Fan Brew » MLB

Ozzie Sounds Off…. His Rocker???

Petry — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 15:05:37 +0000

Ozzie Guillen’s Chicago White Sox have been on a absolute tear and went 18-7 for the month of July, taking his White Sox into a one (1) game lead on the Minnesota Twins, in the Central.

Ozzie has been known for his rants and his raves, but personally, this one is over the top. Monday, August 2, 2010, Guillen, released a statement condemning Major League Baseball for not educating Latin American players about the dangers of Performance Enhancing Drugs. ESPN quoted Ozzie as saying:

“I’m the only one to teach the Latinos about not to use,” Guillen said Sunday. “I’m the only one, and Major League Baseball doesn’t [care]. All they care about — how many times I argue with the umpires, what I say to the media. But I’m the only one in baseball to come up to the Latino kids and say not to use this, and I don’t get any credit for that.
“They look at you and they say, ‘Good for you Ozzie,’” he said. “Ozzie said it, don’t worry about it. If somebody else said it they would be playing that [stuff] every day on the Jumbotron. … I’m the only one that came up with that idea. I did it for the Latino kids. … I want to help those kids.”

So not only is Ozzie the only person apparently talking about Latino’s and PED’s, but Ozzie is also commenting on MLB’s preferential treatment of Asian players over Latinos. The Chicago Sun Times quotes Ozzie as saying, “Guillen says it’s unfair that Japanese players are assigned translators when they come to the U.S. to play pro ball, but Latinos are not.”

Ozzie has said that MLB executives definitely do not like his latest remarks, however, he will be disappointed if baseball fines him for his comments. I sincerely hope Guillen is using these latest set of remarks to bring to light an injustice he sees. If he is just fueling the Ozzie fire, I definitely don’t agree with it. Knowing how the world works, there probably are injustices that need to be corrected, however is Ozzie the only one doing anything about it???? I highly doubt it……..

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Hey Sox Fans, This One Is For You!

Adam — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:09:23 +0000

GQ has recently come out with their article Juuuuust A Bit Outside: The Best (and Worst) from MLB’s Broadcast Booths and it is my pleasure to announce that White Sox’s commentator Hawk Harrelson is the worst. HAHAHA.

GQ says of Hawk:

Hawk is an unbearable homer, and at very, very least he doesn’t hide it. When the Sox score a run, it’s “1-0 good guys!” In the midst of a play, rooting for a positive White Sox outcome, he’ll yell, “Stretch! Stretch! Get over his head!” And when a player doesn’t let him down, he’ll give him an “atta boy.” Listening to Hawk is just an immensely grating experience (we’ll leave Steve Stone out of this), and it is only compounded by his attempts at folksiness. In an interleague series, the Nationals are the “Nasty Nats.” A pitch on the handle of the bat is “jam city.” And when a player strikes out, “he gone!” Let’s just say Hawk’s mouth might be put to better use as the tail end of a human centipede.

Read More http://www.gq.com/sports/lists/201007/five-best-worst-mlb-broadcast-booths#slide=10#ixzz0ts094Fwu

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Lebron isn’t alone in his douchery

Adam — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 13:05:31 +0000

Found this article on the web about the 25 worst traitors in sports history and thought it was pretty funny. Enjoy!

It’s one thing for LeBron James to opt out of his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers and sign on with the Miami Heat. Whatever.

But to schedule a one-hour prime-time special for the sole purpose of ripping the heart out of the City of Cleveland, whose fans have already suffered tragedy over the years, well, that might be the biggest dick move in the history of professional sports.

read more… 25 worst traitors in sports history

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RIP George Steinbrenner

Adam — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:29:08 +0000

The man behind the money and the empire that is the New York Yankees, George Steinbrenner has passed away at the age of 80 of a heart attack. Love him or hate him Steinbrenner has polarized fans, owners, and everybody for decades as he spent his way to the top in MLB, but nobody can deny the impact he had on baseball and his dedication to his team.

During Steinbrenners reign as “the boss” he saw 7 World Series Championships come to his beloved team and is responsible for the some of the biggest names in baseball playing long careers in pinstripes a trademark amongst some of the greatest hall of famers.

According to Yahoo.com:

Steinbrenner had a heart attack, was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, Fla., and died at about 6:30 a.m, a person close to the owner told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team had not disclosed those details.

George you may not be loved by everyone, but you will surely be remembered by everyone for what you have done for baseball.

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What the Hell Happened To The Chicago White Sox?

Adam — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:41:35 +0000

So sitting at U.S. Comiscular yesterday for a fine day of baseball lead to one of the most fun games I have been to in my life. Although I am not a Sox fan, I can’t deny that watching ball after ball leave the yard in the Sox 15 – 5 victory over the Royals was exciting and fun. But it lead me to only one question…What the hell happened to the White Sox over the last month?

Seriously they went for being another shitty team having another shitty season to all of the sudden being in first in their division? What was the turn around? Did they put up a life size cut out of a female staff member and start removing a patch of clothing for every win Major League style? Whatever it is keep it up, and feel free to send whatever idea you had over to the Cubs, because watching them is like getting kicked in the junk.

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The Championship is in The Mustache

Adam — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:46:39 +0000

Congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks and the Fans that have stuck with them for more than a decade of bullshit. You deserve to drink from Lord Stanley’s Cup! Enjoy! An to you bandwagon fans (myself included) if you watched and supported this team through to their cup victory you may celebrate as well, just don’t act like you have been watching hockey forever.

But now on to the real article. The Championship is in The Mustache, that is right. There is an algorithm for winning in Chicago.

Coach + Mustache = Championship

Championship caliber coaches need facial hair to win in Chicago. I know it sounds stupid right? I laughed it off myself, but then I got to thinking about it, and well history tends to repeat itself so let’s have a look back upon the more recent Championships in Chicago.

Mike Ditka

Chicago Bears 1985 NFL Champions

Kick Ass Mustache!

Phil Jackson

Chicago Bulls 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998 NBA Champions

Kicks Ass Beard & Mustaches throughout all of them.

Bonus points for MJ mustache too.

Ozzie Guillen

Chicago White Sox 2005 World Series Champions

Manscaped Mustache and Goat.

Joel Quenneville

Chicago Black Hawks 2009-10 Stanley Cup Champions

Killer mustache

As they say the proof is in the pudding, and the championships are in the mustaches. Now with that said there seems only one logical thing left to do. Convince Lovie to grow a mustache or push for a new hire. My suggestion…Tom Selleck.

Thanks to Adam P. for suggesting this topic to me a few weeks back. I felt like I couldn’t post until the Hawks had brought back the cup.

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Stephen Strasburg: Phenom or Fizzle?

Adam — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 19:43:58 +0000

You’ve got to give it up to Stephen Strasburg, he is a 100 MPH (Yeah that’s right 100!!!!) machine. It brings me one of my favorite movie quotes. I love the quote from the movie “The Rookie” when Dennis Quaid’s character says to his wife…”do you know how many guys can throw a ball 98 miles an hour?” She shrugs and says, “not many?” And Quaid’s character answers, “YOU CAN COUNT THEM ON ONE HAND.”

I know what your thinking….Your thinking, I can name 10 pitchers that can throw a 98 not even counting Strasburg! You know what your right! But Strasburg throws over a 100 MPH… CONSISTENTLY! Now let me say this…. I am on the Strasburg bandwagon. The kid is twenty one (21) years old, signs with the Washington Nationals for $15 million, and punished the minor leagues with a 7-2 record, a scary low 1.30 ERA, and 65 strikeouts. Strasburg’s hype is only going to continue to grow as time goes on, especially if he is key in turning around a beleaguered Nationals Team.

And let me guess…Your thinking this too, that you can also name 10 pitchers that could throw 98 and their not around the majors anymore. I could probably too, but is Stephen Strasburg the second coming of Nolan Ryan? I’d venture to say NO, is the kid gonna be good, YES!!!! Only time will tell if this Phenom will have a bright MLB future or fizzle into dust that are fast ball pitchers suffering the effects of Tommy Johns Surgery. What are your thoughts????

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Everyone Knows it was a Bad Call, but Should it be Reversed?

Ryan — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 01:14:39 +0000

In case you missed it, one of the worst blown calls in history occurred last night and now the debate starts about whether or not Bud Selig should reverse the call.

Let’s set the seen: Detroit Tigers’ pitcher Armando Gallaraga was one out from a perfect game. Cleveland Indian Jason Donald hit a week bouncer to first base, Miguel Cabrera fielded it cleanly and made a perfect toss to Gallaraga who was running to cover first base. Gallaraga stepped on the bag well ahead of Donald and began to celebrate his perfect game. Only one problem, despite beating Donald to the bag by almost a full step, first base umpire Jim Joice inexplicably ruled Donald safe. The call and the perfect game both blown.

Now I recently wrote an article that was fairly critical of umpires, but to Joice’s credit, not only did he publicly admit he made a mistake and felt bad he cost Gallaraga the perfect game, but he had the man-berries to call Gallaraga and personally apologize. I think that in it self says a lot about Joice as a man and about that way the MLB and Bud Selig should handle this situation.

Analysts everywhere are calling for a change in the way Major League Baseball does instant replay and want to expand it beyond just homerun calls. That’s fine if this situation happens again, but what about Gallaraga and his perfect game? Should Bud Selig reverse the call?

I’m on the fence on this one. On one hand, Gallaraga pitched a great and deserves the perfect game. That shouldn’t be taken away from him because of a bonehead call. There is no doubt that Donald was out and the game should have been over, perfect game in tact. On the other hand, human error has always been a part of the game and if this call were to be reviewed and over turned I think that sets a dangerous precedent. Where would you draw the line? Fair or foul calls? Plays at home plate? Plays at first would definitely have to be eligible. And would the calls be reviewed by the umpires on the field or would the league handle it after the game ends?

I’m going to have to say that these things should be handled on a case by case basis. Lets look at the circumstances and the effects of changing this call. The batter after Donald, Trevor Crowe, quietly grounded out to end the game. If the call were reversed, Donald gets an out instead of a hit and Crowe’s average goes back up a little because his out would have never taken place. No runs would be taken off the board, no other stats other than one hit would be taken away. There is really no harm that can be done by changing Joice’s call.

While I know it may open up pandora’s box, I think the call should be changed. This discussion involves preserving a piece of baseball history. Its not an out at the end of a 5 to 3 game, we are talking about a perfect game here. If its a 5 to 3 game and Donald reaches on the same bad call and its follow up by an out to end the game then there would be no reason to change the call, that’s just common sense.

That’s why you can’t set a concrete standard for reviews and changed calls. You would have to use common sense and consider the situation and the consequences of changing a call in each individual case.

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Perfectly Imperfect

Adam — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 15:02:42 +0000

Had enough of of umpires, referees, and officials yet this year? Well if you haven’t then you missed Jim Joyce’s call last night in which he robbed Galarraga of a perfect game. To Joyce’s credit he has apologized to Galarraga and has completely taken credit for blowing what was pretty much a blatantly obvious call that he just missed. Check out the video below.

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Are officials taking it too far?

Ryan — Fri, 28 May 2010 03:04:37 +0000

One universal truth the applies to all sports at all levels is that there will, with a doubt, be a call made by an official, umpire, or referee in every game that a players or coach will not like and mostly likely will voice their displeasure with. For as long as there have been sports players have been clashing with the referees, umpires, and officials working those games. It happens in almost every game in every sport, but with the outbreak of ejections in recent days I have to wonder, are the officials, not the players, taking it too far?

It started Tuesday night with Carl Crawford of the Tampa Bay Rays getting tossed for arguing balls and strikes, not an uncommon thing in professional baseball. What was uncommon about it was that it appeared the umpire initiated the contact with Crawford, not the other way around. Crawford was then ejected and the home plate umpire continued on to call the rest of the game. Something about that just seems wrong.

Then Wednesday there was another round in the Ozzie Guillen – Joe West saga. West really enjoys tossing Ozzie out of games and Wednesdays’ game in Cleveland was no different. West called balk on Mark Buehrle. It was clearly not a balk and Ozzie came out to talk to West about the call and was tossed before he could get a word in. West then called a second balk on Buehrle, seemly out of spite, then tossed Buehrle for questioning the call. The MLB is “looking into” the incident with Ozzie and West but its unlikely any major punishment will come from it, at least not for West.

Also Wednesday, Kendrick Perkins was called for 2 technical fouls and ejected from game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals. I won’t argue with the first technical, but the second one was ridiculous. Perkins was called for a very questionable foul and with good reason, didn’t like the call. He said something to the official then walked away in disgust, the official then called him for technical number 2 and tossed him from the game. And if that wasn’t bad enough, it was his seventh technical of the post season which means he gets a 1 game suspension. I would like to make it clear that Perkins was called for the 2nd tech AFTER HE WALK AWAY FROM THE OFFICIAL. The NBA did the right thing by reviewing it and rescinded the 2nd “T” but there will be no reprimand or punishment for the official who made the call the NBA deemed incorrect.

I would like to make in clear the officials and umpires have an extremely difficult job and, regardless of how good they might be, will always be criticized on a fairly regular basis. But that comes with the territory and they should except that not overreact to situations. In the Joe West-Ozzie Guillen-Mark Buehrle incident, it was very clear that the incorrect calls were made for a reason. Buehrle has one of the best pick off moves in all of baseball and has been called for 1 balk in the last 3 seasons until Wednesday’s game, when he was called for 2 in just over 2 innings. Neither of them was even a questionable call and West has a history of run-ins with Guillen and has been known for questionable calls against the White Sox. So I ask you, where are the consequences for West? Guillen can get suspended for commenting on West but West gets off free and clear? Doesn’t seem right.

I would like to share an idea I have on how to keep the egos of officials and umpires in check: make them face the media after games. Players have to face questions about bad plays or errors, coaches have to face questions about calls they made during games. Why shouldn’t officials have to sit at the podium and answer questions posed by the media about all their questionable calls during the game? Ask Joe West what he saw in those balks or why he gave Guillen and Buehrle such quick hooks. Ask the official what he was thinking when he called the second technical on Perkins. Most fans would love to know that kind of information, I know I would, and I think the players involved are entitled to an explanation. Everyone makes mistakes and umpires are only human, but making them own up to those mistakes after each and every game will only make them better at their jobs. Hiding behind the protection of their respective leagues only feeds their egos, their sense of power, and the problem that seems to consistently be getting worse.

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