College Football Preview

bulldozers and dirt

with a month left in the baseball season P.T.G. presents you with this:



please note the following joyful aspects of this random clip:

1.) the pullover jerseys with cursive script worn by the Braves (American innocence died when teams stopped wearing pullover jerseys, or maybe American innocence died when Kennedy was shot or when we all got off the boat and slaughtered an entire indigenous people - it's definitely one of these)

2.) the Bob Horner appearance (Horner would go on to hit 4 home runs in a game in 1986 - Rob Neyer didn't know that - burn Neyer burn)

3.) the pre-ESPN has ruined everything cable TV aspect of the broadcast; I'm sure totally sure that TBS showed 18 hours of Sanford & Son reruns after this game

4.) no lights!!

when twee baseball stories attack

Thomas Boswell writes the standard baseball as pastoral metaphor column on new O's manger Dave Trembley here

then with this story still proving that baseball is life - the O's went out and scored 3 runs!! and gave up 3....no wait I mean they gave up 30!! ouch that is so military-industrial complex

to be fair the article is excellent

P.T.G.'s High School Football Preview

USA Today Rankings

also: according to the in-flight Southwestern Airlines magazine Jenks High and Union High in Tulsa have the type of classic high school rivarly that incorporates race, social class and years of hatred - have to love it

One line previews - the return

San Diego Chargers:

You have the best offense in football - you wisely didn't select a certain dog murderer or a certain baby brother of Manning in the last few NFL drafts - but sadly you fired your thoroughly competent coach and replaced him with a wet blanket; so Chargers I present you with this inspirational speech since your new head coach certainly won't be delivering any:

One (or two) line preview for every NFL team

Washington Redskins:

I was there when you won the 1987 and 1991 NFC Championship games, my family has owned season tickets for more than 40 years and I think Art Monk has been unfairly denied entry into the Hall of Fame - that being said your team nickname: pretty fucking racist.

One (or two) line preview for every NFL team:

Atlanta Falcons:

Falcon front office, it's ironic isn't it that at the moment you decided to let your talented backup QB leave via free agency your less talented starting QB was electrocuting a dog. It's like rain...

where have you gone Barry Bonds? oh wait you're fucking everywhere

on Sunday the NY Times had a great quote from a Bay Area Columnist who stated that just as Hank Aaron personified his record by dealing with the racial strife of his time Bonds the new record holder personifies today's world in which fame and wealth are attained at any cost and truth can be manipulated to best serve one's own needs

It was a really good quote and I gave up looking for the link which about sums up this whole sordid mess

come play with us

join me as I deal with the Bonds farce in the only way possible: by paying inordinante attention to the PGA Championship

pessimist

C'mon, kid, the Twins aren't that bad.

Plimpton

Don't miss a nice little photo slideshow featuring that erstwhile pro sport-trier George Plimpton, here.

Discovering Plimpton's books while I attended writing school proved fortuitous, as his sense of humor and his simple skill were a source of valuable plagiarism inspiration. He is one of those writers whose voice sounds as modern and fresh in 2007 as it did in 1959. Hunter Thompson, in a eulogy, described Plimpton as "American Royalty." When Plimtpon died, in 2003, I missed him, without ever having read his books or knowing why I missed him, beyond his series of cameo appearances. Then, after I put away Paper Lion, Open Net, The Curious Case of Sidd Finch (the article), and Shadow Box, I realized why.

Traynor Robbed of Four Baser!

from retrosheet.org:

"7/22/1925: In a game at Philadelphia both the Phillies’ Lew Fonseca and the Pirates’ Pie Traynor lost homers to the rain. Fonseca hit a solo shot off Vic Aldridge in the second inning. Traynor’s blast came in the third with a man aboard. The game was called in the bottom of the fifth with the Bucs ahead 7-3."

Who's coming with me, on my Million Pie March on Washington?!?

Catch Him & Release Us Program

255 to go

this kid is only 2 years older than PJacks

I have a sickness

only when you are reading the online version of Reno's newspaper at 7:55 in the morning concerning an 18 year old do you realize: "Uh maybe I should cool it on sports a little."

summer reading

I read in SI yesterday about 3 young men from Boston who drove 9 hours to support Michael Vick at his pretrial arraignment. They did this not because they support the drowning, electrocution and/or picking up and slamming to death of dogs but because he is “the most exciting player in football.”

Clearly these 3 guys have never ever been laid.

since I blogged last

Padraig Harrington’s fifth shot Sunday on the 18th during the British Open was clutch. Quite Clutch.

Scully on Scully

"Everything we do is skywriting," Scully said. "It's put up in the wind and it blows away."

If you're gonna obsess about a ballplayer, it might as well be Biggio

Last night I heard on the MLBTV broadcast from Atlanta that Craig Biggio wants to catch one more game before he retires.

I haven't heard a piece of news this intriguing since Dave's Transformers review.

There was some footage of Bidge taking some throws behind the plate, sans gear but with a mitt on, and my heart lept from my chest. As someone who gets the occasional deranged urge to hop back behind the plate every now and again, I can see the appeal for Bidge. It is a special experience--especially in the Big Leagues--to put on some gear and mix it up for every pitch of the game, to feel the vibe with a pitcher, to catch a gnarly third strike curveball, called. (Plus, the Astros will likely be nowhere close to contention, which is Veeckian territory, ripe for stunts, although I wouldn't consider this an out-and-out stunt.)

This is one of the most resonant revelations I could conceive of, for a man to cap his HOF career by a return to the grueling young man's occupation which was, for him, the beginning.

(This just in: for old time's sake, in the twilight of his career, Barry Bonds, in a Biggio-esque maneuver, is considering running hard to first base on a ground out, just like he used to)

If this Biggio story doesn't already get me excited enough, this kicker should just about do it: He would catch ROY OSWALT.

"Now I know why Don Baylor quit at 267."

Craig Biggio crumbling under media pressure.

from the onion