It's not news, it's FARK

Great FARK headlines in the last week:
 
"LeBron says he's going to be with the Cavaliers past 2010, making him the only person in town who doesn't want to leave Cleveland"
 
"The Stanley Cup, won by the Pittsburgh Penguins, will be on display in the Pennsylvania Capitol on Tuesday. Oh, also the Lombardi Trophy and World Series Trophy, both currently held by PA teams. Suck it, rest of the US"

Two teams enter, no teams leave

Rumor is saying the WCHA is going to admit Bemidji State and Nebraska-Omaha into the league and it will be announced tonight.

I must say Huzzah!  to that.  I'm excited to have both of these teams in the league.  Even more so about Bemidji, because that also would mean their program will continue and I can keep saying "well, maybe next year" when talking about seeing a game in Bemidji.

Really, there's very few teams who I'd rather have had come into the league.  Well, there's no team I'd rather have come into the league than Bemidji.

Only the Air Force Academy I'd choose over Nebraska-Omaha.  There might be some others I'd chose that would be just as fine as UNO, but UNO I'm excited that they would be in the league.

So if the league does admit both of the teams, I can unquestionably say THANK YOU!! to the team voters.

Oh, and now you can expect the number of times I misspell Bemidji to increase dramatically.

Metrodome

Yesterday was my second Twins game in the ten years since I've been back in Minnesota.  I did enjoy myself and would enjoy going again. 

Depending on who is doing the talking the Metrodome when ranked compared to other stadiums can vary, but it's always ranked as one of the "worst" in the Major Leagues.

For sure it doesn't have the nice views other places have, doesn't have tons of variety of food and drink, doesn't have other things to do besides watch a baseball game, and some of the seats don't face the field right.

It's not the best in the league, but I don't see the need for a new stadium. I don't buy the keeping up with the Jones in my regular life and don't buy it when it comes to sports. Certain not for $517 million to make a new one (link 1) when your current building isn't even 30 years old.

I'm completely against states giving money to professional sports teams for new buildings, especially the major league teams (NFL, NBA, etc). If states weren't giving money to the teams, then the teams couldn't threaten to leave because they were getting a better deal.

They'd either have to find a way to save up for the stadium themselves (cut costs, raise tickets, spend less on players, etc) or they'd have to be content with their current building. They'd also have to decide whether they could be content with saving for a decent building or they'd want to really save for a golden palace. In short, they'd have to be like any other business. Well, except for those "bailout businesses" but that's sadly another story.

I enjoyed myself at the dome. I found the choices in food and drink to be just fine. I'm picky when it comes to beer, so I wanted something else. Granted I had to walk halfway around the stadium to find something else (they carried wine and hard liquor) but that's no big deal. The dome lighting was just fine, I could see the play just fine. It's easy to get to and from the Dome. Tickets are cheap.

So the Metrodome isn't a golden palace, but it's more than fine. If you can't find something you like in the food and drink choices you are way too picky of a eater. If you can't bear the prices, go check out high-school baseball or softball or watch the game on TV. For goodness sake, it's only a few hour game anyhow.

Link 1:  http://www.minnpost.com/infodoc/2009/03/02/7051/twins_target_field

Twins

Yesterday I was at the Twins game against the Red Sox.  The Twins lost 3-1, with Boston's Varitek hitting two home runs.  The Red Sox had a player score at home plate in a close play.  The fans were very upset about the call, which for a good amount of them I have no clue what they were upset about since there was neither live video of the play, nor a replay on the video screen.  Fans around me were booing, despite them being in center field and in the upper-deck.  They didn't have anywhere near a good view of a play that would happen at second base, let alone a view of a play at home plate.  Both the Twins and Sox catchers were tossed from the game and both their coaches were as well.

As I said I didn't have a view of home plate and I haven't seen a replay of the play at home plate, but whether the ump Tichenor got the call right or wrong is besides the point.  If he got the call right, good for him.  If he got it wrong, well that happens in life and in sports.

The four ejections from the game likely fell under rules 9.01 and 9.02 of the rule book:

9.01
(d) Each umpire has authority to disqualify any player, coach, manager or substitute for objecting to decisions or for unsportsmanlike conduct or language, and to eject such disqualified person from the playing field. If an umpire disqualifies a player while a play is in progress, the disqualification shall not take effect until no further action is possible in that play.

9.02
(a) Any umpire's decision which involves judgment, such as, but not limited to, whether a batted ball is fair or foul, whether a pitch is a strike or a ball, or whether a runner is safe or out, is final. No player, manager, coach or substitute shall object to any such judgment decisions.

Now older umps may have let some or all of the stuff go on longer before ejecting the people or may have not ejected some or all of them at all.  Still, how long the person may argue the call or how mad they may get about it is not defined under the rules, so the ump is under no obligation to give leeway.

Redmond may not have ever been tossed in his MLB career, but he definitely got in the ump's face and was yelling at him.  Thus he took that chance of getting tossed.  The Sox's Beckett was lucky he didn't get tossed as well.

If a player/coach gets mad and yells at an ump and gets tossed it's the player's/coach's fault for not keeping their cool. I'm not saying the ump's call at the plate was right.  I'm not saying either.  Umps/refs are human and make mistakes, same as the players and coaches do.

If any of the four people ejected from the game would have kept their cool and discussed the call with the ump, it's much more likely they would have not be ejected.

Pens

OMG, Sidney have the nerve to touch the trophy!!!!! EVERYBODY PANIC!!!!!

Good grief. Sidney Crosby grabbed the trophy to celebrate and now the internet is ablaze about it (link 1 for one example).

I really don't understand the problem. Sure the superstition says you don't touch the trophy, because you want Lord Stanley but to get upset when someone else does it is just plain silly. So someone who isn't superstitious or at the very least doesn't believe in that superstition shouldn't grab the trophy?

I've had my share of superstitions in my life. Superstitions/rituals are just fine, but when your superstition/ritual is so bad that you get upset when someone else doesn't follow it (link 2), then it's gone far overboard.

Mr. Sidney didn't grab the trophy last year and look what good it did him. Every year players don't grab the trophy and they end up losing. Plenty of people have touched it and won (link 3): "In addition, to (Mario) Lemieux touching the conference trophy and still winning the Stanley Cup, captains from the Red Wings have touched it, as well as the Dallas Stars and the Devils' captain even touched it twice."

I have no "horse in the race" but now I want the Pens to win. Just because this "OMG, don't grab the trophy you'll face the curse" superstition nonsense is just that, a superstition.

Link 1: http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/The-Trophy-Voodoo-You-can-t-touch-this-or-can-?urn=nhl,166387

Link 2: http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Reporter-refuses-to-respect-sanctity-of-Penguins?urn=nhl%2C123569

Link 3: http://kdka.com/sports/penguins/Crosby.trophy.touch.2.1021110.html

AFA and the NCAA

Good article about the insanity that is the NCAA and how an Air Force hockey player is losing his eligibility (link 1) basically because he had too much drive for academics.

Air Force's Kevin Wright is affected and loses two years of eligibility because:

He took classes at a community college while he was playing junior hockey.

How is that you say? Well he took too many classes, thus because a full-time student and started his "eligibility clock".

"That means, according to the NCAA, time's up. Year one was spent playing midget hockey for the San Jose Jr. Sharks (2004-05), two and three were spent playing junior hockey for the Southern Minnesota Express of the North American Hockey League (2005-07) and his fourth and fifth years were his freshman and sophomore years at the academy (2007-09)."

Even more of the NCAA insanity, is that the community college isn't affiliated with the NCAA at all.

Link 1: http://www.gazette.com/sports/wright-55172-hockey-ncaa.html

Monday

The little girl that could: Rachel Alexandra wins the Preakness. You go girl!

Still no Triple Crown. Incredible, there's only been two Triple Crowns in my lifetime and the last one was when I was three. That's saying something considering I'm now 34. And they saying hitting a baseball is the toughest thing in sports, hah.

Just for the record, the Triple Crown winners are:
1919 Sir Barton
1930 Gallant Fox
1935 Omaha
1937 War Admiral
1941 Whirlaway
1943 Count Fleet
1946 Assault
1948 Citation
1973 Secretariat
1977 Seattle Slew
1978 Affirmed