With the Mets, misery needs company

I’m a little worried about the Mets. These last two wins against the Nationals don’t mean anything. Yes, it’s good to win, but beating the worst team in baseball isn’t representative of a team’s strengths. The Mets have been a little streaky, reeling off seven straight wins and then getting swept away. But my real worry is injuries. David Wright and Luis Castillo were the only regulars to play in yesterday’s win over the Nats. The Mets won because they played the Nats. They got whooped in the last game against the Red Sox despite winning the first two. Carlos Delgado is out until July, which means we have Fernando Tatis manning first base until then. Tatis is decent, but he’s not Delgado. Jose Reyes just went on the disabled list, and Ramon Martinez, his replacement, should be playing in Double A if you want my honest opinion. Ryan Church just went on the DL. Gary Sheffield has been filling in and doing a pretty good job, and Triple A stud Fernando Martinez just got called up, but neither is a regular. Carlos Beltran is out until the weekend. I don’t know why Daniel Murphy has not been playing regularly in left field. Brian Schneider, the catcher, has been injured for months. How can the Mets compete when they are not really the Mets, but just a bunch of fill-ins? The answer: they can’t. Until July, when hopefully everyone will be at full strength (but I hope mid-June), the Mets will have to piece together wins and stay afloat with the Phillies. Once everyone is back, we can show the other teams what we are truly capable of.

‘Cuse lax tearin’ it up!

I guess I’ll give them their own post. The Syracuse men’s lacrosse team won their second straight national title, defeating Cornell 10-9 to beat those smarties in at least athletics. The frantic finish–Cuse scored a goal with 4.5 seconds left to tie it and then won in overtime, all happened while I was on a plane. But they won, which is all that matters, and continued their claim of being a national powerhouse in lacrosse, which makes up for their lack of ice hockey and baseball teams.

BLAST FROM THE PAST

Since I am on the topic of looking back on things, I’ve decided to look way back. All the way back to December 31, 1991. I found a newspaper (The Washington Post) from that very important date in my house. Of course I immediately turned to the sports section. But, I did look at the other sections. Here are some interesting facts: “Cineplex Odeon Rio 8,” which is just called “Rio” now for those of you who don’t live in the area, was showing these films: Father of the Bride, Hook, My Girl, Cape Fear, and a few others. Rio was not even the biggest theater in the area in 1991. And there was a theater in Lakeforest mall!

There was a mention of competitive Wootton basketball in the Gazette. The head coach was Rhett Ross, who retired last year.

[Now as I move on to the sports section, I want to say something about Michael Wilbon taken from Norman Chad (both of whom had columns in this paper, along with Tony Kornheiser). Okay, so here is my "column intermission" (taken from Chad) on Wilbon. Wilbon just said on PTI that he was a little upset that Melissa from the Bachelor didn't win Dancing w/ the Stars. Meanwhile, Shaq was at Syracuse U. But he's gone now. Oh well, at least Paulus will be there next year. End of column intermission.]

Now, the sports section, which was huge! I mean in inches. Gi-normous. Why are papers so small now? Okay, so the Bullets beat the Spurs at the Capital Centre (they now play at Verizon Center). Mark Duffner begins coaching football at UMD. The Redskins and Joe Gibbs seek at spark at RFK Stadium in the playoffs (they now play at FedEx Field) following a 14-2 finish. UMD basketball led by Gary Williams (man he’s been there a while) lost to Evanston, also known as the ‘Purple Aces.’ The Washington Capitals, playing in a conference and a division with weird names (what happened to east, west, etc?) signed goalie Don Beaupre to a four year deal. The Houston Oilers (NFL), along with the NHL teams the Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques, and  Hartford existed. Brett Hull, Mario Lemeiux, and Patrick Roy were dominating the NHL. Rookie NBAer Larry Johnson was looking bright. Ralph Sampson was possibly headed to Spain. The Nets won their fourth straight for the first time in four years (sorry, had to add that one in!). Michael Jordan scored 29 points in a win. Freshmen Chris Webber and Jalen Rose led Michigan to a win over Virginia Tech. Jerry Tarkanian filed a claim against the NCAA. Christian Laettner led Duke to a big win over William and Mary. Syracuse won a college basketball game. These future NBAers had their college gear on: Jon Barry, Allan Houston, Grant Hill, Joe Smith, plus Laettner, Webber, and Rose. The Rams played in LA. Tommy Maddox (Steelers QB who Ben Roethlisberger can thank his career for) was going for the Heisman at UCLA. Larry Bird was thinking about re-entering the three-point contest. Rod Thorn suspended Karl Malone??? Charles Barkley and Clyde Drexler were leading all-star voting, while Scottie Pippen was NBA player of the month. David Robinson’s younger brother led Navy to a win. Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson were in a tiff. David Aldridge wrote for the Post instead of being a TNT sideline reporter. Whew! All done. Now I have to put the paper back together and make it look like it’s from 1991.

Yankees and Red Sox in better times

Back in 2004, I bought a spiral journal with a basketball and hoop on it. I wrote in it starting in October 2004 (you can guess what the first thing I wrote about was) and finished it off at the end of 2005. So, here is an excerpt from something I wrote in the eighth grade. Enjoy. I will keep it in its original wording with no major  edits. I hope it’s not too painful.

10/20/04  

      The Red Sox and Yankees get set to play tonight in Game 7 of the ALCS. Whoa. “De-ja-vu all over again.” In a rematch of Game 7 from last year’s ALCS, all but one thing will be different. This time history will be wrong. At least that’s all we can hope for. The Yankees have a chance to have a horrible October collapse, and the Red Sox could go to the World Series for the first time since ’86. Let’s not get too jump started now. I mean, the Yankees could still win. Derek Lowe vs Kevin Brown. Normally you would expect Kevin Brown to show more dignity. But Kevin Lowe is fighting. So are the Red Sox, coming down from a 3-0 series deficit. Who cares about history? Forget last year’s enemy and hero, Aaron Boone. Forget Karim, Zimmer, and Johnson. No longer with the team. Anyways, the Sox got Schilling and Cabrera, better than Mussina and Cairo. Don’t forget about the Yankees though. They got D.J. and A-Rod. Hey, the NLCS are on too. Don’t forget about that. They may be over soon. So, Yanks and Sox, Boston and Bronx. What a game!? We’ll have to see who will get the better of it.

Kidd vs K-Mart

Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin just finished their playoff series, with Martin’s team moving on and Kidd’s going home. Not too long ago these two teamed up to lead the Nets to the NBA Finals two years in a row. Now, Martin is in a spat with Mark Cuban, and Kidd has Charles Barkley telling him to retire. Well, at least they gave Nets fans some good alley-oops throughout the years.

Then...

...And Now

On another note, I encourage you to buy a copy of this week’s Sports Illustrated if you don’t subscribe to it. Read the letters section. Or, you can read it online.

Redemption and emotion, oh what a night!

Late last night I was watching part of the Washington Nationals game as they faced off against the Giants in San Fran. The Giants’ Pablo Sandoval hit a huge sure-fire triple with two outs in what I think was the seventh inning. As he rounded second base, he tripped over his own feet, and was tagged out in a rundown. I felt bad for him because he should have been standing on third, but instead the Nats were about to bat. I obviously did not finish the game, but this morning I get online and see that the Giants won thanks to a walk off home run. Courtesy of Pablo Sandoval. Just a nice little redemption story I thought I’d share.

I felt bad for Sandoval, and I am the kind of person that often feels bad for others. When I am watching a movie and feel bad for someone, I have to remind myself that it is just a movie and not real. But when it is a reality tv show, it is real. Last night I watched the Biggest Loser finale, which was dragged out a little too long. Amazing transformations. But to get to my point, there was a mini competition between two girls for a chance to be on next season of the show. Of course I felt bad for the girl who didn’t win the vote, but I felt better knowing that she won a home fitness kit. And that show made me get on the treadmill and join them. No joke.

Oh, the month of May

Honestly, there’s really not much going on in the sports world for me to talk about. I’ve been watching some Capitals hockey, a little baseball, and basically no NBA playoff games. Sports Illustrated must not have much to talk about either, because two of their four articles involved horse racing and a book excerpt. Plus half of the magazine consisted of pictures and ads. May is generally a busy month, but I would rather focus on graduating high school in three and a half weeks than sports.

I would like to give a nod to Twitter. At first I just made one because I was up during the night, but I actually enjoy it. I have an account more for reading people’s tweets than for writing my own. It allows me to get quick news from every sport, teams, players, and regular news. I find it pretty good.

Another website I have recently discovered is sporcle.com. Sometimes, when I’m bored, I will try to think of all the different sports teams in each league, college nicknames, cities in California, etc. It’s like sporcle read my mind. You can be tested on all of these. It is awesome. There are many categories too, not just sports.

That’s all I have for now. Let’s just try to get through May. The summer will be here soon enough!