, Jose Mesa, and Omar Vizquel etc.). It wasn't uncommon for me to see them running around town, at the movies on a Sunday, or just miss them as my car was going in for inspection. **** Ugh. Now I'm reminiscing about the good old days at Jacobs Field in Cleveland and watching post-season games at Nautica... Those were great times with friends. Too bad the Atlanta Braves had the Tribe's number those years...
Question: Why does Cleveland appear to be the farm team for every major sport?
Regardless, here's my prediction: The Minnesota Twins maintain their spot on top of the AL Central.
So I'm in Minneapolis and watching the Twins game from my room. Actually, I really don't care about this game. I'm sure it's a good one and I enjoy watching the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins, but I feel like I've seen this match-up numerous times. In fact, if I took the time to add up the posts, I'd be willing to bet that I've seen this match-up at least two times already. Regardless, if there are fireworks, I'll look out the window... The fans have been quiet, so I've been planning the next steps for this blog and my impending time off (i.e. VACATION). **** Update: Someone just hit a home run! There are fireworks! **** Another Update: More fireworks! Twins defeat the White Sox in extra innings, 7-6.
Since Brett Favre boarded a plane to come up North (i.e. coincidentally to Minneapolis, where I am) I've decided that I too should work on finding my "blog voice" again and start strategizing my own football schedule. There are still some great stadiums that I need to hit before I die, so why not use my vacation to tackle Week 1 as thoroughly as only THE WIRK can?!?!
Currently looking at the following:
September 9, 2010 - New Orleans Saints home opener v the Minnesota Vikings
September 12, 2010 - Philadelphia Eagles home opener v the Green Bay Packers
September 13, 2010 - New York Jets home opener v the Baltimore Ravens
The schedule is aggressive, just like me, and hopefully (i.e. with a little help from my friends) things will all fall into place. If it all works out, I can knock off three new venues easily.
In addition, I have a some trips, concerts, comedy shows, and some other stuff coming up so dont' worry - this blog should pick up soon! I don't like to telegraph all my plays on here for obvious reasons - but good things are on the way.
It was a Saturday afternoon and the White Sox defeated the Nationals, 1-0. White Sox pitcher, Jake Peavy, pitched a 3-hit complete-game shutout for the White Sox. Nationals' Manager, Jim Riggleman was thrown out of the game and a couple got engaged in the section ahead of where we were sitting. The crowd's reaction to the engagement was mixed (i.e. girls were happy, men were yelling "think it through). My favorite reaction was Ozzie Guillen motioning to the newly engaged man that his life was over. Hilarious.
View from section 119
I highly recommend the PNC Diamond Club for those of you looking for seats. Each ticket comes with a $35 credit for food and drink and there's an air conditioned bar/restaurant area too. For my money, there's no better place to sit. Pat and I were lucky to be sitting in the shade, since it was a scorcher with the heat and humidity.
Washington Nationals' Manager, Jim Riggleman, getting tossed out
White Sox win
With no real horse in the race, it was a fun afternoon at Nationals Park with good weather and great company! I remember Omar Vizquel when he played with the Cleveland Indians, and it's great to see him still in a uniform and playing. With the win yesterday, the Chicago White Sox had won 5 games in a row. Needless to say, I've been busy today and have no idea what happened in this afternoon's game.
Yesterday I told my friend, that I'd take him out to dinner for his birthday. However, later that day, I realized that Washington Nationals', phenom Stephen Strasburg, was pitching against the Chicago White Sox. Change of plans... So much for dinner, my friend and I were going to go to a baseball game!
It was my 2nd trip to Nationals Park (i.e. this year) and DJ and I settled into our seats in the Diamond Club. White Sox scored first and the score was 1-0 in the 1st inning. We both love baseball so we started to look around the park, and then we noticed that there was a lot of activity in the suites. Yep, turns out that President Obama was at the game also. If you ask me, our seats were better ~ but of course, he needs to be shielded/protected and the suites offer him that.
President Obama is at the game
With Strasburg on the mound, I wanted to sit behind home plate and see what it was like to have him throw "at me", and if you ask me the seats were a deal since each ticket came with $35 to spend at the game. Plus, since the tickets weren't scanning properly, the lady in the Diamond Club gave us $70 in Nats Bucks! Together, between the 2 of us, we had $140 to spend on food, drink, and merchandise. Thanks for the free food and drink Washington Nationals and extra thanks for my new Stephen Strasburg jersey!
Can't make it to the game or need some gear for the next time you see Strasburg pitch? Here's a link to his jersey so you can buy one also!
Here are some other pictures snapped during the game.
Joe West was the unpire, but Ozzie Guillen got to stay the entire game this time
Stephen Strasburg on the mound
Fireworks after the game
It took extra innings, but the Chicago White Sox defeated the Washington Nationals, 2-1.
Looks like another great day for some baseball ~ take ME out to the ball game!
I'm not that old and I'm not that young, but I remember the days when I didn't know the names of the refs or the umpires. I long for those days... Through all my years of watching and following sports, I've learned the names of a few - the respected, the notorious, and the history making.
An example of the respected is, Dick Bavetta. I came to "know" by watching him on TV and seeing him in action. I've never met him, but I respect the way he carries himself and I was amused with his personality when he agreed to race Charles Barkley up and down the court over All-Star Weekend. I was in Las Vegas during the race and ALL the TV's switched to the race. It was awesome and I can still hear the crowd cheer when Dick Bavetta dove at the end. I've never met Dick Bavetta ~ but he seems like a good guy.
Here's a video of the hyping up the Charles Barkley vs. Dick Bavetta race from the 2007 NBA All-Star Weekend:
Here's the actual race:
An example of the notorious would be Tim Donaghy. If you don't know who he is, then you don't follow professional basketball and you should probably click the link. Now I recognize that with the degree of interaction of among coaches, players and referees that there can be tension. However, should I really know the names Steve Javie, Joe DeRosa, etc.?
An example of history making referee is Violet Palmer. She was the first African-American, female to referee an NBA game.
I did a quick google search using the terms: terrible NBA referees and this post by Bill Simmons came up. In it he mentions Joe DeRosa and Bennett Salvatore. We all know about Joe DeRosa, since he recently received a one-game suspension after throwing a basketball at a fan. As for Bennett Salvatore, I'm going to include Simmons' quote here for your convenience:
To quote Bill Simmons' post, "Bennett Salvatore -- Always one of the worst, he took it to another level this season. If you see him on the court at the start of the game, get ready for about six technicals, two near-brawls and both coaches having to be restrained by their assistants at various times."
I realize those are only basketball examples, but we all know there are baseball ones also. Today I was watching Pardon the Interruption and earlier in the week I was watching SportsCenter. I keep seeing and hearing about Umpire Joe West, Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle, and Chicago White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen. I watched the clip and the Buehrle's move that was called a "balk". I saw both Buehrle and Guillen get tossed. Now I'm not going to argue whether Buehrle's move was a balk or not, but I keep asking myself why I even know Joe West's name. Alright already. He's an umpire. Umpires and referees need to do their jobs and stop trying to steal the spotlight and make situations about them. That's just my 2 cents.
Earlier in the year I went to an NBA game and I saw a ref throwing souvenir balls into the crowd. This was surprising to me, since I remember the days in the tunnel when the walkways cleared since the refs were going to pass through. The refs were more or less sequestered in their own locker room like jurors, and I'm sure that helped to maintain their objectivity. There should be no personal bias between officials and players.
But hey, that's just my 2 cents... Seriously? Are we going to be able to buy officiating jerseys with referee and umpires names on them soon? Are the referees and umpires going to get trading cards and their own shoes now? Just saying. Alright, I'm going to wrap up this post since I want to download all of Cowboy Joe West's music tracks... What?!?! You do, too?!?! Ok - here you go: http://www.cowboyjoewest.com/
Lastly, if anyone can tell me why the NFL referees sport "candy-striper" (i.e. red and white) uniforms at times, drop me a note. I'm sincerely interested in the explanation.
