The Drubbing

Nope, this show isn’t on Fox, nor is it on the World Wide Leader.  Now that the TNT Crew is hibernating until the start of he next NBA season, the best show on TV is the MLB channel’s MLB tonight trifecta – Batting Practice, 1st and 3rd, and Round Tripper.  I am not a spokesman for Direct TV, but if you are a sports fan and you have the option, there is no reason you shouldn’t get the Dish.  It is worth it for the NFL package alone, but the addition of MLB TV makes the service that much more enjoyable.

I won’t lie, i enjoyed Baseball tonight on the World Wide Leader back when they had Karl, Kruk and Harold “motorboating” Reynolds.  John Kruk would have Harold laughing so hard with his commentary that good ole Ravech would have to use fillers until Harold got control of himself to add in a few comments.  A few weeks ago after work i stumbled upon the MLB channel and instantly fell in love.  The format is priceless.  There are 3 shows.  Essentially all are the same, showing highlights of the nights action, adding in some commentary, live look-ins, plays of the night and even some baseball tips.  But what makes the format so great, is that because this is basically 3+ hours of just updates it can get very boaring and old if you had the same people talking.  MLB uses 3 different lineups of commentators, so they come at you in waves, each fresh and ready to just talk baseball.  The lineup includes such former players as Billy Ripken, Mitch Williams, Harold “motorboating” Reynolds, Sean Casey, Barry Larkin and others.

Now, to tell you the truth, this is the only thing i knew about good ole Billy Ripken.  And man alive did i try to collect that sucker when i was younger.  Apparently Billy has a lot more to offer than an infamous baseball card, he is actually pretty entertaining and knowledgeable.  The other night i watched Billy root on as 2 managers got tossed out of their respective games.  It was great.

I have no rooting interest in the Phillies, but it is nice to see Mitch Williams alive.  I felt bad for the guy after game 6. A few nights ago Mitch was showing how to throw a knuckleball, and he was tossing perfect, no-spin balls in the studio.  Key to remember boys and girls, do not follow through like you would a fast ball.

Lastly, I now understand why everyone in baseball likes Sean “The Mayor” Casey.  The guy is hysterical.  On the show it looks like he has an IV of Red Bull, as he is bouncing off the walls.  A few nights ago the Marlins were playing and during the highlights they showed a fan in the outfield stands wearing a full on Chewbacca outfit.  Showing that fan multiple times like they did made me chuckle, having Sean Casey mimic Chewy’s roar every time they showed the fan had me crying with laughter.

Easy Harold, no means no.

So i implore you to switch to Direct TV if only for the MLB Channel.  Whats not to like about great commentary from former baseball players who are excited to be on the air and know what they are talking about? Nothing.  So as long as the network can keep Harold away from Hazel Mae, they should be in good shape.

As noted before, there’s no doubt that LeBron James will be going to New York Knicks when his contract in Cleveland is up. No other city can offer LeBron what New York can. Between basketball, business and celebrity, New York was made for James. But as we’ve seen with other premier athletes, one sport can only keep them occupied for so long. Deion Sanders, Bo Jackson and the 45, Michael Jeffrey Jordan.

So how long will the NBA, Nike, Coke, Microsoft and State Farm be able to keep LeBron occupied. If recent history is any indication, we may not have long to wait. Jordan needed a break once he got to 30. Which gives LeBron six more years until he needs a change.
Continue reading “Only six more years until LeBron suits up for the New York Giants” →

How do you teach a young man how to be a responsible member of society and be accountable for your actions? By suing Duke University when they get kicked off the golf team of course. But I guess that’s what we should expect from a “student athlete” that embodies the stereotypes often associated with the Duke University student body.
Continue reading “Want some cheese with that whine?” →

Would this man force more errors if he could make contact with the ball?

Perhaps more than any other sport baseball is subject to the cliché. With so many games a year and so many hours of radio/television coverage for each of those games, things get repeated a lot. As with anything else, once something gets repeated enough people begin to accept it as true. It is an amazing thing about the human mind, once we hear something a few times, as long as it seems logical, we accept it. One of them has been bothering me for a while, and until now I didn’t have a way of looking at it. Thanks to the magic of baseball-reference.com, now I can.

Whenever someone like Ichiro, Torii Hunter, or Jose Reyes reaches first on an infield error one of the announcers will inevitably say “That shows you how speed forces defenses to rush which creates more errors”. This sounds perfectly logical. If I am at shortstop and Usain Bolt is running to first I know that I have to hurry the throw. However, because I tend to overthink things I always wondered if it was true.

Before I explain the methodology I used, let me first admit that it is not perfect. I took two different sets of data and looked at the statistics as best as I could. It is rudimentary statistical analysis at best, and would not qualify to be published in any scholarly journal. However, it can give us some illustration of what is going on So here goes.
Continue reading “Does speed force more errors?” →

Chuck’s links will now contain our weekly poll recap results:

Who will be the MLB Home Run leader at the end of the season?

5 votes for Pujols, 2 for Howard 1 for Carlos Pena.

Now on to the links:

MJ & MJ.

Binoculars, soccer, and an Asian game show = hysterical.

This is tremendous.  TO gets cursed out by a model and has zero comeback.

Big man fall hard.  Poor Houston.

Your Weekly Chuck Norris Fact:

Superman owns a pair of Chuck Norris pajamas.

* Please note that Chuck Norris is in no way affiliated with The Drubbing or its writers. If he did find out we were using his name in a gimmick he would roundhouse kick all of us to death.

Stan Van (or SVG if you prefer) is never one to shy away from controversy or put his nose where it doesn’t belong. His latest victim, the NCAA. In a post-game interview after an NBA Finals loss, Van Gundy called the NCAA “about the worst organization going.” And called the NBA’s age limit “a sham.” Every organization has their own set of problems, some more than others, but Stan has gone a little far here, as usual.

I have my own issues with the NCAA, several of them in fact. But the NBA (flagrant fouls), MLB (steroids), NHL (Gary Bettman), NFL (protecting quarterbacks), NASCAR (Chase for the Sprint Cup), PGA (FedEx Cup) are no gems themselves. So to label the NCAA the worst organization out there is just a slight exaggeration.
Continue reading “Stan Van Gundy hates the NCAA” →

Lance Armstrong

In a recent AP report posted on ESPN.com, cyclist Lance Armstrong was quoted as saying he would accept, if necessary, a support role to assist Astana teammate Alberto Contador’s attempt at a Tour de France victory. The key to the story is that Armstrong said he would support Contador’s victory attempt if the Spanish rider is in a more likely position to win. I highly doubt that Armstrong will let Contador assume such a position gracefully.
Continue reading “Armstrong to ride as a ‘domestique’?” →

The 2012 NFL draft class

Seriously, what is going on. Everyone is doping. Dope, dope, dope, dope, dope. Haven’t people learned yet, you’re going to get caught? Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Floyd Landis, APOP Kyniras (soccer/football), Marion Jones and Shawne Merriman. For those that are counting, that’s nearly every major sport. Golf legend Gary Player has even come out and said that he knows of golfers that have used steroids in the past. The one notable exception is the NBA, but even they have been criticized for having a weak steroids policy.
Continue reading “Everyone is doping” →

Watching yesterday’s FIFA Confederations Cup championship match and cheering for the USA team was a brutal experience. Surprise, joy, elation, cautiousness, nervousness, fear, disappointment, sadness, disbelief and ultimately devastation all played out on the face of every American soccer fan I saw at Dempsey’s Pub. If you weren’t drinking when you got there, you certainly were by the time Brazil knocked in their third (fourth to be honest) goal. What happened?
Continue reading “A tale of two teams, two halves” →

I’ve been pouring over this year’s U.S. Open in which Lucas Glover won his first career golf major and his 2^nd PGA Tour victory overall. After multiple sleepless nights of number crunching and analyzing theories, thanks for nothing Newton, I’ve come to realize that Al Roker is the man. Yeah, to you he may be a simple weatherman but to me, he’s the sage of golf tournaments to come. “Why?” you ask…let me tell you!
Continue reading “Tiger, Phil please join my foursome!” →