The Allmans & Clapton

Key to the Highway
Dreams
Why Does Love got To Be So Sad
[Ed. Note: YESSSSS]
Little Wing
Anyday (with Susan Tedeschi)

Encore:
Layla

What's Worse?

Your boss seeing that you are watching March Madness at your desk or catching you making a spreadsheet of "NCAA TOURNAMENT: SINGLE-GAME INDIVIDUAL RECORDS"?


Thanks Comcast! Now my boss will never know how worthless I am to the company!

Damn advertising. It ruins everything. Good thing I'm quick on the trigger (minimize button).

Stallworth "Grief Stricken" After Accident

From the National Football Post:

Cleveland Browns receiver Donte Stallworth says he is “grief stricken” over his car accident that killed a pedestrian on a busy causeway linking Miami and Miami Beach.

Police say Stallworth was headed toward the beach when he hit the 59-year-old Reyes with his Bentley on Saturday morning. Reyes was near a crosswalk but it’s unclear if he was crossing legally.

Yes, Stallworth said "grief stricken", not his lawyer. Trust him. He added:

Mrraaaahh, just dejected, you see. I can only fathom the wretched pangs of anguish and bereavement clawing at the souls of the victim's next of kin.

-----

Yes, that was pretty insensitive, but at least I didn't "digg" the original story like these 83 assholes...

Moogis!

One of the reasons content has been a little abbreviated/slow around here lately is that after work, instead of queuing up a post or two for the following day, I've been watching the Allman Brothers' shows live on Moogis. (The name comes from drummer Butch Trucks' kids' mispronunciation of "music" when they were young.)

I mentioned it in a previous post, but for $125, you can watch all of the shows from this run at the Beacon as they are occurring or archived up to six months from now. There are also some older performances archived, which might be useful for nights like last night when there was no show or some Monday evening when the Yankees aren't playing a few months from now. I'm obviously a pretty big ABB fan so maybe I'm not speaking for everyone, but its pretty amazing to be able to cook dinner (or just sit on the couch) and watch the set lists as they are unfolding right around the block.

Nothing can replace the energy (or people watching) you experience at a live show. However, you still get the same feeling when a band whose catalog you know intimately goes into a song you love. Two nights ago, they launched into Desdemona, which I heard live at the Beacon the last time I saw them there. I wasn't any less excited this time around. Of course, there are other things you can do in the comfort of your own home that you can't do very freely at a newly renovated venue. Plus, you can drink good beer at grocery store prices and don't have to wait for the bathroom!

Another benefit is that the views from the eight cameras that Moogis uses are much better than anywhere in the venue. It's not perfect video quality, but the camera work is comparable to most concert DVDs that get produced. They zoom in during guitar solos, which is especially interesting to me since I could clearly use some schooling on the axe.

The only drawback I've noticed so far is that the sound mix isn't that great. It doesn't seem to be constantly adjusted throughout the show by their sound guy like what you would hear if you were there. It must be a direct feed to the interwebs. As a result, Warren's guitar is too loud which is extremely awesome when he is blazing through a solo, but when he is playing rythym, Derek's guitar and the vocals sometimes get drowned out. The last time I was at the Beacon (before the renovation) the sound quality in the balcony wasn't great either, so maybe it's not a colossal drop off.

Moogis is going to be especially awesome tonight and tomorrow, as it seems Eric Clapton is almost certain to make an couple of appearances. The slideshows to Little Martha they have played during this 40th Anniversary run have focused more on Duane than the nearly 38 years they have been playing since his death (for good reason).

Consequently, I'm expecting that the sets with Clapton will be fairly Derek and the Dominoes heavy, considering Duane sat in on the sessions for the album. Furthermore, Derek Trucks went on tour with Clapton in 2006 & 2007, filling in Duane's parts on those tunes. Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs is probably my favorite album of all time, so they really can't do wrong by me. (But Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad would be sensational. Please?)

Here are some screen shots I nabbed off of Moogis over the past few nights:

Greg towards the end of Soulshine

Trey having a guitargasm during In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed
(my favorite song of the run so far)

Warren and Derek ripping through the Desdemona jam

Derek and Tommy Talton playing Please Be With Me

John Hammond starting up So Many Roads, So Many Trains

The Weight, featuring Bonnie & Bekka Bramlett and Derek's Wife Susan Tedeschi

A picture of Duane from the Little Martha slide show

The cheapest ticket on StubHub for tonight is $469 (tomorrow - $417, which is only headed up).

I've got my seat. (There may still be a few available...)

Gosh, I Hope This Isn't Serious!

Oh no!

When it seemed as though the injury news could not get any worse for Team USA, manager Davey Johnson announced on Wednesday that Kevin Youkilis has left the team because of a sore left ankle.

Youkilis returned to Fort Myers, where he was examined by the Boston Red Sox medical staff and underwent an MRI.

"Kevin Youkilis returned to Fort Myers, FL this afternoon to be examined by the Red Sox medical staff. He was diagnosed with a mild left ankle sprain as well as mild Achilles tendinitis in his left foot. Both MRI results were negative," the Red Sox said in a team release. "To limit movement and allow his ankle to heal, Youkilis will wear a walking boot for the next several days but is not expected to miss significant time."

Phew, that's comforting, although walking boots might still be a sore subject around the Boston Area...

You can send your "Get Well Soon" cards to:

Palms Park

Attn: Kevin "Fack" Youkilis

2201 Edison Ave.

Fort Myers, FL 33901

Details About Details

Lynn Zinser at the Bats Blog on The New York Times' website talked to the authtor and editor of the story in Details, and really framed the circumstances leading up to "Confessions of a Damned Yankee".

He had agreed to it in late December, when it seemed like a good, mainstream way to raise his fashionable profile. Instead, he sat for the interview on the day he found out Sports Illustrated reporter Selena Roberts would write he had tested positive for steroids in 2003.

He agreed to go through with the interview and photo shoot, despite having just found out that his whole career and reputation might be called into question. You know what that reminds me of? This.

[The author] Gay detailed how Rodriguez drank shots of Patrón and posed without complaint for photos that would set off alarm bells in the minds of many image-conscious athletes.

A-Rod is extremely image conscious. So conscious, in fact, that he apprises himself of how he is looking in a mirror every 14 seconds.

Drank shots of Patrón? Alex, I've got someone I'd love for you to meet. You would be perfect for each other. You are both total headcases, love Patrón, and hate shirts!

[The editor] Bhattacharji said Rodriguez had every opportunity to decline any of the shots, but did not. He did not take his shirt off, but chose a sleeveless one.

I stand corrected. Wow, amazing restraint, A-Rod. "Take my shirt off? Absolutely not. That would probably come across as vain and unnecessary. Kissing myself in the mirror, though? SURE!"

A day later, Rodriguez was text-messaging Gay and nervously asking that he not write that Rodriguez had revealed his favorite Madonna song. He still said nothing about the steroid allegations.

Any guesses... I'm leaning towards "Material Girl" (obviously), but here are some other prime candidates:

1. Causing A Commotion
2. Did You Do It?
3. Express Yourself
4. Forbidden Love
5. Goodbye To Innocence
6. Guilty By Association
7. I'm Going Bananas
8. I'm So Stupid
9. Intervention
10. Nobody Knows Me
11. Pretender
12. Think Of Me
13. You Must Love Me

No wonder he likes Madonna!

When Details first approached Rodriguez’ representatives and public relations handlers, including Guy Oseary, the manager he shares with Madonna, Rodriguez saw posing for a magazine aimed at fashion-conscious young men as a way to improve his image, said Bhattacharji.

If you made a Venn diagram of "fashion conscious young men" and "baseball fans" it would look almost exactly like the one for "attractive women" and "monster truck fans".

This is exactly why you don't hire some celebretard PR douche when you are an athlete. What works for Ashton Kutcher doesn't necessarily work for A-Rod. Somehow I think no matter what kind of advisory committe he assembles, they won't be able to get him out of his own way.

As Good As It Gets?

In a way, Aaron Boone needing to have heart surgery is sort of karmic justice for the collective cardiac trauma he inflicted on Red Sox Nation on October 16th, 2003:

Boone made the announcement Wednesday, saying he has known about his heart condition since college but tests done after his routine physical determined he needed surgery. It is not an emergency, but doctors indicated the procedure was needed.

He said doctors told him he could play baseball when he recovers, but he's not sure if he will.

Godspeed, Mr. Boone. You made one of the most monumental plays in the history of sport. That swing extended the "curse" one more year and topped off one of the best nights of my life. Your knee injury in a pick-up basketball game opened the door for A-Rod, and even after this offseason, I can't hold it against you.

In 50 years, will we still look at that parabola into the left field seats as the cresendo of the Yankees vs. Red Sox Rivalry?

How could it get more momentous? That homer left the bat of a guy who had been inserted earlier as a pinch runner. It was the 11th inning of a Game 7.

Bucky Dent's dinger was in the 7th inning of a play-in game. When the Red Sox struck back in '04, it was the 2nd inning and the rest of the game felt like a foregone conclusion. For something more dramatic to occur would take a script less realistic than Rookie of the Year.

[h/t Shysterball]

CC Sastachia

One hit, one walk and seven strikeouts in 4 IP?

I approve.

Could someone please notify the American Mustache Institute?

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall... WHAT THE F___ IS WRONG WITH ME?

(h/t The Sports Hernia)

I'd like to believe this wildy homoerotic photoshoot took place in one of the slummy apartment buildings he owns in Tampa.

Must... restrain... outrage...

How many publicists does this asshole have again? NOT ONE OF THEM THOUGHT THIS MIGHT BE A BAD IDEA?

It didn't occur to one of these geniuses that a bunch of pictures of him looking into a fucking mirror might serve to reinforce the already exisiting feeling that A-Rod is a narcissistic prima donna?

FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL.

Happy St. Stupid Apparel's Day!

A brief history of this special day:

Over fifteen hundred years ago, on an island in the North Atlantic, St. Stupid Apparel rounded up all the team colored merchandise and drove it into the sea. He then replaced all the items with stuff you could only wear one day out of the year (without looking like an asshat).

For more recent developments in St. Stupid Apparel's Day, please visit Simon On Sports. He has extensively chronicled these recent crimes against team branding and aesthetics. You can even vote on the most egregious!

Now go sneak out of work and grab a Guinness. And bring your green hat.

Yeeeeaaaaah, I'm Gonna Have To Go Ahead And Disagree With You On That One

Blez from Athletics Nation has an excellent interview with Jason Giambi containing some interesting tidbits (h/t Joe P. from RAB). One of them would have altered the course of Yankee history, and the other one is just plain hilarious.

Blez: How do you view yourself as a defensive first baseman? There have been a lot of people who have said that you've had better days as a defensive first baseman, yet your fielding percentage is pretty high. So how do you view yourself?

Giambi: I view myself as great. I get the job done and that's what I'm out there for. The one thing that I know that I'm good at and you can ask Chavy and the younger guys and even Jeet (Derek Jeter) is that I've helped win a lot of guys gold gloves because I'm really good at picking balls out of the dirt. I think it's because when I was younger and playing in the Coliseum I got tired of running for the ball around all that foul ground.

If by "great" you mean "marginal", "poor", "below average", "terrible", "clumsy", or "really shitty", I totally agree. Find me one other person who would describe Giambi's defense as great without immediatley breaking out laughing, please. I love Giambi, but that is just ridiculous.

I'm not huge on defensive statistics. They all seem to have some judgement calls and subjective components built in. Until someone invents an intricate system of lasers that measures every single thing happening on a baseball field at once, we aren't really going to be able to understand the little things that separate bad from decent from good from great.

However, since there is no such laser system, I took a look at Giambi's UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating) over at FanGraphs and here's what I found.

Key:

DG = Defensive Games Played

RngR = Range Runs (The number of runs above or below average a fielder is, determined by how the fielder is able to get to balls hit in his vicinity.)

ErrR = Error Runs (The number of runs above or below average a fielder is, determined by the number of errors he makes as compared to an average fielder at that position given the same distribution of balls in play.)

UZR = Ultimate Zone Rating (The number of runs above or below average a fielder is in both range runs, outfield arm runs, double play runs and error runs combined.)

The shading coincides with the number of games he played, so the darker the gray, the fewer games at 1B.

The only "seasons" he even masquraded as an average first baseman, he played 43 & 14 games. That's a lot of red for a "great" defensive first baseman.

Fackin' Youk

So I had one of my two fantasy drafts last night. First round, I selected Ryan Braun with the #5 pick. Great, a Brewer... I strongly dislike the Brewers -- from the Selig connection, to all the hard miles they put on Sabathia, and their GM Doug Melvin bitching after he signed with the Yankees.

In the second round I picked Johan. I want to see Johan fail. Why? Because I'm a Yankees fan and if Johan fails, the Mets fail. Also, as an ardent Phil Hughes supporter, I want vindication and do not want the pressure of equating Johan on the young Mr. Hughes.

Third round, I took Prince Fielder to have the pleasure of manning my First Base. Great, another facking Brewer. Please refer to the aforementioned Braun commentary. Thankfully, this league does not count defensive statistics.

The Fourth Round came up. I could use a Third Baseman. With a good OPS. Who is available? Not Wright nor A-Rod nor Evan Longoria nor Brandon Phillips. Who else is available? This blog's Anti-Christ. Kevin fackin' Youkilis.

Did I pick him? If you guessed that I answered this question in the affihmative, you would be correct. Fackin' great. My most hated player is on my team. How much do I hate this guy? I write for a blog named "Fack Youk." I had the Greek/Jewish God of Walks on my team last year too (when I won the league!), so this is nothing new to me. Why did I pick him? Does this mean that I like him? Does this mean that I have to quit writing for "Fack Youk?" Fellas, please forgive me. I promise that I will not root for him.

Like my ownership of ProShares UltraShort S&P500 (ticker SDS) in which I benefit from Barack Obama operating the economy in a manner similar to how Chuck Knoblauch operated at Second Base, namely throwing everything away, I treat it as a hedge position. Why not benefit from his production? Why should he have to screw me twice by screwing the Yankees and my fantasy team when I play against him? Fackin' A, fackin' Youk is on my fackin' team again...

What is your worst fantasy conflict of interest story?

Weekend Slideshow Recap

This weekend was another barn burner, friends, which begins to explain the lack of posting.

If I didn't put in 7 hours of work today, or anyone besides Boston Bren, Kev-O, Burkey and our new lady friends from Jacksonville gave a shit, I could have written 1500 words on this weekend and still leave out some hilarious moments. (Like when Michael Kay walked in front of our section at the Big East Tournament on Friday night, and I drunkenly shouted/sang his radio show theme song and he gave me an acknowledging point).

There are at least two people we encountered over the last few days who are deserving of their own post. One is a Floridian friend (Claire, you forgot the rest of your bottle of Jim Beam at my apartment, baby). And let's just say that you Mets fans are going to be extremely ashamed of one of your compatriots. I get the feeling that one might be relatively popular around these here internets.

We again successfully infiltrated a team's pregame party at Stout (Lousiville), which is where the blurry cheerleader shot was taken. It was an extremely difficult feat. Without wearing any team colors, I was like "Woohooo! Go Cards!", gave the guy at the door with the porno mustache a high-five and walked right in. I can't take credit for the idea however, as Kev used the same brilliant technique to gain entrance into Pitt's party last year.

After we left the shindig, there was a fellow in a Syracuse sweatshirt and a ridiculously bright orange wig standing outside of the room. I walked up to him and said "Dude, you should try to sneak in to the Louisville party. Just tell them you lost a bet...".

The pictures at the end of the show were taken on the ferry to Weehawken. I could tell you what I was doing there, but then I would have to kill you.

If you watch closely, there may even be one picture of this guy.

/directs thumbs towards self.



Now look at those tags. If there wasn't a character limit, there would have been about 20 more.