BWA: Blogging While Angry.

BWA is probably, and by probably I mean definitely, not the best idea I've ever had...but people like passion, and hey. I'm here for the people.

I have two things I want to cover today.
1. Donald Sterling
2. The importance of a bullpen that doesn't blow EVERY EFFING LEAD EVER. (Dramatized for effect)

So yesterday I did a basic rundown of what was going on in the sports world and things that irked me. I purposely left Donald Sterling out and let's just say a good friend called me on it last night.

I don't like commenting on things like this for multiple reasons. The first being that I'm white and no matter how tactfully I word my thoughts, some one is going to throw that fact in my face. So, disclaimer: I know. I'm still allowed to have an opinion and I try to express mine respectfully so if you DO have a problem with what I'm going to say please also try to remain respectful.

The second being that my very wise father once told me that race, religion, and politics were three conversations best left undiscussed with 99% of the people you come into contact with. Sorry Papa Bear, but we're nailing 2 of 3 on the head today.

To catch you up to speed: The clippers owner, Mr. Donald Sterling, was caught making racist remarks on a recording that was released to the public earlier this week.

Yes, It's insane. He owns a team in a league in which the majority of the players are non-whites, its 2014 and racism SHOULD no longer exist, and it seems that his comments were truly what he believes. Probably the craziest part is the fact that he makes these comment to his mixed girlfriend. (Which is mind boggling to me. How does one seem to be a true bigot in a recording but also dates a half black woman?)

The Clippers players have been put in an unfair position but have chosen to silently protest by wearing their Clippers issued clothing inside out, except their uniforms. Sterling requested a meeting with Coach Doc Rivers, who declined.

Today Sterling was fined 2.5 million dollars for the comments and handed down a life long ban from the NBA.

Good. Right?

Something just rubs me the wrong way about the fact that a vengeful ex-girlfriend could release an illegal recording and face zero consequences. In fact, she's being rewarded with an (alleged) book deal and goodness knows what kind of money for handing over the recording. (She claims that she didn't hand over that recording, but she recorded it and it got out somehow. She is absolutely to blame.)

I agree something drastic needed to be done. The NBA simply can't have an owner that is racist. There's not room for that in today's society and with the amount of people that the NBA reaches it must convey that message. But a lifetime ban? What do y'all think? I really can't wrap my mind around it being the right decision or not because I don't think anybody is fully qualified to make that call. It's just mind blowing to me that we hand down a ban that harsh and yet people who lie and cheat to get ahead, which in my mind is just as bad, serve year long bans and step back into the adoring eye. What if it had been a player?

Too many "what if's." My brain hurts.

Which brings me to something that makes my insides physically hurt.

HOW IMPORTANT IS A BULLPEN?

Y'all it's basically a miracle that I didn't actually break my keyboard pounding out that last line because it was typed with quite a bit of anger and force. (Sorry baby MacBook. You do nothing to deserve such abuse.)

I know I briefly mentioned yesterday about the Angels fans starting a #blowpen campaign.

It's sort of clever. It's sort of funny. It's unfortunately all to accurate for more than one team in the AL west.

Take tonight. I'm sitting at a sports bar watching the Astros, the Cards, and the Rangers-Flyers playoff game. (One of those was NOT worth watching and I may or may not have listed it last.) My head is on a constant swivel.

Cut to the Astros game. I notice the camera cut to a shot of pitching coach Brent Strom picking up the bullpen phone. Quick glance to how many pitches Cosart is at, (85ish), andddd cue verbal "NO. NO NO NO. PUT IT DOWN."

It's a one run game. He's 23! LEAVE HIM IN THERE. But seriously, leave him in there. I do not trust the bull pen one bit.

"But Katelyn! The Astros have won their last two games!"

Yeah, because of actual bat participation, and because McHugh pitched a DEEEEEEP gem on Sunday. (Can we take a moment to appreciate how great Dallas Keuchel's twitter handle is?)

It's seriously to the point where when I see the phone to the bullpen being picked up, I just automatically hand the other team runs. Don't believe me? In the Saturday win Williams BLEW the save, and then picked up the win thanks to some big bats...and then almost blew it again. Yikes.

Anyone that knows me knows that I'm basically all about pitching. I've always believed that the best offense is a good defense. Love starting pitching. I think it's so crucial to success its unreal. Every team I've seen in the world series has had some serious depth at starting pitcher. I also love closers. How crazy is it that some of these guys really only have two pitches and still are so successful?

I think I've always undervalued the rest of the bullpen. Like, yes I obviously understand that having good relief guys is important, but since I don't really subscribe to a pitch count theory I guess I've just always kind of forgotten the need?

It's also kind of difficult when one of your favorite college pitchers was known for throwing complete games. It's funny how that can kind of skew your idea of the norm.

It makes you appreciate how good the Yankees had it with their basically Closer A and Closer B situation in Robertson and Rivera. D-rob is your set-up guy in the 8th, Rivera...well you know. The greatest closer of all time. When you routinely expect your starters to go 7 quality innings...well, theres not really much need for much of a bullpen, eh?

I know it's a new problem for Angels fans, but it's certainly not a new problem for Astros fans.

Now how do they fix it?


That my friends, is a multi-million dollar question. Literally.

Random Thoughts/Playing Catch-Up

I will not apologize for my absence due to my friend pointing out that I can't start every blog entry like that... so. Hi.

A few things have tripped me up lately. Let's explore those.

• A little while ago some New York sportscasters came out criticizing NY Mets 2nd baseman Daniel Murphy for taking time off to be there for the birth of his child. Uh, excuse me? Pretty much every other profession allows for the father to take time off to be there for the birth of his child, and often a "paternity leave" for the few days after. Let me put it this way, my husband put me in this position, and he's going to be there with me while I go through the most painful part. Not to mention the risk of birthing complications. Lord forbid a player miss the only chance he would have at seeing his child because fans believe that they shouldn't be allowed to miss a game. Not every child is born healthy and while most of the time people are aware of this coming into the birthing process, there's no guarantee. Yes, it's a job, but it's also a game. This is their family. I could obviously rant on this for days, but for the sake of space, I digress.

• After game 1 of the Rockets and Trailblazers series, the NBA issued an apology for a blown call by referees. They called a foul on Dwight Howard which sent the blazers to the line for free throws, when in fact, it should have been Dwight shooting free throws. (But Katelyn! Dwight is terrible at free throws! Why does that matter?) Good question. Those Trailblazers free throws tied the game and put it into overtime, in what should have been a Rockets regulation win. I was obviously mad, but I'M SO MUCH MORE MAD NOW THAT THE SERIES IS 3-1. I almost wish they hadn't apologized. SO BITTER. Also, do not get me started on the flagrant called on Parsons...

• Which brings me to my next point...how terrible has the officiating in the playoffs been? Not just the NBA, which from my twitter I can gather has been bad. Sorry guys, NHL playoffs are on so if it's not the Rockets, or I'm not at a sports bar with multiple TV's, playoff hockey wins out. And the NHL refs have been AWFUL. From the last game in the Avalanche-Wild series where the refs not only missed a blatant hold that would've blown the play dead, to the fact that the pass off that hold was offsides, which also would've blown the play dead, to the fact that particular play led to a game tying goal with a minute left, I am angry. The officiating in most of the Rangers series has just been horrific. Just obvious missed calls. Do there need to be extra officials in the playoffs? If the officials can't position themselves to call blatantly obvious penalties, (the hold on Charlie Coyle in the Wild game was baddddd y'all), then something has to change. I can't say that both sides aren't getting away with some stuff, but not things like that that are game changers. Playoff hockey is competitive enough without having to overcome the officials as well. 

• How great is having baseball season back? Happy note: my sweet friend Randal is making his MLB debut today. (Well, he's been called up. May come in off the bench.) Moments like these are always so surreal for me. It's a truly special feeling to see your friends hard work pay off and reach their goals. But seriously, just having baseball back is so fantastic. It's pretty funny to see the Angels fans tweeting about their #blowpen when it's clearly not even the worst one in the AL West... Just a quick tidbit about how angry I am that I live in Houston and rely on sports bars to watch the Astros play. The CSN deal absolutely infuriates me, and the limited exposure is not any good for the team, regardless of how they're playing. This deserves it's own article soon though.

Obviously sports are going to get under your skin from time to time if you're as emotionally invested in them as I am, but man this past week has been rough. Here's to hoping my Wild keep their season alive tonight, and that the Rockets can overcome all odd's to make it out of the first round.

Next we shall talk about the upcoming NFL draft, which is quite late this year. All the basics like, what I wish the Texans would do but probably won't, what I expect they will do, and my personal projections about a few of the top prospects. (Hint: I don't have very much to say about Manziel that's nice so I just wouldn't expect to see a whole bunch about him in that blog post.- I'm learning Mom!) I'll do my best to keep up with the NBA playoffs and there will be a bit about the NHL playoffs on here as that's where my head is right now. If you're not a hockey fan, NOW is a great time to watch and try it out. The playoffs never fail to produce exciting and physical games.

XOXO

Jarred Cosart

Let me start this off by apologizing for my absence. For starters, If you saw my last two months on paper, you would understand. Second off, despite all of your encouraging words, I let the distasteful words of a few people get in the way of being confident in my writing. (People who, decided to bash me on twitter over the world series blog, and very quickly made it apparent that they did not ACTUALLY read what I had to say. Then upon proving that I had a very good grasp of rules and a more than basic understanding of sports resorted to insulting my personal appearance.) But I'm back and hey, screw those guys. (Further justifying my dislike of Cardinals fans...)

So this past week something very interesting happened. 

I'm an avid tweeter, and I of course follow hometown boy and Astros starting pitcher, Jarred Cosart.

He's had a phenomenal rookie "season" (partial season. He was promoted from AAA OKC in July). He's from Houston, and having someone come back to their hometown team is always fun. He's blunt and actually kind of funny. 

Plus he's pretty easy on the eyes. (Which in no way affects my opinion on him. I saw him pitch against Minnesota in september and while it wasn't a terrible outing, he did give up 4 earned and only lasted 4 innings. I wasn't the happiest girl in the world.)

So earlier this week I'm mindlessly scrolling through my twitter feed when I come across a very, scorned(?..not happy), Cosart talking about how he will prove this past season wasn't a fluke. 

I like when a player is training with a chip on their shoulder. Nothing gets you out of bed and into a gym faster than remembering someone doubts you.

But it was upon further investigation I realized something.

OUR OWN FANS WERE THE ONES WRITING THESE BLOGS.

Now don't get me wrong. There are players I don't like that play for the teams I pull for. I used to groan when a player, who shall remain nameless, took the ice. He was a defenceman who screened our own goalie.

It reflected very much in his +/- rating. 

So I decided to read some of these blogs. I mean, Cosart impressed in his first stretch in the Majors. He impressed as a prospect. And yet, Astros fans are publicly expecting him to regress. Publicly calling him a fluke.

I'm sorry. Does nobody else want to cling to a glimmer of hope after watching these past few seasons? Losing 100 games in a season IS NOT FUN. Hearing people call your hometown team the "Lastros" or "Disastros", and it be fairly accurate IS NOT FUN. Getting excited about a prospect coming up through your system, or a young guy that's showing a lot of promise in the bigs, and watching your GM trade him for more prospects or a "rental" IS NOT FREAKING FUN.

So I decided to investigate surface stats. All I see is that the kid has rocked a good SO:BB ratio at every level. Decent ERA. He improves. At each level, he has made himself better.

Do y'all realize that he struck out over 23% of the batters during his last stint in AAA OKC? And that's from the 401 he faced, a very decent sample size.

Sure, his ERA in the majors was absurdly low. Sure bats made more contact than I would like. ( any one who really knows me knows that I'm pretty much all about the strikeout and very much suscribe to effective velocity theories. That stuff is insanely interesting, if you're ever bored and looking for a thought provoking discussion.)

But I believe in Cosart. 
1. I think that the only way to really learn how to pitch to Major League batters is to actually pitch to batters in the Majors. YES, development is key, but the point of farm systems is to get you used to playing at a certain level, let you succeed there, and then promote you and let you learn all over again. You don't learn to strike out the Big Papi's of the world by pitching to guys in the minors. If he was this effective, while batters were making contact and putting balls into play, CAN YOU IMAGINE if he gets back to striking out almost 1/4 of the guys he faces? 
2. Let me reiterate that he shows improvement at every level. Some of his best numbers are from his AAA days this past season. Why would I believe that this trend would fall off? Answer: I don't.

I think we will probably see a higher ERA this season. (Mainly because keeping it under 2.00 is INSANE.) But I think we'll also see a Cosart that has learned what strike zone he has to work with, has been working on what he needs to do to miss bats, and will get those walks down. He now knows what he's facing, and he's certainly motivated.

Plus a sitting mid 90's fast ball that can creep to the high 90's and a curveball that sits high 70's creates a potential 20 MPH difference in what's considered his 2 plus pitches. Read my stuff on effective velocity and batters attention speeds and you'll know especially well why that makes my little heart so warm.

---> Actually, I should probably just explain effective velocity. Basically its a practice of making a hitter miss, or make poor contact, with the ball based off of changing pitches, pitch location, and the batters attention speed. What does that mean? Well it basically means you can trick a batter into swinging too early, or too late.

So let's take Cosart's fastball as an example and to make it easy, let's say he throws it at 95 MPH every time. If he were to throw a straight down the middle of the plate, belt high fast ball, it would look 95 MPH to the batter. However, if he throws that same pitch up and in on the batter, it looks 100 MPH. If he throws the same pitch down and away it looks only about 90 MPH. (up and away, and down and in would look 95.)

So if a batter has really only about the first 20 feet of ball flight to decide rather to swing or not, you can really trip them up. Why is this significant for Cosart? Think about it. With the 20 MPH ACTUAL SPEED difference between his fastball and curve, he could potentially end up with a perceived 30 MPH difference. He throws that fastball up and in on a guy, and that guys "attention speed" is AT 100 MPH. If he comes back on that next pitch with a curveball, and throws it down and away, it could potentially look 70-72 MPH to a batter. Because his attention speed is so high, there's a very slim chance he comes around and makes good contact on that ball, if he makes any contact at all. 

It's an interesting tactic. Not one I'm sure that Cosart uses, but just the potential is what makes me so happy when looking at the speed at which he pitches.

I'm very much looking forward to another good season from Cosart and hopefully silence from his critics.

XOXO


And for my delusional little brain that believes that Mr. Cosart himself will one day stumble upon this and be fond of my opinion and read the whole thing- I believe we have the same favorite restaurant in Houston, so the next time we're both there the Chipotle Mac & Cheese and Apt 5D's are on me. :)

Heisman Race: Week 13

What a freaking day in college football.

Here's what my Heisman ballot wouldve looked like (in Alpha Order because I'm not going to listen to opinions on my rankings) before today:

• Manziel
• Mariota
• McCarron
• Petty
• Winston

Putting Johnny on there kills me and not just because I'm not a huge fan of the kid's off the field behavior. I'll explain later.

If I had to cast my ballot today it would only have two names on it.

McCarron and Winston.

Why?

Because the other three had AWFUL days today.

We'll start with Manziel because I watched his game in it's entirety. It was awful. For starters, I would like to give credit where credit is due. The LSU defense played tremendously. And frankly, they had to. (Did y'all see how many penalties the LSU Offensive Line had? IT WAS A LOT. LSU had 111 yds in penalties vs. A&M's 50. 30 of which were on one play. Insanity. Which also baffles me to the amount of Aggie fans complaining about the refs but I digress.)

Manziel was awful. He completed 16 passes on 41 attempts. That's a meager 39%. He threw two interceptions, including one in the endzone. There were some passes that were on his receivers but a majority were just bad. And the thing I noticed in the first quarter was that his offensive line was handling LSU's defensive line much better than I anticipated. He did have spots of good play but overall it wasn't impressive.

Which brings me to why I haven't been impressed with him this season. Every Aggie I know has put this graphic up highlighting his numbers but left off the stat that makes him low on my imaginary Heisman ballot. Interceptions. Here they are by my top 5:

Manziel- 12 McCarron-5 Mariota-2 Petty-1  Winston- 7

Johnny Football? More like Johnny Turnover. (I so wish I could take credit for that but my friends are funny too. Thanks Chris.)

That's a lot of interceptions for somebody who is known for making phenomenal plays with his feet. 

"But Katelyn...he throws a lot of touchdowns." That's true. 
Johnny has thrown 32 touchdowns this season.

You know who else has thrown 32 touchdowns this season? Jameis Winston...and he's got 5 less interceptions. Yeahhh....


The other thing that stands out for me is the Ole Miss. Yes, a win is a win, and Manziel got out by the skin of his teeth. The thing that I remember about that game is how many times he put himself into bad situations. (Yes his defense is no help.) My friend Zach (HEY Z!) said something tonight at dinner about Manziel that I think was spot on. He plays high risk, high reward football. Yes, it has worked for him. But there are times it's dangerous and Ole Miss, a team A&M should have readily beat, showed weakness in that philosophy.

So Manziel played himself right off my ballot today.

Now Bryce Petty. Poor guy played my beloved Pokes today in my second hometown and it was ROUGH. I am SO proud of the defense we have fielded there in Stillwater. They've been told for a while they're the weak link in our team and they seem to have taken that to heart because they are playing out of their minds. Seriously, the are not only winning the turnover battle, but they are forcing most of the turnovers and it's beautiful. 

I was confident going into this game in spite of Bryce Petty's ability to take his team down the field in under a minute and score on average 61 points a game. So 1st and 10 on the 1 yd line had me yelling at our defense to show America what we were about. A forced and recovered fumble on 2nd down had me jumping. In the fourth quarter we actually recovered a Bryce Petty fumble from the 2 yd line. Baylor had a rough night.

And Petty had a very rough night. Our defense had Baylor's number all night. Petty looked flat and unimpressive. He was on an uphill battle anyways because so many people feel like Baylor has played a relatively unimpressive schedule and tonight might have just added more doubt.

I'm still impressed by the amount of times Petty has put the ball in the air and only has 1 interception. Holy cow. So had Baylor played this game closer, and our defense not been so lights out, I would still have Petty in consideration.

Finally, Mariota. I did not get to watch his game (no coverage in Houston.) So based off of what others are saying, he was quite unimpressive. He also lost to a fairly unimpressive Arizona team. 

And by lost, I mean got stomped.

Fact of the matter is, He didn't look great in the game against Stanford, and losing to Arizona today...He's out of my race. 

Now I still don't know what's going on with Winston and these rape allegations. Nobody really wants to give the Heisman to a guy who is going to possibly have it stripped later so...that's a sticky situation. 

Fact of the matter is, the kid's a freaking athlete. He's doing the dang thing down there in Tallahassee and his season is VERY impressive. And he's a freshman. (As much as Johnny was last year.) We shouldn't let what Johnny did as a freshman desensitize us to what Winston is doing as a freshman. It's impressive.

And Finally, McCarron. I think AJ is so underrated. He's the winningest quarterback in SEC history and the guy is on the verge of winning an unprecedented 3rd national championship. 

I think a lot of people take McCarron for granted. He has a talented supporting cast no doubt. But McCarron definitely stands out in the bunch for me. He's a supreme game manager. He's calm, and when he loses it, it's for good reason. Remember him getting into it with an Offensive lineman last year?

Guess who got their act together and started doing their job...

I almost feel like people are so used to McCarron and him winning that we forget how impressive it is. We expect it, so it no longer seems impressive. But HE IS impressive. I also think that people assume that any quarterback that Saban recruits could step into his shoes and replace him. I don't feel like that's the case by any means.

If I had to pick between the two today, well... I couldn't.

I might go McCarron because of the trouble Winston is facing and because he's been so good year in and year out. I might go Winston because I think he's a game changer and he consistently impresses me.

I might wish that the Heisman ceremony took place after the National Championship because I will probably get to see the two go head to head.

I also spent some time talking to a friend tonight about the surprise that not a single running back has come up in Heisman talks as of late. Just none of them have been consistently good enough. It's been a bizarre year, y'all.

December 14th is coming up quick and I'm interested to see who the voters make the finalists. Too bad Clowney hasn't been quite the terror he was expected to be this season.

xo

Sometimes updating is difficult...

It turns out writing a blog is really hard. Mainly because I watch SO many games all the time and I don't know how much y'all want to hear me ramble about a whole bunch of stuff. So I'll go over a few things and then we'll get into how I feel about certain classifications of "fans."

• The Texans are bad. Like...BAD. Except it doesn't make any sense. The defense is still very good. I don't like Case Keenum and I was probably 1 of 10 people not calling for Kubiak's head for the Schaub switch. I think in desperate situations where the inexperienced player isn't getting it done, YOU HAVEEEE to go to experience. Also our offensive line kills me. I notice them every play. I shouldn't. Stop it.
• Peyton Manning is a freak of nature. I mean that. Like...who seriously thought he would come back from that neck surgery? And now look at him.
• I laughed at the Patriots fans upset about the call (well, no call) at the end of the game last week. Do you not remember the blatant holding that wasn't called to win over New Orleans? I do. Karma.
• I'm listening to "Monster" (Eminem ft Rihanna...incredible song.) He just mentioned Russel Wilson. You've made it. 
• Oklahoma State plays Baylor this week. I could not be more hyped about it if I tried. If it's not orange, I haven't worn it this week.
• Also, I'm going to be cheering very loud for the LSU Tigers this weekend. GEAUXXXX. Bet on Mett? I am.
• Speaking of, how does AJ McCarron not get more Heisman hype. Dude's about to win his 3rd Natty. 
• And the prospect of Florida State and Alabama playing for the title has me 9 kinds of excited. That could be a great game.
• On the Winston rape charges: I'm one that believes that allegations made by a woman should always be taken serious. I air on the side of caution in this and I'm well aware his DNA has been linked. But I read in part of the police report she originally estimated him to be between 5'9-5'11. Maybe it's because I'm on the taller end of the spectrum in that range that I don't get it, but how are you so far off. Dude is 6'4. 
• Hockey is beautiful. And a mess. (If you have twitter I highly recommend following Roberto Luongo. Guy is hysterical.) The Avs look good (didn't see that one coming.) The Oilers don't look good. (How do you have that many number 1 picks and still struggle?)
• If I had to vote today Josh Harding would get the Masterton (Trophy for perservation, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey) and the Vezina (Top Goalie). He has looked truly phenomenal this season. You probably wouldn't even believe me if I told you last November he announced the world that he was diagnosed with MS. Tough as Hards is my new motto.
• The Sabres are awful. It's so disheartening sometimes. You have Ryan Miller making 42 saves behind you and you still lose 4-1. They did a major shake up at the top, but I'm still waiting them to truly just gut their payroll and rebuild. It's time for it. Stop just saying it.
• The Rockets look good! This season seems exciting. I'm not even going to pretend like I've been paying that close of attention to basketball season. For starters the CSN deal is a freaking KILLER. Can't watch any games! Also, f**k you, Les Alexander. I don't know that there's a pro team owner that I dislike more. Which is saying something because Bud Adams, may he rest in peace, MOVED a football team from my hometown to TENNESSEE. 
• I really, really, dislike Les Alexander.

Like ALOT.

I've commented on fans before and I need to take the time and patience to sit down and type out my thoughts. It's just hard cause it's personal for me.

I have some really amazingly talented friends.

Most of them make me twice as proud off of the field/ice/court as the do on it.

And it doesn't bother me when people say they suck. I just laugh. They sucked their way to this level and tricked every scout and higher up amongst organizations along the way. There's a reason you're not in the position and you watch from a chair and I guarantee that 99% of the people making these comments couldn't perform at this level or they would be. 

What kills me is when people chop their character or their work ethic.

Unless a player has PERSONALLY done something to offend you, stop. STOP. 

I can tell you I have NEVER had a player be rude to me when I approached them as a fan. But I also don't do it if they're eating, or if they're with their kids. 

Also, STOPPP insulting their work ethic. I have personally heard someone in the stands call somebody I knew a "lazy bum."

This person works hard than anyone I know. He is constantly trying to improve himself. 

I've also heard fans talk about a player be a "crybaby" and not coming back out to join the team after being pulled.

Those fans had no idea that said player was playing with an unannounced/undisclosed injury and didn't come back out immediately because they were receiving treatment from a trainer in an effort to get them ready for the next game.

I have watched friends go to practices sick, get IV fluids before, practice their ass off, get fluids after, and lay in bed the rest of the day. 

YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT GOES ON HALF THE TIME. Be upset about their play on the field, yes. But please, for the love of all sanity, stop insulting their character. 

Continue with the "you suck" chants all ya want. Sometimes this girl needs a laugh. (Saying a player is not playing well at the moment makes you sound much more informed that declaring they overall suck. As a personal disclaimer: there is one player I would yell a "you suck" at. I have yet to figure out how he has a job...)

xo

Flawed Rules

I'm kicking myself for writing this because I'm a supremely superstitious person, and I want more than anything for Boston to win this world series. 

While I have a soft spot for one of the Cardinals starters, having grown up with his family, I still can't overlook the general hate I have towards the birds. Bad memories as an Astros fan growing up, and then being in St. Louis for part of the 2011 series against Texas did not help form my opinion.

I should also mention I am a HUGE Will Middlebrooks fan. So I'm trying my best to put my logical cap on and leave my emotional bias out of it, but hey, that's why I'm a personal blogger and not a writer for a newspaper.

So I did what I always do when I'm trying to make sure I'm forming rational opinions, (no woman jokes here please...), and bounced it off one of my closest male friends. Through him I have decided I am in fact not crazy.

See the problem with rules, is that you generally don't realize that they're flawed until the flaw shines through in a very large (and usually ugly) way.

See: 2008 Big XII results. Nobody realized how flawed the tiebreakers were, until someone felt like they weren't fair. (Insert famous Mack Brown, "how do I tell my boys that a team they beat is going to the national championship and they're not?" ...Yeah.. well you go and what does Leach tell his boys? Exactly.)

See: 2011 National Championship. My pokes are praying the BCS comes through, and that everyone remembers had the SEC threw a fit when 2 Big 10 schools were poised to meet in the Natty. What happened? After enough public bitching (sorry. that's what it was) Florida gets in. And they win. That's all we wanted. How does a team that didn't even win it's conference get to play in a National Championship? I still would've liked to see Weeden2Blackmon up against the LSU secondary... excuse me, while I pout.

I could literally list 1000 other examples, but for the sake of not making this a novel, we'll draw the line at those 2.

Which brings me to tonight. World Series, Game 3.

If you did not see the debacle that ended the game...OH MAN. You missed it. Let's just say that as a Red Sox fan, I was certainly cussing. A lot. 

An abridged version of what happened: (St Louis Players names are highlighted in red, and Boston's are in blue for the non baseball roster saavy readers ;] )
Jon Jay hits the ball to Pedroia at 2nd
Pedroia throws home to Salty
Salty tags Molina out (2nd out of the inning), sees Craig approaching 3rd, throws the ball down to 3rd.
It's a bad throw, Middlebrooks lays out for it, Craig is sliding into 3rd.
Middlebrooks is trying to stand up, Craig is stumbling off of 3rd, Falls on Middlebooks 
(ON NOT OVER.) Meanwhile the closest ump misses initial contact due to looking for ball.
Craig makes it over Middlebrooks, Nava fields the overthrown ball, makes the throw back to Salty.
Salty tags Craig out...Craig never actually touches home plate. 

Inning is over right? Wrong. Obstruction is called on Middlebrooks, Craig is awarded home, it's a walk off, Cards win. 

Here's the video because the word version doesn't really do it justice.

And Also pictures that help establish exactly where Will (Middlebrooks) was in the diamond, and showing Craig does not trip over, but on him. Also that at the point of contact, the ump is not looking.

1. Will (Middlebrooks) is clearly in a position of trying to get up. 

2. The BASE LINE HOME is clearly wide open and unobstructed.

3. From both the video and these pictures, my friend and I have concluded that Craig probably would have fallen on his way to home even without a Sox player to trip over because he was very unbalanced coming off the bag. 

Seems absurd right? I can never, ever think of a time in my softball career that I came off of third base and came INSIDE the bag to go home. Did I almost mow my mother over in the coach's box a few times from rounding so wide? Sure. These legs were entirely too long to do otherwise.

Have I slid into 3rd only to realize my coach is screaming at me to run home? Yesssss. Did I run down the base line to get there? YUP. 

The worst part of this? After reviewing the rule...the umpires made a call that was correct.

You see, a base runner can establish any base path they want as long as a tag is not in play. 

So, if Craig wanted to go High five Uehara on the mound before running home...he could. And if Will was in his way at any point during that and he ran into him, it doesn't matter that Salty is waiting to tag him. He's already been awarded home since 3rd is the last base he legally touched. 

The only way this doesn't get called, is if Will is trying to make a play on the ball. Does it matter that 2 seconds before he was trying to make a play on the ball, and was in the process of moving before the runner took an unnatural path to home plate? Nope. Not according to the rule.

And therein lies my problem. Craig has a clear path home plate, and because he takes an unnatural one, he's awarded the bag. It doesn't matter that Will could do NOTHING to get out of the way faster. It does not matter that upon review, it's clear that Craig did not have stable footing any way and probably would've fallen and that Middlebrooks did not in fact cause his intial stumble. It does not even matter that the closest actual umpire is not looking at the moment of contact. He still made the call, and the MLB is standing behind it. 

And that infuriates me. It may not exactly encourage what I would call "cheap contact" on a base runners part, but it certainly does not discourage it. Maybe if the rule is different then, Craig takes the clear path home and we find out if he truly beats the ball home. (Not tripping..he very well could've. However I've already made it clear that I think he stumbles either way.)

Two last quick notes: 

1. Craig slides into 3rd feet first. No reason he steps back inside the bag to go home, even looking over his shoulder. If anything, his feet should have clearly been to the outside of the bag. 

2. My wonderful aunt pointed out a safety concern. (S/O Aunt Liz all the way in ALASKA!) I would normally agree with this. I have many dear friends who have made sports their career and their safety is my number one concern. However, in this situation, Craig is not in harms way if he takes the natural path home. Since he steps inside, and Middlebrooks is on the ground, it is now WILL's safety who is in danger. A cleat to the back, arm, or hand and he's not doing so hot. It was a perspective I hadn't looked at and deserves some pondering. Thoughts?

I believe that this rule will be reviewed, especially in light of this game, and changed. I still don't believe it should've been called in the game tonight because I feel like it's rewarding Craig for doing something that, intentional or not, isn't right. 

I know my opinion will be a popular one among Sox fans, and unpopular among Cardinals fans and that's okay. It's an opinion and I'm allowed to have one...That's the beauty of being an American right? However I do have a bone to pick with Cardinals fans. In light of the Boston Marathon tragedy the city of Boston adopted the #BostonStrong motto. The people of Boston bound together and because the city is extremely serious about their sports, the Red Sox brought a lot of joy to the city. To MOCK this motto by tweeting #BostonWeak after the game tonight was infuriating. Have some class and some respect for those who lost loved ones or had their lives dramatically altered by the events on that Sunday. It was for all intents and purposes a domestic terrorist attack and is to be respected as a national tragedy. Thanks.

Now, I fully expect this series to be decided in Boston and I think we will see a very motivated Red Sox team take the field tomorrow...And I don't expect them to lose the World Series on their home field...so GO SOX GO.

And in the famous words of Big Papi (accent accounted for), "This is our focking ceety." #BostonStrong

The next "Flawed Rule" I'll take a look at: targeting in college football. 

xoxo

Why "Family Rivalry Weekend" has finally begun to scare me again...and I'm glad.

Let me start this off by being very clear. I BLEED ORANGE AND BLACK. My mood lives and dies with Oklahoma State football and I am very, very proud of my school, my coach, and my football program.

Which is why it will probably surprise you to find out that I grew up in a house that breathes Texas Tech football.

Right. I am absolutely the black sheep. (I mean Dad went to UH but never really had that much school pride. He's an NFL guy for sure.)

You see, I have an Uncle that played football for Texas Tech and he is definitely one of my favorite people on the planet. For as long as I can remember, Uncle Mike's visits have meant staying up late in the living room and crying laughing at his stories. It doesn't matter that you know exactly how the story is going to end...You still cry from the way he tells it. 

I'm sure if you find the Parking Ticket guy from Tech in the late 70's, he would tell you a very different, less humorous side of the story. It's seriously a wonder that there are any trees on that campus at all, but that's a story for a different time.

My mom has been telling us since we were little the story of my uncle's commitment to Tech. He was a highly touted high school recruit with offers to every school in Texas, and he had verbally committed to Texas A&M. After a trip to a knee specialist in Houston, Dr. Lin Jones convinced my uncle to take his last official visit to Texas Tech.

My uncle was on the campus for 10 minutes before calling home and telling his mom and dad that he was changing his commitment.

How upset was Texas A&M? Let's just say that my uncle's recruiting coach was in his high school that Monday trying to track him down. It didn't work. (Thank gosh. Can you imagine how different this story would be?!)

So for as long as I can remember Texas Tech has been the one college program I have consistently watched.

Come my senior year, I take my "official visit" to Tech, (Meaning I got to take a Friday off from school mainly. Although I am tall and look like I should play basketball, I am not a coordinated runner and very much a fish out of water on a court), and I loved everything about it.

Except the size of the campus. 

You see, I love big time athletic programs, but directions are not my strong point and the tour guide lost me somewhere around the phrase "second largest contiguous campus in the United States behind the Air Force Academy."

That's right. The only larger campus in the U.S. REQUIRES AIRPLANE LANDING STRIPS.

Had I not stumbled upon the quaint, compact campus I fell in love with in Stillwater, I dare to say I would be bleeding red and black right now.

My visit was in 2008 and let me tell you, school spirit was insane. Tech was winning, the fans were rowdy, and the Jones was ELECTRIC. 

You couldn't walk 2 feet without seeing a pirate reference and I'm pretty sure the "Raider Power" chant seriously never stopped that Saturday. Later that season, Tech went on to beat Texas in a game that had me standing on my chair in a Buffalo Wild Wings and screaming at the top of my lungs even though I was surrounded by longhorns. (Worth it.)

Then Leach was fired and Tech hired "he who must not be named."
Okay, a Voldemort reference may be a little extreme...so we'll compare him to a dementor.

Why?

Because I've never seen somebody suck the life out of a fan base so incredibly fast. 

So in 2011 when I sent my beautiful little sister off to Lubbock (S/O Midge!) I was kind of bummed for her.

I wanted her to feel the kind of excitement that a game day in Stillwater brought. When you were literally sitting in the stadium with 60,000 of your closest friend and EVERY ONE was absolutely pumped about what was going on on the field.

Not the atmosphere that I saw when I went to Lubbock for her first family day.

It was even worse going back for the Oklahoma State game that year. Tech was routed 66-6 at home (those 6 points were on a pick 6 btw. The offense literally never scored) and after halftime, there was no red left in the stands. We just happened to be lucky enough to have made some new friends who owned a suite in the Jones and had we not been watching the game from there, I'm not sure we would've stuck around either. (Our fight song was even starting to irritate me)

Then, our friend Lynn who owns the suite, and is wise beyond his years, said something to my sister that crushed me.

"I wish you could've experienced Tech during the Leach days. Games were really fun back then."

I don't know about y'all but I want my little sister to have the best of everything and that felt like getting punched in the gut. She was at her dream school, known for the great college football atmosphere, and a single man was ruining it.

Then Tuberville announced his departure and I hoped that Athletic Director Hocutt would do right by Tech fans.

And then rumors about the return of a certain quarterback to take on the head coaching job started to surface.

I liked these rumors. My coach just happens to be a former star quarterback. While Les Miles certainly did not suck the life out our program, Gundy brought a different feel to it. After all, he is a MAN, and I don't know if you've ever seen him dance but the man can get down! He's fun, he's fair, and he makes me proud to be a Cowboy.

So when Hocutt summoned a patronous in the form of Kliff Kingsbury (keeping with the Harry Potter references here), I was ecstatic... and terrified.

I like winning in the family rivalry game (OK State V. Texas Tech), and I was perfectly aware the Kingsbury was going to make that a lot more difficult.

I knew all about what he did with Keenum in Houston, and the national attention he was getting for his role with Manziel's Heisman winning season. (Plus he refused to wear maroon at A&M...a man after my own heart.) I knew he was exciting and brilliant...and dangerous.

But I could not have imagined what happened next.

My sister called me to tell that it was like a complete 180...and the man hadn't even stepped on campus yet.

Then he asked that "Kirby put Cincinnati on the schedule for next year." and every heart in Lubbock healed. Tech football was back, in a big way, and with Kingsbury being only 33, it looks like it's here to stay.

I made my obligatory sister trip to Lubbock less than a month and I could not believe the difference in school spirit. Everyone I talked to couldn't stop rambling about Kliff's return, the upcoming season, or how excited they were.

... & Football season was still 7 months away.

I have the pleasure of saying that I returned for family weekend in August and I have never been so squished, uncomfortable, or had my ear drums assaulted from loud cheers so loudly.

The Jones is finally electric again, school pride is soaring, and I am finally worried about the family rivalry match up. 

I'm even looking forward to the trash talking from my sister leading up to it. I'm glad that she's FINALLY getting the experience she so longed for.

So THANK YOU, Kliff Kingsbury.

Thanks for making the Jones an incredibly fun place to see a game again, even for an opposing fan.

Thanks for making my Uncle proud to be a Texas Tech football alumni.

Thank you for being so modest in all of your interviews and constantly giving the credit back to the players

But most of all, Thanks for providing my sister with the college football experience she deserves, and bringing back the trash talk in our Sunday football review conversations.

You are the Harry Potter Tech was looking for. (Okay, last HP reference. My nerdy heart is now happy.)