Top 10 Reasons Why I Love Baseball

Baseball is called America's greatest past-time and there are many reasons why people feel this way. It can be something small like the hot dogs at their favorite stadium or something big like being the Tigers' #1 fan. Let me give you my reasons.

10. Baseball means summer. There's nothing better than looking forward to Spring Training. Not only is winter almost over but you can now put away your football jersey and break out the baseball cap.

9. The players. In baseball, you have to have skill. This is true in every sport, but you can be pushing 50 and still playing baseball...if you've got what it takes. Hitting a tiny ball going 98 MPH is far more impressive to me than making a layup.

8. The players. Yeah, this is also #9, but now I'm talking about really looking at the players. Football players may have huge muscles and soccer players have nice legs, but in baseball uniforms, a guy can look attractive with hardly anything at all. You can't be scrawny by any means, but show me some pinstripes and some tight pants, and I'll cheer for you.

7. It's in our blood. Americans have been infatuated with baseball for over one hundred years and the love affair shows no signs of stopping. USA=baseball.

6. Big League Chew. Hands down, this is the best brand of bubble gum out there. If there was no baseball, we would have never discovered such a wonderful treat. By chewing it, you feel like you could keep up with the pros and maybe even blow a bigger bubble.

5. The drama. You can't tell me that a brawl that clears both benches isn't one of the greatest things you can witness at a sporting event. It's not always pretty or dignified but when the pitcher is kicking the crap out of the hitter, you're bound to get excited. And don't even get me started on pitchers turning on their own catchers. Cough, cough, Zambrano.

4. "Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks..." This song, sung in the 7th inning stretch, represents all that is good and holy in baseball. Everyone knows it and everyone can sing it, which means that everyone knows something about the great game of baseball. Our grandparents can sing it, while our parents hum it, and our own children will be trying to learn it on the piano. "Cuz it's one, two, three strikes you're out, at the ole' BALL GAME!"

3. The atmosphere. I went to a Dodgers game this year and although I'm not a huge fan, it was the best game I've ever gone to. Why? Simply because of the atmosphere. The sun had just set, it was about 55 degrees, and everyone was geared up in their favorite players' jersey. The stadium is one of the oldest in the country and I'm not even going to go into how wonderful a Dodger Dog is. What I'm trying to say is, the atmosphere of a baseball game is something that you can't take for granted and that you can't duplicate. If you've never been to a MLB game, please do yourself a favor and go.

2. You can be a baseball fan from the age of 4 up to 100. You start off playing tee ball, and then Little League. Soon you're on a middle school traveling team and your high school is winning regionals. You might play in college and you could be lucky enough to make it to the MLB, but the main thing is, you're in it for life. Baseball gets into your body and soul and without it, you are nothing. As Jimmy Dugan says in the movie A League of Their Own, "Baseball is what gets inside you. It's what lights you up, you can't deny that."

1. The loyalty and love you have for your team. For me of course, it's always been the Cubs. No matter what, if they haven't won a game all season or if they've just won the World Series, you stick with them. You follow the transactions, you feel for the pitcher when he has to get surgery, and you leap with joy when someone breaks a record. Your team and your fellow fans are what makes baseball great.

So there it is. My top 10 reasons why I love this sport. Stupid me, I've forgotten one. There's no crying in baseball.

Goodbye Cintron and Posednik, Hello Linebrink

So we finally have had some excitement in the off season trading industry this week. Its about time. The White Sox signed reliever Scott Linebrink on Wednesday, which was a four year, $19 million deal. However when you gain one, you normally have to lose one in order to make some room. The White Sox chose to make room by waiving their infielder Alex Cintron. The Sox were hesitant to give Cintron a raise, especially since he hadn’t made a complete recovery from a surgery he had on his throwing elbow. Another downfall that Cintron had was that he had a batting average of only .243 last season. So the White Sox obviously thought he was the one that needed to go. But I think that they made a very good choice.

The White Sox have commented that they also think that they made a good choice and are confident in their decision to sign Linebrink. The only consquence that came with signing Linebrink was that the White Sox ended up losing their second round draft pick. However, I think that they were willing to make the sacrafice. I’m sure they think it is worth it since Linebrink was 5-6 with a 3.71 ERA when he was with San Diego and Milwaukee last season. He will come to Chicago White Sox with a 30-16 record and a 3.21 ERA over the course of eight seasons with San Diego, Milwaukee, San Francisco and Houston.


The White Sox also decided to release outfielder Scott Posednik who signed the waivers last week and officially became a free agent. Posednik was out for a majority of the 2007 season with an injury.

And yet we still haven’t heard anything about what the White Sox plan on doing with Josh Fields and Joe Crede. I am surprised that they haven’t traded either of them yet, but maybe we will all be even more surprised if they decide to keep both of them. I have a feeling that there is a potential for more amazements in the very near future. Wouldn’t it be nice to see Aaron Rowand back on the south side?!?

I sure hope we don't choke in the off season....

Well it’s a new week, but it’s the same story. The White Sox are wasting another valuable week of off season moves with doing absolutely nothing. They have not resigned anyone nor are they showing any interest in anyone. I’m just wondering what is going through Kenny William’s head.

Like I stated in my last blog, the White Sox didn’t really make an intelligent move with the whole Orlando Cabrera and Juan Uribe ordeal. There are reports that we are not done with trading moves yet, (at least I hope so because we still need a centerfielder) but I’m just wondering when we are going to make some kind of move. Time is running out and it doesn’t appear that the White Sox are showing interest in anyone who is in the free market. The only one that they are really showed interest in was Torii Hunter and if you can recall, that number one target fell through miserably when he signed with the Angels.

I really hope Kenny Williams will make another off season move; however, I don’t really have high hopes of that actually happening. There will probably be the excuses of too much money, but we need to produce a promising 2008 season and the only way we can do that is with some good off season trading. And from the looks of things, I really don’t know if the “big” move is on the horizon. This is not the time to choke.

10 Reasons Why the Chicago Bulls are 3-10

Not only is Scott Skiles speechless about the performance of his team, but so is all of Chicago. In an NBA preseason power ranking, Topupsidepotential.com ranked the Chicago Bulls as the number three team in the East and the number seven team in the NBA. So far, the Bulls are last in the East and are third to last in the NBA. Sad to say, this is not what anyone was expecting. Most people thought that once the Kobe Bryant trade talk ended, the Bulls would be able to focus more on their game. But this was easier said than done. So here is a countdown of the ten reasons why Chicago is playing like "bullshit."

10. Bulls are still lacking a power forward. Tyrus Thomas started the season as Chicago's power forward. After little production, except in Chicago's first win over Detroit, Tyrus was replaced by small forward Andres Nocioni as the starting power forward, even while Luol Deng was injured. Joe Smith has provided a good spark from the bench, but he isn't capable of putting up big numbers or double-doubles. I say just keep on working with Tyrus until he mans up because a smaller line-up is not what the Bulls need.

9. Chicago's rookies aren't adding much depth to bench. Joakim Noah started off the season with an injury, Aaron Gray's surprising preseason performance did not carry on into the regular season, and JamesOn Curry ended up being shipped off to the D-league. Not that we were expecting much, but we want to send one of them to the Rookie Challenge in New Orleans during All-star weekend. All we ask is to do what they did in college...whenever they get the chance to play.

8. Charity stripe is not so generous for the Bulls. The Chicago Bulls are averaging 78% from the free throw line. Chicago shouldn't be surprised by Ben Wallace's 33% free throw percentage, but when Luol Deng is shooting 68% and Andres Nocioni is shooting 66%, who are two of the team's best shooters, then there is a little problem. I sometimes have trouble understanding how someone can shoot a jumper with a hand in your face so easily, but there is only about a 70% chance that you will make an uncontested free throw.

7. Is Big Ben running out of time? John Paxson brought Ben Wallace to Chicago hoping he might fill Chicago's void of a big man. This 4-time Defensive Player of the Year might have reached his peak. At the age of 33, he is only averaging 7.4 rebounds, 1.6 steals, and 1.3 blocks, as well as 4.5 points. So is Chicago back to where they started 2 years ago?

6. Still waiting for Tyrus and Thabo to emerge. The upside of both Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefolosha is so immense that it may be years until we get to see some real game come from them. With Tyrus being replaced by Nocioni in the starting line-up and Thabo not getting as much playing time as undrafted rookie Thomas Gardner, there is not much Chicago has seen from these two...except for the usual sick nasty dunks by Tyrus. Together, they average only 11.1 points.

5. They aren't winning the games they should be. Basically, Chicago should have won their first four games but somehow did not. It's sad that their first 4 games of the season (New Jersey Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers), were also some of the easiest of the season. They can't beat them, but they manage to pull off their first win against the then undefeated Detroit Pistons. What's up with that?

4. Umm...they are not playing good basketball?? What more can I say? They just suck at the moment. The past two years, Chicago has gotten off to a slow start, but this time is different. The inconsistency of the Bulls' play is beginning to worry all of Chicago, especially now that they're on their crazy Western conference road tour.

3. Chicago's three-headed bull is being taken by the horns. Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, and Kirk Hinrich are averaging a combined 42 points, which is considerably lower than last year's 56.8 points. These are the guys who must carry the offensive. If they can get their game together, they will receive more help on offense from Nocioni, Duhon, and Thomas.

2. The Bulls can't shoot for shit...at the moment. I'll just give you cold hard statistics. The Bulls have a field goal percentage of 44%, and they are also shooting 37% percent from the 3-point line. They are only averaging 86.5 points per game, while their opponents are averaging 96.5 points per game.

1. Let's face it...Chicago needs Kobe. With trade talks involving Kobe being thrown out the window, so were Chicago's hopes of being one of the greats of the Eastern conference once again. Everyone figured Chicago's emerging talent would be enough, but their record says otherwise. Kobe is currently the NBA's second leading scoring, averaging 27.9 points per game. I'm sure he will continue to be unhappy in Los Angeles, but at least the Lakers have him.

I will continue to cheer for my Chicago Bulls. All I can say is that they have to start getting their shit together.

Wood Is Sticking Around

It's amazing what $4.2 million will get you. If you're a baseball General Manager, that money can help guarantee that a player will decide to stay with your team. In the case of the Cubs, that's exactly what happened.

Kerry Wood agreed to stay with the Cubs for a $4.2 million one-year deal. When free agents started to look into him, the Cubs put more money on the table to keep him around.

"Chicago's my home," Wood said during a conference call. "Chicago's been great to me. There's no better place to play, especially if you're winning."

Of course the word "winning" is in Chicago Cubs terms. This doesn't mean a World Series Title, it just means that with the NL Central victory, the team is on the right track to actually getting through the postseason. Heck, I would stick around to if my salary went from $1.7 million to $4.2 million in just a year.

It's most likely that Wood will pitch from the bullpen along with Marmol and Howry. He's had some elbow and shoulder problems in the past but that hasn't stopped him from being an important aspect to the Cubs' pitching. Wood has a 72-57 career record with 3.67 ERA in part of nine seasons with the Cubs.

"Physically, I feel like I can do it," he said. "But I know what it takes to go out and eat up 200-plus innings. I know what kind of toll it takes on your body. With what I've been through, I don't know if it's wise of me to take that chance again right away."

Hopefully this decision to keep Wood around for at least one more year will benefit the Chicago team. I see Wood doing great things next year, boosting fans' confidence in the bullpen and possibly becoming a great closer. The $4.2 million was well spent on Kerry Wood.