DLD - 12/19 - What more can I say?

by JLaff on Dec 19, 2008 8:21 AM PST Comment 44 comments

There will be links in here, I promise.

This will be a little self-serving, I apologize.

Today is my final day as a college student.

Today could be Bobby Crosby's last day as an Oakland A.

i still can't believe it. This is something I've waited 4 1/2 years for. I finished an epic paper on the state of journalism last night, probably one of my best pieces of academic writing. There were 2 years of studying at Los Medanos College in Pittsburg, where I had the priviledge of learning under some amazing professors.

Then it was on to San Diego State, where I spent 2 1/2 years ~~checking out California's finest student bodies~~ learning, working and doing the occasional studying. Getting through there wasn't exactly easy.

I've got a good feeling about their new football coach, though.

You want more actual links, huh? De La Salle in Concord, my alma mater, will be playing in the Division 1 bowl game tonight against Centennial of Corona. Go Spartans!

Also, I really hope Cathedral Catholic (from San Diego) does well in their bowl game. Head coach Sean Doyle is good people, and running back Tyler Gaffney is one of the most spectacular high school players I've seen.

Oh, right, back to baseball.

I have been waiting for this to happen. It HAD to happen eventually, right?

Niekro, who as recently as 2006 was vying to become the Giants' everyday first baseman, is exiting a brief retirement from baseball and will attempt a comeback at age 30 as a right-handed knuckleball pitcher for the Atlanta Braves.

The Braves have signed Niekro to a minor-league contract and will bring him to spring training to see if he can extend the legacy of his late father, Joe, and his uncle Phil and make his living floating baseballs to major-league hitters.

"It's going to be an adventure," Lance Niekro said Thursday from his home in Lakeland, Fla., "but it's going to be a fun one."

I love knuckleballers. I have a weird thing for them, and I think they're good for the game. There's nothing like a professional baseball hitter, trained to notice the difference between 95 mph fastball and an 80 mph changeup in a fraction of a second, looking silly on a pitch that wouldn't even break the freeway speed limit.

The Red Sox have admitted they've lost the Mark Teixiera sweepstakes. So is Anaheim now the most likely destination, or is there still a chance for the Orioles, or even better, the Nationals to sign him?

There really isn't a lot else for me to link, really.

- My favorite A's game in the past 4 1/2 years

- The most exciting game I've ever covered

- The most boring game I've ever covered

- For the hell of it: Steve Sparks

- Read Joe Posnanski. Just do it. Trust me on this one.

I love everything right now. Really, I do.

Except you.

Poll

What did you think of Kanye West's latest album, 808s & Heartbreak?

Loved it, Kanye's a genius

6 votes

Hated it, lose the vocoder

16 votes

Indifferent

21 votes

I applaud the creativity

7 votes

Kanye who?

51 votes

101 votes | Poll has closed

3 recs | Comment 44 comments

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Read More: dld, graduation, knuckleball, love

Comments

Congrats on finishing your degree

Any prospects?

Also, from your favorite A’s game:

Harden walked off the mound with shoulder tightness — he called it “nothing serious,” but this is a red flag considering his medical history …

I hope I’m not alone in being thankful that we don’t need to worry about “nothing serious” anymore.

"However, at Elias, I think they keep track of the amount of sunflower seeds spit in a dugout each night." - Brad Ziegler, 8/7/08

by doctorK on Dec 19, 2008 8:44 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

I\ve got the walk off

as the ring tone on my cell phone…

I miss Ken Korach in the wintertime…

Ellis for President

by tosk on Dec 21, 2008 11:29 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Congrats JLaff....

Bring back Hammer.

by OaktownPower on Dec 19, 2008 9:18 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Hey look...

We are BIG spenders now.

All around the game, small- and medium-market teams — mindful of the economic downturn and troubling indicators — are trimming payroll, managing expectations and searching for inexpensive solutions.

And then there are the Oakland A’s.

"RIP: UserID: 553"

by Masaryk on Dec 19, 2008 9:37 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Well yeah, because we cut so much salary between '07 and '08

and had more coming off the books in Embree/Street.

"And you just don't get it, you keep it copacetic..."

by Blicks on Dec 19, 2008 9:50 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I saw this picture of Matt Holliday on ESPN.com:

…and thought of this guy:

See the resemblance? Although Holliday’s arms seem way bigger.

"All your baserunner are belong to Greg Smith" ~ walk off bunt

by Philip Christy on Dec 19, 2008 7:01 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

not really

the ball looks like is headed towards the bat in Holliday’s picture.

In Crosby’s, the ball’s already hit the ground five feet in front of the plate and he’s still swinging

facepalm.jpg

by Zonis on Dec 19, 2008 9:03 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

QOTM

"However, at Elias, I think they keep track of the amount of sunflower seeds spit in a dugout each night." - Brad Ziegler, 8/7/08

by doctorK on Dec 20, 2008 10:56 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Amen brother!!!

by WannaBeGM on Dec 20, 2008 9:27 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

So what you are saying that

Crosby need to slam his biceps and he will hit like Holliday. Why are we not funding this?

by A'sfaninNC on Dec 22, 2008 7:22 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Congrats JLaff!!!

I really, really need to listen to that new Kanye West album. Like, ASAP.

"And you just don't get it, you keep it copacetic..."

by Blicks on Dec 19, 2008 9:52 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

+1 on that Posnanski reminder

I read his HOF column and I’m reading his Dave Kingman column.

He always has interesting things to say.

"You know, a long time ago being crazy meant something. Nowadays everybody's crazy."

-Charles Manson

by kaweahkaweah on Dec 19, 2008 10:03 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

+2

Love the columns + just got “Soul of Baseball” and it’s a great read. Also shamelessly took Joe on his offer to make anyone who buys the book a Facebook friend

by elcroata on Dec 19, 2008 10:34 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Kanye

I love true school hip hop. Kanye’s first album was a classic and his second album was pretty good, but after that, it gets pretty mediocre with him. He needs to return to that classic style. His albums decline from year to year. That’s normal for a rapper, though. That’s a typical trend.

by Rated-R Superstar on Dec 19, 2008 10:05 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

And so it begins …

I'll send you a postcard from Space Mountain. @('.')@

by monkeyball on Dec 19, 2008 10:59 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Dude.

What did you have against Matt and Misty May? What did they ever do to you??

"God doesn't pay attention to your cute little hypotheticals." -- Jeff from LL

by oblique on Dec 19, 2008 11:05 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

At least they left him his boys.

The meaning of life is not so much 'found,' as it is 'made.' --Opus

by The Dogfather on Dec 19, 2008 12:31 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

How is your cousin doing these days?

The monster at the end of this blog.

by grover on Dec 19, 2008 1:12 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones." -BB 07/27/05

by xbhaskarx on Dec 20, 2008 12:50 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

RIAA to no longer sue?

Instead the will content themselves with seeing what you do when you browse the internet and shutting down your broadband connection.

facepalm.jpg

by Zonis on Dec 19, 2008 11:21 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

This may have already been posted, since I am not here as much as I used to, but

looks like Jesus Guzman didn’t want to come back to the A’s system.

Oakland signed Guzman as a minor league free agent for 2008, and he proved that he wasn’t a one-hit wonder. This past season, Guzman hit .364/.419/.500 with 14 home runs, 21 doubles and 76 RBIs at Midland, although he struggled in a three-week, 59 at-bat audition at Triple-A Sacramento.

He then chose to sign with the Giants rather than return to the A’s system.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/winter-baseball/winter-wonders/2009/267260.html

by theblackpearl on Dec 19, 2008 11:35 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Wonder if he could have played SS?

"RIP: UserID: 553"

by Masaryk on Dec 19, 2008 4:03 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Congrats JLaff!

So, didja use it? Can you post the paper?

The meaning of life is not so much 'found,' as it is 'made.' --Opus

by The Dogfather on Dec 19, 2008 11:57 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Ha...

It’s 13 pages. I think I’d have to slip in a trade proposal for it to be posted on AN. If you’re really curious, I can e-mail it to you. And sadly, no, I didn’t use the hooker’s problem.

by JLaff on Dec 19, 2008 4:04 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Congratulations JLaff!!

There's no crying in baseball!

by gigglingone on Dec 19, 2008 1:02 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

They feel like, yo, you know ’he’s got a God complex, because he said if they wrote the Bible again that he would be in it’. Duh, yeah, I would be in it. I feel like I’m one of the more important people in pop culture right now… The Bible had 20, 30, 40, 50 characters in it. You don’t think that I would be one of the characters of today’s modern Bible? – Kanye

Top Ten Reasons Kanye West is a Douche

There are some musicians, regardless of talent, I will never listen to.

by Rocktopus on Dec 19, 2008 2:42 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Congrats!

Wow, it was only the other day that you were going to college… time flies when everyone you know on a team gets traded or DFAed.

by Apricot on Dec 19, 2008 4:06 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Juan Rivera resigns with the Angels

Here is the HH reaction. They like it (three years/ $12 mil total).

http://www.halosheaven.com/2008/12/19/697821/juan-rivera-signs-w-halos#comments

My prediction: JR hits more than 60 home runs over the life of that contract.
And averages an OPS in excess of .800

this deal will be looked at as a very good deal.

They're called RUNS for a reason.

by connie mack on Dec 19, 2008 4:08 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Rivera isn't actually very good at this point

His D is projected at -7 next season, which together with him being a corner OF means he’s about 15 runs below average with the glove. Marcel lists his projected OPS at .773, ZiPS has him at .759. Those would put him at a hair over league average with the bat at most (his OPS is slugging-heavy).

If he plays to his projections, he’s pretty much worthless— half a win over replacement, probably less since he won’t be starting every day. He’s done better than that for a few years in the past, so I suppose it’s not impossible for him to improve, but he’s now past the age of 30 so decline is more likely than improvement.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Dec 19, 2008 5:00 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Congrats JLaff and good luck with your career and

Go Spartans!

This party's over

by lynnzgal on Dec 19, 2008 5:04 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Wow. 3 DLDs in 3 days? It's a Christmas miracle!

Congrats on graduation. I graduated in May, and part of me already misses school. Or maybe I just miss the whole college atmosphere. I do tend to get a bit nostalgic in general.

by whiteshoes40 on Dec 19, 2008 6:55 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

DLS Graduate - Class of 1990

Go Spartans!

by inbillywetrust on Dec 19, 2008 8:10 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

One-time A's pitcher Dock Ellis dies

Best known for pitching a no-hitter while under the influence of LSD. Also gave up Reggie Jackson’s monster home run in the 1971 All Star Game. He got into 7 games for the A’s in 1977.

Ex-pitcher Ellis dies of liver disease

"All your baserunner are belong to Greg Smith" ~ walk off bunt

by Philip Christy on Dec 19, 2008 8:18 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

That is very sad news

Anyone who’s read the terrific Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball will agree. Rest in peace, Dock.

by Englishmajor on Dec 20, 2008 8:19 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Am I the only one who hates Kanye?

And that has nothing to do with his rapping. He just seems like such a jagbag.

by thejd44 on Dec 19, 2008 11:19 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

+1

cocky, idiotic, and self-loving conceited piece of shit jerk are the three terms i would use to describe him. but he sure can rap/sing or whatever you call that music

"My group runs some frogloks down the hall to finish them off and POP! RASTER! If there was a way to scream louder than caps in EQ I was doing it. Man I am straight panicking because I know I have NO CHANCE soloing and the party has run off. I'm in my hotel room; it's like 5am, and I am straight hollering, in EQ and in real life. Bottom line is the group comes back, heals me, and kills Raster! WOOT!" -Curt Schilling on his favorite memories in the video game "EverQuest"

by travdog6 on Dec 20, 2008 12:14 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs