A Load of BS

As a baseball fan, the beginning of every new year brings the anticipation of the announcement of a new Hall of Fame class. For the past few years, I have yearned for that moment when Mike Piazza's name is called. Since 2013, yours truly, along with other Mets fans, have cried foul as rumors and innuendo have kept Piazza from his rightful place amongst the game's immortals. It appears that, finally, the haters have been swayed by a lack of proof and an infusion of common sense. As reported via social media, Piazza has about 90% of the support of all writers on Twitter. There's a good chance that, at this time tomorrow, he will be among the newest inductees at Cooperstown. I will be amongst the many basking in the glory as the first ever Mets position player is enshrined. I will watch from my home, avoiding the annual apocalypse that overtakes Otsego County. I shall bide my time until my wife and I travel to upstate New York a few weeks later to prostrate in front of Mr....

Happy Canada Day to my friends up north and Happy Bobby Bonilla Day  to  all you Mets fans! Yes, indeed. It’s Christmas come early once again for Bobby Bo. As you are undoubtedly aware, today is the day that Bobby Bonilla gets his annual deferred salary of $1.19 million from the New York Mets. It all started during the 1999 playoffs when he and Ricky Henderson had the audacity to play cards in the clubhouse during a game that was still in progress. The Mets decided to cut bait after the season, presumably to give Bonilla time to hone his skills for the World Series of Poker. Bobby Bo was still owed $5.9 million on his contract. Rather than reward him for his sheer lack of interest in baseball-related activities, the Mets, in their infinite wisdom, agreed to defer his payment ten years.  This agreement also factored in an annual interest rate of 8%. Thus, the Mets  have sent Bonilla a check for $1,193,248.20 every year since 2010. They could have ju...

I'm a little late to the party, but it saddens me to think of a potential future without spring training baseball in Central Florida. Last month, The Houston Astros and Washington Nationals announced plans to leave Kissimmee and Viera , respectively, for a brand-new facility in Palm Beach County. This would likely create a ripple effect that could eventually facilitate the departures of the Braves and Tigers. Similar to Arizona spring baseball, most teams in Florida want to train and play within short distances of each other. This means the Tampa Bay region, the Fort Myers area, Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast would all be chomping at the bit for future spring training occupants. Of course, Central Florida is not hurting for tourism dollars with the presence of The Walt Disney Company, Universal, Sea World, WWE's NXT development program and, um... THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY! Still, baseball is a part of the fabric of spring in the Orlando area. This is why I'm m...

Tonight, Major League Baseball went back in time and brought 46,121 fans to Montreal, Quebec. They came to see an exhibition game that felt more like a playoff game between Canada's team, the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Montreal Expos' most celebrated brothers, the New York Mets. Tonight was Opening Day 10 years too late in a city that deserved a championship in 1994, and deserved anything but what it got ten years later. Now, 20 years removed from their glorious dream season that wasn't, Major League Baseball came back to pay tribute. They returned to the scene of the crime, two years tardy for the late Gary Carter. For years, Expos fans came to Olympic Stadium disguised as empty seats. Tonight, it was an international holiday. A capacity crowd returned to The Big O ready to forgive and primed to celebrate the game, because they were just happy to be there again. They shamed every other team's fanbase with their fervor and were rewarded with an absolute classic that...

I am blessed in one regard. Every time I write something worthwhile in my blog and give my wife or my friends a sneak preview, they tell me what an amazing writer I am. Believe me, the compliments are much appreciated. They often wonder why I don’t write for a living. This is where I run into problems. For starters, how does one find a suitable outlet for a rant disguised as an “article”, written by a “professional writer”? How does one get paid for writing? A while back, I wrote the occasional sports “ranticle” (if you will) for Bleacher Report. Of course, I wasn’t paid for my contributions, but I received plenty of exposure. Some of it was positive, like Kendrys Morales’ offensive prowess. Another issue was the quantity of my submissions. The main reason why I’ve never pursued a career in writing is because I can’t just write for the sake of writing. If nothing motivates me to the point of putting fingers to keyboard, what do I do? I didn’t want the quality of my work to suffer b...

This morning, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo of the once-famed “Mike and the Mad Dog” radio show did New York a solid. He made their sports fans sound even more arrogant and thick-headed than their reputation would indicate. This time, he unleashed his fury on the city of Seattle, and he couldn’t be more wrong. The Seattle Seahawks are off to their second Super Bowl in team history. They have become a model NFL franchise in a span of four years. In Pete Carroll’s first year as coach, the ‘Hawks made an improbable playoff run, during which they knocked off the defending champion New Orleans Saints. In the process, they resurrected the career of Marshawn Lynch, who gave birth to “Beast Mode”. We all knew they weren’t ready for prime time, but it was a foreshadowing of things to come. Soon after, key defensive personnel like Earl Thomas and the ever-outspoken Richard Sherman grew into their own. Two seasons ago, they caught lightning in a bottle in the form of quarterback Russell Wilson. ...

On Monday night, the Tampa Bay Rays began their first homestand with their new right fielder, former top prospect-turned-stud rookie Wil Myers. Fans came out in droves to greet their new franchise player. A capacity crowd of 11,407 saw the Rays win 4-1, thanks in large part to Myers. At least he saw more people in the stands on Monday than he did at Triple-A Durham. The Bulls stadium only holds 10,000. The Rays’ stadium and attendance issues are well documented. Tropicana Field is an antiquated facility at best, and its location might as well be a few minutes east of Albuquerque. I’m sure that the Rays front office has done everything short of offering BP to the first 10,000 kids to draw fans. It’s still a little disconcerting to see the Tampa Bay Lightning average 19,055 for a hockey game. Meanwhile, a winning team like the Rays can’t crack 12,000 when their top prospect cracks his first career homer – a grand slam- two days prior. Tampa Bay has become a proven winner on the ...