Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Random thoughts - Dawgs, Braves, a goodbye to one of the best in the business, other stuff...

TOLD you posting would be more sporadic now that I am back from vacation. Work has been kicking my butt pretty hard since I got back, plus some Father's Day traveling...so, yeah.

Some random thoughts that have been building up over the past week or so...

- First things first...The Dawg Nation is facing a big loss in the next month or so, as the magnificent David Hale is moving on to...um....well, let's just say different pastures, rather than greener ones.

Hale has produced a steady output of the kind of material that I wish ALL of the online "journalists" would aspire to...informative, entertaining, insightful, must-read articles, sometimes multiple times a day.

The two aspects that made him the best: First of all, he always seemed to ask the questions that we as fans would ask if given the opportunity, rather than just the typical cliches. I think that's harder to do than a lot of people think.

Secondly, his accuracy and integrity were never in question. Among all of us Dawg Tweeps, Bloggers, and 'Venters, there was one thing we knew for sure: no matter the situation (coaching change, position change, player suspensions, etc), it wasn't for SURE true unless David Hale had reported it.

Hale never attended UGA, but it's safe to say he is a DGD and will be missed by the Dawg Nation.

- My biggest regret about falling behind on my countdown to kickoff? I missed my opportunity last Saturday to post THIS:



Yep...Saturday was 77 days until kickoff, so we honor Trinton Sturdivant and his groovy dance stylings.

The other thing that means is that this week we are only TEN WEEKS from GAME WEEK! I can smell the ribs already! And the bourbon...and the VIOLENCE.

The more I think about this 2010 Dawgs team, the more excited I am. Only 73 days to go!!

- If there are any of you still reading this who were loyal readers of my American Idol recaps, I appreciate it...and you can rest knowing that you may have been witnesses to history. If this little news release turns out the way I am afraid it will, I will likely no longer even be WATCHING, must less recapping, so THIS was likely my last American Idol recap ever. With three daughters in the house, I hear plenty of 15-year-old marginally talented "singers" already...no need to expose myself to any more, thank you very much.

- U-S-A!!! U-S-A!!!




That concludes the soccer portion of our blog.

(Even if you're not a soccer fan, check out the second video)

- Braves continue to play good baseball...but one of my favorite stories of the season so far is Stephen Strasburg. Between him and J-Hey, I feel like we are watching the first green shoots of two guys who may go down as some of the best ever.

Check out some of these numbers, courtesy of Buster Olney's blog on ESPN.com (daily reading for baseball fans, by the way):

"After opposing hitters have reached a count of no balls and two strikes against Stephen Strasburg, they are 0-for-20 with 16 strikeouts. That's not much worse than what happens after they fall behind in the count of 0-1: Opponents are 4-for-36 with 22 strikeouts after the first pitch goes for strike one."

"How unusual is Stephen Strasburg's efficiency? Well, consider this note generated by the Washington Nationals' staff: In 2010, only three pitchers have struck out 10-plus in a game but required less than 100 pitches to do so. Strasburg has two of these zero-walk, 10-plus K tallies. On April 6, Dallas Braden struck out 10 over seven innings against the Mariners, while throwing 91 pitches. On May 15, James Shields struck out 10 with 93 pitches against the Mariners. Then, in his debut, Strasburg threw 94 pitches against the Pirates and struck out 14 -- before striking out 10 with 85 pitches against the White Sox Friday."

Pretty amazing stuff...in fact, if J-Hey doesn't find a way out of this slump he is in, Strasburg might steal his Rookie of the Year award.

One thing I don't like about the guy...he's a Scott Boras client. And, even though Strasburg signed the largest contract in draft history, he was "undervalued", according to Boras.

Whenever the first contract negotiation between the Nats and Strasburg happens, I think Boras' end of the conversation may sound something like this:

"Our demands are these: $350 GAZILLION dollars. And a unicorn... Wait, not a unicorn...what's the one with the wings? Oh, right, a Pegasus. We want $350 GAZILLION dollars and a personal Pegasus. What do you mean, how many zeroes are in a gazillion? I don't know...that's for YOU to figure out!"

OK, that's about it for now...how about I leave you with this, just for fun?


GO DAWGS!!!

1 comment:

amanda young said...

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