On the D.L.

With an effing migraine headache. Ugh.

Great (but not prefect)...

We lost our baseball game Saturday afternoon, 8-6. We made a nice comeback, as we were trailing 8-zip after two innings. The Playmaker was 3-4 at the plate with 1 RBI. (We batted around the order in one inning and he actually had two hits in the inning.) His best hit was a line drive double down the left field line (fair by about 3 inches). He came up in the last inning with runners on first and second. He was swinging for the fences, hoping for a historic walk-off dinger. With the count 2-2, the pitcher pumped a heater straight down the pike. The Playmaker swung and ... wait for it ... missed for strike three.

Oops. :-)

Tonight's dinner...

Chicken thighs on grill.

JoePa...

It's your store, pal...

One of the three best Miami Vice scenes off all-time. (The others being the In the Air Tonight car chase and the three episode run when Crockett thought he really was Burnett.)

Cutting the lawn and mowing down the Reds...

Got home today and changed into cooler clothes. The Playmaker walked in from school and we turned on the Phillies - Reds game while he unloaded his backpack (a Phillies one, of course). The first thing we saw was Cliff Lee stepping into the batter's box with the bases loaded and the score tied at 4. One pitch later it was 6-4 as Lee smoked a ground rule double to deep center. They got one more in the inning before we left The Playmaker in charge and went outside to cut the lawn.

While we melted in the heat, Our Son would come out and give us updates.

Lee singled in another run.

Contreras is warming up.

Chase Utley hit a home run.

Contreras went 1-2-3. Philles won, 10-4.

Good stuff.

Baseball: We lost, 2-1. But couldn't care LESS!!!

Your Angels lost last night, 2-1. Our offense reverted to its early April ineptitude, as we had just three hits the entire game. One of those hits came in the bottom of the sixth. It was a total bomb that landed thisclose (as in, within 10 feet) of going over the fence. It's the longest ball we've seen hit by anyone this season.

And yes, it was The Playmaker who did it. He doubled with one out, stole third and then scored on a error. He was 1-2 for the game, and played catcher, first base and center field.

We are now 3-5-2.

But we honestly don't care about wins and losses. It's all about Our Son.

Well done...

A REALLY good story!

Everyone know who we are...

We had a rain out makeup game bright and early yesterday at 9 AM. The temperature was a chilly 48 degrees. Not good for hitting. Yet, The Playmaker snapped out of his 2 game (0-5) hitting slump. He went 3-3 with 3 RBIs. He came up with the bases loaded in the first inning and hopped on the very first pitch. He sent a line drive wizzing past the pitcher's ear that landed in center field and plated two runs. The best part was that the pitcher was a kid who fancies himself as being a better point guard in hoops than The Playmaker. (A belief reinforced by his white-trash-douchebag-father. Said father started an AAU basketball team this spring and was miffed when we turned down his invitation to play on the team. When he asked us why we declined the invite, we said it was because we knew he would start his son over The Playmaker even though (direct quote) "everyone knows our son is the better player.") So knocking in 2 runs while coming thisclose to pegging the kid in the head was, well, it was G-R-E-A-T. In the 3rd inning The Playmaker hit a single to right to knock in the runner from second. Just for good measure, he also picked up a stolen base in the inning. (Base stealing started last week.) We won the game, 10-4, to improve our record to 3-4-2.

*The aforementioned father/son combo from the other team has played us 9 times in sports over the past three years. Our record against them?!? A nifty 7-2. Once again, In your face, Walnut Heights!

Best we can do...

A 9-yr old Ryan Madson

The Playmaker made his pitching debut this morning. Trailing 9-8, he came in for the fifth inning.

First batter: walk.

Second batter: strikeout, swinging.

Third batter: infield single off third baseman's glove

Fourth batter: throwing error by second basemen.

At that point the bases were loaded. And we were ready to go All-Joe McCoy on the second baseman.

Thankfully, there was no need for that. For before we could go All-Joe McCoy, The Playmaker went All-Ryan Madson (2-0, 8-8 saves, 0.50 ERA, 23 K's in 18 innings). He stuck the next kid out on four pitches and then induced the following batter (best hitter on the other team) to pop out to ... wait for it ... The Playmaker. (Even better, as it was the son of a girl we went to college with. In your face, Walnut Heights!)

So while we lost 9-8, and The Playmaker went 0-2 at the plate (with a run producing walk), it was still a great day.

A tragic story...

Austin Box

August 10, 2008 - May 19, 2011

Too busy to chat...

Cleaning for The Cleaning Lady.

NBA Dra...ZZZZZZZZ

So last night was the NBA Draft Lottery. With the 76ers not participating, we didn't even bother to watch. Another reason it failed to arouse us is the fact that there are absolutely no stars in this year's draft! Duke point guard Kyrie Irving is considered the top pick. Discounting the fact that he played abut seven games for Duke (bad toe), as well as the fact that when he returned during March Madness Duke went up in flames -- we question how good the kid actually is. He's not a 1-1 stud like CP3. He's not a road-runner like John Wall. And he doesn't have the body of Deron Williams. Ultimately, he will be a good player -- but certainly nothing more. Kind of like an OJ Mayo. And that's fine -- but not what you expect from the top pick in the draft. Excluding the the Euros (whom no one outside of Fran Fraschilla knows anything about), every other prospect comes with huge questions and/or holes in their game. Derrick Williams of Arizona? Great athlete. But is he quick enough to play and guard the 3? And should we get excited about someone who only burst onto the scene this past March? Kentucky's Brandon Knight?!? Puh-lease. Let's put it this way: If you're looking for a good tenth man on your bench, then he's YOUR GUY! Jimmer? Great to have coming off the bench to get some points. But he lacks size and can't defend. The list of mediocrity goes on and on. The Morris Twins. Alec Burks. Tobias Harris. Josh Selby.

Zzzz.

The one player we would take at number one and not look back?

UConn's Kemba Walker. But, alas, he is "only" considered a mid-to-low lotto pick.

Hmm.

L x 2 ...

Your Angels lost last Saturday morning, 10-6. The Playmaker saw his three game hitting streak come to an end, going 0-2 with a walk. He hit the ball hard twice, lining out to the pitcher and grounding out to short.

And stop the presses! We lost in lacrosse last night, 5-4. Now we could blame it on the cold/rainy weather or the piece of sheeet ghetto field we had to play on. We could even blame it of The Ref, who swallowed his whistle with under three to play as The Playmaker completed a nifty 360 spin move and readied to score and tie the game before getting slashed on the helmet. (Which led to our sideline and fans going BALLISTIC.) But the fact is, we did not play well. We led let leads of 2-0 and 3-1 slip away. Ugh.

Best we can do...

Goooooaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllll...

With The Playmaker having a rare Sunday off (except for team pix), the spotlight shifted to The Playmaker's Sister today. On a rain soaked day she nailed her third lacrosse goal of the season. She caught a pass in the middle of the field and sprinted 10 yards before hitting pay-dirt from about eight feet. (Her team lost the game. But, seriously, who cares?!?)

AP Sources: Porn stash found at bin Laden compound

How frigging classic is that headline that came out just a few hours ago?!? Seriously, in the words of Rome -- That is GREAT!

Click here to read the story.

Best we can do...

How do you forget about a baseball game you pissed away the night before?!?

You go out and kick the sheeeet out of your opponent in lacrosse. We took our LAX DOMINATION TOUR on the road last night and rolled up on another team, 10-1. The Playmaker scored just before halftime to make the score 4-1. Playing attack, he went to the X spot (10 yards behind the net) and received a pass. He headed straight for the cage (cradling the whole way) and fired his customary high-and-right shot into the net from about eight feet. It was his fourth goal of the season (and third in the last three games).

***Blogspot has been having problems the last 24 hours. This post appeared yesterday for several hours, but was then "lost." For most of today users were unable to access their Blogger accounts. Once we were able to do so, the original article was nowhere to be found. So we had to re-create it.

Are you frigging kidding?!?

We were ahead in baseball last night, 7-0, in the last inning. Nearly 20 minutes later we drove home with a 7-7 tie around our neck. We seriously wanted to punch someone in the face. Really hard. The Playmaker was 1-2, with a walk. He had a two strike/two out RBI single up the middle. On defense he played third base and made a nice diving catch on a line-drive.

Best we can do...

When scoring a goal is not even the best thing you did ...

We went on the road yesterday and rolled up on another lacrosse team. We're pretty sure the score was 14-2. (After it got to 10-2, we told the scorekeeper to stop keeping track of our goals.) In front of his grandparents, mother and sister, The Playmaker got his third goal of the season. After a penalty on the opposing team in the second quarter, the ref gave possession of the ball to The Playmaker in the deep corner behind the net. On the whistle he ran straight for the cage, (getting by one defender) and fired high and right to get the goal. The best part, however, was that he probably ran a total of 15 yards and cradled the ball the entire way. Having never played LAX before, it has been a bumpy road learning to cradle, and especially hard to cradle on the run. But The Playmaker finally mastered it about 10 days ago. And that was the most impressive part of the goal. He also got an assist later in the game.

Happy Mother's Day (and break-up the Angels)...

We gangster-stomped the Cardinals yesterday, 13-2. The Playmaker led the way, going 2-2 with 3 RBIs. He started the scoring off in the first inning (batting cleanup) with a bases loaded double to center field that plated two runs. He later singled to right to drive in another run in the third inning. He played center field, first base, catcher and shortstop (where he gunned out the batter at first from deep in the hole). Having won two in a row, the Angels are now 2-2-1.

Old school...

West coast road trip

When we realized the schedule, The Playmaker jokingly said, "It's like a west coast road trip."

And that's what it felt like. Five baseball or lacrosse games in five days.

Saturday, April 30 Cubs 6 Angels 1 Short and sweet: We had one hit. The opposing coach was a Dick Weed.

Sunday, May 1 We won in lacrosse, 9-1. The Playmaker played defense, where he plugged the hole, as well as protected the cage. (Later that day, The Playmaker's Sister had her game, where she scored the game winning goal.)

Monday, May 2 Phillies 2 Angels 2 This game, we actually had two hits. Amazingly, we were ahead 2-0 with two outs and no one on in the last inning. Of course, that means we ended up tying (despite playing an extra inning), 2-2.

Tuesday, May 3 Another lacrosse win, 7-1. The Playmaker scored the first goal of the game.

Wednesday, May 4 STOP THE PRESSES! THE ANGELS WON A GAME! We beat the A's, 7-1 (to put our record at 1-2-1). This is a transitional year for the kids in baseball, as they do all the pitching. And the umps are 12-year olds. All of which means they seldom get good pitches to hit, and the basic rule of thumb is if the catcher catches the ball, it must surely be a strike. (We damn-near punched the ump in the face during Monday's game when he called The Playmaker out on a called third strike IN THE DIRT with two outs and the bases loaded.) Anyway, several Angels got hits this game, including The Playmaker, who singled to right field to drive in a run.

ZZZ...

Recovering from five game road trip.  Shh.  Do not disturb.

Junta...

We won a BIG lacrosse game last night against an allegedly very good team.  If they are very good, then we are outstanding -- because we pistol-whipped them, 7-1.  Even better, The Playmaker scored the first goal of the game.  He took a great (and unselfish) pass from a teammate and fired it in high and right from about seven feet.  There was some post-game tension, as the opposing coaches accused us of being "overly aggressive."  And only the head coach shook hands, none of his assistants did.  There was even some pushing and shoving by players in the handshake line.  Wow.  Our record is now 5-1.

Never gets old...

U-S-A

Sometimes things are just weird. True story. Last week, for unknown reasons, it occurred to us that we hadn't heard much (anything, actually) lately on the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Then on Friday, Time Magazine arrived in our mailbox with a cover story on Our Fight against terror. And then this morning, just before 5 AM, we read that Bin Laden had finally met his deserved demise. But it was how we read it. We had clicked on Our Wife's iPhone and tapped the Phillies app to get a score from last night's game against the Mets. (We went to bed when it was 0-0.) We saw the Phillies had lost, but there was something in the headline about the loss being "secondary." Our first thought was someone (someone BIG) must have gotten seriously hurt. Since he was pitching, Cliff Lee was our first thought. One tap later and we read that during the game it had been announced that the US had killed Bin Laden. So we learned about Navy Seals killing the most evil man in the world by reading a game story on the Phillies.

Weird. Really weird.

A few randoms:

1. It would seem that clearly Pakistan was NOT doing all that it could to help us! Good gawd, man, he was living in the middle of a suburb. Surely people in Pakistan had to know this.

2. Ironic that we all assumed he had sacrificed The Good Life in his crusade against the US and was living in a cave in the middle of nowhere! No, he was "holed up" in a multi-million dollar palace.

3. President Obama is gettng glorified today! And he does deserve a lot of credit. However, he only did what was right. Compare that to Bill Clinton. Roughly 12 years ago, he had a clear shot to kill the Bin Laden. But he pu$$ied out and called off the operation. Had he manned up, perhaps 9/11 never would have happened.

4. W started the crusade against Bin Laden! And he kept us safe after 9/11.

It's always a great day to be an American. Today, it's just a little better than normal.

Our kid's better than yours...

The Playmaker's Sister had a lacrosse game today in the town where we teach. So it was, without a doubt, a bigger game than normal. (Perhaps because we talked sheeeeet at school all last week.) The other team jumped out early to a 3-zip lead. We battled back to tie it at 5. And with just under two minutes left, we scored to win the game, 6-5. Who got the game winning goal?!?

The Playmaker's Sister.

Everyone know who we are...

Eagles take a KICKER in the 4th round?!?

Seriously.  They did.  For real.  Alex Henery from Nebraska.  Greatest college kicker we've ever seen.  But still.  The fourth round?!?

Good stuff...

NFL Draft

We love the NFL Daft. Always have. Our fondest memory was the 1986 draft, when we were a senior in high school. Back then our town did not yet have cable (and wouldn't for another four years). However, Our Parents belonged to the "tennis club" -- which did have cable. Our Dad suggested that the two of us go and watch the draft and see who the Eagles selected with their first pick (the 9th pick overall). There was great excitement around the Eagles because Buddy Ryan had just become their new head coach. Back then the draft was a one day event. And get this -- it was held on a Wednesday morning. So we were at the tennis club by 8 AM to watch Pete Rozelle start the draft. The Bucs selected first and took ... wait for it ... Bo Jackson. The Eagles ended up taking bruising running back Keith Byars from Ohio State. In the second round they took Texas A&M fullback Anthony Toney. (After the draft, Buddy boasted: "Let's see the Giants try to blitz us now.")

Now the draft has, of course, gone Big Time. We understand putting it in prime time at 8 PM, but couldn't they do it on Friday night?!? That way kids like The Playmaker could stay up late and watch the first round. As it is now, we will let him stay up 'til 9 PM (which will get him to about pick #6) before making him go to bed. We will DVR it and watch the entire first round on Saturday (after his 9 AM baseball game).

A few randoms:

1. Cam Newton will be an NFL bust! Not a total washout, but a bust in terms of being the top pick overall. He is the next Vince Young. Like VY, he dominated at the college level because he was a physical freak. He outran DBs. And he ran over linebackers and linemen. In the NFL, DBs will track him down and linemen and 'backers will concuss him if he's dumb enough to try to bowl them over. Our first glimpse of Newton was late last September. He threw the ball something like 7 times the whole game. Every third and long resulted in Auburn running a quarterback draw. Every pass was a telegraphed-wobbly-duck. He had no passing skills at all. Sure he got better over the course of the grueling SEC season, but at best he will be a mediocre thrower in the pros. More than that, though, are the intangibles. The guy seems like a total phony. His smile is too fake. His teeth are too white. He's too well dressed. It all seems like he's the creation of a public relations firm. And did you watch him on ESPN at Jon Gruden's QB Camp?!? Gruden asked him to call a play from the Auburn playbook. And get this. NEWTON COULDN'T DO IT!!!!!! He said their plays all had numbers. Like play 6. Play 52. Etc. Great. And now you expect him to digest an NFL playbook?!? That's frigging classic. Cam Newton will be an NFL bust. He will NEVER even come close to being a GOOD quarterback.

The Eagles! The Birds should pick one or two offensive linemen and then spend every pick on the defensive side of the ball. Of course, Andy Reid is a total Draft Dolt. So he'll take more offensive linemen then he needs. He'll take a running he ends up cutting before the season. And it's a given he'll take an undersized defensive linemen that no one else likes and he'll talk about the kid having a "great motor." And there's a good chance they'll trade down in the draft because owner Jeff Laurie is a cheap bastard. The one hope is that Adam Schefter is right when he says the Eagles may move up to the #5 spot. If so, we can only hope they take Patrick Peterson of LSU.

Speaking of which! Peterson is the top player in the draft. He's the best punt returner. The best kick returner. The best corner. And the best safety. No one outside of The Bayou watched more LSU football the last three years than we did. This kid will be an instant All-Pro.

The Patriots! Sports Illustrated has New England nailing Clemson pass rushing beast Da’Quan Bowers at number 17 and Heisman running back Mark Ingram at 28. His bad knee not withstanding, getting Bowers at #17 would be an A-B-S-O-L-U-T-E steal. And while we love Ingram, do they really need him?!? Woodhead. BJGE, Faulk. Is Faulk done as a Pat?!? If so, then Ingram makes sense -- with Woodhead taking over Faulk's 3rd down role.

Von Miller! We saw him play a ton in the Big 12. We always viewed him as a nice college player. But honestly, we NEVER viewed him as a top 10 pick. He was undersized in college and seemed to only be interested in taking an outside rush to get the QB. We read one report today that said he will be made into a SAM linebacker. That's damn near the dumbest thing we've heard in the history of the world. Miller is a lot of things. But a strong side linebacker ain't one of 'em.

Ryan Mallett! Wow. The stories being floated about this kid are downright scary. The strongest rumor we read was about him allegedly being a drug addict. Yikes. Beyond that, we think he just plain sucks. We NEVER saw him do a damn thing of significance at Arkansas (or Michigan before he transferred). He's too tall and too uncoordinated to be a good NFL QB.

Then again, we'd certainly take him over Cam Newton.