If you have Firefox 3, and you’re annoyed with the auto-play “feature” of espn.com (where you load the page and you have the ESPN anchors blaring away at you about last night’s Royals/Mariners game), then you should install this plugin:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1765
The auto-play feature will be disabled.
Thanks to some help from Steve I’ve now got a bracket as well.
(Not submitted in any pool… Strictly for me to be able to say I have a bracket)
I for one welcome our new Buckeye Overlords.
The past week, MLB sold exclusive broadcast rights for their MLB Extra Innings package to DirectTV.
I’ve gotten MLB Extra Innings for the past 3 years, but since I have Time-Warner, that’s going to be a large stumbling blcok for me to get it a 4th year… UNLESS, I get DirectTV installed.
If I get DirectTV, I’d also be able to watch the NFL Network and ESPNU (which I expect will continue to broadcast some UNC games)
This also hits me just as I’m considering getting an HDTV setup…
This “perfect storm” makes me think that by the end of it, I’ll be paying ~$2500+ to get a nice HDTV and DirectTV.
Then, I’ll be paying ~$200/Month for DirectTV, HDTiVo service, Internet, and Phone (since we’ll probably have to move to Bellsouth for DSL).
Plus: the $200 yearly cost to get the Extra Innings package.
Ugh. That’s alot of money… Especially for someone who proclaims that he’d like to not have a TV in the house… (I watch sporting events, the Simpsons, and PTI)
Suggestions welcome!
This past weekend my family flew into Philadelphia for my second cousin’s Bar Mitzvah.
While we were there, we stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel (ooh-lah-lah).
As soon as Erin and I got in, we were very hungry. We asked the concierge where we could get a good burger. He recommended a place 6 blocks down from the hotel. It was a place called Rouge’s. I was a bit skeptical since it cost $15, but they had a display on the front of their restaurant that said their burgers were one of the “20 burgers to try before you die”.
That seemed like a pretty good endorsement, so we went in to give it a try. The burgers were indeed great. To paraphrase Pulp Fiction: “I don’t know if they’re worth 15 dollars, but their pretty fricking good hamburgers”.
That night, we were surprised to see that the Red Sox (who were in town to play my favorite team the Phillies that weekend) were staying at the Four Seasons.
Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, and Curt Schilling were all staying at our hotel!
I didn’t want to bother them since they were obviously just trying to relax (or perhaps because I was just timid), but my sister was fearless and caught Manny in the elevator and asked him for his autograph. Since she didn’t really care about the BoSox particularly, she gave me the autograph.
On Saturday, the family went to Joey’s Bar Mitzvah and the party afterwards.
On Sunday, my family went to Citizen’s Bank Ballpark to watch the Phillies/Red Sox game. I sat in left field and watched the Phillies finally stop their 5 game losing skid by winning 10-5. (Hooray!)
A few weeks ago, toward the close of the MLB regular season, the Phillies were in the running to play the Astros (who proved to be the eventual NLCS champs) in a one-game playoff to see who would advance to the NLDS.
While the game didn’t occur (and I curse the Cubs for their inability to hold a lead against the Astros), it made me think about how much I’d be willing to move heaven and earth to see the playoff game that never happened.
Now, these things can’t really be quantified, but they can be ranked. So I drew up this list of BIG games.
This list is not complete, but some patterns emerge. Apparently, Phillies playoff games happen so rarely, that they push UNC basketball aside.
This rarity explains why I placed the one-game playoff above the traditional playoffs. In my opinion, there’s more at stake. It’s an all-or-nothing one-game playoff. The importance that’s placed on the playoffs can be spread among the series that the team is playing in, while the one-game means everything.
It surprised me that I placed the Phillies so high on my list. So, I rethought the list above. I forgot one game that places above all of the listed ones.
A Duke/UNC NCAA Championship game.
That’s (easily) the Royal Flush in my ranking of sporting events.
When we last left our intrepid heroes, Erin was getting high blood pressure from overheating and they were sleeping in a rat-trap…
I better post this now, because for at least the next few hours my Phillies hold the NL Wild Card.
We’ll probably lose the second game of the double-header tonight and sink back with the rest of the pack, but this post is me savoring the moment.
I went to a Durham Bull’s baseball game for my friend Dwight’s surprise 30th birthday on Saturday (coordinated and paid for by his wife Kelly).
It was a lot of fun to watch the game with my friends, but we saw something that I’ve never seen before at a baseball game (or any other sporting event for that matter.)
There was a point where we thought that the right fielder would come to blows with the mascot (Wool-E-Bull), but then we realized that he was too dazed to do much of anything.
I was kind of surprised to see they didn’t fire the mascot during the game (we later saw him riding a go-cart around the warning track)
I had no idea that “Moonlight Graham” from Field of Dreams was an actual baseball player.
According to an ESPN article, he not only played one game in the majors (like in the movie), but he’s also the older brother of (former US Senator) Frank Porter Graham.
This is notable to me, because the UNC Student Union is named after Frank Porter Graham.
The world used to be much smaller.