Ah oh, look who's back! Tyyyyyges!!!

Hey @TigerWoods fans check this one out.  About an hour after Tyges won this weekend he was so pumped he went back to some old school cuts....

https://twitter.com/#!/tigerwoods/status/143502695783870464

"Who's ready for some LL Cool J?"  Ha!  I am Tyges, Fo Shizzle!

Anyway, glad to see he's officially back up in it.  Not sure what's gotten into him lately?  Maybe he's found a a new girl..... or 10!  BOOM!  Can't wait to see if Tyges can keep it rolling through the holidays in preparation of next season's kick off tournaments in Hawaii.

Happy Monday,

Mr. A

Changing of the guard and the status of the PAC-12

Here in the land of the PAC-10, I mean PAC-12, the changing of the guard at the head coaching position has been the news over the past couple weeks.  First it was Arizona hiring Rich Rodriguez who failed at his last two stops with the most recent mess at the Big House in Ann Arbor.  The next coach to fall was just down the road in Tempe, AZ.  ASU has yet to fill the void and doesn't seem to be in a rush to make a move.  Not soon after that Washington State called it quits on some random and hired the controversial loud mouth Mike Leach who left Texas Tech in a storm a couple years back.  Finally, it's UCLA.  They must really hate Rick Neuheisel down there.  I mean you can't even wait a couple days and then let the guy go?  Rick not only knows this is his last game, but he now has to take his 6-6 Bruins up to Eugene to get stomped.  I am not sure what the Bruins are going to do in the future or who they are going to turn to as head coach but they have a steep hill to climb.

Spinning from there is the PAC-12 championship game featuring Oregon and UCLA. This couldn't have turned out worse for the PAC-12.  The Reggie Bush scandal at USC that has forced UCLA to play Oregon on Friday and has not only lost the conference tons of money, but it has also lost the conference a chance to shine.  Can you imagine the hype of an Oregon/USC match up?  The tickets sales would have sky rocked and ESPN and the rest of the nation would actually care about and watch the PAC-12 championship game.  Instead, ticket prices have plummeted  and people are practically giving them away online.  Even the MAC conference championship game is a hotter ticket for tomorrow night.  What a joke!  Thank you USC and the Bush family.  I hope you are enjoying yourselves in your mansion with a handful of Escalades parked out front.

That being said, cheers to the Ducks!  They are on the brink of a 3rd straight PAC-10 conference championship and hopefully a 3rd straight BCS bowl berth with a win tomorrow night.  Look for the Ducks to come out trying to make as big of a statement as possible.

Cheers,

Mr. A

Ranking the 2012 Giants Promotional Giveaways

No Giants are in/have been in the hunt for any major awards this offseason, which feels weird coming off the Lincecum-Lincecum-Posey stretch of 2008-2010. Nor is the front office likely to make a major splash in the free agent market. No matter. We got all the excitement we need to carry us into Spring Training when the Giants announced their 2012 Promotions Schedule last week. It's a lot to take in, so I'm going to do everyone a favor and provide comprehensive analysis from the items that will be forgotten under the seats to the ones you'll need to arrive early for. Obviously, it will be tough to compete with last year's World-Series-related items (I still wear my WS Ring Replica on the regular), but let's see what's in store for 2012 (each category's items are listed in order of least cool to most cool):

For the Kids (available only to the under-14 demographic)

• Giants Rope Necklace (May 6) - This is you classic wear-for-a-couple-hours-and-then-never-again giveaway. Certainly a few kids will wear them for the whole game, but I doubt any survive the car ride home. This has got classic "what-the-hell-is-this" potential for months later, when kids are digging around under the seat looking for their seat belt.
• Giants Snap Watch (July 29) - Again, this will provide some entertainment during and after the game, but I don't see it making it into many kids' regular accessory rotation. I'd warn the kids to watch out for hipsters looking bump up their irony points, but we all know hipsters don't have the ability to bully anyone. 
• Tim Lincecum Wall Sticker (April 29) - Wish I knew more about this one, like the size. But in any case it will likely make a nice addition to bedroom wall. Low-risk, low-ceiling. Also, kids, take note of the date. I know a lot of you are strapped for cash, so I'll let you know that this would make a fine birthday gift.
• Giants Gym Bag (Aug 12) - This one kind of makes me want to write a strongly-worded letter accusing the Giants of ageism. Why should only kids get a gym bag? What under-14-year-olds go to the gym anyway? But I doubt I'll get around to it; instead I'll take comfort in knowing the Giants gospel will be spread via kids taking this bag to all their sleep-overs.
• Giants Super Hero Cape (June 9) - Let me see here (couting on fingers)...December-January-February-March-April-May...DAM! If this promo got pushed back a couple months I'd make it my mission tonight to impregnate some floozy just so I could bring my kid to this game and get this. I can imagine the Facebook profile picture now -- me doing the hands-on-hips-Superman pose, rocking my sweet Giants cape flowing in the wind....I mean, wow.

Could Be Cool But Probably Won't Be

• Orange Friday Knit Hat (April 27) - I'd like to think this will make appearances outside of AT&T Park, but I doubt it will. There's no way it will be actually-wear-to-keep-warm quality, and the inevitable corporate logo on the back will strip it of most of its coolness points.
• Giants Cap (June 10) - On paper this looks like a great one. But again, we go back to the quality and the corporate logo. Real Giants fans should opt to pay for the real thing.
• Giants Messenger bag (April 28) - This could definitely serve a purpose, and if used, will definitely show the city where your loyalties lie. However my guess is that this will turn out to be a glorified reusable grocery bag.

The Practical

• Calendar (April 13 - Opening Day) - You can never have too many calendars. Actually, you can. Two is too many. But maybe your office needs one.
• Magnet Schedule (April 16) - Either you'll find yourself looking at it a lot and loving its convenience, or you wont. But hey, free magnet.
• Giants Player T-shirt (July 14) - I imagine the player is TBD, so this giveaway's place in this blog post still has a lot of mobility. But as opposed to the hats listed above, T-shirts are pretty hard to screw up as long as they don't try to do too much with it. You'll likely wear it again, especially because we know the player won't be Aaron Rowand.
• Gigantes Player T-shirt (September 8) - Same as above, but with bonus points for ethnicity.
• Giants Welcome Mat (April 15) - No better way to announce to your guests that you know what's what with Bay Area sports while at the same time telling the dirty piles of s--- to wipe their f---ing feet.

The Intruiging

• 2002 Player Bobbleheads - Once again, who knows which player(s) will be depicted, so this certainly has potential to move into one of the categories below. If Barry Bonds is involved, I'm in (obvi). Rueter, Nen, Ortiz, Kent, Snow -- there's some stuff to work with here.
• Orange Friday Texting Glove (May 4) - Full disclosure: I had to Google what "texting gloves" are. But it's the perfect giveaway for San Francisco. Because we're hip, tech-savvy, and have chilly nights. Unfortunately, the crowds at AT&T Park do not need any more encouragement to be clicking away at their phones during games. Nevertheless, the Giants promotions department should get points for creativity and staying current.

Get Your Ebay Sellers Account Ready

• Giants Trading Cards (July 28) - You're not going to much (if anything) for them, but what else are you going to do with them? Surprised this isn't a kids-only giveaway.
• Madison Bumgarner Bobblehead (July 15) - Now we're getting to some interesting stuff. Bobbleheads are the  Osama Bin Laden of promotional giveaways (most wanted). Carve out some time to get to the park early for this one, especially if MadBum is having a good year. Now, I'm not going to explicitly endorse flipping a free gift for it's monetary value, but if you don't have a running collection of Bobbleheads, why deprive someone who has a specific need for this one?
• Pablo Sandoval Bobblehead (August 26) - The line outside the park will be around the corner and beyond for this one. The Panda is in the discussion for most popular Giant, and his body, smile, and goofy attitude were made to be depicted on a doll with a bouncy, over-sized head. 

The Keepers

• Sergio Romo Bobblehead (May 5) - Admittedly, this is personal. Romo is my favorite Giant, and I'm thrilled he's being honored with a Bobblehead. 
• Brian Wilson Gnome (May 20) - Wow. File this under great-ideas-that-I-wish-I-had-thought-of. Simply put, just like Sandoval and his Bobblehead, B-Weezy was made to be depicted in gnome-form. I imagine people walking past this guy in a garden, not thinking much of it, doing a double-take to realize who it is, and going nuts over it. The Brian Wilson Gnome is the clear winner for this year's Mike Krukow IwannaGetThatIwannaGetThatIwannaGetThat award. Nailed it. 

Now what?

After sleeping on the Ducks loss, I don't feel so bad.  As much as it hurts to lose to USC, going into last night we needed to win one of our last two games to make it to the PAC-12 championship game.  Even with a win over USC last night, the Ducks would still be on the outside looking in at the BCS National Game because of the love affair the BCS has with the SEC.  Now the Ducks can focus on the task ahead of them; getting to the Rose Bowl!  With a win over the Beavers and another win against the PAC-12 B league (South Division) in the league championship game, the Ducks will be on their way to their third straight BCS bowl game.  That alone would be a great accomplishment for the Ducks.  The Civil War match-up next Saturday will be the perfect time to take out our frustration from last night's loss.

A couple notes on the game last night:

- The Ducks broke a 21-game home winning streak last night.  Winning streaks and records are meant to be broken.  Here's to the start of another 20+ game winning streak with a win over the Beavers!
- It hurts to say it but Lane Kiffin was better than Chip Kelly last night.  When it mattered most, the Trojans were able to get into the end zone and get the stops they needed.
- Chip's game management in the last two minutes was the worst I have ever seen from him and ended up costing the Ducks the game.  He should have used one or two of the three remaining timeouts in order to make more strategic decisions.  In this case, the right play call would have been more important than keeping our fast-paced, tire-the-opponent-out strategy. Instead of going for the knockout punch (the touchdown), they were forced to rely on the kicker in the last seconds...and we all know how that goes.  Of course, if we had played a better first half, it wouldn't have come to this at all.
- Thanks to Reggie Bush and the USC football program's past mistakes, the football world won't get to see a rematch of last nights game in a post-season match-up setting.  Can you imagine the hype for that - USC vs. Oregon at Autzen to go to the Rosebowl?  Oh, well I guess we will have to wait until next year for that one.

I love my Ducks!

Cheers,
Mr. A

Star Bay Area RB Byron Marshall commits to Oregon!

Everyone, meet Byron Marshall from Valley Christian High.  After a visit to Eugene this summer Marshall was pretty much a lock.  He was also interested in going to UW, but when he traveled to Seattle for a visit he saw UW get crushed by none other than the Ducks which just put an even bigger lock on his decision.  Here's a link from the Santa Clara county high school sports blog on the San Jose Mercury newspaper site.

Here's a highlight reel from his 2010 season.  Check out those stats!  4.4 speed?!!?!  Built to be a Duck!

Cheers,

Mr.A

And so the debate begins...

- Huff is back ladies and gents!

- Raptor sighting! Hahaha!!!









Once again the BCS committee and their decision making jump into the spot light.  Over the next couple of weeks it is going to be interesting to see who stays alive and where the BCS decides to rank everyone.

Before we get too far into that never ending topic, I want to first congratulate the Ducks on their performance this weekend.  I am also glad that the leftcoast "game of the century" lived up to the hype unlike the week before (and yes I'm talking about the 9-6 wrestling match between LSU and Bama).  The Ducks and the Cardinal put on a great show!  The atmosphere was electric from the moment I stepped off the party bus, to walking into the stadium, to the pick six by Lokombo to seal the deal for the Ducks.  The Ducks made all the right moves and I give a lot a credit to the coaching staff for having every player on the team ready go and show the nation what the Ducks are capable of doing to a good team like Stanford.

With that game in the rear view mirror, the Ducks need to head home and keep the ball rolling.  The Ducks have a good team in USC coming to Autzen on Saturday night and cannot afford to slip up this far into the season.  With USC still on probation they have the opportunity to play spoiler this week.  I say good luck to that!  USC hasn't won in Eugene since 2005 and that team had the likes of Reggie Bush (who won the Heisman that year), Lendale White, and return Heisman winning QB Matt Leinart.  The Trojans this year have some play makers but it all starts with the play of Barkley.  You shut him down, you shut the Trojans down.  With that said, I see this streak continuing because the Ducks have too many weapons on offense and the defense is getting better by each snap they play.

Look for a more in depth analysis and prediction later in the week!

With the Ducks sitting at #4 in the BCS standings, they need to not only win both remaining games at Autzen against USC and Oregon State but they need as many style points as possible.

until next time, Go Ducks!

Cheer, Mr. A

Here's a great highlight reel of the game on Saturday!

Transaction Attitudes

The more I think about the Jonathan-Sanchez-for-Melky-Cabrera trade the Giants made a few days ago, the less I like it. I don't hate it, but I just like it less. I can't seem to get past the fact that the Royals are selling way high on Cabrera (after a career year), and the Giants are selling way low on Sanchez (after a disappointing and injury-prone year). While it's extremely difficult to compare value between a hitter and a pitcher, and while I think at this present moment, Sanchez and Cabrera are probably about equal commodities, it's their paths to their respective values that makes me nervous. Sanchez certainly has the higher ceiling, and Melky is due for some regression after a season aided by a pretty high BABIP (.332, 42 points higher than his previous career average). Now, it's possible that Sanchez's value is on the decline, whereas Cabrera's is on the up-an-up (again, just look a the season's they had last year). But it's still hard to believe that the best Sabean could get for a left-hander with ace-like stuff is an average-defensive center fielder whose career numbers suggest he'd have to fight hard for a starting job on most teams. What's nice about this trade, is that come next offseason, we'll have a pretty objective measure of who won it. Both players are free agents after the 2012 campaign, so we'll see who gets the better contract. That should be fun. [Note that I've ignored that the Giants also gave up AA pitcher Ryan Verdugo in the trade. This is something that should be considered, but that would require assessing value on a minor league pitcher, which is way out of my pay grade.]

The Giants needed a leadoff hitter/center fielder, and they did have a starting pitcher to spare. So I do think this trade makes them a better team. But that previous sentence was written by me, a guy who tends to skew optimistically whenever the Giants make a transaction. It's just my nature. I think in terms of what new players could do, rather than what they likely will do, and it always paints a prettier picture. Melky Cabrera? Oh yeah, he'll have 200 hits again, while peppering Triples Alley all season, setting the table for healthy versions of Freddy Sanchez, Pablo Sandoval, and Buster Posey. Meanwhile, Vogelsong's remarkable story will continue, and Zito will bounce back, so everything's cool on the starting pitching side.
I don't like thinking about the other side of possibility: Cabrera will amount to be nothing more than a minor upgrade over Andres Torres, while the Giants miss Johnny Sanchez's arm due to Zito being Zito and Vogelsong being a fluke. Meanwhile Sanchez will finally find the plate in Kansas City and put up Cy Young numbers.

This is why I'm not the General Manager of the Giants. It's also why I don't take the Sabean-bashing to the level that most bloggers do. Because, unfortunately, I think myself and the Giants' front office often think alike. Making moves based on what they hope might happen, rather than assessing value based on the most likely future production. I've actually been behind a lot of Sabean's bad moves at the time of their conception: After 2007, they needed to replace Barry Bonds's pop in the lineup. Aaron Rowand? Yeah he hit 27 homers in '06. He'll do. After 2006, they needed to replace Jason Schmidt in the rotation. Barry Zito? Man, coming over to the National League, he'll be sure to dominate! Sure, they overpaid, but it's not my money. Etc Etc.

My point is this: sign Carlos Beltran, because he's definitely going to stay healthy this year and you can get him to agree to play left field, so Schierholtz moves back to right. Simple.

-Mike the Menace

Pacquiao vs. Marquez: Third Mega-War

This weekend Manny Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38KO’s) and Juan Manuel Marquez (53-5-1, 39KO’s) collide for a third meeting at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Their first encounter happened over 7 years ago on April 5^th, 2004 in the same arena at the featherweight limit for Marquez’s two alphabet belts (IBF & WBA) which resulted in a draw in a blood and guts fight that saw Marquez floored 3 times only to get up and put up the fight of his life.  Their second encounter took place March 15^th of 2008 at the junior featherweight limit of which was also a hotly contested affair, with a controversial split decision ending in favor of Pacman. Each man has taken a different journey to get this third encounter. 

Manny Pacquiao has stormed through 5 divisions from 130-154 lbs, winning an alphabet trinket in each of the respected divisions, only losing one fight along the way to Erik Morales which he twice avenged via stoppage.  Marquez on the other hand has had his ups and downs and won the lineal lightweight championship belt and defended it against formidable opposition.  The only time that Marquez has ventured north of the lightweight limit of 135 versus any recognizable opposition was September 19^th 2009 versus Floyd “Money” Mayweather in a lop-sided decision loss.  The odds started at 9-1 in favor of Pacquiao as he not only has defeated greater competition since their first meeting, but has done so in spectacular fashion.  Marquez has had to get off the canvas a few times and battle valiantly to defend his lightweight belt en route Saturday’s fight. 

There are plenty storylines here and there are several unanswered questions that will finally have conclusion.  Will Pacquiao, 32, finally knock Marquez down and out? Or will Marquez, 38, finally get the nod he feels he deserved and conclude his 26 year boxing career? I am putting my money on Marquez to come out with a huge upset.  I can see Marquez landing a left uppercut-hook (the punch seen on HBO’s 24/7 popping the speed bags) and knocking Pacquiao out.  Pacquiao may want this too much and make a costly mistake that causes him to lose in dramatic fashion. We know that Marquez has climbed off the canvas and won fights.   What is a known fact is that when Pacquiao has been legitimately knocked down; he does not been able to beat the count. 

Do tune in to Saturday’s fight on HBO PPV and witness what may be the third mega-war between these two courageous warriors that carry their country’s pride on their shoulders and always come to fight and leave everything in the ring. It’s not every day we get to witness two great fighters in the pinnacle of their careers face each other.

Thank you,

Keymo

Here's highlights from the previous two battles!!

I.

II.   

Bring on the Dirty Dancing, Andrew Luck. Nobody puts Oregon in a corner!

As I was cruising through this horrible website, espn.com, I couldn't help but notice the most current blog post  from one of the only smart people working for this monopoly over in Bristol, CT.  His name is Ted Miller and he is the Pac-12 football blogger over there.  Here's a link to the article.  Ted couldn't have said it better.  That being said, the Ducks need to take care of business on Saturday night at the Farm and then we can start playing this scenario out.


Get ready for the real La Heisman and the real Black Mamba!
















Can't wait for Saturday!  Go Ducks!!!

Cheers,

Mr A

.... and I'll leave with the film clip Miller refers to in the article above:

5-year Rumor Finally Proven True: Giants Trade J. Sanchez

A-ha! So they WERE looking to trade Jonathan Sanchez this whole time. Back when he was an up-and-comer with nasty stuff. Back when he was coming out of the bullpen. Back when he was demoted to the bullpen. Back when he was an integral part of the best pitching staff in baseball.

Actually none of that is true. The Giants, according to Brian Sabean, haven't really been looking to trade "Dirty" Sanchez at all until after this season ended. It seems their patience with his lack of control and mildly questionable attitude ended after 2011 (see the Extra Baggs Blog for some analysis on this). And so the human trade rumor now moves to Kansas City and the American League, where he will no doubt impress a lot of people, not impress a lot of people, and probably get traded at the Deadline.

I'm a little sad he's gone. I had dreams that he would figure it out for real, and Lincecum/Cain/Bumgarner/Sanchez would deliver World Series trophies to San Francisco well into their 40s. Not only that, but now when am I gonna quote The Karate Kid in a big strike out situation? ("Put him in a bodybag, Jonny, yeeeaaaahhhh!!!!").

I'm also a little nervous. Clearly, the Giants front office had no intentions of counting on Sanchez for anything in 2012. But I was sort of hoping he could keep Zito out of the rotation, while at the same time keep holding the fire to Ryan Vogelsong. Don't you think we're all being a bit quick penciling in Vogey for a repeat (or at least close to it) performance?

In any case, the Giants now have a potentially pretty good center fielder/lead-off man. His defense won't be great, but the Giants are hoping he can continue where he left off last year (201 hits including 44 doubles and 18 home runs, plus 20 steals). He'll have the proper motivation: if he puts together another season like last year, he'll fetch a pretty juicy contract when he's a free agent after the 2012 campaign, with the Giants planning on Gary Brown sliding into that spot for the 2013 season. And so, if he does, I think that's about the right value for Sanchez. Which is kind of a shame. The Giants certainly are selling low on him. This is a guy who at various times was considered a possible package centerpiece that would net one of those mighty Brewers in return. It's a risk for both teams, but it also has potential to be one of those rare "everybody wins" trades.

I'll look forward to Sanchez's 2020 return to AT&T Park (or whatever it'll be called by then) for the WS Champ Team Reunion. He'll be remembered by Giants fans for being frustrating, but mostly for 2 games: his 2009 no-hitter, and the 2010 Game 162 to clinch the West over the Padres (P.S. don't forget that triple he laced off Matt Latos to set up the first run in that game, too).