Surprise!

Tim Hudson pranks the Braves' next manager.

This is the funniest thing ever

Gotta love the New York tabloids....

I personally see Brady as Anakin and Bellichick as Emperor Palpatine but that acknowledges the prequels so is probably not a good idea.

In other news, a 13-3 number 1 seeded team with home field advantage is almost universally picked as underdogs due to a guy who has rushed for less than 300 yards in the NFL.

I'm honestly surprised all the bloggers out there who are Packer fans aren't trying to get me to place a wager on a game that Green Bay is destined to win by birthright.

This made me laugh...

...and now I feel bad.

So earlier today Buster Olney threw out a rumor that the Braves were looking at Brad Penny. This makes absolutely no sense since a) the Braves just kicked a guy whose number will soon be retired to the curb because they have too many starting pitchers and b) Penny makes $5mil which the Braves can't afford. A trade for Penny would make no sense at all unless two or three other deals went down at the same time and multiple dominoes falling blockbuster deals like that just don't happen outside of fantasy sports. The rumor has already been debunked by Mark Bowman anyway.

So of course any time the Braves are mentioned in trade rumors, good 'ol Frenchy is mentioned. It's amazing how badly the tide has turned on Jeff. Even the announcers for the Gwinnett Braves are talking about how he's likely to be traded during the broadcast. So much for hometown hero. Shysterballer Craig Calterra came out with this quip that made me literally LOL:

Normally I'd counsel against bringing in a seventh starter, but since this is supposed to be for Francoeur, you could put Penny in right field and it would still be a net upgrade.

Hell, Francoeur for Bill James' belly button lint would be an upgrade.

Upon reading this, I burst out laughing and then felt bad because The Natural has now fallen to the level of belly button lint. I don't think even Michael Vick fell as fast and as hard as Jeff. Someone out there say a prayer for poor Jeff in his time of need... or at least pray for his swing.

Minor League Baseball is Better

Cheap seats, cheap beer, autographs-a-plenty and promotions like the Senator Larry Craig Bobblefoot bathroom stall. The St. Paul Saints are giving away the naughty collectible to the first 15,000 fans at this Sunday's game. The Smoking Gun has great pictures of the giveaway toy with happy feet. All you Minnesota collectors should go support the local team, and come home with a toe tapping treat!

Card Of the Week 3/10/08

I'm going easy on myself again this week and giving you one of the all time great managers as this week's Card of the Week.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm a Bobby Cox guy all the way, but you have to appreciate the Genius of Earl Weaver. Good pitching, sound fundamentals, using platoons to get a favorable matchup and sitting back and waiting for someone to mash a homer. Sabermetrics it ain't but it worked. Oh, I almost forgot , hassling the crap out of umpires. Hey, the guy won a World Series, went to a few more and won games like crazy. Hell, I could be talking about Bobby Cox... The only thing Earl didn't have was good timing, as he stepped down as manager of the Orioles in 1982 only to watch Joe Altobelli lead his squad to a title in '83.

I'm not posting this card because he was a great manager, oh no... I'm posting this card because he was a great, crazy, funny, filthy old bastard of a manager. The guy who fought umpires tooth and nail and dropped f-bombs in radio interviews. This 1983 card epitomizes the crazy old dude persona of Earl. This is the first card I ever had of 'ol Earl and I've always liked it. Earl's kicking back in the dugout, hair flying everywhere, probably telling a dirty joke to a coach. It's a really fun card from a great set. It also has his full managerial record on the back, assuming you don't count his ill fated return in '85 and '86 when he posted his only losing season.

So why this card? Why now? Well, I was tooling around YouTube, looking for Hal McRae's blowup for a pack ripping post, and that led to the Lee Elia rant, a couple of videos on Bobby Cox's record breaking ejection and finally to the epic battle between Earl and an ump at a Tigers game. All of these videos are horrifically filthy other than Bobby's record on TBS, but I kept clicking and found something even more horribly filthy and depraved. It's also the funniest thing I've seen in years, if not ever. Some dude took Earl's "Manager's Corner" outtake reel (which I hadn't heard in years, if ever) and created a surreal 16 millimeter animation to the track. The thing is complete and total genius. Enjoy, but BE VERY CAREFUL WHERE YOU WATCH IT. At the very least put some damn headphones on!




best video ever

Do you need a good laugh?

If so go to this post on Awesomely Bad Wax Packs, scroll down and check out the David Weathers card. I couldn't breathe for like thirty seconds I was laughing so hard.

Hell week is over and I was able to get a lot of behind the scenes grunt work done on the blog. Expect lots of new stuff up soon.

At least Chris Sabo is still getting work

I needed this on a rotten Monday morning.



Just watch. Trust me on this one.

(thanks, Baseball Musings)