Something else of which to keep track

Well, now that Maverick Lasker is out of the Moniker Madness Voting...Isn't it funny how I can't find the vote tallies for that, by the way...I guess I need something else to occupy my time.  I was worried for about 10 seconds. Then, I remembered this...The 'Get Del In Shape for His Wedding' Contest.

The contestants and their weights for the official weigh in on 7/31:

Del Howell: 216

Andy Sauter: 199

Jeff Paxson: 222

Final weigh in is on August 30.  Most weight lost in the month is the winner.  Losers buy dinner for the winner..Which kind of defeats the purpose of the contest...but what do I know?


I was invited, but elected not to participate in the contest.  As always, I am on my own program.

I was also asked - by Del - who would win.  I did not pick a winner but did mention that I don't think Del will win because he is so slow, that his metabolism has got to be just as slow and will not allow him to drop the weight.

Good luck to the contestants.  Making a note to check back in on this later in the month.

Update on Basebaldy

Eric Baldwin made it through Day 5 at the WSOP Main Event.  But, he had a rough ending to the day.

Jean Pasqualini open-shoved from the small blind for around 165,000, and Eric Baldwin called in the big blind.

Pasqualini: [acjs]

Baldwin: [kdtd]

The [ks6h2s flop was good for Basebaldy, but the As turn was better for Pasqualini. The river was the 5c, and Baldwin doubled up Pasqualini, leaving himself with just 250,000.

Day 6 is underway. Follow the action for the day here and follow Eric on his twitter account.

Um, no.

In case you have a google alert set up for the Timber Rattlers, you may have seen this blog.

Just a note...We are not changing our name. We are not changing our colors. We are not changing our logo.

At least I haven't been told that we are switching out one of the best selling logos in all of minor league baseball. But, I am pretty sure I would have heard about it.

Anyway, Pt I of this little project is here. Pt II is here.

The headline is a little jarring

From the Beloit Daily News

Snappers salute Scarpetta

See what I mean about jarring? But, it's okay.

Hononegah High School senior Ryan Scarpetta is the Beloit Snappers 2009 Player of the Year.

Scarpetta will be presented with the award at the Snappers’ annual Hot Stove Banquet on Feb. 1, which will be held at the Country Club of Beloit.

Scarpetta has played varsity baseball since his freshman year at Hononegah and last fall signed an NCAA letter-of-intent to play baseball at Valparaiso University.

This is Cody Scarpetta's cousin.

Follow these Timber Rattlers

One of my google alerts for the Timber Ratlers sent me a link to something for The 1921 Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

Curious, I clicked and discovered that our team has a namesake in a league at Simyard.com.

Here is their schedule.

Here is their roster.

Here are their stats.

Just a little something to get you through the current baseball doldrums.

Bear with me here

This story has little to do with baseball or the Timber Rattlers, but I found it somewhat interesting...even if it has been out there for a few days.

Garber doesn't rule out relocating Saginaw Spirit hockey team in future

That relocation could be to Midland, home of the Loooooooons.

Plus, I wanted to use this because the lede is a quote that -- at least partly -- turned into Sean Connery's last Bond movie.

"Never say never."

That's what Saginaw Spirit owner Dick Garber said about the possibility of moving his Ontario Hockey League team from downtown Saginaw to Midland or elsewhere in the region.

Garber said, however, there's no truth to rumors of plans to build an arena for the Spirit across the street from Dow Diamond in Midland.

Those rumors have been further fueled by the news that McKay Press could soon move from its building across from Dow Diamond to the current Hangtime Sports building on Wackerly Road, which McKay's parent company, CGX, is negotiating to purchase.

Rumors. Great album. Weird album cover.

Poor news source.

"Not at this time," Garber said when asked if he was planning to move the team to Midland. "From my perspective, this hockey team belongs to the region. We would have to ask if it is good for the region for the team to leave Saginaw."

But Garber, who owns car dealerships in both Saginaw and Midland, left the door open to moving the team.

"If somebody came along and made an enticing offer (to build an arena), we would look at it," he said.

Called keeping your options open.

We're on the list

Background...

For those of you not up to GABA speed yet, here's the primer. A few months ago, the economy ate my job in Florida (turns out the economy has big, nasty teeth and a total disregard for my budget.) I found myself at a career crossroads, digging deep to figure out what I wanted to do next (soup kitchens were NOT the answer).

That's when the dream portion of my brain (aka 'insanity') kicked in. I wanted to see baseball... and lots of it.

And so the Great American Baseball Adventure was born - a 2010 trip designed to go to every full-season major and minor league park in this great land of ours (plus Toronto, of course). 150 games in less than six months - an incessant maze of maps, small towns, Americana, and hopefully, the sponsorship to pull it all off.

The GABA even got some love from a few message boards (thank you, Astros fans and Houston Sports Talk radio).

But then, work called again. I jumped right back into the fray, loading up the truck and hauling it to Milwaukee. Yes, the land of cheese, beer, and frickin' freezing temperatures... a perfect fit for someone who hasn't lived north of Memphis in his conscious lifetime, don't you think? Actually, it's been great... but it's early November and the first snowfall hasn't even come. Ask me about this Milwaukee move again in January, and I may throw up all over myself.

Dude. It's not that bad.

Okay. So, this isn't happening, but, if it did...he would be here in...

Saturday, August 28th:
Grand Chute, WI (162 miles from Beloit)
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (A Brewers) vs. Kane County Cougars (A Athletics)

Sorry, Kane County Cougars, but we trailed your team bus all the way here because we couldn’t find Grand Chute on the map. Seriously, the town of Grand Chute, Wisconsin is not in my Rand McNally Road Atlas (which, by the way, is in total disrepair after planning this GABA). Like the Green Bay Packers, the Timber Rattlers are publicly owned, which means we could buy a stake in the team! Oh, the possibilities…

Dude! We're Right here. Can't miss us. 162 miles? What? Which way are you going?

Playing from behind today

Good Rizzuto is it late!

Briefly catching you up on a few things...

In the major league opener, Braves 4, Phillies 1

Ex-Rattlers for Philadelphia:
Raul Ibanez (Foxes, '93, '94): 0-for-4
Greg Dobbs ('02): 0-for-1

That River Bandits Exhibition game that was supposed to happen in Davenport yesterday? It didn't. Which is all well and good, but....radio booth...windows...you know the rest.

Remember that snow the Appleton area was supposed to get all weekend? This was us...

Dodged it!

I've had years like this

Follow the links in the chain.

I found the story at Brew Crew Ball.

He found the story at Fish Stripes.

He found the story at 30-year old Cardboard.

Now, you've found a Worst Nightmare for a team.

Like most major league teams, the Marlins are hitting the road this week as they drum up some publicity for the 2009 season. This 5-day tour is a tri-county jaunt with several stops in which the fans can meet the players as well as take part in the exciting events that the Marlins have scheduled. The week culminates with the Florida Marlins Fan Fest which will be held on Saturday at Dolphin Stadium.

Today, I made the long trip to Homestead, Fl. According to the schedule publihsed by the team, several players would be on hand at the Habitat for Humaity jobsite. Although the schedule did not say that this event was open to the public, I still made plans to attend and was shocked to discover that I was the ONLY fan there!!!

Day 2 was a little better.

Now this was more like it should be. If you read my recap of the Caravan tour yesterday you would recall that I was the only fan there. Although it was not advertised by the Marlins as a public event I was still quite surprised to be the only fan that showed up.

Today’s event was in Pembroke Pines and had an attendance of 50-60 total people. Again, I got there early as I tend to over-prepare for these types of things, but 1 day I will come to realize that the Marlins just don’t get the community support in the same way that other MLB teams do.

Your two-time World Champion Marlins!

Quiet today

Not much that I can find this morning....So, I am declaring today a Miller Lite Tuesday. Here is an old Miller Lite Commercial. Watch for Appleton Baseball Hall of Famer Boog Powell and Bob Uecker.



That beats the heck out of those Clydesdales. Speaking of which:

The one commercial from Sunday that still bugs me is the one where the Clydesdale is talking about how his grandfather came over from Scotland and -- after many jobs for which his ancestor was unsuited -- found a career with Budweiser.

Quick question: If the grandson is third generation in the USA, why did he still have a Scottish accent?

Just one of the things that keeps me awake at night.

65 dies insquequo Oris Dies

Major League for a few days

This item seems like a good opportunity to reach back a few days to a story from Yahoo!

First the item.

The Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox set a Cashman Field attendance record in 1993 by attracting 15,025 fans for an exhibition game.

The Windy City rivals will square off in Las Vegas again next year, playing split-squad exhibitions March 4 and 5, the 51s announced Monday.

But, that's not all.

The Colorado Rockies will play the Mariners at Cashman Field on April 3 and 4.

Now, back to the story from the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas.

Above the heads of 1,000 people crammed into a hallway at the Las Vegas Hilton jutted a pair of gigantic headdresses adorned with feathers the color of a peacock’s plumage. Which, of course, could mean only one thing.

Make way for the mayor.

Oscar Goodman weaved his way through the crowd, accompanied by two showgirls dressed in blue and green sequined bikinis and matching 3-foot-tall coiffures, until he landed safely in an empty room. He was there to deliver the opening remarks for baseball’s winter meetings, only he happened to be at the hotel where a vast majority of the personnel was from the minor leagues.

“So, is there anybody from Major League Baseball here?” he asked.

So, is an MLB team in Sin City's future?

The stigma of gambling, softened across society over time, still sets off alarms in MLB headquarters. The viability of Las Vegas supporting a big-league baseball team when there are so many other entertainment options concerns MLB, even with the city’s population of 2 million and 40 million tourists a year. And there is the trouble of the economy: With redevelopment-agency bonds not selling well and a citywide vote the only other option for building a stadium, Goodman cannot abide by an if-you-build-it-they-will-come maxim.

Still, Goodman said, he has met with owners who have lent their support to his cause, at least before higher-ups started to put the kibosh on such meetings. (“I give no names,” Goodman offered. “I’m not a rat.”) He stopped, not wanting to alienate MLB as he did the NFL. He said Monday of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and former commissioner Paul Tagliabue: “They are the dumbest human beings who ever lived.”

I'll bet you that this doesn't happen...Ever.