The Best Speech in History

If this doesn't get you going then nothing will. Enjoy!

http://northtonorth.com/pages/soundclips/bkhight.MP3

Non Smokers punch Smokers in the Face, Yet Again

In case you didn't hear this, Houston recently passed a law prohibiting smoking at bars. It was a huge blow to smokers everywhere that was simultaneously greeted by a huge "Yes!" from non-smokers. Many people are divided, with some thinking that bars won't be able to survive this change.

Personally, I couldn't care less about their tears. While I wished it was passed years ago, when I went to bars more often, it's so refreshing to be able to come home and not stink like shit. A non-smoker has to immediately take a shower after a night in a bar. Furthermore, when they get back into their car the next morning, the smell is there again. To remind you of your previous night, good memories or not.

Sure, smokers are pissed they can't smoke now. They act like it's a civil rights issue and I can see their point. But at the same time, if I want to see a band perform I have to suffer through it because of them. So it goes both ways. While I've gotten used to the smell, it's my eyes that are the most happy. Virtually everytime I see a band at Rudyards, I have to go outside during sets just to refresh my eyes. Sometimes, during "my" bands set, the smoke becomes so stifling I cannot take it and have to leave in the middle of a song. It's a major inconvenience I don't have to worry about anymore. And similar to the inconvenience smokers will have to endure by going outside to light one up now. Welcome to the other side of the fence assholes. I hope you enjoy it!

He's a 1st Ballot Hall of Famer

It seems that whenever anyone mentions a good baseball player nowadays the conversation inevitably turns to whether or not he's worthy of becoming a Hall of Famer. Oftentimes if the guy has had a good, long career; media types will say he's a "surefire first ballot Hall of Famer". Whenever I hear crap like this it drives me crazy. How can someone paid to talk about sports be so moronic?

Most people assume (and wrongly I might add) that if you've had a great career you should be a first ballot Hall of Famer. But do you know how many players were ever elected on the first ballot? Since 1936, in the Hall inception, there have been 32 players elected on the first ballot. That's it. 32 freaking players out of a total of 196 enshrined in the Hall. It comes out to 14% of HOF's elected on the first ballot.

So who are these players? Well, you may be surprised to know that players like Joe Dimaggio and Rogers Hornsby were not elected in their first try. Neither were Yogi Berra, Harmon Killebrew or Jimmie Foxx. In fact, only 8 players from 1937-1979 were elected in their first year of eligibility. But from 1980-today we've elected 24 first ballot players. Guys like Eddie Murray and Robin Young and Kirby Puckett. You know "true" greats of the game.

But why is this?

I have no real answer. I'm thinking that many writers nowadays don't appreciate the Halls true significance. How else would you explain Hal Morris, of all players, receiving 5 votes last year for the Hall? Or Darryl Kile getting 7 votes in 2003? It's just ludicrous to imagine who voted these guys in.

I mean let's consider the 5 guys voting for Hal Morris. Morris never made an All Star team, he never led the league in any category and the guy averaged 10 homers/yr as a first baseman. And you're voting him in!?!? While we're at it we may as well cast a vote for Tony Eusebio too.

All kidding aside, we've gone way too far in naming players to the Hall in their first year of eligibility. That used to be reserved for guys like Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle. Guys that were amongst the top 15 of all time. Not guys like Murray, Yount Puckett. You just can't compare the two groups.

So I'm starting a movement right now, to bring back honor to the Baseball Hall of Fame. No more borderline guys getting in. You're either in or your out. And unless you're truly a transcendent player......you're gonna have to wait your turn.

Texans to Draft Good Players ?!?!

I heard something the other day about building winning teams in the NFL. They only used 2 teams as examples but they used 2 of the best in the league right now. The Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts. What do these teams have in common, besides winning? Their GM's built them one side of the ball at a time. Let's first look at the Colts.

They went out and drafted Peyton Manning #1 in 98. Marvin Harrison was already there after they used their 1st round pick in 96 on him. Then here's the other offensive players they picked up after 1996. Tarik Glenn-1-97, Edgerrin James-1-99, Jeff Saturday-FA-99, Reggie Wayne-1-01, Ryan Diem-4-01, Dallas Clark-1-03. Then when James left, they went and got Joseph Addai in the 1st round last year to replace him. But from 96-03 they got their starting QB, RB, 2 WR's, TE, OT, G and C right away. They drafted well but they made their team very competitive on one side of the ball. And ever since then they've been good. Their D sucked but they could at least get you in a shootout and win some games. And if your offense blew, then you lost because Peyton put up points. After they built their offense, they rebuilt the D and it, too, is now a pretty good unit. That's why they're a contender every year now.

OK, but what about the Bears? Don't try and compare the Bears offense to the Colts?

And you're right. I won't. But the Bears did the same thing, just on defense. They drafted Brian Urlacher-1-00, Mike Brown-2-00, Alex Brown-4-02, Charles Tillman-2-03, Lance Briggs-3-03, Ian Scott-4-03, Tommie Harris-1-04, Tank Johnson-2-04 and Nathan Vasher-4-04. These guys are all starters and are the core of their D. Since then they have pieced their offense together through FA and the draft. And I'd suspect you'll see the offensive side of the ball addressed from now on.

But if you look at their last game as an example, you'll see how smart this philosophy is. Their offense turns the ball over 6 times in 1 game. But they still win!!! In part, because their D scored 2 touchdowns in the second half. And you hardcore fans know, this isn't the first time that's happened. Their D has been tremendous at forcing turnovers and scoring the last few years.

And if you think about it, by forcing teams to play grind it out games, the Bears have won a lot of close games lately by doing just enough offensively to win the game. Hell, they had Kyle Orton at QB and reeled off 8 wins last year despite his QB rating 0f 59. David Carr has never done that bad and last year had a rating of 77 to give you an idea how bad that is.

So where am I going with all of this?

This is what the Texans need to do. They need to establish an identity. I don't care if its defense or offense. But they need to concentrate on one side of the ball and turn it into one of the leagues best. And then focus on the next. Right now, we don't have anything. Of course, we did spend a lot of recent high draft picks on defense but a lot of those picks were based on projecting players to play a new position in the pros-Jason Babin, Travis Johnson, Antwan Peek, etc. And we failed on each of these. Now that we're playing a 4-3 (and I think only 3 colleges play a 3-4) it will be much easier to draft for that side of the ball.

My recommendation is to concentrate on the offense. I think Carr is good enough at QB and we have some good receivers and tight ends now. We need to draft a RB with our 1st round pick and pick up a couple lineman in the first couple rounds. We already have 2 young tackles that are, by most accounts, real NFL players. Let's get a G or a C to pair with them. With Kubiak running the Denver system we should be good next year. I firmly believe our offense would be in the top half of the league this year, if Domanick Davis were not injured. I think we're closer than a lot of people give us credit for offensively. And I think you'll see that reflected in the second half of this season.

Astros Minor Leagues Update

The Astros named Al Pedrique as the head of their Latin American Baseball Camp. He's been a special assistant to Tim Purpura most recently and a manager in our minor leagues before that. He played in the majors and is a native Venezuelan. You can read more here:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/sports/4268490.html

But the real story centers on the Astros and their minor league development. At one point we had one of the best minor league programs in baseball. We were consistently in the Top 10 year after year. At the core of our system was our Latin American camp. We were the first to really setup camp in Latin America and we reaped the benefits for years to come. Whether they played for us-Bobby Abreu and Richard Hidalgo-or were simply signed by us-Johan Santana and Melvin Mora-we mined a nation of great players. Unfortunately, other teams quickly copied our system and our floodgate of players slowed to a trickle. Since 2000 the only player I can think of that made it up was Fernando Nieve.

So what are we doing to get that edge back? Apparently nothing. We are still drafting with about the same luck as we did in the past but we aren't getting that influx of foreign players to supplement the draft. Maybe we need to open a camp in Australia or some other country where no one else is. We need to do something. And we need to do it now. Purpura has the opportunity to put a stamp on our team. His legacy will tell you if it was a good stamp or a bad one.

Ching-y with the Bicycle Kick

In case you missed it, Houston Dynamo Brian Ching scored a bicycle kick the other day. It's one of the most exciting plays in soccer. I can only imagine how tough that's got to be. The next game for the Dynamo is 10/22 vs. Chivas USA in the first round of the playoffs.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuECatf6qaw

Why would the Astros want A-Rod ??

Baseball is still going strong in its what 9th month of the year (i think pitchers report to camp in february). Unfortunately, if your team is out of it, a lot of fans don't pay attention to the playoffs. At least that is a description of my baseball viewing habits. But locally there is talk that the Astros need to get a bat. A big bat. Someone to strike fear in the pitcher. And the name that seems to keep coming up is Alex Rodriguez.

You're saying, why would that guy strike fear in the pitcher? Why would we want some guy that can't hit in the playoffs? How could we afford his $25 Million salary? I'll tell you why and maybe tell you why I can't stand 80% of sports "know-it-alls" on TV, radio, print.

So lets breakdown Alex Rodriguez. The perception is he had an awful season this year. But think about these stats-.293 Batting Average, .392 On Base Average, 35 Homers and 121 RBI's. And 15 steals on top of that. His career average .305, .386, 43, 125, and 22. Pretty much right in line with what he's done for his career. I think those numbers next to Berkman's would fit just fine. And I'd argue that without the media frenzy in New York, he'd post even better numbers in Houston.

But dude, you're missing the point. He might get you to the playoffs but he'll flame out like Biggio and Bagwell did all these years.

Great point. Biggio and Bagwell did have a tendency to do this and frustrate many a Houston fan. So did Barry Bonds till he started juicing. But did you know that A-Rod was hitting over .300 in the postseason before this year? And that he's still hitting .280 lifetime in the playoffs after this year's disaster? Furthermore, in 2004, his first year in New York he hit over .300 with an On Base over .400 and a Slugging over .600! Pretty impressive numbers.

But he's no Jeter. That guy is money in the playoffs. That's who we need. He's also a leader in the clubhouse.

Well through 2005 he hit .308 lifetime in the playoffs. Better than A-Rod? By .003. But his On Base and Slugging were both down. And that 04 Series when they lost to Boston, Jeter batted .200.

And about this leadership talk. I think he's a good player and probably does have some good leadership qualities. But when one of your teammates is going through a slump you don't call him out in the press like Jeter did to A-Rod. Especially when that player graciously agreed to change positions despite the fact he had 2 Gold Gloves at the time and you had 0. I mean Jeter defended Giambi about doing Steroids but couldn't help A-Rod out through a freaking hitting slump, instead just piling on?!?! Yeah, a great leader. Even Torre, that leader of men, dropped his best player to 8th in the batting lineup in the playoffs. Would Garner drop Berkman to 8th if he was in a slump?

So, I hope I helped you see that Jeter is human after all these years. And more importantly, I hope I changed your perception of Alex Rodriguez. The guy had an average season for himself but overall still had one of the best season in MLB. Do I think the media crush affected him? YES. But would he fit in well with the Astros? YES. And he'd hit in the playoffs for them just like he always has. And since the Rangers are paying a huge chunk of his salary he'd cost about $15 Mil/year. Cheaper than Clemens, Pettitte and Bagwell each cost the Astros this year.

Uhh...Welcome....or something

So I had a couple suggestions that I start one of these. So here I am and apparently here you are as well. I have no preconceived notions of what this will be, just random things going around in my head. My main goal, however, is that when you're bored at work, you come here. You'll probably still be bored when you get done but hey it beats watching the clock or actually working. God forbid you do that.