It is all about how you play

I didn't get to write anything this past weekend because Evan had a soccer tournament. They played 2 games on Saturday and 2 games on Sunday. Unfortunately his team had a disadvantage, they only had 2 substitutes when the other teams had 5 or 6. 2 games on Saturday and 2 games on Sunday which was tiring for them. They played hard and at least saved the best for last. The team played their best game of the year in the final game. It was so good that all of the parents were yelling and cheering so much that most of us had sore throats afterwards. Go HAWKS!!!

Technorati Tags: Sports, Soccer, CASL

Don't underestimate!

I have to admit that I did not think that any National league team had any chance this year of beating the American league this year but the Cardinals might just prove me wrong. This series is far from over but I did not think that the Cardinals would even win more than 1 game. There is still a lot of baseball to play and right now it is anyone's Series. I do think that this will go seven games and with the rainout today, the pitchers are well rested and it should continue to be exciting. Has anyone noticed that the difference in each one of these games has been the pitching? Good pitching wins games.

Technorati Tags: Sports, Tigers, Cardinals, Baseball, World Series

Vote for Emmitt!

My family has really gotten into watching Dancing with the Stars. I wasn't into it quite as much last season but it has been very exciting this time. I thought that it would come down to a battle between Mario and Joey but after tonight, you have to take Emmitt Smith seriously. Emmitt and Cheryl are putting up some huge performances. I am rooting for Emmitt all the way!

Technorati Tags: Dancing with the Stars, Emmitt Smith, dancing, ABC, entertainment

Cowboys down and out?

I have always been a Dallas Cowboys fan. I have seent he good and bad times. Unfortunately, it recently has been more bad than good. Watching last night's game was definitely not good. Bledsoe did not do a good job and I was glad to see Romo get a chance but you cannot pass all the blame on Bledsoe. The offensive line did not do it's job in protecting Bledsoe long enough to get good passes. This is not so easy to correct which is why Romo may be the better choice right now because he is more mobile. I don't think that you have seen the last of Bledsoe starting any games but Romo will probably get the next few starts.

Technorati Tags: Sports, Football, Dallas Cowboys, Bledsoe, Romo

Virus attack

It finally happened. For the first time my computer was infected by some type of virus. When I had restarted my computer, it got to the point of loading my personal settings but could not go past that. I was able to use the last backup from the recovery CD but it was a long time ago and now I am in the process of loading in some of the applications that I had before. Even though I lost a bunch of stuff on my PC, it wasn't all bad because I did end up cleaning out my hard drive and getting rid of some stuff that I did not need.

Technorati Tags: Computers, virus, technology

Cheaper oil?

I read today an article on Forbes.com that was talking about the future prices of Oil. I have to say that some of what he says makes sense about finding new sources of oil will help to keep the price down even if OPEC cuts back production. But I think that the article is missing a few points that contradict the idea that everything is fine.

1. Oil is not a renewable resource. At some point we will end up running out of oil and the narrow minded view that we have plenty of time before that happens is a recipe for disaster. The push towards finding alternative power sources to run cars and making cars more fuel efficient has finally been brought to the forefront because of the high gas prices this summer. The idea that

"don't sell that SUV just yet. Oil, at a recent $66.50 a barrel, will fall to $45 by mid-2007 and could dip briefly into the 20s in 2008."

is telling people not to try and conserve the resources that we have. I find this irresponsible to make this statement when there is no crystal ball out there to confirm what will happen in the future. OPEC will not stand for the prices falling farther and farther. Currently, no one can compensate quick enough to offset the production cuts that OPEC can make.

2. It is well known that many terrorist groups are being funded by these Oil producing countries. This is a huge reason why we need to cut our dependency on Oil so that the terrorist do not continue to get the funds that they need. I will agree that the cost of Oil is inflated by the geopolitical issues that threaten oil production and supplies. The idea that these will calm down is absurd. We may have periods of relative calm but with the new escalated violence from terrorist groups, I doubt that we will be seeing calm anytime soon. And now we are faced with North Korea testing nuclear weapons.

Technorati Tags: Oil, OPEC, world issues

Really funny

My wife was watching the Ellen DeGeneres show and there was someone on that had done this video on You Tube that was called the Evolution of Dance. I took a look and it is really funny. I would definitely check it out.

Technorati Tags: dance, comedy, You Tube, Entertainment

No one saw this coming

Everyone has been waiting for this to happen and now it looks like OPEC is going to cut production to try and stop the decline in oil prices. I hope that everyone is paying attention. Just because we have seen the gas prices fall to around $2.09 for regular in the Raleigh area does not mean that we can give up on trying to reduce the dependency of America on oil. OPEC has been enjoying profits from the high prices and now is feeling the squeeze. I was hearing speculation that one of the major oil producing nations would have to cut production or have some crisis happen to stop the fall in prices. Now we have the first step and I would be willing to bet that this is only the beginning.

Technorati Tags: Oil, OPEC, world issues

True stupidity

I can only assume that Jim Caple is a Boston fan which is why he would have the audacity to say that the Yankees should trade Jeter instead of A-Rod. It would certainly help Boston and the other teams in the American League beat the Yankees. I have said that it was a mistake getting A-Rod in the first place, and I think that keeping him would be a big mistake. Lets breakdown the rational that Jim is using in his article.

1. A-Rod is the better player. I will agree that A-Rod is the better regular season individual player. The reason that I add individual is that a player can have great individual numbers but not help improve the team. A-Rod is definitely not a better postseason player. You can look at 1 or 2 series and rationalize anything but when you look at career numbers for both players in the postseason, the obvious winner is Jeter, not to mention the fact that the only thing that matters to Steinbrenner is the postseason. Also note that the career batting average for Jeter (.317) is 12 points higher than A-Rod's (.305).

2. Jeter has more trade value. I will concede that. His experience, leadership and abilities clearly makes him more valuable. A-Rod has proven that he is a drain on the resources of any team because of his high salary.

3. Jeter is a year older. So what! I will not even bother to comment on this.

4. Jeter is more expensive. If you look at the cost of A-Rod for the Yankees over the rest of his contract then, yes, Jeter is more expensive. But figure in what the impact is on the Texas Rangers who are still paying off part of his salary and he is not more expensive. Which begs the question: why would any team agree to payout $67 million dollars to get rid of a player? A-rod is still financially hurting a team that he does not belong to any more. Texas was desperate to get rid of him!!! It makes you sit back and think for a second.

5. Jeter doesn't provide the leadership needed. A-Rod brought this upon himself. When you demand the salary that he is getting, you expect that he is going to perform. Make no mistake, Jeter is the leader in that clubhouse. Not just anyone is named as the team captain of the Yankees. I guess that Jim would next be suggesting that A-Rod should be named the Yankees captain.

6. It's only fair. This has to be the most unintelligent reason to trade away one of the key players on this team. This is the biggest indicator that Jim must be a Boston fan. How is it fair that someone like A-Rod can get paid $250 million dollars for 10 years and yet not be expected to carry the burden of expectations of winning championships? He is in it for the money only.

Understand that Jeter has only known winning from the beginning of his career in the Yankee organization. He has been in the playoffs every year of his career. On the flip side, A-Rod has not and has never been a part of a team that won the World Series. It is an interesting note that only after the Mariners got rid of A-Rod, did they win 116 regular season games. They got better after getting rid of him.

Technorati Tags: Derek Jeter, Yankees, A-Rod, baseball

Time for a change?

I have been resisting writing anything about the Yankees demise in the postseason but Rogel is forcing my hand so here it goes.

First, you cannot put the blame all on one person because many of the players failed to live up to their potential but you cannot avoid the obvious. A-Rod is the biggest postseason failure their is! For his last 12 postseason games, he is 4 for 41 (.098) as compared with his average this year of .290. A-Rod may be the one of the best regular season players in the major leagues but he is the biggest bust in the postseason. For everyone that continues to say that Jeter should have moved to third base, it still would not change the batting statistics. And the simple fact is that Jeter is a better postseason player than A-Rod will ever be. I continue to think that A-Rod is a curse for any baseball team. I don't believe that A-Rod will ever have a World Series ring.

Second, while I think that Joe Torre is a great manager, the team make-up is so different that it may be time for a change. There are only a few players left from the team that won all of those championships, the players on the team now may need a different style of management.

Last, Steinbrenner needs to stop trying to buy all the high priced seasoned players and focus more on the Yankees farm system. The best pitcher on the staff this year was not the high priced veterans but Chien-Ming Wang. Unfortunately, the Yankee farm system is depleted because of all the high priced acquisitions made over the last few years.

Technorati Tags: Baseball, Yankees, sports, New York City, Joe Torre