After a long time away, the Friday Finger Pop is back...A little bit of this, and a bit of that...and a little bit of sweet asses, perfect for finger popping!

First off, the New York Rangers finally showed some signs of life Thursday night against the Boston Bruins...The Rangers pulled out a 4-3 OT victory on a goal from Chris Kreider, off of a great feed from Rick Nash...I've been begging for Torts to play Kreider more...The kid is a play-maker and a goal scorer, on a team that doesn't score much...He's got great speed, and slick hands...When he gets ice time, he makes things happen...

That said, While I'm a die hard Rangers fan, I have trouble seeing them winning three more straight against the Bruins....Boston has 4 solid lines...Plenty of depth...Including on the Blue line, as proven by rookie D-man Torey Krug, who has been amazing to watch in this series...

Mmmmmm, that looks finger poppin' good!

I saw a little bit of ESPN's Outside The Lines Thursday afternoon...They had a bunch of talking heads, all up in arms because Robert Griffin III's father, Robert Griffin II said he wants to see his son run less...Why would anyone be shocked by this? 1. Don't all dads want to see their sons stand in the pocket and throw bombs!?! 2. He saw his son get a concussion, and get his knee wrecked twice in his rookie season...Who the fuck wouldn't want their son run less? You'd want to see your kid have a nice long career instead of getting crippled within 3...

Somehow these jokers were appalled that a father would stick his nose into this serious football discussion...How dare he have an opinion...Only ESPN gasbags are allowed to have those! I'd be willing to bet this snippet came out, because some asshole reporter asked Mr. Griffin if he'd like to see his son run the ball less....And then let the media frenzy begin! Crap like this is just ridiculous...

Oh yeah, that's pop worthy!

I spent a couple hours Thursday pitching to my baseball team...Little Beeze is swinging the bat great...Seriously, he's looking like one of my top 6 hitters...I have 3 girls who are swinging the bat really well...two are lefties...The one has this leg kick that she starts as soon as my motion starts...It threw me off at first, but it works for her...She was cranking it...I made a number of self defensive stops...Then I have a boy who loves hitting...And he swings with aggression...He looks to kill everything....His foul balls scare people...And when he makes solid contact it's oer you or through you...Even the kids that struggled at first, took all the tips and started finding their groove...We're going to have a good line-up...Saturday morning we'll be practicing again, and that one is going to 90% fielding...I'm looking forward to that...So is my arm...

A while back I wrote THIS about sexual abuse within USA Swimming...Justice has been slow in these cases, but a small amount was served THURSDAY...Rick Curl's sentencing is hopefully just the beginning, as now even more questions are being raised...

Does it seem wrong to post another pop-tastic ass at this point...Maybe...But, what the hell!

Have a good weekend gang!

The Beeze.

Yeah, some people want you to keep quiet...I know plenty of people want me to be quiet...But we know that just isn't going to happen...Sometimes shit needs to be said...Even if it upsets people...Why hold it in?  'Cause some one on facebook may unfriend you?  They aren't your friend if they can't take you telling the truth, or sharing how you feel about something...

New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist caught some shit for venting his frustration after the Rangers lost game one to Boston Thursday night, in OT...Lundqvist was upset with himself for the 3-2 loss...But he also voiced his frustration with the teams lack of offense so far in the playoffs...He said what every single Rangers fan has been saying for weeks...But people thought it was wrong for him to call out his teammates...Why?  Why can some hack write about how horrible the power play is, but the guy carrying the team can't?

I'm not joking, I read a blog that pointed out that Lundqvist hasn't been good in OT...Well, couldn't that also be pointed at the rest of team for defensive breakdowns, and lack of scoring!?!  There was even a comment that Thursday night Lundqvist wasn't at his best...Well, the 2 previous games he threw shutouts...And yeah, if you watched closely, he wasn't at his best...And with that said, he made 45 saves on 48 shots...And his teammates blocked over 20 shots that night...If not for Lundqvist, Thursday night, the Rangers would have been destroyed...So he blew off some steam, and rightfully so!

But things got worse...Sunday the Bruins blasted Lundqvist and company 5-2...I had hoped Henrik popping off would have charged them up...And actually some of the Rangers did look like they took it up a notch...But the Bruins had a lot more jump...The series goes back to New York now...I'm not worried yet...The Rangers just need to do what they did against Washington...They'll be alright...

-Saturday horse racing took a ding again...They've been dying for a Triple Crown winner but it won't happen again...Just as favorite, Orb started to make his move, Titletown Five and Departing tried making their own moves, and pinched Orb in...He got stuck in the pack and couldn't do a thing...I had Departing winning, (Thanks Eddie Olczyk) but no one was catching Oxbow...That horse ran a hell of a race...With that said, I'll still be watching the Belmont...there are a number of exciting horses, and this thing should be wide open.

-Saturday morning Little Beeze and I headed off to our first baseball practice...Things are running behind this year...New organization running the league, and they're trying to figure it out...The practice was good...I've got a lot of good hitters...And my two best fielders, are girls...They both have great baseball sense...I can already tell it's going to be a good season...Had a number of parents that stuck around and helped out...Nice change of pace!

-Cleveland weather update...We have officially skipped Spring and are into Summer...80 degrees this weekend and my kids wanted to go ice skating Friday night...

And when we weren't at the Rink, or Baseball practice...Little sis, wouldn't leave big brother's side...

-And lastly, The Cleveland Indians...I'm shocked...There has been a lot of rumbling about the Tribe having low attendance...Well, considering a 24oz Pabst cost $10, Parking $20...And every road in the City is ripped up or closed...and the last two seasons the team fell apart after the All-Star Break, I'm guessing people are playing it safe with how they spend their money...It also doesn't help that while the Tribe is playing great, all the Sports talk shows in town are talking about the fucking Browns for some reason...

Have a week...

The Beeze.

Hello and welcome to another Wednesday of deep thoughts. What happened to global warming? It is mid May and normally, Austin is well on the way to summer. Not this year…pleasant and comfortable is what we have had of late. Of course, that means that others are still waiting for the warm up. I always find it interesting that “experts” talk of trends in weather in the past 100 years. Hell…that is not a trend; that is just a blip. Perspective is an interesting thing. Would you find advice from an 80 year old guy more valuable than a 20 year old? How about a weatherman that was 2000 years old?  Now that is a guy that I would tune into listen to. Beezer and BOB touched on something that has been bothering me for awhile. As BOB mentioned yesterday, Tim Tebow cannot find a team willing to put up with the circus that comes with Tebow the football player. Beezer brought out the fact that the “hero” in Cleveland is perhaps not such a great guy after all. Many will say that Tebow is a victim of his popularity that he willingly fed. I guess that is fair, but is really true? From everything that I have heard, Tebow is a very hard working kid that loves to play the game. I am not a fan, but I can see that he has talent to play the game. What is it about Tebow that the media loves? Is it that he was a personality in college and has failed to find success in the NFL? Fans expect, no that is not the right word…we demand players to be available to the media. Usually, players adopt a mask for the camera and use clichés to avoid offering any real depth to who they really are. With Tebow, we get a player that appears to offer us something more than clichés. In doing so, Tim Tebow now understands the dark side of overexposure.

I read this week that Vinny Testerverde and Chris Weinke spent time in the off season working with Tim Tebow. They quickly learned that it was not his throwing motion that caused Tebow’s inaccuracy, but his horrible footwork. After correcting his footwork, his passes had sizzle and repeatedly were true. I also read that the Jets ruined Tebow’s chances of playing in the NFL. I would really like for this kid to get a chance to play. As of now, the only team interested is Jaworski’s AFL team. Tebow has not expressed any interest in arena football at this time.

We live in what has been described as an information age. It is impossible to ignore the many wonderful advances that technology has provided. With the good, comes the bad. With regards to the media and the manner that information is dispersed, I am done…kaput; sick and tired. Emails, twitter, TV, radio…each day such a giant tidal wave of information pours out that I find myself pulling back. Now, of course information is a good thing. It is just the way that the message is being delivered that I have such a problem with. Dig, dig and dig some more is what many media sources do. Why is it that each story must contain drama? Is it because that we want to find the bad stuff that surely must be hidden? I don’t know the Ramsey guy in Cleveland from Jack Shit and really don’t understand why his past is an issue. Except that it gives the media something to dig up and hold up as a trophy of sorts. See, this Good Samaritan is really not such a good guy at all. Look what we found…in the end, we forget that the guy did a really good thing in saving the three women from a horrible existence. Ramsey obviously has had issues in his past. He was punished for his bad behavior and it is not for me to judge his worth as a person, now. Obviously there is a need for this type of coverage because the media finds a large willing market. Maybe it is just me?

I suppose it is rather Pollyanna of me to wish for a simpler time. A time when we accepted things at face value without searching for the bad.. Naive, perhaps…but so much easier in so many ways.

Baseball fans are really big on maintaining the integrity of the game. When a player is “tainted” with real or alleged use of peds, he is completely written off by many fans. I constantly hear it said that players cheating are cheating the game. Why do these same fans not see that horrible umpiring also presents the same threat to the integrity of baseball? Frequently, I hear…”let’s not mess with the “human” element that umpires bring to the game.” I am sorry folks; you can’t take one without the other. A threat is a threat nonetheless. Why should we allow umpires to miss a home run that could have changed the outcome of a game? How can an umpire have access to replays that clearly indicated home run and still get it wrong? How can an umpire not know the rules required for a pitching change? Why allow a manager to protest a game without ever changing the outcome? I can recall one game that was replayed because of a protest…the pine tar game. If ever a game should have been redone it was the game that Oakland lost to Cleveland. Rule the ball a home run and finish the game from that point.  I was listening to an interesting story with regards to the pine tar game that I had forgotten. When the Yankees and Royals met to replay the end of the game that allowed George Brett’s home run… Billy Martin appealed that Brett missed first base, then second and third base. The umpiring crew ruled that he was safe in touching all of the bases. Martin screamed, how can you say he touched the bases, you were not even here! Well, Billy we talked to the other crew and they said he touched the bases. Talk about covering all of your bases!! I have to admit that I had my mind changed this week. I work with a guy that is an umpire for high school games locally. I was asking the question why umpires get a pass from the media. Players and coaches alike have to endure the grilling after a game…why don’t umpires? My friend pointed out that umps are not supposed to be a personality. The problem that he sees is that many of these guys have too much personality and ego. By putting them in front of the camera or having their name put in print, we remove the anonymity that an umpire is supposed to have. An impartial judge is the job and I have to agree that he is right.  Let’s give the umpires better tools to do their job and get rid of the few tools that wear blue and threaten the integrity of the game.

For all the complaining about baseball, there are also many great things about the game. Here is something that is an example of something that is wonderful about baseball. Think Ryu is now a favorite of this kid? Awesome...

I have not followed the NBA much this year, but do know that everyone was singing the praises of Seth Curry. Golden State was going to knock the Spurs out. Spurs were too old…yadda yadda. Looks like the Spurs had a different idea on Tuesday night. Curry had touted that they were the greatest backcourt in history…Curry had 9 points Tuesday night. Reminds me of the great quote by Samuel Clemens…”reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.” Somehow the Spurs get it done…when Pop is done coaching, we will look back and realize what a great coach he was. What a great defensive team coached by a tough minded coach.

That’s all I have today, but I will leave you with a bit of Jack Handey…

“If I had a nickname, I would want it to be” Prince of Weasels”, because then I could go up and bite people and they would turn around and go…”What the…?”And then they would recognize me and say, ‘Oh, it’s you, the Prince of Weasels”. “

“I hope when they die that cartoon characters have to answer for their sins.”

That’s all I have for today, but feel free to leave a few deep thoughts of your own.

Hello and welcome to another Wednesday of deep thoughts. Tomorrow night I will stand in front of a group of parents for the last time as my son’s high school baseball booster club president. To be honest, the job has been a labor of love. Jim Bouton has a famous quote that goes like this, “you spend part of your life gripping a baseball and in the end it is the other way around.” That is how I feel. I did not play high school baseball. My parents were very uncaring…they took us to the lake and made us swim, fish and ski. Yeah, it was a different time. Baseball was only played in the summer. Instead of organized baseball, we played pickup games, often. My son has a bucket of baseballs that he carries in his trunk. I had one baseball and frequently it was in rough shape. Our field was a field, literally a field with rocks, sticks and flowers. The game we played changed depending on how many players we had. If we only had a few, we would close off left or right field. There were no umpires, we argued until we came to a consensus. It was not fancy, but it was baseball and the grip was established.

                                                                    Getting their attention is the toughest part...

                                                              Working a tournament for a Wrangler fundraiser

After years of coaching my daughters in softball then my son in baseball, it is time to move on. But, there is this tug. It is hard to explain. With the hours invested in the game, I am having second thoughts. There is fantasy baseball, which is great. Of course I love watching MLB…but I miss being Coach Jeff.  What Bouton described does not only relate to players. Having a son that plays the game brings an attachment that is difficult to describe. My oldest daughter used to date a baseball player. We would go out to eat and she would get so pissed because we would talk baseball. “Can we talk about anything but baseball?”  Players are always looking for answers for a better method to hit a baseball. A different load, a shorter stride…short to the ball, long through the ball. I love the art of hitting a baseball. I totally get Ted Williams. The nuances that Williams marveled at are probably boring to some, but I find them fascinating. Mike Epstein played for Ted Williams and has said that they used to sit and talk about hitting. Where was the best place for the hands? A bit higher than this or perhaps a bit lower? Williams would tell Epstein, if you are going to punch me, where would you start your fist for maximum leverage? There you are, that is exactly where your hands should start. Then Epstein said Williams would say, “hey…I think you are on to something there”. What I would not give to have an hour or two to sit an listen to Ted Williams.

What would be my dream job? Being a  MLB hitting coach would be my dream gig. Yeah, that ain’t gonna happen. Instead, I will just continue to follow the game and taking every opportunity to talk baseball. One thing...there are many of us out there. That tug is shared by former players, coaches and fans everywhere, so finding others to discuss the game is not too difficult.

                                                                     A long weekend tournament. Tired, but happy

There are many great stories in MLB this year, but I happen to really enjoy the story that is the Cleveland Indians. What makes this a cool story for me is that not one baseball expert liked what Cleveland did in the off season. There was something that the Indians did that had me liking their future, hiring Terry Francona. If I was a MLB manager, it would be Francona’s style that I would use.  Here is a quote by Francona…” I don’t have any perspective. I live and die with this game. And that'll never change. I like what I'm doing, and it means a lot to me. I'm OK with that.” Cleveland was the perfect place for Francona to land, after the messy end in Boston. Even the most fervent Red Sox fan has to admit that there is much more to being a manager in Boston than baseball. In the softer glare that is Cleveland, Francona is allowed to focus on what he loves. Building relationships and trust with his players is what makes Francona great. It is this ability to create a team that will allow Francona’s Indians to compete this year. Lack of quality starters will force the Indians to frequently need to outscore opponents to win, but that is precisely what they are doing. Winners of 8 of their last 9 games, the Indians have scored at least 6 runs in each game…until Tuesday night. Cleveland took a 1 to 0 victory over Oakland, behind the 5 hit pitching of Zach McAlister. So, even though I figure the Indians are at least a year away from bringing in a couple of arms to make a playoff run…if Jimenez and Masterson become what their potential indicates, maybe they could surprise this year. The Indians are a great story and it could not happen to a nicer guy than Francona.

    Francona building a relationship...the difference between Francona and many other managers is that he truly cares about his players.

That’s all I have today, but I will leave you a bit of Jack Handey:

I think someone should have had the decency to tell me the luncheon was free. To make someone run out with potato salad in his hand, pretending he's throwing up, is not what I call hospitality.

If you go parachuting, and your parachute doesn't open, and you friends are all watching you fall, I think a funny gag would be to pretend you were swimming.

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a few deep thoughts of your own.

Hello and welcome to another Wednesday of deep thoughts. It has been an interesting week. After several years of being dismally slow with work, the demand for mortgage loans has me hopping. It has been years since I have been this busy and I find that the extra business to be a welcome challenge. I think that this portends great news for country’s economy. The housing market was a huge reason that things were slow to improve. I suspect that we are all in for a period of prosperity. The timing for me could not be better. Last Saturday, my son finished his high school sports career. At the end of this month, he will graduate from high school. For the first time in many years, my wife and I will have an empty house…yahoo! It is funny, but this was not something that I was really looking forward to. I am not sure what I expected, but strangely…it is almost relief. Having the freedom to make decisions on where to live or what to do with the rest of your life is pretty cool…almost an epiphany of sorts.

A picture for a fallen teammate. A collision in right field left senior 2B Ryan Smith with a ruptured spleen. He made it back to watch the last game.

This is the first time I have been to this stadium. It was built in the early 60s. It was 392 to straight away centerfield and there is a pole in play. Notice the hill down the right field line. A very odd field, but it had sort of a good aura to it. Called Nelson Field.

                                                                                               A different view of Nelson Field.

                                                                                      The 2013 seniors of Westwood HS.

                                                                                                   After the last game...

                                                                                The moms with their boys sweaty hats.

                                                                                Blake with Coach Bratcher and JR

As I mentioned last Saturday was “senior night”. In past years, this was a brief ceremony before the game. This year, we celebrated after the game. It was emotional, but primarily it was fun. This group of guys has played together for four years and more in some cases. We have grown very close to the parents and will miss the social aspects of the games. I love football, but the many baseball games allow you a chance to get to know folks. As I write this, I realize that this is part of the appeal to the game of baseball in general. With football, you are packed in a stadium, there are cheerleaders a band and the atmosphere is charged with emotion and adrenaline. With baseball, there is ebb and flow to the game that provides fans a chance to discuss the game that they are watching. I was having a conversation with Carl Spackler the other night. He said that as he has watched so much baseball the past few years that he is seeing another layer to the game that he did not see before. This is the game that I love. It is what makes baseball such a compelling game for me. I am not sure I could choose between baseball and football, but I will say what my son always did…my favorite sport depends on what season it is.

I was watching the MLB channel Tuesday night. There was a left handed batter at the plate and he hit a high hopper to 3B. It looked like a play that could be made, but although the 3B did not bobble the ball, the runner was safe. Back in the studio, Billy Ripken made a very astute comment. He said that a third baseman has to charge the ball to make the play, but because of where he was positioned, there was really no way he could get there. Ripken went on to say that with all of the intel that managers have, sometimes they over think the game. With the left handed batter at the plate, the second baseman was almost to the bag and third sacker was easily 25 feet off the line. This is a pet peeve and one that I saw at the high school level too often. For whatever reason, the coaches think that playing the 3B way off the line is the best alignment. A slow roller down the line or even a medium ground ball down the line was impossible for the fielder to play. It certainly was a conversation that we had frequently watching games. In football there is a base defense. I wish that baseball would consider a more traditional approach sometimes.

Did you happen to see the end of David Price’s win Monday night? He threw a fastball that was clearly a strike. He started to walk off the field, until the umpire called the pitch a ball. He sort of let out a grunt, then turned his back on the plate, composed himself and threw the exact same pitch. The hitter swung and hit a come backer to Price that he easily fielded and ended the game. He slowly walked toward the dugout, but halfway there, he realized that the home plate umpire Hallion was staring him down and approaching him. Hallion said, “throw the ball over the fucking plate”. Price took offense at this and has filed a complaint. Hallion said that Price is a liar. Price took to twitter to explain what happened. In his words, “not even my dad talks to me that way”. When I first read about this incident, I thought that Price was being a douche bag. When I watched the replay, I changed my mind. Price did not show up the ump when he missed the strike. The ump made a bee line for him instead of walking away. I don’t know what he said, and to me it matters not what he said. The problem I had is that the umpire pursued conflict and is at fault. I got to thinking about all of the things that managers and players say to umpires. Generally that let them throw a few expletives before giving them the heave ho. Umpires as rule as a very patient lot. Maybe Hallion had a bad night or maybe he does not like David Price. The bottom line is that he did not walk away. To me, this is much more the issue than saying “throw the ball over the fucking plate”.  I would say that there is a pretty good chance that MLB brings some punishment for Hallion. Hopefully, it is not for what he said, but for not remaining neutral.

I got a chuckle this week when Oakland had a Josh Hamilton appreciation day. Remember it was Hamilton’s dropped fly ball that allowed Oakland to win and move forward to the playoffs. A’s fans threw Butterfingers to Josh on his day. Now that is funny.

I read this headline on Tuesday…Geno Smith fires agent after fall to the Jets. Does that mean that Smith was unhappy he was drafted later than he expected or because he went to the Jets? In just a few years, the Jets have really fallen far. I saw a great 30 for 30 detailing the NFL Draft of 1983. Of course that was the one that Elway, Marino and Jim Kelly were taken. Although there was much to enjoy in the show, what stuck with me was that Jim Kelly was pissed that he was drafted by Buffalo. He was so pissed, that he signed to play in the USFL. But, after a few years in the USFL, he decided that Buffalo was not such a bad option. I certainly don’t think that Geno Smith is Jim Kelly, but I think he is certainly better than Sanchez. The Jets are a mess…

I saw that a high school in rural Georgia is having their first “mixed” prom. This headline stopped me. What? As I dug a bit deeper, I read that this rural high school made the prom a private affair and only those that were invited could attend. This year, four girls (2 black, 2 white) decided to do something about this. They organized their own prom and invited everyone to attend. This event has caught the national eye. Disc jockeys from Atlanta and Texas have volunteered to do the prom for free. Photographers from Savannah and New York are taking pictures for free. The Wilcox superintendent is supporting the mixed prom and said that it is an embarrassment that this has not happened sooner…you think? He also said that they would do a survey of the students about changing the prom in the coming years. He suggested that the school would begin to run the prom and make it “integrated”. Supporters of the private prom maintain that it has nothing to do with race, but that there are different traditions and tastes in music. Yeah…right. But who decides the names on the invitations? It is beyond sad that in 2013 that a group of high school kids have to show adults the right way.

I have been reluctant to discuss Lance Armstrong. I have never been a big bike racing fan, but was a big fan of what Lance Armstrong did for cancer. It has been tragic to witness how far he has fallen. In truth, there is no justification for his cheating… that is what it is. I do however have a problem with the government suing Armstrong to recover some of the sponsorship money that they donated to Armstrong when he rode for the US Postal group. Let’s be honest, in a sport rife with cheating does the government really deserve a refund? Armstrong fulfilled his role and earned his money, in my mind. It is almost like sponsoring a billiards player, then acting surprised that alcohol was being served in the pool hall. Am I missing something? Of course, Armstrong deserves whatever he gets….but it is pretty ugly to see the government piling on.

So, golf has all of these ridiculous rules, but when one of their players (Vijay Singh) admits to using deer antler spray, they don’t do anything? Greg Norman had strong words for professional golf this week. He said that if golf is serious about being clean that they need to get rid of the urine tests and begin to do blood testing. He has a really good point. Why is a sport that has such strong feelings about honor dragging its feet?
 

That’s all I have this week, but I will leave you with a bit of Jack Handey:

"I think a good product would be "Baby Duck Hat". It's a fake baby duck, which you strap on top of your head. Then you go swimming underwater until you find a mommy duck and her babies, and you join them. Then, all of a sudden, you stand up out of the water and roar like Godzilla. Man, those ducks really take off! Also, Baby Duck Hat is good for parties."

“The next time I have meat and mashed potatoes, I think I'll put a very large blob of potatoes on my plate with just a little piece of meat. And if someone asks me why I didn't get more meat, I'll just say, "Oh, you mean this?" and pull out a big piece of meat from inside the blob of potatoes, where I've hidden it. Good magic trick, huh?”

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a few deep thoughts of your own.