Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The Marlins’ moment of truth


Miami-Dade officials have set the vote -- and released the final renderings and sketches and stuff -- for the Marlins' new stadium:

Miami and Miami-Dade leaders are poised to cast rapid-fire, historic votes that could end the decade-long search for a permanent home for the two-time World Series champion Florida Marlins.

If approved Feb. 13, the partially glass-encased, 37,000-seat facility with a retractable roof would rise to face the downtown skyline from the Little Havana grounds where the revered Orange Bowl once stood.

The votes, required for five contracts that must be approved before ground can be broken, could be vindication for team owner Jeffrey Loria, who, like the two owners before him, suffered through a series of broken last-minute deals at the hands of government.

You all know how I feel about publicly-funded stadiums, so for philosophical reasons I'm hoping this doesn't pass. And in an ideal world, the vote's failure would result in Jeff Loria throwing up his hands and selling the team to someone who would build a stadium themselves and make Miami the amazing baseball town it certainly could be.

But we also know that won't happen. If this fails, there will be more political junk, followed by even greater cuts to the Marlins baseball operations (if that's even possible), followed by an eventual move to a town with more pliant politicians. So I suppose this is a lose-lose proposition. Which was probably inevitable the moment Loria took control of the team.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 9:17am (3) Comments

Mitchell and the Middle East


Great minds think alike. Mine just thinks snarkier.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 8:25am (0) Comments

Bidding John Updike Adieu


While most media attention has focused on the death of my cat, the world of letters lost someone else of note yesterday as well: John Updike. If you haven't read it, the Rabbit series was pretty spectacular. And of course, as many baseball bloggers are noting today, in 1960 Updike wrote this fantastic piece on the occasion of Ted Williams' last game.

It's long, but you're not going to read anything better today.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 7:49am (3) Comments

Mascots


This list of the top 10 sports mascots is a bunch of applesauce for two reasons: (1) The Phillie Phanatic is way better than Mr. Met; and (2) Brutus Buckeye was totally robbed.

And really, does anyone really like that green guy the Red Sox use?

(thanks to Pete Toms for the link)
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 7:00am (16) Comments

Today at THT


I found out yesterday that I can have someone killed for about $160. Unfortunately it was my cat, so I'm in a pretty crappy mood this morning. On the bright side, the two cats that remain in Chez Calcaterra have been on their best behavior since I had to put Lizzie down, as they now know I am not one to be trifled with. On the even brighter side, I'm not going to subject you to 4,000 words about it. I'm more of a denial/repression guy, so what I need is a distraction. Hey, here's some distracting stuff:

  • Brian Borawski brings da business, including what sounds to me like a very expensive way to deal with an insect problem.


  • Attorney/ethicist Jack Marshall examines the ethics of Scott Boras. It's early and I'm a little pressed for time right now so I haven't had a chance to read the piece in its entirety, but legal ethics is something that falls within my bailiwick, so I may have more on this later today.


  • Tuck! has his latest cartoon up. And no, I can assure you that we checked, and this one was not originally a "Ziggy"


  • Finally, over at Fantasy Focus, Derek Carty ads a new wrinkle to CAPS (Context Adjusted Pitching Statistics): road park factors. None of this would matter if baseball had the good sense to play every single game at a neutral, warm weather site.


    • I know this is a bit unusual, but while on her death bed, Lizzie demanded a burial at sea with full honors, so if there aren't as many updates today, it's because I'm either looking for a color guard or en route to the North Atlantic.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 5:48am (11) Comments

    Tuesday, January 27, 2009

    Dibble to the Nats


    Just when you think Nats fans have suffered enough, along comes the latest atrocity:

    The Nationals will have a new color man this year for their TV broadcasts: the always-colorful Rob Dibble. MASN announced today that Dibble has signed a multi-year deal to broadcast the games alongside Bob Carpenter. Dibble is replacing Don Sutton, who requested a release from his contract -- presumably to take a broadcasting job with the Atlanta Braves.

    The eleven people who watch Nats games will soon be suffering unspeakable horror.

    (thanks to Wooden U. Lykteneau for the heads up)
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 3:02pm (7) Comments

    The People in my Neighborhood


    I'm not writing jack today, but these guys are:

  • In what constitutes my greatest oversight in quite a while, I forgot to include Wezen-Ball in the first two installments of the ShysterBlog neighborhood. Lar does good work over there, uncovering many a priceless historical gem such as prospect previews from a couple of dozen years ago and historical analysis of all stripes. His latest offerings are a career retrospective of Jeff Kent and a look at a 1993 Street and Smith's article which purported to list the best players to ever wear each uniform number, which Lar has taken the liberty of updating. But I won't give him Jeter of Charlie Gerhinger at #2. That's just crazy talk.


  • tHeMARksMiTh recalls the Miracle Braves of 1914 and the story of Elaine Weddington. Weddington was the first black female -- and maybe the first female, I'm not sure -- to reach the position of assistant GM with a Major League Baseball team. That's awesome, but for totally personal reasons I'm much more inspired by the fact that she had the guts to do something with her law degree other than go to work for some giant soul-sucking firm.


  • Ron Rollins -- the bard of Bournemouth -- has a couple of cool videos, a fun Ichiro story, and the latest international baseball ephemera over at Baseball Over Here.


  • Jason at IIATMS found a pretty neat post about cheap cologne and implores you to root for the laundry.


  • Jorge Says No! is revisiting the Joba debate and comes down on the side of the bullpen. I disagree with him about that -- 200 IP of a really good pitcher > 70 IP of a really good pitcher, and that's before you factor in the dropoff you'll get in the form of whoever takes his place -- but I'm not the sort of guy who only reads that with which he agrees, and Josh usually hits the mark, so we'll let it slide. This time.


  • Fack Youk is doing something interesting: counting down the days until Spring Training starts via uniform numbers. Today is 17, so FY's new Mets blogger Matt Laudato has some stuff to say about Keith Hernandez. Before that was Scott Brosius (18), Aaron Boone and Dave Righetti (19), and Jorge Posada and Kevin Youkilis (20). Check back each day. In the meantime, let's guess who they'll use for the remaining numbers.


  • Finally, The Common Man went to TwinsFest. What's the deal with mid-word capitalization, anyway? Don't you find it annoying? ShysterBall would really like to know!


    • By all means, take a stroll around the neighborhood. You'll be glad you did.


    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 12:49pm (13) Comments

    Charm City gets more charming


    For those of you unable to make it to Kansas City.

    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 12:05pm (2) Comments

    The Cubs must protect this house


    If you're like me, and you hate those stupid Under Armour logos on the outfield doors at Wrigley Field, this is good news:

    The Chicago Cubs baseball team has sued Under Armour Inc, charging the athletic clothing and shoe maker with reneging on a five-year sponsorship agreement worth $10.8 million.

    The Cubs, in documents filed in a U.S. District Court in Chicago on January 22, said Under Armour breached a contract in which it agreed to pay the Cubs more than $2 million a season from 2009 through 2013.

    Under the deal, the Cubs would display Under Armour's company logo on the outfield doors at its home park of Wrigley Field, and the Baltimore-based company would receive the right to use the Cubs logo, according to court documents.


    Of course, I have to admit that even if that sort of thing is good news for aesthetic purposes, it's bad news for baseball. There are countless companies hemorrhaging money in this poo sandwich of an economy, and you can bet that as things continue to go bad, they're going to cut back or, as Under Armour is alleged to have done, renege on sports sponsorship deals.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 8:30am (2) Comments

    Chris Needham returns


    Fans of the now-defunct Capitol Punishment blog will be happy to see that Chris Needham is writing about the Nats again, this time for NBC.

    As he explains at the old space, he's only doing it for the Benjamins. Well, since it's blogging, he's probably only doing for the Jacksons and maybe the Grants, but you get the idea. At least I hope it's just about the money, because anyone who would subject themselves to as much Nats baseball as he does on a volunteer basis is certifiably insane.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 8:00am (23) Comments

    << Newer Posts    Older Posts >>