L&L NBA Preview or: Something That Has Nothing To Do With Halloween. Sorry.

First I'll give a long and boring summary of my NBA allegiance (and a potential moral dilemma therein) and then give a completely useless preview of the Spurs' season.

My NBA team is the Spurs. Just like Trot drew me to the Red Sox, Wake Forest's own Tim Duncan drew me to the Spurs, but to an even greater degree. I already had an inkling for the Red Sox before I learned about Trot; Nomar and Pedro were interesting players and even the whole "curse" angle was appealing in an underdog kind of way. It was different for basketball. Duncan was the only reason I became a Spurs fan - it was quite literally an extension of my unflinching loyalty to Wake Forest.

What scares me is this - I don't want to be that guy who isn't really loyal to a team. See, if Timmy was ever traded or signed elsewhere, I'd be in a crisis. Does my allegiance follow Duncan, or do I stay with the Spurs? The latter seems like the "right" thing to do in terms of fandom morality (and I am a big fan of Parker and Ginobili), but I can't help but feel the former would be my natural inclination. What happens when the Spurs play Timmy's hypothetical new team? Am I really going to root against Tim Duncan? Am I even capable of doing such? I wish I had a nice resolution here, but I don't. I just hope Duncan stays with Spurs until he retires (or at least gets really old) so push and shove can stay very much apart.*

Now to my useless preview, which is actually just some random thoughts about individual players.

Tim Duncan's numbers have been in a steady decline since the '01-'02 season. And I mean virtually all his numbers. Minutes, points, rebounds, blocks, field goal percentage, assists... This is really starting to concern me. I don't like my favorite player getting a little worse every... single... season. But the decline has to stop somewhere, right? Right?

Manu Ginobili is occasionally unstoppable. If you're lucky to catch one of those games on TV, it really is a sight to behold. There is no (and I mean no) more fascinating player to watch than Manu when he's got it going. The problem, of course, is that this only happens a few games a season. There are too many games where Manu contributes next to nothing.

Tony Parker was actually the leading scorer for Spurs last year (see Timmy's decline). I love his signature "teardrop" move - dashing down the middle of the court, casually tossing the ball up in a high arch as he falls forward in the paint. God, I just love it. It's like something out a video game - where you do this one move over and over again and it just keeps working, and the guy you're playing with eventually throws his controller across the room. I can't help but think opposing point guards sometimes feel like throwing their controllers when playing the Spurs.

Bruce Bowen bugs the hell out of everyone on defense. Kobe always gets so furious at him; I love it.

The Knicks were dumb to let Jackie Butler go, but we shouldn't be surprised by that. Let this guy play 30 minutes a game and he'll be a double-double threat, which is exactly what the Spurs need from whoever plays next to Duncan. I also like the Matt Bonner acquisition, as I'm a fan of big men who can knock down the three. He'll likely be a great compliment to Tim's game by drawing defenders away from the post.

Alright, I pretty much maxed out my NBA knowledge for today. I've already half-way written another article about why American basketball teams struggle in international tournaments, so I should have that up in the next couple of days.

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*OK, so that didn't make sense.

Hey, here's something about Halloween - watch Conan's "skelevision" special tonight. The whole show - and I do mean all of it - will look like this...

Awwwwwww yeah.

One Hundred and Ten Days Until Pitchers and Catchers Report

But who's counting? Oh, right, I am. Anyway, congrats to the Cards and to the man who ensures I don't feel like I'm blogging to myself around here, Phantom, who knows the Cards won it all cuz he was freakin' there. I'm not even jealous about it; it's just awesome.

A few notes from the final game...

• Chris Duncan: yeesh. Learn how to catch, bro. Though you did do a nice job catching La Russa after Inge struck out. Work from there.
  
• This was the first time the World Series champions have won it at home since 2002.
• Bud Selig: still an idiot. Eck-STEIN. Not steen, STEIN.
• I formally move to declare David Eckstein officially not overlooked, effective now until the end of time. Two time All-Star, World Series MVP, article after article after article after article written about him, with more sure to come. I repeat: NOT. OVER. LOOKED.
  
• I'm still baffled at where Yadier Molina came from.
• Adam Wainwright: yeah, I think he can be a big league closer.
• It's only a matter of time before some snobby a-hole sportswriter (probably from New York, probably tomorrow morning) writes an article titled: "Worst Champions Ever?" I hate those. Stop trying to bring other people down just because you're jealous.
  
• Same deal with those who talk about low TV ratings as if that makes a championship less important. I know what it's like because it's brought up every time the Spurs win the finals. You're jealous, just accept it, and shut up.
• For the third year in a row, the favorite team of a member of the esteemed Polo 414 townhouse has won the World Series. Tyler's Braves will clearly win it all next year- they're the only team left.
  

I think that's all. Hey, Conan's almost on.

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Update on points 7 and 8: Sadly, I was right on the money. But it's not from an editorial, it's from the freaking AP article...

No Fall Classic, for sure.

Flatter than the Midwestern heartland and a flop in the TV ratings, this World Series crowned a champion that barely made it to the postseason and then had to survive rain and cold as much as the bumbling Detroit Tigers.

Unbelievable.

Second Update: this guy writes an article titled "St. Louis is best of the worst" even though the point he tries to make is that they're the worst of the best. Nice work, douche.

Rapid Fire - 10/27

For some reason, northern Delaware will be getting the St. Louis / San Diego game.

Pressure's on, Phantom. Bring it home.

"Dart players guide their darts, pitchers throw baseballs." - Tim McCarver during Game 4. Kill me now.

See, this is why people hate athletes. They actually get upset about being paid $13 million. There are very few jobs in this world I wouldn't do for 13 mill. Playing first base for a few months is not one of them. Although, to be fair, playing for the Yankees is.

I'm at a loss to explain this. Bochy has managed the Padres for the past eleven years, and had a year left on his contract. Then he just moves up state to manage a rival?

Do not, under any circumstances, buy the mushroom crispani "pizza" from Panera. It's not even a pizza. It's just parmesan cheese on bread. No tomato sauce. I can't emphasize this enough - if it don't got tomato sauce, it ain't a pizza. And the mushrooms? Bleh. Nearly unchewable. Just an awful dish.

Very interesting looking trailer for 300. Too bad Tom Cruise had to ruin the ending in The Last Samurai.

I'm out of rum again. What can I say, it's very tasty with my orange juice.

The Great White Hype

The Internets are rightfully up in arms over MLB's Look Again Player of the Year. You don't have to look too hard at the list of nominees to understand why. They're all white. Well, 30 of 32 anyway. That's 93%, where the actual percent of players who are white is closer to 60%.

It's supposed to be awarding the "role players who sacrifice for their team in often unrecognized effort." It's a pretty sad perpetuance of the "white players are scrappy, latino players are fiery, asian players are smart and black players are athletic" stereotype that nearly every announcer and sports writer has been guilty of at some point. As you'd expect, it was everywhere during the World Baseball Classic. Cuba was "emotional" and "energetic," Japan was "smart" and "methodical."

"Boy, are we some fiery Latinos! ¡Ay, caramba!"

"Shh... I'm trying to calculate the exact speed and trajectory needed for my physics defying gyro ball."

Anyway, back to the award. The leader so far is, of course, David Ecsketin, the underrated scrappy white guy du-jour. What's interesting is this: Eckstein might be the least deserving of all of these players. Not that he sucks or anything, quite the opposite. It's supposed to be for "role players" and "unrecognized effort," right? Well, first, I don't think a shortstop and lead-off hitter can be categorized as a "role" player. Secondly and more importantly, Eckstein's been an All-Star the past two years. He even won the now-defunct Babe Ruth Award for best player in the World Series. In what possible way has he gone even remotely unrecognized?

Equally undeserving is Garret Atkins. Look at his line: .329/29/120/117. That's a role player? That's a best player!

In sum: not only is this "award" borderline racist, it can't even abide by it's own standards.

24 Trailer Countdown

Thirteen and a half hours to go...

Oh, remember the Satchel of Justice?

But of course you do. Yeah, apparently the good people at Fox have decided to satisfy the foundation of my hierarchy of needs and started selling replicas. And I am buying one.

Hey, Kenny: don't bring that weak crap up in hurrr.*

Obviously, not talking about his performance. I am talking about how his pitching hand was covered in pine tar in the 1st inning. Oh, right, it was dirt.

"It was a big clump of dirt," Rogers said after the game. "I didn't know it was there. They told me about, but it was no big deal."

Sure, Kenny. It's perfectly reasonable that a pitcher starting Game 2 of the World Series doesn't notice his pitching hand is covered with dirt. Dirt that looks exactly like pine tar. Pine tar which should have gotten you thrown out and suspended for the series.

After the substance was noticed, ESPN reviewed tapes of Rogers' pitching performances earlier in the postseason. The tapes revealed that, in starts against both the Yankees and Athletics, a similar-looking brown substance was spotted on Rogers' hand.

Wait, lemmie guess. Your pre-game routine involves gardening. Sorry, for some reason I thought you were obviously cheating.

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*note the use of the Nelly "Mizzurrah"** accent.
**you know, phonetically spelled out like that, it looks Yiddish. Awesome.

Well That Went Just About As Well As You Could Have Hoped

That was more important than your typical World Series Game 1 victory.

• The Cardinals' worst starter out-dueled the Tigers' best. Detroit's rotation is now less of an obstacle.
  
• The Cardinals took away home field advantage.
• Scott Rolen, Jim Edmonds and Albert Pujols all looked strong. If these three get rolling at the same time, that's one deadly line-up.
• La Russa finally figured out how to write "S. Taguchi" on the line-up card.
  
• St. Louis' bullpen (save Looper) all got another day of rest, catching up with the Tigers' week off.

Although...

• Pujols' lower lip is officially freaking me out. What's going on there? Is that an STD? You best be keeping your pants on, Albert.

OJ Simpson Getting Paid $3.5 million to "Confess"

O.J. Simpson to confess — hypothetically — in a new book called "If I Did It."

Ok Tom, breathe. There's no reason to get worked up about this. Ok, just... just put down the hole puncher. Throwing things won't help... here we go. We're calming down. Inhale. Exhale. There we go. No, no put down the lighter! Tom!

/lights self on fire

You're right. This feels much better.

Isiah Thomas... where do I even start?

Just finished reading this article. It's about Isiah Thomas "responding" to criticism. And by "responding" I mean acting like an insecure whiny little baby. To what I'm sure is your infinite gratitude, I'm going to dissect his quotes, ala Fire Joe Morgan.

"This so-called former Knick (ESPN analyst Greg Anthony), on draft night with millions of people watching, had the audacity to take me to task on a player that I'm pretty sure he had never seen before in his life (Renaldo Balkman)," Thomas said.

Anthony seems like a smart guy, and I'm sure he knew something of Balkman. He was, after all, covering a draft - you have to prepare for that. You can't just BS your way through it like you can a game; if you're unprepared for a draft, which is 95% actual analysis, it's going to get real apparent real fast. But let's go with what Isiah said and suppose he didn't know the first thing about Balkman. Don't you, Mr. Thomas, think it a bit odd that you're selecting players in the first round that draft analysts have never even heard of before?

"Greg Anthony should never ever be in a position to question myself on anything about basketball," Thomas said.

Um, EVERYONE is in a position to question you about basketball. May I remind you, Mr. Thomas, that you were the GM who put Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis in the same back court?! Anyone who knows the slightest thing about basketball can tell you the dangers of a ball-hogging point guard. So what do you do? YOU ACTUALLY PUT THE TWO MOST BALL-HOGGING POINT GUARDS IN THE LEAGUE ON THE SAME TEAM. Both of them!!! I can't emphasize this enough - putting Francis and Marbury on the same team might be the dumbest roster move in the history of sports. Not only because it failed miserably, but everyone knew it would fail miserably from the very beginning. I can remember Bill Simmons joking that Isiah would trade for Francis - and then Isiah went out and actually did it, like some sort of weird retroactive self-parody.

Not to mention how Isiah, in his first and only two years owning the CBA, bankrupted and utterly drove to the ground a league which had been around since 1946. So what did he do on the heels of such a spectacular failure? HE WROTE A FREAKING BOOK ON HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS. Just kill me now.

"This is between Greg and I."

Which is why you're talking to the media about it. And, oh where was it? Ah, here:

He said he hadn't spoken to Anthony.

That makes sense.

Thomas, seen here pondering whether to acquire Greg Ostertag. To play guard.

"I just thought he was very unfair to the Knicks organization," Thomas said. "It would be different had he not worn a Knick uniform. But for a guy who claims to have been a Knick, to treat the Knicks the way he treated us that night ..."

Greg Anthony was a Knick for four seasons, the last of which was in 1995. This is like calling out Jerome Bettis for criticizing the Rams (yes, he played for the Rams, but no one remembers, which is exactly my point). And if anything, players-turned-analysts lose their credibility when they don't criticize their former teams. We have enough homerism in the media as it is.

"I know a Piston would never do that. A Celtic would never do that. A Laker would never do that. It wouldn't happen. It just goes to show you what we're dealing with."

I... what? We're stereotyping NBA teams now? If the Celtics use their first rounder on a toaster oven, is Bill Walton under solemn duty to keep quiet? Or is it only if he's never seen the toaster oven in action?

Ugh, I'm too tired to do the rest. It goes on to mention how Isiah continued to insult Anthony even when asked unrelated questions. The fact that a man of his age could be this immature is, to be honest, frightening. And it all started because Anthony rightfully criticized the complete waste of a first round pick. I remember watching the broadcast- he wasn't even ripping on Balkman. He, along with the rest of the known universe, was questioning why Isiah simply didn't wait on Balkman. He's a second-round talent, so use a second round pick on him. Not. That. Difficult.

/screams in futility

Rapid Fire - 10/15

While walking into The Charcoal Pit, I heard this 7-ish year-old boy say plainly to his mother, "I feel bad for old people." Empathy is so cute at that age.

There's a snow ski rental shop in town which sign reads: "Gone water skiing. Be back in November." It's not even that funny, but I laugh every time I see it.

I officially cannot figure out the Steelers. I haven't picked their game correctly since Week 1.

I bought Season 1 of Battlestar Galactica (the "re-imagined" Sci-Fi Channel version) even though I've never watched any of the series before. Why? I liked the concept - it takes place in a sister galaxy (as in, these guys aren't from Earth) where evil robots from space nuke all twelve human planets, reducing the entire population to a space caravan of the Galactica and several civilian ships. Plus, actress Grace Park is not an unattractive lady.

So far it's like 24 in space. They battle the odds, fight the Cylons (the evil robots), solve crisises on large and small scales, the military squabbles with politicians, you never know which characters to trust (the Cylons can look human! gasp!), stuff like that. Sadly, there's no Jack Bauer-ish uber protagonist that the whole audience can get behind. Also, it's annoying how the Cylons seemingly steal lines from Christian sermons - urging the humans to repent from their sins and accept the love and grace of a one-true god* - all while killing literally billions of people without so much as a warning. I guess they're going for moral ambiguity - who knows. I still like the show despite it's use of religion. Anyway, it you like some good Sci-Fi drama, check BSG out.

Should the Saints switch Reggie Bush to wideout? Maybe it's too early, but the way he's struggled running the ball but excelled in catching it - it makes you wonder.

Not a big fan of the Bronco's all-blue look. They look like 250-pound blueberry popscilces. With a hint of orange, of course.

I bought Mere Christianity the other day on a whim. Maybe I subconsciously wanted to balance out my heathen TV show, or maybe I was tired of reading endless legal cases. Either way, I'm very much enjoying Lewis's writing, especially his way of putting things in a way that I - and I'm sure many other Christians - always knew to be true but could never quite correctly express.

Adam Dunn might be available. If the Red Sox somehow trade for him, I will personally drive to Boston and hug Theo Epstein. Or at least think about it. Although it's probably just another sportswriter obsessing over strikeouts and batting average - completely ignoring how Dunn is a gives you a .380 OBP and 40+ home runs, something only a select few players can achieve.

Hey, remember when I put pictures in these posts? Yeah, those were the days.


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*FYI, virtually the only difference between the BSG culture and our own, besides the advanced technology, is that the predominant human religion is some weird polytheistic mix between Greek mythology and Mormonism. The original series was created by a Mormon, so I guess that has something to do with it.

Baseball Analysis Analysis

I just head a genuinely surprised Tim McCarver say: "how often do you hear a crowd pick up on a balk?" Now, I've been to over a dozen MLB games, and if the opposing pitcher does anything remotely close to a balk, you'll probably hear people shouting for the ump to call it. This happens all the time. But then again, this is Tim McCarver, so I was silly to hold him to any standard of general baseball knowledge. This is the guy who complains about Jason Giambi "clogging the bases" by drawing walks. You got that, kids? Not getting out is bad.

And now that I've ripped into an announcer, I shall come to the defense of one. From this AP article:

In the second inning of Friday's game between Detroit and Oakland, Piniella talked about the success light-hitting A's infielder Marco Scutaro had in the first round of the playoffs. Piniella said that slugger Frank Thomas and Eric Chavez needed to contribute, comparing Scutaro's production to finding a "wallet on Friday" and hoping it happened again the next week.

Later, Piniella said the A's needed Thomas to get "en fuego" - hot in Spanish - because he was currently "frio" - or cold. After Brennaman praised Piniella for being bilingual, Lyons spoke up.

Lyons said that Piniella was "hablaing Espanol" - butchering the conjugation for the word "to speak" - and added, "I still can't find my wallet."

"I don't understand him, and I don't want to sit too close to him now," Lyons continued.

Fox executives told Lyons after the game he had been fired.

So, in essence, Piniella was talking about missing wallets, then later he spoke some Spanish. Lyons goes for some humor by saying "First I'm afraid of of Lou pickpocketing me and now I can't even understand him." And that's offensive enough as to get one fired. What a joke. There is literally nothing wrong about what Lyons said. In fact, the only thing offensive or racist about all this are the Fox people who are actually creating a connection between Hispanics and petty theft, a stereotype of which I've never even heard.

And would someone PLEASE tell Fox that I do not care about Jeff Suppan's favorite food, or Todd Jones' favorite hobby, or what David Wright is currently reading. This is not the Little League World Series!

The Evolution of Facial Hair

For the past seven weeks, I've been letting my facial hair do whatever it wanted. I was simply curious as to what would happen. Lately though, it got really itchy, so I decided it's time had come - but not before I try out some new facial hair looks. And now you have the unfortunate honor of observing the results.

First, the au-naturale. To my disappointment, my beard stops growing outward at about two weeks. After that, it kind of stays close to my face, making the beard thicker, but not necessarily longer. I fluffed it out a bit for that picture, so it didn't usually look that bad.

Next, the rock star. Over sized sideburns, over sized goatee. Great way to fit in at a heavy metal concert. Or prison.

Moving along, your standard goatee. Popular among scientists, evil twins, computer nerds and mid-life crisisers. Notice how I'm finally able to "connect" my goatee and 'stache, but only barely. This caused me to look like someone, but I'm not sure who. The Half-Life guy, maybe?

Now to the Van Dyke. No self-respecting pirate, Frenchman or Civil War veteran can do without it.

I forgot to do an Almeida / Speizio. I'm sure you're heartbroken.

And then I'm all cleaned up.

Due to logistical constraints, I wasn't able to try out the Lincoln, fu manchu, Wolverine or Hinske, the last of which seemingly every member of the Oakland Athletics is sporting.

Consider yourself enlightened.

Rapid Fire

I have the "What Did I Get Myself Into?" series, and I'm trying to expand on that idea. With that in mind, I'm debuting "Rapid Fire," where I make some quick points about a few topics that don't really warrant an entire post.

Joe Torre Getting Canned (Maybe) - Is it just me, or does the more talent the Yankees get, the less successful they become? The so-called Best Lineup Ever went down in flames when facing a few quality pitchers in a row. Is this Torre's fault, or can there be such a thing as too much talent? Did it create so much ego and so much expectations that any team - no matter the manager - would collapse in on itself? I'm not sure, but the Yankees* certainly make it seem that way. At any rate, they're idiots if they hire Lou Pinella, especially with Joe Girardi on the market.

You know that Nissan commercial where a guy is frightened from being in a too-small car? There's a little warning at the bottom that says "Dramatization. Do not attempt." Gee, thanks. I'll make sure to cross off "claustrophobia" from my to-do list.

The Tigers spraying their fans with champagne last night was the coolest sports celebration I've ever seen. It makes me wonder what would've happened had Boston won it all in Fenway. My guess is the entire park collapsing under the weight of 35,000+ people jumping at once.

Does "The Quarter" now become common lexicon among disgruntled Wake Forest football fans?

A-Rod getting traded would probably be better for everyone involved. Whether he deserves it or not, all of New York hates him and no one on his own team will even stand up for him (so much for Jeter being the ultimate leader). His contract actually isn't that bad anymore - he's owed $64 million for the next 4 years. At any rate, he still has his no trade clause, so if he's adamant about proving himself in New York he's not going anywhere.

You know that Best Buy commercial where the wife promises to her husband that she will watch football only on Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays, and sometimes Thursdays? That makes literally no sense. A) there is no other time to watch football on TV and B) even if there was, why would you make your wife promise not to watch?

One of the crappy things about living in Delaware is having to put up with two other states' political ads. God help us if New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware all have seats open the same year.

If Babe Ruth and Jeff Bagwell weren't enough, I'm pretty sure this year proved the secret to success in baseball is leaving the Boston Red Sox. Anibal Sanchez** threw a no-hitter, Hanley Ramirez** might win Rookie of the Year, Cla Meredith*** pitched 33 straight scoreless innings, Josh Bard*** hit .338, and Freddy Sanchez**** won a batting title.

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*see also: USA Basketball; **traded for Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell this past off-season; **traded for Doug Mirabelli during the '06 season; ****traded for 63 innings of Jeff Suppan during the '03 season.

OK, Mr. Lasorda, What Do I Do Now?

While I'm happy as the next guy that the Yankees are out of the playoffs, I'm not here to write about that. Instead, I was set off by one of the guys on FOX (Steve Lyons maybe?) who said:

"And the bat, like Alex Rodriguez' psyche, lying shattered out there on the field."

Seriously, I hate defending A-Rod because he's a complete a-hole, but what is this all about. So what, he's gone like 10 postseason games in a row without an RBI. If you combine little 4 or 5 game stretches from various points in time, you can make ANY ballplayer look bad. It sucks for A-Rod that some of his bad points come from the past few playoff games, but guess what?

THESE THINGS HAPPEN.

Ortiz hit .191 in the '03 playoffs. Jeter batted a combined .195 in the 01, 03 and 04 ALCS's.

Does this make either of them any less of a player? NO. In fact, these guys are considered the two best clutch hitters in the AL. BUT SOMETIMES, THEY DON'T HIT THAT WELL. JUST LIKE A-ROD IS NOW. I repeat: IT HAPPENS.

Attn: All Baseball Analysts, Commentators and Broadcasters

Derek Jeter's career regular season averages: .317/.388/.463
Derek Jeter's career postseason averages: .307/.379/.463

Alex Rodriguez's career regular season averages: .305/.386/.573
Alex Rodriguez's career postseason averages: .305/.393/.534

Thank you. That is all.

O Brodeur, Where Art Thou?

Like I've mentioned a thousand times before, I don't have many channels here in my dormitory. I do have ESPN, so I watch that often. I probably watch SportsCenter twice a day, not because I particularly like it, but because relative to everything else that's on, it's pretty interesting.

Anyway, my point. Tonight is opening night for the NHL and I haven't seen, heard or read a WORD of it on ESPN. No preseason analysis, nothing on the bottom-line, no passing reference, nothing. If I didn't enjoy hockey the way I do, and thus looked into the upcoming season on the internet and by reading magazines, I would have absolutely no idea the NHL even existed.

What makes me angry about this is the suttle reason for it all: ESPN doesn't have the rights to any hockey games. That belongs to local affiliates and Versus, formally known as the Outdoor Life Network. So because ESPN won't benefit from any hyping of hockey, they've chosen to ignore it all together. Not only that, in my opinion it's an attempt to drive down the ratings of Versus, who are trying to become the (long-needed) competitor to ESPN, hockey being Versus' biggest asset in doing so. ESPN is figuring the less they talk about hockey, the less people will watch their competing networks.

Maybe this goes against the virtues of tried-and-true capitalism, but I simply don't like that ESPN has, in my opinion, chosen to ignore hockey so they can drive out competition. I know it's "only" hockey, but it's still a major sport. A sport that thousands of people still love and thousands more would love if more people talked about it. So gimme some God blessed hockey coverage!

Two Goodbyes

One to Trot:


I teared up looking at that picture. I still am.

*sniff* Oh, boy. Anyway, *ahem* ... my second goodbye is to the '06 season. I leave you with the words of former baseball commish Bart Giamatti:

"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops. Today, October 2, a Sunday of rain and broken branches and leaf-clogged drains and slick streets, it stopped, and summer was gone."

Trot Nixon's Last Stand

Well folks, this is it. My favorite baseball player of all time, the man who is responsible for me becoming a Red Sox fan, is today likely playing his last game in a Boston uniform. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure why I admire him so much. I have an idea, but it's difficult to explain. I'll give it a try.

In a way, he's a 32-year old version of myself, had many of my boyhood aspirations come true. Like me, he was born and raised in North Carolina, played right field for baseball, is Christian, and even has the same height and approximate weight. And like I once or still admire to be, he's an amazing athlete - batted .512 with a 0.40 ERA during his senior year of high school, broke school passing records held by former NFL quarterbacks, and was the number 7 overall pick in the MLB draft; he's a strong Christian who doesn't hesitate to publicly profess his faith - something I still struggle with at times; and has a beautiful wife and child - something every guy dreams of.

So that got more personal that I originally intended. Still, it's the best I can do to explain why he's my favorite ball player - so much so that I'd devote much of my life to rabidly pulling for the team he played for. Suffice it to say if Trot had by some miracle attended Wake Forest we'd be in a borderline idol worship scenario.

For those of you unfamiliar with the heroic exploits of Mr. Nixon upon the baseball diamond, I turn to this recent post from the Red Sox blog Brownie Points.

"July 24, 1999 – The rookie right fielder puts his name on the map by belting three homers at Detroit in an 11-4 win over the Tigers.

May 28, 2000 – Nixon snaps scoreless tie in epic Pedro Martinez-Roger Clemens duel at Yankee Stadium by taking the latter deep for a two-run homer with two outs in the top of the ninth. Martinez goes the distance to earn the 2-0 win. The next night, the Red Sox return to Fenway and Nixon gets a huge ovation in his first at-bat.

Sept. 1, 2003 – A wild and emotional comeback struggle at Philadelphia finally goes in Boston’s favor when Nixon snaps a 9-9 tie with a grand slam in the top of the ninth.

October 4, 2003 – A loss in Game 3 to the A’s would have swept the Red Sox out of this best-of-five Division Series. Instead, Nixon belts a walkoff homer off Rich Harden in the bottom of the 11th, sparking the win, and, eventually, a series comeback in five games.

October 15, 2003 – Nixon jumps on a Gabe White pinch and launches two-run homer into the upper deck in right at Yankee Stadium in Game 6 of the ALCS, icing the 9-6 victory that forces Game 7. Of course, he also took Roger deep to give the Sox a solid start to Game 7 but we all know what happened after that.

October 18, 2004 –- Down 4-2 in Game 5 of the ALCS, red-hot Hideki Matsui steps to the plate with the bases loaded and hammers a laser toward right field. It could have been a series-icing two-run double. Instead, Nixon makes a sliding catch to get the Red Sox out of that top of the sixth inning. In the bottom of the eighth, Nixon belts a hit-and-run single to move Dave Roberts to third. Roberts scored on a game-tying sacrifice fly. The Red Sox beat the Yankees in 14 innings, and wind up becoming the first team in postseason history to rally back from 3-0.

October 27, 2004 – Nixon opens up some breathing room for Derek Lowe in Game 4 of the World Series, unloading on a 3-0 pitch for a two-run double, leading the Red Sox to a 3-0 win over the Cardinals, and the clinching victory of the club’s first World Series championship since 1918."

So maybe you're wondering why I'm so sure today will be his last day as a Red Sox. Well, you might have noticed that none of these moments occured in either this season or the last. Sadly, Trot's production on the field is in a steadly decline. His OPS has fallen 40-90 points every season since his career year in 2003. His average home run total of 26 from '01-'03 has fallen to 9 from '04-'06. And maybe worst of all, Trot is having problems staying healthy. So with his contract expiring after this season, I can't blame Theo if he comes up empty when looking for reasons to re-sign him, especially when a guy like Wily Mo Pena is waiting in the wings.

So here's to you, Trot - hero of my heart, baron of baseball, saint of the crimson stockings. You're still a damn fine ball player, and whatever team you play for next season, with one notable, glaring exception, that team will automatically become my second favorite in all the land (sorry, St. Louis).

Soldier of swing, daredevil of the diamond, champion of- ok, that's enough.

Update #1 - Trot is scheduled to lead-off, but it's pouring down rain in Boston. Trot's last game might have been yesterday. :-(

Update #2 - while singing "rain rain go away," I've been tracking the tight AL batting champion race. Derek Jeter was slightly ahead earlier today, but Joe Mauer's double in the 4th might seal it for him. He's currently at .346, with Jeter at .344 and Robinson Cano at .343.

Update #3 - tarps are being cleared and the first pitch will be thrown shortly. I've got my Trot shirt, Trot jersey and Fenway-bought Red Sox cap on. Hey, it's the grand finale.

Update #4 - Trot went 1-3 with a run scored. His last at-bat was a deep fly out to right field. He was replaced in the top of the 5th with 2 outs, I'm sure to a standing ovation. They were just able to squeeze in five full innings of ball (making it official) before the grounds crew had to bring out the tarp again. I'd imagine the game will be called, which is too bad because Boston's starting picther had a no-hitter going. Boston's rain-delayed game is now the last one in the 2006 regular season.