Hey all, first off sorry about the low ODC flow lately. Entirely my fault, as I’ve battled a lack of internet, time, and laser eye surgery. Rest assured though, ODC returns to full volume later tonight when I arrive in Kingston. You can expect a two-piece All Star article from Andrew Chestnut, Sports Socialite’s sophomore column, a debut piece from Kabeir Dilwari, and a ton of baseball and basketball stuff from me in the coming days. I’m also working on Tags, for those of you who know what that means. So keep with us…ODC is still ill and will return to full flow later today, promise. In the meantime, my thoughts on three small sports items:
The Derby
What a display, for sure. I won’t get into how badly they need to change the format so a 28-tater first round isn’t wasted, but that had to be an entertaining view for anyone. If you haven’t heard Josh Hamilton’s incredible story yet, you need to. There’s been an ESPN feature on it and a big Sports Illustrated cover article. It’s inspirational on a personal and baseball level, and as Hamilton teared up talking about living an obscure Yankee Stadium Home Run Derby dream he had, it was honestly the best I’ve felt as a sports fan in a long time.
Halladay Frustrated
Umm, no way!? Obviously The Doc is frustrated with the Jays over the past few seasons, and he said so during Monday’s All Star media day. The team has floated around .500 through his entire tenure there while he toiled away as the best pitcher in baseball. Not that his talent is being wasted, persay, but you can understand why a guy with a .667 winning percentage is upset on a perennial .500 franchise. And folks, that’s all he said, frustrated, so don’t go making a Burnett-to-the-Cubs style big deal out of this. And if you say one bad word about Halladay…I’ll hunt you down. And kill you.
Team Canada Loses to Slovenia, Korea Tomorrow
The day after Lasik surgery, I braved a 545am wake-up to catch The Score’s broadcast of Canada v. Slovenia at 6am. It wasn’t worth it, trust. After 4 solid games against Lebanon and New Zealand at the JDIC and then a promising split of an exhibition pair against powerhouse Germany, Canada looked flat and disinterested against an undermanned Slovenian team. Losing by 16 doesn’t show the game justice, as Canada turned the ball over far too often, couldn’t get it’s long range shooting down, and was simply a mess offensively. Canada only needs to beat Korea tomorrow at 6am (on The Score) to advance to the elimination round (they would face the higher seed of Puerto Rico and Croatia, neither an easy task), so things are not lost yet. Oh, and “The Rock” in the title is the nickname of Carl English, Canadian supermodel.
Anyways people, keep reading, and expect a heavy Wed-Thurs-Fri here at The ODC…your #1 source for Jeff Finger jokes!
July 15th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Josh Hamilton is un-real and will continue to dummy MLB’s pitching if he stays clean. He was ding-donging 500 footers like it was nothing.
Doc Halladay is a god! Simply put!
In my opinion Canada’s finished!
“Finger penetrates deep while splitting the D”
July 15th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
No worries about Josh staying clean man. AFter what he’s been through and what he’s found etc, and the way he has surrounded himself with only the right people and little temptation, I would be shocked if he ever fell back into any bad patterns of behavior. I believe he truly is a changed man…fingers crossed.
By the way…they kept saying how good a movie his story would make, but no movie would have the gall to take a former drug addict and make him league MVP in his 2nd season.
July 15th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
What’re you doing in Kingston?
July 15th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Chilling. Hard.
July 15th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Just because we wanted to have proof somewhere, Paul and I are betting on this: *only correct wins, not closest* (Erik just chose, he makes no $)
AL v. NL - $2
Paul selects AL, Blake takes NL.
(Erik takes AL)
Total Runs +/- 9.5 - $1
Blake selects Over, Paul takes Under.
(Erik takes Under)
First HR - $1
Paul: Hamilton, A-Rod, Berkman
Blake: Pujols, Braun, Bradley
(Erik takes: Pujols, Hanley, Hamilton)
MVP - $1
Paul: Utley, Jeter, Chipper Jones
Blake: Hamilton, Manny, Hanley Ramirez
(Erik takes: Hamilton, Utley, Pujols)
Total Texas Rangers Hits - $1
Blake takes 5, Paul takes 3
(Erik takes 4)
Location of 1st HR - $1
Paul takes RF, Blake takes CF
(Erik is stuck with LF)
Total HR +/- 3.5 - $1
Paul takes Over, Blake takes Under.
(Erik takes Under)
Total Hits+Runs+Errors (closest wins) - $2
Paul takes 20, Blake takes 29.
(Erik takes 27)
July 16th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
i think i won a couple of bucks!
July 16th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Yup, you won $2
July 16th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
A note that Canada won today against Korea, a bad game that ended great with a huge 4th quarter comeback. Canada faces Croatia Friday at 6am on The Score (replay at 10pm)…Canada must win to have a chance at the Olympics, since it’s a one-and-done round.
July 16th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Blake - rumor has it that Paul was gloating all over Kingston this afternoon about his HUGE victory. Rebuttal?
July 16th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Are you in Kingston??? Why aren’t you here drinking?
And my rebuttal - he got first pick of winner of the game, which threw my entire betting strategy off.
July 17th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
I’m around Kingston. The reason I wasn’t drinking last night is the same reason I haven’t written anything and haven’t seen a sporting event of any kind in over 2 weeks….
July 17th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Pregnancy sucks, eh…