Every college basketball fan worth his salt knows that Gus Johnson is the premiere college basketball announcer. The way his voice shrieks at key moments is well-known and much-liked.
Well, apparently, Len Kasper has been influenced. His home run call of Aramis Ramirez’ game-winning homer on Friday was classic. It’s like he channeled the spirit of Gus Johnson. In fact, the home run calls from Kasper, WGN Radio and Milwaukee announcer Bob Uecker were all good. I’ve linked them and, for those without speakers or compatible computers, I’ve transcripted their calls below, with some embellishing.
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Based on reaction of the fans and media, the feeling around Chicago is mixed about the drafting of Joakim Noah. From the good, to the bad, to the predictable and easy pot-shots at his appearance (Seriously, those jokes stopped being funny midway through this year’s college season. The dude’s not attractive. I get it.), people can’t seem to decide whether or not they like him.
This has nothing to do with sports, but I’m fired up. I have to see Die Hard 4. Like now. Read this review and tell me you’re not fired up.
I know it’s like 1:15 a.m. Leave me alone.
First off, a crazy rant unrelated to anything …
Why in the world, when I get someone’s voice mail, do I have to sit through 15 seconds of some stupid automated woman telling me this:
“At the tone, please record your message. After the tone, you may hang up or press one for other options.”
Oh really, at the tone, leave a message? Gee, thanks! I had no freaking clue how that worked! Also, the person whose phone I called didn’t make that clear enough on his recording, so again, thanks! Oh, and after the tone I may hang up? What a concept!! I thought I was supposed to take my phone, shove it down my pants and dance a little while to the tune of “Baby Elephant Man.” I want to meet the person that needs these instructions. I want to meet this person so I can kick him in the privates as punishment for the approximately 15 hours of my life that have added up and been wasted by that blasted recording. Stupid.
OK, I’m better now.
Anyway, it seems like two or three times a week, the Cubs are involved in something that I’ve never seen before in my life as a baseball fan. There’s a fantastic thread on bleedcubbieblue.com that gives fans reactions in real-time as the Eyre-Howry ninth-inning blow-up, the crazy fan who ran on the field and the subsequent Cubs’ rally in the bottom of the ninth all took place. Scroll about half-way down to when the posts were made at around 10:10 CDT to get to the good stuff (language warning).
This Rockies’ team scares the living crap out of me. Even though we won last night, I’m still convinced we’re losing this series. I’m simply saving my energy for the upcoming Brewers’ series. They scare the bejeezus out of me, too.
A couple of random thoughts …
Am I the only one still with hope for Kerry Wood in 2007? I am? Oh, OK.
I’m among those that thinks the Bears won’t keep both Nathan Vasher and Charles Tillman. If that’s true, goodbye, Peanut. (Side note: Isn’t Rex Grossman in a contract year this year? How much will he command if he gets to free agency? You could say any number between $3 million and $7 million per year and not be crazy. Has there ever been a free agent with more of a “what in the ever-loving blue hell do we offer this friggin’ guy?” quality? Just a thought …). Anyway, I really, really, like Peanut and hope the Bears find a way to ink him, too, but he’ll probably command $30 million-plus as a free agent, so we’ll see.
With Tank Johnson released, Ian Scott and Alfonso Boone gone and Dusty Dvoracek not a proven player, who exactly will be lining up next to Tommie Harris (assuming he’s even ready)? You may not know him because all the focus has been on the Tank, Briggs, Rivera, etc. situations, but it’s Anthony Adams. I knew I liked this signing. Bargain price and a good player. Still, it seems weird that last year at this time, DT was the place of most depth for the Bears and this year, there’s no depth there at all, at least it seems anyway.
On youtube, some fan placed a clip of the eighth-inning interference call from Sunday’s Cubs-Sox game, which nearly killed Hawk Harrelson. I linked it, even though MLB will probably make youtube take it down at any minute, if they haven’t already. Therefore, I transcripted it after the jump. The clip picks up a bit late so you miss some of the classic early things Hawk was saying, but it’s great nonetheless. Hawk got all riled up like he always does but what made it worse was Darrin Jackson’s inability to figure it out either. He was, in a way, enabling Hawk’s craziness.
Once they finally figured it out (between the middle and bottom halves of the eighth), they seemed contrite, but unapologetic, even suggesting the umpires should have stopped play immediately (I’m guessing, perhaps, with flags or the lights airport staff use to land planes). Considering Hawk and DJ not only criticized the call, but questioned the competence of the crew and said some really shady things, I’d be surprised if they don’t offer an apology later. They may have already, but if so, I’ve missed it.
If you read this before 5 p.m. or so, you may want to flip over to Comcast to watch the replay and get the whole experience.
Before I finish up on a depressing look at Cubs flameouts, I think in fairness I should point out some of the good the team’s minor league system has produced recently. For example, the Cubs’ top 10 prospects in 2006, according to Baseball America included Felix Pie (1), Ronny Cedeno (3), Angel Guzman (4), Rich Hill (5), Sean Marshall (6) and Carlos Marmol (10). That’s our starting center fielder, two-fifths of our starting rotation and one of our best relief pitchers. Cedeno is in the minors now, but he’s raking at Triple-A and will probably be back up at some point this year. And I’m not ready to give up on Guzman yet. Plus, Ryan Theriot and Mike Fontenot were ranked 24th and 29th respectively. In all, you can’t really expect more from your farm system.
But, when you root for a team that has famously floundered its first-round picks over the years (you know it’s bad news when Doug Glanville and Kevin Orie are highlights), it’s hard not to turn sternly bitter.
So, here are some of the recent prospect flame-outs among position players.
Checking the prospect hot sheet and who do I see in the not-so-hot portion? That’s right. This guy. Apparently, they’ve shifted him to the bullpen already. (There was long-term plans of making him a reliever anyway, which is why the huge contract bonus kind of confused me, but I’m guessing they didn’t want to force the switch to the pen this early. Let’s hope he can get back on track.)
That brings me to another thought. Didn’t the Cubs used to have the best minor league system in the majors? What happened? Now, they’re ranked 15th. (Note: Try as I might, I couldn’t find BA’s 2007 rankings, which are out but you need an account, which costs somewhere in the neighborhood of a car payment. I was unable to find a free copy anywhere on the internets. I did, however, find this, which rates the Cubs system at fourth.)
Wherever the Cubs system ranks currently, it’s a fact that several players once thought to be future front-end rotation guys have fell off either upon making the majors or even before they got there. Let’s take a look at some of these players.
Things to ponder while trying to get Plain White T’s “Delilah” and My Chemical Romance’s “Teenagers” out of your head …
Is Lou Pinella trying to motivate his team, or is he just senile?
Let’s look at the evidence: Exhibit A. Well; he did manage to motivate Cubs fans into throwing trash on the field again. (That’s at least twice for the fans this year and we’re only in June. You stay classy, bleacher morons).
It’s been four days since I last watched a Cubs game, listened to one on the radio, listened to sports talk radio or even watched Chicago Tribune Live. (Yes, I really do watch that show.)
No bleedcubbieblue.com. That has been really hard.
No www.prosportsdaily.com/mlb/cubs. That’s been difficult, too. I really need to find out who Jacque Jones is getting traded to this week.
Because of my job, I knew I wouldn’t be able to avoid the Cubs entirely (I know the Cubs are 2-1 this week and I know they’re 7 1/2 games back through Tuesday. But the spirit of the strike has thrived and my stress level is much lower this week, especially since my oldest daughter is in Vacation Bible School this week, giving our youngest daughter no one with whom to get into fist fights.It’s almost like a vacation.
Here’s how I’ve wasted my time:
Trying to decide whether this movie will be awesome or straight suck.
Having this website ruin my life.
Learning that back when I actually exercised, I was stronger than Kevin Durant.
Realizing that I don’t remember this about Walter Payton.
Watching stupid clips on youtube.
Realizing that if Tank Johnson really wants to become NFL Man of the Year like he was quoted as saying, he’ll have a long way just to pass teammate Roberto Garza.
Sleeping.
A couple of weeks ago, I made an analogy that compared being a Cubs fan in May of 2006 to going to school when you knew a bully was going to pummel you, going anyway, then getting pummelled worse than you expected and having the bully say “see you, tomorrow.”
Well, after a few days in a row of that, wouldn’t you just stop going, even if you really liked school?
That’s where I’m at with the Cubs. I really like them, but I’m just tired of getting my butt kicked everyday. What happened between Z and Barrett was just stupid. The game itself was an abortion. The next day, with Lou Pinella kicking his hat around like an idiot for 15 minutes was embarrassing. It was then that I realized I can’t like this team everyday anymore. It’s just too hard. It’s like being married to someone who doesn’t cook, clean or work. You do your best out of love to make it work, but eventually, you snap.
I’ve snapped.
For one week, I’m done with this stupid team. I won’t watch games. If their highlights pop on TV, I’ll change the channel. I’m not going to read any articles about them. If I’m listening to the radio and the topic turns to the Cubs, I’ll change the station. For one week, I’m done with them. Done. This began at 10 p.m. Saturday night. Almost two days down and I feel pretty good so far. Sean Marshall could have been struck in the face with a line drive yesterday and I wouldn’t know. I’m not even sure who the Cubs are playing today or who’s pitching. I feel great.
This should be interesting.
