Paintball

My first attempt at a paintball video

Day (or five) late thoughts on the Bartolo Colon signing

As you know the Sox signed Bartolo Colon to a minor league deal this week. I’m not going to lie to you I think it was a pretty smart move by Theo. Granted he’s not the Cy Young winning pitcher he was in 2005 but if he can stay healthy he will most definitely help eat some innings while Schilling rehabs or Buchholz gets ready for a season in the majors.

That’s the great thing about the signing, as Theo said it’s a low-risk high potential reward situation. According to ESPN If Colon is added to the Red Sox 40-man roster, “he would get a $1.2 million, one-year contract and have the chance to earn performance and roster bonuses.”

What is the worst that could happen? If he doesn’t pan out it’s no big deal for the Sox but if he can get back into game shape and stay healthy the best case scenario is you end up with a proven major league starter in your fourth or fifth starter spot for 1.2+ million. If Colon wins 8-10 games and keeps his ERA under five he’d be exactly what Schilling was last year (9-8, 4.76 ERA).

I’m not saying that Colon is automatically going to turn things around and be an ace again but he doesn’t have to be an ace. Really a success for Colon, in my mind would be if he could be a 4 or 5 starter.

I’m assuming the Sox top three starters are going to be Beckett, Dice-K and Jon Lester. Yes after his World Series performance and inspiring comeback from lymphoma I think Lester is ready for the big time. Then you’ve got Wake (who could certainly be an injury risk), Buchholz (who will be in the majors this year but he’s on an innings limit again so I wonder whether or not he’ll start the season in a starter’s role) then hopefully Colon.

The Red Sox also have Kyle Snyder and Julian Tavarez who can make starts.
I’m of the “you can never have enough pitching” and “when you think you have pitching, you don’t” schools of thought. Which is why I think the Colon signing was such a good idea for the Red Sox.

By no means am I saying that by adding Bartolo Colon the Red Sox have the best rotation or anything. I do think that they have a solid rotation that is built for both the long grind of a 162 game season and a playoff run. Adding Bartolo Colon does end up pitching as well as or better than what we all expected from Schilling that would be a major plus for the team. Especially considering how uneasy some fans seemed to feel when the Schilling news came out.

Assuming Colon can get healthy I don’t think there is any reason why he can’t fall somewhere between the ’07 Curt Schilling and the ’07 Dice-K.

That would be somewhere between 9-8 with a 4.76 ERA and 15-12 with a 4.40 ERA. After all he’s a guy that’s averaged a 16-10 record with a 4.10 ERA in 11 major league seasons. 15 wins is definitely a high water mark. I wouldn’t expect that out of him but if he stays healthy I can definitely see 7-10 wins and a 5ish ERA.

Of course this all changes if he can’t get healthy, or if Buchholz starts the season in the rotation and kills it for the entire year.

Either way according to the Bradford Files it looks like we’ll get out first look at Colon on March 9th.

Spring Training is here

I’m almost over the debacle in the desert. I was able to watch the end of the game on NFL Network and I felt fine, so I think I’m ready to move on. And that’s a good thing because pitchers and catchers have officially reported to Spring Training.

Other than (enter your favorite team’s name here) are world champions! Is there any better statement in sports than pitchers and catchers report today? Ok there are probably other statements that are better but few evoke the same feeling of joy and rebirth as the day that the sports calendar turns over and it’s time for baseball to begin again.

With pitchers already working out and position players starting to show up let’s take a look at a one of the big topics early in spring training.

Jacoby & Coco – The centerfield situation is probably the topic that will be the most talked about during spring training this season. I know Schilling’s shoulder is a big deal, but I know a lot of fans are more interested in what the team will do with Ellsbury and what will become of Coco Crisp.

While it wouldn’t be the worst thing to have both Jacoby and Coco on the team I can’t imagine Coco will want to sit on the bench (which he confirmed today) and in my opinion he shouldn’t have to. I’m not saying that he should start in Boston, over Ellsbury because I think the kid has to play. He showed that he can get it done when the pressure is on last year and that is worth something.

Granted he only had 116 at bats and pitchers and managers will make adjustments and find some holes he’s still got the tools to be the Sox centerfielder for a while. Not only does he seem to be physically up to the challenge but he’s also given every indication of mental strength and will the 2007 Rookie of the Year Dustin Pedroia in the same locker room he will have a great guy to look up to when he inevitably goes through a slump.

It’s not fair to dismiss Coco because he’s certainly played phenomenal defense in center and I truly believe that if he didn’t hurt his wrist in the first few weeks of the 2006 season things would be a lot different than they are right now.

With that said, I think Coco is absolutely a starting centerfielder somewhere and the Sox really shouldn’t settle for 75 cents on the dollar in a trade. Trading him however could be a good way to find some pitching help in Schilling’s absence.

After reading this – Damon Nearly out of Baseball – from the FanHouse today I couldn’t help but smile about our present centerfield situation. I’m going to lie I am 100% ready to forget Johnny Damon ever existed in Boston with Jacoby waiting in the wings.

Extra bases – I f’n love firejoemorgan – not only to I agree with the basic premise of the site but this is one of the best things I’ve ever read. (This is what we’re up against)

The return of the baseball season also means the return of The Chili Guy on WBCN. This year I will find that SOB and shake his hand.

Hello Mr. Mayor

Welcome aboard Sean Casey.

The Red Sox signed Sean Casey to a one year $700,000 -deal to back up gold glove first baseman Kevin Youkilis. Not a bad move at all in my opinion. Adding Casey, whose a decent left handed bat with a pretty good glove will definitely let the team rest Youk and Mike Lowell a little bit more than last year.

He’s a solid back up because he fits the model that the Red Sox have been going after lately – his batting average is right around .300 but he’s got good OBP numbers and he doesn’t strike out a lot.

He can really be a big help with letting Youk rest a little bit. The guy is so intense all the time and he is a perfectionist. Sometimes his intensity hurts him a little bit when he goes into slumps which are inevitable in a 162 game season. Then again his intense competitiveness probably helps him break out of those slumps too.

Sean Casey also a good club house guy, I’m pretty sure we was voted the leagues friendliest player and his nickname is “the Mayor”. You can never have enough good club house guys on the bench.

I know the Super Bowl is hours away but I can’t help being really, really excited for another baseball season. Especially since the Sox hung on to Jacoby Ellsbury and Clay Buchholz.

Winter X 12 - Dumont gets hosed again

I guess it’s officially day one here at base camp in Phoenix. Nothing too exciting to report just some more press conferences and what not today. Check out patriots.com for video and audio from all the press conferences, including tomorrow’s media day.

Since it’s a pretty low-key day I think I’m going to take some time to talk about Winter X Games 12. Clearly I am no X Games expert but I’ve been watching winter x for 12 years now so why not chime in again. After all a year ago when I started this site I spent some a couple of days talking about modified shovel racing and snowboard super pipe.

To be honest I really haven’t been able to catch that much of the action from Aspen with getting ready to travel to ‘zona but I did watch the first night from the Speed and Style snowmobile competition to the marquee event in my eyes, skiing super pipe.

Let’s start with the snowmobile style and speed. That is a bizarre crossbreed of competitions but I must say it’s pretty cool. It brings you both worlds or tricks and racing and it’s much shorter than sitting through the 15 lap (or however long) final of snowcross, which for some reason they always pair with super pipe.

The pluses of this style and speed event are pretty cool. For example the riders have to be pretty versatile, they have to be able to race but throw sick tricks at the same time. The dual use course makes it pretty fun to watch to be honest with you and the fact that one guy is chucking a back flip makes it a lot more exciting than the NASCAR-ness of Snocross.

Let’s face it, even though we all pointed and laughed at Lindsey Jacobellis when she tried to sneak in a method at the end of her Olympic run and ate it that’s really one of the entertaining things about the X Games. Not that I want to see someone get hurt but its that potential for disaster or to be completely awed that draws people in.

I don’t know how you attempt a back flip on a snowmobile or a 1260 for the first time. I do know how you hurl yourself down a racecourse with five other guys in skier-cross because I’ve done that before and let me tell you there is a definite sense of disaster in skier and bordercross. Which again makes it really fun to watch. Every turn you jump I find myself watching in wide-eyed horror.

Here is my one issue with the new style and speed snowmobile event: The back flip. It’s like a double-edged sword. It’s an incredible trick to be able to do on a snowmobile but if you don’t have it in your arsenal you’re S.O.L. Watching the event I don’t think anyone that didn’t throw a back flip advanced.

There are some other unreal tricks but the back flip is like a trump card and a membership card. It trumps all the other tricks but at the same time if you can’t do it you aren’t getting into the club. Which in my opinion kind of hurts the event as a whole and limits the creativity of some of the riders – that in true could potentially hinter the progression of the sport as a whole. Same thing happened a few years ago in motocross. No matter what if a guy wants to advance he knows he has to build one back flip into his run, which can make things a little stale if every guy is opening his run with a back flip. It’s not a trick that can be done on smaller jumps either so it has to be preformed on one of the big booters. Those are usually located in the early stretches of the courses. Just my two cents on a sport I know very little about, but again I’m fan.

On to the marquee event, in my opinion, skiing super pipe – Once again Tanner Hall and Simon Dumont, everyone else is just trying for the bronze. Tanner Hall, who is becoming increasingly less likeable with the way he mixes psuedo-urban and skate culture dialects and has this weird air about him that just rubs me the wrong way. Of course I give him all the credit in the world for coming back from two shattered ankles.

Dumont is, of course, my favorite. Born out of the fact that Reynolds knows him and went to high school with him and we’ve been following him for the last five X Games but I think there is a lot to be said for his amplitude. 21 feet out of the pipe on a night were it is slow because of the snowfall, that’s insane.

He goes bigger than anyone else and in my opinion amplitude is one of the hearts of action sports. On the other hand, so is innovation and Tanner Hall does that pretty well too. In the end I think Dumont got jobbed again but I’ll give Tanner credit because he had more hits and like he said at the end of the night he threw in spins both ways. However when you factor in everything, the amplitude, the fact that Simon stepped up on his final run when he needed too and he had the crowd fully behind him, I think he got hosed.

I don’t mean to sound bitter but the last two years it kind of seemed like the judges gave Hall a bonus point or two because he was skiing for injured friends like last year or he was going for his third straight gold and all time record seventh winter X gold.

The guys is good, don’t get me wrong – but Dumont could have taken anyone of those last two gold medals and no one would have blinked, that’s how close these two guys are. They have taking half pipe skiing to completely new levels and looking back it’s really incredible how far it’s come. With the progress that these to have made in lifting the competition it’s no stretch to think half pipe skiing will make it’s Olympic debut in the near future.

Look at what happened with snowboarding. Half pipe was laughed at as an Olympic sport at first but most people would rather watch Shaun White throw 1080’s than pudgy Canadian dudes curling. Not that there is anything wrong with Canadians (except for their beady little eyes and flappy heads).

On a side note remember 1080 Snowboarding for Nintendo 64? Not that is was a good game or a bad game or anything, it was fun – Not quite Cool Borders or anything but a decent enough game. I bring it up because when 1080 came out the 1080-degree spin was a videogame trick. Like the tricks in Tony Hawk, some of them are real but for the most part it’s all fantasy. The 1080 was like that when that game came out, now 1080 is a standard big trick in snowboarding and skiers are throwing 1080’s and 1260’s. I’d say action sports are progressing pretty well.

Ok that’s my two cents on action sports. Now my goal for Super Bowl week is to have one story that will at least pique Reynolds’ interest after his run in with Mary Kate Olsen and his calling Lil’ John a pussy and drinking a shot he couldn’t take while at Sundance. That’s probably setting the bar a little it high though.

Vote Rice for '08

Would you vote for Barry Bonds/Roger Clemens/any of the players named in the Mitchell Report if you had a Hall of Fame vote? That’s a pretty tough question and one that will definitely be a hot topic when they both become eligible. I’ve got a question with an easier answer though. Should Jim Rice finally get into the Hall this year?

The answer, in short is hell yes. This year might even be a better year than any other. I’m not just griping because he isn’t in and he’s only got one more chance after this year – or because I am greedy for more Boston sport success. I truly believe that he should have been named to the Hall long ago but this year should be the year.

Consider the fact that baseball is on the verge of troubled times with the steroid skeletons being let out of the closet so why not vote in Rice. He was a dominant power hitter before the steroid era, the more drug cheats that are named make his stats look even better and his they are certainly worthy as it is.

Look at it this way Rice finished in the top five in MVP voting six times in his 16 year career, including his rookie season when he finished third in MVP voting and second in Rookie of the Year voting to his teammate Fred Lynn.

He also won an MVP, in 1978 of all years, and was an eight time all star. In ’78, one of the most important Red Sox seasons ever, he played in 163 games had 213 hits, 25 doubles, 15 triples, 46 home runs, 139 RBI and hit .315 with a .370 on base percentage. Thus the MVP award but over the course of his career Rice put up Hall worthy numbers.

Take into consideration the fact that from 1975 to 1986 he was in the top ten in virtually every category in the American League. He led the league in slugging twice, OPS once games once, at bats twice, hits once, total bases four times, triples once, home runs three times, RBI twice and extra base hits once.

All of those numbers are courtesy of baseball-reference by the way. Since stats have become so incredibly complex nowadays and are so prevalent in Hall of Fame talk consider this…Six times Rice was in the top six in runs created and ‘batting wins’ he led the league in both in ’78.

Anytime Rice and the Hall of Fame come up you hear about his relationship with the media and how he wasn’t the most cordial guy. I can understand a writer not liking a player or vice versa

I know we sometimes expect athletes to always cater to the every need of the media and fans but imagine if a crowd of reporters (by no fault of their own) jamming their tape recorders, cameras and microphones in your face every morning after you got out of the shower.

It’s definitely all part of the game but there are some people that relish that and other guys that just want to be left alone. You would certainly rather have guys be good to the media so that you as a fan can know what is going on but you just aren’t going to get that from everyone.

I only can speak from what I have read about his playing days but I have met Jim Rice on a couple of occasions and he’s a really nice guy. Not to mention the fact that he can drive a golf ball wicked fah kid.

My point is that as far as the Hall of Fame goes it really doesn’t matter if you were a super nice guy that granted every interview request and signed an autograph for every one that asked or if you were a total jerk that scowled at the mere sight of a newspaper or autograph seeker.

That stuff doesn’t matter when it comes to the Hall of Fame. There are obviously certain red flags – like gambling (see Pete Rose and the 1919 Black Sox) or steroids – time will tell on that one – just like which movie will be bigger E.T. or Krush Groove – With those exceptions aside the only thing that should really matter in Hall voting for a player is what they did between the lines. It’s not a popularity contest like All-Star Games have become.

Keeping a guy out of the Hall of Fame because he wasn’t nice to you is like being a bouncer at any bar sitting in your tower holding dominion over all the poor suckers waiting outside in the cold so they can get in on nine dollar beer night. That is getting a little too drunk with power, if he doesn’t deserve to get in then he shouldn’t get in but if he deserves it then he should be enshrined.

The bottom line when it comes to the Hall of Fame is numbers and Rice’s numbers are up to snuff. He has very similar stats as Orlando Cepeda, Duke Snider, Billy Williams (not to be confused with Billy D. Williams) and Willie Stargell – all Hall of Famers. In short the guy was a dominant player during his time and should be in the Hall of Fame.

Let’s hope that the Baseball Writers of America agree and finally give him his due before he gets left up to the veterans committee.

A couple of random thoughts…

Why is everyone hating on Tony Romo for Jessica Simpson? Seriously I’ve seen stories about why he needs to chill out with the ladies. Ah…no Holden McNeil…clearly these guys have never heard of rule number one.

Good for Tony Romo, his performance against the Eagles was miz but do you really think it has anything to do with Jessica Simpson or Carrie Underwood. Maybe the Cowboys should bring Carrie Underwood in to sing the national anthem then Romo can try and pull a Beckett.

I was a little harsh on the dolphins the other day. That was meant to be tongue and cheek and I thought it would be funny to find some similarities between the movie and the team. You could do the same with any athlete or team and any movie. You have to admit it kind of makes sense with the fins thought doesn’t it?

Fred Taylor should have made the Pro Bowl, trust me. I made the mistake of under valuing him on my fantasy team and instead of playing in the championship I was relegated to the consolation bracket…what an idiot…I will never underestimate a guy that grew up chasing rabbits in burning sugar cane fields.

I miss a lot of things from college, as I’m sure everyone does, but I have to thank xbox live because I think it is going to allow one of the greatest Keene State Cross Country traditions to carry on. The Ivy Bowl – where we used to all take an Ivy League (because they were ranked so low D’s mostly) team and play a tournament on NCAA Football. Got us through some seriously rough winter training camp days.

What is the deal with the Winter X Games Rumor Alerts on ESPN? I was so confused until I went to the website and saw that it is some kind of weird ass marketing plan – And frankly, I’m still pretty confused. Regardless of whether or not Buttermilk Mountain is a geothermal zone and potential volcano (like Yellowstone in that Discovery Channel movie) I’m still going to watch the X Games.

I went over this last year when I first started the site but I love the X Games – a pair of guys to watch out for – Mason Aguirre (Snowboard Superpipe & slopestyle) and Simon Dumont (Skiing Superpipe). I have no idea if they are competing but if they are you should tune in. Dumont got robbed of the goal last year and absolutely hucks himself out of pipe, expect the 1260 – Aguirre could be the guy that unseats Shaun White in the pipe.

After talking to Riggity Reynolds the other day about modern music played on the radio and how bands like The Receiving End of Sirens don’t get radio play I’ve been rehashing their first CD (Between the Heart and the Synapse) and I can’t get enough of it. If you’re looking for a pump up song try “the War of All Against All”.

You Know What Really Grinds My Gears

Reynolds has inspired me the last couple of days so I thought I’d throw this up under the old “you know what really grinds my gears” tag. It’s an email that I sent to Joe about a story he had to write for the mag he writes for. If you know Joe then I’d just like to say that he had free reign to bogart any ideas mentioned below. He beat me 93-19 in a game of piddle once so I owe him.

Here is the premise - Pop music today is complete garbage –

Pop music has become driven by the tabloids like US Weekly. I’m not saying everyone has to be an indie music junkie you know how I feel about people who say shit like “oh I used to like so-so before they became popular”. There is something to be said for the entertainment value of popular music today.

No one can look me in the eye and tell me Soulja Boy’s ‘Crank Dat’ is a good song. It’s entertaining to see Vince Wilfork do the dance after he sacks Ben Roethlisberger and Travis Barkers drum remix on YouTube is pretty gnarly, but it’s absolutely not a good song. Unfortunately people like Soulja Boy are getting attention instead of bands like TREOS or Wolfmother or As Tall as Lions. Hopefully at some point the climate will shift and we’ll return to some sort of middle ground that is agreeable like in the mid-to-late 90’s.

The music business should run similar to the NFL where the average career is something like 3-4 years, for musicians, especially pop musicians it should be 3-4 albums then you’re whisked away to reality TV. I’m cereal, Britney Spears was totally a top draft choice when she first came out, she was a freaking dime and she had those typical pop songs, now she needs to go away. The only reason she’s selling any albums right now is because our culture is obsessed with celebrities and we feed on US Weekly and People like the homeless on change.

Britney’s new song is awful, at least her old songs were her singing, now its so over-produced that with the right equipment I could pull any girl or even high voiced guy off the street and make the same song. And yes I will offend the shit out of that stupid leave Britney alone kid from YouTube what an idiot I hope you miss everything cool and die angry.

Speaking of over-produced when did making music stop requiring the ability to sing? Ok we’ll make an exception for Tom Delonge (Tonoite!) – but really Heidi Montag…she’s the queen of the no talent ass clowns…just because you were friends with my future wife Lauren Conrad doesn’t mean you can sing. At some point producers have to realize that they are destroying the world by allowing music like that to be created.

At some point don’t you say ‘I can’t believe I’m putting my name on this piece of shit”. Enjoy the ride of the Hills but you’re not a triple threat ok…calm down this isn’t Vaudeville it’s MTV. I swear to God if anyone would actually buy her upcoming CD I will challenge you to a duel…10 paces turn and fire.

There are a few musicians, like athletes who are able to re-invent themselves but they are usually good musicians or singers…i.e. Chris Cornell, Scott Weiland, Slash…and some that just have Brett Favre like longevity – The Red Hot Chili Peppers - the same can’t be said for many “popular musicians” like Britney Spears or even Fall Out Boy…that some of these people think they are going to be making viable music in 5-10 years is dumb - most likely they’ll be Vanilla Ice on the Surreal Life…I get the feeling we will soon see Pete Wentz, Lil John or Chamillonarie (really? next to the playstation controlla – that’s not a real rhyme!!!) on behind the music sounding like uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite.

Yeah we get it Lil John you used to get krunk (which is a word now ps) but pop rap is probably the most fickle music genre and compared to Talib, Common or Mos Def you were always bush league…so maybe the iced out krunk juice cup was a poor use of your short lived millions but that ’93 Huffy White Heat is almost as nice as the Ferrari you flanted on Cribs. I swear since MTV stopped playing videos they have begun destroying society, it’s the fall of the Roman Empire Sucka Free style.

If you think I’m wrong watch one episode of Cribs then Google search what some rappers said about Hurricane Katrina – act like it doesn’t make you cringe to see the shit they spend money on. Not to say I wouldn’t have the clue house with the piano from Batman Begins that opened a secret passage but still.

The short-term doesn’t look good either – there are very few outlets for good bands to be showcased, everything on MTV is either tabloid or reality TV driven and even networks like fuse are too high school centric – there are some radio stations out there but it’s like Patton Oswald says you have to get out on your own and find out what’s cool for yourself.

The worst part of the whole situation is that people are way too close-minded when it comes to music. You don’t have to like every kind of music but you have to at least understand why someone might. If you don’t like pop music you can’t be an indie douche and say anything on hit list radio crap even if you used to listen to it. That’s only going to lead to less people having any interest in the music you clam is good. Basically people should listen to “Admit it!” by Say Anything.

Luckily music is, like I said, a fickle thing. It is always changing; especially pop music and we could just as soon see metal as the new fad as we could with boy bands. Take a look at things right now, emo is hugely popular among high school kids, 5-8 years ago it was boy bands or rappers like Ja Rule.

Popular Music today is awful, but things are only made worse by smug indie douches, liking music that isn’t on hit list radio is great I fully support that and think it’s better than being a slave to what Ryan Seacreast says every week but don’t be a douche about it…didn’t you see the ‘Smug Alert’ South Park episode? I don’t want to have to go into San Francisco in a hazmat suit tethered to Butters to save you.

Tomorrow - more Reynolds inspired writing - Why the Dolphins are the 40-year-old virgins of the NFL.