LOST And Other Final Seasons

So... How about that season finale of LOST? Now I can feel the pain of those feeble-minded fans who stopped watching because everything got so ridiculous, the plots were confusing, and there were more questions being raised than answered. But there's less of an excuse to give up on the show now than there ever was. The only way the writers and producers can get away with what happened in that last episode is by assuring the viewers that next season will be the final season, and all questions will be answered. And I believe them, although anything short of the most spectacular season of any TV show ever would be a disappointment. And I've been disappointed by shows before. I stopped watching Seventh Heaven after a few seasons because, well, the show was just terrible. And then it apparently continued for the better part of another decade. And then there's The O.C. And, let's face it, the final season of that show was probably close to the worst season of any show ever. In fact, it was canceled in the middle of the season, leading to a rushed conclusion and overreaching finale that tied everything up by spanning several years. There was so much promise going into that season too. Marissa was dead, meaning that she was no longer on the show. That was a plus. And Ryan, well, you figured he'd avenge her death and ridiculous shit would go down. But he turned soft and instead ended up dating Taylor, one of the least likable characters on the show. Meanwhile, Marissa's younger sister, her replacement of sorts, proved to be somehow an even worse character than Marissa.
But the bar is much higher for LOST, a show I've already deemed the best ever. But what the hell is going on? Locke is dead, but not really dead, because he comes back to life, but maybe it's not really him who comes back to life because he's actually that guy in the beginning who said he wanted to kill Jacob. And he gets Ben to kill Jacob. This happens while Richard is being shown Locke's lifeless body. So we have dead Locke and then living pseudo-Locke, and we're not given a name for his character, but let's call him Esau for now (see Bible), because that may actually be his name anyway. And now Jacob is dead. And this is happening in 2007. And, oh yeah, we just met Jacob in the season finale, and then he's in almost every scene, and then he dies... WTF?
...Meanwhile, in 1977, Jack leads a mission to blow up the energy pocket on the island in an attempt to stop Oceanic 815 from crashing in the future, perhaps altering everything that had already happened and making it so it didn't happen and the plane landed safely. Or maybe he actually caused it to happen? We don't know, because the episode ends when Juliet successfully ignites the bomb, presumably killing everyone, but maybe not really killing them. Lots of people are surely dead, but we don't really know for sure if they're dead. That's the best way to explain it.
So we have Jacob and Esau (?), Locke, Richard- I mean Ricardo... Suddenly the tiff between Ben and Charles seems like it barely matters. And Desmond will somehow get mixed up in all of this again next season. Oh, and most importantly, Christian Shephard. He didn't have a huge role in this finale, but I still say he'll be back in a big way next season. Did you see how startled Ben was when Sun mentioned his name? I have a feeling he will be some sort of Christian shepherd. Call it a hunch.
Oh, and as a side note, what is Lepidus a candidate for? And does what just happened in 1977 changed what just happened in 2007 at all? And what's the deal with Ricardo? And now that we know what lies beneath the shadow of the statue (the one who will save us all), what happens? Will Locke save them all? Someone else? Will Oceanic 815 have ever happened? And what about flight 316? And who was Jacob referring to when he told Locke/Esau that they were coming? The other members of flight 316? The folks from 1977? Someone else? Richard and the others? ??? It's better to not think about it for eight months... But I'm eagerly anticipating the final season.

Yankee Questions: 2009 edition

So the Yanks have started the season 9-6 despite three horrific performances from former ace Chien-Ming Wang, Xavier Nady's injury, and, oh yeah, A-Rod's injury. Here's a list of 5 questions that the 2009 season may answer, or at least begin to answer (kind of like a season of LOST)... 1 - ARE THE YANKEES BETTER OFF WITHOUT A-ROD? With A-Rod likely out until early-to-mid May, the question must be asked. No A-Rod means less distractions, and possibly a better clubhouse. Is a guy who cheats on his wife, hooks up with women who were hot in the 80s, makes out with himself in the mirror, takes performance enhancing drugs, and puts up offensive numbers that rank him as one of the best- if not the best- offensive player of all time worth having on your team? The Yankees did wonderfully without a guy like him in the late 90s, and they missed the playoffs with him in the lineup last year, but it's hard to argue with putting a bat in the lineup that hits 40+ HRs per season, drives in 120+, hits around .300, and steals around 20 bags... My prediction: Too many x-factors to know for sure. Without him, probably a better atmosphere in the clubhouse, but also missing the biggest bat in the lineup. If he helps the Yankees with a World Series, I will finally accept him as a Yankee. 2 - WHAT'S WRONG WITH WANG? A pitcher with a career ERA around 4, one year removed from consecutive 19-win seasons doesn't suddenly start to suck. Horribly. The guy has an ERA of 34.50 over his first three starts. He looks more like Kei Igawa than a guy who nearly won the Cy Young award a few years ago (Note: this statement does not imply that he looks like Kei Igawa- at least not until he starts doing laps around the Stadium for fun). Hopefully it's a mechanical flaw that's unrelated to any injury. If so, the Yankees have a well-qualified staff to work with him, and he should be back to his old self soon. If not, Phil Hughes will find himself starting in the Majors again very soon. My prediction: Barring injury, Wang will be fine. He's just had bad mechanics and bad luck so far this season. He'll win around 15 games this year and bring down his ERA to a respectable level (likely in the high 4s). 3 - IS C.C. WORTH THE MONEY? I say no. No pitcher- or player really- is worth that kind of money. But you can't judge by April whether or not the Yanks should have signed C.C. He was pretty bad early in the season with the Indians last year, but he was unbelievable late in the season after he was traded to the Brewers, when it counted. He'll probably have a decent season, but he's not the best pitcher in the league. He'll need to have at least a few stellar season, mixed in with a few above average, injury-free seasons, otherwise there's really no way to justify signing him. Hopefully he does not go the way of the morbidly obese Bartolo Colon. A slightly better version of David Wells would be acceptable, though still very overpaid. My prediction: This is really an opinion questions, and my opinion is no, unless he starts putting up stats like Clemens, Ryan, or Maddux in their prime. If he pitches extremely well and helps the Yankees with the World Series, I can justify it at least. But there are several pitchers that I think are better than him and will end up with better stats. 4 - IS NICK SWISHER THE NEXT SCOTT BROSIUS? A-Rod can't fill the shoes of the legendary Brosius, but so far the savvy signing of Swisher is looking similar to the signing of Brosius. Here's a comparison of their stats... Scott Brosius 1997 with OAK - .203 BA 11 HR 41 RBI Nick Swisher 2008 with CWS - .219 BA 24 HR 69 RBI Scott Brosius 1998 with NYY - .300 BA 19 HR 90 RBI Nick Swisher 2009 with NYY - .306 BA 4 HR 12 RBI (through April 22) My prediction: Swisher is probably a very good free agent find, but he's not Brosius. 5 - HOW WILL THE YANKEES PLAY IN THE NEW STADIUM? So far, pretty good, but up-and-down (two blowout losses, but four wins). It seems to be a hitter-friendly ballpark, more so than the old Yankee Stadium for sure. We'll have to see if this trend continues. The Yankees have the best team on paper. My prediction: The Yankees will play well in whatever ballpark they play in, most of all the new Cathedral of Baseball. ...AND THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION... WILL THE YANKEES WIN THE WORLD SERIES IN 2009? My prediction: Yes. Of course. I say that almost every year though, so don't take it from me.

The Greed Depression

So how did we get here, in what's probably the worst recession since the Great Depression? As easy as it is to pin it on the politicians, that doesn't tell the whole story. Blame Clinton. Blame Bush. Blame Obama. Blame Congress. But even more than that, blame GREED. There are the Madoffs out there, the cheats, those who got rich through illegal schemes. And then there are the ones who were just inside the realm of legality. And the CEOs. The bastard CEOs. But underneath it all, there are the common Americans trying to live outside their means and those who gave them loans that had a high probability of default- something fourth grade math could have told you. So I blame everyone. The GREED of everyone.
The salary, benefits, and bonuses for CEOs has long been out of hand. But you can almost justify it when a company is doing well. But when a company declines under your watch, especially when it is losing absurd amounts of money, there is no way to justify multi-million dollar salaries, bonuses, retention payments, golden parachutes, whatever the heck you want to call them. You're in charge of a failing company. People are losing money and jobs because of you. And you should get millions more to buy yourself a new yacht and give your pet spa treatment? No. And AIG is in a league of its own here, getting tens of billions of dollars of bailout money from the government on several occasions and then trying to give over a hundred million dollars in bonuses? After posting the worst quarterly loss ever by any company in history? Seriously? As soon as your company had to be bailed out, any contracts you had with the company- now funded by the taxpayers- became null and void. And why would you want to retain these idiots anyway? A retarded monkey could have done a better job running the company. Probably would have lost less money. Where are the incentive-based contracts anyway? This isn't professional sports. Do you think another company is going to sign the person if the contract isn't laden with an obscene amount of guaranteed money? And would your company then fail because of this? Get real. Upper Executives of big companies (especially the ones losing money now) aren't worth anywhere close to what they're paid. Neither are movie/TV/sports stars, but at least many of them fill seats and make money for the business.
The common taxpayers aren't blameless either. People took out loans, built credit card debt, and bought houses that they knew they probably would never be able to pay back. But they didn't care. Yes, there are those who really thought they would be able to pay it back but then lost their jobs and more when the economy went under. And there are also those who are complete morons and really believed that they could pay back loans that simple math would tell you otherwise. It makes about as much sense as Scientology. But some people are just morons. And the banks and other loaners know this. They gave out bad loans, often tricking people in believing that they could pay them back without a problem. The idea of living within your means went out the window.
Of course, Congress sending Obama bills that spend copious amounts of money does not set a good example for anyone. You shouldn't spend money that you don't have, especially when it's trillions of dollars that you don't have. I'm not saying the government shouldn't do anything, because that's just as bad, but this crushes all of the records of debt set during the Bush administration. It's not even close. And Obama simply signs off, reading through the bills less thorough than a drunk Helen Keller would. Earmarks that we don't need, things we actually need to do, things we may or may not need to do... Whatever. It's all the same. Just spend more money. Add more zeroes to the national debt. We need 4-8 more years of that... Let's see some of that change, Mr. President. You promised to cut the national debt in half. You promised you would go through the spending line by line. I'm sure John McCain is willing to help out since you're busy with other important things too.
It's not all bad I suppose. Gun sales are up. Alcohol sales are up. That's a winning combination. I hope contraceptive sales are up too. We should limit the number of new people we bring into this mess right now.

THE CURSE OF A-ROD

It wasn't long ago that The Curse of the Bambino was common discussion during the baseball season, and especially in October. The Red Sox hadn't won the World Series since they traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees. Before trading Ruth, the Sox had won five World Series, the last of which was in 1918. The Yankees hadn't even been to a World Series. Ruth came to the Yanks in 1920, had his team in the fall classic by 1921, and the first World Series banner was raised in 1923 in the House that Ruth Built. Twenty-Six World Series victories later, and 39 World Series appearances, and the Sox still hadn't won it all since 1918.

The 2003 ALCS was arguably one of the greatest post-season series in the history of the game. It was loaded with drama- intensity, fights, tight ballgames, and a Game 7. The Yankees trailed the Sox late, but came back to tie it. In the Bottom of the Eleventh, 3B Aaron Boone came in as a pinch-hitter and smacked an unbelievable walk-off home run to win it for the Yankees. Sorry Joe Carter, but this is my favorite walk-off home run of all-time. The light-hitting Aaron Boone was an instant legend. Could he be the next Scott Brosius?

The Yankees went on to lose the 2003 World Series to the Florida Marlins, but hopes were high for the 2004 and their beloved third-baseman. For the Red Sox and their fans, it was more of the same. They were used to this. For the last 85 years, it had been the same. The hated Yankees winning, disappointment, losing the World Series even when victory seemed almost certain... The mantra was always “next year,” but “next year” never came.

Then something happened. Aaron Boone got hurt. The Yankees panicked. How do you replace a legend at third base, even if his only claim to fame was that one clutch home run? Well, the Yankees had money. Lots of it. So, naturally, they decided to go out and get the best and highest-paid player in the game and have him play third base. Enter Alex Rodriguez.

The Yankees traded perennial 40/40 threat and rising star Alfonso Soriano to the Texas Rangers in exchange for the overpaid A-Rod. They purchased the best player in baseball, exiling the next Yankee Great to Texas. This is the origin of the Curse of A-Rod. A-Rod had a decent, though unspectacular, 2004 season. Everything was going as planned, and the Yanks found themselves up 3-0 in the ALCS against the Red Sox once again. The inevitable ending was another win for the Yankees and more disappointment for the Sox. It had been that way for 86 years now. Little did anyone know that the Curse of the Bambino had finally been broken by the Curse of A-Rod. And this new curse manifested itself in the greatest playoff collapse in baseball history. The stunned Yankees lost the series four games to three. Game 7 wasn't even close. I called my pastor and asked him if hell had frozen over. Well, I would have, but my pastor was a Red Sox fan. I didn't want to talk to any Red Sox fans for the rest of October. I knew what was coming next. The curse would broken. Of course the Red Sox would win the World Series now. And they did. Two years later they did again. The Yankees haven't been to the World Series since 2003, and they haven't won it since 2000.

It's not because of A-Rod's poor postseason numbers that this has happened to the Yankees. It's because of the Curse of A-Rod. And they had a chance to atone for their sins when A-Rod opted out of his contract then came crawling back, asking to remain a Yankee. But the Yankees just paid him more money instead. Then, in 2008, they missed the postseason for the first time since 1993 (there was no postseason in 1994). A-Rod's questionable morality in his personal life continued, and there was clearly some sort of rift between him and Derek Jeter, though Jeter knows better than to ever admit that. Then the news ultimately came out the A-Rod had used steroids. And now he has a hip injury too. And this is going into a 2009 season in which the Yankees sent an ungodly amount of money on free agents C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Mark Teixiera.

How will the curse of A-Rod be broken? Will it ever be broken as long as he remains on the team? I, for one, will not accept A-Rod as a Yankee until the Yankees win the World Series with him as an active part of the team. Even if he hits .120 in the Series, all would then be forgiven. But unless that happens, A-Rod will never be a Yankee. Even if he hits 900 home runs.

SEVEN MYTHS ABOUT CHRISTIANITY

* CHRISTIANS DON'T BELIEVE IN EVOLUTION. Some do and some don't. Evolution really isn't important to my faith in Jesus though. Unfortunately, some Christians make it important by taking an unrelenting stance on this debate, more often on the side that I disagree with. There are those who say you must choose either evolution or Christianity. For those Christians, I sincerely apologize. They are wrong, and most of them have probably never studied evolution in much depth. They simply take too many things in the Bible completely literally, arriving at the conclusion that evolution could not have taken place. But evolution can coexist with Christianity and God as Creator. I'm a Christian, and I believe in the Bible and science. Certainly, I believe that God created and had a hand in evolution, specifically when the first humans appeared. Really though, whether or not evolution happened is not important to my faith. Problems arise when people dead-set against evolution believe that it is important to their faith.

* CHRISTIANS BELIEVE THE WORLD IS ONLY ABOUT 10,000 YEARS OLD. Again, some do. But that's mostly because of ignorance. The seven days that God took to create everything (well, six days and then rest) probably were not seven 24-hour days. God could have created everything in less than a second if he wanted to. He is not bound by space or time. But seven 24-hour days, followed by only several thousand years up until now make little sense scientifically.

* CHRISTIANS HATE HOMOSEXUALS. Sadly, some who call themselves Christians do hate homosexuals (or, in extreme cases, publicly blame 9/11 on them), but this is not what the Bible calls for. The Bible calls Christians to LOVE. We shouldn't call homosexuals names or treat them like outcasts, lesser human beings, or lepers. The Bible does make it clear that homosexuality is a sin. But, for those who have read the Bible, it's clear that Jesus was loving, rather than hateful. He dined and talked with tax collectors, prostitutes, and other sinners. He showed them a better way, by his words and his deeds. And Christians should follow the example of Christ.

* TELEVANGELISTS SPEAK FOR MOST CHRISTIANS. No. I'm skeptical of most televangelists. Those who say that Katrina or 9/11 was God's punishment on whatever group of people, those who predict exactly when the world will end, those who ask for money and say they can heal you, and even those who say that the Christian life is easy. Televangelists do not speak for me. That's for sure.

* CHRISTIANS HATE A LOT OF PEOPLE REALLY. Again, I apologize for so-called Christians you've run across who are full of hate. Remember the fruits of the spirit. Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control. That's what you should see from Christians. Against such, there is no law.

* CHRISTIANITY IS NO DIFFERENT THAN OTHER RELIGIONS. Come on, this “they're all the same” mentality makes even less sense than saying that your great grandfather had a pet dinosaur (had to put him to sleep when he ate great grandma). ALL RELIGIONS ARE NOT THE SAME! Many of them have shared values and beliefs, but what do you think half the wars in the world are about? They're not all the same! We are not all one faith! Christianity, of course, came from Judaism. Christians and Jews do worship the same God. The main difference there is that Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah, foretold to the Jews. Christians and Jews share Judeo-Christian values and beliefs, among other things. But, Islam, for example, is quite different than Judaism and Christianity. Much of what is said in the Qur'an directly opposes the Bible. The God of the Bible chooses the Jews as his people (and later, Christians). The God of the Qur'an very clearly does not. There are plenty of other differences. Oh, another thing that makes Christianity stand out is that the founders of all other faiths are DEAD. Muhammad is DEAD. They're all DEAD. Jesus conquered death. He lives.

* CHRISTIANITY MAY BE RIGHT FOR YOU, BUT IT'S WRONG FOR ME. It's either right or wrong. If you're not sure, do some research. Look into it. Read the Bible. Read books about religion. You may come to the conclusion that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, as the Bible says. By believing on Him, accepting Christ and asking Him to take away your sins, which Jesus died on the cross for, we are able to inherit eternal life, rather than eternal separation from God.

Hall of Fame Oddities

For a change of pace, I am going to stop arguing that Pete Rose, Mark McGwire, and other evildoers belong in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Instead, I am going to make a brief and convincing argument for the player who was my favorite player when I started following baseball.

Take a look at the these two players:

Player A (OF)
7244 AB, 1071 R, 2304 H, 207 HR, 1085 RBI, .318 BA, .360 OBP, 1 Batting Title, 2 W.S. Rings.
Player B (1B)
7003 AB, 1007 R, 2153 H, 222 HR, 1099 RBI, .307 BA, .358 OBP, 1 Batting Title, 1 MVP Award.

Player A and Player B have virtually identically statistics in a lot of the major categories, and they played during the same time period. Both were All-Stars many times and won many Gold Gloves at their respective positions. Both had their careers cut short, but would be considered borderline Hall-Of-Famers based on statistics alone. If one made it into the Hall, it would seem that the other would follow. And if one did not make into the Hall, the other probably would not either. In reality, both of these players were superstars whose names were bigger than their statistics show. Here's the real shocker: Player A was a first ballot Hall-of-Famer. Player B has been on the ballot for about a decade and doesn't have anywhere near the percentage of votes needed to punch his ticket to Cooperstown. If you haven't figured it out already, Player A is Kirby Puckett, and Player B is Don Mattingly.
Simply baffling. Donnie Baseball (I believe it was Puckett who gave him that nickname) belongs in Cooperstown.

GET OVER IT!

Welcome to the first edition of GET OVER IT! Here are three things that people need to get over and shut up about.

- Michael Phelps smoked pot. Was it wrong? Yes. Did he deserve the three-month suspension? Yes. But seriously, whoever took that picture of him deserves a punishment too. Douche. I'm not exactly a huge Phelps fan, but it's time for the media and anyone who is "outraged" over this to let it go. Phelps accomplished some amazing things. Considering that marijuana is not exactly a performance-enhancing drug, this does not take away from those accomplishments at all. And, while not condoning reefer, I've been to college. People smoking pot is not the end of the world (unless you're my college roommate, who was convinced he could get high from the smell of pot seeping in from outside the room, unless the windows were wide open. in the middle of winter). I can tolerate it if people are smoking pot. I can even come up with some good reasons why it should be legal (much longer post if I get into detail there). But the minute I see someone pull out some cocaine, I have the sudden urge to go far, far away. So, Phelps smoked pot, like an alarmingly high percentage of people his age have. He never claimed to be a perfect role model. He made a mistake. GET OVER IT!

- Alex Rodriguez did steroids. So did a lot of other baseball superstars over the last few decades. That doesn't make it right, but, sadly, that is the culture. Should that invalidate A-Rod's entire career and disqualify him from the Hall of Fame? Hell no! Maybe he would have had a few less home runs, but the overreaction to this is ridiculous. Crazed fans, Yankee haters, A-Rod haters, and even fellow MLB stars need to stop treating steroid use as if it were rejection of Christ. Why is this suddenly the unpardonable sin? Maybe A-Rod used it for three years. There's not evidence to the contrary. But to say all his stats should be gone? That anything he's done or will do in baseball is meaningless? Come on! Keep testing him for steroids, and if he keeps testing negative, this is a non-story. He will have proven that he can be the greatest in the game without steroids. He made a mistake. So did A LOT of other ballplayers. And I'm not even talking about football here. GET OVER IT!

- The stimulus is anti-Republican. It could have been better, but at least it's something. And really, it's not all that bad. And, at this point, we really needed this thing to get approved. There are times in history when we need to have more liberal economic views (a lot of what FDR and company did was necessary, for example, not socialism). I don't know how well this will work, but let's be honest here, it would be hard for it to work less than the failed policies of the last eight years. Sorry for sounding like an Obama PR machine, but come on... There's your number one reason why the Democrats have such large majorities right now. Or country is in the worst financial crisis since the great depression, and, so far, what Obama has done does not qualify as socialism, so GET OVER IT!

LOST!

If you're not watching LOST, then you're missing the best show on TV. Ever. But don't start watching it now unless you watch all previous episodes first. Otherwise you'll be really lost, even more lost than the show's regular viewers. Hurry up and catch up though, because this is the second-to-last season. All will be revealed soon.
So, for fans of the show, I will present a few of my very own LOST theories, which may or may not be accurate.
1.) Jack's Dad - I predicted part of this one way back in the episode where Jack saw his dad on the island. Of course, then it just seemed like it was just his imagination and his dad was still dead. But not to me. Jack's father's coffin was on the airplane that crash-landed on the island, and Jack found the coffin on the island later on, empty. And then he sees his dad. So my prediction was that his Dad was alive, and in a position of power on the island. This prediction proved accurate. My prediction now: The island brought Jack's dad back to life. He had been there before. Now he's back there, guiding people on the island. He will eventually be reunited with his son (as he already reunited with his daughter), when Jack gets back to the island, but his position in the show is much more important than that. I mean, come on, all you have to do is look at his name. CHRISTIAN SHEPHARD. [Read: Shepherd]
2.) The feud between Benjamin Linus and Charles Whidmore - This appears to be an old feud over the island. Both characters have aspects of evil in them. Ben is manipulating, not to be trusted, and clearly out for himself. But the island surely would have killed him already if he was not alive for a reason... Also, there's a good chance he killed Sayid's girl in order to recruit Sayid to kill Whidmore's people for him. Hopefully Ben will prove to have some redeeming qualities. If not, he would most likely be killed by Desmond since he wants to kill Penny as revenge against Whidmore.
3.) John Locke - I said from the very beginning that Locke would be the JC figure here (Thanks, 10th grade English). Locke will die in order to save others. That much has now been revealed, by Richard and by Christian Shephard. But I also predict that the island will bring him back to life when he returns.
4.) Jacob - His identity remains a mystery, but he is supposedly the one in charge of the island. Perhaps he is a person, and perhaps a spirit. We do know that Christian Shephard speaks for him. Biblical allusions abound here. I predict more of these. I also predict that we will see Mr. Eko again.
5.) What will become of the island - I could be way off with the prediction or right on. But, again, this is something I've been saying from early on. The island presents a lot of unique medical opportunities. People can be healed, brought back to life, made to walk again, etc. It now seems that Richard even gained the ability to not age. This is in addition to the unique scientific properties of the island (in or out of space and time...). So my prediction here is that Christian Shephard (and, by association, Jacob too, and Locke will be instrumental in this, as will Jack eventually) is one who wants the island to be used to help people all over the world, especially those who are sick. Ben and Whidmore seem to want the island for themselves- to control, exploit, make profit perhaps. There are dark, evil forces at work on the island too. But in the end, Jacob will triumph, and the island will be used for the good of many people, rather than for only a select few, or for evil or personal gain.

Leave the Steroids Era in the Past

How many people are surprised that Alex Rodriguez took steroids? Anyone? In a scientific study conducted by me, 100% of participants responded that they had just assumed that A-Rod probably took steroids* (*participants consisted of me and the two friends I first talked to about this. study was not actually scientific). But now that the game's highest-paid and perhaps best player has admitted to taking steroids for three years, everyone is talking about steroids in baseball again. I'm just repeating what I've been saying all along: Let's move on.
The steroids era is in the past. Major League Baseball has instituted more testing and stricter consequences for using steroids. Less players are using now. How widespread was it? We will never really know for sure, but what turned into a witch hunt ended as a fulfillment of Jose Canseco's prophecies (apparently steroids enhance prophetic ability too). Some would say that it took a lot of balls for Canseco to come forward. I would say it took a lot of greed and backstabbing, and after all those steroids, his balls are pretty tiny. I am not defending those players who took steroids. It was wrong. It was very wrong. But it happened. Chewing tobacco was wrong. Not having a World Series in 1994 was wrong (especially for the Montreal Expos and for Don Mattingly) Not allowing black players in Major League Baseball was BEYOND wrong. But all these things happened. We're not putting asterisks next to stats of players who played less games in a season, faced pitchers on a mound of different heights, never had to play against black players, pitched no-hitters on LSD, or any number of other things. The stats need to stand. Baseball is a game of stats, and we can't speculate about what the stats would have been or should have been. Besides, DO WE REALLY KNOW WHO USED PERFORMANCE-ENHANCING DRUGS AND WHO DIDN'T?
Many names have been named, and there's a good chance that most, if not all, of these players are guilty. But which other players used PEDs and got away with it? My bet is that Canseco is right, and only a small percentage of players using PEDs have been caught. And, perhaps more importantly, which players (especially star players) truly never used PEDs? Two players of the era come to mind that I would be extremely surprised and disappointed to find out that they did steroids: Cal Ripken, Jr. and Derek Jeter (Also, I doubt that few, if any, Asian players used PEDs). But did Manny Ramirez use? David Ortiz? Jim Thome? Vlad Guerrero? Frank Thomas? Albert Pujols? Ken Griffey, Jr.? I don't know. I hope not. But I don't know.
We're all pretty sure that Roger Clemens used PEDs. And Barry Bonds, whose head now literally has it's own zip code, as well as figuratively. And Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa (see ya, 1998! sad.). And Rafael Palmeiro. And others. I WOULD VOTE FOR ALL FIVE OF THESE GUYS FOR THE HALL OF FAME. What they did was wrong (and so was Pete Rose, but he should be in the Hall too), but they had Hall-of-Fame numbers even without PEDs. Clemens was still one of the best ever. Bonds would have still been 500/500 (maybe even 600/600 if the steroids didn't slow him down?). McGwire and Sosa have clear HOF numbers. Palmeiro's the only one that's even arguable. So maybe 500 isn't the magic number anymore, but statistics should be the most important thing in determining whether or not a player is eligible for the hall (certainly, championships and character are also part of the formula).
My point is that we don't really know who did what. It was a dark and shameful era for Major League Baseball, but it's time to move on. The players who never used are commendable, and the players who got away with using PEDs without ending up on any lists should still be ashamed, but with all the lies, no one will ever really know who did or didn't for certain. This whole situation has gotten out of hand. Let's put it in the past where it belongs. And move on. A new season is about to begin.

Good vs. Evil

I just wanted to share a passage from Galatians where "fruits", if you will, are contrasted. Hopefully most Christians you have come across clearly bring forth fruits of the spirit, rather than the rotten fruits of the sinful nature. This is not to say that Christians don't ever struggle with sin or are never lacking in one or more of the fruits of the spirit (against such things there is no law! Amen!), but it is through the fruits of the spirit that those of us who are Christians show the world that we are Christians.
All of the traits listed in the passage below as fruits of the spirit are important, but LOVE is listed first for a reason. The world will know we are Christians by our LOVE. LOVE is the reason that Christ died on the cross for us. We should show His LOVE to others- believers, non-believers, the rich, the poor, Democrats, Republicans, and even Red Sox fans... Sadly, too many people I've met, notably during my time at Wesleyan, think that Christians are not loving, but hateful- hating homosexuals, liberals, non-believers, science, whatever... I pray that more of these people discover groups of Christians (like the Wesleyan Christian Fellowship- not affiliated with Wesleyan doctrine) that shatter their negative views of Christians through demonstrating Christ's love. And I apologize for any who call themselves Christians who perpetuate the negative stereotypes by their hateful actions and words.

Galatians 5:16-26

16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

They almost pulled it off!

The Arizona Cardinals- The NFL's answer to the Los Angeles Clippers (as close as it gets anyway) nearly pulled off the upset win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, but fell just short, 27-23. The Steelers were just inches away from defeat though, as two pivotal plays went the Steelers' way by narrow margins- James Harrison's 100-yard interception return for a touchdown at time expired in the first half (just barely got into the end zone) and Santonio Holmes' game-winning touchdown reception on the Steelers' final drive (just barely got both feet down in bounds while controlling the ball). At least it was a good game. And the Cardinals' offense is fun to watch- Kurt Warner is one of the top 10 QBs of all-time, and Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin are unbelievable receivers. Fitzgerald has been ridiculous lately. I'm still not sure how I ended up with all three of those guys on my Fantasy Football team this season. Anyway, here's to an exciting Super Bowl XLIII!

Top Ten Songs You Probably Never Heard

Inspired by Saturday's music-oriented blog, but not with the intention of turning this blog into a collection of top ten lists, here are the top ten songs that you've probably never heard...

10. MGMT - Kids: OK, so this one is on here for sentimental reasons. Because the members of this band graduated a few years before me from Wesleyan, where they formed MGMT, we heard this song way before too many people outside of campus had even heard of the band. And we came to love this song. ...It was played at just about every party, so we had no choice.

9. Tabitha's Secret - The Only One: I'm kind of cheating with this entry, because this song is pretty much right on par with a lot of unreleased (or in some cases, released very recently if you look hard enough for it) Tabitha's secret songs, such as U Turn Me On; Loss, Strain & Butterflies; and even This Is Not A Love Song.

8. Chumbawamba - Good Ship Lifestyle: I discovered this one after buying a used Tubthumper CD for 49 cents. How quickly we forget about the one-hit wonders of the nineties... Some of their songs are pretty awful though.

7. Dire Straits - Romeo And Juliet: Perhaps this was well-known before my time, because I've heard covers of this song that do what Tonya Harding's posse did to Nancy Kerrigan. Whyyyyy? But the original is great.

6. Dire Straits - On Every Street: I know. Two Dire Straits songs in a row. Lame, right? Check this one out though. My favorite by them. Mellow.

5. The Shins - New Slang: I actually have Mad Dog to thank for introducing me to this one on our road trip to Florida. Great stuff.

4. U2 - Hawkmoon 269: Many U2 songs receive more than their share of play, but I'm not sure I ever heard this gem on the radio. Possibly my favorite U2 song. ...In the heart of the heat of the love...

3. R.E.M. - What's The Frequency, Kenneth?: Although not one of their better-known songs, my personal favorite R.E.M. song, just in front of Turn You Inside-Out. Great lyrics, although perhaps not quite like E-Bow The Letter. Definitely the best song ever written with a title that refers to something that happened to Dan Rather.

2. Mick Jagger - Visions Of Paradise: The guy singing backups on this song isn't bad either. An extremely underrated song from the Rolling Stones front man. This should have been a huge hit.

1. Tabitha's Secret - Forever December (Track Twelve off Don't Play with Matches is the best version, but there are several versions of this): This one was destined to become the band's first big hit, until two members of the band were kicked out and the remaining three formed a new band with two other guys. That band's name? Matchbox Twenty.

Top Ten sports related things that should happen in 2009

10: Barack Obama will force Stephon Marbury to donate 90% of his salary to food banks. If he refuses, he will be locked in a room with the new Secretary of State and a yardstick.
9: The Los Angeles Clippers will forfeit as a franchise, upsetting all three fans.
8: The Yankees will win the World Series, because that's the only way to justify the ridiculous amount of money they spent on CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, and Mark Teixiera.
7: Michael Vick will attempt an early escape from prison, only to be mauled by vicious dogs just outside the premises.
6: John Madden will get an incurable and contagious case of laryngitis. He will infect Joe Buck, and the two of them will be quarantined together somewhere far away from any sporting events.
5: The Pirates will sign Barry Bonds to a mutually-beneficial one-year deal.
4: Everyone will shut the hell up about steroids, because the "Steroids Era" wasn't nearly as bad as the not letting black people play era. It's time to learn from mistakes and move on.
3: I really don't follow college football, but can we get some sort of half legitimate playoffs in place here? Please?
2: Plaxico Burress will be sentenced to at least 3.5 years in prison, just like any non-celebrity in his situation would be.
1: After much consideration, the Giants will sign Rae Carruth to replace Plaxico Burress.

1-20-09

I suppose now is as good a time as any to start a blog.
Not much more than twelve hours ago, Barack Obama took the oath of office to become the first black President of the United States. This, of course, does not mean that racism is dead, but it does mean that we have come a long way in this nation. And I am proud to be an American. Personally, I always thought that there would be a black President before a female one. A man is still a man, regardless of race. There are more obvious differences between men and women though--physically, psychologically, etc. That's not to say that a woman will never be elected president. But if I ever visited a female president at the white house, I probably would not sit down and have a beer with her on the couch while watching a ballgame. I would probably do that if I visited Obama (I would not have done it with Bush though, mostly because he used to be an alcoholic, and things may have gotten even worse for this country had he started drinking again). I would also challenge Obama to a game of bowling if given the chance (I hear he's terrible at bowling, but pretty good at most other sports, and I'm a decent bowler). If I win, he would have to appoint a pro-life supreme court justice when the time came. If he won, I would have to tell Hillary Clinton that she's as beautiful as she is charming.
But let me come clean here before I continue. I did not vote for Barack Obama. I voted for John McCain. Obama ran a better campaign, and the Republicans ran a very negative campaign. Obama chose a better running mate. McCain allowed Sarah Palin to be on his ticket. McCain migrated away from the middle, over to the right, clearly only for the campaign. He was listening to the wrong people, which is unfortunate. Obama migrated toward the middle, from the far left, and it seems like it could be genuine. The thought of Sarah Palin stepping in as President, if necessary, was scarier than Dick Cheney with a grimace and a hunting rifle. Her views on evolution and abstinence only sex education did not make a lot of sense (and I say this as a Christian), and her foreign policy and experience were... lacking... Seems like she could be an intelligent person though. Did a lot of good in Alaska. Would have been the best-looking Vice President of all time, by a landslide. Tina Fey could have stepped in for her whenever necessary too. But Lieberman, Biden, and even Rell would have been better selections. So why did I vote for McCain? Perhaps because of my undying love for him. Actually, it's because he's had a history of reaching across party lines, being middle-of-the-road, and he has a great deal of wisdom and experience serving this nation. I wanted McCain to be President since 2000. Obama, a first-term senator, was someone who seemed like he could be a great President one day, but I wanted to see what he would do for another four years in the Senate. I don't believe he "pals around" with terrorists, but some things in his past scare me, such as his former spiritual advisor and ties to ACORN (no I don't watch Fox News exclusively). And a little more experience couldn't hurt. But he is our President now, and I will support him. So far, I think he has done well since he was elected. He has reached across party lines, and sounded an awful lot like John McCain on the issues of "pork barrel" spending and torture. I do disagree with him on several important issues, but I am willing to give him a chance.
President Obama will be sitting in the Oval Office instead of President Bush, and hopefully some of the mistakes of the Bush administration will be corrected. Our nation is not in a good place right now. Bush is not to blame for everything that went wrong, and he did some things right (National Security, a few good nominees...), but it is difficult to imagine Obama doing a worse job than Bush. And I'm really not sure who else I would vote for in four years if he does even a pretty good job (McCain is probably the only Republican I would have voted for in 2008, unless Hillary had received the Democratic Party nomination).
So, my advice for President Obama (who, to my knowledge, will not be reading this blog) would be to seek God's will in all his decisions, uphold the Constitution, and reach across party lines, hopefully bringing a divided nation a bit closer together (but not pandering to any special interest groups!). I will be praying for Obama and his administration as they will be leading this country, and I am praying that our President will truly seek the will of God.
And yes, I believe in separation of church and state, and I do not believe that Christianity is or should be the official religion of this country, or that all "true Christians" would have voted for McCain (I've heard that said by a few people, and it's simply an inaccurate and divisive statement), but America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles.
So, I plan to write about all sorts of things on this blog. I am a Christian. I am politically moderate (my family will say I'm a Liberal and most of my friends will say I'm a Conservative), but opinionated. I am a huge sports fan. I graduated from Wesleyan University in 2007. I live and work in Connecticut. I enjoy humor. And I enjoy writing. About all sorts of stuff. So read my blog, leave comments, tell me I'm wrong, tell me I'm right, tell me you want to date me, tell me you want me to leave the country... whatever. Like the Obama presidency, we'll see where this goes...