My TV was destroyed today when it showed Woody Paige's face on "Around the Horn" in HD for the first time, so I'd figure that I would use this free time to bring back some old favorites on this site: End of the Month and the Thursday installment of Random Thoughts that hasn't ran since February. So let's see if I have everything ready to do this:
- a list of thoughts written on a piece of paper...check.
- a list of things I've written down since 09/01 that I found rather intriguing or memorable...check
- an Eddie Van Halen giutar solo to get me pumped up...
WOOOO! Yep, I'm ready. Now, let's get started...
RANDOM THOUGHTS:
The following were on my mind between Monday, September 27th and Thursday, September 30th:
- It's official: "Lonestar" is now dead thanks to their awful ratings for their first two episodes of the series. The early cancellation now makes them the first cancelled new show of the 2010-11 TV season despite the warm reception from critics and message board. I predicted them to be one of this fall's breakout hit. Note to self: stop making predictions about a TV show's success.
- Damn you, NBC! Stop spoiling the plots of every one of my favorite TV shows on your network with your promos!
- Dear Ken Burns,
You made a four hour commercial free documentary on PBS about MLB from the '92 NLCS to '09 and you even didn't mention Albert Pujols once!?!? Look, I understand that you had a lot to cover. There was the '94 strike, the Red Sox finally winning it in '04, the '01 season after 9/11, Bonds, the '98 home run chase, steroids, etc. Still, if you're going to make a baseball documentary from this time period, how can you not even mention someone like Pujols who was the first player in MLB history to bat over .300 with 30+ HRs and 100+ RBIs in ten consecutive seasons (and without steroids, it appears for now) and is a 9 time All-Star, a 5 time Silver Slugger, a Gold Glover, a 3 time NL MVP, voted Player of the Decade by multiple news organizations (like "Sports Illustrated") and is considered to be one of the top hitters from his generation? It would be like leaving Gehrig out of a documentary about baseball in the 1930s, or Jerry West in a documentary about the NBA in the 1960s. In the words of the honorable Keyshawn Johnson: "C'mon man!"
*Only times they even shown Pujols were a picture of him celebrating after a game in 2004 and a five second highlight of him hitting a home run.
**Had plenty of time to mention the Indians corked bat incident, though.
***Not a Cardinals fan
****Yes, I watched all four hours!..
*****Shut up! I had some free time on my hands the past two days!
- Hey, Mozilla Firefox and Adobe, here's a suggestion! Instead of making me to install new updates every three days, maybe you can put all those updates into one big update that you do maybe three to four times a year. That way you can probably save all that effort into use for something else and I can keep my anger away from you.
- If I had a vote in the AL Cy Young award ballot, it would easily go to Felix Hernandez instead of CC Sabathia. Look, I understand that Hernandez has only 13 wins this season, which is almost ten less than the amount of wins Sabathia put up (21, a career high for him). However, if you take a look at some of the other major pitching categories and the pitching categories that aren't highly publicized, but are still useful in determining which player was better at a certain point than another, you will see that Hernandez this season has had the following stats better than Sabathia:
ERA(league leader)
WHIP
IP (league leader)
quality starts (league leader)
strikouts (league leader)
K/9
K/BB
Complete Game
Quality Starts
Opponent Batting Average
Opponent On Base Percentage
Opponent Slugging Percentage
So there you go. Not counting the arguments made by old-school writers who either still haven't gotten used to saber-metrics or are just plain stubborn, there really isn't a debate. Hernandez has clearly been the better pitcher. Other things to consider:
1. Last year's AL CY Young Award winner, Zack Greinke, had only 16 wins
2. While the Yankees have had one of the better offenses in the league, the Seattle Mariners have been one of the worst, getting about half as many yards as the Yankees had this season and could very well end the year as one of the worst run producing teams in MLB history.
3. Some pitching performances that Hernandez has had this year in which he did not get a win because of the team's poor offense that game:
05/13 vs. Baltimore: 7 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks (ND)
05/29 vs. the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: 8 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 7 Ks (ND)
06/24 vs. Chicago Cubs: 9 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 8 Ks (ND)
07/21 vs. Chicago White Sox: 9 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 8 Ks (ND)
08/31 vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: 7 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 8 Ks (ND)
09/23 vs. Toronto: 8 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks (L)
- Oh, what the hell! Here are some other people who I feel should get some of the other major awards for their work in the 2010 MLB season:
Roy Halladay (Philadelphia pitcher): NL Cy Young
Miguel Cabrera (Detroit 1B): AL MVP
Joey Votto (Cincinnati 1B): NL MVP
Neftali Feliz (Texas pitcher): AL Rookie of the Year
Buster Posey (San Fransisco C/1B): NL Rookie of the Year
Ron Washington (Texas manager): AL Manager of the Year
Bud Black (San Diego manager): NL Manager of the Year
And now, here is another installment of "End of the Month" to wrap things up:
END OF THE MONTH:
Videos of the Month:
- The Funniest: "No One Likes M. Night Shyamalan"
And just like all M. Night Shymalan movies of the past five years, it is the trailer that is better than the actual movie will be.
- The Furriest: "Dancing Merengue Dog"
Makes you wonder how "celebrities" like David Hasselhoff and Margaret Cho can't remember their dance steps. After all, what this dog did was much more complicating.
- Best Music Video: OK Go's "White Knuckles"
Brilliant work by OK Go. Not only did they make another great viral- friendly music video, but they also added a key element to make it even better than had they not included it: cute animals! I mean, who doesn't love them?
(Runner up: Cee-Lo Green's "Fuck You"-the non-karaoke edition. You gotta put this song in consideration as one of the best of 2010, right?)
-The Best Unintentional Double Rainbow Guy Parody: "Brooklyn Tornado 9/16/10"
It's about time the schmoyoho guys made an east coast version of the Double Rainbow song.
- The Most Awesome: "Dude, You Have No Quran!"
No. No he does not.
Congressional Meeting of the Month: Stephen Colbert in Character Addresses Congress About Migrant Workers on 09/24
This is the most interesting thing to happen on C-SPAN 3 since...since...well, ever. Maybe there was heated book discussion or two, but this easily tops it.
Random Tweet of the Month: Kanye West on 09/04:
"I'm Sorry, Taylor."
Well, that was sudden! I wonder what must have sparked Mr. West's sudden burst of honesty and humility?
Stories of the Month:
-The Most Ironic: Owner of Segway Dies in Segway Accident
So, he bough the company a year ago only to end up getting killed with its help. Now, that is is one true example of "be careful what you wish for." But, hey, at least he brought the first big media attention on anything segway related in years, so there's that...right?
- The Saddest: Injuries and Deaths Occur in San Bruno, California Natural Gas Explosion
- The Most Relieving: Florida Pastor Terry Jones Postpones Quran Burning Stunt on 9/11 Before It Was Set to Begin
It still doesn't make me forgive him for planning the whole thing in the first place, though.
- The Least Shocking: Paris Hilton Arrested For Possession of Cocaine
The only shocking thing about it was that it didn't happen sooner.
Launch of the Month: Google Instant
So I guess this means that I will have an even better chance at accidentally viewing a picture of a penis.
Redemption of the Month: Michael Vick
After ten quarters of playing like one of the best QBs in the NFL, Vick is now in the early NFL MVP and Comeback Player of the Year discussion and his jersey is becoming one of the highest selling in the NFL for the past few days. In fact, stores that wouldn't dare to sell them last year are now selling them by popular demand all of a sudden. It just goes to show you how much winning and playing well in a sport can easily change a person's reputation, especially in the city they play in.
Resurrection of the Week: Fire Joe Morgan.com on Deadspin (09/22)
(http://deadspin.com/tag/firejoemorganrereunion/)
And what a day it was! From the revelation that Joe Morgan walks around naked in the Reds locker room to the return of the David Eckstein bashing and Gallimaufry, it was seemingly classic Fire Joe Morgan all rolled into one super packed day. Makes me wish that I had actually read their site when it was actually running from '05-'08 instead of being a kid doing stupid kid stuff.
Meme of the Week: Sad Don Draper
Look at him, all sad and depressed. Makes you just want to comfort him, even though that it's impossible to do in reality. It's also great with photoshop, as you will see by clicking on this Tumblr.
Person of the Month: Christine O'Donell
Oh, those Tea Partiers! They just can't seem to run out of people like her, can't they. Let's see what we know about Delware Tea Party Queen Christime O'Donell so far:
-she's anti-masturbation
-she practiced witchcraft in college
-she believes that evolution isn't real because if it were true, then why aren't gorillas still evolving into apes? Well?
- she says she studied in Oxford, but she really didn't
- she is anti-gay, yet has an openly gay sister
-she is single and pro-abstinence, so for all we know she could be a virgin right now
-she thinks AIDS research is getting too much funding
Good Lord, that is fantastic! What isn't great however is the possibility that she could win. Let's just hope the voters of Delaware make the right choice. I mean, it's good to have a laugh or two but actually seeing these type of people be part of our nation's legislative branch is just scary to think about.
And that's about it for now. So, expect to see the Thursday "Random Thoughts" to pop-up every single week now until about mid-February or so. Have a good night, and I will see you tomorrow with my week 4 NFL picks.
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15
If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or
tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are
greatly appreciated.
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