Good morning everyone! I hope
you had a thoroughly enjoyable Monday evening of watching baseball
and/or football. I did a little of each, but I also played in our
first co-ed volleyball game last night. Our team played the league's
defending champs. Of course, I haven't played all offseason so, I
was going to be sore no matter what. But, of course, the game went
five games! Each game was close. I want to say the scores were
25-22, 21-25, 25-23, 22-15, and then we won game 5 by a score of
15-12. That's a lot of volleyball. That's a lot of moving around and
bumping, setting and hitting. I am so going to hurt.
Speaking of hurting, I need to make an apology to a number of the
readers of this site for something I wrote yesterday. I wrote up
reviews for
Jersey
Girl,
Fahrenheit 9/11 and
Starsky & Hutch. The apology is for some things I wrote in
the
Fahrenheit 9/11 review. Things that were made known to me by
a few of the readers. And again, I have to thank those people for
being honest and blunt and telling me the things I needed to hear,
and doing it in a very kind, well-thought out way.
Now, I happen to think that
Michael Moore is a terrible person with a major agenda.
What kind of unfair statement
is that? Yes, I said I "think", meaning it is just an opinion of
mine. And maybe I do believe that he has a pretty clear agenda. But
to call him a "terrible person" takes it a few steps past what is
acceptable. No, I am not a writer. I took only very rudimentary
college writing classes, and I certainly don't claim to be a
journalist of any real kind. I am a guy who writes his thoughts and
opinions on baseball and other topics, and I try to back them up.
But to make such a cold comment like "Michael Moore is a
terrible person" is completely unfair. I may have backed up how I
disagree with his agenda or tactics, but I don't know Michael
Moore. For all I know, he could be a great, caring, family man.
The fact that I disagree with his political viewpoint and how he
chooses to present those views does not make him a bad person in any
way.
One reader, Noah, asked me, "Aren't
American patriots suppose to challenge authority and raise
flammatory questions?"
That is a point that I certainly can't argue. Some of the people
that history calls great Americans are the guys who started this
country and made it what it is today. How? By questioning the way
that Americans were being treated by Britain, the American
Revolution, the Constitution and so many more of the events and
documents that made this country free.
So, I need to thank those of
you who took the time to write to me and set me straight. It was
needed. I need to remember that, even though I am not a journalist,
people do read what I write, so I do need to have a certain standard
for myself, for what I write and the accuracy and fairness with
which I write it. So thank you, and again, I apologize. I apologize
to Mr. Moore, anyone who knows or respects Mr. Moore, and in
general, anyone who expects a little professionalism when you come
to this site.
Oh, and three people e-mailed
me to remind me that Dick Cheney was not the owner of
Halliburton. He is a former CEO of the company, and a
shareholder, although he had to get rid of his shares before he
could assume the office of Vice President. That distinction does not
affect Moore's point on that topic, but again, it is good to be
accurate.
No, I don't agree with much of
what Michael Moore has said or has put into his movies. I
won't back away from that. But again, I do need to stress that it is
very important for people to hear all sides of any situation,
whether it is political opinion, religious topics or what to eat for
supper. I believe that only through full knowledge of all options
can a person really feel confident in whichever decisions he or she
chooses to go. Not everyone will agree with what you do, but if you
feel right about it, that's what matters. And for those reasons, I
still think that
Fahrenheit 9/11 is worth watching!
If I can answer any further
questions, or if you would like to further comment on any of this,
please e-mail me.
BASEBALL TOPICS
YANKEES/RED SOX SERIES
-
The Yankees and Red Sox
played their third straight LONG game yesterday afternoon. 14
innings long!
-
David Ortiz did it
again! Last night he did it all, including a bloop single to
center for the game-winning run, giving the Red Sox a 5-4 win.
In the 8th inning, he hit another solo home run. And, he got
things started with a single to score Manny Ramirez in
the first inning to give the Red Sox the lead.
-
And just to re-emphasize
my point on David Ortiz and the Twins... I still fully
believe that it was the right decision for the Twins to
non-tender David Ortiz three years ago. The fact is that,
in arbitration, he was set to make about $4 million. The other
fact is that he was very much injury prone as a Twin, unable to
stay healthy on the Metrodome turf. We knew he could hit. I
don't think anyone ever questioned that. However, had he stayed
a Twin, he never would have done the things he has done the last
two seasons with the Sox.
-
Esteban Loaiza had
actually pitched three shutout innings before allowing the
winning run in the 14th. The Yankees bullpen went 5 1/3 innings
without allowing a run before the 14th. Impressive, but not as
much as what the Red Sox bullpen was able to do. They came in
after Pedro Martinez gave up 4 runs in 6 innings. Mike
Timlin, Keith Foulke, Bronson Arroyo, Mike
Myers and Alan Embree combined for five scoreless
innings before Tim Wakefield pitched the final three
innings for the win.
-
Tonight, in Game 6, the
Yankees will start Jon Lieber against the Red Sox Curt
Schilling, who will give it a go on his gimpy ankle. The
Yankees will try for the third time to end the series and the
Red Sox will again play to play another day.
CARDINALS/ASTROS SERIES
-
There were just four hits
in the entire game, for both teams, combined! Only one really
mattered. Jeff Kent hit a game-winning, walk off homer in
the bottom of the ninth off Cardinals closer Jason
Isringhausen, with two runners on. To probably no one's
surprise, it was a single by Carlos Beltran, that started the
inning.
-
Raise your hand if you
knew who Brandon Backe was before he pitched the Wild
Card clinching game for the Astros on the final day of the
regular season. He was spectacular last night. 8 innings. 1 hit.
He did walk two and struck out four.
-
Brad Lidge is
incredible. At least last night he only had to pitch one inning,
after pitching two innings each of the past two days. He struck
out two and recorded the win.
-
Don’t forget Woody
Williams though. Like Backe, he gave up just one hit and
walked two and struck our four, all in 7 innings.
-
The Astros won all three
of their home games and now hold a 3-2 series lead with the
games headed back to St. Louis on Wednesday afternoon. It will
be Peter Munro for the Astros against the Cardinals
Matt Morris.
NFL
EXPERT PICKS
Well, the Rams did win, as all
of us predicted. So, Ryan Maus is our winner with a 13-1
record for the week. In doing so, he also made up a lot of ground on
our leader, Mike Brasel. Michael Labuda and David
Bergner each had just two wrong.
|
Thru Week
6 |
Total |
Week |
6 |
|
Over |
All |
|
| Name |
Site |
W
|
L |
Win% |
W |
L |
Win % |
| Mike
Brasel |
Fantasy FB Guru |
10 |
4 |
71.4% |
62 |
26 |
70.5% |
| Ryan
Maus |
Twins Chatter |
13 |
1 |
92.9% |
61 |
27 |
69.3% |
| Aaron
Gleeman |
Aaron's BB Blog |
11 |
3 |
78.6% |
59 |
29 |
67.0% |
| David
Bergner |
Baseball Savant |
12 |
2 |
85.7% |
59 |
29 |
67.0% |
|
Melissa Olson |
SethSpeaks.net |
11 |
3 |
78.6% |
58 |
30 |
65.9% |
| Michael
Labuda |
ChiSox Daily |
12 |
2 |
85.7% |
56 |
32 |
63.6% |
| Jeremy
Kovash |
Wolf Lake Mgr |
9 |
5 |
64.3% |
55 |
33 |
62.5% |
| Vic
Quick |
KDUH-TV Sports |
10 |
4 |
71.4% |
53 |
35 |
60.2% |
| Seth
Stohs |
SethSpeaks.net |
8 |
6 |
57.1% |
51 |
37 |
58.0% |
| Ben
Jacobs |
Hardball Times |
8 |
6 |
57.1% |
50 |
38 |
56.8% |
| David
Bloom |
Ya Gotta Believe |
6 |
8 |
42.9% |
49 |
39 |
55.7% |
| John
Bonnes |
The Twins Geek |
10 |
4 |
71.4% |
47 |
41 |
53.4% |
And that is it for today! Have
yourself a wonderful week! If you have any questions,
comments or ideas for future topics, please
e-mail me.
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