Spring Cleaning

Been working on a few things. Fatman O'Toole related. <-- The original poem is due sometime around September in issue #4 of motel58. --> Maybe a chapbook thing.

Been thinking about the collection and actually, seriously, truthfully, looking into piecing it together.

Already got two bites out of this latest batch in about a week. Thieves Jargon--one of my favorite poems will be there shortly along with another that I heavily revised this time (and made much better). The other at a place called Breadcrumb Scabs (yeah, so the name kinda sold me on submitting--).

My sister's dog isn't feeling well (and on my sister's birthday, too). It stinks.



Happy Birthday, Sis.


Big Boy's been struggling with what looks like diabetes and I hate seeing him that way.


It sucks.


Brighter side?


It's BASEBALL SEASON! Woohoo!




Royals will finish 79-83 and second in the division. It's easy to see parity where there is an abundance of mediocrity. That is the AL Central code. So, Go Royals!



So, anyway. Been thinking about checking in more often.


Maybe doing little capsule reviews.



One hundred words and a handful of pics* of the leading, supporting, cameo, ladies.


It's what they want.
It's what google takes away.


Inside snark? Ya betcha!






* Note: I have this post tagged under Foto, but obviously they are not all mine. For instance, I would have been like three years old when Brett and the lady with the fine ass exchanged pleasantries. I do not own a signed Billy Butler card (thought it'd be cool) (and so did not take that picture either). Jennifer Tilly and Milla Jovovich are pretty, but I do not know them personally (thus...dur) These Photos Are NOT MINE; they are only used to demonstrate the eloquence of the world and to enhance culture as a whole.

My pictures are:
1) The sketch of Fatman O'Toole/Me.
2) Picture of my sister's dog, Ne-Hi.
3) Picture of Big Boy (which may already be on the blog...)
4) The Baseball.

The others are not.

Hideo Nomo

I caught this from MLB.com about Hideo Nomo trying to earn a spot on the Royals:

...

Nomo pitched two innings and retired all six batters, three on strikeouts, in an 11-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.

"Three strikeouts in two innings -- that's pretty good," manager Trey Hillman said. "He's still missing bats."

Nomo, attempting a comeback after not being in the Majors since 2005, was dropped from rotation consideration after giving up five runs in three innings to the Brewers last Saturday.

"He was very effective," Hillman said. "He continues to locate his fastball. He got it up to 88 [mph] today. He's elevating when he needs to elevate it to change eye levels, and it's very effective, because of what the split does. Sometimes, they're looking for the split and he doesn't throw it."

Nomo was famous for his split-finger pitch in his glory years with the Los Angeles Dodgers and other clubs.

"He did a good job. It's still intriguing to us and he's still very much in the mix for a bullpen position," Hillman said.

...

I've always been a fan of Nomo. I liked his dance and delivery. I liked his reliance on the split (a hell of a pitch). I liked the 8.74 K/9 average (there abouts.) A good deal of baseball is bullpen, and with the bullpen it is usually great to have a change of pace kind of thrower. Nomo could be great, even with the ever-shrinking (called, at least--on paper, not supposed to be) strike zone that I think contributed to his downfall over the years. I look forward to seeing him on the club sometime this year.

The video is a Nike commercial from the way back. I didn't know that he had a shoe made for him to pimp, but there it is.

Just a couple more days.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4E7uY_Tl7g

Sweeney And Loyalty Oaths

A nice story about Mike Sweeney came across the wire tonight:

...

The ties are still strong. When Sweeney came onto the field, the first guy he hugged was Billy Butler, the kid who took over Sweeney's designated hitter job. With that, the Sweeney hug-fest with his ex-teammates was on.

He wore No. 5 instead of his old 29, which already was assigned to pitcher Keith Foulke. So he chose 5 for his boyhood idol, the Angels' Brian Downing, and his manhood idol, George Brett.

"I always loved Brian Downing growing up, and then obviously becoming close with George the last decade or two in Kansas City," he said. "It's an honor to wear the number."

Sweeney went through pregame stretching with the A's, happily gabbing with No. 4, ex-Royals teammate Emil Brown, and No. 3, Eric Chavez.

He spotted Brett and two of his sons near the Royals dugout -- more hugs and handshakes. Justin Huber, who was hitting .400 with slim prospects of making the KC roster, got some encouraging words.

"I really miss the guys," Sweeney said. "I was talking to [Mark] Teahen today, and I said, 'How's it going over there?' He said, 'Oh, it's going great, but sometimes I'll look around and want to get some advice from you, and you're not around.'

"I looked him in the eye and I said, 'Well, you know what that means -- it's your time to lead.'"

The Royals kidded Sweeney about his A's white shoes.

"They make me faster," he said with a grin. "I've already got a bag [stolen base]."

...

If I had my way there would be a Major League team made up of 25 Mike Sweeneys. The dude's all about class and embodies what baseball should be about. Okay, so their pitching may suffer, but there wouldn't be (should I say, shouldn't be) an empty seat in the stadium.

It's too bad he's with Oakland, though. I'm a Royals fan first and foremost, a Padres fan second, and when they aren't pissing all over me (Cliff Floyd, Preston Wilson, Luis Castillo, Pudge (for the short time, especially since they weren't willing to pay him the same salary over four years that he was already making--thus leading him to the wretched Tigers) among others the hate is blocking) a Florida Marlins fan third.

I don't mind Oakland too much--other than the fact that they had a Braves-like pitching core that they let go like a child with her first helium balloon. Not to mention they helped Houston steal away Beltran. There's a little hope left from that trade, but it ain't Beltran, yet. Teahen is good, Buck, ehh..., Mike Wood?

Then again, I think the A's got the worst of that trade.

I don't know... I guess if he can make the roster, I can come around. He's still one of the good guys after all. Go, Mike.

Z Madness

.

If the NBA were on channel 5
and a bunch of frogs making love was on channel 4,
I'd watch the frogs
even if they were coming in fuzzy.

--Bobby Knight

.

Baseball's Upon Us

It's time to dust off the cleats, jab fingers into our gloves to kill any nesting spiders, and start swinging the lumber.

Or drafting fantasy teams and sucking...


yeah, sucking...


You know what doesn't suck?

This F-ing Curveball by Dodger prospect Clayton Kershaw.


Goodly God, The Devil Done Said:




That thing's freaking sweet!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2M0c6DxCMY

Football

Tomorrow is going to be a great day for football.
At least, it should be.
Go Tech, Tenn, Sooners, Pitt,
aaanndd Frog.


?

The Dolphins Will Win

No Cheerleaders, No Quit.


We will win today.




Such a disappointing season, but they'll be back and rolling some year soon.

RE: Dolphins and Giants

I'm guaranteeing victory today.







1st Photo Courtesy: http://radioroadtrip.com
2nd Photo courtesy of: http://www.miamidolphinsnews.org

Sports Spetacular

Great games today:

WV @ Rutgers
Florida @ Georgia
Usc @ Oregon
Cal @ Az. State
South Carolina @ Tennessee
Ohio State @ Penn State
Boston @ Colorado

Go 'neers, gators, ducks, 'teers, nits, and rocks!

"God Bless America". . .Still?

Seriously?

I can see New York singing it.
The attacks and all.
Washington, too.
If they ever field a contender.
Hell, Pennsylvania.
Go right ahead.

But Boston and Colorado?

Boyz II Fucking Men???

Do they even make new music anymore?

The last time I heard anything new from them my family and I were watching Lethal Weapon 3 in a crowded Dollar Theater outside Lynchburg, Virginia a decade ago.


I'm sure "Take Me Out" was at least hummed somewhere in Boston tonight, right?

Right?

It's nice to be patriotic, God blessing America is great and all, but what's more patriotic than the friggin' theme song to the friggin' American Pastime? Maybe it's a Yankee thing.

Maybe.

I'd rather watch Rosanne grab on her camel toe and spit than listen to a handful of douchebags butcher the Pastime's pastime of standing up in the split of the seventh and bellowing out like drunkards the chorus of the song that unites Americans--and has for generations.

The song served its purpose for the first year. Maybe the second.

But how many times are you gonna shuffle Ronan Tynan out onto the infield to give us his rendition before the people finally say Enough!

My Southern ass will gladly sing about cracker jack and counting out the number of strikes a batter gets before he's sucking pine. Maybe it's just me, maybe it's just history, but dammit, quit dicking about with the game and give us back out little chorus in peace.

It's almost as bad as all these jackholes getting up there and seeing how many retarded tremolos and vibratos they can fit into the Star Spangled before air support buzzes them out of sound. Even John Williams got into the act, but I think that had more to do with crappy placement of microphones than a messy cacophony composed by the master.

Sometimes I hope a teeny, tiny, itsy-bitsy laser-guided bomb is jangling loose upon approach with some of them.

For the anthem's sake and our own.

God bless us all.

The Nike Ad -- Leave Nothing

'Roids or not, this ad is awesome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6joglwxWuo


A) Michael Mann
B) "Last of the Mohicans"
C) Football





Updated with HD version.

It Is Upon Us - Predictions

The season begins tomorrow night. 32 teams will vie for the Lombardi trophy. 1 team will win. And it won't be a team I really care for.


First, to get it out of the way, the Lions will suck. The way they've always sucked, but maybe with one or two more wins.


But so will the Dolphins, so who's to brag?

They may even win one extra game this year--hell, maybe even hit .500--but it ain't gonna be pretty.






Same for the 'skins.
A lot will ride on the fragile Portis.
A lot will ride on a Defense
that was just terrible last season.


They might win seven.
They might not.




FINALS PREDICTIONS:

AFC: Indy, New England, Baltimore, San Diego, Cincinnati,
Jets

NFC: Dallas, Chicago, New Orleans, Seattle, St. Louis, Philly


Indy and New England for the AFC championship.
Chicago and St. Louis for the NFC championship.

New England beats Indy; St. Louis squeaks by Chicago.
New England wins the Super Bowl.

I feel ill, but, unless Randy Moss throws a handful of tantrums, I'm sorry to say it looks to be.

Who knows, six months from now, maybe the Cardinals are having a parade through Phoenix.

Nahh...


photos courtesy MSNBC.com, supposedly.

The Greatest Two Months For Any Fan

College football started yesterday. Baseball's in its final stretch. Pro Football begins in a week. Nascar is winding down. For these next two months, every waking moment is like a fix. Who cares if the Royals, the Dolphins, the 'skins, the Hokies, the Tigers (Auburn), Smoke, Kahne and the Padres stink or don't? It's better when they don't, surely, but it's all about just being able to enjoy the spoils that come from the great battles we love.

It also doesn't hurt to be able to turn on the game of the week, sit down with a packet of poems or a story, and revise as they cut to commercial fifty million times. Which also reminds me of my looming submissions deadline coming up in the middle of the month.

Procrastination, over.


And Michigan's loss is the most comical thing ever.

Meeting Expectations

11 More Wins. . .

It is sort of sad to think that expectations for one's team can be so low, but finishing with fewer than 100 losses is about all you can hope for when it comes to Kansas City.


If they can just spoil one team (please, be the Tigers! please, be the Tigers!) down the stretch, it would be like the chocolate icing on top of the bowl of extra-chocolaty chocolate icing or some such and such.



Big Boy approves, but thinks maybe celebration should wait until they actually achieve 82 wins again.

*Ya know, the thing that actually makes a team a "winner."



photo courtesy of yahoosports.com