Tuesday, June 01, 2004
NON-PINEAPPLE TIDBITS
More tidbits? Oh yes.
-- You know, without a glance at Baseball (Think Factory) Primer, I wouldn't have found out that a true tragedy was averted in the world of college athletics. The tragedy? Sports at Rice University were nearly wiped off the face of the earth. Now, I don't know much about the infrastructure and economics at Rice, but to me, it'd be completely different if the baseball team weren't kicking major tail every year, and sending their share of players to the pros. What helped save the future of sports at Rice? A big-ass email campaign sure helped.
-- Also with assistance from Primer, this article from the LA Times (I'm an idiot, I've registered already; here's the main quote)...
-- I can appreciate fishing and all, and the nuance and skill and relaxation that goes with it and everything, but what the hell is up with all these sappy-as-hell "take me fishing" commercials? "Take me fishing before the earth crashes into the sun." "Take me fishing so all the voices go away." "Take me fishing so I don't have to see any commercials about people begging other people to take them out fishing."
-- Once again, SportsLine's Power Rankings are in. Your Seattle Mariners are now a stout 27th, a spot lower than the week before, having been leapfrogged by the Indians and Devil Rays.
-- Token offseason mention of hockey here. The Vancouver Canucks have managed to land 10 players on the various rosters for this year's World Cup of Hockey. Alphabetically by nation...
Canada -- Ed Jovanovski
Czech Republic -- Marek Malik, Martin Rucinsky
Finland -- Sami Salo, Jarkko Ruutu
Russia -- Artem Chubarov (Russia just named their rosters today)
Sweden -- Markus Naslund, Mattias Ohlund, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin
Sometimes I forget how many Swedes the Canucks have on their roster. On another note, I'd be surprised if Rucinsky was a Canuck next year. I like him, but for a goal-scorer, he just plum couldn't find the back of the net after coming over at the trade deadline. Lots of chances, but not a lot of goals. Of course, one could easily argue he could find the touch again. I wouldn't mind having him back, but who knows.
To those of you wondering where all the USA players for the Canucks are, well, they didn't have a player born on this side of the border on the roster (to our Canadian readers, we're stateside here) during the season until Ryan Kesler (Livonia, Michigan) was called up about midway through, which I think was because of Magnus Arvedson hitting the shelf (damn, he was red hot when he got injured too, skating beside the twins...DAMN!).
Okay, I've let out the hockey in me for now. Wait, no I don't, I just dug something else up...
-- We've seen this in the referrer logs, and I didn't manage to trace back the Google search until today. We posted the Heritage Hockey Classic rosters back when the Habs and Oilers had that outdoor game in Edmonton. Lee Fogolin was on the Oilers roster, and he was a longtime captain of theirs. So why were we being searched for Lee Fogolin? His son Michael Fogolin, a player for the Prince George Cougars of the WHL, had his funeral held today after dying in his sleep last week at the age of 17, possibly due to a heart condition.
Life is beautiful, everyone.
I might be back with a Mariner post later, but if I know better, I won't because I have to have a poster designed with some legitimate analysis by noon tomorrow. I think I may have something going here though, in terms of actual progress. If I don't know any better, though, keep coming back to see if I've posted or not.
[This post aided by the Internet Hockey Database Player Encoder.]
-- You know, without a glance at Baseball (Think Factory) Primer, I wouldn't have found out that a true tragedy was averted in the world of college athletics. The tragedy? Sports at Rice University were nearly wiped off the face of the earth. Now, I don't know much about the infrastructure and economics at Rice, but to me, it'd be completely different if the baseball team weren't kicking major tail every year, and sending their share of players to the pros. What helped save the future of sports at Rice? A big-ass email campaign sure helped.
-- Also with assistance from Primer, this article from the LA Times (I'm an idiot, I've registered already; here's the main quote)...
- That's one of the changes Lon Rosen, new Dodger executive vice president of marketing, is strongly considering to "try to insert a little bit more energy" into things at Chavez Ravine.
"I think two-thirds of the Major League Baseball teams have mascots," Rosen said Monday. "The Angels have a mascot, the Yankees don't have a mascot, Philadelphia has a famous mascot, but I don't know if it will work. We're going to take a look at it and talk to people about it."
-- I can appreciate fishing and all, and the nuance and skill and relaxation that goes with it and everything, but what the hell is up with all these sappy-as-hell "take me fishing" commercials? "Take me fishing before the earth crashes into the sun." "Take me fishing so all the voices go away." "Take me fishing so I don't have to see any commercials about people begging other people to take them out fishing."
-- Once again, SportsLine's Power Rankings are in. Your Seattle Mariners are now a stout 27th, a spot lower than the week before, having been leapfrogged by the Indians and Devil Rays.
-- Token offseason mention of hockey here. The Vancouver Canucks have managed to land 10 players on the various rosters for this year's World Cup of Hockey. Alphabetically by nation...
Canada -- Ed Jovanovski
Czech Republic -- Marek Malik, Martin Rucinsky
Finland -- Sami Salo, Jarkko Ruutu
Russia -- Artem Chubarov (Russia just named their rosters today)
Sweden -- Markus Naslund, Mattias Ohlund, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin
Sometimes I forget how many Swedes the Canucks have on their roster. On another note, I'd be surprised if Rucinsky was a Canuck next year. I like him, but for a goal-scorer, he just plum couldn't find the back of the net after coming over at the trade deadline. Lots of chances, but not a lot of goals. Of course, one could easily argue he could find the touch again. I wouldn't mind having him back, but who knows.
To those of you wondering where all the USA players for the Canucks are, well, they didn't have a player born on this side of the border on the roster (to our Canadian readers, we're stateside here) during the season until Ryan Kesler (Livonia, Michigan) was called up about midway through, which I think was because of Magnus Arvedson hitting the shelf (damn, he was red hot when he got injured too, skating beside the twins...DAMN!).
Okay, I've let out the hockey in me for now. Wait, no I don't, I just dug something else up...
-- We've seen this in the referrer logs, and I didn't manage to trace back the Google search until today. We posted the Heritage Hockey Classic rosters back when the Habs and Oilers had that outdoor game in Edmonton. Lee Fogolin was on the Oilers roster, and he was a longtime captain of theirs. So why were we being searched for Lee Fogolin? His son Michael Fogolin, a player for the Prince George Cougars of the WHL, had his funeral held today after dying in his sleep last week at the age of 17, possibly due to a heart condition.
Life is beautiful, everyone.
I might be back with a Mariner post later, but if I know better, I won't because I have to have a poster designed with some legitimate analysis by noon tomorrow. I think I may have something going here though, in terms of actual progress. If I don't know any better, though, keep coming back to see if I've posted or not.
[This post aided by the Internet Hockey Database Player Encoder.]
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