The Indians - "Next Year" for another year

I am a Cleveland Indians fan. I've been a fan all my life. Therefore, I am used to disappointment. That doesn't mean I like disappointment.

It is the last day of August and my last flame of hope for the Tribe has been extinguished. They just can't beat Detroit. Hell, they can't even score enough runs to beat the lousy teams. Does that make them a lousy team? I don't think so, but it does mean I can't get excited about this season any more.

A couple nights ago there was a telling event in my house. My 10 year old son is baseball nut. He LOVES to play the game and loves the Indians. As I was tucking him in I turned the radio on to the Indians game. He asked me to switch to the Browns (fourth) preseason game. When they have lost the interest of my boy in favor of a meaningless game for his third favorite sport that is your sign that this season is over.

Go Captains! Play Ball!

The family went to see the Lake County Captains tonight. It was a great night at the ball park. A warm, muggy night, but some swirling breezes kept it bearable.

Before the game, the field announcer, Grover, asked the boys if they wanted to call "Play Ball" after the National Anthem. They did not have to think twice. They are big fans and a chance to get on the field was fun.

Later in the game we visited Mr Deas and Brother Drew in the booth. We must have brought a little luck with us. The Captains won 19-2!

Flag Day and Baseball

I spent a good part of Flag Day at a ballpark today (Go Captains!), so it seems appropriate to post this.



(H/T Jonah Goldberg at NRO)

Cable TV Internet Synergy - TBS Hot Corner

As loathe as I am to say anything nice about something connected to Ted Turner, this TBS Hot Corner thingy ROCKS. You may know that I spent a couple years in college studying the radio-TV-film stuff. One of the things I really enjoyed and attracted me to this was the ability to get "behind the scenes" and see the uncut or raw footage. To be the director, if you will.


TBS is allowing anyone with an Internet connection to be their own director. They are streaming four camera angles and allowing viewers to choose the one they like or stick with all four in mosaic mode.

There seems to be about a thirty second latency on the stream I am watching now. I do not know if that is by design to preserve the ratings on TBS or simply a technological artifact. In any respect, it is like having your own instant replay.

If my son John ever finds out about this, he will be very hard to put in bed as long as the playoffs are on TBS. So - Fox - what about it? You brought us the miked base and the glowing hockey puck. Bring on the multi camera directors cut of live sporting events!

Tribe on a Roll - Was it all Byrd's Fault?

The group consensus of the brain trust here at SMWIAL was that losing Byrd was simply a money saving maneuver for our beloved Indians. But look what has happened since his bolt to Boston. Ten in a row, baby.

Mr. Byrd always had that outward appearance of being a consummate professional, a great teammate and a good guy. I think he would be a great dude to sit down and shoot the bull with over a cool beverage.

But was there a dark side? Was he a mean old SOB in the clubhouse, striking fear into the rookies and never returning borrowed magazines to the veterans? Was he prone to fits of furious screaming "I said ICE WATER! This is COLD WATER!" Did he burp loudly and not pardon himself?

Did the media cover for his bad habits like back in JFK's day? Come clean Mr. Shapiro. Speak truth, Mr. Wedge!

I have absolutely no evidence or any cause to speculate this. But I am a blogger, so who is going to notice?

The Baseball Boys

John, James and Patrick make backyard baseball seem like a three ring circus.

It's all over but the trading

I seem remember the local paper used to have a smiling Chief Wahoo on the masthead when the Indians won and a frowning Wahoo with a crumpled feather when they lost. We would be seeing that sad little chief plenty this year.

One morning last week when I woke up our five year old, the baseball nut, he asked "Did the Indians win last night, Dad?" "No son, they lost" A very matter-of-fact observation followed from the tyke, "They stink!"

And so the rich family tradition continues.

The lovely Joyce K and the Boys on WKYC

The lovely Joyce K and her handsome sons appear in this story on our local NBC affiliate WKYC- TV (yes John, in HD)

A nice story...but...

Turns out the display of sportswomanship was not really necessary. The Ump blew the call. BTW - I use the term "sportswomanship" intentionally. I doubt guys would have done this. We tend to look at events like this and say "Sucks to be you, dude."

Tribe Looking Better

I know it is a long season, so forgive me if I got a little depressed about how my Tribe was playing. I'm still not convinced that they are the AL Central favorites, but the last few days have been fun.

Today the weather was in the 80's - the blimp was overhead and my Cleveland Indians beat the Yankees, even with Paul Byrd on the mound. John asked me "Why does Uncle Drew think Paul Byrd is bad?" and Paul promptly served up his second homer of the night to Giambi. "That's why son, that's why!"

The Indians announce the promotional schedule

Yesterday the Indians announced their promotional schedule. Looks like some very cool giveaways. I need something explained to me - where it has "Fan Vote" does that mean fans voted for this giveaway last year, online - when did this vote take place and was it limited to season ticket holders? Also in the article before they get to the list of giveaways - the Indians announce that group and season ticket sales are very brisk compared to last year. Nothing like creating a demand for when the individual tickets go on sale in about a month. If in fact the ticket sales are as good as they say (oh don't forget the naming rights money), I hope this means we will sign CC or that professional hitter we need in the line up before this year is over.

The Mitchell Report

When the Mitchell Report came out yesterday instead of reading the 500 page document I was scouring it for players names. I was surprised that most of the names on the list weren't the typical steroid looking player like Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa or even Barry Bonds. It was guys like Tim Laker, Adam Piatt, and Chad Allen. I read some of the dialogue on these players and most of them used them to get to the next level or to get healthy and get back on the field. It is a shame that these guys risked their health to become that star player. I think was is even worse is the MLB was very slow to react to drug use in the league. I like the policy but I think players will continue to cheat if they don't find a way to test for everything. I think they should take not only a urine sample but blood as well - that way they have their bases covered.

Baseball - the off season

Some random thoughts I have about what has happened in the "off season" of baseball. The baseball season ended just 4 days ago but so much has happened. Joe Giradi is now the skipper of the Yankees - good luck with that and Joe Torre is now going to lead the Dodgers. I'm happy for Joe. Maybe he will finally get the credit he deserves without the owner second guessing him in the media.

Today, I read about Barry Bonds playing "hardball" with the Hall of Fame. Here is a link to the article - http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3090631. He said if the hall displays his record breaking ball with an asterisk he will never be in the hall of fame. So if he is elected he won't show up for the ceremony. I think it's rather bold for him to think he is an automatic bid. Look at Mark McGuire. I believe last year he was his first year of eligibility and he did not get enough votes.

I guess the good news is the Curt Schilling has the Indians on his list of teams he would like to play for in the future. I'm impressed because the list included cities that were good enough to raise a family - schools/neighborhoods. I wonder what 'hood' he would live in if he became an Indian. My question is do we dish Byrd and go after Schilling? Then you can let Lee/Laffey/Miller battle it out.

A-rod will no longer be a Yankee. Ok - who is going to sign him to the big contract he will demand? I don't think the Indians will but it would be interesting to throw him in our lineup and put him at 3rd base. I don't think the Indians will do this because of the money and the choke artist that he is in the playoffs.

Stay tuned as who knows what week 2 in the off season will bring!

That Was Painful...Better With Time

The "Stop Me When I Am Lying" crew must have all gone into the same disbelieving funk that I did. How could the Tribe just fall apart like that? The sting is still there, but seeing Colorado get swept ended the season mercifully.

What are we going to post about now? The Browns won back-to-back games. That is something. The presidential elections are less just about a year away. "Dancing with the Stars" has been entertaining.

I look at the search queries to see how people find this blog. During the Indians run in the post season, there was traffic related to "rally pie" and "it's Tribe Time now".

Today there was a new query that brought us a visitor - "how to stop our annoying brother from annoying us". OK - given that my brothers post here, I better be careful. But if you want my advise on the subject, here it goes. I am making an assumption that the annoying brother is a younger brother. They usually are the annoying ones. Wait twenty years or so. He may be just as annoying, but there is a chance that he will have moved far enough away that you won't be subjected to his pure annoying-ness as often. If you can't wait that long, fink on him to your parents.

It's a sad day

The mourning begins - another baseball season is over for the Indians. So what do we have to look forward to in the Sports World? The Cavaliers will try to defend their Eastern League title and the Browns are 3-3 and will try and have a respectable season. It's going to be a long winter.

The fat lady is warming up!

Big win last night! I'm looking for the Tribe to close it out tomorrow. We definitely have the BIG MO on our side and I'm not talking about Mo Vaughn!

Some observations about the ALCS

I have been listening to a lot of local sports talk not only in the car but on the internet. I can't get over how hyper and panicked the Indians fans are. Last week they wanted CC to go on short rest instead of Paul Byrd. Wedge stays with Byrd and we clinch. Again this week people are just nervous nellies about our team and second guessing Eric Wedge. It is almost comical because you would think we were down 0-3 to the Red Sox and were facing elimination. Tribe fans - relax. We are going to the World Series. I can't see us losing to Tim Wakefield tonight especially because the Red Sox will have to decide if they let Varitek catch him (highly unlikely) then if you use Varitek as DH the ailing Ortiz surely couldn't play 1st base with an achey knee. If you did get crazy and start Ortiz why would you want to take Youkilis out of the lineup?? The way I see it is the Red Sox have problems and the Indians can pick another person's bat to victory with another solid performance from our bullpen to close out Game 4. I am hoping CC is the CC of old when he pitches on Thursday. Hopefully he will be back in synch.

Who got PIED on Friday?

Inquiring minds want to know. Normally the pie in the face takes place during a TV interview but I never saw who was the lucky candidate on Friday evening when the Indians squeaked out the victory against the Yankees in 11 innings. I really hope they continue this trend as many players are superstitious - just look at Casey and his beard, Fausto and the foul line jumping. and all of those pregame HIGH 5's that Martinez gives out to his teammates. Does anyone have the answer???

Update: here is a link to a Plain Dealer story - http://tinyurl.com/yop3l7

Buh Bye, Yankees!

Congratulations to the 2007 Cleveland Indians. The ALCS is set and the two teams with the best records are facing each other. The Red Sox are tough, but it is Tribe Time NOW!

Central Division Champs!!

YEA!!!!!!! Anyone knows where I could purchase a "It's Tribe Time Now" t-shirt - please let me know.

Great game! Great celebration! I'm looking forward to seeing where we end up - hopefully with the home field advantage. I'm glad they clinched at home because there would be no way in the world I could stay up for a Seattle game this week.