Three Thoughts for a Monday Afternoon...
1) Badly run baseball teams continue to be badly run.
Case in point are the Kansas City Royals, who signed mediocre bullpen veteran Kyle Farnsworth to a 2 year, $9.5m deal over the weekend. Also, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed utility infielder Ramon Vasquez to a two year, $4m deal. Two million per anum for a guy whom any decent minor league free agent could hit and field as well? Nearly $10m for a guy who is almost guaranteed to provide an ERA in the mid 4.'s and a ton of walks and wild pitches. This is a ridiculous waste of franchise money trying to buy credibility with their fans by signing average at best veterans who will agree to play in either Pittsburgh or Kansas City.
Though the Tampa Bay Rays may have given hope to all downtrodden franchises with their World Series birth last season, the Rays have been run well for several seasons and have been drafting and signing their draft picks for years now. The Royals and Pirates have a history of drafting signable players, not the most talented available athlete. For that and so many other reasons, expect the Royals and Pirates to continue to stink it up for quite some time.
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2) Last night's "60 Minutes" was outstanding.
So outstanding that I wish that each piece was longer and had gone into more detail about the subject matter.
First was Barney Frank. I don't care about the man's sexuality, but Leslie Stahl felt it had to be covered. Fine. The meat of the story was Frank's chairmanship of the Banking and Finance Committee in the House. Fascinating stuff. At first, Frank came across as arrogant and mean spirited, but eventually my opinion changed to one of compassion and respect. Frank is obviously brilliant and hard headed, and could use a little less self love, but he appears to be an asset to Congress and doing an effective job in a very tough situation.
Next up was a scary story about the mortgage crisis. In the opinion of experts interviewed, this country is only halfway through the worst of the worst. Truly frightening.
And finally was a story on University of Southern California head football coach Pete Carroll, who has the highest winning percentage in all of Division 1 in his time in L.A. Carroll is quite the live wire and seems genuine, as well. The story was incorrect in stating that Carroll took the Patriots to the bottom of the AFC: They were 11-5, 10-6, and finally 9-7 in his three years. Good job by "60 M", though. Hopefully Carroll will realize how good he has it and build a long term dynasty at USC, similar to what Coach K has at Duke.
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3) I'll say it because it's been on my mind since the story was reported in my local paper over the weekend:
Did someone set that fire in Governor Sarah Palin's church up in Alaska to intentionally evoke sympathy for the parishionars and Gov. Palin?
It just seems too strange that someone would set a fire with people and children inside the church. Too easy. I have no evidence either way, it just seems strange and questionable in my mind. Time will hopefully tell.
Case in point are the Kansas City Royals, who signed mediocre bullpen veteran Kyle Farnsworth to a 2 year, $9.5m deal over the weekend. Also, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed utility infielder Ramon Vasquez to a two year, $4m deal. Two million per anum for a guy whom any decent minor league free agent could hit and field as well? Nearly $10m for a guy who is almost guaranteed to provide an ERA in the mid 4.'s and a ton of walks and wild pitches. This is a ridiculous waste of franchise money trying to buy credibility with their fans by signing average at best veterans who will agree to play in either Pittsburgh or Kansas City.
Though the Tampa Bay Rays may have given hope to all downtrodden franchises with their World Series birth last season, the Rays have been run well for several seasons and have been drafting and signing their draft picks for years now. The Royals and Pirates have a history of drafting signable players, not the most talented available athlete. For that and so many other reasons, expect the Royals and Pirates to continue to stink it up for quite some time.
-------------------
2) Last night's "60 Minutes" was outstanding.
So outstanding that I wish that each piece was longer and had gone into more detail about the subject matter.
First was Barney Frank. I don't care about the man's sexuality, but Leslie Stahl felt it had to be covered. Fine. The meat of the story was Frank's chairmanship of the Banking and Finance Committee in the House. Fascinating stuff. At first, Frank came across as arrogant and mean spirited, but eventually my opinion changed to one of compassion and respect. Frank is obviously brilliant and hard headed, and could use a little less self love, but he appears to be an asset to Congress and doing an effective job in a very tough situation.
Next up was a scary story about the mortgage crisis. In the opinion of experts interviewed, this country is only halfway through the worst of the worst. Truly frightening.
And finally was a story on University of Southern California head football coach Pete Carroll, who has the highest winning percentage in all of Division 1 in his time in L.A. Carroll is quite the live wire and seems genuine, as well. The story was incorrect in stating that Carroll took the Patriots to the bottom of the AFC: They were 11-5, 10-6, and finally 9-7 in his three years. Good job by "60 M", though. Hopefully Carroll will realize how good he has it and build a long term dynasty at USC, similar to what Coach K has at Duke.
-----------------------
3) I'll say it because it's been on my mind since the story was reported in my local paper over the weekend:
Did someone set that fire in Governor Sarah Palin's church up in Alaska to intentionally evoke sympathy for the parishionars and Gov. Palin?
It just seems too strange that someone would set a fire with people and children inside the church. Too easy. I have no evidence either way, it just seems strange and questionable in my mind. Time will hopefully tell.
posted by joe sweeney at 3:10 PM
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