Borderline Fantastic Sports

Reading this article about a new exhibit at the Baseball Hall of Fame, I spotted a jersey in the background of this picture.

An Eric Bruntlett jersey? I know the triple play to end the game against the Mets was amazing to see and a big deal, but HOF worthy? Watching the video again … unassisted triple play to end a game. Ok. Oh, MLB had embed code …

Anyway, this new exhibit sounds pretty cool. Not that I need a reason to go to the HOF. I’ve been saying I would go every summer for the past few years. I haven’t been to Cooperstown since Schmidt and Ashburn were inducted. I have only been to the museum once, I think it was the year before that. So yea, it’s been a while. It was certainly in the plans for this summer before my internship came up.

This could be the beginning of trouble, I got a South Africa Rugby World Cup scarf in South Africa, but I want one of these:

It came to me watching the Union game last night. I wound up watching most of the 2nd half. Including this amazing goal by the other Carlos Ruiz:

Continuing catching up. This clip is from 4/18 but it qualifies for today (well, what would have been today an hour ago). The Phanatic threw out the first pitch on his birthday and hit his mom right in the mouth (?). She goes down and then charges the mound with other mascots holding her back.

I think Mrs. Phanatic made an appearance tonight. I look forward to some quality video tomorrow.

Phillie Phanatic plunks mom on birthday – 4/18.

It’s time to start clearing out my list of things to post. How crazy that the oldest thing on my list is a crazy balk by Justin Verlander from a few weeks ago. Tonight he had his 2nd career no-hitter. I managed to see the last out. I think it was overshadowed by the Kentucky Derby, so I didn’t hear about it any sooner than that.

This link (cause MLB doesn’t embed) shows that Verlander balk from April 16th. He does sort of a pickoff move toward home, but that’s a simplification. Everyone was confused. The umps had to conference to decide what to do.

A’s and Tigers get a laugh from balk sequence | MLB.com: News

Evan posed the question this morning if this coming week is the best sports week of the year.

His evidence: NCAA Basketball Tournament Championships, 1st full week of baseball, playoff push in the NBA and NHL, and the Masters.

Can I add the Frozen Four as well? Probably not a lot of awareness in Florida for that one.

I find it hard to argue with his logic. Although I have usually have little care for the Final Four. I go for the excitement of the early rounds. My only competition is in the fall with the baseball playoffs along with other sports starting up.

I did think last week that with Opening Day falling in March, is that the best month of the sporting year now?

At least that’s the rumor from sources on ESPN.

I said he got fired during the Michigan game on Friday. I tried to pinpoint the general area that it happened during the game …

My Ice Cream Helmets have never had a home. They were displayed on a shelf with my hats in my old room. I don’t even think they made the trip to my first apartment. Here at my current apartment, they found a shelf of their own next to my TV, but it was more of a pile than a display. I hadn’t really thought about it too hard, but my mom had.

She was talking to a patient of hers who does woodwork and somehow they hatched a plan for a project. My mom had originally wanted some sort of enclosed case that could be hung on the wall so that I didn’t have to worry about my helmets getting dusty. These aren’t the most high quality items. The logos come off pretty easily on some of them.

The guy thought about that idea, but thought it might be too heavy. He came up with his own design and made it out of a really light wood so they could be easily hung on the wall.

On Christmas morning, I was down to my last present. I hadn’t asked for too much and I had already opened those. So I was extra curious what could possibly be in my last box that was saved for after everyone else was done and mom had the camera ready.

My first question was how many could each one hold. Each has 16, he couldn’t come up with a good design to have 14 on the AL one and 16 on the NL one. Probably good. If there is another expansion, it should be to have 16 in each league. Any more than that and I’m in trouble, but I think I have some time.

I sent a picture over to Evan on Christmas morning and it was forwarded to his mom letting her know she should get in contact with my mom to place an order.

After being back to school for a week I finally had a chance to hang them up.

As for the helmets, I obviously have some work to do in the AL. If you consider the two fewer teams, they aren’t that far behind. It just looks more obvious because the corner spots aren’t filled yet.

I’m currently missing four helmets of places I have been:
Orioles – I’ve been to Camden Yards, but it was before I had started collecting the helmets. I’ve already looked at the schedule and found two promising weekends in April.
Giants, A’s, Dodgers – Something about California. The Padres were the only stadium to have helmets on the trip. We didn’t go to Anaheim, so I can’t speak for them. The A’s had helmets for popcorn and french fries. I have one of those larger helmets, but will not be putting it on this display. The Dodgers may have had them, but Evan bought the tickets for the outfield seats and you aren’t allowed to leave that section.

1) The rules don’t make any sense. ‘Oh, he knocked out that defenseless receiver but he hit him with his shoulder, so that’s legal.’ I don’t care if it’s a helmet or not. If it looks like a cheap it, it should be a penalty. If it was vicious, throw him out of the game. Next year, I’d like to see a whole lot more ejections. It’s the best way I can see right now to get the point across.

2) Anyone can win any week. The Seahawks were terrible all year. Them beating the Saints was a huge upset. Was it? I wasn’t surprised. I’m never surprised by a team winning in the NFL. Yawn. I like upsets. I like to root for underdogs. With the current system in the NFL, there is no such thing.

3) Announcers. Ugh. We have the technology now. There is no reason each team can’t have their own announcers. Why not have three feeds of every game? One for each team and a national crew. I see no downside here. Not only would I stop hating the announcers every second of the game, it would increase my enjoyment a ton. Local announcers wouldn’t have to water down the coverage.

I’ve been having trouble deciding on which game to use my wager points on for my ICH group this week. I’m leaning toward the Bears.

It may be surprising that I’m considering the one matchup that is split. I’m not surprised by the split. Nobody watched the Seahawks all year before last week. Then saw them beat a Saints team that didn’t show up and they were home. How quickly everyone forgets they were terrible in a terrible division. Their win last week is one of my three biggest reasons I hate the NFL.

Make Picks

I enjoy Oregon’s crazy uniform changes. Yes, many of them are really awful (like those neon socks in the BCS Championship), but I like that they try and mix it up. You aren’t going to find something new if you don’t try.

On the other hand, I saw an Oregon basketball game on TV the other night and I thought there was something wrong with my TV. The image here looks ridiculous, and it was just as ridiculous looking on TV.

Oregon’s crazy new basketball floor is quintessentially Oregon – The Dagger – NCAAB  – Yahoo! Sports.