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!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
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.
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.
Monday, April 7, 2008
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
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 re
cruits 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.
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 re
cruits 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.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
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.
More sports related stuff coming shortly! In the meantime, check out the conversation with my friend Chris over at the other blog.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
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.
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.
Monday, March 24, 2008
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.
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