Come Back and Haunt Me

It's been a while, yeah? Well, believe it or not, baseball hasn't been at the forefront of my mind lately. Paying bills and getting ready for my fifth semester of college HAVE, though. Today is July 29th. You know, I could go on this whole bit about today being a very important day in baseball history and blaze blaze, but I'm not going to do that. Cal Ripken, Jr. and Tony Gwynn were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame today, and that sentence alone should speak volumes. I never really got the chance to see them play that often because when I really started getting into baseball, those two were just finishing up their careers. But I do know what they've accomplished. I mean, what true baseball fan doesn't? Ripken with his humility and 2, 632-game streak, Gwynn with his eight batting titles and friendship with Ted Williams, etc. What I'm still trying to figure out is, who in the hell didn't vote Ripkin and Gwynn into the Hall today? Those should clearly be unanimous decisions. The writers who didn't vote for them are probably the type who believe players like Russell Branyan should be inducted (sorry, that was kinda low seeing as though he's without a job now). I know one thing: if I ever get to visit Cooperstown in this lifetime, I'll probably shit 20 live chickens.

Side note: As lame as this sounds, I'm really excited about "300" coming on DVD Tuesday. When it was out in theaters I thought it was lame, but for the past few months I've been wanting to see it. "The Convenant" came on Starz last night, and that was a pretty decent movie. "The Benchwarmers" is now one of my favorites, ha ha.

No Need for a Funny Headline Here

In my opinion, last night was probably the most exciting night in the general sports world this year. More interesting than the Super Bowl, more exhilarating than the NBA Finals, Stanley Cup, and any of those other First Year Player Drafts, for last night was the 2007 NBA Draft (presented by Sprite...hey, you gotta put it in there). Unless you went Helen Keller on me last night, you should already know that a) there was actually a draft and b) who the first four or five players selected were. You know, I'm really not one to watch drafts, especially an NBA one because it's not really my sport, but I sort of felt as though I should do those players justice and just tune in. After all, they're my peers. The majority of those guys are my age or younger, I got the pleasure to see of their skills when I was graced with tickets to games at the Dean Dome (they're so hard to get now even for students), and one dude, who was drafted in the first round, goes to my school (or should I say went?). For those of you curious enough, I'm talkin' about Brandan Wright, drafted 9th overall. I honestly enjoyed watching the draft and hopefully, I'll continue to get more into the NBA as time progresses. And I'm counting the days until Psycho T goes in the first round (Tyler Hansbrough for you lames out there).

Now on to my love, my passion. The baseball world was relatively humdrum and overshadowed by the draft and whatnot, but two vastly significant events took place last night: Craig Biggio got his 3,000th career hit (well, make that his 3,002nd) against the um...you know, I don't even remember. He's the 27th guy to become Mr. 3,000 (first since Ralph Palmiero in '05) and the 9th to get all 3,000 with one team, or something along those lines. Amazing accomplishment, and kudos to Biggio. I'm not the sentimental type, but I kinda teared up a bit on that one. Don't know Biggio and I probably never will, but that shouldn't stop me from saying he's one of the nicest, scrappiest, hardest playing and most giving guys in sport. There shouldn't be a doubt in any sane person's mind that he'll be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but I just hope it isn't any time in the near future. I'd love to see the guy keep playing and get hundreds and hundreds of more hits. On another note, Frank Thomas became the 21st player in history to collect 500 home runs....and then dude gets thrown out of the game a little while later for arguing balls and strikes, ha ha. I thought that was hilarious. Just goes to show that umps really don't give a damn about how great a player is; can still get thrown out with the rest of 'em.

**Side note: I watched "Edward Scissorhands" this morning and I swear to you, that has to be Johnny Depp's greatest movie (yes, even better than his appearance in "Nightmare on Elm St."), and possibly one of the greatest "creepy" movies ever. I dunno, it must be Johnny Depp week in the cable world or something because "Scissorhands" came on this morning, "The Libertine", which is also pretty good, came on this morning, that "Pirates of the Caribbean" crap (the first one) came on this morning, the second one is coming on TV Sunday afternoon, and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is coming on tonight. Another one of his movies came on last night, but that's neither here nor there, ha ha.