Chaggy's Blog

Quinnipiac Lax earning honors, but coming up short in NEC Playoffs

2007-04-28T22:47:00.000-04:00

April 28th, 2007
‘Cats can’t climb the Mount
John Chagaris

EMMITSBURG, Maryland — Two Long Islanders who were a key component to the Bobcats making their fourth straight NEC Tournament bid were rewarded with All-NEC Second Team honors. Freshmen midfielder Brittany Hauser from East Northport, NY who also won national honors being named National Rookie of the Week, and junior defender Jamie Zeitler of West Islip, NY. Hauser became the second freshman in Bobcats history to be named to an All-NEC team, Tiffany Manzi was named to the All-NEC First team last season.

Unfortunately for the Bobcats these were the only awards the team took home from Mount Saint Mary’s, as they were eliminated by the Mount Friday afternoon 13-8.

The Bobcats started early when Tiffany Manzi scored her 23rd goal of the season just over two and a half minutes into the game to give the Bobcats the 1-0 lead. The Mountaineers struck right back with three goals, including Casey Paris’ 42nd goal of the season. Bobcat’s Banach (12) and Fiore (27) each hit a marker to tie the game at 3 with 6:23 to go in the first, as close as the Bobcats would come to the Mountaineers.

Over the next 24 minutes, the Quinnipiac defense went limp, allowing 8 unanswered goals, 6 of which were unassisted, 3 of which from Kathleen Rossetti (17). With the Bobcats down 11-3 and just over ten minutes to go the Bobcats found their defense which sparked their offense, Lyndsey Banach scored, just over a minute later Manzi scored on a free position shot, 7 seconds later Kaitlyn Vennard scored to cut the lead to 11-6.

Over a minute later, Hannah Nelson made a save, cleared it right to Janelle Lopez who found Manzi for her third goal of the game, a Lyndsey Banach goal 2 and a half minutes later cut the lead to 11-8. The deficit was just too much for the Bobcats who had trouble getting shots on goal, Mount Saint Mary’s took more shots in the second half (22) than the Bobcats took the entire game (19). Even facing all those shots, Hannah Nelson saved 14 of the shots, almost 3 times more than her counterpart Jane Karger who made 5 the entire game.

The Mountaineers would score two goals, including one with 8 seconds remaining to take the game 13-8 and advanced to face Monmouth in the NEC Championship game on Sunday.

The Bobcats have a very bright future being led by Freshmen Brittany Hauser. While Quinnipiac is losing talent in Kara Cornelius, Kristen McCarthy, Sophia Pantelides, and Meghan Turner, they are an extremely young team who will look to make the NEC Tournament for the fifth straight year next year, and with Freshman Hauser and leading scorers Junior Tiffany Manzi, Nicole Fiore and with a healthy Ashley Valentine all returning it should be a very fun season next spring.

Despite loss, Quinnipiac advances into NEC Playoffs

2007-04-21T07:17:00.000-04:00

Bobcats back in
John Chagaris

West Long Branch, NJ - It’s been a season of highs and lows, a season of incredible defense, and a season where Coach Caro wondered where the defense is. In recent history, beginning with the Bobcats game against CCSU on March 23rd, the Bobcats began a trend where they struggled in the first half but were lights out in the second half. A trend that ended Friday afternoon at Monmouth University.

After dropping 3 of their last four NEC Conference games, the mission was simple, win and gain a second seed in the North East Conference, or with a loss Quinnipiac could drop out of the NEC Tournament all together. The Bobcats took to the field against the Monmouth Hawks, the only team in the Northeast Conference the Bobcats have never defeated in their ten year run in the NEC. After falling to Mount Saint Mary’s last week, Monmouth was looking for revenge against the Bobcats as the Hawks have never in their programs history lost two straight NEC contests. Just under three minutes into the game, Lyndsay Banach got the game going for the Bobcats, with her 9th goal of the season the Bobcats took a 1-0 lead, which was all the momentum the Bobcats would get, within the next 9 minutes the Monmouth Hawks scored three to take a 3-1 lead. Meghan and Katie Latonick would gel together to give Megan her 7th goal of the year, to cut the lead to 3-2 but that is as close as the Bobcats would get.

3 Minutes later and goals by Megas Brennan, on a Free position shot, Megan Nutter, Ashley Waldman on a free position shot, Carolyn Baveta and then once again by Megan Brennan gave the Hawks an insurmountable 8-2 lead. Banach would later score a second goal for the Bobcats, and Erin Coffey put in two but it just wasn’t enough as the Hawks won 17-7.

With a Mount Saint Mary’s win on Friday over Robert Morris, Quinnipiac has clinched their fourth straight trip to the NEC Championships which begins on Friday, April 27th from Emmitsburg, Maryland on the campus of Mount Saint Mary’s. Depending on the outcomes of this weekends games, the Bobcats will either be the third seed, with a Sacred Heart loss and a Robert Morris/Long Island win, or a fourth seed with a Sacred Heart win, as Sacred Heart owns the tie breaker. A third seed will introduce a rematch against Monmouth University, while a fourth seed would be against undefeated Mount Saint Mary’s.

The Bobcats enter the NEC Tournament for the fourth straight year, fifth overall, and are looking for their first trip in school’s history to the NEC Championship game after falling to Sacred Heart last year and Monmouth the two previous seasons, while the Bobcats are still searching for that illusive second seed or higher in the NEC Tournament, their goal now is their first NEC Tournament win.

Valentine takes home NEC Honor

2007-04-02T07:16:00.000-04:00

Ashley Valentine takes home NEC Player of the week
John Chagaris
April 2nd, 2007

HAMDEN - The awards continue to fall in Quinnipiac’s favor as the Northeast Conference has announced sophomore Ashley Valentine was named Northeast Conference Player of the Week, the second Quinnipiac player to be named within the last three weeks: Tiffany Manzi won on April 19th. Valentine secured the honor with two outstanding performances this past weekend against Saint Francis PA and Robert Morris. Against Robert Morris, Valentine tied her career high when she had five points, including four goals. She led the Lady Bobcats with capturing 3 ground balls and causing three turnovers against Robert Morris. Valentine is the sixth Bobcat to earn NEC honors this season; Erin Coffey was named NEC Defensive player of the Week on March 5th, Kelly Bruneau was NEC Rookie of the Week on March 12th, the aforementioned Tiffany Manzi was NEC Player of the Week and Katie Latonic was NEC Rookie of the Week on March 19th, Brittany Hauser was named NEC Rookie of the Week last week.

Nelson Magic

2007-04-01T07:15:00.000-04:00

Hannah Nelson and Ashley Valentine lead Bobcats to 12-7 win
John Chagaris
April 1st, 2007

MOON TOWNSHIP, PA — The weather may have been raining, but it was not dogs that were falling but many Bobcat goals, and on the flip side, goals were being stopped with ease by freshman phenom Hannah Nelson. Quinnipiac defeated Robert Morris 12-7, and in the process Hannah Nelson set the Quinnipiac rookie record for women’s lacrosse by winning her sixth game between the pipes. With the victory Quinnipiac also set two school records: best start in NEC play extending their NEC record to 4-0, and winning its fourth consecutive game.

Just over a minute into the game, Ashley Valetine tallied her 17th goal. Five different Bobcats earned a point before Robert Morris could score, Katy Delagi, Tiffany Manzi, Brittany Hauser and Nicole Flore the other four. Quinnipiac would score 10 times in the first half while Nelson stopped 9 of the 14 shots against her in the first half. Quinnipiac would never trail in this one.

When all was said and done Ashley Valentine scored 4 goals and recorded 5 points, Nicole Fiore had 5 points (2 G 3A) Katy Delagi had 3 points (2 G 1 A) and Meghan Latonic, National Rookie of the week Brittany Hauser, Katie Latonic and Tiffany Manzi all came away with a goal apiece. Quinnipiac improves their record to 6-3, 4-0 in the NEC.

Lady bobcat picks up National Lacrosse Honor

2007-03-29T07:15:00.000-04:00

Freshman Hauser named National Rookie of the Week
John Chagaris
March 28, 2007

HAMDEN, CT – After losing two tough road games the Bobcats answered in style with two key wins, one against CCSU and one again LIU, coach Caro needed players to step up, and Freshman Brittany Hauser was one of the ones who stepped it up. Brittany Hauser has earned National Rookie of the Week honors from Womenslacrosse.com, which is the second such rookie award for Hauser this week. Hauser had previously earned NEC Rookie of the Week honors.

Caro needed her players to step up and it was actually Hauser’s offense that helped the Bobcats on a two game winning streak, as she was involved on both game winning situations, and on the defensive side Hauser held her direct opponent scoreless in both games while gaining six draw controls and two ground balls. Hauser’s defense helped as Quinnipiac only allowed one second half goal against CCSU last Friday.

During her game during the Bobcats NEC home opener against LIU, Hauser had a career high three assists including two key assists feeding Tiffany Manzi and Jannelle Lopez. Hauser also scored a goal to set another career high with four points.

The women’s lacrosse team is on a road trip this weekend, traveling to Saint Francis PA and Robert Morris.

Bobcat Claws are out

2007-03-23T07:13:00.000-04:00

Quinnipiac Women’s Lax over CCSU 9-6
John Chagaris
March 23, 2007

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. - The dates have changed, the venue has changed, the opponent has changed, and so has the play of the Quinnipiac Women’s Lacrosse team, as the Quinnipiac Bobcats traveled to face the Blue Devils of Central Conn. State University. Just 5 days removed from losing 16-3 against Harvard the Bobcats had a chip on their shoulder and it all began with the outstanding goalkeeping of Hannah Nelson and the Quinnipiac defense. After Sunday’s loss against Harvard Head Coach Danie Caro said “We just didn’t come to play today. We’re going to need to figure out what improvements need to be made before Friday’s game.” Those improvements came from the defense.

The heart and soul of a team comes from the goalie, Caro needed Freshman Redshirt Hannah Nelson to step up and put the Harvard game behind her, and she did just that., making six saves and only allowing one goal in the second half.

“Hannah Nelson came up big for us with some key saves in the second half,” said head coach Danie Caro.

Quinnipiac entered the second half down 5-3 and credit can be given to assistant coach Christy Smallman who fired up the team during halftime.

“Issues of coming out slow in the first half were not issued that had to deal with skill at all,” said Coach Smallman, “They had to do with getting fired up, playing with heart and giving 110 percent. We really needed to light the fire in the second half.”

The Bobcats responded, Tiffany Mansi scored just over two minutes into the half and Nicole Fiore tied the game on her tenth goal of the season with 20:28 to go in the game, the goal was assisted by birthday girl Katie Latonick who scored her first goal of the season to round up the 4-0 run giving Quinnipiac a 7-5 lead, a lead they would not give up.

Tiffany Mansi had four points and Nicole Fiore netted a hat trick as the Women collect their first NEC win of the season. The Bobcats will look to start their NEC Season 2-0 as they take on LIU Sunday at noon at home.

Water, Water, Water, we're under WATER

2006-05-17T09:20:00.000-04:00

I will first go on record saying that we have too much water and Justin you have no idea how happy I am that Houston doesn't want us, becuase Texas is the last place we want to go.

Quick post today

2006-04-19T20:11:00.000-04:00

First happy birthday to my wife Maria Sharapova-Chagaris, and my lovely mother. Now a quick rant on 1-800flowers.com; please tell me what's wrong here; when you order this and you get this

anybody else see something wrong here?

More to March Madness than just men's basketball

2006-04-12T08:39:00.000-04:00

Just reposting a copy of my article that was in the Chronicle today; so for the folks who do not receive the chronicle they can read the column.

When one thinks of March Madness, even before the millions of brackets are filled out, fans instantly focus on the men's NCAA basketball championship, but that isn't the only tournament going on. Three weeks ago for Duke vs. LSU, CBS had an 8.5 rating that got as high as 9.7 in the 9 p.m. hour, which means 14-15% of televisions turned on watched CBS for men's basketball.

Everybody either fills out a bracket or knows someone who does, but how many people fill out a bracket for the women's championship or the college hockey championship?

The problem is the networks just do not pay enough attention to these other championships or leagues. Every night of the week during the college basketball season, sports fans can always see a men's game.

However, a women's game or hockey game is very hard to find. If fans do not have NESN, YES, MSG, ESPNU or CSTV then they will almost never see a college hockey game.

Fans turned to MSG for the Quinnipiac women's basketball championship game in the NEC. I had to work, and since I have MSG at my apartment, I TiVoed the game and watched it when I got home. Without the game being on TV, I would have to wait to hear what happened during the game and miss details.

During the college hockey championships, Cornell and Wisconsin went into three overtimes and yet nobody saw the game. Fans cannot be blamed. If fans do not know the product or know that it is on, why would they watch?

The problem only begins with women's basketball and men's hockey. What about the other sports such as lacrosse, volleyball and rugby? It seems if it isn't college football or men's basketball, the public does not care.

Networks need to televise more of these games and give people more ways to access them. Fans often wonder how Quinnipiac can have an incredible women's program and not have fans attend.

When people are home they watch men's basketball because it's on TV while a women's game might be buried on ESPN2. One could also argue the championship games are on the ESPN family of networks, but only the biggest ones are televised live outside of ESPNU, which only a select group of people have access to.

Fox Sports is starting to break the mold with four regions for college sports on its new college sports channels. While it is a start, it cannot end there. The athletes in hockey work just as hard if not harder than the men's basketball players and it is time to allow them equal television time.

The Bulldogs do their business and come back into the house ready for the next round

2006-03-18T23:36:00.000-05:00

Bulldogs advance
By John Chagaris
March 18, 2006

America's team handed Mike Davis his ticket home to clear out his office and leave Indiana forever as the Gonzaga Bulldogs defeated Indiana 90-80. The bigger story was Adam Morrison was ice cold only scoring 14 points.

J.P. Batista took the team on his back with Morrison cold by scoring 14 points and having 9 rebounds, seven of them on the defensive end, while creating three steals and a blocked shot that is still being talked about.

"It's not going to be my night every night," said a cheerful Morrison. "We [can] still survive and win."

It certainly was not his night as his first two point basket came with 5:05 left in the first half, his only point before that came on his second free throw after blotching the first one. J.P. Batista began the game by making a jump shot and then just 61 seconds later makes a layup to give the Bulldogs a 5-2 lead. Batista had 6 of his teams first 7 points.

"People [teams] commit so many resources to stopping Adam [Morrison] that we try to play off that," explains Bulldogs head coach Mark Few. "If you really watched up, you can see that he's done a nice job of it, and the group has done a nice job of it."

Gonzaga either led or was tied for Thirty-nine minutes thirty-six seconds, keep inmind a college game is only forty minutes. Indiana's only lead came with 13 minutes remaining in the first half as Earl Calloway nailed a three pointer to give the Hoosiers a 10-9 lead, a lead that Erroll Knight would errase by hitting two free throws after he was fouled by Robert Vaden.

Mike Davis did give the BUlldogs some much needed dap, "they were a three seed and they probably should have been a one seed. They were the best three seed in the tournament for sure."

After Knight's free throws, the Bulldogs never trailed nor did the Hoosiers get closer than two points. They got to two points in the first quarter of the second half when Vaden hit another three pointer to cut the lead to 42-40, which sparked a Gonzaga 6-0 run to be matched by a Hoosiers 6-0 run ended by a three pointer by A.J. Ratliff. From there the closest they would get was three after a three pointer by, you guessed it Robert Vaden.

The only thing that keeped this game from being a blow out was the three pointers by Vaden and his teammates, hitting an amazing 13 in the second half, while only scoring 10 points inside the three point arc.

AFter the game Mike Davis was asked if he was upset this was his last game at Indiana. "My first thought was, I was just proud of the boys. Don't be sad for me. You should be happy for me because I had a great opportunity to coach one of the greatest schools in college basketball."

With less than 20 seconds left in the game, Davis pulled senior guard Marshall Strickland and the two hugged and Marshall burried his head into Davis' shoulder.

After the game, Sttickland and Robet Vaden had tearful goodbyes for their coach.

"[After losing my father last summer] He's like a father to me. I love him with all my heart. I'm sure he loves me forever. You've just got to move on," said Vaden.

"He helped me grow up. He tested me and really brought a lot of great things out in me," said Strickland.

Gonzaga moves on to face the number two seed UCLA Bruins on Thursday.

The "Bald" Eagles

2006-03-18T21:03:00.000-05:00

Keep flying high
By John Chagaris
March 18, 2006

SALT LAKE CITY -- It proved to be the wake up call that the Eagles needed, no more hitting the snooze button and waiting for two overtimes to wake up and put away their foe. And the "Bald" Eagles came to play. Four men in double figures, Hinnant with 10, Rice with 14, Dudley with 20 and then the MVP of the game Smith with 22 points, 16 rebounds, and four assists.

The Montana Grizzlies had their chances, being down by two going into halftime but it could and should have been more. Jared Dudley with time running out misses a layup, no problem Craig Smith gets the rebound and misses a layup, no problem we'll get the ball to Sean Williams who will also miss the layup.

After halftime it was a different ball game. Jared Dudley comes out and nails a three pointer, after a dunk by Momtana, Boston College went on an 11-3 run, where the game was just about over. The score looks lopsided but one needs to keep inmind that the Eagles failed to score after Tyrese Rice made a layup with 3:51 remaining in the game. Slouches weren't in eather, Dudley was still in, Craig Smith was still in and Sean Williams was still in.

When it was all said and done Boston College ended their streak of six straight exits within the first two rounds, entering the Sweet Sixteen in the first time in 12 years.

"You've got to have [that] killer instinct," said Eagle Jared Dudley, "For the first tiem al year, we did that. You can't trade baskets, especially at this time because that's when you get beat."

The first half through had the Eagles hitting the snooze alarm and would have went into the half down if Craig Smith did not go on an 8-0 to get the Eagles back into the game.

"We've got guys who can do [a] lot of different things," said Smith.

The Eagles did catch heat for leaving their starters in late into the game when the scoreboard already dictated a winner. As the Eagles were walking toward their lockerroom Tyrese Rice threw his armbands into the crowd and the fan quickly threw it back as if he was playing hot potato.

"I thought it was funny because it wasn't the first time that's happened to me. We're moving on and they're going home and that's all that madders," Rice said. "Everywhere we go the crowd is always against us because everybody wants to see the upset."

The Eagles will be watching tomorrow as they face the winner of Villanova v. Arizona.

Montana v. Nevada

2006-03-17T00:13:00.001-05:00

Filled with unfulfilled expectations.
By John Chagaris, College AP
March 17, 2006

SALT LAKE CITY -- With the exception of 1988 and in the year 2000, during the last 21 years a number twelve seed has upset a number five seed, Nevada hoped it would not be them. To contradict that history factoid, Montana had not won a NCAA Tournament game in Men's basketball since 1975. We now present the 21 year history curse v. the 31 year old curse, but as Sox fans know curses were meant to be broken.

A team concept propelled Montana as four different players scored over 15 points. Freshman forward Jordan Hasquet scored 16 points, Sophomore forward Andrew Strait scored a team leading 22, Senior guard Kevin Criswell scored 18 and senior guard Virgil Matthews scored 20. While the Wolf Pack depended on sophomore guard Marcelus Kemp and junior forward Nick Fazekas who scored 34 and 24 respectfully. And while the team concept defeated the two man tango, the team acted like they won a regular season contest.

"We're not a team that goes out and celebrates," said guard Kevin Criswell," hoots and hahs. But there was a lot of emotion in the locker room."

Senior guard Virgil Matthews, took it as in insult when Nevada said yesturday they did not have a chance to study a lot of film and knew little about the Grizzleies.

"I bet they'd go watch film more if they had to do it again," proclaimed a very joyous Matthews.

Montana was red hot in the second half going 19 for 23 while making 23 of 27 free throws in the game. the Montana Grizzlies advance to face The Boston College Eagles on Saturday.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Montana v. Nevada

2006-03-17T00:13:00.000-05:00

March Madness begins

2006-03-16T18:15:00.000-05:00

With a BANG
By John Chagaris, College AP
March 16, 2006

SALT LAKE CITY -- When a number four seed and a number thirteen seed meet in the first round of the NCAA Men's basketball tournament meet, most would not figure on a good game. When the teams in question are Boston College and Pacific, nobody would figure on a good game, well maybe a good game but not a close game.

Clutch Free Throws, key turnovers, scoring streaks a plenty, add that with two overtime periods and the game of the tournament is created.

"People look forward to having the underdog come up and win," said Eagles guard Louis Hinnant, "fortunately, we didn't allow that to happen."

For 45 minutes the game could have gone either way as The Eagles and the Tigers both had leads they could not hole on to, the Tigers actually had a six point lead in the first overtime. With 4.3 seconds remaining in the first overtime, the ball was handed to Senior Craig Smith, who was fouled and had to hit two free throws to send it into a second overtime. The career 66 percent shooter nailed both to send the game into a second overtime.

"I thought this was the first game all year we deserved to win and didn't," claimed Bob Thomason the coach of Pacific.

But how did the game go into overtime? Christian Maraker of the Pacific Tigers nailed a clutch three pointer as time was winding down in regulation to tie the game at 65. That ended a rally by Pacific to climb out of a 13 point hole.

"I thought we have a veteran club and we made a very big mistake there," Eagles headman Al Skinner said, "we were fortunate to overcome that [shot]."

In the second overtime the Eagles decided to end their migration as Tyrese Rice threw up an alley-oop to Sean William, then next position nailed a three pointer.

"We were fortunate to have a number of individuals on this team who want the ball," said Skinner, "and when they get the ball in their area, they're going to take it."

Pacific went cold at the wrong time, they did not score until there was only 1:45 left in the second overtime after the Eagles began their 9-0 run. What also did not help Pacific was the Eagles held Christian Maraker scoreless in both overtimes, Maraker did have a shot roll in and out in the second overtime. The Eagles advanced to play the winner of the Montana vs. Nevada game.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Just when we think we're out

2006-03-16T01:40:00.000-05:00

Just when we think we're out, it's like the mob
By John Chagaris, College AP
March 17, 2006

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The roller coaster ride continues and the only team the United States has to thank is Korea. No they cannot take credit for assuring themselves a chance to advance in the World Baseball Classic.

"I'll tell you what, I don't know that I've ever been as nervous watching a baseball game as I was in this one," mentioned Buck Martinez, manager of Team USA.

Buck seems to be the only person who has the fire and energy that has lacked from Team USA, Red Bull should have invested it's money in Team USA instead of trying to buy every MLS team that would listen to them. But Martinez was not done.

"It's a big relief, obviously. We were all very anxious for this game tonight. Japan is a very good baseball team."

It is a big relief but Deja Vu takes place and tonight Team USA has to face Team Mexico for the right to advance, just last week The United States had to beat 2-0 to advance into the second round.

Nearly 40,000 fans cheered loudly for the Korean team, even going to the extent of booing Seattle superstar Ichiro each time he made a play or came to bat. Blue and White Thundersticks could be seen all around Angle Stadium and left nobody wondering who the crowd was pulling for.

Chan Ho Park was fantastic from the mound, going five innings, striking out three men, walking nobody and only giving up four hits. 50 out of his 64 pitches were strikes.

Korea advances to the Semifinals and Finals, held in San Diego, California at Petco Park. The Dominican Republic will face Cuba on Saturday at noon and Korea will face either The United States, Japan, or Mexico at 4:30.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Another checked item on his list

2006-02-08T09:05:00.000-05:00

Duke Survives, barely
By John Chagaris, College AP
February 8, 2006

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (Hamden, CT) -- People said it couldn't be done there as the Tar Heels feathered him each time at home. Fans were convinced that he could not do it in their house, as he couldn't the last three years. And he only shoots 37 percent against us, so UNC should not be worried right? Wrong.

J.J. Redick last night ended his UNC jinx and helped propel Duke to an 87-83 victory, a game that never should have been that close. Up 40-35 at halftime, Duke came out to start the second half on fire, going on a 12-0 run. How did coach Roy Williams respond, well yank all five guys and put a guy who normaly does not play in Mike Copeland, joining him was Quentin Thomas, Marcus Ginyard, Danny Green and Byron Sanders. Thomas came into the game and was a house of fire, driving down the court and then down the lane to score to give UNC their first points of the half. A few more baskets later and Williams sends his starters back in and a 12-0 UNC run is established.

"They came back and when we lost the lead, I think we showed the spirit that I've sensed in this team throughout the year," Coach K commented, "we just have a good spirit that we're going to win. We kept our poise and hit some big shots."

One Duke player was quoted as saying, "We knew they were going to make a comeback, I don't even think we let up." One would think a team let up when they were leading at a time by 17 and allow the other team to come back.

But then, entering stage left, is the man who never plays well at The Dean Smith Center, the man who is named J.J. Redick. J.J. went on a scoring spree in the second half, scoring 22 points. In the game he set a new career record for steels in a game with four, and he went coast to coach for three uncontested layups off of the steals.

"It's very satisfying to win the ballgame," JJ said, "I guess I'm leaving here 2-2 at the Dean Dome, which is not bad. To go out with a win as a senior, it feels good."

And it should feel good, that finally the curse of UNC is off of your back, five three pointers, 12 for 22 shooting on the night. Duke now improves to 10-0 in the ACC, 22-1 over all. Duke moves on to Maryland to take on the Terrapins on Saturday.

What Car are you?

2006-02-03T10:15:00.000-05:00

Don't worry a real post will be coming this weekend with my Super Bowl recap, also I don't know why it didn't post but I had a column on the Duke v. BC game, what a game, the energy was incredible at BC.

I'm a Honda S2000!

You live on the edge, and you live for the adrenaline rush. You don't need luxuries, snob appeal, or superfluous gadgets. You put your top down, get your motor revving, and take all the curves that life throws at you at full speed. So what if you spin out occasionally?

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Chags and Zags

2005-11-28T09:37:00.000-05:00

Chags and Zags
By John Chagaris, College AP
November 28, 2005

Thanksgiving, is a time when friends families get together to relax, eat, and get together for the first time in a long time. You eat, then relax and let the turkey put you to sleep, or is that the Lion's game? Oh and a log was finally put on the hot stove season.

A huge Chag goes out to the Boston Red Sox for being on of the first to make a move. One person who we cannot forget through is Theo, without him rebuilding the farm system then we wouldn't have had the players to make this trade. Lowell is a nice addition at third base because he is a gold glover, he won't give you the average that Mueller gave you but defense wins championships. Josh is a young starter who the Sox needed, instead of going older like Baked Potato with Feet aka David Wells the Sox finally decided to go younger. I was able to predict correctly that Wells would be injured by May first so I predict that Josh will be able to survive the blisters and go a full season for the Sox. And the sox also got a good quality reliever, something that was a problem at times this season for the Sox.

Now a huge Zag goes out to Manny Ramirez, but what else do we expect from a man who continues to let us know that he is just Manny being Manny. Every off season it is the same story, he wants to be traded and why should this off season have been any different. Manny asking to be traded is almost as big of a surprise as Michelle Wie going pro. Manny, be thankful that you are 10/5 and that I am not the general manager because I would love to send you to a team like the Tigers with a team that isn't that great and fans who do not fill the park up every night of the year like is done in Beantown.

Also a huge Chag goes out to General Managers by Committee is working out a lot better than the Sox failure a few years ago with Bullpen by committee or as Bob Ryan liked to call it bull$%^& by committee.

We now cruise over to the NBA where a Zag is coming the way of Ron Artest. During a recent game Ron actually shaved "Tru Warrior" into the back of his head, the name of his record label. Ron for the love of God, nobody cares about your record label and you should be happy that you were allowed back into the NBA> I can see the newest NBA Dress Code change, no carving names into back of head.

I now am going to do something that I have never done and hopefully will never do again, a Zag to the New England Patriots. First Tom Brady you have a quarterback rating of 42.5. But one of those INTs could have been reversed if Bill would have thrown a challenge flag. Bill let me teach you something, those red flags are used when a play happens with an incorrect call. Such as when a defender traps the ball and it is ruled an interception. We are now seeing how much Weis and Romeo ment to this team.

Staying with football I don't know if I can give this a Chag or a Zag so you guys have to decide for yourselves. Michael Irvin was arrested yesturday for an outstanding warrent for a speeding ticket but that isn't the issue. Police found a pipe in his back seas which Irvin claims is form a friend who he is trying to help sober up. If this is true then one of the biggest Chags needs to go his way but Godforbid this is false Michael you will get one of the biggest Zags plue ESPN should fire you.

And this story was just too funny not to post; from Ben Maller.com;

A sophomore member of Texas A&M University's Parsons Mounted Cavalry was charged Friday with throwing horse feces onto members of the University of Texas band before the A&M-UT football game, according to the BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION EAGLE.

John Richmond Sullivan, 20, was seen by a University Police Department lieutenant throwing a shovel full of horse feces onto band members at Kyle Field at about 10 a.m. Friday, according to an officer's affidavit.

UT band director Robert Carnochan told police that he and the band members did not want to press criminal charges, though they did want Texas A&M to discipline Sullivan, the court documents state.

Sullivan was arrested and charged with criminal mischief because the feces had to be removed by Texas A&M personnel, causing "substantial inconvenience and a pecuniary loss of $50 or more," according to the affidavit. He was released from the Brazos County Jail on Friday afternoon after posting $2,000 bail.

Finally a Zag goes to Giants kicker Jay Feely. Jay you went on ESPN's Cold Pizza to "attack" Skip Bayless because he said that kickers have no part in a football game, well he was right as you had three could them one, two, three chances to kick a game winning field goal against the Seahawks and you missed all three times. One would think that after Barber ran the ball on that final drive that the Giants were destined to win the game, well not if Jay had anything to do with it.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

DAMN BLOGGER

2005-11-28T09:32:00.000-05:00

I had a nice long column with a Chag and Zags feel and it was deleted, if I have time tonight I'll redo it.

They've got the beat and in a Knick of time

2005-11-03T10:16:00.000-05:00

Celtic Beat
By John Chagaris, College AP
November 3, 2005

When hearing a score of 114-100 one would instantly believe this game could not have possibly gone into overtime, well the Celtics and Knicks did, do the anger of Coach Brown.

Midway through the second quarter trouble started for the Celtics, they went down by 8 midway though the quarter and Paul Pierce could not hit a free throw to save his life; twice in the game going 0-2, but that was a minor hickup as Pierce picked it up going 18-24 in the game from the Charity Stripe.

The story of the night was not that Paul had 30 points because that is expected of the Celtic guard; the true story was Ricky Davis, now starting and not having to play 6-man, scored 27 points. I'll let that sink in for a minute; yes the same Ricky Davis who only averaged 32.9 minutes a game last year and only averaged 16 points played for 45 minutes yesturday and was lights out.

But even that wasn't the main story of the night; that goes to Delonte West; who missed a majority of the 2004-2005 season with a broken right hand, did I mention that he is a southpaw. Delante was huge playing 41 minutes last night, having 9 assists, 4 blocks, 3 steals and 14 points.

"That's what makes Delonte a good player," Celtics coach Rivers said. "He does make a lot of little plays, the blocked shots, the loose balls, getting the deflections."

Doc, Delante wasn't good last night, he was great. Not being like Walker or Pierce and when he had the ball in overtime passed it to Ricky Davis who nailed a 3-pointer in a 9-0 Celtics overtime run. Ricky Davis scored 9 of his 27 points in that extra period.

"I guess it was good recognition on my part," West said after the game. "But it was an even better shot by Ricky."

No West, it was a heads up play by you, hopefully one of many more to come. The Celtics are now first place in the Atlantice with a 1-0 record a game up on Toronto, New Jersey, New York and 1.5 up on the 0-2 Philadelphia 76ers. Boston is tied for second in the Eastern conference with Washington, Indiana, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland and Miami. The Celtics next play on Friday at 7:30 when they host the Eastern Champion Detroit Pistons.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

The NBA is back; but really who cares

2005-11-02T09:05:00.000-05:00

No Basketball Ability League
By John Chagaris, College AP
November 2, 2005

I know what you're thinking, here we go another long rant, but there is something that most people do not understand, more people were talking about the return of Hockey than the season debut of basketball. The difference; every team played opening night of hockey compaired to only eight teams. Dallas v. Phoenix was a great double overtime thriller that left fans on the edge of their seats, Milwaukee and Phily was a game that was a pretty good game, except for the overtime part when Milwaukee just rolled. New Orleans v. Sacramento was a throwaway game; really having the Kings on opening night when you only have a few games on, what were the schedule makers thinking? And finally San Antonio v. Denver; a high scoring game, but I want a good game not a high scoring fest.

Dallas v. Phoenix was a game that you had to watch to believe; I turned off the game when Dallas was down 83-66 with just over seven minutes to play; never would I have expected a frantic IM from a reader telling me that Dallas just caught up and has forced the game into overtime. I start to watch overtime but then Phoenix goes up by 5 with less than half a minute to go so I shut off the game; by now you know how this story is going...an incredible game that everybody should be talking about yet where's the buzz?

The NFL has been called the No Fun League; well it isn't and I can't wait for Blitz the league to come out; speaking of Blitz the league they're one of our sponcers for Bobcat Blitz, shameless plug.

Now for a quick ZAG to Yahoo, the NBA, whoever told Yahoo to call the Hornets the New Orleans/Okla City Hornets needs to be fired. After all the crap that has happened to the city of New Orleans, the hurricane, now probably going to lose their football team and now you go ahead and rename the team the New Orleans/Okla City Hornets; somebody needs to lose their job over that.

And one last Zag towards MLB; why would they allow a player who tested positive for steroids to play in the playoffs, that just doesn't make sense to anybody covering the sports, a fan of the sport, or just a sports fan in general, to allow an athlete who tested positive for 'roids to continue to play baseball is insane and not to even publically announce that this is going on is another black mark on the MLB Players Association and I now back 300% Congress for going ahead to try to pass the Steroids bill again, if MLB can't clean up it's act and allow something like this to happen it's time for our government to take action.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Zero to Hero Just like that....

2005-10-23T03:17:00.000-04:00

Zero to Hero
By John Chagaris, College AP
October 24, 2005

Chicago, IL -- It was the best of times which quickly became the worst of times for the Houston Astros. To quote a song from a Disney movie, Scott Podsednik went zero to hero just like that. Keeping in mind that Podsednik had zero home runs in the regular season. I'll allow you a moment to let that sink in, ZERO home runs in the regular season. When the man steps up to the plate when the Sox need a walk off he deliveres. In what seemed like Deja Vu for Astros fans, lights out Lidge was walking off the mound after another walkoff home run. After Bagwell and Burke scored in the top of the ninth on a single by Visciano, magic seemed to develop. The Astros had just tied the game, Lights out Lidge is coming in the 9th, he never allows home runs, well except the ones of walk off proportions.

"Well, we're not in a good spot," Phil Garner claimed, "they can't do anything wrong."

While the Sox can't do anything wrong, it seemed the umpires could not do anything correct, in yet another instance where instant replay in baseball is needed may I present exhibit 92 your honor? In the seventh inning Dan Wheeler was pitching and Dye was the batter with a full count. Here comes the pitch and the ball goes off Dye's bat. Wait just a second, Ray Charles has become the home plate umpire and awards Dye first base?

"I thought in my heart I made the right call," spokesman Pat Courtney said quoting Jeff Nelson.

And what did Dye think about the insident; "I'm not going to tell him I fouled it off."

And ofcourse your honor and members of the jury, what happens next? Well ALCS MVP Paul Konerko comes up with a grand slam to give the White Sox a 6-4 lead.

"We're going to get this win," Konerko described the attitude in the dugout before the bottom of the ninth, "I didn't think we thought it would be that quick or by a home run"

A home run that would not have won the game if baseball had instant replay. MLB, Bud Selig, the fans of baseball in every city, well except Chicago, beg you to institue instant replay in the post season so insidents like that would not happen. John Garland takes on Roy Oswalk on Tuesday, coverage begins at 8:05 on Fox.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Oh what a night

2005-09-15T23:33:00.000-04:00

Late December, back in '63, oh la la la la la la la la, what a well anyway, we don't need my singing. Anyway what a night I just had tonight, a night of hell is more like it. Best Buy was closing today and a real nice asshole decides to come in, and for some reason Best Buy has a policy that we can't kick customers out. So even after we told him we were closed he decided he wanted to look at Plasmas. After 30 minutes he decided oh well I need to run this by my wife before I buy. We stay open for only you asshole and you don't buy anything. Then I drive home all pissed off and I walk up to my apartment builidng, keep inmind this apartment building you need a key to enter to get to the apartments themselves. Well I walk up to the door and as luck would have it somehow that key is missing from my key ring. I searched for 45 minutes trying to find a way into my apartment, I even tried a trick that Mr. Leavitt taught us about using a credit card to open a door well that didn't work. Finally after those 45 minutes I figure well I'm going to have to sleep in my car tonight or call somebody at QU and beg them to let me crash at their place, when I think to myself wouldn't it be nice if they left a spare key under the door mat.....
Well I'm exausted and I'm heading to bed, hopefully this gave you a laugh at my expense.

Much needed update

2005-09-09T11:40:00.000-04:00

A much needed update will be posted either tonight after I get home from work, or tomorrow right after we film Blitz. what's goign to be in this update; oh well everything from the Pats beating the Raiders to the Sox v. Yanks. All here on Chaggy's Blog.

Idiots among us

2005-07-27T15:22:00.000-04:00

Got this great email so I thought i'd pass it along through my blog.
IDIOTS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD:
I live in a semi-rural area. We recently had a new neighbor
call the local township administrative office to request the
removal of the Deer Crossing sign on our road. The reason:
"too many deer were being hit by cars" and he didn't want
them to cross there anymore. This one was from Kingman, KS.
______________________

IDIOTS IN FOOD SERVICE:
My daughter went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a taco.
She asked the person behind the counter for "minimal
lettuce." He said he was sorry, but they only had iceberg.
And he was a Kansas City chef!
______________________

IDIOT SIGHTING:
I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an
airport employee asked, "Has anyone put anything in your
baggage without your knowledge? To which I replied, "If it
was without my knowledge, how would I know? He smiled
knowingly and nodded, "That's why we ask." Happened in
Birmingham, Ala.
______________________

IDIOT SIGHTING:
The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it's safe to cross
the street. I was crossing with an intellectually challenged
coworker of mine when she asked if I knew what the buzzer
was for. I explained that it signals blind people when the
light is red. Appalled, she responded, "What on earth are
blind people doing driving?!" She was a probation officer in
Wichita, KS
___________________

IDIOT SIGHTING:
At a good-bye luncheon for ! an old and dear coworker who was
leaving the company due to "downsizing," our manager
commented cheerfully, this is fun. We should do this more
often." Not a word was spoken. We all just looked at each
other with that deer-in-the-headlights stare. This was a
bunch at Texas Instruments.
_______________________

IDIOT SIGHTING:
I work with an individual who plugged her power strip Back
into itself and for the life of her couldn't understand why
her system would not turn on. A deputy with the Dallas
County Sheriff's office no less.
_______________________

IDIOT SIGHTING:
When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to
pick up our car, we were told the keys had been locked in
it. We went to the service department and found a mechanic
working feverishly to unlock the driver's side door. As I !
watched from the passenger side, I instinctively tried the
door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. "Hey," I
announced to the technician, "it's open!" To which he
replied, "I know - I already got that side."
This was at the Chevy dealership in Rock Hill, SC!

~Chag

From Busch to Wrigley

2005-06-13T11:00:00.000-04:00

By John Chagaris College AP
June 13, 2005
Last week was a week I was looking forward to for a long time, that's right being able to see The Red Sox play in Busch Stadium for the first time since the 2004 World Series, I know that reads like I was at the Stadium for the World Series but we all know that I wasn't, and to see the first time ever the Sox would play the Cubs at Wrigley. Unlike my trip from hell last year when I went to Cape Cod, this might have been the greatest trip I've ever been on.

The day started early on Wednesday morning having to wake up to get to the airport for an 8 O'clock flight, at least the flight attendant on Southwest was an absolute riot with quotes such as "If you need help hit your call attendant button and a disinformed I mean uniformed attendant will assist you." Once arriving in St. Louis, after about an hour layover at Chicago Midway, myself and Bob, a frequent reader of this column, had the choice to take a Taxi to the Radisson (God I hope I spelled that right otherwise Anna will be allover me) which would have ran $40, or take the Metro link to 8th and Pine and only pay $4 (since we got an all day ticket) wow that was an easy choice. After checking in and going up to our room, 608, we begin to unpack when Bob has the great idea to open the shades and look at the view and the view might have been the greatest hotel view I've ever had. That's right a picture perfect view of the Arch. After visiting the Arch we looked at the clock and decided it was time to head over to Busch, we went to get our tickets at the ticket window, that's right four seats in Section 256, well we could only use two tickets but that's another story for another day. Before we were able to get our tickets because for some reason you have to wait until an hour before a game to get player's tickets, we walked by gate 3 I believe, and looked at the construction at the new Busch Stadium. I personally cannot wait until next season to come back to St. Louis just to see the new stadium. The only drawback of the game was that it poured, and we're not talking about a little nice sprinkle, I felt like I needed to go and build an arc. While it was raining myself and Bob snuck into the back ticket lobby right near the clubhouses where we were able to meet a lot of great fans and the one and only Joe Buck, who is my favorite current announcer. The two highlights of the game were David Ortiz’s home run which sparked a 3 run rally in the sixth inning and Edgah’s home run in the 9th which helped shut up a guy who was all over Rent all night. I quickly was reminded of how nice the St. Louis fans are and they truly are the best fans in the game. It was well worth staying for a game that was quicker than the rain delay, can’t wait to head back next season to see the new Busch.

Thursday started with a trip back to the airport. If you’ve never been on the metro link then you wouldn’t know the policy of getting a ticket. You get a ticket and you just seem to walk on and your ticket is never checked, so I decide to get a ticket to get back to the airport because I’m a nice guy but Bob refuses saying if they’re not checked anyway why bother? Well we get on, me with my ticket and him without one and wouldn’t you know there was somebody going around to check tickets. We quickly jumped off at the next station which was Stadium, nice to see Busch again. After getting to the airport and flying to Chicago we were greeted with a subway system unlike all subway systems. At least in St. Louis you knew the train would be there every ten minutes, well not in Chicago, they had a mind of their own and while waiting for a train back to the airport on Saturday we waited 22 minutes, insane. Finally after taking the train to the redline and switching to Grand we walked the three blocks to our hotel, the Best Western of Chicago, room 1606, they loved giving us rooms that ended in 06, After we checked in we went to one of my favorite places to eat, that’s right an ESPN Zone. If you’ve never been to an ESPN Zone, what are you waiting for? After our meal we went into the arcade where I quickly blew $26 playing games such as slap shot where I had to shoot pucks past a goalie, a game where you tried to strike out a batter, I tried Big Mac and Bob tried the Philly Phantic, and both of them took us yard, played Madden on a big, big, big screen, shot some hoops, threw a few touchdowns and even bowled, there is something here for everybody. After a trip to the Navy Peer we had Pizza at easily the best Pizzeria place I have ever been in, Lou Malnati’s. the small 9” Sausage Pizza was so filling I could only eat 1.5 out of the 4 slices.

Friday started with lunch at the Hard Rock Café and then it was off to Wrigleyville. It didn’t take long for me to get angry at somebody at Wrigley as they told me after I paid $5 for a program if I wanted a scorecard I would have to pay an extra $2, well being stupid I paid the extra 2 and was pissed when I was thumbing through my program and found a scorecard, damn Cubbies. I won’t even begin to talk about the game , even through Ortiz hit two homeruns, and I got to see Maddux hit a home run. It may have been because it was a blowout but Wrigley just didn’t have the atmosphere as a Busch stadium. Friday night we went to a place were I had the best steak I have ever had, Harry Carry’s. The Filet I had was to die for, and what made the place even better was that I got to meet Sox second basemen Mark Bellhorn. Great atmosphere at Harry Carry’s, singing Take me out to the Ballgame on the hour in the bar each hour, and watching the Cardinals kill the Yankees, it was a blast.

On Saturday we had the honor of going back to Midway, if you’ve never flown from Midway here’s a suggestion, pack so you don’t need to check your luggage. The wait to check our luggage was very long and if we would have arrived 10 minutes later we would have missed our flight home.

Overall it was a great trip and I can’t wait to head back to St. Louis to see Busch next season, it was great having to eat the cost of two tickets this year but whatever.

Ciao,
Chag

The Beasts in the East

2005-06-02T19:27:00.000-04:00

The Beasts in the East
By John Chagaris College AP
June 2, 2005
Well it’s been a month since I have had the time to pen a column, first time since April 17th that it is a real column instead of something like Bush or Monkey Yeah, which was pretty funny if you ask me. But now it’s time to focus our attention back to America’s past time, that’s right baseball. If you were to divide the season into nine innings we would be in the bottom half of the second inning, still plenty of time for each team to come back, with the exception of Kansas City. Only one division seems to have a clear cut leader and that comes to my St. Louis Cardinals who are leading the National League Central by a whopping 6.5 games. We have only played 52 games, yet they are 6.5 games up.

Enough about the National League central, there are only two divisions that are going to have multiple teams battling it out for one if not two playoff seeds and they are the beasts in the east. As of writing at 7:12 EST, Baltimore has a 3 game lead over Boston, a 4 game lead over the Jays and a 4.5 game lead over the Yanks. That’s three teams within 4.5 games. Currently the Yanks are on a four game losing streak, as much as I hate the Yankees can you really see them not going on another ten game winning streak. The only thing that the Yankees lack now is something that they lacked all of last year and that is pitching. It seems that once again George went to a nursing home to find his pitching staff. Kevin Brown is 40, Tom Gordon is 37, Buddy Gromm is 39 but he’ll be 40 on July 10th, Randy Johnson is 41, he’ll be 42 by season’s end. Mussina is 36, Pavano is 29, Quantrill is 36, Rivera claims to be only 35 but that age has been questioned for a long time. Mike Stanton just turned 38, Tanyon Sturtze is 24 and Chien-Ming Wang is 25. Out of their whole pitching staff only three are under 30. Their average age comes out to be 35 years old. But then again the whole team is old besides Chien-Ming Wang and Robinson Cano nobody was born in the eighties. Hell nobody was born before 1977 either. Coming down the stretch injuries will continue to come into play with how old this pitching staff is, which The New York Post already dubbing Randy Johnson as the Big useless, how are they going to react down the stretch when the Yanks don’t make the playoffs. while they are getting older the Sox are getting younger, with the exception of david Wells the Sox have young starting pitching. also Baltimore and Toronto have a few young guns and in a few years the Sox and yanks will be battleing for the bottom of the division. But the division to watch is the National League East. Atlanta leads right now with a one game lead over Florida but look at this the Mets and Nationals are tied for third with 2.5 games back and the last place Phillies are 3.5 games back, this division will be fun to follow down the stretch.

Now let’s move on to the NCAA College World Series, and if you are ready for a massacre be lucky because that is what is going to happen when Quinnipiac faces Texas. I have always been against automatic bids because let us face it when a team goes 24-22 do they really deserve to be playing for a national championship? Quinnipiac would be lucky if they scored two runs, and would be even more lucky if they gave up less than 15 runs to Texas, my prediction Texas clobbers QU 20-1.

Well I’m going to head out and try to grab something to kill my headache but before I go I figured I’d catch everybody up on what I’ve been doing and not being able to write. It’s been a combination of traveling to NYC to going to Fenway to working in home Theater, yeah it’s been that simple wish it was more exciting to tell. Well I’m off and hopefully I can get back into the swing of things and update more often.

Ciao,
~Chag

A quick update

2005-05-03T13:09:00.000-04:00

First, for those Chaghawks who enjoyed Waiter Rant, there is one written by a bouncer of nightclubs in NYC. This is an excellent read so feel free to read it. A Sports update will come either Thursday or Friday, sorry for the lack of updates.

~Chag

Remember Nintendo, well watch this

2005-04-29T00:04:00.000-04:00

This is great

A larger update will come after Easter, to all my fellow Greeks happy Easter.

~Chag

I forgot

2005-04-19T22:31:00.000-04:00

I forgot to send a happy birthday wish out to not only my mom, Sherry Chagaris, but also a happy birthday to my wife, Maria Sharapova. If you want a laugh listen to this song, Click here, Anna this probably isn't for you.

~Chag

Bush or Monkey Yeah

2005-04-19T09:38:00.000-04:00

For those fans of The Late Show with David Letterman would know the segment called Trump or Monkey yeah, well on a spin on it it is Bush or Monkey yeah, enjoy. Oh and Justin or anyother diehard Bush fans, you should look away now.

SNL was doing the Brady Shuffle

2005-04-17T11:21:00.000-04:00

Tom Brady, Super Bowl MVP to SNL Host
By John Chagaris, College AP
April 17, 2005

NEW YORK -- When I first heard that Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots, was going to be the host of Saturday Night Live, I knew this was going to be a show I was going to have to go and see. The opening monologue with Brady was priceless, it made the Bears Super Bowl Shuffle look like a Junior Varsity playing against the state champion. One problem I have is, a two time Super Bowl MVP and three time Super Bowl Champion dresses in a sport coat, shirt, tie, and jeans? This is not a good start for Mr. Tom Brady let's hope he can win some points back, because a few fans were ready to throw a red flag at his dress code and get a new outfit. Then the carnival when Tom could not throw a ball into a hole. Only somebody like Tom could poke fun at himself in this way.

Moreover, what is this relationship between Rachael Dratch and Tom Brady? During the opening Rachael and Tom were batting their eyes at each other and then they are a couple on Dr. Phil. Rachael, you know that I have a ton of respect for you seeing you were one of my dad's students way back in Lexington, MA, but you're doing something that many people in the NFL cannot do and that is hit Tom Brady. During this segment Tom continued to make a fool out of himself not knowing which questions from "Dr. Phil" were real questions and which ones were fake and the ending like of looking into Rachael's eyes and instead of saying I love you Jamie said Dr. Phil loves me.

The Falconer scene really did not deal with Brady and how fitting that Snickers Cruncher (a major sponsor for the NFL) is the main focus. TV Fun house was yet another funny skit, Sexual Harassment and you. Tom Brady was classic in TV Fun House being "handsome, Attractive and don't be unattractive" and then the message was directed that you can go and say anything from grabbing a woman's breast to walking around in your underwear.

Brady as a Middle Eastern cuisine was classic. Tom Brady's Falafel City with the parody of The Beach Boy's Barbra Ann was picture perfect. In addition, my question was is the difference between the Vets office and a Middle Eastern eatery?

We are a third of the way through the show and never has the cast been this on their game or looked this happy and pumped up since Dwayne Johnson hosted during his two-time tour. Brady Passing Rating so far 1/3 of the way through; *** 1/2

An ok performance by Beck, I heard that they did a better job during the sound check but I thought they were fine, but not being a huge Beck fan I would not know what they sound like normally.

Amy and Tina then come out for weekend update, which has to be my favorite segment each week, well since they got rid of Celebrity Jeopardy. And line of the night so far has to be Dumb-Dumb and Yo-yo talking about Kevin and Britney after the Panda comment, SNL continues to have the best writers. I was just shocked that Tom Brady was not involved at all in Weekend update, he is I believe only the third host this season not to have even a small role on Weekend update, for a host doing so well why did they keep him out for a segment that bored the crowd to death. Half Time Brady Passing rating was *** 1/2 still.

The show seemed to jump the shark during the night before Uncle Scott's wedding. For such a strong show thus far, all momentum was thrown down the toilet during this skit.

The night has gone from bad to worse, the Super Bowl Shuffle was an idea that I had an idea was going to happen at the start of the show when Tom began singing, but never did I expect the trainreck that developed. If SNL was only an hour and the last two segments were cut this would have been a fantastic show, but now with twenty minutes left, and we know one segment will be with Beck performing, Brady and the SNL crew need to go into a two minute drill to wake up the audience and keep viewers.

Just when you thought the show could not get worse it did with the Oak room segment. We have already proved that Brady cannot sing so having him sing a few quick notes wasn't that great, and could he play the soprano saxophone anymore incorrect? It got funny when he stopped playing and a few more notes came out so he threw the reed back in his mouth to play a note and the notes stopped when if he was playing they would have continued.

The quarterback scene could not have come at a better time and might have saved a bad rating by me, having "Manning, and McNabb and Mrs. McNabb" in a bit with Brady was classic. It pointed out what all Patriot fans know, and that is, sure Brady does not have the stats that Manning and McNabb have but he does have what neither of them have and those are super bowl rings.

Overall, this is one of the better SNL hosting jobs that has been done in a while, and would have been picture perfect if it was not for the last two real skits, not including the quarterback skit. And Live from New York, I was John Chagaris, a sports blog update will follow later today or tomorrow.

~Chag

Damn I'm not going to get crap for this or anything

2005-04-13T09:31:00.000-04:00

Which "Saved By The Bell" Character Are You?

Why do I put myself through things like this? And how when I took this test did I end up coming with Kelly, the description is a bit of an airhead, ok I can see that but I'm pretty and popular, umm. I'll have a longer update later this week.
<><><><><><><><><><>
YES, I'M A BAD AMERICAN
by George Carlin

I Am Your Worst Nightmare. I am a BAD American. I am George Carlin.

I believe the money I make belongs to me and my family, not some mid level governmental functionary be it Democratic or Republican!

I'm in touch with my feelings and I like it that way, damn it!

I think owning a gun doesn't make you a killer, it makes you a smart American.

I think being a minority does not make you noble or victimized, and does not entitle you to anything.

I believe that if you are selling me a Big Mac, try to do it in English.

I think fireworks should be legal on the 4th of July.

I think that being a student doesn't give you any more enlightenment than working at Blockbuster. In fact, if your parents are footing the bill to put your pansy ass through 4 years plus of college, you haven't begun to be enlightened.

I believe everyone has a right to pray to his or her God when and where they want to.

My heroes are John Wayne, Babe Ruth, Roy Rogers, and whoever canceled Jerry Springer.

I don't hate the rich. I don't pity the poor.

I know wrestling is fake and I don't waste my time arguing about it.

I think global warming is a big lie. Where are all those experts now, when I'm freezing my ass off during these long winters and paying, paying, paying?

I've never owned a slave, or was a slave, I didn't wander forty years In the desert after getting chased out of Egypt. I haven't burned any witches or been persecuted by the Turks and neither have you! So, shut-the-Hell-up already.

I want to know which church is it exactly where the Reverend Jesse Jackson practices, where he gets his money, and why he is always part of the problem and not the solution. Can I get an AMEN on that one?

I think the cops have every right to shoot your sorry ass if you're running from them.

I also think they have the right to pull your ass over if you're breaking the law, regardless of what color you are.

And, no, I don't mind having my face shown on my drivers license. I think it's good.....and I'm proud that "God" is written on my money.

I think if you are too stupid to know how a ballot works, I don't want you deciding who should be running the most powerful nation in the world for the next four years.

I dislike those people standing in the intersections trying to sell me crap or trying to guilt me into making "donations" to their cause. These people should be targets.

I believe that it doesn't take a village to raise a child, it takes two parents.

And what the hell is going on with gas prices... again?

If this makes me a BAD American, then yes, I'm a BAD American.

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And one very funny piece from; http://www.benmaller.com/archives/2005/april/13-reds_fail_uniform_spelling_101.html
The first 'I' in Cincinnati was missing on the uniform front of pitcher Aaron Harang Tuesday night in Busch Stadium according to the DAYTON DAILY NEWS and the spelling appeared: "Cncinnati."

These days the Cincinnati Reds can't even buy a vowel.

By the third inning, the 'I' magically appeared — Harang put on a fresh jersey — but it was after the St. Louis Cardinals scored three runs in the second inning en route to a 5-1 victory.

"That's the last time I wear that jersey," Harang said.

Harang wore the same jersey for the first four days of this trip, but wore a jacket on top of it so nobody noticed.

"After the first inning, I came to the dugout and saw (pitchers) Paul Wilson and Eric Milton looking at me funny," said Harang.

"What up with that?" said Wilson.

"What?" said Harang.

"Your jersey."

Said Harang, "I thought I spilled something on it but Paul said, 'Cincinnati is spelled wrong.' "

Equipment manager Rick Stowe took the blame, especially because the game was televised.

"The clubhouse guy from Arizona called me and said, 'What kindergarten did you fail?' " said Stowe. "I always check the back of the jerseys for the players' names, but never thought about the front."

~Chag

Random News and Notes

2005-04-09T19:54:00.000-04:00

Baseball's back

By John Chagaris, College AP
April 3, 2005

Hamden, CT -- Baseball is back and it could not have come sooner for this baseball fan. But my first question has to be, will the worst team money can buy [The Mets] ever win a game? 0-5 is not the way that anybody expected them to start, sure I said they were going to do bad but I don't know if anybody was going honestly say they would start 0-5. A surprise to a lot of people but does not surprise me is that the Red Sox are 2-3. Sox fans who know me know how little respect I have given David Wells and I gave him two chances to prove me wrong, but he made me sound more right than I ever could have been. The Blue Jays roster this year is not that bad, and they deserve a lot of respect, when a team is able to put together back-to-back-to-back home runs people need to notice. Vernon Wells, Corey Koskie, and Shea Hillenbrand accomplished this feat in the third inning.

``Guys are getting good at-bats,'' Zaun said. ``We don't have a Sosa, McGwire or even a Delgado anymore, but two guys like Hillenbrand and Koskie could hit 25 a piece to make up for that.''

Those like me who did not give the Blue Jays any chance because they lost Carlos Delgado need to begin to rethink our rankings. This was the first time since 2001 that the Blue Jays have hit back-to-back-to-back jacks.

``You thought (Wells) would be able to come back and make that adjustment (after the first home run),'' Boston interim manager Brad Mills said. ``But I have to tip my hat to him, he really made some adjustments after and pitched well.''

I won't tip my hat off to Wells, instead why don't I rip his hat off and throw him in the streets. His two starts have been pathetic, today he gave up 6 runs in 6.1 innings pitched while on opening day against the Yankees he allowed 4 runs on 10 hits in 4.1 innings pitched. His ERA this season is a pathetic 8.44.

``If you don't make the pitches that's what happens -- you give up runs,'' said Wells. ``You've got to get the bad ones out of the way, I guess.''

You guess? For those who are now second guessing Theo for this signing and who doubted me, 4 quick words, I told you so. And the countdown begins, 3 weeks until May 1st, which you will remember is the date when I predict that he will be injured and out for the rest of the season. But I might be proven wrong. Yes he might not be injured by May 1st, because he'll be benched or released by that date if Schilling can come back. The pitching rotation should be; Schilling, Bronson, Wake, Clement, and then Miller when they come back but right now they should stay with the four man rotation like they are doing. Tomorrow will mark the second series that the Red Sox will lose as Matt clement faces Ted Lilly. Theo, do us all a favor and get rid of the overweight, overpaid, under achieving, good-for-nothing David Wells. It's only April so the Sox have hope if they get rid of David, other wise this season can be thrown down a well.

~Chag

Day one is in the books

2005-04-03T09:48:00.000-04:00

Final Four becomes the Final two

By John Chagaris, College AP
April 3, 2005
ST. LOUIS (Hamden, CT) -- As the song by Queen states, another one bites the dust. Just a few weeks ago we were grinning over our brackets on selection Sunday trying to decide who would make it to St. Louis, who would make it to the final four, and who then would play for the championship on Championship Monday. The hype was there for two incredible basketball games but nothing could live up to last weekend.

The score going into half time of the Louisville v. Illinois game left fans wondering if this would turn out to be another instant classic. 31-28, sure Louisville was down, but they have been down so often that they should be able to make a come back. Larry O'Bannon from Louisville then comes out and fifteen seconds into the second half ties the game up at 31. Just over a minute later after Dee Brown fouled Larry O'Bannon, Larry hit two free throws to give the Cardinals a 33-31 lead. That lead would last 30 seconds, and was the last time the Cardinals would lead all season.

After all the hype about oh Dee Brown, Dee Brown, the two men from Illinois who turned it on was Roger Powell Jr. and Luther Head. Illinois fighting Illini are a team of destiny, Louisville shuts down Dee Brown but Head and Powell Jr. both are able to throw down 20 points. And 13 of Powell Jr.'s points came in the second half.

"It was difficult. We didn't pitch a perfect game, but we hung in there as long as we could. We faulted to a better basketball team," Petino said. "Being disappointed is when you get knocked out in the first round. When you go to the Final Four, if there's any disappointment, then you can't appreciate the game as you should."

Illinois moved on to face the winner of the Michigan State v. UNC game and fans did not give Michigan State that much of a chance, but they came out hungry. If anybody would have told you at the start of the game that Michigan state would be beating UNC 38-33 at halftime you would have thought they were nuts. In fact Michigan State held the lead until 18:24 in the second half when Jawad Williams slammed the ball home to give UNC a 39-38 lead. After two free throws by Maurice Ager, Rashad McCants came down the floor and hit a two point jump shot. Another two free throws by Michigan state would give them their final lead of the season as Raymon Felton came down, hit a three and UNC started to run with it.

Down the stretch when they needed it the most, Michigan state could not make key stops and could not pull down the offensive rebounds.

What fueled UNC was an ear full that coach Roy Williams gave his team at halftime.

``The first half, I didn't think it was North Carolina out there,'' Williams said.

He would not get into details over what he said but Raymond Felton said, "he got his point across, let me put it like that."

The Tar Heels picked up their game a lot as they out rebounded the Spartans 27-16 in the second half.

``In the first half, we executed the game plan about as well as we have all year,'' Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. ``We really dug in on May. Williams went off a little bit, but we got every loose ball. We got after it defensively. We fell apart a little bit."

That match up is set for this Monday night, tell your friends, unplug your phone, UNC is going up against Illinois. Roy Williams is going to be trying to make a statement as Illinois tries to do something it has never done and that is winning a National Championship, while setting the single season winning record in NCAA men's basketball history.
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As John Fogerty once wrote, "Well beat the drum and hold the phone
The sun came out today
We're born again, there's new grass on the field
A-roundin' third and headed for home
It's a brown-eyed handsome man
Anyone can understand the way I feel

Put me in Coach
I'm ready to play today
Put me in Coach
I'm ready to play today
Look at me
I can be
Centerfield

Well is spent some time in the Mudville Nine
Watchin' it from the bench
You know I took some lumps when the Mighty Case struck out
So say Hey Willie tell the Cobb
And Joe DiMaggio
Don't say it ain't so
You know the time is now

Put me in Coach
I'm ready to play today
Put me in Coach
I'm ready to play today
Look at me
I can be
Centerfield

Got a beat-up glove, a homemade bat,
And a brand new pair of shoes
You know I think it's time
To give this game a ride
Just to hit the ball and touch 'em all
A moment in the sun
It's gone and you can tell that one goodbye

Put me in Coach
I'm ready to play today
Put me in Coach
I'm ready to play today
Look at me
I can be
Centerfield,"
tonight the Red Sox and Yankees begin the Major League Baseball season the way that it should be started, in New York City, and not in Japan. At the end of last season fans would probably expect to see Curt Schilling going up against Mike Mussina in the game, how times have changed in just a few months.

A trade for Randy Johnson and a David Wells signing later and we have a pitching match up that only the God's of Baseball could have created. And for the first time since 1919, the Red Sox enter the season the defending World Series Champions.

``We don't think about defending anything,'' Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek said. ``We think about what we have to do to win one game at a time. Last year is last year. The opener is just one game.''

Jason Varitek sounds like he should be with another Boston Team (the Patriots) instead of the drinking idiots of the Red Sox. The man who may make a difference in this rivalry is the newest Yankee pitcher, Randy Johnson.

``Anything less than winning a World Series isn't acceptable,'' Johnson said. ``When I go to spring training with any other team, it's extreme optimism that we're going to do well. You come here, anything less than getting to the World Series and winning it would be considered failing.''

The Red Sox starting rotation looks nothing like the starting rotation of last season. Last season the Sox rotation was Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, Tim Wakefield, Bronson Arroyo and Derek Lowe. Fast forward one year and now instead of Martinez and Lowe you see David Wells and Matt Clement. The Sox also had a whole cast of Shortstops last season from Pokey Reese to Nomar Garciaparra to the unforgettable Ricky Gutierrez. This season the Red Sox have a new man in charge at Short an his name is Edgar Renteria who should fit in well with the Sox lineup that led the majors with a .472 slugging percentage and 942 runs, not to mention a .282 batting average.

In only the second time in Major League Baseball history, two men who are over forth are facing off in a season opener.

``I love it,'' Wells said. ``If you don't want to be in that game, you don't want to play baseball.''

The Red Sox last season won the Season Series 11-8 and the Playoff series 4-3, it is going to be a wild ride this season for the greatest rivalry in all of sports.

It's only been 164 days since the Sox shocked the world and defeated the Yankees and chants of 1918 would no longer be heard. But that was then this is now, and now it is time for the 2005 season.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

You have got to be kidding me

2005-04-01T21:31:00.000-05:00

By John Chagaris, College AP
April 1, 2005

"You have got to be kidding me."

That was my reaction after watching the final episode of my Big Fat Obnoxious Boss from Fox.com. To view this episode go to click here, then click on episodes and Episode 10

I do not feel that is would be right for me to give away the identity of the Boss but when I heard rumors that it was anybody from Trump to Omarosa, I dropped my Propel when I learned who the boss was and how the boss decided who won and who was eliminated each week. Oh and forget a $250,000 prize as was originally talked about, a combined total of $550.000 was given out in prize money. If you want a shock view this, it is just ashame that this never aired on Fox but it is worth watching it online if you have 40 minutes.
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Now this is a sports blog so let us get back to business, what was up with that Dunk and three point contest last night. Wow, if you did not see it, ESPN is running a replay tomorrow (Saturday) at 3 pm est. make sure you watch it.
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This weekend (Saturday through Tuesday), yes I understand that for most people the weekend ends on Sunday but, is pure madness. March Madness comes to an end, and to add to the madness on Sunday night on ESPN2 BASEBALL'S BACK!!!!!!!
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A huge Chags and congratulations goes out to Yukon men's head coach Jim Calhoun and Syracuse men's head coach Jim Boeheim have been voted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame. The only surprise to me and a lot of people is that Dominique Wilkins was denied to be in the hall.
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Also what has happened to Colorado, I swear ever since Woody left Denver to come to NYC that state has gone down hill. Why you may ask? Well allow me to tell you, the Denver Nuggets have been banned from Vegas, and Colorado Rockies pitcher Shawn Chacon was thrown out of a Nuggets v. Suns game. Does anybody know how hard it is to be thrown out of a NBA Basketball game. Usually you have to throw something to be thrown out.
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Right now it looks like the radio announer for the Clippers, Mel Proctor, will get the TV announcing job for the Washington Nationals. If I was incharge of hiring I would not hire Mel but instead hire Sean McDonough, but I think Sean has an ESPN baseball contract but I do not have that confirmed nor do I know that for an absolute fact.
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How sad is it that a horrible show like Tilt got higher ratings than NHL games that were typically in that slot. Can we say pathetic, people would rather watch Poker than hockey. I'm guessing that the NHL with this news will Flop into the River and Turn.
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That's the blog for today leave some,
~Chag

If you need a laugh

2005-03-29T22:21:00.000-05:00

If you need a laugh check out this blog; http://www.waiterrant.blogspot.com Edit: HAPPY JUSTIN?

This is one of the best blogs out on the internet, besides this one, Justin's Random thoughts, and ofcourse Save a horse - ride a nascar Driver. But no blogs are in that league.

~Chag

The Final Four is set

2005-03-28T15:22:00.000-05:00

By John Chagaris, College AP
March 28, 2005
Hamden, CT - The final four has been set, and nobody predicted that Louisville would face Illinois and that Michigan State would face North Carolina, and if you can honestly tell me that you predicted all four of these teams then allow myself to bow down in front of you.

This weekend may have been the greatest college basketball weekend in the history of college basketball. Three out of four games were decided in overtime. And the Wisconsin v. North Carolina game was tied at 44 at halftime.

Let us begin the Sweet Sixteen recap with the Chicago bracket. Let me be the first to write that it was not fair to allow Illinois to compete in the Chicago bracket. Sure Illinois was the best team in the regular season, then you would think because of that they would face the winner of the play in game instead of the winner of the Northeast Conference. Just like you cannot tell me that you predicted these four teams, you cannot tell me that Illinois would have gone on that 20-5 run to tie the game and then end up beating Arizona if Illinois did not basically have a home court advantage. Arizona did not stand a chance and Illinois should have by my math been in the Syracuse bracket because that is where the play in game took place. It only makes sense that if 1 faces 16 in each bracket than the number one overall should face the worst team in the tourney.

Flying down south to Albuquerque, and this final had all the excitement that you could want. Keep in mind that West Virginia was up by twenty points over Louisville and it took a 33-4 run to get them back in the game.

``I've never abandoned a whole scouting report at halftime,'' Pitino said. ``But it had to be abandoned.''

To add to the incredible run, Larry O'Bannon scored 24 points while Taquan Dean had 23. Pitino also did something that surprised everybody who knows his coaching style as he told his players to no longer play a zone defense, but instead trap and press and to be as aggressive as they can on offense. And because his team followed his advice, Coach Pitino was able to become the first coach in history to coach three different teams to the final four, (Providence, Kentucky, Louisville).

The Syracuse bracket was home to upset city. It all started in the first round when Bucknell upset Kansas, which was the first of many bracket busters during the tournament. And as we now see North Carolina blazed through the tournament and what many people do not remember is that North Carolina should not, I repeat should not have advanced past Villlanova as the whistle was blown with a few seconds remaining after Allan Ray shot, most fans believed that Melvin Scott fouled him but the referee had other plans as he called a traveling which left everybody scratching their heads. Tom O'Neill must have seen something that nobody else in the world must have seen.

The Michigan State v. Kentucky game last night might have been the best basketball game in the history of college basketball. And for a while it looked like it was going to come down to the three pointer from Patrick Sparks and if it was a three. He shot the ball and it bounced three times and then found the whole, but was his foot on the line? After replay after replay and after seeing his foot zoomed in, we still could not tell but since the replay system is like football and there was not enough doubt that his foot was on the line, the points were recorded. My question is, where was the foul? You can clearly tell that Sparks was hacked after his shot yet nothing was called at all. And then I felt as I was watching the Arizona game again as there is not that much time left and Azubuike had the ball and yet he did not shoot the ball which forced the game into a second overtime. Folks, we learned in elementary school that the only way to win ball games is to shoot the basketball.

And now for the picks; Louisville will defeat Illinois. Yes I know that every team that has faced Illinois I have said was going to beat them but I mean it this time. Both of these teams are going to be riding momentum as they both had key come from behind wins but when it comes down to coaching, Petino is just the better coach.

Then how can I pick against UNC, they face Michigan State but I honestly cannot see Michigan State beating UNC because right now I feel that UNC is going to win the whole thing.

Thanks the blog for today, leave it.
~Chag

Red Sox Top Ten List

2005-03-21T07:49:00.000-05:00

Red Sox Top Ten List

# 10; Curt Schilling Questioned the Wisdom of Terrell Owens Attempting to Play in Super Bowl on Injured Ankle.

#9 Bill Belichick Politely Said, "No Thanks" to Terry Francona's Offer to Meet and Offer Tips on How to Handle the Pressure of a Big Game

#8 Yankees Offer to Formally Apologize for 86 Years of Humiliation if Sox Agree to Postpone Ring Ceremony

#7 Sox Front Office Tells Players to Stop Sniping at ARod, and Direct Their Insults to the Entire Yankee Organization Instead

#6 New Survey reveals a slight majority of Yankees fans have teeth

#5 Theo Epstein Annoyed at Having to Once Again Pose as an Elf for the Red Sox Christmas Card

#4 Red Sox and Yankees Wives Brawled During Christmas Charity Event

#3 Henry Sells Starbucks Rights to Name Seventh Inning Stretch the "Caffe Latte Interlude."

#2 Report: Sox Tested Suturing Process on Unwilling Byung Hyun Kim Before Using it on Schilling

and finally #1 Umpires Who Changed Calls on Bellhorn Homerun and ARod Slap in ALCS Game 6 are Missing, Steinbrenner Questioned

~Chag

2, count them, two days until Selection Sunday

2005-03-11T12:07:00.000-05:00

I'm ready to head for spring break so here is a quick version of the Austin Bracket.

#1 Wake Forest will defeat #16 Delaware

#9 Texas Tech will defeat #8 Stanford

#5 Florida will beat the American East champiion #13 Vermont

#4 Michigan State will make quick work on Kent State

#11 St. Mary's will beat #6 Pacific

#3 Oklahoma will defeat #14 UCF

#7 Nevada will defeat #10 Minneasota

And #2 BC will beat #15 Niagara

For those of us on Spring break, have a good one for everybody else I'll see you a week from Monday.

~Chag

3 Days until Selection Sunday

2005-03-10T09:10:00.000-05:00

For some reason Blogger ate my post from yesturday so today you get to experience the Syracuse region as well as yesturday's Albuquerque region. So without any further Adu here is Albuquerque.

In round one Kentucky will take on Fairleigh Dickinson, the school that I have grown to hate almost as much as CCSU. Well Kentucky will make easy work of Fairleigh Dickinson and I honestly thought FD was going to have to face Oakland in the play in game.

#8 Iowa State games on #9 Creighton and I give the edge to Creighton.

#5 Utah is up against Old Dominion and do you smell that, yep upset Old Dominion wins.

#4 Gonzaga against #13 NC State, I love my Zags so I am giving them the nod.

#6 Syracuse is going against #11 George Washington and I have to give it to the Orangemen.

#3 Louisville v. #14 Wisconsin-Mil. Louisvill will beat the winner of the Horizon conference.

#7 LSU takes on #10 Miami of Ohio and I have to give Miami of Ohio the nod.

And #2 Duke against Eastern KY and if you think I'm not taking Duke then you don't know JACK.

Switching gears over to the syracuse bracket;

North Carolina will kill who ever wins he play-in game.

#8 UCLA will beat DePaul

#5 Villanove will beat UL-LAfayette

#4 Alabama will beat #13 Holy Cross

#6 Charlotte will lose to #11 Notre Dame

#3 Oklahoma State will beat Winthrop

#7 Wisconsin will beat UTEP

#2 Arizona will make short work out of Chattanooga.
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And a quick Zags goes to the maker of our tag board, your server is down AGAIN!, as soon as I find a new tag board provider you guys are gone.

Thats the blog for today, leave it.
~chag

Selection Sunday cannot come soon enough

2005-03-08T10:54:00.000-05:00

This Sunday is the Sunday which most College Basketball fans love the most. No this isn't the Super Bowl,it is when we find out who plays where and then we can down with a pencil and attempt to create our own perfect bracket. What upsets will take place this year, will we see another Manhattan v. Florida upset, which yours truly picked last year. Can my Bulldogs finally win it all this year, or atleast contend? How will my Boston College Eagles do and most importantly how will they do next year in the ACC?

Well selection Sunday is just five days away, and instead of being home watching Bracketology 101 on ESPN I am going to be seeing the Red Hot Boston Celtics as they play the Washington Wizards. Each day this week I will cut apart, and talk about each team that will probably be in each bracket and today we will start with the Chicago Division.

What does not make any sense to me is how when the Final Four is in St. Louis, can this cities most hated rival have a bracket home?

Anyway right nowin Chicago the number one seed is the hometown favorites as Illinois looks to be playing the champion of the MEAC in Delaware St. How can the number one raked team not be playing the play in team?

Chag's Pick: Illinois

Stanford (8) looks to face Texas Tech (9) and Bobby Knight's teamwillbeat Stanford.

Utah (5) takes on West Virginia (12) and right now I am leaning toward an upset, I really think that West Virginia can win.

Gonzaga (4) against North Carolina State (13), we all know how much I love BC, Duke, and Gonzaga so there is no way that I would pick against them in the first round.

Cincinnati (6) takes on Maryland (11) and how can a team that defeated Duke twice be a number 11 seed. I have Maryland in an upset.

Yukon (3)v. Winthrop (14) who is the winner of the Big South) No contest, Yukon wins.

Southern Ill (7) takes on UTEP (10) in a game in which nobody really cares so I'll take UTEP in an upset.

And Kansas (2) takes on Eastern Kentucky(15) I don't know how ESPN has Wake Forest as a number 1 and Kansas as a number two but I have to go with Kansas here.

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Allow me to turn my focus towards College Hockey and finally my Quinnipiac Bobcats are getting some DAP when it comes to best college hockey teams, as finally we enter the power rankings at number 19. And the USA today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 15 mens's hockey poll shows that the Bobcats are finally getting some national votes. It's about time.

So allow me to break down the Frozen 16, if the season ended today.

In the Worcester Regional (1) Boston College would face off against (4) Quinnipiac, and allow me to tell you that BC would kill QU.

(2) Ohio State would face off against (3) Boston University and BU would win setting up a BC v. BU shootout and BC would end up winning the East.

In the Amherst Regional; (1) Denver faces off against (4) Dartmouth and Denver would take Dartmouth to school.

(2) Harvard would take on (3) UNH and I hate UNH so much so my vote is going towards Harvard.

Denver would then destroy Harvard moving on to the Frozen Four.

In the Grand Rapids Region (1) Michigan takes on (4) North Dakota and Michigan would win.

(2) Cornell takes on (3)Wisconsin and I have seen Cornell in person and was not impressed thus I have Wisconsin winning.

Michigan would defeat Wisconsin, easily.

Finally in the inneapolis Region;(1) Colorado College takes on (4)Bemidji State. Having seen Colorado College when they faced QU I can tell you that Bemidji doesn't have a chance of winning.

(2)Minnesota takes on (3) Maine and go Blackbears as they defeat Minnesota in an upset.

And in an upset, The Blackbears of Maine will defeat Colorado College.

This sets up the Frozen Four to be Thee Boston College Eagles v. Denver, which would be a great game but I have to think that BC would win it in a very close game.

Michigan v. Maine, this is going to be a tough battle for the Black Bears and their luck will run out as Michigan advances to the frozen two.

And Michigan will defeat Thee Boston College Eagles in double overtime.

That's the blog for today,
~Chag

Quinnipiac v. CCSU

2005-03-01T11:29:00.000-05:00

By John Chagaris, College AP
March 1, 2005
New Britain, CT - Last night at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) or known to Crazy bobcat fans as "Safety School #1" the #9 Quinnipiac Men's basketball team faced the #8 CCSU Blue Devils. The winner of this game would grab the #8 seed in the Northeast Conference and would have the honor of being destroyed by #1 Monmouth. The Bobcats came out hungry after losing a tough game against the Blue Devils last week 75-70.

CCSU started off the game quickly as Demario Anderson hit a layup 17 seconds into the game to give the Blue Devils an early 2-0 lead. At the 18:44 mark, Van Crafton hit a three pointer to give the Bobcats a 3-2 lead which they would hold until the next trip down the court as Demario Anderson threw up a three pointer of his own to give CCSU a lead of 5-5. The Bobcats tied the game up 5 seconds lader on a layup by CJ Vick. The bobcats then stole the ball and CJ Vick was fouled going up for a layup and made one of the free throws to give the Bobcats a 6-5 lead. Kevin Jolley extended the lead to 8-5 when he hit two free throws at the 16:58 mark. just over a minute later Rob Monroe extended the lead to 10-5, the biggest lead Quinnipiac would have all game.

Momentum started to turn at the 14:54 mark when Rich Pittman hit an easy layup to cut the lead to 10-7. After two missed layups by Christian Burns the Blue Devils stormed down the court and Tristan Blackwood hit a wide open three pointer to tie the game at ten. The lead would change six times and would be tied twice before the game was tied at 20 at the half way point in the first half. Then at the 9:11 mark Karl Anderson hit a layup to give the Bobcats a 22-20 lead, which would be the last time they would lead this season. That started a 12-2 run started by a three pointer by Javier Mojica. The run would continue to a 28-10 run to finish up the first half.

Flashback, last week when 1.955 fans filled the Burt Kahn Court, the Bobcats were down 36-24 at halftime and cut the lead to two.

The Bobcats would look to do what they did last week; and it started to look good as Rob Monroe started the second half with a layup but Karl Anderson commited the stupidest foul ever created in Quinnipiac History and Rich Pittman extended the lead to 50-32. Later on Kevin Jolley hit a layup to cut the lead to 16. A few minutes later Kevin Jolley hit a cumpter to cut the lead to 11. After a Demario Anderson layup, Rob Monroe ran down the court to hit a three pointer to cut the lead to 10 causing CCSU's coach Howie to blow a timeout. But Quinnipiac's run was far from over as Monroe hit a lay up and a free throw. The finally a few minutes later Crain Benson hit a three pointer to cut the lead to nine. At the 4:46 mark Rob Monroe hit another three pointer to cut the lead to eight, 81-73. CCSU's Justin Chiera went down and tried to hit a three pointer but he missed, Kevin Jolley got the rebound threw it down court and Crain Benson hit a three pointer to cut the lead to 81-76, forceing Howie to call another time out.

The Crazy Bobcats in attendance were starting to go nuts thinking that this season would continue. Then Kevin Jolley commited a foul and Jason Hickenbottom hit two freethrows to extend the lead to 83-76. Rob Monrow then hit his first freethrow but missed the second but Karl Anderson got the rebound the threw the ball home to close the lead to 83-79. Then Jason Hickenbottom drove to the hoop and a defensive foul was called on Da-Shawn Dwight which according to Crazy Bobcat fans in the stands was a Bull$h^& call, that entended the lead to 87-79. Then Kevin Jolley attempted to throw a full court pass that was picked off by Rich Pittman who passsed to Javier Mojica who was fouled by Van Crafton and Mojica hit both free throws to extend CCSU's lead to 87-79. with just under two minutes left. Rob Monroe hit two free throws to cut the lead to 6 but that was all QU had left, Rich Pittman hit a jumper and then Rob Monroe threw up the worst looking three pointer which was rebounded by Javier Mojica who threw the ball the length of the court to Demario Anderson who nailed a dunk which also nailed the final nail into the Season Casket for Quinnipiac. CCSU went on to win the game 95-85.

For a season that started so well it was a shame to have it end this way. starting the season 4-2, only to go on a losing streak capped off by losting to the defending NCAA Champion UCONN Huskies 123-71. But what ruined the Bobcats this year was not being able to hold onto a lead, as they lost to St. Francis of NY 69-63 earlier this year after leading 51-50 with a few minutes left in the game. Quinnipiac this season proved to be a one half team, they would either play a fantastic first half and a horrible second half or a great first half of a half and the second half of the second half but not a full game. Why? Isn't this the same Quinnipiac team that was picked to win the NEC championship last season and make it to the sweet 16? Isn't this the same team with Rob Monroe and CJ Vick? The answer is easy and it lies within the coaching staff here at Quinnipiac University and as long as Joe DeSantis is still in charge the men will not do anything.

Tonight the women's basketball team faces off against St. Francis of NY and if the Bobcats win then they will host a playoff game on Saturday.

~Chag

Pretty long blog today

2005-02-26T16:03:00.000-05:00

Let's start off with something that I have seen a lot of times since the World Series but is always a good laugh;
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Red Sox Conversion Form
NEW YORK YANKEES TO BOSTON RED SOX CONVERSION FORM

Thank you for your interest in becoming a member of the Boston Red Sox Fan Club. Due to an unprecedented volume of requests, we are currently processing only fan conversion registrations for New York Yankee fans. Conversion requests from other teams will be accepted once all Yankee requests are processed. We expect this to take a number of weeks based on the current backlog of requests. Please take a few moments to fill out the conversion form below to help us get to know you better and prescribe any required counseling to recover from your previous fan experience.

Name: _______________________________

Address:______________________________

Who's Your Daddy: ____________________

1. Please select your favorite recent Yankee new player acquisition:

[ ] "Flush" Gordon

[ ] "A-Bomb" Rodriquez

[ ] "Grand Slam" Vasquez

[ ] Kevin "Charlie" Brown

2. Which of the following would you most like to see as the most played YES Network film clip in 2005:

[ ] Rivera's blown save in Game 4

[ ] The Red Sox championship celebration on the pitcher's mound in Yankee stadium

[ ] Rivera's blown save in Game 5

[ ] The Red Sox spraying celebratory champagne on their fans in Yankee Monument Park

[ ] Vasquez's grand slam home run pitch to Johnny Damon in Game 7

[ ] The Red Sox celebrating in their Yankee Stadium locker room

[ ] Vaquez's second home run pitch to Johnny Damon in Game 7

[ ] David Ortiz being awarded the MVP trophy at Yankee Stadium

[ ] Mark Bellhorn's winning home run in Game 6

[ ] A-Rod crying in the Yankees dugout after game 7

3. Please indicate the last book you read:

[ ] How to lose the ALCS in four easy lessons

[ ] The Suicide Hotline - It's not just for Cubs' fans anymore

[ ] The Heimlich Maneuver -- What to do when choking

4. Which recent Yankees personnel move did you enjoy most:

[ ] Seeing future Hall-of-Famer Roger Clemens in an Astros uniform

[ ] Seeing David Wells in a Padres uniform

[ ] Seeing Tino Martinez in a Devil Rays uniform

[ ] Seeing Alphonso Soriano in a Rangers uniform

[ ] Seeing Manny Ramirez remain in a Red Sox uniform

5. Which following designation best describes Derek Jeter's effort in the ALCS:

[ ] Captain October

[ ] Captain Underpants

[ ] Captain & Tenille

6. Math: The Red Sox and the Yankees played 26 times in 2004. How many more games did the Red Sox win than the Yankees? (hint: the number is the same as the number in a four game sweep)

7. Please choose your favorite movie:

[ ] Anger Management

[ ] Hunt for Red October

[ ] Damned Yankees

[ ] Still We Believe

8. Finish this sentence: "Alex Rodriguez is

a. overrated

b. overpaid

c. overdue

d. over-inflated

e. over

9. Please select your favorite recent Yankee moment:

[ ] Bucky Dent throwing out the first pitch with more velocity than Kevin Brown

[ ] A-Rod mimicking every Jeter antic in the Yankees' dugout

[ ] The Yankees wearing themselves out by scoring 19 runs when it didn't really matter

[ ] Rivera failing to prevent unkempt hooligans from eating the Yankees' lunch

10. Math: How many times have the Yankees won the World Series in the last four years? (hint: less than one)

11. Please select the most vociferous Yankee fan:

[ ] Former NYC Mayor Rudi Giuliani

[ ] Present NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg

[ ] Tim McCarver (Fox announcer)

12. Are you ready to admit that:

a. Ted Williams was better than Joe DiMaggio? [ ] Yes [ ] No

b. Carl Yastzremski was a better than Mickey Mantle? [ ] Yes [ ] No

c. Carlton Fisk was better than Thurman Munson? [ ] Yes [ ] No

d. Manny Ramirez is faster than Bernie Williams? [ ] Yes [ ] No

d. Reggie Jackson was a better outfielder that Hideki Matsui? [ ] Yes [ ] No

e. Gary Sheffield's statistics are entirely attributable to steroid abuse? [ ] Yes [ ] No

f. No self-respecting parasite would invade Jason Giambi? [] Yes [ ] No.

g. The Yankees were unable to win the ALCS because ex-Red Sox manager Don Zimmer wasn't sitting next to Joe Torre making all the decisions? [] Yes [ ] No

h. The remainder of this century will be not be any better for the Yankees? [ ] Yes [ ] No

13. Please indicate your favorite moments in Yankee history: (Check all that apply):

[ ] Alex Rodriguez is traded to the Yankees

[ ] Don Mattingly never wins a World Series

[ ] The Yankees let Clemens get away

[ ] The Yankees pay millions to send Contreras to Chicago

[ ] The Yankees let Petitte get away

[ ] Giambi's steroid use causes a brain tumor

[ ] The Yankees let Wells get away

[ ] Mickey Mantle drinks himself to death

[ ] Billy Martin drinks himself to death

[ ] The New York Press hounds Roger Maris into psychosis

[ ] Babe Ruth drinks himself to death

14. Have you experienced any of the following after the embarrassing four game collapse? (Check all that apply)

[ ] Headache

[ ] Uncontrolled Anger

[ ] Heartache

[ ] Holes punched in doors or walls

[ ] Nausea

[ ] Smashed TV screens

[ ] Depression

[ ] Avoided Red Sox fans for days or weeks

Once you have completed this form, please forward it to Fenway Park. Then burn all your remaining Yankee clothing, memorabilia, and associated reminders. After reviewing your request, the Red Sox Fan Club will contact you with notification of acceptance or rejection.

I hereby acknowledge that the real curse is being a Yankee Fan.

I hereby renounce the New York Yankees for all eternity on this the ______ day of ________________, 200__

____________________________________ (Signed)

(Office Use Only)

[ ] Approved

[ ] Declined

______________________________

John Henry
***
Random News and Notes
By John Chagaris, College AP
February 26, 2005

Duke v. St. John's
Hamden, CT (New York, NY)
Column will be up later today
***
How about some of everybody's favorite, Chags and Zags;
***
Zags to George Steinbrenner.
Now this isn't the first time that I have placed the Zag tag on Steinbrenner but this time it is for a good reason. According to the Associated Press, Steinbrenner is pissed off at Jason Giambi's agent because Arn Tellem told Jason not to say anything.

"The court told Jason that he could say anything he wanted to," Steinbrenner said Saturday. "The court gave him permission. And Arn Tellem says no, he doesn't. He doesn't say anything."

"I just don't like the guy," Steinbrenner added, regarding Tellem.

Now this has to be one of the dumbest things that Steinbrenner has ever said, ofcourse Jason Giambi was not going to say anything because the Yankees have been looking for a while for something to use against him to get out of the contract and if he would have said something his contract would have been voided.
***
Chags to ESPN.com's Jayson Stark for picking the Red Sox to have the best lineup in the American League.

"Stunningly, they had a lot easier time beating the Yankees in this poll than they did in the ALCS. Of the 14 men who voted on the AL lineups, 13 picked the Red Sox as the best of the best. Hey, why not? They're already the fifth team in history to score at least 949 runs two years in a row. So just ahead are the 1930-31-32 Yankees and 1936-37-38-39 Yankees -- the only teams to do that at least three seasons in a row. And these Red Sox actually ought to be better offensively. They've added Edgar Renteria, who has averaged 40 doubles, 24 steals and 85 RBI a year over the last three seasons. So now every regular in this lineup has had at least a .370 on-base percentage in one, or both, of the last two seasons. Which is downright ridiculous," Jayson Said.
***
And Chags to ESPN.com's Jayson Stark because he also picked my national league team to have the best lineup in the National League.

"This team could win this award every year, couldn't it? In this millennium, the Cardinals lead the non-Coorsian portion of the NL in runs, hits, extra-base hits, batting average and on-base percentage. They've scored five-plus runs a game in six of the last seven seasons -- and averaged 4.9 a game the year they missed (2002). There were even arguments made last year that Larry Walker, Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds comprise the best middle of any order in the last half-century. We don't know about that. But the big news is that they're now minus Edgar Renteria and a leadoff man who hit .307 last year (Tony Womack). So it should tell you something that in this poll, they barely edged Florida -- a team they outscored by 137 runs last year," Jayson said about the Cardinals.
***
Zags to Nomar Garciaparra for turning down a World Series Championship Ring. As he said to fans at HoHoKam Park in Mesa Arizona, "I don't want it. They can keep it." He was also reported by a cubs fan, "You guys [Boston Fans] were so right about Nomar being a jerk. I guess he's Mr. Cub now, especially with Mia throwing out the first pitch at a Cubs game and getting a donation for her charity foundation from the Cubs foundation. Good riddance...an ungrateful bastard."
***
Zags to Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe. For his thoughts on the Celtics trade.
"I have spent all season defending Danny Ainge to the many naysayers who have questioned his thought process. I guess they think the Celtics should be winning 50 games, or something. I thought it was pretty obvious: Ainge was delivering on a campaign promise to remake the plodding, bombs-away Celtics he inherited into a dynamic, uptempo team. He had come up with a sensational draft in Al Jefferson, Tony Allen, and Delonte West. Kendrick Perkins was beginning to look like a keeper. We could now see the value of a healthy Raef LaFrentz. The Gary Payton thing was actually working out," Ryan said. "There have been two problems, both involving veterans. After receiving the big money, Mark Blount has been about 60 percent of the Mark Blount of a year ago. And then there was the resident star, who has played much of the season in a pout and who simply has not been willing to give his full support to the new way of doing things.

"Is the team talented? Yes. Is the team mentally fragile? Yes. Is the team maddeningly inconsistent? Yes. But is the team essentially lovable and rootable? Oh, yes, absolutely.

"So into this you bring Antoine Walker? I don't get it.

"With this move, Antoine becomes a trivia item. Baseball buffs know that a catcher named Harry Chiti was once traded for a player to be named later. When the season was over, guess who the player to be named later was? Harry Chiti. Well, Antoine now falls into an auxiliary category. Not even a year and a half ago, Antoine Walker was the central figure in a trade with the Dallas Mavericks. Now he's boomeranged his way back to Boston. What gives?

"If you recall, Ainge had a lot to say when he traded Antoine. The primary issue was supposed to be money. Antoine was looking for a maximum contract and the new director of basketball operations didn't think he was worth it. But it didn't end there. Ainge had made it clear when he was still broadcasting games for a living that he had no use for Antoine's basic game."

Well I have to guess that the Celtics beating the Jazz last night isn't enough for Big Bob. Sure Utah is 17-37, but they also have to play Seattle, San Antonio, and Dallas countless times. But putting that fact aside, who led the Celtics in Points, Blocks, and rebounds? Well that would be Walker with 24 points, 1 block, and 10 rebounds. How I see it, if this trade for Walker never happened then the Celtics would have lost to a pathetic 18-36 team instead of beating a 17-37 team.
***
Chags to Danny Ainge because of the trade. This is something that I have never said in my life because I have questioned every move that Danny made but I am starting to think that Theo might have given Danny some classes in how to trade within the last few weeks. We give up nothing to get Walker back. Wait Chag, we gave up Gary Payton, didn't we?

Well not really because the Hawks do not want Payton and he will be released and the Celtics will pick him right back up.
***
I don't know if this gets a Chag or Zag because of this whole dispute over naming rights over the Fleet Center for one day. If the FleetCenter president Richard Krezwick is stupid enough to go out there and allow somebody to buy the naming rights for one day then they should be stuck with what the winner picked. And that winner picked the Derek Jeter Center. First I have no idea why he picked that, well that is a lie, he picked that since he's a Yankee Fan and he wanted revenge on his former Harvard classmates who were Red Sox Fans. If you have some money you can buy the naming rights for one day, Click here for this auctionAnd you can click here for the chance to bid. But the day that Kerry Konrad won was for March 1 and after checking the Fleet Center Calendar I noticed that no event is even going on there and the only people who will even be at the Fleet Center that day will be the fans taking the train. Why doesn't somebody just pay a lot of money and rename the Fleet Center what it should be called, the Boston Garden.
***
Zags to the people in charge at TempleWhat John Chaney did was not that horrible. Coaches send out enforcers all the time, how often do you watch a hockey game and you hear about enforcers on the ice. It happens in Baseball when somebody is hit on your team then somebody on your team will hit a member of that team. In basketball if somebody does something wrong then the coach can put an enforcer out there. Do I agree with what he did, no but I respect it. I cannot believe that he was suspended for three games over this, this was not that big of a deal. And this is not new as John Calipari said, ""I'm kind of disgusted with Temple. How they would deal with him at this stage - he's been this way for 30 years. He hasn't changed. He's the same guy he was 10 years ago, 15 years ago. Why all of a sudden are you taking a stance? Because he's losing? If you want him to retire, ask him to retire." would somebody please explain this suspension to me?
***
This is an easy ZAG, Zags to Pirates CEO Kevin McClatchy. how does this person praise the NHL owners for having the lockout standing firm. Last I checked it was because of the owners that this season did not happen, and if you have not read my column on the NHL scroll down this page and take a look at it. Kevin McClatchy went on to say that he would love baseball to go through a lockout if an agreement could not be made and that MLB owners and NHL owners need to stick to their guns.
"I pay attention to the NHL. I watch it with a lot of interest," he said. "We know now, obviously, there's not going to be a season. What's going to come out of it is the big question. The market has just gone crazy." McClatchy also sits on Major League Baseball's Executive Committee and hopes to have an impact in reversing that trend during the next labor negotiations. "The game has to be fixed. I spoke up about that and said some things about my fellow owners that did get a lot of attention. I stand by everything I said. We've got to get this thing under control. I guarantee you, we are going to fight very, very hard to get the system changed." The thing is how is this system in need of a change, oh that's right how have the Pirates do this year, oh fifth in the Central, 32.5 games behind the Cardinals, How about 2003, oh fourth in the central, 13 games behind the Cubs. 2002, well how about fourth place, 24.5 games behind the Cardinals. 2001, how does last place in the National League, not to mention tied for the worst record in baseball and 31 games behind the Astros. How about 2000, well worst record in the National League and 23.5 games behind Chicago. Anybody seeing a trend here? 1999, well they wre third in teh Central but 18.5 games back. 1998 maybe, well worst record in the Central and 33 games behind Houston. Well 1997 was the last time they were close to winning the Central when they finished second, 5 games behind the Astros but their record was a pathetic 79-83. And back in 1996 well you guess it, last in the Central, 15 games behind the Cardinals. When was the last time the Pirates won the Central? Well never. Since the Central divisions were formed in 1994 the Pirates have never won the Central or even made the playoffs. Last time they made the playoffs was back in 1992 when they lost to the Atlanta Braves 4 games to nothing. Yes the same Braves who then lost to Toronto 4 games to two. But Pittsburgh has not been in the World series since they won it in 1979 against Baltimore 4 games to 3. So my question is how can Pittsburgh complain about the way MLB is run when their problem is spending money to get players, or atleast keeping the ones they have?
***
Well 3131 words later and this Blog is done, the Duke Column will be up later tonight and this will be updated. Leave some,
~Chag

Bobcat Blitz Preview for this week February 25th

2005-02-25T14:42:00.000-05:00

1) Randy Moss has reportedly been traded to the Raiders, guys did the Raiders make the right choice for going after moss and giving up a 7th overall pick?

2) The NBA is talking about a minimum age of 20 to join the NBA, guys how would this effect not only the NBA but college basketball?

3) Drew Bledsoe now has officially signed with the Dallas Cowboys, guys was this the right “First move” for this offseason for the Cowboys?

4) Earlier this week Shaq went down in a game against the Bulls with a knee injury. Guys how will an extended injury effect the Heat?

1) Lavernues Coles is screaming in Washington and is demanding his release because he thinks the Redskins were pathetic with a 6-10 record and he does not like Joe Gibb’s offense. Guys where will Lavernues be when the season starts next season?

2) The Boston Celtics made a trade with the Atlanta Hawks sending Gary Payton south and sending Walker north. Guys

3) Chris Webber is headed to Philadelphia due to a trade that sent him to the 76ers as part of a six player deal. Guys how will the 76ers finish in the East?

4) As of taping the Kansas City Jay Hawks have lost three straight, guys how will this decline affect the rest of their season including playoffs?

1) Ray Allen wants out of Seattle and Michael Redd wants out of Milwaukee, guys who would you rather have?
2) Guys which team in the NBA is the strongest?
3) Guys which team is going to win the ACC Championship in men’s basketball?
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Check back tomorrow for a full column which will talk about Nomar not getting a championship ring.

Blitz Preview, Triple Play preview

2005-02-17T20:47:00.000-05:00

And here is your weekly Bobcat Blitz Preview;

1) And the News is this, as expected for some time now the National Hockey League has canceled their entire season, Commissioner Gary Bettman came on Mike and Mike on ESPNRadio this past Thursday and said that they couldn’t make a deal while the players wouldn’t make a deal. Guys who is to blaime?

2) Earlier this week Trot Nixon and Alex Rodriguez had an exchange of words. Guys when it comes up to put up or shut up, which team will have a better season, The Red Sox or the Yankees?

3) Mike Greenwell 1988 MVP? Well for most baseball fans this does not sound right because Jose Canseco won the award, but Mike has come out and said “I do have a problem with losing the MVP to an admitted steroids user. Guys should admitted steroid users have their awards stripped?

4) During this whole steroid scandal some key names have been named such as Roger Clemens and Gary Sheffield, guys do you believe or not that either of these guys used steroids?

1) As of taping, Tiger Woods has a chance to regain the #1 ranking, guys do you believe or not that Tiger will finish this season as the #1 golfer?

2) Guys your Quinnipiac Baseball team have several of its top players returning including Bryan Sabatella, Brien Magee, Ari Kafka and Pat Egan, guys where will the Bobcats finish in the NEC this season?

3) Guys earlier this week the Buffalo Bills released veteran quarterback Drew Bledsoe, guys which team needs him the most?

4) Guys will Bret Farve return to the NFL Next season?

1) Who has been the biggest surprise this season in the NBA?

2) As of taping the Daytona 500 has yet to happen but as of viewing it will have aired, but nether the less guess which driver will win the chase for the Nextel cup this year?
3) With Spring training on the horizon we figured we’d pose this question, guys which team had the best offseason?

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Triple PLAY PREVIEW;

MAKE SURE IF YOU ARE FREE TO CALL (203) 281-0011 BETWEEN 9-11 AM EVERY FRIDAY TO SPEAK ON TRIPLE PLAY.

Items we will be talking about are; where will Bledsoe show up. We attempt to talk Nascar, hopefully someone out there will call in!!!!!And we will talk about the state of the NHL and how The Great one and Super Mario are trying to save the league. All that and more tomorrow, (Friday) on Triple Play, Ninjas call in tomorrow between 9-11.

~Chag

NHL, the time is now

2005-02-15T18:31:00.000-05:00

By John Chagaris, College AP
February 15, 2005

Hamden, CT (Boston, Ma) – Congratulations, Hockey is back at the Fleet Center in Boston, Mass. If for a second you thought I was talking about the Bruins then you are dead wrong. Last night at the Fleet Center the Northeastern Huskies took on the Boston University Terriers in a classic overtime game. Huskies v. Terriers, and no for those people that are convinced that the Westminster Dog Show is actually a sporting event this was not the same event. The Terriers lived up to the hype playing in the BU Invite, as it is affectionately called in Boston, to knock off the Huskies. This game was one that should never have gone into overtime and if it was not for Jared Mudryk’s goal with a few minutes left in regulation. Then in true Boston fashion a Bourque scored the game winning goal, no not Ray Borque, Chris Bourque.

"He's done that so many times in this building and the (Boston) Garden, and I don't think I can compare," Chris Bourque said of his father. "It's just really cool to see his jersey in the rafters and to score the overtime winner."

NHL Lockout
Now onto the subject which everybody wants to discuss and it is the fate of the No Hope League, also known as the National Hockey League. Already falling from the ranks of the “Big Four”, hockey continues to lose fans each day, which is one of the reasons the Players Union has accepted a salary cap. Great this lockout is over right? Well not exactly, the salary cap is still twelve million dollars too high according to the owners.

``It is indeed unfortunate that with the major steps taken by both sides we were unable to build enough momentum to reach an agreement,'' players' association senior director Ted Saskin said.

Unfortunate is an understatement. We are talking about twelve million dollars, less than what Alex Rodriguez makes in a season ($22 million). According to USA Today last season twenty-seven MLB players made more than twelve million. Dodger’s pitcher Darren Dreifort ($12,400,000.00), Diamondback pitcher Randy Johnson ($16,000,000.00), Braves pitcher Mike Hampton ($14,625,000.00), Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez ($17,500,000.00), Yankee Pitcher Kevin Brown ($15,714,286.00), Yankee Pitcher Mike Mussina ($16,000,000.00), Cardinals’ Matt Morris ($12,500,000), Rangers’ pitcher Chan Ho Park ($14,000,000.00), Mets’ catcher Mike Piazza ($16,071,429.00), Astros’ first baseman Jeff Bagwell ($16,000,000.00), Dodgers first baseman Shawn Green ($16,666,667.00), Mets first baseman Mo Vaughn ($17,166,667.00), Phillies first baseman Jim Thome ($12,166,667.00), Yankee first baseman Jason Giambi (12,428,571.00), Blue Jays first baseman Carlos Delgado ($19,700,000.00), Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter ($18,600,000.00), Cardinals outfielder Larry Walker ($12,666,667.00), Astros outfielder Richard Hidalgo ($12,500,000.00), Braves outfielder Andruw Jones ($12,500,000.00), Braves outfielder Chipper Jones ($15,333,333.00), Red Sox outfielder and World Series MVP Manny Ramirez ($22,500,000.00), Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa ($16,000,000.00), Reds outfielder Ken Griffey Junior ($12,500,000.00), Yankees outfielder Gary Sheffield ($13,000,000.00), Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams ($12,357,143.00), Giants’ outfielder Barry Bonds ($18,000,000.00). Yes that was a very long list but we are only talking twelve million to save a season and a dying league.

``We probably could've gotten this thing done in the summertime,'' Chicago forward Matthew Barnaby said. ``Am I mad, no? I want to get back to work. But at the same time, I'm just a little disappointed that it went this far to play poker and to have someone call your bluff.''

Well I must say that I am happy that Matthew Barnaby is not upset, but what about all fifty-hockey fans across the country. What about the young fans in Pittsburgh who want to see Super Mario just one more time, what about Lord Stanley’s Cup?

``If that's where we were going, I wonder why now,'' said Buffalo Sabres player representative Jay McKee.

Well Jay I do not know if this is new information to you but you are playing in a dying league, and without this salary cap it is dead, and the players are smart enough to realize this.

``There is no question the system has to change,'' said New Jersey Devils president Lou Lamoriello, who took part in earlier negotiating sessions. ``We just have to keep working to find a solution. It's unfortunate we have to come this.
``If the season does end, we can't stop. We have to continue working at this and get it rectified as soon as we possibly can.''
Well Lou, you are correct, we are in day 153 of the NHL lockout and the ball is finally in the owners’ court, not it is time to score the winner to capture the championship.

But who is to blame?
Well this has turned into huge mess and a huge knot that Survivor contestants would not even attempt in an immunity challenge. According to a sports column written by Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke (http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/la-sp-plaschke30jan30,1,237184.column?coll=la-headlines-sports-columnists) the lock out can only be blamed on one group, the players.
“And where do hockey players feel it? Ignoring the nutty passion of a niche sport because they want to make more money than the average guy playing in the Super Bowl?

The NHL players — tap your head twice — have nothing up there.

Their season has been lost, and it's their fault. Their sport has been crushed, and it's their footprints.”
Bill might be onto something here if the players union did not accept a salary cap, I have always and will always back the players because they are lowest paid athletes in the big four, and twelve million is not a lot of money to these owners, hockey players average $1.8 million dollars a season.
“Completely misjudging the market, hockey players gave America the chance to learn to live without them,” Bill wrote.
But Bill, the problem is that these players are going to make money anyway by going to Europe and playing in those leagues, by playing in the AHL, the players do not need the owners, the owners need the players.
“The players are demanding Fortune 500 salaries when, in fact, they work in a boutique.

The hottest thing on ice has become the Arena Football League on ice.

When the NHL finally does come back to work, the damage wrought will reduce its place on the American sports landscape to somewhere alongside the WNBA,” Bill added.
And Fortune 500 salaries these men should make when they put their bodies on the line for their owners and fans. Never knowing if your skate is going to get caught in the ice and hyper extending your knee, never knowing if you will get injured in a fight. And how the arena football league can be compared to the NHL is laughable because the arena football league runs up the scoreboard each and every night.

In conclusion I would first like to thank Bill Plaschke for allowing me to use his column, secondly to the NHL owners; since I am one of the fifty NHL fans across the country I am begging you to bring back the NHL and here are a few rule changes I would like to see happen. Rule A, bigger nets. Rule B, smaller goalie pads. Rule C, the red line needs to be eliminated. Rule D, get rid of icing. Rule E, keep the goalie in front of the red line. Rule F, if the game goes into overtime start it with 4 on 4, if it is still tied after 5 minutes make it 3 on 3, and then after 5 more minutes make it a shootout. A part of one of my favorite movies is the Mighty Ducks when they have a shootout to win the championship. These ideas would improve scoring, would make the games more fun to watch, and would draw the fans back. NHL Owners, the ball or should I say puck is on your side of the ice.

Material from the Associated Press, and Bill Plaschke were used in this report.

Duke v. Maryland

2005-02-13T02:43:00.000-05:00

By John Chagaris, College AP
February 13, 2005

Hamden, CT (College Park, Md) – After twenty minutes the Blue Devils were down by five, after forty minutes the game was tied at 88, due to the clutch shooting down the stretch. But sending the game into overtime was as close as Coach K’s Blue Devils would get this night, as Maryland becomes the first team to sweep Duke in a season series since the 90’s, and this is the first time that Duke has lost three straight times to Maryland since 1982.

``I think it's great. You realize the games were close, so you don't gloat,'' Maryland coach Gary Williams said. ``You just feel good because you beat a great program and a great coach.''
Well great coaching yes and a great program on most nights but Maryland had the upper hand in this contest as they were able to do what most teams could not do this season and that is finding an answer for JJ Redick. As he scored a quiet 23 points, while shooting a very cold 5-19 from field goal range and an even more pathetic 3-10 from three point range. Just how powerful was the Maryland offense, well Reddick didn’t get his first basket until eight minutes had passed in the first half

``It was frustrating. We were definitely at a disadvantage missing five of our main players,'' Duke guard J.J. Redick said. ``They just had more overall athleticism than we did in overtime because they still had their main guys.''

And that advantage started to shift towards Maryland shortly after Ewing was hit with a technical early in the second half. Duke still held an 86-82 advantage with 1:34 left to go in the second half when a switch was flipped by Ekene Ibekwe and John Gilchrist to make the score 88-86. With 34 seconds left DeMarcus Nelson tied the game and due to a missed show by Gilchrist and Nik Caner-Medley forced the game to go into overtime where the game was all Maryland.

Duke went ice cold in overtime only scoring four points which all came from the line (Duke went 0-9 from the field during overtime).

``Good teams play well against each other,'' Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. ``That's why we play well against them. They're a very good basketball team; they played with high energy and a sense of purpose.''

A sense of purpose is an understatement as Duke did not play like the number seven team in the county as the team fell apart as five Blue Devils fouled out late in the second half and overtime.

Duke will try to rebound as they travel to Virginia Tech on Thursday, tip off is at 9 pm.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Blitz Preview, Triple Play preview

2005-02-10T22:16:00.000-05:00

Here is your exclusive look at this weeks Bobcat blitz, this is before I even mail out the questions to this weeks contestants;

1)And the News is this, the Patriots won their third super bowl in the last four years, guys are the Patriots a dynasty?

2) Steroids are once again in the news but this time it is Jose Canseco who has recently written a book about steroids. Guys do you believe Canseco’s claims written in his book about players like McGwire, and Pudge Rodriguez using steroids?

3) Guys after losing his offensive coordinator, Norm Chow, will Matt Leinart file for the NFL draft?

4) Guys at the start of the NFL season which team will Randy Moss be on?

1) Guys out of the top three teams in the NBA East are the Heat, Pistons and Cavaliers, guys who is the biggest contender and the biggest pretender here?

2) Guys out of the top three teams in the West; the Supersonics, Suns, and Spurs, guys who is the biggest contender and the biggest pretender?

3) Guys a few bubble teams are the Boston Celtics, the Washington Wizards and the Orlando Magic, guys who is the biggest contender?

4) In the west the bubble teams are the Timberwolves, the Lakers and the Rockets, guys who is the biggest contender?

1) Guys do you think that John Smoltz will be more effective as a starter or a closer?

2) Guys who was the best NBA off season pickup?

3) Guys the 49ers are on the clock, who do you think they will pick in the NFL draft?
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Triple PLAY PREVIEW;

MAKE SURE IF YOU ARE FREE TO CALL (203) 281-0011 BETWEEN 9-11 AM EVERY FRIDAY TO SPEAK ON TRIPLE PLAY.

Items we will be talking about are; where will Randy Moss be playing, will Freddie Mitchell please SHUT THE HELL UP, And what's up with the deal that Nomar Garciaparra was named in Jose Canseco's book, and who does the final out of the World Series ball belong too? All that and more tomorrow, (Friday) on Triple Play, Ninjas call in tomorrow between 9-11.

~Chaggy

Duke v. UNC

2005-02-10T09:40:00.000-05:00

By John Chagaris, College AP
February 10, 2005

Hamden, CT (Durham, NC) --Even through Rashad McCants went to the hoop and cut the lead to one, North Carolina was not able to take the lead and the game. The huge key to Duke's success was that his team only had 15 turn overs.

``We were fortunate that we were able to get back and not commit too many turnovers where they had runs,'' Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. ``We committed turnovers, but they didn't have runs where they had the numerical advantage.''

Fortunate would be an understatement, how could North Carolina with some serous time left on the clock not get off a shot? This has to be the exact same question that is being asked about Super Bowl Sunday when fans were wondering why the Eagles during the final two minutes refused to go into a no huddle offense.

``It seemed like a long time, and I was just hoping that that clock went down before they got a shot off,'' Nelson said. ``We played some great defense, and we made them try to do something that they weren't ready for.''

But a great shooting team can nine times out of ten get a shot off with in 18 seconds. Another huge key to success for the Blue Devils was their excellent free throw shooting while they only missed one out of twenty-two. The reason that the Tar Heels did not win was they were only 17-23 from the line. Duke went 10-25 from three point range while the Tar Heels went 3-14 from the same line. UNC had 8 more turnovers, 8 more rebounds, 12 more rebounds, 2 less assists, but another key fact was 13 less steals.

``They slowed us down when they got the job done on offense,'' North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. ``I mean, they spread the floor and controlled the tempo that way. And in their pressure defense, there's no question that bothered us, too.''

How can your leading scorer (Sean May) score 5 more than DUke's leadings scorer (J.J. Redick) and have their leading rebounder (Sean May) had twice the amount than Duke's (Shelden Williams).

``They're good, they're solid,'' May said. ``They don't run many traps or scrambles, they're just solid man-to-man pressure. They play better D at home just because of the fans the atmosphere they bring. They're almost as solid as you can get.''

Duke next plays Maryland on Saturday night at Maryland, tip off is at 9 pm.

~Chaggy

Super Bowl Preview, Blitz Preview, Triple Play preview

2005-02-03T13:39:00.000-05:00

Well let me start with my Super Bowl Preview, the spread as of 7 and I'm going to not take that since I think that the Patriots will win by a Field Goal and the Over/Under is now up to 48 and I am going to say over.
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And here is your Bobcat Blitz preview for ths episode which will air on Monday, but taped on Saturday;

1)And the News is this, The Los Angeles Lakers are without a head coach. Just the other day former head coach Rudy Tomjanovich resigned as head coach of the Lakers citing health reasons as the reason. Guys how will the rest of the season go for the Lakers?

Follow up; Rumors are flying that Phil Jackson might make a return, will that be a good move for the Lakers.

Follow up; is that a good move for Jackson.

2) Earlier this week George Steinbrenner met with A-Rod and told him that he needed to be a leader. Guys do you think that he needs to be a leader?

3) Yogi Berra is suing TBS because of their Sex in the City ad campaign in which people were asked to define yoga and the choices were; “A type of yo-yo trick. B. Sex with Yogi Berra or C. What Samantha has with a guy from yoga class. Do you agree that this will make people look down on Yogi?

4) Our sources at Benmaller.com have informed us that Gary Payton continues to demand a trade to a Western Conference team even through the Celtics are in a playoff race. How will this effect the Celtics down the stretch?

Follow up; Should Gary be traded and to whom?

1) Can you see anything higher than a sweet sixteen finish for the Boston College Eagles?

2) How many home runs will Sammy Sosa hit this season?

3) Do the Colts need to keep Edgerrin James?

4) Larry Brown has stated that coaching the Detroit Pistons will be his last coaching job? Can you see Brown coaching another team in the future?

1) Guys who will win the NBA West?

2) Who or which team was the biggest surprise this year in the National Football League?

3) Guys, two football players who are rumored to announce their retirement are Bret Farve and Emmitt Smith, guys for the game who had a better career?

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Starting next week we will have a Triple Play Preview and a Triple Play recap, for those who aren't at QU, Triple Play is my Radio show on WQAQ 98.1 am from 9-11 am every Friday. Catch the Rock Jock, Chaggy, and Scrappy as we talk about sports.
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If you have time today please read Bill Plaschke's latest column; http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-plaschke3feb03,1,5088784.column?coll=la-headlines-sports
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I have two showdown submissions for wp.com, but I still need some more.
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And for a certain reader who lives right near St. Louis, MO give me a call, it's about the Cardinals game on June 8th.
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We are now selling copies of Bobcat blitz via Bobcatblitz@q30.org each DVD costs $5 which will help cover shipping, unless you ask very nicely and I can see what I can do to get it to you for free.
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How about that Duke game last night, damn Wake Forest
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Guys tonight at 9 pm, EST make sure that you watch ESPN2 as Beloit faces Grinnell. Grinnell is a fast pased team who lives by the three. How many points do they score you ask, well let us put it this way, they once lost a game when they scored 149 points.
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That's the blog for today, leave some love,
~Chaggy

A Pissed off Bobcat in Hamden, CT

2005-02-01T09:43:00.000-05:00

Some how do I say Asshole things that it would be cool to spam not only my blog and tag board but to attack Anna's. AS of right now my tag board is GONE. It is a damn shame that something great like a tag board could be spammed like that and it really pisses me off, and for those who know me know that I have a very cool head unless somebody pisses me off and this has really put me over the edge. If I know you and you're doing this, which I'm guessing I must due to some of the comments made and how else would you know what my old screenname was. Just pathetic guys and I would not have noticed it if it wasn't for a friend down in D.C. who called me when I was in class and told me what was going on. Pathetic, I think that is the only way to say it. This pisses me off more than when SS picks a homer pick, or during mine and Anna's online feud last year, this is piss poor pathetic and I am not fucking happy at all.

~Chag

It's been a while so let's get a column up here

2005-01-29T18:16:00.000-05:00

First Chags to me for finally learning to spell Column. Justin it only took what 5 months.
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Does anybody except me think that because everybody is expecting that the Patriots are going to win that this game might be much closer than anybody expects and that the Eagles might pull it off because of that fact. [To get my opinions check out this week's Blitz. If you currently do not get Blitz call up your cable company and complain or send an email to Bobcatblitz@q30.org to request a copy.]
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Congrats to S. Williams for winning the Aussie Open, even through nobody in my dorm watched it since we were all annoyed that we stayed up to watch Sharapova-Chagaris lose after she had it won.
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And how about Jeff Thomason, can you imagine going to you boss and saying *team name* wants me to take time off to go and play in the Super Bowl.
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Would this situation with Sammy Sosa end already. Will somebody trade him already, I know that the deal with the Orioles is almost done. I'm sick of it and that just isn't because I'm a Cardinals fan.
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So Doug Mientkiewicz is goign to allow the Red Sox to display the ball, but what annoys me is that the Sox think that they own that ball I am sorry they do not. People think it was a surprise that he kept the ball but everybody in Boston knew right away that he had the ball still, and he should own it.
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Did anybody else get a chance to look at ESPN 360, wow that was cool.
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I really can't wait for next season to see if the Patriots can still be the best team without their cordinators.
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Sure this isnt' sports related but has anybody else heard that Macy's and Filene's might merge?
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And can you say Mercy, the Super Bowl bet this year is something else, the following is reprinted from http://www.benmaller.com/archives/2005/january/29-governors_singing_super_bowl_bet.html with permission. "The Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, and his Pennsylvania counterpart, Ed Rendell, couldn't reach an agreement earlier in the week on a Super Bowl bet involving food, but have finally come up with a wager.

The loser will travel to the winner's state and, during a game between the cities' NBA teams, sing the national anthem in his rival city's jersey.

Romney is willing to display his pipes, but if the Eagles lose, Rendell's wife, Midge, a trained opera singer, will perform for Celtics' fans."
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And the rumor mill is turning and this time it's about former Sox Pitcher Rich Garces, also known as El Guarpo, who has been reported as kidnapped in Venezuela.
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I just want to tell a certain writer that when you post a blog, you do not need to post it three times.
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Zags to Quinnipiac. YOU WERE BEATING LIU-BROOK AND YOU BLEW IT, DAMN YOU MONROE.
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And about Monroe, how about Rob Monroe being nominated for point guard of the year, go QU
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And about a column written by Sally Jenkins earlier this week, "NO KIDDING, MEN AND WOMEN DON'T SEE SPORTS THE SAME WAY, WHO KNEW."
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And when will teams who play the Patriots learn, you had Vanderjerk who said that the Pats were ripe for the picking and now we have Freddy Mitchell who couldn't name players on the Pats, mercy.
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That's the blog for today leave some,
~Chag

To see how well you know me

2005-01-25T16:29:00.000-05:00

http://www02.quizyourfriends.com/yourquiz_IM.php?quizname=050125162433-911424&email=&c=1&a=01

That's all for today,
~Chag

Post number two for today

2005-01-22T19:03:00.000-05:00

I'm stealing this from Alex Shelley's blog, for those who have no clue who he is he is a wrestler who wrestles for NWA-TNA and Ring of Honor, this is a riot. To protect his Screenname I have used my screenname
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The anti message.
So people, I'm gonna try and clear this up right quick. It's been great talking to some of you, but I saw Jacobs posted an entry on some formal IM etiquette. Ettiquette. Edikit. Whatever. And I now feel compelled to do the same. I'll make sure to post a much longer update this week dealing with Spanky madness, Foley giving me a DDT, and getting my car stuck on Tim Hortons sidewalk. But for now, let us examine the occassional retard that IMs me.

Cheetor1707: hi
Chagjohn: hello.
Cheetor1707 signed on at 3:41:53 PM.
Cheetor1707: ur Really alex shelley
Cheetor1707: ?

(Now honestly, is it that hard to type "your"? But furthermore, why in the world would ANYONE want to pretend they're an indy wrestler anyway? Much less me?)

Chagjohn: why wouldn't I be?
Cheetor1707: well people pretend top be people a lot

(Once more, notice the horrible punctuation. I was an English major at one point, so this stuff jumps on my last never. Again, I ask, why would anyone pretend to be someone else ONLINE? Yeah, you're gonna get laid that way.)

Chagjohn: um. well, I don't.
Cheetor1707: could u send me a autographed photo?
Chagjohn: if you'd like to buy an 8 x 10.
Cheetor1707: buy?
Chagjohn: buy.
Cheetor1707: das not koo
Chagjohn: really? how do you expect me to pay for the photo, exactly?

(Apparently, random retard here expects me to send them free stuff. Now, under the right circumstances, I perhaps wouldn't be so disinclined. But for now, I'm incredibly broke, and it's winter, so my 8 x 10 tree isn't in season. What were they expecting? "Here's a photo. Would you like some money out of my wallet as well?")

Cheetor1707: could i ask u some questions
Chagjohn: Why don't you answer mine first?
Cheetor1707: well i understand about the photo thing
Chagjohn: What do you want to know then?
Cheetor1707: whats ur real name?
Chagjohn: Why in the world would I tell you that? What's it matter anyway?

(I think my response says it all right there. Honestly, we're dealing with a total mongoloid here.)

Cheetor1707: lier
Cheetor1707: u aint shelley
Chagjohn: If you say so, captain.
Cheetor1707: lol

(So, of course, because I don't give dude the name on my birth certificate, he's hot. He'd probably carve it into himself with the end of a hot coat hanger or something anyway. And lol has to be the worst series of letters ever.)

Chagjohn: So are you just trying to be retarded or what?
Cheetor1707: WTF u aint Sheellley u ar e probaly some kid tryin to act like him
Chagjohn: Dude, fine. Then don't talk to me.

(As our dimwitted friend fumbles his way through the English language, the conversation is concluded.)

So, after taking the time to give an example of what people SHOULD not do, I hope the extra three minutes of my life will make a difference. Furthermore, if you're going to rip on me in the comments section down here, at least explain why you're reading my journal to begin with. I don't get why you'd be interested in taking time to take this in, then proceed to try to bury me, you little abortions that got away. And with that, I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. This snow sucks. Ciao! ~AS

~Chaggy

Well let's do some Jeers and Cheers and some other sports talk

2005-01-22T16:20:00.000-05:00

For those who care, and for those who don't, I'm back at Quinnipiac so my yahoo account is back alive.
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Let's start with some Jeers and Cheers;
Jeers to Clemens and the Astros agreeing on an 18 million dollar deal, sure that is more than Pedro but how much money does one person really need. As it was said on PTI, now clemens has enough money to feed his and Spreewell's kids.
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A quick break from Jeers and Cheers, can you believe that somebody would change their name because of Reggie Miller; http://www.benmaller.com/archives/2005/january/22-australian_fan_adopts_pacer_players_first_name.html
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Jeers to the Cubs for not trading Sosa yet, what are you waiting for?
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Jeers to the Red Sox, yes I just said Jeers to the Red Sox, for talking about filing a lawsuit against Doug Mientkiewicz because Doug has decided that he wants to keep the ball that was the last out of the 2004 world series. I'm sorry if he wants it and Major League Baseball tells him that the ball belongs to him and the Sox are going to let Derek Lowe keep the ball that was the last out of the 2004 ALCS then I believe that Doug should own the ball. Shame on the Sox for demanding the ball back, chances are that he will be traded now.
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Zags to the Knicks for firing head coach Don Chaney. I mean this team doesn't even look good on paper. Sure you have Penny Hardaway, Allan Houston, Stephon Marbury, but that's it. Vin Baker is horrible, who are Kurt and Tim Thomas. This team is filled with nobodies and the knicks need to think about getting rid of Isiah Thomas.
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Zags to the FCC and Fox for making the Best Damn Sports Show Period Pre-Superbowl show called the Best Darn Super Bowl Roadshow.
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Zags to Fox for installing Turn Cam which will debut at the Super Bowl, the Diamond Cam was such a success with Posada running over it what is going to stop the football players.
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Zags to this kid on the wp.com board who has decided to not only take shots at myself but at Tony Reali, saying things such as who hired him? Dude shut the hell up.
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Well that's the blog for today but here are my picks for tomorrows games;
Patriots over Steelers
Falcons over Eagles

Leave some,
Chag

Is this kid from New England a Dixie or a Red Sox, can't say Yankee

2005-01-14T13:23:00.000-05:00

to take this quiz go to; http://www.adamsonhigh.com/yankee_dixie_quiz.html

1) i pronounce Aunt like Want which is Clearly Massachusetts, SE Maine, or Rhode Island

2) I pronounce caramel with two syllables which is Most common around the Great Lakes and into the northeast U.S.

3)Creek rhymes with Meek which is Common throughout the entire United States

4) 4. How do you pronounce the second syllable in pajamas? Well it would have to be rhyming with jam because it is jam Northeast United States and Great Lakes, and west Coast

5)How do you pronounce route? Well rhyming with Clout of course which is Most common to the Northeast United States

6) Do you pronounce "cot" and "caught" the same way? Well yes I do, which is Common nearly everywhere

7)How do you address a group of people? Well You all which Common nearly everywhere ("you guys" favors northern), I did tihnk of you guys first through.

8) What kind of sale is it on the front lawn? well a yard sale of course; All of U.S.; slightly favors the southeast

9) What's that long sandwich with lots of cold cuts and toppings? Oh give me a grinder, Throughout Connecticut north to Vermont

10) What's the tiny lobster that crawls around in creek bottoms? You mean crayfish; Northeast U.S. and Great Lakes region

11) What do you call gym shoes? Must be talking about sneakers here; Very strongly biased toward the Northeast United States

12) What is spread onto the tops of cakes; you mean frosting; New England and western Great Lakes

13) What's that road along an Interstate highway? A service road ofcourse; Used nationwide, especially in urban areas

14) What do you put groceries in? Well i've never heard of a Poke so a bag; Used nationwide and in southern urban areas

15) Where might you get water in a public building? Oh this is easy, show me the Bubblah; Heavy bias in southern Wisconsin and Massachusetts

16) What is that bubbly carbonated drink called? You mean a soda; Used heavily in northeast US and California

17)What's it called when you throw toilet paper over a house? Well that's toilet papering; Used throughout United States

18) What's the night before Halloween called? Oh good old Mischief night, or in New Hampshire we call this the night we trick or treat. Centered heavily on New York City and New Jersey.

19) I hope you're enjoying reading this as much as I'm typing it; What's a drive through liquor store called? Ah Quinnipiac University. What that isn't a choice, well then I've never heard of it; Dont worry, this is a common response.

20) What's that bug that rolls into a ball when you touch it? A roly poly; Most common to the southeast U.S.

So I am 43% (Red Sox). Barely into the Red Sox category. I would like to inform people that if you have it recompute your score it goes up and after I clicked it 3 times it make me 100% dixie. I'm guessing people in the south have to click things many times before it works for them.

That's the blog for today, sports will return tomorrow.
~Chag

The Quinnipiac Guru tries to get more than one pick right

2005-01-13T10:48:00.000-05:00

Here are the matchups for this weekend in the No Fun league;

NFC:

#1 Eagles
vs
#6 Vikings

#2 Falcons
vs
#5 Rams

AFC:

#1 Steelers
vs
#5 Jets

#2 Patriots
vs
#3 Colts
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I am going to pick the Eagles over the Vikings just because I can't see the Vikings winning another playoff game. The Falcons will defeat the Rams seeing I have Falcons v. Pats in the Super Bowl I can't change that now. The Steelers will make short work of the Jets and the game won't even be close. And the Patriots win a shootout oer the Colts as Troy Brown will intercept Manning on the final drive and run it back for a touchdown. ~~~How do you like that Anna?
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Let's do a quick Chags and Zags.
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First seeing I know that some member of the ATH staff reads this, WHERE DID WOODY'S BLACKBOARD GO? Zags to ATH for TELLING WOODY TO GET RID OF IT BECAUSE IT WAS TOO DISTRACTING.
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Zags to my horrible picks from last week; 1-3, ouch!
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Zags to a certain reader of this blog, no it isn't you Anna or Justin there are other people who read this, who decided to tear apart my latest edition of Blitz. Wow.
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Zags to everybody who blew up the Randy Johnson thing. it wasn't that big, get over it. If somebody came up to me with a camera I would push you out of the way, ofcourse I'd do that after modeling in it for a few seconds.
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Chags to the vacations plans I've already made for St. Louis, Chicago, and Orlando. Going to be a fun Chag Summer.
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Well that's the blog for today, leave some,
~Chag

The way the NFL playoffs will go

2005-01-08T16:23:00.000-05:00

Ok here are the Quinnipiac Guru's picks;
Broncos over colts, due to the fact that the Colts lost a St. louis bet for me, someone of the board knows what i'm talking about.

Chargers beat the Jets

Packers destroy the Vikings

Rams beat the Seahawks

Which would make the Steelers over the Chargers and the Pats over the Jets

The Eagles over the Rams and the Falcons over the Packers

Pats over the Steelers and the Falcons over the Eagles

Falcons over the Pats in the Super bowl.

~Chaggy

Chags and Zags and some Quoteable Quotes from a reader

2005-01-06T09:10:00.000-05:00

First lets start with the quotable quotes that were given to me last night, reader you know who you are;
not to drink and drive
have safe sex
keep your purse with you at all times
Do not walk to your car in a dark alleyway by yourself
eat an apple a day
wear galoshes in the rain
dont eat crackers in bed
a penny saved is a penny earned
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Now let's Chags and Zags it;
Zags to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, what kind of a name is that. We know that in Boston the home jerseys say Red Sox and the away say Boston, so are the Angels going to have theirs say Angels and Los Angeles of Anaheim?
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Zags to Commish Selig for allowing that lopsided trade involving the Yankees and Arizona to go through.
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Chags to the Eagles of Boston College for upsetting the Huskies of Yukon. Isn't Yukon having a bad year, losing to UMaSS and now losing the BC. The only thing that would have been worse is if they lost to Quinnipiac.
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Chags to USC for their excellent BCS appearance as they were named champions of the NCAA, and well deserved but I still fell that we need a playoff system since Auburn was screwed
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And on that note Zags to the Presidents of the colleges who are the ones responsible for now having a playoff system.
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How much more Chaos can we have in the Biggest College Scandal until we get a playoff system, now we only have the ESPN/USA today coaches poll and the computer to determine who goes where. We need a selection group and a tournament to go along with it.
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That's the blog for today, I would like to pass along condolences to a reader and a fellow ninja who for his protection will not be named.

~Chaggy

Time for an update

2005-01-05T21:41:00.000-05:00

The Sound of Fenway
(to the tune of ‘My Favorite Things’)

We give no trade clauses with free agent signing,
The World Series trophy is ours no more whining,
Bullpen with Foulke, no fear of late innings,
These are a few of my favorite things.

On base percentage to fill Bill James’ doodles,
we won’t have our hitters with bats like wet noodles
Four pitches per at bat no more first pitch swings
These are a few of my favorite things.

Damon with power and stolen base dashes,
Manny and Ortiz with their homerun smashes,
No more ‘1918’ heard in Florida springs,
These are a few of my favorite things.

When the Sox lose, when the scribe stings,
when I'm feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
and then I don't feel so bad.

Pitchers with cornrows and batters with whiskers,
Fenway Park ushers who now have to frisk us,
Admission price has become cheap for kings,
these are a few of my favorite things.

Even more seating and luxury boxes,
Signage and scoreboards and aisles filled with hawkers.
Cold beer and hot dogs with buffalo wings,
these are a few of my favorite things.

Schilling addresses and Francona pep talks,
Lineups with power but also that take walks,
Hot stove league winters that melt into springs,
these are a few of my favorite things.

When the Yanks win, when Roseanne sings,
when I'm feeling sad,
I simply remember 2004,
and then I don't feel so bad.

A great Christmas poem

2004-12-24T11:07:00.000-05:00

'Twas the day before Christmas, when all through the Nation,

We were happy for ‘Tek, but worried about the rotation;

Randy in pinstripes? That deal fell through,

But Pedro went walking to the orange and blue

Schill was nestled online, reading a thread,
While thoughts of ripping Petey a new one danced in his head;

But then he looked at his “2004 World Series Champions” cap,

And forgot about the Met and his mouth that yap-yaps

When out on the ‘net there arose such a clatter,

Who was getting away? Now what’s the matter?

Typing on boards fingers flew like a flash

Like when Tony Soprano slips his girlfriends the cash

And on some dot com I got such a blow,
They were reporting “RJ to NY” is finally a go;
He’s #1 for the Yanks, or so I feared,
But wait – it was on ESPN, and the report was unclear

Now Curt’s on the shelf, no more blood in his socks,
And D-Lowe is home playing with his mental blocks;
Our starters are gone! Who is to blame?
Who are these new guys? What are their names?

“Now, Boomer! now, Miller! now, Clement and Halama!
On, Mantei! plus Payton! and Vazquez and Edgar!
A whole new clubhouse! GM made the call!
Free agents dash away! dash away! dash away all!”

But Theo went to the Wells and a Cub named Clement;
Have faith in our genius, it’s money well spent;
And now we’ve got Miller, the second best Wade,
in the history of Boston (so his labrum’s a little frayed)

And then, in a twinkling, he was back on the mound,

The prancing and pawing of the new top throwing hound,

Laying his finger aside of the seam,

He gave ‘Tek the nod, an almost impossible dream;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

He went into his windup; then turned with a jerk,

As he threw out his hand, and was coming around,

Down towards home plate, the ball took off with a bound;

He threw like the old days, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment, Schill was no longer sick;
His heater’s mid-nineties, the splitter has bite,
Let’s mark him down for eight innings a night!

More rapid than eagles came the Opening Day game,

Up went The Flag, the Yanks looked ashamed;
Jason threw out base stealers, Manny’s long drives lit the sky,

Papi had the old stroke back, when he hit ‘em, they fly

I sprang to my feet, to the team gave a whistle,

They circled the bases, Schilling threw another missile;

The good times were back for our championship ballclub,

"LET’S GO BACK-TO-BACK, MORE PENNANT FEVER GRIPS HUB"

I got my Grades, and ugh

2004-12-22T11:32:00.000-05:00

QU*101 Individual in the Community B+
PO*131 Intro to american Government A-
MSS*101 Intro to Media Com B
HS*131 History to 1877 B-
EN*101 Elements of Composition C

That is a Total Grade point of 44.01
Or a GPA of 2.934

~Chag

It's sunday so it's time for a pure Chags and Zags column

2004-12-12T10:02:00.000-05:00

Winter Meeting Minutes

Edes/Hohler: Mets Suggest Manny/Piazza Blockbuster
Sox Backup Plan: Kaz Matsui for Mink
Theo Refutes ESPN Report on Renteria.
Sox Still Shopping for Shortstops, Might Address Through Trade
Cardinals, Tigers Still in Edgar Hunt, Sox Offered $38M/4Y
Gammons: Sox Couldn't Afford Pedro and Pavano,
May Not Be Able to Afford Pedro and Renteria Either
Wells' Signing Put Sox Between the Sheets in 2006
Dan Roche: Theo Meets with D-Lowe; And Bora$ on 'Tek
Sox Add Perks to Pedro Deal, Cuza Back Up to Theo's Room at 11:00pm
Tim Hudson in Play; Roberts/BK, Payton/Vazquez (Infielder) Deals Still Alive

Ok Zags to the Mets for thinking they can make that deal
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Chags for Matsui for Mink, I wouldn't mind Kaz in a Sox uni
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Zags to Theo, we all know that deal is sign, sealed and delivered
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Chags to the Sox if they are able to trade and get Hudson
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Zags to the Sox for making the Nation buy ID cards to be in the Red Sox Nation, a Nation that we created.
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Zags to the BCS, once again we're going to have Co-National Champs go figure
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Chags to Matt Leinart for winning the Heisman.
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Zags to Pavano for signing with the Yankees, who says that players don't do what their girlfriends ask
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Zags to Dusty Baker for saying that Bonds didn't know what he was taking, Dusty, please.
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And finally the NFL picks of the WEEK;
Atlanta over Oakland
Giants over Ravens
Buffalo over Cleveland
New Orleans over Dallas
Indianapolis over Houston
Jacksonville over Chicago
Minnesota over Seattle
(This is a shock) Cincinnati over New England
Denver over Miami
(Another shock pick) Jets over Pittsburgh
Green Bay over Detroit
(Have I mentioned upset picks) San Francisco over Arizona
Carolina over St. Louis
San Diego over Tampa Bay
Philadelphia over Washington
Tennessee over Kansas City
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That's the blog have a good Sunday
~Chag

Hey Sox Fans

2004-12-10T11:44:00.000-05:00

Breaking News: CBS-4 in Boston reports that the Martinez "social visit" went so well that Pedro and the Red Sox are now finalizing a three-year contract worth $40 million. Only small details remain. Deal expected to be official in 24-48 hours.

All I have to say is I knew he wasn't going to NYC, to all the Yanks and Mets fans who told me i was wrong, I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Chags to the Red Sox for selling Red Sox World Series rings, now if I can convince my dad to let me pay $3000 for a ring.
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Zags to the Sox for making people pay to join the Red Sox nation, a term that we created a long time ago. Any fan who pays to go to see the Sox are already members of the Sox Nation and paying $10 a year fo rthat is balogna
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And for those who think the Expos may be the only team moving check out this from BenMaller.com
Concerned with the slow progress of negotiations for a new ballpark in Miami, Marlins executives took their search for a new home to Las Vegas this week -- angering Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and causing some to question if the move was a ploy to speed stadium talks in South Florida. Miami-Dade County officials, however, insisted Thursday that they're committed to completing a stadium deal in Miami and don't view the visit to Las Vegas as a blow to ongoing talks. The Marlins have not requested permission to relocate, said Major League Baseball President Bob DuPuy. Las Vegas was an unsuccessful suitor in the sweepstakes to lure the Montreal Expos.
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An argument between Sheff and Bonds;
Yankees RF Gary Sheffield is appearing on the YES Network's "Centerstage" show with Michael Kay this Sunday, and on the show he discusses his role in baseball's steroid controversy. Sheffield tells Kay that Barry Bonds introduced him to the people at the Balco laboratories when Sheffield went out to the Bay Area to work out with Bonds in the off-season a few years ago, and that Sheffield didn't know the "cream" he was using on his knees was an illegal steroid. He claims he's so angry at Bonds that Bonds is no longer the godfather of Sheffield's son.
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That's the blog for today, leave some.
~Chag

California Creaming by the Mamas and the Papis

2004-12-07T22:16:00.000-05:00

It's that time again for singalong with Anna; God help us

Sing this to the tune of the California Dreaming by the Mamas and the Papas this is California Creaming by the Mamas and the Papis

California Creaming
The Mamas and the Papis

When Jason’s “four pounds” down (He’s just “four pounds” down?)
What did people say? (Needles all the way)
Now he would like to walk (Cheater still won’t talk)
And make it go away (now how much does he weigh?)

Steroids were the norm (Flaxseed oil the norm)
It’s the Giambi way (Reform is on the way)
California creamin' (California creamin')
But Georgie’s gotta pay

Lawyers try to search
But they won’t find a way
A buyout would you please? (He'd get down on his knees)
Then he could go away (But this ain't going away)
You know the New York fans are cold (Watch it all unfold)
They know he cannot stay (yes he must go today)
California creamin' (California creamin')
And Georgie’s gotta pay

Giambi’s such a clown (“I’m just four pounds down”)
The home runs went away (But Game 7’s been played)
Now he would like to walk (Donald Fehr will balk)
Just make it go away (back to San Francisco Bay)

If the jury didn’t tell us (Thrown him under the bus)
”A diet all the way” (That’s still what he’d say)
California creamin' (California creamin')
Steinbrenner’s gotta pay
California creamin' (California creamin')
The Boss has got to pay
California creamin' (California creamin')
Yes Georgie’s gotta pay

~Chag

It's been a while but I'm back and since It's Sunday, let's Chags and Zags it

2004-12-05T09:05:00.000-05:00

But first this weeks NFL Picks;
'Zona over Detroit
buffalo over Miami
Cincinnati over Baltimore
Minnesota over Chicago
San Fran under St. Louis
Denver over San diego
Green Bay under Philadelphia
Pittsburgh under Jacksonville
Atlanta over Tampa Bay
Carolina under New Orleans
Houston under Jets
New England over Cleveland
Tennessee over Indianapolis
Kansas City under Oakland
Giants over Washington
Dallas under Seattle
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Zags to Notre Dame, they fire Ty, they can't get the guy they want so now they're going to go and get Lions coach Steve Mariucci, wow they must be looking for coaches who can't coach.
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Zags to the Biggest College Scandal, (BCS) congrats you have 5 undefeated teams, what are you going to do next, go to Disney World?
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Zags to MLB if they don't do anything for Drug Testing, and MLB also needs to strip Bonds of all his records and give the Home Run crown back to Big Mac and then thank goodness Bonds won't break Ruth or Aaron's record
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I don't believe I'm going to say this but chags to the YAnkees for thinking about paragraph 3a in a players contract that says; "The player agrees to perform his services hereunder diligently and faithfully, to keep himself in first-class physical condition and to obey the club's training rules and pledges himself to the American public and to the club to conform to high standards of personal conduct, fair play and good sportsmanship."
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Zags to John McCain, sure I know what you're trying to do is for the best of the country but Baseball doesn't tell you how to do your job
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Chags to Ron Artest, wow this is great why don't you go and play overseas and while you are there you'll get a bigger Chags if you stay there, get out of my country
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Chags to the NHL for starting to talk again, as much as the country is going on without Hockey it's driving me nuts, I need my Bruins and Penguins; college hockey is nice but there aren't any fights, I can't wait to go home and be able to watch the Manchester Monarchs again.
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Other NEws and Notes

Do you have 2.4 million? If you do why don't you buy a 30 second commercial during the super Bowl this year.
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That's the blog for today, leave some. And yes thankfully the fever is down to 99.

Sox 2005 Schedule

2004-11-28T20:23:00.000-05:00

you're seeing it here first;

April:
4-7 - at New York (note: opener could be shifted to April 3 for ESPN)
8-10 - at Toronto
11, 13-14 - vs. New York
15-17 - vs. Tampa Bay
18-19 - vs. Toronto
20-21 - at Baltimore
22-24 - at Tampa Bay
25-27 - vs. Baltimore
29-30 - at Texas

May:
1 - at Texas
2-5 - at Detroit
6-8 - vs. Seattle
9-11 vs. Oakland
13-15 - at Seattle
16-18 - at Oakland
20-22 - vs. Atlanta
24-26 - at Toronto
27-29 - at New York
30-31 - vs. Baltimore

June:
1 - vs. Baltimore
3-5 - vs. Anaheim
6-8 - at St. Louis
10-12 - at Chicago Cubs
13-15 - vs. Cincinnati
17-19 - vs. Pittsburgh
20-22 - at Cleveland
24-26 - at Philadelphia
27-29 - vs. Cleveland

July:
1-3 - vs. Toronto
4-6 - at Texas
7-10 - at Baltimore
12 - ALL STAR GAME at Detroit
14-17 - vs. New York
18-20 - vs. Tampa Bay
21-24 - at Chicago White Sox
25-27 - at Tampa Bay
29-31 - vs. Minnesota

August:
2-4 - vs. Kansas City
5-7 - at Minnesota
8-10 - vs. Texas
12-14 - vs. Chicago White Sox
15-17 - at Detroit
18-21 - at Anaheim
23-25 - at Kansas City
26-28 - vs. Detroit
29-31 - vs. Tampa Bay

September:
1 - vs. Tampa Bay
2-4 - vs. Baltimore
6-8 - vs. Anaheim
9-11 - at New York
12-14 - at Toronto
15-18 - vs. Oakland
19-21 - at Tampa Bay
23-25 - at Baltimore
26-29 - vs. Toronto
30 - vs. New York

October:
1-2 - vs. New York

Week 10 Picks

2004-11-14T09:14:00.000-05:00

ATL over Tampa Bay
Pittsburgh beats Cleveland
Indianapolis beats Houston
Jacksonville beats Detroit
Cheifs over the Saints
Jets over Ravens
Seahawks over Rams
Titans over Bears
Cincinnati over Washington
Giants over Cardinals
Vikings over Packers
PAnthers over 49ers
Patriots over Bills
Eagles over Cowboys

myself and Stuart Scott

2004-11-12T11:28:00.000-05:00

Since publishing doesn't like me let's look at the picture this way;

My pictures while I was at Dream JOB

2004-11-11T13:47:00.000-05:00

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That was myself and Stephen A. Smith incase you didn't notice
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there is a picture of the set and you can see my hat and the back of my head.
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The cast of Q30, FYI anna Curtis is the second kid from the right who is sitting down.
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The host of Dream Job with the Host of Bobcat Blitz
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that's the blog for today, leave some.

~Chag

It's sunday so it's time for a pure Chags and Zags column

2004-11-07T11:20:00.000-05:00

Well before we go with Chags and Zags, I have a joke to tell, I must put a disclaimer on this joke, and advise those who may be offended by language, I'd recommend you to skip over the joke.

Who is Jack Schitt? The Lineage Revealed.

Many people are at a loss for a response when someone says, "You
don't know Jack Schitt". Now, You can handle the situation.

Jack is the only son of Awe Schitt and O. Schitt. Awe Schitt,
the fertilizer magnate, married O. Schitt, the owner of
Knee-deep Schitt, Inc.

In turn, Jack Schitt married Noe Schitt and the deeply religious
couple produced 6 children: Holie Schitt, The twins; Deep Schitt
and Dip Schitt, Fulla Schitt, Giva Schitt and Bull Schitt, a
high school dropout.

After being married for 15 years Jack and Noe divorced. Noe
later married Mr. Sherlock and because her kids were living with
them, she wanted to keep her previous name. She was known as Noe
Schitt-Sherlock.

Dip Schitt married Loda Schitt and they produced a cowardly son,
Chicken Schitt. Fulla Schitt and Giva Schitt were inseparable
throughout childhood and consequently, married the Happens
brothers in a dual ceremony.

The Schitt-Happens children are Dawg, Byrd and Horse. Bull
Schitt the prodigal son, left home to tour the world. He
recently returned with his new bride, Pisa Schitt.

Now, when someone say's you don't know Jack Schitt, you can
correct them.

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And now let's chags and Zags it
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Zags to Ben Maller for this stupid statment;

No one should be surprised when the Red Sox place Manny Ramirez on waivers again. For all of Manny's spirited production and World Series heroics the Sox would dearly love to get out from under the $80 million they owe him (under the old market) the next four years so they can get into Beltran sweepstakes themselves. If Manny's out there for the taking, Minaya, for one, will find that enticing, but in the end there doesn't appear to be an owner in baseball, Fred Wilpon included, prepared to either offer, or take on, old market contracts.

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Chags to Yankees hitting coach don Mattingly who is thinking about walking away from his $500,000 salary to spend more time with his kids. I love it because he already has a lot of money, now it's his time to spend with his kids.
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Did you know? For the record, Wally Backman's is not the shortest managerial tenure in history. That dubious distinction remains with Eddie Stanky, who was hired to manage the Texas Rangers in June of 1977 and quit after just one game, a 10-8 loss to Minnesota.
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Chags to Pat Tillman's former High School, who will name its new football stadium after him. Chags to Leland High School.
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Chags to Pittsburgh eateries;

Peppi's, a deli near Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, has jumped on the Ben Roethlisberger bandwagon. For $7 (matching Roethlisberger's jersey number), you get a "Roethlisburger" featuring beef, sausage, scrambled eggs, American cheese and, just maybe, bypass surgery. Not to be outdone, the Brentwood Express offers a "Ben Roethlis-burger" topped with bacon, barbecue sauce, ranch dressing, cheddar and provolone.

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And finally Chags to a fellow Ninja and Chaghawk who took the time to make a tag board for me, if only I had the guts to change those colors.
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And my week 9 picks
DET over WAS
ARZ over MIA
PIT over PHI
NYJ over BUF
KC over TB
DAL over CIN
CAR over OAK
CHI over NYG
SD over NO
SEA over SF
NE over STL
DEN over HOU
BAL over CLE
MIN over IND
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That's the blog for today leave some on the Tag board
~Chag

Very quick blog

2004-11-04T19:18:00.000-05:00

Very quick blog today,
Check out my new tag board, thank you to Anna. because of my pictures it's located at the bottom of my blog.

~Chag

it's sunday so it's time for a notsopure Chags and Zags column

2004-10-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

Well usually Sundays are devoted to a pure Chags and Zags column but guess what, I haven't updated since the Sox won so I have some pictures I want to show and then I'll add some Chags and Zags.
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Now tell me that winning a championship isn't that great, would you look at the Pru;

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And aboard Air Red Sox is this great picture with Tek

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And ofcourse I have to show some pictures that were taken from the Disney Parade.

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The sign that Manny Ramirez is holding has to be one of my favorite signs that I saw all day when I was at the parade down in Boston.

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And the last picture is one that a reader from Texas has been begging me to add to my site and no his name isn't little Pedro as he likes to call him it's Nelson Mandella.

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Now let's Chags and Zags it;
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Chags to the Red Sox for making history and breaking that 86 year old curse, curses were ment to be broken. I didn't think it would happen in my lifetime I'm just thrilled that it did.
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Chags to Theo for doing something that I would never do;
Red Sox GM Theo Epstein has been making one concession to superstition of late, drinking a glass of Metamucil before each Red Sox postseason game -- a ritual he began prior to Game 4 of the ALCS, which launched the Red Sox to a remarkable comeback win over the New York Yankees.

Epstein said he noticed manager Terry Francona drinking the stuff -- which "looks like something a 70-year-old grandma would drink," Epstein said -- and decided to give it a try. "I've had seven glasses of Metamucil now," Epstein said, referring to each of the Red Sox's wins, "and we're undefeated. And I've paid the price."
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Zags to the New York mets for some reports they're coming out with, we're going to trade and get Manny Ramirez,we're going to trade and get Sammy Sosa. Yes you have so much you can give up to get the World Series MVP, you had your chance last season when we put him on waivers but you didn't bite, and I'm sure glad that he didn't because the curse of A-Rod struck again and he still hasn't been to the World Series, nor will he.
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Zags to the fans of the Yankees who tried to ruin a great parade yesturday in Fenway, by shouting you guys are happy with one championship in 86 years. These are the same Yankee Fans who think the Patriots should be broken up, and let me tell you this article I read in Newsday really pissed me off.

The Boston Red Sox now possess the highest payroll of any World Series winner in the history of the game.

What is the architectural framework in which this collection of mercenary ballplayers came to wear the Boston uniform?

Will there be an end to John Henry’s reckless spending and uncontrolled free agent acquisitions this winter?

Will the unbridled greed of the unholy trinity—Henry, Lucchino and Epstein—once again prove fatal to small markets teams who are just trying to compete?

The answers to these questions are both simple and complex.

But once the baseball world wakes up from its misguided hangover, shakes off the biased and unabashedly pro-Red Sox propaganda spewed forth by ESPN, and realizes what just happened, there will be more and more pundits chiming in on an indisputable fact:

The Red Sox are no Cinderella story: they simply out Yankee-d the Yankees. They are Evil Empire II. They have become what they despise. They are the irony of ironies. The Sox are just another high payroll team with no home grown talent.

Unlike the Yankees, who still sport homegrown starters like Posada, Jeter, Williams and relief ace Rivera, the Red Sox had only one homegrown starter on its entire roster—Trot Nixon.

Just one!

Don’t get me wrong, the Red Sox deserved to win. And why shouldn’t they?

They were built better for the post-season and—due in part to Theo's saber-driven expertise in selecting players and in part because of Henry's checkbook—were able to construct a bench in which each player had a specific role. Pokey Reese and Doug (Don’t make me spell his last name) M. in for defense—Dave Roberts in to steal a base—Doug Mirabelli to catch Wakefield (when he didn’t catch Wake, it almost lost them the ALCS.)

The fact remains that Theo Epstein made all the right moves this off-season, and those moves are well-chronicled. The Red Sox are a brilliantly constructed team put together by a brilliant young architect.

But just to prove a point, I’d like to suggest that it was largely plain old good luck (something that has eluded the Red Sox for 86 years) that propelled the Red Sox to the World Series Championship.

Don’t believe me? Just revisit these few facts:

The Sox secured Curt Schilling last winter from Jerry Colangelo for two cans of baked beans and a crate of lobsters. After demanding Nick Johnson and Alfonso Soriano from the Yankees, Colangelo sent Schilling to the Red Sox in one of the most lopsided trades in baseball history. (Did Theo have a gun or was Colangelo trying to stick it to George? Either way, where was Selig and the ‘best interest of baseball” clause?)

Right after the 2003 post-season ended, Theo put Manny Ramirez, the 2004 World Series MVP, on irrevocable waivers. Anyone could have snatched him (if they wanted to pay his salary.) No one took him, and Manny remained a Red Sox.

Plan B was, of course, prying A-Rod away from the Rangers. Theo spent two back-and-forth months in negotiations.

If the deal goes through, the Sox would have had A-Rod at short and Magglio Ordonez in left. Nomar would have gone to the White Sox, Manny to Texas. Result: No World Series title.

Despite trying his hardest, Theo could not pull the deal off. Luck, or the Gods, intervened and sent A-Rod to the Yanks.

Fast forward to the July 31 trade deadline. Theo is working feverishly to trade Derek Lowe, who was in the midst of a baffling 10 game pitching slump, to the White Sox for Esteban Loaiza.

Esteban Loaiza!

This would have happened if Cashman didn’t swoop in 15 minutes before the trading deadline and offer Jose Contreras to the White Sox.

And now Derek Lowe, he of post-season brilliance, marches off as a post-season hero for the Red Sox. If Theo had his way, he would have toiled for the last two months of the season in Chicago’s South Side.

Of course, The Red Sox wanted Contreras in the first place. And when they lost a bidding war with the Yankess, it prompted Theo to destroy furniture in a Central American hotel and Lucchino to utter the now famous moniker: The Evil Empire.

So the moves that fell through despite Theo’s best efforts were as important as the moves that he made. Theo was resourceful, intelligent and bold, as evidenced by his courage in finally trading away Nomar, but there is no doubt that he was also lucky.

When you succeed because so many of your plans failed, you have to feel fortunate.

There is nothing wrong with luck. Sometimes you need it to win.

And what will be left for the Red Sox and their fans after the parade, drunken escapades, and car burnings are over?

No longer will the Red Sox be that tortured, cursed franchise.

No longer will they have the identity of the underdog.

No longer can they sing Tessie and really mean it.

They will spend more money this winter to beat the Yankees again.

They will spend more money this winter to outdo themselves.

They will no longer do the chasing.

They will be the chased.

Theo, if you need any pointers, give Brian a call.

He’s been there.

I can't believe the Yanks are acting this way and this column there just proves how stupid the Yanks and their fans are, spending money wow that doesn't sound like the Yankees at all, can anybody else on this blog say SOUR GRAPES.
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Zags to terry Glenn who is out for the season, you should have never left New England
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Chags to my Quinnipiac Bobcats for showing Dartmouth what's going to happen when we join the ECAC next year as my unranked bobcats defeated the #12 ranked greentide from Dartmouth. Dartmouth put that in your pipe and smoke it.
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Chags to the Miami Dolphins for finally filing suit against Ricky Williams, it's about time you file and not give him any more chances.
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Zags to Redskins Quarterback Mark Brunell who just doesn't get it. He doesn't feel that backup Patrick Ramsey should play instead of him, he doesn't feel that he's done a bad job. Well if doign a great job is having a 51.2 completion percentage and 5.43 yards per attempt is good then I should be an NFL Quarterback.
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Now my picks for week 8;
BUF over ARZ
GB over WAS
DAL over DET
JAX over HOU
TEN over CIN
IND over KC
NYG over MIN
PHI over BAL
CAR over SEA (yes they continue this losing streak)
DEN over ATL
NE over PIT
SD over OAK
CHI over SF
NYJ over MIA
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That's the blog for today, leave some;
~Chag

Preview of Game 3

2004-10-26T10:16:00.000-04:00

First a joke
From a strictly mathematical viewpoint it goes like this:-

What makes 100%?

What does it mean to give MORE than 100%?

Ever wonder about these people who say they are giving more than 100%?

We have all been to these meetings where someone wants you to give over 100%

How about achieving 103%? What makes up 100% in life?

Here's a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these question.

If:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z is represented as:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

Then:

H A R D W O R K

8+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

K N O W L E D G E

11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

But:

A T T I T U D E

1+20+20++9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

And:

B U L L S H I T

2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 =103%

AND, Look how far ass kissing will take you.

A S S K I S S I N G

1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 =118%

So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that whilst hard work and knowledge will get you close, and attitude will get you there, it's the bullshit and ass kissing that will put you over the top.
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And a great picture; talk about buring down a house of Cards

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Game 3 preview, the World Series heads to Busch Stadium where the Cardinals have yet to drop a game. Tonight Pedro Martinez goes against 2 time former Red Sox Jeff Suppan. The one key factor tonight is how is not having a DH going to effect the Red Sox since tonight David Ortiz has to play first base which means that FINALLY Kevin Millar isn't in the lineup. And when it comes down to the final innings do you dare replace Douggie M. for Ortiz for defense when you know that if they get into trouble Ortiz can help with his bat.
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And I would like to say that I'm sorry for everybody that attempted to talk to me on AIM and Yahoo last night since Quinnipiac's network was very screwy last night and I want to thank the few people who took my advice and gave me a buzz last night.
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That's the blog for today, leave some.
~Chag

World Series game 2 recap and some more great pics

2004-10-25T10:08:00.000-04:00

OUCH, well tell me that this picture isn't worth a 1000 words, most are "YOU CHOKED, JETER SUCKS A-ROD" and others that I won't mention. Well let's take a recap look at what happened during game 2 at Fenway Pahk, as we like to call it.
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The Sox started this game off in style in the bottom of the first inning when Jason Varitek trippled to center field scoring both Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz to give the Sox a 2-0 lead. In the top of the 4th the Red Birds started a comeback when Sanders hit a ball that Bill Mueller couldn't field which scored Pujols to cut the lead to 2-1. But that's as close as the Red Birds would get, in the bottom of that inning, Mark Bellhorn doubled to center scoring Kevin Millar and Bill Mueller. In the bottom of the sixth Orlando Cabrera singled to left field which plated Nixon and Damon to extend the lead to 6-1. In the bottom of the 8th the Red Birds started to threaten as Scott Rolen hit a sac Fly to Center which scored Edgar Renteria. But that's all the offense that the Birds would get as the Sox took game 2, 6-2. Game three takes place in Busch Stadium on Tuesday when Pedro Martinez faces former Red Sox Jeff Suppan.
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and one last great picture

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~Chag

A wild night in Beantown

2004-10-24T01:28:00.000-04:00

It's Sunday morning, very early, I wanted to be the first WP.com blog to report on the World Series so here we go
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The Sox took game one in as stated by Tito Francona, "This game was not an instructional video on how to play." Manny who looked like he continued to pull his hammy looked how can I say pi$$ poor in left field. In the 8th inning, he bobbled a ball that should have left a runner on third and also then that beautiful catch that he made in the same inning, next batter.
For those who didn't watch, renteria singled to left which sent Marquis to third but Manny bobbled the ball. Next batter Larry Walker hit a drive to Manny that a little leaguer could catch yet he blows it which scored Cedeno. the camera shot of the night had to be when right after that they cut to Theo and he looked like he was going to kill somebody. This game wasn't a game of defense, key errors were made when they shouldn't have such as the groundball that got by Millar. And I hope that Tony Womack is alright that looked horrible.
And how about Mark Bellhorn. He has picked it up the last two games and who would have thought that he would have hit 2 key homeruns for us. How did he hit 2 home runs that both hit the right field foul pole.
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Well it's Sunday, it may be early but it's Sunday so it's what time?

Chags and Zags
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Chags to the Red Sox on their great streak, somehow they came back from being down 0-3 to win the series and then won tonight's game against the Cardinals.
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ZAGS to the Yankees, ha ha, you guys suck;
WHO'S YOUR PAPI NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Zags to Manny Ramirez who tried to give tonight's game away
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The rumor mill is turning and the NHL might return as soon as January with only conference games. My question is who really gives a damn about that. I don't know anybody who would still want to watch, the WHA on the other hand or the AHL.
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Zags to Jerry Rice for making sure that he got jersey number 80, when a number is retired you shouldn't call up begging the retiree if you can wear his number.
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Zags to Jayson Williams who is trying to make a come back after being acquitted of aggrabated manslaughter. He worked out with te Cavaliers this past week, why won't these guys just stay retired?
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Zags to the Cubs for even thinking about not trading Sammy Sosa. As reported by Ben Maller, The Cubs aren't going to think about trading him but they want to extend his contract. My question as much as I hate the Cubs is why are you going to do that?
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CHAGS to my neighbor, Red Sox trainer Jim Rowe, for saving Curt Schilling, he along with team doctor Bill Morgan did a sergury that was very innovative and thankfully it worked.
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Zags to the owner of Mickey Mantle's restaurant, Bill Liederman, for thinking about changing the name to Ted William's place, how can you do that in NY, as much as I hate the Yanks you have to respect a man like Mantle.
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Well now since it's Sunday let's make some NFL Picks
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STL over MIA
TEN over MIN
DeT over NYG
PHI over CLE
CHI over TB
SD over CAR
IND over JAX
BAL over BUF
KC over ATL
NE over NYJ
NO over OAK
GB over DAL
SEA over ARZ
DEN over CIN

That's the blog for today, leave some
~Chag

Mercy, the World Series I didn't want to happen, is going to happen

2004-10-22T10:02:00.000-04:00

Well all of my fears have been rolled into one as my American League team; the Boston Red Sox, will take on my National League team; the St. Louis Cardinals. How could this happen, how have the stars aligned themselves so that I'm looking at both of my teams, does somebody upstairs really want me to suffer because I'm going to be happy and crushed at the end of each game and at the end of this series well I just want somebody to be able to clone me so one half of me can cheer for the Sox while the other can cheer for the Cards. This is the third time that the Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals have danced in the big dance and the Sox are looking to see if they can finally have the Cards delt their way as the St. Louis Cardinals have had the right pair of Sox on during each of the other two outings.
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From my good buddy who works on the Late show was able to inform me about last night's Top 10 and if I didn't have a midterm that had to get done I would have been in NY for the show but here was last night's top 10 list, need I also mention it was presented by Curt Schilling;
From the Letterman show last night:

Top Ten Secrets To The Boston Red Sox Comeback presented by Curt Schilling

10. Unlike the first three games, we didn't leave early to beat the traffic.
9. We put flu virus in Jeter's gatorade.
8. Let's just say Pete Rose made some phone calls for us.
7. We asked Pokey Reese to be a little less pokey.
6. It's not like we haven't won a big game before--it's just been 86 years.
5. Honestly, I think we were tired of hearing about the Patriots.
4. The messages of encouragement Martha sent on prison napkins.
3. We pretended the baseball was Letterman's head.
2. What'd you expect--we have a guy who looks like Jesus!
1. We got Babe Ruth's ghost a hooker and now everything's cool.
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And now an article from ESPN's Page 2;
By Bill Simmons
Page 2

BOSTON -- Honestly, I don't know what to do.

I just watched my beloved Red Sox win the American League pennant.
That's
only happened twice in my lifetime. I watched them rally back from three

games down in a playoff series. That's never happened before, not in the

history of baseball. I also just watched the Sox beat the Yankees in a deciding playoff game. Not only has that never happened before, it's a possible sign of the apocalypse.

Now get this ... all three things happened at the same time.

FOLLOW THE ALCS
From the Sports Guy Mansion West to the Simmons Family Compound back East, it's all Red Sox Nation, all the time:
# ALCS Game 6 Revisited
# ALCS Game 5 Revisited
# ALCS Pre-Game 4 Chat
# ALCS Game 3 Quick Thoughts
# ALCS Game 2 Diary
# ALCS Game 1 Diary
# ALCS Q&A
# ALCS Breakdown

So what happens now? Where do I go from here? Should I throw myself into

politics? Backpack across Europe? Take up gourmet cooking? Learn how to fly airplanes? Should I take the bus to Fort Hancock, cross the border and wander the beaches of Zihuatenejo looking for Andy and Red? You tell me.

What should I do?

As recently as 75 hours ago, they were dead. Cooked. I can still remember standing in Fenway Park with my father, ready to hustle out of there as soon as the Yankees completed the sweep in the ninth. Then Millar drew a walk

from Rivera. Signs of life. The crowd just wouldn't give up on this team
--
everyone was standing and cheering like it was the seventh game of the World Series. Roberts ran onto the field as a pinchrunner, rattled Rivera into a few pickoff throws, swiped second and scooted home on a single from Mueller.
Tie game. And the series was never the same.

I started thinking about a comeback that night, about 0.00000003 seconds

after Ortiz's walkoff home run landed in the Yankees bullpen a little before 1:30 a.m. So did everyone else. We had Pedro going in Game 5, then Schilling in Game 6. That's a puncher's chance. We also had a little momentum. Not

much. But a little. Then Game 5 happened, moving us into the "Regardless of what happens, I love this team" stage of things. Then the Schilling Game

happened and everyone believed.

To stage the greatest comeback in sports history against the most successful franchise in sports history, some Renee Zellweger-level crazy things need to happen. Like Rivera blowing consecutive saves. Like Wakefield getting out of a crucial inning despite three passed balls. Like Torre pitching to Ortiz instead of loading the bases for Mientktxdwdsdz at the end of Game 5.
Like
Schilling pitching with the sutures and the Roy Hobbs bloodstain on his sock. Like Foulke somehow recording 15 grueling outs over the course of
48
hours, including an impossible ninth inning in the Bronx in Game 6. The list goes on and on.

Nothing like six RBIs to snap out of a slump.
Miracles don't just happen. You need a bunch of mini-miracles along the way.
Eventually they add up. So do the heroes.

And that's when it gets interesting.

By the time Game 7 rolled around, October 20th felt like a combination of New Year's Eve and the Fourth of July in Boston. This was bigger than all of us. Everyone was headed somewhere, or planning on heading somewhere.
Nothing
else mattered. Nothing. You couldn't walk five feet without seeing a Sox hat or hearing a conversation about the series. It was physically impossible.

I ended up watching the game in the Financial District, thanks to my buddy Sully's connections at a bar called The Office. We were able to invite about 20 guys -- closed-off room upstairs, projection TV, pizza and wings, the

whole shebang -- operating under house rules (only Sox fans) and old-school country club rules (no chicks). Sometimes, guys just need to be around other guys. This was one of those times. We were 27 outs away from toppling the Yankees. In the words of Clemenza, we were going to the mattresses.

The beers started flowing. Fox kicked off the telecast by using the music from the Rocky-Drago training montage in "Rocky 4." You can imagine how I felt about that one. When Nomar died, a part of me died, too. But now you're the one. Everyone seemed optimistic ... right up until Damon was thrown out at home in the first inning, thanks to yet another bone-headed decision from the immortal Dale Sveum. If this guy was an elementary school crossing guard, little kids would be getting pancaked by SUV's like Tony Mandarich in his prime.

We didn't even have 10 seconds to bitch about this before Ortiz crushed a two-run homer into right, and we were rolling. Derek Lowe pitched the biggest six innings of his life -- on two days rest, no less -- and salvaged his dreadful regular season. The Struggling Johnny Damon (his extended name all week) smacked an astounding grand slam, my personal favorite moment of the night, only because it came from nowhere and sparked a two-minute long celebration of high-fiving, chest-bumping and general idiocy. Two innings later, Damon came up again and crushed another home run, a two-run job into the upper deck. So much for The Struggling Johnny Damon.

8-1, Red Sox. Fifteen outs to go.

Hey, Derek if you're looking for someone to blame next time you take the

field -- look to your right.
We would have felt more confident with that cushion, but the announcers were determined to avoid any Yankees talk and concentrate solely on how the Sox could blow the game. They dragged out every disturbing statistic, every Babe Ruth sign, every negative Boston playoff memory they could find. I'm not

positive on this, but I think McCarver and Buck started a "1918!" chant at one point. So yeah, we were a little uneasy.

But the Sox kept racking up those outs. The announcers didn't know what to do -- they had geared their entire broadcast around the inevitable Boston collapse. Forget about the fact that the Yankees had choked in the last two games in Boston, or that they lost at home to a 40 year-old guy whose ankle tendon was stapled to his ankle bone, or that they had a $180 million payroll, or that a Yankee collapse to Boston would be the most devastating moment in franchise history. Forget about showing more shots of the stunned fans, or Yankee players sitting listlessly in the dugout. None of this stuff mattered early. As the game dragged on, they started coming around.

"If they hold on to this lead, I'll tell you how big this would be,"
McCarver said at one point. "This could very well be the biggest win in Red Sox history."

Of course, that's like saying, "If John Kerry wins the election next month, that could very well be the biggest moment of his political career." But it was better than nothing. At least they weren't bringing up the Boston baggage as much. At least I wasn't thinking about it.

When Francona lifted Lowe in the seventh for Pedro Martinez, and Pedro allowed those two rockets to Matsui and Williams ... I mean, all those old demons came roaring back. It was the ultimate test. Like a recovering alcoholic opening that hotel mini-bar and seeing those tiny liquor bottles.
Our room went silent, save for a few F-bombs and the echoes of the "Who's your Daddy?" chants. Poor Francona had unwittingly plugged Yankee Stadium back into its socket; I kept waiting for him to pull off the Paul Shaffer mask and reveal it was actually Grady Little again.

I can't even describe the things I was thinking about. Terrible, horrible things. Dark things. I just kept remembering the words of my magazine editor, Neil, who called the series "Shakespearean" yesterday afternoon.

Well, if you were Shakespeare, how could you top last year's collapse if

your ultimate goal was for an entire base of fans to kill themselves?
Wouldn't you have their team roar back from a 3-0 series deficit, then blow an 8-1 lead in the deciding game? Wouldn't that do the trick?

I have never counted down the remaining outs in a game before. Never.
Not
until last night.

12 ... 11 ... 10.

(Pedro comes in.)

There's no greater feeling than watching your team celebrate at Yankee Stadium.
9.

(Good God.) (Come on.) (Don't do this to me.) (I will hang myself.)

8 ... 7.

(Exhale.)

6.

Just when the Yanks had some momentum, Bellhorn slammed an insurance home run off Gordon. Can you have insurance homers when the score is 8-3?
Apparently so. Timlin made it through the eighth unscathed, with a major

boost from Mientkiciwzwzz's outrageous scoop on an errant Mueller throw.

(Defense, baby!)

5 ... 4 ... 3.

The top of the ninth yielded another insurance run of Gordon, who will be covered in blankets, duct-taped and thrown off one of Steinbrenner's yachts some time this winter. Now Fox was showing the obligatory reaction shots
--
Yankee fans ready to start sobbing; Cashman frozen in his luxury box; A-Rod's eyes darting around the stadium, trying to figure out a way to cheat to get on base -- and that's when it felt real.

That used to be us. Not anymore.

"I almost started crying that inning," Sully said after it was over. "Is

this what it feels like to be a girl?"

Seven-run lead. Three outs to go. Timlin got the first two and gave way to Embree, who retired Sierra on a routine grounder to end the game.

(Heeeeeeeeeee-yahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Let the record show that the Yanks went out with a whimper -- especially

A-Rod (the anti-Babe), Sheffield (disappeared) and Matsui (never the same after Pedro dusted him in Game 4), not to mention Brown, Vasquez and Gordon, and even Torre (not his finest series). Only Jeter seemed to care that the Yankees were getting smoked -- there was one replay earlier in the game,

after his RBI single, when he pumped his fist and shouted at his dugout,

"Come on!" He seemed desperate. The Yankees never seem desperate. Now they were headed home for the winter, headed for the No. 1 slot on ESPN50's "Biggest Chokes" show in 2029.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox were celebrating at Yankee Stadium. Have I mentioned that yet? We were doing our own celebrating at The Office, reacting like

college kids in Cancun who just found out that Lindsay Lohan was entering a wet t-shirt contest that night. Exchanging high-fives and heterosexual man-hugs, I couldn't stop glancing at the TV. It's official, right? We definitely beat them, right?

"What's wrong with you?" Sully asked.

"Honestly? I keep waiting for them to announce that there's a Game 8."

Looks like Daddy got an early start on their winter vacation. Well, there wasn't. I said my goodbyes, headed out the door and walked around Faneuil Hall and Beacon Hill for the next 45 minutes, soaking in a scene I never thought I would see. Fans wearing Sox hats and T-shirts, everyone whooping and hollering. Car horns honking. A steady rumble of distant cheers coming from every direction -- Kenmore, Copley, B.C., B.U., Charlestown, you name it. If there's a better sound in life, I haven't heard one yet. Even greater than I imagined. Looking back, I probably had that

same dumb smile walking around that Andy Dufresne gets when they're working on the roof and everyone is drinking his beer.

To recap: Greatest comeback in sports history. First trip to the World Series in 18 years. First meaningful victory over the Yankees. All at the same time.

You have to be from here to understand. You just do. It wasn't just that the Yankees always win. It was everything else that came with it -- the petty barbs, the condescending remarks, the general sense of superiority from a fan base that derives a disproportionate amount of self-esteem from the success of their baseball team. I didn't care that they kept winning as much as they were a-holes about it. Not all of them. Most of them. In 96 hours, everything was erased. Everything. It was like pressing the re-start button on a video game.

And yeah, I know. We need to win the World Series to complete the dream.
But
you can win the World Series every year. You only have one chance to destroy the Yanks. As my friend Mike (a Tigers fan) wrote me last night, "Everyone outside of Yankee brats are celebrating quietly with you guys. It's like you killed Michael Myers, Jason, Freddie Kreueger and Hannibal Lecter in one

night."

It was the choke of chokes, an unprecedented gag job. For once, finally, the Yankees have some baggage. Just like every other baseball team.

One last story: I rolled into my Dad's house at 1:30 last night, only to

find him in the living room, sound asleep, holding the TV remote in his hand like he'd been cryogenically frozen. On the television in front of him,
Fox25 was showing live footage from Kenmore Square, as thousands and thousands of Boston fans were celebrating the impossible. After I muttered "Dad!" a few times, he finally jolted awake, glanced at me, then glanced at the TV.

"I can't believe it," he mumbled. "We beat the Yankees."

And it wasn't a dream.
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Chags to ESPN for their great real conversation with Babe ruth I thought I was going to have an actor but hey it was great.
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Now finally fun with Pictures

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Back for more Chags and Zags
Chags because Paul Hamm got to keep his gold medal, but then again does anybody really care?
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One last picture, that's the blog for today leave some,
~Chag

WORLD SERIES BOUND, SOMEBODY PINCH ME I'M DREAMING.

2004-10-21T10:48:00.000-04:00

Let's start the blog with some great pics

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WOw, this is a feeling that I can't believe, for the second time in my lifetime, first time I remember, the Sox are going to the World Series. As of press time the Sox are scheduled to either face the Cardinals or 'Stros, I haven't made it a secret that I'm a Cards fan but we need to remember that my pick at the beginning of the year was Sox vs 'Stros and I'm still going strong on that prediction. The Sox would have a much better chance of winning the world series against the Houston Astros and if it ended up being Sox vs Cards I know I'd be cheering for the Sox but I would be depressed during the whole series. Well let's do some Chags and Zags
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Chags to Red Sox head Trainer Jim Rowe, he and his staff fixed Curt Schilling and he was able to pitch very well on Tuesday. Jim, my neighbor back home, way to make Red Sox Nation PROUD. Thank you JIM.
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Zags to all members of Red Sox Nation who didn't think that the Sox could come back after being down 0-3
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Zags to myself for being a member who thought they were done
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Chags to the Red Sox for making history by not only being the first team to come back from 0-3 to force a game 7 but to win that game 7 and to advance to the World Series.
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Yankees a quick question for you, "Who's your PAPI?"
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Chags to Derek Lowe who pitched the game of his life last night, THANK YOU DEREK
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Chags to Kevin Brown for pitching like we knew you would yesturday.
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Chags to Johnny Damon. Wow 2 home runs in game 7, nice time for you to break out of your slump.
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Check back tomorrow for a full World Series Preview; leave some comments.
~Chag

We're Stayin' alive

2004-10-18T10:48:00.000-04:00

Sing to the tune of Stayin' Alive

Well, you can tell by the way they talk the talk,
Millar's a walking man, he's a chicken hawk.
Music loud his beer is warm.
They've been kicked around back since Game 1.
And now it's all right, it's O.K.
They live to see another day.
You can try to understand
The prime times light's effect on them.

Whether they can win another
And Yankees cry for their mother,
You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive.
Feel the city breakin'
And ev'rybody shakin'
And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha,
Stayin' alive.
Stayin' alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha,
Stayin' alive.

Well now, I get Lowe but why use Mike?
And if I can't get Tito, I really try.
Got the wings of heaven on Robert's shoes
Dave's a runnin' man and he just can't lose.
You know it's all right, it's O.K.
They live to see another day.
We can try to understand
The prime times light's effect on them.

Whether they can win another
And Yankees cry for their mother,
You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive.
Feel the city breakin'
And ev'rybody shakin'
And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha,
Stayin' alive.
Stayin' alive.

Ah, ha, ha, ha,
Stayin' alive.
Yanks goin' nowhere.
Somebody help me.
Somebody help me, yeah.
Moose goin' nowhere.
Somebody help me, yeah.
Stayin' alive

Well, you can tell by the way Pedro will walk,
He's a Nelson man, no time to talk.
Mango trees where he'll be warm.
He's been kicked around since 2001.
And now he's all right, Pete's O.K.
He will pitch old school today.
We can try to understand
Mahow Mahow's influence on him.

Whether he can win another
Don't talk about his mother,
You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive.
Feel the city breakin'
And ev'rybody shakin'
And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive.

Ah, ha, ha, ha,
Stayin' alive.
Stayin' alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha,
Stayin' alive.
Sheff goin' nowhere.
Somebody help him.
Somebody help him, yeah.
Sheff goin' nowhere.
Somebody help him, yeah.
Stayin' alive
'Sui goin' nowhere.
Somebody help him.
Somebody help him, yeah.
Alex goin' nowhere.
Somebody help him, yeah.
Stayin' alive

It's sunday so it's time for a pure Chags and Zags column

2004-10-17T11:06:00.000-04:00

It's Sunday so let's Chags and Zags it
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Chags to everybody who had the guts to tell me that I was acting like an ass during my feud with E6
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Zags to me for being an ass
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Zags to the Red Sox,this was our year and they're blowing it
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Chags to the Cardinals for continueing to win, they didn't win yesturday but they'll win today
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Zags to Yankee fans who even think that Pedro is going to be going to the Yankees next season
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Zags to the NFL for making Jake Plummer remove the decal that was on his helmet. He was honoring a hero who risked his life for us and you would think that the NFL would respect this and maybe they're afraid that everybody would put the decal on and my thought is, the problem with this is?
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Zags to MLB for moving the Expos to Washington DC. The new name for this team should be the Washington Vetos, NO, well that's what the city of DC said when asked for funding for a new stadium. They would rather spend the money on schools and a hospital so why didn't they move this team to Las Vegas. Vegas needs a team and this would have been a perfect match for Vegas right now.
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Chags to wp.com for a move they made
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And today's NFL Picks
ATL over SD
SF over NYJ
MIA over BUF
CAR over PHI
WAS over CHI
JAX over KC
CIN over CLE
GB over DET
TEN over HOU
NE over SEA
DAL over PIT
DEN over OAK
MIN over NO
STL over TB
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And my condolences to every student, teacher, or staff member in the Kirkwood school district for the loss that happened last week. And Chags for deciding to cancel that play this past weekend.
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That's the blog leave some
~Chag

Ode to E6 Part 3, Playoff standings,

2004-10-13T10:30:00.000-04:00

First let's go with a Who Knew, sponcered by WB Mason.
Who Knew? The head trainers for three of the four remaining playoff teams graduated from Springfield College: Boston's Jim Rowe (class of '87), Houston's Dave LaBoissiere ('74), and Barry Weinberg ('73) of the Cardinals .
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So a springfield trainers World Series has to happen so the Sox have to beat the yanks
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Cardinals Playoff Preview:
Tonight on FX in everywhere across the country, except for the St. Louis and Houston market, will see Woody Williams square off against Brandon Backe.
Thursday Matt Morris will take the hill to square off against Pete Munro
Saturday is the game I'm looking forward to as Jeff Suppan will face Roger Clemens
Sunday Jason Marquis will face Roy Oswalt
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This will be a long tough hard series but I can see the 'Stros winning it and yes that would go against a lot since we know that I'm a Cardinals fan but my original pick at the start of this season was Houston vs the Red Sox.
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Red Sox Recap;
Incase you were living under a rock you'd know that the Red Sox squared off against the Evil Empire last night. The only thing that thankfully they didn't do with that starwars opening, I was expecting Darth Vader (George S.) to be looking at Luke (Pedro M.) and Say, Pedro I am your father. And that would have been horrible. But the Sox didn't look that bad, no I know you're screming right now that John they lost but listen they were held perfect for 6.1 innings, that's 19 straight batters before Mark "Mr. K" Bellhorn got a hit that sparked a rally for 5 runs. All the Sox runs came with 2 outs last night, and Mueller almost had a Deja vu and the nation would have errupted. But tonight Pedro Martinez goes up against Jon Lieber.

And for the gambler here are tonight's odds;
Boston is favored by 140 and the Cardinals are favored by a whopping 250.
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And let's have ode to E6 part 3.

I swear E6 doesn't learn, he keeps digging a bigger hole for himself. Here we go with another Ode to E6
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But you did have time to tag, thus when her blog was updated you started to take shots at me on her tag board
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I wasn't even on Anna's blog when she released her new post. I first read that on Friday.

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No you're not.
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YES I AM!!!!! I have a birth certificate that says I was born in 1988. I'm telling the truth here; you don't even know me, so don't base my age on a brain cramp. You know, this is the only uncontested fact in the whole ordeal. If you really think I'm not 16, procure a birth certificate saying that I'm older than 16.

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This point should have been second of all and a 16 year old would know this but a 26 year old wouldn't
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No, I screwed up and it was a brain cramp brought on by excitment.

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No you did do it.
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How would you know? Where are the rock-solid facts? What you're mostly bringing up is circumstantial evidence.

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would polygraph you but as we both know polygraphs don't prove anything and you can't even use them in the court of law.
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Well, what about circumstantial evidence? It's not a sure-fire way of proving anyhting, either.

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Well for not ever taking shots at anybody there is a slap in Anna's face. She doesn't have the benefit of being rich so godforbid she had to work and go to school and didn't have time to update her blog, is that her fault. Um NO!
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I'm not blaimng anyone. The point of "the long time between updates" remark, was not to take a shot at anybody. The point of it was to prove I had no time to go on the tagboard. And isn't it funny that you're the one that's brigning up irrelevant stuff, when you're the one that tried to tell me my arguments were irrelevant?

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That's the blog for today leave some here not on my PM's
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Chag, I don't have a blog account, I didn't know that you enabled Anonymous posts up until now.

Shall we break down the arguments just made by E6;

I wasn't even on Anna's blog when she released her new post. I first read that on Friday.

Who cares, we know that you did it

YES I AM!!!!! I have a birth certificate that says I was born in 1988. I'm telling the truth here; you don't even know me, so don't base my age on a brain cramp. You know, this is the only uncontested fact in the whole ordeal. If you really think I'm not 16, procure a birth certificate saying that I'm older than 16.

And I have an ID that says I'm 21 what's your point. You can make those ID's and birth certificates so easily.

No, I screwed up and it was a brain cramp brought on by excitment.

Oh that's what you call it nowadays a brain cramp.

How would you know? Where are the rock-solid facts? What you're mostly bringing up is circumstantial evidence.

You're right I wouldn't know that you're actually 26 but by bringing up things that happened before you were "born" hints at it.

I'm not blaimng anyone. The point of "the long time between updates" remark, was not to take a shot at anybody. The point of it was to prove I had no time to go on the tagboard. And isn't it funny that you're the one that's brigning up irrelevant stuff, when you're the one that tried to tell me my arguments were irrelevant?

Chag, I don't have a blog account, I didn't know that you enabled Anonymous posts up until now.

Yet he doesn't take shots at anybody and here is a shot at me.
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Well for not ever taking shots at anybody there is a slap in Anna's face. She doesn't have the benefit of being rich so godforbid she had to work and go to school and didn't have time to update her blog, is that her fault. Um NO!
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That's why I stopped checking on her blog for a while - When I keep seeing the entry from August 28, I assumed she's busy. It wasn't meant to be a diss, my "one-and-a-half-month between updates" argument was to prove I had no time to tag.

Well something told you to go and check her blog and start to bash me E6 didn't it. And if you have no time to Tag yet you have time to bash me through PM's and my comment pages.
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And second of all it isn't SS it is E6 and you will always be known as E6 from now on.
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I didn't take that shot at you to earn the tithle of "E6", thus, I refuse to recognize that as a moniker for me.

Well isn't that too bad, you will always be known as E6 by me and a few other members of wp.com and the Baseball Party
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And how many first of all's are you going to have. This point should have been second of all and a 16 year old would know this but a 26 year old wouldn't.

A brian cramp, yes because you screwed up and let all of us know that you are older than 16.
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Chag, stop taking things out of context. It was an honest mistake on my part.

How is it out of context, that is exactly what you said, I posted the PM as it was so it's not out of context.
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For somebody who doesn't have, a lot of time, has a lot of time to respond to my blog. And continues to prove my points for me.
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Not really. The only reason why I had time to respond to your blog is because some of these accusations are false. The reason why I don't have time anywhere else in the day to post on blogs, is becuase I have schoolwork to do.

And I haven't proved any points. First of all, I don't see rock-solid proof of how I can be older than 16.

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A brian cramp, yes because you screwed up and let all of us know that you are older than 16.
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You think I'm older than 16 just becasue of that comment? First of all, I AM 16, and second of all, you're just twisting my words, and taking some of my statements out of context. Whatever happened to "benefit of the doubt"?

Well school work is less important than my blog, E6 I'm honored that you honor my blog that much. Any rock solid proof that you're older than 16, your post on wp.com that states and I quote,

Being at the 1986 World Series was so great seeing the Mets coming behind to beat the Red Sox. Seeing the ball go through Buckner's legs was the happiest day of my life

Explain yourself E6, we're dying to hear what you have to say.
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And yet after saying I wasn't going to listen to anymore PM's and in a move that surprised NOBODY I got a PM last night,

Chaggy, look. It's obvious that we both stongly believe in our contentions, you believing that I posted an insult about you on the tag board, and me contending that I didn't do it; that it was an imposter.

- I'm 110% sure I'm innocent, but you're not buying a thing that I say.

- You believe that I did it, but I'm not going to confess to something that I did.

Nobody's going to budge. Why don't we just agree to disagree over the matter and move on? I want this over as much as you do.

Circumstantial evidence is not a sure-fire way to determine whether or not I took that shot at you on the tagbord. But you don't believe any of my testimony, either. Rather than arguing over an insult, let's just say we both agree to disagree on whether or not I took the shot, rather than airing out other things over your blog.

I wilI realize that I have taken shots at you in the past, from the incident about [MUTE] up a post, to the PM regarding the King-Size Rant. So I was wrong to say that I never took a shot at anyone. Heat of the moment, I tend to forget some of my previous actions on the board. But honestly, I don't remember taking any personal insults at you. If I did take any cheap shots at you on the board, I apologize for that.

Wow wait a second, that last paragraph he said that he took shots at me in the past then he says that he didn't. So now we're getting conflicting reports. And I'm not the only one who's not agreeing with your testimony, but I'm the judge, jury and executioner so you're guilty as charged. And now he's saying that he was wrong and that he did take shots at people in the heat of the moment, while a few days ago he said that he never would. Let's just wait a few days and then he'll come clean and say that well yeah I did that on anna's tag board and Chag I'm sorry that i didn't admit to it. And I believe that yes that [mute] post how can I forget that, since because of the bashing war we got in I GOT A STRIKE, BECAUSE OF YOU! So E6, and now he's trying to tell me how to run and operate my award winning blog, E6 just stop you've already dug a hole big enough for your ego so you can stop digging, if you keep going another inch you're going to hit the center of the earth.
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That's the blog for today, Red Sox recap tomorrow and Cardinals preview and maybe an Ode to E6 part 4? We'll have to see

~Chag

Ode to E6 Part 2, Playoff standings, Tribute to my favorite MLB player

2004-10-12T10:38:00.000-04:00

First let's start with Playoff Standings, We've reached the Final 4 and here's a surpriseI still have a perfect bracket. Let's preview the matchups shall we
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Red Sox vs Yankees
Tonight Curt Schilling takes the Red Sox under his wing as the Sox fly into Yankee Stadium to face Mike Mussina and the New York Yankees. The same New York Yankees who profit from selling MLB approved merchandice that bashes the Sox. We wondered how the Yanks had so much money and allowing a team to sell shirt that say, Hey Red Sox who's your (Yankee Logo) Daddy is insane. But getting back to tonights game.

Game one as I've already said is Curt Schilling vs Mike Mussina
Game two is Pedro Martinez vs Jon Lieber
Game three is Bronson Arroyo against Kevin Brown
Game four is Time Wakefield vs Javier Vazquez

For tonights game Curt Schilling is favored by 140 at Yankee Stadium which is incredible. For those of you at home who do not understand this method of betting, if you were to bet on Curt and the Red Sox you'd put down $140 and when the Sox win then you'd win $100, if you were stupid and bet on Yanks you'd put down $100 and if for some miracle the Sox lost then you'd win $140.

Tonight at Yankee Stadium the Sox will beat the Yanks no question. Curt has always owned the Yankess and the Sox are going to go up one to nothing.

Cardinals vs Dodgers preview and Sox vs Yanks game two will be blogged tomorrow
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In an instant you're here and then you're gone.
As strange as it sounds being a Baseball fan In Boston my hero growing up was Ken Caminiti. Back when I was playing baseball I copied everything he did from his pregame exercises to his stance. He was my favorite player and I almost broke into tears on Monday morning when I learned of his death by watching the Midnight Sports Center. I was in absolute shock and I couldn't believe what I was seeing and I jumped out of my bed and jumped on my computer because there is no way that he just died, the scroll on the bottom of Sports Center can't be true. I believe the first words I said when I found out that yes he was gone was holy shit, you have to be kidding me. And those were the last words I could say for a while. He will be missed by all of his fans and baseball fans in general. I was just happy that I was lucky enough to meet him at an autograph signing in Boston a few summers ago, during the All Star Break. He was honored that I learned his stance and he wondered why I'd want to learn his stance out of all stances. He will be missed and I just wish for one moment that he wouldn't have taken the drugs so he could still be alive now.

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After reading my tribute if you are wondering how I could continue to do this blog, I wrote my tribue last.

Oh this is going to be good, another Ode to E6

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Really, you never take shots at anybody...
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Okay, so I've never launched a personal insult at anyone on The Board.

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and you're never mean-spirited. HUMMM, things that make you say HUMMM
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If you get to know me in person, you'd know that I'm not mean-spirited. I'm a nice guy, but if you press the proverbial "wrong buttons", I do get ticked off.

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Wow, the last time you took a shot at me would have to be on Anna's tag board but before that would have to be the shot you took in a PM at me when I was talking about the WP.com board.
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But never a personal insult, though.

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How stupid do you think we are. Which sox would you be talking about, how many teams named the Sox are playing right now.
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Not that stupid. I just have a habit of specifying which Sox it is.

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And a month and a half inbetween updates what the hell does that have to do with you bashing me on her board.
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I get tired of looking at the same entry from August. I don't stick around the blog when that's the case; I just hit the "Back" button on my browser. No time to tag.

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...if you look at the tag board the only posts by somebody named what ever the hell your name is are the ones bashing me.
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Well, the imposter could just figure out who SS is, and just type my name out. It's not rocket science.

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SS you and me have taken shots at eachother since the day I joined. don't pretend we never have,
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But did any of those barbs include a perosnal insult? I don't think so.

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But then again you're probably 35 so it doesn't madder.
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First of all, I AM 16.

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Talking about things that happened before you were born such as MTV debuting and this world series happening and the 1986 world series being the happiest moment of your life.
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First of all, I read about all this stuff. That's why I know much about the 1986 World Series.

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HELLO you claim to be 16 now, which would have you born in 1988, 2 years after the Mets won the world series.
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So it was a brain cramp.

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E6, do us all a favor and just admit it was you and then we can start to get back to normal over on wp.com...
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What, you want me to confess to something I didn't do?

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...And the only person with time and motive is you E6.
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When I'm bored (no offense to Anna) from reading the same entry on a blog for a month-and-a-half, I don't have the time to go on the tagboard.

And about motive, I don't have a motive either. On the tagboard, you asked why "I" would take a shot at you, b/c you didn't do anything to me. Exactly just that. Besides the King Size Rant, you haven't done anything to me; why would I take a shot at you?

Polygraph me on this whole incident; I'll certainly pass it.

P.S: It's still SS.

Well let's look at his arguments,

Argument A) Okay, so I've never launched a personal insult at anyone on The Board.

Really you've never launched a personal insult at anybody. Anna, Justin, Pens, Ryan, please agree that this is the funniest thing you've ever heard

Argument 2)If you get to know me in person, you'd know that I'm not mean-spirited. I'm a nice guy, but if you press the proverbial "wrong buttons", I do get ticked off.

Oh so if I press the wrong buttons you get ticked off, well I'm guessing that myself and everybody else on wp.com has pushed those buttons then. You're not mean-spirited oh mercy here we go and I wouldn't want to get to know you in person, nor would anybody else on the board.

Argument 3)But never a personal insult, though.

Really, hummm things that make you say hummm

Argument 4)Not that stupid. I just have a habit of specifying which Sox it is.

No that is stupid, what other Sox could you be talking about now that it's MLB Playoff time, the Seahawks?

Argument 5)I get tired of looking at the same entry from August. I don't stick around the blog when that's the case; I just hit the "Back" button on my browser. No time to tag.

But you did have time to tag, thus when her blog was updated you started to take shots at me on her tag board

Argument 6)Well, the imposter could just figure out who SS is, and just type my name out. It's not rocket science.

Yes since we all know what your real name is, none of us really give a damn what your name really is, from now on you'll be known as E6

Argument 7)But did any of those barbs include a perosnal insult? I don't think so.

Ah yeah a few of those threads I have no idea what a barbs is unless it's a BBQ, have been personal insults and you can ask anybody on WP.com and I'm sure you've also thrown a few personal insults at them.

Argument 8)First of all, I AM 16.

No you're not.

Argument 9)First of all, I read about all this stuff. That's why I know much about the 1986 World Series.

Yes but as your post on WP.com said,

Being at the 1986 World Series was so great seeing the Mets coming behind to beat the Red Sox. Seeing the ball go through Buckner's legs was the happiest day of my life

And how many first of all's are you going to have. This point should have been second of all and a 16 year old would know this but a 26 year old wouldn't.

Argument 10)So it was a brain cramp.

A brian cramp, yes because you screwed up and let all of us know that you are older than 16.

Argument 11)What, you want me to confess to something I didn't do?

No you did do it.

Argument 12)When I'm bored (no offense to Anna) from reading the same entry on a blog for a month-and-a-half, I don't have the time to go on the tagboard.

Well for not ever taking shots at anybody there is a slap in Anna's face. She doesn't have the benefit of being rich so godforbid she had to work and go to school and didn't have time to update her blog, is that her fault. Um NO!

Argument 13)And about motive, I don't have a motive either. On the tagboard, you asked why "I" would take a shot at you, b/c you didn't do anything to me. Exactly just that. Besides the King Size Rant, you haven't done anything to me; why would I take a shot at you?

But you have taken shots at me before E6 on the board and on both boards we are members of I've taken shots at you and you've just been waiting for revenge.

Argument 14/15)Polygraph me on this whole incident; I'll certainly pass it.

P.S: It's still SS.

I would polygraph you but as we both know polygraphs don't prove anything and you can't even use them in the court of law. And second of all it isn't SS it is E6 and you will always be known as E6 from now on.

That's the blog for today leave some here not on my PM's
~Chag

Ode to E6

2004-10-11T19:35:00.000-04:00

Today's blog is going to be fun, so E6 beware, the proof is in your PM's

First PM

Chag, I just read Anna's blog, and I just found out that someone has been *impersonating* me on the tagboard. I don't know who, but I just wanted to let you know that that wasn't me.

I don't know what the imposter siad, but I DON'T take shots at people just to be mean-sprited. If you'd get to know me personally, you'd see that I'm a nice guy.

If you don't believe me, go ahead and check the IP addresses... You'll see that they don't match. I haven't posted a thing on the tagboard since the WPFL Draft

Really, you never take shots at anybody and you're never mean-spirited. HUMMM, things that make you say HUMMM
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who else would have the time to do that...
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I wouldn't. I have seldom read Anna's blog, since there were a few months between updates. I just check if she posted something new. If it's the same old entry, then I just leave.

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And you've taken shots at me before, so it all adds up.
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When was the last time I took a shot at you?

Wow, the last time you took a shot at me would have to be on Anna's tag board but before that would have to be the shot you took in a PM at me when I was talking about the WP.com board. Then you've bashed me time and time again on wp.com's board and I'm sure that a lot of members there would agree. And now on to the next PM
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who else would have the time to do that
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Definitely not me. Before Anna updated her blog, I had little time to read it. Let's not forget that there was about a month and a half in between updates.

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plus who would actually know what E6's real name is and how to spell that.
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First of all, it's SS, NOT E6.

Second of all, the imposter could just look at the tagboard and find out what my real name is.

And plus, the imposter need to check his facts:

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Chaggy, how dare I take a shot at you. You take shots at me in your blog each time.
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I read you blog, and I would have some sense to know that the only shot you have taken at me before, was in your "King Size Rant".

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We all know you love Anna, don't argue
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I'm not into gossip. I wouldn't say stuff like that.

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But anyway Sox looked good, good luck with them.
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Sox? I would specify which Sox I would be talking about.

How stupid do you think we are. Which sox would you be talking about, how many teams named the Sox are playing right now. And a month and a half inbetween updates what the hell does that have to do with you bashing me on her board. And First of all it is E6 not SS, and if you look at the tag board the only posts by somebody named what ever the hell your name is are the ones bashing me. Which would once again disprove your evidence. The imposter needs to check his facts, SS you and me have taken shots at eachother since the day I joined. don't pretend we never have, ask anybody who was in the innercircle, when you and me were fightning both of us got blacklisted. TO say that you've never taken a shot at me is a shot at me because you're thinking I'm stupid and I don't remember things. But then again you're probably 35 so it doesn't madder. Talking about things that happened before you were born such as MTV debuting and this world series happening and the 1986 world series being the happiest moment of your life. HELLO you claim to be 16 now, which would have you born in 1988, 2 years after the Mets won the world series. E6, do us all a favor and just admit it was you and then we can start to get back to normal over on wp.com, we all know it was you, nobody would want to do that. And the only person with time and motive is you E6.

That's the blog for today, leave some
~Chag

It's sunday so it's time for a pure Chags and Zags column

2004-10-10T09:41:00.000-04:00

Welcome back it's Sunday and we know what that means, CHAGS AND ZAGS
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Zags to somebody who will be refered to as E6 from now on for taking shots at me on another blog. If you have a problem with me do what most people do, email me. I'm not hard to find.
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Chags to both the Red Sox and Yankees for setting up yet another dream ALCS, outcome this year will be different as the Sox take it in 5 games, I'm changing my prediction, 5 games.
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Zags to the Cardinals for blowing a chance to do what the Sox did and that's to sweep
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Zags to Ricky Williams for thinking that A) the NFL will let him come back this year. B) thinking the Dolphins will forget everything he's put them through. And C) thinking another team is going to want him know after all of this bologna.
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Have I told you that my bologna has a first name?
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cheers to myself for doing the research on this and Zags goes out to Eddie Kenney, director of baseball administration for the Orioles. He used to work for the Red Sox like both his father and grandfather did but what he did will blacklist him from anything Red sox now. He was the one who put in the complaint to MLB to ban Johnny Pesky from the Sox dugout during games. What was he hurting?
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Zags to a reader who decided to use my catch phrases, Chags and Zags
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Zags to that same reader who didn't call during the Cardinals game
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Zags to the Twins who had 2 chances to win this series, Joe Nathan was overused but you can't blame the Twins manager for doing that. And ZAGS to everybody who said that this was a Grady Little. No Grady left a Starter in too long while the Twins manager said before the game mind you, that if the situation arose that he would leave him in for 3 innings, Grady had no place to leave Pedro in, Pedro was in the clubhouse before the "inning from hell"
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Well it's Sunday so let's go over my picks for this week;
NE over MIA
NO over TB
CLE over PIT
ATL over DET
DAL over NYG
MIN over HOU
IND over OAK
BUF over NYJ
JAX over SD
SF over ARZ
SEA over STL
DEN over CAR
BAL over WAS
TENN over GB
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That's the blog for today, next update is on Tuesday.
~Chag

It's Post Season time so let's get Chaggy's Picks

2004-10-05T09:41:00.000-04:00

well I had a nice table here but since Blogger doesn't enjoy my HTML code we're going to have to do this the old way and tell you what's going to happen instead of using a table.
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The Red Sox vs the Angels. This is going to be a squash series, Schiling will win game 1, Pedro will lose game 2, Bronson will win game 3 and then Wakefield will win game 4 to give us the series 3-1
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The Yanks against the Twins. This is going to be in my mind the best ALDS series. The Yanks will win the series 3-2 and the only 2 wins the twins will get is when Santana pitches games 1 and 4, yes game 4 because that will be an elimination game.
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The Cardinals vs the Dodgers. Um this is going to be an easy pick. IF you think I'm going to pick the Dodgers then you havne't been reading my columns. The Cardinals will sweep the Dodgers.
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The 'Stros against the Braves. The 'Stros will win this series 3-1 as they will take a game at Turner field.
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Then that moves us to the ALCS and puts us in another dream match of Red Sox vs the Yankees. Schilling will start game one and he'll win. Pedro will continue his dominance by losing game 2. Bronson will come in and win game 3. Wakefield will lose game 4. Schilling will come in and win game 5 and then in a shocker they will jump over Pedro to let Bronson pitch game 6 in which Bronson will win.
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The 'Stros vs the Cardinals, which will be a great series and will go a full 7 games but I know a reader of this blog is going to shoot me as I say this and a few others will cheer but the Cardinals will lose 4 games to 3. I know about a month ago I had the SOx vs the Cardinals in the Series but my original pick was Sox vs Stros and a month ago it didn't look like the 'Stros had a chance so I changed my pick.
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The Redsox vs the 'Stros. Game one will be Pedro vs Clemens in which Clemens will win and give the 'Stros a 1-0 lead. Schiling will come in and win game 2 at Fenway to tie the series at 1-1. Bronson will pitch game 3 at Minute Maid and he will win the game to give the Sox a 2-1 advantage. Tito Franconia will make a mistake and stupidly have Pedro pitch on 3 days rest and Pedro will lose game 4 to tie the series at 2-2. Wakefield will pitch game 5 and win to give the Sox a 3-2 advantage. The Sox will have Curt Schilling on the mound in game 6 to close the series but will lose game 6 on a walk off homer from Adam Everett. This leads up to a Game 7 and my hero Bronson will pitch the game of his life to give the Sox the first World Series title since 1918.
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That's the blog for today, feel free to leave your own predictions.

It's sunday so it's time for a pure Chags and Zags collumn

2004-09-19T10:10:00.000-04:00

Chags to Dirt Dogs for coming up with this great song. If you know Tubthumping then you'll enjoy this song;
We'll be singing
When we're winning
We'll be singing

He gets knocked down but he gets up again
You're never going to keep him down
He gets knocked down but he gets up again
You're never going to keep him down
He gets knocked down but he gets up again
You're never going to keep him down

Pissing the game away
Throwing to the wrong base

He drinks a whisky drink
He drinks a vodka drink
He drinks a lager drink
He drinks a cider drink
His agent tries to remind him of the good times
He's been in games that remind him of the better times:

"Oh Derek Lowe, Derek Lowe, Derek Lowe..."

He gets knocked down but he gets up again
You're never going to keep him down
He gets knocked down but he gets up again
You're never going to keep him down
He gets knocked down but he gets up again
You're never going to keep him down

Pissing the game away
Throwing to the wrong base

He drinks a whisky drink
He drinks a vodka drink
He drinks a lager drink
He drinks a cider drink
He sings the songs that remind him of the good times
He sings the songs that remind him of the better times:

"Don't cry for me, George Steinbrenner..."

He gets knocked down but he gets up again
You're never going to keep him down
He gets knocked down but he gets up again
You're never going to keep him down
He gets knocked down but he gets up again
You're never going to keep him down

We'll be singing
When we're winning
We'll be singing

Chags to me for continueing my climb on the WP.com college football Pick'em, I miss a few games and I still climb the ladder, I'm now in third place.

Chags to Hopkins for beating De La Hoya

Zags to the Yankee fans on my floor for rubbing in the fact that the Yanks won yesturday, when we win this series Sox fans will be classy and not rub it in your face

ZAGS to Yahoo for saying that the Cardinals have clinched their division when their magic number is 1, wow amazing Yahoo is incorrect

ZAGS to Bonds, we know I hate you so stop hitting the home runs.

ZAGS to Yankee Announcer Michael Kay, I have a ton of respect for you and I think you are one of the top 5 announcers in the game, but Bonds won't hit 900 home runs.

By the way the top 5 are Joe Buck, Sean McDonnough, Jerry Remy, Don Orsillo and then Michael Kay

Zags to our Ryder Cup team, Europe is up 11-5, this is pathetic, another great dream team

Now let's move on to Football Central

Last week I got 12 picks correct; here are my picks for this week

DAL over CLE
HOU over DET
GB over CHI
TEN over IND
CAR over KC
NO over SF
WAS over NYG
STL over ATL
DEN over JAX
PIT over BAL
SEA over TB
NE over AZ
SD over NYJ
OAK over BUF
CIN over MIA
MIN over PHI

That's the blog for today, leave some so I know that people are reading this.
Take care,
~Chag

What are the Rangers thinking

2004-09-14T17:57:00.000-04:00

First off before today's blog I want to wish a very happy birthday to one of my readers, Happy Birthday Anna. now on to today's Blog

Happy Tuesday, and before last night I've never heard of Monday night Fights. Last night in Oakland looked like a scene from Monday Night Raw as ball players were throwing chairs into the stands. I've looked at my ticket from Fenway and it says beware of flying bats and balls that may fly into the stands, but nowhere does it say beware of flying Chairs from maniacs. I'm sorry but i don't care what a fan says or does to you but Rangers reliever Frank Francisco was out of line when he tossed a chair into the stands sending a fan to the hospital. Baseball hasn't seen anything like this since game 3 of the ALCS when the infamous bullpen fight happened at Fenway. Network Coliseum looked like Madison Square Garden and it wasn't baseball that I was watching but wrestling. If I didn't know better I would have thought that the lady who was hit was being paid by Vince McMahon and the person throwing the chair was Triple H. I can't believe that Joe Morgan had the gaul to say that it's the stadiums fault for having the stand right above the bullpens. Thankfully the Rangers have a very classy owner as Tom Hicks was quoted as saying, "On behalf of the Texas Rangers, I want to apologize for the conduct of some members of our club last night in Oakland. Their behavior, especially the injury to a fan, was unacceptable. Even in a difficult or abusive environment, players should never be provoked into such actions. I have been in contact with the Commissioners' office to determine the next appropriate steps." The Rangers were complaining about how the fans were acting, God this kills me to say this but do the Yanks ever complain when they come to the best ball park, Fenway, and get heckled. Or the Cubs when they go to Busch Stadium. Fans are apart of the game and these teams should be happy that they have fans, you have a Marlins game that happened to take place in Chicago and nobody came. Or the classic Yankee game from last Thursday when about 500 fans showed up for the start of the game. And Oakland announced that if any fan went onto the field then Oakland would forfeit the game, what is up with all the forfeits in the game today. The Yanks wanted a forfeit when Tampa Bay decided to stay with their families during a natural disaster but this is insane. The last forfeit I remember is when the dodgers had to forfeit because the fans were throwing food, drinks, and the Nomo bobblehead dolls onto the field, after a blown call. There must be a feud that we don't know about between the A's and the Rangers because last year a fan threw a cell phone at Carl Everett, even through he needs to have a few things thrown his way but anyway it seems that this is a feud that has taken on a whole new meaning. I didn't realize that fans in Oakland have to dress like Raiders fans to protect themselves from flying chairs.

Thats the blog for today, leave some
~CHag

It's sunday so it's time for a pure Chags and Zags collumn

2004-09-12T13:08:00.000-04:00

Greetings it's Sunday so let's recap the week with Chags and Zags

Zags to the New York Yankees for attempting to get easy wins over the D-Rays because they were stranded in Florida. Godforbid they wanted to stay with their families during a hurricane. Last I checked doesn't Georgie have a house in Tampa, he grew up there plus the Yanks have spring training there. A huge Zag goes your way Yanks.

Zags to my English teacher for sending me this email
"All this is probably more than you ever imagined possible from writing. Yet you can witness portions of it, and when you do, your writing will improve tremendously, which is saying much since you right well already."

Chags to the Patriots for winning yet another game, Dolphins record here we come

Zags to the Cubbies, won't you fall out of the race already, go and believe in your horriable, pathetic Billy Goat curse.

Zags to the Cardinals for dropping a few games this past week, but they're still in first.

Chags to Sanders for coming out of retirement to play football, he's one of the few who can retire and come back and still play well. Unlike somebody like MJ who tried to come back with the Wizards and well we know how much that flopped.

Chags to Notre Dame for their upset over Michigan.

Zags to the NHL, I'm guessing there won't be any hockey this year, go AHL and go Manchester Monarchs

Zags to SI for putting Schilling on their latest cover. We're on a streak so you use your curse against us, when did the Yanks buy you.

Chags to Kuznetsova for beating Dementieva to win the women's US Open

zags because nobody has heard of them.

Good luck to Federer as he takes on Hewitt in the finals today

Zags to Bonds for breaking the single season walk record, we know I hate him that's why it's a zag.

Well that's the blog for this Sunday, leave some
~Chag

Since when does ESPN step in to demand a forfeit for the Yanks

2004-09-09T11:00:00.000-04:00

Below is a column by espn.com's Jayson Stark

It's always fashionable to blame the Yankees for just about anything and just about everything these days. Traffic. Inflation. Bad haircuts. Whatever.

So why not the weather?

Why not a hurricane?

Why not a headline that looked something like this:

HURRICANE FRANCES RAVAGES FLORIDA. STEINBRENNER BLAMED.

OK, it never quite came to that this week. But it did come to this:

DEVIL RAYS DELAYED BY HURRICANE. YANKEES DEMAND FORFEIT.

If you weren't paying attention, that looked like the clear seven-word summation of what happened Monday at Yankee Stadium, when the Tampa Bay Devil Rays failed to show up on time for a doubleheader without a valid note from their mothers.

But of course, it's more complicated than that. And as best we can tell, after hearing all sides in this fiasco, it isn't the Yankees who deserve to take the heat on this. Or the Devil Rays.

It's the poobahs at Major League Baseball, who must have been the only people on the planet not watching the Weather Channel over the weekend.

Does anybody out there really believe the Yankees are so desperate to hold onto their lead over the rampaging Red Sox that they tried to squeeze a forfeit out of a team caught in a hurricane?

Come on, friends. George Steinbrenner may believe that the goal in life is to go 162-0 and sweep the World Series by a score of 57-1. But he isn't that inhumane.

All the Yankees were really doing, in requesting that forfeit ruling Monday, was asking the commissioner's office, in that diplomatic way of theirs: Why the heck were we forced to wait around all day for a team that had no more chance of arriving in New York by 3 p.m. than it did of swimming from Tampa Bay to the Bronx?

Why were they there? Not because they wanted to be. They were there because MLB's COO, Bob DuPuy, assured them repeatedly all weekend that the Devil Rays would show up in plenty of time to play.

As early as Friday, Yankees president Randy Levine told ESPN.com, the Yankees called the commissioner's office and said: "There's a hurricane coming. What do you want us to do (about Monday's doubleheader)?"

"If they had just told us Friday, 'The Devil Rays are not coming,' all of this would have been avoided," Levine said.

But that isn't what the Yankees were told. They were told by DuPuy on Friday they should prepare to play, Levine said. They were told the same thing on Saturday. They were told again on Sunday. They were reassured yet again Sunday night, despite forecasts that showed the storm had slowed in the Tampa Bay area.

So all the Yankees did was what they were told. They prepared to play. They showed up to play.

And when game time rolled around (a couple of different game times, in fact) and there was nobody to play, they got slightly annoyed. Can't blame them.

There should have been a simple announcement Sunday, if not earlier: "The health and safety of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and their families is more important to us than any Labor Day doubleheader. Therefore, we're postponing both games." How complicated is that, huh?

But what were they doing there? Why were they told to play? Why did MLB even think it was possible to play? That still isn't clear.

DuPuy didn't return two calls for comment. But MLB spokesman Rich Levin says baseball was assured by the Devil Rays "that they would be there on time." Which is interesting, since the Rays themselves say they never had any intention of leaving until the storm had passed and they knew their homes and families were safe.

"We'd do it again tomorrow," said Rick Vaughn, the Devil Rays' vice president of public relations. "There's no way we wanted to come up during that storm."

Even the Yankees admit that Devil Rays GM Chuck LaMar talked to Yankees GM Brian Cashman as early as Friday and told them just that. They even relayed that message to MLB.

But Levine says the Yankees were then told by the commissioner's office: "That's not true. We're telling them to get up there."

There have been intimations that it was Devil Rays owner Vince Naimoli who told DuPuy his team would show up Monday right on time, ostensibly because it planned to leave Sunday.

But Vaughn says that while there was some preliminary talk about trying to fly out Sunday night, the forecast continued to worsen. So "by Friday night, when we left the ballpark," Vaughn said, "our traveling secretary told me, 'We'll leave Monday morning, unless you hear (otherwise) from me.' "

The commissioner's office, however, would not confirm that Naimoli had sent DuPuy a different message -- or, in fact, that he had told them anything about anything.

"We're not going to talk about what conversations we had with the Devil Rays," Levin said. "We were led to believe the Devil Rays could make it there in time for the game. As far as who said what to whom, we're not going to get into it."

The other bizarre aspect of this story is the Yankees' suggestion that the Devil Rays took their time getting out of Tampa on Monday, when they could have flown out first thing in the morning.

"Let me tell you about our day," Vaughn replied. "We got to the park at 7:30 in the morning, because the bus was supposed to leave at 8. And we were ready to go. But the airport in Sarasota was closed.

"So then we tried to fly out of Fort Myers. But there were tornado warnings along I-75. And Chuck said, 'I'm not going to jeopardize these players' safety by trying to drive 2½ hours (to Fort Myers) in this weather.'

"Finally, around 11:30, we heard that the Tampa airport would be open around noon. ... But the bridge was flooded, and they only had one lane open, and it took us an hour just to get across the bridge. So there was no way we could leave Tampa until 3 o'clock.

"We left Tampa at 3 and played a game -- in New York -- at 7." Vaughn said. "I never heard of anybody doing that. But we did it. We walked in, put our uniforms on, went out, stretched and started the game."

The Yankees, on the other hand, say they were told at one point that the Devil Rays would leave Saturday, before the storm even hit -- then were told Monday that the Tampa airport was open all morning.

With all these different stories flying around, of course, who knows what any of us should believe. So Levine said the Yankees didn't demand they be handed this win by forfeit. All the Yankees asked MLB to do, he said, was "investigate."

"What we said to Major League Baseball was, 'Do an investigation,' " Levine said. "If you determine that Tampa Bay was supposed to leave and it didn't have a valid reason for not leaving and not showing up, then the rules say there should be a forfeit."

But MLB's "investigation" didn't exactly last as long as the Iran-Contragate hearings. Before Monday night's game was even over, Bud Selig had issued a statement saying MLB believed in determining the outcome of its games by playing them, not forfeiting them. And by Tuesday afternoon, MLB had rescheduled the postponed game as part of a Wednesday doubleheader.

The Yankees had asked for that game to be rescheduled for after the season and only played if necessary. But MLB rejected that argument, too.

"We try to play all our games," Levin said, speaking for Selig. "Things like hurricanes do happen. When they happen, you have to make an adjustment. And we made an adjustment."

That, however, isn't the Yankees' beef. They understand there was a hurricane. They understand that created issues for a lot of people. They understand why the Devil Rays didn't want to leave until the storm had headed elsewhere.

"We're not objecting to any of that," said the Yankees' president. "What we're objecting to is: That's not what (MLB) told us. ... If (the Rays) couldn't get there -- or baseball was telling them they didn't have to get there -- why didn't (MLB) just tell us that? If they'd come to us Friday, Saturday or Sunday and said, 'This is not going to happen,' why would we have opened the gates?"

Uh, good question. And one that could have been easily answered, too, had anyone from the commissioner's office just taken a good look at the Doppler, considered all the human issues involved and thought this through.

There should have been a simple announcement from Selig or DuPuy on Sunday, if not earlier: "The health and safety of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and their families is more important to us than any Labor Day doubleheader. Therefore, we're postponing both games and we're telling the Devil Rays to wait out this storm. We'll stay in constant communication with all sides. And when it's safe for them to leave for New York, we'll have a further announcement on rescheduling these games."

How complicated is that, huh? But instead, the Devil Rays probably will be fined and/or disciplined. Lucky them.

And all that forfeit hoopla has probably led most of the continent to think the Yankees' official hurricane policy was something to the effect of: "We deserve that forfeit. And oh by the way, we don't care if your power stays out till November."

Ridiculous.

But when in doubt, blame the Yankees. It's been a can't-go-wrong formula for 80 years. No reason to abandon it now.

Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com.

Jayson tell me that you're kidding me. How heartless are you if the Rays wanted to stay home with their family to make sure that their families were safe. What a surprise an ESPN writter is pro-Yankee, this is something that has never happened before. They just give us more reason to dislike ESPN, one thing about ESPN I like, besides living 15 minutes away from it, is Jim Caple, and one letter he had in his report today was classic.

Commissioner Selig,

This letter is a formal request for Major League Baseball to award the Yankees a victory by forfeit due to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' failure to show up on time for a scheduled Labor Day doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. The Devil Rays claim they could not reach New York on time due to Hurricane Frances. We do not consider that excuse sufficient.

The infamous Hurricane of 1938 that struck New York and New England killed 700 people, left 63,000 homeless and registered winds as high as 120 miles at the Empire State Building. But it didn't postpone the Yankees game or stop Lou Gehrig's playing streak. Granted, the Yankees were playing in Chicago that day, but the point remains: A hurricane wasn't enough to stop Gehrig and the Yankees then, and it isn't a sufficient excuse to postpone a Yankees game now.

A hurricane may be reason enough to take a day off for a losing team that has never finished anywhere but last place, but it is not the Yankees' way to postpone games due to climactic conditions hundreds of miles away. The way of a true champion is to play on, no matter what the weather conditions are anywhere else.

There are hurricanes, tornados, cyclones, typhoons, monsoons, floods, avalanches, tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions all over the world, but the Yankees play on. There are starving children in Ethiopia, Liberia and Sudan who would be happy to play in a hurricane, and thus are inspired by the manner in which the Yankees take the field each night despite their suffering. There are wars all over the world. Our brave troops are risking their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. Reserve units are being forced to extend their service time for month after trying month.

Derek Jeter and the Yanks play through rain, snow, sleet and hail.
And the Yankees honor their sacrifices by suiting up every night.

The U.S. Postal Service does not deliver on Sundays and holidays, but the Yankees play. USA Today does not print on weekends, but the Yankees play. There are entire weeks during which the New Yorker and Sports Illustrated don't publish, but the Yankees play.

We played the night that NBC aired the final episode of "Friends." We played the night that Mariah Carey's movie "Glitter" opened. We played the night "Cats" closed.

And the Devil Rays cannot overcome a hurricane?

We played the time Don Zimmer couldn't get through the stadium's metal detectors. We played the night David Wells drank all the beer in the concession stands. We played the night Darryl Strawberry snorted the third base line.

And the Devil Rays can't show up on time?

We played the night Alex Rodriguez's limo broke down on the Major Deegan. We played the night Jason Giambi cut the cheese on the team bus and everybody had to get out and walk the rest of the way. We played the night Ruben Rivera stole Joe Torre's hubcaps.

And the Devil Rays can't get to the airport on time?

We played the day the air conditioning didn't work right in the team hotel. We played the night Derek Jeter couldn't find his little black book. We played the day there were those really bad solar flares and we couldn't get decent cell phone coverage. We even played that one night it looked like it was going to rain really, really hard only it didn't.

And the Devil Rays don't reach the ballpark until six hours after the original scheduled start?

The facts of the case and your decision are clear. You must issue a forfeit. Baseball teams cannot willy-nilly decide on their own not to show up for scheduled games just because it is slightly inconvenient. The Yankees do not play that way and they expect no less from their opponents.

Indeed, Kevin Brown got a bad night's sleep and woke up in a very bad mood this morning, and yet the Yankees have no plans to cancel our current homestand.

Sincerely,

Randy Levine
President
New York Yankees

Yankees give it up, you're running scared and the Red Sox Nation loves it. The Sox are only 2 games back and the Yanks are going nuts. Well it's thursday and it's Football season so what does that mean, my weekend picks.

NE over IND
SEA over NO
SD over HOU
DET over CHI
STL over ARI
CIN over NYJ
TEN over MIA
BAL over CLE
TB over WAS
JAX over BUF
OAK over PIT
ATL over SF
PHI over NYG
MIN over DAL
DEN over KC
GB over CAR

And NE's score is going to be 28-10 in a game that will start to prove that the Colts will not make the post season, that's right the Colts won't make the post season. And when this happens I will no longer have to call one of my readers "The Princess"

How about the sox 2 games back and a 5 game lead on the Wild Card. And why is Agassi still playing, he's so old and I hope that Roger Federer beats him, at press time Federer is up 2 sets to 1.

Well that's the blog for today, next update will be on Saturday, enjoy the Pats game tonight, oh and the Sox will take 3 out of 4 from Seattle.

Leave some,
Chag

The New York WAAAAAAAAAAAANKEES

2004-09-07T19:01:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Yankees withdrew Tuesday their request that a postponed game with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays be forfeited, and Major League Baseball announced the game would be made up as part of a doubleheader Wednesday.

``It was the only option unless you wanted to play it at the end of the regular season,'' Yankees manager Joe Torre said Tuesday.

On Monday, the Yankees asked the commissioner's office to award them a forfeit over Tampa Bay after the Devil Rays failed to arrive in time for a scheduled doubleheader because of travel problems due to Hurricane Frances.

ADVERTISEMENT

Commissioner Bud Selig made it clear that he had no intention of awarding a forfeit.

``We appreciate the continuing accommodation of the New York Yankees and their fans and apologize to them for any inconvenience that the delays may have caused,'' Bob DuPuy, chief operating officer of the commissioner's office, said in a statement Tuesday. ``As the commissioner made clear, it is critical that the outcome of the pennant races be determined on the field.''

The Yankees were 2 1/2 games ahead of Boston in the AL East heading into Tuesday night's games.

DuPuy added that any issues involving the Devil Rays' travel was a matter of review between the commissioner's office and the team only.

``Obviously, I didn't want to play a doubleheader tomorrow. I'm sure (Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella) didn't want to play a doubleheader tomorrow,'' Torre said. ``The only thing that bothers me about the whole thing is that we were ready to play a doubleheader yesterday. We had our guys out here all day.''

The teams were originally scheduled to play two games Monday starting at 1 p.m., but the start time was pushed back two hours on Sunday. Because of the delay in Tampa Bay's arrival, the commissioner's office told the teams to play one game at 7 p.m. and said it would decide later on when to reschedule the second game.

Wednesday's doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 4:05 p.m, though rain is in the forecast. Esteban Loaiza (9-7) will start the first game for the Yankees against Mark Hendrickson (8-14). Brad Halsey (1-2), recently recalled from the minors, will pitch Game 2 against Tampa Bay's Dewon Brazelton (6-6).

Excuse me did I hear one quote correctly

``We appreciate the continuing accommodation of the New York Yankees and their fans and apologize to them for any inconvenience that the delays may have caused,'' Bob DuPuy, chief operating officer of the commissioner's office, said in a statement Tuesday. ``As the commissioner made clear, it is critical that the outcome of the pennant races be determined on the field.''

I did, how did the Yanks accommodate the situation by demanding a forfeit. And who is Joe to tell us what Lou thinks, according to ESPN Lou was blue in the face when that comment was said.

D-Ray delay
may stall twin bill

Despite being ordered by Major League Baseball to travel to New York on Friday night or yesterday morning to avoid weather issues caused by Hurricane Frances, the Devil Rays were unable to do so and now may wreak their own havoc on the five-game series with the Yankees, which is scheduled to begin tomorrow.
The Rays remained in Tampa last night, saying they couldn't secure hotel rooms in New York, and were hoping to arrive late tonight or tomorrow morning in time to play a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium at 1:05 p.m. tomorrow. MLB officials spent yesterday trying to get the Rays out of Tampa.

"We've been working with the Devil Rays all day in an effort to get them a charter," Katy Feeney, MLB's vice president for scheduling and club relations, said last night. "But the problem now is the storm and how it's going to affect everyone. There's also a concern for the players and their families."

For their part, according to sources, the Rays spent yesterday trying to have the games moved to Thursday or rescheduled for later in the season, but the Yankees, who have sold 45,000 tickets for the twin bill, informed MLB that if the Rays don't show up, they'll seek a forfeit.

That, of course, would throw the division race between the Yankees and Boston into chaos and would surely cause even more ill will on the part of the Red Sox: A forfeited game, according to MLB rules, would result in an automatic 9-0 Yankee win over the Devil Rays for each game not played.

Can I get somemore WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA's. Ok I know that some of my readers are going to say, Chag, if you weren't in Boston then you would see this another way, well here is what a NY Paper had to say.

Yankees squall over forfeit,
but come off as blowhards

The last time Randy Levine, underboss to George Steinbrenner, looked like this kind of yahoo in public, it was during the last American League Championship Series. Levine is president of the Yankees, and a crucial part of his job description is saying what Steinbrenner tells him to say. So after Pedro Martinez put Don Zimmer to the ground and there was that big fight in the Yankees bullpen, Levine stood sweating in front of television cameras afterward and made Fenway Park sound more dangerous than Baghdad that day. Which it certainly was not. Anybody who sat in the stands that day, as I did, knew it was a lie.
The truth is that the only person unsafe on that particular Saturday was a Fenway Park groundskeeper, who got jumped by some of Levine's baseball players.

Yesterday Levine was back, demanding that the Devil Rays should forfeit the first game of what was supposed to be a doubleheader because they weren't able to get out of Florida because of Hurricane Frances.

"The rule states that if your team is here and ready to play, and the other team isn't here and not ready to play, there should be a forfeit, and we believe there should be a forfeit," Levine said yesterday.

Levine doesn't just sound cheap here, he sounds desperate. If the Yankees are still 10-1/2 games ahead of the Red Sox, do you think he would actually go out in front of the public and beg for a forfeit?

If the Yankees were still way ahead, do you think Levine and Steinbrenner would have been screaming at representatives of Major League Baseball - as they sure were in private yesterday - demanding a forfeit from a Devil Rays team that arrived at the Stadium, when it finally arrived at the Stadium, sixteen games under .500 and 24 games out of first place?

All day long, until the Devil Rays finally got off the St. Petersburg Bridge and over to the airport and up to New York, the Yankees actually worried, out loud, that rescheduling a game against a stiff team like this would put them at a "competitive disadvantage." So they kept saying they wouldn't reschedule the game, even though the Devil Rays are here tonight, and tomorrow night, and Thursday night.

"There are no plans to reschedule any games until this issue is worked out," Levine, the underboss, said.

Did the commissioner's office suggest to Vince Naimoli, the Devil Rays owner, that he ought to get his team out of Tampa before yesterday morning? It did. Did Naimoli, one of the worst cheapskate owners in baseball, mislead the commissioner's office about his plans? It looks now as if he did. Does all that merit a forfeit in the middle of what has become a terrific pennant race in the American League East between the Yankees and the Red Sox? On what planet?

The Cubs and Marlins had an extremely important series blown away by Frances over the weekend. They're playing a doubleheader on Friday to catch up and a doubleheader on Sept. 20, and they're going to do it without the kind of public whining produced by the president of a team that worries about a competitive disadvantage with a payroll of $194 million.

Did the Yankees do anything wrong yesterday, at least before Underboss Levine opened his mouth? They did not. They had first moved the first game of yesterday's doubleheader from one o'clock to three o'clock to accommodate the Devil Rays, when the Devil Rays still thought they could get out of Florida at 9 in the morning. An awful lot of Yankee fans didn't know the time of the game had been changed, and showed up at the Stadium early, and the Yankees were gracious enough to open the gates. And later they gave out free hot dogs and soft drinks to the people who hung in there all of Labor Day afternoon. Very cool.

Then they try to steal a game.

If Steinbrenner really wants a free game off Lou Piniella, he must be completely hysterical about his starting pitching. Schedule a doubleheader for one of the next two nights and shut up about it. It's not enough that they had five games scheduled with a stiff team this week when the Red Sox are in Oakland, now they want freebies.

The only losers yesterday were the fans who couldn't wait around eight hours for the game to start. Here was John Imbriani of Miller Place at a few minutes after 1 o'clock yesterday, with his son John Jr., sitting 11 rows behind home plate, the best seats the two of them have ever had for a Yankee game. The boy wore a No.2 Jeter jersey. Father and son had gotten on the Long Island Expressway at Exit 63 at 10 minutes to eight, but as they pulled into the parking lot, they started hearing that there was a problem even getting the Devil Rays to the airport.

"We come once a year," Imbriani said. "A friend of mine who's got a partial season-ticket plan gave me the tickets. I'm close enough to the plate to call balls and strikes, and now I may not see a single pitch."

When they still thought the doubleheader would start at 1, they figured they could see all of the first game and some of the second before they had to be home. See the Yankees in Yankee Stadium from 11 rows behind home plate. They stayed in the ballpark for five hours and finally went back to Miller Place.

"But I saw all those pictures from Florida this weekend," Imbriani said before he left. "So it's tough for me to cry about missing a baseball game."

The only crying in baseball yesterday was from the people who run the Yankees.

Ok so see it isn't only just me. And do you think that if the Sox weren't 2.5 games back that Georgie wouldn't have pushed the issue. They're saying this because they're running scared of the Sox. Yanks just shut up and play the game, just because you think that you have the most money you can push people around. Thank You Bud for making a good call.

~Chaggy
Some material was taken from the Associated Press

It's sunday so it's time for a pure Chags and Zags collumn

2004-09-05T10:59:00.000-04:00

Zags to wearyellow.com, I know that it's a great cause but they wouldn't let me use my Visa checkcard to make a purchase. Calling all readers out there if you have an extra one I'll buy it off of you.

Cheers to Jim Edmonds for getting career home run number 300, way to go Jim

Cheers to Kobe Bryant for getting that case thrown out, we all know that you had sex with her but most of us agree that you didn't rape her. THe only person who won in this case was your wife who got all that gold from you.

Cheers to LSU for winning their season opener in overtime, but we all know that USC were the real champions last year

Zags to the NCAA for staying with this BCS format after last year we saw how much it sucks.

Zags to ESPN for only having Flute's hail mary being the number 9th moment of all time, that had to be higher than #9 because nobody expected that to happen, go Eagles.

Zags to my "wife" Maria Sharapova for being ousted in the third round of the US Open, I'm glad that I didn't buy tickets for the US Open finals.

Chags to De La Salle High School, even through their winning streak was snapped it was still a 12 year winning streak. YOu talk about a school owning a sport well this town owned Washington football.

Chags to this picture, it gives a whole new meaning to Yankees Suck.
Thanks to Curtis for the picture

Zags to people out there who think that the Jets have a chance of making the playoffs, the Patriots will be the only team coming from the AFC East

Chags to the Cardinals for yet another impressive win last night, the magic number is down to 12 Baby!

Zags to yahoo for this statment

LSU gets lucky, barely beats Beavers

A lot of times it better to be lucky than good.

Zags to TV Guide for putting Curtis Martin on the cover in the Boston Market of Conn. Where is Brady?

In a funny note Mike Wallace was arrested after he lnged at two police officers asking why his limo was double parked, the nerve of these officers. Why won't they arrest Barbra Walters or anybody else on the view besides Hasselbeck.

That's the Chag and Zags for Sunday, Catch you guys on Tuesday after the holiday, have a safe Labor Day.

~Chag

Yankees Don't look now, the Red Sox are coming Part II

2004-09-04T13:50:00.000-04:00

FIrst I'd like to thank a friend for sending this in.

"Chag, Sorry if you've received this a dozen times in the last few minutes. Apparently he (Kevin Brown) was so angry after being removed he punched a wall and broke his (left) hand! I've seen a Yankees message board where they're going nuts... Andrew"

Well thanks Andrew. And now for 2 quick jokes that aren't really a joke.

Jake What happens to preachers when they grow old?

Chelsea Oh that's easy, they're put out to pastor.

It's wise to remember how easily this wonderful technology can
be misused, sometimes unintentionally, with serious consequences.

Consider the case of the Illinois man who left the snow-filled
streets of Chicago for a vacation in Florida. His wife was on a
business trip and was planning to meet him there the next day.
When he reached his hotel, he decided to send his wife a
quicke-mail. Unable to find the scrap of paper on which he had
written her e-mail address, he did his best to type it in from
memory.

Unfortunately, he missed one letter, and his note was directed
instead to an elderly preacher's wife, whose husband had passed
away only the day before. When the grieving widow checked her
e-mail, she took one look at the monitor, let out a piercing
scream, and fell to the floor in a dead faint.

At the sound, her family rushed into the room and saw this note
on the screen:

Dearest Wife,

Just got checked in. Everything prepared for your arrival
tomorrow.

PS. Sure is hot down here.

Now let's Chag and Zag it

Well Chags to the Red Sox for winning their 10th straight game.

Chags to the Cardinals for yet another win, Magic number is now 13 baby

Now Chags to this image

Zags to Kevin Brown, as much as I hate you how can you go breaking your hand down the stretch, but Red Sox Nation now loves you but only if you can't pitch.

Zags to a reader, I told you to put a curse to destory the cubs not have it rain so they can't play.

Zags to a reader, well let me tell you today is Saturday not Sunday

Zags to me, why do I keep taking cheap shots at people when they don't take them at me in their blog

Well that's the blog for today, leave some.
~Chag

And one last thing for the princess, to prove that I know everything,
Now you can know everything! just read...

*Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

*Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

*There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

*The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.

*A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

*There are more chickens than people in the world.

*Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.

*The longest one-syllable word in the English language is
screeched."

*On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the
Parliament building is an American flag.

*All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on
4:20.

*No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange,
silver, or purple.

*"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters
"mt".

*All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln

*Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.

*Almonds are a member of the peach family.

*Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.

*Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.

*There are only four words in the English language which end in
"dous":
tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.

*Los Angeles' full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina
de los Angeles de Porciuncula"

*A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

*An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

*Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

*In most advertisements, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10

*Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.

*The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after
Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "It's a
Wonderful Life."

*A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.

*A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

*A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.

*It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

*The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.

*In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.

*The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar
tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

*Mr. Rogers is an ordained minister.

*The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

*There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.

*"Stewardesses" is the longest word that is typed with only the
left hand.

Yankees Don't look now, the Red Sox are coming

2004-09-03T13:12:00.000-04:00

Anybody who knows anything about baseball probably did what I did 2 weeks ago when the Sox were 10.5 games back. "Well we had a nice run let's worry about the Wild Card." 2 weeks later and a 9 game winning streak and now we're only 3.5 games back.

Wow, did I just read that right

Wow, I guess I just did, the Yanks lost that badly to the mighty, mighty, Indians. This isn't the same Cheif Wahoo team that won all of those division titles in a row. This isn't even close to the team that went to the World Series in 1997, when they lost to the Marlins.

ANd now for a joke that isn't a joke

Lazy Louis  I'm so nearsighted, I nearly worked myself to death today.

Anna  What does being nearsighted have to do with working yourself to death?

Lazy Louis  I couldn't tell if the boss was watcing me or not, so I had to work the whole time.

Ok so maybe that wasn't a good joke. Let's Chag and Zag it

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Chags to the Red Sox for winning their 9th straight last night. In August they tied for the best record with my Cardinals.

Cheers to david Letterman and his staff for telling all of us what we already know.

Zags to the Patriots for losing their third straight preseason game, but we need to keep inmind that the Patriots sat every starter they had and none of them played at all

Zags to a reader who thinks that she can win the bet we made

Chags to everybody for making this the 516th most read blog

That's the blog for today, leave some

And one last message

Please get a life people

2004-08-29T14:06:00.000-04:00

Associated Press
ATHENS, Greece -- The South Korean gymnast who lost the all-around title to Paul Hamm because of a scoring error filed an appeal Sunday with a sports arbitration panel, asking it to help him get the gold medal.

Yang Tae-young wants the Court of Arbitration for Sport to order international gymnastics officials to correct the results from the all-around and adjust the medal rankings so that he gets the gold and the American gets a silver.

CAS said it would consider the appeal in Lausanne, Switzerland, where it is based. With the games ending Sunday, there wasn't time to hear the case in Athens. CAS put off setting a date for the hearing until the International Gymnastics Federation, known as FIG, and the U.S. Olympic Committee could prepare their responses.

"I have no comment," FIG spokesman Philippe Silacci said. "Nothing. I'm sorry."

USOC officials did not immediately respond to a message for comment. USA Gymnastics president Bob Colarossi was traveling and could not be reached for comment.

Yang, who finished with a bronze, was wrongly docked a tenth of a point on his second-to-last routine. He finished third, 0.049 points behind Hamm. Add the extra 0.100, and Yang would have finished 0.051 points ahead of Hamm. That, however, assumes everything in the final rotation played out the same way.

Three judges were suspended after the error was discovered, but FIG said the results would stand because the South Koreans didn't protest the error until after the meet.

But the South Koreans continued to press their case for a gold medal. They appealed to the USOC and the International Olympic Committee, but IOC president Jacques Rogge rejected the idea of duplicate gold medals.

  We can't be serious, we're now going to appeal medals, how about we go back to the 1975 world series when in the 8th inning, bases loaded in game 5 I believe when the bases were loaded and there was a called third strike which was ball four which would have given the Sox the lead and the win. And that would have lead them to take the series, but no we can't do that so why should these guys be able to do that.

  The Olympics don't have Instant Replay for a reason because you have nothing to review. I can see why last time why they allowed the figure skaters from Canada to keep their gold medal because there was a judging scandal there wasn't a scandal with them. You can't go back and rewrite history, that is just something that can't be done.

  Now for some quick Chags and Zags, and to tell people who couldn't figure it out Chag, like myself, is good while Zags, like a certain reader, are bad.

  Zags to the New England Patriots for losing yet another preseason game, what is going on with you guys.

  Zags to QU for making classes start on Monday instead of after Labor day

  Zags to me for what happened to me during a dinner, breaking a plate.

  Chags to the Red Sox for winning yet another great game yesturday

  That's the blog for today, leave some.

Last Blog for a little bit?

2004-08-26T09:27:00.001-04:00

Before I type this blog I want to thank everybody on both WP.com and theremyreport.com for all of their support.
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Zags to Tito Francona for probably the stupidest quote I've ever heard;
"We had Gabe (Kapler, an outfielder) on red alert," Francona said. "Pedro (Martinez) volunteered, but Mientkiewicz at second base is as far as we're going to go."

Incase you didn't know that was inresponse to Doug Mientkiewicz going down with a shoulder injury, but Pedro catching, um he is still tring to get fired isn't he?
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Cards magic number is 9 to clinch a playoff spot, 24 to clinch the division.
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Sox are only 5.5 games back, who like me was counting them out
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Chaggs to Jeff DaVanon for hitting the cycle last night, why couldn't the Indians beat the Angels.
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Zags to Marlins pitcher A.J. Pierzynski who entered a 5-5 game in the 10th against the Giants and proceded to throw 4 straight balls, that's what you want to do.
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Now the Rangers will start to fall back to earth as Joaquin Benoit was placed on the 15 day DL, good now it's only a 3 team race for the AL West/Wild Card race. (Red Sox, Oakland, Anaheim)
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But don't look now this could turn into a 4 team race for the AL East/AL West/ AL Wild Card
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That's the blog for today and probably the last one for about a week, thanks for all the warm wishes.

~Chaggy

Chags and Zags

2004-08-24T08:29:00.000-04:00

First happy birthday to Blogger for turning 5.
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Zags to blogger for getting rid of Misadventures of another drunken loser. That was extremely funny to read.
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Zags for people thinking that I'm going to do an interview on this blog. Actually I'd only do an interview if one person interviewed me, and our readers know who that famous athlete would be.
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Zags for people who don't know that, that athlete is Maria Sharapova-Chagaris
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Zags to CBS for not resigning Craig Killborn to a contract, now Craig could get a Chags here by signing another contract with ESPN.
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Chags to Ted Lilly who probably pitched his best outing last night against the Red Sox
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Chags to everybody who showed up for the WP.com league draft
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Zags to those of you in St. Louis who weren't at the draft and continued to pick players that I wanted to draft.
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Chags to Chaggy because i'm out of here Friday morning.
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Zags for people who are complaining about the USA Softball team because they gave up a run, when you outscore opponents 51-1 I think that you're allowed to give up one run.
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Well that's the blog for today, leave some so I actually know who's reading this.
~Chaggy

One of the nicest guys you'll ever meet

2004-08-20T18:05:00.000-04:00

First thanks to Justin for the plug, visit his blog at http://fatelvis04.blogspot.com/

Yesturday I had the honor to meet one of the most down to earth guys and one of the nicest people I've ever met and it wasn't me, it was John Mayer. so maybe at first I wasn't thrilled to be dragged down to Boston and then take a Taxi to the Virgin Mega Store and then stand in line for 4 hours to hear a 45 minute concert and then an autograph signing. To be honest I wasn't much of a fan of his before yesturday but after last night I can consider myself a fan. He surprised me how down to earth he was. He made sure to stay to sign for everybody, instead of taking off after the banded people went through, he understands that without his fans he is nothing. Virgin tried to get him to stop but he refused, he said he'd go on the street to finish the signing.
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now because this is a sports blog we're back to sports. First Roger Clemens in a Red Sox uniform, wow I haven't been calling this since oh he signed with Houston last year. I can see this happening because he wants to have his number retired at Fenway and the only way that can happen is to end your career with the Sox. And to argue with what Kellerman said, "would you rather have Bronson Arroyo or Roger clemens" well personally I'd rather Bronson but I'd rather Clemens than Wakefield or Lowe. Bronson has been the Red Sox most consistent starter this year and the only reason he has so many loses is because the Red Sox on average score 2.5 runs for him a game. And he only gives up an average of 3 runs a game, when you give up 3 a game your'e expected to win.
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And now since it's August 20th I have to give my picks for who is going to finish where in MLB.

This kills me but the Yankees are going to win the American League East.
The Twins are going to win the Central
The Angels are going to win the West
The Sox are going to win the Wild Card in a playoff game against Oakland.

now for the National League
The Braves are going to take the East
The Cards have the Central all wrapped up
The Dodgers are going to win the West
The Giants are going to win the Wild card, sorry Cubbies, actually I'm not at all
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And how about Carly Patterson?
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Getting back on Topic the Sox beat the Angels in the first round while the Yanks beat the Twins. The Sox will beat the Yanks this year in 7 games.

The Giants will get destroyed by the Cards while the Dodgers will beat the Braves. The Cards will then sweep the Dodgers.

The curse of the Bambino will strike again this year as the Cardinals will beat the Sox in 6 games. It kills me to say that but that's whats going to happen.
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When is Melo going to play some time, when they were killing teams in he preolympics he was playing a lot and they will winning, now they're not doing as well as we'd think and he's not playing. Come on Larry what do you have against this kid.
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To the iddiotic writter for the boston herald who compared the Patriots to the Yankees needs to be shot. Ok so maybe not that bad but come on there is a huge difference here, te Pats don't buy championships, the NFL has a salary cap. Plus Patriot Fans aren't annoying compared to Yankees fans who are well i'm not going to go there.
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That's the blog for today, and let me remind a reader that this gets updated a lot compared to hers which is never updated.
~Chaggy

Olympic Update

2004-08-19T11:30:00.000-04:00

Live from Athens Greece, or maybe my room here in Belmont, it's time for an update.
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Can we just have one game when Team USA doesn't give everybody a heartattack. Incase you're going to watch the game on NBCHD tonight then keep reading. Team USA almost loses another game they were down 31-21 after a quarter, down 51-47 at the half, still down 77 to 75 after three then they finally turn it up to win the game 89-79 over the mighty team from Australia. Finally Larry smartened up and played Lebron for 18 minutes, while he scored 8 points but what does he have against Carmelo as he only played 2 whole minutes. Enough time to just touch the ball 4 times and to shoot twice. Duncan led the team with 18 points, while AI and Marion scored 16. Team USA shot an amazing 18% from 3 land, and an even better 53% from the charity stripe and 33% from the field. Amazing, I believe that every college team shoots better than the not in your dreams team. Brian Goorjian's team almost pulled an upset, and how did he do it, he had 7 out of the 9 people who played for him played a min of 21:13. Team USA only has 4 over 20 minutes. Do you think that the likes of Martin Cattaline, John Rillie and Paul Rogers complained that they didn't play? Australia shot 50% from the floor, 46% from three land and 54% from the stripe.
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And from Olympic Softball stadium, a real dream team has once again ended a game early. As team USA strikes for one in the third, and 3 in both the 4th and 5th. Lisa Fernandez had yet another special game by pitching 5 innings, striking out 5, while allowing 1 hit and 1 error. Another great game. Lisa also helped by driving in 1 while going 2-2.
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And tonight the women's all around Final in Gymnastics, I can't wait to see this.
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That's the blog for today leave some.

To quote McEnroe, YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS

2004-08-15T14:55:00.000-04:00

As I already said, "You can't be Serious." So Italy was a fluke was it Team USA, how about Puerto Rico? Arroyo, who is this kid? This isn't your father's dream team, this is your In your dreams team. Team USA has lost it's first olympic game since NBA players were used. The three point line is closer and team USA can't hit a 20.5' shot. That's college and High School length, I can hit that shot and these olympians can't. Let's take a look at this roster; Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury, Dwyane Wade JR, Carlos Boozer, Carmelo Anthony, Lebron James, Emeka Okafor, Shawn Marion, Amare Stoudemire, Tim Duncan, Lamar Odom, and Richard Jefferson, and you tell me that these guys lose to guys like Jose Otriz, Carlos Arroyo, and Jorge Rivera. Team USA was 26 for 75 for 35% from the floor. They shot an imressive 13% from three land and an even better 62% from the charity stripe. How do you win games, well how about shooting 56%, 50% from three land and 67% from the charity stripe. Puerto Rico proved that a TEAM can beat a collection of people anyday, and that's all Team USA is, they're not a Team, they're a TEIAM, and there is an I in that. Forget the saying there is no I in team, Team USA breaks that all the time.
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Now continueing with my olympic coverage, I feel bad for Michael Phelps as he won't be able to gain 8 gold medals as Team USA finished 2nd behind Russia in the 4X100m Freestyle Relay. As they finished 1.99 seconds behind Russia. And then in the finals they fell apart as they los to Russia and some other country and they were 2.58 seconds behind. more olympic coverage tomorrow

~Chaggy