Author: King Tom

Adios, A-Hole

I meant to write this a few days ago, but oh well.

So Alex Rodriguez has exercised his contractual right and opted out of his employment with the New York Yankees. As a Yankees fan who has ignored the nay-saying of my bretheren over the past four years and defended Rodriguez despite his dramatic antics, I can say that I’m glad that I don’t have to put up with the burden of defending him anymore.

Yes, he led the league in drama. But he is one of (if not the) the greatest players of his time. And it was fun to watch him play for my team. But the way in which he went about getting out of his contract totally pisses me (and every other Yankees fan I’ve talked with) off.

Rodriguez spent a lot of time throughout the past four years telling anyone who would listen how much he loved New York (“I want to stay in New York, no matter what” “Derek has four world championships, and I want him to have ten.”) and wanted to finish his career there. However, in the contract given to him by the Rangers, he had ten days after the 2007 World Series to “opt out” of the deal. The Yankees publically said they wanted to extend his contract and asked his agent to have a meeting to discuss a deal which would pay him more money than any one person needs (and yes, they also said if he opted out, they wouldn’t attempt to sign him). But Rodriguez (and his agent, who apparently doesn’t follow the news) didn’t even respond to the meeting request and flat-out opted out (and now the agent is acting surprised that the Yankees don’t want to want any part of Rodriguez).

As a Yankee fan, I’m mostly ignoring the fact that something else was going in the world of baseball on Sunday night. Regardless, Rodriguez’ announcement detracted from one of the most important days in all of baseball, nevermind moved the spotlight away from teams and players who were still playing in late October. It was the only way for him to get press on the day of a World Series, because he’s proven he can’t perform when it matters to earn his way into a WS.

He did provide some great moments. But there was also a lot of frustration, particularly with his performance in the post season. And now the Yankees, who have more resources than any other team, have even more thanks to Rodriguez’ decision. Yes, it will be hard replacing him on the field. But I think they’re in a better position now that they don’t have so much tied up in him. The next New York Yankee third baseman won’t produce as much on the field as Rodriguez did, but he won’t be half the drama queen, either.

By the way, here’s a great article on Scott Boras’ (Rodriguez’ agent) little fantasy world.

King Tom

Who's dialin' your car phone?

I spent some time yesterday (Saturday) buying a new cell phone.

The Civee and I already have a “house phone” so it’s not like I need this to be my main phone, just something in case of emergencies or if I want to call someone while I’m on the road.

The thing that took up the most time was trying to understand all the pricing stuff. For some reason, whenever I asked about how much it would cost a month, the salesman kept on telling me about all of the special messaging plans and extra video features. And he knew how much those cost. But not the basic price of the phone and just making regular phone calls.

Once he finally figured out I wasn’t interested in all that other stuff, he gave me a price and I have to admit, I was even more confused by all the “rollover” and “hours” terms. But I gave in and got the phone.

The phone has Tetris. So there’s one thing about the phone I understand.

On a side note, downtown Columbus would be a lot more fun if it had a working cab system- one where cabs drove around and you could hail them in the street. Yesterday afternoon, the Civee and I were going to an afternoon Blue Jackets game and then to the Statehouse for a the “Haunted Statehouse” tour. But we had to pick up the tickets at the Statehouse first. We drove to the Statehouse, picked up the tickets, drove to the arena, saw the game, then drove back to the Statehouse. Would have been a lot easier if we could have just taken cabs back and forth and stopped for dinner somehere in the middle. But between the game and the tour, it was fun, so I guess I can’t complain.

King Tom

A job I probably wouldn't get

With the Yankees out of the playoffs, I’m awaiting the end of the World’s Series for four months of sweet off-season action.

The big news in the baseball world (okay, King Tom’s baseball world) is that the Yankees are interviewing mangerial candidates. I thought about sending in a resume, and attaching the results of the 2005 OOSL season. But I probably won’t land the Yankees job. After all, my managerial philosophy is along the lines of:

Burns: You, Strawberry, hit a home run.
Strawberry: Okay, skip.
(hits a home run)
Burns: Ha-ha! I told him to do that.
Smithers: Brilliant strategy sir
-Homer at the Bat

King Tom

Finally…

While the world of Weezer fans waits for the band to release its sixth studio album sometime next year, Rivers Cuomo says he’s dropping his own solo CD of demos collected from 1992-2007. From Rivers’ myspace:

…I’ve decided to split my CD/book project in two. Ultimately, I feel that the music and the literary materials will be better served if developed and presented separately…
…The music, on the other hand, is ready to start coming out now. I’ve compiled a CD of my favorite demos from the years 1992 to 2007 and Geffen Records has agreed to put it out this December, on the eleventh. I hope you enjoy it. I may also be able to put out more demo CDs in the near future.

Not to mention the Weezer developments, which are also extremely great.

Nice that he’s also looking forward to the band’s production, even though his own “solo” album is coming out a few months before. Pitchfork is saying that the CD will be titled Alone – The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo.

I don’t know how much of a market there will be for this outside of the Weezer community. And even with the Weezer fans, if there’s not some stuff on there that hasn’t been heard before, this could backfire. A few years ago (2001-2003) Rivers himself gave the fans a number of demos from throughout his recording career. Many of them were good, and what he gave didn’t come close to everything that he has demoed.

Is it too much to hope that this is the surprise hit of the year, if only to encourage future endeavors like this?

King Tom

How not to cut a promo

So I was driving home last night flipping around on the radio, when I stopped on FM station run by the local media conglomerate (which I used to work for). Whatever song was playing finished up, and the DJ started promo-ing an upcoming college football game, and he said the following:

So Kent State is visiting the Buckeyes this Saturday. Let’s hope there aren’t any anti-war protests this weekend. Well, because, you know, it’s not thirty years ago.

Usually when you want to promote something, you say something funny or clever. That was neither.

I admit that I’m an obnixous Yankees fan. But there are times in Columbus, when listening to people talk about the local college football team that I feel uncomfortable.

King Tom

Baseball is fun

The Yankees are officially in the postseason.

The Yankees Clinch
And while I didn’t blog about it here back in the days when they were 21-29, I always thought they’d be playing baseball in October. Yes, I’m a fanboy.Perhaps my favorite story from yesterday is the following line from the NY Daily News’ Yankees blog, featuring the awesome Joba Chamberlain:

Young players like Duncan and Joba Chamberlain were taking it all in as expected, yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs with each drop that hit them.
…
Joba gets my favorite line of the night: After having two ice cold beers poured over his head, he shrieked that they were freezing, then said, “Dude, my nipples are so hard!”

Kids today.

Going from the Yankees to another team, the gang at noMaas.org is enamored with the following picture of Red Sox closer Jon Papelbon from an article on SI.com:

Jon-boy has a tiny mouth.
I agree with the noMaas gang. He’s not intimidating. If I were a batter and saw that standing on the pitchers mound, I’d laugh my way out of the batters box.But I don’t think he’s got a coin slot on his face. I think he’s trying to make his mouth as small as humanly possible. To paraphrase some movie: if you stuck a lump of coal in there, in two weeks you’d have a diamond.

King Tom

They should've used a mail truck

Yet another case of life imitating Seinfeld:

Authorities said they arrested 13 people and seized more than $500,000 in cash after breaking up a smuggling ring that collected millions of beverage containers in other states and cashed them in for 10 cents apiece in Michigan.
…
A total of 15 people were named in a 67-count warrant issued as part of Operation Can Scam, Attorney General Mike Cox said Wednesday.
…
The scheme defrauded the Michigan Bottle Deposit Fund, whose proceeds are used to pay for environmental cleanup efforts.

The source article even mentions the Seinfeld link.

But at least Kramer and Newman didn’t get caught by the authorities.

King Tom

Exciting Things Happen On Staten Island

The next installment the Grand Theft Auto franchise is supposed to come out next year. I’m a big fan of the three versions of GTA3, and while I don’t have a next-gen (or current gen) gaming system, I’ve been looking forward to GTA 4, which is supposed to feature a near-close version of New York City as its playing area.

However, I was a bit offended the other day when I read that the forthcoming game would not feature Staten Island, because (according to Wikipedia):

Rockstar believes it would not be fun to play there

Not be fun? We’re talking about the home of what was the world’s largest garbage dump! New Dorp! The fishin’ hole! And now, the mysterious Ninja Burglar!

He is brazen enough to enter a home through an open garage door in the morning and sneaky enough to slip through a skylight under the cover of night. He always wears a black ski mask, seems to consider himself a jewel thief and strikes with a disregard for whether anyone is home.

And to anyone who would take the other side in the great Ninjas versus Pirates debate, I ask you, who ever heard of a Pirate Burglar?

King Tom1 Comment

Limousine Riding, Loan Underwriting

I haven’t watched wrestling in a few months, so I can’t say I know what’s going on with the storylines, other than hearing that Vince McMahon’s illegitimate child is a midget.

But back at WrestleMania, I was shocked (shocked!) to see that Ric Flair was only featured on the card as part of a dark match. I’m guessing that because he’s been shuffled down the card, he’s seeking other career opportunities, like financing loans.

For some reason, I don’t think the Civee and I would have gone with the Nature Boy for our car loan.

King Tom