Manny Dodges Trade Deadline

By getting traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Red Sox picked up outfielder Jason Bay in the deal. As a Yankees fan this is great news because this means that Manny won't be able to terrorize our pitching until we get to the World Series - assuming that the Dodgers make it to the World Series.

Yanks Get Pudge

The Yankees traded their designated home run thrower Kyle Farnsworth to the Detroit Tigers today for catcher Ivan [Pudge] Rodriguez. Pudge is batting 295 this season with 5 home runs and 32 RBI's. The Yankees made this trade after Posada decided to have surgery that would end any chance of him coming back and playing this season. Pudge is in the last year of his contract he signed with Detroit so this is probably a one year & done but money really isn't a big issue for the Yankees so they can afford to make this kind of deal.

Now the question is whether the Red Sox will be able to dump Manny before he flees to Iraq.

The Sherriff Arrives in Town

Manny Being Manny

Now he wants to be traded to Iraq.

Pats Sign Jordan

The Patriots signed former Jets and Raiders running back LaMont Jordan to a one year contract today. He had been released by the Raiders after contract and depth chart issues earlier this year. Jordan is one of those little big guys (5-10, 230) who can pound the football inside and is also an excellent receiver. When he was on the Jets, he always had decent games against the Patriots and he wasn't bad with the Raiders either. Due to injury issues over the last two seasons, he has only played in 21 out of a possible 32 games (with 15 starts).

Well, who knows, this could be a big signing and Jordan could be an impact player this season or he could be cut before the first preseason game but either way their is no downside to giving him a chance to show the Pats if he still has anything inthe tank.

Barring injury, the Patriots should enter the season with Laurence Maroney, Sammy Morris, Jordan, Kevin Faulk and Heath Evans.

Ing Saves the World... Once Again

Romney as McCain's VP choice: Don't do it!

There's been some recent speculation that McCain might pick Romney as his VP.

That would be a national tragedy. Picking someone of dubious pro-life credentials and a stiff personality is not the way to generate excitement among the base. Even Rush Limbaugh has pooh-poohed a Romney rerun.

Romney's money couldn't buy him victories in the primary season. And I don't buy this talk about McCain attracting Clinton voters by picking a moderate VP. The Clinton cronies are just angling for a VP slot.

McCain has an uphill battle to fight in overcoming the he's-just-Bob Dole-all-over-again factor. A candidate with charisma -- like Huckabee or Jindal -- might give him the needed boost to win it all. Give the nod to Romney and much of the party will nod off to sleep this November.

Two Winners, One Contest

Twas an amazing Home Run Derby contest last night. My fantasy baseball franchise player Justin Morneau won the thing but Josh Hamilton totally stole the show with a record 28 first round home runs!

Wow. The majority of them were hit into outer space too so it wasn't like he was just getting them over the fence. You can see highlights of the contest here.

McCain

My Amazingly (Fantastic) Fantasy (but I should being paid) Baseball (as in the game where they throw around a round ball) Team (as in teamwork)

My team and what I wish my team was...

My BrainType

I'm a ESTP!

According to BrainTypes.com
FEIR / ESTP "Opportunist"
"smooth operator," deal-maker; tactical, enterprising; adaptable, persuasive, energetic; seeks fun and excitement; athletic; enjoys the moment; realistic, good natured, self-focused; body- and clothes-conscious; entrepreneur; negotiator; promoter; fine motor skilled.

I did a little bit of research and found one article that made an interesting observation about ESTP's. Quoting from this article: "ESTPs have an uncanny ability to perceive people's attitudes and motivations. They pick up on little cues which go completely unnoticed by most other types, such as facial expressions and stance. They're typically a couple of steps ahead of the person they're interacting with. ESTPs use this ability to get what they want out of a situation."

The above essentially (btw, essentially is probably the most used word in NCFCA debate, probobly is next followed closely by basically) sums up my debate career. One of the main reasons I think I was able to do ok in my four years of NCFCA TP debate was because I did notice and make adjustments based on the "little cues" from judges.

Berry interesting...

You can take a test/questionnaire here to see what BrainType you may have. It's not entirely accurate but at least you can get an idea of what's out there.

Expanding Detention Space for Illegal Immigrants Negative

Here's a brief [click on the link to download] against a case that I made a few months ago against
Expanding Detention Space for Illegal Immigrants.

I never actually got to use it but I would have loved to.

search keywords, Reynolds/Schlaudraff, ncfca, debate, team policy, detention space

Fans Strike Out By Picking Tek

The Yankees are sending three players [A-Rod, Jeter and Rivera] and the Red Sox five [Manny, Ortiz, Pedroia, Varitek and Papelbon]. Guys that should be going from each team but aren't include DiceK, Mike Lowell and Mike Mussina. More players could be added as guys drop out due to injuries both real & imagenary.

Here's the American League and National League rosters.

Oh yeah, and how in the world did Jason Veritek make the All-Star team with a 218 batting average? That's nuts. Great job of voting smart Sox fans. There are about fourteen American League catchers more worthy of going than Tek but... whatever.

Yeah... real all pro numbers. The homerun & RBI numbers aren't terrible but the batting average, OBP and strikeout (70 so far on the season - almost twice as much as any other AL catcher this year) numbers are horrible.

McCain = Bah

He's better than Fred or Romney but... ugh.... Wish Ron Paul was still in the race. On the national spectrum, Republicans probably will lose more seats in the House & Senate (and won't have anyone to blame except themselves) and unless something major happens between now and November, Obama is more likely than not to win by at least 9% in the popular vote.

Incredible Talent

Pianist Greg Howlett's new CD is blow-your-mind glorious (edit, read, this is a review by Rex...). Click here to listen to a sample.

We went to a concert of his last Wednesday night, and today he held a piano hymn improvisation master class, which I had the privilege of playing in.

Also, he recently put his piano improvisation course notes up on his website, where they can be downloaded for free. For those of us with some music theory background who would like to take our hymn playing out of the Baptist-bounce dark ages, this is a great resource.

July 5, 2008