John Rhadigan thoughts

Tom Grieve has the same look on his face that many of us had during the Rhadigan era.

John Rhadigan was relieved of his Rangers television broadcast duties this week after almost two tortuous months of play-by-play calling.

Needless to say, it made a lot of people feel a little like this.

Us included.

First, let's get it all out of the way: As a person, I like John Rhadigan. I think he has a pleasant and friendly demeanor. Seems like a very likable person - the kind who would get along good with children. The Rangers offered him the chance to do something he had been dreaming about and jumped at the chance to do it. For that, I cannot say I blame the guy at all.

But while it seemed a fun occasion at the time, that Rangers Rally last November should have been a red flag. Take a listen again and hear for yourself. Very nerdy. I know, that crowd is eating it up. But back then that was a crowd fresh off witnessing the first World Series appearance in club history, of course there was going to be some level of excitement. Hell, Rhads could have come out and read from the Farmers Almanac and I think you'd still have fans doing the Claw and Antler for the camera.

Fast forward to this season, and where do you begin? I wish I could put together a playlist on iPod of his worst in-game performances during his time at the television helm to listen to during bad days at the office or something. A few of these little ditties might be on it.

(Before I get into all that, let me present to you what I estimate to be the BEST call John Rhadigan had during his tenure here. David Murphy's two-run double on Opening Day against the Red Sox.  It was a pretty big hit in the game - the go-ahead runs I believe. You had all the elements: Big game, big moment of the game, crowd was really into it. The only thing that would have ruined that call would have been if Rhads had just stopped talking and started making gurgling noises. The only thing you could maybe have a legit complaint about is how he goes from monotone to excited like he did. I happen to think that's a good quality, but that's just me.)


This one may probably be the worst moment for Rhads, occurring just last weekend in Philadelphia.  The ball CLEARLY did not go over the wall, yet Rhads gets a bad case of homerun call envy and starts stumbles all over himself. Just cringe-worthy.

Other notably bad moments of sports broadcasting by John Rhadigan:

A double-whammy on this on this one, first with a "Get that kid a contract!" comment about the young lad who catches the homerun ball on the hill, followed by "it's a Lone Star Longball".  I don't even know where to begin to analyze how retarded that sounds. It's not even only the fact that he thought that was a cute enough phrase to use on-air, it's that he tried to make it sound so subtle and matter-of-factly that he chose to work it in while the flag waving girls were running around. I feel weird even using the capitalization that I did. Put it all together, and you get this.

- "Saddle up baseball, you're going for a ride!" during what I believe was a Josh Hamilton homerun in a Spring Training game on March 14th. Again, as annoying as John Sterling can be, I don't think I could even fathom him uttering such a cornball phrase. Or maybe I could. I don't know anymore.

- Incorrectly identifying Neftali Feliz as "Pedro". I don't remember this actually happening. May have been in a comatose state.

- "It's time to play ball, ya'll!" uttered I believe as the TV broadcast is going to break right before first pitch. All I could think of whenever I heard that was: I mean, what is this? What the hell is this?

I could track down so many more moments that made me want to lose my lunch during the Rhads era, but frankly I don't care to. It's sad when you think about that as crazed fans as Mel and I both are, we were muting the television and watching these games he was broadcasting with no sound.

But alas, just like Joanie Loves Chachi, Saved By The Bell: The New Class, and The Chevy Chase Show - this television experiment has thankfully, and painfully, come to an end.

Update

(Editor's note: Not actual representation of our house.)


Not a lot going on. Still waiting to finalize some stuff on the new house. Cross some t's, dot some i's, this and that. Mel and I are getting kind of antsy at this point and are ready to begin our future at the new abode as soon as possible. Good things come to those who wait I suppose.

One thing that we have begun is the packing process, starting with the bookshelves. One of the things I hope to do is gradually increase our library collection once we move into the new house.

This book will probably not be purchased.

One of the things I have yet to investigate is performing a time study on the amount of time it takes me to go from the Ballpark to our future driveway. I have estimated that with traffic lights, it will likely roughly another 2-3 minutes of travel time. Plenty of time to sit behind the wheel and get frustrated about the offense sucking and the bullpen blowing another game.

More to come in the coming days and weeks, I'm sure.

Enjoy your Sunday.

Playing Catch-Up, April 3rd-9th

Since my husband has started the theme of 3 notable tidbits of each game we are at (or watch) - and has obviously fallen very far behind, I have decided to pick up the slack. Albeit - all in one week-encompassing blog.

Sunday, April 3rd:
1. This was a family affair. The entire Dunlap/Vittas/Dunn clan was in attendance. (Maybe I shouldn't reference us as a clan) Pa-Paw also made an appearance at a game for the first time in s-e-v-e-r-a-l years. Oh Pa-Paw. (The usher is a failed photographer.)



2. Tyler is again a member of the Jr. Rangers, thanks to Aunt Wittle and Uncle John. And was also introduced to the greatness of batting practice.

3. Matt Harrison. Alright, okay. Broom. Sports.


Monday, April 4th:
1. We got our rings.


2. Robert met the gnome.

3. A 6-4 lead, going to the top of the 9th, and idiots trying to start the wave. These stupid bandwagon fans led me to order this t-shirt:



Tuesday, April 5th:

1. I had little faith in Alexi Ogando to make it through 6 innings of this game. Much less 6 scoreless innings.

2. After this game, Mark Lowe's ERA sucks. 27.00 to be exact. I would be quite happy not seeing him pitch again. You were a throw-in last July-and did nothing to prove otherwise.

3. I did not watch the diving catch in the top of the 7th. I do not trust noodle-arm Borbon. Luckily, for me and the 30,000+ other fans there, he proved me wrong. (this time at least)


Wednesday, April 6th:

1. While I had to leave during the 7th inning stretch and head to work, I sat in the parking garage at NE Mall and listened happily to the end of the game, waving my broom in solitude.

2. I need to better apply my sunscreen.

3. Sitting peacefully in Fred's section, basking in the sun (which later proved a horrible horrible move), I heard a girl say "I get Beltre and Napoli confused since they're both new." Yes, she might not be a total BW for knowing they are both new to the team.... but I would venture to guess that is where their similarities end.


Thursday, April 7th = Off Day
Friday, April 8th = rain out

Saturday, April 9th:

We only saw some of the first game, but....... my less than doting opinion of Adrian Beltre continues. All or nothing. 2 GIDPs in game 1. And even after his 3 run HR in game 2 last night, the $16 million offense is hitting .182. Awesome.

The three most important things about last night

Welcome to Texas. 

1. Adrian Beltre - My wife is a funny person when it comes to judgements on players. Early on last night, Beltre had a hotshot get by him at third and rattle around in the corner for a double. He didn't even make an effort to go after it. Now, whether the ball wouldn't have been attainable even if he had tried to dive for it is a moot point now obviously, but it drew the ire of her (and me too a little) for the lack of effort on the play.

A little bit later, when came to bat with the sacks loaded and two outs, I turned to her and said "This is either going to make you love him or hate him for the rest of the season."

End result? Adulation.

2. Mason Tobin - He was shaky. There was a reason why he came into the game when it was 12-3.

3. That new videoboard - I have never seen anything so beautiful in my life.

3 things I think that I think about Opening Day

I don't know you very well yet, Yorvit Torrealba, but I like this. 

OK, so I know neither one of us has blogged anything in almost a month. Sorry. We've been kinda busy.

I say that knowing that our lives are about to get MUCH busier knowing that another MLB season is upon us and I still work 937 hours a week. I actually have rare Saturday off for a change and thought I would take the opportunity to sit around in my pajamas to actually blog something. So here you go.

Earlier this year I proposed the idea that we would blog something about every game we either watch on television or attend in person. Well, one down, 161 to go (maybe).

So the three things that stood out to me about this, the opening game of the 51st year of the Washington Sentators/Texas Rangers franchise:

1. Opening Day - What a fantastic day. Nobody is bad, nobody is good. Every team is the same at the start of a new season, and that feeling you get once you see an old friend for the first time in forever is something close to what you feel when you walk from the concourse to the seating section and see that big, green expanse of dirt and grass in front of you. Greatness.

2. Julio Borbon - That being said, I'm not sure what's gotten in to this guy. Is he talented? Yes. Undoubtedly yes. I think he demonstrated that when he stole home in Boston last season. But the guy has no clue how to unlock all that potential he has stored inside of him. After a terrible spring on the basepaths, on the field, and generally all over, starting the season by bumping into your right fielder and causing an easy out to turn into a two-base error is not the way you want to get your season started off.

3. Mike Napoli - A cult hero already amongst Ranger fans already? Maybe. But with the way he swung the bat and wielded the glove yesterday afternoon I'd like to see the guy in the lineup as much as possible this season.

The Top 10 Baseball Related Songs of All-Time

I'm not going to sugarcoat any of this: The following list may alienate a few of you from me. But with baseball right around the corner, I figured it's time for another list.

I had originally wanted to go with "The Top 10 Baseball Songs of All-Time" as a title to this blog post, but  flat-out labeling each one of these as baseball songs would be a bit drastic. So we'll stick with a friendlier, all-encompassing title as you see above.

Without further adieu, I present to you the reader, my list of the Top 10 Baseball Songs Of All-Time Baseball Related Songs of All-Time.

10. Reckless Kelly - April To October
I can't find a link to provide you with the baseball-licious harmonies of this tune, but a song about relationships with the opposite sex that's filled with nothing but baseball analogies belongs on a list of mine.

9. Dropkick Murphys - Tessie
I don't like the Red Sox, and Red Sox fans tend to grate on me worse than the baby that won't shut up on the plane ride home from out of town. But in my opinion, any song so cool that it makes me almost wish I was a fan of the team that's being sung about is A-OK in my book.

8. Alabama - The Cheap Seats
Leans a little more to the minor league baseball variety, but hey, that's okay. It's also one of those fun, I-don't-care-that-we-suck-and-have-lost-17-games-in-a-row songs.

7. The Treniers - Say Hey! (The Willie Mays Song)
Quick Willie Mays story: We saw him at Don & Charlie's, a very well-known restaurant and pretty big hotspot this time of year in Scottsdale, AZ over the weekend, and even though the man was charing $200 a pop (for the "Say Hey" Foundation), the man had an aura around him. Nolan Ryan, to me, has an aura around him as well - but for different reasons.

That's not to say I wouldn't want to sit down and have a meal with Nolan Ryan, but to be in the same room as Willie Mays, the Say Hey kid, was really wild.

So there you go. Say Hey! checks in at number seven on the countdown. I felt like Casey Kasem just now.

6. Bruce Springsteen - Glory Days
I wish there was a blood pressure monitor nearby every time I was at The Ballpark and heard that guitar to kick the song off, followed by the "WHOOOO!" and then the organ. It would shoot through the roof with sports filled excitement.

5. Steve Goodman - Go, Cubs, Go!
Once again: I'm not a Cubs a fan, but any song cool enough to make me wish I was a fan of that team definitely belongs on a list.

4. Terry Cashman - Talkin' Baseball (Willie, Mickie, and The Duke)
One of those songs that will never fade away. Of course, everybody knows The Simpsons version (Homer, Ozzie, and The Straw), but in addition to that, a quick search of YouTube reveals that practically every single MLB team has some sort of version of this song created by some fan.

3. Randy Newman - The theme from "The Natural"
(Sorry about the creepy guy at the beginning of the clip. I didn't feel like finding a different version.)
If you're playing the game - any version of it, be it video game, Adult-League softball, backyard with your kids - and someone hits a ball over something, you know you're going to be thinking about this song. You may just think about it in your head or you may sing it out loud, but you know it'll be there.  \

2. Take Me Out To The Ballgame 
Any version. But if I have to pick one, I'd go with the Carly Simon version of it. Sadly, I don't have a link to it outside of this link where you can listen to either some or all of it before you buy the song on Amazon.

This version of this song has sentimental meanings to me because it takes me back to being a kid, going to games at the old stadium and remembering all those special times I had when baseball was just coming into my sports consciousness. I know some might be insulted that this song isn't at number one, but come on, that'd be too obvious.

(Sidenote: I just now read up some on Carly Simon through a Q&A on her website and discovered that, in an answer to a question in 2002 she is NOT a fan of baseball anymore because, in her words, "there is so much trading of players". )

(Really, Carly??? Of all the things that are wrong with the game in its current state - performance enhancing drugs, ridiculous contracts - you chose TRADES as the reason you've lost interest in baseball? Okay.)

1. John Fogerty - Centerfield
My all-time favorite. You bet your you-know-what this song will be fired up on Opening Day.

There you have it. Go sports.

Having the flu is not fun

It all started on Friday morning, pretty much from the time I woke up. 

I felt like an abhorrently large amount of crap. At first, I thought it was just allergies. (Later research on the allergy scene further enhanced that belief when it was revealed there were "Very High" amounts of elm and juniper in the air. Obviously not what the real case was now, but I'm sure it still didn't help. Curse you, elm and juniper.)

I tried to fight through it by surviving off the generic, weirdly titled medicines they keep in the emergency cabinets at my work place. These pills have odd titles like "Certisinus", or "Absofreakinglutelycoughmedicine"and junk. 

None of that helped. 

Right about noon Saturday was when things really begun to take a turn for the worse. I could tell I was running a slight fever, but as the day progressed it really begun to turn on the afterburners. By 5:00 PM, I was done. Tank emptied. Nothing left. 

Got home and decided to take my temperature. 

102.4

Uh, problem. 

After alerting Mel of the situation, I made an appointment at the local CareNow and got myself looked at. My temperature had actually gone UP since I had first taken it when I got home - 102.6. The doctor informed me that adult human beings should be "severely concerned about their health" when their temperature gets that high. 

Big problem. 

The first red flag came when my ear was examined. Right ear checked out fine, no problem. Left ear, different story. Ear infection. DING! 

Then came the flu test. After a quick ramming of a giant cotton swab up my nasal cavatiy, the verdict was in: The dreaded and feared influenza. 

(Quick sidenote: If CareNow's mission statement is to make you feel as worse as you possibly can BEFORE they begin treatment to make you feel better, they succeeded. Not only was I there around two hours, at one point I began to wonder if I was being detained for questioning in a room where the air temperature was 60, and I was already freezing my hindquarters off since I had a ridiculously high fever. On top of all that, on the television in my examination room: The Hannah Montana Movie. Why?)

CareNow is also apparently very selective in giving their patients the option of feeling better sooner rather than later. I was posed this exact question and immediately took the "sooner" option, which consisted of two shots, one in each hip. Then after a approximately 10 minute waiting period in which my nurse waited to see if I would have any kind of reaction to the drugs (which may or may not have included turning into an ice cube, which didn't happen thank you very much) I was off to the nearest 24 hour pharmacy to load up on an arsenal of flu medicine. 

Flash forward to today and the road to recovery. I feel much better than I did yesterday, and hopefully tomorrow will be another big improvement. I have given Mel permission to evacuate the premises for the time being. I miss when she's not here, but would honestly feel a whole heck of a lot worse if she caught this as a result of staying here. 

I've already devoured one bowl of chicken noodle soup and I'm on my third bottle of Gatorade, who incidentally is the global partner of the National Basketball Association. So be sure to watch all the action of NBA All-Star Saturday Night, live from Los Angeles tonight on TNT. 

(See that little bit of cross promotion that I did there??)

Thanks for the concern and well-wishes from everybody. 

Suck it, flu.