I was just taking a look at the 1988 LA Dodgers roster and opening day salaries. If I add them up it comes to about 15 million dollars. This team won the world series in 5 games that year over the MONSTOR BASH Oakland A's. Fifteen years later, the Dodgers payroll has increased to over 100 million dollars & they are barely in the hunt for a playoff spot (and fading). The difference? One word: Chemistry. The Dodger team put on the field for game 4 in 88 was labeled by Bob Costas as the "worst team ever to take the field in the World Series." that team went out that day and handed it to the A's. If you look at the teams which have won the Series over the years, chemistry is always a key element. Say what you want about the Yankees, but they get rid of their plagues and get good people as well as players. The D'backs last year were a prime example.

There's a great poll on ESPN.com regarding the trades today. It really makes you think. Take the poll and comment on your results.

With all the deals that went down today, it just reminds me why I agree that no sport should ever have a salary cap. Part of the fun of being a fan is getting mad or happy when your team does nothing or makes a move at the deadline. Fewer and fewer deals happen in other sports such as basketball and football...which have salary caps. Yet in baseball and hockey players move around like ping pong balls at the deadline. In basketball a team can't trade a decent player with a big contract for two "prospects" because the salaries have to match. That's why a bad franchise has such a hard time turning around. In baseball, teams like Montreal can continue to be semi competitive without a lot of money because every time they develop a stud player whose salary is getting too high, they trade himi away for two or three players who help them down the road. Continually re-stocking their farm system .

On my Buddy Robert Scoble's Blog he is organizing a Flash Mob in the Seattle area tomorrow (Redmond). You have to e-mail him to find out where.

This article adds to the theory Kobe and Katelyn were messing around and it went farther than she intended. Kobe is a large man. Unless these "injuries" are the bruises from hell, I can't see them "proving" the sex was not consensual. It's he said, she said & to me that is not "beyond a reasonable doubt."
Be sure to check out the comments on this one... a reader by the name of Karen makes some great points.

The "official" web site for the Kobe Bryant trial is at www.courts.state.co.us. According to the story on ESPN.com, The Colorado Judicial Branch is launching a page this week devoted to the high-profile case on its Web site. The page will have information on hearing schedules, motions rulings, biographies of judges and other details. All I can say is I sure hope they have a lot of bandwidth.

In the wake of a 2nd player collapsing in the Jacksonville Jaguars training camp isn;t it about time NFL teams investigate moving to a milder climate for these camps? I know the heat is a quick way for these guys to get in shape, but at some point the insanity has got to stop. These aren;t the old days when a BIG lineman was 250 pounds. We're talking about 350 pound guys working out twice a day in 90+ degree weather. There's no need for that.

The once proud Dodger franchise looks like it has been sold again. While still fetching a pretty penny, the Dodgers haven't been the same since Rupert Murdoch purchased them and decided to throw his money around. All those teams that cry about the Yankees of the world buying their World Series need only look at the Dodgers to see money can not buy you championships.

Allthough I wasn't around in his prime, I would be remiss if I didn't mention one of the greatest performers who ever entertained us. Bob Hope passed away last night, but his legacy will live on forever. My sister just reminded me we had the good fortune of meeting the man in person at the Pebble Beach Pro-AM when I was about 12 or 13 years old. We even have pictures of us with him. "Thanks for the Memories...."

The failure of Ken Griffey Junior to stay healthy in Cincinnatti has taken a larger toll. The Reds today fired their GM and their manager....along with a couple other coaches. Since the trade to Cincy from Seattle, Griffey has only played in just over 50% of the games. What a disaster this deal has been. For a small payroll team, you can't afford to have your one big name player always on the shelf. Is Griffey a Hall of Famer? At this point I don't think so. He needs to come back and prove, with a couple good seasons to end his career, that he is deserving of that honor.

This from a story on espn.com...."I have a copy of the timeline; whatever happened, happened between 11:14 p.m. on June 29 and 12:35 a .m. on June 30. A 19-year-old hotel employee goes off duty at 11 p.m. A phone call is made from Kobe's room at 11:13 p.m., apparently to the Newport Beach house where his wife Vanessa and their daughter are staying. To me, this is classic screw-around mode, not I'm-about-to-commit-a-felony mode. By calling he pre-empts the surprise call from home that will interrupt the planned festivities. Then, whatever happened happened. And by 12:36 a.m., a pay-per-view movie is ordered in Kobe's room." I'd be interested in knowing what movie was rented...hmmm. Regardless, someone who might have just committed assault wouldn't be thinking about what movie he is going to buy...he's thinking, "how can I get an alibi." I said it before, I'll say it again...the more that comes out, the more I think this girl is telling a lie.

The new GOP chairperson came out swinging saying of the the Democratic party, "The once-proud party of Franklin Roosevelt, who famously told us we have nothing to fear but fear itself, now seems to have nothing to offer but fear itself." One of his main points was that the Democrats offer fear and anger, but no solutions. When I was in college righting columns for the schoool newspaper, one of the first things the instructor taught was, "never offer up a problem without also including a solution." Maybe there is a lesson to be learned here?

Bloggers plan round-the-clock charity drive. Just another reason why blogging is good. This is a great story about someone putting her passion (read:sickness) to good use.

Apparently a report was leaked out about Kobe's accuser being so unstable she had to be hospitalized as a "threat to herself" just months before the incident. The more I hear about this, the more I beleive Kobe's side of the story. The thing is, this is just the beginning. A lot more will come out before this thing ever even gets to trial. This reports led to a gag order being placed on the parties involved.

So Kobe goes out and buys his wife a $4 million ring to apologize for his affair. What a joke. Their is a lot of forgiving that can happen for $4 million, but unless you are true to yourself, it is worthless. I really hope this was a one time thing for Kobe and he got caught, but my instincts tell me there were others. I would''t be surprised to start reading the stories of other women who say they've been with Kobe. It will be interesting to see how things move forward from here in the press. I wonder what Katelyn Faber (pictures of Kobe's Accuser) thinks of this?

Maybe not as much as you think. According to a report on MSNBC, a guy who threw a party a week ago says Faber bragged of her fling with Kobe at the party and she even described parts of his anatomy. Even if this is sketchy information, wouldn't you think someone so shaken up wouldn't be attending party's 3 days before charges were filed against Kobe?
In this same story, Tom Leykis (talk radio host) has to defend himself for naming Faber as the defendant. I agree with his position 100%, how can you can have a fair trial where you know the name of one person and not the other.”

No one is talking about her, but Suzy Whaley is the 2nd woman in the past few months to play in a PGA tour event. She tees it up today in the Greater Hartford Open. Unlike Annika Sorenstam, however, Whaley deserves to be there. She qualified at a regional tournament to get in! I know, I know they let her play from the Ladies tees at the qualifier (that rule has since been changed), but that's not her fault. She was just playing by the rules set out before her. In fact women had been trying to qualify from those same tees for the past 10 years but haven't succeeded. Most people "in the know" don't think she has as good a chance as Annika did of qualifying, but to her credit Suzy is just going out there and playing her game. She's just having fun with it and, in the meantime, another step forward for women's sports happens right under our collective noses.

Wow, training camps in the NFL are allready here. Seems like it was just yesterday when I was crying in my beer at Hooter's because the Bucs had just blasted my Raiders in the Super Bowl (the good news is my sister cashed in a winning ticket in Reno that she bought prior to the season with my prediction that the Bucs would win the Super Bowl...and she was kind enough to give me $150 for my efforts). Along with training camp came this question the other day from my sister...."would you spend $300 to go watch a closed Raider practice and have a chance to get some autographs." Keeping in mind my sister is a fanatic Raider fan, I tried to let her down softly. $300 to go watch a practice and "have the chance"? You better guarantee me Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, Rich Gannon and a bunch of other guys for $300. This is a PRACTICE after all. These things used to be free as part of the public relations. These guys should be happy to sign autographs for fans who show up to watch practice. I know this is the team trying to make more money, but sheesh, what a rip off.

As a Dodger fan it is hard to do this, but I think it is officially time to conceed the NL West to the Giants. With there pounding of the D'backs yesterday the Giants are now 10 games ahead in the West. In fact, the Giants (64-37) are just 2 games behind Atlanta for the majors' best record. The D'backs and Dodgers meanwhile are stuck chasing Philly for the wild card spot. In the end, Philly will just be too much and the D'backs and Dodgers will, once again, fade into the sunset.

As a baeball fan I get asked a lot how come baseball does not have a salary cap like football & basketball. The big trade in basketball sending Latrell Sprewell to the Timberwolves, Glenn Robinson & Mark Jackson to the 76ers, Terrell Brandon to Atlanta and Keith Van Horn to the Knicks is the exact reason why salary caps are BAD. Terrell Brandon will never put on an Atlanta uniform yet, without him, this trade would never happen. In basketball it is less about trading to get a player and more about trading to get a contract. Brandon is hurt and Atlanta will be able to write off his salary for this season. Somehow, according to the "salary cap" rules, this free up his number under the cap. Go Figure. So, you're an Atlanta fan and you see these thre other teams looking like they are trying to improve yourself yet your team gets nothing out of the deal except cap space next season? I just don't get it!

If you don't tell me where you are, I'll know anyway. The next time you go to the doctor for routine surgery, you'd better hope your spouse hasn't paid off the good doctor to insert on of these!
Apple Co-Founder Creates Electronic ID Tags
Apaprently you can track just about anything with these new devices. I'm not so sure I like having chips to locate someone. All though I can see the merit of putting these types of devices on a child or pet.

Hey All....my comments company decided to not be in business anymore so I had to switch to a new one. Unfortunately I lost all previous comments. This new one seems to work pretty well so feel free to comment on any story or send me an e-mail.

It's always cool to see your little brother do something that reminds you of yourself...Well most of the time. My brother lives in a town called FT. Bragg, Ca (on the Mendocino coast). He's 12 years old (20 years younger than me). He loves trains. Last week someone wrote to the newspaper in town, the FT. Bragg Advocate, that he has lived in the town 15 years and he thinks the train blows it's whistle to loud. Well, my brother didn't want to take that, he wrote the following letter to the paper.....

Dear Editor,
I am a twelve -year old student attending Fort Bragg Middle School and I was reading the Advocate News the other day, while I was looking at the letters section I saw that Dan Banks was complaining about the " over-zealous use" of the skunk train whistle.
I found that got me pretty mad. The train does not blow its horn to remind tourists about the train,they
blow the horn to warn pedestrians and cars that a the train is coming and that they need to stop. Sure
they have those crossing signals and gates but I have seen numerous people go around them even as the train was drawing near. Also it's the law that trains blow their horn at every crossing, And is it the Skunk Trains fault that their tracks go through five city blocks to get out of town? I think not.
Sure the trains horn is loud but can't you take two minutes to stop what you're doing and listen to the majestic sound of old number forty-five, the Baldwin 2-8-2 Mikado struggling to get that heavy train rolling, blasting its whistle at every crossing to warn people of its advancement upon the road, or listening to the raw power of the Diesel number sixty- six, using its fifteen hundred horsepower, ground shaking engine to pull that same train out of FT. Bragg, on their way to Northspur and back.
In conclusion, I would like to say that the train doesn't blow its horn for the heck of it, or to remind tourists about the train, they do it for safety reasons, and I for one Love it.
Joseph Hefner
FT. Bragg Calif.

You go Joe!

Kobe Bryant accuser pictures (Katelyn Faber).

So apparently this same 19-year old, who is called by her friends one of the most honest and caring people in the world, OD'd on pills two months before the alleged incident with Kobe. Apparently her boyfriend was cheating on her & she had recently lost a friend in an automobile accident. Some are calling it an accident, other s are calling it a suicide attempt. Now this alone doesn't necessarily mean she lied about what Kobe did to her, but it does say to me this was an unstable person who may be looking for attention or, better yet, some kind of help.

To say that Ben Curtis winning the British Open was an upset is like saying Michael Jordan was a good player. It is an understatement to say the least. This guy, who was playing on the Hooters tour last year and had never finished in the top ten, backed into a US Open Championship and his life will now change forever. Over a million bucks in winnings, publicity, no more qualifying, etc....... Just look at the circumstances that led to this amazing victory...Tiger Woods lost a ball on the very first hold, thus costing him a two-shot penalty. Only a couple minutes after he hit another ball, his original ball was found but it was too late. Tiger lost by 2 strokes. Everyone know Thomas Bjorn collapsed on 16 in the final round by double bogeying the hole when he took three shots to finally get the ball out of the sand, but did you know on Thursday he took an eight on one of the last holes because he got so mad that he failed to get a ball out of the sand he hit his club into the sand trap ( a two stroke penalty)? He would up with an 8 on the hole and he lost the tourney by one stroke. Needless to say it takes a lot of luck to win a tournament like this, but you have to hand it to the guy. He did shoot under par the last day and held it together better than anyone else.

And talk about shameless ways to make money. There is a website out there called FreeKobe.com which has a small article about how we need to free Kobe because we are, "running out of heroes." I beleive the web site is just a front to sell t-shirts for $14.95...but you do get a free button! What a joke! First of all, even if Kobe is freed, he should never be thought of as a hero to anyone. The man cheated on his wife. He will always be a premier basketball player in my eyes, but I can never look at him as a role model or "hero" again.

Speaking as someone living near Seattle, I feel sorry for Ken Griffey, Jr. This man worked his butt off to prove to the skeptics he wasn't washed up. He got hurt again earlier this year then, Thursday, blew the tendon in his foot/ankle and is done for the year again. By the time this year is over he will have played in 55% of the games since being traded to Cincinnati. While he was with the Mariners, he playe din just over 90% of their games and, except for one season, was injury free.

So they went ahead and charged Kobe. Now he faces 4 years to life in prison if convicted. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say he didn't do it. I beleive him. This married man met a woman who worked at the hotel (here is a picture of the Kobe Bryant Accuser), they hung out and had consentual sex, then she gets mad cause he says "thanks, but you know I can't call you because I 'm married," she gets mad and decided to go for the money. The first step to doing that is charging him with assault. Did Kobe make a mistake? Yes. He cheated on his wife and got caught (which is the bigger mistake is for you to decide). But did he do this crime? I don't think so.

Sorry, I have to take every opportunity I can to take a whack at Cisco: Cisco warns of widespread software flaw. As someone who works for a small competitor to Cisco it is my job to make sure as many people know about their faults as I can find! And on the flip side.... Livingston Chooses Allied Telesyn. My companies gear was chosen to go forward with a "triple play" application at this ISP.

So this is what ex-boeing employees who get laid off do to pass the time, eh?
Man sets new Donkey Kong record: This guy either has WAY too much time on his hands or his priorities need to be straightened out a little. I bet his wive is very relieved this is just about over. Now maybe he can go out and get a J-O-B.

Tim Bourquin has started a new website called www.yourreputation.com. The theory behind it is you can type in someone's name and find out what other people think of them. It's just getting started so there is not a lot of info about people (me) yet, but I did find my name listed in San Jose, CA and Saratoga, CA and the two hihh schools I attended. It didn't have my current (past 8 years) home (Marysville, WA) or anything, but it relies on visitors to help in that category so check it out.

You've got to be kidding me? How gullible are we? Japanese toymaker Takra is getting set to introduce a device that supposedly translates a Cat's Meow into a human voice. Think that sounds like a product no one would ever buy? They sold 300,000 of the same device for dogs! Come on people...stop buying this crap. At least don't spend your money on this and complain about a recession!

Pretty soon we'll never have to leave the living room. New cable boxes play DVDs, MP3s. Not only do these new types of cable boxes perform thes efunctions, but they can be linked directly to a computer to download MP3's & the best feature is that they can record two different shows at the same time. No more setting two VCR's in different parts of the house. This box stores the shows on a hard drive!.

Use the new MSN Messenger and win $1000. All you have to do is be logged on to MSN Messenger on Friday's between July 25 and August 15. Random winners will be chosen. Heck, for a thousand bucks I'll light it up Messenger on Friday's! If you don;t have MSN Messenger 6.0 you can download it here.

Know of a story you want my comments on? Give me a SHOUT OUT or send me an e-mail and I'll be sure to include it in my next posts.

Of course even on a great day for baseball Barry Bonds has to open his trap and ruin it by bashing one of the greatest to ever play the game (Babe Ruth) by saying, "I got his slugging percentage and I'll take his home runs and that's it. Don't talk about him no more." Sometimes I wish these players would just shut up and play. Barry is a guy who almost never talks to the media. If you listen to sports talk shows, most hosts/reporters think he is a jack ass. The difference between a guy like Bonds and a guy like Charles Barkley is, Barkley talks to the media all the time and comes off as a guy you would want to hang around with some day. Someone you would want to meet at a bar and have a beer with. Bonds just sounds like an idiot.

The All-Star game last night really goes to show you how baseball can draw you back in. Allthough I am a huge sports fan...especially baseball...I am not a big fan of the All-Star game. Ususally the game last 4 hours, has no drama and is just plain boring to actually sit down and watch. This year was different. I'm not sure we can give all the credit to the fact that for the first time the winning division of the All-Star game gets home-field advantage in the World Series or not, but it does have a lot to do with it. One player before the game said this was the first time he can remember having a team meeting before the All-Star game to actually go over the signs )steal, hit and run, take a pitch, etc...). In years past, the coaches just let the players do whatever they wanted. So what was the result of all this? A dramatic 7-6 American League victory in which the game winning HR was hit in the bottom of the 8th off of the NL's best closer. How can you beat that?

Now we can use our Cell phones on Airplanes. Exaclty what we all wanted, to hear everyone chatting on their cells on airplanes. We'll have people not shutting their ringers off causing everyone to check their phone when it rings, not having to meet someone new anymore, and people listening to other peoples phone conversations. Pretty soon we'll never have to talk to anyone on an airplane again! I know it will, but I for one would not be dissapointed if this technlogy never caught on.

When a good man goes bad: Mike Price filed a $20 million lawsuit against Alabama for denying him "due process" when firing him for his behavior earlier this year. So this is what it has come down to. Mike Price, once considered one of the most respected personalities in College Football, is relegated to filing lawsuits (he also has one against Sports Illustrated for $20 million) and crying about fairness. I'll tell you what's unfair...It's unfair that he put himself in a position where he got so drunk he admittedly can't remember what happened with a stripper in his hotel room. What's unfair is that his wife had to hear about it in the media. What is unfair is that this guy has the nerve to say we have rushed to judgement against him. At the very least he admits he was in the strip club twice, that he had to be escorted home by a stripper because he was so drunk & that he can't remember what happened after that because he was so out of it. That's if what HE says is true. If the article has it right, he did much worse than that. Instead of filing suits to keep this in the public eye, he should issue a public apology for his behavior, apologize to his wife and family and promise to keep his nose clean from here on out. If he did that I bet people would give him a second chance. Some small college would hire him again within a year or two. Now, nobody wants anything to do with him.

Hi, I'll have a Mcfries, Mcshake and McWirelss internet access please. Wayport is testing Wireless internet access at 75 McDonalds in the Bay Area.

I had one of the uniquely long weekends that you look forward to for about a month, but are definately glad when it is over.
Friday we went to dinner at some Pizza place in Greenwood (in Seattle) with my aunt Sue & Uncle Jeff. There were suppose dto be 12 of us there and my wife Marsha and I couldn't figure out who the last person was going to be. We couldn't find any parking so we got a ticket for parking in the McDonald's parking lot. It's one of those parking company tickets though, so I'm not going to pay it. Anyway, the 12th person turns out to be my mom who just flew up from California. It was a very nice Surprise to see her.
On Saturday, we went horseback riding at a ranch in Gold Bar, Wa. The ride was great & a lot of fun. After the ride it was off to a BBQ also in Gold bar. Lots of food, people and beer.
Sunday was a family reunion in LaConner, WA. There were many Bouffiou's there that were all surprised to see my mom. We had Salmon, played the cribbage tournament, hid from the breif rainshower, chased my 3-year-old around all day and headed home around 7 pm. It was a great and exhausting weekend (remember, we jsut got home from a 12 day "vacation" to North Dakota which entailed 1800 miles worth of driving *after* we flew in to Minneapolis). Needless to say we have a ton of yardwork, laundry and catching up on chares to do this weekend.
I think I need a vacation - again!

My Buddy Rob Scoble talks about why the Web became such a success. His points come in repsonse to Tim Bray's "sharecropping Sucks" artice. They both make some good points, but we all know Al Gore invented the web!

Another win for Linux? Walmart.com sells Microtel PC with SuSE Linux software. Looks like Linux is starting to inch it's way along. Alot of people looking to spend less on "disposable" computers shop at these cheap retailers looking for a product they know will be replaced in just a year or two. A $300 box creates wuite a compelling arguement to try it out & possibly not return to a windows format.

Boy...is it me or has the Home Run Derby really lost it's luster without the star power this year? No Barry Bonds, no Sammy Sosa, no Manny Ramirez, No Frank Thomas, no Mark McGwire. Instead we get Brett Boone, Albert Pujols & Carlos Delgado. Whoopee. I've made a point to watch the Home Run Derby each of the past few years. This year, I'll pass. I've just got other things to do and I don't feel compelled to go watch this event if the star players don't feel compelled to play in it. I can't say I blame them in theory. It is a long season and a three-day break seems like a good thing, but isn't this event really supposed to be all about the fans? After all, we do pay their enormous salaries. I know baseball is much more than a three hour a day job like a lot of people think, but they also get rewarded handsomely for those hours of preparation. To me, this should be solely about giving back to those of us who care. It should feel like an honor to be there.

If you ever get a story about someone at work doing something completely stupid...this is the site for you...IWORKWITHFOOLS.COM. There are some great stories about bosses, co-workers and best of all...there probably all true. Here is a sample:
"I was told to be up at 4am to confirm that an outside vendor completed their project successfully.
I got an email that the project was cancelled AFTER it was supposed to happen...Ummm?"

Scott Johnson has some interesting comments regarding his "excellent" experience at SuperNova.

New site spoofs PayPal to get billing information: Hey! I actually got one of these e-mails. Luckily I had just received... no more than a week or so ago... a legitimate reminder from Paypal to upgrade my account info. I remembered that one and investigated this one more closely. I confirmed with Paypal the one I did was actually legitimate.

Sun revealed as SCO mystery licensee:
Robert McMillan writes Microsoft and Sun finally have something in common: both have signed Unix licensing agreements with The SCO Group in the last year.

Jeff Kent hit a Grand Slam and picked up MVP honers in the Snubs Vs All-Stars doubleheader simulated by ESPN.com. The simulation comes complete with play by play and box scores.

So with recent developments in the NBA (Mourning & Kidd deciding on NJ as their home), I think we can pencil in the starting line-ups for next years NBA Finals...
NJ NETS      Vs      LA Lakers
Jason Kidd   PG   Gary Payton
Kerry Kittles   SG   Kobe Bryant
Richard Jefferson   SF   DeVean George
Kenyon Martin   PF   Karl Malone
Alonzo Mourning   C   Shaq O'Neal

I just can't help it. I am addicted to these reality TV shows. The two I am focusing on this summer are Big Brother 4 and The Amazing Race 4. CBS has got this "Reality" thing down. BB4, Amazing Race, Survivor...All very addicting shows. The key is not to watch the first couple shows so you don't get drawn in, but once you are hooked it's all over. I am continuously amazed by peoples lack of basic reasoning/thinking skills. How people can do certain things without thinking about the consequences is beyond me. The best one by far is the original CBS reality show: Survivor. I would love to be on that show. Of course we all know "The Real World" on MTV was the predecessor to them all.

For all you Linux backers out there: Torvalds has published the last release of the current Linux development kernel, clearing the way for work on the next version of the operating system core. Here's the whole article.

KFC Chicken's Out: Good article on how KFC has submitted to the rantings and ravings of another lunatic activist organization. The best way to handle these people is to ignore them! Look, I'm all for the "ethical treatment of animals," but these are slaughterhouse chickens for Pete's sake. Let's not forget that at some point we will be thnking, ""mmm, this really is finger lickin' good."

Anyone interested in Video over IP? My company is hosting a webinar on the subject...
Date: 7/17/2003 2:00 p.m. New York / 7:00 p.m. London
Event: Video Over IP: Ready for Prime Time?
Sponsors: Allied Telesyn
Speakers: Andy Bray
Click Here to Register
Can IP fuel growth in the telecom economy by supplying the impetus for MSOs and other service providers to extend their services to encompass a truly competitive “triple play” offering? That is: data, voice, and video services to consumers and businesses?

Everything you ever wanted to know about the Canadian Football League can be found at their home page.

Cisco announces a flaw that can effect management of some of their Catalyst switches.

Mailman to Play With Lakers

So the Lakers will have Payton at the point, Kobe at either the off guard or small forward, Karl Malone at power forward and Shaq at center. Is there even a reason to watch the upcoming basketball season? All the experts and theorists can talk all they want about whether these guys will have good chemistry and if they can play together, but the fact of the matter is this is the best accumulation of starting talent any team has had in my lifetime. Granted there won't be enough shots to go around...and all we'll hear the whole season is about so and so being upset he isn't getting the ball enough...but when it comes to crunch time in the playoffs, no one will beat this team (barring significant injuries).

Everybody Wants something for Free

Why is that? I am amazed that people are actually using their camera phone to take pictures of pages in magazines instead of buying them.

Fantasy Baseball

BTW, I've been playing rotis baseball for close to 15 years now. If you play in any leagues and want my opinion on anything, let me know and we can discuss it here. Maybe we can get some interaction going!

Player Loses Amateur Status for Accepting Prize From Tiger Woods

Ok, So I don't feel sorry for this guy. There was no way he was going to win $70K in amateur tournaments this year, but in a situation like this he just got lucky...like winning a lottery...more than like winning a competition. Did his golf skill lead to him winning the car from Tiger Woods? Yes. But, even the average to below average golfer can hit one lucky shot. I compare this more to winning a lottery than winning a competition. What do you think?

Dante has a Weblog

My buddy Dante started his weblog today. His is about capitalism and life. While it is still in the early stages, check it out often to read about some of his philosophies on life.

Kobe's Gonna Be In Trouble

Unlike the mass media who seems to think Kobe Bryant must be innocent because of his outstanding character, I'm going to go on record as saying I think he is gonna get into some trouble for this sexual assault thing. It has come to light that both Kobe and the 19-year-old accuser went to the hospital the day of the incident to give DNA samples. Let me ask you, if you are the 19-year-old, and you were making up a story, there is no way you'd go so far as to let DNA be taken. You would have to know you are going to look stupid to all your friends and family...not to mention the world...if it comes out negative. Now just because it comes out positive doesn't mean Kobe assaulted her. It could have been completely consentual...but that's up to the courts to decide. Either way, if it's positive, there goes the squeaky clean image and probably half of everything he's got in the divorce settlement!

Sausage Beater

In one of the strangest stories I've ever read, Randall Simon of the Pirates was charged with misdemeanor battery for hitting a Milwaukee Brewers mascot dressed like a sausage with a bat! What the hell was this guy thinking? He probably thought he was doing something funny, but this has to go down as one of the most stupid acts ever by a professional athlete. What are some of your most memorable "stupid acts" by athletes?

QuesTec takes the human element out of the game!

I hate the new Questec grading system umpires in Major League Baseball are being graded on. Most finesse pitchers, such as Tom Glavine, agree. Baseball is one of the few games left which relies solely on the human element...at least it did until this year. A couple years ago a MLB umpire got severely reprimanded for consulting instant replay to judge whether a ball was a Home Run or not. If you are going to have an electronic system "scoring" umpires at some MLB parks, why not go all out and just use one umpire watching instant replay for every close call? Have you watched a football game lately? Isn't it agonizing to sit there and watch as an official runs to the sideline to check instant replay on close calls? It completely ruins the flow of the game. In baseball the banter between pitcher, catcher and umpire is half the fun. To take that away because some umpires, in less than half the parks, are worried about their grades is a travesty. Just like I don't want to see Major Leage ball players use aluminum bats, I don't like seeing the human element taken away from the balls & strikes.

Testing the Water

Hello All! My name is Nick Paredes. This is my first successful Blog post. How Exciting. I was introduced to Blogs by my old college buddy, Robert Scoble. I started reading his Blog a couple months ago and figured, if he can do it...so can I. In fact, he got a write up about his Blogging the the Seattle PI.

My Blog will be nothing like his. While a lot of blogs tend to be more techy and "industry significant," I plan to write more of a personal blog about sports, life and how the two meet & intertwine.

For instance: There is currently an uproar about Dusty Baker's (Chicago Cubs Manager) comments that Blacks and Latino's can handle the hot weather better than white skinned people because, after all, that is why they were brought to America to begin with.

While most in the paper, radio and news are condemning him and saying he should be penalized in some way for his comments....comparing him to others who have been fired or in some other way sanctioned for their racial comments in the past...I happen to agree with his right to speak his mind. His comments are not coming from stupidity or lack of education. They are coming from someone who has taken the time to learn his cultures history and doesn't mind speaking his piece. If you want to argue the validity of his statements, come forward with proof he is wrong. It is easy to sit back in your chair and say he shouldn't have made those comments, but I feel these types of comments are helpful to the education of people who otherwise would not have known. Could he have chose a different setting to make these comments? Maybe. The fact is he believes he is right and is standing by his comments...which is more than we can say for most who are in the spotlight who backtrack faster than Carl Lewis runs the 100 yard dash.

Well, now you have an idea on the types of things I will be including in this Blog. I hope to get lots of feedback from people who actually sign their names (I hate "anonymous users").