Monthly Archives: April 2010

April 4, 2010

I’m So Ready For Baseball, I Don’t Even Care If It’s the Yankees vs. Red Sox

By mceezy

Here we go… Easter lunch is out of the way, so now the real holiday can begin – no disrespect to Jesus of course. Two of Major League Baseball’s top franchises will take the diamond tonight and kick of the 2010 season. Normally I’d be as interested in a Yankees-Red Sox affair as I would in a Spurs-Jazz snoozefest, but tonight, I’m so starved for baseball I can’t wait to see these guys in action. Aside from the whole Opening Night thing, there’s plenty of other storylines to keep me glued to the tube. Sure, it’s a rivalry game featuring the defending champions blah blah blah, but here is what has got me excited…

CC Sabathia vs. Josh Beckett – Forget great Opening Day matchups, this is about as good a matchup as you’ll see on any given day in baseball. Sabathia is a Bay Area product, so he’s got plenty of supporters at Doin Work. He’s also one of the preseason favorites for the AL Cy Young Award. While Beckett isn’t as high on the Cy Young list, he’s still one of the best pitchers in the game. He may not have the hardware that most pitchers covet, but I’m sure he wouldn’t trade his two World Series rings or his World Series MVP for anything. One might anticipate a pitcher’s duel tonight, but there’s so much firepower on the offensive side for both teams that there are sure to be some runs put on the board as well.

New Additions – Each team picked up one guy I’m looking forward to seeing make their debut tonight. The Yankees replaced Johnny Damon in center field with former Tiger, Curtis Granderson. Granderson is quietly emerging as an elite player in this league, and the Yankees coveting him only further cements that. If he can get his average back up closer to .300 this year, he’ll surely build on his first all-star berth last year with many more to come, since there’ll be no shortage of exposure playing the Big Apple. The Red Sox, on the other hand, tested my hatred of them by signing the legendary Marco Scutaro. Even if Scutaro spurned the A’s to sign with Boston, he can do absolutely nothing to ever stop me from being a fan.

John Lackey in a Boston Uniform – You know how there are certain things that make you cringe or gag at the sight of it? I’m willing to bet that John Lackey donning a Red Sox jersey is going to be one of those. As much as I dislike the Red Sox, there’s not really any players on the team that I hate, aside from Papelbon of course. I think Lackey is going to be that guy, and I look forward to it. I’m actually going to keep a trash can by the couch to start the game in case the first camera shot of Lackey makes me throw up. It could happen.

First Fantasy AB of the Year – I try to keep my fantasy nerdom to a minimum here on the blog, but I can’t lie…. When Granderson steps into the box to face Beckett in the first pitch of the season, my squad, Five Tool Academy, is going to have a monopoly on fantasy stats for the duration of the at-bat. Beckett returns to my team by way of the draft (7th rd) after helping HolyShirtsandPants secure third place in last year’s league. Granderson is a new addition after being selected in the 5th round as part of my five tool plan, complementing other power/speed combo players Matt Kemp, BJ Upton, and Adam Jones. The fantasy season won’t be won with one at bat, but it starts here.

6 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Sports

April 3, 2010

Easter, Be Thankful

By By

MVP? Yes. Finals? If no Bobcats.

LeBron James is the clear-cut favorite to win the 2009-2010 MVP award.  There’s even talks of a “unanimous” vote –

As much as I am pro-LeBron, I am not sold on Cleveland walking right into the 2010 NBA Finals.  That’s fool’s gold, and I’ve been down that road before, in fact, just last season.  Yes, the acquisition of Antawn Jamison definitely helps the cause, but we can’t just disregard Orlando as if they do not exist, and even Boston to a certain extent.

But, this post is not even about that.  Being that it’s Easter, I feel it is a time to be grateful for certain things.  Wait, or is that Thanksgiving?  Either way, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers need to send the Toronto Raptors a “Thank You” card.  Why you ask?  Simple, Toronto had a mini-melt down in the latter stages of March and let a hobbled Chicago Bulls team back into the playoff hunt.  More so, Toronto slipped into the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, and allowed the Charlotte Bobcats to move up to the seventh seed.  Why is that significant?  Does everyone remember what happened in the 2007 NBA Playoffs?  Only the greatest upset in NBA Playoff history, that’s what happened!

The Dallas Mavericks boasted the best record in the NBA in 2006-2007 (67-15) and the league’s MVP (Dirk), they were the odds on favorite to represent the West in the 2007 NBA Finals (along with San Antonio) but there was just one problem.  Those pesky Warriors.  Golden State owned the Mavericks that season, sweeping the season series 4-0, including a win on the Warriors 81st game of the season in which Dallas chose to rest their stars.  Big mistake.  We all know what ensued, no need to write about it, but here, a visual reminder:

Now here Cleveland sits, all indications point to an improved team from a season ago, with the best record in the NBA yet again, but – what is their record against the upstart Bobcats?  1-3 with their only win coming on Halloween last year, the first week of the season.  Being that I’m from San Francisco, I haven’t had an opportunity to actually watch any of those games, but the highlights on ESPN’s Sportscenter showed Cleveland’s inability to handle the match-up with Charlotte.  Sound familiar Dallas/Golden State fans.  Guess what?  Stephen Jackson is in the middle of all this again!

(Beware Charlotte fans, don’t invest in S-Jack.)

Anyway, as I said at the top of this post, it’s a time of the year to appreciate things, and the Cleveland Cavs needs to appreciate the fact that they currently won’t have to face the Charlotte Bobcats in the first round.  No monumental upset this time around.  Thank you Toronto.

9 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Sports

April 2, 2010

Doin Discounts: FREE Edition!

By mceezy

So you probably know by now that we not only love sports, but we also love passing along discounted tickets and merchandise to our readers. Well here’s one that might top them all. We’re not just offering discounted tickets, this time they’re FREE! That’s right, Doin Work has teamed up with the Sacramento River Cats to offer two free tickets to the Saturday, April 17th game against the Reno Aces. This is a great opportunity to check out some of the future stars of the Oakland Athletics and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Top prospects Chris Carter and Michael Taylor are among the players expected to begin the season in AAA. If you hail from the Sacramento area, don’t miss out on this chance to score two $15-20 seats for free. Hell, even if you live a couple hours away, what better reason to take a road trip to the capital of California for some baseball? There’s plenty of lodging options near the stadium, including dirt cheap motels that won’t hurt the budget. No word on whether prostitutes are included in the room rate, but either way it’s worth checking out. Here’s the official info….

The River Cats management has given me a limited number to tickets to give away to my friends—and complete strangers—to introduce the River Cats to people who didn’t attend a game last year. The tickets are for the 7:05 p.m. game against the Reno Aces on Saturday, April 17. The game will be followed by a terrific fireworks show.

To get your two complimentary tickets, please click here, and enter the password: matchr . This offer is good through April 16th. Like death and taxes, the small fees cannot be avoided. If you know of others who haven’t been to Raley Field lately to see the River Cats, please feel free to forward this offer to them.

Please remember: A limited number of tickets—two per order—are available, first-come-first-serve, to people who are new to the River Cats and Raley Field.

Enjoy the game!

I checked it out, and the total fees come out to $4.

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April 2, 2010

Golden Stick Nor Cal Spring Training Underway

By mceezy

In case you missed the last post, Golden Stick Wiffleball is expanding into Northern California this year. The first preseason tournament was held last weekend in Davis, CA. Check out the highlights if you missed it….

Here’s the good news…. GSWL is hosting another tournament on May 15th in the East Bay. There’s a couple spots left at the time of posting, so email sylvie@wifflebawl.com for more information. This might be the last chance to get some games in before league play starts!

For more information about the league, visit www.wifflebawl.com

3 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Sports

April 2, 2010

Marathon Runner Hit By Train

By chappy81

I really can’t tell if this guys eye’s were open or not, but you’d hope he’d hear that loud ass ringing from the oncoming train… Guess not!

7 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Comedy

April 1, 2010

Things to Look Forward to in the 2010 MLB Season

By chappy81

Well, Mceezy did his tribute to the excitement of the upcoming baseball season, and I felt it was only fitting that I should write about sine if the storylines that will intrigue me during the 2010 season. Now that the teams have rounded third base in spring training, they are heading back home to the “real parks” for the last few preseason games. There’s a lot to look forward to that isn’t dealing with the Yankees and Red Sox (If you’re a hater like me), so here are ten things I want to watch develop.

Tim Lincecum – Can he win back to back to back Cy Young awards? If he stays healthy, I don’t see why not. He’d probably also solidify himself as one of the most dominating pitchers of all time (or at least this era) joining Gregg Maddux and Randy Johnson as the only other two pitchers to accomplish that feat. Thankfully Cy Young voters have gone away from counting wins as one of the biggest factors in handing the award out. It makes it much more likely, since he doesn’t get much help from the unfriendly Giants offense. The problem this time around is he will have to contend with Doc Halladay! Continue reading

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April 1, 2010

McGwire Ruins Another Sluggers Career

By chappy81

It was reported the Mark McGwire sold PED’s to Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols today. McGwire’s admission over the offseason was only a front, so he could openly sell them to players.

Big Mac stated, “He just had shoulder surgery, and I wanted to help him make sure he was healthy when the season started. You know just like how I used them, only to get healthy faster when I was hurt.”

Fairly shocking news since Pujols was the last hope we had of a big slugger not using steroids in the steroid era. Tony Larussa claimed he didn’t know about the alleged HGH hook up, and admitted that he already was regretting letting Mark be their hitting instructor. Larussa thought the clubhouse was clean, and that Mark would be an advocate of getting rid of steroids opposed to bringing them in. Continue reading

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Sports