I’m back baby, and ready to rumble. I took a bit off because we were tweaking the format and posting different things more often but upon further review; because you demanded it Quick Takes is back with a vengeance. So before we get into it, let’s check the score so far.Scoreboard
So there has been a shake-up in the scoreboard.
*The Mets are 2 games over .500 at 41-39, but a mile behind the Phils for the division lead and half a mile back in the Wild Card. So a playoff berth is probably unlikely but they probably won’t be as bad as I expected. But they may wind up being bigger losers because of this season because of the faux playoff run, they won’t trade any big name players to rebuild AND they won’t make the playoffs. On top of that, Jose Reyes has finally become the consistent MVP lightning rod type player we’ve been waiting for and because of Fred Wilpon’s general awfulness and the Bernie Madoff debacle he’s going to walk at the end of the season. So I’m still not very pleased with the Mets although it is fun to watch Reyes play this season. <tears>
*Boy do the A’s suck. My World Series pick for this season was the Oakland A’s and the Milwaukee Brewers. Now the Brewers have turned it on and made a contender of themselves (although the Yankees are taking them behind the woodshed and showing them what’s up this week) and they may be one trade away from being on the Phillies and Giants level come September. Unlike those two teams, the Brew Crew can hit.
So after losing 9 in a row and then firing there manager, the A’s had a minor bounce back with 5 wins in a row. But since then they’ve become somewhat of a mediocre side note to the Giants in the Bay Area standing at 36-45 and in last place in a weak AL West.
Meanwhile in Laverne & Shirley-ville, the Brew Crew has made some noise sitting at 44-37, 1 game up on a fading Cardinals squad. No one in this division poses a legit threat other than the Reds. So it could be smooth sailing for Bernie the Brewer and the beer men from Milwaukee cause let’s face it, the Pirates are an awesome story, and even though I picked the Brewers, nothing would please me more than to see the Pirates win that division. But you and I both know that’s not happening. We’re looking at a 70 to 80 win season at best which is a great start for that young squad.
So I think I will put the A’s on the back burner and watch them, but pick another possible AL World Series team and that will be ……God can I tell you how much I hate the AL right now. I really don’t think any team but the Yankees or the Red Sox are going to come out of the AL and it disgusts me. It was fun to see the Rangers make it last year and the Rays a few years back but now we're back to the same old song and dance. I am so tired of the “Sawx” and the Yanks. SALARY CAP NOW! I digress.
*My Cy Young pick also has taken a severe turn for the worse. RA “Long Live the Knuckleball” Dickey has not performed up to the Niekro standard. Dickey stands at 4-7, with a 3.77 ERA. It seems the book is out on him. Even though his ERA is not terrible, he seems to be having trouble avoiding the big inning like he did last year. So it’s going to be difficult to cultivate a cy young campaign out of this first half, but I’m putting all my money behind the Knuckleball.
That’s it for the scoreboard so far, now on to the fray.
ESPN needs to get off the NBA’s and the NFL’s tip
This is just getting to be a bit too much now. I know I'm sounding like a broken record here but what the hell is with ESPN and there continued obsession with the NFL and the NBA. I will say it again, we get it, they’re ESPN products and need their continued support. But there I was on my couch on a Monday morning watching ESPN 2's 1st and 10 and here were the following topics: T.O., the NFL network's Top 100 players, who should be the Top 10, Scottie Pippin, is Arian Foster the best RB in the NFL and where should Vince Young go. (cue the crickets) WTF!? I did this last week so let me do it again, here are 5 stories that are way more interesting than that s**t.1- Jose Reyes is leading the league in hitting by far at .341 and keeping the Mets alive at 2 games over .500
2- Davey Johnson managing the Nats; making it official that AARP will be a sponsor for the MLB. Between Jack McKeon, Davey Johnson and Jim Leyland you have a total age that is larger than all the other 27 managers in baseball, combined.
3- US soccer and the CONCACAF Final
4- The Williams sisters ousted at Wimbledon in same day
5- The Pirates are over .500 this late in a season and only 4 games out of first.
All of these topics are way more interesting than the NFL, who may not even play this year, and the NBA who just ended its season, and they may still go on strike. And the worst part is they talked about the NBA, but they didn't even talk about the most relevant topic in the NBA, the draft. God, someone needs to take a shovel to ESPN, really. And today it got worse. I heard Mike and Mike in the morning talking about Herm Edwards at the NFL Rookie Symposium giving a talk about the dangers of being a pro athlete. Now I love me some Herm Edwards. He’s one of the few guys on that network that I can tolerate. Because he’s entertaining, knowledgeable without being pompous and a former Jets head coach; all good things. But the way Mike Greenberg went on about Herm it was like he was praising his daddy or something. He’s like “Herm Edwards is the best person in all of sports to give this talk. Being a former athlete, and coach he’s the most qualified and blah…blah…blah.” Of course that wasn’t a direct quote but that was the gist of it. Well actually the gist was this “Herm is the best person in all of sports to give this talk. Being a former player, coach and ESPN analyst he obviously possess the knowledge to direct these young stars. And since I’m such a brainless shill for this conglomerate that has drained the life out of what was once the beacon of creativity and edginess in sports broadcasting, I need to suck the teat of the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” cow that is the Disney version of ESPN. I mean really they could’ve put Jerry Glanville or Jeff George up there and I would say the same exact thing I said about Herm Edwards, and then we; meaning the entire f**king network, will play the clips of Herm talking to death. To the point where you, the viewer can recite them word for word. And have everyone from a desk jockey to Steve Young on Sportscenter to analyze what it was Herm was saying.” Do you get the point yet? I’m tired of ESPN. But here’s the problem, there isn’t a better outlet yet. I say yet because that’s where we come in. REVOLUTION! Like Paul Revere without a horse.
Wimbledon
Say what you want about the summer classic at the All England Club, but to me it’s as true a sign that it’s summer as the start of baseball season. Now I’m not a tennis guy. I enjoy playing tennis on occasion, and watching the majors when we get to the Semi-finals and onward. But I’ve noticed a trend in Women’s tennis specifically that has made me watch a little more. Have you noticed that the Women’s Tennis pro field has become a very attractive field? Look at the final, Maria Sharapova who is beautiful and has been since she broke into the pros in early 2000’s and Petra Kvitova who despite making some awful faces on the court and having a Letterman size gap in her teeth is at least watchable. But others in this field were very fun to watch from a guy standpoint. Let’s just take the best from the top 25 players:
*Dominika Cibulkova (ranked #24) Wow, might be one of the hottest girls I’ve ever seen and she’s good. No Anna Kournakova here. She made it to the Quarterfinals at Wimbledon before bowing out to Sharapova.
*Ana Ivanovic (ranked # 18) Widely regarded as the hottest woman on the tour right now; Ana is absolutely stunning to watch on the court. Even though her beauty rivals Sharapova, her play at Wimbledon did not, bowing out in the 3rd round in straight sets.*Jelena Jankovic (ranked # 15) As hot as she is this Serbian beauty did not have the tennis chops to stick around long enough for us to look at. She was bounced in the 1st round. It was sad to her go.
*Marion Bartoli (ranked # 9) Bartoli may not have your typical blonde hair, blue eye type of hot, but something about her was very nice to look at during this tourney. Unfortunately she was bounced in the Quarterfinals by a borderline hottie, Sabine Lisicki, but Bartoli did dispose of one of the Williams sisters so that’s always good in my book. 
*Maria Sharapova (ranked # 6) Nothing more needs to be said, you know who she is.
*Vera Zvonereva (ranked # 3) Vera, in my opinion, rivals Sharapova in the looks department, as well as the tennis department. Although she didn’t perform as well at this year’s fortnight, she has won 11 singles titles so far in her short career. More than Kournikova ever pulled off.
*Caroline Wozniacki (ranked #1) It was a tough call in the fourth round when the stunning Cibulkova upset the cute Wozniacki. I mean who do you root for in this case. All I know is it’s really cool when the #1 player in the world is that HOT! It’s got to be good for you sport.I know what you’re thinking right now, “where are the Williams sisters?” <yuck> I do not find these 2 women at all HOT. Great personalities? Yes. Great players? Hell yes! Good champions? Perhaps 2 of the best ever. Hot? NO! Sorry guys, I don’t agree with the majority on this. And it’s not a race thing either. I think out of the 2, Serena would be the best looking, but she is entirely too manly for me. I’m afraid she might bench me or something, have you seen the guns on her. And I just don’t find Venus good looking at all. So don’t go off all half-cocked about race. I can name five black women I find gorgeous without a blink.
I Still Can’t believe it’s TrueDerek Jeter is set to come off of the DL on Monday of next week and I bet Yankee fans can’t wait. Not because there team will be better with Jeter, but because they will have a chance witness history with Jeter attempting to go for his 3,000th hit; something that has never been done in a Yankee uniform. I still can’t believe that’s a true figure, that no one the history of the Yankees has ever hit his 3,000th hit as a Yankee. Of those in the 3,000 hit club only Dave Winfield, Rickey Henderson and Wade Boggs wore the Yankee pinstripes and the only one out of that group that did most of his damage in the Stripes would be Dave Winfield. So think about this, the Yankees have had the all-time Home Run king, the single season home run king twice, the consecutive games streak forever, only perfect game in World Series history, most championships ever, most pennants ever, most wins in a season and the list goes on. But the one thing that has eluded them, the 3,000th hit is about to come home. I think it’s fitting that Jeter, very underrated as a hitter, will bring this one home to the Yank. Not only did he bring them back to prominence in the mid 90’s, but now he will bring them what might be the last thing yet to be accomplished in the Yankee Pinstripes. I hate Derek Jeter with all my heart as a fan, but I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to witness his career. Good luck on your 3,000th Jeter, and now back to the hatred, enough of that s**t.
Mario Jr. Returns
Jaromir Jagr will be returning to the NHL next year, and even better he may be returning to Pittsburgh. This might be one of the coolest stories I’ve heard come out of the NHL since Messier went to New York the first time. Jagr was such a tremendous player with such high skill and great scoring ability that to watch him play the game at the highest level was like watch a violent ballet. Jagr could make any defensemen or goalie just look absolutely foolish in his heyday. But a few years back he decided to play in Russia and last season he proved he was still a force worth reckoning with. Rumors are that Detroit, Montreal and Pittsburgh are the front runners for Jagr’s services next season. Jagr’s numbers in Russia for 3 seasons were very good; 155 games, 66 goals, 79 assists, and 145 points. Now put him in Pittsburgh with Crosby and Malkin and you have yourself a potential 2 or 3 year dynasty in Pittsburgh. I like this story a lot and will be covering it going forward.
A side note, the Mario Jr. thing is from the early 90’s. When Jagr first came up he was a remarkable talent. The likes of which we hadn’t seen since his teammate, Mario Lemieux first came up. Well some Pens fan figured out if you jumble Jaromir’s name around, it could make Mario Jr.
And Finally…..
Have you ever noticed how sometimes you don’t miss something until you do it again? This past weekend I had the privilege to go to a San Francisco Giants game at AT&T Park with my newly aged 3 year old Ben. Now my general take on sporting events is that I like them, but I would always, ALWAYS prefer to watch them on a good TV with friends around. Especially when it’s one of my teams playing in a big game. But when it’s any other teams, I’m good to go. So I’m a Mets fan, going to AT&T Park to see the Giants and the Indians, no big deal. Outside of the few idiots I encountered (read from earlier in the week to see what I’m talking about) I thoroughly enjoyed myself and realized, once again, how much I love going to games. The atmosphere, the smells of popcorn and hot dogs, and as an added bonus, AT&T Park has the best smelling Garlic Fries ever, and the sounds of the organ. I haven’t been to any kind of live games since I was scarred by the 2006 Game 7 NLCS devastation at Shea; so I think I had PTSD and now I’m over that. Coming year I now have a new dedication to going to games.
One Last thing
I’m not sure if you have noticed but you’re not seeing a whole lot of “lockout” coverage here at The Sports Riot! That’s because we don’t care. You see what these crybaby millionaires and billionaires don’t understand is that the fans don’t care about this s**t. And the NFL, the ghouls that they are, continues to exploit and play on the emotions of us fans by constantly leaking info about these meetings. Look, when a major corporation or a public entity goes on strike they hammer the deals out in private and usually the only details you get from the media are of the basic variety. Where it is, what is happening and when might it end, THAT’S IT! You never get the back and forth, they want this and they want that crap. No it’s, a deal was reached but no details were released. So as a fan I beg of you, stop calling these radio shows to talk about this crap, that’s what they want. If you want to make a statement about your frustration at this selfishness, don’t call the shows, don’t watch NFL Live or the NFL Network, and don’t play this speculation game these vultures want you to play. All of these shows predicting what’s going to happen in the upcoming seasons when you don’t even know if there is going to be a next season. It’s stupid and it’s what they want you to do. So if you feel cheated and annoyed at this crap, just make it stop. As fans, you hold all the power. If these crybaby players don’t want to play by the rules of normal money making businesses and continue to rob the NBA blind then don’t by tickets when the season starts and see where that leaves them. If these owners are going to cry poverty then maybe don’t give them the revenue to pony up $20 mil a year for a borderline player like Rashard Lewis. So let’s unite, and lockout all the lockout programming that’s been going on. Let’s band together and be fans of the games that are on the field of play. If the CFL is all we got, then so be it. Go Argos!
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