On the Giants, Again

The football season is headed into the home stretch. Sounds like a good time to write more about baseball.

With the signing of Barry Bonds, the Giants have their starting line-up pretty much set. Let's compare it to last year's:

This year
Dave Roberts, CF
Omar Vizquel, SS
Ray Durham, 2B
Barry Bonds, LF
Pedro Feliz, 3B
Rich Aurilia, 1B
Randy Winn, RF
Bengie Molina, C

Last Year
Randy Winn, CF
Omar Vizquel, SS
Ray Durham, 2B
Barry Bonds, LF
Moises Alou, RF
Pedro Feliz, 3B
Shae Hillendbrand, 1B
Eliezar Alfonzo, C

I'm not sure if that's the exact right order for either one, but its close. Lead off spot is clearly improved. Catcher probably too. RF suffers, but Alou was hurt all the time last year, so I didnt mind seeing him go. If Feliz would finally live up to his supposed potential, and Vizquel, Durham, and Aurilia have the same year as they did last year, it's not so bad.
Giants GM Brian Sabean has taken a lot of heat lately. And there is merit to it. A lot of people are saying that much of the success of the Giants from '97 to '04 was due to Asst. GM Ned Colletti. My excellent friend Sam brought up the point that before Colletti left 2 years ago, the Giants always put together a team that was better than the Dodgers. The past 2 years (and it kills me to say this) the Dodgers have had a better team than the Giants. It also just so happens that 2 years ago the Dodgers hired Ned Colletti to be their GM. But I'm still willing to give Sabean the benefit of the doubt. His strategy of getting mediocre veterans to fill holes has not worked the past 2 years, but before that it did work ok. It was bound to happen. Plus, I can admit that Barry Bonds has tied things up a bit. But consider this: if Bonds is not injured for almost the entire 2005 season, the Giants would have gone to the playoffs (the Padres won the division by winning 82 out of 162 games). That's almost no question. I would argue that if he played the whole 2005 season, he would have been better than he was in 2006. Because when he came back in 2006, he was 2 years older than he was when he last played a season, rather than the 1 year of age most people pass between seasons. And with Barry producing more in 2006, they very well may have gone to the postseason that year as well. Furthermore, if Barry is healthy in 2005, Hank Aaron's record is already broken by now. All the hype and controversy has already passed. That's one major thing that Sabean would not have to deal with this offseason. There was immense pressure from fans to bring Barry back. But if the record was already broken, there would not be as much, and Barry probably would have retired anyway. Basically my point here, is that that if Bonds wasn't hurt in 2005, Sabean would be looking a lot better.
Now, The lineup listed above will be competitive. I think it will produce more runs than last year. But, as is usually the case for almost every team every season, the season will hinge on the pitching. The Giants have 3 young starters in Matt Cain, Noah Lowry, and Johnathan Sanchez who have potential to be sweet. There's also Matt Morris, who I don't trust at all, but who could be decent. Now, say the Giants uncharacteristically spend a bunch of money on Barry Zito to replace Jason Schmidt. It looks like a pretty sweet rotation, giving the Giants a good looking squad. But if you haven't noticed, in this post I have brought up a lot of "ifs." Knowing the Giants, they never all pan out. Plus, they say Barry Zito has never missed a start, which to me, only means he's due to get hurt. But the Giants lost Jason Schmidt, one of the top arms in the game (to the Dodgers, no less). There's no way around the fact that they need to replace him.


RIP Jose Uribe.

Got 'im - On Barry Bonds, Again

Yes, sir. Barry Bonds is still a San Francisco Giant. I'm pretty pleased. Not thrilled that he's getting $16 million, based on his lack of production last year, but that's business. Everyone is getting way overpaid this year. And I'd rather overpay Barry Bonds for one year than Juan Pierre for 4 or 5 or something.
But I'm happy. The thing is, I'm only half joking when I say that if there is a god, it's Barry Bonds. Giants fans literally worship this guy. Yet non-Giants fan literally want him dead. I think it's an amazing story that a man can be so hated by the country as a whole except for one little pocket, where is unconditionally loved. Someone should write about a thesis about it. But there's no reason for the immense hatred. There is reason for dislike. He's not a media-friendly guy, and that will bring negative attention. But there are so many people who hate him so much, and this I feel is misguided. The whole steriods thing is obviously what pushed it over the edge. He was severely disliked, and this issue gave everyone--fans, media, etc.--an exuse to expand their dislike into hatred. But for you Bonds-haters out there, ask yourself one question: "What Major League Baseball rule did he break?" The answer, to our knowledge, is that he has not broken any. Maybe he took steroids. (I remind you that still no cold-hard proof has been presented to us, and that in this country, we are innocent until proven guilty. That said, I believe he did take some steroids. But that's neither here nor there). If he did - fine, throw him in jail for steroid use. While your at it Make room for Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmiero, Brady Anderson, Jose Canseco, Jason Giambi, etc. And a lot more low profile players as well. For example, Rich Aurilia, who the Giants just signed for his 2nd stint with the stint, had an out-of-body season in (I think it was) 2001. Probably due to performance enhancing drugs. Also make room in jail for me and about a billion people I know who have used pot. But stop hating this man when he didn't break any of the rules MLB had in place when he allegedly took these drugs. You are using a double standard, and you suck for doing so.
It's the same issue for the "Should McGwire go to the Hall of Fame?" debate. The answer of course, is yes. I will go as far to say you are an idiot if you think not. And that's a bold statement. I just called a lot of people idiots right there. But what Baseball rule did he break? None. Fine, keep him off the first ballot to make a little anti-steroid statement and save this celebration for Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn. But there is no quesiton that he should be in the Hall of Fame. Babe Ruth dominated the game in the dead-ball era. Mark McGwire dominated the game in the steroid era.
There is a specific rule in the MLB rulebook that states that pitchers cannot have pine tar or any other foreign substance on their hand while pitching. Kenny Rogers did in the playoffs and World Series last year, but nothing happened to him. He broke a rule. Mark McGwire didn't.

And to close, I'd like to remind you again, as I have done before: Barry Bonds is going to break the record. It's almost a sure thing. Well, I guess that's not necessarily true. But he needs 22 HRs to break it. I'm optimistically predicting 30. Point is, he is probably going to do it. The best thing for you haters to do is to start dealing with it now. Whining about it won't do anything. Accept it. Better yet, embrace it. This is one of America's greatest records. And you are going to be alive when it's broken. It's a big deal. Love it.

Untitled

I haven't written on this thing in a while. The main reason being I have pretty much nothing to say. Here's what I can tell you:

-Thanksgiving was fantastic. I saw all sorts of aunts, uncles, cousins, a brother, and a mom. The main Thanksgiving dinner was divine. There was also all sorts of food to snack on all over the place all the time. Unfortunately, this has left me in a state of perma-hunger which cannot be satisfied in my poor independent existence.

-I am looking forward to the semester break being over and going home for Winter Break. Anyone got any ideas for New Year's?

-I miss LOST. February can't come fast enough.

Stupid jokes:
-I think girls that wear capris are indecisive.
-I love toast. I eat it all the time. You might say it's my bread and butter.
-There's s this girl who goes down on me every night. Her name is The Sun.
-What did the comedy club owner do when no one laughed at the opening comic's play-on-words jokes? Made a call to the bull-pun.
-Apparently, women like a guy who is sensitive. I was thrilled when I heard this. My penis is extremely sensitive.

I'm Famous

Read about this guy:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061108/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_life_cubes

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyson_Mao

He can do it blindfolded. Really fast. And I went to elementary school with him. Bitches.

Newsworthy

Fogive for writing after coming home at 3 am. Also forgive me for checking the news after coming home at 3 am.

But I couldn't help but notice this:

Right now, the top headline on cnn.com reads "After his death, a sergeant's words mean even more". The article is about a seargent in who was killed last month in Iraq. It's written by a CNN's Arwa Damon, who knew him well.

Also right now, the top headline on foxnews.com reads "Al Qaeda: We'll Never Rest Until White House Destroyed".

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Oftentimes, when people find out that I'm currently studying mechanical engineering, they ask what it is mechanical engineers do. And the answer, as you may have guessed, is a lot of things. A mechanical engineer could create (design/build/etc.) anything from 1 small part in an ink-jet printer to the entire heating/ventilation system for a football stadium.

Oftentimes, the next question I get is something to the extent of "so what do you want to do?" And the answer, as you may have guessed, is I don't know. I'm just not sure yet. Currently, I'm thinking that I would like to be in some way involved with something like this. Or this. Something that has to do with the exploration of this.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Also, there have been 7 different World Series champions in the past 7 years. Can football say that about the Superbowl? (no)

And finally, today, I am 22.5 years old. Let's get wasted.

On Baseball

Last night's NLCS Game 7 between the Mets and the Cardinals was the best I've watched in a while. I don't get to watch many baseball games, but the point is, this one was excellent. Good pitching, good defense, high stakes (obviously), clutch performances, etc. The first thing to comment on is Endy Chavez's catch. Check it out at mlb.com. In a game tied 1-1, with his team performing horribly on the offensive end, he saves a two-run homer by jumping a good few feet from the fence, and catching the ball that was well over the wall--his elbow was above the top of the wall when he caught it. And this was a snow-cone. Then they double up the runner on first. He turns a potentially crushing two-run deficit into an inning-ending double play. The problem is, the Mets ended up losing anyway. If the Mets were to win, this play would go down as one of the best ever, given the circumstances. As is, people will be talking about it for days, maybe weeks, but not years.

Next up is that curve ball by Cardinal 9th inning pitcher Adam Wainwright. That thing was nasty. I don't even blame Cliff Floyd and Carlos Beltran for striking out looking.

Thirdly, if you are a Met fan, you have to regard this season as a failure. Since the beginning of the season the Mets were supposedly the only good team in the National League. It was gonna be them vs. the AL rep in the World Series. What they forgot was this: teams tend to pick it up in the Playoffs. Not that the Mets didn't necessarily. But they were not challenged at all in the regular season. So to face a challenge in the Playoffs--they just weren't ready for it. Their bats faltered. Good pitching will beat good hitting in the playoffs, almost always. You saw it with the Tigers beating the Yankees. You could point the finger to injuries on the Met pitching staff; they were without their #1 and #3 starters. But pitching was not the problem. The replacement starting pitching did pretty well, especially in the crucial 6th and 7th games. It was the bats that were shut down.

And finally, here's why you have to love baseball: At the beginning of the regular season, how many people predicted Cardinals vs. Tigers in the World Series? Probably about 7. At the end of the regular season, how many people predicted Cardinals vs. Tigers in the World Series? Probably like 3. Out of all eight teams going into the playoffs, these were the two worst in the home stretch of the season. The Mets and Yankees clearly had the most talent. But to win a championship, you talent and you have to perform. The Tigers and Cards did that better than the other teams, and it's those teams I will be watching while drinking on Saturday night. Cheers.

Here's something to comment on...

So I was having a discussion the other day...is there a band that "defines" our generation? First of all, its a hard quesiton because generation itself is hard to define. I think they say a generation is 30 years, but thats bull. Lets define my generation everyone between 2 years below me and two years above me. If that's two narrow, make it 3 or 4 or whatever. But I think the pop culture scene of those born between 1982 and 1986 is pretty uniform and well defined. But I digress.

I would argue that if there is a band that "defines our generation," it's Green Day. Based on awesomeness and longevity. Who else? Nirvana? Too short lived. Metallica? A bit before our time. Green Day has been more or less the band from about 6th grade until now. Between albums their popularity shrinks a little bit, but every album is a big deal. What's also interesting is that the peak of their popularity happened with Dookie - around middle school. But now, with American Idiot, they may have even surpassed that popularity. The shame is that despite how big that album is, I don't think most people know how brilliant it is. And now with the social commentary they got going on, I don't think there is a better choice for "band that defines our generation." Am I wrong? Please tell me.

The other problem with the question is that the music scene is way more diverse now than it used to be. With our parents, you can be pretty confident that its gonna be the Stones, the Beatles, or Zeppelin. Maybe Hendrix or Pink Floyd. But now, not so easy. Take hip-hop. Our parents didn't even know that hip hop would, at some time, exist. I think you could make a case for Snoop or Jay-Z defining our generation. Im not sure if they reached a wide enough audience. Maybe they did though. I wonder if there are more people my age (if any) who have not heard of Greed Day, or Snoop Dogg. I guess you probably can't define an entire 4 years across the board. You probably have to get a more narrow demographic to find a band that defines it.

Lastly, I've noticed a lack of comments. Maybe because no one reads this. Maybe not. You should comment. It makes me feel important. And come on, this is a good discussion, no?

Bronx Bombers (bomb in a bad way)

Yesterday both the Yankees and Dodgers got eliminated from the playoffs. Awesome. I told my friends that if the Dodgers won the World Series, they were going to need to be on suicide watch for me. So I'm pretty pumped that they got swept in the first round, even though I never actually thought they would win.

But it is the collapse of the Yankees that is the real story. In game one of the series vs the Tigers, their line up featured a combined 42 All-Star appearances. I'll say it again. FORTY TWO All-Star appearances. That's an average of almost 5 per player. Robinson Cano was the only one without multiple All-Star appearances. He has only one. Note that he just finished his second season. Also note that he is the Yankees' number 9 hitter and that he hit .342 this season. This is likely the most talented line up ever assembled. And they get their asses kicked around by the Detroit Tigers, a team that lost 119 games three years ago. But that was three years ago. This Tigers team is legit, and I'm happy for them. Watching them celebrate last night made me want to be a fan in Detroit.
But the point is that the sky is somewhat falling here in the Big Apple. The Yankee payroll this year was $199 million. The next closest is $69 million lower. Four Florida Marlins teams could fit in that gap (the Florida payroll is a mere $15 million). Naturally, Yankee fans are pissed. I would be too. But there are a number of things that I would like to sound off on:
It's been six years since the Yankees have won a World Series. And people are absolutely freaking out. Six years? Big fucking deal. Try being a Giants fan where it's been over 50. The fact that six years is a big deal is a testament to how lame the Yankees, their media, and their fans are. Some people are criticizing General Mangager Brian Cashman for failure to produce a championship team despite virtually unlimited resources. This is highly unwarranted. He put together an All-Star team, literally. I'd say it's up to the players at that point. I think this whole story says a lot of good things about Major League Baseball though. It shows that just getting all the talent money can buy is not necessarily the right way to go. Team chemistry is important. I love that. What I also love is the whole A-Rod saga. The guy chokes bigtime. It's just as fun rooting against A-Rod individually as it is the Yankees as a team. He makes $25 million dollars a year, and is totally not worth it. And everyone jumps on him for it, and he lets it get in his head. Awesome.
Finally, from what I am hearing, it is likely that the Yankees are going to fire Joe Torre and replace him with Lou Pinella. Bad move in my mind. I think there is a valid argument in that perhaps just a general change is needed. But as far as second guessing his decisions, that should not be the reason. Maybe he made some mistakes, maybe he didn't. But he's still Joe Torre. What about him has changed from the dynasty era of '96 to '00? But maybe the Giants will get him. That would be interesting. Although I don't see it happening. For some reason I just don't think he would fit.

In other news, I hope the T.O. saga reaches new heights today in his return to Philidelphia. Maybe like a fight with a fan or something. Or going to spike the ball at the 50 yard line again as he did as a 49er against the Cowboys. Obviously the smart thing to do after scoring a TD would be nothing. But he's not the smartest guy. And he wouldn't get even more attention paid to him, which he wants so very badly. No, T.O., don't disappoint the casual fan, and especially don't disappoint the media.

On Barry Bonds, Again

Earlier in the season, I was hoping for Barry to retire after the season. He wasnt producing, and if he came back, the Giants were probably going to have to pay him money that he didnt deserve. And lets be honest, for the Giants to start "rebuilding" (harsh word), Barry can't be in the picture. He ties up money, and he's old, and if he's not producing, it sucks. But then September came around. On the 27th of this month, in Bonds' last 28 games, he's hitting .382, with 10 home runs and 26 RBI. He has proved he still has it. He just maybe doesnt have it all season long. But he knows when to turn it on. So now I want him to come back. I can wait one more year for the Giants to start "rebuilding."

He is 21 HRs behind Hank Aaron for the all time lead. Here's the thing people: he is probably going to come back, and he is probably going to break the record. The best thing for you Bonds haters to do is to just start accepting it. Know that it is going to happen. It will make it much easier for you when he does break it. You should also know that had he not been injured last year, the record would have already been broken by now. So while I wouldn't mind if he retires, I wouldn't mind having him back either. I don't think I want him to play for another team, though. Unless he wins a world series. He does deserve that. But I know the Giants don't want to see him break the record in another uniform, and I'm not sure how much other teams want him. So my prediction is that he comes back to the Giants for one more year. And that sounds alright.

Here's what's interesting though. Say he does break the record. And say (god forbid), he doesn't get into the Hall of Fame because the media sucks ass and hates him. Then you would have the all time home run leader, and the all time hits leader (Pete Rose) not in the Hall of Fame. How rediculous would that be. I think that would be an embarassment to the sport. Almost to the point that Major League Baseball would have to do something about it. Anyway, that's my story.

On the Giants, Again

Well, the time has arrived again. The "wait til next year" season started on like Monday or something. Let me tell you, it blows. This was a frustrating season for the Giants. Hovering around .500 the whole year, but remaining in the races, but having a number of glaring faults all the while. I have to say, in my heavily biased opinion, the Giants have got to be the most frustrating team to be a fan of in all of baseball. Until they win a World Series, I will never forgive them for blowing it in 2002. That being said, I will always unconditionally love the Giants. But let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we?
1989 - I was 5 years old. This is the first season I can remember. And a magical season at that. Brett Butler, Robby Thompson, Will the Thrill, Keving Mitchell, Dave Dravecky, etc. We go to the World Series, and then just absolutely get destroyed by the A's.
[by the way, I know some people are opposed to fans referring to their team as "we." I'm not. I can see why some people dont like it, but for all intensive purposes here, its just easier. So deal with it]
1993 - This was where I really became a diehard. Barry Bonds was signed in the offseason in what would become arguably the best free agent signing in all of sports...ever. Seriously. We win 103 games, and don't go to the playoffs. The last day of the season the Dodgers beat the shit out of us, and the Braves won their 104th game. It was a horrible, HORRIBLE, day.
1997 - Another magical season. Remember the Brian Johnson game? We beat the Dodgers for the division title, and promptly get swept by the Marlins in the first round. Devastating.
1998 - Lose to the Cubs in a one-game playoff for the Wild Card spot.
2000 - Move into a new ballpark, which happens to be the best in the league, make the playoffs, but lose to the Mets in the first round.
2001 - Barry Bonds becomes the new home run king, but we don't make the playoffs, rendering the acheivement pretty much nothing to celebrate.
2002 - we dont talk about.
2003 - There is not 1 day during the regular season in which the Giants are not in first place. Who does that? Anyway, we meet the Marlins again in the first round. Jose Cruz Jr. drops a routine flyball. JT Snow gets thrown out at the plate, which ends the series and the season.
2004 - Eliminated from playoff contention by a Dodger-blue clad Steve Finley grand slam. Come on. That was horse shit.
2005 - We get Moises Alou, hopes are extremely high at the beginning of the year. But Barry can't recover from 3 surgeries until September, only plays 14 games, and the Giants have their first losing season since 1996. However, due to the sad state of the NL West, they were actually in contention for a bit towards the end of the season. We were kidding ourselves though.
2006 - Expectations are just as high as in 2005 except for the fact that they were high in 2005. And in a better, but similar season, we drag along, waiting for something to happen, and it never does.
So that's what happened in my life for the better part of the last 2 decades. So I'm making the argument that this is the most frustrating baseball team to be a part of. Like I said though, the opinion is heavily biased. Whenever a team loses in the playoffs, its devastating to their fans. But I don't know. The Giants have had more than their share. I think you could make a case for the Cubs, just cuz they suck so bad and havent won in such a long time. But the Giants have not won a WS in over 50 years, so they have to be near the top of that list. What pisses me off is that the Marlins have been in existence for less than 15 years, and they've won 2. And they don't even have fans. It should be noted that in 1997, and 2003, when the Giants were eliminated by the Marlins, the Marlins went on to win the whole thing. So it is pretty clear that the Giants were the second best team in the Major Leagues those years. But that's neither here nor there. I think you could make a case for the Braves as the most frustrating team. 14 division titles in a row, and just 1 WS ring to show for it. But at least they got 1. My life will seriously feel much more complete when the Giants win one. Plus I hate the Braves.

Shania

Apologies for posting twice in one day. Seems lame. But I've got the time I felt I needed to share. Shania Twain has always been at or near the top of my best-looking-in-the-world list. I had never seen this video all the way through though. Watch it and try and tell me that she is not the most beautiful woman ever created.

Going out

So this weekend was slightly interesting in that both Friday and Saturday nights I went out at 1:00 am. Is that weird? Back in Tacoma or Burlingame, 1 am was usually around the time we came home from the bars. But I guess that's just the way things work in NYC. It's rare that you would go out before 11, and the bars close at 4 I think. Personally, I think it's a bit of a shame. I'd much rather start drinking earlier, go out eariler, and come home earlier. Then you can wake up earlier the next day and get more out of it. But I guess New York City is just too cool.

meh

So I don't know how much you people follow sports, but the other night in LA, the Dodgers beat the Padres in what had to be one of the best finishes of all time. I can appreciate it, but since it was the Dodgers who won, I cannot enjoy it, which sucks. What happened was this: Dodgers were down by 4 in the bottom of the ninth. Then they hit back to back to back to BACK home runs to tie the game. 4 home runs in a row has happened like 4 times before this or something. And this was in the bottom of the ninth inning, to tie the game, in a battle for first place, in September. It's quite nuts. Then in the 10th inning the Padres went ahead again by a run. But in the bottom of the tenth inning, Nomar Garciapara hits a walk-off 2-run home run. Had this happened at AT&T Park in San Francisco, with the Giants on the winning end, I probably would have cried of happiness if I was there to witness it. So while I do not like Dodger fans, and I do not respect them, I am jealous of what they experienced the other night. It's not like I've never attended a dramatic Giants victory, but I have to say, this was beyond dramatic. I fucking hate the Dodgers though. Soooo much.

4 Questions

1) If you could be really good at one musical instrument, what would it be? Not necessarily the best in the world, but good enough so that people would be like "Wow. He/She is fucking good." Mine would be the piano. Then the violin. Then the drums. Maybe drums before violin. I just wish I could play the violin. But I wish I could play the piano most.

2) If you could win a gold medal in any olympic sport (winter or summer), what would it be? I think would choose beach volleyball.

3, and most importantly) If you could do one thing that some human being has done before, what would it be? Remember, someone has to have done it before, so answering something like "Stop 9/11 from happening" is not a valid answer. For me, I think I've narrowed it down to two things, but cannot decide which I would want more: to walk on the moon, or to hit a walk-off home run to win the World Series.

4, and even more most importantly) What would you do? (click on "videos", then "what would you do?"

I would appreciate your thoughts.

Where were you?

5 years ago today, at 7:30 in the morning, I was driving to school. It was a perfectly normal day, except for the fact that I was going to school early for a Service Commission meeting (a group that you join to boost your college application). I walked into the building, and immediately noticed a group of people in the doorway of a classroom, watching television. As I approached the door, a friend asked, "Meado, did you see the news?" "No. What's up?" I replied. All he could say was "You better take a look at this."

And I did. And my mouth literally dropped wide open.

We proceeded with our brief and trivial meeting. I couldn't believe what had happened, but I also did not realize the enormity of the situation. All I could think about was how just a couple months ago, I was in New York, staring up at the seemingly endless Twin Towers. And now they were just gone.
It didn't take long for it to start sinking in. Everyone, including myself, was just sad. You said hello to your friends, but it by no means pleasant. Just somber "hey"s. In classes, we just watched the news. By the time I got home, I had decided that the death toll was going to be 10,000. At least I was way off. Still though, five years later, it's pretty shocking. We've gotten used to it, but if you actually stop and think about what actually happened, it's pretty much unbelievable.

I'm interested in what other peoples' September 11ths were like. That's why I think there should be a book called "Where Were You?" And it would just be different people writing about where they were and what happened for them that day. I guess for the book to sell, it might have to be just celebrities or people of importance, but I think regular people would be just as interesting. So maybe comment if you want.
They could also do other "Where Were You"s. Like when different records were broken, or other big news events. 9/11 would probably constitute its own book, but others they could probably lump together.

There has been surprisingly little fanfare here in NYC that I've seen. I suppose I live in the wrong part of town. Ground Zero is probably a pretty big deal right now.

Also, if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend the movie "United 93." It is by no means a pleasant experience--I could never sit still. My stomach was always turning because the whole time I knew what was gonna happen--but it is a powerful movie. It seems very realistic and made for reasons other than profit. A lot of the air traffic control guys are playing themselves, which is also cool.

We suck

So that TIME article that I linked in my last post - you may have noticed that it described the backlash against Facebook as "what may be Gen Y's first official revolution." How disappointing is that? When I first read it, it sort of bounced off of me. I noticed it, but didn't really think about it. But the more I thought about it, the more disgusted I got. Plus I heard there was a NY Times article about the same thing, even more focused on this being our "revolution."

How embarrassing it is to be in this generation. Knowing all the shit that's going on in this country and around the world, and this is what really upsets us--a trivial and superficial part of our social lives. And I'm as much to blame as anyone. Probably more - I wrote 2 blog posts about the facebook thing.

But let's take a look at some numbers. I assumed that Iraq is probably the "biggest" political issue at this point (i.e. the most likely issue for facebook users to create groups about). A global search for "Iraq" returned 404 groups. Not too unimpressive. But out of the ones I looked at, the highest membership was at just over 1500. Sensing that I was wrong in my assumption of Iraq being the most facebook-group-worthy issue, I realized it might be gay rights. "Equal rights for gays" has just over 11,000 members. Not too bad. But the facebook group the TIME article talked about had like 13,000 in just a few hours. And it now has hundreds of thousands of members. A bit depressing, no? And yes, I know, Facebook is not meant to be a forum for political discussion, but perhaps that's the problem right there. What if our parents had had facebook when they were in college? I imagine they would joined groups opposing the war in Vietnam and supporting civil rights by the hundreds of thousands. Even if facebook is not necessarily meant to be a place for political action, it still shows what we care about. And in this case, it's somewhat depressing.

A few months ago I was having a discussion with a few friends on whether we would have rather lived back then (our parents' generation), or now. I think the answer is pretty clear.

And isn't it ironic, don't you think?

Ha! I'm not crazy. Just minutes after reading this TIME article on the backlash against Facebook, I logged into facebook to find the following at the top of my very own "news feed": "Updated: 10 of your friends joined the group Students against Facebook News Feed (Official Petition to Facebook)."

You heard it from me first, folks.

RIP Steve Irwin

I, like the rest of humanity, was completely floored when I heard the Crocodile Hunter died. Death by sting ray, no less. Crazy. I think it's kind of neat that he died doing his crazy nature shit, but still sucks.

I'll always remember him for two things:
1) When South Park parodied him (in the ridiculous Aussie accent - "Now what I'm gonna do, is jam my thumb up his butthole. That should really piss 'im off.")
2) There's a SportsCenter commercial with him that you have to see. It's hilarious. Since you probably will never see it, I'll go ahead and ruin it for you: Steve a sportscenter guy are talking, waiting for the elevator. Steve is complaining about how he deserves more attention for the crazy stuff he does (something to the extent of, "when I compete, life is on the line every time. How many baseballers can say that?"). Then the elevator comes and the mascot for the Florida Gators comes out. Immediately Steve says excitedly, "Watch out, mate. Take a look at this beauty," and proceeds to tackly the mascot. Brilliant.

They do have a few SC commercials on itunes that you can watch and download for free. The Spelling Bee one is the best.

Stalkers...they lurk, they wait, they facebook

So as most people have probably noticed, facebook has expanded itself and "improved" once again. I was all for the photos, the wall, the education, work, and summer plans. I think the notes were a good addition, mainly b/c that's the reason most of the people who read this blog do so. [I realize the irony of saying "most" when there's probably not even enough people who read this to be a "most"]. But now I log in (by the way, I hate the fact that I log in. I'm ashamed of it. But I do it daily. Sometimes more. But that's neither here nor there). Now I log in and immediately I see who has just become friends with who (and when this happened), who just updated their profile (what and when included), who just wrote on who's wall (and when), etc. Pretty much any action within my network of friends--no matter how small--is shown to me. Someone told me that a friend of theirs changed their "relationship status" from "in a relationship" to "its complicated," and as soon as he walked in the door, everyone was asking him if he was ok. I think they should change it to invade-my-privacybook.

I suppose its up to the user how much they want to put into it, but it's just totally thrust in everyone's face now. Two of my friends have already wrote Notes about the new changes. Both were negative, and one was anouncing a move to MySpace. So at least I'm not the only one who thinks it's lame.

On a somewhat related note, when you go to a new school, not only do you meet a lot of new people, but you get a ton of facebook friend requests, which always makes you feel cool.

Did You Know...

That Robert Horry has made the playoffs in every one of the 13 seasons he has played in the NBA? And, he's never been knocked out in the first round. Plus he's got 6 NBA titles. What a carreer.

Also, for 10 years (from the '93-'94 season to the '02-'03 season), either Robert Horry or Steve Kerr was on the roster of every NBA championship team. During a similar 12 year stretch, the two had 11 out of 12. Cool, no?

You know what really grinds my gears?

The latest eyeware fashion. Girls - take off the oversized sunglasses. This is a fashion trend that needs to end. Being in New York City, I see a lot of good looking girls. But many times I'll see a girl who is potentially good looking, and I can't even tell because half of her face is covered by these ugly, attrociously big sunglasses. I'm going to have to start assuming that a girl wearing sunglasses that cover half of her face is doing it for a reason.

With that off my chest, here's a few other random things I want to mention:

-Add bats and eels to the list of scary/creepy animals.

-There hasn't been a good song with clapping in the background for a while. Let's get on that, pop music scene.

-It didn't take the T.O. virus that long to start attacking the Dallas Cowboys. Not only is there already tension b/t him and coach Bill Parsells, but he missed a team meeting and was fined $9500. He says he overslept. Even if you believe him, he still overslept a team meeting, which is a message in and of itself. Maybe cancer researchers should turn their attention to Terrell Owens.
That being said, TO was a central figure in two of my favorite 49er memories. 1)The game against the Cowboys, when after a touchdown he went out to the star on the 50-yard line to spike the ball...and he did that twice. And 2)The playoffs against the Packers when Steve Young threw an amazing pass and TO made an amazing catch to win the game. Take that, Brett (Stratton and Farve).

As you wish

As we all know, The Princess Bride is one of the greatest movies ever made. Maybe the greatest. Heros, villains, giants, wizards, sword fights, true love. It's got it all. Just check out some of the taglines: "Scaling the Cliffs of Insanity, Battling Rodents of Unusual Size, Facing torture in the Pit of Despair. - True love has never been a snap." "She gets kidnapped. He gets killed. But it all ends up okay." How could that movie not be awesome?

What some people may not know is that it was a book first. I found out a couple years ago. At first I was upset b/c I thought that one of my favorite movies was not even an original. But the author of the book is the same guy who wrote the script, so I would say that integrity is maintained. I decided I should read the book, and I'm now about 100 pages in. I'm enjoying it, but the problem is it could never be as good as the movie. Some of it is exactly the same as the book (line for line - "Inconcievable!" for example), and there's some minor differences. I'm at the part where the Man in Black is about to reach the top of the Cliffs of Insanity. I'd say that in the movie, the next 30 minutes from this part is arguably the best section of the movie. So I'm pretty excited.

Animals

Few people know that Wikipedia is one of my favorite websites. Now less few. Sometimes I just pick something to read about, and follow the interesting links in that article. I could do that for hours. Well, not really. But the point is this: I went to the Museum of Natural History a couple weeks ago with my mom. And in the ocean animals section, they had this huge crab-type thing on display, along with all the other crustaceans. I couldn't believe the species was around today, so I turned to the best encyclopedia ever. Check this thing out - the Japanese spider crab. It looks like it should have existed in dinosaur times. Tell me you wouldn't freak out if you were scuba diving and saw one of those guys. Scary animal. I mean crabs and lobsters are creepy, but this guy is freakin huge. Leg span can reach 13 feet.

Speaking of creepy animals, here's my list, in no order, and perhaps incomplete: Spiders, turanchulas, scorpions, snakes, crabs, lobsters, octopi, squids, jelly fish, let me know if I missed any.

I think out of any animal, I would choose to get eaten by a giant squid last. That would suck. On the bright side, out of any animal, I am probably least likely to get eaten by a giant squid.

Anyway, I decided to learn about some more animals, and it didn't take me long to get to the platypus. Pretty cool animal. Venom, electrolocation. There's more to it than just being "proof that god has a sense of humor."

Back to the Dorms

So I'm moved into Columbia housing. School starts next Tuesday. They say this is a suite, but you can't really call it a suite. More of just a floor, with four different sections, 12 people in each I believe. Really the only thing that makes it different from a normal dorm is that each section (each "suite") has a full kitchen. Actually full times two, b/c there's 2 ovens and fridges. But it's not big though. And we are allowed to drink, which is nice. The first night we set up beer pong in the lounge. Ah, college.

In other news, the Emmys happened the other night. Jeremy Piven got best supporting actor for Ari Gold in "Entourage." Good for him. Also, Jack Bauer got best person ever for his role in saving the world shown in Fox's documentary series "24." I didnt see the show, but based on what I read, I think Jack accepted the award under an alias, "Kiefer Sutherland."

Some Newsworthy items

1) Pluto has been plucked of its status as a planet. I applaud the decision by the International Astronomical Union. For one, there are objects orbiting the Sun that have similar characteristics to Pluto and, in fact, are larger, but not planets. I believe when Pluto was discovered it was the largest of these types of objects, and that is why it got planetary status to begin with. And now it is rightfully in another class, called dwarf planets. I bet the 8 real planets were pretty pumped about the news. It's a little known fact that among the 8 real planets, Pluto was always known as the "eccentric-orbit little bitch." A few notes on the story:
a) NASA's New Horizons mission launched January of this year, and will not reach Pluto until 2015. I bet NASA is pissed. I wouldn't be surprised if they had troubles with the mission, they just abandoned the whole thing entirely. "Eh, it's not even a planet." (That's what they'll say).
b) Diagrams and mobiles in science classes will have to be replaced. But earlier in the decision process, the IAU was considering a definition that would have kept Pluto a planet and added like 2 or 3 other objects. Thank god that didn't happen. That would have really confused the kids.
c) Affecting my personal life the most: Some of those Copper Kid quizzes at the end Silverhawks episodes are now horribly wrong. For those who don't know, Silverhawks is in the top 10 most awesome shows of all time. It's a cartoon that aired a long time ago, and at the end of every episode, the Copper Kid would be quizzed by Bluegrass on many aspects of the solar system.
Here is the CNN article about Pluto getting the boot.

2) The upcoming season of Survivor will be its 13th. That's quite a run, no? But I digress. The real story is this: The teams this season will be divided by race. Yes, they are doing what everyone wants to see, but never thought they would. Whites, Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics, all in direct competition. On a show called "Survivor" nonetheless. I will be just as interested as the next guy to see what happens, but let's be honest here. What good can come of this? I mean think ahead to the first episode when the host Jeff Whatshisname meets the cast and says "OK. Whites over here. Blacks, you go over here. Asians you here, and Hispanics you go over there." Its almost comical, but too-easily brings up disturbing and all too familiar memories of segregation in places that matter. I wonder if they displaced a native population on the islands they are filming on. What if the whites win? Are supremacist going to claim a victory? What are the relations going to be like between teams? There is no doubt that a cast member will make a comment he or she regrets. Same goes for people outside the show commenting on it. What good could come of this? Good TV I guess.

3) Kids in Gary, Indiana, must be going nuts. Every child's dream has come true for the boys and girls of this school system. What would I do if I heard these words as a elementary, middle, or high school student: "School canceled indefinitely due to teacher strike." When we got to go home for half the day freshman year due to a bomb threat, that was awesome. But "school canceled indefinitely." Man, what a concept. Now what the kids have to due is borrow from the book of Bart Simpson and perform Operation: Make-Strike-Go-Longer.

4) How about those Oakland Athletics? Somehow, they are in first place with a 5.5 game cushion. I'll cut and paste the most interesting parts of this article for your viewing pleasure:

The A's are last in the majors in slugging percentage, doubles and batting average with runners in scoring position, are tied for last in batting average and are 21st in runs scored.
"And we're first in [hitting into] double plays,'' Beane said, laughing. "Usually you have to have a lot of baserunners to do that. We are a complete freak show.''
Third baseman Eric Chavez has played injured most of the season; he's hitting only .241. Shortstop Bobby Crosby is hitting .229. It's possible that the A's will win the division without a 100-RBI man, and with only two players with as many as 75 RBI.

Only 2 players with 75 RBIs? Speaks volumes about pitching and defense.

On Barry Bonds

As a follow up to the Giants post, I'll delve into a rant on every Giants fan's favorite Giant.

Yesterday, on espn.com's Page 2, an article appeared that is the most vicious assault on Barry Bonds I have read. Written by Jeff Pearlman (author of Bonds biography, Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero), the piece attacks Bonds as a bad teammate, role model, husband, and father. "Barry Bonds is an evil man. A truly evil man." Says Pearlman. He claims he's not writing the article to promote his book, but rather as a plea to Bonds to come clean on performance-enhancing drugs. By doing this, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams would be spared jailtime for not revealing their sources to the Grand Jury for their book (Game of Shadows--the first book that described Bonds' supposed steroid use).

The first thing worth mentioning here is that when Pearlman mentions his book, it is a link. And by clicking on the link, you are directed to amazon.com's page for the book. But he's definately not promoting his book. Not in the least.

Secondly, on his critisms of Bonds: "As a father, he has been absent and indifferent." How the hell would he even know that? The only people qualified to judge that are his kids and I somehow doubt Pearlman was able to interview them for the book. And if he did, I would guess they would have a favorable opinion of their dad. "As a Giant, he has held a franchise hostage and refused to help teammates in need." Please. There is nothing Bonds has wanted more than to win. Throughout his entire career, he has stated that winning a World Series is the most important thing. Even if you don't believe him (I do), how can you say he has held the franchise hostage? By winning 4 MVPs in a row? By being the sole reason the Giants got a new stadium? By being the reason people fill it? I think most teams would have enjoyed being "held hostage" by Barry Bonds. This is a guy who changed the game more than anyone since Babe Ruth. HE GOT INTENTIONALLY WALKED WITH THE BASES LOADED, FOR CHRIST'S SAKE.And if you ask me to, I can name countless examples to back up a statement the casual or cynical viewer may not believe true: Barry Bonds is a team player. Don't tell me he refuses to help his teammates in need when, on his birthday, he throws out a guy at home to keep the game tied in the top of the 9th inning, and then in the bottom of the inning hits a walk-off home run. Please.

Now, as for these authors of Game of Shadows. First of all, I read the exerpt that came out in SI. And this is the most sensationalized piece of writing I have ever read. Literally. I'm suprised it didn't appear in the tabloids. Yet pretty much everyone 100% bought into 100% of it. Now these authors are being asked to name their source of much of their information to a Grand Jury hearing investigating Bonds. The information in quesiton is from a previous Grand Jury hearing in which Bonds testified he never knowingly took steroids. The authors say they wont reveal their source even if it means jail time for them. Now they are being made out as martyrs, as heroes. A lot of people are finding it attrocious that they are gonna have to go to jail, when they did nothing wrong. They are the ones who "cleaned up baseball"--they did what Congress and MLB couldn't do. Well, if I may steal from Damon Bruce again: Imagine this: A guy is very good at his job. But a lot of other people are good at the same job. They guy feels like in order to become the best at the job, so he can make the most money, he might need something extra. So he tries some illegally obtained materials to beef up his performance. It works. He shoots to the top of his profession and makes a lot of money. Sound familiar? I'm not talking about Barry Bonds. Here, the "guy" is actually two guys: Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams.
Now, the analogy is not perfect. Because the real criminal is the person who leaked the testimony, not the guys who obtained and used it. But I still think it's an interesting and valid way to look at the situation. I can't blame the guys for not revealing their sources. They're journalists. But by not testifying, they are impeding the investigation into who leaked the Grand Jury testimony. This situation is not Daniel Ellsberg leaking the Pentagon Papers to the media. Whoever leaked the Grand Jury testimony was not blowing the whistle on some evil government. He ratted out a steroid user. Now you could make a point by asking where do you draw the line between a source that needs protection and one that does not need to be protected. I just think it's pretty clear in this case.
So the point is, these guys are not heroes. They did not clean up baseball. Baseball had a steroid problem because it had no testing program. Now that it does, the problem is pretty much as solved as it can be. People will find loop holes, and maybe a stricter policy may be needed, but don’t tell me the guys who exposed a number of players “cleaned up baseball.” They are not heroes. Moreover, to the city of san Francisco, these guys are villainous traitors.

So, here is my take on Barry Bonds: Yes, he probably used performance enhancing drugs. So did a ton of other people. These substances, however, were not banned by Major League Baseball. So if you are gonna blame someone, blame MLB. I've even read something that said since the testing policy has been in place, more pitchers have tested positive than position players. So was the playing field really uneven? And if you want to put astericks by Barry's numbers, you gotta put astericks by sooooo many other stats. Rafael Palmiero's 3ooo hits and 5oo home runs. All of Jose Canseco's statistics. These are just the high profile guys with high profile cases. But is this really what you want?:
Single Season Home Runs:
Barry Bonds - 73* - 2001
Mark McGwire - 70* - 1998
Sammy Sosa - 66* - 1998
Mark McGwire - 65* - 1999
Sammy Sosa - 64* - 2001
Sammy Sosa - 63* - 1999
Roger Maris - 61 - 1961
Babe Ruth - 60 - 1927

The fact is, this is a persecution. The media, Grand Jury hearing; they are out to get Bonds. If it was Bonds (not Palmiero) who testified "I have never taken steroids. Period." and then later tested positive, do you think they would have said "yea we looked into perjury, but couldn't find enough evidence"? No. We would be in pretty much the same situation we are in. Bonds has never tested positive for steroids, and yet he is undeniably the face of the entire scandal. Not Jason Giambi. Not Rafael Palmiero. Not Floyd Landis. Newcomers to the list are Marion Jones and Justin Gatlin. And I'm not saying race has a lot to do with it, but in this day and age it is still a lot easier to demonize a black man.

Yes, Barry Bonds has been a dick to the media. But since when is he paid to be friendly to the press? Is it in his contract? No. He has chosen not to deal with one inconvenience that comes along attached to his job. And with the way the media has been treating him lately, can you blame him? Maybe he is a total jerk. I've heard a lot of bad things about him. But I've also heard a lot of good things about him as a person. In fact, everyone I know who has met him has said great things about him. This includes my mother. And while she may be a little crazy, she has met Barry Bonds, which makes her pretty dam cool.

On the Giants

Here are some thoughts I have on the Giants this season:

The season can be summed up nicely, if I may steal from KNBR's Damon Bruce's show last night: Giants baseball - brought to you by Purgatory. Not Heaven. Not Hell. Just sort of.....who the hell knows. It's late August, and still we are saying, "wait and see." The criticle stretch of 19 games in a row against only division opponents that was supposed to show us what the Giants were made of, one way or the other, just ended. The results? 10-9. What does that tell us? Just about nothing. The stretch featured both a 5 game losing streak, for which afterwards the Giants were "done for," and then a 5 game win streak, which put them "right back in it." Currently they reside at the bottom of the NL West, which is the definition of mediocre. No team that scares you, no team that is absolutely horrible. 4.5 games out - certainly doable. If their starting pitching continues to shine, the bats pick it up a bit, and something is done about the closer situation, this team could make the playoffs.

Therein lies the problem, however. I've already seen the Giants in the playoffs. I've already seen them in the World Series. I want to see them WIN. And barring multiple miracles, this team is not a world champion team. I just don't see them getting past the Mets and whoever the AL team is (most likely the Yankees, White Sox, or Tigers. I doubt the A's or Angles would make it past the divisional series, and the Red Sox, who scare me, probably wont make the playoffs). There are just so many flaws to this Giants team. They are very old, and very slow. They have not hit in the clutch. Barry Bonds is about 1/5 the player he used to be. Steve Finley and Randy Winn are performing below expectations. Moises Alou is hurt all the time. The bullpen sucks.

Speaking of which, Armondo Benitez is quickly climbing the ladder of Bad Giants (see a future post for a definition and list of Good and Bad Giants). Saving two thirds of save opportunities does not cut it as a closer, especially when you are getting paid like 7 million dollars. And, to add insult (literally) to injury (figuratively), the comments he has made are justification for him to get drowned in McCovey Cove. "I did my job" after a blown save? (in reference to Ray Durham misplaying a ground ball). "We're running like babies" after a blown save? (in reference to Steve Finley slipping on the basepaths). Come on, Armondo. Take responsibility for the fact that you put a fastball down Main Street on an 0-2 count. We know you've "been on better teams than this," but that doesn't mean you are better than the team. In fact, you are quite worse. If you actually had actually earned your money this year, the Giants would probably be in first place.
And I have to say I don't like the way the Giants have handled the situation. The only good thing about a Benitez blown save is the fact that I can hear Ralph Barbieri (my favorite KNBR personality) rant about him. His interviews with Brian Sabean are priceless and spot on. Sabean answers the questions about Benitez in a diplomatic way, which is all you would expect, but that does not mean the situation cannot be dealt with. Yes, the team has a lot of flaws. That doesn't mean you shouldn't deal with the most glaring one. And what's crazy is that Ralph's worst fears have been realized, exactly how he said it would happen. Benitez accidently successfully saves a couple games, and Felipe Alou says "we've got our guy for the 9th inning back." WHAT? First of all, back to what? He's never been good for the Giants. Secondly, to keep trotting Benitez out there is one of the worst moves I've ever seen a manager make. He has got to go after this season is done as well. He’s old and dry and boring. He never argues calls. He’s got to light a fire. I don’t think he is getting the most out of his players.

Anyway, the point is this: Since the All Star Break (and really the whole season), the Giants have been little more than a tease. The highpoint was after they had beaten the Padres 3 in a row and had taken over 1st place. They were all ready to win the 4th game and sweep, and then embark on a week of games against the worst teams in the NL. But then Benitez blew the save and they immediately transitioned into the lowpoint: a 9 game losing streak...against the worst teams in the NL.

But hey, they're not out of it.

Intro

Well, I now have a blog. I set this up only so I could post comments on other blogs, namely the Giants one found at http://tampabaygiants.com/, created by Sam and I guess Brad.

You may see an origional post here or there, if I think something is worth mentioning, or if I come up with something that I think is funny. Probably what will happen is I'll be into it for a while, and post all sorts of shit that I believe to be funny/newsworthy/witty/something I want to rant about. Then I will realize that nobody reads this thing, and posts will drop off exponentially. Then again, I just saw something on facebook where you can direct your blog right into your facebook account. So maybe people will see it. Who knows.

If you are not a Giants fan, you might be confused as to what the hell the title of this blog is about. It is in reference to then Giants right-fielder Jose Cruz Jr dropping a routine flyball late in the decisive game of the 2003 divisional playoffs against the Marlins. The error ultimately cost the Giants the game, and hence their eventual World Series title. A somewhat frustrating end to a 100 win season in which they were not for one day out of first place.

Oh yea, and this happened a year after they blew the previous World Series by coughing up a 5 run lead in the 7th inning of Game 6. So you can see why I was a tad bit upset with Jose Cruz Jr.