In 24 Hours...

The House of SoulSlam leaves on vacation. Flight to Tampa, night there, then a five day cruise through the Western Caribbean, then followed with two more days in Tampa.

Need it. Can't wait. Hopefully I don't crack any ribs this year!

Check back around Labor Day!

Simple Math

The Mets are 9.5 GB in Division, and 7 GB in Wild Card. Time for a math lesson.

In the last 10 games the Mets are 5-5. In the last 10 games the Braves are 5-5. In the last 10 games the Phillies are 5-5.

So that means in the last 10 games the Mets have gone nowhere in the division. If they win just one more game, they make up ground. But NOOOOO. Can't do that.

The Wild Card problem is even more of an issue. They are the 7th team in WC standings. That's a lot of teams to hurdle. Once again, put another W or two on the board and we look pretty good with 36 to go.

Arduous.

Vacation Plans

Got tix to Red Sox-Rays at Tropicana Field for Friday night, then we leave on a cruise out of Tampa on Saturday. Sweet. Right now it looks like Dice-K vs. David Price.

Baseball Sunday Thoughts

Mr. Strasburg is scheduled to have an MRI after he grabbed his shoulder during a Phils game. I would bet big money everybody in the Nats front office did not sleep at all Saturday night in scary anticipation.

Caught some of the LLWS yesterday, and some kid that was pitching had a custom glove with the word "Phenom" on it. I think that giving yourself a nickname like that only leads to other people calling you "Shorty" and "Chubby" and 'Stinky" later in life. Let the world call you a "Phenom" kid.

Speaking of the LLWS, the Jersey team from Toms River (South Jersey FYI) got shellacked by a team from Ohio. So the local message board is interestingly quiet - funny how that happens.

Mets have won two in a row! and had some offensive prowess. Against the Pirates. So I'm not jumping for joy. I like the kid Alvarez, but he's had a horrific time of it in the games I've seen.

And for all you Yankee fans: Cano is having a great season, but let's not get all uptight in the pants when he doesn't win the MVP. Hamilton in a walk. No question.

Pants On Fire!

LIAR, LIAR...

But seriously, did anybody think the US Govt was gonna let the Rocket slide after he testified in Congress that he never did PEDs?

If I was Mr. C, I would look for a new shyster mouthpiece but quick, since his guy would give Mr. Haney a run for his money when he speaks.

And apparently ol' Rog has a Twitter account, so he's tweetin' instead of laying low. GOOD STRATEGY.

NOT.

A Week Away

From vacation...I need it.

Anyway a few things:

1. Mets are 60-60 (.500), meaning they have 42 games left. Jerry (uhhhh...) Manual was on his weekly spot and said he thinks that they have a run left in them. Well Jerry, when do you think you will get it in gear? You will need to go 32-10 bare minimum so put that in your "dickey pipe" (thanks Evan Roberts) and smoke it!

2. Mid-August gets me down. I can feel summer dwindle away. Next thing you know, it's leaf-peeping time!

3. I joined a Fantasy Football league. I am officially a fantasy dork.

4. Will this ever catch on? I would watch it.

Hidden Agendas

So how happy do you think LL Baseball and ESPN was when the starting pitcher for PA was sporting a mustache?! It's a 12U tourney, so you get your 5/1 thirteen year olds, but this kid looked like a mechanic at Jiffy Lube. All about the "kids".

Anyway, they seemed to be coming up with new ways to describe curveballs. Because they have no doubt gotten a lot of sugar over "kids" throwing the hook. Even commissioned a study saying it was OK. But it's not.

And speaking of pitches, if those guns that they use aren't juiced, I'll eat my size 7 5/8 hat! There is absolutely no way these kids are throwing 65+.

Lot of chatter about rolled bats, kids from out of district, etc. It's LL Baseball!

---

And could things get any better with K-Rod? What a guy!

Overlooked By You All

Question - What do movies such as Slumdog Millionaire, Titanic, Schindler's List. Forrest Gump, The English Patient all have in common (besides the Oscar I mean)?

THEY WOULD OF ALL BEEN BETTER IF DOLPH LUNDGREN STARRED IN THEM!!!


It's pretty fitting that Mr. L would be in The Expendables, since his incredible acting ability and stature in the industry has been under someones thumb forever. Keepin' the man down. Way down.

Some facts about the incredible Dolph:

Wikipedia calls him a Swedish actor, director and martial artist. If he practiced the Hebrew religion would they call him a Jewish actor? I think not. Anti-swedites!

He's a 3rd degree black belt, so he has the whole Hollywood goliath afraid he could kick their collective asses!

He speaks 57 languages.

He invented the iPod for Apple. He's a genius.

The character of SpongeBob Squarepants was loosely based on Mr. Lundgren's life.

He has advised most world-leaders in matters of socio-economic importance.

He is 8 foot tall.

He originally turned down the Matt Damon role in Good Will Hunting.

The Dolphin was named in honor of the great man.

DOLPH!!!!

PS - SoulSlam made up all those facts. But they could be true, maybe.

Great Band That You Don't Know

Cleaning up a storage room at the homestead today, dumped about 800 lbs. of cycling magazines that I was keeping for I don't know why.

So after that I decided to straighten up the old CD collection and while I was doing that I found some cool stuff that you forget about. Time to transfer to the iPod (greatest invention ever!) and wonders of wonders, they have the album artwork!

So right now I'm listening to a band about three other people remember -

STARZ

Check 'em out here

Anyway, they were a cool band back in the 70's and 80's that featured a singer named Michael Lee Smith(brother of teen idol Rex Smith) - and kind of defied categorization around the time punk was comin' on the scene. Loved 'em. Check 'em out, unless your stuck listening to bad music like most of the world.

Citi Jail

No doubt it can't really get worse.

Allegedly, K-Rod knuckled up with his father-in-law last night after the game. He's in the precinct at the filed by all reports. SoulSlam and Sons are going to game today, so I guess we won't be seeing him. Maybe Jerry can pitch the batboy in the 9th.

Heard a quote from Jerry about the 8th inning mess - "we haven't been able to solve that all season". Well Jerry here's the problem. YOU ARE THE ONE WHO GETS PAID TO SOLVE IT!!! It's not WE. It's YOU. SO YOU HAVE TO GO. But the Wilpons are so ineffectual that you and Omar are still here, causing me a lot of summer heartache yet again.

And a quick note to D. Wright. In case nobody has told you, you're too far from the plate. Makes you really susceptible to the outside pitch and breaking balls. Just so you know.

DeadTime

August is pretty much DeadTime for SoulSlam. Baseball is over for the season and hoops is pretty far out. We are having some open gym action for the boys to work on some skills, but that is a couple of times at most.

I decided to start (re: coach) a 4th Grade Travel team this year; SoulSlam's youngest is like a young Charles Oakley - tough and ready to go under the hoop, so we'll see how it goes against better competition. To be honest, I just can't take the "rec dads" coaching basketball anymore. So we'll separate the boys who want a challenge from the dads who want a trophy. Add in my asst. duties with the 7th Grade squad and I should be busy come November.

Medic!*

Couldn't let this one go without a pic. Check out the local rags (for SoulSlam anyway) for the story.

Karma is a b**ch!

BBQ Day

Travel Baseball Program has it's annual end of season BBQ today at the local lake. Kids usually have a lot of fun and the coaches get to setup, cook, and cleanup. Just like the season never ended.

Anyway, we had an interesting conversation with a parent who would like to begin what essentially sounds like a 7U(!) team. Errr, no.

Watching American History X - like this movie.

The Asterisk Post*

Since I kill the guy* all the time, I have to recognize his milestone*.

Congratulations A-Rod*.
600*.
What an accomplishment*.
Only 7 Major Leaguers have ever done this.
And only three* on steroids or other PEDs.

Now you can relax*.

How "Bout This

What if the Yankees somehow worked it out so that AJ Burnett could pitch to A-Rod* so he could get that biscuit?

How ' Bout That?

Gettin' Late Early

With the month of August upon us and a 53-53 record, a few things stand out for the Mets:
1. There is only 56 games left in the regular season
2. The Mets pretty much have to win 70+% (that's 40 games folks) to get to the Postseason
3. Ever since Beltran and Castillo came back they are in the swoon
4. Somebody besides Wright, Reyes and Pagan have to get a hit
5. RA Dickey is the team MVP
6. We are going down the tubes fast


errr...did you forget something, Luis!

J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets

So since the airwaves (aka WFAN) are rife with the optimistic chatter of summer camp starting, a little note to all my Jet-fan followers.

Savor this moment, because mark my words, by October 18 you will all be complaining about how poorly your team in green is playing and how in the world could it get so bad.

Fact - Rex Ryan is a big fat doofus
Fact - Sanchez is not the 2nd coming
Fact - Your best player is a holdout right now (Revis)
Fact - Your historically a bad team
Fact - Your #2 in NYC's hearts
Fact - Joe Namath is a drunk (thought I'd toss that one in)
Fact - Fireman Ed is a d-bag!
Fact - You can't sellout the stadium
Fact - Brett Favre was right to get out of Dodge
Fact - Joe Klecko does not deserve to be enshrined in Canton