Miguel Tejada, back in an Orioles uniform, this time at third base

First off, as always, apologies for the dearth of updates. Real life occupying too much time. That being said, plenty of news to report on today. The Orioles signed Miguel Tejada to a 1 year, 6 million dollar deal, apparently incentive laden. The best move of the offseason by the Orioles thus far, Tejada batted .315 last year at the age of 35, and is showing no signs of slowing down. He’ll be moved to third base, which according to Cal Ripken, takes about 100 games to adjust to after moving from shortstop. The good news is that Tejada is a hard worker so I don’t anticipate the defensive skills being as horrible as, say, Melvin Mora’s after he moved from SS to 3B. I suspect that the Orioles aren’t done yet with their offseason moves.

In other news, Purdue basketball has recovered from its rocky road two weeks ago. Beating the Illini in Urbana and today, the Wolverines in West Lafayette. Purdue is looking solid as of late, with improved bench production (compared to zero bench production in the three game losing streak). Wisconsin at Mackey Arena should prove to see if the team has fully recovered from its woes of early January.

Final quick update before I head to sleep, the Coyotes are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games. Panic has ensued as this is highly reminiscent of last year’s slide, when the Coyotes were in a similar position and ended up not making the playoffs.

But you knew all of this stuff, or at least could look it up if you didn’t care. I’d love to sit down and do some real input sometime, perhaps tomorrow.

Robbie Hummel celebrates the win over WVU

Purdue absolutely dominated West Virginia today, in a solid 15 point victory over the Mountaineers. At one point, Purdue was up 26, and the game was never in doubt in the 2nd half. Robbie Hummel went 7-8 for 18 points, and Purdue ended up not having to worry about shooting woes, shooting 60% in the second half (which would’ve been much higher if one were to exclude the last 5 minutes of time-killing). Best part is, I didn’t even mention the rock solid defense.

The Boilers are for real. Don’t mind the 20:1 odds to win the National Championship (Which I was all over when I was in Vegas), or the lack of first place votes, I think the Boilers have all the pieces to make a long run in the tournament this year. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to guess they may make an appearance in the Final Four. Did I mention the Final Four is in Indianapolis this year? A mere 60 miles down I-65 from West Lafayette? That’s a pretty nice reward, playing the two hardest games of the tournament at home. Of course, it didn’t work for Michigan State last year, but who knows where the Boilers will end up this year. The bottom line is, life is good right now in Boilermaker country.

The best part is that this is a team without one of their better players, Lewis (LewJack) Jackson, who was injured with a broken foot and is unlikely to return this year, opting instead to redshirt. The question arises, however, that if the Boilers are in the position to making a run at the National Championship, do you pull the redshirt off of LewJack for the chance at the title?

It’d be a great problem to have, that’s for sure.

Newest Orioles pitcher Kevin Millwood

In the first of what will likely be a bevvy of offseason moves for the Orioles, Baltimore traded Chris Ray and a player to be named later to the Rangers for pitcher Kevin Millwood and some cash. Millwood went 13-10 in 2009 with a 3.67 ERA in a strong hitter-friendly park. He should be a great fit in Baltimore where he’ll likely serve in a Schilling-esque role, mentoring the young pitchers, eating up innings (and hopefully win some ballgames while he’s at it). The O’s lose an inconsistent reliever (though Ray did show flashes of brilliance, consistency was not his middle name) and gain a little money for free agency [which mlb.com seems to imply will be used to pursue Harden, though sources at Orioles Hangout indicate otherwise.]

Is it too early to deify Andy MacPhail? One can only hope for the Orioles’ sake he doesn’t become the new commissioner of baseball.

So the Dolphins beat the Panthers tonight to get their record up to 5-5 with 6 games remaining. Next week it’s the Bills, then the Pats. If the Dolphins win those two, they will win the division and make the playoffs for a second straight year (tell me that in week 3 of last year and I’d think you’re absolutely insane). To be fair, I wouldn’t mind if the Dolphins could win a little prettier. Tonight it was only assured after the last flailing pass of Jake OfTheMan fell to the ground as time expired. The Dolphins had a chance to put it away 45 seconds earlier when Tony Sparano decided to go for it on 4th and 3 at the 27 instead of kick a field goal.

Now I’ve read Gregg Easterbrook plenty, and I agree with his “You should go for it a lot more than conventional offenses do and practically never punt” strategy (to a point) but I think in the Dolphins’ situation tonight, they best play was to kick the 45 yard field goal, make it a 10 point game, and end the game that way. Sure, a Carolina block could tie it up, but up 7, you’re not going to lose the game, simply send it into overtime. A missed field goal gives Carolina 7 yards, but given the need to drive 75 yards, saving 7 yards isn’t that huge of a help (under 10% of the remaining field, I always was good at math). However, it worked out for the best even though the Dolphins didn’t get the first down.

That doesn’t mean that I avoided my weekly heart attack. Carolina drove down the field and was about 27 yards out with 6 seconds to go before OfTheMan threw a heave into the end zone that had no chance of being caught by a Panther as soon as it was released. The Dolphins will do their best to try and snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory, and a few times this year (Indy, New Orleans), they’ve succeeded.

In my quest to find an adequate viewing facility for the Dolphins game tonight, I spent about half of my afternoon trying to find a sports bar near my work that had High Definition TV, and a sports-like atmosphere that I could heckle my two co-worker Panther fans. I didn’t realize it was going to take me 15 phone calls. If you’re running a sports bar, why would you not have the most top of the line product out there? Why not just make a sports bar with a bunch of radios that let you listen to the game? You know why? Because nobody wants to enjoy football on a medium of technology when there’s a much better medium that’s easily available. I’m not asking for much, I have HD service in my house (and NFL network, could’ve just made it easy), and it’s not like there’s any shortage of TVs in many sports bars, but almost a dozen flat out said “no” when I asked “This may sound silly but do you guys have HDTVs?” another three failed to answer. Finally we were given a sports bar on a recommendation, but upon arrival, there was no game audio. *sigh*

In other news, the Coyotes took a game from the Wild last night and lost in OT to St. Louis tonight. A 3 point road trip, which I would call a success. The team really needs to succeed on the ice if it is going to remain in Phoenix for more than 3 years. I, unfortunately, don’t think that Glendale is a long term solution for the Coyotes franchise.

Apologies for the lag in between posts, I’ll do my best to get one out on Saturday as well.

Johnny Damon after tweaking his leg and pulling himself out of Game Six of the 2009 World Series.

I’m sorry, Yankees fans. I love to watch you suffer. Maybe it’s because I grew up in Boston. Maybe it’s because I’m an Orioles fan. Maybe it’s a combination of the two. Maybe it’s the 1996 ALCS. Hint: It’s the last one. It’s presently 4-1 in the Top of the 5th and the Yankees are 12 outs from winning title number 27. It’s the ultimate case of schadenfreude… I love watching New Yorkers suffer. I take solace in the fact that there is a 9 year old kid somewhere in New York asking his father what it was like for the Yankees to win the World Series, ignoring the fact that I’ve never seen (any of) my team(s) win a championship, and I’m nearly 25. I’d love to rationally explain why I hate this team so much but I just can’t put it into words. It’s the Yankees. It makes sense to me.

7-1 now. Congrats to the Yankees on #27. That’s all I have to say about that.

So my coworker Kipp would not let me get by without posting this, but it’s only fair. Purdue got absolutely blanked by Wisconsin today, 37-0. It was horrendous. On Halloween, nonetheless, I suppose it was simply a preparation for the amount of gore that I’d see later in the day. There was nothing positive to take away from it. Purdue football at its ugliest. Even I turned it off, and I watched all 60 minutes of the Dolphins losing to the Jaguars 62-7 in the playoffs a few years ago. I made my parents sit through a 18-2 Blue Jays over the Red Sox win a few years ago because of the chance of comeback. And even I couldn’t take any more Purdue football today.

In less depressing news, the Phoenix Coyotes are starting the season on an absolute tear. 18 points through 12 games, putting them anywhere from 2nd to 6th in the conference depending on the night. The main reason for this has to be the spectacular play of Ilya Bryzgalov, who has 3 shutouts already this year. We’ll see if it continues.

Dolphins vs Jets tomorrow, big game for the Fins.

You haven’t experienced frustration until your team has blown a 27-3 lead to one of the best teams in the league. Thinking all was well, I went grocery shopping at halftime to return home to find that the lead has been shut to 7. Meanwhile, Fox refuses to switch over to the game, instead showing the last 5 minutes of a Dallas rout of Atlanta. Meanwhile, New Orleans takes over the lead 37-34, and Fox joins the game. The Dolphins make a big stop on 3rd and goal from the 2, and it’s 40-34 New Orleans with 3:23 left. Far too little time for the Miami Dolphins offense, especially starting from their own 20.

Before this drive, Henne was 9/22, 138, 0/1. A 6 yard pass to Ricky Williams and once again no sense of urgency. Ginn makes another horrible drop (see: Colts game) and it’s third and four. Henne converts to Camarillo and the Dolphins have the ball at their 44 with 2:30 to go. Another pass to Camarillo who is promptly flagged for an illegal forward pass for trying to throw the ball out of bounds. This makes it second and 8 and an incomplete pass to Ricky. A false start and incomplete pass makes it fourth and 13 and it all comes down to Chad Henne, who throws a pick six.

I’m so sick of way this team screws with me, that’s for sure.

I’m the king about complaining about my teams, but that doesn’t mean I’ll turn my back on them and root against them (except when a draft pick is at hand).

To demonstrate that, I bet my good buddy, and fellow Purdue alumnus, that Purdue would win, straight up, against tOSU today.

Seeing that the money line is between +400 and +500 for Purdue, we had to even out the stakes. A tOSU win means that I’d have to purchase him a Five Guys meal next time I’m in Chicago (as I’ve been trying to convince him to go there for months… but he’s too much of a sissy). In return, if Purdue wins, Kevin has to ship me an authentic Chicago sausage patty pizza.

Hopefully the sports gods will punish Kevo for betting against his own team in a friendly wager amongst friends (actual bookie-style gambling against your team is permitted by the sports gods, as far as I know).

In fact, I’m so sure the sports gods will punish him, I am GUARANTEEING a Purdue victory over Ohio State today. You heard it here first.

UPDATE: A PIZZA IS MINE!!! A Boilermaker dismantling of tOSU. A longer update when I get back, but I need to go run some errands and heckle some OSU fans. BOILER UP!

So it’s a great sports night for me. A running monologue, as it happens:

5:00 PM: Call girlfriend to ensure that DVR is recording Dolphins’ MNF game
5:05 PM: Pray that I’m able to get home from work with minimal rewinding
5:30 PM: Finish up work
6:12 PM: Arrive home.
6:15 PM: Close eyes and turn on TV, hoping the play by play guys don’t drop any hints
6:15 PM – 6:45 PM: Catch up to game. Marvel at the success of the Wildcat and scream loudly at the first Wildcat pass of the year.
6:45 PM: Realize I’m down 65 points in fantasy football this week.
6:45:01 PM: Pray Ricky Williams catches 55 passes for 100 yards tonight
6:50 PM: Halftime, Jets 13, Dolphins 10.
7:00 PM: Laugh at the Broncos throwback jerseys
7:01 PM: Laugh at the Broncos throwback jerseys
7:02 PM: Laugh at the Broncos throwback jerseys
7:03 PM: well… you get the idea
7:20 PM: Think “Wow, Chad Henne might actually have the talent to be a good quarterback”
7:23 PM: Smile at more Wildcat formation, wishing Ricky would throw a touchdown pass or something
7:24 PM: Try to convince the girlfriend to cook dinner. While enjoying more wildcat.
7:25 PM: After a 3 and out, try to record the Coyotes game that begins at 7:30.
7:30 PM: Fail at convincing girlfriend to cook dinner.
7:35 PM: Finally, the Dolphins get a first down. It seems like it’s been 30 minutes.
7:37 PM: I think I actually like this team of Turico, Jaworski and Gruden… Tirico does good play by play without stepping in too much, the other guys aren’t too wordy but actually have good input instead of simply restating what’s being said.
7:43 PM: The Dolphins have run the Wildcat formation 6 plays in a row. I love this offense. I wish they would’ve done this when Pennington went down a few weeks ago. Ricky’s looking good, but I don’t think he’ll have 55 receptions.
7:45 PM: End of third quarter, Jets 13, Dolphins 10. Dolphins in the Red Zone though!
7:47 PM: Touchdown, Miami! 17-13, Fins!
7:53 PM: First play from scrimmage, a 40 yard pass from Sanchez…. :sigh:
7:57 PM: 3rd and 22 and the Jets convert… for a touchdown? Fuck me.
7:58 PM: Dolphins waste a challenge on the play. I never understood why you’d challenge a play where if you win, the team has the ball 1 foot outside of the end zone and if you lose, you lose a timeout and you’re trailing. I’d rather just save the timeout, personally.
8:01 PM: The Dolphins manage to win the challenge and the ball is placed inside the 1. If they stop the Jets, I’ll eat my shirt.
8:02 PM: First play, Jets score. Glad we went through the unnecessary challenge. Of course, had I started Thomas Jones, this would’ve gotten me 6 points. Fantasy boondoggle, these challenges are.
8:03 PM: Finally get the Coyotes game up and running. Hockey in HD is quite possibly one of the best things you can watch on TV.
8:05 PM: Nothing eventful in the first 2 minutes of the hockey game, back to football.
8:07 PM: Henne is 13/16… I’m hopping on the Chad Henne bandwagon!!!^H^H^H 13/17. I need to stop saying things like this.
8:08 PM: Henne connects again, this time on third down. Move over, bubba, I’m drivin this here wagon!
8:09 PM: AS SOON AS I TYPE THAT CHAD HENNE PLACES A BEAUTIFUL 60+ YARD PASS INTO THE ARMS OF TED GINN. I never thought I’d be so happy to see a Michigan QB put it in the arms of a tOSU guy.
8:13 PM: It seems like the NFL’s genius idea to move the Pro Bowl to a mainland US destination isn’t working so well, as they’re practically begging for people to buy tickets on MNF.
8:14 PM: MNF has a “QBs since Dan Marino” broken down by how they were acquired. I can’t believe we traded something (besides a sack of potatoes) for Cleo Lemon…
8:15 PM: Back to the Coyotes while an injury timeout is resolved. I wonder why this sport really doesn’t catch on more in the US, especially with HD TV now. It’s fast paced, great to drink a beer and watch, and every girl I’ve ever met has, at minimum, tolerated it.
8:17 PM: Back to football, a Jets 3 and out… I hope the Dolphins don’t get fooled by the third fake punt attempt of the night … Nope, the Jets actually kick it.
8:20 PM: I think the Dolphins should wear the orange jerseys all the time. My favorite uniforms in all of sports.
8:24 PM: MNF puts the hex on, producing the fact that the Jets are 1-26 when trailing after 3 quarters by 4+ points. Their only win? Against the Dolphins in ‘06.
8:26 PM: Another Will Allen pass interference call. First and goal for the Jets.
8:29 PM: TD Jets. 27-24 NY. I’m getting fucking sick of these back and forth games.
8:31 PM: Me, to Kevin: “This is premature, but, Henne has a Brady-esque pocket presence”
8:33 PM: Pat White is in the game…. First play a draw to Brown. Then a QB draw. Nothing too eventful.
8:35 PM: More wildcat, Ricky is an integral part of this team tonight. I LOVE this team. They’re a blast to watch, even if they’re losing at present.
8:38 PM: Henne connects on 3rd down again amid a 7 man blitz. This guy is going to be GOOD.
8:40 PM: 3rd down again, can Henne connect? Judging from how he’s played so far, I think so.
8:41 PM: HENNE CONVERTS!!!!! WHAT A PLAY!!!! :considers picking up Henne in fantasy football:
8:42 PM: 17 seconds to go, Dolphins ball on the 3. 2nd and goal…. Incomplete pass. 10 seconds left.
8:43 PM: TOUCHDOWN RONNIE BROWN!!!!!! 31-27 Miami, 0:06 left. What a game!!!
8:45 PM: Game over. Hard not to pick Chad Henne as my player of the game. 20/26, 243 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT, 130.4 passer rating… No complaints from me at all.
8:50 PM: After about 5 minutes of hyperventilation, I’ve settled down enough to watch the rest of the Coyotes game. 12:44 in the first right now, 0-0.
8:55 PM: The Coyotes turn over the puck in their own zone and Bryzgalov makes a great kicksave. Bryz has looked a lot better this year, whatever they told him in the offseason worked.
8:59 PM: The exact same thing happens again, but 4 minutes later.
9:05 PM: End of 1, a relatively boring hockey game, Coyotes 0, Sharks 0
9:15 PM: First fight of the game, a Coyotes victory.
9:23 PM: A rather boring hockey game, by casual hockey fan standards. Great passing and fundamentals, it’s like watching a pitcher’s duel in baseball… A bit of an acquired taste, if you will. I’m not minding it, but it’s nice to see an increasing pace in the past few minutes
9:28 PM: The first minor penalty of the 2nd goes against the Sharks. 2nd Coyotes PP of the game, hopefully they can convert.
9:30 PM: The Coyotes fail to convert… 0/2 on the power play tonight.
9:35 PM: Another penalty with 1:02 left in the period, 3rd Coyotes chance to convert…
9:36 PM: End of Period 2. Coyotes 0, Sharks 0.
9:38 PM: Start of Period 3 (God bless DVRs) and the Coyotes fail to convert. But shortly thereafter, another penalty. 4th Coyotes PP tonight, PLEASE SCORE ON ONE!
9:39 PM: Penalty for interference against the Coyotes, time for some 4 on 4… with about 1 minute of PP for the Sharks.
9:40 PM: Coyotes manage to kill the penalty with a great Bryzgalov save. He’s been playing out of his mind these first few games.
9:43 PM: I caught up to live TV… Damn. 7:40 left in the third, still 0-0.
9:45 PM: Zbynek Michalek is called for a bullshit Delay of Game penalty. The penalty kill has been the Coyotes weak point in recent years, but this year they’ve been doing pretty decent. Hopefully that continues.
9:47 PM: A successful penalty kill for the Coyotes. The defensemen owe Bryzgalov a couple of beers tonight…
9:55 PM: End of regulation… At least the Coyotes are getting a point out of this. A few good saves by Nabokov and Bryzgalov, quite the defensive showdown. It’s nice to see the Coyotes compete in defensive games, unlike last year.
10:00 PM: This is why hockey is great. 2 hours and 20 minutes after starting, we’re in the final 3 minutes of overtime. Even with 30 minutes of a shootout, which would be one of the more dramatic shootouts, you’re still out of the building faster than a football game. Another reason that Americans should enjoy hockey more than they do.
10:01 PM: Finally, some intensity. Back and forth play, a big hit on a Coyote and a great glove save by Nabokov. 1:59 left in OT.
10:03 PM: End of OT… That brings us to one of the more dramatic conclusions to a sporting event: the shootout. Purists will disagree, saying its akin to ending a baseball game with a home run derby, but after the issues the NHL has had in the past 10 years, it’s a good way to get young fans into the game. I saw a game go 13 rounds in the shootout a couple of seasons ago, and let me tell you, earlier tonight when I said I hated “back and forth” games pales in comparison to seeing a shootout go 13 rounds.

Shootout results:

Round 1 SJ shooting, kick save by Nabokov.
Round 1 PHX shooting, shot wide left
Round 2 SJ shooting, shot wide left
Round 2 PHX shooting, GOAL COYOTES!
Round 3 SJ shooting, a save and it’s a Coyotes win…. Dan Boyle shooting for the Sharks and he scores. 1-1
Round 3 PHX shooting, a goal and they win… Korpikoski shooting in his first career shootout attempt…GOALLLLLL COYOTES AND KORPIKOSKI IS THE HERO! 1-0 Coyotes with the shootout win.

It doesn’t get better than this, two last second wins by my teams in dramatic fashions.

THIS is what sports is about, not those piddly choke jobs I’ve been watching from my other teams lately.

HOW ABOUT THEM DOLPHINS AND ‘YOTES!

So the city of 3 million plumbers has fallen short again. After spending the week making preparations for the celebration, Chicago (errr Pittsburgh, Illinois) was eliminated in the FIRST ROUND of IOC voting for the 2016 Olympics. I’m sure all the employees in downtown Chicago were glad that all the streets in the downtown area were closed for the “celebration.” What better way to acknowledge your futility than by prematurely celebrating your unsuccessful bid for the Olympics. Chicago made America proud yesterday.

At least this will open up an opportunity for a real American city (Boston, LA, hell, even Indianapolis would be a better host) the opportunity to host in 2020.

Probably one of the best sporting weeks in recent history, as I saw my two most hated entities fail (Canada in their bid for the Coyotes through Jim Balsillie and Chicago, through their failed Olympic bid). I guess I have no room to complain. Hockey season begins tonight!