Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks.

Ladies and gentlemen, baseball season has officially started! I don't know about you, but there is nothing I would rather do on a beautiful spring day than sit out at the ball park with a beer and a hot dog. While reading my latest ESPN the Mag, I found these fun little statistics about America's favorite past-time.

___________________________________________

In a typical MLB season there are....

• 2,430 Games
  
  


• 32,193 Strikeouts




• 21,655 Innings




• 22,850 Runs




• 5,056 Home runs




• 207 Ejections
  
  


• 13,966 Pitching changes (Most pitching changes in a nine-inning game: 16 , Cardinals (9) vs. Pirates (7) 9/30/2007)




• 21,733,839 Hot dogs sold (if you laid all the hot dogs sold in a typical season end-to-end, they would stretch from Fenway to Coors)
  
  


• 74,485,560 Tickets sold




• 1,200,000 Balls used




• 50,000 Bats used
  
  


• 1,726 Hit batters




• 730 Demotions




• 66 Trades (involving at least one MLB player)




• 425 DL stints (Most commonly injured body part resulting in DL stint, 2005-09: Right shoulder/rotator- 336)




• 3 Managerial changes




• 31 Rainouts




• 2 Snowouts

Life in the fast lane.

My parent's don't watch baseball or basketball, they don't watch Nascar, PGA golf, or tennis. They prefer the high-octane (pun intented) sport of Formula 1 racing. And since I have been living with them again, I have begun to enjoy sitting down and watching the races.

For those of you unfamiliar with Formula 1 let me inform you that it is nothing like it's redneck cousin, Nascar. Instead of being sponsored by Bud Light, you are sponsored by Johnnie Walker; Hugo Boss instead of Dollar General. Formula 1 holds their races in such exotic locales as Bahrain; Catalunya, Spain; Sao Paolo, Brazil; Monte Carlo, Monaco; and Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. Meanwhile Nascar uses other "exotic" locations as Talladega in Alabama, Kansas Motor-speedway, and Dover Speedway in Delaware.

The F1 tracks aren't your standard ovals, they are big, mean and full of curves. Also, F1 cars are made by Lotus, Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes, BMW, etc. So you can expect so see lots of speed. F1 cars are masterpieces of technology as well as closely guarded secrets held by their makers. In Nascar, all cars look the same and are made the same, just by different people (Ford, Chevy, Dodge, etc).

Now, for my female readers, if none of this sounds appealing to you in any way, then let me introduce you to what initially drew me into Formula 1 racing... the drivers. These aren't your "good ol'boy" Nascar drivers, these are dapper foreigners with exotic roots and adorable accents.

Jenson Button

Age: 30

Hails from: Britain
Races for: McLaren-Mercedes

Status: Mine.... so don't even think about it.

Lewis Hamilton
Age: 25
Hails From: Britain
Races for: McClaren Mercedes

Timo Glock

Age: 28
Hails from: Germany
Races for: Virgin

Mark Webber
Age: 34
Hails from: Australia
Races for: Red Bull

Nico Rosberg
Age: 25
Hails from: Germany
Races for: Mercedes GP Petronas

To sum it up. If you want to see people spray champagne after a race instead of milk; if you would rather not be able to understand your driver interviews because of an Italian accent instead of a north Georgia accent; and if you prefer Grey Poupon to French's.... then it is time to check out F1 racing.

Happy Fiday :)

"Sports psychology has a long history folks. In 1938, Coleman Griffith became the first psychologist hired by a professional sports team when he went to work for the Chicago Cubs, who hadn't won a World Series in thirty years. Through weeks of careful observation and behavioral modifications, Griffith was able to turn that number into one-hundred and two. "

-Stephen Colbert

Baseball season opening day in: 9 DAYS!

For the Love of the Game

**WARNING**

Unfavorable opinions about the NBA and the Chicago Cubs expressed below.

If you don't like it, don't read it...

To be honest, I don't follow basketball. I can't stand the NBA and think that is a complete snoozefest. In my opinion, it hasn't been worth watching since Michael Jordan played. I think that the NBA is nothing but a bunch of show-boating. I believe, and this is just my own opinion, that the NBA players care less about their sport than other professional athletes. Maybe it's how much the sport has been rocked by scandal over the last few years... guns in locker rooms, brawls between the crowd and the players (the Pistons/Pacers fight is still one of the best youTube videos ever), gambling referees... it gets a little old. And as much as I love the NFL and MLB, they too have been rocked by scandal and stupidity.

I used to watch college basketball, but fell out of it in recent years. As a matter of fact, I have fallen out of watching college sports period over the last few years, I am rarely home on Saturdays to watch the football games and basketball isn't really my thing. But that doesn't mean that I have any less respect for them. On the contrary. I think college sports (more specifically football and basketball) have a tendency to be more exciting to watch than their professional counterparts.

There are more historic programs in college. Think Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, Texas, Oklahoma... These programs have been around for decades, some even more than a century. In pro sports, you can move a team anywhere you want and call them anything you want if your franchise has enough money to do it. With this history comes major rivalries. Rivalries only matched in intensity by some MLB teams (because they have been around longer than either the NBA or NFL). And rivalries make it more fun to be a fan. Let's be honest, would it be as much fun to be a Cardinals fan if you didn't have the Cubs fans and players to wail on? No. That is something that I feel, for the most part, the NFL and NBA is lacking.

In college sports there is always room for a major upset. NCAA basketball is a prime example. Every year there is always some sleeper team just waiting quietly in the wings to screw up 99% of the countries brackets (NIU vs. Kansas anyone?). The same goes for college football. Sure a handful of teams make it to the BCS year after year, but it will stay that way until they eliminate the BCS all together and implement a playoff system.... But even with the statistical nonsense that is the BCS, their is always some smaller school coming out of nowhere that makes the Bowl series more interesting. This makes it more exciting to watch because you never know what is going to happen.

I think the element of surprise that college sports has over professional sports has a lot to do with the almost constant change of talent. Players graduate or enter the draft every year, leaving room for fresh faces. If you have a great coaching and recruiting staff then you usually fare pretty well, but everyone has their slumps. For instance, Florida has had a pretty stellar few years with Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow at the helm, but with Tebow graduated and Meyer stepping down for health reasons then it should be interesting to see how they fair next year.
It's true that the pro teams get new players every year, but they usually don't get start time right out of the gate. Let me emphasize the "usually", there are guys who have great rookie seasons (Rookie of the Year awards. Duh.) But not everyone is a Mark Sanchez, some guys are Brady Quinns. So you tend to see the same players year after year, which is easier to predict the outcomes.

In my mind there is almost a sense of purity to college sports. They aren't paid, no salary caps, no contract negotiations, no free agents. They have their fair share of stupidity too (I am looking at you Tennessee). But when you watch an NFL game, and they are announcing the starting line-ups for the teams, they also announce the school they went to. Not what team they were traded from for a couple of draft picks and some cash.

Guts, Glory, and Gold

So the Winter Olympics have come and gone... and I must say that I was very surprised at how much of them I actually watched this time around. Maybe it's the fact that I am getting older (and wiser)... but gone are the days of watching the winter games solely for the figure skating. But like I said before, I am older (and still wiser), and when watching the games I noticed just how much the Winter Olympics differ from the summer games, and I don't just mean the snow.

The Winter games are one big party! The summer games have always been the big money makers. There is almost always more stress put on the athletes to perform to higher expectations. Can you imagine what would have happened if Phelps hadn't performed the way that he had? Or how about the toddlers China was parading around under the guise of "Gymnasts"? The world takes the Summer games more seriously. But I really took joy out of watching the athletes in Vancouver have FUN. Of course they were there to compete, to win the gold, to prove they were the best. But they were having a good time doing it.

With that being said, I do feel that the host city plays a crucial role in the atmosphere of the games. The 2004 games in Athens seemed like a back yard barbecue compared to the Beijing games. And I have a feeling that Vancouver is going to look like a college keg party compared to the games in Sochi, Russia in 2014.

Also, comparing the winter sports to the summer sports is like comparing driving a Ferrari to driving a golf cart. The Winter sports make the summer sports look like sissies. The danger factor is amped WAY up in the winter games. Snowboarding, slalom racing, skeleton, luge, short track speed skating. For example, racers in skeleton and luge were reaching speeds of 90 miles per hour. I am not even sure that my '94 Honda will go that fast...

American speed skater JR Celski received 60 stitches after he crashed at Nationals and cut his leg with his own skate. But that is nothing in comparison to the death of 21 year old Georgian Luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili. Who died after he slammed into a steel pole during a practice run.

The Winter games have been in a slump over the last decade, but the Vancouver games put them back on the map. And though not all sports at the Olympics (both summer and winter) are death defying ratings grabbers... table tennis (more commonly referred to as "ping pong")or curling for example... they still grab the attention of the world.

Click here for a complete list of Olympic Sports.

C'est la vie...

Yes waiter, I am ready to order... on the menu tonight? My words. OK... I was wrong, a lot of people were wrong. Saints won the Super Bowl. Football season is over and the Colts lost.I don't blame anyone. Though most people immediately began talking about the Colts last two games... (I still think Caldwell made the right decision on benching the starters). I am proud of my Colts. They had a fantastic season and made it to the Super Bowl with a relatively rookie team. I am not bitter, but there are some people and things that just really make me angry.

(Angry manifesto in 3...2...1...) Listening to the commentary after the game of NFL Primetime there was a guy who actually said this..." We were ready to call Peyton Manning the greatest ever if he won this game, but now is he just a guy with one Super Bowl win and a 9-9 playoff record?" (this isn't verbatim...but it's pretty darn close). Um do you want to know how many Super Bowl wins Brett Favre has? 1. How about his post season record... pretty sure it is 12-11. How about Dan Marino? He never won a Super Bowl. Warren Moon, no hardware either.

I am not saying that Manning is the greatest ever, he has a long way to go to get to that stage. But are you really going to call him "just a guy with a 9-9 record". Get real. I will step off my soapbox now before I get really fired up ( I am looking at you bandwagon fans... ).

Regardless of how I feel, congratulations are in order. So, job well done New Orleans, you played the better game. Sean Payton made some genius calls (on-side kick in the third quarter anyone?) and the Saints offense was on fire. Drew Brees played like the "elite" quarterback that he is and has been. There is definitely a new force to be reckoned with in the NFC.


Until next time... C'est la vie.

Laisez les bons temps rouler!

IT'S HERE!!!!! Can you feel it? That's right baby...it's time for the SUPER BOWL! This game has the potential to be one of the greatest Super Bowl's of all time. The players, the stories, this is going to be a classic match-up that people will talking about for years! I can't even begin to describe my excitement level right now! But who is going to come out victorious? Well that's the million dollar question...

EVERYONE is talking about the Saints, the Saints, the Saints... Don't get me wrong, I like the Saints. I think they are a fantastic team and Drew Brees is a fantastic guy. They have brought the city of New Orleans a much needed spark that they have been lacking since Katrina. If there was any team that I would be OK with beating my Colts, it would be the Saints... but I just don't think that is going to happen. I think the Colts (and not just because I want them to...) are going to win tomorrow and here's why.

First, New Orleans lost their last three games of the regular season. Not only that but they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (?!?!?!), and the Carolina Panthers. Had the Colts played their starters in the last two games of the regular season then they would have been 16-0.

Second, the Saints won the game against the Vikings (obviously or they wouldn't be in the game tomorrow), but that wasn't the same Saints team that showed up to thoroughly humiliate the Patriots. They just barely scraped by Minnesota on what very may well have been luck. If Minnesota had been able to hold on to the ball they would have won the game. The Saints offense in that NFC Champ. game had none of the fireworks of the earlier games that season.

Next, Peyton Manning... maybe you've heard of him. In the game against the Jets for the AFC championship it took him about 20 minutes to adjust to the best defense in the NFL and then just deconstruct them. He is probably the smartest player in football. It is hard to beat the smartest player in football on a regular day... but in his second Super Bowl appearance during the best year of his career? Fuggedaboutit.

Finally.... like I said earlier, it been nothing but "Saints, Saints, Saints". There has got to be an immense amount of pressure on New Orleans despite the fact that they are considered the underdog. The Colts perform at their best when they fly a little under the radar.


But it isn't going to be a walk in the park for Indianapolis. They need to remember a few key things if they want the be the next Super Bowl Champions.

First, YOU HAVE GOT TO PROTECT PEYTON MANNING! Did you catch that? Just in case you missed it let me say it again... YOU HAVE GOT TO PROTECT PEYTON MANNING!!! New Orleans has got a nasty defense (I should know, they were my fantasy DST)... Did you see the NFC Championship?! They put might as well have hung Brett Favre off a balcony on Bourbon St. and made him a human pinata. The N.O. defense put some serious hurt on him without ever actually sacking him. The Indy O-line has got to step up and protect their man in the pocket. End of story.

Next, the defense has to find a way to stop Drew Brees. The Saints were the highest scoring team in the NFL this season and Brees has a smorgasbord of receivers and backs in his offensive arsenal. He likes to spread the love around so the Indy defense has got to be on their toes...

Also, we have to be able to run the ball. Everyone knows that Peyton Manning can throw down the field with deadly accuracy, but with a defense like the Saints' there is going to be a lot of pressure on him so we have got to be able to step up the run game. If we can run the ball we can win the game. But young jedi's (aka running backs), with great power comes great responsibility. If you are going to run the ball against the New Orleans Saints you HAVE TO HOLD ON TO THE BALL!!! They will rip it from your hands and embarrass you if you let them (see:Minnesota Vikings). You're hands better be stuck to the football like a gas pedal to a Prius floorboard (too soon?).

So there you have it. I expect a lot from this game, and for good reason. You have two of the best Quarterbacks in the game today playing on teams that had spectacular seasons. Maybe I will be wrong and the Saints will win, and if they do I can't say that I will be sad (because with a story like theirs, rooting against them kinda makes me feel like a bad person... ), but I am a true blue Indy fan and I love my Colts. So either way... I will be happy.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!


Love,
Belle of the footBall