Here’s one headline:
Merck to pay $950 million to settle U.S. Vioxx charge.
Merck knew that Vioxx increased the risks of heart attacks long before they admitted it. It was a large institutional cover up.
Merck CEO To Lead Penn State Investigation
So to investigate a huge institutional cover up you choose who?
Honestly, it was a struggle to link articles that were neutral and didn’t point out the absolute absurdity of this. Just google “penn state merck”.
As a Yankee fan who hates the Red Sox on principle, I had to always give begrudging respect to Terry Francona, their manager, because he was always a class act and frankly very good.
Now I don’t follow the Red Sox clubhouse details closely, and perhaps Francona did lose the clubhouse this season. Though let’s recall that for most of the season they had the 1st or 2nd best record in baseball.
But even if it was time for him to go, this is the guy who brought you two World Series victories after one of the longest droughts in baseball history.
You don’t need to slime him on the way out the door…
You all know Mariano Rivera is my favorite Yankee. For many reasons. Interestingly the media rarely discusses his faith, probably because it’s both a subject that the media isn’t particularly comfortable with and it’s a subject where athletes are often less than sincere (like God cares who wins a baseball game).
So I thought this was a very good article.
The best quote in the article came from Tino Martinez:
Look, we’re all replaceable. Baseball can replace a first baseman, a shortstop, a third baseman. But you can’t replace him. When he’s not there, it will all change. He’s the single individual in the game where everything will be completely different without him. The way you approach the Yankees will be different. Everyone is wondering what that will be like.
I’m not looking forward to that…
So often sports commentators make predictions at the beginning of the year and so seldom does anyone go back and see how they did.
100% of the “experts” picked the Red Sox to have a collapse of historic proportions win the American League East. A majority of them picked the Red Sox to win the World Series.
As a Yankee fan, I can only laugh maniacally…
I’ve spent enough time pointing out that Mariano Rivera is the greatest closer ever. I’ll let someone else do it for me this time.
Congrats Mo. Greatest. Closer. Ever.
Derek Jeter got to 3,000 hits this year. That’s a big deal. The hype started at the beginning of the season and continued until he finally did it. Again, 3,000 is a big milestone, but it’s not the all-time record or anything close.
Mariano Rivera is 5 saves away from 600 saves. He is 6 saves away from tying the all-time record and therefore 7 saves away from breaking it.
The all-time major league total saves record.
So where’s the hype? Does anyone who isn’t a Yankee fan even realize how close he is?
I did some digging on the MLB site and they do actually have a page up for this. But you’ll never find it if you aren’t looking for it.
Did I mention this is the all time record?
Anyway, I’ll say it again. Greatest. Closer. Ever.
Bill Simmons, on his new web site Grantland:
Fact: If Miami blows this Finals after choking away Games 2 and 4, after everything that happened since The Decision and The Gratuitous Party One Night After The Decision, the Internet might explode. I’m not kidding. You’re going to log on the next morning and there will just be a picture of a mushroom cloud.
I’d like to see that…
Michael Wilbon on LeBron’s performance in the finals and Stevenson’s comments:
DeShawn Stevenson, a player with zero pedigree and no filter, actually said yesterday that he thought LeBron “checked out” in the fourth quarter. Seriously, if Stevenson said that about Michael Jordan 15 years ago Jordan would put 50 on him and do it in such a way that embarrassed everybody ever named Stevenson, back to Adlai.
I agree. Let’s see if LeBron comes out crazy aggressive tonight…
Today was opening day, and aside from the fact that it was cold and drizzling in New York it was a good day.
Jeter, Posada and Rivera set a very interesting record. No trio of players in any major US sport has spent 17 seasons together. Today marked their 17th season.
The record for oldest Yankee pitcher to record a save was at 40 years old. Mariano Rivera stepped in today at 41 and broke that record with his typically perfect ninth inning.
But it was the twitter trending that amused me most. Right after the win, at #3 and #4 trending on twitter were “Yankees Win” and “Enter Sandman”.
The funny part was that while “Yankees Win” quickly fell off the trending list, “Enter Sandman” stayed there for quite a while. Mostly due to people tweeting, “why is Enter Sandman trending?”.
For the non baseball fans, about 12 years ago Yankee management wanted theme music for when Rivera entered the game. Metallica’s Enter Sandman was chosen (not by Mariano, who is a devout Christian and not exactly into heavy metal). If you are at the Stadium for the ninth inning, you hear the first two seconds of Enter Sandman and the crowd goes crazy.
So on opening day, when Rivera comes in to close out the first game of the season, millions of Yankee fans tweeting “Enter Sandman” makes total sense.
While millions of non Yankee fans wondered why Metallica was suddenly hot…
So there must be madness. I’m very busy but I’ll still be doing the NCAA Pool (I’ll probably be in last place, but what the hell). For those interested in such things, I do the same pool every year.
My point formula has always been the same. Each round is worth double the last round (1,2,4,8,16,32 for those with limited math skills). And on top of that you multiply the seed.
So getting some of the early upsets is essential.
But getting the final winner right is also essential.
Which, to me, is the essence of March Madness. The early upsets and craziness is part the charm. But at the end, unlike in college football, no one is disputing who the champion is.
Of course, I do not condone gambling, but I always appreciate people contributing $10 to cover my time and effort. And I tend to provide monetary gifts to those in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.
If you would like to participate, a PayPal account is useful. You might see a payment request for something like “dog grooming”. Work with me.
I use CBSSports.com because they do a great job on this stuff. If you would like to join, the link is http://fish2011.mayhem.cbssports.com/e. The password is so secret only my closest friends know it.
Or maybe it’s “fish” (no quotes).
Let the madness begin…
Steve Fischer's Random Blog 