June 16th!

Happy Anniversary to my beautiful wife,Happy Birthday to the homie Daniel Ceballos and happy first Vlog to you!

Root,Root,Root for the away team...

Growing up in the great Los Angeles area and now living just outside it I have taken a lot of guff over the years for my choices in sports teams. I am huge Red Sox fan,I love the Celtics and have cried over the Packers. Let it be known,I root for the Kings and the Clippers and the Dodgers will always own a piece of my heart but at the end of the day I am rocking my Red Sox hat backwards with a Paul Pierce jersey faded from too many washes. Why do I follow these teams? Really,I don’t have a reason. I chose both Boston teams long ago while they were in the midst of crazy losing seasons. I chose them because I like the way there upper management promoted playing as a team over super stardom. I chose them because even though I have lived in and near L.A. at the end of the day it’s just a city and sports are something different and more in there own way. As a chubby kid playing basketball watching Larry Bird dominate a game with more smarts than skills inspired me. Watching Pedroia win a AL MVP at under six feet reminds me that hard work goes a long way. As much as I love L.A.,eating hot dogs at Pinks,nights on the beach while planes fly over my head by LAX and the break a mountain trip can give after a stressful week ultimately,L.A.,has shown me more of what I don’t want to be more than what I do want to be. It has shown me greed, drugs, gangs, fear and hate. Maybe I read to much Dostoyevsky but at the end of the day I don’t want millions of dollars, I just want my questions answered. I don’t want to be a lone gun but would rather be a part of team that will go all out for each other. Sports, just like music, fashion and food is all preference. If you root for the home team, awesome! If you don’t, awesome! If you don’t root at all....awesome! At the end of the day all that matters is whatever you do,do it with all you have. 

Grand Slam..... breakfast?

Last year I had the privilege of attending Manny Ramirez bobble head night at Dodger stadium on a beautiful Southern California night. The weather was perfect. The beer was cold, the hot dogs oversized and as I leaned back in my chair the atmosphere was ripe for something big. As the game went on there was nothing to get really excited about,decent pitching,good defense but that was about it... Than the man of the hour himself was brought in to pitch hit on his first day back after being suspended 50 games for an illegal substance. As the locals all rose to there feet and the pitcher and the catcher conversed on how to pitch him the makings for something awesome were all in place. The bases were loaded,the bobble heads were jiggling in there new owners hands and than it happened. A first pitch grand slam that blew the game wide open. The stadium shook like a small earthquake and you could already hear “I Love L.A.” being cued in the sound booth. Grand slams are amazing. There is no other sport where the defense has the ball and also no other sport where bases loaded means any plate is a forced out. The power and pure amazing-ness of the grand slam is even to big for baseball to contain. Denny’s has made a fortune off there grand slam breakfasts and a decent amount of that has come from my pockets. I may never hit a grand slam but I have eaten several and although no Denny’s meal has anything on watching Manny slam the ball out of Dodger stadium just ordering a grand slam takes my mind somewhere straight out of “Field of Dreams” and I can’t help but hum “its just another perfect day...I love Denny’s,err,I mean L.A.”.

5 Reasons I Still Love Bonds.

In all of sports there have been few villains as despised as Barry Bonds. Living in the Los Angeles area there is a certain distain for all things Bonds that is embedded at birth for those of us within driving distance of Dodgers stadium. Here’s the thing,I don’t really dislike the guy,in fact,I kinda love me some Barry. Villains are always cooler than heros and always seem to have better powers. Darth Vader was cooler than Luke,the Joker would be way more fun to party with than Batman and at the end of the day Barry Bonds with or without steroids was cooler and better than 99% of the rest of the league. Without further ado,here are five reasons I still love Barry.

1.)Barry Bonds used to look like the kid next door. We all know the raging hulk version of Bonds via the 90’s but few seem to remember the skinny kid with a big smile and an even bigger stache. I know, facial hair was covered last week in depth and I don’t want to spend to much time dwelling on it but look at this pic and tell me the Stache doesn’t make you want you to pick up a needle and chill with barry.

2.)Barry made a better than Paula Abdul than even Paula. It takes a real man to throw on some drag for the enjoyment of his team,it takes an even bigger man to dominate it like Bonds did for the Giants “American Idol” day. The picture says enough!

3.)Barry was fun to boo. I have personally attended several Dodger games and had the priviledge to boo Mr.Bonds with all that I have. Funny thing,he seemed to love it! He would bow before running off the field, give it right back to overweight Dodger fans who were running there mouths and probably my favorite,more than once he pretended to throw a ball to the stands.

4.)Barry made asterisks cool. The asterisk may never be as cool as the ampersand but at the end of the day all baseball fans will always think Bonds when they see “*”. Name another athlete who has meant so much to a forgotten character than Barry Bonds. Rollie Fingers had the mustache,Ozzie Smith had the back flip and Barry Bonds will always own the asterisk.*

5.)Even steroid home runs are home runs. There is nothing in all of sports as cool as the home run. Break away touchdowns are cool,slam dunks are always fun but home runs are in a league of there own. Even when your team is getting killed a home run brings the fans to there feet and even with all the drama, Barry did this for Pirates and Giants fans 756* (<--see what I did there?) times.

Love him or hate him Barry did it his way and no one will ever forget it.*

Lima Time!

I don't know how I missed this yesterday but one of my favorite players, Jose Lima, has passed away at 37. Lima was pronounced dead at Huntington Memorial Hospital after being found in full cardiac arrest in his Pasadena home. Jose Lima will be greatly missed. The man who always brought Lima Time! was nothing short of special. He may not have had the best numbers or the most wins but you always new you were gonna see something special when he took the mound. Baseball will always have numbers and guys who put up numbers,what is rare is guys who are just fun to watch because you know they love the game like we all did when we were 7 and playing little league. Viva la Lima Time!

Angels in the Outfield....East Coast edition?

I know it's not Wednesday but some things just can't wait and deserve a blog early. Last year K-Rod moved from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim who play in Pasadena and Hollywood in Japan or whatever that teams ridiculous name is to the New York Mets. This was a huge move for the Mets,you get a quality closer and another reason for New Yorkers to choose the Mets over the Yankees. That is all fine and good but maybe the Mets and there fans got a little something extra in the deal,something overlooked...Maybe some of Disneys angels in the outfield came with him. Last night Angel Pagan,the Mets CF had one hell of a night. In the fourth with his team trailing the Nationals Pagan hit what looked like a standard homer that somehow stayed in play. Nearly thrown out at the plate Pagan turned in what could easily be the play of any game,well,if Pagan was done. Later in the 5th,Pagan made a amazing catch that had to be reviewed because of how close it was and began what would be a crazy 8-6-2-3 triple play.

Maybe it was just one crazy night for a lucky young man....or maybe,just maybe,it's time for Mets fans to start flapping there arms.

Of beards and staches....

Baseball is more than just a game. It has always been tied to so much more than 9 innings stretched out over 162 games. For some of us it is Lou Gehrigs speech and the hope it inspired. For others, it is watching a defiant president throwing out the first pitch in New York just months after 9/11. For me, it has always been facial hair. Yes,I said facial hair. There is something awe-inspiring about a man with a beard or a stache. From the Tom Selleck to Fidel Castro,love them or hate them you can’t deny the power of the scruff. Every 12 year old boy dreams of a day when they will have manliness sprouting from their face, and sadly as we get older that dream gets pushed to the back in hopes of landing a good job and finding a hot woman. What is wrong with this country? We need to address the big problems and truth be told those problems aren’t wars or economics. We need to elevate facial hair back to the place it belongs! The days of Rollie Fingers may have passed but the shadow of mantastic facial hair laid down by the likes of Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon still hover over us. Jason Giambi may have cheated by using steroids but he never cheated in the stache department. That mustache is a national treasure and I am almost willing to argue deserves to be in Cooperstown. Yes, Pujols and Texiera are monsters at first but they have nothing on hustling into first knowing that a man,a strong manly man was waiting for you with power of the almighty Selleck stache waiting for them. Truth be told,I hate the Yankees with all that is within me but I won’t lie,I wish I could have been there for fake Giambi stache day. Lets move on the beard. Beards equal pure testosterone. You never hear of clean shaved man wrestling a bear with his bare hands. No,it is always a bearded, rugged man. Johnny Damon used to be that man. As a Red Sox Damon was not only a top five center fielder but also a cave man who had almost as many people as Jesus longing to say that he was their homeboy. Geico launched a whole commercial campaign in his likeness and millions of woman swooned to just get a glimpse of the beard. 

The days of Giambi may be behind us but it is not to late to start a revolution in facial hair. Johnny, please grow back the beard. Pujols,Texiera,A-Rod,Ethier,Ichiro and the rest of the league,I plead for you to not let Giambi stache day die in vain. In world with a Starbucks on every corner and a smart phone in every pocket, are kids deserve some facial hair on their mens faces.

(None of the ridiculous statements made in this blog are factual to anyone except me.)

U3Ponline is now up!

Hey readers,today is a very exciting day for all of us at www.U3Ponline.com as our website is now up rocking and/or rolling. Please check out the site and please feel free to subscribe to the weekly podcast. Every Thursday I will be updating this blog with my take on the state of baseball and I hope you all continue to come back,read and comment. If one day of blogging isn't enough you can also check out Andy's weekly blog posted every Tuesday at http://www.u3ponline.blogspot.com/. Thanks again for all your support!

Nap Time

Being 30 I have found a new appreciation for nap time. Let's be honest,life is exhausting and if we were smart we would all join in with are kids in day care and pre-school and enjoy a nice long nap from time to time. Maybe the baseball fans of America are giving him a hard time because we still call him Jr. and forget how old he actually is,maybe we have all had enough of spoiled athletes taking themselves to serious,maybe we're just jealous we can't play a game for a living and/or take a nap at work. Whatever the reason Ken Griffey Jr is the center of attention and for once it's not injury related,it's much more important than that,it's nap related. I don't want to make excuses for anyone sleeping on the job but if I was Junior a nap might be in order. Everyone remembers when Griffey broke into the big leagues. As a junior higher I fawned over his "Upper Deck" rookie card and was amazed by the promise that card held. This was going to be the biggest star baseball has ever known and I was going to get to watch him in all his glory. Griffey was my supposed to be my generations Ruth and Aaron rolled into one amazing explosion of mariner magic. For a couple years we all held are breath as he approached the batters box excited for the homerun that we all knew could follow....and than,It all fell apart. The kid became a man and his body just wasn't what it used to be. The diving catches that once won him gold gloves began to only win him trips to the DL. I truly feel bad for Junior,the man that was once the most exciting player in maybe all of sports is now the guy that once has a lot of potential. The guy that sadly will one day be forgotten in the mix of players like A-Rod and Bonds who had to cheat to have what he had.

Maybe Jr. isn't napping,maybe he was day dreaming back to a time when people sat in awe of his presence in the field and in the batters box. Either way,a nap might do us all good from time to time.