I’ve pretty much been glued to the television at night watching the Olympics. It’s funny how every four years, I all of a sudden care about sports that I normally have no interest in like women’s gymnastics. Maybe it’s due to the fact that I love my country and love to see its athletes dominate the rest of the world.
I’m currently working on another post that I hope to have up soon. In the meantime, here is Dwight from The Office with some suggestions for future Olympic events.
I’ve said it before: if a professional athlete takes steroids, they’re a cheater. Based on the Hall of Fame voting results that were announced yesterday, it looks like the Baseball Writers Association feels the same way.
Yesterday, Rich “Goose” Gossage was elected into the Hall. He was the only one. Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, Jim Rice, and Mark McGwire were all names that should have been announced but none of them were. I can understand why McGwire was left out but the others should have all been voted in.
Mark McGwire is one of my favorite players ever. He used to be considered “good for baseball” too, but then people stopped caring about the fact that he nearly single-handedly saved the game in 1998 when he broke Roger Maris’ single-season home run record. He finished his career with a total of 583 home runs. That is a number that used to automatically get a player into the Hall of Fame, but since everybody that has broken a record or had a good season in the last 20 years is assumed to be guilty of using steroids, I have a feeling that McGwire will never make it into the Hall.
Jazz training camp started this week amidst much drama. For those who hadn’t heard, Andrei Kirilenko demanded a trade over the summer. Apparently, he doesn’t like playing under Jerry Sloan and he doesn’t like his role as a defender/garbage man on the team. Coming off of a great run in the European Championships where he scored a lot of points and won the MVP, Andrei feels that he is a major offensive threat. He’s not. He can score but he scores off of garbage. That’s what he’s good at and that’s what he needs to do. If he can accept the fact that he’s not the first scoring option on the team, he’ll be much happier.
I love October. Sure, I get to send my kids out into the cold dark night on a quest to find me Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups at the end of the month, but until then, I get to watch baseball. Not just any baseball either. I get to watch post-season baseball. I look forward to this every year. I will listen to games on the radio during the day then come home at night and watch them on television. Given the announcer, I almost prefer listening to games on the radio. There’s just something nostalgic about it.
All year I have been following the Mets, eagerly anticipating this week when they would start the playoffs and ultimately win the World Series. There were stretches during the season where the team would go on a losing streak but they were always comfortably in first place in their division. The team had flaws but I figured that there was no way that they wouldn’t make the playoffs.
Barry Bonds only needs two more home runs to surpass Hank Aaron as baseball’s all-time home run leader. I have a lot of mixed feelings about this. On one hand, he’s quite possibly the greatest player of his generation on the verge of breaking the most hallowed record in all of sports. On the other, there’s a lot of evidence that this guy is a cheater.
It hurts me to say this, but Barry Bonds is an amazing baseball player; quite possibly the best ever. Yeah, I said the best ever. It hurts me because he’s a cheater. (More on that in a minute.) He’s also not a very likable guy. I can understand trying to stay out of the spotlight what with all of the scandal that’s surrounded him over the past few years, but there’s a right and a wrong way to do it. He does it the wrong way.
Last night the Utah Jazz won game 5 of their series with the Golden State Warriors earning them a place in the Western Conference Finals. For those who don’t know, this is the first time that the Jazz have been in this position since 1998.
I have to admit, I didn’t expect this from the Jazz this year. Or next year. Maybe the year after that. I figured that they would probably make the playoffs this year and then lose in the first round. Then they started off the season really hot and showed everybody how good they can be when everyone is relatively healthy. Carlos Boozer’s good health has especially helped this team. (I was mad when the Jazz didn’t draft him and I’ve defended his game ever since he came to Utah. I feel so redeemed.)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
