David Wells' attacker loses appeal

Take a look at this asshole. His name is Rocco Graziosa, and he's the little punk who attacked former New York Yankees pitcher David Wells in 2002, knocking out 2 of Wells' teeth in an unprovoked attack at a New York diner.

Apparently on the night of September 7, 2002 Wells was at Gracie's Corner Restaurant in New York City with a friend when Graziosa walked in with some friends and began talking with the pitcher, according to police Sgt. David Jorin. After the conversation, Graziosa went to his table and made a remark about Wells' mother, who is dead. A few moments later, Graziosa grabbed a butter knife off the table, began waving it and then attacked Wells, police said.

Wells, who stands 6'4" and probably weighs 300 lbs, did not retaliate against Graziosa, a 5'7" man. In doing so he would have opened himself up to lawsuits by the little bastard.

A Manhattan Criminal Court jury convicted Graziosa on Nov. 22, 2002, of third-degree assault. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail. His appeal to this conviction was rejected last week.

Graziosa is human scum that will likely see the inside of a jail cell many more times during his lifetime - he is currently on probation after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges of fondling a 21-year-old woman who fell asleep during a New Year's party in a Yonkers house on Jan. 1, 2004.

Meanwhile, a civil lawsuit that Wells filed against Graziosa in September 2003 seeking unspecified damages is pending in Manhattan's state Supreme Court.

Dennis Haskins revisted...

I found some more pictures of Dennis Haskins on the Internet. These pictures certainly make it appear as though Dennis is a dirty old man who probably hits on anything that moves.

Check out this picture - he's wearing a mustache in an unsuccessful attempt to disguise himself as a cool and hip older gentleman:

He looks like Humpty-Dumpty is this picture:

He's trying to pick up an incredibly hot chick here who looks creeped out by the fact that Saved By The Bell's "Mr. Belding" is trying to get on her:

Jim Thome is a good acquisition for the White Sox

The White Sox's trade of Aaron Rowand and two minor leagers for the Phillies' first baseman Jim Thome and $22 million of the remaining $46 million on Thome's contract is a good acquisition. Take a look at Thome's career stats as listed at Baseball-Reference.com:

Rowand will be missed, as he was a good, but not great, hard-nosed player who played all-out in centerfield while providing stellar defense. However, Thome is worth the loss of Rowand. Although Thome was injured last year and there have been rumors of possible steroid use, Thome put up suberb offensive numbers from 1996-2004, averaging 40 home runs and 115 RBIs per year. If he comes even close to producing similar numbers in 2006, he will be more than worth the trade of Rowand. Moreover, the acquisition of Thome provide the White Sox with insurance in case the team is unable to re-sign their current 1st-basemen Paul Konerko. And if the Sox can re-sign Konerko, Thome would be a great DH.

Song from Nissan XTerra commercial.

I've seen a relatively new commercial for the Nissan XTerra truck a number of times recently. A cool song plays in the background while the truck is being driven through rought terrain. The song goes something like

"You're gonna fall behind me. You're gonna cry and beg for mercy... 'cause you're not ready baby, you got nothin on me..."

Anyway, I just discovered that the name of the song is "Fall Behind Me" by "The Donnas," an all-female rock group. This song is from their 2004 album entitled Gold Medal.

Steroids in baseball

ESPN: The Magazine has printed an interesting article about the prevalance of steroids in baseball over the past 20 years or so. There's some interesting passages about steroid use by Lenny Dykstra and Dave Hollins, teammates on the Phillies in the early 90s.

The author also write about how Peter Rose considered using steroids but ultimately decided against it at the end of his career when he was losing bat speed. The article mentions an outfielder on the Reds in 1986 who showed up at training camp that spring with an extra 30 pounds of muscle due to steroid usage. I looked at Baseball-Reference.com in an attempt to determine the identity of the outfielder. I think he must be referring to either Eric Davis or Dave Parker, the only two power hitting outfielders on the team.

The 2005 NL MVP award

Congratulations to Albert Pujols on winning the 2005 National League MVP Award. It's about time he won one after finishing in the top four during 2001-2004 when a Barry Bonds juiced-up on steroids stole 4 in a row. I probably would have voted for Pujols if given the opportunity as he put up great numbers this year. However, I am surprised at the final voting results:

Player Team 1st place 2nd place 3rd place Total votes
Albert Pujols STL 18 14 - 378
Andruw Jones ATL 13 17 2 351
Derrek Lee CHC 1 1 30 263

Here are the respctive season stats for the top three:
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
Pujols 161 591 129 195 38 2 41 117 97 65 16 2 .330 .430 .609 1.039
Jones 160 586 95 154 24 3 51 128 64 112 5 3 .263 .347 .575 .922
Lee 158 594 120 199 50 3 46 107 85 109 15 3 .335 .418 .662 1.080

I am not surprised that Pujols won - I figured beforehand that Pujols would win a close vote. However, I thought that Pujols would barely beat out Lee for the award, not Jones. Look at the stats above and you'll see that one player's stats lag far behind the other two. That player is, of course, Andruw Jones. Jones hit a pedestrian .263 for the year, 67 points below Pujols and a whopping 72 points below Lee. Some people will point out that Jones hit 51 homers. While that is an impressive stat, his slugging percentage was still well below that of Pujols and Lee. Jones has more RBIs, but that's most likely because Atlanta had more runners on base throughout the season when he came to the plate that did Pujols or Lee.

When I see results like this, it really makes me wonder if the people doing the voting are retarded or are simply holding grudges against certain players. It makes me think of the 1995 AL MVP voting where Albert Belle was absolutely robbed by Mo Vaugh, a player with far inferior stats who played on a worse team than Belle.

Dennis Haskins is fat

Check out this recent picture of Dennis Haskins with Dustin Diamond:



What has happened to him? It almost looks as though he ate one of the kids from Saved By The Bell.

It's really sad that he let himself go like this. Apparently he has no reason to stay in shape now that his TV career is pretty much over and done with. I read somewhere that now he tours colleges giving motivationals speeches, trying to pick up college-aged women, and stuffing his face with greasy food.

Look at these pictures of him in action hanging out with college-aged kids:

The "Jeff Bagwell Conspiracy"

I recently discovered an article about the flow of steroids into major league baseball over the past 10-15 years. It's a funny satirical article about how Jeff Bagwell has been one of the steroid kingpins, and that all steroid use can be traced to him. I especially like the part about how Tony Gywnn got hooked:

Perhaps the most shocking participant in the great San Diego juice-up of 1997 was none other than future Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn. After several seasons of being one of the greatest hitters of all time, Gwynn went into the off-season of 1996 having not played more than 141 games since 1989. In 1996, Gwynn had watched his teammates enjoy fabulous years while he suffered through an injury plagued year in which he played only 116 games, hit only 3 homeruns and drove in only 50 runs. So, desperate to regain his stroke, Tony joined in the 'roid parties at Greg Vaughn's house, packing on several pounds of undetectable muscle under the layers of fat on his body, and emerged in 1997 ready to pack some punch with his lunch.

The Bagwell conspiracy

Frank Thomas belongs in the Hall of Fame after he retires

Frank Thomas was one of the best players of the 1990s. He won back-to-back AL MVP awards in 1993 and 1994 (the 1993 award was unanimous) and finished a close second to Jason Giambi in 2000. There's no doubt that his skills have faded somewhat since 2000, but his career numbers are still top-notch.

His career BA is .307, the 10th highest among active players. His career OBP is .427, which is 13th on teh all-time list. His career slugging % is .568 (15th all-time), his OPS is .995 (11th all-time), he has hit 448 hime runs (30th all-time), and has 1465 RBIs (48th all-time). Thomas is also the proud holder of a ton of White Sox team hitting records.

Despite these awesome career total, some baseball pundits believe he does not belong in the Hall of Fame!!! I whole-heartedly disagree with these pundits. The "Big Hurt" is one of the greatest and most patient hitters to ever play the game. He should have won 3 MVP awards; unfortunately a Giambi juiced-up on steroids stole the award from him in 2000. Thomas, on the other hand, appears to have played his entire career steroid-free. He has always been big, even in the early 90s when he was first called up to the big leagues, unlike Barry Bonds in particular. With his career averages and power numbers he should be a first ballot choice all the way.

The 2005 Chicago White Sox is the best team in at least 22 years

I've been a baseball fan since 1984. The kid who lived next door to me when I was a kid was a big White Sox fan and told me all about the 1983 White Sox AL West champion team that lost to the Orioles in the playoffs. Ever since that time I've been a baseball fan. (However, I must admit that I was a bit turned off after the players went on strike in 1994, ending a season where the White Sox were in first place and poised to make the playoffs and finally win a World Series title.)

I've seen some great championship teams during that time period such as, e.g., the 1984 Tigers, the 1986 Mets, the 1989 A's, the 1998 Yankees, and the 2001 Diamondbacks. All were great teams but none were as good throughout the season and during the playoffs as the 2005 White Sox. While some of those teams had a couple awesome pitchers (such as the 2001 Diamondbacks led by the great Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling), none had an entire pitching staff of starters and relievers as good as this year's White Sox. The "Four Horsemen" of Jose Contreras, Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, and Freddy Garcia were awesome starters and the bullpen of Cliff Polite, Neal Cotts, and big Bobby Jenkes, to name a few, was unbelievable.

The scary thing is that they'll be even better next year when 2005 rookie Brandon McCarthy is pitching every 5th day. I predict they'll win at least 105 games in 2006 and capture another World Series title. As annoucer Ken "Hawk" Harrelson would say, "You can put it on the board ... YES!!!"

Al Franken needs a muzzle!

Al Franken needs a good kick to the nuts. I'm sick of reading news articles about this "blame America first" blowhard. He's the type of tax-and-spend liberal who thinks America deserved to be attacked on 9/11. Like many liberals, he complains about the state of the country yet offers no viable alternatives of his own.

Instead of esposing left-wing tripe, shouldn't be acting as his trademark flaming-homosexual character Stuart Smalley from Saturday Night Live? Maybe he can work on a sequel to his 1995 Oscar-worthy cinematic masterpiece "Stuart Saves His Family." After the uproar over its snub in 1995, the Academy can't possibly overlook another Stuart Smally movie for Best Picture!

Al is the type of guy who was a wise-ass punk kid back in grade school. I'll bet he lipped off to his teachers and other students without any repurcussions because they were a bunch of pussies just like him. If he'd been in my grade school and lipped off to the wrong kid, someone would have broken his "Coke bottle" glasses and booted him in the ass to keep him in line.

The Cubs suck

I'm so sick of hearing yuppies drone on and on about the Cubs. Those people need a reality check - the Cubs SUCK and will continue to suck into the future. They haven't won a World Series since 1908 or even been to the World Series since 1945! And the only reason they even made it to the World Series in 1945 is probably because the team was comprised of a bunch of draft dodgers.

Wrigley Field is nothing more than a giant gay bar. Come on, have you seen that field? It's so small - your mother could probably hit a home run when the wind is blowing out. And what's the deal with the stupid ivy-covered brick fence in the outfield? Can't they afford to install padding?

A good number of the fans just go to Wrigley because it's a social event. It doesn't really matter who wins or loses because they just go there to drink with friends. If you were to randomly poll "fans" exiting from Wrigley after a game, half probably wouldn't know the score or even the name of the opponent.

Dustin Diamond is an idiot

Remember the character Screech from Saved By The Bell??? Remember how annoying he was when he would always screw up Zack's crazy scams or annoy AC Slater? He was by far the most retarded character on that show. After Zack, AC Slater, Kelly, Lisa, and Jessie graduated with him in 1993 when the original Saved By The Bell run ended, he came back a year later to star in the dreadful Saved By The Bell: The New Class where he was apparently Mr. Belding's mentally deficient assistant.

Anyhow, Diamond has laid low for the past few years and is now trying to strike it big in the entertainment industry again. He is the bass player in Salty the Pocketknife which, as I understand it, is a horrible, horrible band. Apparently one of their biggest "hits" is called "Rim Goblin." That's sad. Check out some of the reviews for their crappy album.

Diamond is also a stand-up comedian. That's a shocker seeing as how he never said anything funny on Saved By The Bell. (Fans did laugh at him on that show, however, for being such a pathetic loser for playing Screech.) Check out these reviews of Diamond's stand-up act:
www.comedysoapbox.com review #1
www.comedysoapbox.com review #2
www.spacejunk.com

Apparently there are a lot of people who like to post fantasies about Diamond in this forum (some of these are pretty funny): "Dustin Diamond Love"

Check out Garrett Brown's anti-Screech website.

Nolan Ryan is ridiculously overrated!

I'm sick of hearing people tell me that Nolan Ryan is the best or even one of the best pitchers in baseball history! In my opinion he was good, but he wasn't even close to being the best pitcher in MLB history for the reasons set forth below.

Ryan was wild and had control problems his entire career. Yes, it is true that he's the all-time leader in strikeouts with (5714), no-hitters (7), and he did win 324 games. However, he's also the all-time leader in walks issued (2795 - more than 50% more than the #2 person!), lost a whopping 292 games (#3 all-time), and his winning percentage was a pedestrian 52.6%.

Ryan seemed to be more intent on blowing the ball by batters instead of simply getting them out. I have no doubt that many of his 292 career losses were due in large part to walked batters who later scored. In 1974 Ryan struck out 367 batters, but also walked 202 batters! That's just sloppy.

I realize that a number of Ryan's fans aruge that his lost so many games because he was on bad teams. Unfortunately, that's simply a shallow argument. For example, Steve Carlton was on a pathetic Philadelphia Phillies team in 1972 that only won 59 games! However, Carlton led the NL in wins that year with 27, 45.7% of his team's victories that season! Simply put, the great ones find ways to win games despite being on poor teams. Randy Johnson has also managed to win many games despite having been on some terrible Mariners and Diamondbacks teams.

Moreover, Ryan failed to win a single CY Young Award during his 27-year career! In fact, Ryan only finished 2nd in the Cy Young Award voting once (in 1973). If he truly were the greatest, he would have won multiple Cy Young Awards.

Finally, I can think of a number of pitchers currently playing who have had beeter careers than Ryan - Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, and Pedro Martinez, to name a few.