93-year itch

With the NBA Playoffs, NFL Draft, NHL Playoffs and NBA draft lottery all in the news, it’s easy to overlook baseball nowadays. It’s that sport that is always there in the summer, and maybe never quite appreciated enough because it comes at us day after day after day. Don’t get me wrong, I love the NBA and drafts and all that good stuff, but we should appreciate baseball. It’s not going to just stop like the NBA and NFL might. It’s one of the oldest sports. In fact, a piece of baseball news recently caught my eye—the Red Sox and Cubs are playing at Fenway Park for the first time since 1918 starting tomorrow. Not sure how the two managed to go that long without meeting at Fenway, but they have. A lot has changed since then, obviously. Except for the Cubs. Ninety-three years since that last meeting, and they still haven’t won a World Series.

A spring of hopes

Up, Up, and Away

I’m trying to build a sense of optimism here. It is sunny (in most places), and baseball season officially gets underway today. (Although there was the Red Sox win over the Yankees last night). It is spring, and there is no better time for baseball. Every team is 0-0. There is hope for everyone during this time. After tomorrow, half of the teams will have a loss. But for now, everyone has hope. That may change in the coming weeks, but the beginning of the baseball season is always a treat, and not just for the fans. I’m sure the teams enjoy the promise of what a season can bring, even if it is only April.

The Mets take on the Marlins, with Johan Santana joining us back on the mound. Let’s win the opener, Johan. Let’s Go Mets!

2004: Can you keep up?

There I was, staring face to face with Pete Rose, MLB’s all time hits leader. But he had writing all over his face. I was, of course, looking at him on the cover of Sports Illustrated. My first cover. The January 14, 2004 issue. I was so excited to get my first issue. And who’s on the cover? Pete Rose, confessing to betting on baseball. But I thought sports were supposed to be fun?

When I first flipped through the magazine, all I could think of was how boring it was. I was used to SI Kids, and I just didn’t understand regular SI. But hey, I was only 12.

The magazine started to grow on me though when it focused more on sports I knew and now I love Sports Illustrated. It is my favorite magazine.

Getting Sports Illustrated was in a way my gateway to the wide world of sports. This is the year that I began to know more and more about sports. And it was a good year in sports. In May, the Nets had an epic NBA playoff series with the Pistons. Even though they lost the series, they won a crazy game 5. It ended up being three overtimes. I remember I was in a hotel and watched the end of the game and one of the overtimes in the lobby. And then I had to go to bed and miss the end of the game. The next morning, I turned ESPN on and saw the Nets had won (127 to something I think). I think I jumped on the bed. Too bad we lost the last two games. We could no longer dominate the Pistons, who even beat the Lakers for the championship that year.

I think I even caught some of LSU’s win in the BCS championship game, although I was far from knowledgable in college football in 2004.

2004 was also a year of history. You know where I’m going. The Red Sox won the World Series for the first time since 1918, breaking the curse. I saved the sports sections from when they beat the Angels, Yankees and Cardinals in each round, respectively. I started writing about sports during the ALCS and NLCS. I remember when Johnny Damon hit the grand slam in Game 7 of the ALCS against the Yankees. I knew then that they had everything in the bag.

I also started following college basketball during this year. The first time I saw UConn play that year, I knew they were going to win it all. Just like I knew Matt Bonner would make it to the NBA when I saw him play for Florida in 2003. I just thought Bonner would because I thought he looked like former Net Todd Macculloch. Bonner is in the NBA, by the way. Anyway, I saw UConn beat Alabama on tv I think, and I knew they were going to win it all. And they did, beating Duke and Georgia Tech in the final four. Oklahoma State and St. Joseph’s also had a classic elite 8 game that I remember. John Lucas III sound familiar?

Phil Mickelson also won his first major, The Masters this year. I remember watching this happen.

2004 was a busy year in sports. A lot happened. I guess it was a sign of things to come.

2003: Success amongst failure

Nice going G-Men!....NOT

2003 was the year that I sat down and watched my first football game that I could enjoy. It did not end well. But hey, it was a good game. It was a Giants playoff game in January. They were playing the 49ers and blew a big lead. Jeff Garcia led the 49ers on the comeback. The Giants had a chance to win it with a field goal at the end, but messed up the snap. If I was watching that game now, I would have been furious. How do you miss an easy field goal by botching a snap? But at the time, I thought it was a mistake that was not that bad. Maybe that was a good thing. Before this game, I had no interest in football. But when I sat down to watch this game, I could not stop. I think I had to get ready for school the next day but just kept watching.

Despite that game, my main focus in 2003 remained basketball. I was lucky enough to see the Nets make it to the finals for the second straight year. Even though they lost it, they had a great run. They dominated the Pistons and Celtics in those days, sweeping both teams in classic games in each series. Damn those Spurs.

At this point I was not very into baseball or football like I said before. Those sports would follow in the next couple of years. In 2003, it was all basketball.

However, I do remember watching some of the Marlins/Yankees World Series. I also caught some of the Cubs/Marlins NLCS (Bartman and angry Moises Alou ring a bell?), and the infamous Yankees/Red Sox ALCS. So I guess I did follow baseball a little.

Speaking of 2003, Syracuse won the NCAA title, led by Carmelo Anthony. Too bad I wasn’t really aware of it, although I would not have been overly excited if I had watched it anyway because I had no connection to Syracuse at the time. If Syracuse wants to make up for that, they can go ahead and win the title again this year!

This was also the first full year that I received SI Kids, which I sadly stopped getting…this past August.

It’s that time of the year

Let me get it out of the way- the Giants won. Who cares how they won. They won. Okay, now to what I really want to talk about. The Mets ended their season with a sweep, a bright spot in a season just absolutely lacking any. There better be some serious health examinations this winter, because this is a good team when healthy. Of course, some players need to be added and dropped, but there is plenty of time for that. Now the playoffs begin, and for the third straight year, I have no reason to watch them. But I will still try to. I haven’t watched baseball in a month, no joke, and I miss it. So I will definitely try to catch some playoff action. I would love to see the Phillies lose to the Rockies, but I don’t think they will. I think the Dodgers and Cardinals, the other NLDS, will be interesting. The Dodgers may have too much going for them, and should handle Albert Pujols and Co. That leaves the Phillies and Dodgers for the NLCS, and I don’t see any Phillie magic this year. Let’s hope I’m right. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, they will lose to the team that comes out of the AL. Speaking of the AL, I think the Tigers can pull out a win in the tie-break game against the Twins. But they won’t get past the Yankees. I think this may be the year that the Angels finally get past Boston. I’m just not feeling the Red Sox. So that leaves the Angels and Yankees in the ALCS. The Angels always seem to have the Yankees’ number, but I think the Yankees are too good this year. Still, the Yanks always seem to lose in the playoffs quite often ever since 2001. Still, I think they can beat the Halos. Since I said that an AL team would beat the Dodgers in the World Series, that leaves the Yankees as the champions over the Dodgers. I guess SI picked the wrong NY team to win the WS in its baseball preview. Still, I’m not too confident in my pick of the Yanks. The Phils could regain their ’08 magic. And every team that made the playoffs is very good and very dangerous. All of the teams have legitimate shots of winning it all. Which is why I wouldn’t be surprised if any of them won it.

Meanwhile, the Nats closed out the season with seven straight wins. Maybe that will carry over into 2010! Maybe not.

Hockey has begun! I became more interested in hockey during last year’s playoffs. Hockey itself has a strong fan base even if it’s not as big as the fan bases of football, basketball, or baseball. I’m starting to not mind the boringness of hockey so much.

Since hockey has started, you know what that means. Basketball is almost here! Yesss. I am looking forward to a great Nets season (don’t laugh). I cannot wait for basketball to start. This is a crazy time of year for sports because football is in full swing and hockey and basketball are at their beginnings, while baseball is in playoff mode. So there is no excuse for not following any sports.

Update: I am 3 for 3 so far in picking the LDS winners. If the Phillies (gag) win 2 more against the Rox I will be 4 for 4. Woot.

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.

American Airlines, United Airlines, US Airways…no you are not in an airport

Stroll down Salt Lake City. Take a walk down Cleveland. You may come across the respective arenas of the Jazz and Cavaliers. What are these arenas called, you wonder? Jazz Arena, Cavaliers Center? Actually, try Energy Solutions Arena and Quicken Loans Arena. Pathetic. Many teams in pro sports have to make money, so they get a company to sponsor them and then call their arena/stadium that company’s name. Banks are popular (Chase, Citi, Wachovia, TD Banknorth). So are cars (Toyota, Honda), and Telephone services (Verizon, Alltel). But it is ridiculous. Thank gosh there is still Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, and…uh… you get the point. There’s not too many stadiums/arenas with classic names. In today’s world of money, no money, and money, teams will do what they can to make it. At least Cleveland tries to spruce their arena up by calling it the ‘Q.’ And the Mets chose Citi because it doesn’t sound too corporate. But don’t expect this naming thing to end anytime soon, even with the economy’s state right now. All we can do is hope for a ridiculously entertaining name, like Minute Maid Park. Wait, I think that already exists.