Monday, May 10, 2004
ERRATIC
Just a few randoms for tonight...
-- Am I wrong to think Alex Rodriguez's collision on the basepaths with Alex Cora on a sunny summer day in 2000 may have screwed him out of being a steady basestealer to the tune of 25 bags per year?
-- This whole Raul Mondesi thing is weird. Being ordered to pay $640k to a guy in the Dominican for improving baseball skills? There's got to be some uniquely Dominican stuff I don't know about in terms of tangible contracts for guys that improve the baseball skills of young'uns. Still, with all the money Mondesi's made over the years...this is a battle over principles, right? Surely it can't be because Mondesi will go broke if he has to pay this guy? I won't say he would have raked against lefties or anything (judge for yourself), but the guy was only due $1.15M this year. Sure, no one knew Mondesi would up and bolt, but there were worse options this offseason for the Mariners, and they have a few of them on roster right now.
-- I wish Scott Spiezio's name wasn't weird for my left hand to reach over to the Z key on the keyboard. I wish Dwyane Wade's name was spelled like every other DwAYne on the face of the earth. I wish Marco Scutaro's surname was stressed on the second syllable (Jeff at L43 sympathizes with this). I wish the K in Nikolai Khabibulin's last name wasn't silent.
-- Names and languages here...Remember Andy Stankiewicz, former Yankee? His name was always pronounced by announcers as STANK-uh-witz. The last seven letters in his last name coincide with a certain Doug Mientkiewicz, yet no one sees his name and says it as MENT-kuh-witz (which would be much easier). Of course, the age-old "what the hell?" goes to Mike Krzyzewski. See, I can explain the last two syllables of his surname to myself, but I can't point to any other instance in my life where I've come across a name beginning with a K that somehow got an "sh" sound out of it.
-- Language-related again...I wonder how many stateside students have gotten through entire years of high school French class based solely on what they learned watching hockey games?
-- Who brainwashed who in Boston to think that Byung-Hyun Kim could do well as a starter?
-- Probably the funniest thing I heard all day was that Johnny Damon was going to shave his beard to benefit Boston-area tutor and reading programs. A nice quote is also in the blip about his spring training regimen. "Once a car starts coming, I'll just race it to my house. I scare the cars to speed up a little more, seeing a caveman-looking guy with long hair running at 10 or 11 at night."
-- The ever-quotable and newly shafted now-former Canuck GM Brian Burke had his farewell press conference on Friday in Vancouver. On his firing, "...I don't know whose decision it was, I'm not interested in analyzing it. I know I'm out of work. To be fair to Stan [McCammon, Canuck CEO], he started to offer some words of encouragement and I said I didn't need them. So, maybe I cut off the explanation I would liked to have gotten. It doesn't matter, anyway. I've never been fired before, and it's a kick in the ass. Even when you think it's coming, it's still a kick in the ass. ... I believe this decision was made some time ago, despite what anyone says to the contrary. The fact there were no discussions after the first of November is a pretty good indicator. And when they come out and announce in February that they were going to deal with this after the season, it's a pretty good indication that as soon as the season ends, you're going to get a size-12 boot in the ass. And that's what happened."
Brian Burke will be missed.
-- Whether you're a Husky, Cougar, or neither (that covers the whole spectrum, I think), keep former Husky coach Jim Lambright in your thoughts. He's going in for surgery to remove his bladder and prostate, after being diagnosed with bladder cancer.
Goodnight, y'all.
-- Am I wrong to think Alex Rodriguez's collision on the basepaths with Alex Cora on a sunny summer day in 2000 may have screwed him out of being a steady basestealer to the tune of 25 bags per year?
-- This whole Raul Mondesi thing is weird. Being ordered to pay $640k to a guy in the Dominican for improving baseball skills? There's got to be some uniquely Dominican stuff I don't know about in terms of tangible contracts for guys that improve the baseball skills of young'uns. Still, with all the money Mondesi's made over the years...this is a battle over principles, right? Surely it can't be because Mondesi will go broke if he has to pay this guy? I won't say he would have raked against lefties or anything (judge for yourself), but the guy was only due $1.15M this year. Sure, no one knew Mondesi would up and bolt, but there were worse options this offseason for the Mariners, and they have a few of them on roster right now.
-- I wish Scott Spiezio's name wasn't weird for my left hand to reach over to the Z key on the keyboard. I wish Dwyane Wade's name was spelled like every other DwAYne on the face of the earth. I wish Marco Scutaro's surname was stressed on the second syllable (Jeff at L43 sympathizes with this). I wish the K in Nikolai Khabibulin's last name wasn't silent.
-- Names and languages here...Remember Andy Stankiewicz, former Yankee? His name was always pronounced by announcers as STANK-uh-witz. The last seven letters in his last name coincide with a certain Doug Mientkiewicz, yet no one sees his name and says it as MENT-kuh-witz (which would be much easier). Of course, the age-old "what the hell?" goes to Mike Krzyzewski. See, I can explain the last two syllables of his surname to myself, but I can't point to any other instance in my life where I've come across a name beginning with a K that somehow got an "sh" sound out of it.
-- Language-related again...I wonder how many stateside students have gotten through entire years of high school French class based solely on what they learned watching hockey games?
-- Who brainwashed who in Boston to think that Byung-Hyun Kim could do well as a starter?
-- Probably the funniest thing I heard all day was that Johnny Damon was going to shave his beard to benefit Boston-area tutor and reading programs. A nice quote is also in the blip about his spring training regimen. "Once a car starts coming, I'll just race it to my house. I scare the cars to speed up a little more, seeing a caveman-looking guy with long hair running at 10 or 11 at night."
-- The ever-quotable and newly shafted now-former Canuck GM Brian Burke had his farewell press conference on Friday in Vancouver. On his firing, "...I don't know whose decision it was, I'm not interested in analyzing it. I know I'm out of work. To be fair to Stan [McCammon, Canuck CEO], he started to offer some words of encouragement and I said I didn't need them. So, maybe I cut off the explanation I would liked to have gotten. It doesn't matter, anyway. I've never been fired before, and it's a kick in the ass. Even when you think it's coming, it's still a kick in the ass. ... I believe this decision was made some time ago, despite what anyone says to the contrary. The fact there were no discussions after the first of November is a pretty good indicator. And when they come out and announce in February that they were going to deal with this after the season, it's a pretty good indication that as soon as the season ends, you're going to get a size-12 boot in the ass. And that's what happened."
Brian Burke will be missed.
-- Whether you're a Husky, Cougar, or neither (that covers the whole spectrum, I think), keep former Husky coach Jim Lambright in your thoughts. He's going in for surgery to remove his bladder and prostate, after being diagnosed with bladder cancer.
Goodnight, y'all.
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