Thursday, March 26, 2009
How clean is your house?
I have found a new show (its not new, just new to me) on the BBC "How clean is your house" Its about these two British Ladies, Kim and Agie, going into peoples filth holes and helping them clean them up and teaching them how to properly clean their houses. These houses are just complete shambles, filth doesnt describe the rat droppings, mold, traash, trash, trash, trash, trash, and more trash in these peoples houses. How do people live like this and even worse some of these people have kids living with them some even young. How has noone done anything to punish these people for making kids live in it.. its cruelty. Just watch one episode and you will puke, be disgusted, and maybe liek me enthralled to watch over and over again. It is on at 4pm and 430pm everyday Monday through Friday on the BBC. Watch an episode and tell me what you think and if you are as disgusted as me.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Hall of Fame worth???
Yesterday one of the best clutch pitchers of my generation retired. Curt Schilling most recently of the Boston Red Sox called it a career after battling many injuries the past year or two. The current debate is whether his career is hall of fame worthy or not.
First to determine whether or not he belongs in the hall you need to determine what credentials one must have. So lets look at Curt's career. After bouncing around between Balitmore and Houstons majors and farm systems for a few years he joined the Philadelphia Phillies in 1992. He was by no means expected to have a great career but was expected to be OK. He went and pitched 16 seasons with the Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Boston Redsoxs. He finished his career with 216 wins, 3116 strickouts, 3 20+winning seasons, 3 300k seasons, and all doing this with 7 seasons of under 100 innings pitched because of countless injuries. The telling stats are his postseason numbers. He made it to 4 world series. One with the Philles and Diamondbacks and 2 with the RedSoxs. He had an 11-2 record, 120 strikeouts in 133.1 innings pitched, had a 2.23 ERA, and had a under .215 opponenants batting average. His record is the best all time among pitchers starting at least 10 postseason games.
Now to break those stats down... He was dominant when healthy. When people say he didnt win 300 games and that is the goal for HofF pitchers one should think what he was on pace to win without injuries. He also reached the magical 3000k's mark even being hurt so often. Then you look at how he carried so many teams through the playoffs. With out him the Diamondbacks probably would not have won their wrold series title. He was mister clutch performer coming in with great pitching performances in the most important times. Taking out the drama of the bloody sock night and he still went out injured and threw 6 shutout innings in a must win game for the RedSox.
So take him out of the equation for his teams and do they win... one wouldnt know but my best guess is no. He was so important in performance and also as a club house guy that his presence was very important. Does he deserve the Hall nod??? I say yes yes yes because stats are important and he has them but also importance should play just as important of a role with the voters. And he was one of the most important figures in baseball for so many years.
First to determine whether or not he belongs in the hall you need to determine what credentials one must have. So lets look at Curt's career. After bouncing around between Balitmore and Houstons majors and farm systems for a few years he joined the Philadelphia Phillies in 1992. He was by no means expected to have a great career but was expected to be OK. He went and pitched 16 seasons with the Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Boston Redsoxs. He finished his career with 216 wins, 3116 strickouts, 3 20+winning seasons, 3 300k seasons, and all doing this with 7 seasons of under 100 innings pitched because of countless injuries. The telling stats are his postseason numbers. He made it to 4 world series. One with the Philles and Diamondbacks and 2 with the RedSoxs. He had an 11-2 record, 120 strikeouts in 133.1 innings pitched, had a 2.23 ERA, and had a under .215 opponenants batting average. His record is the best all time among pitchers starting at least 10 postseason games.
Now to break those stats down... He was dominant when healthy. When people say he didnt win 300 games and that is the goal for HofF pitchers one should think what he was on pace to win without injuries. He also reached the magical 3000k's mark even being hurt so often. Then you look at how he carried so many teams through the playoffs. With out him the Diamondbacks probably would not have won their wrold series title. He was mister clutch performer coming in with great pitching performances in the most important times. Taking out the drama of the bloody sock night and he still went out injured and threw 6 shutout innings in a must win game for the RedSox.
So take him out of the equation for his teams and do they win... one wouldnt know but my best guess is no. He was so important in performance and also as a club house guy that his presence was very important. Does he deserve the Hall nod??? I say yes yes yes because stats are important and he has them but also importance should play just as important of a role with the voters. And he was one of the most important figures in baseball for so many years.
Monday, March 16, 2009
The Music World.. where would it be today
I was listening to some FooFighters the other day and it began to make me think. Where would the music world be today if so many of the greats of different eras had not met an early demise. Lennon, Joplin, Hendrix, Cobain, etc... So many to name. I am a huge fan of the FooFighters and would they even exsist today if Nirvana wasnt forced to break up after the untimely passing of their lead. Dave Grohl might still be just a drummer in NIrvana. Also would certain passing stars music be looked at the same if they hadnt passed. Joplin and Hendrix are even more loved today than when they were alive. Its like the old saying somehow goes.. an artist or painter is not really famous until they die. Would the Beetles have had a reunion tour (I hope not).
Just some random thoughts on some music... what do you think?
Just some random thoughts on some music... what do you think?
Friday, March 13, 2009
MM-aRch Madness
WMMR is doing their anual MM-aRch Madness tournie which pits bands against one another. They play two songs from each band and then let the listeners call in and text in votes for who is better. Then they move on. They are grouped into the 70's bracket, 80's, 90's and 00's. I really enjoy this yearly event and find it exciting to see the comparisons on which bands are more popular than others. As always the debate rages on how bands like Pearl Jam gets knocked out by Tool, David Bowe beats the Rolling Stones, and U2 looses to the likes of Ozzy. It just shows how some fans are really passionate of certain musical acts. I personally even find myself texting in who I want to win every so often. I believe with who is left that the final four bands remaining will be Green Day out of the 90's bracket, Zeppelin out of the 70's, AC/DC out of the 80's and the FooFighters out of the 00's, with AC/DC winning the whole thing. Check out there site and see which upsets are the biggest and who should win and let me know.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Cheating in sports
My good friend Brian O'Rourke brought up a good topic on his blog recently about cheating and telling our youth it is ok to cheat (not that he supports it just about something he read of someone who does). It really got me furious and made me start typing. My blogs might not be the most well written but they will clearly tell you how I feel....
It boggles my mind as a big sports fan and a person who loves competition why people cheat or do not play honestly. A big example of this is the current issue with steriods in sports. The problem I have is yes baseball has cracked down and is trying to rid the game of it which I applaud but why is it ok to use them in football. In football a person like Shawn Merriman of the San Diego Chargers was found to have used performance enhancing drugs. He was suspended for 4 games (which is the NFL rule for first time offenders). The whole time all anyone spoke of the situation was about how him returning from the suspension would help the team win more games. Nothing was mentioned once about how he cheated or how this shows a total disrespect for the game. What kind of example is this setting for the youth of America? Whether they like it or not athletes are role models. Cheating of anysort should be treated much more sternly....
Another example is of Albert Haynesworth now of the Washington Redskins. Several years ago while playing with the Tenessee Titans he stomped on the head of an opposing player while that player was down on the ground and defenseless. Yes, the other player was wearing a helmet but still he was hurt severely. What was the result of this? A less than sufficient suspension and after two years Albert signs a 7 year 100 million dollar contract. Yes he was rewarded with 100 million bucks for stomping on a defenseless person. Yet again showing the youth that it is ok to cheat or bend the rules because if doing so puts you ontop of the sport you will be financially rewarded for it.
Back to baseball for a second. Yes Alex Rodriguez was found to use PED's and he will face the boo's of the crowds for years to come but when he hits a walk off homerun later this year (or anyother awesome play) he will be cheered and cheered. He still is earning in excess of 20 million dollars a year. So as long as he can take the booing it doesn't matter because he still will have more money than he needs for a long time.... I am not against athletes making millions of dollars, because it is what it is, the pro athlete paycheck.
Pete Rose bet on baseball as a manager (I'm sure he did when he played too but wasn't caught) and was caught. He is banned from the game forever. Arguably the best hitter of all time cannot enter the hall of fame because of his mistakes. This is OK in my book because he broke rules, cheated, whatever you want to call it. So now why is he banned and others get away with so much.
So in summation what I am trying to say is that the professional sport athletes are telling the youth today it is ok to cheat. They are role models for our youth and need to represent as such. The penalties are not nearly harsh enough to make someone not cheat because cheating could put someone at the top of a sport and make a crap load of money.. that is what every youth wants (to be the best).
It boggles my mind as a big sports fan and a person who loves competition why people cheat or do not play honestly. A big example of this is the current issue with steriods in sports. The problem I have is yes baseball has cracked down and is trying to rid the game of it which I applaud but why is it ok to use them in football. In football a person like Shawn Merriman of the San Diego Chargers was found to have used performance enhancing drugs. He was suspended for 4 games (which is the NFL rule for first time offenders). The whole time all anyone spoke of the situation was about how him returning from the suspension would help the team win more games. Nothing was mentioned once about how he cheated or how this shows a total disrespect for the game. What kind of example is this setting for the youth of America? Whether they like it or not athletes are role models. Cheating of anysort should be treated much more sternly....
Another example is of Albert Haynesworth now of the Washington Redskins. Several years ago while playing with the Tenessee Titans he stomped on the head of an opposing player while that player was down on the ground and defenseless. Yes, the other player was wearing a helmet but still he was hurt severely. What was the result of this? A less than sufficient suspension and after two years Albert signs a 7 year 100 million dollar contract. Yes he was rewarded with 100 million bucks for stomping on a defenseless person. Yet again showing the youth that it is ok to cheat or bend the rules because if doing so puts you ontop of the sport you will be financially rewarded for it.
Back to baseball for a second. Yes Alex Rodriguez was found to use PED's and he will face the boo's of the crowds for years to come but when he hits a walk off homerun later this year (or anyother awesome play) he will be cheered and cheered. He still is earning in excess of 20 million dollars a year. So as long as he can take the booing it doesn't matter because he still will have more money than he needs for a long time.... I am not against athletes making millions of dollars, because it is what it is, the pro athlete paycheck.
Pete Rose bet on baseball as a manager (I'm sure he did when he played too but wasn't caught) and was caught. He is banned from the game forever. Arguably the best hitter of all time cannot enter the hall of fame because of his mistakes. This is OK in my book because he broke rules, cheated, whatever you want to call it. So now why is he banned and others get away with so much.
So in summation what I am trying to say is that the professional sport athletes are telling the youth today it is ok to cheat. They are role models for our youth and need to represent as such. The penalties are not nearly harsh enough to make someone not cheat because cheating could put someone at the top of a sport and make a crap load of money.. that is what every youth wants (to be the best).
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