pitchleague

yeah, there is a plastic ball cap "container" thingy that you can wash hats in your dishwasher, I believe. I used to have one. Maybe I'm alone in this, but just about every year I'll buy a new Brewers hat (the regular New Era 5950 model) to replace my old dingy one. It makes me, in my own way, feel like a part of the team. The players all get new hats every year, so why shouldn't I. Plus, it's interesting to see the wear and tear from just one season of wearing it just about daily as a fan vs. as a player. One year isn't so bad. It's the 2nd season that I try to push on a hat that becomes semi-disgusting. Just last month, I finally threw away my '05-'06 model as well as my '07-'08 hat. Man, they were scuzzy. I don't know why I was hanging onto them.

being an AZ citizen (not in the Phoenix area, but still), I have a problem with this. Arizona is, like many states, in the red financially that it's not even funny. There are literally hundreds of programs and thousands of jobs that could be saved by using tax money for them instead of for a new Cubs facility. I think it's great that more and more teams are flocking to Arizona for their spring training headquarters. But why should the taxpayers have to pay the majority of it when the state, itself, is going in the crapper. This is probably too political of a post. I was trying not to be, but it needed to be said.

yeah, I saw that, too. Playing a full season at Miller Park with the roof closed for every game is sooooooo 2004 (or was it 2003?) It genuinely made me excited a bit to see that the roof appears to be opened in the new version.

I only have my PC so MLB2K10 is my only choice. That said, from what I have seen of the show is that it is THE game to get. But every trailer and game play video I watch looks boring as heck due to the pretty boring commentary from Matt V., Rex H., and Dave C. Don't get me wrong--the graphics are awesome and the game plays a pretty mean and realistic game of baseball. It's unfortunate that just watching the game play videos puts me to sleep with the commentary. I know that it's a small gripe, especially coming from someone who doesn't own the game and has never played it. But I've read a lot of people on teh internets say the same thing: graphics are gorgeous, gameplay is dang good, commentary repeats itself over and over and over and I end up turning it off after about 4 games. 2k9 had it's problems although I learned to live with them. However, there are literally thousands of owners that gave up on the game after 2 weeks due to various bugs and glitches. Yes, 2k9 had 'em. I lived with it since I didn't have a choice. Plus, it was just great to have a new baseball game on the PC again (MVP 2005 was the last one on PC.) From what I've read 2k10 is worlds apart from 2k10. I'm looking forward to getting it at some point next month. The most perplexing thing I've ever thought of for XBox360 and PS3 users (or any console for that matter) is why don't more owners just rent a game first before deciding to buy a game? If you are going to invest $60 on a new game, at least try it out first to see what it's really like. You can read previews and the like all you want leading up to the release of a game but actually trying the game should be the thing that sells the game on you. I WISH you could rent PC games first (I suppose you could argue that you could download the PC demo, but that's only if there even IS a demo.)

I thought the commercials were very sub-par this year. Doritos were pretty good, but all three of their commercials were the winners in their Crash the Super Bowl commercial contest. Halftime was pretty meh, to me. I like the Who (my wife loves them) but watching Roger Daltry just stand around and sway to the music as he sings reminded me of someone just singing karaoke. According to ESPN page 2, he wasn't pleased with the show either.

I always liked Jayson Durocher. Had a pretty good season in 2002, I believe. Then got hurt and was pretty much never heard from again.

by the way, I have to give mad props to the drumming kid. He's got some talent and looks to be somewhere in the 9-12 year old range. Keep beatin' buddy!

I thought the whole "box" episode at the beginning was pretty good. As was Michael's quick cut-ins to say he didn't like something that was being changed. Dwight was almost literally a no-show for most of the episode. He had a line at the beginning, he held the hot dogs, and then ran for orange juice. That was it--kinda disappointing. Noticed they had Ed Helms in the opening credits shots now. Oh, and I totally get Michael's comments about the metallic taste of things. "You can really feel it in your fillings." True that!

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't Houston in the Central Time Zone? The only division games out of the Central Time Zone for Houston is Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, and that's only 1 time zone over, not two.

Very cool episode. I like that they answered some questions and are going with what appears to be an alternative reality or something. The whole backgammon (Mr. White vs. Mr. Black) with Locke is also outstanding, I would agree. Should be a fun final season!

this just can NOT happen! My yearly NIT Pool is the bombz!

Okay, first off, let me preface this by saying that when it comes to video games, I am always a couple of years behind the times. And that's only because I prefer to not buy them when they are $50 but rather when they are $10. That said, I just played some "Left 4 Dead" co-op with my brother for the first time. Three hours later and I am hooked! Wow that was a lot of fun. I couldn't stop smiling for like a half-hour. So expect me to pick up "Left 4 Dead 2" in 2011 or so and I'll let you know if I'm still smiling with that one or not.

are there any benefits to filing as "married filing seperately" as opposed to "married filing jointly?" I have been filing "married filing jointly" every year I've been married and haven't seen if there are advantages/disadvantages of doing this over "seperately." I've just been curious about this.

how in the heck is Benicio del Toro an actor that is considered "employed" and "good looking"?

full moons and elementary student and the effects that the former appears to have on the latter--THAT'S what's bugging me. Good thing Vodka/Cranberry is in da' house!

I never really understood why they don't make plaques with either no hat or a blank hat for those players who were good on multiple teams and the Hall and Player couldn't decide which team's hat should be on the plaque. Does this make sense to anybody else? Is there some rule against modern players going in hatless or blank-hatted? I know a majority of the early plaques are hatless or blank-hatted, but that's the way they wore hats back then--without logos.

I like this signing. I don't like it "a lot" but I like it. There is little risk in a minor league deal for a 39-year old former (super?)-star. However, I keep seeing the image of a team-wide dispute/fight during the beginning of camp over the Cardinals and "the way they play" between Edmonds and Fielder/Braun/anybody and everybody else, causing angst for a few days until all parties apologize and, as a result, the team gels completely together and waltzes to the world's championship. Well, okay, maybe I can just see the fight part of that . . .

This was exactly what I was going to post about. I still remember going from elation that a no-no was going on to sheer frustration and anger that they were completely blowing it. I like Inglett also to be a solid left-handed bat off the bench that can play infield and outfield. Leave it to Doug to take him off the Rangers!

they should get one of those BMX events like they do in Jack Murphy Stadium and Chase Field with the dirt bikes riding around and doing jumps and stuff as they race. That'd be rad!

They used to do a tour at the Indy track, too, in which you go out on the track. They used to let you take your own car out on the track as well, but I don't know if they do that anymore. That was 20+ years ago--before lawsuits and stuff became the norm.

yeah, so far I don't like her acting at all. She moves like a robot with a stick up her back to keep it from hunching over. Her facial expressions are bad and her line delivering is terrible. Not to mention that character is a huge pushover that can't say "no" to her old boyfriend or whatever he is. If he was so bad, why on earth would she agree to let him stay at his place? What's he got on her? I know it's something that they haven't revealed yet but he has threatened to tell her co-workers. Her story line just has no purpose right now. Hopefully, they either end it or show us why this guy is tailing her and have it relevant to the story and not just to kill time in between Jack's drives all over the city.

I enjoyed tonight's first 2 hours. A great start to the season. A bit predictable, but after 7 seasons of watching, you kind of know what to expect. Commercials for upcoming episodes don't help, of course. But it was still entertaining, for me at least.

I have no problem putting McGwire, Bonds, ARod, Clemens, et. al into the Hall of Fame since the Hall of Fame is full of cheaters and other "losers" as it is. Spitballers, racists, bigots, cheapskate owners, alcoholics, womanizers. You name it, you can probably find it in the Hall of Fame. When I visited the Hall of Fame 10 years ago, I read every plaque word-for-word. Every plaque is made out to sound like they are God's gift to the game of baseball. I was so naive, though. When I got home, I began to do some research on the subject for a paper in college. The more I read about some of these players that I knew little about (the 1800s guys up to about 1920) the more I found out that some of them were just terrible people. Of course, just about a full century has passed since they played and since there are no more first person looks at these guys anymore, they are classified as saints--all is forgiven and forgotten. Not by me. I'm looking forward to visiting the Hall of Fame again someday and at least flipping off some of the plaques. So, for those guys like Clemens and Bonds and McGwire, of course I don't want them to get into the Hall of Fame. But they might as well since the precedent has been set by previous generations. And if someone were to say that things should change then they should probably excommunicate some of these "cheaters" (for lack of a better word) from from the Hall.

Yeah, yeah, enough with the pleasantries. I've got some dry cleaning that needs to be picked up. Get on that, STAT!