455 for 1

The Major League Baseball has come and gone, and with each minute that passes, I fear the worst for my beloved Cleveland Indians. They have dealt 1B Ryan Garko, RP Rafael Betancourt, and perhaps the two biggest blows to fan morale, reigning American League Cy Young winner Cliff Lee & the lone Indian to make the All-Star team C/1B Victor Martinez.

I've never been Cliff Lee's biggest fan. I once called him "the hack that anchors the Tribe." And that's the nicest thing I can print. I've watched Victor Martinez go through an awful slump earlier this season that culminated on Memorial Day. After going 0-5 in the game, the Indians rallied from down 10 runs down. And Victor came to the plate in the clutch situation in the bottom of the 9th. And he delivered! A big single up the gut to score the game-winning run. It is quite easily one of my favorite sports moments to have been a part of.

I still was not a V-Mart fan, until I tuned in to watch his farewell interview with an increasingly despondent Cleveland media that has become all to familiar with the scene and questions. The first thing I noticed, Victor was wearing sunglasses. Why? Because the poor man had been reduced to tears at the thought of leaving his friends, his family, & HIS team. Martinez did not play anywhere else. He was a "home-grown" talent. And he's cast aside, just because our team won't be playing in October. In that moment, I became a Victor Martinez fan, and I came to a horrifying realization.

Cleveland Indians management has destined the Indians to fail.

How else do you trade the reigning Cy Young winner, and get prospects, none of which are ready to contribute now? Or next year? Why are we planning for 2012? How do you trade someone like a Victor Martinez, without so much as a thank you or a good luck? This weekend, ironically, is Victor Martinez giveaway weekend. A bobblehead Saturday, a backback on Sunday. In the e-mail newsletter announcing the trade, a quote at the bottom made me furious. I won't quote it, rather I'll paraphrase it. "Don't worry, we're still giving away the items listed, cause we could careless about V-Mart." Nice work, Cleveland.

You're probably asking yourself, who in the hell is responsible for this. That would be GM Mark Shapiro, whose claim to fame is the infamous trade of 2002 that sent SP Bartolo Colon to the then Montreal Expos for 4 players (prospects) including OF Grady Sizemore & SP Cliff Lee. Shapiro must think he's got the Midas touch. Well, I would like to be among the many Cleveland fans who would like Shapiro to take a one-way trip the hell out of Cleveland. In fact, I'm listening to a song that just about sums up Cleveland at the trade deadline. It's from Theory of a Deadman; called "So Happy." Take a listen thanks to the fine folks at youtube.



Hey Shapiro, "we're fed up, so get up and get out!"

What does this mean? It means, the Indians will get rid of anyone no matter what. And at any cost. I joked with my friends yesterday that the Indians had just traded me to Cincinnati for a bowl of Skyline chili & a fan to be named later. And I double-checked Sporting News.com & ESPN just to make sure they really didn't! For 455 games in the '90s and early 2000s Cleveland fans sold out Jacobs Field. Guess what? Regressive Field is going to sit empty for quite a while. Except for me.

I won't be hard to find. I'll be the guy holding the sign that says "Fire Shapiro, or they won't come back."

...And I Still Don't Know What Twitter Is!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls; children of all ages, welcome to the show that never ends! Ok, so it does go on temporary hiatus, but hey, what can you do, right? Anyway, I am happy to report that I am officially over my nagging cold! Yay! Oh man, I should never do that again.

I had the absolute privilege of being in attendance Memorial Day for the Indians vs. Rays game at Progressive Field. The Tribe rallied back from a 10-0 defecit to win 11-10 on a sensational walk-off two run single by Victor Martinez. The same V-Mart had gone 0-5 in his previous at-bats that game. Anything can happen in baseball, and V-Mart proved that!

The excitement in the stadium during that unbelievable bottom of the 9th is something I will never forget, and I was happy to be a part of that. I was fortunate to attend the game with my brother, and it was a great time to say the least. I hope everyone who gets a chance, will go out to the ballpark this summer and take in one of the many games going on this summer. Trust me, every game leaves you with a story to tell the next day. Here's the MLB.com story on the game for the Indians' 10-run rally that had me leaping out of my seat in celebration.

What is Twitter? I see on tv, everyone's on Twitter. My friends tell me to send them a tweet, and I have to look at them funny because I don't know what they just said! Just curious is all.

I want to do a little janitorial work here and remind everyone that coming up this week on Basic Bloganomics, BWE & EBW are back in action as we proudly present the Jakarta Encounter! Live from the Tripzibit Resort in Jakarta, Indonesia! I'm proud to be one of the writers for this, and while I may be biased, I think this is our best show to date! There's a little bit of everything in this one, and it is currently scheduled for this Thursday, May 28th. Be there! And for anyone unfamiliar with it, click on the banner to the top left for our previous show!

Now, I want to comment on a situation that is unfortunately far too common on the internet. It is called plagiarism, and it is a serious crime. I've seen this happen before on another site I blogged on, Sporting News, with my friend David Funk. It is one of the most disgusting things I have ever witnessed on-line and it is something I DO NOT tolerate! I have called people out on this before and I will do it again if needed to protect my friends.

Here's the tag, please feel free to grab it share with everyone to show those who steal the works, thoughts & ideas of others that it will not be tolerated!

Please copy from here and share:

What is Plagiarism?

According to Dictionary, Plagiarism is the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work.

To all Bloggers who exert effort to create noteworthy entries and who continue to maintain a Blog which is a reflection of who she / he is, ” Good job! ”

To those who have the desire to Blog but are merely scraping contents from other people‘ s materials, ” Whether you are monetizing your site to help you with your basic needs or to satisfy some of your wants, do it the proper way. Stop making money out of someone else’s work. Otherwise, you are nothing but a common thief! ”

Thank you!

Spread the word to stop plagiarism! And please check out the talented writer's in the list to the right. They are the cream of the crop in blogging. Oh yeah, what is Twitter?

Special Awards & A Story

I am going to try and knock out as many of the tags I have as possible in the next week, and there's a lot! First, I have this really cool award from my buddy The Funkster on Basic Bloganomics, who also came up with the second tag I'll be working on in this edition of the Soapbox. Here's the first one.

That is a very cool award called the Blogger Trophy Award. Very cool. I'm going to pass this along to all of my friends who have stopped by to visit. If you've ever read this site (and thus are reading these words now.) feel free to grab this really cool looking trophy.

The second tag is a little old, but it's taken me a little while to get this one done. It's especially close to my heart being this is a sports blog, I want to make this sports tag very important.

This is the WBE Sportsmanship Award! WBE stands for World Blogging Entertainment which is a name created by David Funk used to recognize excellence in blogging, and has annually named a Blog of Courage Award winner every year since 2006.


WBE Sportsmanship Award is given to ANY blogger for showing the following qualities:
*Kindness to all bloggers
*Courtesy to others
*Respects the opinions of bloggers
*Displays a sportsman-like attitude
*Addresses and debates any topic with professionalism
*Motivates or supports other bloggers
*Strong leader and community builder.


The Rules for the WBE Sportsmanship Award:

1. Talk about your favorite sports team or teams. List what team you like, where they are from, what league they play in, and why and how you like them.

2. If you don't have a favorite team, then talk about your favorite player or players in other sports. Any sport can be talked about, and not just team sports.

3. You can talk about favorite teams and players that are no longer playing if you choose.

4. Download a picture or logo of your favorite team or teams so that other countries around the world can see them. Or provide a picture of your favorite player or athlete.

5. You can add more information about any teams you talk about to help other cultures understand more about them.

6. Nominate at least five bloggers for this award, and let them know you tagged them.

7. Link back to this post and the person you received this award from.

8. Come back and leave a comment on this post so that your name can be added to the list of those who received this award. This is also done so that others can refer back to this entry, and read other entries throughout the world that they may have missed.

Favorite Team: Cleveland Indians baseball team
From: Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
League they play in: Major League Baseball, American League, Central division.

Why I Like 'Em: This is going to be fun, because as I write this my favorite team has yet to win a professional baseball game in the year 2009. That sucks. I am a die-hard Cleveland sports fan, and I blame that on my family & friends. Being a Cleveland sports fan is like enjoying pain. See, Cleveland teams raise losing to an artform. Ever watched a baseball game where your team had a 10 run lead? Felt comfortable, right? Not for Indians fans! We look at that and say, "Nope, we need 5 or 6 more!" As funny as that might sound, it's not really a joke. The reason I love the Indians and will happily be in attendance for two games this season is the passion the fans have for the team, and the passion I have for the team.

I come from a poor family, so I didn't attend my first game until I got a job and paid for the tickets myself. But the few games I have attended are very special to me. I won't highlight them all, but I want to point out one game in particular. I believe it was August of 2004. I had heard talk all week on sports radio of this guy, Grady Sizemore, being called up to the major league roster and he would get to play "any day now." I heard great things about him and I wanted to see him play. He was not in the starting lineup. "Crap!" Well, at least I get to watch a game against the White Sox. Suddenly, a hellacious rain releases from the heavens (oooh, irony!) and drenches the field. "Crap!" We wait, and wait. An hour and a half later they tell us the game will be played. "Cool!" Maybe we can at least out-hit the Sox? Mark Buehrle of the White Sox pitches a no-hitter through 6 innings. "Crap!" Well, at least I'm on SportsCenter! Hey Omar Vizquel just hit a bloop single. "Crap!" Well, maybe we can start a rally, a get on the board. 12-1 looks much better than 12-0. Double play. "Crap!"

Not the best game in world right? Until I hear over the PA, "now playing in center field, Grady Sizemore." Yes! And you could tell even in the one inning he played in that game he had the star potential. I proudly keep the scorecard from that game, because I can say that I saw Grady Sizemore's major league debut. I've followed him ever since, and I am happy to say I was there. I have not been to the ballpark in 3 years, but that will change later this month when I see the Indians take on the Boston Red Sox and in May I get to see the defending American League Champions the Tampa Bay Rays. And thanks to a great promotion from the Indians and my wonderful family's help, I've got the best seats I've ever had at the ballpark. Behind home plate for the Tampa game, and 15 rows back from the field for the Boston game!

Why do I like the Indians? I don't. I love them, and I always will for the great moments, the history, and the joy they bring me even when they're down. Being at the ballpark is an experience you never forget, and I'm greatly looking forward to the next two trips to see my beloved Tribe.

I'm going to do the tagging portion of this show a little different. I'm putting it up for everyone to grab. This has easily been one of the most fun tags I've done, and I want everyone to get a chance to try it. So show your love of your favorite sports team and take this tag!

And don't forget to check out the newest BWE Throwdown! on Basic Bloganomics! Some very unique matches took place, and yours truly even stopped by to leave a comment or two. It's a very good read, so if you have not already, click over to Throwdown!

Reference: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE200407210.shtml

Let's Try This Again

After realizing I have not posted on my blog in a while I thought, "what the hell? Let's try this again!" So I just want to comment on some stories in the news. First, spring training is in full swing finally. After watching the Indians play earlier and looking at their roster, three things come to mind.

1. What the hell happened to our rotation??? If our hopes of getting 6+ innings out of starter rests in the hands of Carl Pavano, we may be in trouble! Think about this, the Yankees got rid of this guy because he lost his stuff. So, unless he is a magician and can make things appear and disappear at the drop of a hat, I don't suspect he found his stuff and is going to carry the load this season.

2. Why is Kerry Wood our closer? Granted, he did make the All-Star team last year, it's still frustrating to see the team making the same mistake over-and-over. If you want a true closer, look in the farm system and grow one! Relying on closers who are in the latter stages of their career is a recipe for disaster, and it has not brought a championship to Cleveland.

3. Why is Matt LaPorta not on the 40-man roster? This is the top prospect we traded our #1 starter, CC Sabathia for at the trade deadline last season, and he's not even on the 40-man roster? I'm no expert, but if I traded away the best pitcher Cleveland's seen this decade and then the guy we traded for ended up elsewhere the following year, fans might get pissed! Even the video games would call that questionable!

Speaking of which, (cheap plug alert!) the new MLB games for 09 are out this Tuesday. The San Francisco Giants Tim Lincecum is on the cover of 2K Sports MLB 2k9; Boston Red Sox Dustin Pedroia is on the cover of MLB 09: The Show, which is exclusive to the Sony brands. I have a PS3, so I'll be looking for The Show. I played both last year, and I still can't stand the game 2K Sports keeps putting out. I don't see them making the changes to put that game on top of the market, and the only reason it will sell better is because it will be on every current generation console. When does that exclusivity deal end, anyway? It can't be soon enough!

I have to talk about Manny Ramirez. Why? Well, when someone is greedy about money, I feel like I should stand up and say, WHAT THE HELL??? In this economy Manny has decided that very substantial offers from the only team who's bidding on him, the Dodgers, is not enough? Read that sentence again. Does that make sense to you? Let's see if we can put this in perspective. Let's say you were window washer. And let's say your contract with A-1 Washers expired Jan 1st and you were making good money after spending several years at BRS Cleaners. But you grew tired of BRS and purposely did a lousy job in your final year with them. Now, A-1 wants you back. But you raised your asking price and now not even Steam Frank Gigante wants to sign you because you're just too expensive and after your experience at BRS, you can't be trusted. A-1's offered you three deals but each one is met with your agent saying, "More money and more years." Don't you think A-1 should just tell you to stick it and let you sit on the sidelines making nothing? Let's see what happens to all those sponsorships and investments then!

Hmmm... I seem a little angry there. Let's end on a fun note (and a another cheap plug). As you may know, I'm a wrestling fan. With it being WrestleMania season, it's great to hear that a new video game is coming out this month with legends from WWE. The game, Legends of WrestleMania features stars from the '80s and '90s. You can relive the famous Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant match from WrestleMania III, or the Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock match from WrestleMania XV that launched the biggest rivalry of the "attitude era." And the list of legends in this game is impressive: Undertaker, Ted DiBiase, Ulimate Warrior, Shawn Michaels, Legion of Doom, Yokozuna, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Jimmy Hart. This one is quickly crawling up my wish list, and if you would more info on it, including the complete roster, head over to ign.com.

One last thing, I'm trying to find some good blogs for baseball card collecting as I'm restarting my favorite old hobby. If you have one, or write one, please let me know and I'll be happy to link you once I get that part of the site fixed.

OK, final thing. If you're wondering what's up with all this "What the hell" stuff that's going on throughout my blog, I have just the person for you to ask. That would be my buddy David Funk. He's much better at explaining it than I am, plus he's good to talk sports with. Any Sooners fans will want to add him to your blog roll, trust me on this one. And don't forget to check out our Basic Bloganomics site where you can read both of us, including new BWE & EBW blogs! Thanks everyone!

First Time Out

Since I've been getting my start here at blogger with the BWE Promotions blog, I thought I would also finally get around to posting here in my own blog.

Since it's incredibly late as I write this, I just wanted to mention a few things I noticed this July 4th that made me go, What The Hell?

1. I actually watched the infamous Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on ESPN. No, I don't know why. No, I'm not a fan of Kobayashi, but I watched it nonetheless. And as I watched I noticed the announcers were getting more excited than a wrestling announcer during the main event. Seriously, they were eating hot dogs and the announcer's acting like the eaters were saving someone's life! When it got to the "Dog Off" (their words, not mine), I thought the announcer was going to pass out! The guy calls the NHRA drag races where the cars reach crazy speeds, and he seems nearly comotose. But give him a hot dogger, and he's like a six-year-old at Christmas time.

2. My beloved Cleveland Indians are so far out of first they are no longer in the cellar. At least a cellar has a door to climb out of. No, this is more like a bottomless pit. They just keep falling, waiting to hit the bottom but it never comes. So, what do you do when you're free-falling? You get rid of dead weight, of course! So exit closer Joe Borowski, stage right. C.C. Sabathia, get your bags packed, because you're next.

3. Speaking of baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays are the best team in MLB. My readers, I'd like you to go back and read that last sentence again.

Alright, that's all I have for now. Stop back again for more rantings, sports-wise, and for good measure I may throw in some pro wrestling!