University of Alberta Faculty of Law Blog

Cricket and Baseball

Cricket and baseball are two sports that are very related, and yet the cultures of the two are so seperate. Baseball is popular mostly in the Americas plus Japan, Korea, and some other places in Asia. Cricket is mostly popular in the former British colonies, such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the West Indies, Australia etc. 

I have always wondered why there wasn't more crossover. Why doesn't a star bowler become a start pitcher? It turns out, someone tried this and they are now making a movie about it. Lead role goes to Mad Men's Jon Hamm, who it seems is quite the baseball fan and student of the game himself.

Olympic Oddities

The Olympics always strike me as two worlds: the athletes and the administrators. The athletes, for the most part, are hard working motivated by the ideals of good sportsmanship and hard work.

The administrators are another matter. Case in point: their decision to drop wrestling! Nuff said.

Stan the Man RIP

Stan Musial also passed away.  He had 3630 hits - his hits on the road were equal to his hits at home: 1815.

 

Here is Stan Musial on What's My Line?

 

Earl Weaver RIP

The great Orioles manager Earl Weaver passed away. Here is an excerpt from Ken Burns's baseball documentary:

 

Dr. Shaq

Actually - Dr. O'Neal.

Baseball roundup

Miguel Tejada pleads guilty to charges he lied to Congress when testifying about steroid use. Because, of course, Congress has nothing better to do than to solve the problem of steroids in baseball. Roger Clemens may also be facing a fate similar to Tejada and become another victim of a legislative body acting as an activist court.

Finally, I have no idea what to make of this story regarding Roberto Alomar, except that he was great second baseman, though quite unprofessional at times. (h/t Drudge)

Rickey Henderson

He is in the Hall of Fame. I have to say I am quite peeved at the 28 writers who did not vote for him. Who are these people and how did they get a ballot. There is no doubt that the great Rickey belongs in the Hall of Fame. One would have thought that being the all time run leader and the all time stolen bases leader would be enough - but apparently not for 28 writers.

Maddux wins 18th

Greg Maddux wons his 18th golden glove at the age of 42.  He is sitting at 355 wins, which means he needs only 8 more wins to tie Warren Spahn for the modern day (liveball) pitching record for wins.

Phillies win world series

Pat Gillick is a genius!

Matt Stairs!

I hadn't heard the name Matt Stairs in a long time. I had assumed he had retired. It turns out he is busy winning games for the Phillies in the NLCS! The only one other thing I wished I had seen in this game was Greg Maddux actually pitchin relief. After all, you can never get enough Greg Maddux.

Eww - I have taste!

Amanda Beard doesn't think Michael Phelps is good enough for her:

Medals anyone?

Someone wake me up when we win a medal.

Swami says...

Detroit in a 7 game classic.

Brown the New Swami

I have become the Hillary Clinton of playoff hockey picks (the first and second rounds must be included) to Russ's Obama (sorry Russ, this analogy must be very hard for you) who scored 4-4 in the last round (the only round that counts). Eric is Mike Dukakis (but he is not even in the race....exactly!)

I am 9-3; Russ is 8-4; and Eric is 7-5 but who's counting (oh yeah, I am). The overall swami predicts

P is for Pittsburgh

D is for Detroit

(uncharacteristically unadventurous picks)

Gentlemen?

Second Round Swami Speaks

Given my colleagues (who shall go unmentioned) who were 4-4 and 5-3 in their first round picks (I went 6-2), it behooves me to let you know who will win in the second round (and why):

Dallas over San Jose  [they looked good aginst the Ducks; San Jose was inconsistent]

Detroit over Colorado [Red Wings are too good]

Rangers over Pittsburgh [the goalie thing]

and, you heard it hear first...

Flyers over Habs [because I said so]

All series will last 6 games.

2008 Blue Jays: Movin' On Up in the AL East side?

Another baseball season has begun and, once again, the Yankees and Red Sox with their gazillion dollar payrolls appear destined to divy up a penant and wild card; and again, the Blue Jays appear poised to play bridesmaid:  each year trying to look a little bit prettier but still not quite making it. 

Or is this year different?  I watched two of the three games at Yankee stadium this week, and my early assessment is the starting pitching is much stronger this year (with the coming of age of Marcum and McGowan).  The key will be whether the Jays can cash in runners on base.  This will turn on whether a healthy Vernon Wells and an aging Frank Thomas can produce in the 3-4 position.  So far, this has not been encouraging.

But I still say, the Yankees will stumble, and the Jays will grab a wild card.. I say this of course knowing that I can erase my post come September ....or August .......or July]

Anyone else upset, like myself, about the release by the Blue Jays of Reed Johnson? He is a gutsy player who came up with a lot of clutch hits and catches during his brief stint with the Jays.  Good luck to him, and the Cubs, this year!

 

Photos of Clemens?

Apparently there are now photos of Roger Clemens at Jose Canseco's party. Will this spell the demise of the Rocket?

And what was Roger doing at Canseco's pool party? I thought Debbie kept him on a tight leash!

Who is telling the truth

Suppose you are working out and you decide to visit  a trainer. The trainer says "bend over - I want to inject you with some stuff that will help." At this stage, you say (pick the version you believe)

a. "oh - ok"

b. "what is it?" - he says "Vitamin B" but he really means "HGH"

c. "what is it?" - he says "HGH" and he really means "HGH"

d. "what is it?" - he says "HGH" but he really means "vitamin B"

You love it so much, you say "can my wife have some too".

Who is telling the truth? the athlete or the trainer! How did the Rocket become another dividing issue along party lines!  And why do Texans keep mangling the English language - now we can add "misremembered" to our vocabulary up there with "strategery".

And why is everybody on HGH? Does it really help? Will it help me write that article I need done by the end of the month, or that proposal I need done by the end of the month, or will it help my Laskin moot team win, or will it help me get better teaching evaluation? Am I missing out?

Tim Wakefield on DL

The knuckleballer is off the world series roster, because of a bad back. Uh - excuse me! since when did knuckleballers get injured?

Tasteless

This one went a bit too far.