A-Rod: Still lying and cheating

It turns out the liar and cheater is an even bigger liar and cheater, including lying about cheating. Am I surprised? Not even a little bit.

A-Roid Book Bombshell

The significant details are that he's been juicing from high school until he was a Yankee, putting to bed the ridiculous notion that he "only" cheated for a few years with the Rangers. Now, I don't usually wish ill on other athletes, even ones I hate. But A-Roid deserves every bad thing that happens to him forever. He was an incredible athlete who had no need to cheat, and yet he did it anyway*. He blatantly lied about the cheating, even after he was caught dead to rights. I also love the Yankee fans who couldn't forgive him fast enough. "It's okay, because he admitted it!" was an actual Facebook post I read from a Yankee fan. Is it still okay, pinstripers? What more does he have to do to prove that he is a vile, despicable human being? Where's the line? Everyone should be done with this chump. Everyone.

* Or maybe he wasn't actually any good to begin with. This was always my biggest gripe with Barry Bonds roiding up--Bonds was a phenomenal baseball player before he ever touched drugs. If he stayed clean and played out his career, there is no doubt that he would have been regarded as one of the top five players of all time. Sure, maybe he would have ended up with "only" 600 homers if he didn't hit the juice. But he could run, he could field, he could do it all...he was the epitome of a five tool player. And he threw that all away just so he could turn the McGwire-Sosa "chicks dig the long ball" spotlight squarely on himself. I can understand why a guy struggling to make a roster would consider trying to get an edge. That at least makes sense on some level. But Bonds? Why? I don't get it. Which brings us back to A-Roid, whom I thought was in the same situation, which would have made his cheating just as stupid, if not moreso, depending on the time table. But now comes word that he has been doing this since high school, in which case he might never have been good enough to begin with. Maybe Chem-Free Alex is a fringe major leaguer, just a utility infielder. Obviously his massive, bordering-on-mentally-ill mind and ego never could have handled that. But now one thing is clear: we will never know the whole truth about A-Roid. And that's fine, because he is 100% dead to me. He's a mincing, prancing, self-obsessed, cheating phony, and not trading for him is the best transaction the Red Sox have ever been near. Getting him would have been worse than trading away Bagwell.

(P.S. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that his own Yankee teammates apparently nicknamed him "Bitch Tits" because the chemicals caused such an absurd change in his pecs. This is unfortunate, because it is a really horrible moniker and it is one that is absolutely going to be hurled at him from many places and people, including drunken fans at Fenway Park.)

(P.P.S. I think my favorite part of his comments today is the genuine enthusiasm he musters at the current Yankee two game "winning streak." Do I need to mention that their payroll is once again north of $200 million? Ladies and gentlemen, the third place finishers in the AL East in 2008, and on pace to be entrenched there once again...your New York Yankees!)

They sure did

Did Hometown Refs Benefit Bulls?

Yeah. Yeah, they did. It was awful. I actually had to do something else while watching the game, because the way NBA playoff games are officiated is so infuriating. It's small consolation to hear that clearly the game was, in fact, a complete bag job. But very small. There were probably five calls against the Celtics in the late fourth quarter and the overtimes that were outright fabrications--defensive fouls when replays showed no contact, offensive fouls that were beyond ridiculous, you name it. Maybe more. Throw in another 5-10 borderline calls that went against Boston and it made me want to throw a brick through the TV. And the Celtics still almost won. Absurd. I know that we're not winning the title this year. The painful part is that it doesn't matter how well we play. The NBA Finals will feature LeBron James vs. Kobe Bryant. The rest of the league doesn't even need to bother trying, and honestly, as far as the league cares, the rest of the Cavs and Lakers could sit this one out too. They might as well have Bron-Bron and Mamba play seven games of one-on-one. It's despicable.

Boo!

Teixeira Expects To Be Booed At Fenway Tonight

No shit.

The Boston Globe proposes another idea: that fans simply turn their backs and give him the silent treatment. While this sounds different, and is some attempt at taking the moral high road, I'm not interested. Sports is the last place in which booing is thoroughly acceptable, and if I had a ticket tonight, I would boo Teixeira until my throat was raw. He's a fake, overpaid, money-grubbing douchebag who acts like the Red Sox somehow did him wrong during their courtship of him, when apparently he, or at least his wife, had every intent of simply signing with the Yankees all along anyway. Just like A-Rod, this seems to be a case in which I wanted the guy at the time, but was then ecstatic that the Sox didn't end up with him. He enters tonight hitting .222, for the record, despite the fact that balls have been flying out of the new Yankee stadium at a record pace. By the way, there are plenty of really good seats available to see last year's third place finishers in the AL East if you are so inclined. Have I mentioned that Teixeira has never finished in the top 5 for MVP voting, has never been out of the first round of the playoffs, and still got $180 million? Nice.

But I digress. The booing. It's not just for Doucheface. It's for anyone that puts on the pinstripes, period. And I mean that. If my own mother discovered that she has a nasty slider and is death on righties and the Yanks signed her as an 8th inning relief specialist, I would boo the hell out of her if she came in to pitch a tie game at Fenway. I love you, Mom, but I totally would. If any of my friends played for the Yankees? BOOOOOOOOO. The only scenario I can come up with that might even provide the slightest hint of conflict is if my son got drafted by them. And honestly, I don't know what I would do then. Demand a trade, probably.

But anyone else? There is no high road. If you're in the pinstripes at Fenway, you are the enemy. Period. I wish that booing was socially acceptable in lots more situations: poor service in restaurants, when the blackjack dealer keeps pulling five card 21s, and pretty much any trip to the DMV, just for starters. But I feel no need or inclination to make some highbrow attempt at being perceived as a "better" fan. Mark Teixeira led us on with no intention of ever signing with us in order to extract the most cash that he could, and then he signed with our hated rivals. If that's not worthy of our vocal derision at the ballpark, then nothing is.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Fantasy baseball draft #2

I haven't watched ER in years but I decided to check in for the retrospective and the swan song on Thursday night. Coupled with Survivor, this meant that I'd be spending several consecutive hours sitting around not doing much. Perfect opportunity to participate in another fantasy baseball draft! I jumped onto ESPN and randomly joined a league with their standard settings: ten team mixed 5X5 draft. I got the first pick. Here's how it went.

1. Hanley Ramirez. Positional scarcity, steals, stud. What's not to like?
2. Dustin Pedroia. All of the above, plus now I at least own him in one league.
3. Lance Berkman. Solid, and I needed the most reliable power guy left on the board.
4. Matt Holliday. I think he is an outright steal with the 40th pick in the draft. People are acting like he's just going to die outside of Coors Field, and that is not happening.
5. Brandon Webb. As reliable as starters get.
6. David Ortiz. I thought this was a good spot to roll the dice on a return to form. If he gets hurt I can replace him with anyone since he is only eligible as a utility guy now.
7. Magglio Ordonez.
8. Joakim Soria. The Mexicutioner is probably the best nickname in baseball.
9. Jon Lester. He can absolutely win the Cy Young if the big 2008-09 innings pitched bump doesn't bite him.
10. Chris Young, OF, AZ. Solid 20-20 guy and I can handle his lower batting average.
11. Rich Harden. Rolling the dice for maximum return makes a ton of sense in these 10 team mixed leagues.
12. Victor Martinez. Stud or injury bust. I don't see a lot of middle ground.
13. Chone Figgins. 40 steals at a corner slot is nice.
14. Xavier Nady. He has to produce as a Yankee regular, right?
15. Ricky Nolasco. Breakout year coming up.
16. Kevin Gregg. Has been lights out, but I should handcuff him with Marmol now.
17. Carlos Guillen. Unsexy, solid player.
18. Shin-Soo Choo. I'm going with Matthew Berry on this one.
19. Chad Qualls. Great cheap closer.
20. Rickie Weeks. Always a chance he could put it all together, and if not backup middle infielder is an easy fill.
21. Carlos Marmol. A bit of a reach this early but I have the Cubs closers covered and I like having a high strikeout middle man to run out there every day. Should buzzard some wins and end up with saves as well.
22. Wandy Rodriguez. There were tons of decent fantasy 5th starter types left. I like the upside and I like the K rate.
23. Brad Ziegler. Steal. Joey Devine may be out for the year.
24. Elijah Dukes. More of that breakout upside I was looking for.
25. Johnny Cueto.

Obviously I was really aggressive with some of these picks, but if even half of them work out then my team will be absolutely stacked. It's a "just for fun" league with no prizes and nobody I know playing, but I figure since I had all my draft scouting done...why not?

I may sneak in one more draft before the weekend ends.

Baseball auction recap

Fantasy baseball geekery of the highest order ahead; proceed at your own risk.

On Monday night I had an auction draft for a first year fantasy baseball league. Actually, it isn't my first time playing with these guys. Most of them are friends with my wife from college and I've been playing in their leagues for a few years now. But this was the first time we switched from heads-up scoring to straight Roto, and more importantly, the first time we did an auction instead of a draft. All good things. We also use not just four, or even five, but six categories each for hitting and pitching, adding OPS and holds to the standard 5X5 format.

I didn't come in with one firm plan in mind, because that can often be a road to ruin if your fellow owners don't cooperate. Instead, I thought there were two likely scenarios on how this would go with a bunch of guys that have never participated in a baseball auction before: either people would be gun shy, and there would be great buys early, or they would throw money around like drunken sailors on shore leave during the draft's early moments.

It was mostly the latter.

I had designs on grabbing one of the top three players on my board: Hanley Ramirez, Albert Pujols, or David Wright, and I was prepared to spend $40 of my $260 budget on one. That didn't happen, as each name was thrown out very early and they sold for $42, $45, and $43 respectively. Jose Reyes, Ryan Braun, and Miguel Cabrera quickly joined the $40 club as well, and I bought none of them. Time to adjust the strategy on the fly. I had a master list of top hitters broken up into two tiers. I was immediately shut out of my tier one guys, but many of my stud tier twos remained. I entered the draft planning on getting at least three of them. I proceeded to happily double that.

Who would have guessed that my first purchase would wear the dreaded pinstripes? For $34, come on down, Mark Teixeira. Sure, I hate him, but he is going to rake balls into that short porch in right and he will post elite numbers in five categories. Next up: Astros 1B Lance Berkman for $33, an outright steal at that price compared to what his slugging brethren were fetching. I don't expect steals in the high teens again, but as long as he is mostly healthy he will fill up all six offensive categories nicely. My third acquisition was Dodgers OF Matt Kemp for $26, and that's the last time for a long time that he will be going for sub-$30 in any league. He hits, his power is ticking up, he swipes bags (35 steals last year) and now he will be in a lineup with Manny Ramirez for an entire season. Kemp is also all of 24 years old. Boom.

I grabbed Evan Longoria shortly thereafter, loving his upside at the hot corner for $30. I gritted my teeth and watched my beloved Dustin Pedroia go for the same price. I love Dusty--I mean, he's a Sun Devil and a Red Sock, come on!--but I just couldn't pay the frieght on that. I really hope he proves me wrong. Diamondbacks starter Dan Haren became my first pitcher, and the key to my staff. I planned to load up on cheap pitchers later and did exactly that, but I needed one reliable guy. Haren fit the bill.

Steals are often a tough category to manage, and if you don't come away with them on draft day they can be particularly difficult to acquire, so I had every intention of coming away with a number I thought would put me in the top 3-4 in the league. I did that and then some, grabbing Dreamy Jacoby Ellsbury and soon-to-bounce-back superstar Carl Crawford. Those two alone should tally over 100 combined thefts this year. I grabbed some great cheap speed as well: Rangers rookie Elvis Andrus and Astros' 2B Kaz Matusi should combine for over 50 and they cost me just a buck each.

Everything sounds great so far, right? Not so fast. In the early and mid-early rounds, I kept grabbing offensive studs at reasonable rates. Kevin Youkilis, come on down. Jason Bay with a full season in Fenway? Yes, please! This was all great, but before I knew it, I was down to less than $20 with about 16 spots to fill. In a way, I had hoped that this would become my strategy all along, for a few reasons. First, I was prepared for the "$1 endgame" of the draft, and that worked out as well as I could have hoped, as the only thing close to a $1 reach was my backup catcher--I got both of my backstops for a buck each, in fact. But at the end, there were plenty of players left that I would have been happy to add to my squad, exactly as I thought there would be. I cornered the market on the Red Sox 5th starter slot by grabbing the entire trio of Brad Penny, Clay Buchholz, and John Smoltz for a buck a pop. I'll shelve Smoltz on the DL and maybe stash Clay on my bench for a bit to see how things play out. He has been lights out this spring, and his upside if he grabs a full time rotation spot could be a gigantic difference-maker. Some of my end game $1 pickups that I think will be worth much more than what I paid: Chris Ray, Juan Rivera, Hideki Okajima, and Damaso Marte, to name a few.

I predicted that middle relievers would be undervalued, even with holds as a category, and they were. Does it really take much to figure out that closers have less value than ever when saves are only 1/12th of a team's score? I guess it does, because mediocre closers went for double and triple the prices paid to great middle men. I only have one legit 40 save closer right now, but I plan to play the waiver wire like a harp, stream pitchers on and off my roster all season, and trade some steals for what I need in mid summer.

It will be a fun league and an enjoyable season. My team is not an impregnable juggernaut like I thought it might be, but I certainly have strengths to work from. I'll be in the money, and if things break right, I make timely additions, and I swing a key trade or two I think I could be in position to win the whole thing.

Give it up for NBC!

This almost squares us on bagging Studio 60 after one season. Renew Chuck and you're fully back in my good graces, peacock.

Friday Night Lights gets two season renewal

A baseball headline that makes me giddy

Joba's Fastball Still Losing Heat

Obviously I hate Joba Chamberlain. That pretty much goes without saying. But I think he may have set the record for shortest amount of time it took me to outright despise an athlete. Granted, the pinstripes alone got him halfway there, but he was instantly in my "top five hated Yankees" group almost as soon as I knew his name, thanks to his bush league continuous head hunting tactics. It's unreal. This is not like Pedro dusting people off the plate. Joba enjoys throwing the ball as hard as he can at the heads of Red Sox players. If Vegas offered a prop bet on "2009 is the year Kevin Youkilis finally charges the mound and beats Joba Chamberlain within an inch of his life," I would be all over that action. And Josh Beckett would probably be the first one off the bench to help. Aside from seeing A-Rod get destroyed--which I waited for a long time--this is probably the only remaining potential Sox-Yanks brawl that I am actually actively looking forward to. And it's going to happen...assuming Joba can still throw hard enough to make someone angry.

Good day

ASU beats Washington to advance to the Pac-10 Tournament Championship game.

The Red Sox thump the Yanks in a prime time Grapefruit League tilt...which is obviously meaningless, but Big Papi and Mike Lowell went yard, which is definitely not.

And there is word that Friday Night Lights may get renewed for not one, but two more seasons!

That's just a good day all around. And tomorrow is AJ's birthday party and in five days I'm off to Arizona for the annual boys trip. Good times.

Never bored on the net anymore

A while back there was a commercial with a guy surfing on-line and he eventually got the message "you have reached the end of the internet." There were times that I used to feel like that as well--that I had seen and read everything that could possibly interest me. Not anymore. In the last year or two I have discovered tons of new ways to waste time on-line. Most of them involve social networking to one degree or another, which is pretty cool. Here are five of them.

Facebook. Somehow I've become completely addicted to Facebook, and I'm not sure why. I leave it open on my computer constantly and it's the second thing I check (after e-mail) every time I sit down. I love the status updates, the photos of friends, the odd feeling of getting closer to celebrities by being their Facebook friend, and even the people that I haven't talked to in twenty years that somehow tracking me down.

Twitter. This one seeemed a little strange to me at first, but currently I find it pretty interesting: mini updates with a limited number of characters. No rambling notes here, just one or two lines to get your point across. Again, I find Twitter updates from famous people strangely enjoyable to read. I also could absolutely see this site getting old after a few months. We'll see.

Blip.fm. Okay, I just stumbled onto this one (through someone else's Twitter update, naturally): it lets you be your own internet DJ, finding songs and letting you post them along with a brief line or two. It also will automatically send updates to other sites (like Twitter) whenever you post a song. You can also find other cyber-DJs with similar taste. Seems very easy and fun so far.

Plinky. They supply the topics, you supply your answers. I'm hot and cold with this one, but if you're looking for a way to kill a few minutes there have been some pretty cool prompts.

Tumblr. I just discovered this one and haven't tried it out yet, but it looks like a cool way to post all sorts of media. I'll let you know.

I don't know which of these will still hold my interest six months from now, but I bet at least a couple of them will. Okay, I'm off to complete another Facebook note.

eBay update

My eBay decluttering process is off to a rousing start. I first two items each sold on Sunday, with a flurry of bids coming in the final minutes. One has already paid via Paypal. I listed two more items yesterday, and one of those has already sold via the "buy it now" feature, and that lovely buyer elected to pay immediately too. I'm fortunate that A.J. enjoys our little trips to the post office because I am turning into a busy eBay mogul.

Are you looking for a great Bob Dylan double CD? Then check my new listings using the link to the right!

Dejunkification

I'm a pack rat. I don't know why, but I have an incredible desire to hold onto "stuff" that more rational and mature people would simply call "trash." I don't know when or why it started, but it is officially a little out of control, as anyone who has seen my garage or office can attest. For example, within my field of vision right now I have two old VCRs, a large laminated folding road map of Orlando, and an unopened Bob Dylan double CD. Of course it goes without saying that I haven't recorded on a VHS videotape in years, I don't think I have ever driven in Orlando, and I'm not a Bob Dylan fan. At all. So it's time to slowly start doing something about this situation, while benefiting from the process.

How on earth could I possibly do such a thing?

eBay.

I'm going to start selling a couple of items a week and use the proceeds on things that I really shouldn't be spending much money on in the first place, like taking trips or entering poker tournaments. I've got tons of junk, so theoretically this could go on for quite a while, and since all the money used to acquire the objects that I now consider expendable has already been spent, often long ago, the revenue will at least feel like pure profit. My first auctions ends tomorrow.

There is a permanent link on the top right side of this page, so feel free to see what I'm selling...and BID!

Self fulfilling irony

Today I took A.J. to The Wonder Place, a great establishment that has all sorts of cool stuff for kids to play with--slides, toys, a stage, an art room, you name it. It wasn't too crowded, with only a handful of other kids and parents there. One poor little guy about A.J.'s age had a band-aid on his forehead, clearly from some prior fall. As he was playing on a small set of steps in the slide area, the kid took a ridiculous flying backwards header, cracking the back of his skull pretty hard on the floor. He was scared more than anything, and luckily he seemed just fine after a couple of minutes. His mom was completely unfazed, as if she has seen that same move dozens of times before. She had a custom diaper bag with the little tot's name stitched on the side.

The boy's name? Tripp. I'm not even kidding.

Random List of Fives

Five One Word Named Bands That I Like More Than I Used To

1. Boston
2. Journey
3. Heart
4. Kansas
5. Asia

Thanks to Rock Band, mostly.


Five Places I Have Never Been To But Would Love To Visit

1. Australia
2. Hawaii
3. Central and Northern Europe
4. Japan
5. Cabo

My All-NBA Starting Five From My Era As A Fan

1. Magic Johnson, point guard
2. Michael Jordan, shooting guard
3. Larry Bird, small forward
4. Kevin McHale, power forward*
5. Hakeem Olajuwon, center

* I'm pretty sure Kevin McHale is the most underrated player in the history of the NBA. He is certainly the most underrated key member of a team that won three championships. Unfortunately for him, at least regarding how well known and celebrated he is, he happened to play alongside The Greatest Forward That Ever Lived. But people just forget how great McHale was before he got banged up. He had the best assortment of low post moves I've ever seen. He was basically unguardable on the low block. He was a defensive force (All-Defensive first or second team six times). He routinely shot .600 from the floor and .800 from the stripe, grabbed nine or ten boards a game, and blocked a couple of shots. In 1987, just as an example of his awesomeness, he averaged 26 and 10, shot .604 (led league) and .836, and added 2.6 assists and 2.2 blocks per game for good measure. He averaged those 26.1 points while Larry Joe Bird was lighting up the scoreboard with 28.1 a night, and taking far more shots. In fact, McHale finished sixth in the league in points per game that year, but did not even rank in the top 20 in shots taken. That is efficient and it is deadly, and that is what Kevin McHale was. Imagine how much he would have scored on just about any other team. Jordan averaged just over 37 a night that year for a medicore Bulls team, but he also chucked it up about 50% more often than McHale did. What if they just switched teams? MJ tallied 5.2 boards and 4.6 assists per in '87, and those probably would have inched close to Oscar Robertson numbers on the stacked '87 Celts. Meanwhile, McHale might have scored 40 a night if he was the focal point of the Bulls offense. Or any offense, really. He was probably that good.


The Five Websites I Visit Most Often

1. GMail
2. Facebook
3. ESPN
4. Boston Globe sports
5. The Yahoo (or other) stat site for whichever fantasy sports season I happen to be in.

28 awesome things from 2008

There are always tons of "best of" lists right around New Year's Day. Here is one more. Instead of a Top 10, or a Top 100, or anything so rigid and structured, here are just 28 things from 2008 that were awesome. They are not comprehensive, and they are not in any order. But they are awesome.

• Season four of Lost, especially on Blu-Ray.
• The 2008 World Champion Boston Celtics.
• The Dark Knight, especially Heath Ledger's brilliant performance.
• Season three of Dexter.
• Metallica: Death Magnetic and LIVE at Alltel Arena.
• Dustin Pedroia: Sun Devil, Red Sock, and AL MVP.
• Iron Man.
• Tropic Thunder.
• The Robert Downey Jr. resurgence in general.
• Rock Band 2.
• My second straight Chatham Bluefish Diamond Mind baseball championship.
• Scream Queens on VH1.
• Terra Naomi's acoustic hair band covers.
• The fact that a new GNR album actually came out, and it's good.
• Friday Night Lights, and the fact that it is still on TV at all.
  
• Survivor and The Amazing Race still being fairly entertaining.
• Pretty much everything AJ McC does, including his hilarious exploding vocabulary.
• Sierra Mist Free Cranberry Splash. Try some with vodka and thank me later.
• ZaZa pizza in Little Rock. The huge high heat woodburning oven is the key.
• The fact that a new movie theatre (with an Imax screen) opened right down the street, even if I don't get to go there as often as I'd like.
• That a guy who kind of rocks won American Idol.
• The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly.
• Tina Fey, both on 30 Rock and SNL.
• Van Halen LIVE at Alltel Arena.
• Catching my first Red Sox game in way too long, with a rooftop table under the Budwesier sign.
• Two Vegas trips, an AZ fire up, and a Cape Cod vacation (with the Boston trip in the middle of it).
• Lots of cool shows on the Food Network. Seriously.
• WiiFit.

And eight things that were not so awesome:

• 18-1. Still pisses me off.
• The ASU football season. An entirely different kind of letdown.
• The Sox losing game 7 of the ALCS when they clearly could have been champs again if just a couple of guys stayed healthy.
• Watching shitty teams flounder in the 2008 NFL playoffs while the superior Patriots sit at home. Sickening.
• The economy, including our old house still being on the market.
• The disgusting New York Yankees offseason spending spree.
  
• Heroes. Season one started great, and since then it's been pretty bad. And yet, I continue to watch.
• The complete tabloidization of the American media. Didn't CNN used to be a respected news outlet? Now they are People magazine with some news thrown in. Go ahead, check the website right now. What's on there? A video of Harrison Ford getting his chest waxed, apparently. And network news shows are just as bad. I cannot do it. I basically hate the news, now. I really do. Thankfully technology exists that lets me consume only what I want, for the most part. Okay. Rant over. I hope everyone has a great 2009.
  

Random Christmas Stuff

Best new holiday treat recipe I have discovered: Alton Brown's White Trash. Three different kinds of cereal, pretzels, mixed nuts, and M&Ms all drenched in white chocolate. I've never tried crack, but I doubt it is this addictive and evil.

My three favorite entries for Christmas music: Trans Siberian Orchesta, The Muppets with John Denver, and the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack. Although I did pick up an 80s rock Christmas CD recently and it is pretty cheesetastic too.

Most underrated reindeer: Blitzen.

Random wrapping observation: I can wrap the heck out of anything relatively flat, like a DVD or a book. But if it gets wide, forget about it. Pretty soon I'll just start blaming those terrible wrapping jobs on A.J.

I think I like multicolored lights more now than I used to.

If I'm putting booze in egg nog, it's either bourbon or spiced rum.

When I was a kid, I could not possibly imagine how my dad, or anyone else, would not want to get up at the crack of dawn on Christmas day. I get it now. It's been a fun transition so far, and it will only get even cooler every year as A.J. gets older.

Awesomeness of the Week

12 Days of Hair Metal is a series of low-fi video recordings of solo covers of 80s hair band classics, performed by Terra Naomi, shot by James Gunn. Even if you don't like hair metal, you owe it to yourself to check these out. They are fantastic. There will be a new one every day through Christmas.

An upcoming weekend of rock

I'm getting old enough that I start to wonder what my future of listening to music is going to be like. In the 80s and early 90s I liked tons of stuff. There were plenty of mediocre to downright crappy bands that I thoroughly enjoyed, and it seems like all of that just stopped around 1992. Essentially, I blame Nirvana. So I'm stuck wondering if the songs that I listened to then are the only songs that I am really going to love for the rest of my music-appreciating life. Occasionally, there are new bands that demonstrate a flash of brilliance, but I sometimes wonder if I'm only perceiving certain songs that way compared to most of what is out there. I love The Donnas, but mainly because they often sound like they are trying to be an all-girl version of Ratt. The Killers and Fall Out Boy have each recorded songs that I think are really, really awesome but I have never bought an album from either of them. And don't even get me started on trying to listen to rock on FM radio. I mean honestly, rock radio has become a barren wasteland at this point. Hinder. Linkin Park. Buckcherry.

And Nickelback. Holy fucking shit, don't forget about Nickelback. Go to iTunes right now, and click on the top 100 rock songs, and here is what you'll see:

#1. I'd Come For You - Nickelback
#2. Gotta Be Somebody - Nickelback
#3. Never Gonna Be Alone - Nickelback
#4. If Today Was Your Last Day - Nickelback

Wow. Really?

So, this makes me retroactively understand why some people downright loathed the music that I loved in the 80s. People who didn't dig hair bands looked at the charts or the MTV countdown and saw Warrant and Whitesnake and Winger and White Lion and felt just like I felt now. I get it.

Which brings me to this weekend. Most of the time, I'm left to wonder if I'll ever enjoy any new bands as much as I still love what are now, invariably, old bands. But this weekend is different. On Saturday night, I'm seeing Metallica live. Floor seats. General admission. Anarchy. Then the following morning, Guns 'N' Roses have a new album out.

Seriously. They do. And Chuck Klosterman really likes it.

This means that, for at least one weekend, two bands that I love more than almost any others in the history of music will matter more than anything else. And for a metalhead like me, that's pretty awesome.

Just in case you think there is no justice in the world

AC/DC Beats High School Musical!

Tough run

Saturday: Sun Devils get shut out by USC.
Saturday night: The Red Sox lose in extra innings, partially due to at least three horrible calls that all went Tampa's way.
Sunday night: The Patriots get crushed in San Diego.
Monday: The Red Sox get blown out at home with their best pitcher on the hill.

Oh, and my money league fantasy team just lost by one point on a meaningless carry on Monday night and my starting QB that has been my best player is out for a month.

This was a particularly brutal stretch. I haven't had many bad runs like this lately and I almost forgot how much it sucks.

Community service? Really?

A friend of mine got an e-mail chain started discussing how happy he was that the Red Sox selected Tim Wakefield to start game four of the ALCS. His e-mail included this line:

<<...but no one has given more to the team, community and fans.>>

I had to jump in. I should have just kept my mouth shut, but I honestly could not help it. Here is my full reply:

<<Okay, I'm sorry, but I have to chime in on one part of this--the bit about giving to the community and the fans. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Wake too. We all do. But how exactly does anything he has done for the community or the fans factor into this decision AT ALL? If Paul Byrd signed more autographs or gave millions to charity does that mean he should get the start? By your logic we should probably start Johnny Pesky.

Absurd. Come on. Give me a break.

Wake has been left off Red Sox post season rosters multiple times before, and it's because pitching him is so dangerous. The only thing that matters is who gives us a better chance to win. We both agree that it is probably Wakefield. I don't like Paul Byrd, I think he is basically the very definition of mediocre, but I was just making a case for why he would be, in some ways, a safer choice. Since you are busting on him, I'll play devil's advocate and make a case for him. He made eights starts for the Sox, and went at least five innings every time. He allowed between two and five runs every time, aside from one start in Texas when he gave up none. His career numbers are solidly consistent, and he is what he is: a guy who is probably going to give up one run every two innings. The debate isn't whether Paul Byrd is better or worse than that, it's just if getting that from him is enough to win game four. I don't know if it is. His career OPS against current Rays is a very solid .710, and a couple of their important hitters, including Evan Longoria, have never faced him. That is part of his upside.

So let's talk about Wake. He had two starts in September when he couldn't make it out of the third inning. He's also had three starts since August when he surrendered no runs. In other words, he's exactly what we think he is. The Rays stole two bases off him each time they faced him this year, whereas Byrd surrendered only five the entire season. We all like Wake because he throws a goofy pitch and he has been here since 1995. Neither of these are reasons for him to start an ALCS game. We also will tolerate a Wake blow-up a lot more readily than a Byrd one, because if Timmeh doesn't have it, then that is just Wake being Wake. But if Byrd were to get shelled, then he would get cursed by some for not being "a true Red Sock" or some such ridiculous thing, which veers perilously close to Yankee territory for me.

We're facing Andy Sonnanstine in game four, who shut us down in two huge back-to-back starts against us in September (13 IP, 7 hits, 0 earned runs, two wins), and that is a big part of why I think Wake is the way to go. We might need a shutout, and that is something you can never count on from Paul Fricking Byrd.

I guess the bottom line is that I agree with you but for completely different reasons.>>

Now I am clearly the bad guy of this thread, as a friend's girlfriend quickly chimed in with the following:

<<"But how exactly does anything he has done for the community or the fans factor into this decision AT ALL?"

Um, isn't it the income from the community and the fans that ultimately pays Wake's salary? And the salaries of everyone in the club for that matter? Aren't they inextricably linked as a result?

I lend one of the few distaff voices on this little email chain and so perhaps it will be viewed as overly romantic (and, admittedly, it is overly romantic) but, I don't see anything wrong with the motive for starting Wake being his efforts on and off the field. Kevin, I like your thinking. Especially when it seems that Byrd or Wake is six or one half dozen, so to speak, why not make it about who he is as a pitcher AND as a person to the fans and the club. Isn't that part of the reason we all love this club? The romance of the team? Did we not all eat up "Cowboy Up" and "Lovable idiots?" and, my personal favorite, a billboard in Fenway that read (before '04) "86 years and no ring but still happily married. Red Sox, a different breed of fan." Isn't it exactly this kind of connection and nostalgia that discerns us as a team and as fans from that other, hated, pinstripe army to the south (lately a fallen army, but whatever, they're still dicks)?

Remind yourself why you've been a fan all your life. Yes, most of us were born there so maybe it was incidental at the outset. And, yes, the strategy discussion to which much of this email chain has been devoted is, of course, paramount in choosing postseason pitching rotation. However, there is some of what Kevin is talking about in the decision making process (or at least the club lets the fans believe that and that's part of our pride). So, I address only that portion of the email exchange.>>

Once again, I cannot let this go unanswered. So I replied:

<<"Um, isn't it the income from the community and the fans that ultimately pays Wake's salary? And the salaries of everyone in the club for that matter? Aren't they inextricably linked as a result?">>

Well, the Red Sox home attendance was over 100% of Fenway's capacity this year, just as it has been every year dating back to 2003. Byrd's starts sell just as many tickets as Wake's, so I really see no connection there at all. Wakefield should pitch because fans like him more? If anything, this regime has shown that they are more than willing to make unpopular decisions that benefit the team on the field. Trading Nomar was generally a wildly unpopular move at the time and all it did was win us the World Series. Many people were in an uproar over the Manny trade this year and so far that one is working out too. And last season Wake himself was left off the World Series roster and all we did was sweep our way to another title. I feel bad because somehow it seems like I'm coming off anti-Wake in all of this, and I'm not at all. But if you think Tito and Theo and John Farrell sat down to discuss the ALCS rotation and Wake's popularity, service to the community, or anything like that factored into the decision then, well...I don't even know what to tell you. It's beyond ludicrous. Look, I hope Wake goes out and the knuckle is dancing and he throws eight innings of shutout ball. I understand the appeal of that as a great story, and I would love it, but ultimately I don't care if we win 1-0 behind a Wakefield gem or 9-8 in a Paul Byrd slugfest. I just want the Red Sox to win. Baseball is overly romanticized and the Red Sox get that treatment more than anyone. I love the Red Sox because I was born and raised in Massachusetts and that is all I know. If I was born in Pittsburgh then I'd probably be pining for the beloved Pirates to get back to the playoffs. I like this Red Sox team, and I like a lot of the players, but I most certainly root for the uniform. David Wells was one of my all-time most hated players, and it took less than one inning of him pitching for us for me to yell "yeah, Boomer!" at the TV and to mean it. Manny Ramirez provided some of the most enjoyable baseball viewing experiences I have ever had and now I cannot wait to boo him like a convicted felon. Obviously if Wake wins game four that is a great story, and better than anything Paul Byrd could do. I understand all of that. But as for the spot in the rotation, to quote one of (the topic starter's) favorites, Clint Eastwood in "Unforgiven," "deserve's got nothing to do with it."

(Topic starter) mentioned the notion of being offended earlier (if Byrd were considered). Well, I would be outraged if sentimentality played any part in making a decision this important. I'm a Red Sox fan. I want the Red Sox to win. Every time I watch, I want them to win that game, and every year I want them to win the World Series. All of my rooting interests come solely from that.

I'm flabbergasted that anyone that is a real fan could think even remotely differently.