Off Base
It's a Beautiful Day for a Ball Game - Let's Play Extras!!

March 11, 2006

Extra Innings, that is. DirecTV Extra Innings, to be precise.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not sitting around waiting for a bunch of lawyers to get together on a thing. I officially switched to DirecTV this morning. A ten minute phone call and as simple as can be. Free installation Friday.

Oh right, Washington’s senators are about to take up the issue. There’s a crowd that moves fast. Like, I'm gonna hold me breath waiting for Congress?

And yes, definitely, I have my qualms about giving Rupert Murdoch and that little bleep Chase Carey even a penny of my entertainment dollars, but since this is baseball; it comes out of the absolute necessities of life section of the budget. You know - shelter first, food, and then baseball.

I'm not going to bore you with a detailed explanation of the whole Major League Baseball telecommunications controversy. I'll bore you in other ways, per usual, but for a nice summary, check out this piece in the New York Times. In the meantime, cable subscribers, quit your balling and make the switch to satellite. Move if you have to! Get your priorities in order already…

Talk About Your Double-Standard! Yes, let’s. Arte Moreno and Bud Selig can proselytize all they like, but isn’t the Gary Matthews, Jr. situation really about winning and losing, and how much you pay for it? Look at all the crap the San Francisco Giants have put up with, to their detriment, all these years, just to keep Barry Bonds on the diamond. Why? Because Bonds puts fans in the seats and wins games. Matthews, Jr. does neither. Need I say more?

I will, of course. Bonds has done ten times the drugs Matthews, Jr. has, allegedly, is an unbelievable prima donna, hangs out with felons, and is hated by pretty much everyone. He is not, however, overpaid. Matthews, Jr., on the other hand, seems like a nice young man, may have been involved in a shady dealing or two, and has never caused a stir of any kind, for anyone, at any time. But he’s got a ridiculous contract that his employer regretted drafting seconds after the ink was dry. If Bonds and Matthews body-switched, one man’s talent for another, are we even having this conversation?

Memo to Robert Shapiro: Go away. Go far away, quickly and forever. No one wants to see your face within a hundred miles of a camera or a microphone, ever again. Not ever in our lifetime. Go away…

Trivia: Name the Cy Young Award winners who've done time.

Randy Jones’ Drink of Choice: I ran into the most accomplished pitcher in San Diego history at a Starbucks in Mission Hills the other day. I decided to leave the man alone rather than trot out the “hey, are you Randy Jones” routine (fine, I was tongue-tied, if you must know), but I did take note of his beverage. Grande nonfat latte. Remind me to tell you the Bill Madlock story sometime...

Media Savvy: Hey, did you catch Kevin Baxter's article about J.D. Drew in the Los Angeles Times last week? More importantly, did you see that photo of Drew smiling?! It was more of a semi-smile than a full-on grin, but still. With shutter speeds of up to 1/5000 of a second, it’s simply amazing what can be done with digital photography these days…

From an article by Ken Rosenthal on FoxSports.com, Grady Little had this to say about bunting, and it’s a great, great line: “Little told Pierre that he rarely would ask him to sacrifice Furcal to second — 'we're not going to give up an out with a man on first who is fully capable of stealing a base.'" After five years of Jim Tracy, who never met a bunt situation he didn’t like, no matter how predictable, let’s hear it for Grady Little. Hallelujah…

Talkback: Your comments are always encouraged…

It Tastes Like Chicken! David Wells on African cuisine: "Ostrich was phenomenal. Wart hog is outstanding…Probably the best animal I had, and it doesn't sound good, was dik-dik. Had dik twice. Very tasty. Very, very tasty. Except zebra. I wouldn't want to eat a zebra." From Yahoo Sports and Mark Pesavento...

DODGERS SEASON TICKET SHARES: BaseballSavvy.com’s powers that be, such as they are, are divvying up the company's Dodgers season package this week. Last chance to get it on it. We’ve got two face price tickets, in an awesome loge level location. A quarter share, which is every fourth game and $1400, guarantees you a World Series ticket option, which is also face price. A 1/8 share, every eighth game and $700, gets you an NLDS or NLCS option. Contact me directly to join the ticket partnership…

March Madness: Two things. With most of my attention already on baseball, and because I suck at this, I’m prepared to be eliminated from my basketball pool earlier than ever this year. Admitting the problem is the first step in...oh, never mind. And UCLA is in deep bleep...

Trivia Answer: Vida Blue, La Marr Hoyt, Dwight Gooden (currently incarcerated), Fergie Jenkins and Denny McLain…

Statue for Sandy: The Koufax in bronze campaign continues. Please Vote “Yes on 32.” And tell a friend…

Remember, glove conquers all….

 

 

 

 

 

 

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