Time to Rant

This is a bit of a controversial subject, but once again I feel the need to bring up why I am rapidly losing interest in the Washington Nationals and being a supporter of the team. I have never been one to subscribe to the idea that you should just remain totally loyal to a failing franchise and shut up about their problems and support them because if you don’t you aren’t a real fan. I think just the opposite is true; anyone who is a real fan of this team should be absolutely disgusted by the state of the Nationals. I think voicing and acting on that opinion is really the only way to get anything to change in the way this team plays and especially in the way this team is run. They are a joke and an absolute embarrassment to baseball.

I happened to move to DC right when the inaugural season of this team was about to kick off, I still remember that Preston Wilson hit the first ever HR for the Nationals. I was excited by the fact that finally after almost 10+ years of being in places without a MLB team, I would have a team in my hometown and I quickly became a fan. That first year team, playing at a wreck of an old stadium, managed by Major League Baseball which had decimated the team and its farm system and coming off a final year in Montréal in which nobody cared about the team at all, and full of players whom nobody had ever heard of managed to finish the season at 81-81, right at .500. This was a great success and I really thought that maybe these guys would actually be able to be good in a few years. Boy, was I ever wrong. Every single since then they have finished worse than they did that first season, that is simply inexcusable. In the four years that the Nationals have been in town they have had 5 all star players, they have traded away or just let go three of those players. Can anyone explain to me how when you are trying to build a team, you get rid of the guys who made the all-star team? Lets examine the reasons why this team finds itself as the sorriest excuse for a professional sports team outside the Detroit Lions.

First and foremost are the piss poor player personnel decisions, this team has repeatedly traded away or just let go the consistent, everyday type players while taking wild gambles on unproven and incredibly inconsistent project players. So far, none of these players has panned out. Elijah Dukes only shows up once every few weeks, Lastings Milledge is a bust, Austin Kearns is a joke who doesn’t even start anymore, and Felipe Lopez was an error machine who they actually gave up on. This team has had almost 5 years to get its shit together yet still finds themselves as the worst team in baseball. The Tampa Bay Rays went from laughing stock to AL champions, the Nationals have gone from .500 ball club to worst team in baseball in the same time frame. Another problem with this team is the blasé, soulless fan base. You show up to a game at Nationals Park and you are more likely going to find A) More fans of the opposing team there and B) Those that aren’t, are too busy checking their blackberrys all game long as opposed to paying attention to the game. The typical “Nationals Fan” would rather talk to you more about the 5th district congressional seat in Kentucky than who should be the 3rd starter in the rotation. In short, it’s a casual and not very knowledgeable fan base and it really kills the atmosphere of a Nationals game, which brings me to another complaint, the ballpark itself. Nationals Park is like the playboy centerfold of stadiums, quite nice to look at, but utterly devoid of personality and uniqueness, and extremely expensive. $7.50 for a Bud Light? C’mon guys, I know it has the fancy logo on it and all, but give a guy a break its hard enough to watch this team play.

There are certainly many more problems I could bring up from firing Frank Robinson, the piss poor marketing of this team, the crappy TV coverage (why do I only get like 10 HD games all season?), the lackluster and unimaginative giveaway promotions, and the list goes on and on. The bottom line though is this team has gotten progressively worse from a team that was 81-81. When do the excuses stop? When does this fanbase start holding this team accountable for its terrible performance? Until I see some marked improvement in this team I will not be buying any game tickets more expensive than the cheap seats. I will not be purchasing anymore merchandise of the team. I will not be going out of my way to catch the games on crappy SD on MASN2.

I hope you are listening Nationals, because Im the kind of fan you want. Most of this fanbase doesn’t care enough about this team to even be angry at the state of it, I do. Its pretty sad when the one thing you have done right in almost 5 years was the racing Presidents. Shape it up Nats, and quickly because my money and my interest is rapidly turning up I-95 to Baltimore.

Read more...

Chingate' Odalis Perz

I'm taking a cue from one of my new favorite blogs.http://fuckyoupenguin.blogspot.com/

and saying, FUCK YOU, Odalis Peres. you decide to not show up for the first day of practice to Nationals Spring training because you want more money and more guarantees. Well, Fuck you Peres, who the fuck do you think you are? you went 7-12 after starting for 30 games. I'm not asking you to win 20 games or more, I'm asking you to have more wins than losses. guarantee some wins asshole, and the natties will guarantee you some money.

and who the fuck do you think you are that you think you can command anything? You cant even command you're own fucking fastball. lets look at something I found out on the internets... Your Yahoo! stats page.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/6088

honestly, i will give you this. You're average. You're FUCKING AVERAGE when it comes to ERA. I'm not asking you to have a super low ERA like 2.53 which is the league leader, but average, i cant complain. so far you're case holds some water. but then again, now I'm looking at the strike-outs column. your little blue bar seems very low considering the league league leader. 119 K's is way better than average in this column. that's great considering the league average is a mere 47. I believe you may be winning me over odalis. Your WHIP is shoddy to say the least, and now i understand why you play for the Nats. For your 159 innings pitched, you allow at least 1.48 walks and hits per inning. the league average is 1.38, which may not seem far off, but most pitchers can pitch 160 full innings in a season... you fall short at 159.2 not to bad, but we're starting to see why the worst team in baseball thinks you're not that great either.
My biggest problem is you're win column buddy. 7 games. 7 games? are you kidding? 162 game season, and you pick up 7 bigtime games?! you think this deserves recognition of skill? you started 30 games, if you broke EVEN you'd have 15. You dont even have that! SHIT, you don't have HALF of HALF. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Top-O-The-Order-Oh-Odalis-mdash-Nationals-l;_ylt=Agz6XHghauHYyW98P1uzzouFCLcF?urn=mlb,141942

Before you start threatening staying home rather than be disrespected, you better start realising that the worst team in baseball is the only team willing to deal with your sorry ass.

also, in the last link there's a picture of you on the mound.. you're standing still, doing nothing. but I see a Baltimore orioles player running the bases rather casually... did he knock in a homer on you? I'm am guessing that's what it is considering you gave up 22 HRs in the 30 games you started, you POS.
My advice to you is asshole, get to practice, you need it. Otherwise, you will be sitting on your ass at home.
My advice to the Natties: sign me guys, my offer still stands. 1 million for one year. I guarantee 5 wins, or your money back.

Read more...

On Sports

I understand what people are upset with Michael Phelps about. I just don't think people are putting it into the right words to sports heads for them to buy into the argument of "role-model" vs. Athlete. The difference is pro athlete vs. Olympic athlete for one thing. they are completely different on a few levels. the argument about good performing athlete vs. poor performing athlete also come into play on this article. below is my argument concerning both points.



1. Michael Phelps is in the wrong because he is not a pro athlete, per se. When Vick got busted, he only embarrassed him, and the ATL Falcons organization. When Pacman Jones want to "make it rain" in da club, he embarrasses only himself, the Dallas Cowboys, and Jerry Jones... except not anymore. But Michael Phelps doesn't play for a privately owned organization (that's another argument entirely). He plays for USA. he represents, you, me and everyone here. The Charles Barkley argument is moot. "you're not paying me to be a role model, you're paying me to win" Remember when he played for the first dream team, and he was making those poor Lithuanian B-Ballers look ridiculous? the difference is that he acted the fool only on the court. He still acted right off the court. All his off court drama has only come up in recent years.



2. The other argument is about Good athletes get away with more. This is entirely true. Good players don't lose endorsements or get cut from teams. some players get more than one chance.

I will use a relevant case: Olympics. Bode Miller. Once thought to be the MOST dominant Super-G skier int he world, team USA let his lifestyle choices and choice to not train with the team actually slide. he actually said on record hat he partied often till the early morning hours drunk of his ass before an actual competition.(okay, not in those words, but not far off). team USA let that slide. but then Bode Miller, seemingly choked in every Big competition we instantly shun him, and talk badly about him. Being bad in the second tier Olympics is bad enough, but bad lifestyle choices as well... you get nothing. If anything, Michael Phelps choose wisely while he was still relevant. The summer Olympics were only a few months ago, people still care about him and he's still doing commercials for all kinds of crap. He will too, for another year, or until he screws up again and gets his third strike. As soon as he becomes irrelevant, like Marion Jones was when she came out with her performance enhancing drugs, he will get crucified like Marion Jones. and then we'll give them a book deal and an Oprah interview.
Remember Lance Armstrong came up hot in multiple tests for certain drugs? he'd already won 7 tour de Lances by then... that's right, they renamed it for him. think yellow... remember that? before lance, yellow was the color of Tour de France winner jersey not much else. Not a bracelet fad. We all let that shit go, because not only was he a winner, but he also had a hot as hell wife who was also at the top of her game. It was only until he started a bromance with naked bongos Maconnaughy and spider-boy Maguire did we start thinking he was a bit off... so what does he do? announce hes gonna ride again. and we completely forget about drug tests.
speaking of McGwire. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa... NO ONE cared about drugs when they were at the height of their Homerun derby. We just wanted to see the Homeruns. And they were positively great human interest stories too. Sammy always giving big ups to mom and god with the kissy faces, and McGwire was an all American good ol boy. whats not to love?
then along come big bad Barry bonds. who is an ass hat with a baseball glove. you can be a cheater and you can be good. but you cant be an asshole about it. Do not get a reality about the harsh world of a poor millionaire that plays a game for job. that's a dream, you can be an asshole while living the dream.

speaking of dreams.
I had a dream the other day. i had a dream I was playing relief pitcher for the Washington nationals. I remember waking up and going... "hmm, this could happen" Because every kids want s to play Shortstop or 1st base for the yankees... those are hardcore dreams. but a national? who dreams about that? apparently me. here's the thing... It COULD Happen. the Natties are the worst team in a screwed up game. they cant seem to sign their college picks. They cant seem to trade their valuable guys for something valuable(Jon Rauch, Alfonso Soriano)in fact, they just let them go. They cant seem to make any waves int he FA market. we almsot had Texeira, but then baseball villain DEVIL IN PINSTRIPES come along and offers him the one thing we cant.. money.
that's the problem with baseball. the NY devils can sign anyone they want to sit the bench for millions of dollars. and still sell their jerseys. the Nats cant sell a ticket. shit, they cant GIVE away tickets. and we'll stick with Manny Acta while he makes terrible decisions late in games witha 5-0 lead and watch as the Bullpen gives up five runs on five pitches... all homeruns. swear, it felt that way last season.
speaking of bullpens and dreams..
so there i was, called in from right field bullpen to the mound and natties park. my first professional baseball game. the natties are up 3-0 in the 6th inning. I'm not even the closer. shit, all I gotta do is get this to the 8th inning and I'm good. i don't even have to strike anyone out, I just cant give up a home run. and then i hear it, the stadium announcer:
"now pitching, number double zero, "Superfudge"" well, they use my real name, but I replace it here with my pen name. yeah, I'm double zero. Milledge wears 34 already and I don't have the dough to pay for it. that's the thing, i can work for cheap. 1.5 million that's all I ask. that aint shit. i need the .5 to pay for my superagent Drew Rosenhouse. he's an awesome agent.
really, I don't remember too much, but I remember waking up, after getting lit up on the mound like christmas eve. i think I gave up like ten runs or something. and thinking, damn, for the natties, that was pretty good. and I started breaking in my glove the next day.

Read more...

Talking Points.. once again

Sometimes.. most times I write articles and essays in my head, but they never get written down on paper or into the computer. This is probably because most times, I have these thoughts away from paper, or my computer. And I'll be damned if I'm gonna walk around like pretentious writers with little voice recorders, "idea for a movie: two guys walk into a bar, after three hours of having the bartender buy him drinks, he realizes it s a gay bar. hilarity ensues"... ech, can you imagine what people like that must be? anyhow here are some things that have been on my mind for awhile and just haven't gotten around to writing:

1. where the FUCK did summer go? these kids better realize what the hell they're missing out on if they staid inside this year. when you're an adult, summer lasts for 16 days. of the two months available, you only get weekends as an adult... that means two days each. 16 days long. daaaaaamn.. talk about use it or lose it.

2. What the hell California?? I mean, I know we're not known for our awesome public transportation, but how hard can it be??? the damn train is on a track! It's kinda like the Autopia at Disneyland. you get to drive a race car, you even get to steer... until much later in life you realize the damn thing is on a track... really, how hard can it be? is there that many buttons to push on the train to make it stop? red and green right? I seen dolphins push a green button for anchovies.
idea for trains transportation: turn engineer cars into large dolphin tanks. dolphin hits large green button when he sees a green light ahead of track, hits red button when he sees a red light on track. dolphin works for anchovies, and we can charge double for the up-front seats... just like Sea-World.

3. Bailing out wall street? really? these are the smart guys that went to college for MBAs and look down on me because I wasn't a smart kid with a wealthy family? and my tax dollars are keeping these fools in business? bullshit man. In the real world, where real Americans live, we get fired when we fuck up at our jobs. When I cant pay the bills, they shut off the phone. If I cant pay the rent, I become homeless.
btw, it kind of puts things into perspective when you think about it... a banker walking around in New York basically begging for billions to keep him in business standing next to homeless guy asking for some spare change to get a burger.
Who are you looking down on now?

4. Politics- I want change.. real actual change. and I'm not talking just change of policy. I'm talking about real actual change in how politics in America works. I think Obama started off right, by being the man for real change... but more and more he sounds like every politician that came before him.
"I'm not This guy, The guy running against me is alot LIKE This guy, so vote for me."
Obama had an opportunity to be for actual political change in America. McCain is playing the politics game as well, and its clear that i dont wan to vote for either.
I think its clear Americans are sick of how politics are conducted in this country, and I'm pretty sure EVERYONE in congress is out of touch because its pretty much business as usual in the alabaster city on the hill.

5. National baseball- i needed to end on a light note.Well, yea r four here in Dc and they have gotten worse. At the time of this article, our Natties are close to the dubious dishonor of 100 loss season. People say we were plagued by poor players and injuries. Hogwash. LA Dodgers just clinched their division. we swept them when they came to DC, and it was convincing wins as well. I was at the game where the NAtties scored 11 run and held the dodgers to just 2 runs. I think whats killing my natties, besides injuries is bad management. Jim Bowden traded away the best pitcher in Jon rauch for near next to nothing. We couldn't sign our 1st round draft pick. we seem to give away good players for peanuts and make useless deals. I will say That Guzman signing was good because he has finally turned into the player they thought they were getting from Minnesota. and our All-Star as well. I don't understand the prices at Nationals Ball park. I understand league average prices... but i also understand our team is the worst team in baseball. I KNOW people only go to the games to see the other team play most of the time. So if you have the most less than average team, should youre prices be the most less than average? seriously, 5 dollar tickets next year. you fuckers are making it hard to be a fan.
OH YEAAH??? whats this shit about you guys not wanting to pay youre rent??? Fuck you LERNER. The people of DC paid for that thing and you owe us big. It's not like youre an American institution like the Yanks, Red Sox, Dodgers, or Cubs. It's not youre stadium. It's mine. so pay the fucking rent and give me cheap seats ya dick, or we're taking the AMTRAK to Camden next year.

That is all. carry-on

Read more...

Trouble in Paradise

So after my post warning about some of these guys the Nats have signed this season it looks like Elijah Dukes is the first out of the gate with serious attitude problems. Will be interesting to see if this is just an isolated incident or if there are serious troubles ahead with team chemistry.

Read more...

Are These Guys For Real?

Ok, so its only 1 game and 7 1/2 innings but the Nationals look like a club who may make some noise this year. It was almost a storybook type of game last night when the Nats won on a game winning walk off homerun on opening night at a new ballpark from their only star player. Thats the kind of shit that is only seen in movies...now i look at the Nats news (conveniently located on this here page) and see that the Nats are up on the Phillies 6-3. I think these guys are serious.

With the excitement and energy of a new ballpark, one of the better bullpens in baseball, a star player who is has managed to make late inning heroics his curtain call, a rejuvenated and healthy Christan Guzman and the return on Nick Johnson could very well be the ingredients to the first winning season in Nationals history.

Now I know baseball is 162 game season and we are barely through 2 games, but I think I'm starting to believe that maybe these guys can do something this year. I'll probably regret this post in about a month when they are on a 13 game losing streak, but heres hoping I won't.

Read more...

Major League Bargain or Major League Trouble?

The Washington Nationals have been busy so far this off season making already two trades that will bring some new players into DC and the new ballpark. Thats all a great idea considering the rather poor state of play from the Nats for the first few years and the need to add excitement to the opening of the new ballpark. There is only one potential landmine here, these guys they are bringing in all have lengthy and detailed problems of off the field indiscretions. In the past few years lets look at some of the acqusitions by Jim Bowden and what kind of baggage they bring to the Nats:

Dmitri Young, who was picked up by Bowden and the Nationals in 2006, has well documented off the field problems when he was with the Tigers. In 2006, Young went through a divorce, was treated for alcohol and substance abuse, and depression. He pleaded guilty to assaulting a young woman after an argument in Birmingham, MI. He also admitted to being an alcoholic and drug addict.

The good thing however is that appears that Dmitri has overcome his problems and put together a solid season both on and off the field for the Nationals in 2007. He has quickly become a fan favorite and is a great story.

Lastings Milledge, whome Bowden picked up in a trade for Ryan Church and Brain Schnedier, has also experienced some off the field issues:

"Prior to the 2003 amateur draft, he was expected to be among the top three selections, but as draft day approached, press reports from 2002 resurfaced regarding Milledge's expulsion from Northside Christian High School after his junior year for allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old girl.He subsequently transferred to Lakewood Ranch High School where he finished his education and amateur baseball career.

As a result of the incident, Milledge was passed over in the 2003 amateur draft until the Mets selected him as the twelfth overall pick in the first round. The Mets began contract negotiations with Milledge, but the talks were interrupted in early August 2003, when the Mets learned of allegations of additional sexual misconduct against Milledge during his time at Northside. The Mets completed a private investigation of the matter and, satisified with the results, signed Milledge to a contract with a $1.9 million bonus."

Some other issues of clubhouse chemistry certainly had a big role in the Mets letting him go for peanuts considering Milledge is a highly thought of prospect, but again off the field issues and immaturity seems to dog him.

The most recent acquistion for the Nats is Elijah Dukes from Tampa Bay. Dukes as well has had a number of off the field issues:

"Since 1998, he has been arrested 6 times on charges including possession of marijuana, assault, and resisting an officer. On May 23, 2007 it was reported that his wife filed a restraining order after he threatened to kill her. On June 12, 2007, a 17 year-old foster child, who was living in the care of a relative of Dukes, accused him of impregnating her. Police say the sex was apparently consensual, and no crime was committed, but they are investigating. When the girl confronted Dukes, he allegedly got angry and threw a bottle of Gatorade at her"

Again, this is another promising player who has had a number of off the field issues. It would seem that Nationals management is hoping that these guys turn out like Dmitri Young and can overcome some of their problems and produce on the field as well as becoming good citizens.

There is no doubt that if these guys go the Dmitri Young route that these are major bargains for the young Nationals team who will become cornerstones of a franchise that already has some good young talent. However if they do not show the ability to mature and get over their off the field issues, this could turn into a major disaster for the Nats as having all these guys in the same clubhouse could make us the Bengals of the MLB.

I suppose only time will tell.

Read more...

Probably worst than we thought

The Nats Suck.
Whats worse, is they are far exceeding the level of suckage i thought they would be at. Wheres the hustle out there? I have seen balls drop in for extra bases against the nats that should have been caught, but they just didn't want to run to catch it. Also seeing base runners pull up well short of the base they're running to. cutting short what should be hits for extra bases into nothing. Most of the problems are all baseball fundamentals. Stuff that would get you benched in Little league(which is my favorite heckle now BTW) for screwing up. Stuff that Frank Robinson wouldn't put up with. Watching Livan Hernandez throw a no-no into the sixth on Sunday was awesome too. That was good move to let him go away. I almost wanted to see the no-no after watching the nats do a half-ass job. They weren't even trying to swing the damn bat half the time. Playing what, two rookies in a starting lineup? is a good idea too. long time vets that we had like Alfonso Soriano were waaay overrated i suppose. How did we not even try to trade to get something for him? Is it just me, or does Belliard just LOOK slow and sloppy. Bellaird has no head for second base. He's too damn slow. I mean, remember when Vidro had second on lock down? remember when our defense was actually solid? Our defense is like swiss cheese nowadays. Isn't this the natiaonl league? Isn't this supposed to be the league of low scores and great defensive baseball? The third base coach is killing us. Not sending runners, holding runners at their base, not making runners tag up and run. Man, I do a better job at Third base coach in kickball than this dude does in the major leagues. Why is no one swinging the bat? how many strikeouts did I see where guys watched pitches go by deep into the count, then swing at garbage to hit a foul ball to keep them at the plate? SWING THE DAMN BAT!

Look, Manny Acta, I refuse to call you coach. Frank Robinson was a coach that knew the game of baseball and the strategy involved. When you earn the coach title from me ill call you coach. until then I call you Manny.
I can play second base, but I'm better in the outfield. I can steal bases and know when to run. I offer up my services to the nationals either as third base coach or at second base. last name is Bland, and I like the number 34. Ill be sitting in the 500 sections where kids don't sit so I can cuss you out Manny. I'm ready to play. DO SOMETHING. YOUR PLAN IS NOT WORKING

Read more...