Resigns vs. Resigns

So, it's pretty annoying (and often very confusing) that "resigns" - to sign with again - and "resigns" - to quit - are the same word.  I've had this idea in the "drafts" section of the site for a long time, and this week it became relevant on several occasions; with the Pac-12 official stuff, and all the nonsense going on at Rutgers.  Imagine if you have no background knowledge of the situation and you read this headline:

"Ed Rush resigns as Pac-12 Conference Coordinator of Officials."

It can mean one of two totally opposite things.

4/8 Update: It has been brought to my attention that "to sign again" is actually "re-sign."  So I guess problem solved?   It's still definitely confusing though.

Follow @LucidSportsFan

Awesome Old Song ofthe Week: "Zombie" by the Cranberries

After achieving some mainstream success with their debut album "Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?" in 1993, The Cranberries followed it up with "No Need to Argue" in 1994.  The Irish band's second record was a lot more rock-ish; especially Zombie, the first single off of it and the biggest hit the group ever had.

In truth I think I probably actually preferred the song I Can't Be with You (and maybe Ridiculous Thoughts too) from that disc, but those titles just aren't as cool.  Zombies are so hot right now, like Hansel hot.  They're totally the new vampires.




Follow @LucidSportsFan

When is MLB going to learn?

It looks cold and lonely in right field for Shane Victorino.

In the late innings of the Red Sox 7-4 win over New York last night, the temperature had dropped down into the mid-30's in the Bronx.  There were about 14 people left at Yankee Stadium.  Even the announced crowd of 40,216 at the start of the game was the smallest to attend a visit from the Sox since May of 1999.  Boston's starter Clay Buchholz said it was the coldest he'd ever been while pitching, and compared the feel of the baseball to throwing a pool cue ball.  In between innings Buchholz also left the dugout and retreated to an indoor batting cage, where he threw to stay warm.

I just don't get it.  MLB does not need to have games in New York or Boston for the first couple weeks of the season.  Even just playing within the division they could begin the year in Tampa, Baltimore, or indoors in Toronto.  I wrote more on the stupidity of starting baseball in cold weather cities two years ago.  I'm also opposed to the Red Sox vs Yankees Opening Day matchup in general, because I think it's waste of a big game.

And while I'm digging up old posts from the spring of 2011, I meant to link to this the other day as well; my favorite April Fool's Day joke.

    Follow @LucidSportsFan

Illustrating the absurdity of Brittney Griner in the NBA

Yesterday Dallas Maverick's owner Mark Cuban made the statement that he would consider drafting Baylor's Brittney Griner, the player who absolutely dominated women's college basketball the past few seasons.  Cuban said "You never know unless you give somebody a chance, and it's not like the likelihood of any late-50s draft pick has a good chance of making it."

The last half of that sentence I agree with.  Second round draft picks don't usually make it in the NBA, so it wouldn't be much of a risk.  And as far as publicity stunts go, it would be pretty incredible.  But the first part of that quote is ridiculous, Cuban knows there is zero chance Griner can play in the NBA.  What's interesting to me is that most major news outlets (here's the original report from The Dallas Morning News, as well as USA Today's and ESPN's) covered this "story," but none of them were willing to mention this.

The thing that makes Griner great is being bigger and taller than everyone else on the court.  At 6'8", 207 lbs she's a giant among women's college basketball players, likely the best center to ever play the game.  But in the NBA she's not a center, not even close.  She's more like the equivalent of a very skinny small forward.  Griner is roughly the same size and shape as the Celtics Jeff Green (listed at 6'9", 235).  Can you imagine her playing against Jeff Green?

Exhibit A:



Exhibit B:



   Follow @LucidSportsFan

Best early 2000's syndicated dating show: Blind Date, Elimidate, or The 5th Wheel?

In the winter of 2003 I lived in Austin, Texas with a couple friends of mine from Martha's Vineyard.  We were looking for a warm and fun place to pass the time until the next Vineyard season.  When we got there we discovered that Austin was a much cheaper place to live than what we were used to (NYC, Boston, etc.), so we spent a good portion of our time there unemployed.  In order to save some money we didn't get cable TV, and hardly went out that much.  Our standard late night activities included watching 3 syndicated reality dating shows on whatever the local WB Network channel was.

The first was Blind Date, which came on at 12:30 am.  To me it was the worst of the three, and involved cheesy pop-up bubbles on the screen.  At 1 am Elimidate began, which was my favorite.  A guy or girl went on a date with 4 members of the opposite sex, and would gradually get rid of them one at a time.  Then at 1:30 it was time for The 5th Wheel, which was the most risque of the three.  It involved 2 couples on a double date who would switch partners halfway through, but also a 5th random person was thrown into the equation.  At the end they would all pick who they liked best, or nobody.  At 2 am it was time to go to bed, and I remember constantly falling asleep annoyed at the people for not picking "nobody" often enough.  Here's a clip from 5th Wheel, and vote in the poll on the right.



  Follow @LucidSportsFan

My opening thoughts on the 2013 Red Sox and the AL East

Jackie Bradley Jr. made a nice catch Monday.

Baseball is back, and for the record everything I'm about to say has nothing to do with Boston's 8-2 win in the Bronx this afternoon.  In fact, anybody who has a different opinion of the Sox chances this season now than they did yesterday should have their head examined.  Opening Day means nothing.  The Astros are supposed to be one of the worst teams in baseball history, and they beat the Rangers easily on Sunday night.

The prevailing outlook on the 2013 Red Sox seems to be that they will be lucky to compete in the AL East.  I don't understand this at all.  ESPN picked them to finish last.  That could well happen, but I also think they are just as likely to finish first.  In my mind the entire division is a crap shoot.  We could end up with 5 teams winning between 80 and 90 games.  That same ESPN article actually agrees somewhat with this; it projects the 1st place Blue Jays best case scenario at 98 wins, but also says Boston has the potential to end up with 93.

Who should the Sox really be afraid of?  Did you see the lineup the Yankees threw out there today?  I wasn't feeling so hot about Boston hitting Mike Napoli in the cleanup spot, until I looked over and noticed New York was batting Kevin Youkilis 4th.  The Orioles won 93 games and made the playoffs in 2012, but they also only outscored their opponents by 7 runs all year (712-705).  Statistically it was one of the luckiest seasons in baseball history, those numbers suggests they should have finished around .500 or just over.  One of the main reason's Toronto is supposed to be good is the acquisition knuckleballer of R.A. Dickey.  I know he won the NL Cy Young award last year, but Tim Wakefield was dominant once upon a time too.  That leaves the Rays, who I think are pretty solid and most likely of all to win the AL East.  But, I'll be the first to admit there's about an 80% chance I'm wrong.

    Follow @LucidSportsFan

Bad losses that might not be so bad

The Celtics have lost to the Knicks twice in the past 6 days, and it wasn't close on either occasion.  But even though it was difficult to watch them get blown out by 15 points at home on Tuesday, and by 19 in New York tonight, it could actually end up being a good thing for Boston in the long run.  New York's 8 game winning streak has allowed them to move even with Indiana for the 2nd/3rd spots in the Eastern Conference.  With 9 games remaining Boston trails both Chicago and Atlanta (tied for the 5th and 6th positions) by 2.5 games, and also leads 8th seeded Milwaukee by 2.5 games.  At this point it's very likely Boston will stay put in 7th place.

Despite the two ugly defeats this week, I believe the Knicks are the team the Celtics should want to play in the first round of the playoffs.  I don't think we can read too much into these recent "Kevin Garnett-less" meetings in terms of predicting what would happen in the postseason.  And as far as matchups go, I like the C's chances against New York much better than I do vs the Pacers.  Not to mention how much fun a Boston vs New York series would be.  And in order to make that happen, the Knicks most likely have to beat out Indiana for the #2 spot in the East, and in turn face off against the 7th seeded Celtics.  Hopefully you'll remember reading this when Boston is celebrating a first round victory over New York a month from now.

I also wrote a post for Celtics Life suggesting the possibility of this chain of events a week ago.

   Follow @LucidSportsFan