http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTw9b6NXysc

Well said Chad, well said.

I was trudging through the internet yesterday, and came across this little gem recapping some stories that have made the rounds through the years about Rickey being Rickey. Reading through the stories brought to mind two of my own experiences. The first one took place at an A’s fan fest back in 1984. It was a massive autograph session attended by all the players down on the infield of the Oakland Coliseum. My dad and I were making our rounds in an attempt to gain a full team autographed baseball, yet at the start one player was absent, Rickey. Well about 20 minutes into it, they cleared out right field and off in the distance you could hear the sound of a helicopter. It lands and out comes Henderson, making a star’s grand entrance. He proceeds to get surrounded by eager fans, signs probably 100 or so autographs and vanishes into the tunnel behind home plate. It was definitely an impressive site for a 10 year old to witness.

The second memory comes from Rickey’s record smashing season of 1982, when he was burning around the bases in pursuit of Lou Brock’s then-record for most stolen bases in a single season . My dad made it a point of attempting to have us in the park to witness the record-breaking swipe. As we’d been season ticket holders, and considering it was summer vacation for me, we traded off some late season tickets against duds in an attempt to get as many games possible around the time Rickey was within 5 or 6 steals of Brock’s record. On August 24, we were in the park to see the A’s take on the Tigers, and heading into the game Henderson was just 4 steals away from tying Brock. We were both hoping this would be the game, considering the A’s were heading out of town for a road trip the following day.

As was usually the case with Henderson, he didn’t disappoint. He came up to the plate in the bottom of the first and immediately walked (one of seven walks that the Tigers pitcher would issue to the A’s that day).  Henderson promptly steals second base with the #2 batter, Wayne Gross at bat (#116 of the season, 2 away from tying Brock). Gross ends up walking, bringing Dwayne Murphy to the plate with Henderson on second and Gross on first. There’s promptly a double steal resulting in both men being safe and giving Henderson his 117th steal of the season, leaving him within one of tying history. At this point, being only the first inning, my dad and I were already excited knowing that we had the chance to witness an all-time baseball record fall that day.

In the bottom of the second, Henderson makes his way back up to the plate. We’re now overflowing with excitement because we know that this means there’s a great chance of him seeing a lot of chances that day of getting on-base for more steals considering he was on at-bat #2 so early. Unfortunately this one wouldn’t pan out as well as Henderson flied out. He wouldn’t get his next chance until the 5th inning, which would also result in a fly-ball out. Our hopes were revived in a big way in the bottom of the 8th, however. Henderson singled, but there was a man on base in front of him, Fred Stanley. A bit disappointed because Rickey was stuck behind a guy who had 11 career steals in his 14 seasons, we figured that our chances were done for. Done for that is, until Stanley attempted to steal third and was promptly thrown out (his only attempt of the ’82 season), practically leaving Henderson a sign on second base that said “Come on down”. It was at this moment that we both thought this was it. This was the moment where you’re watching history.

As you’re probably guessing by now, “come on down” is just what Henderson did. Fingers dangling above the dirt, in his famous pre-steal stance, Henderson broke for second. The throw came down from the catcher a bit high and the crowd roared in celebration, knowing that Henderson had made it in just under the tag. Then it came. “OUT”, said the second base umpire Rocky Roe, and for a millisecond there was silence in the Coliseum. Only for a millisecond though, as that silence was broken by damn near every one of the 17,000 fans in attendance screaming the “BULLSHIT” chant at the top of their lungs. Even my dad joined in. It was amazing. I’d heard bullshit chants before, but never so loud from a just half-full stadium, and never with such a tone of pure collective disgust.

We had great seats, just to the left of third base, maybe 10 rows up, so we had a great view of the play in question. There was, and to this day is, no doubt in my mind that Henderson was safe. Barely, but safe none the less. Trammell was still lowering that glove and Henderson’s hands had jammed into the bag. Seeing the replays on the news later that evening, further confirmed it for me.

The A’s would depart the next day for Milwaukee, and Henderson would tie the record with a steal on the 26th of August, and break it a day later in typical Rickey fashion: a line score of 0 for 1, 3 walks, 2 runs,  and 4 steals.

Having seen things like 3 World Series, an All-Star Game, McGwire’s first major league at-bat, Griffey Jr’s first major-league at-bat, Roger Clemens getting ejected from a 1990 ALCS game he was pitching….while still on the mound, and dozens of other baseball “events” in my life, the day that Henderson was robbed of tying that record, is probably the most memorable event I’ve been in attendance for.

Obviously, I have to extend congratulations to Henderson’s fellow Hall inductee Jim Rice. Fifteen years on the ballot, in his final year of eligibility before heading to the old-timers committee, and  he finally got the call. So congratulations guys, great endings to great careers.

Now maybe Henderson will finally and officially announce his retirement as a player.

Baseball season is in full swing and I couldn’t be happier. For all you baseball nuts out there who also enjoy an occasional video game, let me give you a quick tip. Buy MLB 2k7!!! It’s quite possibly the one of the best baseball games…..and games…..that I’ve played in quite a long time. Great graphics, great playability, and incredibly addicting. So between games on TV, games on the 360, and fantasy baseball, I’ve managed to immerse myself in America’s Pastime. It’s almost like being in heaven. Granted, heaven apparently has yard work as well, since I’ve been slowly but surely getting the yard, here at the house, beautified. I’m sure I’ll post a few photos of the progress in the photo area, so you can see the fruits of my labor as it evolves.

I’d love to stay and chit-chat, but duty calls and believe it or not, I have things to see and people to do, as they say. So on that note…..

~Enjoy

But enough about that……

I’m just looking forward to Opening Day. Then the real sport of fantasy baseball can begin. One team of mine has been drafted so far, and although my pitching staff has suffered a few last minute injuries, overall (on paper) I look poised to take this league. Now, if only I can get such a squad in the other one. Just out of curiosity, is it wrong to want to join a third league? I don’t have a problem…honest.

I’m keeping is short and sweet for now. This is mainly due to the fact that other than the crotchety old man that shot and killed his wife, then called 911, there hasn’t been anything that’s happened out there in the last two weeks worth commenting on. Sad, but true. Oh, unless you count my feat of picking the Final Four correctly for the first time that I can remember. All in all, I took a total of eight losses in my brackets….granted two of them were opening round teams that I picked to go deep, but who’s complaining. Now if only I’d have entered a bracket pool this year. Just my luck.

Wow, man shoots wife & my bracket domination….yep, it was a memorable two weeks.

~Enjoy

Sure, I could move to Cincinnati, but that’s a bit extreme. I could also plunk down the money for the NFL package, but that’s beside the point. The point is, network TV should use better judgement when deciding what to show when there are no local teams playing in the time slot. Needless to say, it would have been more exciting to watch the Texans/NY Giants game. Where am I going with this? No clue. I’m just bitter about the broadcast schedule of the NFL this year. I have yet to come across more than 2 or 3 games (other than the Raiders games) that I truly enjoyed. All the while, there are quite a few games that don’t wind up on TV here that would have been much better options than the drivel I’ve been forced to sit through. It’s reminiscent of the Monday Night Football schedule two years ago in which week after week the matchups included sub .500 teams battling it out in lackluster performances. FOX, CBS, are you listening? Don’t be ‘that’ network.

I’ve moved on from that tragedy that was the ALCS, on to more tragic areas. Those areas are namely my 4 fantasy football leagues. It’s a sad state of affairs in my football world. The Raiders stink on ice, my fantasy teams all might as well be renamed NFL underachievers, and to top it all off Notre Dame has a snowball’s chance in hell of playing for the National Championship in college.

Hey, at least the NBA season is right around the corner, though. So I have another year of Kings basketball to look forward too. This year should be an exciting one. A new coach, who apparently likes to party, judging from his recent DUI arrest. Funny, I always pegged Mike Bibby to be the next winner of those sweepstakes. Ron Artest, in uniform for an entire year, and apparently leaving his bad-boy antics in Indiana. Now if only we could find a sucker to take Kenny “I’m not as good as I think I am” Thomas off our hands, we might be a force in the Western Conference. But I digress…..

Another tragedy is that Stephen Hawking and his wife are getting a divorce after 11 years of marriage. Probably a little overdue, considering that a few months back the wife was reportedly arrested for endangerment after leaving Hawking out in the back yard during an extremely hot day, giving him deep sunburns and dehydration. This time there has also been talks about both sides engaging in extra-marital affairs. There’s a vicious joke hidden in there somewhere… find it.

And finally, after 3+ years of staying the course, George Bush has decided that the ‘course’ must change in order for us to win the war in Iraq. Hmmm, what tipped him off on that? Mounting casualties all around? Increasing insurgent attacks? The increasing trouble the Iraqi government seems to be having in taking control of the situation? Now I’m no rocket scientist but it would seem to me that if we should probably have a plan better than:

Invade country
Something
Declare victory

That way we might succeed at something more than tossing an unstable country into civil war. Good job Georgie, way to be pro-active. Maybe you should have had Terry Tate in the wings as a contingency plan.

~Enjoy

That’s right, we soared back. Climbing 10 spots in order to take over #1 and win by a commanding 21.5 point margin. How did we do it you ask? Well, with brains, an almost psychotic commitment to the stats and the situations, and not pressing my players. The team knew that Ryan Howard was the real deal so they should just be trying to compliment him and the shortstop machine of Miguel Tejada (how can you not take him every year, no-brainer). Adding Frank Thomas back to the team after a 10 day trial-run was also much needed for the clubhouse to offset the young inexperience of the team. Frank responded to the second opportunity to hit out of his shorts for the final 3 months of the season. Aramis Ramirez came on in the clutch too, breaking out of a 3 month slump in order to pull his average up from around the Mendoza line, to almost .300 and get the RBI and HR numbers to right on the mark with his career. The hitters were just needing to warm themselves up. That much talent wasn’t going to stay dormant forever, but it was the pitching that really stood out on this year’s team.

Deciding early on in the season, after being ladened with marginal mid to late career starters such as Jake Westbrook, and Jared Washburn, the decision was made to drop the dead weight and make a commitment to youth. We also decided that the Zach Duke experiment wasn’t going to pay off. So the influx of young, unproven talent came in with the likes of Justin Verlander, Jarred Weaver, Scott Olsen, and John Maine. Other decent performances from spot starters Jeff Francis, and Esteban Loiaza provided a good compliment to the cornerstones of Scott Kasmir (until injury shut him down) and Jeremy Bonderman down the stretch.

Relief was also a department that bounced out to an early season jump, thanks to hot starts from Derrick Turnbow, Huston Street, and Jason Isringhausen. Of course with the injuries or in Turnbow’s case, implosion, the team turned to the acquisitions of Clay Meredith, Seth McClung, and Salomon Torres, not losing the league lead in stats until the final 10 days of the season. Wire to almost wire for that one.

All in all it was a complete team effort, and a great job by the front office. Here’s to back-to-back and belly-to-belly in 2007!!!!

As for the other league…well, it was a head-to-head league, not my preferred set-up but I adjusted. I didn’t feel the need for much roster adjusment because with a couple of pickups such as Thomas, Weaver, and Olsen on that team too, I thought we had the best out there.

I played come from behind on that league all year. Overcoming 26 games back in the standings at the All Star Break to take the #1 spot in the playoffs by just 1 game. The playoffs would prove to be more of the same. Eeking a round in the semis to face the team who I came back to overtake in the regular season. That was a flip-flop series back and forth for two weeks. Until on the final day of the season, I moved ahead in hits, 1B’s, and HR’s en route to a 15-12 victory.

Two leagues, two titles, 1 thing in common: both are managed by me. Arguably the biggest brain in fantasy baseball today.