The Inaugural Boley Awards - 2011 Version

Inspired by the ESPYs, the sports award show that airs during one of the most dead days of sports, I wanted to create the Boleys, a list of random awards that I will give to random categories in my life. I may add to this if there's enough interest in this piece, so stay tuned.


Best 2011 Purchase: Nominees: Brian Scalabrine Jersey, New I-Pod Classic, Big Lebowski mirror
....and the winner is: Brian Scalabrine Jersey.

This narrowly edged out the mirror as purchase of the year. The jersey has had more of a chance to be recognized- wearing it during the Bulls' extended playoff run definitely helped with that. Every time I wore the jersey out to a bar, I received at least one positive comment from a complete stranger, who seemed shocked that someone would waste spend $70 on a jersey for a guy who played less than two hours of basketball throughout the 82 game schedule. The mirror will carry more value when I get my own place and it has a featured place.

Best Song in My Head from the Past Year That You Probably Never Heard Of: Nominees: Nappy Roots "Infield", N*E*R*D - "Maybe", Local H - "Toxic"


...and the winner is: "Maybe". Sure, it's not a song that was released this year, but it may be the best song from a group that does not get enough credit in my opinion. It may have close to a million views on YouTube, but I know a lot of my friends have never heard it. Something about the lyric "Maybe the laugh's on me, and life was telling me a joke" that makes me consider this one of my favorite songs in general. I highly recommend listening to Local H's version of Toxic - a cover of the Britney Spears song.

Best Thing I Am Looking Forward to in the Next Couple Weeks: Nominees: Hosting Hot Dog Eating Contest, NFL Lockout ending, Guest Starring in my friends' show "Three Guys, One Room"

...and the winner is: NFL Lockout ending. As much fun as the other two things will be to witness, the impact of the NFL Lockout ending will have long lasting implications in the rest of my 2011. First, it will give me the chance to exercise my fantasy football dominance again after taking 2010 off. Second, I am looking to match/exceed my good luck gambling last year, which reaped me about a grand in profits. And most importantly, it will assure that my Sundays in the Fall and early Winter will not be spent searching for ways to fill the void of an NFL-less existence. Now the most important thing - the lockout actually needs to end.

Best Summer Drink: Nominees: Bud Light Lime, Summer Shandy, Sam Adams Summer Ale

...and the winner is: Summer Shandy. This should be no surprise to people who know me, but this was a close race in terms of my favorite summer drink. I haven't had Shandy in a while, mainly because the times I've imbibed lately have been situations where the bar either didn't have Shandy or people that I am with want to drink buckets. Most of my friends who are more wide-versed in beer would probably choose Sam Adams among the three, but I'd put that right behind Bud Light's Lime (even though BLL is not a specific summer beverage, it is more marketable during the summer).

TV Show that I've Taken for Granted the Most Until Watching in Syndication: Nominees: How I Met Your Mother, Yes Dear, My Name is Earl


...and the winner....wait for it.....is: How I Met Your Mother. Of all networks, I've been catching this show on Lifetime and feel like I'm almost caught up to the season that just ended. This will be the next TV show that I collect DVDs for. It is well-written and does a great job of connecting previous plot points into its ongoing story on how Ted meets his future wife. I think this show is featured on Monday nights (maybe that's changed), which is when I always watch Monday Night Football in the fall. In the spring, I'm usually watching something else or am busy in an activity where I don't watch TV.


Feel free to submit categories that I will award Boleys to, and I will add to this blog. Keep the suggestions tasteful, please.

Baseballog - Midseason Review on Predictions

I didn't want to be one of those guys who makes predictions to start the season and not follow up with how they are doing, as many people who make predictions of any sort tend to do. Here's a look back at my 2011 preseason baseball predictions and my assessment on how they've looked so far. Mind you, the surprise teams were based on odds that my gambling site at the time posted and nothing to do with how a team may have performed in previous years.

(Note: If you take a look at my picture that opens my prediction blog, you will see that I could not have been more wrong about Adam Dunn. High on-base percentage and 41 home runs, my ass!)

Predictions vs. Reality (at the All-Star Break)

AL East
Surprise Team to Contend- Prediction: Tampa Bay Rays....Reality: Rays. Even though they are 6 games back in baseball's toughest division, they are showing that they are better than the price that oddsmakers put them on.
Division Winner- Prediction: Boston....Reality: Boston and NY are looking like they will be in a neck and neck race for the division title. Boston has survived a terrible start and lots of injuries and NY's pitching has been deeper than expected thanks to the resurgence of Bartolo Colon. I'll stick with my Boston prediction but now I think NY will be the Wild Card winner.

AL Central
Surprise Team to Contend- Prediction: Minnesota....Reality: Oops. The Indians were paying close to 15/1 or 20/1 to win the division. Clearly I fumbled the surprise team in this one.
Division Winner- Prediction: Minnesota....Reality: Oops, Part II. This looks like a two-horse race to me (sorry Chicago, too inconsistent for me to trust with my preseason prediction). I think Detroit holds off Cleveland and wins it.

AL West
Surprise Team to Contend- Prediction: Los Angeles Angels....Reality: Solid prediction. One game out of the division lead. Getting 3/1 on them to start the year would have been a good deal.
Division Winner- Prediction: Texas....Reality: Another AL division, another 2 horse race. At least like my Boston prediction, Texas looks like they can live up to my Magic 8-ball prediction of winning the division. I'll stick with Texas as my division champ.

NL Central
Surprise Team to Contend- Prediction: Cubs....Reality: Uhm.....Next. Pittsburgh takes the cake here no doubt.
Division Winner- Prediction: Brewers.....Reality: Milwaukee is in a 4-team race for the division title. I like the move to get K-Rod, although I wonder if there will be a closer controversy if Axford blows a save that might get fans going and get egos riled up in the dugout. St. Louis has survived so much and is still right there. I'm rooting for my original prediction, but I see St. Louis winning this for some reason.

NL East
Surprise Team to Contend- Prediction: Florida....Reality: It looked good for a month or so, but now Florida sits at the bottom of the division despite riding a 5-game winning streak into the All-Star break. The Mets being over .500 (albeit one game over) would probably be the biggest surprise.
Division Winner- Prediction: Braves....Reality: I think I was trying to be cute and go against the grain of picking the obvious Phillies pick here. Even though Philadelphia's up only 3.5 games over the Braves, I don't see the Braves overtaking them. I do see them taking the Wild Card though.

NL West
Surprise Team to Contend- Prediction: San Diego....Reality: While San Diego is playing better than most people probably thought they would, the winner of the surprise team goes to Arizona, projected for a win total in the mid 70s and currently sitting 3 back.
Division Winner- Prediction: Giants...Reality: This division pick is the one I am most comfortable with, despite an injury to their best player, Buster Posey. Despite their offensive woes, the Giants find a way to grind out just enough runs to support their outstanding pitching staff.


Prognosis:
Surprise Teams: Only really hit on the Angels and Rays, with the Angels being the only of the surprise teams that have a shot at the division crown this year. The others, I soon found, were longshots to win their divisions for a reason.
Division Winners/Wild Cards: There's a chance I could hit all 4 of my NL playoff teams, albeit with the NL East winner/Wild Card switched. I had the AL Central completely wrong (and probably will barring a White Sox/Twins hot 2nd half) but feel solid with Texas and Boston.

New World Series prediction: Philadelphia over Detroit

Make it Meaningless to make it Mean More: Why Baseball Needs to Ditch Its All-Star Format

The All-Star Game can still mean something on its own without World Series implications. Just ask Ray Fosse.

In 2002, when the MLB All-Star Game ended in a tie, a huge uproar was thrown by everyone on this fiasco that was caused by the common over-use of bench players and pitchers in these exhibitions games. This is done so that everyone who gets invited to play gets an actual chance to play. Never before had there been such an uproar and over-reaction to an exhibition game that was played more to entertain the fans than it was to decide a winner.

The highlight of this overreaction was making the all-star game mean something to the league that won it - specifically homefield advantage in the World Series for the winner. From 2003-2009 we saw the AL squads win all 7 all-star games in that span and 4 of the 7 World Series. None of these series went beyond 6 games, and only 2 went past 5 games. So clearly, homefield didn't affect things as much as it would in other sports (but this argument is nothing new to baseball).

It's not that the winner gets homefield that is my biggest pet peeve about the game, but that there is any reward for the winner to begin with. Outside of maybe some victory bonus in their contracts (which for most of these guys, probably means as much to them as a penny does in change jar), there shouldn't be anything tied to the All-Star game in terms of the winner's league getting something.

No one wants to play in it

This year, there will be over 80 players recognized as All-Stars, with all the people who either had to miss the game (pitchers who started on Sunday are not allowed to pitch in the game), are injured and cannot participate, or just want the rest/3-4 days off. I can't say I'd blame them for wanting some rest, especially given the daily grind that baseball can be. However, with how easily some of these players blow off the All-Star game, that just goes to show you how little some of these guys actually care about World Series advantage. They know that home field will be secondary to the skill of their team vs. their opponents if they should be blessed enough to make it to baseball's last series of the year.

They still let all teams be represented

The fact that every team has to be represented is the biggest head scratcher in this whole "This game matters" rhetoric. In every other sport, where the All-Star game is an exhibition, they don't even have this requirement, so why should MLB - whose game is supposed to decide the home field advantage for the World Series - allow players who are likely less deserving on bad teams potentially be the deciding factors in whether Game 1 of the WS featuring the Yankees and Phillies? It makes no sense to feature a player on a last place team - let's say the Astros - in a situation that could decide who hosts the World Series. If they got rid of this rule, which is as stupid as it is archaic, I wouldn't have as much of a problem with the home field stipulation.

The overreaction in giving the winner homefield advantage in the World Series was a product of the 2002 game and would have never been instituted if there were no tie. To be honest, at the end of the day, years later - does anyone remember who won the All-Star game (or really even care)?

Turn it back into its meaningless state and let the players do their thing. The true competitors will look to win no matter the stipulations of the game.

Dunn but Not Finished: Adam on the Eve of Returning to Normalcy

Statistics of a White Sox player at the All-Star break (named to an All-Star appearance once before):

.197 average, 5 HRs, 22 RBIs in 76 games played.

If you are not an active statistics follower and just happened to hear the previous sentence and statline presented to you, your answer would likely be Adam Dunn. You'd be wrong, of course.

Those statistics belong to none other than 5-time All-Star Paul Konerko in 2003. After producing All-Star worthy numbers the previous year (.304 average, 27 HRs, 104 RBIs), Konerko started terribly in 2003. In addition to the #s mentioned above, Paulie had a meek .267 on-base percentage (current career # is at .357), .300 slugging percentage (currently career at .502) and only 4 multi-RBI games.

Post All-Star #s were more in line with what you'd expect from Paulie. In 67 games to finish 2003, he batted .275 with 13 HR and 43 RBIs. His on-base percentage of .346 and slugging of .507, in addition to 13 multi-RBI games, were representative of the Paul Konerko that we've gotten used to on the South Side.

"The field of play is that way, not right behind you".

If we look at Dunn's statistics, we see a similar out-of-nowhere drop/dip in numbers. Entering the All-Star break, we see a man that is a far cry from his 35 HR, 88 RBI and .380 on-base percentage that he accumulated in an average season for his first 10 years in the National League.

As of blog posting time (7th inning of the Sox game to close the All-Star break), his current stats (.160 average, 9 HR, 34 RBIs and striking out about 1.5 times/game ~ 116 in 78 games) are pathetic to say the least. His on-base percentage of .292 is astounding considering his hitting woes. He still draws his share of walks (actually has more walks than hits: 46-43), but certainly not enough to make up for his lack of production at the plate. With Dunn, a .250 career average (as he has now) is what we Sox fans should expect, especially given his ability to draw walks and allow others behind him a chance to drive him in.

These bad numbers could be the result of an injury that we just don't know about. I doubt it's an issue of age, considering most guys can still have their peak years into their mid 30s - Dunn is 31. Paulie was only 27 when he had that horrible first half start, so he had a little bit of age on his side. Still, I don't think age has anything to do with it.

Could it be just a bad adjustment to becoming a full-time DH that is doing him in? If that's so, then we may be in more trouble in future years - since Konerko is not going anywhere and I doubt we'll be moving Dunn full-time to the outfield. I know certain guys can't be DHs since it takes them out of the game and has them stressing more about bad at-bats than if they had something like fielding to take their mind off of their hitting.

I'm hoping it's more or less just a half-season slump and we will see second-half numbers of around .250 average, 16 HRs and 40 RBI, with a better OBP as a result. I don't mind the strike outs (we knew we were getting those when we signed him), but they do need to drop if he's gonna be hitting more. If he is to produce numbers like that, his season stat line would be 25 HRs, 74 RBI, average around .200 - numbers that seem like a phantom at this point.

I'm gonna go out on a limb (yeah, like that's saying a lot) and say we'll see a better Adam Dunn in future years. This start for him is not representative of what he has accomplished in his career.

America's Past Time: Football > Baseball (at least to this guy)

When there is only baseball to follow among the major American sports and we look forward to football season to start, you know it's July. When I was younger, summer was THE season for sports - mainly when I was in little league imitating all of the hitter's stances that I saw on highlights and Sox and Cubs games. As I've gotten older, my love of baseball has dissipated and now is my second favorite sport (maybe even my third favorite) behind football (and basketball, depending on the season and how I'm doing gambling-wise in that particular season).

Many times, people stop following a team because their organization just completely stinks as a whole. I can't even blame having a horrible team to root for. The White Sox are usually pseudo AL Central contenders almost every year, until they fade in the last two months of the year and are overtaken by the Twins. Sure, we've had a few division championships and a World Series - which was mainly our pitching staff getting hot at the right time. Even then, we didn't follow up the championship season with a playoff appearance. (Random fact alert: Between the Sox and Cubs, Chicago saw its teams win 4 playoff series from 2003-2005. From 1918 thru 2002 and 2006-present, they saw none).

Not sure what the deal is with the random fact, but I digress. I still think baseball is my favorite sport to attend in person. The smell of the food, the fresh summer air, a cold beverage, the sound of a bat striking a 98 mph fastball. These nuances are much more apparent (and obviously enjoyable) when going to a game versus watching it at home, where the action seems to drag depending on the teams involved.

Perhaps it's because of gambling and fantasy football that have put me in the camp of liking football over baseball more these days. The two of those forces have livened the game up to a degree that I could have never anticipated. Anytime money is on the line with something, it makes it that much more enjoyable (and nerve racking). If you eliminate the gambling and fantasy aspects, I like football more still, but probably not by as much of a margin as I do now.

If the NFL locks its players out for a season, I doubt this will change my mind on things. Remember when we said we would protest baseball when their players went on strike and nearly did again in 2002? Attendance/viewership is still thriving, thanks to its younger group of talented players who make the game enjoyable to its die-hard fans.

I don't hear people saying the same thing about an NFL lockout. That's either because (a) no one believes that there will be a missing season or (b) the game is so popular with its masses that fans can't even BS themselves into saying "We will protest all things NFL if they strike/miss a season."

Strike or not, the NFL has won over my heart in the sports world. Baseball had its time from the late 1980s into the early 2000s, but America's Pastime has passed its time as the gleam in Brian's eye.

Please, NFL. Come back to the fields. Fantasy football, gambling and plain ol' NFL junkies need you.

Murder, They Wrote: A Brief Analysis on Why Media Cover Certain Murders & Ignore Others

What do OJ Simpson, Casey Anthony, Drew Peterson, Scott Peterson and the parents of Jon Benet Ramsey (among others) have in common, aside from having insane amounts of media coverages for their murder trials?

All of the above cases involve a white female victim.

How do the media go about selecting what to make the next "Trial of the Century"? Is it as simple as the victim that is killed? I know that more than just white females are getting murdered, but that seems to be what the media highlight in almost every big murder story. In OJ Simpson's case, I believe his story would have been news no matter who he (allegedly) killed due to his previously gained fame as a hall-of-fame NFL player. In the other people's cases, it's startling that stories of other demographics don't get the face time that these other cases do.

Having been surrounded by, a consumer of, and even once a part-time employee of media, I know that the things that are reported are reported because there is a need to tell news that people want to hear (i.e. stories that will sell newspapers/get viewers). Usually, this is accompanied by images that draw in the reader/viewer. A picture or an image of a young girl that is reported missing or dead will immediately get the attention of an audience.

Is this phenomenon a product of who controls the media moreso than the audience? Probably not, but they probably know that their audience will likely pay attention to something that involves one of their own. For every Casey Anthony situation, there are thousands of other similar murders happening in lower class areas of the country all the time.

Does the fact that "it happens all the time" make it less newsworthy? Perhaps, but it definitely gives an impression that the media are not really covering all of society the same way - which is truth. It seems to be common knowledge that a lot of urban areas around the country are not the safest of areas, so the media say, no need to cover these stories to the same level that we would a murder in the suburbs.

Certainly, that's not to say that there are not local reporters who do a damn fine job of covering these stories as part of their beat. In fact, here in Chi-town, we have some award-winning reporters for such stories working at the Sun-Times.

But these stories will never have a national appeal to them that will catch the eye of the CNNs and Fox Newses of the world. Sadly, I think it has to do as much with the audience that they are targeting as it does with the demographics of the victim.

Torn about the National Anthem



How should I react to the national anthem? I don't think I'll ever have a set thought on this.

Whenever I am at a ball game, I await the national anthem. And each time, my feelings are torn as to how I should feel when I hear the singer belt out all the words from "Oh say" to "the brave".

On one hand, I listen to the song and think about all my relatives and people close to me who have made the choice to join the military and represent the flag while in many cases risking their lives on a daily basis. Whenever my cousin Tony was overseas in Iraq and I was at a game, I'd be fighting back tears thinking about what he was doing at that time and how he was while the anthem was being played.

I'm pretty sure the above scenario is how I should take the anthem, but there's a part of me lately that looks at the anthem/flag with a little skepticism. What our flag represents now on a world scale gets me thinking about our country's birth in separating ourselves from colonial rule and how what our country used to be (with the establishment of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights) is merely a blip on the radar of what our country is now. Rights being taken away on a daily basis under the guise of "security", cameras everywhere spying on our every move (whether it be on foot or in our cars). And everytime we vote for a president (Democratic or Republican), they're basically the same war mongering fools who waste our tax money on these endless wars.

The above doesn't cross my mind verbatum as I listen to the anthem, but I do have a sense of doubt as to what the flag meant when it was originally stitched versus what it represents now.

Perhaps I shouldn't over-think this and just continue to think of all my friends and family who fought for our country when I hear the anthem at games. Hell, most people probably don't even bother listening to the anthem in the way I do. I can't help it though.

I'll probably continue to be torn on how I should truly react to our nation's anthem at our National Pastime. As long as I'm going to see a good baseball game after the song is sung, then at the end of the day, that's what I will likely remember.