Monday January 19, 2004
 

CJ Nitkowski Site

Rich’s Weekend Baseball Beat

ESPN Top Athletes

NFL “PLAYOFF”EXPERT PICKS

Minnesota Weekend

Big Night for Reality TV

Real Day Off

I have written in the past about taking a day off, then still wrote a bunch. Today, I am really taking a day off. I am working on a big fantasy baseball preview, which will be appearing over the rest of this week, so I will not be posting anything terribly original today. Be sure to check back the rest of the week though. If you have any thoughts, be sure to e-mail me.

So, for today, I am going to link you to a few great posts that you should really take the time to check out:

CJ NITKOWSKI SITE

The Twins Geek always writes great postings, but he came upon a great link on Friday to the CJ Nitkowski website. CJ Nitkowski has been a big league pitcher since 1995, a year after he was drafted in the first round of the major league draft by the Cincinnati Reds. He has been traded four times and released five times since then. I think it is fair enough to say that he has had his ups and downs in his big league career. It is probably fair to say the same thing about his personal and spiritual life, which is what he documents on his website. The interesting part of his testimony is who first made him really think more deeply about it, Twins non-roster invitee, Peter Munro.

I actually used to stop by his webpage three or four years ago. At that time, he would write entries almost daily from his hotel rooms. He wrote about how he was pitching. He wrote about golfing and restaurants on the road. It was incredibly interesting. I remember e-mailing him and asking him some baseball questions, and he responded within a couple of hours. About two years ago, the tone of the site changed. It is now less about baseball and more about his faith. It’s still worth checking out!

RICH’S WEEKEND BASEBALL BEAT

Rich has been writing some really great postings the last few weeks, and Twins fans should really be checking them out. You remember awhile back when he wrote about Bert Blyleven’s Hall of Fame qualifications? Well, since that time, he has written a few other postings directly related to the Twins.

Last week, he wrote a wonderful article about the Twins/Dodgers 1965 World Series, specifically Game 7. It is interesting to see how much of the Twins offense that series came from its pitchers, Mudcat Grant and Jim Kaat. The Dodgers pitching of Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax. Those pitchers had to win games for them because the Dodgers had very little offense. Rich shows how poor that team was by discussing Willie Davis being their #3 hitter. That year, he hit .238/.263/.346 with 10 home runs. I’m sorry, but no team with a #3 hitter with those number should be in the World Series! The Twins lineup that year included Zoilo Versailles, Tony Oliva, and Harmon Killebrew.

But to me, the most interesting part of the posting was how Rich was able to tie in the 1965 World Series compared to current-day baseball. It is especially interesting when discussing starting pitchers and the usage of relief pitchers. This is must-read material.

Rich’s most recent entry from this past weekend was more in regard to Bert Blyleven. Also, well worth the read. 
 

NFL “PLAYOFF” EXPERT PICKS

OK, this is two weeks in a row that I haven’t even been right on one pick. That’s bad!!! One more chance, but we have to wait two weeks until the Carolina Panthers and the New England Patriots square off in the Super Bowl. That is just terribly dumb scheduling. We’ll be seeing Super Bowl stories all week. By next week, when there should be excitement for the Super Bowl, I will be so sick of hearing about it, that I won’t even care about the game. Of course, traditionally, I don’t care about the game itself. I watch for the commercials. Plus, Carolina and New England??? How boring is that game going to be?

ESPN Top 25 Athletes

ESPN.com is asking its readers to rank the Top 25 Athletes of the last 25 years (1979-2004). Here are their options:

Lance Armstrong, Larry Bird, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Tim Duncan, Dale Earnhardt, John Elway, Wayne Gretzky, Florence Griffith-Joyner, Mia Hamm, Eric Heiden, Rickey Henderson, Magic Johnson, Marion Jones, Michael Jordan, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mario Lemieux, Sugar Ray Leonard, Carl Lewis, Dan Marino, John McEnroe, Joe Montana, Martina Navratilova, Shaquille O’Neal, Jerry Rice, Cal Ripken, Alex Rodriguez, Patrick Roy, Pete Sampras, Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith, Lawrence Taylor, Mike Tyson, Serena Williams and Tiger Woods.

Although this list of athletes is impressive, I wonder what ESPN’s definition of ‘Top Athlete’ is? If they’re looking for the best athlete, or most athletic athlete, how is it even possible that Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders are not on this list? If we are talking about athleticism, how is Dan Marino on the list? How is Joe Montana? There certainly is no comparing the athleticism between Cal Ripken, Jr., and Barry Bonds.

Also, how can you compare the greats of their sports to each other? How can you compare the greatest hockey players in the world, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, to the greatest basketball player, Michael Jordan, to the greatest bicyclist, Lance Armstrong, to the world’s best driver, Dale Earnhardt? How can you compare John McEnroe to Serena Williams, or Carl Lewis to Flo-Jo?

So, I applaud the concept of this ranking and find it interesting, but I don’t know what it is really saying or means, other than to create discussion. That said, discussion is always good, and lists are fun, so be sure to check out the poll and participate. Maybe we will all be able to learn something from the findings. I doubt it. I mean we all know that Michael Jordan will win it with the voting. Tiger Woods will probably finish higher than he should. Eric Heiden will probably come in last because he is the least known of those listed.  That’s just how these things work!

What do you think? E-mail me.
 

MINNESOTA WEEKEND

It wasn’t a good weekend for Minnesota basketball teams. The Wolves lost on national TV to the Houston Rockets. The Gophers Men’s Basketball team lost yet again, this time to Ohio State. Even the Gophers Women’s Basketball Team, which had been the lone undefeated women’s team in Division 1, lost on the road to the 9^th ranked Purdue team.

The Gophers hockey team made up the difference though, beating Minnesota St.-Mankato 6-0 and 10-3 this weekend.
 

BIG NIGHT FOR REALITY TV

Tonight is a big night. It is the premiere episode of American Idol tonight at 7 on Fox! Woo hoo! It is followed by My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance! When that is done, flip over to NBC and watch Average Joe 2: Hawaii.

Any thoughts on anything you’ve read today? Any ideas for future articles?? If you have any questions or comments on anything, please e-mail me. Remember to stop by the rest of the week for some fantasy baseball previews.

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