Baltimore's back baby!

Boy, do these babies look good!


And I really like this new patch too!

Celtics Cheating?

I know I haven't posted here in a looooong time, but I couldn't resist posting this story and another story which will follow this one.

As I was watching Sports Center this morning, they were showing highlights from the Hawks-Celtics game last night.  With the Celtics down one, and with 7.4 seconds left, the Celtics inbound the ball and....the clock doesn't start for a full second after the Celtics touch the ball! Paul Pierce then nails the game winner with .5 seconds left! I can't believe no one has mentioned/caught this yet!

Video below...

 

I hate the Yankees

Since MLB released the 2008 schedule, I've been looking forward to September 21st, 2008. The scheduling gods had giving my Baltimore Orioles a blessing - a chance to ruin the last game at historic Yankee Stadium. The O's could have gone 1-161, so long as they beat the Yankees in the last game at that stadium. 

But that assumed that the Yankees didn't make the playoffs, which would never happen.  Even if they didn't win the A.L. East, thay would defiantly the Wild Card, right?

Well, when I went to my first and only game at Yankee Stadium last October, against the Cleveland Indians, I told my girlfriend that would be the last playoff game at Yankee Stadium as we walked out following the Yanks loss to the Indians that eliminated them from the playoffs. 

 Little did I know I would be right.  As this day drew close, I realized that this would basically be the Orioles playoff game- the Atmosphere, what they were playing for, would all generate a playoff atmosphere. And the Orioles would be on Sunday Night Baseball in late September for the first time since 1997. The Nation would actually be interested in a late-season Orioles game. 

It was tough to watch the O's jump out to a 2-0 lead and then lose 7-3. To see those damn Yankees celebrating and the O's not coming through in the biggest game they've played in since they lost to the Indians in the ALCS back in 1997. I so wanted the O's to beat the Yankees - the team that use to be in Baltimore before moving to New York in 1903. 

I think what really bothers me about the entire night isn't the fact that the Yankees beat the O's. What is really sad is that Yankee Stadium is a). going to be torn down and b). represents the death of baseball to the common fan. 

The House that Ruth Built was a first - a first 3-tier stadium, the first stadium that packed in fans from all walks of life. Yankee Stadium is a cathedral to baseball but it was also the site of the birth of the modern NFL with the 58 Championship game, it was the site of the first papal mass in the Western Hemisphere, site of some of the best boxing matches ever. So what replaces this sports museum - the House that was made into a home?

The death of baseball.  The death of the common fan.  The furthering of corporate America's intrusion into sports.  $2,500 seats PER GAME for baseball, insisting on having luxury boxes and thus needing a new stadium.  The New Yankee Stadium represents everything that is wrong with our world - the only thing missing is a corporate name on top of that new stadium.

Way the ghost of the Base haunt their new stadium and prevent them from ever winning another championship - punishment for tearing down a true sports and baseball cathedral.

death of sports - house that Ruth built - common man, no more.

welcome in an era of greed, corporate america  - onlything missing is corporate name.

Bye Bye, Tom

So I'm not one to ever cheer for someone getting hurt, so I want to start right off the top saying that I'm sorry for Tom Brady that he got hurt.  But, I couldn't be happier that this happened to Brady's douche bag, arrogant, son of a bitch coach, Bill Belichick. I hope the Pats miss the playoffs this year, so the world can see that this cheating son of a bitch is only as good as his hall of fame QB that the Pats drafted in the 6th round.  Hopefully I'm right so everyone can see that this d-bag is nothing more than a sweatshirt wearing d-bag.

Still hate Boston

Sorry for the lack of posting here.  Between writing now for Testudotimes.com, trying to find a house, and preparing to take the LSATS, I've had little time to think about teams I hate.

I was able to do some great hating last Tuesday though, August 19th when I went to Oriole Park to try to be the 50,000,000th fan in Oriole Park history (missed it by about 5 mins).

Anyway, we were sitting in the bleachers and we had a good bit of O's fans around us.  Sadly, as the Sox started winning, the Sox fans got louder and louder and I got more and more annoyed. 

After O's fans started cheering "Eli Manning" to piss off the Sox/Pats fans, this one Sox loser tells me to shut up because Baltimore has never been to the Super Bowl.  Well, I lost it. I yelled back at him "Baltimore won the NFL championship in 1958, 1959, lost in Super Bowl III, Won Super Bowl V and Won Super Bowl XXXV. We also won the Gray Cup in the CFL you stupid, ignorant son of a bitch dumb bastard."

The guy had nothing to say and soon after left, because that is what Sox fans are - stupid, ignorant sons of bitches who know as much about sports as a pile of road kill - they know a little about the bandwagon that ran them over and little else.

Chris Waters starting for O's tomorrow

MASN has just reported on their broadcast of the O's-Angels game, that Norfolk pitcher Chris Waters is at Anaheim Stadium and that he'll be the starting pitcher for tomorrow's game against the Angels.  Hopefully Waters will dominate MLB like he has AA and AAA.  We'll have to wait and see...

Bye Bye Manny!!

BREAKING NEWS - MANNY GOES TO L.A. (the only REAL LA team - you're in Anaheim Angels, deal with it), LA sends prospects to the Pirates, the Pirates send Jason Bay to Boston.

Thank God this d-bag is out of the AL East. I'm so sick of heading about Manny and I'm so glad that d-bag is gone. Hopefully I'll post more on this later.

1 Year Ago Today

1 year ago today...I remember it well. The night before, I rode in a limo up to Philly to watch the Phillies game as part of my friend's bachelor party. My girlfriend met me at the stadium and then we continued driving north. We kept driving, and driving, and driving, until we finally got to a person's front yard, where I had pre-arranged and paid to park. Arriving around 3 A.M., my girlfriend and I slept in her car until daybreak, about 3 hours later. We then hauled some lawn chairs, a cooler and a camera down a road that we hoped would lead to the promise land. You see, we were on a pilgrimage, one that a baseball fan must take at some point in their life - going to see someone from your team inducted into the baseball hall of fame.

After walking about 2 miles, we finally reached this great open field, with a pavilion in front of us, and many chairs already in place for what would be the largest crowd to ever witness a hall of fame induction.

The scene at the Hall of Fame induction
when we arrived at about 6:00 A.M.

Now we had to play the waiting game. We also tried to get some sleep, but that became increasingly hard to do as more people arrived and as the sun burned through the pre-dawn clouds and began turning up the heat on this lovely
day in Cooperstown, NY.




They hadn't even set up the VIP seats when we arrived.
We had been told that no one would be allowed to set up chairs before dawn on the day of the induction, so we were surprised that when we arrived, people had already set up chairs the night before. It appeared that the HOF folks had let several bus companies come in the day before and set up chairs, which allowed said bus companies to charge a hefty premium for their induction day vacation package. Some people spent hundreds, if not thousands for these special vacation packages. Hotels were booked a year in advance and if you wanted to stay within 2 hours of Cooperstown, you better be willing to dish out between $350-500 and that was staying at least an hour away! And if you did that, you then had to worry about where you were going to park, with most parking places near the induction sight costing at least $100. Some how, I was able to find parking for $35 within a mile or two of the induction sight. The parking spot I reserved was on someone's front yard and it was weird when we had to pull onto that person's grass at 3:00 A.M. and search for a sign that had my name on it (praying to God it was actually there since we'd be screwed otherwise) and having to leave a check on said sign. Thankfully it all worked out.
The induction ceremony was everything I hoped it would be and more. Having that many Orioles fans around and witnessing one of the greatest players and one of my childhood heros become immortalized forever into the Hall of Fame was an amazing experience. I've put some more pictures below, and included a few captions as well.

This is a really cool before and after photo. I took the photo on the left around 7 A.M. and then I took the photo on the right, from near the same spot, around 11:00. What a difference a few hours made!

Another shot showing how large the crowd was that day. There were
a lot of San Diego fans there to see Tony Gwynn get inducted as well.
There will never be another hall of fame class with as much class,
dignity and respect for the game as the class of 2007.

This guy was awesome...had to have my picture taken with him.

What an awesome picture of the Orioles Hall of Famers: Jim Palmer,

Cal Ripken, Earl Weaver, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, and Eddie Murray.

The scene as my girlfriend and I walk back from the HOF induction to our car. I knew she was a keeper when she was willing to drive me to Cooperstown, spend the night in a car, walk 2 miles to the induction sight, spend all day witnessing a Hall of Fame induction for a team she isn't a diehard fan of, walking back to the car, and then driving with me 7+ hours home on the same day.

Fantastic road trip and experience that I'll never forget.

New Blog

Just wanted to let me loyal readers know that I'm now co-writing for a national blog covering University of Maryland sports.  The blog, called Testudo Times, is part of Sports Blog Nation, a national blog center that covers NCAA, NFL, MLB, NHL and other sports.  You'll see my posts under the name "homertuck."

I'll still be posting here, mainly on non-University of Maryland related items, but might not be as often as my loyal readers are use to.  You'll probably be able to find a daily post from me on Testudo Times so please check it out, as well as continue reading this one.

Orioles Ushers Suck

This might or might not be a surprise to you, but the ushers at Oriole Park suck. I had a horrible experience with the ushers last year, who yelled at us for cheering for the Orioles. Yes, that's right - for root, root rooting for the home team. A Phillies fan (the O's were playing Boston that day, just so you know) was yelling at us for cheering. This stupid troll usher comes over and yells at us and threatens to make us leave. And after yelling at us, goes and sits with that same Phillies fan! I complained to the Orioles, but the troll was back again this year, sadly.

Back to the original reason for this post, which is yet another incident involving Orioles ushers. At the game on Tuesday, part of our season ticket package, there was a group of kids, probably 19-20 years old. These kids aren't harming anyone - they're cheering, trying to start the wave, etc. RANDOMLY one of the head Orioles ushers (wearing his green shirt - I've seen this guy before - he's a d-bag) goes down and starts asking these kids for their tickets (they were sitting in the lower section of left field, next to the O's bullpen). After discovering they all had tickets for the section, he left them alone for a while.  Next thing we know, the usher is back, this time with the "Alcohol Compliance Supervisor."  They start checking these kids ID's to make sure they're 21. Now I know they have a job to do in terms of enforcing under age drinking, but it was clear these ushers were going down a list of ways to try to get these kids out of here because, GOD FORBID, they cheer for their home team. 

I started a "Let them cheer" chant and yelled at the ushers and told them they're part of the reason why the Orioles only draw 20,000 fans/game these days.

If you get a chance to go to an O's game, make sure you stand and cheer. If the ushers tell you to stop, tell them, as I did multiple times, that you pay their salary. Then call the Orioles front office and complain about the usher. Make sure you get their name and what section they were working in.  Pictures/video also can help your cause.

The breeze has died...

Again the Orioles lose despite having the game in hand late in the game. The O's have lost 4 straight, dropped 2 games below .500 and over his last 5 games, George Sherrill  has only converted 1 save.  The breeze has stopped blowing in the Orioles sail.  Right now, the All-Star break can't come fast enough for the O's . Now having to go to Boston for 3 games, the Orioles need to take 2 of 3 from the Blow Sox and stabilize themselves.  The Orioles can either recover from their recent struggles or they can lay down and get swept by Boston. We'll learn a lot about this team over the next 3 games. 

Overall, the O's have more than exceeded expectations during the first half of the season. Will they continue this trend? Not if their starting pitching only goes 5 innings and the bullpen continues to get burned out.  No one needs this break more than the bullpen, who has been overworked drastically over the last month. Losing several starting pictures to injuries has really hurt the Orioles.  Cabrera and Guthrie are the only pitchers in the rotation who the O's can count on to normally go at least 7 innings every game.  Unless Burress, Liz and Olson pick up their games after the all star break, look for the O's to continue to struggle. 

Its really a shame because the Orioles offense has been fantastic, especially over the last 4 games, when they've averaged over 7 runs per game and sadly are 0-4.

Do you think the O's should try to keep gunning for a winning season or should they try to sell off and continue the rebuilding phase? I don't think any can doubt Andy MacPhail after all he's done thus far, but I'm curious for other's opinions. Please vote to the right...

Please come back Orioles Magic!

Poe! Poe! Poe! Poe!

I'm proud to announce that one of the Ravens' Mascots, Poe, has won the fiercest mascot competition on CBS Sportsline. You can read about it here. What makes this so sweet is that the "mascot" he beat was Chief Zee of the Washington Redskins (although I don't really consider him a mascot since he's just a fan dressed in costume and not an official team mascot, but I digress...).

The other thing that makes this sweet is that Poe was a 16 seed and ended up winning. 

Congrats Poe!

Status of Maryland Men's Basketball - Terps in trouble?

In a recent article on ESPN.com, Dana O'Neil talks about how Maryland's Men's basketball program has gone from "One Shining Moment" in 2002 to a state of scrambling to find scholarship players for the 2008 season. I think the article could have been 100x's better and I'm shocked that Dana's editor actually let some of the stuff in the article become published. For one, she mentions Sean Mosely as the only scholarship player in the class of 2008, which simply isn't true. Jin Soo Kim is possibly reclassifying for 2008 and Maryland will soon be officially signing center Steve Goins (http://mbd.scout.co m/mb.aspx?S=174& F=2580&T=2634500 &P=1) giving Maryland a solid class for 2008.

Dana also refers to Maryland as "bottom feeders" in the ACC, which is bullshit. She seems to forget that they won the ACC tourney in 2004, in 2005 they were 7-9 and should have made the NCAAs, in 2006 they were 8-8 in the ACC and didn't make the tournament but should have, in 2007 they were 10-6 and went to the NCAAs and then last year they were again 8-8 in the conference. Yes the program isn't at its best, but I blame that on a few bad recruits, who were all consider GREAT coming into college, but didn't pan out (Travis Garrison, Mike Jones being good but not a super star, Chris McCray failing out his sr. year, Caner-Medley not having a good sr. year). You mention none of that in your article as to why this program has struggled. Maryland brought in All-Americans, but they just had some bad luck, which hurts a program for a few years.

Maryland's biggest problem, which ALSO isn't mentioned in the article is Gary's style of recruiting. His assistants do a lot of the work and with some of his best assistants gone, he now has to go out himself (which he's been doing lately) to recruit. And Chuck Drissell is one of the best recruiters around so once he establishes himself more, you'll see the benefits.

Gary also likes to take guys who are kind of under the radar, and build them into champions (Juan Dixon, Lohnny Baxter, etc.) and that style doesn't work as well as it use to since players can no longer skip college and go right to the NBA. Because of that, more "1 and done" players are playing college basketball and Gary needs to get his hands on them.

I think Maryland will be 8-8 in the ACC, make the tourney and get back on track for 2009-2010, when they have a huge talent poll around them to draw from and when you'll have Vasquez and others as Sr's and Jr's for what could be a fantastic team.

MacPhail

Recently Rick Maese did an article grading Andy MacPhail's performance as Orioles' President. I think its a cool concept, but I think Maese did a horrible job. Here are my comments. Vote in the poll to the right to evaluate MacPhail's performance.

"Uh, frankly I think this is kind of stupid. It seems like a good idea but that you struggled to come up with content so you just assigned MacPhail as the responsible party and then gave him a bad grade for it. By your logic, should we give MacPhail credit for the new Orioles Magic music video, staring players on this year's team? If so, he gets an A++ for that.

Why don't you start off by saying what his job responsibilities are, which in my opinion, is building a championship team from the ground up without Angelos interference, which he has done thus far . In face, I'd say he's done a pretty damn good job with that so far, restocking the farm system and getting great players back in both the Bedard and Tejada trades.

And the O's have a good product on the field. And making Trembly the manager on not an interim basis and keeping him on for this year was MacPhail's decision too."

Tiger is unreal

Soak it in folks, you might be looking at the best golfer to ever play the game. Tiger Woods just pulled off yet ANOTHER amazing victory. I was fortunate enough to go to the gym for an hour during work so I could catch the last 5 holes while running 5 miles. What I was able to see was pure greatness. Rocco Mediate had Tiger down for the count. He played fantastically, but it was almost like Tiger was toying with him, giving him the taste of victory and then springing on him to crush his hopes and dreams, even as Rocco made 3 birdies on the back nine to pull ahead of Tiger until 18 when Tiger got to the green in 2 and birdied to force jus the 2^nd Sudden Death overtime in U.S. Open history. (On a side note, I love the 18 hole playoff. The U.S. open isn’t trying to adhere to television and their viewers – they’re trying to determine the best golfer in the United States and the best way to do that is by playing 18 more holes if you’re tied after 72. But I digress…)And that is what is most amazing about Tiger. Just when you think he's down for the count, he's right back up and winning another Championship. Possibly the greatest golfer to ever walk the course and maybe one of the best clutch athletes we'll ever see. Year from now, people will refer to this as the “Tiger Era” and we’ll be fortunate enough to say we were able to live through it.

I wasn’t fortunate enough to really remember Jack Nicholas’ prime years. I was brought up by my father to believe in three things: respect and love your family, jazz is the best and only truly American Art Form, and that Jack Nicholas is the best golfer to ever play the game. Tiger might soon be taking that crown away, as today he became just the second player in history to capture the “Career Grand Slam” 3x’s over. Tiger now has 14 Major championship and trails Jack’s 18 by 4. Its also worth noting, in my opinion, that Jack came in 2^nd 19 other times. That is amazing in and of itself. Jack could have won 37 Majors but winning almost half of those and still coming in 2^nd is just amazing. I think Jack is still #1 and it depends on how Tiger finishes his career before he gets the crown as best golfer ever. The other point to think about is this: if you give Jack Nicholas the same equipment and conditioning that Tiger has now, who wins? Jack’s answer to that question, from an article by Jason Sobel on ESPN.com is “The game today is so different, so nobody will ever know. But Tiger is awfully good, he's terrific, and I guess I wasn't too bad in my time.”

And when it comes to breaking Jack’s record 18 Majors? “I suspect that he probably will, but you never break a record until you break it. I suspect in the next four or five years, that it will probably happen, but who knows what's going to happen in the next four or five years? Certainly at the rate he's going and the way he plays, he should do it. He's awfully good.”

Will Tiger go down as the best ever? Only time will tell. But I don’t think any will question that in their prime, Jack Nicholas and Tiger Woods are the best golfers to ever play the game.

Who Cares about the NBA?

After the latest scandal in the NBA, with former ref Tim Donaghy now alleging that the NBA instructed him to make sure certain playoff series went to 7 games and that key players weren't ejected, my real question is, who cares? When I watch an NBA game and then watch a college game, the difference to me is unreal. I'd rather watch any college basketball game vs. an NBA game. The NBA just isn't fun to watch. There is often little to know defense, the league is full of thugs, and its all about the money. College games are just so much more enjoyable to me. I'd venture to say I'd rather watch pro wrestling than an NBA game. At least with Pro Wrestling they tell you its fake up front. With the NBA, they just charge you a lot of money and act like its real. Sounds like false advertising to me...

Here we go again...

Just when we thought things couldn’t get any worse for Maryland basketball, I got a call from my Mom the other night saying that Gus Gilchrist was transferring out of Maryland. I thought “What? You’re crazy!” Apparently, since the ACC again denied Gus’ appeal to allow him to play at the start of the season rather than waiting until after the Fall semester, he wants to leave Maryland and play at a non-ACC school. There are several things here that don’t add up…
1. If Gus goes to another school, he’ll have to sit out a year before he can play again, unless he’s granted a waver by the NCAA, which by no means is a guarantee.
2. Even if Gus is granted a waver, he’ll likely only get 3 years of eligibility, rather than the 4 he is seeking so he’s risking having to sit out another entire year to be able to play for 1/3 of this season, against what will probably be cupcake games mostly. Seems like a big risk for not much return…
3. Gus seems to have left Maryland on good terms – no one is really disappointed or angry with him. That just seems weird to me…is it possible that Gary knew that if Gus’ latest appeal was denied, he was going to leave, and hence Maryland has been trying to bring in all of these other recruits last minute as a stop gap for a possible Gus absence? Is this why Shane Walker left, because he knew that even if Gilchrist left, he still wasn’t going to get playing time as Maryland looked for a possible stop gap for Gilchrist rather than relying on Walker? Or is Walker just kicking himself now for leaving because he probably would have factored huge into the upcoming season.

Just received an update on this...apparently Gus is going to play at a Ju-Co school, where he can play immediately, and then go straight to the NBA, or so the voice whispering in his ear, his "advisor," tells him...still seems like a lot of work just for missing like 10-15 cupcake games...

Who is to blame here? Is it Gary? I’d say this is just a string of bad luck for Gary, but if he knew Gilchrist was going to do this if he’s appeal was denied, then part of the blame must be placed on him for not having an alternative. EVERYONE should be angry with Debbie “I hate the Men’s basketball program even though it pays my salary” Yow, since she hasn’t gone to bat for any of Gus’ ACC appeals or for the Men’s program in general. She has to be one of the worst AD’s in the Nation when it comes to supporting some of her biggest programs. It’s almost like she WANTED these things to happen so she could get Gary out and hire her own Men’s Basketball coach. I for one will no longer be supporting the Athletic Department at Maryland so long as Debbie Yow is the AD. I encourage any fellow Terp Supporters to do the same.

Matt Bracken does a great job with a recruiting timeline for the 2008 class at Maryland, showing all of the potential players that could have been here and where we are now. Remember, at various points, Maryland had commits from the following for 2008: Tyree Evans (4 stars), Terrance Jennings (4 – 5 star big man), Bobby Maze (3-4 star combo guard), Gus Gilchrist (was already enrolled at the school and was eligible to play in Dec., but has since decided to transfer).

What are we left with? Sean Mosley, a talented guard who is committed for the 2008 class, still has to qualify academically. If we lose him as well, Maryland is screwed beyond screwed, to the tune of possibly having a season similar to that of UVA this past season, in which 1 really talented player (Vasquez) dominates but has little support around him. Jin Soo Kim, a forward that is committed for the class of 2009, is trying to get into Maryland’s 2008 class. Pray that he is able to, because Maryland currently has a huge hole in their front court offense.

Its Time for WAR on Red Sox Nation

I'm tired of Red Sox fans coming to Camden and acting like they're at home. I'm determined to do something about it. Suggestions are welcome, but I'm going to try to come up with a solution. I freaking hate the Red Sox fans and my hatred came to a climax when Manny hit his 500th homer this weekend. More to come...leave comments/suggestions...

Debbie Yow is the worst AD in the history of College Sports

UPDATE!
I've just been informed of a new website that has been created to FIRE DEBBIE YOW. I am going on record that I support the firing of Yow and hope others will do the same. If you sign the petition on the site, be sure to include how much money you give to the University, since money talks and has power in things like this.

Tyree Evans was released* from his Letter of Intent to play at the University of Maryland last week, ending what has been a up and down roller coaster for the Men's basketball program over the past few weeks. It seemed most people at the University didn't have a problem with Evans coming (granted, he would be on the shortest of leashes) to the University. Except for Debbie Yow. Yow, the Athletic Director of the University, apparently didn't know about the whole Evans situation, especially some of his recent criminal activities. It isn't a coincidence that after Yow finds out, magically Evans is gone.

Debbie needs to be fired from the University - no doubt about it. She has done a great job in some areas but completely sold out in others. She is basically a puppet of some of the big time $$ donors to the University (banning the Marching and Pep bands from playing "Rock and Roll, Part II" because the students say "Hey, you suck" is a perfect example. Way to take away one of the coolest, united things our students and fans did. For those that don't know, the ENTIRE band program(concert, marching, Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Pep, Jazz Lab, Jazz Ensemble and U-Jazz are all funded by the Athletic department, so if they say don't play a certain song, the band's hands are tied as they could lose funding otherwise).

The fact that the University issued a press release on this during the afternoon of the Friday before Memorial Day weekend is also a joke. Athletic Directors are easily replaceable, but as Esquire says here on Turtle Waxing , AD's are a dime a dozen but 600 win Basketball coaches who have won National Championships are a rare commodity.

This move could severely impact Maryland's team this fall. Some rumors are flying that another one of MD's 2008 recruits, Sean Mosley, is rumored to be having trouble getting a good enough score on his SAT's to be admitted to the school. Evan's not being here in the fall is going to be bad enough. If we lose Mosley too, Gary might be looking at a sub .500 record next year and could also be on the hot seat for his job.

And don't blame Gary - blame that stupid bitch, Debbie Yow.

Update to Boston Fans are D-Bags

Let me make something clear - diehard Boston fans, who grew up in New England rooting for their team, fine, you get some what of a pass. I understand being passionate about your team to the point of being obnoxious. The bandwagon fans are what get me. Some old skool Sox fans I think can be more obnoxious than the average fan, but I never really had a problem with the Sox until post 2004 World Series so either they got a lot of Bandwagoners who happened to be obnoxious, the old school fans had 86 years of trash talk built up, or a combo of the two.

Boston Fans are douchebags? NOOOO!

In the course of 10 minutes, two Boston fans have managed to make fun of my blog. One of them, a former co-worker, is a nice guy and I'm told the other one is also a nice guy in person, but acts like a "mASShole" over the internet.

Listen, I'm sure most Boston fans are probably nice people...and if they stuck with their team from 1918-2004, good for them. But a lot of Boston fans are what we like to call bandwagon assholes. Cheering for the Red Sox is the new fad, the latest fashion. Much like popped-collar mania, I'm adamantly against it. Most of the U.S. was behind Boston in 2004 (I was not one of them) because no one wanted the Yankees to win another title. I knew, however, that Boston fans were already cocky, even in the mist of a 86 year title drought, so how obnoxious were they going to be once they won a title? Well, as I predicted, way to obnoxious for most of us to handle. An then they get all these bandwagon folks behind them and you get a red suxs nation filled with d-bags and assholes. You walk down the street in many cities in the U.S. and can't help but feel like Rick Moranis in "Spaceballs" when he says "I'm surrounded by assholes!"

Well Boston fans, think about this. From 1918-2007, you've won 2 World Series titles. In HALF of that time, the Orioles have won 3. Up yours.

Gold digger?

Today, as I was reading through ESPN.com, I came across a link that said "Giambi wears gold thong for good luck. You can read the story here
I couldn't believe my eyes...had they just given all of us Yankee haters some of the best taunting information ever? Then I keep reading and find out that JETER wears it too! And so does Damon! After looking at the calendar and realizing that it wasn't in fact April 1st, I couldn't stop laughing. I hope they at least wash that thing between uses, as Giambi's ass doesn't seem to be producing magical numbers this year, with his .198 batting average.

Maybe Jason should start wearing the thong to the left...I mean, the Yankees are in last place in the A.L. East...


Based on that face, it looks like it was Jeter's day to wear the thong...

Orioles Magic, Feel it Happen!

After beating the Red Sox AGAIN yesterday, you can't help but think there is some Orioles magic about this season and this team. Its like the team's decided to restore the "Oriole Way" back into the organization has resulted in a resurgence back to the great Oriole teams of yore. This team is fun to watch, is entertaining, and they're going to go down swinging, no matter what. As Brian Roberts recently said, teams are going to have to work to get all 27 outs against this group. Its also good to see the fan base starting to get re-energized. Orioles fans have suffered through a lot over the last 10 years with the only real bright spot being Ripken's induction into the Hall of Fame. At the game on Tuesday, I heard Orioles fans were fighting Boston fans because they were tired of them trying to take over Camden Yards. Although I don't condone fighting (well, off the record I do), its nice to see that passion returning to Oriole Park. (video below)



This team, according to "experts", was suppose to be dreadful, losing 100+ games, finishing in last in the A.L. East, etc. I believe Vegas put the over-under on the number of games they would win at 64. But this team has shown that the so called "experts" really just have their heads shoved too far up their own asses to really make a reasonable prediction about a season before it starts. These are professional athletes and telling them they're going to suck has only fueled their fire and passion. So thank you, all you National sports writers, for making my home town O's better. You all look like idiots now and are eating crow, some of you even having the audacity to say that the O's will STILL lose 100 games. Swallow your pride and do some insightful reporting for once.


Onto another topic, The "Oriole Magic" song, which was a creation that arose out of the 1979 (thanks for the correction, Michael) season, and was a staple at the start of every home Orioles game since that season. But at the start of the season, the song was stopped from being played at the request of the players. They thought it was linked too much to the past. Well, after yesterday's come from behind win over Boston, the song was back, but with a new, updated version featuring the Orioles of the past and current team members as well. Kevin "Dr. Feel Good" Millar has lead vocals, and Adam "looks like Eric Davis" Jones is on drums.



"Something magic happens, every time you go, you make the magic happen, the magic of Orioles baseball! When the game is close, and the O's are hot, there's a thundering roar from 34 to give it all they got. And you never know, who's going to hear them call, every game has a different star, that's the magic of Orioles baseball! Orioles magic, feel it happen, Orioles Magic, feel it happen, O-R-I-O-L-E-S. Magic, magic, magic, magic!

Up Your's, Beckett

Oh sweet mercy do I hate Josh Beckett. So when my Orioles tagged him for 5 runs in their 5-4 win tonight, I couldn't have been happier. If you go back and watch the game tonight, there were several times when Beckett was shown cursing, at one point saying "Fuck you!" to someone.

The Red Sox might be my most hated of sports teams at the moment. They are total douchebags and so are a lot of their fans, especially the fair weather ones who buy worn "B" hats and pretend like they suffered through the 80+ years of not winning a World Series. Losers.

I was glad to see Camden Yards full tonight with mostly Orioles fans. I think that says a lot about this year's team and how Baltimore fans feel about this influx of young talent. And how much we hate Red Sux fans.

Tyree Evans

Recently, Maryland signed high-baggage basketball recruit Tyree Evans for the upcoming basketball season. This represents something Gary Williams hasn't done in his 15+ seasons at Maryland - brought in someone who has been all over the police blotter. Does it show a desperation in Gary Williams? I don't think so. I think Gary has finally realized a few things. First, he can't rely on 4 year projects anymore as a coach. His recruiting style is going to have to change for him to survive in the future. Gary is fantastic at finding diamonds in the rough (Juan Dixon, Lonny Baxter, etc) and turning them into stars. But since the NBA started requiring players to be 19 before declaring for the NBA draft, several high school stars (Kevin Durrant, Reggie Love, O.J. "I pulled a Chris Webber" Majo) are now playing for college teams for a year and then leaving. Gary has mostly avoided the one and done guys because that doesn't work in this 4 year player development style. Sans Chris Wilcox and Steve Francis, Maryland has mostly avoided the one and done crowd. The problem is, that since these players are now staying for a year, teams further down on the recruiting food chain are now able to sign better players who would have been at some of these schools that have signed one of these one and done guys. So you see more parity in college basketball as a result. Why hasn't Maryland landed some of these big name recruits, especially some of the ones in their own backyard? (Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, etc?) I'm not sure. There are probably a number of reasons but the fact that they would only be around for a year or two should be one of them. After all, look at Gary's recent strategy - recruiting JuCo players who, for the most part, are only in school for 2 years. Granted, Gary has done a fantastic job at bringing in some JuCo talent (Steve Francis, Boom Osby) but should I school who went to back to back Final Fours and won the National Title 6 years ago be relying on JuCo transfers?

Maryland is going to struggle in the front court this year, especially while they wait for Gus Gilchrist to become eligible to play at the end of December. So it appears that Gary is loading up on guards and might be running a lot of 4 guard sets come November. I think Gary knew that with Walker transferring and with losing Gist and Osby to graduation, his team might again not be an NCAA tournament team. Solution? Go get a guy who has fantastic talent, but doesn't have a halo over his head. Only time will tell whether or not this gamble was worth it for Maryland. I think if the Terps are back in the NCAA tournament and make it to the sweet 16, you won't hear much out of some of these fair weather Maryland fans who are in an uproar over this. If Maryland stumbles, you'll not only hear that Gary made a mistake, but that AD Debbie Yow allowed him to and that Gary should lose his job. If you read this blog, you know how stupid I think that thought is, but I fear some of the donors at Maryland who pay the bills might have a lessened opinion of Gary after signing Evans. He'll be under a microscope for his two years at Maryland - pray he lives up to expectations while keeping out of trouble.

I'll do another post on why Maryland has struggled since 2004 to constantly play at a high level and how 1 bad recruiting class coupled with Dave Dickerson and Jimmy Patsos, two of Maryland's best recruiting coaches, leaving, has hurt the Terps.

Cabrera does it again

Just what the struggling Orioles needed - a trip to Kansas City to take on one of the few teams that has been a worse organization than the Orioles over the last 10 years. And the Orioles were not only awarded with a win, but got a 6th consecutive quality start out of starting pitcher Daniel Cabrera. What did Cabrera do? Pitched a complete game, 3 hitter, striking out 7 and only walking 1, while giving up just 1 earned run.

No, I'm not dreaming and yes, I am talking about the same Cabrera that led the league last year in walks, ERA and losses. I think it is now safe to say that Daniel has turned the proverbial corner and could be another building stone for the franchise.

(Image courtesy of "Keith" on Picasa Web Albums)

Shame on you Media!

I’m not too into the NBA or NHL, since Baltimore have never had a team in either league since I’ve lived there. But I do cheer for the Wizards and Caps. I’ve gotten much more into the Caps, especially after their magical run this season. And I started watching Wizards games a few years ago after they drafted Juan Dixon in the first round in 2002. But if the Wiz or Caps lose, I don’t get that upset or frustrated as I would if it were the Terps, Ravens or Orioles.

That being said, I thought it was necessary to write about the Wiz-Cavs playoff series that is currently going on (Cleveland leads the series 3-2). This thing is getting heated! Darius Songaila and LeBron got tangled up on a play (below) and Songaila was T-ed up and suspended for game 6 tonight (the fact that he got suspended is ridiculous). But the whole reason I’m writing this post is because of the Cleveland Fans. Watch the clip below and listen to their fans chant “Asshole, asshole, asshole.” But I thought only naughty students in College Park used bad words like that! FALSE! It happens everywhere. And I’m tired of UMD being the media’s punching bag for this shit. Why does no one say anything when this happens at a PROFESSIONAL sporting event. At least in College you can say its stupid college kids. Folks, this is the NBA and most college kids aren’t attending NBA playoff games because, quite frankly, they can’t afford to. So these are adults chanting this and its clear as day on this youtube clip. Where are you now media, to chastise ADULTS who are doing this on National TV? WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN! WON'T ANYONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!?!?
Check it out below.

Walker gone, Georgetown added to Old Spice

According to the University of Maryland, Freshman forward Shane Walker will be leaving Maryland and transferring to another school. I'm still not sure how I feel about this. I think Walker has a lot of potential and is very good under the basket, boxing out and grabbing rebounds, so in that regard, I'm sorry he's leaving, especially since Gus Gilchrist isn’t eligible to play until the end of December. The real question now is, what do the Terps do with an extra scholarship? A few weeks ago, it seemed like the Terps would have loved to have an extra scholarship so they could give it to Bobby Maze. The Terps have signed Tyree Evans and Sean Mosely, so at this point signing another guard would seem pointless, as Maryland is in desperate need of front court help, especially until December when Gilchrist becomes eligible.

In other Terps basketball news, as many people know Maryland will be playing in the Old Spice Classic down in Orlando over Thanksgiving Day weekend. But the team to replace Memphis, who backed out, in that tournament is none other then…GEORGETOWN! Sweet mercy do I hate Georgetown. Not only is the school full of a lot of douchebags who think their money automatically makes them better people, but their basketball team and program is full of cowards. Maryland and Georgetown are separated by 10 miles

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(at least from the Verizon Center to the Comcast Center…just as a side note there, the fact that each school’s arena is sponsored by rival telecommunications companies should be proof that this is a rivalry between the schools) and yet they haven’t played each other since 1993. Do you remember what happened in 1993?


That was the last time Maryland was scheduled in the regular season to play Georgetown. I think the last time we played them though might have been in 2001 in the Sweet 16, on Maryland’s run to the Final 4.


Maryland use to play Georgetown annually from 1943-1980 (Maryland leads the all time series 36-25) but a dispute over revenue has soured the series since 1993. It is suppose to be Georgetown’s turn to come to College Park in the series, but they refuse. I guess they don’t want to get embarrassed. But it is a shame that these schools don’t meet on an annual basis because they have a good rivalry and they’re so close to each other.

O's beat Seattle - Has Cabrera turned the corner?

Daniel Cabrera has pitched great over his past 2 starts, including last night when he pitched 8 innings, struck out 5 and probably most importantly, walked no one. He only gave up 2 runs and 5 hits over those 8 innings and kept the O's in the game and picking up the win after Nick Markickass hit a solo homer in the top of the 8th to break a 2-2 tie. Manager Dave Trembly brought in Sherrill to close out the game, which he was able to do, while earning his 7th save (4 of which have come against his former club).

There are a few questions now that arise for the Orioles and one of them is, has Daniel Cabrera finally turned the corner and started to become the dominant pitcher that the Orioles have said he could be for the past 3 years? Over his past two games, he's pitched 14 innings, only walked 2 batters, and given up 2 earned runs. There are two very important things to consider here - Cabrera's lack of walks and the fact that the Orioles have worked with him to throw his fast ball more, which seems to have helped tremendously. Over his last 3 starts, which was the start of his new "throw your fastball more" philosophy, Cabrera's ERA is 3.74. Its also important to note that the Orioles have won every game Cabrera has started this year. And although he only has 2 wins in the 5 games that he's started, he has no loses and 3 no decisions and has kept the Orioles in the game, a far cry from last year when he led the league in loses, walks allowed and ERA.

Only time shall tell if these is a new Cabrera who will consistently be good and who has turned the corner to possibly future star.

One last note - the O's trade with Seattle seems to be bette and better for the Orioles as time goes on. As someone who was initially opposed to the Bedard trade, I now think MacPhail is brilliant! Don't believe me? Go read Seattle blogs and message boards about the trade and how Seattle fans think they gave up too much...and they're probably right!

Yankee Suck

On Saturday, after spontaneously deciding to go to the O's-Yankees game, I was reminded about how much I hate the Yankees. I haven't written about my Yankee hatred in a while, so I felt this was a good time to renew my feelings for this stupid team.

At Oriole Park, it is now a rarity to see the stadium more than 50% full unless its opening day or the O's are playing the Yankees or Red Sox. Saturday, the crowd was over 40,000 but a good portion (probably 40%) were Yankee fans. Having so many Yankee fans at my stadium annoys me on so many levels. Many of these d-bag Yankee fans act like they own the place, like they're playing at home. And I can never decide if these people are just Yankee fans who live in Baltimore, travel in from NY, or are former Oriole fans who have turned to the darkside during the O's recent 10 year slump. Either way, when cheers of "Let go Yankees" break out in your home stadium, I get a little annoyed. But at the same time, having these Yankee fans here can be a good thing - they're supporting our payroll, they're putting money into our economy and most importantly, I think they actually make other O's fans want to come to Camden Yards because they can't stand having it full of these Yankee jerks (yours truly included).

Oh, how sweet it was when I started a "Lets Go O's!" cheer in the top of the 9th, from the last row of section 386 that caught on throughout the stadium as the O's recorded the final out to beat the Yankees 6-0.

The only cure to this problem is winning, plain and simple. The more wins the Orioles have, the less Yankee fans you'll see at Oriole Park. Hopefully, the O's can continue there early season success!

A lot going on

A lot is going on in my sports world, in a time when normally baseball is the only sport I'm focused on. Steve McNair just decided to retire, UMD Men's basketball just signed a great, but baggage filled guard (and there seems to be an odd man out), the O's are still contending, and Terps football just signed a very good QB for the class of 2009. Whew! All of this going on while I'm trying to buy a house!

I'll try to get to more things later, but for now, I'll stick to the shocker of the day, Steve McNair deciding to retire. McNair had been training all off season and from everything I heard, was in great shape going into this season. Since Steve is such a competitor, I don't think anyone expected him to want to finish his career on such a sour note. This puts the Ravens in a very interesting position - what do they do at QB next year? Do they now go with Boller and have Smith as their back up? Or go with Smith and have Boller as the back up? Do they use both QBs? Since several players on this team (Ray Lewis, McCalister, Rolle...) are nearing the end of their prime, I don't think the Ravens want to go into quasi rebuilding mode here and start a rookie QB. That doesn't mean they won't draft one with the 8th pick. But the Ravens playoff hopes might have just taken a big hit unless Boller or Smith can carry this team next year.

O's in first!

Take THAT Seattle! Da O's are in first place, hun! Maybe all of you Boston Bandwagon fans will start cheering for the O's now...I mean, they're in first place. Isn't that what you guys do, just root for the team that's doing best? Or maybe most of you are just d-bags and found the Red Sox to be your common bond...but I digress...

So while the O's are in first place with a 4-1, (make that 5-1 after Huff just homered and the O's have won yet again!! Swept Seattle - Impressive!), I must enjoy this feeling for as long as I can. The Orioles are supposed to be bad this year...really bad. 100+ losses bad. But aside from their opening day loss, they look like anything but a bad team. Good, patient hitting, good defense, and a strong bullpen. If we can get our starting pitching straightened out, is there actually a chance we could be, dare I say this, a .500 or better team? Granted, Luke Scott isn't going to hit .500 all season, the bullpen isn't going to be this dominate, especially if they have to keep coming in early for starters that aren't doing their job, and you can't always count on coming back in the bottom of the 9th when you're down 2-0. But that does show you this team won't give up. They have bought into Trembley's attitude and style. This has to give O's fans hope...hope that the team is going in the right direction, hope that the offseason trades are going to pay off (it looks more and more like MacPhail robbed Houston in the Tejada trade and that the Bedard trade will benefit us sooner than we thought), hope that some of the players last year *cough* Huff *cough* severely under-performed and still have some pop in their bats.

Listen, I know I'm a homer a lot of times, but how can Orioles fans not be excited about this? I know we still have 156 more games this season, but maybe we will be better than expected this year. Maybe, just maybe there is some Oriole Magic in the air. And if not, we're going to enjoy our time in first place as long as we can. That is what 10 straight losing seasons will do to you.

And after all, so long as Boston and NY not in 1st and or 2nd, that's a moral victory right there.

Lady Terps Ride is over

Sadly, the basketball season for the University of Maryland's women's team came to an end Monday, as the Terps fell to Stanford. Maryland played well offensively but couldn't stop Stanford's Candice Wiggins who singlehandedly led Stanford to a victory over Maryland with her 41 points.

Every time MD went on a run and started gaining confidence, Wiggins was there on the other end to swing the pendulum back in Stanford's favor. It seemed like every time MD nailed a 3 and began to get close, Wiggins was there to answer on the other end. Maryland had no answer to her on defense. Credit to her and Stanford for running the triangle offense to near perfection, something no other ACC team does and thus that might have been why Maryland had such a hard time defending against it.

Although it was disappointing that Maryland didn't make it back to the Final 4, what was even more devastating was that this was the final game for Crystal Langhorne and Laura Harper. Those two, especially Langhorne, were highly touted recruits who Brenda Freese convinced should come to Maryland and help revitalize a program and put it back into the National Spotlight. The fact that Harper got injured her freshman year just allowed Langhorne to develop more and faster, eventually resulting in her being Maryland's all time leading scorer. After Shay Duron decided to come to Maryland, the fact the Crystal and Harper did the following year, helped show people that Maryland was for real. Then they went out and won the 2006 National Championship game. Maryland will still be great next year, but losing Crystal and Laura, in addition to Ashleigh Newman, Jade Perry, and Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood is going to hurt.
After all, how can losing the best player in Maryland Women's hoops history not hurt you?

Best of luck girls, we'll miss you.

Walmart - revisited

So I found several problems with my post after I thought about things for a bit. I'll be revising it shortly and posting a conversation I had with my friend Chris. But rather than post it here, where many of my sports reading public might not care, I'll be continuing the conversation over at my other blog, "Random Stuff," which you can find here.

More sports related stuff coming shortly! In the meantime, check out the conversation with my friend Chris over at the other blog.

Wal-mart

A recent story I read on CNN.com confirms what many have said for a long time - the walmart corporation is a selfless piece of crap that no one should support. Now I know this has nothing to do with sports, but I think people sometimes need to realize (me included) that there are so many things out there more important than sports score, your favorite team, and teams you hate.
If you have a chance, read this sad story about a woman who worked for Walmart. After leaving work one day, she was in a horrible car accident, not her fault, and suffered horrible brain damage. The truck company involved was sued by this woman's family and received about $417,000 after legal fees. They put that money in a trust fund to pay for the woman's high yearly medical bills. Walmart's insurance policy paid out $470,000 in medical bills up to the point of the lawsuit. But Walmart's insurance policy, in fine print, says that if an employee receives a settlement from an accident, Walmart has the right to recoup any medical expenses back from the injured party. Three years after the accident, that is exactly what those pricks did. So you're now left with a family, who's son was just killed in Iraq, that can barely afford to pay their medical bills because of Walmart essentially took away their settlement, which was to serve as a trust fund, so they could recover $400,000. Mind you, Walmart doesn't have to recoup those past medical expenses, but they chose to anyway. Even during this extreme circumstance. And why? So they could be "fair" to everyone who participates in the plan. Although I often feel that if people don't like the policies of their employer, they should try to change jobs, you often can't say that when it comes to Walmart. The Walmart corporation represents everything that can be wrong with a capitalist society. The normal rules of capitalism don't apply when it comes to Walmart. They normally put any competition around them out of business because they can undercut everyone to the point where no on can compete. In essence, they often create a mini-monopoly in their area, leaving people with little choice in terms of where they can purchase many of their foods, household products and clothes. They use there size to basically create an anti-capitalism, monopoly zone where the capitalism ideals and benefits of consumer choice go out the window. Now this isn't the case in many places, because they area where the store is located actually has more consumers than Walmart can serve, so other businesses can still provide competition, so Walmart doesn't achieve their mini-monopoly effect. But in small towns, where the population is small, the township has little choice but to shop, work, and live by the rules of Walmart. And people in those towns often shop at Walmart because their prices are so low!

Well, for those of use who do have other options, you can do your part. Don't shop at Walmart. I don't know about you, but I'd rather pay more for a product because I know if I did go to Walmart to save a few bucks, it would just be contributing more to those pricks and tell them that what they did to this poor woman is okay. I know my not going there makes little difference to them, but this blog entry is a way for me to try and engage others to do the same. If you decide to boycott Walmart, tell 5 friends about it as well and get them to join you. And then have them ask 5 people to do the same. As I said, I know this is a digression from what I normally write about, but please, copy this blog and ask other to join you in trying to take away $400,000 worth of business to make up for what Walkmart took back from this poor woman and her family.

Welcome to Loserville, Population Duke and Georgetown

Since MD's NIT loss, I've been unable to talk about the Terps and thought I wouldn't really care about March Madness this year. Well, that wasn't the case, as I've been glued to the TV/internet for the past 4 days. More on that later. But I digress...

Life got a lot better for me and many Maryland fans after Georgetown and Duke both lost in the second round, to teams seeded significantly lower then them. Both of these teams losing was a huge disappointment if you're a Hoyas or Duke hoops fan but fantastic if you're a hater of those teams like myself. It's also great when you work in D.C. and many of your co-workers pick Georgetown or Duke to go far in your office pools.

More on these losses, MD's season, comparing Curry to Juan Dixon, and finally continuing with the ACC Student Section rankings in the coming days.

Cooked

Last night's game, as many games have this season, ripped my heart out of my chest, stomped on it, and then threw it into the trash. Maryland has been quite good this year at making their fan base go into a frenzy of madness...too bad they won't be giving those fans the opportunity to take part in the March variety of that madness...

As I told my girlfriend as we left the Comcast Center following the heart breaking loss to Clemson, Maryland's season is over. After the loss to Boston College last night in the opening round of the ACC's, Maryland can officially kiss the NCAA's goodbye. Honestly, I don't even think they deserve a trip to the NIT. Boston College just out hustled them, played more defense, and Maryland started playing scared and stopped attacking the basket. And to top if off, they turned the ball over 40,000 times in the second half. When MD went down by 10, I thought the game was over. But Gist pulled the team together and gave every bit of energy he had. In the course of a minute, MD went on a 7-0 run to pull them within 3. Too bad everyone else on the team didn't do the same and it was too little too late.

Md has a chance to get a second Junior College transfer but doesn't have the scholarship to offer. I'm hoping Eric Hayes decides to transfer, but a few other people might consider doing so as well.

Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, good bye (WE SUCK!)

(from Baltimoresun.com)

I interrupt this ACC student section ranking to bring you this post...Maryland is going to miss the NCAA Tourney for the 3rd time in the last 4 years. Unless we beat UVA (which I don't even think we'll do), and then do some damage in the ACC Tourney, we're headed to the NIT yet again.

Maryland had a 68-55 lead with 4:48 to go. We got outscored 18-2 to end the game. Unfreaking believable.



I'm normally super optimistic about things like this, but not anymore. I'm not going to get my hopes up and allow MD to crush them. My health can't take it anymore.

ACC Student Section Rankings

A recent Baltimore Sun blog post that ranked the basketball Student sections in the ACC made me think “I can do this a million times better!” So below, is my attempt to rank each team’s student section. Tune back each day (or every other day) as I count down to the best student section in the ACC We’ll do this Top 10 style, starting with the worst section first.

Starting with the worst today, coming in at # 12, the University of Virginia


#12 – UVA

I hate UVA for a lot of reasons and # 1 on my list of “reasons to hate UVA” is their student section. UVA likes to think they’re an ivy league school. They dress up in ties for games, they wear pastel colored shirts with popped collars, and they give off this aura of “douchbaggieness.” (Yes, I just made up that word and when you look in a dictionary of the future, they’ll have a picture of UVA students next to the word and definition).
Maryland fans in particular probably hate UVA fans the most for several reasons, but number one on my list came in 2002, when Maryland was playing at UVA. The star on that National Championship team, Juan Dixon, overcame a lot in his life but I’m sure one, if not the most difficult things was having to deal with both of his parents passing away from AIDS. So how does the UVA student section welcome Juan Dixon to Charlotte? By chanting “Crackhead parents!” Maybe one of the most classless things I’ve ever heard or seen in my life. The Terps still managed to win that game by the way. Here was Dixon’s stat line for the game, in which he overcame that horrible showing of humanity from UVA:

player start? Mp pt fgm fga fgpct ftm fta ftpct r a b s pf 3fgm 3fga 3fgpct Juan Dixon 36 16 5 13 38% 5 5 100% 3 4 0 0 2 1 3 33%

UVA’s student section has also been know to try to use “cheersheets” like the Cameron Crazies do, but their cheers are often lame, unoriginal garbage, much like their student body. Here is an excerpt from a UVA cheersheet that the DC Sports Bog on washingtonpost.com got a hold of last year:
“As we all know, Maryland fans are thugs. They probably don't even own a tie, never mind a blazer, and chants such as "You are all thugs," and "We don't riot," are perfect. Other parts of the cheersheet include making fun of Vasquez’s big nose and calling Mike Joes a nobody. Hardly a nobody.

The other thing wrong with UVA’s student section is something they can’t control, which is their arena. Their old venue got a lot more sound out of it and was a much harder place to play. Their new arena, in which they try to copy Maryland’s Comcast Center, except sans the ability of the place to be loud and intimidating like Comcast is, doesn’t have the same effect as their old court.

Here’s UVA’s student section score, which is what I’ll use to evaluate each school’s student section:

Attendance of students at all games (1-10) – 7
Creativity of student cheers (1-10) – 4
Intensity of students at games (1-10) – 8.5
Ability of arena to get loud (including proximity of students to court) – 8
Ability to united student section in cheers, movements, etc. – 9

Total score = 36.5/50

People are finally realizing what I’ve said all along…

J.J. Redick isn’t an NBA talent. Sorry folks. He’s a lights out shooter and the ACC’s leading scorer, but in the NBA, he’s outsized, less athletic, bad at defense and not as fast as the competition he faces. And those are things you can’t teach. JJ made himself a good player by making up for his lack of size, athletic ability, and speed by improving on other skills hat anyone can learn – such as shooting 3’s. Although you can get by doing that in College Basketball, that shit don’t fly in the NBA.
Hence, on most nights, you’ll see a “Did not play – Coach’s Decision” next to JJ’s name in the box score. And I applaud Orlando’s coach Stan Van Gundy for letting JJ rot away on the bench. Now JJ wants out of Orlando. He’s quietly bitching and moaning about not playing. You can read more about it here in an article the Orlando Sentinel recently did.

Sorry JJ. When it comes to playing in the NBA, it’s REDICKulous to think you should be an everyday player. If the Magic we’re sucking this year, I’d say sure, play JJ and let him embarrass himself on a daily basis. But the Magic are doing good, so I think Stan Van Gundy should be coach of the year in the NBA. He’s got the Magic playing great AND knows how much JJ sucks and keeps him on the bench.
As long as you’re airballing on shots like this below JJ, you should continue being the Magic’s #1 bench warmer.

Think of the Children!!!

Ah, mocking the 18-1 Pats...it never gets old. Don't you just wish the NFL would punish Bill B. for spygate and for walking off the field early by making him go to these third world nations and hand out these shirts? Oh, sweet poetic justice that would be!
As most of you know, during each major championship game, there are two shirts and hats made so they can have them on hand after the game for each team that wins. It was often a mystery as to what happened to the shirts of the losing team until a sports journalists was in Africa a few years back and saw hundreds of Buffalo Bills Super Bowl Champion tee shirts. Once the word got out that the NFL is a good samaritian and donates the losing team's incorrect merchendise to poor third world countries, I was just waiting for pictures of the 19-0 Patriots shirts to surface. Today, on this glorious Friday, my wish has come true!


The clown pointing at the shirt is freaking hilarious.



And now, I leave you with an inspirational poster...
You stay classy, Bilacheat.

Hey hey! Ho ho! The Pats are not 19 and 0!

Another HILARIOUS Patriots 19-0 item that was made prematurely. A real post will be coming soon, I promise. If the Pats had gone 19-0, I probably would have enjoyed this ad a lot more because it made fun of the 72 Dolphins, who I hate.

19 and NO!

I'll have a much more detailed description of the Pats loss last night up soon. But until then, I HAD to post this weblink that my friend Mike sent me. It might not be up too much longer, so the screen shoot is below and a better up close view is under that.



The item description is good too:

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25 Years of Hating

Today I celebrate the 25th anniversary of me!

Yes, I know what you’re thinking – what is he writing about? Who cares that he turns 25 today? Its true, no ones comes to this blog to read about my feelings, unless they are somehow connected to that of a sports team. But now that I’m a quarter of a century old, I thought I’d turn this blog into more of a personal reflection of my life…

Just kidding!

The reason I bring up the 25th anniversary of my birth is that it is also, ironically, the 25th anniversary of the Super Bowl XVII champion Washington Redskins, who as you have probably guessed by now, I don’t like very much. Many of you probably don’t know (and I didn’t know until recently), that the 1982 season was actually cut short by a player strike and the NFL extended the regular season into January of 1983 and created a 16 team playoff tournament. Pretty crazy, isn’t it? The Baltimore Colts were one of the few teams who didn’t make the playoffs that year as they were 0-8-1. You can read more about it here.

My Mom has told me on many occasions that I sat in the hospital bed with her and watched the Redskins win Super Bowl XVII. It is so ironic that my first experience with sports had to be the sadness of the Skins winning a Super Bowl. But that wasn’t the worst part about 1983…
It began by the Colts having the first pick in the NFL draft that year, after finishing as I mentioned earlier, 0-8-1. I think I remember folks telling me that the Colts owner at the time, Robert Irsay, who was an alcoholic jackass, was mad that Baltimore hadn’t given him a new stadium so he basically made the team suck to spite them. More about this later, but Irsay was basically taking a page out of the movie “Major League” and from that Simpsons episode where they want to move the Isotopes (which I think was there way to poke fun at Irsay and the way he denied moving the Colts to Indy all along)




In the 1983 draft, the Colts selected John Elway. Elway, being the douchebag that he is (as far as I’m concerned he can rot in hell with Robert Irsay), threatened to not play in the NFL if the Colts didn’t trade him because he didn’t want to play in Baltimore. He said if he wasn’t traded, he would pursue his Major League Baseball Career with, guess who, the New York Yankees. So the Colts traded Mr. D-Bag to Denver and that continued a chain of events that resulted in the Colts sneaking out of Baltimore in the middle of the night on March 29th, 1984, at 3:00 A.M. in Mayflower Trucks.



So although I started writing this with the intention of talking about why I hate the Redskins, I ended up ranting about the Colts and why people should hate them. And don’t tell me that Art Modell did the same thing to Cleveland when he moved to Baltimore, because he didn’t. In short, Art left Cleveland’s history, name and colors in Cleveland and guaranteed an expansion team to the city. The Irsay’s on the other hand stole the Colts’ history in Baltimore and even though they agreed to support Baltimore in getting an expansion team, they backed out at the last minute and supported…Jacksonville. Yes Jacksonville, who despite making the playoffs, still can’t sell out their own stadium. Good move NFL. I rant about this in a previous post if you want more info. I think if Indy really wants to close the door on this whole thing, all they have to do is give Baltimore back the history they deserve. Did you know that John Unitas, may he rest in peace, had all mentions of his name in the NFL hall of fame removed because the bastard Irsay family said that he played for the Indianapolis Colts? He was so mad that it said he played for Indy and not Baltimore that he had his names removed from the hall of fame. If that doesn’t make you hate the Irsay family, I don’t know what will.

Anyway, on this day of my birth, I celebrate the Redskins’ Super Bowl Irony as well as the start of the long death of the Colts in Baltimore. I leave you with this – The Baltimore Colts Fight Song. You can listen to it here. Check out that page for other great information about the BALTIMORE Colts past!



Let's go you Baltimore Colts,
And put that ball across the line!
So, drive on you Baltimore Colts,
Go in and strike like lightning bolts!
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!
Rear up you Colts and let's fight!
Crash through and show them your might!
For Baltimore and Maryland,
You will march on to victory!

Rediscovering my hatred for JJ

As a Maryland fan, you probably hate JJ Redick. I tend to say I “hate” people or things a lot (name of this blog) but I don’t actually “hate” them per se. But JJ is different – I actually hate his guts. I hate everything about him. He was a freaking jerk while at Duke and thought he was better than anyone else. That’s why I don’t feel bad when I hear about how his cell phone number was discovered by Maryland students and prank called a million times. That’s why I don’t care that people made signs about his sister, which I think is hilarious. And I'm not the only one hating on him...type "hate" and "jj redick" into a google search and you get 27,600 hits. That's a lot of hating. So you don't want to just hop on the band wagon of JJ hating and you'd like another reason - how about HORRIBLE poetry? ?

When it happened, I couldn’t decide if I hated the Orlando Magic for drafting JJ or not, but I think I might love them now because they basically bench JJ on a nightly basis. And why? BECAUSE HE CAN’T PLAY IN THE NBA! Check out some proof:




All the other first round picks from 2006 are actually contributing to their teams. The only thing JJ is doing is contributing to the warmth of Orlando’s bench. So you might ask, where did all of this renewed hatred come from?
It came from this blog. And whose blog is this you might ask? The blog of JJ Redick himself. Oh mercy, if you’re looking for something funny, PLEASE read it. There are some great things in there, including JJ crying about not playing enough, his top magazines that he reads (including US Weekly – he actually talks about how he likes to follow gossip and how US weekly is the ONLY source for the truth!). Another one of his posts talks about his new year’s plans and how he hates the holiday and how he hates Valentine’s Day because he never seems to have a girlfriend. Just a guess JJ, but maybe it’s the backne or the hideous teeth. Since Orlando is giving you so much money to do nothing, you could probably get both of those taken care of.

The only thing funnier than JJ’s blog itself is reading the comments his regular readers leave him. These people actually THINK they’re friends with JJ. They say things like “Oh, I top three magazines are the same as your top three!” It’s really sad. Actually, sad might not be a strong enough word…pathetic might be more appropriate since it appears JJ hasn’t once replied to the comments of these people.
Anyway, enjoy some long overdue hating/mocking of my most hated basketball player ever, J.J. Redick.

I still hate Gary Parish

Recent email I sent to Gary about an article he wrote in which he was mad Maryland received 1 vote for the Top 25...

Your opinion about Maryland receiving votes will change after they beat Duke on the 27th. The Top 25 is so much more a reflection of how a team is playing now vs. what they've done in the past. You're not making your poll as if Maryland lost to American this week. That was several weeks ago. Face it Gary, despite your hatred of Maryland, they're playing better and better as the season goes on. Granted, they're probably not a top 25 team yet, especially with 7 losses, but I thought the Top 25 was based on how teams have come together to this point in the season? Maryland is not the same team that lost to American. Gist is playing like a All-ACC senior forward, Osby stepped it up, Vasquez is controlling himself more, Milbourn is finally finding his roll and the bench has played great, especially with the recent play of Bowie and Cliff Tucker. And they've done this without Eric Hayes being 100%/not playing. This team is better now Gary. If you just beat the team everyone thought was #1, and on their home court, you're clearly playing good basketball to this point, and probably deserve some consideration for the top 25, which is why I don't have a problem with Maryland receiving 1 vote thus far. They should be allowed to continue to climb as long as they continue to win. What will you do if they beat Duke on the 27th Gary? Still talk about the loss to American and Ohio? Teams can either get better as the season goes on or get worse. We'll learn a lot about Maryland on Sunday. If they keep up this play, they should continue to receive more and more votes. They've proven they can hang with the best though Gary. Give credit where credit is due and give this team SOME respect, especially if they continue to win.

This is why I hate the Media

So every time a media person brings up Maryland sports, the ineviately bring up rioting at Maryland, as if "Oh my God, they're the only school that does that they should be sent to hell!"

NEWSFLASH! IT HAPPENS AT EVERY MAJOR SCHOOL ACROSS THE COUNTRY!

Case an point - Columbus, Ohio last night, following Ohio State's loss to LSU. 15 fires were reported in Columbus. But does this make the front of ESPN.com or CNNSI.com? No. Its buried in the back of a CBSSPortsline.com story (http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/10565213). If this happened at Maryland, I guarantee it would be front page nationally. And at Maryland, we only had one BIG bonfire on Frat row, not 15 like OSU had last night!

What in the wide, wide, world of sports is going on here?

So after being assured that his job was safe through 2008, Brian Billick was fired by the Ravens this week. I must admit, this came as a fairly big shock to me and I still don’t know how I feel about it. Billick can coach and if you don’t think he can, ask yourself how many Super Bowl rings you have and how many he does. Billick was wrongfully labeled an “offensive guru” because he was the offensive coordinator for the Vikings team that put up what was at the time, the record for points scored in an NFL season. In reality, Billick just had an awesome offensive team that made him look like the guru that people still like to call him. He played to his team’s strength and rode our defense all the way to the Super Bowl XXXV title. He did say “I know quarterbacks” but part of the blame for Baltimore’s quarterback turnstile has to be placed on Ozzie Newsome an his inability to rate/value not only quarterbacks, but also wide receivers. The Ravens are great at evaluating talent on the defensive side of the ball, as well as on the O-Line and running back. But if they were half as good at evaluating wide receiver and quarterback talent as they are when it comes to defensive talent, we’d be as dominant as the patriots currently are.
The biggest problem I’ve had with Billick is the lack of discipline that the Ravens have on the field and off of it. Throwing an official’s flag into the stands, no matter how frustrating, shouldn’t be tolerated, and Billick should have disciplined him and didn’t. It was almost as if he was afraid to do so. If that was the case, then it was definitely time for Brian to go.

Mr. Bisciotti’s decision to fire Billick is probably a good thing overall, but there are bad things associated with it. He shouldn’t have said Billick’s job was safe. Period. But even though he did, he still made what was probably the right move if you want the Ravens to be winning next year. Now how kosher that move was is another story. I think Mr. Bisciotti issued that vow of confidence because he is Brian Billick’s friend and he thought he could right the sinking Ravens ship in 2008. I think he was thinking with his heart and not as an owner of the team. He finally realized on the morning of December 30th that as the owner of the Ravens, he needed to do what was right for the Ravens, even if that hurt and went against everything he wanted to do as a friend of Brian’s. From what people have said, several players no longer listened to what Billick said. One of those players was probably someone I use to admire and speak very highly of, so that is why its so hard to say this – I wish Ray Lewis was no longer a Raven.

This guy has the audacity to question all of these coaching decisions because he wants the Ravens to do what Ray wants. Guess what Ray, you’re a middle linebacker, not a coach. If you want to coach, hang up your cleats and coach. But don’t you dare call out your quarterback, coach and then not play in the last game because of a “broken finger.” I bet if Rex Ryan was your head coach you’d would have been playing against Pittsburgh. The Ravens aren’t paying you to talk or criticize Ray – they’re paying you as the best middle linebacker to ever play the game. So shut up and play. You got Brian out of Baltimore, so shut your yap. You’ve already had way to much influence on who has played in Baltimore (Deion Sanders, Steve McNair, etc) and it hasn’t worked out. Shut up Ray and play.


I wish Brian Billick the best of luck wherever he ends up and part of me almost hopes the Ravens go 0-16 next year. I’m often embarrassed to be a Baltimore sports fan because of how fast the fans here will turn on their team. Billick wins a super bowl and people are kissing his feet. Then he struggles and people think they’re Vince Lombardi and start criticizing things they have no knowledge about. Do you idiots not remember why the Colts left Baltimore in the first place? Its partially because Baltimore’s fair-weather fans stopped going to the games when the team was down! Granted, Irsay (may he continue to rot in Hell) didn’t put a good product on the field, but still, Baltimore’s “what have you done for me lately” attitude prevails until this day.

I’m not saying Billick shouldn’t have been fired, because it was clear that this group of players need a different message, but some of the players acted and said things the helped get him fired, and I don’t think that is right.