Don't Mess With This Fan

After viewing the video of the angry hockey mom over at The Postmen, I decided to see if I could continue the fun and find another video of an angry fan or two. Well everybody, you're in luck! After searching through the archives of YouTube, I was able to find something to fill that void. Hopefully none of you will ever have to sit next to this guy at a sporting event. And if you do, try not to get in an argument with him. And if you happen to get in an argument with him, don't stand up and turn your back to him, because, you know, the following might happen...

Fantasy Players of the Week

This week was another exciting week for fantasy players across MLB. The Cubs also showed some signs that they are indeed capable of winning and might just have a shot to put together a good streak and get back in the NL Central Division hunt.

But before we get into the fantasy players of the week, let me extend my sympathies to the Cardinals’ organization and fans after news broke early Sunday that relief pitcher Josh Hancock was killed in an auto accident. It is never easy for an organization to lose a player, especially right in the middle of a season. Here is a good write-up of what kind of man Mr. Hancock was.

Position Player of the Week – Magglio Ordonez, Detroit Tigers
Mags had a spectacular week at the dish. He hit .571 with 2 bombs and 11 RBI’s during his past six-game span, while adding an on base percentage of .654. He capped off the week with a 2-3 performance against Johan Santana and the Twins, including a 2-run blast to right field. Chase Utley came in a close second this week, hitting .444 with 2 homeruns and 10 RBI’s

Pitcher of the Week – John Maine, New York Mets
Maine’s week on the mound including two excellent starts for the New York Mets. His total stat line for the week was 14.2 IP, 10 H, 13 SO while only giving up 1 ER in his two starts. Maine pitched in dominant fashion yesterday; scattering only 3 hits in the seven innings of work in their 1-0 win over the Nationals.

Not that anyone really cares, but I feel it necessary to mention that my CBS Sportsline fantasy team led my league in scoring with 431 points. God I’m a genius!

Who Would Buy These??

I first came across this story today on Deadspin about the two University of Georgia students who purchased tickets to the 2006 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl to watch their Bulldogs take on the Virginia Tech Hokies. One of the students got on Ebay, searched for some tickets and won an auction. No big deal, right? Well it wouldn't have been, except for the fact that it turns out the Virginia Tech student he bought them from was none other than Seung-Hui Cho.

Via the story that I read earlier, the junior Georgia student who bought the tickets (Casey Spivey) is planning on selling the ticket stubs and donating the money to a charity that has been set up for the families of the victim's in the shooting that took place last week.

I guess it's kind of a nice gesture to find a way to help out those who lost a loved one in the shootings (but seriously, would you really keep the money from selling those tickets...you'd have to be a complete douchebag to do something like that). But I gotta ask, who in the world would buy those ticket stubs? I cannot imagine someone wanting to look at those everyday and have to think about the events that unfolded the morning of April 16th. I can only hope that whoever buys those tickets decides to discard them in a way so they are never seen again. If I were more than a poor college student, I would look into buying those and then burn them so nobody has to see them again. It's not enough that this whole situation was grossly over-publicized (including seeing the kid talk about what he was going to do and seeing those crazy pictures), but now we have to hear about the unimportant things Cho did before the massacre and make a big deal about them.

Ughh...I am getting pretty sick of hearing his name. I wish they'd never release the names of the people who do this or the videos/pictures they send in. It will just create more of an incentive for some other person to think that people will see and remember him/her after doing such a horrible act.

Red Sox Bats Go Nuts

So last night the Red Sox decided to go insane and hit four consecutive homeruns in the 3rd inning of their win vs. the Yankees last night. The Yankee's starter, Chase Wright, was only making his second career MLB start. He had a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the 3rd inning; and then within a 10-pitch span, he had given up four straight bombs and lost his team's early lead.

Manny Ramirez started the party with an absolute bomb to left-center field that left the entire park. J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell homered in the middle of the fun and Jason Varitek capped it off with a solo-shot to left field. The back-to-back-to-back-to-back homerun marked only the 5th time in history where it has happened. The other four occurences are:

Milwaukee Braves vs. Cincinnati on June 8th, 1961 -
(Eddie Matthews, Hank Aaron, Joe Adcock and Frank Thomas)
Cleveland Indians vs. L.A. Angels on July 31st, 1963 -
(Woody Held, Pedor Ramos, Tito Francona and Larry Brown
Minnesota Twins vs. Kansas City Royals on May 2nd, 1964
(Tony Olivia, Bob Allison, Jimmie Hall, Harmon Killebrew)
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Diego Padres on Sept. 18th, 2006
(Jeff Kent, J.D. Drew, Russell Martin, Marlon Anderson)

Two names that stand out on that list include J.D. Drew and Tito Francona. J.D. Drew became the only player in MLB history to be involved in this amazing feat two separate times. Tito Francona is the father of current Red Sox manager, Terry Francona.

Anyway, enough with the history lesson. Here's the video if you stuck around long enough. Enjoy!

Fantasy Players of the Week

This past week proved to be a week for some amazing pitching performances. Considering all the players in the MLB, there will be weeks when multiple players will share the honors. So let's get right into it.

Position Player of the Week - Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees
This is Rodriguez's second top honor in three weeks. It is really hard to make an argument against ARod right now. He's on a tear, leading the majors in some high profile categories. This past week, ARod hit .370 with 5 HR's and 13 RBI's ARod now leads the MLB in RBI's, OPS, HR's, Runs and SLG. percentage. Not bad for a guy who was almost ran out of town by those totally awesome Yankee fans. ARod edged out Carlos Beltran for this week's honor, who hit .448 this past week.

Pitcher of the Week - Mark Buehrle, Chicago White Sox
It's hard not to give the highest honor to a guy who threw a no-hitter. In his game last week vs. the Texas Rangers, he threw a complete game, no-hit shutout while striking out eight Rangers. It's also noteworthy that he only threw 106 pitches. As much as I hate the White Sox and would love for them to lose 100 games every year, I have to say I was rooting for him in the ninth inning. As other people have noted, there just really isn't anything like a no-hitter/perfect game in any other sport. So any time I get a chance to see one, I really don't care who is throwing or who he's playing.

Other Pitchers Worth Noting -
Cole Hamels, Philadelphia Phillies -- Rich Hill, Chicago Cubs
Hamels had a Kerry Wood esque performance on Saturday when he took the mound vs. Cincinnati. He threw a complete game, while striking out 15 Reds and only surrendering one run.
Rich Hill continued his outstanding start to the 2007 season on Thursday night against the Braves. He threw eight innings, giving up no runs while striking out seven. Hill has only given up one run in 22 innings of work this year which has pushed his ERA down to a razor-thin and MLB leading 0.41.

Great Weekend Ahead for Indiana

This weekend marks two very historic and significant events in the world of sports for the state of Indiana.

Here in South Bend, the Blue/Gold spring football game will give Irish fans a taste of what the 2007 Fighting Irish will look like. Most of the attention will surround early admitted, freshman phenom, Jimmy Clausen and fellow sophomore quarterback, Demtrius Jones. From what I have been hearing, they have both looked good this spring, but Clausen appears to be the front-runner for the starting job next fall. Clausen has supposedly been connecting with receivers on all types of routes; including the 50-yard bombs where he’s been hitting receivers in stride. I’m sure plenty of Irish fans will also have their eyes on the guys Clausen and Jones will be throwing to. With the losses of Jeff Samardzija and Rhema Mcknight, the new receiving core will need to step up next year.

The other historic event will be taking place about a 3 ½ hour drive from South Bend in Bloomington, IN (which the drive between the two may be the worst ever). This event is none other than the Little 500 bike race. This year’s race will mark the 56^th running of the 200-lap race (that is approximately 51 total miles) that takes place at Armstrong Stadium every April.

The buzz around the Indiana Unveristy campus that surrounds this wonderful week is second to none. Although the race takes place on a Saturday, the students begin preparing weeks in advance. From planning concerts at fraternities to parties get togethers, it is definitely something to look forward to every year. Oh, and the bike riders themselves, well they train year-round for this thing and take it pretty seriously.

As for myself, I will be heading down to the University of Indiana University shortly. However, this year I will not be attending the race as I will be driving back to South Bend early Saturday morning to catch the Blue/Gold game and the festivities that go along with it. I would normally take this time to wish my favorite frat, ATO, good luck this year…but unfortunately for the defending champions, they will not be participating in this year's race because they did not qualify *tear*. (Somewhere HAAANS is crying.)

Check back Monday for my recap of the two events and as always, my fantasy players of the week!

Crazy Umpire

This is a video I came across a while back. This umpire makes the right call (if you watch closely) but the way he handles himself is hilarious. Enjoy!