Infield Chatter

[owen]

You're right of course, and I wasn't taking issue with you, just reacting to the pathetic performance of the England team. At least your lot won!  I still think there is a good chance you will be in the world cup in two-ten and we won't

Oh, I don't know about that! We took a gamble with the whole joining Asian Confederation thing and now we have a lot of hard work to do.

No easy task for Aussies:

China, Iraq and Qatar will be Australia's opponents in the third round of Asian Football Confederation qualifying after the Socceroos were seeded directly into this stage of the qualifying process.

This phase of qualifying will see the Socceroos play their opponents home and away with the top-two placed teams progressing to the fourth and final round where four teams will gain direct entry to the 2010 FIFA World Cup while a fifth team will play off against the top Oceania team for the final place in South Africa.

http://theworldgame.com.au/socceroos/index.php?pid=st&cid=100565

Note that we always were the top Oceania team before making the switch to Asia. Now the competition is a lot tougher, and we have to play through these tough knockout stages to be in with a chance.

The trade-off is that since the competition is tougher, it is also higher quality. We are improving due to the regular experience at "world's best" levels, and our OS-based players are more likely to want to play for their country against Iraq than against Samoa. Hopefully, Asia will only make us stronger.

The ultimate embarrassment would be to come fifth in Asia and have to play off against the new Oceania leader (whoever that turns out to be) and lose. God I hope that doesn't happen. I don't think we'd ever recover. It would be better not to come top five in Asia and miss out than lose to the group we abandoned.

O!

[tgraham]

When the Galaxy came to Houston to play the back-to-back MLS champion Dynamo this season the match sold out quickly.The media were all over the Becks hype for two weeks before. I'm not sure he was even in this country. I believe his-Beckishness was resting his bruised knee/ankle/elbow in the UK.
I'm looking forward to going to a few matches next season. I hadnt seen the Dynamo play until the championship game, the MLS is a pretty exciting match.

[Sebastian Knight]

Remember the scene in Bull Durham when Susan Sarandon is in the stands watching Kevin Costner yell at the umpire and when the umpire finally turns red with anger and tosses Costner out of the game she simply says "Oh, he must've called him a cock-sucker...".   Well, things weren't that different in 1898.  See this document (click the images at the top of the page to read.  Warning: contains language more commonly heard on Deadwood than official MLB documents)

[frankh]

If I were able to go back in time, one of my top ten or twenty tasks would be to stop the formation of the Boston Pops. Somewhere in the top fifty would be to somehow to prevent the conception (or barring that, the musical education, not that there is much evidence of it) of John Williams. "John, there's room to MOVE as a fry cook!"

I get a little nervous when the Sox go big in the first game of a series, but for now, I can live with it.

The Pops were actually Really Something before John Williams. Arthur Fiedler's time. Good stuff! There's a version of Sleigh Ride that I consider definitive. And that ain't all!

And uh, doesn't the Major League season begin in Japan in like the next 12 to 36 hours?!

I feel my pulse quicken...

[frankh]

Really, really odd (though it makes sense in an odd way, lol) that the season was actually beginning as the previous post was being produced.

[Sebastian Knight]

Baseball can be a dangerous sport.
For the fans.

Hitting the ball...s

[tgraham]

That's what you get for being a Rangers fan. Well, that and a crappy team.

[tgraham]

OK this one's more about sport than anything...

The Astros first round draft pick in this years amateur draft was Jason Castro (Left), a Junior Catcher from Stanford U. Jason Castro (right) the American Idol contestant from this season

[frankh]

OK this one's more about sport than anything...

The Astros first round draft pick in this years amateur draft was Jason Castro (Left), a Junior Catcher from Stanford U. Jason Castro (right) the American Idol contestant from this season

LOL!
That's great!
Many moons ago ( and actually, I still play it, LOL ... I have this huge thick notebook with the words, "The Only Complete 1981 Baseball Season" printed upon the front; someone over the course of the decades emblazoned a Red Sox logo below that, knowing of my love for their rivals in the Bronx; filled with numbers that are meaningless to most other human beings aside from myself ... and! ... I've nearly completed it's 2,106 game tasking! ... Truth to tell, in it's way it's been riveting entertainment for me over the years ... nearly 26 of them to be something near exact ... and at least somewhat entertaining for my offspring ...) I came across a tabletop paper and dice baseball simulation game called Strat - O - Matic. Some of you may be aware of it, and even have actually played. It's fun. Quick.

Anyhow, in one of the first versions of the game that I encountered there was a utility infielder by the name of Danny Ainge. Danny had just completed a multisport ( by the way, this makes me and anyone who follows what I'm talking about now officially Old! ) career at BYU, and would later go on to a fine NBA career which included championship seasons with Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics.

We called him, in the playing of the old baseball sim game, presaging Chris Berman's chronic nicknaming just a tad, Danny "You Shoulda Played Basketball" Ainge.

[tgraham]

wow, another stats geek.
We used to play strat-o-ball, both baseball and basketball. It led to some interesting arguments, for example, if you had to fill out your baseball team with a pitcher and eight clones of the same player at all positions, who would it be?
THe same question in basketball was easily answered in the 80s.
Magic had the size to post up and clearly the ball handling to play point guard. He smoked the team of all Larry Birds by about 50 points. We didnt have the MJs yet, but I'm not sure he had the size to post up and rebound against the Magics.

[Sebastian Knight]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KajeVoqRdrs" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KajeVoqRdrs</a>

[Kcowboy Kcurtis]

Congrats to the Cubbies. Hope to see y'all in Fenway in a fewweeks. If not, then, please, feel free to go all the way.

[Michael]

I'm still pulling for the Sox (the White ones), but as they don't seem to want to win, I suspect I'll soon be pulling for the Cubs.

A subway series would have been (still could be, I guess) pretty cool. 

[Michael]

 

Losing to anyone would be better than losing to the Twins.  Well ... except maybe the Cubs.   

[Sebastian Knight]

Gratz White Sox fans.
Go El Series!