Rubio continued...

Rubio is the most creative guard I've ever seen handle a basketball from the Youtube generation. He' s a long 6'4 point guard that would be spectacular in an open court, up and down offense. He has Steve Nash's finishing ability, Jason Kidd's adeptness at throwing the lob, and Pistol Pete's flair. Rubio is long, crafty, and absolute magic with the ball in his hands. I missed the draft on Thursday so I read Bill Simmons's Draft Diary and my favorite part was the following:

5:06: Exchange of the night so far …

Jones: "For the fans that haven't seen you play, which NBA player do you think you play like?"

Rubio: "I'm Ricky Rubio, I'm not like anyone else."

Awesome use of the 3rd person. Donnie Walsh are you listening? Make this kid a Knick. 

Ricky Rubio is a guaranteed NBA star

NHL Draft: Kyle Palmieri

Congrats to Kyle Palmieri, former hockey star at St. Peter's Prep in Jersey City. Palmieri was chosen with the 26th pick in the NHL draft by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.

As a sophomore at St. Peter's he led the Marauders to the NJ state championship game and was named first team all-state by the Star Ledger. 

For the past two years he has been starring for the USA U-18 developmental team in Ann Arbor, MI. 

Palmieri will be attending Notre Dame next year. 

Good Luck at ND and in the NHL.

Subway Series: Queens Version

Tonight was the first Subway Series game at CitiField in Queens, and following the hour rain delay the injury depleted Mets looked terrible. 

We were treated to watching three errors (David 'Gold Glove winner' Wright, Alex 'the veteran' Cora, and Nick 'I'm never going to be a everyday starter' Evans) in the top of the 2nd inning. 

Today's lineup only featured 2 everyday starters: David Wright, who can't carry the entire team's offensive load on his back, and Luis Castillo who has been getting standing ovations for every caught popup for the past 12 games.  

Brett Gardner went 5-6 tonight for the Yanks, missing the cycle by a double. I just love watching the Mets give up 5 hits including a HR and a triple to a pesky spark plug leadoff hitter. He's a non-Hawaiian Shane Victorino. 

Ughh... It was nice to see Patrick Misch lower his ERA from 8.31 to 6.35, then I realized I have no freakin' clue who Misch is. 

(UPDATE: Misch is a 27-year-old lefty from Western Michigan. According to his ESPN profile his current 2009 salary is 0$. It is nice to see that people are starting to pity the Mets so much we're getting pro bono bullpen help.)

The crafty veteran Elmer Dessens had a stellar night as well: 1.1 innings pitched, 3 runs on 3 hits, including 2 HRs and a walk. I'm going to go out on a limb and say he'll be designated for assignment before the All-Star break. 

The ageless Gary Sheffield was the lone bright spot for the Mets tonight, hitting his team-leading 9th home run off Yankees starter CC Sabathia, who was brilliant tonight going 7 innings and giving up only 3 hits. The Mets are currently one of only two MLB teams without a player with 10 or more HRs; the other being the Atlanta Braves. 

Oh yea, I almost forgot Mets lost 9-1.

Tomorrow's pitching duel features A.J. Burnett for the Yankees and the current #3 starter for the Metropolitans Tim Redding (hahahahahaha) 

picture from www.sportsautosttm.com/ patrickmisch.JPG

Been a While

Sorry for the delay here's a song I've been listening to.... new posts coming tomorrow. I promise they will be remotely tolerable. 

An Ode to Tom Glavine

Yesterday Altlanta Braves legend, Tom Glavine, was released. Glavine is a 300 game winner, one of only 23 in baseball history. He made a name for himself during the mid-90s with the Braves dynasty when their starting rotation included 3 future Hall of Famers (Greg Maddox, John Smoltz, and Glavine). 

The part of his career that everyone will forget in twenty years will be his awful, heartless stint with the New York Metropolitans. I'll never forget his first and last starts as a New York Met. He came in the same way he went out.

 He left Atlanta after a 18-11 season where he posted a 2.96 ERA. Mets fans hoped they found a villain turned hero. What they did find was a former Cy Young winner with diminishing skills who's heart was never in New York. 

In his first game as a Met, the home opener in 2003, Glavine lasted 3.2 innings and gave up 8 hits, 4 walks, and 5 earned runs. The Mets lost the home opener to the Cubs 15-2, a grand opening for the big off-season signing. 

During his five years as a Met he had one nice moment, he won his 300th game as a Met at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Other than that I cannot remember any poignant moments during his career in Flushing Meadows. 

Not many people remember his first start as a Met, but most sure do remember the last. 

Two years ago with the Mets needing one win to force a playoff the the Philadelphia Phillies, on the last day of the regular season, the Mets sent Glavine to the hill and Shea Stadium was shaking at the foundation. 

Tommy Boy lasted 0.1 innings, he gave up 7 earned runs on 5 hits en route to a 8-1 Mets loss, completing the worst end of season collapse in baseball history. 

Bad starts happen to everyone, and I wouldn't be as bitter as I am today if it weren't for Glavine's demeanor while giving his post game comments. Glavine was nonchalant, he seemed like he just wanted to head back to Atlanta, he never showed me he cared. 

There is nothing worse than a player that doesn't connect with his fans. I always knew it was a bad idea to have an Atlanta Brave as a Mets ace. 

If the Mets won that game two years ago, they wouldn't be known as choke artists and maybe September wouldn't be my least favorite month anymore. 

Cheers to you Tom Glavine. 

     

Great TV Show Openings

Oh Tom Selleck, where have you gone?

Lebron James

I want to start by saying Lebron James is the the most physically gifted athlete I've ever seen and will become the best basketball player of our generation. 

Lebron is more obnoxious by the minute to me. I am the only person I know that truly dislikes Lebron James. He is too arrogant, he treats the city of Cleveland like shit, dangling ultimatums about needing better players or he will jump ship to NYC. He wore a Yankees fitted hat to a Indians vs. Yankees playoff game, IN CLEVELAND! Then he claims to the media he has been a Yankees fan his whole life. 'Cough bullshit cough'. 

He has been treated like a God ever since he was a sophomore in high school and frankly I'm sick of it. I'm sick of everyone saying "look how much fun he's having out there." If I was getting paid trillions of dollars to play a damn game that I love I'd be having an exceptionally good time out there too. Lebron James is the reason high school basketball games are all over ESPN now. There is no more innocence in the post-eight grade sports world. 

This past Saturday Lebron's Cleveland Cavaliers lost in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Orlando Magic. After being the best team in the NBA this season the Cavs lost in 6 games to the Magic and were thoroughly manhandled. When game 6 ended "Mr. Wonderful" decided that a "winner" and "competitor" like himself has no need to shake the other team's hands. 

His exact words : "It's hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them," he said. "I'm a winner. It's not being a poor sport or anything like that. If somebody beats you up, you're not going to congratulate them. That doesn't make sense to me. I'm a competitor. That's what I do. It doesn't make sense for me to go over and shake somebody's hand."

Your wrong Lebron that is the definition of being a poor sport. Be a man. If Gunner Stahl can do it in Mighty Ducks II, so can you. 

Guido Beach

Best Line: 

Dino: The worst luck I ever had? I blew my knee out, tore my ACL, fractured my thigh, and I refused to go to the doctors. So my boys got me an entire jar of pain killers and I just went clubbing every night in a splint. I was like one leg in the club. Dude it was crazy.

Interviewer: Did you get laid that trip?

Dino: Did I get laid that trip? I had two threesomes in one week dude.

The Belmar Pirate

Belmar is known for many things: being a staple of the Jersey Shore, a magnet for Guidos and Guidettes, empty bottles of hair products in the streets, overpriced pizza, and on this particular Friday the beginnings of a terrifying new breed - - - the Guido Pirate. 

You might be wondering what being a Guido Pirate entails, other than stealing all the booty on the Belmar beach. No where other than in the fist pumping capitol of America will you find a six-feet-tall chubby teenage italian with a pony tail of black hair hanging to his lower back. Not convinced with the pirate comparison yet? Well, he also had two hooped earrings, and spoke in a vernacular that featured the word 'fuck' every 4 to 7 words, while the whole time he had Verne Troyer's boom box on his chest. Oh yea, and the elastic on his boxers was covered with the word 'greed' (don't ask me why my girlfriend's eyes were gravitating to that general area).  

These are the things that make the Jersey Shore great and why we keep coming back for more. It's not only for the sun, sand, and ocean; it's for these jambronies that continue to make us laugh. Thank you Guido pirate.