I got your back, Aaron

Yawn.



Seriously, does anyone care about this?


OK.....so I watched parts of the game yesterday, and that's over re-runs of Seinfeld, so obviously, I care a little.

I did see Jason Varitek's Grand Slam in inning 5, and yes, it was mildly exciting. And then the commentator, who is a semi-popular commentator, and I wish I remembered his name (It's seriously killing me that I can't remember this dude's name), but anyway, he actually says something like, "You know, a lot of these guys have been talking about what an honor it is to play for their country, and how proud they are and everything. It's likely that that was the biggest home run of Jason Varitek's career."

Puh-lease. I don't have his stats in front of me, but I can almost guaruntee that that statement is false. They are just trying to hype this thing, and no one cares (as evidenced by the "we sold almost half of all the tickets available" crowd attending the game yesterday). But Steve Nash was there, so hey. Or should I say, "haaaaaaaaaay".

Anyway, props to Loewen for taking care of business. Go Orioles Farm System! Yay!!!!!

My Case for the Terps

As I said yesterday, I am presenting why I think the Terps deserve a bid for the NCAA tournament, even if they do not win tonight in the ACC tourney. My argument is based on the difference of the strength of conferences between the ACC and another conference that is in the discussion of getting five bids in the dance, the Missouri Valley Conference.
Here are some facts about each of the TOP five teams in the MVC that may get a bid:

• Witchita St: They have the best regular season conference record but lost in the first round of their tourney to Bradley. They have lost to both ranked opponents they've faced.
• Missouri St: They have the second best regular season conference record but lost in the first round of their tourney as well. They have not played anyone in the current top 25 rankings.
• Southern Illinois: They won their tourney and have an autmatic bid. Before the tourney, they lost 5 of their last 7 games and also lost to Alaska-Anchorage earlier in the season (very bad).
• Creighton: Lost 4 of their last 6 games and have not played anyone in the current top 25.
• Northern Iowa: They are the only team to have been ranked at some point in this season. They beat Iowa very early in the season, however they lost the next game after they were placed into the top 25 and have lost 5 of their last 7 games played.

Now, let's take a look at the BOTTOM 5 teams in the ACC, who no one is considering giving a bid to any of them. Here's a list of each team and how they did against the TOP 5 teams in the ACC, who everyone is putting into the NCAA tourney:

• Wake Forest: Win against N.C. State
• Georgia Tech: Wins against N.C. State and Boston College
• Virginia Tech: Win against FSU, lost to Duke and BC by 1 and UNC by 3
• Miami: Wins against UNC and FSU
• Virginia: Wins against UNC and BC

So, for those of you who are saying "what does this all mean, Frank?", here's what it means. The Missouri Valley Conference does not play anyone, and I mean ANYONE, who is remotely decent. The only ranked teams that any of these teams have played is Illinois and Michigan St., who SIU played and lost to very early in the season, and Iowa who Northern Iowa beat in a rivalry game. The rest of the season, they just play against each other! The ACC plays, and beats, great teams every single week. One more thing you may be thinking to yourself is that Northern Iowa was ranked and so has to be pretty good. Well, not so fast. They were ranked 25th at a time in the season when they just became 19-3 and had beat Iowa. However, since then they have gone 4-6. They also had a good RPI. Well, a lot of the mid-major teams have been known to "figure out the RPI" system by scheduling one or two good opponents who they are confident they can beat (like Iowa) and then the rest of the schedule is cream-puff. I think that is the case here.

Maryland, on the other hand, has the 8th toughest schedule in the nation. They lost their best offensive, defensive, and shooting player mid-season and still finished 8-8 in the ACC. Yes, they've had bad losses, but none of them are against teams like Alaska-Anchorage, Indiana St., and Evansville, where the teams in the MVC consistently lose to teams of that caliber.

Lastly, ask yourself this question and answer honestly. If Maryland played in the MVC, what would their record be, and if any of the MVC teams played in the ACC, what is the best their record could be? Just think about it for a little bit and get back to me. Because if one of those teams beats out Maryland for a spot, I'll be forced to dunk my head in a vat of salted slugs.

Take Off You Hosers

What happened? Canada beats the United States baseball dream team? Unbelievable. Now when analyzing this upset there are several facts you have to take note of.

1. Adam Loewen started for Canada. This guy plays single-A ball for guess who...the O's!! And he went up against Jeter, A-Rod, Chipper, Soriano, Lee, all those guys and he got them out. Our future is looking good. I can't wait until Kris Benson gets injured so we can bring him up to the show.

2. Team USA has too many Yankees. How can Team USA expect to win games that count when they have so many Yankees? Bad idea.

3. Things would have been different if Brian Roberts never got injured. He was supposed to play second base for team USA and now Michael Young has that role. Nothing against Young, but B. Rob is touched from above and is a proven warrior.

I have been quite pleased with how the O's have been doing thus far in the WBC. Even Geronimo Gil got a hit for Mexico. I'm sure it was accidental. He probably meant to ground into a double play.

Javy hit a homer yesterday for Puerto Rico. Bedard, Lopez and Loewen have pitched well. Maybe we will climb out of fourth...maybe we'll step up into the golden light of third place. I sure hope so.

Bonds and the Babe

I was all set to prove why the Terps should be going to the dance even without winning a game in the ACC Tourney, but the Bonds bombshell hit. I'll go Terps tomorrow.

A very interesting article, Aaron. Like you say, no big surprise if this is true. I didn't want to believe that Barry took the roids when the allegations first came out a long time ago. I remember him in the World Series and thinking to myself that I couldn't imagine a greater display of hitting. It was like he was a machine, and it turns out he probably was. Of course, the key word here is PROBABLY. Bonds can still do whatever the heck he wants to do in terms of playing or quitting. There is still no proof in terms of a failed drug test like Raffy or any recorded evidence like Giambi. All this does is make people question and hate Barry more, which, as he says himself, is something he's lived with all his career.

Here's what will really happen: He will play this season until he breaks Babe Ruth's total. It's obvious to me that Barry is incredibly racially motivated to beat out the Babe. He will play until he hits at least 8 homeruns. The real question is is whether he will play to beat Hank Aaron. I say he won't. He's already said to the media a couple years ago that he doesn't really want to break the big one. I say he's gonna hit the 8 or so and then he's going to "injure" himself again. He'll finish the season on IR and that's the last we'll see of Barry on the field. He already tried to do that last season in hopes that all this steroid talk would die down and he'll be free and clear to play for a Championship while breaking Aaron's record. But now he'll have to be content with breaking the Babe. Then he'll disappear into the still of the night just like McGwire and Sosa.

Bonds on Roids?? Who knew??

The San Francisco Chronicle and Sports Illustrated are reporting in great detail that Barry Bonds is a Roid-Mongering fiend.

Obviously this isn't a surprise to anyone. But now finally we have details. He can't hide now. So how do you think the fans are going to respond to this? Especially with Bonds only seven home runs away from surpassing Babe Ruth's home run total.

If you go to www.cnnsi.com you can even see a picture gallery of Bonds at different points of his career. It's like a Chia-pet, but instead of using that brown plant-mix, you use the steroid-laced "cream". And then watch him grow!!! You can really see it in his huge face.

Now is the time that this hulk should walk away.

Battlefield AL East

Manny Ramirez showed up late to camp for the Boston Red Sox. He's come ready for War! Intergalactic war! You better believe that there are going to be casualites. A lot of them. Intergalactic casualties.

Man Ram: "I'm looking forward to this season. I think we finally have what it takes to get back to the world series this jear. Last jear was difficult, not going to the world series. I'm looking forward to finally ending this 1 jear drought. This will be our restoration. And we finally have Theo back, and that's very good."

Ok, all I really wanted to say was that I think Manny's new haircut totally makes him look like John Travolta in Battlefield Earth. Anyone?