Thursday ThumbTubes & YouNails: 9-4-08

In an attempt to not overstate the obvious, I'll not mention that this is the first day of 2008 in which baseball and football are happening on the same day. Instead, I'll hang up some images around the House that have to do with football, baseball, perhaps guys that watch them both, and perhaps women that don't. Not anytime soon, though. You'll have to click to the jump, which we all know takes at least a week to get through. Well, it's like a week in dog years or something. Either way...

This quote from Rockies skipper Clint Hurdle was published earlier this week in The Denver Post:

"I just hate the Dodgers. I love to see them lose," Hurdle said. "It's nothing personal with anyone there. You know how some people love the Yankees? I choose to hate the Dodgers."



The following are excerpts from that same article:

"Let's face it: The Dodgers should be the Yankees West. They should treat this division as their own charity golf tournament, patronizing their rivals with their mere presence...Instead, they function like a Mach 1 Mustang equipped with a Yugo engine...Their payroll is roughly $118 million this season, $41 million more than the Giants, the next-closest club in the division...Rather than steamroll, they make eyes roll. Why can't they win? The problems can be traced to leadership and the inability to commit to a plan...The Dodgers can't decide if they are big-market team driven by headlines or a small-market club that should build from within...Yet, their arrival in the big leagues has not translated into success because of a flawed roster. Had the Dodgers gone completely young, they would have been better off. That is a hard sell, particularly in a market that demands stars."

(Props to The Big Lead)

And then there's Tommy Lasorda. He doesn't hate the Dodgers, only other countries not named America that are playing baseball, especially against Americans.



(clip courtesy of MouthpieceSports via Big League Stew)



Some Canadian (named Neate; spells things with a 'c' where an 's' would/should be...must be Canadian, right?) puddle of sac sweat at Epic Carnival has put together a Chiefs season preview. You can tell he worked real hard on it, too:

"Writing the Chiefs preview is like being the guy at the office who always puts his name down to bring napkins to a potluck dinner...Someone's gotta do it, right? It wouldn't do for you to be walking around for the rest of the afternoon with bits of Monte from Accounting's 5-Alarm Chili and the lasagna brought by sneaky-hot Laura from Payroll on your lips."

He goes on to say (Editor's Note: Shocker.) that starting Brodie Croyle is dumb, and link to Jason Whitlock's stupid plea for the Chiefs to draft some quarterback from Ball State. (Note: I've never, ever known Fatlock to cheer for something that ties to him.)

(Update: The author also suggests that Croyle holding a starting job is a shame while someone like Daunte Culpepper sits waiting for an employment opportunity. Apparently, he has retired. This news comes from SI, via ProFootballTalk.)



Sports by Brooks has a slant on former KU Jayhalks Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur getting sent home from the NBA's rookie transition program yesterday. The Kansas City Star reports that they were "caught in their hotel room with marijuana and women, sources told ESPN The Magazine." Deadspin also had a reader send them an awesome photo of the two from championship night.



A blog by the name of Ted Ginn & Tonic published an NFL season preview. Regarding the AFC West, they say that the Broncos are "mired in mediocrity, and the Raiders and Chiefs are simply not ready to challenge for a playoff spot." They also predict the Dallas Cowboys to defeat the Chargers in the Super Bowl. Snore.

Barstool Sports published a post about a slight oops for the guy behind the male-enhancement product advertised in commercials like this one:



From the piece: "...U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel sentenced (Steve Warshak, owner of Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals) to 25 years in prison, fined him $93 million, and forfeited $459 million - that's nearly half a billion dollars - of his and his company's assets to the government. Worse, former Berkeley Chief Operating Officer Jim Teegarden testified that Warshak required customers to provide notarized documents from a doctor proving that they had small genitals in order to get a refund, according to an article on the Consumerist.com Website."

Curses to all Web sites that post video footage without embed links, but if you go here, you can watch clips about Bloggers Day at Shea Stadium, frontrunners for Manager of the Year, and candidates for Rookie of the Year.

Finally, clown over at Major League Jerk, doesn't like Sarah Palin. At least not in a way that relates to politics. Neither does my wife, my mother-in-law, and a handful of other folks. Especially Anne Kilkenny, who's circulating this letter. I'd excerpt from it, but hey -- this blog is not about politics. It's about other stuff.