Monday, August 30, 2010

St. Louis Cardinals Website Tells It Like It Is

This photo was not doctored. Don't you wish all teams websites were this honest? Tomorrow's Pirates website headline could be THE FUCKING PIRATES SUCK! Luke Bryan this Saturday!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

My Morning Jacket Loves The Steelers

My Morning Jacket rocked the Station Square Amphitheater on Friday. After the band played their final song of the night, One Big Holiday, drummer Patrick Hallahan waved his terrible towel while wearing his Troy Polamalu jersey. Just another reason to love MMJ.





Thursday, August 26, 2010

The Pittsburgh Cocaine Seven



This book is a MUST READ for all baseball fans not just Pittsburgh fans. Here is the description from the publisher:

Major League Baseball has had its share of troubled times. In terms of sheer dirt, three scandals rise to the top: Shoeless Joe and the Black Sox, the 1985 Pittsburgh drug trials, and the steroid era. The former and latter have been covered extensively. Yet there has never been a book detailing the biggest drug trials in baseball history. The Pittsburgh Cocaine Seven tells the whole story in all its shocking details.

The MLB participants were among the game's elite, as a virtual all-star team had come to Pittsburgh. Implicated as cocaine users: Keith Hernandez, Dave Parker, Lee Mazzilli, Dusty Baker, Lonnie Smith, Joaquin Andujar, John Milner, Dale Berra. Mentioned as using amphetamines: Willie Mays, Willie Stargell. But the guys who took the fall for these superstars were just average fans, not heavy hitters or major drug dealers, and this book reveals the often comic circumstances of how they set up deals--and how they got busted.

In 1985, it seemed the league was poised to implement a drug testing policy for the players. Obviously, that didn't happen, and because of this inaction, the steroid era came along--and with it all of the broken records that transformed the sport. That's what makes this story so relevant today.



Soccer Reporter Hit In Head [Video]

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Ask Teke



Ask Teke is a segment on the widely unpopular Pirates Post-Game show. We asked Kent Tekulve for an interview but he never got back to us. We did get Bobblehead Kent Tekulve to answer some questions.



TiGO: Whoa, those are some big ass glasses.

Bobblehead Kent Tekulve: That wasn't even a question. How drunk are you right now?

TiGO: Listen Teke, I ask the questions! That's a Washington Wild Things jersey you have on.

BKT: You are a fucking idiot.

TiGO: Easy there, four eyes. Let's just get into what most people know you by. THE TELESTRATOR!

BKT: That is not what I'm known for.

TiGO: Explain to us what Ryan Doumit should be doing on this play.



BKT: Doumit should move his glove up like this:



BKT: Then he should stick his arm out to tag the runner.



BKT: Sweeping tags are usually the best.



BKT: And then you look like a penis.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Why Not Just Turn Him Around?

I don't see why they don't just turn Doumit the fuck around and stop having him switch hit at all. Just because you can swing a bat from both sides of the plate doesn't mean you should. It's looking like this is basically what Doumit is, a .720ish hitter, which is fine behind the dish..... if you can catch. His .770 OPS (career) is so high because of his two monster season with an .813 and .858 OPS. His other four seasons have been surprisingly consistent with this one, especially from an OPS standpoint.

The thing is he is very respectable from the left side. An .830 OPS with his awful season this year is nothing to sneeze at. I bet he could easily improve on his splits if he just stayed on the leftside even against lefties. His SLG from the left side is only .052 lower than his OPS from the right side. I would say he could probably just run into a few pitches from that side and do what he is doing batting right handed.

The only thing that gives me a bit of pause is his BABIP from the right side, it is extraordinarily low at .202. I'm not a huge supporter of BABIP but it does have some relevance. If his BABIP is closer to the average of .300 things might be different, but I think the bad contact he makes from that side is more to blame than bad luck from that side.

That said I don't think a Doumit/ Milledge platoon is too bad. Especially since Milledge seems to hit well with RISP and in High Leverage situations in general (.889 OPS). I think bringing in Milledge to face a reliever with runners on base is fine, and better than anything else we have. If Milledge has proven anything it's that he can be a successful platoon candidate.

I don't like Doumit. More than that he certainly is not a catcher, but I don't think he is unreasonable in RF with some practice.

And that's the rub with this team, it is filled with potential platoon guys like Jones, Doumit, Pearce (when he's healthy), and Milledge.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Oh Shit the Pirates made a profit!!!!!!

So the outrage has started. It's being reported all over the place that the Pirates made a profit. $5.4 million in 2009 and around $29 million in 2007 and 2008 combined. To that I say..... good! What kind of complete moron gets into business just to lose money? I am so sick and tired of hearing "fans" complain that the Pirates, and more specifically Bob Nutting, are making money hand over first.

First off Bob Nutting isn't the only owner, second off according to the team he has taken no salary, no management fees, and that the distributions were to cover taxes by all the owners. They literally dispersed money to the owners to pay for taxes on money they never even saw!!!!! I'm not sure that makes him a bad guy.

Do people really expect him to run this team in the red? I mean EVERYONE has repeatedly blasted the literal give away of Aramis Ramirez, but that was 100% facilitated by running this team in the red. They had to cut payroll to abide by THE MLB'S RULES. You can only take on so much debt as a team.

If you think your favorite team should run in the red you are a moron, that's as plain as it can be put. To think that running on debt is the right way to go, especially when the team is as bad as it has been is laughable. You really want to borrow $20 million for a guy like Prince Fielder? You could, but then you take your draft and international budget back to the $2 million dollar range.

A strong financial landscape is almost as important as drafting high end talent. In fact you can't bring in that talent if you don't have money.

Unless you are willing to spend your own millions running a team for a few years at a loss you really should shut up. I mean we live in a society where if they give you a $5.00 bill instead of a $10.00 bill at Wendys people lose their shit. Imagine if that was your $10-15 million doing out the window.....

You wouldn't build a house on a shitty foundation, why would you want your favorite sports team built on one?

Friday, August 20, 2010

Bobbleheads ... In The News



Alain Nasreddine has been named the assistant coach for WBS Pens. Nasreddine was a fan favorite in Wilkes-Barre and I wish him success. I got to meet him once and he seemed like a fun guy.




Ronny Paulino was suspended 50 games today after he tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance. He said it was to control his weight or something. Paulino, who's with the Marlins now, had a pretty good series against the Bucs this week in Pittsburgh.

When news broke of this on Twitter, some people had me laughing.





Pens Sign Arron Asham

I guess some people have a problem with this signing because Asham is a former Flyer. Those are the same people who didn't know that Sergei Gonchar was once a Capital. Get over it. This isn't a bad signing by Pittsburgh. Asham agreed to a one year deal worth 700K.

The Pens are now under 2M in salary cap room.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Deadline Day Liveblog

Joe L. Brown (1918-2010)

Saturday, August 14, 2010

My Version of an NFL Preview

Normally, you only see me during hockey season, but since that won't be for another little while I decided to give you my version of an NFL preview.
Heads of the NFC
Dallas Cowboys
This looks to be the year for "Da Boys." Their franchise QB is finally confident and focused, they have a great talented WR corps coming into their own, and their defense looks as solid as ever. I see that they can finally break their playoff curse and maybe even make the Super Bowl. (which will be in their home stadium!) With all these expectations come a lot of pressure, but Romo looks like he finally put his personal life on the back burner and has taken responsibility for his team.
Green Bay Packers
The Pack are definitely going to turn some heads this year. Their entire starting offense is a fantasy football player's heaven and those stats should start to translate into "Ws" on the schedule. Aaron Rodgers look like he has finally stepped out of the shadow of a certain Wrangler jeans spokesman, and is poised to take the team back to and maybe even above where they were last decade.
Heads of the AFC
Indianapolis Colts
If it ain't broke then don't fix it. The Colts have their key players back from last year's Super Bowl run and seem to be poised for another run deep into the playoffs. Peyton Manning isn't the type of quarterback to have "up and down" years, and should be pretty consistent throughout the season. I'm going with the defending AFC champs to make it back again.
San Diego Chargers
I might take a bit of heat for this, but yes, I am taking the Chargers as my other pick to make the AFC championship. Yes, I know they are not as hyped as the Jets/Bengals/Dolphins, but they have a solid team and a forgiving division. Denver looks to be falling, Oakland isn't quite there yet, and Kansas City looks hopeless so San Diego looks to have their path to the playoffs on a silver platter. After that, all it takes is a few wins to make it to the AFC title game.
Surprise Teams
Chicago Bears
The Bears are back, and they may not be who Dennis Green thinks they are. (see what I did there) But in all seriousness, the Bears will be one of the surprises of the season. Cutler will still throw the interceptions, but he will throw for a lot more yards and TDs as well. The Bears have one of the most underrated WR groups in the NFL, featuring a bunch of current unknowns on the verge of a breakout. (Knox, Aromashodu, Doucet, and of course Hester) The addition of Julius Peppers should stabilize the defense and make the Bears a legitimate playoff contender.
Oakland Raiders
Yes, this one is a real longshot. Actually, I'm not expecting them to make the playoffs but they will be much better than they ever have in recent memory. Al Davis likes his 2010 squad a lot (not that it means all that much in reality) and so do I. Jason Campbell may not be Jim Plunkett (another Davis reference), but he will be much more effective in Oakland than Russell. Beyond that, I don't have a lot of cold hard facts. This is more of a gut feeling.
San Francisco 49ers
Defense is the word in San Francisco, and the 49ers certainly have a good one. They have a good group of guys and a coach who bases himself on defense and teamwork. Yes, their QB situation is shaky, but the consistent Vernon Davis and the explosive Michael Crabtree are good options for any QB. Frank Gore will also continue to be a workhorse for the team, accumulating his huge number of carries as usual.
Biggest Disappointments
Philadelphia Eagles
Anyone who personally knows me can verify that it is hard to find a bigger skeptic/critic of Donovan McNabb than myself, but even I have to say that he will be greatly missed in Philadelphia. They put all their faith in a "pass-happy" rookie QB who is being backed up by a "passing-deficient" convict. I'm not saying anything personal against Kevin Kolb, but I don't think one or two good games is enough to trade away your franchise QB. Sure they have great receivers but they don't mean much unless Kolb can get the ball to them.
Denver Broncos
The loss of Brandon Marshall to the Dolphins and Elvis Dumervil to injury dealt a crushing blow to the Broncos in the off-season this year. Their QB situation is very shaky (and no, it WON'T be Tebow) and now they are without a dynamic deep threat WR. Knowshon Moreno seems set for a breakout year, but running game means little unless you have a solid passing attack to compliment it. On top of it all, their best defensive player (Dumervil) is out for at least a few games with an injury and their defense is getting quite old and losing its luster.
Seattle Seahawks
Yea, I know they weren't very good last year either but they seem doomed to get worse. This team looks like they are digging deep into the talent pool to make a team and I wouldn't expect anything great, especially if Hasselback gets hurt again. (Its becoming almost a ritual)
And What about the Steelers...
The Steelers 2010 season is quite hard to predict. The Roethlisberger suspension will be a setback, but they still have a chance to recover afterwards. If Leftwich leads the team to at least 1 or 2 wins and Ben plays as well on the field as he is in training camp, then the Steelers look like a playoff team. The only thing that worries me is that Cincinnati and Baltimore also look like playoff teams. It will be tough, but if I had to make a guess, I will say "yes" that the Steelers will make the playoffs.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Joe Paterno's quote of the year



"I have one request -- Please don't ask me if I'm going to die tomorrow. (Laughter) Believe me, I've got a few more days left. (Laughter) Okay, let's talk football."


The season hasn't even started yet and JoePa is in mid-season form.

I'm ready. WE ARE ...

Thursday, August 12, 2010

My New Favorite Song This Week

Check out "Wild and Young" from the band American Bang.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Pirates Give Joe Kerrigan and Gary Varsho Pink Slips

The Pirates have fired Pitching Coach Joe Kerrigan and Bench Coach Gary Varsho. Although this was unexpected, it's not at all surprising, except for the timing. The Pirates are coming off their most exciting win of the year so one would think the firings would have waited.

Someone had to be the scapegoat and the pitching staff has really struggled under Kerrigan this season. He will be replaced by Ray Searage.

Jeff Banister will replace Varsho. Both guys will be on an interim basis, the Post-Gazette is reporting.

My only question is why does Tony Beasley still have a job?

Pedro!

photo by @hannuuuuh



If you haven't heard the radio call from Greg Brown and Steve Blass, enjoy.



h/t to North Side Notch for the clip.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Penn State, Pitt and West Virginia Ranked in Stupid Preseason Poll



Penn State is 14, Pitt is 15 and West Virginia is 24. Who gives a shit. These polls mean absolutely nothing.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

E-I-E-I-O



James McDonald looked like the real deal tonight. Six scoreless innings and eight K's. It was a fun game to watch. The Bucs beat the Rockies, 5-1.

Let's try not to get ahead of ourselves, but the kid can pitch.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Wear a cup kids!

Chris Snyder will make his Pirates debut tonight.