____Texas A&M & Baseball
_______________In No Particular Order


Saturday January 24th, 2004

posted 1/23/04 @ 10:04pm

How Great is Barry?

I wasn't planning on posting today, but I was looking at Barry Bonds' career accomplishments and I realized something. I've always known that Barry has been one of the greatest players of my time, and I've heard people say that he's one of the greatest ever.

Now, I wasn't fortunate enough to get to see DiMaggio, Hammerin' Hank, Ruth, and Gehrig, Mantle, Willie Mays, or any of those other guys who are mentioned in all-time greats conversations, so I find it hard for myself to compare modern players to them. I don't even know if any one of those guys has accomplished what I just realized.

Barry Bonds has won 6 MVP trophies, which is more than any other player in the history of baseball. That is amazing, but not as amazing as the amount of times he has come close to winning. 

       Rank in MVP 
Year    Balloting
1990        1
1991        2
1992        1
1993        1
1994        4
1996        5
1997        5
1998        8
2000        2
2001        1
2002        1
2003        1

Over that 14 year span, Barry won 6 MVPs, finished in the Top Two 8 times, finished in the top five 11 times, and finished ten 12 times. Think about that...or just look at this.... 

   MVP:  6/14 years = 42.9% 
 Top 2:  8/14 years = 57.1% 
 Top 5: 11/14 years = 78.6% 
Top 10: 12/14 years = 85.7%

That is just staggering. He's been either THE best or the second best for more than 1/2 of that time. The man has been recognized as one of the 10 best players in his league 86% of the time over the last 14 years.

Think about what has been accomplished since 1990...

Let's look at those numbers in terms of his 18-year career, not just the last 14 years. 

   MVP:  6/18 years = 33.3% 
 Top 2:  8/18 years = 44.4% 
 Top 5: 11/18 years = 61.1% 
Top 10: 12/18 years = 66.7%

Now let's look at the other players that I have listed above (I only counted seasons with >300 ABs, which is the same as I did for Barry).... 

Babe Ruth                      Ted Williams
    MVP:  1/17 years = 5.9%         MVP:  2/16 = 12.5%
  Top 2:  1/17 years = 5.9%       Top 2:  6/16 = 37.5%
  Top 5:  2/17 years = 1.2%       Top 5:  9/16 = 56.3%  
 Top 10:  3/17 years = 1.8%      Top 10: 12/16 = 75.0%

Joe DiMaggio                   Hank Aaron
   MVP:  3/12 years = 25.0%         MVP:  1/22 =  4.5%
 Top 2:  5/12 years = 41.7%       Top 2:  1/22 =  4.5%
 Top 5:  6/12 years = 50.0%       Top 5:  8/22 = 36.4%  
Top 10: 10/12 years = 83.3%      Top 10: 13/22 = 59.1%

Lou Gehrig                     Willie Mays
   MVP:  4/14 years = 28.6%         MVP:  2/19 = 10.5%
 Top 2:  5/14 years = 35.7%       Top 2:  4/19 = 21.1%
 Top 5:  8/14 years = 57.1%       Top 5:  9/19 = 47.4%  
Top 10:  9/14 years = 64.3%      Top 10: 12/19 = 63.2%

RECAP:

    Name    MVP  Top 2  Top 5  Top 10
   Bonds   33.3   44.4   61.1    66.7
-------------------------------------   
    Ruth    5.9    5.9    1.2     1.8
Williams   12.5   37.5   56.3    75.0
DiMaggio   25.0   41.7   50.0    83.3
   Aaron    4.5    4.5   36.4    59.1 
  Gehrig   28.6   35.7   57.1    64.3
    Mays   10.5   21.1   47.4    63.2

While I would never use that as my sole argument for Barry being the greatest of all-time (you have to think about the support that Mays and Aaron didn't have with the media because of their race during the time frame they were playing; you have to figure there was some reason that Ruth was only a Top 10 MVP candidate 3 times; etc.), that is pretty dog-on impressive.

While we're on the topic of Bonds and MVPs....

Looking at the two seasons that Barry finished #2 (1991 & 2000) I would say that if you only look at the statistics, Barry easily could have won. 

1991
     Player   G  AB  R   H RBI HR XBH SB  SO/BB   BA  OPS  GPA
    B.Bonds 153 510 95 149 116 25  58 43 73/107 .292 .924 .313 
T.Pendleton 153 586 94 187  86 22  64 10  70/43 .319 .880 .293

       Voting Results: B.Bonds: 259 points out of 336 (10 1st place votes)
                   T.Pendleton: 274 points out of 335 (12 1st place votes)

2000
     Player   G  AB   R   H RBI HR XBH SB  SO/BB   BA   OPS  GPA
    B.Bonds 143 480 129 147 106 49  81 77/117 .306 1.128 .370
     J.Kent 159 587 114 196 125 33  81 107/90 .334 1.020 .340

       Voting Results: B.Bonds: 279 points out of 448 (6 1st place votes)
                        J.Kent: 392 points out of 448 (22 1st place votes)

In both seasons Barry had better overall numbers. Some other things to consider are:

I'm not going to really argue either side....I just wanted to show that Barry could have been the MVP in two more seasons than he was....

Basically, I thought I knew how great Barry was....but I didn't.....


Friday January 23rd, 2004

2:25am

Big Basketball This Weekend

For those of you who don't know (and those who do), both of the Aggie basketball teams have big home games this weekend.

The men's team will start us off on Saturday at 5pm v. #18 texas tech, who romped #21 Oklahoma on Monday, 67-47. The Big XII leaders (15-2, 3-0) will come into Reed Arena led by the Big XII's leading scorer, Andre Emmit (21.1 ppg). I'm pumped because I like to yell at Bob Knight a lot (the only 2 basketball games I went to during my Soph. and Junior years were the tech games for that reason). I think the fact that he is so controversial energizes our crowd, which in turn energizes our team.

During the 2001-2002 season, we lost by 2 points to a 13-1 team (2-0) with our best player (Bernard King) missing a 3-pointer at the buzzer. It was a crazy game, and the 10,743 fans on hand had a blast.

In 2002-2003, we played tech with Bob Knight's 800th career victory on the line. Big XII Freshman of the Year, Antoine Wright, threw down a sick dunk with 2:41 left in the game, which pretty much sealed the deal (and got the then record crowd of 12,611 crazy loud). The Ags won the game 64-59 and the best part was the fact that ESPN had a press conference set up in the locker-room to interview Bob Knight after getting his 800th win.

On the other side of the gender line (I sure hope that it is P.C. to say that), the Lady Ags will be taking on #3 ranked t.u. (16-2, 4-1)on Sunday at 2:30pm. This game will be fun because everyone here in Aggieland likes to get a bit rowdy when those 'hippies from austin' come to town.

Please note that texas is 3-2 in away games, while going 9-0 at home (and 3-0 at neutral sights).

Their leading scorer is Heather Schreiber who is averaging 12.7 ppg. She is followed closely by Tiffany Jackson (12.0 ppg), Jamie Carey (11.6 ppg), Stacy Stephens (10.7 ppg), Nina Norman (9.6 ppg).

Show some school spirit (or love for NCAA hoops) and get out to either of the games if you get a chance. If you can't, then you're in luck because the men's game is going to be broadcast on Fox Southwest. Whoop!

Beat the Hell Outta texas tech! Whoop!
Beat the Hell Outta t.u.! Whoop!


Say What?

As many of yall know, I read a lot of sports magazines. I currently have Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine, and Baseball America delivered to my apartment on a weekly, bi-monthly, and monthly basis (respectively).

I have a couple of things I wanted to point out.

Sports Illustrated

Let's start with SI.

I really enjoy the articles/columns by Steve Rushin (Air and Space), Bill Scheft (The Show), Rick Reilly (The Life of Reilly), and the 'Go Figure' section of "Scorecard".

Other than that, I just look at the pictures.

I noticed an odd statement in the issue that just hit newsstands (January 26th issue). In the 'Faces in the Crowd' section (the one where they write a 3 or 4 sentence piece on 5 or 6 amateur athletes of varying sports each week), I read the following about Cody Ohl, a professional rodeo cowboy.

"Ohl, 30, set a world and arena record in tie-down roping with a 6.5 second run, winning his fourth world tie-down roping title and his fifth title overall. He is the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association world champion tie-down roper."

Read it again.

Now it may just be me, so call me crazy, but I would think that the world record would more than likely double as the arena record. I don't follow rodeo too terribly much, but I would assume that it is similar to other competitive events where that method of logic works. But who knows, these are the same people who sit on a huge bull, yank on a rope tied to the bull's 'privates', and if they're albe to survive the repercussions of their actions longer than any of the other cowboys, then they win a belt buckle and some Copenhagen snuff.

For those of you who don't read SI regularly, this is their 50th Anniversary so they're celebrating by doing a big story on a state per week for 50 weeks. They do a story on some big sporting event held in the state or a great team in the state, they poll state citizens asking them questions like Favorite Pro Team, Favorite sport to play, state's biggest enemy, etc. Then they do a list of the Top 6 sports figures who have called the state home during their life.

This week is Arizona and their top 6 sports figures are Jim Palmer (HOF pitcher), Charlie Hickcox (3 Olympic gold medals in swimming), Curley Culp (6-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle), Michele Mitchell-Rocha (big time diver), Curt Schilling, and Bob Baffert (horse trainer who has had 8 horses win a Triple Crown race).

All of those people are/were very good at what they do/did, but they're missing one mighty good candidate.

Barry Lamar Bonds.

Barry attended Arizona State University before he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates #6 overall in 1985. Barry is considered one of the greatest baseball players ever, yet he doesn't even fit in the top 6 in the state's history? Nope, not even the top 50 according to their 'complete list' on their website.

I thought to myself, "Well, maybe he was one of the top players in Pennsylvania, where he won 3 MVPs with the Pirates."

Nope.

Then I thought, "Well, maybe it only counts if it is the state that they were born in?" I checked out California's Top 6 and found Barry no where to be found. I expanded the list to the top 50 sports figures in California history and there, sitting in spot #18 was Barry Bonds. Tony Gwynn was #7, and with all due respect to the great Tony Gwynn, Barry Bonds could run circles around Tony.

I got to thinking, "Huh, I wonder how Texas's greatest sports figure list turned out?" So I checked it out. Not a bad list at all.....until I got to #19, Roger Clemens.

Some of you are wondering, "What's wrong with Roger? He's definitely worthy of being on that list." You are correct, he is worthy, but he doesn't belong. If Barry doesn't belong in Arizona or Pennsylvania, then Roger belongs on the Ohio list.

You see, no one ever mentions it, but Roger Clemens wasn't born in Texas he was born on August 4th, 1962 in Dayton, Ohio. I bet that 90% of you didn't know that. Ya learn something new every day.

ESPN the Magazine

Now I'd like to talk about something from the January 19th issue of ESPN the Mag (with Tom Brady on the cover). Turn straight to "The Post", the magazine's readers write section, and you find a letter from a guy who probably shouldn't ever go to Utah.
" Mission Statement (Dec.22) points out Ben Olsen is a good QB. It also provides his weekly missionary schedule, tells us how the Mormon mission system works, quotes Ben's favorite verse and relates several stories about his mission trip. What has this to do with sports? The piece seemed designed to promote a particular religion; as one who disagrees strongly with the Mormon way, I find that offensive."
--Chuck Brenneman; New Castle, Ind.

I suppose I should give you a quick background of what he's talking about. In the December 22nd issue of 'The Mag', there was a very informative article about BYU's QB Ben Olsen, who has been claimed BYU's biggest recruit ever, which went into, as Mr. Brenneman notes, a little bit of the day-to-day things Ben goes through while he is on his 2-year mission in Canada.

If Mr. Brenneman is so close-minded that it is offensive for him to even read about how other people live their lives, then he can turn the pages and skip the article the same way I do every time I come across an article on hockey, which isn't something that I have a passion for.

If Mr. Brenneman is so sensitive, then why doesn't he say anything about the 1/2 naked chick from the Winter X-Games article found on page 81 of the issue that his little letter was printed in. Is that not offensive to anyone?

I didn't hear anyone calling for Trot Nixon's head when he thanked "the Lord, Jesus Christ" in his live interview after he hit his game winning HR in G4 of the ALCS this past fall.

I just can't get over how selfish and close-minded some people are. If someone lives their life in a different manner than someone else, then they are considered wrong. It all comes down to people getting into other people's business. I hate that. I hate nosey people and people who just gossip about so-and-so's whatever. If it doesn't pertain to you or alter your life in anyway, then mind your own damn business. If everyone had to read articles only pertaining to mainstream ideas and talk about the most mainstream things then we wouldn't be the United States of America. We'd be a communist nation and everyone would be complaining about that.

Whoa....sorry about that. I've never gone off on a political thing like that before....probably because I don't know squat about politics. It was somewhat sports related though, so I was able to at least tie it into something that I know about.


Thursday January 22nd, 2004

12:04am

I Have to Take What?

As I mentioned yesterday, I am somehow signed up for Finance 201. While the class does sound somewhat interesting to me, and I know it would be useful, I have to drop it because it wouldn't fulfill any credits towards my degree. Plus it wouldn't be an easy grade booster.

The problem with this is that after this semester I only have a few hours left. Here's what is left on the game plan:

I found out that ENTC 207 is completely full already. I also know that I am enrolled for the pre-req for IDIS 400 for this semester so I can't take 400 yet. The problem with KINE 199 is that it wouldn't be enough credit hours to keep me enrolled as a full time student. This leaves me no choice to take my Visual/Performing Arts or Humanities credit, which I am not looking forward to.

I went to my advisor's office and she told me pretty much the same thing and handed me a list of classes that will fulfill my Art/Humanities credit. Here's what it looked like:

The only class out of that entire list that seems remotely cool is HORT 203, simply because I can say I'm taking Floral Design. Too bad it's full.

This leads me to a very good question. Why on earth do I have to take one of these classes? As an Industrial Distribution major, how is German Drama going to help me secure a job? or become more successful once I have a job? Trust me, they're not GPA boosters (the FILM 301 class had a GPA of 1.99 last semester).

There are two standard answers that I hear to this question:

1. So you will become more well-rounded.

What kind of crap is that? If I wanted to be more well-rounded, I would have gone to school in Italy or joined the Peace Corps. I came to A&M so I could get an education so that I would be qualified for the higher level jobs that are out there.

2. You may like it and decide to pursue something in that field.

This is even more stupid than the first answer, and I hear it more often. I'm a senior with 111 hours coming into this semester. I am graduating this upcoming December. There is no way that I would decide after taking one of these classes that it would be worth my time to get out of my major and get start studying one of those subjects. Financially, that wouldn't even make sense. Even if I win $200M in the lottery this Saturday, I'm finishing my degree because I'm soooo close to being done (although I won't promise that my grades will stay where they are now).

That was the reason I was forced to take all those crappy classes in high school, so I could decide what interests me. Now it gets forced on me in college, where I'm paying out the wazooo to get an education.

I think the reason everyone is forced to take one of those classes is because they're the classes that the academia-type of people enjoy and the academia-type people make the rules at Universities. If I got a degree in any of those classes I would be forced to either live in a one room apartment somewhere for the rest of my life because I'm unemployed, or I'd have to become a professor and teach those same courses to other poor souls.

I also think that it has something to do with the fact that you always hear people say, "The arts are dying" and they're trying to regenerate some interest. Well, the reason "the arts are dying" is because unless you're Picasso then there is no money in them and they're boring. I mean, what can you really do with an ARTS degree that is going to put food on the table for the rest of your life?

Maybe the music majors and the English majors should be forced to take some engineering classes. See how they like courses in 'Mechanical & Fluid Power in Technology' or 'Metallic Materials'.

At least I would feel better knowing that they would be getting 'a more well-rounded education'.....


Cubs Have Hope

Not only are the Cubs hoping that they return to the playoffs next season, they are now hoping that after signing Ryan Dempster to a 1-year deal with a second year club option, he can recover from the Tommy John surgery he had in August and return to his 2000 form.

I think that this move is pretty good because there is a potentially high reward with very minimal risk. The contract was for $300,000 with a $200,000 increase if he becomes activated this season.

Dempster will be turning 27 this May, so he will still have some good years left in him if recovery goes well.

Of course you can read all that in the ESPN.com link above...so here's what isn't in there. 

Year Team Age  G  GS   W-L    IP    H   R  ER  HR   SO/BB  ERA
1998 Fla.  21 14  11   1-5  54.2   72  47  43   6   35/38 7.08
1999 Fla.  22 25  25   7-8 147.0  146  77  77  21  126/93 4.71
2000 Fla.  23 33  33 14-10 226.1  210 102  92  30  209/97 3.66 
2001 Fla.  24 34  34 15-12 211.1  218 123 116  21 171/112 4.94 
2002 Fla/  25 33  33 10-13 209.0  228 127 125  28  153/93 5.38
     Cin.     
2003 Cin.  26 22  22   3-7 115.2  134  89  84  14   84/70 6.54
--------------------------------------------------------------
Car. 6-yrs   161 156 50-55 964.0 1008 565 537 120 778/503 5.01

It is no wonder that Ryan had arm problems, especially after looking at his innings pitched. He threw 200+ innings when he was 23, 24, & 25 years old before he started to break down (right at 850 major league innings by the time he was 25).

It seems to me that the Marlins had this dazzling young group of pitchers who they just threw to the wolves (A.J. Burnett had 500+ major league innings before he was 25). I honestly think that Josh Beckett's finger blisters have saved his career because the Marlins couldn't abuse him like they did others.


Wednesday January 21st, 2004

3:35am

Mark Prior...Before You Knew Him

As I mentioned yesterday, I have been looking at Mark Prior's statistics from college. Many of you are quite aware that He during his senior season at USC, He put up one of the most complete seasons a college pitcher has ever had. Many of you also know that Mark transferred to USC from Vanderbilt after His freshman season (but I bet some of you didn't know that). What He did there was quite good, but far from spectacular if you look at His overall numbers.

Let's get right to it. Here is His freshman season broken down by games. Yes, I had quite a bit of time on my hands this weekend....and yes, I did go through each game the team played to gather this information from the individual box scores....and yes, I calculated each GSc myself….

To the naked eye, these numbers look decent for a college pitcher and would probably earn Him a job as a weekday starter here at A&M.

While the ERA is pretty high and the W-L is terrible, you have to really like those SO/BB numbers. If you look at each of those stats and compare them to His total batters faced (BF), you will see that He only walked 6% of the men who came up to the plate against Him while He struck out 18.6% of the batters those batters.

In not one game did He walk more than He K'ed, which is pretty impressive for a freshman. His overall SO/BB ratio of 3.09 (71:23) is very impressive for a freshman. To put that number into perspective, a major league pitcher with a 3.09 SO/BB ratio would have been ranked #17 in the entire major leagues in 2003. Prior was 18-y.o. in 1999.

The other thing that you have to like to see is that in his 13 games, He was only relieved in the middle of an inning 4 times. This gives you a bit of insight to that cool, collected, unflappable persona He is starting to become famous for.

After His fish year at Vanderbilt (His father's alma matter) He decided to transfer to USC, much closer to the California home He grew up in. The Trojans welcomed Him with open arms.

I'd say that's a pretty drastic improvement.

While He did increase his BB/BF to 7.79%, He was able to raise His SO/BF to 25.4%. He also increase His SO/BB ratio to 3.12....not a huge jump but a jump nonetheless.

Since most of you don't follow stuff like that too terribly much, look at this progression in His ERA which was down to 3.37.

If you take out that terrible start on March 31st at Arizona his ERA drops all the way down to 2.99.

His W/L column looks a bit better, as does His AGs (which is the average of all His GScs). That is one of my favorite stats because it shows a complete picture of a pitcher (that's a tongue twister) during a ball game. 68% of the games He started (13 in 19 games) came back with a GSc of over 50 compared to only 38% in 1999 (5 in 13 games). 10 of those games had a GSc of >60 (52.6%) compared to only 2 in 1999 (15.4%).

Basically, He stepped up His entire game and that is why USC went to the College World Series in 2000.

As mentioned earlier, Mark was just plain filthy in 2001.

He ended up winning just about every individual award possible [the Golden Spikes Award (the baseball equivalent of the Heisman Trophy), the Rotary Smith Award and the Dick Howser Trophy (National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association) ... was named the Player of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches' Association, Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and The Sporting News].

Luckily, the Cubs were able to grab Him in the Draft with the number 2 pick after Minnesota passed him up due to financial reasons.

Here are the numbers that caused the buzz....

Just plain dirty.....

First of all, His ERA never hit 2.00 during the entire season. Those last two starts during the regular season are the reason it finished as high as it did (can you even say 1.69 is high?).

The SO/BB ratio is now at 11.22 (Roy Holliday led the major leagues in 2003 with a 6.38). He walked a mere 3.4% of the batters He faced while He struck out 38.5% of them. The Man struck out twice the number of guys who got hits off of Him!

Do you remember me talking about Him finishing innings He starts, well He was only replaced mid-inning twice (with one of those being against rival Stanford in a close game).

Speaking of Stanford, check out the box scores from the two games where He battled Jeremy Guthrie (March 9th & April 20th). Too bad that only 3,243 fans were there at those 2 games combined (we AVERAGED 4,878/game here at A&M last season), I bet those were two of the best games in the entire NCAA that year.

Now the GScs and the AGs. AN AGs OF 73? The highest AGs in the major leagues in 2003 was Jason Schmidt's 64.9 (followed by Prior's 62.8). He had 8 GScs over 70 and three of those were in the 90s....3 games out of 18 starts means that 16.7% of his starts were >90.

So there you have it folks. Just goes to show you that just because you've never heard of someone, doesn't mean they're not any good.


Here are two great Mark Prior links....even if you didn't read my entire post (I know some of you just skim for pictures), check these out....Mark Prior's FanSite & tonypierce.com + Mark Prior


Tuesday January 20th, 2004

2:08am

OOOOHHHH Back to School

Back to school
Back to school
To prove to dad that I'm not a fool
I've got my lunch packed up
My boots tied tight
I hope I don't get in a fight
Ohhh, back to school
Back to school
Back to school
--Adam Sandler Billy Madison

And so it begins....my last spring semester here at school....my schedule is already screwed up (I swear I didn't sign up for Finance, but there it is), so I get to try to get that switched into one of the remaining 4 classes I have left to take....this is the tricky part since they're all full....


Ugh...

Well, I was planning on doing a big Mark Prior post in regards to his days before he was a pro, but I have run across a snag in the statistics. Basically, the stats I accounted for didn't match up to what USC's website said they should, so I'm going to have to go back through his 2000 season once more to make sure everything is accurate.

Since this totally ruins my post for today, I will point you all to a thread from TexAgs.com, where I think I'm in somewhat of a 'disagreement' with a fellow Ag pertaining to the Cub's persuit of Greg Maddux. Email me with your own thoughts on the topic and I'll throw a couple or a few (depending on the response) up here for all to see.....

I'll have the Prior piece up for tomorrow....

Here's the link....
Oh, and this article is awesome too....I hate Bud "Lucifer" Selig....enjoy.....


Monday January 19th, 2004

1:14am

Happy MLK Day

I wanted to wish everyone a happy MLK Day. This is a great day for two reasons.

1. It celebrates Martin Luther King Jr.
2. It's the only day other than Thanksgiving, Winter Break, and Spring Break that we get off here at Texas A&M.
Enjoy your day because I know I will....

Texas A&M 65 v. #12 Kansas 71

Box Score

What a game! Going into the game, I thought we would either win or lose by 30+....I was wrong, it was close 'til the end.

We had a season high crowd of 8,122 fans in attendance and the stadium got pretty crazy. Since the student section is general admission, I got there early and got a great seat down low.

A&M took an early lead in the game, and we led until 2:08 left in the first half. We got the ball back with 16 seconds in the half, down by 2 points. We drove down the court and took a crazy 3-point shot with 4 ticks on the clock...and missed.

Kansas started the second half with possession of the ball and scored increasing their lead to 4 points and that was what broke the game open. Had we driven in another 4 steps right before half time and made a shot inside the paint we would have had a tied ballgame at halftime.

Overall the game was really fun, but very poorly officiated! We were called twice for carrying (I thought that they stopped calling that after YMCA ball) and the refs missed 2 out-of-bounds calls against Kansas. Of the three refs, there was one that was particularly worse than all the rest.

The other two refs were ok, but not great.

Our sophomore stud, Antoine Wright, led all scorers with 25 points (he also had 12 boards to go with that). Andy "Clown" Slocum had 14 boards to lead everyone. We out rebounded KU 40-35, and had 19 offensive boards to their 9.

KU's leading scorer was Keith Langford, who had 21 points, and their low-scorer was Jeff Graves who played 30 minutes had 0 points but was able to accumulate 4 fouls. We gave Jeff a hard time every time he came to our end of the court.

It was a great game, lots of fun, and we were able to prove to ourselves that we can hang in the Big XII conference this year.

Next home game is next Saturday at 5pm when coach Bob Knight brings his texas tech red raiders to town (I believe it will be broadcast on Fox South West)....that'll be a fun game too....


Baseball Tidbits

I don't really have too much going on in my head that is baseball related other than the wish for the season to start tomorrow by surprise.

How great would that be? For the past 2 months, the players and coaches have slipped off to some secret location and had a little "Winter Training". Then tonight on the 10 o'clock news & SportsCenter (so I'll get the word...the news sucks here in College Station), just spring Opening Day on us. It would be awesome!

I think that all of my Iron Spike buddies would make the trip to Houston and skip the first day of classes (because all they do is hand out the syllabus and then read it to us) and catch Roy-O take on Jason Schmidt and the Giants 76 days earlier than 'officially' scheduled (yeah, I counted).

Talk about a media buzz. I think Peter Gammons would be so shocked and overjoyed that his poor heart would just give out. It would be great media publicity and it would definitely help out with the fan's interest.

The All-Star game would be in mid-May, so all college students would be able to road trip to Houston from all across the country as an "I'm done with finals" celebration. This would be possible because in this fantasy world, only one media source would be allowed to have access to the game, which would allow the host (in this case the Astros) to make available all the tickets to real fans.

The post season would start in August so the Cubs wouldn't be able to have their late season swoons that they're famous for....plus Wade Miller wouldn't be able to have his INSANE August/September starts that he likes to pull. This would almost guarantee the Cubs the division!

Amazing what 76 days can do....

Now for some thoughts that are a bit more serious....

Padres Sign Ordonez

While this may be of absolute 0 interest to most of you, I think it's pretty interesting. I also know that I've been writing a lot about the Padres over the last few weeks, but I think they're going to be an interesting team to watch in 2004.

Anyways, since the Padres were going to be relying on Khalil Greene and his 65 career ABs in the big leagues to start at SS for them they went ahead and signed Rey Ordonez to a minor league deal. He will be invited to spring training and if he makes the club he will make $650,000.

Before everyone starts snickering and laughing about Rey, I want to say that I think this is a smart safety move by the Pads. Yes, Rey is a career .248 hitter with a whopping total of 11 HRs, but I seem to recall Ozzie Smith hitting .262 for his career and he ended up with a plaque in upstate New York. (Note: I am in no way comparing the overall performances of Rey Ordonez to Ozzie Smith. I am just noting that a player can hit poorly and still be considered a productive player)

Obviously, the Pads are anticipating Greene to play well enough to become their everyday SS, but you can never be too careful rushing young kids up through the minors, especially at a demanding position like SS. Even if Greene doesn't make the cut this year, the Pads have one of the best defensive SS in the game.

To quote Brian Hiro of the North County Times (a local San Diego paper):

"he has forged a deserved reputation as a wizard in the field. He won three consecutive Gold Gloves with the Mets from 1997-99 and owns six National League fielding records. Since 1996, no one in the NL has a higher fielding percentage than Ordonez's .976."
Worst case scenario, the Padres have to play Ordonez at SS, pay him less than 3/4 of a million bucks and have the best defense in the major leagues at the most demanding position, which in return should help their young pitching staff...

An Email From Pat

Yesterday, I received an email from my roommate, Pat. Sometimes when he sees stuff online that he gets mad about, he emails me. I usually just use my website as my outlet, so I'm going to let him use it too....Here's the email I got....
Ryan,
Yankee fans have lost their minds.....

"Send me Pete Rose's phone number. I'm betting Clemens retires again no later than June 30, 2004 after National League hitters humiliate him. The Astros don't have the bats, the defense or the ballpark to keep Clemens competitive."
-- Robert K. Allen, Pahoa, Hawaii

MY COMMENTS:
-Nobody's denying the park is small but its just as small for Clemens and Pettitte as it is for Schmidt, Wood, Beckett or Morris.
-Defense- what about Ausmus, Everett, Bagwell, and Hidalgo
-Offense- Bags, Kent, Berkman, Hidalgo.

"Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how Clemens adjusts to life in the NL. They can hit fastballs over there, you know. There will be a learning curve for both Clemens and Pettitte, which should ease the minds of Cubs fans even more. (On the other hand, Cubs fans, these guys are pros and they know how to pitch. Sorry. Maybe you should worry.)"
--Unknown

MY COMMENTS:
-Learning Curve-To an extent (For them and the hitters)
-Fastballs? And they can't hit FB's in the AL?
-Cubs? Have added just as much and in areas they needed most
-I don't know what New Yorkers are smoking but they sound a bit bitter to me (They Yanks must be in trouble as well b/c last time I checked Brown and Vazquez haven't thrown to too many American Leaguers)

I'm done ranting.

Pat

I always enjoy getting emails like this....you should see some of the things he sends to the morons in our fantasy leagues when they become annoying with dumb trade offers....

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