Daniel Murphy and Oliver Perez, or Last Night’s Party

Two things from last night’s game against a Dodgers, a close 5-4 win made a little more hairy by Francisco Rodriguez’ closing style. It was a fun game but Oliver Perez’ line was…

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR
O. Perez	5.0	4	2	2	7	2	0

Underwhelming.

But his hair was perfect! And Mets fans were trying to make #OliverPerez a trending item. We failed.

First, the hair:

And then video of Daniel Murphy’s adventurous put-out at first. Hat tip to the ‘Ropolitans:

Jamaicans, Moneyball, Sosa: Link Dump!

Who would believe you can get 56 stars tattooed on your head while you were asleep? No one is that fast, nor that gentle with a needle… In New York, is Bloomberg just delaying the budget deficit hit until after the elections, where he is running for an unprecedented third term… Meanwhile, California’s budget deficit will have them dealing out “IOUs”, because liabilities at interest is just what the Golden State needs… there may be water on the moon (a moon of Saturn).

And for fun, the top 10 recent male politician infidelity confessions to accompany you while you read Gov. Sanford’s emails to his lady friend in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Transformers 2 gets bad reviews, but apparently has a lot of Megan Fox bouncing in slow motion. That, I suppose, will sell, but I can’t stand to listen to her act. So instead of the gratuitous Megan Fox picture I should put up, here’s a gratuitous Cat Deeley photo, just because I can… and instead of arrows or bullets, I’ll use Toni Basil’s crazy eyes.

Too short for a Toni Basil: From a while ago on the NCAA’s blog: Do You Have What It Takes to be an Athletic Director?

Samardo Samuels (Louisville), Weyinmi Efejuku (Providence), and Mike Coburn (Rutgers) out of the Big East will be playing with the Jamaican men’s national team this summer.

Hopefully the squad will do well in the Caribbean Basketball Championship this coming week… and maybe make moves to be included in the 2012 Olympics. And with all the Jamaicans in London, they might find it a little like a homecoming. As long as there are no more Jamaican Me Crazy headlines. Please.

Good to hear about former Marlins, Red Sox and Cubs pitcher Matt Clement. Apparently he’s hung it up in baseball and is coaching his high school’s basketball team in Butler, Pennsylvania; he played baseball and basketball before graduating in 1993.

He was never quite the same after that horrific injury, taking a baseball off his head faster than he could react. Good luck to him, and his future career.

Chances of ever seeing that Moneyball movie are pretty much dead now, after Sony stopped production, and no one wants to pick up the Steven Soderbergh/ Brad Pitt version of the Billy Beane-based book. Art Howe would have gotten to be himself! One-liners!

The “high budget and limited commercial appeal” sunk the project; apparently, “adult audiences”have not brought in the desired revenue.  Summer blockbusters for kids all year! And no more baseball movies, unless they are financed by Kevin Costner.

Ryne Sandberg thinks Sammy Sosa doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame. Well, does Sandberg belong? Just asking!

For me, I am not very surprised that Sammy was on some steroid junk… the whole throwing his back out sneezing seemed to me like something that happens in conjunction with overworking the body’s muscles. I don’t know, but I would have suspected then. But, so what? Players are always trying to get over. If he is determined to be the best of the players who took steroids, he still has to have been great player to be the superstar that he was.

Another too short for a Toni Basil: Was there match-fixing at Wimbledon? Certainly, anyone looking to throw a game knows to do it in the less-publicized, less watched contests… so that’s not out of the realm of reason.

Barack Obama will throw out the first pitch at the All-Star game in St. Louis this year. I hope they don’t boo him… the city, like the Cardinal uniforms, tends towards red. Speaking at Notre Dame and showing up at the midsummer classic? He really is trying to win everybody over with smiles and availability.

And he’ll probably wear a White Sox jersey.

New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority is selling the naming rights to my old train station at Atlantic and Flatbush in Brooklyn to Barclay’s Bank, since that is where the new Nets stadium – if it is ever built – will stand.

The new design for the Barclay’s Arena for the Nets (from the New York Press) really does look like an airplane hangar.

Mets Opening Day at Cincy: Mets 2, Reds 1

Too many pitches by Santana, José! José! started things off with a hit and a stolen base, Luis Castillo got a hit, and DANIEL MURPHY with the 2 RBI… plus crisp performances from JJ Putz and Francisco Rodriguez… it’s a good beginning for the 2009 Mets. I can’t regard a Phillies/ Braves game as opening day – this is true opening day.

One down, 161 to go.

Boxscore

Head in the Game, Lions Logo, Alex-Rod: A Link List!

Hey, where’s the AIG facade? They’re changing the company name… The Onion on the Morning After Burrito, the contraceptimelt… Open up borders to skilled immigrants – opinion pieces in the Wall Street Journal and from the NY Times’ Thomas Friedman… some completely bizarre “perks” in Josh Freeze’s "pay what you will" pricing, especially compared to Radiohead – including lunch, a day at Disneyland, his Volvo, and the opportunity to have a song written about you… China’s central bank is talking about a new reserve currency…

And now… sports.

+ Eric Devendorf – punk or not? Read the take on Rumors and Rants, and the take on Ballin’ Is a Habit (which is sensible). And a defense here. Personally, I just think his mind thinks of plays his body can’t finish; he’s gotten better at matching his actual talent with his imagined talent, but watching some of his drives, truer words were never spoken than Sean McDonough’s "Devendorf’s the kind of player that keeps both teams in the game."

+ Jonny Flynn’s going to return for his junior year, supposedly.

+ Pitt Blather will be hosting a roundtable discussion on Big East domination of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

+ Patty Mills gets the best of Stephen Curry and the Davidson Wildcats in their matchup at St. Mary’s, which was the best NIT game I have seen since St. John’s beat Georgetown in 2003. And that wasn’t actually a good game. Mills has a far better supporting cast, and doesn’t turn the ball over 6 times in a game with a questionable dribble and ill-fated passes.

+ Is Steph Curry going pro? Is that the last we see of him?

+ The Big Lead rips on Gonzaga’s Austin Daye and his disappearing act on the court.

+ Missouri’s Mike Anderson’s trying to stay focused on the upcoming game against Memphis, and not on the talk of him possibly going to Alabama to coach the basketball team. He’s high on my list of coaches who might be switching jobs. CBS Sports reminds us that it would be much worse if he lied, instead of saying that he doesn’t want to talk about the future.

+ Alex Rodriguez. More high-end blonde hookers. Making fun of him is just boring at this point. At least he went to one of Eliot Spitzer’s trim suppliers.

+ The new women’s soccer league is confident despite the recession. I’ll be checking it out; women’s soccer in the US has to be better than the men’s pro league, MLS.

+ The corny new Lions logo. Dammit, I meant to keep opinion out of it. From mlive and profootballtalk–

Citigroup explores breaking naming rights deal with Mets

Concerns about how Citi is using US Federal bailout money is prompting Citigroup to reconsider the naming rights deal, valued at over $400 million over 20 years.

The Mets deal was attacked last week as an example of misplaced spending by financial institutions that needed bailout funds, according to the paper.

A Citigroup spokesman in New York told Reuters on Tuesday that “no TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) capital will be used for Citi Field or for marketing purposes.”

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives Dennis Kucinich and Ted Poe wrote to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner last Wednesday, asking him to push Citigroup to dissolve the Mets deal, the paper said.

Most of me says “aw, crap. A visible team in NYC and a naming rights deal? Certainly, the deal has been signed, but the government can find ways of helping Citi nullify the deal, which would be bad press all around for a time.. But if AIG can blow cash on a resort trip, why can’t Citi halp out a baseball franchise… boy, the logic isn’t strong on this one, huh.

The naming rights deal is still valuable, and the Mets franchise is in the public eye; someone else will pony up for some (less rich, dammit) naming rights. But this waffling, and likely breaking of the deal is a tough blow for the Mets’ owner Fred Wilpon, who has already had a tough loss from Bernie Madoff’s financial scheme. According to the Metsblog, Wilpon might even have to sell a minority interest in the team.

Maybe “Jackie Robinson Field” is the most viable naming idea out there, until the Mets can get some corporation to slap their name on the outside of the rotunda.

Linx: Terrible Towel for Good, Hewitt too Pricey to Fire, Citigroup Naming Rights, Super Bowl, Puppy Bowl and More

It’s Chinese Lunar New Year! Underwater dragon, anyone? Folks still have confidence in Obama, and that’s good, he was sworn in less than 2 weeks ago! Illinois Governor is now Former Governor Blagojevich, after his eventful last day in office; new Governor Pat (Hallelujah) Quinn promises to “fumigate state government.” Some curious comments on The American Institute for Economic Research’s Cost of Living Guide.

US Airways Flight 1549 (the one famously waylaid by geese) passengers will get a year of free “elite status” upgrades; Wall Street Journal commenters think they’re greedy because of one guy’s comment saying it doesn’t go far enough. I think, like those people are going to be flying any more than they need to in the next year? Hells no. Speaking of the flight, Addicting Games is staying classy with a flight simulator game – just prevent the plane from crashing into the Hudson! I’ve been giggling all week about this article on East Breast, Penistone, and other embarassing names of British towns from the NY Times… and Tumbledown Dick Road. It never stops making me laugh.

I am such a sucker that I am going to be watching the Puppy Bowl this Sunday as well as the Superbowl… enjoy the puppy starting lineup. My wife’s big on Mercy (pictured below, photo courtesy of Animal Planet).

+ Those damned socialists in Congress (Kucinich and Republican Ted Poe are quoted) want Citigroup to ditch the $400 million deal for naming rights at the new Mets Stadium/ CitiField.

+ David Wells, still punk-ass after all these years. Who gives him a microphone? Oh yeah, other loudmouths. He calls Torre, ah, J-Fraud.

+ John Maine avoids arbitration and will make 2.6 million next year.

+ In college basketball, an auto-bid watch from Storming the Floor.

+ USA Today finds the recent college firings “disturbing“, and name-check Gary Williams, St. John’s Norm Roberts, and Ernie Kent. Addendum: an article on Ernie Kent and the new Matthew Knight arena opening in 2011. And why would Jeff Capel leave Oklahoma for Georgia, anyway?

+ Paul Hewitt, safe at Georgia Tech… in part because they can’t afford to fire Hewitt:

If that weren’t enough, there’s this: Hewitt’s contract renders him almost fireproof.

His deal was reworked in April 2004 after he led Tech to the NCAA title game. Dave Braine, the AD who hired Hewitt in 2000 and had seen his vision realized, rewarded his coach with a six-year contract that rolls over automatically and that provides a buyout in full for each remaining season if he’s fired “without cause” (meaning, just for losing).

Hewitt is making $1.9 million this season — $1.3 million in salary, $250,000 for radio/TV shows, $200,000 in speaking fees and $150,000 in deferred compensation. Were Tech to dismiss Hewitt today, it would owe him $9.5 million.

By way of contrast, Tech was compelled to pay Chan Gailey $4 million when it fired him as football coach, and Georgia is on the hook for $1.5 million after canning Dennis Felton.

Georgia’s athletics department is flush with cash. Tech’s is not. Tech is paying Gailey through 2011 not to coach, and it just handed Paul Johnson a 50 percent raise — to $2.4 million per season. Bottom line: Nobody is rooting harder for Hewitt than Radakovich.

Football Links!

+ Something awesome that I never knew about the Terrible Towel (I love my Terrible Towel!) – the proceeds go to a special needs school:

But the great part comes from what each of those towels does for people like Danny Cope, Myron’s son and Elizabeth’s older brother.

Myron Cope left behind something far more personal than a legacy of terrycloth, a battle flag for a city and its team. In 1996, he handed over the trademark to the Terrible Towel to the Allegheny Valley School. It is a network of campuses and group homes across Pennsylvania for people with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities. It receives almost all the profits from sales of the towels.

Danny Cope is one of the roughly 900 people the school serves. He has been a resident since 1982, when he was a teenager. He was diagnosed with severe mental retardation when he was 2. He is now 41.

+ The NFL is either losing money (according to the NFL Commissioner)… or flush with cash (according to the Players’ Association). Yes, there’s a Collective Bargaining Agreement that needs to be negotiated by both sides in the next couple of years.

+ Kurt Warner is not a Hall-of-Famer. Jason Whitlock apparently disagrees.

+ The NFL loves younger coaches these days.

+ Brett Favre doesn’t return Aaron Rodgers’ calls. Hasn’t for a year.

+ A Super Bowl Ad preview. Do they strike a “delicate balance” between upbeat and sympathetic?

And Barack Obama on the Super Bowl… he’s for Pittsburgh.

Linx: Cubs Suck, Football Pluck, Concussion Muck, Stimulus Bucks

Congress signed a bill to ease rules on lawsuits from workers about pay discrimination; Even better, the US House of Reps passed a stimulus bill with no Republican votes! EAT THAT BIPARTISAN BURGER, you oppositional turds! Oh wait… there’s the Senate as well. Americans still fear Obama – oh, they would fear any president by this measure; and an interactive map of layoffs by state.

Good thing I already got my wife a snuggie… my dad didn’t drink Canadian Club… 50 most loathsome Americans of 2008 from Obama to Palin, with YOU coming in at #43… Amy Fisher is doing porn – aren’t her 15 minutes well up by now?… Elizabeth Hasselbeck is pregnant, which means she has more yapyapyap to talk about, she might talk too much according to the traffic light rule of thumb (h/t to Kottke). How I Met Your Mother’s Cobie Smulders along with being recently engaged, is also pregnant and I swear that if the show works a baby into the storyline, I’m going to frown while I am watching. Don’t test me, HIMYM!

And Jessica Simpson is looking a little more thick Texas these days, apparently. I was going to accompany that with a picture of Ms. Simpson, but I will go with Isla Fisher instead. I like her last name, and she’s starring in Confessions of a Shopaholic, one of those critically tiring, early-year movies that are made from trashy beach novels.

Sports Links

+ Arizona Cardinals owner Bill Bidwell, basking in the glow of business and stadium decisions (and perhaps a bit of luck along with skill). Also, does the meaner look of new logos portend success? Maybe the Lions should have a pride of them eating a gazelle as a logo. And the Jets can have screaming jet fighters.

+ A study on the aftermath of concussions in football:

Recent findings that point to serious, permanent brain damage from football-related concussions have failed to alarm Super Bowl players.

A Boston University study unveiled this week uncovered new evidence concerning chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease caused by head trauma. Six former NFL players, all dead by 50, were found to have the condition, which doctors say can cause victims to lose control of their emotions, suffer depression and eventually, dementia.

+ Oh Lord. More Brett Favre drama. He will meet with Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum about his future. Expect breathless reporting, hedging, hemming, and groans from the NY fans and players, who want a full commitment from Brett Favre if he’s coming back. Can I drive Brett back to Mississippi? Please?

+ A fan or fans in St. Louis stomped out CUBS SUCK next to the Cardinals’ stadium in downtown St. Louis, in a size visible to buildings all around (and perhaps planes). I love that the ‘Lou is nothing if not consistent! Awesome work. I think this should be a sculpture.

+ Speaking of Cub suckitude, who actually trades FOR Aaron Heilman?

+ Wake Forest Coach Dino Gaudio uses tempo-free stats (h/t Rivals college basketball). You, sir, are a smart man.

+ (Already suspended) Miami guard Eddie Rios arrested for burglary and grand theft. I am so tempted to match the knuckleheadedness on the court to this action, but obviously, his on-court lack of control has nothing to do with crime. If he doesn’t get jail time, he’ll still be out of school in a matter of weeks.

+ David Beckham might stay in Europe?

+ There might be evidence that Barry Bonds used steroids besides “the cream” and “the clear”, as they lean hard on one of his associates:

Bonds was indicted in November 2007, and the authorities have since targeted [former trainer Greg] Anderson’s mother-in-law, Madeline Gestas, and Anderson’s wife, Nicole Gestas, in an effort to put more pressure on Anderson to testify. The authorities have focused on the finances of Madeline Gestas, a California businesswoman who has been the subject of tax liens. Nicole Gestas is also under investigation in connection with her own finances.

And Mark McGwire’s brother Jay is shopping a book talking about Mark McGwire’s ‘roid use. But no NY Times articles about that, or IRS leaning on his associates…

And check out the college coaches on the hot seat post. Who do you think should be added to the list (two of whom have been relieved of duty)?

phillies win world series

pico asked me to step in for a moment and celebrate the philadelphia phillies! whoooooooooooo! YES CAN US! wahoooooooooooooo! whoooooooooooooo!!!!!
(i am not the writer that pico is, but i did draw a celabratory phanatic!)

shirts: phinally! / phightin’ like it’s 1980

as a philly expat, i sadly didn’t make it back for the craziness, but through the wonders of the internets, i have been able to see car flipping, crowded streets, drunks, idiots, drunks, happy announcers, some drunks, and general craziness. however, if you are looking for the single most appropriate way to celebrate the phillies win, and the city’s first major championship since 1983, why it’s setting your boxers ablaze in the middle of broad street. i just hope this guy’s broad street bullies didn’t get too cold. pheel-deez!

Razor Shines, Willie Randolph, CitiField Construction, Moneyball Movie, and Tatis Comeback

* The Mets have a new third base coach with the amusing name “Razor Shines.” I keep think that’s a typo, but no. This from the coach who said, about Reyes’ demonstration of frustration this year,

“I told him next time he does that I’m going to get my blade out and cut him. I’m a gangster. You go gangster on me, I’m going to have to get you. You do that again, I’m going to cut you right on the field.”

* Across from CitiField, the Constructicons have taken down the old Mets scoreboard (video). It’s kind of sad to see. Wait, what’s that? The Constructicons are not real?

* Fernando Tatis – your comeback player of the year from Sporting News.

* The Daily News’ Adam Rubin lets us know that former Met manager Willie Randolph is in consideration for the Brewers job, and a couple of bench coach positions.

* And non-Mets related: Michael Lewis’ Moneyball, on Billy Beane’s stewardship of the Oakland A’s under a tight budget, is being made into a movie.

Mets Closer Billy Wagner Out for a Year

After the uh-oh before last night’s rousing prime time victory over the Phillies… the uh-oh becomes reality.

From the NY Daily News:

Mets closer Billy Wagner has a torn ligament in his left elbow and will have surgery this week, meaning he’ll miss the rest of this season and likely all of 2009, too.

The surgery will repair a torn MCL ligament and a torn flexor pronator, and has a recovery time of at least a year, the Mets announced Monday. Since Wagner is currently in the third year of a four-year, $43-million contract, it’s possible he has thrown his last pitch for the Mets, though the team holds a $8 million option on Wagner for the 2010 season or there is a $1 million buyout on the deal.