I Like Brackets

I heard things are in motion to create a simple four-team playoff for NCAA football starting in 2011. That'd be great, and it would open the door for a more complete playoff schedule. Part of the fun of football is always watching that underdog team make a run until they get squashed under the wheels of some powerhouse squad.

as a kid I followed baseball

For months in 1987 the baseball media would not stop talking about where White Sox pitcher Floyd Bannister would end up? Would he stay with the Sox? Be traded to the Yankees? Implicate Oliver North in Iran Contra? Finally Bannister was traded and I rushed to tell my father, who replied: “Nobody cares about Floyd Bannister.”

Mark Buherle is this era’s Floyd Bannister.

In the 1930’s the baseball All-Star game was a really big deal!! Also in the 1930’s people still died from polio.

jazzed up in Detroit

It's not hard to envision the difficulty that Neifi Perez might have getting pumped up for a game. He's been at it for 12 seasons, all but a few of them strictly mediocre. He's been on a few good teams, including a run with the Tigers last year. But let's admit, his shining hours of glory ticked away some time ago (around the year 2000, I'd say).

Nowadays, he's looking at a moribund 64 at bats halfway through the season (though he has, remarkably, gone yard ball once). It takes a lot to get up for a game in which you will not play. Evidently, it takes Neifi more than a lot.

Yes, that's right: "Neifi Perez of the Detroit Tigers has been suspended 25 games, effective immediately, for testing positive for a banned Stimulant." (Why do you have to capitalize the word Stimulant?).

You hate to see a guy abuse a substance and still completely suck. Mcgwire hit 70 homers, Giambi got an MVP, Canseco entered the pantheon of literary genius. But what did Neifi get? That single bomb he hit this year?

64 ABs, one homer, 6 RBI, .170 BA, 25 game suspension. Looks like Neifi could use the rest.

I Have Bolded the Important Words in this Post.

I spent a decent part of my day today clicking the button by Roy Oswalt's name on the MLB's Last Man Standing vote or whatever it is. Clever little web-monkeys make you UN-click the "Yes I want your SPAM email" box with every single refresh. Then they strain your eyeballs to breaking with their swirling, grid-laid guess-a-number to fool the web-bots so intent on hacking Jeremy Bonderman into the All-Star game.

Turns out, my efforts were unnecessary, Roy-O is in. Old man Smoltz broke down.

Good. He's one of the best, don't know why he didn't get in as it is. On May 25, Jayson Stark called him the most underrated player in baseball. (His second choice was Trevor Hoffman, which is odd.)

Let's say nothing of the fact that all of the Astros All-Stars snuck in the back door. El Caballo was a player's choice. Nevertheless, may the might Black and Brick-coloration overrun San Francisco.