I didn't forget it, like April 28, and I wasn't drifting somewhere in the ether, like April 29...
So I figured it was a perfect day for a list of some kind...
So here it is - People, places and things that should get a one-way ticket to ... well, you can pick the place....
it's only appropriate that today's Daily Dose comes a bit after we've already entered tomorrow...it's just been one of those days.
So, i called the "suspended game version" because it's been a lot like the Sox's suspended contest with Baltimore ...
It existed. It was there. It can be proven...like Juan Uribe's on base percentage... But yet, it didn't seem real...Like it was an invisible aura that left you feeling like Snoop Dogg in a phone booth...a little groggy, a little slap happy...really, really hungry...maybe feeling like the street is somehow angled down, and to the left...or that you don't even exist at all...like Juan Uribe's on base percentage...
(oh - the Snoop D-Oh-Double G- is strictly, strictly telling new Cardinals draft pick Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie "Dude, tell the people at Starbucks to not put whip cream on your Brazilian Ipanema Bourbon - you just can not get it out of your mustache. But try this cinnamon stick - it's dee-lish!)
to further prove how ridiculous today has been - who pulls into a Dunkin Donuts drive through at 11:48 p.m. and then has to wait in line? Exactly....And I must have had one of these things take a dump on my car...which just added to the joy of paying $3.79 a gallon as I tried washing it off with one of those ratty window washer things....
and anyone ever notice that mattress stores always have the "Open" sign glowing all hours of the night? At first, I thought it made no sense, but then I thought - if it's 2 a.m. and you realize your bed sucks, what are you gonna do? Then you're lovin the fact the mattress store is open...but then again, you really don't have room to negotiate at that point do you?
alright, alright - so missed april 28. it happens...
I spent a rainy, cold afternoon with Australian golfer Aron Price out at the Bank of America Open media day at The Glen Club. Despite the weather, it was a great event and Price was fun to play with (he said yesterday's beautiful weather would have been the coldest day in Sydney in 10 years, easy).
Price won on the Nationwide Tour earlier in the year, is 5th on the money list and seems like a good kid. I'd say look his group when you visit the tournament at the end of May - you probably are looking at a 2009 member of the PGA Tour.
And, finally, I don't know exactly why I felt the need to share this with you since you might be eating when you see it...but I don't think you'd expect anything else from the Daily Dose (tape delayed)...
Didn't know my beloved Iggles stole from the Carolina Panthers either, until I heard something about it on the radio. That's great news - any time you can line up 2 first round picks (like they did for '09), all the better.
I am waiting for the other shoe to drop next week though - which will either be Anquan Boldin or Roy Williams or Chad Johnson in Eagle green (which would be lovely!)
I will say this - how good is Rashard Mendenhall going to be with Pittsburgh? I say 1,200 at least next year, and then when they deal fast Willie Parker he'll rush for 1,500 the next few years. What a steal at No. 23 for the Steelers....
anyway - that's all i have for now on this mess. I won't watch anything tomorrow - I'm headed out to Comiskey Park to see the Sox v. Orioles - hopefully there'll be some Fire and Passion there to warm it up!
what a waste of time. Who really cares. Mel Kiper Jr and Chris Berman will be breathless over quick hips, fast twitch and dead lifts - who gives a sh#@?
so watch something else this weekend...anything else. (for some great blooper moments; click the 'read more' linky at the end of this post)
Finally - me and a buddy were talking about if it would be illegal to pitch underhand (like in fastpitch softball) at the major league level. Afer some rather half-ass searching over Coors Light and Hpnotiq (not together, mind you) we kind of figured out that it's not really illegal...and we decided it'd be pretty sweet to see that.
along those lines - a fun video on the "greatest pitch ever thrown"...which is kind of related...
So I was listening to the radio last night and hear that the Cubs were still playing - so I switched over to see what was happening (Despite being a Sox fan, I'd rather listen to a ballgame than regular radio) and, as we all know, there's a good chance Ron Santo will give us something to laugh at (i.e.santoohno.mp3"> .)
Anyway, Ronnie confused these two guys in the on-deck box...which is really funny if you think about it...
You have Daryle Ward, listed at 6-2 and a generous 242 pounds...but I'd say he's closer to 260, 265...
Then you have Felix Pie, listed at 6-2 and a monstrous 172...
Finally, there was that great Pat & Ronnie moment when they were talking about a foul ball that Fukudome couldn't quite track down that landed a few rows off the rail in Colorado. Pat mentioned that a fan nearly caught the ball in a hat...
then a few moments later, Santo says "I can't tell if that's a boy or a girl, with the hat. Was that a boy or a girl?..."
The great part about golf is that there is always a back nine, so if you somehow didn't get your fill on the front side - there's always more to be had after the turn. That's what this part of the Beacon News' weekly golf coverage will do for you
Not only does the WGA promote the game of golf with these tourneys, but they've sent thousands of kids to college with Evans Scholarships.
For an exclusive Q&A with WGA V.P. of Tournaments John Kaczkowski about the Western Am returning to Chicago, as well as local golf results and info, read on!
One of the pleasant side effects of MLB's recent crackdown on performance enhancing drugs is that the game's top power guys are not all muscle-bound workout freaks. In a return to old-school baseball, we've got some fat boys among the game's best power hitters.
Take for example the following examples ...
Prince Fielder (pictured), Milwaukee Brewers, 50 home runs last year
Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers, 34 home runs last year
Ryan Howard, Philadephia Phillies, 47 home runs last year
It's good to see home runs are again being hit the old fashion way.
yes, yes, six collective starts are about oh, 54 too short to call Sox youngsters Gavin Floyd and John Danks truly successful.
But I will take these at face value: After last night's victory in Tampa, Mr. Danks has posted 14 2/3 straight scoreless innings. Mr. Floyd has gone 15 1/3 consecutive innings without an unearned run.
I'd say that's pretty good. Now, I know you can't "throw away" such a dismal outing like the one Danks had against the Twins (7 runs in 2.1 innings) but I'd venture to say that outings like that will become rarer and rarer.
for finding these for you. more examples of how this man is an athlete and not only that - his mental fortitude is superhuman. To commit to these shots and execute them is incredible.
ok, ok. Credit where credit is due: photo by J.D. Cuban, found here
For The Big Hurt.
It's kind of a surprise, but not really. Not at this point in his career.
I had a discussion with Jason Bauman about him a few days ago.
I'm 27 and grew up in the prime of Frank's career with the White Sox. The guy was a machine. So much so that when I talked to legendary baseball writer and official MLB historian Jerome Holtzman about it, he called Thomas the best right handed hitter he had ever seen during a 10 year period from 1990-1999.
Now that's saying something.
Jason and I talked about the conscious choice Frank made toward the end of his tenure with the Sox - the decision to become a straight up slugger, rather than the guy who hit .330 with 30 homeruns.
I struggled with his decision at first - I mean, how do you just do a complete 180 and become a totally different - and in my opinion - lesser hitter? But Jason brought up a good point. Frank's health was severely declining. He was never a speedster, but he was a doubles machine back in the day.
Closer to 40 now, doubles don't do him any good. He can't run them out anyway and he never really had a good shot at 3,000 hits with all the walks he took early on. So he made the choice to become a slugger in order to prolong his career.
I give him credit for that. It's weird to see him hit .265, .270 now...that's for sure. But he's a Hall of Famer, and I guess that's what HOFers do - they adjust. I still love watching him hit though - and I'm fortunate to have grown up watching him.
and for good measure, the most famous Big Head of all time...
alright, alright, something sports - you didn't think my GrindUnderground wouldn't hook a brotha up ...this from some surveillance at MIller Park....can't you feel The Fire and The Passion from hundreds of miles away!?
The great part about golf is that there is always a back nine, so if you somehow didn't get your fill on the front side - there's always more to be had after the turn. That's what this part of the Beacon News' weekly golf coverage will do for you
and, in an ode to GrinderPast meet GrinderPresent, the flame of passion past vs. torch of passion present...scroll down a little further
Oh yes - that's GrindErstad, diving head first into first base...showing the Fire and the Passion...and that's GrinderSwish, diving to tag out GrindErstad...
Which is akin to the Superfans asking themselves who would win a fight - Ditka, or Hurricane Ditka?...
Several colleagues and I were talking about the Masters and major champions in general the other day, and I got to wondering - what happened to all the golfers in Tiger Woods' age bracket?
I asked The Powerhouse - "Is he the lone light in a generation of suckiness?"
So, I got to looking....and no, he's not one in a generation (which is usually calculated at about 20 years) but he's pretty damn close...Read on....
From the Masters was this, from Tiger Woods: "I learned my lesson there with the press," he said. "I'm not going to say anything."
He was referring to his pre-Masters Grand Slam talk about how winning four majors in one calendar year was "easily within reason." (Which it is, by the way).
i'm sad to hear this. I don't know about you, but I want the best athletes to tell me how great they are, and what they're going to do...and even if they fail, I love the anticipation of waiting for it.
Blogger's note: This post is actually courtesy of Jim Owczarski, who had issues getting this to work from home. So he typed it up on his typewriter and then dictated it to me over the phone. Technology is your friend, Jim.
Some technical difficulties kept me from posting this sooner - but that's OK - if you're a real sports fan you haven't had time to check until about now anyway...because really, who cares about Ted Lilly's problems?
First - how about Gavin Floyd? The youngster took a no-no into the 8th against the hapless Tigers (who are quickly finding themselves in a big hole). A friend of mine and I were thinking - who does Floyd look like when he delivers the ball from the windup? The first thought was Mark Prior...but I can't recall the last time I saw Prior actually pitch...but his delivery does look familiar...maybe you can help me out...
And who would have thought that Tiger and Phil could not mount a charge today at Augusta National? Some guy named Steve Flesch, of all people, will be paired with Trevor Immelman in the final group...which is good news for the South African who won the last Western Open in 2006 at Cog Hill.
Tiger seemed to find a groove on the back stretch, so it'll be interesting if he gets out and running early to see how those two react....
Golfers are masochists, without a doubt. It's a game that can humble you for sure, but don't lie to yourself - we go back time and again despite the damage we do to our psyches (and sometimes, our wrists, backs and shoulders).
but far and away, we take pleasure in other golfer's misfortunes. On this, there can be no debate!
look at today's Masters.
First, there was Zach Johnson recording a double bogey at No. 17. Sitting in the fairway off the tee, he finds a greenside bunker. Then he thins it over the green into the other bunker. Then he chunks that and it stays in the bunker...for a double bogey 6.
Then Justin Rose on the par 5 15th, a reachable green in two. After a perfect drive, he elects to lay up to about 60 yards. Then he chunks it into the water. So he moves back to get a better look on the drop, then flies the green! Then he chips back over the green. A 2-putt later, the Wilting Rose scribbles a Snowman on his card.
I've met and interviewed both of these men - they're genuinely nice guys and very, very good golfers. But you know - you can't help but laugh a little when you see it. Because we darn well know that in a week, at our favorite muni - we'll knock down at least 1 Snowmen and a handful of doubles!
When he walked off the Elfstrom Stadium mound at the end of the fourth inning Wednesday night, the three of us in the press box just looked at each other. It was one of those nights where you could tell a pitcher had it going and the 21-year-old right-hander had knocked down the first 12 Burlington Bees with relative ease.
Because the game was the back end of a doubleheader, he only had nine outs left for a perfect game and the way things were going he looked like he had a great chance. Italiano later hit a batter and left at his 80-pitch limit five outs later, but Branden Dewing came in and retired the four Bees he faced to finish out the combined no-hitter as the Cougars improved to 7-0 on the season with a 3-0 win.
It was a pretty amazing pitching performance as Italiano was awesome - the Bees didn't even come close to a hit when he was in the game. He faced 18 batters in all and recorded nine strikeouts, four groundouts and four fly balls on the night, but all of the balls put in play were pretty much right at people.
Along with his 95 mph fastball, he was mixing up his pitches really well. He started a few hitters off with breaking balls and wasn't afraid to go to his secondary pitches even when he was behind on the count.
Overall, it was just a great story given all he has been through the last couple of years and it was cool to see him pitch near his potential. He is very well-liked in the clubhouse, and everyone, from manager Aaron Nieckula on down, seemed genuinely happy for him.
Things haven't gone Italiano's way since he was drafted in 2005. Coming into Tuesday he had just one win as a pro, and had missed most of 2006 with a shoulder injury, then sat out most of last year after being drilled by a line drive and suffering a skull fracture in a very scary incident on May 14. He didn't get to pitch again until instructs in the fall and this was the first time he had appeared on the mound at Elfstrom since it happened.
Pitching coach Don Schulze said at media day last week that Italiano's physical - and mental - well-being was 'not an issue' and Craig seemed to put those questions to rest. He's very fortunate to be pitching again and I think he realizes it (in a good way) and is working to get back on track this year. He's still only 21 so he has plenty of time.
and so did the puking....by me...when the crappy instrumental music came up and Mike Tirico spoke in hushed tones...only matched by Jim Nantz's annual syrupyness (if that's a word)....
look - I love golf's majors. I love watching them. I absolutely love Augusta National's power to only have four minutes of commercials per hour. But I really, really hate the tone the announcers have to take when calling the action and describing the course.
But - Nick Faldo and David Feherty are so good, you can't mute it...
Round 1 was a great one - a jammed leaderboard with big names everywhere and some young guns in the mix. Tomorrow will be interesting for sure.
The great part about golf is that there is always a back nine, so if you somehow didn't get your fill on the front side - there's always more to be had after the turn. That's what this part of the Beacon News' weekly golf coverage will do for you.
Golfers can not only win a Dream Vacation (including a trip to the Masters) but a bevy of other prizes by signing up for lessons - and each lesson gets you another raffle ticket. And let's be honest - these 2 guys can only teach so many...so the odds are in your favor.
Also - I'd like to extend a big "Thank You" to Gordon Glod and the good people over at Tour Edge, a club manufacturing facility in Batavia.
They allowed Phillips Park/Fox Valley head pro Jeff Schmidt to demonstrate his Front Nine Tip of the Week at their amazing indoor facility, keeping us out of the elements.
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