Thursday, February 09, 2006

Scorecard Here!

Get your scorecard here!

People are signing up for the league, almost everybody back on board already, but it appears that some virus caused a massive rush to change team names.

I don't think anyone is still using their original name from seven years ago, including me. (I've had three different team names but am standing fast with the one that honors my heritage and my Sweet Baboo Crash Snyder, the Huskytown Dukes) Several of the guys were still using their original names (or some close variation of it) as of last season. Must be the seven year itch.

I'm gonna need a scorecard this year to keep track of who was who. Maybe I'll try visual memory clues, like picturing Spike as Big Bird, running the Yellow Chickens, and JJ standing outside a Krispy Kreme waiting for the red light to come on.

Monday, February 06, 2006

Woo, baby!

Yes, yes, the season's coming soon.

Last night I had a dream that David Wright was back in Binghamton, it was before the game and he was on the field tossing baseballs and his cap into the stands.

AND

I set up the fantasy league this afternoon, earliest I've been able to do that. Now I have to find my notes and make sure the positions are allocated properly and the scoring categories are the correct ones.

I haven't been this excited about baseball since the Red Sox won the World Series.

The Look of the Future?

Caught a few snippets of the Carribean World Series over the weekend and was horrified by the ads plastered all over the players' uniforms. They looked like NASCAR--not like the drivers, but the cars! A couple years ago major league baseball was toying with the idea of selling space on uniforms to raise revenues. The only test so far was a small patch on the sleeve of the two teams who played their opening games in Japan, Mets and Cubs if I recall correctly. Those patches were small and unobtrusive, almost looked like the branding done to the jerserys by their manufacturers. But the large logos on the Carribean uniforms are horrible. "Coca-Cola" in Coke's trademarked font emblazoned across the back in place of the player's name ? Come on. Baseball fans (all sports fans, pro and amateur) are already subjected to too much advertising. Should MLB ever decide to go with player-sited ads, I will organize a boycott, not only of MLB, but any advertiser who takes advantage of this kind of blunder.

Why I'm Happy Today
Not only is it just 59 days till Opening Day, but I see the BMets new hitting coach is John Valentin. Hot dog.

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Signs of Spring

The countdown is well into the single digits, only 64 days to Opening Day. Pitchers and catchers report in a mere two-and--half weeks. (Someone asked me why Pitchers and Catchers Report is such an important holiday on the Baseball Geek's calendar; I told her it's like Ash Wednesday, the first day of the long period that leads directly to the Big Day.)

Last Thursday evening I popped the Special Red Sox Edition with Extended Ending DVD of Fever Pitch into the DVD player, watched it again Friday evening, and now I'm primed to Think Baseball.

I'll also be Talkin' Baseball soon. Sent out the first ping to members of my fantasy league to see who's interested in another round. This will be our 7th season. Got seven yesses so far (out of a possible 12) and lapsed member who says he's sitting out one more season but expects to be back for season #8. (Yeah, I know as a Red Sox fan I should think Yaz when I see the number 8, but loving catchers the way I do I have to think Bill Dickey.)

Met with my mentor yesterday and we spent a good portion of the appointment talking baseball. He, of course, is a Red Sox fan and turns out he was at the late season Binghmaton game when Anibel Sanchez was pitching. We talked about Theo and Coco Crisp and pitching prospects, and a little about my program so that we could fill out my next contract. (I had been asked, when it was first announced that Theo was returning to Boston, what I thought he would be doing. I said director of player development until they can ease him back in as GM. Looks like they skipped that cumbersome step. Thank Mays.)

One of the things I had to do for this appointment was write a paper on baseball literature for credit by evaluation. I spent an entire Saturday, 13 hours straight, writing A Brief Survey of Baseball Literature, a 24 page paper. I pulled a lot of it from the lecture I do on baseball lit for the Baseball in American Cultural course, put it on paper and expanded on certain areas, but I kept thinking, "Oh, that's another book I should have included, where can I add it to the paper?". Considering I have baseball books filling (or at least taking up a majority of) seven bookcases in four different rooms, not including the ones that are stacked on the floor next to my bed and ringing my desk chair, this paper is only the tip of the baseball lit iceberg.

When I picked up my mocha this morning Go Coco! was inscribed on my cup. R was working the other window, but that never stood in the way of baseball talk.