I'm not a fan of Luis Cruz the baseball player and now I find myself disliking him as a person after his actions in starting and then REALLY starting a brawl during a Canada/Mexico World Baseball Classic game yesterday.
The worst part is that this is somehow, inevitably, undeniably, going to lead to Juan Uribe getting playing time in 2013.
Cruz acted quite cowardly during the entire incident. Oh, and "unwritten baseball rules/etiquette" is idiotic to begin with. You don't like someone laying down a bunt (not even taking into account that run differential is vital in the WBC)?
A pair of recent pickups, and cheap pickups at that.
This Baron Davis auto is pretty sweet for a couple of reasons. First, it's an on-card auto. Second, it features Baron in his UCLA attire. Third, Davis has an awesome beard now, and I'm a man who appreciates good facial hair and sick beards. For a buck twenty-nine from my LCS's eBay store, it's even sweeter. Also, this is one supremely aesthetically-pleasing piece of cardboard. I absolutely love the design of the 1999-2000 UD SP Top Prospects Vital Signs set of signatures. All in all, a nice addition to my UCLA PC.
I'm a big, big, HUGE Luca Sbisa fan. I was stoked when the Ducks acquired him in the Chris Pronger deal, and with Cam Fowler, the Ducks have the makings of a dynamite blueline for the next decade, especially with some great reinforcements on the way in Matt Clark, Sami Vatanen, and a handful of other guys with upside. Also, when you routinely see stuff like this, it's hard not to like the guy. A 99 cent winning bid and two bucks to ship it my way.
I immediately wanted this Scott Rolen Auto - from 1999 Topps - as soon as I saw Matt post it up as bait. An on-card auto of a future Hall Of Famer, and a third baseman to boot. It's a beautiful card. Did I mention it's an on-card auto?
That was a pretty swell selling point. Plus, that diamond design is just the kicker.
Not really, but I do like the design of this card a lot.
Kunitz chipped in six points in the Ducks Stanley Cup run of 2007. But I always go back to this when I think of him:
73/100
Thanks for another great trade Matt, I look forward to the next one!
Picked up this sweet Bobby Ryan Auto from eBay for five bucks shipped. That "54" was quite the selling point, as it signifies the card is from his rookie season. Plus, it's a pretty cool looking card regardless of its rookie status. The sticker is hidden quite well, as it blends with the color scheme. Kudos to UD.
2008-2009 UD Be A Player Signatures
Luca Sbisa has been a favorite of mine since he was acquired from Philly in the Chris Pronger deal. Though he's pictured in a Flyers uniform on this rookie card, it's still a pickup I'm very happy about. Rookie autos are some of my favorite autos. This one ran me about $4-5 from my local shop. Seeing his old number (47) inscribed along with his John Hancock is an attribute of this card, and Bobby's, that I find particularly appealing, as I mentioned above. With his arrival in Anaheim, he now wears number 5.
For anyone unfamiliar with Luca, this clip sums up a couple of his biggest attributes: his physicality and fighting prowess. Dude also has a canon for a shot when he's not running you over (running through you, really).
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Cards out today for Steve, TJ, Julie, Richard, Greg (of the Beardy variety), and Eric. Also, if anyone is in code-cracking extraordinaire Nick Jacoby's inner circle, please ask him to e-mail me. Gracias in advance if anyone can help me out there.
Dodgers' security fights a fan. Deadspin sums it up best:
This video, shot on Opening Day at Dodger Stadium, has it all: some casual racism, a flying chest-kick, the security-guard-on-fan action that everyone loves, and the inevitable Greek chorus yelling, "It's going on YouTube!"
My question would be to the guy yelling out "Myspace!". Who still uses Myspace that isn't a 12-year-old girl or a pedophile going after 12-year-old girls?
Oh, and the racism is just the cherry on top of it all. Stay classy homeboy.
Aside from watching the Ducks get run over by the Kings, the Jr. Ducks not be able to score during two intermissions, and dealing with a number of Kings fan throwing lame smack talk at me*, I witnessed Bobby Ryan completely destroy/level/annihilate/end Oscar Moller with a completely clean hit as the game drew to a close.
*Regarding the smack talk, "Ducks suck" is countered by me with "Sorry, I can't hear you, there seems to be a Stanley Cup in my ear", which is followed by "oh, that was so long ago". If we really want to talk about something that happened a long time ago, which is longer: the Ducks last Stanley Cup finals appearance (3 years ago), or the Kings last Stanley Cup finals appearance (17 years ago) during which time the Ducks have played in the finals twice and won a Cup?*
Now to the hit that almost ended Oscar Moller.
At worst, it's a 2-minute minor for charging (Ryan received a 5-minute major for charging and a game misconduct), but let's go over the ways in which the hit is clean:
Moller has the puck
Bobby leads with his shoulder
Bobby keeps his elbows in
Bobby makes contact with Moller's shoulder
Bobby hits Moller from the front
Bobby does not make contact with Moller's head
Moller should keep his head up. For those of you claiming that the game is almost over, so there's no point in making hits, why is Moller stick-handling then? If you don't want to get hit as a game ends, don't try to make plays.
A "dirty" hit was Drew Doughty cross-checking Bobby Ryan in the back (and thus from behind) head-first into the boards earlier in the game. And that hit received no penalty. Even the King's fan sitting in front of me acknowledged it was a cross-check. And I wouldn't even use the term dirty, though it was certainly the dirtier of the two.
Thoughts from Kings fans? Or Ducks fans? Or hockey/sports fans in general?
