Ready Time

So Christmas Eve is here and I'm as ready as I'm gonna be. Will be pretty low-key here I think...dinner and church tonight, boys ripping open the gifts tomorrow and some family here for dinner tomorrow. Nothing to crazy. Told my wife to tell Santa I wanted nothing this year. Let's see if Santa listened.

Merry Christmas to all from SoulSlam.

Eve of the Eve

Day off, office closed. Ran some errands, gotta finish up shopping tonight or tomorrow. At least I'm 90% good.

Hiding Behind Your Mascot

So I got an electronic holiday card from the NY Mets...


And I opened it (virtually I guess when I think about it). And what was inside? Just a happy holiday message from Mr. Met. I guess that way Met fans couldn't rip the team a new one. How can I hate Mr. Met? He's one of the only people who hasn't let me down in this organization. Here's what he looks like in the card...


Merry Mr. Met. A man's man. Greatest mascot of all time. Happy Holiday to you sir.

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BTW, word is we still haven't offered a contract to any of the pitching re-treads available. I guess we're gonna wait until the bitter end.

Travel Hoops Update

So you longtime followers of all things Slam know I coach a little basketball know and again.

I have a 4th grade team - first time on the travel circuit for these guys. Played our first game last Saturday - lost 20-13. Considering tow kids on the other team scored 15 of their total, we were in it for the most part. A couple of rebounds go our way and maybe we pull it out. We play some tough D.

I also assist on a 7th grade team that is playing in a league open to 8th graders. Played a team from a local town/city last night. We looked like a midget-festival. These guys showed up (probably in their own cars!) with facial hair including a pretty grown-in goatee. Our boys never gave up and played hard for 32. Lost 37-18. Whatever they do this season against older comp will be a benefit next year. At least that is what I keep telling myself.

Reggie

Caught a great sports movie/documentary on ESPN last night:

Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. the New York Knicks

Guess it's been on before, but last night I finally saw it. Great stuff. Makes you remember the way the Garden used to be.

Best line - "Reggie looked like Mr. Potato Head on a stick!"

Do I Look Like A Moron, Sandy?

OK. I might have been born on a Saturday, but it wasn't last Saturday.

This really pisses me off. As a Met fan. Especially since we DO NOTHING!


I'll tell you where my MLB dollars are going next season:
Camden Yards
Whatever that ballpark in DC is called
Pittsburgh maybe

So I'm sure I'll go to CitiField once or twice. But I won't be killing myself to get tix.

yin yang

Pretty simple. Put a Phillies uniform on it and what do you get. The finally-over Cliff Lee saga.

In 80's teen flick terms, the Yankees wanted to take Mr. Lee home from the prom, but ended up alone. And the Phillies get their date, errr man.

So as a Mets fan, one has to feel a little ambivalent here. So he doesn't go to Yankees (YAY!) but ends up on Phils (BOO!) Anyway, not like we are in this thing to win in 2011.

Which leads me to point #2 - so it looks like (and sounds like) Mr. Alderson is prepping us for the inevitable, namely a looooong season. But the light at the end of the tunnel is a cool $60MM coming off the books for 2012. So who's available then? Lets see (just the studs):

Pujols (unless St.L locks him up first)
Fielder
Phillips
Cano (never gonna happen)
Oswalt
Wilson, CJ
Broxton
Papelbon
Carpenter
Reyes

So unless I'm missing something...what exactly are we waiting for? I would take a Cliff Lee or Carl Crawford over anybody on this list (except the Machine). So we'll have a king's ransom to spend on...nobody.