Chachi's Monday Ramblings

For the record, my one fantasy baseball team is sucking it up big time and yet my other is opening up a comfortable first place lead. Is it possible to be a genius and an idiot at the exact same time? On to my thoughts for today.

• So far in the MLB we are seeing quite a resurgence from the older pitchers this year. Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, and even Jose Contreras are all looking great while many younger "studs", like Felix Hernandez and Carlos Zambrano, are struggling. Goes to show what age and experience can do for you.
• Congrats to Lebron for getting his first playoff win! A few more by him and I actually might start paying attention to the league for the first time since Jordan retired. And, for the record, I'm rooting for the Heat to win it all because I really want Shaq to win a ring sans Kobe. That and we could get weeks of Shaq-isms afterwards. He really might be the best interview subject in all of sports.
• Reggie Bush should be the #1 pick Saturday hands down. Forget all the Mario Williams talk, Bush is a game changer and the Texans sorely need him. (The Texans sorely need a lot of things though. I'm almost positive they could have Bush, Williams and Ferguson next year and still not finish above .500)
• This year's top 5 fantasy football pick who is guaranteed to have a bad year; Shaun Alexander, the newest Madden cover boy. You can say you don't believe in curses or jinxes, but just look at the last 5 or 6 guys that appeared on the cover and see if you still feel confident with him as your pick come August.
  
• I caught some of the College All-Star Challenge and Vince Young looked head and shoulders above the rest of the QB's. I know Leinart and Cutler weren't there, but he looked fantastic and I think he will be a better QB then Leinart in the NFL. Just my opinion.
• Also, if you catch Battle of the Gridiron Stars, try and catch Jake Delhomme doing the Home Run Derby portion. The man was killing the ball. Yes, he was using a metal bat, but you could see he had a good swing and could probably even knock a few out in the real Derby. I'm now actively rooting for MLB to allow one guest hitter for every Home Run Derby and they need to start with Delhomme.
  
• Keith Hernandez made a stupid comment about women in the dugout and now everyone is up in arms about it. Hernandez even said during the broadcast that he was "just teasing" and yet everyone is still talking about it. The joke might not have been funny and may have been in poor taste, but it was a joke none the less and it should really be let go. I swear people today are so up tight that the smallest thing sets off the hugest shit storm. I'd almost gurantee that the female trainer in question has heard ruder, cruder and in even poorer taste jokes hanging around the Padres clubhouse. $20 says in a week we don't hear much about this anymore, but for the next few days it will be all over talk radio and ESPN. The lesson as always here is: Men tell stupid, sophomoric jokes and open their mouths when they shouldn't. Gee, big suprise.
• In an interview Barry Bonds says he doesn't think he'll pass Hank Aaron due to his various ailments. He even says when talking about his bad knee, "My knee could get better. Maybe there will be some kind of solution they can come up with that would make the pain go away. Who knows?" Gee Barry, if only some type of drugs or modern medicine could be used to help you out. I wonder who you could call for that sort of thing?
• My fun item of the week comes from armchairgm.com where they did a list of the 8 Mascots the Need to Die. I was astounded to find out that there was an actual college mascot named Keggy the Keg. I proudly applaud Dartmouth and its ballsy-as-hell administration that approved this mascot. Finally, a mascot students can get behind and cheer for. (As a personal bonus, Lil' Red from Nebraska appears on this list who I have already personally hung with an electrical cord from the dublinhuskers loft and thought of killing many other times!)