Monday, September 29, 2008

What I Learned This Past Weekend...

I am a baseball genius.

Ok, not quite. However, I did predict that the Rays would win the East and the Red Sox would take the wild card. That more than counters the blatant homerism of my Indians pick (however they ended the season at .500 and give me hope for next year). Also in my favor was the, now annual, Phillies NL East championship at the expense of the Mets. And the Brewers made the playoffs. So, all in all, I know my baseball.

Speaking of which, I'd like to congratulate the New York Mets for another great late season meltdown. It is incredible how this can happen to one team two years in a row. Last year it could be excused by claiming that the Mets were young and inexperienced in those situations. That argument barely holds any water because of the vetern presence the Mets have. This year, there is really no excuse.

The team added Cy Young pitcher Johan Santana (who, by the way, pitched a hell of a game to keep the Mets in the race this past weekend) but still ended up in the same place as last year. The only logical conclusion is that the team is filled with a bunch of talented players who don't know how to win. There is a losing culture on the Mets and the only ways to relieve that is to 1) get a manager with some balls and 2) somehow find a back end to that bullpen.

And what another exciting finish to the season. Last year we had the Rockies win a ridiculous amount of games in September and August to force a playoff and win the division. This year we have the White Sox and Twins tied at the top of the AL Central. The White Sox play the Tiggies in a makeup game tonight and, if they win, they get to play the Twins tomorrow in a one game playoff. Exciting stuff!

The Browns are fucked.

The Browns beat the Bengals yesterday in, what will probably be, the shittiest game of the season. It was terribly executed by both teams and the Bengals probably would have won if Carson Palmer were playing. But those points are besides the point. This game was the worst case scenario for the Browns because Derek Anderson stayed in the game and the won. He did just enough to secure his starting job for another week but really didn't allay any fears of his shitiness. His accuracy was terrible, threw an interception, and only managed to lead the team to 20 points on one of the worst defenses in the league. Romeo kept giving him chances to succeed when any other coach (ahem, Bill Cowher) would probably have yanked his ass after the first half in favor of Brady Quinn.

Lets face it, Derek Anderson is a bust. He fell apart in the last few games of the season when teams started paying attention to the Browns and figured out that he stares down receivers and has terrible throwing accuracy. But now he played just well enough to guarantee shittiness for another two weeks. It might have been better if he completely tanked and Quinn was put in before the bye week so he could have extra prep time and snaps before the Giants lay a beating on the Browns in two Mondays. But now Anderson will get eaten up by the Giants and Romeo will be forced to play Quinn without the benefit of a bye week and just in time to get gang raped by the Giants defensive line. Not to mention that the schedule from now on is dead man walking.

Like I said, fucked.

Sarah Palin is about 1/10 as smart as I had initially projected.

I apologize for having to imbue this sports blog with politics, but this is just too good. If anyone can read this excerpt from her interview with Katie Couric and understand what the fuck this lady is saying, you are either 1) way smarter than me or 2) paradoxically, just as retarded as Governor Palin:

COURIC: Why isn't it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money into the economy instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

PALIN: That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the—it's got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we've got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.

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