Thursday, June 17, 2010

You Can Get With This...

Look at this -- I'm back on the blogging circuit. Inspiration can come from funny places - that's all I'll say. I'll start with the Dawgs, since I haven't given them as much love lately...

Dawgs
I know putting my faith and excitement with kids who are now officially half my age is nauseating, however, both Mark Richt and Mark Fox are putting together some impressive recruiting classes for our football and hoops teams. I love that Richt is putting together the "Dream Team" class in Georgia and Fox signed the top prospect in the state. Now, a lot can happen between now and singing day -- such as the college football season, but since football season, historically, has been somewhat of a letdown (2007 notwithstanding), let me enjoy these moments of bliss. And thank you to the mystery person who sent us four UGA tumbler glasses as a wedding gift, but neglected to include a card. Was that from my collective 23 followers? We love you all!

Phillies
I'm not a fan of Jamie Moyer, but it is amazing at 48 that he can do the things he does. Yes, his fastball tops out at 83 - and I'm pretty sure some of you could throw faster - but when he beats the Yankees or shuts out the Braves - it warms my hardened soul. I'm not sure why everyone acts so surprised that he is the oldest to do these things. Basically, anytime Jamie Moyer does anything he is going to be the oldest player to do it.


What is going unnoticed is the season that Cole Hamels is having. He looks to have rebounded from last season in a big way. Hamels hasn't given up more than 3 runs since April and he was throwing between 94-96 in his last start - even hitting 97 on a couple of pitches (disclaimer: if Hamels throws 97, then I will be starting at center mid for the US soccer team).

Eagles

Nice to see the Eagles getting their draft picks signed so quickly -- especially since a few will contribute this year. They have signed 10 or 13 draft picks thus far with Brandon Graham (1st), Nate Allen (2nd) and Riley Cooper (5th) still unsigned. Not sure what Cooper is waiting on. I did watch him torch the Dawgs in college and think he could be a very intriguing player, especially in the red zone. I fully expect Graham, Allen, Jeff Owens (UGA represent) and Teo'Nesheim to contribute this year.

Sixers
Announced earlier today, the Sixers traded disgruntled and underachieving center Sam Dalembert to Sacramento for Spencer Hawes and Andres Nocioni. I love the trade. Hawes is a 22 year old center with good size. He plays decent defense and provides a better offensive game than Dalembert, which isn't saying much since Dalembert was at his best catching alley-oops. I really like that Nocioni can hit the 3 and play some good defense. I don't usually like having too many white dudes on my team, but I do like this deal.


In terms of the draft, word on the street is that there is a power struggle in the Sixers front office. GM Ed Stefanski wants Evan Turner (so do I) but new head coach Doug Collins wants Derek Favors. I don't agree w/Collins rumored assessment that Favors is the next Dwight Howard - maybe closer to Juwan Howard, but he knows more about basketball than I will ever know. Is Howard worth the second pick? Not so much. Further, while Favors has the raw gifts, according to his workout w/Minnesota he's not been keeping himself in shape. A sign of immaturity? Laziness? Stupidity? Give me the sure thing in Evan Turner.

Any chance we can deal Iggy to Minnesota for one of their picks? I'd take either their 4 or the 16th.

Flyers
Heard a report that Danny Briere was in an accident this morning with his 9 year old son. They reportedly are both fine but were very lucky. Briere apparently was tired and swerved into the path of an oncoming tractor trailer, but was able to swerve out of the way and hit the guardrail.

World Cup
Anyone watching the World Cup? Here are my quick thoughts:

If you haven't seen Maicon's (Brazil) goal, go youtube it - it's insane. How good do Argentina and Lionel Messi look? These guys are fun to watch. Speaking of Argentina, Maradona is the Ozzie Guillen of soccer -- he told soccer icon Pele to "go back to the museum" when Pele was critical of his coaching. Who does that? Very impressed with the US's second half against England. We'll take a 1-1 tie; Bring on the Slovenians and their smack-talkin' ways. Let's bring the pain, Uncle Sam. I took GREAT pleasure watching France get their asses handed to them in any sport. Today's beating, courtesy of Mexico.

In Other News:

  • In terms of updates, my wife "happily" reminded me that I forgot to give ya'll the biggest update of all - we are now THE JACOBS. It was every bit as good as I hoped it would be and it definitely flew by. What a phenomenal weekend.
  • Isn't it weird that some foods taste better as a kid and some foods taste better as an adult? Sure taste buds mature, but after eating a strawberry pop tart for the first time in 30 years, I'm thrilled to say I experienced the same joy I did when I ate them as a kid.
  • I think I'd pay more to join a gym where basic hygiene is required. Stuff like cleaning up after you sweat all over a machine or bench, wearing deodorant so you don't smell like ass rot, dudes being required to wear shorts and shirts of a certain correct fitting size. You know, the little things.
  • Speaking of the gym - you know what my secret to consistency is? Make up names for people. I've done this for years and now Summer will ask me if "stinkman" or "Kiedis" were there. See, they are our friends.
  • Last weekend we saw the artsy, fartsy film "Exit Through the Gift Shop" and although I had to sit through a preview with subtitles and immediately started getting a headache, the movie itself was GREAT. Even if you don't like pop graffiti, Banksy is incredible and I really appreciate his work. His dark humor was fantastic and it was an interesting look at a culture I knew nothing about. It was also under and hour and a half, so even if you hate it -- it's shorter than a flight from Atlanta to Philly.
  • Just updated my blackberry w/all this new software and the greatest part about it is, I feel like I have a new phone. Maybe I'll hold off on the iPhone Version 61 I was saving for.
  • Summer and I are convinced our dog Comet talks with a southern accent. When no one is there we (I) are constantly including her in conversations. It's gotten so bad that I now have to refrain from doing it when company is over.
  • Back in the day, my UD roommate and current swell guy Steve Rosen introduced me to sleeping to the sound of a giant box fan. I remember when we lived together I wondered what the hell we needed w/that since the dorms had AC. Steve convinced me that the fan would drowned out all the outside noise (since our dorm faced a street). After a while I grew accustomed to using the fan and grew to miss it when I went back home over summer break. I carried the fan tradition along for a while until my man Cobi use to have coughing attacks b/c the fan affected his asthma. Last week I bought a fan for us and I have had the best week of sleep. Although Summer Jacobs only will allow it to be put on medium, I'm confident she too will fall for the Steve Rosen fan theory.
  • Yesterday I saw a guy with two daschunds walk across the street. One of them looked just like Cobi and couldn't be happier to be on a walk. Man, I miss Cobi. I hope he is enjoying all of the peanut butter and mints that doggie heaven has to offer.

2 comments:

  1. How could you not be a fan of the Southpaw from Souderton? If he was throwing low 90's right now he'd be giving up double digits. I totally agree with you on Cole. He looks sharp this year and his wins will come when the runs explode mid-July to September... Knowing your penchant for athletics, I wouldn't be surprised if you used a sports fan to sleep. WAH WAH. Keep up the good work. You and Bill Conlin are the only sports columnists worth reading since Rupert Murdoch bought the Wall Street Journal.

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  2. What frusturates me is that Moyer is 107 and they pay him 8 million a year -- money that could have been used on Cliff Lee. Of course that's not his fault but he just annoys me. Man, all Conlin does is lament about the "old days" and talk about how J-Roll couldn't measure up to so and so from the Mesozoic era. I appreciate the love, money

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