Spring Training Graphs

Back from Spring Training and here’s the loot I snagged. Went to three Dodgers games, the Cubs game got rained out. It was pouring that day, I was talking with one of the HoHoKam park workers and he told me it was the first time in four years they called a game due to rain. Great luck! There were a few Dodgers who signed that day although most of them were trying to get out of there in a hurry. Kershaw and Reed Johnson signed but rather than get my cards or balls soaking wet, I passed. And since it’s taken me this long to post my ST successes I’m kind of worried what’s going to happen during the season when I bring home graphs like this – daily. Just so you don’t think I got a bunch of scrub graphs, I went after the prospects and the NRI’s because I know I can get the guys on the 40 man during the season IP or 50/50. Besides I already have most of the 40 man graphs so might as well get some new sigs. So here goes…I’m gonna be lazy and post a pic with a list of what I got.




Row 1
Alfredo Amezaga
Brian Barton
Brian Barton
Brian Barton
Ronnie Belliard
Ronnie Belliard
Angel Berroa
Angel Berroa

Row 2
Jamey Carroll
Jamey Carroll
Jamey Carroll
Jamey Carroll
Scott Elbert
Scott Elbert
Charlie Haeger
Charlie Haeger

Row 3
Chin-Lung Hu
Chin-Lung Hu
Chin-Lung Hu
Chin-Lung Hu
Kenley Jansen
Kenley Jansen
Matt Kemp
Matt Kemp

Row 4
Hong-Chi Kuo
Hong-Chi Kuo
Brent Leach
James Loney
James McDonald
Carlos Monasterios
Jason Repko
Jason Repko

Row 5
Michael Restovich
Michael Restovich
George Sherrill
George Sherrill
Eric Stults
Eric Stults
Josh Towers
Josh Towers

Row 6
Josh Towers
Josh Towers
Don Mattingly
Joe Torre
Tom Lasorda
Tom Lasorda
Josh Lindblom IC

Row 7
Todd Helton ROSTB
Ivan De Jesus Jr. OLB
Rollie Fingers ROMLB
Fergie Jenkins HOF Postcard
Jaime Jarrin IC

Pack Break...Secret Pal Time

It’s secret pal time at the jobby job and that means gifts, gifts, and more gifts. When they say giving is better than receiving, I think they were referring to secret pal. The best part of giving is being incognito and stealth, two things of which I have many years of training and with my background as a ninja, I am the best at this game. Well the gift giving has begun, and on Friday I got my first gift. Naturally, on my secret pal sheet I put things related to the Dodgers and baseball. My first gift? A gigantic foil heart gift bag filled with a football and baseball pillow, a yellow bag of M & M’s, Elmo stickers, boxers, a candle and two packs of Topps Series 1. Awesome! Here’s the grab:

2010 Topps Series 1 Pack 1
Kyle Blanks
Denard Span
Ivan Rodriguez
Nate Schierholtz
Braden Looper
Matt Holliday
History of the Game Nolan Ryan 7th No-Hitter
Brian Roberts When They Were Young
Todd Helton Toppstown
Lance Berkman
Jair Jurrjens
Garret Anderson

Nice start with the Kyle Blanks card. I saw him so many times last season and never had anything for him to sign. I got him on an IC and took a photo with him. But now I got a card, so hopefully I can get it signed. I’m thinking of sending out to Anderson and Schierholtz this season as well.

Pack 2
Neftali Feliz
Adam LaRoche
Jason Kendall
Joe Blanton
AL HR Leaders Pena, Teixeira & Bay
AL RBI Leaders Teixeira, Bay & Lind
NL RBI Leaders Fielder, Howard & Pujols
History of the Game Ruth Sold To The Yankees
Clint Sammons When They Were Young
Kevin Youkilis Toppstown
Hideki Matsui
Casey Blake

What’s with all the Leaders cards? Sheesh three in a row! My second Casey Blake, will be nice trade bait, let’s see what it brings me.

Can’t complain about the packs at all. My secret pal did an awesome job! Nice work on the Topps. Makes you wonder if my secret pal knows me a little too well, and went with the Topps over the UD or was just lucky. Hmmm… Not sure if the Target and Wal-Mart packs have different inserts, I do know the Target packs come with red backs and Wal-Mart blue (duh!) but I also got those when they were young cards that I never got in the Wally World packs. Totally stoked with the Blanks and Blake pulls! I have an awesome secret pal, but I’m already wondering if there’s an accomplice.

Pack Break

So I was feenin’ for some baseball cards, once they come out I just can’t wait for my next hit. Woke up one morning and just needed one. It’s a good thing I didn’t need anything from Wal Mart and it’s on the way to work for me. So here’s what the 3 packs I got produced:

2010 Topps Series 1 Pack 1
Omar Vizquel
Jonathan Papelbon
Neftali Feliz
Placido Polanco
Clayton Kershaw
San Diego Padres
Vladimir Guerrero 697/2010
Roy Halladay Peak Performance
Stan Musial Albert Pujols Legendary Lineage
Brian McCann Toppstown
Juan Uribe
Brian McCann

Got the Kershaw card so I’m pretty stoked!

Pack 2
Josh Johnson
Jerry Hairston Jr.
Andrew Bailey
Jhonny Peralta
Jorge Posada
Duke Snider Cards Your Mom Threw Out
Topps Million Card Giveaway
Adam Dunn Toppstown
Ichiro
Daniel McCutchen RC
Eric Byrnes
Kurt Suzuki

Nothing! Happy for the Ichiro and Suzuki cards, the Snider wasn’t an original back. And looks just way too odd being all glossy.

Pack 3
Justin Duchscherer
Josh Bard
Elvis Andrus
Albert Pujols
Tommy Hanson
Cleveland Indians
Howard Hamels Prospects Cards Your Mom Threw Out
Yankees Dig Up Ortiz Jersey Tales of the Game
Todd Helton Toppstown
Cesar Izturis
Carlos Carrasco
Ricky Romero

Again, absolutely nothing! What a waste of a trip. Got Kershaw and nothing else.

So that was 2 days ago, tonight on my way home from work, I needed to look for strawberry instant pudding so I decided to stop off at Wal Mart. No instant strawberry pudding, but they did have Topps! Ended up getting a rack pack of 36 cards and here’s what I got:

2010 Topps Series 1 Rack Pack
Jose Guillen
Michael Brantley RC
Alex Rios
Nationals Franchise History
Luke Scott
Turning Two For Texas Checklist 2 of 5
Gerald Laird
Albert Pujols MVP
Angel Pagan
Los Angeles Angels
Seattle Mariners
Minnesota Twins
History of the Game A.L. elevated to MLB Status
Miguel Tejada Toppstown
Cesar Izturis
Carlos Carrasco RC
Ricky Romero
Hideki Matsui
Casey Blake

What’s with all the garbage team cards? Came through on the last card with the Casey Blake. Just noticed that the Pujols card is his award winner card. I went through my other card and noticed that his base card doesn’t have the foil stamp MVP and it a totally different picture.

Denard Span
Ivan Rodriguez
Victor Martinez
Jason Marquis
Gary Sheffield
Kyle Phillips RC
Juan Pierre
Milton Bradley
Mike Schmidt Cards Your Mom Threw Out
Miguel Tejada Turkey Red
Prince Fielder Tales of the Game
Reggie Jackson Adam Dunn Legendary Lineage
Hanley Ramirez Peak Performance
Madison Bumgarner RC
Nyjer Morgan
Juan Rivera
Rocco Baldelli

Even though he’s no longer a Dodger, Pierre is in a Dodgers uniform. Love this card! I’m gonna miss Juan! Nice Schmidt card, but again just as the Duke Snider card it just looks weird glossy.

800 Bars and Running...

So much to bitch about today.

I can go off about the CBA, but that’s something Goodell needs to fix in the next few weeks. The numbers don’t lie, the money is there to make everyone happy. If you lock them out, just look what it did to baseball, it took steroids to even make it relevant again. And worst of all, I don’t know what happens to my fantasy football season! If you pull a Keanu Reeves on us, does that mean the next great QB of the Doves is…Joe Germaine?

I can go off about the Hall of Fame and how it completely baffles me that one of the 3 most dominant defensive linemen of his era is not in the Hall. Throw in Deion Sanders and arguably he’s a Top 4 defensive player of the 90’s. It can’t be because he played a non-glamorous position like Reggie White or Bruce Smith where he could rack up the sacks because John Randle got it. Don’t blame the market or the team’s history because Rickey Jackson got in. Rickey Jackson? And come on, Rickey Jackson before Sam Mills? And don’t say he doesn’t have the stats or awards, heck in a year when his team went 2-14 he was the Defensive Player of the Year. You know you’re a badass when you win DPOY when your team only wins two games! So how the filth flarn flarn filth is Cortez Kennedy not in the Hall of Fame? Dr. Z, Mort, Peter King, somebody explain this to me.

I can go off on how the Colts made me look bad on my prediction. You made Coach Dungy look bad too, not just me. But we should’ve known all along. Going all the way back to the early 90’s, say it with me now Peyton-Manning-can’t-win-the-big-one. Back at UT we knew the Vols were gonna go 11-1, with that one loss to the Gators. Now in the NFL we know if the Colts are playing the Chargers or the Patriots no Super Bowl for you. It’s easy like that. Who needs a handicapper?

What I do want to say is this, how did Peyton Manning go from being on the verge of becoming the Greatest QB of All-Time if he won on Sunday to becoming the Greatest QB of All-Time that can’t win when it counts? And how did Drew Brees just solidify himself as one of the Greatest Ever? Ummm…Brees and Peyton Manning have the same amount of rings, one. And uh, Brees has only been to the playoffs three times in his 9 year career as a starting QB. So let’s say that Drew Brees has joined the elite group of Great QB’s with one Super Bowl win that includes Peyton Manning. Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves on Drew Brees just yet.

Back to Manning. I just don’t understand him and the Colts. That undefeated season sure sounds good now doesn’t it? I mean when Coach Caldwell said we’re interested in the championship not going undefeated, if you go undefeated doesn’t that mean you won the championship? Last time I checked they never gave the trophy to the team that lost! You play every game to win. Your goal should be to win 19 games. Not 18 wins and hope that it’s week 17 that you lose. Manning and the Colts just don’t know how to prepare and play after byes. And more so after long layoffs, the bye week in the first round of the playoffs and the extra week off before the Super Bowl. When are the Colts going to learn that resting players actually has a negative effect? Go back to 2006, the Colts go into the playoff as the sixth seed I believe. They had to play every week and win down the stretch. Win in week 17 and they’re in. They played the whole season, every game, and look what happened, by golly George they won the Super Bowl. What happens every year they go 14-2 or 13-3? They wrap up the division title, and first round bye with nothing to play for and Jim Sorgi or Curtis Painter get a chance to play. That’s not how you play the game, that’s not how the game was meant to be played and that’s why it keeps coming back to bite you in the ass. Everyone says the Hoody has no sportsmanship and he’s a prick for running up the scores in games. The Hoody does it the right way. He has rings to prove he knows what he’s doing and he’s coaching the game the way it should be played. Don’t believe me, look what happens to the nice guys like Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy that mess with the football gods. The one year they played the game right, they were rewarded.

I’m done, but on a side note I really, really wanted to hate on Brett Favre this morning. Partly because I think he’s the most overrated QB in NFL history, but mostly because just about everyone says or thinks that Brett is the Greatest and hates on Peyton Manning. Especially following the game, all of a sudden Peyton Manning is this QB with an awful playoff record, great regular season record and one teeny tiny Super Bowl win to show for it. You know what? Yes, there’s another QB with an awful playoff record, great regular season record and one teeny tiny Super Bowl win to show for it. And his name is Brett Favre. By the way Manning holds the edge in the two most important stats for a QB in my book yards per attempt and INT’s thrown per attempt 7.7 to 7.1 and 2.8 to 3.2. There’s also this QB who’s known as an athlete, not a QB, and all the so called experts of the game say he can’t read a defense to save his life and is only good because of his legs. Well Mike Vick has a 3.0 INT per attempt percentage, which is a tad better than Favre. Oh and remember when his Falcons went into Lambeau and beat Favre’s Packers?

Pack Break

It’s baseball season! Fifteen more days until pitchers and catchers report to spring training and less than a month away until I have to report to spring training. But today, was a special day. I bought my first packs of baseball cards this season. I kept seeing cards popping up on eBay and sportslots and also seeing other blogs talking about their pack pulls. I made my way to Wal-Mart and bought 3 packs of Topps and 1 pack of Upper Deck. So stupid, I forgot Upper Deck lost the MLB license. Oh well, I’m a Topps guy anyway, I was just curious about their product. Looks like they went with an 18 card pack to try to get people to buy their product. Here’s what I pulled:

2010 Upper Deck Series 1
Cody Ross
Tommy Manzella RC
Everth Cabrera
Todd Helton
Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Carlos Gonzalez
Chris Davis
Roy Oswalt
Hanley Ramirez Season Biography
Joe Mauer Pure Heat
Scott Linebrink
Jose Lopez
Josh Johnson
Eric Bruntlett
Emilio Bonifacio
Lyle Overbay
Ballparks Kansas City, Missouri
Jeff Bailey

Kind of a blah pack. Typical Upper Deck product, nice glossy card with a beautiful borderless photo. Unable to use MLB trademarks the rest of the card is pretty bland. The black and white headshot is a nice touch on the front of the card, but is it necessary? I love the ballparks insert set, because well, I love ballparks! No Dodgers makes me sad. Probably the last pack of Upper Deck I buy.

2010 Topps Series 1 Pack 1
Shane Victorino
Ryan Doumit
Edwin Jackson
Humberto Quintero
Travis Buck
Asdrubal Cabrera
Don Mattingly Cards Your Mom Threw Out Original Back
History of the Game First Night Game
Justin Upton Toppstown
Skip Schumaker
Jon Garland
Kerry Wood

I’m a Topps guy and I love the cards this year. I love the jumbo, larger than life team logo that’s on the front of the cards! Sucks that I had to open up with Shane Victorino. I’m still wishing Kuroda “lost” command on that high and tight two years ago. I like the Cards You Mom Threw Out subset, and happy to have Donnie Baseball. That one is getting signed this year! Happy to get a Dodger in this pack. Too bad Garland is a Padre now. Another card that I’ll try to get signed this season.
Side note: my top Jon Garland memory is sitting behind the bullpen last season and after his last warm up pitch, Garland walked over and rolled the ball over the wall towards Makenzie. Nice guy, classy move.

Pack 2
Russell Branyon
Tony Gwynn Jr.
Scott Baker
Gil Meche
Dustin Richardson RC
Mike Gonzalez
Andre Ethier Turkey Red
Hank Greenberg/Ryan Braun Legendary Lineage
Josh Hamilton Toppstown
Daniel Murphy
Joe Mauer
Howie Kendrick

Great pack! The Tony Gwynn Jr. card I can hopefully get signed IP during BP, and shows a great photo in the camouflage Sunday uni’s. Baker, Gonzalez and Kendrick are known TTM signers. And course, Andre Ethier Turkey Red. A beautiful card, not only because it’s Ethier, it really is a nice card.

Pack 3
Frank Francisco
Adrian Beltre
Jon Niese
Ian Desmond RC
Brew Crew Knockout Checklist 3 of 5
Beantown Backhand Checklist 5 of 5
Adam Dunn
Evan Longoria Cards Your Mom Threw Out
Tales of the Game Curse of the Bambino
Roy Halladay Toppstown
Garret Anderson
Cliff Lee

Two checklists in one pack? Are you kidding me? Evan Longoria Cards Your Mom Threw Out? Maybe if your 9 years old! Too bad Anderson didn’t become a Dodger, at least I’d have a card to get signed out of this pack.

Overall, the Mattingly, Gwynn Jr., Ethier and Garland cards will come in handy for graphing this season. It’s always fun opening packs and getting Dodgers or cards I can get signed. But four cards in four packs? I’m gonna buy more but maybe I should just stick with sportslots!

Also, I have to apologize, sorry there's no pics of the cards I pulled. I rave about the cool photos and yet don't show them. Trust me, you don't know how bad I want to show of the Ethier Turkey Red. I'm planning on getting a printer/scanner soon. Hopefully before baseball season starts so I can start posting pics of my pack pulls and autographs.

Greatest Lakers of All-Time

When it comes to the “all-time” argument, it’s almost always fun and always tough. These are usually tough because you may be arguing with an idiot, because of generations, or just lack of exposure to a certain era. For example, a few nights ago Brian Kenny had a greatest quarterback of all-time list and had Joe Montana and Johnny Unitas 1a and 1b. I can agree on Montana, but I really know nothing about Johnny U. except he wore #19 for the then Baltimore Colts, was known for black shoes and hates the Indianapolis Colts and wanted all ties to the franchise cut. I also know he attended Louisville, only because there’s a college football trophy named in his honor. Otherwise, I know he was a great QB and considered one of the greatest of all time. However, I could never argue that he was better than Montana, not because he wasn’t, but because I saw Montana play. Then you have the Wilt, Russell and Shaq argument that shows how much the game has changed over the generations. Wilt and Russell were big men in a league all by themselves while Shaq was the only big man in a league becoming guard oriented. And arguing with an idiot, well that speaks for itself.

J.A. Adande, best known for his role on Around The Horn, compiled a list of The Five Greatest Lakers. This was a very bold move to create a list like this, especially while Kobe is at the height of his game. A few things were surprising about this list other than the five Lakers that were names. For starters there was not one single mention of the word Minneapolis. I’m not saying where is George Mikan, but this was in fact where the franchise was born and got its name. I’ll try to defend and argue Adande’s list, which is the beauty of…list!

Let me just say it would be impossible for me to list the Five Greatest Lakers. My knowledge and exposure to them go back to around 1987 I believe. That’s when my Dad got me the caricature championship shirt with the cartoon Lakers team surrounding Pat Riley and the Larry O’Brien trophy. Then I remember getting the Magic and Kareem Back to Back shirt the following year. And in 1989 I remember going to Arakawa’s and watching the NBA Finals against the Pistons on the TV’s downstairs. To go off on a tangent I loved that store. If there’s ever anything from my childhood that I miss it was that place. I remember upstairs was the sporting goods and it was so cool. I remember they had sporting goods, memorabilia and everything sports. It was a Field of Dreams inside of a Sports Authority! I used to love looking at the posters of the Raiders defensive backfield “No Passing Zone”, the Chargers “Bombs Away”, and my personal favorite the Joe Morris height chart “Look Ma I’m taller than Joe Morris.” I also got my first batting glove there.

Back to the Lakers list. I could easily make a list of my Five Favorite Lakers which would be Magic, Shaq, Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel and Robert Horry. Honorable mention to Sean Rooks and Glen Rice. But the Five Greatest? From what I know and what history tells me the list has to include Wilt and Kareem even if they came to the Lakers to finish their careers, Magic, Kobe and Shaq. But if I have to include Wilt and Kareem, why can’t include Karl Malone? And why does James Worthy get left out? Worthy left out, but Adande includes Dr. Jerry Buss? Because of this, I believe the list was The Five Most Important Lakers, not the Greatest. Adande’s list goes Kobe, Jerry West, Magic, Jerry Buss and wait for it, wait for it…Chick Hearn. Greatest Lakers? I’m sorry, I don’t think Harry Carey makes the Greatest Cub s list. I love Vin Scully, but he’s not the Greatest Dodger. Important, yes. Greatest, no. So for importance, I like this list, however, I would swap out Kobe Bryant for Vlade Divac. Vlade essentially was traded for Kobe Bryant. Jerry West made that trade happen. Magic brought the Lakers to the forefront of a growing, thriving NBA and allowed Nike and Michael Jordan to avoid becoming L.A. Gear and Xavier McDaniel. Jerry Buss is arguably the greatest franchise owner in sports, and owns the best run franchise. And Chick Hearn brought the Lakers to everyone, and made people want to watch them, or tune in on the radio.

As for Greatest, Magic sits at the top. No questions. I will say this though. I feel that Kobe will surpass Magic in rings to become the Greatest Laker. I’m also going to say, he has a very realistic shot of surpassing Michael Jordan’s six rings to become dare I say a part of the Michael, Magic, Bird argument?

Learn From Your Mistakes

So all along I knew moving the Pro Bowl from Hawaii wasn’t a good idea. Maybe I’m a homer, and just didn’t want the Pro Bowl to leave since I grew up going to the game every year. As time went by and the reality of the game set in I looked for excuses as to why it wasn’t a good idea. Ray Lewis said Miami is home, Hawaii is a vacation, a reward. Peyton Manning said if this continues in a few years the game will be in Indy, and who wants to go there in January? I thought who’s going to Miami for two weeks? People are going for the Super Bowl, or the Pro Bowl, but not both. All of the previously mentioned are great reasons why the game never should have been moved.

Yesterday it finally dawned on me. The NFL even announced it when they announced the move. But reading a rule and seeing the rule in effect are two totally different things. Imagine this for a second and you’ll figure out what I mean. What if the NBA All-Star game was played without Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard? This also means Howard could not participate in the dunk contest. Or what if MLB told Derek Jeter, A-Rod and Mariano Rivera they couldn’t play? Oh that also means Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Shane Victorino and Raul Ibanez can’t play either.

Take a guess who won’t be playing in the Pro Bowl? The league MVP won’t be playing. An all-star game being held and the league MVP is being told to stay away? Sorry Kobe, you’re one of the leagues most recognizable stars but you can’t play in our all-star showcase. Stupid. So no Peyton Manning. The second best QB in the league? Oh yeah, he won’t be playing too. Neither will Dallas Clark, Reggie Wayne or Darren Sharper. Five players who were named First Team All-Pro won’t be playing in the Pro Bowl, simply because the league told them they can’t. Not because of injury, not because of personal reasons or prior commitments, because they simply have been told they cannot participate. In total 14 players (7 Colts and 7 Saints) were taken off the Pro Bowl rosters yesterday. Fourteen! Mathematically that's 15% of the players chosen who are not able to play in the Pro Bowl because their teams made it to the Super Bowl. Take into consideration the amount of players not playing due to injury or other reasons and we all of a sudden have a joke of a game.

Isn’t the Pro Bowl supposed to be for us, the fans? For starters, attendance was down this year and there were blackouts threatened in areas that had no problem selling out games. The economy sucks, ticket prices are high, and with technology I can watch any game in the comfort of my own home and avoid other add-on fees like parking. With that in mind, the average fan cannot afford a Pro Bowl ticket AND a Super Bowl ticket, two weeks of hotel accommodations and sky high prices on everything “touristy” with the big game in town. How is that fan friendly? I know people who made vacations out of Hawaii. We’re going to Hawaii, and oh yeah the Pro Bowl is in town as well.

Back to the fans, they voted for the players they want to see in the game and now the league takes the fun out of it all and says well even though you voted Peyton Manning in, sorry he can’t play. I remember they used to “threaten” to fine guys like Troy Aikman who said they didn’t think they were going to play because the league said they had a fan obligation to fulfill. Yesterday alone, 17 roster changes were made! I remember when a handful of players would pull out, that was it. Both Rookies of the Year’s won’t be there. The MVP, Defensive and Comeback Player of the Year’s won’t be there. Using the “Mom Test” (if your Mom knows the player, then he’s a superstar) I don’t think my Mom can name a player in the game. For the record she’d be able to name Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark (only because my Dad is a huge Colts fan, so Wayne and Clark don’t really count) and Tom Brady. And all four were selected, but aren’t playing, Brady due to injury. I mean come on, David f’ing Garrard is playing!!! How does the quarterback from a team that finished in last place (7-9) make the Pro Bowl? Well duh! Because he threw for 15 touchdowns to only 10 interceptions, that’s how! Seriously this is how that happens.

Peyton Manning voted in as the starter.
Philip Rivers named as a reserve.
Tom Brady named as a reserve.
Philip Rivers unable to play due to injury.
Ben Roethlisberger first alternate.
Ben Roethlisberger unable to play due to injury.
Matt Schaub second alternate.
Tom Brady unable to play due to injury.
Carson Palmer third alternate.
Carson Palmer unable to play due to injury.
Vince Young forth alternate.
Peyton Manning selected, but unable to play.
David Garrard fifth alternate.

So we get treated to a game featuring the AFC’s fifth, seventh and eighth best quarterbacks! Injuries are one thing, but toss out this stupid rule and you have Manning, Schaub and Young on the AFC roster. Much more respectable in terms of all-star’s. What if Schaub or VY couldn’t play? I didn’t know they had fifth alternates, but who would’ve been next? Trent Edwards? Derek Anderson? And what’s next, the winner of this game gets home field for next week’s game?

So Mr. Goodell, please make this a one and done experiment. None of the other 3 major pro sports would do this to their fans. If players want to bow out of the game, that’s their choice, but don’t take the choice out of the hands of the players.

The First Stupid Thing of 2010

For the past five months or so, I’ve wanted to jump off of my co-workers roof and into her pool. The idea became public I believe on Labor Day of 2009, after an afternoon of drinking and an evening of driving around San Diego paying random, unannounced visits to people. For the record, no, I wasn’t driving. A little drunk, we showed up at Shari’s and were given a tour of the house. I saw the pool, saw the proximity to the roof, and immediately knew even in my drunken state that I could climb up on the roof, jump and land safely in the pool. For five months I was given every single piss poor excuse to not jump. You have to jump over the fence. You can’t stand on the patio covering. You won’t make it. The construction workers are working. I have a ladder you can jump off instead. My home owners insurance won’t cover you. Blah, blah, blah.

Then the El Nino rains arrived. A week of cold temps, heavy rains, thunder, lightning, flash flood warnings and high surf hit San Diego and most of California. Shari invites me over for s’mores. And I’m jumping. As it got later in the day, I was starting to think too much. I was mentally defeating myself before I had even begun. I started to feel cold, wondered about getting sick, and most of all driving in the bad weather. I put on my brand new L & L boardshorts that my sisters got me for Christmas. Those are so fucking sick! Stopped at Clem’s Bottle House and got myself a six pack and a beer and Michael some pond water and I was on my way.

Just before jump time we checked weatherbug and through the GPS reading the outside temperature was 47 degrees. The picture accompanying the weather was a cloud with a lightning bolt. Just before my arrival it poured rain and hail the size of marbles fell. There was thunder and lightning. As funny as the buildup was, even Shari tried to talk me out of jumping and told me not to do it.

Bringing back memories of being kicked out of Aquatics class in college by Dr. Silva, who was also my advisor and head of the PE department, here’s the video of my jump.

Welcome To Blutopia

My blog has finally arrived! Although 24 days late, as you enter my world, you’ll soon realize that 24 days is actually pretty darn close to being on time. Either that or you will just come to the conclusion that I’m a talker, and like Tevin Campbell said, “nothing comes from talkers but sound.”

The idea for my blog originally started a while back as a way to host my own Around The Horn-style debate with myself about what’s going on, particularly in the sports world. Rather than argue with the radio and television announcers I’ll just blog and argue with…well, myself.

Then I wanted to log my travels, become a food critic, and tell the world of my autograph collection as inspired by Jim from gcrl. It is amazing what typing “lee lacy ttm success” in the yahoo search bar brings you!

Then finally, as a new year’s resolution, I decided to put together a bucket list for 2010 that I have dubbed 10 for ’10, and there are those who have told me I should update my list through a blog. Not only will I be updating my 10 for ’10, but also sharing stories of the insanely idiotic things that I do as dares, challenges or just for the heck of it.

So here it is. I’ll try to update as much as I can. During baseball season, you’ll experience my love for the Los Angeles Dodgers and my obsession with autograph collecting and the hobby. You will also hear tales of stupidity and glutton as it relates to food and my life.

I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I will enjoy coming up with the material for it. If you don’t, quit coming back sucka!