SimonOnSports

Connecticut lies smack in the middle of the undeniable biggest rivalry in American sports. In Connecticut there is an imaginary line which goes through Hartford where the Yankee fan territory and Red Sox fan territory begin to blur. My home city of Shelton lies a respective 1 hour and 21 minutes from both Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium and only 2 hours and 28 minutes from Fenway Park , so says mapquest. So this sounds great, the close proximity of some of the best teams in baseball means fantastic action everyday, or so you would assume. Major League Baseball enforces black out rules throghout the country in order to encourage viewers to purchase cable channels which typically show these programs. Major League Baseball sets what counties these regions contain. What does this blackout really do you might be wondering? In fact it does not effect much, simply put on games broadcast by ESPN (except for their national Sunday broadcast), TBS and WGN if a team within your blackout zo

This Week Win - Loss - 11 - 4 RBI Machine - 2 for 15 Winning Pitcher - 9 f0r 15 Lock Selections 2-1 ..........The Rangers snuck it out with a Grand Slam 1 for 3...... Milwood got the Victory to give me my first correct lock pitcher 0 for 3...... Patty Burrell went 0 for 4 Season Stats Win - Loss - 29 - 16 RBI Machine - 6 for 45 Winning Pitcher - 17 for 45 Weekly Recap Solid weekly performance by myself, I even predicted a royals victory, who knew. Still can't get those RBI picks down only got Miguel Cabrera and Garrett Anderson right this week. Seasons Best Win - Loss 11-4 on 5/30 RBI Machine - 3 for 15 on 5/16 Winning Pitcher - 9 for 15 on 5/30

Baseball 1) Thank you thank you thank you. Bonds hitting his 715th means espn won't cut into its programming and that other more important sporting events will lead Sportscenter episodes. There were two interesting things about the home run, first the fact that the radio announcers microphone went dead during the middle of the home run announcement . Was this the spite of Babe Ruth? The best part of #715 was that the guy who caught the ball was rewarded for getting more beer. 2) The Big Unit pitched really well yesterday. Is this him filling his one good start a month quota? I just do not get it you are confusing me either pitch well or pitch bad, don't get my hopes up and then get rocked for your first 4 starts in June. NBA Playoffs 1) The Heat seemingly ran over the Pistons at home. How quickly until Wade's And One layup find its way onto a poster in every child in Miami's bedroom. 2) How about Ben Wallace going out and saying that Detroit doesn't pra

White Sox vs. Cleveland Washington vs. Philly Winner - Cleveland Winner - Philly RBI Machine - Hafner ***RBI Machine - Burrell*** WP - Sabathia WP - Myers Yanks vs. Tigers Brewers vs. Pirates Winner - Yanks Winner - Brewers RBI Machine - Sheffield RBI Machine - Jenkins WP - Farnsworth WP - de la Rosa D-Rays vs. Orioles Giants vs. Marlins Winner - Orioles Winner - Marlins RBI Machine - Mora RBI Machine - Cabrera WP - Rodrigo Lopez WP - Moehler Red Sox vs. Blue Jays DBacks vs. Mets Winner - Blue Jays Winner - Mets RBI Machine - Hillenbrand RBI Machine - Delgado WP - Chacin WP - Soler Mariners vs. Rangers Dodgers vs. Braves ***Winner - Texas*** Winner - Braves RBI Machine - Teixera RBI Machine - C

Before I go over the who I think the Celtics should go after with their first round selection it is important to break down who is currently on their roster what their team strengths are and where their roster has potential for improvement. Center - Assuming the Celtics let the Kandi man go, which is a certainty unless the Kandi man serves Danny up to a similar hookah treatment which landed Scalabrine a $15 million dollar contract, the Celtics go into next season short on a true Center. The Pansy Man Raef Lafrentz and his horribly overpriced contract are still on the roster but he's a straight jump shooter. In addition the Celtics will slot over the young guys Perkins and Jefferson at the center position even though they are both undersized. However, the need of an for a true center is not that important though as the center has become a diminished position in the NBA. Power Forward - This is the Celtics position with the most potential growth. Big Al has shown flashes of a dom

Overall Series Thoughts Winning two out of three for the Yankees was huge. The Yankees went into the series banged up with unfavorable pitching matchups. And after getting crushed in the opening game to come out with the last two games was stellar. And now they have a series with the Royals where they should be able to keep the momentum going. Wily Mo Pena Hey Wily Mo, on a passed ball with 2 outs down by 2 runs it is alright to score, apparently you didn't know this but consider yourself now informed. When you are given a free run you should take it. Melky Cabrera No Way Melky had 4 rbis yesterday this is amazing. Amazing. I still am petrified whenever a ball gets hit to him, he just looks so awkward in his approach, even though he did make one stellar catch yesterday. Jaret Wright Hey Jaret, nice going you have now fully jumped past Pavano in the my signing wasn't as bad as yours competition. And Randy is fastly approaching on your radar. Randy

And the Finger shall be pointed at... NL East 1. NY Mets - Carlos Delgado - The Mets are in first place for a lot of reasons. A major key to their success has been the seemless transition Carlos has made to playing in New York. Coming up with clutch hits consistantly while taking the pressure off of Carlos Beltran, Delgado has positioned the Mets to finally take away the the East title from the Braves. 2. Philadelphia Phillies - Aaron Rowand - Aaron has brought much needed toughness and intensity to the Phillies. Unfortunately for them they have been mediocre in the past two weeks since his injury. 3. Atlanta Braves - Chipper Jones - Chipper lands on the DL in early April the Braves struggle mightily. Chipper comes off the DL and the Braves are now chugging towards the Mets in the East. Never count out the stupid Brave Chop. 4. Washington Nationals - Chad Cordero - Last year through May Cordero had 13 saves, and that was before he blew up in June when he had 15, this year he only ha

I'm making this simple. One person per squad and how they basically sum up how the season thus far has gone and why each team is located where they are in the standings. AL East 1. Boston - John Papelbon - Papelbon is the reason the Red Sox are currently residing in first place. Coming into the season the bullpen was laden with question marks and Papelbon has put those to side and then some. The rook has given up one run this whole season and is leading the AL in saves. 2. Yankees - Kevin Reese - Who? Exactly. The Yankees have been so decimated thus far by injuries that Kevin Reese got some playing time and the Yankees have given us a Terrence Long sighting. 3. Blue Jays - Alex Rios - The Blue Jays are in the running in the AL East this season because of their beastly team hitting average. Rios is having a breakout season and is leading the American League in batting average. 4. Orioles - Rodrigo Lopez - The Orioles starting pitchers have struggled immensely and Rodrigo Lopez is th

Jaret Wright got off to a classic Yankee start last night. He gave up a line drive up the middle which hit him in his side and he somehow managed to hole on to the baseball. Since joining the Yankees Jaret Wright seemingly gets hit by every line drive hit up the middle. He even got hit by a broken bat last year. So there are a few conclusions to be drawn: 1) He is a baseball magnet, a heart throb seen on all the teenie bopper for baseball magazines. 2) While walking towards the mound a rogue Yankee pats Jaret on the back and sticks on a "Please Hit Me Sign". 3) Jaret is an investor in the new Kevlar enhanced UnderArmour and is being used as the Guinea Pig tester and told to test out the material at least once per outing. 4) Envious of Carl Pavano, Jaret is doing his best to land on the DL without tearing any tendons or muscles in his body. 5) A Jaret hater, and owner of a magic time stopping device, Stephen King stops time after hit baseballs against Wright and redirects them

This Week Win - Loss ............. 9-6 RBI Machine ......... 1 for 15 Winning Pitcher .... 3 for 15 Lock Selections 1-1 ........... Tigers Won 0 for 2 ..... Although Kenny Rogers Did not 0 for 2 ..... David Ortiz did nothing Season Stats Win - Loss ............. 18-12 RBI Machine ......... 4 for 30 Winning Pitcher .... 8 for 30 Weekly Recap That was a very poor showing. 9-6 isn't that bad but RBI Machine only getting one right. And that one right was weaki at best with Vernon Wells having one RBI tied with everybody else in the game who only had one RBI. I expect to do better next week. Seasons Best Win - Loss ............ 9-6 on two dates RBI Machine ........ 3 for 15 on 5/17 Winning Pitcher ... 5 for 15 on 5/17

Nets vs. Heat Talk about the difference from one game to the next. After struggling to get past the Bulls the Heat limped into game one against the Nets and took the beating of the playoffs. The next day if you turned on the radio or watched tv everyone overreacted and said things along the lines of the Nets have too much quickness, Riley put this team together he's going to have to deal with the criticism of losing in round 2. Well chalk it up to not jumping to conclusions after the first inning. This series was similar to Randy Johnson outings of late, the Yanks jump out to a crushing lead look dominate and you think we have this, then next thing you know you are getting crushed in the next inning. Well the Nets died after game one. Lebron vs. Pistons The Pistons pulled off some serious sleep walking during the games in Cleveland and then Lebron couldnt pull out a miracle in game 7 when the Pistons decided to lock him down and no one in a Red Jersey could make a bucket. Leb

Yanks vs. Sox Cubs vs. Marlins Winner - Sox Winner - Cubs RBI Machine - ***Ortiz*** RBI Machine - Barrett WP - Wakefield WP - Wood Rays vs. Jays Astros vs. Nats Winner - Jays Winner - Nats RBI Machine - Wells RBI Machine - Nicky Johnson WP - Halladay WP - Eischen A's vs. White Sox Brewers vs. Reds Winner - White Sox Winner - Reds RBI Machine - Konerko RBI Machine - Dunn WP - Vazquez WP - Coffey Angels vs. Rangers Phillies vs. Mets Winner - Rangers Winner - Phillies RBI Machine - Blaylock RBI Machine - Howard WP - Padilla WP - Ryan Madson Indians vs. Twins Pirates vs. Dbacks Winner - Twins Winner - Arizona RBI Machine - Mauer RBI Machine - Tracy WP - Santana WP - Valverd

Subway Series Notes 1) Watching this series its blatantly obvious that neither are especially good right now. The Mets issues: While Victor Zambrano, my favorite punching bag, and Scott Bannister weren't exactly the most attractive options at the back end of their rotation the other options might as well pitch on a beer league softball team. Jose "Is Lima Time" and Jeramy Gonzalez are a guarantee for 6 runs per start. They finally gave up on Lima Time and brought up some kid who started the season in A Ball. Lets face it if the Mets suffer an injury from injury prone pitchers Trachsel they are in deep trouble. Now if old men rivers Pedro or Glavine go down well the offense better read the Sammy Sosa how to books and starting suckin down juice, I mean B12 shots, and throwing some SuperBalls in the inside of their bats, because they're going to need to drop 12 a game. The Yanks issues: I thought MASH went off the air 20 years ago. Apparently the Yankees want to re

If you watched any baseball this weekend you saw AJ Pierzynski run over Michael Barrett on a play at the plate. Michael Barrett was clearly in the wrong and deserved to get run over. If you do not have the ball do not get in the way of the runner, its a rule its called runner interference Michael. You deserved to get leveled. But what ensued was pure comedy. Pierzynski crawled back to the plate and emphatically slapped it, Pierzynski is definately a weird guy, basically a humurous scumbag. He then stood up and walked towards Barrett took a slide step to get around him to get at his helmet and then Barrett bear hugged him said something and threw a right hook. In addition yesterday Pierzynski hit a Home Run and upon arriving at the plate celebrated by doing the pitcher Carlos Zambrano's fist pump kiss point to the sky thing which I thought was trademarked by Sammy Sosa so maybe AJ will have a surprise royalty fee charge coming in the mail. But sometimes you have to watch and

NBA Weekend Quick Notes 1) The Cavs really aren't a good team. They didn't show up yesterday. Lebron showed up for the first half of the game dropped 21 and the rest of his team was a no show and a disgrace. It's pathetic. 2) The Cavs really had no chance to win yesterday. They needed to win game 6 and they just came up short. Yesterday they came out incredibly flat at the beginning of both halfs and that was it. If you do not score more than 30 points in the second half of an NBA basketball game you are not going to win. 3) My favorite moment of the basketball weekend was Michael Finley's dunk on the baseline against the Spurs. Not the dunk itself but the aftermath in which Finley emphatically headbutted the ball. I am proponent of headbutting in sporting events other than where it is prevalent. Tonights QuickNotes 1) Tonight is the perfect test to how important homecourt is in NBA playoff series. The Clippers and the Mavericks have been the better teams in

Here's something thats annoying about this particular blogging site, I wrote a big long thing went to publish it and then it went cant publish it and I lost it all, I'm not annoyed or bitter or anything. Anyway lets give a summary of what I was going for. 1) For some reason I really just havent gotten into this nba playoffs, whether it be the overly late games, the fact the Celtics are done, 24 is on and if I miss that Jack Bauer may kill me etc... And this is the best round the NBA has to offer this season. 2) I know I chirp on this a lot but would it have been that difficult for the NBA to push the Suns game up an hour last night. I'd imagine there east coast ratings with no prior game to hold viewers were terrible. I decided to go to bed after the 3rd assuming the Clips would win and I woke up and I was right, so i guess i didnt miss much. 3) Can the NBA please incorporate no contact into their name. That punch was so weak for Terry and did not deserve a suspension.

This weeks Rebus :

And the award for more pathetic rehab assignment by a New York City Baseball team goes to.... Brian Bannister who threw a whopping 5 pitches in a rehab assignment and came out due to tightness in his hamstring oooh that sounds rough. He narrowly defeated Carl Pavano who pitched a total of 9 pitches in the first inning and then left with forearm tightness. Their replacements pitched today, in Lima and Wright, and both picked up the loss and have a combined record of 1-6, don't worry take your time. Oh for those Yankee fans out there that want to have something to be annoyed about other than the fact that they lost today (Wright was on the hill don't act surprised) Pavano's last start last year was June 28th meaning he has missed almost 11 months of baseball without the need of a single surgery. No major reconstruction nothing. Way to go Brian nice pickup.

I wholly enjoyed the Champions League final yesterday however I was disappointed with the result, I tend to root for any English squad in the champions League and it would have been a major upset if Arsenal who built a 1-0 lead after their goally was ejected and they played one man down could have held on. Here are just a few points about the match that I thought while watching it: Things That Soccer has that American Sports Do Not 1) Soccer has the greatest flow of any sport. There are no timeouts, there is no play stoppage between innings or the incredibly annoying commercial break between every punt kickoff score in football. No 45 minutes straight. Than a half time, then 45 more minutes straight. Note: Listening to the radio I heard a person complaining about stoppage time (the extra time they put after the clock hits 45 and 90). Basically if you knew the game this wouldn't bother you. He said things along the lines what if in a football game the clock struck zero and th

Quick Notes On last Nights Games 1) Yanks, um how did they score 14 runs with that trash lineup they put together last night. I played cards last night with the cousin so I didnt watch the game just kept on walking into the room and seeing the game was getting closer by the second. Guess I missed a good one. Too bad the walk off homer was against one of my closers. Oh well go Yanks. 2) When I got back from playing cards it was around 12:45 and the Suns third quarter was just ending. Ya that's right the 3rd quarter. Apparently it was a really really good game. 3) All 3 NJ Net fans are upset today. Poor guys. 4) How pissed off would you be if you became the fastest human being ever and then a day later someone told you "Whoops I wasnt supposed to round that way." Now he's only one of the fastest humans ever. 5) Is there anything cooler than plays at the plate in baseball? I really don't think so. Whether it be Jorge getting barrelled over or Patty Burr

Out of all of the annual events, meaning the World Cup and Olympics, do not count no event in the world is more watched than today's UEFA Champions League final. Having gone to London, home of one of the finalists Arsenal, and been hooked on any thing sports since I came out of the womb I have continually followed world Football, especially the Champions League and the English Premier League. So here's a quick synapses of what today's match means for the typical uninformed American. Every country in the world plays Football, even us Americans. So if you think the best athletes in the world play in the NBA or the NFL than think again. The talent pool that soccer teams around the world have an opportunity to pick and choose from is multiple times more than that of the NBA or NFL or any American based sport. So picture this. There are multiple NFLs, one in Mexico, one in Canada, one in Brazil etc. All of equal skill level and you pit the best of the best against each oth

Win - Loss ........... 9-6 RBI Machine ....... 3 for 15 Winning Pitcher .. 5 for 15 Lock Selections W - L ................... 0-1 ........... Thwarted by BK Kim and the Rockies RBI Machine ....... 0 for 1 ....... Berkman didnt even play Winning Pitcher .. 0 for 1 ....... Peavy Lost So weeks wrap up not so bad batting .600, .200, and .333 respectively. Apparently I need to rethink my locks for next week cause they certainly were not solid.

I'm going to do this every Tuesday to show my superior baseball knowledge and basically to track myself to see how I do during the season by simply picking every which teams are going to win the game. Pick the batter who ends up with the most RBIs in the game (Ties count as correct). Finally pick the winning pitcher. I'll also put *s around the biggest locks. So my stats will be... Wins - Losses - Winning Percentage RBI Correct - RBI Correct % Win Correct - Win Correct % Red Sox vs. Orioles Cincy vs. Pittsburgh Winner - Sox Winner - Cincy RBI Machine - Wily Mo Pena RBI Machine - Austin Kearns WP - Schilling WP - Harang KC vs. Cleveland Florida vs. Atlanta Winner - Cleveland Winner - Atlanta RBI Machine - Travis Hafner RBI Machine - Chipper Jones WP - Paul Byrd WP - Remlinger Minnesota vs. Detroit Philly vs. Milwaukee Winner - Detroit Winne

After yesterday's dubious performance Randy Johnson said that his problems were neither mental nor physical. This leads me to contemplate what is causing the problems. 11) Simply Wants to Spite my Father - He has an over under of 4 more bad performances before my father throws something through the television set. He is working towards the under. 10) Briefcase Elbow - Due to the weight of his $16 million dollar a year he has developed a severe case of briefcase elbow resulting in the inability to snap on his slider. 9) Contract with the Devil is Up - God made him look like that, obviously the devil made him successful. 8) Barry Bonds - Like the rest of the world Randy Johnson is too focused on when Barry Bonds is going to hit #714 and can not concentrate. 7) The In-Comparison Effect - Looks around the Yankee clubhouse sees Jarret Wright and Carl Pavano and thinks to himself hell what do I need to work out for I'm definitely better than those two scrubs. 6) Fantasy Land - This w

Well apparently Dolan the owner of the Knicks thinks so, because I just heard that he might oust Larry Brown as the coach. Thats not that much of surprise considering none of the players on the roster fit with him. But who is gonna come in and mold these overpaid underachievers. None other than the GM himself, #11 Isiah Thomas. I'm sorry but I really can't think of a funnier way to start my sunday morning. Thank You Jim Dolan, I hope that train wreck works out for you.

More Rebus Fun, you love it, I love it, everyone loves it.

1) Amazing the difference of one day to another. Matsui makes the same exact play one day and makes a spectacular catch and the next day he rolls over his wrist and breaks it and is out for 3 months. If you're a Yankee fan and are looking for a positive in this scenario, atleast we won't have to worry about his damn streak anymore. Or if for some reason you enjoy the adventures of Melky Cabrera in the outfield or Bubba at the plate well then thats something else you can look forward to. Not so good for a Yankee fan when the #1 story of a Yankee Red Sox series is losing one of their best players for a long time. Ouch. 2) The number 2 story is the Big Eunuch. Hey Randy throw a strike already. How many people are you going to fall behind? Granted good ole Arod and the Melkster didn't help you much out there on defense but still throw some strikes and get some outs please. He just has not had it these past few starts. His fastball is 5 mph slower on most pitches and

The Nba playoff schedule for the past few years has both baffled me and annoyed me to no end. I mean I'm not in the best shape in the world (certainly not in terrible shape either), but I know for a fact that if asked to I could play 48 minutes of basketball every other day. Why then is it that hard for David Stern to schedule these games every other day? It's pretty logical, gets the series some buzz, and you always know when the games will be on. Certainly there must be some reason, there sure is, but its not one I that I can stand. Remember the Spurs vs. Lakers series a few years ago where there were so many days in between games that the Lakers flew back from San Antonio to LA, so they could practice at Shaq's house during an off day. Now thats some free time. Well it's happenned again this year, well I'm not sure if the Mavericks plan on practicing at Dirks house, but they certainly have time. After the beatdown the Mavs laid on the Spurs last night they

Ok, so occasionally I'm going to do a little Clue Game Rebus instead of writing a passage, partly because I enjoy it partly cause, maybe I have a little brain freeze and don't have anything right now to rant on for a decent enough size. Anyway if for some reason you aren't in the loop on what a Rebus is, it's a group of pictures that create a word or phrase. In clue game rebus, there will be several different clues which lead to one answer. So here it is: If you want to increase the size right click and select save target as, then open and you should be able to zoom.

The best job in the world is out there on the table and to this point has yet to be accepted. Here are the perks of the job: 1) A Hefty Multimillion dollar salary. 2) Work outside, in nice weather, or inside when the weather is either too hot or rainy. 3) Only work for 4 months of the year, possibly 5 for more money of course. 4) Only have to work once every five days, and only need to travel with your organization if the travel falls within your scheduled work day. 5) Have an opportunity to work with your son for the last month of your short work year. Only one man in the world has been gifted this offer and that man is Roger Clemens. Just think about what your ideal working conditions would be. Think of why you may enjoy or dislike your job. For every family oriented person, Clemens has that lined up. In September his son, a catcher in Astros organization, will be called up and Clemens will pitch to his son in atleast a few innings. How much did you enjoy when you were a kid setting

There's a huge reason this whole proclaimed East Coast bias exists and the reason is that in actuality there is a West Coast Bias. Especially for schmucks like myself that need to get up at 6:45 in the am in order to get to work on time. Every fan has a natural tendency to gravitate to teams that are local and teams that they are fans of. Well why local teams, the reason is simple the more you watch a team the stronger your opinion gets. For instance watch the Knicks 4 or 5 times and you'll say they are the worst team in NBA history. But they just might not be worse than the Blazers this season. I can't put my foot down though for the simple fact I have not seen them enough. Last night there were three NBA Games on, Nets vs. Pacers (On NBA TV, I dont get NBA TV, nor do I want to), Heat vs. Bulls (The game sucked), and Suns vs. Lakers. Anyone whose watched any NBA games this season and has seen the Suns play realizes that they are by far the most fun team in the NBA to watch

Michael Kay on his damn talk radio show is a big baby. He personally thinks that you as a fan should not boo a player because it is not going to help him. He is currently making his point about the Mets fans booing Wagner after he blew a save against the Weakling Pirates last night. Here are his points: A) A player is given money based on his past performances and is not guaranteed to be succesful. True, however it is 100% valid that this places more expectations on him to be succesful, therefore creating more understandable displeasure in the fan base when unsuccessful. In addition especially in the relievers case, the better players are going to be placed in the most important situation, thus there failures are more intense creating even more unrest. Do you think the Yankees plan on using Scott Proctor to close out games anytime soon? No, I didnt think so. B) It is not the players fault that an organization gave him a ludicrous contract. Partially true. The franchises need to live wi

AFC WEST Denver Broncos - It always boggles my mind when a Super Bowl contender goes out and drafts someone that has little to no chance of impacting their next few seasons. Thus trading up for Cutler makes no sense to me. In addition I would never draft a QB from Vandy, I am not on Cutler's bandwagon and will never be on a Vandy bandwagon, being on that wagon is like when you decided to Calk and Float it in Oregon Trail and then halfway down the river the wagon sank and there goes 2 oxen and 74 pounds of food and now you're screwed. Its just a bad idea. They did slightly redeem themselves when the Packers gave away Javon Walker for a Granola Bar and a Diet Pepsi. San Diego Super Chargers - Drafted a corner back that started one game in college in the first round... Hmm thats interesting, well he must be a combine warrior. Oakland Raiders - Ya don't worry about it Matt Leinart wouldnt have been good for your franchise anyway. KC Chiefs - The Great Lying Herm and his band