Pittsburgh Sports Stuff

AJ Burnett and the DH Debate
As most of you know, Burnett injured his eye socket during a bunting drill and will probably miss some time.   Last night, I heard one of the guys on 93.7 The Fan saying that if the NL had the DH, then this would not have happened.

He made a good point that it seems like MLB will probably push towards a DH in both leagues over time, especially now that there is expanded interleague play starting next season.  He kept saying that owners want the DH because they do not want their investments hurt doing something that is not necessary for them.  Although, what if Albert Pujols trips over first base after hitting his first home run with the Angels, destroying his knee and missing the entire season?  Wouldn't we find it ridiculous if the Angels owner started saying that running the bases after a home run should be removed from the game?

This got me thinking about the DH and whether or not I would actually care if the NL started using it.  Then I had a brilliant idea:  at the beginning of the game, have a coin toss, the manager that calls it correctly gets to choose whether or not they will use the DH.  Before you laugh, think about the strategy for a second.

-If you are playing against a team with a dominant ace, say Justin Verlander, you may want to elect not to use the DH.  That way if it is close, the Tigers might have to pull him earlier than they would like in order to pinch hit.

-You can force a team to make a tough decision about their lineup.  Using the Tigers again, they may have to keep Fielder on the bench in order to have a stronger defense behind them.  Or if they do go with Cabrera at third base, a team could try and take advantage of a weakened infield.

-If a team has a pitcher with a little pop in their bat, they may want to elect to allow him to hit.  Zambrano (back in his good pitching days) comes to mind, or maybe Micah Owings.  I especially like the idea if a team has a monster hitter who really cannot field.

-There would also be major strategy changes in building a team.  Obviously there are not enough elite power hitters to go around for every team.  I think you would start to see teams employ more one-dimensional players who just crush balls or strikeout.

If Bud Selig decides to institute a league-wide designated-hitter, then I hope he stops by here to read this and use my coin-toss idea.

Hines Ward
The Steelers decided to part ways with everyone's favorite wide receiver, Hines Ward.  I honestly wish he would just retire, but instead he will go to another team and most likely play about half the season before being cut.

One thing I will never understand though is the way some Steelers fans never see any fault in Ward.  The guy has been voted the most dirty player in the league by his peers a few years in a row, yet Steelers fans say that he is just hard-nosed.  If a Raven played like him, they would hate that guy.  I guess that is the way it is with all teams though.

The other big question is whether or not Ward deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.  I am going to say yes.  I think he gets in, but it takes a few tries.

Greatest Games
On Mike and Mike this morning they were discussing Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game.  They were asking the question if that was the greatest single game ever.  They mentioned Don Larsen's perfect game in the World Series as probably the greatest performance in a game ever.  I actually cannot argue with this one.

Unfortunately, they started naming other great things and they immediately went outside of team sports.  They never once mentioned hockey.  I am sure there have been some amazing hockey game performances.  the one that came to mind immediately was Mario Lemieux's five goals in different ways (shorthanded, full strength, power play, penalty shot, and empty net).  I just think that one is cool.

I can imagine Gretzky had some amazing games as well.  Or what about some goalie performances?  It just boggles my mind that ESPN does not even try to pretend to care about hockey.

I Am Not Dead

I know you were all quite worried about why there was no GOTW on Friday.  Well allow me to explain what happened.  It is a pretty long story...my boss got sick and asked me to work Friday.  I worked until 11 p.m. on Thursday and then got a call at 5:40 a.m.  I made it to work around 7:00.  I was pretty much running on two hours of sleep.  Needless to say, I did not do much Friday night except for sleep.  The rest of the weekend was spent working 6:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  I hate waking up early.  So what else has been going on?

P90X
Yes, I decided to start P90X.  It is pretty damn hardcore.  The first day I did the chest/back disc and I made it the whole way through.  Granted, I toned it down and set low goals.  I have a small chest, I figured I would not be able to do the same thing as my buddy Tony Horton.  Also, I do not have a pull-up bar, so I had to improvise with weights...

The next day was plyometrics.  Lindsey did it with me and she was able to go a little more hardcore than me.  I had to stop about 3/4 of the way through because I thought I might have a heart attack.  I will keep at it though.  I did shoulders and arms by myself, and it was actually the easiest one for me.  I should probably buy a heavier set of weights though (I used Lindsey's 8 lb. weights, but did more reps). 

After that was yoga.  For the love of god that shit was hard.  We made it about 30 minutes into it.  I think I need to buy a yoga mat and maybe do that one upstairs from now one.  I made it through the next one which was legs/back.  Again, without a pull-up bar it was a little difficult.  The leg workouts were killer though, I could barely walk after.

Morris' Tavern
Lindsey and I went to this place to eat on Saturday.  They had decent food, but that was not the main attraction.  The entire place is decked out with stuffed animals.  Apparently the owner is a huge hunter.  I want to go back and check out the upstairs, it apparently has animals he shot in Africa.  Pretty cool.

NCAA Tournament
Wow, what a great tournament.  What a terrible bracket for me though...Congratulations to Ryan.  And no, you do not win a yard gnome.  In fact, you win the right to be known as a true basketball fan...way to go.  Anyways, I am pulling for Butler to win it.  I will be watching the game at a bar the night before a seminar.

Conclusion
Sorry, but I am tired and going to bed.  I will try to write up the pitching results for our fantasy league.  I will also leave you with a late, half-ass GOTW.

 
She is missing a leg...get it?  Half-assed...whatever, I need to hire a new joke writer.

College Basketball Time

Congratulations to Penn State for making it to the NCAA March Madness Tournament.  It seems like just yesterday that they were beating North Carolina and advancing to the Sweet 16.  Sadly, that was 2001.  I can still remember arriving to work (I worked at a little bar outside of Philipsburg) and turning one of the TVs to the basketball game.  I watched as PSU beat #2 UNC, much to the complaints of the patrons.  Most of the comments I heard were things like this "why the hell are we watching basketball?  We are missing the race."  Granted, the race was on many of the other screens and sadly, I do not think it was even an actual race.  I think it was some qualifier.

I am betting that most of you did not know that I was a huge basketball fan.  It started in the late 80s.  My uncle got me into basketball, mainly watching the Bulls.  In 1994, baseball went on strike and it ruined my perception of my favorite sport.  I quit watching baseball and pretty much became a huge basketball fan.  It was around this time that I really started watching college basketball.

I did not have any particular team, I just enjoyed watching good teams play.  When I reached high school, my friends and I would go to the Bryce Jordan Center to watch Penn State.  It was only natural that I would gravitate towards being a fan of the Nittany Lions, since I was a fan of their football program.

The cool thing was that we watched the team that did so well in 2001 come up as freshmen.  Joe Crispin, Titus Ivory, and the rest of the crew amazed us all by beating the Tar Heels.  They then lost to Temple.  After that season, I stopped following college basketball and instead focused on baseball.  Apparently I have troubles following multiple sports.  It also did not help that PSU pretty much sucked during that era.

Anyways, this all leads me to a point:  I have another NCAA Tournament Challenge!  What did you think I was going to say?  I will be cheering for Penn State, especially since they take on Temple in the first round, it seems almost fitting.   This does not mean that I will all of a sudden come back to being a basketball fan.