A Few Things

Just a few things on I must bring up...

- I cannot wait for the MLB season to start, but I really can't wait for fantasy baseball to start. Basement League members owe a certain 2008 champ $5 each oww oww (I kid, don't worry about it). I really want to write a fantasy draft preview, but I don't want to reveal any players I covet. Is A-Rod still a first rounder???

- This Brian Cashman note cracked me up.

- The Mad Dog has been the only listenable person in sports media when it comes to this A-Rod business. I always considered the Mad Dog name to be a bit stupid, but his energy level is always full blast and he truly may be insane. His train of thought today was hilarious, he went from A-Rod, ragging on his wife, his cat "Yum-yum", and back to A-rod in two seconds, shouting the whole way through. True hero.

- Tim Fite is the fucking man.

- Don't read Batman R.I.P.

Roidin'

As the resident Yankee fan, I feel obligated to comment on a certain A-Rod. First off, I hate him. Secondly, I'm not surprised. I thought I would be plagued by Joe Torre book questions during every game telecast, now I get to hear about steroids at least 162 times. A-Roid did the right thing by admitting his mistake, now MLB must admit theirs.

Releasing the remaining 103 names of those who tested positive in 2003 testing will remove any doubts. While it may hurt the MLB in the short term (Big Papi and Albert are going down) it will allow us to officially clothes the chapter on the Juice Era. I would cry if Derek Jeter or Mariano tested positive, but I think they have a little more character than a certain choke artist.

As for the Yankees, how do they overcome this? Two words, sign Manny. It would remove a decent amount of attention from A-Hole, hurt the Red Sox, and you know he would love the NY spotlight. I've convinced myself that this is the right thing to do, and you know you want to see it. Do it Hank, do it.


side note: If I'm A-Fraud, there is no way I'm wasting my time banging an old hag like Madonna. What a moron.

The week that weren't

What I was into this week plus some random thoughts.

Video games

Call of Duty: World at War: I had never played any of the ubiquitous WWII shooters until some glowing recommendations for this one. In a few words: the multiplayer is great, the campaign (what little I've played) has some great moments - such as Japanese banzai troops popping out of the grass bayoneting your boys - but is very hard and the multiplayer is great. You level up by using different guns or performing certain kills and it's a rush being able to level up in a non-RPG setting. Overall, solid game.

Team Fortress 2: For my money this is the best multiplayer game ever. Better than Halo 2. Neck and neck with Left 4 Dead. From the cartoony graphics, to the ethnic stereotype characters, to the ridiculous balance between the nine classes, it's all great. The Orange Box remains the best deal in gaming ever. Buy it and support the greatness that is Valve.

Music

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - S/T: Despite having one of the worst names ever, the debut from this NY four-piece is the first non-Animal Collective album of 2009 I've picked up that I've enjoyed. They remind me of My Bloody Valentine/Sonic Youth and are just lo-fi enough to appease indie kids while remaining listenable. Listen to "Hey Paul" on iTunes to get a feel for what they're about.

A.C. Newman - Get Guilty: I got this after reading a few solid reviews and to me it'll just be New Pornographers lite - minus Neko Case, who is great. Completely meh.

Randoms

• A-Rod steroids - No name will shock me anymore. Pujols? Whatever. David Ortiz? Yup. Chase Utley? Why not. I agree with pretty much everything Larsen posted yesterday. I don't think anyone should be omitted from the Hall of Fame for possibly using roids. That place is already fucked up beyond recognition anyway. When we look back twenty years and see that Barry, McGwire and Palmeiro aren't in, we will all wonder why. The HOF isn't some holy ground, it's a place for the best baseball players. Until we find out roids turn shitty AAA players into HOFers upon use, put them in.

• The Grammys - They are a joke. The only good moment was Radiohead + USC marching band, that was rad. Everything else was stupid. I didn't watch it all (who did? Three+ hours?), but I saw Lil Wayne's Katrina song (good), the ridiculous Jay-Z, Wayne, M.I.A., that other rapper performance (shitty), Coldplay + Jay-Z (what?!) and Radiohead. Most of the winners were lame except for Adele, who is pretty talented. I have no idea how to fix it (I thought about it) and although they had some relevant nominees, it remains as pointless as ever. It's like if the Oscars only awarded popcorn action movies.

• Sports in general - How the hell has someone not signed Manny? If you're the Nationals or Giants how the hell do you not sack up and give this guy three years? What do you have to lose? Only selling 50% of your capacity instead of 40%? He is a monster and a Hall of Famer, craziness and all. ... The Celtics lost again, this time to the Spurs, who I think are being way overlooked in all this LeBron/Kobe slobberin. Roger Mason Jr. is a cold-blooded killer and all the old dudes still got it. They came into Boston and flexed in the fourth. I'd be afraid if I was the Bynum-less Lakers. ... The Pro Bowl (highlight) is pointless. But this year the AFC ran some fumbleruski (go to about 2:25 in the above video) variant that was totally kickass.

• Trash T.V. -I watched MTV's new Sunday line-up last night and it was as disappointing as I thought. Rob Dyrdek's (of Rob and Big - T.V. greatness - fame) show was probably the best, but also the most decadent. He just has this big warehouse full of skating shit and his business offices. It's just him dicking around, but still funny. College Humor's show was bad, the main plotline of the episode was unfunny and the re-hashed clips from the site were all old to anyone who reads the site. Stick to writing articles and collecting Youtube vids, dudes. Nitro Circus is people doing crazy X-games-like stunts and was entertaining, mainly due to Death's imposing shadow around every corner. Oh, and big wheel flips. How's Your News - a news show featuring the mentally handicapped - just made me sad and guilty for watching. I guess the message behind it is good, but it still feels like exploitation. Although that one no one can understand is awesome.

A-Roid (YEAH I CAME UP WITH THAT MYSELF)

I am so amped that A-Rod took steroids, and not just because I hate him and can't wait to hear all the bad press he gets. Mainly, however, this story pleases me because now people won't be cheering for A-Rod to break Bonds' (aka the most electrifying performer in baseball entertainment history) all-time home run mark. Continuing in this line of thinking, I think this whole development forces everyone to realize how insanely systemic the issue of steroids was.

Furthermore, I think it is stupid if players don't make it into the Hall because of steroids. Fuck that, that's bullshit, what that smell like? My argument is that it is fully legal to get laser eye surgery or take "legal" muscle supplements, and any player that does these things to get an advantage might do better but won't be considered a cheater. The only difference is there is this stigma around steroids (obviously because they are pretty dangerous, although I imagine some of the legal muscle supplements aren't the most safe things you can put in your body), and I think the amount of difference they actually do is exaggerated because of this. A shit player can't become the next Bonds just by taking steroids. My point is that the idea of "natural" versus "unnatural" improvement is largely an artificial one in today's game (because of the above mentioned "legal" enhancements available to athletes), and furthermore the idea of a level playing field for players is silly, because obviously some players are "naturally" better than others. It makes no sense to ban a player from the Hall, even if he improved his game through an illegal method. If caught, the player should be penalized with suspensions and fines, but he shouldn't get this insane lifetime judgment. Should we then remove anyone from the Hall who ever used a spitball or used sandpaper to scuff the ball or did any number of illegal things to get ahead in baseball? No, that's insane, you would probably have to remove half the pitchers that pitched before 1950. Suck a nut baseball, FREE BARRY!