What's wrong with the Yankees?

Why can't America's team win? Why is Joe Torri still manager of the team? Why are we 4th in the devision? Why?

Debate, Debate, Debate

The end nears. Nationals is less then two weeks away....

Aidan and I (along with Peter) spent last Friday and Saturday getting together with some of the other team policy debate teams from our region who also qualified for Nationals. We basically debated, talked about debate, talked about debate evidence, and most importantly played basketball. I'm pretty sure we're sending a good group of debaters down to Texas to compete at Nats; but our basketball team isn't bad either. Regions 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - you're dead panda bear (in football you're cooked goose or cream cheese, depending on your preference)

To see video of the amazing game click here

The Newborns

Pictures of some of the new SNS News fans, and some old ones as well...Bata, mom of Hillery and ObamaHillaryRudyGiuliani and Rudy

He's Back

Junior Seau has resigned with the Patriots.

Who was right?

At the beginning of the baseball season I received some strange looks for suggesting that Ryan Garko was possibly going to be the breakout rookie of the year. Well, laugh no more. Garko is for real. In the 33 games that he has played in he has 38 hits, 328 avg, six home runs and 15 RBI's. That's what you call good production. Two other very notable under the rader rookies who came out this year and are producing like crazy are Devil Rays players, B.J. Upton and Elijah Duke . Both of them have good power numbers and Upton steals bases as an added plus.

On the other hand though, heralded prospects such as Alex Gordon, have all but totally bombed, or not totally lived up to expectations. For example - Alex Gordon was generally seen as baseballs best young offensive player before the season began. Now, he's in danger of being sent back down to the minors. In the 41 games that Gordon has played in he has only totaled 25 hits, 2 home runs, and 5 RBI's. Not good. Especially when you also consider that he has a 177 batting average and is 2d in the AL in strikeouts. Another Kansas City Royals prospect, Ryan Shealy, has also not lived up to preseason expectations.

The lesson in all of this? Tash is always right. When I say someone is a good baseball player you better believe me - because you'll wish you had if you don't.

Sheep Shearing

Last Night

Last night the we went to a Pawsox (Beantown's Double A farm team) and watched them whip the Devil Rays farm team 15 to 6 (and two Sox runners got thrown out at the plate). I guess you could say the Rays future at the pitching position is shaky... The Sox's catcher something Cash had 2 hits for six RBI's. Another one of the Pawsox's players went 5 for 5 but didn't hit in a run. Great game.

Will Seau Return?

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Junior Seau may soon be returning to the Patriots. When asked about Seau, coach Bill Belichick gave the same response (I'll talk about the players that are here") as he did for the pre-trade Randy Moss deal questions... I guess thats as good a sign as anything else that the rumors be have substance behind them.

Another reason why the deal makes since is the lack of depth in the Patriots middle linebacker position. Right now, the Patriots have no clear quality backup for either starter Mike Vrabel or Tedy Bruschi. I realize that Adalius Thomas can play inside linebacker in a situation where the team needs him to, much like Vrabel (along with safety, cornerback, defensive end or nose tackle....). But, Thomas is so effective as a outside LB that moving him inside seems like a waste. How does Seau fit into all of this? Last season, Seau played in 11 games and made 10 starts at MLB for the Patriots until he broke his arm while making a tackle in the week 12 Pats victory over the Chicago Bears. During those 11 games that he played in however, Seau was very effective (69 tackles and had one sack) as a run-stopper and team leader. His importance to the Patriots was seen best though through his absence. After Seau was injured, the Patriots defense struggled to shut down opposing defense's rushing attacks. In the weeks following Seau's injury,the Patriots let three opposing running backs rush for over 100 yards. Houston's Ron Dayne just missed the century mark with 91 yards and a touchdown.

Point? The Patriots lost an important element of their defense when Seau left the field. That's why I think a Seau return for 07 makes since. The Patriots have been beautifully rebuilding their team this offseason and Junior flying around in a Patriots uniform again would make this team, that is so good already, so much better.

May 10th

Evil Empire Strikes Again

He's back! Roger Clemens announced in front of a sold out Yankees stadium in the 7th inning of a game vs the Settle Mariners that he was returning to play for the Yankees. He said, "Well, they came and got me out of Texas and I can tell you it's a privilege to be back. I'll be talking to y'all soon." The signing should help sure-up a weak Yankees offensive lineup that has only hit a total of 34 home runs and 172 RBI so far this season.

No just kidding... The Yankees pitching rotation has been torn apart by injures and the Clemens signing was a huge boost to the pitching staff. If he can play anything like he did the last two years down in Texas then the Yankees will be a much better team then they were without him. The Red Sox's were highly interested in acquiring him as well as the Yankees so the signing is also a blow to Beantown as well as a boon to New York. The Evil Empire is on the march again.

Ready or not - here they come

The Republicans had their first presidential debate last night (MSNBC, 8:00 - 9:30). I really have no idea on who I would vote for if the election was today so the debate was very informative and helpful for me at least even though it was on MSNBC and the moderator was mega liberal Chris Matthews. One thing that really bugged me thought was the terrible questions for the candidates such as the one given to Mitt Romney "what do you dislike most about America?" Come on...
My rankings of the candidates that I believe helped themselves in the debate and some really didn't are below:

Improved their status

Mitt Romney - looked presidential, said the right things most of the time, didn't mess up.

Mike Huckabee - did better then the rest of the non top three candidates.

(former Virginia Gov) Jim Gilmore - maybe it's just me, but I had no idea that he was even running and I thought he did a great job in the debate. He'll hang around for a while and maybe get a shot at being a VP on a ticket.

Too Close to Call/A little up, a little down...

Duncan Hunter - not much notable here, in fact I can't even remember that he was in the debate...

Ron Paul - really he's just running as a Republican to set up himself as the libertarian presidential candidate in 2008.

Rudy Giuliani -weak on abortion answers but no surprise there.

Sam Brownback - started slow but ended well.

Hurt Chances

John McCain - yelling and finger pointing made him look old and angry.

Tommy Thompson - didn't really have a great speaking style and even though he had some good answers and ideas, he didn't look like he would be the right guy to carry them out as president.

Tom Tancredo - when nobody knows who you are in the first place you really have to blow everyone out of the water. Tancredo stumbled early on his answers and then got hurt by Chris Matthews mercilessly cutting him off late in the debate.

Iraq

Michael Yon has an interesting picture post on Iraq.

Tractor Time

The much nightmared over planting season begins... The PG 13 rated (for violence and disturbing images of plants being eaten alive by vicious bugs) sequel to last years garden is coming up next. Stay tuned.