Welcome to another Wednesday, Gabbers. The plus side of this week is that we have a bright light at the end of the week: Memorial Day. Memorial Day is a nice day to reflect on the sacrifices of our service men and women. It’s also a great time to get together with family and rediscover the outdoors. It’s the unofficial start of summer. I’m taking off for Cincy Friday. I hope my mother-in-law to be has a grill.

Change is a lot of things. For the NFL, it’s mostly annoying and transparently a huge money grab. The league has decided to move the draft back from March to May. The league wants to tap into sweeps week. It’s also a move that will help free agents as the free agency period would still be at the same time of year, but give teams more time to consider veteran players.

This year’s free agency period has been a rough one for many veterans. Players like Brian Urlacher and Charles Woodson are still waiting for new teams. The problem is most teams would be far more likely to wait the extra month to consider younger, more inexpensive solutions to overpaid, older athletes. It’s no secret that veterans would be less than likely to accept rookie salary money. It’s a weak argument by the league to say that this move is for the veterans. If they wanted to help the veterans, they could listen to the many current retirees who are calling for more safety precautions and aid for severely injured vets. Giving teams an extra month to mull over the veteran-rookie debate doesn’t do much. It just helps the league horn in on more primetime, high rating time slots.

Sidenote: The Raiders are reportedly trying to bring Woodson back. If I’m Woodson, I take less money to find a team that needs veteran help and is closer to a playoff run. The Raiders are too far behind in an improving AFC West.

Goodell has also revealed that the league may be planning a third international game following the sellout of both London games in 2013. I hope international means Canada in this case. I suppose Londoners like the game or at least enough of them do. It gives them a chance to wear horribly outdated jerseys and see mediocre teams in action. Still, this is a huge burden on the teams selected to make the trip.

A lot of people put a great deal of stock into the old NHL Original Six match-ups. Apparently, some Chicagoans didn’t before the start of their semi-final match-up with the Red Wings. In most of their fans defense, the Red Wings had failed to beat the Blackhawks at any point in their last 7 match-ups. Though a few went to overtime, Chicago found ways to win. Many doubted whether the Wings were still a threat.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-05-16/sports/ct-spt-0517-dan-mcneil-blackhawks-chicago-20130517_1_detroit-goaltender-jimmy-howard-justin-abdelkader-red-wings

Last Wednesday’s game one did little to change this line of thinking. The Wings and Hawks were tied at one after the first period. Howard and the young Wings were hanging tough with the Blackhawks. Then they started the third period and the Blackhawks scored 3 unanswered goals. The Blackhawks win 4-1. Looks like a short series.

Saturday afternoon and Hawks fans look for a 2-0 series lead. The Hawks score in the first and hold a 1-0 lead going into the 2^nd period. The next two periods, the Wings offense wakes up and scores 2 goals per period. Wings win 4-1. The series comes back to Detroit. After stealing a game in Chicago, the Wings follow up with another. The Wings prove most hockey fans right: the NHL playoffs are unpredictable. Rivalries always take strange shapes.

Well, that’s it for me this Wednesday. I have two days of subbing and then get to run off to Cincy. I hope you folks have a nice weekend and get out and enjoy things, weather permitting. Thanks as always for stopping by. I leave you with your word of the week.

bacon tetris, noun

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Welcome to another Wednesday here at the Gab. We’re halfway through the week and getting closer to the official start of summer. Looks like I’ll be spending Memorial Day in Cincinnati. My fiancé is wedding dress shopping. I wonder if I could talk her into a Reds game…

Speaking of summer, the Tigers-Indians series was as exciting to watch as I thought it would be. Well, Friday was a bit of a one sided affair, but as a Tigers fan it was nice to see. Just about everyone got a hit. Andy Dirks even got a home run. After that, however, the Tigers lost their grip. Ubaldo and the Tribe outdueled Verlander on Saturday. Then the Tribe got some late game hitting to beat the Tigers on Mother’s Day. If the weekend was any indication, these two teams are going to give each other grief all season.

I’m a bit surprised the White Sox aren’t being more of a problem. Alex Rios is acting as the team’s offense. The problem is he’s leading with a .279 average. He also has the team lead for almost every other meaningful hitting stat. Their offensive stats are just too close to what they’re giving up. They have a stud pitcher in Chris Sales and Jake Peavy has matched Sale’s 4 wins. After those spots, things get hazy. It doesn’t help that the Tribe and Royals added so many pieces in the off season. The Twins, while underachieving the last few seasons, also look in better shape. Mauer hitting .343 is always a good sign.

Not surprisingly, the AL East has started off super competitive. Last week, the division boasted a three team tie for first between the Yankees, Red Sox, and Orioles. As of now, the Yanks have a one game lead over the Os. While NY might’ve lost Hafner for a stretch, they’ll be getting Granderson back. Those spare parts have done their job and kept the Yankees respectable.

I came across a video celebrating the Seattle Mariners and their recently departed radio play-by-play man Dave Niehaus. It’s by Macklemore, the Thrift Shop guy. I usually don’t go for his style, but I’ll admit I liked Thrift Shop. It’s catchy and has an actual message, which I find lacking in the hip hop genre. This song lets me know he might have a little more where that came from. Plus, I’ve yet to hear anyone celebrate the Mariners in song…

It’s been an interesting career for Titus Young lately. Following his release from the Lions and his 10 days with the Rams, Young has spent more time in trouble with the law than his former Lions teammates combined. In fact, he was arrested 3 times last week. A home owner admitted he almost shot Young when he entered his home. Few people have had such falls.

Young’s father has recently offered some explanation. According to Richard Young, Titus Young suffers from a psychological disorder. What disorder, however, was not named. Young’s father also mentioned that the disorder took hold following a concussion Young suffered in his rookie season. The only problem: Young was never diagnosed with a concussion. Young’s father also mentioned that treatment would only take 6 months if Young followed the doctor’s instructions. I don’t know a whole lot about neuroscience, but I imagine brain disorders take longer than 6 months to overcome.

These explanations make me wonder if his condition is hereditary.

Still, Bears receiver Brandon Marshall has reached out to Young. Marshall suffers from a personality disorder, but has received treatment. Marshall is adamant that Young should step up and enter a similar program.

Manti T’eo’s girlfriend has been voted the 69^th hottest woman on the planet according to Maxim. I don’t feel too bad for Manti on this. He’s gonna have to get over this. I feel worse for women #100-70. How bad would it be to get ranked behind nothing?

No one is having a better week than this guy...

Well, thanks as always for stopping by. Hope this week keeps going as fast as it has been. A good friend of mine just got a job as an emergency room technician after a few years of working valet at the same hospital. Luckily, it seems like he was shmoozing while he was parking. Needless to say, this calls for a few beers. I leave you as always with your word of the week.

sit of shame, noun

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Welcome to Wednesday, where the order of the night was to have a beer and enjoy the arrival of spring before getting down to writing. I’ve been enjoying my share of baseball lately. The Tiger bats have come in with spring. Still, the weathers been nice enough that it’s been hard to really give much time to watch a game.

We don’t get a long spring here. We usually come out the deep freeze and into the fryer. Plus, I have to enjoy being out there until the ice cream trucks come. I used to love those things as a kid. Now the music alone is enough to want to block off my street. Not to mention the prices… Also, does anyone know if they still have those WWF ice cream bars? Scott?

Baseball has been on my mind most here. I’m intrigued by the race between the Tigers and the Royals. The Royals always had good, young position players. The problem was that they couldn’t develop pitchers. If they could (Grienke), they could only keep them until their rookie contracts ran out. This offseason they brought in some arms and it is paying off. As BOB mentioned, the Tribe is coming up too. Just in time for a weekend series. Could be my dad’s time to gloat…

What happened to that vaunted Phillies starting rotation? Roy Halladay (a guy I’ve always liked) had only 2 wins in 6 outings with an 8.65 Era before his trip to the DL. That’s coming off a 2012 season that saw his lowest win total in 8 years. There’s a lot to like about Halladay. When he’s on, he’s a force. He had a four year streak of 200+ strikeout seasons culminating with 220 in 2011. What’s even better is that he disparaged Yankee Nation. When everyone was ready to see him in pinstripes in 2009-2010, Halladay stunned everyone by going to Philly. Incredibly, Halladay and the Phils have never put things together to win a World Series. I’d say the bats aged too much to help Halladay and co. I’m sure Halladay can pull it together when he’s healthy. If not, I wonder what this does to all the Hall of Fame talk?

Speaking of HOF talk, everyone’s friends at ESPN asked the question: who is the best right handed pitcher in baseball? Your options were Yu Darvish, Justin Verlander, Felix Hernandez, and other. Darvish came in second in the polls, though most folks explained they’d rank JV and King Felix ahead of him. Darvish is off to a hell of a start with a record of 5-1 and a 2.56 ERA. He was pretty close to perfection. Still, it’s unknown if he has the longevity of Verlander or Hernandez yet. There’s no need to rush Darvish into these kinds of talks. Of course, like most Japanese players, there is the unfortunate fact that he spent 7 seasons playing in Japan. He did not pitch a single game his first two seasons or at least is not credited with any stats.

 I wonder how close we might be to MLB teams getting guys like Darvish or Ichiro as truly young prospects? Can you imagine how much more reverence Ichiro would have if he had played in the US his entire career? On the flip side, others may wonder if Ichiro would boast the same career numbers if he had started here. Still, I’d be interest to see MLB clubs start to challenge the Japan Pacific League for younger players.

Now, I know it’s been said by many here before, but why doesn’t Tim Duncan get more credit in today’s NBA? This guy was raised for the NBA by the great David Robinson. He was groomed playing against the likes of Shaq, Olajuwan, and Ewing. Looking at players like Dwight Howard, it remains to be seen if we’ll ever really see a player like Duncan again. That saddens me. I used to love watching the bigs tussle down low. I modeled my own game after it. Physical play down low is an aspect of the game that I just don’t see on any level anymore. It’s more likely in college, but it gets abandoned quickly in the pros. Duncan still does things the right way. Granted he has a nice mid-short range jumper, but he gets it done in the post and on the boards too. He’s gotten awards and ranks well historically, but Duncan doesn’t have the flair to rank in the SportsCenter world.

Players like Duncan have me pulling hard for the Spurs. The Spurs built themselves up the right way: drafts and smart trades. Ginobli was the 57^th overall pick in the 1999 draft. Mind you this was the draft with a top five of Elton Brand, Stever Francis, Baron Davis, Lamar Odom, and Jonathon Bender. Now, these guys had decent careers, but Manu and the Spurs have 4 titles since then.  Of course, the Spurs had picked Leon Smith with the 29^th pick. Parker was their 28^th overall pick just 2 years later. The Spurs fly in the face of big threes. That’s why you gotta love em. Of course, I cut Thunder fans slack too.

After all the flap about James not winning the MVP unanimously, I have one answer: change the award. The fact that the award is given to the most valuable player lends itself to arguments like the one made in favor of Carmelo Anthony. Call it the League’s Best or something. That way you can assure it goes to the best player, though it usually finds its way there anyways.

Well, that’s all for this week. Hope you all have been pulling yourselves away from the NBA/NHL playoffs and MLB to enjoy the weather. If not, be sure to. Thanks as always for stopping in. I leave you with your word of the week.

Congratsturbating

Creating a problem that affects millions of people, then praising oneself for fixing the small part of the problem that affects you and then masturbating.

Coined by Jon Stewart

'Did you hear Susan Collins saying how proud she was that Congress passed a bill to speed up air travel?'

“Yeah that bitch is just congratsturbating.'

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