The Price For Prince – What If?
When the baseball world learned that Victor Martinez would (likely) miss all of 2012 with a torn ACL, fans and experts alike wondered how the Tigers would replace him. At the same time, those same people were wondering where Prince Fielder (who was still on the market and seeing his big payday options disappearing) would end up. Prince's best options seemed to be the Washington Nationals (willing to spend the money and had the need), the Texas Rangers (less cash, but offered up a team with back-to-back pennants), and the Baltimore Orioles (professional baseball team). When I retweeted Aaron Gleeman's post on HardballTalk about V-Mart's injury, my favorite Tigers mark @phenom1984 responded with this:
@MrWorkrate @aarongleeman Prince Fielder - 1yr/$40M. hehe
It was an interesting thought - something you do in a video game like OOTP and not in real life, because players want guaranteed money and an extended payday - especially Scott Boras clients - so the thought of signing Fielder to a one-year deal was unlikely. Plus, on the flipside of that, paying $40 million for one season of baseball would be - by far - the largest salary for one season of professional baseball in history, a little less than $12 million more than Roger Clemens' "play when you like" contract he signed with the Yankees in 2007.
The Sports Butterfly Effect
Today, Kyle Williams is learning the hard way that the Internet is an ugly, ugly place. Williams is getting death threats on Twitter due to his fumble during overtime in last night's NFC Championship Game between his San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants. The Giants recovered the fumble, putting them in ideal field goal range, and three plays later, the Giants' Lawrence Tynes kicked the game-winning field goal to win the game and send them to Super Bowl XXXXIIIIII 46.
I say "ideal field goal range" because those aren't always guaranteed shots. Billy Cundiff and Baltimore Ravens fans know this first-hand, as Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal - one yard longer than Tynes' kick - that would have tied their game with the New England Patriots and almost certainly put the AFC Championship game into overtime. Cundiff doesn't use Twitter (to our knowledge) so he at least doesn't get to see the threats from people who talk without fear of repercussion, hiding behind an alias behind a computer keyboard or smartphone.
Or worse, maybe they're not showing false bravado. Maybe they would physically attack Williams or Cundiff because of those plays. "Fan" is short for "fanatic" for a reason.
Moneyball – The Review (and nitpicking!)
After the shocking (to me, at least) revelation that my wife wanted to see "Moneyball", I picked it up from Redbox and planned an evening viewing with the Mrs. The movie intrigued the hell out of me - having read the book, I knew that it read pretty much like a economics textbook (albeit an entertaining one, as author Michael Lewis has a way of doing that with very
So my wife didn't make it through the thing (she doesn't stay awake through too many movies in general, and "Moneyball" was over two hours), but I really enjoyed it. I thought it was really well done to stay decently close to the book while still make a marketable and accessible film. The characters were likable, and while I wasn't crazy to see Paul DePodesta turned into "composite character" Peter Brand, I understand how doing something like that made the film easier to make more entertaining. In reality, DePodesta isn't nearly as "geeky" or awkward as Brand is, but Jonah Hill's portrayal of Brand loosened up a movie that could have easily gotten too dry. In terms of whether or not a non-baseball fan could enjoy it, I think just as long as you don't hate baseball you can watch without much of an issue.
THAT SAID, my nitpicks (and things you might be wondering about):
Napoleon Dynamite and New Opportunities
A little before the Christmas I got a note on Twitter from Brooke Cain, the main lady over at Raleigh's News & Observer's TV blog, "Happiness Is A Warm TV". I've chatted with her a few times about random TV stuff and knew she was a fan of my blogging (OK, maybe not a fan, but she's at least read some of my posts, which puts her in select company), specifically my "Walking Dead" recaps over at The Bunker. She asked if I'd be interested in viewing two screener episodes of the animated version of "Napoleon Dynamite" and doing a quick write-up/preview of them. She assumed that I was a fan of the movie (I wasn't) and that I could sit through two episodes of something that was shaping up to be a major stinker.
(Did I just use the term "stinker"?)
[NERD ALERT] Nitpicking Last Night’s TV
I know I need to let some things go and I don't want to end up being one of those guys who can write a thesis on the inaccuracies of a show like House or Law & Order, but two things irked me about shows that I like very much last night.
THE BIG BANG THEORY - I was reminded by my lovely wife that BBT has had different writers recently, which explains why the show has gone from "must see" to "typical sitcom with geek references" in recent years. This week's episode was a funny one, mainly thanks to Mayim Bialik giving me one of the first LOL moments I've had with BBT in recent memory after Amy receives her gift from Sheldon. But the part that
Great Moments In Disney-based Editing
ESPN.com has an article on the LA Clippers by Mike Downey that is featured on their front page as of the time I write this. It's one of those wacky "I write the way that I talk!" articles that only I think I'm good at, talking about how the Clips are an actual team that could potentially do well instead of being the inspiration for the Washington Generals. Despite the fact that I don't really like pro basketball, I'm reading through it anyway, and I get to this part:
The 2012 Baseball Hall of Fame Vote: The Aftermath
So yesterday Barry Larkin got elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame partly because he was probably the best shortstop in the National League during the 90s and partly because baseball writers have a hard time saying anything bad about him. Larkin didn't do anything that would question his character, had stats that were good enough to be impressive, were consistent through his career, but weren't so good that he'd be suspected of using steroids. He got awards, played a skill position, and played for the same team all of his career. The fact that it took him this long to get in with that resume is surprising.
But as you might have heard, that's not the big story to come out of this vote. It's the BBWAA v. bloggers debate that we thought died down recently as more paper journalists started to use the online medium. BBWAA members have made public their votes and have faced criticism for them, and in a happy non-Internet world we'd have a few carefully worded letters written in to newspapers, some of which might be reprinted in a later article with carefully worded replies, all put together by an editor, making everyone feel all warm and tingly inside.
@MrWorkrate on Twitter
- @hangingsliders 20 years? Is that back when Hempstead was nice? Wait - crap. I first went to Hofstra 20 years ago. Great, now I feel old. 8 minutes ago
- @dianagram @hangingsliders I never really made it to Queens that often. At Hofstra I knew a lot of people from there. 10 minutes ago
- @hangingsliders Queens is never going to change. Nassau will become Queens, Suffolk becomes Nassau, etc. 2 hours ago
- Drinking an Imperial Porter by Southampton Publick House — http://t.co/pLYCZmLI 2 hours ago
- Half day Friday + dinner event + steaks already thawed = LunchSteak: http://t.co/syFBLNVN 2 hours ago
Pop Bunker
- Doctor Who Recap: Season 1: Episode 11: The Rescue January 21, 2012 annieevett
- Doctor Who Recap: Season 1: Episode 10: The Ordeal January 14, 2012 annieevett
- Doctor Who Recap: Season 1: Episode 9: The Expedition December 24, 2011 annieevett
- [Sequel City] Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows December 24, 2011 Steve Bogdaniec
- Doctor Who Recap: Season 1: Episode 8: The Ambush December 17, 2011 annieevett
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