This was supposed to be the year that I rededicate myself to watching baseball. It was going to be awesome, too. I was going to see Lincecum go for another Cy Young. I was going to root for Zito, who has had a resurgence. I was going to watch the Rangers become relevant again. And, watch how they’ve actually developed something that’s resembled a pitching staff (Rich Harden!). I was going to watch more Yankee games, and discover if the Rays had really become the team to beat.

And, and, I was even going to travel to Oakland to watch some classic AL West showdowns with all 200 of the people attending those games.

Fuck, what happened? Well, sports depressed me again. You just cannot get used to sports failing you over and over again. And, really, shouldn’t we have barriers that protect us against this?

Here we are, it’s May. I’ve seen the Cowboys lose in the playoffs, the Mavs lose in the playoffs and the Stars fall short of the playoffs. Do I really want to watch the Rangers and Giants do the same?

And, it sucks for baseball, because it’s not their fault. I’m only human, and I need a break. Plus, let’s be honest here for one second. Isn’t seeing a 2 minute clip of Dez Bryant in OTAs a lot more exciting than 9 innings? I hate saying that, I do, but you know it’s true.

I’d like to shake hands with the guy that goes home, turns on the baseball game (the meaning a general week night regular season game) and doesn’t change the channel, or fall asleep with a beer in his hands. Admittedly, 2 innings in, and I’m playing Words with Friends. Oh right, the game is on.

Am I going to offer a solution here? Any sort of revelation that what you’ve just read has any meaning? No, this is an apology article, not a fix it article.

So, I’m sorry baseball. I’m sorry that by the time May comes around I’ve lost momentum and need something a bit more thrilling.

It’s not you… it’s me.

I’m not gonna lie, as much as I like writing about the Cowboys, Mavs and baseball, horse racing is my favorite. And, hell yeah, it’s Preakness time. If there’s one sporting event left to cross off my list, it’s being on the infield at The Preakness.

The infield at The Preakness has to be the most insane sports party, other than Bay 2 Breakers, which happens this weekend in San Francisco. I’ll be there one day, and I’ll definitely “Get My Preak On.”

So, I didn’t do so well for the Derby, but I did have an across the board on Super Saver. Looking back, (here) I never actually explained my bets. I went all long shots for my across the board bets (hoping to hit something), and I went with Calvin Borel. How could I not?

The Preakness has it’s usual cast of jockey’s, and a couple of horses you might not know (don’t worry, I don’t either).

I’m going to take a few chances, and make a couple of different bets (influenced by my father-in-law, who knows a shitton more about this than I). You should have seen the exacta and trifecta he hit last Saturday at Hollywood Park.

Here are the horses and odds:

And here are my bets:

(Bets are subject to change…)

You guys know how much I love betting on horses. I don’t have much time, but I took $150 and bet on a lot of horses.

Since we’re short on time today (fucking Mavs had me pissed all day), I thought I’d just post up my bets, which are subject to change.

Here are the horses and odds

And, here are my bets… Happy Betting everyone.

I’ve tried writing this 4 times now, and I think I finally found an angle that hasn’t been beaten over the head (wait, it was just beaten over the head).

First, I wanted to talk about why I didn’t think the Mavs would win the Finals (who knew they wouldn’t even get out of the first round?!) – as seen HERE.

5. No set lineup – Well, as we’ve seen in Round 1, this remains true. Despite what happened with George Hill in Game 1, he was still their starter. On our side of things, Marion isn’t finishing games, Butler is being benched for entire halves and the rotation is a complete mess. You can’t win that way.

4. Jump shooting team – Yup, this has continued. I believe, and I’m going from memory here, that the Mavs had 4 shot clock violations in game 4. Does this happen if you’re driving to the hoop? We saw Dirk with 4 – 10, Butler 7 – 18 and Kidd 3 – 10 in Game 4. You cannot win on on midrange jumper after midrange jumper.

3. The Dreaded 3 Guard Set – Yep, JJ, Kidd and Terry. Otherwise known as the D-less 3. We didn’t even get a Roddy B sighting. Wow.

2. Hollinger is right. He was right! NUMBERS DON’T LIE, PEOPLE!!

1. The Dreaded Gauntlet. Well, the only one I was excited about was the Spurs. Boy, I was wrong.

Another year, another first round exit. We’ve moved back since last year, and it’s depressing. Do I think we can win the next 3? No. I think it’s over as soon as the Mavs return home. But, I’ll wait to start talking about next year till then.

As of right now, I’m too miserable.

I will say, though, I was texting throughout the game with a couple of friends, and before San Antonio had got to within 10, we all knew. I’ll share the messages between Kyle and I (Kyle, who had THIS to say about the game):

Me: Falling apart
And it’s broken
Kyle: Do we even want to win and deal with 2 more of these?
Me: Definitely
Kyle: I’ve never seen a team go on so many scoreless runs.
Me: It’s fucking crazy
Kyle: Well… Dez Bryant.

And that, my friends, sums up exactly what we all needed. Dez Bryant. See you soon, big guy.

The NFL schedules were released, and before I talk about the Mavs, I wanted to discuss it. Seems like the Cowboys were fucked again with this year’s schedule, and it’s gotta piss off somebody other than me.

Seems logical that Boys will open on the road at Washington. We have to travel to Washington to open the season? Really?

Not only are we opening at Washington, but we’re closing with consecutive roadies against the Cardinals (who knows how they’ll be without Warner) and, of course, Philly. Add that to road games against the Vikings, Packers and Colts, and I’m wondering who is coming into the great stadium. We’re really selling tickets to home games against the Lions, Jags and Chicago?

Not to mention that we’ll only have 4 days to prepare for the Thanksgiving game against the Saints. PS, we follow that game up with the Colts on the road. If I recall, both of these teams were in the Super Bowl. Thanks for giving them to us on a back to back (admittedly with our Turkey Day prep), NFL.

And, we couldn’t be happier to have the first bye week of the season. Makes sense, really, since we get to play the next 10 games against teams over .500 from last year (didn’t actually look it up, just guessed).

And, my final beef with the schedule, 4 prime time games with 1 Monday nighter. Wait a minute, we play the same amount of prime time games as the fucking 49ers? Really? And, they have 1 more Monday night game than us? Really? Is America excited about the 2nd Alex Smith era? Did I miss something? People in San Francisco aren’t excited about the 2nd Alex Smith era.

In conclusion, fuck you, schedule makers.

(Now back to your regularly scheduled NBA playoff coverage… or lack thereof.)

I’ve mentioned more than a few times that this has been one of my favorite regular seasons as an NBA fan. I’ve seen my favorite team on TV more this year than any in the past. I’ve recognized their problems with every one else, I’ve seen the decline of the team and the uprising of a contender in one season.

Yet, I allowed myself to fall into the Mavs trap, like I also do. I sort of wish the trade with the Wizards that brought us Butler and Haywood had never happened. Well, not this year. Here’s my 5 reasons why we should just accept that this isn’t the year for the Mavs.

5. We’re about a week away from the playoffs and they still don’t have a set lineup. This was an issue we had with Avery when we lost to the Warriors in the 1st round. It makes no sense that we don’t have a set starting center. Will it be Damp, will it be Haywood, and how many minutes is Najera really going to get?

4. Mavs quickly become a jump shooting team, which is terrifying. In their last two loses to Orlando and OKC – Caron shot 3 – 15, Terry shot 8 – 26 and Dirk 19 – 41. Aren’t these supposed to be our top 3 scorers?

3. The 3 guard set. As much as I like seeing Kidd, JET (or Barea) and Roddy B on the court at the same time, they’re not stopping anyone.

2. Hollinger is actually right, when they win it’s close, when they lose it’s a blowout. They’ve been losing so ugly this year that it’s hard for me to buy into them turning it up a notch in the playoffs. As much as I’d like to believe they can pull a San Antonio, this team just doesn’t know each other well enough yet.

1. If things ended today the Mavs would get San Antonio in the playoffs. OK, I like that. What I don’t like is the possibility of playing Phoenix, Denver, Utah or Oklahoma City. Or playing one of them in the first round, and the second, then the Lakers, then the Cavs. Do you really see them winning 16 games against these teams? Really?

Yeah… me either. And that pisses me off.

Wow… the day that was yesterday. Sure, thousands of people have covered it, but I couldn’t not write about it, could I?

MLB Opening Day, NCAA Championship, McNabb to the Skins, Tiger still talking and, well, what else could you possibly want?

Let’s see if I can’t play a little game of just the tip…

MLB Opening Day… What more could you ask for, really? Albert POO-holes (which would be the name of my fantasy baseball team) hits 2 homeruns, Rangers come back in the 9th with a walk off, Lincecum was amazing, Jason Heyward lived up to expectations with a homerun on his first at bat and Obama pulled out a White Sox hat to throw out the first pitch at the Phillies – Nationals game. All in all, you gotta be pretty excited about this baseball season.

McNabb to the Redskins… Is anyone else excited about this (assuming you also hate the Redskins and Eagles)? I think it’s a terrible decision for everyone. Let’s have a look. There’s no way that Kolb lives up to McNabb, it’s just not going to happen unless he wins the Super Bowl, plus he’ll be on such a tight leash with the tard Eagle fans. On the Skins side of things, it’s a complete shitshow. Aging quarterback, with no offensive line, handing off to aging running backs. Genius. A slow McNabb handing off to a slower Fast Willie Parker. Can football start next week, please?

I really don’t care to talk about Tiger.

And, last, and best, the NCAA Championship game. Sure, Duke won, and that sucks, but so much more happened. The final push by Butler at the end was so good, that I actually believed that shot was going to go in. As a sports pessimist, that just doesn’t happen for me. I always believe the shot will miss, the team I’m rooting for will lose and my heart will be broken. So, it was nice to actually think that shot had a chance to go in.

Of course, it didn’t go in, and my sports pessimism is still in tact.

By the way, we can do something to kill the one shining moment crap. I hate it every year.

And last-last but not least-least at all… WELCOME BACK JEETS!!!

(Editor’s Note: I was saving this for when Syracuse won, but whatever…)

The Sports Bizzo Podcast 03.28.10

This week Toph and Jon discuss their March Madness brackets (not good), Ron Washington’s sweet cocaine habit, the Mavs and NASCAR (kind of).

The only link you should need this week is to Dock Ellis’ LSD No Hitter – Link

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This time of year I seem to find myself in the same place, which is overly excited about baseball season.

I start reading spring training stories about the Rangers, Yankees and Giants. A few of my friends have started posting Facebook updates with their excitement, which creates more excitement for me. You can start to feel some energy around the ballpark (I work 2 blocks from AT&T Park), and people on the streets start talking about how well they think they Giants are going to do.

So, I thought I’d list out the top 5 things I’m excited about for this baseball season.

5. I’m so hungry for ballpark food. That’s an advantage of living in SF. AT&T Park’s food kicks some major ass.

4. Lazy days. The Giants play a shitton of day games in San Francisco. Tickets usually run about $20 to chill in the bleachers on a sunny afternoon. The ballpark is 2 blocks away. I win again.

3. Chicks at the ballpark. Yup.

2. Teams I consider myself a fan of will all be competitive. Sure, the Yankees are almost always competitive, but both the Giants and Rangers should compete for playoff spots. Which means, regardless if I do move back to Dallas, or I stay in San Francisco, I’ll be watching some quality baseball.

1. Baby Toph’s first baseball game. The first thing I thought when I learned I was having a boy was what game would be his first. I still couldn’t be more excited about this. Baby is due on August 14th… is it too soon to catch the Padres – Giants game on August 15th?

Suck it, Kansas. Has there been a bigger bust? You couldn’t get out of the second round? Really?

I’m currently in 32nd, out of almost 500, but without Kansas I don’t stand a chance.

NATIONAL CHAMPION – Kansas

FINALS
Kansas over West Virginia

West Virginia over Duke

ELITE 8
Kansas St over Vanderbilt
Kansas over Ohio St
West Virginia over Wisconsin
Duke over Baylor

SWEET 16
Vanderbilt over Syracuse
Kansas St over Xavier
Ohio St over Tennessee
Kansas over Michigan St
Wisconsin over Kentucky
West Virginia over Marquette
Baylor over Villanova

Duke over Texas A&M

ROUND OF 32

Tennessee over Georgetown
Ohio St over Oklahoma St
Michigan St over Maryland
Kentucky over Texas

West Virginia over Missouri

Tennessee over San Diego St

Texas over Wake Forest

Missouri over Clemson