Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Tidbits

Okay, here's the deal... I'm trying to blog on the road this week, so I'll try to find time whenever I can to write what I can. It probably won't be up to the same quality that my faithful reader(s) is used to, but what can you do? With that in mind, let me clear up this past weekend in sports...

  • Will somebody please tell Roger Clemens that baseball season starts in April, not June. This isn't the Little League.

  • The Yankees are going to spend just over $25 million on Clemens for just about four months of work. Conversely, the Devil Rays employ 24 players for just over $24 million for six months. That means the Devil Rays will pay about $167,000 per player per month, while the Yankees will pay Clemens $6,250,000 per player per month. I don't know for sure, but it seems to me like the Yankees could have purchased an actual rocket for close to the same overall price.

  • I hope you all took the time on Saturday to remember and honor one of America's greatest heros ever, Barbaro. Words cannot express the gratitude I feel for a great American who did so much. Barbaro, as any history buff will tell you, freed the slaves, single handedly won World War II, and even made an unsuccessful attempt at becoming president. All of this is just an addition to his awe-inspiring dash toward the Triple Crown, where he won the first jewel, and no others. I believe I speak for all of America when I say Barbaro deserves his own holiday.

  • OK, the above bullet may seem a little harsh, but honestly, at the end of the day, he was just a horse. I love animals, and I enjoy the Triple Crown, and what happened to Barbaro was really sad, but to call Barbaro a hero when we have cops and firefighters and teachers and soldiers doing so much more than Barbaro could ever do just sounds ridiculous.

  • How about that Mayweather v. De la hoya fight? The "Fight to Save Boxing". So much for that. How can you begin to save you sorry excuse of a once great sport when there are no knockdowns, and the match is decided by a bunch of overweight, old white guys who probably haven't boxed ever? No knockdowns. None. I wasn't at the fight, and I didn't see the fight, but I would have been pretty peeved if I had just spent good money to see the "Fight of the Century" and nobody was even good enough to knock the other person down.

  • I saw an interesting piece on ESPN yesterday about a great new sport sweeping through Europe: Chess-Boxing. This is the ultimate test of both brain and brawn. Chess-Boxing is just that: chess and boxing. Two athletically gifted and smarter than the average bear men face off in an interesting match. The first round features speed chess, standard rules apply. The second round is a round of the sweet science, standard rules apply. Then it's back to chess, then back to boxing. This goes on until there is either a checkmate or a knockout. This sport has really gained a faithful following in Europe, and the World Chess-Boxing Organization (it really does exist) is planning to move the sport to Las Vegas soon enough. All I can say is good luck. We already don't like boxing, and they're going to go and bore it up even more with a round of chess in between each round. I think this is one thing that the Europeans can keep to themselves.

From the road, Peace.

Droppin' El Whammo: Tampa Bay Devil Rays

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Barbaro is awesome and I am sad he died. I don't see a problem calling him a hero. I like animals better then people anyway. Why not give a little celebrity to a horse that captured the hearts of millions instead of giving it to a bunch of brainless tv/movie morons?? Rest in a hay-filled barn in peace Barbaro.

R to the A

P.S. the best animals EVER are: Lewis and Ozzie

Kurt Nose Best said...

I never said that we should celebrate celebrities, because if I posted on the stupid things they did I wouldn't have room for sports. I think if we celebrate anybody, it should be cops, firefighters, doctors, and people who do services for our country with usually very little pay; Barbaro was an inspiration for sure, but hero is a stretch.

Anonymous said...

Another O's broadcaster in the news. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2864805

Check it out and report back.

Anonymous said...

but we already do celebrate all of those people. A LOT! If one animal can get into the hearts of thousands then that is a beautiful thing. Why not give animals a chance at being celebrated?

p.s. cops, firefighters, and doctors can do lots of things that dont deserve praise. just b/c they are those things doesnt make them heroes. at least animals don't have the human traits of hatred and stupidity