Baldomero Toledo Is A Very Poor Ref

Screaming doesn't seem to work, so I will say this quietly.

Toledo simply is not good at his job. He calls the game in what could be called an "imaginative" manner as it bear little to no resemblance to the match being played on the pitch. His obvious lack of quality seems to also affect the assistants who work with him, as they seem strangely apt at compounding Toledo's numerous errors of judgements with missed offsides calls. Incompetence breeds incompetence I suppose.

Toledo's continued employment does a disservice to fans, players and the sport in general.

We all deserve better than Toledo.

Ryan Braun: Your MFP (Most Fraudulent Player)

I wouldn't have thought the Ryan Braun debacle could have gotten any worse for baseball and for Braun himself. It just got a lot worse:

National League MVP Ryan Braun's 50-game suspension was overturned Thursday by baseball arbitrator Shyam Das, the first time a baseball player successfully challenged a drug-related penalty in a grievance...

During the hearing, Braun's side challenged the chain of custody from the time the urine sample was collected by Comprehensive Drug Testing Inc. to when it was sent, nearly 48 hours later, to a World Anti-Doping Agency-certified laboratory in Montreal, two people familiar with the case said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because what took place in the hearing is supposed to be confidential.

The sample was collected on Oct. 1, a Saturday and the day the Brewers opened the NL playoffs. The collector did not send the sample to the laboratory until Monday, thinking it would be more secure at home than at a Federal Express office during the weekend.

Yep. You read that right. Braun is getting off because the sample was taken on a Saturday and there was no way to get it to a CLOSED lab on Sunday. In other words, he is still guilty as sin but will pay absolutely no price for his cheating. This makes a total mockery of baseball's drug control efforts. Cynics of all strips now get to chime in to remind us that:

A) Braun plays for a team with close ties to the Commissioner of Baseball. How convenient.

B) Braun is the highest profile baseball player to get caught (while they are actively playing), and now its like it never happened. How convenient.

C) Braun is white. (If you think no one is gonna notice you are crazy. Do *I* think it played a role? Highly unlikely. It won't matter.)

Braun is never gonna hear the end of this. Had he taken his just punishment (and stayed clean) it would have been over for him. Now? He's not going to be so lucky.

He's a cheater.

A-10 Officiating

I haven't seen enough A-10 basketball this year to be sure, but based upon today's SLU/Dayton game it seems pretty dire. It is being officiated like an NHL game. Whenever the Bills get a lead the refs make calls (or don't make calls as the case may be) in order to "keep it close."

As it is, if the Bills could hit their free throws they should win by 15. Based upon how the two teams have actually been playing, the Bills ought to win by 25-30.

That they will win by under 10 is chalked up in equal parts poor free throw shooting and uneven officiating.

Breaking My Silence To Say...

....Jaro Halak and the St. Louis Blues? Holy shit.

This isn't the prettiest offensive team you will ever see, and that lack of goal scoring could bite us in the ass in the end... but in the meantime, the Blues play killer defense and the goalies stop most everything they see.

Welcome back winning hockey in the STL! It's been awhile.

Just Get Rid Of The Appeal Process Already

Time to sigh:

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany will miss his club's next four matches after the Premier League leaders failed Tuesday in its appeal against the defender's red card against Manchester United.

Kompany was sent off for a two-footed challenge on Nani in the 12th minute of Sunday's FA Cup match. United beat 10-man City 3-2.

City manager Roberto Mancini said United striker Wayne Rooney pressured referee Chris Foy into showing the red card but the Football Association rejected City's attempt to have the decision overturned.

"The suspension consists of a statutory three-match suspension for serious foul play plus one additional game given this is Kompany's second dismissal of the season,'' the FA said.

The FA ought to just do away with the fiction there is an actual "appeal" process that might be effectual. Its hard to take them seriously when Kompany's "serious foul play" doesn't involve actually touching an opponent. Instead of acknowledging the obvious, the ref thought he saw something that didn't happen (and was probably swayed by United players in the process), the FA simply told City "Don't fuck with us."

Why bother.

2011: Final Grades

Here is how my sporting life averaged out to in 2011:

St. Louis Blues: Weight 30%

2010-11 season ended in complete frustration as the Blues failed to make the playoffs yet again. 2011-12 season begins with a bang.

Grade: C+ (23.7 weighted points)

St. Louis Cardinals: Weight 25%

Didn't win the Central, but grabbed the wild card on last day. Won World Series. Lost Pujols forever.

Grade: A-/A (The lowest possible grade after winning the WS. 23.25 weighted points)

DC United: Weight 20%

Didn't make the playoffs again. Played better after getting DeRo. Season undone by injuries. Team threatens to move to Baltimore.

Grade: D (13 weighted points)

St. Louis University Billikens: Weight 15%

Limp to finish in disspiriting 2010-11 season. Roar off to 12-1 start in 2011-12, and even crack Top 25.

Grade: B-/B (12.45 weighted points)

Missouri Tigers: Weight 5%

Uneven season finishes strong with four straight wins including a bowl victory. Moves to SEC against my wishes.

Grade: C (3.75 weighted points)

Notts County: Weight 5%

Stayed in Division 1 by skin of teeth in 2010-2011. Off to great start in 2011-12, but slowly falling apart.

Grade: C+ (3.95 weighted points)

GASL GRADE FOR 2011: B- (80.1%)

The Unprotected

D.C. United and the rest of MLS have announced their unprotected players for Wednesday's expansion draft. DC left available:

•Barklage, Brandon
•Boskovic, Branko
•Brettschneider, Blake
•Burch, Marc
•Cronin, Steve (GK)
•Da Luz, Austin
•King, Stephen
•McTavish, Devon
•Morsink, Kurt
•Ngwenya, Joseph
•Quaranta, Santino
•Zayner, Jed

Of these I would think Brettschneider and King would be the most attractive, though I wouldn't be surprised if Montreal selected Burch.

I'm Beginning Not To Care

This crap keeps getting worse: DC United may have to consider move

Winner of MLS titles in 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2004, D.C. United has explored building a venue in Baltimore near Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium. For now, Garber said the team must have a lower rent next season.

“If that means that they can’t get a new improved lease in D.C., they’ve got to move to another facility in the region. I will be supportive of that, and in fact will help them do that,” he said. “And if it means they can’t find a solution in Baltimore, then we’ll have to go through a process as we did with San Jose to think about potentially moving the team. I believe that we’ll have to go through that process, as well.”

Unless someone wants to move them to the Twin Cities this will just suck. I will not support "Baltimore" United. Ever.

Not that I'll even have reason to care as Garber seems intent in NBA-ing the hell out of MLS.

Garber also said MLS will go to an unbalanced 34-game schedule next year

What a stupid fucking thing to do. Shit Garber, why not go to a league of ten two team divisions where the top two in every division make the playoffs? Dipshit.

I still cannot stand it. It is SOCCER fans that have made MLS as stable as it is. Football or basketball fans will NEVER support this league. So run the fucking league for SOCCER FANS ALREADY.

What bullshit.

The Season Of Sad Continues:

I must be getting old. It seems all the greats are leaving us: SLU great 'Easy Ed' Macauley dies

Ed Macauley, who led St. Louis University to the NIT basketball title in 1948, which remains the school's signature moment on the court, died Tuesday (Nov. 8, 2011). He was 83.

His SLU days, though, weren't the end of Macauley's basketball career. He went on to a 10-year career in the NBA, being named to the league's first team three times and eventually being inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1960.

The 6-foot-8 center played for the St. Louis Bombers and the Boston Celtics before being traded back to St. Louis to play for the Hawks in a deal that sent Bill Russell to the Celtics. The Celtics retired his uniform number, 22. He also coached the Hawks for two seasons.

Macauley went to St. Louis U. High before coming to SLU, where with a team made up entirely of St. Louis-area players, the Billikens won the NIT at a time when it, not the NCAA Tournament, was considered college basketball's premier event.

Macauley scored 24 points as SLU, which finished with a 24-3 record under first-year coach Ed Hickey, beat New York University in the final at Madison Square Garden. Three days later, the team arrived at Union Station by train and was greeted by 15,000 fans for a parade.

"It was like a fairy tale," Macauley once told the Post-Dispatch.

Macauley's playing career ended long before I was born, but just like Stan Musial, he represented the glorious past of a team I love with eminent class and grace. I see from news reports that "Easy" Ed's wife had passed away earlier this year. That is the way it is with some blessed couples. They are never seperated for long.

Rest in peace, Ed.

Bob Forsch

Sad news yesterday with the loss of Cardinals great Bob Forsch. Bernie Miklasz gets it just right:

This is just awful news. I know how much Bob Forsch meant to all Cardinals fans but especially a certain generation of Cardinals fans -- those who were coming of age in the mid-1970s and into the 1980s. Forsch was one of the players that created special memories for an untold number of young Cardinals fans who began to fall in love with baseball and the franchise during that time.

Yep. Forsch was Cardinals pitching in this era.

Thank you for being one of my heroes, Bob.

Rest in Peace.

Winding Up, Winding Down

You'd think, based upon how quiet I have been (excepting all the bitching of course), that I had no sports to follow of late.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Take tonight for instance. I've got three games going: the Blues are on the road against the Flyers; DC United is home for their season finale against KC; oh, and the Cards are playing game three of the World Series. Ho hum.

I feel really weird. In a lot of ways I'm more annoyed at United missing the playoffs yet again then I am happy about the success of the Cardinals. Maybe that is because the Cards making the Series was less unexpected to me than DC sucking so bad. Then again maybe I'm just happier with something to bitch about. (I'd hate for that to be true... it would seem too Cub-like for comfort.)

However, I *AM* pleased with the play of the Cards. The late season push was thrilling, and the playoff baseball they have been putting on the field has been of a very high caliber. It's been fun.

I just wish I was more excited. Hmmm... I'd hate to think I was maturing or anything.

If This Is The Best MLS Has To Offer...

...Then I may have to re-evaluate if I want to be wasting my time and money on this product.

It cannot be worth my time to watch this crap when it doesn't matter HOW WELL the players play the game on the field because the refs will simply undo everything to suit their personal whims.

I really should demand a refund for the Direct Kick package. I was promised real soccer action, what I got was a seasons worth of referees jerking off in public.

The hell with it.

Wow... I Mean... Wow

If you didn't watch baseball last night you missed it. There will never be another night like it while you or I are still breathing.

Granted, what made it even more special for me is that every team I wanted to win (Cards, Phillies, Orioles, and Rays) did so... but still, even if one of your teams lost you had to think last night was special.

The most thrilling night in baseball history

Generally I'm very much against instant proclamations of "best ever" — but Wednesday night was unquestionably the most thrilling night of baseball in my lifetime. It doesn't matter who you root for. I've just seen the pinnacle, and I'm going to savor it. I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep for a while.

I'm not going to try to sum up the night at length, you surely had an eye and an ear on the action. You saw Evan Longoria(notes) and Dan Johnson(notes) playing hero in Tampa Bay. You saw the scrappy Orioles breaking Jonathan Papelbon's(notes) heart. You saw the tired and weary Atlanta relievers finally give against Philadelphia.

There were four critical games on the MLB schedule Wednesday and three of them saw a blown save with two outs in the ninth inning. You can't script this type of thing; if you saw this story in a movie theatre, you'd walk out, ticked off and muttering to yourself. Sports are the ultimate reality show, nothing decided ahead of time. You have to watch for yourself, no one gets to know the conclusion ahead of time.

It is a point worth remembering, especially for myself. In many ways my view of the Cardinals this season was a lot like those fans in Tampa who started leaving in the 7th inning last night because the Rays were down seven runs. It was a big mistake. Lord knows I've made that same mistake about the Cards several times over this season.

Now it is time to just enjoy the ride.

Nothing Good Can Come Of This

I keep watching the disintegration of the Big 12 with a growing sense of horror. At this point the league is no longer tenable, though not everyone wants to admit it.

However, as far as I'm concerned, there are no other options that I am willing to live with as far as the fate of Missouri athletics are concerned. Move to the Big 10? Fuck that shit. I loathe and despise the Big 10. Always have. Always will. And this isn't the good kind of loathing and despising - like the way I loathe and despise Kansas for example - its the I'd rather have my eyes gouged out with a rusty spoon than watch Big 10 athletics kind of loathing and despising. You might as well ask me to become a Cubs fan. It simply ain't gonna happen.

The SEC? I'm sorry, but what the fuck do I care about Auburn or fucking Mississippi? The only people in the state of Missouri who would care about a "rivalry" with Arkansas are Ozark hill people. Besides there is no way Missouri would amount to anything in the SEC. Who wants to be bastard step-child here? It would be like being Iowa State or something. No thank you.

But, the thing is, there are no other options.

Mizzou fans are indeed well and truly screwed.

And, yes, I'm talking about simply walking away from them as a fan. I can live without college athletics if it comes right down to it.

CONCACAF's Racism Problem

I hate the L.A. Galaxy. Loathe and despise them I do.

However, having just watched one of the more blantantly biased referring "jobs" I've ever seen, I have to say tonight I feel sorry for them. I've had it with CONCACAF. It is obvious they hate "gringos" down there, and U.S. teams are gonna get screwed no matter what.

Fuck 'em. We ought to try to join UEFA and they can have their rinky dink fucking backwater - no gringos allowed - and get one team in every World Cup.

I'm sick of their racist bullshit.

Liverpool Looks Pretty Damn Good (So Far)

It is early days yet in the EPL, but of the teams I've seen play so far its the Reds who have looked most impressive.

Today they are taking Bolton apart, though the real questions will be raised when they play the likes of Man U. and Chelsea. It has seemed the last couple of seasons that Liverpool didn't quite have the quality to challenge the top teams. I wouldn't be surprised if that changes this time around.

Peg O’ My Heart

Last evening I made something new for the Mrs. and myself called a “Peg O’ My Heart”. It went over real well with the wife, and I liked it pretty well too.

The recipe:

2 oz. dark rum

1 oz. lime juice

1/2 oz. grenadine

Shake the ingredients in a shaker half-filled with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. No garnish.

The drink is very fruit forward and more than a little sweet. This is in keeping with the time period of the drink. It pre-dates Prohibition when sweet drinks were far more common. In that it has more in common with 19th century cocktails than it does with the drinks of much of the 20th century. I personally didn’t find the sweetness cloying, but if you wanted to cut back on the sweetness making it with less grenadine (say two teaspoons) should work just fine.

I’ve seen on the net where some “Peg O’ My Heart” recipes call for 1 1/2 oz. of light rum instead of the larger amount of the dark.  This is a mistake, and may date from the time when Bacardi company was suing folks for making “Bacardi Cocktails” without using Bacardi rum. It very well could be some places got around that problem by tweaking the “Peg O’ My Heart” to bring it more in line with the “Bacardi Cocktail” (which consists of 1 1/2 oz. light Bacardi rum, 1 oz. lime juice, and 1 teaspoon grenadine.) The original “Peg O’ My Heart,” as far as I’m concerned, is simply the better drink.

I Like Football...

...but I'm starting to loathe the NFL.

The 365 days a year spent shoving it down my throat is beginning to grate.