All diversions and no football make Petey snarky boy.
Enough of the Orioles tantalizing then traumatizing.
Enough of the only occasional non rain soaked golf.
Enough tennis, on grass, indoors. Mother Nature finds much at fault with that abomination.
Enough quality US soccer. You can’t suck me in with a fantastic performance like that, then not play meaningful games again for at least a year. It’s just rude.
It’s almost time. The July doldrums arrive, but in doing so signal the end is near. Our football famine soon ends.
Ravens training camp kicks off the 28th. We’re shooting a training camp special just three days later. The hitting, the yelling, the screaming, the occasional fight (it’s like we have our own practice without pads.)
Seriously, the diversions of sport that tide us over till football season have grown tiresome. I need the full emotional commitment to following football again. I’ve had enough conversations wtih John Harbaugh in the off season to believe the Ravens at worst equal their level of play from last season. At worst.
Going out with a bang. Bulle Rock, arguably Maryland’s finest public golf course, enjoys the best shape of its 11 year career (a bold statement.) Nice to see that the near perfection comes just in time for the LPGA Championship. Not so nice that this is the final year of the event for Harford County.
The LPGA moves away next year (the tour doesn’t know where yet, just seemingly anywhere but here). The argument from LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens for the move centered around our community’s failure to embrace the event. In these economic times, the Tour couldn’t afford the luxury of allowing the relationship grow.
A reasonable offering, if there proved a viable alternative. But for a year the LPGA has tried to find a new home with no luck, and now examines the possibility that one of its major championships will just go away.
It’s not just the LPGA though struggling in Maryland. All professional golf not associated with Tiger Woods endures serious hits from sponsorships. With declining attendance and revenues, you have to wonder if the Senior Players Championship at Baltimore Country Club will soon join the LPGA in searching for a new home.
Wait a minute. I keep looking and the struggles don’t stop at the Maryland border. The PGA St. Jude Classic in Memphis lost its title sponsor and is on life support trying to find another.
All across the professional golf landscape tournaments with rich traditions and history barely hang on. Unless Woods tees it up there is no guarantee of financial success and Tiger plays less than 20 times a year.
So we have a lousy economy, with shrinking TV revenues, creating a sport that’s dropping from major to niche status. Oh dear. In that case, I highly recommend (if you like golf at all) to take in a round at Bulle Rock next week walking with the best women’s players in the world. And do the same this fall at BCC when the legends of the game tackle one of the top courses in the world. With time running short, these may be your last best chances.
A nice add Nike ad campaign for LeBron James, and the perfect needling joke for a rookie catcher. Orioles starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie had some fun pre-game with Matt Wieters. The veteran righty taped signs on the back on the dugout that read, “WE ARE ALL WITNESSES”. A mocking jab at Wieters for all the hype as he makes his debut, but one done in fun. Wieters also received some heckling as a horde of media beelined for the catcher for his first interview as an Oriole.
But as the veterans do their best to keep Wieters grounded, there is no denying the impact Wieters has already made in Baltimore. Oriole Park glows a sea of orange, packed well beyond any Friday night game in May, against anyone other than the Yankees or Red Sox, the last decade. This reminds me of the mid nineties love fest at Camden Yards. Love directed squarely at the rookie catcher.
The ovations for Wieters deafened, and the roar for a line drive out in his first at-bat gave chills. It feels like the dawn of a new era, like the Orioles may finally have found a formula for success in the beast that is the American League East.
After a morning dominated by ad nausea ESPN coverage of Michael Vick leaving prison, and the relentless debates that ensued (should he be allowed to play in the NFL, where will he play, is he truly a man of remorse.. blechhh.!!!) I needed something healthier for the brain. Sport that doesn’t cause repulsion. Let’s get outside for some state championship lacrosse.
Didn’t think I’d see the high school tournaments running longer than any of the collegiate men’s teams seasons, but here we are on May 2oth with the Century girls facing Patterson Mill for the 1A/2A title. UMBC offering a fantastic venue on the most perfect of days to play and watch lacrosse.
An interesting storyline as Century has a premier program led by the most premier of players. For Patterson Mill it’s the first year of lacrosse. First year, and in the title game. But the cinderella story ends for the Huskies today.
Katie Schwartzman, who next year plays for Kathy Reese and Maryland, with 2:08 left in the first half has outscored P.M. 7-5 by herself. Her 2nd goal of the game (a gorgeous shot after a first step quicker than Mike Vick’s out of Leavenworth… my brain has yet to fully recover) gave her 300 for her career. Now at halftime Century leads 15-5, likely on its way to state championship number three. Impressive for a program only in its 7th year of existence.
But seriously, I need to do this more often, and maybe we all do. Our 24 hour news culture is dominated by so many stories that degrade, disturb, and desensitize. But hopping in the car and joining about 300 others taking in sport at the purest of levels is helping my karma.
Back to back for the Angels off Koji Uehara. And then they get to punishing. Two batters after Torii Hunter and Kendry Morales crushed homeruns, Gary Matthews smoked a line drive into the mid-section of Uehara. L.A. takes “knocking around a pitcher” to a whole new level. Uehara fortunately walked off the field, replaced by Danys Baez. A shame, Uehara pitched six great innings, but when the wheels fell off the ride ended in a hurry.
At least though, Uehara didn’t take the liner off his head like Tim Lincecum a few weeks ago.
L.A. not just picking on Koji either, moments ago a line drive off the ankle of Baez loaded the bases. And with a wind chill of about 42, there are some miserable Orioles right about now.
For once, it’ s not a sarcastic headline. Just before the first pitch, the Dean of Baltimore Sports Vince Bagli arrived in the press box. Considering Vince created one of the main veins for me getting into the business, offering an internship 14 years ago.
Talking with Vince is like visiting a sports museum, only with a gravelly voice. Forget six degrees of separation, it only takes Vince three to get to anywhere. My favorite comment so far refers to Angels pitcher Shane Loux, number 68. “68, what kind of number is that? Sounds like a guard who gets called for holding.”
We’ve lauded Adam Jones in center, and lamented the lack of production despite the Orioles flat out killing the ball off Loux. And by the way, watching Jones play center reminds me of Kelly Leak in the Bad News Bears when Buttermaker told him to catch everything. Felix Pie unfortunately plays the roll of the Ahmad Abdul Rahim.
Through three innings the Orioles lead 1-0. It’s a slow game, considering the company, I hope it stays that way. For those that don’t know Vince, I found this clip of him taking us through the Colts move to Indianapolis.
Hey a day game? ? Sweet, short sleeves, sun block, sun glasses, extreme incentive to get to work.
/walks out front door
What the *#&$^#@????
Three days of summer obliterated in one night’s sleep. 54 fun shunning degrees at Camden Yards for the conclusion of a two game series with the Angels. Sun Columnist and WBAL Radio host Peter Schmuck seems the most disheartened as he hoped to set an April record with four Hawaiian shirts adorned in a row. At least Dave Trembley is now fully cooled off.
A rough night for the Birds as they dropped game one to L.A. The 7-5 loss included Trembley’s first ejection of the season. A not so questionable balk call (no question Jamie Walker didn’t balk), sent Trembley on a trip to meltdown mountain. A solid rant from the O’s skipper whom typically avoids such spectacles.
At this point in a post I’d typically embed a video of the greatest Oriole Manager meltdowns (IE: anything from Earl Weaver) but the language just doesn’t suit a family style blog.
Instead, how about some Rick Dempsey interview bloopers. God, I love youtube.
Anyway, I’ve blown on my hands eight times during the construction of this post, it’s that chilly. And I will continue to do so in order to bring you random musings from the Oriole Park today as the O’s battle the Halos.
Can’t say nine days into the year it’s a monumental accomplishment, or that I expect the trend to continue much longer, but for the time being it provides a smile for some rather down trodden teams.
And in Batlimore, where the streak of losing seasons has nearly reached middle school age, taking the first three series of the campaign has folks bleeding orange. Not so much for the rest of 2009, although knowing this team will score runs makes it more fun to watch, it’s seeing the future come to life.
Adam Jones looks like a staple for the next decade in center field, and last night in Arlington, he showed his promise at the plate (1:35 into the video please):
A sun drenched 59 degrees at first pitch (for which I wasn’t yet here, too many diapers to change) at Camden Yards as the Orioles go for a sweep of the Yankees. The bright skies part seems possible, but the whole sweep thing still causes a double take. Kicking off the season by kicking around the most expensive team in baseball elicits a city full of smiles.
Throughout last night’s game in which the Orioles beat the Yankees 7-5, there were pockets sporadic cheering coming from all corners of the TV-11 newsroom. Colleagues from all over the building kept popping into the sports office to see how the game was going. As you can imagine, that hasn’t much happened since the Clinton administration.
Don’t take this the wrong way though. Nobody’s talking playoffs, most still think a losing season is preordained. Yet, you can’t take away the enjoyment of the last two games. Good pitching, clutch hitting, and knowing the gnashing of teeth in Gotham has fully commenced makes for pure entertainment. And in these economic times, we’ll take it where we can get it.
The sweep though looks less and less likely. Top of the 6th and the Yanks lead 4-2 with two men on. Mark Teixeira has quieted many of the Boo Birds with a 410 foot home run and a broken bat base hit. Speaking of which, many a national writer came to defense of Teixeira, writing as if he needs comfort from those awful Orioles fans. Really, we need to attack the fans for booing a guy who signed a 180 million dollar contract as unemployment nears ten percent? Perspective people please.
Since the beginning of the last paragraph the flood gates have opened. It’s now a 7-2 NY lead thanks to one of the more improbable errors I’ve seen. O’s reliever Brian Bass, with the bases loaded fielded a weak grounder but threw a wild pitch from 20 feet as he went home. It’s just not easy to miss that badly from so close.
Bold musings from a guy who likes to think he knows something about college basketball (see previous post). I probably though failed to mention, when guaranteeing VCU and North Dakota State victories, that I also backed Lehman Brothers, Jimmy Carter in 1980, and the French in most any war.
Courtesy: Cleveland.com
courtesy: historycentral.com
Sorry about that.
The one I got right was Maryland. The Terps didn’t lay waste to Cal, but Maryland attacked the Bears perfectly (do not try at home) using quickness on offense and a 3-2 zone. Jerome Randle played great against Maryland’s man to man, but disappeared against that zone. It was perfect.
Then came the day off. More meetings with the media for players and Greivis Vasquez forgot to pack his filter. Saying that Memphis would have a losing record in the ACC and lamenting Conference USA’s lack of talent probably didn’t make Memphis shoot 3 pointers like Larry Bird in a contest, but that did not shed a good light on the team.
Come Saturday, Memphis looked like an elite team. The Tigers had it inside and out, had it any way they wanted against Maryland. At no point past the 16:00 minute mark of the first half did you think the Terps could beat Memphis. And by the end of the game, the pro Tigers crowd derisively chanted “ACC – ACC”. Point taken about mouth running.
But looking beyond the immediate disappointment for Maryland players, coaches, and fans. At least the conversation continued until March 21st. They offered great moments this season including wins over Michigan State, North Carolina, and Wake Forest. Once they learned how to compensate for a starting lineup that seemingly offered nobody taller than Sean Astin, they went to work. Never did they quit.
Lots of work for future as they have to find some bigger and better players to have a conversation in April too. That message appears received loud and clear by Gary Williams so in the meantime, consider a trip to the Thin 32 (I just made that up) a nice way to keep you from spreading mulch for at least another Saturday.
