Trouble in Tuscon

So possibly this could be the first (and maybe) last time I write about Tuscon.

So everyone knows what happened by now.  I don't need to get into the deets.

So let's get straight into fallout.

World Series wrap up

It was long, and well fought out, but in the end the Phillies could not prevail.

It's as simple as that.

But I can't turn my back on the team for coming this far and failing, at least not now.

Ever since Larry Bowa took over managing this team, they had focus on winning that just wasn't there before (and of course the fuck up he replaced ended up winning two world series with the red sox, funny what money can buy).

Ever since Charlie Manuel took over managing this team, they had a focus on playoffs that just wasn't there before. And in his second playoff berth he won a world series.

Entering this season, the Phillies were the reigning World Series champion, the reigning NL pennant winner, and for good measure -- back to back holders of the NL east title.

Exiting this season, they may not have the second World Series Championship, but they have back to back NL pennants and now have three NL east titles in a row.

Plain and simple, I can't criticize this team for losing in six to the Yankees.
Sure, the Phillies may be more efficient in their spending, but the Yankees just got more total.

It was a great year, but it just wasn't their year to win it.
-lineup had occassional problems with inconsistency
-bullpen was weak and no one seemed to want to be the closer
-starting pitching seems to be mostly youth and ancients, nothing much between.
-Ibanez had an awesome start to the year, a respectable finish, but he wasn't as amazing in the clutch as the player he replaced, Pat Burrel.

The core of Phillies that makes up this team is another year older (and they're already all around 30) but hopefully they are another year wiser. The pitching is young and promising.

Their days of winning world series may be over. This may have been their last opportunity for a while. But they should remain a good playoff team for a few more years.

-- Knuttel

World Series Preview, 2 games in

Well, the series is tied, so just consider it a new start


breakdown by positions

1B
Phillies - Ryan Howard -- Most powerful hitter in either lineup. His hits and rbis also come at very valuable times. He's slimmed down and gotten more fit, his defense is no longer in question

Yankees - Mark Texeira -- Power hitter, but not super powerful. Very good defensive first baseman.

advantage - Phillies

2B
Phillies - Chase Utley -- One of the strongest 2B's in all of MLB. Good defensively. Has a ridiculously good stealing percentage.

Yankees - Robinson Cano -- Good with the bat. Not a very good defensive 2B

advantage - Phillies

SS
Phillies - Jimmy Rollins -- Streaky hitter, but has good power for a leadoff hitter. Doesn't get on base consistently. Overall good defense and range. Can steal a base when he needs to.

Yankees - Derek Jeter -- Doesn't have the defensive range he once had. Defense was never really his strong suit. Reliable leadoff hitter and comes up with hits in clutch situations.

advantage - push

3B
Phillies - Pedro Feliz -- Good defensively. Came up with clutch hits in last year's world series. Hasn't done much this post-season.

Yankees - Alex Rodriguez -- Former short stop, so good defensively. Power hitter. Has 2 paintings of himself as a centaur hanging over his bed. Has had a strong post-season so far, after a history of poor post-seasons. (cheating -- has struck out like a demon in the world series so far)

advantage - yankees

Corner infield - advantage - yankees
Middle infield - advantage - phillies

Outfield
Phillies
Shane Victorino -- has been silent offensively most of the season, but may be the fastest baserunner on either side and has decent power too. Can take bad routes to the ball in the air, but has explosive speed and a cannon for an arm.
Raul Ibanez -- Started off season on fire at the plate. Cooled down, but still good with the bat. Better than he seems on defense, but still a likely candidate when looking for a DH.
Jayson Werth -- One of baseball's best kept secrets. Made his first all-star game this year. Powerful righty has made his way into the heart of the lineup. Solid on defense, strong arm.
Ben Francisco -- Ibanez's defensive replacement. Has picked up offensively since going to Phillies. Good right handed bat off the bench for replacement or pinch hitting.

Yankees
Melke Cabrera -- The lesser of the Cabreras. Decent bat. Mediocre defensive abilities for a center fielder.
Johnny Damon -- Former center fielder, so knows which route to take to the ball. Lost leadoff hitting spot to Jeter soon after joining the Yankees. Jeter was never a natural leadoff hitter. Lost a step or two in age. Has a weak throwing arm.
Nick Swisher -- Average defensive abilities for an outfielder. Doesn't have to cover much ground at Yankee Stadium. Not bad throwing arm. Decent hitter, except when it counts.
Jerry Hairston jr -- Is he really in the majors? Not very good defense. Mediocre offense.

Advantage -- Phillies, both CF and corner

Starting Pitching
Phillies
Cliff Lee -- Been Lights out entire post-season. I really dont see any flaws here. Only thing I count against him is he's pitching game one, at Yankee stadium, where he won't be able to take advantage of his hitting.
Pedro Martinez -- Pitches well in big situations better than anyone. Stuff isn't as fast as it once was, and he probably won't be able to throw as many pitches either.
Joe Blanton -- Most consistent pitcher for the Phillies all season. Also one of the few righty's that starts, oddly.
Cole Hamels -- Was lights out last post-season. a bit of an enigma this post season. had a dissappointing season by his standards.
JA Happ -- likely NL rookie of the year. Had a good year, but inexperience could catch up to him.

Yankees
CC Sabbathia -- needs to lose weight. seriously, the dude is huge. Can lose his head quickly, but has good stuff overall.
AJ Burnett -- Breaking ball pitcher. When his stuff breaks right, he's unhittable. When it doesn't it's batting practice.

advantage -- Phillies. to be honest i just don't know a ton about yankees pitching

Bullpen
Phillies -- good setup men, if Lidge can keep his head on, he's unhittable, has an ungodly slider that breaks more than most pitcher's curveballs.
Yankees -- shaky in the set up. If they can get to mariano rivera though, the game is over. He's virtually unhittable or unshakable.

advantage -- push


So there's my 2 games in preview of the world series.
yeah, i know i forgot Catcher, manager, and bench/dh, but to be honest, the penn state game is on, and i have to catch it.

-- Knuttel

now for some helmet

OMG!! COMCAST CARES!!! 1

So, sometime after I posted my last entry, I received a comment from comcast, passive aggressively displaying displeasure in my negative things to say about comcast. The message is as follows.

"Go Phillies!

Sorry if we are causing you inconvenience by transferring analog channels to digital. We are simply making more room for more channels. For every analog channel, we can fit up to 12 digital channels or up to 3 HD channels.

You can pick up the DTA (analog to digital) converter at your local office. The first 2 are free. Let me know if you need help with this.

Regards,

Mark Casem
Comcast Corp.
National Customer Operations
We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com

August 20, 2009 10:22 AM"

This was sent by a username of "comcast cares 1" which, of course, has no posts.

Frankly, this raises more questions/concerns than it answers.

1. Does comcast have employees who simply surf the web looking for negative press? I can count the readers of this blog with a closed fist, yet I get this comment.

2. The cable companies have 3 years from last May (est) to turn their non-local signals over to digital. Comcast is beginning this transition now. Digital tvs have only been on the market a very short period of time, and most house holds have more than 2 tvs. 2 free digital converter boxes mean nothing when those channels aren't necessarily guarunteed and they really just want to switch you over to having a cable box, with extended coverage.

3. Why do they assume I am a phillies fan? Assuming they have only read this post, I am merely a fan of good pitching and gm-ing.

4. Assuming they have read my other posts confirms any suspicions that comcast is indeed spying on me further. My proximity is not very far from comcast's headquarters, not to mention.

5. They do this just as verizon is finishing installing fios into the grid for our neighborhood. My guess is they're hoping to get some impatient slob who cant wait to see what happens on next week's "deadliest catch" or "ice road truckers" to invest somewhat of something into getting those boxes, or even upgraded cable, rather than even waiting for an alternative to at least call a bluff upon.

6. Fuck you comcast, I could be watching hardball. Instead I'm stuck with watching CNN fellate ted kennedy's dead corpse. That's not to say MSNBC wouldn't do that either, but at least they have hardball.

7. You know they're playing The Magnificent Seven on that classic movie channel? Yeah, I love that movie. Fuck you for taking it away from me.


I'd also like to point out that the person left behind zero useful information in clarifying any of this. He left a name, sure, but no telephone number, and no personal e-mail address. Actually probably a safe move, cos I'd find a way to spam the shit out of either or.

Oh, and the 3 HD channels per analog line or whatever? Yeah, that's bullshit. Your only supposed to run 2. 3 dillutes the quality, but I bet you didn't know that, and I bet they didn't tell you.

Death to Comcast
-- Knuttel

guffitall

so it's been a while since I last wrote, but whudevs. A few things that are/were on my mind.

Phillies -- good job not breaking the farm to get Cliff Lee. Last I checked, he just threw a complete game while getting two hits of his own. Roy Halladay, for whom the Blue Jays wanted the two prize jewels of the farm system (including possible NL rookie of the year J.A. Happ), gave up five runs in five innings.

Comcast -- Comcast has declared war upon me. They have the audacity to demand that the cable running into the house must also go through a digital cable box. While this may have the added bonus of giving unto us the N, home of Degrassi, this is evil and underhanded. Slowly they are taking away basic expanded cable channels, such as the history channel and food network. Worst of all, they are robbing me of Hardball. These people will pay for their sins, surely. But the thing is, cable in itself is already "digital". In fact, the digital versions of these channels come in on the hdtv we have. To resume getting these channels, we would have to get a cable box for each tv in the house, for which each would most likely be paid for separately. So, to summarize, in order to maintain the number of channels we get (and i assure you, we only get basic cable), we would have to pay more for a higher service. Methinks this is a blackmail of sorts.

Healthcare -- this issue is actually kinda huge, so I'm gonna leave it alone for here, and most likely post something more comprehensive in a day or two.

meh, good enough for now

-- Knuttel

Congratulations, Bud Selig; the Red Sox won

You got what you want. Don't pretend it's any different.

I saw the Greg Dobbs hit in the 10th/11th ish (really, it's all extra, so i don't know). You know the one that screamed down the right field line, at a height well over the foul pole, before careening to land slightly foul; the one that was deemed foul based on landing by the first base umpire, regardless of its flightpath; the one that the umpire then refused to review, not saying "it can't be reviewed" but rather "I'm not gonna review it"; yeah, I saw it.

I also saw the ever shrinking strike zone for pitcher Kyle Kendrick in the 12th inning. The Red Sox hadn't had a hit since the 8th, all of a sudden they get the bases loaded. The pitcher doesn't seem to have control issues, yet keeps throwing balls. Eventually readjusting to this new strike zone, Kendrick throws strikes, that get continually slammed into the outfield, scoring 3 runs.

And for that, I ask, why?

Maybe the hit was foul, but it was sooooo close, it had to have been reviewed. Was it because of extra innings? Was it because the umpire was being an asshole? Was it because Bud Selig had a bet against Pete Rose, stating the Red Sox would win? Wait, I forgot, betting is the one (and only) unforgivable sin in all of baseball (one of the greatest players of all time is held out of the Hall because he threw a game to earn a little more than the minumum wage that was payed to him), so let's rephrase that as a "friendly wager".

As for the strike zone in the 12th; consistency is really all pitchers are asking for. If the zone had been that small all game, I doubt regulation would have ended 2-2.


Oh, and in other news, the Penguins won the stanley cup. I didn't watch enough of the game to accurately determine if/how Bettman got Crosby to win, so I won't comment on that. However, it should be mentioned that he pretty much didn't shake the hands of any Red Wings fans, instead giving his own teammates and coaches high fives (good for you! thanks!!) and butt slaps/ass poundings until the Red Wings ceremoniously exited ice for the locker room. It should also be noted that Marian Hossa just can't seem to pick the right team (lost the finals with the Pens last year, lost with the Red Wings this year). He must be the anti-Claude Lemieux.

-- Knuttel

The greatness of Raul Ibanez

It has been a while since I last wrote about baseball, but baseball is once again upon us, therefore it must be written.

Raul Ibanez is awesome.

He has picked up where Brad Lidge seemed to drop between seasons (he'll get back though).

The game today is testament to his awesomeness.

He simply willed the 3 run homer in extra innings.

He chose not to hit the whole game until then, simply as a means to toy with the mets.

And for that, we won.



Also, honorable mention to Jayson Werth's several award winning catch from yesterday's many inning game to the mets.

-- By my count, he won the heisman, the vezina, the naismith, and should have entered the stadium today in the yellow jersey.

-- Knuttel

Brad Lidge facts part 2

There really aren't enough of them.


26. Brad Lidge dared Chase Utley to drop the F bomb in the World Series speeches after the parade on Friday, but then Utley wussed out. Lidge double dog dared him, and he still wasn’t gonna do it. So then Lidge triple dog dared him and threatened to throw his slider at his face. The rest is history.

27. One time Brad Lidge’s slider went up against Chuck Norris’ roundhouse kick. I don’t recall seeing any Chuck Norris movies recently.

28. Harry Kalas’ voice is so powerful it can open a pickle jar. Ok, that’s not about Lidge, but it needs to be said.

29. Brad Lidge once pretended to be a moose, and hunted Sarah Palin. The one out now is simply an imposter.

30. Brad Lidge gave his voice over talents to Harry Kalas after he heard what former Phillies relief pitcher Wheels was doing with his.

31. Brad Lidge ate John Kruk’s surgically removed nut on a dare, then spit it out and threw a slider at Billy Wagner’s face.

32. Brad Lidge recently took all of Pete Rose’s gambling prophets after Pete Rose said he could hit his slider.

33. Brad Lidge accidentally broke the window of the Delorean from Back to the Future when his slider slipped into the space time continuum as he was striking out Chipper Jones.

34. When Brad Lidge played for the Houston Astros, he always said whether the roof was open or closed while he was pitching, regardless of whether how it was the rest of the game.

35. Brad Lidge is currently on the NSA Terror watch list, after the incident in Crawford, Texas. He was pitching some balls to GW Bush, but Bush couldn’t hit his slider, Lidge wasn’t about to back down, so he beaned him in the head and threw a pretzel down his throat. The NSA has no chance of catching him.

36. When fans of opposing teams see Brad Lidge warm up in the bullpen, they either leave because they know they have officially lost the game, or they stay to marvel at the sweet-ass slider.

37. Brad Lidge’s slider put Pat Burrel in permanent slow motion.

38. Brad Lidge and Mitch Williams regularly play a pitching version of Horse, ala Michael Jordan and Larry Bird. The difference is they usually wager two big macs instead of one.

39. Brad Lidge used his slider to help John Rambo when he was in Afghanistan in Rambo 3.

40. Bruce Lee used to train for agility by trying to dodge Brad Lidge sliders. This didn’t last too long, as Brad Lidge never misses.

41. Once, Brad Lidge’s slider broke so hard, it went underground and killed a few Molemen. The FBI tried to keep the situation under wraps, but the moleman head Brad Lidge keeps as a trophy is too sweet to not show around.

42. The bomb that blew up the death star was based off of Brad Lidge’s slider.

43. John Wilkes Booth wanted to use Brad Lidge’s slider to kill Abraham Lincoln, but Brad Lidge liked the dude, so Booth was forced to use a derringer. On the way down, Lidge threw a slider at his leg and broke it.

44. Brad Lidge taught Zakk Wylde how to play guitar.

45. Brad Lidge can turn back time like Superman by throwing his slider against the earth’s rotation.

46. Brad Lidge’s slider once beat the Flash in a race because the Flash stopped to gaze at the awesome breaking action.

47. If Brad Lidge is bored while in New York, he’ll demand entrance to The Boy From Oz (he doesn’t have to pay) and just throw sliders at Hugh Jackman’s face.

48. Mayor Michael Nutter ran his campaign on the platform of how awesome Brad Lidge’s slider is. He won in a landslide.

49. Charlie Manuel almost didn’t want Brad Lidge on his team because he thought it was too unfair an advantage that the rest of his team would only have to pitch 8 innings a game.

50. Once Brad Lidge asked Vin Diesel if he was actually Fast and/or Furious. Vin Diesel ran away crying.

"...and on the third pitch, he threw a slider"

It was inevitable that somebody would make them, so I am personally taking it upon myself to write them.


1. The secret to Brad Lidge's slider rests not with his grip or throwing mechanics, but rather he simply tells the balls that they are in fact, going to slide. They always listen.

2. When Brad Lidge joined the Phillies he wanted to be the best Pitcher on the team, no question, so he kicked Cole Hamels' nuts back into his body (resulting in his voice). It is, however, theorized that when Hamels' nuts re-descend, his fastball will reach 140 and his curveball will break 3 feet.

3. Brad Lidge doesn't vacuum, dirt just doesn't dare linger on his floor. (courtesy of scott)

4. Brad Lidge decided to be a closer because his batting would unusually disrupt hitting statistics as we know them.

5. Additionally, this would create pressure to make him an everyday player, and its just not fair to the other pitchers to have this man go 9 innings every game.

6. The only reason Gillick approved of sending Bourne to Houston for Lidge was because of Lidge's blinding speed. Coincidentally, Lidge is the emergency pinch runner/ fielder for both Shane Victorino and Jimmy Rollins.

7. Brad Lidge once struck out Jose Reyes without even throwing a pitch.

8. Brad Lidge gave up the Homer to Albert Pujols in the 2005 NLCS because he was bored and wanted to see if a baseball could go into outer space. Pujols gravely dissappointed Lidge.

9. Underneath Brad Lidges beard, there is not a chin, but rather a slider.

10. Pope Benny 16 is officially changing the church hymn to "Lidge takes mound, Lidge is pitching, Lidge will save again"

11. Bernie Parent recently revealed that when only the Lord saved more than he, he was actually talking about Brad Lidge.

12. Global Warming is actually caused by Lidge's slider, as the ball itself does not break, but rather he brings the earth incrementally closer to the sun (or moon for a night game). Al Gore recently proposed that the greatest cure to Global Warming would be to insure Lidge only pitches when the earth is not facing the sun.

13. Pat Burrel is incapable of hitting a breaking ball because once Lidge threw him a slider in batting practice, and he shit his pants.

14. Brad Lidges clocks set themselves. (scott)

15. Brad Lidge can fix the economy with a slider (scott)

16. The Army once inquired about the use of Lidge's slider as a deadly weapon.

17. Brad Lidge's slider doesn't negotiate with terrorists.

18. Brad Lidge has not supported any Presidential candidate because he knew he would immediately be asked to be the running mate.

19. Brad Lidge realized at an early age that his slider could be used to achieve world peace. However, he realized at an even earlier age that he hates hippies.

20. Brett Myers' wife decided not to press domestic assault charges on him because Brett was simply trying to show his wife how to throw Lidge's slider, but failed miserably.

21. One time, Brad lidge beat Babe Ruth in a Hot Dog eating contest.

22. Joe Carter's body was found dead on wednesday night. The cause of death was reportedly Brad Lidge's slider.

23. Brad Lidge orders whoppers at McDonalds, and gets them. (scott)

24. When Pedro Feliz was hurt, Charlie Manuel tried putting Brad Lidge at third. Ryan Howard needed a new glove each inning.

25. Brad Lidge's slider can smell fear.

The First Two Games of the Series

So, my rundown of the first two games of the 2008 World Series.

Some starting notes -- Tropicana Field is ugly, should be burned to the ground, and afterwards, the soil should be sewn with salt so nothing productive can stand there ever. There's so many strange ground-rules. I never thought I'd be so disappointed just to see a normal bouncing over the wall ground rule double, but after all the (yawn, boring) explanations of the catwalks (which actually support the roof, so they're ugly and get in the way) I wanted one of those kind of ground rule doubles. What's with the slanted roof? Is it better for the rain to fall on just one side of the building or something? And please, no more Dick Vitale. I liked being able to ignore him until March, but it looks like ESPN just loves throwing crap like this guy at us whenever they can.

Game 1

Whole Camels threw another impressive game (impressive consistent too). The man has gone 7 innings exactly in each of his post-season starts this year and has not let up more than 2 runs. The batting was good when it had to be, and there weren't any grievious base running errors. I'm getting a free taco because of a TB stolen base in the fifth, and then Chase Utley stole one later in the game for good measure. The bullpen came out and shut the rays down, like they have to every team thus far. Most importantly, they win game 1, which is something 10 of the last 11 winning teams have done. They've also won an away game, something they will have to do at least once if they want to win the series (damn you, Bud Selig), and it's always better to win games sooner rather than later.

Game 2

As indicated in the picture above, Brett Myers pitched his ass off (it's actually now concave). He had some bumps early on. One bump was entirely umpire induced, when the ump second guessed whether a pitch (which was a strike anyway) was a strike or ball, originally called it a strike, then went to ball, but the batter started swinging, so the ump appealed to the first base ump, who, though having a clear shot to see the bat went entirely over the plate and had pretty much a full swing, called him not swinging. Well the pitch count was 3-2, there were 2 outs I think. The man gets on base, when the inning should be over, I think someone was already on, so there's someone on first and second, and boom -- runs scored. The crisis should have been averted, but those asscunts of officiating decided to leave their brains and eyes at home. Fielding errors also cost the Phils some runs. Only 3 of Myers 4 runs allowed were earned. He went 7 innings, which usually is enough for a pitcher to get a win. The bullpen was again lights out, no runs whatsoever. The bats and baserunning left much to be desired. I would've thought Charlie Manuel, being an ex-AL manager (Indians), would know better how to deal with using the DH, but it seems otherwise. Two different DH's in two games (yeah, I know, one righty, one lefty) both play piss-poor. At least the next two games they don't have to deal with that, but the series will have to go back to Tampa eventually. Are they going to try someone new (Matt Stairs?)? Are they going to put one of the regular fielders at DH? -- Burrel, replaced by Bruntlet, Howard, replaced by Dobbs? Based on ability, the logical choice would appear to be Burrel, as Bruntlet scored the first run of the game, and is the defensive replacement for Burrel in late innings, but Burrel has always been awful as a DH, I think the batting average under the Mendoza line.

Whatever it is, the offense needs to get back on track. The offense is what won most of the games for the Phillies this season -- Cole Hamels can't pitch everyday and Lidge isn't worth pitching unless there's a lead to protect. The pitching has shown that it can keep games close, but they need run support.

Come on, I haven't seen a Philadelphia Championship in my lifetime, and I've already graduated College. 4 sports, no championships. Eagles - 1960, Flyers - 1976, Philles - 1980, Sixers - 1983. Don't be like the '93 Phillies, the '97 Flyers, the '01 Sixers, or the '04 Eagles. Just win the damn thing.

--Knuttel

Phightins win pennant

yeah, boring title, I know.

too excited, definitely to biased to write anything about the actual win, so here's what I found to be the best article on the game -- the AP article sucked.

Phillies Finish Off Dodgers

--Knuttel

Phightin' on

The Phillies won in impressive fashion last night. The lead changed often, and with the help of another big inning, they won.

Mad, mad, crazy mad props to Shane Victorino and Matt Stairs.

Also props to Brad Lidge for going 1.1 for the save, sealing what would end up being a shaky 8th. good stuff.

Whole Camels pitches game 5, hopefully for the seal.


In other news, working on a conspiracy theory about McCain's campaign. Well, it's not really a conspiracy, moreso a really unconventional strategy.

Also, after Joe Buck announced to the world that Shane Victorino's favorite food is Spam Musubi, PETA became offended. To be fair, PETA becomes offended when people refuse to view an animal defecating as a beautiful act of nature, but I cannot be fair with PETA. They are a ridiculously radical organization for a cause that people may view with empathy, but not NEARLY to the extent they do. It would be like how we american's don't like how much gas we use, in cars etc.; well PETA's solution would be to entirely get rid of all modes of transportation requiring gasoline.

Alas, I digress. PETA took offense to Shane Victorino's food so much (personally, I find this a little offensive, as spam is pretty synonimous with post-America Hawaiian cuisine), that they personally wrote a letter to him describing how spam is made.

God forbid what happens when they find out his car may or may not have leather seating.

--Knuttel

Degrassi season 8 begins!!!!

First, start off with some business that must be taken care of.
Phils won, big time. Manny's home run bugs me, not really because it was 3 runs and brought the game within reach for them or anything. It bugs me because he hardly got his bat on it. How? Also puzzling is Brett Meyer's all of a sudden getting good with the wood. He almost matched his season total for hits in this one game, and if you count the whole post-season, has already tied his season long hit total. His month in the minor leagues doesn't seem to affect that total either.

Now onto Degrassi --

Season 8 began tonight. 90210 comparisons end now. Degrassi is vastly superior. More importantly, it handles cast changes so fluidly. I think that has alot to do with how the show is serialized. It's the natural course of life. People come and people go. As much as I enjoy the original cast members, a part of me needs to see them move on. The show, after all, is Degrassi, not people who went to Degrassi, or Degrassi alum, though I do like they handled frosh year at college so far.

Plotlines which began are the Mia modeling plotline, the Manny-Liberty-Emma college beginning plotline (including a unique twist on the roommate situations), and the Clare plotline. Clare, while not entirely a new character, is going through her first year as a Degrassi student, so I guess this is her first time being a full cast member. This is what makes her plotline the most vague at the moment, and with the possibility to expand the most. It appears as if they are trying to establish Clare's group of friends/acquaintances as the new core.

What sucks about the new season?

First and foremost the new song. While I like that they are again showing the opening sequence in a setting, as opposed to the moving pictures of seasons 6-7, the song itself falls short. While there are fans of either the original song, which was used until season 5, or the instrumental version used for the setting-less 6-7, I question the judgement of anyone who likes this new song. It's all Hannah-Montana-ie, but it's in Canada, so i guess Roberta Alberta?

Also, the new principal is a douche-nozzle, ass-fag, cunt-nugget -- whatever you want to call him. But the antagonistic Principal was something the show did lack during the Ms. Hotsauce years. Regardless, it will be interesting to see how this plays out. It is also interesting to note that a pretty large fraction of the current cast has some sort of Lakehurst connection. Even more interesting is the school was made up in season 6. Not even Paige's raper, Dean, was a Lakehurst alum.

All-in-all, the season should turn out well. They've done a good job of phasing out old characters and bringing in new ones (whatever happenned to Hazel?). The new plotlines seem at least in their worst to be interesting. A lowered Darcy presence might not be beneficial, mostly because I don't think the show was entirely done with the character, but at least she's still there physically.

--Knuttel

For the Phightin's

As anyone who follows things which matter would already know -- the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the LA Dodgers in game 1 of the NLCS. Normally, because this is baseball, it might not matter too much. But, as we all know, because it involves the Phillies in particular, it carries a weighted importance.

Good things
As they did throughout the whole Brewers series, The phils won through solid pitching and one explosive inning. I like to compare this to the winning strategy of the Ravens team that won the Super Bowl in the early part of the decade, winning each playoff game with solid defense and one breakout offensive play. When the pitching is on, the pitching is on. Cole Hamels will emerge from this playoffs, regardless of how the team does the rest of the way, as one of the elite pitchers in MLB, if he isn't on some of these lists already. Lidge still has yet to blow a save, and was quite impressive today, only having a one run lead to hold (=no margin for error). And for the offense, well, they capitalize on mistakes. They were dynamic in their totality during the course of the season, but as long as they're scoring more runs than the opposition now, I really can't complain with how it gets done.

Bad things
Manny, while being pitched to well, I thought at least, still went 2-4, an RBI double (which was only a few feet from being a 2RBI homer) being one of the hits. The idiot announcers made a big stink about pitching to him from the full windup (with no runners on base) as opposed to the short stretch. Statistically, they were wrong. Manny went 1-2 in both cases. While that one double was ultimately more devastating with the runner on 2 than the bases empty single doesn't change the fact that he batted .500, regardless of a baserunning presence. I tried to find Kalas on the radio (if you are unfamiliar with the Phillies, you may recognize his voice from various sports highlight reels, specifically NFL Films, or the Puppy Bowl). While I mentioned the runs scored as a positive earlier. Now I shall list them as a downside. The Phillies have had only a handful of scoring innings thus far in the postseason. I want to say the number is 5 from 4 games with the Brewers, and now 1 more from the game with the Dodgers. I think it's a great credit to the baserunning ability of the team that they can explode on an inning like that (even Hamels has a run) they need more consistent bats. Ryan Howard, while impressive so far as long as the pitcher facing him has showed fear, has hardly hit the ball. He has a lot of walks, but he also has a really low batting average. This needs to change. Oddly, one of the most conistent bats I've seen this post-season has been that of defensive cather Carlos Ruiz.

Now to switch gears to politics

I hate spin, especially when it is pushed through in campaigns by the committees of those running themselves.

There is no evidence that Barrack Obama is a terrorist, and to say his middle name (Hussein) has a terrorist tie to it, is simply racist. The man people say is his "terrorist" connection is Bill Ayers. He was part of the radical 60s/70s group "the weathermen." They were a military group, and had arms. However, since then, Ayers has become a supporter of the Chicago community, specifically with education, rather than trying to tear down the government and get after the man. While he would have certainly classified as a terrorist, it is not the Middle Eastern type of terrorist that they are clearly trying to draw ties with by calling Obama's middle name. He would have been more like the Tim McVey/Ted Kasinsky type of terrorist, except in a manner much more like that of the Black Panthers.
This all goes in addition to saying that his association with this man is weak at best. As far as I can tell, they have been honored in the same breath by the mayor of Chicago, little more than that.
Which brings me to another point. If you want to attack him in that sort of manner, attack his political origins. Chicago is the final remaining political machine in America (the Cook County Democratic Party). While it is getting weaker, this machine has been an extremely potent force up until the 70s/80s. It still has an extremely strong presence in Cook County. If you want to be elected to anything needing votes in Chicago, you still have to go through the machine. Why doesn't anyone bring that up.

John McCain has had numerous shady liasons throughout his professional carreer since leaving the military. One of which being Keating, I haven't really heard much about that, but that was also 20 years ago. He also used to be a part of several groups dedicated to aggresively arming people against Communism, regardless of the alternative. With how big of an enemy the Soviet Union was at the time, that in and of itself isn't that alarming, but he seems willing to tackle the enemies of "freedom", most likely "terrorists" with the same fervor he did the Commies. The liason itself here isn't extremely troubling, its the reason he had them that troubles me. Yes, he has foreign policy experience, but there's good experience and bad experience, and I don't think he has enough of the former.

Palin probably has the most dubious of all these connections. In addition to her Priest being probably more radical than Obama's Rev. Wright (he doesn't really like witches, and he still calls himself christian), her family used to be a big player in Alaskan Independence Party. Her husband was an official member for almost a decade, and her speach was characterized by some to echoe the party's founder. The founder, should be noted, was never seen without his magnum pistol, and actually was gunned down by the Feds for treasonous activities. With all of this talk about what is "American" and who is "un-American", I can't help but think there is nothing more un-American than treason. I think it's actually part of the definition.

I'm still unsure about who to vote for in this election, but I can't bring myself to vote for this Republican ticket.

--Knuttel

2 items

Two things of importance will happen today.

1. The vice-presidential debate.

This particular debate is more important than past VP debates. The reason for this is I have a belief that the VP will have to serve time in office without the V before the term is up. Obama is too large a target for hate groups, and McCain is walking death.

Biden can win if does not talk at all. If he chooses to speak, he should speak minimally. He has a tendency to throw words out of his mouth that either he doesn't mean to, whether he didn't mean to physically, or he was just playing around and took it too far, well, there's no way to know. Point is, there are fewer instances than today where he can dig himself into a mineshaft.

Palin has a similar problem. Whereas Biden's gaff issue comes with trying to be friendly ( I bet he actually is), Palin gets gaff-itis when she tries sounding like she knows what she's talking about. The woman has virtually no experience, and it shows when she has to answer any government related questions. I don't know how long the border with Russia is going to hold for foreign policy experience. It's one of the few borders that two countries can share without caring at all about. A lot of politicians get around an issue like this by using rhetoric, however she's also not very versed in that either. It will be interesting to see how she swims, or if she rapidly tumbles to the ocean floor in her homemade cement shoes.

2. Phillies playoff run continues.

I was actually in attendance at yesterday's game. There's really only one thing you can pull from game 1 of the playoffs though. That is how the starting pitcher does. It bodes well for Cole Hamels, as he was amazing. 8 innings, the win, and no earned (or unearned) runs. No one even got on base until I think the fifth (forget exactly, feel free to correct).

Every other player is an everyday player. This means any given game can be thrown out. Any one can have an off day. Even then, most of the play was at least what was to be expected. They didn't get alot of hits, but they got alot of walks, including one intentional. In fact, because of the walks, Ryan Howard only had one at bat in four plate appearances.

The only causes for concern would be Jason Werth, who went 0-4 with 3 K's, and Brad Lidge. The man was lights out all year. He never (ever) blew a save all year, went 41-41. No one does that, even the best blow at least one or two. He got himself into a pretty tight jam, and I just hope this doesn't translate into his reversion into the Brad Lidge who pitched in his last playoff appearance, with the astros.

Regardless, game two is really the only one I think the phillies have a chance of losing. The only reason for this is Sabbathia. He is the only threat at starting pitcher, and he cannot pitch every day forever. The man's arm is going to fall of soon.

--Knuttel

Monday the 29

Well the trip to Penn State was full of awe and awesomeness, undoubtedly partially due to my presence. And yes, PSU is currently ranked as 6, but we all know that is crap, and they should be number 1. Oh well, BCS sucks anyway. Regardless, alot has happened since my departure and subsequent return.


--Phillies made the playoffs. Hells yeah. The Brewers have exactly one arm pitching for them, and he is on approximately negative pi days rest. I like those odds. As Kalas would sing, we got high hopes.


--Nancy Pelosi and John McCain are on a mission to ruin this country.

McCain touted his restless work on "fixing" the economy with the bill, before the bill could even pass. Needless to say, the bill did not pass. The economy is still in shambles. It likely would still have been, but the sooner any solution is used, the better. Why don't we just try Hoover's idea of volunteerism? God knows it worked for him. Word has it Hoover was a disciple of Senator John McCain.

Pelosi was key in getting the proper amount of democratic support (from within her own party, as she is majority leader) and also in negotiating to get the proper amounts of Republican votes. Sadly, she is an idiot, and did not get a very large part of her own party to vote for the bill. More importantly, in a speech she gave just moments prior to the vote for the bill, she blamed the Republican party for all the wrongs that created this current economic crisis. I think she may have even said they crucified Jesus and had tea with Hitler. Nevermind the specifics, whatever she did effectively pushed away a significant amount of Republican votes. So for the sake of her own personal vanity, and party vanity, she did not get the bill passed. Nevermind the fact that the law passed which created most of this mess was passed under Bill Clinton in 1999. Yeah, whoever was in charge then must have really screwed up (don't even pull the Republican Congress card, Dodd and Schumer, two VERY prominent Dems were VERY in favor of this bill). Let me just put it this way. For God's sake, be professional Nancy Pelosi. Now is the time to sit down and figure out a plan, not blame everyone but yourself.

Right now the country needs someone to man up and fix this. God knows it can't be McCain. Please, he's mister deregulation. His economic ideology is the one that got us into this position. It also can't be Obama. The man rose to power as a cog in the Cook County Democratic Party, and with his silky rhetoric and baritone voice, took it to the rest of the state. Taking on Wall Street may prove to be too large a task for him. The most viable third party candidate, Barr, would also prove to be disastrous, as he has even more deregulatory and hands off ideas about economics than McCain.

The worst part -- it's going overseas. If anyone paid attention in history, they would remember that the Great Depression in America ran concurrent with economic depressions across Europe. The only country that was salvaged was the newly founded USSR, forcing itself into the industrial age. Only later did it find out it had no place in the modern one.

We're screwed. Divine intervention is what everyone needs right now. The rise of globalization can only speed the effect to which this can affect the rest of the world. Logically speaking, not all of us will be screwed. That's practically impossible. But it's gonna be awfully hard to escape this wherever you are, regardless of your life choices or given position.

--Knuttel