It's been a while..........

I know that I haven't been around lately, but things are going well with the family and work is actually real good. We went to Vail, CO back in January on my company. Besides my meetings, Jenn had a full day spa and massage, we went dogsledding and snowmobiling. I prefered the snowmobiling. The views were awesome at 12,000 feet! Then last month I was in Germany for two days (all meetings, very little fun). I did get to fly business class though..........that was cool.

I did have something strange happen to me the other day. My friend asked me if I wanted to fill in for someone in his dodgeball tournemant. After I stopped laughing, I did it. Jenn (lovingly) told me I was too old to play and that I would get hurt. This only made me want to do it more. Needless to say, I'm sore as hell today and nothing is broken. It's not as easy as I remember from 1983.

On a non-related note, I want to congratulate the NY Giants for taking out New England! Also, I always liked Joe Girardi, but he needs to be consistant when talking about "dirty plays" during spring training.

What a week!!

I have had no time to do anything since my son arrived a month ago (see picture), but I wanted to say three things:

1. Yankee management are a bunch of idiots for how they handled the Joe Torre situation
2. God-Damn the REDSOX for winning the world series again!!
3. ..........lastly, A-Rod and Scott Boras; your announcement of A-Rod opting out of his contract coming minutes after the Redsox won the world series was one of the dumbest moves I've sever seen. I's not a fan of the Steinbrenner's but I have to agree with Hal when he said, "It's clear he didn't want to be a Yankee. He doesn't understand the privilege of being a Yankee on a team where the owners are willing to pay $200 million to put a winning product on the field."

I'm sorry I defended A-Rod early in the season now.

Clemens' Decision

So this is how he decided to come back:

Philip Francis Rizzuto: 1917-2007 (#10)

Phil (nicknamed Scooter) was one of the great Yankee shortstop's from 1941 to 1956, and won 8 world series titles with them. He was a broadcaster for 40 years and "Holy Cow!" was he a great color man. If you never saw or heard him speak, you have to watch his Hall of Fame induction speech to get a true feeling for his personality and what a great guy he was. Click here to read the story, watch his speech and see plenty of clips of Phil doing what he loved.................talking baseball. I grew up watching Phil and Bill White calling the games on WPIX in NY. I met him when I was a kid and worked baseball card shows. His signature is among the collection of signed baseballs I have. He was very friendly and always smiling.

For those of you that don't follow baseball, Phil Rizzuto is the play-by-play announcer in the MeatLoaf song, "Paridise by the Dashboard Light".

"I believe you have my stapler"

I want to start by apologizing to everyone in blog-land for ignoring them over the past couple of months. I have had a crazy couple of weeks. I went on four interviews over four days about two weeks ago, with positions ranging from an MS Excel guru, to a forecasting manager, but two positions stood out as a possible good fit for me, both in the auto industry.

Long story short, one of the two offered me a job last week, the same day I had my final interview with the other. I waited as long as I could to hear from the second on a possible offer, but they moved slowly, so I accepted the first offer. I was happy I had a job and it seemed interesting although I was a little disappointed that I had to accept a job a few thousand less than what I was making. I called the second company and explained to them the situation and told them flat out that I accepted a job and thanked them for their time. I could finally breath a sigh of relief knowing that I would no longer have to apply for unemployment anymore. Then, Friday came and I was out helping my in-laws deliver flowers to a couple of weddings. I got home at 5:19pm to a message that sounded like this:

"Hi Mike, it's Sandy from "blabity bla" company. It's ten to four on Friday. I'm sorry I missed you at home, but I can't find your cell number. Please call me when you get this, preferably before the end of the day. Thanks."

So I tried to call her back, but got no answer. This whole weekend I kept saying to my wife, "If they call me Monday and offer me that job, it had better be for at least 10% more than the one I accepted or it's not worth it to piss of the other company."

*Cut to Monday at 9:15am.*
*Ring...........Ring..............."Hello?"
"MINDCRIME!"
(Sorry, inside joke to Queensryche fans)

Anyway, I answer the phone and they offer me the job...............................for exactly 10% over my other offer, plus an extra 2% bonus potential. *sigh* I hated to do it, but I called and rescinded my acceptance of the first offer and confirmed the second one. So after almost two months of unemployment, it will come to and end this Thursday. (thank God). Tomorrow is my anniversary and we're also finding out the sex of our second child (due in September), so I'll be a little busy. Anyway, thanks to everyone for the well wishes and I will do my best to check in with everyone as soon as possible.

PS............Yes, I know the Yankees have been sucking lately. Thanks for reminding me.

HOLY COW!!

OK, I know that Bill White and Phil Rizzuto haven't broadcast a game together on WPIX here in the NY Metro area for a long time, but I had to quote Rizzuto in this post's title.

Alex Rodriguez hit a 3 run home run today, his 10th of the young season and his second walk off home run (the other was a grand slam). I'm happy to see that he's finally having fun again and the fans are giving him the respect he deserves. I feel that he's one of the best all around ball players ever to play in the majors. How do you argue with his career numbers? He has a career .306 average, 474 home runs, has almost 2,100 hits, has won three Gold Gloves (two at shortstop and one at third base), and he' not even 33 years old yet. All I can say is that the fans here in NY better not forget this if he hits a slump later this season.

The Yanks are headed up to Boston for a weekend series beginning tomorrow. Hopefully this magic continues.

It's Just Not Right

So as baseball spring training gets rolling, there is a missing player from the Yankees locker room for the first time in 17 seasons: #51 – Bernie Williams. Bernie had been the Yankees starting centerfielder since the 1993 season up thru 2005.

Bernie never had the best arm, but he could get to and catch almost anything hit in his direction. He has a quiet presence in the clubhouse, but a definite role model for baseball and anyone he interacts with. Last year, former Red Sox Johnny Damon was brought in and took over the starting center field job and Bernie was moved to back up outfielder/designated hitter with no complaints. After injures to Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield early in the 2006 season, Bernie again became a part of the everyday lineup, playing all three outfield positions as needed. He had a .281 batting average and a .994 fielding percentage (His career averages are .297 and .990 respectively).

This season, the Yankees have invited Bernie to spring training, but he is not guaranteed a roster spot; a first for him since the early 1990’s. He has not decided to attend yet, but the Yankees offer still stands. His number 51 is being reserved for him. His locker was empty for a few days, but is now reassigned to someone else.

As a Yankee fan, I am disappointed that Brian Cashman (the General Manager), is not treating Bernie with more respect. He was a major part of all four of their last World Series championships. I know he is 38 years old, but he also has proven that he can still play. I do understand that there are only 25 spots on the major league roster. I also know that carrying five outfielders is unusual, but so is having three capable 1st basemen plus a utility infielder. I had hoped that Bernie Williams would have been allowed to retire (which he has not officially decided on yet) with more respect from the Yankees than he is currently receiving.

All Star - 2008

I know that the 41st Super Bowl is only three days away, and I should be talking about that, but I have to recognize this one thing. It has been officially announced that the MLB All Star Game with be held at Yankee Stadium in 2008!

I have to say that I am sad that the original stadium (although modified in the early 70's) will no longer be home to the Bronx Bombers, but I'm happy that it will be center stage that day. It has a lot of history and mystique. If you've never been there, do yourself a favor and go to a game before the end of the 2008 season. I've been to all different types of sports arenas, but there is nothing like walking out of one of the runways at Yankee Stadium and knowing that greats like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Thurman Munson, Don Mattingly, and Derek Jeter all played on the same field.

Ok, now for my Super Bowl prediction: Colts over Bears 27-24. I guess we'll see how wrong I am soon enough.

Tell me it's not just us

So yesterday, while we were waiting for the football games to start, (BTW, since the Giants are out of it, I’m pulling for the Colts), I was watching the YES Network. For those of you not in the NY Metro area, the YES Network is the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network. Anyway, they produce a show called “Yankeeography” which highlights the career of a particular Yankee. Here’s the conversation that followed:

Jenn – What the hell is this?
Me – It’s a Yankeeography on Paul O’Neill.
Jenn – It’s only January, why are watching baseball? Didn’t you see this one already?
Me – So? Don’t you think that if it was the one about Tino Martinez (my favorite Yankee) that I’d be watching it again too?
Jenn – *sigh* Yeah.
Me – It’s almost over.
Jenn – *gesturing to my daughter* Your Daddy’s crazy little girl. He keeps watching the same thing over and over again. It’s like SportsCenter.
Allie – *looks at my wife, nods and hands her a toy*

*cut to 10 minutes later*

Jenn – NOW what are we watching??
Me – It’s about the North American Auto Show in Detroit.
Jenn – *sigh*
Allie - *Looks back and forth at us and continues putting Elmo in and out of her shopping cart*

Does anyone else go thru stuff like this in their house? I mean, how many times can I watch the same episode of Boobah, Clifford, or Rachel Ray?? Why can't I watch a show again?

Cory Lidle: 1972-2006

Rest in Peace Cory

9th Straight Title!

Last night the Yanks may have lost their final game against the Blue Jays, but when the Red Sox lost to the Twins, New York won their 9th straight AL East title. Some may say that they "backed" into the title, since they did not win last night to clinch the division, but when a team has an 11 game lead, and a 92 - 60 record with two weeks left to play, how can you really say they backed in? They proved that they could compete without guys like Matsui and Sheffield (who were injured early in the season), but instead with guys like Cano and Cabrera.

The Mets (the "other" New York team) also clinched their division two days ago, which of course has people in my office talking about another Subway Series. Only time will tell, but if it happens, it will be a better series than the one back in 2000 (which the Yankees won in five games).

The river runs red with the Red Sox blood!!

So, the biggest rivalry in sports adds another chapter to it's story. On Friday, the Yankees traveled up to Boston for a 5 game series, with a slim 1 1/2 game lead in the AL East. The first two games were a day/night double header. The Yanks took game one 12-4 and game two 14-11. I was happy that New York scored so many runs in both games. I thought, "OK, even if the Yanks lose the next three games, they will still have a 1/2 game lead in the East." Well............now that all is said and done, as everyone knows, the Yanks SWEPT the BoSox, winning all five games. David Ortiz even said after game 4 in an ESPN interview, "It's just not fair. These guys aren't messing around. They should have let us win today just to make it interesting." I litterally laughed out loud when I heard this. Big Poppy wasn't feeling so big then!

So now the Red Sox are 6 1/2 game behind the Yanks in the East, and are in 3rd place in the wild card 4 games behind the White Sox. It looks like they may not make the playoffs at all!

Who's crying now? -------------->

Yankee Stadium

OK, so how awesome is my wife!?!?! Now everyone know's how big of a Yankee fan I am and how I think there's no better place to see a game then Yankee Staduim. Well...................she got me a staduim tour for our anniversary! I get to see the clubhouse and go in the dug out!

How great is she?!?!?



It was closed for renovations (1973) when I was very little and I never got to go to old Yankee Stadium. I want my daughter to be able to say she went to the house that Ruth built before they replace it in 2009.

Also...................how about that comeback last night??!?!?

Injuries in the outfield

OK..........so now the Yankees lost another outfielder to injuries. Last week Gary Sheffield injured his left wrist in a collision with Shea Hillenbrand and is now on the DL. Now..............last night Hideki Matsui fractured his left wrist while attempting to catch a fly ball in the first inning. So now it will be Johnny Damon in centerfield, and then Bernie Williams, Bubby Crosby and Melky Cabrera will platoon and fill the other two spots. I have no problem with any of these guys in the field. They all play hard and make great plays (as demonstrated last night).

My only concern is that already there is talk of the Yankees looking outside of the organization for a new left fielder. WTF?!?!? Do we really need Torii Hunter, or Shannon Stewart? NO!! Let's use the damn farm system! Isn't that where guys like Jeter, Bernie, Pettitte, Mariano and Posada came from? Aren't the they the ones that were a part of the core teams that won 4 World Series in 5 years (1996, 1998-2000)? If Steinbrenner goes out and spends more money on guys that we don't need (aka: Jarod Wright, Randy Johnson, Kevin Brown) I'm going to lose my mind!!! As a side note..............if you click here and then open the link that says "Crosby robs a homer" look in the stands at the guy in the black jacket and blue shirt. That's my buddy Matt!! Bastard didn't tell me he was going to the game!!!

OK............enough about the Yankees. On a happier note, I'd like to wish all the mom's out there a Happy Mother's Day. It is my wife's first and I am going to do my best to make sure she is taken care of all weekend.

*tries to keep calm*

OK.........I'm not going to get excited about this because it's still very early in the season.

*takes a deep breath*

WHAT THE FUCK!?!?! A 7 - 8 RECORD?!?! GOD DAMN IT YANKEES!! The Fucking Devil Rays are playing better than you are!

*breathes deeply again*

OK............I have to go now before I get "REALLY FARGON ANGRY!"

Yanks Home Opener 2006

So the Yankees opened their 2006 season on the West coast. It sucks because all the games start at 10:05pm and there's no way I can stay up to watch them every night. Today at 1:05pm, they come home to Yankee Stadium to play the Kansas City Royals. All I can say is that they'd better take at least two of three from them! This two wins and four loss record isn't going to cut it. Chien-Ming Wang gets the start for the Yankees, taking the mound for his first home opener. Wang allowed four runs (two earned) in 4 2/3 innings in his first start this year, recording a no-decision against Oakland.

I got to take my nephew to his first game last year and I can't wait to take my little girl to her first game so she can hear Bob Sheppard say, "Ladies and Gentlemen........Welcome to Yankee Stadium". He actually will miss today's game becasue he injured his hip. This is the first time since 1950 that he will miss an opening day.

Take me out to the ballgame........

...............OPENING DAY!! Go YANKS! We'll miss Tino at first base, but I just saw him as an analyst with Baseball Tonight on ESPN!!

OK, back to work.