Yankee4Life

Updated to 1-18 ...There is a possibility that Miguel Cabrera will get a late start to the season after having surgery in October to remove bone spurs from his right ankle. Right now he's wearing a walking boot until at least until mid-February which for him is perfect timing because he will miss the start of spring training and if he plays his cards right and limps around long enough down in Florida he may get Tiger management to put him on the disabled list once the season begins because as everyone knows, it's pretty cold in April for Tiger home games. Tiger fans should worry because once he "heals" something else will miraculously come up that will prevent him from breaking a sweat. The only good thing about Cabrera wearing that boot is now his wife has a better than average chance to get away from him when it's time for her morning beating. ...If you have not seen the fly-through preview for the new stadium the Atlanta Falcons will be playing in in two years do yourself a favor and check it ">right here. The first thing I thought of was that you had better bring plenty of currency with you when you go there because you can expect to leave it there and secondly I wonder how a team like the Raiders must feel after seeing this? ...The lawyers for the Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (yeah, he actually has some) asked the judge to suspend jury selection in his trial for at least a month because of the Charlie Hebdo incident in France because that has once again placed the 2013 marathon bombing at the center of attention. I don't know what these lawyers are trying to prove because these bombings have forever affected the lives of the victims on that April day nearly two years ago along with the entire city of Boston, whose unity and resolve as a city impressed the entire country. My point is what is one month going to do? Fortunately the judge rejected this request. We could learn something from the French here because none of those three terrorists there got anywhere near a trial. They got rid of them right then and there. The same thing can still be done with Tsarnaev. They can drive him out to some woods in New England and let him loose with an ankle monitor on him that he is unable to get off. Give him a five minute head start and then go after him with long range rifles. That should terrify him plenty but since he's a terrorist he should be accustomed to the feeling of getting as much a chance to get away as the victims he and his brother killed. ...Some Islamist hackers attacked over one thousand French websites after the Charlie Hebdo attack and posted anti-French and pro-Islam messages on the main page of the sites. At least the North Koreans can't be blamed this time. This was done to the French as simply an annoyance because no matter how many times you hack a website you can not actually kill anyone this way and when you can't pile up a body count the Muslims simply are not happy. ...I spent some of my Amazon gift card that I got last month for Christmas when I bought the complete series of Magnum, P.I. Besides being a big fan of the show in real life I am almost a dead ringer for Tom Selleck if you overlook the fact that he is almost a foot taller than I am and has a moustache. ...The Yankees hired a brand new hitting coach last week and for the first time in their history they also hired an assistant hitting coach. That way when things go wrong this time they can fire two people instead of just one. ...David Price avoided an arbitration hearing by signing a one-year contract with Detroit for $19.75 million. Price was an average pitcher at best for Detroit last year. The Tigers got to be desperate to keep some pitching because next year at this time Price could be signing a bigger contract than the one he just finished signing and the next time it could be with another team. ...The Joys of Winter, Dept: I was getting out of my car one day last week. It was a bitterly cold day and the wind was so strong that all I had to do was glance at the houses nearby me to tell if their screen door was not shut properly because the ones that weren't were making noises like they were going to break at any moment. I did not stay out any longer than I had to but just as I was turning to go back in my garage I saw a Christmas tree rolling down the road aided by the strong wind and not far behind the tree was a guy trying to chase it down but he was losing ground fast. Despite the cold I had to see this through because I had to see how far the tree would end up traveling and if the guy would end up getting it or stop and say the hell with it and go home. Luckily for him the wind shifted and the tree veered off to the left and hit a parked mail truck where it stopped and traveled no more. That was the only way that guy ended up catching up to that tree and if it wasn't for that truck the tree would have pulled away and won going away. I give the man credit for not giving up because if it were me I would have stopped and waved goodbye and walked home. ...Many times when things happen in real life I say to myself that if you saw it on TV you'd never believe it possible. But people never cease to amaze and all you have to do is pay attention and see. Take for instance that woman in California who went to her ex-boyfriend's house for a visit. She arrived, knocked on the door, got no answer, waited a bit, tried again and got the same result. At that point she should have got the hint that no one was home and should have just left to try again at another time or at the very least if she had her phone with her, call him up to let him know she was there. Instead she remembered that he had a chimney in his house and since the chimney starts up at the roof and ends in the living room she decided that was her way in the house. What an inspiring idea. Somehow she made it on top of the house and just to be sure to eliminate any problems on the way down she removed all her cloths before climbing in the chimney. It turns out the guy was home but he was asleep because he had to go to work the next day and when he woke up to begin his day he heard cries for help coming from inside the chimney. He tried to free her by himself but was unable to so the fire department was called and it took them two hours to free her and that involved busting the entire fireplace open, which now has to be rebuilt. This actually happened and it's still hard to believe. This is probably one of the reasons why she is that guy's ex-girlfriend. ...And one more, although luck wasn't with this guy at all. A man decided to go camping but since it's January and it's too damn cold outside in Delaware this guy checked into a motel and set up a tent on top of the bed in the motel room and was found dead when employees went to check on him because it was past his check-out time. The tent that he was in was surrounded with propane canisters and that may have contributed to his death. When I read about stuff like this the first thing I ask myself is what the *$@% were they thinking? You want to go camping? Fine. Go pretend you're Daniel Boone when the weather improves But when you check into a hotel leave your camping equipment in the car. Chalk this one up in the dumbass column. ...Can't help themselves, Dept: Summertime may be a distant memory and something that we can not wait for to come back but right now down in Australia it is their summer season and that means a lot of time at the beach for residents and tourists alike. Unfortunately for over a week now there have been several popular beaches in the Newcastle, New South Wales area that have been closed because of the sighting of an enormous great white shark. Arial shots of the shark have measured it being sixteen feet long and it has been estimated to weigh around 3,700 pounds. But despite knowing how big of a shark it is many people have chosen to ignore the posted warning signs and have gone wading, surfing, or paddling in the closed-off areas because as some of them explained "it's hot out and they want to go in the water." No matter what you do you can not save people from themselves but since God watches over small children and idiots maybe these people have a fighting chance after all. At least I hope so. ...Sony is coming out with a new Walkman that will be released in the spring in Europe. When I found this out my ears perked up because I've owned Walkmans before in the past. This new one is made out of solid aluminum alloy and packed with gold-plated copper wiring and circuitry. As soon as I read that I knew this thing was going to be expensive. It has support for mp3 files, FLAC, Lossless and many more and with 128 gigs of disk space you will have a hard time filling it up. At least I would. The battery in this new device has thirty-three hours of high-resolution 24-bit music playback. Sony had me reeled in and I was ready to put my name on a waiting list as soon as it became available in the U.S. but then when I read it was going to cost $1,200 any dreams that I had of owning one evaporated. ...An actress named Naya Rivera was on The View last week and some way or another the subject got around to people's showering habits and she said that "showering more than once a day or every day is a white people thing." Wow, did that hit home. Guilty as charged. I have no idea of what the hygiene habits of her household was when she was growing up and I don't want to know but it has always been my belief that taking showers consistently is not reserved for Mr. and Mrs. White Guy. Perhaps she was afraid to say what she really meant because I have heard that if you give a twenty-ounce bottle of body wash to a Muslim it will last him five years and if she would have said that on TV one of them would have got sore since many of them can make that last longer than five years. ...Los Angeles Animal Services made a surprising discovery last Wednesday when they found an eight-foot alligator living in a suburban home. The animal has been living at the home for thirty-seven years now so it's hard to understand why it took them so long to remove it. The homeowners have owned the gator since it was a baby and when it was smaller it lived in the house with them but as it grew bigger it had to stay outside because the last thing you want to do is wake up an eight-foot alligator in the middle of the night on your way to the bathroom because the next time you go out to buy a new pair of shoes you'll only need to get one for one foot. Animal Services found the "pet" in their backyard with two cat carcasses next to it because as the owners explained gators need to eat too. The gator was transported to the Los Angeles Zoo where her diet of felines will be a thing of the past. The house where the gator lived all these years was a family residence with multiple occupants, but no children were found there. The gator probably took care of that too. ...With the AFC and NFC Championship games being played today it is not too early to look ahead to Opening Day, which will be on April 6th, seventy-seven days from now. Looking forward to that day is a lot more important to me then the games being played today and the Super Bowl combined. Giants fans though should be pretty upset with ESPN because when they released the Sunday Night schedule for the first five weeks of the season their team was not on it. They're just the current World Champions but that still doesn't matter. But in case you can't get enough of the Yankees and Red Sox on Sundays you'll get to see them twice in the first five weeks. If this isn't the best reason to get the MLB package on DirectTV then nothing is. ...Time for predictions. Make sure you read this closely so you can bet the opposite. Green Bay over Seattle and Baltimore over New England.

Hahahaha, yeah, well good point!

Sabugo I suggest you look up a player named Mike Hargrove on Youtube.

A little bit about the 1980 Syracuse Chiefs. They were the AAA team of the Toronto Blue Jays and they finished in last place that year in the International League with a 58 - 81 record, 24 1/2 games behind the pennant-winning Columbus Clippers, the AAA team of the Yankees. Notable players in this team photo are first baseman Willie Upshaw and shortstop Danny Ainge, who went on to play for the Boston Celtics. The condition of the photo is good but not in excellent condition. I'll keep this open for a few days and then I'll close the thread.

I bought this many, many years ago on a winter day because I wanted something to read. It's called The Detroit Tigers An Illustrated History and it is by Joe Falls, who was a very famous writer in Detroit. It is 212 pages long and you can see what this book looks like if you go to this Amazon page right here. This is the exact copy that I have and it is a paperback book and is in very good condition. I'll keep this open for a few days and then I'll close the thread.

Yeah man, good point. Boras always inflates the value of his client and I am going to be very curious to see what happens if no one budges. You can't discount the Yankees here even though they have sworn up and down that they won't sign him but they are the Yankees and you have to compare their attitude toward free agents like this to a small child that you have to keep on reprimanding. As soon as your back is turned the kid will do what he is told not to and at the last second I can see them having a "change in policy" and Scherzer will be a Yankee. I hope not, but as someone who has followed these guys for years it won't surprise me. Not me. You know why? Because it's going to be ignored.

Let's use this to talk about anything baseball while we wait out this long winter. Talk about anything at all. I'll try to get it going. Who do you think is going to wind up getting Max Scherzer?

You have to search the download area because that is where

That is quite a timeline you got going Kyleb. I wonder how Kraw has been doing? He hasn't been here in awhile. I wouldn't mind helping more but with the 262 photos I collected that should be enough images for another mod.

Don't look at this post as anything else than what it is and that's just out of curiosity. We are getting into the middle of January and the news on this mod has been quiet for awhile. I understand that people have many responsibilities and interests besides this but again, I am just curious as to what's going on. Now let's get this damn winter over with!

How did you know? I was trying to hide my admiration for the people who can deal with this kind of weather so defiantly. I must disguise this a lot better in the future.

Excellent point sabugo. I am in no way saying that Christians have their hands clean but this happened six hundred years ago. What the hell can anyone do about it now? And since I don't see Catholics or Baptists or anyone else stringing people up forcing others to worship like they do this isn't something to worry about anymore. I am going to have to take your word for this Sabugo because I personally do not know any Muslims and at this point I don't want to know any. I don't care how it sounds but after all that has happened I don't trust them. Agreed 100% I think this right here was my favorite part of your post. I literally clapped after I read it. Isn't it funny? You can't name one person that you know that decided to uproot themselves or their family to go live in Syria or Pakistan or whatever toilet country these people come from. No, these people come to Europe and North America and instead of learning how to adjust to how life is here they want us to adjust to them. That's not happening with me. I'm sorry to find this out. I feel for you. He did a good job, didn't he?

Updated to 1-11 ...What I liked most about last week's Hall of Fame announcements was that the four cheaters (Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa) did not even get close to being elected. Forget about their statistics. It's how they got them. I'm glad Craig Biggio made it along with John Smoltz and Randy Johnson was a shoo-in. Pedro Martinez got voted in somehow but then again you can't have everything. I was planning on a trip to Cooperstown this year but with Martinez being elected it's going to be infested with Red Sox fans who will act like they own the whole damn town. The last time the Sox fans were in Cooperstown was six years ago when Jim Rice got in and the only way the town got rid of all of them then was to stop selling liquor. Mike Piazza and Jeff Bagwell got shut out again and if I was a voter they would have received one from me. In a way they did because for the second straight year I was able to take part in a voting process run by Jaxen, who is a member of our website. Three of the four guys that got in this year I voted for with Martinez being the exception. I have my reasons. ...Another guy who didn't get elected was Curt Schilling and since he's Curt Schilling he knows exactly why. He pointed out that the only reason why John Smoltz got in and he didn't was because Smoltz is a Democrat and he is a Republican. That cleared that up and it make perfect sense for no one except for Schilling. He played twenty years in the major leagues and only four with Boston but the way he complains and makes excuses you'd swear he played his entire career with the Red Sox. ...When I first heard of Charlie Hebdo I thought the news people were talking about a person. I didn't know it actually was a French weekly satirical newspaper and what they were famous for was their popular cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad. The cartoons must have really hit home because a bunch of Muslims stormed the place last Wednesday and killed twelve people that worked there, including the editor of the paper. With everything that has happened in recent years is this really surprising to anyone? These butchers killed a dozen people over cartoons. Think about that for a minute before I go on. When are we all going realize that it is time to declare war on Islam? It seems like every time you turn your head one of those bast**** are starting something. These people get worked up and offended faster than a group of old ladies. And I don't want to hear that the people that do this are only a small sample of what the Muslim community is, etc, etc, ad nauseam. Where were the peaceful Muslims after this happened? They were so quiet that they didn't even organize any protests about the killings at Charlie Hebdo. Sure, they were quiet. They were in their house having a party. This is getting so out of control that I would not be upset at all if all the Muslims in the United States, Canada, England and France are all rounded up and thrown on a ship to take them back to Syria or wherever the hell they came from. That way if they feel like they want to kill someone they'll be killing a fellow Muslim and will be doing the world a favor at the same time. I have no doubt that some people will have as much objection to what I just wrote as compared to what happened in Paris and that's really a shame. I wasn't born feeling the way I do about Muslims. Their actions and total disregard for life and human compassion have made me feel the way I feel about them. Whenever Muslims are around bloodshed is not too far behind. We still haven't caught that guy who was having so much fun chopping off people's heads. He hasn't done it in a while so he must be getting antsy. And now these people. Many families in France will never be the same because of some cartoons. Islam is the religion of peace? Don't believe it and don't laugh too hard the next time someone tries to tell you that. ...I can tell that the Dallas Cowboys are getting back to their old selves and it has nothing to do with their won-loss record. I have hated this team for a very long time and it dates back to the Tom Landry days with Roger Staubach, Drew Pearson and the rest of those lucky SOB's. Back then when you played the Cowboys and you had a slim lead late in the game you knew anything could and would happen. The officials would throw a flag at just the right time and it would turn the game around in their favor. Did your team just run for a fifty yard touchdown to make it a two score game? Forget it, it's going to get called back on a holding call. Or how about when it's third and long and Dallas desperately needs a first down? Staubach will go back to pass and before you can say North Dallas Forty there's going to be a pass interference call and the Cowboys will score and win the game. Ask veteran Vikings fans about what Dallas pulled in Minnesota during the 1975 NFL playoffs. I watched that game and even though the Vikings were dominating Dallas all game they only had a slim 14 - 10 lead and with that lead against that team you knew anything could happen and it did. With less then thirty seconds left in the game Staubach, who must have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, threw a fifty-yard touchdown pass to Drew Pearson that I can still see in my mind's eye as clear as day. The replays showed Drew Pearson pushing off cornerback Nate Wright of Minnesota and when a flag was thrown I had a moment's hope of having it called on Dallas but I should have known better because Wright was called for interference. And now almost forty years later the Lions know how it feels. ...The New Era Cap company gave David Ortiz his very own custom hat featuring a likeness of him doing his signature skyward point after every home run. If New Era was going for the gaudy and ugly look then I am here to tell you that they nailed it. Since the only photos of Ortiz that I allow in this thread are of when he is hit by a pitch I will not be posting a photo of it but if you are curious to see for yourself then just follow this link right here. Like I said, this is a custom hat made only for Ortiz and is not available for sale for any other damn fool out there (Red Sox fans) who wants it but if it ever became available to the public it would be in high demand for street gangs everywhere. ...Stephen Drew had a whopping .162 batting average last year but that didn't stop him from getting a one-year five million dollar contract for this upcoming season. Naturally the Yankees were the team that gave him all this money. They're probably hoping he makes a comeback and hits .220 for them. ...You will find no one that will disagree with you when you say that Alex Rodriguez has done more than his share of things to earn himself a lifetime of scorn and ridicule. Just the very sight of him this year will make him an easy target for every writer covering the Yankee beat. And that's exactly what's going to happen once the season starts. All that Jeter love we saw last year is going to be replaced by the constant booing of fans every time Rodriguez pops his head out of the dugout. If they want to boo him for what he did that's fine. At least they have a reason. But don't get on his case when he's not doing anything wrong. Last week he posted pictures of himself working out by taking batting practice and fielding ground balls and when one of the New York writers saw it he accused Rodriguez of trying to make trouble for the Yankees. In what way? He's still a player and he's missed a full year so getting started early with some spring drills will benefit him and in turn the Yankees. What's wrong with that? Would they rather have pictures of him going bar hopping with Johnny Manziel? ...A woman in Boston was arrested for bombarding a local police precinct with uncooked bacon and pork sausage because she said God told her to go there to "feed the pigs." You know, I've been saying for years that there are nothing but a bunch of animals in that city and people tend to think I am just exaggerating but this just confirms it even more. ...By now everyone has heard about that two-year-old boy in Idaho who accidentally shot and killed his mother after reaching into her purse and pulling out the gun that she had in it. The child, thinking it was some kind of toy, pointed it at his mother and the worst thing you would expect to happen did. I feel bad for this kid because there is no way to know how he is going to handle what he did when he gets older and understands what happened. The mother was twenty-nine-years-old and while you hate to pass judgment here you still have to wonder what the hell she was thinking by having her toddler in the shopping cart with her purse knowing that she had a gun inside of it? The victim's father-in-law, who must have been too blinded with grief to think straight described her as someone who was "not the least bit irresponsible." Right. Because responsible people let their two-year-olds handle their purse with a gun inside of it with the safety off. R.I.P. Mother of the Year. ...The city of Denver is finding out their homeless population is growing steadily because of legalized marijuana in Colorado. The older homeless people arriving there are coming for medical reasons and the younger ones are coming just because it's legal. Who didn't see that coming? The next thing that will happen is that some city will round up their homeless and throw them on a bus with a few bucks in their pocket with instructions to get off in Denver and have a good time. ...A nationwide atheist group called the Freedom from Religion Foundation is threatening to file a lawsuit against a Georgia public school district because bibles were being distributed to elementary school students. Their complaint was that by giving the bibles away to these children they feared that these kids would have become a captive audience to the teachings of the bible because they were so young and impressionable. You can't have that. If you get kids believing in God at a young age you might run out of atheists in the future and what are you going do then? What actually happened here was that representatives from the Gideons were the ones who passed out the bibles to the kids and not the school district. This is what the Gideons do, they pass out bibles. They have so many that they left one behind in every room in all the hotels and motels across the country. The next time you go on vacation when you are in your hotel open the drawers and eventually you'll find a bible and you'll know that the Gideons were there before you. Since the Freedom for Religion people couldn't fight the Gideons head-on they targeted the school district since they knew they could scare them without breaking a sweat. I'd like to see how fast they blow the whistle when they find out someone is passing out the Koran to junior high students. ...The recent drop in gas prices have put a big smile on everyone's face and even though I don't get gas as much as the next guy it still is a nice feeling not having to pay fifty dollars or more every time I fill up. But there is still one thing I don't understand and that's gas prices in different areas of the city. If I drive twenty minutes south of where I live I can get gas seven cents cheaper a gallon. Same city, same company (Sunoco) but different price. What's even more incomprehensible is the two Sunoco stations five minutes away from my house that are literally across the street from each other. The station that has west bound traffic is selling gas for $2.77 a gallon but if you are on the same road driving east you'll be paying $2.75. This makes no sense at all. ...That same day that I got gas it was four degrees outside and the wind chill was so bad that it was better not even knowing it. Halfway into it when I was filling up the tank my hands were starting to get numb and that's when you start dancing around a little to try and keep warm. I was so cold when I got done I had to go inside and buy a cup of coffee. When I was driving home I saw a guy walking with a T-Shirt and pair of shorts on and I swear to God this is not the first time I have seen people do this in this kind of weather. You really have to live in the cold area of the country to really appreciate what I am trying to explain here. If you live in Arizona or Florida and are curious about what I'm saying here just go into a walk-in freezer and stay in there for about twenty minutes without getting out once. Then you'll get an idea of how it is but without the wind of course. This is the kind of weather when you let the dogs out they find a spot right away and go and then they come back to the door without having you call them. But I see people all the time walking around like it's the middle of summer instead of the beginning of January. Maybe it's some kind of club. Every time I see one of them I say to myself that it "must be another person from Massachusetts" and I laugh all the way home.

Please don't be a stranger here!

Thank you for this Rising Sun. They look great!!!! どうもありがとうございました!!

Already??

Updated to 1-4 Many apologies for not posting this week's random thoughts when I usually do but last night around six o'clock my Roadrunner internet went out and they could not get a service technician to come to my house until twenty minutes ago. Everything's good to go now and I hope this never happens again. ...There's got to be a better way to break in the New Year than with Ryan Seacrest and Jenny McCarthy. ...My wife and I made plans on New Year's Eve to go and see the newest Night at the Museum movie but we ended up getting shut out. There's an AMC theater near us that has those comfortable chairs that you can extend your feet out while watching the film but I wasn't planning on doing it this time because the first time I tried that I fell asleep and when I woke up I couldn't follow what was going on. Anyway, once we got to the ticket booth we were told that there were only two tickets left and I said that's fine because it's only us two and we were not waiting on anybody else. Then we were told there was one seat available in one row and another one open four rows back. I told the kid at the ticket booth that all I wanted to do was go to a movie and not buy a plane ticket but he told me that they have assigned seating at that theater and there was nothing that could be done about it unless we wanted to wait a few more hours until the next showing. She didn't want to wait and I couldn't blame her and frankly neither did I. I think the last time I went to the movies was over the summer. It's hard to believe it's changed this much. When I was a kid and I went to the movies with my friends we never knew where we were going to sit until we got in there. Usually it was right in the middle but every so often it was on the right or left side. Now even something as simple as going to a movie is shot to hell. ...When I first heard that Selena Gomez was involved in a bit of controversy at a mosque last week I was kind of curious as to what exactly she did to get people so upset because based on my knowledge of her, limited as it may be, she does seem the kind of person that would go out of her way to antagonize anyone. But that's what happened. Gomez was in Abu Dhabi (a city located on the northeastern part of the Persian Gulf) with four of her friends and while they were there they decided to visit a local mosque. Being the tourists that they are they took some pictures of themselves while they were in there and these photos were posted later on Instagram. One of the photos that was uploaded showed Gomez posing with someone and her ankles were exposed for all the world to see. Gomez did not spray paint the walls of the mosque when she walked in there or carve her initials in a chair for posterity. What she did do was put her naked ankle on display for the whole world to see. As far as ankles go she has a very nice one although I must admit there are other parts of her body that are visually more appealing. Older Muslim men have been dropping like flies after looking at this picture and Muslim women everywhere have been getting an extra beating or two because they happen to be women and also have ankles. The Muslims complained that she is a visitor to their city and when visiting a mosque she should observe their rules and traditions when she is in there and that means covering everything up when you are in there. Ok, fine. But then how do you explain the Muslims that are in our country when they go around expecting us to conform to their way of doing things? You can't have it both ways. I hope the next time she goes to Abu Dhabi and visits a mosque she goes in there with a bikini on. ...The Yankees traded reliever Shawn Kelley last week to San Diego for prospect Johnny Barbato, a twenty-two-year-old righthanded reliever who Brian Cashman said “may need Tommy John surgery at some point." What the hell for? There are enough pitchers that pop up that end up catching you by surprise that end up needing this surgery and here are the Yankees trading for a guy who is probably going to need it. Talk about going out to meet bad luck half way. And just to show that they weren't done making stupid moves they also traded Manny Banuelos to Atlanta last Thursday. Banuelos was a highly rated twenty-three-year-old lefthanded pitcher in the Yankee organization that for some reason never reached his full potential. Personally I kind of think that the Yankees made a mistake here by giving up on someone that young who is still working his way back from Tommy John surgery and it would not surprise me at all to see in a few years the Braves turning this guy into a winner. ...The real reason why C.C. Sabathia was upset last week at the airport had nothing to do with missing his flight to Jamaica. That was no big deal because he didn't have to wait long until the next flight was scheduled to take off. It's just that when he discovered the McDonalds in the airport had closed he kind of lost it because that made the wait that much harder to handle. ...Chris Rock did not endear himself to women everywhere when he said the reason why he ended his nineteen-year marriage was that he was "just tired of being married." On the other hand no one asked his wife if she was tired of being married to him. ...With cameras all over the place how did that Texas A&M staff member expect to get away with throwing an elbow at one of the West Virginia players during the Liberty Bowl and then later a punch at another one? If Woody Hayes didn't get away with it back in 1978 there was no way this was going to be missed today. ...Things must be so bad in Buffalo that they are not even fast enough to fire their head coach or look for a new starting quarterback because both of those guys took off the first chance they had before being shown the door. ...The only way the NFL is going to deal with Ndamukong Suh is to have players on other teams start stepping on him and kicking him without worrying about getting fined for it. If that happens watch how fast Suh cleans up his act. ...Grand Slam, Redneck Style, Dept: Over the holidays a Florida man decided that it would be a nice thing to visit a sick friend in the hospital and he figured while he was going to be spending time in the hospital he may as well make himself and his friend as comfortable as possible. So to spread a little Christmas cheer he brought along some crack cocaine that he and the patient began to smoke as fast as possible just so they wouldn't have to share with anyone else that happened to come in the room. Considering what they were doing it was no surprise that they didn't think this all the way through because the bedridden patient was wearing an oxygen mask and the flame from lighting the pipe mixed with the gas caused a fire that rapidly grew out of control and the private two-person party quickly became a room full of hospital staff trying to put out a fire. Luckily the damage was limited to bed linens, the patient's gown and the oxygen mask itself and the patient himself was transferred to a burn unit. What hurt him more besides the burns was not being able to finish his crack. The gift giver here was charged with arson, five counts of possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony. At least his heart was in the right place. ...Grand Slam, Redneck Style, Dept (Part Two):Why not one more Florida story before I move on? If they had a reality show just about what these people do down there each week the ratings would go through the roof. Every time your wife or your girlfriend or your mother gets on your case by telling you that you need to shape up all you have to do is have them watch a few episodes of Florida's Finest and they'll see that you aren't so bad after all. Driving under the influence is a problem all across the country but down in the Sunshine State they leave no room for interpretation as to how impaired they really are. A Tampa motorcyclist was taking a spin on his Harley last week and because he had a few too many he crashed his bike into a parked Florida Highway Patrol vehicle. He may have been drunk when he hit the parked patrol car but he wasn't drunk enough to hang around and wait for someone to come out to see what he did. So he stumbled back on his bike and sped off down the road but he didn't get that far because he was still sloshed. Since he could not find another police car to hit he pulled over and waited until his head stopped spinning and that was long enough for the police to catch up to him. He was arrested for DUI and leaving the scene of a crash and also for careless driving and having no proof of insurance. This all took place over the Christmas weekend, around a week ago. I don't want to imagine what this guy would have done had he been loose on New Year's Eve. ...Oh those zany Muslims, Dept: Saudi Arabia is sending two women to a court established to try terrorism cases because of their defiance of a ban on females driving motor vehicles. This is what a terrorist activity is defined as to these people. All these two women were doing was driving a car from one place to another and because of that they've been sitting in a jail cell for nearly a month. They didn't get in any accidents with another vehicle or hit any pedestrians. They didn't bother any camels or wake the head-choppers, snipers or kidnappers when they were trying to rest. All they were doing is driving. I can't figure out if Muslims hate their women or are deathly afraid of them. The only thing that is clear is that they can't do anything independently. ...Using your Noodle, Dept: On a charter flight from Bangkok, Thailand to Nanjing, China a Chinese couple got into a heated fight with the flight crew all because they learned that they were to be seated separately during the trip. Even when the attendants rearranged the seating to put the couple together it was too much, too little and too late to appease the couple as they refused to calm down. They were so upset that they threw their meal, which was a cup of hot noodles, right in the face of one of the hostesses, burning her bad enough that she had to go to the hospital for treatment after the plane was turned around. The couple was not immediately detained once they were kicked off the plane and Chinese authorities are still considering whether to prosecute them for their disruptive behavior. What are they waiting for, to see if they do it again? If this was the U.S. there would be a small army of cops ready to grab them as soon as they stepped off the plane and as far as those two being prosecuted here they would not have to wonder about that too much. Remember when air travelers had to take their shoes and belt off before passing through the screeners just because some Osama-loving Muslim tried to get away with something there? The same thing could happen here. Some copycat in this country is going to think of a way to burn the in-flight help a lot worse than using his noodles and before long anything that is served hot on flights will be a thing of the past, like common sense.

Of course he did. It took him this long to think of a response.

Much appreciated! Thank you.

Thank you very much!

Updated to 12-28 ...I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that you received every gift you were asking for and that you also made someone else's holiday just as special. I got some nice stuff, mostly gift cards. That's what I get every year and Amazon and myself appreciate it a lot. My nineteen-year-old niece cleaned up like she always does. She got a digital camera and a Playstation 4. They have one of those huge hi-definition 3D televisions that go from wall to wall in their living room so she is going to have a lot of fun with that. The first day she had it she couldn't get online because of some more hacker bullsh**. She likes playing games but not sports so that leaves out any hope of her purchasing The Show when it comes out next year. She got this role playing game called Dragon Age Inquisition and I don't know what the hell she was doing but it looked nice. While we were watching her I told my brother-in-law that wouldn't it be great if there was a sports role play game? I'm full of ideas. It is either that or I am full of something else. Anyways, I suggested a Derek Jeter game for the PS4. In it you play as Jeter and your mission is to travel to all five of the New York boroughs to perform miracles like walk on water, deliver babies in taxicabs, find Jimmy Hoffa, etc, etc. In other words you do what he does every single day because everyone knows he can do anything. Just ask the New York newspapers. While you are out saving the world from itself you have to dodge evil villains like out-of-town reporters that ask tough questions like 'if you can't hit the ball anymore why in the hell are they still hitting you second in the lineup?' You will have to do all this and still make it to the Bronx to play in the game. If you do all that and help the Yankees win you can tell any woman you see to join you for a night on the town and in the morning she can do your laundry. Now that's a game. Don't tell me, I know. I got too much time on my hands. ...This year was the first time I did not watch any of the classic Christmas movies. It's not that I don't like them. It's just that I've seen them so many times I am sick of them. Movies like White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life are all good movies but after seeing them for over thirty years I have had enough. You know you've seen a movie too many times when you can quote the dialogue verbatim without missing a word. ...Christmas may be the best holiday of the year but Thanksgiving has them beat every year in sports. A triple header in the NFL will always outshine a triple header in the NBA. ...Ex-Yankee pitcher Phil Hughes had a good Christmas because the Twins gave him a three year contract extension worth forty-two million dollars because of his good performance (16 - 10, 3.52 ERA) for Minnesota last season. Many people thought that the Yankees "ruined" Hughes during his time there and if by that they mean developing a pitcher whose best pitch was the gopher ball then they could be right. The Twins are rewarding him for that one good season but if they start seeing balls fly out of Target Field next season when he's on the mound they should not be surprised. ...Miley Cyrus is dating Patrick Schwarzenegger right now only because he doesn't know any better. But his family certainly does. Cyrus was banned from celebrating Christmas with his family which happens to be the famous Kennedy family. You couldn't blame them for not wanting her around to welcome in the holidays because once she starts sticking that tongue out you never know where it would end up. ...Helping out the right way, Dept: Doesn't it always seem that every year right before Christmas there is a lunatic that crawls out from wherever he's been hiding and does something that is so terrible that it makes you stop and wonder what the hell is wrong with this world? This year it was a man named Ismaaiyl Brinsley who gunned down two New York City policemen who were sitting in their car in cold blood and in execution style just because they were policemen. It figures this guy had to be a Muslim. Shortly after killing the two officers Brinsley turned the gun on himself and shot himself to death presumably to join Allah and a room full of virgins. One of the officers had two children that he left behind and their education will now be taken care of by the New York Yankees, who have been sponsoring a foundation called the Yankee Silver Shield Foundation, an organization that pays for the education of the children of New York City police officers, firemen and Port Authority employees who died in the line of duty. The Yankees have been doing this quietly since 1982. The other officer was recently married and had no children. Not a lot of people know that the Yankees have been doing this for thirty-two years now because anyone who isn't a Yankee fan only hears about the high salaries associated with them and that they are the "Evil Empire," a name given to them by petty and jealous front office member of you-know-who. This is the right way to do something for charity. Quiet, behind-the-scenes and respectful. What did the Red Sox do after the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013? They wore special uniforms for one day and then auctioned them off for charity. Nothing wrong with that but the shipping and handling charges to send the jersey to the winning bidder were jacked up over 200%. And that charge all went to the Red Sox and not charity. The only other thing they've done is let some of the victims from the bombing come out and throw out the first pitch every so often at Fenway Park. Nice enough gesture but that was it. The Red Sox do special game-worn jerseys and gestures and they make sure the world knows about it. The Yankees take care of a child's education and the only time you ever hear about it is when the media brings it up during a tragic time like this. ...It's too bad North Korea lost their internet for a couple of days. Can you imagine all the people there who got shut out from getting mods from this site? ...The Oakland Raiders may have had a lot of problems in recent years but no matter what they've been at least they are not the Cleveland Brown and they don't have the headaches associated with Johnny Manziel. To put it kindly, Manziel has had a less than impressive debut in the NFL this year due to being overwhelmed and unprepared because it seemed he was more interested in being a celebrity than being a quarterback. Even Manziel owned up to some of this and promised to be a more committed quarterback. I think a lot of what an athlete does off the field is magnified by the press. You see a ballplayer at a night club having a drink and the next day he strikes out in the ninth inning with the game on the line and the press will say it happened because he was out late the night before. Same situation for an NFL player. They're out the night before and their "focus" is being questioned on game day. I don't think this is the problem with Manziel. I recall Kenny Stabler, a highly successful and effective signal caller for the old Raiders going out each week to have a good time and no matter what that guy did during the week he was always ready to play on Sunday. The problem with Manziel may not be if he goes out and is seen doing it but rather if he is good enough to be an NFL quarterback. ...On a Russian variety show Shamil Tarpischev, who is the head of the Russian Tennis Federation, got himself in a little bit of hot water when he referred to Venus and Serena Williams as the "the Williams brothers," and added that "it's frightening when you look at them." That got him fined $25,000 from the Women's Tennis Association and he was also banned from any tour involvement for one year. Poor guy, he spoke the truth and look what happened to him. ...Rush Limbaugh, a man who gets a lot of publicity for his radio show every time he says something controversial, got what he wanted again last week when he commented on a leaked Sony e-mail that suggested Idris Elba, a black British man, should be the next James Bond. Wow. Yippie. So what??? Since when does it matter what this guy says? About five years ago I used to work part-time for someone who did a big online business on eBay. The other guy that worked there was there for many years and he ran the place when the owner was gone and because of that he had control of the radio and every day he would listen to Limbaugh's radio show. It was terrible. I don't know if there was one thing this guy liked or tolerated except for the listeners who would call in and agree with everything he said. Limbaugh's favorite target of course was President Obama. It probably still is. He blamed him for everything. People who are like this are easy to ignore because if Limbaugh stopped to think for a second he would realize that the next person to play James Bond after Daniel Craig is done with the role will be up to the producers of the Bond movies and no one else. ...Last Friday afternoon I locked my doors, pulled down the shades, made sure all my windows were shut and turned off all lights because I was upstairs in my computer room watching The Interview while wearing a hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses. The movie was almost two hours long and I think if North Korea would have just stopped to watch the movie without getting upset about it they would have seen for themselves that it was terrible. All they succeeded in doing was making people want to see it. Like me. ...Call 'em as I seem 'em Dept: You can always tell when a child actress is having a hard time getting steady work. This time it's Emma Watson, who peaked with the Harry Potter movies and then nose dived as soon as she started getting taller. Now she's doing a movie where she will be doing a topless scene. The trouble with that is that if they don't show her face in the scene no one will be able to tell if they're looking at a woman. ...Note: Defenders of Emma Watson are directed to file all complaints to IloveEmma@gmail.com which will in turn be forwarded to me and will be promptly ignored and deleted. Thank you! ...The New Year is still a few days away and I want to take this time to wish everyone on this great website a very happy new year. It's you guys (and girls) who visit this site that make it as special as it is and this is something that you prove every single day and I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you. If you go out on Wednesday night please either don't drink a lot, have someone to drive with you or just don't drink at all. The calendar is changing from one year to the next and that is not a good enough reason to go out and drink so you put yourself at risk for injury or even worse. Have fun but be smart. Happy New Year and let's look ahead to pitchers and catchers reporting!

Happy birthday and best of luck with your surgery!

Hey mcoll!!!!!! I've wondered what was keeping you away! Good for you! Congratulations to you and your wife. I hope you have a wonderful life together with nothing but happiness!

Updated to 12-21 ...Today's the official first day of winter. Where I live we always get a sneak preview of it almost a month ahead of time. ...My Opening Day for my first annual winter baseball league was exactly one week ago. I decided to start this up to help me pass the time in the upcoming winter months around here because if winter is as bad as the storm we had last week I have a feeling I will be inside the house a lot. I'm going old school for this 154 game season as I will be using Tony Larussa Baseball II instead of Mvp 2005 and there's a very good reason for me using Tony 2 this winter. I have tried to start some seasons in Mvp and even used the short season projector mod but it is just too hard for me to concentrate on one mod only for a period of time. I'll play about nine or ten games in the 1941 mod and then I'll start thinking of the 1964 mod and that will make me realize that I haven't played the 1927 mod in awhile and when that happens I can't devote myself to a season of Mvp. That's why I chose this old Larussa game. Gamers that only care about graphics won't even last a half an inning with this game. The game's got a nice look to it but you can tell it had its day. But I still play it. There's no way I'll ever stray too far away from Mvp. Here's a screenshot of the Yankee bullpen. Allie Reynolds is having a good day against those SOB's. ...I wonder if Samuel L. Jackson is ever happy about anything? Every time I see this guy he has a scowl on his face and looks like he's two steps away from getting in someone's face. ...The Red Sox may hate the Yankees and be jealous of them at the same time but not even that will stop them from making money off of them. They are auctioning two different "unique" pieces of historic (their words, not mine) baseball memorabilia centered around Derek Jeter’s final Major League Baseball game which was last September in Boston's Fenway Park. First is the ball used to record the final out of Jeter's career and if that isn't exciting enough the Red Sox will be auctioning off the first base bag that was used that afternoon because that was the final base that Jeter touched after collecting the final hit of his career. They're not kidding. The sad part about all of this is that both of these items will be sold. ...Well, there's another American in North Korea and at this point you almost have to empathize for the North Koreans. They don't want the Americans there but they still come. Either they are passing out bibles to the heathen or making demands for political asylum. No wonder why they don't like us. Look at the type of people that show up there. The latest person to make America proud is a twenty-nine-year-old man from El Paso, Texas named Arturo Martinez. This is a man that the North Koreans just can't get rid of. Previously he tried to get into the country by crossing a river but before he got there he was stopped and shipped back to the U.S. He did some time in a psychiatric hospital because of this but when he got out he went right back to China and this time was able to cross the river successfully into North Korea. Martinez was asked later if he was nervous crossing a river to illegally enter a foreign country and he replied no because that's how he got into the United States from Mexico. Martinez has not been put into custody by the North Koreans because they figured why not, he'll just come back anyway. He is seeking asylum in Venezuela while criticizing America for their human rights violations. At least he knows how to keep himself busy. ...While on the subject of North Korea, I don't know if they were behind the hacker attack on Sony Pictures which by the way is a Japanese company and it starred Seth Rogan, who is Canadian and James Franco, an American. Look at that, finally someone to blame. If North Korea is really behind this they really made a mistake by wasting all that time and effort into crippling Sony because all they needed to know is that Seth Rogan's in the movie and that alone virtually guarantees that it's going to bomb. ...What a difference a couple of years make. The Angels have begun a feeling-out process as to who would be interested in acquiring Josh Hamilton from them because all Hamilton has done in Los Angeles since he left Texas was spend time on the disabled list and strike out. If those were credentials to guarantee you a spot in the Hall of Fame, Hamilton would be a shoo-in by now. They are so desperate to pawn him off on anyone that they even contacted the Rangers to gauge their interest and Texas could not say no fast enough. Someone's going to get this guy and I just don't want it to be those damned fools in the Bronx. We've already got one overpaid multi-millionaire returning next year. ...Speaking about the Comeback Kid, Alex Rodriguez told reporters that he fully expects to battle Chase Headley for the third base job in the spring. I wouldn't expect him to say anything different. Brian Cashman practically has him written off already when he said that the Yankees had to anticipate the worst and hope for the best with Rodriguez since he hasn't played in a game in over a year. My prediction is that no matter how well Headley plays the position Rodriguez will be back at third base for a lot of games next year and that's because of Mark Teixeira. Teixeira's bound to go on the disabled list six or seven times next year for major injuries like paper cuts, lack of sleep or hurting his thumb while changing the battery on his TV remote. He's had similar career threatening injuries like this in the past where he missed significant time and since Headley can play first base too, he'll end up on both sides of the diamond next year. ...I was no fan of Jorge Posada especially during his last few years on the Yankees when he was just an overpaid roster spot on the ball club who did nothing but kill rallies. It got to be so easy to steal off of him that opposing runners walked the last fifteen feet to second just to give Posada's throws half a chance. But my dislike for him did not extend to his family because right now he and his wife are in a legal battle with some con men who they are saying swindled them out of over eleven million dollars. I don't have that much money to lose. I'm not even close. I'm not even in the same universe but if I lost that much I would either be bed ridden or walking around like a zombie. The same financial advisors who tapped into the Posada's bank account did the same thing to Jose Contreras, although Contreras did not lose as much money as Posada. It's easy to say now that the Posada's should have gone to a trusted lawyer to look over the documents that they had to sign for these people but that's why they're con men. They make you feel relaxed. I hope that both ex-players get their money back. Not even these two slugs deserve this. ...There's a Methodist church down in Alabama that announced it will start holding services at a Buffalo Wild Wings to attract potential parishioners who feel intimidated by the church setting. Personally I don't understand why they feel anyone would be intimidated by going to church. You stand, you sit, you listen, you sing, you get the hell out of there. Simple. The minister of church says by holding services at that restaurant will be a more inviting atmosphere for some people. Sure it will. What better way to listen to someone preach while you are making a dozen chicken wings disappear? ...One Strange Morning, Dept: I had one odd morning last week when I was driving around doing some errands I had to get done that I was putting off. First I went to the bank to cash a check and when I walked in there was no one there. Not one customer. The bank had been open for twenty minutes before I got there but still there was no one but employees and myself. At first I thought I walked in during a robbery but when one of the tellers smiled and waved me over and since I didn't see any Muslims hiding behind desks I came forward. By the time I walked out a few minutes later there were four people in line. I must have just got there at the right time. After that I went for a haircut and where I go the place opens up at 10:00 a.m. I got there a few minutes before they opened up and no one's there. This is normal for these people because when they say they open at ten they really mean around that time. Finally at almost quarter after the only person waiting to get in there is me and I don't have the keys. I decided to walk across the street to have breakfast so I can wait for them to arrive and sure enough right in the middle of my eggs benedict they open up. Finally I am done with breakfast, I walk back over there and I am ready to get my haircut. It's now 10:45. I walk in there and the lady asks me if she can help me. I tell her I am here for a haircut and she tells me she does not give haircuts. I wanted to ask her what she does give but I decided not to. I left without finding out why a person who works in a place that gives haircuts does not give haircuts but luckily I found a place that same day that gave me just as good a haircut and it was closer to home. Lastly I had to get gas and when I got out to fill my car up there was a lady who was already there doing the same thing. But while she was filling up she had her iPad out and was leaning against her car playing some game. She must have really been into it because when she took the nozzle out of her tank it overflowed and some gas spilled on her shoes. That's a smell that takes awhile to go away and she was not happy at all. I hope at least she won the game she was playing. After that I went home because by then I had enough of the general public. ...For the first time ever People magazine gave an award to the Sexiest Woman Alive and after much consideration on the judges part that had to have taken all of two or three seconds they gave the award to model Kate Upton. I got no complaints about this at all since I would have voted the same way but did she really need to be given an award for something this obvious? ...One of the great things about baseball is that you can have a nice roundtable discussion with your friends on what you think is right or wrong with the game and steps you would do to correct the things you don't like if you ever had the chance to do so. Free agency, high salaries, steroids, inter league play, etc. Thanks to Bud Selig there will be something else but with this latest one I have a feeling that everyone will be unanimous on how they feel about it. When Commissioner Stuffed-Shirt finally steps down next month he will receive six million dollars a year in pension from major league baseball. That's for doing nothing but walking down to his mailbox every day in his bathrobe to collect his mail. He won't be serving any advisory roles for baseball because quite frankly he's done enough to set the game back many years. Six million dollars. This is nothing but legalized stealing. ...Lastly to everyone here at Mvpmods I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and no matter where you will be on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day I hope you are safe and happy. Take care!

Thank you!