Long Awaited And Anticipated (Final 4)

So, second things first, my dislike of UCLA Crappy Big Ten/Big East Team West is pretty well established , even without Jordan Farmar's coif. So I don't need to say that I'm rooting for Florida. But I'll say it anyway: Go Gators! Seriously, I hate this UCLA team this much:

Yup, that's my guy. Even if he is an NBA bust. (Sub conscious says "just like Vince Young, genius?")

As to the substance of the game, who on UCLA guards Corey Brewer or Al Horford? Lorenzo Matta weighs about 79 pounds, 43 of them in his schnozz, so he might get bullied. Luc Richard Mbah! Mbah! Mbah! a Moute has regressed, and seems to have caught a little of the Lou Roe* syndrome - as in "I'm not big enough to be a full time interior guy in The League, so watch me hit this J. Ok that was ugly, but watch this one. No seriously guys, the next one's money, I'm due!"

As for Brewer, UCLA did a pretty good job on Brandon Rush, but I think Brewer is a little tougher, so he'll be able to do some things. And if they have to help on Horford especially, that means open looks for Green and Humphrey. Bad news. On the other end, how does UCLA score? They can't really play their usual chuck-and-chase because the Gators have a bunch of big bodies, included Chris Richard, who I think would be a college star at any other school. (I'd take him over D.J. White or Mario Boggan to name two examples.) Brewer will be a tough matchup for Aflallo, who's also due for one of his periodic 4-17 games, and if Green or Humprhey (an underrated defender) can't contain Collison, Brewer could do that as well, in a pinch. Bottom line, UCLA has to play and shoot great while Florida plays mediocre or worse for the Bruins to have a chance. Florida by 11, not really that close though.

But the early game is the big daddy. Ohio State, Georgetown. Oden vs. Hibbert. The question is, who for OSU guards Jeff Green? Certainly not Oden, else he fouls out in 20 minutes of action. Ivan Harris is tall, but...he's tall. Ron Lewis or Jamar Butler? Plus G'Town has a bunch of other big, active bodies (including Ewing's kid, who's actual kinda good). This leads me to believe that OSU plays a lot of zone, unless Thad Motta is an idiot. Of course, judging by his coaching performance vs. Xavier, Thad Motta might be an idiot. If he wises up, G'Town's guards have to make shots from the outside. They can, but will they. On the other end, Georgetown also has matchup problems, especially if Oden can get Hibbert in foul trouble and/or tired, as I don't think Wallace or Sapp can stay in front of Conley. Butler, Lewis and Cook (who is so due for a huge game off the bench, I add) will get into the lane and create open looks for each other, and Harris, and dunks/putbacks for Oden. I see this as being a really entertaining, high scoring game that will turn on OSU's defense - if they keep Green from going off, they win.

Relatedly, if OSU beats Florida for the title, I win my office pool. So the above picks are completely unbiased.


* Just check out the box on the right at the link - it reads like the Early 90s Bust No Stars. Can you go wrong if you are in the same company as Shawn Respert and Beta Tyler Hansbrough (aka Eric Montross)?

The Gun From The Rising Son

My thoughts on the Sawx acquisition of Daisuke Matsuzaka, or rather my rambles, at TWT.

Today's Truths

• Shoals at FreeDarko has an almost indescribably fantastic post about, more or less, basketball as a metaphor for finding meaning in an essentially anonymity inducing consumer culture. Relatedly, I mourn for Francisco Liriano by demonstrating that (shameless) imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
  

• Barack Obama... I mean this is 6 kinds of awesome, and really, for me, this is about 150 kinds of kick-ass. But since we here at WAP are all about substance over style (except when we aren't) how much of this is playing the Saxophone on Arsenio? I just don't know enough to get excited about him for any reasons aside from A) he ain't Hillary, and relatedly B) he might win, even against John (St.) McCain. Now, talk to me about Gore-Obama '08, and I'm ready with the bumper space.
  

• KFMonkey drops the hammer on the third season of Lost _boom. I don't really have anything to add other than to call bullshit on the show's creators any and every time they claim to "know where they are going" with the whole story of the island. If they're just making stuff up at this point, I'll start a fund so that we can get better, uhm, stuff to the writers' room, and we can go full-on David Lynch on this piece.
  

• I am boring (ht: Lance:

How evil are you?

• A tailer-made description of why I keep saying (in comments) that basketball is not-especially amenable to SABR-geekdom from today's Daily Dime:

  
  

  You may never see a highlight of this play, as it did not result in a bucket or dunk, but follow this to get a glimpse of the kinds of things that happen in an NBA game on a nightly basis:

  Deron Williams beats a show by Dirk Nowitzki on a ball screen, drives middle and makes a sweet no-look pass to Carlos Boozer. Boozer, challenged by a good shot-blocker in DeSagana Diop, loses the ball on his way up, sending the ball high into the air. Williams, on the baseline following his pass, jumps high to keep the ball away from Anthony Johnson, who otherwise would have an easy recovery, and bats the ball toward the free-throw line.

  Boozer, Diop, and Devean George all make an effort to get a hand on the ball, but it ultimately goes to Andrei Kirilenko. AK-47 takes an immediate dribble toward the rim and Diop, who gets back into defensive position. Andrei bends his long 6-9 frame down to almost half his size and throws a perfect bounce pass, thru Diop's legs, to a waiting Jarron Collins under the basket.

  As Collins goes up for the layup, Diop reacts quickly and blocks Collins point blank at the rim.

  The entire play takes nine seconds and produces two missed shots, a good hustle play by four players, two terrific passes, and a blocked shot. And no points. Oh, and three verbalized "wow" calls by me as it happened. Highlights alone do not tell the NBA story.

  Nor do the stats as we collect them.

That's all for now. Theo, get it done, or JoBu is coming to get you:

Difficulties

I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that I probably won't reach the 50 in 52 mark...unless, I account creatively. Hey, Ezra says it's ok:

I find actually listing the books I read throughout a year a troublesome enterprise. So many of them end up half-finished, somewhat-skimmed, or otherwise partially absorbed that I'm generally left with a fairly small number of books read, and a somewhat overwhelming mass of books somewhat read.

Indeed. I mean if I add together fractional books read, I think I'm probably over the hump. As it is, should I force myself to finish a book that kinda and/or totally sucks just to meet some arbitrary goal?

In my defense I had just finished reading this which I enjoyed immensely, and thought to myself "if I like a 'rivalry' book so much when the author hates my squad, it would be even better to read one where I'm with the Good Guys." Except that Blythe's book is well-written and original, whereas the Sox-Yankees book is reheated, rehashed and probably a staple on many remainder racks at this point.

So I may not reach 50 individual books completed, but will have read the equivalent of 50 full books by the end of the year. This strikes me as a plausible interpretation* of my resolution.

P.S. If you are a hoops guy, I thoroughly recommend "To Hate Like This..." One of my top five or so for the year, and certainly in the top two for sports (along with "Fantasyland" which I still hope to blog about at TWT prior to the New Year")


* It's true, The Law has destroyed what little shred of soul which may have survived the first 29+ years o'life. I'm legalistic parsing my own new year's resolution. This does not end well...

My Mantra

Tim asks:

Pooh,

Your public is waiting for you to weigh in on this JD Drew to the Sawx business.

Five year grace period...five year grace period...five year grace per, aw screw it.

WHAT THE F@*&, THEO?

I stick up for you, if you no sign Matsuzaka now...

J.D. Drew for $70mil? (ok, Julio Lugo is an upgrade at short...but then wouldn't Hanley Ramirez do just as well if not better? It's not like he's proven himself at the Major League lev...what's that? RoY? PigF****r...) To continue with a theme, he has talent but he has no...MARBLES. We think MannyBeingManny is flaky, but you never really feel like he doesn't give a crap, just that he goes about things the wrong way. J.D. Drew does not, in fact, give much of a crap. That's a good fit with the Boston media. But at least we have the Japanese John Halama on board.

I was telling PapaPooh the other day that if we don't close the deal on Matsuzaka, this will have been a disastrous off-season. Isiah Thomas bad. Matt Millen bad. Don Rumsf...no, that's too far.

Five year grace period...five year grace period...five year grace period...

Are the MFY's Neocons?

I'm with Drezner, Best. Op-Ed. Ever.:

TRADE A-Rod’s continued failure to deliver in the clutch is diverting critical resources and dividing our team. He must go. We need to move on, now!

KEEP Trading A-Rod would lead to a disaster in the American League East. It would embolden other teams and threaten future Yankee clubs. To cut and run is not an option.

TRADE Neither is “Stay the course.”

KEEP Not once has the Yankee brass said, “Stay the course.” That’s never been the plan!

. . .

TRADE We’re sending our kids to fight an endless war in Boston, when it’s Detroit that attacked us. After we swept the Red Sox in August, you hung out your Mission Accomplished banner, but nothing has been accomplished.

KEEP The Yankees never said it was over. The news media said it was over. And I acknowledge the challenges. We must adapt. We must heed the experts. Joe Torre and his coaches have said they believe A-Rod should come back. We must listen to them.

TRADE Those are the same “experts” that batted A-Rod eighth!

KEEP You would stoop so low as to attack Joe Torre? Have you no shame? Have you no shame!

RTWT

In other news, Pasta Diving ("and another one pastadivingJeter") won his third straight gold glove. Dreams do come true.

Bookblogging Update and Quick Hits

Well, I'm at 39, just finished Sully's, will get to that sometime this wkkend. Since I'm hopelessly behind in blogging the quest for 50 in 52, I might have to cheat a little and give some quick hits.

#25 - Ghengis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford: I can save a ton of time here by simply saying 'What Angelica Said.' The main thing I took away from the book is how ruthlessly utilitarian the more famous of the Khans (Genghis and Kubilai) were. They get a bad rap for being cruel and all that, but the time period, they weren't so bad. Ok, if you were an enemy soldier, they killed you, but there wasn't nearly the wholesale slaughter, rape and pillage which seems to be a staple of other 'civilizational' contests.

#26 - A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage: Like Salt, but with liquor instead. Since I like drinking more than I like cooking...

#27 - How Soccer Explains the World by Franklin Foer: Think of P.J. O'Rourke doing his "everything is crap" routine, but instead of warzones, soccer clubs. Really would have been better titled "How Soccer Reflects the World," but that's a minor quibble for a very readable book.

#28 - Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football by David Winner: Quite possibly the best book I've read this year. Wide ranging discussion of Dutch culture, ingenuity, individualism, racial integration and the 'style vs. substance' debate, seen through the prism of Dutch soccer. The Dutch are, with reason, often known as 'the Brazilians of Europe' for their stylishly attacking football. At least prior to this World Cup's much less extravagant side, they were. But there are particular psychological, perhaps even psychiatric reasons why they never seem to come good in the end. Fascinating read.

#29 - 31 - The Mind of Bill James by Scott Gray; Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville by Stephen Jay Gould; Fantasyland by Sam Walker; 3 baseball books, which I'll cover at TWT sometime soon.

More to come sometime this weekend...

Que?

YADIER MOLINA?????

(or if you live in NYC, Yadier 'pinche cabron' Molina)

((Of course while I was typing this, the Mets have 2 on none out...))

(((Cliff Floyd needs to swing harder)))

((((Why is Paul Lo Duca's theme music "Boogie Shoes" not confidence inspiring))))

(((((UHM, swing the bat, Carlos...)))))

Saturday! Bonderman! Carpenter! It's the World Series on Fox!!!

... Heh, been there myself, Met Fan (as some have in fact witnessed)

Bigamy (Sports Edition)

Let's Go Twins! And by "let's go," I mean "goddamnit, you led the AL in hitting, how about, you know, hitting. Looking at you Baby Jesus Mauer." Of course, I'm more sanguine than these guys or that guy (heh,

BTW)

Or especially her.

Update: No sooner had I composed this bad boy then Cuddy and Morn-ofertherseries went back to back.

Update the second Ouch. No sooner had I updated than a "failed to turn the DP" led into Torii deciding that coming back from 1-0 down in the series is just too easy. That was almost Bostonian the way that there developed, sorry TwinKids for the jink...

Quick Baseball Predictions

Twins over A's in 5: Twins can take 1 of 3 when Johan isn't pitching.

Yankees over Tigers in 3: Young team, in a tailspin, gets hypnotized by the 45 minute 7th inning stretch at the stadium (which includes everything short of Disney on Ice, these days...)

Padres over Cardinals in 4: La Russa probably pinch runs for Pujols, which ends up costing them the deciding game. If there's a baseball equivalent of the basketball "Look! I'm coaching!" timeout, it's Tony La Russa doing pretty much anything. This is still a really good book, though.

Mets over Dodgers in 4, before the lack of Pedro derails them. (It's almost as if one could have predicted that Pedro would be very good for a year or two after he left the Sawx, and then his arm would fall off. Almost.)

Let's Go Twins

Road Rash

Jumping off any bandwagon, even one moving very slowly is going to leave a mark. I guess the best part of gone for the weekend was that I missed all but one inning (of course it had to be that inning. Bad times...)

So 'dead to me' blahbitty blah, go Twins, etc. At least it's football season. By which I mean the game in which an actual cirucular ball is manipulated by, you know, feet. Glory Glory Man United...

GGOW? Not So Much...

Via, Andrew Sullivan of all people, apparently the Greek God of Walks, Kevin Youkilis, isn't, er, Greek.

Not sure how I feel about getting my Sawx news from a Brit, but I'll live.

(Read/watch the whole thing...suck it Mel Gibson)

A Lot of That Going Around

Mi compadres at TWT are, well, depressed. 'With good reason,' you ask? I link, you decide:

Francisco Liriano, Minnesota's rookie All-Star, is out indefinitely with what appears to be a left elbow injury. . . In a quiet postgame clubhouse, Liriano, 22, seemed on the verge of tears, and his voice crackled as he described the pain, pointing to the inside of the elbow this time, beneath the muscle and possibly in the joint.

(Cue Pooh making the "kicked in the junk" face)

Of course, we can't even beat Kansas City, so, still advantage Twins. My original opinion stands:

NOW Stick a Fork in Them

I was hasty before, but I don't think I am being premature to say, after today's debacle - blown save by Papelbon, and the almost inevitable walk-off surrendered by Julian Tavarez (why can't he break his hand punching a wall again so we can put him out of our misery for the year...)

Worst of all, the Twins may never lose again (and are now tied for the Wild Card with the Sawx...if it keeps up this way, I will never, ever, ever here the end of it from these guys.)

Stick a For in Th....GET BACK LORETTA!

Still reeling from The Heist*, as well as Chien-Ming Wang throwing the wickedest googlies since this guy and 'Tek going under the knife thislong after the trade deadline, I was fully prepared to give up on the Sawx for the year. I was even composing the 'stick a fork in them' post in my head. Down 5-4 in the 8th after Timlin gives up a two-run bomb? D-O-N-E, done, not even Papi can will this team to victory day after day. But then...Mark Loretta...Supahstar!

As one M. Corleone was once quoted as saying, "everytime I think I'm out, they pull me back in."


*see also Jayson Stark today:

Over and over in the last few days, people from all walks of baseball have been asking: That's all the Phillies got for Bobby Abreu? And the answer is: You've got it.

"I keep asking myself, 'Is there something I don't know about Bobby Abreu that they know?' " said a high-ranking official of a team that would have loved to add Abreu in a less complicated, dollar-signed world. "I'm just baffled that they could not get anything back for a guy this good. And they paid him $1.5 million to waive his no-trade clause. And they just tossed in Cory Lidle -- tossed him in. I know for a fact there were teams that offered better prospects for Lidle alone. I don't get it."

GAH!

I Want Pat Gillick in My Fantasy League

Anger...RISING!

You ever play in a fantasy sports "keeper" league where certain owners always seem to be 'building for the future,' 'stockpiling' ''prospects'' for the 'future?' (Which leads to such things as trading, oh, say, Albert Pujols for David Wright and Scott Kazmir...actually, that trade would be Gillick's best day...) Well luckily for the duct-taped together Yankees, so do they...Seriously, the best you could get for a borderline All-Star (well, not this year, but still) and a decent starters were a few minor-leaguers (not really even prospects, just some random minor leaguers, it seems.) Did Cashman have to throw in a few cases of beer, a few jock-straps and a bucket of BP fungoes to make the numbers work?

What it comes down to, of course, is money. Because the Yanks can eat the remaining two-years and gazillion dollars on Abreu's contract...GAH! I can't go on...

(But there is good news. After Kris Benson was traded by the Mets, Abreu fills a certain void recently lacking in tabloid-saturated NYC...)

((And the worst part of it is, if the Sawx had taken care of business and been 7-10 games up like they should have been, considering the Yankees injuries, it probably wouldn't have mattered...PigF****r.))

I Wish

I could say that this came as a complete shock

Tour de France champion Floyd Landis tested positive for high levels of testosterone during the race, his Phonak team said Thursday on its Web site, raising questions about his victory. . . The Swiss-based Phonak team said it was notified by the UCI on Wednesday that Landis' sample showed "an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone" when he was tested after stage 17 of the race last Thursday.

I'm not sure there's anyone with even a passing knowledge of cycling that didn't at least entertain the possibility that Floyd 'loaded up' before Stage 17. I'm not saying he did it (yes he has a lot of Testosterone, anyone who completes the TDF needing hip replacement is All Man. Obviously), but is anyone really surprised?

Of course, I'm on record as not really caring about 'doping,' but I'm just about the only one.

As a side note, one of the myriad books I have open, Baseball Between the Numbers posits that there is a benefit to be gained from steroid use, but based on before/after splits of players caught juicing, the effect is an improvement of 1-2% for hitters, while much less (and statistically insignificant) for pitchers. Too early to tell, really, but it confirms what I've suspected - roids inhibit almost as many players as they help. Don't believe all the hype.

Sawx Weekend Pilgrimage: 1-2. Worse, No Papelbon

A few more or less random observations from the Seattle-BoSox weekend.

1. Ichiro is absolutely unique as a baseball player. I'm not sure the sheer oddness of his hitting style comes through on TV, but it is unquestionably effective. It seems like he went about 17 for 13 over the weekend. I know that's not possible, but like Chuck Norris or Jack Bauer he bends reality to his whims.

2. Speaking of the Norris/Bauer debate, the new Roadhouse DVD is worth renting just for the Kevin Smith/Scott Mosier commentary track, where they gleefully praise the awfulness of the film, mixing in similar observations: "Dalton doesn't go hunting because 'hunting' implies the possibility of failure. Dalton goes killing." This is a trend I heartily support - commentary tracks devoted to carving the movie to pieces, almost MST3K style.

3. Downtown Seattle has a distinct urine smell when the temperature rises abouve 90. Yech. There are also a lot of hills. It's not fun to walk up hills in 95+ degree heat after drinking beers at an Englishman's pace for the entirety of a ball game. (During the second game, I was seated next to a Briton, wearing a canary yellow Arsenal jersey no less and we chatted about sports, European and American for the whole game while buying each other massively overpriced MGD's. Good times. Except...)

4. Julian Tavarez and Rudy Seanez are awful. Tavarez came in and immediately a pretty decent debut outing from Young Kason Gabbard on Saturday.

5. I may have found the coolest store ever, near Safeco field: Ebbets Field Flannels, authentic throwbacks to all kinds of long forgotten teams - the '65 Alakska Goldpanners, the 1892 Lebanon Pretzel Eaters(!) and, the truly awsome 1939 New York Knights, check the right sleeve...

Some pretty sweet stuff, I must say. (Minnesotans, perhaps the Minneapolis Millers might catch your fancy.)

6. Varitek's homerun of J.J. Putz with 2 out in the 9th might be the farthest I've ever seen a ball hit in person. They said 398, but hogwash, it hit the facing above the cafe in right field, having just stopped rising.

7. Getting beat by the awful Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson sucks - I've never seen a walkoff homerun in person, and it's not a lot of fun as an opposing fan. (Speaking of, I'd wager that the support was 60-40 or 65-35 in favor of the Mariners all three games. Red Sox Nation was in force)

8. Worst part about the middle relief sucking in every game was no Papelbon. I even got asked by confused Mariner fans "who the hell is Papelbon" as I trudged out of Safeco with #58 on my back.

I Speel Goot

So dashing off a post on the way to the airport leads to funny things. Like inventing words. Pilgrimamge? WTF? It also leads to the dreaded Bad Travel Karma. The shortest route from Anchorage to Seattle is, at least according to Alaska Airlines, via Fairbanks.

If that doesn't seem like it makes that much sense, let me tell you

It doesn't. (For the truly geographically challenged, Seattle is south-east of that green area some of us like to describe alternatively as Canadia, Hockeyland, Eh? or simply the 51st state.)

But that only works if you sit in the wonderful Fairbanks 'International' (too where, exactly?) Airport, which was built in approximate 1895, and hasn't changed any of the air filters since that time, as my sinuses can attest.

At that point, you may witness what I like to call The Dumbest Thing ever - while waiting on the jetway just outside the plane, (since the gate agent wants us to get on the plane and out of her hair as much as we do, she's not bothering with that boarding by rows thing. If you need extra time or are travelling with small children, tough shit) a guy starts cutting in line. On the jetway. Repeatedly. (Later, I realise this same...gentleman...is sitting directly behind me when I am startled to discover his face leaning over my shoulder to watch my DVD player along with me.)

TDE is then nearly repeated when another, not obviously related (though possibly equally drunk) gentlemen attemps to jump the strangely mamoth cab queue in Seattle. After strangling him with my headphones*, throwing the body in the trunk and telling the cabbie "Downtown, and step on it!" I just miss my anticipated 5:30 arrival time by checking in at 11:30.

Thankfully, my good mood was restored as they replayed Slappy von Chokenstein airmailing a throw home approximately 15 and 20 times on the late Sportscenter. It's Zen-like, the ability of comical Yankees plays to calm me.

So, off to Safeco. Ridiculous the amount of Sawx gear in downtown Seattle today. The Nation, on the march. As my only pregame comment, I note that it's a bad sign when your starting pitcher is wearing a Royals cap in the media shot.

Yikes. I mean "GO, KYLE SNYDER!"



* This may or may not have actually occurred. As anyone who has travelled with a head cold will tell you, reality was a bit more of a fluid concept than usual.

Pilgrimamge, Part One

Off to Seattle to see the Sawx play three, posting may be light. If it helps you get through the day, pretend I said witty things and laugh appropriately.