KFB Flashback - 7/21/07 - Baltimore Orioles at Oakland Athletics

During the month of July, I was in the SF Bay Area and caught both of the local teams. Here are some shots from the bleachers in Oakland, including a short 6 second video.


This hot dog was gigantic, I couldn't believe it.

Patriots Win, Jets Lose, Let the Agony Begin...

The Jets lost to the Patriots today, 38-14 and really looked pretty beaten up throughout the game.

The game was totally over once the Pats returned a kickoff for 108 yards. You have to just tip your cap to Hobbs' return - I did not think he would have tried to run that back. Just goes to show how the day was going for the Jets. Kicker Mike Nugent spent the offseason bulking up, kicks a deep ball that he probably would have never kicked last year, and it gets run back for a record setting touchdown!

Well, my worst fears were confirmed as the lack of a left guard hurt the Jets this game. As you may recall, Pete Kendall had a contract dispute and got traded to the Redskins during the preseason. The lack of good protection affected Pennington and the running game. Here's a few things I noticed:

-First, the Pennington injury - shades of Vinny Testaverde going down in 1999 on opening day. One can blame this on Pennington's "lack of durability" all one wants, but let's face it - lack of a left guard was to blame here. The missed coverage came from the blind side. He was under pressure all day as well, it's impressive he passed as well as he did.

-The running game was in total disarray. The Jets didn't run much play action passing, which surprised me, but I suspect that the heavy pressure made it difficult to pull this off. Also a lack of running game - probably due to no holes being open. It was telling when Thomas Jones ran for about 10 yards in the second quarter and screamed and jumped in the air as if he had just scored a touchdown!

-Chad Pennington played very well in the passing game, but I was surprised about the fact that he only threw to Coles and Cotchery most of the game. Again, I blame the lack of a left guard here, as it didn't look like they ran much in a way of spread formations in order to keep Pennington protected.

Then there's the Patriots. They looked very good, although I wonder if the Jets offense had been more balanced if the game would have been closer. Pennington ended up passing pretty well, despite their pressure, and I think if the Jets had created some running lanes that they could have kept the Patriots off balance a little more. Randy Moss obviously is over his hamstring problem and Tom Brady looks like he's in great form despite his supposed shoulder problem. The Pats should be able to do very well in the passing game and put up points but I actually thought the Jets did reasonably well against the run. I was also surprised that it seemed like the Jets stuck with a three man rush against the Pats, and it didn't seem like they blitzed too much.

Overall, I'm surprised that the Jets got rid of Kendall so easily. The blind side of the QB was trusted to some novices and it looks like it's going to hurt in a number of ways. Now we have this injury to deal with as well. There are no favors in the Jets schedule either - they have Baltimore, Miami, Buffalo and the Giants coming up. Baltimore and Miami are going to be tough if the protection isn't there on the line, and then division game Buffalo will be intense, as will the inter-city battle vs the Giants. I think the Jets are more talented than the last three teams, but these games still seem pretty tough.

KFB Flashback - 6/16/07 - New York Mets at New York Yankees

As I mentioned before, I got to see three Yankees games in one week. Three victories as well. The Mets / Yankees game was the game with the best seats as well so please enjoy this bunch of photos.

It was a long time ago, so I don't really remember the details. There was a rain delay in the game that made it really long.

At some point in the week, but not at this game, Miguel Cairo was at bat with the bases loaded. Inside the Stadium, John Sterling could be heard saying, "Miguel Cairo is having a bad year, but he is a clutch player, and the kind of hitter you want with the bases loaded." Meanwhile, on YES, there was a stat listed, "Career with bases loaded: .224 AVG." Just another day listening to the Yankees.

KFB Flashback - 6/13/07 - Arizona Diamondbacks at New York Yankees

What a strange week it was - I had planned on going to the bat day game, and then suddenly I got tickets to this Thursday evening game against Arizona and also the Saturday game against the Mets! As it turns out, the Yankees won every game I went to this summer.

First time I've been in the bleachers in a while. Johnny Damon was really close to us!

KFB Flashback - 6/10/07 Pittsburgh Pirates at New York Yankees

This is a game I went to a while back. I took a photo of Luis Vizcaino at the time because he was so horrible and I was going to complain about him. He improved significantly over the course of the season. Now I can complain about how Joe Torre has overused him this year, and had to have an MRI on his right shoulder the other day.

#19 is Tyler Clippard. Remember him? He was one of the 13 rookies that the Yankees have trotted out this year as a starter. Times were really bleak back in June - I can't believe the Yankees are now in the wild card lead!

KFB Flashback - 5/16/07 - Yankee Stadium Tour

Back on May 16, I went on a tour of Yankee Stadium. Here are some of the highlights.


Construction of the new Yankee Stadium has begun.


That's Brian Cashman, playing basketball with local kids during lunchtime. One of the tour guides told me that this is pretty common.


View from the press box.


View of the press box.


I think this is where "Cotton Eye Joe" of the 8th inning fame works.


This is the Yankee dugout.


View from center field.


Monument park.


More monument park.


Yankee bullpen.


The bat. Before the game - meet me at the bat.


This is the hallway from the Yankee clubhouse to the dugout.

Tiki

Has any professional athlete become less likeable following his retirement than Tiki Barber? Maybe Jose Canseco?

I was already down on Tiki before retirement - he seemed like such a self-promoter, willing to say anything to please the media - but he's constantly criticized current Giants personnel including QB Eli Manning and coach Tom Coughlin since his retirement. Why not talk to these guys while you were on the same team? Maybe then the team wouldn't have done poorly in the playoffs. By the way - Tiki's best years? Under Coach Coughlin.

Omen?

Tom Brady's kid has the initials "JET"

John Edward Thomas Moynahan

Poor Miss Teen South Carolina

Hate to laugh at the poor kid but... just watch:

Not to be a pessimistic Jets fan but...

I am still a Jets fan, so I have to be entitled to a little worrying.

I'm worried about the offensive line and how they traded LG Pete Kendall with no other options. This seems like a bad move. Chad Pennington has less protection and there's no stand-out player to take Kendall's place.

Things are made worse with the injury to Thomas Jones. Nobody knows how long he'll be out and he was their major acquisition in the off season.

Finally the secondary, which was supposed to be better with Darelle Revis is still weak due to injuries to Andre Dyson and Justin Miller.

The expectations are high for this team this season. Before training camp started, I was pretty optimistic, but these early bumps in the road have me very worried, especially with the first game of the year coming against the Patriots.

In the News...

Since there is not a lot of new programming on television in the summertime, I have been watching news and sports programming. Here are some of the more ridiculous stories I have seen. Some credit must go to the Daily Show and Colbert Report as well.

Florida State Representative Bob Allen was arrested for offering oral sex to a police department. Why was Allen do it? He was scared the undercover cop (an African-American) was going to hurt him! Nice alibi.

Moving over to the Garden State - poor Miss New Jersey. Someone was trying to blackmail her with photos from her facebook account. Who would do such a thing? Maybe, Miss New Jersey, you shouldn't have posted photos of you making out with all these random dudes. Check out the clip from Today. It's hilarious. How does Matt Lauer keep a straight face through the interview? Especially when she shows the photo of her boyfriend with his mouth over her (fully clothed) breast and says, "Oh but he's VERY intelligent."

In Iowa, Mitt Romney committed a faux pax when he was asked about how his sons would serve the war on terror. How can they help? By traveling around the country and supporting their father's bid for Presidency. What a sacrifice!

Over in Thailand, police officers who break the rules must wear a pink Hello Kitty armband for shame and punishment. Is this to encourage petty crooks to snicker at the cops trying to arrest them? I'm imagining a Thai police officer trying to arrest this teenager for graffiti and having difficulty because the kid is just cracking up.

Finally, Bill O'Reilly has been comparing the website dailykos.com to the Nazi party and the KKK. Since the website has people post comments on it that, for example, suggest that some individuals in the Bush Administration would be better off dead, he feels the hate is similar to that displayed on Nazi websites. Seems a little far-fetched to me. You can decide for yourself.

I must say, watching the news lately has been more entertaining than "Who Wants to be a Super Hero?"

The Jets Now Have Cheerleaders

It's almost time for football, a favorite topic on this blog. Guess what? This year the Jets are adding cheerleaders. That's right, welcome to the "Jets Flight Crew."

On the one hand, it's surprising that neither New York team had cheerleaders. On the other hand, I'm a bit surprised the Jets have decided to start having them now. Seems old-fashioned or something. Not to mention the name "Flight Crew" is so corny. Wait until you watch the the "Flight Crew" through this link. In particular, check out the video with the ridiculous Jets song.

Are You Listed?

I wish I knew more people who lived or worked in Washington DC. There's a search tool for the recently released phone records of escort Deborah Jeane Palfrey at www.dcphonelist.com.

Rickey

Ricky Henderson was just announced as the new hitting coach of the NY Mets. Briefly, isn't it funny how quickly coaches get the blame and credit for a baseball team's hitting and pitching? As I recall, Rick Down, the previous hitting coach got a lot of credit last year for Mets hitting. Looks like he gets the blame this year, even though the team is virtually the same. Of course, Down is probably used to this as he was also previously the Yankees hitting coach.

Henderson was really known as a great runner. I didn't know he had a reputation as a great technical hitter, although he is often considered one of the best leadoff hitters ever. Maybe they brought him in to be a mentor for SS Jose Reyes?

Also, this photo of him from the Red Sox days was posted with the ESPN story announcing his hiring. I couldn't even think of him as a member of the Red Sox, and yet when I looked it up on baseball-reference.com, there it was - 72 games in '02!

This is the 700th post to this blog. Hooray.

Superbad

This movie looks hilarious. I was on their website and it said, "Click here to put this widget on your social networking site." About three years ago, that sentence wouldn't have made sense to anyone! Here's the widget on my social networking site. Enjoy.

Two items

The blog is due for a massive update - almost no updates in June so far. I do have a ton of Yankee updates. Before this, I can't let these two brief stories pass by.

First item
As seen on the Daily Show, Barack Obama ringtones. Ringtones?? Yes, they are soundbytes of Obama speeches mixed to techno music!

Second item
Larry King had the Beatles on the other night and called Ringo "George."

I saw the original article on Rollingstone.com, but here is the transcript as well.

KING: Where were you when — when John passed?
MCCARTNEY: When John passed I was in Sussex, at my home in Sussex. That’s where I was.
KING: Did somebody call you?
MCCARTNEY: Yes, my manager at the time called me. And it was just the shock of all shocks, you know?
KING: George, where were you?
MCCARTNEY: George!
KING: Ringo.
MCCARTNEY: No, this is Ringo here.
KING: Ringo, where were you?
STARR: I was in the Bahamas.
KING: I was getting to (INAUDIBLE) George.
STARR: I was…
MCCARTNEY: No, you weren’t, Larry. You said his name wrong.
STARR: Shut up, it’s my turn.
MCCARTNEY: I know, but he got your name wrong, Ringo, on national television.
STARR: I know. Give him a break.
MCCARTNEY: We can’t cut it. It’s live.
STARR: Anyway, I was in the Bahamas and the kids called and they said we’ve heard something, like John has been hurt.

Bill Richardson on Meet the Press

I thought this exchange was pretty funny on Meet the Press last weekend.
-----
MR. RUSSERT: You spent a lot of time in, in Massachusetts. Are you a Red Sox fan?

GOV. RICHARDSON: I’m a Red Sox fan, but I got into trouble in New Hampshire. You know why? Because I said...

MR. RUSSERT: Luis Tiant, the fund-raiser. But, now, governor, this is very serious. In your book on page 18 it says...

GOV. RICHARDSON: No, about Mickey Mantle?

MR. RUSSERT: You said you’re a Yankee fan!

GOV. RICHARDSON: No, no, no. I said—no, no, no.

MR. RUSSERT: I mean, you can, you can...

GOV. RICHARDSON: No, no, no, no.

MR. RUSSERT: ...you can have different views on immigration, assault weapons...

GOV. RICHARDSON: I, no no no no. No, what I said...

MR. RUSSERT: But when it comes to Red Sox, Yankees.

GOV. RICHARDSON: What I said, the Associated Press asked me, “If you weren’t running for president, if you weren’t running for president, what would you rather be?” I’ve always been a Red Sox fan, but I said if I weren’t running for president I would like to be number seven, Mickey Mantle, playing center field for the New York Yankees.

MR. RUSSERT: “Because of Mickey Mantle, I became a Yankee fan.”

GOV. RICHARDSON: I, my favorite team has always been the Red Sox.

MR. RUSSERT: You’re a Red Sox fan.

GOV. RICHARDSON: I’m a Red Sox fan.

MR. RUSSERT: End of subject.

GOV. RICHARDSON: End of subject.

MR. RUSSERT: You better get rid of this book.

GOV. RICHARDSON: Oh, no! I’m also a Yankee fan. I also like...

MR. RUSSERT: Oh, now, wait a minute!

GOV. RICHARDSON: You can—Tim...

MR. RUSSERT: I guarantee...

GOV. RICHARDSON: No, I know, I got in trouble...

MR. RUSSERT: ...if you go—if you go to Yankee Stadium or Fenway, you cannot be both.

GOV. RICHARDSON: But I like—Mickey Mantle was my hero. If I weren’t running for president, and the Associated Press asked me, I’d play center field for the New York—I wanted to be number seven. And—but I still love the Red Sox as a team. I mean, this is the thing about me, Tim. I can bring people together. I can unify people.

MR. RUSSERT: Yankee fans and Red Sox fans?

GOV. RICHARDSON: Yes.

MR. RUSSERT: Not a chance.

GOV. RICHARDSON: Well, I bet you I can.

Politicians on MySpace

I was never interested in the social networking websites, and I find it even funnier when major celebrities or corporations even have pages on websites like Myspace.com. Yesterday I saw something even more ridiculous - each candidate for President has a MySpace page. Even more absurd is that when I clicked on the profile for Rudy Giuliani, I was told that "This profile is private. This user must add you as a friend to see his/her profile." Rudy Giuliani's profile is private? Really? Isn't this going against using the MySpace page as a political ad / fund raising tool?

The humor of each of these candidates having a MySpace page is also pretty good, I suspect none of them have ever used MySpace before or even have direct participation in maintaining the pages. I'm surprised they don't link to each other in the "friends" section.

MLB Draft

Hey! The MLB Draft is going to be televised on ESPN2!

Isn't that... the most boring thing you could ever think of?

Let's see -- nobody follows amateur baseball the way they follow amateur football or basketball. The teams are not able to trade draft picks. The draft order is set randomly. Players who are drafted get to report to the A ball affiliates.

Who will be the MLB version of Mel Kiper, Jr?

While this is a good idea to bring attention to the MLB draft, I have the feeling that this will be very very boring. The NFL draft has so much chatter and balderdash to begin with, can you imagine what the 50 round, 30 team MLB draft will be like?

5/6/07 - Seattle Mariners vs New York Yankees

I forgot to bring my camera to the game today, but it was quite a game!

First off, the fielding of the Mariners was horrible. LF Raul Ibanez lost at least two fly balls in the sun, with them dropping in for hits / scoring plays. They had at least one or two additional fielding muffs such as the catcher dropping a foul pop up and the third baseman throwing away a ground ball.

SP Darrell Rasner was pretty good today, much better than when I saw him last month. I was a little bummed out when I realized Phillip Hughes would have pitched today were it not for the pulled hamstring. It was also too bad I missed Chien-Ming Wang's near perfect game yesterday.

Josh Phelps ran into the catcher unnecessarily at one point in the game and got hit by a pitch his next time up. Both teams were warned. Later in the game, reliever Scott Proctor threw an inside pitch to a Seattle player who went crazy, pointing and yelling. There was some back and forth but no fight. It was pretty ridiculous, the pitch didn't even hit the Seattle player! Even more ridiculous was the sight of both bullpens emptying. The players came out and there was nothing going on. It was kind of funny I suppose, but the last thing the Yankees need is another pulled hamstring because of jogging out from the bullpen.

Finally in the seventh inning stretch, the biggest news of the day. After they played "God Bless America," they began to play "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" as usual. Suddenly after the first line of the song, public address announcer Bob Sheppard says, "Please direct your attention to the owner's box and the jumbotron screen for an important announcement." At this point, I thought something awful had happened outside. Instead, it's Roger Clemens from the owners box, and he said something like, "...got me out of Texas" and "see you guys real soon." It doesn't really matter, we all knew it meant he was coming back. Totally ridiculous, theatrical and awesome! I have tickets to a game in June and am secretly hoping he will be back that day.

Extended Edition DVD's

I've been noticing that a number of the comic book movies that have come out lately have had "new" releases on DVD that act as "extended" versions. I think the trend started with "X-Men 1.5" which incorporated deleted scenes into the original cut. Most recently there was also a "Spider-Man 2.1" cut released as well. I can understand that these films are popular and that the movie studios are trying to maximize their money from the DVD's, but films like Daredevil, Ghost Rider and even Fantastic Four are also having extended cuts produced. This is pretty frustrating, as these movies were not even that good, and it seems like the movie studios are specifically targeting the comic fans for "double dipping" with DVD's. I wish that the movie studios could just produce a high quality, DVD that contained a ton of features definitively, but I think considering how many times the Star Wars saga has been re-released, I will just have to dream.

Spider-Man 3 Premiere - Spoiler Free Review

I was lucky enough to get the chance to see Spider-Man 3 tonight as part of the Tribeca Film Festival. Here is a spoiler free review.

First off, the setting: The film debuted at the UA Kaufman Theater in Astoria Queens. It was closer to get to from Manhattan than I had expected (just off the R train). They had 14 screens with each showing Spider-Man. It was a mob scene around the theater. We entered through a back entrance, so we didn't get to see the red carpet entrances of the stars. I was in theater 1, but did not see any stars or celebrities in the theater.

On to the movie: To start, I thought this movie was a pretty good film. Anyone who goes to see it should have fun for the most part. If you were a fan of either of the first two films, you should enjoy this one. The performances by all the leads were very good, including Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Topher Grace and Thomas Hayden Church. At times the story suffers from "too-many-characters-itis" that makes the storytelling choppy, but as in the first two movies, they use Peter's personal dilemmas to be the outline for the rest of the Spider-Man action sequences. There are some funny lines, and I think some of the humor is a little more over the top than in the first two movies. The story has heart, however, and the action, while too heavy in computer graphics at times, is pretty good for the most part.

For a third outing in a franchise, Spider-Man 3 is a strong movie. It's certainly better than X-Men 3 was, and will probably be well received at the box office and by critics. There is no doubt that a Spider-Man 4 will follow, the only question will be who will be behind them.

Moss to Patriots

What????

A fourth-round pick to the Raiders gives the New England Patriots WR Randy Moss. Sure, Moss has had all sorts of problems in the past, but I can't imagine there will be any trouble integrating him into the New England system. Now the Pats have an amazing receiver, huge deep threat, and it cost them hardly anything. This just seems unfair. With Indianapolis dismantled after the Super Bowl, it seems to me that the Pats are the team to beat once again by a long shot.

Meanwhile, the Jets have been rumored to be shopping WR Justin McCairens for a fourth round pick. I wonder if the Moss trade will have any impact on this. I think McCairens was a solid player, but for whatever reason has not done well under coach Eric Mangini. Will other teams demand less from the Jets for McCairens seeing that Moss went for a fourth rounder?

Aquapod

I recently saw these Aquapod containers of Poland Spring at CVS and couldn't help but laugh. Especially at the balloon that says, "Orbtastic shape!"

Orbtastic, huh? What does that even mean?

Why is water bottle shaped this way? Was there something wrong with the shape of normal water bottles? This orb shape doesn't seem to be any more useful, convenient or fun than the usual shape.

Is This Related?

4/24 - Hunter's champagne gift violated baseball rule
Twins OF Torii Hunter gave the KC Royals four bottles of champagne after they swept the Detroit Tigers last year, helping the Twins pass the Tigers in the standings and win the AL Central. According to MLB rules, personnel cannot give gifts to other teams for beating another team. The champagne was returned.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2847416


4/26 - Hunter taken to hospital after being hit in mouth
Twins OF Torii Hunter was hit in the mouth by KC Royals pitcher Zack Greinke.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2850281

Probably not related, but funnier if they were related.

Fashion Police (or Red is the New Black)

I noticed that the Diamondbacks changed their uniforms this season from purple and green to this red and black scheme. It's no surprise that they wanted to change their uniforms from the purple and green, but why choose red and black as the new colors? Their new uniforms are nearly indistinguishable from the Reds, Angels, Nationals and Phillies. In addition the Braves and Red Sox also feature red alternate jerseys from time to time. Is red that fashionable these days? There must have been another color scheme they could have chosen.

4/8/07 - Baltimore Orioles at New York Yankees

The last few years I have tried to make it out for an early weekend game at Yankee Stadium. Typically for these games tickets are a little easier to come by and the weather isn't terribly hot.

When I bought the tickets for the Easter Sunday game at the Stadium, I had hoped Andy Pettitte would be starting. A rainout changed these plans until Darrell Rasner had a bad outing, and Andy Pettitte came in for a relief inning. It snowed during the gmae. Also of note, it was calendar day. Enjoy the photos from Tier 15.

For a loss, the game was pretty entertaining, as the Yankees had a few chances late to win the game or tie, but they didn't win in the end.



A-Rod, who one week later, is still on fire.
Meeting at the mound.
Andy Pettitte in a surprise relief appearance.
Yes. It snowed on April 8 at the ballgame.


I think this was the first game I've seen with Bobby Abreu.
Darrell Rasner
Jason Giambi
Derek Jeter
Johnny Damon didn't start but made a pinch hit appearance when it got closer.


Same for Jorge Posada.

Manny Being Manny?

There's a recent article in the New Yorker by Ben McGrath with some funny notes on Red Sox LF Manny Ramirez. Here are some of the highlights. This stuff is good.

1) He has five driver's licenses and two social security numbers
2) He has two sons named "Manny, Jr."
3) He once requested a trade to Pawtucket, the Red Sox AAA affiliate

A-Rod Walk-off Grand Slam

Alex Rodriguez hit a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning today with two outs, winning the game for the New York Yankees against the Baltimore Orioles. So will it be minutes, hours or days before his critics decide that this home run "wasn't clutch enough" or that since he did it in the regular season against Baltimore "it still didn't happen when it matters."

I'm guessing minutes to hours.