Hey - Where's The Sports Talk?

I know I've been slacking - life does that sometimes & I'm not getting paid as well as most major leaguers for producing at only 30% like they do. I'm not getting paid at all come to think of it, so stop with the nagging emails about how "so much is happening in the sports world & I haven't weighed in on anything" Jeez!

I still don't have time to address everything, but here's what I shot out earlier when an old baseball buddy mentioned in an email that "Barry Bonds is toast":

Barry is beyond toast. He's toast crumbs. If this case goes forward, he'll either be found guilty & go to jail for a long time, or a short time & either way, will be suspended forever by the league when that's over. He'll never play again (unless he makes a Longest Yard-The Baseball Version situation in the pen) which is fortunate, because I can only take so much hate in this sport I love, & I'm completely consumed with hating A-Fraud right now. Barry Bonds doesn't even exist to me.

Of course, if I'm honest, he never really did. I only tried to be a decent Giants fan for friends who liked them - but deep down, I always, always, always knew it would come to this extreme with Bonds. The G's are lucky to have cut their ties with him just in time. Makes me wonder if the Mitchell Report got leaked to them a bit early so they would have time to put some substantial space between them.

I think Frisco has a real chance to make something of themselves now & I truly hope this could be Barry Zito's banner year (although I'm fairly sure that won't come til 2009 at the earliest.) But think about it: What better way is there to flip Bonds the bird than to win it all & rub that ring right in his face?

Bitter? Moi? :-) Not too bad as far as these things go. I'm more upset about Super Marco getting traded from my A's more than anything else. Although our AAA mounds needed attention & this will open up a nice spot for Donnie Murphy.

I swear I can remember being at at least 15 games where Scutaro knocked out a walk-off game clincher, including 1 I wrote about here, but his stats show he only did it 9 times in his career here. I guess I'll have to wait & see how it all works out. I just have this nagging suspicion that Marco won't be as lauded in Canada. He barely makes Ingles words okay, how's he supposed to pull off French!?!

Barry Bonds Is Leaving San Francisco Giants (Finally?)

The Giant organization is about to announce that they will not be offering Barry Bonds a contract for 2008 (surprise, surprise, surprise eh?)

Bonds is now saying he’s disappointed & ticked off that he didn’t have more time to ‘say goodbye properly”. He thinks the front office planned this a long time ago & I’d bet he’s right. In all seriousness, what did he think was going to happen? The way I see it, there’s really not much either side has to offer one another now.

I would have said the same thing at the end of his last (injury hampered) season, but with that darned record looming, what choice did the G’s have but to keep him & enjoy all the money that would inevitably flow their way. Knowing that kind of cash would be coming in allowed them to offer the most expensive contract ever for a pitcher, who they said they wanted to specifically keep the media off Bonds’ back – which Zito did by sucking rotten eggs for the first half of the season.

So any thoughts on this out there? He says he’s not going to retire. He wants to try & get a World Series Ring which probably means he’ll be a frickin’ Yankee. Then I’ll get to officially hate him so that makes me happy. J

GO DUCKS!

Todd Walker and Mark Ellis were fantastically clutch lastnight & it looks like Ellis is right on track for his banner year!

The G’s picked up their 2nd win last night too, although by the opinions on the patrons of the bar I went to watch it in, you’d think this was August & they were playing under .300. I came in & asked someone if the score was really 5-0 Giants cause I couldn’t quite make out it on the tiny screens they had the game up on (I didn’t say it was a sports bar). Someone responded that that “couldn’t possibly be correct, that the scoreboard must be transposed; the G’s couldn’t possibly be ahead this deep in a game right?”

Not that I haven’t been completely discouraged by the level of my own Giants loyalty, but jeez, it’s only the first week people! I’m trying hard to stay a fan but the truth is that I don’t ‘get’ National League ball like I do American League ball. And the A’s are just plain more fun to watch. They’re young & hot & really enjoy their opportunities. The Giants seem to act more like football players, at war on the gridiron, as George Carlin would say. Not to mention the Green Monster’s transition to a worldwide market. There's exciting stuff in the AL. I wish someone would show me something similar in the NL.

But not just yet please.

Today & hopefully for the next few weeks, I’m focusing on hockey, & on my Ducks particularly. They begin their playoffs with the first series up against the Wild. This has to be one of the best match ups for the playoffs. The Ducks played the Wild 4 times in the regular season & both teams took 2. Only 6 points separate them with my Ducks coming out on top. So long as they can manage to hold Rolston & Gaborik in check they should do just fine! They’ve got new owners, a new look & a new hunger that should keep them as mighty as ever!

Loyalty Test

So lastnight FSBA was kind enough to air the first baseball game of the year. Now granted, it's only Spring Training & of course it doesn't count, but for me, this was a crucial game. Since declaring my love for the Giants in January, this was my first test of loyalty as they were hosting the A's. In case you were wondering, it's mighty hard to watch your old team beat up on your new team! Kinda like running into you ex & finding out that he's way better off without you. Not that I really had to watch that part much, the game was actually tied the majority of it. And they distracted me for several innings while interviewing my Zito Love since they didn't have him pitch against his former buddies.

Baseball already feels so different as a G's fan. I'm so interested in learning the history of the team that I seriously paid attention to all the public servicey feeling historical accounts of how the Giants came to train in Arizona. Really cool stuff went on way back then. At one point, they actually traded training facilities with the Yankees cause the owner of the G's had a place in Casa Grande!

The next sweetest thing about last night’s broadcast was that they mic'ed up Tim Flannery while he was coaching 3rd base. Now lemme tell ya, this dude gives new depth to the word cool. First of, he used to be a broadcaster so his voice is sexy as hell. Course that might be because he also sings & plays guitar. He brings his acoustic axe on the road & writes songs about baseball. He's recorded 8 CD's already & I need to get a hold of them. (Anyone knows where I can find 'em lemme know!) Anyway, he let us all a bit closer to seeing the other side of baseball with the way he was telling the viewers about what he was thinking as & before things happened. He was talking about who the best base runners have been so far in camp & who he trusts to follow his signs & who doesn't even need to be told. He talked about his teaching style & how he's reaching out to the new kids, trying to help them get their careers off to a great start, regardless of whether they make the team this year or not. He sounded brilliant, & before I say I've found a perfect replacement in my baseball heart for Ron Washington, I won't cause I have the same feeling that he'll be leaving for a bigger gig sooner than later.

Oh & did I mention he's rather easy on the eyes ;->


PS - I was super ticked that the A's won, so I'm giving myself an B+ for my first test since I was totally digging Nicky Swisher's hair & falling in love with the A's new sidewinder.

Zito’s got a new bag!

After arriving to his first Spring Training session with the Giants, Barry Zito made three rather goofy moves on just his first day. He arrived to the clubhouse & his new locker (2 away from Bondsy’s with an empty one in between) carrying his usual Oakland A’s bag. Seems to me the highest paid pitcher in all of baseball can easily afford a new gear bag, so I’m just guessing that was his not-so-subtle way of showing his respect for his old club. I like to think he’s that cool in my head.

But things get funnier still… While being interviewed, someone asked him if he realized he was sitting in Bondsy’s chair. He didn’t, of course, & while he didn’t stress about it, he did acknowledg that the other Barry probably would & got up to find the chair with his name on it. Bondsy’s going from 5 to 1 lockers this season & losing his paid entourage he normally has tagging along with him so I’m dying of curiosity here wondering how he’s going to react having Zito so close to him all season (or at least til he breaks hanks record & retires.) I’m guessing it’ll be like having a cool little kid always around that everyone but you completely adores. He won’t be able to find a reason to hate him, but I betcha he won’t been too friendly either.

Then things got real screwy. Zito took to the mound for his first throwing session pulling a camera on a tripod! He set that up then measured out his new, longer step. Then he started to throw and all around everyone was asking each other “What the H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks was that?”

His new pitch took off way faster, way harsher, & um, kinda dorkier too. He pushed off hard & his legs looked really weird. You just gotta see this new toss for yourself. It’s so very, very different. Much like Zito himself.

Zito‘s been quoted as saying he put on 10 lbs. of muscle into his legs this Winter, which shows in the funky lil jumpy-thingy he did to start his push off. Then he pushed it all the way through delivery without a pause. It kinda looks awkward, but the ball comes off sharply.

The G’s bossmen were the most surprised. He’d had told them he’d done some tinkering, but this was the first they’ve seen to hint that there’d been a major change. The camera pretty much threw them for a pretty good loop too: “I guess you haven’t seen that too much, have you, Bruce?”

“Not only not too often,” Bochy said, “I’ve never seen that.”

“Tiger changed his swing a couple times when he was at the top of his game,” Zito said. “If he can pull it off…” (Let's just not mention to Sabean that it took Tiger a year & a half to get back on track after that adjustment k?)

Of course, maybe Zito's just messing around with them since they did have him show up on Wednesday, just after he just found a possible new Valentine… (So far the only confirmed rumor is that he & Miss Duff were seen leaving a trendy Hollywood club together a couple weeks ago, but she is quite the lil cutie!)

If the Giants didn’t make sure he had a new gear bag by the end of the day, I’m sure his new lady could set him up with a lil something from her brand line:

Thanks to GiantsFan9 for the info thats always more interesting that the guys getting paid to write come up with...