Midweek Time Killers: D.C. Sports Business

This post revolves around two recent Washington City Paper pieces from Dave McKenna's "Cheap Seats" column. The first piece centers on the Redskins partnersip with liquor conglomerate Diageo. Although Diageo is funding responsible drinking programs (aka using the programs as advertising), it also put out a reward for any NFL player who would strike a Captain Morgan pose after scoring a touchdown. You can read about it here.

Capitals owner Ted Leonsis has quickly gained the reputation as the best, and most fan friendly, professional sports franchise owner in the area. With the Capitals owning the best record in the NHL, the Verizon Center is sold out for most all Caps home games. According to this "Cheap Seats" piece, Leonsis is now reaping additional financial rewards of the Caps success by putting some Caps tickets into a program where fans pay just to have the option to buy tickets at a future date. It seems the program works well for a franchise whose tickets are in high demand, but somehow I can't see the program working for the beleagured Washington Wizards.

Super Bowl Week Football Stuff

A couple of football related items to warm you up for this weekend's game.

First, "J.D." sent me this excerpt from a Jan. 25th Michael Silver Yahoo Sports column. The excerpt doesn't have anything to do with football per se, but it is a nice commentary on the music of New Orleans and the awful cross promotion the networks include in their sports broadcasts.

OK, so the Saints were about to play the biggest home game in the history of their franchise, in a city that has as awesome a musical heritage as any in America – if not the most awesome. How many artists with New Orleans ties would have been thrilled to sing the national anthem, and would have made it completely memorable? The Neville Brothers? Harry Connick Jr.? The Funky Meters? Marcia Ball? Cowboy Mouth? Deacon John? Fats Domino? Allen Toussaint? Irma Thomas? Rockin Dopsie? I could go on, and on, and on, and on. … Yet instead of any of those accomplished musicians – some of whom, realistically, were probably at the Superdome, or within a few miles of the stadium – the powers that be trotted out reigning “American Idol” winner Kris Allen, the most insipid singer on earth. Gee, I wonder why that was. Could it be that Fox, which broadcast the game, also is the home to “Idol” and convinced the NFL to do it in the name of promotional harmony? Why yes, I believe that is the only possible explanation, and the good people of New Orleans should have been disgusted. Yet I have a feeling they got over it once Hartley’s field goal went through the uprights – and many of them hit the streets and celebrated into the night at establishments featuring acts far more entertaining than Allen’s canned tripe.

The entire Silver column can be read here.

Second, if you listen to minutes two thru six of this WTEM interview with former Redskins offensive lineman, and current SI.com reporter, Ross Tucker, you'll understand why the Steve Spurrier era was doomed from the start. You gotta love Spurrier's attitude toward training camp.

Finally, a few years back, NPR ran Andy Griffith's famous "What it Was,Was Football" stand up routine in honor of the routine's 5oth anniversary. You can listen to it here.

D.C. Comings and Goings

We'll talk about the "goings" first. Today is D.C. radio legend Donnie Simpson's last day at WPGC. Although Simpson's contract runs into 2011, he is leaving due to a dispute with station management over his morning show's content and falling ratings. Earlier this week, The Washington Post ran this piece on Simpson's exit. It's seems this is just a sign of the times of what is going on in the radio industry.

On the "comings" side, this Dave McKenna "Cheap Seats" column from the latest edition of The Washington City Paper tells about former Washington Bullet Jeff Ruland's struggles in his first year as men's basketball coach at UDC. Unfortunately, the electronic version of the column leaves out the brief history of the program, going back to its early 80s glory days, that is included in the paper version of The City Paper. (The web version also uses a picture of Ruland that is different from the mugshot looking photo that is used in the paper version.)

A Full Moon Over Wisconsin

Shedd's Spot reporter "J.D." submitted this a while back. Unfortunately, it's a little less than an hour until tip off of the Duke-Wisconsin basketball game and I'm just now posting this. I forwarded "J.D.'s" email to a couple of folks I know who are originally from Madison, Wisconsin. Their reaction was "why is this guy from Richmond, Va. trolling the Madison, Wisconsin version of Craigslist?". Good question. Anyway, if you're watching the Duke-UW game tonight, look for the guy who placed the following ad.


Wanted: UW vs. Duke tix so I can stick my a** in Coach K's face - $1 (Madison, WI)

Seeking two tickets to the Dec. 2 UW mens' basektball game vs. Duke. Would prefer tickets somewhere in the lower level and near the team benches. I figure if I can get a seat close enough, I can at some point sneak down to the Duke bench, drop trou, and stick my hairy crack in Coach K's face. I've been wanting to do this for quite some time, so anyone who can help facilitate the dream on a budget would be most generous. I figure if there's one guy in the world who deserves to have a hairy, sweaty ass stuck in his face, it's Coach K. After all, he's been turning out team after team of cocky, whitebread under-achievers for the last two decades, and it's time someone showed him how the rest of the country feels about his brand of basketball.

When I say "budget," I should clarify that I can't afford your over-inflated mark-up if you're looking to make a buck on your seats. Sorry. But I have to figure in the cost of an indecent exposure/public disturbance citation into the cost, plus whatever I will have to buy my wife as an apology for my antics.

Quickies

Ok, I just can't resist. It's too easy.....

Q: What's the difference between a car and a golf ball?
A: Tiger can drive a ball 400 yards.

Q: What does Tiger Woods have in common with a baby seal?
A: They both get clubbed by Swedes.

Q: What did Tiger Woods' wife do with the leftover turkey from Thanksgiving dinner?
A: She made him a club sandwich.

And finally...

Mrs. Woods: I hit him six times with a 7 iron.
FL Highway Patrolman: Six times?
Mrs. Woods: OK, give me a four.

The Chefs, the Skins and Amarillo Slim (the use of "Chefs" was intentional)

Amarillo Slim, who is considered the world's greatest proposition gambler, once said "You can shear a sheep 100 times, but you can only skin it once". For those of you who aren't knowledgable about the world of gambling and cons, that basically means you can play a sucker for some of his money often, but you can only bankrupt him once.

Here in the D.C. area, Dan Snyder has his hunting knife out and is starting to skin Redskin fans. After ten years of finding every possible way to reach into Redskins fans' pockets and pull out a dollar, Snyder is down to what may be his final con, putting the worst Redskins team in decades on the field and asking fans to continue to pay for admission to FedEx Field.

I won't list out all the scams Snyder has pulled over the years, Dave McKenna of the Washington City Paper is making a career of doing that. And, most everyone in the area read the series of articles a few weeks back in the Washington Post about ticket brokers getting first shot at tickets from the Redskins ticket office and the team filing suit against premium seat ticket holders who broke their multi-season contracts. But, none of Snyder's stunts compare to the fact Snyder continues to fancy himself a football operations expert after 10 years of Redskins mediocrity or worse and that he wants Redskins fans to believe it.

Finally, Redskins fans are seeing the light and realizing they are getting skinned. There are more and more empty seats at Fed Up...I mean...FedEx Field and fan reaction in the media outlets is one of disgust. Of course, we won't know for sure if the skinning is complete until those empty seats at FedEx Field are being driven by unsold tickets and not just no shows. Snyder's skinning of the Redskins fan base will be complete when the fans have turned the tide and put some pain in Snyder's pocket the way he has done the fans' pockets the last ten years.

Today's Redskins loss to the Chiefs continues the Redskins trend of helping teams in the midst of losing streaks break them. A couple of weeks back, I was in Missouri the day after the Chiefs got blasted by the Philadelphia Eagles 34-14. I gave the two sports radio stations in Kansas City a long listen that day while I was driving from Columbia to K.C. It was amazing how similar the calls into the station were to the calls received by the sports radio stations here in the D.C. area. There were the recurring themes in the calls of how the team had no direction, no talent and no hope. A common comment that day was "even Lions won yesterday" (the Lions had defeated the Redskins). For a while, I debated calling one of the stations to make a point I thought all those Chiefs fans were missing, at least they had a real football executive running the team since the Chiefs'owners had hired Scott Pioli away from the New England Patriots during the offseason. That alone puts the Chiefs one giant step ahead of the Redskins. Hell, today's game puts them two steps ahead of the Redskins.
________________________________

I'm thinking it's about time the Redskins were the subject of a commerical like this one that once used the Chiefs...I mean the Chefs...as the punchline.

Quickies

Truly, this will be a quick post.

First, a Facebook "friend" of mine from college recently posted a link to this story on his Facebook page. I think I've been friended by far too many "The Let-Me-Tell-You-Every-Detail-of-My-Day Bore" types.

Second, according to USA Today, the NFL wants enact these rules to cut down on binge drinking and its related side effects at games. Right.......

Finally, this clip posted on YouTube has some great photos from this past Saturday's unveiling of Chuck Brown Way in D.C.

Tour de France Follow Up

A few weeks back, I made this post about happenings at the Tour de France that included telling about the financial problems the Tour's premiere team, Team Astana, was having. Team Astana member Alberto Contador went on to win the Tour with teammate Lance Armstrong finishing third. Right after that post was made, Armstrong announced he was starting his own team for the 2010 Tour de France and the team's primary sponsor would be Radio Shack. Immediately, speculation started regarding who would join Armstronng's team and what would happen to Team Astana.

Once Armstrong made his announcement and the Tour was over, Contador and Armstrong started taking shots at each other in the media. The Contador-Armstrong war of words would make the spoiled brat drivers of NASCAR proud. Contador said “My relationship with Lance Armstrong is zero. He’s a great rider and he did a great Tour. Another thing is on a personal level, where I have never admired him and never will.” Armstrong fired back on Twitter (what does that tell you?) with "“Hey pistolero, there is no ‘I’ in ‘team’. what did I say in March? Lots to learn. Restated. Seeing these comments from AC . If I were him I’d drop this drivel and start thanking his team. w/o them, he doesn’t win. A champion is also measured on how much he respect his teammates and opponents.”

It's still up in the air as to what team Contador will ride for next year, but one thing is for certain, he won't be Armstrong's teammate. Contador is still under contract to Team Astana thru 2010, but wants out. According to this L.A. Times blog, Team Astana, which is sponsored by the Kazakhstan based Astana Group, has no intentions of letting Contador walk. So, while Armstrong starts his own U.S. based team, the Spainard, Contador, may be forced to worship the hawk for another year. But, no matter where Contador ends up, the 2010 Tour de France looks to be a soap opera that could be aired in the place of the The Guiding Light or Days of Our Lives for three weeks.

Shedd's Spot Has Been on Hiatus

What do you get when you combine a lot work and some time visiting family out of state? An unfortunate, unnanounced hiatus for Shedd's Spot.

I'm sure there is a multitude of things I could write about, but let's keep it simple to begin with and talk about three men who have birthdays today, August 8th, Frank Howard, Mel Tillis, and Webb Pierce.

Frank Howard was one of the few bright spots in the history of the expansion Washington Senators. Howard came to the Senators from the L.A. Dodgers in a trade prior to the 1965 season. In L.A., Howard had been a part time player. Once arriving in D.C., he became a full time player who put up monster home run numbers in a non-steroid age, including a tear in May 1968 when he hit 10 homers in 20 at bats. Recently, there has been talk of Howard joining the Washington Nationals in some capacity and the Nationals will give away Frank Howard bobbleheads at their August 22nd game againt the Brewers. It's sort of funny they are not doing it tonight because tonight's game features an Adam Dunn bobblehead giveaway. This prior Shedd's Spot post features a link to an Nationals.com interview with Howard.

When most people hear the name Mel Tillis they think of a light hearted, stuttering singer who had a string of country hits in the 1970s and also did some TV and had a few roles in some Burt Reynolds movies. But prior to any of that, Tillis had a hall of fame songwriting career. The first hit he had as a songwriter was Webb Pierce's 1957 version of "I'm Tired", although not all the words were Tillis'. Prior to Pierce recording the song, Tillis had pitched the song to Ray Price at the Florida State Fair. Price took the song back to Nashville, but didn't record it. Instead, Pierce got wind of the song at the Grand Ole Opry one night as Price was singing it backstage. Pierce decided he wanted to record the song, but Price would only give him the first verse. So, Pierce took the first verse to songwriter Wayne Walker who wrote two additional verses that Pierce tacked on to Tillis' first verse. Tillis did not know about the Pierce recording of the song or the changes until he heard Pierce's record on the radio one night while still living in Florida.

"I'm Tired" was the first of many classic country hits Tillis wrote or co-wrote. Pierce recorded several more Tillis songs, inlcuding I Ain't Never", "Tupelo County Jail" and"Honky Tonk Song". (If you can believe it, the Queen of the Blues, Koko Taylor, coverered "Honky Tonk Song" on her 1975 LP I've Got What it Takes.) Ray Price had hits with "Burning Memories" and "Heart Over Mind". Probably the two most famous versions of Tillis compositions are Bobby Bare's "Detroit City" and Kenny Rogers and the First Edition's version of "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town". When Rogers released his version of "Ruby" in the late 60s, many thought Tillis had written the song about a soldier who had been wounded in Vietnam. Instead, Tillis had written it about a man in his hometown who had been wounded in World War II. (I'm surprised someone hasn't covered the song in the past few years, slightly changing the words for the song to be about someone wounded in Iraq.)

In 1984, Tillis released his autobigoraphy, Stutterin' Boy. The book is by no means high brow reading, but includes dozens of great stories about the golden days of Nashville in the 1950s and 1960s. Any fan of real country music history would find it an entertaining read.

Nowadays, Webb Pierce is widely remembered for his flashy style as much as his music. For years, buses ferried hundreds of tourist a day past Pierce's Nashville home to see his guitar shaped swimming pool. But, for a time from the late 1950s through the early 1960s, Pierce was one of the hottest country stars going. Maybe I'll write more about Pierce in the future, but for now you can watch him perform the afforementioned "I'm Tired" in appearance recorded prior to Pierce overdosing on rhinestones.

Midweek Time Killers: Two Very Different Subjects

According to this NPR interview with actress Beth Broderick, times are hard for Hollywood's working class actors. It seems the combination of bad ecomomic times, the explosion of reality television shows, and last year's writers' strike have caused the actress' annual income to decrease from a range of $300,000 to $500,000 per year down to $70,000 per year. During the interview Broderick says "Nobody wants to sit where I'm sitting and say, 'Hey, this is the reality. I did two movies, six guest-star spots and I starred in a one-woman show, and I'm not making any money. I'm on TV every day in every country in the world, and I don't make any money.' "

Meanwhile here on the East Coast, former Washington National Matt LeCroy has started a new career as minor league manager in the Nationals farm system. This recent Washington Times piece talks about LeCroy's new career and, of course, tells about the Nationals game in 2006 when the Astros stole seven bases in six innings while LeCroy was playing catcher. Then Nationals manager Frank Robinson pulled LeCroy from the game and then was brought to tears while talking about it in his post-game press conference. To me, that was Robinson's second finest moment during his tenure here in Washington. The first was the incident discussed in this previous Shedd's Spot post.

What Do Borat and Lance Armstrong Have In Common?

This time every year while the baseball season is grinding toward the July 31 trade deadline and a lot of sports fans start getting impatient for NFL training camps to open, an international sporting event is going on in France (and Spain and Italy). That event, of course, is the Tour de France. I'd venture to say most casual sports fans know Lance Armstrong has come out of retirement and is in search of his eigth Tour de France title. But, beyond that, I think very few Americans know very much about the Tour or anything or anyone having to do with it.

Believe me, I'm no expert and there are a lot of things about team bike racing I have no clue about. But, a couple of things have caught my attention while dropping in on the Tour replay shows each night on Versus. The first is that this sports is pretty damn dangerous. There have been a few multi-rider pile ups in this year's Tour that have led to some riders leaving the Tour with injuries. Maybe the most notable was Armstrong's teammate, Levi Leipheimer, leaving with a broken wrist he suffered during a crash in stage 13. But, the most horrifying crash this year was a single rider crash in yesterday's 16th stage. Jens Voight apparently hit a bump while descending down a mountain at a speed somewhere between 40 and 50 MPH. Obviously, Voight was hospitalized after the crash.



Another item I found interesting is that the team that is considered the best, Team Astana, has been teetering on bankruptcy all through 2009. At one point earlier this year, the team's riders hadn't been paid in two months and cycling's governing body threatened to strip the team of its comptetive license unless the riders' pay was brought up to date. (And you thought the mothers of Elijah Dukes' children had a rough time of it collecting child support!) What makes this surprising is that Lance Armstrong is a member of Team Astana. Armstrong agreed to not take a salary when he joined the team, but that is not the case for the team's other riders, which include the aforementioned Leipheimer and current Tour leader Alberto Contador.

About this time, you're probably starting to wonder how a cycling "super" team can be in trouble financially. The answer is Team Astana's primary sponsor is the Astana Group, a collection of state owned businesses located in Kazakhstan. Yes Kazakhstan, native land of Sacha Baron Cohen's fictional character Borat. Although Borat may have made millions for Cohen, the real citizens of Kazakhstan and the country's businesses are stuck in a financial funk. And the funk is filtering down to Team Astana. The financial feasibility of the team is in question past the conclusion of this year's Tour de France, despite the fact Contador is all but a lock to win the Tour.

Earlier today Armstrong announced he has arranged sponsorship for the 2010 cycling season which will allow him to ride in next year's Tour, but no details were given. Maybe if we're lucky he'll ride for Team Borat...or maybe Team Bruno.

Midweek Time Killers: Baseball Old and New

The latest issue of Sports Illsutrated has this profile of legendary Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver. The piece readily references the two classic (and obscenity laiden) Earl Weaver clips that are posted for posterity on YouTube and that have been featured here on Shedd's Spot, the Manager's Corner radio program and Weaver's 1980 argument with an umpire at Memorial Stadium. But more importantly, the piece describes how Weaver was a forerunner in using statistical analysis to judge player performance and match ups.

The same Sports Illustrated issue also features a couple of other profiles most old time Orioles fans may want to skip, a story on the 1969 Miracle Mets and a "where are they now" piece on former Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Kent Tekulve.

Meanwhile, today's Harrisonburg Daily News Record includes this article on the first ever meeting between the Cal Ripken, Sr. League and Valley League All Stars. Both leagues are summer leagues for college baseball players. The Ripken League operates teams in and around Baltimore and Washington, D.C. while the Valley League operates teams in the northern half of the Shenandoah Valley. The game ended shortly before I began writing this post with the Ripken League winning 2-1.

And, if you haven't had enough baseball and Earl Weaver, you should be able to hear the Rhodes Tavern Troubadours musical tribute to Earl Weaver here.

Quickies

Both of the items in this week's belated Quickies post are relatated to HBO. HBO recently launched the website Comedy Fetish where fans can watch clips from their favorite HBO comedy series. I watched a few clips from my favorite HBO comedy series, Entourage and East Bound & Down, only to be disappointed that the clips included are the more tame ones and, guess what, have all the foul language blanked out. If you dig deeper, you'll see the site is nothing more than a marketing ploy to sell DVDs thru Barne & Noble and downloads thru iTunes.

If you'll remember back a couple of years, HBO's Real Sports ran a story on the financial wizardry of form baseball player Lenny Dykstra. Then, earlier this year, Real Sports ran a follow up story on how Dykstra's financial empire was crumbling around him. Last week, Dykstra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Here's The Philadelphia Inquirer story. But, this recent CNBC interview with Dykstra is far more entertaining.

Midweek Time Killers...Serena and The Fat Man

I'm beginning to think I should just turn over the Midweek Time Killers series of posts to "J.D" in Richmond. He seems to be turning me on to more and more of the reading material included here. Monday, "J.D." sent me an email with info on this column by Jason Whitlock which takes several shots at Serena Williams, despite her recent Wimbledon win. I'm not going to comment any further on the column. But, I am going to include a few links to other blogs and columns where the writers throw their two cents in on Whitlock's column. There is this blog from The Pitch-Kansas City that also has a great picture of Whitlock with some "entertainers". The Retort has this and there is piece is entitled "Fat Man Calls Serena Williams Overweight…F*cking Hypocrite!". I do think the title of the aforementioned "Fat Man..." piece holds some merit because Whitlock is shaped a lot like another man who is somewhat associated with Kansas City, Jimmy Rushing (pictured below), long time lead singer with the Count Basie Orchestra. And, oh yeah, Rushing's nickname was Mr. Five by Five. Hmmm...maybe Whitlock could adopt the name?

And finally, if you haven't had enough of Jason Whitlock, there is this 2006 interview with The Big Lead, which was conducted not too long after Whitlock's departure from ESPN's Page 2.

Midweek Time Killers...Stupid and Serious Sports Stuff

Many D.C. area residents have probably heard about the awkward in game interview Senator John Kerry gave MASN's Debbi Taylor during one of the Red Sox-Nationals games at Nationals Park last week. I was at the game, so I didn't have the...uh....pleasure of seeing it, but the bulk of it can be read in this D.C. Sports Bog entry. If you dig a little deeper, it's easy to find more examples of Senator Kerry's stiffness and general lack of knowledge when it comes to sports. This Boston Herald column discusses a few of them.

A few weeks after being let go from Dan Snyder owned WTEM radio, Brian Mitchell speaks out about it to USA Today here. (I think it's time Mitchell and ol' CP, Clinton Portis, have it out in a celebrity boxing match. I know a certain fledgling charity in Arlington that would love to sponsor the match and collect the proceeds.) According to this Washington Post piece from a couple of weeks back, the managment of WJFK is planning a jump into full time sports radio. Maybe Mitchell can catch on there.

For a little lighter fare, that is not stupid, check out this WRC-TV website page which features Sonny Jurgensen's 1994 interview with Sammy Baugh.

And finally, "J.D." forwarded me this Jason Whitlock column about the recent HBO Real Sports piece on Jim Brown and Bill Russell. Seeing that Tiger Woods is in town for the AT&T National at Congressional Country Club, it seems appropriate to post a link to the column because part of the column discusses Jim Brown's feelings toward Tiger Woods. That happens, of course, after Whitlock talks about his fascination with strip clubs. Who else would write "Jesus walked with prostitutes. Jason walks with strippers."?

Quickies

First off, Variety reports in this story that Columbia Pictures is scrapping the movie version of Michael Lewis' book Moneyball. The movie was to have starred Brad Pitt as Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane. The A's have a history of fielding competitive teams on a small budgets thanks to Beane's use of statistical analysis which allows the A's find productive young players who do not yet command outrageous contracts.

According to this Yahoo Sports piece, Chicago Cubs manager Lou Pinella doesn't "know a steroid from a reefer". FYI Lou, a reefer is a refrigerated rail car used for shipping food and perishables.

And speaking of Lou Pinella, here is a TV station flashback to 1992 when Pinella was the manager of the Cicinniati Reds and he got into a tussle with then Reds relief pitcher, and now Washington Nationals color analyst, Rob Dibble.

Finally, I've done my share of Dan Snyder bashing here on Shedd's Spot and I believe he has deserved every bit of it and more. In an entry back in March, I mentioned how I had received mailings from the Redskins for a couple of years telling me I had risen to the top of the 200,000+ person season ticket waiting list. Everyone in D.C. with half a brain knows the length of that list is a bigger lie than anything that's ever come out of Marion Barry's mouth. Well, this April snipet in The Washington City Paper further proves it.

Quickies

This week's Quickies post will be real quick...

First up this week, talk of porn star Stormy Daniels making a run for the Senate in 2010 has not subsided. According to this London Times piece from last month and this Politico blog entry from last week, Daniels has taken part in a "listening tour" around Louisiana as a first step toward a possible run. Luckily for Daniels, she just turned thirty so the minimum age requirement for the Senate won't be an issue.

And following up on this morning's entry on Thom Loverro's criticism of Rob Dibble, in which I discussed what might have been John Lownstein's greatest moment as a broadcaster, I give you this link to a blog entry by someone named the Urban Shocker that discusses what may have been Brother Lo's finest moment as player. In this time of controversy about how steroids have inflated baseball statistics, the following Lowenstein quote seems to put things in perspective:

Nuclear war would render all baseball statistics meaningless.

Thom Loverro Hates Rob Dibble

Columnist Thom Loverrro has this column in today's Washington Times which is very critical of MASN's Washington Nationals telecast color commentator, Rob Dibble. Loverro's primary criticsm of Dibble is that Dibble is uninformed, especially when it comes to the Nationals pitching staff. This differs from other writers who have criticized Dibble for being too much of a homer, particularly when it comes to his use of "us" and "we" and encouraging words like "let's get two and get out of this" and "atta boy". Of course, as Loverro points out his column, Dibble's fan-like mentality has won over many Nationals fans.

For me personally, the jury is still out on Dibble as a commentator. I will readily admit I wasn't very enthused when I read during the offseason that he had been hired by MASN. And, during the first few weeks of the season I thought his criticism of rookie starting pitchers Sharon Martis and Jordan Zimmermann was a little too harsh. But, I will say Dibble's enthusiasm during the broadcasts is an improvement of the dull delivery of Don Sutton who seemed to talk about his playing days during game broadcasts as much, or more, than Dibble.

Speaking for myself, and I'm sure many longtime D.C. area residents will agree, the best local baseball television announcing team I've ever heard is Mel Proctor and John Lowenstein. They kept fans entertained and interested as they blended just the right mix of baseball knowledge and levity on Home Team Sports Orioles broadcasts from the mid-80s until the mid 90s . No one who saw it will ever forget the spring training game broadcast when Lowenstein yelled out the back window of the broadcast booth for the hot dog vendor on the ground outside the stadium to send two hot dogs up to the broadcast booth. Cameras stayed on the vendor as he bewilderdly looked around to see who was trying to get his attention. If I remember correctly, Lowenstein got his hot dogs a couple of innings later.

But, back to present and the Nationals. My friend and fellow blogger, Tadcranky, has a theory about the Nationals inability to sign upper level free agents. Tadcranky's theory is that as long as the Nationals appear as if they are going be awful the following year, no upper level free agent is going to sign with them. A premiere player is going to get the same the amount of money to play for a contender, or at least a team that will flirt with .500. So, why would the free agent sign with a team that may lose 100 games? I think the same theory holds true for broadcasters. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of studio analyst and color commentator jobs associated with Major League Baseball. So, why would a top tier TV analyst sign on to follow a losing team with a new and questionable fan base for the length of 162 game season?

Midweek Time Killers...More Freakin' Baseball

As expected, the Washington Nationals selected San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg with the first overall pick in last night's first round of the baseball draft. As soon as the pick was made, all the so called "experts" began to chime in on when and if Strasburg will sign, how much money will the contract be worth and when Strasburg will make his Major League debut. I could post links to dozen of articles and columns on those questions, but I'm already sick of hearing the speculation. My breaking point came this morning when I heard Steve Phillips predict on ESPN radio the Nationals will not come to terms with Strasburg and that Strasburg will sit out a year and then re-enter the draft next year. With all that said, I did find this Monday pre-draft piece from the Nationals' website on Ben McDonald, which included his thoughts on Strasburg, very interesting. Many of you will remember back 20 years ago when Big Ben was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the first round of the draft. Many thought he would be the cornerstone of the Orioles starting rotation for years to come. Unfortunately for both McDonald and the Orioles, things didn't work out that way.

Meanwhile up I-95 a piece, Raul Ibanez had this to say in The Philadelphia Inquirer about accusations by bloggers that he is using performance enhancing drugs:

You can have my urine, my hair, my blood, my stool - anything you can test," Ibanez said. "I'll give you back every dime I've ever made" if the test is positive.
"I'll put that up against the jobs of anyone who writes this stuff," he said. "Make them accountable. There should be more credibility than some 42-year-old blogger typing in his mother's basement. It demeans everything you've done with one stroke of the pen.

I haven't accused Ibanez of using PEDs, I don't live in my mom's basement and I'm not 42 (yet), so I guess I'm in the clear when it comes to Ibanez's wrath. Of course, he is batting something like .500 against the Nationals this year and has something like 85 HRs against them in 2009. Hmmm....maybe that's the reason for his improved stats at age 37...he's playing the Nationals 18 times a year????? You can read the entire Philadelphia Inquirer article here.

Quickies

First off, baseball fans in Japan are doing their best to keep manager Bobby Valentine from losing his job. The New York Times details the saga here. Maybe if Baltimore Orioles fans would have done something similar for Davey Johnson, the Orioles would not have sunk to the level they have.

I'm to the point where I can't have a Quickies post that doesn't mention my beloved Washington Nationals. This weeks Sports Illustrated includes this story on Bryce Harper, the 16 year old high school phenom, who is considering dropping out of high school and getting a GED so he can be eligble for next year's baseball draft. Seeing the Nationals are once again on their way to the worst record in baseball, they could very well be in a position where they have to make a decision on whether Harper should be selected with the first overall pick in the draft. Of course, The Washington Times' Thom Loverro is convinced the Nationals' problems can be blamed on The Curse of Teddy Roosevelt. Maybe he is onto something. After all, Teddy was out to a commanding lead during the presidents race on the Saturday of Memorial Day only to lose when the Oriole bird jumped from the stands and leveled him with a tackle that would make Ray Lewis proud. Thus, another loss for Teddy.

Regular readers will remember a post a while back that included info sent in by "J.D." on the Grand View Topless Coffee Shop in Vassalboro, Maine. "J.D." forwarded me this piece last week detailing the destruction of the Grand View due to arson. "J.D." blamed the arson on a right wing conspiracy, while a few readers who left comments on the newspaper website blamed it on feminists. I guess we'll know it was a conspiracy if any Cowgirls Expresso locations are burned to the ground.