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