 Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Virginia Tech
I was going to write about hockey today but Steve who is traveling today and I agreed that the Virginia Tech tragedy trumps everything.
This tragedy brought me back to the fall of 1995 when I lived in DC and wanted to go to Blacksburg to watch Syracuse play against Virginia Tech in football but the game was sold out.
Why did Virginia Tech officials wait over two hours from 7:15 am to 9:26 am to lock down the campus? Granted, the campus is a sprawling 2,600 acres but at least keep everyone in their dorms instead of saying classes were still on.
As I started to write this, the name of the reported gunman, Cho Seung-Hui, wasn't released until about 24 hours afterwards. Why the delay?
Let's get the answers to these questions so we can prevent future disasters.
Since the reported gunman killed himself, we won't know why he did it unless some clues spring up.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the dead and injured Virginia Tech students and the entire community.
Posted by a mourning Tank in NY.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Don Imus
Everyone who hasn't been living under a rock over the past couple of weeks has probably heard of Don Imus' racially and sexually insensitive comments about the Rutgers Women's basketball team.
Instead of Sunday's 60th celebration of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball's race barrier taking center stage as it should, we are distracted by an odious slur.
The question isn't if Imus is right or wrong -- he was clearly wrong and even he admitted as much. The question was how to punish him.
As a so-called civil society, we struggle about how to balance hate speech versus free speech. Imus' comments belie an ignorance of the Rutgers Lady Scarlet Knights and their gifted coach, C. Vivian Stringer. Rutgers became the Cinderella of Women's tournament playing against traditional powers like Tennessee, LSU, and North Carolina in the Final Four. Would Rutgers pull it off? I watched them rout a motivated LSU team playing for their very recently resigned Coach Pokey Chapman in the National Semifinal.
I enjoy watching women's sports because they are usually play with better fundamentals -- two hand passing, defense, etc. than men's sports. Even if women make it to the WNBA or the international leagues, they receive a fraction of a fraction of their male counterparts. In essence, they are playing for the love of the game which is refreshing in this day and age. The women's tournament had plenty of positive storylines for Imus to comment on. Imus chose the low road and for we are all the worse for it.
Though I am someone who cherishes free speech, I was tempted to call for firing Imus from the FAN and MSNBC. He may get a chance on satellite radio or elsewhere on terrestial radio sometime down the road so his rights are preserved.
What Is To Be Learned From This: I hope basic human decency and respect will prevail here. Have we devolved as a society to where insults get better ratings and get ahead in the world? I have often been misunderstood and subsequently criticized for my "Passion for Compassion" (Tony Robbins), Zero Resistance Living (Dr. Maxwell Maltz and Matthew Furey), and other positive attitude philosophies. I would prefer to foster a positive uplifting world than a downward one. Instead of tearing each down in a zero sum game to get ahead, we can grow the pie of opportunity and results with hope, nurturing, and hard work.
We can constructively criticize each other without degrading one another. Political correctness popped up in the last 20 years, I believe, because how we as a society forgot to respect and love one another and had to come up speech codes and the like. Let's hope we learn from this unfortunate incident and focus on encouraging one another than tearing each other down. Our time here on earth is short, let's make the best of it.
Until Imus resurfaces elsewhere, he may literally ride into the sunset of his ranch for disadvantaged children. It was ironic listening to his wife, Deirdre, Friday morning on the FAN during the annual Radio Athon raising money for children's cancer and other diseases. One of the guests talked about how close they are to a "cure" for SIDS, God Willing. Imus' intolerant and inopportune comments robbed the SIDS and other researchers of an optimal opportunity to raise much needed funds. For that, we all lose from hate speech.
Posted by the Tank in NY.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
NY Mets Starting Pitching: Good Enough?
Now that the season is two weeks old and we got to see the rotations of the teams cycle through two or more starts for each starter it is time to address the Mets’ greatest weakness: starting pitching.
The Mets’ staff is old, Tom Glavine is 41, el Duque is in theory 38, and an injured Pedro is 36. Last year all the starters went down, and all the replacements went down at some point. To address this problem the Mets went after Barry Zito, but the price was too high. So the Mets have to rely on Glavine and el Duque as well as some young kids. The young kids are John Maine (26), Oliver Perez (26) and Mike Plefrey (23).
Mets’ fans first reaction in late spring after the amazing GM Omar did not trade or pay for arms was outrage. Sure the Mets need a young stud first starter who can give them 200+ innings and 18+ wins. But they don’t need him now!
Given Glavine and el Duque’s ages, they will have to miss a few starts in August and September to stay tuned for the post season. Our good friend Pedro should be back by then to have some starts and by September Omar and Willie can bring up some AA and AAA arms to fill in the blanks.
So what about John Maine, Oliver Perez and Mike Pelfrey? I like these names better than Victor Zambrano, Jose Lima, Geremi Gonzalez and Alay Soler. These back end starters made 20 starts last year with a combined 3-9 record. Toss in Brian Bannister and that goes to 26 starts and the record goes to 5-10. Maine proved himself this year in his first two starts with a 1-0 record and a 1.54 ERA and 10 strikeouts. He is the same pitcher who pitched very effectively in the NLDS and NLCS. Perez had an amazing first start against Atlanta, going 7 innings and not walking a single batter before he returned to his old struggle with command ways earlier this week. I believe that he can regain his control (I won’t give him a free pass due to the weather). When Perez is on, he is unhittable. When he is off, he struggles with his command and walks a lot of batters and gives up home runs. The Mets worked with him this offseason on his command and I think he now has the confidence to be effective after his heroic performance in NLCS Game 7.
That brings us to 23 year old hard throwing Mike Pelfrey. He has some nasty stuff, an overpowering fastball and according to Paul Lo Duca, Pelfrey can throw his other pitches for strikes at any time. He can force the ground balls. Pelfrey had 4 starts last year and posted a 2-1 record with an ERA 5.48. After working in the winter leagues and an impressive Spring, Pelfrey had his 2007 debut on Friday. Despite a few walks, Pelfrey pitched effectively in his debut and kept the team in the game. He forced a lot of ground balls to get him out a bunch of walk inflicted bases loaded and no out situations. Pelfrey has the guts to go after the batters and is willing to do so. Steve and the Tank expect him to be a reliable starter this year.
All teams around the league struggle with starting pitching. With the Mets’ lineup and bullpen, the starters are just fine. The nature of the game has changed, the Mets only need 6+ innings where the starter keeps the team in the game while the offence tags the inferior bullpens. I would like to see a trade deadline pickup of a young stud to lead the 3 man rotation into the playoffs as well as be a #1 starter in 2008. We don’t need him today.
Posted By Steve in New York
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Knicks Playoff Dream Dies in the Swamps of Jersey
The Knicks were officially eliminated from playoff contention by the NJ Nets last evening, 100-86, at the Meadowlands.
The Knicks lost 13 of their last 16 games due to injuries to Marbury, Lee, and others.
Good luck to the Knicks getting a good Lottery pick like Kevin Durrant or Greg Oden whose father recently leaked that he will probably leave college after one season. We can only hope. Oh yeah, that's right, the Knicks traded that pick away to get Eddy Curry. Just great.
Posted by the Tank in NY.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Sabres and Rangers Draw First Blood
The Sabres held their home ice advantage against the NY Islanders last night and won 4-1.
I watched the Rangers win 4-3 at the Atlanta Thrashers while working out at the gym. The Rangers needed to win a game on the road to win the series and did what they had to do.
The D*vils unfortunately beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3.
The Sabres, Rangers, and D*vils lead their respective series 1-0.
Go Sabres and Rangers!
Posted by the Tank in NY.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Glavine 292
Tom Glavine has reached career win 292 with the Mets' 5-3 win over the Phillies. Eight more to go. The Mets took two out of three at a cold and wet home stand. Lastings Milledge played his last game for a while as he will be sent to AAA New Orleans tomorrow. Milledge failed to score Green standing on third base in a PH situation, showing his immaturity by swinging at the first pitch. This after blabbing his mouth the NY Newsday saying he should not be sent down. Steve to Omar: trade this cancer; he is not a team player.
Steve will visit the Mets at Philly on Monday to see Oliver Perez pitch. Steve is still a believer in Oliver Perez, despite his wild outing last night.
Posted by Steve in New York
The Stanley Cup Playoffs
The real hockey season, the Stanley Cup Playoffs, started last night. As great as hockey is, the marketing geniuses at the NHL have all three local teams (Rangers, Islanders, and D*vils) playing with start times of 7 pm, 7:30 pm, and 8 pm tonight.
What if you want to root for one team and root against the others? Remote control and picture in picture only work so well.
Here's an idea for the NHL suits. Start one of the three local teams on Wednesday night instead of all three within an hour of each hour.
Stanley Cup Hockey is a real two month grind that doesn't reward the best team but the team playing the best hockey starting now.
As for the locals, the Rangers have great goaltending and solid offense. The Islanders got on a roll during the last week but it will be hard to win it all with a third string goalie. The D*vils have the winningest goalie of all time, Martin Brodeur, but can they score enough goals? This question was posed by Brodeur himself in answering a question from Michael Kay on ESPN 1050 AM on Tuesday.
I have almost all of the anti-Jersey feelings out of my system except the D*vils and the Jets moving to Jersey so I can't root for the D*vils.
I can't root for the Islanders as I grew up a Guy Lafleur (Canadiens) fan and the Islanders broke the Habs Stanley Cup streak in 1980.
I think the Rangers are getting better but are a year or two away from playing for the Stanley Cup. BTW, the last time that all three were in the playoffs at the same time was when the Rangers last won it all in 1994. We'll see what this you brings.
I don't want to jinx the Sabres but cautiously optimistic that they'll win it all if they stay healthy, touch wood.
Since I went to college in Buffalo, go Sabres (and Rangers)!
Posted by the Tank in NY.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
No Big Macs for Bulls Fans
After the Tank finished working out at the gym last night, the Tank turned on the radio and the station was preset to ESPN 1050 AM which had the Knicks game on. After briefly checking the Knicks score, the Tank remembered that the Yankees were on WCBS 880 AM, switched over, and enjoyed listening to that game as the Yankees thankfully won 10-1 behind Andy Pettitte, touch wood.
Though the Knicks were routed 98-69, they did prevent Bulls fans from getting free Big Macs as the Bulls just missed getting 100 points for the free Big Macs according to NBA.com
With that quick change of the channel, the Tank officially and fully transitioned from basketball to baseball.
Let's hope the Knicks get Kevin Durrant or Greg Oden in the Lottery as the Knicks were almost officially mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.
Posted by the Tank in NY.
 MLB | NBA
 Wednesday, April 11, 2007 5:46:40 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Tuesday, April 10, 2007
"So This Is What It's Like When the Mets Are Popular"
The Three Metsketeers (Linda, Steve, and the Tank) met at Steve's office in Union Square for a lucky pre-game wheat grass shot. The yellow school bus that normally sells wheat grass shots wasn't there for some reason. The Tank is very superstitious and apprehensive to leave without his lucky pre-game wheat grass shot but the show must go on, touch wood.
"So this is what it's like when the Mets are popular," Linda remarked at the overflow crowds as we walked into the Shea. Linda is not used to the big crowds as she is a Mets fan through good times and bad. It is her first Opening Day at Shea.
We got in time for the first pitch from John "Remember the Maine" to Jimmy "The Phillies are the team to beat" Rollins picture taken by the Tank below.
John Maine worked a three up, three down top of the first.
Jose Reyes struck out. Lo Duca lined out to third. Beltran struck out. 0-0 at the end of the first inning.
Delgado gets on with a bunt. DW grounds out into a double play. Alou popped up in the infield to end the inning.
In between innings, we were treated to Jose Reyes Spanish Academy:
"Me gusta montrar el tren numero siete." English Translation: "I like to take the 7 train."
Utley sacrificed in the pitcher Hamels.
Burrell popped up to end the inning. The Phillies lead 1-0.
Shawn Green flew out to center. Jose Valentin called out on strikes. John Maine gets an infield single. Jose Reyes gets a Texas League single. Paul Lo Duca grounded out to short. The Phillies still lead 1-0 after the first inning.
Ruiz grounds a single to center. Rowand walks. Nunez walks to load the bases. The bullpen starts to warm. Hamels grounds out first to catcher to get the runner at home. Rollins grounds out into the inning ending double play.
Beltran flares out a broken bat infield hit that Big Mouth Rollins bobbled the throw anyway. Delgado singles to left and Beltran advances to third. Can DW get a key hit? DW strikes out swinging on ball four. Alou strikes out. Steve and Linda aren't thrilled with Shawn Green. "Save me from Lastings (Milledge)!" Steve shouts. Green walks to load the bases. Valentin singles home two runs including close play at the plate. John Maine strikes out. The Mets lead 2-1 after two innings.
Utley ties the game on a solo shot. Howard walks. Burrell singles to right. Ruiz flies out to center. Rowand walks on a full count to load the bases. Here comes Willie with the hook after 104 pitches. Ambiorix Burgos comes in and gets Nunez to ground out on the second pitch. The game is tied at 2 after the top of the third.
In between innings, a Phillies fan is fan booed for wearing a Howard jersey. "He is also stupid enough to not be wearing a jacket," Linda added commenting on the bone cold weather at Shea where 44 on the thermometer felt more like 34 (ok, even colder) thanks to the wind chill.
The game stays scoreless until Reyes starts the 5th with a pop up to the pitcher but he advances to second on the collision. Everyone is okay but the Tank's fingers are starting to freeze. Lo Duca grounds out to second and Reyes advances to third. Beltran walks on the unintentional walk. Delgado sacrifices to center, Reyes tags, and the Mets lead 3-2. DW is at bat but Beltran is out on the steal attempt.
Hamels grounds out. Rollins Hit By Pitch. Victorino hits a Texas League Single to advance Rollins to third. Utley fouled off about 10 pitches to work a full count. He finally struck out. Howard hits a three run shot to give the Phillies a 4-2 lead. "The Mets should have brought out Smith," Steve says. "Look at the fans exiting," Linda adds. Burrell strikes out to end the top of the sixth but the Phillies lead 4-2.
DW flies out to center to start the 6th. Alou walks. Green at bat makes Steve want to keep Lastings Milledge in New Orleans. Green struck out. Valentin flies out to left to end the inning. Phillies still lead 4-2 at the end of the 6th inning.
Ruiz struck out. Rowand grounds out. Nunez grounds out to end the top half of the 7th.
"Get Up and Stretch!". A great version of "God Bless America" is performed by a brave soul only wearing a suit and not a winter jacket.
Lo Duca singles with two men out. Beltran walks. Delgado singles to center to close the gap to 5-4. DW flies out to right. He throws his helmet in disgust.
The Tank is also disgusted by the wait in the hot chocolate line. A guy in front of me ordered five hot chocolates and a coffee. Alou hit a gapper to right center. Green hit a broken bat single to left. Pinch runner for Green but Valentin's attempt is thrown to third on the force out. Julio Franco is the pinch hitter. Julio walked on four pitches. Jose Reyes is up with the bases loaded. Jimmy "We're the team to beat" Rollins bobbles the ball. The tying run scores and everyone is safe. Lo Duca is up and a wild pitch advances the go-ahead run. Mets lead 6-5. "The Phillies suck!" cheer echoes around Shea. Lo Duca walks on four pitches. The Phillies go to the bullpen. Beltran's sacrifice to center scores Franco who tagged from third. Delgado walks on four pitches. Can DW redeem himself? DW does and hits a two run double to the left field wall. The Mets lead 9-5. Turn the line-up card around as Alou comes up to bat again. "Jimmy Rollins!" chant echoes again. Alou singles and scores two more. The Mets lead 11-5. Chavez grounds out to short. The Mets put a crooked number 7 up in the bottom of the 8th inning and lead 11-5.
Mets closer Billy Wagner enters the game to one of the Tank's favorite songs, Metallica's "Enter Sandman". Utley grounds out to second. Howard strikes out. Burrell strikes out to end the game. The Mets win 11-5. Yes, Jimmy Rollins is correct, the Phillies are the "team to beat" as the Phillies slide to 1-6. 
The only down part was that the Mets didn't play BTO' "Takin' Care of Business" and went with "Celebration" instead.
Steve took the photo of the new construction of "Jackie Robinson Stadium" (AKA Citi Field) below slated to open in 2009.
Posted by the Tank with special commentary from Linda and Steve Live at Mets Opening Day at Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens.
Live! | MLB
Tuesday, April 10, 2007 8:05:45 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Monday, April 09, 2007
Knicks Season Is Slipping Away
The Knicks lost another tough one to the Detroit Pistons tonight, 91-83. They are now four games behind the last playoff seed. Unless the Knicks make up four games in the last five games like the NY Islanders did this past weekend, their tee times await.
Posted by the depressed Tank in NY.
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