Chris' Wide World of Sports
Updated 07/15/01 02:04:04 AM
Hello and welcome to my sports page. Some of this will be regurgitated from my opening page, but eventually, I'll have all new content and such. I'll seperate each rant about my various teams by logo, and, of course...by horizontal lines. One thing you can count on when you visit any of my pages...you'll be inundated by horizontal lines.
Next, the Cowboys. They lick major balls. They took Quincy fucking Carter in the second round. They start Tony Banks at quarterback. They're a jillion dollars over the cap. Let's not talk about the Cowboys.
The Nets...they're like the Cowboys...they lick major balls. Also, I don't follow the NBA too closely anymore, so I barely know who's on the team. I do know we traded Stephon Marbury for Jason Kidd. Ugh. Let's not talk about them either.
Well, last I talked to you, the Devils had just finished off Toronto and were moving on to Pittsburgh. Well, they beat Pittsburgh, and went to the finals for the second year in a row. They played a thrilling seven game series against the Avalanche, but in the end, they lost. Hey, more power to Colorado...they were the better team. But to think we won't be back next year is crazy...even losing Mogilny. We always have a guy in our farm system who's ready to take the spot of somebody who left. I suspect we'll be right back in the thick of things next year, and without having to spend money hand over fist to try to acquire superstars to do so.
Since I last talked to you...the Mets have continued to suck. 14-18 seems like a distant memory...we're nowhere near .500 and won't be getting anywhere near .500. The lone highlight for this season is the fact that the Mets seem to do well when I'm in attendance...4-1 this year, 11-1 overall when I attend games at Shea. The first loss after 10 games was to the fucking Expos of all teams...oh well. We'll probably end up dumping somebody by the deadline...it's about time for us to regroup and think about next year. All I have to say is...Johnny Damon, please sign with us.
As mentioned above, I'm a huge fan of the New York Mets, but I'm really just a huge baseball fan. I wasn't as much of a baseball fan about 3 years ago. When I was about 10 years old, baseball was the only sport I really liked, and I would watch all of the Mets games on Channel 9 (we didn't, and still don't, get Fox Sports New York, or SportsChannel New York as it was known then, where I live, a fact that pisses me off to no end). When I came home from school, or when I was at home during the summer, watching Cubs games on WGN was a daily ritual (I can no longer do this because I don't get WGN anymore, a channel that is missed by me). Then, I discovered other sports but I was still mostly a baseball fan until two things turned me away. First, the Mets made a series of bad moves that made the team almost unwatchable in the mid 90's. Then, the infamous strike of '94 that killed the World Series for that season turned me away for many years. A combination of the Mets putting a good product on the field and the fantasy baseball league I started in 1998 rekindled my interest. Now, I'm going to at least 8 Mets games, probably a Phillies game or two, a few Trenton Thunder (local AA affiliate of the Boston Red Sox) games, I'm taking a road trip to Pittsburgh in July to see their new park, and a May trip to Camden Yards in Baltimore. So go Mets! Here's all the Mets stuff that used to be on the front page, but is now here. Also added are the ticket stubs for my upcoming games with the Trenton Thunder and the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Here's an update to my baseball obsession. On Monday, April 9th, me and my buddy Joe went to the Mets home opener at Shea Stadium. You already know I went there based on the ticket stub scanned above. As for the game...it ruled! Mets won 9-4. Any time the Mets beat the Braves...life is good. Mike Piazza hit two homers and Shinjo hit another one...I like that Shinjo. He's a little fireplug, he is. Being that we were in attendance for the home opener, we got a whole lot of cool swag. We were given a Mets magnetic schedule, as is the custom for opening day, and, coolest of all...we got a little "2000 Mets National League Champions" flag to celebrate the raising of the 2000 Mets National League champions flag that day! That was a cool, unexpected surprise that I have to scan soon, it's so cool. All in all, a wonderful day...hopefully, there will be more days like that in the future.
In another update, I went to a Trenton Thunder game on April 18th with my friends Grim and Brandon. The Thunder suck. They lost 4-1 and just didn't look good. Their pitching looks OK, but their hitting was anemic. That loss dropped them to 1-11 on the season...they could definitely use some improvement. They have since shown some improvement, though they remain in last place. I'll hit some more games this summer, including an exhibition game against the Red Sox in about 2 weeks.
Since that update, the Thunder have gotten a lot better, battling towards .500, and they currently stand above .500. However, the promised exhibition game against the Red Sox was not meant to be, as it was rained out, probably not to be made up for 2 years. I have attended two other games this season, and they lost one and won one, so the Thunder aren't nearly as bad as I thought. Good for them.
I also attended a Lakewood BlueClaws game. Lakewood is a team that's a little further from where I live than Trenton, but still pretty close. They have themselves a really nice stadium there...I think it may be better than Waterfront Park, and Waterfront Park is really nice. I really like the lawn seating there, and I'd like to take in a game from the lawn one time. I bought a BlueClaws yearbook, and I recognised one of the front office people as somebody I went to Middle School with. I had kind of a crush on her at the time, but since I was a jackass as a middle schooler, I kinda fucked that one up. Oh well...live and learn. Anyway, they have a nice park, and I liked the way they ran their operation. They did a lot of similar stuff as the Thunder, but that's to be expected...a lot of people there are former Thunder people, and a lot of the Thunder stuff is stuff that's been around minor league baseball since the beginning of time. If it brings people out to the park, it's done well. Overall, an enjoyable time, and I'll be back, hopefully sooner rather than later.
I also took in a game at Camden Yards, as I promised above. Grim, Brandon, and I took the 3 hour drive to Baltimore where we met our friend Bass from Washington DC and took in an Orioles game. Since I'm an immature bastard, I booed Cal Ripken every time he came to bat. Well, somebody had to. Might as well have been me. The Orioles won that one thanks to a 9th inning hit by Brady Anderson. It was raining heavily at the time, so I was glad to see them win the game since a 10th inning in the rain would have sucked. They played the Twins on this Sunday afternoon, and that's where my rooting interest was, since Corey Koskie is Canadian. Gotta support the country. Overall, a good time...already looking forward to our trip there next year.
I have been to other Mets games too. The Mets bombed the Marlins 11-3 on May 24th. I said on my schedule that it'd be a Fish Fry at Shea Stadium...well, the fish du jour on this day was former Mets prospect AJ Burnett. He wasn't too far removed from his no hitter and just got rocked...ironically, he'd throw a shutout in his next start. That game marked the second time I saw Kevin Appier pitch this season. I went to this game with Grim.
Another Mets game I attended was a bit bigger in scope...June 17, Mets vs Yankees at Shea. I said on my schedule that we'd get revenge for the World Series...and we did. Mets 8, Yankees 7. I went to this game with my friends Travis, Joe, and Joe's brother John, and Brandon made the travel with us, although he sat seperate from where we sat. Grim also made the trip, but he neither travelled with us nor sat with me, so I barely saw him, other than for him to take that awesome Mr. Met photo on my front page. This was such an electric game...every seat in the house was full. It would have been nice if Ted Lilly could throw strikes, and the game moved at a snail's pace. It was getting so late that Travis, Joe, John, Brandon, and I all had to leave to make sure not to miss the final train. We left with the Yankees still leading and me thinking the streak was over. Well, Mike Piazza made sure that didn't happen until Thursday by hitting a homer in the 8th inning while we were on the subway. What was cool about that was that somebody had the game on the radio on the subway and when Piazza hit the homer, everybody in the subway went crazy. Would have been nicer to see the homer in person, but I'll take a win no matter how it happens. I count this game as a win because the Mets won a game I attended, thus the streak was extended...
...until that Thursday, when the Expos decided to end it 10-3. This was the third time I saw Appier pitch, and I guess the third time wasn't the charm as he got rocked. Oh well...all good things must come to an end, I guess. Grim made his third trip to Shea Stadium with me on this one, although he only actually sat with me for the second time.
Then on July 12, a new streak was started as the Mets beat the Red Sox 4-2. Al Leiter pitched this one, thus sparing me another glimpse at Appier. Mets played a lot better in this one, and even our bullpen did the job...Franco and Benitez, believe it or not...actually kept a lead. I find it hard to believe too. What was better was some arrogant Red Sox fan on the train. Yeah, I know..."arrogant" and "Red Sox fan" aren't usually two terms that go together, but they went together on this night. And as an aside...why exactly are Red Sox fans so arrogant? It'd be one thing if they'd won ANYTHING in 83 years...but I digress. Anyway, some arrogant Red Sox fan remarked to another the insult they felt for losing to the "lowly" Mets, to which I asked Brandon, "Hey, remember 1986 Brandon? I'm sure you do...Bill Buckner is a fucking God in this town, man." Hey, I'm sorry...but you don't put down a team you just lost to, and lost handily to I might add...a team that you've never been able to beat and never will. And I really don't have much against the Red Sox...we have a common enemy. But they just have to stir shit up. Well, fuck you. I'm getting a Bill Buckner Red Sox jersey made, and I'm wearing it to the next Red Sox game I go to, hopefully at Fenway Park.
Wow...I sure have gone to a lot of baseball games. Coming up soon are more...I have a Mets/Blue Jays game on the horizon, as well as two Pirates games at their new park, two more late season games at Shea, and maybe a game at the Vet. I'm sure I'll have plenty of stories from these games too. If you have any sports stories you want to share, E-Mail me. If you want to learn more about sports, go to my links page, which has many cool and exciting links for you to enjoy. You can get there by going back to my homepage, which you can get to by clicking on the link below...the horizontal line.