And here I thought that my dog acted ridiculous when I tell her it’s time for a bath. This Russian dog is not having any of this Boris or Ivan and his jibber jabber about hygiene.
At least I think this is about that dog not wanting a bath. I pray that’s what it’s about.
Last night, the St. Louis Cardinals were able to avoid falling into a season-long 2-game losing streak by defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-1 on the strength of the longball and Jaime Garcia’s return to “good enough” after shoulder surgery. But none of that matters right now, because one of my all-time favorite things that can ever happen at a baseball game took place in the top of the 7th inning after Pete Kozma hit a home run to center field.
A male fan, enjoying the game with his special gal, saw the ball approaching them and he promptly stood in front of his babe, extended his arm and caught the ball before presenting it to her as a token of his love. JUST KIDDING. He jumped away like a frightened rabbit and the ball hit her in the head!
When the St. Louis Cardinals knocked off the heavily-favored Washington Nationals in the 2012 MLB National League Division Series, it made sense that some fans would be upset. After all, no team can be loved by 100% of baseball fans, not even the classier and more intelligent Cardinals, who are more realistically loved by 98% of fans. But it seems that some Nationals fans have indeed held a grudge against the senior circuit’s perennial underdogs-turned-heroes, and that seething hatred has led to one of the most creative artist’s renderings of a blossoming rivalry that we may ever see.
Created by Reddit user “nats13” – I believe that may be an homage to his favorite baseball team, but my fact checkers are still looking into that – the above portrait features such Nationals stars as Jayson Werth, Tyler Clippard and Kurt Suzuki attacking the Cardinals with an army of laser-equipped dinosaurs. The accuracy is stunning, as the Nats and their powerful army that includes a T-Rex, brontosaurus and pterodactyls are more powerful and advantageous.
However, the underwhelming Cardinals are also well-suited by the stegosaurus and triceratops, which are both noted by historians as the scrappiest and most-efficient dinosaurs. Or I just made that up. Either way, I’m probably going to spend the rest of my day watching Dino Riders.
I’ve had Stan Musial: An American Life buried on my Amazon Wish List for longer than I can remember, beneath a neverending list of fitness equipment that I’m never going to buy and a growing pile of Blu Ray movies that I really don’t even want. I don’t know why I haven’t ordered the biography of a man who I’ve been fascinated with since I was a child, but I think it has something to do with being content with the bits and pieces I’ve picked up over the years.
While I’m not qualified to tell you what an amazing man Stan Musial was, I don’t need to mention that he was one of the greatest athletes to ever play the game of baseball, because that’s common sense. In fact, his legacy should be taught in elementary schools throughout America, in between long division and social studies, because Musial shouldn’t just be a hero to the baseball worshipping fans of St. Louis. He should be talked about with Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle, even though he probably wouldn’t have wanted us to.
Musial passed away on Saturday at the age of 92, and you can’t take a step without tripping over an article or column about Musial the hero. I’ve always wondered if Musial’s legacy as the ultimate gentleman athlete had come as the result of St. Louis baseball gospel, and I’ve always been scared that someone would show up with a sledgehammer to tear down the country’s figurative monument to Stan the Man’s reputation. But no one has, and I’ll keep praying that no one will, because they sure don’t build ‘em like this guy anymore.
Wow. Here I thought the name “Giants” meant something. I thought it implied that the San Francisco Giants baseball team was “bigger” than other teams. Yet here we are, a day before the World Series is set to begin and these so-called Giants are just calling it quits? “Oh look at us, we won Game 7 and the NLCS, so we’re just going to pack it up and play the Detroit Tigers in the World Series because we don’t have to play the St. Louis Cardinals anymore.” Are you serious? That’s how you want to win, Giants?
For the first time in Major League Baseball history, a team could actually be as big as its name suggests and say, “You know what? One more game, winner takes all.” Sure, the Giants “don’t have to do that” and the league “wouldn’t let them do that” and it wouldn’t be “fair to the fans or the players”, but come on! That’s the worst string of logic I’ve ever seen!
Fine, Giants. Go play in your stupid, insignificant World Series. It’ll always have an asterisk next to it anyway. Years from now, I’ll be standing in Cooperstown with my grandson and my smoking hot 22-year old Blasian girlfriend and I’ll say, “Oh, the 2012 World Series? Yeah, that’s when the Giants were too afraid to play the Cardinals again. Don’t worry, nobody cares about that World Series anymore. Especially not since Nancy Pelosi sold California to the Kardashians.” So yeah, congrats Giants.
If Ben Franklin were alive today, he’d probably smell awful and he’d have to agree that three things are certain in life – death, taxes and people hating ol’ biased Joe Buck. Sure enough, baseball fans complained to the highest heavens and lowest hells about his alleged love for the St. Louis Cardinals during last year’s World Series, and they absolutely bitched and moaned again this year during the NLCS. So of course the San Francisco Chronicle asked Tim McCarver’s babysitter what he thinks about these accusations.
“We get it everywhere we go,” said Buck, referring to himself and partner Tim McCarver. “It’s not unique to San Francisco. It doesn’t matter where we are.”
“It’s easily explainable in the baseball world,” said Buck. “Fans are used to hearing their hometown guys. When you come at it objectively, people aren’t used to it. It gets frustrating. You want to say, ‘No, I don’t hate the Giants.’ “
A very diplomatic and reasonable response by Buck, who I sometimes feel bad for because of all of the hate that he receives from baseball and football fans alike. But there’s another side to this coin that people don’t often recognize – a lot of Cardinals fans think that Buck is biased against the Cardinals. And he had a response for that as well.
